2018 Sub-3. No rules. Run. (Read 792 times)

I was going to ran this marathon in 2016, trained for it and got injured because I ran way too many downhill miles Now, it looks like it's cancelled (only 130 runners were running it last year):

 

But even for this marathon - if you are not prepared and didn't train specifically for that, you will be pretty much "dead" by mile 18-20 - your quads will be non-existent at that point...

That's like a 4000 ft drop! Must be aweful hard on the quads.

MTA:

The one I ran had a 210 meters drop, so about 690 feet.

MTA2: My friend, who ran a 2:39 last year in Amsterdam, managed a 2:49:21 on this "cheater course", and he had to really struggle to do it. He got carried away and passed the midway point in 1:16:50. It happens even on these kinds of courses.

There are three types of courses in my mind:

1) World Record eligible

2) OTQ Eligible

3) Others

I think "others" here are cheater courses. I was only kidding about CIM just because that's just a common refrain. In my mind, if you can qualify to run the Olympic Trials on a course, then you can count the PR. CIM obviously counts in that regard.

Trust me, if I break my recent PR on Boston, you're damn sure I'll be counting it 

MT - I use his third edition, which is the 2Q plan. It's not as hard as the elite version in his second book until you get into the 86-100 MPW section IMO. Regarding your I pace question, it's 8% of work at I pace. So, if you're running 50 miles per week, you can do up to 4 miles at I pace. Something like 6x1K or 7x1K (I'm always willing to stretch it a little bit with the rules but YMMV with injury history) would be right here.

Gabby and Steve - Welcome back. Squirrel/Steve I barely crossed paths with you on the old RWOL, but I do remember you so welcome back. Also, for both, maybe a quick bio for those who don't know you?

Sure.  I live on the beach.  I'm a HS science teacher and have been running since HS. After a few years of relatively lackluster performances, this year I hired a coach who has squeezed more out of me than I thought possible.  Most of my PRs are from 2013-15 with they exception of a very downhill half I ran a few weeks back. I'm looking to run under 2:55 this Sunday in Harrisburg Pa.  Not sure what else to add.  I have 6 cats, 6 cat tattoos and don't eat any animals.  Peace.

Huge thanks all for all the help along the way and for the tracking etc. I'm really happy with how it went given the really shitty injury nonsense over the a past 6 months. RR to follow later when I get a chance.

JMAC: Huge congrats on a great race. To run that time on a course as challenging as NY is mighty impressive, hell of a way to PR. The first thing that came to my mind was all your mid-summer complaints. You are a test case for sticking at it and the fitness/speed will come when the temps drop. I know you think the positive split was horrible (and you had your share of mid race horror), but how much faster do you think you could have run? That time must be pretty close to your current potential on that course. I love how those evil nike wearing people provided even the tiniest bit of motivation. That pain was so so well earned. I hope you aren't feeling too sore and please make sure to recover properly as the body doesn't overly appreciate going to the well. Looking fwd. to getting after the low 2:40s this spring... maybe even a fabled 2:3x!

Swim: Great to have you back posting again. Massive week as usual. I'm really looking fwd. to seeing/hearing how power based training has worked out for you.

Triboy: Nice name, muhahahaha... nice to have you lurking/posting again and it was great bumping into you at the weekend. Congrats on a super solid gritty run. Heal up!

Aussie: Assuming you are lurking some... ditto with meeting up. I know you are somewhat disappointed by the end result but you've made huge progress this year with way more to be happy about than most.

Andres: Good job getting to the finish. This puts you back on the board and sets things up nicely for next year. I hope you can stay healthy and find the time to put in a rewarding cycle.

JT: Huge thanks for all your tracking work over the weekend. Good to see that you are back logging 10milers. How long more until you can try some speed work? sling: Yikes. Hope that you are feeling a little better with each passing day. I'd say you don't need to worry about taking the arm warmers off as you can just roll them down if it gets too warm.

Cal: Good to hear that things appear to getting better. A down week will hopefully help your body adapt to the recent training surge.

BGS: Good to hear that you are going in with a positive mindset. Listen to your body and don't push it in the opening 10 miles. Best of luck! Spring 2019 is going to be fun around here.

Weather: The standard has been set. We expect you to deliver! You're putting in some serious sessions, so you should be able to be confidently aggressive. I think that 4x2 at HM+(5-10)/HM/HM/HM-(5-10) would be a great hard workout 21 days out.

Mikkey: Solid week. It's always more fun doing some quality stuff when the mileage is at a lower level. Not sure who Straub was on rwol or even if he was on there actually, but I've been following him for ages in the struggle for 2:50 etc. on strava.

JMac - Awesome.  Just awesome - congratulations!

I've done CIM 3x, Boston 5x, and Chicago 3x.  They are all fast courses.  Chicago is flat, CIM has some hills and of course Boston is the hilliest (but also the most downhill).  In perfect conditions (i.e. tailwind) I'd put CIM #1, Boston #2, and Chicago #3.  But in a typical year Chicago and CIM would be fairly equivalent (CIM might be #1 as October in Chicago will likely be slightly too warm) and Boston would be a crapshoot.

I love that CIM (at least as of 2015) keeps spots open for BQ+5 people but I hate that their sports drink is nuun (with almost no carbs).

I'm getting excited to go after it again on Sunday.  Weather looks almost perfect - mid-20s with a light wind.

 

Hey Squirrel - nice to see you here

 

We've got 2 rescue (feral) kittens from Rockaway Beach!

1:19 is quick (even if it's downhill) ... How has your coach changed your training?

Hey man!  Basically I'm running workouts now.  Every week has 2 quality days.  One on Tuesday or Wednesday and the other as part of the LR.  Every LR has some sort of fast running included in it, which is very new for me.  In the past all my LRs were just long easy runs with the one or two long MP runs each cycle.

The Steve thats an awesome break through to get sub 1.20. Maybe there is hope for me. I agree with you on the workout thing. Even the older guys need that stimulus.