3:20 Marathoners ... New and Improved for (the rest of) 2017 (Read 372 times)

 

So I think I am ready to shoot for sub-20:00 at the 5K on New Year's Day. Provided that the wind isn't too bad and the course doesn't measure long (not sure if it's certified), I think I have a decent shot at it. Darkwave, I made a MapMyRun of the course and it looks like the first 2/3 mile has about 80 feet of elevation gain, but then most of the rest of the race is downhill. Nice, right?

I just checked on USATF - I don't see any indications that their course is certified.  I do see this, which is close, but that course has a slightly different start/finish and also runs the opposite direction.

So my guess is that this one isn't certified.  I looked on the race website, but didn't see a "contact us" link.  (that's a bit worrisome).  PR Races is listing it as one of theirs, so I guess you could ask them if it's certified.  Since PR is involved, I'm not too worried about this one being a rip-off.

10 miles this AM.  3.5 warm-up, then 2x2 miles in 12:56 (6:28/6:28) and 12:23 (6:21/6:02) with quarter-mile recovery, 2.25 cooldown. 

Wore the Vaporflys (is it Vaporflys or Vaporflies?) to test them at speed.  I liked them more this time around.  Part is that they are much more comfortable at speed; I think the other part is that I wore thick socks to improve the fit and also taped my ankles for stability, which did a lot to reduce the lateral/medial ankle soreness.  Was going for 2x2 miles at 6:30 ish, but decided to open up on the second set.  

VFs definitely feel better at faster running, as long as you don't need to take any tight turns.  I felt good running in them, though it's really hard to give them a solid evaluation since the weather was challenging - temperature of 15 and wind.  My HR was very low for the paces I was running, but that could be the temperatures; the 6:02 at the end felt easy, but that could be the tailwind...

ace yeah like I said it was a one time purchase. Videos/workouts online could be helpful if you/I burn out on the two or three workouts it comes with or you want more variety. I'm sure it's like everything else and the more you do it the more you learn. I wouldn't buy their expensive ceiling mount. I was going to buy a giant eyeloop from a hardware store and mount it into a stud. MUCH more affordable option. Plus unlike running shoes, at least the TRX bands last forever and everyone could use them.

Pesto - marathon is possible on 20 mpw, but probably won't be awesome. Totally depends what his goals are. I actually finished my first marathon on 30 mpw (3:37, downhill) and I don't remember if you were around at the time, but 5 months after I had my son I did about 12 weeks of 35 mpw, built up from almost 2 years off of doing not more than 10 mpw and a month break after my C-section. I finished CIM in 3:41, jogging the race. I do think when you're comparing things like 20 mpw and 30mpw that's a significant difference, and a 13 mile LR and 17-18 LR can be of significance as well.  If his goal is to walk/run it then I think he'd be fine. I might ask someone what their goals were and if they wanted to chat about it, but in general I'm not in the habit of telling people what to do in their personal lives.

DW - enjoying your review of the VFs. One day I figure I'll try them but I'm nowhere near the point where I'm maxing out everything but the shoes...

Brew - lol I know what you mean about feeling like you're getting back in shape. I've been building slowly. Did you get rid of the cat bc of the baby?

E78 - good luck on the sub 20!!

Annnnd my 2017 total miles is currently at 899.1, so I'll probably hit 900... I think I'm bringing up the rear on that one. One year I'll hit 1000, lol. I'm happy that I was able to get a sub 3:20 with that, bc I admit that's somewhat ridiculous, even though it was pretty concentrated.

DW - 1,000 miles of pool running. Congrats (I think). Seriously though, you had a very solid racing year and I'm sure it's a result of your solid training, pool running, and injury prevention work. I expect more improvement and solid race results from you again in 2018!

Ace - The credit actually worked, although I still have no idea why I received it. I'm not one to forget a store credit! I purchased a new pair of Altra Escalante's which will probably be my shoe for that April race.

Arvind - I'm the opposite......mostly trail and forest service roads and maybe 10-20% on the roads. Nice mileage!

Katia - Your sub 3:20 on 1,000 miles was truly amazing. Your talent and natural ability far exceeds mine!

E78 - Go get that sub 20! That's one of my goals for next year.

It looks like I'll get one more 60 mile week in before the end of the year.

Greetings, all! Just a quick drive by, I know I'm missing a lot.

No running lately for me; I've only managed one ~5 miler since DD3 was born. I may be coming home with a treadmill soon, so that would definitely help.

DW and DD1-3 are all doing well.

E11 - Best of luck on the 5k!

Do we have a new thread yet?

4 very easy for me today (8:50) in 18 degrees, so nowhere near more miles-than-degrees.

My week: 42 miles plus 16 "miles" of pool-running and some other stuff.
M: yoga and 7 "miles" of pool-running.
T: 11 miles, including 4x1200 in 4:37, 4:36, 4:34, 4:28.  Also injury prevention work and recovery swimming.

W: 6 very easy to yoga (9:20), yoga, and then another 4 miles very easy (8:52) plus drills and strides.
Th: 10 miles, including 2x2 miles in 12:56 (6:28/6:28) and 12:23 (6:21/6:02).  Sports massage in afternoon.
F: upper body weights, core, and 9 "miles" pool-running.
Sa: 7 miles very easy (8:55) plus drills and strides and DIY yoga
Su: 4 miles very easy (8:50) plus DIY yoga.

Who is starting the 2018 thread?

Wahoo, I  have procured a treadmill!

A used Landice L7 for pretty cheap. Fairly old, but in great shape and once I got into the diagnostics and status menus it only has 1,246 miles and ~245 hours on it. I think I lucked into the treadmill version of the "little old lady who only drove it to church on Sunday" car.

Leprachaun 5K (results)

The leprechaun Chase 5K is a fundraiser for a local Discovery Museum. $25 race fee open to walkers, joggers, sprinters, children, women, men, grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles and maybe even animals. When the last person crosses the start line there is the “Official Leprechaun”, usually a local super fast runner, who takes off attempting to pass as many people as possible. The entry fee of everyone passed is donated to the Discovery Museum. Everyone who isn’t passed receives a pint glass celebrating their beating of the leprechaun. The leprechaun typically averages a 7:00/mi pace. When I first hear of this race I was just starting to run and a coworker said the leprechaun was way too fast to beat. I realize now how the average runner would think a 22:00 5K is really fast. I have 2 pint glasses going into this race.

Warm –up

My last race I can remember was this race in 2016. I don’t even know what a warm up is at this point other than something you do before a really hard race. The shorter the race the closer to the start time you want to warm up. 2016 was a cold year and I ran the whole course.  I PR’d. Why not follow suit since it was 32F forecast and I was cold. Around mile 2 is when my hands don’t feel cold anymore (I’m wearing gloves and a beanie) and I pass all the volunteers getting to their posts. I don’t thank a single one of them (sorry, but..eh) and going into mile 3 I see a motorcycle police officer pull someone over for driving on the course. In their defense the race starts in like 15 minutes and the winner will be here about 10 minutes after that soooooo off he goes with a warning, I think. I get back to the start, grab my race bib out of the truck and have about 15 minutes to figure out how to race. I did a couple hill sprints about 5 minutes before the race and settle in near  the front by the 6:00/mi pace sign. I notice kids…

Race

This race organization has volunteers hold up signs for self-seeding. 6:00 pace at the starting line. 7-8, 10-12, etc, walkers and even signs for strollers towards the rear. Usually this works. I notice about 8 middle school aged kids. One has a draw string backpack on. They’re wearing hooded swearshirts. I’m standing directly behind them when the race director announces to self-seed based on pace “with the fastest runners up front.” One girl looks at the sign, looks at her friends and no one moves, except me. I’ll let someone else run through the kids trying to sprint the first ¼ mile of 5K. I’ll move behind the kids with race team singlets on. They’re going to beat me (10 and 14 years old) by more than enough (6:10 pace) it won’t be a problem. They introduce the new leprechaun as a local college athlete who just graduated, yadda, yadda, ya.

Race starts and I’m pulling 6:00 pace trying to slow down and checking my garmin about every 3 seconds. I hear “Stroller behind” and move out of the way. Passing kids at the ¼ mile and hearing them say they have cramps already. Settle into 6:26 pace with a slight downhill for the next mile. I see an “instagram runner” ahead of me and assume he’s going for sub 20. I’ve created a dislike for him because I just in general don’t like people claiming some product helps them train better or work harder knowing full well you’re “sponsored” by them and are just using it to get more free “swag” I’ll call it. Pass him around mile 1 feeling great. Maybe I can get this done and all that training, and rest, has seriously helped. I also start wondering where rlk might be in this race. Maybe that guy represents her. Maybe the girl ahead does. Just keep digging.

Mile 2 starts a long gradual uphill. I notice I’m dropping to 6:36 pace. Well maybe but I’ll have a downhill to make this up. Around mile 1.5 I’m pushing 180-182 bpm which I haven’t done in a while. Like ever. I tell myself it’s because I’m doing a 5K and it’s a little different than a marathon. I make a u Turn and head towards mile 3 with a downhill and start scanning the crowd for the leprechaun. Typically this is where I see “him” nut “he” retired and it’s a “she” who is fresh out of college and ran for the local university. “Never doubt the NCAA athlete” Previously they did 21 minutes and I should be safe for that but sub-20 is gone. I start getting stomach cramps, probably from breathing and running 180 bpm, and just try to salvage the race.

Mile 3

Stomach cramps kind of go away and I see the leprechaun. I should be safe for a pint glass but if she catches me I’m probably going to start walking. This feels like NeRPs diaper contents. Instagram runner passes me. Great. Another girl passes me “I ran 20 miles yesterday” she says to a friend ahead of me. “ME TOO!” is his reply. F.Y.B. I think to myself. I don’t see the leprechaun in the usual location where I was closer to not getting a pint glass. I’m doing 7:00 pace. There is a slight hill before the finish line I used for doing hill repeats before the race. I get to the top of it and drop the hammer to bring it home strong because I see I’m SO CLOSE to 20:00 I could maybe go 20:15. Just run as hard as you can. I hang on to the finish, cross and find the nearest fence to lean on and recover. 20:22. It’s a PR. I'm 30th overall and 8th in my age group (30-39, 1-3 were 6:00 or faster) and 4 kids 14 and under beat me by A LOT.

As I exit the finish line there are volunteers handing out the pint glass for those who beat the leprechaun. I grab mine and notice a local news channel is about 20 feet from the exit. We lock eyes. I can’t remember if I had my sunglasses on but I just had that “Hey do you want to be interviewed after the race since you have a pint glass?” “sure” conversation in my head. Well all I remember her asking is “so how do you feel” and something to the effect of “why this race” or something. I wish I’d said “well I’d rather be here walking 3 miles than sitting at home watching tv. Congrautlations to all the people who got off the couch this morning.” But I’m sure it wouldn’t come out as “be active and healthy” like I intended it. I joked with the wife “If only I’d worn the beanie from your dad’s work.”

Since DW asked for donuts from the place next to the race start (Holy Schmidt) donuts I walk in there expecting it to be packed. DW reminds me the people who like donuts don’t run as fast as I do. PFFFFF bullSHEEEEEEEET. Grab myself a maple bar, head to the truck and drive home. I realize I didn’t do a cool down because I don’t race short races anymore.

What I learned:

5Ks are hard. Running fast is hard and a 20 minute tempo run is nothing compared to an all out 5K.

Training to go fast is required to go faster. It sounds dumb but after not training for speed for over a year I’m glad I could PR but I need more speed. Sooner than later.

Going over 180 BPM isn’t good in a race. I knew this but it was reinforced this weekend.

32F requires gloves and a beanie for a race. Even after a warm up.

Training paces. My training leading up to this was mostly based on a 5K goal. It ended up being interval repeats at 5K pace before I knew what 5K pace was. I’m happy and sad about this since moving forward it SHOULD be easier to train with an actual 5K. There are a few 10Ks in town I could train for to get a little bit better time but it depends who you ask when using a training time for a race.

Personal Record/Best. I accomplished what I’ll call a “b goal” since I only had an A goal until after the race was over. It never occurred to me if I didn’t hit my A goal I could still PR and get training paces until AFTER the race. With the past 2 weeks off, or at least it feels like that, I had time to rest and look into Jack Daniels training. I’m going to need some type of fast running in order to hit 3:07 or faster in Chicago.

VDOT I'm at a 48.8. 3.9 L/min according to spreadsheets and tables. If I dropped down to 160 lbs I'd be calculated to be at 54. Losing weight needs to happen.and closer to a 19:00 5K on the same course.

Rlk is on steroids or something. Seriously beats a PR by 15 seconds. Oh and she is kind of famous.

For those who are interested the Leprechaun ran 21:18. 122 out of 1348. IT's $12 for an adult to enter the Discovery Museum and $10 for kids. The race organizer donated $30,650 by my math. I'm sure they'll post an amount later this week. Last place did 22:49/mile. I walk around 27:00-30:00/mile.