A Day at the Races

christeb

The title of my second log is again Queen inspired, this time taken from their 1976 album.

This log will document my A/W/Spring 09/2010 races (and training), most of which will be up to 10k. Hopefully some progress will be seen

Current PBs for the distances I'll be covering (what I hope to achieve, especially the sub 30 at the Raheny 5):
2m - 11:41 (11:10)
5k - 18.32 (18:05)
5m - 33.18 (29:59)
10k - 39.33 (37:30)

Dublin Series Duathlon - 42.28

The races I plan on doing in the near future include:
Wed 11/11 Raheny Fit4Life Rnd 4 - 2m
Sat 14/11 BHAA Beach Race - 6k
Wed 18/11 Raheny Fit4Life Rnd 5 - 2m
Sun 31/01 Raheny 5m

There's also the Raheny Shamrocks Winter League, which are a bunch of races of 1/2 (and possible 3 mile) distances.

I'll post on a weekly basis, as training won't be as regular. I'm studying one night / wk which will take study time also. I cycle 20k every weekday to/from work, and intend to vary my training much more - with 5-a-side and some squash on the agenda, just to keep things initeresting.

Teo Torriate from A Day at the Races (live).

christeb

OK I've been a bit lazy recently, so I need to start recording more stuff in the hope it'll scare me back into regular running.

2 races since DCM, both milers. 2 days after DCM (crazy I know) I ran 12.10, 16 days after DCM I ran 12.21 (windier + rain).

Struggled to reach double figures every week since then, although I have been keeping active doing some other stuff: some squash and 5 a side football.

It's time to start getting more structure on things though.

Just back from 6m tonight with one of the lads (ca. 7.45 pace), nice out, and the legs felt strong throughout. I have college for the next 3 Saturdays also, which means staying sober for the weekends, which also means getting a long run in on Sunday, something I have not been doing.
Plan is for 4 easy in the morning, I have been struggling to get up early recently but that stops NOW!

I have been thinking about next season also. This college course is pretty intensive and runs up until May, so I think that rules out a spring marathon (otherwise I would have done Rotterdam Woddle!). So something similar to this year, plenty of shorter racing and concentrate on the autumn marathon, hope using the P&D 70mpw plan which will get me to the magical sub 3 mark

BeepBeep67

Just reading your goals, looks like I'll have to get my finger out!
I'll be following this with interest and looking over my shoulder with caution - best of luck with it!

christeb

4m @ 8:33 pace at 0620 this morning. Felt pretty fresh, happy to get this in on college night, always a bonus

Sosa

best of luck with the log and your training Christeb...nothing like setting the bar high...

christeb

8m @ 7.43 HR 152

Nice run tonight, finshed with a kick and a beautiful rain shower. Legs felt pretty good - this week is shaping up nicely, I need to keep Woddle's 40 mpw base in my sights as a target. Nothing personal buddy, it's just a good figure for me right now!

Unfortunately I got injured later in the night, I spontaneously broke my heart watching a certain match. At least it saves me the inevitable hangover tomorrow

christeb

4.5m @ ?

Untimed 2.25 to and from squash this evening, played squash for 1 hr. 4 days on the trot, glad to be getting back into the swing of things.

No drinking this weekend so I'll get an LSR in on Sunday, any ideas as to length? I wouldn't mind doing the Howth Loop from my house by at 15m it might be a bit of a stretch.

village runner

Did i see you without a top on hte 10 miler ? Finish in around 69-70 min ? Putting a face to the name.

christeb

Yep that was me, I overheated quite badly around 5-6m and it was a panic reaction :rolleyes:

Finished 70:47, there will be at least 5 mins coming off that time this yr!

village runner wrote: »

Did i see you without a top on hte 10 miler ? Finish in around 69-70 min ? Putting a face to the name.

village runner

christeb wrote: »

Yep that was me, I overheated quite badly around 5-6m and it was a panic reaction :rolleyes:

Finished 70:47, there will be at least 5 mins coming off that time this yr!

We passed you at 21 in dublin i think. What were you hoping to run ? What did you run in hte half ? At a guess 1.32 ??

5 min of a jump. Thats 30 seconds a mile. Def with your athletic build you could do that no bother. I like the way you said AT LEAST.

christeb

village runner wrote: »

We passed you at 21 in dublin i think. What were you hoping to run ? What did you run in hte half ? At a guess 1.32 ??

5 min of a jump. Thats 30 seconds a mile. Def with your athletic build you could do that no bother. I like the way you said AT LEAST.

Was hoping for BQ in Dublin - did 3:35 (with a 25 min +ve split) :eek: My most enjoyable day running ever though, it was a superb occasion and wouldn't change a thing (well, maybe one little thing!).

My half was 1:33 something, again faded horribly in the last 3-4m.

Plenty of work to do!

christeb

13.3m @ 8.39 HR 145

Howth loop today. After one unsuccessful take-off (those clouds looks very grey) I eventually got out of the house. Easy going out, motherf&&&er coming back! Took a slightly alternate route home to avoid the seafront, helped slightly. Felt quite lethargic the whole way around, I suppose it's been a few weeks since I've ran this far in training.

Weekly miles: 36. Again happy with this, hopefully it'll be my base level for the next few weeks.

christeb

9.55m @ 7.41 HR 152

Enjoyable spin with a few Raheny Shamrocks, legs are feeling it now after yesterday though. Good start to the week, plan wasn't to go that far / fast but they don't really give you the choice!

Might venture out for 4 easy in the morning, it's college night so can't get anything done in the evening...

tunguska

Good to see you back man. Are you going to run the Dublin marathon again next year? If you ever wanna go for a run in the hills out Howth way again give me a shout.

christeb

tunguska wrote: »

Good to see you back man. Are you going to run the Dublin marathon again next year? If you ever wanna go for a run in the hills out Howth way again give me a shout.

Cheers - I'll drop you a line when I'm in slightly better form. I won't be doing a Mara until Autumn next year, not decided on which one though. Thinking of something like the Steamtown Marathon in Pennsylvania, I've a buddy in Boston who I think would be up for it. Something local (in the States), fast and different.

I'd hate to be one of those people who just do DCM every year, I think part of the mara is the discovery aspect of it.

christeb

3m - 18.44 HR 168. Happy enough as the target was sub 19. Slow enough 2nd lap (6.30), other 2 were 5.54 / 6.15.
Good running by Robin - 18:20.

1m warm up, 2m cd - 6m total.

rigal

christeb wrote: »

3m - 18.44 HR 168. Happy enough as the target was sub 19. Slow enough 2nd lap (6.30), other 2 were 5.54 / 6.15.
Good running by Robin - 18:20.

1m warm up, 2m cd - 6m total.

Nice running christeb. What's your max HR? 168 seems low to me for a 3 mile race

christeb

rigal wrote: »

Nice running christeb. What's your max HR? 168 seems low to me for a 3 mile race

I've got the HR up to 191, its a question I've asked myself too. I'll make a conscious effort to push things as much as possible in the 2miler next week, see if I can "improve" on that!

christeb

4m @ 8.20 pace

Easy 4m at 0620 this morning, was just happy that I didn't stay in bed like I oh so wanted to!

christeb

Fairly crap weekend, played a squash comp Friday (won 1 game, lost 5:eek:), took it easy Sat and played 5 a side on Sunday.

This evening, 5.5m home form college. A late one, but nice to get it in, I think I'll incorporate this more and more. Raheny 2miler tomorrow night, I guarantee another sub 12! Have an exam on sat which I have to do some study for, so there won't be a huge amount of running for the rest of the week.

christeb

2m - 11.39 - PB

Perfect evening, even if I did struggle getting enough air in through my nose on the 2nd lap.
First lap 5:38, felt pretty good. At the end I decided to overtake robinph, that lasted for about 200 yards until I faded on the last lap. A good night's work, the final straight was tough tough tough but sure what would a Weds night be without some good ol' self inflicted race pain?!

Just checking the mx HR now - 181 . Maybe I'm just a naturally relaxed guy, RHR is ca. 38.....

Woddle

Good stuff christeb but are you teasing me and getting my hopes up of catching you or what, first you tell us your going to have a crap week (I clap my hands with joy ) and then you go and run a PB.

christeb

This is true, actually myself and Robin were dreaming up ways to get your hopes up, only to demolish them in Raheny and Rotterdam respectively

christeb

8.08m @ 7.54 HR 149.

Easy enough spin with Greg tonight, first time we've run since the Mara. He's going to NYC with work next week, as LSR in Central Park was suggested but I don't think I can make the trip - would have been nice.

I'll try to get something easy done tomorrow and then 1 good run in over the weekend, as well as the astro on Sunday. Legs feel quite good, although my knee was dodgy on the cycle home, just a slight niggle. Touch wood, I've been lucky with injuries so far

christeb

11.3m @ 8:04 pace, HR 148

First run in the new kicks (more on these later) - 3.5m to my buddies place in Portmarnock, and 8m around Porto / Malahide. The new runners were fine, took a bit of getting used to, although the pace was good throughout. Very windy, I think this helped more than hindered overall, quite chilly in spots too.

That's ca. 30m for the week, I'm playing astro tonight to top things off nicely. Feeling pretty good, glad I'm keeping the mileage at a reasonable level. Hopefully get a couple of runs in with the Shamrocks next week, before Christmas alcoholic madness kicks off towards the end of the week....

christeb

~5.5m home from college untimed. Too late to wait for the sats to hook up, I just trundle off with a big bag on my back. I think it's ca. 8 min pace.

Also had a superb game of astro footbal on Sunday night, I swear for about 15 mins I actually inhabited Fernando Torres' body.

**cue woddle-esque rant**

motivation hasn't been great recently. I think its due to not having anything very clear to aim for. I am going for a good time in the Raheny 5, but I know a lot of alcohol stands between me and that goal, can't see myself doing much better than 31:30 or so realistically. Still though, I'm feeling the benefits of all the training, need less sleep (after rest days!) and generally have lots of energy throughout the day which I love. No real complaints I suppose. Plan tomorrow is to do a solo intervals session, maybe 1600s or 800s....

Also, can someone start a "bring back tunguska's log" FB group??!!

christeb

Intervals tonight with macanri. Linkage

5 x 1m ints w/ 2.30 rest, avg 6.18 HR 174

Super session, glad to have the company as I certainly don't think I'd have the motivation to do this one solo. Plan was to do 5 x 1m ints w/ 2:30 rest. Went fairly well, the chat stopped by the third as the focus shifted more towards rhythm and breathing. He had a bit of energy left after the 4th, so in my infinite wisdom I suggested the only logical outcome - a 1m race to finish off. As I had ~25 secs on him in the last 2m race I thought I'd be in with a good shout even though I was suffering - how wrong I was. He took off on the All Saints Rd turn, and I never recovered. Last 1m for me was 5:59, for him ~5.49.

Great nights running overall, now let the Christmas drinking begin!

Macanri

Cheers Christeb, Yea it was a great session. Good to meet you and do a run/session with some company for a change. And now I have a face to the name I'll be able to see where I should be at, at the next Raheny Winter Race.

christeb

4m @ 8.34 pace

Legs weren't too bad after last night, I was lying in bed at 6.20am trying to come up with excuses not to go out. None sprung to mind so I hit the Coast Rd for an easy enough spin.

misty floyd

Nice interval session yesterday. Just keeping an eye. I think you should treat yourself with a heavy drinking session. Don't be afraid to pig out on take away afterwards. You deserve it.

christeb

Sunday 13th Feb
No running but I'm putting it in as it was a pretty savage day. AM: 65mins of 11 a side Raheny Rovers action. We lost 7-1, we need players. If anyone knows anyone who is looking for a friendly club in NE Dublin, drop me a PM!

Afternoon: In / out of town on the bike. Tough after taking some knocks this morning.

Evening: 1 hr of astro. My weekly game, I think the reason Torres played so badly against Arsenal was that I possessed his spirit for this game, I couldn't miss from anywhere...

Tues 15th Feb
Easy enough 6m home form college, ca 8.10 pace with a rucksack. Missed the rain too, result.

BeepBeep67

christeb wrote: »

Sunday 13th Feb
No running but I'm putting it in as it was a pretty savage day. AM: 65mins of 11 a side Raheny Rovers action. We lost 7-1, we need players. If anyone knows anyone who is looking for a friendly club in NE Dublin, drop me a PM!

Afternoon: In / out of town on the bike. Tough after taking some knocks this morning.

Evening: 1 hr of astro. My weekly game, I think the reason Torres played so badly against Arsenal was that I possessed his spirit for this game, I couldn't miss from anywhere...

Tues 15th Feb
Easy enough 6m home form college, ca 8.10 pace with a rucksack. Missed the rain too, result.

Did you get a hold of a Delorean and a flux capacitor

christeb

BeepBeep67 wrote: »

Did you get a hold of a Delorean and a flux capacitor

Long night in college!

christeb

5.5m home from town. Had 2 lunchtime pints and a glass of mulled wine / mince pie just before heading, 047blah blah eat youor heart out!

Easy enough pace, hopefully get a decent medium run in tomorrow pre-Christmas messiness

christeb

14.2m @ 8.15 HR 145

Amazing run, went from the house out to Howth, did the little loop by the Summit car park and home. Took plenty of breaks, just enjoyed it thoroughly. Hands coming home got very cold under the gloves, my fingers were absolutely throbbing when I got it. Pace was decent enough considering there was some trail-like stuff in there too.

That's a 26m week, I'll be doing well to get much running in next week, out most nights....

Oh and Paul McCartney was the gig of '09 - hands down. Sorry Len (Cohen) / Bob (Dylan) / Matt (Muse)

Peckham

christeb wrote: »

[I'll be doing well to get much running in next week, out most nights....

What's the problem here? HTFU and set the alarm 45mins earlier each morning - out of the bed and out the door in 3 minutes!

christeb

This guy (points at self) doesn't run when under the influence. Which is what I'll be this week, mornings included.

Also I don't think anyone has alluded to this not-so-well known fact, but it's true that the bod doesn't lose fitness during Christmas week.

misty floyd

christeb wrote: »

Oh and Paul McCartney was the gig of '09 - hands down. Sorry Len (Cohen) / Bob (Dylan) / Matt (Muse)

Amazing gig. I loved it.

christeb

Track Intervals!

A session on the UCd track with a couple of buddies today:

3 x 900 (times in brackets are the mile equivalents)
3:13 (5:40)
ca. 3.13
ca. 3.13 (messed these up on the laps)

3 x 600
1.59 (5.14)
1.59 (5.14)
2.01 (5.18)

3 x 400
1:17 (5.12)
1.17 (5.12)
1.16 (5.06)

3 x 200
35 (4.55)
34 (4.36)
33 (4.22)

Enjoyable sesh, good to see the Garmin showing some times it's never seen before, at least it didn't explode!

HR avg ca. 162, I'll try to get a bit of momentum going after slacking off the last few days. In my defence I did have a savage cold, partially excused!

christeb

7.5m @ 8:07 pace. HR 148
Nice spin mostly on Portmarnock Beach today w/ Greg. Could feel the effects of yesterdays intervals - I was glad the pace wasn't faster.

Almost straight after that I played a tough game of 5 a side for 80 mins. My calves are not thanking me. I did get to debut my new Denmark Bendtner 11 jersey - I played almost as bad as he does!

christeb

5m @ 8.47 HR 134
Very easy, wet and dark recovery run, I think my calves will thank me for this as they were like cinder blocks all day. I may have fallen asleep somewhere in mile 3, had to speed up once or twice to keep the mile time under the dreaded 9.xx time :eek:

christeb

7.33 @ 8.14 pace

Very enjoyable spin around Howth with Greg to cap off a good year. Total miles ran was around the 1,420 mark, with the 1,000 passed on the 13th Sept. I'd like to hit the 2k mark for next year. Overall it was a great year, with some notable races being the Midsummers 5k in Raheny (18:33), the MSB 5k on Paddy's Day (19.50) and the Pearl Izumi 10k ini September (39:33). A slightly dissappointing DCM means I'll be back for more, even thought I couldn't have enjoyed the day any more.

Plan for next year are to break 30 mins for the 5mile, with the top priority being a BQ Marathon in the Autumn. At the moment I'm thinking of the Baystate Marathon in Mass, it's fast and flat with perfect timing to give 2 Boston Qualifications with the one time (as the time last for 18 months). However, this year I would like to put this beyond any doubt, so I'll be following the P&D 70m plan.

A big thank you to all here who I've happily raced against and garnered LOADS of help from, may we all achieve our goals in 2010

christeb

Ended up staying in last night, glad I did with that weather!

8m @ 8:02 HR 152
St Anne's Park was a winter wonderland today, 2 laps of the inside. Extremely enjoyable, I was half-tempted to go again. Calves are quite tight, I need to concentrate on stretching them out fully regularly during the day.

Robbed from beepbeep67:
MTD (month to date): 8
YTD (year to date): 8

christeb

10m @ 7:40 HR 155

Got a couple of kicks out the door this evening. 1 anti-movational (which I took as motivation) from a close friend ("take the night off and eat chocolate"!) and 1 after listening to Catriona McKiernan on Newstalk ("take smaller strides, lean fwd and relax those ankles").

Ran down to the Raheny Shamrocks clubhouse too see if anyone wanted to drag my ass around. Not a soul in sight so I headed off solo. Pace was good starting off, and this last until the 6th mile. I inadvertently took 10 paces into an ankle deep puddle, soaking both my feet. This took my mojo away for a few miles. The old christeb would have cut the run short, but the 2010 version is different! Got my mojo back somewhat in the 9th mile, although there were less places to escape the ice and was dancing a bit more than I wanted to on the bare pieces!

All in all a great run, legs felt great throughout and this is the type of run I need to do a lot more of, consistently hitting the sub 7:40 miles on the aerobic runs.

# Runs: 2
MTD (month to date): 18
YTD (year to date): 18

Macanri

christeb wrote: »

10m @ 7:40 HR 155

I inadvertently took 10 paces into an ankle deep puddle, soaking both my feet. This took my mojo away for a few miles.

I know EXACTLY where you are talking about as I did the exact same thing a few evenings ago, Although I managed to 'ballerina dance' out of it on my tippy toes in a couple of strides..still got the feet wet though.

christeb

Macanri wrote: »

I know EXACTLY where you are talking about as I did the exact same thing a few evenings ago, Although I managed to 'ballerina dance' out of it on my tippy toes in a couple of strides..still got the feet wet though.

Same place? On the Coast Rd. "black path" in clontarf where the jetty is??

Macanri

That's it yea. I usually run on the garss, but as the grass was totally waterlogged I ran on the path and straight into that long puddle/lake.

christeb

Macanri wrote: »

That's it yea. I usually run on the garss, but as the grass was totally waterlogged I ran on the path and straight into that long puddle/lake.

Thought so. Yeah it's a f0cker, crap lighting and it totally looks like a path!

christeb

5 v. easy miles @ 8.34 HR 138
Just loosened out the legs after Saturday and a bit of a warm-up for 1hr of 5 a side. Was tempted to turn on the GPS to log a few more miles in the 1,000 mile challenge playing football, but I'm not that petty!

# Runs: 3
MTD: 23
YTD: 23

christeb

6.5 @ ~7.55 home from work. Ran with a French guy for ~4 miles, an ex-2.41 Marathoner no less, and that wasn't even his favoured distance! Gave him some info about upcoming races, as he's just arrived here I hope he turns up at a few events.

# Runs: 4
MTD: 29.5
YTD: 29.5

Peckham

christeb wrote: »

an ex-2.41 Marathoner

Once a 2:41 marathoner, always a 2:41 marathoner! If I join the sub-3 club, then I always want to be known as a sub-3 marathoner. Was hoping you didn't lose that status, even if you go on to run 4 hour marathons in 10 years time.