The Hundred mile week dream.

christeb

sarsfieldsrock wrote: »

Hmm. Back in the 80's when marathon runners ran 120+ miles routinely as marathon training.
Well if he took the week off he would be able to do 2 long runs a day; if he wasn't following a training plan and just wanted to clock up a lot of miles that is.
Did he get to the 420? That would be 60 mile a day. I'm assuming he didn't absolutely flog himself to death doing it. If he did then its anyones guess.

The answer is 220. 420 and not flogging himself to death? 100 should be no problem to you so

sarsfieldsrock

Boards AC 5k

This was a great little race and it was a shame that there wasn't another 20 people there but well done to the two Daves, definitely not a comedy act, for organising it and the massive feed of sandwiches that followed.
The only unfortunate thing about it was that myself and De Brother went on the beer that evening. This meant that I did not get to do the 15mile run on the Sunday that the training called for.
Indeed I was lucky to get the 7:20 train to get to the Gaslight Anthem gig on the Sunday evening. There was quite a bit of the never agains going on for the day.
To make up for that miss I did a 12 mile run on Monday evening. It would have been the missed 15 miler but I simply didn't have enough time to do the 15 and get to the shops by the time I got home from work.

Monday Guilt Run

It was quicker than the missed 15 mile 8:45 pace run and it felt really good. I didn't realise how cold it was until I left my gloves off after coming out of the shop. It was proper freezing so it was.

This evening was a cross training excercise. I did my 3 sets of 14 push ups and sits and warmed up and down with a mile on the treadmill with 30 min on the rowing machine in between.
I am now starting to pack the bag for France and hopefully the training plan is back on target. Tough track session tomorrow night and it won't be helped by the 12 miles yesterday when that was supposed to be a rest day.

sarsfieldsrock

Interval session

I thought that this went well. I was running 1200m, 1000m, 800m, 600m, 400m with 200m RI. I ran down to the track to warm up and back to gaffe to warm down with a bit of a walk at the finish. I did an extra little sprint of 200m at the end to see what was left in the legs and it wasn't much!
The run was 6.25 miles total but I never hit my target times for the splits.
They were supposed to be based on my 5k pb and so the target was 4:53, 4:01, 3:12, 2:23 and 1:34 but I was almost 20 secs short on each of them.
They were 5:09, 4:23, 3:35, 2:42 and 1:42. I just could not keep up the pace required. Maybe the quickish 12 miles on Monday were affecting me and maybe the beers were still having an affect. Still disappointing not to hit the target for any of them.
So next weeks session is 5x100m in 4:03 each. This seems a lot tougher than tonights session. At least the distances were getting shorter tonight. This is only my 3rd or 4th track session so maybe I will grow into them. I don't find it easy to run around the track and keep the pace up.

I suppose the (only) good thing is that I did do all of the intervals without cutting any of them short.

menoscemo

sarsfieldsrock wrote: »

Interval session

I was running 1200m, 1000m, 800m, 600m, 400m with 200m RI.
They were supposed to be based on my 5k pb and so the target was 4:53, 4:01, 3:12, 2:23 and 1:34 but I was almost 20 secs short on each of them.
They were 5:09, 4:23, 3:35, 2:42 and 1:42.

Isn't you 5k PB 21:28 ( I thought you said the Boards race was your first 5k?)
That would make your 1K pace 4:17 not 4:01? So your 400m pace =1:43 and 1200m pace = 5:08 which you pretty much hit.

I don't think you should ever be running 1k+ reps at any faster than 5k pace (I know I can't reproduce that in training anyway).

sarsfieldsrock

menoscemo wrote: »

Isn't you 5k PB 21:28 ( I thought you said the Boards race was your first 5k?)
That would make your 1K pace 4:17 not 4:01? So your 400m pace =1:43 and 1200m pace = 5:08 which you pretty much hit.

I don't think you should ever be running 1k+ reps at any faster than 5k pace (I know I can't reproduce that in training anyway).

The marathon plan I am following is the 3PLUS2 plan and those are the times that it suggests for these interval sessions based on my 5k pb. As the pb was fairly recent that is what I will try to follow.
Heres a link to a version of it. This based the pace times on the 10k time.
http://www.hornetjuice.com/three-day-marathon-training-program-faster.html

menoscemo

sarsfieldsrock wrote: »

The marathon plan I am following is the 3PLUS2 plan and those are the times that it suggests for these interval sessions based on my 5k pb. As the pb was fairly recent that is what I will try to follow.
Heres a link to a version of it. This based the pace times on the 10k time.
http://www.hornetjuice.com/three-day-marathon-training-program-faster.html

:eek: That looks tough. I wouldn't worry about being a few seconds out in those training runs. I think I couldn't really train to that high an intensity..

I guess your basing you 10k pace on mcmillan's equivalent of you 5k time?

sarsfieldsrock

menoscemo wrote: »

:eek: That looks tough. I wouldn't worry about being a few seconds out in those training runs. I think I couldn't really train to that high an intensity..

I guess your basing you 10k pace on mcmillan's equivalent of you 5k time?

The training plan does base them on your 5k time but they seem to be quicker than the 5k pace itself. I think the idea is that the rest intervals will allow you to go that bit quicker than your 5k pace each time.
It would be easier with a group though than on my own.

sarsfieldsrock

As I missed my tempo run yesterday I had it scheduled for today. But then I saw the damned snow and it was back to the gym to do it on the treadmill.
So I got 7 miles done, 1 warm up and 1 down and 5 in between at 12.5k at a gradient of 1.
The footpaths were really bad but I am hoping that they will be okay tomorrow morning for the long run. Doing it on treadmill is not an option so I hope to be able to make it out to the Curragh and run there.
On the plus side I will be able to give SainteLyon and AON gear a good test if the weather stays the same. Thank god for Gore Tex.

sarsfieldsrock

Sunday Snow LSR

This was tough. I got out at about 10:20 and got out to the Curragh around 11. The footpaths on the way out were not too bad but I had to really watch my step when crossing roads in some of the estates as they were like glass. I dd one long lap of the curragh and got lost as it was very foggy out there. I kept turning left and eventually found my way back via the Curragh army camp itself.
This run was supposed to be 8:45 but I just couldn't run fast enough. Running on the snow on the fields was sapping and running on the footpaths out and back I had to be too careful with my footing to be able to run quickly. Also I could feel the tempo run from the gym yesterday in my legs.

So for the next week I will still be following the training plan but will be doing the tempo run on Tuesday and the track session on Wed as usual. Then I will have a few rest days before replacing the plans LSR of 20 miles at 9 min pace with a 43 mile trail run in France. And I will be lucky to average 11 min miles in that. In fact I would be delighted if I did that!

sarsfieldsrock

I did a cross session in the gym. 2 miles running and 16k on bike.
First of all was the 3 sets of 15 sit ups and push ups. While I had not bother doing these at home last night I found the last set of push ups really tough to complete.
I did a mile warm up and down on the treadmill and a 30 min session on the stationary bike in between. I use the vibrams on the treadmill and will have to decide if I am going to use them for a tempo session tomorrow night.
It will be on the treadmill because of the weather.
I plan to use them for all the treadmill running sessions from now on. Hopefully none of these will be too long. I am putting the tempo run from next Friday forwards as I want a few days rest before the SainteLyon run on Saturday evening/Sunday morning.
The forecast is for snow for the next few days in that part of France but they are showing sunny for Saturday so hopefully it will only be wet and now freezing snow underfoot. If it is freezing there won't be too much running down the rock paths but hopefully it will just be mucky and cold.
I am really looking forwards to this now.

sarsfieldsrock

Another run on the treadmill instead of outdoors but at least I completed it.
It was 1 mile slow, (9 min for me now) 4 miles at 7:30(or 12.8km) and 1 mile slow.
I always have to get half way through a session on the treadmill before I am sure that I will be able to finish it. Last nights I ran in the Vibrams and I haven't run 6 miles in them in quite a while.
I stuck the push ups ans sit ups at 3 sets of 15 so no increase there.
The weight was 90.2k now so I am just under 200lbs weight as well.
Is this a milestone and is there any chance of me getting down to 82k?

sarsfieldsrock

Interval Session

This was only my second run since the SainteLyon at the start of December. The injury I picked up falling off the shuttle bus at Heathrow and then aggravated during the race took a while to ease off. I did the Jingle Bells 5K and that hurt but I was able to run. The snow then put off any thoughts of training runs and I just decided to keep resting.
I finally got up and did an interval session this evening. The legs felt heavy but I managed to complete it even if I did have a few slow intervals.
Hopefully I can get my tempo run done on Friday morning and my long run on the Sunday to get back on track for the Barcelona training play. But I have now missed 3 weeks of that plan so it is not looking good for the 3:30 effort. I will try to stick with the plan and see how I get on in the Eton Half marathon in February.
Good to be back running though.

Aimman

Good to see you're back on the road again. How are you fixed for the Art O'Neill? I'll be interested to see how you get back into training after 3 weeks. I've only been out once in the last four weeks and now getting over flu at the moment, so I wont be running until I'm sure my chest has fully cleared up.

sarsfieldsrock

12 tough miles

I found this very tough indeed and it was quite cold as well.
This was a wake up call and let me know how far back I have gone in the last 3 weeks. The hurt ribs after France didn't clear up as quickly as I would have hopled and it looks like I am a good way back from my Barca training plan.
I very much doubt if the 3:30 is achievable but I may as well have a cut at it anyway.
The Art O'Neill next weekend is something that I might have to give a miss now.

sarsfieldsrock

5 Miles

Again the legs didn't feel the freshest but they were better than yesterday. It will be interesting to see how they hold up to the interval session tomorrow. 6x800m won't be nice but I will have to give it a go.
I might just be lowering the time per interval though. :rolleyes:

menoscemo

sarsfieldsrock wrote: »

5 Miles

Again the legs didn't feel the freshest but they were better than yesterday. It will be interesting to see how they hold up to the interval session tomorrow. 6x800m won't be nice but I will have to give it a go.
I might just be lowering the time per interval though. :rolleyes:

If you can make it, I'll be doing that same session in UCD tomorrow evening...

sarsfieldsrock

menoscemo wrote: »

If you can make it, I'll be doing that same session in UCD tomorrow evening...

I live in Newbridge and don't drive. I will be running around the track there around 6:15 tomorrow with a bit of luck.

Then on Thursday into Basecamp to buy waterproof trousers that i will probably not need for the Art O Neill. (waterproof trousers I ask you?!)

Which is on Friday night /Sat morning instead of the Sat night/Sun morn that I somehow got into my head.

When is that 30 miler planned for the Phoenix Park?

menoscemo

sarsfieldsrock wrote: »

I live in Newbridge and don't drive. I will be running around the track there around 6:15 tomorrow with a bit of luck.

Then on Thursday into Basecamp to buy waterproof trousers that i will probably not need for the Art O Neill. (waterproof trousers I ask you?!)

Which is on Friday night /Sat morning instead of the Sat night/Sun morn that I somehow got into my head.

When is that 30 miler planned for the Phoenix Park?

Not sure about the 30 miler, I have another 30+ miler planned at the end of feb but we could certainly do one the week after Barcelona?

By the way. I live in Parkwest, 50 yards from the Parkwest/cherrywood train station. That's just 28 minutes by train from Newbridge. Just saying like....

sarsfieldsrock

Did 8k in 46 min on the treadmill as a recovery after the Art O'Neill.
I am not counting the Art as training and hopefully I can get back into the swing of the training plan for Barca now.

menoscemo

We want an art o'neill report.

sarsfieldsrock

Art O'Neill Challenge
Partial Route

I turned up at the Castle and hit for registration in the dining hall but it was only just after 11pm and the walkers were still registering away like mad. I found Pat and threw my stuff in a corner. I was running with him as he would be my navigator. We had decided to tag onto a walking group after Kippure and see how it went. We would try to push on if we felt comfortable with the terrain and the navigation. Pat had a GPS, maps and compass for that.
I went over and got the mandatory kit check done and then waited for the registration crowd to die down. I got my number 334 but they didn’t have the green plastic bag that they said would be provided to runners to put our bags in so that they would be kept separate and allow us a quicker run through the first check point in Kippure. There seemed to be a bit of confusion about where to put the bag while they sorted that out. After 12 I went and got changed into my run gear to Kippure. I didn’t go with the Tipp shirt this time as I would be wearing the high vis vest.
I met mithril and ultraman in the hall recognised a few other heads from various marathons before lying down to get a bit more sleep.
We were asked to bring out bags out to the lorry for removal to Kippure and when we did they were just tossed into the back of it along with the rest. No quick run through checkpoint 1.
Then we waited in the square for the off and I tried to take a few photos on the camera phone but they don’t show up great with the flash. Before I could get my garmin set I heard a 10-1 countdown and we were off. We seemed to be a few min before 2am but what harm. At least it wasn’t raining as it had been earlier. The run out of town was a little strange. What traffic there was pulled aside for this strange group of shiny nocturnal runners and after a mile the pack started to break up as everybody settled into their own pace. My garmin had not picked up a signal so after a while I had to stop to let it pick up the satellites. This was in Harolds Cross just as we hit the Kimmage Road. I had to step the pace up to catch up with Pat but we were happy enough to let the others off. Pat had the flu all week and was feeling the pace but the weather wasn’t as bad as we had been expecting and we were on the road.
We had a nasty experience shortly after crossing the M50. A few cars had tooted their horns at us and a few people had roared encouragement out of houses and cars while a few had also shouted abuse for their own reasons. When we had to stop at a traffic lights and a car sped past with a young fella hanging out the back window I was expecting a bit of the latter but instead the little knacker threw an egg as hard as he could at us and hit Pat in the shoulder. The strange thing was that he didn’t say anything as well. The usual form is to shout a bit of abuse as well. It didn’t do any harm but left a nasty impression.

After another few miles we turned off to country roads and eventually started climbing hills. When we did though the running conditions deteriorated as the ice on the roads and the slushy snow (or a heavy shower of sleet) was very treacherous and a thick fog also descended.
We ploughed on though and after a while started catching up on the odd walker. They became more frequent as we went on but the conditions also became more taxing. Around mile 8 we started climbing steep hills and the ice on the roads became worse. We were still able to go at a good fast walk and keep passing walkers but we had to do a run walk because of the conditions. Basically we walked where it was too icy and hilly. This went on all the way to the first checkpoint at Kippure. About a mile before it Pat slowed to a walk on one particularly icy descent and then lost his footing and dropped his knee full force into the road. He took a bit to get up but that and the remnants of the flu took its toll on him from then.
We got into Kippure and found our bags easily enough but there were too many people showing up at the one time to make it easy to change the gear and get water etc without a lot of hassle. It looked to me like the organisers had been caught by surprise by the numbers that had signed up for the event. It wasn’t that there were queues but that there simply wasn’t enough room at that point. We got changed into our gear and ditched the bags again before setting on our way again.
At this point we had no idea where we were going so we tagged along at the back of a guided group for a while. We were now off road and the fog was very bad. Even with a hand held LED lenser torch you you couldn’t see much. Well done to the guide on getting us through a featureless bog of bracken. One other group had wandered off to the left and we had no idea which group was wrong. It was freezing now as well and I was dead chuffed with the waterproof cycling jacket I had bought in Basecamp that week.
Eventually we made it to a road and myself an Pat knew from the map that this was a good stretch before the next off road.
We pushed on and caught up with other guided groups on this road until eventually we came to a turn off on to a trail path. The group we were with at that point stopped for a rest but we pushed on down this path. Again it was even worse than the road with ice and compressed snow but we kept on.
The path started to peter out but we followed the trails of previous people in the snow.
We were now coming up the Black hill apparently and about to go through the worst part of the challenge as far as we were concerned. It was pitch dark with a heavy fog and freezing.
The gear I had on was good though and we were walking briskly enough to generate plenty of heat. It definitely wasn’t as cold as it had been in the weeks before.
Up to now things had been going well. I can’t recall what time it was but we eventually ran out of track and had to chance to our map and compass because Pat’s GPS wasn’t picking up a signal.
Around this point we ran into Mithril and also picked up two Meath lads. The two lads hadn’t signed up to the Art O’Neill proper but just joined it at Kippure for the crack!
We came across a barbed wire fence that we followed for a while but then thought we were on the wrong path so we went the other side of it and wandered on through the wilderness. The conferring over maps and Mithrils (working GPS) was getting longer and longer. Then we came upon a guided group walking towards us in the completely opposite direction! Hmmm goes I, this isn’t good and the two Meath boys decided to abandon us and follow that group. Still pitch dark by the way.
We conferred again and started using the GPS for a grid reference location and then used the map and compass to follow the route marked on the maps instead of following the route on the GPS.
This seemed to get us back on track and as the daylight started to filter though we started to see other trekkers going in, generally, the same direction. This was a very welcome development at this stage.
Eventually we could see houses and then a road and soon enough we were jogging down the road to check point 2 for just before 11am. (9 hours and counting!) It was nice to actually be on ground that you could walk on after the hours trekking through the snow and heather on the hills.
There was a large queue at checkpoint 2 for the porridge and a lot of people sitting around enjoying the sun that was now out. We grabbed a few bars and water and decided to push on. Mithril decided to run on but Pat didn’t think his leg was up to it. We were still on a road but we were winding through a forest. After the first turn we realised that we could have cut through the trees and saved ourselves 15 min or so as we had just gone around in a big U. Pat reckoned that we could do the same again but Mithril, who we had caught up with, looked at us like we were mad and continued on the road. We didn’t see him again until Glenmalure.
We went through the trees easily enough until we hit some new younger pine trees that were very spikey and very close together. No bother we thought as we could see daylight at the other side. We pushed through but discovered that we were confronted by a fallen tree and yet more very close forest. We did this 4 or 5 times and we were getting pine needles everywhere as it was extremely dense. I reckon that there is no way we would have gone all the way through unless we had not stumbled across a fire break that had been cut. It was only about 2 feet wide and had water running down though it and we still had to hold a good few branches back but it went straight up the hill and allowed us a fairly easy passage out of the forest. Surprisingly enough we were the only people to take this route!
The hill at the other side still had to be climbed and it gave me some great photos from the camera at the top. This was just around 12 and we could see Arts Cross from the top of the hill. We trekked down to it and I managed to stick my left leg in a bog hole up to the knee. The bog hole was full of freezing water so it wasn’t pleasant but it made the crossing of the river just before Arts Cross a lot easier as I just walked through the water with that leg. We saw one lad fall backwards into the river and that sort of slapstick always cheers you up.
There was a killer climb up to the cross and then a gale force wind as faced into what we had been told was the worst part of the course. We got to the top just after 1pm.
It was a bog as far as a river but the freezing weather meant that a lot of the bog holes were filled with still frozen snow and it was easy enough to walk over what would have been awful terrain if warmer.
We were now back to following people and well beaten tracks and this guided us along and across another river despite Pats misgivings about what side of it we should be on.
Eventually we came to a trail that we could run on again but then it got very steep down hill and very broken so the ice made it treacherous to walk on never mind run on. We were determined to finish running though and were relieved when the trail turned into a road again.
It was fairly straight forward after that and I even managed to out sprint Pat to the end.
All in all it was a lot tougher than I thought it would be. We underestimated the value of knowing the terrain in advance but we have done it now so it should make next year a lot easier. The part in the dark was the worst because it coincided with the first time we encountered no trails to follow when on our own. Despite it being very cold the weather actually went in our favour over the latter half as it made the boggy section a lot easier to traverse. Still we weren’t really able to run the road and trail sections as we had expected to and that probably slowed us by an hour. Getting lost cost at least another hour so I reckon that I will have an 11 hour target for next year!

ultraman1

sarsfieldsrock wrote: »

. Getting lost cost at least another hour so I reckon that I will have an 11 hour target for next year!

drop the o'keefe fella and target 10 hours:D......

hot to trot

Brill report.:D

sarsfieldsrock

Interval session

After a mile I knew this wasn't going to be pretty. Once I hit the timer button instead of the lap button on the Garmin I knew that I was too tired for this. So I just did a quick mile and then some 1/4 mile intervals. None were too quick but at least I got them done and I can treat the Aware 10k as a tempo session next Saturday.
It is now going to be quite a struggle to get into good shape for a 3:30 effort in Barcelona. I might drop it down to a 3:35 attempt instead.
I am also back up to 14.5 st after virtually no running in December and the usual excess at Christmas.

sarsfieldsrock

Aware 10k

This went fairly well considering the weather and the course were tough enough. I intended to try to do 3 8min followed by 3 7:30 miles but I had to tie my shoe laces during mile 3.
I hit the lap counter at the 5k just to see the exact split later.
The laces cost me about half a minute with the taking off of the gloves etc. Then in lap 6 I slowed to talk to some lad I know for about 1/2 minute and that disturbed my pacing. Mind you the furry glen didn't help that either!
My previous PB at the 10k was 48:27 so I reckon that those two incidents cost me a sub 48min race.

Still it was a good run for me as I had only did 1 5k race between Dec 6th and Jan 5th. A lot of conditioning went away in that period so I will have to diligently follow my training plan for the next weeks.
Which means trying as hard as possible to hit my target for the long run tomorrow. Its 20 @ 8:30 pace and I think that I will be lucky to get through the first 10 at that pace at the moment, never mind the whole thing!

sarsfieldsrock

Sunday Long Run

This was quiet tough after the PP 10k yesterday. According to my training plan I should have been running 20 miles at 8:30 pace yesterday. I knew that this wasn't on but decided to have a go at it anyway. The route I picked has a good few hills in it so it probably wasn't the best choice.
Still I managed to get the first 5 miles at target pace. However I was well and truly aware that I was not going to get 20 miles done at that stage.
I revised the target down to a half marathon and I am happy enough with the run.
I am hoping to get back in synch with the training plan in about 4 weeks but even that might be a bit optimistic. I might just have to accept that the target for Barcelona went out of my reach with the training time missed through injury. But not yet and not for a few weeks. I have a very flat half in Eton two weeks before the Barca race and the target is sub 1:40. If I can achieve that then I will have a cut at it in Barcelona.

sarsfieldsrock

I was meant to go to the gym with the brother to do a bit of cross training but he bailed late on. So I just went for a 5 mile loop of Newbridge. I didn't realise how cold it was. Did the 5 in 42:05 with each mile a little quicker than the previous. Went from a first at 8:56 to a fifth of 7:52 with the middle 3 being 8:32, 8:29 and 8:14.
It felt good and I hope to get a bit more mileage done in the next few weeks to see if I can get back on schedule.
garminconnect seems to be done as well.

And done to page 5 in one day. There are an awful lot of logs being updated.

sarsfieldsrock

Wed Track Session

3 set of 2x1200m with 2min RI between runs and 4 min RI between sets.
The 1200m runs were supposed to be at 4:55 according to my best 5k pace but I am not near my fitness from then so I was quite happy with the pace that I did keep up.
I did the rest intervals of 2 and 4 min at a fast walk instead of the slow jog that I have done before on these track sessions and I found that I did recover much better. Mind you it was frosty enough and this helped the track firm up as it is a turf track.
All in all a good session and the fact that the lights were on around the track and that there were about 15 other people on the track helped as well. Its always a little dispiriting running around the track with the headlamp on my own; much harder to stay motivated to finish the full set.

dacam

anyone here still keeping in touch, sarsfielsrock, im from newbridge and play with the sash

sarsfieldsrock

dacam wrote: »

anyone here still keeping in touch, sarsfielsrock, im from newbridge and play with the sash

Funny thing is that the username sarsfieldsrock came about because I was reared on the Tipperary/Limerick border. Luckily enough on the Premier side. Imagine the heartbreak on the other side. Unlimited possbly?

Ballyneety, where Patrick Sarsfield blew up the siege train in 1690, is the site of a memorial called sarsfields rock; allegedly the rock is the result of the explosion of the gunpowder.

So ending up in Newbridge was just an accident.
But of course we support Sarsfields regardless.