Ironman 101: You've got mail - DEC

I don't get bags of email questions but I do get a few. I have decided to go ahead and start posting some of the interesting questions that I get.

Luke wrote - Regarding - "Race Report - RUN - 70.3 New Orleans - 2010":

I have been discussing running this race as my first 70.3. I am trying to learn more about it so I googled Race Reports and thought it was great that yours came up at the top. Thanks for the read.

Luke –

Although there were some technical problems the first year, NO70.3 is a great race. None of the problems from the first year affected me but they did make several changes to the race for the second year.

The biggest concern is the logistics of a point to point race. If you do not have transportation you would have to take the bus to the swim before and after the race. Not that big of a deal but it is something to think about.

Now, the race itself is pretty flat and fast. This year the swim had pretty big swells and that added a few minutes to my time. However, the bike was truly flat and fast. The bike is an out and back with a couple of additional detours. The roads themselves can be pretty bad. It is awesome riding 56 miles of completely shut down highway. The race excels in this area.

The run is also pretty hard on the feet. The pavement in New Orleans is just rough. There is no way around that. In addition, it can be and has been rather warm in April the past two years. We are talking low 80’s and lots of humidity. This can be a shock even if you are training in the Deep South. But I heard of lots of people that flew in from the frozen north for this race – well, they just melted. The race hurt them. Also, they changed the start of my age group from 7:20 AM to something like 8:30 AM – I was in the second to the last wave.This affected my swim and my run was MUCH hotter than the year before.

Although I have not done any other 70.3 race I would have to say the finishing in front of Jackson Square in New Orleans is an awesome feeling. Running down Decatur Street you will see LOTS of PEOPLE. You will smell the cigars, the liqueur, the beer and the beignets from Café Du Monde. Fortunately you will be finishing early enough to not experiencing ALL of the smells of the French Quarter.

I finished in 5:08 - I think I have a sub-5 in me if I can put everything together.

James,

I posted to your blog before I got a chance to read that you are from Mississippi. Too bad…I was hoping to possibly get to train with you sometime! I’m the guy in BLUE!

You ran a great race and made my race better too!

This was my first half and I’d like to run more and possibly a marathon one day, but I’ve always been really competitive and I’m worried I’d go out to fast or train to hard and hurt myself! As an Ironman I know you do plenty of training! Any pointers you can give me? I have 4 young kids at home (7 and under) so my training time is limited, but any suggestions would help!

Thanks,

David

Hey David (aka The Guy in Blue) -

First, you had a great race especially for a first half marathon. I actually really like the half marathon distance. You can run the race hard and still bounce back quickly. Last year – well I guess last FEB I ran my first marathon. I kind of did it backwards in that I first did an ironman before doing a marathon.

Anyway, my goal last year was to Boston qualify. I ran the Mardi Gras marathon in 3:08 and did indeed qualify for the Boston Marathon. Almost as tough - I got registered for the race – it sold out in 8 hours earlier this fall.

With limited time I would suggest one of the Furman plans. They are really just run dominated triathlon plans. There are only 3 runs a week but all of them are challenging and they are separated by cross training. The philosophy is that you can improve your aerobic, anaerobic and VO2MAX by just doing long runs, tempo runs and intervals. Granted, each one of these sessions will be hard. There will be no garbage miles. They have plans for all of the Boston Marathon qualifying time in the book “Run Less, Run Faster”. Your local library probably has the book.

I am also very partial to the McMillan Running Calculator – put in your most recent race time and it will spit out all of your paces – it is a great resource. http://www.mcmillanrunning.com/mcmillanrunningcalculator.htm