Marathon Tips?

betao wrote:
doing Tough Mudder this Saturday. anyone ever done this?

I haven't, but have alot of friends who have.  they had a great time, but it takes a long time because some of the obstacles have long lines.

I'm not into the mud races myself.  Just give me a road!

September 15, 2012: I'm nearing the end of a Saturday afternoon mountain bike ride, going down a hill. Wearing eyeglasses instead of my usual contacts and sunglasses. I hit a tree root, loose control of the bike, flip over the handlebars, land on my head (thank god for helmets), break my eyeglasses, and break a rib. My quest to run my 17th marathon is over for 2012.

September 15, 2013: I set off on a 23 mile training run (20 on unpaved trail), unaware that it's the one year anniversary of my accident. For some reason I decide to run in my eyeglasses instead of contacts/sunglasses. I'm on my eighth mile and I trip over a tree root. I flip, bloodying my knee and leaving scrapes on my back and hands. No broken glasses, no broken rib. I continue and complete my run. As I'm running, the date dawns on me, and it also downs on me that both falls were probably caused by burst of sunlight peering out from the shaded trail, hitting my unprotected eyes and blinding me for a split second, enough the make trip and fall.

That's my story. Anybody else training for Fall Marathon? Baltimore is only 26 days away for me.

Ouch!  At least you are alright.

I am running the 3rd and 4th legs of the Baltimore Marathon for the relay (running the 3rd one to count and then running the rest as a training run for MCM).  I ran Baltimore last year and loved it.  I think their course run is Saturday.  It's free and sponsored by Falls Road Running.  That run is always really fun if you haven't participated.

Running Marine Corps Marathon on October 27th!  First time running it for me and my third marathon. Been following the Hansons Marathon Method and it's been time consuming, but I really love it.

Then in January I'm running Jackson, MS 1/2 marathon on Saturday and the Mobile, AL full on Sunday as my own "goofy" race without the insane price of Disney (and even better because dinner Sunday night will be in New Orleans).

James wrote:
September 15, 2012: I'm nearing the end of a Saturday afternoon mountain bike ride, going down a hill.

As I'm running, the date dawns on me, and it also downs on me that both falls were probably caused by burst of sunlight peering out from the shaded trail, hitting my unprotected eyes and blinding me for a split second, enough the make trip and fall.

That's my story. Anybody else training for Fall Marathon? Baltimore is only 26 days away for me.

I was MTBing this weekend and the glare was ridiculous at times. Definitely riding blind. I have dodgy knees so no running for me but I just did the Civil War Century and will be doing the Seagull (road) and MoCo Epic (MTB) in October

I hate you people.  Over the past two years I have had torn meniscus surgery, Achilles tendonitis, bursitis, chronic patellar syndrome, etc…  I miss running so much.  Riding a bike isn't the same. 

I'm running Marine Corps in October, Rehoboth in December and Rock-n-Roll DC (full) in March.

Sorry ggw.  Plus, you're fast…

I'm never running another Rock and Roll or CGI event ever again.  They pulled all the funding for elites (of which I am not one, but still think that's crappy).  And their medals are no longer city specific.  My friends who ran Philly said there was hardly any music this year.  And it makes me sad that they seem bent on taking over all these nice local races and sort of becoming the WalMart of racing.

Crappy too because I really enjoyed DC and Philly when I ran them. 

I realize by this rationale I should also not run Baltimore this year as they pulled the prize money when they were defunded by Under Armour, but I love that race.

I agree that the RNR DC kinda sucks.  I've done the 1/2 twice now, and wanted to do a Full in the spring.  Seemed convenient at the time, but I may never do it again.

I think I'm going to run the Hatfield McCoy Marathon in June.  Seems like fun!

K8teebug wrote:
I'm never running another Rock and Roll or CGI event ever again. 

I ran my last RnR in Vegas 2011.  I won't even tell you the more disgusting horror stories from a first hand account, but this is a good start:

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2011/dec/08/marathon/

I heard about that race from a friend.  Sounded awful.  I can't believe they're still allowed to hold it!

Also, the Shamrock Marathon in VA beach had water from hydrants/hoses in lined trash cans.  I got to the start in the morning and accidentally threw my gel top in the "water" which I thought was the trash…not running that one again!

Baltimore is Saturday!  Should be great weather!

If you call 50% showers great weather.

K8teebug wrote:
Baltimore is Saturday!  Should be great weather!

Temperature is waaay more important than rain.

I've run one in 90 degree heat, another in 20sih cold, and yet another in soaking rain. And they all sucked equally hard.

quote author=grateful link=topic=10107.msg371650#msg371650 date=1381349050]
Temperature is waaay more important than rain.

James wrote:
I've run one in 90 degree heat, another in 20sih cold, and yet another in soaking rain. And they all sucked equally hard.

quote author=grateful link=topic=10107.msg371650#msg371650 date=1381349050]
Temperature is waaay more important than rain.

I think I would prefer the 20 degree marathon.

upon five seconds more reflection, yes, that was the least evil of the three. some intersting findings on marathons and weather here (I'm definitely in the slow runner category):


http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/03/sports/sportsspecial/03marathon.html?_r=0


Elite runners ran fastest in the coldest conditions ? 41 to 50 degrees. But the slowing effect with heat was not as great as had been previously reported. For every five-degree increase in temperature, times slowed by 0.4 percent.

Warmer weather had a greater effect on slower runners. On a 77-degree day, an elite runner would be about 5 percent slower than on a 41-degree day. But a runner who finished in three hours on a 41-degree day would be slowed by about 12 percent on a 77-degree day, finishing in 3 hours 21 minutes.

Yada wrote:

James wrote:
I've run one in 90 degree heat, another in 20sih cold, and yet another in soaking rain. And they all sucked equally hard.

quote author=grateful link=topic=10107.msg371650#msg371650 date=1381349050]
Temperature is waaay more important than rain.

I think I would prefer the 20 degree marathon.

It's only supposed to drizzle a little bit. Just put duct tape over the top of your shoes.  Works like a charm!