Competitive Jerks Racing and Training - 2023 (Read 573 times)

Jacket quality is not so good. Another RA user described it most accurately as fitting like a paper bag with sleeves. But it serves the main jacket functions of covering your arms and torso.

 

Competitive Jerks - I'm in support of renaming the thread Wannabe & competitive jerks 😂

That said it seems the word competitive can have multiple meanings. According to Dr Google:

1 - relating to or characterized by competition. (A competitive sport)

2 - having or displaying a strong desire to be more successful than others (she had a competitive streak)

3 - as good as or better than others of a comparable nature (a car industry competitive with any in the world)

I fall in the 2nd meaning, whereas people like Cinnamon, Jmac and Mark fall in the 3rd.

This is the part I have a problem with. Typically I want to compete against people who are better than me while thinking I'm helping those who are not. I'm the guy in fourth place who trains hard, PRs, doesn't get any camera time and goes home proud on the outside thinking "there is always someone better than you" on the inside.

Jerk - a contemptibly obnoxious person

asshole -  a stupid, annoying or detestable person.

I'm more of an asshole thank a jerk. I believe the unwritten part is your intentions. If you're obnoxious because you're competitive you're a jerk. If you're putting effort into being a jerk you're an asshole.

DK - thanks!

Honestly I'm still amazed I managed to swing a solo trip to Wanaka with a 34 week pregnant wife back at home and everything else going on but I've been doing practically everything around the house the last 2 weeks so I think I accumulated enough brownie points.

I don't really have massive expectations for this after last year's disaster. I doubt I'll hit anywhere close to the 1:09 I managed in 2021 which was one of those days where absolutely everything fell into place. I'd like to go better than last year, but mostly I just want to go and race well. The weather doesn't look perfect, a little warmer than I'd like, and possibly a slight head wind. Wanaka is still my favourite place on the planet and just arriving here was good for the soul. Last year I think I probably psyched myself out a bit whereas this year I feel like I just wanna go out and enjoy it. I doubt I'll be able to travel a lot for races for the next little while so gotta make the most of it.

I did end up bringing the VF3's with me, so we'll see how they go too.

So the 5k from a week ago has really irritated my Piriformis on my left side again. After the Half in March, I was just a little tight but had no pain. It is really the fast running like sprints or going at max effort for just a few miles which irritates it. I am going to spend the month of May just running at easy to moderate pace with the only speedwork being some miles at tempo pace during a longer run.

 

The question I have is should I be focusing on strength work in my hips in conjunction with lots of stretching when I am in pain or should I only do stretching until the pain is gone and then start building strength? I know I need both to be able to get back to running at 5k pace or faster again but if that speedwork irritates the muscle, wouldn't strength work do the same?

I had piriformis and the rolling on a ball never helped and neither did rolling my foot on a ball help with PF. (but try all options as everyone is different)  I’ve been having Myofascial release massage sessions this year which I think has helped me overall with niggles and I’m generally a bit cynical about….everything. 

I think stretching before every workout is key (especially for older runners who think that they are still 40yo). I enjoy it now because I know it helps. 10min stretching minimum for short easy runs and 15/20min for longer/faster runs.

Let’s pray that the Southern Lakes course has been certified. 🙏

Good luck Mark.  I looked at the weather and thought it looked great..but it is a bit warm for May.  After training in humidity it should feel really nice though, if the wind stays down.  It's good when people can work out a way to still do what they love.  Awesome you have a wife that encourages that!  I imagine you'll be going above and beyond regardless of needing any brownie points.

JMac - I hope it's not the worst outcome.  Definitely crossing my fingers for you.

Boston jacket - If I did Boston and was back in NZ the next day, 100% I would wear it for the one person I'd see that day that knew Boston had just happened.  I wore my medal in Melbourne for the rest of the day, at the urging of others.  In the end I embraced it, it was great despite the bad result.  Unfortunately I didn't get the chance in my last race...

Keen - Good luck in the 5km.  Hopefully it's short enough to not require any sickness stops in a drive thru

Steve Would it even be possible to leave Boston on a Monday and land in AUS on a Tuesday? I'd expect to land there on Wednesday, but I've never been.

In theory yes, in practice no given the way airline schedules tend to run from the west coast of the US to Australia / NZ.

You've got 6.5 hours from Boston to the West Coast, plus best case a 1 hour layover (normally more), plus another 12.5 hours to Brisbane or Sydney.  So that's 20 hours of travel time, plus you fly 14 hours into the future due to time zone changes.  So 34 hours total time change, meaning yes it is possible in theory.

The problem is that the airlines tend to run the Pacific flights to Australia / NZ as overnighters given how long they are, arriving early morning (6-7am) and the frequency of flights out of Boston to the west coast isn't great, so you end up with long stopovers on the West Coast.  By the time you factor all that in, it's pretty hard to schedule something arriving in the early morning in Australia 2 days after you left Boston.

We were snowboarding / skiing in BC a few years ago and flew back overnight from Vancouver to Auckland, ended up landing 2 days ahead as per normal but meant we totally skipped my mother in laws birthday which was kind of funny.

Good luck Mark.  I looked at the weather and thought it looked great..but it is a bit warm for May.  After training in humidity it should feel really nice though, if the wind stays down.  It's good when people can work out a way to still do what they love.  Awesome you have a wife that encourages that!  I imagine you'll be going above and beyond regardless of needing any brownie points.

 

Heh I'm probably being picky.  The weather in 2021 was perfect, like 4-5C at the start with clear skies and sun and a light southerly, so everything else gets judged against that high benchmark.  You're right that given the crazy humidity in Auckland it will probably feel better than the forecast says though lol.

Realistically running will take a backseat for a little while after this race once the baby arrives. I'll have to figure out what the new normal will be with two kids but my wife knows that I do my best to manage training in a way that minimises the impact on the family (i.e. first thing in the morning and normally before anyone else is awake), and that I'm a complete nuisance if I don't get out for exercise.  She has been a great supporter from the start and gets it as she was a rep field hockey player back in the day.  Having a change of scene with the Xterra trail series over winter will help and then it will be fun to do the Auckland Half Marathon Series for the first time in a few years with my daughter also doing the 2k kids dash series.

I don't agree with the theory some have advanced that it's not "healthy" for any of us to run at the sort of volumes we do.  I think that formula is different for each of us and includes both a physical and mental aspect.  My body will tell me that 100km every week is not sustainable and I wouldn't want to run that much every week anyways, but I also know that 5-6 runs of 45 mins to an hour is the thing that'll keep me in a good headspace and physically that's a very sustainable level for me overall.