Forums >Racing>2018 3:20 (and beyond)
oregon: I probably would have tossed the child out of the stroller, hopped in, and said, "how about you run us home?" this is why we have cats, not children. Congrats on the 1/4-marathon PR! 1st AG is cool, regardless of the time!Dad: Congrats to the stepson, and nice week.
Brew: Umm, I don't know that that was a short story. Well, OK, for you, it probably was. Congrats on the PR!
To anyone who ran more than 1.99 miles last week: Nice week! I'm jealous!
rovatti: Hope that calf heals up. I don't think I can deal with pool running (sorry Dwave, I know this is your jam). Hope you don't have to run on that trip to South Africa. Sounds awesome, though.
ilana: I haven't been watching you on Strave or the Book of Faces, but like you, I've been on the bike a lot more lately. Somehow, I have a feeling your scenery is more exciting than mine (unless you like looking at field after field).
I had "a week that involved running"...
M: 23M cycling
T: 4.6M AlterG
W: Rest
T: 5.6M AlterG
F: 6M AlterG
S: 7 x (2min jog, 1min walk), on the pavement(!) Then 29M cycling.
S: Rest
Total: 1.99M combo of running/walking on Saturday (no, I'm not going to round that up!).
S: 7 x (2min jog, 1min walk), on the pavement(!)
Boom! Comeback time!
Rovatti ~ That sounds terrific.
Clever - Maybe one more good long run with a fastish finish (MP + 20-30 seconds). And some miles in the heat to be prepared for that possibility.Brew - enjoyed the recap and the honest mind battle. I want to read "Endure."ilana - I used to live in Colorado and would take weekend trips to Moab for some mountain biking. I never did the White Rim, just shorter stuff and camping. Are you doing it supported or carrying everything yourself?Oregon - 100 miles in 4 days is not a big deal for road cycling, but the White Rim is not that. More of an epic mountain biking adventure ride.Keen - thanks for sharing about being a non-drinker. I am too. My Dad didn't drink, and my Mom only wine at social events. I did a bit of designated driving during college, but never joined in. My wife doesn't drink either, so it really isn't a thing in my family. I feel I should have more money in savings though for all the alcohol I have not purchased.I still have no plans for another race yet. Running buddies are talking about Savannah and Richmond. I've just enjoyed getting some miles in. Sunday I went out for a favorite 11 mile loop on quiet country roads. I had thought about doing 3x2 cruise intervals, but settled for just a steady 8 miles in the 7:30 range. With the temps warming up (66F this morning at 5am) I think I'm a shirtless runner again for the next few months.
Problem Child
San Jose IS ON THE MAP!
Looks like Dwave, max, something clever, Kev and the McBen's are in the right part of the country. I think Keen, Ace and I are as well. LOL! I'm actually surprised Flagstaff didn't even make top 100. Apparently no one in Utah exercises.
Omr I thought I was the only one here who called it the Book of Face. Another is Face Page or Page of Faces. Sometimes FaceSpace. Good job on the intervals!
Matt It's a pretty cool book so far. It's almost like he read a whole bunch of scientific articles, wrote a summary of them all, joing with the Sub 2 hour marathon project and converted it all to English. I think you'd have to enjoy reading about people suffering or exercise for it to appeal to a reader. I don't think my wife would care about how someone can ride a bike for an hour without any electronic assistance (speed, heart rate, total time, watts, laps, etc.) and keep reading. What kind of recovery do you get for cruise intervals? I know nothing of the McMillan training methods.
I think tomorrow I'll try one of these weird "Multi speed" JD workouts. It might be slightly modified to fit with lunch scheduling. It's either focusing on lactate clearing (threshold) or Aerobic power (Intervals) and I'm slightly inclined to go for lactate clearing after this weekend.
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
Ah, good ol' LRC; some sharp minds over there:
Q: What would you do if you won 3 million dollars in the lottery?
A: I'd buy $3 million in lottery tickets. Only a fool wouldn't reinvest his money after seeing that kind of return.
Ah, good ol' LRC; some sharp minds over there: Q: What would you do if you won 3 million dollars in the lottery? A: I'd buy $3 million in lottery tickets. Only a fool wouldn't reinvest his money after seeing that kind of return.
Some wisdom in that answer. LOL.
Brew - I don't know much about McMillan either. Once upon a time when in between training cycles I looked for ideas and found the cruise intervals. I've done 3x2 and 3x3 a few times here and there. I like a half mile recovery between the shorter and more like a mile for the longer ones. I once previewed a half marathon course doing the 3x3 and ended with an unofficial 1:28 for the training run. Tough, but good endurance workout.
Mother of Cats
Arvind - I'm belated, but I like your training plan in general. I do think you might benefit from replacing the hills or the MP work on some days with faster stuff on flat ground - VO2 Max intervals or tempos. Those workouts aren't as important for marathoning as MP work or the long run, but there's still a benefit to running faster than MP during marathon training - for physiological reasons, to improve your gait, and also to make MP feel easier. You'll get some faster running in with hills, but I'm not sure it's enough by itself.
/unsolicited advice
OMR - no snarking on the pool-running . But seriously, it's much much easier to do when you have company. Good to see you running again.
Rovatti - hope the calf heals up in time for your trip. And enjoy the trip!
CK - my watch is ridiculous on the track. And actually not good for distances shorter than half a mile on the roads. When I do a track tempo, people will see the "pace" on Strava and freak out - and I'll have to explain that no, I wasn't running anywhere near that fast....
Ilana - enjoy White Rim!
Oregon - tired legs and acclimating to heat sound totally reasonable to me.
Brewing - I'm late to you also but I think you can just play it by ear for 50-60. The actual # that we hit in a week is rarely as important as we think it is.
And yes, I live in the "fittest city in the US" (which is actually a county, not a city).
Hi to all others (Dad, Matt, and anyone I've missed.
Yesterday was 8 "miles" pool-running and yoga. I meant to post yesterday, but then nasty storms came through and we went to defcon 3
[defcon 1: cat carriers come out; defcon 2: cats are loaded into carriers; defcon 3: humans and cats-in-carriers relocate to basement; defcon 4: humans and cats-in-carriers abandon house]
Today was 12.5 miles - 3 warm-up (8:49), then a track workout of 2000, 1600, 1200, 800, 400 in 7:55, 6:18, 4:35, 2:55, 82. Followed with 3.5 cool-down (9:18). Also injury prevention work and recovery swimming.
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.
Cobra Commander Keen
Matt - You're welcome. I have the same feeling about savings - maybe I just spend what would be beer money on running shoes.
Brew - I can't decide if it's a surprise or not that OKC made the list (barely!). Quite a few of those metrics quite heavily favor very dense populations, which OK just doesn't have anywhere. They have been putting in a bunch of new multi-use trails lately, and I'm pretty sure there has also been a requirement for sidewalks for any newly-built housing or businesses as well.
If I remember correctly, Daniels suggests 1 minute rest for every mile of T pace for cruise intervals.
DWave - Mine does the same on the track, so I try just looking at lap time. It's crazy that known-distance laps (e.g. 400m) run in the same time (to within a second) may show paces that are anywhere from dead on to +-10 seconds. Maybe I should look at using Stryd for those paces, but then again there isn't much time to look at a watch during those so it's likely not worth it.
Question for the hive: Would an extra ~45-60 minutes of driving (one way) be worth it for a course that's supposed to be ~1 minute faster than another? Getting a solid BQ being the obvious goal here. I already have my own answer in mind, just curious as to what others think.
5k: 17:58 11/22 │ 10k: 37:55 9/21 │ HM: 1:23:22 4/22 │ M: 2:56:05 12/22
Upcoming Races:
OKC Memorial 5k - April 27
Bun Run 5k - May 4
It....depends....
First of all, I'm assuming that all else is equal: similar temperature, quality of race organization, level of competition, etc.
For a tune-up race or rustbuster, where the point is just to get out there and race, no, not worth it.
If it's a goal marathon and you're going for a BQ, absolutely. Unless the difference in driving also means the difference between a hotel or not, and you'll race better sleeping at home. When it's your goal race and time matters, do everything (legally) you can to stack the deck in your favor.
One thought though - is this a goal marathon where you're considering driving there in the morning? I personally wouldn't want to drive for an hour before racing my goal marathon - I'd invest in a hotel.
CDR K ~ I agree w/ what DkW said.
10 w/ 40 min fartlek today: 8x {3' @ 6:35 (LT) and 2' steady (7:41 ... roughly MP+10%) .. humidity made it much harder than it should've been
I would go for it. My general guidelines is don't drive more than what you run. I have broken that rule on a couple of occasions.
Keen: 1 minute per mile is easy enough to remember. It seems to match some of his workouts. This month is killing me in anticipation as well as figuring out what to do. Seriously, make a plan or something. Don’t just air it up each week. As for the drive, I kind of agree with the group. If you’re thinking 1-2 hours of driving before a race I might consider the closer race. 3+ hours is all the same to me and I’d plan on getting a hotel. Are the races the same weekend or do you get more training with driving an hour further? Is the weather AT ALL a possibility? CIM has a monsoon year. December isn’t exactly a dry month Sacramento. If the weather could get hot, or a tornado, I’d factor that in. If they’re the same weekend and it’s been known to be the same weather and the goal is set yeah I’d drive the extra hour and get a hotel just so I’m there ready to go race morning. I’d even consider driving 8 hours East or South for a major downhill marathon to get a BQ if I knew I was within 1-2 minutes of being in the 4/20/20 race.
8 point something today. I thought it was going to be 9 but I skipped a turn. Boss was gone for the second half of the day and I handed her a project that’s over a year old (state law says it has to be finished in 2 months) so I wasn’t exactly in a rush to get back. Tomorrow is birthday celebration starting when I go for my runs so maybe I’ll see how those weird speed things work. I’ll have to modify it slightly but I don’t know where. Less threshold or cut out the R/I speed work.
Dad: Comeback...funny.
matt: I could never be one of those shirtless runners. Too much old man body shame.
Brew: Intervals....also funny, because they definitely feel like intervals. Curious to hear how the multi-speed JD workout goes.
Dwave: Thanks. Is there a defcon 5?
Keen: I agree with what Dad said.
5.8M -- 10 x 4min run/2min walk -- for me this morning. I almost felt just a little bit like a runner for part of it.
It might suck. Scattered thunderstorms, 8mph wind, and "feels like 55" (which I don't believe after going outside for 15 minutes) might suck. I'm telling myself "what are you going to do on race day?" to motivate myself. It doesn't seem to work.
Looks like everyone (including me) is in agreement so far.
Everyone brought up a couple things I should have mentioned. Goal race (BQ). Races are a week apart (mid November), weather should be pretty similar (near ideal from past years) on both. Both are small, but the race reports I've seen mention them being solid if a little sparse on crowd support at times (not a deterrent or issue). The "slower" course has some rollers (less than what I run every day), while the only real hill on the "fast" course is a downhill in the first mile. Both are drive-there-a-day-or-two-early distances away, which also doesn't really bother me. Given the flatness of both courses I'm planning on doing LRs around the local lake to get used to that.
Lightning and hail this morning kept me on the treadmill; bummer, I was hoping to do some type of quality workout and didn't feel like doing it there. DW and DD2 are out of school at the end of the week, and DD1 the week after. Really looking forward to that.
Brew - Looking forward to the workout. For me the big motivation started when the plan did - it was kind of weird, honestly.