2022 Advanced Racing Thread (Read 497 times)

ch17


It's Tuesday every day

    Fishy: niiice cat story. Guess that trek thru the wilderness chilled him out.

     

    RP: nice race!

     

    mmerkle: good luck tomorrow!

     

    Marky_Mark_17: "Performance = Actual Demands / Expected Demands.  We tend to get our best results when get this as close to 1:1 as possible."  Wow. That's an interesting concept. I do a fair number of races for training (i.e., no taper, not a peak race) and that's an interesting paradigm by which to consider level of effort.

    Fishyone


      MMerk-  go get it!  The weather looks perfect. Once you hit the turnaround you’re good to go.  I’ll be watching.  You’re in great shape and ready.  

      mark- really interesting and fits my experience exactly. When I go in trying to do too much I crash.  Trust the training and go out at the pace you’re training will support and you’ve got it (unless weather or other factors jump in)

       

      Steve- thanks I don’t know how I missed that post but it’s spot on.

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

      Mikkey


      Mmmm Bop

        Mmerkle - Good luck! I just signed up for notifications and will be expecting positive notifications!

         

        RP - Congrats on the 10k and already in good shape before Boston training.👍

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

        Fishyone


          MMerk in at 3:03Tight lippedx excellent race!!  Very consistent splits looks like a well executed race.

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

          Fishyone


            Forgot to add #6 overall! nice Job MMerk.

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

            JMac11


            RIP Milkman

              Looking forward to the race report. The splits were so consistent it seems like he didn't go out at sub 3 pace, which I'm surprised by (barring some course difficulty I'm unaware of)

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

               

               

              ch17


              It's Tuesday every day

                WTG, mmerkle! Metronome-like.

                mmerkle


                  Hey all. I have your race report coming soon, my parents were nice enough to postpone Thanksgiving until tonight so I'm going to waddle around the house and help prepare. This race was interesting and I think there could be interesting take aways and things to discuss. More on that later of course. Just to give a taste of what happened I developed a pain in my right foot around mile 9. Maybe a mild stress reaction? For now, thank you all for the support, advice, and of course entertainment this year.

                    mmerkel—Awesome work!

                    Dave

                    Marky_Mark_17


                      mmerkle - congrats on the race.  Honestly that is probably gonna be the best tasting Thanksgiving dinner ever lol.

                       

                      Me - bit of a reshuffle this week due to Sunday's race.  Which was not a goal race, but it is my backyard 10k so of course I do get a little too competitive about it (but certainly not to the extreme of this guy!).  Pulled the LR forward to Thursday although I was still feeling it in the legs just a touch this morning.  Still, got the win and the official time (35:00 lol) was probably not too bad considering it was warm and windy and there's really only about 40% of the course where you can hit a good rhythm given the number of rollers and turns.

                       

                      Weekly for period: From: 21/11/2022 To 27/11/2022

                      Date Name mi km Duration Avg/mi Avg/km Elevation Gain
                      in m
                      21/11 That run where apparently chasing my 5 year old around Motuihe Island with her scout group in a thunderstorm does not constitute a rest day 6.84 11.01 00:48:54 07:09 04:26 33
                      22/11 That run where I thought ram raids worked by crashing cars into buildings, not other parked cars 8.81 14.18 00:58:29 06:38 04:07 35
                      23/11 That run with hill repeats in the wind and rain 8.44 13.58 00:56:00 06:38 04:07 145
                      24/11 That run where one of my earbuds died during “Now We Die” 17.48 28.12 02:03:45 07:05 04:24 226
                      26/11 That run where I guess Vaporflies do go on sale sometimes 3.91 6.29 00:25:00 06:24 03:58 11
                      27/11 Warm up 1.25 2.01 00:08:34 06:51 04:16 16
                      27/11 Run the Point 10k 2022 🥇 6.24 10.03 00:35:01 05:37 03:29 84

                      Total distance: 85.22km (52.97 imperial sleepy wombats)

                      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"

                      JMac11


                      RIP Milkman

                        Mmerkle that makes sense and I hope it's not that serious! Looking forward to your race report. Enjoy your Thanksgiving dinner: what an understanding family!

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

                         

                         

                        JMac11


                        RIP Milkman

                          Flavio - I forgot to respond to your question about the book. No I haven't started it. I'm actually going to wait until the middle of next year right before I start up my 2023 CIM cycle. I want to be able to implement things immediately as it's the best way I learn. If I read it now, I won't remember what to do 6+ months down the road.

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

                           

                           

                          flavio80


                          Intl. correspondent

                            Mmerkle - Kudos on mastering the marathon! It sounds like you executed it as best as it was possible on that day.
                            Here's hoping that the foot issue is only a temporary annoyance, hopefully the usual rest post race is enough to take it away.

                             

                            Steve - If you do go down the Yoga route, I can only say to start VERY slowly.
                            When you're doing it for the first time it feels like it's nothing but it will kick your ass.

                             

                            Jmac - Allow me to be the devil's advocate here. Like I mentioned the other day, I don't think the book will give you any silver bullet.
                            IIRC you have had stomach issues for years now. It's not something that you will be able to solve within just a few months, it's gonna be a long slow an tedious process.
                            Look at how long it took Darkwave to mostly get around her imbalance issues, I think you're looking at a similar timeline.
                            If you start reading during marathon training, or just a few weeks before, you will not have time to assimilate and figure out your issues and you will run into the same issues again.
                            If you, however, read the book now, learn from it, go to doctors asking more educated questions, your research will lead you towards actually starting to figure out your issues and managing them. You will likely trial your new knowledge through some 5ks, 10ks or half marathons and perfect your system along the way.
                            Then by the time you start training for the marathon you will be a black belt at it and much better positioned to manage the symptoms.

                             

                            me - The best kind of week: The boring kind! This was the week I got my legs back. After the 10K 3 weeks ago, I reintroduced strength training and the body protested massively. Tons of aches and pains all over and some poor nights of sleep due to them.

                            I seem to be tipping over them now though.

                            I know if I only focused on strength training for strength maintenance my life would be easier, but I'd really like to become stronger and at least dead lift my own weight, so I have to deal with potential injuries from strength training and extra aches and pains here and there, even though the strength training is highly adjusted so that I only train at a level that is safe.

                            Weekly for period: From: 11/21/2022 To 11/27/2022

                            Date Name mi km Duration Avg/mi Avg/km Elevation Gain
                            in ft
                            11/22 70'E 8.72 14.03 01:09:57 08:01 04:59 354
                            11/22 Weight training 0.00 0.00 00:13:00 00:00 00:00 0
                            11/23 70'E 8.65 13.92 01:10:01 08:06 05:02 423
                            11/24 70'E 8.28 13.32 01:10:00 08:27 05:15 322
                            11/26 60'E 7.79 12.54 01:00:00 07:42 04:47 387
                            11/27 1h40 Long Run 12.60 20.27 01:40:01 07:56 04:56 558

                            Total distance: 46.04mi - 6h10

                            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

                            mmerkle


                              NCR Marathon Race Report

                               

                              The Plan:

                               

                              The plan was to run the first half in 90 minutes, or ideally a little under, with the most consistent pacing I could manage. Then negative split the second half however much I can, keeping in mind to leave some energy for the infamous last 10k.

                               

                              What Happened:

                               

                              Let's dig in to what actually unfolded.

                               

                              Miles 0-8: For the first 8 miles, I stayed very relaxed and my splits were consistently in the range of 6:46-7:09. The first issue was that it felt like I was running more like a 6:45-6:50 average pace. This is a genuine source of confusion for me at the moment. I passed maybe 2 or 3 people during this segment I think.

                               

                              Miles 9-Turnaround (just shy of 14): As I said, I suddenly develop a sharp but also bruise-like pain in my right foot. Right where that "knob" is on the outside of your foot before the pinky toe, is my best way of describing the location. This was obviously discouraging, so I told myself dropping out is ok but only if it gets to the point where my form is significantly inefficient and the injury feels serious. If I'm going out, I'm going out actually injured. These miles still hover around 6:55 ish for the average, exacerbating the mental irritation I was already experiencing. I think this was the worst part of the race mentally. I did manage to pass maybe one or two more people this segment.

                               

                              Post Turnaround-19: After the turnaround I shake off some of the negativity/fear and catch a second wind. The pain in my foot subsides slightly for miles 14 and 15, or maybe it was just my anger. Miles 14 and 15 were much quicker and this was honestly my favorite part of the race, I felt great for once and I was rollin. Then I slowed a bit but kept her steady through mile 19. Let's look at the splits, my watch was very close and sometimes dead on with the mile markers this race.

                               

                              14-19: 6:41, 6:19, 6:32, 6:46, 6:53, 6:37.

                               

                              Miles 20-22: My quads are starting to develop that shitty, painful fatigue, but it's not nearly as bad as it was during the Salisbury marathon (in April recall). My foot is hurting kind of badly now as well. I kept having thoughts about dropping out. I played the game of make it to the next road crossing. Since each time the trail intersected a road there were volunteers etc. so it would make sense to drop out there. This worked and kept me in the race. Miles 20-22 were, respectively, 6:58, 6:56, 7:07.

                               

                              The Rest: After mile 22 I am in agony between my quads and my foot. But the good news is, the pain in my quads was again not like it was during the Salisbury, and for the first time, I never once stopped to walk! I did still kind of eat shit though and I would like to avoid this happening as badly next time. I passed one more person during this last stretch. Let's see the splits for 23-finish:

                               

                              7:21, 7:18, 8:20, 8:02, not sure what the last 0.2 was but Strava has 6:55 pace. 3:03:21 official time.

                               

                              The finish line: Upon crossing the finish line I immediately feel horrible. Not only did my legs hurt but so did a lot of core and back muscles. I feel very nauseas and have the spins like I had been drinking too much. I laid down on the ground off to the side but had myself propped up on my elbow. Volunteers are asking me if I need medical and if I need anything. They were extremely kind and brought me a blanket, pretzels, water, and a banana. After maybe 5-10 minutes of this hell, I start to feel better and then I leave with my family.

                               

                              When I got home, I stepped on the scale before hopping in the shower. It read 129, so that's minus 5 or 6 pounds. I think dehydration may have been part of my issue. I had gels around miles 7 ish, 13 ish, and 18 ish. It takes me a good 5 or 10 minutes to actually get the entire gel down. And I had a cup of water at probably ever other station, but definitely not every station, which is probably what I should have done. But I hate taking water while running, it's so awkward. I honestly don't like taking in gels either. My stomach doesn't like any of it, especially after 2 hours. I think this is something I need to work on going forward.

                               

                              I'm not convinced that I would have cracked 3 even without the foot issue, to be honest. I still felt too shitty after mile 22, and there was that strange issue of 6:50 pace feeling faster than it normally does during the first half. I'm pretty confused at this point. I don't understand what's wrong. I'm wondering if my genetics are not that great for the marathon, meaning my short distance times may always have poor translation. Maybe I need to break 17 for the 5k to be comfortably under 3 for the marathon. I don't know what else to think besides needing more experience/maturity.

                               

                              This is a bittersweet ending to competitive running for the year. I'd be lying if I said I'm not a little disappointed, but I'm happy to have a new PR and lessons learned. I don't know what my plans are for the spring yet. I need time to think about it. For now, I am going to take a good 4 or 5 days to let my legs completely rest. Then use an elliptical and stationary bike the next few days before starting to run again. As flavio said, maybe my foot issue will go away during this time.

                               

                              Thanks to all for tracking and showing support. Let me know if we'd like to discuss any of the highlighted issues.

                              Half Crazy K 2.0


                                mmerkle, Baltimore area lurker here. Don't discount the fact that aside from the initial downhill from the school to the trail, you are going slightly uphill all the way to the turnaround. It's just enough slope that goal pace seems harder, then at the turnaround, on  good day, you do feel the difference.