Forums >Racing>2024 The Waltons: Racing & Training Thread
JamesD
Mark - Even though I’ve never run a marathon or a hard trail race (the only one I’ve run was fairly tame, but I still fell on my face), I’m sure the trail race could be harder in some ways. A few years ago I ran for an hour on a mountain biking trail that an acquaintance had developed in a state park. I tried to keep a steady pace, but all the twists and turns and dips and rises and rocks and roots came at me like I was in a video game with a new threat every couple of seconds. Just mentally exhausting, as well as risky with all the potential for twisting ankles, wrenching knees, etc.
I had another so-so week in which I did enough not to lose much fitness but didn’t gain any. Felt pleasingly strong on Sunday, but cold weather and conflicts kept me on the treadmill for the rest of the week. Took over as president of the board of a local tree-planting group on Tuesday after 9 years on the board, and we had a planting on Friday. Between that and the refugee effort (both of which are fun and rewarding), it’s almost like being back at work as far as having things running through my mind 24/7. I assume it’s not a coincidence that my heart rate has been 5-10 bpm higher than usual on my treadmill runs. Things should calm down after a while.
Sun - 8.6 miles in park PM @ 8:20
Mon - 8 miles very slow TM (36:30 AM/30PM/30 PM) + 0:40 walk breaks/6 mins
Tues - off, too busy
Weds - 6 miles very slow TM (72:25) + 0:40 walk breaks/6 mins
Thurs - 82 minutes pool running
Fri - 8 miles very slow TM (66:25PM/30 PM) + 0:40 walk breaks/6 mins
Sat - 10 miles very slow TM (78:30AM/42 PM) + 0:40 walk breaks/6 mins
Total - 40.6 miles
YTD - 39.2 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
Waltons ThreadLord
Rough few days for me. I got a call at 2:00am Thursday that my mother was being taken by ambulance to the hospital with very low blood pressure and barely awake. By 5:00am she was conscious, knew we were all there, and could talk a bit, but the damage her organs suffered from the low blood pressure was fatal. At 11:00 that night she was pronounced dead. I'm grateful I got to see her that morning and that we'd been able to spend the holidays together. I'm thankful my running partner helped get me out on the road these past two days. Forgive me for skipping the shout-outs.
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: Scotch Plains 5k, 6/12; Firecracker 4-miler, 7/4
Upcoming Races
01/27 dpschumacher -SJU Indoor Alumni Meet 3k
Part of TLC
Fred - like I told you elsewhere. I hope you find time for yourself these days.
Everybody else - I'm not gone from this thread, just feeling like s&%"# since Monday. No activity to speak of except cursing the bug that does this to me. I'll be back. Stay healthy.
Don't hurry - next AG will start 2026
Fred - I know I've commented elsewhere, but condolences on the loss of your mother. It must've been a real shock, but at least you got to farewell her.
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"
Really sorry to hear that Fred.
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 "
Watson nice week. My daughter felt her 1st earthquake yesterday in Wellington.
Piwi - Won't be her last one, either!
Fred - Very sorry to hear of your loss. but so good that you could be with her at the end.
Mark - The Goat is indeed brutal. Many a friend has come back from that race bloodied and bruised. Great work getting it done!
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
Hot Weather Complainer
Fred - Deepest condolences on the loss of your Mum. Nice work on getting out for a couple of runs, you definitely need to do what you need to do at times like this which may be skipping a few days but also may be sticking to your routine.
My week - A pretty solid one with some very warm weather. I feel like we've had a couple of pretty average summers but this one is turning it on for sure.
I had a gig on Friday night so my main session for the weekend was yesterday, a steady long run slower than marathon pace but in the same zone. It was pretty warm, 27C and I ran at the worst time, about 11am so high sun and no wind making it feel warmer. This was a good day to hopefully avoid my cramp issues that I get in this zone as early as 25km in races. I took 2 gels and planned one pass of the car to get a 700ml bottle containing 2 doses of Endura electrolyte + carb drink. In hindsight I should have planned on 2 passes, I lost a ton of fluid on this run. Interestingly, I felt the same soreness in my inner left quad that I felt at Selwyn that then led to cramp. I first felt it as early as 10km and thought this may be a tough day with the lack of sleep and the heat. It did give me an opportunity to practice my mental skills - I had a ton of negative thoughts, from very early. At halfway I was thinking it was unlikely I'd finish the prescribed distance. But I hung in there and kept ticking off the kilometres and the further I got the better I felt mentally and I noted that energy wise I was feeling good and the sore spot wasn't getting worse. There was very little shelter and at about 25km it started feeling really hot and I went from feeling cooked to almost shivering a couple of times. At 27km I felt the quad get a bit worse and thought cramp was imminent - I backed off the pace just a touch for a couple of minutes then felt fine again, with no real hint of any cramp again.
So a really good one to get under the belt, hopefully without too much damage done. My legs pulled up fine but the heat had some impact. I was a bit lightheaded and moving very slowly for the rest of the day. I had 4 litres of powerade and water before I felt hydrated again. Even with all that I felt very dry when I woke up this morning. Some lessons learned on planning my nutrition better on warm days.
<caption>Weekly Grid</caption>
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
Fred- Very sorry to hear about your mother, but it's good that you were able to be with her. I hope getting out with your RP helps you emotionally as well as physically. Don't push the runs too hard for a while, because it's common (at least for me) to power through on adrenaline for a few days after something like that, and then to exhale and get sick.
Mother of Cats
Fred - I am so sorry to read this. There is never enough time, but I am grateful that you were able to see her that morning and during the holidays. I wish there were words that could ease your pain and grief for a moment.
Rough few days for me. I got a call at 2:00am Thursday that my mother was being taken by ambulance to the hospital with very low blood pressure and barely awake. By 5:00am she was conscious, knew we were all there, and could talk a bit, but the damage her organs suffered from the low blood pressure was fatal. At 11:00 that night she was pronounced dead. I'm grateful I got to see her that morning and that we'd been able to spend the holidays together. I'm thankful my running partner helped get me out on the road these past two days. Forgive me for skipping the shout-outs. Date Type Distance Duration Pace Temp 1/15/2024 Easy 5.0 mi 52:33 10:34 27 1/16/2024 Easy 1.2 mi 14:00 11:18 25 1/16/2024 Easy 4.4 mi 47:06 10:44 25 1/20/2024 Easy 5.4 mi 53:31 9:55 19 1/21/2024 Easy 6.5 mi 1:06:41 10:14 16
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.
Josh ugh I hope you are back to 100 % soon.
Steve that's was a very impressive longrun in that heat. Good confidence booster for marathon racing. You are on another level as a result of a couple of years of great mileage. When you say gig, do you play in a band ?
Hash they've been saying Wellington is due the big one since at least I was living there in 1978
Mark/Steve I saw some of the Potts classic on YouTube and James Preston I think ran a 1.45 high 800m with Sam Tanner pacing till 600m. Still didn't knock off Peter Snells time !
piwi - Yep I heard about that one, really impressive even if not at Snell's level.
Definitely not me playing in the band, just attending and having a few too many brews and not enough sleep.
I was again thinking about race day towards the end of this run and thinking I could push further and faster if I had to. That said, when Autumn arrives it will be great. It's been quite a hot summer so far, although a nice cool change is coming tomorrow.
The calculations on the next big Wellington quake are based on a sample size of 3! It will be a horror show when it happens though, all transport links likely to be knocked out.
My week got pretty derailed by weather. Usually it snows and I don't have to work (perk of working with school programs), I can run nextra, but since no treadmill, had to do what I could outside. The latter part of the week has been spent crossing my fingers I don't get covid from Mr. HCK.
Monday 7 easy (snow) pm strength trainign
Tuesday 2.5 tried running on the school field in the snow, that was painfully slow
Wednesday am 25 min spin + strength training pm 5.2 with strides
Thursday rest
Friday am 25 mn spin pm strength
Saturday 8 easy
Sunday 3 easy + strength
Fred, good that your family could all be there with your mom.
Halfcrazy nice job especially with the snow. It's always interesting with our opposing seasons. We are complaining about heat and you guys snow
Steve it's going to be great to see how you go this year. It's inspiring just looking at your training.
Both my running partners are down right now. One with a stuck kidney stone and one recovering from a testicular cancer operation. Both guys about 40 years old.
Hash - I didn't come out too badly. Managed to scrape most of the hair off the back of one leg when I slipped on a boardwalk section, but apart from that and a chunk out of one finger, I'm pretty much intact.
Kathi - bummer on the weather. Much as I love snow, I'm super glad we never have to deal with ice here.
Piwi - I need an excuse to come down to Papamoa so you have a running buddy again lol. Tanner's pacing for that 800 was bloody good for a 1500m guy!
James - yeah the mental aspect of it is very hard work. I was only out there for 3 hours and I'm just incredulous to think about ultra runners who will do 12-24 hours+ and have to stay focused the whole time because missing one rock or tree root could be the end of their race.