To Infinity and Beyond - Becoming a Better DopeyBadger (Comments Welcome)

[PaDisneyCouple]

Added link to first post now as well.

Thanks! You have a wealth of information in your first post. Sometimes I look there before google.

 

[DopeyBadger]

Thanks! You have a wealth of information in your first post. Sometimes I look there before google.

I probably should go back and re-read those things and clean them up. No idea whether I agree with everything I've written years ago.

 

[FFigawi]

Well that would mean Dopey 2019 and I'm pretty sure she ruled that out already. But possibly 2020 or 2021?

She might think she's ruled it out, but we know better

 

[canglim52]

Hahaha, yea not quite yet. Not even close to brining in the same kind of money so it wouldn't be a feasible alternative (more like something I can do in a few moments of down time).



Depends on the distance. But here is the just of it for me:

The warm-ups are key for anything faster than "long run" pace which includes HM Tempo, Daniels T, and Tempo. Essentially, there are two main pathways for the body to use oxygen to produce energy. The aerobic pathway is mostly used in slower running. The closer you get to the point where it becomes harder to breathe (Ventilatory Threshold) the more you use the anaerobic pathway. The aerobic pathway is more efficient and faster at creating energy, whereas the body uses anaerobic when the aerobic can't keep up (because you're going too fast).

The most interesting part between the aerobic and anaerobic pathway is that even though the aerobic is used mostly during slow running it takes about 6 minutes of running before it can be used. This means for the first 6 minutes we're stuck with the slow, inefficient anaerobic pathway. So if you don't do a warm-up, and you're running faster than "long run" pace (about MP + 9%) you push the anaerobic pathway too hard. This creates a deficit in energy within the first 6 minutes that becomes harder to overcome. As this deficit starts to catch up with you in later miles, it causes our running form to suffer.

I do dynamic stretching before all of my races. I suggest my runners do whatever pre-training run stretching routine prior to the race as well. So some stretch. Some don't stretch. Good research to show that changing the routine is more likely to lead to injury than either to stretch or not stretch.

After the dynamic stretching comes the race day WU. If the distance is a 5k, I'll probably do 30-40 min of running at a very easy pace (like 20% slower than marathon pace). For 10k, maybe 20-30 min. For HM, maybe 10-20 min. For M, I usually only do about 6-10 min. The pace isn't super important as long as it isn't faster than MP + 20%. If my body thinks easy is MP + 30%, then I go with that. Towards the end of the WU is when I'll add some strides in. Strides are short bursts of speed lasting in total duration of no more than 10 seconds. Three seconds building pace, three seconds holding pace, and three seconds of gradually slowing down. These are a neuromuscular stimulus. You've likely tapered leading into race day. Which means you were likely doing a lot of easy running the last few days/weeks. These strides reawaken the muscles to say, hey guys it's race day. I do maybe 4-5 strides in total with at least 45-60 seconds between them. The goal is not to be super fast and burn up energy. It's meant to be short and sweet. I start this entire running WU no sooner than 60 min to race start. I finish the WU no closer than 15 min to race start. Earlier than 60 min and the WU loses its effectiveness. Closer than 15 min and you start to infringe on your racing ability.

One thing I'll add that was not in the original post. If the weather has a T+D above 130, then I don't recommend a WU. This T+D means that your core body temp is likely to rise significantly during the WU, that it will hinder race performance. So at that point, just plan to take the first few miles of the race easier than you would have originally intended. Normally I aim for a 2% slow down at the beginning, so this would be a 3-4% slow down instead. Just to let your body play catch up right at the start. It's also a consideration when the conditions are really cold as well. Because you don't want to WU to the point of a sweat in cold weather, because you'll cause the shivers and your bodies focus may go elsewhere rather than being primed for racing.



It could probably be done on the bike as well. If we take the basic principle of aerobic gains from biking vs running, then one would assume the WU might be similar. The basic idea shows that biking is 1/3 the training load of a run of the same duration and intensity. Thus, if we extrapolate (which I can't guarantee would work), then you'd be looking at 18 min of biking to be of a similar WU to a 6 min run at a similar easy intensity. But for it to be beneficial it would need to occur between that 60-15 min timeframe.

Does the T+D rule hold true for heat adapted runners? I couldn’t imagine skipping a warm up for a 5k or 10k regardless of the T+D, but especially at 130-150...

 

[DopeyBadger]

Does the T+D rule hold true for heat adapted runners? I couldn’t imagine skipping a warm up for a 5k or 10k regardless of the T+D, but especially at 130-150...

It's your choice and how you tolerate it. But the higher the temps get the higher your core temp goes during the WU and it gets harder and harder to bring it down. But you've run in those types of conditions far more than I have, so you know you best in this particular case.

 

[avondale]

It's your choice and how you tolerate it. But the higher the temps get the higher your core temp goes during the WU and it gets harder and harder to bring it down. But you've run in those types of conditions far more than I have, so you know you best in this particular case.

You know, it took me forever to figure out what "T" and "D" were. "T" for temperature is pretty easy, but the "D" kept stumping me. I kept wanting it to be related to wind speed. Finally figured out today from context that it is dewpoint.

Interesting about no warm up if T+D > 130. That happens pretty much all the time for the next 4 months where I am. But, probably will be a little under that at the start of my race on Sunday.

 

[steph0808]

Yay for plan #200!

My plan, whatever number it was, has fallen apart (ok, it's me that fell apart, not the plan). We bought land to build a new house, and I've been doing freelance work every free moment to save money for building, instead of focusing on running, and ya know, generally taking care of myself!

I don't know if i have a marathon in me this year. Hopefully a half in the fall.

Still averaging 20-25/week, doing 3-4 of my plan's runs per week. I just haven't had five runs/week in me.

 

[DopeyBadger]

Yay for plan #200!

My plan, whatever number it was, has fallen apart (ok, it's me that fell apart, not the plan). We bought land to build a new house, and I've been doing freelance work every free moment to save money for building, instead of focusing on running, and ya know, generally taking care of myself!

I don't know if i have a marathon in me this year. Hopefully a half in the fall.

Still averaging 20-25/week, doing 3-4 of my plan's runs per week. I just haven't had five runs/week in me.

I certainly understand. Maintaining that fitness and whatever level of running you can do will make returning to training easier. If you're modifying the plan I sent, just make sure to stick with primarily easy days. Make sure the easy days aren't the ones always getting cut. And consider cutting the LRs down by 75% to account for reduced mid-week mileage. Life happens and running sometimes needs to take it's rightful place on the back-burner. The nice thing is it'll still be there when more time becomes available.

 

[DopeyBadger]

40 Days to Go (The long road ahead.)



Date - Day - Scheduled Workouts (Intervals within desired pace)

4/30/18 - M - OFF
5/1/18 - T - MCR Stage 2A + 7 miles @ EA (8:14)
5/2/18 - W - 2 mile WU + 5 x 1 @ T (6:25) w/ 2 min RI + 2 mile CD (2/5)
5/3/18 - R - Bike
5/4/18 - F - MCR Stage 2A
5/5/18 - Sat - 8 miles @ EB (7:42)
5/6/18 - Sun - 10 miles @ LR (7:25) *Changed to a "just RUN."

Running duration = 5:21 hours
Running mileage = 34.9 miles
Indoor Virtual Biking duration = 0:50 hours
Indoor Virtual Biking mileage = 16 miles
Total (training) duration = 5:21 hours
Total (training) mileage = 51.4 miles
Number of running SOS intervals within pace = 2/5 (40%)

Monday

Nothing significant?

Tuesday

McMillan Core Routine Stage 2A. Decided to stick with this video for the time being until I can at least lift my side plank leg once.

Front Plank with leg movements - 10 reps per leg
Side Plank with leg movements - 10 reps per leg
Scissor Kick - 2 x 10 reps w/ 10 sec rest
Metronome - 15 reps
Back Extension - 2 x 10 reps
Modified Jane Fonda - 30 reps per leg
Good Mornings - 10 reps

Still no luck yet.

Because I had missed running most of last week, I modified the Tuesday run. Originally it was to be a significant R (mile pace) workout. But the lack of training last week, means I needed to add an extra easy day before getting back into things. Conveniently as well, Thursday was looking like thunderstorms. So move Thursday to Wednesday, easy on Tuesday, and bike on Thursday. Since I set the new schedule, then I was ready to go with an easy day on Tuesday. Just didn't end up as easy as it should have been. The whole time I was struggling to hit an easy pace. I mean it was easy, it just wasn't easy easy. The pace seemed right. But something didn't. Turns out it was in the mid-80s (T+D of 135). Now that might seem like small potatoes. But since this was my first 100+ TD day, then it kicked my butt without any heat acclimation of any type. Probably been since November since I had a run above 100. So that would explain why I felt so drained. Average pace was 8:19, but HR was 143 (which is slightly above LR HR, and not close to easy HR which is 137 or less). Live and learn. It's summer now, which requires checking the temps before walking out the door.

Wednesday

Wednesday was to be the first Daniels T of the Spring training session. I actually did check the temps and saw it was a T+D of 136. Thus, I placed a pace adjustment of 3% on the run. This moved the 6:25 pace to a 6:37 pace. I also knew that this was the first real test of where my fitness is. I can get away with going too fast on an easy run or a R run, but not a Daniels T. Those are the type of run that if you go too fast, sometimes you can succeed, but more often than not it will crush you. So the goal was to run as consistent of splits as I could and trust my instincts as to what felt right.

The first mile came in at 6:39. Felt good to go fast. But I knew there was no way I was going to be able to sustain that pace for another 4 intervals. I had extended the rest break from 1 min to 2 min when I wrote the plan to try and help ease me back into running. I needed all 120 seconds. So come interval #2, I trusted the effort and settled in closer to 6:49. This was still very difficult, but felt more appropriate. Then, a 6:47, 6:51, and 6:58. So the middle intervals were solid around a 6:49-6:51, but I was definitely gassed by the last one and finished a bit behind the consistent pace. All around a good effort, but I was certainly a little disappointed. This just meant I was a touch behind where I wanted to be right now. Maybe 10-15 seconds per mile. Those intervals of ~6:50 are where I want to be for 26.2 miles come October. I'll get there, but it's not going to happen overnight. So I was a little down on myself after this run.

I evaluated the HR data to confirm my feelings on effort based Daniels T. My LT HR should be around 157 based on about 85% HRR from a 177 max HR and 49 rest HR. The 85% is an average value, but it's reasonable. Interval 1 was 158-160 (so slightly high), then 158-160, then 157-159, then 155-157, then 155-158. So my effort based adjustment to pace seems about spot on. Kept it right around 157.

Thursday

As expected, thunderstorms. Steph was in Chicago, so it kind of worked out that I was going to do a bike day. She just hung out upstairs while I biked. I decided to pump the tires back up to the recommended psi. I decided not to do an actual workout and instead just ride. I kept it easy for most of the ride (43% FTP and HR of 100-105). A few times I hit segments (hill climbs or sprints) and decided just to go for it. So then I climbed to near or above FTP and HR of 134-138 briefly. Solid ride overall. A total of 50 min and 16 miles.

Our relator had given us a few requests to make our home more seller-friendly. So I spent Thursday evening after finishing biking painting the bath from green to grey. So taping it off and then going for it. G helped me out too. Steph was very happy when I texted her the progress since she wasn't expecting me to do this. We had until the 2nd open house on Sunday to finish the projects.

As I was heading to bed, I noticed something strange. The house we are priced similarly to raised their price by $20,000 above original asking price. They must be doing good over there when they can raise their price post-listing. Good for them and good for us. Hopefully it pushes new buyers our way now that they've significantly increased their asking.

Friday

Even after a late night painting, I still needed to get up at 5:00am to take on the McMillan Core Routine Stage 2A.

Front Plank with leg movements - 10 reps per leg
Side Plank with leg movements - 10 reps per leg
Scissor Kick - 2 x 10 reps w/ 10 sec rest
Metronome - 15 reps
Back Extension - 2 x 10 reps
Modified Jane Fonda - 30 reps per leg
Good Mornings - 10 reps

Still no luck yet on getting that side plank leg lifted.

Early on while at work I got a text from Steph. We've got a showing at 8:30am on Saturday. Oh ****! We're in the middle of several projects with an end point of Sunday's open house. No more all day Saturday to finish those off. Now we need to scramble. I talked to my boss and she was cool with me leaving to take care of the home projects. So I spent most of Friday doing a bevy of jobs to make the house more appealing. Then, later in the day we got another notification for a 2nd showing.

By the time 7pm rolled around, I was beat and no way a run was going to happen. So I just decided to live with the skip.

Saturday

Saturday was all about preparing for the early morning showing and then heading out the door for a run. Of course more house stress. It's like the house doesn't want us to leave. Took care of some stuff as best I could and then headed out the door for a run. Since the last run was the less than stellar Daniels T on Wednesday, I didn't really know what would happen. We were headed over to my BIL house for his birthday breakfast. So I decided to do a mini-normal loop and then run to their house. G wanted to "race" me in the car. So I timed my run so that they would be driving by when I was running on that stretch of road. I let the pace goal (7:42) slip quite a bit and just decided to ride the wave. The effort was definitely way beyond EB, but I was fine with it. G rode by and waved. Then I decided to scope out the new neighborhood for some new running routes. The poor bunny will hopefully be retired soon enough. Crazy to think I've got nearly 9,000 miles on the bunny loop and soon it'll become a thing of the past. In total, 8.3 miles at 7:36 pace (dropped down to 7:12 for a mile in the middle). HR was at 142, which was at the high end of LR. Not too far off from reality since LR should be around 138-142 and my predicted fitness LR pace is 7:25 (and thus up to 7:35).

Unfortunately, the first showing cancelled (so much for scrambling to finish for an 8:30am). But it worked out because the second showing at 3:30pm did occur. No news though.

Sunday

This was scheduled for 10 miles at LR (7:25), but I just didn't know what to expect. I decided to just go super simple. No pace goals, no efforts to guide me, no real duration or mileage goal. Just RUN. So that's what I did. I just ran. I kept running. And then I ran some more. Average pace was 7:15 with a HR of 145. Was nice just to push the pace and not care. I do this every once in a while just for a nice hard reset mentally. I'm feeling better about the week now and the long road ahead to Chicago. I may not be there yet, but I can make it in due time. Just will take patience and a mindset of being willing to adjust if necessary.

 

[garneska]

and just like that....it went from winter to T+ D time!

 

[DopeyBadger]

and just like that....it went from winter to T+ D time!

SO so true. Nice to ignore it for a while and like the click of two fingers, it's back.

 

[DopeyBadger]

Plan #145

Name: cburnett11
Race/Distance: half marathon
Training Plan Duration (weeks): 15
Continuous or Run/Walk: continuous
Days per Week: 6
# of Hard Days (per week): Usually 3 (counting long run), but I had a couple shorter races mixed in so sometimes we only had 2 hard days (with the race included as one of those hard days).
Peak Week Duration: 8:20:54
Peak Week Mileage: 53.54
Peak Single Run Duration: 2:01:32
Peak Single Run Mileage: 14.02
PR at Distance Going into it (including when it occurred): 1:47:55 on April 25, 2015
Expectations Going into it: I hoped/expected to break 1:45. I actually ran 1:46:47.
How closely were you able to follow the plan as written: I really didn't have any issues with the pacing of the plan. Billy and I changed a couple things based on shorter races I had on my calendar, but didn't really impact the plan too much.
Testimonial: I enjoyed this plan and felt really confident going into the race. On a different day, I feel like I would've run faster. It's hard to explain, but something just wasn't right on my part and I think it could've been my diet a few days leading up to the race. I had a conservative race day plan, and the early miles felt way too easy for me. I had trouble running that slow. But then around mile 8, something changed and my legs felt really heavy. I hadn't really ever felt this way before in a half marathon or any of my training for this cycle. So I gotta point to outside elements. The training definitely had me prepared to run my goal. At any rate, I had a very difficult race and STILL MANAGED TO PR BY MORE THAN A MINUTE. Billy is super helpful and I always look forward to his responses to my emails. I have a couple marathons this fall and will be reaching out to Billy to put together something for me to hopefully PR in Chicago.

 

[canglim52]

Will the new route have as much elevation?! Seems like your bunny route is perfect lol, I wish I had that much climbing!!

 

[DopeyBadger]

Will the new route have as much elevation?! Seems like your bunny route is perfect lol, I wish I had that much climbing!!

Good question. My normal bunny route is about 50 foot elevation gain per mile.

Old Route - Big gainer is ~52 feet in 0.4 miles. Double peak of 38 feet in 0.18 mi and 40 feet in 0.17 mi (nice and steep, but short).
New Route - Big gainer is ~77 feet in 0.8 miles. Nothing as steep as the bunny route double peak though.

So need to keep looking for hills and flat portions. Still not settled on anything for the new route.

 

[DopeyBadger]

Plan #175
Name: Anisum
Race/Distance: Broad Street 10 Miler
Training Plan Duration (weeks): 13 Weeks
Continuous or Run/Walk: Continuous
Days per Week: 4-5
# of Hard Days (per week): 1 (2 including LR)
Peak Week Duration: 7:10:28
Peak Week Mileage: 30.8 mi
Peak Single Run Duration: 2:03:12
Peak Single Run Mileage: 9 mi
PR at Distance Going into it (including when it occurred): 2:00:53 May 2017
Expectations Going into it: Hope to PR
How closely were you able to follow the plan as written: Not as closely as I would have liked. Weather early in the plan and travelling later in the plan hampered my progress.
Testimonial: This is not my first training plan with Billy. It's my 3rd. During my previous two, I PRed a 10 miler, a 5 miler, a 15k, a 5k, and completed Dopey. So while I missed my PR for the race I had planned by 49 seconds, I am not at all disappointed. During the training plan, I managed to PR a half marathon by over 9 minutes and achieve a goal I had when I first started doing Billy's training plans. I felt strong throughout my 10 miler and had a great time. There are several things I could have done to improve my time, one of which was follow the plan closer. That's life though and there is always another race.

 

[DopeyBadger]

Plan #178
Name: Kerry1957
Race/Distance: Great Western Half Marathon
Training Plan Duration (weeks): 11 weeks
Continuous or Run/Walk: Run/Walk
Days per Week: 4
# of Hard Days (per week): 1 (2 including LR)
Peak Week Duration: 5:30
Peak Week Mileage: 24
Peak Single Run Duration: 1:53
Peak Single Run Mileage: 8
PR at Distance Going into it (including when it occurred): 2:39:08 2017 Disney Wine & Dine HM
Expectations Going into it: I hoped to PR; Billy encouraged me to expect even a better time of around 2:35
How closely were you able to follow the plan as written: Almost exactly; some times were a bit fast. Never missed a day of running.
Testimonial: @DopeyBadger and I came up with a target of 11:51 per mile average (2:35 finish time) The first 10 miles were right on plan; I averaged 11:53 with a low of 11:43 and a high of 12:15 (quick porta-potty stop).

Unfortunately during mile 11 I stepped funny on a branch (it was really more like a twig, but that does not fit my story line as well). I twisted my knee a bit but tried to keep hobbling along. I ended up having to walk most of the rest of mile 11 (13:01) and most of mile 12 (13:57). I was watching my watch and saying to myself, "damn, well there goes the @DopeyBadger plan" and then "damn, well there goes my PR". At the 12 mile marker I decided to just run on it anyway and deal with the results later. Mile 13 was 12:06 and the 13.1 was 1:06, for a finish time of 2:39:10.

It wasn't until I got home that I checked, and my PR is 2:39:08 at last fall's runDisney W&D HM. It may sound funny but I was not focused on the PR time but on the @DopeyBadger plan so I really could not remember the exact PR time while on the course. I missed a PR by just two seconds after walking for most of two miles!

So the good news...the @DopeyBadger plan not only worked, but worked extremely well right up until my self inflicted just-off-course stumble, and that has nothing to do with the merits of the plan. I would have finished around 2:35 otherwise, right on schedule.

A huge THANKS! to @DopeyBadger for all his support.

 

[SarahDisney]

I may not be there yet, but I can make it in due time.

Yes! This!! I love that you have the exact right attitude - you may not be where you want to be just yet, but you'll get there.

 

[DopeyBadger]

Plan #156
Name: Christian Anglim(Canglim52)
Race/Distance: 5k/10k
Training Plan Duration (weeks): 15
Continuous or Run/Walk: Continuous
Days per Week: 6
# of Hard Days (per week): 3
Peak Week Duration: 8:34:12
Peak Week Mileage: 63.01
Peak Single Run Duration: 2:06:14
Peak Single Run Mileage: 16
PR at Distance Going into it (including when it occurred): Previous PRs were 19:28(5k) and 40:12(10k), and both were attained during the Goofy half marathon 1/6/2018. That plan was also written by Billy!
Expectations Going into it: I wanted to improve my ability to run at higher speeds and of course set new PRs.
How closely were you able to follow the plan as written: I missed 0 days, but modified 5 workouts so technically my worst adherence to date.
Testimonial: This was my 5th plan written by Billy, and so far every plan has led to multiple PRs!! This was a hard one, and Billy did an excellent job of pushing me to my limits. He has a nice balance between seeing the big picture and still giving you that push you need when you need it! I selected 3 races (10k,5k, and 5k) and we settled on a 15 week plan. I came in with some lofty goals, and though I didn’t technically achieve them all, I still PRed my 10k with a 38:30 and my first 5k with an 18:39 (on really tired legs). I didn’t do the best job scouting my “A” race and selected a course with way too much climbing, but I still finished with a 19:37 and more importantly 3rd place overall!! I used to love competition and sports growing up, so to have the chance to compete again was the highlight of the training cycle. Billy’s plan, coaching, and support made this all possible!! Such a great experience and looking forward to plan #6!

 

[DopeyBadger]

An interesting analysis of my Garmin VO2max, vs race results, vs Race VDOT score

I decided to see if I could find a correlation between my Garmin's estimated VO2max and what I actually run in races. As many know, the Garmin VO2max race prediction is notoriously fast. I've covered it before, but the gist of it is you need to make sure the resting HR, weight, and maxHR are accurate. Then secondarily, the watch assumes you've near maximized all other aspects of your running thus that VO2max is the best sole predictor. For most of us, we aren't running our marathons near 83% VO2max (in the upper end of elite category). But that's what the Garmin is calculating based on the VO2max chart it uses (just a look up chart of your VO2max vs predicted race times).

So I decided to take a few moments and compare my Garmin VO2max right before a race to the race result.



So in Feb-May 2017 I did the Daniels 10k training cycle. I dramatically increased my Garmin VO2max in the process from a 52 to a 58. Now I had previously had higher Garmin VO2max's in the past, but those were based on a maxHR of 195, which I now believe to be no where close to my actual max (around 177 at the most). The results of that training were a 19:29, 20:11, 20:30 5ks and a 43:47 10k. After that, I entered marathon training and ran a 3:14:05 in October at Lakefront. As you can see, my Garmin VO2max over time was between 55-58. I believe some of this fluctuation was due to the increase in temps over the summer (since it is the relationship between pace and HR that determines Garmin's estimated VO2max), and my weight gain of nearly 10 pounds over that period of time.

Now using Daniels VDOT table, I can determine what the VDOT (or VO2max) of those particular race times was per Daniels.



A Race VDOT between 48.4-51.4. The interesting column is the "Delta" or the difference. Consistently, my Garmin VO2max and Race VDOT outcome was about 6-6.6 different. So I can use this information to make a somewhat informed decision on future times and on current fitness.

So let's test it out.



My Garmin VO2max entering Dopey was a 60. A 53.4 is the calculated race VDOT which would be race times of 18:50, 39:16, 1:26:38, and 3:00:38. This is VERY close to where I saw myself entering the weekend. I thought on the cusp of sub-3 and just around the rest of those values was very reasonable. In the end because of the multi-race I was at 20:06 (bad race), 39:54, 1:30:35, and 3:15:59.

So where does that put me right now?



As of this morning, my Garmin VO2max is a 57. Which a 50.4 would be a 19:47, 41:15, 1:31:00, and 3:09:45. It's probably a touch slow on where I think I am right at this moment, but it's close.

So moving forward, I think I'll put an adjustment of about 6-6.6 on my Garmin VO2max to judge my race prediction ability.

 

[canglim52]

An interesting analysis of my Garmin VO2max, vs race results, vs Race VDOT score

I decided to see if I could find a correlation between my Garmin's estimated VO2max and what I actually run in races. As many know, the Garmin VO2max race prediction is notoriously fast. I've covered it before, but the gist of it is you need to make sure the resting HR, weight, and maxHR are accurate. Then secondarily, the watch assumes you've near maximized all other aspects of your running thus that VO2max is the best sole predictor. For most of us, we aren't running our marathons near 83% VO2max (in the upper end of elite category). But that's what the Garmin is calculating based on the VO2max chart it uses (just a look up chart of your VO2max vs predicted race times).

So I decided to take a few moments and compare my Garmin VO2max right before a race to the race result.

View attachment 321533

So in Feb-May 2017 I did the Daniels 10k training cycle. I dramatically increased my Garmin VO2max in the process from a 52 to a 58. Now I had previously had higher Garmin VO2max's in the past, but those were based on a maxHR of 195, which I now believe to be no where close to my actual max (around 177 at the most). The results of that training were a 19:29, 20:11, 20:30 5ks and a 43:47 10k. After that, I entered marathon training and ran a 3:14:05 in October at Lakefront. As you can see, my Garmin VO2max over time was between 55-58. I believe some of this fluctuation was due to the increase in temps over the summer (since it is the relationship between pace and HR that determines Garmin's estimated VO2max), and my weight gain of nearly 10 pounds over that period of time.

Now using Daniels VDOT table, I can determine what the VDOT (or VO2max) of those particular race times was per Daniels.

View attachment 321535

A Race VDOT between 48.4-51.4. The interesting column is the "Delta" or the difference. Consistently, my Garmin VO2max and Race VDOT outcome was about 6-6.6 different. So I can use this information to make a somewhat informed decision on future times and on current fitness.

So let's test it out.

View attachment 321536

My Garmin VO2max entering Dopey was a 60. A 53.4 is the calculated race VDOT which would be race times of 18:50, 39:16, 1:26:38, and 3:00:38. This is VERY close to where I saw myself entering the weekend. I thought on the cusp of sub-3 and just around the rest of those values was very reasonable. In the end because of the multi-race I was at 20:06 (bad race), 39:54, 1:30:35, and 3:15:59.

So where does that put me right now?

View attachment 321537

As of this morning, my Garmin VO2max is a 57. Which a 50.4 would be a 19:47, 41:15, 1:31:00, and 3:09:45. It's probably a touch slow on where I think I am right at this moment, but it's close.

So moving forward, I think I'll put an adjustment of about 6-6.6 on my Garmin VO2max to judge my race prediction ability.

Taking notes for the next contest!