Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow

April 27, 2024

15% off for Fast Running Blog members at St. George Running Center!

Location:

Fort Collins,CO,

Member Since:

May 15, 2003

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Local Elite

Running Accomplishments:

Unaided PR's:
5K: 14:48 (Track - 2001)
10K: 30:45 (Track - 2001)
10K: 31:32 (Bolder Boulder - 2013)
Half Marathon: 1:06:09 (Duluth - 2013)
Marathon: 2:17:54 (Grandma's) - 2014)
Marathon: 2:19:47 (Indianapolis Monumental - 2013)
Marathon: 2:19:49 (Indianapolis Monumental - 2010)

Aided PR's:
10K: 29:38 (Des News - 2011)
Half Marathon: 1:05:30 (TOU Half - 2011)
Marathon: 2:18:09 (St George - 2007)
Marathon: 2:17:35 (Boston - 2011)

Short-Term Running Goals:

Diagnosed with Ankylosing Spondylitis in June of 2008. Started taking Enbrel in March, 2009.

Run as much as I can, and race as well as I can. Make the most of however much time I have left as an able-bodied runner.

Training for the 2018 Colorado Marathon

Long-Term Running Goals:

Run until I'm old, and then run some more. Stand tall.

Personal:

1 wife, 2 kids. 1 cat. Work as a GIS Specialist/Map Geek

Endure and persist; this pain will turn to your good. - Ovid

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. - Romans 5:1-5

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Miles:	This week:	0.00	Month:	0.00	Year:	0.00
Saucony Trail Shoe Lifetime Miles:						247.50
Hoka Clifton Lifetime Miles:						491.50
Saucony Type A6 Lifetime Miles:						186.50
Saucony Zealot Lifetime Miles:						478.75
Saucony Kinvara 6 Lifetime Miles:						433.50
Saucony Kinvara 6-2 Lifetime Miles:						358.75
Brooks Pure Connect Blue Lifetime Miles:						337.25
New Balance Trainers Lifetime Miles:						314.50
New Balance 1400 Racers Lifetime Miles:						65.00
Brook Pureflow Lifetime Miles:						99.50

Fri, Aug 31, 2007

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Crosstraining miles	Total Miles
14.25	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	14.25

AM - landfill loop via planet walk with Cody. Easy pace. 7:39/mile average pace.

(1120: 243 miles)

PM - went up Center Street to Providence via River Heights, down 100 N to Golf Course Rd, and back to my house on Main. I don't have a name for that loop, hence the long description. Started out slow and sluggish, but hit low-6 pace on the last half and ended up feeling very good. 6:50/mile average pace.

(Adrenaline blue: 340 miles)

That gives me 431 miles for the month, a new all-time high, and first time over 400. My previous high was around 370, back in 2004. Looking back at my mileage from previous years and comparing to this year, I am doing about twice the volume per week this year on average. And it's much more consistent. More fun facts: of my first 8 marathons from 2002-2005, 6 were over 2:40 (including a 2:47 at TOU), and the other two were both 2:35. My half marathon PR through 2005 was 1:14. Looking at these trends, and then around the Blog at guys like Cody, Logan, Clyde, and others, a pretty obvious fact emerges: you get faster by running more, doing it with quality, and doing it consistently. Inconsistent training yields underperformance, at least in the marathon.

Monthly Mileage for 2003 - 2007
	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
Jan		62	101	149	274
Feb		114	131	228	268
Mar		177	140	277	339
Apr		143	223	187	339
May	94	220	230	53	258
Jun	191	299	177	39	319
Jul	239	234	188	25	333
Aug	345	373	223	81	431
Sep	154	142	191	87
Oct			27	135
Nov			0	175
Dec			23	251
Total	1022	1763	1652	1686	2560
Month Average	204	196	138	141	320

Best 5K	15:38	15:52		17:22	15:23
Best Half	1:14:37	1:14:10		1:12:54	1:09:27
Best Marathon	2:35:20	2:45:09	2:26:35		2:26:24

Notes:
2003: Didn't start recording mileage until late May
2004: Didn't record mileage from Oct-Dec, but didn't do much either
2005: Grand Slam year. Injured from Oct - Dec
2006: Injured from April - September; some mileage represents x-train
2007: Year not complete yet!

Comments

From Cody on Fri, Aug 31, 2007 at 20:55:48

So your saying I've got a chance...

To add to your conspiracy theory, I have run approx. 80% of the mileage that you have and my projected SGM time will be approx 20% slower. Weird, you may be on to something. I agree that sustained mileage is one of the keys to success. I am at twice the volume of last year and a good 30 minutes faster.

I am afraid it would take years of sustained mileage like yours to even approach the 2:20's...a dream.

From Paul Petersen on Fri, Aug 31, 2007 at 21:13:00

Well, yes. One of my unspoken points is that a lot of bloggers are running marathons in the 2:30s and 2:40s. That was about where I was at just a few years ago. At Ogden a few years ago I ran 2:43, and thought I had a pretty good race. How many people beat that time this year? A nice-sized handful. My former TOU and St. George PR's will be crushed this year as well by multiple bloggers. The bar is being raised higher and higher.

I think 3 things need to come together in order to be "fast":

1)Training - consistent, smart, and lots of it

2)Mindset - if you don't think you can be fast, you never will. A huge part of it is overcoming mental blocks, challenging yourself, and setting good goals

3)Talent - genetics play a huge role. Either you got it or you don't...but a just a LITTLE bit of talent will go a long way when mixed with Training and Mindset. Talent alone is cheaper than table salt (quote stolen from Steven King). By the way, everyone on this blog has talent to various degrees.

Cody, in a span of one year you've gone from trying to qualify for Boston (and missing it) to running a 1:16:00 half marathon and being a legitimate threat to break 2:40 in the marathon. We haven't even seen your rate of improvement begin to slow down. Not that I'm saying that you've got another 30 minutes in you for next year (that would put you down to 2:10...), but you've definitely got some more performance jumps in you.

From Sasha Pachev on Thu, Sep 06, 2007 at 19:30:37

Paul - very good analysis. I like the Mindset aspect in particular. Paula Radcliffe once was asked what she thought her limit was. She refused to answer. The interviewer prodded her giving a very challenging, next to impossible, barrier to break - do you think 2:10 is your limit. She still refused to accept it, she said, what happens if I set it at 2:10, and then break it, what do I do next? There is a lesson to learn from that for all of us. While there are statistical probabilities and expected values, we should not let those calculations become a stumbling block for us. The focus should be on what is the best thing I can do next rather than what is it that I can never do.

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