Road Racing and Training Thread - Week Ending 2/10/19

Shoutouts:

outsiderunner - thanks for starting the threat - glad the long run went well and congrats on the new mileage PR. I sense from the other thread that you're not that happy with the 5K, but I would note that one can't glean that much from a 5K race during a high mileage week in the midst of marathon training.

The Stone Cutter - very nice balance to the week.

Gordon Tremesko - that's quite a week of balancing training with travel and weather.

Coach Jeff - 100 miles is quite a week. Smoove gives good advice, BTW.

Smoove - no surgery is good news.

Pappy - I think elliptical should count for double miles, due to the mental demands of training on one.

LancRunner - Good luck with the kids. Sorry about the data center issues - IT can be a hard job.

Tall Dark Roast - I do not handle travel well either. Plane flights always seem to drain me (train travel much less so). And I find the social demands of business travel (i.e. work dinners, etc) to be exhausting.

HHH Runner - Congrats on a good race so early in your cycle.

Sub-6:00 - I agree with your instincts - the time for heroism is in the latter part of your races, not during workouts, IMHO.

jot quill - good news on the achilles holding up

James Corden Pregnancy Pact - we had solid wind here in DC also on Saturday. Some good turn-over work in your week.

RunninReed - shoveling is hard work. I'm surprised they let you shovel the track. Here, we're supposed to clear it with a broom, on the theory that a shovel damages the surface.

pewow - some irony to not making it to the Nordic Ski race due to winter weather....

PutoMiudo - racing on sand couldn't have been fun at all.

And...from last week - congrats to runrincerepeat on a great 8K performance!

M - 60, 5' 9.5" 140

Upcoming goal races - USATF 8K and World Masters 8K XC and half marathon next month

Got a good week following the travel and race last week

71 miles in 9 workouts. Workouts included some so-so threshold reps on Wednesday (3X 1 to 1.1 mile at 6:22-25 pace (muddy course), and some pickups; yesterday had best workout in months with 7X 800 in 2:56 average (1 min recovery) and 3X 300--elevation 5500', I'll take it at my age; and 16.2 mile long run today (kind of cold out, 20 F, for the first hour or so).

ooh thats nice! I thought my half was still my strongest PR!

M25, 5'9", 149lbs

34:19, 1:15:22, 2:50:23

Goal: Rotterdam

My week:

M- 45 min easy

T- 80min easy w/ strides (ended up with only 72 min as I had a meeting) / 25 min jog

W- 45 min easy

T- 50 min w/ strides / 25 min jog

F- 120min w/ strides and 6x1km CV reps / missed a 25 min jog I was supposed to do at night

S- 45 min easy

S- 130min easy / 25 min jog (planned)

Total: 72mi

Legs were really heavy until wednesday or friday from sunday's 10k. The workout on Friday was very hard as we recalculated the paces for my intervals and the CV reps are now over 20s/mile faster, and it was also super windy.

Long run on Sunday went well, roughly 7:15 pace for a total of 18mi with no gels/water and still feeling good.

It's been a long, long time since I've posted anything here, but I love to see this thread still active and alive. Up until two (or more - yeah, probably more like 4-5?) years ago I was a true devotee to the thread, both posting and commenting. Met up with several thread members in Boston one year. Made a local running friend who happened to live near enough that we've done a bit of training together over the last several years. Of course neither of us as running quite the same now. I certainly remember Stonecutter from when I was here before. Recognize a couple of the other handles as well I believe.

Never stopped running and training, but the last couple of years had been less serious. I'm getting back to it a bit, so maybe this thread can help be one more spark to propel me forward.

Age: Too close to a number that starts with 5

Goal: Marathon in May to get back to Boston for 2020

PR's: Antiques at this point

2018 Recap: 0 races. About 40 miles and 6 days running/wk. Little quality. Long runs most weeks in the 10-12 mile range with the occasional 13.xx

Current week: Week 3 - Pfitz 18 week, up to 55 mile plan.

Mon - off

Tues - 7.5 Easy at about 7:50's. 6x100 on the track near the end.

Wed - 5 Even easier 7:5x?

Thurs - 5.75 am / 4.25 pm - Supposed to be 10 single, but schedule dictated split. Both 7:5x's

Fri - Off

Sat - 4+ Stupidly cold and windy. More 7:5x's

Sun - 15 Controlled, but ran well. 7:29 avg with a 7:15,7:16, 7:40 (big hill) and 7:07 from 11-14

Total 42ish miles

The 100's on the track were a total shock to the system. I probably ran them a bit too hard, and I felt the soreness until I had my off day Friday. Obviously I need more of them to strengthen my legs, I just need to ease into them a bit more. It's been cold and windy here in the Northeast all week and I was intentionally taking it fairly easy during the week. I'm glad I did, because it allowed for Sunday's run. Went and looked afterwords. The last time I ran anything in the 15's was Sept 10 ... of 2017.

It's going to be a long road, but it does feel good to actually be heading towards a destination.

Goal Race: Bayshore Marathon (going for sub 2:30)

Next Race: Atlanta Marathon

Got sick this week so it was a tough week to work with.

M-17

Tue-9

Wed-14

Thur-10

Fri-15

Sat-3 up, 8 mile tempo @5:38 avg, 2 down

Sun-10

Total:88 miles

darkwave wrote:

PutoMiudo - racing on sand couldn't have been fun at all.

The amount of sand I dropped from my shoes at the end of the race was too damn high...

41M, 5'10, 145ish

Current Goal: Improve aerobic base following Hadd's Phase 1.

Upcoming Races: Revel Las Vegas Mt Charleston Marathon- April 27. Deadwood-Mickelson (Half or Full) - June 2.

MaxHR - 196, RHR - 44

I ran the entire week on the treadmill. Coldest week of the year. Brutal windchills and slippery paths. No thanks! For pace and distance I use a calibrated foot pod. I have my Garmin set to use the footpod for pace and distance outside as well.

Mon - 80 min - 10.45 miles @ 7:39 (140 bpm)

Tues - 80 min - 10.26 miles @ 7:44 (142 bpm)

Wed - 10 min warm up + 60 min sub 88% MaxHR. Definitely experienced some pace to HR drift that was farther than i would have liked. Interestingly enough, each time I started to exceed 88%, I felt like CRAP and felt much better shortly after slowing down. I could feel a pretty sharp difference between sustained 172 bpm and sustained 173 bpm (or maybe it's in my head???) Here is the progression of splits around that HR: 6:30 (168), 6:29 (168), 6:27 (172), 6:35 (171), 6:40 (171), 6:39 (170), 6:39 (171), 6:38 (172).

Thu - 80 min - 10.49 miles @ 7:37 (137 bpm)

Fri - 80 min - 10.69 miles @ 7:29 (143 bpm)

Sat - 150 min - 20.30 miles @ 7:23 (149 bpm)

Sun - 60 min - 9.29 miles @ 6:28 (165 bpm)

On Saturday I practiced Marathon Fueling with coffee and donut before, Vanilla Bean Gu + water at 1:00 / 1:45 and gatorade plus water randomly.

Very little slow down on Sunday compared to Wednesday to stay under 88% MaxHR.

Total Distance - 81.8 Miles

I have a pretty crazy travel week coming up so am looking at a step back week in terms of running volume, but maybe that will benefit me.

Thanks for the well wishes, everyone. Y'all are the caffeine in my Monday morning coffee!

OR: Thanks for getting us started. Seems like you're becoming more comfortable with racing and more comfortable with accepting the race results for that ephemeral moment in time that they true are... and then moving on. I think that bodes well!

Gordon: Good would with solid improvisations!

Smoove: We've missed your voice here. I'm glad to see you're on the non-surgical road back. You know, following how an experienced runner and coach comes back from injury and layoff is a valuable thing for readers of the thread; without being melodramatic, those kinds of stories give people the confidence to manage injuries and mount comebacks of their own. And I appreciate the cautionary words about my week as well.

Pappy: That adaptive motion trainer thing sounds good. You said "no stress" on the knees; can it be adapted to "some stress"? If the goal is to get the knees strengthened, eventually you have to find something between "no stress" and "running stress." I'm glad to hear you're still planning on breaking that 20.

LancRunner: I really admire you guys that get runs in despite travel etc. Have fun at costco.

TDR: Ha! I wrote that previous comment to LancRunner before reading your vacation experiences. No disrespect intended!

HHH Runner: Best of luck in the Nationals!

Sub 6:00: Dang those 1000s are quick in my eyes. Dang.

jot quill: Spectacular week! Glad the achilles was a false alarm.

JCPP2020: Wind is a serious factor so don't get too down about a few off reps. You're good.

RunninReed: Near the end of last week's thread, I asked if you were on the Palouse... you said something about Pullman? Are you in eastern Washington? Seattle?

pewow: Another all-around week for me to envy.

PutoMiudo: Looks like a great week. Enjoy the foam rolling and good luck getting the sand out of your shoes!

Back to work day for me...

Hey everybody!

M, 43, 5'8, 130s

Old PRs (from my 20s): 16:30s/34:20s/2:44

Goals: Have fun, get fit, get back into racing.

Upcoming: Local eight-miler in early April, local cross-country series in the spring and summer.

M 51 Robert’s Hill trails easy through the slush.

T 1:17 with 4 x park loop running 1k steady/1k strong into 2k steady, plus 6 x hill strides at the end. Didn’t have great pop on the strong ks but kept the steady ones solid.

W 37 very easy. Feeling a little run down so took a recovery day.

Th 1:40 with 8 x park loop steady (about 16k steady total). Legs felt pretty strong and the usual sequence of fatigue seemed to be coming about a lap later than the previous times out.

F 34 very easy. Caught a little short of time.

Sat 1:04 with Tent & Awning plus park loop fartlek (180 steps quick/180 steps easy, about 7k fartlek total), plus 7 x hill strides coming back. Cold, windy. A little out of synch on the quick part, just getting ahead of myself a little, but kept the easy part solid.

Sun 1:02 with 2 x 3/4 mile hill climb steady/back down easy, then one more 1/4 mile hill pretty strong coming back. Finishing the longer hills at a fence made out of old bike wheels. Felt decently strong climbing. (7:05)

7:05 for the week, after what ended up being a little under eight hours last week (still no watch). OK week, need to work on getting a little better rhythm on the quicker stuff, and a little more volume on the easy days. Next couple weeks look they may be a little catch-as-catch-can.

Have a great week!

Costco was great. They had some tart cherry juice so I bought into the hype and bought some. Isn’t it supposed to make you stronger better faster and recover quicker? Lol. It tastes good at least.

LancRunner wrote:

Costco was great. They had some tart cherry juice so I bought into the hype and bought some. Isn’t it supposed to make you stronger better faster and recover quicker? Lol. It tastes good at least.

I like it, too. It tastes good.

Masters runner

Indoor & short(ish) roads

This past week

- 85 miles, 10 HR, 49 minutes, 3048+ feet ascent

- 7 days running, including 4 doubles (11 total runs)

- longest run 79:16 (10 miles)

- 2 track sessions:

1) 6 x 1k @ graduated pace with 2 seconds rest, 6 minutes easy, 4 x 200 with 1:40 rest between (3:18, 3:19. 3:16, 3:15, 3:13, 3:10, 32, 32, 32, 33)

2) 6 x 400 @ 73- 74 (1:00 rest between), 4 minutes easy jog, 4 x 200 mile tempo @ 33, (50 sec rest between)

first indoor race (s)

- mile 4:56

- 5k 17:13

- 3k 10:03

Overall, I had a good track session early in the week and another light track session gearing up for this weekend opener. Race day: The mile was my main objective of the day. All in all, the mile was a really rough race, as I was hoping for something closer to 4:50. I have some RE work to do in the next 6 weeks. I jogged 10ish minutes between races and didn't need much to warm up for the other events. Both the 5k and 3k were solid - not all out efforts, faster miles close to race effort. I would call both tempo+, but ran even and controlled in both. Positive was six quality miles for the day, but a ways to go.

This was the 4th 80+ mile week in 2019.

2019 volume:

week 1- 80.3

week 2- 31.5

week 3 -37

week 4- 80.7

week 5- 83.5

week 6 - 85

Everyone, have a healthy week ahead of training & racing. Boston 9 weeks away for some?

SC - Nice week, especially like the alternations.

GT - Love those Pittsburgh hills. I have family in the area and can always get in a brutal hill workout, although it’s hard to find a good route for easy days.

Jeff - Daaaang did not see that coming. My highest volume week ever (130?) was a spring break week where I stuck around campus; sometimes with added free time it just happens. And Spotify is queueing up the right stuff.

Smoove - Hope the cortisone shot helps the PF. It did for me once way back in the day. Looking forward to you rolling again.

Pappy - Never thought about “feeling like Frankenstein”, but I know the feeling. Steady progress.

LancRunner - Good week with all the weather and travel.

TDR - Travel is definitely a stressor, and I always have issues. The best plan for me is usually to slightly overtrain going into it so that I don’t have anything more than recovery on the calendar (and can usually do some sightseeing that way too).

HHH - Sounds like some tough, “real” cross country. Good job slogging through the LR.

JQ - That is A LOT of volume along with some decent quality. Stay healthy and you’ll reach your goals. 100 will definitely feel easier after spending some time at 120.

JCPP - No worries about being slightly off in the 600s. It happens. Neat that you made it to the BU meet.

Reed - That shoveling has to have some conversion factor.

OR - Congrats on the mileage PR. That’s a pretty good long run for the day after a race.

Pewow - Any racing plans for after the thaw?

PM - You’re bringing back memories of the stampedes from XC race starts. I don’t miss that!

Darkwave - Solid week. Any drills you prefer? I’m looking at incorporating some more on my Sunday recovery days.

Coyote - “I’ll take it at my age.” I’ve always really admired older runners that keep rolling like you do (and I never use that kind of language). I’m grateful to be able to be going at 34, and look towards y’all as inspiration for the future.

DietBacon - That’s certainly an increase in the CV pace! Basically 10k pace?

VF - I think I vaguely remember your handle (but who knows). Used to post on some antecedent to this thread in like 2007, before jumping back on last spring. Welcome back. It’s helped keep me consistent.

Puddles - Excellent for a sick week. Like that 8 mile tempo, and I think your goals may be conservative.

BHViking - Awesome getting through 80+ on the treadmill. I usually have to balance a mix of “sick of the cold/heat” with “sick of the treadmill”, which results in mornings outside and afternoons on the machine.

GFMAH - Like the goals, and neat that you have a XC series in spring/summer.

Urban Diesel - Breaking 5 isn’t bad. Haven’t done that in 10 years. And that’s a lot of track racing in a single day! Did that once over 2 days, with the 1600 (DMR) and 5k on Friday night and 3k Saturday afternoon. And I think Boston is 9 weeks.

VF Runner wrote:

It's been a long, long time since I've posted anything here, but I love to see this thread still active and alive. Up until two (or more - yeah, probably more like 4-5?) years ago I was a true devotee to the thread, both posting and commenting.

A hearty, hearty welcome back. Glad to see you are still at it. Looking forward to your build toward future races and future goals.

Male, 27, 161 lbs, father to two, grad student

Goals (still):

sub 40 10k

sub 19:30 5k

sub 4:55/5:15 1500/mile

Monday: Off. Daughter’s birthday

Tuesday: 5 miles @ ~9:28 avg on my treadmill.

Wednesday: Off. The snow cancelled class and it was icy outside. I don’t do anything faster than tempo pace on the treadmill anymore.

Thursday: 8 x 440 yd w/ 440 jog rest on the gym’s indoor track. Went 1:28.0, 1:29.4, 1:28.2, 1:30.0, 1:30.0, 1:30.7, 1:28.9, 1:26.8; 1:29 average. About 2:21 rests. With warm up and cool down, 9 for the day. Lifted for about 45 minutes afterward; squats, bench, military press, etc.

Friday: 5 miles @ ~9:47 avg. on my treadmill

Saturday: 5k was snowed out so I tried out an NAZ Elite workout I saw on Instagram awhile back: 4 miles at half marathon pace, 60 sec rest, 1 mile all out. That was the goal anyway. I ended up doing 2 x 2 mile @ HM pace (7:13) w/ 2 minutes rest, 2 minute rest, 1 mile all out. I went 7:13.3/7:11.9, rest, 7:13.8/7:12.6, rest, 6:29.5. Disappointed I couldn’t do the straight 4 miles, but I was also really tired going into it. So I’m not too beat up about it. With warm up and cool down, 9 for the day

Sunday: 7 miles @ 9:30 avg on my treadmill. Snowy and icy outside and tired from yesterday.

Total: 35

Decent week. Just grinding away on my treadmill in the snowy and icy Washington winter. Building my long run back up slowly. Shooting for 50 next week with a 10 mile long run.

Stone Cutter: Great week! I like those workouts.

Gordon: Very nice week. Only advice is more vitamin C.

Lanc: Good week! Can't wait to see you break 17

TDR: Nice week! Looking forward to your new cycle.

HHH Runner: Smart racing! Good Luck at Nationals

Sub 6:00: Very nice! Impressive week and workouts.

jot quill: WOW! congrats on the mileage.

JAMES CORDEN : No reason to be disappointed. Those are great reps this time of year with the goal 3 months out.

RunninReed: Great week!!! That tempo sure does look good. I've put shoveling in for a workout a couple times this year.

OR: Good week! Don't forget you are a marathoner. These 5k's are a bonus and just stepping stones towards Boston. If you were a track guy you'd know Juan is right around a 1/2 second a lap ahead. That's easy to make up.

pewow: Good week! sorry, you missed the race. Your reports on them sound exciting.

PutoMiudo: Good week! Great job racing.

Coyote Montane: Always impressive!

DietBacon: Nice week! Congrats again on the 10k. Be careful altering workout paces right after a PR.

VF Runner: Welcome or glad you're back. Looking forward to following your training.

Puddles: Very Nice!

BHViking: Very nice!

GFMH: Great week!

Urban Diesel: Great week! Good job racing. I never could figure out the mile. Of all races I have always felt it was the hardest mentally.

darkwave: Decent work? Bah, Very impressive!

Coach Jeff: 100.3Wow!!! don't be afraid to sneak in a nap if time allows. Best way to recover. Congrats on the week! Looks like some great racing in the future.

As for the elliptical/AMT machines. First I always enjoyed runs where I could run on the fast side of easy or even close to threshold. I could get into a zone and it would seem very therapeutic to me. Went for 75 minutes today on the AMT at 142-145 bpm and was tempted to go for 2 hours but lifted and shot hoops instead. I'm sure the ellipticals put a little stress on my knees but not much. I've been really focusing on working the posterior chain to keep the knees from loading much. Anyways, some people may not like these machines but they are my only option at the moment and I can get into that zone on them.

My knees are still like glass. Will they need stressed more? For sure. just not now. I was wincing going up and down stairs the day after the mile treadmill run. I'll probably refrain from trying again for a few weeks.

Coach Jeff ROC:

I'm sorry I missed that comment last week. I live in Seattle, but I was in Pullman for a meet last weekend.

One more congrats on the century!

Goal race: Grandma's Marathon

S - 12 (6:55 avg)

M - 6

T - 12 w/ 8 @ 6:08 avg

W - 12 + weights (squat, deadlift, bench, pullups)

Th - 12

F - Off

S - 6

Total: 60 miles

I ran the local RnR marathon yesterday (Sunday) with the goal of using it as a supported quality long run and hitting roughly 6:00. I averaged ~5:55 for most of the first half, and after the courses split at 12.5, I saw that 1st was only about a minute up. I was dumb and got competitive and went after him. 13-19 were around 5:45 avg and I narrowed the gap to 10-15s before he caught sight of me. He put on a surge and by mile 20 had widened the gap to 22s. I realized it would take full race effort to try to beat him, and honestly I doubt I could have if I'd wanted. I'm not in the same shape I was 3 weeks ago. I haven't looked at splits yet, but I think I averaged around 6:30 from there to the finish. I finished in 2:37:23. 1st place ran strong to nearly break 2:33.

The race allowed the "elite" runners (deserving of quotes as I was the only one of the elite entries to show) to bring 2 water bottles for the course. Had to try it out and enjoyed having my own fluids for at least part of the race. Though maybe 12 oz was a bit much for the mile 17 bottle.... a little heavy for tired arms.

Vaporflys felt nice. The legs are beat but not nearly as bad as they could have been. I'll take the rest of this week as recovery and see if I can get in a quality session on Saturday or Sunday.

The hip has improved all week with proper stretching and it wasn't bothered by the race at all. Hamstring has continued to be 100%.

Ritz won the HM in 61:28, edging out Emmanuel Bett. Looks to be rounding into pretty good shape for Boston.