Arun Gupta, Miles to go ...

18.5 miles this morning

Ran 18.5 miles (2:45:50) this morning. Click on 'large' or 'small' link next to 'Elevation:' and it shows elevation of each point plotted against distance. I created the same route on runningmap (based on Yahoo maps) which showed the minimum and maximum elevation (click on mountain icon in the toolbar at top) as 156.9 and 579.1 feet. There is constant uphill from mile 3.5 to 8.5, a slight dip and then a constant downhill. This is a good route to practice for San Francisco Marathon because of the constant up-hills. But I need to look for another route with constant up-hills and down-hills to be better prepared to meet the course elevation.

Any recommendations ?

BTW, I plotted the entire marathon course but the distance is totaling out to be .4 miles extra.

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Week 2 Mileage

Mon: Rest
Tue: 3.5 miles
Wed: 3.5 miles
Thu: Rain
Fri: 5 miles
Sat: 7 miles
Sun: Rain

The goal, for next 2 weeks, is to build up mileage gradually and then start hill runs. I'll definitely need lots of hill runs this time and that's why starting early. For that, Rancho is my friend. I found a great tool that calculates route distance and elevation for any possible route at Rancho so this is going to be handy.

And if you are planning to register for San Francisco Marathon, 3rd tier is sold out as well. The current registration rate is $100, as opposed to $75, $85 & $95 in the previous tiers, and expires on 4/7/7.

_{Technorati: running training fitness runninglog runningtool runsfm rancho}

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Marathon Training, here I come!

Last pre-training week with a total of 26 miles.

Mon: 7 miles
Tue: Rest
Wed: 7 miles
Thu: 5 miles
Fri: None
Sat: 7 miles
Sun: Rest

So marathon training, here I come tomorrow. Check out some good articles in the meanwhile:

• The Runners Six Pack - How to get ready for a peak running performance
• Get Strong Legs - How to get a strong lower body
• Run Through The Cold - Training through the cold winter months

Miles to go ...

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Started pre-training runs

Started my pre-training runs this morning with a 3.5 mile run. I'm hoping to reach 20-25 miles average in next 3 weeks and then will start my training for my upcoming marathon.

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Sun Francisco Marathon - 2nd tier sold out

San Francisco Marathon 2nd tier registration is sold out as well. So if you are interested in running full marathon, half marathon, progressive marathon or 5k then register NOW and save some bucks towards better running gear. I registered last month already and planning to start my training runs later this month.

A new video footage that follows a group of runners, led by Dean Karnazes (the ultra marathon man), through the entire course of full marathon, with an animated version showing the cross streets, gives you a feel about what it's like to run this marathon.

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Running San Francisco Marathon 2007

As if one marathon was not enough, I registered for San Francisco Marathon scheduled for Jul 29, 2007. I was thinking of delaying the the registration a few days but Tier 1 is already sold out and I don't want to miss out the option of running on Golden Gate Bridge, yet again. After all, San Francisco is #1 running city.

15,000 runners are expected . The first half is always the fun part and there are cheer stations and music stations planned almost each mile during the second half. I plan to start practice next month and I'll definitely need to practice lots of hill runs. From my previous half marathon experience, miles 10-12 were really steep. The course description gives you an idea of all the beautiful landmarks (Fishermans's Wharf, San Francisco Bay, Marina, Presidio, Golden Gate Park and many others) crossed during the run, well it's 26.2 miles so gotta cover good part of the city

And I found a buddy at work who has done multiple Boston Marathon and a PR of 2:28. This is going to be fun!

Check out the holiday survival guide to watch those extra pounds and squeezing your runs to survive this merry season.

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My first half marathon

As promised earlier, here are the details of my half marathon I ran the past weekend.

I ran my very first half marathon on the past weekend. This was San Francisco Marathon 2005 organized by Runners World in the beautiful San Francisco city of California. This is the longest (13.1 miles) I've run so far at a stretch and boy it was fun! There were more than 15000 runners for the over all race. 

I (in the red shirt in the pictures below) ran with two of my neighbors, Sridhar (with the cap in the pictures below) and Ramanath (without the cap in the pictures below). The wave starts were scheduled at Justin Herman Plaza from 5:20am to 5:35am on Sunday morning so we decided to drive to the city in the morning. Ramanath was kind (brave?) enough to drive us to the city. He had to stop the car on the right shoulder around San Francisco airport because of the morning chill and nature's call. Ramanath served well to the nature's call but the shoulder did not really like us and gave a flat tire :( Anyway, we frantically searched for our tire replacement kit and found that the jack is missing. Searched more frantically, scheduled a service call with AAA and finally found the jack. We changed the tire but then found the air pressure is not cooperating so stopped by at a near by gas station to fill up air. Finally (and luckily), we reached the start line at 5:24am.

There was no warming up with few thousand people around and so the race started right away. The course was a good mix of flats and uphills but there were very few downhills. The highlight was going over the Golden Gate Bridge.  My results are in the table below:

I don't know what two "Place Out Of" are for but I'm satisfied with my results, especially since this was my first such run. The uphill in the last two miles was sort of killing so I need to do more strength training for my legs.

Here is how the age grade scoring is calculated. Basically it compares an individual's finish time at a particular race to an "ideal" time achievable for that age and gender. World Association of Veteran Athletes (WAVA), the world governing body for masters long distance running etc. compiles the list of "ideal" times for different age and gender. The fastest person in my age group (30-39) finished in 1:22:48 with a 6:19 minutes pace. I hope I can reach that pace some day :)

You can read the official press release for top finishers and 2005 event details. The complete results can be seen here. Marathon photos photographers were scattered through out the race but they are really expensive ($15 for a 5X7 + $20 for shipping). Anyway, a preview of me running can be seen here.

I think overall, running the race was quite a satisfying experience for me and I got familiar with lot of running glossary as well. All three of us hope to do a full marathon next year, lets see!

Posted by Arun Gupta in Running  |  Comments[0]