I was considering the Houston Marathon in Jan.
The marathon office told me that it is run 95 to 98% on concrete. Has anyone who has run this race after training on asphalt noticed a decrease in performance on that single day?
I was considering the Houston Marathon in Jan.
The marathon office told me that it is run 95 to 98% on concrete. Has anyone who has run this race after training on asphalt noticed a decrease in performance on that single day?
NOT TRUE! I apologize for the incorrect information my office gave you. Our course is 65% asphalt/black top and 35% concrete.
Steven Karpas
Managing Director
HP Houston Marathon
713-957-3453
That's actually good to know, I have given my feedback(incorrectly) regarding the consideration of recovery after running on a primarily concrete course. From what I remember the concrete was actually fast, but tough on the legs (lower) in recovery. Is the first half more concrete (that was my impression) anyways?
When I ran Houston to make the Trials in 96 (20 days before the Trials), I did notice a ton of concrete, while I had trained predominantly on the roads for it, I was mostly on asphalt, however I ran a huge PR in Houston so I have to say that the concrete was not a factor to performance, thats based on my experience. In 98 I went back to Houston hoping to run well again and bombed badly, again it had nothing to do with the concrete. The marathon can be a bit of a crap shoot anyway as far as training well and things go wrong or even doing some things wrong and it actually goes right so I say go for it, as it really is a decent course and people have posted some very decent times there!
winter runner wrote:
I was considering the Houston Marathon in Jan.
The marathon office told me that it is run 95 to 98% on concrete. Has anyone who has run this race after training on asphalt noticed a decrease in performance on that single day?