They are standalone half PRs. They could have probably got into the 1:27s on the day w/some luck (weather, positioning, etc…) but that’s about it. These are all long course triathlon guys. They’re mostly one speed all day long kinda guys.
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Get a Stryd pod and run with power. Effort stays the same whether up hill or downhill and you don’t blow yourself out.
Just from reading the lit I’m skeptical! Although for most applications w/ grades between -5% and +5% it probably works well enough.
In that data set incremental oxygen consumption for the +5% interval was +0.4. Incremental O2 consumption for the -5% interval was -0.5. So it’s very linear in that region…and that’s 90% of races in my area.
As UH gets to 10%, 15%, 20% cadence remains fairly constant but stride length gets shorter, shorter, shorter. As DH gets to -10%, -15%, -20% stride length gets longer, longer, oops…stride length can only get so long! Where as stride length can approach zero, stride length reachs an asymptote well short of infinity.
So cost of running downhill can never decrement as much as cost of running the inverse gradient uphill can increment. I don’t think Stry can handle the non-linear portion of the curve well, but Stryd users, arise! Prove me wrong.
Well that absolutely sucks. 
Damn! Don’t over think it, but definitely rest up and listen to your body. There will be other marathons! Healing vibes headed your way 
I’ve raced 3 half’s and 2 full marathons in the past decade. Unfortunately none have been in the same season
Fall 2013: 1:24:30
Spring 2015: 1:22:30
Spring 2019: 1:21:00
Spring 2014: 3:07:49 (went out in a 1:27 then blew up)
Spring 2022: 3:02:16
By all accounts I should be able to break 3 based on my half’s. But I think my issue has been that I have trouble arriving in peak marathon shape healthy. Between my two marathons I had three others in which I signed up for and ended up not making it to the start line from different injuries (metatarsal stress fracture, Achilles tendon, IT band syndrome).
16 days from marathon #3. I think I’m in better shape than when I ran the 3:02, but still not in what I would consider a marathon shape as I’ve only done 3 weeks over 50 miles (and peaked at 55). Trying to decide whether I try and go for 3 flat and potentially blow up, or if I should just go out slower and enjoy the experience and atmosphere and if I feel good at mile 20 I can speed it up a bit and finish strong
Getting to the start line healthy is part of the battle! If you think and feel you’re fit, then go for it. You’ll definitely know once you get started and settle in after the first 5km. Stay on top of the fueling, find your group and zone out.
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I took the forum’s collective run pacing advice. Even though the race was a generally-down-hill out and a generally-up-hill back each consecutive split was faster than the last…though no split was fast on an absolute basis!
So I’m going to call that a reasonably successful pacing strategy.
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@Bbt67 How are you recovering? Still planning on a nice 42km fun run w/all the Mancunians this weekend?
@mhandwerk How goes the taper? Getting fidgety yet? Ghost aches and pains?
I have a 5km fun run w/my coworkers this weekend. When I signed up, I wasn’t sure if I’d be walking or running. Have had some setbacks, but it looks like I’ll be able to run albeit slowly.
Hope everyone else is doing well.
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Positively horrible which I suppose is to be expected. Knees hurt, legs feel bleh, keep thinking I am coming down with something, pretty anxious and having trouble focusing on things at work and home. Typical taper stuff 
Flying out in Thursday - hopefully the kids (3.5 years and 5months) do ok since the Seattle to Boston flight is 6 hours and we get in at midnight. Friday is going to be 80 degrees in Boston. Thankfully race day looks like it’ll be about 60 (which is still warm for me since I think I’ve only had 1-2 runs where it was over 50 so far this year.
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Had a great “race” this weekend in the Beast of the Beacons, Brecon beacons, South Wales. More of a training run for UTS next month. Couldn’t ask for better running weather, slight breeze, cool, sunny, ridges, views… 33km 1250m done in a nice slow 4:44 minutes. Was the other half’s first taste of anything over 21km, she did really well finishing an hour behind me and also had plenty left in the tank.
78th out of 122 starters.
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DId my first parkrun last saturday.
Overall great experience.
Also a great lesson was that i am absolutely horrid at pacing myself 
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most of us are!
Couple of years ago… I was probably one of my best shape for a short race…
We have a local race here that its call Run Run Santa. Its a one miler on December 24 and everyone dress as santa (with fake beard and all).
Anyways, I’ve been talking trash with a friend of mine (much faster than me) on how i will beat him on that race.
We toe the start and there we go. I was LEADING the race for about 600 meters… I was doing about 4:45 pace. I was feeling great and for a split second I thought i could win the race… Well… no. That pace was absolutely not sustainable for 1 mile… 4 people passed me and a 5th almost got me at the end… my friend finished 3rd. I finished 5th with a 5:15 mile… That was slower that the year before.
I am certain that if i had pace the race the correct way… say start at 5:15 pace and push the last 800 to sub 5 I would have beat him… but because I am a dumb ass and don’t know how to pace he kick my ass… This was 4 or 5 years ago, and every time we do track he reminds me how I though I could beat him. 
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Ha! i love it!
Same here, i overcooked it at the beginning following other people, then my lace came undone on one foot. And then i slowed down by at least 1:00/km 
I just have to remember this for my half marathon in 2.5 weeks, to just stick to the paces ill set on my watch instead of following the crowd. I don’t know yet if i can negative split it though. I can only try my best? lol
Fantastic views
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I did something similar a long time ago, before we had GPS watches. I was running a sunset 5km race. I somehow managed to end up on the second row for the start. When the gun went off, I took off w/the horses. It’s a 5km. It’s supposed to hurt. I was full on sucking wind and getting passed, so I figured typical when you are slow and line up at the front. But when I got to the mile marker, the guy called out 5’25. I thought I misheard until I heard him calling out 5’26, 5’27 for the others behind me. At that point, I knew I was 
since my 5km PR was only mid 17s. And accordingly, the next 2.1 miles were a slow agonizing spiral of death in the FL summer heat! 
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Don’t you live hot Florida summer?
I did almost the opposite on a 5k. I thought I was not going to make the sub 18 at the start, so I started conservative at 18 flat pace… With a mile to go i realized that I had fucked up and that I had a lot more in the tank… dropped a 5.24 (mile 1 and 2 were 5.45) last mile for a massive 26s PR (17.42). I would have probably done 10+ seconds better if I had pace correctly, which i had done before.
Pacing is so hard, sometimes you start hard and flame out quick, sometimes you start slow and can’t make up the lost time… 
You can always run negative splits… just slow down your initial pace sufficiently. 
In the end, that’s probably a better pace for you anyway. I’m no expert, but my understanding is that the research is pretty clear in saying that your fastest pace for a given event is going to be whatever pace allows you to run ideally a negative split, or at worst an even pace.
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yeah i just get really excited and caught up at the starting line… i think at the half marathon im gonna go for the 2:10 pace bunny and try to “catch up” to the 1:50; they still haven’t confirmed pacers or times yet.
If i can do that, i’ll be golden.
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That sucks to hear. Rest up! Eat well and sleep as much as possible.