Forums >Racing>Competitive Jerks Racing and Training - 2023
Dorothea
I'm just not very lucky today. Was in the process of posting a reply and lost it, so now this is going to be even briefer.
I'm sorry that my log wasn't public! I thought it was. I guess you were able to see if because you're in the ultra group too, Josh? But yes, it's open now! And no, I didn't see any alligators, but I guess a few of the runners did!
Just trying to catch up a little, but Steve, it stinks that you came down with something so close to your race, but I'm convinced with your solid planning to date and the fact that it's still 20 days away, you'll be okay! Don't let yourself get bogged down by the negative thoughts. Hope you can do lots of little things for self care (eating right, getting lots of water and vitamins, getting enough sleep-- all hard things during moving but probably good for the whole family) to help get this in the right direction of getting better. Same for you, Dave, it stinks that you also had to call off the pacing gig, but it was smart you did. That gives the organizers enough time to find a replacement and you enough time to figure out what's up and heal, though hopefully you are feeling better by next weekend. I imagine you've been icing, elevating, compressing, all the usual? Sorry to read it hasn't gone away yet. As for you Mark, it's not ideal that you're sick the week before, but given you say it's not too bad, and it's a half, I imagine you'll be feeling well in time and don't have to worry about overtaxing the body too much. But good if you have a backup plan!
darkwave, the new medicine sounds really promising! And I agree. I don't like being in a race if I'm not racing, but sometimes it's good to have the bigger picture in mind. And you're right, 5k pace is far enough from MP to not confuse the MP with a 5k tempo! btw, I also saw the breaking news about the transgender women ban and immediately thought of this group as well. It was good to hash out the thoughts around all that a bit. I feel better about the ban than I may have otherwise. [edited to add] oh! And the medals were really nice circles of tree stump that had been branded with the race name on one side and painted white on the other. The RD wrote everyone's name, time, and place when they came in, which is only possible because people were finishing 15 minutes or more apart, ha ha. It was a nice touch. The male and female winners of each race got a sun-bleached skull of an alligator, deer, or raccoon, which is a very interesting award to get!
Qualifications: I like to run. In Florida. In the summer. At noon.
Last race: Community 5K, March 2nd. Speed test run with 2 walk breaks. Went pretty well.
Mmmm Bop
Mikkey - heh, I don't think it's Covid. But I've never gotten sick this often in my life before. I wonder if there's something messing with my immune system....
Absolutely nothing at all.
5k - 17:53 (4/19) 10k - 37:53 (11/18) Half - 1:23:18 (4/19) Full - 2:50:43 (4/19)
Are we there, yet?
dk: Long but great read. Sorry to hear about the confusion with the course markings. Being tired doesn't help. Have you heard of ice bandanas? Basically a bandana folded in half and sewn so you have a pocket for ice.
dw: I miss the group track workouts, but there's no one my pace to run with anymore. I used to be the designated pacer for a group because I could hot the target time +/- 1 second. Since I've moved to ultras, I frequently use marathons and 6-hour races as supported training runs to work on my pacing, eating , and drinking for 50Ks and 12-hour races. I have a really hard time running more than 3 hours solo and I enjoy the race atmosphere anyway.
Steve, Marky_Mark: Having races turn into solo time trials is one of the reasons I stopped running track races. I'd have no one within 30-45 seconds or more of me in a mile race. Not really surprising as I was also often giving away 20 years to the next oldest competitor. Also one of the reasons I choose mainly fixed time ultra races on short loops so there are always runners near me even if they may, usually are, running faster and passing me. At least I'm seeing other runners and occasionally meet one going about my pace for a few laps.
Had a solid week of 43.9 miles finishing up with the first of my back to back long runs today. Need to work on disciplining myself to work on race pace. My last few long runs have been considerably faster than my planned race pace. With a 10 day training cycle my weekly totals can have a lot more variation because of when my quality and long runs fall. Three weeks until Alexander County 12-Hour so i need to start thinking about my taper. Also need to work on heat training. Temps in Taylorsville, NC are already reaching 70F/21C.
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.
Problem Child
Quick dump (no pun intended) of my week.
Tuesday was comfortable hard. Actually made me feel confident going into Thursday for 10m. Thursday became about finishing after GI issues. I wanted to bail, and stuck it out because it’s too late in the training block to be quitting when it gets hard. I visualized the final miles of Boston and pushed through the discomfort. I’ll cut out energy drinks on workout days to see how it goes, and I need to start using gels in works Thursday to test eating again. I haven’t done it and I forgot how much food Maurten gels feel like. The long run was Friday on tired legs. It got much colder than I expected and the final two were very exhausting. My knees (the back side) started to hurt and I considered it was due to doing a long run the day after a workout when I don’t usually do this. Saturday was “whatever I feel like” and extended to 12 just to get my weekly goal, and set myself up for POSSIBLY getting 80 (personal high I think) and then I went and got 81 miles.
no doubles. No 20s. Sitting here I can say I don’t feel destroyed. Even sundays run felt fine and I hammered the final two miles Saturday, and just went for 8 minute mile pace on Sunday because it felt comfortable. I think this is a lot because of the build up for so many weeks.
I still don’t know what to do for Boston pacing (2:56 PR at CIM in 2021 and I’m now running that for workouts) besides go out at 2:56 pace and see how it feels after Newton’s heart breaks me down. I might could go for a 6:35/mi pace on a good weather day if I do some research on previous marathon races/works. I have two more 10M workouts (Thursday) then taper starts so maybe I’ll hammer the last one. I intended to do them this week and next with the vaporflys and gels to simulate some race stuff.
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
Check out some Boston forums and race reports. The biggest mistake most runners make at Boston is going out too fast and crashing on the Newton Hills. The hills themselves are not that daunting, but because you have a net elevation drop heading into Newton, then the four major hills from 17-21 miles, one can easily cover those first 17 miles way too fast.
For Boston pacing check out this site https://findmymarathon.com/pacebandresult.php?race=Boston%20Marathon Type in your goal time and other details…then it will suggest what pace to run each mile.
I might use this for CIM as it’s a challenging course and I don’t want to cream my pants during the first few miles and then regret it later.
Intl. correspondent
Fishy - Welcome to the club! and awesome 20 miler in there!
DW - No, it's during the Easter weekend on April 8th. Come to think about it it's been maybe over 8 years since I raced on a Saturday, I suppose it will be nice to have a Sunday off.Also, excellent news with the medication, more and more you seem to be on the right track to getting over the neural issues.And was that the first time ever you let out an expletive on these forums 😂 It must be from walking around with that bad crowd from Letsrun 😈
Steve - It could definitely be allergies, you might consider having an anti histaminic at hand. It could for instance be house mites accumulating in your nose then your body responds to that, or it could be an allergic reaction to something like pollen. Regardless, here's hoping you get well soon!
Mark - I'll confess my dumb brain took a while to understand that when you said you're feeling average you probably meant not well. That's one of the reasons I thought you were indestructible 🤦♂️
Dave - I honestly find regular doctors useless for running injuries, unless it's a broken bone. Physiotherapists seem to operate miracles every time I need.Thankfully a PT session is only 42 euros here, I bet it's probably at least $150 where you live.
JoshWolf - Post more!
DK - Do you use the trick of selecting all text then Ctrl + C just before submitting? That has saved me quite a few times!I'm happy to hear you got to the Podium, it must have felt amazing.
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
dktrotter Great job. That race sounds interesting. From the report it looks like you planned and executed pretty well. Interesting how towards the end you seem to mention the idea that ultras are a way to focus on something other than specific marathon goal times. Yesterday I listened to Pam Smith on Zach Bitters podcast, and she said the beginning of her ultra career was motivated by the same thing.
flavio I didn't know this about you with the marathon! I really resonate with point 7 of not having a long training cycle. I don't think I'm doing 16 weeks ever again. I think I was peaking too early and burning out. I like 12 weeks this time. Your point 3 makes me feel slightly better right now, as my weekly mileage this cycle was nothing to write home about. I averaged a little over 60 mpw for 8 weeks so consistency was there, but nothing like the 300 mile month I did for October. I have been focusing much more on strength training though, so maybe it will pay off. I'm going through a lot of last minute fears that my training wasn't good enough. Especially seeing the crazy workouts people do on here.
My Week (brief recap):
A VO2 max workout of 8 X (3 minutes hard / 2 minutes easy) on the treadmill on the 22nd, 10 days out from the race. A short LR of 12 miles on Saturday with a gentle progression. A total of 52.5 miles / 84.5 kilometers running for the week and two leg strength training sessions.
Salisbury weather looks like dogshit. 60 degrees at the start, on and off rain, but worst of all... wind. I know things can change over 5 days but it's looking like ~ 15mph winds coming mostly from the south and some from the west. If the south wind waits until later in the race then it will be at my back in the last stretch. If it's there the whole time then as we all know it's just going to slow me down. I'd like to think I'm in shape to crack 3 even with bad weather but I'm fairly upset about this at the moment. I've been patient and I've been working hard and sacrificing a lot of time. Another failure would really be upsetting. Especially since other things in life have been progressing more slowly than I'd like lately. Ok enough of that. Sorry for the negativity I just needed to vent.
Mmerkle, I'm doing the HM at Salisbury and the is as good a description as any about the forecast. It absolutely sucks. And not related to the race, I really don't want it to be windy driving over the damn bridge.
DavePNW I'll check these out. Wife already mentioned the Freedom Trail and there is actually a shuttle/bus/transportation version where you hop on/off to get from place to place. I told her "if it's like CIM I'll be able to walk after." So perhaps check out a few things Sunday after the Expo and a few on Tuesday before baseball.
Darkwave Thanks. I'll let her know. I figure she has from whenever she wakes up until 12:30 to do her thing, and our hotel is just at the end of the family meet up area so it shouldn't be too hard.
Good job on not mixing up the race paces. I could see how tempo and 5k would create bad habits, and I'd agree marathon is far enough away from 5k you can't confuse them. also, practicing running in crowds with new meds in a race atmosphere could help as well. Since you'd be in a slower crowd than you typically would for a 5k it could maybe let you experience the joy of someone cutting across you to get the water station at the 2km mark and another time at the 4km mark. Plus all the spectators and people who probably cross the course to get to the other side because maybe their friend is on THAT side...so yeah support a friend and practice some new things.
Also glad the meds are coming together and working so well for you.
Link to DK's race report
https://www.runningahead.com/logs/ee79c847959346c1980f3d1c085def95/workouts/7984ee976ea3473c8dfdb19d2a3594f9
Marky Mark Hope you're feeling better this week. You too Steve. My kids had snot nose, and one was cruising with a 101F fever AFTER medicine this weekend. I'm at Keen level of paranoia 3 weeks from race day.
Mikkey are you running Boston? I could check the front page I guess. If so, I'll add you to the list of people I should meet for a sparkling water and a photo.
half guuuurrrrlllll...I saw you post about the weather elsewhere. Finishing would be considered a victory to me.
MMerkle checkers or wreckers. Go out to win the race and see what happens. 15 mph winds suck if you let it. I've done hard work so it is NOT the same as a race. Back off about 20 seconds from the start if it's a headwind you'll be in for a long time. Effort, not pace will dictate success
RP, the "positive" with the wind is that Salisbury is a looped course. So there will at least be some variety which way the wind hits. I should know after living there for 4 years it's always windy, but it's a trade off for a flat course.
Hot Weather Complainer
Yay, I was worried some evil hacker had taken out our forum.
Flavio - I’m pretty sure it’s not allergies. I’ve never had them before and this feels like many colds I’ve had, although slightly different to the one 3 weeks ago. My partner gave me an anti-histamine on Saturday when it was just sore sinuses but not much help. It’s steadily getting worse, and I have almost written off the marathon. I just want to recover enough to have a crack at a half. Anything else is a bonus right now
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
Part of TLC
I'd like to, but due to (long) covid I've not run a single step since February 10th, so I can't comply with forum rule #2 (0 miles in no time isn't a weekly, is it?). Have fun on the trails!
MTA:
Steve - WTF? You really seem to have a subscription for bad luck with your marathons. Hope your health comes around in time.
Don't hurry - next AG will start 2026
MMerkle - 15 miles per hour is manageable if running in a pack (hopefully you find similar able runners who can run with you and share the burden?) though hopefully the gusts are not much stronger than that.Also re: things moving slower than you'd like in real life, yeah, life is like that, most of the time.It hits me especially harder cause I 1-work with computers who are fast and don't ask too many questions and 2-I'm usually working in fast paced environments with highly skilled people, so when I stop working and have to go back to the real world everything moves at turtle pace.
Steve - You might be right, though I also never had too many allergies until 2019 when it started hitting me like a train for some reason.If you are able to run easy, I believe you should be able to carry your fitness to the race with minimal loss.
Have you checked your Vitamin D levels recently? Low Vitamin D is associated with poor immune system function and weaker bones. It should be quite common in a place as far from the Equator as New Zealand.
JoshWolf - I remember a time when I was injured half of the year (2017, I missed 26 weeks of training due to injury), yet I still posted on here. The reasoning in my head was that it was a way to keep myself entertained, and keep my mind busy with what other people were doing so that my anger for not being able to run wouldn't consume all of my mind.Here's to a speedy recovery to you, I know it took me about 3 months to get back to where I was before covid and I had the mildest version, just fevers and a nasty laryngitis, but it never hit my trachea.
Cobra Commander Keen
Dorothea - Stellar job! The sun-bleached skull of your vanquished enemies a random swampland creature is a worthy trophy.
Steve - The Pro 3s are simply amazing, aren't they? Feeling any better yet?
RP - I'm pretty sure there's a Chipotle somewhere in Boston, but of course I don't know first hand. Your watch is fancy enough that you could use the PacePro feature to create a awesome pace chart per mile that'll even tell you how much ahead/behind it you are.
Flavio - Whooooo! Look at those miles adding up.
Dave - Damn. Hopefully you go from grumpy to happy quickly.
DWave - Still thrilled that things are still improving for you.
I had a solid week, though nothing too remarkable. Unless you count not blowing up in my first warm workout of the year.
5k: 17:58 11/22 │ 10k: 37:55 9/21 │ HM: 1:23:22 4/22 │ M: 2:56:05 12/22
Upcoming Races:
OKC Memorial 5k - April 27
Bun Run 5k - May 4