Taming the marathon beast...

Runchick

Mon 20th May

3.25m @ 10.52 Av HR 132

Slow recovery run, nothing to report except a niggling hip flexor for the last mile. Wonder if the body's trying to tell me something :rolleyes: Might stick to easy runs for a while longer...oh and start some regular core work - I've got away with that one for too long now

Dilbert75

Runchick wrote: »

This Clontarf half sounds like a bit of a nightmare but hopefully the conditions will be ok on the day.

It's not all that bad - and families who are hanging around waiting for runners have the choice between going to St Anne's Park on one side and Bull Island beach on the other side (just don't bury the car to the axles in the sand like I nearly did one year!). It's close to the DART too so they could head off to Howth or into town for the couple of hours. Keeping the running widows / widowers / orphans happy is nearly as important as the race itself.

Big Logger

Runchick wrote: »

Hey BL great to hear you're back on the road This Clontarf half sounds like a bit of a nightmare but hopefully the conditions will be ok on the day. I don't know that part of the world at all so if its tough I'll just slow down and enjoy the scenery Maybe see you there

Yeah, will keep an eye out for ya if I'm still injury free and happy to run

Runchick

Tues 21 May

6 mile progression run

Splits 10.16, 9.39, 8.57, 8.23, 7.48, 9.40 (cool down)
Av HR 149

Headed out expecting to feel bother from my hip so was going to run easy but hip felt fine so had a go at a progression run. Felt great to be speeding up again, I was wrecked by the end of mile 5 though :rolleyes:

Runchick

Wed 22 May - Easy

4.31m @ 9.53 Av HR 135

Can't even remember this run, it was my daughter's 5th birthday so I was probably too preoccupied with party planning to even notice anything else I was doing

Thur 23 May - Intervals

4.51m @ 9.03 Av HR 155

1 mile warm up, 8 x intervals (90 sec / 90 sec recovery), 1 mile cool down

I finally worked out that I can manually set laps for intervals so even though I didn't know my pace at the time, at least I can look at it after.

Splits for intervals: 7.09, 7.13, 7.08, 6.44, 7.20, 7.22, 7.17, 7.52 (last one was up hill and in to the wind)

I was working hard for these, having to walk after the last few. Max HR hit 177 so effort wise I was right out of my comfort zone. Great session even though it was hard work, delighted with this one actually:D

Runchick

Friday 24th May - rest day

Saturday 25th May - easy with strides

4.1 @ 10.08 Av HR 142

Threw in 8 x 30 sec strides to mix things up a bit Also did 10 mins core work - would like to have done more but had 3 kids climbing over me thinking it was great craic so ended the fun sooner than planned

Sunday 26th May - LSR

11.23m @ 9.58

Not sure of HR for this one as HR on garmin was playing up but I kept things nice and easy. Great to be back runnning a decent distance again

33 miles for the week, bit more planned for next week:

Monday - 3m slow recovery
Tues - 6m with 2@MP, 2@HMP
Wed - intervals - 4 x 3 min fast, 3 min recovery
Thur - 5m easy
Fri - Rest
Sat - 1m slow, 2m@HMP, 1m slow, 2m @HMP, 1m slow
Sun - 12m LSR

Running 6 days now with Monday a very, very slow recovery run.

Runchick

Mon 27th May - slow recovery

3.13m @ 10.46 Av HR 130

Tues 28th May - 6m with 2@MP, 2@HMP

5.96m @ 8.50 Av HR 155

Headed out early for this one. Plan was warm up, 2m@9, 2m@8, c/d. All went pretty much to plan, splits:

9.33, 8.53, 8.40, 8.02, 7.58, 9.56

But..
kids have had a tummy bug for the last few days and it looks like its now my turn. Stopped twice on the run thinking I was going to be sick. Didn't thankfully but did when I got home (sorry if you're eating:eek:). HR hit 174bpm which is pretty high for me so I'm putting that down to the dodgy tum... hopefully just a 24hr thing

Runchick

Wed 29th May

enforced rest day...Mr Runchick had the same bug so was off work which meant I actually got rest - spent most of Tues and Wed sleeping - probably a blessing in disguise:)

Thur 30th May

Feeling better so headed out for 5 easy miles

5.11 @ 9.49 Av HR 143

Threw in 4 x 30sec strides as I hated having missed Wednesday's interval session.

Fri 31st May

Supposed to be a rest day but the dog's walk turned in to a wee jog - who can resist a run in this weather

3.22m @ 11.00 Av HR 127

I have a 10km next Wednesday evening and am less confident about it now I've been sick and missed this week's interval session which really was a key workout for the race. I'll see how it goes but there's another 10km 2 weeks after this one which I think I'll do too and is more likely to be the better race for me.

Runchick

Sat 1 June - kind of tempo run

7.03m @ 8.45

This run was 1m easy, 2m @ HMP, 1m easy, 2m @ HMP, 1 m c/d and splits were: 9.19, 7.59, 7.48, 9.53, 8.01, 7.55, 10.13.

All looks good written down but the reality was it was a very tough session and I stopped for 5 or 10 seconds at the end of each mile to catch my breath Not sure of Av HR as it played up for a while at the start but I know the HMP miles it was in the 170s and looking back at HR from a half in March it didn't get that high until the final few miles. So what does this mean...am I still feeling the effects of beign sick this week? Am I not as fit as I thought I was?

Anyway glad its done. I have a wedding today - which I elected to drive to for the sake of the 12 mile run I have planned for tomorrow - god what has happened to me - I'm not even marathon training - running is taking me over (and I'm not even good at it) :eek:

Dilbert75

Don't worry A - that's perfectly normal. It's just that normal is relative

Big Logger

Runchick wrote: »

Sat 1 June - kind of tempo run

7.03m @ 8.45

This run was 1m easy, 2m @ HMP, 1m easy, 2m @ HMP, 1 m c/d and splits were: 9.19, 7.59, 7.48, 9.53, 8.01, 7.55, 10.13.

All looks good written down but the reality was it was a very tough session and I stopped for 5 or 10 seconds at the end of each mile to catch my breath Not sure of Av HR as it played up for a while at the start but I know the HMP miles it was in the 170s and looking back at HR from a half in March it didn't get that high until the final few miles. So what does this mean...am I still feeling the effects of beign sick this week? Am I not as fit as I thought I was?

Anyway glad its done. I have a wedding today - which I elected to drive to for the sake of the 12 mile run I have planned for tomorrow - god what has happened to me - I'm not even marathon training - running is taking me over (and I'm not even good at it) :eek:

Sounds like just a bad day at the office. One day its good, next day a disaster.

Runchick

Sun 2nd June - LSR

12.09m @ 9.17 Av HR 155


Had company for my run today so ignored the pace and just tried to keep things easy. Faster than planned but didn't stop yacking the whole way and the time absolutely flew by. Very easy running between now and Wednesday evenings 10km.

Sara2002

Runchick wrote: »

Sun 2nd June - LSR

12.09m @ 9.17 Av HR 155


Had company for my run today so ignored the pace and just tried to keep things easy. Faster than planned but didn't stop yacking the whole way and the time absolutely flew by. Very easy running between now and Wednesday evenings 10km.

I ran some long runs while training for Paris with a friend who was training for London. I found the time just flew past, I really enjoyed it & I did better overall not being glued to my watch. I've moved now where I have no running buddy's so for that reason *thinking* of joining a running club. Have you ever thought about that? Good luck for Wednesday.

Runchick

Sara2002 wrote: »

I ran some long runs while training for Paris with a friend who was training for London. I found the time just flew past, I really enjoyed it & I did better overall not being glued to my watch. I've moved now where I have no running buddy's so for that reason *thinking* of joining a running club. Have you ever thought about that? Good luck for Wednesday.

Yeah Sara I think the best way for me to progress would be to join a running club. I'm just so time poor in the evenings that I'm not sure how I could fit it in. But the thought of running with others is very appealing. The guy I ran with today is pretty fast at short distances so I might meet up with him once a week to do speedwork. Do you have a club close to you?

Sara2002

There is one about 20mins on the DART away then (I think) about a 20-30 minute walk. So very doable if I've the day off work. Its just that I work shifts and find it hard to commit to things like that. I guess if I went to even one session a week it would be good. would alsoc be a good opportunity to meet up with other runners in my general area I could go on lsr's with. Ive just Moved to Dublin after 11 years in uk so very much finding my feet still! Will let you know if I take the plunge. :-)

Gavlor

Just so I can get this straight in my head.

You drove to a wedding and stayed on the dry just so you could run 12 miles today?

I've bottled up my acquisitions of craziness on boards for the last few weeks but thats just mental!!

Runchick

Gavlor wrote: »

Just so I can get this straight in my head.

You drove to a wedding and stayed on the dry just so you could run 12 miles today?

I've bottled up my acquisitions of craziness on boards for the last few weeks but thats just mental!!

Oh yes there's no end to my craziness What's even more mental is that I had a ball at the wedding without copious amounts of booze, I enjoyed a run the next morning while most others I know were dying a death and got more satisfaction from this than I really want to admit to :rolleyes: (ok I could polish off my halo here and leave out that I went on to clean a bottle of wine last night and skipped any recovery running this am :eek:)

Runchick

Mon 3 Jun - slow recovery

3.2m @ 10.56 Av HR 127

Tues 4 Jun - Easy 4 miles

4.5 @ 10.17 Av HR 137

Wed 5 Jun - 10km race

This was my first race since Limerick marathon a month ago and for some reason I was nervous about it. My 10k PB was set in April at 48.08 and my aim for this one was to beat that by anything resulting in 47:xx. Basically the plan was go out at 7.35 pace and try to stay there..simple plan, how hard could it be? Very hard it turned out

The heat was unreal even waiting to start but I had hydrated well all day and there were 2 water stations on the course so wasn't overly concerned. Started out keeping a tight eye on the garmin and actually found it hard to control the pace and not go too fast. First mile 7.35 and the pace actually felt comfortable so I was quietly confident. Somewhere during the second mile the pace began dropping. Mile 2 ended with a steep hill which I knew was followed by a downhill so I didn't mind taking the hill easy as I knew I could make up good time the other side so second mile 7.48. Things got progressively worse from here. I don't know if it was the heat but I just couldn't keep up any kind of pace. I tried just concentrating on pushing forward, trying to use the power in my legs to speed up but the tank was feeling scarily empty. The power just wasn't there. Mile 3 8.16. After mile 3 I was becoming increasingly aware of stomach cramps and my growing need to get to a loo. Sorry for the details but basically I had issues which I finally resolved just before mile 5 by ducking behind some bushes :eek: Mile 4 8.23, mile 5 8.50 (includes the unscheduled stop ) I felt a bit better after this and continued on. There was a girl in a local club vest just in front of me so I just told myself to hang on behind her at all costs and thats what I did for the rest of the way. Mile 6 8.12. I crossed the line with garmin time of 50:51. Goodness knows how long it would have taken me if I hadn't followed the club vest...chances are I would have given up completely and walked :rolleyes:

Oh another worrying thing from tonight was my HR. It averaged 176 which is extremely high for me.

I felt absolutely flat after this one. I was very disappointed with the time and my inability to hold any kind of pace. I'm hoping the stomach bug I had coupled with the heat were to blame. My husband did a time trail on his bike last night and had a very similar experience, finishing unusually slow for him, so we are both blaming the bug we had recently.

I feel like I'm making excuses though and at the back of my mind I'm questioning my own abilities. I have entered another 10km in 2 weeks so really hope I can put the demons to rest and run the race I like to think I'm capable of then. Onwards and upwards :rolleyes:

blockic

Runchick wrote: »

I feel like I'm making excuses though and at the back of my mind I'm questioning my own abilities. I have entered another 10km in 2 weeks so really hope I can put the demons to rest and run the race I like to think I'm capable of then. Onwards and upwards :rolleyes:

Good grind tonight Runchick and you lost hardly any time in those bushes!! The good thing about the shorter dictances is the quick turnaround time you can have unlike the marathon.

Another bash at it in 2 weeks and the result will more than likely be much more positive. You need to get a couple of these into you before you get the right feel for the pace. I was the same with my 5km races recently.

Look forward, not back.

Dilbert75

blockic wrote: »

Look forward, not back.

Tough night but well finished - you're due a good race sooner rather than later.

docjewel

I think the nervousness came from pressure your putting on yourself to have a good race after Limerick,I know I'm plotting/thinking about something similar myself after Cork.

Limerick was only 4weeks ago,your just coming out of the recovery period ,not to mention a bug recently which sometimes can knock more out of us than we realise.

A few more easy runs without the watch or the watch just set to time may not go astray.

Time to just enjoy being able to run in this weather.

Runchick

docjewel wrote: »

I think the nervousness came from pressure your putting on yourself to have a good race after Limerick,I know I'm plotting/thinking about something similar myself after Cork.

Limerick was only 4weeks ago,your just coming out of the recovery period ,not to mention a bug recently which sometimes can knock more out of us than we realise.

A few more easy runs without the watch or the watch just set to time may not go astray.

Time to just enjoy being able to run in this weather.

Thank you so much doc for your encouragement and words of wisdom. Hindsight is a wonderful thing and today I am realising that I shouldn't have ran last night at all. A runner friend of mine ran a 5k 4 weeks after running London marathon and finished 2 minutes slower than goal and she had warned me that I may experience the same...looks like she was right :rolleyes: I feel really tired today so think a few days rest are in order...something I am not very good at

On a side note, my OH did the 1k family fun run with all 3 of the kids last night. They all really enjoyed it and I just found a note my 5 yr old daughter wrote before school this morning saying "I love to run but my mum is the best runner and she drinks water" (well it took a bit of deciphering but that's what I think she tried to write! ) That note just snapped me out of my disappointment and made me realise that times aren't that important. Running is having a positive influence on them, getting out there and enjoying it is the main thing I need to learn to pick my battles, not every race can be a PB attempt and as long as I'm enjoying it then who really cares!

ncmc

Just found your log now Runchick, best of luck with it. I think a sub 4 in DCM is a formality for you with all your hard work, especially after the tough lessons learned in Limerick. Sorry you had a tough 10K over the weekend, but A) I can confirm that it was very tough racing in that heat and you are only a few weeks after collapsing with dehydration in Limerick. Please look after yourself and don’t be so hard on yourself if you’re not back to your racing best after 4 weeks!

Also plus 1 million on what Doc said, I think the temptation after a bad race is to go out and get revenge straight away, but I think the sensible thing is to slowly build back up to full recovery and then come back and tear the ar*e out of your target!

Dilbert75

FWIW I've been told a few times that post-race recovery should be 1 day per mile raced. Add to that recovery from the dehydration and maybe you really shouldn't be pushing yourself too hard just yet.

dazza21ie

As others have said Runchick fair play for giving it a go. Probably came a couple of weeks too early for you but only way you find that out is by giving it a go. Put it down as a good session.

Runchick

Thanks for all the encouragement guys. I'm on a steep learning curve at the minute but hopefully all these hard lessons will pay off in the end :rolleyes: The biggest thing I need to take away from last night is to read the signs - deep down I knew I wasn't on form, I always get excited at the start of a race and enjoy the buzz but was totally flat last night, the warm up felt very sluggish and I just wasn't in the zone at all. My body may have known I wasn't ready but I kept telling myself sure its only 6 miles, you'll be fine.

Anyway I've scheduled myself today and tomorrow as rest days (reluctantly). I know I shouldn't be thinking about it but I can't wait for the next race - hopefully ready by then to enjoy it (god I sound like a junkie, just one more hit....)

Runchick

Was up half the night with crappy toothache, face swollen this morning, off to doc, turns out I have a tooth abscess, nasty infection requiring antibiotics and a trip to the dentist in a few days Doc took bloods a few weeks ago too and they came back not so good - lacking a few nutrients...basically Runchick is extremely run down...nothing a bit of r&r won't fix...racing on Wednesday night was not so clever but at least I know the reason for my crappy performance :rolleyes:

Anyway I need to take it easy for a bit to get back to full strength. Easy running in a few days if I feel ready...I know rightly I tried to do too much too soon and am now paying the price...take heed folks, look after yourselves and don't make the same mistakes

Younganne

Runchick, mind yourself, enjoy the rest and use the time with the family. Follow Docs Doctors advice and you'll be back on top form in no time.....

Dilbert75

There you go A - and you were being hard on yourself. Who knows how long that was creeping up on you - maybe for months. Look after yourself and you'll be back to your best quick as a flash.

Runchick

Tues 11 Jun

3.13m @ 10.01 Av HR 137

First run since last Wednesday. Have been feeling fairly unwell so had absolutely no desire to run despite the good weather. This morning was the first day I felt like putting the runners on so took the dog for a wee jaunt before breakfast. Am I complete weirdo by saying that I was glad to find it drizzling and cool outside? :eek: I've realised that I hate running in the heat. No running to plan just yet, I'll just go with the flow for another week or so, nice easy runs when the notion takes me...probably won't race as planned on 19th either, I'd rather make sure I'm on top form...I'm far too competitive with myself to race again without a go at a PB :eek: