Forums >Racing>2018 3:20 (and beyond)
DW - I think I'm the same way with just having it in me to train for races. I like running otherwise, but I really enjoy the goal in mind. Just how I'm wired, I think. Congrats on the race!
Hi Ilana!!
Brew - I totally remember being so tired I couldn't tell if it was exhaustion, illness, or both.
Dad - 33 degrees and drizzle is about the worst weather I can think of to run in, aside from a 33 degree downpour.
Ace - I'm trying to increase my LR 2 miles every week, too, except this week i decided to only increase 1 bc I was sick and figured pushing it from 12 to 13 was pretty useless in the grand scheme of things.
PJ - I always have weird looking weeks, I feel like.
OMR - good news on the knee then?
Last week:
M: 5.9 @ 8:58
T: 5.8 on TM with running group
W: off
Th: 4.9 @ 8:25
F: off
S: 12.2 @ 8:31
Su: 2.5 on TM at 10:30ish
Total: 31.3
Haven't hit the 30s for a while, so there's that. I have no voice after whatever cold/sinus infection/bug came to a head last Friday, so I decided to play my "LR" safe on Saturday and just see how I felt. I didn't feel worse after the run. so I felt good about it. 5.3 this morning with my next door neighbor and her dog.
PRs: HM: 1:32:59 (2015); FM: 3:18:36 (2017)
Ilanarama: Beautiful setting for a bike ride -- probably for a run also. Not so much for skiing, I guess. That's one positive thing about all our rain - usually it means snow in the mountains.
darkwave: sorry to hear you're sick. I had something similar in January and it lasted about four days, but I was pretty worn out for a few days after that. Hope it passes quickly.
rovatti: Nice week despite the knee issue.
dad: really nice week!
Ace: Looks like you had a great long run!
Seattle: I think since it's been warm in Boise the last few years this year will be cold and rainy - like 2015. That was rough.
Pepperjack: Are you in Baltimore? By "the spine," do you mean Charles Street? I used to live off Charles, in North Balt. That sounds like a fun run - I don't remember hearing about that when I was there.
I ran 5 easy this morning, a little shorter than I planned but I got a late start and ran out of time. I was dragging a little, just because it's Monday probably. I sort of watched the game last night but it was over before 8, so I can't blame staying up too late.
Rovatti -- sorry about the knee. Is that something new, or something you've had to deal with?
OMR -- does your PT practice black magic? My experience with PT's is less than perfect. Good long-run planning, but no short term miracles. Curious minds.
Max -- nice to see you. If you are reading JimE, hope all is well.
The Bay Area running scene is the best. Big Sur, Napa, CIM, Sfo Marathon, Sfo/Kaiser half, Santa Rosa, Giant Sequoias, SLO, Northface challenge in Marin -- and I should have run Oakland with Jim. :-(
So I got excited a few days ago and ran nearly 6 at 7:17 and I won a golf-ball sized knot in my right calf. Whoopee. On the bright side, I figured out how to push podcasts to my Apple Watch.
m: 2:55:04 | 10k: 37:14 | 50mile: 9:35
Rov - would like to go to the Milrose someday.
PM me if you feel like coming in for a Tues evening interval workout at the armory (my club and a lot of others are there).
Coaching discussion has been interesting. I've never considered one, but know folks who have had great success with them. Right now all possible funds for such things go to kids' activities which I guess would be their coaches/teachers (gymnastics and dance).
While I know the big city (Charlotte) has a more serious club with membership and coaching options, my local, more rural club just gets together to run. Once a week or so it may be a track session or some tempo miles, but mostly it's just state your planned distance and pace and others will join and/or drop as needed. No fees and no benefits really either. We do put shirt orders together once in a while though.
Last week went pretty well for a total of 70 miles. The training plan had a "9-13 mile tune-up race" on it for Saturday, but there really wasn't anything around that I could find. I did run 8 miles at a steady effort that day, but not tempo or race pace. Sunday was a nice 20 in 32F and rain for about the last 13 miles. I was fine while running, but cold and unable to move my fingers after. A few from the local group joined in the misery.
Mon Jan 29
4.32
8:52
Lunch Run
Tue Jan 30
10.45
8:10
Track: 9x400 w/100 rest
Wed Jan 31
11.25
8:29
Mid-week Medium Long Run
Thu Feb 01
4.09
Morning Run
6.01
8:22
Davidson College trails
Fri Feb 02
8:59
Sat Feb 03
8.01
7:10
Afternoon Jaunt
Sun Feb 04
20.03
8:09
If you like 20 milers and getting caught in the rain
70.17
8:16
Oregon - sometimes getting up just doesn't happen!
Fb - totally been there. I got excited and ran 9.5 miles at a 7:45 pace about 3 weeks ago.. hadn't run that far since May, let alone under 8:00 pace. A few days of slower going helped.
Coaching - I've always considered this but I think it'll be something I do if I can't improve on my own. My "training" is certainly less than stellar, and leaves a lot of room for improvement. I guess I'd be interested if I was unable to build while keeping my body healthy, but so far so good on that front as well.
pie man
Oregon - don't quite hit Charles until downtown, more along Falls Road until then. Here's the GPS on strava
https://www.strava.com/activities/1392282766
(we continued on from water street to fells and kislings further east but I ended and started new segments in case the battery died)
We have only done this the past few years, started with my friend's crazy idea in 2014 and it's grown from there.
11:11 3,000 (recent)
Will Run for Donuts!
Count me as another of the "never had a coach" crowd. I'm certainly not opposed to the idea, as I'm sure a good coach is a worthy investment, but I've been able to reach my goals (so far) just be reading various books and following canned plans. I'm also cheap and would have a hard time justifying the expense for what is basically a hobby. Coaching would also likely be wasted on me, as it's anathema to how I approach my own running. Unless I'm pursuing a specific goal, I like the freedom of being able to run however far and fast I'm feeling in the moment. I imagine a coach would have little patience for that sort of thing, understandably.
For those with coaches, how did you find and select him/her? How did you separate the bad fits and the crackpots from the good ones? I'm curious about the whole search process.
Mother of Cats
I've only ever had the one coach ( in running). I went with mine based on word of mouth and observation of past success coaching runners at my approximate level.
I do think you need to figure out what you want from coaching and training. Do you want to train with a group? Or solo? Do you want in person contact, or communication by phone/email? Do you want a cheerleader that makes you feel like you're a superstar? Or do you want to be put in your place when you have crazy ideas? How much freedom do you want to make your own schedule versus having one sent to you?
As for weeding out the crackpots - word of mouth will help a lot with that. If nobody stays with a coach more than 6 months or a year, that's a red flag, even if the departed runners don't have anything bad to say. OTOH, if a coach has a lot of long-time (3 years or more) runners, then I'd pay very little regard to the occasional person who left after 6 months, unhappy.Other red flags are reliance on a "USATF certification" or one's own PRs as primary coaching qualifications. Being able to run a time has very little to do with whether you can coach someone else to run that time. And that USATF certification seems to be what people get when they decide they want to coach, but really don't know what they're doing. There are several really really good coaches in the DC area - I don't think any of them have that cert.Look for someone who's coached for several years. Bonus points if they've successfully coached runners similar to you, in terms of ability, age, gender, and commitments outside of running. Someone can be the greatest coach in the world but if he/she normally works with fresh college graduates who work 20 hours a week at a running store while chasing dreams, she or he may not know how to adapt their coaching for someone in their late 30s with a kid or two and a job that requires travel twice a month.
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.
Pepperjack: That's a great route! Looking at the map brought back a lot of memories of running around those neighborhoods, particularly Mt. Washington, Cross Keys, and near Meadowbrook (my kids learned to swim there!). I used to meet a group that ran around Druid Hill park early in the morning.
Coaching: I've never had a coach, and just rely on books and articles I've read. I can see the value in it, but don't want to spend the money since we spend so much on kids' sports and activities. For some reason I think it would be hard to find a coach for someone my age, but I don't know why I think that, just based on what I read and who has coaches probably. I do think it's kind of interesting to experiment on my own and see what works and what doesn't, and it doesn't cost me anything (other than continually failing to achieve my marathon goal!).
FB: Yeah, he was a little less optimistic today, having had a chance to do some work on me. Basically, my left knee is collapsing inward when I run due to a muscle imbalance, and my left hip rotation is significantly less than the right side. And I have some significant weak areas. So, he gave me some strengthening and stretching work, and said we'll just have to see where everything is at in a week. Oh, and while I thought my IT-band was loose, he seemed to think otherwise. So, it got cupped today...that was fun. Things were so tight by the knee that he had trouble getting the suction cup to pull up the skin. (And this was after I thought I had gotten it loosened up.)
Katia: In the long run, I think that's good news.
mattw: That's a solid week.
Coaches: I think the one thing a coach would help hold me to are non-running-related activities I tend to ignore...like strengthening my weak core, and stretching things that need to be stretched.
max: If things go well, you will finish long before me, not because I DNS-ed, but because I had a thoroughly enjoyable day walk/running through the Arizona desert.
An hour and a half on the elliptical for me today. I bought a machine for DW back in November, and I'm so glad we have it now, since I can work out at home.
I second a lot of what dwave said about coaching.
I landed with a coaching service for a few reasons.
1. I had just read about 75% of Daniel's and my head was spinning and I wasn't exactly sure how to apply this.
2. I had a couple friends who had success with this particular coaching service.
3. I had just finished a 3:29 marathon (my PR) and did it averaging less than 40 MPW. I basically just gradually increased mileage. It gave me a desire try and get faster at the Marathon, and I wasn't sure how to, so coaching felt like a good option.
It's actually helped a lot with a young family too. I have 3 kids under 4 y/o (for the newer folks) and not having to plan workouts has made me a more efficient trainer.
I found my coach through word of mouth. He's been coaching for about 10 years. We had a coffee to get to know each other and see if our intentions and goals of a coaching service aligned.
I think if you told me 2 years ago that I'd be paying $75-125/month for run coaching, I would've called you CRAZY! But now, I'm really enjoying it.
Matt: nice week! Where are you located again? (I know I could look on the intros page, but why not have a conversation with my imaginary friends?)
Road Mile: 5:19 (2017), 5k: 17:09 (2021), 10k: 35:54 (2021), HM: 1:21:55 (2020), M: 2:53:18 (2021)
Hmm, 4 days, 4 pages of posts... I haven't done any private coaching either, neither do I have any plans to. But you never know in the future. But for now I can still come up with ways to get better by myself.
Brew - I happen to have a VERY understanding wife, so I try to not take advantage and schedule runs around most other activities. I wonder how this will all feel when/if I up my mileage for Amsterdam. Sounds like you are at the right intensity level on your intervals, they are supposed to be hard and not very pleasant, particularly at the end. And I believe hills are always good for you (I haven't done much of them myself lately). And I'm always happy when I get a 40-mile week.
Oregon - I'm kind of late to the party on tempos for a 5k or 10k, but if I were to take a guess I would either do the short kind (3 miles, 20 minutes), or cruise intervals where you could get a bit more distance in at the threshold pace. And I think dad and darkwave are correct in throwing long intervals into the mix. For added benefit when you are doing a tempo, add in 4x20 second strides once you're done (a Jack Daniels special), it's supposed to help on getting your speed up on tired legs.
Dad - Can't keep my long runs to 20 or 25% of total weekly distance, that's for sure. With my 19-miler last week it was more in the 40-45% range . 5x1k at 6:10 with 1 min recovery sounds hard and really fast, unless 6:10 is threshold pace for you. And nice week!
Rozzie - 166 miles for a month is pretty good in my book. After an off week I ended up at just 114 - not too good. Should be better the next couple of months though.
Darkwave - I'm hoping I can one day run a 10k right above 40 on an off day, nice work! That Tuesday workout looks killer too. Hope you get better soon!
Ace - Nice week. That long run "cycling" sounds like what I've done before. Keep the shorter one steady, increase the longer one every 2 weeks up to 20 or so.
OMR - Hope you get that knee fixed.
Duke - Just attribute that pain to a lack of moral strength . No really, whatever it is I hope you get it figured out.
Ilana - Looks nice on that bike. You'll be pleased to know I'm running my slow runs really slow these days
Pepper - So is that a beer HM?
Seattle - That's a lot of miles and feet in a week.
fb - You're right, we do have a good running scene in the Bay Area. Lots of nice smaller races close to the bay as well (trail and road)
Matt - Nice week. Sounds like your long run was the opposite of mine. I did 19 in 70 degrees and lost 7 lbs + from sweating during the run!
I'm happy about my week overall. Got most of the JD workout in on Wednesday, and had a good long run on Sunday. I just realized that the training paces I've been keeping (back calculating from JD's calculator) are supposed to be equal to a 1:31:30 HM. I am racing on Saturday morning but have no hopes of hitting that then, but maybe for my goal race in March? I think I will see how my workout on Wednesday goes (4x2k tempo) before I settle on a starting pace. Unfortunately it doesn't look like the race will have a pace group for 1:35, which was my original starting pace plan, so I will have to rely on myself to not start too fast.
Weekly SummaryMonday, Jan 29, 2018 thru Sunday, Feb 04, 2018
5k: 20:32 (1/17) | HM: 1:34:37 (2/18) | FM: 3:31:37 (3/18)
Getting back into it
Hi all, things are a bit hectic right now with work, babies and training, so I'm having a hard time keeping up with the thread. I've made the difficult decision to be a lurker, only occasionally contributing
Lots of great weeks around here! And great racing by both DkW and PJ! Great efforts in tough conditions (either because of weather or course, or fatigue) by both. I may be forgetting other racers, so I apologize.
Training has been going well here. Last 2 weeks were 53 and 48 miles respectively. A bit lower than planned, but managed to complete all workouts. Did my first 20 miler on Sunday and tested the adios 3 in the process. They held up very well and I felt great throughout, so I think they will be my marathon shoes for Paris.
Have a great week everyone!
5K - 18:03 (5.18) | 10K - 37:58 (2.18) | HM - 1:20:45 (9.18) | FM: 2:57:59 (10.18)
All you gotta do is click one of those Strava links and then zoom out! I'm about 20 miles north of Charlotte, NC. I live in Mooresville, but there are 4 small adjacent towns that I am regularly going between for running, biking, work, errands and such. It's also known as the Lake Norman area.
Good tips on how to find a coach from both Ace and DW. I would probably justify a strength or conditioning coach (trainer?) or group classes before a running coach. But I also fall into the no extra funds for that sort of thing category. Other than shoes, gus and entry fees, my only recurring expense is a fairly cheap gym membership ($35/mo).
The Google seems to have a plethora of help for everything else. Granted, it takes some time to weed through it all.