DopeyBadger
Imagathoner
- Joined
- Oct 15, 2015
Now that Dopey is behind me, it’s time to nail goal #2 – a sub 4-hour marathon
The focus of 2014 was on achieving the sub 4-hour marathon. I scoured the internet trying to find a training plan that would fit me. I saw someone on Facebook post to another runner’s wall about the FIRST method. It was only three days per week of running. So, since I had been doing that pretty regularly, I thought using their plan for a HM and then a Marathon would be the solution to finally achieving that sub-4. I based the pacing on an 8 min/mile 10k (no idea why since Disney was an 8:20 min/mile) and with that got a pacing scheme that maxed with the long run at 45 seconds slower than 10k pace (8:45 min/mile). I mean the only way to get faster when running is by training super hard and training at goal paces, right? This was also the first training plan I did that included set paces and speed intervals.
Training went relatively well. I was doing what the plan told me to the best of my ability. Although, I was still traveling so that caused some hiccups. I had visited the doctor in February of 2014 and weighed in at 178, BMI of 23.7, resting HR of 60, blood glucose of 101, blood pressure of 106/80, cholesterol of 190, HDL of 57, and Chol/HDL ratio of 3.3. Compared to where I was earlier in my life, these were fantastic numbers.
Oh, and Gigi was born in February! When I had that meeting back in January 2012 with the doctor, I left it knowing I had to make some changes. It was necessary to get my health back in line so that I would be able to enjoy my child’s life. Now, here she was. Easily one of the best days of my life.
I went into the May 2014 HM with a goal of a 1:50 HM. I decided to line up with the 1:50 pace group (8:23 min/mile). Off I went with them. Everything felt good, and then we hit the first mile at 8:00. Wow, we were flying a little quick. But no matter, I’m sure the pacers know what they’re doing. Then the second mile was 8:13 with a serious climb in it. Well, I mean we’re closer to the 8:23 goal pace… Then 8:06 and then 8:19. And, then I was DONE! I hit the fatigue wall HARD. An 8:54, 8:51, 9:30, 9:14, 9:42, 9:52, 11:37, 12:12, 14:22 min/mile. A final finishing time of 2:12:26. I blamed the weather (it was hot). I blamed the pacer (I mean we were supposed to be doing 8:23 min/mile pace). I blamed my failed attempt at trying to mix the Endurance powder while running (but it was just super sticky and I just wasn’t good at pouring powder into water bottles and running at the same time). I blamed the course for being 13.5 miles (I mean it was measured wrong according to Runtastic). This is where I should have had my biggest clue as to the inaccuracy of my running app. The pacer very likely was running an 8:23 min/mile pace, but my app was wildly inaccurate and thus all my training was way off. And yet, I didn’t have that realization and instead blamed everything else for my performance and massive wall slam. I probably should have also blamed my overzealous training pacing scheme, but alas I did not.
My wife asked me how I wanted to display my runs. Most people liked displaying their medals, but the medals never meant that much to me. I was always more focused on the time. So, I perused around Etsy and found a pretty cool idea. A time board. I could use chalk boards to update my PRs and insert planks for each individual race. So, my wife made me the time board and we hung it in the hallway.
After a disappointing Spring HM, it was time to regroup and get ready for the “A” goal of 2014 – break 4 hours in the marathon. I followed the FIRST marathon training program with running 3 times per week. I left the pacing at an 8 min/mile 10k. Thus, my long mid-week runs were at a 9:00 min/mile (10k + 60 sec). The weekend long runs were at marathon pace + 0-45 seconds based on the week. In the middle of marathon training (in August) I ran another HM. I finished in 1:57:02. I was finally sub-2 officially! Although, my running app had me at 13.99 miles, so I thought “what my luck, another too long course”. I even posted to Facebook that my time should have been more like 1:49. I still hadn’t caught on yet. I also gave another attempt to pouring powder into my bottles and decided this method just wasn’t going to work.
During this last stretch of training I actually tried a new nutrition method. I was going to use raisins and cherries mid-run instead of powder. But to accomplish this it would take a lot of raisins and cherries. So, I packed little baggies super dense. It was difficult to run and chew these at the same time, but it was certainly doable.
As soon as the August HM was done, I jumped into a mega training period. I did 20, 15, 17, 15, 20, 15, 20, 15, and 20 miles in consecutive weekends. The FIRST plan is really heavy on the weekend long run and I was convinced that would carry me through to the sub 4 marathon I was looking for. The problem was I wasn’t terribly good at following directions. So, while I was supposed to be running these at MP + 0-45 seconds, I wasn’t. It was more of the PR the day mindset. The only way to get faster, is to train super hard. The first 20 mile was at a 10:19 min/mile. But after that it was 15 @ 8:49, 17 @ 8:44, 15 @ 8:24, 20 @ 8:58, 15 @ 8:34, 20 @ 8:33, 15 @ 8:22, 20 @ 8:30, and 15 @ 8:50. Granted that’s what I thought I was doing, but in reality, these were all off by 5%. So, the distance was less and the pace was slower (pace more like 8:49-9:16). Regardless, this was WAY too fast for a goal 9:09 marathon. But with this brutal training period behind me I was ready to attack that sub 4 marathon!
On November 9th, 2014, I lined up for my 3rd marathon. That was going to be the day I finally went sub-4. I lined up with the 4-hour pacer. While my Spring HM was ruined (well not quite) by the pacer in that race, I was willing to give it another chance. I remember the race was cold. I remember that there was a significant hill at mile 9. I remember I switched water bottles with my wife at mile 10. I went from empty bottles to heavy full bottles and that was like a kick to the ego because I felt sooo much heavier. Through 13.1 miles I was still hanging with the pace group. All the while my running app was suggesting I was running in the 8:45s not the 9:09s. But this is when I started to realize it wasn’t the course and it wasn’t the pacers. It was my running app that was giving false data. All of those training days at 8:24-8:50s weren’t actually at those paces. In reality, I had no idea how fast I trained. Not too soon after that realization, things started to turn for me. The fatigue was becoming too much and I was struggling to stay with the pacers. Around mile 15, the wheels fell off. I had to let them go, but I would continue on as much as I could. I made it all the way to mile 25 before I had to stop for a walking break. I came across the line in 4:20:34. A PR by 15 minutes! But to be honest, I was disappointed in the lack of the sub-4. Stats wise I finished as such:
Final Time: 4:20:34 (9:57 min/mile average pace)
Overall: 721/1271 (57%)
Gender: 489/768 (64%)
Division: 77/103 (75%)
In 2014, there were 550,600 marathon finishers. This means about 313,000 finishers ran the marathon faster than me that year. In addition, about 31,000 males of a similar age were faster. I had some ground to make up to be a better marathoner. But I had cut a significant dent of people off. When I ran my first marathon in 2012, there were 390,000 faster finishers. I moved up by about 80,000 runners.
I was making progress. But honestly, I just assumed I hadn’t trained hard enough. When the next non-Dopey challenge marathon came around I knew I had to train harder to reach the sub-4. I also knew I needed to get a GPS watch because having inaccurate data to train by was holding me back. But before I could worry about any of that, I had Dopey #2 in only a few weeks.
I did 2 weeks of easy running. Then a Dopey simulation week with a back to back 10 milers. Then 2 runs and 3 runs the next weeks. Then another Dopey simulation week with a 12 and 17 miler. For Christmas, Steph got me a Garmin 620. This was another one of those “moments” that helped define my running journey. I owe a lot of my progression to finally diving in and getting a GPS watch. With the Garmin, I would be able to have more data and train more specifically at paces.
For year’s end in 2014, I had run 1091 miles. First time over 1000 miles!!! I had set a goal of 1250 miles in 2015 and felt that was an achievable goal. Since this also marked the end of the use of the running app, Runtastic, I also had good stats for all of 2012-2014 training. I had run 2242 miles, 332 hours, and had an elevation gain of 79547 feet in 31 months.
I went into Dopey #2 with the goal to beat each of my times from the 4 races of Dopey #1. I don’t remember much from this trip either. I remember that this was my daughter’s first trip to Disney World. I know that I wanted to make sure my racing at Disney didn’t infringe on others Disney vacation. Which meant, I would race in the morning and then be prepared to partake in whatever park hopping, ride persuing, and character pictures that everyone else was doing. The only thing I did was make sure to be in bed by around 6-8pm. I knew sleep was important to my performance. So I did my best to balance a family vacation with the desire to race as well as possible.
If memory serves me correct, then this was the year with the super cold 5k or 10k. The 5k was a letdown because I failed to beat Dopey #1 (23:52 vs 23:36). Although, I made up for it with good performances in the 10k, HM, and M. My bib # this year was 31827 (so 1827 runners with a faster POT). Another goal was to set a PR in all of the 4 distances (5k, 10k, HM, and M) and 2 cumulative challenges (HM+M and 5k+10k+HM+M). I termed this the Sextuple PR Dopey Challenge.
5k – 23:52 (worse by 16 seconds) – Garmin Link
10k – 49:49 (better by 1:56) – Garmin Link
HM – 1:59:04 (better by 12:52) – Garmin Link
M – 4:27:23 (better by 7:44) – Garmin Link
Dopey – 7:40:08 (better by 22:16)
Beat the bib – 672nd vs Bib # 1827
The 10k was a PR. The 5k was only 16 seconds off PR, HM was only ~6 minutes off my PR and M only 7 minutes off PR. So overall, a very solid performance to string those together. Although, I still didn’t beat the goal of a sub-4 marathon, sub-7 Dopey from Dopey #1, or a Sextuple PR Dopey Challenge. I finished Dopey in 672nd out of 6488 Dopey finishers. An improvement of 242 finishers and I beat the bib again!
My mom ran the 10k that year, Steph ran the HM, and G ran the diaper dash. I was so proud of Steph for running the HM after having G earlier in 2014. So, I had worked in secret with an artist whom paints Toms. Together we came up with a custom Aristocats (one of her favorite Disney movies) concept. She was so happy to finally find out what the big secret was.
Gigi did so well in her first race. The diaper dash was a short 3-meter race for babies. Some kids would roll, crawl, or walk. Gigi had just started getting comfortable with walking not too much before that, so she definitely had an advantage. It was SUPER COLD! She finished the 3-m run in 26.24 seconds. In hindsight, we should have probably skipped the run because she ended up getting a little sick afterwards.
Gigi also had a great time in Disney World. While she wasn’t even 1 year old yet, it was surprising how much she interacted with the characters. It was like she recognized them.
One thing that had gotten away from me during these last few months was my weight. I had allowed it to creep up into the 190s in January 2015. It was time to take my weight seriously again and get back into shape.
The focus of 2014 was on achieving the sub 4-hour marathon. I scoured the internet trying to find a training plan that would fit me. I saw someone on Facebook post to another runner’s wall about the FIRST method. It was only three days per week of running. So, since I had been doing that pretty regularly, I thought using their plan for a HM and then a Marathon would be the solution to finally achieving that sub-4. I based the pacing on an 8 min/mile 10k (no idea why since Disney was an 8:20 min/mile) and with that got a pacing scheme that maxed with the long run at 45 seconds slower than 10k pace (8:45 min/mile). I mean the only way to get faster when running is by training super hard and training at goal paces, right? This was also the first training plan I did that included set paces and speed intervals.
Training went relatively well. I was doing what the plan told me to the best of my ability. Although, I was still traveling so that caused some hiccups. I had visited the doctor in February of 2014 and weighed in at 178, BMI of 23.7, resting HR of 60, blood glucose of 101, blood pressure of 106/80, cholesterol of 190, HDL of 57, and Chol/HDL ratio of 3.3. Compared to where I was earlier in my life, these were fantastic numbers.
Oh, and Gigi was born in February! When I had that meeting back in January 2012 with the doctor, I left it knowing I had to make some changes. It was necessary to get my health back in line so that I would be able to enjoy my child’s life. Now, here she was. Easily one of the best days of my life.
I went into the May 2014 HM with a goal of a 1:50 HM. I decided to line up with the 1:50 pace group (8:23 min/mile). Off I went with them. Everything felt good, and then we hit the first mile at 8:00. Wow, we were flying a little quick. But no matter, I’m sure the pacers know what they’re doing. Then the second mile was 8:13 with a serious climb in it. Well, I mean we’re closer to the 8:23 goal pace… Then 8:06 and then 8:19. And, then I was DONE! I hit the fatigue wall HARD. An 8:54, 8:51, 9:30, 9:14, 9:42, 9:52, 11:37, 12:12, 14:22 min/mile. A final finishing time of 2:12:26. I blamed the weather (it was hot). I blamed the pacer (I mean we were supposed to be doing 8:23 min/mile pace). I blamed my failed attempt at trying to mix the Endurance powder while running (but it was just super sticky and I just wasn’t good at pouring powder into water bottles and running at the same time). I blamed the course for being 13.5 miles (I mean it was measured wrong according to Runtastic). This is where I should have had my biggest clue as to the inaccuracy of my running app. The pacer very likely was running an 8:23 min/mile pace, but my app was wildly inaccurate and thus all my training was way off. And yet, I didn’t have that realization and instead blamed everything else for my performance and massive wall slam. I probably should have also blamed my overzealous training pacing scheme, but alas I did not.
My wife asked me how I wanted to display my runs. Most people liked displaying their medals, but the medals never meant that much to me. I was always more focused on the time. So, I perused around Etsy and found a pretty cool idea. A time board. I could use chalk boards to update my PRs and insert planks for each individual race. So, my wife made me the time board and we hung it in the hallway.
After a disappointing Spring HM, it was time to regroup and get ready for the “A” goal of 2014 – break 4 hours in the marathon. I followed the FIRST marathon training program with running 3 times per week. I left the pacing at an 8 min/mile 10k. Thus, my long mid-week runs were at a 9:00 min/mile (10k + 60 sec). The weekend long runs were at marathon pace + 0-45 seconds based on the week. In the middle of marathon training (in August) I ran another HM. I finished in 1:57:02. I was finally sub-2 officially! Although, my running app had me at 13.99 miles, so I thought “what my luck, another too long course”. I even posted to Facebook that my time should have been more like 1:49. I still hadn’t caught on yet. I also gave another attempt to pouring powder into my bottles and decided this method just wasn’t going to work.
During this last stretch of training I actually tried a new nutrition method. I was going to use raisins and cherries mid-run instead of powder. But to accomplish this it would take a lot of raisins and cherries. So, I packed little baggies super dense. It was difficult to run and chew these at the same time, but it was certainly doable.
As soon as the August HM was done, I jumped into a mega training period. I did 20, 15, 17, 15, 20, 15, 20, 15, and 20 miles in consecutive weekends. The FIRST plan is really heavy on the weekend long run and I was convinced that would carry me through to the sub 4 marathon I was looking for. The problem was I wasn’t terribly good at following directions. So, while I was supposed to be running these at MP + 0-45 seconds, I wasn’t. It was more of the PR the day mindset. The only way to get faster, is to train super hard. The first 20 mile was at a 10:19 min/mile. But after that it was 15 @ 8:49, 17 @ 8:44, 15 @ 8:24, 20 @ 8:58, 15 @ 8:34, 20 @ 8:33, 15 @ 8:22, 20 @ 8:30, and 15 @ 8:50. Granted that’s what I thought I was doing, but in reality, these were all off by 5%. So, the distance was less and the pace was slower (pace more like 8:49-9:16). Regardless, this was WAY too fast for a goal 9:09 marathon. But with this brutal training period behind me I was ready to attack that sub 4 marathon!
On November 9th, 2014, I lined up for my 3rd marathon. That was going to be the day I finally went sub-4. I lined up with the 4-hour pacer. While my Spring HM was ruined (well not quite) by the pacer in that race, I was willing to give it another chance. I remember the race was cold. I remember that there was a significant hill at mile 9. I remember I switched water bottles with my wife at mile 10. I went from empty bottles to heavy full bottles and that was like a kick to the ego because I felt sooo much heavier. Through 13.1 miles I was still hanging with the pace group. All the while my running app was suggesting I was running in the 8:45s not the 9:09s. But this is when I started to realize it wasn’t the course and it wasn’t the pacers. It was my running app that was giving false data. All of those training days at 8:24-8:50s weren’t actually at those paces. In reality, I had no idea how fast I trained. Not too soon after that realization, things started to turn for me. The fatigue was becoming too much and I was struggling to stay with the pacers. Around mile 15, the wheels fell off. I had to let them go, but I would continue on as much as I could. I made it all the way to mile 25 before I had to stop for a walking break. I came across the line in 4:20:34. A PR by 15 minutes! But to be honest, I was disappointed in the lack of the sub-4. Stats wise I finished as such:
Final Time: 4:20:34 (9:57 min/mile average pace)
Overall: 721/1271 (57%)
Gender: 489/768 (64%)
Division: 77/103 (75%)
In 2014, there were 550,600 marathon finishers. This means about 313,000 finishers ran the marathon faster than me that year. In addition, about 31,000 males of a similar age were faster. I had some ground to make up to be a better marathoner. But I had cut a significant dent of people off. When I ran my first marathon in 2012, there were 390,000 faster finishers. I moved up by about 80,000 runners.
I was making progress. But honestly, I just assumed I hadn’t trained hard enough. When the next non-Dopey challenge marathon came around I knew I had to train harder to reach the sub-4. I also knew I needed to get a GPS watch because having inaccurate data to train by was holding me back. But before I could worry about any of that, I had Dopey #2 in only a few weeks.
I did 2 weeks of easy running. Then a Dopey simulation week with a back to back 10 milers. Then 2 runs and 3 runs the next weeks. Then another Dopey simulation week with a 12 and 17 miler. For Christmas, Steph got me a Garmin 620. This was another one of those “moments” that helped define my running journey. I owe a lot of my progression to finally diving in and getting a GPS watch. With the Garmin, I would be able to have more data and train more specifically at paces.
For year’s end in 2014, I had run 1091 miles. First time over 1000 miles!!! I had set a goal of 1250 miles in 2015 and felt that was an achievable goal. Since this also marked the end of the use of the running app, Runtastic, I also had good stats for all of 2012-2014 training. I had run 2242 miles, 332 hours, and had an elevation gain of 79547 feet in 31 months.
I went into Dopey #2 with the goal to beat each of my times from the 4 races of Dopey #1. I don’t remember much from this trip either. I remember that this was my daughter’s first trip to Disney World. I know that I wanted to make sure my racing at Disney didn’t infringe on others Disney vacation. Which meant, I would race in the morning and then be prepared to partake in whatever park hopping, ride persuing, and character pictures that everyone else was doing. The only thing I did was make sure to be in bed by around 6-8pm. I knew sleep was important to my performance. So I did my best to balance a family vacation with the desire to race as well as possible.
If memory serves me correct, then this was the year with the super cold 5k or 10k. The 5k was a letdown because I failed to beat Dopey #1 (23:52 vs 23:36). Although, I made up for it with good performances in the 10k, HM, and M. My bib # this year was 31827 (so 1827 runners with a faster POT). Another goal was to set a PR in all of the 4 distances (5k, 10k, HM, and M) and 2 cumulative challenges (HM+M and 5k+10k+HM+M). I termed this the Sextuple PR Dopey Challenge.
5k – 23:52 (worse by 16 seconds) – Garmin Link
10k – 49:49 (better by 1:56) – Garmin Link
HM – 1:59:04 (better by 12:52) – Garmin Link
M – 4:27:23 (better by 7:44) – Garmin Link
Dopey – 7:40:08 (better by 22:16)
Beat the bib – 672nd vs Bib # 1827
The 10k was a PR. The 5k was only 16 seconds off PR, HM was only ~6 minutes off my PR and M only 7 minutes off PR. So overall, a very solid performance to string those together. Although, I still didn’t beat the goal of a sub-4 marathon, sub-7 Dopey from Dopey #1, or a Sextuple PR Dopey Challenge. I finished Dopey in 672nd out of 6488 Dopey finishers. An improvement of 242 finishers and I beat the bib again!
My mom ran the 10k that year, Steph ran the HM, and G ran the diaper dash. I was so proud of Steph for running the HM after having G earlier in 2014. So, I had worked in secret with an artist whom paints Toms. Together we came up with a custom Aristocats (one of her favorite Disney movies) concept. She was so happy to finally find out what the big secret was.
Gigi did so well in her first race. The diaper dash was a short 3-meter race for babies. Some kids would roll, crawl, or walk. Gigi had just started getting comfortable with walking not too much before that, so she definitely had an advantage. It was SUPER COLD! She finished the 3-m run in 26.24 seconds. In hindsight, we should have probably skipped the run because she ended up getting a little sick afterwards.
Gigi also had a great time in Disney World. While she wasn’t even 1 year old yet, it was surprising how much she interacted with the characters. It was like she recognized them.
One thing that had gotten away from me during these last few months was my weight. I had allowed it to creep up into the 190s in January 2015. It was time to take my weight seriously again and get back into shape.
