The Hundred mile week dream.

sarsfieldsrock

Monday Track Session

Made a bit of a mess of this one unfortunately.
The plan called for a 10-20 min warm up followed by 3 1600m runs between 7:02 - 7:22 with 400m rest intervals. Grand with the warm up as that was the run down to the track in the school. Did one lap of the track to measure it and it came out at about 0.25 miles. Grand. Hit the lap button to start the first mile run and was just over two laps in when I realized I had hit the stop button. Slowed to a jog while turning the air blue before I realized i had hit stop start.
Anyway I counted that as a run done and did two further miles correctly. I could feel the run (and the drink) from the weekend in the legs and I regretted not doing a few slow miles on Sunday.
Still it was good to get my first track session done and I jogged away home contented enough with it.
Will have to make sure that the 10 mile at marathon pace on the Wednesday doesn't have any Garmin mishaps. Will probably do a few slow miles with the brother tomorrow.
I am quite optimistic about hitting the 3:45 in Dublin now but quite worried about Connemara next March. After last Saturday in Ryans it could prove to be quite an expensive trip to Galway.

menoscemo

sarsfieldsrock wrote: »

I am quite optimistic about hitting the 3:45 in Dublin now but quite worried about Connemara next March. After last Saturday in Ryans it could prove to be quite an expensive trip to Galway.

I'd say your bet is safe enough. There is no guarantee that I will even do it and if I don't (whether through injury or wussiness) I will pay up my side.

sarsfieldsrock

Wed 5 with Brother

This is a nice slow run just to get the brother out running again. The First training plan says I should be cross training tonight but runs like these are not going to do any harm.

sarsfieldsrock

10 Mile MP

Averaged 8:24 for this and it was a bit of a struggle. Fine at the start but rough later on.
It went well enough in that it didn't lash down rain. In fact no rain at all! Nice but I was feeling the pace around mile 6 but managed to keep it going for the 10. I wore a waterproof jacket along with a long sleeve underarmour shirt underneath and it did get quite hot.

Might have been a little overdressed. Had a half pint of chocolate milk as a recovery as soon as I got home. Yum, yum and it is the only chocolate I am allowed anymore.
Lost another toe nail last night.
Went to clip the nails and was able to just pull the second on my left foot off instead.

Aimman

sarsfieldsrock wrote: »

Lost another toe nail last night.
Went to clip the nails and was able to just pull the second on my left foot off instead.

You wont need them anyway. Toenails are only for girls to paint and for hard men to chew on.

sarsfieldsrock

Tuesday Intervals

I missed my long run at the weekend and work hadn't let me get any runs in last week after Wednesday. So today was my first run in 6 days.
This will have to be remedied. Tonight went well enough even though I had to charge the Garmin for half an hour as the battery was flat.
That was enough to do the charge but then the damned thing's lap counter started warning me that it was full half way through the session and I had to stop and delete a few months worth of old laps.
Fail to prepare eh?

Anyway the session was 10x400m fast (under 1:50) with 400m jog recovery.
I did that fairly comfortably which would suggest that I should be doing them a lot quicker than that. As I am only following the last 6 weeks of this plan proper this is really only going to help me to find tune the plan for myself for a spring marathon when I can use a 10-12 week plan which should allow time for me to judge the benefit of it.

sarsfieldsrock

8 Mile MP

8 mile at predicted marathon pace indeed. I did this in 8:17pace which is 13 sec quicker than marathon pace and it was a struggle.
I was supposed to be home before 7 but didn't get there until almost 8. It was after 8:15 when I did start and I was feeling tired starting. There are a few small hills in the route I took but nothing major.
Maybe Dingle and the Dublin half are still in the legs to a degree but its difficult to see how I will be able to keep up an 8:30 pace for a full marathon. I will probably revert to a target time of 3:50 and this would still be a PB. It might be better to leave the 3:45 attempt until Barcelona.

RacoonQueen

Have I inadvertently managed to get half the forum to come to/consider Barcelona? :rolleyes:

sarsfieldsrock

RacoonQueen wrote: »

Have I inadvertently managed to get half the forum to come to/consider Barcelona? :rolleyes:

It looks like it. I tried to drum up a little interest with the SainteLyon in France in December but didn't get the same enthusiastic response. Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow.
I suppose a 42 mile night time ultra over rocky hills on a December can't compare with a fast sunny Barcelona.
Now who's up for Clonakilty on Dec 11th?

Somebody invited me today to run a marathon in November that is 26 laps of 1 mile and I thought it would be a great idea to do it twice in the one weekend! All for training purposes allegedly but I was watching some program on TnaG last night where they were talking about exercise and how it can become an addiction. I think a few people on here are addicts.

Oisin11178

sarsfieldsrock wrote: »

It looks like it. I tried to drum up a little interest with the SainteLyon in France in December but didn't get the same enthusiastic response. Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow.
I suppose a 42 mile night time ultra over rocky hills on a December can't compare with a fast sunny Barcelona.
Now who's up for Clonakilty on Dec 11th?

Somebody invited me today to run a marathon in November that is 26 laps of 1 mile and I thought it would be a great idea to do it twice in the one weekend! All for training purposes allegedly but I was watching some program on TnaG last night where they were talking about exercise and how it can become an addiction. I think a few people on here are addicts.

Im doing this Eddie:D

sarsfieldsrock

Oisin11178 wrote: »

Im doing this Eddie:D

Clonakilty or France?

Oisin11178

Neither, the 26 x 1 lap race tom enright is organising.

sarsfieldsrock

Oisin11178 wrote: »

Neither, the 26 x 1 lap race tom enright is organising.

Thats funny. Tom told me that it would be a fairly exclusive affair. I wonder what happened?

Oisin11178

sarsfieldsrock wrote: »

Thats funny. Tom told me that it would be a fairly exclusive affair. I wonder what happened?

Was thinking the same mate:D
He mentioned it to me down in longford. I have some time off around then so ill pop down. Wont be setting any blistering speed, maybe 3.44.
Looks like ill be doing the 50k in gloucester in jan. You fancy it:D

sarsfieldsrock

Sunday Long Run

I haven't actuall done a weekend long run in quite a while. I was injured in the 3 weeks coming up to Dingle and then recovering after it. The Dublin half is longest run since then and it didn't feel great for the last few miles today.
I averaged 9 min miles which is good but meant to run 20 miles; which is bad as I didn't.
After 12 miles I called into the brother as he had said that he wanted to run 5 or 6 miles. This would have suited me as it would have kept me motivated. However when I arrived the said that he had just had a massive fry up and couldn't budge! Langer says I and off with me again.

Off to London for the Royal Parks half next week so this was probably my last long run before the Dublin marathon. I had been toying with the idea of trying to run 3:45 but, after today, I will be quite happy to beat my original target of 3:50. It doesn't look good for that either at this stage.

Oisin, I am toying with the idea of signing up for the Art O'Neill challenage and if I do that then I think the Gloucester 50 is too soon after it.

sarsfieldsrock

Wed Track Session 7.5 Miles

Got the head torch out as the Newbridge track is not lit at this time of the year. Did 8 x 0.5 mile with 1.30 min rest intervals. I was going for 3.40min for the intervals but they varied from 3.31 to 3.45 min so it wasn't too even paced.
Still I managed to do them all but was really tieing up on the last two especially.
Still have a 5 mile at mid tempo, round 7.48, tomorrow or Friday evening and then 13 mile at marathon pace (8.30) on Sunday. As it happens I am running the Royal Parks Half marathon in London and it has over 12K running so it might be difficult to get any sort of pace going at the start.
At least the forecast is good for London on the day so it should enjoyable.

sarsfieldsrock

Thurs 5 Mile

This was supposed to be 5 miles at marathon pace which is targeted at 8:30 but I instead did it with sub 8min miles.
So no great discipline there but I will be trying to pace Sundays half at 8:30 so I will get a better idea of my ability to keep a target pace early in a race.

And now I am going for pints! So that should help me run slower on Sunday.

Aimman

Sure it cant do any harm to run a little bit faster for 5 miles... can it????

sarsfieldsrock

Aimman wrote: »

Sure it cant do any harm to run a little bit faster for 5 miles... can it????

I'm sure that it won't but if I am to try for 3:45 in Dublin then I just can't afford to go out too fast in that. I need to develop the discipline to stick to a pace.
Pints were nice mind.

xebec

sarsfieldsrock wrote: »

I'm sure that it won't but if I am to try for 3:45 in Dublin then I just can't afford to go out too fast in that. I need to develop the discipline to stick to a pace.
Pints were nice mind.

Found it very hard to discipline myself to 8:30's on Cork last weekend and ended up paying for it during miles 13 and 14, but at least you'll have Oisin (and possibly me) to chat to the whole way around

Oisin11178

xebec wrote: »

Found it very hard to discipline myself to 8:30's on Cork last weekend and ended up paying for it during miles 13 and 14, but at least you'll have Oisin (and possibly me) to chat to the whole way around

Just ignore your garmin in Dublin and let the pacers do the work. There is 4 of us:D
Enjoy the craic and you wont see the miles fly by.

sarsfieldsrock

Royal Parks Half 10/10/10
Ran too fast during the race and drank too much after so I will post a more detailed report later; when I have found my thoughts.
I like this race and it was nice to do it without a hangover for a change.

Aimman

Tried to look at the stats, but there's a problem downloading them. Were you drunk too, when you uploaded them? Looking forward to the report. Glad to see I wasnt the only one racing a Half two weeks before Dublin

sarsfieldsrock

Wed Track Session

Warm up then 5x1k with 400m jog rests. I didn't get any distances right and had to tie the shoelace on the second 1K run. I was going for 4:35 times for the 1K but they were all over the place. Still I am only getting used to this track running.

sarsfieldsrock

Royal Parks Half Race Report.

Race Profile

Nice one Eddie. I set three alarms on the phone for 6:30, 6:45 and 7:00 am.
Unfortunately I also set them to run on a weekday and did not set Sunday as a
weekday. So I finally woke at 7:20 and jumped out of bed.
It was still plenty of time in fairness. I had my banana and can of red bull for
breakfast and then got geared up for the race. As the morning was fairly grey out I
left the sunglasses out but did stick a hat in the running shorts pocket just in case.
I thought it would do to wipe the sweat from my forehead as I had forgotten my
head and wrist sweat bands as well. There is always something to forget.
I had two isotonic High5 gels and a pack of Lucozade sport orange tablets for the
race and I packed a cred card, house keys and phone in the waistband pack.
My brother Jack dropped me in to Hyde park for around 8:50 so I was a bit late to
wander around and have a look at the various stalls and tents that were part of the
whole festival.
Still I was warmed up and lined up in my green corral by 9:10 am. Chatting away to
some other runners. The weather was still overcast but not cold.
At this point I still had the intention of running at 8:30 but when the gun went I just
went at the pace that I felt most comfortable with. The corrals worked well, maybe
because I was in the second one, and there was very little congestion. There was a
certain amount of running around people to pass the slower runners but I was trying
to keep that to a minimum.
This was my 3rd time running this race but this was the first time to do so without a
hangover and I enjoyed it a lot more!
Once we came out of the park it was down hill for the first few miles so by the time
we turned on Westminster Bridge I had run two miles well under 8 min each.
The next two were also quick enough but for 5 and 6 I slowed as we climbed back
up to Hyde Park though Pall Mall and past Buckingham palace.
We looped around though the park for the rest of it and I managed to hit the 10 mile
in 80 min almost exactly. At this point I finally decided to try to break 1:45.
I had had some idea of running the second half at the 8:30 marathon pace if I didn’t
do so for the first half but that now went out the window as well.
The park part was up and down and on a variety of surface but mainly it was
tarmac and everybody seemed to be enjoying it. The crowds were much bigger here
than they had been along the route so far. The sun was also well out at this stage
and I was feeling that extra heat. I took a bottle of water at every station and drank
about ¾ with the rest going over the head.
The last 3 miles were a bit tough as I then decided that there was a possible PB in
me and I did the last mile (per the Garmin anyway) in 7:39 so it possibly (the PB)
was if I had really pushed it from mile 12.
However I crossed the finish line in 01:43:50 which was 15 secs slower than my
Dublin half time.
So it looks like I will definitely be trying for the sub 3:45 in Dublin and I have to hope
that the legs hold up over the extra distance. Since Dingle I have raced two halves
and done one long run of 18 miles so the lack of 20 mile runs since then may come
back to haunt me but I suppose that I have to give it a shot and see how I get on.

sarsfieldsrock

6 Miles

So this was 2 miles easy, 3 miles at short tempo pace (7:30 for me) and 1 mile easy.
The 3 miles were fine but I don't think I went easy on on the others. Still they weren't too bad.
I went over on my ankle on a grass verge but it seems to be okay. Worrying though with Dublin this close.

The worst thing of the day was finding out that I had no lift to Staplestown to register for the Donadea 10k in the morning. Bummer as I can't do it now. Its funny as I didn't think I would be around to do it until today but then when I found that I could get a place in it I'm more disappointed.
Ah well its probably for the best as I probably shouldn't be racing when tapering for Dublin.
This is what happnes when your brother/chauffeur has kids!

Aimman

I think if you are going for a PB next week, it's probably best you miss out on racing a 10k this weekend anyway. Gotta give the twitchy fibre muscles time to rest before thrashing out 26.2 at a good pace. You can race all the 10k's you like after next Monday

sarsfieldsrock

10 Miles MP ish

Again this was supposed to be 10 miles at marathon pace. This is 8:30 but I ran the 10 at an average of 8:15.
Part of the reason was because it was such a lovely day and the other reason was because it was my first run in my race day pair of shoes.
These are the Asics Gel DS Racer and they are super light. Compared to the DS Trainer they are lighter again and I was warned when buying them that I should only race in them and train in something else. After today it was easy to see why as there isn't much protection for the sole of the foot. The heel still feels like it does so it feels like your foot is sloped forwards.
Anyway for better or worse I will be going round Dublin in them next week.

Aimman

Well done on the run and the pace, but definitely ease back on the speed for the next week.

I'll be interested in finding out how you get on in the Racers for the marathon.

Oisin11178

Eddie i got a box of high 5 isogels if you want some for monday.