Forums >Racing>2024 Advanced Training and Racing Thread (still competitive jerks)
CalBears - Welcome back!
Mark - That's one tough week. Even when I was a teenager and training hard, I don't think I ever did 4 hard days in a week. Hope it pays off for your race next week!
flavio80 - Your time trial and that Thursday workout look legit. You should be ready to set some fast times when you race.
AndyTN - I did circuit training for my hard days one year when I was like maybe 17. Stuff like sprint up a hill, ab work at the top, jog down, pushups at the bottom. Few reps of that, then switch in 2 other drills like pull ups on a tree branch and jumping. I was pretty shredded that year and ran very fast races. So it can be done and it doesn't take up much time. I also thought it was mentally refreshing to keep switching it up.
dktrotter - Glad you are mending. Enjoy some cross training and give your whole body a break. The fake complexity of medical billing is basically criminal/fraudulent. I think sometime soon there is going to be reforms so that people are presented a realistic estimate of costs before they accept treatment, just like they did with made up closing numbers on home purchases. There is so much money lobbying against the consumer, so it really has to boil over I guess.
mmerkle - Nice week, solid miles and workout! Glad your speed is coming around. I still think your long is bananas, but if it is working for you, roll with it.
My week was another boring recovery week, but it was my highest mileage week in years. Still can't get my calf/hip/knees right. Had planned on 2 workouts, but did 1/2 of one and my hip was not great, so that was it. I did a 9 mile run, which must be at or near my highest since coming back last September. Barring injury time off, I plan to race March 22 at a local 5k, goal time sub 20. That's another 41+ second drop off my 5k from last week, so it should be a good challenge, but I like my chances. Not much other news, just keeping myself barely not injured.
Steve - nah it's really one of those "whoever shows up" races. There are 3 decent runners who have all been doing the series who will be there, including the guy who beat me by a minute at Devonport, who I then beat by one second at Omaha (still got a bit of work to try and catch the rest of that up lol). Winning time has been between 1:13 and 1:22 over the past five years. For the most part, times have gotten slower since they pulled the race forward to Feb (it used to be a month later in March). That was a great progression run by the way, very pretty graph!
mt79 - I'm lucky in that I seem to be able to handle multiple hard days a week. Good job on building that mileage up!
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: Runway5 / National 5k Champs, 16:22, National Masters AG Champ!
Up next: Still working on that...
"CONSISTENCY IS KING"
mt79 Highest mileage week in years is a big deal. Perhaps in the meantime you can do some tempo/VO2 max work on a bike, elliptical, rowing machine, and/or swimming to help bring down that 5k time. I know it sucks but you will see fitness gains from it while your body continues to heal enough to run faster workouts. My long runs have been a point of contention on here before. But here's my "defense":
1. My marathon goal pace is 6:25-6:30 per mile. So in that context that long run was around 90% of goal pace, which isn't too crazy.
2. I don't do every long run like that. I do some long runs at a steady effort like that one, some at a slower pace (often the following week and/or one close to a fast workout or race), and some with some kind of interval structure or marathon pace work thrown in the middle.
Are we there, yet?
While my pace is still slower than last year before all this medical stuff, I'm back where I'm working off a regular training schedule rather than "how do I feel today".
M: Rest, wanted more recovery for intended workouts this weekT: 8 miles, counting that as a long run since it took me 1:50+
W: 7.5 miles, back half of back-to-back long runsT: 3.5 miles, recovery run-walk F: 2.3 miles, recovery run-walk with strides, still feeling leg fatigue from b2b runsS: 7.1 miles, 2.4 mile warm up, 8 x (300m, 300m jog-walk recovery), between VO2Max and tempo pace, long jog-walk cool downS: 3.3 miles, brisk power walk to give my legs a rest from the intervals
Weekly total: 31.7 miles / 51.0 km
Feeling confident enough with my progress that I signed up for a 6 hour race in March.
2024 Races:
03/09 - Livingston Oval Ultra 6-Hour, 22.88 miles
05/11 - D3 50K, 9:11:09 06/17 - 6 Days in the Dome 12-Hour, 35.82 miles 10/12 - Hainesport 12-Hour
You are on point there, I may try some stationary cycling workouts. I probably have to bite the bullet and really diet. I’ve been under a lot of stress, and didn’t want to diet and get very irritable on top of that. The situation is completely out of my control, but I’m hoping for some positives in a few weeks. Until then, I don’t anticipate I’ll be sleeping or relaxing. I may still try to eat better.
As long as you are varying the long runs like that, then it works well. I wasn’t looking at your weeks next to each other.
mt79 Highest mileage week in years is a big deal. Perhaps in the meantime you can do some tempo/VO2 max work on a bike, elliptical, rowing machine, and/or swimming to help bring down that 5k time. I know it sucks but you will see fitness gains from it while your body continues to heal enough to run faster workouts. My long runs have been a point of contention on here before. But here's my "defense": 1. My marathon goal pace is 6:25-6:30 per mile. So in that context that long run was around 90% of goal pace, which isn't too crazy. 2. I don't do every long run like that. I do some long runs at a steady effort like that one, some at a slower pace (often the following week and/or one close to a fast workout or race), and some with some kind of interval structure or marathon pace work thrown in the middle.
Ash
I've strung a few solid weeks together, just need to turn that into a few solid months.
Next: Ballarat, April 28, Pacing 3:50
Best: 5k 19:46 (Parkrun, 2016), 10k 40:37 (Track, 2022), Half 1:26:41 (2016), Full 3:00:23 (2021)
...
Mother of Cats
56 miles and 3 hours of pool-running
M: 90 minutes pool-running and streaming yogaT: 10 miles, including a track workout of 2000, 1200, 2x800, 2x400 in 9:21, 5:20, 3:28, 3:27, 1:40, 1:42 (recoveries of 5:38 after the 2000, 3:0x-3:3x after the 1200 and 800s, and 91 between the 400s), followed with leg strengthwork.W: Upperbody strength/core and 10 miles very easy home (9:26) followed by drills and 2 stridesTh: 90 minutes pool-running in morning, streaming pilates in evening.F: 10.5 miles, including a track workout of 2x3200 in 14:26 (7:15/7:11) and 14:13 (7:11/7:02) with 4:40 recovery between, and then 2x400 in 1:41 and 1:40 (full recovery). Followed with leg strengthwork.Sa: 10 miles very easy on towpath (9:23) and streaming yoga.Su: 15.5 miles progressive, split as the first 5 miles averaging 9:27 pace, the next 6 miles averaging 8:48 pace, and then the next 4 miles averaging 7:49 pace, plus a half-mile cooldown. Followed with leg strengthwork. Foam rolling at night.
Trying to get back into it. I'm out of shape, which has an obvious solution. I'm also having to re-learn how to run faster than easy pace, which is not surprising. Basically one aspect of the Parkinsons that is really annoying is that you lose motor automaticity. Which is a fancy way of saying that my running is not something I can just do without thinking too much about it - I have to think through each phase of my running stride. Think of it as the difference between an automatic car with cruise control and an older car with stick shift.
This also means that when I don't do something for a bit, I have to re-teach myself how to do it. And faster running is a slightly different skill from slower running, so that's what I'm trying to relearn right now. (Doing strides helps some, but is not sufficient on its own, since I don't hold a stride for that long).
But....it shouldn't take as long to relearn skills as it does to initially learn them, so hopefully things will improve quickly. Judging from the difference between last week's tempo intervals and this week's, they are already.
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 few quick comments (sorry I'm not doing a full set):
WCRunner - I remember it was a few weeks ago where you mentioned that at the time you were needing to rest 2 days after running one day.So it seems you are in a much better place now.
Needing two rest or recovery days now is more a function of age than the medical issues. After I retired and had more flexibility in my schedule I changed from a 7 day cycle to a 10 day cycle after consulting with my coach so I could work in the additional recovery days. My normal schedule looks like this:
Day 1 - easy
Day 2 - easy
Day 3 - intervals
Day 4 - easy
Day 5 - easy
Day 6 - tempo
Day 7 - easy
Day 8 - easy
Day 9 - long
Day 10 - long
Of course that means my long runs don't always fall on a weekend and my interval workout doesn't coincide with when my club has its track workout, but I train solo anyway as I don't now any club members who run as slow as I do.
Mmmm Bop
Mikkey informed me he is not coming to LA - for a few reasons he didn't explain. I was not motivated to train for some reason anyway and that news from him made me even less motivated. I still running few days a week now, just no workouts.
This thread has been dumbed down so much in the last couple of years that it’s just unreadable now.
Cal - I’ll keep in touch with you by DM and will be back later this year…I hope!
5k - 17:53 (4/19) 10k - 37:53 (11/18) Half - 1:23:18 (4/19) Full - 2:50:43 (4/19)
Overweight per CDC BMI
You certainly always know how to brighten up everyone's day....
Memphis / 38 male
5k - 20:39 / 10k - 43:48 / Half - 1:34:47 / Full - 3:38:10
Problem Child
My printed calendar hanging on my cubicle wall at work says today is something known as Wednesday, or as the Kiwi call it ‘Waitangi Day.’
Sounds comparable to ‘Founder’s Day’ or maybe ‘The July 4th Celebration’ in the Land of Inches and Miles (Davis?).
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
You’re welcome.