Forums >Racing>The Waltons aka Advanced Half Marathon Training Thread - 2022 edition
Intl. correspondent
Back to Office - I miss the face to face social interactions with my coworkers; the impromptu discussions. I've been in touch with most of them over the past two years, but it is more work to stay in touch. On the other hand, my commute by foot and train is 75 minutes each way on a good day. Starting next week, I'll likely be in the office 1 day per week. For me, that's a decent balance of being able to see people vs. the pain of the commute.
It is more useful to be in the office if the people you work directly with are there as well.
Over the years I have developed friendships with people all over the world and I often make a point to visit them when I'm traveling around their area.
Those impromptu discussions are what drive many developers away. If you are doing any kind of deep focus work, any interruption sets you back 40 minutes to an hour.
But I get that many people thrive off what I like to call "office noise" 😂
And I also get that not everybody are software developers.
In certain fields like in software development talent is very scattered throughout the world, and a lot of people just don't care to move to a different country with their whole family, plus immigration is a very touchy subject.
The companies hiring fully remote software development teams are picking up the top tier of talent.
Imagine if Real Madrid or Barcelona suddenly could only hire players born nearby. Imagine how their teams would be if they could never hire people like Ronaldo, Messi and Portuguese Ronaldo.
The funny thing about remote work is that it is the largest wealth distribution program in human history, better than any government ever hoped to implement. And it is also the best example of meritocracy at work.
Ok, enough speeches for today 🫢
I had an excellent workout earlier today, 12x200 at 400 pace with 1 minute rests. I averaged 36.8 seconds which is much better than over 39s the other day I tried this workout.
The race is in 2 weeks, let's see how fast I get till then.
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
Flavio I saw that workout, it was excellent. I didn't realize your 1500m was so soon. You always get fit fast.
I only ever worked with one other guy, my old boss for 10 years then I went out on my own.
I do enjoy customer interaction although some people are awesome and some are assholes
Remote work is so good for solving traffic woes and pollution.
It's so silly that at 8am and 5pm everyday people have to travel into a city just to be at a certain office.
Fred nice job on the 10 miler.
CC we have a gastro bug over here now which my son has. According to him it's 20 times worse than covid
I'm trying hard not to catch it.
OK off for my long run. Will report back with my week soon.
55+ PBs 5k 18:36 June 3rd TT
" If you don't use it you lose it, but if you use it, it wears out.
Somewhere in between is about right "
A good week biggest this year
JamesD
Working Remotely: I’m not surprised that serious runners like working remotely more than the population as a whole does. I assume we’re more likely to be introverts, and we also have the internal motivation/self-discipline to get the work done on our own.
This week showed that I’m acclimated to warm weather but definitely not to hot weather yet. Thursday’s hot-weather run felt very difficult, while today’s was pleasant despite a TDP of 143 supposedly being warm. Clouds today helped. I’m a little perplexed by my hamstring issues. I’ve had trouble off and on since 2018, but usually when I can feel them, they either get better and are ok after a few days or get worse and I soon have to take a break. These days they just seem to be consistently getting sore around mile 7 or 8 of my easy/regular runs, and after 1:10 or so on the treadmill. Sometimes it’s one hamstring, sometimes it’s the other, & sometimes it’s both. But I’ve still managed 35-40 mpw consistently for the last four months except the two weeks of our Omaha trip & 5K, so I’m staying in ok shape, just not racing shape. DW & I are taking a six-day trip to Dallas in a couple of weeks, so maybe that down week will help.
Sun - 7.5 miles in park incl. 7 @ 8:36 plus slow strides, temp 88/31, TDP 139
Mon - 23 minutes swimming
Tues - 8.3 miles in park @ 8:25, temp 84/29 TDP 152
Weds - 6.7 miles very slow TM (78 minutes) + 0:40 walk breaks/6:00
Thurs - 9.3 in park @ 8:44, temp 87/31 TDP 155
Fri - 24 minutes swimming
Sat - 9.3 in park @ 8:37, temp 77/25 TDP 143
Total - 41.1 miles, YTD Average: 38 mpw
Post-1987 PRs: Half 1:30:14 (2019); 10K 39:35 (2019); 5K 19:12 (2017); Mile 5:37.3 (2020)
'24 Goals: consistency, age-graded PRs, half < 1:32
Fred - yeah the commute is definitely a big advantage of working from home. I don't have as big of a commute as you, but even then, it's still an hour of dead time all up each day.
Piwi - excellent week (again!). Those gastro bugs are rough. I remember my daughter brought one home from daycare a couple of years ago while my wife was overseas, that was a fun few days. Hopefully you dodge it.
James - if those niggles are floating around that's still better than persistently staying in one place and getting worse! Sometimes a down week can make a big difference.
Me - pumped up the volume again and got a couple good workouts in. The weather was windy basically all week and annoyingly warm as well, but overall it was a reasonable week of training and it looks like more westerlies in store for next week which is less than ideal. A bit sluggish on my LR this morning, but looking after a sick kid at 3am tends to do that. It seems like it's the same thing I had a couple weeks back.
3,000m: 9:07.7 (Nov-21) | 5,000m: 15:39 (Dec-19) | 10,000m: 32:34 (Mar-20)
10km: 33:15 (Sep-19) | HM: 1:09:41 (May-21)* | FM: 2:41:41 (Oct-20)
* Net downhill course
Last race: Waterfront HM, 7 Apr, 1:15:48
Up next: Runway5, 4 May
"CONSISTENCY IS KING"
Piwi - That’s an excellent week, 2 workouts and a double. It looks like you’re 100% recovered.
James - Enjoy Dallas!
Mark - So if it’s windy and muggy you get to train at the right effort but lower intensity, you get your fitness and your body is not punished as much. It sounds like a win to me.
Also, excellent week!
me - I finally cracked 50km in a week with 2 good workouts. The race is in 2 weeks so next week 3 more workouts to fine tune the speed and then a taper week.
I had some hamstring niggles today due to some glute bridge walks I did last Friday. And I didn't even walk back, just out, sigh...
Yeah, really good point. I work for a small company created by two good friends of mine, so am kinda given free rein (or I've just taken it lol). The commute is only 10 mins, so can't complain on that front. But I don't like to go into the office too much, just on the days when there's staff training and staff meeting...because there's usually free coffee and snacks! Our work is computer based, so we can work from anywhere. Before Covid hit, we were planning on moving the office to Bali for 10 days, with partners and families coming along. Maybe next year!
50+ age-group PBs: Half Perish 1:24:24 (June '23 Road Race) - 10km 37:52 (2022 Local Road Champs) - Track 5km 18:49 (Aug '22) - Perish Run 3:17:42
2024 Goals: Boston Perish Run Sub 3:15 - Road/Track 10km Sub 37:30 - 5km Sub 18:20
My week, which includes a workout I think Zeb mentioned - the Ice Cream Sandwich. I ran it in slightly windy conditions, but I enjoyed it. Mentally easier for me than a straight out 20-min tempo.
Mark there are a few bugs going around right now. My wife also has something. You must have been knackered for that long run. Nice work pushing through. The wind makes workout days tough.
James good week despite your continued hamstring issues.
Flavio good to see your speed returning. Why such low mileage? You probably already said but I can't remember. The 1500 is one of my favorite events to watch. It's so tactical.
Hash that Makara loop run you did was excellent. I was checking a mates strava on the Reboot marathon he ran and saw he ran with another guy who you must know as you had commented. They both got sub 3.
Mother of Cats
CFarr - I am admittedly surprised that there is a Macy's in Guam.
Weather complaining quotas - I believe a quota should be a target, and not a maximum.
CK - you asked what my cholesterol levels were? Most recent were :HDL - 114; Triglycerides - 115; LDL - 160 Previous were:HDL - 138; Triglycerides - 79; LDL - 86
And those previous #s have been consistent for me for years, decades even.
Nobody's worried about heart disease for me based on this one set of readings - but the big jump up in LDL is striking.
Caitlin - really sorry about the Covid - how do you feel now?
Team building - I hate it.
Piwi - congrats on the big week!
James - I think your observation on runners/introverts/remote work is spot on.
Marky_Mark - I'm loving this week's run titles. ANd yeah, I would think that looking after a sick kid would do that to you.
Flavio - solid week for you. I find glute bridge walks to be brutal (I should probably do more of them)
Hashiritai - I must be the only one who prefers straight tempos - just get them done! But I may try that Ice Cream Sandwich variation on hot days. And then have a ice cream sandwich after..
Everyone's gotta running blog; I'm the only one with a POOL-RUNNING blog.
And...if you want a running Instagram where all the pictures are of cats, I've got you covered.
My week
27 miles running, 6:30 hours pool-running, and 500 meters of swimming.M: 90 minutes pool-running and upper body weights/coreT: 8 miles - attempted a track workout but dropped halfway through first rep when it felt like the last 200m of a 5K race. Tried to do it on treadmill, but did one 3 minute rep and then done. W: 90 minutes pool-runningTh: 90 minutes pool-running and some leg strengthworkF: 90 minutes pool-running, including 20x1 minute hard/1 minute easy, plus 4x30 seconds very hard/1 minute easy. Followed with upper body weights/core.Sa: 8 miles (10:08), drills and hill strides, and streaming yoga.Su: 12 miles progressive, split as 4 miles averaging 9:30, next 4 miles averaging 8:37, and next 4 miles averaging 7:42. Followed with 30 minutes pool-running, leg strengthwork, and 500 meters swimming.
Kinda a sucky week. I attempted a workout on Tuesday, but felt very short of breath, and pulled the plug very early. I walked home and hopped on the treadmill, thinking that it might have just been the weather, but I didn't do much better on the treadmill. And that was my cue to take a few days inside in the pool.
I suspect this is all adjustment to the estrogen gel I started last week, so I'm just going to hang tight for another week or two and see how things go.
Incidentally, I got some bloodwork results back - haven't had a chance to discuss with the doctor, but to my uneducated eye the bloodwork seems consistent with menopause - no estrogen, and FSH very high (FSH gets very high when you enter menopause). So....that might explain many of the issues I've been struggling with over the past 2 years or so
Hash - excellent week 👍
Piwi - that's just as much as I can handle, very frustrating it's taking a very long time to return to the level I was at during marathon training, who knows maybe now it will get easier.
Darkwave - that's a sick plot twist if all this time it was your hormones going crazy due to menopause.
Piwi - when I'm in pretty good shape, I'll often have easy runs averaging 115-125 beats per minute. And nice week.
Keen and Mark - nice weeks.
Caitlin - look after yourself. If you start feeling better, don't rush back to running.
James - nice week. And well done for bringing this thread back on purpose to weather complaining.
Flavio - nice week.
Hash - nice week. Are you racing the Dorne Cup?
Darkwave - is this statement correct? "6:30 hours pool-running"?
Re work from home, I've been in the office three times this year. I'm going in on this coming Tuesday. My work is strongly work from home if you can, and before I come in Tuesday I'll have to do a RAT.
Door to door, it's a 60 minute trip each way, so not going in much is rather beneficial for me.
As Flavio has stated, it's not been necessary for a long time to have everyone go into the office all the time. Even for people that must go in, often it's not needed every workday.
My week was good injury wise. Physio has given me the green light to increase volume, my right calf feels fine.
Life got in the way unfortunately, as our very old 18.5 year old cat Alexi's, who had been unwell for a while, declined further and we had to get her euthanized. So that was a major downer on the week.
The last few weeks I've also recorded refereeing my girls football/soccer, the distance I cover is less than I thought. 12th grade is 25 minutes per half on a smaller field, 18th grade is 35 minutes per half on a smaller field.
PRs: 5km 18:43 (Dec 2015), 10km 39:59 (Sep 2020), half 1:26:16 (Sep 2016), full 3:09:28 (Jun 2015)
40+ PRs: 5km 19:31 (Oct 2020), 10km 39:59 (Sep 2020), half 1:29:39 (Jun 2018), full 3:13:55 (Sep 2022)
2023 PRs (hope to beat in 2024): 5km 20:34, 10km 41:37, half 1:32:32, full 3:21:05
2024 PRs: 5km 20:25
Watson - sorry about your cat. But wow, 18.5 years is pretty impressive.
Hash - very nice week, I am assuming this Ice Cream Sandwich workout is named because you get to eat one afterwards?
Darkwave - sorry to hear the week sucked a bit. I didn't realise menopause was such a long process.
Flavio - nope, still gonna weather complain about it lol. Hooray, someone on here is racing soon!
Watson – Knew I recognised those squiqqly runs from somewhere! Always interesting to track activities and get an idea of what is really happening. And yeah, definitely going up for the Dorne – it’s quite an enjoyable race (despite lacking any real hills). Stink news about your cat. Hope the family isn’t taking it too badly
Flavio – I’m watching your training with interest. I’m planning on a mile race in January, so closer to that time will start to train specifically for that. With my stronger base this year, I should be able to bring my PR of 5:32 down a bit
CK – I would feel very vulnerable not having any replacements ready to go. My shoe strategy is to have about 4 pairs for each activity (trail, track, road, race) all at varying stages of life. My wife thinks I have a shoe ‘problem’, but I think it makes good planning sense!
Piwi – Your comment made me do some Strava stalking and found a couple of the runners who finished with my mate Nic. Funny to hear their stories of the finish, and interesting to see their final 5km split times. If my mate Nic didn’t really smash the last 5km he wouldn’t have gone under 3hrs
Darkwave – To be honest, I felt I had to do the Ice Cream Sandwich, just because of its name! Zeb’s link took me to a Strava blog by Lauren Fleshman. I found her posts a refreshing read. https://blog.strava.com/wow-the-icecreamsandwich-9584/
Mark – Lauren has sucked me in with her great names for workouts. I’m looking forward to doing her #FreddyKruger. https://blog.strava.com/wow-the-freddykruger-9769/
Caitlin – Interesting question about the Queen’s birthday. Not sure what they’ll do when there is no longer a queen. They won’t change the date, but maybe the name will get changed (King’s birthday??). Although to be honest, they should change it completely to something that is more relevant to us Kiwis…like celebrating the birth of the TV (not that we had anything to do with that, but we do like to watch it!)