Road Racing and Training Thread Week Ending 08/05/2018

M58 -- 5'11" 162 lbs

Open PRs (1982) -- 16:04 5K, 2:40:30 marathon

Masters PRs (2003) --17:10 5K, 2:56:03 marathon

Last year (2017) -- 18:58, 3:07:23 marathon

This year (2018) -- 5:37.8 mile, 19:17 5K, 40:11 10K; 1:02:36 15K

Goal -- Defend M55-59 title in today's 15K

July 30 - Aug 5, 2018

Easy -- 4.0 miles @ 8:22/mi w/3 x 1-min @ 10K pace

Easy -- 12.4 miles @ 7:40/mi

Easy -- 4.0 miles @ 9:12/mi

Easy -- 7.7 miles @ 7:44/mi w/3 x 1-min @ 10K pace

Easy -- 4.0 miles @ 9:34/mi w/2 x 1-min @ 10K pace

Easy -- 4.0 miles @ 9:14/mi w/1 x 1-min @ 10K pace

Race -- 2-mi warmup; 15K @ 6:44/mi (1:02:35)

WEEK TOTAL: 39.7 MILES

Warm and humid for this morning's race. My light warmup left me drenched. So the plan was to start very conservatively, although an early downhill kept the first mile relatively quick at 6:28. After that I settled into a comfortable pace up a couple miles of gradual incline (6:45, 6:46).

I spotted only one potential geezer ahead of me, and he was gradually gaining ground. By 5K, he had a 24-second lead. For the next three miles I averaged 6:40-pace, and the gray-hair continued to increase his lead. My sixth mile was 6:38 as I approached the second relay exchange area (at 10K). Just after the relay mayhem, I saw him walking, and I thought, "ahh ... he must've run two legs of the relay."

What I didn't know was that he started running again immediately after I passed. I continued to run a relatively relaxed pace, with no one close enough ahead to chase down, and all seemingly quiet behind me. I figured if a potential rival came up on me, I would keep enough "in the tank" to respond.

The eighth mile included a substantial climb (7:01), then I coasted in with a 6:52 and 2:03 for the last 3/10ths. The gray-hair crossed the finish line 15 seconds later. But he was a mere youngster in the 50-54 group, so no worries.

My goal was to defend my M55-59 title from last year, and that was accomplished. Two minutes and 36 seconds slower, but I will take it.

Now I have be ready to run that same pace for three times as far next year for a sub-3 marathon!

Recap

Mile splits: 6:28, 6:45, 6:46, 6:40, 6:41, 6:39, 6:38. 7:01, 6:52, 2:03

4th Master; 1st M55-59; 14th overall (800+ runners); 78.59% AG

TDL: My 83.17% on the leader board expires tomorrow, so lets go with my 5K from a few weeks back -- 81.50% (5K...19:17)

Allen - very nice race.. congrats on keeping the age group award in your hands. Hope I am running half as well at your age. Looking forward to seeing the sub 3 progress over the next year or so.

Mon AM: 9 @ 7:21

PM: 4 @ 7:54

Tues: off

Weds: off

Thurs: 7 @ 7:20

Fri: 8 @ 7:40

Sat: 15 mins up, 6x200 w/200 jog (34, 34, 34, 34, 34, 30), 12 mins down

Sun: 6 @ 7:28

Total: 39 miles

Kind of gave up on this week with the move but I probably needed a down week anyway. Spent all day Thursday at a music festival and was wiped Friday, figured I would test out the nearby track on yesterday for the hell of it. Slept in today and didn't run until the afternoon when it was fairly warm out (not as bad as the weather I left behind, though). Back to training with a capital T tomorrow.

Atta boy Allen. Way to follow through on your goal for the last 8 (?) months. Really inspirational comeback and build over the last year. I'm guessing weather was way more miserable this year than last? So probably can't put too much stake in a couple minutes difference?

Bdubs wrote:

Gordon: That’s a good race, with decent splits. 1759 is around the corner. It’s probably there if you had some immediate competition

Thanks - I thought for sure one of the guys I caught along the way would at least put up some sort of effort to hang, but no luck. One guy even looked over his shoulder and stepped to the side to get out of my way???

Allen - mission accomplished!

Gordon Tremeshko wrote:

I'm guessing weather was way more miserable this year than last?

Yeah, weather was great all last summer. Cool and comfortable at the 15K a year ago. But steamy this morning. Also, no training at all October-January, then a slow build starting with three days a week on the elliptical. So, I'm trying to avoid any overly negative comparisons this year to last.

RRR-- Thanks so much for the comments. I expect you'll be running well for decades to come. Looking forward to seeing your continued progress, especially as the weather cools this autumn. You have the right attitude!

Next race for me is a 5K in three weeks. Although ... a few folks at the 15K were trying to talk me into a road mile later this week ...

Also, today I finally met Pretzel Man who occasionally posts here. First time I've talked in "real life" to a Road Racing and Training Thread poster!

Thanks, Smoove!

Congrats Allen! So good to see the hard work has paid off! You gonna take a few days? Planning any intermediate goals on the way to the sub-3?

We are at the beach now. The drive went well. Had enough left to go out for 5.5 before dinner. It was my first run at the beach since the summer of 2016 (other than the Shamrock Marathon). It is nice to be back. Pretty humid, though.

Allen - Nice work, my friend! As usual, you did a nice job of staying alert and managing your pace. You are a true road racer. Congrats on defending your title.

I need to go sit in the sand, and so here is my week...

M: 11.13 at 6:45 overall...humid, hilly...6:39, 6:29, 6:28, 6:36, 6:27, 6:18, 0:52 to finish

T: 10.5 at 6:39 overall...humid...6:31, 6:29, 6:29, 6:32, 6:29...felt good

W: 9.25 at 6:57 overall...kicked my can

T: 9.5 at 6:52 overall...hilly...6:36, 6:24, 3:14 to finish

F: 11.13 at 6:40 overall...rain...rolled nicely in last six...6:35, 6:35, 6:32, 6:23, 6:33, 6:18, 0:50 to finish...gradual 1.5 incline toward end

Sat.: 13.13 in 1:28:55 (6:46 overall)...6:38, 6:35, 6:23, 6:33, 6:24, 0:49...felt strong

Sun.: 5.5 at 6:40 overall...cruised along the path on Rte. 12...humid...7:13, 6:41, 6:32, 6:32, 6:29, 3:13

70 miles

Happy running!

Forgot to say...my brother-in-law brought a case of some high-end local microbrew. You guys would love it. Thinking of having one when I get back from the sand...

Pretty happy with the week. Week 1 of 25 for Houston in the bag. The highlight was Saturday's long run. It felt great to just cruise for a longer effort.

S - Off

M - 12 in 7:06 avg

T - 12 with 4 miles in 5:57, 5:48, 5:52, 5:58 + 4 strides

W - 4 in 7:25 avg

Th - 12 with 8 x 300m levee sprints (~120m hill + 180m flat)

F - 10 in 8:02 avg

S - 16 in 6:22 avg with 9 in 5:58 avg

Oops, hit submit too soon.

Total: 66 miles

Planning to ramp back up from here fairly quickly. I'll be in Oklahoma part of this week for business, and it might lend itself to some big training days.

Coach Jeff ROC wrote:

Congrats Allen! So good to see the hard work has paid off! You gonna take a few days? Planning any intermediate goals on the way to the sub-3?

Probably will take tomorrow off. Achilles pain. Training volume (lack thereof) has, I think, always been a limiting factor for me. So maybe drop the workouts, and increase mileage. Easy runs. Progressions. Strides. Strength training.

Either that or get back to the workouts for now and keep racing through the fall, then focus on mileage during the winter. Thoughts?

Darn achilles is painful and throbbing as I ponder this ... knees good, though, and they were painful for nearly a year!

Male 50 5'8" 133lbs

PRs

Marathon 3:02:58 May 2018

HM 1:33:14 November 2017

10mi. 1:06:45 March 2018

5k 19:00 June 2018

Goal Sub 3 Marathon, CIM Dec. 2

Next Race

20k - Aug. 19 Goal TBD

Mon. 8mi Easy 8:18 avg

Tues. 10.1mi Easy 8:11 avg

Wed. 7mi Easy 8:31 avg

Thurs. 7.1mi Easy 8:17 avg

Fri. Off planned

Sat. 15.6mi 8:02 avg

Sun. Off - planned to work on core but didn't.

Total 48mi running

Still working at bringing the up volume with just easy running before starting my build up for the next marathon. Not bad considering I ended running for 5 days rather than my usual 6 days. I'm thinking that this week I'm going to try to shift my week day runs to the AM rather than the usual PM run due to the forecast heat. I just need to make the effort to get to bed sooner and wake up earlier.

Looks like I got some reading to do before making some comments. I am a bit behind on the thread.

Male, 31, 153lbs, Twin Cities Marathon Oct 7th, goal: sub 2:19

Solid week for me. Workouts were knock out, but a little mishap last night cost me my goal weekly mileage.

M: Long Run-16 Miles, 1:36:10, miles 3 to 14 between 5:50-5:26, first two and last two warm up and cool down

T: AM Easy 10, 1:07:38 with some 100m strides on the end, PM Easy 4

W: WU+2K@Threshold, 3x1200m@VO2, 3x1000@VO2, 3x600@Anaerobic, 9x200@Anaerobic+CD

Splits:

2K, 6:09, 1:53 rest

3x1200 w/2:20 rest: 3:27,3:28,3:28

3x1000 w/1:50 rest: 2:48,2:50,2:50

3x600 w/1:40 rest: 1:39,1:40,1:40

14min jog

9x200m w/200m jog: 30,31,30,31,30,31,30,30,29

Just a lot of work and a long time to be on the track, but felt really good rolling those 200s at the end. Threshold is feeling good. The 1200s and early 1000s felt fast but smooth. The final 1000 and the 600s were a struggle. Would roll through the first 400 of the 600 in 65-66, finish with a 1:40, which means I was falling off hard at the end. The 200s were an addition, was taking a buddy through the first 200 of his 400 reps. Thought I'd get some real turnover going.

T: Easy 12, 1:30:49

F: Easy 12, 1:28:30

S: WU+5x1.5Mile w/3min Recovery+CD

Splits: 7:24,7:01,7:18,7:26,7:01

Reps 1,3,4 were threshold effort, with reps 2 and 5 simulating in race surges. Was very pleased with how I recovered from the 4:40 pace rep on number 2, dropping back to 4:55s felt almost slow after the quick one before it. Lot of work this week, but it will pay off later.

S: Off, Smashed my left foot into an uneven sidewalk walking downtown last night. Was wearing sandals so my second two the toenail is completely black, probably gonna lose it. Big toe is bruised and tender, but I don't believe its broken. Walked to and from work today, about 3 miles total, some discomfort, but I think I'll be good to go tomorrow for an easy run.

WeekTotal: 83 Miles

Updated to reflect a Sunday double.

angryjohnny wrote:

M38.

Upcoming: Chicago, Houston Half, London.

Recent: 16:40 5k, 2:41 Boston

Goal: sub 240

M: 8 x 1k - 3:21, 3:22, 3:21, 3:23, 3:25, 3:28, 3:28, 2:51/36 (800/200). 10 total.

T: 10 easy

W: 10 easy

Th: 2 x 3 Miles at T. Averaged 6:00 and 6:03. 10 total.

F: 10.2 easy

S: 14 easy

S: AM 15.8 w 3, 2, 1 at T (5:53, 5:54, 6:00 — 5:55, 5:54 — 5:55) PM 10 easy

90 miles total

Solid week. The heat and humidity returned.

As you can see from the splits Monday was rough. I ended up waving the white flag a mere 200 meters short. Just didn’t have anything left and didn’t want to push it. Calves were totally blown and remained sore until Friday.

Thursday was a good solo effort. 6:00 minute pace is about all I can muster in the summer for a road tempo.

Today was better. Had some company which always helps, and was able to do a little better than 6:00 during the pickups.

Nice double!

Gordon - 18:17 in tough conditions with no taper confirms my belief that you are going to shatter 3 hours

Allen - great report and congrats on hitting your goal

RunGuy - congrats on the win.

Bird - monster workouts and nice volume on just 6 days. Hope the foot is okay.

Smoove - Long M runs are always rough in this weather, so I don’t even attempt them until it cools off. Kudos to you for giving it a go.

AJ - you are a bad a$$ mofo and are going to crush smoove in Chicago and RRR in Houston.

Bdubs - I like the idea of young masters race. Let’s do it. Hope you don’t mind a little smack talk though.

OR - thanks OR. Good week yourself. Hope you’ll spend some time with Daniels Running Formula while lounging on the beach.

JB - welcome back.

Coach - u da man.