3:20 Marathoners ... New and Improved for (the rest of) 2017 (Read 372 times)

Woah - a &^%#pile of pages since I swung by a few days ago.  Greetings from Lexington this time.  Visiting sister and dad.

Ace: Yay!!!!!!!!!!  The emojis are definitely lacking here.  Have fun!

Keen: Short answer to the gear question - I used the biggest Ultimate Directions ultra pack, and basically carried everything I needed at all times - food, headlamps, warm clothing, etc..  In the 6-8 hours it took to get between aid stations, it could get dark or light, hot or cold, etc..  I also had lots of dropbags with lots of stuff, and did swap some things along the way,e.g. a light jacket for a heavier one, and had stuff like chargers for my electronics, and spare everything (shoes, socks, shirts, headlamps, batteries, food, etc.).  If I couldn't fit it in my pack I strapped it on the outside - a couple pictures have something yellow on my back, that's my big heavier rain jacket.

Arvind ran a marathon!  Congratulations on the sub 3:22.  I'm sure all the following pages have figured this out already but you probably aimed for the perfect time, weren't quite there, and paid for it at the end.  That's not much of a fade though.  Probably if you had started at 7:37, you would have gotten that sub 3:20.  Nice job overall!  Ah, and I see that with more info that was exactly the problem.  Starting at fantasy pace or even perfection pace usually ends badly.

Ilana: Glad to hear the mostly good news.  Ah, and I see that Darkwave is already on the osteo stuff...

Jim's Kat: I think you'll be fine with all those 17+ mile runs.  I don't think there's anything magic about 20.  And I don't think 20 really prepares you for the pain/exhaustion/glycogen depletion of the last 10k.  What's helped me most is 1) doing marathon races  2) getting better at assessing my fitness/goal pace accurately 3) doing stupid-long races where I've learned that 45-60 minutes of discomfort is not really that bad.  You have the first 2 and you could do 30 runs of 20 miles or more and not get the third one.

Pesto: Friends (the real kind, not the step-above-imaginary friends) > than running.  Good call on skipping the running.

Jones: Welcome!  I'm usually around more but things have been crazy for a while now.  Hopefully after Thanksgiving things will settle.

Dad: Were you considering swearing off marathons?  Are you training for one?

KK: I'm sorry to hear your news - thinking about you.

Elizabeth: Better to heal up than be Richard Sherman.

Fly: Nice to see you here - I can't remember who did and didn't make it over here in the transition.

NeedACleverName: Are you the same as SomethingClever or a different person?

RunandBikeNick: You are definitely not Orange Nick.

I head to VA tomorrow, for another race on Saturday.  Trying to make it to OMR's 3-10 ultras by Thanksgiving, but will likely fall one short.  There might be live tracking for Saturday's race - I'll look.  Oh, and I got what might be my favorite race medal last Saturday for Conquer The Castle.  Handmade by the race director.  But pictures don't seem to work here.  

I found live tracking info for Crooked Road (24 hour hamster wheel race, ~1.2 mile pretty flat loops).  With my tune-up 100k last weekend I should do really well in this.  Starts Sat 8am VA time.  Finishes... wait, I need to do the math... Sun 8am VA time.  If I were you, I'd have the office pool be based on when I implode.

Woah - a &^%#pile of pages since I swung by a few days ago.  Greetings from Lexington this time.  Visiting sister and dad.

  

NeedACleverName: Are you the same as SomethingClever or a different person?

Sorry for the confusion, I’m not SomethingClever. Definitely older and not as handsome as he is. I was most recently NACN!! at RWOL.

Congrats Ace.

Long run two weeks before: I'm still pretty aggressive at that point typically. I've had success running 20-22 miles, and even adding speed into those miles. I find that by that point in the cycle, I'm so used to long runs that they don't beat up my legs too much.

Rovatti: Yes, 11/11/1978 is my birthday! Happy birthday!

Commander: Thanks for the birthday wishes. That's weird about the OKC Marathon guy. I wish I could spectate a marathon every weekend, like how baseball spans can see their sport all the time!

Arvind: A 40-minute PR is massive. If I were you, I wouldn't sweat those last two miles. You held on quite well for most of the race and really took things to a new level. You have a lot to be proud of.

RunnerJones: Glad you saw me. It was so much fun!

OMR: I Googled Exploding Head and I don't have it. That's kinda crazy. How often do you get it? I have, however, screamed myself awake a few times.

Dad4: Enjoy the windy and rainy 5K!

Ace: Congratulations!! Glad she is healthy.

JimE: Glad to hear that your knee is getting better.

NeedAClever: We are on the same schedule. I have not run since Indy either. So now I am on day 12! I plan to test the waters with a 30-minute recovery run on Sunday. I just want to be extra careful that my Achilles Tendonitis doesn't come back. When is your next half marathon?

RUNandBIKE: Sounds like a wonderful long term plan. You have plenty of time to build up before June.

McBen: Hello.

Seattle: What race are you doing on Saturday? ETA - I see it's Crooked Road. You are incredible with all these ultras. To upload a picture, just put it in Google Drive or Dropbox or whatever and then post a link to the URL using the photo icon above. Like this:

Darkwave: Sorry you've had a bad week. That's awesome your grandfather made it to 100.

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I'm still boring. No running. Just some pool running and swimming here and there. I actually DO enjoy pool running and swimming, but the logistics suck and it's $10/pop since I don't go regularly enough to get a membership. I also don't like sharing a lane. I value my personal space. Okay /complaining.

Every time I think my Achilles are 100%, I feel a hint of something and I realize they are still a little tender. But I'm 100% like 95% of the time. That last 5% is taking forever to go away.

Turkey Trot 5K on Thanksgiving. Not really a great idea for the Achilles but I have an 11-year streak that I am not about to break. And I'm going for sub 20 even though I will have done no speed work in weeks! I figure, I really have nothing to lose by trying.

So my team goes to club nats every couple years (most east coast plus the one in SF where they hung with the brooks beasts and drank a lot of beer).  I am rounding into shape so I might join them and see if I can avoid being in the bottom 10.  Should probably do D's XC race for practice.  Or just go for a long run in the woods.