Ran a 10k in June (4 Viewers)

[Hang 10]

Not sure what to call this one, hoping the technical folks out there may be able to help me describe exactly what this is and how it will benefit, but I tested my hand at a little something different today. It was just 4 miles, but I spent the run just focusing on my stride, keep the heart rate in control throughout. Good, hard stride, but never feeling overwhelmed with my pacing. It got a little hard towards the end as my legs fatigued, but I stayed disciplined and would not speed up - I would only keep the same stride pace but the length was decreasing. My recovery period was quick once I was done, like, maybe 90 seconds of moderately heavy huffing and puffing.

Did those 4 miles in just over 25 minutes.

I'm hoping the more technical training types can take that description and spin into something more meaningful. Maybe?

I call it "FAST"

Lol, right, but I want to get fastER

I want to hit this year's goal so I can end the season on a high note, not a manufactured high note like last season, and create a new goal next year.

What's this year's goals again?

Sub 18 5K - capable of it, I just need to do it race day.

How many miles a week you running? You're still pretty low volume, right? I think you up your mileage and you might break through your ceiling.

 

[FUBAR]

2 weeks until my first ironman. couldn't run down my street 18 months ago!

Which one are you doing? My training partner is doing the beach to battleship in Wilmington NC on the 26th.

2 weeks until my first ironman. couldn't run down my street 18 months ago!

Which one are you doing? My training partner is doing the beach to battleship in Wilmington NC on the 26th.

What's your buddy doing for the swim? Full wetsuit, neoprene cap, socks, etc. Right now I have a sleeveless wetsuit.

 

[Hang 10]

2 weeks until my first ironman. couldn't run down my street 18 months ago!

Which one are you doing? My training partner is doing the beach to battleship in Wilmington NC on the 26th.

2 weeks until my first ironman. couldn't run down my street 18 months ago!

Which one are you doing? My training partner is doing the beach to battleship in Wilmington NC on the 26th.

What's your buddy doing for the swim? Full wetsuit, neoprene cap, socks, etc. Right now I have a sleeveless wetsuit.

Oh, are you doing that one? I don't really have any idea but I'd guess he's wearing a full suit.

 

[FUBAR]

2 weeks until my first ironman. couldn't run down my street 18 months ago!

Which one are you doing? My training partner is doing the beach to battleship in Wilmington NC on the 26th.

2 weeks until my first ironman. couldn't run down my street 18 months ago!

Which one are you doing? My training partner is doing the beach to battleship in Wilmington NC on the 26th.

What's your buddy doing for the swim? Full wetsuit, neoprene cap, socks, etc. Right now I have a sleeveless wetsuit.

Oh, are you doing that one? I don't really have any idea but I'd guess he's wearing a full suit.

with the overnight low in the 40s, that scares me a bit. But the site says temps should be 60s-70s, and the Half starts at 830, so it may warm up a little before we go.

I'm usually fine with cold water, but still considering getting a neoprene cap and sleeves.

 

[The_Man]

Shout out to our Bourbon Chase buddies this weekend. Have a great time, all of you who are doing it!

 

[MAC_32]

How many miles a week you running? You're still pretty low volume, right? I think you up your mileage and you might break through your ceiling.

Last week wasn't good, unexpected death of a young family friend threw out the running plan for the weekend, but up until that point I've been on track - 20-25 miles/week except for race week mid September. With today's 4 mile strength training run and tomorrow's easy 7 I'll be at 24 this week. Next week's plan is

5 tempo Monday

strength training 4 Tuesday

3 hard Wednesday

recovery 4 Thursday

strength training 4 Friday

6 trails Saturday

That'll be first time over 25

 

[MAC_32]

Shout out to our Bourbon Chase buddies this weekend. Have a great time, all of you who are doing it!

I don't know when, but we're doing this some year. Buncha bourbon running friends up here, but October is so busy for most of us it's tough to get away for a long weekend.

 

[Hang 10]

How many miles a week you running? You're still pretty low volume, right? I think you up your mileage and you might break through your ceiling.

Last week wasn't good, unexpected death of a young family friend threw out the running plan for the weekend, but up until that point I've been on track - 20-25 miles/week except for race week mid September. With today's 4 mile strength training run and tomorrow's easy 7 I'll be at 24 this week. Next week's plan is

5 tempo Monday

strength training 4 Tuesday

3 hard Wednesday

recovery 4 Thursday

strength training 4 Friday

6 trails Saturday

That'll be first time over 25

Nice. I think I know where you're at and eventually those increased miles will pay some dividends. I've always been around a 20 mile a week guy and have recently been steady 30 to 35 and have already noticed a difference.

 

[gruecd]

2 weeks until my first ironman. couldn't run down my street 18 months ago!

Badass.

 

[parasaurolophus]

2 weeks until my first ironman. couldn't run down my street 18 months ago!

More details please! Love hearing these stories.

 

[koby925]

Doc recommended treatment for my partial labral tear:

4-6 weeks of PT to try to strenghten the area. If I don't see changes, may want to consider an anthroscopy procedure. He did say I could keep running, though. And he agreed with my amateur assessment that speed (like strides and short intervals) probably aggravate it more. So I think I will steer clear of interval training and Mile road races for awhile. I may even become a long distance guy yet

 

[Ned]

Doc recommended treatment for my partial labral tear:

4-6 weeks of PT to try to strenghten the area. If I don't see changes, may want to consider an anthroscopy procedure. He did say I could keep running, though. And he agreed with my amateur assessment that speed (like strides and short intervals) probably aggravate it more. So I think I will steer clear of interval training and Mile road races for awhile. I may even become a long distance guy yet

As a converted sprinter turned distance guy, it's not so bad over here on the dark side. Hell, you probably won't even lose much speed.

 

[2Young2BBald]

Doc recommended treatment for my partial labral tear:

4-6 weeks of PT to try to strenghten the area. If I don't see changes, may want to consider an anthroscopy procedure. He did say I could keep running, though. And he agreed with my amateur assessment that speed (like strides and short intervals) probably aggravate it more. So I think I will steer clear of interval training and Mile road races for awhile. I may even become a long distance guy yet

As a converted sprinter turned distance guy, it's not so bad over here on the dark side. Hell, you probably won't even lose much speed.

Screw the distance running and come to the even darker side; triathlon. Zero impact training on the bike and in the pool

 

[koby925]

Doc recommended treatment for my partial labral tear:

4-6 weeks of PT to try to strenghten the area. If I don't see changes, may want to consider an anthroscopy procedure. He did say I could keep running, though. And he agreed with my amateur assessment that speed (like strides and short intervals) probably aggravate it more. So I think I will steer clear of interval training and Mile road races for awhile. I may even become a long distance guy yet

As a converted sprinter turned distance guy, it's not so bad over here on the dark side. Hell, you probably won't even lose much speed.

Yeah I know. Truth is, I probably knew I should focus more on tempo stuff anyway I just kept fighting it. I have plenty of foot speed for the distance races I run, so I should work on tempo and speed endurance, not short intervals.

 

[Clayton Gray]

Absolutely love reading the race reports. Very inspiring stuff.

My wife, 9-year-old son, and I did a 5k last weekend. I finished in 26:54, which was slower than my 26:35 from a year ago. My wife and son finished in 39 minutes. I was super proud of them both - my wife, Holly, because she HATES running and hadn't done it at all before beginning training in late summer and my son, Aidan, because he could have finished much quicker but stuck with her and encouraged his mom along the way.

As far as training, in retrospect, we didn't get as much work in as we should have. My legs felt super heavy midway through, and I was sore for three days afterward. I'm no expert, but I'm guessing that neither should be the case after a 5k.

Two weeks before the race, my left ankle start to hurt when walking. Luckily, the pain was minor when running so I was still able to get runs in as planned. Then, five days before the race, I stood up and somehow strained my hip flexor. I still don't know what happened. It's still noticeable, and I felt it with every step. Luckily, by Thursday it was quite tolerable. Aside from that, I felt great building up to the race. My cardio when running and while doing jiu-jitsu was better than ever.

On the morning of the race, I woke up pretty rested at 7:00 AM after just over 7 hours of sleep - pretty good for me on a Saturday morning. My jiu-jitsu instructor, Willie, ran with us and arrived just before 8:00, and we make it to the site at 8:15. We quickly get our chips and free t-shirts. Willie and I head back to the car to put up the shirts and make it back to Holly and Aidan just before 8:30.

Seconds later, it starts raining and thundering. And the wind picks up a bit. And it gets cold. Well, for someone who loves summer it's cold - mid-50s, but when you're wet that's pretty chilly. We start a little light jogging for a warmup and dynamic stretching and head back toward the starting area at 8:55. That's when they announce that the start will be delayed because "radar is showing that the thunderstorm will pass soon." And yes - this is a pretty low-key event.

Ugh.

So we bounce around and fight goosebumps for another 25 minutes of constant rain. I finally see one of the race coordinators and say "the rain isn't stopping - let's go ahead and run." You know, because it was still raining and I was ready to start so it could be over. She immediately says, "good idea!" I was surprised it worked, but 5 minutes later, we were off.

I kept up with Willie for about a quarter mile. Looking back, this was quite stupid because I have no business running that fast for that long. Oh well. A little on Willie. He's a BJJ black belt, a kickboxing black belt, and a pro MMA fighter. This was his first official 5k, but he has done a Tough Mudder and a Warrior Dash. In the Warrior Dash, he did the whole thing while holding a flip phone and yelling out encouragement to the rest of his group. He would complete an obstacle and then sprint to the next one so he could film everyone in his group as they negotiated it. So yeah - keeping up with him was pretty dumb.

Most of the rest of the race consisted of watching 40 or so people pass me. Many of them were teenage girls with a handful of pre-teen kids thrown in as well. About 2.5 miles in, I even had to walk a bit because my lower back was aching terribly. That was the most disappointing occurrence of the day. The best part was the my ankle and hip both felt fine. Anyway, I finally finish, and Willie lets me know he turned in a 20:51 - not bad for a rookie. Eff him.

We immediately start walking back to find Holly and Aidan. Once we reach them, we start jogging and encouraging. Holly had a couple of spots where she needed to walk, but she finished really well.

Looking back, I guess the results were okay considering we didn't get in enough pre-race training, all the rain (I felt like I weighed an extra 10 pounds, having the warmup become kind of useless due to the delayed start, and the dumb sprint at the beginning. It was definitely a learning experience, so I can't complain about that. Will definitely do it again.

 

[Clayton Gray]

2 weeks until my first ironman. couldn't run down my street 18 months ago!

That is awesome. Best of luck.

 

[FUBAR]

Doc recommended treatment for my partial labral tear:

4-6 weeks of PT to try to strenghten the area. If I don't see changes, may want to consider an anthroscopy procedure. He did say I could keep running, though. And he agreed with my amateur assessment that speed (like strides and short intervals) probably aggravate it more. So I think I will steer clear of interval training and Mile road races for awhile. I may even become a long distance guy yet

As a converted sprinter turned distance guy, it's not so bad over here on the dark side. Hell, you probably won't even lose much speed.

Screw the distance running and come to the even darker side; triathlon. Zero impact training on the bike and in the pool

although I did injure my knee 5 years ago on the bike. Nothing permanent, but for us runners-turned-bikers, we need to learn not to mash up hill, at least until our cycling muscles get in shape.

 

[Sand]

2 weeks until my first ironman. couldn't run down my street 18 months ago!

More details please! Love hearing these stories.

Would love to hear what your training regimen looked like for the last few months or so.

Oh, and

Shout out to our Bourbon Chase buddies this weekend. Have a great time, all of you who are doing it!

Shout out! I'm jealous! I miss the awesome time I had with this.

Fubar - I hope you get good weather for b2b in two weeks.

Checked the forecast. 0% chance of rain but 44 degree overnight low. the water is gonna be chilly.

thinking of purchasing swim socks or booties. Any advice?

I've never done a cold water race, but if I did I'd be more interested in a cap than socks. Are you doing the half or the full?

 

[FUBAR]

2 weeks until my first ironman. couldn't run down my street 18 months ago!

More details please! Love hearing these stories.

Would love to hear what your training regimen looked like for the last few months or so.

Oh, and

Shout out to our Bourbon Chase buddies this weekend. Have a great time, all of you who are doing it!

Shout out! I'm jealous! I miss the awesome time I had with this.

Fubar - I hope you get good weather for b2b in two weeks.

Checked the forecast. 0% chance of rain but 44 degree overnight low. the water is gonna be chilly.

thinking of purchasing swim socks or booties. Any advice?

I've never done a cold water race, but if I did I'd be more interested in a cap than socks. Are you doing the half or the full?

half. and I just bought a barracuda hothead swim cap

 

[koby925]

Doc recommended treatment for my partial labral tear:

4-6 weeks of PT to try to strenghten the area. If I don't see changes, may want to consider an anthroscopy procedure. He did say I could keep running, though. And he agreed with my amateur assessment that speed (like strides and short intervals) probably aggravate it more. So I think I will steer clear of interval training and Mile road races for awhile. I may even become a long distance guy yet

As a converted sprinter turned distance guy, it's not so bad over here on the dark side. Hell, you probably won't even lose much speed.

Screw the distance running and come to the even darker side; triathlon. Zero impact training on the bike and in the pool

Yeah but I'm not that strong a swimmer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2AU2xu3CeQ

 

[Sand]

Doc recommended treatment for my partial labral tear:

4-6 weeks of PT to try to strenghten the area. If I don't see changes, may want to consider an anthroscopy procedure. He did say I could keep running, though. And he agreed with my amateur assessment that speed (like strides and short intervals) probably aggravate it more. So I think I will steer clear of interval training and Mile road races for awhile. I may even become a long distance guy yet

As a converted sprinter turned distance guy, it's not so bad over here on the dark side. Hell, you probably won't even lose much speed.

Screw the distance running and come to the even darker side; triathlon. Zero impact training on the bike and in the pool

Yeah but I'm not that strong a swimmer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2AU2xu3CeQ

Go watch a triathlon swim. Chances are you'd be pretty appalled at the overall skill level and enthused that you'd be better than many right off the bat.

 

[beer 302]

Shout out to our Bourbon Chase buddies this weekend. Have a great time, all of you who are doing it!

Was just coming to post that, hope they got their luggage 'Twould be only fitting to run in jeans & crocs

In the Warrior Dash, he did the whole thing while holding a flip phone and yeIling out encouragement to the rest of his group.

A flip phone? Really Clayton?

Seriously, nice write and congratulations! Love hearing about all the exploits from the guys but it really means something when the families get into it as well, pretty awesome! Keep it up

 

[worrierking]

Absolutely love reading the race reports. Very inspiring stuff.

My wife, 9-year-old son, and I did a 5k last weekend. I finished in 26:54, which was slower than my 26:35 from a year ago. My wife and son finished in 39 minutes. I was super proud of them both - my wife, Holly, because she HATES running and hadn't done it at all before beginning training in late summer and my son, Aidan, because he could have finished much quicker but stuck with her and encouraged his mom along the way.

As far as training, in retrospect, we didn't get as much work in as we should have. My legs felt super heavy midway through, and I was sore for three days afterward. I'm no expert, but I'm guessing that neither should be the case after a 5k.

Two weeks before the race, my left ankle start to hurt when walking. Luckily, the pain was minor when running so I was still able to get runs in as planned. Then, five days before the race, I stood up and somehow strained my hip flexor. I still don't know what happened. It's still noticeable, and I felt it with every step. Luckily, by Thursday it was quite tolerable. Aside from that, I felt great building up to the race. My cardio when running and while doing jiu-jitsu was better than ever.

On the morning of the race, I woke up pretty rested at 7:00 AM after just over 7 hours of sleep - pretty good for me on a Saturday morning. My jiu-jitsu instructor, Willie, ran with us and arrived just before 8:00, and we make it to the site at 8:15. We quickly get our chips and free t-shirts. Willie and I head back to the car to put up the shirts and make it back to Holly and Aidan just before 8:30.

Seconds later, it starts raining and thundering. And the wind picks up a bit. And it gets cold. Well, for someone who loves summer it's cold - mid-50s, but when you're wet that's pretty chilly. We start a little light jogging for a warmup and dynamic stretching and head back toward the starting area at 8:55. That's when they announce that the start will be delayed because "radar is showing that the thunderstorm will pass soon." And yes - this is a pretty low-key event.

Ugh.

So we bounce around and fight goosebumps for another 25 minutes of constant rain. I finally see one of the race coordinators and say "the rain isn't stopping - let's go ahead and run." You know, because it was still raining and I was ready to start so it could be over. She immediately says, "good idea!" I was surprised it worked, but 5 minutes later, we were off.

I kept up with Willie for about a quarter mile. Looking back, this was quite stupid because I have no business running that fast for that long. Oh well. A little on Willie. He's a BJJ black belt, a kickboxing black belt, and a pro MMA fighter. This was his first official 5k, but he has done a Tough Mudder and a Warrior Dash. In the Warrior Dash, he did the whole thing while holding a flip phone and yelling out encouragement to the rest of his group. He would complete an obstacle and then sprint to the next one so he could film everyone in his group as they negotiated it. So yeah - keeping up with him was pretty dumb.

Most of the rest of the race consisted of watching 40 or so people pass me. Many of them were teenage girls with a handful of pre-teen kids thrown in as well. About 2.5 miles in, I even had to walk a bit because my lower back was aching terribly. That was the most disappointing occurrence of the day. The best part was the my ankle and hip both felt fine. Anyway, I finally finish, and Willie lets me know he turned in a 20:51 - not bad for a rookie. Eff him.

We immediately start walking back to find Holly and Aidan. Once we reach them, we start jogging and encouraging. Holly had a couple of spots where she needed to walk, but she finished really well.

Looking back, I guess the results were okay considering we didn't get in enough pre-race training, all the rain (I felt like I weighed an extra 10 pounds, having the warmup become kind of useless due to the delayed start, and the dumb sprint at the beginning. It was definitely a learning experience, so I can't complain about that. Will definitely do it again.

Nice job, Clayton! When is your next race? Lots of guys in here who will you give you good advice so stick around! BTW, Willie is #######' fast!

 

[Clayton Gray]

In the Warrior Dash, he did the whole thing while holding a flip phone and yeIling out encouragement to the rest of his group.

A flip phone? Really Clayton?

Seriously, nice write and congratulations! Love hearing about all the exploits from the guys but it really means something when the families get into it as well, pretty awesome! Keep it up

Oops - meant a flip camera.

And thanks.

Nice job, Clayton! When is your next race? Lots of guys in here who will you give you good advice so stick around! BTW, Willie is #######' fast!

Thanks. No idea when the next race is. If I had to guess, I would say a year from now.

Yes - he's pretty fast. And he's a year older than me at 43.

 

[SteveC702]

Not sure what to call this one, hoping the technical folks out there may be able to help me describe exactly what this is and how it will benefit, but I tested my hand at a little something different today. It was just 4 miles, but I spent the run just focusing on my stride, keep the heart rate in control throughout. Good, hard stride, but never feeling overwhelmed with my pacing. It got a little hard towards the end as my legs fatigued, but I stayed disciplined and would not speed up - I would only keep the same stride pace but the length was decreasing. My recovery period was quick once I was done, like, maybe 90 seconds of moderately heavy huffing and puffing.

Did those 4 miles in just over 25 minutes.

I'm hoping the more technical training types can take that description and spin into something more meaningful. Maybe?

Tempo/Lactate Threshold Run.

In Jack Daniels terms it's defined as the pace you can hold for about a 1-hour race. (usually somewhere between 10-mile and HM pace for more experienced runners).

Plugging your worst-case estimated 5K fitness (I put 17:55) into this online calculator here ->http://runbayou.com/jackd.htm and it spits out a tempo pace of 6:15/mi. (look at that, that's what your 25min 4-miler came out to).

Coincidentally, he recommends doing a continuous 20-25 minute run at this effort as well for a tempo run. (which is exactly what you did)

Steve - What JD book would you recommend (not even sure if he has multiple)? I want to branch out and learn some other methods out there. The Pfitz methodology has done me wonders over the last 2 years, but I'm really becoming a student of this sport and want to learn different views.

MAC - I think the tempo run is one of the most overlooked/misunderstood aspects in training. I'd strongly suggest doing more of those workouts in lieu of the speed intervals (not totally replace, mind you....). I've beaten this dead horse to a pulp, but you'll get way more bang for your buck out of a solid 20-30min tempo run than you'd get out of a track workout.

I think he has only really published one book - Daniel's Running Formula - but in 2 different editions. I have the 2nd edition and it's been pretty much my go-to book for training since my post collegiate days. As I was looking around though I noticed he has a 3rd edition coming out at the end of the year, so I am definitely going to go pick up myself a copy then.

One word of cautious though, his programs work really well for anything up to (and including) a half-marathon, but the common opinion on his marathon training section is that it takes a special kind of runner to even survive the schedule. I have seen runners after runners break down and get injured (including myself) from trying to follow his elite training plan. My recommendations is that if you want to do some of his workouts, to do one of the more sane programs (i.e. Pfitz or Hansons) and substitute one of their long runs with one of Daniel's marathon workouts once every 2-4 weeks.

For example - here are the workouts (he recommends 2 a week) from weeks 16-20 of his 24 week Elite Training Plan

Week 16 -

workout 1 - 6 miles easy - 6 miles MP - 1 mile Tempo - 6 miles MP - 1 mile tempo - 2 miles easy. (Total = 22 miles continuous)

workout 2 - 2 miles easy - 5 miles tempo - 5min easy - 4 miles tempo - 4 min easy - 3 miles tempo - 3 min easy - 1 mile tempo - 2 miles easy (Total = 18-19 miles, depending on your easy pace) *Note: yes, he recommends 13 miles of running at half-marathon pace in your 2nd workout of the week with 12 minutes of total easy running in there.

Week 17 -

workout 1 - 2 miles easy - 4 miles tempo - 10 miles easy - 4 miles tempo - 2 miles easy. (22 total, with 8 miles of tempo pace work)

workout 2 - 2 miles easy - 3x(1 mile at "I" (approximately 5K) pace with 4 min easy rest) + 3x(1000m at I pace with 2 min easy pace) + 2 miles easy.

Week 18-

workout 1 - 22 miles easy

workout 2 - 2 miles easy - 8 miles tempo - 2 miles easy

Week 19-

workout 1 - 8 miles easy - 8 miles MP - 1 mile tempo - 4 miles MP - 1 mile tempo - 1 mile MP. (total = 23 miles, with 15 miles at MP or faster)

workout 2 - 2 miles easy - 5mi tempo - 5 min easy - 4mi tempo - 4 min easy - 3mi tempo - 3min easy - 2mi tempo - 2min easy - 1mi tempo - 2mi easy.

(total = 20-21 miles - yes, that's 15 miles of running at your half-marathon pace)

Week 20-

workout 1 - 2mi easy, 4 mi tempo, 10mi easy, 4mi tempo, 2 mi easy (22 total)

workout 2 - 2mi easy, 6x(1000m at 5K pace with 2 min easy jog), 4x(400@mile pace with 3 min easy) + 2 miles easy.

And the craziness goes on. His schedules for the shorter distances are much more reasonable though.

 

[SteveC702]

Welcome (back?) to all the new faces around here. Looking forward to reading more of these race reports.

 

[koby925]

I celebrated not having to stop training tonight with a MAC-like run...though not as fast. 5.5 miles total on a rolling hills course

Mile 1 warmup in 7:35

Miles 2-5 - 7:04, 6:59, 6:58, 6:35

.5 miles back down to 7:40 pace

Might jump into a 5 miler this Sunday if I feel okay. It's a 5 miler where you run the first 5 miles of a Half. I know some 1:15-1:20ish types will be running the half so if I run, the goal would probably be to try to latch on with a crew going 6 minute pace.

 

[Prince Myshkin]

I'm back!!! Well, sort of. Got in a 20 minute run today, my first since hurting the achilles about 6 weeks ago. Little to no pain (had a couple of twinges on an uphill, but I don't think it was tendonitis related).

Holy crap I've gotten way out of shape over the 6 weeks. My quads were sore as soon as I stopped and I was huffing and puffing pretty good. Hopefully it comes back pretty quick.

You guys rocked it this weekend. I was on vacation in NYC and had to read the race reports in bits and pieces when I got the chance, but they were fantastic. Awesome job everyone!

 

[IvanKaramazov]

Wow. All kinds of great race reports in here. Congrats to SFBayDuck, worrierking, Clayton, and anybody I missed. I feel like kind of an ### because I haven't been posting in here for a while. When all I'm doing is just run-of-the-mill training runs, I don't feel like cluttering up the thread with them so I tend not to check in. I need to fix that.

 

[tri-man 47]

Welcome (back?) to all the new faces around here. Looking forward to reading more of these race reports.

Clayton ...love the Willie stories!

Horses Mouth - a full Ironman? Badassest of all (well, right up there with the 50-100 mile guys).

 

[FUBAR]

Rest day. Took the time to redo my music collection and look back.

I've only kept track on mapymyride since the start of June, and have gone over 2k miles in 6 days / 144 hours. 4 1/2 months, that's a lot of time. Not as much as some of you, but it's kind of nuts to think about over a year.

 

[SFBayDuck]

Congrats Duck!!!I read this yesterday but knew I would want to re-read it.

Those hour long 3 mile stretches are tough on the psyche. Way to overcome that and knock out the last 8.5 miles in a sub 10:30 pace. That course is more suited for goats than humans. You killed it!!!

Regarding the nutrition. I would suggest that you start eating on all your training runs over one hour. Start with 200-250 calories every 1/2 an hour. That's more than you need, but you are training your stomach/body. Not just the fancy stuff either, real food and junk food they have on these courses. Try some off the wall stuff too. From there start backing off the calories until you find that sweet spot. Get real good at knowing how many calories in a handful of M&Ms or grapes. You may be eating too much early on. This got me during my last 50 miler early on as I was doing my gels and over did the trail mix. Felt like puking for the next hour.

Your going to want to learn to tolerate protein and fat digestion as you advance past 12 hours. The hamburger at Umstead didn't sit well with me but the fat and protein were needed. I know I'm going to be working on the coke consumption during training. It's been my experience that you want to hold off on this as long as possible. It will start a cycle of highs and lows. Not that big of deal except that you lows sneak up on you and hit fast.

Keep me updated on what you find out for your feet. I have always gone dry. Most of my events have been dry but the wet slushy one caused me some problems on the front of my toes. Of course I had blisters everywhere during Umstead, but it was more burning than pain. Hopefully our feet will htfu.

I really would like to toe the line with you at WS100.

Thanks all, I really appreciate the kind words. I find myself constantly reflecting on last Saturday (I was at about Mile 21 at this time a week ago!) and shaking my head at what I did out there. I'm really proud of that race, more so than anything else I've run.

It's been a weird week not running at all, especially the past 2 days when I've started to feel normal again. The blisters on my feet have subsided, my quads work again, and a massage on Thursday worked out some stuff. But I promised myself I'd take the entire week off, so Monday I'll head out for a hike and see if I feel like running a bit once I get moving.

BnB - good advice on the food. I've heard others talk about that kid of stomach training as well - start with more than you need and figure out how much you can take, and what works best. I've been ok simplifying it with the 50K and two 50M races this year by sticking to mostly liquid calories and supplementing with potatoes and coke. I didn't take a single gel last week, although I did eat 4-5 chia/fruit bars. But that sweet taste of the GU and even those bars just gets so disgusting after awhile. I've thought about experimenting with the long-chain starches as I look to move up to a 100M next year, but I hate to be dependent upon myself/my crew for my calorie source - it's so much easier when you can rely primarily on the aid stations.

And agreed on States - would be awesome to be hanging together in Squaw next June getting ready to make that 100 mile journey to the track in Auburn!

 

[SFBayDuck]

Feeling pretty good about this upcoming 10k.

You should be!

2 weeks until my first ironman. couldn't run down my street 18 months ago!

Wow, that's amazing. Like others have said, I'd love to hear details on that transformation!

Absolutely love reading the race reports. Very inspiring stuff.

My wife, 9-year-old son, and I did a 5k last weekend. I finished in 26:54, which was slower than my 26:35 from a year ago. My wife and son finished in 39 minutes. I was super proud of them both - my wife, Holly, because she HATES running and hadn't done it at all before beginning training in late summer and my son, Aidan, because he could have finished much quicker but stuck with her and encouraged his mom along the way.

As far as training, in retrospect, we didn't get as much work in as we should have. My legs felt super heavy midway through, and I was sore for three days afterward. I'm no expert, but I'm guessing that neither should be the case after a 5k.

Two weeks before the race, my left ankle start to hurt when walking. Luckily, the pain was minor when running so I was still able to get runs in as planned. Then, five days before the race, I stood up and somehow strained my hip flexor. I still don't know what happened. It's still noticeable, and I felt it with every step. Luckily, by Thursday it was quite tolerable. Aside from that, I felt great building up to the race. My cardio when running and while doing jiu-jitsu was better than ever.

On the morning of the race, I woke up pretty rested at 7:00 AM after just over 7 hours of sleep - pretty good for me on a Saturday morning. My jiu-jitsu instructor, Willie, ran with us and arrived just before 8:00, and we make it to the site at 8:15. We quickly get our chips and free t-shirts. Willie and I head back to the car to put up the shirts and make it back to Holly and Aidan just before 8:30.

Seconds later, it starts raining and thundering. And the wind picks up a bit. And it gets cold. Well, for someone who loves summer it's cold - mid-50s, but when you're wet that's pretty chilly. We start a little light jogging for a warmup and dynamic stretching and head back toward the starting area at 8:55. That's when they announce that the start will be delayed because "radar is showing that the thunderstorm will pass soon." And yes - this is a pretty low-key event.

Ugh.

So we bounce around and fight goosebumps for another 25 minutes of constant rain. I finally see one of the race coordinators and say "the rain isn't stopping - let's go ahead and run." You know, because it was still raining and I was ready to start so it could be over. She immediately says, "good idea!" I was surprised it worked, but 5 minutes later, we were off.

I kept up with Willie for about a quarter mile. Looking back, this was quite stupid because I have no business running that fast for that long. Oh well. A little on Willie. He's a BJJ black belt, a kickboxing black belt, and a pro MMA fighter. This was his first official 5k, but he has done a Tough Mudder and a Warrior Dash. In the Warrior Dash, he did the whole thing while holding a flip phone and yelling out encouragement to the rest of his group. He would complete an obstacle and then sprint to the next one so he could film everyone in his group as they negotiated it. So yeah - keeping up with him was pretty dumb.

Most of the rest of the race consisted of watching 40 or so people pass me. Many of them were teenage girls with a handful of pre-teen kids thrown in as well. About 2.5 miles in, I even had to walk a bit because my lower back was aching terribly. That was the most disappointing occurrence of the day. The best part was the my ankle and hip both felt fine. Anyway, I finally finish, and Willie lets me know he turned in a 20:51 - not bad for a rookie. Eff him.

We immediately start walking back to find Holly and Aidan. Once we reach them, we start jogging and encouraging. Holly had a couple of spots where she needed to walk, but she finished really well.

Looking back, I guess the results were okay considering we didn't get in enough pre-race training, all the rain (I felt like I weighed an extra 10 pounds, having the warmup become kind of useless due to the delayed start, and the dumb sprint at the beginning. It was definitely a learning experience, so I can't complain about that. Will definitely do it again.

Great report, must be great to have the family out there with you! I'd love to get my daughter to do a race someday, but no interest....yet. Of course I didn't start running until I was 35.....

Doc recommended treatment for my partial labral tear:

4-6 weeks of PT to try to strenghten the area. If I don't see changes, may want to consider an anthroscopy procedure. He did say I could keep running, though. And he agreed with my amateur assessment that speed (like strides and short intervals) probably aggravate it more. So I think I will steer clear of interval training and Mile road races for awhile. I may even become a long distance guy yet

As a converted sprinter turned distance guy, it's not so bad over here on the dark side. Hell, you probably won't even lose much speed.

Screw the distance running and come to the even darker side; triathlon. Zero impact training on the bike and in the pool

Yeah but I'm not that strong a swimmer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2AU2xu3CeQ

Go watch a triathlon swim. Chances are you'd be pretty appalled at the overall skill level and enthused that you'd be better than many right off the bat.

The idea of a tri is great, but I literally can't swim. I mean I can doggie paddle or flip over on to my back and get from one end of the pool to the other, but that's about it.

I'm back!!! Well, sort of. Got in a 20 minute run today, my first since hurting the achilles about 6 weeks ago. Little to no pain (had a couple of twinges on an uphill, but I don't think it was tendonitis related).

Holy crap I've gotten way out of shape over the 6 weeks. My quads were sore as soon as I stopped and I was huffing and puffing pretty good. Hopefully it comes back pretty quick.

You guys rocked it this weekend. I was on vacation in NYC and had to read the race reports in bits and pieces when I got the chance, but they were fantastic. Awesome job everyone!

Nice! Take it easy, be sure to warm up and ease yourself into runs so you don't suffer an unnecessary setback. And eccentric heel raises are your continued friend even after the achilles are "better".

 

[2Young2BBald]

Killer day for my son today, hitting his goal of going sub 18 with a 17:49 today, good for 4th on his team and his team took 4th out of 8 in the division. He blistered the first mile in 5:23, fell off a touch in mile 2 with a 5:52 and held on with a side stitch (again, need breathing advice from you guys for me to share) for a 5:56 3rd mile and had zero left for a kick, which is not how he typically comes in. He is very pleased with himself. Sad this season comes to and end next week with regionals, unless he and him team doing something insane and make states. As it stands for their team, they have one runner that is all but certain to make states and another that might be close after going 16:56 today (the region has a few very good runners, but is not very deep).

 

[FUBAR]

Duck, (seems weird that a duck can't swim), you may be surprised at how quickly you could learn to swim enough to do a tri. If you work at it with a decent coach/teacher, you could be doing it in a month or two. I taught a buddy enough to go from keeping his head barely above water to finishing a 70.3 in a few months. His time in the water was bad, gee was one of the slowest, but he did it and caught up a lot on the bike.

 

[SFBayDuck]

Duck, (seems weird that a duck can't swim), you may be surprised at how quickly you could learn to swim enough to do a tri. If you work at it with a decent coach/teacher, you could be doing it in a month or two. I taught a buddy enough to go from keeping his head barely above water to finishing a 70.3 in a few months. His time in the water was bad, gee was one of the slowest, but he did it and caught up a lot on the bike.

You'd think so, right? I just have never been able to get it down. I took lessons in grade school every single year, but it never stuck. I spent my summers from 8-17 years old on a commercial fishing boat, and my parents had me take private lessons so that if I ever went overboard I could at least keep my head above water - but it never stuck.

I'm convinced I have a blown gasket - my mouth won't seal and I end up taking in water. And I'm so inefficient when I do try to move that I get exhausted in a matter of minutes in the water.

But it might be time to try again and get some lessons. It'll be me in a life jacket and a bunch of 7 year olds......

 

[BassNBrew]

Fubar - I hope you get good weather for b2b in two weeks.

Checked the forecast. 0% chance of rain but 44 degree overnight low. the water is gonna be chilly.

thinking of purchasing swim socks or booties. Any advice?

I've read a bunch of race reports in the past and people really like the booties. Also put on multiple swim caps. You'll have to be the judge based on your history on the bike. People have talked about being cold on the bike, but I would hate to have too much clothing and overheat. I think you said you will be doing the half so you effort level should warm you up. Definately earn on the side of too little clothing if the sun will be out.

The good thing is that the water will feel warm at first. Running from the water to T1 will be painful.

 

[koby925]

Killer day for my son today, hitting his goal of going sub 18 with a 17:49 today, good for 4th on his team and his team took 4th out of 8 in the division. He blistered the first mile in 5:23, fell off a touch in mile 2 with a 5:52 and held on with a side stitch (again, need breathing advice from you guys for me to share) for a 5:56 3rd mile and had zero left for a kick, which is not how he typically comes in. He is very pleased with himself. Sad this season comes to and end next week with regionals, unless he and him team doing something insane and make states. As it stands for their team, they have one runner that is all but certain to make states and another that might be close after going 16:56 today (the region has a few very good runners, but is not very deep).

Hell Yeah! Great job little 2Young.

 

[koby925]

I bagged my very short lived idea of racing tomorrow. Don't know many doods here yet but know a guy in my neighborhood who went to Clemson who wants to drink and set up 2 Tvs for Clemson/FSU and ND/USC. So a 7:30 am race 25 miles away is out. A man has to have priorities.

So I went out today and ran 10 miles in 75 minutes 38:15/36:45 out and back. Longest run in quite awhile.

 

[SteveC702]

Awesome work 2Young Jr. It seems like if he paces himself a bit better he might've even had a low-mid 17 in him. Might even have an outside shot at qualifying himself if he sticks with the #2 guy. (Or pace himself so he catches up with half a mile or so to go)

 

[beer 302]

Happy to post a week of running for a change, been a long, long time and still not back but wanted to test the ankle to see how it held up under stress. I won't be able to do the marathon I wanted to in November but I'm going to try to pace in the guy that was going to do it with me. Originally I was hoping to meet him halfway but I don't think I can hang that long so the plane is to meet him at the 20 mile water station. Hope I don't give him a heart attack!

For those wondering I have had a bad case of tendonitis in my ankle and PTTD. It's been a slice. Last time I ran with purpose was July 22nd for perspective. I've just recently been able to see the veins in my ankle again after many weeks of physical therapy and light activity (stationary bike mostly and some anti-gravity treadmill). Last Saturday I went back to where it all started in March and hit the trails for a slow 6 miles with a group. It was more of a fun run to see what happened and the ankle held up pretty well. It was sore and I'm out of running shape but I was encouraged. Monday I decided to see how it held up to some non-stop 'speed' work. There is a nice little 2.25 mile loop at work that provided some hills and a flat to push it on. The good news is it felt good after, the bad news is 9:30/miles are now speed work for me. Not that I was ever Koby/Steve/Hang10/MAC fast anyhow but that used to be my cruising speed. Didn't care tho as it was just so awesome to run again. After that it was on!

MON - 2.27 miles, 21:32, 9:30 pace

TUE - 6.23 miles, 1:07:45, 10:52 pace. Nice easy 10k to test the ankle as much as the stamina. Utilizing Galloway's run/walk method until I feel good enough on the ankle to go non-stop at the advice of the therapist and frankly, she's spot on. Hate the stop-start but it helps the ankle. Went 2 minutes running, 1 minute walking this day.

WED - Double day 4.21 miles, 43:43, 10:24 pace on the roads going 3/1 today. Felt better than 2/1, will continue to extend the time next week. Next up, AlterG 5k for the therapist, 3.12 miles, 25:17, 8:06 pace. I ran at about 85% body weight with a 1 incline. Ankle felt great after she got done working on it. I told her I already ran 4 AFTER I was done on the treadmill. She's very cautious about overdoing it but I felt like I could handle it and did.

THU - 7.47 miles, 1:21:26, 10:54 pace, another big test, running on tired legs. I was whooped from Wednesday but utilizing the 3/1 method again I made it thru. Ankle was sore after all the work but soreness dissipated as the day went on.

FRI - 3.12, 23:17, 7:28 AlterG 5k. After feeling so good on Wednesday I wanted to finish up the week strong and having not run yet for the day I was ready to go. Cranked up the treadmill to 90% bodyweight and held over 8 mph pace for pretty much the entirety of the run. Man if I only weighed 170lbs! Fastest 5k I've ever run

SAT - Cherry on top! The Color Run with my oldest! Screw the time, we just a good time together. Loved being able to run with my daughter for the first (and probably only) race of her career. She might forget it next week but it was one of the best birthday presents she's ever given me. Awesome day! This pic is my favorite.

 

[2Young2BBald]

Awesome work 2Young Jr. It seems like if he paces himself a bit better he might've even had a low-mid 17 in him. Might even have an outside shot at qualifying himself if he sticks with the #2 guy. (Or pace himself so he catches up with half a mile or so to go)

I agree totally and was doing the math to figure out what maintaining 5:23 would bring. I'm not sure he is there yet mentally with pacing off of #2. I suggested this earlier in the week this week and his response was "hell no". I sense he may play it at bit safer at regionals on Friday of next week and may pack run with 3/4/5.

 

[SteveC702]

I was thinking more along the lines of backing off the first mile and running 5:30-5:35, then slowing a tad to 5:35-5:40s for the next 2 and coming through 3 in 16:40-16:50. He should be able to close strongly off of that and run 17:10-17:20. Now, with another week of tapering and the mindset that it's most likely the last race of the season, a few seconds/mile shouldn't be out of the question. It's probably just a matter of him getting angry and/or get in the zone again like when he had his huge breakthrough a few weeks ago.

 

[koby925]

Thing is, Cross Country high school races are often dictated by how the race is going and the course. Most courses (especially at district level) will have sections that are harder than others. So that and the adrenaline going makes pacing much tougher than a road race.

 

[FUBAR]

Fubar - I hope you get good weather for b2b in two weeks.

Checked the forecast. 0% chance of rain but 44 degree overnight low. the water is gonna be chilly.

thinking of purchasing swim socks or booties. Any advice?

I've read a bunch of race reports in the past and people really like the booties. Also put on multiple swim caps. You'll have to be the judge based on your history on the bike. People have talked about being cold on the bike, but I would hate to have too much clothing and overheat. I think you said you will be doing the half so you effort level should warm you up. Definately earn on the side of too little clothing if the sun will be out.

The good thing is that the water will feel warm at first. Running from the water to T1 will be painful.

Thanks. And yeah, t1 and the first few miles will hurt. As long as frost bite isn't an issue, the cold doesn't bother me too much.

 

[prosopis]

Happy to post a week of running for a change, been a long, long time and still not back but wanted to test the ankle to see how it held up under stress. I won't be able to do the marathon I wanted to in November but I'm going to try to pace in the guy that was going to do it with me. Originally I was hoping to meet him halfway but I don't think I can hang that long so the plane is to meet him at the 20 mile water station. Hope I don't give him a heart attack!

For those wondering I have had a bad case of tendonitis in my ankle and PTTD. It's been a slice. Last time I ran with purpose was July 22nd for perspective. I've just recently been able to see the veins in my ankle again after many weeks of physical therapy and light activity (stationary bike mostly and some anti-gravity treadmill). Last Saturday I went back to where it all started in March and hit the trails for a slow 6 miles with a group. It was more of a fun run to see what happened and the ankle held up pretty well. It was sore and I'm out of running shape but I was encouraged. Monday I decided to see how it held up to some non-stop 'speed' work. There is a nice little 2.25 mile loop at work that provided some hills and a flat to push it on. The good news is it felt good after, the bad news is 9:30/miles are now speed work for me. Not that I was ever Koby/Steve/Hang10/MAC fast anyhow but that used to be my cruising speed. Didn't care tho as it was just so awesome to run again. After that it was on!

MON - 2.27 miles, 21:32, 9:30 pace

TUE - 6.23 miles, 1:07:45, 10:52 pace. Nice easy 10k to test the ankle as much as the stamina. Utilizing Galloway's run/walk method until I feel good enough on the ankle to go non-stop at the advice of the therapist and frankly, she's spot on. Hate the stop-start but it helps the ankle. Went 2 minutes running, 1 minute walking this day.

WED - Double day 4.21 miles, 43:43, 10:24 pace on the roads going 3/1 today. Felt better than 2/1, will continue to extend the time next week. Next up, AlterG 5k for the therapist, 3.12 miles, 25:17, 8:06 pace. I ran at about 85% body weight with a 1 incline. Ankle felt great after she got done working on it. I told her I already ran 4 AFTER I was done on the treadmill. She's very cautious about overdoing it but I felt like I could handle it and did.

THU - 7.47 miles, 1:21:26, 10:54 pace, another big test, running on tired legs. I was whooped from Wednesday but utilizing the 3/1 method again I made it thru. Ankle was sore after all the work but soreness dissipated as the day went on.

FRI - 3.12, 23:17, 7:28 AlterG 5k. After feeling so good on Wednesday I wanted to finish up the week strong and having not run yet for the day I was ready to go. Cranked up the treadmill to 90% bodyweight and held over 8 mph pace for pretty much the entirety of the run. Man if I only weighed 170lbs! Fastest 5k I've ever run

SAT - Cherry on top! The Color Run with my oldest! Screw the time, we just a good time together. Loved being able to run with my daughter for the first (and probably only) race of her career. She might forget it next week but it was one of the best birthday presents she's ever given me. Awesome day! This pic is my favorite.

How was the color run? Are you breathing chalk during it? Looks like mesothelioma waiting to happen.

I really think those look dumb. Having said that I would be there in a second if my daughter was going to run with me. Glad you had fun and those are great pictures/memories.

 

[Annyong]

Color runs do suck if you take them seriously.

 

[sho nuff]

A few long days of travel took their toll on my body.

9 hours in the car Thursday...5 hours stuck in the Atlanta airport Friday...and 3 hours worth of flights.

Woke up sore and sinus issues yesterday morning (plus its freakin cold here and my body does not like that after a week of 85* on the beach)...bagged my yesterday run.

Did get out for a short 5 today. Going to do about the same tomorrow just to get some running in before resuming my usual schedule next week back in TN.

I did get to see my dad yesterday...he is doing pretty well. Is up and moving with the help of a walker and a nurse nearby to make sure he does not lose his balance. Gaining more confidence in his left side (still a bit off with his hand though) as that is what was affected in his brain.

He has a previous heart issue (has an artificial valve) that they are monitoring or he may have been able to be sent home today. So more likely like it will be Monday or Tuesday.

Was good to see him back being his normal self and telling bad jokes. My brother and I...my half brother and sister-in-law...and I think my dad's twin brother are going to be there today to watch the Packers with him...not sure how we are packing into his room...but we will give it a go.

The surgery apparently went really well...the surgeon (who also operated on my aunt this past spring) said they went at it aggressively but could not be 100% sure they got every last bit of it. Meaning they will be needing chemo and radiation after. That was mostly expected.

 

[Prince Myshkin]

good to hear, sho nuff!

i was able to get in 3 miles this morning. i cannot believe how bad my conditioning is at this point. my legs were sore after 2 measly miles on friday, and i can tell they will be worse after this one. heart rate was crazy high for the pace i was running, but i'm going to attribute some of that to the cold weather. oh well, at least i'm running again!!!

 

[Ned]

Clayton - super cool stuff. Stick around!

2Y2BB - Your son is one talented dude. Belly breathing before a race helps loosen up the diaphragm and intercostal muscles. It can also get rid of a stitch in the middle of a race. Just have him forcibly push his stomach out on a deep inhale a few times. Helps me a ton.

Beer - nice to see you back in the saddle.

shonuff - Great news on dad!