ATOT Marathoners (or half-marathon runners)

[RagingBITCH]

I'm shooting for a 1/2 in about June.

 

[imported_Irse]

Did a couple of Honolulu Marathons pretty slowly. Had cramps in both thighs. Also did a few half marathons and 30k. I'm really not a good runner.

 

[dakels]

Oh, I helped with a charitable 5K at Icahn stadium a few months ago. We are going to do it again. We gave away a Bravia LCD TV and other stuff as prizes. I should post info here when we get the next race scheduled. 5K's are a great way to intro yourself into competitive running. You learn how to pace yourself with other people and self discipline.

 

[Steve]

Originally posted by: zerocool1

Originally posted by: Bateluer

Originally posted by: kalrith
Any training tips for someone who's never run more than 3 miles at a time but would like to train for a half-marathon and eventually marathon? I have my legs, bike, dumbbells, and weight bench at my disposal.

For me, the best things I can offer are a good music player and a wrist mounted GPS like the Garmin Forerunner. A blind determination to continue is also helpful.

A good diet is also very helpful. Good diets can be found at Ultrarunning.com and other places.

Edit - You don't have to run 20 miles every day to train either. Run 3 to 5 miles at least 3 times a week, with a long run at least once a week. Initially your long run won't be much longer than your normal runs, but it should get longer.

To work on your speed, I find fartleks to be the most beneficial for me.

when you say a long run, what do you mean? I'm up to 8 mi for my long run and i'm debating on registering for the chicago marathon in october. do you think its feasible?

Chicago has a half-marathon in September, you may want to consider that.

 

[zerocool1]

Originally posted by: Steve

Originally posted by: zerocool1

Originally posted by: Bateluer

To work on your speed, I find fartleks to be the most beneficial for me.

when you say a long run, what do you mean? I'm up to 8 mi for my long run and i'm debating on registering for the chicago marathon in october. do you think its feasible?

Chicago has a half-marathon in September, you may want to consider that.

I was thinking of doing a half marathon and a 15 k in peoria(the steamboat classic).

what are fartleks?

 

[SWScorch]

fartleks are runs where you alternate running hard and easy. A true fartlek is completely unstructured; you run fast when you feel like it and run easy for as long as you want until you feel ready to go fast again. Many people impose rules on fartleks, like a minute hard a minute easy or 2 minutes hard 3 minutes easy. It's all up to you. Personally, I have 2 versions of fartleks that I do: 30-60-90 (30 secs hard, 30 easy, 60 hard, 60 easy, etc) and 3 minutes-3 minutes. As the time increases, the intensity decreases. The 30 seconds are very fast, the 90 seconds are a bit slower but still around mile pace, and the 3 minute surges are usually around 5k-10k pace. They basically are track workouts done on the roads or trails.

 

[dakels]

On what SWScorch said, fartleks style of burst training is good in a lot of ways. It's especially good training for sports as it helps improve both endurance (aerobic) and burst strength (anaerobic). I never knew it was called fartlek until recently but this method of training has been around for a while. Cycling in hilly terrain is a good example of natural fartlek style exercise; constant motion with bursts. I usually do jogging mixed with sprints, mixed with jumping, side/scissor steps, I even throw in push ups and sit ups and sprint 100y after each series, always moving etc.

 

[drbrock]

Great thread, i am training right now to do a half in Napa for the Chron's and Colitis Foundation. I was in pretty good shape before my surgery back in january, but now I have a long road ahead of me. Over the past few weeks I am starting to get back to where I was. I train on a nature trail but they don't have any distance signs. A few posts back someone mentioned a garmin forerunner. Does anyone have one of those for sale?(please don't move this post to fs/ft section) Also with the running form, how would I get that checked?

 

[azilaga]

Cool thread...for me anyways I've done I think about 7 marathons now (officially), and had a PR in last year's NYC marathon. Broke 3:30!!! I usually do most of the half-marathons in the NYC area throughout the year. This year, I've kind of been forced into training differently because of a leg injury, but it's been a nice change of pace. Training tips? This early in the season, I would recommend intervals and core training. Look up Tabata Protocol for a great workout.

 

[azilaga]

Originally posted by: drbrock
Great thread, i am training right now to do a half in Napa for the Chron's and Colitis Foundation. I was in pretty good shape before my surgery back in january, but now I have a long road ahead of me. Over the past few weeks I am starting to get back to where I was. I train on a nature trail but they don't have any distance signs. A few posts back someone mentioned a garmin forerunner. Does anyone have one of those for sale?(please don't move this post to fs/ft section) Also with the running form, how would I get that checked?

I have a Garmin forerunner, and I would highly recommend it if you want to keep track of your routes and workouts. My favorite workout gadget. I have the 305 with the heart rate monitor. Good luck and keep us posted on your progress!

 

[drbrock]

deleted

 

[StageLeft]

dakelsYou post like somebody who's 70 nostalgic about the past but you're in your late 20's (?). Why not continue if you liked it so much? 2:45 without it being your life is an exceptional marathon time by anybody's definition. You're clearly well built for it.

 

[gramboh]

I'm running a half-marathon on April 27. I don't really enjoy running but it is something I want to and am going to do, I don't care about my time I just want to finish.

I much prefer strength training, alpine skiing and other activities in my life to running, I'm not sure why I just don't enjoy it all that much. Anyway, the longest I've run so far is probably 11-12km. My 10km time is around 55minutes, I think I could improve it if I had a Garmont or something to control my pace better, but at this point I am not interested in that.

My plan is to do one short and one long run a week (short on a weeknight, long on a weekend) with the short being 5-7km and the long starting at 10km and ramping up to 17/18km maybe a week before the race. I might do some speed work/intervals/stairs on the short days. I don't want to run more than twice a week, and most of the plans on the web (Hal Hidgeon or whatever) suggest 3-4 times.

Is this going to work given my goal of finishing in a reasonable time (not trying to set any records obviously)? I figure I could probably run 15-20km right now and survive, but I don't want to hurt myself.

Thanks!

 

[dakels]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
dakelsYou post like somebody who's 70 nostalgic about the past but you're in your late 20's (?). Why not continue if you liked it so much? 2:45 without it being your life is an exceptional marathon time by anybody's definition. You're clearly well built for it.

I have been told many of my discs are equivalent of a 60yo so you aren't far off Running was not my focus to the dismay of my running coach and partners but I ran a lot and yes, I definitely enjoyed it. I was laid out with 2 spine and disc injuries in my late teens, football (upper thoracic fracture, dislocation, and compression) then hockey (rupture L2-3, 3-4) injury. 1 year daily rehab, 3 years rehab 3x/week. Honestly, I think you are right in a way skoorb. I probably could run again. I play tennis for 3-4 hours clips and if I work at it, I could probably handle short runs. Most of my workouts I minimize recurrent shock to my back as much as possible by keeping my weight forward on balls of my feet and keeping to short burst of movement.

Nice time on the NYC Azilaga. I found those conditions very difficult due to the sheer number of people making personal pace control difficult, but that probably comes with experience.

As for running form Drbrock, there are lots of guides out there. A good, experienced partner can help a lot. I had that benefit of that when I ran, experienced marathon runners who took me under their wing and a cross country coach in school. Great articles here to start you off: http://www.runnersworld.com/su...-238-267-268-0,00.html
Clubs like road runners and other running associations also have classes and guided training sessions. http://www.rrca.org/

 

[azilaga]

Originally posted by: gramboh
I'm running a half-marathon on April 27. I don't really enjoy running but it is something I want to and am going to do, I don't care about my time I just want to finish.

I much prefer strength training, alpine skiing and other activities in my life to running, I'm not sure why I just don't enjoy it all that much. Anyway, the longest I've run so far is probably 11-12km. My 10km time is around 55minutes, I think I could improve it if I had a Garmont or something to control my pace better, but at this point I am not interested in that.

My plan is to do one short and one long run a week (short on a weeknight, long on a weekend) with the short being 5-7km and the long starting at 10km and ramping up to 17/18km maybe a week before the race. I might do some speed work/intervals/stairs on the short days. I don't want to run more than twice a week, and most of the plans on the web (Hal Hidgeon or whatever) suggest 3-4 times.

Is this going to work given my goal of finishing in a reasonable time (not trying to set any records obviously)? I figure I could probably run 15-20km right now and survive, but I don't want to hurt myself.

Thanks!

If you don't care about the time you finish but just want to cross the finish line feeling good, I think you should be fine. You seem to be in pretty good shape already. If possible, I would add in an extra run maybe every other week just got get your body a little more acclimated to running longer than usual. Good luck!

 

[abaez]

I was inspired recently by the runners going by my place during the L.A. marathon so I signed up for the NYC marathon lotto. I really hope I get in.

 

[azilaga]

Originally posted by: abaez
I was inspired recently by the runners going by my place during the L.A. marathon so I signed up for the NYC marathon lotto. I really hope I get in.

Hey good luck! I hear the chances are better if you're out of state. I didn't make it through the lotto last year, but ran it with a charity. The NYC marathon is unlike any other...the crowds will suck you through from start to finish. You won't even feel like you've run a marathon when you're done Okay, maybe you will, but the crowds really provide quite a rush of energy.

 

[bobsmith1492]

Yay, hi!

I did Chicago in '06 and am currently training for the Fifth/Third Riverbank Run, 25k, in Grand Rapids, MI.

 

[gramboh]

Originally posted by: azilaga
If you don't care about the time you finish but just want to cross the finish line feeling good, I think you should be fine. You seem to be in pretty good shape already. If possible, I would add in an extra run maybe every other week just got get your body a little more acclimated to running longer than usual. Good luck!

Thanks for the vote of confidence, I will try to make an effort to run 3 times a week for the next few weeks. I'm just changing my lifting program to Rippetoe's starting strength, so I will run on my off days, then have one day of no activity per week. I am going to try a 15km sometime this week and see how that feels, hopefully I can do it in 90 minutes.