Forums >Racing>2024 The Waltons: Racing & Training Thread
Fred, I am registered for a 5k in April. I guess I forgot to post that. I'm likely going to register for a HM that is later this month, mainly because I had told one of my running game teammates I would. Covid screwed up that training plan.
04/20 Kathi ROAR for Kids 5k
.. The glory days of 2021 feel like a long time ago...
Yup.The golden period was 2015 to 2021. We had a few poor series in that period, but not many. And it's been a slide since then.
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
JamesD
James - I've heard different descriptions of pool running. Do you "run" in the pool with your feet on the bottom, propelling yourself forward, or are you floating in the water moving your legs in a running motion? Just curious. (Same question, I suppose, for others here who pool run.)
Closer to the second style; I run in about 6 feet of water while wearing a flotation belt, so my feet never touch the bottom. I move slowly forward, I think because I put four of the belt's floats on my back and two on my stomach, so I'm probably leaning forward slightly. It takes me about 3:40 to go 50 yards/meters. I go for around 80 minutes most times, taking maybe 100 steps/minute. That seems to give me a gentle aerobic workout and may help my arms as much as it does my legs. I sometimes get calf cramps near the end, though.
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
Felt better yesterday afternoon and overnight so went for an easy jog this morning. Still a bit of congestion but seemed ok and HR didn’t spike straight away like Thurs. Will probably race tomorrow and just manage effort based on how I’m feeling. Missing a race is fatal in this series so even if it’s not a top tier effort it’s much better than nothing.
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: Runway5 / National 5k Champs, 16:22, National Masters AG Champ!
Up next: Still working on that...
"CONSISTENCY IS KING"
Hot Weather Complainer
Good luck Mark - maybe a conservative first half just in case?
Fred - Thanks for your efforts - my Motorway Result was 1:29:55.
I'm definitely on the way back up now, and maybe a day away from a Shakeout. No way I'll be able to jump back into marathon training where I left off, it will be a week or 2 of building back up, at least. Which means I might be ready to train properly around the time the taper is due to start. I won't make any decisions until I'm actually running again and have a proper catch up with my coach but I'm feeling pretty negative about racing in 6 weeks. I know there's no such thing as the perfect marathon build up but with my marathon struggles I feel like I may be asking for trouble if I don't make some adjustments.
5km: 18:34 11/23 │ 10km: 39:10 8/23 │ HM: 1:26:48 9/23 │ M: 3:34:49 6/23
2024 Races:
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
Had to DNF it. Had this weird little tightness in my chest and felt off from the start and just didn’t feel quite right. Annoying that it kills my series chances, but a k or 2 in it felt like things were gonna get worse, not better, so had to try and be smart about it. Realistically, it’s probably Covid, I just haven’t tested positive like the rest of the house yet for whatever reason.
Waltons ThreadLord
Mark - Sorry to hear the news, but from the way you describe how you were feeling it sounds like the right decision. Get well.
5k 23:48.45 (3/22); 4M 31:26 (2/22); 5M 38:55 (11/23); 10k 49:24 (10/22); 10M 1:29:33 (2/24); Half 1:48:32 (10/22); Marathon 4:29:58 (11/23)Upcoming races: Running is Back 10k, 5/12; Greta's Run 5k, 5/19
Turns out it was Covid. Go figure. The average cold I get has me feeling worse overall. But it does validate the decision to DNF, and particularly to DNF early on.
Looks like I'm maybe lucky though, as so far it seems a lot more mild than Steve's current experience (and my previous one too). HR has been a little high, but only by a few bpm, and apart from feeling vaguely off, the only other symptoms have been a blocked nose and difficulty sleeping. I'll just take it day by day and hopefully back into it fairly quickly. Would be nice to have a good burn at Waterfront in 4 weeks time. Even if my series is done, at least I can attempt to claim the moral victory of beating the likely series winner head to head three times out of five!
Mark and Steve - Must be frustrating for both of you. Rooting for fast recoveries.
I had a better week. My left knee isn’t hurting as much. Sunday’s tempo (well, more effort than tempo, but close enough) was 17 sec/mile faster than a week ago, and I ran 13 miles Friday in what for me is an unusually (perhaps excessively) fast training pace despite some hard rain near the end. I seem to go faster in my Turbo Next Natures than in my regular Reeboks. I should try the Endorphin Speeds on my next tempo to see how they compare. Have been busy preparing for the arrival of our church’s two refugee families, so I missed or cut short some days. Next week will be worse, as the first family arrives. We still can’t find a house for them, so we’re putting them in AirBnBs and hoping one prospective landlord gets contractors working on his house.
Sun - 6.8 miles in park PM including strides, 3 @ 7:03
Mon - 8 miles slow TM (42:25 AM/54 PM) + 0:40 walk breaks/6 min
Tues - 8.6 miles in park PM in rain @ ~8:42
Weds - off
Thurs 2.5 miles slow TM (30:10 AM) + 0:40 walk breaks/6 min
Fri - 13.2 miles in park PM @ 8:06, rain last 6 & hard last 2
Sat - 6.5 miles slow TM (78:25 PM) + 0:40 walk breaks/6 min
Total - 45.6 miles
YTD - 38.9 mpw
James - nice week and good luck with the knee.
Steve - get well soon.
Mark - ditto. When you say average cold I get has me feeling worse overall, I take it that you when not running the average cold is worse? As I would have thought you'd have raced through on an average cold?
Anyhow, my week was good. Two strength training and below:
Great day for me today, though very tough, too. I ran with the 2:00 pacers through mile 10, at which point my average pace was 9:04. Then I decided to try pulling away, which I did, but after a while, I wondered whether that was wise and whether they'd catch me. It's been a long time since my tank was so empty at the end of a half, I really wondered whether I was going to fall back to a 10:00+ pace. Looking at my splits, it wasn't just in my head. Mile 11, when I pulled away, was 8:42, but then miles 12 and 13 were 9:11 and 9:12, so the pacers would have been catching up to me.
On a day where the wind was a real factor and at a race where I'd hoped I could go sub-2, I ran a 1:58:29. That's 4 minutes slower than last year, but with all I've been through lately, I was thrilled with that result.
Nah most of the time I wouldn't race through a cold. I seem to get pretty sinusy with them, I raced through one once back in 2017 and swore I'd never do it again. This time around, Covid has been relatively mild. My wife really copped it with body aches, temperature, etc. but all I've really noticed is a slightly elevated heart rate, moments of feeling a bit blah and a blocked nose. I had a shocker of a headache on Friday morning but that disappeared pretty fast.
Often when I get a cold I'll feel like complete garbage for a few days. I'll sometimes run easy as that actually seems to help me feel better. But normally I wouldn't consider racing. Different to this situation where racing was still on the cards, until it wasn't.
Fred - I'd take that as a big win. Wind is the worst. Well, wind and humidity, but I doubt the latter is an issue for you at the moment. Great work.
Mother of Cats
Mark - ugh on the Covid, but yes, definitely the right decision to DNF then.
Steve- I'm glad you're on the way back up.
James - you don't need me to tell you that 17 seconds per mile is huge
Watson - solid week for you!
Fred - fantastic race and great performance, especially given the last few weeks. Well done!
Also, you asked about pool-running. I also pool-run in the deep end - running in shallow water can actually be very high stress on feet - less impact when landing, but more force to push off. I don't wear a belt - if you pool-run enough you eventually get a feel for the water and don't need the belt anymore (you get comfortable with your face being closer to the water and your pool-running gait also evolves to the point where you can keep yourself upright and at the surface without working too hard).
****
56 miles running, 1000 yards swimming, and 2 hours pool-running.
M: 1 hour pool-running and 500 yards swimming.T: 7 miles very easy (9:18) in the morning; streaming pilates in evening.W: 7 miles very easy (9:27), upper body weights/core, and then 2 miles very easy (9:39) plus drills and strides.Th: 11 miles, including 8 "Iwo Jima" hills at marathon effort, followed by leg strengthwork.F: 12 miles very easy (9:27) plus drills and strides in the morning; streaming yoga in the afternoon.Sa: 17 miles, including a marathon effort workout of 2x5 miles at marathon effort with one mile float between. Splits were 37:39 (7:32 pace) and 37:15 (7:27 pace) with a mile in 8:16 between the two. Followed with leg strengthwork.Su: 1 hour pool-running and 500 yards swimming.
I focused on recovery from the half-marathon for the first part of this week, followed by hills at marathon effort in supershoes to practice mechanics, and then a marathon effort workout. It looks like I am locking into around 7:30 for a marathon pace on flat ground in good weather (with another 2 weeks of training that may get a bit faster). We'll see how that translates to Boston.
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.
Half Crazy K I always drink both water and coffee before runs. The only change I can think of is latey sometimes I have my last sip of coffee within minutes of starting my run. Maybe I should stop that.
Fredford Great effort on that race. Nothing wrong with testing the limits.
My Week
Another big volume week (by my standards anyway). I set a rolling 7 day total PR on Thursday with 90 miles / ~144 k. If everything feels ok I'd like to do one more big week before starting to back off some.
The weather was pretty lousy this past week and was one of the weeks I definitely regret not having a working treadmill. We need to drag the old one to the dump before I order a new one.
Monday rest day, short walk on treadmill (until it started smoking again) and core
Tuesday am 5.6 with strides
Wednesday am 6.3 with intervals, pm strength training
Thursday rest
Friday am 7.3 with 8x5min HM effort, pm strength training
Saturday 3 easy
Sunday 8 easy
MJ, hope things are going ok
Steve, I basically took 10 days off and then slowly increased mileage. I was a little hesitant to push the pace right away. Each run I did, I noticed my heart rate wasn't spiking, so I took that as a good sign and to do a little more the next run. It may have been a little conservative, but I read too much about people doing to much while not really that sick and then having long covid. As far as racing in 6 weeks, I guess how did you feel just before you got sick? Like ready for taper?
Mark, good calll to DNF. For both you and Steve, hopefully this is short lived.
James nice week. I definitely notice some shoes seem peppier than others.
Watson, not speaking for Mark, but I found this round of covid was weird. I had a sore throat the first day or two, and a few hours of fever & chills that went away with ibuprofin. I had zero energy. Just working from home and doing basic daily stuff seemed to be plenty. The idea of running was far from my mind, even though I really didn't have the major congestion or cough that Mr. HCK had. I've been more congested from colds before, but able to run because there is no loss of energy.
Fred, nice job on the HM, especially in the wind.
darkwave, nice recovery week.
mmerrkle, I find coffee basically goes straight through me in the morning, so I have it about 45 minutes before running. I'd think the combo of coffee & water would definitely lead to bathroom stops. If you run in early morning, would the cold also impact the need to pee?
Fred/Thread Lord, another race:
03/24 Kathi B&A HM