Ran a 10k in June (5 Viewers)

[gruecd]

Just to chime in here, there's no way a negative split is optimal pacing for your typical or even super-typical distance guy.

Disagree. My sub-3 was a slight positive split. I think the negative split is definitely a viable strategy for the marathon.

You have a lot more experience (and much better times obviously) with this distance that I do. How far would you push this? Sub-3 is rarified company. Would you push a negative-split strategy for somebody who was in the 3:15 or 3:30 range? It just seems to me that the marathon and a to much lesser extent the half are events where a person should plan on slowing down at least a little over the course of race. Those few extra seconds that "typical" runner shaves off the last couple of miles could have been a bunch of extra seconds in the first several miles.

It depends on the type of runner you are and how aerobically developed you are. Gruecd's times (notice how his marathon time is within 6 minutes of 2 x his HM time, or that his marathon pace is within 15% of his 5K pace) shows that he's much more slow-twitch / has a more aerobically developed system than most runners and can probably run close to his optimal marathon with a negative split strategy. Most runners probably don't have that level of dropoff (or lack of) from their shorter distance race performances to their marathon times. But in general if you positive by more than 2-3% in a marathon you went out too fast.

Yeah, my sub-3 marathon was 1:29:48/1:30:01, so positive by less than 1/2 percent. But yeah, I'm definitely waaaay more slow-twitch.

 

[Juxtatarot]

Sunday's updated forecast is calling for winds of only 16 mph now and the chance of snow is for later in the day. Racing conditions aren't as bad for Tri-man and I as it seemed like it was going to be earlier in the week.

Good luck to Grue (even though it's only a "training" race) and anyone else racing this weekend.

 

[Sand]

Great article - What world class runners eat.

Seems my carb addiction might not be so bad after all.

 

[beer 302]

Sunday's updated forecast is calling for winds of only 16mph now and the chance of snow if for later in the day. Racing conditions aren't as bad for Tri-man and I as it seemed like it was going to be earlier in the week.

Good luck to Grue (even though it's only a "training" race) and anyone else racing this weekend.

Absolutely!!! Good luck to all out there racing this weekend, race hard, race strong, represent well!

 

[Ned]

Great article - What world class runners eat.

Seems my carb addiction might not be so bad after all.

Interesting take on the sugar.... Just as I'm cutting some of that out of my diet (and lost 4lbs!).I wonder if they accounted for what the elites from the other countries are doing in the form of training. Are they training less, more, or the same as the Kenyans? That certainly has to have a direct correlation to the carb intake.

The Kenyan runners' carbohydrate intakes are also higher than those reported in endurance athletes in other countries around the world. As Pitsiladis, Boit, Onywera and Kiplamai pointed out, the carb intake of elite distance runners in the U.S., the Netherlands, Australia and South Africa have been measured at 49 (!), 50, 52 and 50 percent of total calories, respectively, a far cry from the Kenyan total of 76.5 percent.3,4,5,6 The Kenyans appear to be doing a better job of fueling themselves for their high-intensity training, compared with their "peers" in other countries.

 

[Ned]

Sunday's updated forecast is calling for winds of only 16 mph now and the chance of snow is for later in the day. Racing conditions aren't as bad for Tri-man and I as it seemed like it was going to be earlier in the week.

Good luck to Grue (even though it's only a "training" race) and anyone else racing this weekend.

GL!! How are you feeling?

 

[Juxtatarot]

Sunday's updated forecast is calling for winds of only 16 mph now and the chance of snow is for later in the day. Racing conditions aren't as bad for Tri-man and I as it seemed like it was going to be earlier in the week.

Good luck to Grue (even though it's only a "training" race) and anyone else racing this weekend.

GL!! How are you feeling?

I've got my usual aches and pains but I'm resting today and tomorrow so I should be good to go Sunday. If it weren't for the wind, I'd start out a little under PR pace and take it from there but I'm not sure what I'll do now considering the wind.

 

[sho nuff]

Nothing like waking up from anesthesia to see that Wisconsin crapped the bed.

Surgery went well...all drugged up an time to nap..

 

[tri-man 47]

Surgery went well

 

[Sand]

Surgery went well

 

[IvanKaramazov]

Nothing like waking up from anesthesia to see that Wisconsin crapped the bed.

Oh wait, no. Too early.

Surgery went well...all drugged up an time to nap..

That's what I meant.

 

[prosopis]

I am still not sure this was a good idea but I am in. Tomorrow I race while being chased by zombies

#### is about to get real.

http://escapethewalkers.com/

 

[beer 302]

I am still not sure this was a good idea but I am in. Tomorrow I race while being chased by zombies #### is about to get real.http://escapethewalkers.com/

Unless there is a zombie horse involved you should be alright.

 

[sho nuff]

I am still not sure this was a good idea but I am in. Tomorrow I race while being chased by zombies #### is about to get real.http://escapethewalkers.com/

Unless there is a zombie horse involved you should be alright.

 

[worrierking]

Good luck to the racers this weekend. I caught a stomach bug and missed three days of running wed-fri. Ran three this morning to see how I felt and I am definitely not back to 100%. I should be peaking for my 4/27 race, not cutting back! Ack!

 

[Ned]

Week 11 turned out to be a stellar week. Scheduling is a mess this week, so it turned out to be shorter than I wanted...

Tue (10mi w/ 6LT) - Already posted it. 7:10/173 for the 6LT. Still pumped about this.

Wed (9mi MLR) - Windy again today, but very strong run. 9:00/144

Thu (5mi recovery) - I had another 9mi MLR on the schedule, but for some reason I thought I was supposed to run a 5mi recovery. Had to switch things around, which sucks. :controlfreak: Super smooth run. 9:44/132

Fri (9mi MLR) - Really worried about this run since I didn't want to stack this against tomorrow's workout. Felt fantastic. Did the last 4 miles on hilly road, which worked out to 400' over those last 4. Pretty hilly for me. 8:56/145. I've never run an MLR under 9:00 before.

Sat (16mi w/ 12MP) - Had to move this from Sunday to Saturday because I'm hitting up an archery tournament with my brother and taking my oldest son for the first time.

Thinking about SteveC's comments on MP running, I figured I'd add a few into my schedule even though I'm not running a marathon. I plan on running this triple at basically MP effort, so it made sense to train at this intensity a few times. Given yesterday's MLR, I knew I wasn't going to be totally on top of my game.

Ended up at 8:03/163. HR on the verge of being on the high side, but its OK since I did this on tired legs. Oh, and then there was that pesky wind again. I definitely was thinking about tri/jux having to race in this 20mph crap. All in all, very happy with this.

Only 49mi for the shortened week.

 

[beer 302]

Stellar stuff Ned

 

[2Young2BBald]

I think today was equal parts; a learning experience and an eye-opener for my son (and for me too). I had no idea they'd cram so may teams onto a 200 meter track per heat. His team's lead runner paced the pack and led at the hand off by 4 or 5 bodies. Their second runner, a freshman too, seemed timid and was passed by 6 runners and gave up about a half a track. The hand off to my son went fine and he sure was not timid. He tore out of there like he was being chased and ran down the second pack of 3 runners in the first 200. I didn't time it, but I bet that was his fastest 200 ever. He was able to hang with the pack he was in for another lap, but I could see the fast start took its toll. His form went to heck in the third lap, with his head going side to side a bit and his shoulders were shrugged. He actually picked it up a bit for his final lap, but there was very little kick at the end. Hand off to runner 4 went fine and they got 6th out of 12 in their heat. He thinks his split was 2:24. Not bad (and 2:15 was a bit lofty looking back). He has been doing all his training with the sprinters and not doing distance, so the learning experience was to learn pacing and train with the distance guys a few days a week and with the sprinters the others. As for the eye openers, for those on FB that saw the photo, the venue was like nothing he had ever seen and I think the size and number of athletes freaked him out a bit. But, typical for him, he just asked lots of nervous questions of the older boys to calm himself. I knew I enjoyed track from watch MS track, and I am HOOKED on HS track. There was so much to take in at a indoor meet. The rival school to my kids HS (and the HS I went to) have an amazing girls program. Their distance medley team (1200, 400, 800, 1600) missed a national record by 5/10ths of a second and shattered the meet record, lapping the field by over a lap and a half. Thanks again for all of the advice and I'll be back for more!!!!

 

[sho nuff]

Very cool 2y.

 

[Ned]

I think today was equal parts; a learning experience and an eye-opener for my son (and for me too). I had no idea they'd cram so may teams onto a 200 meter track per heat. His team's lead runner paced the pack and led at the hand off by 4 or 5 bodies. Their second runner, a freshman too, seemed timid and was passed by 6 runners and gave up about a half a track. The hand off to my son went fine and he sure was not timid. He tore out of there like he was being chased and ran down the second pack of 3 runners in the first 200. I didn't time it, but I bet that was his fastest 200 ever. He was able to hang with the pack he was in for another lap, but I could see the fast start took its toll. His form went to heck in the third lap, with his head going side to side a bit and his shoulders were shrugged. He actually picked it up a bit for his final lap, but there was very little kick at the end. Hand off to runner 4 went fine and they got 6th out of 12 in their heat. He thinks his split was 2:24. Not bad (and 2:15 was a bit lofty looking back). He has been doing all his training with the sprinters and not doing distance, so the learning experience was to learn pacing and train with the distance guys a few days a week and with the sprinters the others. As for the eye openers, for those on FB that saw the photo, the venue was like nothing he had ever seen and I think the size and number of athletes freaked him out a bit. But, typical for him, he just asked lots of nervous questions of the older boys to calm himself. I knew I enjoyed track from watch MS track, and I am HOOKED on HS track. There was so much to take in at a indoor meet. The rival school to my kids HS (and the HS I went to) have an amazing girls program. Their distance medley team (1200, 400, 800, 1600) missed a national record by 5/10ths of a second and shattered the meet record, lapping the field by over a lap and a half. Thanks again for all of the advice and I'll be back for more!!!!

 

[BassNBrew]

My son finished 2nd in a small 5k today. He and the winner were within 5 yards of each other the whole way. He got a $10 gift card for his efforts. His time was 21:02 over 3.2+ miles. 6:57, 6:44, 6:22 for the 3 mile splits and 5:00 min pace for the last 2/10's. Excellent learning experience for him. He'll need to work on that first mile to break his 20 min goal, but the 3 mile is very encouraging.

 

[beer 302]

Some cool father-son stuff this weekend

Stupid wife

 

[tri-man 47]

Some cool father-son stuff this weekend

Absolutely!!!

 

[2Young2BBald]

My son finished 2nd in a small 5k today. He and the winner were within 5 yards of each other the whole way. He got a $10 gift card for his efforts. His time was 21:02 over 3.2+ miles. 6:57, 6:44, 6:22 for the 3 mile splits and 5:00 min pace for the last 2/10's. Excellent learning experience for him. He'll need to work on that first mile to break his 20 min goal, but the 3 mile is very encouraging.

NICE!!!

 

[gruecd]

Good run today in Clinton Lake. Already had 44 miles this week going into today (including 23 in the last two days), so my mindset was really just "time on my feet." It was a hilly 3-loop race, and each loop was about 15K, so the race was just under 45K (not 30 miles like advertised, but apparently that's fairly common in the ultra world). About 1500 feet of elevation gain per loop.

About 80% of the course was good, firm ground, but the other 20% was pretty gooey, and it got worse each lap. By the third lap, it was so muddy in spots that it was hard getting up some of the hills, and you really had to watch your footing coming down.

Anyway....I may type up more details later, but including aid station stops and a couple bathroom breaks, I finished in 5:05, which was good for 12th overall. Don't feel too bad afterwards, so I'm hoping for another slow 16 miles with a buddy tomorrow.

Hope you're all having a good night!

 

[sho nuff]

Great run grue...freaking beastly to follow that up with 16

 

[beer 302]

Weird week of training. Just was kinda blah all week, legs felt kinda dead and had a lot of trouble rolling out of bed to get any work in. Lotta excuses I guess, just think I needed a break from the 3:30am routine, feeling dead at work by 10am and struggling to keep my head off the desk by 2:30pm. Took Friday off from running and felt better after a really strong run on Thursday that I forced myself through. Hit the trails again today http://runkeeper.com/user/ronnash/activity/159808311. Still learning my way around so only got lost 5 or 6 times this week but no d ouche in the creek so things are looking up

 

[sho nuff]

My wife remand my wife asked me tonight if I remembered much about coming out of anesthesia. ..apparently the doc that was there was a trail runner and I was talking to him about running and trails.

Lives near here and runs some trails I didn't even know were close by.

In trying to give him my number I gave him hers. He texted to give me his number for when I recover and he will show me the trails.

I barely remember the conversation now but right aftrr I had told my wife all about it.

 

[prosopis]

I survived the zombie mud run. It was crazy.

They were releasing waves of 250 people at a time every half hour. I had the 9:00 am slot. I got there early figuring I would check in and use the porta potti etc...... Turns out these people have zero idea on how to organize a race this size. It was a disaster. Lines went on for ever. I almost said the hell with it and left. It was really confusing and eventually they gave up on the scheduled waves and it was first come first served. I finally got in to the staging area about an hour late.

We had flag football belts on with 3 flags. Goal was to make it through the 5k with at least 1 flag on.Start was pretty cool with guys in fatigues with fake machine guns and what not. The race started in an old slaughter house and we were in some old stables. Sirens go off and we are let loose. We round the first corner and meet the first group of zombies. It was total chaos with people tripping over each other and what not. They had us running through old storage sheds which really caused a choke area. I quickly learned that I could slap the zombie hands away and get free. It then opened into a larger area and there were a lot of zombies coming at us. One had his eye on me and I was so adrenalined up I decided I was going to Earl Campbell his ###. I hit high gear and lowered my shoulders. Dude side steps at last second and I almost face plant when I miss him.

Lots of obstacles and mud to go through and around. There was some 1/4 mile breaks where you could catch your breath. We then come to some fast zombies and one of them points at me and starts yelling I am going to get you. He got hot on my trail and was #### talking me the whole time. I barely get away from him and I am stoked. I give a little hahahaa to him. I then realize we have to double back and go through the same group again. Dude comes after me again and really wants to catch me. I juke and jive and escape but I was heaving and ready to puke. Next were slow zombies that were there more for atmosphere. They would try to grab you but it was not the 28 days zombies that went all out. I still had three flags. Come to another area where we are choked into a small funnel and a zombie ripped my entire belt off and all three flags. I go after the zombie and fight is on. I get my belt back - 2 flags

More obstacles and mud stuff. Crawling through mud under wire etc...

End of race I had to crawl under chainlink fence laid down in mud. Then they had a pile of tires to climb over, then tires tied together I had to climb up. At the top there was a ramp to slide down into this nasty cold water that oddly smelled like cow manure There was three of thoise and I believe each one was higher then the last. It took a little bit of upper body strength for these climbs and not everyone was doing so well. I helped a young lady up by pushing her up At the top of one my left foot got stuck in a tire as I was pulling up on a rope. I tweaked the knee a little here but I think it will be fine in a day or two. I raced to the finish line and got my survivor medal and a sweet tshirt.

It was a fun event but they have to figure out the sign in and line situation out. As I finished the race the line was three times as long as when I got there and it took me an hour to sign in.

The zombies were awesome. They had a good mixture of people who were serious and wanted to get your flags and people who just wanted to hang out as zombies for the day. It looked like a real good party event was going to be happening after. I could not stay as I have company here from out of town but it looked like it was gonna be fun with lots of girls I am probly to old to be looking at.

 

[prosopis]

I forgot to mention there was no water stops I was dying of thirst after waiting so long to sign in. There was also no water or snacks at the end. I should say there was no free water/snacks at the end. You could get stuff but it was all cash.

 

[Sand]

So my weekend so far: Leave work (10 hour day), drive 4 hours. Crash. Wake up and drive 3.5 hours. Move stuff for 5 hours. Eat. Get in car and drive 5 hours back home.

On the good side I could have pretty much swum in any street around home here - deluges of rain today. Hope to catch a nice 45 mile ride tomorrow. Calf is recovering. And the kids have off next week, so I may actually get in some evening rides.

 

[Sand]

I forgot to mention there was no water stops I was dying of thirst after waiting so long to sign in. There was also no water or snacks at the end. I should say there was no free water/snacks at the end. You could get stuff but it was all cash.

Boo hiss.

 

[Hang 10]

I forgot to mention there was no water stops I was dying of thirst after waiting so long to sign in. There was also no water or snacks at the end. I should say there was no free water/snacks at the end. You could get stuff but it was all cash.

Food and water are hard to come by during a zombie apocalypse.

 

[SFBayDuck]

Yeah, my sub-3 marathon was 1:29:48/1:30:01, so positive by less than 1/2 percent. But yeah, I'm definitely waaaay more slow-twitch.

That makes me no-twitch.

Some cool father-son stuff this weekend

Stupid wife

Very cool stuff. I'm glad my 9 year old daughter at least plays sports (gymnastics, I've coached her hoops team the last 3 years, and she just started lacrosse), but I don't see running as anything more than a conditioning exercise or practice punishment for her. Of course that's exactly what I was like as a kid.

Good run today in Clinton Lake. Already had 44 miles this week going into today (including 23 in the last two days), so my mindset was really just "time on my feet." It was a hilly 3-loop race, and each loop was about 15K, so the race was just under 45K (not 30 miles like advertised, but apparently that's fairly common in the ultra world). About 1500 feet of elevation gain per loop.

About 80% of the course was good, firm ground, but the other 20% was pretty gooey, and it got worse each lap. By the third lap, it was so muddy in spots that it was hard getting up some of the hills, and you really had to watch your footing coming down.

Anyway....I may type up more details later, but including aid station stops and a couple bathroom breaks, I finished in 5:05, which was good for 12th overall. Don't feel too bad afterwards, so I'm hoping for another slow 16 miles with a buddy tomorrow.

Hope you're all having a good night!

Nicely done! And yes, trail races seem to usually not be exactly the distance advertised.As for me, after Wednesday's aborted attempt the achilles felt good enough to run 6 miles on Friday with no pain, so that was really encouraging. My plan was for a solid two hour run today...then life got in the way. My daughter has several life threatening food allergies, and on Friday afternoon had her first anaphlyactic reaction in 7 years. It was a doozy that led to an epipen shot, ambulance ride, two more doses of epinephrine, several doses of steroids and antihistamines, another ambulance ride, and an overnight stay in the hospital. She's doing better now and I was able to bring her home yesterday morning, but she needs to be monitored pretty closely still today so a 2 hour trail run obviously ain't happening.

I'm down to 13 days to my 50 miler and I've basically run twice in the past two weeks since my 50K. Not exactly what I had in mind heading into my first attempt at this distance, but it is what it is. Hopefully as tri-man said the rest will be a blessing, and I hope I can get some solid running in particularly this week - no big volume, but 3-4 good runs.

 

[beer 302]

Yeah, my sub-3 marathon was 1:29:48/1:30:01, so positive by less than 1/2 percent. But yeah, I'm definitely waaaay more slow-twitch.

That makes me no-twitch.

As for me, after Wednesday's aborted attempt the achilles felt good enough to run 6 miles on Friday with no pain, so that was really encouraging. My plan was for a solid two hour run today...then life got in the way. My daughter has several life threatening food allergies, and on Friday afternoon had her first anaphlyactic reaction in 7 years. It was a doozy that led to an epipen shot, ambulance ride, two more doses of epinephrine, several doses of steroids and antihistamines, another ambulance ride, and an overnight stay in the hospital. She's doing better now and I was able to bring her home yesterday morning, but she needs to be monitored pretty closely still today so a 2 hour trail run obviously ain't happening. I'm down to 13 days to my 50 miler and I've basically run twice in the past two weeks since my 50K. Not exactly what I had in mind heading into my first attempt at this distance, but it is what it is. Hopefully as tri-man said the rest will be a blessing, and I hope I can get some solid running in particularly this week - no big volume, but 3-4 good runs.

Wow, hope she bounces back. Never had to deal with that but we have plenty of kids at church that we help with that have severe peanut allergies. Gotta be a parents nightmare, especially when they are young and you're not around.You've got the base for it and it sounds like the achilles is on the mend. Do what you always tell us, enjoy the run.

 

[gruecd]

One had his eye on me and I was so adrenalined up I decided I was going to Earl Campbell his ###. I hit high gear and lowered my shoulders. Dude side steps at last second and I almost face plant when I miss him.

Nice job. Sounds like you had fun.

 

[SFBayDuck]

As for me, after Wednesday's aborted attempt the achilles felt good enough to run 6 miles on Friday with no pain, so that was really encouraging. My plan was for a solid two hour run today...then life got in the way. My daughter has several life threatening food allergies, and on Friday afternoon had her first anaphlyactic reaction in 7 years. It was a doozy that led to an epipen shot, ambulance ride, two more doses of epinephrine, several doses of steroids and antihistamines, another ambulance ride, and an overnight stay in the hospital. She's doing better now and I was able to bring her home yesterday morning, but she needs to be monitored pretty closely still today so a 2 hour trail run obviously ain't happening. I'm down to 13 days to my 50 miler and I've basically run twice in the past two weeks since my 50K. Not exactly what I had in mind heading into my first attempt at this distance, but it is what it is. Hopefully as tri-man said the rest will be a blessing, and I hope I can get some solid running in particularly this week - no big volume, but 3-4 good runs.

Wow, hope she bounces back. Never had to deal with that but we have plenty of kids at church that we help with that have severe peanut allergies. Gotta be a parents nightmare, especially when they are young and you're not around.You've got the base for it and it sounds like the achilles is on the mend. Do what you always tell us, enjoy the run.

Thanks, it's a constant fear looming in the background of every day, but she is doing well now. I'm not sure I'm quite over the feeling of pulling up to her mom's house on Friday to the sight of an ambulance and fire engine, all the neighbors out standing on the sidewalk, and running to the house knowing it was my daughter they were attending to inside. I'll need a good trail run or two to work through that one, or maybe an entire 50 miles......

 

[beer 302]

I'll need a good trail run or two to work through that one, or maybe an entire 50 miles......

Hey :lightbulb:

 

[tri-man 47]

Chi-Town Half Marathon Race Report

1:36:30ish, 7:22/mile, 170 avg. HR

For the first 'season-starter,' I'll take it. I was a bit worried due to the lingering soreness/tightness in the hammy and knowing I'd spent all Fri/Sat sitting at the computer working on my paper ..not conducive to being loose and ready. Morning routines were all fine. Juxt came by around 7 a.m. to pick me up (thanks, Juxt!!). Just as he pulls up, some snow flurries start ...but they stopped and we saw no more. Easy drive to the Chicago lakefront, park a mile away, and jog to the staging area for race pick-up (8:15 a.m. start). We then each went about our own warmups and exchanged a quick before the start. Temp around 30 or so, and a rather stiff wind coming east off the lake ..more a nuisance than a hindrance. Course was essentially flat.

One oddity: It was a 10K and HM. Looking at the maps (and seeing the course set-up), we all started together and followed the same course. We looped back near the start at around mile 6, and they had signs for the 10K folks to turn and head to the finish while we ran a big loop further north. But: The young volunteers were telling the 10K folks to turn right away, half a mile into the race. I have NO idea how that all worked out. Later on, we were passing 10K'ers going the opposite direction, and they seemed to be a bit puzzled.

Anyway, given my training to date and rather uncooperative legs, it was a textbook race (that book being "Ned's Guide to HR Running"). I hung with the 1:35 pace group for the first 5 miles or so, but then slowly backed off when my HR got to 170/171. I ran the rest of the race solely by HR. We did a big turn at mile 9 and headed in for the final 4 miles, and I let my HR pick up as I slowly pushed the pace back to the finish:

mile 1: 7:15 ..158 HR

mile 2: 7:13 ..166

mile 3: 7:19 ..167

mile 4: 7:16 ..169

mile 5: 7:18 ..171

mile 6: 7:20 ..171

mile 7: 7:33 ..170

mile 8: 7:28 ..171

mile 9: 7:31 ..171

mile 10: 7:31 ..173

mile 11: 7:25 ..172

mile 12: 7:27 ..174

mile 13: 7:17 ..177

final .1: 6:31 .181

Haven't see race results yet (we scooted right out ..for me, I didn't want to miss Palm Sunday church). The hammy/butt weren't good. Any sort of inclines (just road overpasses) were painful. The beauty of the HR running, though, is my mind doesn't really think about anything, particularly not negative thoughts. I just hold the HR and keep going. My first HM last spring was early May at 1:35:22, so I'm probably about where I was at this time last year. It was great to spend some time with Juxt again as he gears up for Boston in three weeks.

gruecd - congrats on the 50K!

SFDuck - hope your daughter is back on her feet real soon!

---

eta: 3rd of 30 in my age group. 89 of 1,063 overall.

 

[parasaurolophus]

Ran a 5k today in Minneapolis. 25:14. Felt pretty good considering I was pretty sick Friday. I look forward to my 10k in May.

 

[Ned]

BnB - Awesome! Agree he's definitely got some immediate improvement if he tightens up those splits. How old is he?

Grue - That's kick ###. And you want to run 16 today?!?!

SF - glad shes doing better. Scary stuff.

Tri - that's a beautiful thing, ain't it? Hope your butt heals.

Snufalufagus - running after being sick sucks. Trying to race is even worse. GL on the 10k!

 

[gruecd]

Grue - That's kick ###. And you want to run 16 today?!?!

Just got back from 15.25 miles at 8:43/mile, giving me 43 miles this weekend and a personal best 87 miles this week. Bring on the taper!

 

[Ned]

Grue - That's kick ###. And you want to run 16 today?!?!

Just got back from 15.25 miles at 8:43/mile, giving me 43 miles this weekend and a personal best 87 miles this week. Bring on the taper!

 

[gruecd]

Chi-Town Half Marathon Race Report

1:36:30ish, 7:22/mile, 170 avg. HR

Nice start to the season, tri-man!

 

[gruecd]

...and a personal best 87 miles this week.

Here's the breakdown:M - 10 miles at 8:11/mile

T - 11 miles including 6 x 1000M at 6:00 pace (2:30 jogs). Overall 7:27/mile

W - SRD

T - 15 miles at 7:54/mile

F - 8 recovery at 8:48/mile

S - 27.83 trail miles at 11:00/mile

S - 15.25 miles at 8:43/mile

 

[sho nuff]

Nice racing out there by everyone this weekend and a monster week too grue.

 

[IvanKaramazov]

Wow, I missed all sorts of stuff in the last couple of days.

gruecd -- Dear God that's a lot of miles. I can't even wrap my mind around doing 15+ the day after a marathon-length run.

duck -- Sorry to hear about your daughter but I'm glad she's doing well. That's got to be difficult.

prosopis -- This just sounds like an indicator that the zombie apocalyse thing is jumping the shark. And to no refreshments at the finish line. WTH?

tri-man -- Nice job and great time. Chicago events sound like a blast. I miss not living nearby anymore, but I get to go there in a couple of weeks for a conference.

parasauropholus -- . . . and now that my kids are old enough to be left alone in a hotel room for a few hours, there's really excuse for my wife and I not do more MSP events. The drive to the twin cities really sucks from my town -- two lane state highways most of the way -- but it's an easy weekend trip otherwise.

___________

Kind of a poor/mediocre 15 miles earlier today. Not sure why, but for some reason this run turned into a slog after about 7-8 miles. I should have been well-rested with comparatively light mileage the past two weeks, and while it was cold and windy it wasn't anything that should have caused problems. Oh well -- one of those things. Looking ahead, Easter weekend is supposed to be pretty nice, with highs getting into the upper 40s. It's about damn time.

 

[Juxtatarot]

Chi-Town Half Marathon Race Report

Congrats to Tri-Man on a solid race! Unfortunately, mine didn't go as well.

The goal for me was to set a PR. That was 1:27:46 set last September -- a 6:42 average pace.

Mile 1: 6:34/229 average heart rate

Mile 2: 6:36/213

A little fast here but my first 2 miles from my PR were faster than the average too. Sometimes my HR monitor takes a few miles before it gives accurate readings. Obviously, that's the case here.

Mile 3: 6:49/166

Not feeling well at all here. Lower calf/upper Achilles' area throbbing (which happens to me occasionally but usually goes away) but also just not feeling like I'm going to hit my groove. This mile is already slower than PR pace and I know I'm not setting a new PR today. During this mile there was some confusion with a group of runners ahead of me. Apparently they missed a turn and they stopped. I didn't know if they were running the 10K or the half (turns out they were running the 10K) but I was following the signs and kept on going. A runner passed me and asked me which race I was running. He was running the half too but told me he wasn't sure if we were on the 10K or the half marathon course.

Mile 4: 6:49/164

I was really tiring. Believe it or not, I was actually hoping I was on the 10K course.

Mile 5: 7:09/160

Just felt done. Getting very annoyed by everything. The cold. The wind. Dogs without leashes running around. Somehow there were all these inclines everywhere even though we were running near the lakefront in Chicago that was build on top of a marsh.

Mile 6: 7:11/158

Some type of turnoff here where they were directing half marathoners to go one direction and 10Kers to go another. Very disappointed to discover that I was indeed on the correct route. I ran about a quarter mile farther then thought "#### it!" and doubled back to the split and asked a volunteer how to get to the 10K finish.

Jogged another mile back and I was done.

I can think of all types of excuses but the bottom line is it's quite apparent that I'm not where I was last year speed-wise. Also, I've come to the conclusion that something is wrong inside my brain. Any normal person who is having difficulty during a race will just slow down and make the best of it but similar to that 5K I quit last summer, I just get this overwhelming desire to give up. Maybe it's some hyper-competitiveness thing.

Oh well, I'll spend a day or two feeling sorry for myself and they get back at it. Quite certain my sub 3:00 dream at Boston is dead.

 

[IvanKaramazov]

Jux -- Wow that sucks. Not sure what to tell you about the quitting mid-race thing other than what you already said. You know you're just running against yourself, but sometimes that's easier to say than it is to really internalize. (?)

Also, this race sounds like it was kind of a cluster####. No excuse for not making the 10K turnoff clear.

 

[gruecd]

I can think of all types of excuses but the bottom line is it's quite apparent that I'm not where I was last year speed-wise.

Sorry you had a ####ty day, but I wouldn't be so quick to jump to that conclusion. Same thing happened to me at the 15K last month. Was hoping to run at GMP. Ran the first couple of miles at 7:15 pace, and then the wheels came off. No matter how much I slowed down, it didn't help. Had to walk several times. Sometimes it's just not your day.