Chicago Marathon 2013 Training: A Recap in Numbers

Now that I'm in the midst of my easy training week before the 2013 Chicago Marathon, I thought I'd look back on my eight weeks of marathon training with some stats:

Chicago Marathon Training Stats (8 weeks):
Number of days in training cycle:	56
Number of days run:	56
Number of training runs:	82
Average weekly run count:	10
Number of 16 mile long runs completed:	2
Number of "tune-up" races:	1
Number of strength workouts:	28
Number of yoga sessions:	11

Now for some graphs....

Average pace was 7:54/mile over the eight weeks.

Average mileage was 44/week over the eight weeks

Analysis: So, how does this all this training mileage translate into a marathon finish time? Well, I made this handy chart which shows my weekly mileage training for my previous marathons and the corresponding finish times based on those numbers:

Previous average training mileage in relation to my marathon finish time

Last year my average pace in the last 3 weeks of training was a 7:55. This year my average pace over the last 3 weeks of training was 7:32. This probably means I am a little more fit than last year.

Prediction: If all goes to plan and the weather is nice, a sub-3:10:40 (sub-7:15/mile) will be mine! :).

Caveat: The weather was near perfect for the 2012 Chicago Marathon, so if the temps are a few degrees too hot on Sunday, I will drop the yellow line down a level and be happy with a 3:11 (BQ -14) to 3:23 (BQ -2).

Running Streak: BTW, my running streak will end this week (Thursday) at 60 days. It was nice knowing ya Mr. 60-Day Streak, but I need a couple of days of complete recovery before Sunday!

Conclusion: Numbers are nice, but all of this analysis could all go out the window if race day is hot, or I start off too fast like a usually do. We shall see...