Aiming for a sub 45min 10km.

belcarra · 17-05-2011 10:17pm #1

Back training about 2 weeks after the end of the football season (Which saw our team go unbeaten in all 22 league matches...yay us!).

I've already managed to complete the Sportsworld 5miler on Sunday in a time of just under 39mins. So that has set down the marker for where I am and to be honest I'm happy enough with that.

I'm banking on getting a bit quicker over the next 6-8 weeks in which time I will be doing the Donore 5k and Dunshaughlin 10k. A week later I'm planning on doing the Achill Half Marathon but will probably not go flat out in that given the shorter distances I'll be used to and the effort I intend to give to Dunshaughlin.

I know there's plenty on here doing both Donore and Dunshaughlin so feel free to pass on any comments & tips you see fit!

belcarra · 17-05-2011 10:45pm

I've been reading lots about McMillan's 10k ultimate prep guide so I thought I might attempt the 6 x 1 mile sessions tonight as a way of measuring what kind of state I'm in. The planned pace was 7:14 per mile which would ultimately give a 10k time of 45mins...a target for this Summer. (Current pb is approx 47:xx).

The session didn't exactly go as planned though! I followed a lap route which I had previously measured as 1 mile so when I got to the end of the lap I took the time as being the pace per mile. The first couple were poor and after another slow recovery lap I did manage a third quickish lap but reasoned a few factors were against me tonight, not least my lack of training so far and decided to call it quits. I still managed a distance of just under 6 miles in less than 47mins.

However, when I got home and started thinking clearly again I realised the lap was 0.03 miles long, which sounds so little but is actually almost 50metres. When I played around with the data on the Garmin I discovered the 3 quickish laps actually turned out to be:
Lap 1 - 7:15
Lap 2 - 7:17
Lap 3 - 7:13
When I saw this I was both happy and pissed off! Happy that the target time was achievable (even if I need a bit more training to get the 6 laps in!) but pissed off because if I'd realised when still out there I could have tried at least another decent lap!

Still though, to take the positives away, next time I know I can do the pace for at least 3 laps and also to make sure to have the average lap pace on my display!!
I also felt that the legs were still a little heavy after the race on Sunday so the real litmus test will be next Sunday/Monday when I try this again...

belcarra · 17-05-2011 11:07pm

I'm just not very photogenic...:eek:

Woddle · 18-05-2011 6:46am

Good going giving that you only raced on Sunday, I bet if you had of ran easy and had a go on Thursday you would of squeezed out another couple of reps. There'll be a big difference next week.

belcarra · 24-05-2011 11:21pm

So, not been on here for the past week so this is a quick summary of what I've done:

Tuesday 17th - 5.55 Mile total incl 3 x 1miles @ 7:15, 7:17, 7:13.
I was at UEFA Final on Wed so didn't run and then another big night on Thursday for the Football Team's table quiz so it was Saturday before I got back out. :eek:

Saturday 21st - 7.8 Miles @ 8:38 pace.
This is the furthest I've run since I came back so I took it handy to be sure I'd get a reasonable distance. Will need to get this run to 10miles+ over the next couple of weeks.

Sunday 22nd - 4.5 Miles @ 8:30 pace.
This was a run to catch a lift for 5 a side so again I kept plodding along at a comfortable pace. I was pretty knackered for the 5 a side though but I think that was as a result of celebrating Leinster's win more than the run!!

Tuesday 24th - 6.25 Mile total incl 4 x 1miles @ 7:01, 7:14, 7:12, 7:14.
I managed an extra mile lap this week but still 2 short of the planned 6 laps. Realised that it is a case of too much too soon so will continue on next week to at least 5 x 1mile laps at 7:14 pace. This means I will probably be closer to 47:xx in Dunshaughlin than 45:00, but I then have another 4 weeks for my target 10k race so hope to take a wedge out of that for Balla.

3 big nights on the beer last week meant progress was limited. These kind of weeks are rare though so hope to see performance increase, beginning with a target of 22:30 in Donore 5k on Saturday. Is feidir liom!

belcarra · 27-05-2011 7:31pm

Not much to report on over the past couple of days apart from loads of 5 a side football! I had my regular game after work on Wednesday but then got dragged into another game for 2hrs of football in total. I was still a little tired after the Tuesday night session so was well knackered when I got home Wednesday evening.

I had another game of 5 a side last night which was just as well really 'cos it would have been easy to stay in given the windy weather. However, I realised afterwards that all this 5 a side will be detrimental to me, both through lack of running-specific training and higher chances of injury, so I'm intent on keeping it to a max of 2 games a week from now on (I usually play 1 or 2 games at the weekends as well!).

Rested as planned today which will hopefully set me up nicely for the 5k tomorrow. Hoping the wind blows over or my target time could be out the window!!

belcarra · 28-05-2011 2:44pm

Target time for today was to be 22:30 but as the day got closer and the winds refused to subside I parked this target and was just looking to beat my PB which was something like 24:xx.
Started half-way down the pack so as to keep warm while waiting for the race to get underway. The first stretch was easy enough with splits of 4:32 & 4:34 for the first 2km. Woddle (Who I met briefly after the race) passed me after about 500m but I decided to let him off. I was passing loads myself at this stage and was happy with my pace.
Km3 began as we turned off Chesterfield Ave for the Khyber Road. This was probably the easiest km as it was mainly downhill, although the initial turn meant running into a stiff wind for about 90secs. This was a preview of what was expected for the last mile or so, and it wasn't pretty!
Towards the bottom of the KR I started to slow myself a little in preparation for the turn uphill on Milllitary Road. It was a severe change in environment with the hill to add to the strong winds. I put my head down, tucked in my arms and tried to avoid running too strongly for the length of the hill, knowing that once on top it would all be downhill to the finish. This served me pretty well, so although we still had to contend with the headwind I managed to up the pace all the way home. I tried outsprinting a woman with about 400m to go but she had more in the tank than I'd assumed so it was a good battle all the way to the line with me holding on at the line, but only just!
The finish time according to my garmin was 23:24 which was easily a new PB. Happy with the time (Although fingers crossed the chip time may be a few seconds quicker again) and very happy with my performance today in general. However, I still aim to beat 23:30 for 5k soon, so will be keeping an eye out for more races over the next few weeks!
2km warm down back to the car also in a very leisurely 12mins.
Garmin link.
Splits:
Km 1: 4:32
Km 2: 4:34
Km 3: 4:40
Km 4: 5:02
Km 5: 4:34

Woddle · 28-05-2011 2:50pm

Nice meeting you today and congrats on the PB especially with that wind.
I'm thinking of heading up to Meath for a 5km on the 11th of June for this
http://www.runningcalendar.eu/simple/races.php?show,8833
if you've any interest.

opinion guy · 28-05-2011 2:52pm

belcarra wrote: »

I'm just not very photogenic...:eek:

You've aged horribly between the first and second picture - clearly you are doing too much :P

belcarra · 28-05-2011 2:54pm

opinion guy wrote: »

You've aged horribly between the first and second picture - clearly you are doing too much :P

No, I'm not the old guy, I'm the other one...Post-op!:D

belcarra · 28-05-2011 2:59pm

Woddle wrote: »

Nice meeting you today and congrats on the PB especially with that wind.
I'm thinking of heading up to Meath for a 5km on the 11th of June for this
http://www.runningcalendar.eu/simple/races.php?show,8833
if you've any interest.

Cheers for that Woddle!
That race looks enticing alright...I have a work thing the night before where we are going to Harold's Cross dogs so that might scupper a top performance the next day...but it is on at 7pm, so it could be doable!
Not sure yet, but with Dunshaughlin 2 weeks later it may all be too much Meath for me!!:p

belcarra · 29-05-2011 8:45pm

Went for rather a lot of pints last night to watch the Rugby and Soccer finals so with that on top of the race yesterday I was feeling well tired today. I managed to get myself out for 5 slow recovery miles en route to collecting my car (I have developed a habit of driving into Town and then using that as an excuse to run in to collect it the next day. Only way I'd ever run hungover!!). I purposely held myself back to 5:3x kms and that seemed to work. Mind you I'm really knackered again now!
5 miles
Splits:
Mile 1 - 5:29min/km
Mile 2 - 5:33min/km
Mile 3 - 5:38min/km
Mile 4 - 5:43min/km
Mile 5 - 5:39min/km

At last a half presentable photo of me from a race!!

belcarra · 30-05-2011 11:32pm

I went for an easy 8.5k run to a friend's house to reclaim my bike that I lent him a month ago! Nice and slow run and still felt pretty good by the end of it.
I cycled the reverse route home into the wind but by now the evening was much cooler and I was in a cold sweat from the run so the journey home wasn't nearly as pleasant! Still though, managed to get in the door just as the rain started!

Think I'm gonna start logging the runs into the 1000 mile challenge to see if I get near breaking the mark for the remainder of the year...

Run - 8.64km
Pace - 5:17m/km
Av HR - 143bpm

Cycle - 8.64km
Pace - 3:11m/km
Av HR - 123bpm

belcarra · 01-06-2011 11:27pm

Had a rest day yesterday to save myself for this weeks attempts at the mile sessions. Shouldn't have bothered! I managed the first couple of laps @ 7:06 and 7:17 but a blister from Saturday managed to ripen today so the third lap was done @ 7:24 as I struggled around. With that I decided to cut the session short. Just one of those days when things don't go to plan. Will hopefully retry this on Fri if blister situation improves. But will have to start at closer to 7:30 and try to improve on the last couple of laps (if I get that far).
Likely to be a cycle for me tomorrow as a result.

belcarra · 01-06-2011 11:50pm

belcarra · 02-06-2011 9:12pm

Took advantage of the great weather this evening and went for a 15.5mile cycle in just over an hour. Not a great speed but had to stop for loads of traffic lights :mad:!
At least it was an hour's exercise when I wouldn't have been able to go for a run due to the blister not recovering yet

...

belcarra · 03-06-2011 1:19pm

Just throwing down my PBs for various distances. Hope to beat most of them this year again...

5k - 23:21 - Donore Harriers 5k, May 2011
8km - 38:17 - Streets of Galway, August 2008
5 mile - 38:19 - Irish Runner 5 Mile, July 2009
10km - 47:55 - Balla 10k, July 2009
10 mile - 1:22:16 - Phoenix Park, August 2009
1/2 Marathon - Waterford Half Marathon, December 2009
15 Mile - 2:25:35 - Cork to Cobh, September 2007
Marathon - 4:21:40:mad: - Longford, August 2008
Gaelforcewest - 5:19:19 - Westport, August 2009

At this stage it's:

10km = Priority 1...Tough enough, hoping for sub 45.
10 Mile = Priority 2...very doable, target is sub 80mins.
Marathon = Priority 3...should have broken 4hrs by now!

belcarra · 14-06-2011 11:57pm

Training went very poorly last week and apart from a game of 5 a side and a few cycles that was it.
Managed to get back into it again yesterday evening and tonight though and have the Sandymount Beach 5k on Thursday so hopefully I'm over the lapse!
Monday, 13th June:
I went for a steady 9k run just to get out and do a decent run. Nothing much to report on this run.
Avg Pace - 8:07/mile
HR:Av - 155
HR:Max - 164
Tuesday, 14th June:
Decided to run along Dollymount Beach this evening in Trail runners in preparation for Thurs. When I arrived there was a helluva wind.
Session turned into a bit of a Fartlek run.
The beach part was tough enough so not particularly looking forward to Sandymount! Good to be back into it again though!
Distance - 4 miles
Avg Pace - 8:07/mile
HR:Av - 158
HR:Max - 175

belcarra · 15-06-2011 11:48pm

Went for an easy 3 mile run this evening with one eye on the 5k tomorrow. Nothing much to report apart from feeling really comfortable for most of the way round. Pushed on a little for the last half mile. Suffering a little DOMS from the past couple of days back into it. Hopefully tonights run will help to flush the nasty lactic acid out of my system in time for tomorrow evening!
Distance - 3.15 miles
Avg Pace - 8:29/mile
HR:Av - 150
HR:Max - 165

belcarra · 16-06-2011 10:47pm

Due to the lashings of rain during the day the course for this race had to be redirected and in doing so the distance was shortened from 5k to 4.17k by my watch! I didn't hear them make any mention to this at the start and presumed like most others that it would be 5km. My Garmin reckons it was 0.83km short so it would be interesting to see if anyone else has any thoughts on this.
To the race anyways, I started off at a comfortable pace and hit the 1stkm in 4:31 which was almost perfect. However, as I had imagined, the wet sand began to kick in. The km intervals went: 4:31, 4:38, 4:52, 4:52 with a 3:51 paced final 170m!!
I guess I'll write this off as one of those things and I was never gonna get near a pb on this sand course if it had been proper distance. At least I managed to get 2 t-shirts out of it (My mate left his behind him in my car...possession is 9/10ths and all that!!)
Off to Kilkenny tomorrow for the weekend with the soccer team. 100% booze weekend but I'll try and get out for a run tomorrow before the pub and maybe Sat afternoon if I'm particularly brave!

Distance - 4.17 km (!)
Time - 19:42
Avg Pace - 7:36/mile
HR:Av - 165
HR:Max - 176

belcarra · 16-06-2011 10:49pm

p.s. Just bought Gerry Duffy's book about the 32 marathon challenge this evening so looking forward to reading all about it!!

Woddle · 16-06-2011 10:58pm

How are things looking for Dunshaughlin?

belcarra · 16-06-2011 11:18pm

Woddle wrote: »

How are things looking for Dunshaughlin?

Not great at this moment in time.
I went about 9 days without any running and even though I have been out the past 4 nights doing some sort of running I have a booze infused weekend coming up...not ideal for racing the following weekend!
At this stage I reckon I'll be looking at about 47mins as a target time. Not too bothered though as the priority 10km is a month later at home in Mayo so hoping to get close to sub 45min in that.

You still on for the 45 target?

Off Topic: Just listening to Matisyahu's King Without A Crown as I type this post...great song!

belcarra · 29-06-2011 10:39pm

Ok, so it's been a while since I last updated this...

A brief summary of training since last time will show it's been quite hit and miss:
June 17th - June 21st - Nothing!
June 22nd - 7.5km This was a trial run at the Dublin 5miler in the Park.
June 23rd - 3.1km Morning run around the local park
10km Evening run around Santry
June 24th - 5km Easy 5k run with one eye on the Dunshaughlin 10km
June 25th - 10km Dunshaughlin 10k race
June 26th - 9.6km Run into Town to collect my car

belcarra · 29-06-2011 10:55pm

As can be seen from my previous post training had been erratic recently so I was not very confident going into this race. I decided to use it as a training run instead as I knew neither a target time of 45mins or a new PB of sub 47:17(?) was likely. Also, I had spent most of the afternoon in the sun on Sandymount Strand watching friends in a Tag Rugby tournament so I was a bit tired & sunburnt for the run itself.

Dunshaughlin 10k Race Report:
I started way too far forward with all the confusion of being pushed back to the starting line so when the race got going it took me a little by surprise as I was in the third row:eek:.
The first couple of k's were concerned with me trying to slow down which resulted in dozens of people flowing past. I'm usually good for placing myself in the field at the start so this was the first time I'd experienced this for several years.
By km3 I was where I should have been so I plodded along towards Ratoath until we had to take the right hander and turn back towards Dunshaughlin.
This hill at 6.5km wasn't too bad really and I was well prepared for it. I thought having the names on the road as we climbed was a great job as it took the mind off the incline itself.
Km8 was a real tough one for me though. It was here that I realised I simply hadn't enough miles in my legs over the previous weeks training. My longest run was about 10km at an easy pace so matters were catching up with me now. I struggled on home even managing a sprint finish (of sorts) passing a few people in the final 100m, finishing in 49:00.
I was thankful the car was 800m away as the enforced warmdown/walk back ensured I felt a little better the next day than I otherwise would have!

Summary:
1 1.00 04:14
2 1.00 04:43
3 1.00 04:44
4 1.00 04:55
5 1.00 04:59
6 1.00 04:55
7 1.00 05:02
8 1.00 05:22
9 1.00 04:58
10 1.00 04:59
11 0.02 03:43

Total:
00:49:00 mins
10.02 km
04:53 av pace
Avg HR: 166 bpm
Max HR: 181 bpm

belcarra · 29-06-2011 11:14pm

At this stage my brief focus changes from the 10km distance (What focus??) to a marathon in October / November. I'm planning on Dublin as the ultimate fall back marathon but have a couple of preferable alternatives, being NYC on Nov 6th or Philadelphia on Nov 20th. Therefore I'm gonna follow the P&D 18wk, 55mile plan starting from this week.

A summary so far...
Day 1 - Monday, June 27th - Rest Day
I don't know why so many plans appear to start with a Rest Day?!

Day 2 - Tuesday, June 28th - LT 13km w/ 6km @ 15k - 21k pace
I went to the Park to complete this run. There were loads of people out as it was the perfect evening. I began with 4km easy down Chesterfield Avenue. Just after I turned left for the North Road I began the 6km @ increased pace. I had worked out that my easy pace should be at 145bpm and the increased pace should be ramped to 165bpm on average for the 6k. I ignored actual pace (min/km) and actually found this increased pace quite tough. It's something I've noticed in the past that for a comparable speed/effort I appear to have a lower HR than others. This leads me to think that perhaps my Max HR might be actually lower than the approximated [207-(0.7 x age(33))] = 184bpm? I will take another look at this in a couple of weeks time to see if things have changed at all.
After the 6km was completed I slowed right down and jogged the remaining 3km required, although my HR never reduced to below 150bpm (I aimed to return to 145bpm).
All in all I think the session was really worthwhile, so much so that my easy 4k + quick 6k gave a 10k time of 49:11, only 11 seconds slower than my Dunshaughlin race a few days previous!
1 1.00 05:10
2 1.00 05:15
3 1.00 05:11
4 1.00 05:19
5 1.00 04:48
6 1.00 04:44
7 1.00 04:47
8 1.00 04:45
9 1.00 04:40
10 1.00 04:29
11 1.00 05:58
12 1.00 05:36
13 1.00 05:30
Avg HR: 154 bpm
Max HR: 168 bpm

Day 3 - Wednesday, June 29th - Rest Day
...again!

menoscemo · 29-06-2011 11:39pm

Hey Belcarra I see we have another p&D follower

With regards the HR thing. There is no point trying to estimate your Max using a formula, they are totally inaccurate. Look at woddle- his max is well over 200, while the formula would indicate something similar to yourself.... you should simply use your max as the highest you have ever recorded (ignore the silly spikes you get at the start of a run), normally what you hit in the last few 100m's of a short race when you are flat out, or what you might hit in your last interval of an interval session.

Another indication of your LT should be your 10mile Race pace, you can calculate this using mcmillan. Best of luck with the training.

belcarra · 29-06-2011 11:49pm

menoscemo wrote: »

Hey Belcarra I see we have another p&D follower
With regards the HR thing. There is no point trying to estimate your Max using a formula, they are totally inaccurate. Look at woddle- his max is well over 200, while the formula would indicate something similar to yourself.... you should simply use your max as the highest you have ever recorded (ignore the silly spikes you get at the start of a run), normally what you hit in the last few 100m's of a short race when you are flat out, or what you might hit in your last interval of an interval session.

Thanks for the feedback Meno!

I've just looked at a few races that I have done over the past 6 weeks and they have max HR as 178, 180 & 181 so I guess not too far off 184 really.
Thanks for your tip as I'd have forgotten to check out this obvious data otherwise!

And regarding Woddle, he was one of the people I had in mind who was a fair bit increased on my maxHR!

menoscemo · 30-06-2011 10:03am

belcarra wrote: »

Thanks for the feedback Meno!

I've just looked at a few races that I have done over the past 6 weeks and they have max HR as 178, 180 & 181 so I guess not too far off 184 really.
Thanks for your tip as I'd have forgotten to check out this obvious data otherwise!

And regarding Woddle, he was one of the people I had in mind who was a fair bit increased on my maxHR!

Yeah, you are pretty similar to me so. My max is around 185. My AvHR in a 10 mile race is about 167 and about 165 in a HM, so yeah i try to hit about the same as yourself in an LT session.

belcarra · 30-06-2011 11:12pm

Day 4 - Thursday, June 30th - General Aerobic 15km (9m)
Back to Phoenix Park again this evening for the second session of the plan. I have calculated General Aerobic runs to be at 144bpm, or thereabouts. Nothing much to report from today - Solid enough session and things went well. I climbed Kyber Road twice in a bid to get used to it for the 5 miler in a few weeks. While doing so I noticed a photo shoot going on in the trees with what appeared to be a hot lingerie model role-playing as little red riding hood...I look forward to seeing those photos!

I currently have an issue with a tight left hamstring, just behind my knee. It could even be the tendon, I'm not sure. It's just annoying for these slow runs but I'm slightly worried to how it may react on the faster runs, especially intervals. I may go for a physio session to see what they say...
I pushed on for the final 800m at a pace of about 4:30/km which was good to see given this is the furthest I've ran in about a year!

Time: 01:19:27
Distance: 15.01 km
Avg HR: 147 bpm
Max HR: 167 bpm

belcarra · 02-07-2011 12:15am

Day 5 - Friday, June 30th - Cross Train - 20k Cycle
The day was too nice not to do anything so I decided to take a spin on the bike. I don't get out enough so hopefully I manage to get into the habit of at least one Rest Day/Cross Train bike session a week.

I had no set plan so before I knew it I found myself cycling around the airport. Not a bad spin as there are few traffic lights to slow you down although many of the cars fly past so it didn't feel the safest route. Still though it was pretty good. I didn't push myself, instead just kept a nice steady pace.

Tomorrow I'm gonna do my LSR of 19km instead of Sunday so that it will free me up for a few guilt-free beers tomorrow night!

Time: 00:51:29
Distance: 20.25 km
Avg HR: 116 bpm
Max HR: 220 bpm

Aiming for a sub 45min 10km.

Comments