Forums >Racing>2023 The Waltons: Racing & Training Thread
She lives in Newtown I once competed at that track in....discus when I was 14
Wow - she is at the heart of all the action! Newtown is the place to be (especially if you're a poor student or a dingy and damp flat!)
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
Tomorrow’s a pool running day, so I’ll go ahead & post my week now before everyone moves to the 2024 board. If I can do 11.6 miles on Sunday, I’ll be just over 1900 for the year, which would be my second most.
My totals for the year will wind up being:
Running: ~1,900 miles, 2nd or 3rd most ever
Swimming: 55.5 miles, most ever
Pool Running: ~800 minutes, 2nd most ever
For Christmas, DW bought the family a Normatec-type leg compression machine (though much less expensive than the Normatecs - the company is ReAthlete). It seems to be effective - all three of us report less leg soreness the mornings after using it. It might just be coincidence, but in the two outdoor runs since I’ve started using it, I've hit my average pace right away rather than starting out slowly for the first three miles like I usually do.
Sun - 7.6 miles very slow treadmill (60:45 AM/31 PM) + 0:40 walk breaks/6 mins
Mon - 9.6 miles in park PM @ 8:52
Tues - 75 minutes pool running
Weds - 10.9 miles in park midday @ 8:25
Thurs - 7.5 miles very slow treadmill (54:25 AM/36 PM) + 0:40 walk breaks/6 mins
Fri - 9.6 miles in park PM @ ~8:4x (watch issues)
Sat - (planned) 70-80 minutes pool running
Total - 45.2 miles
YTD Average - 36.3 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
Hot Weather Complainer
Good week to close 2023, before a down week next week. A new mileage record for me of 4294km (my 4th in a row!).
Yesterday and today were pretty hard sessions in 28-30C, and today had a brutal headwind including up some decent climbs. I actually felt the beginning of cramp with 5km to go today. Took 2 gels and had one electrolyte drink. I guess it's because of the fatigue of a big weekend and a lot of time over the lactate threshold. Yesterday I crashed in the last 2 reps but it's been a big month and with the warmer weather I don't plan on getting too stressed about it.
<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
Last week of 2023 in the books. Lots of hills, lots of humidity. 2023 ended up being my second biggest mileage year ever (4418km / 2745 miles) so that was pretty good. Will catch up on everyone else a bit later (my brother, sister in law and nephews head back to NY tomorrow).
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"
Waltons ThreadLord
My year in review.
Miles = 2,100 (3,379km)
Time = 360:56:17
Races & ParkRuns = 30 for 179 miles in 27:21:49
The year started slow when I was a bit under the weather for my annual January 1 5k race, but I managed to beat my 16-year-old son, who had made the mistake of having two cinnamon bun pastries for breakfast before the race and felt slow and heavy during the run, which was the last time I beat him in a road race. I ran a series of 10K XC races in the winter, one with my nephew, who though he beat the rest of the field by 8½ minutes still talks about the day not for his win but for the day he and I ran 10k in 7º (-14C), saying it was an epic adventure that he'll always remember. I finished trail/XC season with a 10-mile (16k) trail race with 1,000' (300m) of elevation in 24º (-4C) with a young coworker who finished well ahead of me, but just about tied me on an AG basis.
Moving to road races, I ran my favorite half, the E. Murray Todd, in Lincroft and got a course best while a friend, ViBe71, notched a PR there. Then a 5k with my son in temps just below freezing where my son got a PR that has haunted him ever since, finishing in 22:00.7, which I heard about in the car all the way home (though I do sympathize). Then RunAPalooza, the half in Asbury Park, where I didn't start well on the first northbound leg, got slower when we turned south, into the wind, and even slower about halfway through the long southbound stretch when the wind was joined by rain. By the time we turned north for the last leg, I was toast and happy to finish in under 2 hours (ironically, I did better on the hilly E. Murray Todd, which I was running as a warmup, than I did on the flat course at Asbury Park).
Jersey City had good and bad results for me this year. I ran the half in early April and, like Asbury Park, it was windy and rainy, and I barely finished in under 2 hours. However, later in the month I ran a 5K NYRR race in the same town and ran fast enough to get a spot in the second wave of the NYC marathon (because, of course, a time posted in a flat 5k is a good indicator of how I'll do in a hilly marathon). May and June were easier months, running a few local 5Ks, getting close to my PR once, with a 24:12. I ran a shortened 10K (not the RD's fault that the county park commission closed a bridge on the canal path just days before the race) and started going to the local ParkRun.
July started with the annual July 4th 4-miler, which is always hot and thus never fast and this year didn't disappoint with 77º (25C), but I go for the event (1,000+ runners, where I always see people I know). Then marathon training started. Aside from some more ParkRuns, I ran the Mercer County Half at 80% effort to finish my quest of running all the non-trail halves in NJ (excluding those that cover the same ground more than twice). The long drought of races finished with the NYC marathon, which I've already written about. I finished up the last two months of the year with more ParkRuns, a 5M PR, and an actual win at a trail race. My total miles and time on feet are new annual high figures for me, which I don't plan to replicate in 2024. I'm now looking forward to the January 1 5K tomorrow.
Happy New Year, Waltons!
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
Really enjoying the recaps, great way to remember the whole picture for each person. Here's mine...
2023
Mileage: 4294km/2668 miles
PRs: 5km 18:34, 10km 39:10, Half-Marathon 1:26:48, Marathon 3:34:49
I started the year having just taken on a new coach, with the goal of performing well at the Christchurch Marathon after a shocking debut marathon in October 2022 when cramp destroyed the second half of the race. My other big goal was to qualify for New York by running a sub 1:28 half - it was difficult to find a fast race that was AIMS certified in the second half of the year but right on schedule a new race in Melbourne around the grand prix circuit was announced and fit the bill.
Leading into Christchurch I had a tune up race planned, the Motorway Half Marathon, but got sick the week before and was nowhere near recovered to race. Aside from that week, my training went really well with some big workouts and no cramp. Unfortunately, just as I began the taper I got sick again, coinciding with moving house in awful weather. On the worst day of the sickness, 2.5 weeks pre-race, I would have stayed in bed if not for it being moving day. A week later I felt much better and decided with the coach to run it, after briefly considering dropping to the half. Race week went well, weather was breezy but not hot and...I felt cramp at 20km before it came on properly at 27km at which point I'd already decided to pull out. I wasn't willing to go through the suffering I had in Melbourne.
Pulling out gave me the opportunity for a quick recovery and another crack at the Selwyn Marathon 7 weeks later in June. This mini cycle went really well, no sickness, no cramp, no house moves and some big workouts. Race day was cold but certainly not as bad as it can be in June. I saw a mental skills coach the week before the race and had some techniques to stay positive, deal with mid-race bad patches and try and stay relaxed. The first half was great but going through the 26km aid station I got a sharp cramp again, re-grouped to get to 32km and then 36km with small stretching stops, before the last 6km was an absolute horror show.
From there it was recovery and looking towards the half in Melbourne in September, forgetting about the marathon for a while. Along the way I got a 5km PR at Hagley Park Run (18:40) and a 10km PR at the Canterbury Road Running Championships (39:10). I got to Melbourne feeling pretty confident and had the dream race smashing the qualifying time and setting a new PR of 1:26:48.
After taking some recovery time with lots of easy running it was back into a marathon block, starting with a Park Run to gauge my HR threshold - another great race to PR in 18:34.
I have to consider that my best year since I started running, even though the main goal of a good marathon eludes me. Maybe 2024 is the year!