Running • Page 59

The 3-hour barrier is incredible. That's a serious accomplishment. Hoping for my first sub-4 hour this week!

 

that's true, i assuming i'll want to shower after instead of just changing gear in a parking lot. at the very least i'll keep the hotel and shower and nap and then maybe head home. the marathon starts at 7 and will end around 11ish, but of course you have to be checked out of most hotels by 11 so i signed up for the extra night mostly for the stress relief of knowing i have a place to go back to, don't have to move my car or worry about parking (hotel is .5 from race start which is awesome).

i'm running the Madison Marathon on 11/10. 900ish feet of total elevation, which doesn't seem too bad until i realize most of my long runs only have around 300-350 feet so i have some work to do over the next few weeks.

best of luck at Brooklyn! not sure i could ever do a loop course. i feel like i would get bored with that after 2 laps (depending on how many times around you have to go)

 

Jesus...Imagine going 15 miles off course after running 110 miles into a 240 mile race. Then be forced to DNF at mile 200 because you get pulmonary edema and have to go to the hospital.

 

Goggins is an absolute madman. I don't doubt that the only DNF's he gets are due to mandatory hospitalization.

Ah yeah, forgot the 11am checkout -- possibly could do an late checkout. I've showered at a YMCA before in a pinch before hitting the road. Definitely is nice to just relax afterwards though, especially if its your first. Enjoy the beer!

I think you should be okay with the elevation. Others can chime in here, but I actually like a little elevation on longer runs as it works different muscle groups than the steady flat 26.2. 900 feet is a good amount for a little variety without being punitive.

 

hes back on the course trying to unofficially finish it.

 

Looking at ultras when I haven’t even run a marathon yet... am I an idiot?

 

Nah. My first official “marathon” was a 50 miler lol. Before that I ran marathon mileage for long runs. I never officially ran or paid to run a marathon. They’re a different ball game compared to road marathons when it comes to training.

 

I really like the idea of being out solo in the wilderness (or city / roads) for long periods of time. Looking at how many finishers some ultras have vs how many finishers a standard marathon has and I’m like, “yeah... ultras sound more fun and unique than being crammed together like cattle on a city road” lol. Granted, most marathons spread out and being solo after they start anyway, but like, knowing I’m starting a race with maybe 100 or less people really piques my curiosity and interest.

There’s a few ultras close by in summer 2020 that I’m eyeing. And I’m debating if I want to just shoot for the stars and do the 100 miler or do 50 first. I tend to like jumping in wayyyyy over my head and what better way than a 100 mile ultra lmao

 

@marsupial jones i was just having this conversation with a friend today about road and ultra training. In many ways it’s similar yet so different. In my last ultra I beat a 2:23 road marathoner by 2 hours. It was his first ultra and he didn’t really train for vertical gain. He had speed up the butt, but he said the trail and hill conditions got him big time. He also didn’t have a set nutrition plan and bonked pretty early on.

On the other hand, if you put me in a road marathon he’d probably beat me by an hour lol. I don’t really do speed training. Mainly just time on my feet, vertical gain, and volume.

 

I recommend a 50 first. lol. 100 milers are a different story. Plus I don’t know if you’d get in a 100 miler without completing a qualifying race. You’re talking about 24+ hours on the trails lol.

 

Yeah, I think I have to curb my enthusiasm for the 100 miler at this point lol. I think I’m going to stick to my tentative plan of:

• 2-3 official marathons in 2020
• an official 50-miler in late Q3 / early Q4 2020
• 1-2 official 50-milers in 2021
• maybe a 100-miler in 2022

 

thats looks good. I bet one you do a 50 miler you’ll look into some 50Ks to throw in there.

 

After putting in some 70 and 80 weeks preparing for my 100k I really want to get some speed under me. My next ultra isn’t until April so I found a marathon training plan to follow in order to maintain, but throwing in some faster road stuff. Only thing is...I feel like a bum bc the weekly mileage is so low. Oh I did start lifting twice a week again too.

Any other advice on getting faster?

 

Racing shorter distances 5K and 10K is probably the safest route other than training.

 

that sounds fun and it’s a good way to measure myself

 

speedwork and hills. honestly though 70-80 mile weeks plus lifting twice a week is no small task. i can't imagine. good work

 

Broke 4 hours at the Brooklyn Marathon this weekend and finished in 3:52 which comes out to 8:51/mile. Was cruising at sub 8:30 for the first 20 or so until I had some glute and IT band tightness that I eventually succumbed to and started walking around mile 24.

Probably wouldn't do this race again due to the course and the marathon/half-marathon disparity. The course was an out and back for the first 10 miles and then a 3.2 mile loop around Prospect Park repeated 5x. Looped courses require more mental strength for me as I don't enjoy the repetition. Great volunteer support though with fully stocked aid stations.

The athlete field was about 600 marathoners vs. 5,000 half-marathoners making the loop around the park cluttered between the later finishing halfers and the faster full participants on their 2nd, 3rd, and 4th laps.

Overall good experience, set a PR by about 45 minutes. Hip and knee pain yesterday which has largely subsided. Onto 2020!

 

Now that I'm over injury(knock on wood), I'm finding it harder to do my strength training. When I wasn't running and just rehabbing to get BACK to running I was doing it mostly regularly. Now not so much..... need to PRE-HAB.

I'm excited for my 50 miler in March but I want to be super cautious in my training/build up. When building up for my 50k that I did this past February, I think most of my training was too intense as well as not taking rest days as serious. NOT THIS TIME. I'm going into it under trained as far as what the typical recommended mileage is for a typical 50 miler plan, but I don't really care.

(I skipped from half marathon distance to 50k as my longest race. I will absolutely do a road marathon one day, but I don't have a desire to do one soon. ULTRA TRAIL is where my mind is at, and seeing if I can get some speed in the "shorter" trail distances.)

 

i hate strength training. when im healthy i do 0 strength training which is bad, i know.

has anyone watched the documentary The Game Changers? its about plant based athletes and features a little bit of scott jurek. i've been thinking alot about trying it lately but that doc might sway me into at least moving towards trying a vegetarian diet.

 

Haven't watched yet but plan on it over the next 2 days. Already being vegan it makes me excited that this is getting so much attention.

 

i've read recently that burpees are really good for runners to do as a cross-training thing so i've started trying to remember to do 25-50 of those each morning.

i'm terrible with strength training and cross training but try to do some mix of:

burpees
bicep curls / overhead lifts (just 15-20# each arm maybe 10x)
jumping rope
stationary bike 30 mins every other day or so
25 pushups
Russian Twists / core work

usually those things (minus the bike) take maybe 15-20 minutes to complete, but i just never remember them until i'm done with a run and then the last thing i want to do is this shit lol

 

I heard that about burpees too. I hate them lol.

I started weight training since im decreasing my mileage some. I’m trying to Lift twice a week starting out and It takes me maybe 25 minutes total. I use the stationary bike on my rest day too.

I do kind of a circuit workout though.

leg press machine 10x3
Chess press machine 10x3
Biceps/back machine 10x3
Leg lifts on a dip stand 10x3

I alternate machines each set to switch it up. I get a pretty good workout with it. I don’t lift super heavy either. Just enough to feel it and recover next day.

 

Once my marathon is done I plan on looking into new exercises more. But for now I don’t want to try anything new or too exotic and cause any issues being 18 days away from the race. I’m in that weird stage of “nothing new but try to taper!” Even though I’m sure doing a new leg exercise tomorrow morning wouldn’t kill me

 

I have to start doing single leg dips / squats. I read something a few days ago that talked about how running is a single leg exercise not both legs at once so you shouldn’t do exercise with both legs at once and that makes so much sense, so I definitely want to start that.

I just wish there was a simple way to know if I need more muscles in my glutes/hamstrings/core and / or some muscle sets are better than others right now so I can focus on other areas but I just assume all areas the same (and weak lol)

 

lunges and squats are great. Especially when training for ultras if you can’t find enough vertical gain/hills to train on. I have a nice 10 minute lunge/squat workout written down somewhere. I think I stole it from a Run Experience YouTube video lol.