TriDude's Quest for Strength, Speed and Fat Loss - Page 4 - JP Fitness Forums

MissDee · 12-06-2006, 05:20 AM

Have fun Saturday. Looking forward to your report

UpNorth · 12-06-2006, 05:45 AM

Good luck in Charlotte!

tridude · 12-06-2006, 11:56 AM

Thanks very much guys! I'm definitely having taper madness now. My energy is through the roof. Hopefully, it will still be that way come Saturday morning, when it is 21 degrees!

BamaDave · 12-06-2006, 11:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tridude

Thanks very much guys! I'm definitely having taper madness now. My energy is through the roof. Hopefully, it will still be that way come Saturday morning, when it is 21 degrees!

Haha! Yeah, what is the deal with this? Isn't this the South we're running in this weekend?

twinsavsvikingsfan · 12-08-2006, 05:56 PM

GO BRETT, GO!!!!!

tridude · 12-10-2006, 06:00 PM

Thanks for the encouragement, everyone. I had a good race. Here is a race report that I put on my blog:

Charlotte Marathon race report
Well, this was my second marathon, and to tell you the truth I wasn't looking very forward to it. I am kind of burned out after long season of racing and am quite ready for a few weeks off. I originally signed up thinking that a run focus for a month or so at the end of tri season would be a good thing. Before the race, I wasn’t so sure. The forecast for the race was starting temps in the 20s, so I wasn't really looking forward to that, either.

As it turned out, though, I'm really glad I did this race. I was shooting for sub-4 hours, but was really unsure what I was going to end up with, as my training had been hit or miss for the past month or so. I started a generic marathon training plan about halfway through it, as I was still doing triathlons until nine weeks out from the race. I hit all of the key runs each week, one longish run during the week and one long one on the weekends, but the shorter runs I did when I felt like it. I have also been hitting the weights pretty hard with my legs, as one of my goals for this off-season is to build leg power for next tri season.

I think this kind of laid back training paid off pretty well, as I was fresh the week before the race, with a steep taper in place. My wife recently tweaked her back, so I would be doing this trip solo. I drove down to my mom's house Friday night and stayed with her. She lives about an hour outside of Charlotte, so I had about an hour's drive on race morning, then I would have to drive back to Raleigh (another couple of hours) after the race. Should be a fun Saturday!

Anyway, I made it to the race site around 6:00 a.m. and picked my packet up. It was absolutely freezing outside, so I tried to stay indoors as long as possible. This race was of a much smaller scale than Chicago, so it was also a lot less stressful on race morning. There were 40,000 running when I did Chicago, while only 800 finished this one.

I found the 4-hour pace group, as my plan was to stay with them until the halfway point and see how I felt. I stayed right with them as planned, met a few nice folks along the way, and took in some of the ritzy downtown Charlotte neighborhoods. There were a few hazards along the way, like ice on the ground at some of the aid stations where the liquid had frozen, but nothing too bad. The cold wasn't all that bad, but the wind got mighty chilly at few spots on the back half.

I made the first half in 1:57:24 and was feeling pretty good, so I made the executive decision to pick it up some. I was feeling pretty good, so I just upped it a bit to see what would happen. I got in to a nice rhythm over miles 13 until about 22. I started to feel it a bit somewhere around there, and the usual fatigue in the feet and legs started to show itself. I hung in there, though, even after some asshole in Cadillac yelled, "You people have the whole fucking city backed up!" I just chuckled to myself, said thanks for the encouragement, and soldiered on.

As it turns out, I was passing all kinds of people on the back half, and was only passed by one girl who was absolutely flying. She must have been on a relay team, because if she was that strong of runner she wouldn't have been behind me that whole time. I knew I was going to be safely under 4 hours after about mile 18, I just wasn't sure how far. I thought the last 1.2 miles would never end, and I ended up sprinting the last .2 to finish in 3:49:05. I had no idea I had this in me, but I'll take it. I was 48 out of 126 in my age group and 234 of 841 overall. Needless to say, me legs are ridiculously sore today. All in all, though, it was more than I could ask for.

After driving back two hours right after the race, I have pretty much been shot for the rest of the weekend. Nothing that a couple of pints of Ben and Jerry's couldn't cure though. Now, to rest for three weeks, then it's on to training for Ironman CDA. I'm already looking forward to it!

Marykaa · 12-10-2006, 06:46 PM

Wow! what a race! excellent! congrats!.. A well deserved rest ahead..

It's very inspirirng to read your report!

twinsavsvikingsfan · 12-10-2006, 07:18 PM

Awesome job!!!!

MissDee · 12-11-2006, 05:22 AM

Great job!

UpNorth · 12-11-2006, 06:02 AM

Congratulations! Sounds like you had a perfect race.

BamaDave · 12-11-2006, 06:07 AM

Great job, Brett. Surely all of your preparation for the triathlons carried over into running this marathon in a major way. Since you can finish a 1/2-Ironman so well, that physical and mental endurance no doubt had you in a better position for running this marathon than you expected. Way to go!!

We had a couple of icy spots on the road in Huntsville -- not to mention frozen spitballs on the street at times. LOL! Not something we expect to see when running a marathon down here.

Looking forward to seeing your training log for the CDA Ironman!

BamaDave · 12-24-2006, 08:41 AM

Hey Brett, where y'at?!?!? Hopefully enjoying some down time with the family. Have a great Christmas!