It always amazes me when people look at someone who is more successful at running than themselves and presume to know more about running than the successful person.
HRE - I generally agree with you in terms of Letsrun posters claiming to know more, but let's isolate this one:
Many of us run a lot and have raced in college as well as read this board every day (for years). While we realize we can/could never run a 2:10 marathon (or even close), we also are keenly aware of very few other elite runners who run a 2:10 marathon 3 weeks before their goal race and have a successful goal race.
So, there is certainly some validity to the @shootpost post above.
Hopefully we're all wrong and Albertson races amazingly in Boston.
I'm always torn about him. I'm a fan and I think he makes the sport very fun which is something it desperately needs. He is obviously super gifted and hard working. However, I fail to see the physicolgical affect he is hoping to gain from that race 22 days out from the goal race. Especially when Boston is as strong as it is this year. As unique as he is, we are made from the same stuff give or take. Looking forward to watching him again and hoping he knows something that the pros who have been better than him don't.
Exactly. How is this a good idea for a “training” run. Are we to believe this was not a race effort? That he is going to run 2:04 at Boston if he wasn’t still sore from this race? What are the chances that he runs faster than this at Boston?
It always amazes me when people look at someone who is more successful at running than themselves and presume to know more about running than the successful person.
HRE - I generally agree with you in terms of Letsrun posters claiming to know more, but let's isolate this one:
Many of us run a lot and have raced in college as well as read this board every day (for years). While we realize we can/could never run a 2:10 marathon (or even close), we also are keenly aware of very few other elite runners who run a 2:10 marathon 3 weeks before their goal race and have a successful goal race.
So, there is certainly some validity to the @shootpost post above.
Hopefully we're all wrong and Albertson races amazingly in Boston.
Don't many Kenyans under Canova run 40km almost all-out in training, like Dennis Kimetto before his WR?
Also, he was apparently DQed for following the bike off course.
He appears as a DQ in the Modesto Marathon results. I was following him on the web site, and he recorded a split at the first timing mat (7.2 miles, I believe) but not at the second mat (14.1 miles). The race was officially won in 2:41.
While it should not be considered certified or official, I believe that 2:10 a personal best for him in a road marathon.
Admit it- what runner would not want to go for it and set a personal best on a training or any other run (if they were having a good day and felt good)?
Even the top pros are motivated by seeing how fast they can run and testing/exceeding their lifetime limits.
His 2:10 marathon in training was probably not the wisest thing to do if his main goal is to place as high and run as fast as possible in Boston...but is that his primary goal?
Don't forget this is a guy who once held the 50k world record, ran a 2:09 treadmill marathon, ran a 2:17 marathon indoors, etc.
Come on, this was much more flat than downhill, elevation gain over the entire marathon was 656 ft. It was a solid run. Hope he recovers fully before Boston. Fun to watch.
I'm not having a go, but it was a gentle downhill for 18.5 miles and net downhill overall. 2:10 for a training run is crazy
It always amazes me when people look at someone who is more successful at running than themselves and presume to know more about running than the successful person.
HRE - I generally agree with you in terms of Letsrun posters claiming to know more, but let's isolate this one:
Many of us run a lot and have raced in college as well as read this board every day (for years). While we realize we can/could never run a 2:10 marathon (or even close), we also are keenly aware of very few other elite runners who run a 2:10 marathon 3 weeks before their goal race and have a successful goal race.
So, there is certainly some validity to the @shootpost post above.
Hopefully we're all wrong and Albertson races amazingly in Boston.
Agreed, I've heard at long tempos up to 20 at about 10 sec over marathon pace at that stage. He'd have to be in 2:06 shape to be equivalent of that effort, not to mention an extra 10K on the back.
This seems like a too hard effort so close to Boston if he wants to maximize performance there. Everyone is different in their recovery but this makes no sense to me.
Also, he was apparently DQed for following the bike off course.
He appears as a DQ in the Modesto Marathon results. I was following him on the web site, and he recorded a split at the first timing mat (7.2 miles, I believe) but not at the second mat (14.1 miles). The race was officially won in 2:41.
Yea, I’m not buying his story. I was excited at first but after seeing he was DQed and seeing he missed a timing mat I think he’s full of it. Probably ran 2:10 for 25 miles.
I only consider official race results for official times. Otherwise what’s stopping me from going out to a local 5k and running the first mile in 4:20 and then going on strava and Letsrun and say, “man I ran 12:59 for a road 5k but the lead bike took me 400 meters longer and I was DQed because if it.” If he’s got 2:10 on the tank he’ll do it again and I can sing his praises. Otherwise, doesn’t count.
In CJ's defense, he dominated Stinson at Boston in October. He also does runs like this pretty often, including before key races. Check his Strava. He does hard long runs pretty much every week, so he clearly is able to recover enough to repeat a hard long run each week. I don't worry about CJ's training. It's different, but he still runs well in races. I'm excited for his Boston race!
Lydiard used to have his guys do marathon time trials three weeks out from their races. If Albertson's trial was downhill, as I think someone mentioned, it's probably about the same effort as his guys were doing. And sometimes you need to experiment if you're trying to get to another level, and do something unconventional.
He appears as a DQ in the Modesto Marathon results. I was following him on the web site, and he recorded a split at the first timing mat (7.2 miles, I believe) but not at the second mat (14.1 miles). The race was officially won in 2:41.
Yea, I’m not buying his story. I was excited at first but after seeing he was DQed and seeing he missed a timing mat I think he’s full of it. Probably ran 2:10 for 25 miles.
I only consider official race results for official times. Otherwise what’s stopping me from going out to a local 5k and running the first mile in 4:20 and then going on strava and Letsrun and say, “man I ran 12:59 for a road 5k but the lead bike took me 400 meters longer and I was DQed because if it.” If he’s got 2:10 on the tank he’ll do it again and I can sing his praises. Otherwise, doesn’t count.
Did you look at the strava post on the first page? It shows all his miles. He did run the full thing.
That being said...why was he DQ'd? He followed the bike and its not like he cut the course.
- 30 km (18.5mi) long run at RP - 35 km (22mi) long run at 97% RP - 40 km (25mi) long run at 92% RP
So you could argue that the second bulleted workout is not far off what CJ did with the caveat that he ran ~43K instead of 35K and that is a significant difference. Also 97% figure implies that his PB is a little under his actual level (I think this is fair).
