Eric Paradis ran the Steam Train Half Marathon and finished with a time of 2:24:59, which was a PR!
First half marathon! I should have looked at the map better ahead of time. So many hills! Had a good pace through the first 10 miles. All around 11:00, most under. Felt good, lots of rolling hills, but nothing major. As I was thinking that, mile 10 happened. Big climb for about half a mile. Sucked the energy and momentum right out of me. Got back on pace for the next mile and then it happened again. Even the last 100 the yards was a straight incline! Ugh. Still, very happy to have done it. Happy with the time. Got a little rain and even a little sleet. Then hit the brewery with some of the running club. Yay!
Luc Boonants ran the National Championships Half Marathon with a finishing time of 1:47:19.
The realistic plan was to run the first 10 km at 4:30/km pace and gradually accelerate to 4:25-4:20/km pace for a sub 95min finishing time. However, big disaster! 5km in 23:16 (4:39/km), 10km in 47:39 (4:52/km), 13.2km in 1:03:14 (4:52/km), 18.2km in 1:31:09 (5:34/km), …
What went wrong?
1) Strained, sore upper back and the discomfort became worse as the kilometres progressed. I paid extra attention to my breathing but it did not help.
2) I did not have any power to push through. And I missed my traditional strong finish.Reflections:
1) This poor race result is in contrast to my successful training block (executed virtually in its entirety).
2) Have I trained too hard? I don’t think so, I tapered enough, I did not feel tired before the start.
3) I did specific upper back exercises and I regularly go to the PT but this has not helped.
4) I should have done more tempo blocks to improve speed endurance.
Jaymie Cook ran the Marine Corps Tuneup 10 mile, finishing this distance in the time of 2:15:51.
Finished race with wife and daughter. Thank for your coaching guidance thus far! Looking forward to continuing to methodically improve strength and endurance to run 21 May half marathon and 29 Oct marathon!
Slawomir Wojcik ran the Warsaw High Five Run 5k and finished in a time of 18:22.
It was a typical tune-up race. It coincided with the end of a speed training period which would’ve been perfect if not the winter season and accumulation of business trips which made it practically impossible to do speedwork and quite difficult to do consistent running in general (especially 3 weeks prior to the race day).
Taking the lack of recent running into account, the result was not too bad. I aimed at 18 minutes (so 5:48 pace overall) and was able to stay on track until mile 3 when some fading started to happen. It was seriously uncomfortable trying to maintain the pace while being out of breath (I guess the lack of my speed training at faster paces showed up). Perhaps if I aimed more conservatively at 18:10 or so, I could’ve actually hit my goal.
Andrew Khodabukus ran the Liverpool 10 Miler and finished this race in the time of 1:25:34. This was a PR by 3 minutes 26 seconds!
I came into this race on the back of a difficult two weeks. It was the morning after our daylight savings shift. I was very uncertain this morning and just about managed to pull myself out to avoid a DNS.
It was a beautiful morning and quite inspiring to start outside Liverpool’s Three Graces. The crowd of 5,000 kept each other warm.
The start was tight as expected before moving into a steady climb at mile 1. The rest of the course is an undulating course with significant flat stretches. The usual issue is a headwind along the river that was mercifully absent.
Given my strains, I thought that today would be a push out and hold on day. I managed to hold steady in miles 7 to 9 before pushing on in the final mile. Pleased with the result!
Joe Allen ran the Rotary Lake 5K and completed this distance in the time of 29:14.
This is a grave trail race with three steep hills, including a grueling 1/4 miler to the finish line.. It had rained for several days so it was damp but not too bad. Normally, this is my first race of the year and it’s a good test of endurance for a 5K but you’re not going to set any personal speed records on it. Felt I ran a good race and was rapidly closing on the guy who’d been right ahead of me until the finish line. Later I learned that he’d won our age group, beating me by 5 seconds. Oh well, what can you do?
Manuel Garcia castaño ran the Media Maraton de Madrid Half Marathon and finished with a time of 1:34:30. This was a personal record by 4:03.
Great Race: great atmosphere, great weather, great route, great company, great pace…Very close to perfection !!! 😊
Feelings before race were very far from good though: feeling ill since Friday noon: terrible headache, needing Advil for two days, sleeping very poorly…quite a mess. Anyhow, intention was always to be there, and do my best in any case. When I woke up in Sunday morning, magic happened, body was feeling much better, maybe conscious that the time had come…
Whole city full of runners very soon in the morning! Went jogging 2 km to the start, very smooth, and was able to ease out some of the nervousness. In to the starting line, and here we go! First 4 km uphill, focusing in not overdoing it, hitting the planned pace with astonishing accuracy.
Amazing precision on ideal paces continued throughout race in kms 5, 10, 15… It may sound easy, but from km 16 it was very though muscular wise, a couple km downhill to make some time were super hard on the legs, could not get all from them, but just enough. Last 1,5 km uphill, quite agonic, but having the end line so close made the legs kept moving, strength coming out of nowhere -and the continuous crowd cheering us up all along Madrid-
Beautiful ending seeing all my mates in the finish line, all really happy and cheerful, all feeling the rush of glory! To finish the day, we had a proper celebration with family & friends, lots of good food, and even some Champagne ! 🍾
Todd West ran the Downtown Melbourne 5k and finished this distance in the time of 22:09.
Too warm and humid. 92% Humidity, I just can’t breathe well in it.
Eric Gomberg ran the United Airlines New York Half Marathon with a finishing time of 1:27:17.
Nice to see healthy improvement and best half marathon time since 2011. Pleased with even splits and overall performance on cold and windy morning.
Georgia Wills ran the Noosa Ultra-Trail 50k and finished this race event in the time of 5:55:00, which was a PR!
It was my first 50km. I flew up to Queensland to race it. It was as challenging as I imagined with over 1000m of elevation, technical trails, heat (31C/88F) and 96% humidity. The course was as stunning as it was challenging with rainforest, rolling hills and mountains. I felt great most of the way and was disciplined in keeping my self to an easy pace. The heat and humidity started to take their toll around the 40km mark so it was a tough last 10km but I crossed the line feeling strong and very grateful to have had such an incredible experience!
Thank you coaches, so much!! I felt great on race day and have been feeling great ever since, so the training clearly worked it’s magic! I ended up coming 60th out of 300. 22nd in the female category.
