2019 3:20, And Beyond (Read 444 times)

OMR


    ...4 LONG nights of opera (ring cycle)... I'll be lucky to escape without piriformis syndrome.

     

    Hey to y'all.

     

    Hahaha, this brought a smile to my face.  Good luck!  (You should wear a heart rate monitor...)

      .... and I've got a 5th night of singing to listen to this week... my wife's choir is singing Rachmaninoff Vespers.

       

      If I spent this many hours training, I might not be so slow!

      Running Problem


      Problem Child

         

         

        Do you all carry water on your tempo runs?  I am concerned about keeping my tempo pace with a handheld, but man, I got really parched on Friday's tempo, and that was only 4 miles (within 7.5 total).

         

        I did. Ultimate direction has a soft flask I like. Unfortunately NeRP got ahold of it recently and I’m missing the cap now. It really isn’t hard. More mental than anything. It’s not different carrying a handheld for 9:00 pace than it is for 7:00 pace. Plus it can help for race day practice if you take aid at the miles the course has.

         

         

        Good job marco. I look forward to the report. 3:27 is a great time and now you recover, and you have a marathon pace in case you wanted to train for another.

        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

          Belfast city Marathon 2019 (new course...) Race Recap:

           

          Pre-race:

          I had a good 18 weeks cycle in preparation with a couple of hiccup mainly due to a cold. I managed to keep training notwithstanding the travel for work. I started running my slow with 3h15' in mind, but I knew I didn't have it in me. As you know in the past 10 days I did a lot of thinking about the strategy. In the end I decided that I wanted to race the marathon with an intelligent approach (as suggested here), but without having the pacers make my race.

           

          Pre-start:

          I woke up at 4:30, had a coffee, drink and breakfast. Then back to bed until 6. at 7 a taxi was picking me up to go to the shuttle meet point. I met a few friends from my running club, mainly relay runners. I spent a bit of time with them. 40' before the race I started warming up and focusing on the task ahead.

          It was cold (3-5 degrees). While I knew it was going to be great for the marathon itself, I wanted to keep warm without consuming too much energy... I read on this forum (and would like to thank who wrote it, but cannot remember who did it) that somebody uses old socks as harm warmers. I prepared mine and used them in the pre-race and initial phased. I kept them as it was cold and used them again as gloves until mile 24 (on and off). My hand were freezing for the last 2 miles... But overall great conditions for a marathon!

           

          Race (intervals at every mile sign below):

          as mentioned before, I decided to race the 26.2 miles with an intelligent approach. I decided to take any effort and focus out of my mind for the first half, running a conservative first half looking at heart monitor instead of pace (<150). During warm up I talked with the 3h30 pacers and discovered that they wanted to keep 7’50/8’ for the initial miles. When the race started I was just behind the 3h30' pacers. However, I ended up spending most of the time in front of them (they were keeping constant pace, I knew the course and I knew where I didn't want to push small hills). I used the minimum mental energy I could in the initial 13 miles, and this paid big dividends in the final miles.

           

          I saw my family at mile 13, they gave me a bottle with some electrolytes and big smiles. I thanked and changed my focus to keep the pace. It was nice seeing them and I felt confident and relaxed. Half way we were at 1h45’. I started to think there was something wrong with the measurement… but ignored the thought and focussed on the next phase of my strategy. The pacers were back with me (due to a mile up hill between 12-13 miles.

           

          Between mile 13 and 16 I just controlled, I left the pacers and kept my heart beat at 150 or around it. The pace ( 7'45’’ ) felt ok. I was passing people who went out too fast or group of runners on their pace between 3h25' and 3h30). It was a nice feeling. I took my gel at mile 15.5 so that it was in and digested during the hill. I knew the course so far and I did what I wanted where I wanted. Then at mile 16 we turned left and I was in the unknown. I knew there was a big hill between mile 16 and 18, then 1 mile down hill. But I never ran miles 16 to 21 before.

           

          As soon as the road started to go up hill, I pushed my heart beat a bit high, but managed to keep it at or below 160. Runners were following the road, I managed to go the shortest way possible, and noticed that I was passing entire groups of people just doing this… The pace was just above 8 in the first mile and went down to 8:30. I expected it and was calm. Towards the end of the hill I noticed people panicking, asking if anybody knew if it was going to end soon. I mentioned the slogan of the marathon for this year (flat fast course) and kept repeating it to the end. At mile 18 we turned right and the road went in a huge downhill. I wanted to be in control, limiting the damages that running down hill could do (I still feel a bit stiff behind the knees and legs and I do believe that hill caused it).

           

          We entered a park at mile 19 and I started passing more and more people. I changed gear, moved from the heart beat monitor to the time and stopped watching. This was a decision taken on the moment, the initial plan wanted me to wait until mile 20 to do this. However, I didn’t push the pace.

           

          At mile 20 I decided that my race was on. I push a bit to 7'30 (but the course was going up and down hill there and I didn't know...) and stopped watching the time. I started looking at the runners in front of me and pass them. I kept doing this to the end. I managed the 7’30 or so pace until mile 24 (again up hill) and then finished strong. I started to feel tired around mile 23 but knew my family was going to be there again, just after we turned left and into the final hill, about 500 meters after mile 23. As soon as the final absent started, I got the first cramps. It brought back bad memories, but this year had to be different. I shorten the strides, relaxed and started looking at the traffic light (after that the road would start going a bit downhill). A couple of runners passed be at the end of the hill, but we turned left, the road went down hill, it was 1.5 miles to the end, and I push a bit the pace and passed them again. we entered the park for the final mile and there was a bit of up hill. I composed myself, controlled the running form and sprinted to catch a Lagan valley (my running team) relay runner (we finished together). I passed a ton a runners from mile 16 and many more after mile 20 (both marathon runners and relay runners), it was fun Smile and felt great! I finished 508 out of ~6000 marathon. The organizers admitted that there was a mistake (the front car took the wrong turn twice in the first 8 miles, you'll see them in my intervals below).

           

          The final official measure was 0.3 miles more (26.5). I recon it could have been even 0.4. Anyway, I finished in 3h27'20, with a very strong 1h40' for the second half. The official time has me at 3h25'50''. Great experience, the new course is much better for the people to come and support, and I was definitely better prepared. This is my first negative split marathon as well 😊

           

          I now know I can aim for a 3:20 or less, and next year I will !!!

           

          Mile Distance Duration Elapsed Time Pace Avg HR Max HR Notes
          1 1.02 mi 07:57.3 0:07:57 07:48 141 157  
          2 1.01 mi 07:40.1 0:15:37 07:36 146 153  
          3 1.2 mi 09:18.5 0:24:56 07:46 146 153 long, wrong turn by the front car
          4 1.01 mi 07:52.1 0:32:48 07:48 149 155  
          5 1 mi 07:46.1 0:40:34 07:47 149 154  
          6 1 mi 07:49.4 0:48:23 07:50 149 152  
          7 1 mi 08:06.1 0:56:30 08:07 148 154  
          8 1.14 mi 09:06.6 1:05:36 08:00 148 153 long due to mistake in the park by organizers
          9 1.01 mi 08:01.8 1:13:38 07:58 150 155  
          10 1.03 mi 07:58.1 1:21:36 07:45 154 164  
          11 0.99 mi 07:49.3 1:29:25 07:55 155 168  
          12 1 mi 07:53.7 1:37:19 07:54 155 162  
          13 1 mi 07:50.2 1:45:09 07:51 155 162  
          14 1.01 mi 07:46.8 1:52:56 07:43 161 170  
          15 0.99 mi 07:44.4 2:00:40 07:50 154 164  
          16 1 mi 07:44.4 2:08:25 07:45 150 160  
          17 1.01 mi 08:04.2 2:16:28 08:00 153 159 up hill
          18 1 mi 08:29.3 2:24:58 08:30 157 165 up hill (very hard
          19 1 mi 07:38.8 2:32:37 07:39 153 164 down hill
          20 0.99 mi 07:39.6 2:40:17 07:45 156 170 up and down hill (water works park)
          21 1.01 mi 07:21.0 2:47:38 07:17 157 169  
          22 1.02 mi 07:28.9 2:55:06 07:21 159 170  
          23 1.03 mi 07:28 3:02:34 07:15 160 166  
          24 1.04 mi 08:15.1 3:10:50 07:57 161 168 up hill Ormeau road
          25 0.94 mi 07:16.3 3:18:06 07:45 162 197  
          26 0.99 mi 07:37.9 3:25:44 07:43 169 189  
          26.2 0.22 mi 01:38.8 3:27:23 07:29 168 171 official final 3:25:50

          PRs since re-started in 2013:

          5km: 19:43 (Belfast park run Sep-16) | 10km: 40:16 (Belfast Lagan side 10K Sep-18) 

          HM: 1:30:09 (Belfast city Half Marathon, September-18) | FM: 3:25:05 (official chip time Belfast city Marathon, May-19, marathon was 0.3/4 longer, original time 3:27:20 for 26.5/6...)

           

          Upcoming races:  

          ???

            Huge congrats Marco - that's got to feel good.  I am very curious to hear how you paced it in the end.

             

            Of course I did what I felt it was right, I did follow the principle of your suggestions, but didn't stick with the 8'per mile pace. More details in the report Smile

            PRs since re-started in 2013:

            5km: 19:43 (Belfast park run Sep-16) | 10km: 40:16 (Belfast Lagan side 10K Sep-18) 

            HM: 1:30:09 (Belfast city Half Marathon, September-18) | FM: 3:25:05 (official chip time Belfast city Marathon, May-19, marathon was 0.3/4 longer, original time 3:27:20 for 26.5/6...)

             

            Upcoming races:  

            ???


            From the Internet.

              Whew some nice racing all around lately! Congrats, folks!

               

              I'm LESS THAN TWO WEEKS OUT from the big day now, woohoo! 74.6 miles last week with a 20 miler Tues, 11 mile workout Fri, 16 miles with 6 MP on Sunday. I've been floating around anywhere from mid-7:30s to 7:50 for MP workouts the last few weeks, we will see what taper magic and race day conditions do for me. PR is 3:32:41 at this same race two years ago; I've chopped almost 7 minutes off my half marathon PR since then. Biggest challenges for me will be not running too much during taper and being brave and trusting the training on race day!

               

              Previous week was around 72 miles with a 10K race on 4/28 - 44:26, about a minute off PR, better temps than my PR race in September but hillier course. Heart rate was lower too - my mental game was a bit off right from the start and I just didn't have that extra gear in my fatigued legs, though I did find a second wind and passed a bunch of people in the last couple of km.

              CommanderKeen


              Cobra Commander Keen

                Marco and DWave - Great job on your respective races.


                Rovatti - Nice week. Certainly better than mine in quantity and quality!


                Lauren - Great week as well.


                Bleh week all around here. Not much running, and I've just felt fatigued more so than I should on those runs. The virus that hit DD1 took its sweet time getting to DD2, and then DD3. DD3 had a really rough night last night, as as a consequence DW and I did as well. Maybe I'll be able to get to those hill repeats I had planned for this morning during lunch, or maybe tomorrow.

                5k: 17:58 11/22 â”‚ 10k: 37:55 9/21 â”‚ HM: 1:23:22 4/22 â”‚ M: 2:56:05 12/22

                 

                Upcoming Races:

                 

                 


                Speed Surplus

                  Congrats marco! Sounds like a well-executed race. You mentioned cramps in the late miles - in which muscles? I ask because I had a lot of calf cramping in my first two marathons, but calf sleeves seemed to sort the problem in my most recent two.

                   

                  Nice race again, Dwave. Your consistency is incredible.

                   

                  70+ mpw, Lauren? You're ready for a PR, I think.

                   

                  "Rachmaninoff Vespers." Is that the operatic equivalent of an ultra, rovatti?

                   

                  My week. Not as many running miles as I wanted, but I did have a 60 mile bike ride on my regular bike. First regular bike ride of the year and I think I did OK for a runner.

                   

                   

                  <tfoot> </tfoot>
                  Day Miles Pace Duration Description HR Egain Link
                  Mon 1.1 8:38 0:09 To the park 129 (70%) 55 strava
                  Mon 3.8 10:31 0:40 Loop and hill climb/walk with kiddo on bike 114 (62%) 185 strava
                  Tue 6.5 8:24 0:54 This route is hot garbage, but I had to stop by the bank ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 135 (73%) 297 strava
                  Wed 7.0 7:58 0:56 Easy river cruising + 520 hill hammer 144 (78%) 336 strava
                  Fri 8.0 8:24 1:07 Let's call it...an 8 mile shakeout. That's a thing right? 60 mile bike tomorrow 145 (79%) 262 strava
                  Sat 57.9 3:44 3:36 Should I have done one regular bike ride this year before attempting this? Possibly. No regrets, though! 132 (72%) 2348 strava
                    84.3 5:16 7:24     3483

                  5:27 / 18:49 / 40:32 / 88:12 / 3:12

                    "Rachmaninoff Vespers." Is that the operatic equivalent of an ultra, rovatti?

                     

                    That would be Gotterdammerung (this Sat)... 5h32m

                    rlk_117


                    Resident Millennial

                      marco- awesome race, congrats!!! You must be so thrilled. Love to read about the excitement and ability to push through a rough patch when you know you'll see your people/family soon. SOunds like a tough course, too. Also - I've never run a long race that ended up being measured long, but I'd be so upset!! Kudos to you for rolling with it.

                       

                      Lauren- 74mpw, dang! I've never gone that high (have come close and subsequently hurt myself). I agree with sclever that you are ready for a PR. Any pace goals in mind?

                       

                      keen- hang in there, rolling with the punches!

                       

                      sclever- nice ride!!

                       

                      dwave- wow, love that you and fly were able to key off of each other!

                      Big laughs at The Great Superglue Incident. You must have channeled some Ben Franklin-like ingenuity to come up with your solution. (As I do chemistry for a living, I use the word "solution" as a pun. You're welcome.)

                      Great job - super consistent, great strategy as usual. I like your discourse on the final "energy dump out". That's very much how our brains work, too. We have a little something more in the tank unless we have literally passed out, and our brain does a damn good job of trying to hold onto that glucose, but we can indeed burn a bit more for a bit longer at the end.

                      Echo the above comment on consistency. I'm trying to remember the last time you had a point-blank *bad* race ... and I can't. (You probably can though, ha.)

                       

                       

                       

                      I did a one mile road race this weekend. Did a long warmup (4+ miles) and also added in something new to me at coach's recommendation. After reading dwave's report, it sounds like this is old hat to her. So after the easy mileage, I did 2 x 1min at race pace ish, walking around to let my breathing subside after each, and then doing my usual ~4 strides. Wouldn't think of doing something simialr to workout intervals before a race, but coach pep-talked us saying that most distance runner adults (like all of us here) regret in their short races that they felt like they had some left in the tank, and that they felt like they weren't warmed up until part of the way through the race. So these interval things address mainly that second point.

                       

                      While I was wandering around the start area, I spotted Rachel Schneider (UA pro athlete). This race does attract elites (it's part of our local USATF series, in which the top runners are pretty elite, and something about the mile distance seems to discourage the less competitive members of our local teams) but I know she just raced Payton Jordan a few days ago (came 2nd in the 5000m to Jenny Simpson). Turns out her sister lives in the area and is giving birth any day now, so Rachel was visiting and hoping to catch her new nephew. Plus the race has prize money and CR bonuses.

                       

                      So, race. It was preceded by a community 5k and 10k, so plenty of people were hanging around to spectate the miles. The course was basically a short/wide rectangle around a downtown (somewhere near where calbears lives), and ~2.3 loops of this. There were heats; I was in the Open/Elite heat (yikes). Maybe 20 of us total. Most of us were gathered at the start line with an official starting to give instructions. Then we notice that one whole team is missing - the local Hoka team is at the finish line. The official near us says "oh crap, we are doing the elite call-ups!" and sends us all to jog down to the finish line. We all gather there, first watch a mobility-compromised ~80y/o guy finish his race from the previous heat like 15 minutes ago (!), and then the announcer does "call ups" for 3 runners in our field, incl Rachel. Just an intro and listing their PRs and accolades. A few have PRs in the 4:20s so I am just standing there feeling silly, knowing they will finish a whole minute before I do! So the runners who are called up wave at the crowd and spiritedly jog back to the start area. And then the rest of us follow together laughing, since we're not used to this treatment.

                       

                      Race starts! I start in the 2nd row (of two). Gun time/order matters for our team scoring stuff, but I know that I will finish in the back half of this field. I think I'm in 5:30 shape or so. Not a ton to report from during the race itself ... we strung into a line pretty quickly, but the 8 90degree corners were difficult to navigate anyway. Think slowing down every time you approach one, wheeling around it, speeding up to come out of it - and two sides of the course's rectangle were very short, so once you speed up out of one corner you quickly slow to go into the next one. Kinda sucked. they had signs every 1/4 of a mile, and I split 80, 2:45, ?, 5:38. Definitely pos split but I do think everyone did that, and I'm not sure it necessarily hurts me in a race like a mile. Still thinking through this, though. It hurt plenty, but was fun once it was over. I tied my Mile (track) PR. So I am happy with it, though I do know there's more in there. Based on everyone else's times, we think the course was pretty slow. We have a much faster road mile (point-to-point, slight downhill) in late June that I'm looking forward to.

                       

                      And then we cooled down on a nice trail for an hour (!) and Rachel Schneider joined us for a bit of it. Super nice and fun to talk to! And then she was like "do you think we should turn back to go make it to pick up awards?" and we were like "lol YOU probably have to but we don't Wink " and that was that.

                      _________________________________________________
                      mile, 5:26 /5k, 19:34 /10k, 41:00 /13.1, 1:31:49 /26.2, 3:12:58

                        They published the chip time and I got a 3h 25:05, 505th overall position. I am really happy about the time. Also I discovered I passed 230/250 runners (or at least recovered those positions) between mile 13 and the end. I think that was the most fun part of the race Smile

                         

                        Congrats marco! Sounds like a well-executed race. You mentioned cramps in the late miles - in which muscles? I ask because I had a lot of calf cramping in my first two marathons, but calf sleeves seemed to sort the problem in my most recent two.

                         

                         

                        The main cramp that made me feel a bit unsure at mile 24 was on the adductor (upper thigh) some pain rather than cramps were behind the leg (today i have a bit of a pain behind the knee and the biceps). I do believe that was the downhill section...

                        PRs since re-started in 2013:

                        5km: 19:43 (Belfast park run Sep-16) | 10km: 40:16 (Belfast Lagan side 10K Sep-18) 

                        HM: 1:30:09 (Belfast city Half Marathon, September-18) | FM: 3:25:05 (official chip time Belfast city Marathon, May-19, marathon was 0.3/4 longer, original time 3:27:20 for 26.5/6...)

                         

                        Upcoming races:  

                        ???

                        AceHarris


                          marco: I just got around to seeing your splits. Awesome race! You were steady the whole time, probably could've gone a few more miles at pace, right? Congrats on the HUGE PR!

                           

                          Lauren: nice training, best of luck on race day!! Which race is it again?

                           

                          I guess I'll post my week:

                          T: 7.35 miles - 1 mile warmup, 10 hills, 1 mile cool down. Totaled 1100' of gain.

                          F: 7.5 @ 8:01 - planned on 8 miles, but lighting and downpour started, so I cut it short

                          S: 11.1 miles on trails - avg pace 8:58, 1100' gain, again cut short by downpour and lightning, which was a bummer because I'd saved the biggest climb for the last mile and wasn't able to do it.

                          S: 6.3 @ 7:54 - 6 easy then some strides

                          Total: 32.2 miles

                          Road Mile: 5:19 (2017), 5k: 17:09 (2021), 10k: 35:54 (2021), HM: 1:21:55 (2020), M: 2:53:18 (2021)

                          pepperjack


                          pie man

                            Big Rachel Schneider fan.  She did our fun (but still quite competitive) end of year 5 miler a few years ago.  She went flying by around mile 1 wearing reindeer antlers (she must have started mid-pack and it took that long to break free of the masses).  I was super confused cause I know most everyone that fast around here.  Checked the results and was like holy sh*t.  I was one of a parade of dudes who went up to awkwardly try to talk to her after the race.  Definitely a good sport.

                            11:11 3,000 (recent)

                              marco: I just got around to seeing your splits. Awesome race! You were steady the whole time, probably could've gone a few more miles at pace, right? Congrats on the HUGE PR!

                               

                              Thanks,

                              for this time, considering that I never managed to finish a marathon strong before and that my previous PB didn't help in pacing (4h15...) I think this was the best I could possibly imagine.

                              Maybe next time I may try to pace in a very similar way, but with faster speed in the middle or starting earlier with the "race" part. For now I will spend some time in half marathons and I need more training. I'll see if I'll do a fall marathon, but probably I will do it next year.

                               

                              Marco

                              PRs since re-started in 2013:

                              5km: 19:43 (Belfast park run Sep-16) | 10km: 40:16 (Belfast Lagan side 10K Sep-18) 

                              HM: 1:30:09 (Belfast city Half Marathon, September-18) | FM: 3:25:05 (official chip time Belfast city Marathon, May-19, marathon was 0.3/4 longer, original time 3:27:20 for 26.5/6...)

                               

                              Upcoming races:  

                              ???

                              Running Problem


                              Problem Child

                                Mt. Charleston Race Recap/report/review or whatever we call it here. It's about normal length with normal language.

                                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