I figure I have 2 marathons left in the tank... and would like 1 of them to be fast. Since I'm planning on NY next year, that leaves the spring one as the fast one. I suppose I could do Chicago again next year, and then jog NY just for the experience... that is an alternative idea that would still enable me to run NY and soak in the atmosphere while still getting in my fast course and the inevitably slow Boston. Ahh, decisions decisions. If only Boston or NY were flat *sigh*...
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I wish I could do one of the European races. If I can convince the wife, I will do London. The problem is that its a weekend away from family as with 2 little kids, its virtually impossible to have them come for the weekend. Doesn't make sense to do a vacation out of it because I'll be useless for the next 2 days, and we just did a London vacation last year.
I figure I have 2 marathons left in the tank... and would like 1 of them to be fast. Since I'm planning on NY next year, that leaves the spring one as the fast one. I suppose I could do Chicago again next year, and then jog NY just for the experience... that is an alternative idea that would still enable me to run NY and soak in the atmosphere while still getting in my fast course and the inevitably slow Boston. Ahh, decisions decisions. If only Boston or NY were flat *sigh*... -
Rotterdam looked like a good race. Only 45 Euro to sign up. And its a fast one. But its in Europe unfortunately. Looks like next year I'll kill myself with Boston and New York. And hope that I get into Houston for '12.
I find Boston to be a fast course... Compared to New York, I'm scared of New York. -
Hey everyone,
Ignore my post above. 'Another' was right, Boston is going to be sold out by the end of the day, and thus I just bit the bullet and signed up for it.
Well, I sure as hell didn't expect to commit to another marathon this quickly after Chicago. Here goes nothing! It looks like I'll be doing "hill repeats" on the Lakefront overpasses. -
Abu, I propose we run this together from the gun... hold back til 16 and blast the last 10. 2:36:00-2:37:00 or would you be looking to go faster?
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Also, I was #17,374, so if anyone else is considering signing up you better do it ASAP!
'Another', thanks for the heads up yesterday! -
Abu - I haven't run Grandma's and it's not really spring, but I've heard nothing but great things about it from different people. I believe the weather is usually pretty good there. But, they used to say that about Chicago...
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Abu - just saw your post about entering Boston... Good luck - I look forward to reading your training posts (and everybody else's!)
I'm hooked on this thread now. It is a great tool for motivation. It was cool to inspire a few others with my Columbus race report after being inspired by others the last couple months!
Plus - it is great to see other ideas for training. Not that you should mix it up willy nilly, but you can't keep doing the same thing if you want different results. ;-) -
Goal Race: 1971 Bostom Marathon
Goal Time: sub 2:30
Week ending 10/17/1970
Vacationed in Toronto for Canadian Thanksgiving
4, 13 with an 8th in a race in Guelph in 1:14, 5, 5, 8, 13 = 48
While living in Toronto I ran in the annual Guelph Thankgiving Day Races. There were 4 races of various length. The first thing we always did when we drove into two was to check the window of the downtown store that had the merchandise prizes for thosse 4 races. The prizes were arranged by race. There were sets of dishes, lamps, luggage, electric frying pans and all kinds of neat merchandise. The winner of each race had the first selection. I ran the 15 miler each of the first 4 years of the 1960s. I won three times and was second by 100 yards to Gord Dickson in 1962. (Gordie ranked 10th in the world in the marathon in 1959, having placed 3rd in Boston in 2:24:04 and 3rd in the Pan American Games that year. I have no idea how far the race was in 1970 but it was short although it for me that I was not in very good racing condition. That had to change when I became a sub-master in 6 months. -
Road Racer: Great race! It sounded like the wind made things tough in Atlantic City. Sounds like you would have been right on pace in better conditions.
VF Runner: Heck of a performance. The bad thing about the marathon is that if it goes badly, you have to wait a while to redo it. But with a good race, you can relish for months to come.
Goal Marathon: Rocket City, 2:35
Monday: Easy 3 and 7 mile runs
Tuesday: Easy 3 and 5.5 mile runs; took another easy day here because my legs were really beat up from the 20 miles with 4 mile tempo at the end on Sunday
Wednesday: 8 miles medium and 6 miles easy
Thursday: Easy 6.5 and 3.5 mile runs
Friday: Easy 3 miles; was going to do another run but the head xc coach wanted the team to play kickball since they hard a "really hard workout" the day before (the workout was some bleacher runs)
Saturday: 15 miles with half-marathon race in 1:10:37. I was nervous since this was my first half and planned on running 5:25-5:30 the whole way with a goal of sub 1:12. Got out quick in 5:19, and told myself to slow down but wasn't a good listener and ran 5:18, 5:18 5:19, 5:19, 5:17, 5:24, 5:26, 5:24, 5:23, 5:24, 5:32, 6:12 (1.1) for the rest of the miles. It was a frustrating race because after the first half mile, I had to run alone and after the first 5k, I never saw anyone ahead or behind me. This felt more like a solo time trial and once I hit 11 miles, I knew I would break 1:11, so I just wanted to be finished. The weather was near perfect (mid 40s) and I was happy with my time. After today I'm changing my goal to 2:30.
Sunday: Easy 5.5 and 4 mile runs
Week Total=70 miles. I start my more marathon-specific stuff now and am hoping for more mileage consistency. I haven't had more than two weeks in a row over 80 miles and also need to clean up my eating. A lot of my calories are from junk and I'm hoping that cleaning up my diet will drop another 5ish pounds, which will help me out. -
Road Racer -- Great performance! I ran Columbus as well, and the weather was absolutely perfect. Feel bad for those folks that ran Chicago looking for a fast time.
As for myself, I ran a 5 minute pr for the half, but I'm no where near your league(s) performance wise.
I think I'll be capable of sub 3 in another year. -
oh please - nice job! A 5 minute PR in a 1/2 is crazy!! When you say "no where near xxxx league" don't sell yourself short. I'm not saying you'll run a 2:45 next year, but my progression has been 2:58, 2:47, 2:39 in the last 3 years (& I'm almost 37 so it's not like I'm super young). Before I broke 3 hours I thought 2:50 was the best I could ever hope for. But, I kept training consistently (although missed a few months in early 2009) and my body kept adapting. Our bodies will always adapt if we run the hard days hard and the easy days truly easy. We just have to be smart, consistent, and get a little good luck on race day! Keep at it and don't ever tell yourself you're not in xxxx league. You're just not there YET.
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Abu - Getting in hills can be tough here in Chicago, but if you're committed to it, you can cobble together some decent hill training. You've got the hill at Montrose that you can incorporate into some repeats. And if you want to get hills in your long runs, you can go out to Waterfall Glen, the Indiana Dunes, or Barrington to get in some pretty substantial hill work. Of course those require a pretty significant time commitment, but there is some good running to be had in those places.
I haven't decided what my spring plans are yet, but they don't involve Boston (whether I wanted them to or not since it already sold out). I'm currently trying to decide between doing a serious track season to bring down the 5k and 10k times, followed up by a late spring HM or a spring marathon. But as of right now, I'm trying not to think much about running. I'm just enjoying my time down post-Chicago.
Great job to all you guys who raced this weekend. I'm glad that this thread is still staying strong. -
Did any of the regulars get screwed by the Boston registration?
I got in but was honestly ambivalent. I was more motivated by the fact that my family loved the weekend than by the fact that I felt like I had to run. The luster is gone. -
CTA, I'm definitely not feeling terrific after the marathon on Saturday. I went out for 12 easy miles the next day and my legs were quite sore. I took off yesterday and had to cut my workout a bit short this morning. I think I'll be back to the normal aches and pains by tonight.
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Road Racer and Marmite - a question for you two. You two are both in my age range (I'm 40) and have run quite a bit quicker in recent marathons. You have also both commented about being slower to begin with but continuing to get better through training. I'd love to keep improving to sub 2:50 at least (RR, I'd love to follow your progression in the next 3 years!).
My question is this, what was your performance history younger in life? For comparison, I was 9:50/16:20 for 2mi./5k by age 18 but then got out of serious racing. I know somewhere there is a cutoff where training effects max out and natural ability sets a limit so to speak. I'm just trying to figure out what I can realistically aspire to. -
Anyone here running the Army Ten Miler this weekend?
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VF Runner - I may have been a little faster in high school but not much. I ran 9:47 for 3200 and 15:44 in cross country 5k but most of my cross country races were in the low to mid 16's.
I didn't run between 1996 (college graduation) and late 2005. Here are my mileage numbers for the last 5 years:
2006 - 1280
2007 - 1894 (highest of life - previous high 1450 in college)
2008 - 2465
2009 - 2556
2010 - on pace for 3000
I think the biggest reason for my improvement at the marathon distance is not just the mileage - but the consistency of the last 3 years. Day after day, week after week, year after year. Greg McMillan says you need to train for 2 years uninterrupted to see what you can do. I think that is only true if you have had several years of somewhat consistent training under your belt. I lean toward the belief that you can improve for 3-5 years (after physical peak age of 30-35?). Example: I train with a 50 year old who has gotten faster over the last 5 years. He has increased his mileage a little each year, but still you'd expect that he'd slow down with his age. Anyway - VF Runner; if you're just 40 now you can still improve... how much depends on what you've been doing! I'd be interested in seeing your history for the last several years. -
Last few years look like this
2007 - 1923
2008 - 2323
2009 - 2238
2010 - On pace for 2615 (guessing thats my highest ever)
No major injuries or time off, fairly steady 35-45 mpw most of that time except marathon training which has maxed at about 70 mpw. Sounds like maybe I can get to 2:45 in the next year or two, but it will take alot of work and some luck. -
Goal Race: Houston (followed by Boston)
Goal Time: 2:35
M- 10M easy @ 6:42
T- 10M easy @ 6:40
W- 10M (2M easy, 8M tempo @ 5:31, 2M easy)
R- 9M easy @ 6:38
F- 6M easy @ 6:45
S- 12M (6M @ 6:15, 6M @ 5:40)
S- OFF
Total = 57 miles
Other than Friday, felt pretty relaxed this week.
Half marathon tune-up race this coming Sunday (10/24). -
Interesting...
2001- 0
2002- 600
2003- 0
2004- 2376
2005- 2792
2006- 2094 (stopped running in August)
2007- 940
2008- 381
2009- 2606
2010- 3300 (on pace)
If my training is flawless in 2011, would like to get in about 3500 miles from 1/1-11/6 (NYC Marathon). Annualized, that would be a 4000+ mile year. Then I will retire... again.
