Competitive Jerks Racing and Training - 2023 (Read 552 times)

Jack - It's nice to hear from you. It sounds like you're back to retirement?

Andy - It sounds like you tapered perfectly. Also, re the old lady on the path, if there aren't race Marshalls guiding people, I'd have to side with her on this one haha.

DW - That's great to hear. It's my experience that having a great manager makes or breaks a job.

me - I have been dealing now for a few weeks with a niggle, some sort of pain under the foot, near my right foot heel.

I have gone in a couple of PT sessions, but it's not been able to sort it out. I can run with this, but I'm a bit concerned overtime it might become something worse.

The PT told me it's very likely some nerve going haywire, likely due to muscle tightness in the calves, or glutes.

I have another PT session on the 27th, and I'll keep going with my daily routine of stretching, hopefully this goes away.

Regarding the lady on the paved trail, that was probably an overreaction by me but I was in PR mode and was determined to take the inside of every turn. There were no marshals on that part of the course and they couldn't have prevented her morning walk anyway. I should have just given her a stiff-arm into the bushes...

mmerkle - no need to doubt yourself as you are only really competing with yourself in the PR streak. The best athletes in the world go into every game/match/race expecting to win every time and if someone is undefeated, you expect to remain undefeated until you aren't. Keep riding that PR wave and remember, Kipchoge set the marathon record at 37 years old. Why wouldn't you be able to keep up this streak for at least 10 more years?

 

 

I would counter that it is easier to do this without looking at a watch.  You just find a rhythm and go - no spending mental energy doing math or physical energy adjusting your effort in response to splits.

 

 

This is EXACTLY why I don't check my watch. I know myself, and I tend to obsess with numbers. I don't want to force myself to run some contrived splits at the expense of being alive in the last 10k. Your goal pace is only a guess anyway. On race day I am trying to think about racing, not numbers if I can help it.

Thanks to all for the compliments and votes of confidence.

JMac Thanks that means a lot! I'm hoping to break 2:50 by the end of 2024.

RP Thanks for chiming in. You're gonna love the medal. It has a big Eagle on it, it's American as hell! Problem is, I am having a seriously difficult time uploading a picture to this thread. How does this work?

Dave I think maybe everyone fatigues differently, you could be right. Also, that forecast isn't too bad, but that is frustrating that the next day is better. I like your strategy though. I think that should pan out.

Andy By the streak ending I just mean that at some point I could just have a bad day that results in a non PR. Thanks for that reminder though regarding age. I think you executed your 10k pretty well. I agree that 20 miles might be overkill for now. Doing 16 with a few miles at HM effort should be plenty.

Cal Very impressive week, and interesting structure. Do you normally do those back-to-back long runs? What's the idea behind it?

 

Cal Very impressive week, and interesting structure. Do you normally do those back-to-back long runs? What's the idea behind it?

Mikkey is absolutely right on the idea behind the back-to-back LRs - there is no justification to it - it's just how I felt that week .

Actually, if you want something more substantial - here it is:

Zone 2 and mitochondria

Many guys often look at what some of us (me including) doing and saying - how you can run sub 3 marathons when you run so slow, 9 minutes per mile and slower so much. What they miss is that I am trying to run a lot at those slow paces and that I still have 1 or 2 faster workouts every week - LT on Tuesdays and sometimes MP effort runs. That makes some difference. But the main difference is developing more mitochondria during those slow long runs - and that's what we always were joking with PBrickley guy back in RWOL times - "it's all about mitochondria" 

Mikkey - right on point! Let the faster guy win! 

Never trust a Russian.

Why you cannot trust a Russian? Russians are all different btw, they are not clones of each other 

I am actually a naturalized american. But I don't think you can trust an american too Basically, you cannot trust anybody 

 

 

 I would counter that it is easier to do this without looking at a watch.  You just find a rhythm and go - no spending mental energy doing math or physical energy adjusting your effort in response to splits.

 

You are probably right. When I am having a good race, I keep looking at my watch, but there is no need to make adjustments or do calculations because I am locked in. I guess I just feel like I need the positive feedback. I usually stop looking in the final miles; either I am pouring it on with max effort, or I am death-marching it in.

RP - did you want the CIM transfer that DW is offering? If not, I’m going to ask around my local running community.