D
Debra
Guest
I ran my 1st 1/2 marathon last weekend! Ran conservatively, felt pretty strong at the end (at least I had some kick once I could see the mile 13 marker), finished 13th of 29 in my 45 to 49 age group, just under 2:03. Original goal (hope) was 2 hours, but then life's demands tend to complicate things. Thought I'd share some observations since there are so many new runners here.
Events are fun & a great target. This one was poorly organized but was still a great way to spend a fall morning.
I only run 3 days a week but I x-train.
The long run is critical just like the experts say. There seem to be 2 camps in endurance training: One group says you should only train to about 70-75% of your event distance. The other group says to exceed your event distance (but at a slow pace). I am now firmly in the second camp. I passed a lot of people in the last 3 miles even though my prior longest run had been 1:50.
I saw a few people bring their own energy drink bottles (you can tell because the liquid is colored) but didn't see many use gels or some other type of energy replacement. Puzzling. If you run for over an hour, you need fuel. This event only had H20 at water stations.
On long training runs, I walk for 1 minute after 15 to drink. After 45 min, I start nibbling on a PowerBar during my walk breaks (gels are too sweet for me). Had to be more flexible during the 1/2 marathon & pick appropriate times due to crowds & a narrow course. The walk break people caught up with a lot of "pure" runners the last 5 miles & seemed to play tortoise & hare. It did seem that the "walking break" people finished stronger in the middle of the pack group.
The greyhounds in the front are truly inspiring. The middle part of the course was an out & back so we plodders got to see the greyhounds. Heard some comments about "how easy" they made it look. Au contraire, they were working & it was beautiful.
Felt pretty darn good this week. Swam Monday (the day after) & did 2 slow, slow recovery runs. Will run 1 hour tomorrow.
DH is training for a January marathon. He's urging me to go the full distance but I'm going to do another 1/2 (same event). The increase from 45 min runs to 90 mins was pretty smooth. After that I started getting sore, experienced chafing & gruppiness. Think I need to back down & rebuild.
(Note to Andrea: Phoenix is going to have their inaugural Rock & Roll Marathon in January 2004. Maybe a good one to target? I figure one would walk when they could hear a band!)
Debra
Events are fun & a great target. This one was poorly organized but was still a great way to spend a fall morning.
I only run 3 days a week but I x-train.
The long run is critical just like the experts say. There seem to be 2 camps in endurance training: One group says you should only train to about 70-75% of your event distance. The other group says to exceed your event distance (but at a slow pace). I am now firmly in the second camp. I passed a lot of people in the last 3 miles even though my prior longest run had been 1:50.
I saw a few people bring their own energy drink bottles (you can tell because the liquid is colored) but didn't see many use gels or some other type of energy replacement. Puzzling. If you run for over an hour, you need fuel. This event only had H20 at water stations.
On long training runs, I walk for 1 minute after 15 to drink. After 45 min, I start nibbling on a PowerBar during my walk breaks (gels are too sweet for me). Had to be more flexible during the 1/2 marathon & pick appropriate times due to crowds & a narrow course. The walk break people caught up with a lot of "pure" runners the last 5 miles & seemed to play tortoise & hare. It did seem that the "walking break" people finished stronger in the middle of the pack group.
The greyhounds in the front are truly inspiring. The middle part of the course was an out & back so we plodders got to see the greyhounds. Heard some comments about "how easy" they made it look. Au contraire, they were working & it was beautiful.
Felt pretty darn good this week. Swam Monday (the day after) & did 2 slow, slow recovery runs. Will run 1 hour tomorrow.
DH is training for a January marathon. He's urging me to go the full distance but I'm going to do another 1/2 (same event). The increase from 45 min runs to 90 mins was pretty smooth. After that I started getting sore, experienced chafing & gruppiness. Think I need to back down & rebuild.
(Note to Andrea: Phoenix is going to have their inaugural Rock & Roll Marathon in January 2004. Maybe a good one to target? I figure one would walk when they could hear a band!)
Debra
:-jumpy
