Forums >Racing>2023 The Waltons: Racing & Training Thread
Mark - nice week.
+1 on 8000 runners being a big race. Biggest race I've done was Sydney Blackmores Half in 2015, which had about 7500 running. A big local race by NZ standards is 1000, today's half had just over 1200.
Race didn't go too well. Came in with calf's and feet a bit tired, in hindsight I didn't get the taper right. Big fade second half. Slowest road half I've ran for a long time.
Highlight for me was I knew several people who PR'd today, in both the 10km and the half, with someone being 2s outside his full PR. Conditions were very good, a VERY light wind and fine, if anything just a tad warm.
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
Watson still a great time and bummer on not getting the taper right! 2s on a Full Marathon PR is tough
Darkwave - sorry for the not so ideal race result. I am sure you will redeem it in the second half of the year. Totally relate to the oldies radio feeling.
mark - great week given the situation at home!
My week - commuted to work a few times by bicycle. Was totally tired by Friday. Overate on the weekend…
HM: 1:47 (9/20) I FM: 3:53:11 (9/23)
2024 Goals: run a FM & HM + stay healthy!
Mother of Cats
MickJogger - kudos on managing to time the Monday run so that you were soaked the whole time
Watson- sorry about the half - I know that feeling. It's good that you've nailed it down to the taper, though.
James - I have a hunch that the speed will come back quickly, as you've already somewhat experienced.
Marky_Mark - it's good to see you posting and getting this much work done, given the obligations you are balancing at home.
Race size: I think this is truly all relative, but for me, a BIG race is generally around 15K runners or more. Looking at the races I've done this year - Cherry Blossom 10 miler was 15K runners; the Brooklyn Half-Marathon was 26K runners, and the Broad Street 10 Miler was 28K runners. It might just be that the mid-Atlantic and north-eastern areas of the US are both runner friendly and densely populated, so we have quite a few big races.
***
My week: 7 miles of running (all today) and 9 hours of pool-running.
M: 90 minutes pool-running.T: 90 minutes pool-running.W: 90 minutes pool-running and streaming yoga.Th: 90 minutes pool-running and upper body weights/coreF: 90 minutes pool-running and lower body strengthworkSa: 90 minutes pool-running and streaming yogaSu: 7 miles (9:40) and live in person yoga.
This was a recovery/end of season week. Just a lot of pool-running and junk food, with some other stuff added in. I know the pool-running looks really miserable, but it wasn't. I had friends to chat with every day, and 90 minutes was just the right amount of time to stretch my legs and be social without feeling like I was doing any work.
The only things really interesting were:
a) I went to my first in-person yoga class since early 2020. I haven't been avoiding in person yoga because of fear of others; it's just that most of the yoga studios in my area closed, and the ones that are still open don't offer classes that I am interested in at times that I am interested in. But I decided to make time for an afternoon in-person yoga class today, just so that I could check myself in a studio with mirrors, and hopefully also get some corrections from the instructor. The latter didn't happen, but at least I got a chance to eye-ball myself and note some things to correct.
b) I have been convinced that I need to start doing some hiking, and maybe even a bit of trail running, to build ankle strength. Fortunately, I don't live very far at all from some short trails/hiking areas, so I spent some time there this weekend on both Saturday and Sunday. Honestly, I can't say I enjoyed it that much - I'd rather be in the gym (less sunshine, less bugs). But it did feel like it was making my ankles and feet work in a way that gym rehab work doesn't.
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.
Hot Weather Complainer
Mark - Another solid week. Interesting how much that trail impacted you. Queenstown is nothing compared to what you did but has always beat my legs up more than any road race.
Watson - Bummer about the race, it looks like you had a nice consistent pace until halfway then things got very tough. Anyone not knowing the weather in Wellington would assume you had a brutal northerly in the second half. You're still gunning for Hawkes Bay in August right? You really need a consistent block, you're easily sub 90 when you get a good clear run of training.
Mick - So good to see you posting consistent weeks. Do you have a goal race?
darkwave - Trails definitely work places you don't get on the roads. I do love being on the trails when I do them, even if I don't like running trails...
Hash - Looks like a really good result for you in Wellington (1:24)
My week - Caught up with my coach which was good for my sanity. I'm excited to focus on shorter stuff for the rest of the year before having another marathon attempt at Christchurch 2024. We had a brief chat about how we'll approach that. JMac suggested basically no taper which could be the secret to solving this puzzle but I think the strategy most likely to give me a good race is running it as a progression. That's the only difference between some really good training runs and the races. So probably 5-7km @ 5:10-20/km before progressing down to "race pace". I'm leaning towards Sydney next year over New York now since I can delay the decision until after Christchurch. It's a nice looking course, although there is potential for warm humid weather in September which would make it very tough after training through Christchurch winter.
One more week before resuming "full" training, but it is race week again. My last race that I enjoyed was a 5km on New Years Eve so I'm quite excited about this one.
<caption>Weekly Grid</caption>
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 1:27:34
Selwyn Marathon June 2, 2024
Dunedin Half Marathon September 15, 2024
Steve - nice week.
Darkwave - very, very few people have the discipline to do a recovery week like that!
I think there's two reasons for my race yesterday:
- I did get the last week wrong. The Wednesday workout, should have instead been easy.
- I'm not sub 90 shape, so I did start too quick.
As Steve said, the pacing looked like a brutal northerly, which that race gets some years. This year, the weather was the best I'd experienced in the 6 times I've ran that race.
Watson - it sounded like the weather was as good as you could hope for in Wellington at that time of year. I know a couple of runners who PRed. From memory you only had 7-8 weeks of decent training build, so I'd take it as a progress marker rather than beating yourself up.
MJ- can you even overeat on the weekend? I spend most of Sunday after a long run doing my best to achieve that haha.
Steve - I think 95% of the extra effort on trail is down to two factors: 1. you use different muscles on less stable / even ground, and 2. you have to work your stride harder because you don't get as much bounce off a trail surface as you do on the road. In some cases (e.g. steep hills) those two factors can work together as well. I like the progression logic and it makes good sense as you have hit some good workouts that way.
Darkwave - very patient! The only exercise I've found in the gym that really works the ankles is the wobble board. My wife had surgery on both her ankles and that was her go-to for building strength there. You can try the old "balance on one leg with your eyes closed" but in my experience that is as much of a test of proprioception than anything else, and with your neuro challenges it may not be a good option. But nothing like running on uneven ground to really work those stabilising muscles.
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: Waterfront HM, 7 Apr, 1:15:48
Up next: Runway5, 4 May
"CONSISTENCY IS KING"
I front loaed my week a bit (mostly for the mileage game) because we went to Atlantic City for a few days. Definintely not beach weather, it hasn;t rained in a long time here, until last week. Luckily it meant my deck garden got plenty of water while we were away.
Monday am 6 miles pm 2 on the treadmill plus short core dvd
Tuesday am 6.7 miles pm 15 minutes easy treadmill + stretch DVD
Wednesday am 4 miles pm strength training
Thursday & Friday rest
Saturday 2 miles
Sunday 5 miles plus strength training
For me, 8000 people is a big race. Being solidly mid-pack, I avoid races this size because it is just an utterly frustrating experience. Options are basically weave a ton or just go with the flow (which is likely slower than planned). So many people running in groups. So, so many. There isn't a lot of middle ground with race sizes around here. Basically under 1000 people or mega-race.
Overeating on weekends, is it possible? For my first HM, there was a sushi place nearby that did all you can eat on Saturdays. I would do my long runs and then DH and I would go there. I was in the statistics of gained weight by running more.
watson, sorry the race didn't go as well as you hoped.
Darkwave, I don't find trail enjoyable in the summer. Too many bugs, snakes and overgrown pllants. I will go into the local state park in the winterr when bugs are dead & snakes are not around.
Waltons ThreadLord
Living near New York City, and having run quite a few New York Road Runner races in the city, my experience with field size is probably an outlier in this group. A field size over 3,000 outside NYC is very rare for me, having happened only 5 times.
The NJ summer humidity arrived last week, just in time for my Saturday ParkRun, which led to a slower time for me, but still a good race. 35.8 miles / 57.6 km / 6:11:54 for the week. I have a 4-miler on July 4th and then marathon training starts up.
D&R ParkRun
5k 23:48.45 (3/22); 4M 31:26 (2/22); 5M 38:55 (11/23); 10k 49:24 (10/22); 10M 1:29:33 (2/24); Half 1:48:32 (10/22); Marathon 4:29:58 (11/23)Upcoming races: Clinton Country Run 15k, 4/27; Spring Distance Classic 5k, 4/28
Fred that's an impressive 139 races. Wow, where do you keep your medals and how does that room look like???
Half - totally relate to that. Mid pack runner not enjoying the crowds too much. But too little is also not cool. Sushi all you can eat? I have family in the bay area and they used to have an all you can eat place mid week would be really cheap - something like $20 and free on your birthday. So we would go there for every family birthday to take advantage of one free meal. No wonder that place had to shut down. I guess we will see those places come back when interest is back to 1%.
Darkwave - I win the wet t-shirt contest every time (apologies for the tmi). Whether it rains or not. My sweat rate is really incredible and I think that dehydration and loss of electrolytes is a real issue. At least one thing I am really "good" at. I see a lot of men take off their t-shirts while running and I can tell you that I wouldn't be doing anyone around me a favour by following them.
Mark - oh easy I mean my "long" runs are hardly that but I eat as if I had completed an ultra.
Steve - thank you, well that's nothing compared to your big weeks, but I am trying to keep up some work and potentially redeem my 4:19h debut marathon time in October - probably some German marathon (Munich, Cologne, Berlin). For Berlin I would need to buy a bib. The others are still open. Kind of play it last minute really they are all within 2-3 weeks. Last possibility is Valencia, although quite far away but potentially the best of the European race calendar. Or Lisbon, but that is even farther away from where I am....
MJ, it's been rare to find all you can eat sushi here (well, aside from the random California roll on a not great Chinese buffet). The place we went to closed well before the pandemic, rumor was they weren't paying their rent. I am also a heavy sweater. I've been tempted to weigh my running clothes dry, post-run and out of the washing machine. I swear they weigh more after a run.
I weigh myself pre run and post run, it makes me feel so much better!
Big shout out to DarkWave - who probably takes the prize for the longest domestic commute to a Half! The only think I know about Duluth is that it's located roughly in the upper-middle (close to the Canadian border) of the board in the game Ticket to Ride...
My effort last year might be on par - I flew 2 hours to Invercargill from Wellington (the longest domestic flight in NZ, by minutes) the next day drove 2.5 hours for a 10km race, had a beer at prize giving, then drove the 2.5 hours back.
My Race Week:
Easy week leading into the NZ Half Champs.
The night before - Had a bit of a scare when I thought I'd pulled something while Sumo wrestling with my 3yr-old and 5-yr old (Mark, take note of these dangers!). Even in the morning I felt I wasn't moving freely. Luckily didn't feel anything after warming up.
Watson greeted me as we warmed up, but don't think I saw him again. First time to run this race for me - as I've been reluctant in the past to pay to run on a course that I pretty much run on every week of my life!
Was planning on going out at 4:05 pace (1:26) but ended up with a group that was going at around 3:55-4:00. Thought this may've been a touch too fast for me (wasn't even confident of keeping 4:05 the whole way) but stuck with them most of the way, until we all gradually spread out in the last quarter of the race.
The wifey got up early and brought the kids down to cheer me at around the 8km mark, so that was a lovely surprise, and hearing my girls cheer me on definitely inspired me to keep giving it my best (as I do find it easy to drift off in a race).
To my surprise the last few miles didn't get much harder, and I managed to finish in a gun time of 1:24:24. A time that is very pleasing in its symmetricalness
Overall a good race, with fantastic weather. Appreciate all the comments, 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
JamesD
Congrats - great race! If you had been 3 seconds faster, 1:24:21 would have been very pleasing in its...palindromicity, if that's a word.
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
Oh, my gosh…I love this! And you’ll never guess what my net time was…1:24:21! This is officially my greatest race time ever!!
Symmetry?
Hash - I have rumble time with the six year old fairly often. It started when she was about 2 and would just randomly jump on me when we were sitting on the couch. I had to teach her to yell "rumble time" before she did it so I could prepare myself. Anyway, never pulled anything but she has inadvertently got in some fairly painful shots from time to time.