To Infinity and Beyond - Becoming a Better DopeyBadger (Comments Welcome)

[DopeyBadger]

79 Days to Go (Oh, it's good to be back!)



Date - Day - Scheduled Workout (Intervals within desired pace, Strength +/- 5 sec, everything else +/- 10 sec)

10/12/16 - W - Medicine Ball Workout (MBW)
10/13/16 - R - OFF
10/14/16 - F - OFF
10/15/16 - Sat - MBW
10/16/16 - Sun - 3 miles @ 8:32 or slower min/mile (3/3)
10/17/16 - M - 3 miles @ 8:32 or slower min/mile (3/3)
10/18/16 - T - 4 miles @ 8:32 or slower min/mile (4/4)

Total mileage = 10 miles
Number of intervals within pace = 10/10 (100%)

Well the two week recovery period of no running is over. I've put together the training plan to take me from here to Dopey, so I guess all that's left to do is to actually do it. But come Sunday, that was the question... Would I be able to do it?

Well, thankfully the answer on Sunday was YES!



Like I said earlier, I was very nervous about this run and whether I'd even be able to run at all. But I was able to run again. And run I did. The schedule called for 3 miles at easy. Whatever my body wanted to do for easy was fine by me. I was super stiff and super sore. I can tell I was still not fully recovered from the marathon and there is still some residual fatigue. I'm not terribly surprised. Between taking time off, being extra cautious about walking around during the recovery, barely stretching, and the fact that I pushed REALLY hard during the race it shouldn't come as a surprise that my body feels like it was hit by a truck. But WITHOUT pain!!!

Monday was still super sore and stiff, but doable. I actually slowed down between Sunday and Monday. Again not surprised as my body its still readjusting to running again.

Tuesday was still super sore and stiff in the beginning, but as the run progressed I got looser. I put in a solid EA day (even though the schedule called for EB, not ready to push the easy yet).

So what's on tap? I have a long run day on Sunday (8 miles @ 8:13) that I will play by ear. At this point I'm not sure yet whether I want to/are capable of running an 8:13. All of the rest of the runs are 6 miles @ either EA or EB (so all easy). First tempo day isn't until 10/27 (next week Thursday) so lots of time to make some recovery period progress.

But still, #1 is NO PAIN!

 

[cburnett11]

As of right now, I will do either Lakefront or Chicago in Fall 2017. Lakefront because I know what to expect, or Chicago because I FEED off crowds.

You certainly would not be disappointed if you enjoy spectators. I did notice some signs, but I wasn't looking at the details of the crowd. I was typically in the middle of the road (close to painted tangent line) and also had a foggy (left eye) contact lens from about the 7 mile marker to the end. I was playing with it from about mile 7 to 20 and actually got it down in the corner of my eye once. So when I got it back where it needed to be, I decided that blurry would suffice. After I hit mile 20, I had enough other things to worry about besides a foggy lens. At any rate I probably could've enjoyed the spectators a little more with better vision out of BOTH eyes, but the overall crowd support was amazing. The support never ended and the size/volume of the crowds in the downtown area(s) (first several miles & midway point) made me feel like I was running in the Olympics.

Although the spectators are awesome, Chicago is quite crowded, especially for the first 5-8 miles. It could be frustrating if you are going for BQ. Just something to consider.

However, it has been many years since I last ran Chicago, so maybe @cburnett11 or @IamTrike can chime in since they have run it in recent years.

This was something I was concerned about. Actually I had been warned about it by a friend who had run it twice in the last few years. I honestly never felt impeded early in the race. Yes I typically was watching all around me as I ran, but I felt relaxed. I'm an active "racer" when I participate in races. So even if I'm not surging or "making a move", I'm looking around for openings that might close, people who aren't really running straight, and I'm looking at turns to see whether I want to take them tight or run wide based on crowd size, puddles, future turns, etc. I found the tangent line pretty early and stayed close to it with very little adjustment needed for other runners trying to do the same.

I started in Corral E. It was for <3:50. Corral E is the last corral in Wave 1. Based on the Gear Bag checks, I'm going to estimate that Wave 1 has no more than 1/3 of the runners at Chicago. All of Wave 1 shared 1 Gear Bag area (color). Corrals F and G shared the 2nd gear bag area and Corrals H-K shared a 3rd gear bag area. I'd heard from others that Corrals F 350-410 and G (410-430) were the largest corrals. I believe the elites started at 730. I crossed the start line at 743. Wave 2 did not start until 8... so there was a gap between my corral and those behind me. I didn't find my corral size overwhelming. I had been warned that if I wasn't starting quickly that I'd get run over. That wasn't close to the case. In fact, my only conservative mile was the first one and I didn't feel pressured to go any quicker. Also, even though I finished in 3:49:13 (theoretically back of the pack in a <350 corral which is the back of the pack of wave 1. I'm pretty confident that I was a "net passer". So it wasn't like I just let everyone go by me at the start and then I simply meandered to the finish line. I came up on Corral D, some Corral C, etc. My point is that I just didn't experience my worst fears of crowding. Oh and I also started in the first 1/4 or 1/3 of the Corral. I was going to start in the back, but then I saw pacer signs in the corral that were slower than I wanted to go so for whatever reason I felt the need to get in front of them.

At Disney I believe I was in Corral C. I honestly felt no more resistance in this race than I did at Disney. The ONLY times that I felt impeded were the couple times late in the race where it's pretty much every runner for themselves (people start walking, weaving, deciding last second to get hydration, etc). I had a couple times where I had to sorta dart in/out for Gatorade or water, and jump back in because I had chosen to get past someone walking though a water stop... but then maybe someone else had gotten out in front of me and chose to wall ALL THE WAY DOWN THE LINE... which makes it difficult for others to navigate through there. Again this was just maybe twice. And part of the problem may have been my decision to get hydration right at that moment because Chicago basically has what looks to be about a block of gatorade and then another block of water at every stop. And they are on both sides of the road. So it is MORE than enough to deal with. My point is that while I certainly never was alone, I didn't feel frustrated ever with the crowds. I was just maybe a handful of single runners that I just wondered OUT LOUD, "what are you doing?". But I really think this can be common late in a distance race. It's not that people don't want to be polite or mindful of others, it's just that things start falling apart and you're just doing whatever it takes to plug along.

Something Chicago changed maybe helped this year. It may have been the very first year (or 2nd) where Chicago checked the seed times you submitted. So I think Wave 2 was self-reported seed times. But that wasn't the case for Wave 1. In fact, I submitted an estimated finish of 345. When I got my original corral it was for G. I, like a typical OCD runner, freaked out. I was training for 345 and I knew that starting in G would make it tougher. From what I understand, Chicago had a 3rd party search through race results (maybe only people requesting Wave 1) and they put me in Corral G because of my 415:57 from my only marathon (January Disney). My most recent halves equated to a quicker marathon, so I sent them an email (there was a window for these requests) with links to my other race results and then I pointed out that this year's Disney marathon was the slowest ever due to humidity... bla bla bla. They bumped me up to Corral E many weeks before the race, so I guess they had a rigid process in place to try to get people where they really should be. So anyways, it may be that they've got the corrals pretty well seeded now and therefore if you are in the proper corral, you should be able to race without bumping into everyone. This is my theory at least.

BTW, I think you have given that "fun hill" at the end of the Hot Chocolate 5k (and Chicago Marathon) too much power. It's really not so bad, you just slow down a bit, keep your effort the same, and you're up it in no time.

While "Mt. Roosevelt" was unwelcome at the 26 mile marker, it was really nothing. I hadn't seen it until I got there (but had heard/read about it), so I was thinking about it for 3 miles coming north on Michigan Avenue. In fact as I was totally focused on my Garmin for the last couple miles (trying to determine exactly what pace I needed to maintain to stay under 350), I was trying to estimate how much time I'd lose on this Mountain. We have a much crueler overpass in a local 10-mile race here. 3 miles flat, 3 miles of up/down, 3 miles flat, and then you get to the 9 mile marker and you go up and over a railroad track it just seems so contrived and it can really hurt... especially mentally the first time when it just seems so unnecessary. I had pictured this for Roosevelt, but it wasn't nearly as bad even after 26 miles.

 

[DopeyBadger]

You certainly would not be disappointed if you enjoy spectators. I did notice some signs, but I wasn't looking at the details of the crowd. I was typically in the middle of the road (close to painted tangent line) and also had a foggy (left eye) contact lens from about the 7 mile marker to the end. I was playing with it from about mile 7 to 20 and actually got it down in the corner of my eye once. So when I got it back where it needed to be, I decided that blurry would suffice. After I hit mile 20, I had enough other things to worry about besides a foggy lens. At any rate I probably could've enjoyed the spectators a little more with better vision out of BOTH eyes, but the overall crowd support was amazing. The support never ended and the size/volume of the crowds in the downtown area(s) (first several miles & midway point) made me feel like I was running in the Olympics.






This was something I was concerned about. Actually I had been warned about it by a friend who had run it twice in the last few years. I honestly never felt impeded early in the race. Yes I typically was watching all around me as I ran, but I felt relaxed. I'm an active "racer" when I participate in races. So even if I'm not surging or "making a move", I'm looking around for openings that might close, people who aren't really running straight, and I'm looking at turns to see whether I want to take them tight or run wide based on crowd size, puddles, future turns, etc. I found the tangent line pretty early and stayed close to it with very little adjustment needed for other runners trying to do the same.

I started in Corral E. It was for <3:50. Corral E is the last corral in Wave 1. Based on the Gear Bag checks, I'm going to estimate that Wave 1 has no more than 1/3 of the runners at Chicago. All of Wave 1 shared 1 Gear Bag area (color). Corrals F and G shared the 2nd gear bag area and Corrals H-K shared a 3rd gear bag area. I'd heard from others that Corrals F 350-410 and G (410-430) were the largest corrals. I believe the elites started at 730. I crossed the start line at 743. Wave 2 did not start until 8... so there was a gap between my corral and those behind me. I didn't find my corral size overwhelming. I had been warned that if I wasn't starting quickly that I'd get run over. That wasn't close to the case. In fact, my only conservative mile was the first one and I didn't feel pressured to go any quicker. Also, even though I finished in 3:49:13 (theoretically back of the pack in a <350 corral which is the back of the pack of wave 1. I'm pretty confident that I was a "net passer". So it wasn't like I just let everyone go by me at the start and then I simply meandered to the finish line. I came up on Corral D, some Corral C, etc. My point is that I just didn't experience my worst fears of crowding. Oh and I also started in the first 1/4 or 1/3 of the Corral. I was going to start in the back, but then I saw pacer signs in the corral that were slower than I wanted to go so for whatever reason I felt the need to get in front of them.

At Disney I believe I was in Corral C. I honestly felt no more resistance in this race than I did at Disney. The ONLY times that I felt impeded were the couple times late in the race where it's pretty much every runner for themselves (people start walking, weaving, deciding last second to get hydration, etc). I had a couple times where I had to sorta dart in/out for Gatorade or water, and jump back in because I had chosen to get past someone walking though a water stop... but then maybe someone else had gotten out in front of me and chose to wall ALL THE WAY DOWN THE LINE... which makes it difficult for others to navigate through there. Again this was just maybe twice. And part of the problem may have been my decision to get hydration right at that moment because Chicago basically has what looks to be about a block of gatorade and then another block of water at every stop. And they are on both sides of the road. So it is MORE than enough to deal with. My point is that while I certainly never was alone, I didn't feel frustrated ever with the crowds. I was just maybe a handful of single runners that I just wondered OUT LOUD, "what are you doing?". But I really think this can be common late in a distance race. It's not that people don't want to be polite or mindful of others, it's just that things start falling apart and you're just doing whatever it takes to plug along.

Something Chicago changed maybe helped this year. It may have been the very first year (or 2nd) where Chicago checked the seed times you submitted. So I think Wave 2 was self-reported seed times. But that wasn't the case for Wave 1. In fact, I submitted an estimated finish of 345. When I got my original corral it was for G. I, like a typical OCD runner, freaked out. I was training for 345 and I knew that starting in G would make it tougher. From what I understand, Chicago had a 3rd party search through race results (maybe only people requesting Wave 1) and they put me in Corral G because of my 415:57 from my only marathon (January Disney). My most recent halves equated to a quicker marathon, so I sent them an email (there was a window for these requests) with links to my other race results and then I pointed out that this year's Disney marathon was the slowest ever due to humidity... bla bla bla. They bumped me up to Corral E many weeks before the race, so I guess they had a rigid process in place to try to get people where they really should be. So anyways, it may be that they've got the corrals pretty well seeded now and therefore if you are in the proper corral, you should be able to race without bumping into everyone. This is my theory at least.




While "Mt. Roosevelt" was unwelcome at the 26 mile marker, it was really nothing. I hadn't seen it until I got there (but had heard/read about it), so I was thinking about it for 3 miles coming north on Michigan Avenue. In fact as I was totally focused on my Garmin for the last couple miles (trying to determine exactly what pace I needed to maintain to stay under 350), I was trying to estimate how much time I'd lose on this Mountain. We have a much crueler overpass in a local 10-mile race here. 3 miles flat, 3 miles of up/down, 3 miles flat, and then you get to the 9 mile marker and you go up and over a railroad track it just seems so contrived and it can really hurt... especially mentally the first time when it just seems so unnecessary. I had pictured this for Roosevelt, but it wasn't nearly as bad even after 26 miles.

Thank you for this very detailed recap. It's definitely something to chew on. My guess based on the corral times is that I would be on either Corral A or B for the marathon. I tried to use pics of bibs from this year to guesstimate corral size, but it appears to not follow a higher number equal higher corral system. It mostly does, but there are some outliers mixed within numbers like 5000-6000 bibs. Needless to say, there will be a decent amount of people even in A and B (like 2000-4000).

 

[roxymama]

Welcome back! No pain is a great thing.

I really liked reading your thoughts on Chicago @cburnett11 ! Not having a corral behind you until the next wave seems like a nice perk.
I'm a big baby with hills (I live in a very flat area) and only recently had I decided to start running towards the highest point in Chicago that's about a 4.5 mile run from my house (it's hilly over there.) So I think if I keep that up on my long runs, my fitness will be better and that mountain will feel dinky next time. I'm honestly going to add "make mt roosevelt feel dinky" to my 2017 goal list.

 

[cburnett11]

Thank you for this very detailed recap. It's definitely something to chew on. My guess based on the corral times is that I would be on either Corral A or B for the marathon. I tried to use pics of bibs from this year to guesstimate corral size, but it appears to not follow a higher number equal higher corral system. It mostly does, but there are some outliers mixed within numbers like 5000-6000 bibs. Needless to say, there will be a decent amount of people even in A and B (like 2000-4000).

Here were this year's corral breakdowns by seed times. It doesn't really show you numbers of participants, but I'm pretty sure it's not linear.

 

[pixarmom]

The question is when I toe the line of a race can I give anything other than race pace? I've tried in the past and it always ends up becoming a competitive thing for me and I break my rules. Some day I'll learn to turn that off.

If I had to guess, I'd say the answer is "yes" and "some day" is the day Gigi wants to run with you! I'm very good at running kid-pace for 5Ks, but the real challenge was PHM weekend when I ran the half with our oldest son. I was Corral A and he was Corral D, and I'll admit I paused a second before stepping into his corral with him!

 

[DopeyBadger]

Welcome back! No pain is a great thing.

I really liked reading your thoughts on Chicago @cburnett11 ! Not having a corral behind you until the next wave seems like a nice perk.
I'm a big baby with hills (I live in a very flat area) and only recently had I decided to start running towards the highest point in Chicago that's about a 4.5 mile run from my house (it's hilly over there.) So I think if I keep that up on my long runs, my fitness will be better and that mountain will feel dinky next time. I'm honestly going to add "make mt roosevelt feel dinky" to my 2017 goal list.

Thanks! Agreed!

Here were this year's corral breakdowns by seed times. It doesn't really show you numbers of participants, but I'm pretty sure it's not linear.

The image didn't show, but I believe this is the one.

If I had to guess, I'd say the answer is "yes" and "some day" is the day Gigi wants to run with you! I'm very good at running kid-pace for 5Ks, but the real challenge was PHM weekend when I ran the half with our oldest son. I was Corral A and he was Corral D, and I'll admit I paused a second before stepping into his corral with him!

Touché! When we did the 100m kids dash last year it was her race pace and not mine. All I can imagine is me in a full sprint in the kids 100m...

If she keeps her current speed abilities, then I'm thinking I'll be the one worrying about keeping up with her.

 

[DopeyBadger]

MRI = Authorized!

Now to get it scheduled...

 

[ZellyB]

Excellent news on the MRI. Hope you get it scheduled quickly.

 

[cburnett11]

The image didn't show, but I believe this is the one.

Weird. It showed on mine initially and still does. Anyways, yeah that was the corral breakdown this year.

Just an FYI, Chicago signups for 2017 start really soon for non-guaranteed (November!.... whereas for this year I believe they were April). My wife told me last night that I needed to do it again. I was thinking about doing another fall location next year, but it will be the 40th anniversary so it might be even better/bigger. The good thing about the early registration is that if I don't happen to get in, I have plenty of time to maybe choose MCM or possibly throwing my name in for NYC. Although I'm planning to run the 2018 Disney marathon, so anything much later than Chicago is going to be pushing it a bit. Chicago was fantastic, but there are a couple others I'd really like to do someday too.

I'm also looking around at something to run in the spring. Training in the winter is much easier (for me) than trying to deal with summer humidity. But I guess that's a problem for most. We have some decent local races around here, but I'm not really interested in running our marathon on April 29. They offer a half and a full and the half has been around a lot longer and is much more popular. The marathon turnout has been growing, but I still feel like the half is the race and the full is more of an afterthought. It may just be in my head, but the local marathon doesn't seem to excite me. I guess since a marathon takes so much training and effort, I'd like to choose wisely on what I'm going to participate in.

 

[surfde22]

Weird. It showed on mine initially and still does. Anyways, yeah that was the corral breakdown this year.

Just an FYI, Chicago signups for 2017 start really soon for non-guaranteed (November!.... whereas for this year I believe they were April). My wife told me last night that I needed to do it again. I was thinking about doing another fall location next year, but it will be the 40th anniversary so it might be even better/bigger. The good thing about the early registration is that if I don't happen to get in, I have plenty of time to maybe choose MCM or possibly throwing my name in for NYC. Although I'm planning to run the 2018 Disney marathon, so anything much later than Chicago is going to be pushing it a bit. Chicago was fantastic, but there are a couple others I'd really like to do someday too.

I'm also looking around at something to run in the spring. Training in the winter is much easier (for me) than trying to deal with summer humidity. But I guess that's a problem for most. We have some decent local races around here, but I'm not really interested in running our marathon on April 29. They offer a half and a full and the half has been around a lot longer and is much more popular. The marathon turnout has been growing, but I still feel like the half is the race and the full is more of an afterthought. It may just be in my head, but the local marathon doesn't seem to excite me. I guess since a marathon takes so much training and effort, I'd like to choose wisely on what I'm going to participate in.

You could always try the Twin Cities Marathon if Chicago doesn't work out. It's the week before Chicago next year. It's a relatively flat course, and how many marathons let you run from one major city to another? It has good crowd support and is considered one of the most beautiful urban marathons in the country. Also, next year is it's 35th anniversary.

 

[Ariel484]

Gosh, they are really making you jump through hoops!

Have fun at your MRI... (I kid with the crazy face)

 

[canglim52]

Good luck on the MRI!!

 

[DopeyBadger]

Excellent news on the MRI. Hope you get it scheduled quickly.

They asked me when I wanted it and I said soonest appointment available. They said even if at 6:45am, I said yes. They said even if at 8:00pm, I said yes. They said ok, how about 11am on Tuesday (10/25). LOL, ok, sure! Sounds good to me!

Weird. It showed on mine initially and still does. Anyways, yeah that was the corral breakdown this year.

Just an FYI, Chicago signups for 2017 start really soon for non-guaranteed (November!.... whereas for this year I believe they were April). My wife told me last night that I needed to do it again. I was thinking about doing another fall location next year, but it will be the 40th anniversary so it might be even better/bigger. The good thing about the early registration is that if I don't happen to get in, I have plenty of time to maybe choose MCM or possibly throwing my name in for NYC. Although I'm planning to run the 2018 Disney marathon, so anything much later than Chicago is going to be pushing it a bit. Chicago was fantastic, but there are a couple others I'd really like to do someday too.

I'm also looking around at something to run in the spring. Training in the winter is much easier (for me) than trying to deal with summer humidity. But I guess that's a problem for most. We have some decent local races around here, but I'm not really interested in running our marathon on April 29. They offer a half and a full and the half has been around a lot longer and is much more popular. The marathon turnout has been growing, but I still feel like the half is the race and the full is more of an afterthought. It may just be in my head, but the local marathon doesn't seem to excite me. I guess since a marathon takes so much training and effort, I'd like to choose wisely on what I'm going to participate in.

Might just be my browser. I just looked that up now. Interesting they moved it from April to November. I wonder why?

The real key to a spring marathon is getting lucky on the spring race day weather. Many times I train all winter in great temps and then here comes an early summer... Going forward I'm really going to be cautious about spring marathons if going for a max effort.

You could always try the Twin Cities Marathon if Chicago doesn't work out. It's the week before Chicago next year. It's a relatively flat course, and how many marathons let you run from one major city to another? It has good crowd support and is considered one of the most beautiful urban marathons in the country. Also, next year is it's 35th anniversary.

That could be an option for me as well since I'm about in the middle of Minnesota and Chicago.

Gosh, they are really making you jump through hoops!

Have fun at your MRI... (I kid with the crazy face)

My sister said that insurance commonly takes the max amount of time allotted, which for this case was apparently around 14 days. Thankfully the call came pretty quick today and everything was taken care of fairly easy.

Good luck on the MRI!!

Thanks!

 

[surfde22]

That could be an option for me as well since I'm about in the middle of Minnesota and Chicago.

Yeah, that could work for you, and you don't have to worry about a lottery with Twin Cities. I mean they had spots available during the expo this year.

 

[DopeyBadger]

Womp Womp... MRI has been pushed back to Monday, Oct. 31st. Apparently they had my MRI scheduled on a machine that was inappropriate for what they were looking for. So that was the next available appointment on an appropriate machine.

 

[roxymama]

Womp Womp... MRI has been pushed back to Monday, Oct. 31st. Apparently they had my MRI scheduled on a machine that was inappropriate for what they were looking for. So that was the next available appointment on an appropriate machine.

Booo! Well, that's my daughter's birthday, so maybe that date has some good mojo going for you.

Also, you should go dressed in costume.

 

[DopeyBadger]

Booo! Well, that's my daughter's birthday, so maybe that date has some good mojo going for you.

Also, you should go dressed in costume.

That's my sister's birthday too. Twinsies! That's not a half bad idea. Hmm costume idea for an MRI...

 

[roxymama]

I feel like Frankenstein's monster would be good. Lie very still and then when they finally say you can move..then you can come alive on the table...must be accompanied by groaning monster noises.

That or maybe if you owned a Hanson's singlet and women's WI shorts you could go as a Dopey Badger???

 

[DopeyBadger]

I feel like Frankenstein's monster would be good. Lie very still and then when they finally say you can move..then you can come alive on the table...must be accompanied by groaning monster noises.

That or maybe if you owned a Hanson's singlet and women's WI shorts you could go as a Dopey Badger???

OMG! I might actually have to do that. You think they'll find it as funny as we do???

LOL, at the Dopey Badger...