ZenInTexas Member

Is there an option to drop down to a half? If you can manage to hold your 14 mm you are looking at an over 6 hour marathon. Do you think you can run for 6 hours straight without stopping? I think you're in for a real sufferfest. Drop to the half if you can and go for the full next year.

Swim 8000 yards-4.5 miles Bike 119 miles Run 220 miles. Mission accomplished.

I would pay attention to your cadence, just because that can help ensure you are running with good form and not over striding and are engaging your glutes to run. But do not worry for one second about your speed. Of course it will increase. Build your cardiovascular endurance. Make sure that any running you are doing now…

Pace is just a measurement of how fast you are going. Like a 12 minute mile pace. Stride is the length of your step. Usually as you increase your speed your stride gets longer. Cadence is how many steps you make in a minute. 180 is considered ideal. Your cadence shouldn't vary too much depending on your speed. So given the…

Ha ha. You know I'm really a runner who just dabbles in triathlon.

I will move days around due to scheduling, but I don't do hard runs back to back and I try not to drop any overall mileage.

Olympic Tri October 12 NYC Marathon Nov 2 Houston Marathon Jan 18

Squats, lunges, core exercises.

I don't see why you can't race the half. You have more than enough time to recover from that before the marathon. Race the hell out of the half and run the marathon to finish. And I realize that I am contradicting Carson's advice here but let's be real. You and I aren't racing/running at his level. Recovering from a two…

I totally agree with this. My marathon time predicted by McMillan was accurate based on my half PR at the time, not on my 5K PR.

The only way to get better at running is to do more running. You have to have the endurance first before speed. Why not do some short running races (10k, half marathon) during your off season and train specifically for them, using bike and swim as your cross training? I would run 4 times a week, do a tempo run, a recovery…

Yes. They are way high.

I agree.

All the things you listed above, yes. I also lost 8 toenails after running my first marathon. I have had IT band problems, a pulled groin, a dislocated toe (not from running but it kept me from training) a PF issue, sore achilles, this phantom side pain that didn't go away for about 6 months and athlete's foot.

There are lot of options. You can go without water and gels, you can stash water along your route or hit water fountains, you can carry a handheld, or a fuel belt with a couple bottles or if you need a lot of water you can carry a camelback. Depends on your needs.

Mine is about 20-30 seconds per mile faster than HMP and 45-50-ish seconds faster than MP.

When I follow it (and stick to it:wink: ) yes, it definitely works. Mine isn't nearly as high as yours though.

I have a little clip on blinky light. But mostly I make sure I am aware of my surroundings and not counting on others being able to see me. I always assume that the person in the car does not see me.

Congratulations!! Sounds like you learned a lot from this race, the next one will be a breeze!:drinker:

Tell me more about this "off season". I only know "marathon training season" and "triathlon training season".:laugh:

This is awesome. Because if I manage to qualify it's going to be by about 30 seconds.

So much yes to the Oatmeal! I run past no less than 5 donut shops on my long run route. (it's Texas, what do you expect?) The smell alone is enough to make you crazy. I fantasize about those delicious donuts.

I definitely do this. I plan my food around my running schedule. Long run day=big meal day. I know you shouldn't reward yourself with food but I still do it. There has been many a long run I've only gotten through because I promised myself something delicious at the end. Maybe not the healthiest attitude toward food but…

This made me laugh out loud for real.

Sometime after I ran my first race, which was a 10k, I started to think that maybe I could do it, and wouldn't it be cool to say that I ran a half marathon? I really wanted one of those stickers for the back of my car. :laugh: In so many ways training for that half was the hardest thing I have ever done, even harder than…

If you can already run 5 then a 10k in October is totally reasonable and doable. A 10k was the very first race I ever did. Have fun!!

Exercise!! It is the cure for all that ails us.

I will add to this. You cannot run a full marathon with your current running strategy. You have to know how to pace. Otherwise you will do the death march at the end.

Take your race times and plug them into this calculator. http://www.mcmillanrunning.com/ Then click on training paces to give you an idea of what you should be trying to pace. You will not do yourself any favors running training runs at race pace. Slow down to get faster. Plan to run a negative split, not positive splits.…

Absolutely. Gu's are like 100 calories a shot. If you're doing a lot of fueling while running that can really add up.