Good race reports and training miles out there.

The pain in my hip/butt are now gone so now my right calf is deciding to give me problems, holding me back on miles. I have come to realize that years of prioritizing miles to build cardio strength over working out at the gym are starting to bite me. I am now at the point where my cardio endurance is too advanced for my muscles and tendons to handle so I am getting these little annoying injuries popping up. I am going to start doing strength work twice a week for the next few months to see it that is the solution. 30 minutes at home twice a week is no big deal and I don't even need to go to a gym to use their machines.

I think I am going to skip the 15k this weekend as I still haven't officially signed up and I think it is more risk than reward in prep for the Half in 26 days. The recent accidental 10k PR was enough for me to test myself and I haven't had a week of at least 40 miles in 6 weeks.

I unintentionally sabotaged by son in the 8k trail race yesterday when I said a few minutes before the start "stay here with your friends, Dad has to take a dump". The line was so long at the porta potties that I heard the gun go off as I was coming out and our warmup was running to the start line. He spent so much energy in the first 3 miles passing slow runners on the single track trail that he was worn out in the later miles. Even though he was sucking wind late in the race, the kid never started whining and never even took a walking break. 10k in two weeks for his redemption and hopefully at least 2nd place in his age group for the series.

quick drive by

My week:

Workoutes went well. full recovery for the 1.2km runs. It reminded me of the workout I tried earlier this cycle and bombed. Sadly, I think the workout I bombed was closer to interval pace, and this was more 5k pace. Either way, I hit the marks consistently. It made me happy to be able to run 6:05/mi pace for a 1200m repeat. It was also fun doing them with a headlamp on, on a road with up/downhill sections and a few pot holes to avoid.

Thursday went well. I ate dinner before going for a run. The times I've tried M pace on an empty stomach I've bombed. BIG TIME. This was 1 mile farther than last time, and gave me the same "last mile is going to be hard" feeling. Again, dark, with a headlamp, on the same loop I ALWAYS do these workouts on. 34F "feels like" temperatures were shirt with arm warmer/sleeves, a head wrap (always), and shorts. Still doing these in my Pegasus 39s which makes me feel even better. Goal was to keep it 6:40-45/mi pace.

No long run. Woke up feeling under the weather on Saturday morning, and having done the year of running I saw no desier or benefit of running when I wasn't going to enjoy it. Turns out the snow forecast was off, and we had MORE snow in the morning. Sunday...I just didn't have the energy to get up and go. I reminded myself it is okay to miss a weekend long run because training is WEEKS, not days, long. Also, everyone gets sick or misses a workout and missing ONE weekend long run doesn't destroy my training. I still feel kind of worn down, and this week is 3 x 1 mile (1,600m) at 5k pace. 6:04/mi still seems blazing fast, and there is a 5k race I do enjoy running in March. Maybe if I keep up this speed stuff I'll try to go out at 6:00/mi pace. It's just about 1 month before Boston. I'm happy with where training is at right now. Paces aren't 100% effort. They're controlled. Sometimes I have to pull back because I get excited in my head, and other times I have to push hard to NOT drop pace.

Weekly for period: From: 02/06/2023 To 02/12/2023

Total distance: 49.94mi

Today was a good day to be in South Florida. In the 60s, low humidity, and sunny. 

mmerkle, I had to laugh what Steve said about you being one of the few people who likes the rowing machine. I used to love it for cross training. And 5-7km to be on the rower is quite a workout. Nice week too with those workouts. Excellent to see you’ve officially signed up for your race! 

Steve, thanks for asking. I was waiting to find out more about the weather on the weekend before deciding goal or strategy, and now I have a nascent goal (also worth adding to the list, CK). Predicted conditions for the start: 69 °F, feels like 70 °F, 58 % cloud cover, 62 °F dew point, 78 % humidity, 11 mph ENE wind (so at least a tail wind in the last stretch). Despite my own negative awareness that I’ve never gone sub 3:30, my coach thinks I could easily do 3:25. I’m not that sure, but she does make a good point about my consistent training since October and having a good amount of well-executed workouts, 20+-milers, and a marathon under my belt. Given that the Kiwi number is going to be between 130 and 140, meaning about a 2.5% increase in pace, I am going to add 3.5 minutes to that goal time and aim for 3:28:40. I’m going to forget the conservative start, since I seem to positive split anyways, and so I’ll start at 7:55 mpm and try to keep it that way for as long as possible. Keeping it below 8mpm at all costs is the goal. 

[ETA: If the average Kiwi point in Florida is 130 or above, and the Vaporflies take off about 2% or so, would the two cancel each other out and negate the "cheater shoes" label?]

Also, holy heck. That’s quite a hill. The elevation itself in a long run isn’t too surprising, but that grade though. I can see why it’s a “once a year” workout, but I think you’d be surprised how it gets easier (I know I’m a total flatlander right now, but my regular training run used to include a 200m climb over 1.5km.)

Dave, nice long run after your PR. Only thing better than a 5k PR is doing a long run the next day and maximizing that fitness for the marathon. 

Also I’ll confess my statement “Don't expect to use them much beyond short-distances” was partially inspired by the article, which stated the benefit may mostly come for 6mpm runners. The closest I get to that are in my shorter distances. I also want to maximize those expected 200 miles on the shoe, ha ha. But reading more about the shoes now, I realize they are meant for long distances, so I'm shifting my thinking.

Fishy, especially since you had a double the day before, I think that Boston workout went pretty well. 

darkwave, I saw that workout on Tuesday and almost wrote on Strava that we were workout twins. Well done. Also congrats on that 5k and the nice negative split! Reading your blog I caught up on a few of your other race reports, which were educational and fun for me. Also I can’t believe you were hit by a truck those years ago! 

Andy, sounds like a solid plan re: strength, and shame about the 15k, though if you feel there's no need, then there's no need. Also congrats to your kid! Awesome running grit. 

Great week CK, and hope this is a better long run week for you, RP, though great job on the workouts. 

Sigh. I've been calculating my running costs since 2018, and it's not as inexpensive a sport as one would like to believe, even if it's still loads better than being a triathlete.

*giggles in automotive hobbies*

Previously I thought $250 was expensive for a pair of shoes. Now $450 for a tire, or $250 for a set of gears (I need 2 sets) is at a point of "yeah, just buy them. You have the money." Now the $3,500 transfer case is staying in the "want" category for a few years. Maybe 2.

DavePNW late congratulations on the PR. Good feeling to have during training. I feel like racing one just to go for it. The guy I've done a few Saturday runs with also feels like hammering a PR and moving his scheduled 20 miler to get it done.

Vapor/zoom fly when I ran in the Zooms they were a plastic plate. maybe not....these are the ones I ran in.

https://www.runnersworld.com/gear/a24172839/nike-zoom-fly-flyknit-review/

Both shoes feature a full Flyknit upper and a carbon-fiber plate that runs the length of the midsole, which are designed to improve breathability and help propel you forward as you run, respectively, and both shoes seem to feel better the faster you run, according to our testers. The key differences are that the Zoom Fly Flyknit has a Nike React foam midsole, rather than the ZoomX foam, and it does not come with the claim of making its users run more efficiently.

roughly 1,640 ft in 4 miles.

400 ft per mile.

yeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh...I'm hiking that and eating something. I wouldn't expect to do much more than jog/hike/repeat the whole way. The biggest climb I had in my 50 miler last year was 2 miles with 1,520 ft.

For those not familiar with Bald Eagle units it equals 3.22 km and 463 km.

It took me 54 minutes.

Strava Link says approximately a 16% incline. Ignore the starting elevation. For the 100 miler you GET TO do this twice.

Keen - I'm sure you and DW are very disappointed you're being forced to go it alone.

Mark - Yeah, I may have that reasoning wrong.  If that logic worked I could just do it every week but the thought of that would have me retiring from running.  I'm sure I'll get plenty of benefit though, I'm just not going again for a long time.  On the plus side, it will make the Summit Road seem like a few speed bumps next time I do that.

RP - If I needed convincing to never do a trail ultra, you've just done it.

On the topic of VF's... the VF 3 is due out in March.  Probably explains why the 2's have been on sale more often lately.

I am not seeing any on sale. Where?

RP I wouldn't sweat a single missed LR. Nice week.

Commander Under 3 hours. I should have been more clear but I wanted to stay in character. It was meant to read "expecting to report back by ten-hundred", since the race starts at "o seven hundred".

Steve I can see this working if you were used to hills and kept the HR more in tempo range? I'm not sure. I usually use hills to train for a race with hills. I'm still trying to learn the other ways you can use them.