100,000 miles for AT

[Mursilis]

+149 for Dec. 2015

2015 was a PR for yearly mileage for me, but I'm hoping to run even more in 2016. With a half and a full coming up this weekend, that shouldn't be a problem, as long as I can remain injury-free.

84,111

 

[vi edit]

+149 for Dec. 2015

2015 was a PR for yearly mileage for me, but I'm hoping to run even more in 2016. With a half and a full coming up this weekend, that shouldn't be a problem, as long as I can remain injury-free.

84,111

If your screen name is pronounced Mercy-less. Then it's appropriate. A half a full in the same weekend? Good speed to you sir!

 

[Mursilis]

If your screen name is pronounced Mercy-less. Then it's appropriate. A half a full in the same weekend? Good speed to you sir!

Actually, it's not that bad, since I'm doing both races at easy pace. I did the same combo a few years back, and at the time it was only my second full marathon. To date, it's still my slowest, but also my easiest. I felt great afterward. It's still only 39.3 miles total over the weekend, and I hope to run 50 miles in a single day in April, so this shouldn't be that big a deal at all.

 

[Capt Caveman]

Actually, it's not that bad, since I'm doing both races at easy pace. I did the same combo a few years back, and at the time it was only my second full marathon. To date, it's still my slowest, but also my easiest. I felt great afterward. It's still only 39.3 miles total over the weekend, and I hope to run 50 miles in a single day in April, so this shouldn't be that big a deal at all.

Is this the Disney World races? I know they have a whole week of 5k, 10k, half and full marathon. I think they're called different things if you run a combo of the races. Like Dopey for running all four in four days.

 

[Mursilis]

Is this the Disney World races? I know they have a whole week of 5k, 10k, half and full marathon. I think they're called different things if you run a combo of the races. Like Dopey for running all four in four days.

Yes it is. I'm doing the "Goofy Challenge" (half/full) for the second time. I'll be running the half with some family members, and may be approaching 3 hours to finish. Definitely not race pace!

 

[ControlD]

Yes it is. I'm doing the "Goofy Challenge" (half/full) for the second time. I'll be running the half with some family members, and may be approaching 3 hours to finish. Definitely not race pace!

Sounds like fun!

Sometimes it is nice to just run a race for the fun of it without worrying about hitting a new PR, etc. Some of my most enjoyable runs have been with my wife who runs at a much slower pace than me. I can usually get her to a good time and I get to enjoy the time out on the course.

 

[ControlD]

If your screen name is pronounced Mercy-less. Then it's appropriate. A half a full in the same weekend? Good speed to you sir!

Huh. I always pronounced it mur-Sill-is. Never made that connection somehow.

Seems like too nice of a guy to be mercyless.

 

[Mursilis]

Sounds like fun!

Sometimes it is nice to just run a race for the fun of it without worrying about hitting a new PR, etc.

Exactly right. I'm going to enjoy just spending time with family and other runners without worrying about time, pacing, warm-up, etc. It'll be a huge contrast to how wound-up I usually get before a race when I care about time! Plus, at least two (would've been three, but my sister-in-law has an injured foot and may not start) of my family will be finishing their first half marathons, and I'll enjoy being there for that moment when we all cross the line together.

Huh. I always pronounced it mur-Sill-is. Never made that connection somehow.

Seems like too nice of a guy to be mercyless.

Thanks! I hope I DO seem like a pretty decent guy! ()

 

[pm]

+49 in December
+18 so far in Jan. (below freezing, ice everywhere... and I can't seem to do more than 5 miles on a treadmill before I start looking endlessly at the clock and the mileage chart so that I can quit. I love running... but not indoors on a treadmill)

84,178

I signed up for the Colorado Marathon in May. So I'll do my second marathon on May 1st if I can avoid injuries. I'm running at a decent pace lately... for me anyway, so my goal is sub-4 hours... we will see. One really nice thing about having done one marathon is that doing another doesn't really intimidate me... There's some psychological pressure relief that I feel. But we'll see if this "sure, I can do another, no problem" holds up as I get closer to the date.

 

[vi edit]

I had 85 miles in January. Not as many I would have hoped, but 10" of snow, and a bad respiratory virus knocked me out for a good 7 days worth of running. I feel like I'm behind schedule for my half marathon coming up in March. Haven't had as many long runs as I would hoped and just feel sort of..bleh. Been a rough stretch at work and my kids have been bearcats the last several weeks.

84,263

 

[Mursilis]

An even 200 miles for January.

84,463

I had 85 miles in January. Not as many I would have hoped, but 10" of snow, and a bad respiratory virus knocked me out for a good 7 days worth of running. I feel like I'm behind schedule for my half marathon coming up in March. Haven't had as many long runs as I would hoped and just feel sort of..bleh. Been a rough stretch at work and my kids have been bearcats the last several weeks.

You've still got time. Just don't try to rush back too fast. Just add more easy pace miles, and you should be OK. Good luck!

 

[vi edit]

How's February been treating ATHAF runners? It's been coooooold out. Last Thursday I managed to put down a 38 minute 5 mile tempo run when it was 24 degrees out.

Yesterday I did 10 miles and it was 14 degrees. Even with a thermal shirt, and a 2nd layer my stomach and non-vascular parts of my back were tingling and stinging at the 7 mile mark.

I'm at 53 miles for the first half of February. Not too bad. I'm feeling a bit better about my conditioning for my half that is less than a month away. Plan to get in 11 miles for my long run this week, that again next week, and then a 12 miler heading into my taper week.

84,516

 

[Mursilis]

Been doing OK. With the snow that's slammed the East Coast this year, most of February has been on the dreadmill (treadmill), but I've survived. I ran my second ultra the first weekend of the month, and hit a new single-day distance PR of 36.7 miles. It was an 8-hour race and I was aiming for 40 miles, but started out a bit too fast and had to settle for 36.7. I probably could've done 40, but any loop not completed by the time limit would not have counted, so I finished up on the short loop instead of the long loop for the last lap of the course. Still, it was a fun experience. I'm at 100 miles for the month as of last night, but I'll update the count at the end of the month.

 

[ControlD]

It has been cold here as well but not that much snow. I have still been doing the majority of my runs outside, but I also do a fair amount of running on the indoor track at the local YMCA when my daughter has swim team practice. I am still battling some IT band issues that recurred back in November during my last half.

I need to go tabulate all of my mileage since I last posted. It has been awhile.

------

92 miles in January for me.

84,608

 

[ControlD]

88 miles over the past four weeks.

I had the flu this week and was in Germany earlier this month so I was a bit light on mileage. I did manage to run a 23:01 5K this morning despite still not feeling 100%. It felt good to be back out racing again, and I love doing 5K runs more than any other distance so it was fun.

84,696

 

[vi edit]

Adding another 61 miles for February. That put me at 114 for the month, a mileage record for me (at least since starting back up in the last year).

I did a 12 mile run over the weekend at @ 8:49 pace. It felt pretty good. Earlier in the week I did at a 5 mile tempo run right at 37 minutes flat.

I'm feeling ok heading into my half in two weeks. I'm going to start my taper and stick to a couple race speed runs, casual volume runs and an easy longer run of only 8 miles or so this weekend.

Keep my legs fresh, but still crisp. No clue what to expect from this half marathon. I'm going in with twice the running base I did for my first one. My plan is just to line up in the 1:45 pacers and see how I feel. If I'm still feeling fresh at that the halfway point it's time to start hammering it home.

84,757

 

[Mursilis]

No clue what to expect from this half marathon. I'm going in with twice the running base I did for my first one. My plan is just to line up in the 1:45 pacers and see how I feel. If I'm still feeling fresh at that the halfway point it's time to start hammering it home.

84,757

Good luck on your half! Barring some unfortunate injury or other issue, I'd expect you'll beat 1:45 easily. You've obviously got some speed. Just avoid the trap of starting too fast, and you should be able to finish strong and fast.

+213 for February, including my second ultra (36 miles)!

84,970

 

[vi edit]

That's some serious miles man. Damn. Not only is that a major physical and emotional commitment...that's a ton of time. It's tough with two young kids and my wife and I have full time jobs. Have to get up at 4:15AM to get my miles in before work. That means long runs also have to happen that time on weekends. In another couple years when my kids are older and they can be alone it will be easier. But right now...uhg. It's tough.

As for my half, the one x-factor that is hard to account for is elevation. Where I live is 1000 ft above sea level. At my half I'll be starting at 4500ft and ending at 5000ft. That may play some role in speed.

 

[Mursilis]

That's some serious miles man. Damn. Not only is that a major physical and emotional commitment...that's a ton of time. It's tough with two young kids and my wife and I have full time jobs. Have to get up at 4:15AM to get my miles in before work. That means long runs also have to happen that time on weekends. In another couple years when my kids are older and they can be alone it will be easier. But right now...uhg. It's tough.

I'm impressed you can get up and run at that hour. I'm mostly an evening runner - can't seem to get going most mornings. As for the time issue, we have four kids but my kids are older, so they can be left alone these days, which is nice. Also, I've been able to run while still being on parent duty sometimes. For example, my daughters used to practice for soccer at a field with a track, so I'd just run laps while they'd practice with their team. Two of my kids run track/cross country, so we sometimes do that together, although my son's tempo and speed paces crush me! What I've really dropped to make room for running is TV time - I hardly watch much of anything these days, except for occasional sports. I don't miss it much, and certainly not compared to being thinner, healthier, and much faster than I'd ever thought I'd be. That last part still surprises me.

 

[vi edit]

Well, I finished my 2nd ever half marathon. Went down and did a race that finished at the gates to Mt. Zion National Park.

It started at 3500 feet of altitude and finished at around 4000ft. With almost 1200 feet worth of climb in there. We weren't prepared for that altitude change. I started out too fast with the 1:40 pacers and couldn't maintain. I hit that major climb at the 6 mile mark and just gassed myself. My legs felt like lead weights. Breathing wasn't doing much and I was just done. At the 12 mile mark I had to stop at the water station and just recover for a bit and drink some water which earned me a 9:20 split for that mile

We had to stand around the starting line for close to 30 minutes (15 before normal race start and then a 15 minute delay) in raining, 38 degree temps. My feet were soaked before starting and I was. It cleared up for most of the race but it was still chilly.

My wife fared worse than me. She was running so hard that she started desaturating the last couple miles and literally cannot remember the last 10 minutes of the race or me and a volunteer carrying her to the aid station and getting her seated and recovered. She also is going to lose some toenails from it.

This race took it's toll on us. All that being said...I somehow squeeked into 5th place (which earned a metal) in my age group and she took 3rd in hers. She didn't beat her time from our half in October, but I took almost 3:30 off of my previous one even given the challenge of the course.

We were both under 1:44 which aint' bad. And it had one of the prettiest finishes you'll see : https://onedrive.live.com/?cid=E46B...4A82A!7299&parId=E46BB480E134A82A!128&o=OneUp

Here's the race data:
Overall info...

https://onedrive.live.com/?cid=E46B...4A82A!7298&parId=E46BB480E134A82A!128&o=OneUp

Elevation info:
https://onedrive.live.com/?cid=E46B...4A82A!7296&parId=E46BB480E134A82A!128&o=OneUp

We got up at 4:30AM Mountain Time for the race. Started that a little before 7:00AM. Ran, got our awards. Cleaned up. Then made the 2.5 hour drive down to Vegas. And then spent the night out in Vegas (which is on Pacific time) until almost 2:00AM that time. And that's after coming in from Eastern Time which is three hours ahead of Vegas. the day Before.

We're tired. We're sore. We're already looking for our next race. That 1:40 mark will be broke!

 

[ControlD]

Nice job vi (and your wife as well)!

 

[Mursilis]

We're tired. We're sore. We're already looking for our next race. That 1:40 mark will be broke!

That's the spirit! And good job on a tough course! I have no doubt 1:40 is going down!

 

[vi edit]

Thanks guys. It was quite a trip and a learning experience. We also got coupons for other races in the National Parks series to use. So I think our next race will be down near Knoxville TN at the Smoky Mountain Half Marathon in September. It's a 2.5 hour drive from where we live. Elevation is similar to what we run at and it will be a lot warmer.

My goal before that is to knock on the door of sub 20:00 5k's this summer.

 

[Mursilis]

Thanks guys. It was quite a trip and a learning experience. We also got coupons for other races in the National Parks series to use. So I think our next race will be down near Knoxville TN at the Smoky Mountain Half Marathon in September. It's a 2.5 hour drive from where we live. Elevation is similar to what we run at and it will be a lot warmer.

My goal before that is to knock on the door of sub 20:00 5k's this summer.

As much as I don't like the cold, I run my best times right around 40 degrees. Anything warmer than that, unless it's short, isn't going to be a great race for me.

How close are you to a sub-20 5K?

 

[vi edit]

Ran a 20 flat turkey trot last November that was about .05 short of 3 miles. So I'm close. But have work to do.