2018 3:20 (and beyond) (Read 582 times)

I use the Howard Grubb one cause it lets me go back to the early 80s with my times.  And more distance options.

i can get a few things over 80% with my high school times.  Surprisingly the 800 is the highest (it still subtracts time at 18, which is funny cause I definitely didn’t get any faster).  The mile at age 7 also gets me 80+

i have an offer to be an archaeology technician in Mendocino national forest.  So I might be headed from one thread cluster area to another.  It’s only for a few months at this point, but we’ll see where it leads.  But I really want to go.

Brew - My quick advice on running form and limiting overstriding (and I know I can do this a lot better myself) is to think about what the task of your legs is when you are running, and that is to propel you forward. To do that you want them to push back. So when I feel my form suffering a bit I try to think that the job is to push the legs back when they hit the ground, and leave the other stuff alone. I think earlier my thoughts have been more on the "swing the leg forward"part of the running, and it still happens a lot, but to me this seems to help.

Doing some catch up...

 

DW -  Just wondering, what is your standard race morning breakfast? I've read things lately that jive a lot with your race preparation (no big meals the day before for instance) and I might try to experiment a bit in my halfs this fall.

So...I eat pretty much the same thing in the last 24 hours before a marathon or my 20+milers.

Breakfast each morning is brown rice mixed with either hemp powder or egg, and then salted and flavored with GUs, plus snacking on a GU gluten-free stroopwafel.   This is my pre-run breakfast  that is tried and true - digests well, passes quickly (especially if the GUs are caffeinated), and gives me plenty of energy.  I do have to be a bit selective with the GUs as I don't tolerate all of them equally well - some of the flavors (chocolate-mint especially) give me heartburn and aggravate my vocal chord dysfunction.  That's why I always note in my log exactly what I ate pre-run and whether it sat well.

I mix in the hemp powder or egg because I don't run well on pure carbs - I need some protein and fat to balance stuff out.  And those are both proteins that digest very easily.  I usuallly go with hemp powder just because it's easier to carry to races.  It was a pain to get to a race and then go hunting eggs and figuring out how to cook them in a hotel room.

Lunch the day before the marathon is my biggest meal.  Chipotle - some mix of steak or chicken and brown rice, plus chips.  Heavily salted.  No salsa, beans, or guac.  I usually get more than one bowl.  I'll often also ship up a can of green beans to add in so I get some veggies (the Chipotle onions are a bit risky, pre-race.

Dinner before the marathon is usually just UCAN mixed with coconut water.  Pre-Grandma's, I skipped dinner altogether.

Please note that this is all very individual to me.  I have all sorts of digestive troubles as well as chronic migraines and desperately need to avoid gluten, lactose, soy, nuts, MSG, tyramine (in aged/fermented foods), and artificial sweeteners at all times.  I can't function on them, let alone run or race.  Stuff like onions, salsa, lentils, beans is mildly problematic, digestion-wise, so I avoid immediately before a race but eat at other times.

I wouldn't recommend anyone else mimic my exact pre-race diet unless you have my exact same set of food intolerances/migraine triggers.  I do think it's good to nail down what your diet is the last 24 hours pre-goal race, and figure out how to execute that diet when traveling.  Everything I've listed above is either something that travels with me, or Chipotle.

Flats -- what constitutes a real flat? Is it weight and flatness? Which shoe are people buying?

I think a flat is defined by low heel drop and low stack-height.  And light weight goes with that.    It's all semantics.  Some call the Adios a "marathon flat" which to me is the running equivalent of jumbo shrimp.

I do consider my Takumi Sens to be flats.  For marathoning I've never worn a "true" (by my definition) flat.  I've worn (from fastest marathon to slowest): 1) Vaporfly; 2) Kinvara 2; 3-5)Adios 2 Boost, 6) Vaporfly, 7-9) Boston Boost.

I think the best test for what shoe to wear in your marathon is whatever shoe feels best at the end of a 20+ mile long run with marathon pace included in the run.  How my feet feel at the end of those workouts is EXACTLY how my feet feel from 20 miles plus in a marathon.

 

LuumoRun It works without your phone. It syncs with the GPS data from my Garmin. Kind of a process but the LumoRun syncs itself first and shows you 5 minute intervals. 5

So...I'm confused.  I get that you can run without your phone and it will sync up later.  So that's cool.  But don't you still need to have an iPhone to sync it up?  The website implies that it does not sync directly with computers and it definitely doesn't sync with Android.  So practically unusable if you don't have an IPhone since you can't pull data off of it.

Age-grading - I think we should have a hall of fame for anyone who hits 80% age grade in a marathon.  Ilana - I think you should round up.  For age-grading, I use Howard Grubb, with the 2015 factor (the other factor will give you a better score.

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11 miles.  5 miles easy (9:10), then 8 "hill strides" (60-70 seconds each) with 2:30 recovery jogging a loop back down to the bottom.  3 miles cool-down (9:28) plus injury prevention/leg strengthwork and some recovery swimming.

 

I think a flat is defined by low heel drop and low stack-height.  And light weight goes with that.    It's all semantics.  

In addition, most "racing flats" (as I call them) are a bit narrow and stiff.  e.g. I wouldn't call Altra Vanish or New Balance "minimus" shoes racing flats even thought they are light, low-to-the-ground and zero drop (as they are wide and very flexible)

The racing flat I used was New Balance Hanzo

Brew:  I agree with Dwave about not getting too caught up in the data, but at the same time, I think there is a place for experimentation.  For example, I have, in the past, run 200s where I focus on different aspects of running just to see how it impacts my pace.  It usually involves focusing on just one thing, such as a faster cadence, a slight forward lean from the ankles, more or less arm swing, keeping my head from bouncing up and down, or trying to get my feet off the ground more quickly.  I did find that there was a happy place that involved a faster cadence and slightly shorter stride from what I subconsciously believed would make me faster.  And even if my pace was slower when my cadence got beyond a certain point, it doesn't make an overly fast cadence a bad exercise/drill.  But, as with golf, there is a time for focusing on mechanics, and a time to play the game, so it wasn't something I thought much about except during those 200s.  One interesting difference between your data and mine is that my bounce goes down when I run faster, and yours goes up.  I don't know what that means...I just find it interesting.  What I've found works for me, in terms of being more efficient, is to just focus on "running quietly."  Perhaps this is why I struggle more with the shorter stuff...maybe I should be thinking about running more explosively?

fb:  2:55:41 and 37:14 at age 54, you say?  Hmm...I'm about to turn 54.  That gives me a year.    Oh, and I guess I won't be getting a Lumo.

pj:  Cool, congrats.  Do they need any music theorist/composer types?! 

My 1400s that I just bought are 10mm drop (had to look it up).  I can’t imagine calling them anything but racing flats (and new balance seems to agree)

They are tilted flats....

As I said before, I think "racing flats" are somewat self-defined.  Building on Rovatti's point, my Nike Frees are thin, light, and low heeldrop/low stackheight.  But I'd never race in them.  They are way too flexible to be fast

In a discussion elsewhere, someone described the Kinvara and the Boston Boost as racing flats.  I got a little eye-rolly.  Someone else described the Vaporfly as a racing flat.  I got very very eye-rolly.

Vertical oscillation - mine goes down as I run faster (Stryd and Garmin both measure it).  Stryd also measures "leg spring stiffness" which is supposed to decrease as you tire, but mine increases instead.  Go figure.

8 miles very easy to yoga (9:19), yoga, then 4 miles very easy (9:14) plus drills and strides.

I don't run well on pure carbs - I need some protein and fat to balance stuff out.

I've definitely found this to be true too.

10x400m w/ 200m jog (90, 88, 89, 91, 92, 92, 95, 91, 92, 93) today.

Happy 4th!