Road Racing & Training Thread: Week Ending 2/26/2023

M34, 5'10/160
Target Races: Tobacco Road Half (3/19) ~ sub 1:23 NYCM Q, Jersey City Marathon (4/21) ~ sub 3 BQ

Highest mileage week ever (or close) hitting 70. Bit misleading with two long runs working in, so I expect a week more around 50-60 upcoming (depends on LR timing). Still averaging near 60 for 5 weeks with my energy remaining good has me very encouraged. Probably still a little undertrained on workout length I think jecht and Sub-6:00 are correct. Will do a longer HM-pace effort this week (3x1.75 or 2x2.75).

M: 6.5M @8:01
TU: 18.0M @ 7:24, steady but not working too hard until I came back into the park. 3.9 miles uptempo at 7:30 on rolling terrain. Felt hard, but controlled.
W: 6.5M @ 8:03. Clearly recovered well off the long run as typically I'd go slower in this sort of run.
TH: 6.13 @ 8:58. Ran early part with wife at a slower pace.
F: 7.5 ft 5x1200T on Upper Rest with 1' rest. Averaged around 4:30. Ran under 6' pace when I had the wind/neutral, a little over 6' pace when going against. I probably should've gone lower res for this with a fair amount of tourists to dodge. Encouraged by this workout as I felt I could do another interval if needed. Hadn't felt that way on some recent workouts.
SA: 6.4R @ 8:15
SU: 19.2M @ 7:10 on Central Park then West Side Highway and back to Central Park. Plan was to run this whole run at a pretty good tempo. After a slow first mile (7:40), I settled into ~7:05ish pace effort as it felt warm (high 40s lots of sun). While running on the West Side highway I started hitting sub-7 miles and my suspicions were confirmed. BIG tailwind. With the sun going down and temps dropping to high 30s, this was gonna be rough. It was worse than I thought. I think it was around a 15-20mpw headwind I ran through for about 4 miles. Pace jumped up to the 7:15 range and then mid-7s as what little wind protection I had dissipated. Got somewhat of a breather returning to the park (major uphill, but some stops for traffic, no wind and had my second gel). I was recovered and hit some faster miles in the park just not having to deal with a gust in my face (7:04 uphill, 6:41 downhill, 6:54 uphill).

Did feel pretty wrecked after yesterday. Rough conditions and I think the wind took a fair bit out of me. Slept in today and feel pretty good. Going to take it super easy the next couple days and then a big HM-paced effort to prime me for the HM in 3 Sundays.

RunnerSam 100% agreed on the time & cost investment... especially considering the 3:1 bike to run ratio (or so I've heard) that costs me 3 hours per ride just to get a similar training affect that a 1 hour jog would provide. Not to mention the pre-ride prep time, charging of lights, airing of tires, traffic stops, safety, cleaning, maintenance, etc. that comes with it.

I won't get myself started on the $$$ as I've spent more on cycling gear (one time) than I have on running shoes/apparel/races combined since college. At least my wife doesn't have to worry about buying me any birthday or Christmas gifts for a few years. Its fun though, something different. More incentive for me to get back to my own playground.

Male, 30, 6’0", 125bs
PRs: 3K: 8:33 (2023) 5K: 14:37(2023) 5M: 24:28 (2022), Half Marathon: 69:22 (2022), Marathon: 2:23:58 (2022)
Next Races: Bockfest 5k, Project 13.1, Boston Marathon
Goals: Sub 67 at Project 13.1, Sub 2:22 at Boston

Monday: Off
Tuesday: 12 miles @ 7:19 avg
Wednesday: AM: 4.39 miles @ 7:23 avg l PM: 3 mile w/u, 4x 1k w/ 200 jog, 4x 400 w/ 200 jog recovery, 3 mile c/d
Thursday: AM: 6.10 miles @ 7:09 avg l 12.05 miles @ 7:07 avg
Friday: PM: 10.85 @ 7:08 avg
Saturday: AM:12 miles @ 7:27 avg l PM: 4.37 miles @ 6:51 avg
Sunday: 20 miles @ 6:33 avg
Total: 92.39 miles

Comments:

Wednesday:
Wednesday was the main workout for the week. My legs were still a bit tired from the weekend but I was able to run quickly possibly the best short workout I've run in years.
Ks: 3:01, 2:59, 2:56, 2:55
400's: 64.73, 64.71, 64:06, 62.92
I used my new pair of Adios Pro's for these and while they were super bouncy, I was pleasantly surprised at how they felt even at the 400s. My one complain with these are the tongue, or lack of padding on the tongue. Top of my foot was bruised for a couple days.

Sunday:
I ended up staying up later than I should've so the first about 12 or so miles was not fun at all. It was meant to be an easy to moderate long run w/ the goal of taking 400 calories throughout. Was able to accomplish that pretty easily. Last 6 miles: 6:09, 5:51, 5:46, 5:34, 5:33, 5:28. Felt easy with these trainers.

Didn't expect to hit my highest mileage week ever when I came into this week. I didn't come out of this week dead tired and it really just felt like I was doing my regular day to day. Big road 5K down in Cincinnati next. Excited to actually compete with what should be a strong field.

That seems to be an issue with all of Adidas' line-up. My work-around has been buying a pack of make-up sponges and tucking a sponge underneath the tongue at the trouble spot.

M27 6' 160 (55/1:59/4:12/8:25/15:00/31:03/1:08:31)

It was a bad week... I woke up with a bad back on Wednesday and couldn't do much the test of the week. Just two three mile runs and a bit of a bender to show for. Well, hopefully I can get things back on track. Reading this thread helps.

Sorry Seppo. Looked like you were just getting rolling. Per your comment last week I think after this cycle (end of March) I’m going to switch over to 800/1500 training.

I have (probably unrealistic hopes) of breaking my 10th grade 800 PR and frankly am just a bit burnt out from Marathon training. Now I need to figure out how an old dude gets his speed back without injuring himself.

JC - oof, sorry about the bathroom break

jecht - nice workouts

darkwave - Great progression run

sub6 - Racking up the T miles

RS - Good workout and LR

Allen - Consistent week

AFF - BIG BIG week. I did 8 hours this last week and thought that was a lot.

GNR - I've felt similarly about XC skiing the last 2-3 years. Sometimes need to switch things up. I also don't believe the 3-1 cycling-running conversion. If your average heart rate is the same I don't see why you wouldn't get a similar aerobic benefit from doing a 1hr bike and a 1hr run.

BaM - Impressive speed workout

Seppo - Hope the back is feeling better.

HHW - Jay Johnson has a stride progression that could help with easing into speed work

Glad people do these. Good Jay Johnson reference on the back end; I may look into him for strength advice and stretching.

Kind of an unintentional down week. Schedule didn't allow for a second workout or long run, but that's alright.

M - 8 easy

T - 7.5 with some speedwork.

2x600, 500, 400 off 90
400, 300, 200 off 2:00

1:44, 1:38, 82.0, 64.1
59.9, 43.8, 28.7

W - 9 with 4x 1600, 1x1200 off 75 seconds except before the last 1200 where I took 2:30.

4:58, 5:03, 4:58, 4:58, 3:41

T - Off

F - 8 easy to medium finishing with 2x 90, 60, 30 on, equal off. Just adding a little turnover to the run.

S - 8 easy

S - 10 easy

Must have been nice to see that 59.x

Damn you statfanatic for inspiring me to want to attempt a fast 400 now when I'm pretty sure I can't, I know shouldn't, and now have to resist the urge..... Nice workout btw.

Good point.

I believe it’s more for counting distance, because the speed is so different. Ex. 30mi bike = 10mi run. I personally replace one mile of running with 10min of cross training (elliptical or stationary bike typically)

Jcanon - Great half effort, especially only 6 months into training! Too bad you had to stop. I was once at a race with no bathrooms (an informal club race that was basically just a group run with bibs and a timer, so no one was expecting facilities). I planned ahead, but had to stop my warm up anyway and drive to a store to take care of business. I made it back in time for the start.
darkwave - Nice negative splits on your tempo.
GNR1 - I'm glad you're back and running pain-free.
THOUGHTSLEADER - Windy runs are rough! Nice job on your long run.
beers - Congrats on the huge 5k PR! I read your report on last week's thread. Great stuff. And way to follow it up with a big mileage week.

Male, 33
PRs: 2:14, 4:51, 16:46, 36:17, 1:19:48
Upcoming races: road mile on 3/4, indoor 3000 (maybe?) on 3/12, 10k on 4/2

M - Off
T - 4.3 @ 8:23
W - 6.0 @ 8:47 on the treadmill
Th - Off
F - 7.5 @ 7:32 including a mini tempo (2 miles in 5:57/5:56)
Sa - Off
Su - Off

Weekly Total: 17 miles
YTD Total: 337 miles

I took the week mostly off. I felt pretty beat up from my track meet and it was a busier week than usual in the non-running areas of my life, so it seemed best to rest.

Any jogging stroller recommendations? My wife and I are expecting our first kid in July so 2024 will probably feature a lot stroller miles. My wife has expressed a preference for the Guava Family Roam Crossover, but after perusing some other threads on here it seems like Thule and Bob might have the best options.

AFF - Just swimming for cross training for now, I dislike regular core/weights enough that I prefer to swim to work on the upper body. Yeah I definitely struggle with keeping weight on. Laundry isnt that bad in the summer/depending on how much you re-wear pants/jackets in the winter. (or shower in shortshorts)
GNR1 - I listed the costs associated with the IM I did in September, I need to go back and sum them all up. I had pretty intense desire to upgrade the bike afterwards but I managed to holdback.
Seppo - Sorry to hear about the back
hhw - Not sure if you got any useful advice from your post on the other forum. Stat can probably assist you. I would still run moderate mileage, do ~20min tempos weekly, touch on speed 2-3 times a week (8x100m strides, 4x150s, hill sprints, 4x200) and do one more robost speed workout. I have not had much success at that distance though. I would guess after 4-8 weeks you would plateau or start to go backwards.
Cycling - I'm not sure of comparing sports but 90-120 min seems to be the sweet spot on the bike outside of long weekend rides.

notarobot - Congrats! No recommendations from me but Im sure others can chime in

Congrats! I have nothing to compare it to, but we have a BOB Revolution SE that we’ve been pretty happy with. Have never done a workout with it, but it’s been great for logging easy miles on mostly flat bike trails.

One recommendation you’ve probably heard is to look at used strollers. We got ours from goodbuygear, and they seem to be pretty honest and transparent about the condition. (E.g., they list any little scuff, and canceled my initial order when they found a problem that hadn’t been listed.) I was a bit wary about what I was seeing on EBay.