Forums >Racing>2013 Sub 4:00 Marathon Goal
5 days to go and taper madness is killing me...
Summary of my taper so far:
My runner's nose turned into a cold right at the start of taper, however it seems to be dissipating with the reduced mileage.
Got a mean case of poison ivy on my forearm while performing lawn duties, it really blew up late last week but thankfully is mostly dried out now.
Got bit by my first tick (also while performing lawn duties) and have been worrying about possible diseases ever since.
I think I'm going to live in a bubble for these next few days.
Anywoo, thanks for letting me vent a little and good luck to the other runners heading to Burlington, VT this weekend. It's still early but right now the weather sounds great (low humidity, start low to mid 40s, afternoon high in low to mid 60s) hopefully we get multiple sub 4's.
PRs: 5K: 21:52 10/14/12, 10K: 48:04 4/6/13, HM: 1:43:13 4/28/13, M: 4:02:23 5/26/13
Marathon Progression: 4:44:23 5/29/11, 4:20:08 5/27/12, 4:06:44 10/28/12, 4:02:23 5/26/13
not bad for mile 25
AZ2MN - good luck on your sub 4:00 goal. I like this as a goal. 4:10, you are really close to hitting this. Hi ALL, doing my first FM this MAY. Not 100% trained, but really hoping to hit sub 5:00 on my first. For sub 4, I'll set the date for this goal, in 2014. Dont have time to fit in another FM this year, but I have time to train. Congrats on all who completed their sub 4:00 FM!
AZ2MN - good luck on your sub 4:00 goal. I like this as a goal. 4:10, you are really close to hitting this.
Hi ALL, doing my first FM this MAY. Not 100% trained, but really hoping to hit sub 5:00 on my first. For sub 4, I'll set the date for this goal, in 2014. Dont have time to fit in another FM this year, but I have time to train.
Congrats on all who completed their sub 4:00 FM!
Jeff, I think your goal-setting is wise. I am a case in point that it is possible to go from a 5:00 marathon to a < 4:00 marathon in a year. See you here in the winners' circle next year!
5 days to go and taper madness is killing me... Summary of my taper so far: My runner's nose turned into a cold right at the start of taper, however it seems to be dissipating with the reduced mileage. Got a mean case of poison ivy on my forearm while performing lawn duties, it really blew up late last week but thankfully is mostly dried out now. Got bit by my first tick (also while performing lawn duties) and have been worrying about possible diseases ever since. I think I'm going to live in a bubble for these next few days. Anywoo, thanks for letting me vent a little and good luck to the other runners heading to Burlington, VT this weekend. It's still early but right now the weather sounds great (low humidity, start low to mid 40s, afternoon high in low to mid 60s) hopefully we get multiple sub 4's.
Jay, you have my complete sympathy - I HATED my most recent taper, and perfectly understand how someone can obsess over sniffles, bug bites, impending weather, etc. Nothing turned out to be a problem in my case; hope that's true for you as well.
Philipfromga, Rick, Jay .... how did your races turn out? Give us the inside scoop ...
I dont sweat. I ooze liquid awesome.
Well, despite the wind, rain, cold (temps never got above 47), and my head cold (sore throat on Wed, full blown sinus issues on Fri) I did manage to PR...
Unfortunately, my chip time was "only" 4:02:23. So close. I had many things going against me that day so I am still quite proud of my effort and I can't wait to try again in the fall.
Here's a tip for anyone thinking of still racing with a head cold, drop your pace a bit (seems pretty obvious, right?). I went into the race and followed my more aggressive pacing plan and it clearly caught up with me in the second half. I felt progressively worse from mile 16 on to the point where I got very light headed after 20 and had to cut back.
JayOH, congrats on a solid run in the face of some real challenges! Sorry you didn't cross that imaginary sub-4 line, but that's definitely in your future.
It ain't pretty!
I ran the Vermont City Marathon on 5/26. It was a cool and wet 42 degrees at race time with wind gusts up to 30 mph. Luckily, the rain was light and the way the course twists and turns through the city of Burlington, the wind was only a factor along 3 stretches of the course. Despite the weather, a good crowd turned out to help cheer on the marathoners and relay runners. My training partner and I used Hansons Marathon Method training plan. This plan had us running more weekly mileage and many more mid-week miles than the Higdon plan we have used in the past. And our long runs topped off at 16 miles. The theory being that by running a lot of miles during the week the long run on Sunday feels like the last miles of a marathon rather than the first miles.
It worked! I never once struggled in this race and even had a strong finish. This is my third marathon but it is the first one where I didn't have to take any walking breaks. The goal was to run a sub 4 hour race but I was training for a 3:50 race. While I didn't hit 3:50, my net time was 3:53:25. That is a solid 30 minutes better than my time for the same race last year!
Now its on to train for the Marine Corps Marathon in October! I will be using the Hansons plan again but will try to decrease the pace of the interval and tempo workouts. Who knows, maybe I'm capable of cutting off another 1/2 hour and gettin a BQ.
Running for my life!
Jay ... very nearly there... well done on your race and wish you well for your next one which i am sure you are planning already !
Rick .. Congratz on crushing sub 4 !
ok guys, I finished today's marathon "Solo O Marathon" in 3hours 52minutes 10 seconds. !! woohoo RR and short video link below
Video = My 2nd Marathon 6-2-13 or link = http://youtu.be/A-5zTDOiCw8
RR :
Quick background : I ran this same course in December 2012 which was my first marathon. It is called Operation Jack. 5 months laterI wanted to try it again as last time I missed my time goal by a lot. This time was my "revenge" so to speak heheh.Morning : Woke up at 3:30am let the dog out woke up at 4:30am to let the dog out again ?? wtf at 4:31am in the dark I step into a pile of dog crap on the floor. (barefooted) ugh... Surprisingly I didn't step hard and didn't even get on my foot whew!!! Anyways, I made 4 pieces of cinnamon toast for breakfast and drank a good fill of water. I was on the road at 6:15am and thedrive is over an hour. Got to the beach and the weather was pretty nice 68' and winds 11mph. LOTS of humidity (77%) and I paid theprice in sweat for sure. Started at exactly 8:00am and was feeling good. I did not have a pace marker until around 3.65 miles so Iwas a little unsure of how fast I was running. I made it to my first marker and I was about a minute and half ahead of my projectedtime. I kept this same pace from the start of the race until around the 20 mile mark. When I came across at 20 miles I was 3 minutesbehind my time. I needed a bathroom break so I think that cost me 1-2 right there. Anyways from miles 20-26.2 it gets crazy andpainful. Miles 0-20 = 7.45 - 7:50 avg pace. Miles 20-26.2 = 10:40ish avg pace (OUCH) So I get to mile 20 and I am feeling a little sluggish on my legs but no pain and plenty of breath. Next thing I know my calvesare cramping with every step getting worse. I had to do some walk/running for several minutes to try and recover. I stopped andstretched 2-3 times for 30 seconds, even sat down once for 30 secs. I did this from mile 20-24 probably and it sucked. It was superpainful but around the 23 mile mark the pain started going away. I was chugging my last of powerade hoping for an electrolite boostor something !! Then around 24 miles I felt almost normal again and picked up the pace to around 8:30? The last half mile I pickedup the pace a lot and sprinted the last .2 I was really surprised I had juice left in my legs. Finished the full marathon in3hours52minutes10seconds. My goal was to get 3:30 which was 8:00min pace. I am still really happy with this time and the hugeimprovement over my last marathon ( almost 50 minutes!!!) I made a medal a couple days before the race and my mom placed it on me. She was my water station /my supporter / camera / Finish line holder lol THANKS MOM!!I drank around 55 oz of powerade and 50oz of water during the run. I ate two fruit grain bars as well. I lost maybe 7 pounds during the run which is crazy. Even after eating some food and chugging water on the way home, I was still5pounds lighter when I got home. I have to figure out how to manage this...POST RACE thoughts : I was very happy with my time improvement over the last marathon. I was 150% satisfied with myplanning/training/and everything that led up to this day. I really felt I was ready and there were no excuses in my way. I made surenot to overtrain, get hurt, eat wrong foods, everything was SWEET! The memories I have of running a marathon will now be happy ones. I felt really traumatized mentally and physically from my last marathon and this was totally different. Anyways, I am feeling agreat runners high right now and loving life. My body is feeling really good and shockingly unsore and unhurt. I hope I can fullyrecover in a couple days. Anyways that is about it, there were a lot of good moments and smiles, lots of sweat and lots of grittingteeth. I am calling this day a success !Last marathon ( same course ) 4hours39minutes11seconds 12-26-12Todays marathon 3hours52minutes10seconds 06-02-13
Can't figure out the line spacing problem!!! sorry guys
5k = 19.48 10/1/13
10k = 45.28 4/16/13
Half Marathon = 1:38.53 Summer Sizzle 7/13/14
Operation Jack Marathon 12/26/12 4:39.11
Solo O Marathon 06/02/13 3:52:10
Operation Jack Marathon 12/26/13 3:40.34
Wolfwalker .. well done .. cant imagine running a solo marathon !!
I have just started to piece together a not-so-erratic training plan .. doing the 18/55 Pfitz for my next marathon on Sep 29 .. i gave myself 2 weeks of basic regular running before getting into the actual training plan and before i knew it, 2 weeks have already gone by, so now in Week 3 of 18. So far so good, have managed to run the mileage even if not hitting the key workouts in the way they were designed .. e.g. the workout day before called for 21km with 13km at Marathon Pace - there is no way i can do that just yet so just ran a steady 21km and hope to start incorporating the MP segments after week 4 on the plan ..
I am running a 10km race this coming weekend so that should give me a good idea of where my current fitness is and also help set a goal for the sep marathon.
Anybody else in a similar stage of training?
Knock knock!!
Who's there?
I'm in week 3 of my Hanson's plan. Running life before now has been kind of boring. Just building miles leading up to the start of the plan. This was the first week of 2 quality workouts - intervals on Monday and a tempo (defined as MGP) run today. Definitely looking forward to my rest day tomorrow. I don't know if I posted these here, but my best race times this spring were a 10 miler @ 1:17 and a half at 1:43. All signs point to sub-4 if I don't screw it up . 15 weeks to go until race day! Hope all the fall marathoners are doing well .