(Road Racing and) Time Trialing and Training Thread - Week Ending 11/22/2020

I’m more into freebasing nuun tablets.

As always, I appreciate all the support. I’ll try my best not to disappoint.

hhw - Bang it out, my friend. Regarding clothing, I would go with full tights in those conditions, especially with no sunlight. I have worn full tights in marathons and have been fine—and felt good. In fact, I think I run better in tights, and would wear them up to about 40 degrees.

In honor of you I ran after work today...in the pitch black, and a chilly wind. I figured if you can run at 2am, 7:00 or 8:00 at night should be a cinch...

Should be close to warming up etc. now. Get after it, HHW!

Hi folks. 2:53:09. Really proud of this run. I didn’t take the half split but it was something like 1:27/1:26 so very even. Overall not too painful or hard although my joints are definitely feeling the 190 pounds + lower volume + no 20 milers. Race report below:

While my times over other distances this year have been objectively better this was definitely my most satisfying run of 2020. I remember signing up for the Boston HM back in August of 2019 and deciding that my lifetime goal was going to be to crack 3 hours in the marathon. I couldn’t be more pleased to check that off the list.

I knew coming into this it had the potential to be rough. I haven’t been running much volume and have been focusing on running a fast 5k. My longest run since February was 16 miles until today. With that said, I figured my recent 5k PR + a 14 miler with the last 10 in 58 minutes or so probably meant I could knock out a HM PR and if I could knock out a HM PR I could probably struggle through a comparably slower marathon.

I woke up at 12:30 AM, headed downstairs, ate a sandwich and drank a cup of coffee. I put on some half tights, a long sleeve shirt, some socks and gloves and grabbed my Alphaflys, keys and water bottles w/ Maurtens taped to them. I drove down to Arlington HS, parked my car slapped in some hand warmers and headed out into the night.

Miles 1-8:

I wanted to really easy into this and keep things really under control for the first 8 miles. Especially considering the first 4 were uphill and into a 10mph headwind. I felt pretty good out of the gate and was a bit surprised to see 6:58 flash on watch for the first mile. I tried to keep things even but as I warmed up the miles naturally came down a bit. 6:51/6:38/6:40 clicked by on my way up to Lexington and my first turn around. Coming back towards Arlington I just kind of zoned out and listened to some tunes. I was heading downhill with a tailwind now but didn’t want to overcook it so tried to dial it back a bit. 6:44/6:33/6:36/6:31 clicked by as I came back by the starting line and grabbed my first water bottle and Maurten. I downed about 3/4 of the bottle of Gatorade and slammed the Maurten before tossing them in a trash can heading through Arlington Center.

Miles 8-18:

The next 10 miles took me down the minuteman towards Alewife and then over and around Fresh Pond. The first 3 miles of this continue downhill before flattening off around Fresh Pond and then climbing back up to Arlington. I continued to feel pretty good during this section. I wanted to hit the HM at 1:29 or so but the pace was holding steady up so I just went with it. 6:36/6:38/6:34/6:33/6:33/6:33/6:26 around Fresh Pond and back to Alewife. I took the Maurten I had stuffed in my pocket and then continued 6:45/6:34/6:43 back uphill towards Arlington again. I passed my second water bottle and drank about half of it and pocketed the Maurten planning to take it at 19.5 miles or so.

Miles 19-Finish:

Around this time I stopped feeling fresh. My feet were starting to hurt and my legs were sore. I was feeling fine aerobically and my legs weren’t heavy but it was clear that this was longer than I had been on my feet in awhile. I focused on running even to the turnaround in Lexington and then trying to pick it up a bit. I knew at this point if I didn’t do anything stupid a sub-3 was in the bag. It was all about not getting greedy and avoiding leg cramping. Miles 19/20/21/22 were 6:35/6:46/6:26/6:29. That 6:46 scared me a bit so I picked it up. I hit the turnaround and knew it was downhill and with a tailwind. I had run this 4 miles almost every day for 12 months and was confident I had it in me. My right calf was starting to cramp a bit so I decided not to really try to gun it although everything else felt pretty good. I just focused on staying even and finish comfortably. The last 4 miles ticked by at 6:23/6:17/6:22/6:21 and the last .3 was 1:52. My calf was starting to act up a bit in the last .3 so I think I was prudent to keep it even.

Overall, really pleased. Although I am quite sore sitting here this didn’t feel that hard during the run itself. I didn’t see a single other person for the entirety of the run which was also a bit wild.

Now off to start the day... Ollie has to go to school and Simon needs to work on his crawling. Hopefully the Charlie horses stay under control.

HHW - I can’t think of anything more 2020 than this. An apropos way to cap off a great year of training for you. Congrats on checking that off the bucket list. Although I suspect something like a 20 minute PR whenever you decide to do the real thing.

I always loved running the Philly marathon the Sunday before Thanksgiving. You’ll get to discover why in two more days. Happy Thanksgiving.

highhoppingworm wrote:

Hi folks. 2:53:09. Really proud of this run. I didn’t take the half split but it was something like 1:27/1:26 so very even. Overall not too painful or hard although my joints are definitely feeling the 190 pounds + lower volume + no 20 milers..

*applause*

From now on when someone starts a “Help me break 3 hours...” thread I’m going to suggest they use a Daniels’ 5k plan ? MAGIC!

Way to go worm!!!!! ?

hhw- Congratulations on becoming a member of the sub-3 club—and doing it in style...with no one watching and a flyer in the pitch black of night. It must have felt great. Enjoy this Thanksgiving gift—a smartly run and gritty effort.

HHW - fantastic effort - starting at 1:29am was pretty hilarious. Good for you man. Get yourself whatever crazy food you like for lunch as a treat. You deserve at least that! As others have said, seeing the next marathon in 2:3x:xx will be exciting once you get in a race situation.

Well done!

Thanks everyone. Appreciate the support. Will definitely be ordering pizza for lunch.

I actually feel pretty food at the moment. Not too sore or anything. Tomorrow may be rough though.

Hope everyone is winding down the work week and getting ready for some time off.

That was one heck of a read this morning. Funny enough was drinking out of my Boston Marathon thermos while reading it.

Absolutely bananas man. Not many can say they knocked their first attempt at this distance out of the park but you definitely did. Patient, smart, and strong throughout. I can't imagine doing this solo in the pitch dark. One of the coolest things I've read here for this year for sure.

I was actually thinking what some others mentioned earlier, 2:3_ is definitely in play next year just based off how you've been running. Enjoy the pizza and get some rest man, you've earned it!

Ahem.

worm - LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

highhoppingworm wrote:Hi folks. 2:53:09. Really proud of this run.

Well done. Lack of sleep, cold, darkness, no long runs -- wow, a super impressive display of mental and physical toughness!

After my sons were born, I pretty much stopped training for three years -- until they went to preschool for 2 hours, twice a week (time for two 13-mile runs!).

I worked nights, wife worked days. So, otherwise, I thought it was impossible to train.

But you've shown me I was a wimp! Dang, 3 a.m to 5 a.m. WASTED every day!

Recover well. Happy Thanksgiving.

hhw - nice job in the 5k and M, hopefully no coyotes as pacers (yes I was hobbling Sun/Mo)

coleiolio - your base phase plan looks good, solid week

Stone - hopefully my training will look more like yours in the coming weeks

gfmah - sound like some enjoyable routes

Allen - Thanks, this might be the best ive felt a few days after a 50M/100k, I would think a few easy miles after a marathon would hurt more than after 50

GNR1 - hopefully you will get in a race this winter

BHViking - consistency

jewbacca - glad you are back at it

OR - averaging under 7 pace a few days after the marathon, nice. I got beat by 1 place by a 59 year old at JFK, he also ran the days directly after and even got in a sub 7 yesterday at the end of the run, crazy. might be in your future

rucker - sorry about JFK, maybe a TT in the future to give you something to train for? some smaller races have been going on as well

Tyler - nice workouts, keep healthy

runnerchef - looking at the people who i follow on strava, maybe 3200ft of elv at JFK? probably 1/3 to 1/2 of that in the first 6 or so miles to get on the AT

Best of luck to anybody racing a turkey trot this week. I have been thankful to be in this thread for the past two and a half years, its been a lot of fun keeping up with everyone's training. Nice little community here, Keep healthy - RS

3200 feet of elevation gain!? Sheesh. Must have made those first steps on the towpath feel like heaven.

Congrats HHW, enjoy the pizza. I figured as I woke up at 4:45 AM you would already be done with the freaking marathon.

HHW - Nice work! To absolutely noone's surprise, Sub 3 was not a problem for you. The fact that the focus was 5K training and it wasn't an actual race makes it all more impressive. If you're still not sore by tomorrow or Thursday that would be something else!

Great writeup by the way. That was an enjoyable read.

runnerchef wrote:

Sub 6:00 wrote:

M36, 5’10”, about 160

A highlight of the last few weeks has been often running by a parking lot full of animatronic dinosaurs.

Your runs are inspirational

you in the DC MD VA area? They're doing that at Fedex Field.

It’s been at RFK actually. I’m in D.C. not far from there, so I run by those parking lots all the time. Having been in the prime demographic of 9-year-old boys when the original Jurassic Park came out, I’ve quite enjoyed the dinos.

HHW - Very impressive 5k, especially all the improvement over the last year. Congrats on gritting out a solo sub 3 marathon.

RunnerSam - Awesome work. Hope to run that race one of these years.

Rucker - Too bad JFK didn’t work out. As for the 10 mile thing, it’s surely not optimal but I’ve been enjoying it. No need to stress or plan. Some days the legs feel good and it’s time to run fast.

Hello all, great running all around. HHW, great work!

Nothing crazy here for my week, about the usual....lol.

Monday- 13.52 miles 1'23"16 6:09 avg

Tuesday- 13.51 miles 1'23"37 6:11 avg

Wednesday- 13.51 miles 1'25"33 6;19 avg

Thursday- 13.59 miles 1;27:08 6:25 avg

Friday- 7.24 miles 46:17 6:23 avg

Saturday- Warm up 3.01 miles 20:23 6:47 avg

race- 3.18 miles 15:42 for 4th

Cool Down- 6.07 miles 45:30 7:29 avg

Sunday- 13.52 miles 1'22"08 6:04 avg

87.1 miles on the week. Considering I do no workouts at all, the race was very good. I might still be able to break 15 again, not this year but next when im 40. I have three months until turning 40 which im conflicted about, but cant change it....lol!!!

BHViking, I see your doing training like I do, how has it been going?

Have a great one all!