It's a new dawn ......... it's a new day.

Speedy44

Well, as is common this time of the year, its never to early to start thinking of a new years resoloution. I already keep a written log (and have done since 1979, although there are a few gaps!), but I figured that it will be a good thing to get some feedback.
A brief history, I will be 45 in June, ran a lot as a teenager and wasn't too bad (2.04 800m to 75+ 1/2 marathon). Started back properly about 2 yrs ago. In '08 I ran 1500mls and this year will be close to 2,500mls. My masters pb's are 2:19 800m, 5:00 ml, 17:55 5K, 29:49 8K. I ran Dublin this year and bombed big time, was looking to go under 3hrs but in hindsight I didn't have enough longer races (none in fact), that combined with not taking on enough water, getting a blister early in the race and just generally having a bad day at the office.
I was bold enough to predict a sub 2:50 on this forum, but I think I can definitely do that this year. I will be meeting with my coach after Christmas to go over my training program, but what I want to do is to try and get my track times down over the spring/summer (2:10 800m, 4:30 1500m). Right now I weigh 166lbs and I plan to get down to 150lbs. I did a physiological test in trinity 2 wks ago so it gave me a lot of good info that I can use to train properly.

I have been nursing a bad cold for the past 10 days so it has interupted my training. I was looking at trying to break 37mins for a 10K on Stephens Day but now I'll just see what happens.

So I hope to keep this log up fairly regularly, I know there are other folk out there with equally lofty ambitions so it would be great to hear your opinions.

Let the fun begin ......................:D

Krusty_Clown

Best of luck speedy. Have you decided on a target marathon yet? Your shorter distance times are great and pointing in the right direction. Seems to be quite a few logs started recently for people targetting the 2:50 mark (I'm hoping to run closer to 2:58 myself (pb-3 mins)).

Speedy44

Hi Krusty, I will be doing Dublin in '10 to try for my 2:50. Plan on getting in a good base this winter and then start into it properly in June/July.

eliwallach

Good luck Speedy.

"ondalae, ondalae"

Speedy44

Drove 12mls so that I could run 8mls on the grass and avoid the ice, tbh it wasn't much better, almost came a cropper a few times. Averaged a mighty 8.31/ml ! Good to just get through it without injury.

Sosa

Good luck with the training program,Speedy.

Speedy44

After a 4ml warm up, did 8 x 200m at 5K pace with a 200m jog recovery. Just wanted to stretch out the legs a bit before the 10K on Saturday.
Didn't feel too bad once I got going, averaged 42secs. slowest 46. fastest 38.

Speedy44

Tried to run yesterday (xmas day), got all the clothes on etc (always the hard part, right!). Got as far as the garden gate only to be greeted by huge sheets of ice.

Its now Stephens morning at 7am and I am waiting to hear the official word on the Fields of Athenry 10K scheduled for 11am.

And the race has been cancelled :-(

Speedy44

After missing the past 4 days due to the ice, I finally managed to do a run. At least I tried to run on 2 of those days, to the extent that I put on my gear and got out the door only to be greeted by a skating rink.
Still find it ironic that I live in the countryside surrounded by fields and I have to drive 22mls round trip to some grass to run on!

Anyway, just did 6mls easy on the grass. felt like a caged animal the past few days not been able to get out so I ended up running a wee bit faster than I should have, nothing earth shattering, miles 2-5 were aver 7:36. Can't wait to get into the swing of things properly in the new year, just have to get rid of the last few beers in the fridge first

Speedy44

OK, now I'm really starting to get fed up with this. Just did 4mls in 37 bloody minutes. Had to crawl along at a snails pace because although the ice had thawed somewhat, there was now all the slush to contend with.:(

Speedy44

Dec 30th.
8mls with 5ml steady thrown in for good measure. Times were 7:40, 7:24, 7:09, 7:06 & 7:26. (36:45). Felt ok but draggin a little.

Dec 31st.
Same as yesterday, splits 7:05, 7:11, 7:08, 7:05 & 7:04 (35:33).
Can't believe that it takes so much effort to do a session like this when a few weeks ago I was flying it. Then again between having a stinker of a cold and the damn weather my last 3wks were 17mls, 22mls & 15mls - must have taken more out of me than I thought.

Slogger Jogger

Best wishes Speedy. Impressive resume. I look forward to tracking your progress. Where do you do most of your running ... in and around Dublin?

Speedy44

Slogger Jogger wrote: »

Best wishes Speedy. Impressive resume. I look forward to tracking your progress. Where do you do most of your running ... in and around Dublin?

Cheers SJ, actually do most of my running in and around Galway. Glad I was able to run the past 4 days before the next icely blast blows in. The weather really separates the 'fair weather runners' from us more dedicated athletes, although I am thinking more & more that its a thin between dedication and stupidy !!

Speedy44

Well, have to be happy enough with last years running. Did 2346mls, thought I'd hit 2500 but lost a lot in December. Still, its not the quantity, its the quality !
Hit most of my targets, 5:00 ml, 17:55 5K & 29:49 8K. Bombed royally in Dublin, but I'll be back.

Targets for 2010 are as follows:

400m - sub 60
800m - 2:10-12
Mile - 4:50
5K - 17:30
5ml - 29:00
10ml - 61:00
1/2M - 81:00
Marathon - 2:52

Speedy44

2 x 4 x 400m with 200m jog rec (approx 75 secs) & 400m between sets.
Times were 83, 82, 82, 81, 82, 81, 82 & 82.
4ml warm up and a mile warm down.
Happy with that, plan was to do them at 10K pace, this was more like 5K pace. Glad to keep them consistent. Felt ok, a wee bit stretched on last one. Feel like I'm coming together again after my 'bad' 3 wks.
Also did 3 x 10 sit ups & press ups. Plan to get them up to 100 in a couple of months.

Want to lose about 18lbs by the time Dublin rolls along, right now I'm at 165lbs (11st 11) but I have 23% body fat which I need to reduce. Like a lot of you, I'm now off the beer for at least 3 months, I'm also cutting another weakness of mine, cookies and lashings of Kerrygold butter on my toast. Apart from that I think I have a fairly balanced diet. Read somewhere (Sosa?) that for every lb lost its 2 secs fast per mile, that would give me a 4:24/ml which I could live with :-)

Speedy44

............because it can'tbe much worse than this !

I am soo fed up with this new ice age, I'm even few up hearing myself whining about it all the time.

Plan was to do 11mls today, the first 3mls were 9:37, 9:34 & 9:16! At that stage I was going to just cut it down to a 4ml run cause I didn't think there was much point crawling along at that pace. Decided though to make it 5mls just so I could have 40mls for the week. Then finally I noticed a few breaks in the ice so I managed to continue and finish the 11mls. Even managed an 8:15/ml along the way.

Ah well, at least I got it done, so I have 46 for the week. Something to build on.

Speedy44

Jan 5th
8mls easy on grass. Felt pretty good but still restricted due to the ice. Tempted to go faster but wanted to leave it til the track session tomorrow.

Jan 6th
Although our club session was cancelled, I went to the track anyway. There was a ice on it which curtailed my pace a bit. Did 5 x 5mins with 1 min rec. Completed about 1300m for each rep, 1200m splits were 4:38, 4:38, 4:33, 4:35 & 4:32, thats about 6:10-15/ml.
Felt ok, managed the 1min recovery ok, still had a bit in the tank at the end. Also did 3 x 10 push ups & sit ups.

The past few days I feel like I am finally starting to make progress. No beer for the past week either which can't hurt. Onwards & upwards

traininglog

great log,hope the weather improves for you.Im lucky it doesn't affect me.
you seem to be like alot of runners obsessing about weight.
you shoul check your weight once a month,i can tell when i have lost soem weight by my face and trousers.;)

Speedy44

traininglog wrote: »

great log,hope the weather improves for you.Im lucky it doesn't affect me.
you seem to be like alot of runners obsessing about weight.
you shoul check your weight once a month,i can tell when i have lost soem weight by my face and trousers.;)

cheers, although I wouldn't say I'm 'obsessed' bu weight, just want to lost about 16-18lbs. And thats not for vanity, had a physiological test done in trinity before christmas and it was clear that I can afford to lose it. I'm 165 right now (Jan 1st) and I like the idea of my times improving with the weightloss. I figure if I am training my bollox off in this weather, I may as well give myself the best chance to run good

traininglog

did you get it done with Bernard?
I got it done couple of years ago and found it really good.

Speedy44

traininglog wrote: »

did you get it done with Bernard?
I got it done couple of years ago and found it really good.

Yea, he's a great man for pushing you through that last 3min effort. Managed to get up to 18k/hr, plan to do it again this Spring/Summer

Speedy44

traininglog wrote: »

great log,hope the weather improves for you.Im lucky it doesn't affect me.
you seem to be like alot of runners obsessing about weight.
you shoul check your weight once a month,i can tell when i have lost soem weight by my face and trousers.;)

btw. how come the weather doesn't affect you, you living in Spain or something, I thought the whole country was under a deep freeze. I don't mind the cold so much, actually quiet like this weather, give me blue skies & sunshine over the clouds & rain any day of the week, its all the damn ice that freaks me out.

traininglog

Its only slippy on the roads.Park is perfect,prefer it today than last few days even though snow was heavy.

Speedy44

Well, finally broke down and went to the gym at 9.30pm to hop on the threadmill.
Now, I was on it when I got my test done in Trinity before Christmas, but before that it was over 10yrs ago, I didn't like them then, and I don't like them now.
Once I finally figured out how it worked and if it was in km or mls, I managed to do 5mls (well, 8K) at about 8min/ml pace.
Felt like I was going faster than that, my breathing was fine and all that but just felt like my legs were turning over faster than they actually were.
Ah well, least I got it done.................

Speedy44

Well, at least for me, a guy born in the 60's. In keeping with my recent delve in the high tech world of running, after meeting with my coach today, I went out and got a HR monitor

Now I can finally train properly! The coach helped me to understand my test results from the phyiological test I had done and pointed me in the right direction as far as the type of sessions I should be doing.
I am now looking forward to getting wired up and out on the roads, well, at leat the frozen grass or the track.

Before our meeting today I did 8mls on aforementioned frozen grass. Felt ok, only going about 8:15 pace but not too concerned considering the conditions.

Speedy44

Used my HRM for the first time today. It seemed to work ok but boy it was a tough session.

Plan was for 3 x 15mins at 170-175 bpm. Without my trusty Garmin I wasn't sure exactly what distance I was running but I could take an educated guess. The field I was using is about 1K around, maybe slightly more so I figured I'd do either 3 or 4 laps, depending how I felt.
First lap was 4:20, then 4:20 & 4:17. HR was about 175, peaked at 180.
Took 3mins rec and let my HR get down to 118. Knew I was struggling and that I probably wouldn't finish the session, and I was right! HR was hitting 181 and I was clearly struggling. Did 2 laps in 4:24 & 4:24 and called it a day.

Was hands on knees time after that. Surprised that it was so tough. Looking forward to making progress, now that I know that I was slacking off for so long :rolleyes:.

Speedy44

At 9am did 13mls easy, had company the first 8. HR started off in the 130's but ended up closer to 160 at the end. Felt ok until the last couple of miles when I started to get a bit tired. Garmin started going crazy from the cold, it told me I did almost 16mls but I know the course so I know how long it was. It also told me it took me 1hr 43, which is about 7:55/ml pace if its to be believed?

Was wondering if in all this freezing weather the body takes longer to heat up, and if it is constantly working to stay warm, could it be using up some valuable energy. In otherwords, I'm looking for excuses for running so slow !

Week Distance = 50mls, 6 days

Speedy44

On the day there's finally a bit of a thaw, I find myself back on the threadmill ! The washing machine stopped working due to a frozen pipe, so I had very limited gear (shorts & tshirt).

Was a bit better than last Thursday. Did 10K on it, starting at 12K/hr and after about 10mins gradually got it up to 12.8k/hr (7:30min/mls). Then I threw in 3 x.25k bursts at 16k/hr (6min/mls) and 1 at 18k (5:22/hr).

Whole thing took me about 45mins or so. Happy enough with that, felt fine, especially after yesterday's LR.

Here's to the thaw continuing and melting away the last of this shi*, if it does I have an 8K race this Sunday and then the twice reschedule Fields of Athenry 10K on the 24th.

Speedy44

3 x 15mins with a 2 1/2 min rec.

Did it on the track. Main thing I was trying to do was keep my hr between 170-175, which I accomplised. Wasn't sure how much rec I should take (I'll double check with my coach for future reference) but I waited 'til my hr was down below 120. The plan is to do 3 of these sessions, then go up to 3 x 17 1/2mins, and finally get up to 3 x 20mins, and as I increase the time, decrease the recovery.

Hopefully the speed will increase too once I get used to them. Nothing earth shattering today, as the session was based on time I just took mile & 2ml splits. First rep was 6:01 & 6:16 (12:17), 2nd rep 6:21 & 6:28 (12:49), last rep I missed the ml but the 2ml was 13:04. Hard to keep pushing it for all those laps, glad to get it done though.

Total Miles = 11

Speedy44

Was looking forward to my run this morning as I looked out on the sunshine from my warm living room. Even decided to leave the gloves off. I got a harsh reality check in my first 100mts or so when I almost came a cropper. Now its not nearly as bad as it had been, but there were loads of dangerous icy patches all over the place.
I hear there's supposed to be a 'proper' thaw tonight so hopefully that'll be the end of it.
Anyway, did 8 1/4mls, was supposed to keep the HR at 140-155, for the first few miles it was more like 130-135,then I managed to get it up to 150 or so. Whole thing took me 1:05:35

Speedy44

11mls easy. Can't believe it but I was overdressed! Average pace was 7:39, thats after an 8:07 1st mile. Forgot the HRM but it felt comfortable enough, was tempted to pick it up at times but with the race on Sunday I figured its best to keep the breaks on.

Speedy44

6mls easy, nothing to report really. Averaged about 8mins/ml, started off at about 9's and finished closer to 7's. Wanted to take it easy with the race tomorrow.
Should be interesting, first race since DCM, not sure what to expect, would like to get under 30mins (8K) but since its still early in the season won't be too dissapointed if I'm a bit over, as long as its only a bit !

Sosa

Best of Luck,Speedy....
Look forward to reading the report.

Speedy44

Well, as I said, I wanted to get under 30, but I'll take that. Splits were 3:32, 3:48, 3:49, 3:44 (14:53 at half), 3:46, 3:48, 3:55 & 3:50. Gave it a good effort and left everything out there, even managed a sprint finish! Last year I ran 32:30 so its a step in the right direction.

Managed to beat a lot of guys that I'm usually behind, although I think most of these lads wern't inclined to run during the inclement weather, but hey, thats their probelm

10K next Sunday ...............

Speedy44

I forgot to mention that I actually managed to finish 1st in the O/40 cat, first trophy I think I ever won. The kids were very proud , and the BH was very happy when I brought home some wine, cheese & beer (lite, of course!) with the cash winnings. So tonight we will splurge a little, but tomorrow its back to business. Yay me

littlebug

Well done speedy. That's a great achievement. I was out watching today (well assuming you were where I think you were ) and it was certainly a strong bunch of runners out there. I was very happy to be on the other side of the fence.:)

Sosa

well done Speedy...not many on here can say they won there catagory in a race....enjoy the splurge

Krusty_Clown

Well done Speedy! Great running. Reap the rewards! What time are you going for, in the 10k next week?

Speedy44

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Well done Speedy! Great running. Reap the rewards! What time are you going for, in the 10k next week?

tanx Krusty, I think I'll be happpy to go under 38mins, but be happier to go under 37:30 ! But if I don't, it'll come sooner rather than later.

Speedy44

and of course I want to go under 36:30 this year !

asimonov

well done, great race for the start of the year.

Speedy44

8mls easy with the club. Nice to be able to run with others. Felt a bit sluggish at first, probably due to the race yesterday (or the post race beers :rolleyes: ). Felt better as the run went on. Average pace was 8:07.

Speedy44

The things we do to improve, I ask you people ! I read that Beetroot Juice has these magical ingrediants in it that will guarentee an athlete to shave significant time off his, well, his times. Think the study said 2% improvement, which by my calculations is 6secs off a 5min/ml. I'm not going to hold my breath (not a good thing to do whilst running :rolleyes:) but what the hell, anything that will help I'm willing to give it a go. But man is the stuff vile .

Just did 6 & a half today. Reading some of the other logs out there, I feel like a lazy basturd, should be up to 70 in a few weeks anyway, with 3 days of quality thrown in there.
Brought along my new best friend, which is my HRM of course. Schedule called for 150-160 bpm, which is more or less where I kept it. Averaged 7.25/ml, which makes me think that I wish I had got the damn thing sooner as normally on my easy runs I am doing 7:45-8mins/ml.

Speedy44

Where will it all end. Had our club track session this evening. Plan was 4 x 400m @ 5k pace with 30sec/rec, 2mls @ 10k pace + 10secs, and another 4 x 400m. Felt the drop in temp as soon as I got out of the car. Doing the warm up the fog rolled in and the track got progressively worse. The end result was that the 400's were something like 89, 90, 91 & 86, 2mls was 12.14 and the final 400's were 1:40, 1:41, 1:40 & 86. Not really sure how I managed to go faster on the last one and not the others, I think I just decided to risk it and stay with the group, I figured if I start falling I'd just grab on to one of them and bring them down too .

So now I am pissed off with the whole thing. Am thinking about doing my 3 x 15mins on Fri but I have a 10k race on Sunday so I may just do a longish run.

Speedy44

Jan 21st

After last nights session I went out today and did 8.25mls. Had my HR on and was keeping it aroung 155 or so as planned for the first 4mls (7.25 aver), after that I had to keep slowing down just to keep it around 165. Next 4mls took me 32:40, and I was wrecked. Not sure what the deal was, maybe last nights session & Sundays race was catching up with me.

Jan 22nd

Back on track! 11mls easy at 7:45 pace, felt fine, actually better as I went along.

Jan 23rd

Almost skipped the run as I ended up walking 5mls yesterday as well, but decided, what the hell, I may as well get out there, if only to clear my head and loosen up before tomorrows race. Just did 5 1/2 @ 7:40/ml pace.

Speedy44

38:03 - 33rd place (I think)

Splits were:
3:38
3:40
3:46
3:50
3:54 (18:48)

3:41 (short)
4:07 (long)
3:54
3:56
3:37 (19:15)

Happy enough, of course I wish I had got under 38, my fastest K was my last so, although I was fairly wrecked at the end, I probably still had a little in the tank.
Perfect day for it, no wind, dry, although it may have been a few degrees too cold, the bare arms were starting to feel it in the last couple of k's.
Good course too, a few drags but no real hills.

No more races now for a while, time to get stuck into training.
58mls for the week, last 4wks have been 46, 50, 52 & 58. Was going to step it up to mid 60's this week, but with the 2 races in the last 8 days, I may back off a bit this week and even take a day off. Will still get my quality sessions in though.

village runner

Just read your log form start to finish. With your weight at 11st 11ib i feel like a fat B******.

In my opinion you woulod have broken 38 at your ease today if the last three days if i read it right were alot easier. Why run 3 days in a row beofre a race with a longish one based on your miles ? What are oyur views on this ??

Congrats on the run. May you have many more pbs........

Speedy44

village runner wrote: »

Just read your log form start to finish. With your weight at 11st 11ib i feel like a fat B******.

In my opinion you woulod have broken 38 at your ease today if the last three days if i read it right were alot easier. Why run 3 days in a row beofre a race with a longish one based on your miles ? What are oyur views on this ??

Congrats on the run. May you have many more pbs........

Hi VR,

First, thanks for the congrats.

Now, to your question. Well, basically, from what I know and my experience, you have certain peaks that you train your body for. My main target(s) this year are the track season and possibly the DCM (have some unfinished business there!).

Right now I am concentrating on building my winter base. As you read my log, you will know that I did the whole physiological test thing before Christmas, so I am now trying to incorporate what I learnt from that into my training. Its a lot of strength work (long intervals at max HR - 15-20mins) as well as getting in the miles (prob max out at 70-75).

Come Spring, I will back off on the mileage a bit and concentrate on shorter intervals.

So to answer your question (finally :rolleyes: ), I am just using these races to push myself and I am more or less training through them.

Did you run today yourself, I thought I read on your log that it was in the plan, or am I getting you mixed up with some other guy?

Speedy44

Jan 25th

I decided to take today off as planned. As mentioned in my last entry, with 2 races in 8 days, its probably not a bad idea.

Even with my 'day off', I still managed to run about 3mls, a combination of 1ml + with my 9yr old daughter (her idea) and the rest with my friend the treadmill (I am doing a Personal Trainer course so have to go to the gym 3 days a week to work with my client/guinea pig )

Jan 26th

8 1/4 easy. The first 2 were at 130HR, the next 2 about 140-145 (7:45/ml aver for first 4mls). The next 2mls were at 155-160HR (7:13 aver) and the last 2mls+ at 145-150HR (7:47 aver). Average pace for the run was 7:36.
Trying to stick to the plan of keeping the HR up around 145-160 for most of my runs. Back to the track tomorrow ..............

Speedy44

5 x 1ml with 90 sec/rec. Times were 5:56, 5:57, 5:58, 5;58 & 5:59.
Good session, enjoyed it. Was tough but not wrecked, could have done a couple more.

Speedy44

Just did 5 & 1/2 nice and easy, started off with the HR at 130 for the first couple of miles, then got up to 140 and touched on 150 at one stage. Average pace was about 7:45.
Another tough session lined up for tomorrow so didn't want to push anything.