Ran a 10k in June (5 Viewers)

[prosopis]

Prairie State Half Marathon Race Report

Oh, my. That was shockingly successful! I thought I was SandingTM the first mile; in fact, I Sanded the entire race.

1:31:32 .. 6:59/mile* ..avg HR - 170

Good grief that is fast.

Unbelievable fast!!!Freaking awesome and I agree it is not the shoes. It is the result of years of work and dedication.

 

[sho nuff]

In honor of sand and his mother..I sanded the start yesterday.

Thankfully the Georgia highway patrol got the guy two cars ahead of me or I was looking at a 90 in a 70 ticket.

Now out for a pre-animal kingdom run.

 

[AcerFC]

Smartphones are awesome. I'm at the race right now, garmin froze at 6:40. Popped on YouTube and found the reset. Now I'm ready. It's 45 and cold. Just hoping I don't embarrass myself. Tons of students here. I may get chiced by the entire girls lacrosse team.

 

[MAC_32]

Prairie State Half Marathon Race Report

Oh, my. That was shockingly successful! I thought I was SandingTM the first mile; in fact, I Sanded the entire race.

1:31:32 .. 6:59/mile* ..avg HR - 170

Good grief that is fast.

Wow dude, amazing race. Great job It's still hard for me to wrap my head around being able to hold that pace for that long, very impressed

 

[tri-man 47]

You guys are great ..thanks! Now on to the Sunday racers!!!

 

[Ned]

beer - congrats on popping that cherry! And a great time to boot. Did you wear your HRM?

tri - What can I say, man? You are such an outstanding role model. You deserve all of the success you've seen this year. 1:31 is SMOKIN'!!!

 

[Ned]

Good and bad news today...

The good news - the 2 days of rest and aggressive therapy (iced and got freaky with my foam roller all weekend) did my quad wonders. It must've been a really tight trigger spot. So all systems were a go...

The bad news - 1:10 didn't stand a friggin' chance today!

30th Delaware Distance Classic - 15K

The morning pre-race routine was normal. The butterflies were going, but I was more worried about how the quad would respond during warmups than the actual race. I took off for a 2mi warmup run as soon as we got there while my wife got the bibs/shirts. I knew within the first 5 steps that my quad was fine, but I stuck with the warmup to make sure I was thoroughly loosened up. It was a text book day for running - 49 degrees and cloudy.

My plan was to treat this similar to how I treat a 5K where the first 5K = first mile, second 5K = 2nd mile, etc. So I wanted to go out on the fast side for the first 5K, then settle in for the 2nd 5K at a moderately hard effort, then slowly open the throttle up during the last 5K.

First 5K went by quickly. I thought I was giving it the old Sand effort. There was a lot of people still around, so it was fun actually mixing it up for a change. I always seem to get stuck in no-man's land at these races, but not today. First 3 miles = 7:07/171, 7:09/178, 7:06/175. First 5K roughly 22:07.

Second 5K had a few small hills to it so I settled in and watched my HR. 178 is my LT which is the perfect target for this race distance. So I loosely watched that during this section. There was a shorter fella running with me who was clearly racing with me. We had a lot of jockeying back and forth, but I could tell by his breathing he wasn't going to hang for long. By mile 6, he was dropped. Loads of fun... Next 3 miles = 7:12/177, 7:11/178, 7:11/178. Second 5K roughly 22:17

We hit the turn around pretty close to the 10K mark and I decided it was go time. I was feelin' it and started picking out targets. It was one of those runs where I didn't bother looking at the runner in front of me, I wanted the runner in front of them. I caught a guy that looked like a 10yrs older version of myself. Same height, weight, cadence, etc. We jockeyed back and forth for most of mile 7, but he fell back. It was really starting to hurt at this point, but I knew I had something special going. No turning back now. Throw all the wood on the fire.... Last 3mi = 7:02/180, 7:00/182, 7:00/183. Last 5K roughly 21:45

Finishing the last 0.3 was weird. You wanted to hammer, but it's just long enough to where you can't really sprint the whole damn thing. I slowly built my momentum here and picked off quite a few people. I caught one last guy on the last turn and slingshotted by him and he gave me a "great finish" as I went by. So cool. 6:36 pace for the last 0.3 to come in at 1:06:32.

I never in a million years saw myself running this. I was confident I had a sub 1:10 in me, but not a 1:06!! That was the single best managed race I think I've ever run. Teetering right on the edge of LT for that long was fun. I imagined toeing over a cliff and trying to balance without falling over the cliff.

The icing on the cake was my wife getting her own PR at the 5K - 30:24. She's been putting in some good training lately. She's about ready to start tackling some speed work now that she's got a solid aerobic base.

 

[FBG26]

Haven't posted in here for a while. Ran the Twin Cities 10 mile this morning (decided to take the short cut and skip the full marathon this year). It was maybe 32 degrees for the 7am start, 92 minutes later when I finished it was maybe 34 degrees. I like a brisk race but that was chilly! There were some crazies like Grue or Sand that were actually shirtless. The good news is that when it is this cold virtually all of the women (or the cute ones at least) were wearing spandex yoga-like pants so I was easily distracted from the cold.

I actually made it to the start line about 10 minutes after the gun because I decided to try a new parking spot today. Bad idea! Fortunately the fifth coral hadn't left yet so I wasn't alone when I crossed the start line.

Mile 1: 8:38 - The adrenaline was going crazy b/c I was late and hauling ### to the start line. Ended up going out way faster than I wanted but part of that is b/c the start is downhill. Figured I could easily back this off and be okay.

Mile 2: 8:50 - The spectators haven't really woken up yet so the crowds are pretty sparse, but thats okay b/c it was cold and I know that people really get out to cheer the marathoners which starts an hour later.

Mile 3: 9:40 - Yikes! I wanted to back off but not that much. Must have found a groove behind some girl and that threw me off. Story of my life right there.

Mile 4: 9:00 - We're now on the marathon course which is nice b/c it feels so familiar.

Mile 5: 9:04 - The crowds are finally out and I'm back in the groove. The nasty hill that hits you at mile 20-21 on the marathon isn't nearly as bad when you do it at mile 5.

Mile 6: 9:35 - The next four miles are just a very gradual uphill on Summit Ave. I backed off because frankly I was still a little faster than I wanted to be and I wanted to take in the beautiful run. Usually I'm just dying here during the marathon and can't really appreciate the scenery like I could this morning.

Mile 7: 9:29

Mile 8: 9:16

Mile 9: 9:24 - Ok, I've been holding back and feel great. How fast can we push the last mile?

Mile 10: 8:21 - Take that #####es!! Now where is the warm soup? I can't feel my toes or fingers.

Total: 1:31.50 for 9:11 min/miles. I wanted to go sub 9:30s, in my head I was thinking 9:15s were doable but might be tough. Not only did I beat that, but I was actually smiling the entire race instead of wanted to die the last few miles. Now after a hot shower I can finally feel my fingers again; life is good!

ETA: any of you smartasses asks why I took the shortcut instead of the full marathon this year, it's because I started law school two months ago and haven't had time to train like you should for a full (and I'm lazy but the other excuse sounds better).

 

[prosopis]

1:06:32.

I never in a million years saw myself running this. I was confident I had a sub 1:10 in me, but not a 1:06!! That was the single best managed race I think I've ever run. Teetering right on the edge of LT for that long was fun. I imagined toeing over a cliff and trying to balance without falling over the cliff.

The icing on the cake was my wife getting her own PR at the 5K - 30:24. She's been putting in some good training lately. She's about ready to start tackling some speed work now that she's got a solid aerobic base.

WOW That is way cooooooolll

 

[prosopis]

Total: 1:31.50 for 9:11 min/miles. I wanted to go sub 9:30s, in my head I was thinking 9:15s were doable but might be tough. Not only did I beat that, but I was actually smiling the entire race instead of wanted to die the last few miles. Now after a hot shower I can finally feel my fingers again; life is good!

Another great report!!!!!!Guys are bringing it this week end. That is nice to finish with a good time and not have that I am gonna die feeling. Way to go.

 

[IvanKaramazov]

3:50:04, almost a 9 minute PR. I'll do a write-up later but I pretty much killed this.

 

[Ned]

3:50:04, almost a 9 minute PR. I'll do a write-up later but I pretty much killed this.

YES!! Can't wait to hear the details.

 

[Ned]

FBG26 - congrats on a solid run. You obviously had a lot in the tank with that last mile. You could smash this time next time you race it.

 

[IvanKaramazov]

Ned -- Dear God that's fast, especially the finish. What a great tune-up. Your confidence must be sky-high right now.

FBG26 -- Yep, it was a cold one out there today. I ditched my gloves at mile 11 and instantly regretted it -- hands were going numb with 10 minutes or so. My favorite part of your RR was this nugget:

Mile 5: 9:04 - The crowds are finally out and I'm back in the groove. The nasty hill that hits you at mile 20-21 on the marathon isn't nearly as bad when you do it at mile 5.

It's insight like this that keeps me coming back to this thread. Thanks, Pre. (Just busting balls a little. Seriously, nice race. It's cool that we were out there on the same course today).

 

[FBG26]

Ned -- Dear God that's fast, especially the finish. What a great tune-up. Your confidence must be sky-high right now.

FBG26 -- Yep, it was a cold one out there today. I ditched my gloves at mile 11 and instantly regretted it -- hands were going numb with 10 minutes or so. My favorite part of your RR was this nugget:

Mile 5: 9:04 - The crowds are finally out and I'm back in the groove. The nasty hill that hits you at mile 20-21 on the marathon isn't nearly as bad when you do it at mile 5.

It's insight like this that keeps me coming back to this thread. Thanks, Pre. (Just busting balls a little. Seriously, nice race. It's cool that we were out there on the same course today).

Haha! If nothing else, I'm pretty good at stating the obvious. The nuns (with the "Kick ### Sinners" sign) weren't out on the hill by the University of St Thomas; they are the only redeeming factor of that hill. Did they make it out for the marathon? BTW, 3:50! Nice work on the killer PR!

 

[IvanKaramazov]

Ned -- Dear God that's fast, especially the finish. What a great tune-up. Your confidence must be sky-high right now.

FBG26 -- Yep, it was a cold one out there today. I ditched my gloves at mile 11 and instantly regretted it -- hands were going numb with 10 minutes or so. My favorite part of your RR was this nugget:

Mile 5: 9:04 - The crowds are finally out and I'm back in the groove. The nasty hill that hits you at mile 20-21 on the marathon isn't nearly as bad when you do it at mile 5.

It's insight like this that keeps me coming back to this thread. Thanks, Pre. (Just busting balls a little. Seriously, nice race. It's cool that we were out there on the same course today).

Haha! If nothing else, I'm pretty good at stating the obvious. The nuns (with the "Kick ### Sinners" sign) weren't out on the hill by the University of St Thomas; they are the only redeeming factor of that hill. Did they make it out for the marathon? BTW, 3:50! Nice work on the killer PR!

Yeah, they were out by the time I got there.

 

[AcerFC]

Great reports guys. I'll try to throw something up but no excitement from me. Honestly, don't even know where I finished.

 

[tri-man 47]

Whatta rockin' weekend!

FBG

Ned

IK

Incredible racing!!!

 

[prosopis]

3:50:04, almost a 9 minute PR. I'll do a write-up later but I pretty much killed this.

 

[beer 302]

Whatta rockin' weekend! FBG Ned IK Incredible racing!!!

Damn fine weekend of running in here this weekend guys, great job!

 

[Miscellaneous]

6 miles in 1:10; 200 feet of climb.

Walked 2 miles at the beginning and end for another 600 feet of climb.

Feeling good, but slow.

 

[Juxtatarot]

Chicago Marathon Race Report

Almost perfect marathon running weather. 40s throughout, I think. No precipitation. A little too windy, perhaps, but, of course, Chicago is the Windy City. I got to my start corral an hour early so, unfortunately, there was plenty of time to freeze and shiver ahead of time. Once the race started, though, I was plenty warm.

My original plan for this one wasn’t to PR. As most of you remember, I PRed in early June with a 3:08. I would have had to start over again right away for an 18 week training program and didn’t have the heart for it. I decided I’d do the Pfitzinger 12 week (up to 55 miles) plan and those other 6 weeks to focus more on speed to help set some half marathon PRs. The non-PR plan changed, however, when I saw the forecast. Most of the past several Chicago Marathons have had hot weather so I was going under the assumption it would be hot again. I thought I had a good chance to PR with nice weather! So, for this one, my plan was to try to run 7:0x miles -- slightly faster than the 3:08 which averaged 7:11 miles.

Everything went well this morning. I woke up rested for once -- I usually have trouble sleeping the night before and I was able to eat (I hardly ever eat breakfast and eating early is often hard for me to do).

Earlier in the week I mentioned my stained (self-diagnosis) calf. It was a bit painful throughout but I don’t think it really affected me. It seems to hurt more the first few steps after resting and when climbing stairs than when running.

GPS watches don’t work well in downtown Chicago. I was hoping my new Garmin would work better than my old 305 but it didn’t. I assume it’s the tall buildings. My mile splits on the Garmin aren’t very accurate so I’ll post my official 5K splits instead. However, I did wear my heart rate monitor for the first time during a longer race and am glad I did. Those will be mile averages.

1st 5K 22:15, 7:10 average mile, HR mile averages 178, 185, 171

The pace of the crowd was slower than I thought it would be to start. I was in the A start corral that you must qualify for with a sub 3:10 marathon or an equally fast half marathon. I did purposely start toward the back of A, so I guess it’s not surprising in retrospect. I purposely started a bit slower than goal pace so I could warm up and not be too hard on my calf right away (I personally don’t like to do a warm up run before marathons -- I figure that’s spent energy I’d like to keep for mile 26. Heart rate was through the roof for me, though. The topic of monitors taking a while before giving accurate readings came up a few weeks ago in the thread. I don’t know if that’s the case here. I often get an early spike but it never has lasted over a mile!

10K 21:39, 6:59 pace, HR 168, 157, 159

My heart rate finally fell and I started to get in a grove here. I was running a little faster than plan here but I was feeling comfortable with 7:00 miles.

15K 21:38, 6:58 pace, HR 159, 158, 156

20K 21:37, 6:58 pace, HR 154, 154, 155

Why would my HR being going down here when one would expect it do start creeping? Odd.

At 13.1 miles: 1:31:49.

I remember thinking, “Damn! I think Tri-man beat me.”

25K 21:39, 6:59 pace, HR 157, 159, 156

I was pleased that I seemed to be running even splits. However, I was tiring. I had hoped to feel stronger at the point.

30K 21:42, 7:00 pace, HR 157, 158, 160

35K 21:53, 7:03 pace, HR 161, 163, 163

Heart rate creep in full force now. I was really struggling to keep the pace I was at.

40K 22:46, 7:20 pace, HR 164, 165, 164

Getting exhausted. Hamstrings, feet, calves really hurting. I worried that I might start walking. My pace was slowing but I didn’t care.

Final 1.2 ish miles, 7:32, HR 165, 167, 170 (3 HR splits since my Garmin measured way long.)

Grueling at the end although at this point I knew I had it.

Final time 3:05:26. 7:05 average pace. 1,203 overall out of 37,000+. 137 out of 3,460 in age group.

Happy about the PR, of course. I really want a sub 3:00 one day and it is nice to knock off another chunk to that goal. Hopefully I can reach it before Father Time starts making the goal unrealistic for me.

 

[Juxtatarot]

Whatta rockin' weekend! FBG Ned IK Incredible racing!!!

Damn fine weekend of running in here this weekend guys, great job!

PRs falling left and right!

 

[FBG26]

Chicago Marathon Race Report

Final time 3:05:26. 7:05 average pace. 1,203 overall out of 37,000+. 137 out of 3,460 in age group.

Happy about the PR, of course. I really want a sub 3:00 one day and it is nice to knock off another chunk to that goal. Hopefully I can reach it before Father Time starts making the goal unrealistic for me.

ETA: These other marathons have so many people! Twin Cities only allows like 11k; I can't even imagine running with 37k other people.

 

[prosopis]

Chicago Marathon Race Report

My original plan for this one wasn’t to PR.

I thought I had a good chance to PR with nice weather! So, for this one, my plan was to try to run 7:0x miles

Final time 3:05:26. 7:05 average pace. 1,203 overall out of 37,000+. 137 out of 3,460 in age group.

Happy about the PR, of course. I really want a sub 3:00 one day and it is nice to knock off another chunk to that goal. Hopefully I can reach it before Father Time starts making the goal unrealistic for me.

I love how goals we have set for months are changed as we walk up to the start line.Great job

What age group are you in?

 

[gruecd]

beer - Way to go on the 5K!!

prosopis - Nice work on the 7- and 14-milers. You're really making nice progress.

tri-man - Congrats on a great race. That's a huge PR, especially considering your advanced age.

Ned - Awesome race. And congrats to DW as well!

FBG26 - Great job. Always good when you can finish with a smile on your face!

Ivan - Wow. Not a bad race in the bunch this weekend!!!!

Jux - Congrats, man. Solid time, even with the fade at the end. Just a matter of time before you join me in the sub-3 club!!

 

[gruecd]

First week of the 2-week taper for Glacial, and it was a total of a week for me. Two 10-milers, a couple of 6-milers, and one 8-miler, for a grand total of 40 miles. True to taper fashion, most of the runs felt pretty crappy, but today's 6-miler at 7:37 pace felt pretty good.

T-minus 7 days to my ultramarathon debut next Sunday. Forecast still calling for on-and-off rain all weekend, so the trail will probably be wet, and temps will likely be in the 40s and 50s. The footing (wet leaves) is the only thing I'm really worried about, particularly on the downhills.

Again, congrats to everybody on the amazing performances this weekend. I'll try to do you guys proud next Sunday!

 

[Juxtatarot]

Chicago Marathon Race Report

My original plan for this one wasn’t to PR.

I thought I had a good chance to PR with nice weather! So, for this one, my plan was to try to run 7:0x miles

Final time 3:05:26. 7:05 average pace. 1,203 overall out of 37,000+. 137 out of 3,460 in age group.

Happy about the PR, of course. I really want a sub 3:00 one day and it is nice to knock off another chunk to that goal. Hopefully I can reach it before Father Time starts making the goal unrealistic for me.

I love how goals we have set for months are changed as we walk up to the start line.Great job

What age group are you in?

I'm 42.

 

[IvanKaramazov]

Jux -- Just awesome. You're running your whole marathon at something like my 5K pace, but aside from that this is an awesome read. Nice job and congratulations on the new PR.

 

[beer 302]

Chicago Marathon Race Report

Final time 3:05:26. 7:05 average pace. 1,203 overall out of 37,000+. 137 out of 3,460 in age group.

Happy about the PR, of course. I really want a sub 3:00 one day and it is nice to knock off another chunk to that goal. Hopefully I can reach it before Father Time starts making the goal unrealistic for me.

Wow, guess you do know what you're talking about Awesome job man, really proud of the crew in this thread. Some really inspiring stuff. I guess all the #####ing during the heat does pay offGot race times from the 5k posted tonight and I actually shaved 4 seconds off my time. I thought the 3,000 I ran with was crazy, 37,000 is well. . .ridiculos.

 

[tri-man 47]

Chicago Marathon Race Report

Happy about the PR, of course. I really want a sub 3:00 one day and it is nice to knock off another chunk to that goal. Hopefully I can reach it before Father Time starts making the goal unrealistic for me.

We're never quite satisfied, are we? Funny ..I had just looked up your time, saw the 3:05, and was coming here to demand a report. Way to go!! You'll have to work on the first HM of the race. Excellent pacing through the bulk of the race ...more than strong enough to carry you to the PR. I don't know that we've ever had a weekend quite like this in the thread!

 

[MAC_32]

Good and bad news today...

The good news - the 2 days of rest and aggressive therapy (iced and got freaky with my foam roller all weekend) did my quad wonders. It must've been a really tight trigger spot. So all systems were a go...

The bad news - 1:10 didn't stand a friggin' chance today!

30th Delaware Distance Classic - 15K

The morning pre-race routine was normal. The butterflies were going, but I was more worried about how the quad would respond during warmups than the actual race. I took off for a 2mi warmup run as soon as we got there while my wife got the bibs/shirts. I knew within the first 5 steps that my quad was fine, but I stuck with the warmup to make sure I was thoroughly loosened up. It was a text book day for running - 49 degrees and cloudy.

My plan was to treat this similar to how I treat a 5K where the first 5K = first mile, second 5K = 2nd mile, etc. So I wanted to go out on the fast side for the first 5K, then settle in for the 2nd 5K at a moderately hard effort, then slowly open the throttle up during the last 5K.

First 5K went by quickly. I thought I was giving it the old Sand effort. There was a lot of people still around, so it was fun actually mixing it up for a change. I always seem to get stuck in no-man's land at these races, but not today. First 3 miles = 7:07/171, 7:09/178, 7:06/175. First 5K roughly 22:07.

Second 5K had a few small hills to it so I settled in and watched my HR. 178 is my LT which is the perfect target for this race distance. So I loosely watched that during this section. There was a shorter fella running with me who was clearly racing with me. We had a lot of jockeying back and forth, but I could tell by his breathing he wasn't going to hang for long. By mile 6, he was dropped. Loads of fun... Next 3 miles = 7:12/177, 7:11/178, 7:11/178. Second 5K roughly 22:17

We hit the turn around pretty close to the 10K mark and I decided it was go time. I was feelin' it and started picking out targets. It was one of those runs where I didn't bother looking at the runner in front of me, I wanted the runner in front of them. I caught a guy that looked like a 10yrs older version of myself. Same height, weight, cadence, etc. We jockeyed back and forth for most of mile 7, but he fell back. It was really starting to hurt at this point, but I knew I had something special going. No turning back now. Throw all the wood on the fire.... Last 3mi = 7:02/180, 7:00/182, 7:00/183. Last 5K roughly 21:45

Finishing the last 0.3 was weird. You wanted to hammer, but it's just long enough to where you can't really sprint the whole damn thing. I slowly built my momentum here and picked off quite a few people. I caught one last guy on the last turn and slingshotted by him and he gave me a "great finish" as I went by. So cool. 6:36 pace for the last 0.3 to come in at 1:06:32.

I never in a million years saw myself running this. I was confident I had a sub 1:10 in me, but not a 1:06!! That was the single best managed race I think I've ever run. Teetering right on the edge of LT for that long was fun. I imagined toeing over a cliff and trying to balance without falling over the cliff.

The icing on the cake was my wife getting her own PR at the 5K - 30:24. She's been putting in some good training lately. She's about ready to start tackling some speed work now that she's got a solid aerobic base.

All Star's this weekend!

 

[sho nuff]

beer - Way to go on the 5K!!

prosopis - Nice work on the 7- and 14-milers. You're really making nice progress.

tri-man - Congrats on a great race. That's a huge PR, especially considering your advanced age.

Ned - Awesome race. And congrats to DW as well!

FBG26 - Great job. Always good when you can finish with a smile on your face!

Ivan - Wow. Not a bad race in the bunch this weekend!!!!

Jux - Congrats, man. Solid time, even with the fade at the end. Just a matter of time before you join me in the sub-3 club!!

Piggybacking here as I'm posting on my dying phone.Great races everyone...awesome reads.

Got 6 in before the sun came up and a shower before Animal Kingdom...and a lot of walking.

Hot and sticky here...74/71 this morning...but so flat. Loved that. Waking up for 6 more tomorrow before walking Epcot...food and wine festival going on too.

 

[MAC_32]

I love how goals we have set for months are changed as we walk up to the start line.

 

[AcerFC]

Well, I did PR in my duathlon today

But that is only because it was my first duathlon.

 

[AcerFC]

beer - Way to go on the 5K!!

prosopis - Nice work on the 7- and 14-milers. You're really making nice progress.

tri-man - Congrats on a great race. That's a huge PR, especially considering your advanced age.

Ned - Awesome race. And congrats to DW as well!

FBG26 - Great job. Always good when you can finish with a smile on your face!

Ivan - Wow. Not a bad race in the bunch this weekend!!!!

Jux - Congrats, man. Solid time, even with the fade at the end. Just a matter of time before you join me in the sub-3 club!!

Piggybacking here as I'm posting on my dying phone.Great races everyone...awesome reads.

Got 6 in before the sun came up and a shower before Animal Kingdom...and a lot of walking.

Hot and sticky here...74/71 this morning...but so flat. Loved that. Waking up for 6 more tomorrow before walking Epcot...food and wine festival going on too.

Where are you running? I'm staying at Polynesian when we go in 3 weeks.

 

[prosopis]

First week of the 2-week taper for Glacial, and it was a total of a week for me. Two 10-milers, a couple of 6-milers, and one 8-miler, for a grand total of 40 miles. True to taper fashion, most of the runs felt pretty crappy, but today's 6-miler at 7:37 pace felt pretty good.T-minus 7 days to my ultramarathon debut next Sunday. Forecast still calling for on-and-off rain all weekend, so the trail will probably be wet, and temps will likely be in the 40s and 50s. The footing (wet leaves) is the only thing I'm really worried about, particularly on the downhills.Again, congrats to everybody on the amazing performances this weekend. I'll try to do you guys proud next Sunday!

I cant wait to hear about this.

 

[sho nuff]

beer - Way to go on the 5K!!

prosopis - Nice work on the 7- and 14-milers. You're really making nice progress.

tri-man - Congrats on a great race. That's a huge PR, especially considering your advanced age.

Ned - Awesome race. And congrats to DW as well!

FBG26 - Great job. Always good when you can finish with a smile on your face!

Ivan - Wow. Not a bad race in the bunch this weekend!!!!

Jux - Congrats, man. Solid time, even with the fade at the end. Just a matter of time before you join me in the sub-3 club!!

Piggybacking here as I'm posting on my dying phone.

Great races everyone...awesome reads.

Got 6 in before the sun came up and a shower before Animal Kingdom...and a lot of walking.

Hot and sticky here...74/71 this morning...but so flat. Loved that. Waking up for 6 more tomorrow before walking Epcot...food and wine festival going on too.

Where are you running? I'm staying at Polynesian when we go in 3 weeks.

We are at Bonnett Creek Resort....there is a .65 mile lit path around a pond on the interior of the towers here. Then when it's a bit less dark I hit the entrance road for another few miles.

 

[Ned]

Why would my HR being going down here when one would expect it do start creeping? Odd.

What a kick ### time! Congrats! It's amazing I just poured my guts out on the course for 15K and you kept that same pace going for 26.2. I'd love to know the science behind this too. I've had a few long runs where my HR has crept down as time went on. It's usually happening on a run that I end up crushing. It's probably a sign that the pacing is right.

 

[Workhorse]

Thanks for the laugh, man. Today has been the hardest day of my life, and this really hit the spot for a little breather.Acer - sorry no response, bro. Things haven't been good my way and I haven't had time to look into your message.On a side note I did run 4 miles yesterday (with a whole 10 ft. of climbing up one levee). Being able to just go out and run is a good way to just go out and think about nothing for a bit. Nice to have that capability.

Whatever it is, JC, my thoughts are with you. You're a great guy with a consistently positive spirit. For you to be struggling with something really concerns me. I'll 'Sand' the start tomorrow in your honor. Hang in there, my friend. Be careful with those climbs!

Not trying to be obtuse. My mother passed earlier this week and we put her to rest today. I have lots of family around, so all is well. Just a hard, hard day.Did a 5 mile run at dusk on the levee tonight. Beautiful night - the bridge was lit up, the New Orleans skyline was awesome, tugs and ships on the water, etc. Almost enough to ignore the 120% humidity.

So sorry to read this, Sand. As many of you know, I lost both my Mom and Dad within 4 months of each other this year. Good vibes going out to you and your family.

 

[Ned]

I'm still on cloud 9 over yesterday's 15K. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't totally rethinking all of my goals at this point. I have another tuneup race in 2 weeks - Atlantic City Half Marathon. I felt like 1:40 would be the absolute max I had, but now I'm pretty sure I can crush that. If I can execute like I did yesterday, I should be able to go 1:36x. Which totally blows my mind. That would put me well within a 3:30 marathon goal. Exciting and frightening all at the same time.

Hope I'm not getting too ahead of myself.

 

[Juxtatarot]

I'm still on cloud 9 over yesterday's 15K. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't totally rethinking all of my goals at this point. I have another tuneup race in 2 weeks - Atlantic City Half Marathon. I felt like 1:40 would be the absolute max I had, but now I'm pretty sure I can crush that. If I can execute like I did yesterday, I should be able to go 1:36x. Which totally blows my mind. That would put me well within a 3:30 marathon goal. Exciting and frightening all at the same time. Hope I'm not getting too ahead of myself.

McMillian predicts you to be at 1:35 and 3:21 based on the 15K. Assuming racing conditions are OK, your new goals seem reasonable. You're developing a strong endurance base and you already have the speed.

 

[gruecd]

I hate tapering.

 

[tri-man 47]

I'm still on cloud 9 over yesterday's 15K. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't totally rethinking all of my goals at this point. I have another tuneup race in 2 weeks - Atlantic City Half Marathon. I felt like 1:40 would be the absolute max I had, but now I'm pretty sure I can crush that. If I can execute like I did yesterday, I should be able to go 1:36x. Which totally blows my mind. That would put me well within a 3:30 marathon goal. Exciting and frightening all at the same time.

Hope I'm not getting too ahead of myself.

Just JuxtTM it and decide on your way to the start line. But I hear what you're saying!

 

[Ned]

I'm still on cloud 9 over yesterday's 15K. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't totally rethinking all of my goals at this point. I have another tuneup race in 2 weeks - Atlantic City Half Marathon. I felt like 1:40 would be the absolute max I had, but now I'm pretty sure I can crush that. If I can execute like I did yesterday, I should be able to go 1:36x. Which totally blows my mind. That would put me well within a 3:30 marathon goal. Exciting and frightening all at the same time. Hope I'm not getting too ahead of myself.

McMillian predicts you to be at 1:35 and 3:21 based on the 15K. Assuming racing conditions are OK, your new goals seem reasonable. You're developing a strong endurance base and you already have the speed.

Thanks.I meant to say earlier... I'd bet 18/70 would get you to that sub 3:00 next year. It's done wonders for me and I know grue used it for his sub 3.

 

[Juxtatarot]

I'm still on cloud 9 over yesterday's 15K. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't totally rethinking all of my goals at this point. I have another tuneup race in 2 weeks - Atlantic City Half Marathon. I felt like 1:40 would be the absolute max I had, but now I'm pretty sure I can crush that. If I can execute like I did yesterday, I should be able to go 1:36x. Which totally blows my mind. That would put me well within a 3:30 marathon goal. Exciting and frightening all at the same time. Hope I'm not getting too ahead of myself.

McMillian predicts you to be at 1:35 and 3:21 based on the 15K. Assuming racing conditions are OK, your new goals seem reasonable. You're developing a strong endurance base and you already have the speed.

Thanks.I meant to say earlier... I'd bet 18/70 would get you to that sub 3:00 next year. It's done wonders for me and I know grue used it for his sub 3.

Yes, that's the plan. Although as Grue and Tri-man mentioned, Boston comes with its own challenges and is not the ideal situation for a sub 3:00 attempt. We'll see...plenty of time to figure things out.

 

[beer 302]

We'll see...plenty of time to figure things out.

Yep, what's today minus 5 minutes before start?

 

[Juxtatarot]

We'll see...plenty of time to figure things out.

Yep, what's today minus 5 minutes before start?

 

[IvanKaramazov]

Race Report

I did Twin Cities back in 2010, running 3:58:54. This time around I knew I was better trained and there was no real doubt in my mind that I would PR, but aside from that I didn’t really have a goal time, not even when I lined up in my corral. All I wanted to do was run a good race. I had decided a few weeks ago that I was going to run by feel, going conservative early on and saving energy for the back end of the course, which features a few hills and a long, 2-mile climb. As you’ll see, the result of this “strategy” is that my splits bounce around a bit because I freely allowed my pace to fall on uphills and cruised the downhills.

As FBG26 mentioned, it was pretty cold with 32 degrees at the 8:00 start. The forecast was for the upper-30s by 10:00 and upper-40s by noon. When I went to bed the night before, I was planning on long sleeves, but I changed my mind in the morning, going with short sleeves instead. I cut the toes out of some old tube socks to use as arm-warmers (this trick is money) and put on some 3-pairs-for-$2 gloves I had picked up at Wal-Mart earlier in the week. I also spit in the face of the running gods by wearing a brand new t-shirt on race day (ZOMG!!1!1!!). Taped up the nips, body glided the thighs, and I was good to go. I also wore a 4:00 pace band, not because I was going to run that pace, but because having the numbers in front of me would make the math of figuring out how I was doing easier.

Miles 1-3 (9:28, 8:46, 8:53) – I lined up in between the 3:45 and 4:00 pace groups, but I was getting passed by pretty much everybody during this segment. This part takes place in downtown Minneapolis, and your garmin is completely unreliable here so I didn’t really know what pace I was running. At one point my 305 said that I was booking along at a 5:00/mi pace, but I think that may have been slightly wrong. Actually, I think that 9:28 first mile is also a little off; the clock at the 1 mile marker had me at 8:40-something, and I was never passed by the 4:00 group. But whatever. I just kept telling myself that it was going to be a lot of fun passing all these people back during the final 6-8 miles.

Miles 4-7 (8:38, 8:45, 8:45, 8:45) – Okay, now we’re out of the downtown area and I’ve got it dialed in.

Miles 8-10 (8:41, 8:44, 8:37) -- Lots of rolling hills here. I remember the first time I ran this thinking that this course is hillier than advertised, but I suspected that I might have been imagining things. Nope, it really is kind of hilly. When you live in a pancake-flat community, you notice this. At mile 10, I did a mental inventory and everything checked out. It felt like I could run indefinitely at this pace, which is what it’s supposed to feel like at this point.

Miles 11-13 (8:40, 8:51, 8:43) – Still cruising along okay with a few more hills. My official 13.1 split was 1:55:24. This was the point where I started to think that 3:50 was a possibility, but a remote one. That was going to require a negative split on a course that is not friendly to negative splits at all. Earlier in this segment, I caught up with a woman who couldn’t have been much over 4’ tall and at least 60 years old. She was listening to music, but kept repeating “keep your pace, keep your pace” out loud constantly. Props to her for being out there, but she was seriously getting on my nerves. And there was obviously no way she was going to hold up for another 15 miles at the pace she had gone out at. Annoyingly, she latched on to me for a while, but I dropped her after half a mile or so.

Miles 14-18 (8:46, 8:38, 8:43, 8:43, 8:47) – This is a relatively flat and easy section of the course. I knew it was here, and my pre-race plan had been to speed up in this area, still being mindful to conserve energy for the back-loaded hills to come. Reviewing it now, I’m unhappy with my splits here. I could have knocked 30-60 seconds off my overall time here pretty easily. I wasn’t tired, so I have to chalk this one up to poor race-day discipline. Starting to pass people here though.

Miles 19-22 (8:51, 8:46, 8:44, 8:48) – Mile 19 features a steep climb to the Franklin Street bridge, which takes you into St. Paul. Then there’s another hill. Then there’s Summit Avenue, which starts off with a continuous two mile climb. I had dropped about 90 seconds on this segment the last time I ran it, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to incorporate many hills into my training, so I was counting on raw volume to make up for it. Nailed it. I know Pfitzinger isn’t writing literature, but he has a nice line about how the last 10K is the part that poorly-prepared runners fear and well-trained marathoners relish. I was definitely loving this part. This is why I was getting up at 3:00 am all summer to get in my MLRs. My training paid off here big time. I was passing people right and left during this part. Quite a few walkers and “stopping to stretch” guys.

Miles 23-25 (8:46, 8:40, 8:41) – Now that the worst hills were behind me, it was time to coast to the finish. At this point, it was like everybody except me was on a conveyor belt that was moving backwards. I kept trying to lasso people and reel them in, but I was passing so many people so fast that I had a hard time finding victims who lasted more than a quarter mile or so. A strange sight at mile 24. Some lady stepped out onto the course to get up in the face of some guy in front of me who had stopped to walk. She literally her finger in the guy’s face and was yelling something like “Hey Number 4321, you put one foot in front of the other and RUN, mister!” There was absolutely no sign that these two people knew one another, and I can’t believe she didn’t get laid out. On the plus side, she’s probably great in the sack.

Mile 26, the next 0.2, and 0.15 of garmin stoppage time (8:25, 1:32, 1:03) – The finish is a huge, steep downhill which I was basically sprinting -- relatively speaking -- with a big assist from gravity. I knew that 3:50 was going to be very, very close, so I had no shame about being “that guy” who was going all-out at the finish. With 30 seconds left to go, I thought I had it, but unfortunately I came up just slightly short.

Official time: 3:50:04 (8:47/mi)

2465 out of 8781 overall

1843 out of 5094 men

308 out of 803 M4044

I’m extremely happy with this. In hindsight, I could have probably gotten another minute or two by running a little faster early on and by watching my pace during the intermediate part of the race. But the important thing is that there was never any time on the course when there was any doubt about being able finish the distance. Covering 26.2 miles by itself was a non-issue, so I was free the whole way to really race this instead of just doing it.

It’s likely going to be a while before I do another marathon, so I’m glad I had a good one yesterday. Also, I’d like add that in 2012 I’ve now set new PRs in the 10K, half, and full, so it goes without saying that I’m very highly motivated for the two 5Ks I’ve got coming up between now and Thanksgiving.

 

[Ned]

Race Report

I know Pfitzinger isn’t writing literature, but he has a nice line about how the last 10K is the part that poorly-prepared runners fear and well-trained marathoners relish. I was definitely loving this part. This is why I was getting up at 3:00 am all summer to get in my MLRs. My training paid off here big time. I was passing people right and left during this part. Quite a few walkers and “stopping to stretch” guys.

This is so fn awesome. Kudos, GB. You earned every ounce of this.