The Boggers Log

ThebitterLemon

youngrun wrote: »

Surely you are ready for a race? Any target? Not many about doing that type of run, strike while the irons hot.

Hey youngrun,

Hoping to have another crack at sub 3 over the next few weeks/months. That's the only target but I'll jump into any local race that helps with that goal.

TbL

denis b

A "covers" band I often have a listen to

ThebitterLemon

denis b wrote: »

A "covers" band I often have a listen to

They look daft Denis but they are musical geniuses, hitting an anvil with a spanner and the guy on the spoons! Really impressive stuff

tang1

To Quote one of my heros, to much "fannying about" going on. Get to Manchester and run your sub 3.

ThebitterLemon

I've been kinda stuck in the running equivalent of a Walking Dead zombie apocalypse, only half functioning. Wasn't able to fully shake the sore throat I've had for a fair while and I'm trying to manage a knee niggle. Was staying in Ballsbridge towards the end of last week and on the way down on Friday I put a call into Toyboy Tang to see if he fancied a trot. Just as well he was washing his hair coz I got a bad dose of stomach pains and felt like total crap. No run on Thursday or Friday.

Sat: while eldest daughter and her bad teenage attitude were getting a tennis lesson, I decided to go out for a couple of miles. Had planned 8, did did 6 uncomfortable miles @ 7.29, I feel like 4 pounds of ****e squashed into a 2 pound bag!

Sun: felt crap all day and got Connemara sunburnt on top of all my other woes, no run.

Mon: was up at 4am to travel to London, staying in a nice hotel [The Runnymede] that's close to Windsor and right on the Thames. Got 4 miles done along the bank of the river, just before the sun went down with a work colleague, still not feeling right and it was slow and I was tired.

Tue: out again at the same time on the same route, but this time I had 3 work colleagues with me. Think they were trying to show up the auld lad. They upped the pace towards the end, I tried a fast last mile @ 6.30, that nearly caused me to collapse into the river! 5 miles easy

Wed: same route again but early morning start, only managed 3.5 miles and I called it a day. Still feeling crap, hopefully it's a stubborn bug that's on the way out.

TbL

Ferris B

I see you got to 10k in Manchester. Pull the plug?

Hope all ok.

ThebitterLemon

Only decided to do this on Friday afternoon and travelled on the last flight out of Dublin last night.

Got to 12 miles with the sub 3 pacer.

Within the next km I was 400m adrift and my day done.

No excuses just ****e!

12 miles@ 6.50

TbL

kerrylad1

ThebitterLemon wrote: »

Only decided to do this on Friday afternoon and travelled on the last flight out of Dublin last night.

Got to 12 miles with the sub 3 pacer.

Within the next km I was 400m adrift and my day done.

No excuses just ****e!

12 miles@ 6.50

TbL

You were sick all week.Probably not the best idea to toe the line.See you in Limerick.

ThebitterLemon

Monday: slow nursing home special around the pitch while the young lad was at the first GAA training session of the year, where did the year go! 4 miles @ just under 9 min pace, was stiff and tired.

Tuesday: over to London on the first flight outta Shannon and back on the afternoon flight. Got to Galway just in time for the annual Claregalway 5k. Registered and met a buddy for a mile and a half warm up.

Had no real plan for this and decided I'd just go with how I felt as I'm still stiff and niggly. My 5k pb is very very soft at 19.25 and I'll be disappointed if I don't knock a chunk off that this year. The course was slightly changed this year and I forgotten about the drags and that I hate feckin 5ks!

Finished in 19.33 and was initially happy out coz this was the first 5k since last summer and was only 8 seconds outside a pb. On reflection though, I'm either running my sessions too fast or I'm a ****e 5k racer, as I ran a 2 x 3 miles session at average 6.19 off two mins recovery two weeks ago.

I faded a bit on the last mile tonight but never felt like I was in puke effort territory.

I've entered the Galway 5k series and I'll expect to see a better effort/performance.

TbL

tang1

You were definitely a woman in a former life with the amount of whining you do!! Relative to running 12miles @MP only two days previous it's a decent performance & a starting block for the remainder of the 5k series. Cut yourself a bit of slack, when you see lads running 5k PB's around here it's off a block of 5k dedicated training, your, well I don't know what your at, but it ain't 5k goal orientated. Good race be happy & move on.

kit3

ThebitterLemon wrote: »

Monday: slow nursing home special around the pitch while the young lad was at the first GAA training session of the year, where did the year go! 4 miles @ just under 9 min pace, was stiff and tired.

TbL

That explains a lot about the state of GAA in Galway - kids here have been back at training since January

Haven't had a chance to go back through your log properly (been just dipping in and out the last few months). Hope all is well with you.

tang1 wrote: »

You were definitely a woman in a former life with the amount of whining you do!! Relative to running 12miles @MP only two days previous it's a decent performance & a starting block for the remainder of the 5k series. Cut yourself a bit of slack, when you see lads running 5k PB's around here it's off a block of 5k dedicated training, your, well I don't know what your at, but it ain't 5k goal orientated. Good race be happy & move on.

Seriously - you're living dangerously :rolleyes:

ThebitterLemon

Yesterday: running form isn't great, headed out to Dangan to get some easy miles in, running like a badly put up tent in the wind, nice and dry around the trails and I got 8 easy miles done at just over 8 min pace.

Got another 3 miles done in the evening on the pitch as the eldest daughter was playing a GAA match.

11 for the day.

Today: was out around Dangan today planning to do some tempo stuff. Met a former national marathon champion and a 2.17 marathoner who asked me to "join" them for their session. Great buzz been on the track with lads doing sub 5 minute miles! I clunked around like a rusty bike and I really enjoyed the experience even though I was getting lapped.

Got 4 x 1600m done at 5k pace and a couple of easy miles.

TbL

ThebitterLemon

Friday: very stiff, slow 4 mile nursing home special around the pitch, had planned on doing more but the miles seem to take forever on laps of a pitch so left it at that, anyway I'd to be home to put a herd of prime beef on the BBQ! 4 miles at 9 minute pace all the while thinking of meat!

Saturday: had planned 10 miles steady but I've a sore throat on and off now for three weeks and can't feckin shift it, it's not severe but it damn annoying. Effort level was too high so I dialled it back to 8 miles easy at 8.20. Got this done in the evening after a spectacular day in Connemara, when the sun shines you can't beat it. Spent a couple of hours down on the beach and even had a quick dip.

Sunday: needed a long run but kids football matches and needing to drive to Dublin were seriously restricting my window. Stopped in Dangan on the way to Dublin and got 19 miles done, the gate on one of my local loops was locked so I ended up meandering all over the place. Tired and tied up badly towards the end.

19 miles @ 8.08.

Some fantastic Boardsie times and efforts in Rotterdam today, well done to all.

TbL

ThebitterLemon

Monday: very early start as I was going to Milan. I love Italy, the cities, countryside, people and food but Jesus Christ there are so inefficient they make the French look positively Germanic!

My meeting finished early so I got to the airport to try and get on an earlier flight to London. Queued at a ticket desk/counter for 40mins and gave her my boarding card and she clunked away on her computer for about 5 minutes. She finally looked up at me and told me I could get an earlier flight for a fee of just over €100. Great says I taking out my credit card. Tappty tappty tap she goes on the computer, she then scrunches up her face and starts talking to herself. This continues for a couple of minutes before she turns to her colleague and says something. I ask her what's up and she says "crash". Holy **** I start thinking the worst, before she gives her keyboard a slap and says "my system crash". I'm standing there like a tool and she alternating between some further tappty tap and a chat and a laugh with her colleague. I was gonna suggest the universal cure for all IT problems, turn the computer off and on again but she then says "working". Tappty tappty tap again, big frown and she says "€312 fee change now". "You gotta be joking, that can't be right?" All I get is a take or leave it shrug. Feck that, "can I have my boarding pass back?" "Cancelled" she said "need new" and pointed to the check in counters that had a couple of hundred queuing... feckin Italians, nearly missed my originally booked flight!!!

Got to my hotel opposite Blackfriars train station around midnight and I was sorely tempted by the room service burger but I took the Walkers shortbread from the tea service tray and got out along the river for a 4 mile nursing home special.

Tuesday: 11 miles easy around Green Park, Hyde Park and Kennington Gardens. Huge police presence in London and it was a bit chilling running by the floral tributes for the recent terrorist attack victims.

Wednesday: long day in London and by the time I arrived in Dublin my knee was giving me serious gip so I reluctantly decided to can the plan run. I was hoping to get a good consistent running streak going but after 10 days in a row, no run

Thurs: got an early morning massage to try and sort the knee and had to drive to Knock later in the day. Saw there was a 5k organised by Roscommon Harriers so I headed over to it.

Small well organised event but the standard for a club race was atrocious. Managed the first mile into the (slight) wind in 6.07, felt ok and started thinking about a pb. Ran this almost entirely on my own and I'm obviously just **** at hurting coz I allowed the pace to drift and finished in 19.30.

I'm annoyed with the fact that I can't seem to embrace a small bit of hurt and I should really be doing better. One second a k would have seen me match my pb!!!

TbL

Singer

ThebitterLemon wrote: »

Saw there was a 5k organised by Roscommon Harriers so I headed over to it.

Small well organised event but the standard for a club race was atrocious. Managed the first mile into the (slight) wind in 6.07, felt ok and started thinking about a pb. Ran this almost entirely on my own and I'm obviously just **** at hurting coz I allowed the pace to drift and finished in 19.30.

I'm annoyed with the fact that I can't seem to embrace a small bit of hurt and I should really be doing better. One second a k would have seen me match my pb!!!

Did you win?

ThebitterLemon

Singer wrote: »

Did you win?

Haha Singer, the standard was bad, but not that bad

4th, but no one near me after the first k.

Club race and a fat auld lad comes 4th, complete joke!

TbL

snailsong

I'm these parts if we can break 20 minutes we call ourselves elite!

Was there a few distances on at the same time.? In those circumstances the standard is typically low in the shorter ones.

The Muppet

Hurting is for the youngsters and vastly overrated, that's my take on it anyway.

Ed McGroarty

Feeling that pain and working with/through it sounds like a key area you could work on in training to achieve your goal.
I've found finishing a speed/interval session even when it's not going to plan will always benefit more than packing it in, making pushing through the racing pain a bit easier or familiar. Just my expierence/opinion of course.

ThebitterLemon

Good (Meh) Friday: 7 miles early morning easy around a local route, can't remover much about this run.

Choice of going to evening mass or an easy run, got 4 miles out and back done. Should have gone to mass!! 11 for the day.

Sat: was minding a gaggle of kids for the day and evening. No run but I felt like I'd done a session.

Sun: had planned on doing a long run with some MP miles but when I got up this morning I knew the auld body wasn't up for much. Kept pushing this run out and I even thought about pushing it out till tomorrow but eventually got up off my fat ass and headed out. Knee still a bit niggly but I got 21 miles done @ 8.00 pace and finished much stronger than on last weeks long run. Still don't feel like I'm running freely or strongly and I'm probably a good bit away from a decent lash at the sub 3. I'm in two minds on whether to give a 3.05 a crack in Limerick in a fortnight.

TbL

Annie get your Run

ThebitterLemon wrote: »

I'm probably a good bit away from a decent lash at the sub 3. I'm in two minds on whether to give a 3.05 a crack in Limerick in a fortnight.

TbL

With achieving what in mind? (Genuine question) not having a go at ya but just wondering why you'd do that when that's not the goal...

snailsong

Firstly, well done on getting your ass out the door. I'm feeling much the same, not successfully off the couch yet. 21 is a good score so obviously the motivation is still strong.

I'm with AM on the Limerick marathon. If you run 3:05 and you feel anything like I do now, then it'll be a while before you're ready for another sub 3 crack. Why not run a good 10k or half. You're in good shape, maybe get a pb and increase the confidence.

ThebitterLemon

Annie get your Run wrote: »

With achieving what in mind? (Genuine question) not having a go at ya but just wondering why you'd do that when that's not the goal...

Some confidence AM

Seville 2015: DNS
Boston 2015: DNS
Valencia 2015: DNS
San Seb 2015: DNS
Seville 2016: DNS
San Seb 2016: DNF
Pisa 2016: DNS
Louisiana 2017: DNS
Murcia 2017: DNF
Manchester 2017: DNF

I'd like to finish one in a reasonable time and if I could sort out the niggles I know I'm not a million miles away from a pb

TbL

Annie get your Run

ThebitterLemon wrote: »

Some confidence AM

Seville 2015: DNS
Boston 2015: DNS
Valencia 2015: DNS
San Seb 2015: DNS
Seville 2016: DNS
San Seb 2016: DNF
Pisa 2016: DNS
Louisiana 2017: DNS
Murcia 2017: DNF
Manchester 2017: DNF

I'd like to finish one in a reasonable time and if I could sort out the niggles I know I'm not a million miles away from a pb

TbL

Okay, I get that, but.....

snailsong wrote: »

If you run 3:05 and you feel anything like I do now, then it'll be a while before you're ready for another sub 3 crack. Why not run a good 10k or half. You're in good shape, maybe get a pb and increase the confidence.

He speaks wisely! Is it worth the long recovery it will take? and if you go again too soon the niggles will get worse... FWIW I think you're putting too much pressure on yourself with this sub 3 but hey that's just one opinion of many

kerrylad1

Going against the main views here,BUT.You did 16 at m.p a few weeks ago.Go for it.

ThebitterLemon

kerrylad1 wrote: »

Going against the main views here,BUT.You did 16 at m.p a few weeks ago.Go for it.

That was the plan alright Kerrylad, I won't decide till closer to the day. You seem to be inngreat nick yourself, hopefully I'll see you down there

TbL

Murph_D

Why don't you and FBOT pace each other to the big one in Cork?

Itziger

I haven't been following your progress THAT closely but I did spot the 16 miler at M pace. Now, that is a decent run in anyone's book unless it was done with 'pacing' friends and you were racing the whole thing. And finished in a heap. Otherwise, that was a good workout.

As for all those DNS and DNF's, they are a bit worrying. Your approach to these races is obviously very different to mine (and most others!). My worry is that you're creating a pattern. Another DNS/DNF? no biggie. Oh, another one? no problem. Me no like.

One thing I'll say on the Limerick race, why not use it as a 'super-session'? Do the first half in 1.35 and the second in 1.30, that kind of thing. Or 1.38/1.30 might leave you a bit fresher. That would be a confidence booster without damaging the old body.

What d'ya reckon?

RayCun

ThebitterLemon wrote: »

Some confidence AM

Seville 2015: DNS
Boston 2015: DNS
Valencia 2015: DNS
San Seb 2015: DNS
Seville 2016: DNS
San Seb 2016: DNF
Pisa 2016: DNS
Louisiana 2017: DNS
Murcia 2017: DNF
Manchester 2017: DNF

I'd like to finish one in a reasonable time and if I could sort out the niggles I know I'm not a million miles away from a pb

TbL

Have there been no completed marathons in that period? I hadn't realised!

kerrylad1

ThebitterLemon wrote: »

That was the plan alright Kerrylad, I won't decide till closer to the day. You seem to be inngreat nick yourself, hopefully I'll see you down there

TbL

Definitely c,did my last 20 miler this morning,I've no excuses this time,usual niggles,but nothing like Dublin marathon.Looking forward to it for a change,and I can't wait to have a PINT,afterwards.