davemunger Member

I met my wife on her first date with my best friend. I don't believe in love at first sight but I told him that if he ever broke up with her, I would marry her. A couple years later, he finally broke up with her, and we joked that I had always said that but of course it would never happen, ha ha! Then about six months…

I like the age-grading idea. It gives you a sense of where you are relative to the top performance for your age group. It's not perfect but it gives you some basis for comparison. Note: At age 30 you are considered to be at your prime -- this is the age where athletes set world records. Interestingly, in local races I've…

Thanks to both of you. I agree, it's important to set goals, but it's nice when the goals are at least somewhat attainable! itsy3, the 4x400 was the main reason I was doing the meet in the first place -- the 5000 was sort of an afterthought. Which again makes me wonder why I had such an ambitious goal in that race. That…

Unfortunately, not very well at all. Short story: I ended up dropping out of the race. I had set too ambitious a pace and couldn't keep it up. Long story is a blog post: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/davemunger/view/recap-crc-summer-track-meet-678480

I would suggest at least one training run where you fuel as closely as possible to what you plan during the race. I'm quite a bit bigger than you so I consume a gel every 30 minutes or so during a marathon, plus one about 10 minutes before the start. That means 7 or 8 gels on race day. The first 5 or 6 are fine, but it's…

Okay, I signed up for this one! First time ever traveling for a 5k. Should be an interesting experience. Here are the top 5 times in my age group (45-49) last year: 15:29 15:41 16:25 16:33 16:41 Best case scenario even a huge PR (my current PR is 17:49) would get me about an 8th in age group. But I am still looking forward…

I had that happen for a long course -- but EVERYONE went the wrong way. The police car at the front went the wrong way and everyone followed. Was supposed to be a 5k but the timing company adjusted the results and reported them as 5541 meters. I was a little annoyed because I was on pace to run my first sub-20-minute 5k.…

Never run it but it sounds like a pretty neat race. I would imagine there's not a huge amount of fan support but since the half marathon starts at the halfway point of the full, you will probably benefit from a lot of the half-marathon spectators. There are many more half-marathoners than full marathoners so that's a big…

Just updated the spreadsheet. Looks like most folks are on track! Almost halfway there; keep it up everyone!

Here's another classic -- a bunch of ultramarathons compared to the Boston Marathon -- often considered a very hilly marathon:

It's all relative. When I ran the National Half Marathon (Now Rock n Roll USA) a few years back, folks from Florida were complaining about "all the hills." I didn't see any significant hills. The cumulative elevation gain for that race was about 300 feet, or pretty much the same as I do in my usual daily 6-mile route, only…

I'm still not convinced I won't be alone in last place but I do think it's a better opportunity to get a good time. Either way it'll be a track PR; I'd just like it to be better than my road PR, which may not be happening on a muggy Carolina July evening.

Sure, but "Jogging":

One thing I think is interesting about "jogging" is that it implies something "light" and "not serious." Sometimes that is exactly what I'm doing, just loosening up / warming up / cooling down, so I like to use the word for those things. But if I'm absolutely dying at the end of a tough long run I might be going slower…

That's the problem; there are only two heats -- open and under 18:00. My PR is 17:49, so I'm right on the borderline. Some of the guys are pushing me to run in the sub-18 heat, saying I'll get pulled along. I'm thinking about it. Maybe I can talk one of them into taking it easy, lol!

Congrats on the PR! Awesome job! Once things cool down again in the fall you will blow that time away!

Ditto DavidMartinez, except I will sometimes eat a little before a long run. The theory is that it prepares you for deprivation in races. you are never going to eat enough before / during a race to make up for the effort, so it's best to get your body used to "running on fumes" in your workouts. I'm not a deliberate low…

These sound like excellent strategies. You are being very thoughtful about this!

I have never liked gatorade and powerade, but tailwind works great for me. Or you could try "sipping" your energy gels so you are not ingesting it all at once. Some folks have good luck putting their gels directly in their water.

I agree, probably has to do with the type of fuel. I would suggest trying an energy drink instead of gels. I used Tailwind at a race this spring and really liked it. http://www.tailwindnutrition.com/

The stairmill will help (I'm talking about the kind with the actual moving steps, not a "stairmaster"). I have a friend who has run the Western States 100 miler in 22 hours, and he did most of his hill work on the stair machine. Personally I favor bleachers (I run on the bleachers themselves, not the stairs next to the…

Updated the sheet again. Make sure you enter your miles for June, everyone!

it looks to me like it would be more accurate than that -- it uses microwaves and other forms of analysis that you wouldn't want to apply to a living person! I wouldn't say this device would necessarily make the world skinnier but it would sure make things easier for folks who are trying to monitor their intake.

I'm getting 7:22 pace for the 200s, but otherwise the calculations look good to me. I use this site for that sort of thing: http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/4/4_1/96.shtml

Yes to a warm-up! If you are in shape to run a 53:31 10k you should be able to go sub-26 on a 5k. Warm up before you race. Run a mile or so at a very comfortable pace (you shouldn't be winded at all after this). Plan to finish about 10 minutes before the start. Then, about 5 minutes before the race, do 4 or 5 strides,…

The example of the Fartlek is a little odd. That's really just an interval run. Fartleks are meant to be unstructured workouts where the runner goes at a variety of speeds / distances.

Current profile -- very nice!

Thanks for all the ideas, everyone. To start off with, I got some club soda and pomegranate juice (with the plan of adding a splash of juice to the soda) and some ice tea (Four O'Clock Fruit Sangria).

Congrats to everyone who achieved their goals in June! I've now set up the July challenge here: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1342672-it-s-the-july-2014-challenge

Absolutely. I hope to get that set up today; if not it will be up tomorrow. I finished the month with a 19.75-mile run for a total of 232. Looking forward to possibly topping that in July!