Work your Weakness aka "Hey, Mike, STFU!" Challenge (Page 52)

OMG...I'd be lying on the side of the road throwing up.  =

Yeah, I'd say my ability to eat whatever (EXCEPT JALAPENOS) whenever, is probably my greatest running talent. 

Yeah I think I'm ready.  I'm looking forward to getting back to tri training more than the marathon.  

4 days out from my full.  I'm not nervous yet, but I probably will be about 5 mins before go time.

Me thinks you will crush it.  What does the weather look like for race day?

Currently it looks like this

That rain has gone from 40% to 70% to now this.  There's no telling what the forecast will actually be.

Go Matt!

I hope the rain isn't too tough, but, FWIW, one of my best marathons was in rain, and I remember that picture from this fall of you in a serious downpour, so you've got experience on your side :)  60s sound perfect!

I'm excited to hear how this goes, like Steve said, I think you will crush it. Good luck!

 matt, good luck this weekend! a bit of nervous energy is usually a good thing. really look forward to reading your race report.

i'm nursing a broken arm right now...dom hand so going to be mostly reading for a bit.  hope all are having a great start to 2014.

Kim--Wait--what?  A broken arm?  What happened? I'm so sorry :(

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Thanks Dale.  I've missed my BT peeps too.  I see a lot of new stuff in the works for January and 2014, including your running group which I wish I was participating in. I've been pretty active over here. but no real training per se.  I'm really looking forward to getting back into some semblance of a routine :)

I hope you all are having a great start to 2014!

The weather is looking a lot better this Saturday. Looks like I'm running out of potential excuses 

HAHAHA!

Know what I'm sayin!  No pressure Matt ;P

tx dale, impressed you were able to write and do procedures as a leftie. i'm re-wiring the pathways but a long way from being able to write.  i fell out on a trail run while up in vt. had a closed reduction in the ed (radius, displaced, extra articular) and just transitioned from s tong splint to fiberglass cast. i see the hand guy again on monday for more films and new cast.  am now 2 wks out so assuming everything has stayed put, it's just inconvenience for another 6 wks or so. hoping to put that time to good use on the trainer.  

Holy Cow this thread got active again!

Matt - good luck this weekend...methinks you're going to crush it.  That weather looks perfect.  Beats the hell out of the freezing rain we have here right now.

Elesa - good to see you back and posting,...Happy New Year!

Kim - sorry to hear about your wing, but sounds like you're on the mend

I'm about four weeks into my training plan, other than the usual holiday distractions and a nasty chest cold, so far so good.  I had my first relatively hard trainer session this morning and I think I need to adjust my TR FTP down a bit...clearly the bike layoff has affected me.  And I found the pool, too!!! 

I thought about joining Dale's 100 mile challenge but that would've been a pretty big jump in mileage for me, so maybe by March.    I am shooting for 1K for the year, though.

I too have started back on the trainer and in the pool.  I think I've quadrupled my list of weaknesses.  But all in good time.  I focused primarily on running weaknesses and I feel really good about addressing them and feel like I have a good plan in place now.  The bike/swim is just going to take a whole other series to deal with over the coming months.   There is no end to Work your Weakness.

I posted my report from my Marathon.  You can find it here:
http://beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=509187

I'll probably add more to it as I collect my thoughts.

The short version is I missed my goal with a finish of 3:35:15.  I am glad it's over and excited to get back to tri training.

Ah, bummer!

Would you have changed anything with your training?

I'm really not sure.  One guy who's pretty fast here suggested that my long runs were too slow.  I averaged around 7:45 for my pace, but expecting to go further than I have in training at 20 seconds per mile faster was too much (according to him).  Jack Daniels is pretty big on intervals during the long run, and for marathons maybe that's something that I should consider if I ever think about trying again.

Other than that I'm kind of scratching my head at this one.  Maybe I'm just not a distance runner.

It sounds like you were endurance limited. Not really speed.

Did you do any hill work or at least do long runs on terrain similar to the M?

I thought I had, but apparently I was off by a fair margin.  The hilliest course I ran had 440ish ft elevation in 21 miles, where this course was about 1kft elevation.  So some more hill work probably would have helped.

Endurance was definitely an issue.  At mile 20 I was breathing fine and was able to talk.  I just lacked the ability to go.  It was frustrating knowing I had a lot of running left to do.

Dang, Matt...thought you were going to nail that one.  Well, marathons are a crazy thing and it takes years of practice to really get a hang of the right training and tapering strategies.  Maybe it was just an off day...who knows? 

I look forward to seeing how this running focus helps your tri season.

You nailed it there. I think it's exactly what makes the marathon so difficult. There are so many variables. And if one of them is not quite right, you don't get to go out and try again next week.

But hey, it's about the journey, not the destination.

Matt--I posted in your RR, but just wanted to say again I'm sorry things didn't go the way you hoped.  Marathons really are a unique beast, and though we can't know for sure, I bet a "flat and fast" course would be a very different deal.  

It's funny, because as soon as I finished, I had at least 3 people from the local tri group telling me "you would nail 3:15 on a flat course", but ultimately it wasn't about getting the number.  The goal was aggressive intentionally to push myself in training.  Marathons are tough, but I can't deny the results of my training.  I think I'm in good shape heading into tri season.  

That and I'm not exactly looking to dive into another marathon