Competitive Jerks Racing and Training - 2023 (Read 572 times)

Fishyone


    2:59:29- Very pleased with the result.  Everything had to go my way to sneak in under 3 and it did.  Perfect weather, Great race support etc.  I don't remember it being as hard in 2015 when I was 45 LOL

     

    Probably had a shot at a PR but I obviously need to work on my stamina.  Maybe a summer of miles and more 20+ milers will cure me of the sudden habit I've developed of slipping toward the end or races.  This should have been a negative split race but I'm very happy.

     

     

     

     

    Split Time Pace Overall Place Gender Place Division Place Cumulative Time Time of Day
    Start             06:59:01
    Split 1 Mile 16.88 1:54:48 6:48 min/mile 57/505 53/277 1/24 1:54:48 08:53:49
    Split 2 Mile 9.32 1:04:41 6:56 min/mile 44/488 41/268 1/22 2:59:37 09:58:30
    Net Time 2:59:29 6:51 min/mile 49/493 46/271 1/22 2:59:37 09:58:30

    5K 18:36 (2023), 10K 39:40 (2022), 1/2 1:24:37 (2023), full 2:58:36 (2015) 

    CalBears


      2:59:29- Very pleased with the result.  Everything had to go my way to sneak in under 3 and it did.  Perfect weather, Great race support etc.  I don't remember it being as hard in 2015 when I was 45 LOL

        

       

       

      Woo-hoo!  Congrats Fishy! I used to think sub 3 is not a big deal, but I learned during last few years it's always so sweet doesn't matter what age you ran it at.

       

      Great accomplishment - logical end of great training progression!

       

      Now you should concentrate on long term goal, the same RP has now - sub 3 at 60+ years old 

      paces PRs - 5K - 5:48  /  10K - 6:05  /  HM - 6:14  /  FM - 6:26 per mile

        Fishy 👏 great execution congratulations.

        55+ PBs 5k 18:36 June 3rd TT

        " If you don't use it you lose it,  but if you use it, it wears out.

        Somewhere in between is about right "      

         

        SteveChCh


        Hot Weather Complainer

          Fishy - Brilliant result.  And top of the podium!

          5km: 18:34 11/23 │ 10km: 39:10 8/23 │ HM: 1:26:48 9/23 │ M: 3:34:49 6/23

           

          2024 Races:

          Motorway Half Marathon February 25, 2024 1:29:55

          Christchurch Half-Marathon April 21, 2024

          Selwyn Marathon June 2, 2024

          Dunedin Half Marathon September 15, 2024

          Marky_Mark_17


            Fishy - congrats on the result, well done!

            3,000m: 9:07.7 (Nov-21) | 5,000m: 15:39 (Dec-19) | 10,000m: 32:34 (Mar-20)  

            10km: 33:15 (Sep-19) | HM: 1:09:41 (May-21)* | FM: 2:41:41 (Oct-20)

            * Net downhill course

            Last race: Maraetai HM, 10 Mar, DNF

            Up next: Waterfront HM, 7 Apr

            "CONSISTENCY IS KING"

            darkwave


            Mother of Cats

              Fishy - excellent!

               

              DKTrotter - that was an absolutely heroic post.  (I am very glad that you write your posts elsewhere, because it would be tragic to lose posts with that much work put into them).  I just declare "bankruptcy" when I get that far behind.

               

              As for "Re pain tolerance: running pain is different than other kinds of pain. I was born with and through life circumstances have a high pain tolerance (lots of surgeries and injuries as a kid). I still don’t like burrowing into the pain cave for running. I think that’s more of a “can I get my mind to shut it off” than a tolerance thing. "

               

              I think there's a distinction between pain and suffering.  Racing is really about tolerating suffering, not tolerating pain.

               

              "Given that there are hundreds of races out there, I’m sure we can find another equally well-organized, small-enough, consistently decently weathered one with even less incline ;-) "

               

              The answer to that one is Indy Monumental.

               

              Piwi - I noted that you did your 400s on the road and not the track.  Are you doing them by markings on the road or by Garmin?

               

              MarkyMark - I hope the good weather continues for you.

               

              Steve - I had missed that marathon prep workout before.  That one looks really nice.  Well done!

               

              Flavio - I am curious - if a dog does come after you, are you going to have enough time to get all that stuff out of the bag and use it?

              Everyone's gotta running blog; I'm the only one with a POOL-RUNNING blog.

               

              And...if you want a running Instagram where all the pictures are of cats, I've got you covered.

              darkwave


              Mother of Cats

                My week:

                 

                55 miles running, 1000 yards swimming and 3 hours pool-running.
                M: 90 minutes pool-running.
                T: 10 miles, including a track workout of 6x800, split as 3:16, 3:15, 3:17 with 2:30 recovery between each, then a 5:00 recovery, and then 3:13, 3:13, 3:14 with over 3 minute recoveries after each. Followed with lower body strengthwork and 500 yards recovery swimming
                W: Streaming yoga and 10 miles very easy (9:30) plus drills.
                Th: 90 minutes pool-running and upper body weights/core.
                F: 10 miles, including a 6400m tempo in 27:47 (7:01/6:59/6:58/6:49) plus 4x200 in 48 seconds each. Followed with leg strengthwork and 500 yards recovery swimming.
                Sa: 10.5 miles (9:18), followed by drills/strides and streaming yoga.
                Su: 14 miles progressive, split as the first 4 miles averaging 9:31, the next 6 miles averaging 8:21, and the next 4 miles averaging 7:56 pace. Followed with leg strengthwork and 500 yards recovery swimming later.

                 

                This was a somewhat rough week - my asthma acted up on Tuesday, so I modified the workout. For the track workouts, my team usually breaks into different pace groups (this is organic, rather than prescribed). My paces have me between groups currently, so I usually tuck in behind the faster group so that I can keep my recoveries short. But on Tuesday this wasn't working for me, so I took a long break after the third 800 so that I could then run at the front of the slower group and have longer recoveries.

                 

                (as for the obvious question of why I didn't just run on my own? Our coach times the workouts, and me running by myself would just be one additional interval that he would be trying to keep track of. It's much easier for the person timing the workout if people group up into 3-5 different packs, so that you only need to keep 3-5 intervals going on the timing app).

                 

                It's also warming up here, and I'm not acclimated yet, so I had to back off of my paces on Sunday to keep the run in the proper effort level. Usually I try to prep for the summer by doing some sauna sessions (15-20 minutes at 180 degrees) in March and April, but I've neglected those in the last few weeks, and now I'm paying for it. Noted for next year.

                Everyone's gotta running blog; I'm the only one with a POOL-RUNNING blog.

                 

                And...if you want a running Instagram where all the pictures are of cats, I've got you covered.

                SteveChCh


                Hot Weather Complainer

                  darkwave - Nice week despite the asthma and heat.  Hope that sorts itself out quickly.  I'm finding it hard to get used to colder weather at the moment but once I'm warmed up it's great especially for the work outs.

                   

                  I've found I'm doing much better since I started using HR zones for most of my runs.  The speed works out reasonably similar but there are definitely times I need to back off the speed because my heart rate is getting too high.

                   

                  My coach pointed out if I'd kept running in high zone 2 for 7km I'd basically have gotten my goal marathon time...but the same was said pre-Melbourne so I'll stay confident but not over confident.  I've definitely decided to do a bike recovery tonight, not worth the risk with my tight calf just for a recovery run.

                  5km: 18:34 11/23 │ 10km: 39:10 8/23 │ HM: 1:26:48 9/23 │ M: 3:34:49 6/23

                   

                  2024 Races:

                  Motorway Half Marathon February 25, 2024 1:29:55

                  Christchurch Half-Marathon April 21, 2024

                  Selwyn Marathon June 2, 2024

                  Dunedin Half Marathon September 15, 2024

                  mmerkle


                    Fishy Nicely done! Glad you're happy with the result.

                     

                    Dw I know dktrotter was mentioning wearing extra layers to help acclimate, and maybe something else I'm forgetting. Maybe she will chime in here. I need to adapt to the heat too for the summer races.

                     

                    My Week                                                  Time:           Miles:         Kilos:      

                     

                    5/8: A hilly run on trails with                    1:10:06           8                 12.9

                    955 feet of climbing

                     

                    5/9: Easy                                                 1:10:32           9                 14.5

                     

                    5/10: Speed work on the track:

                    6 X (400m fast / 600m jog)

                    Splits: 76, 74, 73, 73, 73, 69 (meh)

                    + warm up and cool down                       1:02:46          8.2               13.2

                    upper body + core later

                     

                    5/11: 3 miles easy, 4 mile

                    tempo; 24:47, 3 miles easy,

                    hit 1000 miles for the year,

                    earliest I ever have. Leg strength

                    work later                                                 1:14:20          10                16.1

                     

                    5/12: Off, just some upper body

                     

                    5/13: Easy                                                  59:33            8                12.9

                     

                    5/14: "Shorty long", my new

                    nickname for this range lol                       1:29:27          12                19.3

                     

                    Total: 55.2 miles, 88.8 kilometers, 7:06:44

                    Marky_Mark_17


                      Steve - big week... that workout in particular was really impressive stuff.

                       

                      Flavio - does the cardboard box also work against armed checkpoints?

                       

                      Darkwave - is that just a springtime thing causing asthma issues?  Hopefully doesn't persist long.

                       

                      MMerkle - always fun trying to hit the quickest 400m on the last rep!

                       

                      Me - glad I did some research into what lies ahead on this Xterra trail series.  This weekend's one at Waitawa is not too tough by series standards (17km / 10.5 miles with 488m / 1600ft climbing), but the 2nd race in 4 weeks time looks particularly gnarly out in the Hunuas... 19km / 12 miles with 765m / 2500ft climbing.  Even more so, for the Hunua race, there's a bunch of mandatory safety gear including a waterproof jacket so I had to shell out for one of those.  Gotta say I'm pretty excited for a different challenge... I'm not racing these hard-out and more just using them as a bit of a different stimulus over winter but I know from my runs out in Riverhead Forest that there'll be some serious hard work involved (and also a lot of fun being out in nature, tbh).

                      3,000m: 9:07.7 (Nov-21) | 5,000m: 15:39 (Dec-19) | 10,000m: 32:34 (Mar-20)  

                      10km: 33:15 (Sep-19) | HM: 1:09:41 (May-21)* | FM: 2:41:41 (Oct-20)

                      * Net downhill course

                      Last race: Maraetai HM, 10 Mar, DNF

                      Up next: Waterfront HM, 7 Apr

                      "CONSISTENCY IS KING"

                        Mark that sounds exciting and a refreshing change from road running. No need to stress over km pace.

                         

                        DW I'm just using my garmin for the 400s with a pre loaded workout which is warmup till lap press then run 400m recover 90 sec and repeat etc. My eyes aren't so good these days so I can't view pace plus it's dark in the mornings. Luckily I have just enough hearing left to hear the start and stop beeps 

                        55+ PBs 5k 18:36 June 3rd TT

                        " If you don't use it you lose it,  but if you use it, it wears out.

                        Somewhere in between is about right "      

                         

                        flavio80


                        Intl. correspondent

                          me - I'm happy to report that I now only have 3 easy streets to complete the hardest part of town. It was probably the hilliest and less developed, the good part being I now have a few long runs close to 500m of elevation, and I have definitely learned about a few safe, excellent routes for a long run.

                           

                          On another note, add here reason #509 for hiring a coach. The coach gave me the day off even though I didn't ask for it. I'd never take the day off on my own, but the coach knows that I need it, and as such, I'm once again saved from running myself into the ground.

                           

                          Fishy - Outstanding!!! I guess now you're gonna have to elevate your fishing game to match your running!
                          That small fish from your avatar won't do anymore

                           

                          Mmerkle - It's very interesting that you added the total time running, I'm gonna make a small change to the weekly tool soon to add that.

                           

                          Mark - I see you got very impressed about that video. Do note it caused an outrage in the whole of Portugal and many of the guys on the video got arrested. I'm yet to see bars on windows anywhere, or even fences around houses for that matter.

                          I got curious though and did a quick google search on crime in Auckland, only to find out Auckland has considerably higher crime rates than Porto 😮
                          https://www.numbeo.com/crime/in/Auckland

                          https://www.numbeo.com/crime/in/Porto

                           

                          DW - My strategy was based on 2 things:
                          1 - That I feel safer. It's the same reason we wore masks during the pandemic, and the US airports make you take off your shoes and go through invasive scanners. And Andy runs around with a gun on his waist.
                          I know objectively that if a larger dog lunges at me I'm done, but there's no point thinking about that, it's the same as driving around thinking that at any moment another driver might go off rails and hit you on a head collision.

                          2 - I was specifically concerned about a larger dog I saw at a certain street because those are very narrow one vehicle at a time streets. For that specific area I was holding the spray can in my hand inside the open backpack, ready to shoot at a moments notice, the plan being that it would create enough confusion to give me time to evade. I understand most dogs are territorial and will be happy if you just get the F out of their lawn. The other dogs were smaller and on wider streets, still very annoying to somebody like me, but something that most of you wouldn't even notice.

                          Re: Suffering vs Pain I agree with your definition. I was referring to pain as in physical pain, which can even last for weeks or months.
                          Aerobic suffering during a race is something else entirely, and temporary. In a 5k you're only suffering on the last half for about what 9 to 12 minutes, and the suffering will stop the minute you cross the finish line.

                          Re: the interval you could also time yourself by pressing the lap button, though I suppose that's not how you usually roll ?

                          PRs: 1500 4:54.1 2019 - 5K 17:53 2023 - 10K 37:55 2023 - HM 1:21:59 2021

                          Up next: no idea

                          Tool to generate Strava weekly

                          darkwave


                          Mother of Cats

                             


                            https://www.numbeo.com/crime/in/Auckland

                            https://www.numbeo.com/crime/in/Porto

                             

                             

                            So...I tested a few more locations:

                             

                            Porto: Crime index: 35.07; Safety scale: 64.93

                            Auckland: Crime index: 49.08; Safety scale: 50.92

                            Washington DC: Crime index: 59.83; Safety scale: 40.17

                            Arlington, VA: Crime index: 23.75; Safety scale:76.25

                            New York City: Crime index:49.28; Safety scale:50.72

                            London: Crime index: 53.79; Safety scale: 46.21

                            Seattle, WA: Crime index: 53.39; Safety scale: 46.61

                             

                            Of course, there can be a great deal of variation within a location.

                             

                            Flavio - I do time my workouts manually with the lap button, so I don't need someone tracking my splits for that reason.  It's just that the coach wants to track our splits himself, and so we stay in groups for his convenience.

                             

                            Absolutely, a downside of this is that I don't have complete control over how long my recoveries take.  The upside is that I get to train with other people, which is good both from a social aspect and from a "staying comfortable running fast close to other people" aspect.   But if it's really important to me to keep the recoveries to a specific time, I'll do the workout solo.

                             

                            Marky_Mark - I'm honestly not entirely sure what set me off this time.  Most likely an increase in humidity, combined with a lack of sleep that made my system a bit more reactive.  Pollen is often a trigger for me, but that wasn't bad on Tuesday.

                             

                            As for the race - I am curious: what all is required in terms of safety gear?

                             

                            Merkle - good point on the overdressing to prep.  I used to do that as well but have also fallen off the wagon about that this year.  (so basically I just need to be more disciplined next spring).

                            Everyone's gotta running blog; I'm the only one with a POOL-RUNNING blog.

                             

                            And...if you want a running Instagram where all the pictures are of cats, I've got you covered.

                            wcrunner2


                            Are we there, yet?

                              It's been a while since I posted and looks like I missed a lot.  Didn't have much to say as I was tapering, but enjoyed reading the race reports.  Mine isn't nearly as long and detailed and the time doesn't come near to a 70%, much less an 80% AG rating, more like 46%.  Two other runners in the M75 age group, Jeff Hagen in the 24-hour and Gene Dykes in the 12-hour, both had faster 50K splits than I ran - by quite a bit.

                              https://wcrunner2.blogspot.com/2023/05/2023-dawn-to-dusk-to-dawn-50k-looking.html

                               2024 Races:

                                    03/09 - Livingston Oval Ultra 6-Hour, 22.88 miles

                                    05/11 - D3 50K
                                    05/25 - What the Duck 12-Hour

                                    06/17 - 6 Days in the Dome 12-Hour.

                               

                               

                                   

                              CommanderKeen


                              Cobra Commander Keen

                                Steve - Awesome week! Not a ton of urgency, I just kept moving along at what I figured was a sustainable effort. If GS had shown up at an AS I'm sure I would have moved faster. Except at the end when I was with my new friend - I wouldn't have ditched her.

                                Here's the thing about other runners in the race - thanks to my research I knew my top-end speed was much greater than anyone else's (and thanks to in-race chat I knew my training volume was much higher as well), so I knew that no matter how fast any of us ran out there that I'd be further from my max than anyone else.

                                 


                                Flavio - Hardy har har! I didn't know strength training could help one avoid stepping on rocks. 
                                Solid week. Air wick? Like the scent spray? The things people in other countries have to resort to just to defend against a possible attack (of any kind)... SMH.


                                Merkle - I think you summed up the feeling pretty well. It's kinda like a marathon in that if you go out too fast it will badly, but it can take even longer for that to be apparent. It's just a whole lot of "easy" until it all piles up. Without the heat (and/or the big headwind) I'm quite sure I could have ran almost the entire thing outside of power hiking some of the more aggressive hills. In the heat and wind I had a couple thoughts of "running for more than 3 hours is stupid", but there was never the "oh please just let this end!" that kinda hit around mile 23-24 of CIM when my legs were really burning.
                                JFK50 is pretty runnable, aside from some rocky sections on the AT, right? I don't think you'll have much issue so long as you properly back off the effort/pace to start.
                                I wouldn't worry about your mileage, either. The guy who came in second (9:3x-4x, I think) only does 30-40mpw and doesn't have anywhere near your speed.


                                Fishy - Congratulations on a great race!

                                 

                                 

                                Hardly any running from me last week. I've enjoyed sleeping in rather than waking up a zero 4-something. Just ran a bit during the days when I could make the time. My legs loosened up and weren't tight at all after maybe Wednesday, and Saturday there wasn't even a hint of heaviness left.
                                Zero issues with my ankle except one time I tried taking my brace off and didn't loosen it quite enough.
                                Recovery from an ultra is easier than recovery from a marathon.
                                No, I don't plan on switching to just ultras. In fact, I currently only have plans for the 100 miler in October (gotta get that belt buckle for doing the 50 and 100 mile races in one year).

                                Something I failed to mention during the RR: At about 50k I took a big look around and could see for a solid 10k in all directions. I could only see one house, and just a few other agriculture-related buildings/structures scattered through the countryside. I wasn't sure if someone like JMac, who lives in an ultra-dense city area, would think he could see a whole lot or if he couldn't see anything at all.

                                5k: 17:58 11/22 │ 10k: 37:55 9/21 │ HM: 1:23:22 4/22 │ M: 2:56:05 12/22

                                 

                                Upcoming Races: