Forums >Racing>2023 The Waltons: Racing & Training Thread
Hi all, my name is Mick I am 42 and plan to run a marathon this year, while still 42. Live in Switzerland, travel around the world - mostly US & Europe. I don't think I will ever break the 90 minute tape for the half, a bit old now to develop the required speed, but maybe one day I will break 100. My PB is 107minutes for the half. Not ambitious, just want to finish one full marathon this year, maybe under 4 hours if training goes well.
I use the Jack Daniels Q2 plan. Had to take a break from running normal mileage in December due to work and am slowly building up again. 14 weeks out, this is what my week looked like (5 day running week):
On the 11th I wore new shoes (Asics Magic Speed) and they have a heel cup which resulted in a nasty blister on the achilles. Otherwise I am just trying to build mileage to avoid injury. I will cross train either today or tomorrow on the bike, and plan to up to 6 days running per week in 2 weeks time. Peak volume per week of around 80km and that should be consistent in Feb & March.
My favourite shoes are the Hoka Mach 4. Have two pairs, one has hit 500km now, and the outer sole is worn on the heal. Really not as expensive but light and comfortable; I am thinking of running the marathon in this model. The Bondi's are pretty heavy, the Asics are more for tempo workouts, and I have a pari of Brooks Ghost 14, but am a bit disappointed; they feel pretty dead after 300km already.
Anyways I am not sure where the old folks now post as there are two threads, one for serious racers too. But good to catch up on this and good luck DW tomorrow in Houston.
HM: 1:47 (9/20) I FM: 3:53:11 (9/23)
2024 Goals: run a FM & HM + stay healthy!
Mick - welcome back, and nice week.
My week was good. First official week of marathon training.
PRs: 5km 18:43 (Dec 2015), 10km 39:59 (Sep 2020), half 1:26:16 (Sep 2016), full 3:09:28 (Jun 2015)
40+ PRs: 5km 19:31 (Oct 2020), 10km 39:59 (Sep 2020), half 1:29:39 (Jun 2018), full 3:13:55 (Sep 2022)
2023 PRs (hope to beat in 2024): 5km 20:34, 10km 41:37, half 1:32:32, full 3:21:05
2024 PRs: 5km 20:25
Mick - great to see you back! Although, I gotta say I've tried but I don't share your love of Hoka's.
Watson - nice effort. Hope it hasn't been as wet in Welly as it's been here. Sunday was the first day in at least 2 weeks that I didn't end up with wet shoes.
Me - lighter "recovery" week but took until Saturday to actually feel decently fresh. Then I managed to smash out one of my better workouts in a while (1600, 1200, 800, 400 with 400 recs and 2km steady between efforts). It felt pretty good to really blast that last 400. Couple of big weeks coming up.
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: Waterfront HM, 7 Apr, 1:15:48
Up next: Runway5, 4 May
"CONSISTENCY IS KING"
Weather was good this week. A little cooler Mon-Fri than normal, with a little bit of rain - very minor, by memory all my runs were dry.
JamesD
Started back up after four weeks with very few runs. It’ll be another week or two before I’m back to normal, but I’m making progress. Am disappointed that my left glute is still sometimes sore despite all the rest, but my hamstrings, which were the more limiting factor last year, feel ok so far.
Sun - off
Mon - 4.2 miles very slow on treadmill (50 minutes) +0:40 walk breaks every 6:00
Tues - 5.2 miles in park @ 8:51
Weds - 6.2 miles very slow on treadmill (73 minutes) +0:40 walk breaks every 6:00
Thurs - ~16 minutes swimming - out of shape in that too
Fri - 6.5 miles in park @ 8:47
Sat - 7.5 miles very slow on treadmill (90 minutes) +0:40 walk breaks every 6:00
Total - 29.5 miles
Post-1987 PRs: Half 1:30:14 (2019); 10K 39:35 (2019); 5K 19:12 (2017); Mile 5:37.3 (2020)
'24 Goals: consistency, age-graded PRs, half < 1:32
Hot Weather Complainer
James - Good to see you back up and running.
Mick! A forum legend, good to see you posting again.
watson - You've had a good month or so with all those Park Runs - you should be good to go for marathon training now.
Stress - I always feel better brain wise after a run. Sometimes if I don't get it done early when I've planned to it can stress me out but that is pretty rare.
me - Another good week - this is a base week in the coaches plan aiming at April 16. The long run went really well - this is the sort of run that might have led to cramp in warmer conditions with increasing pace but not a hint of it. Hopefully it's a combination of my more scientific training and the strength work. I'm getting eye surgery (implanted contact lenses) on Tuesday so this week will be pretty light until Saturday.
<caption>Weekly Grid</caption>
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
Steve that 4x8 minutes starting after an hour is a great run!
Mick - welcome back that's a nice week.100 HM sounds like a nice aggressive goal. I personally just got a pair of Cliftons to 500 miles and I have hated the last 200 miles of that so they're going promptly in the trash. I'm glad you like your hokas however.
DarkWave - Great race! Those splits are fantastic. (see other thread)
Mark -way to get some great workouts in some not so nice weather.
James - welcome back, glad the running is progressing nicely. It's amazing how different swim fitness is from running.
Watson - that 20min steady into 20 min MP made me shudder but I just generally hate strong long runs (and need to do more of them)
My week was great though I was a touch sore at points because of Flavio's favorite activity.
M: 50' easy w/ 4x:30 strides uphill + str & mob . PM: 10 min easy with my kid and pup + 25 min spin
T: hour w/ 16x30"on/off. Was fun to turn the legs over. PM: 10' E warmup + 25' lifting.
W: easy 45' run. + str & mob; PM: 10 min easy with my kid and pup + 15 min spin
Th: 50' w/ 1-2-3-3-2-1 min H equal time recover jog. I struggled on this one. PM: 30' lifting
F: 45'E w/ 4 strides + str & mob; PM: 30' spin
Sat: 1h44m long run kinda easy/mod the whole way, moderate the last 3 miles (8:39/mi).
Sun: 40' easy with a bud + 1.5 w/ Kid and pup
50 miles!
2 lifting session
3 str & mob sessions
a weak 70 min on the bike.
really happy with how my legs feel right now, I expected Sat to wreck me but I think the deadlifts were taking more out of me than the workouts were.
1600 - 5:23 (2018), 5k - 19:33 (2018), 10k - 41:20 (2021), half - 1:38:57 (2018), Marathon - 3:37:17 (2018)
Intl. correspondent
What Up Mick, I see you still got that job as a CIA officer 😀
It's good to see you around and may you have a very consistent training block for your marathon!
Hi all, my name is Mick I am 42 and plan to run a marathon this year, while still 42. Live in Switzerland, travel around the world - mostly US & Europe.
PRs: 1500 4:54.1 2019 - 5K 17:53 2023 - 10K 37:55 2023 - HM 1:21:59 2021
Up next: some 800m race (or time trials) / Also place in the top 20% in a trail race
Tool to generate Strava weekly
I should have mentioned I had two strength sessions during the week too.
Steve - nice week. Good luck with surgery. Please don't do an OCD runner thing where you start training back too early post surgery.
Zebano - Soon I'll get to a 30min/30min/30min easy/steasy/MP workout which is quite hard. I found my one this week quite hard as I definitely don't want to run a marathon now.
James - are you doing soft tissue work on the quad? Foam roller or massage gun. I'd recommend doing one or both 3+ times per week.
I should have mentioned I had two strength sessions during the week too. Steve - nice week. Good luck with surgery. Please don't do an OCD runner thing where you start training back too early post surgery.
I'll definitely play it by ear (or eye?) - they say recovery is very quick and impact won't be an issue, I just might have some light sensitivity for 24 hours so I've just got an optional easy run on Wednesday.
I'm also doing 2 strength sessions a week now, along with my upper body weights 3 times a week. I'm sure some of it is in my head but it really feels like it's starting to have an impact. Almost feels like my stronger hamstrings are propelling me forward.
zebano - Thanks! He also had me lifting the pace higher into zone 2 in the 20 minutes leading into the effort blocks. Great to see that week from you, looking back on track.
Steve - any reason you're having that done rather than the laser vision correction? I looked into laser eye surgery a while ago (I wear glasses / contacts) but there were always better ways to spend or save the few thousand dollars it was gonna cost.
FWIW my wife had the laser surgery to correct myopia. It worked very well, though she had a rough time for about 3 days afterwards.
She had extreme photophobia during those days, I had to tape the window completely.
I think she had 5 degrees and had to wear thick lenses, and then afterwards her vision improved dramatically, and she does not have to wear glasses nor anything.
Ah, the surgery was in Brazil so it only cost about 1000USD.
Mick, welcome
Watson, I like the idea of that easy/steasy/MP workout, might have to try it one of these weeks.
Mark, another very solid week.
James, good to see your return, hope the hamstrings continue to hold up.
Steve, are you going to try to purposefully bring on cramping so you can test ways to avoid it? Hope the surgery goes well.
Zebano, 50 is a big week
My dad has made a very fast recovery and will be departing NZ much earlier than expected. They enjoyed Dunedin and my mom did make it to the castle and they got water at the special water spigot at the brewery. They are in Auckland now for a couple days before flying to Sydney and then adding a 3 day layover in Hawaii to break up the long flight.
I feel really good about this week. Decent mileage, a workout that didn't wreck me, and a 2 hr LR. Now I just have to keep stringing these weeks together.
5k 24:53 (2020) |10k 52:24 (2021) |HM 1:57:14 (2019) |FM 4:24 (2007) |50k 5:57 (2022)
Yeah, my corneas are too thin for laser to be safe. This does cost more but the likelihood of 20/20 or better vision is higher. I've been talking about it for 10 years and I'm sure I'll wish I did it ages ago afterwards. I'm so sick of sore/irritated eyes, especially in summer, and I don't like wearing glasses too much. Also, as Flavio says, Laser has a longer recovery.
Caitlin - That's something I may discuss with my coach this week. I have some high volume weeks in early February and some speed towards the end of a long run is the best test (but no stupidly big long run workouts like last year). Great to hear you're feeling better this week.
I foam roll my quads (& hamstrings & calves & glutes) before and after every run, and sometimes on my off days as well. DW has a massage gun, but I've never used it.