PH go for the full. It is something you will never regret doing. One of the reasons I signed up for a full after doing my first half was that I figured "if I'm ever going to run a marathon the time to do it is now before I find myself back on the couch". Even if you can't get into NYC, there are so many great marathons that if you do any sort of research you'll have a lot of fun completing.
SOSH Running Dogs
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That would be sick. I am giving this serious consideration. Find out what we have to do.
FYI my brother-in-law (who has run 45 marathons) has done this and says it is a fabulous race, one of his favorites. Organization is a bit chaotic, but a wonderful experience.
If I don't get picked up for DF Boston, I might seriously consider this if you both do it.
Will there be ouzo at the finish line because Kate needs her post-race refreshments... BTW, I saw that Marathon Travel in Boston does a ton of package trips to various races around the world that look pretty fucking cool, including Athens. They get you a bib, too.
Maybe it's the nerd in me but I think this marathon on a Civil War battlefield in Georgia sounds like it would be really fun.
Here's a nerd one for you. Gettysburg You run the direction based on what state you're registered from.
Wow. I've actually always wanted to visit Gettysburg too. And I'll go out on a limb and guess that Mrs Jerry will pass on this one.
Hey, BSS we did some of our training runs on the Airline Trail. What a great time you posted. That was some incline heading into Colchester. Also, the gravel adds a few seconds over pavement.
My bib number is 1067. You should be able to follow me on Twitter @ryanmckeen . It should tweet my splits at: 13.1 mile, 17 mile, 20 mile, & Finish. I hope to be halfway through in about 2:11. If I've done that, I'm pacing myself properly. Oh and right now, I'm eating raisins and drinking water - hopefully I don't crash.
[quote name='Trautwein's Degree' timestamp='1318621816' post='3807155']
Hey, BSS we did some of our training runs on the Airline Trail. What a great time you posted. That was some incline heading into Colchester. Also, the gravel adds a few seconds over pavement.
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Thanks! I didn't know that about the gravel slowing down the pace a bit. I love that trail and would like to do the race again this year, but there are some logistics re. a soccer tournament conflict. Oh, and I haven't trained a bit other than doing my usual runs. I'll be looking for you on Twitter tomorrow.
Hey, BSS we did some of our training runs on the Airline Trail. What a great time you posted. That was some incline heading into Colchester. Also, the gravel adds a few seconds over pavement.
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Thanks! I didn't know that about the gravel slowing down the pace a bit. I love that trail and would like to do the race again this year, but there are some logistics re. a soccer tournament conflict. Oh, and I haven't trained a bit other than doing my usual runs. I'll be looking for you on Twitter tomorrow.
A PR by 13 minutes!!!! First, I can't speak highly enough about this race. The course is beautiful. The Hartford Marathon foundation is highly organized and puts on a first rate race in all respects. If you are looking to do a fall marathon, I recommend Hartford without hesitation.
I felt great throughout this race. My legs and CV were in great shape. At mile 17, my small right toe started to blister. This slowed me and was painful. I was running a 10:10 pace through mile 20. Without the blister I know I could have finished holding that pace. At one point, I considered taking off my shoes and running barefoot. This was about mile 22. I started this run with Yvette D. who went on to destroy her first marathon. I ran with people from my group through mile 18 when I slowed. Without the blister, I would have bested 4:30 but that's why the marathon is such a challenge - there are so many opportunities for something to go wrong.
I fueled right on Paleo. I really felt great at the end and more than anything I'm happy about that. After Vermont last year, I felt like death. The blister will keep me coming back. I want a 4:20 finish next year!
Many congratulations to DD 18 on completing her first marathon today. This may have been the first time two SoSHers have ever toed the line of a marathon together!
I felt great throughout this race. My legs and CV were in great shape. At mile 17, my small right toe started to blister. This slowed me and was painful. I was running a 10:10 pace through mile 20. Without the blister I know I could have finished holding that pace. At one point, I considered taking off my shoes and running barefoot. This was about mile 22. I started this run with Yvette D. who went on to destroy her first marathon. I ran with people from my group through mile 18 when I slowed. Without the blister, I would have bested 4:30 but that's why the marathon is such a challenge - there are so many opportunities for something to go wrong.
I fueled right on Paleo. I really felt great at the end and more than anything I'm happy about that. After Vermont last year, I felt like death. The blister will keep me coming back. I want a 4:20 finish next year!
Many congratulations to DD 18 on completing her first marathon today. This may have been the first time two SoSHers have ever toed the line of a marathon together!
Next year, I'll have the benefits of 13 months of paleo when I hit the starting line. I fueled well for this race. I've never felt better.
I'd hoped two weeks off would be enough time to heal those IT bands, but they are still pretty painful.
One of my biggest concerns going into this race was fueling it properly. Many thanks to Kremlin for the advice, support, and example in encouraging to make the leap to Paleo for athletes. I haven't eaten processed foods or grains in a month. I didn't think it was possible to adequately fuel for a marathon without things like breads or pastas. It turns out that pounding raisins, dried pineapple, and sweet potatoes worked well for me. I kept waiting to hit "the wall" but it never came. Energy was not my problem.
Also, eating specific foods at specific times helped with recovery. My legs feel great. I haven't touched any sort of aspirin. Getting some quick sugars into my body (chocolate milk and raisins) immediately after the run, followed by lots of protein really helped.
I'm not saying it's for everyone but if you suspect diet might be hampering your performance (mine was) check out Paleo for Athletes.
Also, supplementing with fish oil capsules made a difference for me. It really cut down inflammation and improved recovery.
Also, eating specific foods at specific times helped with recovery. My legs feel great. I haven't touched any sort of aspirin. Getting some quick sugars into my body (chocolate milk and raisins) immediately after the run, followed by lots of protein really helped.
I'm not saying it's for everyone but if you suspect diet might be hampering your performance (mine was) check out Paleo for Athletes.
Also, supplementing with fish oil capsules made a difference for me. It really cut down inflammation and improved recovery.
Congratulations again, Traut. Keeps getting better, eh?
You had tons of energy because the diet is making you metabolically efficient. By balancing your diet with all that good stuff, your energy pathways are becoming more and more efficient as you force them to rely on your internal energy stores rather than processed crap (I'm looking at you, Gatorade). Carbo loading is a myth in any case. Your body can only store so many calories as carbs, and if you eat well, as you do, you're pretty much fully loaded every morning when you wake up. Stuffing your face right before a race is counterproductive. It is vastly more important to eat well after, as you pointed out. Makes a lot of difference in the quality of your recovery.
My latest thing is to shun all sports supplements except for the absolute longest days (anything over 2-3 hours), and even then keep it to a minimum. My goal is to be able to do ultra-distance racing while taking in fewer than 100 calories an hour. The diet helps develop the metabolic efficiency I'll need to get there.
You had tons of energy because the diet is making you metabolically efficient. By balancing your diet with all that good stuff, your energy pathways are becoming more and more efficient as you force them to rely on your internal energy stores rather than processed crap (I'm looking at you, Gatorade). Carbo loading is a myth in any case. Your body can only store so many calories as carbs, and if you eat well, as you do, you're pretty much fully loaded every morning when you wake up. Stuffing your face right before a race is counterproductive. It is vastly more important to eat well after, as you pointed out. Makes a lot of difference in the quality of your recovery.
My latest thing is to shun all sports supplements except for the absolute longest days (anything over 2-3 hours), and even then keep it to a minimum. My goal is to be able to do ultra-distance racing while taking in fewer than 100 calories an hour. The diet helps develop the metabolic efficiency I'll need to get there.
I got selected for Dana Farber's team for the 2012 Boston Marathon. I'm so excited. Now I need to figure out who's plan I'm using this time and when I'm going to fit in some rest before training begins. I was thrilled to tell my Dad yesterday, he's at the tail end of his losing battle with melanoma, DF was the perfect fit for this endeavor.
That is awesome, congratulations!
I have my first 10K this weekend, at the Hoover Dam. I am running it for DF, and if anyone wants to donate my page is here, if anyone wants to donate (though I know there has been a lot of that going around lately).
Good luck with your training for the Boston, my 2012 goal is the Air Force marathon in Dayton, and I will go from there.
Finished my first 10K today. 54 minutes flat. It wasn't quite the time I wanted, but I started with an upset stomach, and the course was a bit tougher than I expected. The fact that I haven't been able to train on hills at all really hurt me, but I probably held back a little bit more than I needed to, since I certainly still had something in the tank at the end. It was a smallish race, and I finished 6th out of 17 in my age group and 16th out of 53 overall, but I am still pretty happy with the results.
Thanks guys. I also have to say that if you ever happen to be in or near Las Vegas this time of year, you should look this race up. The course was beautiful, with Lake Mead and the Hoover Dam as the back drop, we went through some magnificent terrain, saw some bighorn sheep, and it was run really well.
I am mildly surprised how few people pay attention to improving their running technique. Makes an extraordinary difference and it is not hard at all to learn. I save a lot of money on shoes, too.
How far are you going these days in the VFFs?
I hit 16 miles (part of a 29-mile week) over the summer before tapering for the BAA Half. And I've got over 700 miles on my Bikilas and all they've lost is a bit of reflective strip B)
Nice. I use the Sprints. Bikilas are a pain to put on and the sole is too thick for me - I like feeling the road with my feet. My last pair made it almost a full year before I wore through the tread.
This is awesome. Say I wanted to transition to barefoot and be ready for a marathon next fall, how would I do this?
Very very very carefully. I can only share from my own experience. I'd work on forefoot striking first in a pair of neutral shoes, or something like Nike Frees, and then think about reducing your padding down to VFF-level. Even when I started wearing VFFs it was like five months before I realized that I was still heel striking. It will feel odd when you do it correctly (and kill your calves at first). It's sort of like the sensation of using one of those elliptical machines that goes forwards and backwards, if you sudden switch in the middle of a fast workout. It was like a switch flipping in my brain.
I started from scratch, like half mile runs, and was very careful but then I got cocky and gave myself a stress fracture. I'm convinced that human feet evolved to run barefoot with a forefoot strike but a lifetime of wearing shoes changes your feet. My feet look and act very differently than they did two years ago.
If you're going to run barefoot barefoot then run on asphalt. It'll hurt, which is good because then you can't overdo it on distance. Do like .25 miles, then .5, etc. Your feet will get stronger as your skin toughens.
edit:
A good lawyer can never have too many caveats: I'm really not evangelical about this stuff. Everyone should do what works for them. Running in thick wedged shoes with a heavy heel strike was aggressively not working for me. But some people chug along that way with no problem.
I started from scratch, like half mile runs, and was very careful but then I got cocky and gave myself a stress fracture. I'm convinced that human feet evolved to run barefoot with a forefoot strike but a lifetime of wearing shoes changes your feet. My feet look and act very differently than they did two years ago.
If you're going to run barefoot barefoot then run on asphalt. It'll hurt, which is good because then you can't overdo it on distance. Do like .25 miles, then .5, etc. Your feet will get stronger as your skin toughens.
edit:
A good lawyer can never have too many caveats: I'm really not evangelical about this stuff. Everyone should do what works for them. Running in thick wedged shoes with a heavy heel strike was aggressively not working for me. But some people chug along that way with no problem.
So I am intrigued about the barefoot/minimalist stuff but have a couple of first-pass concerns. For those who are into that, are you all local to New England? If yes, when do you run?
I run between 5 and 630 AM, so what worries me:
- Not seeing hazards: it is dark (duh) and I step on a lot of branches, edge of potholes, etc. A headlamp does not strike me as a good solution since looking down that much would likely lead to bad posture. So worry about injuring my feet.
- Cold: I have Raynaud's (the thing where your fingers get white and numb), feet are usually OK in socks and running shoes, but by this time of year I am using 2 layers of gloves and in midwinter will add mittens to avoid bad pain. So worry about how my toes would take it.
Would be interested in reactions/thoughts/suggestions from the barefoot enthusiasts.
I run between 5 and 630 AM, so what worries me:
- Not seeing hazards: it is dark (duh) and I step on a lot of branches, edge of potholes, etc. A headlamp does not strike me as a good solution since looking down that much would likely lead to bad posture. So worry about injuring my feet.
- Cold: I have Raynaud's (the thing where your fingers get white and numb), feet are usually OK in socks and running shoes, but by this time of year I am using 2 layers of gloves and in midwinter will add mittens to avoid bad pain. So worry about how my toes would take it.
Would be interested in reactions/thoughts/suggestions from the barefoot enthusiasts.
I ran my second half marathon today, a race called the Ghost Run on one of those rails-to-trails courses (a few miles on asphalt, too). I finished in 2:10, sort of disappointing because I hoped for an even 2. Realistically, however, my insane schedule kept my longest training long run to 7.5 miles (I try to get in six days of five milers). I had to keep telling myself to trust my fitness for the last five miles of this race. It is the first time after any race that I got sick (thankfully when I got home), but that's what I get for having the chili afterward.
Due to last week's epic storm, it was muddy in parts and there were some large branches to avoid, but our town crews should be proud of the work they did to clear the course. CL&P could take some lessons.
Oh, and I have Raynaud's, too, so I layered knit gloves under some Under Armour gloves courtesy of a football coach who is a friend. I did not see any barefoot runners. One woman told me she was wearing her "minimalist" Brooks.
Due to last week's epic storm, it was muddy in parts and there were some large branches to avoid, but our town crews should be proud of the work they did to clear the course. CL&P could take some lessons.
Oh, and I have Raynaud's, too, so I layered knit gloves under some Under Armour gloves courtesy of a football coach who is a friend. I did not see any barefoot runners. One woman told me she was wearing her "minimalist" Brooks.
I killled it at the Savannah Marathon yesterday. 3:26:42. Went out way too fast and held on at the end for dear life but It was incredibly satisfying to break the 3 and a half hour mark. Around mile 22, we went through a switchback section that put us in the teeth of a 20 mph headwind on a steady incline for nearly 2 miles on the highway. Not fun. If not for that one section, where my pace slowed to a crawl, I would have broken 3:25 with ease. All in all, very satisfied with my race.
Here's my question about the whole barefoot thing. Wasn't the whole concept based on ancient people running on dirt/grass/sad and not asphalt? I don't get how/why it would make sense to try and move it to a man-made medium that has zero shock absorbing properties.
Not entirely. Yes, ancient humans did not have to run on asphalt. But the fact is that most surfaces on which you would ever run, be it a road, a trail, a grass field, are pretty hard. While there is some difference in impact in, say, trail running and road running, it's not as big as you may think. Packed dirt can be remarkably hard.
But in any case, the operative idea is that, irrespective of the surface on which you are running, your legs have shock absorptive qualities, but only if you run with a certain gait. Whether or not you are barefoot is not important to this gait or the shock absorptive qualities of the leg. If you run with a mid- to forefoot landing, with the knees ahead of the ankles and under the body, you emphasize the legs' ability to absorb shock in the flexible tendons of the feet, the plantar fascia, the Achilles' tendon, and the gastro/soleus muscles. That's the key to the minimalist/barefoot approach: change your gait to maximize efficiency and comfort. Shoes are a secondary consideration. It's the soft tissue in your legs that are the most efficient shock absorbers you can have. If you have the right gait, your shoes don't matter that much. I go barefoot or in VFFs because they are so light (significant energy savings on long runs) and I am very comfortable and injury-free in them. But I know lots of midfoot runners who use regular running shoes.
Makes sense, thanks. I read somewhere that one of the problems of the modern (shod) foot is that it prevents people from using/strengthening the many muscles in the foot . Those are key for absorbing impact as well.
Nice job Sue! That is a challenging run. Constant incline. Train with us in Glastonbury next summer and run the marathon! Actually, I run most Saturday mornings in Glastonbury. We meet at Bollywood on Hebron and Main at 6:30 am., in the off season we'll run 7-10 miles. You are welcome to join us.
Did you notice the incline this time? Those trails are so deceiving on the eyes. It looks flat but your legs feel it. Proof is when you turn around and run the other way.
I'm not evangelical about doing a marathon. However, if the bug is in you, even just a little - go for it. It is a great experience. Training with my group in Glastonbury was a blast. Some really supportive runners. Having a group made the long runs go by a lot more quickly. Further, Hartford is a great race.