Competitive Jerks Racing and Training - 2023 (Read 574 times)

 

Wcrunner SIX DAYS?!?!?!?!? Man…I’d be interested to get some seriously detailed reports about what you’re doing for running, eating, sleeping, and mental strength during THAT kind of an event.

 

If you're really interested I could point you to some 6-Day race reports, but I'm only running the 12-hour event.  The 6-Day race is the premier event but there are also races for 12-hours, 24-hour, 48-hours, and 72-hours.

 

I shudder at going for more than 3 hours let alone 6 FREAKING DAYS!

The world record is an astounding 1,036.8 km, 644.2377 in miles.

 

MarkyMark since you mentioned doing workouts in flats I thought I’d say I only do my workouts in non-super shoes. MY personal belief, after discussing it here with others, is the normal shoe helps build the strength to run faster. Proper form, more feed back, more controlled effort, more exhaustion, etc. The super shoes are there for an added perk. On race day I want some extra pep. On workout day it’s there to do the workout and get the stress. NOT hit a specific target (avoids rant) pace for a 400 or 1 mile workout. My Tuesday workout this week was in cold and wind, and I missed the target PACE (4:03/km) for almost all of them I hit the target of the workout (anaerobic stress) which is more important. I’m sure I could have put my super shoes on and made myself feel good about getting a 4:03 or 4:00/km pace on the chart…with a much lower heart rate.

 

So, I agree with the logic and theory behind this, but I've also heard a theory that being able to train at the higher speed enabled by super-shoes generates additional neuromuscular benefits (you are training yourself to move faster).  A lot of elites often do seem to train in supershoes too.  IDK, maybe the answer is to alternate? Or wear a supershoe on one foot and a normal one on the other then swap over halfway through the workout.

 

 

 

MarkyMark since you mentioned doing workouts in flats I thought I’d say I only do my workouts in non-super shoes. MY personal belief, after discussing it here with others, is the normal shoe helps build the strength to run faster. Proper form, more feed back, more controlled effort, more exhaustion, etc. The super shoes are there for an added perk. On race day I want some extra pep. On workout day it’s there to do the workout and get the stress. NOT hit a specific target (avoids rant) pace for a 400 or 1 mile workout. My Tuesday workout this week was in cold and wind, and I missed the target PACE (4:03/km) for almost all of them I hit the target of the workout (anaerobic stress) which is more important. I’m sure I could have put my super shoes on and made myself feel good about getting a 4:03 or 4:00/km pace on the chart…with a much lower heart rate.

 

 

RP - the equivalent of swinging a bat with a weighted donut in the on-deck circle, right? (Apologies to the non-Americans.) I do the same, but mostly because I want $250 shoes that are only good for 200 miles to last as long as they can. I know some people use them for workouts once the odometer passes 200, but I haven’t gotten that far with mine yet. In any case—whether RP’s or Marky’s approach is better, I’m guessing the benefit is minimal in the grand scheme of things. Once of the nice things about being a middling hobbyjogger is that I don’t have to stress about every detail like the elites do.

 

So, I agree with the logic and theory behind this, but I've also heard a theory that being able to train at the higher speed enabled by super-shoes generates additional neuromuscular benefits (you are training yourself to move faster).  A lot of elites often do seem to train in supershoes too.  IDK, maybe the answer is to alternate? Or wear a supershoe on one foot and a normal one on the other then swap over halfway through the workout.

Probably a combination of both. ,at every if I was racing a 5k I’d wear them to train for sprints. I don’t think I’ve reached my maximum on speed yet, and I’m still a dad with an expensive hobby so like DavePNW I want them to last. Maybe you and jmac benefit from them on speed work because you’re already goin 12 mph and it helps develop that extra bit of elite speed to edge out the competition. I don’t think a 22 minute 5k runner would benefit too much from the,, but maybe I’m thinking of myself when I was developing speed back then and they didn’t exist. I’m no coach or community college walk on athlete. Just a guy trying to avoid spending time with his family.

 

If you're really interested I could point you to some 6-Day race reports, but I'm only running the 12-hour event.  The 6-Day race is the premier event but there are also races for 12-hours, 24-hour, 48-hours, and 72-hours.

Yeah I’d be interested.  Only thing I have seen was some Netflix documentary about a religious race in New York where the same guy won it for years. It’s around a building/religious place of workshop I think, and mostly focused on the main guy.

 

Yeah I’d be interested.  Only thing I have seen was some Netflix documentary about a religious race in New York where the same guy won it for years. It’s around a building/religious place of workshop I think, and mostly focused on the main guy.

Here's an extensive analysis by Bob Hearn, bhearn here on RA but he doesn't post much anymore.

https://bobhearn.blogspot.com/2020/02/six-days-in-dome-2019.html

Here's one by Viktoria Brown, who is also a triathlete

https://holdthecarbs.ca/blogs/viktoria-brown/3-canadian-records-and-a-world-record-my-first-6-day-race

RP - one of my wife's uncles was in Paris and we thought to go see them seeing as they were in "the neighbourhood".
The old downtown Porto is quite car friendly in the sense of having streets where cars can go, I'm told though the quality of the streets makes your car deteriorate faster.
And driving can be challenging at times with some streets that are very narrow and have very steep ups and downs.
I'm sure your jeep would excel there.

Me - We're in Barcelona now. Tomorrow we'll move to the nearby town of Castelldefels where the race happens.
The hotel left us a bottle of wine as a welcome gift. We're off to a good start!
Temps are predicted to be excellent for Sunday morning.
I need to run 3:33/km (5:41) for a PR, my recent 10k PR suggests 3:37 (5:47) instead. I should be close so I'll either be super happy or super pissed I just missed the PR for a few seconds LOL.