Things will come to those who wait...

tang1

Well done P, first team finisher & a county medal not shabby at all

pconn062

Monday: Off

Tuesday: 40 mins easy, grass

Wednesday

AM: 4 mile easy + 1hr gym
PM: 5.3 miles w/10x100m strides on track

The plan this week is to just keep ticking over before racing again this weekend. Felt a bit sluggish yesterday and struggled a bit to get going. Today however was the complete opposite, felt very light on my feet this morning and again this evening. Just to keep the legs ticking over coach has me doing 10x100m strides tonight to keep in touch with a bit of speed.

So that's it, the plan is easy running for the next few days and then hard racing on Sunday. Have a few niggles which are causing my a little bother so will be glad to have this race over me this weekend and give the body a bit of a break. However I am going to run hard this weekend and see how I get on, sat back a little too much last week so will try and make amends on Sunday.

pconn062

Thursday: 52 mins easy

Friday: 40 mins easy, grass

Saturday: 2.7 miles + hill sprints

Couple of easy days just to keep ticking over, felt good on Thursday and Friday but not great today. Hip was tight and the body in general seemed quite sore. Probably just the mind playing tricks. Looks like a good day for tomorrow, time to go racing again!

KielyUnusual

Give it socks tomorrow Paddy!

Out of interest, are you targeting some specific XC races over the winter to peak for? National Novice?

pconn062

KielyUnusual wrote: »

Give it socks tomorrow Paddy!

Out of interest, are you targeting some specific XC races over the winter to peak for? National Novice?

Thanks KU! Yes, I'm trying to peak I suppose for our County senior, which is in 3 weeks time. This is a pretty big deal for my club so they want everyone 100%. After that I was going to run the National Interclubs (God help me!), and then will try and blast a good 5k at Jingle Bells. I would like to run more XC, and possibly might, but the body can't handle that many races and don't want to end up injured again. Going to reassess and see how things are after the County Senior. What's up next for you?

tang1

Best of luck tomorrow P, have a good one.

IvoryTower

Good luck tomorrow, I'll be running myself albeit nearer the back. 60 have signed up so far

pconn062

IvoryTower wrote: »

Good luck tomorrow, I'll be running myself albeit nearer the back. 60 have signed up so far

Wow, 60, that's a lot. You must be a DDAC man?

IvoryTower

Yep, not a cc man though so just running for fun, there would be 4 ddac teams in at least before I'd come in! Glenmore, boyne, ner, dunleer, ddac with teams then lots of blow ins like myself to add obstacles for the leaders

KielyUnusual

pconn062 wrote: »

Thanks KU! Yes, I'm trying to peak I suppose for our County senior, which is in 3 weeks time. This is a pretty big deal for my club so they want everyone 100%. After that I was going to run the National Interclubs (God help me!), and then will try and blast a good 5k at Jingle Bells. I would like to run more XC, and possibly might, but the body can't handle that many races and don't want to end up injured again. Going to reassess and see how things are after the County Senior. What's up next for you?

There's a glut of races in November/December so will pick and choose a couple of these depending on what ones the team are going for. The big one is the National Novice though and that's the target for sure. Will probably run the Inter Clubs but there are so many races at that time, something is going to have to give. Just check out the calendar below::eek:

25-Oct Lenister Novice
01-Nov Dublin Senior
08-Nov Lenister intermediate
22-Nov Interclubs
29-Nov Dublin intermediate
06-Dec National Novice

Would love to run Jingle Bells too but it always clashes with the National Novice and there is only one winner there.

pconn062

Sunday: 10-ish miles w/Louth Novice XC- 7th overall

Great conditions this morning and was looking forward to this. It's a bit of a stretch to call this cross country, the course is pretty awful: 8 1/2 laps of a 700m lap of flat grass. Still at least this meant the pace could be honest. The plan was to give it a good lash so at the gun I tucked in at the back of the 8 man lead group. Held on by my fingernails to this group, sometimes losing a few meters before closing up. After about 4 laps, one guy dropped off the group and we also dropped a few meters so I made a big push with two clubmates to get back on, only realising a few seconds later they had dropped back and I was on my own. Finally the group began to split and the rope snapped, I fell back but was still ticking along. The last 4 laps were a mental challenge, just grinding out a respectable pace. A lot of energy was wasted overtaking slower runners. There were no heroics today, looked behind me with 300m to go and there was no one that close to me, with the guy in front in no danger of being caught so kept it steady and finished in 7th overall in around 21.40. The rest of my clubmates came in after me, good enough for 2nd team with me being 1st scorer.

Happy enough, although would have liked to have been able to hold on with the group a little longer, the last few laps were a grind. Tired now and just did a couple of very easy miles so the legs aren't in a hoop tomorrow. Hopefully the body holds up and can get a few solid weeks training in now before county senior, 10k XC which is a different beast altogether.

Myles Splitz

Great result.

I know you would have preferred a more all out race but could be a blessing in disguise in terms of injury prevention with a busy racing period.

Consistently leading the club from the front though which is the main thing and you are consistently running well.

pconn062

Myles Splitz wrote: »

Great result.

I know you would have preferred a more all out race but could be a blessing in disguise in terms of injury prevention with a busy racing period.

Consistently leading the club from the front though which is the main thing and you are consistently running well.

Ha, I better enjoy it, come the senior and all our top lads will be coming in and I will do well to make it onto the team of 6! :pac:

Thanks, happy with the run all the same and as you say (touchwood) no big injury issues. That's the most important thing for me.

IvoryTower

Well done man, good result. I imagine that was our clubs strongest hand as they won't have as much joy in the seniors. They've bought land over by the blues pitch so the course should be more interesting next time round!

pconn062

IvoryTower wrote: »

Well done man, good result. I imagine that was our clubs strongest hand as they won't have as much joy in the seniors. They've bought land over by the blues pitch so the course should be more interesting next time round!

Ha it's funny, every year we think the course will be easy because it's flat but then you forget how hard the laps are and it turns into a grind! Well done yourself, DDAC did great, 4 in the top 6, can't argue with that. Senior should be good, we have a load of lads to come in for that.

Duanington

Well done P - good solid result

pconn062

Monday: Off

Tuesday: 50 mins easy peasy

Wednesday: 5x10 mins @ MHR

AM: 1 hr gym

Ugh, not my favourite type of session but as they say what doesn't kill you etc. This seemed a little more manageable than the last time I did something similar (4x14 mins), so I headed up to my usual haunt on the grass. Overall it went well but I made a rookie mistake by throwing on a pair of cotton socks and by the second rep I had a rather nasty blister on my right foot. This made the rest of the reps pretty nasty, I got it done but was in considerable pain by the end. It was so bad that I actually took shoes and socks off and did cool down barefoot, the benefit of grass! Pretty happy with this and happy to get a good session in the bag, definitel a tougher session mentally rather than physically for me. Body is a little sore now, particularly the hips so a few very easy days are on the cards now.

pconn062

Thursday: 50 mins recovery

Friday: 50 mins easy

Saturday: Long run in the park

I wish I had something interesting to say about the first two runs, but they were just bog standard boring, but enjoyable training runs. Then this morning I made a rare trip up to the big smoke to the Phoenix Park. A friend of mine trains there every Saturday morning and has been asking me to go up for a while. This run had a bit of everything in it, a few hill reps, some steady 1k reps with a few of the ladies from Donore and a few laps around the Munich mile. Very enjoyable morning and something I will try to do more often. I think if you had access to the Munich loop regularly you couldn't help becoming a great XC runner, it's a great resource. Will do another hour tomorrow.

pconn062

Sunday: 1hr easy in Oldbridge

Glorious morning, enjoyed every step of this.

Good week, very solid. Hoping to something similar next week.

pconn062

Quick recap!

Week ending 25/10

55 miles
2 sessions: 6x1k, 15 mins MHR/8mins LT/6x1 min

Week ending 1/10

46 miles
Race: Louth Senior XC

Brutal race, really pushed myself especially on last lap. Finished in 17th place, my best ever position but had to settle for 3rd in the team competition as we had some very unfortunate injury issues.

Week ending 8/11

44 miles
1 session: 4x9 mins MHR, 90 mins long run

Down week after the race, body was pretty fecked right up until Thursday. Saturday session went well, best splits I've ever hit on a session like that which is encouraging. Then a solid long run today in terrible conditions.

So a few solid weeks, legs are still a little fragile, my left calf in particular. Hoping a day off tomorrow will help it settle down. All roads now lead to Jingle Bells 5k in about a months time. Will try and get a race in before that if I can find one.

Duanington

pconn062 wrote: »

Quick recap!

Week ending 25/10

55 miles
2 sessions: 6x1k, 15 mins MHR/8mins LT/6x1 min

Week ending 1/10

46 miles
Race: Louth Senior XC

Brutal race, really pushed myself especially on last lap. Finished in 17th place, my best ever position but had to settle for 3rd in the team competition as we had some very unfortunate injury issues.

Week ending 8/11

44 miles
1 session: 4x9 mins MHR, 90 mins long run

Down week after the race, body was pretty fecked right up until Thursday. Saturday session went well, best splits I've ever hit on a session like that which is encouraging. Then a solid long run today in terrible conditions.

So a few solid weeks, legs are still a little fragile, my left calf in particular. Hoping a day off tomorrow will help it settle down. All roads now lead to Jingle Bells 5k in about a months time. Will try and get a race in before that if I can find one.

Whats MHR stand for P? ( something "Heart Rate" I'm guessing?)

pconn062

Duanington wrote: »

Whats MHR stand for P? ( something "Heart Rate" I'm guessing?)

Hi Duanington, sorry, it means Marathon heart rate. So theoretically the HR I should be looking to hold in a marathon (not that I'll be trying that out!). It's basically high end aerobic running, good for strength. The pace can vary slightly depending on the day, but yesterday it was just under 6.30 pace. Then LT HR is lactate threshold heart rate. Liking this whole HR training thing at the minute.

IvoryTower

hey pconn, is the dunleer mile on a stretch of road or what?

pconn062

IvoryTower wrote: »

hey pconn, is the dunleer mile on a stretch of road or what?

No, we have a gravel track at our clubrooms in dunleer. It is about 500m a lap but the mile will be measured accurately with a wheel and will be marked every 400m. We will also have pacers including a sub 5 pacer. There is a tiny incline on each lap for about 80m but it's less than 1% and there is a slight downhill to match it. Hope to see a few DDAC there.

IvoryTower

ill remind everyone on friday, hopefully there's a few up for it, tell them if they have a 5.20 pacer id be willing to donate 10e

pconn062

IvoryTower wrote: »

ill remind everyone on friday, hopefully there's a few up for it, tell them if they have a 5.20 pacer id be willing to donate 10e

If you want to have another crack at 5.20 let me know and I'll organise a pacer.

IvoryTower

That would be great! Take it ill be there so, if anything comes up ill let you know before thanks!

pconn062

**Warning, self-pitying rant ahead**

Two and a half weeks ago I had just completed one of the best sessions I ever done, a set of half mile repeats at 5.20 mile pace which felt controlled and I was confident of a big PB over 5k. In the 18 days since I've barely run a step apart from the odd 20 minute tester run. My achilles flared up the day after the session and I reluctantly took a few days off. I never had any issues with achilles before and was cautious, it seemed more like a strain than full blown tendonopathy. Still it was slow to heal and was 12 full days before I was confident to run on it, still hoping I could salvage a few decent results.
On Tuesday I did 30 minute run of pain free bliss, and was ready to build back into things slowly. However 8 mins into my run on Wednesday my right IT band tightened up so bad I could barely walk back to the car. I haven't run a step since, and my IT band hurts even when I'm sitting down. My physio was puzzled as to how this happened as I had barely run a step in 12 days, and I've been doing a lot of gym work strengthening the hips to avoid issues like this. So it seems like running is at least a few days away (if not weeks), and it feels like all the hard work I've put in has been lost. My fitness is gone to pot and it will be back to square one, with any hopes of a good indoor season getting further away.
It's a cruel sport at times, and it's only when you can't do it you realise how much you miss it.

ThebitterLemon

pconn062 wrote: »

**Warning, self-pitying rant ahead**

Two and a half weeks ago I had just completed one of the best sessions I ever done, a set of half mile repeats at 5.20 mile pace which felt controlled and I was confident of a big PB over 5k. In the 18 days since I've barely run a step apart from the odd 20 minute tester run. My achilles flared up the day after the session and I reluctantly took a few days off. I never had any issues with achilles before and was cautious, it seemed more like a strain than full blown tendonopathy. Still it was slow to heal and was 12 full days before I was confident to run on it, still hoping I could salvage a few decent results.
On Tuesday I did 30 minute run of pain free bliss, and was ready to build back into things slowly. However 8 mins into my run on Wednesday my right IT band tightened up so bad I could barely walk back to the car. I haven't run a step since, and my IT band hurts even when I'm sitting down. My physio was puzzled as to how this happened as I had barely run a step in 12 days, and I've been doing a lot of gym work strengthening the hips to avoid issues like this. So it seems like running is at least a few days away (if not weeks), and it feels like all the hard work I've put in has been lost. My fitness is gone to pot and it will be back to square one, with any hopes of a good indoor season getting further away.
It's a cruel sport at times, and it's only when you can't do it you realise how much you miss it.

That's sh1tty luck PConn, all I can do is empathise, hope you recover soon

TbL

tang1

Sorry to hear that P, hope you can sort it out.