2010 Goal of Sub 3:00 marathon (Read 8721 times)

 

jordirio - 03/07/10 Barcelona, Spain

 

Have you formulated your plan?  How are you feeling - must be in mid taper by now?

 one week for me

i'm feeling well

these two weeks tappering

You nailed it, tooslow!  Congratulations.  

 

And thanks for motivating me today to get a tough run in today!  I ran a couple of hard track races yesterday and had already decided to bag the hard run this morning (supposed to be a long warmup and cooldown with 6X1600 on the track at about 6:25 pace).  When I saw your race result I logged off, put on my running stuff and hit the local bike path for a long run.  Ended up getting in a nice long warmup followed by 2 tempoish-paced segments of 3.0 miles with a .5mile jog recovery between. Ended up doing more than 15 miles.   I never would have got that run in if I hadn't been motivated by that 2:56!  It's getting out there on days like today that make the difference between a 2:59 and a 3:02 - RA is the best.  Thanks again and enjoy your 2:56.

Just got home.  Congratulations too slow!  Someone had to be first and lead us into marathon promised land..

 

Jordirio - go get 'em

 

I just returned from Ft. Worth where I ran the Cowtown half for several reasons.  Too see where I'm at in training and to win the 55-59 age group.  I ran a 1:23:55 in Dec on a pancake flat course.  The winning time last year in Ft. Worth was 1:32 on a "hilly" course.   After the first mile I decided a 1:25 - 1:26 might be a good time based on the difficulty of the course.  Literally it is the hilliest course I've run.  I did win the age group in 1:24:50 and am quite pleased with the time.  Less than a minute off my last half.

 

I thought I was running on the edge until I got my heart rate readings after the race.  They were a full 10 bpm below what I normally race at.  I might have left some on the course.  I think I could have run another 1:30-1:35 half.

 

Congrats DB on your being named to the team.

Nice run ksrunr - Its gotta feel good - I will not be running that fast any time soon!

Race Report - (Most of this is straight from my log, but I guess I should post in the thread)

 

 

Awesome race!
Perfect weather.  - Upper 40's at start mid 50 at finish, slight breeze.

Goal was sub-3. (6:52 pace) My prerace strategy was to run right at 6:50 pace for as long as I could.

 
Started out with a couple really fast miles 6:30, 6:37 and kept telling myself to slow down.  I slowed to 6:42 for mile 3 and 4 then kept at it that pace until Mile 10.  I kept thinking I'd pay for the fast pace but it feelt good and couldn't convince myself to back off. Got a little silly with Miles 10 through 13 with 6:29, 6:29, 6:23 and crossed the 1/2 marathon at 1:27:17 (a new PR).  After the half I settled into 6:42's for 2 miles. At 15 miles I was still feeling good and figured I might as well keep it up and see what I'm capable of. I knew I was way over my head but just wanted to finish strong. Hit some more sub 6:40's all the way to 20 miles then I knew I was in trouble. Got a side stitch and was getting tired and starting to think I made a big mistake. About half way through the next mile my pace was about 7:20 but the stitch went away and I regrouped.  Finished this mile at 6:52 so the 2^nd half of it must have been about 6:30. After pulling myself back together I figured I'd be ok since I still had lots of time banked.   I was not really concerned with loosing the sub 3 but knew it wasn't in the bag either. Last 6 miles are along the bay and you can see the city of tampa where the finish line awaits but it's a long way off. Those last 6 miles were brutal but was able to keep clicking off the 7 minute miles and finished it up.

I am thrilled with this race. It's amazing what can happen when everything comes together.

 

Some random comments:

 

RA has been a great tool for me.  I’ve learned a lot about how to train properly and I’ve found some specific workouts that I’ve used in my training.  Seeing successes of other individuals has also helped keep me motivated.  I chatted with a few guys after the race and most of them had great days also.  One of the cool things about running is that although there is competition against other runners they don’t have to fail for you to succeed.

 

 

Few things I found funny or strange during the race.  One guy ran the entire marathon wearing a superman  costume.  Attempted to help out one volunteer by tossing my empty water cup into the trashbag she was holding.  I made it in but the water that was left in it splashed all over her.  Oops.  One spectator was diligently calling out elapsed time at an unmarked point between mile 21 and 22, as though it’s important for me to know that I’ve been running for exactly 2 hours, 30 minutes and however many seconds at the random place that he chose to stand.

 

The Data:  (note - all splits are from Garmin)

 

Gun time 2:56:50, chip time 2:56:45  PR by 6:35!

Elapsed time / Splits / Miles

Total Time	Pace	Mile
6:29.57	6:30	1
13:06.53	6:37	2
19:48.88	6:43	3
26:31.32	6:43	4
33:10.57	6:40	5
39:47.53	6:37	6
46:27.95	6:41	7
53:12.61	6:45	8
59:53.28	6:41	9
1:06:21.84	6:29	10
1:12:50.85	6:30	11
1:19:13.80	6:23	12
1:25:56.16	6:43	13
1:32:40.44	6:45	14
1:39:21.78	6:42	15
1:46:03.90	6:43	15
1:52:37.48	6:34	16
1:59:11.86	6:35	17
2:05:49.48	6:38	18
2:12:21.17	6:32	20
2:19:13.08	6:52	21
2:26:08.98	6:56	22
2:33:01.07	6:53	23
2:40:01.23	7:01	24
2:47:00.92	7:00	25
2:53:58.52	6:58	26
2:58:31.84	10:08	Didn't stop my watch. Clock said 2:56:something

Nice report

 

You dropped down at 20, but just to 6:50-7:00 pace - That means you were really close in pacing - training - to holiding all 26.2.

 

Recover well and now we will get you trained to break 2:50

Congratulations tooslow. Nice account of your race. The part about you breaking your half PR in the same race is pretty cool too!