NJ-XC-Justin
KY-DH-Freddy
I ran the NJ Marathon yesterday, my first. I know many of you, and those I'm friends with know that I love cycling but am taking a year or two off for time and money reasons. (Running on both counts is much easier.)
I guess the big thing to note is that an average Sport-class XC racer has a damn good shot of doing this sort of thing, or any sort of endurance sport, if they desire and put in the training. Mountain biking for me is much harder than running, though running takes it's toll on the body more.
I have a running log for anyone who's interested in details, but the major points are I ran for 6 months, averaging around 30 miles a week (peaking at 40 this past month), doing long runs of 20 miles twice and around 10 runs over 13 miles. I did little speed work, but I did two other races -- a 5K (18:50) and a half marathon (1:29) -- for fun and get my mind back into racing.
My time yesterday was 3:16, or 7:28 minute miles and I'm really happy with it. The conditions were awful but the course was flat and I had a pacesetter and group to run with for 17 miles, which was a HUGE benefit.
I wrote about the marathon here, though just in an offhand manner:
http://www.torrento.com/blog
I guess the big thing to note is that an average Sport-class XC racer has a damn good shot of doing this sort of thing, or any sort of endurance sport, if they desire and put in the training. Mountain biking for me is much harder than running, though running takes it's toll on the body more.
I have a running log for anyone who's interested in details, but the major points are I ran for 6 months, averaging around 30 miles a week (peaking at 40 this past month), doing long runs of 20 miles twice and around 10 runs over 13 miles. I did little speed work, but I did two other races -- a 5K (18:50) and a half marathon (1:29) -- for fun and get my mind back into racing.
My time yesterday was 3:16, or 7:28 minute miles and I'm really happy with it. The conditions were awful but the course was flat and I had a pacesetter and group to run with for 17 miles, which was a HUGE benefit.
I wrote about the marathon here, though just in an offhand manner:
http://www.torrento.com/blog
