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Post Race Analysis: Obligatory Covid Solo Race
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JYoung
Jun 15, 20 21:42
Post #1 of 12 (1410 views)
  


I have been on run-centric training plan with focus on beating my half marathon PR of 1:19:30, set almost 2 years ago.

This was my summer to smash it but all races were cancelled! I have remained diligent in my self-designed training plan, glaring inefficiencies be damned!

(I am 6', 1", 200 lbs, 40 years old...lol)

So I had to set a day and stick with it. I kept pushing it back week after week making excuses to avoid the assured pain...

I finally committed to a taper week and raced the clock yesterday morning.

https://www.strava.com/activities/3615533243

It could have been better...

On the plus side this was my first race in Zoom 4% or whatever these things are, the green ones. I should hit 1:15 no problem right?!

I have been running consistent 20-35 mile weeks for 4 years now.

First excuse: The route has almost 600 ft of climbing which is not a lot I guess, but a lot of the vert is in one hill that gets ya. Long and drawn out over a mile. Right at 7 miles. So painful... Check out the shape in elev. profile. Mean bugger.

Second excuse: taper weeks suck when it is nice weather and I am in such habit of getting out there.
Saturday evening, beautiful sun out, warm. Go for easy mountain bike ride but then decide to spontaneously crush a couple Strava KOMs... so dumb. But I still figured I could pull out Sunday am if I wanted.

Sunday am felt pretty good. Race time!

First half felt pretty good, managed a 10k PR of 37:33 (up from 37:45 last year in 10k race)
The definitely cursed the damned Strava sections on the bike from mile 6 to 13 on the run. Fatigue. Nike Carbon sole no longer springing me to victory. Collapse in form last 2 miles, on deaths door.

Struggled to hold 6:15 for last few miles. fell to 6:30. The last .1 is up horrible little hill to finish with a whimper at 1:23.

At mile 5 I wanted to quite. And again at mile 10 (1:02:30) I wanted to quite because I knew was was not gonna get 1:19. Goggins popped in my head cursing insults at my weak character. Focus on form, focus on falling forward momentum.

Any way, it was fun in the end. Had to bike back and get truck and then took dog for hike up mountain for 1300' and 3 more miles, so I obviously did not push to complete exhaustion. hard to do with no competition I reckon!
Last edited by: JYoung: Jun 15, 20 21:46
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Re: Post Race Analysis: Obligatory Covid Solo Race [JYoung] [ In reply to ]
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jimatbeyond
Jun 15, 20 23:37
Post #2 of 12 (1364 views)
I would think that you would be able to crush it if you were running 40 miles per week for 6 months.
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Re: Post Race Analysis: Obligatory Covid Solo Race [JYoung] [ In reply to ]
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Rob G
Jun 16, 20 3:32
Post #3 of 12 (1298 views)
Still a great job. I know it’s hard to keep on a plan with races on the fence. This year was going to be my first full distance and got cancelled so I am going to do a DIY one in about 6 weeks (3rd child coming in December so won’t have the time for a number of years). Been riding on the trainer with TR cause I know if I go outside I’ll push too hard and then be behind the 8 ball the rest of the week.
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Re: Post Race Analysis: Obligatory Covid Solo Race [JYoung] [ In reply to ]
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triczyk
Jun 16, 20 5:10
Post #4 of 12 (1252 views)
Great race - on a bit more running per week you'd be able to crush this time.

Also - an average HM has about 200 ft of gain, so feel good about the difficulty of this course.
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Re: Post Race Analysis: Obligatory Covid Solo Race [jimatbeyond] [ In reply to ]
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twcronin
Jun 16, 20 5:13
Post #5 of 12 (1239 views)
jimatbeyond wrote:
I would think that you would be able to crush it if you were running 40 miles per week for 6 months.

OP -- seconding Jim -- your mileage is pretty low to be running that well. Would be curious to hear what the "run-focused" block looks like for you.

Regardless, great effort! The half marathon is a very hard distance to race; it's short enough that you need to keep right around threshold the whole time to do as well as possible, but long enough to be really unpleasant late if you push too hard early -- and being close to threshold the whole time means that there's not a lot of leeway to allow pushing harder on hills or into the wind. Also it's really hard to keep mental focus for that long without any competitors racing alongside you, so kudos on that. No way I would have run close to my half-marathon PR solo.
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Re: Post Race Analysis: Obligatory Covid Solo Race [JYoung] [ In reply to ]
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H2Owings
Jun 16, 20 5:26
Post #6 of 12 (1226 views)
I guess I’ll say it. That 30lbs is going to get you every time. I am 6’3” and don’t like to run above 170. I will try to get down to the lower 160’s if I am serious about a race. I would also think consistent 30-35 mile weeks would help based around a long run, varying threshold run, and an interval run.
Last edited by: H2Owings: Jun 16, 20 5:27
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Re: Post Race Analysis: Obligatory Covid Solo Race [triczyk] [ In reply to ]
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burnthesheep
Jun 16, 20 6:36
Post #7 of 12 (1150 views)
triczyk wrote:
Also - an average HM has about 200 ft of gain, so feel good about the difficulty of this course.

Man, that's quick! Good job.

Quoting this to chuckle a bit. My neighborhood there is no avoiding runs where my 10k's average just shy of 600 feet gain. I've had 5k's in the neighborhood total up over 300 feet. It sucks. Especially for a cyclist trying to run to round out the body a bit.
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Re: Post Race Analysis: Obligatory Covid Solo Race [burnthesheep] [ In reply to ]
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JYoung
Jun 16, 20 8:01
Post #8 of 12 (1099 views)
I can't even imagine getting down to 170 lbs, in high school I was 185. Long thick torso runs in the family on my moms side , I probably have a well distributed 1" of fat spread around upper half of body. Quads of steel to compensate though lol. I do tend to rationalize ice cream and donuts often because , you know, I need the carbs...

I know this route well and knew that hill was not gonna cooperate.

Don't know if this link will work...

https://www.strava.com/...training/log?v2=true

I say run-centric in terms of focusing on run races but use a Zwift a lot because I love it. You suppose bike fitness detracts from run performance?
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Re: Post Race Analysis: Obligatory Covid Solo Race [JYoung] [ In reply to ]
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MrTri123
Jun 16, 20 8:17
Post #9 of 12 (1077 views)
Awesome job


Very jealous

I’m at 6’ 200 lbs

Even when I weighed 155 I wasn’t that fast
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Re: Post Race Analysis: Obligatory Covid Solo Race [JYoung] [ In reply to ]
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BigDig
Jun 16, 20 10:09
Post #10 of 12 (1032 views)
JYoung wrote:
I say run-centric in terms of focusing on run races but use a Zwift a lot because I love it. You suppose bike fitness detracts from run performance?

No. 20-35 mpw is not run centric for the times you are looking to hit. With your age, weight, and low mileage you are doing extremely well.
------------------------------
The first time man split the atom was when the atom tried to hold Jens Voigt's wheel, but cracked.
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Re: Post Race Analysis: Obligatory Covid Solo Race [BigDig] [ In reply to ]
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twcronin
Jun 16, 20 10:53
Post #11 of 12 (1004 views)
BigDig wrote:
JYoung wrote:

I say run-centric in terms of focusing on run races but use a Zwift a lot because I love it. You suppose bike fitness detracts from run performance?


No. 20-35 mpw is not run centric for the times you are looking to hit. With your age, weight, and low mileage you are doing extremely well.

+1 to this.

Aim to double that run volume (e.g., 50% more runs x 50% longer) and you'll be crushing some new PRs next training block. Work on the bike is almost certainly helping you given low run volume (though the Saturday afternoon bike probably didn't help your Sunday HM!), but not as much as more running would.

Also, a quick look at your training log shows that your training was not very specific to your race. If you want to run a 1:19 half on roads, then setting aside one run a week to practice 6 min/mile pace on roads would be well-advised. Most serious runners would call this a tempo run and do one weekly for 20-40 minutes during a training block with a goal race. I also see very few long runs which (especially at low run volume overall) would hurt your endurance for a half marathon race.

So -- all in all, you have some big gains that you can make next time!!
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Re: Post Race Analysis: Obligatory Covid Solo Race [JYoung] [ In reply to ]
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Masnart
Jun 16, 20 11:12
Post #12 of 12 (990 views)
I wasn't specifically targeting to set a 13.1 PR this summer, but I ran one as a time trial a few weeks ago. Not making excuses, but all of my training pointed towards that I should be able to run a 1:25:XX. I chose to ran it after my peak mileage week of 75mpw, and my taper consisted of running 3 miles the day before instead of 9. lol. Anyways, long story short, I finished in 1:27:30. Still a 2:30 PR, but I was kind of disappointed in the result as well. I can just only cling to the hope that in my next big race that my fitness shows up and gives me the results from my training.
- Jordan

My Strava
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