Confessions of a never has been.....

Duanington

So I've been reading logs on here for a long time now, taking great inspiration from the dedication, progress and of course the failures experienced by people along their way through various training programmes.
I've taken enough from the fantastic logs and advice on these threads so have decided, if at all possible, to give a little something back and share my experiences over the next year or so

A little background information:
35 year old male, reasonably sporty background (played football regularly up until 3 years ago, swam regularly etc). I crawled home in my first DCM in 2005, a blistering time of 4:55.
I packed in the "running" for a few years afterwards and stuck to football up until the Winter of 2011 when I gradually got back into running and started to take training a little more seriously - a 10k time of 52 minutes and a half marathon time of 1:58 followed shortly afterwards.

2012 saw another step up in trainining and since then I have gradually started to take things more and more seriously ( which has resulted in greater enjoyment I should add) - the half marathon time came down to 1:45 and I finished DCM in 3:55 in Oct 2012

2013 - I had taken a month off from running during December 2012 and started up again in January, bringing more tempo\repeat runs into my programme and moving up to 6 nights per week, more long runs and generally being clever about recovery\diet etc....
10k time came down to 42:27 and the half to 1:41 ( which I was a teeny bit disappointed with)
I finished off the year with a 3:36 in DCM which I was very, very happy with, I felt strong most of the way around and knew that it was all down to the step up in training

So there is the background, what now..? Well, I am planning to spend the next 2 months keeping up the well earned stamina that I have built up ( or at least as much as possible), drop to 5 nights running and focus on my 10k time in the new year.
I will then look to progress onto half marathon training and then full marathon

Targets for the next year:
10k time of sub 40
half time of 1:35
Marathon time of 3:20

...

Duanington

31.10.2013

3 mile recovery run following DCM, felt great for the first 200 metres...then my legs reminded me that they weren't in the best of form. Stopped to stretch a couple of times, pace was around 9:00 per mile

Felt good aftewards and was glad to have done it

rob w

Duanington wrote: »

31.10.2013

3 mile recovery run following DCM, felt great for the first 200 metres...then my legs reminded me that they weren't in the best of form. Stopped to stretch a couple of times, pace was around 9:00 per mile

Felt good aftewards and was glad to have done it

Welcome to the logs!

Still havent been out for a run since DCM! Just been stretching and foam rolling.....hopefully get out for one myself this weekend!

Good luck with the training!

Duanington

rob w wrote: »

Welcome to the logs!

Still havent been out for a run since DCM! Just been stretching and foam rolling.....hopefully get out for one myself this weekend!

Good luck with the training!

Thanks Rob ! No rush in getting back out I guess !

Duanington

01.11.2013


4 miles easy along the nice flat seafront at Clontarf - stopped each mile to stretch the legs\back etc......felt much better than my first run back and can feel the miles starting to ease out of the legs.

Avg pace 8:45

Duanington

02.11.2013

Rest day today- 45 minutes of press-ups \core work followed by ET on the sofa with my 4 year old .......very enjoyable!

Another slow\short run tomorrow is on the cards, feels strange running these types of runs when I've been used to putting the big miles in for a while now!

Duanington

03.11.2013


3 miles yesterday - started off easy and then put in some stretches of pace along the 2nd\3rd miles to see where the legs were at. They felt quite good and it was a beautiful fresh Autumn afternoon - the perfect conditions for running really. I had to work hard to stay strict and stick to the small run that I had planned.
Avg pace 7.45 per mile

Noticed a lot more people out running yesterday than in previous days, looks like more and more folks are beginning to emerge from the euphoric haze of DCM !


Long(ish!) very slow run planned this afternoon ( 10 miles) - it may be a little soon for this but I am keen to keep up some sort of routine and will be stopping to stretch at 2\3 mile intervals...I don't plan on putting any real effort into running for another week or so

Duanington

04.11.2013

I had planned 10 miles this evening but cut it short to 9 after common sense prevailed ( shortly before I headed out).

Started as usual with 40 odd minutes of core work and press-ups.

Ran out along the coast at Clontarf to East Point - on through north\east wall and the O2...took in some of the North Quays before turning back for home.

I've never really ran this route before and am chuffed to have found it....the quays looked quite spectacular with the crisp evening that was in it. ( I'm still in love with Dublin after DCM) , lovely run...legs felt good most of the way, a little tired towards the end but nothing major

3rd run in the new GT 2000s, must say I'm warming to them ( or them to me?) nicely...they felt snug and lightweight the further I went in them.

I ran this one purely by effort and ignored the watch...wanted to keep it easy but note as slow as my "old" LSR pace

Beautiful evening for it, everyone I met along the way seemed quite cheerful too , lots of saluting going on:)

Warm up 1.5 miles
Run 6 miles
Cool down 1.5 miles
Total miles : 9 @ avg 8.40 pace

AuldManKing

Welcome to the asylum.

Nice set of goals you have set for yourself - with the help you'll get from Boardsies, theres no doubt they'll tumble.
Have you got any race lined up? Park Runs are great for keeping sharp and dont take too much out of you.

Duanington

AuldManKing wrote: »

Welcome to the asylum.

Nice set of goals you have set for yourself - with the help you'll get from Boardsies, theres no doubt they'll tumble.
Have you got any race lined up? Park Runs are great for keeping sharp and dont take too much out of you.

Thanks a mill AuldManKing - I don't have any definite races in mind but am certainly looking at a 10k soon ( maybe the Movember run this month or the RNLI 10k a couple of weeks later). After that I want to try to race once a month. Parkruns are definitely on the agenda, are they a weekly event? I know there is one in St Anne's too, which is near where I live.

AuldManKing

yep - weekly & free!

belcarra

Welcome to the logs Duanington - your training/times are very reminiscent of my background so I'll be keeping an eye out here for your progress!

Now, has anyone mentioned Ultras to you yet??:P

Duanington

belcarra wrote: »

Welcome to the logs Duanington - your training/times are very reminiscent of my background so I'll be keeping an eye out here for your progress!

Now, has anyone mentioned Ultras to you yet??:P

Thanks Belcarra - ha ha - ultras are those crazy right wing football fans right? No mention yet

Duanington

05.11.2013

Nothing too exciting to report

1 mile w/u

3 miles easy*

1 mile w/d


total = 5 miles @ avg 8.12 min/mile

* I ran by feel again today, this would have actually been close to my previous marathon pace and a bit quicker than previous easy runs so I guess I'll have to keep an eye on the pace

Duanington

Rest day today - 2 rest days per week* for the next few weeks to allow for some sort of life for a while

*In all likelihood I'll be playing 5-a-side on one of these though

Duanington

07.11.2013

45 minutes core\press ups

1 mile w\u

5 miles easy

1 mile w\d

Total miles :7 @avg 8.17 min\mi

Nothing much to report here except for the fact that the wind cuts through you and I seriously regretted not getting one of those running jackets in Lidl\Aldi ( I always confuse them) a few weeks back AND I lost my gloves at DCM

Anyway, p*xy on the way out into the wind and handy enough on the way back

Duanington

08.11.2013

Today was the first speed-type run of my post DCM life. While I'm not targeting any specific race this side of Christmas, I am trying to lay the groundwork to start a very specific 10k plan in January with targets in mind.

As such, I am following a plan...just no target races ....yet ( although parkruns are definitely on the agenda before Christmas)

So by my calculations my tempo pace for the next few months should be something like 6:40 and I've decided that my easy pace needs to increase a tad - I am well aware that I need to train harder and faster but keep a good level of stamina (with an LSR each week) if I am serious about improving times in the new year.

( feel free to ridicule this theory by the way in typical Boards style!)

Anyhooo, today's target was a mere 1 mile tempo to test the waters...at my new tempo pace of around 6:40. The wind\rain was blowing hard into my face with for the first half of the tempo mile and it was damn hard to hold the pace, easy peasy as soon as I turned for home though with the wind at my back.

2 miles easy
1 mile tempo ( 6:35 mile)
2 miles easy

Total : 5 miles @ average 7:45 minutes per mile

Enjoyed this one, even though it was only 1 mile tempo, it was definitely the toughest run since DCM - it dawned on me during the first half of the tempo mile as I tried to suck the air into my lungs that I haven't done any speedwork in yonks so there was a nice sense of mini-achievement afterwards

I'll be upping the miles on tempo runs over the next few weeks but I get the distinct feeling the change in pace is going to be tough. Bring it !:)

Duanington

Up at 07:30 for today's run - a 4 mile easy all on the flat stretch along the coast road at clontarf ( mostly on grass).

Tired getting up but I was keen to get this out of the way as I had a busy day ahead with the kids, took a quick drink of water, waited a minute or two for a signal on the watch and off I went.

Freezing again this morning and as with all week there was a stiff ( Baltic) breeze blowing in my face on the way out. The roads were very quiet this morning except for the few brave souls that took the plunge for an early run, it always strikes me how early morning runners ALWAYS say hello to each other
Anyway, turned for home after mile 2 and had the breeze at my back. Finished up and had a warm bowl of porridge, orange juice and peanut butter ( on bread)

Total Miles: 4 @ 8.15 min\mile

40 minutes weights and core work in the afternoon

AuldManKing

Just to be anal concerning the 8 Nov run

A 1 mile tempo run ain't worth diddly squat (q the applause for the 1st usage of that in my boards lexicon history).
For a tempo to be effective the perceived wisdom is for 3 miles or 15/20 mins at a speed that is 15 secs faster than your 10k speed I.e. A pace you can hold for 1 hour.

I know you said you were just trying out the pace, but I really wanted to use the words 'Diddly Squat'.

Duanington

AuldManKing wrote: »

Just to be anal concerning the 8 Nov run

A 1 mile tempo run ain't worth diddly squat (q the applause for the 1st usage of that in my boards lexicon history).
For a tempo to be effective the perceived wisdom is for 3 miles or 15/20 mins at a speed that is 15 secs faster than your 10k speed I.e. A pace you can hold for 1 hour.

I know you said you were just trying out the pace, but I really wanted to use the words 'Diddly Squat'.

Ha ha - thanks for that, I suppose I meant my first mile at my new tempo pace? Although to be honest I didn't realise that it wouldn't have been worth a curse as a mile on its own so I'll park that one off in the lessons learned bank :)I really was just out to try the pace to see how the legs\lungs. I'll be given it a proper go late next week ( 3 miles) and I'll see how I get on then

Also - it should be 15 secs FASTER than my 10k speed? Hmmm, I may have to rethink this one - I was going on the assumption that it should be just off shy of my 10k speed?

Duanington

Rest day today just a stroll through the PP to the starting line of the remembrance run - Duanington jnr was taking place today, still waiting on the times but she was chuffed with herself, and rightly so - she hardly broke a blooming sweat which made me feel ill\sick\jealous\proud

AuldManKing

You're right.......slower than 10k pace. '

Duanington

AuldManKing wrote: »

You're right.......slower than 10k pace. '

Great - makes sense now ! Thanks AMK

Duanington

11.11.2013

Long easy run today. Great evening for it too, nice and mild but still a little breeze to keep things cool.

Spent 30 minutes or so doing a few weights before heading out.

Started off on the coast as usual, ran to east point BP, turned and came back up the coast, turning off at watermill road and heading up into Raheny to get some sort of hill\drag into the run - I looped this road twice to make the miles up and to keep it from being too flat.
( its not much of a hill but it does put a bit of strain on the legs for a decent stretch)
Felt good but definitely tired towards the end.

It feels odd to have 12 miles as the longest run of the week but I won't complain

Total Miles 12.2
Avg pace: 8:35 min/mile
1hour:44 minutes

Duanington

12.11.2013

40 minutes or so of core\pressup work then out into the fresh, crisp Dublin evening;

Usual route along the coast road at Clontarf, I try to keep as much of my running as possible on the grass.
Legs felt great this evening even after yesterday's long run so I was pleasantly surprised - I suspect the starry sky and the moon reflecting off the sea had a bit to do with waking the senses up though.
I had to slow myself down a few times on this one, I'm hoping to do Parkrun this Saturday so I can give the legs a good rattle then

1 mile warm up
4 miles easy
1 mile warm down

Total Miles: 6 @ avg 8.15 min\mile

Duanington

14.11.2013

Rest day yesterday to get me ready for the track today

Plan was to do 1x mile warm up, 6x400 repeats and 1x mile warm down

This was my first time trying this stuff on a track and actually with a GPS watch. I'd only previously guessed the distance and used a nike+ so I was a bit unsure how to pace the distance etc...

I found the session tough , especially towards the end - my lungs were screaming on the last rep but I was quite happy that I'd done the bit of work and I'm not fazed by the work that I know I'll have to put in.

Splits looked like this

1 mile warm up then:

1:38 ( first one, no idea how to pace it !)
1:23
1:19
1:20
1:20
1:18 ( lungs were screaming at me for this one)

I walked about 100 metres between reps for recovery, might adjust this as I go along, maybe jog 200 ??

1 mile warm down

Finished off the evening with some pull-ups , weights and a bit of core work. Good day today, tough but good

Duanington

15.11.2013

Recovery run today - nice and easy on the grass.

3.4 miles @ 8.35 miles per minute

Hamstrings felt tight for the first time in quite a few months - obviously from the 400s yesterday.
Few press-ups before I started

Hopefully get a Parkrun in tomorrow morning

Duanington

16.11.2013


St Anne's parkrun ( 5k)


Up at 8 o'clock for a slice of toast and some peanut butter and a cup of tea.
Got my gear on and watched in envy as my youngest and her grandad started to tuck into their rashers\sausages....
I left the house at around 09:00 and made my way towards St Anne's Park

2x miles warmup at an easy pace ( 8.15) then headed down the the start line. The plan was to run today's race in Tempo style ( but obviously quicker) - a couple of miles warm up then a decent warm down - and not treat it as a race as such. I really just wanted to see where I am at this distance

I was surprised at the large number of people lined up for the start, although it was a lovely clear morning for a run through the park.
Everything seemed to be organised very well, there was a nice atmosphere amongst the crowd and we were off before too long.

I had no real idea of how to pace this as I've never raced the distance before, except that I knew I could stay under 7 minute miles....how much below, I had no real idea.

There was a little congestion at the start which was no big deal , it soon cleared , I kept an eye on the watch as we moved through the course, just making sure I wasn't creeping over the 7 minute mile mark.

I became very conscious of the effort I was having to put in around the 2 mile mark, I was breathing heavily and my form was suffering a tad - I'm just not used to the pace I guess. I have to admit that I was hanging on to the pace as much as anything for the last mile or so....it was a real effort to keep running as hard as I felt I was.
Having said that, I did finish strongly, handed the barcode\token to the dude with the scanner - time of 20:07 which I suppose I should be happy enough with
I watched a few finishers come home before heading off for a warm down....and making my way back home to the rashers !

A HUGE thanks to the folks that give up their time to make Parkruns happen, I'm delighted to have taken part today and would really advise people to check them out - I hope to run one every few weeks to see where I'm at in the speed department.
I found today tough and had to dig deep at times but I'm certainly glad I did - I have wanted to get stuck into these kind workouts for a while and I'm starting to do just that
All in all this week feels like a good week, two speed sessions down...a few dozen to go

Summary

2 miles w\u @8.15 pm
5k (3.1 miles?)Parkrun @6.31 pm
2 miles w\d @8.20 pm

Duanington

18.11.2013

Sunday
2nd of my two weekly rest days I have planned for the month of November. I only took 2 days off running after DCM so I figure I'd spread the rest days out over the course of the month instead - my legs and mind are starting to feel quite fresh so I think its doing the trick.

Just 40 minutes of light core work\weights

Today
4 miles nice and easy. Cracking but freezing evening for it out there peeps, get out and run !

My mind wanders on these crisp evenings, I get carried away with notions of how much I can take off this time or that time and end up speeding up without realising. Copped myself on a few times and slowed it back down.

Total miles: 4 @ 8.05 min miles


20 minutes of press-ups to start off

Duanington

19.11.2013

LSR day today - the plan was to do 14 miles in total and take in some hills - maybe hills is too strong a word, stretches of ascent.

I started off with the usual weights\core work ( 40 mins) then headed off into the f-f-freezing evening ..all gloved up of course. Running into the wind was nasty enough along the coast but as soon as I turned and moved in away from the coast I hardly noticed the breeze.

took in a couple of roads that lead from the coast up into Raheny again to get some form of a climb into the route and felt comfortable most of the way, I tired a little towards the end but I still had enough in the tank to put the boot down for the last mile which was nice to see.

I've been reading a lot about putting "quality miles" into training and I am starting to feel that I am getting more and more quality miles into my days....time will tell !
I don't actually plan on targeting any 10ks until after Christmas but I am keen to keep up the LSRs and creep back up into 15\16 miles on these runs.

1 mile w\u
12 miles easy
1 mile w\d
Total: 14 miles @ 8.45 min per mile

Duanington

22.11.2013

Wednesday
1 of two rest days planned each week for this month

Thursday
I had planned to go to the track to do some more 400 repeats but I was late getting out of work, had to be back home at a certain time for a thing so time was against me, I opted for a tempo run instead. I'll only have 1 speed session this week but I'll be back to two next week.


2 miles easy w/u

Then
3 miles tempo, the splits looked like this
6:50, 6:45, 6:41

I'm basing my tempo pace off my recent 5k ParkRun result ( 20:08) and it actually felt a lot more like tempo ( as in hard but do-able) than the first time I tried my "new" tempo pace last week - in that instance I'm pretty sure I was going too fast.
All of the calculators indicate that my tempo pace should be somewhere between 6:40-6:55 so that's what I'm going with from here on.
I had previously run tempo runs of 7.10 for DCM training and going into this winter I had notions of running a new quicker tempo pace of 6:30 - to get faster but it turns out that it doesn't work that way!

The ParkRun has given me an idea of where I am at pace wise and using that race time I will be using the correct ( I hope) tempo pace for the next few months - I'll build the distances and adjust if\when race times come down.


Anyway - 2 mile w/d to finish with !

recovery run later today

Duanington

23.11.2013

Friday

4.7 miles @ recovery pace ( 8.25 min\mile)

Saturday
On the beer last night with two loopers which meant a very late night, rest day today

Back at it tomorrow

Duanington

25.11.2013

Sunday

4 miles easy to get back into the routine.

I ran most of this on grass which is always nice. Lovely day for it too, very little wind and lots of people out for Sunday afternoon strolls.

Avg pace @ 8.15

Duanington

25.11.2013


Tempo day today again. I had planned to do my LSR tonight but changed at the last minute on account of being a bit short on time.

What a perfect evening for running out there, lovely and chilled - no breeze worth mentioning.

I started off with a few weights at home as is the norm these days, 30 minutes or so with the dumbells.

I was feeling quite tired heading out for this one and had to give myself a kick in the h*le to stick to the plan and not bottle it for a half hearted easy run

2 nice and easy miles to warm up down along the coast ( where I noted some super times on Boards from Saturday's Clontarf HM by the way - well done peeps!)

The tempo run itself was tough but good, I enjoyed this one more than I did last week and felt a little stronger after the first mile than last week too.

I do find though that I am becoming a little obsessed with the watch and making sure that I'm running under 6:50 at all times - hopefully as I get to know the pace a bit better that will ease off, I was actually pi$$ing myself off at times with the watch checking.

Splits looked like this:

6:41
6:44
6:40

So they were actually a bit too quick - I'll be moving up to four miles next week, fairly certain that'll sort me out!

2 miles warm down and home for a good feed!


total miles 7

Duanington

LSR this evening - I think I timed this one poorly though, my legs were very tired and heavy from last night's tempo run.

I decided pretty early on to ignore the watch and just take it verrry easy.

I had planned to do 14 miles today but I didn't see any point in punishing myself and risking injury, I cut it short at 11 miles ( at this stage my legs were really feeling it and my energy levels were sapped). I normally cruise through my long runs without any hassles so I'm putting this down as a lesson learned - I'll have to arrange things a bit better next week to keep the tempo, speed and LSR sessions away from each other.
( although I've always done this in the past, why I thought it wise to run one after the other this time around I don't know!)

1 mile warm up
11 miles @9min per mile
.5 mile warm down

Total = 12.5 miles

Duanington

28.11.2013

Track session - 7x400 w\200 jogging recovery

Off to Irishtown for this one, probably the last time I'll head here though, there are a couple of tracks closer to where I work so I'll probably start using one of them over the next while.

Having read up a lot more on what speed I should be running these as opposed to what I want to run them, I decided earlier on in the week to put more structure into the session and get the recovery piece right too.

I ran these last week at around 1.20 and walked for about 200 metres as a recovery but looking back at the session on my watch, the recovery times were all over the place so I feel I need to focus (almost) as much on consistent recoveries as on the actual 400 repeat. While running the repeats at the quicker time looks better on paper, I couldn't shake the feeling that I had cheated a bit on the recovery sections and made the next repeat that bit easier each time.

My target this time was 1:25 with 200 metre jogging recovery

Repeats looked like this:

1:29
1:27
1:26
1:25
1:25
1:25
walked a 400 metre recovery to give the last one a good crack...
1:17

It took me a couple of reps to get into the pace ( as usual) but once I did, I enjoyed it - even though the pace was slower than the last time I did this session, the jogging recovery gave me the sense that this was probably a better workout, my breath never fully recovered in between reps and looking at the recovery times, they were all around 70-80 seconds.

Again, I'm running this pace based on what the various calculators online tell me ( which is in turn, based on my recent 5k PB).

Another tough but enjoyable session under the belt.

W/d of 1.5 miles

Recovery tonight

Duanington

29.11.2013

recovery run on grass this evening. Legs were feeling the burn from the 400 repeats last night so I ignored the watch and ran slow enough to make it comfortable.


total miles 4.5 @ 8.45

Easy run tomorrow

Duanington

30.11.2013

Didn't sleep too well last night so I canned the original plan to head out early this morning and took the easy way out ( lay around for a few hours instead).

I love getting the run out of the way early on a Saturday so the rest of the day is freed up but the energy levels just weren't there this morning.

When I got around to running I started off with a few weights and a small bit of core work at home.

I run the vast majority of my easy\recovery runs on grass these days, I find it much easier on the legs - especially the next day.
Today was no different, 2 miles out, 2 miles back...stopping once to stretch out my calves. I am still feeling Thursday night's track session in my legs a tad....which was worrying me at first but thinking back, its only to be expected - it was a better session than the first one I ran a couple of weeks back and its only my second track session.

Felt the (slight) stiffness easing out of my legs as the run went on and it was a glorious day for it too.

Another easy run tomorrow.

Total miles 4
Avg pace @ 8.22

Duanington

02.12.2013

Sunday
Took the day off when an old friend came visiting, decided to spend the time catching up and drinking tea.

Today
what a difference a day's rest can make to your body! I struggled a bit last week with energy levels , I had a few cr*p nights' sleep which messed me up I think but felt great today after the rest yesterday and solid sleep last night.

I started this one off as usual at home with some press-ups and core work.

Then off into the mild evening ( I hear it ain't gonna stay mild for too long though) for a nice easy run

1 mile w\u

4 miles easy

1 miles w\d

Total miles today :6 @ avg 8.20 min\miles

Duanington

03.12.2013


LSR this evening - 14 miles was the plan

30 minutes or so of weights and pull ups to start off then off I dashed into the cool darkened evening

I have a good bank of different routes built up at this stage that are stashed away in the back of my brain - I took the last 14 mile route that I used 2 weeks back to avoid staying on the flat coast for the duration of the run.

I'm aiming to run my LSRs somewhere around the 8:50 mark at the moment, that may actually be a little quick for me but I'll stick with it for the time being. ( I ran most of my LSRs at around 9:25 during DCM training).

Felt good all the way through this one, I had the odd twinge of " a give us a bleedin break" from the legs but nothing major and I am conscious that this pace is not something my body is really used to doing LSRs at so I do ease off the gas a bit if I feel anything giving out.

13.8 miles @ avg 8.48 min\mile

( I got the route slightly wrong - so much for that bank of routes!)

I want to keep these LSRs into the teens over the winter, I'll start to push into 15\16 in January\February as target races get closer but for now I'm happy to keep running 13\14 miles at a quicker pace than I am used to and see how that serves me

Duanington

05.12.2013

Wednesday - off

Today - Track session

Plan was to do a nice warm up then 8x400s with 200 metre recovery ( jogged) then 1x800 at the end
Similar to last week, except one more 400 and the addition of the 800 at the end.

I ran this out at ALSAA near the airport because its near work ( 10 quid to use the track though ). The weather was gank, wind very blustery and f-f-freezing. The other people in the changing rooms had the right idea, they were heading for a swim in a warm pool by the looks of it!

I started off with a slow 1.5 mile warm up, increasing the pace on the last couple of laps to get some blood running through my legs ( the wind was cutting me!)

400 repeats looked like this ( target was 1:25)

1:27
1:25
1:25
1:25
1:27
1:22
1:23
1:25

the wind was very strong on one of the straights so I had to work hard to hold the pace on a few of these, happy enough with them though - lost the pace a bit on one or two looking back at the splits but I suppose conditions didn't help that.

I'll be adding some 800s into my training over the next while, I work out my target pace as 3:10 for these. After the last 400, I walked a 200 recovery and set off on an 800 ( 2 laps).

I did this in 3:05 and felt quite strong at the end so again , happy with that.

Finished the session off with a 1 mile w\d

Overall , glad I did the session because it was one of those days where I had any amount of excuses to skip it.
Some more quality running under the belt - a good week so far

Duanington

07.12.2013

Friday - off

Today
Plan was for a 4 mile tempo run today . I got up bright and early for this one and had a small bit of food 30 minutes before heading out. ( fruit and bread\almond butter)

Warm up mile felt good, it was a perfect morning to run really. I headed out the coast, away from Clontarf towards Howth...with a light breeze at my back.

First tempo mile flew past, I felt good
Second mile started well but I could feel my energy levels dipping towards the end of the mile
I turned at the end of tempo mile 2 to head for home and turned straight into a good breeze which took me by surprise. Maybe it was all in the head but as soon as I turned into the breeze, I started to struggle...I wasn't holding the target pace properly and my breathing was suffering.
At the end of Mile 3 , I stopped, my legs felt hollow and I was breathing very heavily. I decided about 2.5 miles in that 4 miles tempo wasn't happening today and I'd have to settle for 3 with 2 miles easy tagged on at the end.
Maybe it was the headcold I've had all week, maybe the hangover from the track session on Thursday or maybe I'm just not fit enough to hold the new tempo pace for 4 miles yet, either way today didn't go to plan. I'm pretty sure that something wasn't right this morning because I know myself I can push on through pain barriers etc under normal circumstances but today...well, today was just one of those days.

Anyway, tempo miles looked like this:

6:48
6:45
7:00

A bit disappointed with today's run but I still feel like this week has been a quality week and have to look at the bigger picture.

AuldManKing

Take a look at these for variations on the traditional tempo.

http://www.mcmillanrunning.com/articlePages/page/21

There's more than 1 way to skin a cat.
Also don't get hung up on pace, it's the 'comfortably hard' effort that counts. I learned this the hard way last year.

Duanington

AuldManKing wrote: »

Take a look at these for variations on the traditional tempo.

http://www.mcmillanrunning.com/articlePages/page/21

There's more than 1 way to skin a cat.
Also don't get hung up on pace, it's the 'comfortably hard' effort that counts. I learned this the hard way last year.

Thanks AMK, appreciate the advice. Had a good read of the link there and I'm all set for next week. Thinking back, I probably should have continued on and ran at the "comfortably hard" pace....and ignored whatever pace that actually was.

The learning curve continues !

Duanington

08.12.2013

Another early start for this one, snuck out while the rest of the house were sleeping.

3.something miles - no watch with me on this one, I just ran at an easy effort and enjoyed watching the sun rise.

Lots of enthusiastic runners out early on the coast road at this early hour which surprised me

Home afterwards for a bowl of porridge, a mug of tea and a rasher sambo :-)

Duanington

09.12.2013

Plan for today was 7 miles easy:

I started off with 35 minutes off planks\press-ups and various types of crunches....all to the soundtrack of Queens of the Stone Age's new album ....I was listening to Jay-Z last week for my pre-run workout stuff but that Kanye fella has lost the plot and I'm starting to find his voice distracting.

Lovely evening for the usual run down the seafront on the grass, lots of fellow runners out too.
I kept the pace nice and easy this evening, ignoring the watch most of the way and running by feel. I have a habit of getting a bit carried away without noticing when I come across someone playing a bit of football or maybe running at a good pace ( it must be male pride or something) and I speed up without knowing...I managed to keep that in check a couple of times

I was running along the sea wall , about 4 miles into the run when I heard a clatter-bang-wallop sound...followed by a bit of moaning and groaning. Some poor chap had cycled straight into a pole and was flat out on his back at the cycle lane. I stayed with the poor fella while another dude cycled off to get a car to drop the lad home - he was shaken up but didn't seem to badly injured, his shoulder was sore and he was light headed but that passed after a few minutes. He seemed more concerned about finding his glasses than anything else ( I resisted any urge to make a joke about specsavers etc....he had just cycled into a pole after all). Anyway, we got his glasses , he got a lift home and I carried on with my run. As Kwest would say; Cyclists be CRAY


Finished off the 7 miles and came home for some stretching and well earned Cajun chicken\salad rolls


Total Miles: 7 @ avg 8.24 min per mile

Duanington

10.12.2013


Plan for this evening was 14 miles LSR

I tried a different route tonight, taking in the usual coast road in CLontarf but then onto East Wall, the 02, Custom House Quay, North Strand and Raheny.

Dublin seems tiny when you don't run in straight lines, these are places you'd normally get buses\taxis to\from I never actually realised how close together they all are.

Anyway, I started off by whipping up what is bound to be the world's greatest chilli con carne for dinner later, stuck on some tunes ( QOTSA again...top class stuff) and did a few weights. Headed out just before it started to get dark.

My legs were definitely stiff for the first few miles but they loosened up a good bit once I found my stride. I always. always, ALWAYS start off too quickly on these runs and this evening's was no exception. Had to reign myself in a few times over the first few miles.

I tired towards the end of this one but its the kind of tiredness that I guess you get used to over time - that kind of "meh - yeah I'm tired, so what...I'm running 14 p*xy miles here!" , felt strong on the last mile however and put the squeeze on a little just to snap my brain out of it, it worked a treat.

Overall, another very satisfying run...

14 miles @ avg 8:50 min per mile

Now to turn my attention to the world's greatest chilli

and the man unireh game:o

Duanington

11.12.2013


Off out to the mammy's for dinner this evening, a healthy serving of spagbol and enough garlic bread to put an end to the twilight phenomenon...I was reeking afterwards but it was great stuff.

I was late getting home and haven't done a run on a Wednesday since before DCM , decided to get out for a small recovery run to sort the legs out after yesterday's LSR and before tomorrow's track session.

I have come to the conclusion that recovery runs should mean recovery...not steady, not easy but RECOVERY. If the aim is simply to aid\stimulate recovery then I've been running these too quickly for quite a while now.

nothing much to report on the run except that I worked hard to keep the pace down and felt a billion times better having done it

Total miles: 3
Avg pace: 9.05 min per mile

Duanington

12.12.2013


Off to Morton Stadium for this one, I hadn't been since school days ( a loooong time ago now) so I was looking forward to today.

Firstly, what a great setup that place is, had a good gander in around the indoor track and gym, quite a few people using it too which was good to see.

Plan for today was 10x400s with 200 metre recoveries ( walking every second one) - target pace was 1:25 per 400
+
2x800s with 400 metre recovery - target pace was 3:10

Started off with a slow 1.5 mile warmup as usual...upping the pace on the last 2 laps to get the heart pumping.

400 splits looked like this:

1:24
1:23
1:25
1:22
1:24
1:26
1:23
1:26
1:27
was feeling very tired at this stage but gave it socks for the last one:
1:20

walked a 400 metre recovery then went off to try the 800 repeats:

Made the first one without TOO much hassle, although I was feeling physically tired at this stage and my Subway lunch was threatening to make a guest appearance: 3:07

Got halfway around the second one and called it a day, my right thigh was very tight and was starting to hurt ( not ache....proper sharp pain) so I pulled up towards the end of the first lap

Delighted with this session to be honest, I gave myself a slightly easier recovery this week by walking every second one but I wanted to make sure I allowed for the increased number of reps I had planned to do and wanted to complete this one. I didn't make the second 800 as planned but I'm not too bothered by that, my legs are just not used to this stuff yet, plenty of time to punish them in 2014 !

Had a almond butter sambo in the car on the way home then got stuck into 30 minutes of core\pressup work....sound-tracked by the Chemicals Brothers live in Japan....quality

Off now to feed myself stupid

AuldManKing

Nice work.
was this a club session or an individual session in Morton.

Duanington

Thanks AMK - not a club session - ran this one on my todd, I'm ashamed to say I'm not actually a member of a club. I do intend to change that in the new year though.