[slowsteady]

Originally Posted by belcarra

Only the one day left in Jan for me to hit the 400km mark...I reckon a 19km run may be in store for tomorrow night!!

EDIT: Just worked out that 402.3km = 250miles so may have to do a Half marathon instead!

Kmtd: 381.75
Runs: 28/30

This is all in aid of a 3:30 marathon!!, makes me tired just reading it.

Puts my paltry 108 miles in perspective. Signed up for Waterford at the end of June but I think that will be just a trial for DCM.

Avoid injury and it will be a breeze for you - you even sound like you enjoy it all

[belcarra]

It's all to do with Raycun and a few others that remain ahead of me in the running streak table...once they back down and take a rest day I'll do likewise but at the moment it's a bit of a Mexican stand-off!!

[RayCun]

Originally Posted by belcarra

It's all to do with Raycun and a few others that remain ahead of me in the running streak table...once they back down and take a rest day I'll do likewise but at the moment it's a bit of a Mexican stand-off!!

You've a lead of 80k in the 1000 mile challenge table, is that not enough for you?

[belcarra]

Tuesday, 31st Jan - 22.0km Medium Slow Run
As chance should have it this evening called for a 13 mile run - just enough to get me to the 250 mile/400km mark for January. The run was remarkable for nothing apart from that milestone.

So, 1/4 of the way to the 1,000 mile mark already and a 29 day running streak that's still going...nice!

Kmtd: 403.75
Runs: 29/31

[belcarra]

Originally Posted by RayCun

You've a lead of 80k 100km in the 1000 mile challenge table, is that not enough for you?

FYP!

[belcarra]

Originally Posted by slowsteady

This is all in aid of a 3:30 marathon!!, makes me tired just reading it.

Puts my paltry 108 miles in perspective. Signed up for Waterford at the end of June but I think that will be just a trial for DCM.

Avoid injury and it will be a breeze for you - you even sound like you enjoy it all

It really is beginning to get to the point where you could pick a number and I'd head off and run it! For the first time I think I'm comfortable with mileage distances beginning with a 2! As Woddle has mentioned I should have a great endurance base built up by April and then it'll be time to introduce the faster stuff to help get the times down.

Well that's my theory anyways!!

[belcarra]

Wednesday, 1st Feb - 8.0km Recovery Run
Easy 8km tonight.
The plan actually said to do a 15km run with LT but I was feeling lazy and where once I may have had a rest day, I went for a recovery run instead.

Threw in a 750m pacy bit (@4:00/km) where I was on a downhill and used the chance to get the legs moving quickly without putting much stress on the body. I may do this on more of my recovery runs as it's short enough to not cause issues yet it may help a little with leg speed. I will do real interval work after Connemara.


Kmtd: 411.75
Km-Feb: 8.0
Runs: 30/32
Running Streak: 30

[belcarra]

Thursday, 2nd Feb - 6.4km Recovery Run
Easy run again just to keep legs ticking over.

Kmtd: 418.1
Km-Feb: 14.4
Runs: 31/33
Running Streak: 31

[belcarra]

Friday, 3rd Feb - 30.0km LSR Run #1of2
Met with Philip for a LSR in the Park. 30km which for the most part was fine.

Saturday, 4th Feb - 17.4km LSR Run #2of2
LSR #2 was intended to be another 30km run in Mayo but the weather was terrible so at the crucial point where I could turn for home or continue for my final loop I was weak. I couldn't bare running into the freezing rain for the next three miles until I got into a bit of shelter. Anyhow, I was running late for something else so made the decision a little easier to accept. Still though, body felt like it could have continued without too many issues so that was good.

Sunday, 5th Feb - Rest Day
Running streak over! In Mayo still but just didn't get round to going out for a run today so I guess it had to finish sometime!!

Monday, 6th Feb - 12.5km GA Run
Back on the road again with a 12.5km easy run. Didn't really notice any advantages of taking the day before off though!!

Kmtd: 478.0
Km-Feb: 74.3km
Runs: 33/36
Running Streak: 33 (Finished!)

[menoscemo]

Originally Posted by belcarra

Back on the road again with a 12.5km easy run. Didn't really notice any advantages of taking the day before off though!!

Yeah, last time I took a day off I paid the next day for not having done a recovery run. My legs were still wrecked!!

Fair play to phillip He got at least 19 miles in with us on saturday and there didn't look to be a bother on him.

[belcarra]

Tuesday, 7th Feb - 13.0km Tempo Run
Meant to be a 8km recovery run but by about halfway I was feeling good so i upped the pace a bit and this became a part tempo run. Nothing very fast at all but i was pushing it a little bit for the last 5 or 6ks.

Today's longer than planned session means less miles tomorrow which is good as that is the 3 miler in Raheny. I'll be aiming for pace between 4:20 - 4:30 for the splits with the hope I can push the last km a little harder. Any PB at all would be welcomed at this stage because I really think all the slower running has made me a bit slower than last autumn definitely.

Kmtd: 491.0
Km-Feb: 87.3km
Runs: 34/37

[belcarra]

Wednesday, 8th Feb - Raheny Winter League 3 Miler
After a 2km warm-up we started just after 8pm. I stuck to my plan and took the first km a little easier than last time. When I saw my pace creeping towards sub 4:10 I decided to settle in with a few others who were going a little slower. This got the pace on track and after the first mle loop i was joined by a local female runner. The pair of us continued pacing each other for the next mile and a half before I decided to up the pace with half a mile to go. I tried to encourage her to stick with me but she had been giving it the max already so was unable to kick. At this point I tried to catch another local female who was about 50m ahead of me. As we turned the final corner I had pulled it back to about 10m but then with the lcal support telling her I was on her tail she managed to hold off all the way to the end and I was undone by my lack of a kick at the end.
As I was crossing the line I was told of my 20:27 finish time which I was well chuffed with. That was 42 secs faster than last time out although conditions tonight were pretty perfect. Still though, I'm really looking forward now to Rathfarnham in September and a crack at getting sub 20mins for the 5km distance!

2km w/u and 2.2km c/d added to 4.8km race distance = 9.0km for the evening...which conveniently brings me up to 500km for the year so far!

Kmtd: 500.0
Km-Feb: 96.3km
Runs: 35/38

[belcarra]

Thursday, 9th Feb - Rest day
I was fully intent on going out for a run today but after visiting my sister it was almost 9pm when I got home. Then I ended up snoozing on the bed for another hour and when I finally awoke it was waaaay too nasty and too late for the sake of a 5 mile recovery run...these decisions are much easier to happen now that my running streak is over .

Friday, 10th Feb - 32.2km LSR
I managed to get a quick 11.3km lap of the park in before Philip arrived to join me for the remainder of the run. Took a nice route to tack on 21.1km in one blast so I think that's going to be a more regular feature of my long runs. Only had to hit the one hill on the upper Glen Road so it made it a little easier than other possible routes.

I only had a bowl of cereal in the morning and an apple about an hour before I started so wasn't really surprised to be feeling low on energy towards the end. I must get in the groove for carb loading come the back end of next week...something I can often be very poor at!

Kmtd: 532.2
Km-Feb: 128.5km
Runs: 36/40

[Woddle]

Well done in the 3 miler. I reckon with this base and some quicker work in the summer, sub 20 will be too easy Keep up the solid work.

[belcarra]

Originally Posted by Woddle

Well done in the 3 miler. I reckon with this base and some quicker work in the summer, sub 20 will be too easy Keep up the solid work.

Cheers Woddle!
Hopefully you'll be proved right. I was actually surprised I improved so much on last time as I was expecting to be just a few seconds quicker. The Winter League is the only bit of fast running I'm doing these days.

I see you've had to cancel your run in the morning with us. Might catch you over the coming weeks.