10:00/mi ONLY runs or 5:00/mi ONLY runs: which is better for the marathon? We intend to find out.

At what point do these bozos cancel the bet and pay us for this poorly executed nonsense.

dudes, if you are not going to train there's no point in the race.

you needed to stipulate that both person had to do min number of miles per week.

cause neither of you are really training - making this experiment VOID and PRHOBITED WERE INVALID IN ALL STATES EXCEPT THE DISTIRCT OF COLUMBIA.

so start over

get some actual runners

and let's do this right. or shut up about it

You'll never believe where the race is

I hope so. Most likely after the race

WEEK 8-9 TRAINING UPDATE (JULY 29- AUGUST 11)

LRC haters go home DEVASTATED.

The past two weeks have seen a big jump in mileage for me, as I logged 32 miles for each of those weeks. Vinny has evidently continued his alternative training regimen, with no logged runs at 5:00/mi in this training period.

That's not what's interesting though. What's interesting is that we heeded the horde of devoted fans clamoring for a benchmark race. But we didn't do some measly road 10K or half-marathon. We aimed higher. We did a 6-12-18-24 challenge.

Vinny surprised us by renting out a cabin for the weekend at the park where we all had our first training camp as a team. This would have been fun in a sentimental way if not for the debauchery we were to engage in. There were four of us: myself, Vinny, the originator of the 10:00/mi vs 5:00/mi challenge Edd, and another teammate Kale. We agreed to a system whereby we would log our tasks, with another competitor required to sign off as a witness for each task (except for the wanks, for obvious reasons), to ensure that everything was legitimate. Some of us entered this challenge with the goal of breaking our long-standing team record of just under 6 hours. Crucially, Vinny and I agreed to a truce on the marathon training pace rules, so that we could feasibly complete the running portion of this challenge.

A quick bit of advice for all you would-be 6-12-18-24 challengers. Do not undertake this challenge if you are not prepared to withstand many hours of intense physical and mental discomfort. It is harder than you probably imagine it to be, and it is not for the faint of heart or body. This is a legitimate warning.

We emerged from our rooms at around 8:30 AM, having each already accomplished our first task or two in privacy. We then set out for a run, agreeing to try our best to stick together for a minimum of 12 miles. I had decided I would be doing 18 miles, which I thought would double nicely as a Canova-esque close-to-marathon-pace long run. I got through 14 miles at 6:57/mi average just fine, but took a wrong turn and had to finish out the rest of the 18 after getting back to the cabin and consuming some donuts and beers, making me the first to finish the running portion out of the four of us. Vinny completed 12 miles at 6:59/mi. The rest of his mileage consisted of 1-mile runs interspersed among his donuts and beers, the slowest being over 10:00/mi pace.

Over the next few hours, Kale quickly and methodically built up an insurmountable lead over the rest of us. A quick note on Kale: he has been training fairly consistently since the end of his collegiate career, and owns a marathon PR well under 2:30. I have seen Kale accomplish superhuman feats, especially in the realm of binge drinking, and he was clearly our best hope to break the school record.

Vinny and Edd gave pursuit, but after only an hour or two I languished in an alcohol and sugar-induced malaise and briefly considered quitting the challenge. This was a crucial mistake, as I lost all momentum I had built, and restarting ended up being a daunting task.

In the meantime, Kale closed in rapidly on 6 hours. As a cohort we had employed a strategy for maximizing donut intake which involved smashing several donuts together into discs or balls using plates, and Kale was shoveling these in as consistently as his body would let him. I fired off a message to the alumni group chat to get an accurate number on the time to beat. Imagine our shock when we learned we had been mistaken: the school record was actually 6 hours and 57 minutes, not under 6 hours.

There was only a bite or two of donut left. Kale wasn't just going to get the record, he was going to demolish it.

"Just eat the donut man" I said. Kale glared at me. A few minutes later, he forced it down. Time: 5 hours, 57 minutes.

I asked how he felt. He gave an unintelligible grunt as he made a beeline to the bathroom and vomited profusely.

Vinny and Edd followed within the next few hours - both finished in around 7 and a half hours, though Edd's official time was a few hours more after tacking on a penalty for vomiting mid-way through the challenge.

Knowing that I was in no way capable of accomplishing an impressive time (and also somewhat scared of what I had just witnessed), I resolved to continue trudging through the challenge at my own pace, but to complete it at all costs. Several hours later, after blitzing through the last 6 donuts fast enough to ensure I would vomit, I too completed the challenge in around 12 hours.

I have yet to see anyone claiming a time anywhere remotely close to Kale's. As far as I am concerned he has set a world record, but of course there is no way to know for sure. Please let me know if you know of a faster time.

We all agreed that if we were to do this again (which we won't), the best strategy would be 6 wanks, 12 beers, 18 donuts, and 24 miles. We all vastly underestimated the toll the donuts would take on us.

In any case, I hope this has given some insight into the marathon challenge. I was beaten soundly this weekend, but thankfully there will be no donuts, beers, or wanks to speak of come September 14.

So basically this experiment is now totally invalidated because neither of you could commit to the training you intended

It seems like this is effectively couch-to-marathon for both of you at this point. It may come down to who paces the marathon better, or potentially racing strategy/tactics.

I guess you can still have a bet if you want, but you're not remotely answering the question posed.

Listen, if yall thought this whole thing would be anything other than pure sh!thousery, you were sorely mistaken

September 14th has come and gone, regale us with your idiocy, OP!

Figured it out. Gratz on the win, OP.

Results link?

Marathon challenge is update

This past Friday, after several grueling months of some of the most inane, mentally challenged challenging training I have ever done, Vinny and I finally met in our great nation's capital to engage in a battle for the ages.

The battleground: a long, flat, gravel towpath, consisting of a ~6.5 mile out and back to be completed twice. This meant that there would be three turnaround points, each presenting an opportunity for the competitors to gauge how far ahead or behind the other was.

In addition to myself and Vinny, the originator of the challenge Edd was there to observe and run the half marathon, as well as Harry, another old teammate who was racing the full.

We awoke early Saturday and prepared to do battle. Arriving at the course, I began sucking down a bottle of Maurten mix, plus a gel about 10 minutes before the gun. I was certain that my superior fueling strategy would help me easily defeat Vinny's comparatively poor preparation.

Before going into detail on the race, I should also mention one other crucial piece of information that I have not yet mentioned in this thread: there was prize money offered at this marathon for the top 3 finishers. Being the frugal young professional that I am, I was intent on earning at least some prize money in addition to winning the bet, so as to at least partially cover my costs for this trip. Therefore I committed myself to going out with the leaders, regardless of Vinny's strategy.

The gun went off and very quickly I found myself off the front pack of three which included Harry and two unknown competitors. Nevertheless, I was well ahead of Vinny and clipping off 6:20ish miles alongside another recent grad - a 9-something steepler from a D2 school looking to BQ off 20 miles per week. We joked that neither of us would last long at this pace we had set for ourselves.

I was pleasantly surprised at how smooth this pace felt though. I figured if it felt good and it gave me an outside shot of tracking down one of the top 3 guys, I might as well roll with it. I sucked down another Maurten gel about 30 minutes, and made it to first the turnaround (6.5mi) in under 42 minutes. I hit my split button and waited anxiously to see how far back Vinny was. Before long I saw him, and hit my split again. 2 minutes from the turnaround, meaning he was already roughly 4 minutes behind me.

By this point I had even started to separate from my D2 friend and was feeling good. But disaster suddenly struck when my stomach turned on me. Consuming such a large amount of sugar in the form of Maurten mix and gels in such a short amount of time left me desperately fighting off the urge to vomit. This was especially frustrating since my legs and lungs were otherwise fine. After fighting through the next few miles, I finally decided it would be better to just get it over with. I pulled to the side of the course just before mile 12 and pulled trig. I was passed by D2 friend and then another runner who told me to "get it all out bro!" After doing just that, I continued on my way, having only lost about 2 minutes. I finished out the next mile to the half in a smooth 6:20.

Half Split: 1:28:58, 6:47/mi, Fastest Mile 6:08, Slowest Mile 8:42 (vom)

Confident that I had time to kill before I saw Vinny again, I stopped for a minute or two to get water and switch out my gels if I ever got the opportunity to force another one down (this opportunity never materialized). Setting out again, I clocked Vinny at a roughly 8 minute differential.

Over the next 6.5 miles my slow death began as I began to pay back hefty interest on the debt I incurred in the first half. I stopped intermittently at aid stations, and by mile 16 I was trudging along at over 8:00/mi pace. I was briefly rejuvenated at the turnaround when I clocked Vinny at 15 minutes back, but over the last 5 miles I was reduced to a walk-jog strategy that entailed alternating between running for half a mile and walking for a minute. I closely monitored how much of my banked time I was using up, worried that Vinny would be coming up on my back.

Once I was within a mile of the finish I mustered all the mental strength I had to run it in without any more stops. At some point I passed my D2 friend who was walking and urged him to join me, but his hamstrings had blown so I continued on alone.

Finally, I crossed the line in roughly 3:16:14. 7:22/mi, Slowest Mile: 10:56.

After exchanging congratulations with friends and competitors I slinked into the medical tent and sat in a daze to wait for Vinny. Surely, we all thought, he'd be here soon (Our bookie had set the spread at 10 minutes).

10 minutes came and went. Then 20. Then 30. Then 40.

As an hour approached, I had regained some semblance of lucidity and enough strength to join my friends in ambling back down the course to see if Vinny was in need of dire medical assistance. Thankfully, he materialized not much later and crossed the finish line.

His finishing time: roughly 4:15. He had rightly predicted that I would fade badly in the second half and so hung back early on, but he underestimated just how much he would fade himself. Interestingly, of the three marathons he has run to date, this was his slowest time by far - over an hour slower than when he ran while drinking 12 standard drinks.

And so the debate has been settled. As I claimed and knew from the start, 10 minute miles beat out 5 minute miles. Granted, my mileage was wanting throughout the last few months, as was Vinny's. In fact, for 4 weeks straight, Vinny didn't log a single step - partially because he was busy with work, partially because he had decided to implement an alternative training method which involved doing plyometrics for an hour straight (technically not a violation since it could be considered weight training). I personally found this approach all the more amusing, since it meant Vinny knew all along that his claim of 5:00/mi pace being better training was wrong, and so he had to resort to plyos to try and close the gap.

Many LRC haters have derided our challenge as poorly executed, our work ethic as sorely lacking, and our commitment as nonexistent. To that I say, get bent. You can't argue with the scientific method.

But that's the great thing about this experiment. Its entirely reproducible and repeatable. If you're unconvinced by these results, by all means, grab a friend and do it yourself! You won't have a good time! You're not gonna like it! But it would be pretty funny.

Discus.

TLDR: Sloppy Joe (10:00/mi training) wins by over an hour! Vinny goes home DEVASTATED !!

Impressive if true. Official results aren't up still since the chips malfunctioned. gg super sleuth