Greetings, runners! Please tell us about your past training week and upcoming goals.
Mon 0Tue 8mi (1:15) tmWed 0Thu 9.3mi (1:25) tmFri 7mi (0:58) tmSat 9.4mi (1:38)Sun 9.4mi (1:21) tmTotal: 43.1 milesonly one outdoor run this week.
it's treadmill season
Good job on your TM miles Alexander!Last week was week 3 of the semi-finals and all I could do was make green but nothing over. It was just a very busy week and weekend and it was all I could do to get myself out the door, in the rain, on Sunday to make sure I at least met green goal.
Tues: 5.3 miles
Wed: 7 miles
Fri: 5.5 miles
Sun: 5.3 miles
TOTAL 23.1 miles
Did all of you sign up for next years game? I guess the game needs something like 65 people to make it work and they are only a little over half way there as of a couple days ago. Hopefully enough people will sign up. Hopefully more than enough so we can have more teams like in years past. Since we are up against the Quick's team in that 3rd week of the finals and they are consistently super strong, I'm not super optimistic that our team will be going into the finals. This week I probably won't run much.
Tammy
Since we are up against the Quick's team in that 3rd week of the finals and they are consistently super strong, I'm not super optimistic that our team will be going into the finals.
Tammy, with Krash on your team I'm not super optimistic either. Tonight will tell, but at least I know I did my part.
Monday - 6.8 miles (9:51 pace)
Tuesday - 6.3 miles (9:32) Blistering pace! Got a nasty blister.
Wednesday - 2.5 sore miles (9:43)
Thursday - 3.6 sore miles (9:51)
Friday - 6.0 miles (9:51)
Saturday - 7.7 miles (9:51)
Sunday - 3.7 tired miles (9:42)
Total 36.6 miles (183%)
Definitely a cutback week this week.
Started running at age 60.
AG 60-64 PR - 5K 25:45, 10K 53:28, HM 1:57:39, Marathon 4:32:09
AG 65-69 PR - 5K 26:11, HM 2:02:39, Marathon 5:04:47
Upcoming race: Contraband 5 miler 5/4/24
Waltons ThreadLord
Alexander - Thanks for the kind words about my training. Yes it went well and though the weather didn't cooperate on race day I can at least put that training to use on shorter races. Nice running last week. Sorry you only got out once, but it sounds like your routine is to head indoors this time of year - whatever works for you is what's best for you.
Tammy - Nice job getting to green. Your team fought hard in week 3, but we edged you out by (I'm told) 7 miles. So close.
Quick - You deserve the cutback week.
I finally got over 30 miles for a week, my best since the marathon.
Mon - rest
Tue - easy 6.4
Wed - rest
Thu - easy 5.9
Fri - easy 6.4
Sat - easy 7.1 (longest run so far, post-marathon)
Sun - easy 6.2
32.0 miles total.
5k 23:48.45 (3/22); 4M 31:26 (2/22); 5M 38:55 (11/23); 10k 49:24 (10/22); 10M 1:29:33 (2/24); Half 1:48:32 (10/22); Marathon 4:29:58 (11/23)Upcoming races: Running is Back 10k, 5/12; Greta's Run 5k, 5/19
Did all of you sign up for next years game? I guess the game needs something like 65 people to make it work and they are only a little over half way there as of a couple days ago. Hopefully enough people will sign up. Hopefully more than enough so we can have more teams like in years past.
Participation in the game seems to be generally shrinking. I don't know whether the membership base of Running Ahead is changing size and whether that plays into it. It's been my observation (and I know this is subjective) that every year there are a set of people who are unhappy with the outcome of the competition (despite the kind of thing recently posted by Krash indicating the main reason for the game is not the competition) and those people lobby for changes to the game to fix what they think caused the outcome that they didn't like. A subset of those people will leave the game when their fixes are not implemented. Unfortunately, I also think there's another subset of people who leave because they don't like the tone of the discussions around "fixing" the game. It's never going to be perfect and it's never going to be for everyone. Some people are OK with that. Some aren't. I'm trying to be judgement-free here, so if the above doesn't read that way, please know it was at least my intent.
I totally hear and agree with your observations Fred. I do feel like the whole base of RA is shrinking compared to what it used to be. I rarely wander outside the masters forum but on the rare occasion I do, the other forums have very little conversation going on. Some forums can go weeks w/o new threads started. It used to not be like that. You could read current topics and conversations going on in almost all the different forums.
For me, and I think for the majority of players, the game is just that. A Game. to motivate, keep on track, keep accountability, have some team fun competition and camaraderie, etc. It's the vocal few who sling the mud and put a damper on things. and like I said to Krash "why? like who really cares if you feel you somehow got shafted from winning that non-existent virtual trophy"? I don't get it. I don't get why some people get SO worked up about the tiniest of things that they don't perceive as fair.
on that note. . .are you playing again next year?
I joined the admin team around the middle of 2022 and at that time we were thinking that 2022 might be the last year the game would run as the numbers had declined steadily each year. We were pleasantly surprised that there were a few more participants in 2023 than in 2022. I just checked and we have 44 registered for the 2024 team game so far and normally quite a few runners leave it to the last minute to sign up (and a few others manage to miss the deadline because they waited too long!) so it is looking hopeful there will be a 2024 game.
Very unlikely that there will be enough runners to have more than 8 teams as the teams really need to be larger than the current 8-10 runners each to avoid the situations where a team gets down to 4 or 5 active participants.
General usage of RA seems to be declining - every runner knows about Strava, but few know of RA. I only found out about RA when others mentioned it as a possible alternative when Runners World closed their forums.
I have been slacking at the end of November after my team lost in the 1st round of "The Game".
M - slacking
T - 6.2 miles (9:38/mile)
W - 6.2 miles (10:02/mile)
Th - slacking
F - slacking
Sa - slacking
Su - slacking
_______________
Total - 12.4 miles
I've joined the game I think all but 1 year since it migrated over to RA. I'm deciding now whether to join next year or not. I like playing it since it provides extra motivation for meeting my yearly goals along with just getting me out the door. 2024 is going to be a busy year. I have a marathon in April. So, I'll get my miles in through the winter/spring. After that we have a lot of other things that will make it difficult to run consistently which I think is a requisite for me to play. I might join the individual game instead of the team game. Tammy's views on the game mirror my own.
Paul
Paul's blog
What a lot of people don't realize is that the rules for IR also apply for LOA (Leave of Absence). If life is getting in the way of meeting your commitment to the team, take a zero and then go on IR/LOA for a few weeks before jumping back in ....
I joined the individual game one year - hardly ran any miles at all .... just saying.
What a lot of people don't realize is that the rules for IR also apply for LOA (Leave of Absence). If life is getting in the way of meeting your commitment to the team, take a zero and then go on IR/LOA for a few weeks before jumping back in .... I joined the individual game one year - hardly ran any miles at all .... just saying.
I waited until nearly the last minute, but I did sign up for the team game again. I have a hard time of seeing how the individual game woul dhelp motivate me. Plus, it is a way to meet new RA runners.
Did all of you sign up for next years game?
Tammy, yes, I signed up again. I keep reducing my yearly goal, but not too much. I want it to be challenging, but realistic.
And you are still getting green! I have not been green for a while now.
Quickadder, another great week, 183% !!
Very nice week, Fred, and congratulations to you and your team on the win!
Regarding the game and the rules, I don't have a strong preference and I would participate in whatever format.
But I did like the old rules better. There used to be no playoffs, so no "sudden death" and arguably one could stay
motivated until the last day of the year and still have a chance to move up. Also, I really liked it when the weekly goal was
automatically adjusted based on the total for the year so far, it kind of made a lot of sense to me. If you fell behind
it was stimulating you to catch up, and if you were ahead it was also rewarding you for that.
Paul, same here! My team lost in the 1st round and that was it for me. I've been slacking big time ever since.
I still sort of have my personal goal, of course, but it is not nearly as motivating as running for the team