Forums >Racing>Competitive Jerks Racing and Training - 2023
Flavio - just FYI on the US healthcare system—yes many/most people have coverage through their employers. However it is seldom if ever a fully employer-paid plan, it is typically an employer-subsidized plan. Cheaper than the open market, but your company still deducts a substantial amount from each paycheck to pay for your portion. And that amount increases every year with the market. Plus in most cases these days you get what is called a high-deductible plan. Certain things are covered from the start (e.g. annual physicals, some medications), but in general you have an annual deductible in the amount of some thousands of dollars; you pay your bills in full out of pocket up to that amount, before your coverage actually kicks in. While still paying the monthly premiums the whole time.
Interesting note on distance units. I happen to be reading a book on the history of measurements in general. In the early days, units measured more practical things. The furlong was originally defined by the length of a furrow (the root of the word) that could be plowed by a team of oxen before they had to rest. The mile from Roman days was an even 5000 feet. But later England decided to define the mile as 8 furlongs, which is how it became 5280 feet. Also incidentally the UK mile and US mile used to be slightly different. They were standardized in 1959, and now the official definition of the mile is actually a specific number of km.
Dave
Continuing to work back into shape. The 6x800 workout went...OK. The usual ridiculously slow start, despite a 3.5 mile warmup, which we’ve talked about. I like these reps to be <6:30, they ended up 7:26, 7:00, 6:41, 6:32, 6:26, 6:18. So I got there eventually, but it just seems like I only got 4 decent reps. I guess it’s the effort that counts? I’d like to move up to 1200s next week, but wondering if I should give myself another shot at the 800s.
Incidentally that half was a legit 13.1, but it goes through a 2.5 mile tunnel which naturally screws up your GPS. Which makes pacing extra challenging! You enter the tunnel after <0.5 miles, so you don’t even get a chance to get into a pace groove. I paced this race last year too; hit mile 3 after the tunnel and was already 2 minutes ahead of pace. Spent the rest of the race gradually making up for that, and finished at goal. Pretty much the same thing happened this year.
That’s two weeks in a row pacing a half—when will I be ready to race one?? Targeting one on on 7/29, hopefully that gives me enough time to get into semi-decent shape. Maybe a 5k before then.
Cal No worries. I overreacted a pinch. I'm just a little frustrated with my running obviously. For sure 2:48 is not a competitive time for a 28 year old. But for some, that is a lifetime achievement.
Mikkey Thanks for the vote of confidence.
Dave I think it's normal for these workouts to be progressive in pace. The effort is for sure what matters the most (I think). If you're not happy with the outcome, I would give the 800s another go. I'm not sure if it matters whether you do that before, or after the 1200s. Maybe someone else has an opinion on that. If they both have the same purpose, then I guess it shouldn't matter too much? Do you include a couple strides at the intended pace as part of your warm up? I feel like sometimes that helps wake the legs up.
My Week
Decided not to run today. I guess I could have. Nothing felt off, but I just wanted a rest day. My thoughts are still to treat this Thursdays 5k as my peak race, and then transition to marathon training while still competing in the remainder of the summer race series, which means I will have a 6k, 4 miler, and 8k left. The XC race is super hilly which is why that time looks crazy slow. I managed to trim about 34 seconds off of my time from last year, and last year I ran the 5k two weeks later in 17:51. So I think a sub 17:44 is in the cards.
I guess we are still looking at another year or so before I'm back to my 2014 shape short distance wise. For those who forgot or who weren't aware, in 2014 I ran a 17:15 5k (net downhill though) en route to a 34:58 10k (out and back course). That is still my 5k PR technically. But a 17:44 is my 5k race PR. I have a weird relationship with the 5k obviously. So I'd love to just break 17 some day and settle the score.
Dave that's a nice steady come back week. I would do another session of 800s. You will probably find the next lot will pace more evenly. 1200s will be alot tougher. Even 1000s are just that much further.
You should start to get a feel for your current 5k pace after another session.
Merkle nice job on that x country race. Look forward to your 5k.
55+ PBs 5k 18:36 June 3rd TT
" If you don't use it you lose it, but if you use it, it wears out.
Somewhere in between is about right "
Piwi / Steve - my wife is handling the night shift, since I'm back at work now and one of us (me) has to handle getting the 6 year old out the door for school too. Also I can't breastfeed lol. Still end up getting up to help from time to time but she's doing most of the work, legend that she is.
Dave - nice pacing job (again!).
Flavio - in NZ we have a pretty good public healthcare system, similar to the UK. Most things you can go to the hospital and get seen free of charge, albeit there are significant waitlists for many surgeries and ~30% of people choose to also pay for private healthcare insurance to cover either elective surgeries that aren't available in the public system or that you'd just end up waiting for ages for. We paid for a private obstetrician for both our babies, to be honest that was also money very well spent as my wife got looked after a lot better than she would've been under solely the public system. If we hadn't had a private obstetrician this time around, things could've gotten pretty rough.
You narrowly pipped me this week on mileage too!
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"
Hi all- Sorry I was not too active lately. Very busy work/life week and still managed to get in some miles. I forgot how hard it it to consistently run in the summer. SO many other commitments. Not that I'm complaining....I do not want to go back to winter weather.
Dave- Very nice week. I'll have more to say about your 800s in a week or so when I start "real" workouts again. I'm actually dreading the track MORE than the marathon at this point.
Piwi- Ran my LR at 6 AM this morning so I could drive down to my parents for fathers day. The upside was I was able to hit the river this afternoon and catch 2 nice rainbow trout. Water levels are low and fishing is very challenging but that only makes it better!
MMerk- Man that is fast!! I've noticed most of your runs are quite a bit faster later. Is this due to the lower mileage or your focus on the shorter stuff? Either way keep it up you're killing it!
Cal - I appreciate how passionate and intense you are about whatever interests you. I absolutely think it is one of the characteristics that make for a great runner. Especially a runner who picked up the sport later in life.
DK- I'm leaning heavily toward Philly in the fall. That will leave Sept and Oct. for shorter races and a tune-up half. If I pull the trigger we will absolutely have to connect at some point.
5K 18:36 (2023), 10K 39:40 (2022), 1/2 1:24:37 (2023), full 2:58:36 (2015)
Don't know if you'll be able to see this but here we go!!
Overweight per CDC BMI
Frustrated????? Kipchoge didn't breat the WR in the marathon until he was 34 years old. When I was 28, my first son was born and the transformation into the dad-bod commenced. I ran a 5k at 32 years old in 32:28 at 215 lbs and having to yell ugly words at the 7-year-olds who were passing me. Give yourself some credit.
Memphis / 38 male
5k - 20:39 / 10k - 43:48 / Half - 1:34:47 / Full - 3:38:10
king of the non-sequitur
hey all, following along. had a restish week of 31M after a hard race last weekend. it's weird how DOMS seems to come later and later as I age. is that a thing?
the half i had planned for next weekend fell through (i was offered the bib of someone who suddenly passed away but they are unable to access his email so no transfer i guess). but it was something i couldnt really refuse. havent run a flat half in a long time but i think it's a good distance for me
Flavio that's interesting about Brazil health care, thanks
RANT: DW and i have worked in USA health care for 30 years. it's pretty awful in so many ways, and corrupt, and the disparity of pay for many health care workers is terrible so all that $$$ just goes to the top...and there is no preventative care, just drugs and side effects which keep you addicted to the system. we dont even have good outcomes, just better at keeping people sick
Bridle Trails 50k 1-13-24 5:39
Cottontail 6 Hour 4-13-24
Cougar Long Series (May,June,July,Aug 2024)
Carkeek 6 Hour 10-19-24
Fishy 75 miles very nice. 6am is standard running time for me. We could turn this into a fishing thread nice job on the trout. I live about 1 hour from world class trout fisheries Lake Rotoiti and another hour to Lake Taupo. They get monsters there. I've never really tried fresh water fishing and only fish in the ocean with lures. My neighbor gets smoked trout from his lawnmowing guy but hasn't the heart to say he doesn't like it so gives it to me. I don't mind eating it as I'm sure it's pretty healthy.
Asmith I would say doms hit me on the 2nd day after a hard effort.
Found this photo from about 10 years ago pre carbon shoes. The two green shoes were Nike Zoom Elite I loved those. The red ones far left were Nike Lunaracers used for both my marathons quite light and bouncy but done after about 300kms.
The pink adidas were the Hagio similar to early takumi sens.
Mother of Cats
Hi all - just checking in belatedly with my week:
37 miles running and 2:10 hours pool-running.M: 70 minutes pool-running.T: 10 miles, including a track workout of 4x800m in 3:27, 3:25, 3:22, 3:17, with lots of recovery (trying different pairs of shoes) Followed with leg strengthwork..W: 7 miles very easy (9:38) and upper body weights/core.Th: OffF: 6 miles very easy (9:32) + drills and stridesSa: 1.5 mile warm-up and then half-marathon in 1:35:30Su: 60 minutes pool-running.
My half-marathon didn't go as well as I had hoped (race report). For those of you who don't want to click through to the race report; I just had an off day. Weather was great for the half (less so for the full), so it wasn't that. My chest did feel tight and I know several other people who felt their breathing was off during the race, so I suspect that the issue was likely lingering smoke from the Canadian wildfires (AQ was yellow, so not awful).
Oh well - time for a break.
I'll circle back later for comments.
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.
dw - sorry you had a rough day...nice report though! I will say that I usually read those runner instructions like there’s going to be a test—a smooth pre-race process is so critical. But they can always throw a wrench in there—the drop bag change and lack of warmup space are not something you would necessarily pick up on, and are pretty big deals. When you show up to the start already pissed off and discombobulated, that can make for a tough go.
Mmmm Bop
Fishy - Can you please refrain from posting photos that aren’t running related.
Piwi - Those Lunaracers felt so awesome back in the day! I ran a 2:51 in them in 2013….a week after pacing 3:30 at Brighton marathon! The glory days! 52.1 miles for me this week all easy and aiming for 200 in June.
5k - 17:53 (4/19) 10k - 37:53 (11/18) Half - 1:23:18 (4/19) Full - 2:50:43 (4/19)
Intl. correspondent
Dave - Once again you're displaying your superior pacing skillsA 2.5 mile tunnel sounds nightmarish to be honest.FYI, I have the opposite issue with workouts. I always run the first few too fast 😂
Mark - Yeah, I believe that's a good system, that way it's not as expensive on the people and you have the option to go private, but then since there's a free option, the private option is not outrageously expensive.
Fishy - That's a good looking fish, I see you had your watch on, were you tracking your heart rate during the fishing trip LOL
DW - Sorry the race didn't go your way. By the way, are you familiar with radio.garden ? I mean so long as you have internet connection you can listen to any radio around the world.Blackout curtains are a must for me, it's pretty hard to sleep without. Lately I've been even looking at the pillows to see if they're good pillows and won't give me neck pain LOL
PRs: 1500 4:54.1 2019 - 5K 17:53 2023 - 10K 37:55 2023 - HM 1:21:59 2021
Up next: some 800m race (or time trials) / Also place in the top 20% in a trail race
Tool to generate Strava weekly
Cal - Now that I’m back in serious training again maybe we should start a separate marathon thread? I’m not sure if I can deal with this thread for the rest of the year. Thoughts?