2023 The Waltons: Racing & Training Thread (Read 301 times)

Rune - the legend is back. Great to see you running that half with your buddies. Hope you can stay injury free and build up that fast pace again. Btw. some of the fast folks have branched out to the competitive jerks thread - you will find Flavio, Piwi, your neighbor CalBear etc there.

Mark - good luck this week end at the Omaha half. Your mileage is pretty impressive, given you had another baby this year and I think you moved jobs not too long ago. Btw I think I spent more time on feet this year than you (so far), but actually will only be breaking 3000km this year - because your average run is around 14km in an hour. Amazing.

Half - I am looking for treadmills too. Haven't decided yet whether I go craigslist or just buy a discounted one. Will have to work out the logistics. Maybe your TM isn't broken yet, just needs some good vibes? Anyways you got a lot of mileage out of it and hope you will be as lucky with the next one!

Dark - hope the medication becomes more subtle and doesn't get in the way of your training as much. I am lucky that I am not on medication at the moment, but I guess you fix one problem and might create another. But hope you are able to adjust it to the point where it just clicks and works. I do very little running at the moment, try to cross train as much as I can. Weather has been miserable here and I don't have a treadmill yet, so this will remain the case for a while. So when I go out and run, I do workouts mostly on the track. And the Daniels 5k training plan is actually not really hard, or maybe I am not training at the right paces. My legs feel relatively fresh as a consequence of the little running. And I am able to hold the paces quite well. I hope to gain some more speed and then add the endurance for a spring marathon. That's the plan - I would like to get close to a 20minute 5k. At the moment I can hold the pace for around 1km. Its a long way to hold it for 4 more kms...

Steve - congrats. Great race, great effort!!!!

My week was really low mileage, 2 workouts, 3 indoor bike rides and 1 tennis session.

Weekly for period: From: 11/20/2023 To 11/26/2023

Totals: Time: 06:02:17 - 🦅Imperial: 14.28 mi - Metric: 22.98 km

Darkwave, did you originally rent your treadmill?

 

MJ, the burning rubber tells me it's done. It's probably 20+ years old from a company that no longer exists.

I rented one treadmill but purchased a different one.  I'm not aware of any "rent to own" for treadmills; I rented mine during the pandemic from a company that usually leased treadmills to gyms but had some extras sitting around.

Costwise, it's much cheaper to buy than to rent, as long as you get at least a year's use.  I paid $150 a month, plus $250 for delivery and $250 for pick-up.

When I bought, I ended up with a Horizon 7.8 AT, which I really like.

Half - good luck with the treadmill purchase.

My week was good.

One strength session, one mobility, plus below.

Early Nov I ran 21:00 at my local ParkRun.  I've had a good four weeks training and was hoping for 20:30. It's a course which is probably 30s slower than a quick course due to it being windy, two 180's, four stop backs, and 1km on gravel.

However, due to an event, the course was changed to the 'D' course, which has about 2.5km on hard surface, and the rest gravel, dirt and grass.  So it's probably 30s slower than the regular course, so 60s slower than a quick course.

Anyhow, it went fairly well, being 6s slower than last time.  But course adjusted it would be 24s quicker than last time.

Weekly for period: From: 27/11/2023 To 03/12/2023

Totals: Time: 06:06:07 - 🦅Imperial: 37.16 mi - Metric: 59.79 km

watson - Must be frustrating how hard it is to get a read on your performance with the course changes.  It sounds like a really slow course.

Also, I'm up for a combined thread, there's really only a handful of people who only post in this one.  And the so-called "competitive jerks" thread really isn't that bad - 99% of the time there is great support for people through races, training and injuries.  This is the internet so occasionally people will disagree but it's nothing like most of the rest of the internet.

me - First week of "Base phase 1" which has hill repeats as the key workout.  The hills are a long drive for me but I'll be there for the next few Saturday's.  Unfortunately the hill that is most convenient is very steep to start with and levels off a bit towards the top so my last rep is the fastest.  Also slowly adding doubles on Thursday and a short run on Tuesday starting this week, although he's given me Friday off so the ramp up isn't too fast.

Weekly for period: From: 27/11/2023 To 03/12/2023

<caption>Weekly Grid</caption>

Totals: Time: 08:00:46 - 🦅Imperial: 57.68 mi - Metric: 92.81 km

I have a mild preference for keeping this thread because more than about a dozen people seems like a lot to follow, but not strong enough to volunteer for thread dictator.  I'm ok with whatever the group decides.

Had a decent week until my left knee started hurting unusually on Friday evening.  Took off Saturday & Sunday and hope to get back out on Monday.  I did pass last year’s mile total, so that was a positive.  Might catch 2020’s total if the knee is ok, but 2021’s is out of reach.  I ran more during the covid years because of fewer conflicts/trips, as well as fewer races to taper for & recover from.

Sun - 7.5 miles very slow treadmill (90:25 PM) + 0:40 walk breaks/6 mins

Mon - 10.1 miles in park PM @ prob. 8:4x - watch mistake

Tues - 7.5 miles very slow treadmill (60:25 AM/30:00 PM) + 0:40 walk breaks/6 mins

Weds - ~26 minutes swimming

Thurs - 11.4 miles in park AM @ 8:46

Fri - 7.5 miles very slow treadmill (60:25 AM/30:00 PM) + 0:40 walk breaks/6 mins

Sat - off resting knee

Total - 44 miles

YTD Average - 36.2 mpw

Omaha Half Marathon 2023 (Auckland Half Marathon series race 2 of 5)

This is one of my all-time favourite events.  One of the slowest flat courses you'll find due to at least a third being on beach, gravel or grass, as well as the time of year meaning it's always warm and often humid, but it's a really fun course.  And to be honest, it's been a good course for me too with a couple of wins there, the last in a sprint finish.

The temperature didn't budge off 19C / 66F the whole drive up and the rain is threatening in that annoying way that results in all the humidity but none of the actual rain (which unfortunately arrived after the race, and during prizegiving).  There is a northerly wind but luckily it has dropped off a bit from yesterday.  So, conditions weren't great, although equally it could've been warmer and / or windier.  It's not a course you run for time and my objective today is mainly about placing.  This is the second race in the 5-race Auckland Half Marathon Series, and my main goal is to beat the guy who beat me in the first race at Devonport to keep the series tight.  Ideally with a bit of a margin since that'll help, but anything will do.  And the second goal is to try and go a bit deeper than I did in Devonport where I felt I could've pushed a bit harder, earlier.

I warm up with a short lap on the trail around the back of the water reservoir, which was originally part of the course but got removed when the numbers increased as it's a little narrow.  The event sold out this year (2,500 capacity) which is great as the organisers did a lot to keep races going despite disruptions over the past couple years.  Felt a bit sluggish most of taper week and I still don't feel super fast but that doesn't mean anything.  On the start line there are a few faces I recognise and a few I don't.  One guy says he remembers the sprint finish from last year, so that was cool.  Another guy asks me "how fast should I run?".  I said "as fast as you can hold for 21km".  That was a new one.  I don't think English was his first language, nor was he a rookie, as he actually ran just over 1:20.

Anyways, the hooter goes, and I try to resist the urge to take off too quickly.  The plan is to not start too quickly and just adapt based on the conditions, how things are feeling, and how the placings are looking.  A guy in a white shirt is out in front, and a guy in a blue singlet goes with him, I don't recognise either of them.  Series rival - purple shirt - is a little bit behind them and then we have a group of 3 forming up, with another two series runners - mini-Dean (because he looks like a mini version of a guy I work with) and a lanky guy who I ran with for a bit in Devonport who reminds me of sports journalist Martin Devlin for some reason.

The first couple of km's are on the road before hitting the concrete boardwalk behind the dunes.  The rollers on the boardwalk were kind of funny, because I would always pass purple shirt on the downhills (he was always leaning back and I'd just roll with them), and then he would always try and get me back on the uphills.  I notice he was wearing headphones so I guess he can't hear the runners around him that well, but he clearly wasn't interested in letting anyone else hold the front for a bit (even more so because this part was upwind).

The beach was a pretty clear opportunity for running tangents.  It's about a 2.5km stretch, and slightly curved.  Below the high-tide mark it's all relatively hard-packed so it's not too tough to run on.  The trade-off here was whether to take the more aggressive line by going further down towards the waterline, or sit higher and drift off someone else into the wind, as it was a straight headwind through here.  The wind is there but not as strong as I expected so I duck further down.  I'm not sure if anyone followed me but everyone else is sitting higher and I felt pretty smart.  By the time we get to the end of the beach the same group of four merges back up, about 15 seconds behind white shirt and 10 seconds behind blue singlet, so maybe it didn't make any difference (but I still felt smart).  Getting off the beach through the soft sand is horrible but thankfully short-lived.

Around the 6-7km mark coming back down the road towards the causeway I started to negotiate with myself a bit, which is rare that early in a race.  The humidity might've been getting to me a bit.  Purple shirt is definitely the one pushing the pace and the other 3 of us are sitting just off his heels.  Blue singlet has faded and runs with the group for a bit before dropping off.  I was so busy negotiating with myself I forgot to take my first gel but I do that around the 8km mark.  Nowhere to throw the rubbish so I try and jam it back in the pocket in my shorts.

The gap closes by the time we hit the causeway for the loop around Pt. Wells.  On the causeway I push the pace just a bit, a couple of times.  Both times purple shirt immediately responds to take back the lead spot.  If he wants to do all the work and isn't used to pack running, that's fine with me I guess.  Running with a group does seem to be helping the km's tick by faster and I stopped counting km's at about 10.  Conversely purple shirt seems to be far more comfortable in his own zone, and almost gets a bit rattled when he can sense someone going past him or in front of him.  I did think to myself "it'll be funny if this comes down to a sprint finish like last time".

The second aid station is at about halfway, just at the end of the gravel road past the strawberry fields through to Pt. Wells.  I've been doing the usual "grab a cup, drink a bit, dump the rest on your head" strategy but I seem to be the only runner in the group getting water.  It's definitely warm but with the cloud cover, doesn't seem to be heating up too much further, which is a relief.  There's the odd spit of rain but it's just enough to create that "water evaporating off warm tarmac" smell and not enough to actually cool things down at all.

There's a bit of slightly boring suburban running here before the grass reserve, which is scenic but also quite hard work on spongy kikuya grass.  You don't really notice it until you come off the reserve and back on the road and your legs feel noticeably beat up.  I'd like to think those trail races through winter helped, but I'm not sure they made any difference.

Back through the suburbs of Pt. Wells, and now we're seeing the slower runners on their way out as well.  This is always a welcome distraction as there are generally a few faces I recognise, the odd joke about my shorts, and the occasional cheer as well.  I'm feeling in a good rhythm at a "tough but manageable" pace.  Occasionally I will just push the pace past purple shirt to see if he reacts - which he inevitably does.  Coming past the strawberry fields, I grab some water again and had to watch my footing as I wasn't totally concentrating and almost ended up in a ditch.  I briefly reflect how that would've been a horrible way to end the race.  Roughly 5km to go when we turn off the gravel road and it's all road / concrete from here.  I suspect mini-Dean and not-Martin Devlin have dropped off slightly now, although I can't tell by listening as there are so many footfalls from runners on their way out.

There's the odd "helpful" comment about how first place is "only 30 seconds ahead"... which is actually a pretty big gap to try and close over 4-5km!  Not impossible but probably would require a blow-up by the race leader.  Coming back over the causeway there is now a lot more shoulder-to-shoulder running with purple shirt, as opposed to me being on his heels.  It's obvious this is going to be another close one, and I need a plan.  I opt to go with the same one that worked last time, knowing that forcing it with 3km to go is a bad idea as there's a few turns and rollers through that section, but that the 2km mark is a great place to start cranking it up with flat / gentle downhill all the way to the finish.

3km to go and purple shirt almost takes a wrong turn at the surf club, which was a fear of mine in the past.  Turning off the rollers I catch a glimpse of not-Martin Devlin over my shoulder and he is probably only 15-20 seconds behind so it's pretty tight between 2nd and 4th.  Purple shirt doesn't do a great job of running the tangents on the pathway that takes us back to the road - in fact he didn't do a good job of running tangents at all.  I don't grab anything at the final aid station because now it's game time.  The hamstrings are getting a bit tight and the breathing is getting heavier but it's time to find another gear. 

(incidentally - when I looked at the download after the race - I can see how my cadence was very tight around 195spm for practically the whole race until the 19km mark where it picked up to 200-205spm!).

It's all shoulder to shoulder now.  I've picked it up but he's definitely trying to match me as we charge through the final suburban stretch.  Km 20 is noticeably faster.  1km to go and it's time to push harder again.  Definitely in the pain cave now but the two things giving me confidence are the fact I've done this before, and the fact that I'm the one that seems to be dictating the terms.  Around this point, purple shirt reached into his pocket and pulled out his watch, which seemed to be a fairly extreme case of darkwave's strategy of ignoring the watch pace.  It seemed to me to be an odd thing to do at that point as this is neither a PB course, nor PB weather, but perhaps I have gotten in his head just enough.  With around 600m to go I did momentarily think "what if I can't hold this" but helpfully at that point I realised there were only two turns until the 200m finishing straight in the reserve, and that I was slightly ahead.

One left turn, keep it going.  Final left turn, home straight, last 200m here we go.  I know I'm ahead but I don't know by how much and I'm sure as hell not looking back now.  I crank it up but save just a fraction in case I REALLY need to go absolute full tilt like I did last time.  My daughter and father-in-law are there for a high five... I think I said "I'm hurting!" but it doesn't matter as I know I've got second in the bag.  I heard the race announcer call my name out (and the fact I was a previous winner) and did a big fist pump as I crossed the line.  Not sure I've ever been that excited to be second!

The 1 second (!) margin over purple shirt isn't gonna help a lot from a series perspective, but hey.  I had two objectives today and I ticked them both off, in conditions that weren't great, but could've been worse.  Pretty rewarding to out-kick someone 15-odd years younger than me, at the tail end of a well-executed race.  Time is about a minute slower than my course PB but that was in far better conditions so I'm pretty happy with this as an overall marker of where things are at.

Now I just need to find another minute or so over the last 3 races lol.

Official time: 1:17:22, 2nd place

Mark - two of the courses have been retired.  One was retired when there was flood damage removing part of a track, the track is now repaired so it could be used again.  The other I never raced and have no idea where that course went.

Thanks all for the welcome-back wishes! I think I follow most of you on Strava by now, so I have an idea about what you have been doing even though I haven't been active here for a while.

Not that I should have too much say regarding two threads or one with one (now two) posts so far, but I think one thread could work well. Personally, I think I only have the bandwidth to post in one, although I tend to read both.

Watson - I am genuinely interested in the training program you linked to. It seems to be a very good option for someone who doesn't only run since the workouts typically aren't super taxing. I read a few of the pages on letsrun, and started following KI on Strava as well. Once I get some more miles on my legs I might try to set up some sort of program for myself. Interesting training week too, no runs more than one hour but still decent mileage.

Mark - Great race, it's always fun when you have one or two people to duke it out with.

James - Hope you figure your knee out. I think I finally got mine under control now.

Mick - Haha, thanks, not much of a legend am I? I always appreciate the comments on Strava. At least I have you beat to the bottom when it comes to low running mileage :-)

Steve - Nice race and nice mileage last week.

Darkwave - You're some sort of marvel of consistency in your training. Sorry to hear you are struggling with your medication. I have my own small battle that seems to be under control now. The medicine I take for my Crohn's (mercaptopurine) keeps my white blood cell count down, but can also suppress my red blood cell production. I also have to get iron infusions every now and then since my body doesn't like to absorb iron anymore either. But now it's all stable at least.

Fred - Nice race. I think we briefly crossed paths in an earlier thread. But hi again.

My running this week was not good, mostly because my schedule was somewhat disrupted midweek because of work. I am pretty much committed to training for triathlons, while seeing where I can get my running as a secondary goal, and this week I decided I had to get two swim workouts in this weekend. So my weekend run suffered. Maybe I can do it tomorrow. So this week I got two of each (although one of the runs was really short.

If I can get some better consistency in my running I might sign up for my favorite Half marathon in February to see where I stand.

Weekly for period: From: 11/27/2023 To 12/03/2023

Totals: Time: 05:39:13 - 🦅Imperial: 43.68 mi - Metric: 70.28 km