Happy Birthday Euro!!!
You've got me by 4 years and 8 days :)
Happy Birthday Euro!!!
You've got me by 4 years and 8 days :)
Did I miss yours? Whoops, sorry!
Aging is fine as long as we're getting faster ;-)
eurodonkey wrote:
Did I miss yours? Whoops, sorry!
Aging is fine as long as we're getting faster ;-)
Nope. Coming up.
Alright, a potpourri of comments this morning -
- Hit the reset button for my training this morning. I probably had the easiest run in terms of pace and feeling in weeks. It was good. I ended up taking yesterday off. My quest for sleep on Tuesday night was futile. Our youngest had other plans, and just as I thought I finally had him cured (I took over night time duties a few weeks back as my wife was not having much success retraining him.) What can I say, he's the youngest and he's been a bit spoiled versus our two older boys. Thankfully, he slept all the way through last night as he had done the whole week prior.
- RACE DAY on Saturday. I mentioned before that it is point to point and downhill. Studying the results from the past couple of years a little bit, I am going to pre discount my result by 45 seconds, the downhill is going to have that much affect. To that end, my plan to start the race out at around 5:30 pace is pretty conservative I think. I think 17:45 on this course is roughly equivalent to my 18:22 6 weeks back. I'll be looking to run faster than that.
- For most of the last half of my running days when I was younger and in current iterations, I have been a "smart" racer. Pacing the early stages conservatively and staying within myself until the latter stages of the race and hoping for a good finish. For the most part, I think this is a good approach. On my run this morning, though, thinking about this 5k on Saturday, some part of me wants to go back to my balls to the wall, take it out hard days and pull a Gerry Lindgren. :)
- Turns out there is a ($$) money race (half marathon) 2 weeks after my target HM on April 16. I was considering entering it anyway to get in a good hard long run. Now I'm thinking I could earn a little cash. Thoughts on turning around 2 weeks after a hard half marathon and running another? I'm guessing its a pipe dream as the fairly sizable sums for a local road race are likely to bring out some mercenaries ($500 for 1st overall, $300 for 1st Master).
- My peak target race date has been set for August 6. So in Daniel's terminology, I'll be finishing Phase 1 (for me, enhanced base phase) on April 16 and after an easy week, I'll be jumping into Phase 2. I am looking forward to running some faster stuff in training.
Hope all are well!
If it's seriously downhill then no harm going out fast - just make sure you're well warmed up, maybe with a semi-hard 1 minute effort 10min before the start, so your system gets up to speed quickly and you don't drown in lactate in the first kilometre.
$300 for first Master has to be worth a go - I wish that happened over here! If you run the first HM a bit conservatively, you'll get one hell of a training stimulus from it, as you will from the second one. It is normal practice over here for people to do a good HM 2-3 weeks before London.
But you'll need to really take an easy week after - maybe your usual sessions on the Saturday and Tuesday in the middle.
Some news from over here:
1. Spring has arrived! running in t-shirts and shorts all of a sudden, which is wonderful. Hope you all get the same
2. my gym introduced a Thursday lunchtime circuit class, run by an ex pro soccer player, and I just did my first one. I am still trembling. Really good stuff, about 15 exercises and 2 rounds, a whole minute on each station, most exercises using a lot of your body. It is over 20 years since I did that in a group and it's lots of fun - although the others weren't leaving proper sweat-puddles on the floor! Learning to keep doing hard stuff for a whole minute when you're tired is a pretty good precursor to 400s on the track. I just hope I can manage my run home.
3. Subject to my kids not bringing too much homework back, next Tuesday my club's having an informal 'race night' to get some ideas of fitness before track work starts. They have me down for a 200m, then half hour rest, than a 5000m on the track. Some of the youngsters want to break 16 so I'll just hang on as long as I can. We also have a real track meeting on 16th April, although I'll still be doing pre-season stuff at that point. It's a scary thought but I'll soon know how effective my winter has been...
eurodonkey wrote:
If it's seriously downhill then no harm going out fast - just make sure you're well warmed up, maybe with a semi-hard 1 minute effort 10min before the start, so your system gets up to speed quickly and you don't drown in lactate in the first kilometre.
Euro,
I was considering going with the "hard" warm up again as I did prior to my 2 mile time trial a few weeks back. I did a 1200 then. I was thinking a relatively hard 2 + minutes and then some strides to get the blood pumping before the race. I think I'll likely run 2 1/2 or 3 miles leading up to that as well.
Logistics for the race are a little puzzling to me right now, though. Its point to point so we are being bussed to the starting line. Last bus is at 8 am and the gun goes off at 8:30, so I'm a little concerned about switching from warm gear to race gear. I guess maybe I'll do my check in for the race on Friday and see if there is a plan for that by the race organizers. I might have to go purchase some cheap sweats to throw away after my warm up if they don't have gear transport back to the finish.
Sounds like you've got a bit of activity lined up. The class you're in does sound like fun.
I'm guessing that April 16 is going to be a real eye opener, in a good way, for you.
eurodonkey wrote:
$300 for first Master has to be worth a go - I wish that happened over here! If you run the first HM a bit conservatively, you'll get one hell of a training stimulus from it, as you will from the second one.
I've been mulling a plan to run conservatively on the April 16 HM until between mile 8 and 10 and then see if I have the wheels to finish strong.
BTW - The April 16 HM is also point to point with a healthy elevation drop. They seem to do that a lot around here. I'm planning to run the first 10 miles of the course this Sunday to get a feel for what pace is reasonable. My guess is that in race conditions, 5:50 to 6 minute miles are going to feel comfortable over that stretch.
The second HM on April 30 is likely a lot more challenging course. 1st Master last year was 1:25:54. 1st overall was 1:16:34.
That 1:25 looks like easy money, but like I said before, $300 is probably going to bring folks out of the woodwork. Nothing ventured, nothing gained! ;)
In the early days of marathons, we used to take a bin-liner and make one hole for the head and two for the arms. Keeps you remarkably warm.
Mind you, you can get some seriously cheap sweats these days!
Impossible Dream wrote:
BTW - The April 16 HM is also point to point with a healthy elevation drop. They seem to do that a lot around here.
How perverse. If I had big elevations to work with, I'd organise races more like this ;-)
http://www.mowcop.info/killermile/killermile.htmWorrying about paces could be bad. Mile markers might not be accurate, elevations won't be even etc etc.
You could always just treat it like a race: make sure you're in sight of the leaders after a mile (when the overexcited kids get tired), figure out who looks like they might be 40, and sit on them. If you're fitter than your target, make a decisive move later on...
eurodonkey wrote: figure out who looks like they might be 40, and sit on them. If you're fitter than your target, make a decisive move later on...
If I decide to race the April 30 $$ run, this is definitely my strategy :)
eurodonkey wrote:
How perverse. If I had big elevations to work with, I'd organise races more like this ;-)
http://www.mowcop.info/killermile/killermile.htm
Ha! You sound exactly like my good friend and teammate from college days. He used to get pissed if we went to a XC race and the course was too easy.
Good luck for tomorrow's 5k...
Thanks Euro!
Ok, funny story to share...
Running along this morning and all of a sudden my toe catches an uneven piece of side walk and at that moment, life just went super slow mo and it was almost like I was watching someone else rather than experiencing the epic fall (fail) myself. It just seemed surreal that I was running down a mostly perfectly good sidewalk which I've run over at least 3 dozen times if not more and all of a sudden I'm falling. I caught myself with my hands preventing a face plant and rolled quickly onto my back, but not before giving myself a slight scratch on the knee.
Got up, surveyed the damage, which was pretty much nothing except for that big bruise to my ego, kicked the millimeter high crack I had just tripped over and then continued on my way while counting the numbers of cats lives I had left. I think I'm down to 5 now :)
It was shocking for the mere fact that I've always been so sure footed. The only time I can recall ever falling on a run other than being tackled in American High School football was when I was tripped in a 1500m race in college. Other than that, I pretty much always stay on my feet.
When I got home, I realized I had ruined my running gloves, but I guess that is better than scraping up the palms of my hands.
Good luck to all running races this weekend and try and stay on your feet! :)
Hey everyone!
I've been following the thread when I can. This recent cold has really been a challenge the last 3 weeks, but I've been able to keep up with life, work, and training through it. It's been quite a struggle, but today was the first day I've felt like my breathing is somewhat close to where it was.
ID, good luck on your 5k tomorrow - I'm looking to lower my comeback 10k PR (36:14) tomorrow by a minute or more, if my breathing is really better. Go StN Racing Team! :D
Euro, congrats on turning 45!
It's kind of cool to get into the next age groups. And turning 69s in your time trial is just....fast.
HEY PM!
Glad you're back and that you're feeling better.
Good luck in that 10k!
Good luck this weekend ID!
Nothing major from my end. Just the usual mix of busy/stupid/solid training going on.
On another note, the trip I was planning to Florida has been on and off a few times, but is now definitely on. I'll be in the Miami / Ft. Lauderdale on 7th/8th working, but also bringing family and spending Sun-Wed in the Fort Myers area for a little vacation. I was toying with going to the Keys for the 7 mile bridge run, but couldn't confirm the trip in time for the entry deadline.
PM, I'm sorry but we won't be making it up to Orlando this time.
I know we have a few Floridians on this thread and if anyone has any good sightseeing tips they'd be greatly appreciated.
I went to Sanibel as a kid, and we saw Florida at high speed 2 years ago, but sadly it rained the whole time in Miami. So we're coming back and this time we want it to look like it does in CSI ;-)
Well, I ran 16:42 this morning. That was only good for 24th overall and 7th Master. Fast crowd around these parts, jeesh.
The race itself is on a ridiculously fast course as I had indicated before. I would put my time as worth around 17:10 to 17:20 on a flat course.
If one can be dissapointed with a race and not with a time, that would be me. I felt my race was just very poorly executed. I went through the mile in 5:08 and in retrospect about 10 to 12 seconds slower would have been better. I might have felt more relaxed and run the middle portion of the race better. As to the middle portion, I felt like I was overextended and searching for a rhythm that I just wasn't finding. Mentally, I just wasn't being strong. Went through 2 miles in approximately 10:37. Started to finally relax as I was going down the final stretch and finished ok.
What I learned from this race is just how far I've got to go. And that's not just physically in terms of training but relearning the mental game of distance racing as well.
That all said, proper perspective tells me that I'm doing well. That I'm on the comeback and that I'm really still in a base phase of training and this after losing 20 lbs on top of the 30 lbs I lost the year before. I'm on the right track!
Realistically, if I can run 16:42 on a standard 5k course (not severely downhill) in a couple of months, I'll consider myself on the right track.
Hope everyone else is running fast today!
Congrats on an "OK" race?! Just kidding - nice job. Given that you haven't even gotten to specific race/speed training I'd say you are making great progress. Personally I'd kill for a 16:42.
Your dedication and perseverance have been very impressive and motivational. I've gotta get better at doing core and strength work.
Am I living in the twilight zone? The Boston Marathon weather was terrible!
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2024 College Track & Field Open Coaching Positions Discussion