We are now using a monthly format, post April weeks 1st-7th, 8th-14th, 15th-21st and 22nd-28th here.
We are now using a monthly format, post April weeks 1st-7th, 8th-14th, 15th-21st and 22nd-28th here.
Male, 30, 6'4", 150 lbs
Races: Marathon 4/14/24
Mn - 11 @ 7:20s
Tu - Off (End 95 day streak)
Wd - 6.25 @ 7:40s
Th - 7.25 @ 7:30s
Fr - 11 @ 7:30s
Sa - AM: Gravel Bike 17mi, PM: 8.5 @ 7:40s
Su - 16 @ 7:45s
Total - 60
Notes: Attempted a workout on Wednesday but checked my pace 2/3mi in and it was 6:20 so I stopped, ran a little extra and went home. Another week of many rainy runs (and one avoided Tuesday). Marathon week, I'll be leaning into the pacing rather than the racing, I hoped that some bit of fitness would come together but there is a non-zero chance that I cant hold 6:17 pace for the first mile (if my workouts tell me anything). I've managed to out perform my expectations at the last two marathons I raced (Boston, Philly), so If I can do that again I think I can get through 16-18 at 6:17 pace then come in around 2:53. We will see!
Thanks for creating the thread RS! You never know, will be interesting to see how you feel as the race goes on.
M35, 5'10, 155
Upcoming: Boston 4/15
SBs: 5:08 (hilly mile)/23:31 (4-miler)/1:19:53 PB (NYC Half)
Coming out of NYC Half, my quads were pretty wrecked from the hills and concrete. I took a day off, but ignored it a bit too much and ended up with a wonky runner's knee after a decent workout and long run. Fortunately, I was going on vacation as it was and where I went they had an ARC trainer (think Parker Valby) that I could use for X-training. It disrupted my training for a couple of weeks, but I've been good to go since March 30. Don't think I lost a ton of fitness, thanks to it resolving quickly.
M: 11.2 ft. 2x2.5mi tempo with 1' rest(6:41 pace and then 6:24, and this was done in the heat which could help me out with forecast for Boston looking hot)
T: 5.8R
W: OFF ~ Travel red-eye
TH: 7.2 ft 3x1.2mi w/ 1' rest (Paces of 6:17 ~ headwind, 6:26 (featuring 180-degree turn), and 6:08 ~ tailwind
FR: 4.7R
SA: 6.1E
SU: 6.9 ft. 2 loops of lower Central Park Res (1.67 miles) in 6:18 and 6:21 then a half mile @ 6:13. Gave myself 90" rest. Pretty quick on slower surface than roads here
M: 9.1R
Taking today off, light workout tmw/Thursday, Saturday off to do the Boston pop-ups and stick to walking. Monday race, very excited though it's looking toasty.
Male, 55, 5'7, 141 lbs
Short term: Training for 4/21 10km at VDOT 48
Longer term: Get back to VDOT 50 for a December marathon PR
Current Level: VDOT 48
I think I didn’t post last week, and I’m “late” posting this week, which describes pretty much the past two weeks. If I was a baseball player, I’d be “in between” at the plate, and none of the bounces are going my way.
First, it’s starting to get hot again and there’s that depressing few weeks where you can still hit paces, but they feel really hard, and then suddenly you can’t hit the paces without your heart rate snapping your chest strap in two. Ugh. Oh, and then the earth shook wicked bad for wicked long.
Thursday: 3 x 5 minutes at goal 10k pace. Felt way way too hard.
Sunday: 18k with 10 x 1600 (400 Threshold/1200 Zone 2). I’ve done this a couple of times and I really like this workout. It feels like a good marathon workout, though, rather than a 10k workout.
OK, so I’m 10 days out from my goal race and I’m heading out in about an hour to do my last hard work of this cycle.
Lots of people lacing up this Patriots Day weekend. Looking forward to spectating online. Go get after it!
RunRinceRepeat 41 6ft 164 Comeback from multi year layoff this is the
Just update what I been up to. Just Base Training this is my build up last few weeks since got over the flu.
MPW 50-60-40-65-70 (this week)
Week 14 this week. week 15 will be 75 ish and that will be peak summer mileage 70-80mpw
Hope everyone is running fast and healthy
Sam - good luck on Saturday! Being better at racing than workouts is the way to go.
ThoughtsLeader - seems like that knee was just a blip and you should be good to go. Good luck on Monday!
Coach Jeff - you've had to deal with a lot recently, between weather and earthquakes. Good luck with today's workout. I'm curious - what was the recovery on the 10x1600? That workout looks interesting (though I'm sure I'd lose count of the 1600s....
RRR - nice buildup of miles over the past few weeks.
Female, 49, 5'4", 104
Lifetime/Masters PRs 5:25/18:51/38:56/1:02:28/1:24:08/2:57:42
Recent best times: 5K in 21:08, 10 miles in 1:10:19, half-marathon in 1:33:20, Marathon in 3:20:29
Upcoming races: Boston Marathon (April)
45 miles running, 1000 yards swimming, and 90 minutes pool-running.
M: 90 minutes pool-running and streaming yoga.
T: 10 miles with some random strides. Sports massage in evening.
W: 10 miles, including a track workout of 2K, 3x1200, 2x200 in 9:24, 5:23, 5:18, 5:16, 52, and 52 (2:2x-2:3x recovery between each).
Th: 6.5 miles very easy (10:10) on trails plus some leg strengthwork; streaming Pilates in evening.
F: Upper body weights/core and 9 miles very easy (9:15) plus drills and strides.
Sa: 9.5 miles including a 6400m track tempo in 28:20 (7:16/7:07/7:04/6:54) followed by leg strengthwork.
Su: 1000 yards swimming.
I bailed on the Tuesday workout because I was having a bad day, and my legs were just too stiff to move fast. A sports massage that night helped stuff calm down a lot, and a second try at a track workout on Wednesday morning went much better despite the fact I was running in a gale.
Because I ran the Tuesday track workout on Wednesday, I pushed the Friday tempo workout back to Saturday, which ended up being a ridiculously windy day. My tempo was slightly slower than I would have liked, but I'm fairly certain that the wind was costing me at least a second or two each lap.
I spent a lot of time on my feet on Sunday cheering at the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler, so I skipped running that day and swam instead. Managed to do 2x50 yards in 46 and 45 seconds, so I was excited about that (not fast for a real swimmer; fast for me).
Thanks darkwave I agree, and good luck to you too! Weather seems to be improving and decent. Some tail/crosswind and a high of 65 (not humid), I'll be OK with that. For those looking to track I believe my bib # is 6005, do not be alarmed by a conservative start!
Most recently:
400 at 7:15/mile
1200 at 8:45/mile
So it's a continuous run, above MP for me and then pulling back to well below MP, but in cooler weather the 1200 could be faster. I run by pace, but I'm watching the HR, too. I want to keep the paces consistent, so I set my 1200 pace according to how well my HR recovers (hopefully a lot) in the first few sets, knowing that by the 7th set, the Threshold pace will be creeping above my "high Threshold" HR and the 1200 "zone 2 pace" will require a "low Threshold" HR. So in warmer weather, I sacrifice pace on the 1200, but I'm getting in a lot of threshold "effort" work.
And I program it all into the watch ahead of time, so it tickles my wrist and and keeps count for me.
Very interesting, Coach ROC. Thanks for the explanation!
***
Female, 49, 5'4", 104
Lifetime/Masters PRs 5:25/18:51/38:56/1:02:28/1:24:08/2:57:42
Recent best times: 5K in 21:08, 10 miles in 1:10:19, half-marathon in 1:33:20, Marathon in 3:20:29
Upcoming races: Boston Marathon (April)
36 miles running
M: 8 miles very easy (9:17).
T: 8 miles with a track workout of 6x800 in 3:32, 3:30, 3:24, 3:21, 3:22, 3:20 (recoveries of 2:3x-2:5x in between).
W: 6 miles (9:21) plus drills and two strides, followed by upper body weights/core.
Th: 6 miles easy (9:07) plus drills and two strides; sports massage and streaming Pilates in afternoon.
F: Off for travel
Sa: 4 miles very easy (9:40) in morning; para-athlete classification in afternoon.
Su: 4 miles very easy (9:30) plus two relaxed strides in morning, yoga in afternoon.
Last week before Boston. I was officially classified as a para-athlete on Saturday (category T36) and will be competing in that category tomorrow, meaning that I start at 9:50. Bib # is P156 if anyone is tracking.
The whole para-athlete classification process is very detailed and very structured and serious. Believe me, they do not just hand these things out. I'll probable write more about it at some point if people are interested.
Boston people! Woooohoooo! Have a wicked good day!
Male, 30, 6'4", 150 lbs
4/8/24 - 4/14/24
Mn - 8 @ 7:05s
Tu - 5k in 18:55, 6 Strides + WU/WD = 8
Wd - 6.25 @ 7:05s
Th - 1600 800 400 + WU/WD = 6 (reps 6 min pace)
Fr - 4 @ 8:10s
Sa - 3.75 @ 7:40s
Su - Delaware Coastal Marathon in 2:52:05
Total - 63
Notes: Tempo and strides felt great on Tuesday, Thursday didn't quite feel as good but probably because I slept poorly during the first half of the week.
As for the race, it played out pretty similar to how I thought it would but I ran a little slower in the middle miles than expected and a little quicker in the later than I thought I would. I was trying to pace my friend and I ran with him the first 10 miles, he had to stop for the bathroom. I had to decide to wait or to keep going and give him someone to chase and chose to continue. He caught me a number of miles later and again had to stop for the bathroom. At this point I figured I wouldn't be able to keep up if I waited so I kept going and he passed me around 19. He was having a rough day and I passed him around 24. A trickle of people passed me throughout the race since our original goal was 2:45 pace (see post 1 of thread). A few longer gravel sections which slowed the pace down, maybe 8 miles total.
Aid stations every two miles which was nice. I got water from them after skipping the first few, ate Maurten Gel at 5, 11 and 17. If I was running anywhere close to PR pace I would have had another at 22 but didnt want to and fuel wasnt the issue. Probably had 7 SaltStick FastChews throughout. Had a banana, some pretzles and a Maurten 320 bottle before the race. Temp was 48 at start and ~high 50s at (my) finish.
First 10 in 1:03:25, next in 1:06:48, last 10k in 41:49
Mile by mile - 6:14 :17 :19 :21 :17 :22 :18 :20 :22 :23 :23 :27 :23 :32 :30 :26 :40 :37 :50 :57 :54 7:01 7:02 6:53 :36 :44 :10 (0.33)
Miles ~4-8 were gravel so the effort was probably the same as the first 3. Some of those 6:50s and low 7s were also gravel, once I got off of it I sped up (see 6:36), had some water/electrolyte related quad pain to slow me down in mile 25, had water, then sped up for the last bit again.
Fun day but I wouldn't advise running a marathon untrained.
Coach Jeff - Good luck in the 10k this weekend! Tough training in that weather but goodjob getting the workouts in.
RRR - Getting back to it!
Darkwave - Saw you on the telly! Not sure what you think about your race, the last 5k looked pretty rough. It was absolute carnage out there for the ~30 people that I tracked
Thoughtsleader - I did not see you on the telly, Looks like you had a pretty similar race as I did but on a hotter day and harder course.
Darkwave - love the 8 8 6 6 4 4 taper week!
Yes, nice race RS! I had a lot of fun in Boston, but the heat really got me. I'll recap it now that I'm mostly done with the whirlwind.
Pre-race, everything went well! I probably overdid Saturday, trying out all the supershoes I could in pop-ups/expo, getting all the free stuff etc. It was a lot of time on my feet. But it might be my only Boston...no regrets. Sunday nice shakeout with the fine Bakline folks. Day of, got to the village in time, met some friends, feeling good, more pre-race sleep than I ever get.
That walk to the start line sure is long, but I managed to do some drills, jogging, took a caffeine gel pre-race, went to the bathroom and drank some water. Got into the corral, and the first move was to get as far from Matt Choi as possible. Anyhow, first observation was it was pretty hot (60ish), sunny and the supposed tailwind was more of a light breeze. The flags were barely moving, if at all.
Race starts, and I like that you can jog through the start line, and get immediately greeted by a nice downhill. I felt really good through the first 10K+. I saw a guy in a SOMA Fox Running Club singlet, and struck up a convo because I really liked the mile which I ran in January. Was fun to chat through, and we were aligned on running 6:40-6:50s early. Crowd support was nice the whole time and obviously a ton of people to run with. My heart rate was low and I was finding the pace easy, and of course it is mostly downhill or light uphills. This certainly was cruising.
But it was hot of course, and this observation I couldn't really ignore as I felt warning signs of muscle tightness starting in the mile 12-13 range. I hit the half in 1:28:41 feeling good, but wary. I will say where I was all business early on trying to run tangents, and saving energy ahead of Wellesley I made the call that it was my first and maybe only Boston so I was going to enjoy it. So I took all the high-fives of the screen tunnel, I pumped up the crowd at times, high-fived kids the rest of the way and in Newton where I knew my friends and family would be I planned out to run right up to them. Mile 14-15, my muscles were starting to tighten up, I'd been good about getting water at damn near every stop, but maybe I should have been doing Gatorade for the salt. I was getting increasingly dehydrated/crampy.
I did get my bottle of Nuun from my wife before 17 and the firehouse hill. But my legs were definitely probably already in a tough spot. I still ran decently up the hills and figured I could put together a 2:59-3:02 marathon as long as my legs would keep going. I saw my parents at mile 18.6 between hill 1 and 2, a friend who maniacally ran after me after hill 2 (mile 20) and then my other great friend right after hill 3 (mile 22). My legs were unfortunately going from OK to bad to very bad. My right leg in particular was a mess. I had some fun with the BC bros, but I was feeling it and not exactly pleased that the race wasn't going as planned. I was running about 7:20-7:40 miles on this stretch, where I knew with my legs behind me I'd be cruising a minute faster. But it was all about making it to the end now.
The last 2 miles the situation from bad to dire. My legs felt a step away from full-on cramping. I decided to walk through the last 2 water stations to get max hydration. I jogged as best I could after, but everything hurt and felt like a ticking time bomb. As crazy as it sounds I hobbled my way to the last famous turns, I got through the mile 26 banner and...my right leg completely seized up about 200 meters from the finish. I nearly went down, but I fortunately stayed on my feet. I had to walk at best, but I knew I couldn't do that deep down all the way to the finish. So I walked about 150 meters and then ran through the line with a silly airplane celebration I'd seen a couple of guys do in front of me. Don't know why, just did it.
Saw my time was 3:05:4x on my watch. I was hoping to go sub-3, but obviously it was a hard day for that! I thought I'd adjusted on the fly well enough at mile 16 or so, but the last 2 miles indicates I was a little bit off. Probably should've adjusted more from the jump than I did (1:28:4x first half) even if I felt quite easy by feel, but I think the tailwind was somewhat muted and it was slightly hotter/humid than I presumed. In the build-up I ran 1:19:5x in NYC half a month ago, so I know I was truly fit. I did miss some training out of that/travel, and it transparently the Half was my bigger focus than Boston as far as hitting a time. I'm sure all that wasn't ideal, but I definitely feel like I was in 2:52-2:54 shape on a fast course in very good conditions. If I were doing more marathons, I'd look into salt tablets and other hot weather stuff because I am just not good in it. And I've cramped up pretty severely in 4 of 5 of my marathons with this being up there with my debut (unprepared) and MV Marathon (hotter than this).
Post-race, fortunately I am not long-term injured or anything. My legs remain extremely tight, and I'm going to use this opportunity to let my achilles/haglunds/feet etc. also heal up as much possible. Next race is probably July 4. All 5Ks/miles/4-milers from here, and probably that way until NYC 2025. Have eaten, drank and celebrated well since. Tough day, but great Boston overall and fulfilling a childhood dream of racing it was incredible.
Thanks for tracking - re: the TV, where did you see me? My family and BF were watching, but said they never saw me.
I was fine with my race - my entire goal was to win my division of the para-field with time being meaningless (and I knew who my competitors were - we all met that morning). I started REALLY slowly - partially because I have some difficulty running downhills (apparently this is normal for para-athletes in my category, so I feel less embarrassed by it than I used to be) and partially because I had a feeling it was going to be a very rough day.
My plan was to execute the race like a progressive long run - first 6 miles very easy, next 10 at a moderate pace, and then race the last 10 miles starting in the Newton hills. I thought this gave me my best chance of winning my division - I'd grab the lead in the Newton hills and hold to the finish.
However, I reeled in my competition earlier than I expected - passing the leader of my division at mile 10, and I could tell she was already in trouble while I was still building pace. At that point I decided that I really didn't need to pick it up anymore - I'd just cruise it in unless she managed to recover and catch up to me.
Great plan, except that I overheated anyway - I think simply because I was out there for so damn long. The last 4 miles were rough - cramping and field of vision narrowing - and I did some walking to ensure I finished without a med tent stop.
So yeah, lifetime personal worst by 15 minutes, and I also don't feel like I ever hit marathon effort. But any bit of annoyance at either of those is outweighed by the fact that I won my division of the para-athlete field, resulting in some solid prize money, a big glass trophy, and a wreath of olive leaves that they crowned me with for a photo with my trophy.
(they let me keep the wreath and I'm now preserving it for a shadow box display thing along with my bib and medal).
The whole weekend, between getting my para-athlete classification (which involved barefoot sprints in a hotel conference room, among other things) and the para-athlete experience itself was just crazy and wonderful and exhausting and awesome. I'm really tired and sore now. But happy.
"the first move was to get as far from Matt Choi as possible."
Always a wise strategy. (also a hilarious comment)
TL - I honestly don't know anyone who had a good day. Unless you were running ~2:30 or under, one was just out there way too long. I think 10 minutes off of goal time was an excellent performance.
Any sunburn? I look like a lobster on my right side, and I don't usually burn.
@darkwave - Time to go clean up at other WMM!
Congrats on the win, DW!
Thanks yeah when I saw the unmissable Matt Choi I was like well I got a story out of this. Yeah it was definitely challenging and I just kinda got remind myself I was pretty close to actually hitting my goal. Yes on sunburn, my wife had me diligently apply but I probably should have put on more right before the start with those free massive things of suntan lotion. All I could think of was sweating it out though ha. I actually sunburned my ears badly a couple weeks back. This race I got my neck.
As far as much better celeb sightings, I passed Zdeno Chara early and he thanked me for saying “Let’s go Zdeno!” He was locked in already in mile 2/3. And I took down Meb though of course when I was about to finish and hanging on for dear life I heard them announcing he was about to come in.
Love the stories everyone!
RunnerSam: Sounds like you really enjoyed the day. I'll keep your "untrained marathon" advice in mind!
THOUGHTSLEADER: Great race report! Sounds like you hit the right balance of enjoying Boston and having a competitive day. Your entire race arc sounds exactly like my 2019 Boston: My all time half marathon PR is from the first half of that race at 1:29:xx and I suffered a lot to a 3:12:xx. It's a tough course and you had a warm day. Very well done!
darkwave: Speaking of well-done, sounds like you got a nice sunburn 🥵. I saw your time result on Strava and I wasn't sure how you'd be feeling so it's great to read your race report and see that you're happy (and crazy and awesome). And prize money too. Hell yeah!
Male, 56, 5'7, 141 lbs
Longer term: Get back to VDOT 50 for a December marathon PR
Current Level: VDOT 48
I’ve had a tough couple of weeks dealing with a respiratory thing. It has affected my sleep a bit (coughing up gunky gunk), and high-end running (I bailed from a workout in a coughing fit). I don’t know how to explain it other than it has felt like I’m missing the top 10% of my breathing. But that sounds a bit dramatic. And it’s getting hotter (but I promise I’ll not mention that again). The only thing worth talking about is my
10km race: Hotter than last year (ooooops I mentioned hotter). It was low 70s at the start and 77 at the end. I won’t bore you with the humidity. I literally literally did not look at my watch for the entire race. I got out and after about a kilometer, I was at an effort that felt right and I just stayed at that effort level. Never really joined a group and ran alone for 95% of the race. I finished faster than last year on the same course and improved from last year’s AG 7th to 4th this year. Didn’t hit my goal VDOT 48, but I didn’t try, given the conditions. I did meet my goal of AG top 5.
What’s next? It’s too hot (sorry) for serious workouts, but it’s not too hot to build weekly mileage. I’d like to feel very comfortable at consistently 60 miles per week by the end of August to make a push for a good December marathon.
Oh, and I got a year older. Yikes.