Competitive Jerks Racing and Training - 2023 (Read 573 times)

 

On that subject, I have a hard time noticing any energy uptake when I take a gel during running. Come to think about it I tried to take one around km 34 during my marathon to try to get a boost when I was running low on fuel, but it did absolutely nothing. It puzzles me why...

Dunno, maybe I just have to run it without any gels.

 

flavio - I have never in my life felt any kind of perceptible boost from a gel. I just assume if I don’t take them, I’ll eventually feel the lack of them. Maybe I could take more, since I’m not concerned with anything on darkwave’s list. I’m not sure whether I’d see any noticeable improvement; it’s hard to do a controlled experiment on this, there are always other factors.

 

flavio - I have never in my life felt any kind of perceptible boost from a gel. I just assume if I don’t take them, I’ll eventually feel the lack of them. Maybe I could take more, since I’m not concerned with anything on darkwave’s list. I’m not sure whether I’d see any noticeable improvement; it’s hard to do a controlled experiment on this, there are always other factors.

Maybe it's all mental but I definitely feel a boost from the shot blocks.  I feel it more during training runs but assumed that was because I was closer to redlining during races.  It may be the caffeine boost but I like it and count on it as a pick me up.

 

JMac I didn't realize a mild rough patch is normal around half way ish. I too am hoping to be in the 2:40s some day, or possibly even under 2:40. I am still "only" 28. Hopefully my 30's bring some fast times. Thanks for all the training advice and well-placed criticism since I have joined. In fact while we're at it, Steve, my next big foe is 2:50, but I think a good intermediate goal is obviously 2:55.

 

 

So RP, do you wanna talk about tapering? Seems like a good topic for the thread. As I mentioned on Strava, I too find tapering to be perhaps the most intimidating part of the cycle. I may take this too seriously sometimes, but inside of 10 days, my understanding is there is almost nothing you can do to improve fitness besides speed and strength work, since it only takes a few days for your body to realize those benefits. Just about everything else takes longer to "kick in", so it's about maintenance and staying healthy pretty much.

MMerkle - I remind myself when the age topic comes up that Kipchoge is 38 and still setting world records. So yes, 28 is still plenty young to not have to worry about age catching up to you any time soon. You started running competitively much sooner than me but since I started running seriously at about 33, I will be able to continue to improve well into my 40's as my running body continues to fine tune/improve over time before father time starts slowing me down. Heck, Dave is still setting PR's in his late 50's. That is certainly encouraging to us young whippersnappers.

RP - I have subscribed to the 10 days rule Michael is referencing above but I am normally so beat up from amping up mileage for a training cycle that the taper is like a nice little break before the big test. In my short running career on a budget-milage routine throughout the year, I have taken taper periods to the extreme before with bare minimum of easy runs with lots of stretching. Something very important, you need to start wearing your orange shirts daily leading up to the race like you are carb loading. You can only wear 1 orange shirt on race day so you need to get up your stores of orange for maximum speed. I wore an orange shirt for my recent Half PR so there has to be science behind it...

Fishy well...I guess once or twice I specifically targeted hills. The 20 miler a few weeks ago, and the one workout I hammered HARD at work. I've had about 2,000 ft of elevation gain for weekly running according to Strava. I heard one podcast say to target 1,000 ft. I ignore any performance gains from living at 4,500 ft and racing at sea level.

dwave wait...you're telling me I'm not alone being concerned I'll get fat on race day? PHEW!!

It's mostly the caffeine. If this was an ultra I probably wouldn't be AS worried about caffeine.

Read the race report. You said this race was worse than the half. Does the first mile/crowding have any impact on it? Is it heart rate? effort? Average pace? What part of the race makes it worse? If you're improving from 4 months ago congratulations and I'm happy the medications are working in you favor.

flavio man I hope. I keep checking weather.

https://findmymarathon.com/boston-marathon-weather.php

Wave 1.

The temp, wind, and humidity are very VERY close to CIM 2019, and 2021. Like...."Checkers or Wreckers is a go" scary.

I can already hear JMac being upset at me for being worried about anything, and keen calling me a sandbagger.

AndyTN Do non-running orange shirts work for speed as much as running specific shirts? I don't have too many orange shirts mostly because I'm not a Volunteer fan/hater.

As for taper....I'm almost to the point of saying "At this point is a workout REALLY going to make a difference??" Yes. Yes it will. It will keep the mind sharp and the legs poppin.

Dave Aint your race coming up soon too? what is the goal? what is the weather? where is the freak out? How are you so quiet?

keen text me my plan on race day so I don't forget. I'll have my phone and you'll be tracking so just a quick little text like "Caff" or "decaf" about 15 minutes ahead of schedule would be awesome. I'll be busy thinking about work.

As for bonking without gels...I think my point was about 4 hours on a warm training run. I've had sugar crash runs before, and this one was full on walking, stopped and pulled out a sandwich, and started to feel better. It might NOT be worth trying for an ultra. More....eat a lot and find out what you CAN eat a lot of just like on marathon race day. You take gels like every 30 minutes, right? Similar concept. I had a gel or a solid food every 30 minutes for my 50 miler. Eat by the clock, not the stomach/body feel.

NYC Marathon Logistics: What are they? I keep hearing it referenced with Boston, and the only other BIG marathon I've run was Chicago. Chicago seemed to run just fine, but maybe the lack of buses helped with it. The walk to the park, through the park and bag drop, then to the starting corrals didn't seem like a big deal. ACtualy....I didn't even warm up for THAT race and didn't even think much about it.

Tempo/Threshold Runs - I experimented with something this morning and wanted to get opinions on which will provide the most benefit. I did 9 miles containing four 1 mile intervals at tempo/threshold effort with 4 min of jogging between each. I would normally run a tempo run with 4 miles continuous within a 8-9 mile run with the easy pace at the beginning/end. Would there be any benefit to running the 1-mile intervals if I wasn't running any faster than what I would have done with the 4 continuous miles? Or would it all even out to be a wash since I was running the same quantity of fast and slow miles but just mixing it up for entertainment purposes?

 

AndyTN Do non-running orange shirts work for speed as much as running specific shirts? I don't have too many orange shirts mostly because I'm not a Volunteer fan/hater.

 

Orange polo shirts with a white T won't make you run any faster but it will make you drink more whiskey and have the courage to get in a shouting match with the mother of the tall 12-year-old boy you just yelled obscenities at because he was wearing a Florida jersey... The future mother of my children made me walk home alone after that football game in 2008.

 

 

Dave Aint your race coming up soon too? what is the goal? what is the weather? where is the freak out? How are you so quiet?

 

I've been quiet because not a damn thing is happening. The race is 4/30 but I've barely run the past couple weeks due to shin pain. I posted when it first cropped up, but haven't talked much about it since. I had to bail on my half as well as a pacing gig. The potentially promising news is I went for a 4 mile test run today, first attempt in over a week, and it was pain-free. One run does not a comeback make, but I'll take in. Now I just need to figure out how to manage the next 4 weeks. Probably no point in planning too much though, since I don't know if the pain will return. One day at a time.

What I do know is I can't transfer to another runner or defer to next year. (Well I could have done the latter if I had thought to check the website sooner than 1 day after the deadline. ) I have till 4/21 to decide to drop back to the half.

Tempo/Threshold Runs - I experimented with something this morning and wanted to get opinions on which will provide the most benefit. I did 9 miles containing four 1 mile intervals at tempo/threshold effort with 4 min of jogging between each. I would normally run a tempo run with 4 miles continuous within a 8-9 mile run with the easy pace at the beginning/end.

1. Would there be any benefit to running the 1-mile intervals if I wasn't running any faster than what I would have done with the 4 continuous miles? Or
2. would it all even out to be a wash since I was running the same quantity of fast and slow miles but just mixing it up for entertainment purposes?

 

 

Orange polo shirts with a white T won't make you run any faster but it will make you drink more whiskey and have the courage to get in a shouting match with the mother of the tall 12-year-old boy you just yelled obscenities at because he was wearing a Florida jersey... The future mother of my children made me walk home alone after that football game in 2008.

What wcrunner said.

The 4 mile continuous run is for confidence in keeping the pace for extended periods of time.

The intervals are for getting more miles.

Jack Daniels book says to shorten recovery if you don't think the intervals are hard enough .

5:1 work : recovery. I think for all my tempo/threshold work I was doing 2-2:30 minute recovery running a 6:30-40 mile pace.

Literally my workout tonight is 6x1 mile at 6:30/mi pace with a 2 minute jog recovery. 2 mile warm up/cool down. Hansons calls this "strength" and Jack Daniels calls it "cruise intervals." The biggest difference between the two is what pace I'm doin them at.

Jack Daniels 2:56 marathon says to do them at 6:20/mi pace.

Hansons says 10 seconds faster than  goal marathon pace which would be about 6:32/mi.

shit....more proof I'm in (PR) shape.