Official Strava/Runkeeper Thread

[Kodos]

Do you guys bring I-pods to listen to on your longer races?

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by Kodos

Do you guys bring I-pods to listen to on your longer races?

No, I just listen to the music in my head.

(Seriously, though, I don't run with music, but most of the runners I know do, and IPods are fairly common).

[Fidatelo]

I always run to music or a podcast if I'm alone or in a race. When I used to run in groups then I was fine with conversation, but if I'm on my own and without something to keep my mind occupied I go bonkers.

[FrogMan]

Ever since I started running, I've always run with music from my iPhone except on a few races and I can name the four: my first ever race (10K), my first trail race last year and the following 10K two weeks later and this year's trail race just last Monday (which makes me realize I never posted any kind of race report ).

I'm now thinking about running more and more without music as I realized last Monday that I kinda liked listening to my own breathing while I run. I ran once without music this week and will try to do my first marathon without music...

FM

[Alan T]

On easy runs, long runs, etc I will listen to music or podcasts or books or whatever to pass the time.

On speed runs or tempo runs or runs where I need to pay closer attention to pace, he, etc I will not.

During races I never have headphones with me. Like 75% of my enjoyment in races is being with others. I will listen to their conversations or I will find people to talk to which is fun, or I will interact with the spectators, whatever it's a blast for me. In my last marathon, I met a random girl from Boston and we ran together from miles 12 to like 16 or so just chatting about all kinds of fun things.

[Alan T]

Sugarloaf Marathon Race Recap:

I finally got back home yesterday from my marathon followed by business trip for the week, I just wanted to thank everyone for the kind words following my marathon.

TLDR version for those who do not want to read the entire thing:
Beautiful scenery, a more technical course than previous marathons, got warmer than I was used to in middle. In the end, the marathon is a very solid reminder that you can not cram running fitness. Your fitness is what it is, and is something that is improved slowly over time, not quickly over a matter of weeks.

----------------------------------------------------

Now on to the race report:

The marathon was a point to point course, the first time that I have ever run one in any race length. The start line was 11 miles north of Sugarloaf mountain, and finish line was 15 miles south of the mountain resort. Since the race started at 7:00am, the buses to the start line began leaving at 5:00am from the resort. For me, there are two necessities before running a marathon: 1) I have to eat some food, I can't run a marathon on an empty stomach 2) My stomach is very touchy after eating any food (even easily digestible stuff), and I have to give myself at least 2-3 hours before running to make sure that I can use the bathroom before I run or I will have serious issues on the course.

Those two points meant that I set my alarm at 2:00am to wake up and eat breakfast. The early rise also meant that I had started adjusting my schedule a few days prior to going to sleep by 7pm or so and waking up even easier than normal. That part actually went pretty ok. I woke up feeling rested, I ate and then pretty much just facebook surfed and played ipad games to pass the next two hours while the family slept.

I took the 5:30am bus to the start line and got there about 6:00am which gave me time to just hang around for about an hour before the start. It was a beautiful site, part of a state forest, huge trees by a pretty lake. It was also pretty wet/foggy and chilly to just stand around at about 43 degrees F with everything covered in dew. I have read many times for a marathon, handling pre-race is different than half-marathons in that you want to conserve as much of your energy as possible and some suggest not even warming up (Unless you are an faster than speeds that would let you finish in under 3 hours). I tried to find somewhere dry to sit, but there was absolutely nothing so I just stood around shivering for the hour. I was wearing a throw away hoodie, but it was just pretty cold.

Finally it was close to 7am and they have us lineup for the start. There was very little prelude, just a warning that in 2 minutes we would be going. Right at 7am, they start us off by firing a shotgun!! I laughed as I saw part of a tree branch fall from under the guy who fired the shot gun. I guess they killed a tree branch in the process.... Anyhows, we were off!

The first four miles of the race was almost as flat as you can get. A nice run through the small town near the start and then just mountain scenery. My family was there at the start to see me off, so I tossed them my hoodie at the beginning and then headed out with the crowd. My goal during these four miles was to ease into my pace, keep my HR in the comfortable zone and most importantly not take it too fast even though I was feeling great. The weather had warmed up to about 51 degrees by the time we had started with the sun finally coming out over the mountain ridge, so it was starting to become a very comfortable and nice running condition. I felt really good at this part and was trying to keep my pace around 9:45 min/mi which was my goal end pace for the marathon. (More on that decision later in the race report summary). I ended up running them closer to 9:30-9:35 pace instead, so still a bit quicker than I wanted, but nowhere as bad as the start in my last two marathons.

Miles 5-7 were still fairly flat, but we started to get a little bit of an incline, including a few rolling hills. The goal here was to try to keep the effort the same, so slowing down slightly on the inclines and remember my race wasn't to the top of the hill, but instead 20+ miles down the road. Not much to say about the scenery in this part, it was still pretty much mountains and trees all around us. Somewhat of a nice change from the previous races through cities or neighborhoods. I hit 9:43, 9:55 and 9:58 through this part. It was a pretty good job of keeping my effort the same, but still probably 10-15 seconds per mile faster than I should be doing it most likely.

Miles 8-10 is where the suffering starts on this course. Mile 8 starts off with a few series of smaller hills and very little decline. The entire climb between miles 8-10 is roughly 325 ft with a fairly constant climb. The important part here for me was to try to continue running by feel/effort and not worry too much about my time in this one stretch. Mile 8 which had roughly 40ft in total climb, was not too bad other than one or two hills and I did it in 10:10 which kept it pretty much perfectly in line with my effort up to that point. Mile 9 which had the steepest climbs and about 200ft of ascending I did in 10:38, which was probably my first mile in the race that I did really way too fast. I started that mile with my HR at 160 and ended at 171, but averaged 168 for the entire mile and peaked at one point with a 177 during the steepest part of the climb. This was obviously too high for this early in the race. Mile 10 was a little bit more of the same. It was a continuation of the climb, around 100ft in total for this mile and I finished it in 10:11 which probably was not horrible, but still about 10-15 seconds too fast (just like the first four miles). The bigger problem here was that it did not really let my HR recover much. I started with a 171 bpm, ended with 169 bpm and pretty much averaged around there the entire time.

Mile 11 kind of stands out in the race as its own as it was perhaps the most unique part of the entire race. You actually decline in this mile around 110 ft, but the first half of a mile or .6 is still actually a climb of another 30 ft or so. It is difficult to look at individual splits for this mile to see how I did, but my HR maxed out at about 173 bpm during this mile, so it is likely that I ran this one similar to the previous mile, just a little too quick. The second half or .4 of mile 11 is the actual severe drop of about 150 ft in less than half a mile. This part is very steep and the experts all warn everyone beforehand to not run this part too fast or you will trash your upper leg muscles and have a very painful ending of the race. I honestly feel that I did this part fine. I did not have any issue with muscle soreness during the race or muscle cramping, and even the days after the marathon I felt totally fine. I ended up running mile 11 in 9:39, which meant that including the climb up, I probably did run the downhill fairly fast but likely not too quick. So this mile likely was a success I think.

Miles 12-15 ends up being the "easy" part of the marathon. You start a fairly constant downhill grade at this point. The first part of mile 12 is still a continuation of the steep downhill from the end of mile 11. Dropping another 100ft or so in the first 1/3 of a mile, but then levels off a bit as you start arriving to the Sugarloaf Mountain resort area. Seeing the family all there cheering me on was great, and once again this is a really nice area to run through scenery wise. I ran miles 12-15 in 9:32, 9:43, 9:48, 9:25 which all is likely fine considering it is mostly downhill grade. (There are some small uphill/rolling hill type parts, but it is a net downhill through this part). I was starting to realize though that I had a serious problem starting at this point though. As we had reached the peak of the climb in mile 11, we also ended up finding the sun square upon us for the first time. Any clouds that had been out were no longer helping and it started getting really warm. The temperature in miles 12-15 alone climbed 7 degrees and was mid-60s. That by itself might not be horrible, but the humidity was still 90%+ This ended up giving a temp+Dew point of close to 130 which most science suggests should slow you down roughly another 2%-3%. During the run, I had no idea what the temperature was or dew point, I just knew I was sweating like a cow. The way this presented itself in my effort though was even with a downhill segment, that was supposed to be easy, and not running it super fast, my Heart rate continued to climb instead of drop. By mile 15, my Avg HR was 167, and I hit 172-173 a few times during this section. This HR range would be ok in a Half-marathon or 15k race, but was pushing my lactate threshold zone and would come back to haunt me later.

Miles 16-17 actually have another section of steeper decline. Nothing like mile 11 and 12, but still we lose about another 240 ft during these two miles. These parts were not steep enough to worry about muscle issues in my opinion though. I had actually picked up a stranger that I met somewhere around mile 14-15 or so and ran with her all the way through mile 18. So that made this part of the marathon go very quickly and was probably my favorite part of the race. She was from Boston and this was her first marathon. We talked about various running related stuff and it helped pass the time pretty nicely. I did these two miles in 9:32, 9:40 which based on effort was probably slower than what I had intended at the start of the race, but it did allow my HR recover slightly just a little bit, ending mile 17 at 164bpm.

Mile 18-19 is a more gradual downhill part, and takes you to the area where the start of Sugarloaf 15k race starts. My new running friend ended up having to stop for a potty break around this part so I wouldn't see her again and I was on my own once more. Finally after all of this time the humidity was starting to drop pretty rapidly, falling below 90%, which allowed the dew point to recover slightly, but the temperature continued to climb, getting closer to 70F. Temp + Dew point was still around 130, meaning the same effect on my effort and HR though. With a more gradual downhill, my pace didn't slow any from the previous two miles and any HR recovery I had made was lost at this point. By the end of mile 19, my Avg HR for the entire mile was in the 170s, and I was not even getting back into the 160s any more. I was running at this point the entire time beyond my Lactate Threshold and in hindsight, by this point I was doomed no matter what I did.

Mile 20- 26 is where the pain once again set in. Running on red for so many miles just did me in and my body started slowing. Due to running too high beyond my lactate threshold for so long, I pretty much ran out of the energy. Even with doing a good job with taking in nutrition in the form of gus during the race, there was no way to keep up with how much I was spending. Running above lactate threshold causes you to expend your energy way too inefficiently and just spent all of my resources. Mile 20 saw me start to fall to a 10:xx pace and by the end of mile 20 I was running closer to 12 or 13 minute miles. Miles 20-26 is a series of rolling hills with still a gradual down hill, but more ups than previous miles. I ended up getting to the point where I was walking almost every hill, walking at every water station, and at one point was desperately looking for my family in hopes to see them for an excuse to stop and take a break as well. (side note: the race being point to point had the road open though, so many of the spectators would drive a few miles and pull over to root on their runners and then hop back in the car and drive another few miles. We saw some doing this on bikes too, so this was pretty neat as it helped provide spectators for almost the entire course.) My final few miles were 10:39, 11:13, 12:17, 12:28, 13:32, 13:13, 13:44. The final 0.3 I just out of willpower picked things back up and finished that little stretch with a 10:17 pace. My Heart rate was not an issue in this part as all of the walk breaks helped keep it dropping. At this point though the HR no longer mattered, the damage had been done and the final 10k was about survival more than finishing in a specific time.

I finished the marathon in 4:36:06, my 5k splits ended up being:
29:49, 30:18, 31:49, 30:14, 29:59, 29:54, 34:17, 40:44. Pretty easy to see where the wheels fell off this wagon.

With my business trip, it allowed me a few days to review things and think about where they went wrong before posting this.

I think I can blame some on taking the hills a little too quick. I can blame some on the surprising heat that no one was ready for. (I have never been in a race where so many runners were taking off their shirts. This included the women, where there were more than a handful that decided to finish in just a sports bra).

The biggest blame though I think has to be on my expectations or goal setting at the start. I even posted on here a few days before the marathon what my current CTL (fitness) scores were. That I was pretty square between my first marathon (4:45 finish), and my second marathon (4:15 finish) in terms of fitness. I had also gained a good bit of weight during my down time for surgery. That weight gain alone is good for roughly 20 seconds per mile slower. As of writing this recap, I've lost about 15 pounds of the gained weight again, but as of race day I was closer to only 10-12 pounds lost, which meant I was about 12-13 pounds heavier than the previous race.

Perhaps I just figured I had gotten smarter about running, so I would be able to outsmart my weight and fitness? My biggest mistake probably was going into the race trying to run the same pace as my previous marathon where I was in both better fitness shape and lighter. I think just the small amount of pace each mile faster than I should have been going adds up over 26 miles and eventually took its toll on me. Sure the Heat and humidity did not help any, but if I had not already been so close to the red line already, I could have likely handled that extra issue better.

In the end, the marathon is a cruel reminder that it is not a test you can cram for. Your fitness improves over time, and just wishing your fitness was better does not make it so. You can perhaps will yourself through parts of a 5k race, but in a marathon, the body will just give out on you.

I am proud of all of the hard work that I did over the tough winter to just get back my fitness after my surgery, and even though I can see plenty of mistakes that I made running this marathon, I am starting my summer training schedule in a better place fitness wise and know that I can continue to improve. With every race I get more experience and hopefully will one day run one of these marathons "smartly"

[Kodos]

Marathons are tough. It seems like there are many ways to go astray. Still, your dedicated training inspires me to raise my effort levels. Next Sunday will be my first official half marathon. Hoping to chop some decent time off of my practice halfs (right around 2 hrs) and avoid crashing at the end. Should be fun. Keep on trucking, Alan. I hope we cross paths some day in a race.

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by Kodos

Marathons are tough. It seems like there are many ways to go astray. Still, your dedicated training inspires me to raise my effort levels. Next Sunday will be my first official half marathon. Hoping to chop some decent time off of my practice halfs (right around 2 hrs) and avoid crashing at the end. Should be fun. Keep on trucking, Alan. I hope we cross paths some day in a race.

Good luck on your half! I'm actually still debating what to do for the fall, but of my top two choices, both would put me at least one race in Connecticut.

Choice #1 would have me running a tune up half-marathon down in your neck of the woods September 19th: Gulf Beach Half-Marathon on the beaches in Milford, CT.

Choice #2 would have me actually doing the Hartford Marathon again in October.

Not sure which path I'm taking quite yet. Trying to work out fall plans with the wife on what she wants to run too.

[Kodos]

I'll likely do the Hartford half.

[Northwood_DK]

Has anyone picked up the Garmin Fenix 3?

It looks so cool and I really want to buy but the reports about inaccurate GPS is scaring me off for now.

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by Northwood_DK

Has anyone picked up the Garmin Fenix 3?

It looks so cool and I really want to buy but the reports about inaccurate GPS is scaring me off for now.

I was very tempted by it at some point, then the price kinda scared me away. Then I wanted (or the geek in me wanted) a 920XT but I settled for a 620 last week. Ordered it online and it shipped today, could get it before the weekend

A triathlete friend of mine (via Lose It but he uses it to make sure he eats enough ) has one and he seems to like it enough, much more than the Fenix 2 which he said had way too many bugs...

FM

[hoopsguy]

Been close a couple times to pulling the trigger on the 620. I suspect that will be the purchase if/when my current 210 gives up the ghost.

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by hoopsguy

Been close a couple times to pulling the trigger on the 620. I suspect that will be the purchase if/when my current 210 gives up the ghost.

this mail rebatewas the final straw for me, 50$ on the 620 is bought between May 1st and 31st
http://garmin.blogs.com/promotions/2...rebate_Eng.pdf

FM

[Chief Rum]

Hey Alan, I can see you have mixed feelings about how you did your marathon, but for me personally, I just think it's a terrific achievement no matter how you do. So way to go, man.

I'm still planning to run the LA next year. I keep remembering how I hit miles 9 and 10 in a half, totally gassed, and wondering how on Earth I can ever run 26.2.

[FrogMan]

I also wanted to comment on your race report Alan. I can understand how you must feel and it's oh so easy to tell you to be proud of yourself because you did it, you ran 26 freaking miles, but as I said, I understand being disappointed.

Thanks for sharing your thought process on the whole thing, they are immensely helpful as I embark on my own training for my first full. This distance scares the crap outta me. Did 13 miles as my long run last Sunday and for now, I'm not sure I can see myself doing any of the three 20 milers planned on my training plan let alone push it another 6 miles further than that. One foot in front of the other I guess...

FM

[Alan T]

I just realized that Steve Prefontaine died the exact day that I was born. I guess I wasn't lucky enough to have his talent reincarnated

[AnalBumCover]

Saucony Running Shoes are on sale $49.99 on woot!

Saucony Men's Running Shoes - Woot

I just ordered a pair of Saucony Ride 7

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by AnalBumCover

Saucony Running Shoes are on sale $49.99 on woot!

Saucony Men's Running Shoes - Woot

I just ordered a pair of Saucony Ride 7

Awesome. I love my Sauconys.

[cartman]

Getting a bit nervous about the 100km ride coming up on the 20th. The horrible here over the past couple of weeks has put a dent in my training. Gonna have to be careful and not over-train to try and "catch up".

[Chief Rum]

Just do what you can, cartman. Like you said, don't overtrain and make yourself exhausted leading up to the race.

How are your legs? Do you feel fairly even now between them, strength-wise?

[Subby]

Originally Posted by cartman

Getting a bit nervous about the 100km ride coming up on the 20th. The horrible here over the past couple of weeks has put a dent in my training. Gonna have to be careful and not over-train to try and "catch up".

How hilly is it? Just wear good bike shorts and make sure to use chamois cream and you'll be fine. You could roll out of bed and ride 62 miles.

[cartman]

I can still tell a difference between the two legs. The quads are a lot better defined on the leg that wasn't operated on. I was having some quad pain in the good leg, but I'm almost certain now that was due to having my seat a bit too low.

As for the course, it is pretty flat. The map says it gains 1500 feet elevation over the 64 miles. I've done gains of half that just on small 15 mile rides in my neighborhood. I'm sure that I'll be able to complete 100km, I just want to do it in a decent time. I'm shooting for sub 5 hour, which is a very doable 12mph.

[Subby]

Originally Posted by cartman

As for the course, it is pretty flat. The map says it gains 1500 feet elevation over the 64 miles. I've done gains of half that just on small 15 mile rides in my neighborhood. I'm sure that I'll be able to complete 100km, I just want to do it in a decent time. I'm shooting for sub 5 hour, which is a very doable 12mph.

You'll crush that. I would be surprised if your moving time wasn't closer to 4 hours flat over that topography.

[Alan T]

Great job on races last weekend FM and Kodos! Good luck coming up Cartman on your ride, I know it has been a long road back from your knee work. I'm rooting for you that you achieve your goals!!

[Alan T]

Happy running day everyone!

So I think I have my race schedule figured out for the fall. I wanted to try to squeeze in the Quebec City Half-marathon, but my wife put the veto on that one due to all of our other traveling we are doing.. So I think what it looks like for me will be:

June 21st: Worcester Half-Marathon (Worcester, MA): will be just starting up with marathon training so not really in peak Half form. This race pretty much passes by where my wife works so just doing this as a local race. Will likely not PR on this one

July 19th: Narragansett Bay Half-Marathon (East Providence, RI): Got a good deal on this race so figured why not. No taper and a race in the middle of the summer means likely no PR time. Will treat it as a normal workout run on a course that has supplied hydration

August 29th: Cape Cod Canal 10k (Bourne, MA): My first tune-up race where I truly want to try for a PR type performance. I wanted a half-marathon this weekend, but the choices were limited so this was the best I could do.

September 12th: Surftown Half-Marathon (Westerly, RI): Going back to run what was my very first half-marathon that I ever did, and still one of my favorite courses ever. A pretty favorable course for a PR if my training goes well over the summer. Only a few decent hills in it with the majority being pretty nice flats along the beach.

September 26th: TBD - Want a shorter race, either 5 mile or 10k here. Have two local ones that I am looking at, and still haven't decided which to do.

October 10th: Hartford Marathon (Hartford, CT): Back to Hartford, which is my current PR for marathon distance. I feel with a strong summer, I can crush that time and perform well here. Plus it is a very easy race for my family to get to and cheer me on.

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by Alan T

Happy running day everyone!

So I think I have my race schedule figured out for the fall. I wanted to try to squeeze in the Quebec City Half-marathon, but my wife put the veto on that one due to all of our other traveling we are doing.. So I think what it looks like for me will be:

June 21st: Worcester Half-Marathon (Worcester, MA): will be just starting up with marathon training so not really in peak Half form. This race pretty much passes by where my wife works so just doing this as a local race. Will likely not PR on this one

July 19th: Narragansett Bay Half-Marathon (East Providence, RI): Got a good deal on this race so figured why not. No taper and a race in the middle of the summer means likely no PR time. Will treat it as a normal workout run on a course that has supplied hydration

August 29th: Cape Cod Canal 10k (Bourne, MA): My first tune-up race where I truly want to try for a PR type performance. I wanted a half-marathon this weekend, but the choices were limited so this was the best I could do.

September 12th: Surftown Half-Marathon (Westerly, RI): Going back to run what was my very first half-marathon that I ever did, and still one of my favorite courses ever. A pretty favorable course for a PR if my training goes well over the summer. Only a few decent hills in it with the majority being pretty nice flats along the beach.

September 26th: TBD - Want a shorter race, either 5 mile or 10k here. Have two local ones that I am looking at, and still haven't decided which to do.

October 10th: Hartford Marathon (Hartford, CT): Back to Hartford, which is my current PR for marathon distance. I feel with a strong summer, I can crush that time and perform well here. Plus it is a very easy race for my family to get to and cheer me on.

Hold on there buddy. You mean you were "this" close to come visiting me on my first marathon ever?!?!? Awwww man... That's okay though, I understand.

But we gotta make a deal for next Summer then. Here's something nobody other than my wife and my oldest son knows: we will be closing our dojo this Fall. Too much work and trouble for what little money it brings us. The first five years of the lease will be over on Octobre 30th and we will not be renewing. In fact, we'll probably be closing before my marathon happens on August 30th. This means that my Summer of 2016 will be dramaticaly different than all of my last 5 Summers. Going back to 2011, I have never been too far out of the Quebec area during Summer (or any other time of the year really) because the dojo was taking so much of my time. This move will also free up most (ALL) of my evenings to do some training as I don't plan on taking karate classes for now, and maybe for a while. I am kinda burned out at this point.

I have been on mostly a week to week planning for pretty much those last 5 years, knowing that almost any weekend off had to be planned ahead of time and that I couldn't really take too many of those weekends off since I didn't have many backups and one of them is my son. I plan on trying some different things next Summer and that might, for now I'll settle on "might", include running out of town or even out of the country. Could even plan for a few days off if you'd ever contemplate driving up here for the half marathon or marathon in late August and we could run in my neck of the wood. In return, I would possibly look at some of the races you got down south that I could drive down to race with you. How's that for an early embryo of an idea?

Non committal of course, but let's both keep it in mind.

oh and please keep the dojo thing out of FB for now. As I said, nobody knows about it and some of my customers are FB friends and I wouldn't want it known before we're ready to make an announce.

FM

[lighthousekeeper]

Originally Posted by Alan T

Sugarloaf Marathon Race Recap:

Since the race started at 7:00am, the buses to the start line began leaving at 5:00am from the resort. ... I set my alarm at 2:00am to wake up and eat breakfast.

I hate this aspect of road races - they are all biased for the early risers of the world. I do most of my running between 9-11pm. The prospect of getting up at 2am (aka my bedtime) for a run is complete madness.

[hoopsguy]

Originally Posted by AnalBumCover

Saucony Running Shoes are on sale $49.99 on woot!

Saucony Men's Running Shoes - Woot

I just ordered a pair of Saucony Ride 7

That is the shoe I've been using for the last couple of months. Jealous of that price tag

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by FrogMan

But we gotta make a deal for next Summer then.

I can work on it again for next year! I love destination races. I've also thought about doing the Montreal marathon at times since it is not too far from where my sister lives. My wife is pretty easy going about my running addiction, but sometimes I can only squeeze the stone so much

Originally Posted by lighthousekeeper

I hate this aspect of road races - they are all biased for the early risers of the world. I do most of my running between 9-11pm. The prospect of getting up at 2am (aka my bedtime) for a run is complete madness.

I find most of the races do early mornings not as much for the early risers but instead because it lets you beat the hot part of the day (and have better running performances). I know many of the winter races I've done have start times closer to 10am-1pm though which sound like it would be more up your ally.

[Alan T]

So.. I don't think I will be able to finish this Strava climbing challenge

9 days left to climb 4200ft roughly. I only climbed 5000 ft for the entire month of April

[cartman]

Originally Posted by Alan T

So.. I don't think I will be able to finish this Strava climbing challenge

9 days left to climb 4200ft roughly. I only climbed 5000 ft for the entire month of April

Head to the Presidentials...

[Kodos]

So I haven't had time for a race report on my first-ever half marathon, but the Reader's Digest version is that I went out too fast, it was hot, humid, and hilly, and I finished, but went very slowly over the last 5 miles. Both of my practice halves were faster than the real one. Still a good experience, but the last few miles were tough.

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by Kodos

So I haven't had time for a race report on my first-ever half marathon, but the Reader's Digest version is that I went out too fast, it was hot, humid, and hilly, and I finished, but went very slowly over the last 5 miles. Both of my practice halves were faster than the real one. Still a good experience, but the last few miles were tough.

The on and off heat and humidity lately has made it tough when it hits at the wrong time for sure. I think you did a great job though in the Spring season, especially with a tough course. Hopefully I'll see you at Hartford in the fall!

[hoopsguy]

Dealing with my first running injury. Had a sharp pain on the inside of my left knee when starting a run last Saturday afternoon. Bailed on that run quickly, gave it two days of rest, and had some mild discomfort again early on Monday. Two more days of rest, and was able to run a couple of miles on Tuesday with more of a dull feeling around the kneecap but no sharp pain or really any pain ... just a different sensation. But this morning about a mile into an easy run I returned to the sharp sensation inside the knee; basically a mini-fireworks feeling for about 3 seconds.

So, time to schedule a visit to the doctor and scrap plans for my 5k next Thursday night.

[Alan T]

Hope it's nothing too serious hoops!

[HerRealName]

Maybe an MCL sprain, hoopsguy? That fireworks feeling doesn't sound good though so maybe a meniscus issue. Sounds like a visit to the doctor is a good idea.

I haven't left the house yet and it's already 83 degrees. I miss clouds.

[Kodos]

Originally Posted by Kodos

So I haven't had time for a race report on my first-ever half marathon, but the Reader's Digest version is that I went out too fast, it was hot, humid, and hilly, and I finished, but went very slowly over the last 5 miles. Both of my practice halves were faster than the real one. Still a good experience, but the last few miles were tough.

Pretty neat. I just noticed that my first official half marathon came almost exactly 2 years after my first run (2013-06-01 and 2015-05-31).

[Chief Rum]

Your pace is falling. You suck, Kodos!

[Kodos]

I noticed that too!

[Kodos]

Post-race shot from the Hartford Down & Dirty 3 miler this morning. I'm on the right, my brother is on the left. You can tell which one of us works out his upper body... I'll need to work on that.




Edit after results were posted:

Heh. I was feeling pretty good about my 14th out of 107 age-group finish. Then I saw my brother's result: He won his age group (1st out of 99), and beat second place by almost 7 minutes!


DOWN & DIRTY MUD RUN PRESENTED BY SUBARU
Hartford - Riverside Park
06/14/2015
3 Mile Results By Division
Male_45-49

Place Time Bib Name Team_name Age From
===== ======= ===== =================== ========================= === =====================
1 25:55 2855 Steven Pullen 46
2 32:44 1746 Michael Brakey The ShakeyBrakey Running 49 New Rochelle NY
3 34:12 2991 Brendan Shea 49 Amston CO
4 35:19 2294 Shawn Fogarty 46 Andover CT
5 35:34 2834 Jonathan Plucker 45 Glastonbury CT
6 35:36 2307 Bill Fredericks 46 Roxbury CT
7 35:38 1515 Scott Sweeney TEAM COBURN 46 Terryville CT
8 35:53 3335 Dave McAllister 48 Unionville CT
9 36:44 210 Stathis Manousos LAZ 49
10 36:53 132 Mauricio Escobar BK Spartans 46 CT



DOWN & DIRTY MUD RUN PRESENTED BY SUBARU
Hartford - Riverside Park
06/14/2015
3 Mile Results By Division
Male_40-44
Place Time Bib Name Team_name Age From
===== ======= ===== =================== ========================= === =====================
1 30:35 2687 Craig Mikolinski 40 Salem CO
2 30:56 2310 Tim French 43 Windsor CT
3 31:01 1135 Kenneth Reeves Mud N Dew 43 Terryville CT
4 31:46 2763 Kaluska Ohlund 40 Coventry CO
5 32:03 3120 Joe Vano 41 Trumbull CO
6 32:49 3292 Carmelo Cheverez 41 Waterbury CO
7 33:21 2564 David Lindstrom 43 Wolcott CO
8 33:25 674 John Brennan Chrome Drones 40 Wolcott CT
9 33:35 1595 Adam Smith Team Rugged Fitness 44 Wethersfield CT
10 33:51 3357 Mark Thibodeau 43 Middletown CT
11 34:17 1643 Greg Heacock The B-Team 43 Vernon CT
12 35:00 2752 David Noyes 43 Tolland CT
13 36:13 3254 Nathan Owens Running Dirty 42
14 36:17 2856 Chris Pullen 44
15 37:06 2074 Peter Chen 43 Manchester CT




Double edit: My brother finished 3rd overall out of 2078 finishers. He's not even a runner - he's a cyclist, for God's sake! I finished 132nd overall, which I feel good about. But now I feel like I could have pushed harder during the running parts.

DOWN & DIRTY MUD RUN PRESENTED BY SUBARU
Hartford - Riverside Park
06/14/2015
3 Mile Overall Results
Place Time Bib Name Age Sx From Div/Tot Division
===== ======= ===== =================== === == ===================== ======= ===============
1 24:40 2427 Jay Humphries 18 M Sherman CT 1/86 MALE_18-24
2 25:54 993 Victor Kolbin 18 M Westport CT 2/86 MALE_18-24
3 25:55 2855 Steven Pullen 46 M 1/99 MALE_45-49
4 26:19 1800 Kenneth Vaughan 52 M Middletown CT 1/56 MALE_50-54
.
.
.
130 36:13 131 Andrea Escobar 33 F CT 4/159 FEMALE_30-34
131 36:13 3254 Nathan Owens 42 M 13/107 MALE_40-44
132 36:17 2856 Chris Pullen 44 M 14/107 MALE_40-44
133 36:20 435 Mattew Cuomo 14 M North Haven CO 21/106 MALE_13-17
134 36:22 2425 Tyler Hull 18 M Vernon CT 23/86 MALE_18-24



Edit 3:
I should note these results were for the 3 mile race. I think probably the best runners all did the 6-mile version, thus watering down the results in the 3 mile a bit.

[Alan T]

Great job Chris!

My oldest two daughters also did it.

My 10 year old did the 1 mile kid "adventure", finished in 19 minutes (18th out of 27 in her division)

My 14 year old did the 3 mile, finished in 1 hour and 6 minutes (74th out of 84 in her division)

Neither one really enjoy "cardio" type work though, but had fun with this

[Chief Rum]

Way to go, Kodos! And congrats to Kang, too (and Alan, your daughters!).

[Alan T]

So I have a half marathon coming up this Sunday, the Worcester Half-Marathon. I am not sure who's great idea it was to have a half marathon here in the summer, but it is a local race, I ran it last year and am doing it again this year

Last year, when I ran it the weather was pretty nice, 60-65F with about 75% humidity. This year, it is currently projecting to be 75 F or so and 100% humidity (with possible chances of not just showers but thunder showers). If it ends up being 75, I won't mind the rain at all, but can do without the lightning.

The course is not bad from a PR standpoint, one decent hill in mile 3 but the rest is fairly tame (various rolling hills), but I don't think I'll have it in me to quite PR yet.

Looking at my performance expectation graph, I'm actually ahead of where I was last June, but not quite at my best yet still.




I feel really good about my Fall training schedule though and am very optimistic for how Hartford will go in October, but for now, I'm getting faster again.. little by little.

One other good thing is that I've almost recovered all the weight gain that I picked up during the offtime. Only about 4-5 pounds more to go to be back to what the "top end" of where I want to be would be. I really would like to lose another 20 pounds though, so am working on that still.



So, my guess is that I won't PR on Sunday, especially with the heat even if I was in shape... but I'm hoping to get back under 2 hours for the Half again.

[Kodos]

I hit a nice milestone this morning. Wanted to share.

[Alan T]

Awesome! Way to go!

[AlexB]

After convincing myself (wrongly as it turned out) that it was going to rain today, and given the fact I hate riding in the rain, went for a run instead of a ride.

Went out on a route that gave me an option to do 7.5 miles or 9.5 miles depending on how I felt after about 5.5 miles. Took it relatively easy and felt good, so took the long option...

Continued to feel good despite my speed increasing a bit, so worked out a couple of detours to beat my longest ever of 10.5 miles...

Still felt good... so the end result was I worked out a couple more detours and did my first ever half marathon distance!



Was mostly impressed that I managed to calculate my detours well enough that my door to door distance was 13.15 miles - not bad cognitive abilities given the circumstances!

A half marathon was something I wanted to do at some point, so really happy I've done it: I seem to have destroyed two toenails and my heel's a bit sore (low on the Achilles rather than high up where it tore 3 years ago) but seeing as I set out with a low end goal of 7.5 miles, I feel surprisingly good.

[cartman]

Yesterday was the Tour d'Italia. My dad participated in the ride with me. He'd been able to get a couple of events in already this spring (the two day MS bike ride in DFW one of them), and had been able to get some longer training rides in than I have. Our original plan was to ride the 100km route, but neither of us felt like that was going to be an option. There were also 30, 41 and 50 mile routes to choose from.

I drove up to Ft. Worth on Friday night, and we drove to Italy on Saturday morning. They had over 1,000 riders show up, so parking was a bit of a challenge. We got our packets and got started on the course a little after 8am. The first bit of the course was rolling, and you have to try and pace yourself, because it is easy to get excited and set too fast of a pace. We were sitting between 12 and 15 mph. As we rode along, we chatted about the distance we would ride, and said we'd decide at the rest stop that divides the 40 and 50 mile routes. I hit the first rest stop (at the 12 mile mark) a few minutes before my dad. We took off, and then a couple of miles past that he started having issues with his quads locking up on hills. We stopped and I helped him get them stretched out, and that seemed to help. At the 20 mile point was the second rest stop. We rested there for a bit, and stretched his legs some more. We headed down the 40 mile route, but his legs started rebelling again. So we decided to head back down the 30 mile route and get home. I finished about 15 minutes ahead of him. I likely could have done 40 miles on Saturday, but 50 would have been a struggle. I did the 30 miles in two and a half hours, which was about the pace I was shooting for if we did the 100km.

My dad recently got a new bike, and I'm pretty sure there is a problem with his riding position that was causing his leg issues. He'd been able to do longer rides with his previous bike without having any problems with his quads.

As for me, my repaired knee felt fine, no issues at all. I was very happy with that. I'm in New Mexico the first week in July, and we're planning to hike to the top of 12,500 ft. tall mountain. That will be my next test of the knee. I'm signed up for a couple of more bike rides in August, and am shooting to hit 100km in each of those.

[Alan T]

Great job Alex and Cartman! Good news about the knee holding up well too.

For me, the half marathon I was going to do got postponed due to a lightning forecast, which evidently caused quite a stir in the local running community. A good mix of people supporting the decision to people begrudgingly supporting it to others just downright being rude about it.

As far as I know, the lightning never showed up though.. at least that I saw, but the decision was not a huge deal to me as I had not traveled to the race or anything. I went and ran 16 miles in one of the worst downpours I have ever ran in. (Perhaps second to the time I ran at the start of the tropical storm a few years ago).

They are trying to find a make up date for it, hopefully will not be while I am traveling next month so I can still fit it in somewhere.

[Kodos]

Heh. I got caught in a pretty good downpour yesterday morning too.

Cartman-Glad to hear your knee is holding up so far.

Alex-Good job!

[hoopsguy]

AlexB, heck of a first half! I remember the first time I transitioned from 10 miles to a half marathon distance and that 5k difference felt really sluggish. On top of that, it was nowhere near the speed you posted.

Saw a sports medicine doctor yesterday about my knee. No structural damage. Also had my best run in awhile on it this evening, which I'm sure was in part based on not being afraid of doing additional damage to the knee when I felt pain. Assuming I have more of the same over next week, I'll start gearing up for a couple of 5K runs next month.