El Maco is pushing for some juicy news on what my predictions are for Portland Marathon, but I think I am going to disappoint him. Basically, this is what I'll be working with:
1) Weather - Should be decent. Looks like potential for rain, but the temperature should be between 12C - 15C.
2) Course - Moderately hilly with the two largest climbs at 5KM and 26 KM.
3) Start time- 7 AM! This sucks. I really do not like running in the morning, yet almost every race in the US no matter what distance starts this early. And most US races are also on Sundays. I don't know why there are not Saturday mid day races offered like they have in Sweden.
4) Conditioning - As I have noted in previous postings, I abandoned my quest for a sub 4 hour race back in August. Since then, I have been running one long run a week with a few shorter mid week runs, all at slow paces. I am not in optimal condition, and my IT band is still not 100%, so this will be treated as just another long run.
5) Strategy - I will run at 70% or lower HR for the first 30 KM (for me that will be 120 BPM). If I have any gas in the tank after 30 KMs I will run at whatever pace feels comfortable. That will probably result in very slow splits, and a very slow overall result, but my goal is to finish without injury.
1) Weather - Should be decent. Looks like potential for rain, but the temperature should be between 12C - 15C.
2) Course - Moderately hilly with the two largest climbs at 5KM and 26 KM.
3) Start time- 7 AM! This sucks. I really do not like running in the morning, yet almost every race in the US no matter what distance starts this early. And most US races are also on Sundays. I don't know why there are not Saturday mid day races offered like they have in Sweden.
4) Conditioning - As I have noted in previous postings, I abandoned my quest for a sub 4 hour race back in August. Since then, I have been running one long run a week with a few shorter mid week runs, all at slow paces. I am not in optimal condition, and my IT band is still not 100%, so this will be treated as just another long run.
5) Strategy - I will run at 70% or lower HR for the first 30 KM (for me that will be 120 BPM). If I have any gas in the tank after 30 KMs I will run at whatever pace feels comfortable. That will probably result in very slow splits, and a very slow overall result, but my goal is to finish without injury.
Great post! Correct me if I am wrong but this will be your first marathon since 2008? It is so cool to know that you will now do two marathons in a short period of time and hopefully another one early 2011
SvaraRaderaI like that strategy Mr USC ! If you can be so disciplined that you don't exceed your 70%-level before 30km, Portland will be like a walk in the park for you.... but that's so cool, I have used same kind of strategy in all my races in 2010 so far (but Ok I focus on my 80%-level), and if you fix it, it's an enormeous feeling to be out there last 12km, knowing that you will make it anyway, doesn't matter in which tempo you ever go....
SvaraRaderaHave a good run tomorrow......and please give us your pro-story as soon as you can :-)
Mr L./.