Run run run run run run run....

jebuz

yaboya1 wrote: »

Ok, but if you don't you don't get any TC

I know thats what makes this such a difficult decision

viperlogic

Passed ya during warm up but didn't see ya on course. Decide not to risk it?

jebuz

Ah no I didn't recognise you sorry! Yeah I did the warm up but the achilles was still slightly paining me, had a brief battle with my conscience but sense prevailed and I pulled the plug on it. Not a great week but I know it was the right call. Now moving on swiftly

jebuz

Miles Ran: 306
Avg Distance: 8.06
Avg HR: 131
Days Ran: 27/31
Days Sick: 1
Days Injured 2
Rest Days: 1

Overall a good month despite the sickness/injury setback in the last week. Decent volume with two 80+ weeks and the reintroduction of sessions has me in a good place to tackle the important 2 months ahead.

At this point I can probably assess better how the base building impacted my training and I have to say I think it made a huge positive difference. I hit the club sessions again without any major difficulties, I felt stronger and more comfortable than anticipated and there was no evident lack of speed. The weekly tempo session I kept during the base phase seemed to have done the job maintaining the turnover in the legs and the 20 mile runs are feeling very comfortable right now. I think my aerobic fitness has taken a big leap overall but I guess the ultimate test is a race. Unfortunately I didn't toe the line in Dungarvan but there'll be something coming up soon hopefully. In the meantime it's back to work!

jebuz

Monday 02/02 - 9.2 miles @ 7:42 min/mile

As with all achilles injuries, you're just waiting for that one run that you get through pain free and thankfully this was that run. Headed off after work with a clubmate and took it very easy while chatting but I was constantly gauging the achilles, I certainly felt something there but no pain and as the run progressed it felt better and better. It was this article I saw recently on cianc's log which gave me some solid advice on how to approach, well worth a read if you suffer. I plan to continue performing the eccentric heel drops as these injuries seems to affect me every few months. With the volume increasing over the next few months its imperative I remain as injury free as possible, isn't it.

Tuesday 03/02 - 10.2 miles @ 7:03 min/mile

Great run tonight, really enjoyable, felt fantastic throughout and again pain free. Obviously I wasn't doing a session so I headed out towards Ballincollig with a few lads who ran the Dungarvan race but thankfully we didn't chat too much about that Effort felt very easy and the legs felt so fresh, the rest looks like it has done me some good.

Nerdy stat time. When I look at the average HR of 128bpm for this run, it appears to be a tangible improvement in my aerobic fitness when last year I would have typically expected 135bpm or so for the same pace so this is a good sign. Of course there are many possible variables at play that affect HR but its still a positive sign though it means nothing really if I'm not seeing improvements in races which is why I need to do a flipping race.

Narco0o0o0o

jebuz wrote: »

When I look at the average HR of 128bpm for this run, it appears to be a tangible improvement in my aerobic fitness when last year I would have typically expected 135bpm or so for the same pace so this is a good sign.

Hi Conor, Sean Cullen here from Strava. Great blog! I'm a month into a Lydiard style base myself, run mainly off heart rate. I was wondering what your max heart rate is as %max would make more sense to me for comparison purposes.

jebuz

Hey Sean. My max HR is 182. I think it's a great idea to use HR as your feedback, I did it myself. Its all about effort and you'll soon have a good idea of what your HR should be for a particular workout whether it be a long run, moderate effort, easy run or whatever. The majority of my base building running was between 120-135bpm which is about 65%-75% and I felt I found a good balance there while getting in good volume. Best of luck with it, I found it very useful but next time I'd plan a little better and get maybe 12 weeks in.

By the way stop lurching get a log going, all the cool kids are doing it

66_Lad

jebuz wrote: »

Of course there are many possible variables at play that affect HR but its still a positive sign though it means nothing really if I'm not seeing improvements in races which is why I need to do a flipping race.

Hey jebuz - if your back down in Wexford this weekend there is the Enniscorthy 10k on Sunday...always has a competitive field, couple of drags on the route but overall its a course you can get a good time on.

Bad luck having to pull the plug on Dungarvan but definitely the right thing - I did the opposite to you last August and ran the Frank Duffy 10 mile with a niggle and ended up missing ~ 6 weeks overall, have learnt my lesson the hard way.

Great blog btw, been following it for past few months now.

jebuz

Thanks 66_lad, I am considering Enniscorthy alright as I entered a few months ago but after last week I think I'm going to try get a solid week of training in and target a 5k race in a couple of weeks then a half marathon in early March. Plus I don't know if I can manage that 6 hour round trip

Narco0o0o0o

jebuz wrote: »

By the way stop lurching get a log going, all the cool kids are doing it

I hadn't considered doing a log. I might do in the future but right now I'm too lazy and there are enough good logs on here already.

Someone mentioned it earlier in your log but you should get the book Healthy Intelligent Training by Keith Livingstone as a great explanation of the Lydiard training philosophy and why an extended base lays the foundation for harder training to come. It has a very accessible section on physiology that for the first time, properly explained for me (and I've read a lot of training books), the whole science behind extending the performance/speed of and recruiting additional slow twitch muscle fibers to your overall repertoire, by an extended period of slower running before hitting the faster stuff ie, 'pushing training up from below'.

Your heart rate for some of your paces is pretty encouraging - 70% Max HR (ie 128bpm) for a 7.03/mile 10 mile run is very impressive and indicates you're in great aerobic shape already. You must be feeling confident going into the harder training. Good luck with it!

jebuz

Wednesday 04/03 - 12.7 miles mixed

AM: 5 miles @ 7:59 min/mile

Just a morning run. Baltic.

PM: 7.6 miles @ 7:33 min/mile

Nice evening hilly run, legs felt pretty fresh. Brought the tunes with me again, and I listened to this great spotify playlist 'indie workout'. Ah shít I'm turning back into a recreational jogger. Does anyone know what a good 5k time is? I can run 25 mins in training.

Thursday 05/03 - 11.3 miles with 30 mins @ MP (6.02 min/mile avg)

Have been feeling great the past few days but didn't want to throw caution to the wind for tonights tempo so I decided to pull back the intensity a little not wanting to upset my buddy achilles. I figured it would be good at this point to see how MP miles feel and ended up running 5 solid and pretty comfortable miles @ 6 min pace, legs felt very good. The goal pace for Rotterdam will be in and around this and tonights session gave me a hint of confidence that with an honest effort over the next 8 weeks I'll be able to sustain that for 26.2......minutes. I mean miles.

Netwerk Errer

You're on a slippery slope towards this. Next, you'll be asking what camelbak you need for a 5k.

jebuz

Wind turbine generator....solar charger!! how did I not think of these things, thanks NE!!

jebuz

Friday 06/03 - 5.5 miles @ 7:46 min/mile

Nice early morning recovery and very mild out, don't seem to find it a problem getting out of the bed on a Friday morning.

Saturday 07/03 10 miles with 4 x 5 mins @ 5k

Out to the UCC farm as always but took to the pathways today for a planned 4 x 5 mins followed by 2 x 10 mins. Started well running the 5's at 5:20 min/mile pace but I started feeling a pain in my ankle during the last few reps so I decided to skip the 10 min reps and just jogged it out for the remainder. I've had a good week and I ran the 5's well, I've got a 20 miler planned for tomorrow so not taking any chances.

Splits (2 mins recovery):
1. 0.93 miles @ 5:21 min/mile
2. 0.94 miles @ 5:18 min/mile
3. 0.94 miles @ 5:18 min/mile
4. 0.94 miles @ 5:21 min/mile

Overall still a good session and happy with those paces, I think I could put it all together and run a decent 5k at the moment in and around my PB. I'll find out in 2 weeks anyway as I've a parkrun planned in Newcastle when I'm over visiting a friend.

jebuz

Sunday 08/03 - a whole 1.2 miles

I decided to head for the grass today as a precautionary measure as I still felt a niggle in the ankle when walking yesterday. Incidentally this is not the same injury that caused me to pull out of Dungarvan, other foot. The plan today was 20 miles but accepted it might be a lot less and it was a lot less, 1.2 miles in fact. I felt a pain around halfway through the first mile that got progressively worse so I pulled the plug, flip it anyway. Looks like this one is on the peroneal tendon on the outside of the bone and I think its due to the Kinvaras I wore for the session yesterday. I don't wear them that often, never feel comfortable in them and not sure what prompted me to take them yesterday though the plan was to just wear them for the warm up. All I can do is rest and let it heal, doesn't feel too major.

Having a frustrating time of it lately but this is the game I signed up for and injuries are inevitable, I just didn't expect two in the space of a week. I suppose the one positive is this is happening with plenty of time still to prepare for Rotterdam so there is some rational thought still lingering. All I hope for this coming week is a quick recovery and getting back on track. Milage way down (60 this week) but could be a lot worse.

jebuz

Tuesday 10/02 - 10.2 miles @ 7:14 min/mile

As with all injuries, you're just waiting for that one run that you get through pain free and thankfully this was that run. Wait a minute didn't I say that exact sentence this time last week? I did, it was meant to be a joke. Anyway this went well, very well. No tendon pain thankfully so the rest did the job nicely and the legs felt great so my rational concern of losing all of my fitness didn't materialise. I did go see a physio today just for peace of mind and she ended up ordering me some custom insoles as it seems my arches are a little flat and apparently I'm toeing off incorrectly, a potential explanation for my achilles injuries. She also said quite bluntly to bin the Kinvaras if I'm getting injured in them. I said I will but I probably won't, I could use them for the gym or if I'm out washing my car or something, or painting the fence but I don't have a fence but someday I might. The recreational jogger thing is getting worse, I have obtained an arm strap for my phone and some bluetooth headphones which to be fair are pretty neat. I took them out for a spin this evening and I had a ruddy good time. Did I just say neat? I honestly couldn't think of any other word...what's happening to me

Wednesday 11/02 - 12.6 miles @ 7:27 min/mile

Nice easy run with a clubmate after work. Plan was about 90 mins, we took a hilly route into the city and talked about all sorts of topics such as running and running. We also talked about running. No niggles to report so all good in that department. I couldn't bring my arm strap and earphones today because it would have been a little rude.

jebuz

Thursday 12/02 - 16.6 miles mixed

PM Lunch: 4.9 miles @ 7:41 min/mile

To the GAA pitches near work for a light lunchtime trot.

PM Evening: 11.6 miles with 30 min track tempo @ 5:56 min/mile

Felt good today, like last week I eased back on the intensity of the tempo not wanting a relapse of the injury but felt good overall and was very relaxed throughout. I felt no issues with the leg and picked it up to 5:50's for the last 10 minutes or so and finished feeling pretty comfortable. I really noticed this tonight but I still don't get the amount of people that 'cling in there' for a tempo session. The tempo should be a hard effort but you should finish feeling like you could manage another 20 mins or so. I'm not a coach and far from it but too many runners in my opinion are unnecessarily flogging themselves during tempo sessions, I'm talking extremely heavy breathing, slouched forward and basically running at or close to 5 mile/10k race pace, finishing and nearly collapsing. I have been guilty of this in the past and it's hard to rationalise that by slowing down you become faster but I think it's a golden nugget of advice that was instilled into me last year by my coach. Personally I've found this thinking has played a significant role for my 'in between' easy days and making sure I'm getting sufficient recovery for the sessions that matter. And that's how my session went today.

Mile Splits: 6:01, 5:59, 5:56, 5:49, 5:50

Friday 13/02 - 5 miles @ 7:54 min/mile

This was your usual bog standard run-of-the-mill typical customary matter-of-course unexceptional Friday morning mundane meander.

Todays post was sponsored by Thesaurus.com

jebuz

Saturday 14/02 - 14 miles with 3 x 10 mins & 2 x 5 mins hard

I have come away from the last 2 Saturday sessions not feeling very satisfied so I was keen to run a decent session today but the target was also not to get injured and I seemed to have ticked both boxes today.

Cracking morning so I laced up (my normal runners) and headed out to the UCC farm where we started with a 20 min warmup on the pitches. Next it was into the prescribed session of 3 x 10 mins & 2 x 5 mins with a 2 min recovery. The pitches were pretty cut up so a group of us headed for the pathways while some stayed on the grass. I figured wearing spikes today given my recent luck was not the best idea.

So straight into the first 10 min rep and I worked in with a club mate while 3 quicker lads took off just ahead of us. I settled into a 5:30ish pace feeling relatively comfortable but still working hard. I felt this was a pace I could hold for the 3 x 10 mins so stuck with it but had to remember those 5 min reps too. Completed the first 10 mins @ 5:32 pace and was happy with that, the recovery felt like about 4 seconds though. Into the second rep and I found myself out on my own about halfway through as my clubmate fell off the pace slightly. I still managed to keep it steady and averaged 5:33 for this one, felt very strong in the last few minutes.

During the recovery I regrouped with the 3 lads ahead of me and said I'd try keep them close for the 3rd rep. I was working hard but was fully focussed on keeping right behind the guys ahead and finished this one @ 5:29 avg pace. Still not done though, time for the 5 min reps which felt mentally quite manageable at this stage and I hoped to pick up the pace slightly for these. I again stuck close to the 3 lads, legs were really getting tired but knowing I was almost there I managed to hold a decent pace averaging 5:25 and 5:20 for each and delighted to hang in there with the lads while still not completely killing myself.

Overall a very taxing but rewarding session and I was buzzing after it. I made a conscious effort to focus on my form today making sure I stayed strong and relaxed even when the legs were screaming. Having the group ahead of me was brilliant for my focus, exactly the session I needed today.

Splits (2 min recovery):
10 mins: 1.81 miles @ 5:32 min/mile
10 mins: 1.81 miles @ 5:33 min/mile
10 mins: 1.83 miles @ 5:29 min/mile
5 mins: 0.92 miles @ 5:25 min/mile
5 mins: 0.94 miles @ 5:20 min/mile

jebuz

Sunday 15/02 - 20 miles @ 6:58 min/mile

What started as a crap week has finished off a lot better and topped it off with a solid 20 miler today. In with a good group of lads down the marina and and felt comfortable the whole way, time just flew by. Picked the pace up for the last few miles and happy to be able to manage this after a tough session yesterday. Time to spend some quality time with my friends couch & TV now.

Weekly milage: 78.4

jebuz

Monday 16/02 - 70 mins easy

Starting from today I've made a decision to stop running by milage and pace and to run by time. I find myself constantly using milage as a metric, checking my pace on runs and neglecting feel. I think the watch can be useful but I'm leaning on it way too much and I want to try a different approach. To aid this, I've configured my garmin to only display a stopwatch and that's how I'm going to leave it for the next while. Start, stop, simple. I headed out with a clubmate after work today, nice and easy pace but legs feeling pretty beat up from the weekend- rub down booked for Wednesday.

Tuesday 17/02 - 6 x 800m track

Still tired this evening, I knew I was in for an 800's session and on my 3 mile jog down to the track I contemplated just heading for an easy run but I was just being a wuss. I think it was just a case of fearing the session, I knew I was physically able for it. I had only done just one 800's session before and I know how horrible they are. Groups were forming for the session, 6 x 800 was the plan with a 400m recovery. I had no idea where I was at with my lack of track sessions lately but figured I'd latch on to the 2:30 group and see how it goes. It went well though despite being the toughest session in a long while. I was in with a group of 5 or so and we kept them all pretty much bang on 2:30's though I wouldn't say I was comfortable, it was one of those sessions where you're digging into reserves. I got to 5 reps which was mentally a weight off and was a mini target. I decided to pace the last rep as I knew I'd feed well off the pressure, it was a killer but ended up being the fastest rep and capped off a hugely satisfying session. A very slow jog back home ensued. 800's, still the worst session in the world.

Splits:
1. 2:30
2. 2:31
3. 2:30
4. 2:30
5. 2:31
6. 2:29

Dubgal72

Hi Jebuz, I have been reading your log with interest. You're generally flying. Have you any plans to return to Donore or are you permanently based in the PRC now? That was a nice session and the last rep gets you on the 10 round numbers table if I'm not mistaken... Although you may want to save that for a single effort entry

jebuz

Hey Dubgal, thanks! I originally planned to return to Donore alright, the idea was to endure 6 months here but it turns out it's not so bad and so I guess I'm here for the unforeseen future. Leevale are a great club so it's working out quite well but I still have to put up with all the munster nonsense Are you with Donore? You may know my sister if so as she runs with them

Yeah it's a nice session looking back but wasn't very pretty at the time I had no idea you could use training times for the 10 round numbers but yeah I'll hang on until the summer where I plan on having a go at some of the graded track meets, I've never tried any. I've been watching your progress also, going very well and a great run at Enniscorthy. I think you're well on track to that sub 40 this year.

Dubgal72

No, I was years ago. They are a really great club and if I was living in that neck of the woods, they'd be my first (and only ) choice. I'm really happy with the club I'm in now (BR in north Wicklow) and won't be going anywhere else.
Thanks for the vote of confidence and best of training to you I'd say you'll be filling in that table pretty quickly once you start!

dublin runner

Thats pretty funny. I'm using just the stopwatch all this week too. We are doing it at different stages of training but mainly for the same reasons I guess. Haven't yet configured the Garmin so wearing a pink stopwatch on the right and Garmin on the left!

Good stuff with the 800s. It's a horrible session but great feeling when you've it ticked off.

jebuz

Hey Anto, yeah it feels like a bit of a load off actually just heading out for a run and not knowing your distance or pace, strange as I've always had a garmin since I started running. I've read a lot about the road legends of the 80's and they all trained and raced by feel while keeping a pen and paper diary, not a huge emphasis on milage. That simplistic approach always struck a chord with me but I've never taken any action so this is essentially an attempt to become a legend of the 80's...now I just need a time machine, and a pink stopwatch.

jebuz

Wednesday 18/02 (AM) - 40 mins easy

usual morning jog around the neighbourhood

Wednesday 18/02 (PM) - 60 mins easy

as if the pre-run rub down wasn't enough torture, the rail wind and hail topped it off nicely. horrible!

Thursday 19/02 (Lunch) - 35 mins easy

lunch time jog, got absolutely abused by a hail shower, couldn't feel my anything.

Thursday 19/02 (PM) - 80 mins with 30 min track tempo @ 5:56 min/mile

Didn't know my pace during the session so was surprised to see just a 5:56 min/mile average for the 30 mins, felt a lot harder and tiredness creeping up on me a little this week.

Friday 20/02 - 40 min recovery

Saturday 21/02 - 10 miles with Parkrun (17:33, 1st)

Over in Newcastle for the weekend visiting a friend so the plan was to head down to the local Gateshead parkrun instead of my usual session.

This was my first time racing without a watch so this was an interesting experience. I was aiming for a hard effort and ended up winning it but the time of 17:33 was a little underwhelming, over a minute off my PB. About 5 mins into the race I overtook the first 2 runners and I was out on my own for the rest of it and had a gap of about 40 seconds by the end. The effort felt like it was sub 17 but I was way off and surprised to see my time at the end, this felt way harder than the 5:40 min/mile average. It was a fairly undulating course in almost freezing conditions but still expected better and I don't have many excuses. Still I'm not going to dwell on this at all, it was a substitute for a session and it was a decent workout.

In terms of using the garmin, I'm starting to wonder if I've gone from one extreme to the other without even considering a compromise. Yes, I've relied on the watch a bit too much but maybe banishing it for every single run isn't the answer. I'm wondering if I had have seen my pace during the race, or even the mile splits pop up I might have been motivated to pick it up a little. Using the stopwatch for easy/recovery runs makes sense to me and I'll continue that but I think the feedback during sessions can be a useful as long as that's all it is, a guide. That's my way of saying "can I use my watch again"? Maybe I just need to give it more time, I'll have to give it some more thought.

Sunday 21/02 - 20 miles

Still hanging around the baltic region of Gateshead so I mapped a 5 mile route around my mates house, headed out at 8am and duly knocked out 4 monotonous laps of a fairly undulating course. Legs felt good and happy to see a 7:18 min/mile pace afterwards as it felt a lot slower at the time.

Weekly milage: 82

Interesting week. As I mentioned with the garmin, I may have gone a little extreme in the other direction so I'll have to review. Nothing was really broken and I was running quite well so maybe it didn't need a radical overhaul, just an adjustment. It didn't feel like a good week overall, effort felt forced at times and the parkrun result was a little disappointing. On top of that I've had glute pain during the weekend which at times pained me to walk but feeling a lot better today but keeping an eye on it.

Positives though: 3 sessions bagged, milage good, injury free. Another way to see it is that I shouldn't be feeling amazing right now, I've 6 weeks until the marathon, plenty of work to do and that's the time to be peaking, not now. I think what I really need is a solid race to assure myself I'm heading in the right direction. The training has been great since December but with no returns to show for it, I'm starting to become a little restless. Mallow on 22nd March can't come soon enough!

Netwerk Errer

I wouldn't worry about it much jebuz. As you said yourself, you're only 6 weeks out from Rotterdam. It would be more worrying if you felt strong and fresh. Personally, as long as I'm sleeping well, eating well and in a semi-decent mood this close to a marathon. I take the fatigue as a sign of being on track for a good day.

Dubgal72

Hi, I was wondering the same myself about 'one extreme to the other' as I read Perhaps there is a period of transition as you get used to listening to your body? We were having a chat with the coach (one of the road running legends of the 80s, yes, we are very lucky!) the other day and garmin talk came up. He reckons they have their place in training but that yes, they can limit training if adhered to too rigorously. On the other hand, you can go too crazy: he got told off for doing his recovery runs - in the dinosaur era - too fast at 5m/m pace :eek: So essentially he was saying there needs to be a balance but the ultimate goal would be to ditch them for racing and race against people, not the watch...

jebuz

Hey DG. Seems to be a popular opinion of the legends alright. I think had the watches have been available in their era they would have been a useful training device and that's all, most would have ditched them for a race and it was simply a case of balls to the wall (or whatever the female equivalent of that is). By the way, this book brilliantly captures the thought process and training methods of the 80s legends and funnily enough it's called "British Marathon Running Legends of the 1980s", highly recommended.

I have to say though on one occasion last year I found the watch very useful in what was probably my best run in the Chaleville half. I was starting to tire around mile 9 or so and had a glance at the watch to see my pace slowing. I felt like throwing the towel in but it gave me a kick up the arse and I picked it up to finish strong over the next few miles running a PB. Just like all variables in the running world, it's completely individual and experimenting with different approaches is key.

I think I'll give it another whack racing without the watch. It'll still play a role in training but for all easy and recovery runs I'm sticking with the stopwatch, wish I hadn't spent so much on it now :P

Dubgal72

Think I'll have to get that book! Good luck with the new approach, fwiw I think it'll pay off, especially if you transition slowly.