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

 

Doh! 4418km / 2745 miles.  My best is 4437km.

 

I’m at 2742 miles but have one more day. 

2,233.7 miles for the year. Shy of my 2,500 mile goal, and I took at least three straight week off.

My Week

Totals: Time: 05:21:41 - 🦅Imperial: 42.16 mi - Metric: 67.83 km

Year in Review:

First training cycle of the year was for the Salisbury marathon on April 1st, for yet another attempt at sub 3 hours. Before that, in February, managed a 61:37 at a club challenge 10 miler which had some hills, so that gave me confidence. Then FINALLY cracked 3 hours at the Salisbury marathon with a 2:59:27, with wind and rain in my face most of the race.

Ran the 6 race summer series again and beat every time from last year but one, but it was very hot that day. Came 3d overall in the series.

Bunmped up the milage and long runs for the Erie marathon on September 10th. Managed a 2:56:47 with a 1 minute negative split. 

Then did some experimenting with ultras, starting with a 6 hour endurance challenge October14th, which went well and was very fun. Managed 35 miles in 5:36:XX. Then finally the JFK 50 on November 18th. Not my best day, but I survived in 8:23:31. Spent the last few weeks working through some injuries, but I believe those are behind me now.

Total Miles: 2,614.4, Kilometers: 4,209 A new all time high. Also hit an all time high 7 day total this year with 85 miles, some time during October, which was an all time monthly mileage high with 320 miles. I plan on beating all of these in 2024.

I feel very strong and confident going into 2024. I have some big goals for this coming year to be announced in the 2024 thread.

Happy New Year to all !!!

Nice to “meet” you MrMatt. I hope your continued rehab continues so that you can start targeting a fall marathon in March. 

Flavio, I know you posted your yearly recap, but I’m too lazy to go back and find it. So I’ll comment from memory. Great year. I think I remember a 5K and 10K PR, and a covid-half. The marathon is memorable, but I’m sure the best is yet to come with that race. 

Nice miles last week, especially while traveling.

Mt79, I second all the folks that more miles will make the short races faster. I would encourage you to also sign up for a few longer races, even if you don’t “race” them, to get your mind used to focussing for longer. It helps with the mental game for the 5K/mile. That was my experience, at least. 

Congrats on sneaking in one more PR for 2023, Dave. Officially an 80%er. That’s awesome!! 

Also some great yearly miles, Mark. 

SomethingClever, had I seen your post yesterday, I’d have said go for the time-trial anyway. You may have surprised yourself. I certainly did today after jumping into a local 5K. Sure, I had to run conservatively due to the iffy calf/achilles and knee, but still had a pretty good run! However, I guess a miler is a lot more fun, and does the same thing :-) Just sorry to read about your streak!

Big week, Steve. Congrats also on that mileage PR! Putting in the work for a stellar fall season. 

Glad to see the 10K+ run, wcrunner. Things definitely seem to be looking on the up-and-up.

Awesome year-recap, mmerkle. You crushed the marathon this year-you certainly got the 3-hour albatross off from around your neck. It was also cool to see you get into ultras! Intrigued about about your 2024 goals. 

Also great year-recap, Fishy. Seeing those PRs fall one-by-one were a testament to the consistent, strong training you seem you have put in all year. Also amazing total miles. I think you’re only second to Keen, probably. Pesky work call. Hope those don’t happen until during the cool-down for the rest of this training cycle. 

Not going to bother with a weekly recap, since it’s boring. I wanted to double my 11 miles from last week, and fell short. But I did manage to stay in one piece during a 5K test run today, so I guess I can continue slowly doing while I’m doing while working/waiting to get better. 

My 2023 Recap, with a few hints of goals for 2024: 

I went into the year with a few goals: sub 3:30 marathon, sub: 21 min 5K, proper ultra race, and stay healthy and injury free. 

Of those goals, I met 3/4. And I was healthy, for the most part. I did deal with injuries for the last few weeks, but the knee was something that I’d already starting having an issue with about this time last year, and since it kept going away (with the help of some good sports massaging and home remedies), I figured I would be fine. This time it’s not going away, and since it would be stupid to think it will get better during marathon training, I’m trying to start 2024 off right by seeing the doctor and actually getting professional advice to do something about it. This will hopefully get me healthy in time for a half marathon end of January and the goal marathon in April. 

I ran many a lot of races in 2023 and I’ve raced a few as well. All told, it’s been 1 1-miler, 5 5Ks, 0 10Ks, 1 10K wannabe (9.8km), 1 half-marathon, 2 marathons, and 2 Ultras (an advertised 40 miler that was about 41.5 miles and 34.6 for a 6-hour race). 

That’s 163.9 race miles (263.77km) on 1768 miles (2845.32km) of running. Did I want to run more miles this year? Yes. Did life and health get in the way? A little. That being said, it is the third year in the row of 1750+ miles, which is more than I’ve accomplished previously.  I also did 822 miles (~1323km) of bicycling, which may helped the knee more than hurt, I’m hoping. 

More of the year in review: turned a BQ attempt into a 50k training run (Feb) in preparation for a 40-mile ultra (March), PR’d and broke 21 minutes in the 5K (April), took things way too easy for a few months (May- August), trained for and ran a sub 3:30 marathon (Nov), rebound for a decent half (Dec) and now am now working through the early part of 2024 to get healthy again. I also tried aqua jogging for the first time in a few years, but go figure… the pool is too cold for that right now. 

I learned a few things this year about running and races: Firstly, ultra races are a lot of fun. If they didn't interrupt training cycles, I’d jump into them more often; my body at 32 is not the same as at 22 (but I guess it's still better than at 42); a recovery run after a race is not always the best idea, I know better what to look out for now; more strength training! 

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!