Forums >Racing>2017 Sub 3 Marathons...and beyond!
Kram: Awesome week and killer mile repeats!
Swim: Hope you heal up soon!
Good luck to those running NYC!
As for my upcoming HM race on Sunday the weather doesn't look like it will afford me a great shot at a PR right now. Temps look to be in the upper 60's or close to 70 with dew points in the mid to upper 60's. Really just missed the break in the weather, but that's typical for us (especially the last few years). For my FL standards these conditions aren't horrible as I'm used to running in much worse, but I know for any long distance event (run at potential) the heat/humidity, even in this range, will take it's toll. Haven't quite decided on a pace strategy, but think I'll start out fairly aggressive (low 6ish or even six flat range) then go from there. Ideal weather I'd consider something in the mid 5:5x range, but that may end badly. My PR of 1:19:38 was set in my last Boston cycle (Jan 2017) where temps were in the low to mid 40's with light rain and no wind, but I do think I'm in slightly better shape than I was at this point in my cycle as evidenced by my recent workouts and the low 17 min 5K (last week) so we shall see. Still thinking a sub 80 or even 81 would be a stellar result given the conditions. Above all goal is to get in a solid HM effort to assess current fitness!
1mile: 4:46 (12/20) | 5K: 15:57 (3/21) | 10K: 33:40 (4/20) | 15K 51:43 (4/21) | HM: 1:15:03 (12/20) | FM: 2:40:30 (1/20)
Thanks, when's the race?
I hope I'm ready... I swear easy pace (8 miles today) feels like a struggle, this taper better get it's arse in gear and take effect... ASAP!
https://www.strava.com/athletes/2507437
PR's - 5K - 17:57 (2017) | 10K - 38:06 (2016) | 13.1 1:23:55 (2019) | 26.2 2:58:46 (2017)
2020 Goals - Sub-2:55 Marathon Up Next: TBD, Boston on 9/14?
Swim - that 10k TT is very, very sharp. You should take a lot of heart from that. 2 weeks is honestly not a long time either, I wouldn't sweat that at all, the impact will be very minor. I had a holiday and injury-enforced 8 weeks off through Feb/Mar last year and was in 10k/HM PR form 3 months later.
Fly - It wasn't until my last run the day before the marathon that I really felt the full benefits of the taper! Still heaps of time haha.
Weather - all the best for the HM. Sounds like less than ideal conditions but you can't control the weather so just enjoy the run!
JMac/Fly - wishing you guys all the best for the NYC marathon and looking forward to seeing how you go. It looks like you may have very similar conditions to what I had last weekend in terms of temps and humidity - not perfect but equally it's not like you have to deal with galeforce winds, or temps like they had in Boston this year. Make sure you keep the electrolytes and hydration topped up and it shouldn't be a big issue. I think the race is overnight our time so I'll check the results Monday morning!
Mikkey/Andres/Kram- I think my plan will be to tackle the shorter stuff for a bit before age dents my speed! I think I'll come back to marathons probably in a few years time as I know I've got improvement there but just don't quite have the time at the moment to get the necessary mileage in.
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: Runway5 / National 5k Champs, 16:22, National Masters AG Champ!
Up next: Still working on that...
"CONSISTENCY IS KING"
Thanks, when's the race? I hope I'm ready... I swear easy pace (8 miles today) feels like a struggle, this taper better get it's arse in gear and take effect... ASAP!
Funny Fly as I said the same thing about my EZ 8 mile run this morning. Only doing a gradual taper the next few days since it's not exactly my A race, but hoping a day off tomorrow will do the trick!
JMac and Fly -- wishing you both great and memorable times at NYC! Execute and then run your heart out!
RIP Milkman
Well I had just about the worst last few days of a taper you could think of.
Wednesday night, after my final tune up, I was standing around and all of a sudden felt a sudden pain in my foot. I thought it might be a cramp, or just taper phantom pain nonsense. Anyway, it was really bad Wednesday night, but decided to see how it felt the next day. Went on a 5 mile run, and although it was okay, it definitely wasn’t 100% as it hurt while walking. I decided then it was probably a good idea to try to squeeze in a podiatrist visit on Friday to see if anything was up. I thought maybe it was something with the cuboid, as that’s where the pain was, and I know Mark had some quick manipulation that fixed it.
Anyway, podiatrist did x rays and said I had a stress fracture, which needless to say completely crushed my spirits. But, the more I thought about it, the more I didn’t like the diagnosis. Stress fractures generally don’t show up on an x-ray until weeks after you experience pain, so unless it just masked, it was weird. Plus, stress fractures in that area generally lead to pain on the top of your foot, which I had none of. It was just this very sensitive pain in the tendon in my foot.
Anyway, because this was serious enough, I decided to rush in a second opinion just hours later (nothing like two doctors in one day!). This doctor has a bit more experience (first one was just out of residency), although that’s not necessarily a reason to trust one over the other. Anyway, Second doctor said no chance it’s a stress fracture. He gave me a cortisone shot and said it should be good to go Sunday. We talked through why it couldn’t be a stress fracture which made me feel a lot better. I also made sure not to tell him it was a second opinion to make sure I got an unbiased view.
Obviously, having such conflicting opinions is scary. I have no idea what’ll happen on Sunday, but given the second doctor ruled out a stress fracture, I’m going to give it a go. The first doctor wasn’t 100% sure anyway, but I still walked out of there with a boot on!
If you see me disappear from tracking, you’ll know the first doctor was right, or the tendinitis flared up enough that I couldn’t keep up.
Talk about taper madness...
5K: 16:37 (11/20) | 10K: 34:49 (10/19) | HM: 1:14:57 (5/22) | FM: 2:36:31 (12/19)
Wow, scary stuff jmac , hopefully it’s all just taper madness and you run a great race.
Wow JMac, that was an adventure you probably didn’t want to have!! I think it was good to trust your instinct and get a second opinion as stress fractures can be notoriously hard to diagnose even with an X-ray so jumping straight to that prognosis was probably rushing it. Fingers crossed it’s just a minor tendon niggle and it holds out for you for the race.
Mmmm Bop
JMac - I don’t blame you for getting a second opinion and hopefully it’s only a minor niggle. I found your bib #1556 a few pages back but can’t find anything for Fly? Good luck to you both!
5k - 17:53 (4/19) 10k - 37:53 (11/18) Half - 1:23:18 (4/19) Full - 2:50:43 (4/19)
Man, JMac. That's not what you need right now! Hopefully you wake up in the morning feeling ready to rock! Good luck to you and Fly!
Upcoming races: Boston
JMac: Man, that sounds like an exhausting day of doctor visits! If it's not a stress fracture you should be good to go; probably it is just one of those taper induced niggles. BTW, it can be difficult but if you can find a doctor who is a runner that is the best way to go. Good luck to you and Fly tomorrow!
2:52:16 (2018)
JMac - I've been where you are before... in at least two of my 6 previous marathons.... severe foot pain, thought I had a stress fracture, iced my foot, massaged it, taped it, epsom salt baths, etc. I could barely walk on it the morning of the marathon, then I thought, I'd at least start to avoid a DNS. First mile in, the foot pain disappeared and never came back. I think it's just taper nerves and anxiety. I still feel like crap and feel stiff and somewhat limping, but I'm confident the adrenaline rush at the start will fix it all.
Best of fortunes to Jmac, and everybody running NYC. Not ideal temperatures, but hopefully you can manage good results.
Two weeks out from my marathon and pfitz called for a race, but I've raced 3 of the last 4 weekends. I decided to do a 10K time trial at the track. I ran a 39:04 10K last weekend, and managed 40:10 today. Not sure what to make of it. It was slightly warm for my standards (low50s with some sun), a steady 5-10mph wind, I did a longer warmup to get mileage in, I wore my heavier ghosts, and it's obviously harder to time trial than race, although I do feel like I gave 100% effort. The good news is that I recognized very quickly that I needed to back off my pace (I was breathing heavy from lap 5 on), so hopefully I will make that adjustment in the marathon too if I decide to still go for under 3 hours.
5k- 18:55 (2018) 10K- 39:04 (2017) Marathon- 3:00:10 (2018)
Runner/Punkrocker/Birder
Hi everyone. Gunnar (BirdingPeru) from sub3 on RW here signing up. I have re-addressed my training after a mediocre Chicago Marathon (3:39) - but OK for how poorly I have trained lately. Next race is Miami Marathon in 12 weeks. I am 57, and I don't think I will have the time to bring up my mileage to extremes before the Marathon. So in order to gain fitness fast I am choosing another approach. From my blog (http://gunnarengblom.com/back-to-the-basics/) i just published:
"During the past weeks training I started following Hanson’s advance marathon plan which focuses a lot on quality and less on extreme long runs. On Tuesdays one does speed sessions and on Thursdays one does marathon pace runs. Last week I realized that I could not keep up the marathon pace run at 4:15 min/km (6:50 min/mile) because my legs were too exhausted from the Tuesday speed session. I need to adapt the program for my means.
This is what I shall do in short:
All this should probably lead to more strength, better form and faster pace.The HIIT sessions helped me a lot to run the 3:04 in North Carolina in October last year, so I think this will be crucial to getting me closer to my goal. But I also need to get endurance, so I shall plan for 3x32k long runs in the remaining 12 weeks to Miami Marathon on Jan 28, but I won’t sweat it to run a lot miles apart from this. I am doing a lot of my daily work on the computer as I walk on a treadmill, and this shall give some general fitness too with very low impact."
Anyway, this is the plan. A 10K coming up tomorrow, will let me know if I can at least sustain sub 3h MP for that distance for now. Plan B (and more likely for a sub 3 is Berlin Marathon next September if I can get a spot.Saludos from Peru.
Gunnar Engblom, Lima, Peruwww.GunnarEngblom.com Running Lima
Personal bests: Marathon: 3:00:32 (Stockholm 1982) Master PR. 3:04:08 (Peak to Creek Marathon 2016), Half Marathon Master: 1:30:11 (Half time in NYC Marathon 2014). 10K. Master. 39:39 (Lima 2014).Upcoming races: 10K Lima 3 Dec, Miami Marathon Jan 28, 2018.
All - my bib is 3714 for NYC tomorrow, starting at 9:50 EDT (we roll the clocks back an hour tonight for daylight savings), that could help avoid the rain. Looking at the forecast and using the aforementioned TDP calculator it's a 1%-2% goal correction, nothing crazy.
Mikkey - get out the popcorn! (insert popcorn eating emoji)
Andres - thanks bro, just hoping to wake up and feel good when over in the race environment. Tomorrow is a brand new day!
Cinnamon - Thanks, I was talking to my friend Brenda Hodge about you today, she's 46 and looking to run sub-3 tomorrow as well. She should finish top 10 masters, hopefully. I think you two are pretty like-minded runners. She wants to run CIM and Carlsbad 5000, that's what made me think if you.
Mark - Thanks, still waiting to feel great, like I told JMac, likely it's nerves.
JTReeves/sling - Thanks guys!
My plan is still to cross the half at 1:29:XX and see where I am at mile 16 and 20, and hopefully run my heart out like Cinnamon said. I may get sub-3, I may get a PR, and I may beat Mikkey's time. We'll see what the day the brings.