Middle-Aged Ambitions

slowsteady

Lactate with 4 @ HM, 8.3 miles, 8:10 pace

Found this run tough from the start even though I took the first couple of miles relatively easy. When I tried to wind things up to half marathon pace, 7:30, the legs didn't want to co-operate and really struggled to average 7:40 for the 4 miles. Disappointing run but the lack of life in the legs this week is more worrying.

slowsteady

Recovery 5.3 miles, 8:47 pace

This run was not due to be done till tomorrow but given the day that's in it and an opening tonight went ahead with it early. Easy paced run in a light drizzle, legs feel better than lately.

slowsteady

Legs have not felt right since giving blood last week, lethargic, no energy. Now, they were not too special before that either, so maybe its not connected.

Did nothing the past two days, called it a taper:o, stayed off the booze though. Got up this morning and dragged myself through getting geared up, took the dogs for a walk but no zip in the legs, two hour drive didn't do much to liven things up either. Hit the line knowing a decent time was not going to happen. Started well back as I knew a fast start would be the end of me but when I found myself behind the 80 min pacers pepped it up a bit and got the first 2 miles in 7:29 and 7:33 so all good so far. Picked out a couple of people to pace off but clocked 7:10 (downhill) and 7:29 for the next couple which was too fast. The legs had been burning up from the start and continued to do so right through the race, breathing was fine (well as good as it ever gets). Mile 5 was out by the racecourse and exposed and while the wind was light enough it was enough to put me off and 7:48 resulted. Real halfway was another 10 seconds which was 75:30 pace, way better than I had expected.

By this time I knew I couldn't keep up the pace and the remainder of the race was a battle to avoid blowing up, as a few did along the way. 7:55, 7:54, 7:46, 7:57 and 7:47 are the tale of woe but I was on the edge the whole time so even though the times were poor I know the effort was high and the mental battle was the one that was won. So 77:16, a poor enough return after 74:00 in Dungarvan but I would have gladly taken it on the start line so overall happy enough.

Need to get back to building up the training for a month or so before racing again, but there are a couple of good local ones the next few weekends....

slowsteady

Tues, recovery, 4.3 miles, 9:25 pace

The day after a disappointing visit to Mallow so slow recovery was in order. Took it steady, so steady that my HR was 120, seems savage low.

Thurs, aerobic, 8 miles, 8:09 pace

Up in the big smoke for a meeting but got away early for an appointment at B2R with Kevin for a gait analysis. Assessed as overpronating as previously and picked up a pair of Saucony ProGrid Omni 10s. While there I went next door to Tymon Park and did a couple of loops. Used the old runners as didn't want to ruin the new ones with urban dirt:p. Nice place to run but too small for longer runs - hate retracing my steps. Fantastic sunset in contrast to the pouring rain that met me halfway home.

Fri, aerobic, 5.3 miles, 7:59 pace

New runners run, felt a bit strange but ran along by feel, grand.

Sat, recovery, 6 miles, 9:23 pace

With Tuesday slowest pace I have run for a long time, felt far harder than it should have.

Today, LSR, 15 miles, 8:46 pace

Planned on running this somewhere between 8:30 and 9:00 pace, undecided which end of the range and where I was going to run - planning how are you:rolleyes:. Legs felt heavy, no spectacular bounce out of the new runners, but no niggles either. Ended up doing a real up and down roller-coaster loop which included over 1800 feet of climbing so maybe that was why it felt so hard.

Not sure of the verdict on the runners, sound noisy on the road but I know I have a heavy step, will give them a week or two and see then. Concern over the way the legs feel almost all the time for the past couple of weeks, no life at all, no magic bullet from the runners which is maybe what I was hoping for.

Hit 350 miles for the YTD, first time to put three 100+ months together so maybe persistence is all that is required.

slowsteady

Lactate with 5 @ HM, 8.3 miles, 8:12 pace

Lovely warm evening, should have been a lovely run but did not work out quite that way.

2 mile warm up and then into 5 miles at half pace which should be about 7:30 pace but first mile was a struggle at 7:33 - downhill:eek:. Miles 2 and 3 were worse at 8:01 and improved slightly for the last two at 7:40 and 7:45. Felt so bad after mile and a half the I was ready to pack it in, no life in legs, both style and breathing ragged. Stomach was stuck to my spine with stress of trying to hold the pace and HR was 147, 150, 151, 150 and 152, essentially race pace. Fell back to 9:30 for the remainder of the run - not able for anything better:o.

Bothered by the the effort required in my runs lately, killing the love.

slowsteady

Recovery 4.3 miles, 8:22 pace

Did this under pressure to go collect the kids, conscious I was late starting out. Consequence I was that I ran this too fast, particularly the first mile, 7:51:eek:. Eased it out for the rest of the run but not enough really. Still trying to get used to the new runners, my excuse:).

slowsteady

Aerobic 10.1 miles, 8:38 pace

Warm evening but headed out steady enough, decided to try and concentrate on form so pace was a bit saucy for this kind of run, 8:20 for the first 5 miles. Found it tough in the heat so slowed it down for the second half, closer to 9:00, but what bothered me was the effort required, yes it was warm, but not too hot, but my HR was 140 and rising as I was slowing? Find it hard to understand at present. Finding it hard to get used to runners, not as much bounce as I would have expected from a new pair.

slowsteady

Aerobic 5.3 miles, 8:18 pace

Have not been happy for weeks, either couldn't hold pace or runs were much tougher than they should have been, legs have not been happy either. Finally the legs rebelled after the last run, right knee seized up and two achilles were very sore, abandoned all running for the weekend.

Have not been entirely happy with new runners so bit the bullet and went to town to buy a pair of Asics 2170s on Saturday, the update of the old reliables 2150s. Two pairs in 2 weeks:eek:, but got a good deal:D.

Left the runs (and the training plan) on the shelf for the few days. Went out this evening for a relaxed few miles in the new shoes. No miracles but after a couple of miles was able to pick up the pace. Legs feel OK now but will need a few runs to get a true picture, will give it a week and re-assess.

slowsteady

Wed, Easy 5.3 miles, 8:16 pace

Legs were tired and stiff since previous run so kept this steady enough. Found it hard enough for the pace achieved.

Fri, Steady 8 miles, 8:03 pace

Target for this was between 7:25 and 7:38. Struggled with this from the start, after taking it easy till the legs got going found it almost impossible to raise the pace to that required. Almost gave up at one point when I found the pace was down to 9:13, albeit on a small hill, but ground it out to the 8 mile target. Strolled home another mile and a half but didn't feel the benefit of the warmdown and stretches, legs were sore for the rest of the evening. Was pretty much full on but didn't break 8 min and HR was 147 which for me was 10 beats higher than a few months ago. Not sure what the problem is, but there is one.

Sat, Recovery, 6 miles, 9:24 pace

Got up this morning to see if I could get the legs out of their lethargy by giving them an easy run. Worked to a point during the run but they feel beat up now. Again effort and HR were too high for what I was doing.

slowsteady

LSR 14.4 miles, 8:58 pace

Skipped Sunday, family day, and postponed this again yesterday morning when I saw the rain:D.

Got out in the sunshine at 6pm intending to run at around 9:00 pace. Picked a tough enough route with over 1,000 ft of hills so no wonder I found this hard. Instead of it getting easier as I got into the run it seemed to get progressively tougher and it was only after finishing I put two and two together (bit slow:p). The temperature starting out was cool enough but with the breeze and the shadows the sun was fairly ineffective so that by the time I finished I was frozen. No pleasure in this one but my own fault for not remembering this was an Irish bank holiday and wearing a couple of extra layers.

slowsteady

Easy 5.3 miles, 8:03 pace

Skipped on Tues as right knee was very sore and nearly did the same last night but needed to get out as I'm slipping badly on the plan at present. Decided to go out and pick up the pace if the knee felt OK. Nice evening but wore double layers after Monday:p, no serious reaction so kept up the pace for the whole run. Felt OK afterwards but knee very sore this morning.

Got my deferral from Cork last year so now going for the half instead, 7 weeks this weekend, need to get that plan back on track:o.

slowsteady

slowsteady wrote: »

get that plan back on track:o.

Haven't run for 9 whole days..... so the plan has gone to ****

Knee didn't come on over the next couple of days so copped myself on a bit and between the knee and the achilles decided to give the legs as much time as was needed, got sick of the constant niggle for the past 5 or 6 weeks. The result was that a few days..... extended to a few more days..... extended to a few more days... at the end the legs didn't feel significantly better so what to do?... run a 10k race?... not logical, but I am not Mr Spock:D.

There was a 10k this evening which is as local as they come so wanted to do it but was still unsure so went along and did a couple of miles warm-up before I registered. Did another bit before the start so the legs were well loosened out after their holiday. Down at the start met a cousin and between this and that the start was called and we were left chasing the pack! Spent the first quarter mile trying to get the Garmin working while running.

Ran this with no plan as by this stage had no idea where I was at and it was not an easy course, three loops with a short steep climb on each loop. Seriously anticipated running 48+ as with a week and a half off and poor running previously was not really in 'form', against that I had had a good 'taper':p

Had no real pace in mind and had missed tracking the first quarter mile so followed the crowd, too fast as usual but the first hill took care of that. 16:35 for lap one. Shower of rain at the end of the lap followed by a beautiful rainbow took me to halfway. By this stage I was feeling the run and on the second time up the hill seriously contemplated giving up and calling it a day, I was being passed and passing no one, feeling it tough on calves and thighs and generally sh**. However with most of those passing me I would be there and there abouts in other races so I knew I wasn't as bad as I was feeling. I got to the end of the second lap in 30:16 on the race clock which surprised me but offered some encouragement.

Lap three, mile 5 & 6, I mentally moved to a better place and got into a 'running' mode for the first time. I picked a couple of those who passed me and tracked them as far as the 'hill' for the last time and managed to pick them off but as we hit the last half mile one of then got me back. Finished OK and was surprised as any to see 45:20 on the clock. Delighted with that but looking back from the Garmin not sure it was the full 10K - did 5.96 miles in 44:18 and find it hard to believe I did the other 0.25 miles in 1:02 (4:08 pace) but I will take the positive that it was not 48:xx.

Legs are tired but in a nice way so hopefully I am back on the road again:)

slowsteady

LSR, 16.3 miles, 8:51 pace

Legs felt stiff and tired after Friday evening, not surprisingly, so gave the recovery on Sat a miss as I wanted as good a run as possible today.

Grand morning, fine, clear, somewhat sunny, light breeze, great day to be out. Covered a big chunk of the Waterford Mara route, but in reverse, including the biggish hill in the middle. Started out very easy +9:00 pace but once got over the hill at about 11 miles stepped on the gas and averaged 8:15 to the end. Felt tired but OK although knee is sore again this evening. 48 hours rest and we will see where we are.

RubyK

Well done on the 10K slowsteady, and nice pace for your LSR yesterday. Hope the knee will settle down, have you seen a physio about it?

slowsteady

RubyK wrote: »

Hope the knee will settle down, have you seen a physio about it?

No, putting it down to running too much on the edge of camber of the road so trying to play chicken with the traffic at present:D. Feels better today so will give it a while longer to right itself.

slowsteady

Easy, 6 miles, 8:10 pace

Started this run intending to do 5 miles at the lower end of easy pace which is 8:20. Was in town having dropped off the kids and with only 200 yards done ran into 60/70 runners from Waterford AC headed the opposite direction, was briefly tempted to turn around but stuck to the plan.

Legs felt reasonable enough after Sunday's LSR but started out steadily enough with an 8:15 and 8:07. Couple of small inclines made me work harder for the next mile 8:18 but got it back on the downhill mile 7:38, fifth mile was 8:09 and I consciously cut back on the last 8:39.

Nice run, lots of stretches back at the car and away home just as the showers started:).

slowsteady

Easy 5.3 miles, 8:21 pace

After stiffish run last night wanted to take it a bit easier tonight so concentrated on form and running with more of a mid-foot strike. Seemed to work as felt less stressy on achilles. Ran on relaxed effort rather than pace so a bit surprised it was as fast as it was.

Nice run made better when light drizzle turned to rain just after I finished:p.

slowsteady

Easy, 8.3 miles, 8:18 pace

Did this run slightly differently, put pace only on the Garmin and aimed to keep to around 130bpm allowing it to drift on the hilly bits up to 140. 130 would be around 80% effort for me. Curious to see what pace this would work out at.

Started very steady, normally go off like a hare (mad March variety:p) but watched the HR and kept it to 124 for first mile, delighted. After that kept it between 132 and 137 for next 6 miles but finished with with 143 and 147 but these were uphill, my excuse. Overall average 134.

Ran the whole loop with mid-foot strike, felt OK and apart from a few twinges in the right knee no complaints from the usual suspects. Looking back over previous runs average HR for this pace was 142 so maybe getting fitter?

slowsteady

LSR, 18 miles, pace 8:15

Fail to plan, plan to fail (but sometimes you get lucky)

Having enjoyed the company on my LSR last week I thought I would repeat the dose this week and go out with the WAC group that run each Sunday morning. However the OH was staying away last night and by the time I had the basics of dogs, cat and children sorted I was running late. Had been out for a quick walk with the dogs so knew it was cold and added a third top and beanie to the outfit.

Barely got to the start on time so missed the briefing on the route and distance we were running and galloped after the tail end of the group with no pace or plan in mind. Last week I ran 8:52 and thought this week I would do the same. Found the first couple of miles a little bit spicy but checked the Garmin and found I was tracking my virtual partner, after another while checked what pace the watch was set to to discover it was 8:00:eek:. A quick reset to 8:45 and a rethink on the strategy. Was following what I now knew to be the 8:00/8:15 group, but back about 400 yards, but with a big gap back to the next group decided to run on effort and see what happened.

The legs felt OK and the mid-foot strike I was trying to use seemed comfortable so the next few miles were fine, 8.15 pace generally uphill assisted by the wind. Once over the crest the next 5 miles were either downhill or flat and it was at this point I began to think about the 7 miles back to town directly into the wind. The strategy now was to catch up to the 8:15 group so the 5 miles were clipped along at 7:50 average as I gradually closed the gap. By the last mile I was becoming a little desperate as I could feel the strength of the wind and knew it would be tough on my own. I caught up just as we turned for home and, boy, was the wind strong.

Have to say, to my shame, I hung in at the back of the group for the trip back to town but, in my defence, did not have much to spare. Last 7 miles averaged 8:30 but it was a hard fought run against the wind and an indication of how hard it will be if there are similar conditions in June. Find a big frame to follow would be a start:p.

Overall an unexpected pacy enough run in tough conditions and with 9 weeks still to go:). Fourth month of 100+ mileage, just need another injury free

slowsteady

Tempo, 8.3 miles, 7:54 pace

Tried a little experiment tonight and was a bit surprised by the result.

Did the first 4 miles at tempo pace, average 7:46. Followed this with 3 miles starting with 60 seconds recovery (walking pace) and tempo pace for the balance of the mile, average 8:04. I had read on another thread recently that someone had adopted this strategy in a race and thought I would try it to see how effective it was. Surprised that the net loss per mile was less than 20 seconds for much the same effort overall. Finished up with cool down but ran out of time for some stretches, could have done with them:o.

RubyK

Nice going slowsteady, training is going really great for you! That was a fair clip for a LSR. What time are you aiming at for Waterford?

slowsteady

Plan for the year was to get a qualifying time for Boston plus a margin, that would be about 3:35, so that is the target. I would really like to get sub 3:30 which was my original aim for 2011 but I'm not sure I am going to be up to that.

RubyK

I thought you'd be well confident about getting sub 3.30 at least. Sure that's 8 min mile pace, only 15 secs quicker that Sundays 18 miler No bother to you!

slowsteady

RubyK wrote: »

I thought you'd be well confident about getting sub 3.30 at least. Sure that's 8 min mile pace, only 15 secs quicker that Sundays 18 miler No bother to you!

Agreed, but that was only one good run buried in a lot of poor performances, yes, if I can put together a few more i would be more hopeful. Running the Cork half in a month's time and that will tell the real story.

Following the tempo run Wed night, legs felt a bit stiff so out for an easy few miles. For an ex-asthma sufferer the breathing these days is very good and I found it very comfortable at the pace I was running, HR 128 reflected this. Kept the legs turning at the same effort and did my stretches at the end this time:).

Easy, 5.3 miles, 8:32 pace

slowsteady

LSR (incl Wfd - Tramore 7.5m race), 15.9 miles, 8:15 pace

One way race out to Tramore Sat evening, decided to run the race and tack on the return to Waterford as LSR/recovery. Nice evening, little wind. Knee had been giving trouble during the week, not while running but generally during the day, could have bailed but sacrificed the 2nd half of the FA Cup (the best half as it turned out:mad:).

Decided to aim for 7:10 pace as I reckoned this was as good as I could expect and put the lap pace only up on the Garmin. Started out too far up as I was running 6:22 very quickly so dropped back and ran the first few miles in 6:47, 7:03 and 7:06. Was running on the limit and struggled the next mile, the more so when I saw 7:24 on the Garmin, but it was a bit of an uphill drag. Pulled myself together for the next couple, 7:15 and 7.14, but the drag on the next mile caused it to fall back to 7:31. I had nothing left for the last half mile but picked it up a touch, 6:51 pace. Overall 53:42 for a 2 minute improvement on last year, average pace 7:10, target achieved:p.

Nothing left in the kitty after this, but turned out as well as I could have hoped, so a good day. However will need more training to improve further.

Didn't hang around at the finish as the sun was very low and the temperature was dropping quickly. Had 3 jelly babies robbed from my daughter's party bag on leaving home and headed back in the road to town. Running at 9:15 pace was a world away from the outward leg and felt easy enough for the first few miles but became a struggle towards the end. Return leg 7.24 miles logged at 9:11 pace, stomach was stuck to my spine by the finish but a feed and a shower sorted that - a lie in this morning was the reward.

RubyK

Congrats on the pb, and a great training run. It can't have been easy heading back in the road after racing. I was out at Mill Lane, and was really suprised at how warm it was Sat evening for the run.

The weeks are flying by, not too long to go now!

slowsteady

RubyK wrote: »

... really suprised at how warm it was Sat evening for the run.

Yeah, it was grand for the race but dropped very quickly on the way back in. The frost alert went off on the car before I got home:eek:

RubyK wrote: »

The weeks are flying by, not too long to go now!

I know, you have Kildare and I have Cork and it really will be panic stations then:p.

slowsteady

Sun, recovery, 5.7 miles, 9:08 pace

Went out early afternoon, legs and body generally were a bit achy, good sign after the race, relaxed and enjoyable.

Steady, 5.3 miles, 7:56 pace.

Couldn't make my mind up whether to do run this evening or tomorrow but in the first half mile saw a runner away in the distance, that was it, hound after a hare and it was the HM pace to see if I could close;). Got to within 200 yards after a couple of miles (he wasn't hanging around) before I turned off on my own loop and started to concentrate properly. Averaged 7:31 for the 4 miles and eased back for the remainder.

Tried out the gear from Lidl, grand but the shorts are awful long, make me look a bit like Lionel Messi (I wish)....

slowsteady

Easy, 5.3 miles, 8:27 pace

Had to remind myself that this is May, temperature was 8 degrees, half what we enjoyed in March, Irish weather how are you:). There was a good stiff breeze driving in cold rain so the wind chill was at the cooler end of cold. Had doubled up on the shirts but still found it hard to warm up but once I got down the narrow lanes with the trees for shelter and the rain eased off it was quite pleasant.

By the finish I was sorry it ended:p

slowsteady

Mini-LSR, 8.7 miles, 9:16 pace

Had hoped to do a 5 mile race last night but family commitments knocked that on the head. As I plan to do a proper LSR tomorrow wasn't sure what to do this morning so went out very easy, so easy in fact that it was much harder work than it should have been. Lovely morning, chilly for first couple of miles but grand day to be out after that.