2022 Advanced Racing Thread (Read 497 times)

Ian5


    I only did it this year.I booked air bnb and the price was honoured.

    I was wary of them cancelling it,but I reckon they'll have factored the marathon in to it.Some people I know booked a hotel in the Quincy area,near the metro line and found it all good.

     

     

     

    does anyone have advice for Boston hotels? I need to make a reservation. Probably Saturday through Thursday. I’m concerned a rental home would cancel my reservation because “marathon weekend” pricing hasn’t been programmed into their schedules,  don’t want to miss out on a thousand bucks because I booked 10 months ahead of schedule.

    5k 17:35,10k 36:43,10m 61:55,HM 1:24:03,Full 3:07:39

    darkwave


    Mother of Cats

      Boston hotels - RP often hotels in Cambridge are somewhat cheaper on that weekend.  If you want to go that route, I would check out prices at the hotels near the Lechmere stop - from there it should be an easy ride on the T to the buses on race morning.

       

      I've stayed at the Club Quarters in the financial district when I've done Boston - it's slightly more affordable than the hotels in the Back Bay area, but still walking distance to the buses/finish area.

       

      JMac - that seems to me like a bit more than out of shape+summer humidity.  You're an experienced runner, and you know how to adapt to different weather conditions.  You're going to check in with a doctor if this persists, right?

      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.

        Marky: LOL, a cheeseburger is the last thing I would ever consider eating before a race, and any food from McDonalds is the last thing I would ever eat before starvation. But I understand superstitions. 

        RP: I used MarathonTours.com. They have a number of options with a wide range of price/proximity. I booked right when they opened, which I think was May, long before I even knew whether I would get into the race. In fact I did that the previous year and ended up missing the cutoff; their cancellation policy far enough in advance was a nominal fee of something like $10-20. I typically use hotels.com, but MT seemed to have more options and better prices. I stayed at the Park Plaza, on the higher end of the price/proximity scale. I figured I might be one & done, so I was going to do it right. Location was great, the room was meh.

        Dave

        Fredford66


        Waltons ThreadLord

          Post-Evening-Race-Food - At my town's evening 5k, all runners got a free slice of pizza.  In the heat this summer, at least the slices didn't get cold while we were running.  In the past, runners got as many slices as they wanted and it was not uncommon to see some kid leaning over a garbage can after wolfing down too many slices right after the race.

           

          Hotels - Sorry, can't help out.  2 of my 3 marathons were local (including NY) and the one I traveled to (Philadelphia) wasn't that crowded.  I think the long stay makes sense if you can swing it.

           

          Jmac - Sorry hear you're feeling so unwell.  I agree those kinds of symptoms sound scary.  I hope some rest will get you past it.

           

          When the forecast calls for 100º(38C) by mid-afternoon, I seem to be able to convince myself that 77º(25C) at 5:30am isn't too bad.  I ran 10 miles and felt a bit tired at the end.  An hour later I felt really tired; some sort of delayed reaction fatigue.  That said, its been warm for close to 2 weeks now and I think I'm acclimating a bit.  My poor RP will be back in a few weeks from a visit to family in the southern hemisphere and will instantly be running in temps 25º(15C) warmer that what he has been used to.

          5k 23:48.45 (3/22); 4M 31:26 (2/22); 5M 38:55 (11/23); 10k 49:24 (10/22); 
          10M 1:29:33 (2/24); Half 1:48:32 (10/22); Marathon 4:29:58 (11/23)

          Upcoming races: RunAPalooza (Asbury Park) HM, 4/6; Clinton Country Run 15k, 4/27

           

          mmerkle


             

            Very nice job!   I have to admit I'm both curious and somewhat impressed that you keep driving up to Westminster from Fairfax for weekday evening races.  Or are you up there for the summer?

             

            I'm in Maryland for the summer living at my parents house. The drives from there are only a half hour or so. I've always liked the races this club has.

             

            RP: Thanks!

             

            DavePNW: It was a 7pm start. This race is part of a "summer twilight series" so they all start at 7. As for food, I eat a light-ish lunch about 3-4 hours before the start. For me that's often something like a bowl of cereal with almond milk, or toast with avocado or some type of nut butter. Then I just drink water with lemon or lime leading up to the race. Evening races do mess with my sleep schedule and eating schedule a bit, but I'm ok with it since it's summer (I'm a student).

            Fredford66


            Waltons ThreadLord

              There's a charity ultra going on in my town today.  3, 6, 9, 12, or 24 hours circling the 0.8 mile circuit (runner's choice of pavement or dirt/gravel path).  My son and I went over to support the participants for a while.  Temps are in the mid-90's in the shade and less than 1/3 of the loop is in the shade.  I'd say about 20-25 people were still going, though many were walking (a couple had changed out of running shoes into sandals).  We chatted a bit with one who was resting and told us even the pros there said they were moving at no better than half to 3/4 speed.  With an overnight low in the high 70s, I don't think they're getting much relief.  More power to them.

              5k 23:48.45 (3/22); 4M 31:26 (2/22); 5M 38:55 (11/23); 10k 49:24 (10/22); 
              10M 1:29:33 (2/24); Half 1:48:32 (10/22); Marathon 4:29:58 (11/23)

              Upcoming races: RunAPalooza (Asbury Park) HM, 4/6; Clinton Country Run 15k, 4/27

               

                Ran my 5k in 19:57! And won my AG!
                It was a mostly uphill first half and mostly downhill second, so I expected a negative split. Ran mile 1 in 6:39, a bit slower than I’d hoped. I then felt I needed to get mile 2 down below goal pace of 6:26, but could not get there—ended up at 6:31. At that point I thought the sub-20 outlook seemed bleak—that’s a lot of time to make up in the final mile. But I was able to pour it on and ran it in 6:13. I saw the finish line clock approaching 20 and just hoped the gun vs chip difference would be enough. Stopped my watch and saw 19:57, and I was very happy.

                Dave

                darkwave


                Mother of Cats

                  Ran my 5k in 19:57! And won my AG!
                  It was a mostly uphill first half and mostly downhill second, so I expected a negative split. Ran mile 1 in 6:39, a bit slower than I’d hoped. I then felt I needed to get mile 2 down below goal pace of 6:26, but could not get there—ended up at 6:31. At that point I thought the sub-20 outlook seemed bleak—that’s a lot of time to make up in the final mile. But I was able to pour it on and ran it in 6:13. I saw the finish line clock approaching 20 and just hoped the gun vs chip difference would be enough. Stopped my watch and saw 19:57, and I was very happy.

                   

                  CONGRATULATIONS!!!

                  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.

                  Marky_Mark_17


                    Dave - congrats!! Must've finished very strongly.

                     

                    Fred - 24 hours in that sounds miserable.  Well done to those that are braving that.

                     

                    Me - another big week in the bag, biggest since August 2020 and marathon training peak.  Wednesday's workout (3 x 1k hard / 3k steady) went really well, despite the fact that the rain got heavier and the track got wetter and wetter I was able to hold the pace up through the efforts really well (was around 3:10/k / 5:05/mi for the effort k's, and 3:40-3:45/k for the steady stuff), so that was a big confidence builder.  Saturday was one of those workouts I had to write on my hand, but was a mix of 600's, 200's and 1k repeats.  Today's long run was very hard work in blustery conditions on tired legs, one of those days where at times I was thinking about donuts to keep myself going, legs were probably a bit tired from Wednesday.  Looking forward to a recovery week this week after 3 very big weeks of training.

                     

                    Weekly for period: From: 18/07/2022 To 24/07/2022

                    Date Name mi km Duration Avg/mi Avg/km Elevation Gain
                    in m
                    18/07 That run where I still don’t know where a tourist sightseeing boat is going at 6am in the middle of winter 6.94 11.17 00:49:46 07:10 04:27 18
                    19/07 That run with a less dramatic wind split than last Tuesday 13.06 21.01 01:25:12 06:31 04:03 81
                    20/07 That run where the mist eventually turned into rain and everything got wetter and wetter 9.95 16.01 00:58:04 05:50 03:38 81
                    21/07 That run with some more rain and the unmistakable drone of turboprop engines from the airbase 11.83 19.04 01:20:12 06:47 04:13 123
                    23/07 That run where Strava once again gave me false credit for elevation on the track 8.73 14.05 00:53:48 06:10 03:50 60
                    24/07 That run where sometimes there’s a song that has the same name as an album, but the song isn’t on the album 18.67 30.04 02:14:58 07:14 04:30 318

                    Total distance: 111.31km / 69.18 imperial biscuit crumbs

                    3,000m: 9:07.7 (Nov-21) | 5,000m: 15:39 (Dec-19) | 10,000m: 32:34 (Mar-20)  

                    10km: 33:15 (Sep-19) | HM: 1:09:41 (May-21)* | FM: 2:41:41 (Oct-20)

                    * Net downhill course

                    Last race: Maraetai HM, 10 Mar, DNF

                    Up next: Waterfront HM, 7 Apr

                    "CONSISTENCY IS KING"

                    JMac11


                    RIP Milkman

                      Dave great work. Looks like the weather was okay for you and what a great negative split.

                       

                      After spending a week on the Oregon coast, I am missing it already. The winds can be brutal (my lips were destroyed) but constant days in the 60s in the summer is bliss. I used to think I wanted something like AZ to retire in but the PNW seems amazing.

                      5K: 16:37 (11/20)  |  10K: 34:49 (10/19)  |  HM: 1:14:57 (5/22)  |  FM: 2:36:31 (12/19) 

                       

                       

                        Dave great work. Looks like the weather was okay for you and what a great negative split.

                         

                        After spending a week on the Oregon coast, I am missing it already. The winds can be brutal (my lips were destroyed) but constant days in the 60s in the summer is bliss. I used to think I wanted something like AZ to retire in but the PNW seems amazing.

                         

                        Yeah it was 60 degrees at 9 AM for the race. I only moved out to the PNW 7 years ago, but no intent to ever leave the region. AZ where it’s 110 degrees all summer? No thanks.

                        Dave

                        Running Problem


                        Problem Child

                          Ran my 5k in 19:57! And won my AG!
                          It was a mostly uphill first half and mostly downhill second, so I expected a negative split. Ran mile 1 in 6:39, a bit slower than I’d hoped. I then felt I needed to get mile 2 down below goal pace of 6:26, but could not get there—ended up at 6:31. At that point I thought the sub-20 outlook seemed bleak—that’s a lot of time to make up in the final mile. But I was able to pour it on and ran it in 6:13. I saw the finish line clock approaching 20 and just hoped the gun vs chip difference would be enough. Stopped my watch and saw 19:57, and I was very happy.

                           

                          *Ozzy Osborne voice*
                          ROCK AND ROOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!

                          way to go DavePNW. I never broke 20 minutes in the 5k until AFTER I went sub-3 so I’d say you have a sub 3 in you. 

                          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

                          flavio80


                          Intl. correspondent

                            RP - Ah I see, you’ve been around the ultra crowd for too long now, they will downplay it a bit Big grin

                             

                            Mmerkle - Very nice race, that’s some brutal weather.

                             

                            Jmac - Ugh, sorry to hear, maybe you will have to cut back a little. As you know I run around 6am and even 90 minutes is work right now.

                             

                            Dave - Great news

                             

                            me - am I the only one who programs workouts in Garmin connect so I don't have to remember them?

                             

                            Ran for an extra 10 minutes this week but only marginally more distance as I slowed down the paces across the board.

                            We've come to Sevilla in Spain again and are feeling dumb for the choice. It's literally a dry sauna. I just saw a street thermometer show 45C, 113 degrees of that other stuff. It will drop to a meagre 27 degrees C, 80F at 6am when I intend to go running.

                            Weekly for period: From: 07/18/2022 To 07/24/2022

                            Date Name mi km Duration Avg/mi Avg/km Elevation Gain
                            in ft
                            07/19 71'E plan was 65' but got lost on the way back 8.86 14.25 01:11:00 08:01 04:59 525
                            07/20 Sandwich: 4x400@10k w 200 + 4x40s uphill + 4x400@10k w 200 8.05 12.95 01:04:58 08:04 05:01 246
                            07/21 59'E 7.13 11.47 00:58:56 08:16 05:08 302
                            07/23 70'E 8.57 13.79 01:09:58 08:10 05:04 328
                            07/24 90' long run 10.81 17.40 01:30:01 08:20 05:10 535

                            Total distance: 43.42mi

                            PRs: 1500 4:54.1 2019 - 5K 17:53 2023 - 10K 37:55 2023 - HM 1:21:59 2021

                            Up next: no idea

                            Tool to generate Strava weekly

                            mmerkle


                              My Week:

                               

                              I know I've been lazy about this but I promise I'll be more consistent when I start marathon training.

                               

                                                                                                                    Miles     Time     Pace

                               

                              Monday 7/18: 5 miles easy in 38:50

                              8 X 200 with full recovery, 36s down to 31s                          6     43:28     7:15

                              Strength training for legs later on

                               

                              Tuesday 7/19: Easy 6                                                            6     49:12     8:12

                              Abs + upper body later

                               

                              Wednesday 7/20: Easy 4                                                       4     31:17     7:50

                               

                              Thursday 7/21: 1 mile warm up, Pleasant

                              Valley 4 mile race, 2 mile cool down                                      7     51:50     7:24

                               

                              Friday 7/22: Easy 5                                                                5     41:14     8:15

                               

                              Saturday 7/23: Off, had a tight spot in my left

                              soleus, better safe than sorry                                                 0 

                               

                              Sunday 7/24: All on the treadmill:

                              2 mile warm up

                              Then 3 rounds of

                              3 minutes steady on 5% incline, 90 second jog,

                              3 minutes at 10mph with 1.5% incline, 90 second jog

                              Then the rest easy                                                                  7     58:00    8:18

                               

                              Total: 35 miles, 4:35:01, 7:51/mile overall

                               

                              I'm well aware I need to ramp up the mileage. That will be my focus going forward.

                               

                              flavio: Thanks for the kind words!

                              DavePNW: Congrats on breaking 20. Very satisfying barrier to break.

                              Ian5


                                Flavio-Think Seville being called the oven of spain is a clue to its temps  I did the marathon there in 2020 and loved the place.

                                Dave-Well done on the sub 20,smashed the last mile.

                                Decent week here,51 miles from Tue-Sat including 5@MP in midweek,also got my long run up to a decent distance,I was going to go after work today to top to 60 but had an email off Tokyo saying I've been accepted for a charity place,so I've spent the evening looking into the logistics/costs etc

                                Weekly for period: From: 07/18/2022 To 07/24/2022

                                Date Name mi km Duration Avg/mi Avg/km Elevation Gain
                                in ft
                                07/19 Afternoon Run 7.07 11.38 01:00:43 08:35 05:20 315
                                07/20 Afternoon Run 7.04 11.33 00:57:51 08:13 05:06 315
                                07/21 Warm up 1.00 1.61 00:07:36 07:36 04:43 13
                                07/21 5@MP,jog home 6.84 11.01 00:50:09 07:20 04:33 266
                                07/22 Afternoon Run 9.90 15.93 01:21:34 08:14 05:07 495
                                07/23 Morning Run 19.66 31.63 02:45:48 08:26 05:15 456

                                Total distance: 51.51mi

                                5k 17:35,10k 36:43,10m 61:55,HM 1:24:03,Full 3:07:39