From 20 a day to 3:30...

adrian522

I know you just ran a marathon today so maybe take a little time to think about what comes next?

You've come out of 2 back to back marathon cycles. Maybe consider concentrating on shorter distances for a while and maybe doing a shorter plan for an Autumn marathon(12 Weeks) or else spend 6 months on 5k/10k/half etc. and come back in the new year for another crack at the distance.

From reading the logs on here I really thank that would benefit you. Going from one marathon cycle to the next is good, but to get real gains I think it's worthwhile doing some speedwork over a longer spell.

Not saying that is what you need to do or anything but maybe something to think about?

NetwerkErrer

Well done JD! I never had a hope with you flying along at that pace and the last thing I wanted to hear was my boards handle being called out at some stage out there, glad it wasn't!:) I passed the minion at just after 9 miles. He was on around 4.25 pace. Well done again on the sub-4 man.

JohnDozer

Monday 4th - 1 mile very easy. Chose an out and back route to the local shop. Chest got a little tight when I tried to pick up the pace on the downhill outward section. Quads gave me a bit of grief on the way home. Probably the additional weight of the newspaper. Total 1 mile, 18 minutes, HR quite high at a guesstimate

JohnDozer

Great Limerick Run 2015

Arrived in Limerick around 8am and met up with the lads shortly after. Took it nice and easy chatting away. No stress and nice and relaxed. Last toilet trip and strolled the short distance to the start line around 8.50. Remembering now that it was noticeable how much the weather changed in the 40 or so minutes hanging around. Group consensus was to hold pace between 8:30 and 8:40 until coming back in from Raheen and see what the cracks was then. Good atmosphere and pacer groups nicely spaced out allowing people time to assemble appropriately. Off we went shortly after 9am, trailing a little behind the 3:45 pacers as planned. No issues for the first couple of miles, everyone nicely bunched but moving freely together. It was already clear how annoying the traffic cones were going to be all day. I know they can't do very much about it but it is very frustrating having to be constantly vigilant for rogue cones. Hit the 3 mile mark on the canal bank and already the amount of surface water was apparent, as was the warm weather for that time of the morning, along with the threat of rain. We were still together (4 of us) a little closer to the 3:45 pacers than we planned to be but everyone was happy enough. Out through Rhebogue heading towards UL and time and distance passing by easily, chatting away. This was my first experience of running a marathon with others and it is definately preferable to going solo, for other reasons too which will become apparent later! Spotted the first mile marker at mile 4 and remember being surprised that the garmin was only .01 out, as I hadn't being paying any particular attention to the racing line. Even in a shorter race I'd be further out from the mile markers by now.

One of the lads had called his pee stop in advance on the entrance to UL so I was expecting him to disappear, when everyone in our mini group disappeared I wasn't sure what to do. Made a conscious decision to try and slow but was getting carried along by the pacer group who had fallen a little behind us on the downhill section a while back. Missed the water stop here as it was very badly placed just around a blind corner. Nice section here around the UL campus and over the 10k timing mat hovering around 8:32 average pace so at the upper end of the target zone. Started to notice here how much I was sweating, the cool rain washing the salt into my eyes and mouth. Hit the Living Bridge shortly after. It really is a strange experience with so many people on it, my legs felt really wobbly at one point. I could hear the pacers warning people to be ready for it. Onwards and out of UL and the slow climb to Vista on, still solo at this point. A wider section came along shortly after so was able to leave the pacers drift by, and not long after one of the lads caught up with me. Enquired about the others and was told that one had been taken out of it at the previously mentioned water station,Ã႒‚  do I get some grazing to his knees and hands. Not what you need. This section was an out and back section so got to see the leading ladies and everyone up to 3:45. Spotted Bulmers74 along here looking strong and focused, and on pace. Turned at vistakon and grabbed some water, and looked forward to the gentle downhill all the way to Back to UL. Our little group had reformed at this point and all in good order, even the injured party. The next few miles were on familiar territory and pace was stable, and it felt nice to be back in town, crossing the halfway mat about 30 seconds up on 8:45 pace, not sure if the pacers were behind or ahead of us at this point.

The weather was starting to feel noticeably warm around now and I was conscious of thirst, carrying a small bottle with me at every opportunity. Myself and one of the lads were a little ahead at mile 14, but he was noticeably breathing hard, and after a few minutes he said he was dropping off. I was on my own again and the next couple of miles went by easily enough, again noting how close the garmin reading was to the mile markers, around 0.03 out.

Through the boring section in Raheen then and turned back towards town. I kept glancing back at every corner to see my comrades but no joy. Started to let negative thoughts creep in here, my shoes being too wet and too heavy, my clothes being too heavy, how warm I was, all on a negative loop. Felt like I need my company back to get the chat going again so slowed down a bit passing the hospital. I probably should have slowed a little more going up the overpass in Dooradoyle as it took a lot out of me, and a little after I gave in to the demons in my head and took the first walking break of the day, shortly after the 18 mile mark. Got it going again when one of the lads came along and urged me on. We chatted a bit and we both knew we were on a run walk strategy for the next 8 miles. Looking back on my mile splits, after a few miles of this, mile 21 was 8:36. No idea how I managed to pull that out of the bag with the way I was feeling.

Had another strange episode along here, mile 23 i think, where I managed to convince myself I should try running faster for a while, as I would be using a different system, and would be able to keep it going for longer! Ahm, that didn't work, unsurprisingly...

The last 5 miles were a death march and three of our group were left, all employing the same strategy and trying to pull the others along. I genuinely thought the sub 4 was gone. Somehow I got myself moving along the north circular road, the two little girls with their water hose definately helped cool me down, and off I took again. The sight of sarsfield bridge did the trick to pull me home, knowing if I just kept it moving for the next half mile, I could surely find a finishing spurt from somewhere if the sub 4 was in jeopardy. Crossed the line with 3:59:13 and 26.3 miles on the garmin.

Thats the race. Two of the main reasons for my much earlier demise than expected are staying at the upper end of the pace bracket for too long and the warm weather which I obviously don't handle very well when running long. I'm still surprised it happened as this was pretty much the LSR pace we have been running at, and feeling strong at the end of these runs. The strategy we chose was designed to have us feeling strong 10 miles from home and picking up the pace. It didn't happen and I've some more soul searching to do about what went wrong and why, and what to do next. I'll leave that for another day. Sub 4 done and I'll keep reminding myself that it took TFBubendorfer 3 efforts to get under 4 hours, and look at him now! :-)

adrian522

Good report, in retrospect do you think your initial target was too aggressive or did you fail to reassess given the conditions on the day?

Either way congrats for digging deep and nailing the sub 4. Take a few weeks to think about what you want to do next!

JohnDozer

adrian522 wrote:

Good report, in retrospect do you think your initial target was too aggressive or did you fail to reassess given the conditions on the day?

adrian522 wrote:

Either way congrats for digging deep and nailing the sub 4. Take a few weeks to think about what you want to do next!

A combination of both. Still not sure, as I genuinely felt that I was in shape to last a lot longer even at that pace than I actually did. I also have to bear in mind that the plan I followed was a bit mish mash, pulling bits from lots of sources without having any real knowledge of what works where. I laid that plan on top of races I already committed to, which were on dates that didn't fit in the overall scheme of things. I'll take time to reflect and take it nice and easy for the next three weeks before deciding anything. I'll probably still end up doing an Autumn marathon, it's what happens in between is where the decision needs to be made. As you rightly said, no rush with that!

Bulmers74

Well done JD for toughing it out & getting in under 4. Personally I think the conditions played a huge factor as the sun combined with the humidity made it difficult. The conditions were very reminiscent of DCM '14 I thought. Did you take salt or electrolytes on board as you went around in addition to gels? I took 6 - 2 with breakfast & 4 on the course.

JohnDozer

Bulmers74 wrote: »

Well done JD for toughing it out & getting in under 4. Personally I think the conditions played a huge factor as the sun combined with the humidity made it difficult. The conditions were very reminiscent of DCM '14 I thought. Did you take salt or electrolytes on board as you went around in addition to gels? I took 6 - 2 with breakfast & 4 on the course.

I didn't do either and its probably (certainly) something I need to reconsider. When I did Cork in 2012 I tried gels and found them to be more stressful than they were worth, probably because I hadn't been using them during training training that year. I haven't used them since, I've really been trying to train on empty as much as I can, taking in only water or the odd bit of sports drink. Unless I'm going to do all my marathons in Reykjavik or places of a similar temperature, I'm going to have to get electrolytes on board alright. The amount of salt i lost on Sunday was unbelievable.

I thought I had done well with pre-hydrating and all the other nutritional requirements... Back to the drawing board!

Notwork Error

Well.....did you do the BMOH 10k this weekend?

JohnDozer

Damn you anyway! Now I have to update the log... l had been allowing it to drift into the dark recesses of Boards.ie to avoid that eventuality.

I did do it alright, without having done much faster stuff at all since Limerick, apart from throwing in a few random faster miles here and there. Did a parkrun the week before alright to get the legs moving again. Planned to start out at 43:00 pace and wind it up from there towards the end if all was good. Didn't start out at the right pace (surprise, surprise) so decided to hold it as long as I could. Passed 4/5 people in the second half, passed by none. The hill I had been warned about leaving something in the tank for nearly stopped me dead, but got it going again to cross in 42:18. I can't have any issue with that time, a 40 odd second PB with no specific 10k work done.

Gonna just train for fun and pick and mix a few shorter races and parkrun for the next while. Mungret 4 mile, Ballyheigue Half and a parkrun PB all next on the horizon. Small PB's in these will keep me happy.

Fairly sure the Amsterdam Half in October is gonna be my next big target race.

JohnDozer

I better get some form of update going again. A full month has elapsed so I'll be brief.

Week 1 Post GLR - Started back with an easy 5k on Day 3. Headed to the Black Forest for a few days R & R on the Friday so a few very pleasant easy runs were had. Plenty of hills around this neck of the woods to keep the effort a bit high for an easy pace but they did the job. 20 odd miles for the week

Week 2 Post GLR - Another few easy runs in Germany before departing for the joys of a return to work. Showed my face at the club on Wednesday to share war stories. 9 mile run on my favourite loop at the weekend. Total 27 miles

Week 3 Post GLR - Starting to get bored of easy miles so did a 5 mile progression run, threw in a few strides at the end of a 4 miler, two quick miles at the end of a 5 mile run. Possibly too much too soon but all felt good so happy days. So good I ventured down to Tralee parkrun to see what the crack was. Gave a good honest effort without fully bursting a gut to get in under 21 minutes. No complaints with that at all. Total 24 miles

Week 4 post GLR - Starting to get back in the swing of things and the sights are firmly fixed on the Sixmilebridge 10k on Friday evening. Did a 7 miler on the Monday with a good 35 minutes at a the slower end of a tempo effort. Followed that up with the 5 mile club run on the Wednesday with the last 2 miles at something approaching 10k pace. Perfect prep on Thursday evening successfully pacing my sister to a 35 minute 5k. SMB/ BMOH 10k then on Friday evening and as said above, very very happy with a 42:18 time. Took Saturday and Sunday off as reward. Total 27 miles

Week 5 - Started out the week with a 6 miler at the faster end of the easy range with a nice lump of a hill in the middle. Woke up Tuesday morning with the day off work and decided today was the day to do a decent session in preparation for a half I'm thinking of doing on June 13th. Plotted out a hilly 12 mile course and off I took in the middle of the day, which was quite sunny and windy. The plan was 4 * 2 mile intervals at HMP, with 3 minute recoveries. The first interval started into the wind and up a mile long incline and I put way too much effort into holding pace, and the rest of the session was a nightmare as a result. Had to lengthen the recoveries significantly on a couple of occasions. One to remember for all the wrong reasons. Took it nice and easy for a couple of days to give the body a break after the torture. I couldn't help myself and headed to Mungret on the Friday evening for a flat 4 miler. Feeling good and had notions that a 26 minute time might just be achievable if everything went right. Apart from the tough breeze, it did. Was bang on pace from the start and passed about 7/8 people again between start and finish. Really found it hard work but manageable all the same. Even pace all the way through to sneak in at 25:56 on the clock. I'm well happy with this one too as it suggests having another crack at a sub 20 5k might be on the cards soon enough, just to prove to myself it wasn't a flash in the pan. Now I just need to decide if doing a half next week is worth it...

Notwork Error

I wouldn't expect you to nail a 4x2 mile at HMP workout that close to a marathon without the buildup behind it JD, That's a tough predictor workout.Out of interest, what pace were you targeting for the reps and what were you doing for the recovery? Standing, walking or jogging?

Well done on the races btw! That 4 mile time is impressive and would probably put you closer to 19.30 than 20.

JohnDozer

Notwork Error wrote: »

I wouldn't expect you to nail a 4x2 mile at HMP workout that close to a marathon without the buildup behind it JD, That's a tough predictor workout.Out of interest, what pace were you targeting for the reps and what were you doing for the recovery? Standing, walking or jogging?

Well done on the races btw! That 4 mile time is impressive and would probably put you closer to 19.30 than 20.

I do know that now, and to be honest I did know it was going to be tough before I set out. The combination of over enthusiasm, the weather and the terrain didn't help. That's the stupidity side of me that I'm not sure I will ever cure. I was planning a jogging recovery, targetting a pace between 7:20 and
7:40. In theory I should be able for about a 1:35. Ballyheigue Half is unusual though, 9 miles up, and 4 miles down. Makes figuring out a planned pace that little bit more difficult. One eye is being drawn to a 5k in Castleisland on the Friday night before it. The other eye can't forget a thread on here somewhere that suggests there is a very good half in someone 5 weeks after a marathon. Confusion reigns at present...

Thank you! I like your enthusiasm about 19:30... I'm sure I'll be thinking of you with a mile to go and using a lot of expletives to describe you!!

JohnDozer

Monday 8 June - Did nothing today. Ended up working the night shift unexpectedly last night, finishing at 8am and due back in at work at 4pm for a meeting which ended up lasting until 8pm. Needless to say, energy levels and motivation were low.

Tuesday 9 June - Got a brand new pair of Adidas Boston 5's in the post yesterday so this was their first outing. Hadn't any real plan for the run other than the distance of 4 miles. The first mile started out at a lively pace so decided to keep that going and push it a bit more. Ended up as a 3.5 mile progression run with 0.5 mile cool down. Miles 1 - 3 were 7:42, 7:15 and 6:54 with the first half of mile 4 keeping 7 m/m pace. The shoes are as light a pair of shoes as I have ever ran in. They feel a little narrower than the previous pair I had, but not enough to squeeze the foot uncomfortably.

Wednesday 10 June - Texted one of the lads for extra miles before the club run so headed off on the small loop first for some hills in the heat. Moving nicely at about an 8:15 pace chatting away, both of us with a half marathon lined up at the weekend. Joined the group again for 5 more, keeping the same pace until cresting the hill with 2 miles to go, and then drop the hammer! A good run in the warm weather. Probably not the best idea with a half on Saturday but its not really a goal race so we won't dwell on it too much. Total miles 8.3, avg pace 8:01

Thursday 11 June - Birthday today and the sister was treating me to a home cooked meal in West Clare so headed back and went for a run straight away on arrival. Had plotted out a nice 5 mile loop around her house and threw on the Bostons again for spin number 2. After mile 1 the pace was showing 7:50 pace which is right on the border of tempo and easy and made a decision to just hold that pace for the remainder. Lovely spin on unfamiliar roads with zero traffic and views of the Shannon Estuary. Big thumbs up to the new shoes as well, loving them. Happy days. Total miles 5.4, avg pace 7:49

Friday 12 June - Rest. Conscious I had done a bit much over the last few days so took it off in the end. If I'm honest I was still debating scrapping the half marathon and heading to a 5k in Castleisland for a crack at 19:XX, right up until I drove past Castleisland on the way to Tralee. Drove to Tralee and registered for the half - €40 -about normal for Run the Kingdom events but still hurts...

Saturday 13 June - All the ambivalence about this race led to me waking up in a less than motivated state. The thoughts of the long slow 9 mile climb and the rising temparatures for an 11am kickoff did nothing to help. Again, flirted with the idea of heading down to the parkrun and forgetting about Ballyheigue. Got my **** together in the end and headed over in good time. Got suited and booted and strolled to the start line with 5 minutes to go without any warmup done. Not really sure why as I generally always do one. Messing around with numbers all week and looking at past results the plan went something like this - Try and keep the average pace at 7:30 or below for the first 9 miles and hammer it home from the top of the last major hill at around 7 m/m pace. If that pace was putting too much pressure on, back off. Also had a look at previous results and decided that a top 20 finish should be a non-time target. Ultimately, a 1:35:00 result would be good but I knew the course from last year and knew it was a big ask. Worst case scenario - take some time off a PB of 1:38:54 from last September.

The start happened pretty much bang on time and off we took. The first mile starts to rise after a short spin through the town and kept on pace here, fell in with two other fellas after that for the next mile or two and the pace ramped up as result. I knew mile 4 was steep enough so made a conscious effort to back off a bit. I was really starting to notice the heat around this time and the wind was picking up while running westwards. Hit the 5 mile marker at about 7:18 average pace, a little (a lot) quicker than planned. Was really trying to make an effort to back off the pace but it didn't seem to be reflected on the average pace. I was overheating badly so I hit the steepest climb on mile 7 and decided to take a 30 second walk for two reasons - cool down, and also to try and lock in to a more appropriate pace when I got going again. It had the desired effect on the pace in that I was better able to keep it at a comfortable level. All my thoughts now were just focussed on getting to the top of mile 9 and enjoy the freefall most of the way home. Wishful thinking - still 4 miles of work to go! After briefly going over an average pace of 7:30 on the Garmin which would mean I might get no PB, the downhill allowed the average pace to drift slowly downwards again. Crossed the line with 1:38:14 on the finishing clock (1:38:10 net). 23rd position overall and 3rd in category.

Not really sure what to make of it. The reason I chose to do it was that I had done it last year so was interested in seeing what progress had been made (7 minutes). I had also read on here that a good half marathon can be done 5/6 weeks after a full. In saying that I only did one specific session and that was botched. Ballyheigue is definately not a half for a PB effort. Its 9 miles up and 4 miles down so it takes greater discipline than I have to pace the first 9 accurately. I hadn't anything left for the last 4 miles and really struggled. I need a plan and I need it soon. I did 8 miles on Wednesday and 5 on Thursday at a pace that wasn't conducive to performing well on Saturday. I did no warmup. I struggle in heat and really need to be able to back off when it hits 13/14 degrees or more. All in all, a decent workout and a PB. Happy with the result but less than happy with how it was executed. Another one to be filed in the 'lessons to be remembered' file. If I had to sum it up, the Ballyheigue Half Marathon chewed me up and spit me out!

Sunday 14 June - Easy easy 4 miler very early. Bit of stiffness in the quads and feeling the effort even at 9:15ish pace. Onwards....

JohnDozer

Also, if anyone can point me in the direction of a tried and trusted 12 week half marathon plan I would be most interested. Something in the vicinity of 40-50 miles per week, and preferably one with a tune up 10 miler/ half about 4 weeks out. Don't really mind what the various elements of it are once it gets results!!

JohnDozer

I really need to get this up and running again. Motivation has dipped recently. Got injured in August while training for Amsterdam Half. Managed to get to the start line and finish line in one piece, but frequency of runs has dropped drastically over the last while. Really want to get cracking again, but I need a proper kick up the ass. All donations gratefully received....

Dubgal72

Ah it moves Wake up JD!!

JohnDozer

Dubgal72 wrote: »

Ah it moves Wake up JD!!

Oh it moves alright, just not as often or as quickly as it used to!!

Notwork Error

What's the goal?

JohnDozer

Notwork Error wrote: »

What's the goal?

Immediate goal is to get back running consistently 5 days a week. I'm currently hovering at 2 to 3 10k runs a week all at pretty much the same pace - no speedwork and not much longer than 10k.

I'm also now a proud* West Limerick resident so that may impact on 2016 club decisions!!

Planning to do the Birdhill Half in early December more as something in the near future to look forward to rather than a goal race. Won't be ready in any event.

I have already entered the Dungarvan 10 at the end of January. I would like to do the other 3 in the old Munster Classic - Ballycotton, Mallow and Kilnaboy (All March and April). One of those 4 should be targetted as a PB race, just don't know which one at this point.

I'm thinking that the Limerick Half will be the major goal for the next 6 months with an Autumn Marathon in 12 months time...

Notwork Error

JohnDozer wrote: »

I'm also now a proud* West Limerick resident so that may impact on 2016 club decisions!!

No brainer!:)

JohnDozer

Well, I've managed to guilt myself into 3 consecutive runs so definite progress. Maintaining it is the issue, but at least I have the accountability of here now that I have started again.

Saturday 31st Easy out and back 10 miler around Limerick City with two from the club. Pace started off a bit quicker than the agreed 9 minute miles, but settled by mile 3. Nice conversational run with plenty of sport and upcoming race plans to discuss to distract us from the lack of conditioning being felt by all of us. No quad issues, but calves feel tight. 10 miles, 89ish minutes, avg pace 8.50

Sunday 1st November House emptied by 2pm so watched the start of NYC marathon and headed out. Did 3 miles at easy pace (8.20ish) and did a spontaneous mile at what would have been half marathon pace a few months ago (7.30). As per usual, an injection of pace and the right quad starts to complain. I don't fancy any more dry needling, so just going to keep stretching and foam rolling and hope for the best. 4.2 miles, 34 mins, avg pace 8.05

Monday 2nd November First run without a Garmin in god knows how long. Left it on charge at home, debated bringing the phone but decided against it. First lunchtime run in quite some time, headed off out towards UL. I reckon if I get this habit of daytime running back again, I should do fine. Part of the problem has been getting lazy and/or busy after getting home in the evenings. Trying to stay off concrete footpaths as much as possible and I'm not familiar enough with the roads around the new house enough to run in darkness with a headlamp. Nice run today with beautiful weather and first off tarmac run in ages. Energised for the day. No calf issues and only a small bit of residual soreness with the quad.4.2 miles, 36ish mins, avg pace 8.40ish

The calf muscle where the injury was, the soleus, isn't giving me any great bother. However, I am getting a lot of issues in both calves in general, the areas of discomfort moving around from day to day. I've tried running in compression socks with mixed results. I've recently addressed my poor water intake and also added electrolytes, but not having as much of an impact as desired. The stretching and foam rolling has improved, but not what it should be at. I have lots of work to do in diet and stretching. Old habits die hard.

Plan for the coming week is 4 easy miles tomorrow, 10k Club Run on Wednesday where I might do 2/3 miles at HMP depending how the body feels, Thursday off, 4 easy with strides on Friday and a 10 mile hill run on Saturday. That will give 24 miles for the week which will be a little step up from the 20 mile weeks of late. If that goes well some easy miles on Sunday morning might follow. I think posting my weekly plan in advance will help me stick to it. Before I was moving runs around all the time resulting in a lot of inconsistency, so posting it publicly might keep me in order.

JohnDozer

Tuesday 3rd November - Plan was a short jog down to the football pitch belonging to the school just down from the house, followed by some laps to warm up and then introduce some strides if feeling good. Hopped the fence and the lack of drainage on the pitch was evident as very soft underfoot and I didn't want to ruin my lovely new shoes so hopped back out on the road again. Took off on a big lap of the town, mostly on footpaths and in fading light so the plan for strides was postponed. Fourth consecutive day running at mostly easy pace and calf issues have held off... for now. Pace was at the upper end of easy range but happy enough as the last few runs have been at the lower end, apart from 1 mile on Sunday. Water intake today was poor, less than a litre. Caffeine intake was high due to fresh delivery of Nespresso - 7 cups approx. (Going to log these two elements in particular to try and give myself a wake up call) 5.2 miles, 43 mins, avg pace 8:11.

JohnDozer

Wednesday 4th November - 10k Club Run tonight. Plan was to try inject a little bit of pace for about half of this run and see how it went. Ended up in no mans land pretty much from the off, not quick enough for the lads and lassie up the front, and the lads at the back sent me on my way as they wanted to focus on the chats. Moving nicely for the first couple of miles, and then starting pushing the pace, catching one lad who had dropped off and overtaking them. Same old issues in the quad when pace goes below 8 minute miles, but managed to hold it for 5k as planned without major discomfort. Getting disheartening at times only being able to run comfortably in one pace range but at least I'm building myself up for when I'm finally niggle free!! Splits - 8.06, 7.50, 7.43, 7.35, 8.11, 8.04. Water intake - big effort to take in 1.5 litres, caffeine intake - poor 6/7 cups. 6.3 miles, 50 mins, avg pace 7.56

Thursday 5th November - rest as planned, had ran 5 days in a row for the first time in a while so it was due. Water - 1l-ish, coffee -the usual

Friday 6th November - had the morning off due to working the graveyard shift later so once the school run was done, headed off exploring the Great Southern Trail. Nice, flat, isolated and a mucky surface, perfect! 4 miles clicked by easily enough on an out and back route and then tested things out with 5 30 second strides. First forays into running at this pace since the end of August sometime, which fairly knocked the stuffing out of me. No worse than usual in the quad but still there. Happy out with the run and progress in general. Water - 1l-ish, coffee intake will be shocking due to working night shift! Also means pushing the longer run to Sunday, might go for a short spin in the morning 5.2 miles, 44 mins, avg pace 8.26

Notwork Error

You really need to cut down on the coffee man especially if your only getting in that much water. Caffeine is a diuretic like booze and it really dehydrates your body and wastes all the nutrients from the food you're eating. It really affects how tired you feel. A few cups can be good for running of you're getting in enough water so there's no real need to completely give it up, just to cut down if that makes it any easier.

JohnDozer

Cheers, been in denial for quite some time now about the coffee and water thing so decided to start logging it so I'd have the cold hard facts in front of me. I'll have to do it gradually though, very dependent on it. I'll look at a drop to 5 cups a day max next week. Should be clean by Christmas!!

JohnDozer

Saturday 8th - Feeling a bit sprightly after getting a little sneaky shuteye on the night shift so met one of the lads for a trot around town. Felt great for the first mile, the 4 and a bit after that were like a death march, pure tiredness. Time passed quick enough anyway with someone to chat to. Caffeine - 4! Slept most of the day so cheated a bit. Water 1.5l approx. 5.5m, 48 mins, avg pace 8:31

Sunday 9th - One of the cats hadn't come home in three days so all the house was worried, including myself. Wasn't feeling it first thing so got back in bed. Once everyone was up we went walking the roads looking for the cat. Herself found him, he made a mistake, the car won. He didn't know anything about it luckily. Only had him a year and a half but he was the king of the house and was everyones favourite. Everyone in bits and in true Irish style, I hit the uisce beatha. Result - no run. And the spot we found him is on my 10k loop, not good.

Weekly total - 26.5 miles, biggest since the third week of August. No LSR but got some half marathon pace miles in and ran 5 days, so all things considered, a decent weeks work. Calf issues fully resolved but I really don't like how the quad is feeling.

Plan for next week - Monday 5 easy, Tuesday 6 easy, Wednesday 10k Club Run to include HMP miles, Thursday rest, Friday 5 easy, Saturday 13 LSR or Listowel Half as a training run, Sunday rest.

Monday 8th - Decided on some retail therapy today. Had been yearning for a new garmin lately... no issues with my trusty 305 as such, apart from the usb upload taking too much of my time due to the occasional glitch. Had it narrowed down to either a secondhand 620 or fenix 2, or a new 225. All i could get on my budget. Went for the 225 new, and gave some business to the local sports shop which is by far the best all-round sports shop I have come across in any town I have lived. A combination of their sale and their loyalty scheme (basically a euro back on every 20 spent) made it nearly as cheap as sports direct which was the cheapest online price I've seen. And the money stays local so win win.

So, the test drive. Darkness had fallen so headed off on a figure of eight loop around the town in wind and rain. Uneventful run, too immersed in live HR data to notice anything. The mind was elsewhere in any event prior to undertaker duties later. Either I've gotten very out of condition since the injury or the 225 is a crazy piece of equipment. A pace about a full minute slower per mile than I've been doing most of my easy runs at, didn't keep my in the aerobic zone for the full run. I'll blame the wind and reserve judgement until tomorrow. Caffeine - 6, water 1.5l (heading in the right direction) 5.2m, 48 mins, avg pace 9:11

Tuesday 10th - Possibly working late tomorrow, compromising run time so pulled forward the planned HMP miles to today. Set off on the 10k loop in the early evening. Even wore my speedy shoes. First 3ish miles were into the wind so that was planned warmup, and then ramp it up. Once the pace increased, the quad complains again! Had to give in after a half mile and drop the pace. Dropped in a few fartlek type speedy uppy thingys before the end of the run without any issue so I really don't know whats going on with it. Will be hitting the foam roller again, but suspect my second run of physio visits in three months might be looming. Have to look for a different one too, as I wasn't a big fan of the voodoo I got last time. Jury still out on the 225, entire run was out of the easy HR range! Loving the bluetooth upload though, I have my life back. Caffeine - 6, Water 2l. 6.2miles, 51 mins, avg pace 8:10

chickey2

Sorry about the cat.

I just got a 225 recently and was having problems with the heart rate zones. When I checked garmin connect , the zones they had in as default were different to the ones I'd been working off (Just go to settings and then training zones). It had something like Max as greater than 80% HRR, but I've always used greater than 92%. Anyway, I readjusted the rates to the ones from my pfitzinger book and its grand now. Make sure your correct resting and max rates are in too.

JohnDozer

chickey2 wrote: »

Sorry about the cat.

I just got a 225 recently and was having problems with the heart rate zones. When I checked garmin connect , the zones they had in as default were different to the ones I'd been working off (Just go to settings and then training zones). It had something like Max as greater than 80% HRR, but I've always used greater than 92%. Anyway, I readjusted the rates to the ones from my pfitzinger book and its grand now. Make sure your correct resting and max rates are in too.

Nice one. Thanks for that. Time to do a proper HR max test again so. I haven't done one in about a year. It's going to be difficult seeing as I can't run fast right now!

JohnDozer

Wednesday 11th - Rest. I thought I might squeeze a run in during the day but couldn't in the end. Caffeine 6 and water was poor, less than a litre.

Thursday 12th - Rest again. Not sure why, the weekly plan had a run on this day... I suspect a dose of acute lethargy occurred.

Friday 13th - Off work today, and a few bits to do so ended up starting to weather watch from lunchtime on. I thought from the look of the sky I had a clear hour, but seriously misjudged it. 10 minutes in and the wind picked up, the rain (bordering on hail) bucketed down. Persevered, and got it done, but it took the rest of the day to heat up afterwards. After adjusting the HR zones on the watch, got better readings, but still 3-4 bpm above where I should be. Caffeine 7 (Oops), water 2l. Total 6.1m, 51 mins, avg HR 155, avg pace 8:21.

Saturday 14th - Met up with two of the lads for this and headed for the hills. Nice relaxed pace and time ticked by easily enough on the most enjoyable run in a while. Nothing flared up, even on the climbs. Enjoyed the downhills on the return home. Handy 4/5 miles tomorrow to give me 5 running days for the week and keep the weekly mileage on the steady increase. Caffeine 6, water 1.5l. Total 10.2m, 90 mins, avg HR 154, avg pace 8:46