2024 The Waltons: Racing & Training Thread (Read 139 times)

Decent week in the bag. Had a good weights workout on Monday as well, and kept Fri as a rest day. Legs certainly starting to feel a bit sharper, Tues and Wed were back to back workouts and if anything, the Wed one was the better of the two. Saturday's run included Parkrun in 16:38, as I figured I needed a decent 5k tuneup, having not raced a 5k in ages. I didn't max the effort, and never quite hit the lung-burning depths of 5k pain, saving that for a couple of weeks.  Given also that it was a wet day out there too, I was pretty happy with the result.

Weekly for period: From: 15/04/2024 To 21/04/2024

Totals: Time: 05:37:50 - 🦅Imperial: 50.65 mi - Metric: 81.49 km

Mark - no worries you missed me.

Steve - very well Run.

Mat 3:18:47.  Pretty happy with that.  My 3:15 aim would have been a very good day.  Third lap was the quickest.  I was hoping to quicken up for the last lap, but had a mild fade

I managed to negative split by 15s.

Edit - I did change my pace plan earlier in the week.  So the plan above was outdated.  My post race brain got confused yesterday.  Actuals are correct.

Upcoming Races

04/27 dpschumacher -Get in Gear 10k

04/27 Frederick - Clinton Township Country Run 15k

04/28 Frederick - Spring Distance Classic 5k (rescheduled)

My week:

Monday strength

Tuesday am 6.5 with 5x3min + 3x2min, pm core

Wednesday am 4.7 easy, pm strength

Thursday rest

Friday am 4 with strides, pm strength

Saturday too short warm up + 5k

Sunday 6.5 easy

5k went about as expected. My plan was to push it on the downhills and survive the uphill. Traffic was backed up getting into the zoo, so didn't have much time for a longer warm up. Plus, it is not a location where I feel safe running. At least with theh heavy traffic in, it felt a little better. Course was a rolling downhill for a little over a mile, then a short uphill/downhill and then finshed with a really steep hill. Hard to bitch too much about the steep hill, because I at least was running it and not trying to get a push rim wheelchair up said hill (racec had adaptive divisions).

JamesD, I tend to wait unitl the last minute for races, aside from the one I just did since it's for work. Hopefully you're feeling better. We've had some nasty stuff going around our building recently.

Steve, congrats on the HM!

Mark, well, I guess I'm not getting an individual point in the running game for my 5k. Nice job on the Park Run!

Watson, that is really consistent from lap to lap. Nice job!

Fred, did you use one of the calculators for the Daniels pace? The on-line calculators have been acting weird, they keep giving me a tempo pace that is basically equal to my 5k pace. I swear in old versions of the book it was 24-36 seconds per mile slower than 5k. 200s are a lot of fun. I'd much rather do a bunch of them vs any sort of tempo run.

Darkwavem just read your Boston race report on your blog. So interesting about the classification. I also find that run/walk is the only way I can avoid overheating. It doesn't matter how slow, if it is any sort of shuffle jog without the walk part I will overheat. Congratulations again on the win.

Christchurch Half Marathon - Race Report

As everyone knows I've been trying to finally run a good marathon and Christchurch was the place to do it until Covid came along 6 weeks ago.  I made the call to downgrade and had a month of grind where every run felt hard.  Luckily 2 weeks ago it started feeling better so I had time to get excited about a half, but I'm happy it was the right call.

My goal was sub 1:29 which would make it a Christchurch PB.  My coach was confident I could do that and we decided on a plan of about 4:10/km for the first half then kick down to 4:05/km if I had it in my legs.  He wasn't keen on me burning myself completely if I was within reach of a PB but I didn't see that being an issue and the plan was to just push as far as I could.

The weather was absolutely perfect - 7 degrees at the start with cloud cover for the whole race (I think the sun only broke through at around the 2:45 mark of the marathon) and barely a breeze.  I booked an Air BnB 10 minutes walk from the start when I was planning on the full, and shared with a mate of mine down from Auckland to have a crack at his first sub 3.  I went for a 20 minute warm up down to race HQ where there was already a great buzz even though it was still dark.  Then at about 7:05am after a shirt and shoe change we walked/shuffled down to the start.  No need for bag drop, just an annoying wait with race briefing and a Maori prayer which is a new one at the start of a race.  I took my maurten gel, gave my mate a hug, then I saw Jennie my occasional training partner and joined her.  She said her plan was 4:15 per km.

The gun goes and it's a slow shuffle for 20 seconds over the start line - all races start together which is good to give the marathon runners some early pacers but makes it a tight squeeze especially in the first lap.  We get underway and the first km is a bit chaotic but all 3 of us hit 4:15 which is perfect.  Me and Jennie slowly ramp it up so I lose my mate - he knew my pace plan so I was quite firm with him not to come with me.

Into some nice rhythm for the first 5km:  4:15, 4:07, 4:08, 4:10, 4:09.  Jennie has slowly moved away from me and I see her get to up to 50 metres in front, so I figured she must be feeling really good.  For the next 5km I'm feeling okay but not amazing and I start negotiating with myself about just planning to hold 4:10 pace all the way.  I had to pause and review how I felt - I wasn't puffing, I didn't feel fatigued so stop being so negative.  There's great support through the course with music, dancers and the volunteers all giving words of encouragement.

Each lap ends with 3.5km in the park, which I've run a million times.  One side is quite narrow and I do get stuck behind people a few times but my splits are still nice and consistent: 4:10, 4:10, 4:09, 4:09, 4:11 and the official 10km split is 42:07 which is 4:12 pace - I'm already a few hundred metres over the official km markers.  There's lot of noise and excitement from 10-10.5km through the start/finish area and when I start the second lap I find myself lifting the pace.  This was exactly the plan but it almost doesn't feel like a conscious decision, it just happens.  I can see Jennie coming back to me now before I pull up next to her at around 14km.  I ask how she's going and just says "I'm going" which I take to mean she's hurting a bit.  She stays with me for about a km, falling off and fighting back a few times, making me think we can really push each other to the finish, before she says "I have to drop back" at about 15km.  My splits are 4:06, 4:07, 4:12, 4:04, 4:05.  I'm still feeling a bit negative so remind myself I'm still barely puffing and compare how I feel now to how I felt at this stage in the Motorway Half when it was really heating up.  I'd held even pace in those conditions so told myself I'm in a position to do even better this time.

I just want to get to the park now and when I get into the park I can tell myself it's less than a lap which I've done so many times.  I forget any ideas about being conservative and give it what I have left.  I'm counting down the kilometres which tells me I'm not going easy and working as hard as I can.    The next 5 splits are 4:04, 4:06, 4:04, 4:04, 4:01 so I'm somehow running exactly to plan.  I work out I'm probably sub 1:28 but don't waste time working it out in the last km.  There's a 90 degree turn then we're heading to the finish line - I feel some cramp in my toes on this turn which is a new one but it quickly goes away.  With about 1km to go I'm not wasting time worrying about that.  For the whole second half I've been passing people until a guy flies past in the last km.  I pass him back with 400 metres to go so I wonder if he misjudged things...the 21st km is 3:56 (and Garmin tells me my last 5km is 20:05) then it's a wide 180 degree turn into the finishing chute.  I see the clock ticking towards 1:28 so I push really hard to go under, forgetting this is the gun time.  I cross the line feeling strong in 1:27:34 official.  I'm calling this my NZ PB and second best race ever, even though I went 2 seconds faster at Southern Lakes on a course that measured slightly short.  Jennie finishes in 1:28:37.

Recovery is swift and I quickly make my way back to the apartment to change my shirt and grab my phone to try and find my mate and others including my coach.  The next hour is great fun, seeing Andy at the 38km mark with a big lead he never loses, winning the marathon in 2:21.  The way the laps are set up allows me to do my cool down and see my mate 4 times, speeding up to hand him a powerade each time I see him, and I stay with him for about 500 metres the last time which probably wasn't the best cool down.  He holds on for 2:58:34 and is probably now done with marathons.

I feel really happy with my race but it's also a weird feeling.  I've just beaten my Christchurch best by 2 minutes, and that day was one of the happiest of my life but no matter what I do now there's that nagging voice "what about the marathon...".  And yes, 6 weeks until that main goal and I feel really motivated now, not just by a good race but also seeing so many people smash their goals.  16 people in my coaching group got a PB - I'm one of the 3 who didn't but I got my second best time ever and considering I've now done 31 half marathons, that's a pretty good result.

Half Crazy - Nice week.  That 5km sounds completely awful.

watson - Well done on a very good race.  I don't think there's anyone called Ange in our group.  Had a good session at the Dux with Andy, Oska, Chris Dryden and a few other much faster people.  I'd say there were a few of us moving slowly on Monday morning...

Half - oops, I missed your race.  What was your time?

Steve - I saw a photo of Ange and Jennie post race, so I thought she might be in the same group as you.  I do NOT know Jennie; sub 1:30 as a W50-59 is impressive.