To Marathon or not to Marathon?

I won't care about time I will run marathons as long as I am alive and capable and I won't care how long it will take me. They are just too much fun to worry about time.

This reminds me, I was thinking about doing the Jacksonville Marine Corps Half Marathon. I was curious if there was a timecut off. I scrolled to the bottom of last year's results and saw these two ladies! Rock on!
73, Jasper, FL 2:59:13
75, Hollywood, FL 2:59:24
 
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This reminds me, I was thinking about doing the Jacksonville Marine Corps Half Marathon. I was curious if there was a timecut off. I scrolled to the bottom of last year's results and saw these two ladies! Rock on!
73, Jasper, FL 2:59:13
75, Hollywood, FL 2:59:24


Most half marathons don't have a cut out but some do. Go for it!!!
Those ladies rock!!!!!
 
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Hills are my favorite right now! I'm digging the challenge of pushing the stroller up them.

I think the reason I like hills so much is because I really dislike intervalls and hills are speed and strength training at once in desguise.
Another favorite workout of mine is stair climbing but I have to be very careful when I do stairs I have to be very mindful of my posture.
 
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The half that I'm considering in a few weeks does have a cutoff of 3hrs.
Anything under that and I'm good. I'm keeping my standards low so that you all can feel that much faster. ;)
 
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The half that I'm considering in a few weeks does have a cutoff of 3hrs.
Anything under that and I'm good. I'm keeping my standards low so that you all can feel that much faster. ;)

Keeping low standards give you more confidence at the end because you do much better than expected and you don't end up disappointed;)
 
And Dama, thanks for your viewpoint of hillwork. I like hillwork for its feeling of accomplishment, especially when I can work up to doing them at my regular flat pace, but speed work itself just feels intimidating and unsatisfying. Glad someone seems to think it's possible to get by without it.
 
And Dama, thanks for your viewpoint of hillwork. I like hillwork for its feeling of accomplishment, especially when I can work up to doing them at my regular flat pace, but speed work itself just feels intimidating and unsatisfying. Glad someone seems to think it's possible to get by without it.

Is great, isn't it.
Last time I did speed work was about five years ago, I stopped cause it was too hard on my bad back not to mention that I didn't enjoyed it that's when I decided the hell with it so I started doing more hill repeats and stair climbing then I realized that I became faster after quitting speed workouts.
 
Is great, isn't it.
Last time I did speed work was about five years ago, I stopped cause it was too hard on my bad back not to mention that I didn't enjoyed it that's when I decided the hell with it so I started doing more hill repeats and stair climbing then I realized that I became faster after quitting speed workouts.
Ha! I just discovered fartleks a few months ago and I really like them. I especially like the idea that I can run faster than I do on my normal steady paced runs and then can walk for a bit to recover, then run (relatively) fast again. I didn't realize recreational runners could do that for some reason. It's cool that everyone eventually finds what works best for them, and hearing about others' experiences really helps speed up the process of trail and elimination. Hearing from other runners that it's ok to walk to recover helped free me up to do faster running once in a while, which I find exhilarating, and I enjoy the greater mental effort (again--once in a while), and really pushing my cardiovascular system, which doesn't get that much of a workout on my longer runs. It's helpful for others to hear some eschew speedwork altogether in favor of hills and stairs.
In heaven, everything is fine
You got your good thing
And I got mine.
 
So, if you guys(you know who you are) for some reason or another can't run a sub four marathon that means
that you'll never try running one? Sissies ;) So swallow your pride and hit the roads. :p

HA! This is why I love this forum....Thanks for the perspective Dama! How will I know if I can't ever run a sub 4 if I never run a full???
I make swallowing my pride a consistant part of my workout plan....so I'll get there.
I am a pretty goal driven person, no judgement for or against it, its just how I operate. And frankly, I enjoy it :) I have no expectation for others to be the same, nor will I stop all together if I don't reach my goal. As my coach used to say, "Shoot for the moon and if you fail you will fall among the stars" (now technically the stars are much further away than the moon, but you get the idea :p).
I make goals with an intention of reaching them, but was never one to get so discouraged I would stop if I couldn't.
Either way.....I love running and plan on running a marathon soon!....and its this forum's fault....:barefoot:
Thanks!....I think...
 
Zetti, you'll be so happy after your marathon regardless of the time it took you.
A marathon, like forest gump says is like a box of chocolates some parts are good and others not so good but the rewards are just the same. Good luck!
 
Here's a nice explanation of why some combination of hills/speedwork and longer endurance runs is necessary, from Steve Magness:

"On the faster work you are going to recruit a much larger pool of muscle fibers and then the longer segments trains those fibers."

Note that just before this sentence he defines 'faster work' as either hills or speedwork. If they're basically the same thing in terms of benefit (getting your body to recruit as many muscle fibers as possible while running), maybe I'll just do one or the other once per week.
 
or maybe you could alternate.
 
uhm, yah, that's what I was trying to say :) :
one week hills, the next fartleks.
Every week two steady paced runs, one longer than the other . . .
that seems about right.

I am having trouble picturing your workouts-explain please.
What I understand is one week you'll do hills and hills only.
Next week you'll do speed work only.
Third week you'll do tempo runs.
Is that how it is?
 
I am having trouble picturing your workouts-explain please.
What I understand is one week you'll do hills and hills only.
Next week you'll do speed work only.
Third week you'll do tempo runs.
Is that how it is?

Sorry, let me try a more schematic explanation:

Monday: weights (front or back), maybe some rowing.
Tuesday: run 6-8 miles, push the pace a bit if possible, so I guess this might be something like a tempo run.
Wednesday: weights (front or back), maybe some rowing.
Thursday: Hills or Fartleks, 5-6 miles or about an hour.
Friday: weights (front or back), maybe some rowing
Saturday: long run, 10mm pace or better, 8-12 miles (if things keep going well)
Sunday: rest, or 30-60 minutes of rowing, or more weights.

So yes, hills would alternate with fartleks on a weekly basis. Of the other two weekly runs, one would be shorter and slightly faster, and the other would be longer and slower. My weights I always alternate between back stuff (lifts, pull downs, etc.) and front stuff (chest and shoulders). I used to row 30 minutes on my weight days, but lately I've been taking more time with the weights, now that my left shoulder feels pretty good, so that takes time away from the rowing, which I sometimes still do for 30 minutes, but I often just do 10-15 minutes now at a greater intensity. This could all change tomorrow, of course, but I've been heading in this direction for a while, and it's not that different from what I used to do the last time I was in decent shape. It's just that this time around the metatarsals were holding up my running, so I took up rowing as an supplementary way of building my aerobic base. Now that I'm running longer, I don't know if rowing is so necessary anymore.
 
Got it! and it looks good, thanks I think that you should take Sunday completely off(but who am I to tell you what to do).
You should keep the rowing even if it is boring it is an excellent xt tool, that it what I do sometimes instead of biking.
 
Hey one question on your hill work Dama. I've been running up a steep hill and then running around the block back down to its base. It's less than .2 miles up and .4 miles back around, or .6 miles per circuit. But I've been wondering about just going up the hill faster and walking back down, repeating until I can't take it anymore. Any thoughts?
 
Hey one question on your hill work Dama. I've been running up a steep hill and then running around the block back down to its base. It's about less than .2 miles up and .4 miles back around, or .6 miles per circuit. But I've been wondering about just going up the hill faster and walking back down, repeating until I can't take it anymore. Any thoughts?

That's what I do run up and walk down and repeat but start with less than "I can't take it anymore"
Maybe go up/down four/six times and take from there untill you can safely do the repeats for about fifteen mins.
 
Got it! and it looks good, thanks I think that you should take Sunday completely off(but who am I to tell you what to do).
You should keep the rowing even if it is boring it is an excellent xt tool, that it what I do sometimes instead of biking.
Thanks, I usually do end up taking one complete rest day off a week, things come up, but if I don't, I make sure to take one off the following week.
I agree rowing is nice cross-training, so I've been trying to get it down to 10-15 minutes at a higher intensity, replacing the tedium with mental anguish.