Road Racing and Training Thread - Week Ending 4/20

Still no running yet for me. I'm hoping to get clearance to restart my training by the end of the week.

It breaks my heart not to be up in Boston this week. But, I want to wish all the RR&TT runners a spectacular day.

On the bright side, I do have a qualifying time for next year's race.

Stone: awesome week. How early do you start your Sunday morning runs?

I didn't post last week. Got busy and behind. Figured I would just wait and post double this week.

Goal: Boston sub 2:40 and have a good time. Bib # 825

Last week 4/7 - 4/13

Mon: 6+8 (14)

Tues: 10+4 (14)

Wed: 6A+4.5 (10.5)

Thurs: 4+8.6(5k) (12.5)

Fri: 16

Sat: 8+4 (12)

Sun: 7+4 (11)

Total: 90

Thurs: 5k in 16:55. Very windy and on a course that wasn't closed to public. Had to weave in/out and almost stop a few times for people. Got frustrated and slowed the last mile. At least I won and got a $100 gift. Card, duffel bag, and cool plaque.

fri: last long run. Little harder effort that I expected. But been a while since I had back 2 back harder days.

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4/14 - 4/20

Mon: 4+9(5BP) (13)

Tues: 10

Wed: 8+4A (12)

Thurs: 6(1.5T + 2MGP) + 4 (10)

Fri: 6+3 (9)

Sat: 4

Sun: 3 (here soon with Garbage)

Total: 61

Mon: 5BP (building pace) in 28:51. Felt pretty good. Not too hard but not easy.

Thurs: another police physical test. Did 300m in 43, 1.5mi in 7:32, and 2 in 12:10 after the 1.5. The test was, vertical jump, sit ups (max in 60 sec), 300m, max push ups, 1.5mi run.

Feeling good right now, just a little full from eating haha.

Printer: I hope you get the go ahead to start back up next week!! That's great you already have a qualifier for next year. One less thing to worry about.

Race: Boston Marathon

Weekly Total: 62-63

Goals:

C-PR (2:28:43 or faster)

B-Sub-2:28

A-Sub-2:27

Hoping for top 50-75, but really just focused on time.

___________

Monday PM: 5 easy

Tuesday AM: 9 easy

Tuesday PM: 6 easy

Wednesday AM: 9 with 4 @ 5:36.6/mi (5:45, 5:41, 5:34, 5:26)

Wednesday PM: 5 easy

Thursday AM: 7.5 easy

Thursday PM: 4.5 moderate progression (got down to MP for last 2-3 min)

Friday AM: 6 easy

Saturday AM: 7.75 easy - ran down to Boston commons to watch BAA5k, got lost on the way and made it to the finish about 30 minutes after the race started, jogged around for a bit to look for Ghola and Xenonscreams. Gave up after awhile and bumped into Xenon doing her postrace workout so I caught up to her and ran the last couple minutes of her tempo and cooldown with her. Lucky chance encounter considering there were 10,000 runners and

their family/friends in that area.

Sunday: 3-4 mile shakeout scheduled with NP1112 in a few minutes.

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Any lurkers out there reading the thread that are racing tomorrow and have similar goals - I am planning on going out in about 73:15-73:30 for the first half if you are interested in packing up and working together early on. Generally trying to hit 28, 56, 89 splits for the first 5/10/16 miles and running a relaxed effort until we hit the Newton hills. I'll be wearing the new Brooks singlet with "Washington Park Running Club" on the front if anyone wants to meet up in the corral or just join up after the crowd thins out after a mile or two

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Hello everyone!

Week 9/13 Goal: sub 1:22/23 Half

M 5 (8:19)

T 8 (7:44)

W 7.25 (7:44)

T 10 4 x 1m @ Hard w/~2:45 Jog (5:43, 5:44, 5:42, 5:47)

F 8.25 (7:57)

S 8 (7:43)

S 13.5 1E + 1MP Fartlek (7:49, 6:37, 7:45, 6:36, 7:40, 6:20, 7:38, 6:31, 7:52, 6:32, 7:44, 6:04, 7:55/1.5) (Av. 7:12)

T 60

Another good week of training, did a faster workout on Thursday and next weekend I have a 4 mile tune up race, planning on running it around or just under 6m/m (course is hilly).

Great idea about the road racing thread-Boston version, weather looks great for tomorrow 50F with light tailwind, It's gonna be a great race.

Goal: 2:4x?

Race: Bob Potts

Definitely not my best week. Only one attempt at a workout and it was a letdown anyway. On the plus side, first time in a while that I actually ran all 7 days.

Mon -6. 7:25. Easy run.

Tues -7.5 7:15? Supposed to be a workout night, but rain and 20+ mph winds seemed to say "don't do it"

Wed -7.5. 7:25

Thurs -10.7. 7 average. Included 9 @mp that ended up being 8 @ not quite mp. Started OK, but just lost it turning into the wind with 4 to go. When I couldn't keep the 8th mile below 7 I said to heck with it.

Fri -6. Included 5@6:40. Hadn't planned to run hard, but I was squeezing the run in time wise and I think I was running off some frustration from Thurs.

Sat -8. 7:47. Started really easy with others then picked up some.

Sun -15. 7:30. Mostly pretty comfortable. A few faster miles in the 6:45-7 range in the last 3rd of the run.

60.7 total.

Despite how bad it was, my legs felt beat up for a couple of days after Thursdays run. Wondering if I was a bit dehydrated or something like that. The return of cold and rainy certainly annoyed me this week, but that's no excuse for such a lame week. I'm hoping I bounce back this week - I did feel pretty good finishing today's run, so we will see.

Happy Easter and best of luck to everyone racing tomorrow! It is going to be fun following the RR&TT post. Looks like even better temps/wind than last year so do it up you guys!

Happy Easter Everyone! Have been super busy with school wrapping up and a new job, but here is my week:

M - AM: 3mi w/u, 12x200, 3mi c/d. PM: 4 miles.

T - 5/5

W - 7/4 + strides

R - 5/3 + strides

F - AM: 3mi shakeout. PM: 3mi w/u, 5k 14:58, 4mi c/d.

S - 5/6.5

S - 11.5/xx

Total: Total: 80+

Goal race of the year so far was on Friday. First time under 15min so that's one goal accomplished. Mile splits of 4:43, 4:47, 4:50. Pretty pleased and I'm looking forward to some good road racing this spring/summer. I hope everyone has a great week!

Dang, sorry I missed you, GarbageDisposal! I didn't get around to posting last week because I'm in the midst of finals right now, but I'll look for people during the race tomorrow. Good luck to everyone running!

My last 2 weeks:

M: rest

T: 4 easy

W: 8 easy

Th: 7.5; 4x1600 w/400 jog in 5:18,5:12,4:56,4:58.

F: 6 easy

Sa: 6.5 easy with 1.45 up-tempo in 7:54 (5:26 pace)

Su: rest

Total = 32 miles

M: 9.5; 10x400 w/400 jog @5k, 1000 @5k ( 72,72,72,69,70,71,71,70,70,72, 2:56).

T: 4 easy

W: 8; 4.35 mile "maintenance" tempo in 24:30 (5:38/mi)

Th: 4.5 easy

F: 3 pre-race jog

Sa: BAA 5k; 15:26 (Road PR).

Su: 4 mile shakeout

Total: 42 miles

Race report: I wasn't in the elite start, but the race lumped everyone together and I found that the lead women were going at about my goal pace. I hit the first mile in 4:55, which felt pretty tough because I started out too fast. After that I made a conscious effort to zone out and just grouped up with the women, with the goal of making it to 2 miles before I did any thinking. The second mile has a lot of turns and a few (very small) hills, and that was where the women dropped me. I hit the two mile in 9:56, so a 5:01 mile, and started feeling good again after coming out of an underpass onto Beacon street, working my way up to a couple other guys. I got to the finish in 15:26, so just a few seconds slower than my last track 5k (but much harder an effort). Ben True running 13:26 there is definitely a monster effort. Looking forward, I think I'm going to try to make a shot at 15:00 on the track at the first New Balance twilight meet on May 10, and then take some time off.

It was awesome meeting TheGarbageDisposal!

Monday: 9 miles at 7:49 pace, feeling tired but running well. Light strength, massage later.

Tuesday: 7 + strides at 8:01 pace. Core later.

Wednesday: Practice, 9.5 total with 6 x 400s alternating relaxed and fast. 81 / 79 / 81 / 80 / 81 / 80. Felt pretty sharp.

Thursday: Off, flying to Providence.

Friday: 3 + strides, starting slow and picking it up, feeling good.

Saturday: 11.5 total with the B.A.A 5K (19:02) followed by 2 x 1 mile at threshold pace with 3:00 rest.

Sunday: 12.5 easy in Providence at 8:05 pace. Hot, sore, thirsty.

So the B.A.A 5K. 19:02 was obviously not what I wanted but not terrible. Got blocked by slower runners who insisted on lining up near the front, wasted energy weaving to a slow 6:07, then panicked and hammered the second mile like a beginner, legs burning the last mile so way slow. Workout, however, was great, apparently hitting almost the same pace by feeling, when I was trying to run slower. So not sure what to make of that, assuming I'm in good shape, just didn't put it together for this race because I did not race smart. Also, three hour jet leg for an 8AM east coast race probably contributed just a little, since I honestly felt better for my workout than for my race!

I have to say though that I'm not happy with the way the B.A.A handled this one for everyone not up front. We were all seeded, so I figured getting to the line 10 minutes in advanced would be OK. But it turns out our seeds weren't used for anything; by that time it was impossible to get up near the front, and I actually had runners in the two thousands (my seed was 346) yelling at me for trying to get in front of them before the start. When I mentioned that the bibs were in order of times, they did not seem to understand that concept. There was no separation at all between different seeds, and I was behind people casually jogging at the beginning. It was not an enjoyable experience (the actual race part, the rest was awesome) for a girl around my speed.

Alas, Monday is going to be awesome! I'm armed with orange hair dye and should be somewhere in Newton between 17-20 miles.

Goals:

sub 16 5k

sub 4:40 mile

Mon-4 in 6:54

Tue- 25 min stationary bike

Wed- 1 wu, 6x 400 w/ 400 jog (2 min) in 70,73,70,70,67,66, 2 cd

Thur- 6 in 6:55

Fri- 4 on the treadmill at 7:30 pace

Sat- 1.5 wu, 2x 800 in 2:19 (71,68)/2:20 (70,70) with 800 rest + 4x200 w/200 rest in 32,32,31,30 and a 2 mile cd

Sun- 4.8 at 6:58

Total miles: 31.3

Overall this was an ok week. The runs on Friday and Sunday didn't happen like I wanted them to. Somehow I had no time to run during the time we can leave campus and I had to go on the treadmill, and could not make myself go farther than 4 miles. On Sunday I ran at my grandparents house, which is extremely hilly (as in there is not flat land to run on) so I kept the run short to save my legs from all the up and down hill.

On Wednesday I had a good workout. A 70s 400 is now very comfortable and smooth. The 67 really came out of nowhere and I closed the last 400 in 66. The 200s at the end were to help me sharpen up.

Saturday I decided to do 2x 800 at my goal mile pace, and it turned out great. I ran this workout on a flat road/sidewalk that I measured out using mapmyrun and ran in trainers (unlike my 400 workouts which I ran in xc flats). The first 800 felt comfortable for being at mile pace and my breathing was pretty good when I finished. I jogged 800 meters at 8 min pace and stood for 15-30 seconds before I started the next one. The second one was also good. I felt uncomfortable around 600 in and was breathing harder after the second one. The 200s I ran were very controlled and relaxed, using my arms like a distance runner and striding my legs.

My race is coming up in a little over two weeks, so I'm feeling confident that I can hit my sub 4:40 goal when I run with people around me. I just need to make sure I don't go out too hard and run my own race. Also, with 2 weeks to go, what workouts should I be doing? I want to lower my mileage with a week to go to feel fresh, and I also don't want to peak too soon. I hope everyone has a great Easter today and a good Boston Marathon tomorrow.

Happy Easter everyone! And the best of luck to everyone running tomorrow. I can't watch the race at work, but you'll be on my mind. Kick some butt!

For me, it was a week of rehab and cross-training. Optimism and enthusiasm have returned!

Monday: Off in anticipation of doctor’s visit. First day on new job.

Tuesday: A trip to the doctor. I officially have a case of heel thingywhatsis. An unhappy tendon of some kind, possibly brought on by jumping into my new Mizuno Wave Ekidens with too much enthusiasm in March. Whatever the cause, my GP was pretty optimistic about getting it ironed out in short order. She didn’t refer me to a specialist, instead prescribing some topical NSAID cream, along with all the ice and cross-training I like.

60min elliptical and 30min cycle after work. First time on an elliptical.

Wednesday: 10k easy. Planned 14k, but ankle tweaked and I realized I was an idiot for trying to run while rehabbing.

Thursday: 60min on the elliptical and 30min cycle. Starting to enjoy the elliptical – thank God for Netflix. It snowed a ton today.

Friday: 60min on the elliptical and 30min cycle. More snow and cold. Rock-climbing with the girlfriend as part of April Date Night afterwards! Quite an interesting experience.

Saturday: 90min on the elliptical and 30min cycle. Sunshine! I sweat a ton on the elliptical, I think because there is no wind resistance cooling you down. Hopping the shower after this felt great. Delicious Easter dinner and chocolates and beer afterwards with out-of-town family.

Sunday: 60min on the elliptical and 30 min cycle. Tried to simulate a hill workout on this one. Did a 20min warmup, then 14x30seconds at high resistance and intensity with 90seconds of recovery, then a cooldown.

Total: A bunch of cross-training. Learning how to get good elliptical workouts in is quite nice, since it's way easier to access than my other favourite kind of cross, swimming. My parents have one in their basement, so I just bike over and fire it up whenever I like. Convenient and a great kind of cross, I think. Does anyone here have much experience or advice with maintaining fitness on the elliptical?

The ankle has really rebounded, but as I don’t start serious training until June, I am going to give it another week before I try to get back into running. I might give in to a morning run towards the end of the week if things continue to feel good – I can tell this is going to be a test of my patience.

my week

M 6.6 easy

T 9.2 w/8x400 at 5k pace

W 7 easy

Th 7.9 easy

F 4.2 easy

Sa 8.7 w/ 5000m race

Su ~12 planned

total ~55 mi projected, ~7:10/mi avg

race: beach invite at cerritos college in LA. goal was to run 75s and to PR (15:46.9). the 5k was literally the last race of the meet. got there at 7:30am because a teammate was running the 3k steeple. my race wasnt until 8:40pm. so i sat around for 13 hours basically, trying to stay hydrated/rested but its tough not to be out by the track watching races. i felt good warming up, but there's no doubt that the 13 hour wait had an effect.

this was the smallest 5k race ive done. 22 guys in my heat, and about 17 showed up/finished. i was seeded 9th at 15:46.9. my roommate seeded himself at 15:45, his pr was 15:50 and he has run 16:02 and 15:55 this year.

got out too slow with lots of guys around in 38.5 for 200m. felt like the pace was picking up so i stayed in my spot hoping not to hear 77+ at 400m. i mustve been around 76, but i took splits at the finish for the race. 200-600 was 75.7. i wanted to come through 1600 in 5:02ish so i still didnt make any moves. at around 800m i noticed that my roommate was about 25m ahead near the front of the long pack. i was on the back, trying to keep contact with as little effort as possible.. hit 1000 in 3:10, on good pace. had to keep passing guys to keep contact with what has now become the chase pack. a guy in a neon singlet had the same plans as i did so we went together for the whole first mile, hit in 5:02. after 2k (6:19, 3:09 2nd km) i left him behind to chase down the front pack. once in the front i started running high 77s. (3k in 9:32, 3:13 3rd km). i was passing people but with nobody to block the wind i was a bit too slow. i ran alone fighting off people that tried to pass me for the rest of the race (2000m-5000m) i hit 4k in 12:44 (3:13 4th km) then started the push to the finish. pace wasnt consistent, switching from 75s to 77s for a few laps. last lap was 71 mid without a full effort as i knew i would not PR but that i would break 16 easily. 15:53.3, last 1600 in ~5:03. 5th km in 3:09.

this was my 2nd best 5k ever and only 2nd time breaking 16, so i was please with the effort. my roommate stayed with the first group, splitting 4:57/9:57 and running 15:38. i wish i had stuck on the lead pack because i think i easily could have held onto the back.

note: i've now run six 5000m races on the track. not counting the first one, my first 1600 splits have been very similar. here's a chart with the first 1600m plus the outcome.

2013

#1: 5:11 - 16:17

#2: 5:04 - 15:46.9

#3: 5:04 - 16:11

#4: 5:04 - 16:06

2014

#5: 5:02 - 16:21

#6: 5:02 - 15:53

i need to work on those last 2 miles apparently

the bearer of bad news bears wrote:

So 19:00 5k runners are doing post-race workouts now? Really?

And unless your name was Molly Huddle (or one of the other invited elites), you did not have a seeded number. Sorry, but BAA doesn't care about your 19:00 5k.

19 on a bad day, it's called good training, and what are the trolls doing in this thread? Go jerk off in your mom's basement like you normally do. Literally everyone was seeded, the numbers were in order of seed times, that is what "seeded" means.

Hope everyone had a good weekend. Good luck to all the Boston runners tomorrow!

Goal Race: NB Twilight meets

Next Race: 5000m Yale Spring invitational 4/27

Monday: 7.2mi @6:44. 8 hill sprints.

Tuesday: 6mi tempo (33:34). 6x200m @32-33.

Wednesday: 14.4mi long run. No time. Garmin died.

Thursday: 5mi @7:15

Friday: 7.2mi @6:43

Saturday: 6x800m (2:23, 2:25, 2:26, 2:25, 2:24, 2:23) with 200m jog (58sec).

Sunday: 8.2mi @6:38

Total: 63 miles (including warm ups and cool downs)

Ghola: I'll be at the 1st NB twilight meet running the 5k too. Hope to see you there.

I agree w/you and I'm glad you brought it up. I too was disappointed the way the seeding was held. I started out in the "so called 7:00 min pace" thinking I wanted to go somewhat conservative and not too fast but instead that was THE opening area for EVERYONE to come in and settle. I found myself being pushed back and dodging for the first mile and half. I could not get my pace on target until the third mile which was my fastest, including the last .1. Like you, it wasn't the worst for me and yet it wasn't the best. I know I am in better shape than my time. On the other hand, I'm here to enjoy the moment/weekend and looking forward to watching the race tomorrow!

Sorry to hijack the thread...:)

Monday - 6.8

Tuesday - 7.2

Wed - off

Thursday - 4.25 (treadmill)

Friday - 5

Sat - 4.1

Sunday 4.5

Totals 31.85. On the road this week, at sea level running on flat as a board asphalt in cool weather. Average pace for the week was 8:29. Much faster than running hilly trails through the desert.

Bad week, not really much to say. Crediting this as a down week.

Mon- off. No time, unplanned off day

Tues- 8 @ 7:40

Weds - 13 @ 7:22 with the last 3 in 7:07, 7:04, and 6:39

Thurs - 5 @ 7:12. Last mile in 6:47.

Fri - 10 am @ 7:10. Paced consistently at 7:15 per mile with 2 fast miles at the end.

4 PM @ 7:25.

Sat - 6 AM @ 7:45

4 PM @ 7:33

Sun - 6.26 miles @ 6:36 - since I couldn't get a long run in I decided to do a MP effort run - first mile was a WU in 7:03, then 5 miles in 6:37, 6:35, 6:29, 6:32, and 6:22. did a couple strides afterwards to pick up the last quarter in 1:34. Whole run felt relaxed and comfortable, like true marathon effort. A little taxing over the last mile, but definitely would have had another 3-4 in me if I'd had the time... Shame.

Total for week - 56 miles.

Decent week speedwise, just a little irked by the low mileage and the lack of any planned hard efforts. Hoping to get back up in the high 60 to 70 mile range this week with a 4 mile tempo around 6 minutes per mile. Planning to keep training fairly unstructured up until the soldier field 10 miler on may 24, and then I'm going to attack the Daniels "A" marathon plan peaking around 80-90 miles per week.

My previous weekly high was 85 when I was peaking for Chicago last year, and it was very difficult. I feel like I am now handling high mileage a little better, with 65 mile weeks feeling like an easy effort. We will see how that feels when the temps start to get in the 80-90 range and I'm adding hard running into my training. Hoping to nail the SF 10 miler somewhere around or slightly under 60. Tentative goal for chicago is sub 2:50, although I'd be thrilled to just go sub 3.

Week 13 of Pfitzinger’s 18-week / 85-MPW max plan

Goal race: Edinburgh Marathon

Goals: A - sub-3:00, B - 3:02, C - 3:07

YTD: 1063mi

Monday: Recovery - 6M am @ 8:34 / 4M pm @ X. Second week in a row of a bruise-like feeling on the inside of my right foot following Sunday’s run. Not really sure what to attribute this to. Haven’t felt anything similar up until now, and nothing significant has changed recently.

Tuesday: VO2max - 12M w/ 6x1000m intervals (500m recovery jog in 3:00). Splits of 3:49, 3:46, 3:41, 3:40, 3:50, 3:50. Was targeting 3:45, so pace was kinda erratic.Somehow ended up with a strained back muscle after this run, which is weird because I didn't notice any problems during the run itself nor have I ever had issues with my back from running. But by the end of the day, bending over at the waist or even walking was painful.

Wednesday: Rest. I was in no shape to run and didn't want to aggravate an inexplicable and unfamiliar injury. Pain receded somewhat as the day went on.

Thursday: Recovery - Rest. Woke up feeling better and was mostly pain-free by the end of the day.

Friday: Recovery - 7M @ 8:42. Back felt fine, though I picked up some tendon inflammation across the top of my left foot. I’ve experienced this every now and then, and it’s usually short-lived and traceable to too-tight shoelaces. Nothing major, but just one more random flare-up to deal with.

Saturday: Recovery - 7M @ 8:07. First normal-feeling run all week. Everything seemed to be on the mend.

Sunday: Long run - 18M @ 8:04. Deviated from the planned 20M with 14M at marathon pace. I’ve had a lot of success with this type of workout as a predictor of marathon performance, and while it’s not something I want to run fresh and rested, I felt like the last two weeks of illness and injury would not allow me to put forth a realistic effort. Deferred the workout by two weeks and just ran a straight 18. The good news is that the run felt great, no sign of pain or atypical soreness during or afterwards.

50M total. After almost three months of consistent training with almost no missed workouts, having to bag four runs in two weeks is pretty frustrating. On the up-side, I’m reasonably sure the off-days are flukes and not a result of over-training. Still, with the marathon coming up fast, I’m probably going to drop the Monday runs. It's the least impactful run of the week, and the benefit from being able to run strong and consistent these last few weeks seems to be more important than whatever marginal improvement it provides. Keeping that positive mental attitude and looking forward to Saturday’s 10k tune-up race (targeting the 38:30-39:00 range).

Ouch. Thanks for sharing your experience with the BAA 5K. Guess I won't consider doing this one unless they fix it up in later years. Hope you had a fun time in Boston at least.