2016 JOS Run Thread Wk8 - Let's play "Simon Sez"!
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Good morning and welcome to Week 8 of Run Durability JOS! For those of you who somehow haven't heard, our fellow ENer extraordinaire, Simon Shurey, completed the Ultraman Florida this past weekend in 29 hours, 54 mins, and 59 secs! That's 321.6 miles over 3 days (6.2 mile swim, 261.4 bike [2 days], and a 52.4 mile run on Sun.)! Crazy, huh? So what does Simon say? Simon sez "YOU CAN DO IT!" That is the kind of mental attitude we will need to bring to Week 8 - TEST WEEK:-)
Thursday is Run test day! We've been working our butts off for 7 weeks of Outseason and building our strength with the Run Durability program. Hopefully we will see some great test results on Thursday and some good Vdot bumps! Simon was able to run past lots of people during the "double marathon" yesterday! Let's be like Simon and push through a few little miles on Thursday:-)
That being said, the Week 8 run test is not the be-all, end-all of the Outseason. We have lots of time to continue building strength and endurance on the run. If it's not the outcome you had hoped for, do not despair - keep on moving forward:-)
Comments
Posting my little brick run after the FTP test because although it was just a little 20 min. run its the first time ever I did a brick after the FTP test so I feel like it's a break through in my fitness and ability to pace the tests good but not outrageous enough to make me cave .
Looking forward to a week of little less miles even though testing
I know it was likely just chance rather than providence, but one of Timothy's favorite songs came on my (shuffled) running playlist just at that super hard spot between mile 1.5 and 2.5. Made me feel good and got me to the point where I just had a couple of laps to go and could gut it out. My form wasn't great, but I'm pleased how it went. I've had luck the last two times going with reverse splits.
Mile 1 = 6:26
Mile 2 = 6:20
Mile 3 = 6:14
Total = 19:40, a 50 second improvement over my time of 20:30 at the beginning of the OS.
Rejoined the Al T 100+ club with age = 51 and VDOT just short of 51. :-)
Average HR was pretty low (156), but finished at 173. My 1-minute HR recovery was 60 bpm.
I will use for motivation tomorrow to be in the Al T 100 club even though I'm not too old yet ... I think I can go for a 55 or 56 Vdot and now I'm 45 years old. I have my carrot now even though alone.
I'm now @ 112, and find I'm gaining years faster than I'm losing VDOT points...
I've been trying to think of an age-related cycling metric, but nothing pops up.
It's DONE!........Never FUN......But the results are nice to see!
I started the January outseason rather out of shape.. After IMLP I did a few races but I shut down from training and took a mental "fun" break. I came from a short course background so the IM training took a toll on me with my crazy work schedule. But I'm bouncing back slowly! My January 5k time trial = 25:10 (YIKES) vDOT of 38. This morning my 5k time trial = 22:49, a 7:21 pace, vDOT 42. I'll take the 2:20 improvement! Keep up the hard work!!!!
Most excited about the new Vdot of 56 and at age 45 that means I finally made it to the Al T. 100 club.
Good luck all
DS
I am going to have to agree with Ed E. Trent is just killing it each day, each workout and that is showing up in the test results! Making it look easy when it is hard! Driving the mojo meter to unchartered territory! 56 vDot while pulling down a 4.01 w/kg is frankly amazing! Many of us work hard and are able to drive one or the other but to do both is Superman stuff!
@Chris/Kristin - fantastic job on that damn stressful test!
I'm working through week 12 right now, kind of a dark place. Using your positive mojo and strength all.
Wed TRP TM run: https://www.strava.com/activities/501410026
Safe testing and recovery this week all!
SS
@Ed E. Thanks and my season big races are Boulder 70.3, Santa Cruz 70.3, and IM Lou. I have a few smaller races thrown in too if time. Should be a fun year to finally get back at it in some bigger races.
Looks like everyone so far are showing nice improvements... a testament to the work!!
Man, some huge test results coming through. Congrats to all! My OS is really bike-focused, so no run intensity/testing for a couple more weeks. Until then, just in Wk 13 of trying to run every day, near TRP, in order to build the durability I'll need later in the year when weekly mileage moves into the 40s.
When IMNC was announced late last year, it was too tempting to have a race a few hours away, one that my family could come spectate/volunteer without missing school. But it meant transferring from IMLou and not getting a chance to race with Ed. But now I find out that I will also miss the opportunity to race against Trent in my AG. Which is a very, very good thing. Running a sub-18:30 5k downhill with a 40 mph tailwind would be very, very impressive. Doing it on a treadmill is unreal. I can't run 7's on a treadmill without threatening my own safety and anyone within flying-human range.
Trent is a workout beast. For those newer to EN one OS way back when he earned the nickname Drillbit as he put one in to his leg at work(quadracep if I recall) then still did the workouts at the prescribed zones. He was also part of an early testing group that did some crazy tough OS sessions. He's putting in the work and getting the results and definitely inspiration for the group.
I read the banter around Trent and his accomplishemnts with awe and intimidation-an alternate universe from my perspective. Strong work is an understatement.
And all the others posting so far, strong work.
@William-I have been working on HR control for the last 3 months-your HR numbers are my envy. A 1 min resting HR of 60 is huge!!
As alluded to above, I have been hacking the OS run workouts for HR control. I didn't do a week one test. In december I did nothing but LSP running at my high zone one HR. The last 7 weeks I've been running 4-5x/week, approx 20 mi per week and 80/20 rule on wednesday/sunday (80%LSP/20% z4-5) other runs all LSP. I was doing short z4 sprints and only started doing the 1 mile z4 work 2 weeks ago. I had my plan for today's test for an average of 8:30 with negative split, 8:45, 8:30, 8:15.
Results: 8:35, 8:25, 8:10 with an end sprint of 8:00. vdot (drum roll..): 36 (I think last year's highest was 38). I sorta ball parked VDOt in beginning 35-36. The whole goal of my slow running is to decrease RPE. During the test today I didn't really feel I needed or wanted to run faster but was able to negative split perfectly and sensed i wasn't dying. And the big difference was at the finish-I wasn't doubled over gasping and ready to puke. I walked about 10s then jogged the rest of the way home. Average HR was 163, max 172. 1 min recovery 94-still room for improvement there but on the right track.
I am never going to be lightening fast but this vdot predicts the exact marathon time that I did 2011 to qualify for Boston, so as Al alluded to, as age piles on not really losing the vdot score.
@ Brenda - awesomeness on your run test! Bam!! And you killed your bike test today too. It's pretty amazing, as someone said, to have big improvements in both the bike and run - so Kudos to you!!
@ William - welcome back to the 100+ club:-) You are kind of in the "Trent" territory with those kind of numbers! Especially glad to hear that Timothy pushed you on that run test!! Not just chance.... meant to be:-)
@ Al - just amazing that you are not losing those VDOT points! I just wish I had near the speed I had only 5 years ago!
@ Gordon - glad you are being smart about the running comeback. Sounds like you know exactly what your body needs:-)
@ Julie - good luck at your race on Sunday. Did you check with Coach P. about your week? I would have suggested you do a bike workout today and maybe a run tomorrow (Friday). Nothing crazy... Let us know!
@ Kristen - HOLY MOLY! You must be doing something right:-) That is some big jump on the VDOT! Nice going :-)
@ Chris - 10 seconds is 10 seconds. In the right direction!!!
@ Trent - Ummmmm..... Let's see. 5:33 first mile? YIKES. Yeah, no kidding Yikes! LOL Nice job on the big improvement which is just crazy. Welcome to the Al T 100 club! I am barely in it too, but not because of my VDOT! LOL
@ Doug - NICE! 28 seconds is pretty huge in a 5K! Your CPR is definitely paying off!
@ SS - nice long run there! Looks like you had some stuff left in the last few miles:-) Keep the Mojo coming and we'll keep sending it right back at ya!
I'm heading to Florida for a long weekend to visit my Stepdaughter tomorrow, but will be reading your posts! I'm hoping to get one or two runs in down there where the weather looks delightful:-) Congrats on your fine test results!!
Well... I'm trying not to be disappointed. I really haven't missed any workouts (did hills instead of sprints in Curacao, but that's it). I have run every day for 60 days. I tested this AM and vDOT is...drum roll please....EXACTLY THE SAME!!!!!! I went 29:09 (9 sec from a vDOT bump) at 9:24/min this AM at avg HR of 169. 7 Jan was 29:20 (9:28/min), at avg HR 164. So- I took 11 seconds off my 5K, vDOT still 31. Maybe I should be aiming for not slowing down as I age. But resting HR is 48-50, so I guess I'm winning at something.
Great results for the rest of you guys! I love seeing the improvements everyone is making. Some of those numbers are crazy scary!
Finally got my run test in this morning, looks like I had an extra day of rest on everyone. Been at my daughter's in Va. Beach for the birth of the grand-daughter! Actually surprised myself on how well I felt after the warmup, came in a little faster than I thought I would.
Week 1 vDot was 36.3, struggled with both tests that week. Week 8 vDot is 37.5 (41" faster) Much better testing week.