Ha ha, I didn’t mean to give everyone a shout out! That’s just what happened as I was reading through. Same thing happened today. I can’t figure out how to post multiple quotes in the same post (and no one wants to skim through a bunch of individual ones), so that's likely going to be the MO I stick to.

Also, kind of relevant, in German we have an expression immer seinen Senf dazugeben… always sprinkling a bit of mustard. It’s an expression from the 17th century and refers to the cooks who at the time thought everything needed to have at least a sprinkle of mustard, whether it fit the dish or not. Call me out if that ’s what it seems like I’m doing!

But FTR, I don’t see it as a requirement to reply to everyone. I think that would be hard to keep up with ! 

Mark, I don’t know how I missed the news about the flooding in your area, but that’s quite scary and I hope they stop happening, and no more lives are lost. Of course I hope your race can go ahead despite everything, though it’s probably good to be prepared for the worst, too. I liked the title of your last Monday run. I think that very often. 

Flavio, I found rowing at the gym great for building hand strength for a stronger grip, if pull-ups are something you want to get into (and good to know you don’t judge me for all my open tabs :-) I just realized they multiplied over the weekend). You have a 10k coming up before the 5k in March, right? Looks like your training is on point with the 2 workouts and the mid-long run. Great paces for the 4 x 7s. 

As for getting sick, I don’t think it’s allergies, though it could be exertion. I’ll see if it happens again. It is annoying though when it impacts your training because you’re being conservative to prevent getting more sick. Fingers crossed that it doesn’t happen anytime soon again for you! 

And ha ha re: needing the MP runs to help control pace on race day. That’s a big issue for me too. 

Re: health benefits of long distance running:  Won’t reply to all the points here, but basically I agree. I think JMac said it well when he said that one also can’t underestimate the benefits for the mind. It takes a particular amount of guts to go long distances, but it’s also a kind of catch-22 because the guts are further built by those long distances… I don’t know what I’m saying. But I think the point is (like darkwave’s doctor story says) as long as it doesn’t hurt, why stop doing what you’re already doing? That being said, I have yet to reach an 100 mile week. Maybe because I do think it's too unhealthy ;-) jk, I just haven't figured out how to reach that level yet.  

mmerkle, great trail race! Those turns also royally screw up the GPS, so it’s great that you were able to focus and still get a negative split. And I don’t know if there’s an official translation from road to trail race, but the trail race is always slower. Looks like you also didn’t taper for the race? So I really think it's a great time. How did you place? As for alcohol… that’s something I’ve been wondering about. I tried a few races where I cut it out completely the weeks before the race, but when I accidentally found out that it didn’t really seem to make a difference, I stopped doing that. Obviously I wouldn’t go drinking the night before (which I rarely do anyway), but it also didn’t seem necessary to completely avoid it. Thoughts?

Fishy, that weather sounds ridiculous and awful. If it’s going to be bad weather, at least be predictable XD And if you’re asking for no snow, that’s what I wish for you (though running in snow is like in sand in many ways, you could test it ;-) If the sand is packed enough or the trail not too soft, it can be a nice way to break up a long run, because it forces you to go a bit slower and make different muscles work for a little while. It can be annoying if you’re trying to go fast, though. Not recommended for workouts. 

Question about no-watch-looking. I missed it, but what made you start? Will you be doing that for a while or is it just right now to tune into your paces?

darkwave, I am impressed about your running in your second week back from the marathon. I think I would have cried if someone told me to do multiple 10-milers. The feedback about the new meds is awesome. That sounds promising and I like your plan of shorter races for a while (though as you say, not that you need my approval).  It’s a lot of fun anyway to go back to speed, and now it’s a good way to work on gait. 

Wcrunner2, you do you! I was relatively late to joining Strava— was fine with RA for the longest time, and if Strava disappeared tomorrow I probably wouldn’t miss it. Also good point re: HMP or MP workouts. What constitutes the pace? I figure it goes more by effort then, right? Not pace per se. But then I guess that would be more steady state, as you say...

Re sushi: alright, so not as controversial as I thought. zebano, stinks that that race went so poorly, but at least it wasn’t GI issues! 

Andy, have you tried sitting on a tennis ball? That’s an old trick that helps something (don’t know the science), but it’s worth a try. Does something different than the massage gun or foam roller. 

Also I don’t think it’s proper half marathon training if there’s no speed work. Not sure what you mean by “true” speed work, but tempo runs count, and you should do those tempo runs to build endurance in ways that the long, slow runs will not do. You shouldn’t be doing 5k speed work for a half, but there are a lot of great HM speed workouts that can be quite helpful, and actually I’d say those are worth more than high mileage runs. Quantity is inherent for long-distance races, but if you have to sacrifice something, obviously quality > quantity.

 

 

DK - I'm surprised that German expression is so short, it's not even 40 characters!

ha!

It's actually not that bad.  I find it a little better than the monotony of summer.  Today was snowing but warm (34), by friday we'll be a frigid -8 and by Sunday back into the mid 40s. I've dialed in the correct amount of clothes for most conditions so it's now just a matter of a quick weather check then out the door.

We had a discussion about running by feel and Darkwave commented that she runs this way almost all the time (even in races).  It seemed so foreign to me that I had to try it out.  I also had a couple of watch malfunctions during races and I should not have allowed it to affect my performance.... but it did and I wanted to remove that dependence.  I tried it in the 5K and was very pleased with the result but not in any longer races yet. I think during training I'll stick with not looking but we'll have to wait and see during my next goal race (New Bedford half, late March)

 

Fishy, that weather sounds ridiculous and awful. If it’s going to be bad weather, at least be predictable XD And if you’re asking for no snow, that’s what I wish for you (though running in snow is like in sand in many ways, you could test it ;-) If the sand is packed enough or the trail not too soft, it can be a nice way to break up a long run, because it forces you to go a bit slower and make different muscles work for a little while. It can be annoying if you’re trying to go fast, though. Not recommended for workouts. 

Question about no-watch-looking. I missed it, but what made you start? Will you be doing that for a while or is it just right now to tune into your paces?

 

I'm not sure how accurate the light sleep, REM and deep sleep data is but the awake is spot on!  

My son is wearing my old Garmin watch all the time now and I can open up the app in the morning to check out his sleep. I say to him "according to your watch, you were up at 3:30 this morning watching TV" and he gives me a look like "crap, I'm busted".

 

 

dktrotter - now that we've normalized sushi, have you considered sardines as a gu-replacement? Maybe the omega-3s can undo the heart damage of long distance running.

 

Lol gross! Made me laugh though.

dk I placed 2nd. Didn't taper since it wasn't an A race, but treated as a hard tempo run. And I've been tempted to bring up this topic. I'm a fairly regular beer drinker, but before important races I like to cut out alcohol leading up to it. I have no idea if it makes a difference. Clearly getting hammered before a race will make a difference, but a drink or two I just can't tell. And here's a twist. I have had many long runs on Saturdays and Sundays after having 3 or 4 beers the night before, and I felt GREAT on those long runs. I'm tempted to think it tops off the glycogen stores.

Sushi before a race This is a new one to me, but maybe I should try it. It seems similar to my choice of fish and rice.

Andy In my opinion, if a half marathon is your goal race and you have to pick between higher mileage and less speed or low mileage with more speed, pick the mileage. As Dave pointed out, tempo work IS speed work. You can get a lot done with tempo runs.

I'll play devils advocate and point out that the last 20 mile LR I did was by feel and everyone seemed to think it was too fast, probably myself included. I do like trying to go by feel during races and tempo runs though. But checking the watch might be needed for easy and long runs.

Dk- your right this forum moves almost as fast as many of us run.

CommanderKeen- What 50 miler are you looking to do. I need to get back to some of the shorter ultras.

AndyTN- I call tempo work speed work. I would do 8-10 mile tempos about HMP on a flat road to get ready for a half. Then when the race had 500 ft plus drop I could easily go faster.

Repre race food. I don't like sushi. I eat what I want before a race.

I am finaly getting back to some solid running. My last race beat me physically and mentally. I have changed my 48 hour race to a 12 hour race pace training run. I am going to give it one more go at a qualifying 24 hour race in June. A 48 hour race where I want to run 200 miles at is not a great idea in the middle of a 24 hour training. I would compare it to training for a marathon and putting a 50- 100 miler in the middle.

The fun workout was my trail run. I know I did way too much too soon. Hammered the quads. Climbed 2600 ft in 2.9 miles. Lots of snow on the trail.

Weekly for period: From: 01/23/2023 To 01/29/2023

Total distance: 63.18mi

There a few guys I know of that have run over 200 miles in 48 hours. It is on a flat loop or track. Not trail. Olivier LeBold ran 260 miles in 48 hours back in 2015.

I have heard of heartland 50.

 

To my knowledge this feat has never been done before. If you do decide to make a go at this it could be worth driving out to help crew if you needed it just to be a part of it!

 

I'm doing the Heartland 50 , which nicely fits with DD1s soccer tournament that same weekend in Wichita, about an hour from the race. Run an ultra, go watch soccer. Good weekend.