CJ Albertson workout: 27 miles "cruising" at 5:09 pace

Ya'll need to stop talking like you know what's best for a go at top 3 with certainty.

Is this aggressive training? You have very limited data to compare to because there aren't many contenders posting their training publicly. But 3 weeks is plenty of time to recover in my opinion.

GPS on a loop with lots of turns can give a few seconds per mile.

Probably was wearing the Nike's as well...

FFF wrote:

Woodward has "undulating hills?" That's a new one.

And this is easily the dumbest workout I've ever heard of. Albertson's 2:12 in Atlanta just vaporized. DNF trials day.

Yep. He set himself up for a “could have” . Maybe won’t DNF, overcooking himself, most likely to definitely.

You shouldn't take anything from heart rate readings unless you know it's from a chest strap, especially at harder efforts.

It's not how I would have one of my athletes approach an upcoming marathon, but I do have some respect for an individual willing to try something unconventional to try to progress forward.

great endurance and durability, not enough speed.

off to the ultra world with you.

Dude is the George Kyte classic champ. Put some respect to the name

CJ Albertson Summit Member

Today at 7:01 AM

Heart rate data is still way off.

11.55 mi 7:05 /mi 1h 21m

James Gunter

James Gunter For realz! God knows the LetRun.com nuts are all over your heart rate on that 27 mile workout. Good job

5 hours ago

would you people stop analyzing people's heartrates from strava? my watch has the optical HRM and it's probably reliable about 15% of the time. Has never been reliable during hard efforts or races. Not once.

did people not see that the day after his marathon PB he ran 9 miles at 6:07 closing in sub-5:10s? not gonna have any issues recovering from a mere 27mi moderate run (heck, he did a 2mi cooldown)

and people say...oh, he will only run 2:15 at the Trials...well 2:15 might get you top ten I'd guess. I'd bet he runs around 2:13, and I'd bet he beats Walmsley who we all seem to agree can run 2:13 at Atlanta.

he also does not wear the vaporflies. he wears the brooks prototype.

Aside from reed, most of you are all idiots. He will finish top 5. He will threaten for a team if not outright make it. Quote this. Bookmark this. I didn’t know anyone else knew about him prior to CIM, aside from the indoor marathon. He is going to be one of America’s next great marathoners. Dead serious. 4 years from now he will be a sub 2:10 guy consistently on any course. If I’m wrong after the trials, screw it. I’ll stop posting on this board permanently.

reed wrote:

would you people stop analyzing people's heartrates from strava? my watch has the optical HRM and it's probably reliable about 15% of the time. Has never been reliable during hard efforts or races. Not once.

The absolute HR from a watch may not be accurate, but it does tell you something relative to other data from the same watch. If you look at the HR data, he got his BPM up into the 180s over the first 13 miles, spent miles 14-21 at 190-193, then backed down to the 180s for 2 miles, and then close to 190 for the last 4. So it looks like just off race effort for 13, hammer for 8, back off slightly for 2 (maybe after a short rest), and then hammer the last 4. So 12 total miles at race effort off of 13 + 2 miles at just off race effort. It will be very interesting to see how this approach to training works out for him on race day.

reed wrote:

would you people stop analyzing people's heartrates from strava? my watch has the optical HRM and it's probably reliable about 15% of the time. Has never been reliable during hard efforts or races. Not once.

did people not see that the day after his marathon PB he ran 9 miles at 6:07 closing in sub-5:10s? not gonna have any issues recovering from a mere 27mi moderate run (heck, he did a 2mi cooldown)

and people say...oh, he will only run 2:15 at the Trials...well 2:15 might get you top ten I'd guess. I'd bet he runs around 2:13, and I'd bet he beats Walmsley who we all seem to agree can run 2:13 at Atlanta.

he also does not wear the vaporflies. he wears the brooks prototype.

Why are you adamant about defending this guy? People are latching onto "moderate" runs like this one (I use quotes because it's not a moderate effort no matter how you spin it) are outside the norm. We've all seen workout warriors who can't perform when race day comes, far more often than we've seen an insane workout lead to a breakthrough race.

He ran low 5:00 pace the day after his PR marathon? This tells me either 1) he's having "help" recovering from hard efforts or 2) he doesn't understand how recovery works and will soon end up injured/trashed/whatever . Physiologically, there's no reason to run so fast the day after what should be the hardest race of your life.

You say he might run 2:13 at the trials? In my book that's a failure if he's able to run a 2:15 as a "moderate" run in practice.

Former Sub 14:00 wrote:

Aside from reed, most of you are all idiots. He will finish top 5. He will threaten for a team if not outright make it. Quote this. Bookmark this. I didn’t know anyone else knew about him prior to CIM, aside from the indoor marathon. He is going to be one of America’s next great marathoners. Dead serious. 4 years from now he will be a sub 2:10 guy consistently on any course. If I’m wrong after the trials, screw it. I’ll stop posting on this board permanently.

Wow that is pretty bold. Not impossible, but bold.

People getting upset about the workout - remember, the point of training is not to have the largest difference possible between race and training effort. The point is to be ready on the day.

CJ has repeatedly said that he knows his training is atypical, but he loves long fast runs. We will find out how effective they are.

I just hope that these workouts give him confidence to hammer from the gun in Atlanta. Whether that means he makes the team or not, it would certainly lead to some carnage at the front and could be really fun to watch. He could be the one who prevents everyone from jogging for the first 20 miles because they are so afraid of the hilly course.

What do people know about this guy? (I was too lazy to listen to the podcasts that someone linked to. )

Fron Googling his name, it looks like he went to the same high school as Cabada, graduated from ASU a couple of years ago where he was an okay steepler/5000 guy, and is married to Seth Totten's sister.

Brogan Austin ran a 2:30:00 26+ miler a few days ago as well. Honest question from a non-elite: What's the point of these efforts this close to the trials? I get running your last long run maybe this past weekend, and I could even be convinced to accept you running 26 miles. However, I don't get why you'd run the whole thing within 30 seconds of your MP (or faster).

My prediction: Both those guys will be looking at those runs on Strava state-side while 3 other guys are running in the Olympics.

peekay wrote:

[...] it would certainly lead to some carnage at the front and could be really fun to watch.

In the spirit of competition, I would love to see this play out - 10-15 guys in that lead pack running with heart and reckless abandon and watching them peel off the pack as they crash and burn through 15 or 20 miles. This would be a beautiful contrast to what we often see on the track where guys settle in easy for several laps before hammering the final one or two.

This scenario would also raise the probability you see an unexpected result where somebody randomly is feeling in top form that day and is able to hold a pace that would normally obliterate them.

i don't get why they do this wrote:

Brogan Austin ran a 2:30:00 26+ miler a few days ago as well. Honest question from a non-elite: What's the point of these efforts this close to the trials? I get running your last long run maybe this past weekend, and I could even be convinced to accept you running 26 miles. However, I don't get why you'd run the whole thing within 30 seconds of your MP (or faster).

My prediction: Both those guys will be looking at those runs on Strava state-side while 3 other guys are running in the Olympics.

NAZ Elite does this kind of stuff too. Faubs ran a 2:45 depletion marathon 4 or 5 weeks out from Boston. Just building strength/time on your feet/learning how to burn energy. Austin feels more reasonable because it takes less out of you to run :45 seconds/mile off of your MP. That's like me being a 6:00 pace marathoner doing 26.2 @ 6:45. That wouldn't be outrageous at all four weeks out.

I don't get the hate on CJ tho. You see Kipchoge emphasize 30-40km "tempo" runs. Maybe it works for him. I would like to see him do well.

i don't get why they do this wrote:

Brogan Austin ran a 2:30:00 26+ miler a few days ago as well. Honest question from a non-elite: What's the point of these efforts this close to the trials? I get running your last long run maybe this past weekend, and I could even be convinced to accept you running 26 miles. However, I don't get why you'd run the whole thing within 30 seconds of your MP (or faster).

My prediction: Both those guys will be looking at those runs on Strava state-side while 3 other guys are running in the Olympics.

1) Brogan’s run was closer to 40 seconds per mile slower than his MP.

2) what a ridiculous comparison. Someone runs a long run over 26 miles within two minutes of their marathon PR and someone else runs their long run 20 minutes slower and you think the reason they both won’t make the team is because of their fast long runs? What a clown.

NERunner053 wrote:

I don't get the hate on CJ tho.

Criticism <> hate.

Parsec wrote:

Yea assuming accurate HR data, lol at the use of the word cruising. 180bpm avg is not cruising. Heck it wouldn't really be cruising with a 220 maxHR.

If that HR was more like 150 or 160...then I'd say different story.

Rupp ran 20 miles at 4:52 pace with his HR under 150 the whole time a few years ago in training.

I do not know anything about HR readings and training, except that watches almost never give accurate readings.