Forums >Racing>2024 The Waltons: Racing & Training Thread
Mark - nice week. I didn't realize you doubled? I was thinking you just did singles.
James - nice week.
My week was pretty good. ParkRun was on tired legs, mainly due to a lot of standing hosting dinner (so lots of cooking and dishes). The race went pretty well considering. One small strength session plus below.
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
ParkRun was on tired legs, mainly due to a lot of standing hosting dinner (so lots of cooking and dishes).
My legs hurt much more after an hour of standing than they do after an hour of running. DW thinks it's just an excuse because I'm antisocial and am usually ready to go home, or for guests to leave, after an hour, but I'm slowly convincing her that both can be true.
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
Waltons ThreadLord
Upcoming Races
04/06 Frederick - RunAPalooza / Asbury Park Half
04/07 MarkyMark - Waterfront Half Marathon
Watson - I'm glad your ParkRun went well. I agree that just standing around can tire the legs.
James - I think you'll be fine with two weeks to recover from a 5k. I hope your refugee family settles in well. I listed your races.
Mark - Nice job on the training week. Sounds like you'll be ready for the half.
Kathi - Sorry the half didn't go as well as you might have wished. Maybe next time.
Hash - Nice taper week.
mmerkle - Good luck at the upcoming marathon.
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
A decent week for me. I completed my first track workout in more than two months, managing four 1-mile intervals at something between 10k and HM pace. Yesterday I went to ParkRun and logged the same time as two weeks ago; what are the odds? Fun fact: my best ParkRun finish, 6th place, came on the day I logged my slowest ParkRun time ever, 28:41. Anyway, 38.0 miles / 61.1km for the week.
D&R ParkRun
Mother of Cats
63 miles and 1500 yards swimming
M: 8 miles very easy (9:13) and streaming yoga. T: 10 miles, including a track workout of 800, 1200, 1600, 1200, 800, 400 in 3:39, 5:23, 6:58, 5:07, 3:21, 1:40 (recoveries in 2:3x-2:4x, except for 5:14 recovery after the 1600. Followed with leg strengthwork. W: 7 miles very easy on trails (9:45) and 750 yards swimming. Th: 8 miles very easy (9:24) plus drills and strides; streaming Pilates and foam rolling in evening.F: 4 miles (9:29) and 2 miles (9:29). Sa: 10 miles, including a ~10K tempo/race thing in 46:44 (7:49/7:46/7:37/7:22/7:16/7:04/1:50 for last .27). Followed with streaming pilates. 750 yards swimming in afternoon.Su: 14 miles easy to moderate (most averaging 8:47, last 2 miles picked it up to 7:42 pace), followed by upper body weights/core.
I was planning on a 10K race as a tune-up (the only one I could find on Easter weekend). It ended up being sparsely attended - only 10 people showed up, and none of them were near me pace-wise (one guy casually jogged it in 38 minutes to win, everyone else was several minutes behind me). I really just couldn't get motivated to solo time trial a 10K, so I just used it as a chance to practice running at marathon pace or faster while navigating inclines and declines and a crowded trail (there was a 5K with a lot of walkers that started 10 minutes before the 10K).
[in response to one obvious comment - the results for previous years showed that this was a small race, but generally there were 1-2 people in the 42-44 minute 10K range, which would have been enough to spur me into a race effort]
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 weeek:
Monday upper body strength
Tuesday am 3.6 easy
Wednesday 3 easy
Thursday am 3.6 easy, pm upper body strength
Friday 7.4 easy followed by lower body strength
Saturday 20 minute spin
Sunday 9 with 1 hour at a harder than easy pace
I mixed some things around since my work schedule was a bit different due to spring break. Tuesday's run was a bit eery in that I fully expected to see news helicopters everywhere when I got to the one hill (from certain hills near me you could see the Key Bridge). Nothing. I later found out there was a no fly zone, so that explained it. I'm pretty sure yesterday I could see the top of the giant crane. That was definitely a shock to wake up to on Tuesday. I had almost driven the bridge coming back from my HM. There is an absolute mess of roads and I was nearly stuck in that lane as opposed to being able to get over to the tunnel lane.
JamesD, ouch on the dog banging into your knee. That can be painful, I still have a spot where I can tell my last dog ran full speed into my shin, about 10 years ago.
Watson, sometimes standing seems to take more out of you than moving around a lot.
Fred, the HM went exactly how I expected. I had initially mapped out a 12 weeek plan that started January 1 and then the week of snow, plus 2 weeks of not running plus another week of easing back basically wiped out that plan. Was your best ParkRin finish the one in tthe snow?
Darkwave, wow, that is a really small race. I can see how it would be hard to push it.
Mark, nicec week.
Fred, Was your best ParkRin finish the one in tthe snow?
Yup - that's the one. Everyone was slow that day.
James - is your 5k the one that gets held around the Berkshire Hathaway AGM?
Watson - normally only singles, but occasionally doubles if I am really trying to pump up the mileage. I ran 2x doubles each of the past 2 weeks, which was intentional to try and pump some mileage in before Waterfront HM, coming off a couple quieter weeks. It was a bit of an experiment, if nothing else it has taught me that while I can handle frequent workouts, doubles beat me up almost as much as long runs do. Nice job on Parkrun.
Fred - same exact time? Wow! I've run times at Parkrun that were 1 second different, but never the exact same time.
Kathi - it's really fortunate there weren't more people killed with the bridge collapse. I hope it doesn't have too serious a flow-on impact on the area, but it sounds like the port is going to be impacted for quite some time.
Darkwave - I was actually reflecting on the small race factor when I was on my long run on Sunday. It's really hard to push yourself in those situations, as it does largely end up being a solo time trial unless you can find someone to tag on with.
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
watson - How are you feeling about the marathon?
Fred - Not surprised you went slow in the snow!
Kathi - Very shocking footage and I can't imagine the traffic chaos you'll be dealing with for possibly years.
My week - Pretty solid with 2 workouts. I couldn't even hit 10km pace on my 1 mile repeats and the Saturday tempo was also a struggle to get my legs moving, albeit on a windy trail with some short sharp hills. On Sunday I did my easy run on the Milford trail while my partner and friends went for a boat cruise - I'm banned after my severe seasickness a few years ago. The part of the track I ran is pretty flat but very windy with lots of rocky sections, and logs/trees to climb over so despite the slow pace, it felt like a pretty decent workout. I had to be concentrating hard the whole time, I almost took a fall about 5 times and I had bad visions about being stuck in there with a broken leg...all up the week was okay but everything still feels hard. I can't imagine running very fast in a half in 3 weeks but you never know. After about 4 weeks when I got Covid the first time everything suddenly came right and I nailed a PB at Southern Lakes. I know a PB isn't possible in 3 weeks but a nice sub 1:30 would be good.
My New York dream is over for now - I see you can guarantee 2025 entry by doing the 2024 virtual but my research suggests that will be just as hard to get into with very limited spots.
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
Mark & Steve, schools have been on sprinng break, so tomorrow is going to be the test for rush hour traffic. Based on my drives last week and today, it is going to be very bad. I went to our school in the DC suburbs last week and basically crawled back to Baltimore on the highway. It's been raining, so that causes people to forget how to dirve. Today one of the major roads into the city was flooded.
Steve, a boat cruise does not sound fun. Last boat I was on, I got off it before it even started moving. We were in the Bahamas and were going to takee the water taxi. I was actually ok on the trip over. Going back, we sat on the dock and that did me in. Luckily there is a bridge & land based taxis.
I'm feeling pretty good about the marathon coming up.
Although my left calf and left hamstring niggles got worse during the week. So I took yesterday off, and will take today off, plus a few more days. It will hopefully improve things enough, and still give me enough time to gain back any transient lose in fitness. I think I have 3:15 in me if I am smart over the final three weeks, plus race day.
Yes, that's the one. It'll give DW another chance to ask the Brooks CEO (who starts the race and hands out awards and hangs out afterwards) why they stopped making her favorite model of sports bra.
Steve/HCK - Great, you talk about seasickness on cruises after and not before I sign up for one later this year. It's a week-long European river cruise from Amsterdam to Basel. First one we've been on (DW's idea), and the first time either of us have been to anything east of Spain.
If it makes you feel any better, my issues have always been on small boats. We had said in the past if we wanted to do a cruise, step 1 would be a harbor dinner cruise to see if I got sick. There's a really cool sounding 5 mile race near me, but I'll never do it because it is only accessible by boat.
watson - Sounds like a sensible approach. Pretty cool how casually you seem to be able to drop a 3:15.
James/Half Crazy - The cruise my friends went on was only 2 hours, on the Milford Sound out to the Tasman sea. As it turns out it was pretty calm but 2 years ago I tried to go whale watching in Kaikoura and there were large swells. I blacked out (yep you read that right) from seasickness, smacking my jaw on the rail then doing it a second time when I got up. Then I spent the most miserable 90 minutes of my life with sweat pouring off me in pure hell. This time we had to book in advance and the worst potential weather is very bad. Luckily for our holiday the weather was perfect.
A week long cruise sounds awful although I'm guessing the ship will be big enough so that there won't be too much rocking.
Steve - I remember hearing about that boat expedition / disaster! To be fair, Milford Sound is VERY different to the open sea. Bit like the difference on the Interislander between Cook Strait and the Marlborough Sounds. But I appreciate that you did not want to take the risk regardless!
Bit of change on the horizon for me on the running front. After not being registered to a club last season, I joined Whippets yesterday. Most of the decent masters runners from my previous club (Takapuna) left to join Whippets for relays last season. Takapuna was a fun club but a bit of a shambles when it came to organising anything other than drinks. Whippets seem way better organised and will have a very good Masters team for relays in Sept so hopefully I can get myself into that.
I'm also seriously considering moving to self-coaching after 8+ years with my current coach. It's no reflection on her, as she's consistently been great (and I doubt I'd have achieved half of what I have without her help), but I feel like I've hit the point where the cost doesn't necessarily justify the marginal benefit any more. At this point I feel like I know / understand enough about training (and my own limits) to be able to set up a decent program each week and across weeks, and to be honest we could use the extra money given the way mortgage rates have gone over the last while.