Running with the birds or for the birds?

Monday August 19th
Rest
Weight 61kgs (moving in the right direction)
I spent the day cross-training in the form of washing massive amounts of campfire-smelling clothes;)

Tuesday August 20th
AM 4.33 miles @ 9.14
30 minute Rip 60 class*
PM Total 5.5 miles
* the latest new thing in our gym http://www.rip60.com/ , apparently I’ll be ripped within 60 days:D Actually I really enjoyed the class as most of the work is the kind of strength work I should be doing to avoid injury anyway and the time flew by.
Easy run at the club in the evening followed by a 400M relay race where I fear I let my team down but since there were so many people running round having fun nobody noticed (I hope)

Wednesday August 21st
10.10 miles easy @ 8.37 pace
Nice easy run along the coast.

Thursday August 22nd
30 minute Rip 60 Class
Junior2 had a head cold and I woke thinking I had it also, decided to be a hypochondriac and not run but feeling guilty I headed down to the gym. Luckily no head cold at the end of the day:D (but I’m hoping junior didn’t notice I wasn’t hugging and kissing him:))

Friday August 23rd
90 minute Vinyasa yoga class
OHM:D:D:D:D

RunningKing wrote: »

MarthaStew is going all Krusty on us with her "catch up" postings

I even went running today in the hills in Wicklow (once the land of Krusty, before he moved to Alpine marathons;)). Unfortunately that's where the similarity ends although I did give him a run for his money in The Coal Hole after London marathon:)

It’s been a while since I’ve written a race report so I’ve overindulged a little. If you’re not in the mood for waffles then the bold print will fill you in:)

Frank Duffy 10 Miler Phoenix Park
I love, love, love the 10 Miler, back in 2008 it was the first ever mass participation road race I ran and I remember being blown away by such a large group of people all running towards the Finish line. Numbers must have been lower as the bibs had to be collected on race morning in Castleknock School. I didn’t own a Garmin and as far as I was concerned PB stood for Peanut Butter;) so I was basically running for fun, I ran a respectable 1 hour 18 minutes and chatted away to other runners drinking tea and eating brack in the school afterwards and when I arrived home I told Mr Stew I couldn’t wait to run another race. Not being a runner at the time he thought I was mad and couldn’t really understand my enthusiasm. That afternoon we watched Usain Bolt break the 100M world record in Beijing and the rest, as they say, is history:) Fast forward and I’m 5 years older, not much wiser and not much faster but I’m nevertheless delighted to be at the start line of this race as this time last year I was out with quite a chronic injury and gutted not to be racing. If you had asked me what I could expect to run a 10 mile race in in March of this year I would have proudly replied 67/68 minutes (I ran 89.XX in Bohermeen Half) but having overdone things a bit too much in the run up to London Marathon I’ve had to take a break and get back to fitness slowly. The Bay 10K 3 weeks ago was a stark reminder of how much fitness I’d lost but my training has gone well since. I quite honestly didn’t think I would be able to knock too much of my once soft PB 75.XXmins and after a tough speed session with the club last week I was somewhat worried I’d even manage a PB.
A good night’s sleep on Friday and I woke feeling happy and nervous. Mr Stew and I collected Meno (no update of mine is complete without a mention of him;)) and another pal who was also racing and we arrived nice and early to a perfect day for racing. We managed to catch up with lots of pals before the race, did a warm up with some club mates and before we knew it it was time to line up. The start was delayed a little because the gantry fell down and we joked that the race was cancelled and we could all go home with PBs:) Then suddenly Boom, we were off…..

Miles 1 – 4
The announcer reminded us all that a big smile crossing the starting mat would knock 17 seconds off our time:D so I was beaming as I passed under the now upright gantry and pressed start on my Garmin. I usually find that I pretty much know how my race will go when I’ve taken that first step and I was delighted to feel strong and optimistic. Mr Stew and I settled in overtaking lots of people and also others overtaking us in the first mile but by the second mile things had settled down. Given my fitness loss over the last few weeks I wasn’t really sure what pace I should be running so I had set my Garmin to show time only, although I planned not to look at it for the race. I was pleasantly surprised when Mr S told me our first mile was 6.48 as I knew we had to bank a bit of time for the hills later. Mr Stew and I took turns leading and the second mile (6.49) was over before we knew it. I let Mr S gradually drift ahead of me as I reminded myself I’d need to sustain this pace for another hour. The next 2 miles (7.03, 7.07) were spent gradually overtaking and staying in line with a female runner from Clonliffe. She had a lot of support along the course but fortunately for us Crusader supporters were also out in full force so we were both lapping it up. I wasn’t sure what age group she was but I wasn’t letting her out of my sight in case she was F45 (turns out she was F35). All the time I could see Mr S up ahead and whenever he would catch sight of me when the course doubled back he’d shout “Come on O, come get me” and every time I’d push things up a notch I’d realise I’d just have to keep him in my sight and hope to catch him on the hills. I was lucky enough to pass a few female runners from our club and I told them I was trying to catch Mr S. The New York Dublin marathon last November had been run on parts of the course here and it was bringing lots of happy memories.

Miles 5 – 8
Still feeling strong but working hard I was now starting to push out the negative thoughts that were telling me I should slow down and take it easy. I had resisted the urge to look at my watch and I was pleasantly surprised to see 35. XX when I looked at the 5 mile marker. (7.06 for my 5th mile) and I decided to pick it up on the nice next mile (6.53). At the same time I had to contend with the voices in my head telling me to slow down and save something for the hills and I kept reminding myself to stay in the mile I was in…… I am strong, I love this mile was my mantra and I could still see Mr Stew up ahead. The Clonliffe runner was still beside me and we told each other not long to go now. I was delighted to get a super shout out from Officer Digger (on camera duty, rumour has it he missed Claralara cos she went by so fast on her way to a massive PB;)) “That’s the national Irish 50K Champion” he shouted as I passed and the guy in front of me turned around and looked at me as if to say “No way”, “It’s true” I replied and then that became my mantra for the next mile... I’m the national Irish 50K champion…. (I have to make the most of it for now as Claralara has her sights set on it for next year:)) I hadn’t intended taking on any water but as I ran through the station there was a glass right beside me so I sipped a small drop and poured the rest on my head, lovely:D Mile 8 I was working really hard not to slow too much (7.14) The support from our club was fantastic here and I can honestly say they saved me a good few seconds.

Miles 9 - Finish
Demons knocking on my brain again and I changed my mantra to I eat hills for breakfast…… This was quickly followed by the realisation that in fact I have been eating croissants for breakfast and the extra weight isn’t helping on the hills:eek: Luckily the Clonliffe runner is behind me and as I pass Meno who is marshalling he tells me Mr S is about 10 seconds ahead so I stay as strong as I can (7.17) even though my legs are hurting and I’m starting to fade. At some point along here a runner pulls up beside me, looking like he is out for a jog and happened to bump into me “Hi O” he says and I recognise him vaguely but I’m hardly able to speak, he introduces himself and I even manage “How nice to see you, how are you?” (If I hadn’t chatted with him after the finish I would have almost thought I’d had some lactic hallucinations;)) He asks me how I am and I reply “great, thanks” and then I say “Actually I’m f**ked” and I tell him to push on. I’m laughing to myself and trying to remember the last time I saw him years ago, I’m sure he wasn’t a runner then, I know I definitely wasn’t. And then I wake up when I see the 9 mile marker and think Come on O, no excuses for the last mile…. The last mile is pure hell, I keep pushing myself to try and catch Mr S (his last mile split was slower than mine (7.01) so I was gaining ground). I overtake a few runners (including my long lost friend) and one or two (not female) overtake me. The support along here was super with lots of people urging us on, a nice shout out from Belcara on the last straight (.05 @ 5.34) and I honestly cannot believe it when I see 70.51 on the Finish Line clock:D

Chip Time 70.39
3rd F45
505th overall
10.05 miles @7.01 pace
Total including warm-up and cool down 12 miles
After the nausea passed I hugged Mr Stew and congratulated him on the family 10 mile PB (personal best, not peanut butter;)) 70.24 for him and he was naturally as happy as I was. It's amazing what a few weeks hard work can do! After catching up with lots of happy campers we jogged over to the visitors centre for a fab lunch with some wonderful club mates, everybody who had raced was happy and those who didn't race had definitely PBed in supporting:) All in all a great day

The Stews are back in town;)

Monday August 26th
Weight 59.5 kgs
Rest Day
An honest to goodness rest day with no activity apart from a quick nervous dip in the sea, these guys http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lion's_mane_jellyfish have arrived in full force:eek::eek::eek:


Tuesday August 27th
Yasso 800s session, total miles 13.04
45 minutes Pilates
One of the advantages of not following a training plan means I can pick and choose sessions. My next race is the Athlone Full marathon on Sept 14th but because I’ve taken a break over the summer I’m not racing it, I'm running it for fun:D it’s my home town and as I’m pacing DCM I’ll be upping the miles over the next few weeks anyway so it’s a win win situation. I’m hoping to run in or around 3.30 without taking too much out of me so I approached this session with that in mind. I had previously read about the magical Yasso 800s*(see excerpt below, taken from McMillanrunning.com) and while there isn’t that much (if any) science to back up the theory behind this workout I thought I’d give it a shot. I’m disastrous when it comes to counting reps etc so I took the easy option and programmed my Garmin so that all I had to do was hit start when I headed out the door and stop when I got home again. I ran the reps at The National Beer Mile Stadium, (Home of Krusty the Clown:rolleyes:) so after a nice easy warmup of 2.73 miles I settled in on the track. 2 things to note; the Garmin was set-up to run 10 X 800M with 3.20 seconds rest in between and I had no idea what pace I was running, I knew the results wouldn't be exact as the Garmin isn’t infallible but it meant I could switch off mentally and simply follow instructions. I ran each rep at a pace that I felt was comfortably hard and finished each one feeling good. Even if this workout was of no use to me physically I’m sure it was of use mentally; after about the 4th rep I wasn’t really enjoying myself. Luckily I was joined by 2 different runners for a few reps at the beginning and the end so it was fun chasing them. The occasional dog wandered onto the track to make it interesting but other than that it was just me and the pile of garbage somebody had left on the football pitch in the middle of the track. I couldn’t remember whether I was supposed to have active recovery or rest so I jogged for all the recovery reps except the last one where I walked. I was very happy to hear the beep, beep, beep signalling the end of my last rep and after a nice cooldown run home I was excited to see what my Garmin said (who said running isn’t fun?;)).
Spilts for 800s
3.35
3.29
3.26
3.24
3.29
3.39(missed the beep telling me to start cos I was watching a cute dog:o)
3.33
3.35
3.35
3.27
Tune in on September 14th to see if Burt Yasso's predictions about Marthastew are correct:D

*Yasso 800s

The third prediction workout comes from the folks at Runner's World and is called Yasso 800s. Like the fast finish long run, I recommend that you read the detailed article on the Runner's World website (link below) for complete information on how to run the workout.
The theory behind Yasso 800s is that your time in minutes and seconds for a workout of 10 times 800 meters (two laps of the track) with equal recovery time is the same as the hours and minutes of your marathon time. For example, if you can run 10 times 800 meters in three minutes and 20 seconds with three minutes and 20 seconds recovery, then this predicts that you can run three hours and 20 minutes for your marathon. Run 2:40 for the 800s and you can run 2:40 for the marathon.
My experience, though, is that Yasso 800s predicts about five minutes too fast for most marathoners. Using the example above, my experience has been that 10 times 800 meters in 3:20 with 3:20 recovery yields closer to a 3:25 marathon for most competitive runners. Because this workout is easy to do, I try to include it two or three times in a marathon training cycle. It not only provides a good predictor of marathon pace but allows you to chart your increasing fitness - a big confidence builder.
I typically use all three of these predictor workouts with each marathoner I coach and recommend that you do the same. These three workouts give you a great overview of your total capabilities - your endurance and durability (fast finish long run), your ability to run fast for a long period of time (long distance race) and your aerobic capacity (Yasso 800s). Taken together, I find them to be very, very accurate.