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fiskful of dollars

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BTW, I just re-read my above post and it sounds kinda douchey with my PR talk but I've been on this thread for a long time and you are all a LOT faster than me so go fuck yourselves.
 

Marceline

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I don't think it sounded that way at all. Nice work on the PRs!

Syd - interesting hearing you talk about form because I suffer from some of the same issues with respect to the shuffling and not picking up my knees/legs enough. I've had a ton of people comment on this while I've been out running.
I've always just figured that's just how my legs work. In the past when I've tried to adjust and lift my legs more, it feels like I just become tired immediately from the extra exertion. I'm glad to hear you've been able to work at it and improve. Maybe I'll give it another go.
 

SydneySox

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You DO get tired because Hammies and Quads - potentially the most useful running muscles - are fucking lazy and don't want to do any work. That's why it's so hard! Like you, fiskful, I can get it done when I realise I need to do it but I'll be cruising and realise 'oh shit I've lost it and probably have been inefficient for the last km'. When I remember to do it, I'm all super-efficient, but then I'll realise three minutes later I've already lost it and don't remember when. It's fucking hard! I do things at work to engage/strengthen the hammies - standing up just whip the back leg up to your ass, then slowly let the leg fall, then repeat 50 times per leg. I can feel it working, my hammies feel better running, but I can't make it all gel properly.
 

SydneySox

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BTW, I just re-read my above post and it sounds kinda douchey with my PR talk but I've been on this thread for a long time and you are all a LOT faster than me so go fuck yourselves.
Yeah, nah, we all know how it works mate - the more work the better the results but it is hard work. Well done on that. I've had a good year too; legitimate solid 12 months of proper training and racing, not just hitting the trails a few times a week, legitimate spread of appropriately balanced distance, speed and hills. It's great. But it's hard. Have I mentioned that? ;)
 

Schnerres

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I´m into full winter mode already. 0km the last two weeks. It´s getting too cold and the days are getting shorter+we just set to wintertime, so it´s dark at 5pm.
I fantasize about re-starting my running in january, when the days start getting longer again and i have 2 weeks off, even if it will be freezing then (gotta start somewhere). If I really keep it going through the entire next year, I could plan some race in next years fall. And a longer one than this years 12km race. So it could be a half-marathon as a realistic goal.
 

sonofgodcf

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Jul 17, 2005
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The toilet.
Anyone running NYC on Sunday? It the last race on the calendar for me this year - hoping for the best but I feel like this week's conspired against me. Fighting through a bunch of minor irritants and don't feel 100%, but hopefully most are just pre-race jitters. Sunday can't get here soon enough.
 

TallerThanPedroia

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My last five marathons, and three of my four Bostons, have been in the 60s or 70s, so this was clickbait for me:

Your Race Against Time: How Climate Affects the Marathon

If you are among the more than 50,000 people who will run the New York City Marathon on Sunday, you know that training, eating right and getting a good night’s sleep are some of the keys to setting a personal best. But an analysis of more than 4.7 million finishing times from 20 years of data on almost 900 marathons — including those in New York, London, Chicago, Boston, Berlin and the Olympics — shows how much your time can be affected by another factor: temperature.

The fastest times are run on days when the average outdoor temperature is in the 40s. (Humidity data were unavailable.) Current weather forecasts suggest that the average temperature in New York on Sunday will be about 61 degrees Fahrenheit (around 16 degrees Celsius), which the data show will add about 12.5 minutes to the typical finisher’s time, relative to a day in the 40s.

In a sport in which competitors work tirelessly to improve their times by a few seconds, that is a big effect. What’s more, the relationship between temperature and finishing times is actually nonlinear — meaning that the effects of temperature strengthen as it gets warmer.

Temperatures in the 50s increase the typical finishing time by only about five minutes, relative to a day in the 40s. On the other hand, days in the 70s would cause finishing times to be slower by 19 minutes; in the 80s, times would be 33 minutes slower.
Good luck @sonofgodcf and anyone else running tomorrow!
 

SydneySox

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Anyone running NYC on Sunday? It the last race on the calendar for me this year - hoping for the best but I feel like this week's conspired against me. Fighting through a bunch of minor irritants and don't feel 100%, but hopefully most are just pre-race jitters. Sunday can't get here soon enough.
How'd you go??
 

sonofgodcf

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How'd you go??
Went about as well as I could reasonably have hoped for. Last race on the calendar so no reason to hold anything back. Weather cooperated (50's with a light mist for most of it), crowd was amazing and I even had my parents out to support - first time they've been in NYC in 30 years.

I decided to be aggressive and went out a little faster than goal pace, with the hope to bank as much time as possible and let the crowds help get me through the last few miles. For the most part it worked, I was tracking for a 2:55 finish through about 21 miles but that's when the wheels started to come off. By 23 I was feeling pretty rough and I needed to walk a couple of times at 24 (I gave myself 20 seconds to regroup - I've found brief moments of walking helps avoid having my pace gradually decline).

I was on fumes and had around 14 minutes to get through the last 2+ if I wanted to hit my goal - fortunately the last bit has a decent downhill. That, coupled with seeing my family and a few friends near the finish helped get me going. It was a scary finish - my watch doesn't show seconds once I've run more than an hour and on the last home stretch it read 2:59. I was max effort (or what I could achieve) for the last turn and finished at 2:59:41 - broke three hours with time to spare!

I'm really happy with the time and race. Maybe a different strategy has me finishing stronger, but the goal was to go sub 3 (five minute PR too!) and I did it. Now I'm looking forward to taking a few weeks off and then enjoying a winter running just for the sport.
 

TallerThanPedroia

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I was on fumes and had around 14 minutes to get through the last 2+ if I wanted to hit my goal - fortunately the last bit has a decent downhill. That, coupled with seeing my family and a few friends near the finish helped get me going. It was a scary finish - my watch doesn't show seconds once I've run more than an hour and on the last home stretch it read 2:59. I was max effort (or what I could achieve) for the last turn and finished at 2:59:41 - broke three hours with time to spare!

I'm really happy with the time and race. Maybe a different strategy has me finishing stronger, but the goal was to go sub 3 (five minute PR too!) and I did it. Now I'm looking forward to taking a few weeks off and then enjoying a winter running just for the sport.
Great job!!! Congrats on breaking three hours!
 

sonofgodcf

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Thanks all! Still feeling pretty good about myself a few days after... Just put in for the Berlin Marathon lottery (closes today for anyone interested), but it's nice to know I've got a BQ for '19 already in my pocket. I'm thinking about switching things up and doing more trail races and maybe some longer distances next year. North Face has a great endurance series that comes into NY/Bear Mountain, so I may challenge myself with the 50k.
 

SydneySox

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Marathon's harder, I think.

I've done two 50's now, with a 67 and a 50 in the next four months and the marathon I did last month was more difficult. Though it does depend on whether you're there to 'complete or compete' as people say all the time.
 

Preacher

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Thanks all! Still feeling pretty good about myself a few days after... Just put in for the Berlin Marathon lottery (closes today for anyone interested), but it's nice to know I've got a BQ for '19 already in my pocket. I'm thinking about switching things up and doing more trail races and maybe some longer distances next year. North Face has a great endurance series that comes into NY/Bear Mountain, so I may challenge myself with the 50k.
I put in for Berlin as well. Doing London in April. Trying to close out the marathon majors and those are my last two.
 

SydneySox

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Ran 62km at the Tarawera Ultramarathon yesterday outside, then into, stinky Rotorua in NZ.

It was sheeting rain all night and the whole day. I was aiming for around 8 hours. I did 10hours, 4 minutes. Everyone added 2 hours to their times because of the mud, especially in one 16.9km stretch between aid stations going up and over a range that had torrents and knee deep mud trail and made it impossible to actually run.

It was a great race. I would love to have tackled it in the dry, but there were many great sections apart from that one which were runnable.

Now to rest a bit, and train up for Ultra Trail Australia 50k in May, shorter but a lot harder.
 

GreenMountain

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Ran 62km at the Tarawera Ultramarathon yesterday outside, then into, stinky Rotorua in NZ.

It was sheeting rain all night and the whole day. I was aiming for around 8 hours. I did 10hours, 4 minutes. Everyone added 2 hours to their times because of the mud, especially in one 16.9km stretch between aid stations going up and over a range that had torrents and knee deep mud trail and made it impossible to actually run.

It was a great race. I would love to have tackled it in the dry, but there were many great sections apart from that one which were runnable.

Now to rest a bit, and train up for Ultra Trail Australia 50k in May, shorter but a lot harder.
You sir, are a fucking animal. Nice work.
 

SydneySox

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Thanks mate. I had k's in my legs still at the end - I had originally signed up to this to do the 100k before dropping it because of my lack of training. I wouldn't have wanted to do that here, hitting that awful stretch at 23km would have been so much harder at 55, but I think I have it in me, and it's the next goal. The attrition rate of the 100's runners was massive actually, at that spot. They lost 40% DNF.
 

Time to Mo Vaughn

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Recently got back into running mostly as an exercise in fitness and losing weight. Unlike many I actually love running on a treadmill as I can throw on Netflix and binge on some shows while getting my workout in. Now that the cardio has come back pretty strongly, I'm looking for some workouts to focus on speed. Anybody have anything they like to mix it up on the treadmill? I'm trying to shoot for about 3 runs in the 25-40 minute range per week (not including warm up and cool down) and then one 50-60 minute run. I'm a bit nervous that I'm going to do something stupid though and sign up for a half marathon or something.
 

fiskful of dollars

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There's a ton of TM workouts that are easily customizable depending on your fitness and goals.
A good TM speed workout that I like is a 2 minute ladder with increasing speeds/incline.
Warm-up 5 minutes at Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) of 50%
then 2 min at 60%, 2 min at 70%, 2 min at 80%, 2 min at 90%. The go back to 60% then up the ladder as many (or as few) times as you'd like. 5 minute cool down. You can adjust the incline per your training - I usually do the whole thing at 1-2% to mimic normal wind resistance.

Another one is to do a mile easy followed by 12 x 400M repeats at 5K race pace OR 6 x 800M repeats at 5-10K race pace followed by another mile cool down. You can add repeats as your fitness improves but I generally don't do more than 12 x 400s. If you're using a TM that uses US standard distances just do 0.25 miles v. 0.5 miles for your interval distance. No incline, unless your TM can do 1% any more than that s a huge njury risk in my opinion./

I also like 5-8 mile burners with the a mile warmup followed by 800M hard/400M easy reps until the last mile which is an easy cool down.

Good luck - keep us posted on how your training is coming! I have my first race this season in March: doing the Shamrock 1/2 marathon/8K double. Doing Ironman Arizona in Nov so I'm starting late this season.
 

fiskful of dollars

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DCnF: I forgot to mention - take it easy at first! Speed work is super important, the only way to run fast is to run fast but be honest re your abilities. Treadmill running is a bit different so concentrate on your form and don't overdo it out of the gate!
 

fiskful of dollars

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Did I kill this thread?

I've done it before.

Anyway,
Shamrock weekend in Va Beach. Surprisingly nice weather for a change. Did the 8K/Half combo. Not a racing effort (my IM is in Nov this year, so it's early for me to train hard) but 2 good tempo runs and some distance work too. Hope everyone's season is shaping up!
 

southshoresoxfan

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I’m a weightlifting meathead who’s looking to get outside my comfort zone. I am a terrible runner, but I want to increase my work capacity, lean out some, and just tackle a beast that’s never been a strong suit of mine.

I’m doing a very loose 10 week ish beginner program. Starts at 20min of running (5min walking warmup and cool down), taking breaks to walk as needed 3x a week, and ramps up to 4x per week and 45min by week 10, with the same parameters.

Is that fine for someone with no real interest in running races, but who just wants to shed some winter pounds and supplement his lifting?
 

southshoresoxfan

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Is this like being a beginner in lifting and that the gains come easy as hell? Second day of running felt remarkably better than the first one. I almost, dare I say, enjoyed it
 

SydneySox

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Never lifted, but you will see the work the more you do it. But like slammin says, it's long term and you have to stick to the plan. Be careful you don't go out too hard and get hurt. Most of us do at the start, I definitely did (though it made me see someone and that's changed everything so net gain).
 

southshoresoxfan

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Thanks gents. This program is pretty beginner and I’m not exactly sprinting. Lifting programs are always a 2 step forward 1 step back, steady, don’t go to failure type situation, so I’m comfortable settling in for the long haul mentally.
 

TallerThanPedroia

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I think you've got exactly the right attitude about it. I'm not exactly a lifter either (anything above my hips is cargo), but I think your experience will map nicely.
 

SydneySox

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Ultra-Trail 50km again in May, hoping to race this one and get a good time. Bunch of little races in between. Thinking about doing my first 100km later in September at the stunningly beautiful Surf Coast Century .

I wish I could get into Boston - you're too fast for me! One year, maybe, if I can keep running and my age group keeps raising my entry time.
 

Preacher

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Anyone got any big spring races? Anyone else running Boston?
Yeah, London! But I already told you that. It’s the Sunday after Boston. Cool thing is I haven’t really gotten into a normal training routine because I’ve been skiing every weekend this winter. I just keep telling myself that skiing is a good enough leg workout to make up for the lack of my normal weekend long runs. It doesn’t. So I’m sure I’ll spend an extra 45-60 mins on the course. I guess an extra hour shuffling around London is a fair trade off to the dozens of additional hours I should have spent getting in miles.
 

SydneySox

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Did a 22km trail run called the Jabulani Challenge on saturday as a trainer for the UTA50km next month. It's a brutal race with pretty intense elevation changes that is a great warmup for the UTA50 due to the steepness, ups and downs and broken running, as well as stairs. I did pretty well, finished 52 out of 490, without trying too hard, which is to say I didn't do any damage and felt great the next day. I think the growing popularity of trails is really being seen in the last few races I've done, with some amazing, super-fit road runners coming out and blitzing the flats but losing it on the stairs and hills. I'm not fast on the flat but there was a brutal uphill at th3 5km mark and I passed about 30 people just going up the stairs without running them. Had a good time and next official race is the 50 so I'm firmly in the home straight now.
 

Leather

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Jul 18, 2005
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Good job everyone.

I had a bad winter/spring. Trying to get into 10K shape again for a race in 2 weeks with an eye toward running the Twin Cities Marathon again this October. I was up to 10 mile shape in March but then had a melanoma on my leg, which required small surgery, which required stitches next to my knee. I asked the surgeon "So, I suppose the 10 mile race I have this weekend is out, huh?" and she said "Um...yes. And if you need a reminder, here's an ace bandage you need to wrap your leg in after changing your bandage for a week ."

Wear sunscreen!
 

TallerThanPedroia

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@GreenMountain and @TallerThanPedroia you know where to find me on Marathon Monday. Swing by and say hi and I'll keep you warm and dry for a little while before the race.
Always appreciated but sadly I will not be running this year. I just got home from eight days at MGH for what I'll call complications from pneumonia. I was already at goal pre-marathon weight (5'8" and around 134) and I lost at least seven pounds off that if not more. I've been doing nothing but eating since I got home and I can't crack 130. The half-mile walk to the grocery store is tiring, and when you add in the weather, I'll be watching on WBZ. The (current) streak dies at four.
 

Bunt4aTriple

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I took the winter off after achilles tendonitis put me in a walking boot. I was a B+ stretcher for the break, which is about 2 full letter grades better than I usually am, and have been running on the road 2-3 times a week since the end of February, but I'm itching for the hard pack ice to melt on the local trails, which are my preference.

I missed the Mt. Washington Road Race lottery again this year (I believe I'm 1 for 8), but this gem https://www.rockhopperraces.com/chocorua-mountain-race came on my radar, so I need to gear up for it. I'm a big dude (6'2'', 240 and not all of that is muscle), so the wear and tear of longer trail races is a bit much, but a 25k is near the higher end of my comfort level. Plus, it's on my favorite sub-4000 footer in New England, so I am very excited.
 

southshoresoxfan

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I took the winter off after achilles tendonitis put me in a walking boot. I was a B+ stretcher for the break, which is about 2 full letter grades better than I usually am, and have been running on the road 2-3 times a week since the end of February, but I'm itching for the hard pack ice to melt on the local trails, which are my preference.

I missed the Mt. Washington Road Race lottery again this year (I believe I'm 1 for 8), but this gem https://www.rockhopperraces.com/chocorua-mountain-race came on my radar, so I need to gear up for it. I'm a big dude (6'2'', 240 and not all of that is muscle), so the wear and tear of longer trail races is a bit much, but a 25k is near the higher end of my comfort level. Plus, it's on my favorite sub-4000 footer in New England, so I am very excited.
I’m about your size. Any tips for us heavyweights? (Least in the runners world)
 

Bunt4aTriple

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I’m about your size. Any tips for us heavyweights? (Least in the runners world)
Minimalist shoes are not for you! Get some padding in them shits!

Personally, I have found trails to be much more forgiving on joints. Not solely the softer terrain, but also more varied movement works different muscles and avoids over-repetition and increases agility.

Also, having to constantly be aware of your next step keeps your brain engaged and, MOST IMPORTANTLY, a trail race usually tops out at a couple hundred racers. I've never picked up a packet for a trail race the night before, or had to take a shuttle or get to a race 3 hours early. Once the snow is gone, I'm running on dirt until December.