It's now fun to run

dazza21ie

Monday 5th September 6 miles @ 9:06 (2 miles easy, 6 x 400m w/ 400m rec, 1 mile easy)

A mini session of sorts, still just re-introducing a bit of speed into the runs. The first mile was quite sluggish. There was a light drizzle and a bit of a breeze. Back to my usual spot for these reps starting a few meters from Finn Park. I didn't really have any idea what pace I should be targeting for these, its been a while doing them. So I decided to just start into them and judge it by effort. The reps were 96, 97, 95, 94, 97, 95. Consistent enough and they felt hard at that pace. A nice slow trot home afterwards going the long way to finish up.

I plan to do the New Mills 10k which is run by Letterkenny AC on the 23rd of October. The course for the 10k takes in a good bit of the 5 mile course they use which I have done before. The plan would be to do another local 10k in November and do a 5k in December. I am a good bit off PB shape for any distances so it is just a case of setting a target to train for and then try and set a mark to improve from.

dazza21ie

Tuesday 6th September 4 miles @ 9:52
This was the first real slog of a run for a while. My legs were just tired and sluggish and not really interested. After Monday's harder effort I didn't push it and tried to keep it very easy.

Wednesday 7th September 4 miles @ 9:46
Same route as Tuesday and was feeling much better. Probably could have pushed the pace a little bit more on this run without needing to use that much more effort. I can put it done as a few lazy miles.

Thursday 8th September 5 miles @ 8:41 (inc 20 mins tempo)
Me and tempos have never really worked well together. I plan to start using some of the Jack Daniel plans in a few weeks time once I have built back up the mileage a bit more. So I set an arbitrary target tempo pace of 7:30 mins/mile. After two slow easy miles to warm up I set off into the tempo part. I was even kind enough to leave myself at the top of a nice downhill to begin with. It was breezy out and I was running into the breeze for the first mile. It didn't matter how much I tried I couldn't get myself on target pace and the first tempo mile was 7:39. The route turns back towards town at this point under a bit of tree cover and when I got out onto the main road the pace had dropped to 7:51. It was a bit of an effort to try and get the pace back on track but 7:42 wasn't terrible. Heading back towards town it was getting hard but I thought I had managed to convince myself to dig in until I found myself pressing the stop button on the garmin. I have had a history of doing this during sessions and I was immediately reprimanding myself. If you quit during a session then it is too easy to quit during a race. I took a few deep breaths and got going again. The last 0.62 miles was at 7:32 pace.
A short easy trot home brought up a five mile total for the run.

career move

Good work on the consistency! It's great that you're getting a run done most days. I've had to cut back the running lately and I really miss it!!!

As regards the tempo, I think it's maybe better not to focus on a target pace too much. You might get better results going by effort especially early on. It's much nicer feeling like you've worked really hard but still have a bit left than feeling like you've packed it in. And tempo pace varies so much anyway according to conditions and how you're feeling.

Basically don't be too hard on yourself is what I'm saying

P.S Thanks for the log follow

dazza21ie

Thanks CM

Your right (of course!) I should have been more concentrated on effort as opposed to pace for the tempo. I will probably include a tempo run for the next few weeks, nothing beats practice.

I got finished reading your Itera report, that was quite impressively bonkers! It must have been a shock to the system not getting your 10 hours of sleep during the race! Seriously well done, I hope you get that injury cleared up, you must be long overdue a return to the roads

dazza21ie

Saturday 10th September 10 miles @ 9:07
Same route as last week with a mile tacked on to increase the distance. A little bit less effort was needed to go a bit further. That's a good sign for some levels of fitness coming back. I wore my head torch for the first time in ages. I prefer to wear it with a running hat which helps to stop it moving about. It was too mild to wear a hat but dark enough at the start of the run to need the torch. I tightened the bands as much as I could and went with just the torch.

Sunday 11th September 3 miles @ 9:24
This was Friday's planned run that didn't happen. Didn't have to go out as early as normal. I was listening to a podcast and was nearly thinking of extending the run.

That brings up 30 miles for the week.

dazza21ie

Monday 12th September 5 miles @ 8:50 (inc 5 x 3 mins hard w/ 1 min recovery)

For some reason I thought this was going to quite handy. By the end of the run I was thinking I had bitten off more than I could run! It was dry out but with a strong breeze. My legs were quite tired for the first couple of easy miles which included some stops to adjust my head torch. The hard efforts were being judged by effort rather than pace. They went: 3 mins @ 7:02, 3 mins @ 7:22, 3 mins @ 7:45, 3 mins @ 8:06, 3 mins @ 7:49. Easy to see a drop in pace as the session went on. The first one had a bit of a downhill stretch near the end and after that I kept getting hit by a swirling breeze but I just tried to concentrate on effort rather than the slowing pace. Have realised since that the session should have been 5-6 x 2 mins hard and not 3 mins.

dazza21ie

Tuesday 13th September 4 miles @ 9:33
The usual route around town for this one. It took the legs a couple of miles to get going.

Wednesday 14th September 4 miles @ 9:19
As above - the legs were a little more responsive today. I probably pushed the pace on a little bit too.

Thursday 15th September 5 miles @ 8:42 (inc 20 mins tempo)
This was a repeat of last Thursdays session. I wasn't sure I was going to be up for it as I could feel a head cold coming on yesterday. I felt alright this morning and decided to make a call after a couple of miles warm up. There was no breeze this morning for a change. The legs had a little bit more energy in them for some reason this morning so I reckoned I had to give the tempo a go.

Same route as last week but the plan was to judge the pace by effort as opposed a predefined pace on a watch (as per Career Move's advice ). Just before I came to the end of my two mile warm up I realised that I had my head torch on upside down, I had the benefit of street lighting up until that point so hadn't bothered to turn it on. I probably should have just stopped to fix it but as it wasn't moving around on me I decided to leave it and spent the first minute or two of the tempo section trying to adjust it so that I had the benefit of some light.

After that it was just a case of getting into a rhythm and keep it moving along. A bit of a downhill stretch helped improve the pace of the first mile after a slower first couple of minutes and the effort was kept up until the end. I covered 2.62 miles @ 7:42 mins/mile average (Mile splits: 7:45, 7:42, 0.6 @ 7:39). Happy enough with that. Pretty consistent and no stops!

dazza21ie

Friday 16th September 3 miles @ 9:46

Wasn't feeling great with the cold and after Thurday's decent effort decided to keep this one very easy.

Sunday 18th September 10 miles @ 9:23

I had planned to do this on Saturday but the head cold still hadn't cleared so I had a lie in instead. I was feeling a good bit better this morning but once I got out running didn't seem to have much energy. After two miles I thought it was going to be a real struggle and had some thoughts of turning back for home and cutting it short. That passed and after 3 miles I wasn't feeling as sluggish and the pace picked up. The route turns back towards town onto the main road after 5 miles and I was meet with a strong head wind and rain but this passed after 1 mile or so and then it become quite pleasant. The pace was quite consistent but the legs started to feel the extra distance especially in the last mile. It was the longest run done this year and probably for a good bit longer than that too. Good to have it in the legs.

That brought up 31 miles for the week. 5 weeks out from the first race for the year and consistency over those weeks is the most important thing.

dazza21ie

Monday 19th September 4.5 miles @ 9:36
After Sunday's longer run this was being kept easy. Tried out a new route which took me out of town, took in a strava segment and brought up a little bit extra distance wise.

Tuesday 20th September 4.3 miles @ 9:40
The plan for this was a session involving 200m reps. I was doing my warm up and the legs were moving along quite nicely and then I came crashing down. For all the hills, uneven country roads and uneven footpaths that I have run on over the last few years this happened on probably the flattest surface. As I was lying flat on my face on the ground I was confused as to how it happened. I gingerly got up on my feet and took a look around to see if anyone had seen the embarrassing tumble! I was safe enough, it was around 5:45 a.m. so not too much foot or vehicle traffic about.

It took me a while to figure out what had happened. I had passed over a manhole cover and there was a piece protruding up from it, probably something for pulling it open. It was pretty small, maybe an inch of a rise from the otherwise flat surface. My right foot obviously just landed perfectly behind it to catch it on the way up. It brought me down. My hands done their job and still have the marks to show for it. A stinging sensation came on. I was getting cold standing around so tried to get running again. And after a couple of minutes I was feeling okay. I was half thinking of giving the session a go but then my body reminded me that I was cut and scraped all over and going home was probably the sensible thing to do. So after another 2 miles I went home!

Wednesday 21st of September 4.5 miles @ 9:45
I decided just to do an easy run as I had felt a bit stiff and bruised after Tuesday's fall. Same route as Monday.

Thursday 22nd of September 5.2 miles @ 8:55 (incl 20 mins tempo(ish) @ 7:49)
I decided to scrap the planned 200m rep session that just wan't meant to happen and went for another 20 minute tempo run this morning. Heading out it was noticeably colder than the last few weeks. There was a clear sky with the stars still visible as I headed off. The first two miles warm up were hardly even that. Maybe I needed to go faster! I started into the tempo part. The mile splits were: 7:42, 7:58, 7:53 (0.56 mile).

The pace of the first mile was okay, I was in a decent rhythm. I think from the end of the first mile I started to realise that my route was heading towards the stretch of road where the tragic RTA happened yesterday. It didn't feel right running along there even though the road had been reopened. I started feeling cold again and I was definitely distracted. As I headed back into town I tried to pick up the pace a bit more but there was a part of me that wasn't too interested. Looking now at the HR data I the effort wasn't hard enough for a tempo run. In the whole scheme of things though it doesn't really matter.

dazza21ie

Friday 23rd September 4.5 miles @ 9:32
Basically the same run as Monday and Wednesday without too much incident.

Saturday 24th September 10 miles @ 9:17
Same route and distance as last weekend. It was very wet and windy out. I was soaked to the blubber after 2 miles and there was a strong swirling breezing making sure that the rain got me from all angles. But the miles ticked off and although I was tiring a little near the end the last mile was the quickest.

33 miles up for the week.

dazza21ie

Monday 26th of September 5.4 miles (inc 2 sets of 6 x 200m w/ 200m rec & 400m between sets)

This was the session from last week that didn't happen. And it nearly didn't happen again this week.

I was all ready for an early night. I had been keeping an eye on the golf but turned it off only to turn it back on again when I seen there was a playoff which delayed getting to sleep for another hour. So out early this morning, operating on 5 hours sleep I was pretty pleased by the fact I had made it out of the bed. The 2 warm up miles were slow but easy so I started into the session.

The 200 reps were:
Set 1: 53 seconds, 50, 40!,49, 46, 48
Set 2: 47, 44, 45, 44, 46, 42

The target based on my feel for current fitness was somewhere between 45-47 seconds. It was very disjointed at the start. It took a while for the legs to find any rhythm and the feel for the required effort. I actually stopped after the first one questioning whether it was worth keeping going at all given how far off the pace I was. I misjudged the end point of the third one which made it a good bit short and then had to stop and tie my shoelace somewhere during the first set too. But then the second set worked out alright so overall it was a decent effort. I would have preferred a bit longer of a cool down but was short of time so had to take the shortest route home.

dazza21ie

Wednesday 28th September 5 miles @ 9:33
I was over at the blood donation clinic late on Monday evening so that ruled out a run on Tuesday morning. I was trying to keep this run pretty easy but you could feel the body was working that bit harder. The average heart rate for the run was 140 whereas it is usually low 130's. The obvious thing being that it was the effect of the donation on Monday.

Thursday 29th September 5 miles @ 9:36
Another easy run was planned for this and I purposefully tried to keep the effort down which meant a ever so slightly slower run.

Friday 30th September 6 miles @ 9:19
I had hope to get a tempo run done during this run but just didn't feel like it when I went out - maybe a bit lazy. I done two different loops around town and as I was out a bit earlier I had a bit extra time to get the 6 miles done.

That brought up 131 miles for the Month.

Sunday 2nd October 10 miles @ 9:12
I was at a wedding on Friday so a Saturday morning run didn't appeal. Heading out this morning it was very cold. So much so that I was tempted to turn back for an extra layer. It took maybe 3 miles to get "warmed up" but really the cold feeling never really went away. The first 3 miles were slow but the pace picked up gradually and the last 3 miles were all at 8:40 pace without the effort levels having to rise too much.

That brought up 31.5 miles for the week off 5 runs so happy enough with that.

dazza21ie

Monday 3rd October 5.5 miles @ 9:39
Tuesday 4th October 5.5 miles @ 9:33
Thursday 6th October 5 miles @ 9:37
Friday 7th October 5.5 miles @ 8:53
Sunday 9th October 11 miles @ 9:18

Only 5 runs again this week unfortunately but a weekly total of 31.5 miles is pretty consistent. I tried to do a bit of speedwork on Monday. It probably was a bit to close to Sunday's longer run and it didn't last too long. I setup a session on the garmin which I haven't really done before and then tried a change of scenery. It didn't really work. i went out too hard for the first rep and wasn't trusting my watch in calculating the distance and after 3 or 4 reps I decided to bin it and try it again another day.

Move on to Tuesday and I try again - maybe again too soon but back on my normal stretch where I have done quite a few reps in the past. Again it was a session setup on the Garmin but it was all over the place in measuring the distances and that was too distracting for me so after 3 reps I binned it again.

I didn't make it out on Wednesday - I had the gear on but for some reason just didn't fancy it and binned it for bottle feeding duties with the little one.

i kept it easy on Thursday and then tried a tempo on Friday, again on a different route than normal and again it just wasn't happening. Been the theme for the week. I was due to do my longer run on Saturday morning, I had a few podcasts lined up but forgot the important thing of setting my alarm.

I managed to get out this morning and upped the distance by another mile to bring up the longest run of the year.

Not a terrible week but I could do with finishing out a session over the week ahead.

dazza21ie

Monday 10th October 5 miles @ 9:54
The slowest run for a while. My legs were really stiff and heavy for the first 2-3 miles of this. A little bit of a pick up in pace near the end of the run but the body had decided from the very start that this was going to be very very easy. Obviously the extra mile on Sunday did make a difference.

Tuesday 11th October 6 miles inc 3 x 1 mile @ tempo
It was very very cold out this morning. The legs were feeling a good bit better and after a two mile warm up I didn't feel the cold as much. I done a few strides before starting the tempo miles. It was 3 x 1 mile with 1 minute rests recovery. The mile times were: 7:15, 7:33, 7:35. I would have hoped for anything in the 7:3x range so not too bad at all. The first mile does have a decent downhill stretch at the start which accounts for a slightly quicker time. 20 seconds into the first mile I had to stopped to tie my shoelaces and around half way through the second one I was forced to stop before crossing onto the main road because of traffic.

dazza21ie

Wednesday 12th October 5.5 miles @ 9:38
Back to the mild weather for the rest of this week and this was over the usual 5 mile route that I do. I went out a few minutes earlier to give a little extra time at the end of the run to fit in a few strides. The legs were a bit tired for the first 2-3 miles of this.

Thursday 13th October 5.5 miles @ 9:28
A different route for a change, or part of it was different. I took in part of the course that is used for the local 10k which is coming up in November. Again I managed a few strides at the end but otherwise all kept pretty easy.

Friday 14th October 6 miles incl 6 x 1k @ tempo w/ 1 min rests
I have been using the Jack Daniel's running formula book for sessions over the last few weeks and this week's sessions are from the Red Plan. I think I might start working my way up through his basis plans before doing the 5-10k specific plan.
I had set this session up on the watch the night before - it took forever because I tried to set it up on my phone. It was only during my first 1k rep that I realised that I hadn't actually selected the workout at the start of my run. I carried on with the first rep and used the first recovery to change the autolap on my watch from mile to kilometer. This was session that progressively got harder. The first 2 reps felt nearly easy but I was digging in a bit during the 6th rep. The 1k times were: 4:14*, 4:28, 4:28, 4:33, 4:31, 4:28. The first rep was a small bit short based on a guesstimate on distance before I changed the autolap. After that they were quite consistent all coming in between 7:27 - 7:35 mins/mile pace.
I hadn't given myself enough time for the run so the cool down was very short as I had finished the last rep very close to the estate.

Saturday 15th October 10 miles @ 9:23
When planning out the week I had wrongly assumed that I my window to do a long run was going to be on Sunday morning as opposed to today. So it was intended to do this after yesterday's session. But I reckoned a slower long run was better than no run and that is what I got. The legs were tired but not overly for the first 2-3 miles. There was a pick up in pace after that but not as much as would normally happen.

That brought up 37 miles for the week. The best week so far this year. The next planned race is due to be next Sunday. I will plan the week ahead with that in mind. Life might get in the way of actually making the start line but that can't be helped.

Murph_D

What's the race, dazza?

dazza21ie

Murph_D wrote: »

What's the race, dazza?

It's the Newmills 10k, it starts and finishes at the Aura in Letterkenny

Murph_D

Best of luck! Whats the target?

dazza21ie

Murph_D wrote: »

Best of luck! Whats the target?

Thanks, I am not really sure what the target is, maybe something around 46 minutes is doable

dazza21ie

Monday 17th October 5 miles @ 9:51
i had given myself a bit of extra time for this one with a view of getting six miles in. It was extremely wet and windy heading out and it just got worse while I was out there. Again I took in a good part of the 10k route that is due to take place in a few weeks. I seemed to be running into a wall or rain. I was struggling to even see where I was going and had to stop a few times to fix one of my contact lenses. I was soak through and decided to just take the shortest route home cutting it short by a mile.

Wednesday 18th October 5 miles @ 9:14
I hadn't planned to take Tuesday off until it happened and I had planned to do something a bit quicker for this run but when I got out I just didn't feel like it. I did manage a couple of sets of pyramid strides just to mix it up a little.

Thursday 19th October 5 miles @ 9:28
This was a copy of Wednesdays run with pyramid strides and all included. A little bit slower but easy going all the same.

Friday 20th October 6 miles @ 9:34
Not sure why I saved my longest run of the week to two days before a planned race. I done a reverse loop of an usual route of mine which did feel quite strange running the wrong way. There is a steep climb which I would normally get two miles but came near the end of the fourth mile. Something a little different anyway.

Sunday 21st October - Newmills 10K
I had planned to do a few easy miles on Saturday morning but again laziness got in the way.

This was my first race of the year and first since March 2015 and first 10k for 3 years since I set my PB of 41:29. I had no illusions about getting anywhere near a PB. It wasn't really about time as such anyway. Since my last race there have been many races earmarked as potential races that I might do. I would often try to get back running regular with such race as a goal only to fall of the wagon after a couple of weeks or maybe a month and never get close to the start line. So the important thing for me today was turning up to an extent. Also if I could give it a good effort I would have an idea where my current fitness levels are so that training can be adapted to that level rather than guessing what paces I should be running at.

I got over to registration at the Aura Center in Letterkenny at 11:00 with the race start at 11:30. It was a very relaxed registration that only took a minute and I was back at the car removing the extra layers pretty soon and on my way for a warm up. I headed back in towards the town along the footpath but this soon became quite crowded as the runners all arrived for the start. I done just over a mile of a warm up with a few strides at the end. While waiting for the start i was looking around at the decent crowd that had turned up. There were quite a few familiar faces. It was helped by the glorious weather with a bright sun shining down on us.

Without too much warning the race started rather abruptly. I had given myself a plan of sorts. I had changed the settings on my watch to auto lap every kilometer (but with pacing still in miles!). I didn't want to go out too quickly so the plan was for the first two kilometers to be no quicker than 4:40 each and slower if I felt like it. So with that in mind I was relatively relaxed at the start. As we moved I away I stayed behind the two girls in front of me and didn't try an do the usual manic get away. The start brought us into the town and gaps opened up for me to move through without having to move across the road.

I notice a group of 4 or 5 in front of me and tagged onto them as we headed out by Oldtown turning right at the roundabout. The pace was a little slower than I thought I would be heading out at but I decided to stick with this little group to see how things went. It didn't seem that long when watch beep for the first KM split at 4:58.

I was feeling okay and thought this was a decent way of starting out. There was plenty of time to push on later in the race if I want. Our little group was being lead by 3 guys who were running together, one wearing a LAC singlet and another one whom I knew. There was a man and woman running together behind them and then I was tailing the group. We became a bit fractured during the 2nd km and the 3 guys started pulling away a bit. I decide to go with them rather than the two in front of me so I move past them. The 2nd km is a little quicker @ 4:47.

Again I was happy how things were going but during the 3rd km I started to doubt whether I was able to keep up the pace never mind push on. The 3 guys had opened up a gap of 10-20 meters on me and I found myself in no man's land. It was here that I started to feel the effects of the sun. For someone who has been running in early morning darkness for the last 3 months it was getting a little warm at time but we had the benefit of regular tree cover over this part of the course which helped. The 3rd km split was 4:57.

The route has us on a back road which is a little bit undulating. The 3 guys are still a decent bit in front of me but they start to catch a few other runners. They catch another girl running with a guy in a Convoy Ac top and slowly move past them. it gives me a target though and I slowly catch up to the two runners. I find myself falling in behind them, not intentionally but I wasn't running that much quicker than them to go past. However, just as we finish the 4th km there is a little climb and I move past them pretty easily on this. 4th km 4:57.

The overtaking gave me a little bit of a second wind and I manage to close the gap quite quickly to the 3 guys in front of me. Having closed the gap I didn't feel the need to make any quick move to go past them. However, we are catching a few other runners and as I move past one of these I just keep going and move past the 3 guys as well and got a shout out from the guy I know. 5th km 5:02

Just after the half way point there was a water station and I awkwardly grabbed a cup on the run taking a few sips and splashing my face with some. This slowed things down a bit but a minute or so later we were turning back towards the start and headed over the Newmills bridge that brought us back out onto the main road. I wasn't feeling as warm anymore as this stretch of road is always like a wind tunnel and there was a strong breeze blowing against us now. 6th km 5:06

I was struggling a bit at this stage and felt the effort running back into the breeze and was running on my own. I spot a group of four runners ahead of me and tried to use them as a target. We passed a stretch that had some tree cover and this eased the effect of the breeze briefly. 7th km 4:58

I had closed the gap on those in front of me. From further back it had looked like they were a group but as I drew closer the were running in single file with 10-20 meters of a gap between them. The last of the four was a LAC runner. I tried to focus on my stride and control my breathing and I seemed to move past her with ease. And later in the KM I closed on the next guy wearing a maroon t-shirt. 8th km 5:00

Ahead of me was a guy wearing a blue t-shirt and a bit further ahead of him was a guy in a Lifford AC vest. However, coming past me on my left was a guy in a Gaelforce top who move quite easily by. I didn't have the energy or speed to go with him. I could also hear the breathing of the guy in the maroon t-shirt coming closer to me so I tried to push on a bit more to open a gap on him. The other two guys ahead of me seemed to have move further away rather than getting closer and I was losing hope of catch either of them. There was a bit of a drag as we were approaching Ballymacool and slowly I start to reel in the guy in the blue t-shirt. 8th km 5:00

The climb continues but it is ever so slight but it seems to give me a slight advantage and I catch and move past the guy in blue. It takes a bit to open a gap on him. As I look ahead the Lifford AC vest has pulled too far away so it is a mental game to keep the body moving. 9th km 4:58

Somewhere along here another runner goes past me on my left. I take a quick look over the shoulder and I think it was the LAC runner from the 3 guys that I had been behind earlier in the race. He was only the 2nd person to overtake me at this stage and was moving far too easily to respond to. I keep the head down and am relieved when I get past the roundabout and pointed to turn back in towards the Aura. This little stretch around the building is always longer than you think but I give it a final kick - 10th km 4:55 & 0.03 in 6 seconds!

That left a finishing time of 49:53. Truth been told I would have thought I would have went quicker though not with much certainty. However, it was a good effort. I recorded a HR of 177 during the race which is by far the highest HR that I have had since getting the new watch a few months ago. There might have been some time left out there but nothing substantial. This is where I am at this point which is good to know - now to get a little bit quicker!

career move

Nice consistent pacing. Good job 10k is my least favourite distance. It seems like it should be easier than a 5k cause you're going a bit slower but it never is. And it's twice as long!!!!!

dazza21ie

Monday 24th October 4 miles @ 10:16
I planned to take it quite easy with this run but heading it out my legs felt alright. But the moment I stopped running they tightened right up and the post race doms had truly set it.

Tuesday 25th October 4 miles @ 10:14
Like on Monday it was very very cold out in the morning and I started to wonder whether it was getting to baser layer territory. I probably did plan to take this one easy too but my legs had decided that they were going slow so it didn't really matter what pace the mind wanted.

Wednesday 26th October 5 miles @ 9:55
Every so slowly getting back to myself. Still could feel a bit of stiffness and tightness that only really let up after 3 or so miles in. I had started wearing an extra layer too so I couldn't blame the cold anymore.

Thursday 27th October 5 miles @ 9:54
As I said the progress was slow! The pace here is an estimate as my garmin went dead with a mile and half to go.

Friday 28th October 5 miles @ 9:29
I had notions at the start of the week of getting maybe one session in but by the time Friday came around I was just happy to get a normal easy run in.

Saturday 29th October 10 miles @ 9:18
A nice way to wrap up the week. The usual route which went the usual way of a slow first 2 miles and a bit of a pace increase afterwards.

It brought up 33 miles for the week which was ok.

dazza21ie

career move wrote: »

Nice consistent pacing. Good job 10k is my least favourite distance. It seems like it should be easier than a 5k cause you're going a bit slower but it never is. And it's twice as long!!!!!

Thanks CM. I probably would prefer a 10k over a 5k. You get away with easing yourself into a 10k a little more compared to a 5k but not by much. A 5k is usually a hard effort right from the start which is a scary thought at the moment!

dazza21ie

Monday 31st October 7.3 miles inc 3 x 1 mile @ tempo w/ 1 min rests

Back to the JD Red Intermediate plan for the next while. The general plan is to follow this for the rest of the year but maybe do 2-3 weeks at each face instead of 4 to avoid total boredom. And as I am follow the great JD's plans I might as well go by his rules for intensity of training too. My last race would give a VDOT of just above 40 so until the next race I will use 40.

So for this morning I had a target pace of 8:12 mins/mile for the tempo. A bit slower than I was doing these a few weeks ago but maybe right enough. I done two rather slow miles of a warm up and done a few strides before moving into the tempo miles. It was nice with the bank holiday to not being too restricted for time. I even had time after the tempo miles for a 2 mile cool down for which the legs were moving along quite nicely for. The 3 tempo miles were: 8:00, 8:06, 8:00. It definitely felt a much more controlled effort.

We are due away on Thursday for a long weekend so I will try and extend the runs earlier in the week. I plan to take the runners with me for a change but whether they will see a footpath is another thing.

The next race earmarked is taking place on the 20th. It is run by the local club and I done it 3 years ago and plan to take in the route of the course as much as I can over the next few weeks in preparation.

dazza21ie

Tuesday 1st November 5 miles @ 9:20
A nice easy run over part of the upcoming 10k route.

Thursday 3rd November 5 miles @ 9:14
I didn't get out on Wednesday as we have a sick baby in the house (baby flu) and nearly didn't get out for this one either. We were due to head away but decided against putting the little through that so that widened the window for getting a run in.

It was unusual heading out for a run in daylight. I was also taking a pair of new runners on their maiden voyage. I had been relying solely on a pair of Saucony Kinvara 4's for the last year. However, they were starting really show signs of worse for wear so I ordered two new pairs last weekend. I didn't expect them to arrive as soon as Wednesday. I got a pair of Kinvara 6's (possibly my 4th pair of Kinvaras) and a pair of Saucony Zealots to try out.

So this run was done in the Zealots and they felt very comfortable from the off.

Friday 4th November 5.7 miles inc 6 x 1k @ tempo w/ 1 min rest recoveries
This run was even later that Thursday's - 9:30 p.m. before I got out. It was a few hours since I last ate so I thought it would be worthwhile trying something faster. I has always struggled with stitches in evening runs.

I took the new Kinvaras out for this one. The mistake I made was putting on a sock that was developing a hole in the heel - it turned out to be one run too many.

I chose a route around town and changed my watch to autolap every KM. I done 2 km warm up. The legs were moving very freely and easy pace was a good bit quicker than normal. For the tempo KMs I had averaged 8:03 min/mile pace during Monday's session so I thought keeping it around 8:00 min/mile should be an okay target.

The KM splits were: 4:59, 4:53, 4:44, 4:45, 4:42, 4:47. Kind of consistent-ish. I think the first one warm up the legs and they got into a nice rhythm after that. The 2nd km was slightly uphill and 3rd slightly downhill. I could feel a stitch building near the end of each one more noticeably by the end of the 4th km. However, during the 5th km my mind forgot about the stitch when it was obvious that my worn sock had now a fully developed hole and my heel was taking a beating from the new shoe. I managed to adjust the sock a bit during the recovery before the 6th km, enough to get through the rest of the run but the sock has been duly dispatched to the bin as soon as I got home.

Sock issues aside it was a very satisfying run. Probably the best evening run I have managed in years. The new shoes felt good for the majority of the run. I wouldn't blame them for the issues with the sock. The toebox on the right foot felt a little tighter than normal but this could have been as much to do with house I had tied my laces.

No run possible tomorrow so hope to get a long run in on Sunday. The sessions are due to be repeated again next week before moving on to phase 2. I managed 149 miles for the month of October so the plan would be to try and get above that for this month again.

dazza21ie

I didn't get out for a long run on Sunday. Our sick little one wasn't feeling great in the morning. By the evening time I wasn't feeling great myself and therefore had an early night instead. So it was only 23 miles for last week which is the lowest week for a while now but there were a couple of decent runs within that so I am not too bothered.

Monday 7th November 5 miles @ 9:12
Feeling a bit better I decided to keep it at easy pace over a regular route. It was quite cold out again.

Tuesday 8th November 7 miles inc 3 x 1 mile @ tempo w/ 1 min rest
Same session as Monday last week over the same route. I done two miles warm up and straight into the tempo miles this time. The tempo mile splits were: 7:53, 7:54, 7:49. They were a little bit quicker than last Monday and a little bit slower than Friday's 1ks. I done another 2 mile cool down to bring up a total of seven miles.

dazza21ie

Thursday 10th November 7 miles inc 6 x 1k @ tempo w/ 1 min rest rec

I had a lazy day on the Wednesday which brought forward a day off. I decided to stick to my plan of doing the week's 2nd session on the Thursday. It was a repeat of the session done on the previous Friday albeit this time done early in the morning and over the same route as Tuesday's run. I done the obligatory 2 mile warm up and then the 1ks

1k splits: 4:44, 4:46, 4:48, 4:51, 4:48, 4:55

It is interesting by repeating these sessions you have a ready reference point to compare against. This was nearly the exact opposite of how the session had played out the week before, this time starting out quicker and slowing as the session progressed. When you add the total time up however there is only 2 seconds of a difference.

Friday 11th November 5 miles @ 9:28
i took in part of the upcoming 10k route again for this. The legs were feeling a bit tired but it was only meant to be an easy run anyway.

Saturday 12th November 5 mile @ 9:45
Legs really felt tired for this one. From memory I was quite tired going out. Had some notions of doing a long run but deferred that until Sunday given how unresponsive the legs were and how late I got out in the morning.

A mixture of laziness, family life and more laziness meant I didn't get a run done on Sunday which shows that I shouldn't "defer" runs until the next day if possible. Its best to get them done when you can. It left the week total a bit on the lower side at 29 miles.

Monday 14th November 6 miles @ 9:37
I was out earlier for this one with a view of doing something a bit faster but again the legs were not really all that responsive and despite picking up the pace a bit in mile 3 I knew that it wasn't really there and there was no point in forcing it with a race coming up on Sunday. I had agreed with myself to just do a standard 5 miler but when I got back as far as the house there was no sign of any early risers up and I still had some time left over so I went back out for another mile which doesn't happen too often.

Tuesday 15th November 5 miles @ 9:14
The legs were a ilttle bit more normal which was welcomed. Run over my usual route with a few strides thrown in at the end.

Wednesday 16th November 7 miles inc 6 x 1k @ tempo w/ 1 min rests
One more go at this session. A repeat of last Thursdays run over the same route and out early again. The difference this time was that it was quite windy and wet out with a good bit of surface water on the ground as well, conditions which I would normally struggle with pacing in. The 1k splits were: 4:58, 4:52, 4:52, 4:50, 4:49, 4:51.

Despite the fact that the overall average pace was a bit down on the last 2 times doing this session I was quite pleased with the effort. The conditions were not great but the pace was consistent and felt quite controlled.

dazza21ie

Friday 18th November 5.6 miles @ 9:10
This was done over the forth coming 10k course. Basically, a full loop of the course with the distance coming up a bit shorter because in the race you go back through the start line and repeat part of the course before finishing with half a lap of the track. There was a nice gradual pick up in pace during the run.

Saturday 20th November 3.11 miles @ 10:01
This was meant to be very easy anyway but the conditions when I headed out meant that was probably the quickest I could safely go with the footpaths quite slippy in the early stages.

Remembrance 10k - Sunday 20th November
Only the second race of the year and less than a month since my last 10k. The target was simply to improve.

When I went out before 8 this morning the ground was white from a sharp frost overnight and everything was frozen. But luckily the race didn't start until 11 by which time the ground had mostly defrosted, helped by a little rain that stopped a while before I headed over to register.

As races go any race organised by the Finn Valley ac are extremely convenient for me. It is a nice 0.75 from front door to the clubhouse for registration, a good start for any warm up. The race start then is usually back from the club house, a good bit back for the 10k, so a chance to complete your warm up.

I bumped into a cousin over at the registration and we briefly chatted before I went into register. It was obvious from all the cars parked up on the way over that it was going to be a big crowd. After I got registered I started running back up towards the start, adding a few short bursts of strides on the way. I caught up with my cousin again and his brother was now with him. We started chatting as the crowds slowly moved up from the clubhouse towards the starting line. The results show 518 finishers, a big turnout for these parts. We were told to move back but we found ourselves going back a bit too far resulting in us being near the back of the field as the race started.

Kilometers 1 & 2 5:19, 4:55
Despite the crowd being well spread out across the road it was a very slow get away. I started the watch once the gun went and 18 seconds at least had passed before we got moving a step. Once we did get moving it was quite slow as there were plenty in front of us and the course quickly took a right turn which kept things tight for a bit longer. I found myself running with one of the cousins. I wasn't overly bothered about the slow get away. There wasn't much we could do about it and I had planned taking it easy for the first few k anyway. After the 1st k I done a quick sum in my head and reckoned it would have been on pace had things not been so slow at the very start.

Kilometers 3, 4, 5 4:53, 4:51, 4:48
The course is a bit undulating over this stretch. I went past my cousin in the 3rd k. It was not intended but I took a corner a bit tighter and kept on going then. I passed my second cousin shortly after but was more puzzled how he was in front of us. I settled in behind a group that was moving at a nice pace but they all slowed to take water before the half way mark so I kept on going on my own as we turned out on to the main road heading back to the town.

Kilometers 6, 7, 8 4:47, 4:49, 4:48
In the plan in my head this was the stretch were I was going to pick up the pace. I spotted a group of 5 ahead and using a lone runner that was between me and the group I managed to close the gap and tag on as we came into the town. The run through the main street split up the group and it was down to 3 as we passed super valu and I found myself moving ahead. The next target was a female finn valley runner and I made it past her going up a slight incline before we turned back in the direction of the start. A lifford ac runner came up on my shoulder but I managed to keep pace with him with the Finn Valley runner keeping close behind.

Kilometres 9 & 10 4:53, 4:40
We came out of a back road early in the 9th k and usually it is a simple switch to the other side of the road but someone shouted to watch out for traffic. So the switch was delayed and I then missed the next break in traffic so I found myself on the opposite side of the road than everyone else. I spent a bit of time checking over my shoulder to get across and this all slowed things down. When I got across the group I had passed and the Finn Valley runner were all ahead of me again. After the start of the last k we turned left heading towards the track. A lot of runners were running on the footpath which is what you would do for the 5k over here. I reckoned the footpath was tight for space as there was cars parked up on it so I stayed on the road and was able to pass out some people on the road and a good few who were on the footpath without seeing who I was passing.

We took a left turn briefly onto the rugby field before entering onto the track. I went past a few more here and had a bit of a gap to the next person in front of me on the track. I put the head down and tried to pick up the pace and as we were going around the bend I could see the gap closing quickly and I moved past him as we came onto the straight. The Finn Valley runner who I had passed earlier was in front of me but I didn’t have enough track to get passed her.

My Garmin had a finish time of 48:47 and the official results had 48:44.

Overall I am satisfied with that run. It is nice progress from a month ago. Conditions were tougher with it being very cold and slippy underfoot in some places. It felt like a more controlled run, perhaps too much so. There is definitely a case to be made to be a bit more aggressive from the start of the race but that will come with more racing.

tang1

Great stuff & well raced, over a minute faster on Newmills in less than a month is a nice improvement.

dazza21ie

Monday 21st November 3 miles @ 10:12
I only wanted a short recovery from this anyway but the conditions weren't great for running after a sharp frost overnight. Legs felt okay after the race but the conditions kept the pace very easy.

Tuesday 22nd November 5 miles @ 9:19
When I was getting up for this it sound like there was a storm blowing outside but by the time I got it out it was nice and came and the overnight winds had kept the frost away. It was even a bit milder so perfect morning for a run. Once warmed up the legs felt good and the pace gradually picked up.

Wednesday 23rd November 5 miles @ 9:44
Unfortunately there was no wind to keep the frost away this time and conditions were very bad out. It was probably the slipperiest I have ran on for a while. Usually when you move out of the town on this route the roads are reasonable but even they were quite slippy. And it was very cold too! It was just a case of making it around safely and pace didn't really matter.

Thursday 24th November 7 miles incl 1 x 2 miles @ tempo & 1 x 1 mile @ tempo w/ 2 min & 1 min rest rec
I didn't really think I was going to be able to try anything quicker than easier pace in the current weather. I got up earlier just in case. There was an even sharper frost last night and temperatures were still well below zero starting off. But it was a crisp frost on the ground as opposed to ice which made running on it okay. There were a few patches that were slippy but you would take that.

I ran my usual route. I was listening to Gerry Thornley and Keith Wood argue on an OTB podcasts and missed the beep for the start of the tempo so the first 20 seconds or so were slow. The splits were: 2 miles @ tempo: 8:10, 7:49, 1 mile @ tempo: 7:28. Funnily enough the average pace between the 3 miles was bang on. I think it took the first two tempo miles to get warmed up properly.