Houston Marathon yesterday, my first, girlfriends second. Goal time was 3:30. I managed it in 3:42, she did it in 3:37.
We were together and on pace until mile 18 when I had to back off. It was an agressive goal so I’m still pretty happy with 3:42. I think its as good as I could have done. I would have needed a bit more mileage ( I was around 35mpw), and more structured pacing on my long runs to manage the 3:30, and I don’t think my body was ready this year for any more running than I did.
Great job.
For me the improvement between first and second was immense. Somehow once you understand the 18-26.2 miles you can deal with them more efficiently.
35mpw seems plenty to hit 3:30. To lower my times to 3:16-ish I had to do mid-40s for the 4-6 months prior.
It seems once you hit a certain level it takes less mpw to maintain, but more mpw to lower the time.
Congrats on your finish.
I ran the half and was disappointed with myself, having failed to set a new PR. 1:35:18 remains the benchmark for me, set in Austin in 2007. Funny, how the hills in Austin made me run faster than did the flatness in Houston.
(yesterday’s time was 1:36:02, for the casually curious)
Not a bad time on the half, sorry you didn’t get the PR. Next time perhaps we can both HTFU a little in the last 1/4 of the course =)
(and in our training to prepare for it!)
Congrats on your finish.
I ran the half and was disappointed with myself, having failed to set a new PR. 1:35:18 remains the benchmark for me, set in Austin in 2007. Funny, how the hills in Austin made me run faster than did the flatness in Houston.
(yesterday’s time was 1:36:02, for the casually curious)
I’m impressed. Until a stress fracture in my foot about 2 weeks ago, i was at 40-44mpw training for the mardi gras marathon, but my giant ass was looking towards a goal of 4:00.
Like i’ve said before, my run times never seem to match the estimated pace charts, not even close. I think i’d shit myself if I got a 3:42 first marathon, chicked or not, cause I start to fall apart after 15 or so miles.
On the plus side of the stress fracture, i’ve already bought plane tickets, a hotel room and took 2 vacation days from work, AND i dont have to run 26.2mi while im there.
again- congrats jack
Hey jackmott, was right there with you. Finished my first in 3:43, was on pace to do around 3:30 but hamstring started cramping at mile 24 and i had to stop several times to stretch it, pretty disappointed after having such a good pace most of run but original plan was under 4:00 so excited about time for first one.
3:42?!?! You were “chicked” by over an hour. Woman’s winner was in at 2:24. I’ve been chicked plenty of times but never by the significant other, dude consider its Texas you really need to CowboyTFU!
good work man =)
Hey jackmott, was right there with you. Finished my first in 3:43, was on pace to do around 3:30 but hamstring started cramping at mile 24 and i had to stop several times to stretch it, pretty disappointed after having such a good pace most of run but original plan was under 4:00 so excited about time for first one.
Nice job on your finish. How did it feel running that race on only 35mpw? When did it really start to hurt and how do you feel now? 35 was my normal week and I never felt confident about a full marathon on that mileage.
Nice job on your finish. How did it feel running that race on only 35mpw? When did it really start to hurt and how do you feel now? 35 was my normal week and I never felt confident about a full marathon on that mileage.
Mile 18 is when I had to drop off the 8minute pace
I was able to jog slow from there without too much hell.
Today I’m sore, but I’m at work =)
Definitely would try to up it to 45mpw next time around.
First, nice run. That is a great first marathon. My wife and I are essentially the same speed running, so I feel your pain. She has only “chicked” me once so far, but she has been close many times.
As someone else just said, the improvement from the first to second marathon is pretty big for a lot of people. For me, I went into my first completely unprepared, and slightly injured, with a goal to somehow cross the finish line. I ran a 4:50 (wife also ran 4:50). Well, sort of ran anyway. Second marathon I had a much more structured training plan, and I stuck to it. I also had a very good idea of how long the race is. I had ran several 20s in training before the first, but I really underestimated the difficulty of the next 10k. My second marathon was in November, and I ran 3:50 (wife ran a 3:55), an hour faster.
Dropping that much time was helped be several things, that my first race was so terrible being a large one, much better training, more commitment to the training, but most of all just by the fact that I knew I had ran this before, and I could do it again, I was also prepared for how much the last 10k was going to hurt, and had a better idea of how hard I could go in the early miles and still feel ok at mile 20. Having ran that first marathon really helped me structure my training for the second. I have to be honest, I am really looking forward to my third. Even though I won’t start training for it for several months, I already have been working on my plan for my 16 week build to improve the weaknesses in my second.
At first I wanted to run a marathon just to do it, and because I think I may one day want to do an Ironman. Now, I feel that I could qualify for Boston (3:10), though it may take me 2 years, and 2 more marathons.
Bring this thread back up after you second, it will be cool to see your improvement.
I must admit I got chicked also. It was humbling but the view from the back was worth it for Hum 4:29. This was my first also. I went at it as an experience and training day for IM CDA. I started my training a little late with the 200/200 run beer challenge as the kick off to the focus. I am happiest with the fact my last splits were only 20 seconds slower than my avg. My goal was to make it home before kick off. Job done, GO CARDINALS.
I always say: In every race you can expect to get passed by someone older than you, some one heavier than you, and a chick. The key is not to get passed by an old fat woman.
Great race - Congrats! Hope it was fun for you, too.
Well done for your first 26.2
If you are looking for a good plan for your next marathon, I suggest Pete Pfitzinger’s plans. He’s got a bunch of excellent marathon plans for 12, 18 and 24 weeks going 55 to 75 miles per week. His book Advanced Marathoning is well written and a good reference for marathon running. I’m using it now in as I go after my first BQ.
http://projectbq.blogspot.com/2008/12/pfitzer-1855-plan.html
Congrats!
Give her all the credit she deserves.
Don’t worry about it - it’s only the run. Being chicked on the bike would mean termination of your man card.
Seriously, I only say that because my wife beats me on any run at anytime at any place, but fortunately I can save face and always beat her on the bike.
They updated the results and gave me another minute for a 4:28.02. That minute makes me feel a lot better.
My wife is getting faster on the bike too, but it will be a long time before I have to worry there. Thank God she swims like a rock, so even if she got a lot faster on the bike, and I was forced to race on a MTB or something, I would still have a shot.
In all seriousness, having a significant other who is good enough to train with you on most days is awesome.
sucks to be you 
is she rubbing it in that she beat you?
(Nice work - hope you’re recovering well.)