Very nice tempo run today:
Mile 1: 8:18 (warmup)
Mile 2: 7:21 (BIG hill)
Mile 3: 7:08
Mile 4: 6:56
Mile 5: 7:01 (mostly uphill)
Mile 6: 8:33 (cooldown)
It went better than I expected. This was the last fast workout before my 5K on 04/03. My goal is 20:30, but I just have a feeling that if everything clicks together, I might have shot to get really close to 20 minutes.
Wednesday, March 24
Tuesday, March 23
Interesting post on runnersworld.com, about something that has long bothered me:
Mileage Inflation: Where Will It End?
Pretty much anyone can "run" a marathon on virtually no training. Most marathon courses are open for at least 8 hours. I can walk 6 kilometers an hour, and I have done it, hiking, for many hours on hiking trails with a backpack. Once, well before my recent running times, I hiked 55 kilometers in 11 hours. So my point is that it is not a big deal to walk at a speed of 6 km/hr on the road, no obstacle, no climbing, no backpack, and with an aid station in every two miles for only 7 hours. Because this way you finish a marathon in about 7 hours, well before the course is closing.
Certainly, the fact, that you move a certain a way that you call "running" doesn't impress me, if your "running" is not faster that my walking. In the international rules of the road running races there is no requirement about the technique. You just move any way you want - just get to the finish line as fast as you can.
If you've been reading this blog, you may remember that I made a firm decision before I started to prepare for my marathon - I wanted to do it in 4 hours. I still think that that should be the requirement for some real accomplishment. In fact, no that I've done it, I think that it isn't that big of deal until you qualify for Boston. Now that is something.
I'm running another 5K in less than two weeks. My dream would be to break 20 minutes, but I'll be satisfied with 20:30 for now. And I'm telling you: running a sub-20 5K is *much* harder than running a marathon in 5-6 hours. You probably also need more training for the former (even in terms of mileage).
Mileage Inflation: Where Will It End?
Pretty much anyone can "run" a marathon on virtually no training. Most marathon courses are open for at least 8 hours. I can walk 6 kilometers an hour, and I have done it, hiking, for many hours on hiking trails with a backpack. Once, well before my recent running times, I hiked 55 kilometers in 11 hours. So my point is that it is not a big deal to walk at a speed of 6 km/hr on the road, no obstacle, no climbing, no backpack, and with an aid station in every two miles for only 7 hours. Because this way you finish a marathon in about 7 hours, well before the course is closing.
Certainly, the fact, that you move a certain a way that you call "running" doesn't impress me, if your "running" is not faster that my walking. In the international rules of the road running races there is no requirement about the technique. You just move any way you want - just get to the finish line as fast as you can.
If you've been reading this blog, you may remember that I made a firm decision before I started to prepare for my marathon - I wanted to do it in 4 hours. I still think that that should be the requirement for some real accomplishment. In fact, no that I've done it, I think that it isn't that big of deal until you qualify for Boston. Now that is something.
I'm running another 5K in less than two weeks. My dream would be to break 20 minutes, but I'll be satisfied with 20:30 for now. And I'm telling you: running a sub-20 5K is *much* harder than running a marathon in 5-6 hours. You probably also need more training for the former (even in terms of mileage).
Thursday, March 18
Let me make it official now what my long term goals are in running, so I can be held accountable later, and I can also look them up! :)
We exchanged a few emails with a friend of mine lately, and we discussed running goals. My very long term goal is to qualify for the Boston Marathon. For my age and gender, this would be a time 3:15 (from next year, and it is quite clear that qualifying this year is out of the question anyway). Type this into the runnersworld.com training calculator to get equivalent times on different distances. Round down the times to whole minutes; this is what you get:
5K: 20:00
10K: 42:00
Half marathon: 1:33
Marathon: 3:15
I'll try to achieve them in this order, because as one gets older, they slow down on the shorter distances first.
We exchanged a few emails with a friend of mine lately, and we discussed running goals. My very long term goal is to qualify for the Boston Marathon. For my age and gender, this would be a time 3:15 (from next year, and it is quite clear that qualifying this year is out of the question anyway). Type this into the runnersworld.com training calculator to get equivalent times on different distances. Round down the times to whole minutes; this is what you get:
5K: 20:00
10K: 42:00
Half marathon: 1:33
Marathon: 3:15
I'll try to achieve them in this order, because as one gets older, they slow down on the shorter distances first.
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