Road Racing and Training Thread - Week Ending 10/12

Haha, Stone cutter - something similar happened to me, but with long pants - they just were to heavy from the rain :D

Good week as well - go get'em ;-)

My week was good as well:

M - rest

T - 9.5 easy, strides (7:40)

W - 12.5 incl. 10 x 2' on/off (5:11 for the "on" parts)

T - 9 easy, hilly! (7:30)

F - 8 mile tempo (5:33) (13.5) Went better than I thought, though frustrating that this was kind of MP effort...

S - 10 easy (7:30) (seems like 7:30 is my easy pace right now^^)

S - 15.5 kind of moderate - just floating along (6:17)

Goal: Get my @$$ in shape - enjoy my running - stay healthy - bust @§§ in march...

Enjoy the ride everyone :-)

Pikachu

Goal: XC 8k (Week 20/25)

Next Race: 8k XC next Saturday. Sub 30???

M: 7.5 w/ 1.75 warm up, 4 mi fartlek of 200m up hill (avg 42), 200 down, 1.75 cool down

T: 8

W: 3.25

Th: 8 w/ 2 mi warm up, 2 mile 11:46 (5:57, 5:49) 2 min rest, 2 mile 11:38 (5:52, 5:48), 2 mi cool down

F: 6

S: 10, first 5 @ 8 min pace, last 5 progressive, avg 7:00 pace.

Total - 43.

Really happy with this week. Going to cutback next week and try to break 30. If I can't I will have to remeasure the loop where I did Thursday's workout.

Hey Everyone!!

Goal Race: Dublin Marathon (10/27)

Goal Time: sub 3

6'2/ 147lbs /25

Mon: 6m rec (8.54)

Tue: 6m ez. (7.39)

Wed: Rest

Thu: 3k TT on trail (10:52)

Fri: 5thanm easy (blown ankle)

Sat: Rest

Sun: Rest

This week started well and ended with a near nervous and injury. My recovery from last weeks MP effort was good, a little bit dead legged but that was about it.

I had a 3k time trial on Thursday that we do at the club every 3 months or so and even though I left some gas in the tank, It was the fastest I have done that TT by 26 seconds and 51 seconds faster than this point last year when I ran 3.15 for the marathon.

Fridays run was a complete disaster. It was dark out and an oncoming driver never dimmed their lights so I was running blind, They never moved over to give me space so I had to jump out of the way. I put my foot down on the edge of a big pothole and rolled my ankle. I knew straight away that it was a sprain (a near expert now, 15th ankle sprain). I couldn't walk or put any weight on it and it had already started to swell. All I could think was, I'm screwed and my chances of running the marathon were gone. I was sitting down on the side of the road and 3 miles from home. Absolute depression.

A woman picked me up about 15 minutes later and gave me a drive home. The good news is, it is only a grade 1 ligament sprain and I can kinda walk on it already(phew, unbelievable relief). I should be back to running by Thursday. Scary moment though!

Hope everbody had a great week!!:)

Hello everyone!

M Cold

T 4 Easy + Weights

W 4 Easy + Weights

T 6 (10 min x 2 relaxed tempo ~6:3x + 3 x 400 Hard ~1:16)

F 4.8 Recovery + Weights

S 5 Easy + 15 min Weights

S 9 (6m moderate ~6:55 + 4 x 400 Strides ~1:22)

T 32.8

Wanted to do 35 but had skip 1 day for a head cold that I caught last week. Next week aiming for 35/40. Also I'm thinking about registering to a 4 mile race in December, no idea about the time goal, but probably try to improve my PR (5:58 pace).

Hope everyone had a great week!

Happy Sunday, everyone!

Goal race: BAA half marathon (today)

Next race: Mayor's Cup 8k (10/26)

M: Rest

T: 8.5 easy (60')

W: 7.5 total; 2 mile warmup, 3x1600 w/400 jog in 5:18 avg., 1.5 cooldown (49')

Th: 6 easy (45')

F: 6 easy (44')

S: 4 easy (30')

Su: 14 total; BAA Half marathon in 1:13:30

Here's a race report for anyone who's interested:

I knew going in that this was a tough course, but wasn't really sure how hard it'd be. The first 9 miles aren't too bad. You start from Franklin park and head down around the Emerald necklace (a series of parks). There're some rolling hills, but a fair amount of downhill until you hit the turnaround at about 5.5 miles. The down side of that is that it's an out and back, so you're hitting uphills back to Franklin Park. At this point I realized my goal of 5:20s wasn't going to happen, so I just relaxed and tried to work up to a female elite (a Puerto Rican woman who wound up finishing 8th). I passed her, then we stayed together through the 9th mile. You get back into the park just about 9 miles in, and then start hitting the more serious hills. This is when the wheels started coming off for me, as I went from 5:30s to 5:40s with a nearly 6:00 mile thrown in. Finally, you loop back up to the start and run about a mile in the zoo -- which was weird, because you're working your ass off running by a bunch of camels and ostriches, with no one else in the park. Then there's a loop around the park, and you finish on the track.

I was a little disappointed with the time, but according to other people who've run there it's worth about 71 on a flat course, so I'm at least in PR shape (1:12:20 at the Philly Marathon). BAA still doesn't have results up, but I'd guess I was top 20.

TLDR: Hard course, but fun.

Splits:

1: 5:11,

2: 5:40,

3: 5:38,

4: 5:20,

5: 5:39,

6: 5:31,

7: 5:39,

8: 5:32,

9: 5:35,

10: 5:42,

11: 5:57,

12: 5:43,

13: 5:44, (30 to finish)

Finish: 1:13:30

stone cutter - haha sounds like an eventful run. must've bgeen hilarious being on the other end of that sight! running wise, another impressive week.

pikachu - nice quality. quick long run too!

pewow - good luck next week!

netwerk errer - ouch! bad luck on the ankle. hope it doesn't hold you back too much this close to your race.

Well i would comment on my week but all i can say that it was pretty #@!^. Legs decided they didn't want to play along for the last part of the week, i feel a little better now but not quite 100%. Wednesdays session was done in absolutely dreadful conditions. gale force winds, driving rain, when i got home and found out there was a mini tornado 2 miles from where i was around the time i was out, it didn't surprise me!

Goal Race: Leeds Abbey Dash 10K (11/16)

Goal: No goal (yet)

M - 7 miles easy

T - 7 miles easy

W - 13 miles. 1-2-3-3-2-1k (200m after 1k, 400m after 2k, 600m after 3k) 3:32, 7:00, 10:28, 10:18, 6:48, 3:09

Th - 1 mile slow - soleus buggered.

F - rest day

Sa - rest day

Su - 4 miles. 7:4x’s

Monday: 9 at 8:10 pace. Pretty tired

Tuesday: 7 + strides, a bit sore but otherwise feeling good. Core later

Wednesday: 9.75 total with 2 x 15:00 with 3:00 in between, some surges thrown in. Was supposed to be 6:10 pace. First one was on, second was on for about seven minutes and then I started to fade to about 6:20 (so averaged 6:15). Either 6:10 was a bit too ambitious, or I'm a little worn down, or a little bit of both.

Thursday: Off to rest for race + sciatic nerve pain

Friday: 3 easy with strides, sciatic nerve pain

Saturday: WWU Classic, 11 with an XC 6K in 24:09

Sunday: 13, feeling tired

Total 53.

XC 6K: Honestly, going into this I wasn't sure if I'd be able to race. The mileage caught up with me early this week, Wednesday I didn't feel too great, and then Thursday and Friday I had crazy sciatic nerve pain. But my PT had me adjust my hip and it popped back into place and the pain went away immediately.

The weather was nice for the race itself, but beforehand it was downpouring, and then the men were first, so the course was very torn up and muddy in some places. I'm glad I wore spikes because I saw several people in flats go down in those muddy sections.

I was out slow (6:35) and got caught behind a bunch of other runners. I spent the rest of the race working my way up, which was tough because it was a narrow course. I felt strong throughout the whole thing, which is good, but am not a kicker, so I was not able to make up lost time even when things cleared out a little toward the end.

I ended up tying my time from last year down to the second. I'm OK with it, but I know I have more in me. I'm racing again next weekend.

@Stone cutter Ahah, been there

@netwerk error That sucks, at least you didn't get killed!

@Ghola Nice tough race, but it seems you kept it together despite the hills.

Week 2 of 16

Goal Race: Houston Marathon (Or USA Half Marathon champs)

Total miles - 103

Monday - 10 - 5 easy AM / 5 easy PM

Tuesday - 12 - 7.5 easy AM / 4.5 easy PM

Wednesday - 19 - 13 AM (3-3-2 tempo @ 5:30.6 pace) / 6 easy PM

Thursday - 14.5 - 7.5 easy AM / 7 easy PM

Friday - 16.5 - 5.5 AM / 6 noon / 5 PM (short story on the triple is I ran early cuz I thought I would have a busy day at work, and ended up getting asked to run with other people later in the day)

Saturday - 11 - 5k race in 17:11, then long cooldown. Wasn't psyched about the time but it's a minute faster than I ran at the same race last year and I was in 70:xx HM shape a month later so ...

Sunday - 20 easy.

Goal Race: Columbus Half-Marathon 10/19

M - 7/4

T - 11/3

W - AM: 4.2. PM: 5 x 12s Hill Sprints

R - AM: 2mi w/u. 5.3 in 27:10 (5:08 avg). 3mi c/d. PM: 4

F - 7/5

S - 8.5/4

S - AM: 13 x ~200m Hills @ 32.8 avg.

Total: 85+

Decent week, only 7 days to go to the goal race! Felt fast for the first time in a while on the Wednesday Hill Sprints. Different workout on Thursday than I had planned originally but it ended up going well. Original plan was 2x2mi + 4x60s Hill but I came through slow on the first two mile rep so I decided to extended the tempo, eventually to 5 miles since my splits were a lot slower than I wanted. GPS was showing 5:30 pace even though the effort was what felt like HM pace. Mapped out the route and instead of 5 miles it was 5.3! Not quite as disappointed afterwards haha. Hills felt good this AM, 28.7 last one. Not sure exactly what I'm going to do this week before the race but I'm feeling fit and ready to go. I hope everyone else has a great week!

Pikachu - Some good stuff in there! I love the sound of 15.5mi "just kind of floating along" at 6:17/mi. Nice.

pewow - 2x2mi ~5:50/mi with 2:00 rest? Unless you will be racing on the sloppiest XC course in human history next week, 30:00 should be going down big time.

Netwerk Errer - Glad to hear you are safe, man! That could have been REALLY serious given the circumstances. You have that 30K simulator in the bag already - take as many rest days as you need and let that ankle heal. You'll still be plenty ready to go on race day.

Slartzio - Working back nicely.

Ghola - Results are finally up (I was checking all morning to see how you did, haha). Top 25 overall, man, way to go!

Matthias - Ah, the soleus is usually what gets me, too! Try stretching/rolling out your piriformis on that weak side - my massage therapist says my chronically tight piriformis "manifests" in my soleus until we get it loose again and keep it loose. Doing some mild glute strengthening exercises help, too.

xenonscreams - For not having great expectations the day before, I would say you managed pretty well for the XC race. No doubt you'll see progress next time.

TheGarbageDisposal - I know I usually race the day after a triple (insert sarcastic head slap here). All kidding aside, you really seem to know your body/fitness based off training, so I won't question your craziness as much as I question others. :)

Forcerunner - Super excited to see your HM debut next week! Calm your nerves, try not to go out too hard the first 3mi and you'll do great. As far as the taper week, everyone's different, but I usually go with 2x1mi HM pace with full recovery (5:00-10:00 jog) on Tuesday, 2x.5mi HM pace with full recovery (3:00-5:00 jog) on Thursday and 30 minute shakeout with strides on Saturday. A steady dose of quality throughout the week, making me itch to let loose come race day.

Had almost all my comments finished then my iPad refreshed the page. I will comment later or tomorrow when more people post.

A Goal: USA 50 mile road champs 10/25

B Goal: tunnel hill 100 mile 11/15

Mon: 6 + 5 (11)

Tues: 6

Wed: 10 + 6.25 (16.25)

Thurs: 12.25(fartlek) + 6.25 (18.5)

Fri: 8.25 + 4 (12.25)

Sat: 9

Sun: 30.5 (30@GP)

Total: 103.5

Very very slow running most of the week. Lots of 9+ minute miles.

Thursday was impromptu. I didn't want to do anything too structured. So I would not try and push pace or have to hit certain mileage. 30 min slow, 30 min with 1/1min @ 658/615. 5 min jog. 20 min with 30/30 sec @ 640/542.

Sunday last long run/workout/GP/etc. Honestly thought I was going to do horrible. Legs never felt goodie even decent. Had company from start to 10 and again from 16.5 to 24.5. Very thankful for good friends! 30 in 3:26:37 (6:53 avg) as a slight progession.

Stone: Funny stuff. I bet that was a sight.

Goal Race: Indy Monumental Marathon (11/1) - 1st full.

Goals: Enjoy the training & the Race.

Time Goal: TBD w/LR advice.

Week 15/18 - let the taper begin.

Next Race: Maybe a 10k as part of our track club series next week, if the weather looks good for it.

M: OFF

T: 10.25 @ 8:06

W: 10.07 @ 8:29

T: 7.12 @ 8:21

F: OFF

S: 22.0 (12 easy (~8:55) 10 @ 7:35*)

S: 5.71 @ 7:51

Recap in case you missed it: ran 16 last Saturday, jumped in the car and drove to Disney World. Ran 7.75 Sunday, was dead beat tired, and then did the parks Sunday - Thursday. Slept bad, ate worse, and fought Florida humidity, which is a lot like TN humidity! Drove home Friday 12 hours (longer to pick up our other child). I pushed the 5 year old in the stroller all week around the parks as well, which is no picnic.

Saturday Long Run: 1,646' of elevation climb according to Garmin. There was a 10 mile race, point to point. I ran from the finish to the start and a couple of miles around the start easy, then was trying to run 7:27 average during the "race." I averaged 7:25 for the first 9 miles. The last mile had 150' of climb in the 1st half mile, then a little drop, and then climb again. It was terrible. Most everybody walked at least some of it. 65 degrees and 65 degree dew point at the beginning of my run. 2 miles of rain around miles 3-4. Finished 5th overall, 1st Masters Male.

Today: Was tired and sore for 1st mile. Was shocked when I saw my average pace.

Best mileage week, longest run, decent MP effort on a hard course. Feeling good going into the taper.

I have a question now: what should I target to run in the marathon? I've averaged 43 mpw over the last 15 weeks, ran a 19:49 - 5k on 7/26 in good weather on a flat course, ran a 42:10 - 10k on 9/6 in hot/humid weather on a fair course (not too flat, not too hilly); 1:34:20 on a moderately hilly 1/2 marathon course; which I lost about 1:00+ because I had to backtrack due to a missed turn; did 2 - 16 milers, 17, 18, 19, 20, & 22 mile long runs. I did quite a bit of 8 mile tempo work in the first 8 weeks (usually about 5-6 miles at 6:45 on a treadmill). No real speed work except racing: 5k - 19:49, 2 mile in 12:11, and the 10k in 42:10.

Assuming I get good weather do I have a shot at 3:15 on a flat Indy course? Or should I try to run 3:20 or 3:25? I plan to go with a pace group to try to avoid blasting the first mile or two, so I want to at least start with an even 5 minute goal pace. I welcome constructive input!!!!

Netwerk Errer: I hope that heals up for you and you're able to get back to the training soon. That's scary. I run in the dark a lot and I'm always afraid that I'm going to get hit. Fortunately, I usually run in either neighborhoods (very few cars) or along major highways with good bike lanes or multi-purpose paths (asphalt sidewalk) so I usually have somewhere to go if somebody doesn't move or doesn't notice me.

NP1112 - The refresh has gotten me a couple times in the past - very frustrating. I now type everything in a word doc first, then cut and paste. Looks like you did a lot of grinding this week - yet another skill-set you will need for the 50/100mi races. And you're right, you can't put a price on good friends!

Distance Fan - I was in a very similar boat as you mileage-wise and fitness-wise when I ran my first "real" marathon (my actual first marathon was done on next to no training over 16 weeks after a 10 year break from running!). I didn't know what to expect or how to pace it, so I ran with a pace group (3:10 pace group) as long as possible. I held on until 23mi, and even when I tied up, it wasn't too badly (finished in 3:12 and change).

I have more "natural" speed than you do (I was a 4:30s miler years ago), so I would think that 3:15 might be just a tad ambitious. But having said that, I would encourage you to go out with the 3:20 pace group, and no matter what DO NOT go ahead of them until at least 20mi. If you finish strong and feel like you had more in the tank, so be it - what a way to finish a first marathon! If, like most of us, you tie up and wonder if you are going to live to see the finish over the last 5K, than thank god you didn't go for that 3:15!

I say it's always good to try to make that first marathon as positive an experience as possible, that way you'll want to do another one.

And mad props for the week of training you just put in while on family vacation - very, very impressive work!

Goal Race - Half Marathon (October)

Goal Time - Sub 1:30 (B: Sub 1:33 - DONE)

Other Goals (2014 or early 2015) - Sub 20min 5k, Sub 40min 10k

Plan - Daniel's Half Marathon Plan (3rd Edition)

Mon - 6.5 miles - steady (7:32)

Tue - 3.5 miles - easy (8:14)

Wed - 7 miles - easy (8:17)

Thu - off (planned)

Fri - 8 miles - 3x(5min T + 1min jg) + 3x(3min H + 2min jg) + 3x(400m reps, w/ 400m jg) + warm/cool (T-pace 6:43) (H-pace 6:13) (Avg reps 86 secs)

Sat - 7 miles - easy inc. strides (8:00)

Sun - 13 miles - 45min E + 30min M + 20min T + cool (E-pace 8:17) (M-pace 7:10) (T-pace 6:44)

Total = 45 miles

Very pleased with how this week went. It was a busy week on the whole, and I struggled to fit the runs in at various points, so I'm pleased to hit my mileage target, and the two workouts.

Friday's workout made a nice change, as it's been a while since I've done any H-pace and R-pace running (in phase 4 of the plan, most of the quality sessions are a combination of E, M & T running). The T-pace element felt very comfortable, and the reps were all on target at 86 seconds per 400m. I was slightly down on the H-pace, target pace was 6:11 and I averaged 6:13, but I'm not overly worried about that.

The only annoying thing is that the nights are beginning to draw in around here, and I'm struggling to find many places to run workouts in the evenings. I need somewhere that...

a) is well lit enough to run safely

b) doesn't require me to stop to cross roads every few minutes

The road crossings are not much of an issue on easy runs, but it really annoys me if I have to stop in the middle of a quality session to cross a road. The only local track is full with block bookings every evening until 8:30 at the earliest.

We do have a shared cycle path around here, which is virtually an unbroken stretch of tarmac for 10 miles plus, and great for running in the daytime; but it's unlit and therefore pretty useless in the evenings this time of year. Also, most of the cyclists using the path seem to have a difficult enough time noticing runners in the light of day, let alone in the evening, and I don’t really fancy getting knocked over by some half-asleep idiot on a bike. This might sound a bit harsh, but I've had a couple of close calls already, which were entirely due to people just not paying attention, or coming round blind corners flat out on the wrong side of the path (it's signposted as pedestrians one side, cyclists the other - but literally 99% of cyclists just ignore that and ride on the left, which is great until they come across an unsuspecting walker/runner on a blind corner). Rant over.

Today's (Sunday's) workout was good. I was out celebrating my birthday last night, so felt a little bit rough today. Probably not the best preparation for today, but I struggled through nonetheless, and was still able to hit the target M & T paces. Felt good to pick up so strongly at the end. I'd actually been looking forward to this particular workout for quite a while, so I was happy with the way it played out.

Only two weeks until my main goal race now, so I think it's time to start a bit of a taper. It's nice to think that most of the real hard work is behind me. I'm really looking forward to it now!

On that note, what would fellow LetsRunners advise for tapering mileage for the last two weeks? Daniels doesn't really specify either way in his book. My mileage since July has averaged about 41 per week, and breaks down as follows:

Phase 1 - 35, 35, 35

Phase 2 - 41, 43, 43, 43

Phase 3 - 50, 33, 45, 45, 36, 41

Phase 4 - 48, 45

I have no experience of this before so I really don't know how much I should be scaling it back. If it's any help, the final week of the plan is largely done to time, and would have me covering around 25-26 miles, excluding Sunday's race. Any help would be appreciated!

Hope everyone else had good weeks!

Mon - 4 miles ez

Tues - 4 miles ez

Weds - 4 miles ez

Thurs - 4 miles ez

Fri - off (planned)

Sat - 3 miles ez

Sunday - Chicago marathon in 3:24:57

So. It's not sub 3 like I had planned. Not even close.

I was perfectly on track until 19 miles and feeling great, when disaster struck. Massive painful cramp in the back of the left thigh. It left me unable to do anything but hobble and walk the last 7 miles - I probably should have dropped out, but I was angry and wanted to at least finish the dang thing.

Still not sure if it was just a cramp or if it was actually a tear or a strain - it still hurts very much, so I will wait a day or two and see a doctor if it doesn't feel better by then.

I think I have traced the problem to being an electrolyte imbalance - I drank nearly 5 liters of water every day this week since I was worried about being dehydrated like I was last year, and I think I may have overcompensated slightly - by the end of the race my heart was pounding even though I was just walk/jogging, and I was very woozy and vomited as soon as I got out of the finishers area - I was very concerned that I was going to pass out!!!! I took 4 GUs before the cramp, and only water.

Any other ideas what could have happened??? It definitely wasn't pacing - my splits were perfect (6:49 for the first 3 5k legs, and then 6:54, 6:50, and 6:54 til the wheels fell off). Just looking for some feedback to try to make sure this doesn't happen to me again!!! Current plan is to focus on the 5k for the fall/winter, and then make a 3rd shot (ugh) at sub 3 next year.

Happy trails, all!

Lakerunner - I've only been hyponatremic once, but it sounds similar to my experience. Uncontrollable nausea, weakness everywhere, and as soon as I finished the race, I passed out. Terrible time too. The race was is the evening so I'd compulsively chugged water all day.

Goals: Sub 17 5k, win counties (team), win sectionals (team)

Monday: 0.9 warmup+11.2 mile long run @6:40 pace.

Tuesday: Felt awful, did a 1 mile warmup, then 4 slow

Wednesday: 1 mile warmup+8.2 miles @7:19, pretty easy run

Thursday: My coach does a 400 workout that is probably more similar to a fartlek. It is 400 at ~mile pace, then 4:00 minutes of moderate pace (more than half a mile) for 4 of the 400's, then 8 minutes between sets of 4. Total mileage of workout equaled 8+a 1 mile warmup. Split: 74, 75, 77, 75 then 78, 75, 76, 76.

Friday: 2 miles to yoga, 45 minutes of yoga, 2 miles back

Saturday: Same workout as thursday, except in the rain and mud. Split:76, 76, 77, 77 then 78, 76, 77, 77

Sunday: 11.3 mile long hilly trail run, perfect weather for a run, averaged around 6:40-6:55.

Good week overall, feel much fitter than last year and I am beating my old times by about 20-30 seconds. Feel confident going into championship xc season.