Road Racing and Training Thread - Week Ending 11/3/19 (NYC Marathon Edition)

Good luck to JQ and to all the other racers!

Male, 41, 5’11”, low 170s

PRs: 16:43 (2019) 1:17:24 (2019), 2:47:00 (2018)

Goal race: California International Marathon (12/8/19)

Goal time: 2:42:00-2:46:00, will narrow down the target as the race gets closer

Starting 6 weeks out from CIM

M - 5 miles. Including 5 x :20 strides.

T - Rest

W - Rest

Th - 6 miles. Including 5 x :20 strides.

F - 6 miles. Including 5 x :20 strides

Sa - 21 miles. 11 miles easy (7:39/average), 10 miles around marathon pace (6:06/average).

Su - 12 miles. Pacing the first part of Mrs. Stone’s long run workout.

Total: 50 miles

Year to Date: 1,747 miles

Experienced a mild soleus flareup during and after Monday’s easy run, so I took a couple days off for precautionary purposes and rehabbed it with foam rolling and lacrosse ball work. Took it easy the first couple days back, but was all systems go for Saturday’s long run.

Conditions were perfect Saturday. 32F and windless. I stopped around 10.5 miles for a few minutes to take my second gel, get a drink, change shirts, and change from Bostons to OG VFs. Finished the 21 miles feeling worked, but certainly not spent. The week inadvertently became a taper week heading into Saturday, but it was still a solo run in the dark just 6 days removed from a 3 hour hilly run.

With a few more weeks of workouts, a true taper, some race partners, and race day magic...

Hope everyone else had a great week.

Progression of Workouts this Cycle

Week of 9/16 (52 miles)

*12 x 400m off 1:00 walk recoveries. Roads. :77/average.

*5 mile MP tempo. 6:24/average.

*15 mile progression. 75%-->100% MP. 8:25-->6:19/mile.

Week of 9/23 (62 miles)

*8 x .5 mile off 1:30 walk/jog recoveries. Roads. 2:48/average.

*6 mile MP tempo. 6:21/average.

*16 miles. Including 8 mile continuous alternating tempo as 4 x (1.5 miles MP, .25 mile fast, .25 mile easy). 9:31/1:18/1:55 averages. 6:22/average overall for the 8 miles.

Week of 9/30 (70 miles)

*6 x 1 mile off 2:00 jog recoveries. 5:42/average.

*17 miles. Including 4 miles (6:24)/3 miles (6:19)/2 miles (6:06)/1.1 mile (5:52) off 1 mile moderate recoveries (6:55). 1:23:52 overall for the middle 13.1 miles (6:24/average).

Week of 10/7 (80 miles)

*2 x 2 miles, 1 x 1 mile off 2:30 recovery jogs. 5:50/average. (Was scheduled for 4 x 2 miles but felt flat and cut it short.)

*14 miles. Including 10 mile continuous alternating tempo as 10 x (.5 mile at 5:53, .5 mile at 6:24). 6:09/average overall for the middle 10 miles.

Week of 10/14 (60 miles)

*7 mile progression. MP—>HMP. 6:19–>5:48/mile. 6:03/average overall for the 7 miles.

*19 miles. Including 17 miles steady @ 6:34/average.

Week of 10/21 (75 miles)

*3 x 3 miles off 3:30 jog recoveries. 5:49/average. 1:25:36 (6:32/mile) overall for the 13.1 miles.

*8 mile tempo. 6:06/average. Felt like 30km race pace.

*20 miles very easy, hilly. 754 feet elevation gain. (2:58:39).

Week of 10/28 (50 miles)

*21 miles total. 11 miles easy (7:39/average), 10 miles around marathon pace (6:06/average).

The streets of the five boroughs beckon. Kill it, JQ.

Another 72-mile week. Two weeks to go until Richmond (13 days, to be precise). Leg got sore/tight toward the end of yesterday’s workout, but it is feeling good this morning. Enjoy the fall weather, folks.

M: 10.60 at 7:29 overall...leg tight

T: 10.25 at 7:37 overall...nice easy running

W: 13.32 at 6:37 overall...2 x 4 workout with 4:30 jog rest...felt great in the first block, so-so in the second block...6:06.9, 6:03.0, 6:02.1, 6:04.1...6:00.6, 6:05.6, 6:07.8, 6:01.3...6:04.0/6:03.8 avg.

T: 8.33 at 7:32 overall...nice easy running

F: 11.14 at 7:23 overall...felt great...felt like absolutely nothing

Sat.: 18.5 at 6:32 overall...4-3-2-1 LR workout with 6:55-7:00 1-mile rests...6:10-6:05-6:00-5:55 targets...6:11.8, 6:09.0, 6:06.5, 6:06.7...6:02.9, 6:02.5, 6:03.3...5:57.4, 5:56.9...5:47.6...felt strong in the last two sets, even with the leg getting sore/tight

72 miles

Let’s get after it, boys and girls!

Male, 43, 5’10”, 132 lbs

Goal- 3:05 on 11/24

Plan - Jack Daniels 2Q Plan

S - 10 easy

M - 15 with 6E, 5x800 at 6:05, 6E

T - 6 recovery

W - 10 easy

Th- 10 easy

F- 21

Sat - Swim 1 mile

Total - 71

Third straight weekly mileage PR, finished with a good 21 miler, and that’s going to be the peak week for this block. Now there are three weeks to go, taper will be 90% of peak 3 weeks out, 60-70% 2 weeks out, and 40% the week of. Good luck to everyone.

“Marathon is life. It’s not about the legs, but it’s about the heart and mind.” — Eliud Kipchoge

M39 6-6 187

6 days until back to back marathon greatness at Indy

M 8.7

T continuous 2M (6:10 avg) 4H (5:56-5:47-5:45-5:44) 2M (6:06 avg) - 13 total

W 8.3

Th 6

F 8.3

S 13

S 6

Total: 63.3

Tuesday was my traditional last workout before a marathon. It went well. Amazing how easy the last two miles at marathon pace feel when you back off from tempo-ish pace. Got some awesome sleep the last two nights. Legs feel a little tired/sore. Officially got clearance from the control tower this week so Indy is a go. Will taper hard this week. Sub 2:40 here I come.

AJ goin’ back-to-back. I love it!

Stone, nice guy, OR, AJ- strong workouts all around.

m38, 6 days to 2:29 at Indy Monumental

m- AM-9+strides/PM- 5

*t- AM- 8@5:40 pace PM- 4.5

w- 8.5/4.5

th- 9

*f- AM- 6 x 1k, pretty slow, sleep deprived (3:25, 3:21, 3:19, 3:19, 3:20, 3:19). PM- 4.5

s- 13

su- 8

85

really need to get sleep. I think I was battling a cold or something on Friday because felt rough. And I’d be lying if I said the hip was anywhere near 100%. but it’s held up surprisingly well since I messed it up and never starts hurting during workouts or anything. The cold doesn’t seem to help though.

I do have my weight down to 151-152, which to me is a big advantage coming in.

I’m not crazy about the mid-20s forecast for the start temperature and I wish the wind forecast was from any direction but the south. But it’s game on. Worst case scenario, if I can’t hold the pace that day I will get out by 30k or 20 miles and come back for another shot at Philly two weeks later. But I will run sub-2:30 pace for as long as I am physically able to on Saturday...(and then pick it up!)

Mrs. Stone’s week:

Female, 44, 5’6”

PRs: 21:20 (2017, 2019), 1:36:43 (2019), 3:31:40 (2019)

Goal race: California International Marathon (12/8/19)

Goal time: sub 3:25:00 (7:49 pace)

Starting 6 weeks out from CIM

M - 5 miles

T - 11 miles

W - Rest

Th - 3+ miles.

F - 7 miles

Sa - 9+ miles

Su - 18.1 miles (2:26:00). Including 4 miles (7:39) / 3 miles (7:38) / 2 miles (7:34) / 1.1 mile (7:28) with 1 mile moderate recoveries (8:24). 1:42:01 for the middle 13.1 miles.

Weekly Total: 54 miles

Year to Date: 2,140 miles

Like me, Mrs. Stone was feeling a little banged up this week so we tossed out the midweek workout and focused our attention on recovery and getting in a solid long run. Perfect conditions again this morning. The extra hour of sleep helped also. Today was a big confidence booster for her - just 5 weeks to go...

“ get in where you fit in” Too Short

RRR 6ft 159 A young 36

Sun - AM super painful 6 miles + Bike

Mon - Some Bike. 60 mins elliptical including 15x1on1off. Lifted

Tues - 45mins elliptical 15x1on1off Lifted. Some bike

Wed - some bike -4 miles easy (less painful)

Thur - some bike - 50mins elliptical including 20x1on1off. Ons all out. Offs steady. HR at end of the workouts was 175 for ons. One of the hardest workouts ever did. Almost threw up. And then lifted

Fri- 4 miles run less painful still. Then lifted. Some bike.

Sat - 4 miles run. A little less painful.

Totals 18 miles run. 4x lifted. 2:35 of elliptical. And 50ish miles bike.

Taking a cue from too short I just got in whatever I could get in work wise. Lifted hard and heavy. Somehow have hit race weight.

This morn on the run the pain was confined to a 6inch radius of my tail bone. Not down the hip or hammy or even lower glute. So fingers are crossed. If feeling pretty good will prob go out at 2:39 pace w the giraffe and see if I stay loose after the split off at 7.5 ish miles. Then can maybe pick it up if I’m okay? Really just gonna have to wait and see. Deep massage planned for Tuesday to try and work out some last min kinks.

Only thing that worries me as I felt kind of “out of shape” on the morning run this morning. But that could have been the big peanut butter and jelly waffle I ate before going.

About halfway through, and our JQ is looking really good.

M36, 6'1" 160

Semi-Applicable PRs: 1:38 HM (November 2018), 19:45 5K (July 2019 time trial)

Short-Term Goals: 1:35 HM (11/23), 19:30 5K (11/28)

M: Easy running + 8 x :20 strides, 4.47 miles total

Tu: 3 mile tempo @ 6:50, 6.07 miles total

W: 4.05 miles easy

Th: 6.26 miles easy

F: 5 x 1k @ 3:55 avg w/ 1.5-2 min walking rest, 6.37 miles total

Sa: 4.05 miles easy

Su: 11.15 mile progression, 9:10-->7:30

Total: 42.4 miles

I'm happy with this week's training. Previous tempos had been done around 7:10-7:20 pace - I didn't pay much attention to my watch this week and ran comfortably hard and was pleasantly surprised with the splits. Previous 1k reps had been done between 4:00-4:15 - the reps this week were run at the same sort of perceived effort but all came in under 4:00 (low of 3:51). Longish progression run also felt very comfortable. Not sure if I'm seeing some gains in fitness, or if the cooler temperatures are playing a part, but in any case things seem to be moving in the right direction. Also - 4 straight weeks of no days off and 40+ miles.

With

Darn less than symbol got me...

With less than 3 weeks until race day, the goal for next week is just to keep the ball rolling and not do anything stupid. I'll likely have to take a day or two off next weekend due to parenting responsibilities, but that probably isn't the worst thing in the world. I'm also thinking a 5K time trial might be in order to see where I'm at.

Thanks to everyone who's provided feedback so far - I really do appreciate it.

Bring it home JQ!

Good luck to all NYC marathon runners!

Male, 29, 6'2", 159

PRs: 1:18:52 (Mar 10, 2019), 2:45:37 (Apr 14, 2019), 17k in 59 mins (Sept 29, 2019)

Goal race: Half Marathon (11/17/19) ~ 1h15 --> 14 days to go

With 3 weeks to go to the race plan was to do 3 quality sessions: LT Intervals, 10K reps and 20-25' tempo.

However week was spoiled with digestion issues and weather, it has been raining whole week.

Finally, it was a lot of volume for me but medium quality.

Mon:

-------- DR - 1h - 8mi w/ 6 strides

Tue:

-------- HS - 10 x 15" on 90" send off --- hard time doing them under the rain

-------- DR - 1h05 - 8.75mi --- hilly and easy

Wed:

-------- DR - 40' - 5mi --- easy

-------- LT - 1h15 - 12mi w/ 5 x 1.5mi @ LT r=300m jog < 90"

-------- pace: 5'47 / 51 / 55 / 51 / 59 --> avg 5'52

-------- on the slow end but I'm not used to such big volume + weather wasn't helping

Thu:

-------- DR - 1h05 - 8mi w/ 6 strides

Fri:

-------- DR - 40' - 5mi --- easy

-------- CV - 1h30 - 13mi w/ 8 x 1000 CV r=60" + 4 x 30" fast on road under the rain

-------- splits: 3'24 / 29 / 34 / 28 / 34 / 39 / 39 / 43 --> avg. 3'30 wind adjusted

-------- splits are all over the place

-------- against the wind on the way back

Sat:

-------- DR - 1h - 7.5mi --- easy on rolling hills

Sun:

-------- LR - 1h45 - 15.5mi w/ 4 x 3k cut-downs under the rain on muddy path

-------- pace: 6'40 / 6'32 / 6'24 / 6'00 --> avg 6'24

Total: 10h40 - 88.75 miles - 600 RSS

* DR - Distance Run; HS - Hill Sprints; LT - Lactate Threshold Run; CV - Critical Velocity; LR - Long Run

Hi everyone,

Posting this weeks training.

Basic Stats: M34/6'2"/179.8 as of this morning

Running Age: 4.75 months (reformed jumper/sprinter back in high-school/college)

PRs: 6'9" HJ (college)/22'2" LJ (college)/49.5 400 (high school)/1:58 800 (high school)/17:32 5k (2 weeks ago)

Plan: Daniels 2Q w/ VDOT 56

Goal Race: Hyannis Marathon 2/23/2020

Goal Time: Sub-3 I think but will revise in January.

Week ending 10/27:

Miles: 66

Workouts:

-Q1: 3E+6M+1E+6M. Overall avg. 6:51. M miles were 6:52/6:47/6:37/6:36/6:29/6:24 for the first block and 6:41/6:31/6:30/6:26/6:19/6:05 for the second block.

Week ending 11/3:

Monday (10/28): 10E. Avg. 7:45/Avg. BPM 149. Felt OK. Some pain behind left knee.

Tuesday (10/29): 6E Avg. 7:38/Avg. BPM 148. Felt great. No pain.

Wednesday (10/30):

Q2: 8E+3T+3' Rest+2T+2E (Total 15 miles). Avg. 7:09. Avg BPM 160. 10E miles total around 7:40 avg. 5T miles 6:23/6:10/6:18/6:08/6:11. Legs felt great.

Thursday (10/31) : 10E. Avg. 7:52. Avg. BPM 151. Felt great. Little niggle in left knee around mile 5 but disappeared quickly.

Friday (11/1): 8E. Avg. 7:49. Avg BPM 150. Felt awesome.

Saturday (11/2): 8E. Avg. 7:23. Avg BPM 148. Felt good. Cold so wore mittens and couldn’t wake up watch. End result was running faster than desired.

Sunday (11/3):

Q1: E+3T+60' E+1T+1E (Total 16M). 3 warmup miles averaging 7:42 before entering the 3T portion of the workout. I ran mile posts instead of following Strava and had 6:00/5:58/5:50. The effort felt hard but controlled and I immediately continued into my E miles. I averaged 7:22 for this 8E section and ran directly onto the track for the last T mile which I hit at 5:55. Last E mile was 7:24. Overall it was a hard but good effort.

Total Miles: 73. New mileage PR for second week in a row!

Thoughts on this week

1) My legs feel good. Despite the pretty steep increase in mileage I feel like I am responding well and getting fit pretty quickly. No real injury concerns to speak of.

2) I am running my T miles too fast for my VDOT. I am pretty consistent on pace and don't feel like I am stretching. I think this is a product of still being pretty underdeveloped aerobically as the M paces for this VDOT seem right for me.

3) I am finding the day after a Q workout is a good day to get in 10-12E. Slow longer runs seem to help me recover well from harder efforts.

4) I am running a HM next Sunday. I am thinking I will run it as something in-between a workout and and a race. I will go out and run the first 8-9 miles at M pace and then see if I can close hard. I think this will get me to a PR (hopefully!)

Good luck to everyone running NYC. I am following JQ on the app as well as a few friends!

Whoops that Sunday run should read 3E+3T+60' E+1T+1E (Total 16M)

Go JQ!!!!

***

Female, 45, 5'4", 105

PRs 5:25/18:51/38:56/1:02:28/1:24:22/2:57:42

Goal races: Indianapolis Monumental Marathon, Houston Half-Marathon

Goal times: 18:30 for 5K, 1:23:xx for half, sub-2:55 for full

49 miles, 2 hours 40 minutes of pool-running, and 1000 yards of swimming

M: DIY yoga and 80 minutes pool-running.

T: 11 miles, including a track workout of 2x800, 1600, 2x800 in 2:59, 2:57, 5:58, 2:53, 2:49. Recoveries of 2:31-2:36 after 800s, 5:03 recovery after 1600. Followed with light leg strengthwork and 500 yards recovery swimming.

W: DIY yoga, 8 miles very easy (8:58), drills and four hill strides. Then another mile to test race shoes (8:13)

Th: Upperbody weights/core and 80 minutes pool-running.

F: 11 miles, including a 5K tempo on the track in 20:11 (6:35/6:29/6:24/0:46). Followed with 500 yards recovery swimming.

Sa: 8 miles very easy (8:40), drills and 4 hill strides and then light upper bodyweights and core, and DIY yoga

Su: 10.5 miles, split as first 3 easy (8:22), and last 7.5 moderate (7:00). Followed with some injury prevention work at gym and DIY yoga.

Feeling pretty good about my fitness - both Tuesday and Sunday felt very good (I was expecting to hit around 7:20-30 for the moderate effort, and was pleasantly surprised by what the effort yielded.

Since Indy may be quite cold (mid 20s), I ran Sunday's run (40 degrees) in what I might wear for Indy (light tights, longsleeve over singlet and arm-warmers). I felt comfortable in that get up at 7:00 pace in 40 degrees, so I may wear that for Indy, since I'm not concerned about overheating badly at marathon pace if it rises to the 30s at the end.

Friday's tempo was a bit slower than expected, but there was a good reason/excuse. I got to the workout late and wasn't able to do my normal warm-up (hip mobility exercises plus 3.5-4 miles of fartlek). Instead - I just did 2 miles easy, 2 strides, and went. And felt stiff and tight until sometime in the third mile. So now I've re-confirmed I really do need that much warm-up.

As for why I was late? Short story is that a tree tried to fall on our house early Friday morning!!! (more details/pictures on the Instagram). We're all fine, and the house is actually still inhabitable, though with some damage. But...the marathon next week has now been put solidly in perspective.

Whoops - forgot the link to the pictures: https://www.instagram.com/p/B4U_M4SHeg3/ (you need to swipe past the cat)

JQ just laid waste to NYC. Really impressive, aggressive running. Very deserving of that breakthrough.

Without ambition one starts nothing. Without work one finishes nothing. The prize will not be sent to you. You have to win it. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

M - 11.5mi including 4x2mi with 2min rest. Averaged 11:25 per 2mi, but I'm embarrassed to share how I got there: (5:42,5:38)(5:28,5:54)(5:41,5:41)(5:48,5:49).

Thought for sure my GPS was lying for the first nearly 5 minutes of rep 2 so I just tried to stay steady. Turns out it wasn't. I can choose to be optimistic about not totally blowing up after that mistake, or be pessimistic about how my sense of pace seems to be totally borked 12 days before a race that will require pacing myself. I still haven't decided which side I'm on yet. 5s/mi faster average compared to 4 weeks ago seems promising.

T - 6mi

W - 7mi

T - 8.6mi including 6x1k with 90s rest (3:17, 3:21, 3:19, 3:17, 3:17, 3:15) plus 4x30s pretty hard on the jog back home (planned 4x200m at the track but running short on time) averaged 13s/km faster than 5 weeks ago at what I vaguely recall being similar effort, but also 25° degrees cooler now and lighter load leading into it.

F - 7mi

S - 10mi on the uptempo-iest side of easy, maybe close to medium, with some short pickups towards the end (7:07 avg)

S - TBD, possibly off or possibly 6-8mi but I have a down moment now to report and don't expect to have as much time later.

Headache, needing unusually large amounts of sleep for a couple days throughout the GT household. Might be illness passing though, so might take it easy since it's race week.

Total - 50-58 miles

Pretty erratic pacing trying to find the groove on the workouts this week, but feeling pretty fit. Not sure where that puts me. So far the only mitigation strategy I've come up with for race day is to vow to not go full maniac and try to pass Slo.

Fun Facts: Cycle Retrospective Edition

Average MPW since mid-August: 71 miles

Previous best ~10 week stretch: 55 miles

Peak week: 76.5 miles

Previous best peak: 71miles

Fastest mile: 5:11

Slowest mile: 10:03

This is the first week since August that didn't have a run averaging slower than 9:00 pace.

Weight this morning: 170lbs

Weight at Last Half Marathon PR: ~180lbs

6 days till it's time to go to work.