2022 Advanced Racing Thread (Read 497 times)

Marky_Mark_17


    Steve, JMac - have you considered trying an osteopath instead of (or in addition to) physio / PT?  In my experience, a lot of physio's tend to focus on the direct issue / symptom.  A lot of the time, that is a consequence of some other issue.  A good osteo will generally be able to trace that symptom to a wider cause - if there is one - and address that.  Typically there is a lot of hands on musculo-skeletal manipulation involved.  For example, I tend to throw some of my upper body slightly out of alignment over a period of time because my right leg is slightly stronger than my left after that knee injury 10 years or so ago, and therefore overcompensates.  It can make for a pretty painful 30 minutes especially if she ends up having to have a go at my feet or shins - but it's effective.

     

    In most cases osteo's have as much training as physio's - bit like physio's in the sense that there are good and bad but if you find a good one IMO they are worth their weight in gold.

    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"

      Steve CIM holds a special place in my heart and training life. I’ll have to see what all this hype about Boston is. I was talking with another guy who will be targeting a sub 3 and we’re both new to Boston. Going out with ONLY marathoners will be odd. CIM has a 2 and 4 person relay option so you have a mix of fast and slow runners around you. Boston is ONLY marathoners and running with people capable of blowing up a sub-3 PR should be interesting.  I hear the first 8 miles are downhill and everyone goes out too fast. Ideally I’ll lock into pace early on and the tracking will be typical boring consistent.

       

      I tell everyone that for me, Boston was the one life experience that lived up to the hype. Not so much because of the course or even the race itself, but just the whole weekend. For 3 days, the city lives and breathes the marathon—it takes over the town unlike any other race. It’s like going to a crazy-obsessed runners‘ convention, because you have to be one just to get there.

       

      Logging boring consistent splits in Boston will be an accomplishment. At CIM I felt in the early, hillier miles, the uphills & downhills mostly cancelled each other out and you could run even splits. At Boston the uphills & downhills are both generally longer, so it’s pretty hard to run even splits if you’re trying to keep even effort. Overall negative split is unusual too (and probably counterproductive), since the hardest section is 16-21.

      Dave

         

        Steve - that half that I paced my wife I threw both the medal and the t-shirt in the bin.

        Honestly I don't even keep many medals these days.

         

         

        I still have every medal (and bib) I’ve ever gotten. IDK why. I keep them all artfully displayed in a shoebox under my bed.

        Dave

        Running Problem


        Problem Child

          RP - If you nail sub 3 in Boston, surely your mindset will change?  You still seem to consider yourself a hobby jogger even after that epic CIM performance.

          I'm pretty sure I'll still love CIM over Boston, BUT this is factoring in cost, and travel which isn't fair when comparing races. I'll always be a hobby jogger with a 3:56 marathon time. Even IF the group blames me for going fast then tells me they're feeling good when I'm asking why we're going faster than 8:15/mi.

          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

             

            I still have every medal (and bib) I’ve ever gotten. IDK why. I keep them all artfully displayed in a shoebox under my bed.

             

            lol

             

            Hopefully one day someone will invent a good alternative (useful, environmentally friendly, tasty etc etc) to the race finisher's medal. Maybe a chocolate medal for the cooler climes?

            50+ age-group PBs:  Half Perish 1:24:24 (June '23 Road Race) - 10km 37:52 (2022 Local Road Champs) - Track 5km 18:49 (Aug '22) - Perish Run 3:17:42

            2024 Goals: Boston Perish Run Sub 3:15 - Road/Track 10km Sub 37:30 - 5km Sub 18:20

             

             

            ccoakley


               

              lol

               

              Hopefully one day someone will invent a good alternative (useful, environmentally friendly, tasty etc etc) to the race finisher's medal. Maybe a chocolate medal for the cooler climes?

               

              At least some medals double as a bottle opener and live in my kitchen instead of my closet.

              5k 24:53 (2020) |10k 52:24 (2021) |HM 1:57:14 (2019) |FM 4:24 (2007) |50k 5:57 (2022)

               

               

              Marky_Mark_17


                 

                I still have every medal (and bib) I’ve ever gotten. IDK why. I keep them all artfully displayed in a shoebox under my bed.

                 

                Me too.  I have a display that has all the medals and bibs, in a corner of the house where we store random stuff and no-one ever really goes lol.  A few on here have tended to downplay the participation medals but every one of them tells a story and I'd like to think I learned something from every one of those races (even if it was "if you had food poisoning a few days before the race, you're gonna hit a wall. Hard.").

                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"

                  I don’t see ever doing anything with my medals, but I think I’d want to keep the marathon medals even if I pitched all the rest. 

                  Oh I do have one on display. After Boston my wife had the medal and bib mounted in a windowbox frame, for my birthday. It’s kind of cool although it’s in my bedroom and no one else sees it. 

                  Dave

                    That's really cool. Well done, Dave's wife! (and Dave obviously, for actually running the thing)

                    50+ age-group PBs:  Half Perish 1:24:24 (June '23 Road Race) - 10km 37:52 (2022 Local Road Champs) - Track 5km 18:49 (Aug '22) - Perish Run 3:17:42

                    2024 Goals: Boston Perish Run Sub 3:15 - Road/Track 10km Sub 37:30 - 5km Sub 18:20

                     

                     

                      That's really cool. Well done, Dave's wife! (and Dave obviously, for actually running the thing)

                       

                      It was especially cool because she is a non-runner, has no idea why I do this shit, and just sort of barely tolerates all my nonsense. But it’s nice to know deep down she understands how much it means to me, and maybe is a little bit proud.

                      Dave

                        Steve - at long last I finally read your RR. I had read everyone’s comments on it; it was like reading all the reviews of a horror movie, and then finally seeing the movie. Yikes, so brutal. The only time I ever had anything like that was my first marathon. After around 30k, every single lower-body muscle group felt ready to seize up at any moment. I started walking but realized that would take forever, so I limp-shuffled the rest of the way to the finish. I could barely walk for a week. But I was way, way undertrained; you clearly were not. It’s hard to pinpoint the root cause, but likely multiple factors. My only thoughts: (1) if you want to decide marathons are not for you, it’s probably the smartest decision you’ll make. (2) If you still want to keep at it, ease back into it. I think it was suggested—go out and run 42k at easy pace. Maybe enter a small local race and target something a bit faster. Get comfortable with the distance, figure out your pre-race rituals & fueling strategy, and get your confidence back. Whatever you decide, I’m looking forward to seeing what’s next.

                        Dave

                        SteveChCh


                        Hot Weather Complainer

                          Mark - Yeah, I think in the future if/when I have an issue I will take that advice.  I went to a different physio last year when my knee was sore and she was really good and had me testing it in her clinic, running up the hall and checking my form, and gave me exercises and strapping tips for home.  At no point did she give me timeframes other than getting me to test it more and more as I got more confident, then telling me we didn't need to book another appointment unless it got worse.

                           

                          Dave - A horror movie, ouch...although that's also how I described it on Strava 30 mins after I finished (or maybe that was horror show).  I'm going to take it easy for 4 weeks then do some small speed sessions and have a mini taper for the Queenstown half-marathon, then run it for fun at around marathon pace for the first half and see if I can push it a bit in the second half.  That will hopefully give me a good race experience.

                           

                          On the other thread watson and Mark made some good points about my next race, and if I'm feeling good mentally in 6-8 weeks, I'm going to go for Christchurch on April 16.  It's my local race, much smaller than Melbourne but big enough so that I'll always be running with someone, especially in the first half as the half starts with the full.  It's flat with a high chance of good weather, and I can sleep in my own bed.  I've already booked an appointment with a nutritionist next week with a view to good training and race day nutrition.  It's a sports clinic so there are also mental skills coaches, doctors etc.   I'll probably see a podiatrist at some point to sort out my toenails which are a real mess.  I feel like I've recovered well physically and good sleep, no booze and being home has really helped the mental recovery.  Maybe I should have waited to write that report, but I had a look back and it's raw and accurate.

                           

                          So it looks like I'm going again.  Like you said, your first marathon should be a disaster!  Only freaks like piwi smash it first time.

                          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

                          Mikkey


                          Mmmm Bop

                            I don’t keep any of my medals and have given most of them away to my dog Pickle.

                             

                             

                            5k - 17:53 (4/19)   10k - 37:53 (11/18)   Half - 1:23:18 (4/19)   Full - 2:50:43 (4/19)

                            flavio80


                            Intl. correspondent

                              JMac - You've basically described exactly the stages I went through.  A lot of denial in the kms between sensing cramp and when it came on properly.  Anger at myself, my body and the spectators.  I yelled "come on you USELESS C**T" at my leg when I was stretching which I feel a bit bad about.  One mile left and there was a lot of "you're so close!".  I might as well be 100 miles away when I've got debilitating cramp in both legs and I can't move.   The final shuffle to what I thought was a terrible result was all "why did I bother?"

                               

                              LOL, I remember in my last mile I was mentally throwing a thousand cuss words per minute, but then I saw a small girl holding a sign "touch here for power". I don't know why, but that disarmed me completely, I made sure to touch the sign, and then shuffle to the finish line chuckling about it.

                              As soon as I crossed the finish line I woke up to the pain again and I couldn't even remove my shoes LOL.

                               

                              Dave - That's a pretty nice display, I think your game plan should be take your wife to one of those runner groups for ladies. She goes for the gossip but stays for a short run.

                               

                              Dave - Well, sorry, Mikkey out-displayed you 😂

                              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

                              Ian5


                                Steve-Good news you're planning another,it must mean your head is in the right place now also.

                                I have still got all my medals,most are in the garage but special ones I have ready to be hung up again.I have my majors on a display on the wall upstairs,idea is all 6 will be up surrounding the 6 star medal,looks good in my head,will have to see how it looks in reality.

                                5k 17:35,10k 36:43,10m 61:55,HM 1:24:03,Full 3:07:39