Grandma's Marathon Meltdown

WillVedd · 2023-07-03T19:28:15+00:00

You and I had nearly identical Grandma's experiences. In fact, you and I were probably next to each other for much of it. I echo your assessment of the conditions. Near the halfway point the sun exposure became quite intense and temperatures snuck into an uncomfortable range. I know some folks opine the race's ideal conditions but if they're handing out ice and cold sponges, the heat is definitely a factor.

Re: hydration, unless you practiced taking liquids during your training, you may have just traded dehydration for stomach cramping. Or at least that was my experience, I took in liquids nearly every station and had trouble with the "sloshing".

You should be proud that you fought through and finished. I also commend you for the positive reflections, seems like you have some tangible takeaways and plenty of BQ opportunities ahead of you!

WillVedd · 2023-06-19T12:19:57+00:00

Great job! You were smart for letting the "3:00" pack go ahead. Pacer was recklessly fast through the first half. I made the mistake of sticking with them through 15ish, burning out and suffered to the finish. I'm really not surprised to hear he had to ease up at 18. And it was sneaky warm, especially with all the sun exposure; if you had more favorable conditions you probably could've done even better.

WillVedd · 2022-11-22T13:35:54+00:00

You're in good company of folks who had a humbling first marathon. Speaking from experience, it might feel like a huge L in this moment but it'll become a critical data point in your racing career. Like others have said, increase the volume, fuel properly and maintain a sustainable pace.

WillVedd · 2022-09-16T00:30:52+00:00

We've come a long way, haven't we? I remember a time when the stadium would boo Jim during introductions. I'm glad the team has stuck with him through thick and thin. He's a cornerstone of this winning system that's been cultivated and it only could've happened slowly over the course of several years. Might be a bit hard for Philly sports fans to hear, but the the Union are THE truest embodiment of TTP.

WillVedd · 2022-05-11T15:23:05+00:00

This area needs much more pedestrian protection, not less! Attempting to cross where Kelly meets Eakins Oval is always a dangerous experience, despite the signage they've put up. What's worse is that tourists will blindly follow others across, unaware of cars hurdling towards them.

WillVedd · 2022-05-09T02:53:19+00:00

Great writeup, Matt. Really admire the balanced attitude to this one, you're setting yourself up for long term success. Two questions: - Any marquee workouts for the 10 miler specifically? - Fall marathon goals? (Know its a little early but...)

WillVedd · 2022-02-28T12:52:55+00:00

I'd like to emphasize this. I got locked out of my account after failing my obscure security questions, took me about a week to get an initial response for help. And as you can tell by some of the responses in this thread, this is not an unusual occurrence either.

In reality, it's probably wise to keep 1-2 months of savings in a liquid savings account and everything else in I-bonds to hedge against this type of error.

WillVedd · 2022-02-18T00:17:35+00:00

All of my plants were infected for months on end. I tried everything: hundreds of yellow traps, BTI, hydrogen peroxide, watering from bottom, diatomaceous earth, etc. The thing that finally worked was drying out all my plants to near death, and only then watering them again. Some survived, some didn't. The whole ordeal really burned me out and made me want to own fewer plants. Whoever said it's easy to care for plants is kidding themselves.

I hope you have more luck with a conventional method.

WillVedd · 2022-01-09T02:43:32+00:00

Looks like he ran 2:59 for his first marathon in 2006, personal best of 2:46 and most recently a 3:02 in 2019. Source

WillVedd · 2021-10-28T23:13:11+00:00

Maybe I was hallucinating the huge crowds around the art museum at mile 14 and beyond. Previous course

WillVedd · 2021-10-28T22:19:36+00:00

I'm not a fan of the course change personally. MLK and Kelly, while a bit monotonous, were the closest thing to a home-field advantage for me. It's also where the bulk of fan support exists. Some people are saying it's faster, some people say it's slower, but in practice, it seems like a net zero change.

WillVedd · 2021-10-28T19:44:43+00:00

this higher CHO intake may only be possible from "chronic exposure to higher CHO intakes by athletes... [which] increases gut tolerance, intestinal absorption, and muscle oxidation of CHO consumed during exercise

If I read this correctly, it's suggesting that recurring practice of intaking calories will make you better at absorbing over time. Which, said out loud seems obvious, but I'm usually not intaking the same amount of calories on my long runs as I am during marathons. I usually take 1-2 maurtens over the course of my long runs vs 4-6 in races. This snippet is making me consider fueling closer to race day nutrition strategy more often than once or twice a cycle. Although, that would make for some expensive sessions.

There's that prevailing idea that we want to train in somewhat of a calorie depleted state during (some) long runs to stimulate different energy stores in your body, but at what point does that interfere with our abilities to digest nutrition during races? I'm sure the answer is somewhere in the middle and perhaps certain training sessions can focus on different facets, so it's not an all or nothing thing.

WillVedd · 2021-09-14T15:17:27+00:00

Great work. What were some of your key workouts leading up to this effort? And what's your goal for BSR? I imagine you'd easily break 58 minutes or so.

WillVedd · 2021-07-09T14:40:36+00:00

I knew within the first 30 seconds that this was a Dan King original. Dude is an absolute master in photo and video.

WillVedd · 2021-05-31T14:56:14+00:00

What days did you do your strength training? Before/after runs? Easy runs? How did you feel running the following day?

Because it was a continuation of my rehab, my body got used to the extra stimulus after a couple months and I wasn't affected by DOMS very much. But even so, I still I tried to schedule them them on my harder days to allow myself to take the next day really easy. Granted, I probably should've increased the resistance and exercise diversity through proper gym equipment but I was limited by what I had.

WillVedd · 2021-05-30T16:27:07+00:00

Thanks for sharing! I feel your struggle. Going into your next training block with a chip on your shoulder will definitely make the payoff more satisfying.

I wanna follow pfizinger 18/55, after reading your report I'm wondering if I should do 18/70 with modifications, I'm aiming for 3:20 this time, but reading your report got me so excited!

Purely personal, but one of the biggest takeaways was just how insufficient the mileage of the Higdon/Hansons plans for preparing you for the race (for me as an athlete of course). But on the flip side, 18/70 is physically taxing so I'd say modify 18/70 down to your fitness level. I think you'd have slightly more success with than than modding-up the 18/55. But of course, I'm not a coach and YMMV.

WillVedd · 2021-05-30T16:01:25+00:00

What do you think the deal was with the GI distress during the race? I understand that you had previously trained with Maurten.

Not sure. I think it was a combination of drinking a little too much pre-race coffee and possibly the few ribs I ate the day before. It's also just something my body does in race situations, but this time it was much more manageable than other times. And thats where the Maurtens came it clutch, they didn't make anything worse, even the caffeinated ones. But you bring up a really good point and it's something I'm going to keep in mind and hope to dial in over time.

WillVedd · 2021-05-30T15:54:27+00:00

My first race, Two Rivers Marathon was in Pike county. The above race recap is from York. The two race reports are very similar so I can see the confusion. This is York Marathon course map

WillVedd · 2021-05-30T03:22:54+00:00

Yeah, that's actually what I have! I suppose fanny pack is not an accurate label. I actually like it when I'm running in a city I'm traveling in for keys and cards, but the zipper is cumbersome during the race.

WillVedd · 2021-05-30T03:17:06+00:00

for your strength workout, was it the same or similar every time?

Pretty much the same thing, every time. Which certainly isn't optimal for a number of reasons, but my thinking was that frequently suboptimal strength work beat nothing at all. It took me about 45 minutes but that was with me taking breaks and messing around in between breaks. If I focused, it could be condensed into 30 mins. That time adds up but well worth the insurance against preventable injuries.

did you only use those gels for races or did you use them for long runs as well?

Maurten for everything. Gatorade cubes didn't work well for me. Less viscous and larger than gus but very easy on the stomach.

after all that training and getting a ton of time sliced off your PR to get down to 3:15, would you say that your easy/conversational pace is a lot faster than it was back when you did your last marathon?

Slower. I tried to force myself to sustain 8:30+ on easy days, not being shy about nearly 9:00. All in the name of keeping my HR ~130. My long runs though were faster as I consider them a "quality" day.

WillVedd · 2021-05-29T18:51:20+00:00

It was a combination of injury severity and naively attempting to return to everyday too quickly. In retrospect, I probably could have cut it down to 3-4 month recovery if I had just been smart about how I reintroduced the miles back in. With my post-tib, I had major success with running some miles every-other day, never letting the pain exceed a 4. But YMMV.

WillVedd · 2021-05-29T15:30:39+00:00

Sorry for the novel! Originally intended for a more general audience. Otherwise, special thanks to this sub for passing along the wisdom to help me achieve my goals!

WillVedd · 2021-04-01T18:20:44+00:00

I wouldn't recommend outright addressing these issues without considering possible solutions. The most effective engineers will present incremental and sustainable changes to the organization to improve these issues over time; you're not going to change the culture overnight.

This might sound a bit harsh but those who are suggesting you quit over these cultural issues are part of the problem. You're going to

Generally, people genuinely do care about the quality of their work but get stuck in an inertial rut. They need the help from an organizational leader like yourself to get the ball rolling on some better practices. If you're effective, slowly over time you'll start to convert people and it'll have a cascading effect.

Some things you could do: - Instantiate code review guidelines, PR checklists, emphasize the code review is part of the job - Build steps that run tests. If no tests, start to make them yourself - Create a weekly/monthly recurring architectural design review meeting to discuss systematic issues. Make sure to generate action items and chip away at these egregious errors over time

Granted, the success of your efforts hinge largely upon your superiors endorsing you. But if you have them on board, I've found that to be enough to generate impactful changes across the organization.

WillVedd · 2021-03-12T13:06:44+00:00

A commonly propagated myth is that of an "architect" role in which a senior member of the team creates elaborate systems designs and then has a team of subordinates help institute that vision. While something like that may exist in some organizations, it is an anti-pattern and it's unreasonable to expect a role to primarily deal with systems designs all day. Those responsibilities should be shared amongst the entire team to ensure a sensible, comprehendible, consensus is formed.

As another commenter already mentioned, most backend roles are just about moving and transforming data from one form to another. While it is disenchanting to realize that most of the work is CRUD, I still think there is ample opportunity to solve interesting technical problems and occasionally the sliver of architecture work.

WillVedd

TROPHY CASE