I hope everyone's training is going well. It's less than 2 weeks until the Chicago Half Marathon and I have been training out of my mind. Ok, well, the training I've been doing is for the Chicago Marathon, but still. In just over 8 weeks of training I have put in over 224 miles of running. I've gone from an average of about a 9:30 min/mile down to about a 9:00 min/mile. My goal is to finish the Chicago Half Marathon in less than 2 hours and the Chicago Marathon in under 4:30. Time will tell if these goals are attainable but I am confident that if I give it my best then I will conquer.
New Training Aids
This years racing got off to a slow and painful start with my knee acting up quite a lot and no matter what brace or sleeve I tried, it would always swell up during my runs which started a cascade of issues including my calf cramping and eventually my foot would go numb. Unfortunately, I had these issues during my first few races this year including a poor showing at the Chicago Spring Half Marathon and the Soldier Field 10 miler.
On the advice from a friend, I purchased a new sleeve for my knee with the hopes that it would help alleviate the in-run swelling. I purchased my Copper Wear Knee Sleeve but did not receive it in time for my spring races. After I got the sleeves in the mail I immediately started using them and noticed an immediate improvement. Since getting them, I no longer have any issues with in-run swelling in my knee nor any of the other issues related to it. I have all so improved my stride and cadence to better suit my running style which may have contributed to the improvement but the sleeves were very helpful nonetheless.
Just recently, I have added Tailwind Nutrition Endurance Fuel to my training regimen and have noticed substantial improvement in my energy levels during my run. I am still just starting out with it but felt it was worth mentioning for anyone looking for an energy boost during long training runs or races. I plan on incorporating it into my half and full marathon races as well as the Huff 50k that I plan on running in December. I have been using the Caffeinated Raspberry Buzz, which contains caffeine for an extra boost but will be purchasing the non-caffeinated version as well. I will post more about it later on once I've really had the opportunity to evaluate it's effectiveness during long endurance races.
Good luck to everyone in their upcoming events!
