Current race predictions for marathon:
Strava: 4:13:10
Garmin: 3:34:57
Runalyze: 3:44:34 (optimal) 3:59:54 (current marathon shape)
It's crazy how with all the same data their algorithms give such different estimates. I'm curious how it will all shake out come race day. I am really hoping to get sub 4:00 so I'm hoping Stravs is overly pessimistic.
I started running this year and one of the cool things to track is all those new runner gains. It was cool seeing my VO2 max get higher and see the Garmin race predictor times get better and better for my marathon. Eventhough I know these predictors are completely accurate, it was fun seeing the improvement. Well I think I have finally reached a plateau in my improvement. Usually after a good run I would immediately check the race preditor to see what the improvement was. Sometimes it was a significant improvement and sometimes it was just a little bit of an improvement, but it always changed. The last couple of runs the marathon race predictor has stayed at the same spot. I know there is obviously a ceiling for how fast each person can physically go but it's sad to see that number has stopped ha ha. I do have some increased speed training coming up in my training block so maybe it will change in the future, but that excitement has stopped for now.
Ok... probably a stupid question and I am fully prepared for the hate comments ha ha. This past weekend I ran a 21 mile long run at an easy pace (about 11 minute miles). I ate a good breakfast before hand and hydrated well throughout the run, but I didn't fuel at all during the actual run. I just didn't feel like I needed or wanted to take any gels on this particular morning. I was curious if I would end up bonking because it was quite a long run, but I didn't end up hitting the wall at all. Granted, this is a much slower pace than I hope to run at my actual marathon, but it made me think if there is any benefit to running long runs without proper fueling. Does your body have any compensatory action where it gets better at utilizing energy sources other than glycogen. If I train this way and then fuel "properly" for the actual race then will it feel even easier? Like I said, it's probably a stupid question and I don't plan to train like this (usually I do fuel for long runs), but I was just curious. Thanks
Ok... probably a stupid question and I am fully prepared for the hate comments ha ha. This past weekend I ran a 21 mile long run at an easy pace (about 11 minute miles). I ate a good breakfast before hand and hydrated well throughout the run, but I didn't fuel at all during the actual run. I just didn't feel like I needed or wanted to take any gels on this particular morning. I was curious if I would end up bonking because it was quite a long run, but I didn't end up hitting the wall at all. Granted, this is a much slower pace than I hope to run at my actual marathon, but it made me think if there is any benefit to running long runs without proper fueling. Does your body have any compensatory action where it gets better at utilizing energy sources other than glycogen. If I train this way and then fuel "properly" for the actual race then will it feel even easier? Like I said, it's probably a stupid question and I don't plan to train like this (usually I do fuel for long runs), but I was just curious. Thanks
I always run with headphones and for the start of my training I have mainly listened to music. I think music does a good job of pumping me up and helping me when I am tired. Sometimes though, for my long runs I found myself getting kind of tired of listening to music. This past weekend I started listening to audiobooks on my easy long runs and it was really helpful. I ran my farthest run this Saturday (21 miles) but I was listening to an excited book and the narrative really helped to keep my mind engaged. Anyway, just wanted to put it out there for anyone having a hard time on those multi hour long runs.
Training for my first marathon so I have been doing more running than I ever have in my life. Trying to work on mechanics of running (which I had never even though about). When you are running and your back foot is starting to leave the ground is your foot just at rest or do you point your toe to kind of "push" off with the ball of your foot. I can't figure out which was feels more natural or correct. Hope my explanation makes sense. Didnt' know if one of these ways was better for overall running form. Thanks
Went for an easy 7 mile run this morning and was just kind of going by feel as opposed to staring at my watch the whole time like I normally do. It felt good and easy (despite the humidity). Didn't walk at all, just kind of a jog the whole time. Anyway, when I finished I looked at my watch data. I was expecting it would be pretty much an entire zone 2 run, but I was suprised to see how much zone 1 it was reporting. To be honest it made me feel like I wouldn't get as much benefit (I have been completely brain washed by everybody saying that your easy runs should basically all be zone 2). My question is basically should I have gone a little faster so that I would have been more in zone 2 or is there any benefit to zone 1 running. I see so much stuff about zone 2 running, but haven't realyl seen anyone talk about zone 1 running. My average pace for the run was a little over 11 min miles which is quite a bit slower than my usual easy runs which run between 10-10:30. Thanks.
Currently training for my first marathon and so still in the process of figuring everything out as far as pacing goes. For my easy runs I am using my watch to try to stay in zone 2 which usually puts my pace around 10:20-10:30. I am really trying to run sub 4 hours for the marathon which is a 9:09 pace. I know that trying to keep this pace will obviously take be out of zone 2 and it makes sense that I won't be in zone 2 for the whole marathon if I want to push for a good time. I'm just curious for those who have run marathons before, what zone are you usually in for the majority of the event? I imagine it changes throughout the course since maintaining the same pace will effectively take more energy at higher mileage.
So I hear a lot of people talk about easy runs and recovery runs and long runs where they are contrasting them against speed work. Is everybody running these slower type runs at pretty much the same pace? I just don't understand what the difference of an easy run and a recovery run is. Thanks.
I'm currently building a base for my first marathon that will be in December. I still have quite a bit of time so I've just been trying to build an aerobic base with lots of easy runs and building up volume. I've just started sprinkling in some speed work and this morning I wanted to see if I could push a little and try to hit sub 50 on a 10k. I ended up hitting 47:44 which is actually a personal best for me. I know I still have a ton of work to translate this to a sub 4 marathon but most of the things I was looking up says going sub 50 for a 10k is a good starting point. Just felt like a good mile marker amongst all this slow running ha ha.
Random question that I was curious about...
My usual training run is a 1 mile loop in my neighborhood. For my long runs I just run this a bunch of times. Ror example, this morning I just ran the loop 14 times for my long run. Often there are other people walking this loop as well. Whenever I see someone I will smile and say "good morning" but I since it's a loop I will inevitably see them multiple more times (especially if they are going the opposite way) and I feel weird waving each time. What basically do now is just keep my eyes forward and kind of ignore them. It's kind of like driving next to someone you know and you keep getting stopped at all the red lights next to them. It's just a silly thing, but curious if other runners deal with this differently. I used to literally kind of smile and wave EVERY time I passed them, but then it just gets super repetitive and awkward ha ha.
I am a total new runner but really enjoying it. I have found that it feels great physically, which I was anticipating, but also helps so much mentally. I currently run 5 times a week (three of those are easy runs, 1 is a speed session, and 1 long run). I find that even with running more than I have ever run in my life I have a hard time taking rest days. I conceptually realize the importance of it but still can't help feeling crappy when I skio those days. My question is... if I take REALLY slow "runs" on these days (like zone 1) is that physiologically similar to an actual rest day? Does anybody do this or am I just being stubborn and stupid?
So my goal is to run my first marathon at the end of this year. I have been very loosely "training" for the past month or two which just consisted of trying to be consistent and get familiar with longer distances. My initial goal was just to complete the marathon regardless of time but after starting to get more comfortable I got interested in a time goal (which I know a lot of people don't recommend for your first marathon... but I decided to do it anyway). Now with a time goal in mind, I realized I should probably be a little more structured with my runs. I got an actual running plan and it includes interval training which I have never done. I was kind of dreading it, but this morning was my first time doing it and I actually liked it way more than I thought I would. It is definitely hard running those faster paces, but the little walking breaks between sets are a nice way to break it up. I'm hoping this will help increase my overall pace and it's a nice way to break up the training so it is not just a bunch of slow long runs.
Got a chance to travel for three weeks to Asia and didn't do any running. Additionally I ate a bunch of food because Korean and Taiwanese food is amazing ;) Anyway, those first two runs after coming back were TOUGH. Hoping I can get back into training shape soon. Crazy how fast I lost the conditioning.
I am planning on running my first marathon this December. I haven't started officially training yet but I've been starting to stack up weekly miles just to get my body "pre trained" and get comfortable with it. It's been hard but really enjoyable (I've even ran 20 miles twice so far just to prove to myself that I can do it). When I initially started my goal was just to finish, then I wanted to go sub 5, then sub 4:30, but just today I decided I think it might be possible to go sub 4. My garmin seems to think I can do it in 3:50 which is encouraging (even though I've heard Garmin can be pretty optimistic). I've put my data into runalyze and it says right now I should be able to do it in 4:05. I'm leaving for vacation for a couple weeks and will start actual training in mid Jume which will give me 26 weeks to get ready. Anyway I'm just posting this here so that hopefully in December I can come back to it and give a good report.
TLDR: 44 year old Dad thinks (hopes) he can run first marathon in sub 4 :)
I am planning on running my first marathon this December. I haven't started officially training yet but I've been starting to stack up weekly miles just to get my body "pre trained" and get comfortable with it. It's been hard but really enjoyable (I've even ran 20 miles twice so far just to prove to myself that I can do it). When I initially started my goal was just to finish, then I wanted to go sub 5, then sub 4:30, but just today I decided I think it might be possible to go sub 4. My garmin seems to think I can do it in 3:50 which is encouraging (even though I've heard Garmin can be pretty optimistic). I've put my data into runalyze and it says right now I should be able to do it in 4:05. I'm leaving for vacation for a couple weeks and will start actual training in mid Jume which will give me 26 weeks to get ready. Anyway I'm just posting this here so that hopefully in December I can come back to it and give a good report.
TLDR: 44 year old Dad thinks (hopes) he can run first marathon in sub 4 :)
I am planning on running my first marathon this December. I haven't started officially training yet but I've been starting to stack up weekly miles just to get my body "pre trained" and get comfortable with it. It's been hard but really enjoyable (I've even ran 20 miles twice so far just to prove to myself that I can do it). When I initially started my goal was just to finish, then I wanted to go sub 5, then sub 4:30, but just today I decided I think it might be possible to go sub 4. My garmin seems to think I can do it in 3:50 which is encouraging (even though I've heard Garmin can be pretty optimistic). I've put my data into runalyze and it says right now I should be able to do it in 4:05. I'm leaving for vacation for a couple weeks and will start actual training in mid Jume which will give me 26 weeks to get ready. Anyway I'm just posting this here so that hopefully in December I can come back to it and give a good report.
TLDR: 44 year old Dad thinks (hopes) he can run first marathon in sub 4 :)
So I recently got a Garmin forerunner 55 to help track my miles, HR etc and it has the "race predictions" on it. I have heard from a lot of people that these, on average, tend to be pretty optimistic but it's been kind of fun watching the race time predictions get faster with the more run data it collects. This is my first marathon and I am definitely a beginner but my goal is to get 4:30. Well my Garmin is predicting a 4:01:04 and so now my goal (in training) is to get a sub 4 race prediction and I figure that should give me hope that my actual race time will be around 4:30 ha ha.
So I recently got a Garmin forerunner 55 to help track my miles, HR etc and it has the "race predictions" on it. I have heard from a lot of people that these, on average, tend to be pretty optimistic but it's been kind of fun watching the race time predictions get faster with the more run data it collects. This is my first marathon and I am definitely a beginner but my goal is to get 4:30. Well my Garmin is predicting a 4:01:04 and so now my goal (in training) is to get a sub 4 race prediction and I figure that should give me hope that my actual race time will be around 4:30 ha ha.