Run like the wind

To anyone who has plans or knows someone running the Seattle Marathon. Here's something that gets me through the tough miles. These last couple weeks of training are sure to be more HELL than the race! Still I'm more afraid than ever. Afraid of the fatigue I know will be there, afraid of not finishing, afraid of all those mean things I said about mother nature who I'm sure will unleash some wicked winds.

Best of Luck to anyone in the race.

I'll be in touch soon JVL, promise!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/18/2013 12:01AM by Wannabe.

I've had a couple of people ask....

Yes I made it, two weeks before the race I had a meltdown from overtraining and dialed it back to the half marathon. Side note I did prove to myself I could do 4 half-marathons in 5 days which sucked every bit of glycogen from my body and left me with cortisol levels through the roof.

The race was incredible though and I would suggest it for anyone who enjoys running. If you're into hills the course is known to be especially challenging and was. I made it through the first 5 miles at a decent pace between 10-12 min. and then slowed myself down quite a bit to fight hills.

Here's a shot after the finish line, the medal was a cross between something that looked like it came from Tiffany's and an industrial something or another. It's beautiful to me

Here's the song for your running playlist, I listened to this one as I was entering the stadium for the finish.

"...enjoys running..."

0_o

I can barely pronounce that word its so far from being in my normal vocabulary.

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Kirk Coughlin
Woodbury, MN and River Falls, WI

Quemadmodum gladius neminem occidit, occidentis telum est.

Quote
darkknight9
"...enjoys running..."

0_o

I can barely pronounce that word its so far from being in my normal vocabulary.

Plus juan, mang

But some people knew ecstasy like this:


So as horrible as it sounds to me, like whatever doooood.

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John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

I'll run an hour for that 3 minutes of pure ecstasy you get when you're body does "it's thang"....I'm pretty sure you know that feeling

2 hours and 53 minutes

Felt like I could have either ran a lot faster and still made it or taken it to at least 20. Once you get past 10, the miles start to tick off easy. My goal was to finish and feel strong and brave (I about puked at the Expo the day before with all the race chatter)

I ran with the 2:15 pacer for a while and then the 2:30 pacer and then fell back (but never looked back)

I'm the green dot on the snapshot.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/10/2013 01:03AM by Wannabe.

Are those your toes?

Yep. Those are mine. I managed to make it with only one tiny blister. I wore the treads out of my training shoes just before the race and had an almost brand new pair of Kayano Asics that fit like a glove.

Here's the pre-race course map meeting where I became a wee bit nervous after the guy standing up said...."Ok, there are some hills on this route." "See the angle of this ruler, that's about close to the 2 block incline on Galer"

Hadn't really visited the course in person. I sort of wanted the first time I ran it to be all new I did take the inside of the curves through the arboretum to try and save a little time.

I could have used a co-driver! I did watch "Turbo" for a little inspiration

I can't stop talking about the race with just about everyone. Sorry to be annoying it was just that awesome of a thing.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 12/12/2013 12:23AM by Wannabe.

I don't do regular marathon's because I don't like running on tarmac, but ultras are ok. They're usually all trail running, and are a matter of plodding along consistently somewhere in the 10-12 min/mi range, and stoking up on food at every aid station.

I got Hoka One One's this year to cushion impact and I love them. I have to be a little careful about foot placement and technique because the extra cushioning and height can add stress to the knees, but without them I end up with sort of bruised soles on runs longer than 20 miles or so.

My regular runs are all on trails in the hills around here; I enjoy climbing hills, but hate going down them.

I use a modified version of one of Hal Higdon's plans (there's a website with them) for training for an event. It keeps me to about a 10% per-week build up. If I don't pay strict attention to the plan, I find it's easy to get overambitious and try to pile on too many miles, which just ends up knocking me off my pace for a week or so.

This year I've been trying to add a Fartlek day to my training, but I hate doing wind sprints so it's been hard to stay motivated.

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Self-righteous douche canoe

Quote
hoche

This year I've been trying to add a Fartlek day to my training, but I hate doing wind sprints so it's been hard to stay motivated.

Find somebody your size and weight and then do piggy-back wind -sprints..
It's easier to stay motivated when the guy on your back is calling you a limp-wristed girlie man who is weak and who should roll over and die.

Start with 2 basketball length sprints so you run 2 lengths then switch, he runs 2 lengths with you on back, then switch.
Start easy: 20 minutes work up to 30 minutes.

I'm sure when you guys are 57-58 they'll have an app to download for new knees..I did it the old fashioned blood and guts way.

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John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

I saw the Hokas and was worried about foot placement as well. They seem like they would be super challenging to run in, like running in platform heels.

A friend of mine is a trail runner-not sure I could deal with the mud around here. I'm more of a city runner myself, flat concrete, no asphalt or dirt even. You must live near trails?

I agree, The steady pace is key, i felt my body nearly lock up -like a complete freeze of muscles when I had to stop to pick up a gatorade at a station that wasn't ready for me when I passed (around mile 9). I'm not sure why this happens-I'd be interested to understand the biology going on though.

A guy in my condo building runs the stairs every night to stay in shape for basketball. Something I'm thinking of trying ...without a dude on my back

Quote
Wannabe
I agree, The steady pace is key, i felt my body nearly lock up -like a complete freeze of muscles when I had to stop to pick up a gatorade at a station that wasn't ready for me when I passed (around mile 9). I'm not sure why this happens-I'd be interested to understand the biology going on though.

Most likely, you had sweated out too much potassium. Potassium ions are key to allowing muscle fibers to release after a contraction. When you run out of potassium, your muscles lock up.

Bananas for breakfast.

Ahhh, that totally makes sense.

I had only stopped for about 10 seconds. My approach to training has been to just listen to what my body needs. If I crave anything I go for it. I rarely ever find myself wanting banana or protein and I've almost entirely stopped eating meat -I don't know how else to say that so JVL no comment please I'm as straight as they come.

There is one meat exception I still love-bacon, bacon, bacon!

Could be any number of things: potassium, salt, water, etc. My guess is it's not potassium. Potassium mostly affects your muscles' ability to fire and a shortage of it results in weakness, not locking up. I'd be more inclined to blame either water or salt. Among other things, water acts as sort of a lubricant of the fibers in both your muscles and tendons. As long as you keep moving, they will too, but when you stop they'll sort of knot up and clamp together. Salt...I don't whether a certain level of salt is required for an osmotic transfer through the cell walls or if salt itself is required for cellular activity. I don't fully understand the salt factor, but it's certainly necessary.

I use salt/potassium/other-electrolyte pills as directed on the bottle; usually about one pill an hour. I also got a tip once that calcium helps prevent cramps (I don't know why) and chow about one Tums an hour as well.

As for the Hoka's - I've never run in high heels so I can't compare. I do find that their thicker sole tends to make me change my mechanics so I don't push off with my big toe as much as with smaller shoes. That's sort of like trying to throw a ball with your wrist locked - it's inefficient and results in extra stress on other muscles as you try to keep the effort up. They're pretty boingy though, and return a lot of the impact of one hit as a rebound to start the next stride. In fact, when I first tried them on, I think my comment to the sales guy was "I'm not sure who's running - me or the shoes!"

The only real advantage I had is that I've played lots of hockey and in hockey almost all the power is from the quads and calves, so I have plenty of leg-muscle to compensate. Running reminds me more of fencing (which I also used to do a lot of), where the lunge explosions come from quads, calves, and the big toe pushoff. Of course, in fencing it's sort of wait..wait..wait...BOOM! and in running it's a bunch of continuous little explosions mile after mile after mile after...

I live in south San Jose, in suburbia, in the flatland. However, the nearest rural park with hills is only five miles away, and it's pretty big. My usual maintenance run is a five-miler in that park with only about an 800' elevation gain; however it has trails that'll let me do about 18 miles in it (with about 3500' of hillclimbing for the round trip). When I'm in the final stages of training for an ultra, I do that plus the run to and from my house, which gets me to about 28 miles. By then I'm usually out of water in my backpack anyway.

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Self-righteous douche canoe

I get cramps on long runs, long bike rides (90-200 miles) or long days sailing. Most people recommend potassium but that never helps me - more advanced sports folks told me calcium, water and salt like Michel says. I think the problem is starting to go away but I still sometimes suffer from lock up like Anne said or just cramps.

I am not much of a runner but might give a marathon a go someday.

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In the long run reality always wins.