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4 Hour Marathon...Should I try? (Read 1706 times)

runnerclay


Consistently Slow

    Congrats on a solid race!

     +1

    My motto " Make the last mile your best mile"

    mile 26**8:02 WTG.

     

    Race report needed.Smile

    Run until the trail runs out.

     SCHEDULE 2016--

     The pain that hurts the worse is the imagined pain. One of the most difficult arts of racing is learning to ignore the imagined pain and just live with the present pain (which is always bearable.) - Jeff

    unsolicited chatter

    http://bkclay.blogspot.com/

      holy crap.  I'm no marathon runner but it seems you not only trusted your training you outpaced your training. 

       

       

       

       

      keeponrunning


        holy crap.  I'm no marathon runner but it seems you not only trusted your training you outpaced your training. 

         +1

        Sulphur Springs 50km-- Ancaster, ON-- May 28, 2022

        Tally in the Valley 12 hours-- Dundas, ON -- July 30, 2022 (Support SickKids Toronto)

        Stokely Creek-- 56km-- Sault Ste. Marie, ON-- Sept. 24, 2022

         

         

           

           

           

            Awesome, awesome work!  I'm shooting for sub four this year, too, and I can only hope to end as strong as you did.

             

            Inspiring!

            "When a person trains once, nothing happens. When a person forces himself to do a thing a hundred or a thousand times, then he certainly has developed in more ways than physical. Is it raining? That doesn't matter. Am I tired? That doesn't matter, either. Then willpower will be no problem." 
            Emil Zatopek

            TeaOlive


            old woman w/hobby

              Awesome, awesome work!  I'm shooting for sub four this year, too, and I can only hope to end as strong as you did.

               

              Inspiring!

               yes!

              steph  

               

               

              RadarLuv



                Race report needed.Smile

                 

                 

                Thanks everyone!  A little info on my training.  90% of my running is on hilly trails, so the effort/pace would be different if it were on flat roads.  I did my long runs on a flat bike path to simulate the race conditions.

                 

                 

                I decided on the bus ride to the start that I would try to go out at 9:09 pace and see what happened.  At the time I thought it was aggressive, but what the heck.  I trained hard, ran the long runs at slower pace, tapered well, and felt great that morning.  55 degrees at the start.

                 

                During the first mile I thought the crowd was moving way too slow and was looking forward to it thinning out.  Still in the crowd at 3/4 mile and looked at the Garmin- 8:50.  Wow, I thought its was going to read over 10:00!  I slowed down in fear, and hit 9:03 for mile 1.  One screen of my Garmin was set to current mile pace, and I just tried to stay in each mile and hit 9:00 +/-.  Turns out there were many others trying for the 4 hour mark, and we ended up in a large pack of about 20 for the first 4 miles.

                 

                 Around mile 4 there was a long downhill section.  I relaxed and just thought about leg turnover.  At the bottom I was running alone.  I caught up to a woman and we paced each other at 9:00 pace for the next 6 miles.  I do most of my training alone and found working with her to really help!  We came to the only uphill I remember on the course.  I kept the 9:00 pace and was alone at the top. 

                 

                My only mistake of the race was at 5 hours earlier.  I was using Bodyglide and thought it would be a good idea to apply some to my nipples, and then put on the band-aids.  Yep, around mile 11 I noticed the band-aids were gone, and I was wearing a white shirt.  I became "that guy".  At first I was embarrassed, but later in the race it became a badge of honor.  My wife has banned white shirts from all future races.

                 

                I hit the 13.1 mile point at 1:58 and still felt great.  A little down hill section gave me a mile under 9:00, so I decided to tempt the "wall" and stay in the 8:5x range the rest of the way.  No one passed me the rest of the race.  This felt great for a while, but gave me no one to surge or pace with the rest of the way.  Miles 14-19 went by in a flash, I don't remember much about them.

                 

                The last 6 miles were on a remote section of bike path along the Hudson river.  No crowd support, full sun exposure (75 degrees at this point), and passing many, many people at various levels of distress.  I found this section to be the biggest mental challenge I have ever faced.  I think with crowd support and/or other runners at my pace, this section would have been much easier.  The downside of a negative split a I guess.  At mile 24 I told my body, the faster you run these last two miles, the sooner we can stop!  There was crowd support for the last mile, and that really helped.  I finished with my fastest mile of the day at 8:03. 

                 

                It was a wonderful experience.  I am proud of the way I trained and ran my first marathon, and I am already thinking about running another in May.  Thanks everyone!

                LedLincoln


                not bad for mile 25

                  I am proud of the way I trained and ran my first marathon, and I am already thinking about running another in May.

                   

                  Rightfully so!  Great job, and thanks for the report.

                  runnerclay


                  Consistently Slow

                    Great report. Thanks.

                    Run until the trail runs out.

                     SCHEDULE 2016--

                     The pain that hurts the worse is the imagined pain. One of the most difficult arts of racing is learning to ignore the imagined pain and just live with the present pain (which is always bearable.) - Jeff

                    unsolicited chatter

                    http://bkclay.blogspot.com/

                    Mrcrumpton


                      Congrats on a GREAT Race and thanks for the report! Keep striving!

                      2013 Goals

                      • 5K-20:00
                      • 10K-44:00
                      • 1/2 Marathon-1:38
                      • Marathon-3:30
                      • Complete 50 Miler

                       

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