Road Racing and Training Thread, Week Ending 5/19/19

Bruin1996 wrote:

BHViking: Thanks for the information about this Stryd feature. I mainly use my Stryd footpod as a distance tracker so haven't really used any of the other power-related features at all. I tend to follow my effort by my HR during training and races. Do you do this with the Stryd app or are you able to add this functionality to a Garmin GPS watch?

JamesTheAmateur: The 3x2 with 800 Recovery is one of Hanson's Marathon Method strength workouts. MAF stands for Maffetone pace (named after Dr. Phil Maffetone) which is an easy run pace based on HR (the formula is 180-age +5 if you have been healthy and have been making competitive progress, -5 if you have recently been injured)

Hi Bruin,

For several of my runs lately, I've been setting an alarm on my Garmin on the power reading instead of HR. I found that by doing so that I'm keeping my HR lower over the course of the run whether it's just starting to go too fast on a flat or up a hill. This probably works better because the power reading responds so much faster than the physiological response of your heart beat. In other words, I back off the effort before my HR goes over the high limit rather than wait for it to hit the high limit and then back off. So my "Low HR Training" seems to be improving slightly by following this made up power number which seems crazy.

One comment on MAF I'd like to throw out there is that I believe it works fairly well for the general population. However, since it is an age based equation, it doesn't account for the individual. Some people have extremely high MaxHR and some have very low. The actual MaxHR seems to have absolutely no correlation to fitness. For me, MAF is about 70% of my MaxHR and for others I've seen it approach 85%. I've read in MAF blogs in which it was stated that Marathon Pace can be expected to be about 15 seconds per mile faster than MAF Test Pace. Yeah, maybe for the guy where MAF = 83% MaxHR, but certainly not me! Having said that, I do think there is value in doing a submaximal test to correlate HR to Pace and tracking how it improves over time.

runrincerepeat wrote:

Nice one JQ! Racing a lot is def fun and can build that fitness. Wanted to race a lot this summer but there is just a lack of good races around here. So going with May 31 st 2 Miler, Late June 5k, July4th 4miler, Early August 5k, Labor Day 10k.

One of the downers of living in a smaller place just cant jump into races on random weekends on a whim.

Thanks!! Actually not a bad string of races you've got there! Totally agree about racing into fitness, plus it's just a ton of fun.

Wish parkrun was a much bigger thing here in the states!

Sorry I am late to the show here. I have been busy.

JQ - That is a heck of a run in some not so good conditions. You are on a roll, brother, and I am happy for you.

RRR - Have been wanting to say...Don’t think for I minute that I missed that “lo these many years” reference you made a few days ago. Nice!

Thanks!! Hope to keep the ball rolling! Hope everyone is having a great Memorial Day Weekend!

Just did my first long run ever where the faster stuff was evenly spaced throughout the run, instead of always toward the end/second half. 30K w/ 12x(1K on, 1K off). Felt like a solid amount of work and surprisingly easier mentally and physically than I was expecting! Also, running at a faster pace throughout the duration of a whole long run feels like some good stimulus. Will experiment more with this in the future.

I completed the JQ 400 today.

My Mem. Day weekend is going well so far. First Sat and Sun I have had off in a while. Have to work on Mon. My daughter graduated today. Looking forward to running long tomorrow.

outsiderunner wrote:

My daughter graduated today. Looking forward to running long tomorrow.

Congratulations to your daughter. That's a full month before the graduation ceremonies up here. Have a great run tomorrow. I hope to get out for a few miles tomorrow, myself. Week total is only at 20 miles so far. Semi-dry Finger Lakes Riesling in my glass ... a bit too sweet, but tasty.

Thanks, Allen. She graduated high school.

I am generally okay with wine that is a tad sweet.

Regarding tomorrow’s run, it is day 7 of Stone’s 21-day cycle. I have not explained much yet, but he kindly sent me a 21-day cycle, made just for me. I like what he has in it, but the weather kicked my can when I attempted the 1k reps this week. You know how I like positive outcomes. In any case, he thinks it is good for me to get out of my comfort zone, and I cannot argue with that. Nonetheless, it has been a good week. The last two days have drained me some, as it has been quite sunny and warm. So, a bit on edge about tomorrow’s long run, as it will be warmer and sunnier yet. If I pull it off, it will be a big week.