Moving Forward Faster

Wednesday
5 miles easy / 8:11 average pace

This week not going well, last night was supposed to be 10 miles with 5 at HMP. But when I arrived home:

1) I was wrecked tired
2) Left shin proving to be a concern

As a result I went out to just do 5 very easy instead, time to listen to the body. Shin complained a couple of times while out so this is not looking great. Looks like my 17 miler at the weekend will be a non-runner. will play it day-by-day.

Next week was supposed to be my recovery week, but think I might switch them around and have it as this week. I've been building up for 5 weeks now and quite likely it has been overdue. Hoping the shin will not be too much of a setback. Might dip back into the 500 mile old runners again for a while and interchange.

Some idiot...



While I took a couple of days off to rest my shin splints, I decided to go for a walk with newly purchased shoes yesterday wearing ankle socks. Cut my heels breaking them in, muppet!! :rolleyes::mad:

Stupid move, while I feel the shins improving I probably would have gone for a run tonight only that my heels are killing me while even just walking...waste of a week now. Not sure if im going to be able to run tomorrow either so it might be a 3 day week for runs...extra days might help the shins I suppose!

Cutting things tight for the long runs, don't have many in the bag. any slim chance of PBing is gone but sure I'll soldier on!

Friday

Run 1
6 miles easy / 7:33 average pace

Managed to get out for this at lunchtime as circumstances allowed, was over Eckhart direction, It was bloody humid out, the Chicago summer has finally arrived albeit 2 months late! Got this done in laps, about halfway through I spotted an arch in the next door playground that spurted out water in every direction. Glorious as I was roasted, saw a couple of runners have the same idea as me and the walker into it. Looked amazing so on the next lap I ventured in. Heaven!! Could of stayed in there for 20 mins! Feeling refreshed I continued on and finished off the laps feeling in much better condition!

Run 2
7 miles easy / 8:03 average pace

Got out later in the evening for a second run to get more miles in. The shins felt ok on the first one and the heels are no longer an issue so all was good. Still hot an humid, pretty much same run as the lunch time run with an extra bit added in the end to try claim a strava segment near home. I had planned going out to get a minimum of 4 in and a max of 6. Happy to finish with 7 miles and 13 for the day.

Saturday
6 miles easy / 8:33 average pace

Humidity x 10!! :eek::eek::eek: Got up early to get my long run in as I knew it would be warm out today. My plan has 17 in for this week, I decided to cut it to 12 to ease back in after the shin splints, ended up only doing 6. Humidity was touching 90%...absolute torture. I knew about 3 minutes in that this would be a struggle.

Pace goes out the window here, my easy pace was a minute/mile slower than yesterday morning's run yet it felt much tougher, energy sapping. Arrived over to Humboldt park after 2 miles and went searching for water..got some eventually and plodded on slowly, dripping with sweat now...went into shade where possible and after another 2 miles I had to stop for water again, suffering now, I decided to make it back towards Eckhart where I was dreaming of the glorious cold water arch from yesterday...as I passed by home, plodding away, slowing down and the body really struggling, i could feel the heart rate being much higher than it should be. I decided to pack it in, no point in this, no benefit. Took me an hour to recover when I got in as I was not feeling great. Happy with the choice I made.

So another long run missed, not to happy about that. I might try it again in the morning.

RunForestRun wrote: »

I wouldn't count out PBing just yet blocky, your time in Chicago last year was a bit soft considering the sort of shape you were in, so with a smart, conservative run, you just never know. You've the monkey off your back now, so won't have the pressure of last year.

I don't feel at the moment like I'm in the same shape as last year either, but there's still time.

Good point RFR, I see you are tipping along nicely all the same. I'll just keep trying to plug away and see what happens. Definitely feel miles off the condition I was in this time last year. No monkey on the back is right may allow me to go hell for leather and drop out after 6 miles :pac:

Toblerone1978 wrote: »

I know it's mind numbing but what about the threadmill?

Thanks P, ya, looks like a gym is on the cards, will need it for over the winter anyway. For the long runs though I may have to get up a 5am. Seems like the only solution and even then it will still be warm and I HATE morning running!

Friday
8 miles fartlek / average pace [1/2/3/2/3/2/1]

Well went out on Friday with what initially intended to be a session, but as the niggles were acting up I had decided to go easy on grass so as to not compromise the long run at the weekend, I had not done one for a while so that was priority J (the highest priority ranking there is :pac:). Over to Eckhart Park went and was a mile and a half into doing laps and I just could not hack it anymore so I changed my mind again about a session and decided to compromise in the form of fartlek. The legs were feeling ok so I decided to go for it. I needed to break up the 8 miles of laps somehow to keep me sane plus by staying on the grass it would ease the pressure on the niggles.
Session went as follows where I just picked a number as I went along.

2 miles easy
1 min burst
1:30 min easy
2 min burst
3 min easy
3 min burst
5 min easy
2 min burst
3 min easy
3 min burst
4 min easy
2 min burst
3 min easy
1 min burst
1.6 miles easy

This really broke up the run and kept be occupied, only had a mile and a half left when I was done so jogged the rest of it before doing some stretching and another bit of a jog home. Delighted to get the workout in and hoped that the body would respond favourably the day after.

Sunday
16 miles LSR / 8:15 average pace

With it being Labor Day this weekend here, went on an adventure to check out Washington, DC for the weekend. Flew in on Saturday Morning and took Saturday as my rest day to see some of the sights. However it was not much of a rest as there was no let up in the walking! The body responded well to the session the day before but all the walking made me ice the shins that evening as they were a little bit uncomfortable but not major. Didn’t feel great on Saturday evening, tired and lethargic as I was wrecked by 7pm, I put it down to the 4am wake up that morning to catch the red eye flight.

Turns out that it was not just the early wake up that was the cause of not feeling great the night before, I set the alarm for 5:30am on Sunday morning to do my long run as it was forecast for temps to be in 90s and humid that day so if I was getting in a long run it would have to be early. I can’t seem to catch a break, woke up with swollen glands and the feeling of a chesty cough coming on, not ideal at all. For a while I thought it was another long run to be abandoned, and any change of a decent marathon going along with it. Eventually I decided to man up and get out an aim for at least four miles, keeping the pace very slow due to the weather and not feeling great so stayed safe. It would have been a shame not to get at least a short run in while here in the US Capital. Got going at 7am and it was heating up, but thankfully it was cloudy so the lack of direct sunlight kept it somewhat manageable.

I started off making my way down and past the White House where there were no tourists amazingly only two cops. I guess it was a Sunday and early too. From there I made my way to the Washington Monument and then down along the reflection pool and to the Lincoln memorial. An amazing place to run. I stopped here to take it the morning and the view for a couple of minutes before kicking on. I then went on to complete a loop of the mall by passing the Monument again and making my way towards the US Capitol building, what a sight! At this stage I was 5 miles in and was feeling much better that when I woke up so decided to aim for 8 miles.

After the loop of the National Mall, I went towards the Potomac River and ran along the river trial, I had done some research on the popular running routes here prior to my arrival and this was one of them. Passed the Swedish Embassy and before I knew it was running along a river trial which felt like deep in the country side, was like home! Very peaceful and tranquil at that hour of the morning. I wss at 9 miles now and felt ok so said I’d keep going and see how far I would go. This may not turn out to be a write off after all! Went another 2 miles down the trial before turning at 11 miles (realised after I was only a mile from the Maryland border and could have ticked another state off the list!) I tool a parallel trail back into downtown which was gravel and ran along a smaller river, again a great resource to have so close to the city. Amazing how it can go from city living to complete isolation in the space of a 10 min run, I was thoroughly enjoying this run now but was starting to feel it a bit so decided to make it back towards the hotel. I jumped off the trail at Georgetown, the high end area of the city, and ran along the main street before turning left along K street which my hotel was on.

Ended up with 16 miles in the bag when all was done. The plan was originally intended to be 19 miles but in the end under the circumstances was delighted to get 16 in. Especially when I thought I would only be getting 4 in when I got out!

Some pictures of the run here

That said, I still have not got passed 16 miles as a long run in this marathon cycle with 6 weeks to go. Will just keep tipping away and see where I’m at with 2 weeks to go. Will see how to approach it then. Body did not feel too bad for the rest of the day but a sickness is coming on.


Week Mileage Summary:
Monday|Tuesday|Wednesday|Thursday|Friday|Saturday|Sunday
6m|Rest|13m|5m|8m|Rest|16m

Week Total|Month to Date|Year to Date
48m|169.7m|642.1m

Tidying up last months work.

Monthly Summary

Month|Runs|2013 Miles|Runs|2014 Miles
January|22/31|174.2|8/31|39
February|22/28|196.9|1/28|2
March|24/31|216.1|7/31|25.3
April|17/30|120.2|12/30|48.5
May|20/31|151.8|17/31|97.2
June|18/30|149.7|19/30|107.1
July|26/31|220.4|22/31|157.3
August|27/31|250.5|21/31|169.7
September|24/31|197.3||
October|18/31|135.4||
November|10/30|67.5||
December|1/31|4||

Sunday 7th September

Chicago Half Marathon 2014

Chip Time: 1:24:35
Average Pace: 6.24/mile
Result: 103/7832

Woke up to a 4am alarm this morning, yes, 4am! :eek: and felt ok so said I’d head down and go for a jog at the very least. Races start ridiculously early here due to the weather and closing main roads in Chicago etc and as it was down in the south side it would take me about an hour to get there.

Arrived in the dark at 5:30am with crowds streaming into Jackson Park, about the only benefit to being up this early is getting to see the sunrise! Soon I met up with TTAU club mates at a tent which we had for the day which was nice, own toilets, bag storage food/drink etc.

Collecting the number in the expo the day before brought back memories of the marathon last year and really got the adrenaline pumping in me again for racing so I was looking forward to this.

Amazingly it would be my first half since Athlone in September last year, a whole 12 months almost. Mad stuff, so I was lying if I want a little nervous.

When I got down there my plan went from an easy long run to going at about a 90 min target :rolleyes: Had a quick warm up with the crew and then headed into the corrals, at this stage my plan had gone to aim for something in the 1:24-1:28 range! :rolleyes: :pac: , the atmosphere got me pumped up. After the anthem we were off and I set of at an easy pace (was at the time), Mile 1 around Jackson park went by in 6:15 and sure then I said I’d try hold 6:20s for as long as I can and see how it went. Miles 2 and 3 going east to the lake shore into the rising morning sun were comfortable at 6:20 and 6:16 and I managed to tuck in with a good group here, we then turned onto Lake shore drive (one of the busiest roads in the city closed for the race) and the skyline of Chicago was before us from up North, a beautiful sight with the sun rising from the east, reflecting off the buildings, this was the start of a big out and back run that would last to the finish, 5 miles out and back. While it was a novelty to run on the road first, 5 miles on a straight road doesn’t be long wearing off and can grind ya down! Was feeling ok for the next 3 miles (6:19, 6:22, 6:25) but it was warming up fast but nothing warm enough to effect the race performance. Found this guy going the same pace as me at this point so told him we should work together, this gave me renewed energy and it worked well until the turn around point, he then started to suffer and dropped off. Mile 7 and 8 went in 6:29 and 6:27 and I was suffering now, the breathing was fine but the quads were roaring, clearly I hadn’t the work done, which I knew myself and I was blowing up big style Mile 9 and 10 in 6:27, 6:26

Things were isolated now and we were in scattered single file and I just wanted to finish now, calling for the line to come. A girl from the club passing me out in mile 11, the same girl who came 2nd when I came 3rd in the Gospel Run 5km before I joined them was the icing on the cake. This boy was done!

Every water station was now hit up to get me through the remainder and for the first time ever in a half, a brief walk came into mind but I quickly said no way! Mile 11 6:30 and 12 6:36 are and uneventful blur. Once I was down to the last mile I knew I’d make it, the time didn’t really matter, just get this done. Turned into the Finish (mile 13 6:28 and last bit of pace 6:06) and I was mightily glad it was over. Finished in 1:24:35, average really, 5 minutes off my PB but It was expected and I’ll take it as a starting point. Sure 24 hours before I was not even running so it’s a bonus!

Post-Mortem

Regardless of the far from ideal preparation this week and no real build up for this event in terms of pace HM miles done it training etc. This time is really a good judge as where I am right now . Mid-low twenties for the half. Looking back at the splits it felt at the time that the blow up was much bigger that it actually turned out to be.

Miles off where I was 12 months prior but I’m hoping that if I keep plugging away and get some consistent 50 mile weeks going I may get some minutes back.

The race told me a couple of things:

1) I’m in a bit of bother for the marathon, I don’t have near enough training done and If endurance is an issue 10 miles into a Half Marathon I dunno what to expect for the full. The fact that my longest run to date in training is 16 miles and I can’t put a string of weeks together says it all. Not sure if I should just cut losses and jog around the marathon and focus on being fully ready for spring or just suffer the inevitable 6 miles at the end!

2) Bringing me onto my next point, almost bailing today really does not have me looking forward to the full

So I’ve only 3 more weeks of training before taper (don’t even need taper with my ****e training id say :pac:), I’m going to commit fully to these three weeks, get 50+ miles in each, do 20,18,20 mile LSRs and see where that takes me. If the body breaks down with the volume so be it, I know to just do Chicago Marathon for fun then, maybe walk it in 6 hours

Here’s to an alright day today, it’s a starting point and to a fully committed next 3 weeks. So committed in fact I’m getting up a 5am in the morning to go for a career move run!

Good Night!

Week Mileage Summary:
Monday|Tuesday|Wednesday|Thursday|Friday|Saturday|Sunday
5m|Rest|Rest|Rest|Rest|3.2|15.9m

Week Total|Month to Date|Year to Date
24.1m|24.1m|666.2m