Tales of a Tortoise

Concerned2 · 05-04-2011 2:03pm #1

Hi guys & girls , I've been a long time snooping around these forums. Reading some of the training logs are so inspirational I could'nt help but start one.

I have been exercising sporadically for about the last 6 years . I'm a chronic ITB sufferer so in the past I've followed training plans for a couple of months , the injuries mount up & I give up for a couple of months loosing any fitness gains I had only to restart the cycle again. Consequently I've never improved much over the 6 years but I'm hoping I'll be more focused by keeping this log.

Most of my PB's are very recent as I mainly did triathlons in the past & have pretty much decided to focus solely on the running for the foreseeable future.

To date I've done the following (very unremarkable pb's )

5k : Nov 2010 20:54
8k : Aug 2009 37:30
10K : Jan 2011 45:50
10m : Mar 2011 1:15:25

My main goal this year is to try & complete the marathon. My head says if Oprah can finish 1 so can I , then again the pains in my legs say otherwise ! Still I'll stretch & ice & foam roll the aul legs frequently & try to make the start line at least !

Other than that I'd like to go sub 20 mins in the 5k which I'll hopefully do near the end of the year in the mizuno 5k series through Killarney park.
I want to get the 10k below 45 mins as I'm not overly happy with my pb. I'll be tackling this in the Coole park 10k in a couple of weeks time.
I'll be back in Galway come August to knock perhaps 2 mins 30 secs off my 8k time.
I'm currently following a half-marathon training plan that finishes to coincide with the Kildare half-marathon. I've also paid for the Limerick half-marathon which I'll use as a bit of a pacing experiment for Kildare. After Kildare if the legs are still in working condition I'll start into a marathon plan for the big one in Dublin.

brownian · 05-04-2011 7:02pm

Welcome to the logs. I think many folk find them a motivational assist.

Your PBs aren't so shabby -with all the usual training advice there's no reason at this stage not to achieve your goals.

Concerned2 · 05-04-2011 8:44pm

brownian wrote: »

Welcome to the logs. I think many folk find them a motivational assist.

Your PBs aren't so shabby -with all the usual training advice there's no reason at this stage not to achieve your goals.

Cheers brownian , I've seen some logs where people are holding a faster pace over a marathon than I do over 5k :eek: If any of them want to spill the beans & let me know the secret I'll be a very happy tortoise

Concerned2 · 05-04-2011 8:58pm

Ok , First run of the week from Week 7 of the half marathon training plan I'm following.
Session was a small w/up followed by 5 * 1 miles @ 10k pace with 800 meters easy in between & a small jog as a cool down to finish.
I normally do interval sessions like these on the track but this session was too long to fit in during my lunch without getting sacked so I did it on the roads .

Mile intervals were done as follows

1: 7:16 min mile , avg hr 151
2: 7:02 min mile , avg hr 160
3: 7:14 min mile, avg hr 163
4: 7:21 min mile , avg hr 165
5: 7:12 min mile , avg hr 165

Total Distance 7.91 miles.

This is probably the longest interval session I've ever had to do & I'm plenty sore after it. During the intervals I couldn't imagine holding 7:14 pace for a whole 10k but I've held a hr of 168 for a 10 mile a couple of weeks back so I may be able to hold the pace in a race environment. I've iced the legs in the sore spots & will take an ibprofen as they are a bit more battered than usual.

brownian · 06-04-2011 2:59pm

Concerned2 wrote: »

Ok , First run of the week from Week 7 of the half marathon training plan I'm following.
Session was a small w/up followed by 5 * 1 miles @ 10k pace with 800 meters easy in between & a small jog as a cool down to finish.
I normally do interval sessions like these on the track but this session was too long to fit in during my lunch without getting sacked so I did it on the roads .

Mile intervals were done as follows

1: 7:16 min mile , avg hr 151
2: 7:02 min mile , avg hr 160
3: 7:14 min mile, avg hr 163
4: 7:21 min mile , avg hr 165
5: 7:12 min mile , avg hr 165

Total Distance 7.91 miles.

This is probably the longest interval session I've ever had to do & I'm plenty sore after it. During the intervals I couldn't imagine holding 7:14 pace for a whole 10k but I've held a hr of 168 for a 10 mile a couple of weeks back so I may be able to hold the pace in a race environment. I've iced the legs in the sore spots & will take an ibprofen as they are a bit more battered than usual.

Tough old session - you're chuggin away nicely. Keep it up!

Concerned2 · 06-04-2011 9:04pm

The training plan had a 5 mile easy paced run scheduled for today, my legs feel like they belong to someone using a wheelchair so it was no problem keeping the pace slow. If the evening was pouring rain I probably would have just rested them but it was such a lovely evening out it was an easy decision to go for a trot .

So the run was 5 miles at 9:40 min pace with a avg hr of 139. The legs feel a little bit better after the run than before ! The plan has a tough track session for tomorrow which might turn into a rest day if the legs are sore in the morning...

maria74 · 06-04-2011 10:10pm

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Concerned2 wrote: »

The training plan had a 5 mile easy paced run scheduled for today, my legs feel like they belong to someone using a wheelchair so it was no problem keeping the pace slow. ..

My legs definatly felt today like they were belonging to someone else (who incidentally is even slower than me..yes hard to believe I know!!!):D

Welcome to logs... btw your times would suggest to me that you would be more of a hare to my tortoise shell!!

Best of luck with it all.

Concerned2 · 07-04-2011 9:25am

maria74 wrote: »

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My legs definatly felt today like they were belonging to someone else (who incidentally is even slower than me..yes hard to believe I know!!!):D

Welcome to logs... btw your times would suggest to me that you would be more of a hare to my tortoise shell!!

Best of luck with it all.

Thanks Maria . Sure I think the majority of us fall into the turtoise category , its only the few up front who are ever fighting over the prizes & the rest of us are just trying to do the best with what we've got (damn my glass legs

)

Concerned2 · 08-04-2011 7:22pm

Gave the track session a miss yesterday as the legs were a bit on the sore side & i was afraid if I did that session I wouldn't be able for my long run this weekend.

Today the plan had a easy 5 miler planned so thats what I did ! Lovely mild day for running , its hard to believe 2 short months ago I had some runs where I had frost on me when I finished.

Todays run was at 9:06 min/mile pace with a avg hr of 142. Legs were a small bit fresher at the start than earlier in the week after getting yesterday off but were still pretty sore after a couple of miles. Hopefully tomorrows long run (12ish miles) doesn't totally cripple the poor legs.

Concerned2 · 09-04-2011 2:59pm

Training plan had tomorrow penciled in for my long run but I'm on child minding duties tomorrow so had to face into it today. Plan was for 12 miles with the last 2 at half marathon pace (hopefully 7:40 min/miles) . I did 12.6 miles , the first 10.6 were done at 9:02 min/miles with avg hr of 147. The last 2 were done at 7:41 min/miles with avg hr of 166.
I have an addias hydration belt which is a right pain in the ass , the bottles only hold 170 ml of liquid & when full they dig you in the ribs when you are running. I'll have to source something better later in the summer when I am following a marathon plan.
I was also expecting it to be a bit warmer today. There was a really strong wind that didn't bother me for most of the run but my final 2 miles were on a stretch that was straight into the wind which made trying to hold the required pace a real struggle.
Still happy enough as this is the longest run I've ever done & the legs don't feel like someone took a bat to them

Concerned2 · 11-04-2011 7:20pm

10/04/2011. Easy run today of 4.02 miles @ 8:41 min/mile pace with avg hr of 147. It was a lovely warm day for a run. The legs felt good enough considering I had a long run yesterday.

Mileage for the past week was 35 miles which is the most I've ever ran in a week. This week coming the mileage for my half marathon plan is a bit less & instead of a long run at the weekend it has a 10k race penciled in which I'm doing in Coole park in Gort.

Concerned2 · 12-04-2011 9:39pm

On week 8 of my half marathon training plan. Thankfully its a bit lighter on the milage than week 7 although it has a 10k for next Sunday rather than a long run.
Todays session was on the track , 1/2 mile w/up then 2 miles @ 10 k pace followed by 3 miles @ half marathon pace then 1/2 mile cooldown.

I wasn't sure what pace to do for the 10k section as I'm probably in better shape than for either of the 2 10k's I done so far, I'm not in good enough shape to aim for the 10k time the running calculators give me based on my 5k pb so I split the difference & aimed for about 7:10 pace. The 2 miles actually came out at 7:08 pace with an avg hr of 163 & the 3 miles came out at 7:37 pace with avg hr of 168.

I think I encountered all 4 seasons during this run. I was wearing a long sleeved top because I though it was going to be cold out but it was nice & warm at the start. About 20 mins into the session it started to pour rain. I was on Limerick Uni's track & the munster rugby team were training on the grassy area inside the track . When it started raining they dissapeared , come on like they are meant to be professionals & they are afraid of a bit of rain ! It brightened up again for a while & when I was nearly finished it stated pelting hailstones , maybe the pros were right to call it a day when they did !

1 funny thing about this session was I was quicker over the 5 miles after the w/up than my 8k pb which is really soft.

Nules10 · 13-04-2011 10:44am

hi concerned2 read through your log... some great times there... and great training. What time are you aimimg for in the half in Kildare?

Concerned2 · 13-04-2011 3:23pm

Nules10 wrote: »

hi concerned2 read through your log... some great times there... and great training. What time are you aimimg for in the half in Kildare?

Hi Nules, I'm hoping to break 1:40 but thats a very aggressive goal for me & I have done nothing to suggest I'm capable of that. I've never done a half before , last weeks long run was the longest I've ever run & that wasn't even 13 miles. I did do the Craughwell 10 mile race in 1:15:25 on the back of 3 weeks training, if I put that time into 1 of the running calculators its giving me a predicted time of 1:40:33 for the half . I'll have about 10 solid weeks training for Kildare so hopefully that will get me inside 1:40.
I'm also doing the half in Limerick 2 weeks before Kildare & I intend to experiment with the pace a bit in Limerick so see what might be sustainable in Kildare. If Limerick goes badly I'll move my prediction out to around 1:45.
What kind of time are you hoping for yourself & are you happy with the way your training has been going ?

Nules10 · 13-04-2011 3:59pm

You have great times under your belt already... i am sure you will crack it. 1.40... god i could only dream of a time like that

i would love a sub 2hr... but if i am honest i don't really think i have it in me... not for kildare anyway... i am barely getting under the hour for 10k's. If not kildare then I will do it in the Cliffs of moher in sept... love a good old challenge

I am loving training at the moment find the shorter runs the hardest :rolleyes:

Concerned2 · 13-04-2011 8:57pm

Easy 5 mile run this evening. I was sure I was going to get soaked wet because there were some awful showers earlier but I was delighted to get home bone dry. I did 5.08 miles @ 9:13 min/miles with an avg hr of 138. The legs felt sluggish enough but the heart rate was low so I obviously wasn't killing myself !

Concerned2 · 14-04-2011 9:16pm

I've no idea what the purpose of todays session on the training plan is for but I blindly do whatever the plan asks for ... so todays session was a small w/up followed by 25 mins of 30 secs @ 5k pace , 30 secs easy , then a small cool down to finish. The workout feels like 25 mins of strides ! Total distance covered was 4.28 miles @ 8:30 min/miles with an avg hr of 144. No aches or pains in the legs which makes a nice change, hopefully they will be raring to go in the Coole park 10k this weekend

Concerned2 · 15-04-2011 2:59pm

Easy paced 5 mile run today at lunch time. The weather was lovely for a run , no wind & sunny . Hopefully it will be nice & warm for my 10k race at the weekend. The run today averaged 8:50 min/mile pace with an avg hr of 144 .Legs felt pretty much pain free so roll on the weekend ...

EdMoses · 15-04-2011 3:54pm

Best of luck with the 10k at the weekend. By the looks of things you`re definitely in sub 45 shape! Have a good one.

Concerned2 · 18-04-2011 9:43am

What a lovely day for a run , there wasn't a puff of wind & the sun was out & it was nice & mild. This was a pretty low key race but with the lovely weather a Hugh crowd turned up on the day. The organisers ran out of numbers so some people had their numbers written on scraps of paper with markers , never seen that before in a race! In the past I've lined up a number of rows from the front & always had to weave around people for the first few mins so this time I lined up just behind the first row so I could run unimpeded from the start. The goal for this race was 1) at least below my PB (45:50) & 2) to run sub 45. I planned to take it out hard & try to bank a bit of time & when I'd get tired to try & hold onto 4:30 km's for the rest of the race. So I went off aggressively from the start & the first 4 km's flew by. The legs were a bit creamcrackered at the stage so I intentionally slowed a bit to save a bit of energy for the second half of the race. I hit 5k in 21:30 & I was very confident at this stage of getting well under 45 . Towards the end of km6 I could feel my gut tightening as a stitch took hold. I tried the few remedies I could think of like breathing deeply & coughing but stitch bloody well wouldn't go away. Km's 7 , 8 & 9 were very slow but very painful , I was holding my side jogging along well aware I was leaking time quickly. The stitch easy a lot towards the end of km 9 so I picked it up again as best as I could for the final k. Coming into the last few hundred meters I knew it was going to be desperately close , I crossed the line in 44:57 :pac: so goal achieved. I've kind of mixed feelings about the race , at half way I think a much better time was on the cards . I'm wondering if I started a bit slower could I have avoided the stitch. Probably not though as I tend to get stitches at random when I run regardless of the pace. Split details are below (hopefully they appear in a table !)

Split|Time|Avg Pace|Avg Hr|Max Hr|Best Pace
1|3:59|6:20|153|166|5:29
2|4:17|6:55|169|176|6:07
3|4:07|6:38|173|175|5:27
4|4:29|7:17|173|176|6:23
5|4:38|7:22|172|176|6:05
6|4:39|7:32|171|175|6:08
7|4:50|7:59|169|173|6:30
8|4:47|7:44|169|171|6:41
9|4:49|7:45|171|174|6:35
10|4:19|7:01|174|176|6:03

BrokenMan · 18-04-2011 11:22am

Well done especially to tough it out at the end to get under your target.
Stitches can be a real pain and have ruined many the race, best advice I ever got on them was to blow out hard as soon as you feel it coming on, imagine you are blowing up a balloon. Works for me anyway.

Nules10 · 18-04-2011 11:41am

Well done Concerned2. Sounded tough there towards the end. I am no expert but through trial and lots of errors

maybe starting off slower is best and then picking up the pace once you have got into your stride. Someone more experienced might be able to advise better on this.
But well done again

Concerned2 · 18-04-2011 1:03pm

Thanks guys for the advice regarding stitches. Unfortunately I think once a stitch gets hold of you there is no guaranteed way of shaking it off. Its soul destroying to drift off the back of people you've been tracking for a couple of km's & have to jog along clutching your side. Ah well , at least I sneaked under the 45 mins but I cant quite shake the feeling that a great time was there for the taking.

EdMoses · 18-04-2011 4:06pm

Well done on the PB Concerned2 and congrats on sticking with it to the end. I`m not so sure I`d have been able to brave it in the same circumstances! Looking at your splits I`d say you have a big `stitch-free` PB in you. Being able to cover 10k under 45mins is not too shoddy at all at the best of times never mind carrying a stitch. You should take great confidence from that going forward. Your next one will be well under 44 mins I`d say! Keep at it and best of luck.

Concerned2 · 19-04-2011 9:28pm

Track session for today. Session was 800m w/up then 2 * 2400m @ 10k pace with 800m easy in between & 800m cooldown to finish. It was an absolutely smashing day for a run & I had the whole track in UL to myself

My 10k pace is supposed to be 7:14 min/mile but I did the intervals slightly quicker as I think my 10k PB is on the soft side.

The first interval was done at 7:06 pace with avg hr of 159 (heart rate monitor slipped a bit so that fig may not be too accurate).
The second interval was done at 7:09 pace with avg hr of 169.

As far as track sessions go this 1 was easy enough , my training plan has another track session for Thursday which looks very painful on paper

Concerned2 · 21-04-2011 7:24pm

Yesterday I did a easy 5 mile jog in the evening. Avg pace was 9:14 min/miles & avg hr was 140.

Went to the track in UL early this morning for a very tough session...

Session was 800m w/up, 4 * 800m @ 5k pace (suppose to be around 6:45 min/miles) with 400m easy between each interval. 800m easy after the last interval then repeat the intervals again ! Then 400m easy & 1 mile @ 1/2 marathon pace (7:40 min/mile).

Intervals came out as

1) 6:59 min/mile avg hr 146
2) 6:45 min/mile avg hr 155
3) 6:43 min/mile avg hr 158
4) 6:47 min/mile avg hr 159
5) 6:50 min/mile avg hr 159
6) 6:54 min/mile avg hr 162
7) 6:50 min/mile avg hr 162
8) 6:49 min/mile avg hr 163

last mile was in 7:41 pace with avg hr of 160. Total distance was 7.75 miles.
Legs were pretty tired & heavy throughout. I think I've lost abit of top end speed since I was training for a 5k last November. Leg is a bit sore now aswell

I've a long run planned this weekend so hopefully the legs are recovered by then.

EdMoses · 22-04-2011 8:18am

Concerned2 wrote: »

Yesterday I did a easy 5 mile jog in the evening. Avg pace was 9:14 min/miles & avg hr was 140.

Went to the track in UL early this morning for a very tough session...

Session was 800m w/up, 4 * 800m @ 5k pace (suppose to be around 6:45 min/miles) with 400m easy between each interval. 800m easy after the last interval then repeat the intervals again ! Then 400m easy & 1 mile @ 1/2 marathon pace (7:40 min/mile).

Intervals came out as

1) 6:59 min/mile avg hr 146
2) 6:45 min/mile avg hr 155
3) 6:43 min/mile avg hr 158
4) 6:47 min/mile avg hr 159
5) 6:50 min/mile avg hr 159
6) 6:54 min/mile avg hr 162
7) 6:50 min/mile avg hr 162
8) 6:49 min/mile avg hr 163

last mile was in 7:41 pace with avg hr of 160. Total distance was 7.75 miles.
Legs were pretty tired & heavy throughout. I think I've lost abit of top end speed since I was training for a 5k last November. Leg is a bit sore now aswell I've a long run planned this weekend so hopefully the legs are recovered by then.

Looks like some session! Was knackered just reading about it. How do you judge your pace for track sessions? I have a Garmin but as far as I know it won`t give me pace on the track. I`m looking at starting track sessions next week but the pace thing has me a bit confused. Thanks. Ed.

Concerned2 · 22-04-2011 8:45am

Hi Ed, I've a garmin forerunner 305 . I'm no garmin expert so there may be a better way of recording pace but what I do is bring up the lap pace display , hit the start button when I start jogging for my w/up , then when you are starting your first interval hit the lap button . The lap pace on the garmin will take about 1/3 of a lap to adjust from your w/up pace to your current pace so dont panic if after 100m your pace on the watch is much slower than what you expect ! When you finish your interval & start your recovery interval hit the lap button again . If you have a different garmin the above might not make much sense , I probably havn't explained it very well anyway

If your watch has current pace I would not use that , I find it jumps around too much to be of much use. 1 observation I've noticed from intervals is its easier to get up to the required pace on the 2nd interval. Even though you are fresh for the first it seems like awfully hard work until you get the heart rate up. Of course the few at the end aren't much fun either ! Good luck with the intervals , they are great fun

huskerdu · 22-04-2011 9:48am

Thank Concerned. Good advice. I have a 305 and didn't think of using the lap button to accurately measure my interval pace. I've been trying to estimate it from the graph on garmin connect, like an eejit.

Concerned2 · 22-04-2011 2:35pm

huskerdu wrote: »

Thank Concerned. Good advice. I have a 305 and didn't think of using the lap button to accurately measure my interval pace. I've been trying to estimate it from the graph on garmin connect, like an eejit.

If you use the lap button to keep track of your intervals when you upload the session to Garmin Connect take a look at the Splits tab & it will break down the info for each interval , its something I find very useful anyway

Concerned2 · 24-04-2011 2:15pm

Legs were feeling stiff & sore on Friday so to give myself a chance of doing a long run on Sunday I did no run on Friday. Saturday was a very easy 4 miles @ 9:38 min/mile pace with avg hr of 139.
Today was long run day. I did 14.35 miles , first 11 miles averaged out at 9:15 min/mile pace with avg hr of 137 although I did set out at a very slow pace of around 10:30 min/miles. Last 3 miles were supposed to be @ 1/2 marathon pace (7:40 min/miles) but I did them a bit faster @ 7:31 pace with avg hr of 166.
That was the longest I've ever ran & I was pleased to be able to pick the pace up near the end. On the downside my hip started hurting around mile 9 which doesn't bode well for when my marathon training starts to ramp up. I'm sure I could suffer the sore hip for the last bit of a half but I wont be able to finish a marathon if it flares up only 9 miles in.
I've also passed 100 miles for the month of April which is only the 2nd time I've managed such mileage (March was the first)

Nules10 · 24-04-2011 4:30pm

well done on the long run today. Great pace there for the last couple of miles.

Concerned2 · 24-04-2011 7:49pm

Nules10 wrote: »

well done on the long run today. Great pace there for the last couple of miles.

Thanks Nules, its always nice to set a new distance record in training. God knows how I'm going to cover 20+ mile runs in a couple of months for Dublin marathon training . Even besides the aches I have from the run today I'm totally drained lying out on the couch for most of the the day (although I did have enough energy to munch through some easter eggs :rolleyes:)

rainbow kirby · 24-04-2011 7:56pm

Concerned2 wrote: »

On the downside my hip started hurting around mile 9 which doesn't bode well for when my marathon training starts to ramp up. I'm sure I could suffer the sore hip for the last bit of a half but I wont be able to finish a marathon if it flares up only 9 miles in.

Given your history of ITB problems, I would be very careful about this.

Concerned2 · 25-04-2011 11:30am

rainbow kirby wrote: »

Given your history of ITB problems, I would be very careful about this.

I think with the ITB problems I've had I'm not cut out for long distance training but I'm determined to give the Dublin Marathon a fair shot this year. If I follow my training plan it will be pretty obvious long before actual marathon if I'll be able to complete it in ok shape. To be honest I'm not worried about doing any long term damage , I've had ITB problems in some shape or form for the last 6 years so I've kind of learned to live with it

Concerned2 · 25-04-2011 7:59pm

No training to report today but I've seen this nifty stats table in some people's logs so I've decided to add it to mine

Month|No. of Runs|Miles Run
January|17|83.93
February|3|15.85
March|21|110.73
April|19|112.63
Total|60|323.14

BrokenMan · 25-04-2011 11:00pm

Concerned2 wrote: »

No training to report today but I've seen this nifty stats table in some people's logs so I've decided to add it to mine

Month|No. of Runs|Miles Run
January|17|83.93
February|3|15.85
March|21|110.73
April|19|112.63
Total|60|323.14

You need to get those miles up on the 1000 mile challenge

Concerned2 · 26-04-2011 9:31pm

Plan for today was 3 easy miles followed by 5 miles @ 1/2 marathon pace (around 7:40 min/mile pace).
I found this session much tougher than it should have been for a number of reasons NOTE: these are not lame excuses!:rolleyes:
I think the legs were still a big fatigued from the long run at the weekend...
A tooth must have shifted slightly in my jaw yesterday evening because my jaw was throbbing going to bed.Anyway after about 2 hours staring at the ceiling I got up , took 2 ibprofen , gargled a bit of water mixed with salt & went back to bed. Around 2 hours later the pain had gone but I was wide awake , done think I slept at all last night :mad: ...
I cant run after a heavy meal so before I went out for my run this evening I cooked dinner for the family , popped mine in the oven & headed out for my run. Oh God I was really really hungry before I got home. Its bad enough having the legs complain when you're out for a run but when the stomach joins in its awfully hard to hold a decent pace.

Anyway the first 3 miles were done at a very easy pace (9:52 min/mile avg hr 128). The last 5 miles were done @ 7:39 pace but I was closer to 8 min mile pace for the initial 2 miles , I found it harder than I expected to get the pace down to 7:39. Avg hr was 159 , I expect this to be slightly higher over the course of a 1/2 marathon. The hip was a bit sore at the finish so I've been icing it & using the foam roller like mad all evening.

Month|No. of Runs|Miles Run
January|17|83.93
February|3|15.85
March|21|110.73
April|20|120.79
Total|60|331.30

Concerned2 · 30-04-2011 9:47am

Wednesday was a rest day so I decided to gt a bit of physio done on the ITB bands. The treatment wasn't too bad but on Thursday the bands were very sore so instead of a fast session I did an easy 5 miles @ 9:33 min/mile pace with an avg hr of 136.
On Friday I did another easy run , 4 miles on the football pitches in UL. Kept the pace very easy @ 9:39 min/miles with an avg hr of 140. The weather all week has been fantastic for running. Hopefully the good weather lasts until Sunday for the 1/2 marathon I'm doing in Limerick.

Month|No. of Runs|Miles Run
January|17|83.93
February|3|15.85
March|21|110.73
April|22|129.88
Total|63|340.39

BrokenMan · 30-04-2011 9:58am

Best of luck tomorrow, looks like the weather will be pretty near perfect if its anything like today.
Good call on dropping back to a couple of easy days, will definitely stand to you tomorrow and in the long run.

Concerned2 · 02-05-2011 1:58pm

Race day turned out to be nice & dry with a strongish cool breeze from the east. I was freezing waiting for the race to get underway but once we got going the weather was probably near perfect for a fast time. I positioned myself right behind the 1:40 paces at the start & my plan was to track them for as long as possible as I didn't think I was capable of sub 1:40 but knew I should be at least faster than 1:45. The first 2 or 3 miles were quite hectic , the pace was up & down the whole time as the roads were quite congested with runners. There was such a big crowd following the pacers I decided after about a mile I would pass them & run a bit ahead so I wouldn't have to continually adjust my stride in the crowd . About a mile further on I looked up & the pacers were ahead of me , I was like WTF how did they pass me without me noticing ! Most of the race was uneventful enough , I remember thinking at 5 miles in how much better I felt than at the same distance in a 10 mile race a couple of weeks ago. Around 9 miles in I was sure I would break 1:40 as I was ahead of the pacers & I felt great.
The course was overall very flat but the last couple of miles had a few long drags in them. Around 10 miles in we climbed a drag in front of Thomond park & I was side by side with the pacers here. As we came back onto the Ennis road & faced another long drag in front of the Gaelic grounds things came unstuck here. The strength suddenly drained from my legs & I watch helplessly as a gap to the pacers grew & grew. At the top of this drag they were at least 200 meters ahead of me & I knew I wouldn't be able to close this gap as the legs were now Jelly. I kept plugging away as best as I could & picked it up a bit in the final couple hundred meters as the crowd support near the end was amazing. Finish time was 1:40:27 , it's a PB as it's my first half marathon

My race details are in the table below , details are missing for around mile 7 as I must have hit the wrong button on the garmin for this section. Also some of the splits are for more than 1 mile as I missed most of the mile markers on the course , 1 split is even for 2 miles !

Split|Time|Avg Pace|Avg Hr|Max Hr|Best Pace
1|8:06|7:33|149|158|6:44
2|8:31|7:39|161|169|6:52
3|6:35|7:26|164|167|6:36
4|7:21|7:22|166|167|6:37
5|7:28|7:18|167|170|6:32
6|15:02|7:34|166|171|6:33
7|7:38|8:29| | |
8|7:43|7:37|167|170|6:24
9|7:45|7:46|168|171|6:56
10|7:35|7:42|170|174|6:58
11|7:51|7:45|170|173|6:59
12|8:48|7:48|171|175|6:05

Nules10 · 02-05-2011 6:59pm

Finish time was 1:40:27 , it's a PB as it's my first half marathon

Well done that was a great time. Kildare will be no problem to you getting sub 1.40

Concerned2 · 03-05-2011 7:07am

Nules10 wrote: »

Well done that was a great time. Kildare will be no problem to you getting sub 1.40

Cheers Nules , to be honest I dont think there is much chance of me getting under 1:40 in Kildare. Limerick was very flat & Kildare looks hilly enough on the course map (I though the curragh would be pancake flat !). I dont think there are any 1:40 pacers in Kildare either. Maybe I'll have to follow the 1:35 pacers :pac:

BrokenMan · 03-05-2011 8:03am

Well done, thats a fantastic result for your first half. Certainly wouldn't write off a sub 1:40 in Kildare this race will put you in great shape for it. I reckon you could come in well under it. If I remember Kildare is your goal race as well so you will be fully tapered for it and have a couple of more good weeks training under your belt.

Concerned2 · 03-05-2011 9:53am

BrokenMan wrote: »

Well done, thats a fantastic result for your first half. Certainly wouldn't write off a sub 1:40 in Kildare this race will put you in great shape for it. I reckon you could come in well under it. If I remember Kildare is your goal race as well so you will be fully tapered for it and have a couple of more good weeks training under your belt.

I doubt the extra 2 weeks training will make much difference to my finishing time. A proper taper will hopefully help but how much of a taper is going to negate the extra hills ??? Without the 1:40 pacers I think I'll have to be tuned in better mentally throughout the race to break 1:40. I noticed when following the pacers sometimes your mind would start to wander & all of a sudden there would be a 20 meter gap to the pacers & you'd work a wee bit to close these gaps , something you wouldn't do without the pacers. I'm still happy enough to be around the 1:40 mark , once I break it it's a long way to 1:30

Concerned2 · 09-05-2011 11:08am

Havn't logged an update in almost a week as training in the last week was very poor. The Monday after the limerick half marathon the legs were quite stiff but on Tuesday they felt great. I had a physio session booked for Tuesday so I did that instead of a run. On Wednesday I went for a easy 5 mile run , about a mile in I got a sharpe pain in the front of my foot. I stopped for a few mins to felx my foot with my hand & though about quitting the session but the pain eased & by altering my stride I finished the run ok.
Next day the foot was painful at times to walk on & there was also pain in my heel. I did a bit of googling & apparently I upset some tendon that runs from the heel to the front of the foot . I took a few Ibprofen & did no run on Thursday or Friday. I was signed up for a sprint triathlon on Sunday so I went for a small run on Saturday to test the foot. The run went ok so I gave the tri the green light ......

Arrived in UL around 8 on Sunday morning bleary eyed & tired for a the Joey Sprint tri. Anyone readign this log might have noticed there has been no mention of cycling or swimming as guess what.... I havn'nt done any cycle or swim training for this race. :eek: I've cycled twice this year about 2 months ago & I'm such a rubbish swimmer it doesn't make much difference if I do any training in it or not ! Anyway I had great intentions of training when I signed up for this a few months ago so just to earn the t-shirt I said I may as well do the race.

One of my gripes with the pool tri swims is how nobody seems to be able to predict what they are going to do the swim in . In each lane we are suppose to decide amongst ourselves who goes sets off first as there is no point having a slower swimmer holding up everyone else . We had a 700 meter swim & I wanted to start at the back of the queue as I knew it would take me close to 18 mins to do the swim, but some others said they would be close to 20 mins so I started in front of 4 others . Half way down the first length & the person behind me is tapping on my feet :rolleyes: I let 3 people past at the end of a length & plodded along at my own pace. I swim like a rock but I could swim all day if I had to so the rest of the swim passed uneventful enough. Finished the swim , crawled out of the pool & got the the timing mat outside in 17:43 about 17 of which was actually spent swimming. I've low expectations on the swim so was content enough with this...
Transition 1 went smoothly enough & took 2:04.
Out onto the cycle & the wind was just incredible. The cycle was 23km , 11.5 out & back the same way. We were cycling into the wind virtually the whole way out which made the cycle a real slog. My hip started hurting about 2k into the cycle so I knew it was going to be a long day. Huffed & puffed my way out averaging I guess around 13 mph , when I turned at halfway the homeward leg was a good deal fast with a lot less effort. Finished the cycle in 49:35 avg a little over 17mph which was fine given the conditions & my lack of cyle training.
Transition 2 was slow enough in 2:02.
Then out on the run.... its amazing the difference between running in a tri & a regular run race. My legs were a bit fried from the cycle so I couldn't take a proper length stride (at least it felt that way). It felt like I was running a 5k taking baby steps ! Heart rate must have been sky high as well as it was very hard work even though I seemed to be crawling. Still overtook a good few people on the run so nice to know the run training was worth it . Finished the run in 21:59 & I would have sprinted it a bit at the end if I had know I was that close to 22 mins .

Overall finished in 78 out of 198 in 1:33:21 , swim was ranked 135

, cycle was ranked 84th :rolleyes: & the run was ranked 42

I'd recommend any runner to give a sprint tri a go , they are great fun in a perverse kind of way .

Happy the foot held up to the abuse . My training plan only has 2 runs pencilled in for this week then there is a few days off to taper for the Kildare half-marathon. Pity it looks like its going to be wet & cold for Kildare

Nules10 · 09-05-2011 4:54pm

well done on the tri concerned2 fair play to you. I am not a fan of cycling but not too bad at swimming... wind and cycling is just cruel. great run though. All set for Kildare then?

Pity it looks like its going to be wet & cold for Kildare

I am kinda happy

Concerned2 · 11-05-2011 9:36pm

Nules10 wrote: »

well done on the tri concerned2 fair play to you. I am not a fan of cycling but not too bad at swimming... wind and cycling is just cruel. great run though. All set for Kildare then?

I am kinda happy

I'm not sure if I'm all set for Kildare but the race is paid for & the hotel is booked so there's no getting out of it now :pac:

Concerned2 · 11-05-2011 9:51pm

Did 6 miles on Tuesday , the first mile was at an easy pace followed by 5 miles @ half-marathon pace. The legs felt the effects of the weekends tri in the first mile & I thought I'd never be able to speed up to half pace but I surprised myself by holding 7:36 pace for the 5 miles. Avg hr was 152 for this session.

I did an easy 3 miles this evening , excuse the following expletives ..... Jesus Christ it was bloody cold out this evening , has this country nothing going for it at the moment grrr .
I avg 8:37 pace for the 3 miles which was a bit quicker than my usual slow runs but I was doing my best to warm up. Don't think there was a drop of sweat on me after the 3 miles. Its promised even colder for the weekend & there won't be much shelter from a northerly breeze in the Curragh so I'm not looking forward to the Kildare half-marathon

Month|No. of Runs|Miles Run
January|17|83.93
February|3|15.85
March|21|110.73
April|22|129.88
May|6|33.41
Total|69|373.80

BrokenMan · 13-05-2011 3:28pm

Good luck in Kildare. Some of the best races I have done I went in with no expectations and not really looking forward to them. Think it helps to take the pressure off.
You have great training done and it will stand to you.

Concerned2 · 16-05-2011 3:20pm

This race was on a bit too early to drive up to on the day so I stayed in the Clarion in Liffey Valley. On the morning of the race I just had time to gobble donw a quick bowl of rice crispies , a couple of slices of toast & a cup of T. Awfully hard to stay away from all the greasy stuff that was laid out but I hadn't time & didn't fancy throwing up somewhere around Kildare later so the plain contanential brekkie had to do ! Got to the Curragh shortly after 8. We were meant to be starting the half at 9 but the race was delayed about 20 mins as a lot of people seemed to get caught in traffic. I didn't mind at all because when they were initially herding us out the door around 8:50 it was miserable wet out , by the time the race was restarting the shower had passed & we didn't get a single shower during the race so the weather could have been worse. However I remember the photos of this race from last year , were they bloody photoshopped or something because compared to Sunday it looked like a race from a different country. A lot of the reports I've read said it was perfect weather for the race , surely mild calm weather would have been better than blustry cold conditions

Anyways I didn't have a pacer to follow so I positioned myself around half way between the 1:35 & 1:45 pacer. I found it very hard to get up to the required pace at the start . The first mile was mainly down hill but with the crowd it turned out to be a slow enough mile. Mile 2 was flat but straigh into the wind & again I was over my expected pace. The next 6 miles are a bit of a haze really , I just motored along counting down the miles. I knew from the course profile that it would be tough around mile 9 so I had kind of mentally prepared myself for what was in store. Mile 9 sure was tough. Going through Kildare town there was a steep enough drag & I think just outside of town there was killer of a railway bridge. The last couple of miles coming back into the curragh were pretty flat & there was a good breeze behind us so I was pushing along at something approaching 10k pace. When I was a bit from the end I say a big sign for 600 on the racecourse , I though thats not too bad only a lap & 1/2 of a track to finish , reached 500, 400, 300 & then came to a sign for 400m left ! The signs I was looking at were for the horses on the racecourse

When I hit the finishing straight I could see the race clock was close enough to 1:40 so I put the hammer down & gave it everything I had (hopefully there will be no photos taken at the finish line

). I was sure the clock had 1:44:57 when I finished , my time on the result sheet is 1:39:42 & the time on my garmin (which should be my chip time) was 1:39:18 so I'm not quite sure what I finished in ! I was under 1:40 anyway so mission accomplished

Distance|Time|Avg Pace|Avg Hr|Max Hr|Best Pace
1.21|9:19|7:40|154|165|6:34
.77|6:18|8:12|164|169|7:21
.99|7:22|7:24|161|168|6:12
1.01|7:38|7:33|164|168|6:57
.97|7:23|7:37|165|170|7:04
.99|7:27|7:31|165|170|7:07
.99|7:27|7:31|167|171|6:56
.99|7:25|7:29|165|169|6:53
1.01|7:53|7:50|167|172|7:06
1.01|7:47|7:42|167|172|6:50
.97|7:16|7:30|168|171|6:54
.99|7:15|7:19|169|171|6:50
1.01|7:27|7:22|169|171|6:45
.20|1:16|6:22|171|173|5:21

Tales of a Tortoise

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