Congrats loco bro

Congratulations loco! I’m glad all your hard work paid off.

Congrats!

Not bad for a muscly lad Well done loco!

Is the finishing time out there? Or will it be part of the gigantic TR currently in the making?

In either case: Congrats !! Enjoy Boston !

Congrats loco!

Good job Loco.

Ty

Yes, it's usa track and field certified so it counts for Boston. It would not qualify for US Olympic trials. That should probably be the official counts as PR barometer around here. That the course is Olympic Trials eligible, then the circus marathons are all removed (including this one).

Parts of the road were closed but then other parts we were going down the shoulder of the highway.

Ty

Not really, I respect EV. He trains almost everyday and has a good physique, I just think he can do better in all aspects of life.

Ty good sir.

Ty
Ty
That's the plan

Ty

Ty

Ty

Cameo by my archrival. Ty good sir.

3:02:43

I beat last year's qualifying standard by over 12 minutes and this year's by over 7 minutes. Lock to get into Boston. I guess I can do a TR since I didn't do one for Berlin. I will do it really fast right now.

Ty mass monster

Ty

6/29 Mt Hood Marathon
3:02:43 (6:58 avg)

Background : I missed Boston Qualification at the Berlin Marathon by a hair. My goal was to be 3 and a 1/2 minutes under the qualifying standard. I ran 3:11:58 and missed because even though I was under the qualifying standard they moved the cutoff to 3:10 because there were too many qualified applicants. For 2019, they did move the qualifying standard for my age to 3:10. One of the main reasons the qualifying standard is getting tougher is the rise of the scenic downhill marathons by Revel.

Race Report

It was really cold up there at 5am. You would think 49F is not that cold but when you been training in up to 90 degree weather because it's summertime, all of a sudden 49F is facking cold.


Snow Capped Mt Hood at 5am

Going up on the bus, I realized this was some kind of carnival marathon course. It was way too facking steep as we were reaching the start by bus. The gun went off. I crossed the start line at position 100. I knew the 3:00 hour pacer was somewhere around 20s ahead of me.

I knew the course was super steep the first 6 miles, something ridiculous like 6% downgrade. So I started really slow, I actually went from position 100 to 159 (chip tracking I later looked up). But I was okay with this, no big deal. I was really enjoying the first few miles, tacking the scenery in. It was really beautiful, big lake in the horizon, Mt Hood and a partial moon behind us.

I clocked the first mile at 7:23. Damn it, way too slow. The heart rate on my watch was not right, it had blown up. I have talked about this before, but cool weather races blow up your watch. I am hardly breathing but watch says I am at max heart rate. Some think this is race start jitters. No. I think I know what 180+ feels like.

So I ignored the watch and got a little aggressive. I knew from previous experience, the watch would soon find my true heart rate. And that's when I could race a bit by using heart rate.

6 miles in and I am really emberrassed to be running a downhill marathon. It's a joke, way too easy. Watch still has not found my heart rate. But then I started feeling it, both calves we're tightening up.

I averaged about 6:52 from mile 2 to mile 10. However, I had three piss breaks. I had zero piss breaks in Berlin, so I messed up the hydration before hand. I lost 90 seconds due to the piss breaks. It was mile 10 where I had my last one. I go into the stall, and my watch still has not found my true heart rate!! Fack!!!!! The three hour pacer is long gone, I do some mental calculations and figure to be about 3:05 pace. That's not good, because I know the last part of the course is not steep and indeed rolling. I feel Boston might be slipping away.

I make my move. Forget the watch and just try to clock some 6:40s.

Mile 11 6:44
Mile 12 6:36
Mile 13 6:29 (while recording video for 2p2, lol)
Mike 14 6:38

Most I importantly, no more piss breaks. And finally my watch found my true heart rate!

It's mile17 where I really start racing. And my brain has found how to use my body to get me to the promised land. I slow down on really steel parts due to calf and feet pain, but I attack all flats and uphills. For example, I ran mile 22 in 7:01 (100 feet drop), but I ran mile 23 in 6:41 (20 foot drop).

I was using the downhill to recover aerobically and the uphill to recover muscloskeleton wise. Really facking weird. Using this strategy, I went from 159th place to 54th.



At mile 20, I created a manual lap on my watch. I felt I was still live for a sub3 hour attempt. But I don't know what happened, I forgot to put my watch on that lap screen. At mile22, I saw my arch rival. This guy had a better physique than me. He was throwing up on the side of the road. I am feeling really strong near mile 23. I cross mile 23 at 2:39:xx, I do some mental math and still think sub3 hour is live if I turn on the afterburners. It's gonna hurt, but I got gas in the tank. The course is gonna have to be close to perfect to get this done.

But then what is this, as I am looking for my next target to demoralize and pass, I see a whole bunch of fatties jogging in front of me, blocking the narrow highway shoulder. Oh no, they joined the half marathon with the full marathon at mile 23!!!!!!!

I am on full blown monkey tilt, cursing fatties under my breath. Why? Why? You know how tilting it is to have to go around 220 pound behemoths? To mock me more, I pass the 2:30 pacer for the half marathon. Geez, this can't be real life.

I do some more math and realize I am a lock for Boston. Like a coward, I mail in the last three miles at 7:00 pace and my excuse is fatties (EVgonnaEV excuse).




That's the finish. Crushed the Boston Marathon qualifying standard and I have no regrets that I mailed in the last three miles. The course was tough the last three miles with at some uphills. And I risked injury to my calves to attempt the sub3 hours. It would have been there if I didn't take so many pisses and completely butcher the first mile at 7:23.

I think the most surprising thing was that my quads never got sore. It was my calves and hamstrings that were burning significantly. Oh look, my weakest muscles are the ones that wanted to quit. Color me shocked. The day after, it was my calves and medial glute that were super sore. I also got my first blisters ever from running, on my forefoot.

What's Next?

I wanted my sister to move Chicago to next year, since I am already going to Boston. She refused. So I am doing Chicago but I am either going for a minimum Boston qualifying standard for 2021 or I am mailing it in. It's too hot to train for. I am going for all of pokerron's running PRs at Boston, where I have the winter to train more optimally.

congrats mang. Super impressive focus and attention to detail which obviously paid off. Well done sir!

Also, definitely not skinnyfat anymore. Unfortunately, maybe 154. Maybe.

I think I am going to run Boston at 150. So many running gains from dropping another 4 pounds.

Nice tr. I would never want to do what you do (and I'm sure you wouldnt want to do what I do), but your hard work and dedication is inspiring.

You know what mistakes not to make in Boston now. Fix all that **** and go tear it up!

Well done, sir. Congrats.

Well I did want to do what you do, but I stinked at it. And I am better at this. Two of years of running and I placed top7% in Berlin and now top6% at Mt hood. And my mileage is still way lower than most.

The uphills were really fun on Saturday. This guy kept passing me on the downhill portion after I passed him on an uphill. We went at it for a good three miles. Then the biggest uphill was coming and I passed him just before it. I took my headphones off and slowed down for him. I started trash talking and then I stormed off at 6:30 pace. Never saw him again.

Good because I felt bad afterwards. Hey, I see my motivation where ever I want to see. If they hadn't joined the half marathon at mile 23, I could have targeted some of the guys in front. Unfortunately I lost them all in a sea of fatties from the half marathon.

Its fun when you find something to compete at that you're good at. Too bad it took me 47 years to find what I'm best at. I'm enjoying it now though. Its cool that you found something fun that you're good at when you're younger.

good tr, congrats dude

Congrats on achieving your jogging goals!

Still look fine, imo. If you think you'd look better with more mass at like ~170, just remember that all it takes is a long sleeve black t-shirt to make that indistinguishable from where you're at now.

Not sure if we needed the pants that low. But maybe there is something there critical to judging noodz that I'm unaware of. I'm definitely no expert.

They are size 31 bro. I should wear 29/30s but they too tight around hips, but maybe they fit now that i bled off a whole bunch of glutes, quads, and hams.

TSA is always telling me to put up my pants on the X-ray thing. How? You made me take off my belt and now I need to raise my arms overhead. That's the question of the day.

Nah, the real question is do you even TSA precheck?

Melk,

Here I assumed it was more about the height of his underwear. If your underwear are so loose they fall down, buy new ones?

No, you're right. I was definitely headed down that road initially, but I just got sidetracked by the whole airport security issue. Might have circled back, but since we're here now, maybe loco can take that one also.

Those are old, they probably mediums. I wear small now, shirt and underwear. Jeans I like 31 even though they super loose at the waist I been looking for 30 baggy, if anyone has a suggestion. Nothing tight around my puny ankles.

I am priority on American and Southwest. What's precheck for?

7/2
Weight: 154

Pulldowns 4x10
TRX pushups 4x12
Rows 3x10
Dumbell military press 2x8
Ab wheel 4 sets

Cycling 20 minutes with 5x30s surges

Back in the game, recovery run tomorrow. I am contemplating starting a mile running program, see if I can get close to sub5. It sounds painful though.

How can someone fly as much as you and be such a travel donk?

If you get TSA precheck you get a shorter security line, don't go through x-ray (just old metal detectors), don't need to take anything out of your bags (liquids/laptop/etc.), don't take off shoes, and maybe a couple of other small things that I may be forgetting. Also I never take off my belt when I go through the metal detector, which would solve the pants problem.

I forget the cost, but it's something like $100 for 5 yrs. Some cc rewards programs will just rebate you the cost, but even at sticker price it's a no-brainer. The process of getting it is kind of a pain, but should be a time investment of 1-2 hrs at most.

If you fly international a lot, what you really want is global entry, which gets you all the benefits of precheck, plus it makes it easier when you're coming back into the country.