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It's now fun to run
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Monday 15th April
4.22 miles @ 8:45 - Was a little later than normal getting out for this one so had to make it shorter than normal. Legs were a bit sluggish to start with.
Tuesday 16th April
5.45 miles @ 8:40 - Legs were better for this. Wind was blowing in the opposite direction than normal so had to face it coming back it which was fun. :rolleyes:
Wednesday 17th April
7.46 miles @ 8:35 - a couple of slow miles to start off with before pace picked up and last 4.46 miles were all sub 8:15 pace.
Thursday 18th April
0 miles - had planned an easy run but when opened my gear bag getting ready to go out I had no t-shirt in it
. Went and got a haircut instead, was needed anyway especially with the warmer weather.
Friday 19th April
3.07 @ 9:30 - lovely out there today. Was quite tempting to add on a couple more miles onto this.
Have kept things pretty easy this week so hoping legs will have plenty to give for 10k tomorrow.0 -
Ardara 10k - Saturday 20th April
Targetted this race a couple of months ago with the plan being to go sub 50 with a view of bringing that down again over the summer. Training has been going pretty well so I reckoned a sub 50 was a bit soft. Revised the target to sub 48 and was having toughts of bringing it lower. I held at 48 mins because I knew the course was going to be challenging enough. That and I have more of a tendency to blow up in the second half of races than Rory McIlroy does down the back straight at Augusta
.
Got over for the race good and early. Picked up the race number and done a gently 1 mile warm up. Conditions were pretty much perfect, dry but not too warm with a gentle breeze which seemed to be blowing in the right direction for the course.
There was a short delay at the start as they had to get their timing mats in place across the main street. Our postman at work came over to say hello as we waited, it now made sense why he was so interested in my running when talking to me as I head out for a run a few weeks back. I knew the race had a large number of walkers doing it last year so I stayed quite close to the front to get away easily.
Off we went and it didnt take too long to get into a stride. We weren't very long out off the main street before we meet the first of many hills. I was aiming to judge the run based on effort as opposed to pace at any time because it was going to be quite undulating. The first climb was nice and short and then we we into a decline for the rest of the first mile which was down a back road. First mile done in 7:17 without too much effort.
The decline flattened out before we we back out onto the main road heading back towards town again. This was a gradual drag up into the town but we had the wind at our backs to ease the effort a little. We came back up the main street through the start line and headed up Ardara's equivalent of heartbreak hill. This came just at the end of mile two. Mile two 7:42.
They had the first water station at the top of the hill. I took a plastic cup, took a sip and poured the rest over the head. A nice decline followed as we headed out the Glenties road. The road flattened before another gradual climb started. Mile 3 7:35.
The gradual climb continues for another half a mile before we turn off onto a back road and down a steep decline. The relief is very short lived as we are climbing again. The demons were entering the head at this point. Second water station was just after the 6k mark. I tucked in behind a groupas we had a headwind on top off the climb. Mile 4 7:57.
Things were starting to flatten out again but there were still a few sneaky climbs that were taking their toll. Seen the pace for this mile rise up to 8:30s and I reckoned the goal time was slipping away. A proper decline followed and I tried to get the mile back closer to target pace. Mile 5 8:05
This cotinued for mile 6. At the 9k marker I switched the garmin display to show average pace. It was showing 7:46, I needed 7:43 or better. I tried to bring this down, I reckoned if i got it down to 7:44 before I reached the town again I could make up the difference there. The garmin obliged and the pace was switching between 7:43 and 7:44 as I came back out onto the main street. Mile 6 7:46.
Problem was the pace kept switching. But then I got the help I needed. The friendly postman keep up past me on my outside shoulder. At first I didnt respond but once I realised how it was I put the foot down and got past him again and held on until the finish line. Last .22 @ 6:59 pace.
Finish time 47:55 A PB of 6:25.
Pretty pleased with that. It was a target time from the start of the year but now would how to take a few more minutes off that before the years out. Nice to do it on a tough course too.
Would still think of doing this race again. You were handed a bottle of water as soon as you crossed the line. Plenty of bananas within easy reach and then a big spread laid out in the parish centre. All this for €10 including chip timing (although think there a problem with my chip time dont see it in the results:mad:). And the course itself was very well marshalled and marked out. One is to expect hills in these parts though.
Down a very easy 1 mile warm down before heading home.
sUNDAY 21ST April
3.06 Miles recovery run
PB Table
Race Distance| Current PB| Race & Date Set| 2013 Goal
5k| 21:55| Planet Youth 5k 7/4/2013| 19:59
5 Mile| N/A| N/A| 37:59
10k| 47:55 |Ardara 10k 20/04/2013| 47:59
10 Mile | N/A| N/A| 1:19:59
Half Marathon| 2:06:46|DCM 2012 | 1:44:59
Marathon| 4:41:06 | DCM 2012| N/A
Week Summary
No. of Runs |Week Total|MTD|YTD | Weight
6|31.56|119|443|84.4 kg0 -
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career_move wrote: »:eek: Jeez it's not that hot!
I'd go with an orange FWIW
Might need to turn down the heat in the office too. In fairness it was a soft pear to start with. Already take an orange after the pear
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Wednesday 24th April
Session: 10 x 400m
Plan is to try a few different types of sessions over the next few weeks. Will probably try the McMillan sessions over the sum for a 10k in August so sessions like this one would be for the alternative weeks.
Done just over 2 mile easy warm up. Had picked out a straight stretch of road that was relatively flat that measured .25 of a mile using lamposts as my start and finish lines. Aim was to do these between 93-98 seconds (because that's what McMillan suggests!).
Splits were: 88, 85*, 90, 92, 94, 93, 95, 95, 94, 92
The second one was a little short as I stopped at the wrong lampost
. Recoveries were approx 1 min in between with a walk and then gentle jog back into position.
Done a mile at recovery pace followed by 3 more at easy to finish up.
Total: 9.42 miles0 -
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Thursday 2nd May
Didnt get out on Wednesday despite having gear on at one stage :mad:. So tried to do a bit of a tempo run during this one. Done 1 mile easy warm up and then took off with the aim of doing 20 mins at tempo pace. Route was a bit up and down with a some breeze but it was out and back so that evened things up. Done approx 2.75 miles in the 20 mins @ 7:16 pace. Another mile and some more back to the office as an easy warm down.
Total: 5.16 miles @ 7:49
Friday 3rd May
5.43 miles @ 8:23
Pretty miserable out there today. You get funny looks running on days like these.
We are all heading to Galway tomorrow for a week. Will be the first time I bother bringing the running gear away with me. Hopefully it will get some use 0 -
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Friday 17th May - Letterkenny AC 5 Mile
My target for this race was to get under 36 minutes. It was my first 5 mile race. I picked 36 mins as my target because McMillan Calculator had me at 36:20 based on my most recent 5k time. I wanted to see if I could beat McMillan:D.
It was my first evening race for a while too. Was at a CPD Course yesterday which ended up at lunchtime and include a 3 course lunch... sure it would be rude not to eat. So my main concern heading over to the race was not whether I would hit my target but whether I would regret the cheesecake I had for desert
.
Conditions were pretty much perfect for the race. It was still quite mild with very little of a breeze. The course was an out and back starting outside O'Donnell Park out towards Newmills and back in to the Aura Leisure Centre. By Donegal standards it was a perfect pancake!
Done a mile warm up with a few short strides included. Felt pretty relaxed at the start. Overheard a girl tell her friend that a guy was her personal pacer to get her 36 minutes. She was wearing a Letterkenny AC singlet and he was in an illuminous top, I took note to remember them. There was a decent crowd there, plenty of club singlets about.
Off we went and everyone seemed to take off at the same pace so the getaway was quite seemless. I was a few rows back from the start. Quite quickly we sorted ourselves into 2's and 3's alongside each other. I check the watch after the first 1/4 of a mile and seen 6:20 - 6:30 pace, I eased a little bit letting a few get off in front of me. A decent gap opened pretty quickly. After a couple of minutes the girl I seen earlier and her "pacer" came past me. I tucked in behind them and followed along. We went through the first mile in 6:42. I knew 36 min pace was 7:12 so I wondered were my pacers trying for a quicker target or was it just a quick first mile. I knew also that was the quickest mile I had done in a race to date so this was either going very well or going to be a disaster!
I kept behind the two for the next mile and the pace evened off. We went through Mile 2 in 7:04. Shortly after this I see the leader Ivan Toner come back towards us in the opposite direction. My pacers opened a little gap on me but I closed it again as we took the turn back in towards town. I was still feeling ok at this point and managing the pace. Mile 3 was another 7:04. I could see at this stage that the girl's pacer was keeping an eye on the watch and giving her updates every now and then. His glances at the watch were becoming more frequent in mile 4 as the pace dropped down close to 7:20. I was tight behind them at this stage and got a couple of looks to say you can go past. I moved out and got a blast of wind and decided to sit in for a little longer. But the pace seemed to drop a little more and I could see a girl ahead that was slowly coming back to us. I decided I would kick on and I passed both of them and the girl in front. I managed to pick the pace up and got through mile 4 in 7:11.
A quick check on the watch at the start of mile 5 showed that I was actually on 35 min pace. By my calculations I need a sub 7 min mile to get a sub 35 time. I picked the pace up and had got it down to 7:03 on the watch but it was start to hurt alot. The demons in the head started to shout to stop. I held them at bay for a couple of mintues but quite annoyingly the mind momentarily gave in and I slowed to a walk. It seemed to last for an enternity. I took a couple of deep breaths and got going again. My momentum had been killed at this stage and I had no pace. Not suprisingly I could passed by a few others including my two pacers. Mile 5 was 7:39. That includes a couple of seconds after I crossed the finish line but for some reason in my head decided to keep running because I could only see 4.99 on my watch :P
Result 35:37
Pretty happy overall. If you offered me that time beforehand I would have most definitely taken it. There will always be that little part that thinks if only I held it together on that last mile though. Done a couple of laps of the track as warm down afterwards.
Saturday 18th May
4.3 Miles @ 9:30
A nice recovery run this morning. Legs felt pretty good.
PB Table
Race Distance| Current PB| Race & Date Set| 2013 Goal
5k| 21:55| Planet Youth 5k 7/4/2013| 19:59
5 Mile| 35.37 | Letterkenny AC 5 mile 17/05/13 | 37:59
10k| 47:47 |Ardara 10k 20/04/2013| 47:59
10 Mile | N/A| N/A| 1:19:59
Half Marathon| 2:06:46|DCM 2012 | 1:44:59
Marathon| 4:41:06 | DCM 2012| N/A
*Have updated my 10k time as chip timing improves PB by a few seconds 0 -
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Week Summary
No. of Runs |Week Total|MTD|YTD | Weight
6|42.71|131|629|82.5kg
Monday 27th May
5.40 miles @ 8:36
Nice easy run to start the week with. It was warm and windy out there. Plan on doing a 5k race tomorrow evening so made sure to keep it easy.
Race tomorrow evening is a localish 5k. The course isn't great, first mile and half you climb up (and up and up) and then come back down for next mile and half . My sister is helping organise it so agreed to do it. If nothing else it will be a good workout. 0
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