100,000 miles for AT

[PricklyPete]

Well, I finished my 2nd ever half marathon. Went down and did a race that finished at the gates to Mt. Zion National Park.

It started at 3500 feet of altitude and finished at around 4000ft. With almost 1200 feet worth of climb in there. We weren't prepared for that altitude change. I started out too fast with the 1:40 pacers and couldn't maintain. I hit that major climb at the 6 mile mark and just gassed myself. My legs felt like lead weights. Breathing wasn't doing much and I was just done. At the 12 mile mark I had to stop at the water station and just recover for a bit and drink some water which earned me a 9:20 split for that mile

We had to stand around the starting line for close to 30 minutes (15 before normal race start and then a 15 minute delay) in raining, 38 degree temps. My feet were soaked before starting and I was. It cleared up for most of the race but it was still chilly.

My wife fared worse than me. She was running so hard that she started desaturating the last couple miles and literally cannot remember the last 10 minutes of the race or me and a volunteer carrying her to the aid station and getting her seated and recovered. She also is going to lose some toenails from it.

This race took it's toll on us. All that being said...I somehow squeeked into 5th place (which earned a metal) in my age group and she took 3rd in hers. She didn't beat her time from our half in October, but I took almost 3:30 off of my previous one even given the challenge of the course.

We were both under 1:44 which aint' bad. And it had one of the prettiest finishes you'll see : https://onedrive.live.com/?cid=E46B...4A82A!7299&parId=E46BB480E134A82A!128&o=OneUp

Here's the race data:
Overall info...

https://onedrive.live.com/?cid=E46B...4A82A!7298&parId=E46BB480E134A82A!128&o=OneUp

Elevation info:
https://onedrive.live.com/?cid=E46B...4A82A!7296&parId=E46BB480E134A82A!128&o=OneUp

We got up at 4:30AM Mountain Time for the race. Started that a little before 7:00AM. Ran, got our awards. Cleaned up. Then made the 2.5 hour drive down to Vegas. And then spent the night out in Vegas (which is on Pacific time) until almost 2:00AM that time. And that's after coming in from Eastern Time which is three hours ahead of Vegas. the day Before.

We're tired. We're sore. We're already looking for our next race. That 1:40 mark will be broke!

Congrats VI. I totally understand the elevation change. I regularly have very in shape friends who show up from lower elevations and have a hard time running/biking/hiking up here in CO. Heck, I regularly train at 5k feet, mountain bike at all kinds of elevation, and I still got pummeled by the Steamboat marathon last year (ranges between 6600 and 8200 feet). I had just gotten off the Big Sur marathon and figured I could match/better my pace. I was wrong and found myself under nourished/dehydrated on the last 6 miles. I feel like my younger self used to handle this better, but at 37, I have to do a lot more preparation and proper pacing/nourishment during the race itself.

 

[Capt Caveman]

Well, I finished my 2nd ever half marathon. Went down and did a race that finished at the gates to Mt. Zion National Park.

It started at 3500 feet of altitude and finished at around 4000ft. With almost 1200 feet worth of climb in there. We weren't prepared for that altitude change. I started out too fast with the 1:40 pacers and couldn't maintain. I hit that major climb at the 6 mile mark and just gassed myself. My legs felt like lead weights. Breathing wasn't doing much and I was just done. At the 12 mile mark I had to stop at the water station and just recover for a bit and drink some water which earned me a 9:20 split for that mile

We had to stand around the starting line for close to 30 minutes (15 before normal race start and then a 15 minute delay) in raining, 38 degree temps. My feet were soaked before starting and I was. It cleared up for most of the race but it was still chilly.

My wife fared worse than me. She was running so hard that she started desaturating the last couple miles and literally cannot remember the last 10 minutes of the race or me and a volunteer carrying her to the aid station and getting her seated and recovered. She also is going to lose some toenails from it.

This race took it's toll on us. All that being said...I somehow squeeked into 5th place (which earned a metal) in my age group and she took 3rd in hers. She didn't beat her time from our half in October, but I took almost 3:30 off of my previous one even given the challenge of the course.

We were both under 1:44 which aint' bad. And it had one of the prettiest finishes you'll see : https://onedrive.live.com/?cid=E46B...4A82A!7299&parId=E46BB480E134A82A!128&o=OneUp

Here's the race data:
Overall info...

https://onedrive.live.com/?cid=E46B...4A82A!7298&parId=E46BB480E134A82A!128&o=OneUp

Elevation info:
https://onedrive.live.com/?cid=E46B...4A82A!7296&parId=E46BB480E134A82A!128&o=OneUp

We got up at 4:30AM Mountain Time for the race. Started that a little before 7:00AM. Ran, got our awards. Cleaned up. Then made the 2.5 hour drive down to Vegas. And then spent the night out in Vegas (which is on Pacific time) until almost 2:00AM that time. And that's after coming in from Eastern Time which is three hours ahead of Vegas. the day Before.

We're tired. We're sore. We're already looking for our next race. That 1:40 mark will be broke!

Great job vi edit and to your wife!!!

 

[Capt Caveman]

Friday was Banner Day in Boston which is the semi-official kick-off to the Boston Marathon. Honored to be selected by John Hancock to represent 'Drive' on this year's Boston Marathon Banners. Had to keep it a secret for a couple of months and didn't know what photo they had selected but it was a banner day!

Got pics with defending Boston Marathon Champion, Caroline Rotich, and the Mayor of Boston. Here's a pic of one of my banners, I believe I have around 40 banners hanging around the city.

 

[vi edit]

Friday was Banner Day in Boston which is the semi-official kick-off to the Boston Marathon. Honored to be selected by John Hancock to represent 'Drive' on this year's Boston Marathon Banners. Had to keep it a secret for a couple of months and didn't know what photo they had selected but it was a banner day!

Got pics with defending Boston Marathon Champion, Caroline Rotch, and the Mayor of Boston. Here's a pic of one of my banners, I believe I have around 40 banners hanging around the city.

Holy crap...that's AWESOME! :thumbsup:

 

[vi edit]

I found out I qualified for a research program for inflexible runners. I have tight hip flexors and a grad student a local college is going to stick a ton of sensor dots on me and stick me on a treadmill and track my running gate. Then I go through a 6 week stretching program and get reevaluated and see if there is any efficiency gain from the stretching.

I get to basically do a motion capture thing like the guy who did the modeling for Gollum in Lord of the Rings.

 

[Mursilis]

+202 for March. Hopefully, I'm ready for my 50 miler in April. If I'm not, it's going to suck! Heck, it will probably suck either way!

85,172

 

[pm]

+151 for Feb. and March.

85,323

 

[pm]

+146 for April

85,469

Ran the Colorado Marathon today. After my less-than-stellar performance in the SF marathon last year (4h42m - discussed in this post), I resolved to do better this year. I trained harder, ran the ~18 miles of the course 3 weeks ago at just below my target pace and basically tried to follow the experts advice on training and nutrition as well as I could given my work and family commitments. My weekly mileage was barely adequate @ 25-30 miles/week, but what I ran, I tended to run pretty fast for what it was (I run with guys 10-20 years younger than I am).

I trained myself for an early wake-up starting last weekend and shifted my wake-up time to 5am over the course of a week, got a great nights sleep last night, got up at 3:45am, made it over to the mandatory bus to the start. Got off and it as a rather chilly 28F and snowing lightly. Some experienced experts advised buying clothing at Goodwill and stripping layers as I ran and I did (and CO Marathon sends them back to Goodwill). Started off too fast - it was cold - but got it back under control around mile 8. Started to fall apart around mile 22 and could barely hold it under 10m/mile for the last two miles but got out a final sprint for the end that wasn't too pathetic. Finished in 3h50m with was 268th out of 855 (I'm a 45 year-old guy).

2016 Colorado Marathon MARATHON PATRICK MAHONEY FORT COLLINS/CO 45 841 264 23 8:48/mi 3:50:57

I was hoping for something closer to 3h45m, but I'm very pleased with 3h50m - particularly since it's a 48min. drop from my first marathon.

I'm planning to run the San Francisco Half Marathon with my 17 year old daughter in July and then another half or full marathon in Sept (need more time to put the pain of this one behind me before I fully commit to another).


A big thank you to all the advice I got on here from Mursilis, RagingB, vi_edit, and others. I read a lot on here and try my best to follow the advice. You guys - particularly Mursilis - are honestly an inspiration.

 

[Mursilis]

+175 for me for April

85,644

My first month of the year under 200, but I finished my first 50-miler, and ran a half the next weekend, so I had a fair bit of recovery in there later in the month. The 50-miler was epic - we actually had snow, rain, and hail to go with the unseasonable cold, something which usually NEVER happens in April in Virginia, but I finished, so all's well. I'm not sure if I'll ever do another 50, but running in the woods was great fun. I definitely need to do more trail races.

Ran the Colorado Marathon today. After my less-than-stellar performance in the SF marathon last year (4h42m - discussed in this post), I resolved to do better this year. I trained harder, ran the ~18 miles of the course 3 weeks ago at just below my target pace and basically tried to follow the experts advice on training and nutrition as well as I could given my work and family commitments. My weekly mileage was barely adequate @ 25-30 miles/week, but what I ran, I tended to run pretty fast for what it was (I run with guys 10-20 years younger than I am).

I trained myself for an early wake-up starting last weekend and shifted my wake-up time to 5am over the course of a week, got a great nights sleep last night, got up at 3:45am, made it over to the mandatory bus to the start. Got off and it as a rather chilly 28F and snowing lightly. Some experienced experts advised buying clothing at Goodwill and stripping layers as I ran and I did (and CO Marathon sends them back to Goodwill). Started off too fast - it was cold - but got it back under control around mile 8. Started to fall apart around mile 22 and could barely hold it under 10m/mile for the last two miles but got out a final sprint for the end that wasn't too pathetic. Finished in 3h50m with was 268th out of 855 (I'm a 45 year-old guy).

I was hoping for something closer to 3h45m, but I'm very pleased with 3h50m - particularly since it's a 48min. drop from my first marathon.

I'm planning to run the San Francisco Half Marathon with my 17 year old daughter in July and then another half or full marathon in Sept (need more time to put the pain of this one behind me before I fully commit to another).


A big thank you to all the advice I got on here from Mursilis, RagingB, vi_edit, and others. I read a lot on here and try my best to follow the advice. You guys - particularly Mursilis - are honestly an inspiration.

Ha, thanks! And a 48:00 drop is huge - great job! If you're planning on another fall half or full, just keep up the base mileage - that'll provide huge dividends when you start gearing up for your fall events. I'd guess that you still have the potential for much faster times in front of you, if you've got the time and desire to pursue them (and there's nothing wrong with running an event at easy pace just for the fun of it - I ran two halfs this year with family at 3+ hours, and still enjoyed the experience). You're older but not old (and you're younger than me!), and you can still be very fast. A guy in my club is ~47 and just got back from a very poor (for him) marathon in Boston. He "only" got 3:04, and was complaining about the heat this year. We should all do so poorly! Best of luck in your summer and fall races!

 

[vi edit]

I was hoping for something closer to 3h45m, but I'm very pleased with 3h50m - particularly since it's a 48min. drop from my first marathon.

I'm planning to run the San Francisco Half Marathon with my 17 year old daughter in July and then another half or full marathon in Sept (need more time to put the pain of this one behind me before I fully commit to another).

A big thank you to all the advice I got on here from Mursilis, RagingB, vi_edit, and others. I read a lot on here and try my best to follow the advice. You guys - particularly Mursilis - are honestly an inspiration.

Well under 4:00 hours. That's a time to be very proud of. Great run Patrick! Especially on your training volume.

I did my half in March, took a few weeks off, got sick for a week, and then lost another week planning and running a large convention. It's been a rough stretch for me. Trying to get back on the bandwagon here in May.

March - 87 miles
April - 51 Miles (1 mile more than Mr. Mursilis's 50 mile *RACE*. Seriously...damn man. I don't know how you do something like that)

138 miles.

85,782

 

[ControlD]

Well, since everyone is tallying up miles today, might as well get on board.

March : 128 miles
April : 105 miles

86,015

 

[Capt Caveman]

+146 for April

85,469

Ran the Colorado Marathon today. After my less-than-stellar performance in the SF marathon last year (4h42m - discussed in this post), I resolved to do better this year. I trained harder, ran the ~18 miles of the course 3 weeks ago at just below my target pace and basically tried to follow the experts advice on training and nutrition as well as I could given my work and family commitments. My weekly mileage was barely adequate @ 25-30 miles/week, but what I ran, I tended to run pretty fast for what it was (I run with guys 10-20 years younger than I am).

I trained myself for an early wake-up starting last weekend and shifted my wake-up time to 5am over the course of a week, got a great nights sleep last night, got up at 3:45am, made it over to the mandatory bus to the start. Got off and it as a rather chilly 28F and snowing lightly. Some experienced experts advised buying clothing at Goodwill and stripping layers as I ran and I did (and CO Marathon sends them back to Goodwill). Started off too fast - it was cold - but got it back under control around mile 8. Started to fall apart around mile 22 and could barely hold it under 10m/mile for the last two miles but got out a final sprint for the end that wasn't too pathetic. Finished in 3h50m with was 268th out of 855 (I'm a 45 year-old guy).

I was hoping for something closer to 3h45m, but I'm very pleased with 3h50m - particularly since it's a 48min. drop from my first marathon.

I'm planning to run the San Francisco Half Marathon with my 17 year old daughter in July and then another half or full marathon in Sept (need more time to put the pain of this one behind me before I fully commit to another).


A big thank you to all the advice I got on here from Mursilis, RagingB, vi_edit, and others. I read a lot on here and try my best to follow the advice. You guys - particularly Mursilis - are honestly an inspiration.

Congrats! Great job!

 

[Capt Caveman]

+175 for me for April

85,644

My first month of the year under 200, but I finished my first 50-miler, and ran a half the next weekend, so I had a fair bit of recovery in there later in the month. The 50-miler was epic - we actually had snow, rain, and hail to go with the unseasonable cold, something which usually NEVER happens in April in Virginia, but I finished, so all's well. I'm not sure if I'll ever do another 50, but running in the woods was great fun. I definitely need to do more trail races.



Ha, thanks! And a 48:00 drop is huge - great job! If you're planning on another fall half or full, just keep up the base mileage - that'll provide huge dividends when you start gearing up for your fall events. I'd guess that you still have the potential for much faster times in front of you, if you've got the time and desire to pursue them (and there's nothing wrong with running an event at easy pace just for the fun of it - I ran two halfs this year with family at 3+ hours, and still enjoyed the experience). You're older but not old (and you're younger than me!), and you can still be very fast. A guy in my club is ~47 and just got back from a very poor (for him) marathon in Boston. He "only" got 3:04, and was complaining about the heat this year. We should all do so poorly! Best of luck in your summer and fall races!

Wow! I can't image running a 50 mile race. Yes, Boston was hot and many folks including myself ran much slower than I had hoped for.

 

[Capt Caveman]

Boston Marathon
Providence Marathon

86,067

Boston Marathon - it was in the 70s at the start and with the sun it was hot. I decided to run with a few friends for the first eight miles. With the combination of the heat which caused my feet to swell more than usual, my newer shoes with the lacing a little tighter than normal and someone spilling a cup of water on my foot, I started to develop blisters on my left foot.

At mile 12, I decided to go into a medical tent but after a few minutes of them fumbling around trying to put moleskin on my wet/sweating toes that kept sliding off, I told them just to put vaseline on my toes.

At mile 16, the vaseline had worn off and I went back into the medical tents. This time, I asked them to tape my toes but the woman was helpless trying to cut the tape. So, I told her to let me doe it. Big mistake, once she touched me another guy ran over and said since we had to touch you we have to write up a report and the guy started asking me all these questions. I quickly taped one toe and ran out of the tent.

Another big mistake, as I started running again. My toe that was taped started rubbing against the other toe that had a blister. It felt like I was cutting my toe off every step I took. But I wasn't going to go back into the medical tents since they had already created a file on me.

So, I spent the last nine miles humbling to the Finish. I tried to land with my toes splayed out to keep my toes from rubbing. I caught up to a friend who was struggling and walking so I walked with him for a little bit til I got him to start running again but he soon pushed me and told me to keep on running without him.

I finished with my worse Marathon time but I spent close to ten minutes in the medical tents. Many folks I spoke to ran slower than they had hoped for. And b/c I didn't run as well as I hoped to, I decided to run the Providence Marathon 13 days after Boston, yesterday.

Providence Marathon - my legs felt good and just wanted to run better than I did in Boston. The weather was perfect for running and I felt great for the first ten miles. At mile ten, my legs started to get tired and by mile 13 I was really regretting that I had decided to run. By mile 16, it was a complete struggle but I gutted it out and finished twenty minutes faster than I did at Boston.

Time for a little rest before I run in a 5k(first of a summer series of seven) Thursday, half-marathon on Memorial Day(possibly Vermont City Marathon), ten miler in June and I got into the Chicago Marathon in October.

I celebrated my two marathons in 13 days with:

 

[Mursilis]

Congrats to Capt. Caveman on finishing Boston AND another marathon 13 days later! :thumbsup: Good luck in your summer races! Did you qualify for Boston in 2017? I'm hoping to be there - I got a BQ time late last year, and hopefully work doesn't interfere like what happened in 2015. We'll see (fingers crossed)!

As for the 50 miler, it actually wasn't that hard, especially since it was my third ultra in the past 2 years. The final 15 miles totally sucked (literally) because the trail was a muddy quagmire from 1000+ runners plus rain for most of the day turning it into quicksand, but I never reached a point where I doubted finishing. The body gets sore and tired, but after a while it stops getting any worse, and it's just a question of continually moving forward. It was honestly more of a mental challenge than a physical one. Trail runners are a pretty friendly bunch, and most people were happy to chat/joke around/encourage each other as we trudged along. The camaraderie was a huge help, as was the fact my son paced me for ~8 miles in the middle of the race. Just having the company of him and my wife at the aid station helped a ton.

 

[ControlD]

What is your run / walk ratio in a race like that? What kind of pace are you running? I am assuming you don't run 50 miles straight ... or do you? The whole idea of running 50 miles is sort of mind boggling to me.

 

[Mursilis]

What is your run / walk ratio in a race like that? What kind of pace are you running? I am assuming you don't run 50 miles straight ... or do you? The whole idea of running 50 miles is sort of mind boggling to me.

My final time was ~11:18:XX, so yeah, not a fast pace, and with PLENTY of walking, maybe 50%. The winner finished in 6:52, so I'm sure he ran quite a bit, but probably still walked some sections.

It was a trail race, and I have poor vision, so I was being extra-cautious not to fall or slip, which I didn't. I ran when I could, but it was raining/snowing/hailing most of the morning, and the course was basically an out-and-back, so by the time I was headed back, running was nearly impossible, due to the mud and the fact 1000+ runners had been through the course. The trail was also very rocky in places where it wasn't muddy, so it was hard to find spots where I felt like I could run safely. At one point I got lost, so I actually covered about 51.5 miles (official measurement of the course was 50.9, according to the organizers, so I'm certain my distance covered was in the 51-52 mile range). At mile 36, my pace was actually under 10:00/mile, but that's when I hit the "main" trail, which every event that day (50M, 50K, marathon) had used twice, and I slowed to a crawl just trying to get through the mud. It took 4+ hours to "run" that final 15 miles or so, which killed my average and my chance at getting under 10 hours. Still, I was 5/12 in my oldster age group, so I'm happy about that part.

 

[Capt Caveman]

So many races completed and so many coming up, since my last post. I'm a masochist. Got a steroid shot in my back to block a nerve to reduce the pain down one of my legs and getting tested on 7/25 for Anterior Compartment Syndrome.

5/5 RaceMenu Summer Series 5k #1
5/26 RaceMenu Summer Series 5k #2 (Team 3rd place)
6/5 Newport 10 Miler
6/16 RaceMenu Summer Series 5k #3 (Team 2nd place)
6/25 26x1 Mile Relay Club Challenge (super fun running on a team of 26 runners each running a mile around a track and passing the baton to the next runner)
6/26 BAA 10k
7/3 Finish at the 50 10k
7/9 VERT Sasquatch Sprint Trail Race 2.35 miles (Team 1st place)
7/14 RaceMenu Summer Series 5k #4

86,105

Coming up:

7/16 Runner's World Classic 5k and 10k (5k at 7am and 10k at 8:30am)
7/17 Runner's World Classic Half-Marathon (three races in two days is called the Hat Trick)
7/21 Jim Kane 5k
7/29 Blessing of the Fleet 10 Miler
8/11 RaceMenu Summer Series 5k #5
8/21 Falmouth Road Race 7 miles
9/8 RaceMenu Summer Series 5k #6
9/10 My Dogs are Barking 5k
9/17 Brighton Bangers 5k
9/22 RaceMenu Summer Series 5k #7
10/2 Smuttynose Half-Marathon
10/9 Chicago Marathon
10/16 Paws and Claws 5k
11/13 Cambridge Half-Marathon
11/20 Philadelphia Marathon

 

[Mursilis]

Forgot about this thread. I'll add in my May and June mileage:

+189 for May
+202 for June

86,396

I started fall marathon training last week, with a target race of the Richmond Marathon on 11/12. Hoping to finally get under 3:15. We'll see! Good luck to you, Capt. Caveman - that's an ambitious schedule ahead of you! I hope to run Chicago one of these days, especially if I can get in as a qualifier. That's why I'm targeting 3:15 this fall.