Things will come to those who wait...

pconn062

Monday: Rest

Tuesday: 7 miles @ 7.39 pace (road)

First run in a while where I felt really good.

Wednesday: 6 miles @ 7.20 pace (grass)

Felt good again today, went into the hill field for the last two miles and did two steady miles up and down the hills, two 6:5X miles which felt tough on the hills but very manageable

Thursday

AM: 30 mins easy on treadmill
PM: Louth T+F champs, 1500m, 4:47, silver medal in seniors

Did 30 mins in the morning to shake out the legs. Went to the Louth Champs in the evening, even though I'm in bad shape I still wanted to give them a lash. Signed up for the 800m and the 1500m and the 1500m was up first. Took it fairly handy at the start and kept it like that until the brother decided to kick with 450m to go! He knows he can't outkick me so he went early. Luckily I could go with him and sat with him until 200m to go where I did indeed kick on and got away from him and the other guy who was with us. I was about 5th or 6th overall but got 2nd in the seniors, so a nice County medal to take home. Not a bad performance given my recent lack of training but better than I thought I would do. My calves were a little sore after the race and mentioned it to the coach, straight away he pulled the plug on the 800m, "Spikes off NOW" was the exact phrase!

So that's my track season over for the year, was cut very short and only managed three 1500m races:

4:42
4:38
4:47

Not bad but I hope to break 4:30 at least next year. The plan now is to build the mileage up steadily, next two races are a 5k in Carlingford in 2 weeks and then a 4 mile race in Blackrock in about a month.

NiallG4

Well done on the silver. I was busy watching my 59 year old club mate breaking his own national record in 4.29. Was a great nights crack. I really enjoyed it. I ended up jumping into the 800m (for the crack) 10 mins after the 3000. Legs were sore but I was enjoying the night and got sucked in. We will never get conditions like that at least until 2015 as it is back in the bush (windiest track in the world as next to the coast) next year. See you in Carlingford

pconn062

NiallG4 wrote: »

Well done on the silver. I was busy watching my 59 year old club mate breaking his own national record in 4.29. Was a great nights crack. I really enjoyed it. I ended up jumping into the 800m (for the crack) 10 mins after the 3000. Legs were sore but I was enjoying the night and got sucked in. We will never get conditions like that at least until 2015 as it is back in the bush (windiest track in the world as next to the coast) next year. See you in Carlingford

Good man Niall, you had a great run in the 3000m, looked really strong. I feel bad about my 4.47 now after hearing that a 59 years old ran 4.29!! Fair play to him, was a great evening for it. Hope the weather is as good in two weeks time.

NiallG4

pconn062 wrote: »

Good man Niall, you had a great run in the 3000m, looked really strong. I feel bad about my 4.47 now after hearing that a 59 years old ran 4.29!! Fair play to him, was a great evening for it. Hope the weather is as good in two weeks time.

He is no ordinary 59 yr old if that helps. 60 in Feb and a 4.29 will have him in the 5th in the All time ranking O/60 1500M. 4.24 is the record. Regarding me in 3K, looks can be deceptive. I was busted. Turned into a solo time trial as I watch CD run into the distance. Some running by him and great pacing by DG. Yip, all roads lead to Carlingford. There is always a very strong field and it is def. a PB course depending on the wind on the night. Regarding the calf, stick to the grasss as much as you can.

pconn062

Friday: 6 miles

A nice few easy miles in the blazing sunshine, did the last two miles around the hill field.

Saturday: 7 miles w/hills

6x1 minute uphill, 6x20 hill sprints

Going to include hill work fairly regularly during the next few weeks. Went back to the hill field for this and did 6x1 minute up the steep side of the field. Recovery consisted of a very slow jog back down the hill which took about 2.30 minutes. Full recovery was fine for this as the idea was to get the legs turning over and increase the leg strength, not to over stress the aerobic system. Followed this up with 6 short sprints on the steepest part of the hill. Felt good overall, not a particularly stressful session but enough to leave the legs a little fatigued.

Sunday: 10 miles @ 7.50 pace

First double figure run in a few weeks, lovely cool conditions this morning with a nice sea breeze made a lovely change from the last few weeks.

So 43 miles for the week, pretty happy with that. The legs are a bit sore now, my calves are constantly tight, they loosen out when I get running but can be a bit uncomfortable the rest of the time. Nothing for it but to keep doing the strength work and hope it improves. My physio says it's fine to keep running so long as it's not sore when I do so I'll keep at it!

pconn062

Monday: OFF

Tuesday: 7 miles @ 7.47 pace

Found this quite tough, did it during a break in work and felt tired and sluggish. Glad to get it done all the same though, was extremely humid.

Wednesday

AM: 6.5 miles with fartlek session
PM: 3.5 easy with 4x150m strides.

The fartlek session consisted of 2x(3, 2.5, 2, 1.5, 1 mins hard) pyramid yoke of 1 min recovery with 2 mins between the sets. Did this on grass up in the hill field. I didn't run too hard as it's still too early for that. Instead I concentrated on some smaller details: keeping my form on the uphills, practicing my downhill running technique and surging off the top of the hill. A good session with 20 minutes hard work.
In the evening I went out to the track and did a few easy miles, threw in 4x150m strides. Had intended on doing 6 but didn't want to overdo it with the session this morning.

Legs feel good so far this week, I'm rolling them out a lot and doing lots of strength work so maybe some of it is actually starting to pay off!

pconn062

Thursday: 6.2 miles easy

Did this on late on the treadmill after a late massage, kept the pace quite slow as the legs were a little tender after the massage. Did a few pick ups during and messed around a bit with the incline, pushing it up at times.

Friday: 7 miles @ 7.28 pace

Woke up with a tender left IT band, a new one on me but not surprising given my recent luck, was fine to run on so did 7 miles with the last two steady in the hill field.

Saturday: 6 miles @ 7.39 pace

IT band a little tight when I woke up, so I cancelled my planned hill session and just did an easy run instead. Felt very tired during this, but improved as the run went on and went good towards the end. I think the IT band issue is due to the increased emphasis I am putting on hills, maybe a bit much too soon so I'm going to back off the hills a bit.

Did a lot of foam rolling when I got home.

Sunday: 11 miles @ 7.58 pace

IT band felt much better today, think the foam rolling helped. Enjoyed this run, ran with my bro and we kept the pace very slow at the start. We were joined by a friend for the last four miles and the pace wound up a bit. Good run over a testy, hilly route.

So a good week and my highest mileage in a while with 47 miles in total, should be over fifty soon and heading towards sixty in the next few weeks. The legs felt really good today so hopefully the IT band was just a blip on the radar, I think I deserve a few weeks of good look to put some solid training in!

pconn062

Monday: Rest

Tuesday: 7 miles @ 7.48 pace

Can't remember anything about this run

Wednesday:

AM: 3.5 miles easy
PM: 6 miles w/15 tempo

Just did a a short tempo run at the track nothing too serious at this stage. Felt pretty good during this, paced it off my current fitness and we averaged 6.22 pace. Conditions were pretty rough for this, very windy and it lashed rain.

Thursday: 4 miles @ 7.58 pace

My asthma was at me a bit on this one, can get to me a bit at certain times.

Just a few easy miles before the race today.

Friday: 6 miles w/Carlingford 5k in 18:28

Was kinda using this race as a session, I set out with the intention of holding a steady pace and trying to sneak under 18:30, so mission accomplished. It may look like a pretty poor run and time wise it's not great but I'm actually very happy with how I ran. I felt very strong the whole way through and kept my pace very steady (splits were: 5.54, 5.56, 5.55 and then 5.32). I just lacked a bit when my brother and clubmate kicked away from me with 1k to go, I had no higher gear to go into. But I felt I could hold this pace for another mile or two and I only really started working with 500m to go. So a mixed bag but definitely a positive race and something to build on I feel like I'm starting to get some benefit of the steady mileage and hopefully it will continue to pay off over the next while.

Will do an easy run tomorrow and a long run, hopefully 12 mile on Sunday.

pconn062

Forgot to add, I went over on my ankle quite bad during my cool down, was very sore for the jog back, seem to have stretched some of the ligaments. Is OK to walk on now so will have to see how it is tomorrow, should be grand. I'm going to run on the grass anyway.

RunningKing

Nice race, out of interest, what's your PB?

pconn062

RunningKing wrote: »

Nice race, out of interest, what's your PB?

18:06 from February this year. I've been in sub 18 shape I think a couple of times since then but just didn't have the race to do it. I should really have a better 5k PB that that based on my shorter (1500m and 3k) times. We are organising a 5000m time trial on the track in a few weeks and my coach is going to pace a bunch of us to 17:59 hopefully!

pconn062

Saturday: 6 miles @ 7.35 pace

Felt great for this, legs felt fresh after the race and thankfully I had no issues with my ankle.

Sunday: 12.5 miles @ 7.50 pace

Long run with a few friends this morning, was quite warm so we kept the pace fairly easy. We ran quite a hilly course and the legs felt a bit heavy at times and was glad to get done, overall I enjoyed it though and felt good.

So another week over, 45 miles in total with a decent race and a good long run today. Starting to feel a little stronger on the hills and on my easy runs and the consistent mileage is helping. I know this log is a bit of a snore fest at the minute but it's this steady training that is helping me so there will be no more excitement for a few weeks at least! Hoping to bump the mileage up a bit to the 50 mile mark for next week.

pconn062

Monday: Rest

Tuesday: 7 miles @ 7.16 pace

Felt good on this, did it on grass and the pace started slow and just dropped naturally. Did the last 2.5 steady in the hill field, held around 6.50 pace but this was on a hilly lap so was a good workout.

Wednesday:

AM: 3 miles easy on the treadmill before work
PM: 6 miles w/20 mins tempo @ 6.21 pace

Did this tempo run on the track with a friend of mine. I'm not too concerned about pushing the pace on these tempos just yet, we could have done this faster but we just kept it controlled. Felt good during this and only started feeling it for the last 3 minutes or so.

Thursday: 6 miles

A local club was organising a few track races tonight, I wanted to support them as I think it's a good initiative, I intended on running the 800m as I haven't ran one this year but I missed the start so had to do the 1500m instead. Wasn't really in the mood for racing and at the start 4 lads flew off and I was a the front of the next group. Those behind me fell back quickly so I ran mostly on my own. Kinda got bored after 600m which is a bad sign so just kept it steady. Forgot to start my watch but my girlfriend had me timed at around 4.49, my slowest 1500m of the year. Considering the pretty poor conditions and lack of competition it wasn't a bad run but I think I would have been better off with an easy run instead. Will try and keep these things to a minimum.

Gonna do a few easy runs for the next two days and hopefully get another long run on Sunday.

pconn062

Friday: 8 miles @ 7.48 pace

Felt very tired at the start of this, legs were very heavy from the effort of the previous days. Had to give myself a stern talking to several times, along the lines of HTFU! Had a bit of a wrestling match with a brave dog as well during this, he went straight for my ankles so was dismissed with a swift (but gentle!) kick up the arse!

Saturday: 8 miles : 7.36 pace

Same route as yesterday but faster today. Met my nemesis, the dog from yesterday again but he must have remembered me and gave me a wide berth this time!

Sunday: 12 miles @ 7.45 pace

Long run this morning, enjoyed this one. Ran with a fairly big group and as often happens the pace wound up fairly quickly, I'm not really into this running hard for the sake of it thing so I backed off and kept the pace nice and steady. The lads are all training for a marathon so when the MP miles started I just sat back and relaxed, the joys of not being a marathon runner! (They were also doing 14-16 miles!).

Very good week this week and got the mileage up to 50 miles. The body seems to be holding up quite well, I'm getting a few niggles here and there but they disappear quickly and I'm keeping on top of all the stretching and strength work. Have a rest day and a massage booked for tomorrow so that should help with any issues. The mileage will be slightly down this week as I have a race planned next Sunday in place of a long run, a 4 mile race so will be interesting to see how that goes!

pconn062

Monday: Rest

Tuesday: 8 miles @ 7.28 pace on grass

Very slow and stiff at the start of this but loosened up nicely as I went along. My left knee was quite stiff and was jarring a little bit during parts of this run, felt better towards the end of the run. Did the last 3.5 mile in the hill field and threw in a few 6.5X miles.

Wednesday:

AM: 3 mile very easy on treadmill
PM: 6.5 mile fartlek session at track

Session: 4 (minutes), 3, 2, 1, 1, 2, 3, 4 off 1 min easy

Knee felt much better this morning on the easy jog, my stretching and rolling last night seemed to help. Then at the track tonight we did a pyramid (I think it's called a pyramid) session, again the plan is not to these sessions too hard, they are simply some light work to get the legs ticking a bit quicker. The fast sections were done between 5.50-6.00 minute pace and this felt very comfortable for me, only really started working on the last two sections. Obviously others found it tougher than that because we started with 4 people and finished with two! Happy with how the session went and it served it's purpose at this stage of training, the real fast work won't start for at least another month, for now it's all about the miles!

pconn062

Thursday: 7 miles @ 8 minute pace

Easy run on the treadmill in the evening, legs felt a little tender after the session the night before. Even though it wasn't a hard session the legs have become a big unaccustomed to faster running.

Friday: 7 miles @ 7.34 pace on grass.


Bit of a struggle for the start of this, took me 4 miles to feel comfortable. Was ticking along nicely at the end and as usual I finished up the last three miles in the hill field.

Saturday: 6 miles @ 8.30 pace on the treadmill

There are advantages to owning a treadmill, I was only changed and ready to head out the door when the heavens opened. Instead of having to hang around I just jumped on the dreadmill and got it out of the way! Kept it nice and handy as I have signed up for a race tomorrow.

After Friday's run the tendinitis I get reappeared mildly in my left knee, nothing too serious and I kept ice on it since. Felt fine during today's run but getting a few twinges occasionally when I was walking around. Have paid for this race already so I want to do it but will play it by ear. I'm going to do a very easy 20 minute jog in the morning to test the water before making any decisions. If I do run I'm not expecting any miracles, only really running because it's a club mate of mine that is organising the race. Apparently it's a fairly hilly course as well so don't think I will get near my 4 mile PB of 23:39.

pconn062

Time: 24:08, 9th overall

Great race this, only a smallish field of about 160 runners. I had been warned beforehand that it was a testing course so wasn't worried about time, just wanted a good strong run. Took it easy at the start, was in 12th position after a mile so made up three places after that and was never passed. The course involved two laps of a 2 mile loop with the first mile of each lap predominantly uphill. My splits pretty much reflect the course, 6.08, 5.55, 6.18, 5.55. I am happy with the third mile as this is the usual spot where I would usually fade when I hit the hills but managed to keep a respectable pace going. Like the Carlingford 5k a few weeks ago I felt very strong today and only really started working on the last half a mile but I had no extra gear to go into. The mileage is definitely making me stronger and I held a good pace today while others faded so I'm happy with that. Hopefully that bit of extra speed will come back when I start doing sessions in a few weeks.

Next up I think is a 5,000m time trial on the track in two weeks time, if the weather plays ball we will pick a fairly aggressive time and give it a lash.

43 miles for the week.

pconn062

Monday: Rest

Tuesday

AM: 5 miles @ 7.33 pace
PM: 4 miles @ 7.58 pace

Two easy runs, not much to say about these, took it easier on the second one as I was tired after work.

Wednesday: 8 miles w/2x15 minute tempo

1st set- 6.16 pace, 2nd set- 6.19 pace

My knee was a bit sore during work today and I was a bit worried it was going to give me a bit of bother during my run. Thankfully it was fine for the training, at the moment it is a case of just taking it day by day and trying to keep the body in check with lots of stretching and rolling.

Into the track tonight for more tempo work, this is the bread and butter stuff for this training phase. Had a good group of four doing this and the target pace was around 6.20. Overall it went very well, to be honest this pace felt very comfortable and I'm wondering is it time to up the pace for these sessions a bit, although the will be getting longer over the next few weeks so maybe this pace is fine. Took two minutes between the sets and the second set felt as comfortable as the first, a good feeling. Just a case of keeping the miles ticking over for the rest of the week, will do some hill work on Saturday maybe.

ThePiedPiper

What race distance should a tempo session be based on PConn? I always would assume it'd be 10k, but maybe not. Great that 6:20 is feeling comfortable, 6:05 or 6:10 might be a more appropriate pace for tempo, yeah?

ronnie085

RunForestRun wrote: »

What race distance should a tempo session be based on PConn? I always would assume it'd be 10k, but maybe not. Great that 6:20 is feeling comfortable, 6:05 or 6:10 might be a more appropriate pace for tempo, yeah?

I'll jump in there, basically between your 10 mile and half marathon race pace, 10k pace would be to fast as the aim of tempo running is to train your body to clear lactic acid from your muscles, doing them to fast won't give your body a chance to clear this and you won't get the desired training effect.

belcarra

I have read it is the pace which you could hold for an hour. So, for slow runners that might be 10km pace, average to advanced runners would be slightly slower than 10 mile pace but for fast runners that would be close to HM pace.

pconn062

Just backing up what the two lads have said RFR, I always went by the pace you can run at for an hour or so, 10k pace would be too quick. 6:15-20 would prob be around my 10 mile pace at the minute so I'm going with that. You can also adapt the pace you run depending on how long you are doing.

ThePiedPiper

Grand, good to know. I suppose my 10k was always a very soft pb so the paces were askew due to that.. Still think you're sandbagging though.. Man up..

pconn062

Thursday: 8 miles @ 7.48 pace

Can't remember this run at all, think it was done on grass.

Friday

AM: 4 mile @ 7.58 pace
PM: 5 mile @ 7.58 pace

Two identical, tired runs. The first one was done on the road, the second one on the treadmill as the sky opened just as I stepped out the door. Had intended to do 6 in the evening but got a pain in my left foot, just below the inside ankle bone. Very strange so had to call it a day early.

Saturday: 8 mile with hill session

6x300m uphill, 4x100m uphill

Had a hill session planned for today but wasn't even sure if I would get it done given how my foot felt last night. Headed up for the grass and after having to leave one field after one lap because of some ignorant bastards who wouldn't keep their mongrels on a leash and thought it was "cute" when their massive dogs came over a barked at me, I headed for the hill field. Thankfully the foot felt OK and even though I felt like a lunatic repeatedly running up a hill on purpose in the lashing rain, I really enjoyed this session. My left ankle is a bit tender from running on the uneven surface so will put a bit of ice on it tonight (wasn't joking when I said it was about taking it one day at a time and hoping the body holds together! :pac:).

Long run planned for tomorrow, hopefully 12-13 miles to take me to my highest weekly mileage total ever.

pconn062

Sunday: 12 miles @ 7.55 pace

Long run on the grass this morning, took it nice and handy as I ran with my brother who raced the Frank Duffy 10 mile yesterday, so he was feeling tender enough. Didn't realise that I got a bit of man boob chafing yesterday in the rain, after two miles today they got very sensitive and the top had to come off. Luckily there were no women or small children around to call the guards!

So that gives me 54 miles for the week, my highest ever weekly total I think. The plan is to try and keep the mileage around this mark, going up to sixty over the next few weeks which should leave me in good shape for the cross country One I hit 60 miles I will start proper sessions in the next, mostly 1k-1 mile reps done on the grass and over hills. Physio booked tomorrow to give my legs a good battering.

ThePiedPiper

pconn062 wrote: »

So that gives me 54 miles for the week, my highest ever weekly total I think. .

Is it any wonder you were rubbish at marathons?!!! :P

Seriously though, as you know yourself, I'm a big believer in steady 50-70 mile weeks giving big gains over all distances. I think you'll get the same benefit, and it'll stand you in good stead if you do decide to have another crack at the track next year.

Just be careful though when you get over 60 to not have too many hard miles in there for the first while until you get used to the higher mileage. I was starting to creak just a small bit back in June doing high mileage and quality, I know you'll be more sensible than me, but just throwing it out there.

pconn062

RunForestRun wrote: »

Is it any wonder you were rubbish at marathons?!!! :P

Seriously though, as you know yourself, I'm a big believer in steady 50-70 mile weeks giving big gains over all distances. I think you'll get the same benefit, and it'll stand you in good stead if you do decide to have another crack at the track next year.

Just be careful though when you get over 60 to not have too many hard miles in there for the first while until you get used to the higher mileage. I was starting to creak just a small bit back in June doing high mileage and quality, I know you'll be more sensible than me, but just throwing it out there.

Definitely true, for my next marathon (in ten years time) I'll be averaging 150 mile a week! :pac:

I don't know if I'm going to go much over 60 miles for now, if I can get to that number without getting hurt then instead of going higher I will probably introduce one session a week. As I said probably mile repeats but probably done on grass to make it easier on the body, nearly 50% of my mileage is done on grass now and it's much easier on the body.

pconn062

Monday: Rest

Tuesday: 9 miles @ 7.25 pace

Nice, moderately paced run on the grass. This was supposed to be a double day but got called into work an hour early and there was not a hope I was getting up before 6 in the morning to go for a run! The effort was fairly high for this pace as a lot of this run was done over the rolling hills in the hill field.

Wednesday: 7 miles with session

6x3 mins @ 5.48 pace with 1 min easy jog

I am possibly running a 5k time trial on Friday evening so only planned to do a short tempo session tonight. But when I got to the track one of the coaches asked me and my friend would we pace one of the younger group for their session. I agreed before I found out what their intended pace was, 3.35 a kilometer which was a bit faster than I intended to do but I had already agreed at this stage. I actually felt very comfortable during the session, everyone around me seemed to be working fairly hard but this pace felt comfortably hard to me and even by the last rep I wasn't working overly hard. Overall we covered exactly 5k fast during the session in 17:58, a great session for the kids and a good confidence booster for me.

I hope I didn't overcook before Friday, I will run very easy tomorrow and then see how I feel on Friday before deciding if I run. If I feel to tired I will just stick to counting laps or something, steady mileage is the main goal at the minute.

Timmaay

I'd say I've only ever done more than 54 miles in a week 3 or 4 times ever, max was 69 while warm weather training! I love middle distance running for that reason

jfh

Hi Pconn, some great consistency here, whats the plan.