Calling all PCF runners (2 Viewers)

[Mr Winberg]

Oh, and one last piece of advice from her: When you're getting really tired and you're having a hard time focusing, then at the very least focus on #1. Otherwise, you'll fall back with your ass which costs a lot of energy.

 

[Mr Winberg]

 

[Mr Winberg]

 

[Mr Winberg]

I competed in a half marathon yesterday, my first ever in a race setting. The course was really beautiful (but hilly! 250 meters where climbed!) and the weather was hot and sunny. That's how I like it! Maybe cooler weather is better for running, but I just love a hard run in the hot sun!

I was aiming for sub 1:35 so I was very pleased to cross the finishing line at 1:34:28.

 

[Eriks]

Very impressive! I’ve done one in 1:38:59 but that was Stockholm half marathon on asphalt and fairly flat

 

[Mr Winberg]

What shoes do y’all use?

I've used Brooks Adrenaline since about 2014-ish. I learned this summer that it's good to have several pairs because:

1. You become less injury prone if you use several models because you'll be running with more variation.
2. You'll extend the life of each shoe because they get more time to return to their intended shape
3. Most importantly: MOAR shoes!!

I bought a pair of Saucony Endorphin Speed 3 to use for speedwork and races, while my adrenaline will be used for recovery runs, easy runs and long runs.

The Saucony feel great! What a difference! I used them in the half marathon, I had not have run sub 1:35 in my Brooks, that's for sure!

They felt so great that I went and bought the Saucony Endorphin Pro 3 as well. Almost like the Speed, but lighter and with a carbon plate. Those will be my race shoes.

I don't really like my adrenalines any more, they now feel like bricks. Any suggestion to fill that gap? I'd like something soft for the gentle recovery runs.

Maybe next year though, I might just trick myself into believing it's a good idea

That's a good idea!!

zone 2 which on my watch is set to between 148 to 165. I have no idea if that is right for me

Lol, that was way too high. I've changed to 121-141.

 

[Mr Winberg]

Finally!! A sub 40 minute 10k!!

 

[Eriks]

Wow! Deeply impressed (and jealous)

 

[Mr Winberg]

I'll be running a marathon relay next Sunday. Each team has 3 members who together will run a marathon. There are 19 laps of 2225 meters where you have to change runner each lap.

I've never done this before. Any thoughts on strategy? What I'm thinking is:

• Run harder than you think. You'll have around 15 minutes of rest, if not more, so you should be able to recover.
• Don't sprint at the end of each lap, I think that might worsen the recovery each lap. Except your last lap, of course
• Never sit down between laps. Keep moving!

Thoughts? Has anyone done anything similar?

 

[Eriks]

So basically 6 or 7 x 2,25km intervals with a really long recovery period between each. No, can’t say I have done anything like that. I would guess that going fast is correct (at or faster than 5k pace) and not getting too comfortable in recovery as well.

 

[Mr Winberg]

Me and one in the team did a training run on the course where the relay will be. The plan was a 15 minute warm-up jog to the course followed by 3 laps (2225m each) with about 8 minutes active rest in between (easy jogging), then a recovery jog back.

One thing we both learned is that we can't just go crazy. We started at about 3:20 pace (minutes per kilometer) which dropped to 4:20 within 3 minutes of the first lap! Not a good way to start! I was spent after the first lap!

After the active recovery it felt okey-ish, and I paced myself a lot more on the second lap, but the damage was already done. We couldn't do one more. Defeated, we recovery jogged our way back to the office.

My average pace was 4:03 on the first and 4:06 on the second. One and a half weeks ago I did 3:59 for 10km. So the new strategy will to calm the f#ck down! I'll try to run each lap with negative splits, i.e., slower at the start of the laps. That way I'm in control, I can always accelerate towards the end but if I start too fast my whole day could be ruined.

Oh, and also to warm up thoroughly! Not just getting warm, but to get that puls up! The first lap should not be the first puls chock of the day!

#hubris
#lessonslearned

 

[Mr Winberg]

The Marathon Relay was an absolute blast!! If you ever get a chance to do something similar, take it!

I googled a bit, every hit I got was about dividing a marathon between team members. But then it's still a solitary race where you run once and that's it. What made this really fun was that you got to run so many times, each run being short enough for some good speed but long enough to punish you if you pushed too hard. Also, getting to mingle with your team mates and other racers between runs was great fun!

(Image courtesy of Andreas Strand, all rights reserved. Still unclear if The Chip Guide holds any rights to it though.)

Race Report
19 laps, 2225 meters each. Our team had a sub 40 min 10k runner (me), a sub 45 and a sub 50. We got the job done in 3h and 2 minutes and finished 16th of 44. I took 7 of the laps:

Lap time / pace (min/km)
8:46 - 3:56
8:58 - 4:02
8:57 - 4:01
8:48 - 3:57
9:00 - 4:03
9:15 - 4:09
8:57 - 4:01

My average pace was 4:01, I'm a little disappointed that I missed the 4 min mark but I'm still happy with my performance. In general I think that a 10k pace is what you should aim for in this race. A 5k pace is probably optimistic.

Starting our last lap of the race:

 

[Mr Winberg]

Last race of the year will be a local half marathon tomorrow. It's a two lap marathon, but you could register for one lap as well and I'm not up for the full distance.

It'll be chilly, here's the forecast in celcius, the half marathon races start at 11:30.

(About 40° Fahrenheit)

What should I wear?? When asking around I've been recommended everything from long tights, long shirt, tshirt on top of the shirt, hat and gloves to "the same as if it was 25°! Short tights and a singlet!". What does the brain trust here say?

My pb is

1:34:28

My goal for this race is sub 1:30. That pb was from a hilly course while this race is flat. Plus I think I'm in better shape now. Fingers crossed!!

 

[Eriks]

the same as if it was 25°! Short tights and a singlet!

+1

 

[Mr Winberg]

+1

...and you noticed the strong "nordanvindarna"?

 

[Eriks]

...and you noticed the strong "nordanvindarna"?

Ok maybe a t-shirt

 

[Mr Winberg]

I chickened out and went for

long tights, long shirt, tshirt on top of the shirt, hat and gloves

There were some heroes there with shorts and singlet, but with the strong, ice cold northern winds I'm happy with my choice.

Race Report
My pb was 1:34:28 at a hilly race. I wanted to run this half marathon in sub 1h30min which means an average pace below 4:16 min/km (6:52 min/mile) so I started optimistic, running at around a 4:12-4:15 pace. The winds really helped the first 1/3rd since we were running south, so when we turned north I was down at a 4:10 average pace! I was sure of success at this point.

But the head wind was bitch! My worst km heading north was 4:31. My average pace slowly but surely got destroyed like a nit's chip stack in a short handed ante tournament! I was really worried at this point, how far will it go? Was my great start just an illusion? It didn't help either that my runner's knee started acting up or that I nearly drowned at a water station (I suck at drinking while running)!

But through pure grit I managed to contain the damage. The average pace had only dropped to 4:15 when I was back to the same latitude as the start. I now knew I had a great chance at sub 1:30, but not at anything better.

But at 16km something magical happened!! The best thing that can happen during a race! I got overtaken by someone running just slighty faster than me! And y'all know what that means!! Hello OoC thread, 'cause I road his ass like there was no tomorrow!! I kept at it as long and as hard as I could and managed to keep his ~4:05 pace for 2.5 km before I had to let him go, releasing him to do his run of shame (without buying him dinner, that's how I roll).

With about 2.5 km left I now knew I was close to greatness as long as I could keep it together. My right hip flexers hurt and my runner's knee was killing me, but I kept about a 4:14 pace until the final hundred meter sprint which my clock claims to have been at 3:01!

The result...

1:28:56!!! People in the finishing area started laughing when they heard my breath deprived cheer! Must have sounded like someone was choking on Zoloft pills! I just couldn't believe it, DID THIS JUST HAPPEN?!?

Not that I care that much, but I finished 23rd out of 108 starters. This race doesn't attract too many racers, probably due to it being in October in a cold climate. It mostly attracts running enthusiasts, not your average Joes.

This was the last race for me this year and I'm SUPER happy with it!!!

 

[Eriks]

Wow! Congrats, amazing job!

 

[Eriks]

Working on rejoining the contributing side of this thread. Ran 5k and change today and on Wednesday, and the back still feels fine.

 

[Mr Winberg]

Working on rejoining the contributing side of this thread. Ran 5k and change today and on Wednesday, and the back still feels fine.

That's great news!!

 

[Mr Winberg]

Maybe next year though, I might just trick myself into believing it's a good idea

It's a really good idea!

 

[Eriks]

I don’t wanna jinx it too much but I’ve been back in the trainers again lately. Did the first 10k of the year last weekend.

 

[4SUMERZ]

I "run" out of chips...does that count?

 

[Highli99]

Finished my first marathon in about 6 years! Coastal Delaware Running festival! Totally beautiful day!! My kids the did the 9k and only one of them puked at the finish line In fairness to that one the other two were riding in a double bob lol

Happy with my time and sore AF. I mostly trained on a treadmill while playing online poker with quite a few PCF degens. Thanks guys!! You made my 20 mile Friday night training runs fly by!!

 

[Eriks]

Finished my first marathon in about 6 years! Coastal Delaware Running festival! Totally beautiful day!! My kids the did the 9k and only one of them puked at the finish line In fairness to that one the other two were riding in a double bob lol


View attachment 1311728
Happy with my time and sore AF. I mostly trained on a treadmill while playing online poker with quite a few PCF degens. Thanks guys!! You made my 20 mile Friday night training runs fly by!!

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Great job, hats off to you! Very impressed with the little 9k-champs as well, that’s quite the feat!

 

[WedgeRock]

Finished my first marathon in about 6 years! Coastal Delaware Running festival! Totally beautiful day!! My kids the did the 9k and only one of them puked at the finish line In fairness to that one the other two were riding in a double bob lol


View attachment 1311728
Happy with my time and sore AF. I mostly trained on a treadmill while playing online poker with quite a few PCF degens. Thanks guys!! You made my 20 mile Friday night training runs fly by!!

View attachment 1311723

Anything sub 4:00:00 is a great time. Congrats!

 

[Mr Winberg]

New 10k PB!!

There was a race on Tuesday! After a winter and spring with good training and only 1 minor injury I managed to cut 9 seconds from my old record, finishing at 39:43.

There's no real race report to give. A controlled start with a negative split strategy, I kicked into gear at 6km, then up another notch at 8. That's about it.

There was a funny incident at the start, though! The countdown had started when a runner shows up, rushing back from his warm up in like a 3:30 pace or something! We start shouting like "hurry, you're cutting it close!!"! My wife caught it on camera

Stockholm Marathon 6 days away, I'm super excited!! Fingers crossed that I won't get sick or something...

 

[Eriks]

10k jogg in the heat
How in the mofoing hell did you do a marathon pb in this temperature??? @Mr Winberg

 

[Mr Winberg]

10k jogg in the heat
How in the mofoing hell did you do a marathon pb in this temperature??? @Mr Winberg

View attachment 1349135

with much suffering!

 

[Mr Winberg]

I realize I never did a race report for Stockholm Marathon! My second ever marathon.

I arrived in Stockholm the day before the race and did a short run to get the muscles ready and to do some cultural sightseeing:

The plan for the race was pretty simple. Run at a little under a 5:00 min/km pace (~8:00 min/mile) and I'll run a sub 3h30min race. I am very good at sticking to a plan, I never get carried away or let emotions take over!

But after the first km I thought "Naaaaw, screw it!! This feels great, I'll run at a 4:30 pace (~7:15), no problem!! 28°C (~80F) heat, no problem! What could possibly go wrong!?"

After about 12 k's I had to slow down to about 5:00. At about half marathon I started to realize that I was an idiot. A stupid f#cking idiot. After 30 k's I was totally spent, the pace was down to about 6 min (~9:40).

Still gotta smile for those cameras though!!

The heat was overwhelming. At one point I started to freeze like I was taking a cold shower! Not a good sign!

At the 40km mark there was a watch showing 3h 30min 25s. I realized that if I just stopped feeling sorry for myself for 2.2 km I could run sub 3h40min. I ran as fast as I could! It wasn't more painful than running slow, just differently painful, if that makes sense. Closing in on the finishing line helps of course. Anyway, I got there in 3:38:48!

It feels like I through my inexperience missed the result I was looking for, but I am very happy with the last km's and my new PB.