"We can rebuild her!"

rainbow kirby

Tuesday - plan was for 60 mins easy. Ended up having to shorten the run due to time constraints (it was already around 9pm when I headed out, and I still needed to do some preparation for a job interview). Did roughly 40 minutes, covered about 6.5km, average pace 6.16/km, average HR 161.

Wednesday - plan was 1 mile easy, 10x400, 1 mile easy. This wasn't the easiest of sessions, was pretty tired starting out and almost considered switching it with tomorrow's 60 min easy run. Decided to htfu and get it done anyway, and got through it ok in the end. Reps were between 1:40 and 1:50 mostly. 8.7km covered in total, average overall pace 5.26/km, average HR 171 with a whopper of a spike at the start (stayed around 230 for about 3 minutes).

rainbow kirby

Thursday - plan was 60mins easy. Not a great run, average pace 6.08/km, cut the run short to around 40 mins due to time constraints, 6.5km covered.

Friday - session (moved forward the weekend runs due to wanting to take Sunday as a rest day), plan was 1 mile easy, 3x1k @ 3k pace, 1 mile easy. This was a bit of a failure, did something to my back while doing housework midweek and it was playing up bigtime when I tried to run at any decent speed. The first time I tried to start the first rep it locked up straight away, the second time I got about 10 metres before it played up, the third time I got about 250m around but I could barely get anywhere close to the required pace for the session so at that stage I gave up on it and headed back. ~5km total covered.

Sat - plan was 10 miles easy. My back wasn't being as tempremental when running at a steady pace with not too many sharp turns, changes of direction or stopping and starting, so I actually got through this alright. Average pace 5.58/km, average HR 164, 16.36km covered.

Sun/Mon - rest days, vegetating, eating chocolate and watching rugby. Would prefer if we didn't have to face Clermont away in the semi, but such is the luck of the draw. Pity Saracens couldn't have done us a favour

rainbow kirby

Tues - plan was 60 minutes easy. Fail. My back is at me again, was hurting with every step, and I didn't get too far before calling it quits. Very annoyed with this, particularly since it's not a running-related injury

rainbow kirby

Haven't tried a run since Tuesday, but might chance a short one this evening. I've cycled with a backpack twice this weekend (11km each way, to and from my mam's house) and the back hasn't given me any problems, thankfully.

rainbow kirby

Finally got out for that run this evening. Not a peep out of my back, thankfully. 7.5km covered, 5.47/km average pace. No HRM because I was too lazy to go looking for the strap. Felt pretty damn good to be getting out I have to say, even though the weather was absolutely terrible. Needed to destress a bit after a job interview this evening...

DigiJem

Eek, nothing like a job interview to raise the stress levels, good luck with it. Glad to hear the back problem is sorted, hopefully you’re in for a long spell of injury free running now.

rainbow kirby

Plan for this evening - 2 miles easy, 4x400m @ 10k pace, 2 miles easy. Warmup was grand, felt pretty flat when trying to speed up though. Pretty meh session, then got caught in a hail shower. Yay fun. :pac: Total distance covered 8.75km, average overall pace 5.48/km. Definitely not racing this weekend anyway, legs are not going to magically wake up by Saturday.

Didn't get that job I interviewed for on Monday btw, somehow I'm not massively bothered.

rainbow kirby

Got out for an easy one this evening, got a bit of a drenching along the way! Just over 8.5km covered in about 50 minutes, average pace 5.55/km. Still a bit flat, but just getting back into it. Will take the bike out tomorrow if the rain fecks off for a while!

rainbow kirby

Sat - somewhere around 11-12km, somewhere around 6 min/km pace. Garmin conked out after about 2km so am taking a guess at distance/pace here. Felt pretty good after this, then had the ordeal that is shoe shopping (not the good kind either, I had to buy heels to match a dress for my best friend's wedding) to contend with afterwards.

Sun - 16.35km covered, average pace 5.49/km, average HR 155 / max 175. Felt very strong for most of this run, until I got a nasty stomach cramp after 14km. Had to stop for a threatened technicolour yawn, but after waiting a minute or so it passed and I was grand. Was listening to the Man U v Everton game during this run... surprised my heart rate wasn't about 10bpm higher! Fecking Toffee comebacks...

Pretty happy with this week overall, got 5 good solid runs in, 52.6km / 32.9 miles for the week. Only thing that annoyed me was that I didn't get to go out for my planned recovery cycle on Friday after work, due to getting out late. Not much I could do about that though.

rainbow kirby

Tues - 10.55km easy, average pace 6.00/km, couldn't be arsed putting my HR strap on. Pretty chilled out and a lovely evening in the park, pity I couldn't have got out of work earlier and gotten out slightly earlier because I missed most of the first half of the match, including John Terry's moment of madness...

rainbow kirby

Missed yesterday's run due to not quite having enough stored HTFU to deal with that weather. Got out this evening anyway, plan was 60 mins easy, which is pretty much exactly what I did. 10.6km covered, average pace 5.48/km, average HR 158 / max 177. Decent run, felt pretty strong throughout. Sessions this week will tell a lot though, better try squeeze one of them in tomorrow...

rainbow kirby

Friday - did the session I missed on Wednesday, 10x400m. Did it out on the road to Chapelizod because I didn't fancy playing in the muck at the polo grounds. Reps between 1:47 and 1:52 in general. Total distance covered 9.5km, average HR 159 / max 196 (probably a spike).

Saturday - planned 10 miles easy, didn't happen. Had time constraints, and ended up spending that time trying to fix a nasty issue with my phone. :mad:

Sunday - roughly 8km easy up in the park. Horribly windy out, making the run feel way harder than it should have. Garmin died about 1km in, because I'm a big eejit and didn't turn it off after my run on Friday. :rolleyes:

Bit annoying that I missed my Saturday run, but c'est la vie. Might try get it in tomorrow after work, we'll see.

rainbow kirby

Tuesday - plan was 60 minutes easy. Due to weather which would have left Jonathan Coulton horribly disappointed (go about 1:00 in :pac: ) I didn't get out until after 8.30pm, and discovered that my Garmin was on the fritz again on the way out. Quickly downloaded Runkeeper for my phone and headed out, because I didn't want to wait much longer. If I believe that, 5.3 miles covered at 9.28/mile average pace.

RacoonQueen

Awesome, keep runkeeper and it's pretty miles, even if it can be highly inaccurate.

rainbow kirby

Plan for this evening - 1 mile warm up, 3x1k @ 3k pace with equal recovery, 1 mile cooldown. Probably took out a bit of frustration on this one, had an interview this evening for a job I really wanted and it was a disaster. Had put off this session the last 2 times it had appeared on my schedule, so really had to get it done this week. Reps were 4.29, 4.23, 4.30. Total distance covered 9.5km (warmup and cooldown both slightly longer than required), average HR 160 / max 192. Very happy to get that done, felt stronger than I thought I would.

meijin

rainbow kirby wrote: »

Quickly downloaded Runkeeper for my phone and headed out, because I didn't want to wait much longer.

RunKeeper app is good enough, but not always accurate and a bit lagging in features. Not sure about your phone, but iSmoothRun is much better, if you have iPhone.

rainbow kirby

meijin wrote: »

RunKeeper app is good enough, but not always accurate and a bit lagging in features. Not sure about your phone, but iSmoothRun is much better, if you have iPhone.

Nah, Android here (I have a Samsung Galaxy S2). I use my Garmin 99% of the time, it's just that I'd forgotten to charge the fecking thing.

belcarra

Check out Garmin fit on the app market. 79c to buy and it synchs up with your Garmin connect account.
Very handy.

Bally8

rainbow kirby wrote: »

Plan for this evening - 1 mile warm up, 3x1k @ 3k pace with equal recovery, 1 mile cooldown. Probably took out a bit of frustration on this one, had an interview this evening for a job I really wanted and it was a disaster. Had put off this session the last 2 times it had appeared on my schedule, so really had to get it done this week. Reps were 4.29, 4.23, 4.30. Total distance covered 9.5km (warmup and cooldown both slightly longer than required), average HR 160 / max 192. Very happy to get that done, felt stronger than I thought I would.

Hi RK, what plan are you following? Can I ask a stupid question- what does equal recovery mean?

rainbow kirby

Bally8 wrote: »

Hi RK, what plan are you following? Can I ask a stupid question- what does equal recovery mean?

The plan I'm following is "whatever ecoli emails me"

Equal recovery means that if my 1km rep takes 4.30, then my recovery consists of very easy jogging for another 4.30.

rainbow kirby

Plan for this evening - 1 hour easy. Did pretty much exactly that - 10.55km, 5.56/km average pace. Average HR 152 / max 167. Pretty relaxed throughout, if feeling the effects of yesterday's session a bit. Debating the merits of replacing tomorrow's 1 hour run with a 1 hour cycle.

rainbow kirby

^ Legs were horribly flat on Friday, plus the opportunity to go to the cinema with friends I haven't seen for ages presented itself, so ended up taking an unscheduled rest day.

Sun - Great Limerick Run half-marathon

Had been hoping for 1:50, and my more recent race results suggested that it was a pretty reasonable goal. I hadn't run a half since January 2011 though, and hadn't run more than 18km at a time since March 2011, so was a bit worried about how I'd fare in the closing stages. Decided to give it a lash anyway though. Ended up loaning my Garmin to a forgetful pacer, so no splits along the way. Went out with the 1:50 pacers, but took a tumble somewhere around the mile 1 marker. After deciding I hadn't done any serious damage, I picked myself up and caught back up to them just after 2 miles. The quick mile I put in to catch back up to them hurt me a bit though, by around 3 miles the stomach was lurching a bit, and I could feel the hip a bit (I landed quite heavily on my left hip). Gave some serious consideration to DNF'ing, though when I saw that there was really nowhere good to step off the road I decided I'd keep going to about 6 miles and see how I felt. Things settled a bit by then and the pain wasn't getting any worse, so kept going at that stage, and caught back up to the pacers again somewhere around there. Tried to stick with them, but lost them again somewhere between 8 and 9 miles and just tried to keep them in sight after that. The hills were starting to do a number on me at that stage, and the legs were starting to feel very flat. By 11 miles they felt completely dead and I was really struggling. Kept going though, but the blue balloons had just gone too far into the distance for me to have any hope of hitting my goal. Crossed the line with 1:51:40ish on the clock, finally got a text this evening to say that my chip time was 1:50:59. (5.16/km average pace - 8.27/mile)

Got a PB by almost 5 minutes, but didn't hit the goal I'd set for myself. Not sure how to feel about that. I know I *can* do better than that... staying on my feet the whole time, flatter course, actually covering the distance in training (will probably go up to 25km LSR before the GNR), dropping a few pounds... but I can't be annoyed by a fairly substantial PB really. There's a lot of work to be done by September if I am to get close to 1:45 then... :eek:

The_Boy_Wonder

Congrats... sounds like you haad more to contend with on the day than you should have had. Great to come away with the PB

shazkea

Great time RK, don't be too hard on yourself as you got a nice PB there. As you say you've learnt a few things for 1:45 attempt so take heart from that and it'll be in the bag

rainbow kirby

Time to update the PB list again then.

1 mile - 6:42 (Tallaght Goal Mile 2011)
5k - 23:41 (MSB 5k, 2012)
5 mile - 37:42 (Raheny 5, 2012)
10k - 52:22 (Women's Mini-Marathon, 2010)
10 mile - (standalone) 1:28:23 (Mallow 10, 2012)
HM - 1:50:59 (Great Limerick Run, 2012)
M - 3:59:00 (Barcelona Marathon, 2011)

Next up? Dunshaughlin 10k. Sub-50 or I might as well just hang up my runners. :pac:

There was definitely a 10 mile PB yesterday too (sub-85), but with no Garmin I have no idea of splits.

Dory Dory

Congrats on your PB! And there's something nice about knowing you've got legitimate room for improving that time. And wow, you've already got 4 PBs this year! Woo hoo! You rock!

tHE vAGGABOND

Congrats on a good run in what looks like tricky circumstances!

Just think how far you've come since your injury hell last year!

Let those pb's tumble!

Pisco Sour

Congrats on a great run. You'll be way under that 1:50 next time.

You're creeping dangerously close to my PB from a few years ago.

rainbow kirby

Back on the road today. Just a short, easy one - 20 minutes at recovery pace. Around 3km covered, this wasn't pretty. 6.28/km average pace, didn't bother with the HRM. Legs still recovering, sitting here watching TV with a pair of compression socks on to help the calves a bit...

rainbow kirby

Plan this evening - 45 minutes easy. 7.5km covered, 6.10/km average pace, average HR 149 / max 187 (spike). Still taking it very easy in an attempt to bring the legs back to life, nowhere near as bad as they were yesterday though thankfully. Bruising has gone down a bit too, but it still looks a bit manky.