Confessions of a never has been.....

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.

Ososlo

hi! do you mind me asking how you can use that track and not be a member of the club? i asked before and was told no. cheers!

Duanington

Ososlo wrote: »

hi! do you mind me asking how you can use that track and not be a member of the club? i asked before and was told no. cheers!

Sure - I just paid at the desk to be honest. Maybe if there was a club on the track at the time they wouldn't have let me? I finished up just as a club session was starting actually.

If there had been an issue getting on to the track, I would have just gone up to ALSAA ( the track here seems to be quieter actually so I'll probably stick to here until I sign up to a club)

Ososlo

Duanington wrote: »

Sure - I just paid at the desk to be honest. Maybe if there was a club on the track at the time they wouldn't have let me? I finished up just as a club session was starting actually.

If there had been an issue getting on to the track, I would have just gone up to ALSAA ( the track here seems to be quieter actually so I'll probably stick to here until I sign up to a club)

Oh wow! When I asked they said that due to insurance issues I wasn't allowed on the track. That was about a year ago so maybe rules have changed. So alsaa is another option then? That's good to know. Thanks so much for the info!

Duanington

no probs Ososlo - I'm starting to think I shouldn't have been on the track and just got lucky ?!

Either way, I'll be sticking to quieter tracks for the next while. Alsaa is just as handy really, the surface of the track is a bit worn in parts but I'm not fast enough to care about that !

Tom Joad

Cracking session there - you are doing so great work..

Duanington

Tom Joad wrote: »

Cracking session there - you are doing so great work..

Thanks a mill - felt good to get it done alright

Duanington

16.12.2013


Friday

Had the work Christmas do on Friday night so shot out the door straight after work, got home and went straight out for an easy 5 miles . Nothing major to report, complimented the run with some pull-ups\light weights...then complimented the lot with a heap of pints later that night

Total miles: 5 @ avg 8:25 minues per mile

Saturday

Non-event

Sunday

3 miles easy in the morning, just to add some miles, I could have taken the day's rest but this pushed me up over 40 miles for the week for the first time in quite a while. Wind was a killer at the start but had it at my back for the last mile.
Total miles @ avg pace 8:15 min per mile

Duanington

16.12.2013

7 miles easy this evening.

Perfect evening for a run...fresh and clear out.

Met up with the bro for this one, he's just getting back into his running after a long bout of laziness and I was glad of the company.

Started off with a bout of press-ups sound-racked by the incredible machine-gun mouthed Busta Rhymes ( and Q Tip etc).....great stuff for a workout !

We headed off at an easy pace down the coast at Clontarf on the grass...wind was fresh enough but we warmed up after a mile or so. The miles rattled by with the chit chat back and forth, heading over to East point, the O2, back through East Wall and Clontarf.

We stopped at mile 7 and did a 0.6 mile w\d.

Great to have the company on this one - hopefully the bro stays out of lazytown !

Total miles 7.6 @ avg 8.30 min miles - very enjoyable run

shafto

whoa whoa it happens to the best of us lazytown, i am back in the zone now....i have done 30km a week for the last 4 weeks except one week where all i had time for was a sneaky 10km one morning... i have racked up 40km last week, and 11km already this week and its just monday

Duanington

shafto wrote: »

whoa whoa it happens to the best of us lazytown, i am back in the zone now....i have done 30km a week for the last 4 weeks except one week where all i had time for was a sneaky 10km one morning... i have racked up 40km last week, and 11km already this week and its just monday