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

[avondale]

Congratulations! That was a great race! Amazing also how your fitness is improving right to plan.

 

[DopeyBadger]

Congratulations! That was a great race! Amazing also how your fitness is improving right to plan.

Thanks!

Yes, following this yearly trend right here:



Garmin VO2max was 56 after yesterday's race. So if we continue on this trend, then I should be looking at 58-59s by race day.

Rewind back to 2019 and the DoLittle HM (link). It was 9/22 (so a week prior). VO2max was 56. T+D was 138. Ran a 1:34:57 HM. Adjusted for T+D, that's a 1:32:11. A 42:03 10k translates to a 1:33:12.

Take it one step further and compare the T+D adjusted GAPs of each:

2019 DoLittle HM - 1:31:46
2021 Run Wild 10k - 41:34 (equivalent HM is 1:32:04)

So the fitness between these two is a difference of about 18 seconds in HM time, or 1.5 sec/mile.

The important part for me to realize, is that the Run Wild 10k is indicative of my current fitness (a 42 min 10k'er) just like DoLittle HM was indicative of my fitness then (1:32 HM). But that my fitness in late Sept 2019 did not prevent me from even greater heights when I nailed a 1:28:40 at the Madison HM in November seven weeks later. So that's where I currently stand. Attempting to gain the same level of fitness between now and Madison again. I like my chances if I can stay healthy.

The one caveat is the data may get a bit more difficult to compare backwards because starting tonight I'll have a new source for the data - Garmin 245. So it remains to be seen how that will impact my ability to translate the data. But that just means I need to start building a potentially new dataset.

 

[avondale]

The one caveat is the data may get a bit more difficult to compare backwards because starting tonight I'll have a new source for the data - Garmin 245. So it remains to be seen how that will impact my ability to translate the data. But that just means I need to start building a potentially new dataset.

I will be interested to see if you notice any GPS differences between your 235 and the new 245. I started with the 235 and then went to the VA 3. I swear that my miles were a little "longer" with the VA 3 than the 235. That is, routes that I ran frequently and knew where I usually hit mile-markers were a little off. This was most obvious to me on the first mile (on different routes, so it wasn't the local terrain for some reason). I don't know which one was correct. My VA 4 was similar to the VA 3, but now my Venu is more similar to the FR 235, at least if I'm still remembering it - at least it is distinctly different from the VA4 and it is shorter.

I don't recall if any of these watches had a consistent offset from race mile markers, assuming those are accurately placed, but there are other variables to account for in race distances, especially if its a big, crowded race.

 

[DopeyBadger]

I will be interested to see if you notice any GPS differences between your 235 and the new 245. I started with the 235 and then went to the VA 3. I swear that my miles were a little "longer" with the VA 3 than the 235. That is, routes that I ran frequently and knew where I usually hit mile-markers were a little off. This was most obvious to me on the first mile (on different routes, so it wasn't the local terrain for some reason). I don't know which one was correct. My VA 4 was similar to the VA 3, but now my Venu is more similar to the FR 235, at least if I'm still remembering it - at least it is distinctly different from the VA4 and it is shorter.

I don't recall if any of these watches had a consistent offset from race mile markers, assuming those are accurately placed, but there are other variables to account for in race distances, especially if its a big, crowded race.

I too will be interested in that. I run my routes and hit my "spots" with a high level of reproducibility with my 235. So the comparison will be interesting.

In addition, how it picks up my HR is where I'm anticipating seeing the biggest differences. That'll impact a great deal of my historical data if I see major changes there.

 

[dtrain]

Nice run and recap, I really wanted you to catch flower shorts!

 

[DopeyBadger]

Nice run and recap, I really wanted you to catch flower shorts!

Me too @dtrain, me too. I had him for a little bit, but just didn't have enough juice to hold him off once I passed him. The good news though is no one behind me came even close to catching me. The gap behind me was at least 32 seconds and I never saw anyone each time I turned around to peak a look.

 

[DopeyBadger]

Added two pictures to the race recap.

 

[DopeyBadger]

Interesting thing to note. I was playing around with my Garmin 245, and it gave me its suggested workout for the day.

10 min WU + 50 min at 7:25 min/mile + 10 min CD

So a 7ish mile M Tempo. That's actually pretty close to Thursday's planned workout of a 9 mile M Tempo.

 

[FFigawi]

Congrats on a great race and some new tech!

 

[DopeyBadger]

Congrats on a great race and some new tech!

Thanks!

 

[dis_or_dat]

Great job!

 

[DopeyBadger]

Great job!

Thanks!

 

[DopeyBadger]

Today's suggested workout:

42 min @ 8:40 min/mile

Actual planned workout:

1 mile with G at 30/30 (about 13 min) and 4 miles (37 min) @ Easy (around 8:50-9:10 min/mile; technically whatever feels easy)

 

[Sleepless Knight]

1) Start working on core now, hoping to get stronger before my marathon in 66 days (who's counting? lol)
2) Decide it is too close to the race to start adding new workouts, and just focus on keeping posture up when I notice it slip.

I wanted to chime in with my own experiences in core work and such. Experiences can differ, but it's interesting to me what I've found.

When I was in college, my little sister decided that I was a jungle gym and that threw my back out. I then aggravated it at a job and wound up with back problems for almost 12 years. Until, oddly enough, I decided to run a half marathon. All the running that I needed to do wound up giving my core just enough to get better. But this was only running. No other core work at all. The next year I decided to incorporate core work into my fitness routine. And this time at the Disneyland Half Marathon, I made roughly 15 minutes worth of photo stops compared to 0 seconds worth of photo stops the year before and my finish time was only two minutes slower than my first race. I became a believer in core work.

In 2018, I experienced runners knee. I had been neglecting light strength training and was running faster than I should have been. I had to take 2 weeks off entirely, but then became very diligent about taking care of everything. Slow and steady, plus not neglecting light strength training helped carry me across another finish line.

I'd like to do more 10ks moving foward. It's a nice distance. It's not a lung buster like the 5k, but it also isn't the endurance game that the HM/M is. This was only my 3rd non-Disney 10k, and I'd like to see more.

Great job on the race. It's always extra fun when a race comes together the way you hope it does.

I'm a big proponent of the 10K distance. Since I'm slow, I can't bring myself to a lungbuster 5K and I find that the 10K is the perfect distance to challenge me without derailing the rest of my day. Although in a twisted way, the marathon might be my favorite distance if only because of how much it tests me and what that translates to for me when I finish.

 

[DopeyBadger]

Great job on the race. It's always extra fun when a race comes together the way you hope it does.

Thanks!

I'm a big proponent of the 10K distance. Since I'm slow, I can't bring myself to a lungbuster 5K and I find that the 10K is the perfect distance to challenge me without derailing the rest of my day. Although in a twisted way, the marathon might be my favorite distance if only because of how much it tests me and what that translates to for me when I finish.

I totally get that.

 

[DopeyBadger]

Alright peeps, a new paper has just entered pre-publishing. Evaluate it, and give me your thoughts:

https://journals.lww.com/acsm-msse/...Fructose_Hydrogel_Enhances_Running.95972.aspx
Glucose and Fructose Hydrogel Enhances Running Performance, Exogenous Carbohydrate Oxidation, and Gastrointestinal Tolerance

I'll attach a PDF for ease of finding it.

 

[flav]

Alright peeps, a new paper has just entered pre-publishing. Evaluate it, and give me your thoughts:

https://journals.lww.com/acsm-msse/...Fructose_Hydrogel_Enhances_Running.95972.aspx
Glucose and Fructose Hydrogel Enhances Running Performance, Exogenous Carbohydrate Oxidation, and Gastrointestinal Tolerance

I'll attach a PDF for ease of finding it.

I jumped to the conclusion. I will let you know after tomorrow’s marathon what impact on my GI track a mix of hydrogels and normal gels had. Hopefully, nothing to write about!

 

[DopeyBadger]

6 Weeks to go - Hansons Intermediate Week 12/18

9/27/21 - M - OFF
9/28/21 - T - 4 x 1.5 mile @ M Tempo - 10 sec (Hansons Strength)
9/29/21 - W - 1.1 mile @ run/walk with G + 4 miles @ Easy
9/30/21 - R - 9 miles @ M Tempo
10/1/21 - F - 1 mile @ run/walk with G + 4 miles @ Easy
10/2/21 - Sa - 8 min @ Easy w/ strides
10/3/21 - Su - 10 miles @ Progressive LR w/ uphill FF

Total Run Miles - 50.9 miles
Total Run Time - 7:05 hours
Total Run TSS - x TSS

Total Biking Time - 0:00 hours
Total Biking TSS - 0 TSS

Total Strength Time - 0:00 hours
Total Strength TSS - x TSS

Total Training Time - 7:05 hours
Total TSS - x TSS


Tuesday

The theme of this week was all about trying to turn the boat around. I like to think of training like a giant freighter boat. It takes a while to slow it down, and it takes a while to turn it around. So the training dropped a touch to induce some good legs for the 10k race last weekend. This week's goal was all about turning the boat around and reintroducing the volume. This tends to be a tough week. As you're building volume and shedding fatigue from the race prior. It's a delicate balance. Going into the week, I planned on not doing the Hansons strength workout, but my legs were feeling surprising good on Tuesday. So I decided to go ahead and do the workout as planned. The knee was feeling fine after no effects from Sunday's 10k in a new pair of Next%. So I brought the Saucony Endorphin back out again.

Conditions - Clear, Wind 7mph to 9mph
Start: Temp+Dew = 73°F + 55°F; FL - 73°F
End: Temp+Dew = 67°F + 54°F; FL - 73°F

Temps sneaking back up again. This is classic end of Sept WI weather. We get a taste of Fall in mid-Sept, and then we go back to some warmer temps for a few weeks. Boo! I went with the idea that I'm a 3:14 marathon'er based on the 42 min 10k. So the adjusted goal pace was 7:10-7:15 (adjusting for temps and grade).



I knew the temp adjustment, but the grade adjustment was a bit blind because of the unusual mile splits (1.5 miles). This was my first run with my Garmin 245 and Aeropex bluetooth headphones. The Garmin 245 is really nice. The splits occur at nearly the same place as my Garmin 235. So nothing unusual there. My headphones took a few moments to get used to. They bounced up and down a bit as I first started. But after a few hundred meters it seems like everything settled in. The headphones are interesting. I've been listening to the same music for years, but due to the quality of the headphones I heard new tones during the songs that I had not heard previously. With that being said, I actually struggle more to hear cars than I did previously with my cheaper skull candy over the ear headphones. I used to be able to hear the low rumble of tires, but now that sound is a bit more drowned out. So it'll be an adjustment, and an unexpected one since I don't have anything in my ears with the these new headphones.

One downside to my Garmin 245 is that the "lap pace" seems to be reset at 1 mile despite the interval length being 1.5 miles. With a workout and my Garmin 235, my memory says that the "lap pace" would give me a 1 mile update, but would keep the "lap pace" as the pace of the 1.5 mile lap. But maybe I'm just misremembering. So that makes it a little tougher to adjust pace on the run. The first rep was too fast 7:04, but the remaining reps were much better (7:16, 7:13, and 7:15).

One interesting thing to note, my knee was sore again. Not to the same level as the worse it was during the week prior, but still noticeable. But I think it might be due to the Saucony Endorphin Pros and hills. Something about the design and my foot strike is not agreeing with each other. So it might be that the Saucony Pros need to stick to being flat hard running only.


Wednesday

An easy day!

Conditions - Partly Cloudy, Wind 7mph to 10mph
Start: Temp+Dew = 77°F + 60°F; FL - 77°F
End: Temp+Dew = 76°F + 60°F; FL - 77°F

For as good as my legs felt yesterday, they were pretty sore and flat today. So this was the feeling I was expecting for the week. I've got to work my way through it to see the light on the other side. G and I did our 1.1 mile route with 30/30 intervals. We chatted about school which tends to be where our discussions revolve around these days. 13:21 pace for 1.1 miles.

I took it easy on my 4 mile run, but my body says it probably was still too fast. Ended up being 4 miles, 36 min, 8:59 pace, and HR of 137. That HR is far higher than expected or wanted for this type of run.


Thursday

Watch told me I needed to do an active recovery day (30 min at 10:30 pace), but I had a 9 mile M Tempo (12 total). So this was a bit of a divergence. I'm going to stick to my plan because the watch could still be adjusting to me and my stats at this point.

Conditions - Partly Cloudy, Wind 9mph to 12mph
Start: Temp+Dew = 79°F + 62°F; FL - 80°F
End: Temp+Dew = 72°F + 62°F; FL - 80°F

Weather creeping up again. I wore my new Next% instead of the Saucony Pros for this one.



Based on the temps, my goal was 7:33-7:40. I eased into this one at the start, and then I started to grind as the run went on. But having the legs under me to push that last mile down is a good sign. Still struggling with these M Tempo runs overall. My speed feels good. And my endurance feels good. But something about this middle ground still doesn't feel right. Still got a few more weeks to get everything worked out. The average M Tempo GAP ended up at 7:33 with a HR of 149. Adjusted for temps that's 7:18 at HR of 149.

Key point on the shoes, the Next% gave me little fits on the knee. So I'm feeling more confident saying the knee issue is Saucony Pro on hills. The downside is that it's been 3.5 weeks since I've had ankle issues and I could feel my left ankle juuust a little bit. So I'm thinking all the time in the recent weeks on Saucony Pros shows me that the ankle might be partially due to the Next% and the knee is more the Pros. So I think it's going to take some balance between each of these shoes and the Ride 14s to keep everything balanced out.


Friday

Conditions - Mostly Cloudy, Wind 8mph to 14mph
Start: Temp+Dew = 81°F + 63°F; FL - 82°F
End: Temp+Dew = 80°F + 63°F; FL - 82°F

Temps still going up. Boo! G and I did 30/30 intervals on a reverse route that was new to us. It worked out well. We did 13:04 pace for 1.1 miles.

My goal for my easy run was to really drop the pace slower. My watch was telling me I need a day off, but I'm not trusting that at this point. I did 4 miles, 37.5 min, 9:19 pace, and HR of 130 bpm. Much better for an easy day.


Saturday

Conditions - Mostly Cloudy, Wind 6mph to 14mph
Start: Temp+Dew = 63°F + 62°F; FL - 63°F
End: Temp+Dew = 62°F + 62°F; FL - 63°F

Early morning because Steph had to work. So up at 4:30am and out the door by 5:45am. I wore the Next% because I wanted to do some strides at the end of the run if I was feeling good. Ahh, the glorious feeling of having your legs back underneath you. I could tell that the training was heading back in the right direction. So I allowed me effort to guide the day. I ended up at 8.1 miles, 67 min, 8:22 pace and HR of 133. The strides were 6:40s down to 5:30s. So 3 bpm higher than Saturday and that gained me nearly 60 seconds. So you can just feel somedays you've got it and other days not. There were moments with the ankle, so I'm thinking moving forward I've got to stop using the Next% on these Saturday easy runs. Stick to the Ride 14s moving forward.


Sunday

Long run day! A down week at 10 miles and around 80 min. I looked at my stock of Maurten 320 and saw that I've got a few expired packets. So I decided to use the Maurten 320 prior to the run just to move through some stock.

Conditions - Overcast, Wind 4mph to 8mph
Start: Temp+Dew = 62°F + 62°F; FL - 63°F
End: Temp+Dew = 63°F + 63°F; FL - 63°F

The temps were ok, but it's been better on other weekends. But it felt nice out despite that. It had just rained, the cloud cover was great, and there was a little bit of fog in the air that seemed to keep things cooler. The legs were feeling good and ready to fly. So I let them. My goal was to be around 7:45 pace.



Legs felt good throughout. Started off slow and then decided to do a bit of a progression to the finish. A lot of consistency in the GAP for Miles 3 through 9 (7:35, 7:37, 7:34, 7:33, 7:36, and 7:34 outside of the 7:45 (Water bottle)). So the effort was really locked in. As I rounded the corner for the end of the run I decided to do a nice pickup of pace up the final hill to the finish. So dropped the pace from the 7:30s down into the 7:00s. The LR pace average was 7:41, GAP was 7:38, and GAP temp adj was 7:29. The HR was 140 bpm. So it's an interesting comparison to Thursday's M Tempo run. The average GAP was 7:33 and HR of 149 and today was 7:38 and HR of 140. The temps were a touch different (140s vs 120s). And temp adjusted was 7:18 vs 7:29. But I think it's clear my body responded much better to Sunday's LR than Thursday's M Tempo (which has been a consistent theme during this training cycle).

My Garmin 245 says my VO2max is 55. But my HRvPace data says 56-57 based on my Garmin 235. So this will be an interesting thing to track. It's currently projecting a 3:21 marathon.

Happy with how the week played out. I think I'm learning more about these two different race shoes. The legs went through a tough period, but they're waking back up now. I've only got 6 weeks left until the marathon. So next week is the 2nd highest peak week. I've got a 3x2 mile strength workout (thinking I'll wear Pros but stick to flat ground), then 9 mile M Tempo (wanted to take day off from work and do it early in the morning in cool temps, but I've got a meeting mid-day now and can't), then peak LR at 16 miles (128 min). The week's total is 54 miles and 7.25 hrs. Ready to attack the week!

 

[DopeyBadger]

I jumped to the conclusion. I will let you know after tomorrow’s marathon what impact on my GI track a mix of hydrogels and normal gels had. Hopefully, nothing to write about!

Looks like the marathon went well. Right on target. Congrats!

 

[bovie]

Alright peeps, a new paper has just entered pre-publishing. Evaluate it, and give me your thoughts:

https://journals.lww.com/acsm-msse/...Fructose_Hydrogel_Enhances_Running.95972.aspx
Glucose and Fructose Hydrogel Enhances Running Performance, Exogenous Carbohydrate Oxidation, and Gastrointestinal Tolerance

I'll attach a PDF for ease of finding it.

That looks well done to my eye. I understand why they didn't control for this, but I'd be curious what the runners in question had fueled with in the past (i.e., is it possible to build a tolerance to more traditional forms of carb supplementation during workout).

To me, the main deterrent from hydrogels is the cost. I started trialing gummy candy during my runs this weekend just because it annoys me to pay $1+ every time I take a gel, and the Maurten hydrogel ones are even pricier. I might take three gels on a long run, and a $10/ week budget for gels just seems insane to me. That said, saving 25 sec off a 5k time (and presumably even more off a half or marathon), is nothing to sneeze at.

If nothing else, would certainly consider using them during races, even if I didn't in training. Obviously, would trial to make sure they were tolerated first.

Just my two cents, and certainly a reminder that I could always stand to be better at stats. Curious to hear what everyone else thinks.