Forums >Racing>3:20 Marathoners ... New and Improved for (the rest of) 2017
Wishing you a speedy recovery.
Here's a quick recap of me: Saturday: Tried running for the first time in 2 weeks. Everything felt stiff and achey. Achilles (which had been 100%) flared up. Not happy. Sunday: Went pool running. I had lost my belt so I learned to go without it. This involved 7 x 4 minutes of belt-less running, with the last 30 seconds of each at an even harder effort. 1-minute recoveries in between. Meanwhile, the Achilles had calmed down entirely. Monday: My coach told me to run because he thought the Achilles were just stiff from not having run in two weeks. He told me to do 10 x 30 seconds strides in the middle of my easy run. I did 8 of them to be cautious at around a 7:00-7:30 pace. Everything felt good. What a relief. Tuesday: Achilles continue to be 100% pain free. I went for a 40-minute easy run, but my legs felt like they were at mile 20 of a marathon. Not sure if it was from the vigorous pool running on Sunday, or the strides on Monday. Kinda worried for the Turkey Trot since my legs feel tired and sore all over. I took an Epsom salt bath afterwards and spent 10 minutes foam rolling.
Here's a quick recap of me:
Saturday: Tried running for the first time in 2 weeks. Everything felt stiff and achey. Achilles (which had been 100%) flared up. Not happy.
Sunday: Went pool running. I had lost my belt so I learned to go without it. This involved 7 x 4 minutes of belt-less running, with the last 30 seconds of each at an even harder effort. 1-minute recoveries in between. Meanwhile, the Achilles had calmed down entirely.
Monday: My coach told me to run because he thought the Achilles were just stiff from not having run in two weeks. He told me to do 10 x 30 seconds strides in the middle of my easy run. I did 8 of them to be cautious at around a 7:00-7:30 pace. Everything felt good. What a relief.
Tuesday: Achilles continue to be 100% pain free. I went for a 40-minute easy run, but my legs felt like they were at mile 20 of a marathon. Not sure if it was from the vigorous pool running on Sunday, or the strides on Monday. Kinda worried for the Turkey Trot since my legs feel tired and sore all over. I took an Epsom salt bath afterwards and spent 10 minutes foam rolling.
pie man
I usually help with my local turkey trot, so I'm doing that this year. I did do the Horace ashenfelter race up in jersey one year and would like to go back and try for a mug, but I think I would need to be close to 30 flat and that's a stretch right now.
11:11 3,000 (recent)
Pesto: I hope you hit your 20:00 goal in a couple weeks. Sorry you don't get to experience the American tradition of running with other "turkeys" and then eating your weekly calories in one meal.
I went to my PT this morning to discuss my IT band issues. Unsurprisingly, he reiterated that I have weak glutes and this is likely leading to the IT band issues. I'm gonna stop running and just do glute exercises.
Road Mile: 5:19 (2017), 5k: 17:09 (2021), 10k: 35:54 (2021), HM: 1:21:55 (2020), M: 2:53:18 (2021)
Mother of Cats
Dwave: goal for your 5k as well?
5 Miler for me this year, actually. (E78 - I'm doing Alexandria Turkey Trot this year).
No idea what I'm going to run. I was thinking 31:30, but that was before I got sick this weekend. I'm still fighting it off.
I've been debating whether or not to race tomorrow, but I've decided to go for it. I feel lousy from the neck up and fatigued, but my runs this week have all been surprisingly good, so why not give it a shot. My main worry is not a poor performance, but that I'll relapse post race. But I guess I'll take that risk, since I don't have any major goal races in the near future.
(edit: when I write: "fighting it off" I mean that I still have a lingering headache and fatigue. I don't believe I'm shedding any viruses at this point - if I thought I was contagious, I'd avoid the race)
3 very easy this morning (8:41).
Good luck to everyone racing tomorrow or this weekend!
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.
Problem Child
Pest OH I LIKE IT EVEN MORE!. 12/7/17. 12+7 = 19. 19 and 17 are prime numbers. The wife thinks it will be December 4. I said 12/3/17 because it's CIM.
Ace Yeah they're pretty chill and common to see in town. There have been two I thought were fake. One was at the beginning of the run. She was on the sidewalk. I was probably 5 feet away. She stared at me with her ears as big/wide as they'd get. A friend commented "My cat gave me that same look right before she gave me this scar." we laughed. No turkey trot and the ironic thing is the forecast is 42F as the low. Perfect weather on a mostly flat course. As for the IT band...if I haven't sent it to you before look up the 4 point IT band stretch on YouTube. It worked for me when I had IT issues. Thankfully getting faster, or stronger butt muscles, helped the pain go away.
E: Glad you're heel is feeling better. Figuring out how an injury feels while running is always something that scares me.
DW I'm a little shocked you don't have a backup race for tomorrow. Good luck and hopefully you don't relapse. Carson City just got a Chipotle and a friend wanted to go for lunch. I instantly thought of you.
Still 0 cm dilated. Due Date Monday. He's probably going to come during CIM. PR or ER right? PR through the ER? I'm just sitting here waiting. A couple of friends and coworkers have asked if I'm nervous. I'm not. I'm just kind of ready for DS to be here and the sleepless nights to begin.
Many of us aren't sure what the hell point you are trying to make and no matter how we guess, it always seems to be something else. Which usually means a person is doing it on purpose.
VDOT 53.37
5k18:xx | Marathon 2:55:22
Duke Of Bad Judgment
Trying to catch up - the fog of travel, racing, and other stuff is starting to clear:
Jim's Kat: As far as mental training, I think three things have worked for me: 1) workouts/runs that are long enough to be uncomfortable and require persistence for a while at the end. 2) before the race, focusing not on how great it would feel to do well/hit a goal but instead focus on how $hitty the worst part of the event is going to feel. The races where I've visualized things going well usually have shocked me with the bad parts, whereas the ones I expect to feel hard either meet my expectations or sometimes don't even live up to them. 3) During the race, clamping down on any "this is going well" thoughts as soon as I notice them and refocusing my awareness on the bad times that will come later. The common theme in all this is doing stuff so that I don't get surprised at the end of the race when it gets hard. It may seem otherwise, but I don't think it's inconsistent with positive visualization because while I imagine the bad stuff I always envision myself continuing on - coping vs. coasting or dying.
Dad: Congrats on 9th out of Tons in your XC race, plus a fast HM.
Ace: Corey is cute! I hope you and DW are getting some sleep.
Pesto: I can't answer your specific shoe question but I tend to run in lighter shoes for marathons even if I train in heavier ones for many of my longer runs. Try your fast shoes in one or two long runs and make sure there are no problems. The immediate benefit of not swinging as much feet weight for 26.2 miles might be worth a little more post-race wear and tear. Oh, I see you got this advice already. Ditto then.
Keen: It's fun to do the occasional race at less than full effort. Sounds like you had a good time.
Clever: Nice to see you again.
Brew: Good luck to you and DW in the near future. I don't know either that guy or that cat. He was pretty accurate with the spray though. I like this wildlife encounter video (start around 3:00 into the video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=He7RsjcRiGM
Elizabeth: I think it's really hard to pool run without a belt. Glad your Achilles is calming down.
DW: Good luck tomorrow. Sometimes I think a mild bug helps us do slightly better, but as you say the consequence can be relapse/getting sicker.
No turkey trot for me and in fact no running for me since Sunday morning. Slacking my way through the week.
Hope everyone has a good holiday, and I give thanks for all my one-step-above-imaginary-and-in-some-cases-actual friends here.
Well, I'm thankful that I can still run.
Happy Thanksgiving to y'all!!!
Happy Thanksgiving to my internet friends! I hope all is well and no one had to work today.
5k was fun this morning, didn't break 18:00, but feel like I gave about all I had. Splits below. I may write a race report later.
It was sunny and 34 degrees. Pretty much no wind. Great day to push.
Mile 1: 5:45, felt pretty good. had some good competition around to keep pace with.
Mile 2: 5:59, not exactly sure why pace dropped off, this mile did have some decent hills, I think I just failed to push through these to keep pace.
Mile 3: 5:47, started to push with 6/10 left, had a climb with .25 to go, then downhill to finish. was hoping for a faster final mile to get under 18:00.
Final Stretch: ~ 40 seconds (5:07 pace)
Crossed the line at 18:10. 11th OA, 1st AG! Decent sized race, around 1500 people. OA winner was at 15:55
How'd the other races out their go??
I ended up running the skinny turkey half today. I ran the same race last year and won the masters at 1:32. This year i could only manage 1:36, which got me to age group 3. This is my 3rd race in 10 days and 2nd in 4 days. I thik I need a break from running so that I can recover and come back stronger next year. I have one more half left on Dec 9 and I am pacing the 1:45 group, so as of now I am done with racing this year
Arvind - I fully support a break. And now is a good time for it.
Ace - very very nice job. Sub-18 is around the corner.
My 5 miler was meh. 32:20 if you believe the Strava elapsed time (I accidentally paused my Garmin) 32:24 official gun time. Just a bad luck day - I think I've still got lingering fatigue from my cold, and my shoe also came untied in the first mile of the course (seriously?)
Oh well - it wasn't a goal race, so not that big a deal. I got my Turkey Trot on, so yay.
Race report here: http://wellimtryingtorun.blogspot.com/2017/11/race-report-alexandria-turkey-trot.html
brew - there you go, I hadn't thought of the sum! Tne only way to get Optimus Prime of the kid is born in December is through the sum I guess.
max - thanks for the feedback. It seems like trying a long run is the way to go. I have been doing most of the running during training in heavier shoes, but mostly to have more cushion and avoid potential injuries. I do use lighter shoes for workouts though.
arv - I definitely support taking a break too, especially if you feel you need it. From what I've heard, it lets your body adapt to your new level of fitness.
This maybe of interest to you: https://www.realbuzz.com/articles-interests/running/article/what-should-i-do-in-the-daysweeks-following-a-marathon/
(just got it by email)
ace - great job on the AG win! And fantastic time by the way. How did the ITB feel?
DkW - Good job with the 5 miler! From the splits on strava, it seems like that laces mishap cost you quite a bit of time.
Happy belated thanksgiving everyone!
5K - 18:03 (5.18) | 10K - 37:58 (2.18) | HM - 1:20:45 (9.18) | FM: 2:57:59 (10.18)
have anyone tried Hansons plan
https://hansons-running.com/pages/training-plans
I wanted to give it a shot for my next half in march. If things go well for my Chicago as well.
Recovery Phenom
Pesto: Yay, you should go for the Big B in 2019!
Arvind: Thank you! That is quite a lot of racing. Particularly the longer distances! Congratulations on your half. I think you'll be a great pacer for the 1:45 group, and glad to hear you won't be racing it.
Pepper: Kudos to you for helping with the local Turkey Trot.
Ace: WOW- that is a super speedy 5K. Congrats on the AG win. Hopefully the glute exercises help. Did you also work on activating your glutes when running? Sometimes it isn't about strength, but about simply making sure those muscles are getting used.
Darkwave: I'm glad you raced despite the illness. What's Thanksgiving without a Turkey Trot!? I will read your full report soon, but I am sorry it didn't go as well as you hoped.
Brewing: I hope that baby makes an appearance before CIM!
Seattle: Pool running without a belt is hard, which is why I could only do four-minute intervals with the one minute recoveries. I'm bummed that I lost my belt, but it forced me into learning how to do it. Hope you had a nice holiday.
Rovatti: Happy Thanksgiving!
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I did my Turkey Trot. No sub-20:00, but that was kind of a pipe dream anyway. Here is the full report. I was pleasantly surprised with the result and stoked to be the 4th female out of 989. And it's always cool when a 39-year-old wins the 30-39 age group.
26.2 x 31 (3:15:34 PR)
13.1 x 35 (1:30:58 PR)
Author of the book Boston Bound
Strict WTF adherent
Planning my long run for tomorrow but my dog ate my shoelaces (not hone, so I can't just replace them). Just thought I'd share.
Those if you who run alexandria - let me know next year and I'll chase you around in a turkey costume