3:30 or bust!

belcarra

What: Sub 3hrs 30mins marathon in 2012.
When: End of May.
Where: Probably Edinburgh (May 27th).

Following on from my last log, the new goal for 2012 is a sub 3:30 marathon. I will be focusing on Edinburgh but have not entered it yet, so target marathon may change.

So far I have entered Donadea 50km on Feb 18th and Connemarathon Ultra on April 1st. Yes, I know - both of these are Ultras - but I intend to run them at a handy pace, simply to complete them. I will then have 8 weeks between Connemara and Edinburgh so that should be fine.

I intend to follow P&D's 55-70 mile/12 week plan for Connemara. This should allow the correct timeframe-ish from the New Year til April 1st and will also ensure I get a higher volume of miles per week than my previous training block, which it is hoped will place me better off for the longer races.

Then, once Connemara is completed, I will switch across onto the 8 week multiple marathon schedule also from P&D. This should allow for more focused session training in advance of the target marathon.

So, hopefully I will have a 3:30 marathon in the bag before I waste the month of June drinking Polish beer, gaining about 2 stone and bemoaning Glenn Whelan's abilities to shackle Xavi!!

belcarra

GA Run 9.0km @ 143bpmI went for my first run this evening since the Philadelphia Marathon. I felt I needed a couple of weeks clean break from running to let the body have a chance to recover.
It was very cold out there so I started briskly enough. The first 3km went along fine but then the middle 3km seemed to get a bit tougher, like as if the break had left me short. This didn't last too long though and the final 3km were a bit easier again so I think it was just a matter of blowing off the cobwebs.
Distance was approx 9km as I couldn't have been bothered freezing my ass off waiting for the Garmin to register!

Good to be back into it again!

belcarra

2011 was a pretty good year running-wise for me and I managed to PB at every distance I ran.

The data below shows where I stood at the start of 2011 and progress to now, and finally where I’d like to be this time next year:
Distance:|Pre-2011 PB:|End-2011 PB:|2011 Improvement:|End 2012 target:
5km|24:19|20:58|3:21|19:59
8km|38:17|36:06|2:11|34:49
5 Mile|38:19|37:17|1:02|34:59
10km|47:55|44:25|3:30|42:59
10 Mile|01:22:16|01:17:17|4:59|01:14:59
½ Marathon|01:44:31|01:40:20|4:11|01:37:29
15 Mile|02:25:35|02:25:35|0:00|01:59:59
¾ Marathon|N/A|02:39:45|N/A|02:34:59
Marathon| 04:21:40|03:51:30|30:10|03:29:59
50km|N/A| N/A|N/A|04:44:59
39.3 Mile|N/A|N/A|N/A|06:20:00


So, plenty of challenges ahead for 2012. Hopefully at least half of them will be out of the way by Summer.

menoscemo

belcarra wrote: »

What: Sub 3hrs 30mins marathon in 2012.
When: End of May.
Where: Probably Edinburgh (May 27th).

Following on from my last log, the new goal for 2012 is a sub 3:30 marathon. I will be focusing on Edinburgh but have not entered it yet, so target marathon may change.

So far I have entered Donadea 50km on Feb 18th and Connemarathon Ultra on April 1st. Yes, I know - both of these are Ultras - but I intend to run them at a handy pace, simply to complete them. I will then have 8 weeks between Connemara and Edinburgh so that should be fine.

I intend to follow P&D's 55-70 mile/12 week plan for Connemara. This should allow the correct timeframe-ish from the New Year til April 1st and will also ensure I get a higher volume of miles per week than my previous training block, which it is hoped will place me better off for the longer races.

Then, once Connemara is completed, I will switch across onto the 8 week multiple marathon schedule also from P&D. This should allow for more focused session training in advance of the target marathon.

So, hopefully I will have a 3:30 marathon in the bag before I waste the month of June drinking Polish beer, gaining about 2 stone and bemoaning Glenn Whelan's abilities to shackle Xavi!!

That's some pretty lofty challenges there!! I am not sure about trying to run a big PB 8 weeks after Conn, I was pretty wrecked for a while after it last year. I'd suggest a better tactic is to go for a marathon about 3 weeks before conn. It gives you plenty of time tiem to recover. Look at the marathon as your last big efort before the taper....

Are you all booked for Poland? And tickets? Maybe see you over there....

belcarra

menoscemo wrote: »

That's some pretty lofty challenges there!! I am not sure about trying to run a big PB 8 weeks after Conn, I was pretty wrecked for a while after it last year. I'd suggest a better tactic is to go for a marathon about 3 weeks before conn. It gives you plenty of time tiem to recover. Look at the marathon as your last big efort before the taper....

Are you all booked for Poland? And tickets? Maybe see you over there....

Yip, fully intend to push on and do even better next year. At this stage my main priority would be the 3:30 marathon.
Did you run at a high effort in Conn last year? I intend to take it easy and just get round the course which hopefully will take less out of me and allow quicker recovery. I am down for Donadea 6 weeks before Conn so no room in there for a quick marathon.
If end of May marathon goes up in smoke then I will refocus for an alternative - perhaps Dublin in October - for the 3:30.

I've decided a package trip for Poland will be the job. Apparently they will be approx €1,500 for 10 days/3 matches so sounds promising (Rep was on Newstalk yesterday morning saying as much).
The key thing for me will be the guaranteed match tickets...could be a struggle to source them otherwise and probably not much cheaper booking everything individually.

menoscemo

belcarra wrote: »

Yip, fully intend to push on and do even better next year. At this stage my main priority would be the 3:30 marathon.
Did you run at a high effort in Conn last year? I intend to take it easy and just get round the course which hopefully will take less out of me and allow quicker recovery. I am down for Donadea 6 weeks before Conn so no room in there for a quick marathon.
If end of May marathon goes up in smoke then I will refocus for an alternative - perhaps Dublin in October - for the 3:30.

I've decided a package trip for Poland will be the job. Apparently they will be approx €1,500 for 10 days/3 matches so sounds promising (Rep was on Newstalk yesterday morning saying as much).
The key thing for me will be the guaranteed match tickets...could be a struggle to source them otherwise and probably not much cheaper booking everything individually.

A ran a decent effort in Conn last year (thru marathon in 3:42), the goal was sub 6. It was very comfortable on the lungs and Heart (HR low) but it is the legs that made it hard in the end. Got a lot of cramp and finished in 5:50, still made my goal but was not feeling back to normal for many weeks afterwards. I think no matter how 'handy' you take it it's going to take a lot out of you. I set a marathon PB in training for Conn (3:24 in Barcelona- still stands today ) exactly 8 days after the Donadea 50k last year. Plan this year is to do Blackpool marathon 2 weeks after donadea and 3 weeks before Conn. I still reckon thats a better startegy than targetting a marathon after Conn Ultra.

I've booked flights and accomodation independantly, there are 3 of us and we are going out for a week (hoping to catch the first 2 games). Works out at about €600 each but no tickets. I'm checking the uefa ticket portal every day so hopefully some pop up.

We must meet up for a few long runs through the winter?

belcarra

menoscemo wrote: »

A ran a decent effort in Conn last year (thru marathon in 3:42), the goal was sub 6. It was very comfortable on the lungs and Heart (HR low) but it is the legs that made it hard in the end. Got a lot of cramp and finished in 5:50, still made my goal but was not feeling back to normal for many weeks afterwards. I think no matter how 'handy' you take it it's going to take a lot out of you. I set a marathon PB in training for Conn (3:24 in Barcelona- still stands today ) exactly 8 days after the Donadea 50k last year. Plan this year is to do Blackpool marathon 2 weeks after donadea and 3 weeks before Conn. I still reckon thats a better startegy than targetting a marathon after Conn Ultra.

Cheers for that Meno...Good to be aware about the legs being dead even though it wasn't a max effort - Something for me to bear in mind.
How was your nutrition during the race? Were the cramps a result of low electrolyte levels, etc? Or was it just simply a matter of it being a bloody long run!!?

I think i will still go with the original schedule and as I say, if initial marathon in May blows up I still have time for another, or possibly even two runs at it later in the year. I fully believe if it wasn't for NYC two weeks before Philly that I would have been very close to 3:30 there. Therefore I'm hoping/aiming that 8 weeks should be enough recovery.

menoscemo wrote: »

I've booked flights and accomodation independantly, there are 3 of us and we are going out for a week (hoping to catch the first 2 games). Works out at about €600 each but no tickets. I'm checking the uefa ticket portal every day so hopefully some pop up.

We must meet up for a few long runs through the winter?

€600 sounds like a good deal for flights and accommodation alright! We were looking at getting a campervan but lots of minor points started pushing up the costs and inconvenience, so that is why we are looking towards packages instead.

Definitely on for doing a few long runs with you guys but looks like early January will be my first opportunity at this stage...Down in Mayo for the xmas.

menoscemo

belcarra wrote: »

Definitely on for doing a few long runs with you guys but looks like early January will be my first opportunity at this stage...Down in Mayo for the xmas.

Yeah, I won't be starting those runs until January either, with the half this weekend and then Cristmas up the north.
I'll talk to you then about nutrition/electrolytes etc, too much info for me to be bothered with writing down.

insinkerator

Good luck with it! We currently share aims for 5k and marathon distances! I'll keep an eye on you for tips and encouragement

belcarra

insinkerator wrote: »

Good luck with it! We currently share aims for 5k and marathon distances! I'll keep an eye on you for tips and encouragement

Good stuff, chip in with questions or comments throughout - It will be good for both of us hopefully!

If you want to see my recent trainng (May - November) check out my previous log here.

Best of luck with your goals!

belcarra

Raheny Winter League - 2 Miler - 3.24km @ 166bpm
So, looks like I have another new PB for 2011, although this was a simple one as it was my first time doing a 2 mile race.

I called over to Raheny for my first of their Winter League and have to say it was a nice simple quality affair! About 50 of us started on a street corner under a lampost and did two circuits of a 1 mile course.

I went out a little quick on the first lap. I was in a group of 3 for half a mile but decided to push it on a little bit myself and created a gap of approx 20m, however I began to fade a little just after half way and with half a mile to go the pair went past me and immediately opened a gap of about 20m, before crossing the line about 50m ahead of me.

Finished in 13:23 with splits of 6:33 and 6:50. I had targeted 13:30, so overall happy with the race but I could have run it a bit smarter and got close to 13:15. At least now I have a target for the next race 2 mile race in January!

(3km warm-up/cool-down + 3.24 race = 6.24km)

outforarun

Good luck with the new log. Snap regarding sub 3:30 marathon, that too will be my main goal in 2012. I'll be targeting 4PBs again (over distances where I already have an official PB), not necessarily the same 4 races. I'll count two PBs over the same distance if I have to, Ballycotton (if I get in) and Frank Duffy for example.

Was in Poznan and Gdansk early last year. Two fun cities. Gdansk was beautiful, the port and sea was frozen over when we were there. Would love to go back.

Second what meno was saying, we should try meet up for some of the longer runs: although I'm an early bird, not by choice.

belcarra

outforarun wrote: »

Good luck with the new log. Snap regarding sub 3:30 marathon, that too will be my main goal in 2012. I'll be targeting 4PBs again (over distances where I already have an official PB), not necessarily the same 4 races. I'll count two PBs over the same distance if I have to, Ballycotton (if I get in) and Frank Duffy for example.

Was in Poznan and Gdansk early last year. Two fun cities. Gdansk was beautiful, the port and sea was frozen over when we were there. Would love to go back.

Second what meno was saying, we should try meet up for some of the longer runs: although I'm an early bird, not by choice.

Best of luck with the 4 PBs in 2012 - I'd say you will nail them down handy if you continue the training like this year. One comment though would be that there are easier 10 mile races out there than the two you mentioned (FD10m and Ballycotton (At least I think Ballycotton is hilly - I've never ran it myself)...If you do find yourself narrowly missing out in Ballycotton remember that on a flat course you could be much quicker.

I'll be on for starting into LSRs during the first week back in the New Year - Keep an eye out for the usual Group Run thread!

Good to hear that Poland sounds like fun!!

belcarra

Recovery Run - 7.4km @ 140bpm
Easy-paced 4.5 mile run. Conditions were fine in the sheltered areas but once the wind caught hold there was a vicious chill in the air.
Both adductor muscles were giving me issues the whole run which hasn't happened before. I'm assuming it may be a compbination of both 5-a-side on Tues night and the Raheny 2 miler on Wed, but I hadn't noticed it until the first few steps of the run.

Hopefully it will have eased up by tomorrow morning as I'm down for the Aware 5 miler in the park. Not sure what to expect time-wise so based on learnings from Wed night (Don't go out too fast!!) I will probably aim for a 4.30min/km pace which would get me home in approx 36 mins. Knowing the hills involved this will probably be quite a tactical race to ease up on the uphills and push on on the downhills but i guess we'll find out tomorrow!

Edit: I have just realised my PB is 37:17, so with that in mind (and because I like round number targets) I will aim for sub 37, giving an average pace of 4:35 (7:24min/mile), or thereabouts, instead.

belcarra

After spending heaps of time on this last night I finally managed to put my plan for next year in excel format.
And after completing the task my first thoughts were that that's one tough programme!! Nevertheless, I'm determined to give it as good a stab as I can but if things are struggling by February I may look to review it somewhat. Almost 1,200 miles by the end of May...That should blow the 1,000 mile log out of the water for me next year!!

belcarra

Just a week has passed since I posted my PB table and already I have to update two new PBS!
The first one was the 2 mile distance last Wed but that was a new distance for me so a gimme really! The second was yesterday's Aware 5 miler where I ended up getting around in 36:40! Race report to follow...
Distance:|Pre-2011 PB:|End-2011 PB:|2011 Improvement:|End 2012 target:
2m|N/A|13:23|N/A|12:50
5km|24:19|20:58|3:21|19:59
8km|38:17|36:06|2:11|34:49
5 Mile|38:19|36:40|1:39|34:59
10km|47:55|44:25|3:30|42:59
10 Mile|01:22:16|01:17:17|4:59|01:14:59
½ Marathon|01:44:31|01:40:20|4:11|01:37:29
15 Mile|02:25:35|02:25:35|0:00|01:59:59
¾ Marathon|N/A|02:39:45|N/A|02:34:59
Marathon| 04:21:40|03:51:30|30:10|03:29:59
50km|N/A| N/A|N/A|04:44:59
39.3 Mile|N/A|N/A|N/A|06:20:00

neilc

Some great targets for next year there belcarra, particularly the shorter distances, good luck with them.

belcarra

Aware 5 Mile Race – 8.03km in 36:40
On a bitterly cold Saturday morning I parked up on the Castleknock end of the park and completed my pre-race warm up by jogging to the start line almost 1 1/5 miles away. I thought I had timed it well in that it was 9:53 when I reached the starting area which allowed me to get a little stretching in and allow the HR to relax. After waiting about 5 mins I heard the announcer declare we would be starting 15 mins late die to the dangerously slippy conditions. Apprently the Gardai made the call so I guess I can’t really knock the decision.

So, after waiting the extra 15 mins I was back to being freezing again. Approx 1,700 people ammassed at the starting line and we all had to go over the narrow strip to officially begin our races. This could have been organised better by either; a) adding a wider mat, b) Locating Bootcamp.ie to an alternative location or C) start at a more suitable location, i.e. the road rather than this small path.

I was unsure about what t expect with this race as I had experienced two tight Adductor muslces on last nights run so I wondered would this hold me back today? Also, because of the temps would I be better off just cruising around, especially in light of a Soccer match I had to play later at 12:30pm! I decided I would take it easy at the start and then ramp things up depending on how I felt. Anyways, the race was underway…

Km 1:
The first stretch was along the cyclepath/grass, parallel to Acres Rd. I ran the forst couple of hundred metres very gently, but I then began to push a little more. Running alongside Acres Rd. I was passing lots of people at about the rate of 1 per second for a few mins – There was lots of newbies running today so there was plenty of easy pickings! By the time I got to the turn down the Kyber I was well down on a PB effort. I was averaging 7:40/mile at this stage and I required approx 7:15 instead.
Split: 7:41.

Km 2:
The Kyber was a joy to run. Again, I was passing plenty of people who were taking it easy but I really relished cutting through the field here. The pace was upped considerably now and I was just running down the hill as fast as I liked, declining to be bothered about any possibility of blowing up later. At the bottom of the hill I dropped back to a more reasonable pace before we turned for Millitary Hill.
Split: 6:45.

Km 3/4/5:
I managed to get up and over this without too much trouble and sat in the wake of other runners until I was back in sheltered spots again. Once we finished with the ‘S-bends’ I kicked on a little more down the hill and across to the the last uphill at the Upper Glen Rd. There wasn’t much overtaking going on here as I kept within my comfort zone, doing just enough to keep pace with those around me.
Split: 7:42/7:16/7:55.

Km 6:
The next km was more of the same until the course began to flatten out. I managed to pick up the pace towards the second half of the km. More and more people were beginning to feel the effects of going off too strongly around this point.
Split: 7:39

Km 7:
Turning onto Furze Rd. was welcome, knowing that the hills were now out of the way and with only 2km left I knew I could kick on a bit again. I started passing a few more at this stage, yet there was others now passing me also. I kept things steady knowing that some of them had gone too early and would surely be caught.
Split: 7:13.

Km 8/9:
The final km was the quickest of the day, even taking the Kyber hill into account. I benefited from the more relaxed first half of the race, so much so that this split was even faster than the second half of the Raheny 2 mile race on Wed night! As the turn for home came, everyone was cutting it short by about 5m-10m. I decided to join in also in a bid to maintain my place. Frantic finish unsued and 2 or 3 of us were juggling positions all the way to the line with me managing to just about pip them home.
Split: 6:43/5:50.
Total: 36:40.

So, happy with the result given that I’m just back into a bit of random training at the moment, yet still another PB! (My previous PB was a bit soft, to be fair).

I left the Park at 11am and got to my match in Tymon in plenty of time. Ended up playing 60mins at RB with no tiredness issues which was nice. Of course, 2 mins after coming off as planned, our LB gets cramps and we use our final sub. 5 mins later our CH comes off injured with no available subs left, so we’re down to 10 men! 5 mins later again, our Player/Manager gets sent off for a professional foul!! We end up playing the final 15 mins with 9 men.
The result? We actually won 7-1! …I guess we’ve played tougher opposition!

slowsteady

Plenty of good targets there to keep you focused for 2012, including that 3:30. Not sure you are making it easy on yourself with the planned schedule, there is a Waterford marathon on now at the end of June which would give your legs another few weeks recovery time - unless you reckon we will be in the final?

Good luck with what looks like a heavy training schedule - if you can keep that up the PBs will fall:)

belcarra

slowsteady wrote: »

Plenty of good targets there to keep you focused for 2012, including that 3:30. Not sure you are making it easy on yourself with the planned schedule, there is a Waterford marathon on now at the end of June which would give your legs another few weeks recovery time - unless you reckon we will be in the final?

Good luck with what looks like a heavy training schedule - if you can keep that up the PBs will fall:)

End of June target marathon is definitely out as there will be the small matter of Euro 2012 (And all the associated beer swilling) in the middle of the taper - I'll be lucky to be sober by the end of June, never mind able to run a marathon!!
Hence, I am looking for end of May/start of June. It could well end up being Cork instead of Edinburgh.

I agree the schedule is really heavy regarding the weekly mileage. I am still in the recovery phase from Philly so am taking it easy at the moment with just a few training runs and a couple of shorter races ticking me over. Hope I don't get so lazy that the step-up in January falls apart!!:eek:

Thanks for the feedback!

belcarra

Recovery Run 6.0km @ 136bpm

Managed to get out for what was intended as an 8km run yesterday but ended up being truncated to a 6km run instead. My quad muscles were becoming increasingly tight throughout the run because of what I reasoned was the cold weather and lack of recent running. I decided to bail in order to avoid stressing the muscles any further.

Later, in the evening I also had a game of 5 a side, during which the muscles were fine again but the weather was still Baltic!

Hope to go for a 10 miler or so tomorrow afternoon.

menoscemo

belcarra wrote: »

After spending heaps of time on this last night I finally managed to put my plan for next year in excel format.
And after completing the task my first thoughts were that that's one tough programme!! Nevertheless, I'm determined to give it as good a stab as I can but if things are struggling by February I may look to review it somewhat. Almost 1,200 miles by the end of May...That should blow the 1,000 mile log out of the water for me next year!!

Just look at your plan there. Looks quite tough!!

For the purposes of preparing well for The Ultras, if I were you I would consider doubling up your long runs at the weekend. That is Doing your second longest run of the week (you midweek MLR) the day before or the day after your weekly long run. In the absence of doing any really long runs (26 mile+ LSR's) that would be the best way to build up Ultra endurance without increasing overall mileage.

belcarra

menoscemo wrote: »

Just look at your plan there. Looks quite tough!!

For the purposes of preparing well for The Ultras, if I were you I would consider doubling up your long runs at the weekend. That is Doing your second longest run of the week (you midweek MLR) the day before or the day after your weekly long run. In the absence of doing any really long runs (26 mile+ LSR's) that would be the best way to build up Ultra endurance without increasing overall mileage.

I've had another look at the plan based on your feedback Meno and have to agree with your suggestion about the 2 long runs at the weekends, so I have changed one of the MSRs each week to before/after the LSRs so now I will be doing between 26 and 32 miles over two days leading up to Donadea.
Thanks for the tip!

belcarra

I enjoyed the Christmas break a little too well, and with the focus of the training plan starting this week I found it difficult to be inspired to go out running much in the past few weeks.

I did manage a local 5km race on Stephen's Day which was a windy and tough course. First year for the race and it went very well. I'll definitely be back for it again next year. I completed it in 22:46, a good bit outside of PB but not one bit bothered about that!

This week I have started the plan, albeit I did miss the first day :P.
A 9km easy run on Tuesday was followed by a 14km run last night with 6.5km @ LT level. I'm back into the HR monitoring again for the first few weeks of training to ensure I stay at the optimum effort level. Last nights run was during rain and lots of wind which meant the HR was slightly raised at 159bpm as opposed to 155bpm target. I expect this to ease back to normal levels after the wind departs. On the cool-down afterwards I was doing over 6min/km and still the HR was hovering about the 150bpm level when it would normally be approx 130-135bpm. Does anyone else have issues getting their HR to fall back down after a LT session?? I must keep an eye on this next LT session I do.

Tuesday: 9km Recovery Run
Wednesday: 14km LT Session (6.5km @ 159bpm)

belcarra

8km Recovery Run tonight. Weather is much better than last night.
BPM was 139 beats which was close enough to 137 target.
Legs feeling a bit heavy with DOMS which I hope are much better for tomorrows run.

menoscemo

A few of us are doing 20 in the park on saturday if you're around/interested.

belcarra

menoscemo wrote: »

A few of us are doing 20 in the park on saturday if you're around/interested.

Sounds interesting alright but I have planned a run up around Howth head with a couple of mates @ 1pm. Might try for a long one on Sunday if anyone is doubling up lsrs!

belcarra

belcarra wrote: »

Sounds interesting alright but I have planned a run up around Howth head with a couple of mates @ 1pm. Might try for a long one on Sunday if anyone is doubling up lsrs!

That Howth Run didn't actually happen in the end, but regardless I wouldn't have been able to make the boards meet-up in the morning anyways.

belcarra

Friday – 17.4km LSR.
This was meant to be 22km run but had to cut it short at 18km. Decent run with decent conditions but a bit of a wind in parts. DOMS still leaving my legs feeling dead.

Saturday – 8km Recovery Run.
Easy recovery run. Nice evening for a run. DOMS less of an issue but still there.

Sunday – 13.3km General Aerobic.
Planned to stay at approx 142bpm, finished @ 141bpm so happy with that. First half of run was effortless however second half was a little tougher given that it was mainly uphill. Perfect conditions for a run with zero breeze and no rain. Temp approximately 8-10deg.

Still trying to shake a cold that has been annoying me for the past week…

(Links to routes to come)

belcarra

Monday - 8km Recovery Run.
Felt poor at work as the cold has moved from sniffles to nasty cough. Lay on the bed for an hour when I came home before watching Arsenal v Leeds (Hard luck RQ!:D). The rest and the sign of TH scoring for Arsenal again inspired me to head out for a 8km recovery run which went very smoothly on another lovely night. I think running through some of the worst of last weeks weather has made me appreciate the nice evenings even more.

Think I'm going to start copying RayCun regarding a simple tracking of my runs/distance for the year to date:
Kmtd:78
Runs:7

belcarra

Tuesday - 17.6km Medium Slow Run.
After last nights run where I floated around tonights run was pretty much the opposite. From the start I felt crappy and it only got marginally better as the run progressed. Legs are still pretty leaden which I am attributing to too much too soon on my return. I have been keeping the pace/effort low intentionally in order to allow the legs catch up with the heart but they're still lagging:rolleyes:.

Kmtd: 95.4
Runs: 8

irfrm

Hi belcarra

Just taken a look at your training plan, thats some mileage, waiting
on p&f book to understand some terms.
Best of luck with goals for 2012, will keep track on your progess
as my goals are close to you.

slowsteady

belcarra wrote: »

Legs are still pretty leaden which I am attributing to too much too soon on my return.

You have put in a fair bit of mileage in the past week and it could be a shock to the system. Maybe a rest day would not go astray to allow the legs repair themselves. I cut back to a hill session myself tonight for much the same reason.

Our targets for 2012 are almost identical, again, though I am aiming to be slightly more ambitious by a minute or two at 10 miles and the half - getting there will be the issue:D

Woddle

I'd agree with the above, no reason you won't be able to go sub 70 for 10 miles this year.

belcarra

Woddle wrote: »

I'd agree with the above, no reason you won't be able to go sub 70 for 10 miles this year.

:eek:
To be honest 10 mile distance is probably one of the lower priorities for me this year so I think I will be a good distance off 70 mins.
However, if there was a suitable 10 miler around August time then I could look to give that a crack. Don't think I will do the Race Series this year as I have enough t-shirts at this stage and the routes are never the easiest (Not too bad last year but there are definitely easier courses).

You've given me something to think about...4:20min/km for 16.3ish kms. If I managed to do that this year i'd be well happy with my progress and Sub 3:30 marathon should then be very achievable!

belcarra

irfrm wrote: »

Hi belcarra

Just taken a look at your training plan, thats some mileage, waiting
on p&f book to understand some terms.
Best of luck with goals for 2012, will keep track on your progess
as my goals are close to you.

Ya, some mileage alright. My general aim is to get really strong endurance-wise by the time of Connemara and then work a bit more on speed between that and probably Cork Marathon.

We are starting off quite similar levels and aims so it will be interesting to track our progress off different schedules!

belcarra

slowsteady wrote: »

You have put in a fair bit of mileage in the past week and it could be a shock to the system. Maybe a rest day would not go astray to allow the legs repair themselves. I cut back to a hill session myself tonight for much the same reason.

Our targets for 2012 are almost identical, again, though I am aiming to be slightly more ambitious by a minute or two at 10 miles and the half - getting there will be the issue:D

My head totally agrees with you but yet i'm unlikely to have a rest day til next week to be honest. I've been throwing in lots of recovery miles and the remaining mileage has been pretty relaxed also, apart from an LT session on Day 2.

What is your 10 mile target...anything as wild as Woddle's recommendation of 70 mins??

Best of luck with the training anyways over the next few months!

irfrm

belcarra wrote: »

We are starting off quite similar levels and aims so it will be interesting to track our progress off different schedules!

Not too sure we starting off similar levels with mileage like that:) but I try
to keep up:D

belcarra

Tuesday - Raheny Winter League 3 Mile Race
Managed to get a lap of the course in for a 2km warm-up before the race began. I picked a nominal target of 21 mins for the race which allowed me a convenient 7min mile pace. I eased off a little in the second lap to allow a strong finish which kinda happened!

Another good race by Raheny and I was involved in an enjoyable bit of racing for the second half of the race which was nice.

Splits were:
Mile 1: 6:56
Mile 2: 7:20
Mile 3: 6:53

Kmtd: 103.1
Runs: 9/11

belcarra

irfrm wrote: »

Not too sure we starting off similar levels with mileage like that:) but I try
to keep up:D

What I mean is that we have similar pbs but I will probably end up doing more miles than you but it'll be interesting to see if it actually pays off!!:)

slowsteady

belcarra wrote: »

What is your 10 mile target...anything as wild as Woddle's recommendation of 70 mins??

My current PB is 75:00 and have pencilled in sub-72 as a target, which I feel is plenty tough. I need an injury-free run into the summer to get near it though;).

belcarra

Now that I think about it there aren't many races at 10 mile distance. The Frank Duffy 10 in the park I have done many times but none apart from this. I know some of the Boards crew did Mallow last year but any suitably fast races elsewhere??

belcarra

Thursday - 8km Recovery Run.
Nice easy run this evening with an average HR of 131bpm. I took this especially handy as I have 15 miler tomorrow and 12 miler Saturday morning. I think the cold/cough is just about left the system now so hopefully onwards and upwards!

Kmtd: 111.1:D
Runs: 10/12

belcarra

Just updating the table to reflect a new distance of 3 miles:Distance:|Pre-2011 PB:|End-2011 PB:|2011 Improvement:|End 2012 target:
2m|N/A|13:23|N/A|12:50
3m|N/A|21:09|N/A|20:30
5km|24:19|20:58|3:21|19:59
8km|38:17|36:06|2:11|34:49
5 Mile|38:19|36:40|1:39|34:59
10km|47:55|44:25|3:30|42:59
10 Mile|01:22:16|01:17:17|4:59|01:14:59
½ Marathon|01:44:31|01:40:20|4:11|01:37:29
15 Mile|02:25:35|02:25:35|0:00|01:59:59
¾ Marathon|N/A|02:39:45|N/A|02:34:59
Marathon| 04:21:40|03:51:30|30:10|03:29:59
50km|N/A| N/A|N/A|04:44:59
39.3 Mile|N/A|N/A|N/A|06:20:00


NB:I have a quicker target time for 5km (3.1 mile) than 3 miles as 5km target race will be Rathfarnham which is a net downhill and very favourable course!

belcarra

Friday - 25.6km LSR
LSR was done in two parts today.

For Part 1 of my LSR I met up with an old school friend in the Park. John is intending to run the DCM so I said to join me for some runs in a bid to work up his fitness. Took it very handy as he was dealing with the remnants of sinus issues so a leisurely 9.3km loop back to the cars before John headed home.

I then continued on for Part 2 of my LSR at a quicker pace but still very easy on the HR. Part 2 alone was 16.3km in just over 91mins. This was a pace of 5:38/km which I was happy with for a LSR but my av HR was only 129bpm when I would have expected it to be closer to 140bpm. I'm guessing the crisp cold conditions played their part in keeping the HR down but I'm still surprised. I guess it appears a good stat but it's probably some kind of anomaly due to the fact the HR had averaged only 112bpm for the first 9.3km of the day.

So, the first of my back-to-back LSRs completed, tomorrow heralds a 12 miler in the park with the boards crew at 9am. If I feel good I may push this to 14 miles but I also need to keep one eye on the Tuam 8km race I'm doing on Sunday. Still though, LSRs are the priority for the foreseeable future!!

Kmtd: 136.7
Runs: 11/13

belcarra

Saturday, 14th Jan - 20.6km LSR
After waking much earlier than required and then again when the alarm rang at 8am, I only managed to fully wake at 8:40 when I got a phone call! I jumped out of the bed and barely made it in for the start of the run at 9am!

There was a good boards group this morning for what was only my second group run. We started off with a crisp ground frost still very much present, especially down on the lower parts of our run in the War Memorial gardens. An hours loop and we were back at the car park after about 6 .5 miles. We picked up Vagga on the exit of the car park and continued around to include a lap of Farmleigh - somewhere I had not been before but a very nice 1.5 mile distraction towards the end of my run.

All told it was just under half marathon distance which I was happy with as I was still feeling pretty fresh at the end - At least as good as I could have wished for before my back 2 back runs yesterday. So I ended up doing 15.9/12.8 rather than the planned 15/11 and I still feel pretty good. All-in-all I'm quite happy with where I am at the moment. I just need to build on that over the next few weeks now.

Kmtd: 157.3
Runs: 12/14

belcarra

Sunday, 15th Jan - Tuam 8km Race
I had booked this before xmas so being that I am in the middle of endurance training I didn't have the luxury of focusing on this race for a good time. So, on the back of my first b2b LSRs I toed the line on a very nice Winters day - Crisply cool and bright with not a sign of rain. There was a bit of a breeze blowing though so that was something that would need thinking about when out on the course.

There was no mat for a start time so everybody was going by the gun. Nevertheless I started my watch where I believed the front of the crowd began and we were away. I ran the first stretch alongside my brother. This was a reasonably easy pace for me but I decided against pushing it due to the mileage of the previous two days. However, by 2.5km the pace was settling back into the 4:4x so I decided to stretch out the legs a little.

At this stage we were going headlong into the breeze so I gently pushed on and decided to myself I'd use the remainder of the race as a 5km effort! I was passing loads of people now that I had stepped up the effort. Eventually we turned the corner for the direction of Tuam town and were left with 3km to the finish. At this stage there was one guy whom I passed who sat on my shoulder for the past 1500m. This continued until we were about 1km from the finish when he pushed on past. Most of the onlookers seemed to recognise this guy dressed in a Tri Lakes Tri kit so I think he was saving himself until that stage so he could impress the loyal fanbase!! I kept it going trying to keep him a steady distance in front and by the time I finished he was about 8 or 9 secs ahead.

After I completed my post race routine of battling to not vomit:eek:
I looked to the watch which read 35:53...so for a race where I was just meant to be out to enjoy a 8km course I ended up beating the 36min marker! Very pleased with this result!

My splits show a nice progression throughout the race with me finishing quite strongly:
4:30, 4:45, 4:42, 4:31, 4:26, 4:21, 4:18, 4:15

My brother finished just over two mins later for an impressive time given the little amount of training he has been limited to recently. My LSR running mate Phil also ran the race and finished in a very impressive time of 33:07 or so.
Things are falling into place nicely:)

Kmtd: 166.3
Runs: 13/15

Monday, 16th Jan - 8.0km Recovery Run
Easy 8km recovery run. Nothing much to report apart from Av HR = 129bpm - Pretty low given a reasonable recovery pace. Seems like good news to me!!

Kmtd: 174.3
Runs: 14/16

DukeOfDromada

Sounds like a good race especially after your b2b LSRs. Any thoughts on re-evaluating your 2012 target PB of 34:49?;) Looks like you can easily beat it.

belcarra

I'll be happy enough if I hit my target given I'll be doing no focused training over most of the distances for most of the year! I have the best part of a minute to take off my new PB yet will probably only have one more stab at it (Streets of Galway) this year so, no, I'm not really prepared or stupid enough to drop the target any lower!!

...But it would be nice for it to happen regardless!!:D

belcarra

Tuesday, 17th Jan - 18.8km Medium Slow Run
Nothing much to report. Nice night out. Felt a couple of slight niggles for only seconds at a time but feeling good overall if a little tired from Sunday still.
Kmtd: 193.1
Runs: 15/17

belcarra

Wednesday, 18th Jan - 8km Recovery Run
Easy run to settle the legs after last nights MSR.
Kmtd: 201.1
Runs: 16/18