2018 3:20 (and beyond) (Read 582 times)

I don't have a ton to contribute at the moment, but max tossed out my name, and it made me think maybe I should post something, because somewhere along the way, someone said to keep them updated on my status.

DKGG:  Good to see you here.  I followed (umm, maybe stalked) your training in RWOL, which was always impressive.

Anyhow, a little over three weeks after surgery, I am going to PT 3x/week, and most recently spent 20 minutes on the AlterG at 65% body weight.  Beyond that, doing the prescribed exercises, plus some biking, and having some discussions with my PT about imbalances and how to correct them.  I tried running across the lawn today (maybe 30 feet), and that felt like a completely foreign form of movement.  Hopefully can start running for real in a couple of weeks.

Now back to your regularly scheduled programming...

 

Dad: I'm considering hiring you as mentor to a somewhat-new coach.

Well, that would be consistent w/ your historically bad decision-making!

Good to see folks (Ace, OMR, PJ, DkW) recovering from different things.

Should be some more race results?

I poorly executed my 10K yesterday. Too slow first mile (6:51) -- esp. first 800m (slower). Then 5 good miles (6:24, 26, 25, 21, 26). In retrospect I didn't warm up properly.

My week:

M) Elliptigo 45'

Tu) 9 w/ 3x1 @ 10K w/ 800m rec

W) 4.5

Th) 5.5 w/ 6x1 @ 8K w/ 1' rec

F) 4.5

Sa) 4.5 w/ strides

Su) 9 w/ 10K @40:23

Total: 37

Beginning about 8 weeks of base training.

Just dropping in to post results from the NJ Marathon yesterday.

Spent the first 11+ miles pacing a co-worker who was aiming for a sub-2 half marathon. He was a touch ahead of pace when I broke off for the rest of the full marathon, but faded to a 2:01 after that. Meanwhile, I picked up the pace for about two miles -- and quickly developed some serious stomach cramps. Got in a good porta-potty fartlek workout after that, and finished in 4:23.

The whole point of this was to get in a supported long run, so whatever.

A few gripes about this race:

-There were only TWO vendors at the expo. I don't usually do a lot of shopping, but these things can be quite useful if you want to see certain products in person.

-Several aid stations ran out of gatorade, which was the only source of calories I could stomach.

-One aid station around mile 21 ran out of cups. While the later aid stations did have cups, I didn't know it at the time and was wondering if they actually were going to offer nothing to drink for the last five miles.

-The largest banks of porta potties were at the relay exchanges, leading to massive lines.

-The person checking IDs at the expo was tearing the beer tickets off of our bibs and giving us wristbands. It turns out the ticket was necessary for a free post-race beer. YOU DO NOT MESS WITH MY BEER!

-No bags allowed in the finish area, including the ones left at gear check. Then what the heck is gear check for, exactly?

 SC - the downhill will help a lot as long as you've been practicing your downhill running.  The number of people stretching and moaning on the side of the road at St. George was something to behold.  I also think the consistent training will help you, and so will getting your mileage up higher if even for a short time.

Well, I live in Seattle, so even though I try to seek out flat roads as much as possible, I end up running up and down hills almost every time out. (I set the treadmill to 1% uphill on all TM runs). I have also been practicing bombing down hills of similar (or steeper) grade, and I love running (gentle) downhills in general. This is supposed to be a consistent 2% downhill, so it sounds ideal.

Congrats, Keen! A small PR is still a PR.

I know the frustration of not feeling like I executed well, Dad. Still, 40:23 is solid, and with that pacing, you know you could probably have dipped under 40.

"You probably know this already but gps watches and the mile markers are useless for that race until mile 16 or so."

Max: I've been worried about this. I read your RR, of course, and I was hoping that I could do reasonably accurate manual splits based on the mile markers at a minimum. I know they were way off for your run, but certainly they must place new ones each time, right? Maybe they'll do a better time this year? One can hope...

I worry about using HR to guide my pace because my HRM is not 100% accurate and I'm also not exactly sure what it SHOULD be at marathon effort running downhill mile-by-mile. If I run by feel, I will likely go out too fast.

My week was good up until yesterday. I ran a bit faster than I should have on Saturday, which led to me totally bombing out and quitting Sunday's long run. I suspect that I also just hadn't eaten enough before heading out - I just had nothing. The HRM did a weird thing where it jumped from 130 to like 160 when I was jogging, so you can't trust it on that run in particular.

Anyway, I'm planning on making up for it tonight - going to attempt to run a new route home from work. It'll be 17-18.5 miles and an adventure!

 

Oh, I've been freaking out for MONTHS. I just kicked it up a level. 

sc I hit the panic button this morning. I realized the goal I'm trying to accomplish is 5 months away and while I've known it's going to be hard the simple fact it's coming 5 months from now scares the poop out of me. Reading your most recent topics sounds like we're in a similar mindset. I can't use GPS for Chicago, I don't know how much I'll trust heart rate, but at least I'll have a pacer (3:05, goal 3:07) so I'm thinking of using that and fading.  Good luck either way.

Max Miwok....hmm....NeRP allowed on course for a few miles? I'd totally come over the hill. Oh and I just saw how much elevation gain Canyons 100K has....that hat isn't worth it to me anymore AND I respect it. I can't believe you don't have a photo of the belt collection ready. I guess it's in "the book" that somehow went missing.

rlk Race looked not bad. What happened around the second mile because it seemed like you picked it up right after.

Keen congrats. Still smoked my fastest HM and I like how that course is a strava segment.  Oh and Kev and I think Max have been reading Endure. It's in my Amazon list so I might pick it up. Kev was trying to discuss the book in our other online meeting source a month or so ago.

rune how long did you do the warmup/technique drills? 15 minutes before an easy run? 30 minutes and that's the workout? I think the hardest part is remembering the pattern. Once you know the pattern you look like you know what you're doing. They're currently on loop so I think if I watch them enough and practice while sitting at my desk I could memorize them.

ace you're lucky. I'm just now feeling well enough to run so I'm taking the day off. I figured if I went out today I'd make myself sick again because I'm not 100%. How are the other 2 sick kids doing?

McBen WTF?!?!? Seriously, don't fawk with my beer. I had one race with a "bounce" tell me I needed my ID even though my bib had my age. The next year he wasn't there and the guy giving out bracelets for beers commented on how stupid he thought it was.

NeRP just started rolling back to stomach. Apparently this requires strapping him in to the changing station. I know what Katia was talking about when she said her kid did it at like 2 months. I'm in "oh fawk" mode with Chicago 5 months away because I'm trying to pull 5 minutes off my PR on a different course, at a different time with semi-less predictable weather. in "The Windy City" which has it's own fear associated with it. I spent last night looking up when qualifying dates for 4/20/20 are and trying to think what other races I could do...which put me into a spiral of "why are you making a back up plan and preparing to fail?"  so I quit doing it and realized I'll be getting double days in to hit my mile goals. This may be nice becuase it could be cooler, OR my wife will be upset I'm doing 30-40 minute runs right before bed. Maybe I'll wake up early. Either way I'm cutting out beer for at least May. Maybe June. Camping will be cheaper this way and maybe I'll get down from 175 lbs. Big plans and big goals need big sacrifice. As fishermen say "you can't catch big fish without big bait" and baiting myself with celebration beers is pretty big bait.

My week didn't exist. I was sick. Went home early Friday and spent it on the couch mostly. DW and NeRP went to Denver for the weekend and came back Sunday so at least I had time to rest (I had bigger plans) and get better. Apparently medicine says "take every 4 hours" and not "take once in the morning and once at night." Who knew?

FB, rovatti- glad the run was a success! always nice to confirm that people really exist.

and, on the note of people existing, OMR is alive. yay! alter-G at 65% is nothing to sneeze at. glad you are staying active.

mcB- wow. i wonder if NJM has always had those problems - and now you just know because it's your first time that far back in the pack - or is this making a bit of an uproar in the nj running scene?

ace- jamaicans ARE fast. they also have a really well-thought out, large-scale athlete development system that starts em young. see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletics_in_Jamaica#Youth_athletic_development_in_Jamaica
go you! i can't run in 78F! this was most recently proven at the Notsob Marathon.

rune - laughing at your story about drills! yes, some of them are NOT intuitive and are a bit ridiculous when you attempt them. I think I'll never be able to do A-C skips (the one where you have high knee in front of you, then high knee out to the side).

brew- see below. second mile is definitely the slowest of the course due to elevation gain, and then right at the start of mile 3 is a nice downhill.

ace, rune- really kind of you guys to follow up. so yeah, 5k race yesterday (that my team put on, our 2nd annual. jim was there too! his fitness is coming back). it was definitely race effort (confirmed by HR / comparison to other 5ks), it's not an easy course (mile 2 rolls a lot), and i did manage to outkick a local friendly "rival" in the last half mile. but the result being a 20:20 brings me back to where i was 3.5 years ago, mid-marathon training. either i peaked a month ago, or 3 speed workouts a week (at least 2 on track) doesn't work for me, or maybe i have some iron issues?. going to talk to coach (not the one i've been complaining about - the other, our assistance coach ) tomorrow and also get labs done this week. i'd be fine with a mini-break now to reset. as of now, i'm signed up for a road mile on sunday - we'll see about that - and i can't let the team down for Bay to Breakers centipede at the end of May.

also, interestingly, i didn't look at my watch the whole race. mentally i tried to place aside the fact that i've been sluggish and feeling off lately - i still wanted to give it the best effort i could. coach yelled splits at mile 1 and 2, so i knew mile 1 was already slower than ideal (~6:27 / 13-low and i didn't care to do the math). I think if I'd seen my watch beep with 6:50 for mile 2 I really would've given up.

also, bf has been training for this race too. he doesn't do much in the way of mileage but he's been doing my speed workouts and really enjoying it. he's newish to running (former collegiate cyclist though) and has been a bit fragile with it - and last week i think he truly became initiated as a real runner. got injured a week before his goal race, rested it all week, tested it out at the end of the week, and then ... biked around the course to cheer us on instead of racing it himself. big bummer. i think he would've broken 19min.

week - lame.

m- off 
t- 9.4mi incl that workout we talked about, 2k+in/out 200s
w- 7.5mi@8:50 + 1hr strength
th- off  (that's 2 full ones! this never happens)
f- 7mi@8:32
sa- 11mi bike commuting / 4mi@8:30 incl some drills, strides, and a 200 in 37 (have been reading magness's stuff about muscle elasticity...)
su- 6.6mi incl 5k in 20:20. cooldown happened way too late after the race - had to do some race volunteer duties right after i finished - and now my upper hamstring/lower butt feels weird
= 34.6mi lololol