"Get Busy Living or Get Busy Dying" - A Running Journal

[DopeyBadger]

So yesterday I was looking over the last couple of weeks of running and noticed that I have put myself in a situation where I had enough time to "train" for a marathon in March. Now it wouldn't have been a PR type run, but I would have been able to say I ran a marathon in 2017. After passing the idea along to my running friend, he made some excellent points. The short version is to stop with crazy goals, and to concentrate on my 5k and 10k races this spring for a chance to PR. He said that running a marathon with such little training would only be a set back in my long term plans. At that point I let the idea die.
Also during that conversation I asked him what he suggest I do for prep for the races and summer. Short version (kinda) run 6 days a week and try to make those runs around a hour each with exception to the long run of 2 hours and get a hard workout (speed work) in there as well. I knew speed work was needed and was thinking about the extra running day, just not so soon. He told me I need to get to averaging about 50 miles per week this summer. Needless to say I will be revising my running plan thats posted on page one during the day today.
Ran 7 miles last night on the treadmill in a little over a hour for a sub 9 min/mile pace. Weigh in this morning is near a 2 week low, coming in at 221.2.

Sounds like you got some good advice.

 

[DopeyBadger]

PS - Here's a 6 day a week plan, with speed work, averaging around 50 miles per week, with an attempt to get better at 5k/10k paces. Just so happens to be the plan I'm following. All we'd have to do is alter the paces and mileage a smidge to match your fitness.

 

[LSUlakes]

Had a URD yesterday after all that talk of increasing miles, speed work, ect. A little disappointed in myself, all talk over here. DW surprised me with a piece of cookie cake last night from the Great American Cookie Factory. Those things are more dangerous than king cake. Was running late getting out the door this morning and forgot to weigh myself as well. With no run and cookie cake, its a safe assumption the weight was higher than the previous days. Looks like I may pull off a double today with the first run being speed work during lunch and then a much shorter recovery run on the TM tonight.

 

[LSUlakes]

3 miles on the TM last night. Having a difficult time being dedicated so far this week. Not sure if its the last two weeks of getting back 30+ MPW or what, but I just feel tired all the time. Trying to push through it. Weighed myself this morning with a bit of a gain, which is not a effect of food but holding water that I normally lose while running. Good news is I am hydrated. 222.4 lbs, up from 221.9.

We got our first delivery from Home Chef yesterday and cooked one of the meals. So a little review of the whole process.

Upon opening the box the recipes are the first thing you see. It comes with a little binder and the recipes have holes punched in them already for your standard 3 ring binder. We ordered 3 meals: Shrimp Scampi, Creamy Spinach & Artichoke Pasta, and Fig-Glazed Chicken breast. All the items are neatly packed inside this box and the ingredients are packaged together according to which dish they belong. The meat is separate from these items and are at the bottom of the box where its the coldest. Makes sense. Everything is portioned out so the need to measure anything other than some water isnt really needed. The box itself is insulated with some sort of foam and there are several freezer type packages in various spots in the box to keep things cold. After unboxing I put away the items that we are going to cook later on and got things ready for the first meal. We went with the shrimp scampi. Like I mentioned everything is individually packaged and portioned so its just a matter of taking out the pots and pans needed for the meal. The other little bit of prep is for the produce which is still whole. I actually like this. The instructions are easy to follow and very clear. They start off with the little bit of prep work and then your off. The meal also included cheese biscuits which was just a matter of mixing a little water, cheese, and the biscuit mix in a bowl and then placing dough onto a pan to bake. It made 4 biscuits. Once in the oven, you start the pasta and cooking the shrimp. With exception to the produce everything is measure out so you just poor in things as needed. The white cooking wine and heavy cream come in little bottles and in case there is any confusion, everything is clearly labeled. (Although no one should confuse white wine and heavy cream). From start to finish it took about 45 minutes before the meal was ready to eat. So how did it taste? It was very good!!! I was very surprised by how much i liked it and how fresh the food was. Health wise, this was one of the most unhealthy choices we could have made. It makes two serving which was a lot. That serving was half of the pasta and two biscuits each, so plenty of food. It was 1,111 calories and plenty of carbs lol. The meal DW is cooking tonight is much healthier at around 400 calories or less per serving. So there are healthy options to choose from, we just happened to pick what looked good and not so much what was good for us. Also included is nutritional info for each meal and the recipe is something you can create again on your own by going to your local grocery. So if its something you like, you can do it again or make slight adjustments to your personal taste preference. The only thing that is explained how to make again is the biscuits, which I am ok with since they are extremely unhealthy, but sad because they were really good.

In summary, I like the idea and the food was good. I would recommend so far. Our plan is to make a order every 3-4 weeks to try new meals.

 

[bcarey2k]

Had a URD yesterday after all that talk of increasing miles, speed work, ect. A little disappointed in myself, all talk over here. DW surprised me with a piece of cookie cake last night from the Great American Cookie Factory. Those things are more dangerous than king cake. Was running late getting out the door this morning and forgot to weigh myself as well. With no run and cookie cake, its a safe assumption the weight was higher than the previous days. Looks like I may pull off a double today with the first run being speed work during lunch and then a much shorter recovery run on the TM tonight.

King cake might as well be Satan spawn while trying to adhere to any food regiment!

 

[roxymama]

That home chef recipe does sound good but decadent! It was a good choice to cook the seafood first. I always will do that with my meals if it contains shrimp. The chicken/beef, etc stays fresher longer.
Did you feel like a "chef"?

People who run 6 days a week always are super impressive to me. Especially when you are talking about for full hours. Sounds tough, but I'm sure it really pays off.

I've had zero pieces of king cake this year and for that I am emotionally damaged. Sigh...maybe next year.
Up here we have Paczki's which are filled donut goodness. Haven't had one of those yet either. Sigh again.

 

[LSUlakes]

That home chef recipe does sound good but decadent! It was a good choice to cook the seafood first. I always will do that with my meals if it contains shrimp. The chicken/beef, etc stays fresher longer.
Did you feel like a "chef"?

People who run 6 days a week always are super impressive to me. Especially when you are talking about for full hours. Sounds tough, but I'm sure it really pays off.

I've had zero pieces of king cake this year and for that I am emotionally damaged. Sigh...maybe next year.
Up here we have Paczki's which are filled donut goodness. Haven't had one of those yet either. Sigh again.

We enjoyed it very much! When you get the stuff it gives a timetable on how long the ingredients will last, and naturally the shrimp isnt very long, so that made that decision easy. I enjoy cooking very much, and would have to say it was fairly simple to follow the steps. I've come across some recipes that are much more challenging. I find breads and dessert are really difficult. The whole adding a egg to a hot liquid but not allowing the egg to turn into scrambled egg. That and knowing how much to actually reduce cream based things so that they gel properly overnight.

 

[ZellyB]

That meal sounds pretty tasty. I may have to break down and try one of those one of these days. I especially like the ease of it!

 

[LSUlakes]

Last week did not go well... Took a little time off for some things that did not feel right in my legs. So, what did I do with all that extra time? I boiled crawfish and made king cakes... yeah that makes things better. lol Back at it this week and starting to try to get some gym time in to. Nothing formal yet, just a little of this and that.

 

[LSUlakes]

As you could guess from todays QOTD on the running thread, I forgot to start my watch. I manually added the mile on Garmin, but I'm not sure if that shows up in my totals or not. After the run I spent about 10 minutes doing some core exercises. Hope to make 10- 30 per day on strength training 4 days a week.

Weight update 227/220.7/195

 

[FFigawi]

You could be like the woman who cheated on a half marathon recently and went back to ride the course on her bike to cover her tracks on Strava. It's one way to get your total correct.

 

[BikeFan]

You could be like the woman who cheated on a half marathon recently and went back to ride the course on her bike to cover her tracks on Strava. It's one way to get your total correct.

Saw that. It totally blew up on a lot of runner sites. The fact that cheating is as common as it is infuriates me to no end. Cheating is too easy in most races, so basically it's an honor system, and I have no respect for anyone who lacks enough integrity to stoop to course-cutting (intentional, that is - I've done a few poorly-organized races in which I got lost or was misdirected by a confused volunteer). It further irks me when race directors fail to correct the results when cheating is obvious. Even RunDisney has done this. Some clown clearly cut the course in the 2014 Marathon Weekend Half, missed multiple timing mats and then posted a 15K split which would've shattered the world record, and took a placing in the 30-34 age group from a deserving runner. RD to this day has never DQ'ed this runner, and presumably sent him the age group award. Not cool, RD, not cool.

 

[LSUlakes]

You could be like the woman who cheated on a half marathon recently and went back to ride the course on her bike to cover her tracks on Strava. It's one way to get your total correct.

Did not see that article! I'm going to have to google it. It may get the total correct, but it isnt a honest way to do so...

Saw that. It totally blew up on a lot of runner sites. The fact that cheating is as common as it is infuriates me to no end. Cheating is too easy in most races, so basically it's an honor system, and I have no respect for anyone who lacks enough integrity to stoop to course-cutting (intentional, that is - I've done a few poorly-organized races in which I got lost or was misdirected by a confused volunteer). It further irks me when race directors fail to correct the results when cheating is obvious. Even RunDisney has done this. Some clown clearly cut the course in the 2014 Marathon Weekend Half, missed multiple timing mats and then posted a 15K split which would've shattered the world record, and took a placing in the 30-34 age group from a deserving runner. RD to this day has never DQ'ed this runner, and presumably sent him the age group award. Not cool, RD, not cool.

Running and golf have a lot in common as far as the honor system goes. Since money isnt on the line for age group awards, I doubt they will ever put in the effort to DQ someone at a runDisney event. They also shouldnt just look into AG award people, but anything that seems out of place. But they probably should look into each one, by checking timing mats and race photos and if they have a solid case DQ the person. A few problems with this though... It would require a lot of man hours to go through the results for all suspicious activity and then checking spots where you have out and backs without mats or photos, the only thing you could prove is a crazy pace change. After doing all of that though, what does runDisney have to gain?

 

[BikeFan]

Running and golf have a lot in common as far as the honor system goes. Since money isnt on the line for age group awards, I doubt they will ever put in the effort to DQ someone at a runDisney event. They also shouldnt just look into AG award people, but anything that seems out of place. But they probably should look into each one, by checking timing mats and race photos and if they have a solid case DQ the person. A few problems with this though... It would require a lot of man hours to go through the results for all suspicious activity and then checking spots where you have out and backs without mats or photos, the only thing you could prove is a crazy pace change. After doing all of that though, what does runDisney have to gain?

I get that it would take a lot of man-hours, and I understand that with the number of runners RD has, it's not realistic to check everyone. Still, I expect them to get the age-group awards and the like right. Sure, they're not paying prize money, but people work hard for those, and for someone to get one they hadn't earned, those are directly taking from a deserving runner. The one year I ran the old Tower of Terror 10-miler, I saw lots of people cutting the course on one of the out and back sections. It bothered me, but if it didn't affect any of the awards, I ultimately don't care. I have known runners, however, who've made RD events their target events for the year just to win an age-group or military division award, and I would hate to think they'd been cheated by a course cutter. For the prices RD charges, they should at least investigate anyone winning an award.

It's the same with BQs - people work hard for those, and even getting under your time won't guarantee you get in the race due to the whole bubble situation. It pains me that every year that some unknown number of cheaters bump out a legit runner who worked hard to earn a spot.

 

[FFigawi]

Running and golf have a lot in common as far as the honor system goes. Since money isnt on the line for age group awards, I doubt they will ever put in the effort to DQ someone at a runDisney event. They also shouldnt just look into AG award people, but anything that seems out of place. But they probably should look into each one, by checking timing mats and race photos and if they have a solid case DQ the person. A few problems with this though... It would require a lot of man hours to go through the results for all suspicious activity and then checking spots where you have out and backs without mats or photos, the only thing you could prove is a crazy pace change. After doing all of that though, what does runDisney have to gain?

It doesn't require hundreds of hours to do simple checks. Verifying the splits and missed timing mats takes almost no time at all. All races should do this to uphold the integrity of their race and the sport. There's no reason rD can't do this too. Granted, Disney doesn't have many cheaters at the pointy end, but the guy investigating cheating runners found more than a few at the back of the pack. I doubt rD will ever do anything about them, though. Since they give finisher medals to non-finishers, they won't care much at all about people cutting the course.

 

[LSUlakes]

I get that it would take a lot of man-hours, and I understand that with the number of runners RD has, it's not realistic to check everyone. Still, I expect them to get the age-group awards and the like right. Sure, they're not paying prize money, but people work hard for those, and for someone to get one they hadn't earned, those are directly taking from a deserving runner. The one year I ran the old Tower of Terror 10-miler, I saw lots of people cutting the course on one of the out and back sections. It bothered me, but if it didn't affect any of the awards, I ultimately don't care. I have known runners, however, who've made RD events their target events for the year just to win an age-group or military division award, and I would hate to think they'd been cheated by a course cutter. For the prices RD charges, they should at least investigate anyone winning an award.

It's the same with BQs - people work hard for those, and even getting under your time won't guarantee you get in the race due to the whole bubble situation. It pains me that every year that some unknown number of cheaters bump out a legit runner who worked hard to earn a spot.

I dont disagree with you, I just dont see them putting in the time to do so. I think on the running thread someone talked about the guy who looks at things like this and I wonder. Of the people he has caught and turned in, how many of them have been DQ'd? I would say 50% maybe? Some race directors probably arent that worried about it.

 

[LSUlakes]

It doesn't require hundreds of hours to do simple checks. Verifying the splits and missed timing mats takes almost no time at all. All races should do this to uphold the integrity of their race and the sport. There's no reason rD can't do this too. Granted, Disney doesn't have many cheaters at the pointy end, but the guy investigating cheating runners found more than a few at the back of the pack. I doubt rD will ever do anything about them, though. Since they give finisher medals to non-finishers, they won't care much at all about people cutting the course.

For them to DQ you, I think they would want photo evidence, so split times would only raise the red flag. That part would be the easy part, the hard part would be finding the pictures of a known runner from pictures that are not character stops. Probably a little easier to do with Disney events because how everything ties together, but one would still need to check a few minuted before and after that person would have crossed that point. A lot of pictures can be taken in a 5 minute window. I know this is hard because after I finished a marathon I was interested in purchasing a photo from the race folks. When I got my e-mail with my pictures a finish photo was not there. I e-mail the company asking to look again as well as looking at others who were near me .25 miles earlier, and then it just went on from their. Spent hours looking for one picture of myself crossing a finish line, and I never did. So the picture part is what could be difficult.

 

[FFigawi]

I respectfully disagree. If a race director or timing official sees you ran the first 10k of a half in 8 min/mile and the second half in under 6, the burden of proof falls on you to justify your results. That kind of negative split is nearly impossible to achieve without cheating, as the debacle in Florida demonstrates. The bigger problem, to me, is most race directors aren't willing to take a stand and even provisionally DQ people. This lax attitude makes it easy for people to cut course, use bib mules, and find other ways to cheat. Do I think they need to look at every single result for cheating? No, that's not practical. They should look at the BQ times, the AG winners, and a random sample of the rest.

 

[BikeFan]

For them to DQ you, I think they would want photo evidence, so split times would only raise the red flag. That part would be the easy part, the hard part would be finding the pictures of a known runner from pictures that are not character stops. Probably a little easier to do with Disney events because how everything ties together, but one would still need to check a few minuted before and after that person would have crossed that point. A lot of pictures can be taken in a 5 minute window. I know this is hard because after I finished a marathon I was interested in purchasing a photo from the race folks. When I got my e-mail with my pictures a finish photo was not there. I e-mail the company asking to look again as well as looking at others who were near me .25 miles earlier, and then it just went on from their. Spent hours looking for one picture of myself crossing a finish line, and I never did. So the picture part is what could be difficult.

I don't think photographic evidence is always required. From that one example I cited, the 2014 Disney Half, I think the splits are more than enough evidence. This "runner" had no split at 5K or 10K, and then a 36:41 at 15K (WR is 41:13), and a net time of 1:23:22 (vs. a clock time of 2:02:49, so he decided to start deep in the field for the extra 'challenge' of weaving through thousands of runners, apparently). He took an age group 4th place from an actual runner and is still listed in the official results. I believe the person who pointed out this result to me also informed RD, and they did nothing. In other races, I've seen all manner of very questionable splits, especially in races with lots of timing mats. Lots of runners start slow, especially in longer races, but I've seen runners go from 11:00/mile splits down to the low 6's and similar strange results.

A few years back my family did a local 5K that also had a concurrent 10K which shared part of the same course, but the 10K folks started about 10 minutes ahead. My son finished in the top 5 and won his age group, but when results were posted, it showed he'd been beaten by a 12 year-old who'd posted a 13:xx! I (respectfully!) approached the race director about this phantom phenom who none of the other top 5 runners had seen on the course, and he basically brushed it off. Turns out the kid had started with the 10K crowd and turned around early because he got tired, and was scored with the 5K race. The only reason this even got straightened out is because his parents came forward after his name was called for an award; otherwise, the race director didn't seem bothered by a 12 y.o. being credited with an elite time like that. Some results are so absurd they defy belief.

 

[LSUlakes]

I respectfully disagree. If a race director or timing official sees you ran the first 10k of a half in 8 min/mile and the second half in under 6, the burden of proof falls on you to justify your results. That kind of negative split is nearly impossible to achieve without cheating, as the debacle in Florida demonstrates. The bigger problem, to me, is most race directors aren't willing to take a stand and even provisionally DQ people. This lax attitude makes it easy for people to cut course, use bib mules, and find other ways to cheat. Do I think they need to look at every single result for cheating? No, that's not practical. They should look at the BQ times, the AG winners, and a random sample of the rest.

I see you point and I am on board with the BQ and AG award checking. Using @BikeFan example below, shows just how uninterested RD are in the problem. Just read the story about the bike girl and thats crazy! Hey everyone I placed second in this race!!! Social media look at me! Then bam! I dont think I would ever sign up for another race if I pulled something like that.

I don't think photographic evidence is always required. From that one example I cited, the 2014 Disney Half, I think the splits are more than enough evidence. This "runner" had no split at 5K or 10K, and then a 36:41 at 15K (WR is 41:13), and a net time of 1:23:22 (vs. a clock time of 2:02:49, so he decided to start deep in the field for the extra 'challenge' of weaving through thousands of runners, apparently). He took an age group 4th place from an actual runner and is still listed in the official results. I believe the person who pointed out this result to me also informed RD, and they did nothing. In other races, I've seen all manner of very questionable splits, especially in races with lots of timing mats. Lots of runners start slow, especially in longer races, but I've seen runners go from 11:00/mile splits down to the low 6's and similar strange results.

A few years back my family did a local 5K that also had a concurrent 10K which shared part of the same course, but the 10K folks started about 10 minutes ahead. My son finished in the top 5 and won his age group, but when results were posted, it showed he'd been beaten by a 12 year-old who'd posted a 13:xx! I (respectfully!) approached the race director about this phantom phenom who none of the other top 5 runners had seen on the course, and he basically brushed it off. Turns out the kid had started with the 10K crowd and turned around early because he got tired, and was scored with the 5K race. The only reason this even got straightened out is because his parents came forward after his name was called for an award; otherwise, the race director didn't seem bothered by a 12 y.o. being credited with an elite time like that. Some results are so absurd they defy belief.

Like I mentioned before, I just dont think runDisney is interested in doing anything about it. It's unfortunate, but that seems to be how it is. Your 5k story is a interesting one. Glad the childs parent stepped in to make the correction. Did the 10k and 5k have similar bibs? If they are chipped bibs, I thought the two different race distances would be placed in the system as which race they are running and the results stored that way. Then when the time came in, it would go to 10k results and would have been known that did not happen.

The real question about all of this, and one that could have many theories is why are the race directors or whomever is charge let this slide? It seems to happen a lot more than I had previously thought. Locally speaking I know of two instances where people have been DQ'd. Once was at the local marathon and a women was running with a goal of getting a Olympic Trial qualifying time. I think she ended up short of that goal but was the first women across the line. She was DQ'd for someone assisting her along the course. I think giving her water that wasn't from a aid station. In this example, there are rules in the race guide that state this isnt allowed, but it still seemed harsh. But rules are rules. The other example is of a 10 mile race that also included a 5 mile race. A girl who placed cut 2 miles of the course and the one who ended up running and a few others saw her do it. Although they did not turn her in, someone watching the race brought it up and it went from there.