Road Racing and Training Thread - Week Ending 12/15

I'm going to take part in this thread for the first time. It hopefully garner some good ideas for my training.

My goal is to run 1h17m30s spring half marathon, and to run sub 1h15m fall 2014. My PR is 1h20m35s.

Sun AM - 5 miles easy

Sun PM - 17.5 miles total, 16m workout, first 14.75m

I'm going to take part in this thread for the first time. It hopefully garner some good ideas for my training.

My goal is to run 1h17m30s spring half marathon, and to run sub 1h15m fall 2014. My PR is 1h20m35s.

Sun AM - 5 miles easy

Sun PM - 17.5 miles total, 16m workout, first 14.75m

Sorry for the repeated posts... this is my last try. It keeps makes large portion of my post disappear

I'm going to take part in this thread for the first time. It hopefully garner some good ideas for my training.

My goal is to run 1h17m30s spring half marathon, and to run sub 1h15m fall 2014. My PR is 1h20m35s.

Sun AM - 5 miles easy

Sun PM - 17.5 miles total, 16m workout, first 14.75m

Ok, my last try at this. I'll report my other partial posts, so hopefully they can be deleted and clean up the mess.

My goal is to run 1h17m30s spring half marathon, and to run sub 1h15m fall 2014. My PR is 1h20m35s.

Sun AM - 5 miles easy

Sun PM - 17.5 miles total, 16m workout, first 14.75m under 6m53s pace, last 1.25m 5m57s pace.

Monday PM - 7.5 miles easy, ran to the park and did lots of core, chin ups and dips on the outdoor equipment

Tues AM - 5.5m easy running

Tues PM - 8.5m total, 2.5m tempo 5m55s pace

Wed AM - 5.5m easy running

Wed PM - 8.5m total, workout 10 x 600m all under 5m59s pace 2min rest

Thurs AM - 5m easy running

Friday - off

Saturday - 5.5m easy running

68.5 miles total. I was getting tired at the end of this week. I had a sick daughter and worked 50 hours. I was planning on doing some hill on Thursday, Friday or Sat and ended up scrapping it and just did easy running to get to my target of 68.5 miles this week.

Stone Cutter - I really like your week, especially that Friday workout. I am trying to fast finish all of my runs which it looks like you are doing as well. I want to be able to surge towards the end of races and I think I've been too focused on going out strong and just bringing it home. I am now starting out much slower and working it down over the course of the run.

Weekly: 74.7 (maybe 78.7)

YTD: 3,056.6

Goal: Boston with a few races between now and then

Mon: 8 E @ 7:00 on treadmill in morning

Tues: 7 E @ 7:04 on treadmill

Weds: 5 Recovery @ 7:36

Thurs: 10 E @ 6:50 AM, 2.25 (15 min) E PM

Fri: 8 E @ 6:57 with hills in AM, 4 E @ 7:09 PM

Sat: 12 progressive @ 6:51 (final 7 were under 7 dialed down to 6:00 final mile), 4 recovery PM @ 7:30

Sun: 14 progressive AM @ 7:00, miles 8-12 6:05-6:30. Maybe 4 recovery later today:)

Did core work on a few days and trying to stay on top of rolling and stretching.

This week was all about running what I felt like after last weekend's marathon. I'll probably start to bring up the mileage over the next few weeks and maintain 80-90 until I start Boston plan officially in late January. We had bad weather here in the East and I had to travel Tues-Weds and was confined to the treadmill.

I hope everyone had a nice week of training, I'll post comments later on today.

Nice week Stone Cutter!

Here's mine:

M - AM: 3mi w/u, 3.62mi (18:30) Tempo @ 5:05 avg, 4 x 200/200 32,32,32,31, 3mi c/d. PM: 4mi.

T - 4/9 double

W - 4/4 double

R - AM: 24min w/u, 10min Tempo @5:24, 5min moderate, 10min Tempo @5:14, 4min moderate, 5min Tempo @ 5:12. PM: 4mi.

F - 3/8 double

S - 9/4 double

S - 6/X double

Total: 80+

Pretty good first week back for me. The tempo on Monday went surprisingly well. I also broke up the tempo on Thursday into 10/10/5 because of the weather. It was around 15 degrees without windchill when I ran so it felt great when the run was over! No long run this week because of ice on the roads and trails but I still got some alright volume in. I hope everyone has a great week!

Goals

Stay Healthy - Less than one unplanned off day per month

800 - 1:59

1500 - 4:09

5000 - 15:59

M: 4 w/ core and lower body strength

T: 5 w/ core

W: 4

Th: 7.5 w/ 6 short hill sprints

F: Off. Wanted to run today but I didn't have the motivation after 3 hours of multivariable.

S: 4.5 Made the mistake of running too soon after eating.

Su: Off. Was going to run today to make up for Friday but a -15 windchill got that idea out of my head pretty quickly.

Total - 25

Pretty happy with the week considering finals were going on. Can't wait to be done on Monday. I have a fartlek planned for next week that I am excited for.

Hello everyone!

m - 0

t - 0 (snow)

w - 7 (7:48)

t - 5 (8:00)

f - 4 (8:00)

s - 0

s - 10k (6 miles) in the snow (6:17)

Unfortunately race conditions were horrible today. Yesterday's weather made the course look like a snowy tough mudder. Very hard to get into a groove when you have to zig zag (and sometimes just run into them) around huge puddles of melting snow and your feet are completely soaked and numb-cold.

Not to mention the danger of slipping on ice, it was a race that in my opinion had to be canceled and rescheduled.

Also, because of the weather, the course was modified and it was a good .3 mile short, and no mile markers were present on the course (sorry people with no gps!).

I'm asking myself what I'm I paying for if the course sucks that bad and it's short! Race organizers tried to pull the spirit of "we can do it anyway right?!?", and that was quite annoying.

Honestly I would have not bothered waking up and showing up for it if I knew it would be like that, but at the end was a good effort with some competition, so I'm glad I went for it, at least for the sake of experiencing the distance and getting a hard run in.

I'm registering for another 10k on Feb 1st, let's see what can I do in better (hopefully) conditions and 6 more training weeks.

Hope everyone had a great week!

Kiawah Island Marathon Race Report:

Short version:

I got greedy early and paid for it late.

Longer version:

My left achilles started to bother me while I was visiting my Mom in Florida last weekend. So, I went to the Runner's Edge running store in Boca Raton and consulted with my friend Harrie who is an excellent masters runner.

He recommended a couple of things, get new shoes (same brand, but new), take it easy this week, and based on my recent times, I should go out at 6:45 pace for the marathon and be happy with a 2:55 race.

Well, I did 2 out of 3.

I took it easy this week and ran on Monday (8), Wednesday (6.2) and Friday (5.1) leading up to Saturday's marathon.

Race day's weather was humid with a chance of showers. The temps were in the mid 50's and climbing. The heavy rain wasn't due until mid afternoon.

I went out at 6:30 for the first mile and had every intention to fall into a 6:40 pace once the crowd thinned out. However, settled in with a group that wanted to run 6:40, but kept knocking down 6:30's.

My 6:30's lasted a little more than 10 miles. The next couple miles were in the 6:40's and the slowing down progression continued all the way home.

I negotiated, and renegotiated, with myself on a desired finish time during the final 10 miles. I eventually settled in on just trying to break 3 hours. As late as mile 23 I had a chance to pull it off. Unfortunately, I basically cratered during in those final 3 miles.

I finished in 3:01:51. 17th overall and 2nd in my age group. While I didn't hit my "A" goal (PR), "B" goal (sub 3), I did hit my "C" goal. Which was to improve my Boston starting spot.

My Race:

http://app.strava.com/activities/100153347/overview

I have no one to blame but myself. I got greedy and tried to run a 2:50 marathon when I had no business trying.

Now, it's off to 2014 where I've got the Boston Marathon, 2 half Ironman and 1 full Ironman on my schedule.

Goal Race: USA Half Marathon Champs. / January 19th

5 weeks until race day!

Mon- 10 miles at 7:21 pace / 4 miles at 7:29 pace. Strides.

Tue- 20 mile long run at 6:22 pace. Last 8 miles at 5:34 avg. (6:06, 5:56, 5:48, 5:40, 5:32, 5:25, 5:11, 5:01)

Wed- 10 miles at 7:28 pace / 5 miles at 7:55 pace. Weights.

Thur- 10 miles at 7:20 pace / 5 miles at 8:02. Strides.

Fri- 16 miles. 5xmile with 3 minutes active rest. 4:53 avg. (5:06, 5:00, 4:56, 4:47, 4:36)

Sat- 10 miles at 7:02 pace / 5 miles at 7:52. Weights.

Sun- 10 miles at 7:31 pace / 5 miles at 7:42 pace. Strides.

Total- 110

The mileage is pretty high at this point. I'll do one more increase after the next long run. Tuesday long run went pretty well. The focus was on the progression part rather then the overall average. On the mile repeats Friday, I felt very weak the first two but crushed it at the end. I'm feeling pretty good for USA's. Let's hope everything falls into place.

Goals - sub 17 5k and remain injury free

Last two weeks have been kind of a bummer running wise so didn't post anything but here goes.

M - 0, over iced achilles, got some frost burn and a blister

T - 8, 4X1600 in 5:27, 5:28, 5:35, 5:34. First sub 5:30 mile of the year, breathing felt fine but legs were dead

W - 7 easy

Th - off

Friday - 9 at 6:39 average, 7:10 for first 3 then worked down to 6:17. Been a long time since I went for a hard long run like this.

S - off, drill so too tired to run

S - same as Saturday

M - 0 Finals/papers to do

T - 6.5 at 8 flatish, kinda sick and really snowy out

W - 6 easy at around 8:15, lots of snow on the roads

Th - off, feeling pretty sick

F - 0

S - 0

S - 0

Two weeks of low mileage and not even a workout this week. Really hoping this won't make too big of an impact on my training but I guess that's just what happens. The 1600s last week and 9 miler gave me some confidence even though I didn't get much mileage in.

Goal Races:

Houston Half Marathon (1/19)

RnR New Orleans Marathon (2/2)

Week 15 of 22 - 80 (1111 for cycle)

Monday - Off

Tuesday - 5 recovery

Wednesday - 9 easy AM, 6 easy PM

Thursday - 10 moderate AM (failed MP workout), 5 easy PM

Friday - 11 easy

Saturday - 20 moderate (2:14:30, 69 - 65:30)

Sunday - 14 recovery/easy

Nothing too eventful this week. Legs were pretty sore Monday but felt pretty good after 5 easy miles with the wife on Tuesday. Tried to do a short MP run on Thursday and pulled the plug 2 miles into the MP segment. (not too surprising, it usually takes me 7-10 days to recover to the point where I can do a quality workout after a hard half-marathon)

Yesterday's run was a nice surprise, as it's my first run over 16 miles at altitude. Felt pretty good actually and started rolling some 6:10-6:20 miles into a decent headwind at the end.

Hope everyone else had good weeks as well!

Goal: HM Mid March

Time: TBD

Mon: 7.25mi (7:19)

Tue: 9.7mi (7:04)

Wed: 8.35 (7:10)

Thu: Off

Fri: 70min we will say 9mi

Sat: 6.5mi (7:26)

Sun: 13.25mi (7:00)

Weekly Total: 54mi.

No workouts for me this week. Mileage was up just a touch. Had planned on hitting 60 but I had finals this week and after last 1 on Thursday my classmates convinced me to go have a beer and wait to see if we passed. I passed my 1 semester of nursing school as an old fart with a mid life crisis/career change

Stone Cutter Nice week. Liking that wave tempo for 8k.

Gerard Welcome. Have you given any thought to stretching those tempo segments out a little. Even if if meant slowing down a touch, but putting in a bigger volume of time running at the quicker pace.

CMM Nice week for just doing whatever.

Force Lots of good solid tempo work going on.

Pewow Finals suck. I just got done with them thi spast week. Now you can get some running in b4 school starts back.

Startzio Does suck when a race is changed and not what you went to do. Motivation takes a knock. Hey bring on Feb and a fast 10 click.

Printer Sorry the final time was not quite what you had hoped for. Still a solid effort and some god cam eout of it. Happy training for all the Tri's. You doing IMChooChoo?

Runnersfix Man solid stuff. Both Long run and Fri look awesome. That is one solid looking 20 miler.

Logan Nice looking mile repeats.

Garbage Still some good looking running for a sort of down/recovery week.

Yes, I'm doing IM ChooChoo. As I was wobbling around the finish area yesterday, I had a tough time contemplating the addition of a 2.4 mile swim and a 112 bike ride to my day.

printer wrote:

Yes, I'm doing IM ChooChoo. As I was wobbling around the finish area yesterday, I had a tough time contemplating the addition of a 2.4 mile swim and a 112 bike ride to my day.

just look at it as a nice 6.5hr warm up before you gotta get down to some business and run some folks down.

Stonecutter- You're staying consistent! I remember you saying that training was going to be hard to get it. Keep it up. For your long run, the depletion run is something I use from time to time. I find it to be the simplest run but also very demanding at times.

cmm268- Hope you're recovering well. I like the idea with doing Boston. What's the highest mileage you've run before? I ran my first marathon on 70mpw and finished with a 2:40. You mentioned 90mpw....focusing on the workouts and long runs are the key in my opinion.

Forcerunner- You crushed those tempo workouts. Especially the short one earlier in the week. I bet the weather sucks to run in. In used to 70-80 degrees this time of the year, sometimes a little colder. Keep it up!

Printer- Nice marathon! You can't be upset with the performance. You went for it but just didn't have enough. You still hit your C goal which is something to celebrate about lol. Hope you recover well.

Logan Decker- That was a nice set of repeats last week. You seem to be in shape so those days off shouldn't hurt you that much. Just consider it a short recovery break and get back at it this week.

GarbageDisposal- Nice long run! Big negative split as well. I'm definitely one to understand how workouts just aren't going to go well. If I know it's not going to be good, I'll just start much slower then the set pace and work into it. Must of the time it works out well.

Some early comments:

Gerard123 - welcome aboard. FYI, whenever you try to use the "less than" sign, it will delete the rest of your post.

Some great goals you've got there. I would eventually like to make that same kind of progression, but it will probably take me more time than next Fall to run a 1:15 HM.

cmm268 - congrats on topping 3,000mi for the year. That is a great goal/achievement unto itself. Nice "go with the flow" week also.

Forcerunner - great week considering the weather you had - Brrrr!

pewow - good luck with your last finals day tomorrow - I am sure that'll be a big relief!

Slartzio - bummer about the race, but that will keep you hungry for February. And I know you'll do great on that day (February 1st) because it's my birthday, haha!

printer - I have run too many a marathon the way you did Saturday, but none of them was I able to hold on as much as you. It's a testament to your fitness that "cratered" to a 3:01. Still a great time, and still within your "C" goal. I hope you give yourself a little recovery (I know you are doing Boston), and then you'll be ready to attack those Tri goals.

Runnersfix - Another beautiful week on your end. I see those mile repeats went much better than last time - great progression there.

As for me, you are correct - I thought the running was going to be tough to get in this cycle before I re-assessed my situation and made it fit in around my work/family schedule. Now that I am committed to only having to do one workout a week during my work week (Mon-Thurs) and no more than an hour a day the other three working days, I am making it happen and feeling better than ever.

Logan Decker - once finals are over for you, I am sure the running will be easier to pick up for a few weeks. You're correct, those mile repeats are a good early sign for your 5K goal.

TheGarbageDisposal - impressive moderate long run so soon after your half. Funny, we had the same type of recovery/easy 14mi run today. :)

qrkid - nice little bump in volume for you. I actually like doing wave tempos, too, both LT and AT ones. Breaking the run up into smaller, manageable segments makes them mentally easier for me to handle and makes the time of the run seem to go by faster. :)

I have been following this thread for awhile. This is my first time posting here, but think you all will help me stay motivated. I have been running on and off for the past few years. Last year a kid broke one of my course records by one second in a race I normally run and win. This was unacceptable in my mind, though I am getting older and starting to slow down. I want to give it one more shot this coming year. It is a very hilly 5k in 16:23. Last year I ran a 16:26 on a flat course off spotty training.

Right now the focus is to build miles with the idea of more structure around February.

Mon: .5 miles. Had to abort this run. It was -4 before factoring in the 20mph wind. I just moved from Texas and don't have the gear for that.

Tue: off (cold)

Wed: off (cold)

Th: 10 miles at 6:35 pace

Fri: 5 miles easy

Sat: 9.5 miles 7:00 pace

Sun: off

Total: 24 miles

Next weeks goal is to only take one day off.