Marathon Trainers

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5/5 - 5/11 (Read 188 times)


Dave

    Another week of beautiful weather on the east coast. The flowers are in full bloom, the humidity and the bugs are weeks away, and runners seem to be everywhere. Cross training and 2 miles on the treadmill for me though. Leg felt better after my run than before. Things are looking promising. Easy miles to all...

    I ran a mile and I liked it, liked it, liked it.

    dgb2n@yahoo.com


    Oh Mighty Wing

      Dave - glad to hear your legs are feeling better! man those 3 miles were nice... hot, but nice felt like i could have gone on forever!


      Happy Camper

        Nice evening for a run here also. Did the daily double today. 14 & change total. Hope my legs aren't too dead tomorrow morning. Signed up for a 5-miler this weekend.

        Determination: The feeling you get right before you try something incredibly stupid.

          OK, here it is... It was a perfect day for a race. Mid 40s at the start, high in the 60. No breeze. My tp and I got to the start "late" as he had to make a pit stop. The start was delayed by about 15 minutes though due to a fire somewhere on the marathon course. But we started way back in the pack. It was reeally congested getting by walkers and slower runners for the first 4 miles. The course starts downtown Cincinnati, crosses a bridge into Kentucky, along the river and back to Cincinnati around mile 3-4. Made the mistake of taking the sidewalk on the bridge back as it seemed less crowded. Got stuck in a single file log jam going over it. I dont have good splits troughout, but heres the first miles 11:21 9:43 9:00 10:07 10:08 9:39 dead on a 10 minute pace for the first 6 miles. The first mile slowness was due to the crowd, as was mile 4/5. ALthough my legs were feeling really heavy and my tp commented that I was really shuffling while we were together the first couple miles. I did get ahead of him around mile 4..but by no more than a minute or so. My garmin lost signal as we went back through downtown, and when I tried to set lap time, I stopped the clock..so no more splits except those that were provided by the race. The real uphills start during miles 6-8. I struggled a bit, and took a variety of short walk breaks, but kept plugging away. But at a slower pace. After I reached the peak in Eden Park--which offers a great view of the RIver from way up high, we turned off from the marathoners in about a mile. Had some more rolling hills..My pace was really slowing. I think I had a couple 12 minute miles in here. 9 mile time was 1:34:00 Nice long downhill where I plugges away at a good pace. Struggled on the last mile and had to walk right up to the shoot. Finished in 2:18:00...about one minute ahead of the full marathon winner. I was able to watch him come in right at the gate. I joked before the marathon about this possibility and said Id try to get in the picture as if I were racing the winner. However they did a good job with seperate 1/2 and full marathon lanes...hehheh. Turns out my tp beat me by a couple minutes neither of us realized he passed me. He's come a long way. And is really looking forward to the full. He had a lot of energy after the finish and wasnt hurting as much as I was. Walked around a bit, went home and napped. Shortly after I got up from bed I had a really bad dizzy spell. Kept on listing to the right side, and could barely walk. I sent the wife out to get some food, and started feeling better. Realized I hadnt eaten or drank since the 1/2. Awesome goodies. The marathoners got a technical shirt and a t-shirt. Us half marathoners just got a t shirt. We all got a real nice canvas duffle bag, and a poster. THe medal is just OK. Thought for the 10th anniversary it would be a bit more. But it is a cool design. Also got a towel at the finish. Feeling better now, and motivated to get my ass in gear. All in all 2:18:00 wasnt the time I hoped for, but considering my best full is 5:09:00, really wasnt too bad. Now to focus and keep with my plan for the USAFM
          Cashmason


            Good job of hanging in there Murph. I get dizzy if I don't eat. Cranky too.


            Oh Mighty Wing

              Murphy - good job on the race! I also have been known to get dizzy if I don't eat. Pace- daily double as in ran 2x in one day? How often are you doing this?


              Bugs

                Murphy, That's a pretty amazing time considering how little you've been running. Shan, How's the knee? I'm feeling good, a little tired but good. Tried to swim last night, didn't do so good. It's not like riding a bike. Annoyed the hell out of me it was so hard again.

                Bugs

                  Thanks for all of the great advise leading upto my race, I might have actually used all of it. I tried thinking of what I'd be writing in my race report, that worked for a while. I even got down to "left, right, repeat" and that worked for a while. Well, here it is: The weather was absolutely perfect at the start of the race. Sunny, about 40 degrees and barely a breeze. By the end it was 65 and maybe 15 MPH wind, so can't really complain. For the first half, everything went exactly like I wanted. I felt absolutely great so the taper must have been about right. Here are the splits: (1) 9:20 (bit congested and I wanted to start a little slower than goal pace) (2) 9:09 (See dancing Elvis on the side of the road with his boombox, awesome) (3) 9:15 (nasty hill slowed me down a bit) (4) 8:58 (5) 8:55 (6) 8:44 (maybe a bit too fast, but I felt really good) (7) 8:53 (8) 9:04 (little kids with a sign, "Free 5s", pretty cute. I gave them a 5) (9) 9:00 (10) 8:53 (11) 8:57 (12) 9:02 (13) 8:55 My half split was 1:59:24 There were about 1200 people running the full out of the 6000 total, so it started getting a bit lonely on the 2nd half, though the crowd support was amazing the entire way. At the half, I was really wondering what the big deal was, this marathon thing isn't bad at all. Tried to keep remembering that mile 20 was the 1/2 way point, but it just wasn't sinking in yet (more on this later). It was hard hearing the guy's voice on the loudspeaker as people were finishing the half, and I still had 13 miles left. Oh well, still feeling good. (14) 8:58 (15) 8:57 (16) 8:56 (17) 8:59 (18) 9:05 Still feeling decent, but starting to feel little twangs in the calves and quads. Before the race, I was a little worried about the shin splints that pop up from time to time, but they never did say a thing, and didn't hurt after the race either. Good news there. About this time we get out by the lake, so it's hillier getting up and down the dam and quite a bit windier. Oh, I might be getting a little tired too. (19) 9:15 (20) 9:15 (21) 9:08 I'm thinking I can still hold this together. My goal had been to get to mile 23, then tell myselft that it's basically just a 5k. I can run a 5k, and they usually hurt anyway. Surely the last few miles of a marathon can't be much worse than that, right? Also, my stomach was giving me hints that tossing in that last gel around mile 20 wasn't a good idea, so I didn't. Tried to take plenty of gatorade with the water. (22) 9:22 (uh oh, not good) (23) 10:01 (first small walk break through a water station) (24) 10:40 (hello Mr. Wall, my name's Brian) (25) 10:56 (Mr. Wall, please let me finish this thing) (26) 12:28 (ouch) (.36) 3:27 (At least I finished the last half mile or so running) Chip time: 4:06:41 Gun time: 4:09:08 10k: 56:31 1st Half: 1:59:24 20 mile: 3:01:32 Last 10k: 1:05:10 So, I finished on my feet, but not below the 4 hours I wanted. Can't be too upset, I went for it, and just fell a few miles short. Next time, more miles in training I guess. Not at all a bad experience. I had a BLAST, and will be back for more. I came out of this with more questions than answers, so will probably mix those into posts in the upcoming days. Thanks again for all of the advise and well wishes.
                  evanflein


                    Wow, two RR's on page one! How fun is that! You guys both deserve some real kudos here. Murphy, you're right, considering your best marathon time is 5:09, that half time isn't so bad at all! If you could get some consistency in your training, I think you'd really surprise yourself with how well you'd do. As you say...get your ass in gear and keep the goal in mind! Sounds like a hilly run you had. (and work on that post-run recovery food business... have something on hand and ready before you start so it'll be there when you're done and exhausted!) HuskerBrian, good job on holding the wall at bay! You are so close to that sub-four... I remember when Bugs was almost there. She blasted through it on her last marathon, I think she said the key was adequate rest and a good nutrition plan before and during the race (right, Bugs?). You were smart to listen to your stomach on that last gel, but actually I find that Gatorade makes me queezy at the end. We're all an experiment of one, as they say (who is "they" anyway?), and gotta find what works for us. Good race though. What's next? P2R, I do like how you run those doubles. I've thought of trying that when working on building mileage, but while it's hard to find the time mid-week to run a MLR, finding times twice a day would be really difficult for me... Hi Bugs and Shan, you ladies doing ok? I actually got up early and ran this morning. Out on the road by 5:10 a.m. Wow are the birds noisy then! Hardly any traffic though... this town isn't much for early morning commuters I guess. Ran 6.2 miles in 52 minutes, almost froze my ears off though. Was only 33F that early. DH is in Denver this week and the boys both have really full soccer schedules in the evenings, and we're down to only one vehicle (DH's truck at the body shop for a re-do on a door job) so early a.m. is the only time. Same thing for Thursday. Tomorrow evening looks ok for a run though so that'll be nice.


                    Oh Mighty Wing

                      go Husker go Husker go Husker! Glad it went soo well!! You were really close to your goal and next time you will make it!! Bugs - knee is feeling fine so far! Gonna run 3 tomorrow, maybe 5 another day, and maybe a longer run of some amount Saturday... all depending on how i'm feeling of course!! Will re-evaluate the knee after each run haha... it was definitely tired yesterday after a tough workout at the gym - I really hiked the weight up so I knew I was probably going to make it a little tired - but that's probably not a bad thing either. Erika - wow - you go girl for getting up and running early! I get up at 5 and get ready for work, but that's not much activity! haha
                        Brian, great marathon!! You hung on and put in a great time. And you have a good goal for the next one. At my best prepared, I start losing it around mile 20, and when I lose it I REALLLY lose it. Case in point, last year's USAFM, I hit the half way point in 2:10:11 and finished in 5:11:02. So, you did really well holding it together as long as you did, and to finish running and not put up the 14 minute-16 minute splits Ive been known for. Shan--Great to see you here and running.. I really WANT to go for a run tonight--but the lawn is screaming to be cut. Think I'll put in a short easy run. Working on putting together a realistic training schedule for the September marathon. Its all about putting the miles in.


                        Oh Mighty Wing

                          murphy - thanks - it's good to be out there! I hope this week goes well it will certainly help give me the drive to keep getting out there! I hope you keep getting out there too in preparation!


                          Dave

                            Wonderful race report, Brian. I agree with Murph that you did a great job holding it together. Your next one will be under 4 for sure. I'm not really sure how I will hold up if I were to push all the way through. On my one and only marathon, I ended up with walk breaks between miles 15 and around 20 to support a running partner. I picked it up for the last 10K but I have no idea how it would've gone without those slower miles in the middle. Shans running, Shans running, Shans running (same motion as used for go Brian Wink ) Very cool. P2R. Doubles .... Your 5 miler will feel like a warmup. Erika, good job on the 10K. Great training distance. I got my first "real run" in today. Beautiful weather. Went out for 4 and ended up doing 5. Leg held up very well but I babied it. Unreal how quickly my conditioning melted away. Much higher heart rate for a very modest pace. Oh well, felt great to get back out there. Will take a rest day tomorrow and try and run again Thursday and Friday for a 20 mile week Big grin

                            I ran a mile and I liked it, liked it, liked it.

                            dgb2n@yahoo.com


                            Oh Mighty Wing

                              go dave, oh yeah, go dave, oh yeah!!!!!!!!


                              Happy Camper

                                Murph: I agree it is a good 1/2 time. It shows you can improve the marathon time. You just need to get the miles in. HuskerB: Congratulations on the debut. Great time! Very even splits for your first. ShanHas: I did double run days twice last week. Both second runs were at recovery pace or less than 60% of Heart Rate Reserve. This week I did 20 on Sunday. 2@7miles yesterday, both at 60-70% HRR or Easy Pace and 7 this morning at 70-80% HRR or Aerobic Pace. What I'm trying to do is run at higher intensity when tired instead of slowing down. Hope it helps with longer races to keep going without the drop off. Same concept as back to back long run days except the intensity is higher and the distance is shorter. I think a tempo workout would do the same thing for me, I just can't push to tempo pace without a group run pull me along or so it seems. Erika: A 33F run would make me very grumpy.

                                Determination: The feeling you get right before you try something incredibly stupid.

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