Chicago weather adjustments

At least 5 minutes...probably closer to 10 for most people.

It's ok weather. Could be better but nothing to worry about. Pour water on top of your head at every aid station and you'll be just fine.

62 is not a high dewpoint. It will be warm( for a marathon) but the weather is as expected. They have water. Use it.

62 wouldn’t be bad. I was seeing closer to 67-70, which would be uncomfortable. Was thinking 2-3 minutes slow.

youre exaggerating wrote:

62 is not a high dewpoint. It will be warm( for a marathon) but the weather is as expected. They have water. Use it.

Why does LRC always gotta be like this? 62 is fine but still requires an adjustment over 26.2. Something closer to 70 & it requires a much bigger one. Nobody is trying to be soft, or whatever. Weather influences time in a big way. You really want to see something under 50.

For those of us running, any tips on what to do? Drink a cup, pour a cup on my head? Curious as to what people have done to help with temps higher than ideal

As much as some don't want to hear it, you slow down when the temps get higher. Focus on place perhaps? If you run smarter you will pass many people in that second half whom went out too fast.

The weather isn't horrible but it will most likely have a negative impact on most who are trying to get the most out of themselves on the given day.

Yep, this 100%. Lock into marathon effort & place better than the people around you who tried to run their normal marathon pace in bad conditions.

As for cooling tips -- ice vest pre race if you have one. Wear a hat. Water on your head every time it's available. See if your race will have ice. Put it in your hat, down your shirt/shorts, hold on your wrists, etc.

n9 wrote:

It's ok weather. Could be better but nothing to worry about. Pour water on top of your head at every aid station and you'll be just fine.

This is what I did in Berlin. It helped until some point when the sun glares down in the middle of the day and you just start to feel that heat. Worse than the direct heat was actually the high humidity. Anyhow these are not easy conditions but they are not all out terrible.

HalIncandeza wrote:

For those of us running, any tips on what to do? Drink a cup, pour a cup on my head? Curious as to what people have done to help with temps higher than ideal

I grabbed two at each aid station in Berlin. One went over my head and one I started sipping. Also be careful to not overhydrate, depending on how much you sweat. Your body can only handle so much water and by overdoing it you will cause a whole slew of other symptoms. I drank to thirst and that worked perfectly. On my skin a lot of that water felt better than in my stomach. But again this is personal but I am sure you did a long run in the heat this summer so just go off by the rough water needs you had then.

This isn’t looking like the worst weather ever but it’s certainly not looking good. The humidity worries me more than the temps. I ran a 10k on Sunday where the weather was 67 degrees with 89% humidity and it was just very uncomfortable. That’s essentially what’s being forecasted for Chicago.

I am registered for Chicago but am seriously considering calling an audible and finding another race in a week or two. Maybe a bit dramatic but aside from the actual experience of running Chicago, I don’t want to waste all of the training on a day just not suited well for a marathon.

As a Floridian - whatever the temp/humidity is in Chicago will be better than any of my training runs. The humidity here is pegged at 100% with dew points in the 70s at 5-6am every day. I was hoping for temps in the 50s so the current forecast is not ideal, but we can't control the weather.

rundumdum wrote:

This isn’t looking like the worst weather ever but it’s certainly not looking good. The humidity worries me more than the temps. I ran a 10k on Sunday where the weather was 67 degrees with 89% humidity and it was just very uncomfortable. That’s essentially what’s being forecasted for Chicago.

I am registered for Chicago but am seriously considering calling an audible and finding another race in a week or two. Maybe a bit dramatic but aside from the actual experience of running Chicago, I don’t want to waste all of the training on a day just not suited well for a marathon.

Was your 10k slower than normal? How much slower?

I just ran it at goal marathon pace as a tuneup. I was definitely able to do that pretty comfortably but another 20 in those conditions and I think I would have slowed considerably.

Again, I think it’s just a matter of what’s important for someone. Amazing big city experience in less than ideal conditions or a good outlook of better weather but not in Chicago.

rundumdum wrote:

This isn’t looking like the worst weather ever but it’s certainly not looking good. The humidity worries me more than the temps. I ran a 10k on Sunday where the weather was 67 degrees with 89% humidity and it was just very uncomfortable. That’s essentially what’s being forecasted for Chicago.

I am registered for Chicago but am seriously considering calling an audible and finding another race in a week or two. Maybe a bit dramatic but aside from the actual experience of running Chicago, I don’t want to waste all of the training on a day just not suited well for a marathon.

What was the dew point? Humidity isn't the death knell.

Yea, I’m not sure. Good question. Don’t really know much about dew point TBH.

rundumdum wrote:

Yea, I’m not sure. Good question. Don’t really know much about dew point TBH.

You could look back at the weather from that date and find it.

High humidity and an average dew point isn't that oppressive.

My goal is sub 3:00 and my workouts seem to indicate I could do that in good conditions, maybe faster.

Since I think I have some room to spare, my plan is to just religiously keep to like 2:59:40 pace and try not to bank any extra time even if I feel good. I wouldn't be that aggressive if I didn't think I had some margin of error.

I will then try to give an honest self-assessment 5 miles and 10 miles in as to whether I should back off and readjust my goals. Worst thing that happens is a painful last hour. At this point I just want a marathon in the books after the last two years of Covid.

I'm personally somewhat reassured by the fact that I did all my long runs in hotter weather. This is the first season where I caved and carried a water bottle on the long runs (on a little backpack type thing which judge fits a single water bottle). I always hated carrying anything running, but I soon realized how much proper hydration made those hot long runs more bearable, especially as I get older. Stopping at a water fountain every so often was inadequate to that task. I have no plans to carry a water bottle, but just to try to consume as much water as I can to mimic the long runs.

Good luck everyone.

Which corral are you starting in? I have the same plan as you except I wasn’t going to try and up the pace until 13.1 and/or at 16-17 mi.