I am NOT training for a fall marathon. However...my fiancee' is training for her first one so I have been on every "tough" run with her, including all of her long runs. I find no pleasure in knocking out 18mi runs for the hell of it so I can cheer come race day. The Newport Amica Marathon will be her first, she's doing the Hal Higdon plan and likes it, YMMV. Good luck to everyone training out there, be safe.

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_________________________
I got nothing.

Had a great few weeks up to this weekend's Lake of the Sky Trail Run (18 miles), but at mile 14 I felt my knee get funky. By mile 17 it was feeling exactly like it did just before my surgery last July. I may have torn by knee cap catilage (chondral flap) again. If I did, my hopes or a return to running may be over for at least the next 8-10 months (perhaps another surgery, this time most likely a micro-fracture procedure. I sure hope its just old scar tissue breaking up, still hurts like a mother today so I'm rather down in the dumps. If you have a favorite God, please pray to him/her/it for me. If I can no longer run, I guess I will give my mountain bike a run for its money! Or I will have to learn to swim a lot faster thasn I do now. Good luck to everyone, I hope your knees work better than mine do!

Dave

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Dave Stark
dreamcatcher@astound.net
USAC & USAT level 2 certified coach

Now that we're transitioning to fall, how's everyone doing so far?

I spent the past ten days visiting family at the Jersey Shore. I got in 12 good runs and one race during my visit (122 total miles).

Last week was all about marathon pace for me. My runs on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday contained lots of miles at marathon pace. In fact, Thursday's run was 16 miles, all at MP.

Good luck to all out there.

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What I do: http://app.strava.com/athletes/345699

I did my last race on Sept 10 (half marathon) and am taking off unitl Oct 1st when I begin training for the Carlsbad Marathon in January.

Since last December I've used the BarryP run program and have modified it to suit my triathlon racing needs over the year. This has been a great year running for me and I've been injury free for the first time in a long time. I'm dying to get back into the routine.

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The secret of a long life is you try not to shorten it.
-Nobody

I am thinking about doing a haloween marathon since next year I am doing IMWI IMFL sequence so I want simulate the experience as much as possible by having a marathon to train for immediately after the IMWI

1. I'm in
2. Rocket City Marathon- Huntsville, AL December 10th -(yes I know, not the most fun place to travel but I am on a budget and you can't beat $50 for a marathon!)
3. My own- 3 short runs a week (5 or 6 miles with 800's or pyramids), 2 medium runs/wk ( 8-12miles with random "sprint" miles), 1 long run/wk (15-24 miles)
4. Started training at beginning of September, already got my mile long run times to the 6:40's, so I am a happy camper.


PS. If anyone from Louisville is doing this race and wants to carpool/share/split accommodations please pm me.

 
Another week, another business trip. This week was New Orleans on Mon-Wed. Also, came down with a little tingle in my right heel on Saturday which caused me to go short and easy today. I'm hoping that it was just a signal to retire that pair of shoes.

Monday: 9 miles. Progression run on Hotel treadmill (Miles 2-7 @ 6:58-6:31)
Tuesday: 17 Miles. Ran from Bourbon St. west on the St. Charles street trolley tracks to the Miss. River Trail and back. A wrong turn added 2 miles to my return leg.
Wednesday: 6 miles easy on Hotel treadmill.
Thursday: 10.5 miles @ Marathon Pace.
Friday: 6 miles Easy on basement treadmill.
Saturday: 12.5 miles. LT run (miles 2-4 in 18:43; Miles 6-8 in 19:17)
Sunday: 6 miles easy

Total: 67 miles.

Have a great week everyone.

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What I do: http://app.strava.com/athletes/345699

The aches and pains are starting to add up. I ran a 10k yesterday and spent the last 2 miles babying a strained hamstring. I'll probably have to skip my long run for a second week in a row.

Hopefully, I'll still have enough time before my race on 11/6 for one more endurance build before my taper begins. Fingers crossed.

Monday: Rest
Tuesday: 9.5 miles easy
Wednesday: 9.5 miles easy
Thursday: 15 miles at marathon pace +:10 - :15.
Friday: 7.2 miles easy
Saturday: 3 mile prerace easy. 6.2 mile race (38:57) did not push the last 2 miles.
Sunday: TBD

Weekly total: 50 miles so far. I'll test the hamstring later this afternoon.

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What I do: http://app.strava.com/athletes/345699

Next stop the Carlsbad Marathon, Jan 22. Today marks my first run after three weeks off. As soon as my wife gets back from her run I'm off for an easy 11-miler. Nothing fast or hard, just enough to knock the rust off and get the feel back into the legs.

Rest of my week:

Tuesday through Sunday 7-8 miles easy effort, nothing above zone 3. All running will be done 0400-0430 before work. I had a longer training plan established and this week was scheduled as a recovery week so I'll use it as an exercise in getting up hitting the road early.

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The secret of a long life is you try not to shorten it.
-Nobody

"The aches and pains are starting to add up."

This was me for about three weeks. I don't think I was slowing down enough on the easy runs. Hamstring went to hell in a hurry, and had some calf issues. I managed to only cut one long run short, and things started to come around last week. Made it through a solid 60 mile week (biggest week for me), and now I'm winding down for the race Oct. 16th.

12 miles later today in this miserable rain and cold. Good for the character!

Chicago one week away. Training has gone poorly for me -- mostly in terms of much lower mileage than I would normally do -- but that's probably because I tried to schedule marathon training to start right after I finished an IM. And the buildup for the IM was pretty good so I was really tired starting the marathon training. I'm ok with that though. I knew I'd overscheduled when I did it.

As it is now, I've thrown pace goals out the window. I'm just going to go out and take whatever the day gives me.

Good luck in Chicago.

I've got Bay State in two weeks. Did 15 miles at MP yesterday and felt pretty good. Pretty closely followed a Daniels plan for the past 4 months. Had a good 10k a couple weeks ago that was a nice test. Mileage has been pretty high, had two weeks over 70 which I'd never done before and another handful of weeks in the mid 60s.

Now it's taper time.

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Portside Athletics Blog

Bay State? A shame it's not going to be the Grand Prix Marathon. You might be lonely out there. Good luck back.

On the topic of Grand Prix, since my club needs to field a team for the Cape Cod Marathon to keep our masters men's standing and we only had two. So I'm running the Cape 3 weeks after Chicago. Fortunately all I have to do is cover the distance, not actually race.

Bay State? A shame it's not going to be the Grand Prix Marathon. You might be lonely out there. Good luck back.

Thanks. What's the deal with the Grand Prix thing? Is it a race series or local championship or something? I noticed it said it wasn't part of the series this year? I presume that to mean it was in other years?

Smaller field, slower field? What's the impact going to be do you think?

What race is now a Grand Prix if Bay State isn't? Do lots of fast folks pay attention to this?

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Portside Athletics Blog

Every year, the New England Chapter of the USATF (running's version of USAT) designates 7 races in the New England area that are the Grand Prix. They cover all distances from 5k to marathon. New England USATF clubs compete in them for club and individual scoring in multiple age/gender divisions.

http://www.usatfne.org/road/gp.html

Races bid to be in the Grand Prix. For many years, the Cape Cod Marathon won the bid. Finally they bowed out in 2008 to let someone else win for a few years so Bay State has had a nice run. But this year, Cape Cod is part of the Grand Prix again, which is the only reason I'm running it -- so we can field a fulll masters team.

The effect on Bay State of not being part of the Grand PRix will be a smaller field and much less company in the sub 3:00 group. To illustrate, here are the number of runners under 3 hours for the past 5 years. Note the huge jump once it became a Grand Prix race.

2006 - 23
2007 - 21
2008 - 73 (Grand Prix)
2009 - 79 (Grand Prix)
2010 - 90 (Grand Prix)

http://www.coolrunning.com/...15_18thAn_set1.shtml
http://www.coolrunning.com/...14_19thAn_set1.shtml
http://www.coolrunning.com/...19_20thAn_set1.shtml
http://www.coolrunning.com/...18_Baysta_set1.shtml
http://www.coolrunning.com/...17_BaySta_set1.shtml

Damn, gonna be lonely near the front trying to go sub 2:45.

Oh well, I did all my training alone and am Ok running with just my thoughts. Glad to be aware of it ahead of time though.

Thanks for the info.

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Portside Athletics Blog

Ran St. George marathon on Saturday - 2:56:06 (1:29/1:27). Averaged 45 miles/week and longest run was 2:35.
If you're looking for a fall marathon for next year you can't beat this one.

Did Twin Cities last Sunday. My volume was down this year, 8 weeks of "training", 4 at ~30 mpw, 4 at ~45 mpw, but I did more race pace work vs. last year when i just focused on getting big mileage in. Set an 8 minute pr, from 3:05:42 to 2:57:49! seems like my pr is still a little "soft" though :/

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Nothing to see here

1. Who has a fall marathon on their schedule? Yes, wish I'd found this thread sooner.
2. Which marathon are you doing? Richmond, VA on November 12th. Anyone else? Shooting for sub-3:00
3. What kind of training plan are you going with this year? Quality over Quantity. Using heart rate, but also keeping in touch with perceived effort and using pace for speed days.
Monday - Easy run day. 30-40min very aerobic
Tuesday- off/cross train
Wednesday- 1-1.5hour aerobic run, keeping HR in that aerobic zone ala Mark Allen
Thursday- off/cross train
Friday- Hills early on, now doing Yasso 800's.
Saturday- off/cross train
Sunday- Long day. Built up to 3hours easy, now adding blocks of faster running into the long run.
4. How's your training going?
Training is going well. I've also had the goal of dropping some uneeded weight. I weighed in at 195lbs this past Feburary. I was still at 184 in late July. Currently 167lbs. It's amazing how much faster you can get without extra pounds.
My long run this past weekend included a race. I warmed up for ~2.5miles, ran a 1:28:05 HM on a hilly course, rain and wind, and then cooled down with another 4.5miles easy. Felt good although I'm feeling the after effects of the effort early this week.
I'm not too sure how much the Yasso's are helping. I've never really done track work. This week I'll be up to running 8X800 @ 2:55. All I know is that they suck to do, but something is working for me so I'm not changing course.
Anyone else have thoughts on how much race pace running to do within long runs? My peak will be a 2.5hour run with 2hours of it at 7min/mile which is just slightly slower than my goal marathon pace, done 3-weeks prior to race day.
I've also been impressed with the improvement from working on my running technique. Primarily cadence 90-92spm and learning to relax unnecessary tension. The metronome is the best training aid purchase I've made in quite a while.

I've never trained for a stand alone "fast" marathon.

Nice PR Willy.

Good luck this weekend JoeO

You too JT3

Welcome WVTRIMAN. keep up the good work.

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What I do: http://app.strava.com/athletes/345699

Well, the races are here now. I hope all those that had their marathon this weekend had a good day. My week started out with lots of doubt, but ended with lots of confidence.

I ran a 10k last saturday and ended up with a strained hamstring and sore hip. I went out at a speed that I hadn't trained at and my left leg tighened up by mile 4. I had to blow off my Sunday long run and take Monday off.

When I started up on Tuesday, I spent each day running at a relatively easy pace, and with a dull pain in my hip. It felt like I was running with a block of wood behind my hip. I actually started to doubt if I would make it to marathon day.

I finally talked to a PT on Friday. She thought that I had strained the hamstring abductor by my hip and recommended that I take it easy until it felt better.

I had a 1/2 marathon scheduled for Saturday and seriously thought about staying home. By Friday night, I had decided to go to the race and just practice my cup drinking hydration routine. However, when I woke up on Saturday morning I had no pain whatsoever. Go figure.

I ran my race like nothing ever happened. Ran 1:24:01 and got 4th place overall. Today, I did my regular long run and feel that I'm back on course. This marathon thing sure is an interesting journey.

Weekly workouts

Monday: Rest
Tuesday: 8.3 miles (1:01:13)
Wednesday AM: 11.2 miles (1:21:41)
Wednesday PM: 4.2 miles (30:52)
Thursday: 9 miles (1:04:14)
Friday: 5.3 miles (41:45)
Saturday: 13.1 miles (1:24:01) Race
Sunday: 21 miles (2:32:00) 5 x 4.2 mile loop. Each loop a little faster than the previous one.

Miles for the week: 72

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What I do: http://app.strava.com/athletes/345699

It's a week late but I ran my fall Marathon last week and was super pumped with how it turned out
Wineglass marathon race report AKA I'm going to Boston in 2013!!

Training going into the race: This was the most serious I’ve trained for a race in the longest time. I followed Hal Higdon’s Advanced I training plan and averaged 45-50 mpw over the last 12 weeks or so. I ran Yasso’s the last week of August and averaged 3:02 for the 10 repeats and a 1:00:30 15k on labor day. Based on these indicators I was feeling pretty confident on my goals. I initially debating on my goal, I was torn between 3:00 and 3:05. I decided to play it safe and go for 3:05 with even splits (7:03 miles). The week before my race I wasn’t feeling very confident so I was a little panicky and worried about hitting this goal.

The night before, the course and the weather: I got into Corning at around 2pm on Saturday. I met up with my sister and her friend who came up for Baltimore for the race. They already picked up my packet so we met at the hotel and got all checked in. I ran an easy 2 miles. Afterwards we went to dinner and carb-loaded at a nice little family diner in Painted Post. We were all pretty beat. We wake up at 6 to a wonderful 43 degree and steady rain, not really sure what to wear but I finally decide on shorts, a long-sleeve tech shirt and some cheap throw-away gloves. The point to point course has a net downhill of about 200 feet (170 feet of up and 350 of down) with no major hills up or down. It’s pretty fast overall.

The start and the 5k (22:02 7:06 miles): I get to the start and find the 3:05 pace group and decide I’m going stick with them for the first handful of miles to get settles into a good pace. In the rain at the start I was a little cold and shivering but knew once we got started it would be ok. Race started a little late while we waited for some stragglers to get to the start. Off we go in the rain in an uneventful start. The first mile was 7:18 which was a little slow but a lot better than starting fast. The pace group soon gets on the 7:03 pace. Felt pretty comfortable and easy.

5k though 10 miles (average pace 7:05 miles): Now I was in the zone in the continuing steady rain. The pace group was still going strong (maybe 20 people total) but we were a little back from our goal (maybe 10-15 seconds slow) but I wasn’t too worried about it. The biggest hill was at mile 6 and we managed it without problem. I made sure to eat and drink on schedule to keep from getting dehydrated. I used Shot blocks on 45min intervals and water at every stop.

Miles 10 through 20 (average pace 6:59 miles): We went through mile 10 and I was feeling good so I wanted to put a little time on my goal pace because I knew I would need it later. I picked up the pace by about 5 seconds per mile and built a little gap on the pace group. Still raining but slightly less and it warmed up a little. I hit the ½ way mark at 1:32:30, exactly on pace for a 3:05 and by mile 20 I was maybe 20 seconds ahead of the pace. Hit mile 20 feeling very strong, I was actually a little surprised by how well I felt. I had some fatigue in my quads but my breathing was fine and my form felt good.

Miles 20-22 (average pace 6:59): Still felt good but I knew the wall was eminent. My breathing was picking up and my form got a little shuffle-ly but I knew I had to push and maintain the pace. I could see the pace group (now reduced to 3 or 4) was slowly reeling me in.

Mile 23 and 24 (average pace 6:58 ): The pain was really starting to set in, every little bump felt like a huge hill and dropped my pace. I was pushing hard now, my quads were burning and my left calf was starting to cramp. I can tell how tired I am but how much math I’m doing to figure out my pace and how much time I have to hit my goal. By this time I was doing A LOT of math. At mile 24 I figured I had 15 seconds over 3:05 if I could maintain the pace, it was going to be close.

Mile 25 and 26 (average pace 7:06): I hit the wall hard at 25 and it was rough. It was all I could do to maintain a sub 7:10 pace and I could feel the pace group (now down to two) bearing down on my. My sole goal was to keep them behind me no matter what. I was really getting worried about hitting my goal.

Last 0.2 miles (in 75 seconds): I hit the mile 26 mark with 90 seconds to go and I knew I had it but I had to kick. My sister was in the finish line crowd screaming and I pushed hard and it hurt but I did it. I hit the finish line at 3:04:41 with the pace group right on my heels, a Boston Qualifying time!

The finish: I was gassed, I got my medal and some water and stumbled around for a few minutes. My sister comes running over in crazy cheer mode and she was carrying a bottle of wine. Turns out she won the ½ marathon in the crazy time of 1:25 and wine was the award along with 300$ (yay for her). We turn around and her friend is in the finish shoot finishing in 3:07 (a new PR for her). By this time I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to die was I was quite cold. While it was not raining anymore I was soaking wet and it was only about 48 out. My calf was completely cramped now so it was a tender walk to the car. We get changed into dry clothes and head out back to the hotel to shower and head to our respective homes. I check the results later and notice that I got third in my age once the pulled out the overall winners!!

Comments: Wineglass is a great small marathon (2000 runners in the full). It is very well organized and crowd support across the whole distance is great. You don’t go more than a handful of miles without running through a small town with tons of people cheering. I’d definitely recommend it to anyone looking to run a great race. The weather sucked but you can’t really blame anyone for that. I have not complaints about it. Once thing I did notice was that our Garmins were running short and were off by about 0.2 miles overall. This isn’t a big deal and a common issue but you HAVE to do the math at the actual mile markers to make sure you are on pace. If I was just using my watch I would have missed my goal by a minute or so. Luckily doing the math for 7:03 miles isn’t that hard. It might be better to turn off autolap and just hit the lap button at each mile. This works especially well if the miles are accurately marked (typically they are not) but they were for this race. Now I get to be lazy for 2 week while I recover!

Well, my first marathon is complete, Goodlife Fitness Victoria Marathon in Victoria, BC.

Final time: 3:25:07

It was a beautiful sunny day with a few scattered clouds, perfect temperatures of around 10C at the start. I felt pretty good until about 25k or so, went through the half in 1:39. I was aiming for a pace of 4:37/km, but faded after the rolling hills through Oak Bay, ended up with an average pace of 4:52/km. My longest training runs were 32k, so it was uncharted territory for me after that point. I revised my goals to just keeping on running for the last 10k, rather than stressing about running under 3:20:xx.

The last 2k felt like 20, and I was trashed at the finish. That was by far the hardest race that I've done, with a few HM's and HIM's under my belt. My HM PR is 1:32:07, so I think I'm capable of a faster marathon. There were definitely some moments when I thought WTF was I thinking signing up for IMC 2012!

At 205lbs, there is a lot of dude to drag along for 42.2 km's, so I better drop 10-15lbs for IMC!

Congrats to all the other fall marathon finishers!


Oh yeah, and ran right past Simon Whitfield's new house, nice place! I could have sworn that the guy who waved at me from the window in the red shirt was Simon...but I thought he was in Kona?

NPage146 - Glad you had a good race
Ferdog - The big man comes thru. Congrats

Goal Race: NYC
Goal Time: 2:57:00

This was my final week before I start my taper for the NYC Marathon. Things felt good as I knocked out the 2nd most weekly miles of my life. I closed out the week with a 22 mile run on the Al Buehler Cross Country Trail at Duke University. The run was tough with over 2,300 feet of climbing.

Bring on the taper!

Monday AM: 5.25 Miles Easy(8:00's)
Monday PM: 5.25 Miles Easy (7:40's)
Tuesday: 10 Miles at Marathon pace (6:40's)
Wednesday: 4.2 miles Easy (7:40's) Tired
Thursday: 15 Miles Progression run (increased pace every 4 miles - 29:00, 28:00, 27:30, final 3 in 21:00)
Friday: 10.2 Miles (6:58's) pushed the final 5k.
Saturday: 12.1 miles Easy (7:41's)
Sunday: 22.2 Miles (7:45's) was harder that the time indicates.

84 miles. Not bad for an old guy.

It sounds like Chicago was tough this year. Congrats on those who did it.

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What I do: http://app.strava.com/athletes/345699