Forums >Racing>2024 Advanced Training and Racing Thread (still competitive jerks)
Problem Child
RP man fingers crossed. What about the police thing - not your thing?
City police gave me an interview, the next step would be an extensive background check, and I've not heard back.
State cop hasn't called me after passing my physical and written then handing me a "Conditional offer" saying as long as I pass every single step between the physical and entry to the academy ( and I pass the academy) I have a job.
Building permit job never called back. I emailed the supervisor (I was never given her email. I deduced it) asking for feedback on my intervie and heard nothing back. Since they said they hoped to have a decision last week I'm waiting one more week to get the "we didn't pick you" email. It's probably being sent the day the person they picked gets hired. I really hate those emails.
I have another interview 14/2/24. I had to fight with HR to get onto this interview list, and this is AFTER talking to two current employees who told me to apply.
Quarterly review should be coming up on Friday. I just kind of ripped another group in our office for essentially "not giving a fuck" and my manager didn't disagree, but wants me to say it in another way. I don't know if I said, or thought, "you obviously don't know me personally." #FuckYourFeelings.
i saw my paycheck. I spent Friday night at Monster Trucks, and Saturday at a zoo for my kids birthday early birthday party.
I'm struggling to find motivation to run. Tuesday or Wednesday I wasn't feeling good, scrapped the workouts then between traveling Friday and Saturday, scrapped the whole week. It sucks because this is the SECOND week I've scrapped this month. Sub-18 seems like it will need more training than "eh I didn't feel good so I skipped leg day" training. Workouts have now switched to back to back days. I haven't even been doing TRX and it only requires I get up and walk into the garage. Exercising just seems to be losing some appeal to me. It's a struggle bus I need to find a way out of.
A buddy invited me to an early morning Sunday run. 8:05/mi pace felt really fast, and later we were doing 7:45s which felt as hard as 8:10/mi pace did at the start. I didn't pay much attention to pace since it felt like I had to try to keep up, while also kind of trying to sandbag some middle miles to ensure I'd make it through a 9 mile run.
steve whole State (company) is 100% in office starting 2/1/24. Bye bye motivation to have good reviews. I told my "hopefully-soon-to-be-boss" coworker I just wanted Tuesday and Thursday to get my training runs in if I worked from home and I'd be happy. Traffic is going to SUCK next week with 100% in office coming back. Oh well...show up late, leave early, and take long lunches I guess.
dk was the medal worth the pain?
mmerkle sounds like a plan. Just remember Rome wasn't built in a day and if you want Ronnie Coleman legs it will take 5-8 months.
Many of us aren't sure what the hell point you are trying to make and no matter how we guess, it always seems to be something else. Which usually means a person is doing it on purpose.
VDOT 53.37
5k18:xx | Marathon 2:55:22
Speed Surplus
dktrotter - I'd say don't push it with the achilles, but mine ruptured out of nowhere - I had absolutely no soreness or symptoms before it went. So, who knows?! Definitely give it a rest after that half.
The other week I hit about 28 miles by Saturday but was feeling a bit off by Sunday and took that day off. Then was out sick with a minor cough for a few days. Back to it this week, albeit with only 4 days of running.It was almost 60 degrees for yesterday's run! This after we hit a low of 14 a few weeks ago. I've got weather whiplash.
5:27 / 18:49 / 40:32 / 88:12 / 3:12
Marky_Mark_17 - Well, I managed to get my pace on 1 run below your slowest run this week. Looks like you are recovering well in advance of your race in 2 weeks.
flavio80 - Great job, good luck on your time trial. I think they build mental strength and confidence. (More on that below) Don't discount that it is hard to do both high mileage and workouts and lifting at once. You are going to feel tired a lot. That's why it's nice to take easy weeks and go race or time trial occasionally.
Marby - good week! If you figure out weight loss, let me know! I'm going sideways (slightly up?!?!) haha. I've noticed very recently, that if I eat a bunch of sweet stuff, it puts me practically to sleep in a few minutes. It's vaguely unsettling.
dktrotter - Don't risk your Achilles, that can be a long term thing. Cross training is definitely your friend. It took me a lot of injuries on my journey of self-discovery to embrace it.
Fishyone - You picked the right week to come to FL for running. Perfect weather.
darkwave - Good week! I like how you just ran 14.
wcrunner2 - good luck with the longer runs!
SteveChCh - What is up with the lack of biceps in this forum? You need a bottle in both hands! But that still won't save you from overheating. Running in heat it is very easy to overheat if you refuse to back off the pace.
RP - I used to get like a mild seasonal depression before living in Florida. Not sure if that's what's going on, but you seem overly down for it to just be day to day job stuff.
SomethingClever - good to see you easing back into it.
mmerkle - Good mileage for the week. A 10k is good prep for your 10 miler 2 weeks later. Your 10 miler should really help you nail down your realistic marathon goal time. I've never done marathon pace long runs. I imagine that it would be jarring to go from my typical 8:30-9:00 long run pace and then throw in some 6:52s.
I tried another sub-threshold run this week on Tuesday, and it felt too slow again (running a little under 8/mile for 45min), like the 2ks last week, where I kind of drift off in my thoughts and slow down, but it's not really a workout either. So I decided to take a better crack at a 5k time trial on Saturday. I did a 5k time trial 2 weeks ago in 21:35, but, I started thinking it was too inaccurate:
1. it was kind of spur of the moment so I didn't eat/drink/mentally prepare appropriately to feel energetic going into it
2. It was quite windy directly in my face on the out part of the out and back and that really wore me down
3. Whenever I stop and change direction, my running app fails to really capture that well
4. I had done like 4 hard workouts in the previous couple weeks and I wasn't sure I really adapted yet, plus that 5k itself
I had a goal of sub 20:50 (4:10/km) by end of February, so I decided to take it out at that pace and see how it went. My running app also takes about 60 seconds to really dial in my pace, so I tend to go out too fast on things while waiting for it to let me know. Sure enough at like 400m I was going about 3:50/km, so I backed off some. I was really hurting for oxygen at 3k-4k, but just kept pushing because I was ahead of goal pace overall, and I started to have hope that I could hang on.
My final splits were 4:02, 4:09, 4:10, 4:12, 4:08 - Total 20:41. I demolished my expectations and I'm way ahead of schedule. That's about 6:39 pace. I failed to break 8 min/mile on a flat 2 mile trail run last fall, so I've made some solid progress. The one interesting takeaway was that my legs and arms were not tired at 4k, and I surged the last couple hundred meters, but I didn't have the aerobic fitness to tire my muscles out. This was very lose to 100%, so I am now satisfied that my training paces will be more accurate.
Every joint and my PF was horrible on Sunday, so I don't plan to run another 5k until March. Probably try to break 20 like mid March. I might break 6 in the mile one day for fun. The calculators say I can only run 6:05 for mile, but they always underestimate me on short races and give me way too much credit on long races. My biggest issue is my weight, weighed in at 176.8 this morning. I think that's a big part of my muscles being ok at 5k, but my breathing being ragged at 2k.
Not an 80%er
RP - It's also my experience that recruiters never get back to you if you haven't been selected.Plenty of reasons for that, but probably the biggest one is that once they've found somebody they don't want to spend any more time on it.You seem to have fallen in a mud ditch at the moment running wise, but we know that you will find yourself in shape again in a couple of months if not faster.Considering how fast you ran your marathon (2h56) in Boston of all places, I'm confident you can run considerably faster in your 5k. Just tapering correctly and not having "marathon legs" to deal with will make you 30s faster.
MT - Does foam rolling the inner calves help with PF?
Also kudos on the time trial, you seem bound for a sub 20 soon. That's an important milestone, ask around for the Gaga challenge 😂
me - Ok, It seems that I fell in a mud ditch aerobic-wise 3 weeks before the marathon, and now, roughly 2 months later I have finally managed to climb out of it.
I've ran 10:41 for a 3000m time trial earlier today. No tapering, with heavy marathon legs, 2 days after the hardest run of the week, the long run.
I can see whatever it was, it was not anxiety, I'm not less anxious now than 3 weeks ago.
So it was definitely something that somehow diminished my aerobic capacity but is recoverable from. Whatever it was. May it RIP and never come back to haunt me again.
10:41 is right where I need to be. That implies that both a 3k and 5k PRs are within reach. That means 10:30 for 3k, sub 18 for 5k, roughly 37:30 or lower for 10K, definitely around 1h22 for the half.
Now what I need is a bunch of 30K+ long runs at easy pace and a bunch of runs with 10 miles at marathon effort and hopefully not go too crazy and over train again.
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)
Tool to generate Strava weekly
hopefully not go too crazy and over train again.
What is this strange thing you're referring to I thought this was normal.....
5K 18:36 (2023), 10K 39:40 (2022), 1/2 1:24:37 (2023), full 2:58:36 (2015)
RP - Considering how fast you ran your marathon (2h56) in Boston of all places, I'm confident you can run considerably faster in your 5k. Just tapering correctly and not having "marathon legs" to deal with will make you 30s faster.
Don't forget the uncharacteristically ideal weather, not seen since April 2020, under which this PR was set. Also....."legit marathoner" badge unlocked.
I'ts mostly frustrating. I found out yesterday something in my background indefinitely disqualified me from State police, so I'm expecting another rejection from City police. Oh and the second job interview (building permits) told me yesterday I wasn't selected (I knew this) so the lack of any other response was so annoying I emailed them saying it would have cost me about $30k to accept the job.
the weather here is supposed to turn South (read..."to crap") this week when I'm supposed to be doing workouts. I'll figure out a way to make it suck extra and just do what I can with what I have.
side note....my youngest has taken to say "I'll do the best I can dad!" it's hilarious because I didn't teach him to say it, and he says it with the truth only a child can bring to this world. Part truth part "I know this is what you want to hear."
Hot Weather Complainer
mt - I guess that is what I'll do if I have to do another unsupported long run on a hot day. Pace wasn't a problem on this one, there was no pace, the climbing was too much.
Nice job in the 5km - I look forward to the Gaga photo.
Flavio - Seems you're in really good shape. And is this an admission that you should have listened to me about a down week before the marathon??
Cramp - The Inside Running podcast had the Precision Hydration guy on this week. After listening to him I think I'm going to change my hydration to their very high sodium dose drink and tablets. I think I lose a ton of salt (I had salt line on my face, arms, legs, shirt, shorts and shoes on Saturday) and most sports drinks don't have enough sodium. I don't think this is a guaranteed solution though, because I still cramped quite early in my last marathon in cold weather. But it will help me get through the next month or 2 of hot weather and be a good test. I'm also planning to carry some of this spray on big workouts and kind of hope for some cramp so I can see what happens:
https://nznaturalformulas.co.nz/crampstop/
Garmin - I've had my new Fore runner for 3 weeks now and it's interesting to see the HRV data and suggested workouts. It tells me my HRV is balanced so I'm handling the load quite well...but usually recommends 48-96 hours recovery. Or very very short recovery runs. I don't expect I'll ever listen to it but it's interesting how far off the mark it is.
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 DNF
Dunedin Half Marathon September 15, 2024
Steve - that is absolutely cooking for a long run. We were at the beach today in similar heat and honestly I could manage an easy run in those temps and not much else.
Marby - that glucose monitor sounds like it could be kind of an interesting training tool. Keen to hear what you discover.
Dorothea - ugh, hope that injury gets better. You've reminded me to stop being lazy about gym stuff too, thanks.
Darkwave - we'll find out how long it takes the speed to come back! I did some hill sprints this morning and felt pretty good on those. Track workout on the weekend will be the real tester. A lot to be said for the practice of training your weaknesses early and strengths late (might find out how late is too late though).
mt79 - my easy pace has always been probably on the quicker side (started more than a few debates on here a few years back too). Have always had high cadence so I've tended to run to effort / heart rate rather than pace.
RP - IMO the swing back to office attendance over the last 6 months has been a little too strong. Almost like let's just chain people to the desk again.
Anyways, sorry if I missed anyone. Lot going on here!
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"
RP - LOL at your kiddo, he's a natural!Sorry to hear RP-COP will not come to life. Like I said though, these were the first steps, now you busted the rust and can carry on trying. At some point the stars align and something good happens, at least that's how it happens to me. I'll often go through dozens of rejections and a few failed interviews before I can secure another project.
Steve - Yup, I'm thinking less is more as in, I need less training than last time.It's hard to work around my type-a mind though.Like yesterday at the gym the plan called for 2x 3reps barbell squat with 76kg, but I'm dumb and I decided to do them with 83kg instead because that would be a PR 🤦♂️. If I can manage to not sabotage myself I might arrive in fine shape to a race.Let us know if the cramp stop thing works. I do think though that you're running in ungodly weather and I agree with you that you probably need more salt.
Anybody seen Commander Keen ? He was last seen running with Darkwave in the streets of DC, I wonder if the feds pulled him up for questioning as his current non 100 mile weeks were found highly suspicious, why the change, he must've flipped to Iran or something.
Pain is my friend
My next race is mid March. it will be my first 48 hour race. The longest I have been running is 29 hour on trail. My goal is to not sleep. Might now work out that well. If I get sleepy I plan to take a 20 min power nap.
I will try to get over here more often. I have taken on the roll as the main admin for the 2024 game. The game is slowly dying. Not much talk over there. I try to get more chatter but its not working. If they don't want to chat, thats fine with me.
Krash, when’s your next race? Is it your first 48-hour race? How do you NOT sleep and not get a heart attack from all the caffeine?!! Great to see you outside of the 2024 stuff, though :-)
Here is what I am donig for training for my 48 hour race. Since I have never done one, I am making it up as I go. Hence my endurance chanllenge a few weeks ago. The week after my challenge I was tired and back off the miles to 63 that week. Bounced back fast. Goal is to run 2 long runs a week at 20 miles or more. Work up to a 30-40 miler at one time. once a week I am doing speed work (progressive/ tempo) This week I had my best Tempo run in over 2 years. Did 2x 4 miles. First one was at 7:20 pace and on a slight uphill. 2nd was 7:05 with a slight down hill. I know I could have been faster.
Running Problem- sorry to hear the interviews/background didn't go well. I would let you be an officer any day. No bad guy could out run you.
dktrotter- Achillis injurys are game changes. If you don't let them rest you may not run well again. I strained mine a few years ago. My PT had me take 6 weeks off with no running. I did lots of pool running. It help me get back in to shape fast.
flavio80- Over training is easy to do. At one time I thought more miles in a month meant a better 100 miler. Slowly building is key. This last month I ran one of my biggest mileage in a month 347. Next month should be higher. I have been building for 4 months. I feel great.
ATY 24 141.445 2019 1st
Bear 100 22:08 2021
Jackpot 100 Feb 14:59 - 5th
Pulse endurance 48 hr 175.3 miles
Bonnevile Backyard ultra
Ute 100 Aug
24 hour loop race?
Are we there, yet?
Finished the month with back to back long runs, or at least what passes for a long run now: 8 miles on Tuesday and 7.5 miles today, which gives me a monthly total of 100.5. Slow pace with my run-walk, but both were over 1:45 in duration, an important step toward my fixed time events. My 7 day running total is 31.5 after that, a big step toward the 40 mpw I'm aiming for.
03/09 - Livingston Oval Ultra 6-Hour, 22.88 miles
05/11 - D3 50K, 9:11:09 06/17 - 6 Days in the Dome 12-Hour.
You might want to be careful what you say. I self-identify as Californian; however, I'd like to state for the record I'm in agreement Californians are ruining this place.
Also, I'm not sure I want to be part of any group having me as a member.
The 48 hour run should be interesting. Is it in Utah or somewhere else? Any plans to sleep or for mental fortitude like "when I start to hallucinate I'll have a Mountain Dew Baja Blast so I know I'm really out of my element."?
Flavio I've chatted with him. He was on a vacation then stealth posted about 6 miles of running on Garmin to keep his streak alive. I blame Russia and/or the following countries:
Ukraine
Iran
Sweden
Hungary
China
California (specifically Folsom and Sacramento)
The United Republic of Texas
Mexico
Canada, eh.
Heh, reminds me of the old "I wouldn't want to be a part of any club that would have me" line.
You must have the Kiwi version. In America we do things differently better.
Ash
Dorothea – I get the rationalisation but please honour the deal by taking the necessary time off now and get it right.
Steve – So far so good. Yes, Ballarat is new. The course is designed by Mona, it was to be the Comm Games course until we reneged on hosting. About the same elevation as Melbourne, two laps with shorter hills near the start and just after half. I was thinking of you when listening to IRP interview the Precision guy, glad you caught it. No guarantee but not a lot to lose giving it a go.
Fishy – Nice week, cold and all.
Flavio – Awesome 3km time trialing, and that you are out the other side of the over training/post-viral fatigue/whatever that was funk. I’m not diabetic, just interested and had the opportunity. I spend a decent amount of time consuming biochemistry, anatomy and physiology resources. Nothing to do with work, just because it’s fascinating. I looked up the cost and found a trial kit that included transmitter and 3* 10 day sensors for about $30 delivered. I have penciled in March 13 for a mile.
RP – Hang in there mate, things will turn.
MT – Well done on the 20:50, excellent progress.
I’m good at losing and gaining, a real rollercoaster over decades and wouldn’t recommend to anyone what I’ve done. Long term diet of mostly unprocessed foods is probably what gets you there sustainably.
Krash – It’ll be good to see what 48 hour training and racing looks like, in case I’m ever tempted.
Wcrunner – You’re building nicely, I have no problem at all with labelling 1:45+ as long.
Next: Ballarat, April 28, Pacing 3:50
Best: 5k 19:46 (Parkrun, 2016), 10k 40:37 (Track, 2022), Half 1:26:41 (2016), Full 3:00:23 (2021)