"If I'm not out there training, someone else is."

DarByrne1980 wrote: »

just reading back thro ur log and i see you are hoping to run xc. I use to do a fair bit of xc back in the day. reading yesterdays session i thought you were training for a marathon. what was the idea behind the two sessions yesterday?

I would like to say that yesterday was part of a grand design but the truth is it wasn't. I had the AM session planned this week and knew it suited both me and DR to do it in around Tuesday/Wednesday so figured it made sense to have someone to run with on these making them a little easier mentally on both of us than solo (can't stress the effects of the mental side of running)

The evening session was with one of the lads that I coach and given that he is living outside of Dublin we take advantage of any time he is up in this neck of the woods usually once a week to 10 days. This week just so happened to Tuesday evening. Given the aim of the day was a strength workout and focusing on endurance and the fact that both were slower than threshold effort I felt that I could do both without too much risk of injury and not compromising the focus of the day

In terms of the general outline of the plan the sessions are set each week in terms of the focus however the specifics can sometimes change to accomodate (for example a 5 mile tempo or 3x4 2 miles @ AT could be interchanged if there is one of the lads doing a similar session). Aim of this is a) given my work being a bit all over the place I take advantage of every chance I can to train with people so long as it is not completely counterproductive or high injury risk) and b) its a lonely enough aul sport so the bit of a social aspect can do wonders and get you out of a rut sometimes if you start to struggle in the middle of a heavy training cycle

With regards XC and Marathon personally I think the general prep phase from 1500m up to Marathon shouldn't look too much different to be honest (especially in terms of mileage) and it is only when you hit the specific phase that you should notice very distinct differences. At the moment the training is still very much in foundation phase and in terms of the XC season it is being broken up by 2 seperate phases marked with the three focus races of the season.

1) Dublin Novices - at the end of 5 weeks of general strength training
2) Dublin Intermediates - 8 weeks later and during this stage will introduce more specific session
3) National Novice - 1 week later

Wednesday AM 4 miles recovery (9.17 min pace)
Wednesday Lunch 1 hour Gym work

This morning called for what has now been dubbed the nursing home special :P Legs were heavy from yesterday but no DOMS freshened up by the end.

Gym session went pretty good to and a good solid effort

Thursday PM 8 miles easy (7.33 min pace)

It's a bad sign when you are digging into the cheese motivational video's on Youtube for one easy run for the day but for the second time is really taking the pi$$

13 hour work day meant that I hadn't the slightest desire to get out for this one but it had to be done. Only enjoyable thing about this run was finishing

Job done all the same

Friday AM 3 easy, 5x1 mile w/2.30 jog rec, 3 miles easy

Splits: 5.47, 5.45, 5.45, 5.47, 5.42

Feck you E. Coghlan :mad: This loop never gets any easier as into PP for this session to do these reps on the Munich Loop/ Novice XC route for a bit of specificity (though today's weather was stunning and the usual nature of XC season means its gonna rain Mon-Fri next week and completely change it to a mud bath as per usual)

Times themselves are fairly arbitrary outside of the context of the session due to the profile of the loop bit I knew I would be working hard for 5.45-5.50. Was certainly working and by the 4th rep was feeling the legs getting a little rubbery and had to dig in to try and hold the pace. Despite this I felt I had the strength to dig out the extra gear when needed and did so while remaining (relatively) controlled on the last one

Pretty happy with how the session went and starting to string together a few good one's in a row

KielyUnusual wrote: »

Hey ecoli, do you have the Garmin link to the loop that you do just out of curiosity? This is the one that we do of a Saturday. Just wondering is it the same or a variation on it?

To my shame I have never hooked the Garmin up to the computer I just use it as a tool during the runs however its a similar enough loop (albeit I see yours has one or two tougher bits) main differences

- Where you go down the dip after the 1st 100m or so I follow on straight over the rolling hills

- Where you follow around the mini forest and back towards magazine fort I turn right (following the worn path) up the little hill and through the forest towards Acres road and turn once I get to the other side and follow back along the grass back towards the magazine fort and join back up with your loop

I'll see if I can get a mapmyrun loop of the course to link though it looks a little more favourable loop than the one you guys do (maybe shouldn't be cursing it as much )

RayCun wrote: »

its the Dublin Novice XC loop, isn't it?
http://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/233307988

My memory must be getting foggy or mixing it up with another race I alway thought we headed up a bit further towards the Acres (maybe I am thinking the Garda XC??)

Sunday AM3 miles easy, 16x1 min hills w/ 90 sec jog rec, 3 miles easy

Up just in time for Berlin this morning to start the day the right way, body in a bit of a perpetual fatigued state at the moment with the current workload so the ever present debate of between lazy me and dedicated me pursued however as per usual over the last few days lazy me was put back in his box

Body felt sluggish at first and kinda said to myself if needs be 12 reps would do but thankfully the first half of this session was the worst of it despite the reps getting harder the motivation to finish the session grew rep by rep.

All in all happy with this as the finishing point was within a 5m differential and even though I was finishing at the same point as I did a few weeks back, it was an improvement given that I had a gentle headwind to contend with this morning

Wednesday AM 2 easy, 4x200, 2x400, 800, 2x400, 4x200, 800, 3 easy

Recoveries: 90 sec jog (200m)

Splits:
33,33,32,33
74, 71
2.19
74, 76,
33,33,33,34
2.42

First time back on a track since about end of July. This is one of my favourite tune up race sessions and is a decent bench marker as I do it a couple of times a year. To be honest didn't know what to expect though given that all sessions have been on road or grass.

Aim is just turnover for alot of the workout with a good hard 800m in the middle and then return to turnover, in that sense its always the 400m after the 8 that I fear simply because the legs are a little rubbery after the 800.

Target for the 8 was around 2.22-2.23 which would be in or around fastest I had done this session so was delighted to do a sub 2.20 for the first time in the session. Bit of a lapse in concentration for the last 400 where I just took my eye off the ball a little but overall very happy with the splits.

Finished the usual session and as I was coming around to the end of my recovery saw the duke on the last rep of his workout so I figured I would jump in as a pacer for the last 800m. Worked out well as it meant my session ended up finishing on roughly race effort for it, mind you given it was the slowest pace of the day felt very comfortable.

Friday 4 miles easy (7.42 min mile pace)

Plan was for 6 but to be honest I didn't have six in me, this was a struggle. Bad day at the office but not to worried have fairly good idea of what caused me to feel pretty weak/crap

ThebitterLemon wrote: »

Don't be blaming my paranoid psycho ranting to you for your off day

TbL

Sadly self inflicted. I blame the day full of *(close your ears)* meanies, chocolate and winegums poor nutrition.

TRR_the_turd wrote: »

I haven't out psyched you already have I?

What's the story with the young fellah? I can give him a lift if needed.

Haha don't worry still on track to make you work for top team spot

I text him there waiting to hear back. I'll grab him as I know you old lads need your sleep so wouldn't wanna deprive you of an extra 15 min and have you blame that on why I beat you

Saturday OFF

Missed this run as by time work and treatments were finished decided it would be counter productive with the race so just did a bit of foam rolling

Sunday

First race in a while. By time I lined up for this one to see a number of regraded athletes and "1st timers" (if you can call mid 2.20 marathoners novice:p) I knew that my initial position target was probably a bit ambitious so I decided that I just wanted a good hard race and see where I end up.

Lap 1

Decent start and after the dust settled there was me and TRR sitting side beside just inside top 40. The rolling hills I took fairly comfortably with striding out on the down hill and working on the uphills. By the time we came down in the glen a lad from Clonliffe made a move on the outside and I followed suit breaking away from "the turd". Came around onto the flat and the wind was pretty bad so I just tucked in and let the bigger guys take on the wind.

Lap 2

Coming into the 2nd lap and true to his name the turd was firmly stuck to my spikes . Heard some heavy breathing from him and I thought that his effort level was slightly higher than mine so I was feeling in a good spot. We had moved up slowly but surely picking off a few straggler along the way but there was a group up about 40-50m ahead that I had my sights on and was trying to work up to. The rest of the lap followed a similar fashion to the last and I was taking the rolling hills pretty well although was feeling the pace changes. Worked back up around the forest and found myself again breaking free. By the time I got on to the flatter side of the course back into the head wind though I was caught in no mans land suffering in the wind.

Lap 3

By the start of this one the lads had caught me and I had worked much harder than I would have liked to. I dunno whether it was this or just a mental lapse but the 3rd lap was slightly disappointing and lost ground on the turd and a few other lads. I was not in a good place but I laboured on.

Lap 4
Managed to snap myself out of the funk of the third lap. Started pushing out the hills and was feeling strong, better yet it looked like I was gaining on TRR (even if it was only marginally) came around the forest and I still had a bit left, Started a long drive to try and reel him in as much as possible I was managing to pull back a second or two but to I knew there was not enough time let, even worse I was hurting but I dug in, no major sprint but enough to up the effort.

Crossed the line and peeped a look at the finishing sheet to see I was between 30th-32nd and about 10 seconds off TRR. Very happy with that run and definitely felt strong, think lack of work on grass may have worked against me but only slightly as it was a good strong effort and happy with how I ran it (bar the third lap but it gives me something to work on)

Suprised to see results sheet up so quick for Novice, I managed to fair better on position but worse on time gap between myself and TRR based on them, still a mid 20s finish with certainly take that.

Monday AM 4 miles recovery (No watch)
Monday PM Postural Analysis and Functional movement screening

Morning run was just a leg loosener and a method of transport to pick up the car, legs felt surprisingly DOMS free after the race.

The evening got an assessment done just to help me tinker with my gym work and S&C stuff to target area's which need attention. Do this every few months as a way of just ensuring I am getting most out of gym work and pre empting any issues which might occur, few major things came up so will have my work cut out

Tuesday AM 6 miles easy (7.26 min mile pace)
Tuesday PM 8 miles easy (7.30 min mile pace)

Winter is finally kicking in, beautiful morning for running while the sun was out (though still a bit nippy) evening run on the other handy felt truly like a wintery night though in some ways I kinda enjoy this in a sick way, always find it easier to get the head down and put in the hard graft come winter knowing the the rewards will be reaped come the Spring/Summer

Oregano_State wrote: »

Where/who did the postural analysis and movement screening for you? What does it consist of?

Another therapist I know who has done the FSM course's as well as having a good eye for the postural analysis and a S&C background . It basically runs through your alignment in a static position as well as running through certain movements (walking, lunge, deep squat, OH squat, shoulder rotation etc) just to give an whether certain area's/ muscles are compensating for other etc.

Can be a bit of a minefield and you can completely overanalyze things (I know previously I have seen issues which should prevent me from any significant training or steeple chasing yet I laboured on ) but it is a good tool to use to help specify some aspects of my gym work (as it currently stands I will be dropping single leg squats as a result until I correct a minor hip alignment issue)

Thursday AM 50 min gym + 9.5 miles easy (7.21 min pace)

Few tweaks to the gym work meant that leg press and squats were replaced for the next few weeks meaning that I am not as wiped as normal although still felt a good workout, followed this up with a run in PP with TbL to pace through his session for the day