A Must Read for any Running Dog that's thinking about 26.2:
http://theoatmeal.com/comics/marathon_do
http://theoatmeal.com/comics/marathon_do
TallManinOregon said:Half marathon yesterday... 2:05:44
New PR by 160 seconds... was just my second 13.1, so... it was a good day. Living in Track Town USA has benefits, but being a gigantic person (about/maybe a foot taller and a c-note heavier) compared to the elite waifs around here is not one of them. Struggling to pick a 26.2 to complete before August (my goal). Was supposed to run on May 31st but missed the registration limit by a handful of days (sold out 1,000 spots, won't be expanding their permit). Now I have reasons not to run basically every other option through the end of July. It's a terrible conundrum.
Was a 25 year smoker until 18 months ago. Just figured I would toss that in as an introduction.
sass a thon said:That's a great time, especially for your first 5K in 10 years. Congrats! If you didn't catch the running bug when you crossed that finish line, you never will.
TallerThanPedroia said:I've got similar goals. I started running last June while studying for the bar, mostly because I think I would have died if I kept eating poorly and never exercising. And I was always a swimmer/soccer kinda guy and always made fun of runners, so now I'm now duly humbled.
My plan is to qualify for Boston before I'm 30, which gives me until the 2010 marathon. I have to do it in 3:10. I ran the Run to Remember Half Marathon in May in 1:58, so I've got work to do, but I've given myself plenty of time. It's all about setting reasonable, obtainable goals. My goal for the Half was to finish under a 10 minute pace, and I finished at about 9.
I'm currently training for the Bay State Marathon using Hal Higdon's novice program. I also used that for the Half marathon, although only partially, since I've never been able to run several days in a row. But this week I finally did, running T-Th and Saturday, and now I'm off to the pool to swim a couple of miles.
See you in Minneapolis. Yeah, most of it is mental.drleather2001 said:I realize miles 18-26 might be a world of shit, but I think as long as I run slow from the get-go and drink the powerade at every stop, I can finish. I might be wrong, tho.
As long as you don't overrun, you can definitely finish.I just ran 15.
I think I can do it.
TallerThanPedroia said:And the cutoff for the 2015 Boston Marathon is BQ - 1:02. Which means I'm in!
CSteinhardt said:I've never run before, but play several sports seriously, including cricket, which does involve building up a fair amount of endurance as a batsman. So I'm in decent shape in general, but I don't normally run except for a warmup jog as part of stretching. I got shamed into signing up for a local 5k in two and a half weeks with a group of friends, several of whom at least used to run seriously, and I'd love to get some advice on how best not to embarrass myself. I should have no problem being able to run 5k, but I have absolutely no idea what a reasonable pace might be, or how different it is running that distance in a race as opposed to on a track.
I've tried running 5k twice in the last week on a track to get a sense of the distance and what I should be aiming for. The first time, I went out at a 9 min/mile pace to make sure I could go the distance, and found myself knocking a few seconds off each lap without really trying to, finishing in around 26 minutes. Yesterday, I decided to try pushing myself a bit at the start, quickly realized that was a bad idea, and ran around 7:15. I was cramping up a bit in my core (but not legs) - is this common? Does it mean I was using bad technique? Either way, it meant I ended up slowing down a bit, running 7:45 and 8:00 or so miles and finishing in 23:45. I guess I should be aiming for a constant pace, but I'm not really sure? I have no idea what I should be aiming for, or for that matter, what constitutes a "good" time. My goal is to beat the friends of mine who aren't active runners, and I assume I'll get smoked by the runners.
Anyway, I'd greatly appreciate any advice you guys have for me. I still have cricket matches the next couple of weekends, which means I can't really give my training over to running, but I could probably find a way to sneak in a couple of specific workouts if you've got something to recommend.