re: Official Running Log/Marathon Training Thread

How was it? Weather was fantastic yesterday. I was supposed to run the full until they canceled. Ran my last long run yesterday in prep for Sunday's marathon in Birmingham. Weather forecasting to be a bit chillier with low of 28 and high of 49.

Update on the Rock n Roll Half Marathon in New Orleans

The Weather and Course:
The course was an out-and-back starting at UNO and running along Lakeshore Drive. The race was originally planned to be along St. Charles uptown, through the Quarter, and out to City Park, but the organizers couldn't recruit enough security to block off the roads for that route. The Lakeshore route was scenic, but there was not nearly as much to look at as the original route. There were also a ton of bridges (I think we went over 4 bridges twice, so 8 total), and that was pretty exhausting. Also there were times where half marathon runners had to pass 10k walkers on very narrow segments of the course--that got tiring and dangerous. Several friends who ran told me the course sucked, but, having never run a half before, I don't have any frame of reference.

The weather, once we got started, was perfect. It was chilly waiting for the start (I think it was around 40 degrees at the 7:40 start), but there was barely any wind, and the sun was out.

My Race:
I finished and hit my goal time of sub 1:50! My initial goal was sub 1:45, but then I caught COVID around Christmas and that messed with my training. I ran a 1:49 and am pretty happy with that considering I couldn't train for three weeks in late December/early January. My plan was to take it easy for the first 5k and run 15ish seconds slower than goal pace (goal pace was 8:23). I ended up running goal pace for the first 5k and it really felt really comfortable. The pace during the first 5k actually felt really slow for some reason. I held that pace throughout mile 3-9 and was feeling great on that stretch. I decided to pick up my speed at mile 9 instead of mile 10 as I'd planned. That was a mistake. I increased my pace to an 8:00 at the 9 mile marker, and almost immediately my feet started killing me. The remainder of the run was me fighting with my feet to get to the finish line. I was wearing Saucony Endorphin Speed 2s for the race. I've trained in them for fast runs over the last couple of months and have 75 miles in them. I had not run more than 6 miles at one time in them though (because I run fast in them and I didn't have a training run at race pace that was longer than 6 miles). I ran 13 miles in my trainers (New Balance Rebel v2) a week ago and my feet didn't hurt at all. If my feet hadn't been hurting so bad, I'm confident I could've really pushed the last 4 miles and might've shaved a minute off of my time.

It was a great experience though, and I'll definitely run another half (or maybe a full) in the fall.

As an aside, has anyone else had severe pain in the Endorphin Speed 2s? My feet would get slightly sore during training runs in them, but nothing like I experience during the race. I'm a neutral runner and have never had foot pain like this. Could it have been the plate? I don't think I'll be running anything over a 10k in them again.

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Great job! That's a really good time for your first 1/2 and for having the COVID hiccup.

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Thanks!

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I also have the Endorphin Speeds. I've put around 400 miles on them during my marathon training and haven't had any any issues.

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Good to know. Not really sure what my issue was.

Sup, run bros. I took a break from the bike and ran a fast 5K this morning. I blistered it and finished at 23:44 (7:39/mi pace). It is my second fastest 5K ever. It was a beautiful morning for a run!

Did 9 yesterday

You doing the ZM?

Yezzir, you doing ZH?

Plans are just that. Following through and doing the work is what gets it done. You're gonna be ready for race day!

weather here in Philly will actually be nice tomorrow so planning a long run.

Update:
Long run w/ my lady in the books - 30.5 miles @ 8:12

Stopped my watch when 2 friends were parting ways. forgot to restart and missed ~1.5 miles.

18 yesterday at 7:19 average

63 days to Boston

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Ran my first marathon yesterday in Birmingham. Finished 9 minutes faster than my goal of 4 hours, which put me at 115th/442 overall and 20th/45 in my male age group. Weather was ideal. Course was a double loop but still fun with all of the elevation changes. It was a great experience overall.

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Awesome. How was it after Mile 20? I'm doing my first in a couple weeks and everyone tells me the last 10k of the race is brutal so I am kind of worried.

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Awesome. How was it after Mile 20? I'm doing my first in a couple weeks and everyone tells me the last 10k of the race is brutal so I am kind of worried.

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I ran my first 26.2 last month. Both of my legs cramped up at mile 16. It was hellacious after that. I was fully trained, but there were some external factors leading to the cramping, so YMMV.