Sunday was a nice day to run the towpath marathon. I was up around 5, ate a protein bar (my daily breakfast) plus a bowl of cereal, and drank some water. I was on the road by 5:45 and I arrived about 90 minutes early.
I took one more bathroom break at Bostom Mills, changed my shoes, ditched the long sleeve shirt, drank a 20 oz Gatorade, and headed to the start. Today was my first day wearing my new Team Fox shirt. I am now wearing it in all my races, hoping to raise some funds for Parkinson's research.
Once I got there, I had to pee again. Many guys were stepping off the road and across the train-tracks, so I joined the crowd. Then back to the start. I started near the front, 2nd or 3rd row. The start is on the road (slight downhill). The national anthem played and we were off!
My goal was to start slow but not slower then 8:00, then cut down to 7:20's and hold that pace as long as I could. My safe goal was 3:20 which is 7:38 pace so I figured I had some wiggle room.
I looked at the watch about 1/2 mile in and it showed 6:46 pace. I eased off a bit more and my first mile clicked 7:17. (The Garmin had my miles before theirs all day long by less than .01 per mile).
I held an even but choppy pace between 7:15-7:30 pretty much through the half. One slower mile when I was taking a gel but felt like I was still running easy and saving energy. But the quads started getting heavy right around 1/2. My times started fading fast and I fell apart mentally as much as physically. Kept resetting goals (3:26 PR (Columbus 1991), 3:37 Milica's time, 3:42 (Columbus 93), 3:53 first marathon (Columbus 90).
20th mile was so slow (11:50) that I walked part of 21 (13:11), then took a potty break during 22 (14:19).
Finally hooked up with some Team Fox guys, talked a little and they are from N. Olmsted and know my brother-in-law Ken! Ran 10:02 & 9:58 for 23 & 24.
I started slowing again and declared myself the 4 hour pace group, encouraging all who passed me in the last 2 miles (and there were plenty).
I took plenty (I think) of water, Heed, and Hammer Gel. Quarter to half a cup about every 2 miles for the first half of the race. Then switched to a half cup of water and HEED at most of the water stops (almost every mile) once I started slowing. I actually stopped at a port-a-pot to pee around mile 21-22.
The course is mostly shaded. Although it did reach near 80 by the finish, at the time when I started fading, I was actually still a little chilly so I don't think it was the heat.
Bathroom breaks before the race were successful so that was not a problem.
I did splash some water or HEED on my sunglasses and they were a little blurry, I took them off, carried for about a mile, passed off to Marty Lucas around 15 miles then got them back around 24. This was about the time I was slowing down but I think it was a coincidence.
Official results aren posted. I was 3:59:21, 215th of 604 overall and 27th of 77 in my age group, men 40-44.
I did consider dropping at 17 (near the finish) and taking another shot either 10/17 at Columbus, or 10/24 at Inland Trail, but I honestly don't know what to blame my failure on, so I don't know that it would go significantly better.
Randy thinks I need to do my longer runs faster - he is probably right.
My next race is the Skeleton Run, I am trying to place in the top 5 overall in the Hermes Road Race Series. Then the Running With Scissors double-marathon, and I will start training for the Burning River 100 next summer.
Here are my splits, per my watch.
7:17
7:23
7:28
7:15
7:21
7:14
7:34
7:28
7:26
7:31
7:29
7:48 - opening gel
7:34
7:57
8:30 ???
8:55
9:29
10:32
11:36
11:50
13:11 - walked
14:19 - potty
10:02
9:58
11:01
11:28
(10:21 pace, last .2+)
Showing posts with label Marathon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Marathon. Show all posts
Monday, October 11, 2010
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
A Taste of Advice Marathon Runners Hate
By Craig Ballantyne
Most aspiring marathon runners are smart enough not to buy a beat-up used car for $300 and try to drive it across America non-stop. But they have no problem taking their overweight, used up, beat-up, weak bodies and trying to run 26.2 miles in under 4 hours.Does that make any sense?
If you are overweight and running marathons, you are going to get injured. It's not a question of "if." It's a question of how soon and how badly.
The reason I'm so hard on running is because too many people do it who shouldn't do it.
What they should do instead is run less, do more resistance training, and decrease the carbohydrates in their diet.
If you are an overweight runner focused on a marathon, the most important thing you can do is lose body fat. Your diet is probably the main problem. So fix it. Running 6 miles per day while you're "training" is not a license to eat whatever you want.
Any general strength-training program will help you improve your body composition and strengthen your muscles so that you'll have a reduced risk of overuse injury (from long-duration running). All you need are two quick, total-body strength workouts per week, doing 1-2 sets of a couple of multi-muscle exercises. Just be careful not to do so much strength training that you get sore muscles.
I like to see runners do stability ball leg curls, 1-leg hip extensions, step-ups, and split squats. Those are the basics to start with. Pick two exercises per workout, and do 1-2 challenging sets.
Most aspiring marathon runners are smart enough not to buy a beat-up used car for $300 and try to drive it across America non-stop. But they have no problem taking their overweight, used up, beat-up, weak bodies and trying to run 26.2 miles in under 4 hours.Does that make any sense?
If you are overweight and running marathons, you are going to get injured. It's not a question of "if." It's a question of how soon and how badly.
The reason I'm so hard on running is because too many people do it who shouldn't do it.
What they should do instead is run less, do more resistance training, and decrease the carbohydrates in their diet.
If you are an overweight runner focused on a marathon, the most important thing you can do is lose body fat. Your diet is probably the main problem. So fix it. Running 6 miles per day while you're "training" is not a license to eat whatever you want.
Any general strength-training program will help you improve your body composition and strengthen your muscles so that you'll have a reduced risk of overuse injury (from long-duration running). All you need are two quick, total-body strength workouts per week, doing 1-2 sets of a couple of multi-muscle exercises. Just be careful not to do so much strength training that you get sore muscles.
I like to see runners do stability ball leg curls, 1-leg hip extensions, step-ups, and split squats. Those are the basics to start with. Pick two exercises per workout, and do 1-2 challenging sets.
This article appears courtesy of Early To Rise, a free newsletter dedicated to making money, improving health and secrets to success. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com.
Friday, August 29, 2008
Weekend
I'm heading back to my hometown in the morning so the kids can run in the local 5k & 1 mile fun run. I haven't run all week as my leg felt achy & weak after my short run last week. I'll give it another try next week I think.
I did find this article on RunTri.com about Sarah Palin who was chosen today by Repbulican Presidential nominee John McCain to join the ticket as Vice President. It describes how Palin ran the Humpy's marathon in Anchorage in 2005 in just under 4 hours!
I did find this article on RunTri.com about Sarah Palin who was chosen today by Repbulican Presidential nominee John McCain to join the ticket as Vice President. It describes how Palin ran the Humpy's marathon in Anchorage in 2005 in just under 4 hours!
Friday, February 8, 2008
2008 Goal
I've decided that my primary fitness goal for 2008 is to run a marathon in 3:15. This will be a fall marathon, probably Akron but that's not 100% decided yet.
I'm currently working on putting together a training plan, and also deciding whether or not to set any secondary goals such as mileage amounts or race times for any shorter distances.
I'm currently working on putting together a training plan, and also deciding whether or not to set any secondary goals such as mileage amounts or race times for any shorter distances.
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Marathon News, Thursday Circuits
I worked out today but before I write about that, I want to discuss several marathon races that happened recently.
First, congratulations to Ken, Randy, Keith, and Greg for their finishes in the Towpath Marathon and Half Marathon last weekend. Ken finished in the top 3 in his age group for the half-marathon. Randy, Keith, and Greg all finished in the top 10 in their respective age groups, Randy in the half and Keith and Greg in the full marathon. It was a wickedly hot day, congratulations on the effort even if the time wasn't what you were hoping for. The Towpath marathon had 380 finishers this year.
Meanwhile, about 350 miles to the west, similarly oppressive heat plagued one of the world's largest marathons, the Chicago Marathon. I expect most of you have heard about it already. The temperature there was in the high 80's. One runner died, several more were hospitalized, and the race was actually called off around 3 hours.
Any runners still on the course were advised to stop and walk. I don't know all the details about how they collected the runners, but this must have been a difficult decision for the race organizers. This story quotes several runners who claim that there wasn't enough water on the course. The heat, and how it affected the non-elite runners, is an even bigger story than the fact that the first 2 runners in the race finished just 0.05 seconds apart.
Finally, on a lighter note, this story I found on CNN describes how Roberto Madrazo, a Mexican politician, won his age group in the 2007 Berlin Marathon. Madrazo, age 55, crossed the line in an amazing time of 2:41. Race photographers also noticed that he was dressed differently than the other runners near him, wearing a jacket, hat, and long running pants.
Race organizers then reviewed his computer-chip times to see when he passed various checkpoints and discovered that he covered 9 miles in just 21 minutes. They promptly disqualified him for cheating!
Now for today's workout. I went to Circuits Class, led by Matt. Today was strange in that there were just 8 of us in the class, all men. It was a good class and I think now that it is fall, I will start going to Circuits on a more regular basis.
Weight = 187 lbs.
First, congratulations to Ken, Randy, Keith, and Greg for their finishes in the Towpath Marathon and Half Marathon last weekend. Ken finished in the top 3 in his age group for the half-marathon. Randy, Keith, and Greg all finished in the top 10 in their respective age groups, Randy in the half and Keith and Greg in the full marathon. It was a wickedly hot day, congratulations on the effort even if the time wasn't what you were hoping for. The Towpath marathon had 380 finishers this year.
Meanwhile, about 350 miles to the west, similarly oppressive heat plagued one of the world's largest marathons, the Chicago Marathon. I expect most of you have heard about it already. The temperature there was in the high 80's. One runner died, several more were hospitalized, and the race was actually called off around 3 hours.
Any runners still on the course were advised to stop and walk. I don't know all the details about how they collected the runners, but this must have been a difficult decision for the race organizers. This story quotes several runners who claim that there wasn't enough water on the course. The heat, and how it affected the non-elite runners, is an even bigger story than the fact that the first 2 runners in the race finished just 0.05 seconds apart.
Finally, on a lighter note, this story I found on CNN describes how Roberto Madrazo, a Mexican politician, won his age group in the 2007 Berlin Marathon. Madrazo, age 55, crossed the line in an amazing time of 2:41. Race photographers also noticed that he was dressed differently than the other runners near him, wearing a jacket, hat, and long running pants.
Race organizers then reviewed his computer-chip times to see when he passed various checkpoints and discovered that he covered 9 miles in just 21 minutes. They promptly disqualified him for cheating!
Now for today's workout. I went to Circuits Class, led by Matt. Today was strange in that there were just 8 of us in the class, all men. It was a good class and I think now that it is fall, I will start going to Circuits on a more regular basis.
Weight = 187 lbs.
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