100,000 miles for AT

[Mursilis]

+ 207 miles since Oct 1st.

100 mile ultra marathon coming up this weekend. Fingers crossed, this will be my second shot at 100 miles, first shot was unsuccessful. Cottonmouth 100 miler in Florida. It's actually 102.4 miles, but hell who's counting?! Wish me luck!

83,405

Good luck! Let us know how it goes!! I'm doing my first 50 miler next spring. Any tips/advice would be appreciated!!

 

[TraumaRN]

Good luck! Let us know how it goes!! I'm doing my first 50 miler next spring. Any tips/advice would be appreciated!!

Well had to DNF. I'm somewhere between disappointed and happy. Only 9 out of 36 actually finished. Really tough course that needed better marking. It was more technical than I expected, weather went from 72 at 4pm to 45 at 6pm so that was a hard adjustment for myself and many others. I made it to mile 61 before I had to drop. Got chafing on the boy bits and between the cheeks.

It sucked because I was literally on my way to about a 23 hour finish. I actually lowered my PR by 10 minutes for 50 miles(new PR 10 hour 46 minutes 13 seconds) and was having the best race of my life....then at the mile 51 aid station I noticed a bit of chafing, so I liberally applied vaseline and body glide but by the mile 55 aid station it wasn't getting better. By the time I rolled into the mile 61 aid station it was starting to bleed and was basically sand paper rubbing with every step. There was no way I was going on like that.

But on the flip side my training was SPOT on. I was ripping off 12 to 12:30 minutes miles between miles 37 and 51 without any problems and my pace only slowed because of the chafing. So with that in mind I'm already signed up for another 100 mile attempt on April 30th in Indiana. Also I'm crazy.

As far as tips Mursilis...just consistency in training, your long runs take on way more importance IMO than they do for marathon training. I can't handle super heavy mileage so biggest months are usually 170-180 miles and the bulk on those will be long runs. My weekly mileage would be something like this
Monday off
Tuesday 4-5 miles easy hill work on trail
Wednesday 6-8 miles road miles 80-85% effort
Thursday 4-5 miles easy flat trails
Friday off
Saturday Long run(anywhere from 18-30+ miles depending on the what week of training)
Sunday 5-10 miles on tired legs(though you can make it a second true long run if you want, but honestly not necessary for a 50 miler)

Make sure you train with the same gear, same gels/chews/food, same hydration you're going to run with on race day so you know what works for you. If you can train on similar terrain I'd highly suggest that as well. Also experiment with food you know will be at the aid stations towards the end of your long runs. I have a pretty solid stomach and can handle most foods, but you might be different. Better to figure that out in training.

I also did my longest long run(33 miles) 3 weeks out from race day, then cut that in half the week after(16 miles) then did 11 as my last long run 7 days out.

And I will say my personal opinion is you need to run at least 1 50K training run either self supported or as a race if you can find one that plugs into your training plan. DON'T run it fast, just focus on finishing the distance. It'll give you a great insight into how your mind and body will react on race day and the mental confidence to finish. After mile 30 IMO it's all a mental game anyways. Best of luck and feel free to ask any questions! I'd also suggest picking up the book Relentless Forward Progress, it has some great training plans and advice for first timers.

83,466

 

[ControlD]

28 miles over the past couple of weeks. Still trying to get my IT Band to behave so I have been pretty light on mileage.

Ran a Turkey Trot and managed a 21:53. I can still do short runs with no problems at least. Still missed first in my age group by more than three minutes(!).

83,494

 

[Mursilis]

28 miles over the past couple of weeks. Still trying to get my IT Band to behave so I have been pretty light on mileage.

Ran a Turkey Trot and managed a 21:53. I can still do short runs with no problems at least. Still missed first in my age group by more than three minutes(!).

83,494

Solid time for a 5K! And sorry to hear you had to DNF on the 100 miler, Trauma. Still, 61 miles is nothing to sneeze at!! :thumbsup: to you for even trying that. I'm confident you'll finish in the future.

As for me, 143 miles for November, which included two races with new PRs (marathon and 5K) and a whole bunch of recovery time. PRs make all the training worthwhile!

83,637

 

[ControlD]

As for me, 143 miles for November, which included two races with new PRs (marathon and 5K) and a whole bunch of recovery time. PRs make all the training worthwhile!

83,637

Awesome!

Hitting a PR in two completely different race types (in the same month too) is impressive.

 

[Mursilis]

Awesome!

Hitting a PR in two completely different race types (in the same month too) is impressive.

Thanks. With distance running, I've found that, at least for non-elites, serious training for any particular distance is going to carry over to all the other distances. I've run some of my fastest 5Ks during or shortly after marathon training. I'm hoping I can hold on to my marathon fitness for just a few weeks longer, when I run a local half marathon on a flat course. I'm really gunning for a PR on that one, which would be a nice way to close out the year!

 

[vi edit]

Awesome!

Hitting a PR in two completely different race types (in the same month too) is impressive.

No kidding! Great job man.

I'll start contributing to this thread

80 miles run in November including a 3rd place (age group) finish in a 3 mile race good for a 20:02 time. Start up a new 12 week cycle for a half marathon in March later this month.

83,717

 

[ControlD]

No kidding! Great job man.

I'll start contributing to this thread

80 miles run in November including a 3rd place (age group) finish in a 3 mile race good for a 20:02 time. Start up a new 12 week cycle for a half marathon in March later this month.

83,717

20 minutes for a three miler is pretty sweet.

I have been thinking about trying a Spring half next year as well (I normally do one in the fall) but trying to get long runs in during the winter months is tough.

I am sort of thinking about concentrating on my 5K for next year though. I would love to get around (or under) a 20 minute 5K before I get too old to try it. I can pretty much guarantee that my knee will be wrecked for a few weeks after a half so I'm not sure it's worth it anymore.

 

[vi edit]

I'm 10 years younger than you and I know my knees hated me for close to a week after my half. I had people asking if I was anxious to a do a full. Nope. Nope. NOPE. NOOOOOOPE. I just have no desire to do it and wreck my body over a one day race. Just isn't worth it to me.

My wife has her panties in a twist to do one at some point and she's just now to the point of starting to train almost 2 months after her half due to injuries. I think she's insane.

 

[Mursilis]

I'm wondering if you guys have something else going on re your knees. I'm 46, and have run 1500-2000 miles for the last 4 years, and my knees feel fine. Even during higher volume weeks or after a marathon, my knees rarely give me any sort of issues. Maybe I'm just lucky? I do know that I've lucked into pretty solid form, with a natural short stride and forefoot strike, so I'm sure that's helping.

 

[ControlD]

I'm wondering if you guys have something else going on re your knees. I'm 46, and have run 1500-2000 miles for the last 4 years, and my knees feel fine. Even during higher volume weeks or after a marathon, my knees rarely give me any sort of issues. Maybe I'm just lucky? I do know that I've lucked into pretty solid form, with a natural short stride and forefoot strike, so I'm sure that's helping.

Same age as me.

It is perhaps misleading for me to say I have knee problems, I actually have IT band issues so my knees themselves are fine. It just tends to manifest as a very sharp pain at the outside of the knee when it strikes.

I really need to see if I can find a running knowledgeable physical therapist and get a workup. In this area that is hard to find. I have a couple of things that could be working against me, the main suspect would be when I got hit by a car during my biking phase (which ironically I started to "save my knees").

In the end it probably boils down to laziness. I have changed over to a shorter mid foot stride, lower drop shoes, higher cadence, etc. but I know I need to do regular strength training focusing on the muscles surrounding the IT band. I tend to slack off of those exercises when I am feeling good and then I pay the price. Still, finding a root cause would be nice.

 

[pm]

After the San Francisco marathon, I took a break from running and went back to cycling but as the weather has turned colder, I started running again.

Ran the Napa Turkey Chase 10k last week. 49m48s, 11th in my division, 73rd overall. I am very pleased with this result. The fastest 5k or 10k that I've ever run. I feel like I'm running faster, easier lately.
http://imgur.com/MAHvjEZ (I'm Patrick Mahoney)

I'll sign up for the Colorado Marathon tonight.

Haven't been logging my miles as well lately but what I have in Strava and Runkeeper is 19.6 miles in Oct. and 28.2 miles in November.

I like reading the posts from you guys. You are all mostly out of my league, but still an inspiration to me.

One really weird thing that I found is that going from cycling a lot to running a lot was a difficult adjustment (super sore, super slow at the beginning of my running), but going from running back to cycling it was likely I barely left the cycling saddle even though it's been almost a year. My Strava times on the hill climbs were within 15% of my records... it was like I took a month off of cycling, not almost a year. I would have thought that it would be equally as hard to go back to cycling as it was to start running, but instead it was like I barely stopped.


83,766

 

[ControlD]

After the San Francisco marathon, I took a break from running and went back to cycling but as the weather has turned colder, I started running again.

Ran the Napa Turkey Chase 10k last week. 49m48s, 11th in my division, 73rd overall. I am very pleased with this result. The fastest 5k or 10k that I've ever run. I feel like I'm running faster, easier lately.
http://imgur.com/MAHvjEZ (I'm Patrick Mahoney)



83,766

Congrats! Sub 50 minute 10k is always nice!

 

[Mursilis]

After the San Francisco marathon, I took a break from running and went back to cycling but as the weather has turned colder, I started running again.

Ran the Napa Turkey Chase 10k last week. 49m48s, 11th in my division, 73rd overall. I am very pleased with this result. The fastest 5k or 10k that I've ever run. I feel like I'm running faster, easier lately.
http://imgur.com/MAHvjEZ (I'm Patrick Mahoney)

I'll sign up for the Colorado Marathon tonight.

Haven't been logging my miles as well lately but what I have in Strava and Runkeeper is 19.6 miles in Oct. and 28.2 miles in November.

I like reading the posts from you guys. You are all mostly out of my league, but still an inspiration to me.

That fast a time off that little mileage is actually rather impressive. I suspect that with more mileage, you'd see significantly faster times. If you're happy with where you're at, that's fine, but if you really want to drop those 5K and 10K times, more mileage (mostly easy) will likely result in some solid gains. You may be surprised at how fast you may be.

 

[pm]

That fast a time off that little mileage is actually rather impressive. I suspect that with more mileage, you'd see significantly faster times. If you're happy with where you're at, that's fine, but if you really want to drop those 5K and 10K times, more mileage (mostly easy) will likely result in some solid gains. You may be surprised at how fast you may be.

Thanks for the advice. I'll do that. Some of the problem is that I haven't been logging my runs as much into Strava or Runkeeper. I just put on the shoes and run. And then 4-6 weeks later I can't remember how many miles I ran.

 

[ControlD]

Thanks for the advice. I'll do that. Some of the problem is that I haven't been logging my runs as much into Strava or Runkeeper. I just put on the shoes and run. And then 4-6 weeks later I can't remember how many miles I ran.

I know how that goes! If I didn't have my Gamin watch I would never be able to log anything.

 

[ControlD]

As for me, 143 miles for November, which included two races with new PRs (marathon and 5K) and a whole bunch of recovery time. PRs make all the training worthwhile!

83,637

So .... Are you going to give us your times? My curiosity is killing me.

 

[vi edit]

Today marks day one of my 12 week training cycle for my next half marathon scheduled for March 12th. This time I'm actually trying to train for a half marathon instead of stumbling into it.

 

[ControlD]

Today marks day one of my 12 week training cycle for my next half marathon scheduled for March 12th. This time I'm actually trying to train for a half marathon instead of stumbling into it.

Sweet. Training for a half in the winter is a challenge unto itself, but maybe things your way aren't quite as bad for snow and ice. It's still hard with the short days.

This reminds me to update my mileage. Put in 63 miles over the past three weeks. Slowly building my mileage back up, but have to be careful with the knee which seems to be taking longer than normal to get back to normal.

83,829

 

[Mursilis]

So .... Are you going to give us your times? My curiosity is killing me.

Just saw this - must've missed it before.
Since you asked . . .

I did 3:17:48 for my full and 19:07 for my 5K. I probably could've done better in the full, but I made some poor tactical mistakes, sticking with the 3:15 pace group even though they started out at ~3:12 pace. In my head, I knew I was going too fast, but it was a great day, and I thought I might have that sort of speed in me. I did not, and the final 10K was basically a death march. 3:17 was still a PR and a Boston-qualifier, so I'm still happy with my performance overall, but it was also a painful lesson about the importance of pacing, especially as a runner does longer events. You just aren't going to recover in a full marathon if you overcook the first half.

 

[vi edit]

Pacing is always a struggle for me, but usually the opposite of most people. I tend to go out too conservative and have too much left at the end and probably leave some time on the road for that reason. I'm definitely a strong 2nd half runner and very adept to negative splits. But that balance of effort in the first half with energy for the 2nd is probably a bit lopsided to the 2nd half. I guess if you have to error one way or the other that's the way to go.

 

[ControlD]

Just saw this - must've missed it before.
Since you asked . . .

I did 3:17:48 for my full and 19:07 for my 5K.

Kick ass. Nice job!

 

[Mursilis]

Pacing is always a struggle for me, but usually the opposite of most people. I tend to go out too conservative and have too much left at the end and probably leave some time on the road for that reason. I'm definitely a strong 2nd half runner and very adept to negative splits. But that balance of effort in the first half with energy for the 2nd is probably a bit lopsided to the 2nd half. I guess if you have to error one way or the other that's the way to go.

Yeah, you'll no doubt get better at pacing as you get back into the racing groove. I think it almost requires a gambler's mentality; you've got to be willing to 'roll the dice' and risk the blow-up to truly get the most out of yourself on race day. For the vast majority of runners, the mind, not the body, is the part that 'breaks' first. That is, when we feel like we've reached the breaking point in our heads, we've still got a little more that our bodies can actually do. You'll see this sometimes in races when runners are able to dig a little deeper and produce a finishing kick. I think only elites really reach their physical breaking points.

Kick ass. Nice job!

Thanks!

 

[Capt Caveman]

Haven't posted in a long while, I'll just post races since last time:

Falmouth Road Race, 7 miles
BAA Half-Marathon
Marine Corps Marathon
Cambridge Winter Classic 5k

And kicked-off the new year with the Midnight Run(4 miles) in Central Park, NYC. Super fun race with fireworks to start and everyone wishing you Happy New Year and giving you high-fives as you run. Also, they give you an extra bib to write down your 2016 running resolution to pin to your back and I had lots of folks wishing me good luck in Boston.

83,882

Some pics from the Midnight Run:

 

[vi edit]

Happy New Years ATHAF'ers.

I'll add 80 miles from December to the list.

83,962

2 weeks into my 12 for next half marathon. I'm sore. And tired. Holidays, travel, time zone changes, waaay too much wine and bourbon many nights. I need to get back on the bandwagon.