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This page is a history of my road to the Chicago Marathon on 11 October 1998. Previous visitors (does anyone ever actually come here twice?) will notice that the page has been reorganized with only "interesting" diary entries provided and the progressive data given in a table on this page. Please note that this is not a training plan, but rather a log of what I did. If you read the diary entries, you'll find that a lot of what I did was dictated by circumstances completely irrelevant to any training plan.
| The diary |
9 January
The background
12 January
Buying shoes
9 February
Disillusionment
25 February
Ash Wednesday
5 March
The fast mile
15 March
Snow and Girl Scouts
22 March
Not the Shamrock Shuffle
19 April
Feeling good, feeling not so good
8 May
Buying shoes--a good experience!
10 May
Out of rhythm
17 May
Time, distance, heat
19 May
That explains it
26 June
Pain in the side
26 July
Chicago Distance Classic
31 July
Did they have to tell me?
24 August
The mysterious abilities of the human body
15 September
The sudden breakdown of the human body
6 October
The last pre-marathon update
11 October
The main event
| The training log |
| Week | Weight | Long Run | Long Run Time | Marathon time at that pace | Rest of week walk/run distance | Bicycle distance | Fast Mile Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1/12 | 235 | 0.38 | 0:02:40 | 3:06:19 | |||
| 1/19 | 235 | 0.50 | 0:04:05 | 3:33:58 | 15.25 | ||
| 1/26 | 232 | 0.75 | 0:06:19 | 3:40:40 | 20.00 | ||
| 2/1 | 230 | 0.75 | 0:06:09 | 3:34:50 | 15.75 | ||
| 2/8 | 233 | 0.88 | 0:07:26 | 3:42:35 | 20.00 | ||
| 2/15 | 233 | 1.00 | 0:08:10 | 3:33:58 | 28.00 | ||
| 2/22 | 232 | 1.12 | 0:10:18 | 3:59:53 | 13.25 | ||
| 3/1 | 230 | 1.25 | 0:11:37 | 4:03:29 | 28.50 | 8:03 | |
| 3/8 | 227 | 1.50 | 0:13:42 | 3:59:18 | 16.25 | ||
| 3/15 | 224 | 1.75 | 0:17:44 | 4:25:30 | 28.00 | 8:12 | |
| 3/22 | 225 | 2.00 | 0:21:47 | 4:45:22 | 24.50 | ||
| 3/29 | 225 | 2.50 | 0:29:11 | 5:05:50 | 20.00 | 20.0 | |
| 4/5 | 226 | 3.00 | 0:29:41 | 4:17:47 | 22.50 | 12.1 | 7:52 |
| 4/12 | 224 | 3.50 | 0:34:18 | 4:16:46 | 25.50 | 50.5 | |
| 4/19 | 225 | 2.00 | 0:19:45 | 4:18:44 | 16.00 | ||
| 4/26 | 224 | 26.50 | 40.4 | ||||
| 5/3 | 223 | 21.50 | |||||
| 5/10 | 222 | 2.90 | 0:32:17 | 4:51:40 | 26.00 | 11.1 | |
| 5/17 | 221 | 3.00 | 0:32:44 | 4:45:52 | 07.50 | 11.3 | |
| 5/24 | 220 | 3.90 | 0:43:22 | 4:51:20 | 20.00 | 61.1 | |
| 5/31 | 221 | 3.90 | 0:45:30 | 5:05:40 | 20.50 | 29.6 | |
| 6/7 | 220 | 5.90 | 1:04:46 | 4:47:36 | 12.75 | 26.6 | |
| 6/14 | 219 | 5.10 | 1:00:00 | 5:08:14 | 21.50 | 14.4 | |
| 6/21 | 219 | 3.90 | 0:36:40 | 4:06:19 | 28.25 | 29.5 | |
| 6/28 | 218 | 5.80 | 1:12:51 | 5:29:05 | 30.25 | 07.5 | |
| 7/5 | 220 | 7.20 | 1:28:39 | 5:22:35 | 20.75 | 18.8 | |
| 7/12 | 220 | 23.00 | 38.8 | ||||
| 7/19 | 217 | 5.90 | 1:15:00 | 5:33:03 | 23.25 | 06.2 | |
| 7/26 | 217 | 12.40 | 2:23:59 | 5:04:13 | 20.00 | 06.6 | |
| 8/2 | 220 | 14.75 | 35.8 | ||||
| 8/9 | 220 | 4.00 | 0:49:33 | 5:24:33 | 19.26 | 12.7 | |
| 8/16 | 217 | 05.25 | 25.6 | ||||
| 8/23 | 215 | 17.00 | 3:50:36 | 5:55:24 | 10.75 | ||
| 8/30 | 19.50 | 0.9 | |||||
| 9/6 | 6.00 | 12.2 | |||||
| 9/13 | 10.00 | 1:58:19 | 5:09:59 | 6.00 | 20.6 | ||
| 10/11 | 220 | 26.20 | 6:22:06 |