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

TheRoadRunner

ecoli wrote: »

Terms like "your mad" and "suicidal" i wouldnt consider to be constructive terms or maybe that is just me.

Me neither hadn't seen them. You can prove them all wrong in February

I've ran a lot in Torrevieja in recent years. Haven't done the half marathon so don't know the course but it is generally flat so fast times should be possible (if you train hard )

ecoli

TheRoadRunner wrote: »

Me neither hadn't seen them. You can prove them all wrong in February

I've ran a lot in Torrevieja in recent years. Haven't done the half marathon so don't know the course but it is generally flat so fast times should be possible (if you train hard )

I have been over there and done some runs myself and looking at the course map which goes through the town and along the sea front the only thing which could be a factor is wind but as the prevailing wind actually comes from the inland should mean that not too bad

ecoli

Moving back to actual training

Week 10 Day 6

Rest

Week 10 Day 7

60 min easy

Week 11 Day 1

Am 30 min easy

with work decided to move this double to fri when i have more time (and hopefully more sleep as that is biggest obstacle in my training at the moment)

limericklion

I have just been reading some of the posts and find many of the posters have been a little harsh and unwilling to consider the various forms of training that ecoli has been doing. Firstly Meb prior to winning the New York marathon often did track workouts such as 400s 1000s etc to prepare for sudden surges and changes of pace that took place and guess what it worked. However on the other side of the coin Meb was having to deal with surges in an elite field. Another thing ecoli and correct me if Im wrong but there does not seem to be enough half marathon pace workouts that last for a duration. Perhaps you are building up but a three mile tempo at half marathon pace if sub 75 is the aim will not prepare the body for the race .Going against the grain of thought of other posters I believe your workouts need to be longer. At the end of the day you must run 75 mins for 13.1 mile which is well under 6 minute mile pace so doing steady states of 40 plus minutes will give you the confidence at racing for that lenght of time at that pace. The hill workouts are good for building strenght but one must prepare for a half marathon not cross country so the hill workouts could be less frequent. Also towards the end of your training a few 20 milers would not go astray as it is a long race and time on your feet is important if you follow aerobic development principles.

h8 runnin

Don’t think there’s any race on the Sunday but maybe you could target jingle bells 5k the week before on Dec 5th, then there’s a 10k race out in Navan on the 26th of December you could do. To be honest il be surprised if you don’t break 35 mins for 10k just judging by your tempo runs. If you can run 6 min mile at tempo pace for 30 mins then you shouldn’t have a problem dropping 23-24 seconds per mile in race. I feel low 34’s is good target but if you go out at this pace you run the risk of blowing up. In my opinion you should aim for sub 35 and if your on target at 5k and still feeling strong then push on for second half of race.

I do admit the word suicidal was a bit harsh and in hindsight after looking at you 5k pb 16.32(16.24) I actually don’t feel the 3 x2k session you attempted @ 6.40 pace was too ambitious. This pace is actually slower than your 5k race pace so it wouldn’t be doing too much damage to you at all.

Best of luck in your next race

ecoli

Week 11 Day 2

AM 30 min easy
PM 2 mile warm up (up hill) 5x3 min hills (Hell Fire) 2 mile cool down

Its amazing how the extra min completely changed the dynamics of the session. I felt good and thought it was gonna be comfortable however one of the training partners put alot of emphasis on the recovery being quite a quick jog back down the hill which made it really tough. The lads did 6 but i left it at 5 as was my first time tackling the longer reps

ecoli

Week 11 Day 3

Am 45 min easy
PM 45 min easy

legs have picked up significantly after the had been pretty heavy since the weekend

ecoli

Week 11 Day 4

AM 30 min easy

PM 2 mile warm up 3x3 mile HMP (5.50) 3 min recovery 2 mile cool down (track)

Times: 17.29, 17.32, 17.27

As last week was ruined by the weather i felt this was too important a session to miss so i attempted it again. I knew the wind was going to be a factor and i was right so i made allowances for this targeting my pace at 5.50rather than 5.40 mile pace and i was glad i did because i easily lost a second or two per lap with a strong head wind coming around onto the homestraight. My mid miles seemed to be slow on the first two but looking back i hadnt made allowances for the fact i had changed the paces and were in fact on time. Felt i had to push the final mile on each rep in order to maintain the time but altogether i happy with the session considering it 17 miles in today which is a bit mad

ecoli

Week 11 Day 5

AM 30 min easy

Just a half hour today got pretty lazy and never went for my evening run. This week has been a bit like that but one week every couple to let the legs ease off the mileage just a small bit can help keep ya ticking over so i not too worried

ecoli

Week 11 Day 6

PM 2 mile 5 mile tempo 2 mile

Today was tempo day and even though it was very cold by the time i got out the weather was favourable. I didnt know how this was gonna go with having to work through my lunch break meaning i only had a bowl of crunchy nut and a banana all day. said to myslef that the target was high 29s as few seconds quicker than last time and i would be delighted. So went out little easier in the first mile than last time but still pretty hard. By the time i got to three mile i kept thinking to myself i dont feel good this is gonna be slow. Contemplated even dropping out but i said no. coming down the last mile i refused to look at the watch because i didnt wanna get disheartened and hit it when i hit the five mile mark. Looked at the watch and shocked myself with how fast it was adn how strong i felt after i continued on for two mile at my easy run pace without a bother

5 mile tempo time : 29.08 (5.50 mile pace)

ecoli

Week 11 Day 7

AM 60 min easy


This was supposed to be my long run but with the weather the way it was and with the semi rest week i cut it short to be ready for a killer block of training again for the next few weeks

ecoli

Week 12 Day 1

AM 30 min easy (4 mile)
PM 90 min easy (13 mile)

training partner was not feeling well this morning so i was left on my own. He decided to do bit extra this evening and seeing as i missed my long run yesterday i said i would tag along nothing too fast roughly seven min mile pace is my usual pace roughly.

ecoli

Week 12 Day 2

5 mile recovery

Today was supposed to be a hill session so proceeded to do usual two mile warm up uphill and hoping wind would die down. Tried the first rep and realised that the wind was in your face on the up hill so bad that legs were unable to work hard enough to warrant the session so it was abandoned. will work around training the rest of the week to do something to replace this and took today as a recovery day

ecoli

Week 12 day 3

REST
Feeling quite tired today so took it off as rest

ecoli

Week 12 Day 4

2 milewarm up 3x3 mile 2 mile cooldown

Times: 17.18, 17.22 6.00*

On the third rep felt a bit of a niggle so i didnt wanna push it and left it at that still happy withe the work on first two reps

ecoli

Week 12 Day 5

30 min easy

Just went out on a run to test the calf felt okay but i decided to just take it easy today with the jingle bells tomorrow

asimonov

ecoli wrote: »

Week 12 Day 5

30 min easy

Just went out on a run to test the calf felt okay but i decided to just take it easy today with the jingle bells tomorrow

Good luck tomorrow, do you hope it will provide a benchmark of your progress or are you happy enough just to put yourself through a race?

ecoli

asimonov wrote: »

Good luck tomorrow, do you hope it will provide a benchmark of your progress or are you happy enough just to put yourself through a race?

to be honest i just had planned a 10k race for this stage in my training except college commitments mean i cant do the aware 10k so i figured just give myself a run out. Not expecting too much as i quite tired this week and niggle yesterday but give it a lash and see where i am more a gauge than chasing time though it would be nice to get one:p

ecoli

Woke up this morning severely dehydrated and tired as i had pretty much expected because i havent had the optimum sleep over the last while so i am getting used to it. When the warm up started legs still didnt feel good and quad started cramping during stretching which i though was weird but i said that i would try to ignore it and it would be grand.
This being first year to do the race and having seen the results from last year i said i would slot into sub sixteen slot should be enough to get me off to a flying start. How wrong i was seeing the GAA shorts around me and people talking of "about 20-23 mins" i tried to push up further but was having little success. Gun went and i started bobbing and weaving through alot more people than i thought i would have to.
After a k i finally managed to get a bit of space and started getting into my stride but at this stage i noticed one of my friends who is a 17.30 man at best beside me "way to slow" i thought to myself and was right when i heard splits being called in the high 3s for the k. stepped up the pace and began to move through the field but at this stage i was figuring time was gonna be hard to get. Hit the 3k mark in 10.30 and for the life of me i couldnt work out from that where i was pace wise but running by a clonliffe woman who i know i had worked out that i was still good bit outside 17 pace. Continued to push on and thought that could make up a bit in last two k. Was getting a slight pain along my shin coming up the hill but nothing too major so i didnt really worry about this. As i came around the last bend i saw the clock and to my horror i was just ticking towards 17 not really a suprise though and was so dejected didnt even kick despite having some left. crossed the line roughly 17.10. was not a happy camper mainly because of the start was tempted to do BHAA tomorrow to make up for it but decided against it as my LSR much more important

Positives to take from the race
Not a great race but have to stay optimistic. The fact i felt so fresh after the race showed my strength and i know that there is plenty more left in the tank so i not going to let this affect me

In the afternoon i decided to do an hour easy (7 min mile pace) so i wouldnt call the day a total right off i suppose

asimonov

Gone very quiet ecoli, still working away at the training? Hope all
is good.

mrflair

<snip>

ecoli

Hey Guys
Okay it been a while so here is a bit of an update on how training been going which does not make for good reading. I had two weeks of college exams so was mainly easy miles for week and a half and then a sports unrelated injury cost me a full week and only got back since christmas day

Since then
25th Dec 4 miles (goal mile in 5.50 pace) other miles 7 min pace
26th Dec 7.6 miles 6.36 pace

ecoli

Since i got a Garmin for christmas time to get a bit more in depth with my log as i need to keep better track so here goes.....

8.00 miles in 54.04 (6.46 mile pace) average HR 169
Hours sleep got: 8
Total weekly mileage to date: 8

Run was alot easier than the last few my breathing getting back to normal after injury which had affected it big time

Rio 2016

Good to hear that you are back on track.

Reel on the new year

ecoli

29th

AM 3.62 miles HR 159 (7.23 mile pace)
Total hours slept night before run: 3

PM 7.56 miles HR 168 (6.56 mile pace)
Total hours slept day of run:2

very sleep deprived last night best mate back for two weeks out of the year so it allowed no drink but still good night

ecoli

30th

8 miles in 55.28 HR 174 ( 6.56 mile pace)

Wind was a killer so really had to work harder than i should have

ecoli

1st
4 mile @ 7.30 pace HR 159

2nd
8.32 miles @ 7.06 pace HR 169

3rd rest

weather has made it fairly dangerous but more importantly slowing me down hoping it clears up soon as i hoping to start back sessions

ecoli

4th

AM 4mile @ 7.40 pace HR 171

PM 6.99 @ 7.57 pace HR 169

Icy paths have made training very difficult and battled on during my morning run before i managed to think of an alternative for my evening run there are some GAA pitches and few hills which make up a 1.2 mile loop that will have to do during this weather. first and last mile getting to the loop were 8.24 and 8.30 wuth such icy conditions however picked up a bit once got there on a nice hilly loop. Though the times are completely off effort is still there so as long as i can get out i am happy. Sessions this week i am thinking i gonna have to find a threadmill or get very creative as the weather is not gonna easy up and running at any bit of speed around my area is impossible

ecoli

5th

PM 9.01 mile progression 4 mile @ 7.40 pace 5 mile@ 6.20-6.30
Average pace:7.04 HR: 155

Lots of stretching
30 min core

After yesterday i had already ruled out doing a tempo today but when i got out i realised that due to snowfall last night meant paths were more crispy than icy which was a good thing so i just ran as i felt and felt good so pushed it on slightly nothing to hectic got a shock to see my HR though but i rarely take this into account due to other factors and i can only assume that a nap before training had my HR dropped significantly.

ecoli

6th

AM 4.07 miles @ 7.26 pace HR 155bpm

PM 8.23 miles @ 7.34 pace HR 158bpm

On my morning run i was looking forward to it as i knew it had been snowing the night before therefor wasnt worried about icy paths however once i got in to the run found i was battling in a blizzard with very heavy snowfall making it tougher than i was expecting still it is times like that provide a test of character. By the time i got back to the house i had practically a snow man resting on my hair.
In the evening snowfall was not a problem (minus kids with snowballs) hit the park but with over 6 inches of snow made it pretty difficult and had to lift the kness big time. I suppose this practice of for may improve my form

7th

Rest