Double

I've been a little busy this week-end. I ran a half marathon on Saturday. I ran another half marathon today. If you ran the double, they gave you a third medal.

Not a Sub 2-Hour Marathon

So yesterday I posted a link about running a sub 2-hour marathon. One additional note for success is avoiding Beijing as the site of your run.

This is what it's like to run a marathon in Beijing http://t.co/2x9RgL4o02 pic.twitter.com/PIrconVTRU
— i100 (@thei100) October 19, 2014

Sub 2-Hour Marathon

What will it take to run a sub-two hour marathon? Someone faster than me.

DC Rainmaker's Handy Tools & Apps Page

A good list of various on-line tools for runners, cyclists, etc. For example, I've used this one to download all my Garmin data since there isn't a way to do a bulk backup of it from the Garmin Connect website. A foolish oversight if you ask me.

The Stick

The last few months, I've developed some calf cramps during my runs. I tried using my big foam roller to work them out, but there is either too little pressure, too much pressure (if I cross my legs), or I can't hold myself up long enough to work out the cramp.

Many of my runner friends had recommended The Stick as a good tool to focus on a muscle area. I don't know why I didn't listen to them sooner! This thing is a miracle worker. I got mine at Runner's Market here in Knoxville. They recommended the firmer one saying it would last longer. (They had several versions of The Stick sitting around and the flexible ones were in much worse shape.) You can apply as much pressure as you are comfortable with and just roll it over the sore muscle 25-30 times. I've gotten immediate relief and had fewer problems since I started using it.

(I'll get my usual million dollar kick-back if you order one from Amazon, but I want to mention I am not otherwise getting compensated for making these glowing/gushing statements about The Stick. Sorry for the commercial, but I just like it that much!)

Running Man

Add an 11 pound jet pack and run faster...


Via The Blaze

Triathlon

I completed a triathlon yesterday. I ran, swam, and mowed.

Running Ham

Not bad, but I still want something iPod sized.

It's never the wrong time for #hamradio, neither when #running! #hamr #hamradio_ita #vhf #qrp #portable #iamarunner pic.twitter.com/GDu6LqVYF4
— Christian Diemoz (@Chris_Diemoz) July 20, 2014

Bad Dog

Past My Prime

I knew I was past my prime, but now data!

"In summary, endurance runners obtained their best performance in the marathon at 27 years in men and 29 in women. Thus, elite marathon runners should program their long-term training to obtain maximal performance during their late 20s."

Via The Blaze 

National Running Day

Today is National Running Day.

Tiny 2M Receiver

I was running the other day while listening to my iPod and was wishing I had a 2M receiver in that form factor. I thought it would be nice to listen to have the option of listening to the repeaters. (Even a UV-3R would be too big for my ideal running companion.) My 6th generation iPod Nano uses the headphone wire as the antenna, but I prefer the physical buttons of my 2nd generation iPod Shuffle. Being able to easily start or stop a scan while on the move would be great. And while I am dreaming, I want to use CHIRP to load the repeater frequencies.

Anybody seen anything close to what I'm talking about? Am I the only one that would be interested in this sort of device?

(This reddit post got me thinking about this again. I think about lots of things while I run, but that's not the best time for me to record them for later.)

Shoes II

In case there is any doubt, I really like these shoes. Time to toss the two pair that are the most worn out. After looking at all of them, I think I can get a few more miles out of the oldest pair because I changed how I run and the wear pattern is different. The third pair has about 500 miles on them including the 26.2 from the marathon.

Marathon Results

Well, I hit my silver goal by running a marathon in less than 4 hours. That puts me in the top 25% for my age group at the Knoxville Marathon. (The winner finished in under 2.4 hours.) I'll take it - especially since it was a huge improvement over 2012. And I ran the whole way without having to stop to walk at all.

I started out too fast and as a result I struggled the last few miles. It was hard to slow down when I was being passed by so many people - most of which I strongly suspect were running the half. I saw several friends along the way. I even ran with one for about two miles which was a nice break/distraction. I made a new friend around mile 18 and ran with him until about mile 23. He needed me to help slow him down and maintain his pace. I needed him to pull me a long. He left me around mile 23 when I started to fade and he started to push.

I really did just have to grind it out from 23 on. I kept playing mind games...

- just a 5k left
- just 2 miles
- 1 mile
- up this hill, down this hill, and up a hill to finish
- doing the math assuming a 10 min pace (that's a nice round number for someone who is not functioning mentally at full capacity) to see what my time would be when I finished

After I stopped, I felt okay except for my shoulder. It was really hurting. I must have tensed it up because of the cool weather. Some heat, food, shower, ibuprofen, and laying down for a couple of hours and I was good as new. I only have a little soreness in one quad.

A couple of notes..

Many of the spectators near the end of the race are liars. Even at mile 25, they kept telling me that I was "looking good." I'm quite certain that was not true.

There were the usual signs along the course. This one, held by my daughter, was my favorite. She's a rascal, but I only have myself to blame.

Marathon

I'll be running 26.2 miles on Sunday with about 7,000 runners who are doing the Knoxville Marathon, Half, or 5k. My personal goals are:

3:50 - Gold
4:00 - Silver
4:07 - Bronze

Even my "bronze" time puts me at a minute per mile faster than my first marathon. That's a lot faster, but to put this in perspective, I would need to finish in 3:15 to qualify for the Boston Marathon.

Beat the Blerch

A destination race... Beat the Blerch 10k/Half/Full Marathon in September that includes "large quantities of birthday cake at every aid station, in addition to Nutella and magical grape beverages."

Double Boston for Charity

I was patting myself on the back for the improvement in my running. Anything I have done pales in comparison to this... A Knoxville runner is going to do a Double Boston Marathon. He's going to begin at the finish and run to the start. Then he will complete the marathon with everyone else going from start to finish. That's 52.4 miles. And he's doing it to raise money for some people that were injured in the bombing last year. The couple has connections to Knoxville. Wow.

Running

I'm a better runner than I was two years ago. I've run a lot more miles and I've been doing work-outs besides just running. I'm also a smarter runner.

When I was training for the marathon in 2012, my longest training run was 20 miles. My fastest mile was the first mile and the difference between the fastest and slowest mile was more than 3.5 minutes. (I tossed out one data point that would have made it even worse, but I was probably stuck at a cross walk.)

This year, I've completed one 20 mile run so far. On average, it was about 40 secs faster per mile than the similar run in 2012. What really strikes me (and this is where the smarter comes in), was that my pace varied only by 15 seconds from fastest to slowest. There were two exceptions, but they were the last two miles where I intentionally sped up to see what I had left in the tank.

So in 2012, I got slower as I went and was half-dead when I finished. This year, I maintained my speed until I decided to speed up and I could have run further.

I'm optimistic about my potential for a good result at the Knoxville Marathon in a few weeks.

146.52 Sticker

I'm going to get one of these 146.52 stickers to go with my 26.2 sticker.

Hams will wonder why I won't respond and runners will think I am much tougher than I am.

Running

I ran today. I ran more miles (13) than the temperature this morning (12 degrees American).

At least I didn't have this problem.