Running • Page 111

Hell yeah, congrats Garrett! A PR is sweet in any situation, but it's especially awesome when you think you don't have it in the tank and then you run way better than you ever expected. Celebrate this one.

 

Thanks! My chip malfunctioned (yay rain) so they had to manually figure out my time. Literally a photo finish. 1:51:19 is now my official race PR (my Strava said 1:51:18). I ran a training 1:50:10 last fall, but I've heard training PRs don't really count since it's not verifiable by anything other than your tracking app, which I'm okay with.

 

I think I come from a different era of running, but if I ran the time (in a race or not) that would be my PR. It wasn’t all that long ago that electronic tracking was not all that widespread.

 

There are PRs I've run in time trial situations that I count as my PRs, mostly for distances I just don't race very often, like 10-milers. But I think that stuff can count.

 

I think it stems from the fact you can only qualify for the Majors and Olympics on chip time.

 

I’ve been doing some research on getting my time down to a BQ time, and it seems the consensus is that to go sub-2:55 (effectively my BQ time for the next 9 years) it will take me 2-4 years of dedicated training.

Seems like the milestones for measured and safe increases are:

1:40 half (which was the goal I set for this year; current PR: 1:51:19)
3:30 full (current PR: 3:58:35)
1:25 half
3:15 full
1:17 half
2:55 full

It’s daunting, but it doesn’t feel out of reach (yet). I suppose I know what I’ll be doing the remainder of Trump’s presidency. Maybe start looking into races to vacation around in places I’ve not been.

I’ve heard Indy is a great one to try and PR/BQ at.

 

That all seems logical, but you could also go the Revol marathon series route haha. Not sure how those are BQ's, but people are laying some pretty ridiculous PR's down on those courses.

On a serious note, I would push back a little bit on the half times. I would also say that for a lot of people, going from 3:15 to 2:55 for a full may not be realistic. Most people I know get stuck there for a few cycles. Obviously, not everyone. Just a couple of my observations.

 

Yeah, I don’t think it’s a linear ever next race is a PR set up. But just that’s how you can see where you’re “supposed” to be in the process. It took me two years to go from 4:48 to 3:58, but first I took my half from 2:15 to 1:57 to 1:51 in between.

If I get to my 39th birthday and haven’t BQd but I’m close, cool. Out to Snoqualmia haha. I think that’s the big Revol.

I know charity entries are always an option, but given the economy for the next few years, don’t want to take that route.

 

Indy is where my sister ran her PR. 2:46. That was 2019, and she missed the women’s OTQ standard by a minute. So yes, it’s a fast course!

If you’re serious about this goal, the number 1 piece of advice I can give you is to commit to upping your volume. It looks like you’re in the 15-20 mpw territory right now. If you can get that up to 30-40, with one workout and one long run per week in there, just that extra time on feet is going to do so much to drop your times.

 

Yeah, that’s on my to do list. I was in the 35-45 range most of last year for the two fulls. This spring has been lower with my ankles acting up. I’m thinking I probably need to get into that ~50 window to truly make a jump in times.

 

Walking around Boston on Marathon Monday is only making me more determined to qualify for this race

 

I wasn't expecting to feel race FOMO this morning after a rather traumatic racing experience at Boston last year, but I totally did. Might plot a return trip for next year or the year after.

Had a few friends who had amazing days out there this morning, so that's always super fun to track throughout the race.

 

I’ve been saying I only need to run it once but I have a feeling once I’ve run it once it’s gonna turn into a recurring goal

 

I set a goal to run it by 40. So I have three years to time qualify or figure out a way to raise $10k for charity

 

I’d ideally like to qualify before I age up from the < 35 group, so I’ve got ~6 years left to do it

 

I basically have to go sub-3 if I want to qualify before I age into the 45-49 group in 9 years. So that’s really my window. But setting the goal for by 40 (so my last chance would be April 2029) gives me something to chase the entirety of the Trump presidency so I have an outlet.

 

Does anyone have any tips for managing Achilles tendinitis? I’ve had it on and off since last summer and it’s honestly the single biggest barrier in my training right now

 

How long were you out for before running again? That’s often an overuse injury in running. I would look at the usual suspects. Mileage and intensity increases. Shoes. And then more likely, a weakness in hips and core. Very well could be a result of overcompensating for some other weakness. So looking at things like cross training, strength training, yoga, stretching, etc.

 

Thank you! Took about 5 months fully off over the winter. Was hoping it would be enough but definitely starting to think I need to look at changing some things about my training habits

 

i dealt with chronic achilles tendonitis for like 6 months last year. someone recommended shockwave therapy and that along with a few weeks rest cured me. it's not super cheap but i think it was definitely worth it.

 

What kind of mileage and intensity are you doing? I would think five months would have been sufficient. Do you do any strength or cross training? Are you someone that stretches?

 

I was doing about 50-55mpw before I stopped. I’ve been closer to 20mpw since getting back to it this spring. I do a strength training session about once a week (general full body gym workout) but don’t really cross train and don’t stretch so that might be the first area for me to look at honestly