7min should be plenty. I always hear everyone here talking about BQ-5. As a result, I’ve always assumed a 5min margin was sufficient. Was this a PB?
Congrats again!
Great to see you get under your 3:15 target, even more so considering all the hurdles on the way to that, well done!
Should be way more than enough. The last 2 races, anyone that’s made the standard has been accepted.
Did a marathon where I was in the lead pack but the bike went off course. I had run it the year before and the course markings were clear so we stayed on route. That was mile 16-ish. About my 23 he finds me and asks if I was the leader (it was the guy about 10 seconds in front of me). Good thing we knew the way. 
So my running has come to a halt going on a week now. Last Saturday I started my run and took about three steps when I noticed something not right with my right butt cheek and lower back. I stopped, stretched, wiggled about, and then tried again. No dice! End result, was turning around and walking home. Not sure if it’s piriformis, sciatic, or what. I’ve tried everything to no avail. It does seem to be nerve related because there are moments when I suddenly feel 100%. Then, a few minutes later it’s back. 
Yesterday, I decided to start taking some ibuprofen hoping that it might un-inflame something that is clamping down on a nerve. In the meantime, it doesn’t seem to be aggravated by riding the bike. 
@PhilippePhlop @mhandwerk @Bbt67 @adenega @ibaldwin @MAGNUStm @Billabong @Sprusky @AgingCannon @brianngo
How is everyone’s running coming along? Injuries and niggles healing up?
@Joelrivera How goes the marathon recovery?
That is a bummer! I hope you heal quickly.
I started a run streak after I was cleared to run post meniscus surgery (Jan 27th). So far so good. Lots of short and easy runs as I build volume back up post-surgery. My plan is to continue my run streak all year. Has anyone done a year-long run streak?
I am targeting shorter triathlon races this year, sprints and Olympic, finishing at age group nationals (sprint distance). I haven’t trained for speed in many years, so this will be interesting.
I’d be heading for a doctor or at least chiropractor pretty quickly. Anything like that, the sooner you get it fixed, the less chance it’ll have to do mischief.
On my end, things are going well! In 2020 before I got injured, I was at 212W FTP. Last week, I got an FTP boost to 213W: a new PB just one watt higher than the old. 
Now I need endurance: the bare minimum I’ll need to finish GFNY is three hours @ 140W (65%) and then one final hour @ 185W (85%) to get up Bear Mountain. Still a lot of work to do!
The walking is going REALLY well. 2x25min and 1x40min of fast walking last week, roughly 8:40/km pace. But I now recover well from those before my ride the next day. I feel they’re helping, not “adding load”. Clearly I was pushing too hard before. God bless BarryP, and thanks to all of you for good guidance as well. Will try to move to 5 days per week of walking next, working up to 2x20, 2x40, 1x60.
Hi! and thanks for asking. After several attempts and a lot of starting and stopping, I’m back into “starting” again! I’ve been keeping it very conservative with most of my running at lunch breaks at work, so nothing too much over 30 min/3 miles - everything from 7.5 - 10 min/mi pace. I’ve gotten back on the bike too and really enjoying that as well, and my goal this year is just finding a better balance with riding, lifting/strength training and running.
This weekend I opted to replace a ride with a run so I went out with the intent of my normal 3 mile route, but I got to the turn-around point and decided to make a loop out of it and ended up doing my longest run of the year just under 5 miles with some climbing - 500 ft or so. It was really fun and probably the first time this year when I felt fantastic both in terms of fitness and little/no pain. Of course I over did it later in the day sprinting around the yard playing nerf guns with my son, but it was worth it. Some ibuprofen, stretching, rolling and a bit of time off the run will get me back out there. I want to continue to push out the duration of my runs and be able to do 5+ miles pain free. This week I’ll focus on the bike and do a gym session this weekend and plan to get back to lunch runs next week. It’s been challenging but a fun lesson, this running thing.
I do hope you sort your injury out quickly!
Ugh, running is just so hard on the body. Recently resumed after a 5 week or so break to heal my PTT and it almost immediately came back (it had gotten to the point where it almost felt 100%). I’ve probably done about 5 runs so far coming back, in the 3-5 mile range, easy pace. The actual runs feel good but now I’m dealing with all that soreness, my PTT, tight calves, just tired legs in general, things I didn’t feel at all over the course of my first 5 weeks of TR.
Guess this is just how it is if you want to run. Recently switched to stability shoes and I’m hoping this helps over the long term.
I’ll admit I’ve never heard of PTT but I’ve always been advised much less for returning from injury.
Like start with a five minute run/walk on day one.
Over-striding and too much volume are key beginner mistakes, stretch your calves with eccentric raises and shorten your stride, distance and intensity. Would be my starting points.
let me clarify, I started with 3 mile runs, felt fine, then did 4, then finally did 5. Wasn’t after a few of these that I started feeling my PTT again. I would describe this as easing back in since at the start, I felt near 100% again.
I’m doing a lot of mobility exercises in between. I’m not a beginner runner so I don’t consider 5 mile runs that strenuous, especially at easy pace. I’m going to refrain from anything beyond easy running for a while.
I did a marathon where I was in the lead bike team for the wheelchair race. As we were the first race on the course we had a police escort clearing the path for us. Started off with a sharp downhill (which you then came back up at the end of the race which was just rude) and the police biker missed the first turn. Not being 100% with the course ourselves we followed him with some of the wheelchair athletes careering around the corner with no one in front of them and a couple of others to follow us over some pretty sketchy speed bumps. Needless to say we were not popular that day.
@KickrLin Sorry to hear you’ve got an injury, hope you get it resolved soon… good news though you can still get sessions in on the bike!
January I managed around 4hours (35km+) of easy trail running per week and 3 TR workouts. Glad I kept some base miles going over the Autumn and Winter. As weather improved I’ve put the VFFs back on and did a 20km session, resulting in some tightening in the Calves. Also had a bad fall going down hill where both knee caps slammed into some tree roots. Amazing how quickly the body loses the adaptions from VFFs last year. Knees were just sore for several days. This things haven’t stopped me running as I had a recovery week a planned, so I’ll ensure I’ll mix and match before going back to VFFs majority of the time. Did 2 hours last night and hardly noticed calves, but it was in the Altra’s…
Have now dropped a TR session (2/wk) and aiming to increase running to 6hrs (50km+) running a week and keep ramping it up slowly. Got my mini Ultra in May as my A event and just hoping to complete and improve on last years time whilst enjoying the whole day in the Eryri mountain. Got to get fitter as it includes a double ascent of Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon) straight from the start.
Surviving so far, running very little but often
@FatherDamo2 i’m considering busting out my old VFF back out for my shorter runs. My big toe isn’t splaying as much anymore 
Had my first run in the Altra Rivera 2s…theyre tighter but still spacious in the toe box. Started getting the under-toe/forefoot chafing on the opposite leg.
Juggling all the sports is quite the challenge, esp with weightlifting on top. I just have to get to 3.5 hours of running time per week a-la-barryP and then i’ll try to add some race pace intervals
As much as i liked the track sessions i just can’t bring myself to get to it in time (with shorter days and such)
My hamstring on one leg is still tight and my right foot wants to start plantar fasciiting (an issue i’ve run into after trying to start jump roping a bit too intensely back in nov/dec). The pain usually goes away after the first km though.
So I did see the doc and had some imaging done. It appears that I’ve dorked up my lumbar spine a bit and hit a nerve. Gave me a script for some meds (B vitamins, muscle relaxer, pain/anti-inflammatory) and recommended seeing a PT. As for the PT, long story short, I went to the PT and was less than pleased when I left.
Here is what I've decided to do. I'm taking the vitamins and pain/anti-inflammatory, not taking the muscle relaxer. I'm doing my own set of exercises to decompress and/or get things back in place as well as make it stable again. I'm trying not to be angry, but it's hard. I had only started to feel normal again after over a year dealing w/my broken leg and immediately a setback 😫
I feel better already!
Bummer to hear about the injury but glad to see you have answers… and a plan in place to get things back on (the) track. pun intended
My plan was to put running on the back-burner as I focused on cycling for the first half of the year. I started with two runs a week but slowly added a third and then the occasional fourth. While still managing to get in 3/4 rides a week.
This past weekend my buddy roped me into a 5k as part of his team. Everyone is timed individually but as a team the five fastest times are accumulated to be compared against the other teams. My goal was to full send it with no real time goal. As an aside, I raced a 5k in December where I PR’d by 20 seconds and finished at 17 flat. My total weekly mileage is now less than half what it was at the time I PR’d so I thought if I finished 17 high I would be thrilled.
Gun goes off and I quickly find the lead pack. I settle in behind the top 4 (sitting 5th)… About 1.5 miles in the top two start to pull away. I tell the guys (3rd/4th) to push but they dont respond. I step around and within seconds I immediately tell myself ‘nope, not today’ lol… I pull back just a bit and keep steady. Just after mile 2 the 2nd place guy starts to fall back. I run by him and hang on for dear life.
Not once I looked at my watch and only listened for the auto lap notifications. Which seemed like forever for mile 3… Once I heard the 3 mile lap I felt the biggest sense of relief… I crossed the finish, stopped my watch and hit the floor… Official time 16:40; another 20 second PR just 6 weeks later. I finished 2nd Overall and 1st Masters.
So what now? I really want to cycle to prepare for some summer crit races but I was given a race entry to a local half in April and the 5k result is super motivating. Now I’m torn between either continue to split my time cycling/running or switch back to run focus to try to ‘race’ the half.
It’s always like that in a 5km
Flying! I never had that speed even in my youth! Low 17s was my limit. I’d be happy to run 18 anything nowadays once I get myself right again.
Congrats on another PR 