Forums >Racing>3:20 Marathoners ... New and Improved for (the rest of) 2017
Mother of Cats
Since it's "giving Tuesday" I also decided to "give" today to my favorite charity - myself. I actually found a pair of vapor-flys in my size (this is quite hard to do), so I splurged. If I get them home and decide I don't like them, I'm pretty confident I can ebay them for close to what I paid for them.
[so people don't think too poorly of me, I do donate to charities throughout the year. Honest.]
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.
climberdave - I remember your B-town lodging disaster... but somehow you had a great race. Good luck in AZ!
dw - I look forward to a review. I tried them on a store TM and liked them. I think you might have to LEARN how to run in them - they don't allow the ball of your foot to bend at all, so your whole foot moves as a single unit like you're wearing a big flipper. Also they're pretty cushy.
Since our local track has been out of commission, we've been doing "track" workouts around the central park reservoir, which is packed dirt/gravel surface - tonight was the last one. Next week we move to the indoor track at the armory (where the Millrose game are held). I can't wait!
1) I've been enjoying doing my workouts on the cinder/dirt loop (~.3 miles) at the schools, probably a better surface. Best part is being able to run clockwise; too much counterclockwise puts a beating on my left ankle.
2) You should come down 'here' (~1 hour north) to run US Master's Indoors in March.
Last time I did this I spent the night at Logan International Airport.
... and he doesn't mean at one of the airport hotels!
Problem Child
dad thanks for the advice. It sounds familiar. Recovery days for recovery, training days for training. I guess this would be Tuesday/Thursday. I could probably put in some TRX time post speed/threshold. Is there a limit for workouts (i.e. don't exceed 2 hours total.) or is it more "your body will tell you"?
rlk Are you getting excited? Carpooling up Saturday with friends or driving yourself to make sure everything goes according to plan? Goal? Plan? Bib number (I know this doesn't come out until Friday)? Race day outfit picked? We need the deets!
climber good luck. I eyeballed that race only because my wife's grandparents are in town. Maybe in 2019.
Max I can't believe I actually WANT these for Christmas. I blame you. I'm claiming it's for hiking and not for climbing out of Diamond Peak.
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
Is there a limit for workouts (i.e. don't exceed 2 hours total.) or is it more "your body will tell you"?
I don't think you can put a number on it; it really depends on what you've built up to, other stressors (e.g., a new baby ...), recovery mechanisms, individual tolerances, etc.
Since it's "giving Tuesday"... [so people don't think too poorly of me, I do donate to charities throughout the year. Honest.]
Since it's "giving Tuesday"...
Donations to charity are -- or at least in my mind ought to be -- a deeply personal thing. Like you I give throughout the year, usually tied to some event that moves me. Telling me it was giving Tuesday didn't move me!
Enjoy your shoes. Also look forward to review.
Resident Millennial
Hey y'all! Sorry for the extended absence. Here's my attempt to catch up and also respond to lots of wonderful well-wishes from you all in advance of CIM
PJ- i'd never heard of the ashenfelter race until you mentioned it, but then saw a bunch of my strava friends do it. looks like a pretty competitive turkey trot! though i still say one of our local ones, the silicon valley turkey trot, wins ...
ace ITBS is not a fun road to be on. i had a big bout of it in winter/spring 2016. running volume in accordance with pain levels + lots of glute work and general leg strength stuff + ~8 weeks helped. I went from running for ~12 minutes before the pain become too much and i'd walk home to fun-running Botswana that year. it'll get better - patience is key.also, damn, you have speed! your HM and M PRs are definitely behind your shorter distance PRs.
brew- so?! is there a child? It's an interesting comparison: I have a friend who just adopted a baby, and despite it being a multi-year process, she and her husband ended up getting like 24hrs notice before it actually happened. Sudden switch flipped to motherhood, as opposed to a several month long physical/emotional/hormonal/etc period of "preparation" time.
some solid, even if not goal-shattering, turkey trots from eliz and dwave!
mcB- would not expect "the dog ate my shoelaces" from anyone else :P
rovatti- lot of miles! nice!
jim- i'm glad the strong taper has improved your ITB a bit! hope it's enough by sunday. let me know what you end up deciding...
eliz- nice short intervals workout. question- were you aiming for particular paces, or just sometihng like "all out" / "progressively speeding up"? i find it's really hard to focus on exact paces for intervals that short, and sometimes it's not worth it.
recovery beverages- hot coffee and cold water while talking a post-LR bath. relaxation at its finest!
DAD- "Telling me it was giving Tuesday didn't move me!" agree!
the final countdown...!
climber- i'm as ready as i'll be! haha. here's to hoping things go well and i can pass the baton off to you for the following weekend!dwave- i still regret that i only got to wave/yell at you once last year instead of *actually* meeting. but that was a great day all around!
brew- You have a battery of great questions and I will answer accordingly!Excitment: it's weird ... i guess most of the marathons i've done in the past few years have involved travel, and this feels so casual by comparison, that i didn't feel the usual enthusiasm or butterflies really. until last night. my team has 20+ women competing on sunday, which is a huge number and will be really magical, and about half of us were present at the weekly track workout for the pre-marathon tuesday special, which is 15min @MP. It is pretty easy and we chatted the whole time, and the stoke is definitely growing now.Driving: oh come on now :P I'm a bicycle/mass transit commuter. The concept of one person occupying a car (for a route that many are taking) is disgusting and wasteful to me. BF or I will drive, yes, but we will shove a total of 5 of us into his Civic. It will be grand!
Goal: A goal is sub3:15. That's out loud, damn! B goal is something 3:1X high. C goal is PR. Plan: Just figured this out last night. I have one teammate in particular who has just about the same goals as I do, and not coincidentally we have run lots of workouts and LRs side by side. We are going to start out around 7:30 (7:30 pace -> 3:16:30), come through half at 1:38 or so, and plan to notch things down a little bit from there. 7:25 pace is just about 3:15. BF may jump in and run with me a few timesBib #: Dunno yet, but it seems you just need a name for tracking. For reference, here it is: https://register.chronotrack.com/event/tracking/eventID/31790 If you post stuff on here, I will be flattered (but please don't post my full name)Outfit: blue singlet (i have two different ones, one being more lightweight and the other is thicker/tighter, so will choose based on weather), blue sports bra, oiselle black strider shorts. 4 gels, two in shorts zip pocket and two in sports bra. will probably acquire some throwaway gloves for the early miles. also I just got a haircut on Monday... #raceweight.
_________________________________________________mile, 5:26 /5k, 19:34 /10k, 41:00 /13.1, 1:31:49 /26.2, 3:12:58
Cobra Commander Keen
XT - Interesting (new to me) info, and doing it on a hard day makes perfect sense.
DWave - Z-packs wipe me out; maybe I'll ask for something else the next time I need something. This is your first flare up in a good while, isn't it? Hopefully it calms down quickly.
CDave - Fingers crossed that Air BnB works better for you this time!
Brew - You seem to be moving more toward the dark side with a Christmas list like that.
RLK is back! It must be awesome to have so many teammates all running the same race, and especially so when you have one with very similar goals.
Did my first workout in a long time today, 6x 1 min easy/1 min hard. Didn't look at pace, just focused on keeping about 5k effort whether I was going up or down hill (no flats at all!). It was more difficult than it really should have been, but I expected that given my lack of running lately. I never seem to learn that temps above freezing + MP or faster = shorts and a t-shirt or singlet.
5k: 17:58 11/22 │ 10k: 37:55 9/21 │ HM: 1:23:22 4/22 │ M: 2:56:05 12/22
Upcoming Races:
OKC Memorial 5k - April 27
Bun Run 5k - May 4
Good luck rlk!
rlk The really weird thing is a friend of ours was a surrogate so THAT was an interesting life process to watch unfold.
Saw the workout. Glad it was easy and also glad you're making the goal real. When you take that left hand turn at 13.1 it's going to be even realer (is that even a word?) and I can't describe how. As for traveling with 5 people in BF's car.....weeeeeelllllll I'll just say you're doomed to leave on time. I might be in L&D when you're racing. We shall see who finishes first because I've been told labor (the pushing part) can be around 3 hours. Oh and I remember seeing a BUNCH of your team jerseys there last year. It's like it's some sort of championship race or something. Also, both times I've done CIM I've kept my gloves. I put them back on in 2016 a few miles after I took them off. I'm not big on throwing away clothes (weird) during races but I know female fitness clothes don't have the storage capacity of men's clothes. If you can tolerate holding them in your hands or tucking them into your shorts for a few miles it might be worth it. I LOATHE (Grinch voice) cold hands.
To throw out some more cliche phrases I'll leave you with some of my personal favorites:
Checkers or Wreckers (motorcycle reference to the checkered flag and going for 1st place or wrecking the bike trying)
Pin it to win in (similar to above)
rung what you brung (Car racing reference where you don't have to restrict the power in your motor. Akin to saying you have to run with a parachute because I'm racing you and didn't train as hard)
make this hill (course) your b*tch (relay teammate. I hate hills. CIM has some around the middle-ish area from what I'm told)
If you ain't first you last (Gospel)
I feel the need for speed (classic)
I live my life 1/4 mile at a time (drag racing reference. It makes forgetting things in a marathon easy.)
Sh*tty K*tty (because cat. She is up for adoption if you want another cat too.)
Needs more Orange (I mean...I've PR'd every time I've worn Orange or incorporated it into a race somehow. So there is that.)
F**k this s**t (a personal favorite of mine that has been known to get me through a lot)
Best of luck. I'm rooting for you and fully anticipate a smiling face in the team photo. Go ring that bell proudly.
keen I was discussing the possibility of pacing a friend for 25 miles if he signed up for a local 50 miler. I also figure if Max is coming to town (like Santa) in June I might need to get some miles in. Plus he doesn't like poles. Plus I was thinking of hiking and my trail run yesterday sounded better if I had assistance. Plus I'm dumb, gullable, naive, easily impressionable, forgetful of bad decisions, and thinking 25+ years down the road. Today's forecast was 50 and windy. I was wishing I had gloves until I was about 2 miles in. A RB has been known to overdress (long sleeve) and regret it multiple times in the past few days.
pie man
Rlk - letsrun thinks the Silicon Valley race was short...
my friend who I kept company was actually registered for CIM as well as philly (that's more backups than even Dwave, I think). You two would have probably been close for most of the day, officially we were 1:38:08 at the half.
I have managed to run ever day since Saturday. Mostly short and slow. Probably a small race in West V this weekend. Then club nats.
11:11 3,000 (recent)
rlk - before I forget, good luck this weekend! Hopefully the weather cooperates this time, unlike Botswana.
Running with someone with the same (or a similar) goal is great. It really helped me during the first 22 miles in Berlin. It makes execution A LOT easier. In my case, by mile 22/23, my RB was in better shape than me so he took off since he still had some chance at sub-3. That was hard and I struggled to keep pace afterwards. So it could be a good idea to have your BF run with you the last few miles if that's an option, in case something like that happens.
brew - I guess no Optimus Prime in the end?! Hope you and the wife are doing ok!
Hi to everyone else!
5K - 18:03 (5.18) | 10K - 37:58 (2.18) | HM - 1:20:45 (9.18) | FM: 2:57:59 (10.18)
Hey kids. Did a workout yesterday y'all might want to tuck away for future reference ... McMillan's "Even Steven" workout: https://www.mcmillanrunning.com/even-steven-workout/
w/u (for me 30' easy)
10' MP (7:03)
2' easy
8' HMP (6:40)
4' easy
6' 10K (6:18)
6' easy
4' 5K (6:05)
8' easy
2' 3K (5:46)
10' easy
Really nice way to hit every gear (which was my goal). Challenging, but never crushing. (Although you could easily bump things up a notch by making your recovery period faster.)
Hey kids. Did a workout yesterday y'all might want to tuck away for future reference ... McMillan's "Even Steven" workout: https://www.mcmillanrunning.com/even-steven-workout/ w/u (for me 30' easy) 10' MP (7:03) 2' easy 8' HMP (6:40) 4' easy 6' 10K (6:18) 6' easy 4' 5K (6:05) 8' easy 2' 3K (5:46) 10' easy Really nice way to hit every gear (which was my goal). Challenging, but never crushing. (Although you could easily bump things up a notch by making your recovery period faster.)
Nice - I like time-based.workouts Were you running by feel or targeting paces? I ask because the HMP looks a bit out of sync with the other paces - a sub-19 5K, a low 39s 10K and a low 3 hour marathon don't match to an 87 minute HM, IME.
BTW, Dad - are you doing Masters Indoors? It was suggested to me, but I shot it down. I've never raced on an indoor track, and racing on an outdoor track correlates with injury for me. So just a no go, especially since I'll be deep in marathon training at that point.
CD - I think of your experience every time I get mildly tempted to try AirBNB.
RLK - not enough gels
Hi to all others - 10 "miles" pool-running and upper body weights/core this am.