Okay, this was a challenge.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by ziggysocki

So what do you say Rain Man... K.C. Marathon in October... should be a breeze after that mountain climbing expedition you call a half. Much props on that run... hills suck.

That's quite tempting. However, the Denver marathon is the next day, and I think I'm going to do that half marathon just because it goes more or less right by my house. (The marathon is half a block away at roughly the 12.5 mile point, but it's right after the half splits off.) I may work up the guts to try the marathon, but at this point I'll at least do the half.

So what do you think? What was my 14.5 equivalent to on flat ground? 17? 20?

[mlyonsd]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

That's quite tempting. However, the Denver marathon is the next day, and I think I'm going to do that half marathon just because it goes more or less right by my house. (The marathon is half a block away at roughly the 12.5 mile point, but it's right after the half splits off.) I may work up the guts to try the marathon, but at this point I'll at least do the half.

So what do you think? What was my 14.5 equivalent to on flat ground? 17? 20?

From someone that only runs about 10-12 miles a week on the treadmill (4-12% incline) every week all I can say is I admire you.

[rageeumr]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

That's quite tempting. However, the Denver marathon is the next day, and I think I'm going to do that half marathon just because it goes more or less right by my house. (The marathon is half a block away at roughly the 12.5 mile point, but it's right after the half splits off.) I may work up the guts to try the marathon, but at this point I'll at least do the half.

So what do you think? What was my 14.5 equivalent to on flat ground? 17? 20?

Here is an elevation map that I did based on the data from my GPS watch in this year's Hospital Hill half. I've found that it's not super accurate, but it gives you an idea.

The reason I show you this is because Runner's World featured this race a few months back in an article about toughest courses, and as you can see, it's nothing like what you did. Climbing 4,000 feet in 9 miles should be reserved only for Gitmo detainees.

I don't know about equivalencies, but that hill in the first few miles really took it out of me this year, but I recovered quickly after it leveled off. If you can get up 4 or 5 miles of that crazy course without walking, I bet you could finish a full if you trained right until October.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by rageeumr

Here is an elevation map that I did based on the data from my GPS watch in this year's Hospital Hill half. I've found that it's not super accurate, but it gives you an idea.

The reason I show you this is because Runner's World featured this race a few months back in an article about toughest courses, and as you can see, it's nothing like what you did. Climbing 4,000 feet in 9 miles should be reserved only for Gitmo detainees.

I don't know about equivalencies, but that hill in the first few miles really took it out of me this year, but I recovered quickly after it leveled off. If you can get up 4 or 5 miles of that crazy course without walking, I bet you could finish a full if you trained right until October.

I'm really tempted to try a full at Denver in October. I've got an employee who runs them, though, and he scares me a little with all of his training and stuff. However, he actually runs them fast, which is a key difference between him and me.

The weekend before I ran at Vail, he did the Leadville Marathon. Wanna see a crazy climb? Check this out:

You go up 2,000 feet in the first 6 miles, which isn't as tough as Vail, but then you go back down and head for the Steep Hill. Starting at Mile 10, you go up another 2,000 feet in 3 miles, ending up at over 13,000 feet. That's just plain ugly. My employee said that coming down was also really hard if you didn't want to fall and kill yourself, because it's on loose rock.

[rageeumr]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

I'm really tempted to try a full at Denver in October. I've got an employee who runs them, though, and he scares me a little with all of his training and stuff. However, he actually runs them fast, which is a key difference between him and me.

The weekend before I ran at Vail, he did the Leadville Marathon. Wanna see a crazy climb? Check this out:

You go up 2,000 feet in the first 6 miles, which isn't as tough as Vail, but then you go back down and head for the Steep Hill. Starting at Mile 10, you go up another 2,000 feet in 3 miles, ending up at over 13,000 feet. That's just plain ugly. My employee said that coming down was also really hard if you didn't want to fall and kill yourself, because it's on loose rock.

Most races will let you switch from the full to the half or vice versa up until like the day before, so you could probably just register for the half, train for the full and see how you feel. And you can just tell everyone you're running the half so there's no pressure

Don't get too discouraged, though, if the training gets tough. I've trained for 2 marathons (one got cancelled ) and still never finished a 20 mile training run. Before I ran the KC Marathon, the longest training run I did was an 18, and that was pretty rough. Then I breezed through the race and never hit the wall. I even beat my goal by 9 minutes.

It's amazing what a taper, carb loading and a cheering crowd can do for your performance.

[patteeu]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

I'm really tempted to try a full at Denver in October. I've got an employee who runs them, though, and he scares me a little with all of his training and stuff. However, he actually runs them fast, which is a key difference between him and me.

The weekend before I ran at Vail, he did the Leadville Marathon. Wanna see a crazy climb? Check this out:

You go up 2,000 feet in the first 6 miles, which isn't as tough as Vail, but then you go back down and head for the Steep Hill. Starting at Mile 10, you go up another 2,000 feet in 3 miles, ending up at over 13,000 feet. That's just plain ugly. My employee said that coming down was also really hard if you didn't want to fall and kill yourself, because it's on loose rock.

Brutal. I can't even breath standing still at 13,000 feet.