Road Racing and Training Thread - Week Ending 2/23

M35, 5’10”, about 160

Road bests | 2020

5k - 15:20 (2006) | ∅

10k - 31:15 (2008) | ∅

10M - 51:52 (2009) | ∅

Half - 1:09:01 (2009) | 1:11:33 (A1A)

Full - 2:25:14 (2019) | ∅

Upcoming:

3/28 - Half?

4/5 - Cherry Blossom

4/26 - 10M?

Mo: 4 @ 7:18

Tu: 4 @ 7:27

We: 5 @ 6:53

Th: 6 @ 7:47

Fr: 8 @ 7:04

Sa: 6400m tempo in 21:32 (5:27, 5:26, 5:21, 5:18), 10 total. High 30s, sunny, steady breeze (5-10 mph).

Su: 8 @ 7:53

Total: 45 miles

Right foot/ankle isn’t great, isn’t terrible. Will try not to do anything too dumb.

M: 50min nordic ski, fell on tailbone

T: 5, bad footing

W: 8, no tempo or sprints because tailbone still sore

Th: off

F: 5 + strength (club has a free strength workout led by a PT once a month)

S: 6 w/ 1mi race (4:45.2) + 1mi/600/200 tempo + 1hr biking to/from race

S: 12mi longrun

Race Report: Bike path mile. Upper 30s and wet path but course was point-point with a steady tailwind. Running mid 4:40s felt really smooth and I moved up a couple places from 400-1200. Got out-kicked the last 400 by two people, probably a combo of fitness+mental. Ended up 4:45 and 5th place in a pretty strong field. I probably could have been 3rd-10th place so I'm pretty happy with 5th. My guess is that with the tailwind this was about equal to a track mile in good weather.

Race felt smooth so I tried to do a little 2x1mi tempo with friends. after. #1 into the wind was a struggle bus 6:18. Just felt like I couldn't take deep enough breaths. #2 I stopped after ~600, jogged a minute, tried running fast again and stopped again ~200m later.

Male, 26, 6’4”, 145 lbs

PRs: 4:54 mi to 2:47:14 M (2018)

Goal: 58min Broad Street 10M, sub 30 200m

Mn - 10 @ 7:55s w/ 8 strides

Tu - 3x1600 w/ 200(60s) rec, 4 strides + WU/WD = 10

Wd - 10 @ 8:10s

Th - 10 @ 7:25s w/ 6x10s hill sprints (solo run)

Fr - 6 @ 8:15s w/ 4 strides

Sa - AM: 30:43 5M Race + 5 WU/WD = 10, PM: 7.5 @ 7:45s

Su - AM: 14 @ 7:35s, PM: 3 planned @ slow, solo

Total - 80

Tu - 5:45 5:46 5:45

Sa - 5:43 5:58 6:24 6:21 6:23, first two downhill, 275ft of elv gain throughout, mostly in last three. 78th place

Su - 14 miles took way more out of me than it should have, looking forward to an easy 3 tonight though

-RS

"Hey Rocky! Watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat." - Bullwinkle

Male 51 5'8" 137lbs

PRs

Marathon 2:57:06 Dec 2018

5k 19:00 June 2018

Upcoming Races

10mi 3/8 or HM 3/28

April 2020 Boston

Oct. 2020 Chicago

Mon. 4.4mi Easy 8:27avg

Tues. 5.2mi Easy 8:08avg

Wed. 8.6mi as 3up+3T+2.6down (GAP 6:51, 6:44, 6:19)

Thurs. 7.1mi Easy 8:41avg

Fri. 7.5mi Easy 8:32avg

Sat. 15.2mi as 2up+2T+7E+2T+2.2down (6:26, 6:29),(6:16, 6:28)

Sun. 6mi Recovery 9:16avg, 10min Bike trainer + core and hip work

Total 54.2mi

In case anyone is not familiar with those scenes, Bullwinkle always pulls something other than a rabbit from the hat. That pretty much sums up my expectations headed into Boston. No ambitious goal time like last year. I'd still like to keep it under 3 if it all possible but with the unpredictable weather at Boston along with my inconsistent training lately we will just have to see what I pull out of my hat when the day comes. My plan for this past week was to balance building volume against adding quality back in. I think the week went pretty well other than having to end 2 or 3 runs a bit early due to dietary issues. I did join up with a group of other runners on Saturday at the C&O canal which provided a rare opportunity to run on flat terrain. No need to apply the GAP to the splits. Three from the group joined me for my workout with one of them pushing the pace a bit which had me dialing up the effort a bit more than I normally would.

“Peace is a journey of 1,000 miles and it must be taken one step at a time.” - LBJ

34/M

Getting back at it. Hobby jogging Chicago 26.2 on 4/5 and running Chicago 13.1 on 6/7.

M - 3.5 w/ 4*20-25 strides

T - 9.5 with 4*20 second hill runs and 4*20-25 second sprints. Muddy hill. Instead of face planing, gave up after 4.

W - 4.5 w/4*20 second strides

T - 7.5 w/ 6*1 minute on / 1 off fartlek

F - 1? 4*104 step sprints during hike with wife. Walked 15 miles in Austin

S - 11

S - 7

44 in around 6:20. Really easy trotting or really hard sprinting. Not much in between.

58 days booze free.

Good conversation in last weeks thread on cycle length. Fall close to Darkwaves methodology, although I’m essentially doing the opposite right now. Training my weakness (hills and sprints), but hitting the marathon first and working into the half come June, with more threshold / tempo work to come in April and May.

Ok, barbecue time.

Forgot to add 90 minute hot yoga on Monday. Good supplement

Rough race guys.

Got out well. Hit the half in 1:26:30 or so. Felt awesome at 15 and then my left hamstring started progressively cramping until mile 17 when it just kind spasm’d out. Walk/jogged the last 9 miles as I couldn’t run more than .75 miles without it acting up again. Ended up limping in at 3:14 or so. Pretty disappointed. Will write up a longer race report later.

Worm - Tough day. Welcome to the marathon blow up club. Sooner or later it happens to us all.

HHW - it’s tough when you don’t get to see all of your hard work payoff on race day. Sorry to hear about the hamstring situation. I know that too well.

I am sure as disappointed as you are, you also learned quite a bit about yourself and your talent, both in training and even today. I hope that after some time and some reflection, you can appreciate the level of running you’re now at compared to when you started posting on the thread.

No doubt, your day will come.

42M, 5'10 145ish

*- indicates treadmill

Something seems to be really wrong with my HR monitor. It's faulting frequently. At least when it faults it's obvious (sticks at something like 84 bpm).

*Mon - 12.4 Miles with Surges @ 8:37 (130 bpm)

*Tues - 10.1 Miles @ 9:00 (125 bpm)

*Wed #1 - 2.7 Miles @ 9:02 (114 bpm)

*Wed #2 - 4.3 Miles @ 6:52 (149 bpm)

*Thur #1 - 8.5 Miles @ 7:04 (HRM Fault)

*Thur #2 - 3.5 Miles @ 8:36 (119 bpm)

*Fri - 6.7 Miles @ 8:58 (116 bpm)

Sat - 3.9 Mile Warm Up + Tempo 7 Miles @ 6:05 (HRM Fault)

Sun - Long Run 18.29 Miles @ 6:54 (HRM Fault)

Weekly Totals

Miles: 77.6 Miles

Duration: 10:04

Elevation Gain: 1280 ft

The Stone Cutter wrote:

HHW - it’s tough when you don’t get to see all of your hard work payoff on race day. Sorry to hear about the hamstring situation. I know that too well.

I am sure as disappointed as you are, you also learned quite a bit about yourself and your talent, both in training and even today. I hope that after some time and some reflection, you can appreciate the level of running you’re now at compared to when you started posting on the thread.

No doubt, your day will come.

+2

Your day will come, my friend. Live to fight again...

F43, 5'6"

Upcoming races:

3/22 half

4/5 Cherry Blossom 10M

4/20 Boston

2020 Results:

2/9 half 1:35:19

Another week rolls by getting the work done.

Mo: off

Tu: 8.5 E. Legs heavy and sluggish from the Sunday 20er, but began to ease mid-run.

We: 7 E.

Th: 8.4 done as 2E + 5 T + 1.4 E. T were all 7:21-7:23. I was not very warm though I thought I dressed well enough at the start. I was going to do 2x3T but it seemed to take forever to work up to pace in the first mile and I had the feeling during the 3rd mile that a break/recovery interval might just kill my legs because they were cold, so just kept on to 5 instead of splitting it up. Is this a mistake? Would I be better served by the 2x3T rather than the single block of 5 even if the second set is a struggle and may not hit target pace?

Fr: 7.3 E

Sa: 10 E

Su: perfect weather for a long run. 18 done as 3E + 10M + 5E. M paces were all between 7:41-7:45. I tried to keep it pretty tight in that range for my first real M run of this training cycle. Don't want to be slower than 7:45 but did not want to run below 7:40 until I have a better feel for how I can handle this range. There were numerous moments I'd look down at my watch and have to dial it back. 7:35-7:40 felt pretty natural for a while but I didn't want to be struggling at the end of that 10-mile block to hit pace. Overall I felt decent but during the last mile I was starting to have the "what makes me think I'm going to be able to do this for yet another 16 miles on race day" thoughts creep in. I expect a few more solid M-pace training runs will put those thoughts to rest.

59.6 mi for the week for me. Have a good upcoming week, everyone!

@HHW: Really sorry to hear about that. You’ll be ready for your second one and you had great fitness in the buildup to this one even after the injuries hit. Take some time to regroup and get the legs healthy and you’ll be rolling again soon enough.

My week has been a little off the plan (intensity-wise) as I came down with a cold on Wednesday. Maybe going a little too hard on Tuesday + lack of sleep after my Napa trip came back to bite me. It’s been a head cold, but its sticking around annoyingly, though it doesn’t affect me while running much. And it hits the first hour or two after I wake up and similarly that hour or two before I go to sleep...

M: 7 easy, first 3 with fiancée

TU: 6.2 total, just about .8 or .9 warmup for our 6x800 at HM (lol, but really more like 5K) with 90 seconds rest (more like 1:45 for me). After the first one was around 2:59, I was warmed up and ran probably an average of 2:47 with the leaders a few seconds ahead. Probably should’ve backed off more, but I felt good with the recovery. Was very sore after though and didn’t sleep well.

WED: 5 easy with fiancée in the AM. Woke up with a cold.

THU: Passed on hill workout due to my cold and ran 6.7 easy in the Park.

FRI: 6.7 mi easy again in the park.

SAT: 9.9 verrry easy with fiancée on her long run. She wasn’t feeling very good (think she has the same cold).

SUN: 14.7 (true long run?) at 7:06 pace. Felt very easy and backed off after a fast mile 2, but still was hovering around M pace the last 4 without pushing.

total 56.3 miles. Less quality with no Thurs workout. Focusing on getting healthy this week and getting to bed early!

RRR.

Rough week of training as I went to Tampa for work and was pretty exhausted the whole time. Partly it was self inflected w a late late night where I was over served my first night there. But rallied up and killlllllled the sales at that expo.

Sunday - 4 mile run and lift

Monday - Lift

Tuesday - 4 mile run w guy at work 8:30-8:00-7:30-7:00

Wed - flight to and over served

Thur - set up

Fri - sales

Sat - sales

Anyways. Just posting as I always have. Maybe one day I can get back to legit training and not a bum.

M35, 6'2, 174 lbs

"The scenery doesn't change much if you're not the lead dog."

Mon - 7.0 mi EZ @ 8:05/mi

Tues - 2 mi WU, 7.37 mi @ 5:38/mi, 2 mi CD

Wed - 7.3 mi EZ @ 8:03/mi

Thurs - 13 mi @ 6:50/mi (Bridge Loop)

Fri - 10 mi @ 6:14/mi

Sat - 7.1 mi @ 7:56/mi

Sun - 18.5 mi @ 6:08/mi, 2 mi CD

I knew I wanted to do a fartlek of sorts on Tuesday and after searching through the archives here and online, I found the Savage Fartlek. It goes from 7 minutes down to 1 minute with your recovery being half of what you ran and the pace drops accordingly. I started out at 5:20/mi for the 7 minute segment and cut down five seconds each ensuing interval before closing out in the 4:50/mi range.

Friday was a bit rough with a sustained 15 mph wind and gusts up to 30 mph, but I was able to find a little bit of relief. It was a 10 mile aerobic run and after the first few miles I felt like I would have to treat it like a progression, but soon enough I hit where I wanted with my effort and cruised from there. My last seven miles came in at 6:07, 6:01, 6:02, 6:07, 6:05, 5:59, 5:55.

Then on Sunday I made the journey up to that Little Slice of Heaven about 1 hour away. You know, the undulating country road that rarely offers more than 400m of flat ground. Strava said I got in 783 feet of elevation, if that's to be believed.

I did 5 x 2 mi @ MP with 1/2 mile of active recovery after 6 conversational miles. Once again, I focused on effort and not time. Here are the splits - 5:49, 5:41 | 5:44, 5:41 | 5:47, 5:46 (Worst hills they got) | 5:42, 5:41 | 5:43, 5:37. I'm pleased with the consistency and once I did get to the rare flat during a 2 mile rep, my pace dropped to 5:35/mi, which is right where I want to be all things equal.

I accidentally did Sunday's workout without water. It wasn't planned that way, but I felt pretty good minus a slight side stitch that I had to fight through in the last 2 miles. When I go back in a few weeks, I need to either carry water with me or drop a bottle around an area that I make a few passes by, because I hardly go back around to my car until the end.

I don't plan on doing any MP work on flat ground until I use a half marathon as a training run during a 15 @ MP workout. This leads to an interesting question: Do I add on during the middle of the run (It will probably be an out-and-back at some point, so I would go out 1 mile and turn around) OR Do I plow through the finish and keep going? Chances are I could win this thing.

After taking all of last week off out of an abundance of caution, I got back out there this week for four days.

Our annual corporate 5k is on April 9th, and it’s a pretty big event - 16,000 or so people including about 200 from my new company. So I am going to sign up for that and see if I can get under 19:00 by then.

While that might seem sort of depressing to some given my races in recent years, somehow, I’m kind of excited to see if I can do it.

@Smoove - 16,000!? Do they do corrals and stuff or is it just one huge start?

Mostly it’s one big start.

They have a seeded corral, but every company gets a bracelet to get you in.

They also have a walkers corral, which probably makes up about half the total number of people.

It’s such a mess that I’m past years, I’ve won (sub 16:00 is usually good for the win) and finished before all of the walkers made it out of the corral.

Stat: Impressive workouts.

gfmah: Nice week!

Sub 6: Nice week. Take care of that foot and ankle.

pewow: Nice mile!

RunnerSam: Nice week!

Still Improving: I'll put my lobster roll down and cheer for you. You still have 8-9 weeks a lot can happen.

RunGuy Midwest: nice week! A lot of strides.

BHViking: Good week. is it a chest strap? If not can you just get one?

drcrusher: Nice week. I'd say you should of dressed warmer Th.

HHW: Sorry to hear about the race. It happens.

THOUGHTSLEADER: Smart week! Hope you feel better.

RRR: It's just a recovery week.

TRL: impressive week!

Smoove: Glad to see you're back with a goal!

Race report. Planned on running very conservatively after a big week for me. That lasted until the gun went off. The first mile was 60 feet down 80 feet up. Felt strange running down. I don't have the turnover or stride to go fast atm. I was probably in about 60th place. Going up was pretty controlled. Passed about 20 that went out more foolish than me. Mile mark right at the top. 2-3 was slightly down hill so picked off another 12 here while getting passed by a couple. 3rd mile was all flat and pretty uneventful. I was well beyond running comfortably so just tried every little trick I could think of to keep going. 4th mile I got passed by 3 guys and started getting worried. The last 400m has an 80ft hill. 3 others were 10 yards behind me and I knew that hill would kill me. Tried putting in a surge just to open the gap a little more. That hill got rough. I was picking points "just get to there" rough. I guess it worked held off 2 of the 3 before the finish.

Splits were so so, mostly from hills. 7:54,7:30,7:50,8:20 for 31:38, 31st place and a fancy new running hat.