Chicago Marathon

Chicago Marathon

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

10 mile run

Today I turned 30, Yikes!  Time is running out till the marathon.  Today I did a 10 mile run after work.  It allowed me to burn off some of the calories from all the goodies I ate at work today.  It was a good run, I actually ran one way and did a loop around so I ran it back the opposite way.  I usually run the same way, this way actually allowed me to see the run in a different light.  I saw more of the land that I normally don't see because of what I am able to see in front of me.  I felt good, and will continue on my quest to the marathon.  Click the link below to see more details of my run.

10 Mile Run by marclindblom at Garmin Connect - Details

Monday, August 27, 2012

Night Run before the morning run

Less than 6 weeks to the Chicago Marathon!  With only 6 weeks left, I am going to have to put in some serious time running.  Tonight, I did not have a lot of time after work so I ran a little bit over 6 miles.  On normal days, that is good.  However training for the Marathon, the miles have to be a lot more than that.  However, when you don't have time on a particular day, you just have to do as much as you can do in the time frame that you have. 

With only running the six miles, I will be getting up early, around 5am to log some more miles.  I will atleast do 10.  I used to be able to get up early and work out/run without a problem.  Nowadays, it is a totally different story.  I will usually hit the alarm and decide on the sleep instead.  But I need to be motivated and get up. 

Running less than 12 hours apart, I will be a little sore when I wake up in the morning.  However, doing a couple of Ragnar Relay Races, has help me prepare for this.  Ragnar Relays are a great time, and I will get into what these are at a different time.  I actually have one coming up shortly after the Marathon in Tenesse in November.  If you would like to check out what the Ragnar is all about, please click on this www.ragnarrelay.com  I will post a quick post in the morning after my run.

Wauconda 10k by marclindblom at Garmin Connect - Details

Monday, August 20, 2012

Finding time to run and Tonights Run

One of the most difficult things I find about training for a marathon, is finding the time to run. Everyone has their own things going on with work, family, social life, and so on.

Running the marathon requires running almost every day for months leading up to the competition. Most of these runs will be 8,9,10 and more miles. Which can take and hour to two hours or more. So it is a good part out of your day. You can wake up early and get it done with, do it after work, late at night, or whenever you find the time. You just have to stay committed to the run. I usually try to do it after work once I get home. I usually get home around 6pm, so I change my clothes and run. Usually when I am done it will be anywhere from 7:15 to a little bit after 8.

Today, I had to come back and babysit my niece, so I only had a short time to run. So today I ran 7 miles, not a whole lot considering that everyday the marathon is fast approaching.

My plan for the rest of the week is as follows. Tomorrow (Tuesday) 10 miles, Wednesday 11 miles, Thursday 10 miles, Friday my running is in my soccer league, Saturday 15-16 miles, then rest on Sunday. I will update the blog after the runs. Below is my run from earlier tonight.

Untitled by marclindblom at Garmin Connect - Details

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Athlinks a great site for runners and to keep track of races



There are 5ks, 10ks, half-marathons, full marathons, going on all the time all over the country.  You just need to know where to look for them to find them.  You will hear about local ones in your town, or the one next to yours every so often.  Typically, a town or city will have a couple a year.  However, what if you want to do them a little more often or for a specific date.  I suggest you go to the website Athlinks. 

Athlinks is a great site I stumbled across when searching for races.  Once you go to the website, if you click on the event portion you are able to find some races that you might be able to run in.  You can put in the month and the type of race you are looking for.  It can be Triathlon, running, swimming, cycling, or you can search them all.  Then you can put in the state that you are looking for.  This will display races that are happening, when, and where.  It is great, it allows you to search for different courses, or for a race on a day you have free.  I have found a few races that I have participated in.  For most of the races they have the official website, so you are able to go there and find more information and register.

Also, at Athlinks, they have another great tool.  This tool will let you keep track of you races.  You actually "claim" your races.  So you can keep track of the time you ran, place, and pace.    So if I ran the Wauconda, Illinois 10k race, I can go and claim it.  What I need to do is first do the simple sign-up process.  This will allow you to claim races under your name.  Also, it will automatically claim the races and times for you that they see under your name in your home state.  If it is in a different state, you may need to manually claim it.

I like to look at a page, this will show you your progress over the months/years.  Click here to see my race results. 

There are more uses for this website that I will explore in the future, but in the meantime please go check Athlinks for your self.

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Run around the Lake by marclindblom at Garmin Connect - Details

When I got home from work today, I knew the run wasn't going to be enjoyable.  I felt the soreness from the run the day before.  However, I knew that I had to go out there and get it done.  There are going to be plenty of times during the marathon where I am going to want to quit and give up.  However, I just need to push through it and do the work.  The run today was at a slower pace, but I was able to do 7 miles.  7 miles is still far away from the 26.2 that I will run in October, but I will be building up.  I plan to add a mile or so a week on my daily runs.  All days can't be the same mileage, and I have to let my body heal. 

The run that is linked below is a run around Wauconda.  In Wauconda, there is Bang's Lake.  It is a great lake and a nice area.  Earlier in the year, I ran a 4 mile run around the lake called the Bunny Hop.  This race had a great crowd.  This time around however, I went a longer way around. 

Run around the Lake by marclindblom at Garmin Connect - Details

Monday, August 13, 2012

8.39 mile run by marclindblom at Garmin Connect - Details

8.39 mile run by marclindblom at Garmin Connect - Details

For the past two years, I have done the Wauconda 10k race.  I love the course and actually part of the course is on the street that I live on.  It is very hilly and scenic.  I have run it many times on my own, now that I am running for the marathon I have modified it and just made it longer for me to run.  The run I did today was 8.39 miles.  There are a lot of back roads and a couple of main roads.  If you click on the link it brings you to show you the run, it will give you more information.

Marc

Introduction

I have never thought that I would have a blog, I never really wanted one.  Either way, I am going to give this a shot and see how it goes.  I am mainly going to be posting about my runs and if there was anything out of the ordinary about them.  Within the last year, I bought a garmin watch.  It is fantastic, it will track my time, my pace, distance, and so much more.  It helps me keep track of my runs and how I am doing.  I will be posting these here on my wall.

So a little bit about me.  I'm Marc and I am 29 years old and I am currently in training for the Chicago Marathon on Sunday, October 7th, 2012.  So I have 54 more days to train and prepare for the marathon.  I am doing this blog so it will help me keep track of my training and for motivation.  I figure I can write about my runs and hopefully get some encouragement from doing so.

I have never ran a marathon and it has always been on my list of things to do.  Every year I wanted to sign up but I have never committed.  I finally signed up this year, and am going to complete it in October. 

My goals for the Chicago Marathon are pretty simple.  First and foremost I want to be able to complete it.  I also want to be able to run the whole time, however if I do need to stop and take a break and walk I will.  Third I would like a time under 5 hours.  Doing it under five hours is just around a 11:30 mile.  Which I should be able to do, however never running a marathon, I do not know how the last 10 miles will go.  How I will be pacing.  So I have the potential to beat it by a decent amount of time, however if I don't it will be ok.  Lastly, I just want to have fun doing it.  I know there is going to be a large crowd out there cheering us all on and they will help push me and keep me going. 

My history of running, is lately I have been running pretty much 5 days a week.  I run by myself and most of the time right now is where I live, which is in Wauconda.  When I run by myself I usually do it at a leisurely pace, somewhere around 9 minute a mile.  However, when I have done some 10ks this summer, I usually push it more and do it around 8.  When I was in high school, I used to run miles under the 6 minute mark, or multiple miles around 7.  But that was 12 years.  I am happy with my pace that I am currently running at. 


Thank you for taking time out and checking out my blog.  Eventually I'll get better at this and add pictures and make this page more attractive.  My blog is going to focus right now on getting ready for the marathon, it will outline my running activities and other activities as well.  Then I will be doing a relay race in November in Tennessee, so I will blog about getting ready for that.  Once I am done with these two events, I am thinking of doing P90X and I will blog about that.  If you have any suggestions on how I can make this blog better, please let me know.  Because I have no idea on what I am doing.

Marc