Road Racing and Training Thread - Week Ending 9/28

I am gonna be back for the next cycle too, training for the same race as Runnersfix for now unless I get into the half champs at the same race. My last week was uneventful though, 7 straight days of stuffing my face starting the day after the race and ran 12 on Sunday and really felt the extra 14 lbs I put on.

Gonna try to comment later, but wanted to get one out real quick:

Bonham- Good luck man! Hope you saved the race recap from my 2011 Portland marathon that I posted for you a few weeks ago, but if not just remember to take that downhill from 3-5 miles really easy and also save a bit for that climb late in the race. (I think it was around 16). You got this!

Stone- What can I say that I haven't been saying? Your training has been incredibly consistent the last few weeks and you are knocking your workouts out with very controlled efforts. I don't think 2:45 is off the table by any means.

Pewow- Conditions for the race sounded pretty brutal, so I think you kind of have to keep that in perspective when you're looking at your time. On another note, great to see you have made it to the XC season and are starting to think about times, I remember earlier in the summer you were running 10-15 mpw and goal was "make it to XC season", so it's definitely awesome to see your patience paying off.

Slartzio - Good to see you back again as well. Any goal races in the horizon?

Hereford- Nice quality sessions this week, definitely look like you're on track for a 2:4x

Xenonscreams- Damn, got back into training with a vengeance this week I see. Very solid week and seems like your recent mini vacation helped a bit.

Matthias- Nice call taking it easy this week. Sounds like you did a very good job listening to your body and that should pay off in the near future.

Pikachu- Good to see you back man! Really looking forward to following more of your training and also seeing you get back in monster shape over the next few weeks.

Distance Fan- Congrats on the weekly mileage PR and very nice long run. Good timing on both with the race less than 6 week away now.

Runnersfix- Good to see you back man. Should be fun training for Houston "together" (virtually) this cycle.

NP1112- So... you ran less than 50% of your peak mileage for this cycle? Isn't it a little early to be cutting back with your goal race 4 weeks away?

Bonham- I know Portland is this weekend so I wanted to sent you a note earlier about the race, but damn you sure seem ready to roll with your last few quality sessions this week. I know people say this about most marathons, but I feel it's especially true of this course... get to 30km feeling good and you are going to pick off a lot of people that last 10-12K. Good luck!

(sorry, gotta run, finish comments later)

TheGarbageDisposal wrote:

NP1112- So... you ran less than 50% of your peak mileage for this cycle? Isn't it a little early to be cutting back with your goal race 4 weeks away?

Bonham- I know Portland is this weekend so I wanted to sent you a note earlier about the race, but damn you sure seem ready to roll with your last few quality sessions this week. I know people say this about most marathons, but I feel it's especially true of this course... get to 30km feeling good and you are going to pick off a lot of people that last 10-12K. Good luck!

(sorry, gotta run, finish comments later)

Garbage: my original plan was to run b2b marathons sat and sun. But that got shot down by my coach. He thought I had a shot to PR. So I listened. He has never peaked me wrong for a race. We will see how this all works out.

Bonham: is there any tracking services provided by the marathon?

True Story wrote:

Dude, if you ran 1:27 recently, then you could probably go sub 3 at St George. I love the area and love the race. It's crazy fast course, especially the second half.

You are right, a 1:27 (at Top of Utah half) grades out to a 3:01 at St. George (Utah race predictor:

).

Plan is to run the first half a bit conservative at ~1:32, then slowly increase pace to mile 18. If I'm still feeling good I'll push the late downhill section 18-24. Should finish 3:00-3:05.

Thanks np! Thanks Matthias! Thanks Garbage!

You can bet your bottom dollar I saved that race report, Garbage. I've been reading it over and over. My plan is go out easy through the half, roll with the punch of St. John's bridge, and then try to make back a bit of time before the 30k mark. I will indeed attempt to crank it just a bit over the last six miles.

Regarding tracking: the race newsletter assures me it will be available somewhere on portlandmarathon.org on the morning of the race (7am PST start Oct 5). My bib is 2370.

Good plan Jwil, I'd say you are in right about 3:00 shape so trying to sub 3 could end in disaster. Very sensible to aim for 3:04-5 and then pushing if you feel good from around 18. Don't push too hard too early, you'll feel very different at 13 to 18.

Reed- Looks like your fall season is getting off to a solid start. Keep it up man.

CMM268- I think I have lost count of how many weeks of 115-120 in a row you've gotten in (not counting a slight taper before RnR Philadelphia). And to have a week like that coming off of a tough race in Philly speaks volumes for your strength.

Nop200- It's tough to race well in bad conditions while you are in the middle of heavy training, I wouldn't put too much stock in one bad race and just try to recover as well as you can and move on.

Jwil- You've had a nice cycle of training and have a real good shot at your goal. Good luck this weekend!

Once and Future- Hay's in the barn man. Looks like you are ready to roll in a couple of weeks as well.

Piano_man87- Nice sessions this week.

Netwerk error- Solid week, and the 18.5 @ MP typically sounds a little long for most people but it really depends on your history with that type of training. I think most programs call for at most 15-16 @ MP (and about 4-5 weeks out), but if you are really disciplined about it (not run any faster than MP during the workout) and recover well after I think you should be okay.

Kendo- Nice recovery week. Belated congrats on the HM PB!

Sps- nice discipline building back up slowly. Welcome back.

StevenJ- Good to see you back man! Looks like you've been building a pretty solid base.

Ghola- Some quality work this week. I wouldn't worry too much about races in hot conditions at this point in your training, it's hard to adjust properly for them. Hope you've recovered well though.

Lakerunner- Sounds like you're ready to take another shot at your goal in a couple of weeks. Good luck with your taper man.

Good luck Bonham and Jwil.

I'll be eagerly awaiting the results. If my wife wouldn't kill me I'd try to track Bonham - but we're going to be on vacation and that's frowned upon!

Thanks Garbage!!

Best of Luck to Bonham and jwil too!! You guys are in awesome shape. I'm sure ye will nail it.

Thanks guys! Doing my best to stay calm right now. Just about done packing, then grabbing a few hours of sleep before the 4am alarm to go the airport. The moment of truth approaches!

(Also, I might not get a chance to write a race report until Monday, but I'll do my best to pop in and announce the outcome, for good or for ill, on Sunday like normal.)

Good luck, Bonham! Tear it up!

Godspeed, Bonham and jwil!

Hey Bonham - keep calm. And rock that $#!7! You were training super strong - it's your time to harvest!!!

If jwil is who I think he is, he should be a pretty happy poster with his race report after today. Great job, buddy, you got your 2016 BQ! And it looks like you hung tough that last 10K this time when the going got rough, well done.

Enjoy your great accomplishment and your time with the family. :)

The Stone Cutter wrote:

If jwil is who I think he is, he should be a pretty happy poster with his race report after today. Great job, buddy, you got your 2016 BQ! And it looks like you hung tough that last 10K this time when the going got rough, well done.

Enjoy your great accomplishment and your time with the family. :)

Has to be him. Great performance!

The Stone Cutter wrote:

If jwil is who I think he is, he should be a pretty happy poster with his race report after today. Great job, buddy, you got your 2016 BQ! And it looks like you hung tough that last 10K this time when the going got rough, well done.

Enjoy your great accomplishment and your time with the family. :)

He crushed it! Great job jwil.

Congrats Jwil! Enjoy some well-earned celebration, then give us a gripping race report!

Bonham wrote:

Congrats Jwil! Enjoy some well-earned celebration, then give us a gripping race report!

Good luck bonham, we will be waiting on your report too!