Becoming a Real Runner

5.3 miles @8'35 pace. The good news is the HR is very low for the pace (138). The not so good news is that I still have DOMS all over the legs from Monday, hopefully they'll be fully recovered by the weekend.

WTD 3 runs 35.9 miles


Month|No. of days Runnning|Miles
January|28/31|256.3
February|24/28|236.9
March|23/31|221.9
April|22/30|150.2
May|25/31|198.5
June|7/8|55.6
Total|129/159|1145.9

This was my sneaky goal 5k after missing Donore a few weeks ago. I had planned to go with woddle but got a call at 3 to say he wouldn't make it. I knew Jackyback and WB Yeats would be there, so I headed anyway after work. Didn't get out of work till 5.10pm but was there already by five to 6. registered and met JB, did a warm up and sauntered up to the start line. The first criticism of the race was here. it was to start at 7pm but we had to wait to let all the cars out that were leaving mass :rolleyes: and ended up waiting to 7.30pm. When the race finally got going there was an absolute maul at the start line. Myself and JB were only about 5 meters back but there was an immediate pile up as the slower runners held up the show. While JB slalomed through the crowds I managed to get tripped up and briefly hit the deck.

By the time I got going I was 20 meter back of JB, but decided to keep it cool and wait to the crowd thinned. The Garmin was saying 6'2x pace after half a k, but I soon found the gaps and made it past JB after about 800m. I was concentrating on getting the lap pace down to 6'0x, so I was happy to get through the first k in 3.42 (6 seconds up on 19min pace) and through the first mile in 6'06. Second mile I held the pace fine, 6'09 for the mile. At the 3k marker I was 11'22 I think, so still 2 seconds up on sub 19...then things got tough. Looking at the garmin now I can see it was a drag in the third mile but my legs just turned to lead. The lungs felt fine but I couldn't turn the legs over as fast any more. People started to stream past me including JB at about 3.5k. I didn't look at the watch again until 4k gone when I realised the sub 19 was gone. I was at 14'30 for 4k (18 seconds down) and 6'38 pace for the third mile. It was just damage limitation now, the target was just to hold on and get a PB (previous one was 19'45 for the Rathfarnham 5k last September). The finishing straight eventually came and I picked it up a bit and got in at 19'27 for an 18 second PB.
Summary 5k in 19'27, mile splits:6'06, 6'09, 6'37 :eek: and 6'10 for the last 0.1. Obviously I lost the sub 19 in the third mile.

Initially I was really disappointed but in retrospect I am happy enough. I know where I stand now and the course was quite tough, an overall net uphill. The marathon on Monday may still have been in my legs and caused the slow down, I felt comfortable enough up to that point and the lungs actually felt ok as I slowed, it was just the legs. Onwards and upwards. I'll still give the sub40 a lash in Dunshaughlin.

5 miles for the day in total


WTD 5 runs 44 miles


Month|No. of days Runnning|Miles
January|28/31|256.3
February|24/28|236.9
March|23/31|221.9
April|22/30|150.2
May|25/31|198.5
June|9/11|58.7
Total|131/162|1154[/QUOTE]

Oisin11178 wrote: »

well done on the pb, its a fine line in the short races. No time to recover if it goes wrong.
edit, thats not a hard course by the way. Its looks nearly ideal.

Definitely not a hard course. Not as fast as Rathfarnham though. I can't blame the course, I was just not quite there myself today.

Met up with Mr slow for a long run in the park this afternoon. A very nice run in the wind and Rain, RQ would have loved it :pac:

Started off a bit stiff but the miles went by and the pace seemed to pick up nicely. Mr Slow looks well recovered after cork. I remember Brian and I trying a similar run after dublin last year and we only managed 6 miles at slower than 9 min miles.

9.8 miles @8'17 pace. HR nicely in the low 140's before my HRM started to mess up for the last 1/2 hour of the run.


WTD 6 runs 53.8 miles


Month|No. of days Runnning|Miles
January|28/31|256.3
February|24/28|236.9
March|23/31|221.9
April|22/30|150.2
May|25/31|198.5
June|10/12|58.7
Total|132/163|1163.8

pgmcpq wrote: »

Congrats on the PB. Looks to me like you might have lost the 18.xx in mile 1. If you ran a 6.06 after falling and running around a shambolic start you must been pretty much tearing up the first mile. So the fade in mile 3 is reasonable. Stay vertical give yourself a few more days after a marathon and the sub 19.00 will go down hard.

Thanks, but I am not so sure you are right.
I think I know the real reason:
I kind of knew I had put on a few pounds since Conn, mainly as a result of continuing to eat like I was running 70 miles/week and the trousers have been feeling a bit tight. I weighed myself this morning for the first time in months, since the new 8 week weight loss challenge is starting on the main forum. I was expecting to see about 11st 12 (166lbs) so i was a bit shocked to see 12 st 3 (171lbs or 77.5 kg). To put that in perspective, when I met you in NY last year I was about 74kg (11st 8 or 162lbs). So the goal is to lose about 7lbs asap. They say a lb of fat is worth a second/km which would give me 35secs over 5k if I lost 7lbs!

I might be a bit late for Dunshaughlin, especially with the stag this weekend but I know what to do and should be down to closer to 160lbs by mid summer.

tldr; I'm fat, need to stop eating cr*p. :pac:

I was really glad that clarlara turned u for this, because this was the kind of session I would normally make excuses for myself and not finish. When I got to the track, Aimman was also there doing laps to keep an eye and keep me honest :pac: Claralara was doing a kind of pyramid session which meant I had to keep the recoveries short to get in two laps while she did her 800's and 4 while she did her 1600, so brian will be pleased to know that most of the recoveries where less than a minute

The session went well. The first two intervals were a bit slow merely because the garmin told me I was doing 5'10 pace when my target pace is 5'30 (82/83 per 400m) so I slowed down. Turns out the Garmin was just measuring those laps too long (.27/mile :rolleyes:). After that the intervals were all pretty much bang on:

86, 85, 84, 82, 83, 81, 83, 83, 82, 82, 80, 83.

Warm up and cool down included = 5.7 miles total

They all felt good except nos 8-10 the last 2 were fine.

WTD 2 runs 11.9 miles


Month|No. of days Runnning|Miles
January|28/31|256.3
February|24/28|236.9
March|23/31|221.9
April|22/30|150.2
May|25/31|198.5
June|12/14|85.4
Total|134/165|1175.7

Plan for tonight was 3 x 2 @ planned 10k pace (6'25/mile). Given that I have missed two of the 3 key workouts and quit on the other one (2 + [4x 1mile] ) it was always going to be a bit of a stretch to finish this one on target. Still and all I met Sharktale, claralara and digger in Marlay with good intentions.

I hit the first set of 2's fine (6'26, 6'19), much better than a few weeks ago and thought 'great'. Got off to the second 2 miler and as going ok, a few seconds down after a mile but since it was uphill thought I'd pull it back, but the legs were gone . 2nd rep 6'28, 6'38. By Now it was damage limitation. Sharktale was struggling too so we decided to do the last 2 miles as two singles instead of a 2 miler. Surprisingly this then went ok and finished them out in 6'26, 6'23.

Conclusion: I am a few weeks behind on these workouts and as a result a sub 40 next week looks unlikely. I'll just run my best and set a PB (42'07) and then use the time to target a sub 40 later in the summer. Last night I entered the lakes of Blessington 10k in September which will be my last tuneup race before Berlin, so I'll get at least one more chance after Dunshauglin. I also entered the Race series 5 miler and 10 miler in a moment of madness, I'll decide later whether I'll race these or use them as tempo/PMP sessions.

Total tonight: 7.4 miles

WTD 4 runs 23.3 miles


Month|No. of days Runnning|Miles
January|28/31|256.3
February|24/28|236.9
March|23/31|221.9
April|22/30|150.2
May|25/31|198.5
June|14/16|96.8
Total|136/167|1187.1

That's probably it for the week, given the Stag do this weekend. June looks like being a very low mileage month :-(

Brianderunner wrote: »

Any target half in the pipeline for you this summer? I'm thinking about either Longford or Waterford national half as a MP run (sub 1'30) as i'm in Ireland all that week.

None at all, I'll maybe just do the 10 miler instead. I'll probably leave it to waterford in december. I have free entries for midlands half on 1st august if you are interested (see pacers forum).

belcarra wrote: »

"I'll just run my best and set a PB (42'07) and then use the time to target a sub 40 later in the summer."

Gotta love the confidence!! And no doubt you'll smash it too!

In Fairness the 10k PB is a sitting duck. Haven't ran one in about a year and almost beat it in February during a 10 mile race. My target has been sub 40 for dunshaughlin , but I don't think I'm in that shape yet.

The weekend was pretty much a write off, with hundreds of pints drank. I did get a bit of hill running/cross training in on saturday afternoon in the form of a 3 hour game of laser tag in a forest in the cooley mountains. Despite the many pints I was very good diet wise. No Junk food and no late night chippers, so I am expecting a decent loss on the scales tomorrow despite only 23 miles last week. I have had no crisps, chocolate, ice cream or fizzy drinks for a whole week now which is quite something for me..

Tonight: 10k in 49 minutes (7'56 pace, 146 av HR). Decent clip tonight. If an MP of 7'15 is going to be possible, I need to be doing my aerobic runs around 8 min/mile and it should be easy. Tonights HR has me well inside the aerobic zone, so I am quite pleased with that.

WTD 1 runs 6.2 miles


Month|No. of days Runnning|Miles
January|28/31|256.3
February|24/28|236.9
March|23/31|221.9
April|22/30|150.2
May|25/31|198.5
June|15/20|103
Total|137/171|1193.3

Macanri wrote: »

I wouldn't have believed that statement if I hadn't been in Barcelona;) Fair play for staying of th junk food though. All the best for Dunshaughlin.

Well done on your 5k PB at the weekend Mac.

After last weeks 12 x 400m tonights track session was a taper session ahead of the race at the weekend.

1 mile warm up @ 7'58 pace followed by 6 x 400m (target pace 82.5 sec) with 400m jog recoveries. The reps went: 82, 83, 83, 84, 79, 83. My second last one always seems to be the fastest :rolleyes:. 1 mile warm down @8'52 pace.

4.7 miles total.

WTD 2 runs 10.9 miles


Month|No. of days Runnning|Miles
January|28/31|256.3
February|24/28|236.9
March|23/31|221.9
April|22/30|150.2
May|25/31|198.5
June|16/21|107.7
Total|138/172|1198