Becoming a Real Runner

menoscemo

Thanks Brian for letting the cat out of the bag I had planned on coming on here and telling all the naysayers I had a disaster and Injured myself and managed to cover all the bases after the race except yourself

Met Aimman at regsitration and we had a nice warm up. Got to the start line with about 10 minutes to go and realised I was overdressed as the sun was now slitting the trees- it had been pretty cold in the morning. I was chatting away to Gerard65 near the startline when the gun went off and took us by surprise mid conversation. Gerard shot off through the slow coaches in front of us :mad: and I got stuck behind them for a bout 10 seconds before I found a gap (I heard some of them screaming as they were nearly trampled over and pushed about :rolleyes:).
After 1/4 mile I saw sub 6 pace so decided to settle down and take it easy. I had planned on tracking gerard but he was long gone. I Went through the 1st km (majorly downhill) in 3:40 and the first mile on the garmin bleeped at 6:08. Very comfortable here but well on target. I knew the next mile would be the one to HTFU on. I had a group about 40m in front of me (including Maria McCmabride's sister) who looked like they were chasing sub 20 so decided to keep the gap on them. I actually managed to close it slightly but when I went through 3k in 11:50 so I had lost 10 seconds back. I pushed on to finish the second mile in 6:33. I was a little worried about losing it here and upped the pace.
We finally turned back down the hill at 3.5km and I passed 4k in 15:45 and knew I was good. I had closed the gap on the group at this stage and passed them around the 1k marker. There was a lot of panting and puffing from them just behind so i knew they were working harder than me. I just had to keep them behind me and I'd be fine. My garmin bleeped mile 3 showing 6:20. there was now 200m to go. I could see the shadows of the group behind creeping up on me and the huffing and puffing got louder so I upped the pace to keep them off. I Managed a 'Aeroplane' arms with thumbs up to a photographer as I crossed the finish line.

19:46 by my watch. I probably had another 20 seconds in me today, but was happy to go sub 20 and I'll leave the heroics for another day!

My Garmin actually measured the course at 5:04km (just like last year).

So 3.13 miles in 19:46 Splits: Mile 1 6:08 (165:eek:), 6:33 (176), 6:20 (177) the last .13 @ 5:45 (180)
Avg 6:19 pace (hr173) Last year my av HR was 178.

Warmdown for a mile
6 miles total for the day. I Met Raycun, Aimmam, WB Yeats, Tunguska (for the first time happy with his performance!!) back at the Sportshall over a cup of coffee as we watched the video of the reaply of the race. I have to say I felt like I was running a lot faster than it shows on the video :pac: I also had chat with Martin Fagan (facebook friend don't you know :P). He seesm a lovely chap- he broke the course record today.


Weekly total: 50.3 miles

rainbow kirby

Savage running, well done

menoscemo

Forgot to say, well done to Gerard65 for a PB off little training. Amazing. I though I could follow you today but no chance!
Easy training is obviously working for you - ditch all those daniels formulas :pac:

jcsmum

Well done, fantastic time!

gerard65

menoscemo wrote: »

Forgot to say, well done to Gerard65 for a PB off little training. Amazing. I though I could follow you today but no chance!
Easy training is obviously working for you - ditch all those daniels formulas :pac:

Thanks, and well done on blasting that sub 20. My training is now the same type as two years ago so it works for me:) Its actually not 'easy' just not alot of it.;)

Brianderunner

menoscemo wrote: »

Thanks Brian for letting the cat out of the bag

You are more than welcome

xebec

Fair play boss! And you always seem to be around that McCambridge girl, wanna be careful or people will start talking :P

menoscemo

xebec wrote: »

Fair play boss! And you always seem to be around that McCambridge girl, wanna be careful or people will start talking :P

Exactly!! She seems to be always in my range more or less, she just pipped my at sportsworld and I pipped her in the Donore 5k. When I saw her just in front of me after 1k I knew she would be a good target.

I was actually telling her about our rivalry after the race (I Knew her by first name and she didn't know me from Adam :pac:) Stalkerish Much?
She hadn't even noticed I had passed her today :rolleyes:

Woddle

About bloody time
You've had that in you now for the last couple of months. Congrats well deserved.

W.B. Yeats

Well done
Impressive running for somebody with a dodgy groin!

kennyb3

Good man Meno. Good to get that sub 20 out of the way. seen you talking to Ger before the start - im not much of a talker before races tho - nerves. But was looking out for you after but didnt see you. That will deffo give you more confidence for the marathon, you ve both the pace and stamina

chinguetti

Well done on the PB Meno. Shows that your training is going well.

plodder

Is that photo near the finish? You look sickeningly at ease if it is ...

Aimman

Well done on the PB again. I didnt realise till I seen the photo, you had the same number today that I used for the whole Adidas series this year.

menoscemo

plodder wrote: »

Is that photo near the finish? You look sickeningly at ease if it is ...

I am pretty sure the photo is after the line as I'm easing up and the Guy with the clipboard below the clock is at 'the line'. There wasn't actually a line on the road, so I wasn't sure where to stop my watch.

Yes it felt easy but despite that my no breakfast strategy paid off. I am pretty sure If I had eaten anything it would have come back up, luckliy my stomach was empty

RAL3

Great run Meno, well done

pgmcpq

Hey congratulations - you got the sub 20 - and then some ! Great effort -and it sounds like you managed it with comfort. I'm jealous !

metamorphosis

Nice improvement and sub 20 - congrats sir!

menoscemo

7 miles recovery Pace 8:50 Av HR 139
I bumped into a pal who is also one of the spar Spartans in my first mile tonight in Tymon Park. He was supposed to be on a recovery run too but was flying around (he has similar times to myself). I managed to convice him to slow down, though this was still faster than I planned. He was telling me his coach has him doing 10 x 1 mile a week repeats twice a week as part of his marathon training Programme :eek:

Right calf a little tight. I'll stretch and roll it later.

menoscemo

Plan 10 Miles w 4 x 1200m @ 5k pace.

With 400m recoveries the intervals were only ever going to take up 4 miles so I ws wondering how to make up the 10 miles. I decided to do a warm up loop around UCD including the dreaded climb up roebuck Rd (it is not half as bad as I remember it from lst year. It barely lasts 1/4 of a mile).

I tried to keep up a good pace on my 1200m intervals. Sundays 5k time would have me doing them in around about 4 min 45seconds, I wasn't quite able for a repeat of those times only two days after the race but I came close enough and have to be happy with the consistency:
4:54 (165), 4:54 (171), 4:52 (172) 4:54 (172). Average pace for the intervals approx 6:30/mile.

By the end of the intervals my legs were pretty tired and the lunar racers were not giving much support. After running around in circles trying to make up the 10 miles I called it a day a little early:

Total:
9.2 miles @ 8:05 Av pace, 153 Av HR

Nice to be able to get back to the programme and the VO2 max sessions.

menoscemo

Recovery run tonight. 5.1 miles @ 9:16 pace. Av hr 135. Legs a little heavy and generally sore but nothing specifically wrong.

menoscemo

Just looking through the photos from the Rathfarnham 5k website from sunday, I found one I really like. It is from just at the finish line. I mentioned in my race report that I did the 'Aeroplane arms' and thumbs up to a photographer at the line:



Looking at myself there, I guess I had at least another 20 seconds in me that day. Must try harder next time :pac:

menoscemo

Tonight:
11 miles @ 8:19 pace Av HR 147.
A minute fast per mile than last night, over twice as long and yet i felt like I could have gone on and on where as last night it was all a struggle. Nice to have runs like tonight.
That's september over. Update for the month:

Month|Miles
January|112
February|73.6
March|117
April|141.8
May|155.7
June|152
July|201.1
August|166
September|215.7
Total|1335.1 miles

Not a bad month considering all my niggles and illness .

cwgatling

Great total for the month! Keep it up. Sept was my highest too.

jcsmum

menoscemo wrote: »

Just looking through the photos from the Rathfarnham 5k website from sunday, I found one I really like. It is from just at the finish line. I mentioned in my race report that I did the 'Aeroplane arms' and thumbs up to a photographer at the line:



Looking at myself there, I guess I had at least another 20 seconds in me that day. Must try harder next time :pac:

hey, no fair, you're in loads of pictures. I'm in 2, well at least I think that it's the top of my head. Some woman is blocking the rest of me. :rolleyes:

menoscemo

jcsmum wrote: »

hey, no fair, you're in loads of pictures. I'm in 2, well at least I think that it's the top of my head. Some woman is blocking the rest of me. :rolleyes:

In fairness, 5 of those pictures are from the same point. You get snapped loads when you are showing off to the camera :pac:

jcsmum

So I see.

menoscemo

Phoenix Park LSR. The plan was 20.
I met Digger2d2, Ladgaga, grimbergen and JCSmum at Knockmaroon gate at 9 and picked up Raycun after a mile. We them met Brianderunner at the 11 mile mark.
I was feeling tired at around 12 miles but by the time 18 or 19 miles were done I was feling really fresh so I made a plan with brian to do an extra loop after the 20 at PMP.

We ended up doing mile 21 in 7:40 (157) and Mile 22 in 7:43 (161) and it felt really easy. I have to say I would never have dreamed of picking up the pace after 20 miles a year ago. Am I becoming an endurance athlete? Feeling confident about DCM now.

Overall @9:32 pace Av HR 141.

Total for the week: 5 runs 54.6 miles

It's taper time!

RacoonQueen

menoscemo wrote: »

Overall @9:32 pace Av HR 141.

I hate you!

Well done, great run to get done at this stage. Look after yourself now last thing you want is to do a RQ when you've worked so hard this summer. :pac:

menoscemo

4 miles recovery with 6 x 100m strides. Pace 8:47, Av HR 139.

My legs wanted to go faster tonight and I had to slow them down until the last mile when they got to do the strides!!