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The Official OGBoards Running (and Cycling) Thread: (Insert Season Here)

Y'all waspy white folks spend a lotta money on your hobbies.
 
Leebs, and others... What are the minimum requirements for a good mountain bike - not stellar but good for riding single track and maybe racing Xterra every once in a while with no delusions about being competitive? I'm thinking full suspension, 29ers, disc brakes?
What is a reasonable budget for such a bike?
 
scooter84 said:
Leebs, and others... What are the minimum requirements for a good mountain bike - not stellar but good for riding single track and maybe racing Xterra every once in a while with no delusions about being competitive? I'm thinking full suspension, 29ers, disc brakes?
What is a reasonable budget for such a bike?
Click to expand...

What's your price point?
My opinion: get the best hardtail you can. You can get a hell of a lot more bike for 2k than you can if you try to go full suspension. Plus, if you actually want to learn technique and good handling, you'll get far more skilled on a hardtail. Full suspension lets you float over too much. 29er vs. 27.5 is personal preference. If you're really tall, you may just feel more comfortable on a 29er (I don't think you are, but may be mis-remembering). 27.5 is pretty standard these days and personally I find it a lot more maneuverable. Obviously I'm a delicate lady so YMMV, but lots of my guy friends also ride 27.5. Still plenty big-enough to roll over some bigger obstacles. Again, though - very much up to you, and neither option is wrong.
Disc brakes definitely, but those are pretty standard even on entry-level bikes at this point.

Note that plenty of people will disagree with me and go "dude, absolutely get a full suspension." That's fine. I just know that for the same money, I got a hugely upgraded front fork, a top-end gruppo, nicer wheels, and a carbon frame as compared to a heavy-as-shit entry-level full suspension bike.
 
lbE08 said:
What's your price point?
My opinion: get the best hardtail you can. You can get a hell of a lot more bike for 2k than you can if you try to go full suspension. Plus, if you actually want to learn technique and good handling, you'll get far more skilled on a hardtail. Full suspension lets you float over too much. 29er vs. 27.5 is personal preference. If you're really tall, you may just feel more comfortable on a 29er (I don't think you are, but may be mis-remembering). 27.5 is pretty standard these days and personally I find it a lot more maneuverable. Obviously I'm a delicate lady so YMMV, but lots of my guy friends also ride 27.5. Still plenty big-enough to roll over some bigger obstacles. Again, though - very much up to you, and neither option is wrong.
Disc brakes definitely, but those are pretty standard even on entry-level bikes at this point.

Note that plenty of people will disagree with me and go "dude, absolutely get a full suspension." That's fine. I just know that for the same money, I got a hugely upgraded front fork, a top-end gruppo, nicer wheels, and a carbon frame as compared to a heavy-as-shit entry-level full suspension bike.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the thoughts - I am going to start looking to see what is possible within my budget.

I really enjoyed the Xterra in MB this weekend! I came off the bike a few times but mostly because of crashes or sudden stops by people in front of me. The elite Xterra folks are certainly crazy fast but all in all the Xterra crowd is pretty friendly and considerate. I am totally spoiled now because I borrowed my buddy's back-up bike which is top of the line in every way... ($10k or so...). Anyone who is interested in trying Xterra but is intimidated by the bike skills needed should consider the MB race - the course is fun and difficult enough to be challenging but not overly technical.
 
Ended up running the Whitewater Time Laps Relay over the weekend. Great weekend. It was both my first trial race and first trail race over 5k. I got a Go Deacs early Saturday morning, so if that was you, thanks! I’ll definitely run this again next year and invest in some trail shoes.

Any trail shoe recs? The Hoka ones and maybe some Solomon’s seemed to be the most popular.
 
How did you do? I ran out there a little yesterday afternoon and saw lots of people running and camping out. Looked fun.
 
iodeac said:
How did you do? I ran out there a little yesterday afternoon and saw lots of people running and camping out. Looked fun.
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It was pretty good, although the weather was brutal with the heat. I ran South Main around 9:30 PM, which was a perfect run for 3.5 miles. Even in the dark, it wasn't terrible. I kicked off the East Main at around 3:00 AM. BRUTAL. The roots and rocks in the dark made it incredibly hard. It ended up on my GPS around 7.0 miles. I then ran Lake Loop at 9:00 AM. It was a little over 3 miles, and starting to get pretty hot by them. Finished my runs with South Main again at noon. I was pretty gassed by then. I did a couple of the 1 mile loop around the Chanel, more just to see everyone out and about. I wish I had had enough in the tank to push a few 1 milers at the end with everyone cheering you on at the finish. All said, I was a little under 20 miles.

One of the guys I ran with put in 61 miles for the individual event. He didn't even place, which blows my mind. Finished 4th I think.
 
East is hard as balls, and never feels like it's going to end. Were you able to run whatever segments you wanted, in any order?
 
iodeac said:
East is hard as balls, and never feels like it's going to end. Were you able to run whatever segments you wanted, in any order?
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We had a 10 person team. The race has points for the trail you run as well as some added bonus points for doing other tasks. The main one is that all 7 trails are run in the first 8 hours, the second 8 hours, and the third 8 hours. So, we basically just passes out a short one, long one, and short one/long for each 8 hours. So, we made sure to do all 7 first, then the next 3 people could run whichever they wanted. If that makes sense. However, the order you did the 7 did not matter. I didn't see anyone else on my first South Main run at 9:30, but saw maybe 15 on East Main.
 
Glad you guys had a good time. I live give minutes from there, so I go all the time. I think I went three times last week, and I'll be there tomorrow for a trail run and River Jam.
 
any photos of the women's field? I had a handful of friends in there!
 
What? No pix of my beer hand-ups on the Pilot View climb?

Tremendous weekend. I realize not everyone's into cycling, but it's far and away the best weekend of the year to be in W-S.

My local riding group wore jorts to the Monday morning ride. It was a few laps on the road course...closed to the public and traffic lights turned off, cops everywhere, etc. Phil Gaimon took a run at the Pilot View KOM...with a leadout from locals in jorts...and smashed it. He gives a nice shout-out on his Strava and Instagram.

Pilot View is a great spot to watch the road race. And the course is absolutely brutal.
 
Dkin said:
What? No pix of my beer hand-ups on the Pilot View climb?

Tremendous weekend. I realize not everyone's into cycling, but it's far and away the best weekend of the year to be in W-S.

My local riding group wore jorts to the Monday morning ride. It was a few laps on the road course...closed to the public and traffic lights turned off, cops everywhere, etc. Phil Gaimon took a run at the Pilot View KOM...with a leadout from locals in jorts...and smashed it. He gives a nice shout-out on his Strava and Instagram.

Pilot View is a great spot to watch the road race. And the course is absolutely brutal.
Click to expand...

I'm fairly certain I ran by your group around Bibs or so. I thought to myself, "those cyclists are casually dressed"
 
Looking for a little advice from marathon vets.

In early March, I began training for a half-marathon that was on June 3. My goal was to run a sub-2:00 half, and I barely squeaked in ahead at 1:57:58. Being my first-ever half, I realized afterward that there were a lot of small improvements I could make to cut down my time. I ran my second half-marathon this past weekend, and the tweaks and additional training got me across the finish line at 1:50:56, despite it being off-and-on rainy the entire time. I was able to finish strong and felt good the rest of the day Sunday and on Monday, rather than crossing the finish line and feeling like crap.

As I approached my first half in the spring, I decided to sign up for the Chicago Marathon on October 7. This will be about 30 total weeks of training from early March, and 18 weeks from the date of my first half on June 3. Given my time this past weekend, the fact I know the Chicago course very well (the half this weekend was basically a truncated version of the full marathon course), and the fact I have another 11 weeks of training, it seems like running a sub-4:00 marathon is a somewhat realistic goal, particularly if the weather cooperates a little more than it did this past weekend.

Thus, where I'm seeking advice. From a pacing perspective, everything I have read advises against splits that vary significantly during a marathon. That said, I'm a little uneasy with the idea of starting off at a 9:09/pace and assuming I won't slow down at all during the run. Without knowing how I'll react to the wall, is pacing for a 3:55 marathon a good approach? How much should my splits vary: would something like 8:40/mile the first hour, 8:50/mile the second hour, 9:00/mile the third hour, and 9:10/mile the rest of the run too dramatic of a pace difference between splits? Given that an 8:28 over a half felt fine, would finishing the first half in about an 8:45 pace keep me energized enough for the back half?

Part of me also wonders if I should aim for getting to 14 miles in the first two hours (8:34), allowing me to slow down pretty dramatically the last 12.2 miles. That idea of "banking time" seems to be what everyone advises against, though.

Most articles I've read about the subject are incredibly generic and not very helpful, so any thoughts/tips would be helpful. I've had a few runs with mileages in the mid-teens and felt fine (with gels and lots of water along the way), but getting past 20-miles will be pretty foreign to me- even come race day. Naive question, but is the "wall" real, or is it largely indicative of someone who hasn't trained/prepared/ate/hydrated enough?
 
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Anything you do in the second half of the marathon is going to feel like a push, even if it's just maintaining your first half's splits. Especially after mile ~18.
An adage from cyclocross which is applicable here: Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast. Maintaining a speed/flow is better for your time than stop/start/stop/start (or changing splits) approach.

Honestly, for your first, I would set a loose time goal but really just focus on finishing strong and learning how your body feels over the course of the distance. If you believe you'll do another marathon (or you enjoy setting a bar and then improving your times, which it sounds like you do), I would not put so much thought into this planned/specific of an approach.

The wall... I experienced it in my first marathon around mile 20. I had executed a training plan pretty perfectly, but it just hurt. Maybe I didn't have enough to eat? I don't know. That being said, I did not experience that during Ironman... so... no idea. Your body will react however it does, and it's tough to predict what that will be.
 
WFUWaldo said:
Looking for a little advice from marathon vets.

In early March, I began training for a half-marathon that was on June 3. My goal was to run a sub-2:00 half, and I barely squeaked in ahead at 1:57:58. Being my first-ever half, I realized afterward that there were a lot of small improvements I could make to cut down my time. I ran my second half-marathon this past weekend, and the tweaks and additional training got me across the finish line at 1:50:56, despite it being off-and-on rainy the entire time. I was able to finish strong and felt good the rest of the day Sunday and on Monday, rather than crossing the finish line and feeling like crap.

As I approached my first half in the spring, I decided to sign up for the Chicago Marathon on October 7. This will be about 30 total weeks of training from early March, and 18 weeks from the date of my first half on June 3. Given my time this past weekend, the fact I know the Chicago course very well (the half this weekend was basically a truncated version of the full marathon course), and the fact I have another 11 weeks of training, it seems like running a sub-4:00 marathon is a somewhat realistic goal, particularly if the weather cooperates a little more than it did this past weekend.

Thus, where I'm seeking advice. From a pacing perspective, everything I have read advises against splits that vary significantly during a marathon. That said, I'm a little uneasy with the idea of starting off at a 9:09/pace and assuming I won't slow down at all during the run. Without knowing how I'll react to the wall, is pacing for a 3:55 marathon a good approach? How much should my splits vary: would something like 8:40/mile the first hour, 8:50/mile the second hour, 9:00/mile the third hour, and 9:10/mile the rest of the run too dramatic of a pace difference between splits? Given that an 8:28 over a half felt fine, would finishing the first half in about an 8:45 pace keep me energized enough for the back half?

Part of me also wonders if I should aim for getting to 14 miles in the first two hours (8:34), allowing me to slow down pretty dramatically the last 12.2 miles. That idea of "banking time" seems to be what everyone advises against, though.

Most articles I've read about the subject are incredibly generic and not very helpful, so any thoughts/tips would be helpful. I've had a few runs with mileages in the mid-teens and felt fine (with gels and lots of water along the way), but getting past 20-miles will be pretty foreign to me- even come race day. Naive question, but is the "wall" real, or is it largely indicative of someone who hasn't trained/prepared/ate/hydrated enough?
Click to expand...

I ran my first ever marathon this past fall in New York. I don't know how Chicago compares to NY in terms of a crowded field, but in NY, I had to exert way more energy than my pace just to maintain the pace because I had to weave significantly around walkers / slower runners. Folks were just suddenly stopping on the Verrazano bridge for selfies, and it didn't really thin out for me until about mile 17. I probably weaved around 8-10 groups of slower runners per mile for the first half of the race, and that definitely impacted me.

I was in start wave 2F which was for 3:55 estimated pace, but tons of folks in my group (and those ahead of me) had no intention of running that pace.

Regarding nutrition: I probably should have practiced this better. For your pre-race long runs, get up about the time you will on marathon day, eat something substantial that you think works for you, then wait around (as you will on marathon day) and make sure the nutrition plan works. I was also impacted (very negatively) by my failure to eat enough early on race day - part of my problem was figuring out how to eat something hearty at 5:30 am in Manhattan.
 
Here’s my nutrition advice: train on something and stick to that. Take your own gels in case what they give you at the race causes problems.

I’m pretty easy wheeling on a half. I’m finished before I can have any stomach problems. When I ran a marathon, I dumbly drank Gatorade when I never trained with it and developed bad stomach cramping around mile 15.
 
Hit the Brixx could be a messy run this weekend.

Anyone from this crew run the Blue Ridge this past weekend? One of my buddies was in the van that lost their van key. It was later found at the bottom of a Pop-Tart box. WAMPWAMP.
 
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