Forums >Racing>2018 3:20 (and beyond)
Problem Child
Throwback photo. I no longer have these glasses or shoes. Brooks Ravenna 8 I believe. I believe I'm overstriding big time and heel striking hard. This was an 8k.
Many of us aren't sure what the hell point you are trying to make and no matter how we guess, it always seems to be something else. Which usually means a person is doing it on purpose.
VDOT 53.37
5k18:xx | Marathon 2:55:22
Pace Prophet
New age group today. I had thought a 4:10 BQ to be ridiculous before, but now I am not sure I could even run that. Though that may not be relevant as I'm not sure when I'll be racing again...
Duke Of Bad Judgment
Ilana: I was just coming by to break the AG news, but you beat me to it: Happy NewAgeGroupDay!
Brew: I think that was too much sugar, and maybe too much complexity for your stomach. Also, you may need plain water to get the gel to work right.
80 mile DNF in Idaho. And I didn't see boiled potatoes at any aid stations - probably the first ultra ever where I haven't seen them. Perhaps they were there and I missed them, possible given my general problem about taking advantage of the aid stations at this race. More later, but it took 13 miles and six hours(!) between the time I first considered dropping and the time I arrived at a place I could drop. That sucked.
As Brew mentioned, I got some bad news in email when I reconnected yesterday. From the Euchre Bar Massacre RD: "Sorry to do this to you, but I just had a drop so you should be getting an invite to register." Aside from the event name, probably the only things you need to know is that this is mostly off-trail in an area with lots of poison oak, and it involves finding books and tearing pages out along the way.
You saying it's your birthday today? Happy Birthday!!
And guess what? We share a birthday! No new group for me though.
Mother of Cats
Ilana - happy new age group. As I think I've said before, with each age group, I think more of the competition becomes getting to the start line. That's why I never begrudge anyone in the higher age groups from getting an award when they were the only ones in their group.
Happy birthday to you also, Matt - good to see you here again.
Brewing - I can't determine anything about your stride from that picture.
Smax - condolences on both the DNF and the race entry. I can't believe there were no potatoes at an Idaho race. Shameful.
Did 12 miles today in the tattered remnants of hurricane Florence (less impressive than it sounds, since there's little left of the storm by this point). 3 warm-up (9:02), then 2000, 1600, 1200, 2x800 in 7:46, 6:16, 4:36, 3:02, 3:01. 3 mile cool-down (9:21) and then injury prevention work and recovery swimming.
Everyone's gotta running blog; I'm the only one with a POOL-RUNNING blog.
And...if you want a running Instagram where all the pictures are of cats, I've got you covered.
RIP Milkman
De-lurking to say that Kipchoge just ruined all my marathon age graded results
5K: 16:37 (11/20) | 10K: 34:49 (10/19) | HM: 1:14:57 (5/22) | FM: 2:36:31 (12/19)
Ilana - happy new age group. As I think I've said before, with each age group, I think more of the competition becomes getting to the start line. That's why I never begrudge anyone in the higher age groups from getting an award when they were the only ones in their group. Happy birthday to you also, Matt - good to see you here again. Brewing - I can't determine anything about your stride from that picture. Smax - condolences on both the DNF and the race entry. I can't believe there were no potatoes at an Idaho race. Shameful. Did 12 miles today in the tattered remnants of hurricane Florence (less impressive than it sounds, since there's little left of the storm by this point). 3 warm-up (9:02), then 2000, 1600, 1200, 2x800 in 7:46, 6:16, 4:36, 3:02, 3:01. 3 mile cool-down (9:21) and then injury prevention work and recovery swimming.
dwave Nice workout. I saw a few random photos making fun of the reporting on Florence. As for stride...to ME it appears my foot is in front of the timing mat and my hips are behind. Maybe I'm biased. Thanks for the reminder I'm at elevation going for GMP in dry weather. Watching Chicago's weather projections aren't fun.
max I'm sorry for your entry? I'm also sorry I can't come hang out at the finish and escort you back to civilization.
I was thinking the same thing about "too much complexity/sugar" and needing water. I went through previous run notes and had a similar experience. It's actually annoying to not have water and gatorade for training. I considered wearing a vest but turned that down because I'd never run 7:00 pace with a vest on. As a newb to marathon nutrition I'm biased to bringing GU packs in the three flavors offered at a "nearby" marathon I've performed well at.
Poison Oak sucks. How many people do you think will call it Poison Ivy?
jmac (age checking) SHEEEEEEEEET....I thought guys my age going sub 3 was hard enough to handle. I'm still attempting to "run by feel" as much as possible. It's so weird I almost consider running without tracking miles.
pesto don't you have a kid keeping you away from here these days? How is that going?
ilana I'm sure you'll be back soon. Probably (with our luck) during fire season.
rlk How's max/SC's home town treating you? Bringing back anything good from Fremont?
Resident Millennial
brew- nice basketball shorts.
- men's B OTQ standard is 2:19. women's A/B is 2:37/2:45. and there are half standards too, which count as B. re. Sage, my friend (the one who is coached by Sandi/who I was with in Boulder when we had our triple date with Sage/Sandi) and I were discussing his OTQ saga the other day. We kinda think he's done ... when was his last "good" race? But he's really figured out how to keep that youtube/marketing following, so even if he's done trying to win races, he could have a really successful career with the rest of the stuff he's got.
- the only thing I brought back from Seattle was the unrealized daydream of flyby-ing Ben Gibbard on a run.... But I did enjoy that boysenberry sour at Fremont Brewing! Fremont in WA is a much more interesting place than Fremont in CA (woof).
- re. Chicago pacers, I'd say start with the 3:10 group, make sure you still feel good at 16, and then slowly say goodbye to them. Do you have a pinpointed goal, or just anticipating something between 3:05-3:10?
Ilana- happy birthday!!
smax- sorry about the DNF. Just to clarify... there is only one race we all know of that involves loops and book-pages, right?
rovatti- goodbye to a PT is the best goodbye there is! congrats!
Yeah, belated !!!! KIPCHOGE.
I haven't posted a weekly in a long time, so here's one:
= 65mi. I've been around 64-68 for a month now. Hill phase is over now, so next up is 4 weeks of "repetitions". Lots of 400s and 200s, and nudging up LR distance. (This week was a fluke - I've been holding LR at 16 for awhile)
_________________________________________________mile, 5:26 /5k, 19:34 /10k, 41:00 /13.1, 1:31:49 /26.2, 3:12:58
brew- nice basketball shorts. - men's B OTQ standard is 2:19. women's A/B is 2:37/2:45. and there are half standards too, which count as B. re. Sage, my friend (the one who is coached by Sandi/who I was with in Boulder (+our bfs) when we hung out with Sage + Sandi) and I were discussing his OTQ saga the other day. We kinda think he's done ... when was his last "good" race? But he's really figured out how to keep that youtube/marketing following, so even if he's done trying to win races, he could have a really successful career with the rest of the stuff he's got. - the only thing I brought back from Seattle was the unrealized daydream of flyby-ing Ben Gibbard on a run.... But I did enjoy that boysenberry sour at Fremont Brewing! Fremont in WA is a much more interesting place than Fremont in CA (woof). - re. Chicago pacers, I'd say start with the 3:10 group, make sure you still feel good at 16, and then slowly say goodbye to them. Do you have a pinpointed goal, or just anticipating something between 3:05-3:10?
- men's B OTQ standard is 2:19. women's A/B is 2:37/2:45. and there are half standards too, which count as B. re. Sage, my friend (the one who is coached by Sandi/who I was with in Boulder (+our bfs) when we hung out with Sage + Sandi) and I were discussing his OTQ saga the other day. We kinda think he's done ... when was his last "good" race? But he's really figured out how to keep that youtube/marketing following, so even if he's done trying to win races, he could have a really successful career with the rest of the stuff he's got.
I think if he was 100% focused and serious about OTQ on the road he could do it. Houston he was like 26 seconds off. I'd like to see him put all his eggs in one basket and focus the year on it but that's just me.
As for Chicago...3:07:00 would be BQ-3. I'd REALLY like a 3:05 and on a perfect day it would happen so I have enough confidence with BQ-5 I could start planning my trip. 3:07:00 MIGHT be enough for the 124th running because I don't think it will be as popular as the 125th because it is not a nice multiple of 5.
If my math is correct (please check because I don't know what I'm doing)
3:05 through 16 is 1:52:53.77
3:07 is 1:54:07.00
3:10 is 1:55:56.85
Sticking with 3:05 means I slow down to 7:17ish pace after 16 miles.
Sticking with 3:10 means speeding up to 6:53 pace after 16 miles.
3:10 through 13 would be a little quicker than my current HM PR. 3:05 would be 2:45 faster. 3:07 is 1 minute behind 3:05 at 13 miles.
As if I had less of an idea what to do this makes things worse. Why can't Chicago be like other marathons and have their pacers run about 2 minutes faster than the BQ time? Asking for a friend.
Be like Kipchoge and do your last 25km solo
Jk jk. Yeah, it's always daunting to do the math and see what you "need to speed up to at mile 20" or whatever, isn't it.....
Sticking with 3:05 means I slow down to 7:17ish pace after 16 miles. Sticking with 3:10 means speeding up to 6:53 pace after 16 miles. 3:10 through 13 would be a little quicker than my current HM PR. 3:05 would be 2:45 faster. 3:07 is 1 minute behind 3:05 at 13 miles. As if I had less of an idea what to do this makes things worse. Why can't Chicago be like other marathons and have their pacers run about 2 minutes faster than the BQ time? Asking for a friend.
My unsolicited advice: though it's hard to speed up at the end of a marathon, it's harder still to control a fade. Remember also that pacers are imperfect, and in my experience often err on the side of going out too fast - that could wreck your race if a 3:05 is your best case, perfect scenario.
At Chicago, I think there's also a solid chance of finding people during the race willing to work together towards a time that falls in between the pace groups. Personally, I'd start a bit behind the 3:10 pace group, catch up to them over the first few miles (so you're running between 3:05 and 3:10 pace), then start chatting with people once you catch up to that group, to see if anyone wants to go a bit faster than 3:10.
(edited to add: JMac - I agree with you - damn that Kipchoge Just glad he's not an over 40 female...)
My unsolicited advice: though it's hard to speed up at the end of a marathon, it's harder still to control a fade. Remember also that pacers are imperfect, and in my experience often err on the side of going out too fast - that could wreck your race if a 3:05 is your best case, perfect scenario. At Chicago, I think there's also a solid chance of finding people during the race willing to work together towards a time that falls in between the pace groups. Personally, I'd start a bit behind the 3:10 pace group, catch up to them over the first few miles (so you're running between 3:05 and 3:10 pace), then start chatting with people once you catch up to that group, to see if anyone wants to go a bit faster than 3:10. (edited to add: JMac - I agree with you - damn that Kipchoge Just glad he's not an over 40 female...)
Good idea. Reel them in and use that to guide pace. Official time is all that matters not where I start or who I start with.
RLK: actually this is the first time doing it. I either got lucky before (magic of CIM) or sandbagged my race potential. This feels like the first time I had an important goal even though I hit PRs in back to back years at the same race.
Speed Surplus
FWIW, my plan of "follow 3:15 pacer and then pass him after a few miles to shoot for 3:10" fell apart when there was no 3:15 pacer as advertised.
Things still mostly worked out, even though I ran almost the whole race solo. I suppose I'm starting to think that pacers are overrated.
5:27 / 18:49 / 40:32 / 88:12 / 3:12
pie man
The 3:10 pacer at shamrock went through the half around 1:34 and then stopped cause they were only pacing the half. I planned to stay behind but wound up running with them and running a little too fast. Was reeling in 3:05 at flying pig and realized that was a bad idea before mile 20 and then backed off so I could survive.
I’m in Upper Lake now. The lake is pretty nice and it feels more like civilization than the other barracks, and even Willows. Still a dirt track at the school and the charred apocalyptic hell on the mountains above town is a bit disconcerting. But there is internet so hooray for that.
11:11 3,000 (recent)
Best wishes BR
I am shooting for a 3:17-3:18 goal. This will give me a BQ-7. I have a BQ-3 for 2019, It is not enough to get in. so badly need this BQ-7.
I am planning to follow the 3:20 pacer for 20 miles and push the last 6.
I think if he was 100% focused and serious about OTQ on the road he could do it. Houston he was like 26 seconds off. I'd like to see him put all his eggs in one basket and focus the year on it but that's just me. As for Chicago...3:07:00 would be BQ-3. I'd REALLY like a 3:05 and on a perfect day it would happen so I have enough confidence with BQ-5 I could start planning my trip. 3:07:00 MIGHT be enough for the 124th running because I don't think it will be as popular as the 125th because it is not a nice multiple of 5. If my math is correct (please check because I don't know what I'm doing) 3:05 through 16 is 1:52:53.77 3:07 is 1:54:07.00 3:10 is 1:55:56.85 Sticking with 3:05 means I slow down to 7:17ish pace after 16 miles. Sticking with 3:10 means speeding up to 6:53 pace after 16 miles. 3:10 through 13 would be a little quicker than my current HM PR. 3:05 would be 2:45 faster. 3:07 is 1 minute behind 3:05 at 13 miles. As if I had less of an idea what to do this makes things worse. Why can't Chicago be like other marathons and have their pacers run about 2 minutes faster than the BQ time? Asking for a friend.