Competitive Jerks Racing and Training - 2023 (Read 574 times)

MMerk- IMHO you are clear sailing to shoot for a 2:55 (weather permitting) with your speed and consistent training only outside factors could slow you down!!

 

Dwave- those are 2 nice workouts!  It must be difficult to have to manage a busy track.  I'm luck that both my local and work tracks are lightly used during the times I run so I'm often running alone.

 

Steve- Good luck in your upcoming race!  A fast field should help pull you along.

 

Flavio- Hope you fell better soon!  Sucks to miss a scheduled race but there will be others

 

Solid week back after the recovery week.  I was very pleased with the workout Wednesday and I managed to get strides into 2 other runs.

 

 

I'd be happy with that Wednesday workout too .  Very nice.

As for the track - yup, it can get crowded.  On Tuesday mornings if the weather is good, we'll frequently have between 40-50 or more people running on the track (two or three teams training simultaneously plus a lot of individuals.

It generally works OK - it's understood that lane 1 is for fast running with some spillover into lane 2; lanes 2 and 3 are for passing, and then lanes 4-8 are for jogging, with drills and walking also being OK in the outer lanes.  One also has to be a bit flexible with recoveries, though - starting each interval is essentially merging onto a highway, and so one may have to cut the recovery a bit short or stretch it out so as to be able to fit into a gap in track traffic.

Wednesday morning was a bit challenging - there were only about 10 people actually trying to do running workouts on the track.  But there were also two different boot camps trying to do workouts that included jogging some laps.  And then the girl's field hockey team had practice on the infield but was also straying into lane 1 occasionally.  And then the girls and boys crosscountry teams each showed up (about 40 kids each) and they stretched across the entire width of the track doing drills, and that killed my 200s.  It was annoying, but it was what it was.

The track is a high school track that they allow others to use during limited hours (have to be off of it by 8:30 am). However, in the last weeks of August, the high school teams will often also have their practices during those limited public hours (they'll start at 5:30 or 6 am).  Complaining about it will only result in the public hours being cut back even further, so we just tolerate the chaos.  Once the weather cools down a bit, the high schoolers start their practices later, and it gets a bit easier to navigate the track.

Steve - I think you'll be able to break 40 even if your day is just "decent", but definitely if it's "good". I'm looking forward to that race result, you've been putting in the work.

Flavio - I'm sorry to hear about all those issues hitting at once, though I'm glad you say you're doing better and hope you recover quickly.

Merkle - Hooray for tying weekly high mileage! Hitting ~6 flat for tempo miles and you should certainly be in (sub)2:55 shape given accommodating weather.

DWave - "just" two workouts. Nice. I hope you get the meds fine-tuned, without any more "definitely wrong"s in there.
I figure for my next trip (maybe two trips) to DC I'll bring the hybrid road/trail shoes.

Dave - Killer week!

I hit a new 7-day high of 118 on Saturday owing to moving the previous week's LR to Sunday. If I get all my planned miles this week I'll be within ~2 miles of pulling even with where I should be for my completely arbitrary mileage goal for the year, with enough time to pad it so that the taper and recovery from my race don't put me behind a ton.
My coach posted a run on Strava a week or two ago in which he mentioned he had also been researching double threshold runs. I replied "you had my curiosity, but now you have my attention", and now I have a starter double threshold session Wednesday! We'll see how this goes, though I like the idea.

Weekly for period: From: 08/14/2023 To 08/20/2023

Totals: Time: 15:16:25 - 🦅Imperial: 104.43 mi - Metric: 168.02 km

I hit a new 7-day high of 118 on Saturday owing to moving the previous week's LR to Sunday.

When I first read this, I thought you were talking about the heat index. Excellent work if your rolling 7-day mileage is higher than the heat index in August!

Can you please update a couple things on the thread race list for me? 20:39 from the 5k in April and DNS for the 10 Nautical Miler in June. Add the two races I am targeting PR's during my race series. Sept 10th MRTC 10k with a goal of 43:45 and Nov 4th MRTC Half with a goal of 1:35:30.

Flavio - bummer on the DNS.  Hope you are up and at it again soon.

Steve - I agree that sub-40 is on the cards.  Fingers crossed for good weather.

mmerkle - congrats on the big week!!

Darkwave - that island looks like a super fun place to run!!  Big enough that running laps wouldn't feel too repetitive either.

Dave - yeah IDK what it is about long runs but they can sometimes end up a bit of a grind, even at slower paces.  I still generally get more beat up by a 2 hr long run than most workouts.

Keen - a big week by your standards is like two decent weeks by mine lol.

Fishy - sounds like you're well and truly ready to get back at it.

Mikkey - average pace over a week is pretty much a completely useless measure, so I'd ignore it.

 He’s a Walton

If Grandpa Mikkey would make his RA log visible to the public, it would be some nice insight for everyone to view his training...

I have cut nearly an hour off my marathon time, but my average pace has remained remarkably unchanged.

(total since mid-2012)

I wish I had a faster easy pace, only to get runs done more quickly. But otherwise I don't worry about it, and rarely look at my watch during easy runs - as they say, easy is an effort, not a pace. In my group runs, most of the people I run with at easy pace have slower race times. Some of the "faster" people (based on easy pace) aren't that much faster (based on race times).

Rehab update: Still working with the PT and a the gym to improve the range of motion for my knee. I'm walking normally, but still can't get to a running stride. Some of my walks of 2-3 miles are on hilly trails; that helps exercise the knee. There's actually a quad muscle visible on the injured side now; it doesn't quite pop up lke the other side if I contract it, but from completely detached, that's progress. But damn, it's slow!

MMerkle, if I've got this right you ran a 1:01 10-mile early this year, then a 2:59 marathon for your first sub-3. The equally trained equivalent marathon time for that 10-mile would be in the 2:51-2:53 range, but you didn't have the miles in to be equally trained. Now, with 70 mpw through the core of the marathon cycle, you're certainly approaching "equally trained", and I'd bet that with another shot at that 10-mile race of your current training, you might go sub-60.
Assuming decent conditions on the day, I think you can go with confidence to get the (sub-) 2:55. 

Flavio -- Yeah, the 2 hour runs will get easier. I expect some of them should be all easy to get you over that tired feeling for the final 20 minutes. Not every long run needs quality miles in it.

Mark - Nice win, and I do enjoy a good race report like that.

Steve - Run well at the 10k, make it a good day.

Cal Good job putting Mikkey at ease with his future win!

Mr MattM - I agree with Darkwave, once a CJ. always a C.J. It'll be great if you can keep running and competing. I remember some of your "stupid running things"; I seem to recall 5 marathons in 5 days... or was it 6? 
While Moose Mug times get slower with age, they definitely don't get easier. AG% for a Moose Mug at 45 is 80.7%; at 55 it goes to 82% and at 60, to 83.5%. At my age, 91%.  That's why I've been telling RP to get after the Moose Mug now. 

Speaking of CJ's, I noticed that cinnamongirl won her 50-54 age group at the Falmouth Road Race (7 mile) by about 3 minutes. Through its 50 years running, Falmouth has always been incredibly competitive, and not an easy course. This year, Wesley Kiptoo won the Men's race in 31:08 -- that pace would be 27:38 for a 10K. Hellen Obiri went through 10k in 31:00 and beat Emily Sisson by 21 seconds in the Women's race.