Recently, the Chicago Marathon announced that it was changing the qualifying times for guaranteed entry beginning with the 2025 Chicago Marathon. The qualifying times have been reduced across the board, but the magnitude of the change varies with age group. The age groups have also changed. Previously, qualifying times applied by decade (i.e. 20-29, 30-39, … Read more
At the beginning of the week, the weather was nice. But since then, the Northeast has been slammed by a heat wave that the media has dubbed the ‘heat dome.’ It’s the nature of marathon training through the summer that you have to suffer through some hot days. At first, it wasn’t too bad. But … Read more
Fall marathons are great. When it’s time to race, the temperatures are cooling off. There’s only one problem. You need to train through the summer – when heat and humidity can make your life miserable. As much as you might not always like running in the summer – or the winter – weather, you will … Read more
This week, we start to put the “race” in “racing season.” I’ve got two races coming up – the Fitzgerald’s 5k Lager Run (which I care about) and the RRVR Summer Series XC (which I’m not focusing on). My plan is to race the Lager Run, take it easy at the Summer Series XC race, … Read more
Next Sunday is my first race of the summer season – the Fitzgerald’s Lager Run 5k. After a couple decent workouts last week, I’ll ease up a bit this week. I’ll run an easier workout midweek to dial in race pace a bit, but I’ll skip the second workout of the week so I can … Read more
Last year, I focused heavily on marathons. I ran Philly (Nov 22), followed by Jersey City (April 23), followed by Erie (September 24). After Erie, I was able to work in a bit of training towards shorter, faster races. But I was only able to squeeze in about two months before it was time to … Read more
I still haven’t fully mapped out my training for the summer and the fall. But I have a general idea of how I’m going to approach things. The big looming date on my calendar is the Chicago Marathon on October 13. At some point, I’ll have to transition to traditional marathon prep for that. However, … Read more
Last weekend, I ran the RBC Brooklyn Half Marathon. It was a great race. I came up a few minutes short of my goal (1:25), but I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Imagine my surprise when I woke up the next morning and someone sent me a screenshot from the NYRR website. They had posted an article … Read more
The weather at this year’s Boston Marathon was warm – not crazy hot, but warm enough that it had a negative impact on runners’ performances. In conversations around the race, I heard a claim that piqued my interest – the heat had a worse impact on runners coming out of the winter. For many runners, … Read more
Five weeks ago, I ran the Jersey City Marathon. Normally, I’d take some time before another big race. But this weekend, I raced the RBC Brooklyn Half. The reason is that NYRR changed the rules for qualifying times for the NYC Marathon. Previously, you could get in with marathon or half marathon results from other … Read more