Forums >Racing>2023 The Waltons: Racing & Training Thread
Hot Weather Complainer
Good week for me with lots of easy/endurance running with one key session on Saturday. It was hard but I felt pretty good at all paces, although starting to work quite hard towards the end as you'd expect. Heading into another race week, hopefully no mishaps this time. My coach thinks I can break 40 if I have a good day. I feel like I'm close to that sort of shape. Breaking 40 is something I've always wanted to do so it's nice to be in a position to have a crack at it. My coach will also be running, I expect he'll be closer to breaking 30 and likely to be Canterbury Champion. There's only a few other locals who could turn up that would beat him.
<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
Slightly lighter week after last weekend's race. Saturday's track workout was pretty decent although it did make for a bit of a slog in the wet this morning.
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"
Stev-O you will crush it. Didn’t know your coach is so fast…wow!
mark- yikes on the worms!!!
Fred - I thought it had to do with the wait on the windy bridge
My week was cool - some nice and slow, some with some marathon pace. Next week will be super hot.
HM: 1:47 (9/20) I FM: 3:53:11 (9/23)
2024 Goals: run a FM & HM + stay healthy!
JamesD
Good luck, watson & Steve!
Weather wasn’t as hot this week, though the humidity was well over 90% for my short track workout early Monday morning, 4x800 at what wound up being a little faster than track 5K pace. It was my second track workout of the year after not doing any last year because of my hamstring issues, so that’s progress. Times the rest of the week were slower, I assume because it takes a while to recover from the workout. Looking forward to my midnight 5K next Saturday night.
Sun - 48 minutes swimming
Mon - 7.7 miles including 4x800 @ 3:01 with 2:15 rest, temp 77/25, TDP 152
Tues - 7.5 miles very slow (36:25 AM/54 PM) on treadmill w/40-second walk breaks/6:00
Weds - 8.3 miles in park PM @ 8:56, temp 88/31, TDP 152
Thurs - 46 minutes swimming
Fri - 6.8 miles in park AM incl. 3 @ 7:14, temp 86/30, TDP 150
Sat - off at Atlanta investment event with DW
Total - 30.3 miles
YTD Average - 37 mpw
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
Waltons ThreadLord
A good week of training for me. My workouts went well and my weekly mileage total was my highest in four years. 53.4 miles / 85.9km / 9:34:41. I'd like to think the worst of the summer heat is over, but it's too early to get my hopes up.
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: Scotch Plains 5k, 6/12; Firecracker 4-miler, 7/4
Mother of Cats
MJ - the dog is clearly having a blast BTW, I tried to look at your strava workouts, and couldn't see them. Are they private?
Steve - I liked that Saturday session and may borrow it at some point. I see 3 minutes recovery between each?
Mark - from your Strava title I can visualize the worms. Not sure that this is a good thing.
James - some good fast running in there.
Fred - some solid work there. I am worried that we are going to get sucker punched with some more heat before fall truly arrives.
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.
darkwave - Yep, 3 minutes very slow jog or walk recovery was prescribed. I generally go with very slow jog to keep the movements somewhat consistent. I burned myself a bit with the first km of the 2.5km block - It was supposed to be about 4:00/km but ended up 3:52/km. Into a wind and up a false flat, sometimes I lift my effort to allow for wind and push too hard. I turned around at that point so had a tail wind and my next km was 3:56 but admittedly felt much more comfortable.
Fred - Building nicely. Even if you get some hot days, hopefully the trend is in the right direction.
James - Good luck in the 5km. And 90% humidity, yuck.
Mick - Really nice week in terms of mileage and elevation. Great long run too.
65 miles running, 500 yards swimming, and 3 hours pool-running.M: 90 minutes pool-running and streaming yogaT: 9 miles very easy (9:50), upper body weights/core, 2 miles very easy (9:44)W: 14 miles, including a track workout of 4800, 3200, 1600 in 21:30 (7:15/7:09/7:05), 14:14 (7:10/704), and 7:05. Recoveries of 5:32 and 5:19 between each. Tried to add 2x200m after, but couldn't due to track congestion. Followed with leg strengthwork.Th: 90 minutes pool-running and streaming yogaF: 11.5 miles very easy (9:36) including some grass running plus drills and strides, and then upper body weights/core.Sa: 17.5 miles, including 2x5 miles at marathon effort in 37:25 (7:29 pace) and 37:21 (7:28 pace) with 8:40 float/jog in between. Followed with leg strengthwork and 500 yards recovery swimming.Su: 11 miles very easy on trails (11:20) plus four hill sprints.
Just two workouts this week, on Wednesday and Saturday. I'm playing around some with the medication I take for the dystonia in my feet/ankles, trying to fine tune it. And on Wednesday I definitely got it wrong. I just sucked it up and did the workout anyway, reasoning that the body knows effort and not pace.
Things went better for Saturday's workout, where I was able to hit that marathon effort groove and hold it.
Just wanted to say I appreciate the supportive atmosphere here. I recall way back when I was training for my first marathon and posting at RWOL. About 6 - 8 weeks out some guy posted a long explanation of how my training plan (one of Hal Higdon's) was awful and would lead me to crash and burn at 20 miles. The last thing I needed at that point was someone sowing more doubts in my mind and I thought it was a lousy thing to do. Such a difference here, where people are behind you. Thanks, all.
Nice weeks here.
Steve - I think you can go sub 40.
Re Fred's comment, I've seen a few online examples of people stating people's training won't work, and then the person ends up racing well. I remember Flavio having a coach who had him doing low volume (20-25 mile weeks) which is an anathema to many internet posting runners, and then Flavio dropped his 1:24 half which he'd had for years down to 1:21.
Anyhow, my race was a struggle. My legs were not fresh and I had no "pop", I started OK and just faded a bit for 41:37, which is my fourth time doing that race and my slowest.I'm having a very light week before Saturday's marathon.I'll post weekly later.
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
My week:
Monday 30 minutes easy (treadmill)
Tuesday am 6 easy pm 2 easy (treadmill)
Wedensday 7 with 200-400 2 x 600-400-200.
Thursday & Friday rest day
Saturday 3 easy
Sunday 6.7 with 4 x 5min tempo + 6 x200
Bit of an easier week since we went away for a few days.
Fred, I found RWOL could be a massive echo chamber and there were folks (especially on the "beginners" forum) who seemed to enjoy putting down any training they felt wasn't up to their standards or whose goals weren't sereious enough for them. It was very eye opening when folks where posting both places and had visible logs.
Fred - that's cool. I've had plenty of people on other threads or forums tell me my training won't work, but results suggested otherwise. The best plan is the one you can stick to. Steve Magness has a really great philosophy around this sort of thing, which is basically don't sweat the specifics a lot:
"Run, mostly easy, occasionally hard, vary it up, and very seldom, go see God".
Put the work in and the results will be what they will be. And it's true - mostly it's just about putting in the work, in a way that your body can manage sustainably.
Also, congrats on the mileage high.
MJ - nice work, bummer on the heat though.
Watson - good luck for the weekend. Weather forecast looking good at this stage.
Kathi - hope you had a good trip.
Steve, that sounds like a fast field for your race. Hopefully this week goes smooth.
Mark, yuck on the worms. We now have some invasive hammerhead worms. I'm losing the battle against the invasive spotted lantern flies, I really don't want to see these. I think the other piece with coaching & training plans is it needs to be fit into your life. The pesky job gets in the way of things.
MJ, hope you can fund some times that aren't as hot.
JamesD, I would think a tough workout would slow the next run or so.
Fred, nice week. Have you lived in the NJ area most of your life? If so, you know there is more heat coming. We have to get through False Fall and Second Summer.
DW, nice week. Ugh on the track congestion. Was it runners or others? For whatever reason, dog walkers like the one local track and seemed shocked each lap when they are passed.
Watson, hopefully the race was due to taper. Is the marathon a goal race?
All my marathon's are goal races.
Weather forecasting is looking excellent for the marathon on Saturday.
My week below. No strength training. Mon was indoor training, so accuracy won't be great. Wed hills went OK. I took Thu and Fri off to freshen up for Saturday, I think it helped a bit. But I still had fatigue from the previous Sat 32km /20mi hilly long run.Quick RR. This was my 4th time racing the club Wellington Road Champs 10km. Previous times were 39:59 to 40:28.
The course is 4 laps of there and back. With 'there' being an uphill false flat of 15-20 metres elevation, and down being the opposite. The start and end are slightly different points, so the laps about about 2.49km, 2.5km, 2.5km and 2.51km.
Conditions were pretty good, a tiny amount of drizzle occasionally (which became heavy just after most people had finished), and a moderate northerly.
The course normally produces fast times due to a small fast field, normally around 100-120 people with over half going sub 40.
I did two short warm-ups. They achieved three things:
- A general warm up
- Confirmation that my Adios Pro 2's are still excellent. They've got some heel damage which I was worried about for the marathon, but at this point it's immaterial on performance.
- My legs were not fresh. So any hope of sub 40 was gone, and instead I changed my aim to sub 41.
I have a bad habit of looking at my watch too often, so have recently changed to average pace rather than lap, which has helped. It also means on a course with naturally quicker and slower km's I don't get too worried.
The first uphill leg was good, with lots of people going too quick, but my pace was pretty good. I went round in 5:15 which at the quicker end of what I was aiming for.
On the downhill I overtook a few going too fast. I got to the end of the first lap in 10:05 and felt fairly good.
The next uphill I overtook a few people. And then went down. I went through the half way about 20:2x which I was a little surprised about being that slow.
The course is by a hill with native bushes, plus often being cloudy in Aug tends to mean inaccurate GPS. Looking back my 5th, 8th and 10th km's were inaccurate which meant that my watch laps were too quick. I had 10.19km on Sat. Annoyingly my PR in 2020 had 9.88km on what is the same course (accurately measured).
Third uphill was a bit slow, just tired legs. I hit the final turn around in 36:36, so my aim now was 41:30.
Final downhill I had a bit of speed, I think, although GPS was wonky was it was probably a fake speed up. Although that last 0.19km there was a bit of a kick. I did have a little bit of upper right glute troubles which has been a niggle for a while.
So I was a bit disappointed with the race. But I think/hope it was fatigue going in.
This week will be very, very light. I had three predictor workouts for the marathon, one went very well, one slightly worse, and this race significantly worse. So I'm not sure where I'm at for Saturday, but that's OK.
Fred - your last month has been a nice progression into the harder parts of training. I hope you stay injury free until your "small race" up in NYC. Stupid for people on RWOL; there is absolutely no personal gain from being negative and discouraging. I also feel like there are a lot of jerks on Letsrun.com, everyone is expected to live up to those crazy performances of the few semi pros.
Watson - hope those legs recover in time for the marathon. Fingers crossed - we look forward to the race report.
Darkwave - thank you and the dog agrees with you! I did go private on Strava, was tired of thinking of appropriate titles. I just really want to cheer people on and occasionally make inappropriate comments on there and otherwise log my workouts and track the mileage on the shoes. But thanks for making the effort to look at what I do - which is so incredibly nothing as compared to you pro-runners; omg you didn't miss anything, believe me.
Kathi - where did you go and how was that???