Here I go again!

HOOOOORAYYYY!! Way to Go Rocket Woman!

I am SOOOOO happy for you, I will grin all day too! HUGE HUGS!

Way to go that is great. As you found out the end of races are pushing yourself beyond what you want to do. And you did great, you really didn't slow up that much. Way to push through it:)

Congrats on a strong race and meeting your goal! You ran awesome!

Wow Lucia !

Super time, super race.

You see? You CAN do great! Awesome !

Now, I have to run another HM and redeem my country after your sensational result.

Congrats and hope you have a good rest.

Awesome job! Those are great splits for all you felt like you were crashing it did not reflect much in your splits--you hung in there! Fantastic job! Way to push through when the hurting started!

Congratulations! You are tough!! What a great job you did!

Great job Lucia (wow, I didn't call you Rocket.) Way to stay strong. Even though it hurt your times didn't slow down too much. You'll be getting that BQ for sure.

Finally a race that is beginning to reveal your potential.

I do not believe there is such a thing as starting out too fast. If you start at a pace that is faster than what you can sustain without trying to go out faster on purpose, what that means is that some of your subsystems are ready to run that pace all the way, but others are lagging behind. While it is true that starting out slower would have given you a faster time in that particular race, long-term starting out at a natural pace has the potential of eventually pushing you to run that pace to the finish as the results of the experiment clearly point you in the right direction in your training. You start out fast and say - wow, it really felt easy for the first 5, I wonder what happened, why couldn't I keep that up? When you start out slower, you might be tempted to think that you cannot run any faster without working on your speed.

I think neuromuscularly were ready to run 7:30 pace all the way, but not aerobically and from the fuel perspective.

Nice run Rocket, that's a great time :)

Thanks for checking in, I'm glad you did so I could check on you and say CONGRATULATIONS on this race!! Wow, it's really inspiring to see how far you've come. I only get inspired when I know it's taken work (blood sweat and tears) to achieve the results. Talent is just luck. Acheivement is earned. This was awesome to read! So glad to know you're not wired or fractured in this moment. Way to go my ARgintine friend!

Talent is more than luck. Starting with a spiritual perspective, there is a reason God gives you certain talents in certain measures. I see the presence and discovery of a talent as an implicit call to serve at some point in your life using that talent.

Moving on to temporal. What we call talent is 50% if not more in the environment and proper development and less than 50% in the factors we cannot control (genetics). I compare it to a fruitful apple tree that produces juicy apples. Yes, you do need a healthy seed to start with. But you also need good soil, proper watering and weeding, and whatever else farmers do to make it grow.

When we look at a runner we often say he has talent because he can run quite fast with hardly any training. While there might be some luck involved in finding a good seed, what we forget is that he is not a seed at this point anymore. He is a budding apple tree. He has already been raised to a point in good soil. Training will only sweeten his apples. And it is by far not just luck that his apples have the potential to become sweet. That potential would not be there had the farmer been slacking.

Why make a big deal out of this? Because I believe we are making a strategic mistake when the concept of fertile soil and plant nourishment is gone and we only think of maturing the apples as opposed to the whole process that starts with cultivating the soil. This affects not only our running performance but the health of our nation in general.

AWESOME RACE ROCKET!!!!! You are the ROCKET!! Very nice race and you did wonderful. WTG!!!

Thank you my friends!

Sasha, when you say that I wasn't aerobically ready (the fueling issue is a different story) does that mean I need to do more long runs?

It's true what you said about talent and growth/nourishment. So many people say "I can't run, my body was just not built for it" "I'm too old" or even think they can't walk because they have bad knees. I'm sure it's true for some people, but in general it's clear that they're just being lazy and don't want to do the work, and use something as an excuse to avoid trying harder. This blog is living proof that amazing things can be accomplished by "normal", very busy people, and even people who have or have had important physical impediments, if you only try and train and organize your life's priorities. I know for a fact that there's nothing inherently special about me or my body that makes me a "decent" runner; it's that I work really hard at it!

Burt, I'm still not sure I can pull off a BQ quite yet, but I'm going to try my best!

Aerobic development is primarily a function of how many miles you run every day. You can split it into two or three runs.

Fuel is a different story. You need to deplete to a certain magic level to provide a strong stimulus for accelerated glycogen storage. That is when long runs come in.

There is a decent amount of interplay between aerobic conditioning, fuel storage, and fuel efficiency training. Long run provides a solid aerobic stimulus in addition to fuel. Daily runs, when sufficiently long (8 miles) help with the fuel as well. Better aerobic conditioning improves fuel economy, so it will take you longer to bonk at the same pace even if your fuel storage capabilities are the same.

Bottom line - you need to put in as many miles as you have time for and as your body can handle without breaking down.

Great job!

Sasha - "Aerobic development is primarily a function of how many miles you run every day..." Per DAY? And not per week or other multi-day period? Just want to make sure I understand what you are saying here.

Great job! Great time! Great splits! Way to go. I'll be thinking of the Argentine Rocket when I'm running in northern Argentina next week!

If you run at least N miles per day 6 days a week you will run at least 6*N miles per week. I like to focus on the day rather than the week. Here is why:

During the week you can do either 3x20 or 6x10 miles to get 60 miles. It is the same 60 miles, but the aerobic stimulus from 3x20 is a whole lot smaller than from 6x10. Because the aerobic stimulus is subject to the law of diminishing returns over the length of one individual run. You get more out of your first 10 of a 20 miler than out of the last 10. That is why professional runners do doubles.

Also because a day is a whole lot easier to plan than a week. If you say my day does not end until I've run 10 miles, if you've been slacking and it is the end of the day, you only have 10 miles to run to meet the goal. If you go by week and at the end of it find yourself at 0, you have 60 miles to do!

Which would be a very bad idea. If somebody who planned a 60 mile week finds himself at zero at the end of it I would recommend a 5 mile run - he is already too much out of shape to absorb the training stimulus of 10.

I seem to do better with a hard day/easy day approach. Not sure how that fits in. Maybe it helps us older runners recover?

Rocket - nice PR, 300 commando points, working hard smart does pay off. By the say, some people like me, work hard, do have bad knees and are not lazy. Maybe I am the exception.

Stay Kool, Faster and Faster, B of BS Rools out

I am sorry that it has taken me so long to congratulate you on you race. You did awesome!! One thing that i started doing to help me not run so fast is to try to have my last mile be as fast as my first. That has really helped me to slow down and not take off like a bullet. I hope that helps. Once again congratulations......

Way to go Lucia! I am so excited to hear how the Marine Corp marathon goes :) You are doing SO great! hang in there sister!!! You are a ROCK(et) star :)