ikr… insanity.
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TLDR: official sub 5 minute mile club @ 4:58.170.
2 days rest really helped. Felt like a monster. Have much more in me (in my current state) than a 4:58, that’s for sure. Lots of little mistakes to address and such.
Reminds me off my first 11’ touch on a vertec, except for that PR I knew I was “nearly maxed out” (at the time), hit 11’0.5" the next week IIRC … but then it was hard af after that. As for today’s result, I definitely have WAY MORE in the tank. Finished the race very strong, never had acid in my legs, only some acid in lungs or just cold air - not sure, kicked decent, made a few mistakes (mainly slowing down too much approaching the uturn) but still enough to run a good race. Anyway, I should be able to hit sub5’s all day eventually, that’s the goal. This shouldn’t be some number I have to struggle with, I need to turn it into a “moderate effort” result, with max effort being in the 4:3X’s.
official results: 4:58.170
- watch estimate: 4:57 (strava)
#1 just dusted everyone (4:32.40)
I got boxed in a bit in the start again, and by the time I got into the clear he had a ~15m lead or so … So instead of catching up, I stayed back and figured i’d make sure to battle for top 3. Worked out decent.
The top 2 guys (4:32 & 4:56) were both D1 FAU runners.
Got a milkshake after:
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bcqo72nhV97/?taken-by=andrewdarqui
And here’s my plaque:
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bcqq64UBxTH/?taken-by=andrewdarqui
warmups were so easy, so relaxed, and low 5/sub 5’s… knew i’d be flying.
Bunch of data:
^^ bet I ran a ~67 or something for the first quarter mile of that race… and i’d have thought I ran a 1:14 or so… excited. 
nice… need to get that km under 3 though… hopefully before 2017 is over 8|
Also, I watched tons of NFL highlights today, not running videos. Tons of Marshawn Lynch and Odell Beckham Jr mixes. Here are a few:
I can watch Marshawn running through people all day 8|
peace!
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Smashed it! Good job man!
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Far out that’s a hell of a run. Awesome work.
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Thanks alot man!!
Thanks alot man! Yea it felt like an incredible run too, almost perfect (for my current level of fitness). Need to sharpen up a few things race/skill wise, not even physiological (ie how I approach u-turns and how I come out of them, when I kick etc).
pc!
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Good work! Always nice to feel like there’s more improvement right around the corner after a PR as well.
What’s your prehab/stretching look like? Ever had any hip issues?
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Thanks man!! Also yes for sure, especially when you feel great the next day after a PR… That’s when you know you have more in the tank. After some PR’s you feel pretty wrecked, but those are PR’s without hitting the limit, like I did yesterday. As opposed to my ~17:51 watch timed 5k PR where I was pretty wrecked for the next week or so afterwards, for example.
Well, for stretching, I usually do it well after my workouts, nice and relaxed. Don’t like to do it right after because i’m too “amp’d up” and usually stretch too hard, from my experience. So I like to cool down a bit ~2 hours or so, then get in some very light static stretching (5s to 30s holds), not forcing any ROM. I’ve historically caused problems for myself by overstretching, so I have to be very careful. I’ve actually caused some major injuries during stretching, some slight tendon tweaks & muscle tears etc, really dumb.
As for prehab, that was just the daily calisthenics stuff I was doing. Pullups/dips, leg raises/abductions, single leg squat variants, pushups, calf raises.
For the last ~1.5 weeks, i’ve cut out calisthenics & stretching completely. As part of this “peaking phase”, i’ve just been trying to avoid any fatigue that isn’t necessary etc. I’ve done some light stretching off and on but no dedicated stretching sessions where I hit “everything” (upper, wrists/forearms, hips/quads/hamstrings/glutes/calves/feet). Trying to avoid creating extra “aches” too. Often I feel good after stretching, but it can also create “aches” and some weird sensations in the muscle too. So decided to just cut it out completely to be safe.
I’ve had hip issues (right hip) during vert & running. For vert, deep squatting seemed to be the culprit and exacerbated it considerably any time i’d go back to it. Half squatting was the cure for me. For running, i’ve reinjured my hips a few times, mostly during stretching (groin stretches believe it or not) or very intense speed walking. So have to be careful there.
Hip pain is the worst IMHO… When it starts feeling “arthritic/tendonitis-ish”, I start thinking of hip replacements and such. Really messes with me mentally. Takes a while for it to disappear when I aggravate it, rest/light walking and light calisthenics seem to be my go to when that happens. I hate training through injury, especially nowadays and at “this age” (35)… So i’ve become extra cautious and can shut things down fairly quickly & resort to rehab mode.
The #1 thing with all of this though IMHO, is to just generally avoid movements that cause pain. It can sometimes be incredible how we continue to perform movements that signal pain. It’s like we just get locked into some kind of mode where we have to do it, for whatever reason. Meanwhile there are usually good workarounds, temporary or permanent.
peace man!
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A little update!
12/14/2017: evening speed walk, legs crazy powerful: 1 mi w/u, 5 miles @ 12:XX/hard, 2 miles @ 14:XX/light (great for light effort), testing my endorphin racer v2’s for walking - they are fast
12/15/2017: evening speed, legs/feet toast (from speed walking): all time 2 mile PR attempt @ 11:21 {5:31,5:50} FAIL by 2s (lmao) - ALONE PR (-17s) :personal-record:, 400m @ 74s/4:56, 515m @ 1:33.4/4:51, 630m @ 1:56.6/4:57 ::: legs even more toast after haha. 5k race sunday 8|
Alone 2 mile PR @ 11:21 (-17s)!
12/16/2017: complete rest
12/17/2017: 5k race on 2 hours sleep!
“Jogged” an 18:37 which is kind of nuts… Was expecting it to be hell with some 16:XX-17:XX guys, but none of them showed up, so coasted out an easy W.
Got interviewed by the local newspaper afterwards… LMFAO!!
12/18/2017: evening speed walk: 2 miles @ moderate (13:11), 1 hard (12:04 - wanted sub 12 - fail), 2 moderate (13-14:XX), 1 hard (12:55)
Wanted another sub 12, almost got it.
12/19/2017: evening speed: 1km PR @ 3:00 / 4:50 min/mi (-1s) / 12.43mph
Wanted sub3 so bad, ended up getting 3:00 … brutal. LMAO. FWIW, ran in the dark, they closed the track down unexpectedly because of the FAU bowl game. Sucked. Should have gone to a different track.
12/20/2017:
#1 light morning run, legs (quads) sore: 6 miles @ 10:XX ::: need to get used to running in the morning again, also need to burn some more fat kcal
#2 evening light/relaxed workout: basketball dribbling (freestyle & drills): ~3 miles @ ~1hr20min … fun. good cross training tool more for coordination/leg strength (deep positions)
12/21/2017: (17.1 miles lol): mixed speed + long run cooldown: 1.70 mi @ 5:39 min/mi avg (5:28.6, 3:59.2/5:40mm, was doing better than I thought), 0.53 mi @ 2:39.5/4:59mm, 0.33 mi (530m) @ 1:34.6/4:50mm, 225m @ 38.7/4:37mm, 2 x 200m @ 33.6/4:29mm, 8 mile cool down (5 track, 3 grass)
^^ I like those kinds of sessions… now we’re talking.
I got a few really good shots from last race:
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bc_fkwIBr5n/?taken-by=andrewdarqui
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bc07e0TBlNT/?taken-by=andrewdarqui
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bczw0RJBkUs/?taken-by=andrewdarqui
I’m really liking running every other day … the back to back I did on 12/20 and 12/21, just didn’t feel like I had the aggressiveness that i’ve had in the last several sessions. I think I need to just keep going every other day, but make my session similar to the one on 12/21 where I did mixed speed AND a long run at the end… That’s a pretty solid session. If I did one of those every other day, not sure how I wouldn’t be able to achieve peak fitness. I just really enjoy the feeling of training when my body/CNS/mind feels more fresh, obviously feel like I can push myself more - and if I can push myself more, better environment for gains.
One thing is for sure, I need more horse power. That’s a good thing though, because that’s historically been easier for me to obtain (over 400) than it is for me to maintain that horsepower over a mile or more. So I need to keep safely pushing my 200’s/400’s so that one day i’m consistently (whenever I want to hit these paces) sub30s for 200m and sub60s for 400m. I think if I had that kind of horsepower, my “reserve power” would be where I want it to be → they seem to improve together nicely.
peace!!
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As for PR hunting, 2017 is almost over so, not much time left to hit these PR’s:
<= 2:59 for 1km (current PR: 3:00)
<= 2:19 for 800m (current PR: 2:21)
sub 11:00 for 2 mile (current PR: 11:20)
official 17:XX 5k (current PR: 18:05 official)
I only have a few more shots. Here’s what it’s looking like:
12/23/2017: Saturday evening: hard speed
- 1km PR attempt
12/26/2017: Wednesday evening: hard 2 mile + hard 800m
- 2 mile PR attempt
- rest/refocus
- 800m PR attempt
12/28/2017: Friday evening: hard speed
- 1km PR attempt and/or 800m PR attempt
12/29/2017 + 12/30/2017: full rest
12/31/2017: last 5k race of 2017
- 17:XX official attempt
I really think my 1km, 800m, and 5k goals are there… 2 mile is the biggest question mark. Last week when I hit 5:24 min/mi avg for 1.67, that was my best shot. Really let that slip through my fingers. All I needed was basically one more lap in lane 6 + a little kick, and would have hit sub 11 for 2. That’s a huge barrier for me, probably more so than sub5 for a mile or sub3 for a 1km. I mean, i’d had to drop 21s from my best 2 mile in order to get that, which is kind of nutty but that 1.67 @ 5:24 avg shows I am close on a good day & brutal effort.
I’d just like to get these numbers before 2017 is over with so I can raise the bar even higher for 2018 … ie, sub 2:40 1km etc
Also in 2018, i’m going to include 200m & 400m into my PR list. Time to focus on those like I mentioned in the previous post.
As for PR’s i’ve hit, 4:57.6 estimated mile (4:58.16 official) and 17:51 estimated 5k (sub18) were my huge PR’s for 2017. If I could knock a few more of these off soon, i’d be very happy.
peace!
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Good luck man!
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Thanks alot my man!!
Also I didn’t mention, I need to amp up a bit more before these PR attempt sessions (maybe 12/23 & 12/26, not on 12/28 because of the 12/31 race). Some of the last few, i’ve gone into them without much mental prep. Need to approach them more like I did in my last few races where I watch tons of NFL highlights and such, zoning out and getting ready for battle.
I think I said it before but, i’ve found NFL videos more effective at getting me ready than watching running videos. The speed, power, & ruthless aggression of NFL athletes clicks with me more. It’s also something that clicked with me with dunking etc.
Also regarding my weight, it’s been alot higher lately (141-144), but i’ve been “super hydrating” the last few weeks. Just drinking excess amounts of water. I’ve found that this seems to be helping my stomach considerably. My theory on: eating alot but not having enough water in me to process that food, might have been somewhat accurate. That’s just what I started noticing: eat a huge meal, then so much rumbling going on in my stomach etc & it feeling “different”, especially pre-race day (where I might lose more water due to some nerves etc). By drinking TONS of water, my stomach seems to have recovered/improved quite a bit. It (lots of water) also probably helps with a ton of other things. Making sure to get in enough salt etc too.
peace!
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Before my last mile race & my last 5k, I had pizza and wings.
Pre-mile race: 3 small slices, 5 wings.
- evening race, 6:15 PM
- meal: 01:30 PM
Day before 5k race: 4 small slices, 10 wings
- meal: 03:00 PM
Pre-5k race: 2 small slices, 1 wing.
- morning race, 7:30 AM
- meal: 05:30 AM
Hah. Feel strong from that combo. I also had yam + other stuff like usual, but in a separate meal.
It’s basically this:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BcX0y6znutu/?taken-by=andrewdarqui
That pizza is very light (no sauce) and the wings are great. Seems to sit well in my stomach and make me feel strong. Will probably try and repeat what I did for the last 5k, for 12/31: day before (more pizza/wings), morning of (2 slices & 1 or 2 wings). I give my dogs most of the crust, just to keep it a little lighter.
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The players training videos with dramatic music are where it’s at haha, often shot in greyscale.
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This is awesome.
I bet it’s nice to cruise a W every once in awhile huh?
You compete so much!
And, I too think improving your strength running (200, 400, 800) will help you overall. Power/strength is a friend of endurance.
Here’s to a strong finish to the year, and a healthy and PR filled 2018!
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Since I don’t lift anymore, the training videos don’t fire me up as much as they used to. But yeah when I was lifting hard for dunking, those videos were gold. aaaaaaaahhhh.
I should also add some boxing/combat videos into the mix. Just watched one of my favorites just to see, but there’s just no sprinting and I think that’s what I love about those NFL highlight videos: the speed, power, and agility at such high speed.
I did a little experiment. Found a Marshawn Lynch video with the same song (Can’t be touched by Roy Jones Jr). The football highlight definitely makes my quads fire, LMFAO. Makes me want to run hard. :d
peace!!
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Yea it is!! I got to enjoy the environment a bit more, check out the scenery etc. If I was really pushing it, lots of stuff would have been a blur. So it’s cool to just be able to chill sometimes and coast it out, basically became a ~5:55 min/mi 3 mile tempo run … and I never do tempo runs, so that’s a good “training session” in a sense. It also allowed me to stay fresher for my Tuesday session, which I was planning on PR’n my 1km (which I did). I was thinking during the race, just coast it out so I can stay as fresh as possible for Tuesday. Had I been in a real battle, Tuesday might not have been a PR.
So ya, my approach is to adapt in races, and get after it hard in training. Training should be torture, and races should be fun. That’s what i’ve picked up on from elite runners. Many of them talk about how much harder training is than racing. So if some crazy fast guys showed up, time to push the limits & try to hang/win. If no one shows up, coast out a nice W and enjoy it more. I could have pushed it to the max, BUT that max would not be as good as a BATTLE-MAX (where i’m battling some people), so from a “results/time perspective”, I just don’t feel like pushing it “alone” is as worth pushing it against competition. My race history results are all over the place lmfao! I coasted out a 20:XX in October. I think lots of people would feel bad seeing that on their history. Feels like i’m keying my own Bugatti, to not give a F about anyone else keying it. jaja.
Yup! From my experience, races are probably the biggest stimulus for improvement. The extra adrenaline you get, trying to hang with better people, the experience of it etc, just so valuable.
The best/impressive local runners who dominate, have really long race histories. Some may do up to 20-30 a year. Many of them have 150-300 races total in their race histories on say, athlinks.com.
If every race you do, you are trying to beat a PB, then I think it could be draining. If you adopt my strategy, then it’s less draining IMHO. People want to PB every race, but the courses, weather, competition, are different. So if one is ONLY number hunting, and wants to improve their 20:00 to 19:55, the next race could have a much more difficult course and they end up running 20:05… Yet here they are, mad/angry/depressed/frustrated. Meanwhile, it’s like 5F hotter, more humid, has more turns, and had more headwind. To me, that 20:05 becomes better than the previous 20:00 in those theoretically different conditions.
I’ve had several people come up to me and express “shock” at my times: “how did you go from 20:05 to 18:05 in a month?!?!”, “how did you go from a 5:16 mile to 4:58 in 2 weeks?!?!”. They know my strategy, but it just doesn’t sink in - lmao.
I mean even someone I trained with on the track for several weeks, was expecting to beat me in the last 5k where I “jogged” that 18:37. He ran 19:35 I think, got #2 overall. But he was looking at my last 5k result and somehow thinking that was indicative of my fitness. When he expressed “surprise” at my 18:37, I was surprised at him being surprised. I guess my point is, focusing on racing, rather than purely numbers, doesn’t seem too common & people just don’t get it.
I want to “race” my way into the “All American Standard” for 35-39: <= 16:00 5k, <= 4:40 mile. I personally don’t think you get there by number hunting. I mean I have the numbers on my mind, but to get there, I think you have to simply show up at a race with 15:XX 5k guys or 4:3X mile guys and battle to the death. You know?
Thanks so much man!! And same to you! Hope all those little nagging issues start disappearing for you now that you’ve made a few of those changes recently.
Health/Safety = #1
These Robertson brothers (elite distance runners) are a great example. They show up to the line injured quite often, battling through injury and still dropping elite times. I’d love to see them show up to the line 100% healthy. I think some people are just so driven that they overdo it in training. But maybe just getting to the line healthy is more important. If you are that driven & that mentally strong, showing up healthy should allow you to battle with the best. Battling injury pain, effort pain, competition is pretty extreme. Makes sense to try and really avoid having to battle injury pain & focus that on what matters. And beyond that, battling through injuries in training can sideline you “forever”. I worry alot about injury, just so tired of being injured. So, trying to be as safe as I can be while pushing the limits.
Anyway, sub 60 400’s for us in early 2018 … or if you drop one before 2018. hah.
peace man!!
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I don’t think there’s one elite athlete that is not dealing with some type of ‘injury’. It just takes so many reps over such a long time to be elite.
Also, congrats on your recent PRs.
What type of tech are you using to time your runs? I find it a challenge to time myself with my watch accurately, which is why I just purchased a Robic handheld. Am I doing it wrong? LOL
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Well, regarding non-contact sports (ie track/road racing), I imagine most elites are pretty healthy. Battling through injury happens, but it often leads to worsening conditions etc. The smarter people back off. Little aches and pains I wouldn’t classify as “injury” though, things like ITB syndrome/plantar fasciitis, stress fractures, muscle tears, etc, are things that smarter elites will back off from. Recreational/weekend warriors are probably more prone to battle through that stuff, they don’t have the same resources/physio/coaching.
As for contact sports, ya, elites in those sports battle tons of injuries. I mean we’ve seen guys battle hamstring/hip flexor pulls etc in Basketball/NFL etc. It’s really hard to battle that in track/road racing and be competitive. Someone has a pulled hamstring in 200m and they risk tearing it completely etc.
Just my 2 cents on that, I could be way off.
Thanks alot, about to post another PR!!
I’m using a garmin watch, so lots of my stuff is “GPS tracked”. I hand time using the lap key, but I also get “estimated times” for various intervals (400m, 800m, 1k, 1 mile, 2 mile, 5k, 10k, half, marathon etc) based on the GPS data. As an example, today on my watch data you’ll see a 63s 400m, for 0.25 mi (GPS measured and lap key’d), but also an estimated 61s for that effort (perhaps I hugged the outside of the lane too much or it just read it slightly off). But overall, it’s very accurate.
I use a garmin forerunner 15. There’s way better models now that are still pretty cheap. The kid I ran with today, his watch will beep automatically at 400m intervals if he wants, so damn useful for mile runs and such. I on the other hand, have to look at my watch. lol. His beeps and lights up so he can see it.
Also, not sure how the short sprint guys time their stuff. I imagine they use a stop watch but, i’d personally use a gps watch with the lap key feature like I do. For example, I use the lap key when I start the 400m and finish it. So in my data, i’ll have that interval and it 99.9% of the time says 0.25 mi. So the GPS data got it at 0.25 mi, and I also have the interval itself, manually lap key’d. So I get the data from GPS and manually with the interval in the data.
Will post in a sec.
12/22/2017: complete rest
12/23/2017: HARD SPEED
MASSIVE PR.
CRUSHED MY 1KM ESTIMATED PR, SUB3 @ 2:56 (-4s) @ ~4:43min/mi pace/12.7mph?
Also a hard 400m @ 63s (estimated 61s)
@IronOne my watch syncs from garmin directly to Strava, where you can do all kinds of other stuff like CR’s (course records) etc: 5.6 mi Run Activity on December 23, 2017 by Andrew D. on Strava
The next four photos are my garmin data, with my foot pod (which gives me stride freq & stride length etc):
@ironOne ^^ you see that 0.25 mi split in there highlight? GPS measured it at 0.25 but it’s also a single lap because I used the lap key on my watch (start/end), so it makes a little segment itself for it.
400m:
1km:
^^ lol I wish.
***One interesting thing from the data tonight, is my stride frequency was WAY UP (21X vs 20X) and stride length was a little lower (1.6X vs 1.7X). I didn’t feel like I had as much power tonight, so I seemed to adjust for it by picking up my cadence. These were hard efforts, not easy at all. If I had more power in my stride, I imagine I would have hit these same results, but with less stride freq and a bit less “effort” - so a bit easier. 214 stride freq feels really fast and unsustainable. 200 feels sustainable.
The guy I ran with tonight is fast. He actually helped me a bit on the 1km probably, because he ran 800m and I ran 800m + 200m kick, but ~300m in he told me “reign it in” because I was going out at ~4:30 pace. So that either hurt or helped, but I imagine helped.
Getting close to 13mph sustained for 1km (and eventually 1 mile)… That’s a MAJOR goal of mine. 13mph is like a “ok this dude is for real” kind of speed, even for just one mile. Elites hold (and slightly faster) it for 13.1 miles. LOL. And they are pretty close to holding 13 mph for 26.2 miles, don’t think they do though.
Happy… 800m (< 2:20), 2 mile (< 11min), and 5k (17:XX official) are still up for grabs… lol.
peace!!!
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