Marato de Barcelona 2011

dare2be

Hi all,

Since joining boards last year i have been in and out of threads, posting the odd bit but mostly reading training logs with the most recent being all the marathon logs. The reason for that being i have entered (along with it seems a lot of other boardies) for the Barcelona Marathon 2011.

In relation to recent A/R/T history well i ran the London Marathon back in 2004 in a time of 3:45:xx with no plan in place, no structure, nothing. Happy enough with that, box ticked and all, i never really done much else bar your standard 5-a-side soccer with the lads, bit of golf, trail running and the odd 10k race just to keep the interest. Last summer was my first year competing in triathlon with me doing 6 sprint races but a lot of training. With that i have built up a base level of fitness and so why not try another marathon? (and the OH gets a nice wend away)

Here are a few stats about myself

Gender: Male
Age: 32
Weight: 74kgs
Height: 5'10''

I haven't really recorded any PB's of 5k/10k's recently completed.I have a Garmin so no real excuse there but haven't used it in a race situation yet. The plan i will be following is the Daniels Marathon Plan A. A spreadsheet i have devised to keep me on course over the next 17 weeks will be posted up later so any opinions/advice on that will be most welcomed. I would be keen to hear what others who are doing Barcelona have to say, especially those who are also following Daniels. Peak mileage according to Daniels Plan is estimated at 50 miles a week. The boyblunder assures me that this could/should get me a sub 3:15:00 which is my aim. I would love to go a bit closer to 3:00:00 but it may be a tough ask for only my second attempt at this distance.

I will summarise week 18 later

Enjoy the log

d2b

theboyblunder

Good luck with the training and the goals d2b

dare2be

theboyblunder wrote: »

Good luck with the training and the goals d2b

Thanks,

Had a good 1st week last week; just shy of the peak mileage as one night was totally taken up with going over sections of Daniels book again & again. However, got there in the end.

dare2be

Week 7 Summary attached

As said before, not a bad week in terms of mileage. Didn't hit target but was more running in a week than ever done before. The LSR on Saturday was confortable until the last 5k or so when the legs started to tire. Happy with recovery from that as Sundays run was steady.

Oisin11178

Good luck with the log bud. Im smack bang in the middle of yourself and theboyblunder. should be interesesting watching your log progress. Im also doing barcelona.

dare2be

Oisin11178 wrote: »

Good luck with the log bud. Im smack bang in the middle of yourself and theboyblunder. should be interesesting watching your log progress. Im also doing barcelona.

Thanks Oisin,

Yeah should be interesting alright. The thing about spring marathons as i found out tonight is that some tough sessions are to come over some tough wintry nights. What you put in you will get out (hopefully!)

Tonight

6.22km Easy
Time: 37:30.73
Avg pace 6.01/km
HR: 152bpm

Not the most enjoyable run. Feeling the effects of last weeks mileage. Legs felt heavy; no energy. Glad it was an easy run. More time on the feet though.

dare2be

Tues 09.11.10 (pm run)

Easy Run. Tried to keep the pace between 5:21/km - 5:40/km. Focus on running form & breathing. Felt strong although calf muscles sore for about the first km or so. 1st of the weeks Quality session coming up tomorrow according to Daniels Plan. Interesting to ses how last weeks mileage stacks up against tempo running.

Tonights Stats

7.87 km
42:09.11
05:21/km avg pace
HR: 152 bpm

dare2be

Weds 10.11.10 (pm run)

Q2 workout: 'Hard' run session. Basically sets of 4-min hard running with 3-min recovery jogs to total 8% of weekly mileage.

Warm up lap 1.02km 05:37.03mins {05:31/km}

Sets of a 1km loop x 3nr + 1 cool down lap 4.19km 21:01.20 mins

Total distance 5.21km

Note to self: Do not eat Indian Spicy chicken soup for lunch on training days!!

Could have done another couple of these but sticking to the plan

dare2be

Following on from the 'sleep' thread that's exactly what i did. Anybody heading out in that weather last night was a header so off to bed early.

Hopefully an easy run tonight as things settle down on the weather front.

dare2be

Sat 13.11.10

Late home from work on Friday night so this weekend was always going to be catch-up mileage. Anyway,

13.09km easy run
1:07:31
Avg 5:09/km
HR: 161bpm

Enjoyable run in the rain. Got a head torch so a new route was planned out to take me away from the ever increasingly boring trek on week nights. Could turn out to be a good investment.

Sun 14.11.10

18.05km easy run
1:36:30
Avg 5:20/km
HR; 156bpm

Happy enough with this run. Plenty of hills throughout. Running form must be getting better as i'm feeling more comfortable on LSR's. Will post up a summary of the weeks mileage tomorrow.

theboyblunder

good start d2b

dare2be

Week 8 summary. 10 miles off target distance due to abandoned run on Thursday and late home from work on Friday. Not a real concern at this stage but shows that i cannot afford to miss scheduled days/nights and playing catch up will most likely result in injury.

dare2be

15.11.10 pm run

Supposed to be an easy run but went out and stayed a bit faster than normal easy pace. Thought my 2 weekend runs would have caught up with me tonight but held off the fatigue. Hopefully a good sign

7.63km
38:00 mins
4.58/k
HR: 156bpm

dare2be

Tuesday 16.11.10 pm run

Easy run 10.75km
56:50 mins
5:17/k
HR 157bpm

Felt this in the legs tonight. Calf muscles took a few k to sort themselves out. First 6km of this with wind at my back. Not as tough as I thought on the way back into headwind.

Interval session planned for tomorrow. At the minute I'm not so sure whether this will be of the quality it should be, but we will see.

dare2be

Thursday 18.11.10 pm run

Quality Session - Intervals.

Switched my rest days about as i took yesterday to give the legs a break as they were starting to feel the mileage. Read on another post to always listen to your body, so tonight say the first of this weeks quality session as per JD's Marathon Plan. 8 x 1km intervals with 250m jogs, 1km warm up and finished with 1km cool down

My interval pace according to the VDOT tables is 4:12/km

Here's how it went

Warmup 1.03km - 05:30
Lap 1 - 04:13
Lap 2 - 04:20
Lap 3 - 04:15
Lap 4 - 04:26
Lap 5 - 04:24
Lap 6: 04:25
Lap 7: 04:22
Lap 8: 04:14
Cool Down - 06:18

Total Distance: 12.09km (bang on target with planned distance)
Total Time: 1:01:50
Avg HR: 153bpm, Max HR: 174bpm

Bit off the VDOT pace in most of the laps as i tried to run by feel and not look at the Garmin all the time but very happy with the session overall.

dare2be

Friday 19.11.10

Rest Day. No big weekly mileage this week so could afford to take this and give the legs another rest.

Saturday 20.11.10

Planned to be an easy run but ran a little quicker than my E pace. Didn't get out until late (i.e just before the rugby!!) so that had a little bit of influence on the pace.

10.6km
54:37
05:09/km avg pace

Sunday 21.11.10

Busy day. Bit of work to be done around home so that took up the morning so when i did get out it was this weeks Quality session, my 2nd of the week following on from Thursdays intervals.

3.57km Easy Pace in 18.01mins (05:03/km)
5 x 5min Tempo Pace with 1 minute rests in between (i walked these )

Lap 1: 1.15km @ 4.20/km
Lap 2: 1.13km @ 4.25/km
Lap 3: 1.13km @ 4.25/km
Lap 4: 1.10km @ 4.32/km
Lap 5: 1.09km @ 4:36/km

Followed by an Easy run of 47mins. JD called for an hour E pace but had to cut short as the in-laws came round for dinner (which i had to cook)

Felt good in this session. Rain came on when i was on the way back home. Love running in the rain. Those quality sessions really give you a lift.

Another week down (week 9 of the plan), 15 weeks to race. Need to look for a few races in Dec/New year to test myself.

dare2be

Monday 22.11.10

Easy run. Nearly taken out of it by a motorist :mad: Why oh why do they see you and still turn into a side road just as you are about to cross. I was going to draw my boot into the side panel of his car but decided i would take out my anger on the next hill climb

7.32km
38:42 mins
Avg pace 5:17/km

I had planned to re-assess my Vdot value this week but will leave it until i do a 5k/10k TT next week. It should come down a bit as i feel i have progreseed but we shall see.

dare2be

Tuesday 23.11.10

Rest day. Can't really afford it this week as higher mileage is called up in the plan but took it anyway

Wednesday 24.11.10

Quality session - Intervals

8 X 1k laps
250m jogs in between
1k warm-up
1k cool down

Total Distance 12.13km
Total Time 1:03:22

Warmup Lap: 1.11km in 06:44
Lap 1: 04:11
Lap 2: 04:13
Lap 3: 04:10
Lap 4: 04:09
Lap 5: 04:05
Lap 6: 04:09
Lap 7: 04:09
Lap 8: 04:11
Cool Down Lap: 1.03km in 06:31

Delighted with this session as my current interval pace is calculated at 4:12/km and so bettered this on every lap bar lap #2. Again, didn't look at the Garmin once through these so the feeling of pace is there or thereabouts for me at present.

dare2be

Thursday 25.11.10

Missed session/unplanned rest day. Had to go to a wake on thursday night so couldn't go for a run.

Friday 26.11.10

The missed session on Thursday put pressure on the following days in order to meet this weeks mileage target so i did the following workout

Easy Run
56:31 mins
11.2km
Avg pace 5:02/km

Was supposed to be easy but icy conditions made some parts tricky. V happy with the run but going a bit faster didn't help Saturdays quality session.

Saturday 27.11.10

Quality session #2
1:19:18
15.7km
Avg Pace 5:03/km
Avg HR: 154bpm

Felt sluggish and tired on this run. Thought Friday night was the cause for me feeling like that but just a bad run i guess and i was bound to have one of those along the line sometime. Planned to go about 19km but cut it a bit short as i wasn't enjoying it at all.

Sunday 28.11.10

Was at a birthday party on Saturday night so didn't know how i would get on here. Hungover in the morning but by 2pm i was raring to go

Easy Run
51:04 mins
10.01km
Avg pace 5:05/km

So, an increase in mileage this week. Will post up summary later when i update it.

All in all another good week. Happy with progress to date. Really feel the quality sessions are helping with all other runs backing up that work.

14 weeks to race

dare2be

Summary from Week 10 (last week) attached. Missed mileage target and will miss this weeks also due to weather conditions round my area. Will have to get out tonight to get my Quality session done though as i don't want to be missing those, the easy runs i can live with (for now!)

dare2be

No run last night either, 1st quality session missed since the plan started. Took a drive down to the industrial estate where i do my tempo/interval workouts and it was packed hard with Sundays snow storm. Had a bit of fun with the rear wheel drive though on a deserted 1.5km stretch of roadway.

So, should i revert back to this weeks plan next week or just move on and forget about it, stick to the planned week number and hopefully everything around home thaws out over the wend?

dare2be

Just in case those of you who thought i had given up on the log and indeed the journey to Barcelona i'm please to say that i haven't. Although i did get a swift and hard kick in the ass from a virus which knocked me for 6 all of last week; coinciding with the state of my part of the nation with ice and snow. It has been almost 2 weeks since my last training session and boy did i notice it. Here's the latest update.

Saturday 11.12.10

Got myself together and pulled on the gear for an LSR. I didn't quite know what to expect and how the effects of the virus would have on my running which up to now was tipping along ok imho. Anyway bit sluggish which wasn't a surprise but got through it and felt all the better to get it out of the system.

15.26k
1.18:33
5.08/km avg pace
165 bpm. Higher than normal but expected it to be

Sunday 12.12.10

Cold morning but rejuvenated after saturdays run got me out no problem.

21.59k
1.52:42
5.13/km avg pace
169bpm

Suffered on the homeward journey with about 5k to go, held on for dear life but was glad to get into the car. My longest run to date, probably not the best of situations to do it but hopefully i can build on it and move on from these last 2weeks of horror show. I will re-set my Vdot limits this evening as i want to increase some of the paces for the next stage of the plan. It should have been done about 2 weeks ago but situations change plans unfortunately.

another world

Just seeing your log now dare2be. I have a similar goal to yourself (Barcelona, hoping for just under the 3hrs), so I'll be following with interest. Best of luck.

dare2be

another world wrote: »

Just seeing your log now dare2be. I have a similar goal to yourself (Barcelona, hoping for just under the 3hrs), so I'll be following with interest. Best of luck.

Ah, good. Another follower.

Feel free to comment/leave opinion/criticise etc etc.

Best of luck with your own goals & training.

dare2be

Monday 13.12.10 pm run

I wanted to re-evaluate my VDOT values for the next batch of training programmes under the Daniels plan so i took the opportunity last night to see what i could run 10k wise. Started out a bit too fast early on but reeled it in after about 2k, felt good but was conscious of the fact that after a near 2 week lay off and the 36.85km split over the Saturday & Sunday that i may not be as fresh for this as i would have liked.

Anyway, enough excuses. Give her dixie i said to myself, dig deep and imagine you are in Barca 10k from home and going for the 3.15:00. I had the head torch on for a couple of k's along this route. Love running with it on, gives a real sense of only you and the open road at night. 2 k from home i had a real chance of a pb for the distance (sub 45mins). Don't think i have ever gone sub45 as i've never really trained that way previously. Coming down the home strait i gave it everything but was undone by 50secs (f*ck it i said to myself). Maybe some other of these nights i will get you!!

Summary:

10.5km
47:52 (45:49 for 10k)
Avg Pace: 4.33/km
No HR monitor on last night.

catweazle

You are doing some nice interval runs there, its something i am going to try myself next year. I would have thought from those interval sessions you would have broke 45 mins but the weekends running wouldnt have been helpful at all. Its hard to do a fast time on your own with no-one in front or behind to motivate you as well

I see you are still doing a bit of cycling.......I thought I had you out of the way

dare2be

catweazle wrote: »

You are doing some nice interval runs there, its something i am going to try myself next year. I would have thought from those interval sessions you would have broke 45 mins but the weekends running wouldnt have been helpful at all. Its hard to do a fast time on your own with no-one in front or behind to motivate you as well

I see you are still doing a bit of cycling.......I thought I had you out of the way

Yes Cat i thought i would have broken the 45mins at this stage and confident that i would have last night only for the 2 long runs at the weekend. All running is on my own and probably shall be on my own up until race day but i don't mind it tbh.

Haven't done any cycling since mid October, those were banked km's that i hadn't logged on the challenge so i think you are safe

shotgunmcos

Good stuff D2B the training is going well, I like the 8*1kms session. What is your Barcelona target?

dare2be

shotgunmcos wrote: »

Good stuff D2B the training is going well, I like the 8*1kms session. What is your Barcelona target?

Cheers MCOS. Yep, love the 8X1Kms but coming to an end as i progress further down the plan.

Well this is the thing. I have had a small rethink regarding the targets. A mate of mine recently ran Dublin in 3:15:xx so i want to beat him let the fox see the hare sorta thing. Desperate for this as he needs a bit of a trimming!!

However, i thought to myself why not set a gold, silver and bronze target for the race and see how it pans out. Haven't firmed up on the actual times over and above the 3:15:00 but maybe shave 5 mins off for the silver and a further couple of mins for the gold (3:08:00) or something.

Maybe a little advice from more experienced long distancers would help me decide. I don't mind aiming high but would need to sort this fast in order to have my sights set on them.

pgmcpq

dare2be wrote: »

Ah, good. Another follower.

I'm keeping an eye on this log too (but I'm a miles guy - all these kms have me baffled!). I've got similar goals for Barcelona but am following a P&D schedule. I skimmed Daniels but decided it seemed too much thinking in to little time to go with it. Looking at those 1k intervals I'm a little relieved !

Good luck.

dare2be

pgmcpq wrote: »

I'm keeping an eye on this log too (but I'm a miles guy - all these kms have me baffled!). I've got similar goals for Barcelona but am following a P&D schedule. I skimmed Daniels but decided it seemed too much thinking in to little time to go with it. Looking at those 1k intervals I'm a little relieved !

Good luck.

Yes i do realise that most people on here are still on the 'old money' (i.e miles) whereas i am a km's man probably from tri racing over the summer. Anyhow i might post in both units so more people can have an understanding of distances and times and may prove more beneficial to me anyway in terms of getting good advice on here. Also, most European marathons etc are clocked in km's as far as i'm aware so helps keep the focus and wil benefit come race day (hopefully he says)

Oisin11178

Yeah i was going to post yesterday about your 10k time. It surprised me a little to. I would have had you at about 42ish according to your training times. You are doing some great training at the moment and your 10k time will tumble down if you keep it up. Good luck mate.

dare2be

Tuesday 14.12.10 pm run

11.21km (6.97 miles ) easy(ish)
53:27 mins
Avg Pace 4:46/km (7.64 min/miles)
Avg HR 168bpm

Felt a bit sluggish and tired in the middle of this last night. Usually have my 1st quality session on the Wednesday night of each week but think i will switch to Thursday night and go for an easy run tonight in preparation.

dare2be

Wednesday 15.12.10 pm run

Nothing really special to report on this one. Still feeling a bit jaded and legs a bit sore around the calves and ankles for some reason.

Easy Run

6.52km (4.05 miles)
32:39 mins
Avg Pace 5.00/km (8 min/mile)

Oisin11178

The resheduled aware 10k might be a good race for you mate. Id say you would smash 45 mins in a race.

dare2be

Oisin11178 wrote: »

The resheduled aware 10k might be a good race for you mate. Id say you would smash 45 mins in a race.

Was eyeing that up alright Oisin. Think i will head down and have a punt at low 40's for that. Should be a good indicator of where i'm at for Barca.

Oisin11178

dare2be wrote: »

Was eyeing that up alright Oisin. Think i will head down and have a punt at low 40's for that. Should be a good indicator of where i'm at for Barca.

Might give it a go myself. Although that course is a bitch. Id say if your rested ect.. with race excitment sub 42 at least.

misty floyd

just found this d2b. Good luck with targets and fair play adding the mliles in too

That 10km time is irrelevant IMO. As you said the two week lay off and longish running at the weekend. Have you targets for a 10m or a half before Barca?

Keep it up!

dare2be

misty floyd wrote: »

just found this d2b. Good luck with targets and fair play adding the mliles in too

That 10km time is irrelevant IMO. As you said the two week lay off and longish running at the weekend. Have you targets for a 10m or a half before Barca?

Keep it up!

Cheers Misty. I suppose a lot of people can relate to the miles in their logs so it will hopefully generate a bit of interest and i may get some feedback based on mileage instead of kilometerage.

No targets yet regards a 10miler or half marathon. Must have a look at the A/R/T events or run ireland and plan something quickly. As said before, the Aware 10k is a race i will target anyway.

dare2be

Thursday 16.12.10

Rest Day. Decided to rest up and allow the legs to recover. I don't think i have the stamina built up yet for 7 day consecutive running. The rest days really benefit me i reckon.

Friday 17.12.10 pm run

Quallity session

17.55km (10.95 miles)

Time: 1:30:26

I didn't set this up on the Garmin as a workout as i wasn't too sure if i could get it done due to the snow and my headlamp breaking on the start of the run, about 3k in...

Anyways



17.55km was broken into approx 5k as an easy run
1x5min Tempo pace 4.20/km (6.97min/miles) with a 2-min rest
2x10min Tempo pace 4.20/km (6.97min/miles) with 2-min rest

The remaining distance was completed at easy pace

Sorry about the stats being a bit vague but as i said, i wasn't too sure if i would get this session completed on my way out tonight but at least i got it done and i'm not cheating myself out of it.

Felt ok running on the smowy paths but jumped onto the road in more quieter areas.

I usually would have done this session earlier in the week so my LSR (2nd quality session) may have to be on Sunday with an easy run tomorrow.

Hopefully should be on for the 50 miles this week.

I'm seriously considering making the trek down to Dungarvan for the 10 miler in the new year so should see a lot of you there.

dare2be

Saturday 18.12.10 pm run

11.34km (7.05 miles) easy (very easy)
56:48 mins
Avg pace 5:00/km (8:00/mile)

Snow covered footpaths so mostly on the road getting all sorts of looks and stares. Started to snow on the way home with temperature -4. Luckily haven't even had a slip yet never mind a fall (touch wood). Trail run tomorrow for the LSR so hopefully will be able to keep a good pace.

dare2be

Sunday 20.12.10 am run

Trail run through a couple of inches of snow. Tough going at times and felt like 2 paces forward, 2 paces back and near double the distance as a result. Had to run a lot slower than my easy pace most of the way but good to get the workout all the same. Really feels like you are using muscles not normally strained on a normal run.

Met 3 other runners on my way out so wasn't the only one getting strange looks from passer by's. It's great when you are doing something a bit different and people look at you shaking their heads

16.06km/9.97 miles
1:27:32
Avg pace: 5:27/km (8.76min/miles)

Not a bad week all in all. Will post up weekly summary in due course

dare2be

Week 13 of the plan

Planned Mileage: 50
Actual Mileage: 44

Missed session/rest day on Thursday meant i missed the planned mileage target but i'd rather be short by 6 miles than miss a quality session like the one i did on Friday.

Next weeks planned mileage is 45 and is more or less a replica of this week apart from the weekends quality run (Christmas day morning?? )

dare2be

So, Christmas and New Year have come and gone and i'm still hanging in there with the Barca plans. I missed a full week though from the 20.12.10 to 26.12.10 due to hectic in work to get finished up for the holidays, my christmas lunch/drinking binge and Christmas Day itself. It was only on the 27.12.10 that i started to get my act back together again, so i will start my round up from there.

Monday 27.12.10

14.58km/9.06 miles
1:10:19
Avg Pace 4:49km/ 7.75min miles

Tuesday 28.12.10

Mountain trail run in Kilbroney Pk, Rostrevor, Co. Down

11.07km/6.9 miles
1:07:48
Avg Pace 6.07km/9.78min miles

Headed off on my own but was caught by a more experienced hill runner soon into my run. I didn't really want any company at the time probably because i'm used to running on my own but i was actually glad he stuck with me. Very enjoyable run. Legs a bit sore the following day but a great workout and adds a bit of variety to the training.

Wednesday 29.12.10

20.01km/12.43 miles
1:34:28
Avg Pace 4:43km/7.13min miles

Longest run to date i have completed. I wasn't sure how i would fare with this to be honest as the previous days exertions up the mountains had my legs in a bit of a mess. Started off slowly then increased the pace gradually. Stuck with it until about the 16km/10 mile pace when i started to fade, with the last 2km/1.5 miles a real killer. Just thought to myself that you have to do this again kid in 10 weeks time!! Didn't take any water or gels on the run. Good feeling to clock up decent mileage in one run.

Thursday 30.12.10

Rest Day. Knackered after yesterdays session.

Friday 31.12.10

Rest Day. Painted the kitchen so didn't get out for a run betweeen that and build up to the new year celebrations.

Saturday 01.01.11

Rest Day. Hangover from hell. Sick as a dog until my mums dinner brought me round a bit.

Sunday 02.01.11

18.47km/11.47 miles
1:28:42
Avg Pace 4:48km/7.21 miles

New trainers on for this. Adidas Adizero Adios, great shoe, christmas pressie from the wife. Didn't even break these things in and i completed the mileage without a mark on my feet. If these things are good enough for Haile then they are good enough for me . Hopefully they bring me around Barca in under 3:15:00...

Monday 03.01.11

15.41km/9.57 miles
1:12:49
Avg Pace 4:43km/7.13 min miles

Waited until nearly dark until i went out. Took too long to decide on my route (anybody else have that problem??) Took the head torch in case i wanted to do something different and that i did. Country roads in the dead of night, very little cars or anything else. Met and passed a few GAA players out for a jog, they probably wanted me to stay with them to light up their way but i had bigger fish to fry. I would have broke 45mins for 10k easily last night but the run took in a major hill at about 8k mark and so i lost the momentum. About 2k from home started to feel very light headed and sort of dizzy. Maybe not a lot of fluids taken on board during the day was the factor there, must make that a new year resolution - drink more water.

So, thats an update of the log over the last while. I will be back on now on a daily basis to update, really hate typing long logs.

Happy new Year to everybody and here's to a great year of training and racing, hopefully

dare2be

Tuesday 04.01.11

11.21km/6.96 miles easy
54:00 mins
Avg Pace 4:49km/7.45min mile
Avg HR 164bpm

Tough run last night. Very sluggish the whole way around the route. Bit of uphill work against heavy wind and rain made it that much harder.

I have a bit of a slight sharp pain down the lhs of my left thigh. Rest day today i reckon just in case it flares up into an injury. First of the weeks quality session planned for Thursday then.

christeb

your mile times and training certainly look good for 3:15. Just make sure you are varying things enough, many of your runs are of same duration and distance, you don't want to get stale.

See you on the start line in Barca, I'm looking for a similar time to you...

dare2be

christeb wrote: »

your mile times and training certainly look good for 3:15. Just make sure you are varying things enough, many of your runs are of same duration and distance, you don't want to get stale.

See you on the start line in Barca, I'm looking for a similar time to you...

That's very true Christeb. In fact it was running through my mind last night, here i am pushing out another 10/11km during the week when maybe i should/have to be doing more. Although last night was a bit of a struggle round.

Thanks for the advice and it's something i need to work on but one of the problems is that most of the routes i take are the same distance and i don't have that much of a choice on the dark nights only head out into the country roads with the head torch.

The wife reckons i'm gonna kill myself (or get killed some of these evenings)

I hate doing laps of the same route but maybe needs must.

Yeah see you on the start line. Booked our hotel yesterday so that's another less thing to worry about.

christeb

I can be tough if you don't have nice running routes. I'm very lucky in that regard living in Raheny.
Can I ask where you booked - did you get a good deal? I still need to find a place.

dare2be

christeb wrote: »

I can be tough if you don't have nice running routes. I'm very lucky in that regard living in Raheny.
Can I ask where you booked - did you get a good deal? I still need to find a place.

Yip, i booked the Catatonia Port located in Ciutat Vella district of the city. Its about 1.5 miles or so to the start line from hotel so i thought it to be handy enough from what is still available. Not a great deal i suppose €194 for 2 nights which is about what most of the hotels are charging.

dare2be

Thursday 06.01.11

The plan called up the following session for last night

2 mile easy
20mins tempo pace
10mins easy
20mins tempo pace
2 mile easy

After reading TBB's log yesterday it seemed to be a little f*?ker of a session but these have to be done. He had done it the previous night and recorded some impressive times. Could i get anywhere close??

Lap 1: 3.32km/2.06 miles
15:50 mins
Avg Pace 4:46km/7.52min mile
HR 165bpm

Lap 2: 4.63km/2.88 miles
20:00 mins
Avg Pace 4:19km/6.95min mile
HR 169bpm

Lap 3: 2.08km/1.3 miles
10:00 mins
Avg Pace 4:49km/7.7min mile
HR 161bpm

Lap 4: 4.63km/2.88 miles
20:00 mins
Avg Pace 4:19km/6.95min mile
HR 169bpm

Lap 5: 3.32km/2.06 miles
16:04 mins
Avg Pace 4:50km/7.8min mile
HR 162bpm

Session Summary

17.97km/11.16 miles
Time: 1:21:54
Avg Pace: 4:33km/7.3min mile
Avg HR 165bpm

Have to say i enjoyed this session. Knackered after it and had to take myself off to bed once i scoffed my dinner. Really felt like i pushed myself over the 5 laps. Love the way the Garmin tells you to 'speed up' until you reach 'desired pace'; its the 1st time i used the workout function on the Garmin although i have a question on it for Krusty in his Megathread section...

I compared my times to that of TBB's and i'm still a way off his times but i always know i would be but it's still a marker as to where i'm at.

I'm going to give this Waterford half a rattle next weekend (pending accommodation!) . Need a few races under my belt and whilst it's a long trip down it may be worth it come early March.

I'm still a bit worried about endurance so plenty more work needed

Oisin11178

Now were talking. I love the 100 second minutes by the way, had me confused for ages:D