Forums >Racing>Competitive Jerks Racing and Training - 2023
Yes, Congrats Flavio!!
MMerk- Really nice week. I agree with Steve You endurance looks like its catching up to your speed.....You're gonna crush the next full you run!!
I've been crazy busy and trying to get caught up. Hopefully tomorrow I'll have some time to read back a couple of pages and post my week.
Did another over/under today with 5E + 8 alternating HMP and MP + 5E. I was very happy with the results and the workout. This seem to be coming together well for the New Bedford half on 3/19. Hoping to PR....
5K 18:36 (2023), 10K 39:40 (2022), 1/2 1:24:37 (2023), full 2:58:36 (2015)
Are we there, yet?
A solid week for me, 44 miles / 70.8 km including a long run of 2:24 and a mild attempt at cruise intervals, 5 x 4:00 at tempo pace with a generous 3:00 walk-run recoveries. That's my first run at tempo pace since before my ankle injury. Pace is also picking up nicely.
I see all the congrats for Flavio, but I can't find any posted results. Would someone please fill me in.
2024 Races:
03/09 - Livingston Oval Ultra 6-Hour, 22.88 miles
05/11 - D3 50K 05/25 - What the Duck 12-Hour
06/17 - 6 Days in the Dome 12-Hour.
Hot Weather Complainer
wcrunner - Sub 18 5km on a short course - so he ran through the finish line, knocked over a lady giving him a medal, dropped the shoulder into a gentleman trying to give him a banana, and got to 5km on his watch in time to PR.
5km: 18:34 11/23 │ 10km: 39:10 8/23 │ HM: 1:26:48 9/23 │ M: 3:34:49 6/23
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
My week: 70 miles total, pretty good for me at this point in the cycle, with 8 weeks to go. Volume has been solid, just need to be homing in on my workout paces.
Wednesday’s workout was 6 continuous tempo. It was 29 degrees following some rain, and a wee bit slippery. Not super treacherous, but there were some sections where I was not definitely not getting optimal traction. I'll blame the slower miles on that. McMillan says pace needs to be 6:36-6:52; I was just hoping to hit the top end of that, based on my disastrous tempo run a couple weeks ago. Result: first one clearly still warming up but also a little uphill (7:30), next two kind of getting closer (7:05, 7:10), last three not too bad (6:55, 6:50, 6:46). I'll take it.
Saturday I paced a half. I had 1:50, so the goal is 1:49:30; I finished too early, at 1:48:33. But the course was short (I had 13.03, my partner had 13.01), and there were several mile markers missing (or at least neither of us saw them). Including 12 & 13!! Kinda makes targeting the right finish time a challenge. Our pacing was spot on based on our watches. Anyway I had 20 miles on the schedule. So I ran 6 before the race plus 1 after, to get 20 for the day.
Weekly for period: From: 02/27/2023 To 03/05/2023
Dave
Awesome, congrats Flavio!!
I had considered racing the half I paced, but glad I didn’t—I would have been going for PR, and would be pissed coming up short. The finish area was pretty congested, I‘m not sure I could’ve blown through that for the extra 0.07. Although I suppose it would have been less crowded at my racing finish time.
Problem Child
My week went well. Snow and ice was a thing I ignored. Got it done. Thursday was cold so instead of doin an extra mile I just went home. I had to run on the white line of the bike path because the rest was hard ice frozen snow. Glad it had a headlamp and lots of reflective gear so cars could ignore me with their headlamps. Friday long run was because Saturday was busy with kid stuff, and I was out of gas until keen asked me how the weather was. Glad he did since it made Sunday’s miles shorter. Lots of snow though and the group run was canceled. Glad I went when I did because it got busy Sunday. Monday’s workout went about as expected except I was doing it with w 20 mph wind and suffered for a few repeats. The point was very hard running and doing it into a headwind is easier than a tailwind.
Many of us aren't sure what the hell point you are trying to make and no matter how we guess, it always seems to be something else. Which usually means a person is doing it on purpose.
VDOT 53.37
5k18:xx | Marathon 2:55:22
Intl. correspondent
RP - I think I've said before, but yeah, you're at least an 18:30 5k runner, it's just that you never run a 5k when on top shape, as you reserve that for marathons.
Steve - Woah, you're finding some monster elevation on your long runs!Also, LOL, thankfully the banana/medal givers were in a curve to the right so I could run straight, I only had to dodge one runner ahead of me who stopped at the finish line.
me - Back from Barcelona, overall it was a very nice weekend.
TL;DR; new 5K PR 17:53 (old 17:56)
Marató del mediterrani - 5k - race report
2023-03-05 - Castelldefels/Catalunya/Spain - 17:53 - 18th overall
I was a bit puzzled as to why they call it "marató" if it's only 5k/10k and half races. But then I learned that you could run the half with your wife and your times would be summed up, and the fastest couple would win a prize. So yeah, confusing, but anyway…
After the 10k PR a month ago, I thought I had an outside shot at breaking my 5k PR.
I ran 3:47/km pace that day which would give me around 3:37/km pace for the 5k. I'd need around 3:33 pace to break the PR, so it was quite close.
Seeing as there are zero 5k road races in Portugal because apparently the Portuguese do not care about them, I had to search for a viable 5k in nearby Spain.
The search involved finding a city with direct flight from Porto and that we were able to go on Friday and be back on Sunday cause my wife is in the final stages of delivering her Master's thesis and she needs to work at a local lab to collect the results for said thesis.
I then found a few races in/around Barcelona, and after a bit more research I've found this one Marató del Mediterrani, a day with a 5k, a 10k and a half races. This was ideal cause I wanted to run the 5k, but my wife prefers the half.
A quick study of the course showed me that it was mostly flat (ideal) and that the weather around this time of the year would be close to perfect running conditions.
We flew in on Friday and got settled at a hotel overlooking the marina in Barcelona. The plan was to do some sightseeing in Barcelona on Saturday morning, then take a train around noon over to Castelldefels in the metropolitan area, it's roughly a 20 minute train ride.
The hotel gifted us a bottle of wine and left a nice welcome note written in Italian (I also hold Italian citizenship and I use the Italian ID when travelling in Europe). A very nice gesture.
Unfortunately we're not drinkers and had no way to bring the bottle back to Portugal unless we paid extra to be able to dispatch luggage, so we had to leave it behind.
The next day we got a nice run around Barceloneta, a nice neighbourhood near the main beaches in Barcelona.
We then set out for some sightseeing re-seeing (it's our second time in Barcelona) La Sagrada Familia, and the famous architecture wonders La Pedrera and Casa Battlò.
Honestly though, the architecture in Barcelona is a wonder and it warms the heart just walking around.
After lunch we got on the train to Castelldefels, a short train ride, and then settled into an IBIS hotel very close to the start line at the Olympic canal of Catalunya.
The 5k race would start at 9am, but really it's like 8am since Spain is in the wrong timezone. You can know that by the fact that restaurants open at 1pm for lunch and at 8pm for dinner.
Temperatures a perfect 45F/7c and just a bit of wind.
Off we go and as usual people blast out of the gate and I then pass dozens of people during the first km. After about 500m I settled behind a big group of people seemingly running about the same pace and exactly the pace that I needed.
The race course starts next to the canal, gets on the main road, then does a very short turn to the right and goes over a road overpass, then goes around a large oval roundabout and back over that same overpass, then another 180 degrees sharp turn close to 2km, then back and then under a short tunnel to access the margins of the canal and pretty much just do a lap around the canal to the finish line.
First km clicks at 3:34, right about the pace I want to be. The big pack of 8 people is starting to decrease a bit as people realize they're in over their heads.
Second km clicks at 3:31 and this can't feel any better, I'm still full of running, though I don't feel that my hips are particularly powerful this day which could hurt me on the kick in the end.
By the 3rd km, which clicks in 3:36, I'm starting to hurt, but I know that I can somehow hold this to the end.
The problem is that I cannot slowdown, in fact I should speed up a little. I'm now running in a pack of 4, let's call them blue t-shirt guy and other 2 guys. I'm behind other 2 guys with blue t-shirt guy slightly ahead.
Unfortunately it seems "other two guys" might be slowing, so I have to burn a little energy and pass them to try to read blue t-shirt guy who's slightly ahead.
By the second corner around the lake blue t-shirt guy seems to be slowing, so I boldly go around him to make the pass, then stupidly try to come back in front of him too early and I nearly clip him. I apologize and run wide a bit more to safely pass. Then there's a long straight way until the last curve leading into the finish line. It's here that I'm suffering more.
4th km clicks at 3:34 and I try to reason that I must maintain pace if I want to PR.
However I'm suffering a lot, I likely burned unnecessary energy trying to pass those 3 guys and now I have to pay for it. First it's blue t-shirt guy who puts in a surge and gets past me, I figure I can at least try to stick to him. Then "other 2 guys" blast by us and somehow end up finishing 8 seconds ahead, they must have been sandbagging.
Anyway, I know I can't respond to their move so I focus on sticking to blue t-shirt guy and I follow him to the finish line.
Only to find out that the course was short so obviously I ran through the finish line.
The "finishing chute" so to speak was thankfully a slight curve to the right with bananas, powerades and medals, so I was able to run through just fine and only had to dodge one of the "two other guys" who had stopped. Interestingly, the blue t-shirt guy also didn't stop at the finish line and ran till he got 5k in his watch. I wonder if I somehow pushed him to a PR.
Anyway, once I'm finally able to breathe normally, which took some good 20 seconds maybe, I look down at the watch and see 17:53.
And then there's like no emotion. I'm thinking damn, I fought so hard for this, I waited for 2 years, this could well be my last 5k PR, I should be feeling something right now, but nope, completely stoic.
Back to the hotel for a shower and then back to the race arena to wait for my wife to arrive.
Once the 5 min/km pacer shows up I know she can't be too far behind, and indeed there she is grimacing at the distance, but holding strong to the finish line. I run over there and then she's crying of joy cause she beat her half marathon PR.
It's only then that I realize the magnitude of this day and start feeling a little happy about my own PR.
Overall now I'm quite happy with the hard fought PR, but also happy to be near my all time best shape.
I hope to build on top of this fitness now to run a half marathon race later this year.
Up next: 20 to 21km at a city trail race on 2023-04-08 -> https://porto.ecotrail.com/en/race-ecotrail-porto/20km
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
A couple of photos:
Here you can see just how close I was to catch the blue t-shirt guy ahead:
And here's after the finish line still sprinting LOL:
...
Dave kudos for pacing, and it sucks when markers are wrong or not showing. I paced the same race multiple times and once I had to sprint hard (I thought) to get back onto pace but the markers were wrong. The second time me and my partner were right on pace, it said we were a minute ahead after a certain mile and we opted to stick to what we knew. In the final mile we were very far ahead and I said “I should have known this was all based on the 5k course.” We very slowly jogged it in and helped one guy through some low spots on the course.
RIP Milkman
This describes almost every PR I've run. I's so weird: you want to be so happy in the moment, but you just can't, even when I try to remind myself exactly like you do.
Also that husband/wife thing is pretty cool. I wonder what the world record is. If Ryan Hall had stayed in (running) shape, I feel like him and Sara would have it, but maybe there's a faster couple I'm unaware of.
5K: 16:37 (11/20) | 10K: 34:49 (10/19) | HM: 1:14:57 (5/22) | FM: 2:36:31 (12/19)
This describes almost every PR I've run. I's so weird: you want to be so happy in the moment, but you just can't, even when I try to remind myself exactly like you do. Also that husband/wife thing is pretty cool. I wonder what the world record is. If Ryan Hall had stayed in (running) shape, I feel like him and Sara would have it, but maybe there's a faster couple I'm unaware of.
According to Guinness:The fastest marathon run by a married couple on aggregate time is 4 hr 26 min 30 sec and was achieved by Mao Ichiyama and Kengo Suzuki (both Japan) at Tokyo Marathon 2022 in Tokyo, Japan, on 6 March 2022.
It's not clear whether that's aggregate time of PBs or whether the times had to be run at the same race.
According to Guinness:The fastest marathon run by a married couple on aggregate time is 4 hr 26 min 30 sec and was achieved by Mao Ichiyama and Kengo Suzuki (both Japan) at Tokyo Marathon 2022 in Tokyo, Japan, on 6 March 2022. It's not clear whether that's aggregate time of PBs or whether the times had to be run at the same race.
That is much faster than I expected! Thanks for that.
Flavio - Yeah it only took several years of you pushing, but I'm finally feeling like I'm on the right path with my strength.
Really enjoyed your race report. I've found the same any time I PR. For me they never come out of the blue so there's always some sort of hope or expectation, so the first emotion is usually relief. The happiness and satisfaction does arrive but it takes a while.
flavio nice report. I too felt "meh" after I PR'd the marathon. I was expecting the gates of heaven to open up and the sun to shine brighter. Turns out I just kind of accepted it as what I should have done, and moved on. Following days kind of seemed better though. Thanks for the encouragement on the 5k. I can't believe I'm actually going to try for it since I remember trying to run just ONE mile under 6 minutes.