kaburns1214 Mentor Group 2011 Part 2 - CLOSED (Page 215)

You're complaining about warm weather?  LOL  I'd take some of that.  I HATE the winter months.  Wished I lived in southern California or Atlanta or Carolinas. 

If anyone wants to see what a cross races looks like by Hr and such

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/128225817

there is a neat link.  It was my Masters 2-3-4 race, i got 10th out of 50

Eh I guess I'm complaining about the temp swings here.  I was enjoying running in the cool weather last week.  This week is supposed to be warm.  It is just wrong to possibly be wearing short sleeves and shorts on Thanksgiving.

Yeah, I guess you'd like some cooler weather in the same way I'd like some warmer weather

45 mins with an AHR of 165. You were jamming!

It is a half marathon.  Any suggestions on how to tackle the fact that the elevation inclines are on the back half of the course?

I can do it!  I can do it! I can do it!

Happy Birthday Karen

Great race Rudy.  I did one Cross race last December, 6 weeks post sinus surgery, and way out of shape, prior to getting into endurance sports.  It was a very small local race, that offered a mountain bike class.  I got my a$$ kicked. Did I mention it was 22 degrees, and pouring like crazy.  Made it lots of fun. Very steep hill climb, about 50 yards long, loose gravel.  You can't ride it, you have to throw the bike on the shoulder and run up it. Crazy

I've done this before and it works for me, but it is not conventional wisdom:  I would run the first half faster than normal since you will automatically be slower on the uphills.  Not crazy fast but faster. 

So I finally joined the gym today (no pool there), after much debate.  It'll give me the opportunity to get a run in during the day and work on strength.  Only joined for 3 months to get me through February.  4:50 am comes way too early, so I'll save those days for the bike.  got a great upper body circuit in with some core work. They also have a new Spin instructor starting in a couple weeks.

Get this, there freaking treadmills are the bomb.  They have a built in touch screen, 13" TV, Ipod hookup, and you can plug your Iphone in and watch Netflix.  Also has it's own fan.  Crazy

I would have been training on lots of hills in the weeks leading up to this HM.  Cleveland was like that --- hills on the back half.  I got my a$$ handed to me because I had only trained on flat. 

Maybe Jeff's strategy would work, but it could also backfire!

I would just look to evenly pcae the whole thing and just know its going to feel "easy" in the beginning and its going to hurt on the back half.

Attempting to back time has serious potential to back fire.

Happy Birthday Karen!

Still in Houston visiting my dad, we got out and played golf yesterday and today. Of course yesterday we picked the part of town that got band after band of rain showers coming through. Still had fun, though. Today we walked his "home" course, so got in a little exercise by walking almost 4 miles.

Flying home tomorrow then back to the grind

Kelly's advice is definitely the CW... I run lots of hills so i am very comfortable on them. Running flat courses freaks me out.

One thing people have to realize about down hill running is that unless you get really good forward lean you are essentially braking on every stride.  When you run downhill you need to really focus on getting your center of gravity under your feet.  For super steep downhills a little trick is to actually run slightly across the grade at an angle so that you are not pounding the bejesus out of your heels.

Thanks for the birthday wishes, it's been a great day.  Except, I don't know the last time I didn't go for a run on my birthday.  Today my knee is still sore so no run. Or any exercise for that matter, just a whole lot of food!

Tomorrow I'm going to start the Paleo (athletes version) and see how that goes.  The last time i tried it I lasted all of 3 days.  Hoping my planning is better this time.

Here's my problem with that idea; if you are trying just hold on for the 2nd half and you end up facing a hill, you are much more likely to end up walking the hills.  (I speak from experience)

If the first half is downhill, run conservatively b/c your quads will take quite a lot of abuse on the descent and you'll need them on the 2nd half.

Also, if you go conservative at first, you get the mental boost of passing people who are walking the hills later.  It's a lot more fun to pick people off than to get passed by hordes.

Thanks for everyone's help and advice.  I was originally just running this half, but since I have been making such progress, I am going to go for the 2:30.  I am right there!  Weather right now (which means nothing) is 50 and rain.

I have been training on more hills and doing alot more strength work.  I have also been running everything vs. run/walks (huge improvement for me too).  I am kind of annoyed that the pace groups stop at 2:20, always just under when I need ... good practice for me I guess.

I have been doing very well with doing longer and longer runs each week, and since I am still traning for Goofy as the "A" race, I still need the mileage.  So I will try to run the course sometime Saturday or Sunday, but at a recovery pace.

It also might be helpful to note, these are not hills like most of you are probably used to, but more so slow elevated grades for long periods of time.  The first 4-6 miles are relatively flat, then the rest is mostly uphill grade (nothing steep), but pretty constant with only slight short downhill grades. 

Even with an uphill grade it might only be 100-150 feet or so to ascend over a few miles, but for me that is alot ...

happy birthday Karen!  

I couldnt live without cheese.

As i said, my suggestion is NOT the conventional wisdom.  you also have to practice running downhill otherwise you will risk frying your legs.

Baaa, negative split the sucker! you own it.