Road Racing and Training Thread - Week Ending 11-25-2018

M48, 5'8", 132lbs

Goal: Houston marathon, sub-2:40

Continued to deal with pain on the top of my right foot this week, and had to do some elliptical in lieu of running. But I managed to get a solid HMP run in as part of my 20 miler. After today's easy 12, my foot feels okay, and I'm cross-training tomorrow:

Total: 67

M: Rest

T: 11 easy

W: a.m. 10 easy, plus 40 min elliptical in p.m.

Th: 14 easy (overdid it, trying to burn some calories)

F: skipped a planned workout and did 90 minutes on the elliptical instead, due to sore right foot

S: 20 miles (first 10 easy, next 8 in 48:03 (in vaporflys), 2 cool down)

S: 12 easy

A good week for me diet-wise -- managed to eat mostly healthy and not overdo it. I was happy with my 8 quality miles this week. They felt pretty comfortable until the last 1.5, which was into the wind and a slight uphill. Just need to get my foot back to 100%, then I hope to add back a little more quality (maybe mile repeats).

Upcoming - XC 8K in 2 weeks, as I mentioned stacked field with a bunch 90%ers in the mix. Going to be tough fun.

Had a pretty good week with 56 miles in 6 days of running plus a 90 min XC ski outing on Thanksgiving (1500'climbing included). Trails middling in lower elevations but once you got higher it was better. Fun to be out and about rather than stuffing myself with stuffing! Total hours 8:55

Male 50 5'8" 134lbs

PRs

Marathon 3:02:58 May 2018

10mi. 1:06:45 March 2018

5k 19:00 June 2018

Goal Marathon, CIM Dec. 2, A Goal PR, B Goal Sub 3

Mon. 8mi Easy 7:56avg

Tues. 8.1mi Easy 7:52avg

Wed. 10.7mi as 3up+1T+2M+1E+1T+3.5down GAP(6:43)(7:22, 7:05)(6:44)

Thurs. 5.4mi Recovery 8:48avg

Fri. 7.7mi Easy 8:169avg

Sat. 11.7mi Easy 7:51avg

Sun. AM 4.8mi Easy, PM Maybe hip and core work planned after chores

Total 56.7mi

1 week till CIM. Most everything is coming together. Still having some pain in the right quad. Since it has been holding steady if not improving slightly, I expect it to get much better through the taper. Wedenesday's workout got abbreviated because my right quad was feeling rather rough so I shut it down and headed home. No need to push things this late in the cycle plus I should have run the prior two days at more of a recovery pace.

My race plans are to race what I brought with me to race day and I'm not quite sure what that is going to be. I'll probably start out somewhere around the 6:45 range and adjust depending on how that feels and then just hope I can hang on throught the last 10k.

Hi all. Just popping in to brag that I got a high five from Allie Kieffer on this mornings long run. Thought that was pretty cool although she may think I’m a nut job. Special block day for me so I’ll post my week tonight after I run part two, or die, which in that case I probably won’t be posting my week.

Runners Fix, Still Improving and cocoon- hammer it at CIM next weekend gentlemen! Runners Fix- it’s always inspiring to follow your training and learn from the best.

Triple H- damn man. Heal it up. (Same goes for R3, Smoove and Stone)

AJ- a legendary throwdown yesterday.

Napper- I remember your training from ~Chicago 2016 (I believe you almost sent me home devastated!). Just my opinion, but I’d say those 8 miles were closer to marathon pace than half marathon pace.

pewow- thanks my friend. Father Time remains undefeated, but maybe I can put together a 2:29 in this twilight of my running journey. In the meantime you seriously have sub 15 (not a typo) potential, so get out there and hammer it.

Sub 6- i could see you setting a new marathon PR. Maybe not in time for Boston, but certainly next fall on a fast course.

Recovery has been pretty good so far. I have a few things in the works. Trying to put together a vision for the racing calendar in 2019. Thanks everybody who encouraged me during the rebuild from May through now. I was really discouraged at being so out of shape for so long. But you guys were right about being able to get it back. Hopefully I can build on that, stay healthy and keep going. I know I need to push my 5k/10k times down.

M - 6mi about 8.5 pace

T - 7mi progression from a bit under 8.5 pace to a touch under 7 pace

W - 8.2mi around 8

T - 9.2mi around 7&3/4 pace

F - maybe about a mile and then about 5 very very short hill accelerations and a few flatland strides

S - off

S - 10mi at a couple ticks under 7 flat.

Total 41.5ish at 7:42 average pace.

Met my pencilled in goal of >40mi for the week but if you told me on Thursday I'd only get to 41 I'd wonder what happened to make it all go sideways.

Friday was supposed to be at least 45min with my dog off leash in the woods near my parents house to get her good and tired before big family gathering, instead I saw pretty strong signs of an imminent deer sighting (crashing in the bushes) almost immediately and I didn't know how my pup would react so we leashed up and headed to an open field to frolic. (An antlered deer sighting the day before probably clouded my judgement and led to the extra caution) I tried some frolicking myself but the ground was too uneven and hidden by grass to feel comfortable doing too much. Some dogs have all the fun. Saturday I was visiting family and succumbed to the fat laziness of the holiday weekend. No excuses.

Finally feeling like my legs are back under me.

RunnersFix and cocoon - Let me know if you guys would be interested in meeting before or after the race. It would be nice to meet up with others from RRTT. You can email me at wretchedvarmint at yahoo.com (not a regularly monitored email account). If you send your contact infon I will email you back from my real email.

Coach Jeff - Sounds like a plan. I don't know if you are like me, but when I do the faster pace work like I and R pace, I need a few days to recover. Like 3 or more although that seems to have gotten better recently. I think it might be more of the fact that my body is not used to the faster pace work. I'd be curious to know how your I and R test drive goes.

pewow - Cajun turkey for Thanksgiving?

Sub 6:00 - Good to hear the knee is getting better. Just in time to get things on track for Boston. I had to pause on you March goal because I almost missed the "Half" part of that goal.

RRR - Get the calf better. Going back to jewbacca's list from last week although it was listed last, I think "6. Patience" is the most important and the most difficult one to execute.

Kid B - Nice looking week, especially with all that you had going on.

PutoMiudo - Good luck with the upcoming half marathon.

GFMH - Oh dear, it's deer season again! I see you have some races on the calendar.

AJ - Nice split tempo on Sat.

HHH - Ouch! That's some dedication racing with the cast a broken rib.

SC - Enjoy the time with your family. I could see the down time contributing to you throwing down that flier.

OR - Nice week. Yeah Saturday was not that great. I was in the home stretch when things started to turn bad. I probably saw the weather an hour later than you.

urban diesel - Welcome to the thread. What indoor events are you planning to compete in?

Smoove - Seems like the PF has been a problem for a while. I just hate the idea of going under the knife and the recovery involved.

Napper - Hope your foot continues to do better.

Coyote - "tough fun". I like that phrase. Nearly 9hrs XC skiing sounds like some solid work in a holiday week.

WH - Hope you survive your special block.

slo - Keep building and thanks for the encouragement.

GT - Ah heck, you met your goal for the week. Good call on leashing up. Unless you know how your dog is going to respond to you when their hunting instinct kicks in your "run" might turn out to be something a lot longer than expected.

I saw a picture of you all bandaged up and was convinced you were in a bar fight!

In decent shape and got things going in the right direction again, so going to jump back into this thread.

M 23

PRs 4:21 mile, 15:44 5k

Goals:

Short term: 4:16 indoors, sub 15 outdoors

Long term: sub-4

Next race is a mile December 8 (flat track at altitude)

Training at 6-7,000 feet

Monday: Off as planned

Tuesday: 8.3 miles at 7:02 +4x15 second stride, 4x8 second sprint

Wednesday: 3.1 mile w/up, 4x200, 4x400, 3x200 in 34s, 68.5s, 32s, 1.5 mile cool down

Thursday: 8 miles at 7:32

Friday: 2.3 mile warm up, 5.5 mile broken tempo at 6:19 avg (2x2 miles, 1 mile, with 400 floats) 1.5 mile cool down.

Saturday: 6 miles at 7:42

Sunday: 12 mile in 1:29 (7:24)

Total: 50.6 miles in 6 hours 2 minutes. Just what I wanted. Going to stick to the same formula the next few weeks.

Solid track session at this stage. Working hard to keep the recovery runs and the tempo under control.

HHH Runner wrote:

So the injury isn't ideal but that's life. Running with the cast is unwieldy but sweaty. Which isn't nice. Breathing with the rib is the toughest bit. I'm getting the cast off 4 days early so I can still go to Lisbon and race next weekend but time goals are out the window for that. Just enjoy a bit of time outside London.

This was a bad week man...recover well and come to Lisbon with appetite, because the half (I assume you are doing the Half-Marathon) is pretty fast.

If you need anything, or a place for booze after the HM, tell me and I can be your guide!

Fun week where I irresponsibly raced 3 times in 3 days and then took today off. Had fun but probably won't try that again. I actually don't feel bad right now. Lack of miles at the end of the week was more due to life than anything else. Major takeaway was don't half ass two things, whole ass one thing. I whole assed the first race and then probably like 3/4 and 1/4 assed the next two respectively. Just didn't have the motivation to do anything very hard the second race so I lazily didn't cover the break and the third I ended up just settling at a comfortably hard effort and deciding that was good enough.

M - 8 miles, 6:21 avg + 6x uphill strides.

T - 10 miles w/ 1.5 mile tempo (7:49) + 4x200 w/ 200 jog (29,31,29,29)

W - 5 miles, 6:40 avg. Stomach was quite unhappy so I just called it early.

T - 6 wu/cd miles, 5k in 14:49 for the win.

F - 5 wu/cd miles, 5k in 15:30 for 2nd behind the guy who was second on Thursday.

S - 2 warm up, xc 5k in 16:40 for 4th. No cool down.

S - Off

Given the Thanksgiving holiday, I'd say we've all done pretty well...

pewow: I agree about the weight coming right off. Just call it "periodization."

TallDarkRoast: My running changed, too, when I started running by time and effort (HR). You'll be bumping yourself right back up the leaderboard soon enough!

Sub 6:00: It's always a "lesson" for me when I talk about running with guys who have run through HS and college... the slowing down that they feel and the accompanying "depressing" feelings. As a guy who didn't start running till later in life, I have the ability to continue to PR even into my 50s. My "depressing" feelings arise from thinking about how "I could'a been a contender" if I had started earlier.

RRR: Geeeeez, that is definitely a mojo killer of a week. It always feels worse physically and mentally than it is cuz you care so much. But in a way, you control your own mojo. Treat the week as a metaphysical headwind, slowing you down, but making you stronger!

RunnersFix: It's great following your work here and on Strava. You "check all the boxes" with the gym work, and strides on easy days. And your easy paces really are comparatively easy compared to your MP. Hope CIM turns out to be that ideal convergence of everything!

too hot: Thanks for the shout out. What I have finally come to realize is that pace charts and workout scheds assume that the environment is ideal (or at least not debilitating). So I might have a great race result run at an unusually good temperature, say lower 60s, but, in fact my training runs year round are usually in the mid 70s to mid 80s. Taking that 60 degree pace and using it to calculate paces without accounting for the 80 degree training environment can result in a great deal of confusion (at best) and overtraining (at worst). Why it has taken me so long to figure that out is really embarrassing. I think it was because, in the past, because I was soooo unfit, my fitness gains masked the effect of the environment. Now, I'm closer to my potential and, therefore, these things may have more of an impact? Not sure. But better late than never. You are one of the people I have to thank for that realization.

Allen: So glad that you have one less mental burden! Now, that extra 8 pounds of physical burden... A 55 mile week after 2 weeks off though? Are you feeling it?

Got to get moving on my day... I'll keep catching up later...

M28

PRs: 18:53 5k, 39:49 10k, 3:16:24 Marathon

Goals: sub-1:30 spring half

Week ending 11/25:

M: Rest

T: Rest

W: Rest

Th: 11.5 miles (warmup, 10k race at 8am gobble gobble!, 5k jog with mom and sister at 10am)

F: Rest

Sa: 6.2 miles easy hike (Mt Greylock)

Su: Rest

Right foot still bothering me from the NYC marathon. Don't tie your shoes too tight! It feels fine without running but adding the mileage it starts to get bothered/mild inflammation. So I rested this week leading up to the turkey trot, and noticed inflammation back the day after Thanksgiving. I've come to the conclusion I'd rather take too much time off than not enough and create a larger issue. So maybe I'll do a few easy runs over the next month, and mainly focus on cross training and weights.

The Turkey Trot was a blast! Temps at 8am were something like 8 degrees with wind chill -4. I ran in shorts, long sleeve wool, hat and gloves. My fingers were freezing the first 2 miles, then somehow got used to it (need to run with warm gloves next time), and jaw was cold, I couldn't speak fast afterwards haha. My VDOT based on 5k indicated a 39:20 5k, I had set an 'A' goal of 39:30, but was going to be happy with anything sub-40. I ran the first 5k in 20:07 and doubted if I could negative split, but warming up after the first 2-3 miles really helped. Splits were 6:23, 6:29, 6:33, 6:21, 6:21, 6:17, and 5:52 pace for the final 0.2 for a 39:49 chip time. Very happy!

Weird week for me as well, with the mid-week Trot and then another race on Saturday...

Mileage was down, but two races made the effort feel like it was there.

M- 7 miles at 7:27

Tu - 6 miles - 7:09

W - 6.1 miles - 7:38 - nice and easy before the trot

Th - 1 mile WU - 5k race at 17:14.3 (official chip time) - 1.2 mile CD - Race went pretty well considering it was windy and 20 degrees. Felt warm enough as there was a gym open to warm up and stretch in. Was isolated most of the race after going out in 5:23, suffered mile two at 5:44, finished with a 5:52. Second mile was uphill into the wind, but overall happy. Think given perfect conditions and a bit of control on the first mile, could have made it closer to 17 flat.

F - 5 miles at 7:36

Sa - 1 mile WU - 5k XC race - 1.8 mile CD- tough course ran it in 19:22. Really muddy, and I'm 35, so no longer own spikes (maybe I need to get a pair). Had a lot of grip issues in my Adidas Bostons, so that slowed me down a bit, but really, I'm just using that as more of an excuse. I did get to chat with RunnerSam and Stat there, so that was cool. Faces with names.

Su = 4.4 miles at 6:46 - Really lazy day, but got out b/c it was so nice. Good thing I did, I felt awesome, which is weird. progressed the 4 miles to feel like an effort b/c i didn't have much time to run. 7:02, 6:57, 6:42, 6:27... just felt... good.

40 miles total

Felt like a good week, had to rush a few runs in there, but overall, not bad. Lower mileage (been up around 55) but with the two races, hard to get the mileage up for me and stay somewhat fresh.

Hope everyone has a great week!

Smoove, having dealt with PF myself over the summer, I know that PF does not go away on its own. I did my daily dose of stretching and strengthening with a long time not seeing any improvement at all. Still, after several weeks it all came together, improved noticeably and I could start running again.

Maybe a route to consider?

M, 41, 6'1", 165lbs

Goal Race - RnR AZ 1/20/19

M - 19 as 1 warm up, 7miles at 80%MP, 3 miles of (1min hard, 1min @80%MP), 3 miles at 80%MP, 3 miles at 100%MP, 1 mile all out. Overall average 7:02. 80% = 7:25, 100%= 6:12

T - 3.5 easy

W - 6 easy trails

T - 10 as 3 WU, 5k in 18:02, 4 easy CD, 1 mile at MP

F - am 5.5 easy, pm 6 easy

S - 4 easy

S - 32 miles Special Block - AM 1WU, 15 mile progression from 85%MP(7:12)to 95%MP(6:25) (6:54avg), PM 16 miles same as AM (6:56avg)

Total - 86 miles

Monday's run was actually supposed to be last Sunday's long run but I stayed out way too late and drank way too much (sister's birthday and she got engaged) and never made it out on Sunday. Getting old sucks. Not wanting to skip it since this phase is all about the long run I moved it to Monday evening.

Thursday - terrible trot which was a combination of carrying fatigue from Monday's run, getting stuck deep in the corral, and then just mentally kind of giving up without someone to suffer along with. Less than stellar result but at least I still got a good stimulus.

Sunday's Special Block was special indeed. Last one of these before the race and pretty non-eventful. The morning session clicked along without issue but by the time the afternoon rolled around, after working for part of the day, I was dragging and really dreading even trying to repeat the morning. Funny enough, once I got rolling after a mile warm up, I actually felt stronger than I did in the morning. (Also got to high five Allie Kieffer on the morning run. I pulled off the path to grab some water around mile 6.5 and looked up and saw her running by on the canal but no Hudson in sight. Hopped back on and after turning around ended up running into her. Pretty cool all the people I get to cross paths with on this canal.) Miles clicked off effortlessly and time flew by. Definitely feeling the 32 miles now just from a fatigue standpoint but from a mental standpoint I definitely feel a lot better about where we are at with 8 weeks to go.

Hopefully a quieter week this week so I can come back and get some comments up. For now I'm going to lay on the couch in a coma.

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and looks like some really good trots out there!

Kid B: Those workouts look very strong. What's the weather like in Dallas at this time of year?

PutoMiudo: Lots of good work. I'm looking forward to that sub 1:30!!!

gofamianho: Running with poles will get you branded an ultra trail hobby jogger! Better keep a low profile ;)

AJ: That Saturday is impressive. Your Saturday E was my Sunday T, which puts my E just slightly slower than you sitting on your couch watching football.

HHH: Dang, man. Hell of an experience. Glad it wasn't anything worse.

Stone: Glad to hear your back is back.

OR: Sounds like the winter conditions are getting tough. Good thing you are tougher.

urban diesel: Welcome to the party.

cocoon: Hope that taper will have you feeling fresh. Your easy paces strike me as still pretty fast compared to goal marathon pace. That recovery pace is still with 1 min per mile of 3:08 race pace. Damn strong. Go get it!

Back to work...

Thanks all for your kind words.

Smoove - I have definitely considered the 'you should see the other guy!' route in explaining it.

PutoMiudo - It's the 'Discoveries' Half. Looks like a straightforward, flat course, only danger might be the exposure and wind. Definitely be cool to grab a beer though, shoot me an email on

jacktiramani@gmail.com

.

Stat - Baller. 3 races in 3 days is a brilliant idea. Obviously I'd say that though.

SOBO - Well paced, nicely done!

Male, 25, 6’4”, 145

PRs: 4:54 (mile), 16:56, 1:18:00, 28:01 (8k), 2:47:14 (all 2018 but 8k 2015)

Goal: Reclaim title at trail 100k 12/2/18

Mn - PM: 12.5 @ 7:35s

Tu - PM: 18 @ 7:10s

Wd - OFF

Th - AM: 5k in 19:00 (GPS had long/6:01pace) + WU/WD = 7

Fr - PM: 3.75 @ 7:20s

Sa - AM: 5k in 19:45 (300ft elv gain, 250ft loss, muddy) + WU/WD = 8

Su - PM: 10.25 @ 7:00s

Total: ~60

Th race went 5:33 6:07 6:27 and I got third, 0 F with windchill. Sa race was fun but muddy, little more even splits if you account for the hills. Sa race had people from every running 'circle' that Ive been a part of so it was a lot of fun. LancRunner finished two places ahead of me, there was no catching him today(saturday)

Hope everybody had a good week/Turkey Trot races, will reread posts +comments

Goodluck CIM runners