Forums >Racing>2023 The Waltons: Racing & Training Thread
Mark - good call to DNS.
Fred - nice RR. Early on with the wording, I was thinking you weren't going sub 2, so nice twist!
James - nice week. Caffeine response is individual, some people (incl. you and I) benefit, some it's fairly neutral, and some do worse. This also depends on the dosage.
Half - nice RR. What was the aim time?
After three quiet weeks through the combination of a minor injury, and then heavy workload, this was going to be a good week. Mon was run to/from gym with strength session. Wed I had a sore throat and decided to skip, Thu got worse and tested positive for Covid-19. Thu and Fri I was moderately sick. I'm still a little sick, so am hoping to be OK for a very easy Wed run. I know some people can run through sickness, but I'm not one of them.
PRs: 5km 18:43 (Dec 2015), 10km 39:59 (Sep 2020), half 1:26:16 (Sep 2016), full 3:09:28 (Jun 2015)
40+ PRs: 5km 19:31 (Oct 2020), 10km 39:59 (Sep 2020), half 1:29:39 (Jun 2018), full 3:13:55 (Sep 2022)
2023 PRs (hope to beat in 2024): 5km 20:34, 10km 41:37, half 1:32:32, full 3:21:05
2024 PRs: 5km 20:25
darkwave, good luck at Cherry Blossom. While the wind has died down a bit, it sounds like it is still windy here, hopefully it's not too bad in DC>
JamesD
It didn't seem like as much of a benefit when I couldn't get to sleep until 2am last night. I often have trouble falling asleep after evening races, and I had assumed that it was because of the effort, but it may just be the lasting effect of the pre-race caffeine. Don't think I'll make a habit of it except before races & maybe hard tempos. DW can drink two cappuccinos and immediately take a nap.
Hope you recover quickly from covid.
darkwave - How was Cherry Blossom? I saw that your friend Susanna was pictured on the LetsRun front page again, I believe with the preview article (which may have been replaced by now).
Post-1987 PRs: Half 1:30:14 (2019); 10K 39:35 (2019); 5K 19:12 (2017); Mile 5:37.3 (2020)
'24 Goals: consistency, age-graded PRs, half < 1:32
JamesD, I've probably been drinking coffee in the morning long enough that there isn't a notceable benefit, but I sure notiuce the effect if I don't have it. It also really messes with my sleep now. In college, I could drink coffee & take a nap. Now, I can be reallt tied but wired. I had that yesterday when I tried to take a nap. Coffee was 100% needed for the drive home, but then could not sleep.
watson, hope you feel better soon. I was thinking 2:10-2:12 was a stretch but possible if the weather was perfect.
Watson hope this isn’t a tough one but sounds like you got the mild version. Good luck to you and the family
Mark - bummer but I can see how it didn’t make sense to run. Now that you have had the cold already it’s officially done for the autumn/winter season!
Half & Fred - great RR. I will read through again and comment.
Me - I am now 5 weeks out from my goal race and my volume has been good. I did a bit too much quality last week with one run with a fast colleague that was supposed to be easy but was more like threshold pace and then a long run the next day. And I have some problems inone calve now. I hope this goes away over time:
HM: 1:47 (9/20) I FM: 3:53:11 (9/23)
2024 Goals: run a FM & HM + stay healthy!
Mother of Cats
MickJogger - sorry to hear about the calves. I hope they clear up quickly. Are they just sore or something worse?
Yeah, along with some poster criticizing her because she was heelstriking while breaking the tape at Cherry Blossom last year...
Personally,.I think that heel striking is totally fine, but especially when you are braking on a downhill slope while holding your arms up to break the tape of a major American Road Race and win $15K of prize money.
Caffeine - I used to take a little (from a gel) before workouts and more on a race morning. However, it seems to make the dystonia much worse, so I've had to stop.
James - interesting that your HR was lower on caffeine - mine is generally a bit higher.
Fred - congratulations on the sub-2 in tough conditions. You are a racing machine!
Half-Crazy - Good run in tough conditions. It seems like you have a history of getting bad weather on race day - I hope that turns soon. With regard to the Vaporflies - good idea not to risk them. My experience with the vaporflies is that they had relatively poor traction on wet pavement. Some people do fine with them in the rain, but I'm not the only one who has noted this issue.
Again, like you I am shocked that they didn't divert the marathon due to the thunder.
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.
My week:
39 miles running, 1000 yards swimming and 2.5 hours pool-running.
M: 90 minutes pool-runningT: 10.5 miles, including a track workout of 6x800+2x200 with splits of 3:27, 3:27, 3:20, 3:18, 3:17, 3:16, 48, and 48. 2:4x-3:0x recoveries for the 800s and full recoveries for the 200s. Followed with leg strengthwork and 500 yards recovery swimming.W: Streaming yoga and 10 miles very easy (9:10) plus drills and 4 stridesTh: 60 minutes pool-running and upper body weights/core.F: 6 miles, including a 1600 in 7:06. Followed with injury prevention work..Sa: OffSu: 3.5 mile warm-up, 10 mile race in 1:10:19, .5 mile jog back to car. Followed with 500 yards recovery swimming.
Ran Cherry Blossom this morning. Didn't break 70 but got my mug. Picture of said mug in race report.
darkwave, the mug is a fun race award. And useful. Ugh on the winds last night, I had a few times where even the floor/bed seemed to shake a bit, really not fun. At the time, DH was in his basement mancave. Yea, I've gotten pretty much every form of bad weather. There's a local trail HM (but not really HM since it is usually around 121.8 miles) Anyway, it snowed, sleeted and freezing rained one year, so I think with the thunderstom yesterday, that checks them all off.
Mick, solid week. Hope the calf issue is nothing long term.
Hot Weather Complainer
This cracks me up. It just shows you can be criticised for anything on the internet, even your form as you WIN A RACE. Gold.
5km: 18:34 11/23 │ 10km: 39:10 8/23 │ HM: 1:26:48 9/23 │ M: 3:34:49 6/23
2024 Races:
Motorway Half Marathon February 25, 2024 1:29:55
Christchurch Half-Marathon April 21, 2024
Selwyn Marathon June 2, 2024
Dunedin Half Marathon September 15, 2024
I only check my heart rate on treadmill recovery runs, not the park path runs like yesterday's caffeine-aided one. I don't check heart rate on regular runs because I don't have a smart watch (and only got a smart phone when Verizon stopped supporting my flip phone a few months ago). I grip the treadmill heart rate sensor handles on each walk break; don't know if the readings are accurate, but they do seem to be internally consistent, and the trend from day to day is all I care about.
Fred: really strong finish. Wind and rain combo is the worst but I am glad you found a group of like minded runners towards the end, that you could work with!
HK: good call on the shoe selection and it looks like you will need to add another hook rack below soon, as you are running out of space already!!!
DW: that is such a fantastic idea regarding the mug. And great time to chase - so was 1973 the first year of the race, or just 50 year anniversary?
Re Caffeine: everyone reacts different of course. I used to be a caffeine addict but got inspired by the Andrew Huberman podcasts on Caffeine - and that completely change my intake. Firstly, yes people can sleep despite having caffeine in the afternoon. However, sleep is not sleep. The quality of the sleep decreases significantly; the deep sleep phases are much shorter. I have been experimenting with gels and am currently using some with and others without caffeine. I have to say, the boost I get from caffeinated gels is significantly higher than the from the one's without. However, I can never really sleep through the night afterwards. So during training, I am using little of it in favour of a good nights sleep!
Darkwave - nice race. My main complaint is that you set the bar too high with your RRs. I'm high cadence (around 200 for a 5km, my last marathon was 194) so the Edge+ would according to Asics be the shoe for me. Your cadence was 194 for your race so you are a high cadence runner. Although it's really hard to get any good definition from Asics.
Just a quick drive-by from me.
DW - Congrats on the race and thanks for the RR. And what a beautiful mug - love it!
Fred - Same goes for you, too (sans the beautiful mug obviously!) Always enjoy reading your RRs
I'm just over a couple weeks out from my debut road marathon. Prep hasn't been the best, but it is what it is. Would be good to BQ (sub 3:25) so that I can start to plan a 2024 trip to Boston! Hopefully I'll be running with Steve as well.
50+ age-group PBs: Half Perish 1:24:24 (June '23 Road Race) - 10km 37:52 (2022 Local Road Champs) - Track 5km 18:49 (Aug '22) - Perish Run 3:17:42
2024 Goals: Boston Perish Run Sub 3:15 - Road/Track 10km Sub 37:30 - 5km Sub 18:20
And for all you Waltons out there who missed this RR from DW in 2011 - be sure to check it out. It is pure gold.
Some great stuff going on in this thread - I've been reading but a bit too depressed to post much with all the sickness messing up my training.
Hash - That time looks like a breeze for you based on what you've been doing. Although maybe your mileage is a bit light so being conservative for your debut is very sensible. I'm going to make a call by the end of the week on whether I do the full or downgrade to the half. A couple of good sleeps has me feeling a bit better, but not 100% yet. I have a workout tomorrow which should be comfortable so if I get through that I may stick to the full. Had a good chat with a mate yesterday about how disappointing it is to get sick after such a good build up and feeling confident. He made a good point that if I wait for the perfect lead in, I may never get my redemption race.
I must be feeling a bit better because I looked at the very long range and irrelevant forecast. Currently it is 10-15C, light winds and cloud cover. Perfect.