Forums >Racing>2023 The Waltons: Racing & Training Thread
James - sure did. She had a great time, thanks. Bummer about that air quality... seems to be a massive problem for many folk at the moment.
Watson - nice marathon workout.
Me - I had a pretty decent week. Didn't really taper at all for the Xterra race today, other than going pretty easy on the track yesterday, just treated it as a Sunday long-ish run with trails and mud. It was a much less technical course, with a lot on gravel trails and hard-pack, so it suited a trail rookie like me, although there were a couple of challenging climbs in there. I came 2nd in the long course which was my best result yet. There was a lead group of long and super-long runners that went out very hot at the start but I just backed off and ran it conservatively. Ended up passing a lot of runners over the back half of the first lap and so I guess I judged it fairly well overall.
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"
Hot Weather Complainer
Mark - I agree with James, she'll never forget an event like that.
James - Nice week. Always impresses me how you crank out these weeks with some sort of niggle.
watson - Your marathon training has been really impressive. Seems like a quick ramp up? Hawkes Bay is 5 weeks away right?
I have tried to watch some of the football but the standard is...challenging. Great to see the crowds.
My week - This week was geared around my 30 minute speed test. This was something my coach decided to do after I forgot to wear my HRM for the 5km check in a few weeks ago. This is a common test used for athletes at High Performance Sport NZ. His instructions were:
Warm up thoroughly on this one, make sure you are in the right headspace to work hard and push yourself. RPE should be in the vicinity of 9 throughout this session.Once warm after 20 - 25 minutes of easy jogging use the next 5 mins to gradually accelerate to a tempo which you believe you can sustain for 30 continuous minutes, but not longer.When this tempo is attained, your 30-minute time period begins (HIT THE LAP BUTTON).You do not need to complete the 5 minutes, this is just there to allow you to get up to speed.During the 30 minutes, you may vary your pace up or down as necessary, but the idea is to work at your best-possible intensity for the full 30 minutes.
We discussed it further during the week and worked out starting at about 4:00/km and working my way towards 3:55/km then 3:50/km would be the best way to approach it. My watch was showing 3:55 in the first km but Hagley and the trees sometimes messes with this and my first km pops up as 3:47. There goes that plan. From there I was around 3:50-55 with a couple of slower kms into the wind towards the south, and possibly a slight fade towards the end. I had a dark patch about halfway where I seriously doubted I could hold on so it was good to push through that. If I had to go for another 30-60 seconds I would have completely blown up which means I got out of it what I was meant to and put in a good honest effort. Training Peaks adjust my LT heart rate from 174 to 177 after this which is a good sign. I ended up doing 7.62km @ 3:55-56 in 30 minutes. Basically a 19:30 5km then hold on for another 10. I'm not sure if I'm more or less confident about an 18:30 5km and sub 40 10km after that. Always different in a race though.
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
Mark - great effort on the 2nd place finish!!!! Looking forward to a race report At 6 years thats a magic experience, I hope she wants to play football too now. And I hope they will follow up with more wins this tournament!!!
watson - crazy 27k workout!
steve - nice work, another confirmation of your great fitness level
my week was really nice - lots of easy miles some longer than others - with some quality thrown in.
HM: 1:47 (9/20) I FM: 3:53:11 (9/23)
2024 Goals: run a FM & HM + stay healthy!
Waltons ThreadLord
Mark -Congratulations on the race result. It's always rewarding to reel in people who go out too fast.
Mick - Nice week of running.
Steve - Interesting that you'd post about the speed test just when I've been looking into maximum HR determination. For now, I'm going to stick with the formulas (not the 220-age, which is way off for runners, but ones designed more for people who've been running for years).
The weather's gotten nicer here for running. A little cooler, but more importantly, less humid (though that will come back later next week). I had my first marathon pace run of the training cycle. Our goal pace is 9:00 and we averaged 9:04 on Thursday, which is decent for the first time out and in warm weather. 47.3 miles / 76.1km / 8:12:25, which is the furthest I've run in a week since September of last year.
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: Running is Back 10k, 5/12; Greta's Run 5k, 5/19
JamesD
If I had to go for another 30-60 seconds I would have completely blown up which means I got out of it what I was meant to and put in a good honest effort. Training Peaks adjust my LT heart rate from 174 to 177 after this which is a good sign. I ended up doing 7.62km @ 3:55-56 in 30 minutes. Basically a 19:30 5km then hold on for another 10. I'm not sure if I'm more or less confident about an 18:30 5km and sub 40 10km after that. Always different in a race though. Date Name mi km Duration Avg/mi Avg/km Elevation Gainin m 22/07 Easy 1km into 30 min Lactate Threshold Speed Test 5.36 8.63 00:34:37 06:28 04:01 5
If I had to go for another 30-60 seconds I would have completely blown up which means I got out of it what I was meant to and put in a good honest effort. Training Peaks adjust my LT heart rate from 174 to 177 after this which is a good sign. I ended up doing 7.62km @ 3:55-56 in 30 minutes. Basically a 19:30 5km then hold on for another 10. I'm not sure if I'm more or less confident about an 18:30 5km and sub 40 10km after that. Always different in a race though.
Steve - Seems to me you ought to be pretty confident about a sub-40 10K. For one thing, your 5K and half PRs both are faster than the equivalents of a 40 10K, and if you're thinking you might be in 18:30 5K shape, sub-40 certainly shouldn't be a problem (given a good course & decent weather, ofc). Also, if you add your easy 1km to your 30-minute test like your Strava line above does, you're almost halfway from 30 minutes to 40 and are still almost exactly on track, and that's including an easy km and not in a race situation.
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
Mick - It's so good to see you stringing the weeks together, building a good platform.
Fred - Yeah the 220 - age is 174 for me, which is even lower than my lactate threshold. I hit 191 on Saturday and Training Peaks thinks my max HR is 196 - I'm definitely not 24 anymore, even if I do look it...
James - You're right, if I'm in 18:30 shape, sub 40 should be comfortable. I'll find out next week my actual 5km shape. The 10km I'm planning on is on a flat course but it has 8 180 degree turns. My coach thinks that's worth up to 40 seconds. If I lose 40 seconds on the turns, sub 40 is looking very tough. It's exciting to be in a position to be having a genuine crack at 5km, 10km and Half-Marathon PRs in the next 10 weeks. While I haven't got the result I want in the marathon yet, all the training is why I'm in this position.
Steve - Yeah with 220-age I'm exceeding my max on a regular basis when running a 5k or doing track work. (211 - .64 x age) seems to be closer to the ballpark for me. I'm trying to be more aware of my HR zone during this training cycle, but I haven't figured yet how to account for weather. Yesterday I ran moderate effort and today I tried to run easy. Even with a 1:20 slower pace today my HR was only 8 BMP slower than yesterday. I figure a big part of that is yesterday was 68º (20C) and dry while today was 76º (24C) and humid.
ETA: I found this link giving suggestions for modifying target pace based on weather.
http://maximumperformancerunning.blogspot.com/2013/07/temperature-dew-point.html
Steve - I think on a quick course in good conditions, that sub 40 for a 10km is in your reach. So your coach thinks a 180 costs 5s then? Wellington Road Champs has 7 of them, and is where I've ran my quickest 10kms, apart from the 180s, it's a quick course with many quick runners.
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
Fred - I think just running slower is the best way to try and stay in the right zone in different conditions. I try to use RPE as much as possible these days because HR doesn't always tell the story.
watson - Yeah, he said he thinks slowing for the turn, making the turn then getting back up to speed costs 5 seconds which in a race as short as 10km is quite costly with 8 of them. Oska is newly on the race committee though and Andy said he is working behind the scenes to try and change the course to reduce that number. The course is fast otherwise and the field will be very fast. They run it on a flat road in Bottle Lake Forest.
What's RPE? You're probably right about slowing down.
Rating of Perceived Exertion (i.e. how hard it feels on a scale of 1-10).
Steve / MJ - given Norway were, on paper, the toughest team in NZ's pool it's a great start for sure. They'll get a big crowd in Wellington tonight for the match against the Phillippines I'm sure.
Fred - glad you got a reprieve from the humidity! Undoubtedly my least favourite aspect of summer.
Steve - I reckon you're every chance at sub-40 based on how things have been tracking.
Steve/Mark - Thanks for the explanation. I'm not sure I'm ready for that. I'd be too concerned that my mood, stress level, and/or how much sleep I got would impact my subjective opinion about how much I'm exerting myself. Still, it's something to think about and work on.
ETA: And thanks for reminding me that running isn't all about hard numbers. As an analyst, I have to remember that some things are about feel rather than firm metrics and running is more fun when you feel it rather than analyze it.
Last week:
Monday upper body strength
Tuesday am 7 on the treadmill
Wednesday am 6 with intervals pm lower body stregnth
Thursday 20 minutes easty on the treadmill
Friday am 4 with strides pm upper body stregnth
Saturday 3.5 with strides
Sunday 4.8 with intervals (cut this short from overheating)
Kathi - Nice work last week. Sorry the heat got too much on Sunday.
Mark/Steve - My workout was supposed to include 6 miles a marathon pace, but with a temp of 72º and a dew point of 70º (23C/22C), I figured it would be a bad idea to try running at that speed, so I tried RPE. I definitely need a lot more practice with it, but I begin to see where it can be a useful training tool.