Forums >Racing>Competitive Jerks Racing and Training - 2023
Hot Weather Complainer
Mick - I’m so old that it’s 10 minutes under ‘BQ’ so it’s probably a borderline BQ. It’s something I’m thinking about given the minuscule chance that a non-NYRR qualifier gets me in. Also a better time of year for me with my study at the moment. NY is right when exams are on.
Flavio - Your training has been great, go get it!
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
Stop been nice to each other we want to see a rivalry
No, I think you are doing great! I compared your training to Feb-Mar 2019 and I do not think you are doing much worse now than back then - very impressive. Just do not injure yourself - you are already in great shape!
Flavio good luck 👍
Mark and you too !
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 "
Good luck to Mark also
Part of TLC
Sheeet, yes. I forgot (or overlooked) somehow. Shouldn't be too late now (still September 29th here), so - good luck to you as well!
Don't hurry - next AG will start 2026
Two half marathons on deck. Let's go Flavio and Mark!
Mother of Cats
Yes - good luck to both Flavio and Mark!
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.
Go at it Mark and Flavio!
I'm with Piwi on this one. That said, it's probably too early for any real "smack talk"
5K 18:36 (2023), 10K 39:40 (2022), 1/2 1:24:37 (2023), full 2:58:36 (2015)
Cheers all. Weather here today is pretty horrible - gale force winds, rain and hail, but tomorrow is supposed to be fairly clear with the wind dropping off quite a lot. It's a pretty hilly course anyway so was never gonna be the quickest.
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: Runway5 / National 5k Champs, 16:22, National Masters AG Champ!
Up next: Still working on that...
"CONSISTENCY IS KING"
Dorothea
So Oct 1 is basically already tomorrow in New Zealand, but we still have a little less than a day before it hits that in Köln. Either way, I may not get another chance to send good wishes before then, so sending them now. Hope you have great races, Flavio and Mark! I anticipate October to start off with one PB and one course PB.
Flavio, just wanted to add, it's been great watching your training all summer and through this month. And my note about elevation was more to say that you're working with a great advantage. It's definitely better to train hilly and run flat than the other way around. Viel Spaß!
Qualifications: I like to run. In Florida. In the summer. At noon.
Last race: April 28, Glass City Marathon, 3:29:53. Saw deer; cried; didn't melt in rain or heat.
Intl. correspondent
Mick - Lisbon will be very hot and muggy at that time of the year (probably between 18c at the start to something like 25c at the end).Even if the temps are slightly lower, the sun rays will get you anyway. And you can bet there will also be wind.I would only recommend it to people want to do a "fun run".Re Eastern European I guess I just need the Adidas suit and the squatting skills to become a Gopnik 😂
Cal - Khabib's victory over the Irish scumbag was one of the most satisfying moments in MMA history.
Dorothea - You are 100% right. I've just run over the bridge and it's got way more incline than I'd thought, but it's nothing compared to the hills I face everyday.
Mark - Go get it!
me - Thanks all for the well wishes!
The weather is way warmer than I expected. I'm gonna race it in my 50UPF t-shirt and cap. My lower back is complaining too.
I keep repeating in my head "It's just how taper feels", every 5 minutes. And I'm hoping for some cloud cover.
Köln is a very interesting city. It's impressively clean considering it's got over a million people.
And to think the city was reduced to rubble only 70 years ago.
One thing that impressed me the most is the speed of supermarket cashiers. In Portugal both the cashiers and the people move at a sloth pace 🐌
I'm trying to speak some German, and though I can speak quite a bit considering my very limited vocabulary, my brain is very slow to understand what is said to me.
So I give up and speak English instead.
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
I keep repeating in my head "It's just how taper feels", every 5 minutes.
There is truth to this.
On another note - JMac - are you and your family OK? I saw the coverage of the flooding in Brooklyn.
Looking forward to a couple great HM results from Mark and Flavio!
Tomorrow is the Twin Cities Marathon. I had looked at that one—a month or so ago I found out I had a business trip to Minneapolis the following week, so it would’ve been a free flight. I had already been targeting the race I did 2 weeks ago, but I hadn’t actually registered; I really waffled for a while on which direction to go. You know the choice I made, and even though it worked out pretty well, I’d been having some FOMO ever since. Especially because I really do prefer larger urban races. But as it turns out: weather at the start tomorrow will be 67F and ~90% humidity; high for the day is 84F. No mo FOMO! Oh man did I dodge a bullet there, I would’ve been seriously pissed if I had gone with that race.
Dave
Flavio - I feel sluggish without much pop for most of taper week, and usually with some kind of niggle. Any time I say to my coach I feel a bit flat pre-race he gets excited because he knows it means I'm good to go.
Mark - Very nice race this morning, must have been fun hunting down each podium position.
me - Light recovery week, and I'm feeling pretty good with where my body is. Looks like a lot of slow, "boring" running in the weeks and months ahead - I'm okay with that though. I've done plenty of speed in the last few months and I know what I need to do ahead of April 2024.
Pretty decent race this morning, ended up running a course PB by over 2 minutes for 1:18:05, and 2nd place. I was in a tussle for third around the halfway mark (which I won), and then ran down 2nd around the 14km mark, so overall pretty happy with the effort and I guess I judged the course (and its 8 hills, 2 of which are grass) better than most. I thought about having a go at first but one of the toughest hills is around 3-4km from the end and he had a minute on me at that point so I didn't think it was worth the risk.
If anything I was possibly a little too conservative on the pace on the flat... legs still felt strong at the end despite the hills and I could easily have carried on for another km or two, so I suspect I should have just pushed the pace a little more earlier in the race and maybe tried to stick on the first place runner (not a guy I knew at all so wasn't sure about it at the time!). At no point did I really hit any dark spots so I'm gonna conclude I wasn't working hard enough haha. Probably just a habit I got into from the trail series where the trails will humble you if you go out too hard... average HR was about 5bpm lower than it would normally be during a road race so that says something.
Legs were a little heavy during race week so I'm wondering if I slightly overdid the workouts last week, albeit I don't think it affected much on the day.
Miss 6 ran a PB by over a minute in the kids 2K race as well which was an awesome effort. We were aiming for under 15 minutes and she ran under 14, so that was a highlight.
Next up Omaha HM in 9 weeks. One of my all time favourite HMs! It'll be hot, and it's one of the slower flat courses around, but it's great fun.
Nice race Mark, congrats!!