One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

tang1

FBOT01 wrote: »

Thanks again for the lift

Say it the American way "Thanks for the ride".........

Ferris B

Mon 2/01
Plan 6m easy
Actual: 5.9 (8:33)

A few easy miles on the grasslands of the seafront and st annes. Legs a bit tired after the weekends parkrun endeavours and yesterdays S&C session.

Tues 3/01
Plan 3 WU, 8x 600 w/400rec, 3m CD
Actual: 3.1m WU, 2x 600, 2 x 669, 4 x 6XX all w/400 rec, 3.2m CD. Total (11.7)

Having gone to the trouble of getting up early and heading to the track in Irishtown, I made a bit of an arse of measuring these. Nothing too serious as still I got a reasonable workout at more or less the correct pace. Used lane 4 ( 1-3 were closed) and found the correct mark for lane 4, 600m. The first and third reps were fine but because the 400 rec had me starting alternate reps at different points the others didn’t quite workout quite right. Stupidity on my part. Not to worry though. As with the 400s last week I also reversed the direction for the second set of 4 which interestingly again gave slightly faster paces for what felt like the same effort.

Wed 4/01
Plan: Rest
Actual: 10k bike ride around Boora Bog on a tandem with my youngest on the back.

I spent a couple of days in the midlands which included taking in Birr Castle and the famous telescope. What an amazing piece of engineering. There’s also a fantastic tree house on the grounds which would be the envy of any diy wannabe. Well worth a visit.

Thurs 5/01
Plan: wu , 6m tempo (mp), cd
Actual: 10m easy, (8:07)

I’ve entered the Dublin XC masters on Sunday. That should do for this week’s tempo run so I ran Sundays ‘LR’ today instead. A very comfortable 10 m out to Sutton and back. Kind of ran at default pace but kept an eye on the HR which hovered around 130 bpm. Possibly some positive signs my default easy pace is creeping back nearer to 8:00min/m which can only be good.

45 mins S&C work when I got back. Some of the exercises are getting easier. However one exercise includes press ups with one hand on a medicine ball where you alternate the hand on the ball with each press up. I've always been crap at standard press ups but these are a b!tch.

Am really not too sure how Sunday’s xc race will go. It'll be my debut at any xc event. There’s a lot of talent in the club teams and I’m at the wrong end of the age group so I’m unlikely to be a scoring team member but I’ve been itching to have a go at XC for a while and the race is in the local park. Sure we’ll give it a lash and see what happens.

Annie get your Run

Ferris B wrote: »

Actual: 10k bike ride

If you think I'm going to let this slip by unnoticed C you can think again .

Best of luck on Sunday!

FBOT01

Annie get your Run wrote: »

If you think I'm going to let this slip by unnoticed C you can think again .

Best of luck on Sunday!

Nothing wrong with an odd bike ride....but at his age you won't see him logging the morning, afternoon, evening and night rides that you seem to be so keen on

Mrs Mc

FBOT01 wrote: »

Nothing wrong with an odd bike ride....but at his age you won't see him logging the morning, afternoon, evening and night rides that you seem to be so keen on

Big question is did he wait the recommended 8 hours between rides I hear 8 hours is the average around here

Ferris B

Wk 3/18 London 2017

Fri 6/01
Plan 7m easy
Actual: 6.3m (9:15)

Another recce of Sundays xc track with Murph_D and FBOT. Tried out both trail shoes and spikes. Pace was very easy.

Sat 7/01
Plan 6 Easy
Actual: 7m .(8:00 ish ave)

Jog to St Annes followed by Parkrun at conversation pace with Murph_D until 100m from the finish where some eejit threw down a gauntlet and the aul fella promptly showed the young(er) fella who’s the boss.:( Great bit of craic though.:)

Sun 8/01
Plan: 10 LR
Actual: 7m. WU, XC Dublin Masters (~6k), CD

With my long run already completed on Thursday, this became my postponed tempo run for the week.

First time to dip my toe into this environment. Weather was perfect if a little warm so conditions underfoot were reasonable. I gather it’s normally atrocious for these races so my introduction to xc was relatively gentle. Having cheered on the ladies who raced first a large field of 265 assembled for the mens race. Got some last minute advice from J, the Club marathon coach who has many years of experience of these events. Steady first two laps and then pick ‘em off over the next 2 were the instructions. Sounds so easy. He trains at similar pace to me, so not really having a clue how to pace this, I decided just to pace off him for first lap and take it from there.

Most of the race was a bit of a blurr. I had lined up near the back. Expecting elbows in my face from the off & was a bit surprised when i received one or two apologies as people scrambled for position after the gun. My main aim was not to get injured but the first section through the trees put that to the test. Went over on my ankle a few times but nothing too serious. Lap 1 was all about staying upright . I also kept J in view for most of this. Loads of fantastic support at all stages from the Cru, St annes parkrunners , a few shamrocks and family.

By lap 2 I was starting to tire, but still holding my own. I did notice though that I was able to gain extra places at tight corners and at the chicane before the famous log which was really satisifying. One advantage of being small I guess. I do recall coming up to the last rh turn of lap 2 and questioning myself as to whether I’d completed 2 or 3 laps. While it felt like 3, the lack of the bell put me wise.

By lap 3 the field was starting to get quite strung out. Can’t remember being passed but I’m sure I was but not by many I think J had moved away at this stage but I ‘d catch him later. I was playing leapfrog with another clubmate P who wore trail shoes. I’d pass him on the soft sections or at corners and he’d plough past on the hard straights. I’d beat him in the end though, which was pleasing as he’s a handy sub 3 runner but I suspect had an off day.

While I was tiring, my mile splits showed I was reasonably steady and picked up the pace for the last km managing to reel in a few other runners who were struggling. By lap 4 I had figured the least bumpy section though the dodgy bit in the trees was in the middle. Having overtaken another runner on the right side I moved back to the centre line and promptly got a good shove in the back for my efforts. My mistake or his grumpiness, I’m not sure but I didn’t see him again.:D

I came upon J again on the last downhill towards the seafront. He looked to be slowing a bit so I gave him a shout and encouraged him to pick it up which he did and ended up winning M60, 2 places behind me of course. There was a good fight for places coming into the last 50m. A runner I passed in this bit ( an M55 from Bros Pearse) tried to get me back but from somewhere I pulled out my version of a sprint and beat him to the line. Can’t be beaten on the line two days in a row by aul fellas.;)

Pretty wrecked at the end. Could possibly have run a bit faster but not by much. Finished in 129th position which just put me in the top half. While not exactly a great result, it was a great experience. I’ve no injuries as a result. I’m not in a hurry to do another xc soon but I’d certainly go again next year.

Ave Pace for Mile Splits 6:55, 6:43, 6:49, 6:37

Mileage summary: Actual (Plan)
Week 3 : 47 (46)
Total program : 120.5 (113)

Mrs Mc

Congrats on the xc debut C

annapr

you make that sound like fun, C... almost... strong debut!

Murph_D

There will always be Saturday. :rolleyes:

Well done, C. Some prize scalps taken too.

Kennyg71

Well done C, sounds like decent debut, not to sure London training will allow
any more XC at moment, but like FBOT think plenty more there.

Ferris B

Wk 4/18 London 2017

Mon 9/01
Plan: 6m easy
Actual: 6.5 (8:42)

Local loop in the evening with FBOT. Very much at recovery pace. Legs still feeling the effects of Sundays XC.

Tue 10/01
Plan: WU, 6x800 w/400 active recovery , CD
Actual: WU, 6x800 w/400 active recovery , CD ; Total mileage 9.3m

The club session didn’t match my needs so headed out on the familiar stretch on the seafront out towards Sutton for this. After 2.7m WU started the 800s just after the causeway. 3 out and 3 back. The first 3 were assisted by a tailwind although didn’t feel like that on the first rep with Sundays XC still in the legs.

Target times for these were 3:05 – 3:10. More or less hit the required times with the exception of the first 800 into the headwind but I’m certainly not going to complain about that. Can’t say I enjoy these but it was a case of just getting the job done. Felt fairly wrecked afterwards.
Splits 3:06 3:05 3:05 3:12 3:07 3:08

Wed 11/01
Plan: Rest
Actual: No running but 45 mins S&C work

Ferris B

Wk 4/18 London 2017

Thurs 12/01
Plan: WU, 6m MP, CD
Actual: 2.4m WU, 6m (ave 7:02 157 bpm) , 2m CD

This was my first real mp session and determining my actual pmp is a work in progress. Although Hanson does not promote using HR for training I do have useful data from my LT test which I'm not going to ignore. This suggests my marathon HR should be 161bpm. At the same time, in my head, I’m currently thinking 3:05 (7:03 pace) as a target time. Note sure where the 3:05 comes from, other than it’s quicker than my pb of 3:12 and I’m not near challenging for a sub 3. So somewhere in the middle..ish.

I used a nice paved 2m loop in st annes for this workout. Target pace was 7:00- 7:05 and I used a HR of 161bpm as upper end speed limiter. Each mile alternated between slight incline into the wind followed by a gentle downhill wind assisted and this was reflected in the times and effort levels. After a slighty sluggish start, I got into the groove and maintained a nice steady effort throughout and thoroughly enjoyed the workout which helps. Much prefer these tempo sessions to the Tuesdays intervals.

Splits for MP Miles: Pace (HR)
7:08 (151) 6:59 (153) 7:07 (159) 6:57 (157) 6:59 (161) 7:04 (158)

Fri 13/01
Plan: 6 Easy
Actual: 6.6 (8:36)

Ran a local loop at chat with FBOT pace


Sat 14/01
Plan: 8m easy
Actual: 9.9m (8:16)

Joined the local mafia for a few laps in and around St Annes, finishing off the morning workout with a conversational Parkrun washed down with lashings of caffeine. Very enjoyable run in good company. Pace turned out to be more like a progression run starting with 8:52 and finishing with 7:39. While a little over my own plan mileage, it was in the easy zone which is permitted by the Hansons.


Sun 15/01
Plan: 8m easy
Actual: 8m easy (7:55)

A lunchtime run took in a mini tour of D1 and D2. I took a quiet path off the Alfie Byrne Road which leads to the East Point sailing dock and Business park. A jumpy boxer dog I met en route basically forced me to stop. There was an owner but the lead was unattached. I’m not too bothered by dogs but when strange ones start to jump on you , there’s no point running. ‘She won’t touch you’ I was assured’ while her paws were on my top. ‘She only wants to play, she likes runners!’ Looked to me like she’d dined on a few runners already.:eek:

45 mins S&C work when i got home.


Mileage summary: Actual (Plan)
Week 4 : 51 (45)
Total program : 171 (158)

neilc

Ferris B wrote: »

Note sure where the 3:05 comes from, other than it’s quicker than my pb of 3:12 and I’m not near challenging for a sub 3. So somewhere in the middle..ish.

Hi Ferris, we met briefly in Dunshaughlin 2 or 3 years ago. This is exactly how I'm thinking regarding London too. 3:05 would be bang on in the middle of my pb and challenging the sub 3 also. We might be able to work together on the day. Are you on the GFA start.

FBOT01

neilc wrote: »

Hi Ferris, we met briefly in Dunshaughlin 2 or 3 years ago. This is exactly how I'm thinking regarding London too. 3:05 would be bang on in the middle of my pb and challenging the sub 3 also. We might be able to work together on the day. Are you on the GFA start.

Hi Neil, while he is unlikely to admit it until after the job is done Ferris will have upgraded to a sub 3 chaser by the time he hits the start line in London

ThebitterLemon

FBOT01 wrote: »

Hi Neil, while he is unlikely to admit it until after the job is done Ferris will have upgraded to a sub 3 chaser by the time he hits the start line in London

Nail on the head AULDBOT, no feckin way Waldorf isn't thinking that way

TbL

Ferris B

neilc wrote: »

Hi Ferris, we met briefly in Dunshaughlin 2 or 3 years ago. This is exactly how I'm thinking regarding London too. 3:05 would be bang on in the middle of my pb and challenging the sub 3 also. We might be able to work together on the day. Are you on the GFA start.

Hey Neil. Yes, I'm in the GFA group. By all means if our targets end up being somewhat similar company on the day would be great.

Ferris B

FBOT01 wrote: »

Hi Neil, while he is unlikely to admit it until after the job is done Ferris will have upgraded to a sub 3 chaser by the time he hits the start line in London

I'll be happy to discuss any slight chance of a sub 3 challenge at about wk 12. No where near that level of pace or endurance now. Can't even get much under 19:30 for 5k.

ThebitterLemon wrote: »

Nail on the head AULDBOT, no feckin way Waldorf isn't thinking that way

TbL

Hey Lemon. How's old age treating you.:P

While I'd love to say I'm on a sub 3 program, realistically that would just be Walter Mitty speak. No point in kidding myself at this early stage. But hey, I'm going to do the work over the next few weeks and if 161 bpm starts to get me nearer to 3 hrs then it may be a teeny weeny possibility. Not going to get hung up on it though. It's not a priority.

ps If you're looking for wrinkly company while waiting to catch a flight give me a shout. Too much time on my hands just now.

ThebitterLemon

Ferris B wrote: »

I'll be happy to discuss any slight chance of a sub 3 challenge at about wk 12. No where near that level of pace or endurance now. Can't even get much under 19:30 for 5k.



Hey Lemon. How's old age treating you.:P

While I'd love to say I'm on a sub 3 program, realistically that would just be Walter Mitty speak. No point in kidding myself at this early stage. But hey, I'm going to do the work over the next few weeks and if 161 bpm starts to get me nearer to 3 hrs then it may be a teeny weeny possibility. Not going to get hung up on it though. It's not a priority.

ps If you're looking for wrinkly company while waiting to catch a flight give me a shout. Too much time on my hands just now.

Sounds good C, we can have a compare stretch marks run

TbL

tang1

ThebitterLemon wrote: »

Sounds good C, we can have a compare stretch marks run

TbL

He could show you how to train properly for a sub 3 to!!!!

ThebitterLemon

tang1 wrote: »

He could show you how to train properly for a sub 3 to!!!!

Have you not lines to fill for your forthcoming sponsored walk!!!


TbL

FBOT01

tang1 wrote: »

He could show you how to train properly for a sub 3 to!!!!

.........without ever committing publicly to doing it

Ferris B

London Marathon
Week 5/18

Mon 16/01
Plan 6m easy
Actual: 7.7 (8:10)

Some easy miles in St Annes with Dublin’s latest xc star. A bit of a mad dash to be there on time had me out of breath till about mile 6!

Tues 17/01
Plan WU, 5x 1k w/400rec, CD
Actual: 2.7 m WU, 5x1k w/400 rec, 2.8m CD. Total (9.9)

Like last week, I used the path/bike track from causeway to Sutton for this. Legs felt knackered and a bit tight and my unenthusiastic mind didn’t help. Realised that these sessions are always going to be done on day 6 of 6 days continuous running as my rest day is Wednesday. So maybe there’s an actual reason for being tired other than lack of interest in the session. Anyway, got on with it. Target time for each kilometre was 3:48 – 3:54 which I managed. I normally find the second last rep is always the slow one so put in a bit of an extra effort for that one which resulted in being a tad too fast and left me a bit puffed for the last k. Just over 2.5 m jog home after.

Splits 3:51 3:49 3:50 3:46 3:53

Wed 18/01
Plan: Rest
Actual: Rest from running

Glad of the rest. Did 40 mins S&C which I felt too tired to do yesterday. 5 mins quicker than last time. I’m either getting a bit more efficient ( better??) with the exercises or more maybe likely, I'm taking too many shortcuts with technique.

Thurs 19/01
Plan: wu , 6m tempo (mp), cd
Actual: 1.6 wu, 6m tempo (mp), 2.6 cd

Back into St Annes using the same 2m loop I used for this last week except I ran in the opposite direction (clockwise) this time for variation. While target pace was 7:05, I hit that quite easily and actually had an average of 6:53. HR averaged 153, well within my so called MP HR of 161 so either I’m getting faster or my Garmin is acting up. I’ll take former for the moment but will keep an eye on it. On tues it definitely produced spurious HR readings which the eagled eyed HR Police were quick to point out on Strava.

Splits
min/m hr
06:50 148
06:55 152
07:01 153
06:43 155
06:58 157
06:48 154

Kennyg71

Nice week so far, assume 1k intervals are at your present 5k pace?

Annie get your Run

FWIW I've been told before not to do S&C on your rest day, it's a rest day... if you look at BG's log you'll see she does her gym on the same day as an easy run, I can't remember if it's before or after but anyway, just an observation and I"m sure there are varying opinions on it!

Kennyg71

Annie get your Run wrote: »

FWIW I've been told before not to do S&C on your rest day, it's a rest day... if you look at BG's log you'll see she does her gym on the same day as an easy run, I can't remember if it's before or after but anyway, just an observation and I"m sure there are varying opinions on it!

S&C defiantly should not be done on day of a hard session, so little wonder
you where to tired. Think AGYR is right about doing on easy day.

Ferris B

Kennyg71 wrote: »

Nice week so far, assume 1k intervals are at your present 5k pace?

Present 5k pace gets me about 19:20 ish. I'm roughly targeting a time that would equate to 19:00 - 19:30. Possibly be too wide a target.

Annie get your Run wrote: »

FWIW I've been told before not to do S&C on your rest day, it's a rest day... if you look at BG's log you'll see she does her gym on the same day as an easy run, I can't remember if it's before or after but anyway, just an observation and I"m sure there are varying opinions on it!

I'm not disagreeing and in fact the S&C guy did suggest I don't do the exercises the day before a heavy workout. In saying that the good book from the Hansons has actually scheduled 'Body Weight Movement' exercises for the non running day. That only starts in wk 5 which happens to be this week. So I guess from here on in I've no 'complete rest' days, just one non running day per wk where I've some exercises to do. If that makes sense.

My plan was actually to get the s&c work done directly after a speed session so I'd have max recovery time before next speed session. On tues though I was just too tired and hungry, hence moved to yesterday

Kennyg71

Ferris B wrote: »

Present 5k pace gets me about 19:20 ish. I'm roughly targeting a time that would equate to 19:00 - 19:30. Possibly be too wide a target.



I'm not disagreeing and in fact the S&C guy did suggest I don't do the exercises the day before a heavy workout. In saying that the good book from the Hansons has actually scheduled 'Body Weight Movement' exercises for the non running day. That only starts in wk 5 which happens to be this week. So I guess from here on in I've no 'complete rest' days, just one non running day per wk where I've some exercises to do. If that makes sense.

My plan was actually to get the s&c work done directly after a speed session so I'd have max recovery time before next speed session. On tues though I was just too tired and hungry, hence moved to yesterday

I'd have to recheck but I'm sure I was told not to do S&C work on fatigued
Legs, but most of my work was leg specific, maybe your doing more all round,
Was told to do on day of easy run. But doing 40 mins on rest day doesn't sound
to stressful,

Ferris B

Kennyg71 wrote: »

I'd have to recheck but I'm sure I was told not to do S&C work on fatigued
Legs, but most of my work was leg specific, maybe your doing more all round,
Was told to do on day of easy run. But doing 40 mins on rest day doesn't sound
to stressful,

Could run out of days in the week to get two s&c sessions in. Can't do Monday (day before session), can't do tues ( day of session), can't do wed ( day before session ) , can't do thurs ( day of session). That leaves 3 days for 2 s&c sessions and I've a long run on sunday. Hmmmm

Annie get your Run

Ferris B wrote: »

Could run out of days in the week to get two s&c sessions in. Can't do Monday (day before session), can't do tues ( day of session), can't do wed ( day before session ) , can't do thurs ( day of session). That leaves 3 days for 2 s&c sessions and I've a long run on sunday. Hmmmm

Sorry C! I didn't mean to cause trouble someone like Myles might be best placed to advise. Might it be better to only have one S&C workout while doing the plan?

RayCun

I think when this came up on the main forum, there was an argument for doing this work on a session day, so that you could keep your easy days easy. Rather than hard running day, hard gym day, hard run day, and so on.

But I just run when I can, and go to the gym when I can, and that will have to do.