Great race, Dave - no wonder you're proud!!! We all know how tempting it is to settle for less than our best but you fought back; how rewarding! Hope you feel better fast...
Great race, Dave - no wonder you're proud!!! We all know how tempting it is to settle for less than our best but you fought back; how rewarding! Hope you feel better fast...
Week 202: 3 hours 44 minutes in 7 runs, 6 @28 mins and Saturday @56 mins.
@racerdb - Dave, you master tactician! Now for an AR you need to pick a race with a 20-yo who runs faster than 17:11.
Whew! A lot of good training and racing coming down.
Rtype, props on your race....slowly but surely, continual improvement. You've shown tremendous restraint in your comeback not to overdo it. I applaud your discipline....I suspect that I would have train-wrecked by now (Oh wait, I have......multiple times.)
Kudos, Dave! I saw the results prior to your post, and knew there would be a story; way to pip the youngster.....tenacious! Hopefully, race conditions, health, and fitness will all align and you'll be down in the low-16's! I agree with your training partner, the numbers say that's where you oughta be.
Spikez, glad that you made it safely to the west coast. May the new setting bring you good training and better results!
KP, you continue to lay down some killer workouts.....and after the 4-hour car ride, too! Nice!
OGII, you put in some nice miles. Remind me about your staple 8-mile hill loop.
SCGal, glad your surgery was minor (I've always contended that there is no such thing as minor surgery), looks like you're doing great!
ukathleticscoach, good to hear from you. Clue us in on how it's going.
Thanks, guys, for the props. I'll be glad to finally put some of this training to the test, For those curious, here's the map for the course:
http://rrr.olm.net/pictures/map.jpg
and the descriptions for each leg:
http://rrr.olm.net/course/course.html
I, too, wish all those out on the roads of east Massachusetts the best on this Patriots Day!
Keep it up!
Here is my week.
M: rest.
T-SA: 7 miles.
SU: 11.1 miles.
So I went from 38.8 to 42 to 46.1 miles. I should take this week easy and cut back a little bit. I am still very cautious about the pace, but I think I can gradually increase my volume.
As for the hamstring exercise, I have tried the single leg curl. And this is really good. The key is to lower the bar very slowly in a controlled motion. It has really revealed how much imbalance exists between my left and right sides in the eccentric strength.
Mon. 70 min paddle on the lake.
Tue. 18 km mtb ride inc a tempo 10 km section.
Wed. 4 x 1500 m climbs up Pianta track. Total time for 12 km run and 550 m elevation gain was1 h 33 m.
Thu. 36 km mtb ride on back country dirt farm roads.
Fri. Drove to Melbourne after post night shift sleep.
Sat. Morning 6 km shuffle in Melbourne. Spent afternoon and evening at a wedding. 150 km drive home.
Sun. 5 km "race".
I decided to test my crook hip/butt/hammy by trying to run a progression run in our club 5 km. The plan was 4.30, 4.20, 4.15, 4.10 and try to kick home the last km. The first km was hit in 4.35 but the attempt to lengthen stride from there was a failure and 2 km was passed in 9.10 with extremely tight right hammy. From there things got worse rather than better and I struggled around in 23 mins. I could barely jog after stopping form 2 mins post run. That afternoon the leg and hip were very tight.
I can run faster than 23 without training for a month if uninjured so I think it is time for some rest to go with the injury treatment plan.
I will continue to ride, paddle, strength train and will just walk instead of run until I get on top of this.
I was feeling very disappointed that I will miss some racing but it was quickly put into perspective by a phone call from my mother. My sister has lost the use of her legs as the cancer mets are now entrenched in her spine. She is now palliative, maybe weeks , maybe a few months. Makes moaning aboutta crook butt seem pretty silly.
mo'pak wrote:
I was feeling very disappointed that I will miss some racing but it was quickly put into perspective by a phone call from my mother. My sister has lost the use of her legs as the cancer mets are now entrenched in her spine. She is now palliative, maybe weeks , maybe a few months. Makes moaning aboutta crook butt seem pretty silly.
Sorry to hear about your sister. Yep, your last sentence is the truth. We should consider ourselves fortunate.
Dave
Tough one, mo'pak. I'm truly sorry. Over here, a family member recently went into hospice with acute leukemia. Now every run makes me feel guilty, like I don't deserve this good thing. If the only way to gain perspective is for something bad to happen to someone close, then I can do without.
Sorry about your sister mo'pak. Take care.
Sorry to hear about your sister mo'pak, seems life is always there to show us what is really important and teach us to enjoy what we have. Eat your desert first!
So sorry about your sister, mo'pak. My thoughts and prayers are with your entire family.The other reality of aging is that the older we get, the more "things" have happened to those we love (or to us). Reminds me to be humbly grateful for each day I've been given.
Take care, mate! We are with you in spirit!
I have a couple of silly questions.
Taper-is the point of tapering just to lower your mileage to let the muscles recover, do you also lower intensity?
Water-for my marathon is better to carry a couple bottles of water or just rely on the course water stops. I plan on carrying 6 GU's with me.
lucKY2b wrote:
...
OGII, you put in some nice miles. Remind me about your staple 8-mile hill loop. ...
Keep it up!
My weekday 8 miler is the mainstay of my training since I just step out my front door and will get a decent workout whether I focus on it or not. Since I run by myself Mon-Fri, I need a route that will be good regardless of my motivational level on any given day.
The loop starts with about 1.5 miles of slightly rolling road and then climbs about 700' at a fairly steady grade for 2 miles. It then gains about another 50' in the next mile to the highest point of the run. The route back then drops about 100' over the next 2.5 miles of slightly rolling road, and the final 2 miles drop 650' fairly steadily again back to my house. It's mostly on the roads, but does have about a half dozen short sections of dirt or grass to break up the running on pavement.
On my fittest days I have run it at about 7:45/mi. On my tiredest days I have run about 10:30/mi. Right now I'm usually in the 9:00-9:30/mi. range.
Er, Higdon had better information on his old website. Yes, you are resting up, carbo loading, etc. Just enough running to keep the hormones up. As for intensity, you want to keep that in the mix, but less of it. Except his intermediate schedules don't have any intensity, so don't worry about it.
For water, you need to research the course and course management. At the bigger races you can usually get by on what they provide. Smaller or incompetent races you need to carry, or have an accomplice. Even if you decide not to carry, you may want a couple disposable bottles for the start. The first you can chug at the gun, the second allows you to skip the madness of the first water stop.
mo'pak: Sadness to hear about your sister on your post this week. Hope that thoughts and prayers from your community of running friends here in the States brings you some comfort. From your earlier description, sounds like you and I are suffering from the same physical pain. We will have to rehab and recover.
racerdb: I like Frank Shorter's line during Boston commentary - "A dream is a gift you give yourself." Dream big, 16 min 5Ker!
paul61: Pfitzinger marathon training recommends throwing in some strides (6 or 7 x 100 m) in the week prior to the race. Maybe once or twice during a weekly run - depending on how one feels during the taper. Strictly to keep leg turnover fresh in muscle memory. Focus is on form. I carry a water bottle to the start line, and typically throw away at mi 4/5. Most decent races will have more than enough hydration on the course. Curious what marathon you are doing.
Was able to slowly move mileage up without seriously aggravating my sore spot. No speed work. Still walking up hills backward. Stretch - stretch - and exercises to engage glutes/hips. Still swimming, biking some - seems to help keep things loosened.
28 mi for the week - yikes! That is very low for me.
Mon - 5 mi easy
Tues - 5 mi easy
Wed - OFF
Thurs - 6 mi easy
Fri - 2 mi easy
Sat - 10 mi easy
Best to all.
GreteHund wrote:
paul61: Pfitzinger marathon training recommends throwing in some strides (6 or 7 x 100 m) in the week prior to the race. Maybe once or twice during a weekly run - depending on how one feels during the taper. Strictly to keep leg turnover fresh in muscle memory. Focus is on form. I carry a water bottle to the start line, and typically throw away at mi 4/5. Most decent races will have more than enough hydration on the course. Curious what marathon you are doing.
Best to all.
Doing this one
http://www.tacomacitymarathon.com/My first one, I'm nervous, excited, scared
@Paul061 - Frame of reference for strides: Pfitzinger has interval workouts during his buildup, the strides are a step down in intensity for his runners. That's consistent with the idea of the taper. But if strides are a step up in intensity for you, you should pass.
Job one in the taper is rest up. (Don't paint the house!) Job two is don't get sick. (Avoid people! LOL) Job three is stay sane somehow, despite the cutback in running and oh yeah, this thing called the marathon looming. Good luck with that third one.
Hahaha thanks Alan I will keep those in mind. I'm hoping to exorcise some competitive demons in my closet with this race also :-)
Alan Bennet wrote:
@Paul061 - Frame of reference for strides: Pfitzinger has interval workouts during his buildup, the strides are a step down in intensity for his runners. That's consistent with the idea of the taper. But if strides are a step up in intensity for you, you should pass.
As always, Alan delivers the best advice! Agree entirely with his above!
paul061 wrote:
Doing this one
http://www.tacomacitymarathon.com/My first one, I'm nervous, excited, scared
The course as laid out is an open invitation to a wrong turn. I count five places where the fulls turn away from the halfs. One online review mentioned an unmarked turn out on the point which some people missed together (e.g. it's not safe to just follow the other runners). I recommend you memorize the course map, and at the expo double-check to make sure they haven't changed it.
Water might also be problematic. Your first water stop is at 4.5 miles which is too late. Because of absorption rates (Noakes covers this), you want 300ml at the start and another 300ml within the first 3 miles. The other problem is they might run out. The half course completely overlaps the full, so at every water stop the halfs will have already been there. Google "tacoma city marathon reviews" to see if there were any issues in previous years.
Reading up on your marathon is a good use of your time in the taper.
I ran the half last year. They do a very good job of having workers at each turn. I think though that I will bring my two 6 oz bottle belt just to be safe. I have been doing all of my training runs with that and then I can use the course water or mine. I ran the HM series last year (winning the 45-49 AG :-) and they really do a good job with the races, despite what some reviews say :-)
Am I living in the twilight zone? The Boston Marathon weather was terrible!
Is there a rule against attaching a helium balloon to yourself while running a road race?
How rare is it to run a sub 5 minute mile AND bench press 225?
Move over Mark Coogan, Rojo and John Kellogg share their 3 favorite mile workouts
Mark Coogan says that if you could only do 3 workouts as a 1500m runner you should do these
Matt Choi was drinking beer halfway through the Boston Marathon