A little bit of everything, just faster

nerraw1111

Sunday 6km recovery run.

Monday 19km avg pace 4.30 km

So first time hitting all scheduled runs in a week. Today's run was very enjoyable. Felt good throughout. Jenny Greene on 2FM were playing dance classics so great listening. I also made a change to my training which has given me great speed...a running singlet! Forget intervals, a singlet will have you zipping along.

nerraw1111

Tuesday bike 30km

First time on bike in ages. Nice spin around the Phoenix park. Took it handy. Legs felt good, no noticeable drop in bike fitness. Hills felt good. Probs an avg speed of 28km.

nerraw1111

Wednesday 16km, 8km at half mara pace

Good session but horrible at the same time. Plan was to do 8km at easy pace and then 8km at around 4min/km pace. Lovely evening for it but just 5km in I was feeling wrecked. Thought strongly about binning the session. Had no energy. Struggled on to the first 1km at hm pace and slowly ticked off the kms. Mentally it was great to finish session while feeling crap. All kms came in at 4mins to just under. Kmackered now

nerraw1111

30km LSR 150 minutes.

Up and atom bright and early. Beautiful morning, woofed down some porridge and out the door before 7.30am. Ran through town on way to Phoenix Park. Hit the trails and I was just buzzing, hazy blue skies and an almost deserted park. Stashed a bottle in a tree near the cross and the kms were clicking by nicely. One big loop of the park brought me back to my water bottle and before I knew it, I was over half way. Hit a bit of a rough patch around 22kms, legs were a bit tired and stiff, and I was getting hungry. Left calf was getting a bit tight but got over the slump to hit 29km, with an avg pace of 5.04min per km. Luas home and another km jog home. Delighted with that.

Phoenix Park workers do a great job too. On the way in, you could tell it was a nice evening in Dublin judging by the rubbish all over the place by the monument and other parts of the park. By time I left, it was completely cleared.

nerraw1111

11km recovery run 55mins

Weekend of beer and music festival as well. Catching the last 5 lads in the Olympic marathon was as close to marathon training as I got.

This evening's run was tough. My left calf was sore all weekend and shed loads of walking and standing around didn't help. Rejigging schedule as Gaelforce this weekend. Treating race as a half marathon tempo run. Medium long run tomorrow of 19km, also breaking in new trail shoes. Then rest up and push out long 20 mile run till Tuesday.

nerraw1111

11km

Short enough run. Breaking in new trail shoes. No problems. Originally planned 19 but didn't have time. With GF on Saturday, probably a good thing. Not sure how they'll pan out. I'm certainly faster so will go out quicker on the run. Cycle is unknown. Trained harder at start if year than 2011. But less so in last 2 months. I'd like to think ill be slightly quicker on the bike. As for Croagh Patrick, suffer!

nerraw1111

Gaelforce West

Back for the fourth time. I had a target of breaking four hours having previously posted a time of 4.12 in 2011. I’m running a lot faster than last year, had a really good IMRA Leinster league with improved times and positions across the board. So 12 minutes wasn’t a huge ask. Big unknown was the bike. Did a bit of bike work early in the year but nothing since June.

So off we start at 6.30am. Manic scramble from the beach. I got into a nice pace from the start and was motoring along. Got to the rocky trail and my HR starting to rise. Very muddy underfoot, a lot of energy was expended trying to maintain the pace. Was up to my arse at one stage in bog. Breathing hard about 7km and I was trying to get it under control. Pretty much stayed in the same position that I had from the start and was making ground on the climbs.
Got to the kayaks at 1.01.29, about 1.40 ahead of last year. Probably in the top 15/20 at this point.

Into a single kayak for the short paddle. Amazingly, no-one passed me here. Gave me a bit of a boost. The bog section was very difficult but got to the bikes at 1.27.34, compared to 1.30.27. A three min improvement so game on for sub 4.

Got on the bike and my race, unlike the course, went downhill. Not sure what happened, lack of training, going out too fast, but I just felt like crap on the bike. Legs were gone. It turned into a real sufferfest. I tried to grab wheels as they went past, would hang on for about 5 mins before getting dropped. This went on for most of the bike section. Got passed by one VET about 25 mins into the bike, who went on to a top 10 finish, a lesson in good pacing perhaps.

Got to the bog road and really felt like crap. Last year, I flew up this section, feeling fantastic. This year, I was barely turning the pedals. Was contemplating pulling out at this stage. Just as we got to the transition, leading woman called me, so perhaps all was not lost. 1.26.19 for the bike compared to 1.22.46 in 2011. However, it felt like I was ten minutes down.

Onto Croagh Patrick and the question of route choice. I saw the leading woman go to the left and thought about following her. Alas, I followed someone else on the most convoluted route up the side of reek. I was fecked at this stage but was pissed to see we completely missed the ridge and emerged further up the mountain. Felt a bit light headed at this stage and had to stop a few times. Again in 2011, I felt great going up. Reached the summit in a time of 41.12 compared to 32.57 last year. Turned down and headed a cautious descent. My left foot was sore at this point. Decent descent, about 2 mins slower than last year.

Back on to the bike for the last 12km to Westport. Felt ok here and held a decent pace to the finish. Foot was fcvked at this point and limped over the line in a time of 4.23, 11 minutes slower than last year.

At first, I was pleasantly surprised with the time as I felt so bad on the bike that I thought I’d be heading for over 5 hours. Now, I’m not so sure. I’m fitter than last year and more experienced. A bit pissed to go over 10 minutes slower up CP than 2011 despite being a stronger climber. That’s a huge amount of time to lose.

Still not sure what went wrong, or indeed if anything went wrong. I didn’t think the lack of biking would have such an effect but perhaps the absence of long bike rides, which I did last year, meant I wasn’t able to push on tired legs. Maybe the marathon training left my legs fairly tired going into the race. Lots of maybes.

Physio appointment later as my left foot is fairly sore and limping ever since. Hopefully it’s just a bruised heel but feels a lot more serious than that.

nerraw1111

Goodish news from physio. Foot isn’t too bad. The problem stems from a tight hip which is then pulling all sorts of things awry, with the foot being ‘the victim.’

A week to recover but assured I can start back pretty much as normal and to treat this week as a rest week in the marathon schedule. That makes sense right?

A load off my mind. Previously, I’d let an injury drag on but now would recommend going to a physio sooner rather than later. Will cycle for the rest of the week.

nerraw1111

Been a while. Foot injury took ages to clear up. Over 2 weeks. Very slow process.

Luckily, my first run back was in the alps and around bits of the UTMB course. Epic running. Best of all, you can avoid all the hard work slogging uphill by hopping on a cable car and then just running along the ridges and balconies of the alps. Amazing. Hiking and running all day long under beautiful clear skies. Great place. Cheap too. Running Mecca in the summer it appears.

Great buzz till I sprained my ankle (opposite foot) on last day. I was twisting it
all day until it finally gave out. That has since healed. A bit tender but fine to run on flat surfaces.

13k today at around 4.20 pace. Still on for marathon but missed over 3 weeks so will see how I go as to what time to target.

nerraw1111

16km around 4.40 pace.

Completely forgot to eat today. Seriously. So after 6km, I was weak at the knees. One mars bar and a bottle of the spar isotonic drink later I was feeling much better.

Felt pretty good after that and was hitting a few 4.20 km splits. The spar drink wasn't that bad either. A bit sweet however similar enough to lucozade.

Got home only to realise the plan called for 19km rather than 16. Balls.

A wedding coming up which will involve more rejigging of schedule. Planning to move LSR to Friday. Supposed to be 27km but I've missed a 20 miler so fingers crossed, I'll aim for that.

Also missed a few vo2 max sessions. Very haphazard approach.

nerraw1111

20 miles 4.55km pace.

Absolute misery. Every single km. Trying hard to think of at least one part of the run I enjoyed but nope, not a single step.

Up at 6am, out the door at 6.30am with a camelbak. It was a nice morning initially with a bit of wind. By 8km, I was feeling a bit tried which lasted until kilometre 32. The route I chose was in retrospect awful. A figure of 8 along the northside and southside sea fronts. The bit of wind was now enough to slow me down.

I was wrecked by the half marathon distance. Broke down the remaining 12km, into 6km beyond my house and another 6km back. That worked mentally for a while until I realised that still meant another 50 odd minutes of running.

I was even hoping for red lights all the way home, just to stop for a bit. It’s been a month since my 18 mile run. That felt easy in comparison to today. The chances of running 26 miles, at 40 seconds quicker per km, seems fairly remote!

A very rough morning. Positives are that I got it done, didn’t take any gels, drank only water, feet, ankles feel ok and did it at 6.30am on a windy Clontarf sea front.

nerraw1111

A great week's running. Mainly because most of the runs were in Spain under the sun.

Monday 13km, Tueday 15km.

Felt great on these runs. On holidays so also got to see some cool sites. One of the great things about running is doing so while away. Usually discover nice parks or cafes etc.

Wednesday 15km with 5 * 1km at 5km pace.

This was a bit of an effort. Haven't done any fast work since injury so held a bit back. The laps came in at 3.44, 3.38, 3.42, 3.40 and 3.39.

Saturday 19km

This was fairly rough. 30 odd degrees heat left me fairly battered, zig zagging from
shade to shade. 5 min/km pace. I was in a heap at the end of it. First 9km felt fantastic, went from thinking "that marathon des sables doesn't seem that hard" to "oh
****, I'm going to collapse." 95 mins in total.

Monday 9km recovery run. A very wet and slightly cold run.

Slightly behind on P&D schedule. Tomorrow is 29km with 23km at pmp. Should be a tester. Hopefully weather improves!

nerraw1111

29km, 23 at pmp.

Looked at the window and thought feck that, I'll do it tomorrow. Thought about it over a cup of tea and well, the day of DCM could be like this so zipped up the man suit.

Headed to the park where there were a surprising number of runners. Rain jacket, wooly hat and off I went for a handy 6km before starting pmps.

Basically did two laps consisting of a loop around the pitches at acres, then up Chesterfield road, down north road, out by the zoo and back up chesterfield for lap two. Previous pmps were for a 2.55 time but with three weeks missed, new pmp is for 2.59.

Felt good for first 13km of pmps. Bit of a head wind along Chesterfield that required a bit of effort. Struggled to run at pmp (4.15), constantly speeding up/slowing down.

Second lap, discarded the rain coat. Started to feel the effort and the last 7km were a struggle. Wind felt stronger, a hill suddenly appeared on chesterfield road! Took a gel and the last 3km felt never ending. Runners were squelching with every step. Got it done with avg pace of 4.13.

Four kms were over 4.15: 4.16 twice, 4.22 and a 4.18.

Thoughts of doing another 13km? Jaysus.

I'm crap at running at a constant pace, I was going from 3.58 pace to 4.25. Think I might waste a lot of energy speeding up/slowing down. Perhaps following pacers will leave me less tired.

nerraw1111

13km with 5 * 600m at 5km pace.

A bout of man flu made this a bit rough. Legs felt tired. Intervals were pretty even, 3.29s, 3.30s. So 6 months of running in the dark beckons then.

nerraw1111

19km medium run

Decided to incorporate the last 11km of the marathon route for a change of scenery.

Ran about 5km before taking up the route from Milltown and along Clonskeagh Road. Could feel the drag up Clonskeagh all right which felt tougher than the actual short climb on Roebuck road. I think Miculin mentioned this in his log.

Of course, 20 miles in the legs, rather than 6.5miles, will make a world of difference.

Still, you can fall over the steep part and onto the downhill on Foster's Avenue to recover. I was feeling a bit tired with not much food on board so found the run in back to town a bit boring. Stillorgan road drags on for a bit before a nice downhill on Nutley lane. Merrion road is then fairly dull, before nice downhill on Shelbourne road and sure then you're almost home. A few loops to bring distance to 19km, avg 4.41km pace.

Not sure of the value of running the last 11km. It's a tough run mentally anytime in my opinion, with long uninteresting drags that stretch on for ages. At least there's a few downhills along the way.

Krusty_Clown

nerraw1111 wrote: »

Not sure of the value of running the last 11km. It's a tough run mentally anytime in my opinion, with long uninteresting drags that stretch on for ages. At least there's a few downhills along the way.

Unfortunately those last 11kms are just as uninteresting on race day, with few spectators and not much to look at. But as you round Trinity College.... Wow... Can't wait to do it this year, without the balloons and entourage..

nerraw1111

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Unfortunately those last 11kms are just as uninteresting on race day, with few spectators and not much to look at. But as you round Trinity College.... Wow... Can't wait to do it this year, without the balloons and entourage..

Absolutely. That'll be the carrot running down Merrion Road.


6km recovery and strides.

Dog tired today. I've done 81km since Monday and can certainly feel it. That said, no niggles or soreness. Delighted with that. One of the reasons for doing DCM is bring my mileage up. Getting caught in the heavy downpours this week has led to some chafing.

Lovely morning for a handy run. The strides were a bit of an effort.

Undecided about doing eco2run 10 mile race tomorrow. Be great to put a time down but I'm fairly shattered now. Might be better off doing a time trial instead.

nerraw1111

14km

Heading to the park with plan to run a 16km time trial. Legs weren't feeling it so opted for a hard 8km at 3.50 pace. Suffering after 4km with a head wind and a long drag. Got
the 8 done is 31.13. Happy enough given the hard week. A few kms either side and back to car for some carrot cake.

20 miles amarach which, fingers crossed, will bring my weekly distance to over 100km for first time. That's down to running last week's lsr on Tuesday though.

nerraw1111

32km (20 miles) 2:35:48. avg 4.49 min per km.

This run went really well. Felt good for most of it, the early miles flew in. Ran the trails in the Phoenix Park which are a delight this time of year, squirrels, deer and no sight or signs of traffic.

After 16km, I looped back to take grab a drink of water. Found 23km to 26km a bit tough. At 26km, had another drink and out again for the last 8km which were OK. My last 2km were the fastest of the whole run, 4.33 and 4.30, purely unintentional, I just wanted to finish. Negative split too, first 16km 1:19:22, second 16km 1:16:26. Didn't take any food or gels so that's a good thing.

Pleased with the run given the high mileage. Bit of a confidence booster.

ThePiedPiper

Good going picking up the pace on the second half of the long run there. Phoenix Park must be busy these days with people training! Every second person seems to be running there, going by the logs. You doing much in the way of interval sessions or tempo workouts? I'm in the last week before marathon on Sunday, feel like I should be out doing a few miles but no value in it as this stage.

nerraw1111

RunForestRun wrote: »

Good going picking up the pace on the second half of the long run there. Phoenix Park must be busy these days with people training! Every second person seems to be running there, going by the logs. You doing much in the way of interval sessions or tempo workouts? I'm in the last week before marathon on Sunday, feel like I should be out doing a few miles but no value in it as this stage.

Yup the park is fairly busy these days. Everywhere really, there isn't a footpath on Dublin without a runner.

I've done a few intervals. Once a week for past 2/3 weeks. Not many tempo sessions though. Would've liked to have done more.

Which marathon you doing? Any target?

ThePiedPiper

Running Budapest this Sunday. Target is 2:56-2:59 I suppose. I think I'm going to follow the pacers for at least 16 miles and move on if I'm feeling good. The current PB is 2:58:23, I'd like to beat that but I'm not going to go nuts either trying to shatter it. A safe 2:59 would be just great.

I've probably done about 5 interval sessions of 10 x 800m at 5:50 pace over the past couple of months. It sounds like a monster session, but not too bad. I definitely feel a lot more comfortable at this pace than I would have in previous cycles.

Keep doing what you're doing anyway, you seem to be on a good progression. You do a lot of extra work on the bike and other type of training, yeah? The cross training probably does wonders for your general conditioning without the stresses running brings. If I'd any sense, I'd do a lot more on the bike, think I was only on it about 10 times in total this year, 50 miles cycling, 1,300 running!! Not exactly balanced. You ever try triathlons? I'd say Gaelforce was tough going.

nerraw1111

RunForestRun wrote: »

Running Budapest this Sunday. Target is 2:56-2:59 I suppose. I think I'm going to follow the pacers for at least 16 miles and move on if I'm feeling good. The current PB is 2:58:23, I'd like to beat that but I'm not going to go nuts either trying to shatter it. A safe 2:59 would be just great.

I've probably done about 5 interval sessions of 10 x 800m at 5:50 pace over the past couple of months. It sounds like a monster session, but not too bad. I definitely feel a lot more comfortable at this pace than I would have in previous cycles.

Keep doing what you're doing anyway, you seem to be on a good progression. You do a lot of extra work on the bike and other type of training, yeah? The cross training probably does wonders for your general conditioning without the stresses running brings. If I'd any sense, I'd do a lot more on the bike, think I was only on it about 10 times in total this year, 50 miles cycling, 1,300 running!! Not exactly balanced. You ever try triathlons? I'd say Gaelforce was tough going.

They sound like monster sessions, 10 * 800 metres. I'm fairly inexperienced but I do think I'm lacking a bit of the fast stuff in training. But then again, I'll be running comfortably, and the pace will creep up to marathon pace fairly easily. (That said, shouldn't that be the case anyway) Whether I can sustain it. That said, I'm going out to enjoy it. 2.59.59 or 3.15, I'll be happy.

I haven't done a lot of the bike since the marathon training kicked up a gear. The odd MTB spin.

I did tri-athy earlier this year. Really enjoyed it. I thought about switching to tri but I didn't really enjoy the training, particularly the swimming. Just found myself thinking I'd rather be in the hills/outside. Still, an ironman is on the bucket list.

Best of luck in Budapest. Not long now!

ThePiedPiper

Great attitude to have. For a couple of my marathons a few years back, I got way too wrapped up with times, and was downtrodden after a 3:05 sub-3 fail. Really sh!t attitude to have. A couple of slower marathons, on purpose only training for 3:20 made it real again, for want of a better phrase. My attitude now is to enjoy every race, and take a PB if it comes. My bucket list top dog is Comrades, but would love to do a short tri sometime. Any of them where the swim is only 50 metres would be do-able at the moment. After that, I'd be in severe trouble!!!

Your extra sports probably make a massive difference in terms of overall fitness levels, it's bound to stand to you. But, probably better to park the bike for a while to concentrate on running for the goal race.

nerraw1111

Ah I only have that attitude as I’ve missed about 3 or 4 weeks training. In that regard, pressure is a bit off.

Yeah comrades is another on the bucket list! Looks amazing.

11km recovery run with 6 * 100 strides.

Winter is a coming. Cut some of the route short as it was getting a bit dark. Very relaxed pace of 5km mins. Stuffed my face afterwards with chocolate, popcorn and large coke at the cinema. Last blow out before DCM.

nerraw1111

16km with 4 * 1200 metres at 5k pace

Think the training is beginning to catch up on me. That and the dark evenings. Could hardly see the path at times.

8km ticked by, felt like I was running at a decent pace but the garmin said no. At one stage, I was so convinced it was giving me the wrong pace, I tried resetting it.

After 8k, I started the intervals. 1km was 3.40km pace into slight headwind, followed by the usual dread of doing another three.

2nd 3.33 pace, 3rd km 3.37 and 4th 3.36.

8km back home. 22km in total.

nerraw1111

Saturday 15km

Hungover to bits doing this. Plan was to drop the beer for October...

This was supposed to be 18km but ran it a bit quicker to get it over with. Avg pace was 4.22min/km. Not bad, a couple of kms under 4.10.

Monday 30km, 20km at close to race pace.

Bit of a breakthrough run. Felt fantastic and was running at race pace fairly comfortably. Not sure what happened but come the end of 30km, I could've run a bit more without too much discomfort.

Hit the park as usual. Plan was 30km, first 10km at 4.50 pace, and 20km at 4.30km pace. Went for a pint last night, which turned into 4, so wasn't feeling too confident.

Following the P&D programme which has a real lack of PMP workouts. Feels like I'm stuck in one gear for a lot of the sessions.

So after doing the 10km, it was an effort to shift up a gear to run 4.30.

First 2km came in at 4.26 each and then the strangest thing happened, it felt ok. Kms were flying by at 4.21s, 4.24s. Second 10km, after a quick a pit stop for some water and a gel, I decided to feck it, and up the speed, just to run some miles at pmp. They weren't bang on but I was running on feel, so splits ranged from 4.07 to 4.17. I was on a real runner's high at this stage, smiling like a goon. Finished the 30th km with a 4.13 with ease.

Looks like training might be paying off. That and Guinness (not my usual tipple) gives you strength. I think I could've run the session without the gel, but wanted to see how a gel went down on a long run.

Still buzzing from the run. I was waiting for a run like this for a few weeks.

nerraw1111

11km easy with 5 * 600 metres at 5km pace.

A tired run. Long day in work with not much food. Lovely mild evening, lots of runners out. 7km in did the intervals. Nice and relaxed. 3.32 average. Jelly legs towards the end, probs down to lack of food.

nerraw1111

11km recovery run

Nice lunch time jaunt in the rain. Knackered now

nerraw1111

Sports massage on Friday. Not quite as painful as previous visits. I have been doing core exercises etc so probably not as tight as normal. Still, parts of it were ridiculously sore.

Recovery run 6km with 6 * 100metres strides.

Legs were very creaky today with my Achilles and heal area feeling a bit tight. Absolutely beautiful morning, blue sky, sun glistening off the sea and knowing nods from fellow runners. It it just me or are runners a bit more friendly this time of year? Seems to be a ‘you’re marathon training too eh?’ recognition.
Legs loosen a bit after 3km or so, did the strides and home before 9.30am.

10km time trial tomorrow. I was going to cry off this as find it hard to motivate myself for time trials, particularly with trying to find a decent route with interruptions etc and general tiredness.

But feel ok today and the plan is to run 4km or somewhere in the park and finish with a couple of laps around the playing pitches on acre road.