From Marlboro Lights to Running Tights!

tomred1N

Well time to try one of these logs as it was thesetreads that got me into this madness and after 2 weeks of P&D plan I feel I needsomewhere to vent as feeling it already.
Brief background , male 37 started running in March2012. Played GAA till mid twenties when from age 12 I was probably trainingplaying 4/5 nights a week. Was never a speedster and hated sprint training etcbut loved the endurance stamina side of winter pre season training. In thosedays it was no pain no gain theory of mental torture so doing endless laps ofpitches was the norm and the longer it went on the more I ended up towards thefront of the group.That’s probably why I have taken to this long distancerunning now again. However things had gone wayward on the fitness side ofthings over the past decade. I blame Bertie for the excess! Weight had kept pace with the national debt and I wasnearly 16 stone 2 years ago when I had to bring in my own IMF. (I bought a labpup and she reintroduced me to fresh air) Lost about a stone walking her in2011 when we did a 5 mile ring most days. Started jogging 100 yards every nowand again and in March I jogged the whole 5 mile ring. That’s when the bug hitand I started running it more often.

Came across the DCM novice thread last June anddecided to see how much of it I could do. ( my dog joined up too and did 90% ofHal Novice 1 ) Signed up for DCM on last day before entries closed as at thatstage I still wasn’t sure I could do it. However I did DCM in 4.15 runningfirst half in 2.11 and second half in 2.04. Really enjoyed it and have keptrunning over the winter following Meno’s plan and I have now started the 18week P&D 55 mile plan with aim of doing Cork City Marathon in under 4hours.

As can be guessed from the title of the my log my lifestylehas had a dramatic change over past while….instead of blowing smoke out the carwindow I’m now passing neighbours in the pissing rain with two LAB dogs running after me (got the wife apersonal trainer as well!) Good news is I’m down to 86kg while still eatingwhat I want ( ok have almost cut out take aways unless completely necessary)Would probably be easily 80KG if I stopped eating the amount I do. Having an addictive personality I seem toenjoy the pain/endorphins you get from running and even though I’m still proneto the odd smoke …..I am more addicted to running at this stage (obviously the two don’t mix). Another thinggone by the wayside are hangovers… still drink a few on organised occasions buteven ran 14 miles a few weeks ago after 7 or 8 pints on a Saturday night.(amazing considering driving to the chipper might have been too much effort atone stage following a few too many)

Anyway starting this log from week 1 of an 18 week P&Dprogram for Cork Marathon.

Tuesday 29 Jan

9 miles L/T 1:16 (8.30)

Tough enough run with 4 miles around 7.50 pace.However easier than when I first tried one of these b4 xmas so fitness improving.

Friday 1 Feb
8.39 miles General Aerobic 1.14 (8.52)

Sat 2 Feb
Recovery 3.12 miles in 0.31 (10.12)

Sunday 3rdFeb
Long run 12.90 miles 1.59 (9.12)

Tuesday 5thFeb
General Aerobic with 10 x 150 m strides 9 miles 1.21 (9.00)

Did this on a treadmill as the evening was awfuland too dangerous to run dark country roads. Actually found the treadmill handyfor adjusting pace. Ran between 10 and 11 kph and then 16kph for strides. Strideshelped break up the monotony of the treadmill. Joined gym at start of year as Istarted swimming lesson b4 xmas and thought I would use pool to practice a bit.Gym handy option for bad weather evenings

Thursday 7thFeb
General aerobic 8.15 miles in 1.10 (8.34)

Did this on treadmill again as was late home fromwork and had swimming lesson. Was meant to do 10 miles but was late forswimming so had to leave after 8 miles. I think if I did more runs on treadmillI would lose more weight quickly as I sweat buckets! I find the pool good aftera run like this though.

Saturday 9thFebruary
Recovery 5 miles 0.48 (9.45)

Sunday 10thFeb
Long Run13.4miles 1.57 (8.45)

This was supposed to be 13 miles with 8 miles atPMP. Did first 3 miles around 9.30 pace and then did next ten at PMP
PMP miles spits were 8.43, 8.32,8.37,8.17,8.55,8.25,8.45,8.36,8.25,8.28.

Pace was a bit up and down but was on hilly enoughroute. Obviously bit faster than planned as my PMP is 9 min miles to break fourhours. Funny how you tend to find cruise mode some days and thats why I kept same pace for last few miles as it didn't seem to require much effort. Didthe 13.1 miles in 1.54 mins which is actually a new PB for a half….have neveractually raced one but broke 2 hours a few weeks ago on another training run.Planning to do one in March/April prior to Cork.

Tuesday 12thFebruary
General Aerobic 10 miles 1.33 (9.22)

Found this run tough and legs felt sluggish especiallyon hills. Route I took has an elevation gain of 670 feet but it’s a loop and isexactly 10 miles so handy not having to think where to turn next etc.
By the way passed 200 miles for year tonight …nowat 205

rasher_m

Good luck in your quest! I'm also an ex smoker who enjoys a drunken fag now and then.

RunningKing

Best of luck, a good start to your plan!

scriba

Best of luck with your training and the log! I'm following the same plan for Cork, at the same stage as yourself (and at a similar weight).

Steroo

Love the title! I've similar goals and on same plan . Best of luck! See u in cork

tomred1N

Wednesday 13 Feb
4 miles recovery 40 mins (10)
First recovery run where I didn't have to try to keep pace slow. Felt really sluggish

Thursday Feb 14
Plan was 8 miles with 4 @ 10 mile to HM pace

Actual was 2 miles @10 and 1 mile [email]a@7.50.....then[/email] had to stop was f**ked.

First time in 10 months running where I had to stop. Knew today it was going to be struggle but thought the faster pace might have shaken the sluggishness out of the system. alas afraid not

Not sure if its increased milage/paces lately or what. Having clocked nearly 1000km in the car in two days with work hasn't helped but I'm used enough of this as i am a sales rep. Think I need to look at what i eat as well as all midweek running is in the evening straight out of the car when some ..most days all I might have eaten is a sandwich. Also I need to start drinking more water as all i'm drinking is tea during the day. Might take a couple of days rest till long run sunday

tomred1N

StephenRooney wrote: »

Love the title! I've similar goals and on same plan . Best of luck! See u in cork

Thanks for the replies guys

I have been keping an eye on logs with similar goals and bad habits ( puff puff rasher )
I think u finished DCM in 4.15 too last year Stephen so should be a good tussle to see if we can get under the the 4.

tomred1N

Sunday 17th Feb

Long run 14.54 miles in 2.16 (9.20)

Took a few days off after thursdays engine failure. Still found this run tough enough and even had difficulty motivating myself to get out and do it.
Wind and bloody hills made legs feel heavy again, however also wore HRM and when I checked it tonight saw my avg hr for last 3 miles was very high 165 -175 compared to around 135 -140 for previous 11. Don't remember last 3 miles being any harder than the rest but I was thinking about that having to do another 12 even at this pace would be tough going.

tomred1N

Monday 18th Feb
4.12 mile recovery @9.41min
Did this instead of 5 miles on saturday.

Tuesday 19th Feb
7.72 mile @9.00
did this with 10 x 100 m strides felt better than last week.

Wednesday 20th Feb
5.01 miles @9:41 recovery

Friday 22nd Feb
10 miles @8:58


Saturday 23rd Feb
3.1 miles @9:31 recovery

Sunday 24th Feb
15.28 miles @9.10

Beautiful morning for a run and took my two labs with me for 10 miles of the route. Roads a bit busier than usual with car loads of lads passing in convoy. U know when the club gaa season is starting again. Had me thnking if could I come out of retirement for a junior hurling game after all this running..... thought of Jerry Kiernan and have to disagree with him.....I can run 26 miles on tarmac but its a different story knee deep in sh!t getting twisted and turned by some young fellow.......and its get harder as the ground hardens ! I'm afraid as ROG knows in the rubgy when ur time is up ur time is up!
Did the last 4 miles at avg 8.45 pace to see if there was more left and I think there is a big difference to how I was finishing these length long runs for DCM 12.
This was 45 miles for the week...the highest milage I have done since 40 miles last september.

Week 45 miles
YTD 272 miles

tomred1N

Tuesday 26th FEB

9 miles@ 8.25 mile pace

5 miles @ planned 10 mile pace...splits were 7.45, 7.49, 7.49, 7.18, 7.25

Plan at start of year was to break 80 mins for 10 mile and 1.50 for half to have good crack at sub 4 marathon

At start of week 5 of P&D schedule for Cork all seems to be going to plan (only one missed run so far two weeks ago when I was just wrecked after 3 miles of a planned 8 miler)

Like others on here I think I am begining to feel the benefits of this plan. That said I had a sneaky look a few weeks ahead and quickly turned the page back ....its doesn't make pretty reading some of that hardship! However it definately is not as bad in reality as it is on print and even compared to Hal Novice 1 the different paces and type of runs actually break it up. In fact once I have the LT run complete I actually feel you have the back of the week broken ......even though there is another 36 miles left.

tomred1N

Wednesday 27th Feb

5 miles @9.45

Recovery run..... tried to go slower as legs were feeling stiff from previous night ...but it was also so cold I had to move on to keep warm.

swimming lesson tomorrow night so next run is 10 miles on Friday.

TRR

Just seeing your log now. Great title have you a goal time for cork? Any races planned in the lead up?

tomred1N

TRR wrote: »

Just seeing your log now. Great title have you a goal time for cork? Any races planned in the lead up?

Hi TRR, aim for cork is to go under the 4 hours. by how much has recently began to cross my mind as i find myself running 9min miles comfortably enough on pmp runs. however i need to do a few races to see where i am really at. Looking at doing a 10 miler in march...maybe mallow if i stay quiet paddys weekend! and a half around easter/ to mid april not sure where yet maybe ballybunion or if there is one around cork ...will do bandon 10k in may in run up to cork. thats the plan in my head anyway for time being. Having a look at ur log there ....f*ck me i,m surprised u even understand the title of my log with those times !

tomred1N

Friday 1st March

10 miles @9.00 min/mile

Found this fine until 8miles in when I just felt the energy drain from me like a car running out of diesal. Maintained pace and finished it out but tank was empty at the end.
I think the tueday session is still in my legs (fastest 5 miles I have ever done) and again got out the car this evening had a banana and out the door.....forgot to drink water through the day and had no breakfast either. Need to find a log here with a bit of info on nutrition me thinks ...jumped on a scales in a hospital corridor the other day and I was 88kg. up two kg from last time I checked around new year....and thats with nearly 300 miles ran since....this running lark is killing me!

tomred1N

Saturday 2nd March

5 miles @9.45 just squeezed this in at 7pm as busy all day...joys of living on a farm

Sunday 3rd March

16 miles @8.59

10 miles at PMP ...aim was to do 10 sub 9 minute miles. some are comfortable, some are tough depending on wheter uphill or downhill....no flats parts around where i run unfortunately
splits were 8.54 , 8.44, 8.51, 8.51, 8.46, 8.50, 8.38, 8.56, 8.50, 8.49

16 minutes faster than same 16 miles i did last september prior to dcm 12. similar improvement on 26.2 would give me 3.59...sounds easy hah !

reading some of the race reports on here tonight the improvemnts are amazing ..pressure is on to shape up or ship out !!

Steroo

tomred1N wrote: »

Saturday 2nd March

5 miles @9.45 just squeezed this in at 7pm as busy all day...joys of living on a farm

Sunday 3rd March

16 miles @8.59

10 miles at PMP ...aim was to do 10 sub 9 minute miles. some are comfortable, some are tough depending on wheter uphill or downhill....no flats parts around where i run unfortunately
splits were 8.54 , 8.44, 8.51, 8.51, 8.46, 8.50, 8.38, 8.56, 8.50, 8.49

16 minutes faster than same 16 miles i did last september prior to dcm 12. similar improvement on 26.2 would give me 3.59...sounds easy hah !

reading some of the race reports on here tonight the improvemnts are amazing ..pressure is on to shape up or ship out !!

That was a great lsr, and looks like is was bang on target. Good stuff!

tomred1N

StephenRooney wrote: »

That was a great lsr, and looks like is was bang on target. Good stuff!

Thanks but was wrecked enough at the end of it. I think its more the build up of miles rather than the pace or the distance. I think I would find it difficult to run a race in the middle of this program without a few days off. Great 10K by urself Stephen, 44 mins odd on a hilly course is fierce going.

TRR

tomred1N wrote: »

Hi TRR, aim for cork is to go under the 4 hours. by how much has recently began to cross my mind as i find myself running 9min miles comfortably enough on pmp runs. however i need to do a few races to see where i am really at. Looking at doing a 10 miler in march...maybe mallow if i stay quiet paddys weekend! and a half around easter/ to mid april not sure where yet maybe ballybunion or if there is one around cork ...will do bandon 10k in may in run up to cork. thats the plan in my head anyway for time being

Sorry just seeing your reply now. That seems like a good race build up all right. Sub 4 hrs is well within your reach, the races will give you a good idea where you are at and you can change your training paces accordingly. Best of luck wih it.

tomred1N

Tuesday 5th March

8.25 miles @ 8.30 min/mile with 10 x 100m strides

The strides make me do these runs a bit faster than planned. funny how legs feel fine after long runs recently but I do feel it more from faster midweek runs especially the LT runs.

tomred1N

Wednesday March 6th.

5 miles recovery @9.51

Legs felt heavy again for first 3 miles from last nights run. Glad of the stepback week this week where plan is only 37 miles !

Entered the Sheeps head 10K on Easter Saturday. Will be my first 10K race. First ran 10K on holiday last May...59 mins thought I was after running a marathon!! Did 10k in 52 minutes in September on a training run as fast as I could. Did 5 miles last week in just over 38 mins in middle of LT run so I should be capable of a good improvement on 52 mins.

tomred1N

Friday March 8th

8 miles @9.08 mile avg HR 140

ran out of energy on this run tonight around 5 miles where I felt lethargic and just drained .....would have popped a gel if i had one!!

been busy last two days and a lot of miles in the car. home late last night so no dinner only sandwich. busy day again today so no water and only quick sandwich at lunch.
I wonder what are other people doing with regard to nutrition etc especially with regular 50 mile weeks and longer runs at weekend coming up. My monday to friday is usually like this
First thing in the morning in the car Tea, plus between 2 and 3 more times during day. Carry a litre of water most days as well
12.30 Lunch (brown bread Tuna Sanwich,cheese , tomato)
19.30 Dinner (potatoes or rice , meat, Mince , lamb or chicken , veg etc )
10pm Tea couple of biscuits
Weekend same only with breakfast! and out one night for dinner anyway.
Breakfast sat....toast ,bacon, 2 bolied eggs,
Breakfast sunday ..slice of taost and bacon.

I wonder do I need to eat differently/more to maintain energy levels with increased mileage???

tomred1N

Saturday 9th March

4 miles @9.50 min/miles easy recovery run.

Sunday 10th March

11.5 miles @9:13 Avg HR 136

This was difficult to face this morning. Pissing rain and freezing. Have recoginised need to slow down on long runs but if I went any slower on this one my hands would have fallen off. Had garmin and hr but hardly looked at them till the finished as too cold. was surpised to see HR was pretty steady, heart must have froze too. even took short cut at end as planned route was 12.5 miles........had enough.

Next week should be fun. 50 odd miles in this weather is about as appealing as .....well no need to go there. Initially when I decided on doing this plan I said I would do the first mesocycle and access then. ( Plan was to jump into Hal intermediate if I was finding P&D too much) Well Mesocycle 1 done, only falied to complete 5 miles of one 8 mile run. One thing it is very time consuming especially trying to fit in longer midweek runs. Will continue to mesocycle 2 and but if I only come up 5 miles short on this one I'd take it now. I need the long evenings and a bit of sunshine to appear fairly soon!

Have started to do some stretches and core strengthening excersices after runs as an area that I have completeley ignored.

wtd 36.5 miles
YTD 354 miles

scriba

Nice work. It's great to have a third of it down!

tomred1N wrote: »

I need the long evenings and a bit of sunshine to appear fairly soon!

Tell me about it. I'm counting the days till daylight saving time kicks in.

Walkedit

tomred1N wrote: »

Friday March 8th

8 miles @9.08 mile avg HR 140

ran out of energy on this run tonight around 5 miles where I felt lethargic and just drained .....would have popped a gel if i had one!!

been busy last two days and a lot of miles in the car. home late last night so no dinner only sandwich. busy day again today so no water and only quick sandwich at lunch.
I wonder what are other people doing with regard to nutrition etc especially with regular 50 mile weeks and longer runs at weekend coming up. My monday to friday is usually like this
First thing in the morning in the car Tea, plus between 2 and 3 more times during day. Carry a litre of water most days as well
12.30 Lunch (brown bread Tuna Sanwich,cheese , tomato)
19.30 Dinner (potatoes or rice , meat, Mince , lamb or chicken , veg etc )
10pm Tea couple of biscuits
Weekend same only with breakfast! and out one night for dinner anyway.
Breakfast sat....toast ,bacon, 2 bolied eggs,
Breakfast sunday ..slice of taost and bacon.

I wonder do I need to eat differently/more to maintain energy levels with increased mileage???

Great log just found it, and awesome miles ytd, and I'm on half that but with no short term racing game plans

Hood luck with log

You are quick too but slowing LSR sounds right, and I struggle to get under 10 mpm

Why no brekkie Mon to Fri, Sat up earlier to fit it in may help you big oatmeal fan here

tomred1N

Walkedit wrote: »

Great log just found it, and awesome miles ytd, and I'm on half that but with no short term racing game plans

Hood luck with log

You are quick too but slowing LSR sounds right, and I struggle to get under 10 mpm

Why no brekkie Mon to Fri, Sat up earlier to fit it in may help you big oatmeal fan here

Thanks Walkedit, everyones fast is someone elses slow. I met a guy who works with my wife after DCM last year , he had just done it in 2:48 .....the wind would actually blow him around !.......I said to him that wasn't too bad, try being out there for 4 and quarter hours carrying twice his body weight!! He agreed with me

I don't do breakfast weekdays cause I'm not a morning person and have never eaten early in the morning unless I have a bit of time to cook a rasher or boil an egg and enjoy it which is more often the case at weekend. Silly I know but its all habit.

tomred1N

Tuesday March 12th

10 miles @ 8:30 pace avg HR 150

nice day for a run. off work this week and weather was lovely, bloody forecasts are all over the place ....i don't care how cold it is as long as sun shines !

Anyway the dread of my life at the moment is LT runs. Don't look forward to them but feel great after doing them

did 2 miles warm up around 9 min pace and 5 miles LT. 3 miles warm down around 9:30
LT Splits were 7:41, 7:57,7:53, 7.29, 7:37 avg HR 160

The way I do these I try to do each of the 5 miles sub 8 min. I was hurting doing first and second mile as it was a gradual climb and into a strong headwind. surprised how I recovered to do mile 3 but gradual decline helped.

Was Thinking about how I will run next marathon during this run. for last marathon I was comfortable running 10 min miles and ran first half of marathon effortlessly at that pace.

I want to be able to do same for first half of cork at 9 min pace and then see what I have in the tank. I think I am getting fairly comfortable at 9 min miles now. I just thought though if the sun is shining like today on June 3rd then fook me I may need to revise all :eek:

tomred1N

Wednesday March 13th

4 miles @9:46 recovery run

Thursday March 14th

11 miles MLR @ 9:12 Avg HR 141
Did this run in the morning and first 3 miles were around 10 min pace as legs were really stiff.

Saturday March 15th

18.5 miles @ 9:19min /mile Avg Hr 142 .
Longest run since last October. early morning again. Tried to keep pace slower on this run as enough pace runs and speed in this plan for me without adding more. wanted to see if i could just enjoy it a little and run.Felt comfortable enough till last couple as legs began to feel it a little then especially on hills. Am actually going to do one of these on a flat route somewhere soon as I'm getting a bit weary of every run looking like the attached. Took a gel at 12 miles as didn't have any breakfast and sun was warm in pleaces and had no water.

Sunday March 16th

Afternoon 5 miles recovery walk. Had over a bottle of wine last night and several beers as well. Walked the dogs to test the water...all ok

Evening 5 miles @9:46 recovery run. Was meant to be 7 with strides but in my mind thats not really recovery now is it ??
legs felt surprisingly fresh on this after a high milage week. Maybe it was the 5 miles walk earlier or the lubrication from a bottle of rioja followed by a several cold bottles. Not sure so will try both therapies again next weekend to investigate further !

tomred1N

Tuesday 19th March

12 miles @8:53 min/miles overall. AVG HR 144

Plan was 7 miles recovery but won't be able to fit in long medweek run tomoroow evening so did it tonight instead. Will try to do 5 miles recovery tomorow evening if I can.

Got running this evening at 5.45 so got most of it done in daylight. Very cold but this was fairly comfortable run. no sign of 18 miles in the legs from saturday and felt fairly fresh. Think the miles are starting to pay off at last in endurance terms anyway as I'm finishing runs with more in the tank and recovering a lot faster. Only thing I notice is I feel the effect of LT runs a lot in days after it.
Thats a nice thought now with 10 miles (6 @LT ) on friday followed by 20 on Sunday. It crossed my mind that when the next lunatic on these threads suggests moving up to the 55-70 mile plans that i'm going to delete my account and go back to talking to fellows in the pub about fellows running all over the place.
Heard a lad talkling to a barman last week during Cheltenam about men running past the bar during the day whiles the races were in full flow along with plenty of pints...
...whats wrong with them Jimmy have they got nothing better to be doing ur mans says as he orders another pint at half two in the day! I was tempted but I had a recovery run later that evening !!

Steroo

tomred1N wrote: »

Tuesday 19th March

12 miles @8:53 min/miles overall. AVG HR 144

Plan was 7 miles recovery but won't be able to fit in long medweek run tomoroow evening so did it tonight instead. Will try to do 5 miles recovery tomorow evening if I can.

Got running this evening at 5.45 so got most of it done in daylight. Very cold but this was fairly comfortable run. no sign of 18 miles in the legs from saturday and felt fairly fresh. Think the miles are starting to pay off at last in endurance terms anyway as I'm finishing runs with more in the tank and recovering a lot faster. Only thing I notice is I feel the effect of LT runs a lot in days after it.
Thats a nice thought now with 10 miles (6 @LT ) on friday followed by 20 on Sunday. It crossed my mind that when the next lunatic on these threads suggests moving up to the 55-70 mile plans that i'm going to delete my account and go back to talking to fellows in the pub about fellows running all over the place.
Heard a lad talkling to a barman last week during Cheltenam about men running past the bar during the day whiles the races were in full flow along with plenty of pints...
...whats wrong with them Jimmy have they got nothing better to be doing ur mans says as he orders another pint at half two in the day! I was tempted but I had a recovery run later that evening !!

Good work Tom. Great you feel it's paying off. I was thinking the same yday. No sign of the 18miles and plenty in the tank now after the midweek runs.

tomred1N

Wednesday 20th March

5 miles @ 10:10 . Plan was 7 mile recovery but was after driving up and down to dublin today I only got out for 5 miles this evening at 9.00pm . I think 5 miles is enough for any recovery run anyway...otherwise I get bored or feel better and run faster.

Jebus really felt it in the legs this evening , over 6 hours in the car don't help but I think i may have found the reason why i,m not losing weight......its my calves they now feel like poured concrete which I guess is heavier than the flesh which was previously there. Pity I couldn't transfer this to my core ( P&D term for belly!) ......maybe 3000 sit ups a day might work!

YTD 420 miles think thats more than the whole HH 1 plan I did last year over 18 weeks.

tomred1N

StephenRooney wrote: »

Good work Tom. Great you feel it's paying off. I was thinking the same yday. No sign of the 18miles and plenty in the tank now after the midweek runs.

Found those 18 miles this evening Stephen!
I see you are moving closer to having a bash off 3.30. Thats fair clipping mate . You can send me a text when ur finished to see how u got on . I might push on for the last 6 then !!

How do you find the LT runs. I did 5 around avg 7.30 7.40 pace last week but I think I will struggle to do six on the bounce this week. U seem to plough through them even with niggles. I think you obviuosly had a bad day with the 4.16 DCM time