2022 Advanced Racing Thread (Read 497 times)

mmerkle


    Steve: Congrats on your first marathon. Great job fighting through those cramps and not quitting. That's a good display of mental toughness. Not the time you wanted but you should be proud anyway.

     

    Cal: Really solid pacing. I think I have a lesson or two to learn from you lol.

      Couldn’t really have been a bigger disaster.

       

      That’s what a first marathon should be. You get a great story out of it. I almost feel sorry for those who go out and nail it on their first try.

      Dave

        Cal amazing !

        Forum encounter weekend Cal and Mikkey, Steve and Marby and all with beer involved good times !

         

        Dave I'm living proof of that with 2.59 in my first and lost motivation for marathons after just one more.

        55+ PBs 5k 18:36 June 3rd TT

        " If you don't use it you lose it,  but if you use it, it wears out.

        Somewhere in between is about right "      

         

        Mikkey


        Mmmm Bop

           

          That’s what a first marathon should be. You get a great story out of it. I almost feel sorry for those who go out and nail it on their first try.

           

          Yeah, but a lot of folk ran their first marathon without the knowledge or mileage Steve had going into the race…so I can understand his disappointment.  I’ve been lucky enough never to experience cramps during a race so hopefully he can figure it out and nail it second time!

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

          Marky_Mark_17


            Cal - congrats, very impressive effort!

             

            Steve - gutted that the race didn't pan out for you but hey it's done.  I wouldn't make any decisions about next races for at least a week or two.  Give yourself a bit of a physical and mental break, you've been training at a high level for a long period of time now.  You'll know when you're ready to think about races again, whatever those might be.

            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"

            Ian5


              Ignore,nothing to see here

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

              Fishyone


                Steve- Congratulations on your first marathon! My first marathon "a" goal was to finish. Nothing tougher than gutting it out when you're body quits.  Great mental toughness and determination.

                 

                Marby- Nice work out there.

                 

                Cal- Enjoy your rest and bask in the job well done.  consistent and strong to the end....

                5K 18:36 (2023), 10K 39:40 (2022), 1/2 1:24:37 (2023), full 2:58:36 (2015) 

                darkwave


                Mother of Cats

                  Marby and Cal - it's all been said already, but great job to you both.  Steve - I'm very sorry about how the marathon played out, but we've all had hard ones.  With each one of these, you learn something and are better prepared for the next one.

                   

                  Flavio - good luck with the quad niggle.

                   

                  ***

                   

                  My week:

                  51 miles running, 3 hours pool-running, and ~1000 yards swimming.

                  M: 90 minutes pool-running
                  T: 12.5 miles, with 2000, 5x800 in 8:47, 3:21, 3:17, 3:15, 3:13, 3:13 (recoveries of 4:00 after the 2K, and 2:2x-2:4x after the 800s)
                  W: Yoga and 8 miles very easy (9:51) and drills/strides.
                  Th: 90 minutes pool-running, upper body weights/core.
                  F: 10 miles, including a track 5K tempo in 21:49 - splits of 7:18/6:57/6:44/0:50). Followed with 500 yards recovery swimming.
                  Sa: 8.5 miles very easy (9:44), with drills and four hill sprints, and yoga.
                  Su: 12 miles progressive - first 3 averaging 8:57, next 9 averaging 8:13. Followed with 500 meters recovery swimming.

                   

                  This was my second to last week of taper. With the exception of the Tuesday workout, every run was 2-5 miles shorter than it would have been during my training cycle, and I cut 30 minutes off of each pool-running session. Tuesday was my last "real" workout; Friday's tempo workout was limited to 5K, and Sunday's run was not long and had no marathon effort work.

                   

                  It's late enough in the year that I'm now starting track workouts in the dark again. My dystonia/balance issues are much much worse when visibility is poor, and it shows in my workouts. It was particularly notable during Friday's tempo. I did not intend to speed up that much over the course of the tempo, it was just that I couldn't get my legs to work well for the first 6 laps (10:47 - 7:14 pace). And then the sun rose and I could see and I ran the next 6 laps in 10:11 (6:50 pace).

                   

                  I'm really glad that Chicago is not an evening race.

                   

                  (and no, I haven't checked the weather yet.  I am very whatever about this marathon.)

                  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.

                    A taper week for me, with a couple abbreviated workouts. 

                    For the tempo intervals—McMillan says the mile splits should be 6:46-7:00. Usually I'm somewhere in the 6:50s; this one was 6:51, 6:46, 6:48, 6:46. Very happy with that.

                     

                    For the MP workout—I need around 7:35. My splits were 7:34, 7:27, 7:25, 7:28, 7:27, 7:19. Felt good. 

                    All systems go. 

                    Weekly for period: From: 09/26/2022 To 10/02/2022

                    Date Name mi km Duration Avg/mi Avg/km Elevation Gain
                    in ft
                    09/26 Morning Run 6.01 9.67 00:53:15 08:52 05:30 253
                    09/27 Morning Run 6.01 9.67 00:53:14 08:51 05:30 266
                    09/28 4 x 1 mile tempo + 3x200m 10.01 16.11 01:21:38 08:09 05:04 171
                    09/29 Morning Run 5.52 8.88 00:48:41 08:49 05:29 249
                    09/30 Morning Run 6.01 9.67 00:53:19 08:52 05:31 266
                    10/01 6 @ MP 12.08 19.44 01:38:30 08:09 05:04 243
                    10/02 Morning Run 6.01 9.67 00:52:58 08:49 05:29 266

                    Total distance: 51.65mi

                    Dave

                       

                      (and no, I haven't checked the weather yet.  I am very whatever about this marathon.)

                       

                      No worries, I’ve checked it enough for both of us. It’s looking very good.

                      Dave

                      ccoakley


                        Steve, sorry it wasn't the race you wanted.  Your almost marathon training run a few weeks ago where you easily could have finished at 3:15 is a much better gauge of your incredible fitness.  Congratulations on finally getting to the start line!

                         

                        Cal, super impressive race!  Sounds like you had a great time in London and I hope life is better for you when you return to CA.

                         

                        Jmac, ugh, ugh ughhhhh!  Hopefully you shut things down quickly enough to get ahead of this.

                         

                        DW, that must be so frustrating to finally be making good progress and get a setback like darkness.  Maybe not caring will end up being an advantage?

                         

                        DavePNW, looks like you're on track for a great race.

                         

                        I'm going to try posting here again, I finally felt 90% normal this past week and had super steady energy levels.  I racked my brain trying to figure out exactly what I did to see such a huge improvement and the only thing I could come up with is I got the new booster shot 2 weeks ago.  Whatever it was I'll take it.

                         

                        Now I have a decision to make.  I'm registered for the Richmond marathon Nov 12 and while the full is clearly not happening I have until Oct 31 to decide if I want to switch to the half or defer to next year.  Normally I wouldn't think 6 weeks would be enough to attempt a PR given my 4 month set back but....my HM PR is from 2019 when I was solidly a 30mpw runner with very little speedwork so maybe?

                         

                        Weekly for period: From: 09/26/2022 To 10/02/2022

                        Date Name mi km Duration Avg/mi Avg/km Elevation Gain
                        in ft
                        09/27 8 x 1' hard 2.72 4.37 00:27:50 10:14 06:22 49
                        09/28 Morning Run 6.60 10.62 01:16:04 11:32 07:10 115
                        09/29 20 min progression 3.40 5.48 00:31:41 09:19 05:47 72
                        09/30 Morning Run 10.51 16.91 02:00:31 11:28 07:08 240
                        10/02 Morning Run 6.01 9.67 01:08:44 11:26 07:06 98

                        Total distance: 29.24mi

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

                         

                         

                          ccoakley- I’d give the half a go. What do you have to lose? If nothing else, it’ll be a good test of where your fitness is. Plus, racing is fun!

                          Dave

                          Fishyone


                            Amazing race. Everything went as planed. Ok not everything. But didn’t let the pain in my hammy early on get me down or the quad soreness the last 10 miles. Finish in 2:58:22. Not as fast as 10 years ago but still a great time. Ran the first half in 1:31:50. Finished 148th OA. I think running a 100 miles is easier. Back to trails for me. Thanks for all the support and tips. I won’t completely disappear from the forum.

                             

                            Well done Krash!!  How was the heat at the end.  Negative splits is always fun.

                            5K 18:36 (2023), 10K 39:40 (2022), 1/2 1:24:37 (2023), full 2:58:36 (2015) 

                            darkwave


                            Mother of Cats

                               

                              DW, that must be so frustrating to finally be making good progress and get a setback like darkness.  

                               

                              Honestly, I've decided that I'll keep doing them with the dark start (post marathon-recovery), as long as things don't get too out of control.  One good way to explains is that it feels like my running gait is an internet browser.  When I'm running on a perfectly flat and smooth surface in good lighting with nobody around me, my browser only has one tab open, and works decently.  But every time you add something like uneven terrain, or people around me, or loud noises, or poor visibility, it opens up another tab.  And if too many tabs are open, then my browser slows or even freezes.

                               

                              But at the same time, learning how to deal with more tabs and juggle them seems to be the key to working my way through this.  And I think I'm at the point where I need to start learning how to handle running in poor visibility.  And track workouts in the dark are probably the best way to do that.  Make sense?

                               

                              As for the half - I would honestly give it a shot.  Maybe you PR, maybe you don't.  But you get some practice racing, which is always good.

                              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.

                              JMac11


                              RIP Milkman

                                Hey everyone - I think most of you saw I DNF'd my half today.

                                 

                                I had been feeling the healthiest I have in any cycle. The tiny niggle I had in my calf went away, my hamstring biceps issue went away, and my plantar issues I've had for 2 years have slowly been getting better. No real issues going into the race. My warmup felt great: I felt like I had pop in my legs for the first time since Grandma's.

                                 

                                First 2 miles went great. I put up a 5:39 and 5:33, which was great given I could barely hit 5:45 in any tempo workout. So the legs were ready to go

                                 

                                I felt like something was off on a downhill at the end of mile 2, and then starting with mile 3. It just felt like my left leg was normal, and my right leg was "off". I then noticed that my right hamstring felt tight, but more importantly, it felt like my adductors and glutes were starting to feel off too. I thought this was all in my head and ignored it, but a mile later I started to worry a bit because it was getting slowly worse, not better. One thing I learned with my stress reaction last year from my PT is that often your other muscles start compensating heavily once another muscle/bone/tendon is failing, which is why I had so many other issues with my stress reaction. I think that's the same thing that started happening here.

                                 

                                I kept going though, with it just feeling off. However, in the 4th mile, it felt tighter and tighter, almost like my leg was about to spasm, or that I just couldn't get the forward flexibility I'm used to. I knew at that point, this was an injury. If it was my goal race, I probably would have kept going until I physically couldn't run anymore. But I started thinking "this is stupid, you still have the NYC marathon, shut this thing down instead of blowing up your goal race." So I pulled off to the side of the road. The guy in 4th passed me and said something to the effect of "fucking hamstrings". I guess he had battled his demons there too.

                                 

                                This is my first DNF ever, and actually the first time I've ever felt an acute injury in the middle of a run. Every other injury is more of a tendon issue that you feel at the start of a run the next day.

                                 

                                Right when I stopped, I knew I made the right decision. It was in a good amount of pain. Even when I tried to start jogging again at an easy 9:00 pace, I felt it with every single step. Unfortunately, I did have to run a good 2 miles back to the start line. I don't think I really did any more damage, but it was quite annoying having to deal with that.

                                 

                                It looks like a strain in the upper part of my hamstring, right where it connects with the glutes. Never had an injury in this location before. I know these are terrible spots to get a hamstring strain, but I have to stay optimistic. My best hope is just easy miles all week, but right now, I'm not sure if I need some time off. We'll see how it feels when I test it out tomorrow afternoon. I tried to do something as simple as pull a rug with my leg, and that hurt a lot.

                                5K: 16:37 (11/20)  |  10K: 34:49 (10/19)  |  HM: 1:14:57 (5/22)  |  FM: 2:36:31 (12/19)