marathon man

[fatcat216]

Goal deferred/revised. No harm in that whatsoever. Sounds completely sensible. The impression you've made on this side of the ocean is a good one.

I mean, you could be like one of those psychotic endurance junkees who run and run and run, faster and harder than they have any business doing.... for longer than is sensible....just so they can get their crack....More whacked out on their fitness mantras than any Jesus Freak or Hare Krishna ....until eventually you see them dragging their gimp leg behind them in the forest....Their friends all too junkeed up on endorphins to notice at first...but eventually Even They want to pull out their revolvers and put the lame Gimp-Beast out of its misery...

You definitely don't want to be one of those nutjobs.... :coocoo: :coocoo: They are out there.

Naah.

Sounds to me like you have a great revised goal and a workable plan- which- outside of dumb luck- is the key to success in, well, pretty much ANYTHING. (Besides, a longer time frame for distance running adaptation is better than what you had devised anyway.) This is a great example for anyone setting worthy goals of any sort...That they are always subject to revision. Deferred, revised, not abandoned. Personally...I've had to abandon at least a couple in my day. ;)

Just an FYI... I ran my first marathon at 38. Never even had it on my to-do list until then, to be honest. Best races at 39 & 40. I know a guy (a judge, actually, not that that has anything to do with the price of tea in China or the Midwest) who was running marathons in his 40's, stopped for awhile, came back in his late 50's... PRed at 60...According to him... after his kids all graduated high school. And he claims eating right didn't hurt, I guess. Lol. Not a bad idea, if a little over the top crazy!

oh...and I bought my first dirtbike at 46. Another thing that wasn't a part of any plan. I'm sure there are plenty of folks that made a less than favorable impression on. ha ha ha.

Life's full of interesting twists and turns. Ya just never know.

 

[friar tuck]

Is that judges name Eddy?

 

[fatcat216]

Friar Tuck: I'm afraid the judge in question was not Eddy.

MaxRevvs: I just reread this whole thread. A lot of good stuff here. Thanks so much. Hopefully you won't mind me wishing Badgerman good luck at Traverse City this weekend!

Badgerman: Very cool. :cool:

(The pics on the marathon site look similar in scenery to Grandma's marathon in Duluth MN. Maybe a little flatter.) Please let us know how it goes.

 

[maxrevs666]

no problem guys, noramlly I inspire people to better themselves , because they take one look at me and think "I dont wanna end up like that guy!" LOL just kidding. my work here is done!

 

[BadgerMan]

(The pics on the marathon site look similar in scenery to Grandma's marathon in Duluth MN. Maybe a little flatter.) Please let us know how it goes.

Will do.......I'll be back online Monday. Yes, it is a beautiful and flat (fast) course. I ran it two years ago for my first marathon. However, I did not see much of the scenery as I was looking down at the road most of the time, LOL! I am hoping this one will be more pleasurable.

BTW, I have run in Duluth a few times as my job takes me there on occasion. The trail along the lake shore is beautiful. :nod:

 

[Timmay#678]

This thread is alive and kicking again! :cool: My 5miles didn't go to plan at all, I woke up with a horrible cold the morning of the run, felt terrible and dicided that subjecting my already unfit body to a 5mile race was not a good idea. So I went down to a local mx meeting and took photos instead!
I'm back on track now again though, I've a big mountain running race in 2 wks, its part of a relay race over 60-70miles, I've to do a really hilly 7miles leg! I'm using this to get my fitness back up 100%, after this race it'll be flatout on the track for me again trying to salvage some sort of descent 800m time this summer!
I'll be back hitting the practice tracks on the bike in 2/3wks, there was a practice on in a lovely sandy track on saturday, I was soooo temped to go down to it and ride :ride: , but weak arm + no bikes in 7wks + tough sandy track would have spelt disaster :uh:

 

[fatcat216]

Timmay! :cool: right back atcha. I was wondering about your race and your 800 times!

I had an opportunity to do one of those 24 hour mountain relays back when was I running well. Except it was out near Portland, Oregon. I'm not exactly near there....so I put it off because of $$$...In retrospect it wasn't a great decision. I'm really envious. At least I was smart enough to run Boston when I had the chance. ;) I've been running in the woods here - up the bluffs- basically with the same goal of crash coursing some lung/heart capacity.. All I've managed to do is take that same killer cold you are talking about and drive it into my chest. Oh well, at least my head doesn't feel like it's going to explode.


Given the calamity that is my body....I completely love hearing you young guys talk about trying to balance these things!!!- especially your comments about the kiss of death on sand. Most of my first rides were on sand in Jackson Co.. I had many an atv-er offering to give me hand because I looked like I was in trouble. Talk about pathetic. Lol. My arms would get tired indeed!! I was way too chicken to give it the throttle the sand warranted. Now they've closed those trails to us, so I can't even see if I've improved. :(

This thread is really making me want to ride more and run more.
You keep this up Timmay and I'll be taking my walker over to the track to see how fast I can thump out those 200s! MX has to wait at least a year, unfortunately. :p

 

[fatcat216]

Badgerman... unless you entered that thing under your DRN alter ego I'm not gonna be able to guess whether some guy from Michigan ran a 3:26ish at Traverse City....

So???? Were the running gods kind to you??

 

[BadgerMan]

Badgerman... unless you entered that thing under your DRN alter ego I'm not gonna be able to guess whether some guy from Michigan ran a 3:26ish at Traverse City....

So???? Were the running gods kind to you??

3:35:57........15 minutes better than my previous PR. I went ahead with the plan to run 8:00/miles and held that pace until about mile 18 when it started to slip away from me. I am a little dissappointed that I missed the 3:30:59 BQ target but I will try again this fall. Overall, I am very pleased with the improvement. The race was no easier than my three previous efforts.......it just did not last as long, LOL!

Even more interestingly, my wife (Sweeprider) also ran the event (her first marathon ever) and finished with a BQ 3:58! :cool:

 

[fatcat216]

Congratulations to both of you!! Sweeprider :worship: : you definitely need to go do Boston!! It's an interesting race. The crowds know zero about running, but approach cheering with unparalleled zeal. Don't let anyone tell you to wear your name on your shirt. Trust me, when you are in a full body cramp at say, mile 21 or 22, the crowds are six deep, both sides of the street...but your legs are truly frozen in charlie horses.. yet they keep chanting your name to keep running...you'll want to say an unkind thing or two to those fantastic Boston fans. ;) It isn't pretty. lol. (One of those little things you just don't anticipate.)

:yeehaw: Way to go you two! :yeehaw:

 

[fatcat216]

hey Timmay (et al.)

Listening to some marathoners jabbering on a different 2 wheel forum made me think of this thread. Time to check in with everyone, see if there are others setting fall goals.

How goes the mid summer races? Or are you strictly mxing til xc? The arm okay?

 

[Timmay#678]

Hi fatcat. I just remembered about this thread today! The arm has fully recovered, I have about 70% of the strength back, but more importantly I have the full range of movement back. I certainly can't complain about a full recovery in just 3months!

Yeh, Mx has kind of taken over these days, I even picked up a 2nd bike (03 cr125), Mx is all about fun!!! But anyway, after not doing much running at all for the last few weeks (maybe a run a week), I dicided to do a local 5k race on the track. I was feeling very out of place before it, and alot of the other lads who are useally behind me were thinking they would finally get one over me :bang: . I set off easy enough, not really wanting to burn myself out, due to the lack of fitness, but amazinly felt good during the race, and I was able to push on strong during the race, and moved into a comfortable 4th place. Mentally it was a tough 2nd to the race, I really had to dig deep to hang on, but I did!

From feeling like rubbish before the race, wondering why I was there, and really not looking forward to 12.5 laps of hell are the track, I had a great race to finish in 18.11mins, which is only 50seconds off my PB, despite no training. It really hammered home why I do athletics, and the kick and buzz you get out of pushing your body to the limit!

 

[fatcat216]

Timmay- I'm green with envy on all counts- the mx, the cr, and the awesome day on the track. That's a sweet 5k time. Psyche.

This gal I work with who recently discovered running is giving me the chuckles. I think I've coached 6th graders who understand the physiology of running better than this lady. She's running 42 miles a week, knocked off a half marathon never having run more than 6.2 miles, had never done a track workout, doesn't want to have to take a day off. A running junkee ready made for me to hand some even better endorphin dope to.

And she's so freaking sincere!!!!- Coaching her is like talking to a Suzy Sunshine Heroine Addict whose world is all ponies & rainbows & hearts, gently tying the rubber tubing around her arm and shooting her up with smack while she smiles sweetly at you.....Lol. Good Gawd. Alas... It is my duty. I must not shirk it. Speedwork=mmmm good.

Today I had about 2 mins to try to explain WHY a person does speedwork and the general premise. She nodded and smiled and thanked me, but, I'm pretty darn sure she was completely clueless. She is the kind of person you just give a schedule to and forget trying to explain the science of it.....So long as I draw little smiley faces and bunny rabbits on it, she'll do anything I say with zeal and have no idea whether she did good or bad. Lol. Power is so wicked.

Edit: (the real story)
Actually, all kidding aside, it's pretty neat how this lady- somewhere in her late 30s, first began walking, then ran a little, then a little more, then a little more, til now she runs 6.2 miles every single day. She lost 40 pounds, a weight problem that she had since childhood. Kids had the usual unkind nicknames for her based on being a little overweight. Now, she's got her sights set on qualifying for the Boston marathon...or at least running a marathon when she turns 40. Pretty neat goals. She's learning, and it is way cool. I bet there are a lot of people out there who say they can't, just because they haven't. It's fun to watch them discover they can- whether it be running or dirtbiking. ;)

Dirtbikers are a lot like marathoners. Kind of unique outlook on the world and themselves. :cool:

Congrats again on the track time- both mx and two legs. Thanks for the reports. :cool: Post up after your next race.