The Next Step

neilc

Thursday 7th - 5 miles easy. Average 9:01. Another easy one on the treadmill.

Saturday 9th - 7 miles easy. Average 8:24. Got out around lunch to get this run done. Legs didn't feel great, took it nice and handy. Spent the rest of the day taking down Christmas decorations!

Sunday 10th - 12 miles steady. Average 7:42. This run felt very good despite a terrible nights sleep. Added to that I was up early to bring my daughter to Dublin for a leaving cert revision day. And as I was in Dublin so early I took advantage and got my run done in the park. Put my watch on average pace, started off around the back of the zoo and over to the North road and then laps in an anti-clockwise direction. This side of the park had a head wind which lasted to some extent till the turn for Knockmaroon gate which was tough. Down the other side was pretty much with the wind and easier over all even with the up and downs. Second lap was pretty much the same. Delighted with how today went. Despite it not being too enjoyable of a running week, very happy to have hit all targets!

neilc

Monday 11th - 5 miles easy. Nice and handy lunchtime run along the canal.

Tuesday 12th - 7 miles easy. Work meeting meant no lunch time run today so another evening treadmill run. Hadn't planned it but ended up running each mile 10-15 second faster than the previous one. First was 9:06, last 8:09. Enjoyable enough for a treadmill run.

Wednesday 13th - 2WU, 8x1km w/ 2.30 rec @ 6.30-6.40, 2CD. Was on a AM half day for something which finished up early allowing me to get this run in before work. Opted again for the treadmill cause I was pushed for time. Made a couples of mistakes beforehand which when discovered during the run pi$$ed me off big time, distracting me when I should have been concentrating on the job in hand. First off, forgot to switch on my HRM. Since a bit of overtraining a couple of years ago I always try to to run with HR. Second, I adjusted the incline on the treadmill which threw off the foot pod calibration. Really annoying while trying to pace intervals. It meant each interval was actually a bit longer than 1k. Final tally on the treadmill was 10.3 miles while my watch was 10! These figures usually match exactly give or take 0.01 mile or so. I knew this was going to be a hard session. Having done a 6 interval version of it a couple of weeks ago I was dreading the extra two intervals. Anyway, ran each interval at 9.5mph at 1% incline. After the first couple I was wondering how the hell I'd manage another 7 but in the end managed to get through it. Really happy driving into work after having the session in the bag!!

neilc

Friday 15th- 5 easy. Took yesterday as a rest day instead of today due to work stuff. Nice and handy along the canal.

Saturday 16th - 2E, 2x3 mile @ 7.15-7.30 (3 min rec), 2E. Good session today. Had company in the form of fellow boardsie Tang1 for this one. The course worked out a bit lumpier than originally planned but still was very enjoyable. The chat flowed well and the fast bits didn't feel half as hard as if I'd been on my own, thanks B. Happy to hit the prescribed targets on both sessions this week.

Sunday 17th - 15 miles. Well if the coaches plan was for this to be ran on tired legs, it worked!! Struggled for the whole thing, never really got into the groove at all. The last three miles were particularly tough, only for I was with my regular running buddy I could've ended up adopting a run/walk strategy!

neilc

Monday 18th - 5 miles easy. Avg pace 8:38. The sluggishness continued into todays run. Felt very laboured down by the canal.

Tuesday 19th - 7 miles easy. Avg pace 8:03. Bit of zip returned to the legs today. Decided to head for the park for a change. Turned down by the Ordinance survey and had planned on turning around at 3.5 but was feeling good so decided to keep going and head down the lower glen, out the gate and up Knockmaroon hill into Castleknock and back to the hospital. It added half a mile onto the run but really enjoyed it and probably ran a couple of miles too fast. Got some negative feedback out of the blue from my right achilles on this run!

Wednesday 20th - 5 miles easy. Avg pace 8:35. Decided to swap todays session out to tomorrow to give the achilles a chance. Took it fairly easy but still got a bit of grief from it. Nothing that wasn't manageable so wasn't putting anything at risk.

Thursday 21st - 10 miles progression. Wasn't 100% sure how to run this one. I decided to go with 5 second increases in pace per mile in the end. Controlling the first one was important because with my OCD it would determine how tough it was going to get by the end. Headed off at 7:55 pace and immediately knew the achilles was there, nothing major but there. Luckily though it warmed up quickly and didn't feel a thing for the rest of the run. The run itself went very well, I was working throughout but very controlled all the same. Climbing for 4,5 & 6 but what goes up must come down so hit that downhill fairly hard with Boston in mind. Delighted with todays run.

I'm pretty sure the achilles flare up is a runners issue. So I've retired two pairs this week, a 'Mizuno Wave Rider 18' pair with 559 miles and some Kinvara's with 486 miles. I've already taken delivery of a pair of New Balance Zantes and there's another pair of Wave riders in the post. So with two pairs of Zantes and a new pair of Wave riders in circulation that should keep me going for a while. I think the Zantes are my favourite shoe of all time btw and will probably be my choice for Boston.

tang1

Was admiring them Saturday alright, meant to ask you what they were.

neilc

tang1 wrote: »

Was admiring them Saturday alright, meant to ask you what they were.

Can't recommend highly enough, love them!!

Glad that quad thing's sorted! Felt guilty today, remembered a different 10 mile route, only slightly less hilly though

tang1

neilc wrote: »

Can't recommend highly enough, love them!!

Glad that quad thing's sorted! Felt guilty today, remembered a different 10 mile route, only slightly less hilly though

In fairness I don't think you can get a non-hilly route around your part of the world!! Yeah hopefully that's the quad sorted alright.

neilc

Saturday 23rd - 8 miles easy. Avg 8:32. After a poor nights sleep today's run was the last thing I felt like but just dragged myself out of the door and got it done. Uneventful and unenjoyable.

Sunday 24th - 13 miles steady. Avg 7:41. Wasn't particularly in the mood for today's run either this morning but had arranged to meet a friend so couldn't put it off till later. Neither of us were confident of hitting target, him cause he did a late threshold run yesterday and me cause I was just tired. Had the benefit of a tailwind for the first half which helped us settle in at steady pace early. That obviously meant a headwind for the second half but by then we'd got into a groove and we're just churning them out. A great run today, definitely one of those where it was great to be running with someone else, not sure how I would have faired out on my own.

neilc

Bad running week!! Woke up Monday with my right achilles sore again. Was down for three easy so decided to do it slowly, not a great idea. Very sore, slow painful run, Avg 9:16.

Had a text from parcel motel Tuesday morning when I woke up that the mizuno waves were in so again stupidly decided to run thinking they'd solve all my problems! Another slow painful run. Avg 9:00.

Abandoned Wednesdays session (10 miles continuous (6 miles easy + 4x 1 mile (6.45-6.55) w/ 2 min rec). Replaced it with Thursdays 5 mile easy. What can I say, I'm stupid. Most painful run of the week so far! Worked out to be a perfect progression run in reverse!

Finally copped on and took Thursday and Friday off. Rested, iced and stretched at every opportunity I got.

Was feeling much better yesterday so decided write off the missed session and just pickup the plan with Saturdays easy 8 miler. Was in work so arranged with one of the lads to come pick me up if I ran into problems. Took the run very, very handy. Felt the twang a few times but nowhere near as bad as earlier in the week. Iced back in work and again when I got home.

It's unusual for me to have to work weekends but was in again today so took the opportunity to do todays long run in the park. Ran down from work, two laps and then ran back to work for a total of 16.67. Again I had arranged a collection if I had to abandon but it went very well. No pain from the achilles at all today. The last 3 - 4 miles I did start to feel a little tender a bit further up the calf but nothing major. Thrilled to finish unscathed! 10 -12 hours later still feels ok.

So with what started of as a bit of a disaster of a week it finished up pretty good and I reckon missing the one session isn't the end of the world. Despite my stupidity I think I've dodged a bullet and with only 77 days till Boston that's a huge relief cause I was imagining the worst at one stage. I haven't spoke to my coach yet but I imagine the next week will be handy enough running so don't know yet if Trim 10 miler is on or off!

Firedance

mind that Achilles! Trim is not worth jeopardising Boston for

tang1

Firedance wrote: »

mind that Achilles! Trim is not worth jeopardising Boston for

BIG +1 to that, Boston is the main thing. Forget Trim if the Achilles isn't right.

Murph_D

Totally agree. Hope things return to normal soon enough for you. I understand the frustration having had to take most of the past 10 days off myself. Hang in, be sensible!

neilc

Murph_D wrote: »

Totally agree. Hope things return to normal soon enough for you. I understand the frustration having had to take most of the past 10 days off myself. Hang in, be sensible!

Yeah very frustrating alright, nothing worse in the middle of a marathon training cycle. Things looking a lot better now but not quite 100% yet. Agreed with coach all easy running this week and depending on how things are maybe finish the week with Trim. We'll see.

Good to see you back on the road yourself, sounds like it was a really bad flu!

neilc

Easy running all week. Ran Tuesday-Friday taking Monday and Saturday off. Achilles/calf improved considerably over the course of the week so decided to give Trim a go.

Only live three miles away so headed over just in time to enter and do a bit of a warmup. Misjudged how far the start line was from HQ so ended up doing a bit more than planned. Not really going to go into the race too much only to say it was a bit of a horror show for me personally. My garmin crashed within a couple of seconds of the start and it took till around 1/4 mile to get it going again. Shouldn't have annoyed me so much but it did. I knew we'd have the best of the conditions from Trim into Dunderry so was hoping to bank a bit of time on that section. But by Dunderry my goose was cooked when Tang 1 and FBOT01 came up along side me. They looked so comfortable at that stage, I tried to stay with them but only lasted a few minutes and they were gone. Struggled even more from there to the finish and was so glad when it was over. I take no pleasure in the fact that at 70:37 it was 3:02 pb :eek:

Still very disappointed this evening, ran the last 6 miles of the London marathon last year faster than the last 6 miles today! Training has being going really well so not sure why it went so badly wrong. With 10 weeks to Boston I'm not sure where it leaves me but at this stage a 1 second pb is looking like a tall order.

Younganne

Neil, sorry it didn't go to plan for you today but don't write Boston off just yet. Take the race in context, you've had a tough week with the Achilles/calf and although it felt better there may still be some lingering weakness. a few good training runs and you'll be back to where you want to be. Keep the faith!!

tang1

+1 to Anne's comments Neil. Your much better than what today's result showed, have zero issue in saying your a better runner than me. That's wasn't reflected today, it was a bad day at the office off a bad week for you. Keep the head up, move on and forget about it. I seen the real you a few weeks back around Tara with bags left in the tank. Boston is a while off yet, plenty of time to get the confidence back.

Firedance

neilc wrote: »

Misjudged how far the start line was from HQ so ended up doing a bit more than planned.

My garmin crashed within a couple of seconds of the start and it took till around 1/4 mile to get it going again. Shouldn't have annoyed me so much but it did.

I tried to stay with them but only lasted a few minutes and they were gone. Struggled even more from there to the finish and was so glad when it was over. I take no pleasure in the fact that at 70:37 it was 3:02 pb :eek:

not sure why it went so badly wrong.

and that's apart from your earlier achilles & calf issues, don't be so hard on yourself Neil, from experience if your head is not in the right place it can really take from a run, sounds to me like it was not today, don't underestimate that. As Anne says, keep the faith. Also, you got a PB today, take some pleasure from that!

neilc

Long overdue update.

Monday 8th - 3 miles recovery. Avg 9:39, on treadmill.

Tuesday 9th - 7 miles easy. Avg 8:35, on treadmill.

Wednesday 10th - 7 miles easy. Avg 8:29, handy around the streets of Navan.

Thursday 11th - 10 progression (4E, 3SP, 3MP). This was the first proper test since Trim so was a bit nervous. Based on how badly that went I've altered marathon pace for the time being to somewhere between 7:00 and 7:05 so that was the target for today. Rushed home from work and managed to get it done around home in daylight. Delighted with how it went, 8:29.8, 8:20.3, 8:17.0, 8:24.1, 7:40.8, 7:39.4, 7:33.4, 7:01.8, 7:01.3, 7:01.3. Had a massage later in the evening.

Saturday 13th - 8 easy. Avg 8:28. Headed down to the park from work for this one, took it nice and handy.

Sunday 14th - 3E, 3x3 mileMP w/1E between, 3E. A shudder went through me when I read this one, plotted it out on google before hand cause didn't want to run any more than necessary. Started out very well, legs felt great, probably as result of Thursday massage. Headed down the canal from work and crossed over into the park at Ashtown for the warmup. The first two blocks of 3MP went well and felt fine, 7:01.6, 6:58.1, 7:02.8, 7:03.0, 7:01.7, 7:02.1. The third block was always going to be the hardest, one because it was the third block and two because it included the kyber (up). It started up around the s-bends, I'd hoped to build up a bit of time down military hill before hitting the kyber but didn't manage it as it was against the wind. Made a bad call and tried to maintain pace. By the time I got to the top I was bolloxed and there was still 1.7 miles to go. Dug in and did the best I could 7:15.3, 7:36.0, 7:15.6. Headed back up the canal to finish but have to say I never struggled so badly on a cool down. Was well and truly wrecked by the end.

Monday 15th -3 recovery. Another treadmill run, felt fine following yesterdays hard run.

neilc

Tuesday 16th - 7 miles easy. Avg 8:25. Nice handy lunch time run on my now customary 7 mile route. From the hospital into Castleknock, down Tower rd, into the park at Knockmaroon gate, around the lower Glen, back up Ordnance rd, out Castleknock gate and back to the hospital. It's a really nice route with a bit of everything.

Wednesday 17th - 12 miles steady. Avg 7:40. Sometimes runs can surprise you. Spent the afternoon yawning my way around work feeling really tired and then went out and had a great run. As usual goal pace was around 7:45. Found myself on pace very quickly and from there gradually got quicker to the end. Was delighted to see average heart rate of 149, a good sign I think (82% of max).

Thursday 18th - 7 miles easy. Avg 8:56. Back on my normal 7 mile route today only in the other direction. No ill effects from yesterdays run but never the less took this very easy.

Saturday 20th - 8 miles easy. Avg 8:43. In work again so another park run.

Sunday 21st - 18 miles with last 3 @ MP. Avg 8:13. Wet, windy and wild!! Decided to do 3 laps of a local hilly 6 mile route. Boston's a hilly marathon so no point avoiding them. Did the first lap on my own but was joined by a mate for the 2nd and 3rd. Even though I wasn't feeling particularly great the easy miles flew in with the company but the last 3 were definitely playing on my mind the whole time. Anyway picked up the pace at 15 and hoped for the best. First one wasn't too bad, the easiest of the three, 7:03. The second was hard with a really tough hill which my buddy literally dragged me up, 7:05. Having two in the bag I was determined to hit pace on the third. Of the three this is the most up and down of the lot, 6:58. Really good run, delighted.

Had some wise words from coach early in the week which definitely had me thinking more positively. The last few weeks haven't been great running wise and the confidence was definitely taking a bashing, so great to get back to a more acceptable level this week.

tang1

Nice running Neil, keep it going.

neilc

Mixed bag again this week!

Monday 22nd - 3 mile recovery. Avg 9:17. Very handy 3 on the treadmill.

Tuesday 23rd - 7 miles easy. Avg 8:36. Nice handy lunch time run down to the Phoenix Park. Delighted with avg HR of 131.

Wednesday 24th - 3WU, 8x1km@6.35-6.45 pace, w/90 sec rec, 3CD. What a bitter sweet run!! Headed to Navan after work for this on a very chilly night. Bumped into younganne on the warmup who looked very comfortable on her steady paced run. Worked it out that I'd finish the warmup and do the intervals up and down between the two bridges along the Boyne, the flattest part of my Navan loops. Target pace was 6:35-6:45 but to be honest I found myself slowing down a good bit on the first to make target so decided to do the rest a bit faster. I was definitely working but I'd describe the session as comfortably hard. Biggest problem I had was on some of them losing concentration and then having to speed up a bit. 8 x 1k times 4:06.4, 4:01.8, 4:01.9, 3:59.6, 4:02.4, 3:57.8, 4:01.8, 3:59.5. Delighted with that and all was good with the world until around 200 metres from the car when out of the blue I went down hard on my left ankle. Hobbled back to the car and by the time I drove the 4 miles home it was very badly swollen and sore!!

Thursday 25th - 7 miles easy. Enforced rest day. Ankle still badly swollen, walking with a limp :-(

Friday 26th - Rest day. Schedule rest day. Swelling down a bit so I suggested doing yesterday's run today but was advised hold off another day.

Saturday 27th - 7 miles 9.84 easy. Avg 8:22. Swelling reduced a bit more so said I'd give the run a go, had the mrs on standby for collection in case it went wrong though. Put on an ankle strap and headed off, had to take it off within a mile though because it felt too tight on the arch of my foot. All pain wore off within a couple of miles so decided to stretch out the run a bit to claw back some of Thursdays lost miles. Ankle swelled up again a little later in the evening but happy enough how the day went.

Sunday 28th - 16 miles progression (6E, 6SP, 4MP). Avg 7:50. Swelling reduced again overnight so was definitely going to give this one a good go. Decided to go back to the scene of my horror of a couple of weeks ago and take in the Trim 10 mile main loop. Again within a mile of starting had no feeling of pain at all in my ankle just a sense of a little bit of weakness so just had to be very careful with my stride. The steady paced miles felt really really comfortable today and even turning into the wind for the 4, 5 and 6 wasn't bad. 7:37, 7:36, 7:36, 7:36, 7:37, 7:37. The elevation gain on the 4 marathon paced mile made them tough but they were still my most comfortable marathon paced miles this year yet. 7:04, 7:05, 7:01, 7:01. Very happy. Ankle slightly swollen again this evening but think the back is broke on this injury!!

Firedance

neilc wrote: »

Decided to go back to the scene of my horror of a couple of weeks ago and take in the Trim 10 mile main loop. Very happy. Ankle slightly swollen again this evening but think the back is broke on this injury!!

like, on your own? on remote country roads? :eek: fair play, I'd be far to chicken

glad to hear the ankle is not too serious, mind it all the same...

tang1

Solid week Neil, dodged a bullet with the ankle hopefully and nice going in exonerating the demons from Trim.

neilc

Firedance wrote: »

like, on your own? on remote country roads? :eek: fair play, I'd be far to chicken

glad to hear the ankle is not too serious, mind it all the same...

Ha ha, it actually wasn't near a bad as I thought it was, must have just had a really bad day that day!

tang1 wrote: »

Solid week Neil, dodged a bullet with the ankle hopefully and nice going in exonerating the demons from Trim.

Yeah thanks man! Definitely dodged a bullet, though I'd say I'm vulnerable enough for the next couple of weeks of doing it again until it strengthens up a bit.

Younganne

ouch, hope there's no more issues with the ankle Neil. Sounds like you have nipped it with the sensible rest day Thursday, I suppose no harm in icing it every evening to help it along!!

neilc

Monday 29th - 3 miles easy. Avg 8:43. Easy trot around Blanch, did an extra 0.7 of a mile to bring the monthly total above 200 for the second month in a row. Got a bit of feedback from the ankle and some more swelling so was told to take two days off by the boss :-(

Thursday 3rd - 6 miles easy. Avg 8:22. New route today, down the canal as far as Ashtown, across to the Park and back to work through Castleknock. Nice route and took it real handy keeping the avg HR at 130.

Friday 4th - 3 miles easy. Avg 8:42, Avg HR 124.

Saturday 5th - 6 miles easy. Avg 8:49, Avg HR 124. Out and back from the house, again nice and handy. Ankle injury officially gone!!

Sunday 6th - Lismullen 10k. Official time 41:39. Delighted with that on a very tough course, I don't think the elevation chart does justice to how bad the first 4k were. Got there in plenty of time to pickup my number and get the prescribed 4 mile warmup done. As we lined up got chatting to another lad who was targeting around 43 minutes and knowing the course profile I decided to try and stick as close to him as I could. The race starts off with 300m downhill but then turns left for a long climb towards the hill of Skryne. This really was relentless but kept with my new running buddy stride for stride till 4k. At this point the course started to go down again but he started to pull away as I tried to let the legs recover a bit. First 5K 3:51, 4:07, 4:30, 4:11, 3:59. The next couple of k were again downhill and I managed to pick it up a little. However the last 3k were again mostly climbing with a hard 400m steep hill just before the finish line. Really happy with that effort and mental discipline shown to keep racing when my running mate on the day started to pull away. In the past this would have been enough to fack me up big time. In the end he finished only 15 seconds ahead. On a fast course maybe sub 40 might have been there today. Second 5K 3:55, 3:57, 4:23, 4:18, 4:14.
After a quick bottle of water, an apple and a mandarin I grabbed my earphones from the car and ran the course again as a warm down bringing the milage to 16.42 for the day.

Firedance

well done Neil, good job on what sounds like a very tough course! then you ran it again :eek:

tang1

That's just sadistic bringing a race up towards the Hill of Skryne, that's a nice time on that route Neil.

neilc

tang1 wrote: »

That's just sadistic bringing a race up towards the Hill of Skryne, that's a nice time on that route Neil.

Absolutely Barry but do ya know what, loved every minute of it I definitely have to start racing more, only done two races since last April!! I remember talking to trr in the pub after London and that was his strongest bit of advice.

neilc

Monday 7th - 3 mile recovery. Busy in work so couldn't get out at lunch time. Can't remember why I couldn't do the evening.

Tuesday 8th - 7 miles easy. Avg 8:29. Again busy in work all day so had to wait till after to do my usual 7 mile loop down to the Phoenix Park and back.

Wednesday 24th - 12 miles steady. Avg 7:37. Off work and out early for this run. Can't remember too much about it so it must have felt grand.

Thursday 10th - 7 miles easy. Enforced rest day. Had a procedure today which involved sedation. When the wife came in to collect me she squealed to the nurse I planned to do my run later. The nurse a runner herself advised strongly against it so that was the end of that!

Friday 11th - Rest day. 10 miles easy. Avg 8:34. Scheduled rest day but decided to combine both missed days and do 10 easy. Waited the advised 24 hrs before heading out.

Saturday 12th - 8 miles easy. Avg 8:30. Handy nothing much to report

Sunday 13th - 1WU, 5,4,3,2,1 miles MP w/ 800m jog rec, 1CD. Avg 7:25. Have to admit to dreading this one the minute I seen it. Kept putting it off but eventually much later than usual headed off well after 11. Picked a route as close to 19 as possible but that meant a uphill warmup mile! Headed into the first block of marathon miles with a target of 7:05-7:10. Bar a lumpy second mile this section was relatively flattish which was good for settling into the pace. Still was happy to get to the first half mile recovery. 7:01.0, 7:03.5, 7:03.9, 7:02.5, 7:03.7. By now I'd passed through Trim and was heading out the Dublin rd towards Kilmessan. Starting off the second section of 4 I was feeling fine but knew there'd be plenty more climbing this time. Tried to maintain pace on the uphills and pickup on the downhills. 7:05.0, 7:01.5, 7:00.6, 7:02.1. I'd now got by Kilmessan and was heading towards Tara golf club, more ups and downs. Same strategy, maintain on the ups go hard on the downs. 6:59.5, 7:04.2, 6:59.9. Things were definitely starting to get a bit harder by now but with 80% of the MP miles done there was no way I was easing up. Thankfully I got a dirty little climb out of the way on the recovery before the next block kicked off. Overall both of these miles had more climbing than not so had to concentrate and stay focused to keep pace. The end of the second mile coincided with a fair climb. 7:04.1, 7:04.1. The last recovery was over in an instant and then I was into the final MP mile. Again pretty lumpy but knew the session was in the bag at this stage. 6:58.0. Warmdown downhill to home to finish up. Delighted with that, have been struggling a bit lately with deciding what MP should actually be so that gives me a bit of confidence all going well a PB might be on the cards on the day.