Half Sub 1hr 35, 10k sub 38, 5k sub 18

another world

I've finally got around to putting up a training log.

Here's a bit about me:

Male
27
6ft
68kg (more or less)

Running history has been long but fairly inconsistent. I ran cross country for years back in Secondary School and that seems to have given me a pretty good base ever since because I can get back to reasonable fitness after just a few weeks training. I took a few years off but always kept some sport going and now I've been running again since November last year (except for march when I was injured) and I've never been so addicted!

I've only done one race (2 weeks ago), a 10k and finished in 40:46. Pretty happy with that as it was at altitude so I could probably get to under 40 in Ireland (I'm living in colombia for now) but who knows until it's done...

My training is pretty basic at the moment, I'm trying to get time on my feet. But my runs are very short at 5 - 6km per session but sometimes I do 2 sessions a day and my long run is about 12km at the moment.

My plan for the year as a whole is the 10km (I had planned on a marathon but I seem to be more suited to the shorter distances) but I signed up for a half marathon in August so the focus will be on that for now. I want to get my distance up to 60km per week and this will include a LSR, Interval session (maybe 5 * 1000m) and a tempo run. The rest will be slowish runs just getting the mileage in and focusing on technique and breathing.

Anyway, that's the plan. Look forward to keeping a track of it all here on Boards and maybe it can be of some use to people the same way the other logs have been of use to me.

Any training advice will be more than welcome!

Mark

ike

Hi Mark,

Best of luck with the training, I'd say a 2-3 months of consistant training will have your times close to your targets. LSR's, Intervals, tempo and easy runs stick to your guns with these every week and you'll be flying

Whats it like running in Columbia?? conditions, terrain etc??

Any chance of sending over some good coffee beans??

another world

ike wrote: »

Hi Mark,

Best of luck with the training, I'd say a 2-3 months of consistant training will have your times close to your targets. LSR's, Intervals, tempo and easy runs stick to your guns with these every week and you'll be flying

Whats it like running in Columbia?? conditions, terrain etc??

Any chance of sending over some good coffee beans??

Thanks Ike.

Yeah, running in Colombia isn't very popular at the moment but increasing a bit more now that it has a pretty popular marathon and half marathon.

Conditions are perfect, in Bogota where I live it usually rains once a day but you can pretty much predict when! Very strange, and the rest of the day it's sunny enough. Terrain is alright. It's usually just the parks around the city, one of which is perfect for running with a nice 4km trail going around a lake.

I'm back in Ireland again in September so any orders for coffee get them in before then

another world

Double run today

5.4km in the morning in 24:07

5.4km in the afternoon in 28:57

All felt pretty comfortable.

another world

LSR today, 10.5km in 48.43.

I think I should be getting the distance up to around 15km and the pace a bit slower. I'll try that next weekend.

Focus for the rest of the week will be on a 4mile race here in Navan (I'm back in Ireland for the next few weeks), the South O'Hanlon 4ml. Aim is for under 26mins but I have no idea what the course is like.

Plan for the week:
Mon: 5.4km Recovery run
Tue: Speed session 6 * 600 metres
Wed: Rest (well, exams!)
Thurs: 5.4km Standard
Fri: Race Day
Sat: 5.4km Recovery Run

meathcountysec

Route of South O'Hanlon 4 Mile Road Race.


http://www.mapmyrun.com/run/ireland/navan/928124301403335282

Not sure how long you will be around but there is a 5K in Bohermeen on 19th June and a 10K in Dunshaughlin on 27th June

Best of luck with your training/racing

another world

meathcountysec wrote: »

Route of South O'Hanlon 4 Mile Road Race.


http://www.mapmyrun.com/run/ireland/navan/928124301403335282

Not sure how long you will be around but there is a 5K in Bohermeen on 19th June and a 10K in Dunshaughlin on 27th June

Best of luck with your training/racing

Cheers.

Afraid I won't be around for those races, pity because they're the distances I want to be racing for the next while.

another world

Finding it hard in this weather not to go out running more often. It seems a shame not to be running or doing something active when it's so hot outside.

Yesterday I did my standard 5.4km in 30:16, very happy with that because I've been needing to go slower on my recovery runs (and LSRs for that matter!). I went to the beach last night and halfway through a 5k walk I couldn't resist running the rest. Really nice but way way too fast for an easy day.

Today: Just in from my scheduled speed session. I didn't really stick to the plan. Went to a park that seems to be about 800 metres or so (no fancy watch unfortunately) and did 4*400's with recovery of the other 400. Now, my times seem pretty fast (or are they? I don't know!) so maybe it's wasn't a full 400.

Lap 1: 64:50 secs
Lap 2: 62:80 secs
Lap 3: 63:59 secs
Lap 4: 64:33 secs

I was pushing it to the max on each and the last one was hard to finish at the pace.

Overall run 9.4km in 47:34 mins. Happy with that and happy I didn't stop once throughout. Rest day tomorrow.

another world

Day off didn't quite go to plan. I was down in UCD for some non-running related business but that fell through so I thought TRACK!

I've been interested for the last while to know what sort of times I could do at different short distances, so today was a good day for it.

First thing to point out is that my sprint fitness is way low from what I saw today. Second, I ate a fish and chips in Beshoffs about 2 hours before and that really wasn't a clever idea.

I only managed to check out times for 100m and the 400m.

100m in 14 secs flat
400m in 66.83 secs

Couldn't believe how much I fell off in the last 200 metres. Unreal. Oh, and I also felt like I was dying for these 200 metres.

Anyway, that's my baseline for these distances. I'll try a 200m and 800m next week.

another world

Did the South O'Hanlon 4 mile tonight here in Navan. I was feeling a bit worried beforehand because my thigh/hamstring muscles were hurting since Wednesday's track session.

Well, my inexperience showed at the start when I started off a bit too fast, I don't know my mile splits but I'm sure my first mile would of been well under 6 minutes. I really felt the legs hurting going through the third mile and then the fourth mile felt grand and I picked up the pace a bit coming in at the end. Final time (by my watch) was 24 mins flat. Very happy with that, expected around the 26 minutes so a bit surprised.

Oh, and just to add it was a very well organised run and the atmosphere was great (this race business is all new to me so maybe it's like this at them all!)


Did a 5.4km warmdown afterwards...

Racing Flat

Nice race!


Did anyone mention that your targets are perhaps incongruous? In that most people I know who are marginally sub 38 for 10k and sub 18 for 5k would be at around 85mins for half marathon...

another world

Racing Flat wrote: »

Nice race!


Did anyone mention that your targets are perhaps incongruous? In that most people I know who are marginally sub 38 for 10k and sub 18 for 5k would be at around 85mins for half marathon...

Thanks, that's a good point. I was just really going with times I thought might be reasonable. I'll change the Half Marathon to 1hr 25mins, may as well hop it up there now. Although, I'll be doing one in August and it's very very unlikely it will happen then!

another world

LSR today. 18.5km (11.5 miles) in 1hr 36mins 55secs. Very happy with that but didn't want to do so long a run. Towards the end one of the roads was closed and I had to turn around and I had to do a bit extra to get home. Pace was 5.14mins/km (8.25mins/mile).

I'll be recovering until Wednesday I'd imagine.

Slogger Jogger

Hi Mark,
If 10k is your focus I found the Hal Higdon 10k schedule very useful in preparing for the Aware 10K before Christmas. I got a sub 39 min PB from it, so it worked for me. Good luck with your training.
Regards,
Mick

another world

Slogger Jogger wrote: »

Hi Mark,
If 10k is your focus I found the Hal Higdon 10k schedule very useful in preparing for the Aware 10K before Christmas. I got a sub 39 min PB from it, so it worked for me. Good luck with your training.
Regards,
Mick

Thanks Mick

I've got myself into a half marathon in August so the focus will be on that for now. I have a self-made 7 week programme that I'm working through at the moment, bit's from Hal Higdon and bits that I feel I need so I don't get injured (history of dodgy knees:(). After that it's all 10k training and I'll check out that Hal Higdon schedule you're talking about.
Cheers

another world

I've been feeling pretty sore since the long run on Sunday so I've been taking it easy enough over the last few days.

Monday Very very easy 5.4km

Tuesday Easyish 5.4km but stuck in a few 100m sprints towards the end. Very sore muscles throughout the session.

Wednesday Back feeling good again. 5.4km in 22:38. 400m was a warm up so 5km in a bit under 20mins.

I'll just do the same for the next 2 days. My main worry is that I'm pushing it too hard while trying to get a steady base of mileage. This week I'll be up to about 47k, next week it might be down a small bit and then I'll try to get it up to around 60km per week (over a space of 2 or 3 weeks) so best to keep the speedy stuff to a minimum for now I reckon.

another world

Still keeping it easy enough and it's paying off because I was feeling fairly sore after that LSR last week. Thankfully, I've been able to maintain the mileage this week, this only happened because I took it very easy on the speed all week.

Thursday 7km in 32:29 Felt really good on this run.

Friday 5.4km Standard run.

Weekly total 47.1km

Most mileage I've ever done in my life so very happy with that.

Rest day tomorrow, LSR in Madrid on Sunday and then it's back to Colombia for the summer.

tisnotover

nice time in that 4 mile other nite, + sounds like ure getting proper training together, something i'm finally getting around to as well!

another world

Thanks tisnotover. I was pretty happy with the 4 miler. I`m looking for consistency in my training at the moment. It might come off a bit boring but I`m hoping it`ll pay off by giving me a nice base over the summer so I can go for PBs in the Autumn.

I was looking at your log. You`ll have no problem improving the 5 mile time. Knocking the races on the head is the way to go, not just because they were probably holding your training back for a few days after each one but also you`ll really go for it when you do finally get to race. Best of luck.

another world

Sunday LSR

The preperation for this LSR couldn`t have been worse. Friday night I had to get up at 3am to catch a flight and last night I couldn`t sleep much because of the crazy heat in the hostel bedroom here in Madrid. And on top of all that, I got blisters from walking around the city yesterday in the midday sun (38 degrees celcius!!). I decided at some stage last night I wouldn`t bother with it but this morning I felt ok so I went off on the run. The plan was to follow a route I found on Mapmyrun of 18.5km. This did not happen! I got totally lost, thought I was just going straight when infact I was doing a really big loop. Had to ask directions a few times, to be told the map I had printed off was useless. Anyway, I eventually made it back and did it (after taking away 5mins for stopping for directions) in 1hr 32mins 11secs. I`ll put the distance down as 18km but I don`t really know for sure, I was going pretty fast so it was atleast that. I`ve been really dehidrated ever since, very hot over here. Anyway, I highly recommend Madrid as a place to run!

another world

It´s been a hectic enough week with flights and everything but I´ve managed to get some half decent training in. Well, more maintenance than looking for improvements, I guess.

Mon Rest (12 hour flight)

Tue 5k in 24:37 (way too fast, suffered a lot in my breathing from the altitude)

Wed 6k in 27:32 (mini-tempo run)

Thurs am 6k in 33:33, pm 6k in 30:58 + 30mins of core strenght excercises.

I´ve got just over 6 weeks to the half marathon now, so next week I´ll be getting into more specific training for it.

another world

Fri 6km in 31:24

Weekly Total 47km

Happy to have got that training in this week. Off rock climbing for the next 2 days so it´ll be an active rest until LSR on Sunday.

another world

After arriving back from rock climbing for two days I was completely drained and couldn´t even get out for a run on Sunday (even after 12 hours of sleep:eek:), so LSR skipped this week. So far I´ve managed:

Mon: 10km in 56:29

Tue: 6km in 30:47

I finally have a few proper sessions planned for this week. Tomorrow, I´ll be doing a tempo and Friday an interval session. Looking forward to them.

another world

Wed: Tempo run. 3 laps of a 3.5k route. Middle lap in 13:20. Overall time 49:45.

I think I´ll try to do 4 laps the next time and do 2 laps at tempo pace. Pace was too fast today so I´ll bring it down to about 4min/km the next time round.

another world

Thurs: 7km in 42:59

Fri: 10km in 55:36

Weekly Total: 43.5km

Didn´t manage to get the speed work in this week. I was going to do it today but was feeling too exhausted and just did the 10k instead. That didn´t help much either as I felt exhausted in that as well.

Starting to get a few niggles at the moment, mostly in my knees. I have two rest days now (well, drinking days:p) and hopefully they´ll be back to normal on Monday.

asimonov

Hi AW, your training is coming on very well. where are your races on, are they at altitude?

another world

Thanks Asiminov.

My next race is the Bogotá half marathon so it´ll be at altitude (around 2400m). I think I run about 10% slower at altitude so I´m hoping for under 1hr 40mins. But I haven´t a clue to tbh, a few more tempo runs will give me a better idea. Other than that I have no other races planned as there´s very few over here, we´re very lucky in Ireland with all the races!

asimonov

another world wrote: »

Thanks Asiminov.

My next race is the Bogotá half marathon so it´ll be at altitude (around 2400m). I think I run about 10% slower at altitude so I´m hoping for under 1hr 40mins. But I haven´t a clue to tbh, a few more tempo runs will give me a better idea. Other than that I have no other races planned as there´s very few over here, we´re very lucky in Ireland with all the races!

Cool, sounds exotic, my last half was lisburn, which was just less than exotic :-) You'll surely blitz a race when you get back to Ireland next! That could be your sub 1:25!

another world

asimonov wrote: »

Cool, sounds exotic, my last half was lisburn, which was just less than exotic :-) You'll surely blitz a race when you get back to Ireland next! That could be your sub 1:25!

Well, they say the altitude training pays off in the first week or two when back at sea level so I´ll definitely be taking advantage of that!:P You had a great result up in Lisburn, definite sub 3 marathon on the cards...

another world

Mon: 10k in 47:15, 10k in 53:36 (took a 10 min break between the two runs)

Tue: 6k in 34:54 Recovery Run

Took two days off at the weekend but drank so much that I felt like cra@p come monday. I was also sick all weekend after going to acupuncture for allergies the Tuesday before (apparently they get worse before they get better) so a mixture of the two definitely didn´t help!

On Monday I went for a LSR with the brother-in-law and his friend, they got about 5k before they had to stop and finish it in the car and then I decided to go for it knowing I would have to stop half way so as not to be totally anti-social, because the family-in-law were all going to be there (a small touristy town). I did the last 5k in 20 mins. Then took a ten minute break and did the return 10k at a nice easy pace. It felt really good and I have no pains whatsoever today which is a big change for me...

another world

Wed: Speed/interval session 5 *1100m

1st: 3:32
2nd: 3:39
3rd: 3:45
4th: 3:49
5th: 3:50

Did 1100m between each of these as a rest but never stopped. Total distance 11km, total time of 48mins 15secs, .

Felt good to finally do a fast session after so long just getting the miles in and building up a base. The first one was way too fast and I paid for it towards the end. I´d like to get around 3:40 for each of these. I think I need a lot more work on my form as well, seems to be holding me back a bit, not as efficient as it could be.

I´m not really sure if this was even the right session to have been doing for a half-marathon. Perhaps shorter distances and more reps would have worked good as well.

Felt good anyway and I´m sure I´ll be sore enough tomorrow!

another world

Thurs: 6km in 35:49

Fri: 10km in 55:11 (pretty sure this is longer than 10k but it doesn´t matter really)

Weekly Total: 53km


Good week this week and starting to feel stronger in my running. I have 3 more weeks of hard training before the taper week and hopefully they´ll make a big difference come half-marathon day.

Ps. need to stretch more often!!!

another world

Mon: 18km in 1hr 31mins

Really hated this run. It went through some dodgy areas, I got lost, and I didn´t hydrate beforehand. Maybe the key hate factor is that it had hills and I haven´t worked on hill running in years!! I picked this route directly from Google Earth and that´s not a good idea when you don´t know the area well. Well, I guess it´s on the bad runs that you learn the best lessons.

I didn´t get this run in yesterday because I drank too much on Saturday, so I´m officially off the drink until August 2nd. It´s going to be tough!!:(

tisnotover

another world wrote: »

Mon: 18km in 1hr 31mins

Really hated this run. It went through some dodgy areas, I got lost, and I didn´t hydrate beforehand. Maybe the key hate factor is that it had hills and I haven´t worked on hill running in years!! I picked this route directly from Google Earth and that´s not a good idea when you don´t know the area well. Well, I guess it´s on the bad runs that you learn the best lessons.

I didn´t get this run in yesterday because I drank too much on Saturday, so I´m officially off the drink until August 2nd. It´s going to be tough!!:(

When you wrote there "it went though some dodgy areas", thought ure long run mite have turned into a fast paced tempo run to get out of there!

Nice running lately, your training is really consistent now+getting in good mileage. Interesting to read a log from someone running in a different country!

another world

tisnotover wrote: »

When you wrote there "it went though some dodgy areas", thought ure long run mite have turned into a fast paced tempo run to get out of there!

Nice running lately, your training is really consistent now+getting in good mileage. Interesting to read a log from someone running in a different country!

Yeah there´s no doubt I sped it up a bit passing by a few characters:p
The consistency is only happenning during the week, weekends are a complete disastor running wise... I´ll try to get 6 day weeks in from here on (apart from taper week) with a tempo/interval session, LSR and standard runs, and then it´s up to the gods!

another world

Tue: 6km in 32:09 (recovery run)

Wed: 11km in 54:22

I felt really tired today especially in my legs, I think they were still feeling the effects from some of those hills on monday´s LSR. Well, got through it anyway. Not so sure about a tempo run this week, it was planned for tomorrow but feeling aches and pains all over so it might be best just to go for mileage instead. See how I feel tomorrow.

I was in for acupuncture yesterday and mentioned I get a sore knee from running. So the doctor stuck a few needles in it and said it should sort it out. I´ll see if his confidence turns into reality over the next few days. So far it feels worse :eek:

asimonov

If you do a decent warm up you should be ok for your tempo, might be better to give it a go and if you can't hold it drop the pace than put it off altogether.

another world

asimonov wrote: »

If you do a decent warm up you should be ok for your tempo, might be better to give it a go and if you can't hold it drop the pace than put it off altogether.

You´re right. I´ll give it a go anyway and see how it feels. I think I was being a bit lazy actually. Thanks for the push!

another world

Thurs: Tempo run 13.2k overall in 57:18

Running on a grass route (very nice change from the roads), it´s a 1,100m lap. Did 3 laps to warm up, 5 at speed, and 4 to warm down. Splits as follows:

1. 5:08
2. 4:56
3. 4:53
4. 4:15
5. 4:14
6. 4:12
7. 4:11
8. 4:12
Final 4 laps: 21:18

Felt pretty good throughout despite getting my pacing wrong and going at about 6:15 mile pace, it should be around 6:30.

tisnotover

another world wrote: »

Thurs: Tempo run 13.2k overall in 57:18

Running on a grass route (very nice change from the roads), it´s a 1,100m lap. Did 3 laps to warm up, 5 at speed, and 4 to warm down. Splits as follows:

1. 5:08
2. 4:56
3. 4:53
4. 4:15
5. 4:14
6. 4:12
7. 4:11
8. 4:12
Final 4 laps: 21:18

Felt pretty good throughout despite getting my pacing wrong and going at about 6:15 mile pace, it should be around 6:30.

Nice tempo run! Finding it difficult myself to do tempo other day as well, was faster than I wanted to be, but if it felt ok, and you got ure times in, then it can't be too bad?

These things take practise I guess, think I have two modes myself, a race button and a jog button, hard to find the tempo one!

another world

Fri: 6km in 29:53 (recovery run)

Sat: 11km in 52:54

Weekly Total: 65km

Mileage up nicely this week, well, most I´ve ever done in my life actually. It´ll probably be the peak for the half-marathon training. Next 3 weeks will go as following:

Week 1: 65k (LSR, Tempo)
Week 2: 55k (LSR, Tempo)
Week 3: 35k (Taper week, nothing special, lots of stretching and going crazy)

another world

Mon: 23.1km in 1hr 44mins (21.1k in 1hr34mins)

I went far too fast in this LSR, but I feel fine now. I kind of started of at a steady pace and just kept it going. No idea why, I probably haven´t gained very much other than I now know I can get under 1hr30mins in the half marathon. It felt grand today so to get it down 4 mins on race day should be fine. The run was mostly on grass as well so it possibly slowed me down a bit (thank god!).

I´ve been thinking a lot about what sort of time I should go for in the half and I reckon somewhere around the 1hr28mins mark should be the goal. There are pacers in the race so I´ll go with the 1hr30min guy and try and break away with a few kms to go. Well, that´s the plan at least...

another world

Tue: 6km (5.36min/km)

Felt really really stiff after monday´s madness. Probably couldn´t have done another km.

Wed: 11km (5:15min/km)

Felt a lot better but still a bit stiff. Did 30 mins stretching last night before going to bed and woke up feally a lot better but the legs were still feeling very heavy today. Maybe tomorrow they´ll feel 100% again !?!?

Lined up another half-marathon for September, it´ll be a completely different kettle of fish, it´s at 3000 metres and lots of hills but the location is far more scenic with about a 20th of the crowd expected in Bogotá in 2 weeks (expecting cerca 40,000!). Struggling to find anymore races here, need to get back to Ireland for some good ones!

tisnotover

ure training looks like its been going fairly well lately, though I'm not sure what to say about that long run pace the other day

what are u thinking as of a target race time, ure def in sub 1hr30 shape i'd say!

another world

tisnotover wrote: »

ure training looks like its been going fairly well lately, though I'm not sure what to say about that long run pace the other day

what are u thinking as of a target race time, ure def in sub 1hr30 shape i'd say!

Well, hoping for sub 1hr 28 race. That´s the plan anyway. As I said, I´ll go with the 1hr 30 pacer and then push it for the last 7 or 8k. Hopefully that´ll work and keep me at a steady pace at the start.

I´m sick over monday´s session. really went against my training principles up to now and has made this week tougher than it should have been... Thankfully there´s still a bit to go so it shouldn´t effect anything, I hope!

another world

Thurs: 6km (5:15mins/km pace)

3 and a half hours rock climbing training before. Felt nuts going out for a run but feel good I got out.

another world

Fri: 6km (4:47mins/km) (again after climbing, shattered tired)

Sat: 6km (5:32mins/km)

Weekly Total: 58.1km (36.1miles)

Been feeling stiff and sore all week. I´ve probably overdone it this week a bit between the two sports I´m training for but it´ll hopefully pay off in the next week or two. Next 3 days will be LSR/Recovery/Tempo. And after that I´ll be taking it relatively easy for 1 and a half weeks, but I´ll keep the mileage at a reasonable level.

another world

Sun: 20km LSR (5:42min/km)

Hungover but not too bad. I didn´t plan on drinking but peer pressure keeps getting me! At least I got out for the run the next morning but felt crappy enough thoughout because I was so dehidrated. Great location through mountains etc, very warm but with a breeze so I didn´t realize I was sunburnt until after

Mon: 6km RR (5:49min/km)

Tired again but at long last not in my legs. 9 days of consecutive running at this stage. Tomorrow I´ll try to get time for a tempo. I need to get speed into these legs!

I´m also going to try and focus on core strenght for the next two weeks. In general it´s not bad because I do a lot of upper-body excercise but I want to focus more on it now. Can´t have too much I suppose...

another world

Tue: 30 min core strenght. No run

Wed: Rest (work really)

Thurs: 11km (4:58min/km) 3*30sec sprints in the middle

Felt really good during todays run. Just a standard one but I´ve been feeling a bit drained over the last while so it´s nice to have energy again. I´m also starting to through in a few 30 sec sprints here and there on the standard runs (not the recovery runs) just to keep a bit of speed in the legs. Tomorrow, tempo.

another world

Fri: Tempo run. Total 11km in 48:56 (4.4km at 3:48min/km or 6:06min/mile)

Weekly Total: 48km (29.8miles)

Still a bit too fast on these. Felt good although. I stopped short of doing another km or two because of the race next week. I´m now oficially in my taper. One week of lots of energy! It should be good... well, maybe

tisnotover

another world wrote: »

Fri: Tempo run. Total 11km in 48:56 (4.4km at 3:48min/km or 6:06min/mile)

Weekly Total: 48km (29.8miles)

Still a bit too fast on these. Felt good although. I stopped short of doing another km or two because of the race next week. I´m now oficially in my taper. One week of lots of energy! It should be good... well, maybe

Ure in flying form lately! Tempo pace must have been ok for ya if ya felt you could have kept going for another bit like.
I think your well on track for your target time next week...