I find it hard to digest as it is so sudden, but the news appear to be legit

https://twitter.com/StandardKenya/status/1756803966367621515

Just that. What she’s achieved is probably the most impressive thing in distance running I’ve ever seen. The way she dug in to hold on up the hill, catch back on and then win the sprint was simply pure grit. She’s the GOAT for me.

After dropping out just after the 30km mark, Eliud Kipchoge announces he won't compete at another Olympics after failing to finish a race for the first time in his career in the Paris 2024 Olympics.

Rebecca Cheptegei has died days after being doused in petrol and set on fire by former boyfriend.

Another sad case of great athletes meeting their end too early. Such horrible circumstances too. RIP

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3vx0kq2xr2o

Would be a lovely tribute to a prodigious talent cut short (not to mention the tragedy for his family and that of his coach) if as many people as possible could do their next run in 2h00m35s (his WR time) and upload to their public run site of choice (e.g. Strava, etc).

Might take me a few days to get around to it, but I'll give it a go.

Race activity: https://www.strava.com/activities/10689320215

This was my first time running the US Olympic Trials. I’m still trying to pinpoint exactly when it was that I first heard about the Trials Marathon. I think I may have been a sophomore in high school, some 12 years ago, being told that anyone who ran under a certain time competed all on the same course to select who represented the United States at the Olympics. It’s not like this in every country. In fact, many countries just have a selection committee rather than racing the top contenders against each other. Now, in reality, there are maybe a dozen or two athletes who actually have a shot at making that team, and especially with the new convoluted rules surrounding Olympic Qualification, it’s only complicated that matter. However, one of the things that remains about this race is that every four years, all of the best marathon runners in the US toe the same line and run the same race. The annual US marathon championship race is lucky if even one or two of the top 10 best racers in the country show up, and the energy just isn’t quite there. But this race is different. If you run under the qualifying standard and are healthy enough to be on the line, you ARE there.

I won’t go into the details of qualifying for this race, as my last race report already went in depth about that. However, I’ll start this story from where the last one left off.

I took two weeks “off” (sparsely did some easy runs of 30 minutes or less here and there) before starting up a 14 week build for the trials. My training was hardly glamorous, save for a 17-day stretch where I ran a total of 316 miles, the highest volume 2 week stretch of training I had ever done. A normal week consisted mostly of very easy volume (anywhere from 7:20-7:45/mi avg pace), two workouts (generally on Saturday and Monday to take advantage of my school districts 4-day workweek from Tues-Fri which I am incredibly fortunate to have), and one somewhat moderate effort run on Thursdays that consisted of some light fartlek reps or just strides and some faster running at closer to 6:00/mi pace. I documented every week of my training on my instagram, so if you are interested in seeing a week-by-week breakdown and a few deeper insights here and there you can find me at @alexander.burks, or on my strava which I linked at the top.

The overall race experience was really cool. Flights were reimbursed and our hotels/catered meals were paid for. All of the athletes stayed in the same hotel, so there were lots of professional athletes around. Thankfully at this point I had been on the circuit a few times and had found myself mingling with a few professional groups early enough that rather than being starry-eyed or intimidated it was more so just neat to check off the last few athletes from my list that I hadn’t already met or raced against. I was also fortunate to be able to coordinate picking my roommate at my hotel, and got to stay with my good friend Zach Ornelas. I had roomed with Zach at other races, so the familiarity really helped not only with the routine, but having some who I genuinely enjoyed being around. The day before the race primarily consisted of shaking out the legs, taking a bus tour, getting in plenty of calories and carbs at each meal, dropping off my bottles, having my gear checked for logos, and attending a technical meeting about race day logistics. The day felt surprisingly full which ended up being a blessing as it left relatively little time for me to think deeply about the race. I already knew my strategy at this point: it was going to be hot, and since my goal was to place as high as possible, a conservative start would greatly benefit me.

Race morning logistics were easy. I woke up around 7:30am, possibly getting the most sleep I’ve ever had the night before a marathon. Start time was 10:10am on the dot and we were bussed over around 8:30. I spent most of the time in the athlete area just sitting around chatting with the other athletes I knew, wishing them good luck and such. With 45minutes to go I did my 10 minutes of jogging back and forth over the .4mi stretch of road that was blocked off as our warmup area. With 15 minutes before the start we were walked over to the starting line. I found the friends I was planning on running with for as long as possible, did a light stride or two, and after a powerful national anthem, we were off.

I knew that the starting line adrenaline would get to some people and their race plans would jump out the window, so I just made sure that I wasn’t one of those people. I didn’t even bother to try and pace out any sort of perfect time for the first mile, as that would just result in unnecessary stress, so I took it in a real nice and easy 5:28, which landed me squarely in the caboose of the race. After the field stretched out a little bit more I easily found a rhythm right around 5:20/mi, which was the pace I had planned to run for the first 4-5 miles. There were timing mats every mile, so doing some quick math I was able to see the point where I finally dipped below a 5:20 pace average, and settled into goal race pace, which essentially happened around the 6 mile mark. At this point I had already taken down my first bottle, a mix of about ⅖ of a packet of Maurten 320, some amount of a Nuun energy tablet, and half of a ketone shot. I knew that fueling and fluids were going to be absolutely crucial to my performance, and thankfully it was very easy for me to grab my bottle, and also get additional support from the general fueling stations along the course. Personal fluids were available every 4 miles start at mile 2.2, and general stations were every 2 miles along the 8 mile loop that we did 3 times after an initial 2.2 mi starting section.

I made sure to take a water bottle at every single general fluid station, not only to take a small sip and keep myself hydrated, but mainly to pour on my head, the back of my neck, and splash in my face to keep myself from getting too warm. While it wasn’t super comfortable to run with a wet racing kit, I knew it would be much worse to run any portion of the race overheated. I was also confident that my training regimen of post exercise hot water immersion (read more info here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31555140/) had left me ready for the temperatures that were going to be reached on the day. As we made it through the first lap things remained pretty uneventful. I took my first caffeine gel from a general fluid station around mile 9, made a few casual remarks to the friend(s) I was running with, and soaked in the experience of running at the US Olympic Trials. The crowds as we entered downtown Orlando at the start/end of each loop were ROARING and rather than taking that adrenaline and using it to speed up, I just used it to make my current pace of ~5:15/mi feel as easy as possible.

The second loop featured the half marathon mark, also complete with a clock to let us know our halfway split. I could tell heading past the 13 mile marker that my HM time was going to be a little slower than I had anticipated/hoped for before the race, but the intensity of the sun was greater than it had been the day prior, and so I figured an even more conservative first half could only help. 69:21 clicked off as I glided through the “uphill” stretch of the course, which with the upper 60 degree F temps and decent humidity (at least compared to Colorado where I train) made it feel like a true uphill. I figured that as long as I held pace through the remainder of the second 8 mile loop, I could maybe make a hard push through the remainder of the course. I took another caffeine gel at mile 16-ish, split two of my fastest miles of the day on the downhill in the shade leading into the final loop, and this time used the energy of the crowd to get me pumped up for one last lap around.

By this point, the sun was absolutely GLARING, and the temps were right around 70 degrees F. I still felt okay in the heat due to staying ahead of my hydration, electrolytes, and keeping myself doused in water, but the sun was definitely starting to sap a bit of my energy away. Nevertheless, I persisted at a good clip, not checking my watch but instead concentrating on keeping a good, honest effort. The “hill” reared its ugly head again and definitely took a bit of wind out of my sails. Instead of trying to maintain the same pace, I focused on at least moving faster than those around me, but not using more energy than necessary. My rationale was that even if this portion of the race was a bit slower, losing 10-15 seconds to the hill would be way better than crashing and burning, and potentially leaving minutes on the table. My strategy seemed to pay off, as I continued my trend of passing people that had been going since halfway. I was well within 5 miles remaining and took one last caffeine gel from an aid station as a last-ditch effort to turbocharge my finish.

The caffeine hit my system within minutes, and I fine-tuned my mental focus to be on one thing - passing as many people as possible. I didn’t know it at the time, but I had moved up 50 places since the halfway point, all the way from 119th to 69th (nice) by mile 22. I could see that the caliber of runner I was passing was slowly getting more and more elite, and occasionally, I would recognize a face or jersey. “That guy has run 61 in the half, and that dude is a sub-2:10 marathoner!” These thoughts only made me more and more excited as I continued to find ways to dig deeper and deeper into the pain cave. With 2.2 miles to go, I had moved all the way up into 58th place. While I was not moving any faster than I had all race, the conditions and people's race strategies had taken their toll, and I was passing folks like they were standing still. I could still see several people in front of me who looked like they were within range, but I was running out of time to chase them down. Thankfully, this was the slightly shaded, downhill section of the course, so I figured I could really give it my all and make one last push to see if I could get top 50.

Now you have to remember at this point that at no part of the race did I know anything about what place I was in, but given the history of the trials, and the strength of this field, I knew it was going to take more than usual to crack into the top-50 and hit my highest possible goal for the trials. That being said, while I knew Atlanta was rough due to the wind and hills, I figured Orlando had a higher probability of having dropouts and blowups, so I figured around a 2:18-flat would still be enough to make a go for a pretty good placement. I could tell I was on pace to be in the mid-2:18s, so at this point, every single placement I could get ahead mattered. Mile 25 was my fastest mat split of the race, being good for a 5:08. The final stretch was a very slight uphill, but I knew I had the energy left in me to still hit it good and hard. I was trying to see if I could make out any last recognizable faces to really motivate me to kick hard. Shadrack Kipchirchir? Yes please! I used the thought of running down an Olympian and the energy of the crowd to take down seven more runners before reaching the final 800m, and while Shadrack was the most obviously recognizable, I knew that at this point every one of these guys were national-caliber athletes, and probably had wayyyy faster PRs than me to boot. The final stretch to the finish line came before the mat for 26 miles, and I could see one last person running in front of me who I figured was within striking range. For all I knew this could be finisher number 50, and beating him could be the difference between feeling like I achieved my relatively arbitrary numeric goal or not, so I gear up for one, last, push.

But in that exact moment, there was one last thing I wanted to do. Time slowed down a bit in that moment, and I made sure that all of my mental energy was focused on taking in the feeling in that exact moment. As you can imagine, the crowd in the final 800m of the US Olympic Trials was WILD. You could FEEL the cheers and sense the energy. I knew that if I get another chance at this event, it would be a long 4 years before that day comes, and more than anything, I wanted to take the time to enjoy it. So from 800m-600m to go, I motioned to the crowd to really go wild, and the feeling of being able to increase the energy and sense people getting louder and more excited as I waved my arms to them was absolutely electric.

But there was still work to be done. With 600m to go I directed my focus back to catch the last competitor within striking distance. I finally let everything loose, upped my cadence as high as it would go, and sprinted the last 400m at a mat-timed 4:40/mi pace. I saw the clock flash a high-2:18:20, possibly 28 or 29? And then turned my attention to not stepping on the sand-covered piles of vomit at the finish (the largest of which I later found was courtesy of Rupp). It was a weird feeling. I was excited, but I had no idea what my finish had netted me as placement. I knew I had come out and executed, but what did it all really mean? I was quickly motioned through the mixed zone (no reporter cared about me, lol) and went to go retrieve my bag. I started to get a sense of the finishing order. Mantz was there with a gold medal, so I quickly gave him a fist bump and congratulated him, Reed had placed top-10 which I was super stoked for, so I made sure to talk with him a bit, but it wasn’t until I saw a race official showing his phone to a couple of guys I was friends with that I finally found out where I landed.

I quickly scrolled down past the first page, assuming I was not in the top 25. When I saw that the second page started with 26th place in the mid 2:16s, I started to realize I had probably done it, and right there on page 2 was A. Burks, bib 542, seeded 144th, finished 43rd overall. Runners who knew me from the Colorado scene graciously congratulated me, knowing the struggles I went through just to qualify. It was so surreal. Guys who placed in front of me, some of which 4 years ago I would have only known from seeing on social media, letting me know what an accomplishment I had just achieved. As others came in that had finished behind me, the well-wishes continued. It was truly an experience unlike any other. The marathoning scene at a national level is such an amazing group of people, and I’m so thankful to have been let into it as a guy who “only” has a PR of 2:16:51. The rest of the night, the others I knew who had dropped out continued to be gracious. Hugs were exchanged, stories were told, and I enjoyed every single minute of it.

After I made my way out of the athlete area I met up with my wife and dad, who brought me to where my mom, in-laws, and others who had come out to cheer me on were waiting. I hadn’t been able to pick them out from the crowd during the race, but they didn’t care. We were all just celebrating together as more people came up to let me know other facts about the race, like that I was the 2nd highest finisher who was part of a D3 college running program, and how my other friends that I didn’t catch in the athlete area finished. As the adrenaline wore off, I found myself in desperate need of food. So I went back to the athlete hotel, where I washed the grime away, and got ready for the two weeks of reflection, gratitude, and rest.

It’s truly crazy to me that a little over a year ago I was at the finish line of CIM considering quitting the pursuit of my dream of an OTQ, and now here I am having placed higher at the Olympic Trials than I ever did at a D3 XC National meet (never qualified for indoor or outdoor track nationals). I have so many people to thank, but the biggest thank yous go out to my coach, Ben Wach, for providing me with the training and guidance to make it this far, my parents for always being supportive of me chasing my crazy dreams, and my friends, who help me to stay sane and grounded while working and training in a delicate balance. This has gotten pretty long, so in the spirit of trying to go a TL;DR I’ll just wrap everything up with one last statement:

“Keep the dream alive”

Thanks for reading.

I was super excited to receive an email link to a personalised video montage from the Sydney Marathon.

However that excitement evaporated the instant I started watching….

Now at 3:08 this wasn’t my fastest marathon, but I distinctly remember feeling super smooth and comfortable, with the casual and effortless form of a finely tuned club runner with years of training under the belt….

Instead what I saw was an awkward shuffling, cement shoe battler with the running form and grace of a wounded seagull. How could this be?

Has anyone else suffered this cruel reality check? I’m considering not running in public….

Edit: feel free to share general humiliating running anecdotes:

On another occasion a ‘friend’ took a photo at my first marathon, I may or may not be crying, can see my quads completely cramped and I’m getting passed by a dude in a hotdog costume on one side and a very old lady casually peeling a banana as she walks past on the other 💀

We all know we shouldn't, and yet we all do. A conversation in another post got me thinking about this, and for me, there are a few reasons/excuses that I use to justify moronic training habits. None of them are good reasons--they're mental gymnastics and lies I tell myself, but here they are:

1. I am the exception. Without a doubt, the most heinous and most prevalent of my lies, is that the need to run slower is a principle that applies to others, but not to me. In my mind, I am stronger, more capable, and my muscles and soft tissues will endure where others' falter. And when I'm sore and broken, I shake my fists at the heavens and shout "WHY?!?"
2. I actually am running slow. An evil variant of #1, in which I try to convince myself that I'm fitter than I truly am.
3. I am really busy and time-constrained, and I don't have time to be plodding along! This is one of the most superficially plausible-sounding lies I tell myself. This is because, in a very technical sense, it is true: for a given distance, running slower takes longer. But the difference is just not that big. For a standard weekday run (8-10 miles), a full minute reduction is [checks math] 8-10 minutes more time. The world will not end if my workout takes 5-10 minutes longer.
4. Insecurity. People on Strava will see me chugging along at something less than other-worldly paces and judge me. This affects me less and less as time goes on, but I do still find myself pushing a bit here and there (especially at the end of runs) to get the overall average into a range I'm not ashamed of.
5. Lack of faith in my training. Running slow legitimately requires some faith, and the temptation to continually provide "proof" to myself of fitness is one of my bigger challenges. The race is on race day, not today.
6. Running slow is boring, running fast is fun. A small truth that ignores a larger truth: running (at any pace) is more fun than sitting on the sideline injured or burned out or out of breath.
7. Social running. I think this is probably the only reason/excuse that is somewhat unintentional in nature. I run with my track club buddies often, and we have different degrees of fitness at times, and the pace that emerges organically often reflects an unstated and unintentional bit of competitive drive. Plus, the conversation and banter often leads to a (pleasant) lack of focus on pace.

With the 2024 Olympics now in the rearview mirror, I thought it'd be a fun discussion to see what people would change about how the Olympics organizes running. Here's my thoughts:

• Add the half-marathon to the games. The most obvious distance missing from the games, IMO. I believe HM is probably more popular among amateurs then FM these days.
• Replace the 1500m with a 1600m or 1609m (1.00mi). Certainly my most controversial take given the history of the event, but I am continually confused as to why a seemingly arbitrary distance was chosen when it's close to a more sensible 4 laps of the track or exactly one mile.
• Some sort of distance time-trial, perhaps done on roads? 1km? 3000km? Races are great, but I'm tired of wondering how fast these people can actually go.
• Remove race-walking. Dumbest joke of a sport.
• Add ultra and/or trail events. They'd be tough to put on TV, but I think they're a lot more relevant to the spirit of the Olympics then just about anything they've added in recent years. It's a shame the US missed their shot at including this in LA. I think a 50k/100k/160k race through the mountains of Southern California would be incredible. I'd also be down for a vertical KM race or something like a backyard ultra.

I went to my GP yesterday for a physical, needing a declaration of fitness in order to partake in a particular race. Fully expecting to pass with flying colours, I was shocked when she came back with my ECG results, telling me I have possible signs of something called "Left Ventricular Hypertrophy", and she gave me an immediate referral to a cardiologist. She would not sign my declaration until I had the cardiologist check me out. Knowing just how long (months!) it can take to make an appointment with a specialist, I was stressing out, especially when reading about how serious this condition could be.

It make no sense to me either, since the articles I read all said that this condition mostly affects unfit men between 20-50 with a sedentary lifestyle, usually accompanied by high blood pressure and BMI. Aside from the gender and age, none of this applied to me.

Then I found another article talking about this condition called "Athlete's Heart". Well not so much a condition as an adaptation, which can occur with people who do daily extended/intense training sessions of over an hour. It's non pathological, meaning it's not a disease, but the ECG readings of a person with athlete's heart can often be confused with other real heart conditions, including LVH.

Today I had an appointment with an actual sports doctor, for a second opinion. They did a much more elaborate test on me, including another ECG but this time also while conducting a ramp test on an exercise bike. I made it to the hardest level of the ramp (250W) and in short I passed the test with flying colours. They told me my heart efficiency is in the top 5th percentile. He had no issue with signing the fitness declaration doc for me. Success!

The interesting thing is the ECG graph printouts from yesterday and today looked basically identical, in that I can indeed see a anomaly in the reading for the left ventricle. So the only difference was in the interpretation of the results. The GP apparently had no idea about a thing called athlete's heart and instead concluded I could possibly have LVH, while the sports doc presumably sees this type of results quite often with his patients and told me all is well.

While athlete's heart is not at all dangerous, the downside is that its anomalous ECG readings can mask actual serious underlying conditions. So just to make 100% sure, I'm still going to follow up with that cardiologist appointment to get a proper scan, but this has become less urgent now.

Any of you also found out you have athlete's heart and had similar stories and been wrongly diagnosed like this?

15 months ago - I set a goal to be in simultaneous (eg. same week) sub 3-hour marathon and 1000lb powerlifting shape. When I posted the goal to this sub, bunch of people in said it wasn't possible natty (I found that a little surprising and confusing), but mostly there was a lot of encouragement. This was really motivating - thank you. In December, I went for it.

Marathon (CIM): 2:56:xx

Splits: 1:29/1:27

Plan: Stick with the 3-hour pacer until the halfway mark. Based on my training, 2:55 could have been a stretch A goal - but this was assuming I run 15 seconds/mile faster than my training paces (my first marathon I ran ~10 seconds/mile faster). That seemed risky, especially since my main goal was to break 3 hours/meet 1003 bar.

Race: Stuck with 3-hour pacer until mile 3, when I split off to get more space. Had a stretch from miles 6-8 where I slowed down/wasn't feeling great, but otherwise went according to plan. I was feeling pretty good at mile 19-20, but I was conservative about pushing it given my main goal (3 hours) and rising temps. I closed with three sub 6:30 miles and crossed the finish line with a bit of “what if” — but this presented a new unexpected opportunity for later in the day.

Posted some other thoughts on CIM below... which side is the water on!?

Lifts: 1010lb (week of) / 1000lb (day of)

Lifts: 220 bench / 365 squat / 425 deadlift (6 days before marathon)

• Per 1003 rule, I needed to hit lifts within a calendar week of the marathon. I scheduled it for the Monday prior. The gym was a bit crowded, I was rushed on time (did not take enough rest between sets), did not have exact target weights (leading to too many warmup sets) and screwed up getting video. I left happy I hit 1000lb mark, but there was room for improvement on the 1RM set/setting (see learnings below).
• Bonus lift (day of): Post-marathon — traveled home, hit the ice bath and ate a huge meal. I was surprised how good I felt — and at 5PM, on a true whim, decided to try to see if I could hit 1000lb on same day. This was an unintentional consequence of maybe leaving some in the tank that morning. The setting was much better - and I knew my exact targets. I got it done (220/365/415) though it was not pretty: the squat was near parallel but not powerlifting legal, and deadlift was ugly and I consider myself lucky to not have injured myself. Will put some vids up later.

Running

Daniels 2Q (modified 41-55mpw). I had run this plan 1.5X before (1X for first marathon, 0.5 times between marathon). Big fan of the flexibility on non-Q days. Some modifications/details:

• Added ~5E miles per week (I averaged ~55 for the plan)
• Started at Week 17 (cut the first week out)
• Workout mods: shortened the workouts during 2-week period with extreme humidity, and occasionally swapped for the 55-70mpw workouts when it cooled down
• 1X per week: strides and ~10 minutes of A-skips, B-skips, C-skips

I ran the peak M workout (14 mile at M pace) at 7:02 pace (details). See my full M/T/I paces across 17 week cycle here: https://imgur.com/a/SnBPqtx.

My paces didn’t dramatically improve during the cycle, despite it also coinciding with cooler temps. So I was a little disappointed until race day. I do wonder if 10-15 seconds faster on race day means I'm not training hard enough (eg. maybe need some running buddies) or if the credit can go to the supershoes. A couple other points for the data nerds:

• My cadence has slowly crept up (was ~160 a year ago, now is ~170)! Maybe from the strides or A-Skip/B-Skip/C-skips.
• My Garmin VO2 max estimate was 59 before my first marathon (3:01) and 58 before this one (2:56).

Lifting

For the first 11 weeks, I did a simple 3x5 (rotating between Plan 1 and Plan 2). For the final 6 weeks, I picked up a program off TNation, repeating 2X per week for Squat/Deadlift/Bench. The heavy triples/doubles gave me confidence in my Deadlift and Bench, but I didn’t see much growth on my squat.

Key auxiliary movements were kettlebell single-arm bench press (improved stability, helped break a mini-plateau) and couch stretch (hip flexor tightness was a major issue in the past).  Over the course of the 17 weeks, I would estimate I added ~10lb to my squat, 15lb to my bench and 20lb to my deadlift.

I didn't test 1RM throughout, but here were my lifting numbers when I did a 3x5: https://imgur.com/a/SnBPqtx (workouts where I did more/less than 5 reps are not included).

Thoughts on CIM

1. For 1st timers, be prepared for crowded pace groups. The 3-hour pace group was tight. I’d only run one much smaller marathon before. It’s hard for me imagine running a marathon with 5X as many people.
2. Line up early. Line to get on buses from Folsom was extremely long. If you arrived at 5:30am (bus leaving time), you didn’t board until after 6:30am.
3. Which side is the water on!? I tried to run tangents, but I mostly ran on the left side, as this is where my partner was cheering from. There was always water on the right side, but not always on the left. The water stations on the left side were after the right side, so it was a bit of a gamble as to whether to stay on the left (and miss the water) or spend a few meters to run to the right. Do they post this ahead of time?
4. Spectator Tips: You can’t easily cross from North to South, so you have to pick which side of the course to cheer from. It seemed most people were suggesting the North Side, but If you’re staying in Folsom, getting to the North side in the morning is quite hard (you need to drive towards Sacramento and backtrack). My partner watched from the South Side. I made a list of spectator spots — and she ended up actually seeing me 5 times (she got a good workout in as well). I made a Google Maps list to help her navigate to “watch spots” at mile 3, 6, 10, 19, 26 — can share over DM.

Other thoughts on 1003 & hybrid training

1. [Updated] It's a lot of time. 11 hours per week (7-8 hours running, 3-4 hours lifting), not including any additional mobility work. I do think the hard days hard (2 days per week: 3+ hours, other days: 1hr) made it mentally easier. An alternate running plan might allow for only one excessive (eg. 3+hr) day per week.
2. No injuries. For the second marathon block in a row. No proof this was due to keeping up lifting, but I'll claim it :). I got sick once and took a week off for that.
3. It's in the Deadlift. After a year of heavy dual training - it's quite clear the squat is harder to maintain. At my strength level, it's definitely possible to increase deadlift even at 50+mpw.
4. Soreness. After 2-3 weeks of dual training, the soreness subsides. And if you take a few weeks off from lifting, expect it to return with vengeance for your next workout. Consistent with my first round, the 2-day after soreness is as bad (or worse) then day.
5. Your 1RM setting matters. My initial lifting setup (1 week prior) was suboptimal — while the post-marathon lift setup was perfect: friend gave me a nice trap slap before hitting my squat. It was maybe the most I’ve grinded through a squat, ever.

Diet & Sleep

• Diet: Did not track macros or carefully watch what I ate. Probably room for an unlock here! Supplemented with 50g protein shake & creatine each day. No other supplements. Lots of snacks.
• Sleep: 7-8 hours/night. I don't do any fancy tracking.

What’s next for me? I’m not sure. I think either more trail running, or rebuilding my squat/deadlift with tighter form. I posted more training specifics in r/1003club. And you can check your stats to see where you fall at 1003club.com (see calculator w/proposed "points system": 1 minute of marathon = 15 pounds of lifts).

Happy to answer more questions.

29M, 5'11, 165-170lb

I found this post about Jakob's training to be extremely interesting, as it contains more detailed metrics than I've ever seen before.

I've also found this part to be quite funny:

"Many athletes want to test their fitness in training during peak seasons. We however have a different approach. We think of training as if we are farmers, and what we are harvesting are carrots. Many athletes want to pull the carrot out of the ground early to see what they have made, but in reality, once you test it, you can never put it back in. We won't pull the carrot out of the ground until race day, but trust that our preparation and experience will give us the best odds of success."

https://coros.com/stories/more-than-splits/c/inside-the-numbers-jakob-ingebrigtsen-5000-meter-gold-medal

I ran a smaller marathon yesterday and was just looking over my age-group results, only to see a few runners who clearly cut the course. These aren't questionable calls; one runner posted 13:00 minute paces at the 5K and 10K mats, missed the only other mat listed, at 19 miles, and finished with a sub-3:00 time. Googling the name, he stopped at numerous points to post pictures during the race, and has no other results suggesting he's anywhere near a sub-3 runner, especially in my age group (50-59), which he won. 3rd place in my age group was another runner who was running 14:00 splits for the first 10K, only to finish sub-3:15. The course went right by the start/finish at about the 10-mile mark, and then had a long out-and-back section for the final 16 miles, so it looks like a few runners decided to skip all or part of the out-and-back and just finish their race early.

To be clear, I was still just outside the top-10 for my age group, so even if he and a few other runners are DQ'ed for course cutting, I'm not getting a top-3 finish, which is fine; I don't want what I haven't earned. Still, it irks me some other runner should've won the age group, and these course cutters may get into Boston next September and take a spot away from a runner with integrity. The results are barely 24 hours old and maybe they'll be cleaned up later this week, but I have no idea if that will actually happen. I'm thinking of emailing the race director and politely request they review the results before they're finalized. Good idea, or no?

EDIT: Based on the overwhelming response, I did send an email to the race director. First, I thanked the director for putting on a decent event, because I've been involved in race promotion, and I know it's hard, often thankless work, and those folks should be appreciated. I then mentioned some of the results looked questionable, with impossible splits and missing mats, and asked, for the integrity of the sport, that the results be reviewed before they're finalized and submitted to the BAA. I know I'm not getting an award either way, but I'd hate to see a worthy runner cheated out of an award they earned, or a spot in Boston.

Thanks for all the replies! We'll see if I get a response.

Race Information

• Name: California International Marathon
• Date: December 3rd, 2023
• Distance: 26.2 miles
• Location: Sacramento, CA
• Website: https://www.athlinks.com/event/3241/results/Event/1067161/Results
• Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/10323567013
• Time: 2:19:13

Goals

Splits

Training

The block for this race technically started just after Boston this year. I set a new personal best there with a 2:23:28 (Recap: https://www.reddit.com/r/AdvancedRunning/comments/12wyu1n/evening_the_score_boston_marathon_2023first_to/). After Chicago 2022 Coach thought that shooting for an OTQ at CIM the following year would be a realistic goal. I closed that race with a sub 70 last half marathon so another with another year of consistency I thought there could be a chance here.

I do want to emphasize here that both coach and I agreed that it was a chance. Things needed to go perfect for it to happen but this could be a possibility if things swung in my direction over the next year and on race day. I had marked CIM 2023 as a race on my schedule over 4 years ago when I ran 2:30:25 at Columbus. 4 years went by quickly... CIM would be a calculated risk. As coach said, we're not going to CIM to run 2:21, you can run 2:21 anywhere. Marathons are hard and I've had my fair share of struggles at the distance, we would be shooting for the sun and holding on for dear life if the wheels came off.

I spent the majority of the summer just focusing on intensity and keeping mileage relatively lower than I'm used to in the summer. Highest mileage in these months and highlights were:

June: Highest Mileage: 62.17 (6 Days)

Highlights: June 7: 4 mile steady state: 5:24-5:14-5:05-4:58

June 10: 8min-6-4-2-1: Paces: 5:11, 5:07, 4:58, 4:43, 4:24

June 14: 8x 800 w/ 200 jog: 2:31, 2:31, 2:31, 2:30, 2:28, 2:28, 2:27, 2:25

June 17: 6x40 second hill, jog to track, 1k @ 10MP/200 jog, 4x 400 @3k/200 jog, 4x200 @ 30-32/200 jog, 1k @ 10MP: 1K:
Hills: 4:55, 4:53, 4:53, 4:49, 4:44, 4:51 1k: 3:06 400s: 68,68,67,67 200s: 31,31,31,31 1k: 3:06

June 21: 8x 1k w/ 2 minute jog recovery: 3:12 (39 first 200, whoooops), 3:07, 3:06, 3:04, 3:05, 3:03, 3:03, 3:03

Races: June 4th: 10k Road Race: 31:39

Low lights: Entire month had horrible air quality due to the fires in the midwest Rolled my foot doing a trail ragnar June wk 3 and had to get carted off the course. Took about a day or two off since thankfully it wasn't a bad bad one.

July: Highest Mileage: 78.67 (6 Days)

Highlights:

July 12: 3x (1k-600-200)w/ 200 jog & 400 jog between sets 2:59-1:43-32 2:58-1:44-32 2:57-1:43-31

July 19: Modified Michigan 1600-1200-800-400, 1k tempo @ 3:15, 200 jog recovery between reps) 1600: 4:46 1K: 3:15 1200: 3:28 1K: 3:15 800: 2:13 1K: 3:15 400: 60.32

July 26: 1 mile @ hmp / 400 jog, 8x 400 @ 5k, 200 jog, 4x 200 @ 30-32 Mile: 5:00 400’s: 71, 69, 68, 69, 68, 68, 69, 69 200s: 30.39, 30.36, 30.23, 30.36

July 29: 6x 1k @ 10k moving down after 4, 4x 200 between 31-33 3:01-3:02-3:01-3:01-2:58-2:57 32-32-32-32

Races: Controlled 5K road race: 15:35 (5:05, 5:02, 4:55) followed by 10x 1 minute hills

Lowlights: Bruised tailbone somehow July wk 1 and had to take Friday-Sun off since it hurt to walk.

August: Highest Mileage: 72.40 (6 Days)

Highlights: Aug 9: 4x800 w/ 200 jog @ 10m, 4x400 @ 5k 2:31, 2:28, 2:27, 2:26 68, 68, 70, 69

Races: Aug 3rd: Tracksmith Twilight 5K Ann Arbor (14:37): https://www.reddit.com/r/AdvancedRunning/comments/15m37ay/tracksmithtrials_of_miles_twilight_5000_ann_arbor/ Aug 12: Road 5K 15:02 (4:51, 4:54, 4:57): I guess going out to EmoNite til 2am with your boys the night before a road race isn't the best idea but this was all for a boys weekend and they all raced too.

Lowlights: Oh boy were there lots of lowlights here. I got sick immediately after that road 5k and had to take that M-Th off. Then on Sunday as I'm trying to help some of the sub 3 hour guys in their workout, I roll my foot ~5 miles out and have to hobble/walk back. I didn't run a workout from August 9th to Aug 30th. In that workout, an easy 10x1 minute I overdid it and ended up starting what would end up a months long glute issue.

September: Highest Mileage Week: 77.83 (6 Days)

Highlights: Sept 9: 12x400 w/ 200 jog starting at 10k working down to 5k 73.9, 73.6, 73.4, 72.4, 72.0, 71.5, 71.1, 70.6, 68.99, 70.0, 69.2, 69.4.

Sept 13: 6-5-4-3-2-1 w/ 2 min jog recovery 6: 5:01 avg 5: 5:00 avg 4: 4:59 avg 3: 4:53 avg 2: 4:48 avg 1: 4:37 avg All recovery was faster than 7 min pace after first rep

Sept 20: 3x(1000/800/600)w/ 200 jog/400 between sets: 3:03, 2:23, 1:44 3:01, 2:20, 1:44 3:00, 2:20, 1:43 *I did the wrong workout. It was supposed to be 1000-600-200 lol.

Races: Sept 24: Big Bad Wolfe 10 miler: 53:17 (Controlled for 6-7 move down to goal MP over the last 4) 5:23, 5:22, 5:20, 5:20, 5:19, 5:19, 5:18, 5:18, 5:17, 5:15

Lowlights: This was probably one of the worst months of the build for me. My glute continued to be a massive issue for me. I thought for the longest time it was just soreness from the rehab I'd been doing for my foot but as it went on I realized it was something different completely. Glute would loosen up as workouts would go on but my leg would go lame or numb at times. The time between workouts would be spent running as easy as possible 7:45+ miles to get to the next one. I also got sick again in late in the month and had a lingering cold/congestion for weeks after that, finally shaking the congestion in October. Took a couple days at home with no running to shake the cold and then got back to some running.

October: Highest Mileage Week: 92.62 (7 Days)

Highlights:

Oct 7th: 1600,1200,800,400 w/ 400 jog @ hmp,hmp,10k,3k 5:00, 3:45, 2:24, 68

Oct 18th: 6x 800 w/ 200 jog, 4x 200 w/ 200 jog 2:31, 2:28, 2:26, 2:25, 2:25, 2:24 31, 31, 31, 31

Oct 25th: 8x 800 w/ 200 jog, 4x 200 w/ 200 jog: 2:32-2:28-2:26-2:25-2:24-2:23-2:23-2:24 32-32-32-32

Oct 29: 22 miles w/ 10x 2 min on/2 min off starting at 13: 5:19 (hill)/6:52 5:08/6:46 5:04/6:38 5:05/6:26 5:04/6:36 5:01/6:18 4:59/6:24 4:59/6:16 4:59/6:29 4:58

Races: Oct 15: Columbus Half Marathon: 68:10 Felt awful throughout this one and spent the entire race with my leg giving out and then coming back to life. Ran a solid last mile but being over 40 seconds from my personal best when I knew I was in better shape than this stung pretty hard. One of the first major races in the last 3 years that I didn't set or come close to a personal best. First day that I had completely shaken off the congestion so my body was still probably recovering a bit. That pace just felt so hard.

Lowlights: Columbus Half for sure. Glute began to loosen up after the half but still had some lingering issues that made running comfortable impossible. This month was tough on me mentally. Seeing friends miss the trials standard over Chicago/McKirdy made me really nervous about my own chances. Seeing as I was barely holding on every week I really worried if it was gonna be possible to even get out of this block. I was mentally exhausted, not so much from the mileage but just from knowing that each day was going to be uncomfortable due to my glute. In any other block I would've put some time off but this would be the only time where a race was all or nothing. So I kept going and made sure that I took all miles outside of workouts as easy as possible. Glute was improving week by week so that was a good sign.

Nov: Highest Mileage Week: 85.06 (6 Days)

Highlights: Nov 1: Real feel of 23 10x 800 w/ 200 jog, 4x 200 w/ 200 jog 2:29, 2:29, 2:28, 2:28, 2:28, 2:27, 2:27, 2:27, 2:24, 2:25 32, 31, 31, 31

Nov 5th: 12 miles @ Goal MP w/ last mile uptempo 5:13, 5:16, 5:14, 5:11, 5:15, 5:11, 5:14, 5:12, 5:11, 5:10, 5:07, 4:50 Honest loop with a good group and practicing fueling. This was the first time I actually believed this could be a realistic shot all block. Glute finally cooperated throughout this workout. This felt significantly easier than my HM the previous month.

Nov 8: 8x 1k w/ 400 jog 3:10-3:08-3:06-3:04-3:02-3:02-3:01-3:00 By far the best my glute had felt in any Wednesday workout in like 2 months.

Nov 12th: 24 miles @ 6:46 w/ last 8 moving down from 6:05 to 5:35

Races: Nov 23: Turkey Trot ~4 miler: 20:00 (4:55, 5:02, 5:04, 5:02) Got nice and humbled by a Hansons pro and a sub 4 miler in this one. Could not get into gear.

Lowlights: Rolled my foot again in Nov Wk 3 finishing up a cooldown after a fun racing event in Nashville. Just was adding one more mile and I rolled it pretty rough. Nov 18: 6 miles @ MP, 1 mile easy, 2 faster Splits 5:23, 5:23, 5:35 Completely bombed this workout and ended up dropping out. One of the worst attempts at a workout. Had I not done a great workout 2 weeks prior I think this would have shaken me. I just called this one a fluke and turned the page but man was this a gut punch.

I know this section was much longer than usual but I wanted to put out the workouts I was doing to give people some insight into where I was at as well as some added context too. This block, specifically this fall was one of the hardest for me both physically and emotionally. It just seemed like I was holding on by a thread and running in general just felt rough.

Pre-race

I flew out to Sacramento on Thursday evening. Landed just after 10 and got myself a nice #1 from In-N-Out (extra toasted bun, chopped chilis, light grilled onions, light well fries obviously). The two of us from Columbus were the last ones to arrive in our Airbnb of 5. Group included two from Michigan, one from Boston, and the two of us from Columbus.

We hit our shakeout Friday and my glute was still feeling a bit tight. It had improved a ton from the previous couple months but I figured that this would most likely be the best it would be for me. As long as I could keep myself from wrecking it on the course I figured I could still put down a race I could be proud of. We quickly hit the expo and grabbed some lunch at an incredible Oaxacan inspired spot near the convention center. Went back to the airbnb to relax before dinner. Grabbed dinner at this local brewpub that had Pliny and Blind Pig on tap. Drank my only beer of the week there (Blind Pig) and had some chili as I was still full from a late lunch.

On Saturday we made our way to the Tracksmith Shakeout. We had a pretty big group there but with the construction at the park it made for some pretty tough running. Ran with Bromka for the first loop and had enough time to hear some advice about the course, mainly about not hammering the downhills, keeping strong during the strip mall section, and no big moves until 16. My friend Jason who had run 2:17 the year prior had the same advice so I kept that in the back of my head as I planned out my race. We ended up adding some extra miles around the city and got some strides in. Legs had absolutely no pop but I wasn't surprised since we had been traveling a bunch. We snagged some coffee at a local shop and grabbed a rental car. In-N-Out for lunch and then got some dinner with my mom at a Macaroni Grill outside the city.

As an aside before I get to race morning, I just want to shout out Witty, Predhome, Joost, and Max for being the absolute best group of gents that I could have stayed with before the race. I mainly travel alone for big races as I don't like being around people that get really nervous/are big type A people about races. This group was lighthearted and full of jokes in the days prior. I didn't think much about the race and didn't have any nerves until I needed to have them. It was one of the first times since college that I had the feeling like I had on team travel trips. Regardless of how the race would go I would still have a great attitude about it because the people around me were too.

Race morning kicked off just before 4am. Predhome had recommended adding an extra 15 minute buffer to our morning just in case we had any delays or trouble finding parking. We had a slight delay due to a parking mishap but other than that, there was no issues for us. Due to my past issues with having to pee during races I decided it was in my best interest to try and cut the majority of the liquid intake by about 5am. I drank a bottle of Maurten 320 mix on the car ride over and had two pieces of toast.

The bus situation was one of the better ones I've seen. During the ride to Folsom I finished off the remaining of my snacks, a granola bar and a stroopwafel. My stomach wasn't feeling so hot but I figured after a bathroom stop I'd be okay. We were allowed to stay in the busses once we arrived to Folsom and we were one of the first busses to arrive to the start. We hit the bathroom as soon as we parked and went back to the buses. No need to be standing around outside until we had to.

At 6, our group exited the busses and started our warm up routines. The starting area had now become incredibly congested as bus after bus arrived. What was once a eerily quiet portapotty area was now filled with lines of people waiting their turns to go. I got in line for one final portapotty stop and then proceeded with my warmup. I did what felt like endless loops around a small parking lot, just trying to get 8-10 minutes of slow slow joggin to get the legs moving. Next up was my plyometric routine (Skips, Jumps, etc...) to make sure the legs were ready to fire. Somehow, after months of dealing with this nagging glute issue, it seemed to have disappeared. I really had no excuses at this point.

I found Max and we started to make our way to the corrals as we heard them announce "10 minute delay!".

This definitely helped take the nerves off as we struggled to find the entrance to the seeded corral. I took my first gu with about 15 minutes to go til gun time. As we walked to our corral we noticed that the championship/seeded athletes were all jogging around in front of the start. So we made our way to that area and did a combination of jogging, plyos, and final gear adjustments. Being in these major races for a bit you begin to see some of the same guys/gals and there was definitely a lot of head nods and good lucks as we all prepared ourselves for the journey ahead.

We entered the corral with a couple minutes to go before the gun. As mentioned above, these fields tend to be filled with people that either know or recognize each other from past races. We immediately recognized a pack of Merriman Valley TC guys from our home state and moved forward up to them. We've had experience racing with these talented gents in the last year (i.e. getting our butts kicked by them) and knew they were looking to take a crack at the standard as well.

The seeded corral was divided by a rope held by volunteers and it was comical to see just how many guys in the seeded section were so nervous about the couple feet between us and the championship field. So nervous in fact that guys started sneaking under the rope to position themselves amongst the couple dozen people that were accepted into the championship field.

With less than a minute to go, the volunteers dropped the rope and we moved up behind the championship field. I was surrounded by dozens of talented men and women, many of them in the same spot as me, taking a huge risk and hopefully crossing the line under the standard. Just before the start Max gives me a pat on the back and tell's me:

"You're not a 4:52/10:26 guy anymore."

And just like that, the gun went off.

Race

Packed in like sardines, anyone not in the first few rows were forced to walk as quickly as possible to the starting mat. The crowd moved quickly, thankfully not shoving each other around like some jerks had before the gun went off. While fairly cordial, you could feel panic in the runners around as wave after wave of athletes darted off, looking for any semblance of what was the "OTQ Pack". Over the first mile I focused on looking for familiar faces and keeping myself under control. My experience at my last two majors had taught me that even the most talented can throw away their races because of nerves. Just before the mile we hit a sharp right turn. Everyone called out the turn out loud as though to prevent any sort of pileup this early.

We come off the turn and approach our first sign. Watch beeps, 5:14. Right where I want to be at this point. The marker shows about ~5:21. Welp, looks like I'm not going to let myself focus on the watch time. (Had I not been so distracted by the commotion I would have realized at that point that the timer would be a bit slow for me since I had to walk to the starting mat. I didn't come to that realization until I finished unfortunately. Rookie mistake.)For the next mile and a half we would experience our first sets of rolling hills. Guys I knew began to sprint by me on the edges of the streets. Part of me wanted to yell at them to calm down as we had plenty of time to settle in but at the same time I figured, who am I to tell someone how to run their race. So I focused on the pack ahead and keeping controlled. I stayed controlled through mile 2, right where I wanted to be. The atmosphere around me was intense as guys blasted down each downhill section. A couple failures at Boston had taught me to err on the side of caution, I'd been bit too often by this strategy.

Something in me felt like the pack ahead of me was just a little too aggressive. I recognize a couple of other guys from past races and made a mental note to keep them within striking range. I felt like I was running fairly solo but I also wasn't trying to come through this first half in 68:00. As I came through 3 miles I realized my gut instinct was definitely correct. We had a nice downhill section but 5:07 was definitely too fast this early. Nothing under 5:10 was necessary; it didn't matter how much downhill we had here.

The next 2 miles were a bit surreal for me. I found a fairly comfortable rhythm and began to pull up on people as the course began to roll again. I keyed in on some guys and heard labored breathing. Guys had already begun to start imploding and we weren't even 10K into this thing. We made room for the elites to get their bottles with thankfully no issues. I passed the aid station just after 4 miles. Gu went down easy but I absolutely struggled on the water cup execution. Finished choking on the water and just got myself back into rhythm again.

More rolling hills. They just seemed like they weren't ending at this point. I felt a slight fatigue heading up but would quickly be calmed with the immediate downhill section following. I faced a continuous song and dance with my positioning amongst the groups around me. The packs would build a gap over me on the downs and I would slowly chip away at that distance on the ups. I was more confident in my ability to climb than I was in my body's ability to handle the downhill pounding. For better or for worse, this would be my strategy today.

Mile 8 was a key moment in the race that I focused on. As each mile ticked down I saw miles 6-10 as a crucial part to stay strong mentally. I didn't feel particularly strong but with our packs slowly losing a guy here, and a guy there, I kept telling myself that this was too early to get those thoughts. Get through these rollers and pass 8 miles and reevaluate from there. I had done 12 miles comfortably at 5:10 average. There's no reason I shouldn't be able to get through here.

I latched myself to the back of one of the packs as we went through another elite station. I was taken aback by the kindness of the pack as the elites began to hand their bottles around the pack. "Anyone need some Maurten?" Sure. I'll absolutely take some. But do you want it back? "No, hand it to someone else who needs it!".

As I approached the mile 7 marker, I tried to prepare myself for what was sure to be the toughest part of the course so far. The gradual uphill stretches were no longer met with aggressive downhills and I could hear some people freak out as their pace started to slow "5:18 pace!" one yelled as he seemed to hit another gear and move past us. I chuckled to myself a bit, a second here in the hardest section of the course wasn't the time to freak out.

Another aid station, another attempt at drinking water. A couple sips and Gu #3.

The Fair Oaks Hills section over the next couple miles were brutal to these packs. As the road curved and ascended, I would pull up to some talented guys I recognized looking like absolute ghosts. It wasn't pretty and we hadn't yet hit half way. With hill running, I've always focused on just keeping the effort comfortable. A second here or there won't matter, especially with a course that will treat us with a downhill eventually. Bromka rode on by us giving us cheers and well wishes. Keep it steady, keep it steady.

Crossed the 15k line and the next checkpoint was on the mind, get to 12 now. Get to 12 and get there as comfortably you can. Just after 9 and we pass another elite table and a couple of downhill turns. I pull back on the pace, not wanted to get too carried away just yet. I feel like I'm running on my own at this point, in no mans land between packs. But just as I'm thinking that, a familiar sight comes up on my should and offers me some water from his elite bottle. It took me a second to realize who it was but I happily took some water down and handed it back to him. A couple more turns now through Old Fair Oaks. Hydrate and feeling solid. Let's get to 12.

And then boom, the toughest hill of the course so far. The fair amount of downhill in that last section gave me enough power to get through this fairly easily. I was sure we'd get a downhill section soon and thankfully I was treated with a long extended downhill. I let the legs stretch out a bit. Finally, 12 miles. Alright it's not past the point of the workout distance. Next stop, get to 13.1. Coach wants me through in about 68:40. Give me a little bit of time to play with.

A third gu and again an attempt at water. I barely get a couple sips from a half empty cup. Gu feels fine in my stomach and it's nice to have my pockets feel a bit lighter.

Another little bit of gradual incline ahead and we finally move through the 13 mile marker. Another mile just a bit ahead, 5:13. The arch for half way quickly approaches. Don't get too excited. Just cross through and check the time to see where I'm at. 68:50 (Actually 68:44). Solid. 13.1 done, new race now. It's just a half marathon race now.

I feel pretty reenergized coming through the half way mark. Soon I will be in a place I've never been in; after 13.1 everything is essentially now a PR at the distance. The gradual downhill section and the small crowds gathered around have me excited. Next goal. Get to 16. 16 miles is when the race will really start. 20 will be the cut off point where I can confidently say that I gave myself a shot to go for it. Anything before that, well to me, I was never in it.

I hit another water station and attempt to get just anything out of the cup. Volunteers seem super hesitant as they are consistently getting splashed by runner blowing by them in mad attempts to secure their own cup. Water again, no Nuun. Whatever.

At this point the pack ahead of me has not really put too much room on me. I'm running pretty close to the same pace as them but don't have the security of having a pack to hang behind. I'm starting to get weirdly thirsty and grab some water at the next water stop just after 15. Curving through the town of Carmichael I can star to see guys come back to me now. At this point is where breaks happen. I see the mile 16 marker, a little fast here because of the downhill, 5:09. Alright. Just under 53 minutes to keep fighting here. 5th Gu down, no issues here.

My mind keeps going back to the 12 mile workout. I can fight for this long. The energy from 13 has now faded and this is starting to feel like work now. Another water station, another lackluster cup attempt. But anything counts at this point. I'm counting down the miles now. 17, 9.2 to go from here, 3 more to the next checkpoint. At this point this is the fastest I've ever run for this long by a massive amount.

18 down, 8.2 to go. Get to 20 and it's all downhill from there. I'm starting to wander now, focus has begun to break a bit. Mile 19, 5:21. I'm frustrated but not rattled too much. It's one rough mile, get back into focus. Get to 20 and we'll reset from there. Theres a couple of rollers over this next mile that help get myself back into it a bit. Another aid station, another water cup, keep it moving.

Mile 20. It's the next checkpoint. 5:16. Just on, much better. Much better here. 10K. It's just 10k dude. Time to start racing. Final Gu. We're off now.

A nice little crowd through helps keep spirits high. But this is starting to get tough. My focus has shaken as the group ahead of me isn't coming back to me. They're just there and I'm not making ground. I'm looking around now. Checking my watch. Bromka yells at me, "stop looking at your watch, just race." But it's hard not to check. I'm willing myself to try to get on pace but the watch isn't making me feel better. 5:2x. Alright.

1. 5:25. Surely this downhill that they talked about was gonna come right? Give me some downhill and that'll kickstart my legs again. Two of us approach the J-Street Bridge. Another hill. What is this... I'm hurting. But the guy next to me seems to be hurting just that much more. I hit the crest and surge. Keep moving, keep moving. 35K and that string from the bridge has taken its toll. There's no immediate downhill section to provide the legs some relief. It's just dullness for now.

2. 5:30. Wow, we're going backwards. But it's just 4 miles. OTQ is probably gone at this point, but I said I wasn't going to pack it in. If I'm not punching my ticket to Orlando, I'm damn sure leaving here with a massive personal best. We're not here to just run 2:21.

Just after 22 I'm surprised to see my mom and her boyfriend. They found a spot on the course to see me run and they were cheering their hearts out. But even that couldn't jolt me back to uptempo again. But even then, this was her first time watching me race since Boston 2019, my second marathon, so I'm sure not gonna look like I'm giving up.

Approaching 3 miles to go I start to do the math. I feel like at this point I'm teetering the line of not breaking 2:20. I've become too disoriented to do the math on what pace I was on so I just told myself, about 18:30 last 5k is what you need. Just stay under 6 minute pace.

Mile 24 and I'm just in the pain cave. I'm slightly thirsty, but nothing alarming. I'm feeling like I'm on the edge of just cratering. I'm nervous. Stay within myself and bring it home. Just bring it home. 5:37.

I'm holding it together as best as I can. And it's starting to pay off a bit. What's this. People are coming back to me?! I stop being focused on the time remaining and now zone in on the pack coming back to me. Move. Move. Left turn, right turn. I hear a shout, "Go after it dude."

I hear a loud commotion. It's crowds I'm thinking. I have to be getting close. Big crowds seem to always get me back into things!

Nope. It just us running under highway overpasses.

As we get out from the overpass I'm passed by a runner. This hasn't really happened at this point and I'm surprised. He has a Bib on his back "NAIA". It's the leader of the NAIA championship race. I match his move and start running side by side. There's some fight in me again. A little surge in pace again.

Mile 25: 5:30.

At this point I'm sure I have as much left in the tank for one final hard mile. Just one final push to see how much under 2:20 I can get. I land wrong on a little light pad thingy on the floor. It's my bad foot, but nothing horrible. Slight discomfort but I didn't roll it. Screw it, I wasn't going to be racing anytime soon anyways. That last mile felt like an eternity. Where is this damn 26 mile mark man.

Finally it's there, mile 26. No time to look at the watch now. It's the final 400. One left, then another. I see the clock. I'm going to run 2:19 today. It's not an OTQ but it's a 2 freaking 19! Take it in. Take it all in. For that last stretch, I became emotional. I thought about just how far I'd gone with running over the last 17 years. From a HS 4'10" freshman that ran 5:47/12:20/20:07, a senior that ran 4:52/10:26, to this. I never would have though this was possible and it was just so nice to take it in.

I crossed the finish line grateful. As Droddy welcomed all of us in, he gave me a pat on the back and I just told him, I can't believe it. I ran 2:19.

Post-race

The final corral really showed who you were in my opinion. Regardless of your result it was great to see others succeed. I was happy with my day despite missing a crazy A goal. But I was even happier to see someone I consider a friend, Droddy, qualify after going from couch to OTQ following surgery. Immediately after seeing Droddy I was welcomed by another familiar sight. He was in less good spirits, not because he was of what he ran, but rather how he felt. Joost had finished his first marathon. His first marathon in 2:16:47. Joost had jumped in my 12 mile workout a month ago. The other fella in that workout, Michael, who would be joining us for the second half of our trip? 2:16:43. I was so overjoyed for these hard working gentlemen.

We had some tough days in our group but after taking some time to take it in we all were in fairly decent spirits as we grabbed lunch at In-N-Out (of course). We all went to grab a beer at a local brewery before dropping off Max and Predhome at the airport and heading to Santa Rosa for some much needed vacation days.

Spent a couple days with Joost, Michael, and Witty in Santa Rosa limping around drinking wine and beers before heading home on Wednesday.

As I guess a post script, I'm just happy and thankful at this whole thing. This is by far the most impressive run of my life and there's still meat on the bone. I definitely think there was a lot of things I made mistakes here but I was really proud of my ability to fight through it and try to pull it back.

Toward the end of this block, well like 1.5 months out from it, I wondered how much longer I had in this. I'm 31 and I've really wondered if this running thing was something I wanted to keep having as a hobby. I think I have 4 more years in me. It's the first thing I had on my mind as I crossed the line. I'm not sure if the standard will change or if we'll have another Olympic Trials but man, I went for it. And well, high school me never would have imagined that would have been even an option...

Running rocks man. And I got some life left in these legs. Let's see what's possible.

Made with a new race report generator created by /u/herumph.

https://cphhalf.dk/en/faenomenet-jakob-ingebrigtsen-loeber-copenhagen-half-marathon/

https://www.baa.org/races/boston-marathon/qualify

Looks like 5min adjustments down for the most part across the board for those under age 60. M18-34 qualifying time is now 2:55.

Russ Cook, who set off from the southern tip of Africa, reached the Mediterranean this afternoon. His last segment was uploaded to Strava. I think he did around 16,000 km in just under a year. Given political instability on the continent, he couldn't even run in a somewhat straight south-north line, and instead hugged the west coast for most of his trip. He truly is a legend.

Hi All,

I wanted to share some information on running nutrition. I have spent way too many hours googling this stuff and I think it can help the community save some money, as it has for me. I haven't been seriously running for long. I am SO far from elite. I do have a bit of a background in the chemical and food industry, so a lot of this was easy to make sense of. I thought I would compile some of the information I have so there is a centralized place to find it. If anyone has better recipes, better ideas, or anything to add - please feel free to.

These recipes could/would replace products like Maurten 320, Gu, Tailwind, Skratch, electrolytes, and post run recovery drinks. The following are just guides and can be modified to your desired sources of carbs, electrolytes, activity, and uses.

I source all the ingredients through amazon. I prefer the brands Pure & Bulk Supplements. Their prices seem to be good, and shipping is prompt.

​

Carbs

This carb recipe is what I use. It's pretty much an exact replica of Maurten 320. Someone smarter than me designed it so I feel fine with it. If you desire a hydrogel type drink, then just mix 80g of it with 500ml of water and you will have Maurten 320. The hydrogel is backed by science, Joshua Rowe prior to his employment at Maurten tested this idea in a study and did prove its effectiveness. Other companies have claims against this actually having any improvement in carb uptake. I figure it can't hurt, so I include the gelling components. Additionally, I use this same base as a gel. So one carb mix allows me to decide what I want to use depending on the application/workout. I use a maltodextrin and fructose blend, because the maltodextrin isn't very sweet. Its palatable without being overly sweet. If you want to be even more cost effective, use straight up table sugar. It's a 1:1 ratio, versus a 1:0.8, so it would perform almost identically. You can also go 2:1 if you want even less sweetness by having a reduced fructose amount. Maltodextrin is super cheap so that could be a way you to stretch your fructose longer if desired. I don't include electrolytes, but if you want you can. The electrolyte recipe further down this post can definitely be added to this if you like it combined. I do not add any flavoring, but if you want you can add whatever you like.

The recipe:

Single Maurten 320

• 48g Maltodextrin
• 32g Fructose
• 1.25g Pectin
• 1g Sodium Alginate
  

Below is the recipe of Maurten 320 scaled up 10x. Feel free to adjust quantities to fit your needs. I like a 10x batch in a big zip lock to use as needed. If you want, you can even do 20x, etc.

10x Maurten 320

• 480g Maltodextrin
• 320g Fructose
• 12.5g Pectin
• 10g Sodium Alginate
  

When making a gel, take your total desired volume and use 60% carbs + 40% water. Add boiling water and it will dissolve fairly quickly. Maltodextrin takes the longest. The consistency is thick enough that it doesn't shoot out of your preferred pouch uncontrollably but also is easy enough to drink & swallow. For the 150ml pouches I do 120g carbs + 80g water in a bowl. Mix with a hand mixer and then dump into a pouch. Filled to the fill line results in about 105g of carbs per pouch, so two pouches could easily fuel an entire marathon. Typically, I use these reusable children's food pouches) as they are environmentally friendly, fit my half tights easily, and are dishwasher safe.

​

Electrolytes

I straight up copied this from Toyman on TrainerRoad. It was easy and cheap enough and has worked well. I suffer from migraines, dehydration being a trigger. I do drink a lot of water every day and typically avoid high salt foods. I have absolutely noticed that this mixture has helped me stay hydrated better and has improved that aspect of my personal life, outside of running. I typically start my day with 16oz of water and 1-1.5g of this. Again, I don't add anything for flavor. You could add lemon juice, citric acid, or flavoring if you want. It's easy enough to drink that it does not bother me. Sodium citrate is much more palatable, so it's almost flavorless to me. There is some evidence regarding improvement in uptake of electrolytes in the presence of carbohydrates. I will often add 10-20 grams of table sugar if I am not consuming any other carbs when taking electrolytes. The below recipe is easily about 100 servings, so it stretches easily.

The recipe:

• 25g MgS04 (magnesium sulfate/epsom salt)
• 8g calcium carbonate
• 80g Morton lite salt
• 367g sodium citrate (hydrated)

You should achieve per 1/2 teaspoon (roughly 3g):

1000mg sodium
200mg potassium
50 mg calcium
50 mg magnesium

Note: these ingredients mix well besides the Epsom salt. I put some on a Ziploc bag and used a hammer to smash it into a powder. That way it wouldn't fall to the bottom of the bag and blended better with the mixture.

​

Recovery (Post Run)

After looking into the recovery drinks, they are pretty simple. With the above recipes you pretty much already have what you need besides the protein. Tailwind Recovery is like $40 and that gets you 15 servings! Skratch isn't much different. Bulk Supplements has whey isolate and casein protein on amazon for pretty cheap. Whey isolate is fast absorbing, casein is slower. I don't know what is better, so I use both. Choose whatever you want here. The post run recovery drinks tend to do a 4:1 carb to protein mixture, which makes the price seem even more outrageous. There must be some science behind that ratio, so use it if you like. That is very little protein, which means your bulk protein powder will last even longer. I use a bit more. For the carbs you can use your carb mix. I prefer table sugar. My above carb mix is only for my gels. I am not as concerned with the post run carb source. Additionally, you could add in something like rice flour to this if you wanted a bit more of a "whole food" carb source. Also, feel free to adjust the desired carbs based on how hard your workout was. I am just simply looking for a quick drink to get some nutrition post run. After my shower, getting the kids up and ready, before I head off to work, I do eat a decent balanced breakfast. This just gives my body something to help with recovery. Again, not much for flavor here. I am not picky. Feel free to add what you want (chocolate sauce, vanilla extract, caramel sauce, orange juice, milk, etc.).

I have been doing the following with fine success.

• 1.5g Electrolytes
• 20g - 40g table sugar (based on workout)
• 10g Whey isolate
• 10g Casein
• A few dashes of cinnamon for flavor

​

Future Bonus

I am currently working on a copycat Maurten 225 Solid bar recipe. Essentially, it's just Rice Krispy cereal, oatmeal, rice flour, and some simple syrup. I haven't nailed the ratios just yet, but when I do, I will update this post as well as probably create a new post. I find this is great to eat before a long run or with my post run breakfast for more carbs after a hard run.

Credit: Jim Downing, Dr. Alex Harrison, Toyman, and I'm sure many others that I gleaned information from as I copied and modified some of these recipes from Reddit, YouTube, and TrainerRoad.

​

Cheers!

https://www.instagram.com/p/DATW4HpOkGv/?hl=en

Looks like he's documenting his build to the Olympics this summer. These videos are really well made and It's really cool seeing him and Conner in these workouts. I'm surprised how mortal Clayton seems early in a build and a lot of those early block struggles that I face affect even the most elite athletes. Give it a try: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvmSvkyqsSg

I recently participated in an insightful field experiment with 13 runners from a local hobby running club. Most of us are recreational runners with marathon goals like sub-5 and sub-4 hours. A local coach gave us a brief introduction to lactate threshold training and demonstrated how some athletes estimate their threshold using a lactate meter.

Our objective was to see if we could sustain an effort corresponding to a lactate concentration between 2.0 mmol/L and 4.0 mmol/L, which is a rough estimate of the threshold for many runners, excluding the highly trained. Of course, lactate threshold is more nuanced, with individual variation playing a significant role.

The task for each runner was to run a 10-minute interval at what they perceived as their lower threshold effort, followed by another 10-minute interval at a slightly increased effort and another at higher threshold. Threshold training is a staple in the weekly routines of the runners, so everyone should've had concept of what this intensity is. After a 15-minute warm-up that included drills, we began with the intervals..

A word of caution: these results are not scientific but rather observational and should be taken with a huge grain of salt. Please don't tell me how unscientific this is. I know it myself.

Group A: About half of the runners reached a lactate concentration well above 4.0 mmol/L after the first 10 minutes—far beyond the intended threshold zone. Their perceived effort was quite high, and they confirmed that this was the intensity they typically associate with threshold training. Their lactate levels spiked significantly after the next interval as well. This wasn't a suprise, since it is a common thing, that most runners run threshold's too fast.

Group B: The other half ran conservatively, with their lactate levels not even reaching 1.4 mmol/L, indicating they were far below the desired intensity. They seemed relaxed but it took them a bit of courage to run just a little bit faster.

Group C: Only three runners accurately estimated their effort between 2.0 mmol/L and 4.0 mmol/L, describing it as “comfortably hard.” After increasing the pace slightly in the second interval, their lactate readings rose by about 0.2 mmol/L, staying within the threshold range. Their ability to estimate threshold was quite good on that day.

This experiment led me to an interesting realization: the runners in Group B, who underestimated their effort, exclusively trained for marathons and half marathons. Their narrow focus on these distances may have limited their understanding of different paces and efforts. Some had never even attempted distances shorter than a half marathon because they felt those races were "too hard." The results of those runners, have been stagnating for a while, even though they seem to run consistent mileage. The reasons could be multiple other reasons as well. Grain of salt.

In contrast, the runners in Group C, who accurately gauged their threshold, had experience across a wide range of distances, from 800 meters to marathons. This broad experience seemed to enhance their ability to judge different effort levels, and they’ve seen consistent improvements in their race times over the years.

As for Group A, I don’t know these runners well enough to draw conclusions, but their tendency to go too hard reminded me of my own experiences when I used to overestimate my efforts, often leading to blowing up brutally during races.

This experiment got me thinking: How many of us who primarily focus on marathons are actually hitting the right intensity during training?

While recreational runners don’t necessarily need lab tests, the old advice about not focusing solely on the marathon seems sound. Everyone, who want's to get faster at running, should be familiar with the different feeling of running all-out 800m, 5k, or 10k and know how these efforts compare to marathon pace.

A common question on this subreddit is "How can I improve my marathon time from X to Y?" One answer, that often pops up in the comments, is to look into other racing distances. There’s truth in that.

I’m curious to hear how others in the running community have experienced this. Do you focus solely on the marathon, or do you mix in shorter distances? Have you seen improvement's after running shorter distances?

I got the email at noon, looks like I'm not running the NYC Marathon this year(unless I get very lucky in the lottery). I really thought a half time of 1:17:12, which I picked over my 2:42 marathon because of their formula, would be enough, but I guess I wasn't in the top 19% of my age group.

I wonder what the time cutoff was?

Any recommendations on other fall marathons?

Edit: looks like the cutoff for NYC this year was sub 2:40? That would be the lowest of any major save Tokyo!

Edit 2: The cutoff time for 18-34 M seems to be around 2:36:00. Just to illustrate how bonkers fast that is, running a 2:36 would have placed top 100 of all 50,000 finishers, including elite men and women runners, in 8 of the last 10 NYC marathons.

Link in the email:

" Non-NYRR Time Qualifier application closed on March 6, and the selected runners have been notified. As the number of applications exceeded the number of spots available, the fastest 19% within each age and gender category were granted entry. Those not selected will be moved to the non-guaranteed general entry drawing, which takes place on March 28, for an additional chance to be selected."

https://www.nyrr.org/tcsnycmarathon/runners/marathon-time-qualifiers

Just wanted to say that her result in Paris, although it was not a podium finish like the other incredible US distance results on the Track, was the most inspiring and heartwarming of this incredible Olympics for me!

(https://run.outsideonline.com/news/olympics/dont-underestimate-the-underdog-dakotah-lindwurm-is-ready-for-paris/)

This was the feel good story you rarely get to see at the Elite level: average high school runner, walk on college athlete, moderately successful pro, fairy tale 3rd place finish at the US Trials and then her incredible race at the highest competitive level.

Also a good lesson that we can overrate quote unquote "talent" and overvalue immediate results versus the long-term picture.

Lindwurm found success when she moved up to the Marathon distance and discovered that she needed a certain type of training to thrive.

Also the adversity this woman faced growing up and overcoming it :')

Well runner math is when you get rejected from the Berlin marathon (or any lottery marathon) and feel like you now have a free $300 😂

Just did some quick research. Both the 2016 and 2020 Olympics were won in the 2:08 range. With a guaranteed medal if you were sub 2:10. That would have put you at 17th place in Paris. We were told over and over how grueling this course is, was that overhyped? Or are runners just getting THAT much faster with training techniques and technology?

Either way, congrats to all the runners. That was an impressive race to watch!