Ran a 10k - Official Thread (10 Viewers)

[JShare87]

I have a video from my 5K. If you skip to about 6:10 in the video you can see me get passed at the wire (I'm in black). Still can't believe that happened to me. Just a dumb mistake on my part. You live and learn. Also, if you watch after the 2 of us pass, you will see the 3rd place finisher; he is 12 and I have raced him 3 times so far. This little kid is a beast. He consistently dogs me the entire race until the very end where he gives way a bit. Anyway, enjoy!

https://youtu.be/6u3gdT8ovj0

 

[Hang 10]

I have a video from my 5K. If you skip to about 6:10 in the video you can see me get passed at the wire (I'm in black). Still can't believe that happened to me. Just a dumb mistake on my part. You live and learn. Also, if you watch after the 2 of us pass, you will see the 3rd place finisher; he is 12 and I have raced him 3 times so far. This little kid is a beast. He consistently dogs me the entire race until the very end where he gives way a bit. Anyway, enjoy!

https://youtu.be/6u3gdT8ovj0

Next time haul ### when you see you have a chance at sub 20 and everything will work itself out!

 

[Brony]

I have a video from my 5K. If you skip to about 6:10 in the video you can see me get passed at the wire (I'm in black). Still can't believe that happened to me. Just a dumb mistake on my part. You live and learn. Also, if you watch after the 2 of us pass, you will see the 3rd place finisher; he is 12 and I have raced him 3 times so far. This little kid is a beast. He consistently dogs me the entire race until the very end where he gives way a bit. Anyway, enjoy!

https://youtu.be/6u3gdT8ovj0

I like that the woman who was helping put up signage took a 7.5 second break to clap 4 times for the winner.  At least someone was watching.  

Brutal 2nd place finish, but thanks for sharing!

 

[Ned]

Next time haul ### when you see you have a chance at sub 20 the finish line and everything will work itself out!

 

 

[-OZ-]

If any of you want in with a dynasty league, we need one more in a league as old as my oldest son (we were drafting while the wife was pregnant). https://forums.footballguys.com/forum/topic/754813-32-team-full-idp/

 

[gruecd]

Erie is flat, but you have the same problem you will have most places that time of year - good chance it's too warm for peak performance. One thing Erie has that most don't though? Lake breeze potential. 

Fast and PANCAKE flat.  I ran 3:03 there a couple of years ago.  I'm pretty focused on trail running right now (and CrossFit!), but if I get the bug to try to qualify again for 2018, I'll probably go back to Erie.

 

[JShare87]

Fast and PANCAKE flat.  I ran 3:03 there a couple of years ago.  I'm pretty focused on trail running right now (and CrossFit!), but if I get the bug to try to qualify again for 2018, I'll probably go back to Erie.

It says September 10th. Will that be too late to qualify for Boston 2018?

 

[gruecd]

It says September 10th. Will that be too late to qualify for Boston 2018?

You should be good.  Registration for Boston will likely open on September 4, but that first week is only for people who beat their respective BQs by at least 5 minutes.  It won't fill up.  The following Monday, September 11, it will be open for another week to anyone with a BQ.  Whether or not you're accepted depends upon how many spots are remaining and the margin by which you beat your BQ.  So theoretically you'd qualify on Sunday and turn around and register on Monday morning.

 

[Osaurus]

So I never stick around for the awards ceremony for most races.  Well this is the second time I placed in the top 3 of my age group.  This time in the Triple Crown 5k series I did last year and this year.  Looks like I'm not doing that bad in my age range. Still having a hard time believing people are slower than me. 

I think this is a factory reject award

 

[JShare87]

Signed up for my first marathon. It is the Jack and Jill Downhill marathon in Washington. It is a Boston Qualifier course. The wife has been wanting to take a summer trip (July 29th) to Seattle so we can make a mini vacation out of it. The weather isn't too bad that time of year. The course is the 3rd fastest course in the US, and the hills are gradual and not very steep. Hopefully it's a win win for me. So, I have 4 full months to train. Any training program recommendations? 

 

[Ned]

Signed up for my first marathon. It is the Jack and Jill Downhill marathon in Washington. It is a Boston Qualifier course. The wife has been wanting to take a summer trip (July 29th) to Seattle so we can make a mini vacation out of it. The weather isn't too bad that time of year. The course is the 3rd fastest course in the US, and the hills are gradual and not very steep. Hopefully it's a win win for me. So, I have 4 full months to train. Any training program recommendations? 

It might sound silly, but make sure you get some quality training while running downhill.  Your gate is slightly different when going downhill; you'll need to give your body a chance to adapt to it.  I didn't take this seriously when I ran a downhill marathon in 2015 and had my quads lock up on me (I still think that was the best shape I'd ever been in too).  Its incredibly humbling to blow up on a downhill course.  I mean c'mon, how hard can it be to run downhill?  

You'll get a lot of recommendations, but I'm a big fan of the Pfitz plans.  What's your current weekly volume looking like?

I know you have a load of talent, but I'll caution you.  4 months is 2 weeks short of what most seasoned marathoners will do for a training cycle.  Being new to marathons, you're going to be up against a lot of challenges with increasing volume.  Be careful falling into the trap of piling on a lot of miles too quickly.  

 

[mr. furley]

9 miles in the rain coming up on Saturday morning

 

[ChiefD]

Awesome @JShare87. Keep us all posted on your training through this. Excited to see what you can do, especially with your great early success. 

 

[MAC_32]

It might sound silly, but make sure you get some quality training while running downhill.  Your gate is slightly different when going downhill; you'll need to give your body a chance to adapt to it.  I didn't take this seriously when I ran a downhill marathon in 2015 and had my quads lock up on me (I still think that was the best shape I'd ever been in too).  Its incredibly humbling to blow up on a downhill course.  I mean c'mon, how hard can it be to run downhill?  

You'll get a lot of recommendations, but I'm a big fan of the Pfitz plans.  What's your current weekly volume looking like?

I know you have a load of talent, but I'll caution you.  4 months is 2 weeks short of what most seasoned marathoners will do for a training cycle.  Being new to marathons, you're going to be up against a lot of challenges with increasing volume.  Be careful falling into the trap of piling on a lot of miles too quickly.  

I get the sense he's in a similar spot now as I was this time last year.  @JShare87 I decided to train for a marathon after visiting Boston a few days after the marathon on the heels of two of my strongest races...since I was in high school - the 30:09 5 miler being the real attention grabber that I may be ready for a BQ chase.  You can go back in the thread for details, but like many guppies (no races > 10 miles/no weeks with > 40 miles) I over-did it training-wise and between it, conditions race day, and an overly aggressive race plan I bonked - bad.

For you it's going to be trial and error regardless, but the one thing I'll stress is to just focus on volume right now.  Not quality.  It's good that you already have some 40+ mile weeks under you, so getting into the 50's shouldn't be a big shock to your system.  That said, you're probably going to hit a plateau in a few weeks no matter what you do, so it'd be best to just get miles on your legs until you get to that point then re-evaluate.  Accounting for a reset week (30-some miles?) in late April/early May now would probably be wise.  Who knows, you may not even need it!

Use these guys as a sounding board.  I would not have made it as far as I did if it weren't for the seasoned vets in here.  You will make mistakes, so be prepared for that now.  It's why I reference the down week already.  Hopefully your mistakes won't be as bad as the ones I made.  Although I did come out of that cycle with some rewarding PR's in tune up races.

 

[bushdocda]

Great stuff as always here and the recent couple posts are very timely as I have a couple races (and 11 and 10 mi) next 2 weekends and then need to shift focus for my first marathon October 22 (gotta finish Saturday morning to earn my marathon pre-entry code).  

Trying to enjoy today and tomorrow rest days.

 

[pbm107]

Signed up for my first marathon. It is the Jack and Jill Downhill marathon in Washington. It is a Boston Qualifier course. The wife has been wanting to take a summer trip (July 29th) to Seattle so we can make a mini vacation out of it. The weather isn't too bad that time of year. The course is the 3rd fastest course in the US, and the hills are gradual and not very steep. Hopefully it's a win win for me. So, I have 4 full months to train. Any training program recommendations? 

Endurance takes time, you are on Strava so you know our names, lookup some of us up on Athlinks and look at our running histories.  It typically takes some time to build the endurance to run a successful marathon.  There is no better time to get started than now, and if I were you I would try to run 200 miles for the month of April without worrying about pace.  You’ve got talent, you just need to apply consistent training over time.

 

[gruecd]

9 miles in the rain coming up on Saturday morning

You'll be OK....

 

[gruecd]

Any training program recommendations? 

Pfitz

 

[gruecd]

Any of you Illinois guys (or anyone else) want to come up and run a trail 50K with me on May 27?  It's called the Bunk House Trail Run, and it's five loops of a 10K course.  It's pretty runnable, and it only costs $50.  Only 10 people ran it last year, and winning time was only 5:17:24 (10:12/mile).  I actually think I could win this!

 

[JShare87]

Thank you to everyone for the kind words and training advice. Although I am taking this seriously and trying to qualify for Boston, I want to enjoy the trip as well. I am really new to running and probably have no clue what I am getting myself into. At the end of the day, hopefully it will be an amazing trip and a great experience as I have never run a marathon before. I have been training for the past few months so I already have some miles under me. One thing I need to do is start running in the morning and up my days from 5 to at least 6 or possibly 7 days a week. My evening runs are not fun anymore as I work 12 hour days. So hopefully I can start getting up early and running in the morning. Thanks again!

 

[Juxtatarot]

 @JShare87  I really don't even think you should try to BQ this time.  Focus on increasing your mileage (like others have mentioned), make a more modest goal, and just try to have a positive experience.  You'll learn a lot doing that.  That would set you up nicely to do a more formal training program (like the Pfitzinger 18 week/up to 55 miles/week) for a spring marathon to attempt to qualify for 2019.

 

[ChiefD]

Then why invite me? 

@gruecd - you've been served!  Running boogaloo.  

 

[Juxtatarot]

@gruecd - you've been served!  Running boogaloo.  

LOL.  I reconsidered that message and deleted it.  You caught it in the minute it existed!  (No worries, though.)

 

[ChiefD]

LOL.  I reconsidered that message and deleted it.  You caught it in the minute it existed!  (No worries, though.)

I thought it was great. Perfect for the competitive nature of all of us here. 

 

[SFBayDuck]

Staying up past 4:00 AM in Vegas three nights in a row is not good for one's running. Can't wait to get back on some dirt at home tomorrow morning. 

 

[gruecd]

I thought it was great. Perfect for the competitive nature of all of us here. 

For real!  Why would you delete it?!  You think I'm some snowflake who would get offended?

I actually just realized that there's a 38-mile night run (at the Kettle 100) that I kinda wanna do the following weekend, so obviously I'm not going to do both.  I guess I could do the 30K instead at Bunkhouse.  We'll see.

 

[Juxtatarot]

For real!  Why would you delete it?!  You think I'm some snowflake who would get offended?

I actually just realized that there's a 38-mile night run (at the Kettle 100) that I kinda wanna do the following weekend, so obviously I'm not going to do both.  I guess I could do the 30K instead at Bunkhouse.  We'll see.

In all seriousness, I think I'll pass.  After the Wisconsin Marathon May 6, I think I'll want to stay away from the long stuff for a while.  Are you still running Illinois?

 

[JShare87]

 @JShare87  I really don't even think you should try to BQ this time.  Focus on increasing your mileage (like others have mentioned), make a more modest goal, and just try to have a positive experience.  You'll learn a lot doing that.  That would set you up nicely to do a more formal training program (like the Pfitzinger 18 week/up to 55 miles/week) for a spring marathon to attempt to qualify for 2019.

I appreciate the advice. I just plan to keep running and see where I'm at in July. If I have a shot to qualify, I'll give it a go. If I don't, then I won't. I enjoy competing and setting goals for myself, so I figured why not shoot for the moon. 

 

[-OZ-]

Any training program recommendations? 

Pfitz

Hanson

Grue knows his ####, but hanson worked for me (about a 15 minute PR following hanson). 

But juxt is right:

 @JShare87  I really don't even think you should try to BQ this time.  Focus on increasing your mileage (like others have mentioned), make a more modest goal, and just try to have a positive experience.  You'll learn a lot doing that.  That would set you up nicely to do a more formal training program (like the Pfitzinger 18 week/up to 55 miles/week) for a spring marathon to attempt to qualify for 2019.

 

[-OZ-]

@SFBayDuck - friendly wager time for Saturday?

ROCK CHALK!  

 

[Hang 10]

I appreciate the advice. I just plan to keep running and see where I'm at in July. If I have a shot to qualify, I'll give it a go. If I don't, then I won't. I enjoy competing and setting goals for myself, so I figured why not shoot for the moon. 

Love the enthusiasm but the main reason to not shoot for the moon on your first marathon is that you will probably crash and burn. Ever heard of hitting the marathon wall? This something that affects pretty much all marathon newbies. No matter what you do in your first training cycle will fully prepare your body for the intensity and duration of the actual race. ESPECIALLY if you plan on shooting for a 3 hour marathon. 

 

[mr. furley]

Hanson

dang that half plan looks aggressive. at least compared to what i'm doing.. which i'm not sure is all that great of a plan but.. holy ####.

 

[ChiefD]

Love the enthusiasm but the main reason to not shoot for the moon on your first marathon is that you will probably crash and burn. Ever heard of hitting the marathon wall? This something that affects pretty much all marathon newbies. No matter what you do in your first training cycle will fully prepare your body for the intensity and duration of the actual race. ESPECIALLY if you plan on shooting for a 3 hour marathon. 

Of course, @JShare87 will probably go out and run a 2:55 or some crazy #### like that and piss all of us off. 

 

[-OZ-]

dang that half plan looks aggressive. at least compared to what i'm doing.. which i'm not sure is all that great of a plan but.. holy ####.

Yeah, it's more 10+ mile runs than I did for most HMs, and more runs between 10-12 than I've ever done.  but this definitely gets you to the finish line and sets you up for a PR. 

 

[Ned]

You think I'm some snowflake who would get offended?

Yes.

 

 

[-OZ-]

Any of you Illinois guys (or anyone else) want to come up and run a trail 50K with me on May 27?  It's called the Bunk House Trail Run, and it's five loops of a 10K course.  It's pretty runnable, and it only costs $50.  Only 10 people ran it last year, and winning time was only 5:17:24 (10:12/mile).  I actually think I could win this!

Only 5 loops?

Fwiw, I've applied for a DOJ job in Urbana. If I get and take that I'll probably head up for it.  Assuming they move quickly and the hiring freeze gets lifted.  (So probably not, but maybe)

 

[Hang 10]

Of course, @JShare87 will probably go out and run a 2:55 or some crazy #### like that and piss all of us off. 

Sure I suppose that's possible too. But if that's the case than our boy is a unicorn.

@MAC_32 's marathon cycle makes the best case for a conservative first marathon goal. I have no doubt that @JShare87 has some running talent but Mac is the most talented runner here not named Steve. He put in the work and has SUB 17 5K SPEED and the marathon still got the best of him. How crazy is that? 

But hey, if you do go for it @JShare87 I hope to be able to offer some training advice either way. I can certainly tell you what not to do if you want to stay healthy.  

 

[Juxtatarot]

@MAC_32 's marathon cycle makes the best case for a conservative first marathon goal. I have no doubt that @JShare87 has some running talent but Mac is the most talented runner here not named Steve. He put in the work and has SUB 17 5K SPEED and the marathon still got the best of him. How crazy is that?  

 I was thinking the exact same thing but hadn't gotten around to posting it.

 

[MAC_32]

Sure I suppose that's possible too. But if that's the case than our boy is a unicorn.

@MAC_32 's marathon cycle makes the best case for a conservative first marathon goal. I have no doubt that @JShare87 has some running talent but Mac is the most talented runner here not named Steve. He put in the work and has SUB 17 5K SPEED and the marathon still got the best of him. How crazy is that? 

But hey, if you do go for it @JShare87 I hope to be able to offer some training advice either way. I can certainly tell you what not to do if you want to stay healthy.  

I still think I had a 3:00-3:05 marathon in me, but my training mistakes required perfect conditions.  Unfortunately, they weren't that day.

I was talking about that approach with a few friends over beers recently and am happy that I still don't have any regrets.  In order to achieve my goal I needed to risk blowing up.

Unfortunately my race went K'blam-o.

 

[Hang 10]

I still think I had a 3:00-3:05 marathon in me, but my training mistakes required perfect conditions.  Unfortunately, they weren't that day.

I was talking about that approach with a few friends over beers recently and am happy that I still don't have any regrets.  In order to achieve my goal I needed to risk blowing up.

Unfortunately my race went K'blam-o.

I can see that. But really if you think about it, 3:05 is actually a conservative time based on your shorter races. If you used one of the those race predictors, it would probably say you're 10-15 minutes faster than that. 

ETA: Based on your 5K you're a 2:40-45 marathon guy! 

 

[MAC_32]

I can see that. But really if you think about it, 3:05 is actually a conservative time based on your shorter races. If you used one of the those race predictors, it would probably say you're 10-15 minutes faster than that. 

They do, some actually more than that, although I think those may be over aggressive.  I think eventually I could get in the 2:50 neighborhood, but I think I need a greater volume base to pursue something closer to what the calculators say I can do.  Until I get my head around early morning running it isn't going to happen until my small humans are no longer small.  Or at least as small as they are now.  

Granted I was training like a moron, but it took me years to get over the hump in shorter races.  It's probably going to take more mistakes at the marathon level to get to where I think I can, but having experienced one cycle I think I'll be in a much better spot to at least qualify when I start the next one.  Assuming it isn't this Fall then the extra 5 minute buffer will help too.

 

[Juxtatarot]

  Until I get my head around early morning running

I have one rule that works very well for me:

I allow myself 23 hours and 50 minutes per day to decide that I'm going to change plans and skip a morning run.  The 10 minutes that I don't allow myself to do that is the 10 minutes after the alarm goes off.

 

[Ned]

I still think I had a 3:00-3:05 marathon in me, but my training mistakes required perfect conditions.  Unfortunately, they weren't that day.

I was talking about that approach with a few friends over beers recently and am happy that I still don't have any regrets.  In order to achieve my goal I needed to risk blowing up.

Unfortunately my race went K'blam-o.

Honestly....I think you're putting too much of this on yourself; we all make mistakes during a training cycle.  I think you simply fell victim to setting high expectations on your first marathon.  I'm a firm believer that building enough endurance to race a marathon is a slow drip (for all of us mere mortals).  It takes a few training cycles to be able to maximize marathon output...

Like you said, the marathon requires a lot of things to line up just right, making the risk for blowing up pretty high.  However, that risk is also codependent on the number of training cycles/marathon races you've run previously.  @pbm107's race from last weekend is a perfect example.  Had that been his first marathon, there's little doubt in my mind that the second half would've been a disaster.  The fitness he's built up over the years carried him to salvage that race.

 

[Ned]

I have one rule that works very well for me:

I allow myself 23 hours and 50 minutes per day to decide that I'm going to change plans and skip a morning run.  The 10 minutes that I don't allow myself to do that is the 10 minutes after the alarm goes off.

Outstanding

 

[MAC_32]

Honestly....I think you're putting too much of this on yourself; we all make mistakes during a training cycle.  I think you simply fell victim to setting high expectations on your first marathon.  I'm a firm believer that building enough endurance to race a marathon is a slow drip (for all of us mere mortals).  It takes a few training cycles to be able to maximize marathon output...

Like you said, the marathon requires a lot of things to line up just right, making the risk for blowing up pretty high.  However, that risk is also codependent on the number of training cycles/marathon races you've run previously.  @pbm107's race from last weekend is a perfect example.  Had that been his first marathon, there's little doubt in my mind that the second half would've been a disaster.  The fitness he's built up over the years carried him to salvage that race.

Extremely .  I resisted posting because this was about @pbm107 and not me, but I had a similar takeaway about his race.  If that were me, now, I'd have bombed.  Having been through the ringer as many times as he has he was able to find a way to get to the finish line in time.  Someday, here's hoping we're all in that same spot.

 

[JShare87]

Seriously, thanks for all the feedback. I am by no stretch as talented as half of you in here. And I completely understand the advice you're all providing me. It does sound a little negative, but I realize it is being said because you all have been there before. I don't have any of the knowledge that most of you do. I also can't comprehend even finishing a marathon at this point, let alone running it fast enough to qualify for Boston. I am going to continue to run and increase my mileage and give the marathon a shot. Whatever happens, happens. At this point in my running career, running has changed my life from a health standpoint in an enormous way. I am thankful for that and this forum to share everything with all of you. Have a great weekend everyone!

 

[MAC_32]

Seriously, thanks for all the feedback. I am by no stretch as talented as half of you in here. And I completely understand the advice you're all providing me. It does sound a little negative, but I realize it is being said because you all have been there before. I don't have any of the knowledge that most of you do. I also can't comprehend even finishing a marathon at this point, let alone running it fast enough to qualify for Boston. I am going to continue to run and increase my mileage and give the marathon a shot. Whatever happens, happens. At this point in my running career, running has changed my life from a health standpoint in an enormous way. I am thankful for that and this forum to share everything with all of you. Have a great weekend everyone!

You may be more talented than all of us.  You're new to this, so none of us - yourself included - have any idea where your ceiling is.

To paraphrase @Juxtatarot - just go, man.

 

[Ned]

Seriously, thanks for all the feedback. I am by no stretch as talented as half of you in here. And I completely understand the advice you're all providing me. It does sound a little negative, but I realize it is being said because you all have been there before. I don't have any of the knowledge that most of you do. I also can't comprehend even finishing a marathon at this point, let alone running it fast enough to qualify for Boston. I am going to continue to run and increase my mileage and give the marathon a shot. Whatever happens, happens. At this point in my running career, running has changed my life from a health standpoint in an enormous way. I am thankful for that and this forum to share everything with all of you. Have a great weekend everyone!

It's always been a tough question to answer in here.  Nobody wants to definitively say "nope, you can't do it" - that's not who we are.  But, we've all been down that road - blowing up at mile 19 and still having to go another 7.2 miles hurts a lot.  So it becomes a balance of supporting your dream, but cautioning that the odds are going to be against you.  Go bust your ### in training, read a few books, ask us a million questions - just remember to keep the perspective.  

Enjoy the process and congrats on the bolded!

 

[gruecd]

In all seriousness, I think I'll pass.  After the Wisconsin Marathon May 6, I think I'll want to stay away from the long stuff for a while.  Are you still running Illinois?

Negative.  No road races for me in the foreseeable future.

 

[ChiefD]

I still think I had a 3:00-3:05 marathon in me, but my training mistakes required perfect conditions.  Unfortunately, they weren't that day.

I was talking about that approach with a few friends over beers recently and am happy that I still don't have any regrets.  In order to achieve my goal I needed to risk blowing up.

Unfortunately my race went K'blam-o.

And Mac - if I recall that day was on the warmer side for you - high humidity. So not sure how much of that was training mistakes or just simply that conditions that day derailed your goal. We all know how tough it is to run these races in perfect conditions, and when that humidity is there at the start and then the temps start creeping up throughout the morning -- that plays such a huge role.

As Ned said, don't beat yourself up too much - you trained like a beast that cycle.