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hillsiderunner wrote: »
Skipped RtL in the end because I'm not sure of dates in Dublin, and it's often harder to get to the races than from here anyway, feel like a bit of a pain coming to visit and heading out on a Sunday morning for hours. And I won't be in any kind of racing shape for months yet.
May well line up for a different hilly run in December......*sqwawk*
I might do that one too, BG and FBOT made it look so easy last year
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I'd made a registration for the Loch Rannoch half at the end of May before I re-injured the disc, chosen partly for scenic location but mostly to give enough time to do some decent training. Then I lost a whole 5weeks after the injury ... but still had the registration and hadn't entirely ruled it out. It's the reason I increased the LSR distance over the last 5-6 weeks. Still expected that I'd get another injury, or a worrying niggle, or life would interfere with training - but despite a couple of bad training weeks somehow I was getting enough done to keep it in the picture. Had done 11miles a fortnight ago, and reduced the LSR a bit last weekend in preparation. Also the race organisers had offered accomodation in the local Outdoors Centre a couple of weeks ago and I'd asked for a bed - had originally been "planning" to take my tent and stay in a campsite a bit outside the village, but hadn't really been committed to that. So it was getting more likely I'd run even though I'm not in racing shape at all.
Monday, 10th Oct: 900m freestyle (4x50m, 7x100m)
In the pool for the first time in weeks. It was busy in the lanes and there was a slow breast-stroke swimmer who was holding everyone up. For some reason she never had the decency to pause at the end of a length to let the rest of us go ahead, even when there were two of us backed up behind her waiting to overtake. So she got her legs stroked many times (maybe that's why .... ) and there were a few near-collisions as swimmers overtook her along the lengths. This was supposed to be 1000m but cut short because I was pushed for time.
The posterior tib had been tight and I had the feeling/hope the swim had loosened up the muscle a bit. Could feel the right hip flexor.
Tuesday, 11th Oct: nothing
Overslept after going late to bed and tossing and turning when I got there (which is rare!). Came home from work with plans to run later but never headed out.
Wednesday, 12th Oct: 52mins with 10mins, 9mins fartlek (5.14miles), pilates
Had been having a bit of ankle stiffness (posterior tib) in the late afternoon but still went out to do this after work. Mostly on grass/trail. Went to the meadows and warmed up for 15mins, then did 10mins fartlek (8:48, 'bit' at 8:38), 10mins easy, 9mins fartlek (8:54, got sick of it after this and didn't do the "bit"), 7mins easy. This was meant to finish with 15mins but the right leg was feeling stiff and a bit weak on my lower inside calf, so I walked back instead. Bit worried.
Thursday, 13th Oct: 40mins easy (3.65miles @10:58 avg), physio appt
Had to do the run in the morning to make sure I'd get it in before the physio at 5pm, wanted to give the leg another test before he did the assessment. About 2-3 mins after starting I had to stop because I was feeling soreness/weakness near the right-achilles and its surroundings. But I started again a minute later and that was ok, I was able to do all my minutes without trouble. Effort wasn't so easy even at that pace, but I'm not a morning runner and the night's sleep was not brilliant.
Physio got me to do various bits of running and stepping before stating "You will do it" and then gave my right calf a massage. Also we are stopping the appointments for now and letting the legs and back take care of themselves.
Friday, 14th Oct: 40mins easy (3.62miles @11:03 avg)
Not very interesting I know. More short easy running. Did this one from the office after work, then was late to join friends for dinner (carb loading) and a few glasses of wine (emmmm ... carbs too I guess) and only did half the stretches. Right leg was feeling better today, just a bit of achilles response.
I already had train tickets for the trip up to the highlands for the race, bought a few weeks before. That would take me to Pitlochry and then on the Saturday I'd get the local bus to "Kinloch Rannoch" where I'd stay the night, and start the race on Sunday morning. But there is no bus on Sunday to take me back to Pitlochry. Had posted on Social media after seeing the physio on Thursday, and there'd been no reply, but back to my flat after dinner and now there was a reply: result! Potential lift all the way back to Edinburgh with a friend-of-a-friend marathoners from the local running club.
Tough kicking myself out of bed on Saturday morning. The weather forecast was not looking so good, and my plans of walking and nature didn't seem too sensible. Arrived at my destination around 2pm and spent a couple of hours hiding in the village cafe, an hour and a half walking the village paths dodging the rain (looking for wildlife in vain, as all the animals were all tucked up in their beds). Had a brand new camera but despite having charged it I had forgotten the memory card..... So only had enough space to take one photo of the Loch - then I realised it didn't matter, with the bad weather it came out terrible anyway. Another hour and half having my dinner in the Village hotel before I collected my bib and got admission to the outdoor centre. Only 4 of us there for the night, all runners. Back exercises done, stair drops, and early to bed to make up for earlier in the week.
Sunday, 16th Oct: Loch Rannoch half marathon (2:09:38)
Got up and had breakfast and got dressed. It was borderline for shorts and T-shirt but I'd forced myself to make a choice when I was packing yesterday so that's all I had. But I had my running gloves too and I wore them. Turned out to be a perfect fit for conditions even though it felt a bit cold to start.
The races take place around a Loch which has a perimeter road of about 25miles long. So the full marathon is one loop plus a little out-and-back half way round. The HM starts halfway and runs the second half of the marathon route back to the village. The plan for the morning was that the full marathon would start at 9:30 from the village, then the HM people would be driven in coaches to the halfway point and we would start our race at 10:30. That would mean we'd see the front-runners and probably all the sub-3hour marathoners pass us as we ran the half.
Unfortunately there was no sign of the coaches .... so we got sent back to the Village hall while they sent off the marathoners. Then 30mins later they came back to collect us and the coaches had arrived, so we boarded and waited a while until they decided to head off. We were still wearing our outdoors clothes over our running gear fortunately! I was sitting beside an older woman on the bus and she knew the area very well so she was pointing out the exposed sections of the route, mentioning the tree cover ... also it turns out she was staying in a camper van with her friend and they had originally planned to pitch in the campsite except the ground was too soft. And the site was about three miles out, tricky for race day (really I had not thought my tent plans through ...). She was hoping for 2:20 she said (sandbagger it turned out).
By the time we got to the midway point where we would start it was well after 11am and the front runners were already coming through. Also our start was on the "out and back" so they were coming in both directions. Organisational nightmare :rolleyes: .... there was another delay to let people use the toilets. Quite a social atmosphere though and I chatted to a runner from Haddington RC and a couple of others. Then we lined up on either side of the road, watching for oncoming marathon traffic, and when there was no-one coming either side we were counted down from 5. I guess I should mention that there were less than 400 people, full and half marathons combined, otherwise this wouldn't have been possible.
the race: This would be my first "timed event" 16months, and first proper race in two years. So many interruptions to training over past years. And I was in no way ready for a HM but I was doing it anyway. I had various loose plans that all started with the early miles coming in at 10min pace. That's because I've managed to do about 6-7runs of 6miles at/below 10min average in the last couple of months .. one or two were plain "steady" runs, and the others the average of tempo/fartlek with the easy w/u and c/d miles. So I'd convinced myself 10min was about my steady pace and I should be able to knock out a HM at that rate. I had a few plans in my head: one plan was to do 10mins all the way. Another was to progress the race as 4x10min, 4x9:50, 4x9:40 and 1.1x9:30. Another (madder) plan was to drop the pace every 2 miles to move from 10mins -> 9:10 and bring the run in around 2hours 5min. Anyway what happened was closest to the 10mins throughout, but now I know it is not my steady pace!
miles 1-3: 9:53, 9:50, 9:55
I did a fairly cautious start on the small out-and-back and before we hit mile 1 we had turned onto the lakeside road with the Loch to our left. Was trying to keep the pace near 10mins and gauge the effort in these early miles and after two miles I'd decided to ditch the idea of the progression running ... I'd just aim to keep all the miles below 10min if I could. There were bits of small hills in these miles, and miles 2 and 3 had some sections with fields to the left where we were exposed to the wind. I had a few runners in my view for these miles - a confident Australian woman who had been talking a lot on the bus, and ahead of her an older woman who had asked me about my cough in mile 1. This woman looked quite comfortable and I think the older runners generally pace themselves well, so I was happy to stay about 10-20 metres behind her.
miles 4-8: 9:48, 9:58, 9:54, 9:49, 9:48
By now we were leaving the more exposed sections of the race. The road was closer to the Loch now, but there were a few metres of trees between road and water, so we had some protection. In fact the majority of land around this Loch is just forest, and there were hardly any houses at all. There were less hills in this section and nice to see the autumn leaves on the trees either side. Weather was still dry and cloudy despite the fact that it rained most of yesterday (and would start again after I finished running!). Would not have been surprised to see the pace drop the pace in these miles as I was finding it reasonably tough, but the shelter helped. With the small numbers there weren't many runners around. Usually I could could see 2-3 ahead of me. And a few times in these first 8 miles I got passed by runners I'm pretty sure were from the marathon group (the mid-pack marathoners who paced carefully would still have been catching us up). Saw spectators about 3 times in this section, one parked car, a couple on bikes, and once a bunch of people at a junction of a small road joining ours. The group of people were offering sweets but I didn't bother, in fact I wasn't even taking the water from the tables on the route. Surroundings were very nice even though quiet.
For miles 4-5 I was running alongside or behind the Australian woman, then at some stage I just went ahead and stayed there. After another mile or so I overtook a woman in a white T-shirt who had appeared ahead over the previous mile or two, and seemed to have been slipping back. My older pacesetter was still ahead and I was happy to stay behind, but somewhere around mile 8 I moved of her and stayed there ... bit surprised as I think my breathing was worse than hers. I was running the calculations in my head in these miles and impressing myself with how close the paces were, nerdy I know ....
miles 9-13.1: 9:47, 9:45, 9:48, 9:49, 9:40, .19 @9:10
We started this section still sheltered by trees and the two miles were slightly faster than before. But still only 13secs between slowest and fastest mile .... By now I was feeling the effort and I was glad to hit the mile marker for 10miles so I could start counting down. It was around this point where we started to hit some exposed sections again and with the longest training run being 11miles at slower pace, I wasn't sure how I'd manage the last few miles. We passed another house, with about 5-6 people at the end of their driveway cheering us on. Next the mile marker for 24miles, then .2 later the 11mile marker, *relieved*again as I was finding it tougher. But still below 10min (in fact under 9:50 again). Somewhere here I passed the woman from Haddington RC "Well done". Mile 12 was similarly tough with the first half having a few little hills after the other, more relief when we hit the mile markers ... At the end of mile 12 we turned right up a small incline, which was fine, and then into a headwind, which was *not* fine. The wind of the earlier exposed sections had not been in our faces, was more like a cross-wind. Mile 13 was *cruel*. I really wanted to walk, but wouldn't let myself, battled against it and tried not to look at the watch. At around .7 on the watch there was a sharp left turn and after turning the wind was lifted out of the way ... oh the relief. Ran the last bit in comfort and was surprised for the mile to beep at 9:40 fastest of the day, no idea how I managed that.
I had been worried the distance might be under as the HM mile markers were all .2 after the Marathon ones, and they should have been .1 apart ... they were all earlier than my watch-beeps too. But the "bit" was .19 in the end (at 9:10 pace) so I'm happy I did the distance. Talking to the marathoners after they really felt their markers were a good bit too early, and they wondered whether they could have been set out back-to-front (.2 too early).
Anyway, my idea of "steady" was a load of nonsense. Even more silly was my fantasy that I'd run this as a contained training run. This was *raced* for sure, and despite the original plans I'd say I wrung nearly every second out of it. It's my 2nd slowest HM over years of running, with only the very first HM (in 2003) being slower. But I'm kind of pleased with it all the same. No more races for the time being, not until I'm better trained.
When I came out of the finish line, I had the problem of trying to track down my driver. I hadn't spotted him before the race because it was so cold everyone had clothes on over their singlets. He had come past with the marathoners as we started the HM and I'd waved, but that's no guarantee I was recognised. Found one of his clubmates (who had *won* the HM) and he hadn't seen my driver for a while. I was a bit worried he might have left already, given the delay with the HM start. Went back to the Outdoors centre and showered and packed up everything as I wanted to be ready to go. But still no sign ... but heading back down into the village to search for a different lift, I called in at the Village Cafe again - and there was my driver and his other passenger ordering soup. So I had a lift, and company home, and was back (dry) to my flat by 6pm.
Apologies the report is so so long but it's a very long time since I've done one
weekly total: 25.6miles as 4 runs, 1 pilates, 1 swim (900m)
niggles and exercises:
Not so great this week. Only 4/7 for the back exercises ... could not bear to do them on Friday after getting home from dinner+wine, and could not bear to do them on Sunday either, I was knackered.
Also reduced numbers of stair drops.
Stretches done after most runs but *not* the HM itself as I was rushing around packing up and looking for my lift. Maybe no harm though.
The posterior tib and ankle were a bit niggly today but I think not a worry. Also did do the back exercises today, and some foam rolling and stair drops, so I'm back on the straight and narrow.
Plan for now is to take it easy for the next two weeks, then if all is well, I'll race a parkrun the weekend after next to get an idea of time.0 -
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Thank you all, yes, decently paced, but unfortunately slower than my easy pace from before all the interruptions happened. I can live with it for now. Will do some parkruns for the rest of 2016 (and maybe the Fat Turkey), and leave proper racing for 2017. Fingers crossed.
Ososlo, my driver was an ultrarunner with a PR of 118miles over 24hours. He wasn't happy with his marathon though, he had gone out too fast - and same for the other passenger, who was very wobbly on his legs walking to and from the car.
Singer, **take care** of your calf (looking positive for DCM though).0 -
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Great stuff! Delighted you're back racing. I've many happy memories of hiking around Pitlochry many years ago. A fabulous part of the world (weather permitting!)
Best of luck with the rest of the training.
Thanks Chickey. Your DCM training is going great. I'll be tracking the Novices and will hopefully keep my eye on Younganne and yourself (and Ososlo too)! And the guys too ....Bungy Girl wrote: »:eek: You can imagine my response :eek:
Now *what* would be the point in fast and flat?
I'm sure the poll will be overwhelmingly in favour of the hill! We need FD to have the full experience!Great to see you back racing and hopefully there will be loads more epic race reports to read like this one.
Thanks Jake. I did get a bit carried away with the report I know ... The parkrun reports should be a bit shorter :rolleyes:0 -
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Thanks for your tracking duties yesterday! At one stage I was struggling and slowing down but I remembered I was being tracked so got back on pace!
Hahaha. You needn't have worried, I was watching yourself and YA and a few others, but the only splits being posted were the Novices. But just as well you didn't know! 0 -
31st Oct-6th Nov: (not) week 2 of the Myles S graduates plan
Plan was to do week 2 of the Myles Grad plan and test my "speed" with a parkrun on Saturday. Unfortunately managed to pick up a niggle on the Friday and the parkrun was out ... but it's been sorted now (and a donation sent to Gary Crowley) and was able to get in all the miles (and a bit more) if not the race. Have been looking at the Grad plan in more detail and it's perfect for my plans ahead - just a bit of light speed training, and 80-90mins LSRs over the next month growing to near 2hours in a couple of months ... so I can see myself staying on this all the way through to the end, fingers crossed. But will be re-doing "week 2" this coming week.
Monday: nothing as planned
Tuesday: 50mins easy (4.58miles @10:55 avg)
Just 5mins more than the Grad plans says ... because my midweek runs have been 50-60mins recently. A lunchtime run on grass/trail. This was the first proper cold day of the year, and I'd brought long trousers in my bag instead of the unusual shorts. Unfortunately I'd forgotten the light hoodie I've been wearing for a couple of weeks now, and only had my T-shirt. Ouch. But when I came out to do the run it didn't feel as bad as expected and I got to see some *spectacular* autumn leaves in very enjoyable chilly sunshine. Nice consistent pace.
Wednesday: 15mins w/u, swim class, 15mins c/d, 5x100m (3.09miles, 650-700m), (pm) pilates
First trial of the Wednesday session/swim-class medley, and it worked quite well. Took a slightly scenic route to the pool for the first 15mins (1.41miles @10:38 avg), little bit faster than true easy as I was in a bit of a rush.
swim class: Was keen to get back to the swim classes because the last semester had been quite challenging with lots of drills being set for homework. Had been sorry to have the disc interrupt this so early in the semester. For these Wednesday classes we have a different instructor, and unfortunately both himself (and some of the swimmers) are more laid-back. He vanished a couple of times during the session and two of us went off and re-did the previous assigned lengths rather than wait around. We did some kick drills and breathing work and probably got in more metres than with the drill sergeant from May who used to do a lot of talking. But I think I'll be setting my own drill homeworks
. Still worth doing the class I think as I get swimming free during the term. And good to have the structure.
After the swim, 15mins on a slightly longer scenic route back to the office (4.38 @10:52). Then the 5x100m done trying to work my way back to the office. Bit tricky as I'd taken my drawstring bag off for these, and was moving it in the rests. Also a few of the 100ms were really hill sprints because of the terrain. And I thought it was only 5 when it should have been 6.
Seems to have worked out quite well this way, so I'll do the rest of the Wednesday sessions this way. When the efforts get to be more than strides I'll do them before the swim class. There's even a nice sharp hill about .15miles from the pool entrance for hill work. But I need to buy a running backpack at last.
Thursday: nothing
Nothing as per the plan. Needed it too as the pilates on top of all the other stuff made Wednesday a heavy day, and was tired this morning.
Friday: 25mins recovery (2.1miles @11:54 avg pace)
Went out at lunchtime to do some recovery minutes, 10mins more than the plan said, but truly at recovery pace. *But* that morning I'd been feeling stiffness and soreness in the big toe of my right foot - same leg that has the posterior tib and achilles niggles. It was a familiar feeling as I've had this before in the run-up to Christmas 2015 .. that time it had come on gradually over a couple of weeks, and eventually I had managed to banish it after finding a website with release techniques for the Hallucis longus muscles. Had been almost *miraculous* that time, fixed the problem almost immediately. Anyway even though this run was only 25mins recovery, I could feel the toe throughout and it was sorer and stiffer afterwards. Tracked down the website from Christmas 2015 and had a go at releasing the extensor (outside) and the flexor (inside) in the late afternoon. But the toe was still sore on the walk home from work... another go with the release technique that evening, but the toe was still sore.
Saturday: 5miles easy (57mins+ @11:25 avg)
Had made all the plans for parkrun and got up with my alarm, but the toe was still sore, so went back to bed for an hour extra. After breakfast I had another go on the outside of my leg where the Hallucis extensor is. Noticed at lunchtime I could wiggle my toe quite freely with only light soreness. Then walking was fine when I was out shopping in the afternoon . Anyway had intended to do 1mile w/u and 1mile c/d along with parkrun, so went out and did a 5mile easy run round the neighbourhood loop to make up. There was a feeling of the toe 'not-sitting-quite-right' in the shoe in the last couple of miles ... realised I've had this a couple times over the last fortnight, so the stiffness did not really come out of the blue like I'd thought.
Had meant to do a swim in the morning today, but with the weather so cold I chickened out.
Sunday: 80mins hilly run (7.2miles @11:07 avg)
The usual for Sunday. An early afternoon run into Holyrood park, doing one clockwise loop with the climb, then out of the park, up a short sharp hill and some undulating road running till I got back to the flat. This was tarmac with a couple of miles grass and trail. Trees were looking more spindly than last weekend, but extra leaves on the ground to crunch through. This run was probably slightly faster than true easy but the 'slow journey' to faster times is very slow indeed so I won't beat myself up over pushing things slightly.
Toe was *perfect* on this one, truly those release techniques are miraculous. There was a bit of niggling from the achilles.
weekly total: 22miles (242mins as 5runs), 650-700m (1swim), 1 pilates
niggles and exercises:
back exercises 5days/7, so a bit of an improvement. Disc is behaving well.
stair drops at least once a day 7/7, with two batches done 2 days. Would have done them twice on Friday also except for the toe.
Could never imagine relying on a website called "do-it-yourself-joint-pain-relief" but it really was a brilliant resource, so here is the link to the site (by Gary Crowley): http://www.do-it-yourself-joint-pain-relief.com
Last year, nearly all the other hits I got for the toe problem were about arthritis, was really lucky when I found this link on page 2 or 3. It has similar techniques for other parts of the body.0 -
7th-13th Nov: week 2 of the Myles S graduates plan
Ok this week I was able to do the parkrun as planned. Faced the music, set a PW, and have a marker to work against now. Here's the details of the week.
Monday: nothing as planned
Tuesday: 50mins easy (4.35miles @11:30 avg)
Out from the office onto the meadows after dark, and did this one on nice flat grass/trail. Another slow one.
Wednesday: 15mins w/u, swim class, 15mins c/d, 6x100m (3.14miles, 550m), (pm) pilates
Scenic route to the swimming pool for my 15mins but stayed on the paths today as it had been raining and the grass was very wet (1.37 @10:57 avg). Swim class with some stamina sets for freestyle, and at the end about 15mins of touch-turns practice (and the meterage less than last week). Straight back out of the pool to throw my running gear on top of the swim-togs and another 15mins easy (1.41 @10:38 avg), then the strides. This time I did all 6, and stayed away from the hill except for the last one. Stair drops and stretching, and most important washed the chlorine off before getting back to work.
Thursday: nothing as planned
Friday: 25mins recovery (2.11miles @11:51 avg)
Shuffled around the meadows at a snails pace.
Saturday: 10mins w/u (.9 @11:07), parkrun in 27:10, 15mins c/d (1.31 @11:27)
Hadn't the best night of sleep with a party going on nearby until 2am or so. And also woke up early and couldn't get back to sleep .... anyway it meant I was in no danger of missing the parkrun :rolleyes:. Kicked myself out of bed and had some cereal, pumped up the bike tyres (that's all sorted now) and got dressed.
I had decided I'd do the parkrun further out on the promenade to take the advantage of the flatter surface. It can be very windy out there on the return leg of the run, but the forecast was good, showing mild weather and just a light breeze. I was wearing my shorts and T-short under a fleece and tracksuit bottoms, but I had a thin hoodie in my bag for the race. Cycled the 6miles out to the coast and parked the bike, and had enough time for 10mins warming-up along the sea wall. The right achilles was tight from the cycling and the first few minutes of the w/u were *very* wobbly. Running was like moving through treacle. And I was sweltering wearing the hoodie and bottoms. Peeled the outer layers off and there was no need for the thin hoodie, but I did wear my sunglasses.
parkrun: Started a bit further back than usual. The plan was to head out and do the first mile at 8:50, and then speed up to 8:40 or so for the second, and faster again for the third ... if I *could*. (Ok, I'll admit I also had a blue-sky plan of a bit faster than this ... if for some reason I was flying along. But this was the main idea).
mile 1: Did my usual thing of starting out slow at the beginning, with the pace well over 9mins a third into the mile, and then started to work my way through. I was just up past the 1k mark when I saw a familiar person ahead ... it was the woman from the bus of the Loch Rannoch half, running with her granddaughter. I didn't say anything as I went past as I was focused on my goal, but saw her later at the scanning and said hi then. There had been tons of people passing me in the first half-mile or so, but that had mostly stopped, and I was increasing my pace. As I continued through towards the end of the mile the pace dropped below 9mins, then into the :50s, and the seconds reduced off very slowly until the beep sounded with 8:50 exactly.
mile 2: Continuing along the sea wall, by now I was overtaking people from time to time. It was warm and I had to push my sunglasses up because they were a bit foggy. I could see from my watch that I'd picked up the pace a bit, and was on target for the mile-2 estimate. We were moving onto the loop at the "top" of the parkrun route, and the pace slowed slightly on a mild climb, and then dropped again as we took a slight downhill and turned onto the home stretch: in fact it was a bit too quick at this stage, I couldn't keep it. Next an exposed stretch slowed the pace again, and after the beep this mile was 8:29, better than hoped. I was thinking that maybe I might end up getting sub-27 but it would require a big push.
mile 3-and-bit: Started off with some relative shelter from trees and after .2 of the mile was done I looked at the watch and it was 8:15 or so, no way would I keep that up. Was passed by a group of Sweatshop runners here, but not due to my own failings, they were going at a much faster pace. We had moved onto an exposed stretch then and things were starting to feel difficult. I'd been pushing but feeling-ok in the earlier miles, but now I was *working*. I didn't allow myself to look at the watch too much, used the benches as mini-targets, then moved the target to the "Boardwalk Beach Cafe", then went a bit further past that before I let myself glance: surprised but I was managing to keep pace somehow. Then about 500m before the end we turned towards the sliproad to the finish line and here I was struggling. I kept going but was finding it tough. Mile3 beeped at 8:31, no idea how I managed that. Continued on for the "bit" feeling it very hard, and I was passed by a few strong finishers here, but I didn't care less, I just wanted it to be *over*. Crossed the line and switched off the watch to see 8:11 for the ".16" and 27:08 for the race. The very faintest feeling of being slightly sick for about 10 secs, and was being "encouraged" to walk faster through the funnel.
One of the run directors was celebrating his 350th so there was cake, then I did 15mins easy up to the boat moorings and around the promenade. Then I threw on my light-hoodie and unlocked my bike and cycled home in the sunshine wearing my shorts. A *beautiful* morning, ridiculous weather for mid-November. After getting home I slumped on the sofa (no stretches, no water either ...) and had a huge big breakfast.
paces: 8:50, 8:29, 8:31, 8:11 for the "bit"
This was a PW by a minute and a half, and 4mins off my June 2015 PB. All the same it was exciting to see the 8:xx paces on the watch after so much slow running lately :rolleyes:. I won't know myself when/if that goes down to 7:xx, fingers crossed. Anyway have a marker to work up from now.
Sunday: 80mins run (6.85miles @11:41 avg)
Had been knackered after the parkrun yesterday (on top of the bad sleep) and I spelt in by hours today. Only went out to do this after it was already dark, and it was raining too. Couldn't do my normal Sunday route in the dark so this was done on hard surfaces round the East-side suburbs and along the coast. Fairly comfortable and done at what I now know is "true easy" pace. And stretches etc done after.
Had been shopping online earlier this month and had bought a new "Inov-8" windshell jacket as well as backups of the Saucony runners. Was a bit shocked when the stuff arrived to see how light the jacket is, and can't imagine how it would handle strong weather. Was thinking of maybe sending it back. But it is a lovely colour.... Anyway wore it for this run and it was a good choice for light-winds and not-too-cold, so even though I feel a bit silly paying that much I'm hanging onto it.
This was supposed to be 30mins easy on the Myles plan, didn't want to let the LSR drop. But looking ahead at the plan I don't think I'll need to be tweaking the runs except for 5mins extra here and there. So "just this once".
weekly total: 21.8miles (237mins as 5runs), 550m (1swim), 1 pilates.
Bad performance on the swimming. If I had been bright and alert this morning, I'd have done a swim before work and allocated it to "last week" but I wasn't. Will make sure to go twice this week.
niggles and exercises:
back exercises 5days/7. Disc still behaving well.
stair drops done twice a day 2/7, once a day 4/7, no times Saturday (just knackered). Doesn't seem to have done any harm and the posterior tib is nearly sorted I think (achilles still niggling a bit).
Stretching mostly good except for Saturday's oversight.
After doing the time trial I now have my paces for the various efforts, as per the Myles conversion:
pace | min-per-mile
5k: | 8:44
Easy: | 11:14-11:44
Steady: | 9:59-10:29
MP: | 9:29-9:59
HMP: | 9:09-9:24
10k: | 8:59- 9:14
Week 3 of the Myles plan coming up, plus there will be at least one proper swim as well as swim-class:
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17th-20th Nov: week 3 of the Myles S graduates plan http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=101424076&postcount=910
The plodding continues!
Monday: nothing as planned
Knackered all day, yawning in the office. Went to the movies in the evening, food and Trump debate afterwards, and after I got home I went to bed without doing the back exercises because I was too tired.
Tuesday: 45mins easy (3.8miles @11:51 avg)
Or .... "45mins recovery", it might better be called. Had a decent night's sleep but was even more tired today, yawning all morning in work ... maybe it was the political discussions that did it. Have been tired a lot over the past months and the training has been conservative so I called the GP and made an appointment so I can ask to get my iron checked, got a slot for a couple of weeks later.
Still did my run after work, running grass/trails in the late afternoon, a bit mucky. Slower than easy pace but I guess that's allowed. After the warm weekend I was back in my shorts today, but it was a bit too chilly.
Wednesday: 1.2mile w/u, 8x45sec hills (hard/form, jog down), .2mile easy, swim class, .9mile c/d (~3miles, 700m), pilates
Long bottoms today with the chilly forecast. The Garmin was out of charge when I got ready for this so had to go naked. Ran to the swimming pool and a bit further where there's a decent hill for the repeats. Had nothing to time myself so guessed what 45secs felt like and went at it in the chilly sunshine. Can't be sure they were definitely 45secs but it was roughly that and for the later ones I wouldn't have been able to do longer anyway. Used the jog-downs for recovery and one or twice I took a few standing breaths before starting the next.
For once I was early to the pool and got in 200m of my own before we started the class. Easy pace (I think!) back to the office, and all the "stuff" after.
Thursday: 55mins easy (4.73miles @11:38 avg pace)
Ok, the forecast was looking even worse today, so now stepped things up to the running tights. Usual grass/trail route near the office in the late afternoon, proper easy pace. It was mucky in parts so from time to time I had to pick my way through it, and had to hop out onto the path a few times towards the end when it was getting dark and I couldn't see well .... Runners were dirty after. Have to start planning properly and bring the trail runners for these wet days.
Friday: nothing
Had planned to swim this morning but had been destroyed after getting home the night before. Knew I wouldn't get out of bed early, so bailed on the idea and set the alarm to its usual wake-up (with a few snoozes of course).
Saturday: 10mins w/u, 20mins tempo, 10mins c/d (4miles)
Some speed. Hurray! Had a giant sleep into late morning so was feeling a bit more lively at last. Calculating from my parkrun last week, my tempo range is 9:09-9:14. Round the neighbourhood loop for this one in the late afternoon, and got the tempo paces as 9:09 (!), 9:14 (!) and the .18 @9:05, just slightly fast. Warm-up and cool-down 11:05 and 10:53 respectively. Was cold out there but nice to be doing some faster running.
Was listening to Laura Graham's interview on Marathon Talk later this evening, seriously I need to htfu. Not even one child here to tire me out or interfere with training.
Sunday: 82mins easy, hilly run (7.2miles @11:23 avg)
Another decent sleep under my belt. Typical Sunday route in late afternoon with 1 loop of Holyrood park, 1 circuit of the playing fields, and then a couple of miles extra on undulating roads/paths and back home. About 3miles on grass/trail, and the rest hard surfaces. Went out prepared for the weather in tights, running gloves and long-sleeve top with new running-jacket over it, but it was feeling quite cold as the sun came down in the last couple of miles. The running gloves were too thin and the hands were most cold, was fumbling to get my keys out at the end. Google says 1C. Happy to have it done, and *not* knackered afterwards.
weekly total: 22.7miles (252mins as 5runs), 700m (1swim), 1 pilates.
niggles and exercises:
back exercises 4days/7. Not too happy with this, the reason they were missed was leaving them till evening and then being too wrecked. Had been "out" 3 nights during the week (not late at all, just a couple of hours yawning in front of friends) and these were the days that I bailed.
stair drops done once a day 6/7, skipped Friday (see excuse above...). Have deliberately taken these down to once a day as the posterior tib is pretty much sorted, and it's just a matter of keeping the achilles quiet now (still niggling a bit).
Stretching mostly good except I never did them after today's run.
Another bad performance on the swimming. But am feeling more alert after the good weekend sleeps and think that I may well bounce out early tomorrow and hit the pool before work. Feeling a bit silly about the GP appointment after sleeping-off some of the winter tiredness, but I'll go anyway when the time comes and see if she thinks there's any point in doing checks. 0 -
hillsiderunner wrote: »Another bad performance on the swimming. But am feeling more alert after the good weekend sleeps and think that I may well bounce out early tomorrow and hit the pool before work.
And of course ...another 9hour+ sleep, a late start, a cancelled morning swim, and yawning most of the day. But finally managed to push my feet to the pool for 800m after work. Mostly just 50ms of freestyle, but there was 200m of drills in there too: 2x(50m catch-up, 50m catch-up with zip)
First time in the 50m pool in ages and I felt it, think I was thrashing around a bit. Main thing was to break the deadlock, and between that and the tiredness I let myself get out before 1000m. Counting this one for the previous week:
weekly total: 22.7miles (252mins as 5runs), 1500m (2swims), 1 pilates.0 -
21st Nov ->: week 4 of the Myles S graduates plan http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=101424076&postcount=910
Midweek plodding:
Tuesday: 50mins easy (4.3miles @11:38 avg)
Brrrrr. 50mins easy on the neighbourhood loop in the evening, broke the run halfway through to run up to my flat and switch on the oven to get the dinner perfectly synchronised with run & stretches.
Wednesday: 10mins w/u, 12x45secs @5k (1min jog), 10min c/d (3.85miles), pilates
No swim class today. Was nothing specific clashing with it but had a good bit to do at work and am really hating navigating everything around the 11-12 slot not to mention the run-commute and stretches, it's a nuisance and knocks a big hole in the smooth running of the day. And am not loving this particular instructor anyway. Big mistake to sign up for this window and it'll be an evening slot or nothing after Christmas. Did take the run-gear and went out from the office after work. Cold and icy, Google said 0C but I'm not sure it was quite that cold, the puddles weren't frozen yet. Took myself to the meadows and found myself a flat stretch of tarmac that was well-lit and well-trodden, no worry of slips (in case walshb is reading this and getting upset :rolleyes:).
Paces for the reps (as much as you can judge with these short intervals) were a bit faster than 5k pace being sprinkled between 8:15 and 8:50, and it was all very comfortable and enjoyable. W/u and c/d were done at slow easy pace on a mixture of tarmac and grass, the leaves giving an extra crunch from the frost.
Thursday: 50mins easy (4.37miles @11:27 avg pace)
Nice easy run done round Harolds Cross, Kimmage and Terenure. Nice and mild compared to earlier in the week (when I took the bus to Edinburgh airport this lunchtime there still was a very thick frost on the ground). Run was mostly uneventful but when I came alongside the Dodder, there was a bunch ... or a "luminosity"? ... a "rack"? .... of running jackets tied around the trees at the Fairways/Springfield intersection. Seemed to be unattended too. About 5mins later I passed a group of about 30runners in T-shirts heading towards that direction, I assume to capture their jackets.
Have a MP run on Saturday and 80mins on Sunday, and you never know I might make it to Swan Leisure tomorrow morning. No parkrun this visit as the American visitor has Thanksgiving plans for Saturday lunch.0 -
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Bungy Girl wrote: »Gotta love those 'giant' sleeps! I miss them. Good work being done, Hilly, nice tempo and 5K paces.
It's a nice little plan.
Giant sleeps at the weekend are great but am a bit less thrilled that the fix for the all-day yawning is now looking like 9hours/night rather than iron or Vitamin D ....0 -
21st Nov -> 27th: rest of week 4, Myles S graduates plan
Friday: nothing
No I didn't get up early to go swimming. Also missed the evening late swim due some combination of politeness and laziness....
Saturday: 10mins w/u, 45+mins MP, 10min c/d (6.45 miles)
This one done on paths in the late afternoon round Kimmage, Dodder, Orwell, Upper Rathmines and back to Harolds Cross. My MP range is 9:29-9:59. Times for the MP miles came out as 10:04, 9:40, 9:45, 9:55 and 9:37 for the "rest" (slid over the 45mins a bit as I wasn't watching the watch closely enough). Bit slower than I'd like .... first MP mile was on the drag of Fortfield road :rolleyes: (a very minor drag), and the 4th MP mile had the Orwell undulations I suppose.... *but* at least I was doing something faster than easy pace!
w/u was the slow side of easy, c/d a bit faster than easy.
Sunday: 80mins easy (7.09miles @11:17 avg)
Back in Edinburgh for this one. Did this on the "Sunday-after-dark" route round the eastern suburbs and coast. Most individual miles were on the fast side of easy-range except for mile 2 and 3 (net downhill, and a bit faster than easy even though I did try to slow things down at the end of mile 3) and mile 5 (long uphill stretch, so slow side of easy). Pretty comfortable overall.
weekly total: 26miles as 5runs, 1 pilates
niggles and exercises:
stair drops *once* 5days/7 (all running days), this is mostly deliberate as the posterior tib is quiet and I'm just aiming to stretch out the achilles.
back exercises 5day/7 (well it will be after I've done this evening's set).
stretches pretty good.
Now I have to confess that maaaaybe I have a new niggle, not sure yet. Have been feeling a bit of discomfort (not soreness) on the flat bit near the ball of the right foot on-and-off for about a week. First though it might be related to the toe-thing (more or less sorted) but after a while I realised it felt more like the start of the stress fracture I had last year on the other foot. Was doing the long walk through Terminal 1 today to the outer-ghettos of Ryanair gateage and I was feeling it as I walked. Got to thinking about the possibility it is another stress fracture, it would fit with the GP thinking I had low VitaminD (last year), and also with all the yawning over the autumn months (Google pulled up some suggestions that the tiredness can be VitD). Hmmmm ..... in thinking through it I *nearly* talked myself into skipping today's run and taking a week or two off to head it off. Had changed my mind by the time I had landed in Edinburgh. Might have changed my mind again later this evening but that would have been laziness not sensibleness .... Anyway foot was fine during the run, bit of response in the final two miles but it was the "toe-ness" not the bottom of the foot. Will do some more work on the tendon on my outside leg and will watch it like a hawk in case it is something serious. Had already dug out the long-forgotten VitD tablets (bought in Stockholm in the days of the stress fracture) and started taking them last week. And there are pints of milk in the fridge.
Had been feeling a bit disappointed in Dublin airport thinking of bailing out of my schedule again for another break. Nearly as disappointed as for a certain internet stranger ....
Next week is week 5 of Myles S, and that was Christmas week last year. There's no Goal mile to do this week so as long as the niggles being quiet, I'll change the end of that week to be Friday rest, Saturday parkrun with 10 mins w/u, c/d and Sunday 70mins easy. Aim will be to take 30secs off the parkrun time of a fortnight ago - and most of those secs should come off the first mile as I went out too slow that time.
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=101424076&postcount=9100 -
29th-5th Dec: week 5 of the Myles S graduates plan (2015)http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=101424076&postcount=910
Monday: nothing as planned
Tuesday: 50mins easy (4.48miles @11:10 avg)
Daylight run from the office after lunch, mostly grass/trail. All paces were towards the fast end of easy except the first one which was closer to steady. All felt very slow though.
Wednesday: 60mins steady (5.93miles), pilates
The swim class was directly clashing with a meeting at work today (totally useless meeting as it happened), so had to skip.
Didn't get out to do the run till after work, it was dark, and I was dreading the cold ... then I checked Google and it was 9C :rolleyes:. Went out towards the meadows planning to run on the tarmac towards the faster end of steady which would be low 10:xx. But there was just enough light hitting the trails (barely), so I drifted onto the trails, paces were 10:05, 10:01, 10:09, 10:05, 10:13 and 10:07. The effort did feel a bit faster than steady, esp in mile two (had to slow down at the end to get the pace right) and also in the final mile when I was finding it harder. Probably felt as tough as Sunday's MP run being honest. It probably was the extra effort from being on the trails and also working to see the ground for tree roots, it dawned on me about three miles in ... of course I kept the pace going anyway. There were a good few others out (the other runner on the trails had a head torch) and despite this being "speed" I was passed by a number of runners zooming past.
Was pretty tired when I got home after pilates, so could feel the effects of this one.
Thursday: 51mins easy (4.5miles @11:20 avg pace)
Tired in the morning so no swim
. Was fine that evening so I did some nice comfortable miles round the neighbourhood loop.
Friday: nothing as planned
Rest day before parkrun tomorrow.
Saturday: 7mins w/u, parkrun in 26:00, 15mins c/d (5.05miles)
No excuses for this one. Had some good sleep under my belt, weather was cold but not freezing, and the forecast was *no wind*. Went out on my bike to the parkrun on the promenade, locked up the bike, and did as many w/u mins as I could fit in (.6miles @11:xx). The achilles is always a bit tight coming off the bike these days, so I can't really get away with my old trick of locking the bike and jumping into the throng. Little bit of drizzle.
parkrun: Main plan was to start this at a better pace than I did last time out, goal was to bring the first mile below 8 and a half mins or even slightly better if I was comfortable. So instead of dawdling after the start I worked up to a decent pace fairly early on, was already around 8 and three-quarter pace after a few mins .. then increased the effort a bit and brought the first mile in at 8:28. The second mile of this route is my favourite being less exposed and having a tiny bit of up-and-down, slightly more down. Kept pushing on and was expecting to bring this in faster than mile 1, job done 8:15. Was already breathing fairly heavy half-way through this but able to keep the pace up. Didn't let myself look at the watch in the later half of the mile, and same for mile3. Mile 3 is never my favourite as it's the most exposed and I was expecting it to be slightly slower than the previous one, but kept pushing on and it came in at 8:13 and the ".14" run-in was 7:33 to my surprise. The exposure was less important today because of the gentle wind of course. Was working hard in the last half-mile but felt stronger than the last-time-out, wasn't dying for it to be over this time. Still had a fleeting sense of maybe-getting-sick at the finish and it was a slow walk up the funnel. Enjoyed this little race though, "running fast" is so much fun! Watch was showing 25 mins 59 1/2 secs after, and the official time was very close at 26:00.
15mins c/d (1.31miles) at a slow-easy pace before cycling home.
Of course after cycling back I went straight to buy the bread and had brunch instead of doing stair drops and stretches. Thought I might do them later in the day but of course I didn't. Was exactly the same the previous parkrun ....
Later on Saturday felt the toenail of the big right toe a bit sensitive, like the start of a black toenail. Have only ever experienced this after hilly HMs but had noticed a day or two before the nail was just a bit too long, so probably I did the damage at parkrun....
Have cut all my toenails.
Sunday: 70mins easy, hilly run (6.41miles @10:55 avg)
Midday run in the *daylight*. Typical Sunday route with one lap Holyrood, once round the playing fields, then out of the park for a sharp climb and a couple of miles back to the flat. More than half the distance was on hard surfaces with about 3miles of lovely frosty grass trails. Paces were all over the place with the hill factors, but this was overall a nice and comfortable run. The big toe was a bit sore on the downhills though. Hoping it will calm down with a day off today, and I'll avoid downhills for an extra couple of days. Stretches were done after, but no stair drops as the toe was too sensitive for that (the achilles that needs the strengthening is also the right side).
weekly total: 26.3miles (279mins as 5runs), 1 pilates.
niggles and exercises:
back exercises 4days/7. Not happy with this, really wanted to do five but was too tired last night.
stair drops 2/7, terrible. Need to improve.
Stretching most days.
Have a new table of training paces from Saturday's parkrun. Sightly faster paces of this week's runs was justified it turns out.
pace | min-per-mile
5k: | 8:22
Easy: | 10:52-11:22
Steady: | 9:37-10:07
MP: | 9:07-9:37
HMP: | 8:47-9:02
tempo: | 8:47-8:52
10k: | 8:37-8:52
Hit the end of the month after Wednesday:
monthly total: 103miles
Month|2013|2014|2015|2016
January|55|85|70|49.5
February|69|9|96|30
March|53|57|134|61.5
April|85|61|85|39.8
May|65|71|145|26
June|51|43|89|6.8
July|25|99 |79|75.8
August|84|120|26.5|97
September|18|131|0|85
October|83|0|15|95
November|78|3|62.5|103
December|53|56|86
Total|719|735|888|669
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6th Dec ->: week 6 of the Myles S graduates plan (2015) http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=101424076&postcount=910
Monday: nothing as planned
Tuesday: 50mins easy (4.7miles @10:38 avg)
Daylight run from the office before lunch, on my usual grass/trail loop. Bit mucky but manageable in road shoes. Genuinely comfortable and enjoyable run even though this is slightly faster than legal "easy", consistent pacing too.
Wednesday: 10mins w/u, 12x90sec@5k w 1min rec, 10mins c/d (4.8miles), pilates
Nothing directly clashing with swim class but I was only arriving to the office at 10am, felt I had too much to do to run off 30mins later. So skipped *again*. Will make the effort for the final two weeks, and will have more sense signing up for things like this in future.
run: Left the run until after pilates, and half an hour extra of dithering, then out do this on my trusty neighbourhood loop. Dug the shorts out for this as even at 10pm it was still quite warm. Target pace for the reps was 8:22. Got them all done mostly within 5-10secs of the 8:22, with a couple around 8:00, and one around 8:40. The last two were harder and there was one very slow recovery at that point. And definitely overall a harder session than the 12x45secs a couple weeks back. w/u and c/d paces were slower than official easy, so compensation for yesterday. Achilles was bothering me a small bit. Got back into the house and did stair drops, and stretches, and the bloody back exercises, was in bed a bit after midnight.
Thursday: 1000m freestyle, 50mins easy
Finally a swim, done at lunchtime because the pool was closing off the 50m stretch at 3:30. And this pool is shut all weekend for a competition, that's the essential motivation that brought me here today. The 1000m was done as 4x50m, 6x100m and finally one 200m. Had a comfortable pace going and this was very enjoyable (after dodging for so long). Great time of day to swim also, there were only about 2people per 50m lane. I guess that could be December rather than lunch-slot though ... Could feel a bit of "looseness" from the big toenail that got a knock, might tape it before future swims as I don't want to lose it, much prefer if the nail stays on while the new one grows below.
Had planned to do the 50mins on the schedule in the late evening (not a new thing ...) but did the back exercises first to make sure I wouldn't dodge them. Was 10:45 when I was finished with those, and didn't have the energy to head out. That's the first time in a month I've pushed-back a run I think.....
Went round to the GP this morning so the nurse could take blood for the iron tests. Am betting the results will be fine though as I'm feeling grand these days, and the knackered phase from autumn has passed. In fact I started coming back to normal just after I'd booked the first appointment with the GP a few weeks back.... Not sure what was going on in autumn, the heart rate had been quite high those months (have been testing it in Boots when I weighed myself each month), rate is a good bit lower now. I guess it's possible it was simply lost fitness and was maybe pacing "too-fast" () in the early months back running.
Will do the 50mins easy this eve after work.0 -
-> 11th Dec: week 6 of the Myles S graduates plan (2015) http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=101424076&postcount=910
Friday: 50mins easy (4.4miles @11:22 avg pace)
Ahhh, Friday evening, Pringles and central heating, needed to give myself a shove out of the flat to do Thursday's skipped run. Round and round the neighbourhood loop at a easy pace.
Saturday: 10mins w/u, 25mins @HM (not) pace, 10mins c/d (4.28miles)
Parkrun volunteering in the morning, some great performances from the lead runners. Went out to do this HM session in early afternoon, my pace should be 8:47-9:02 per mile. Was going to do the HM minutes round the playing fields which is grass, so expected that I'd be to the slow end of this range, maybe 10secs slower again. *Ha*! Went off towards the park, hopped onto the grass for the last few mins of w/u, then into the start of the HM minutes. There were about 10 mini-greyhounds walking around free off their leads nearby with hi-vis jackets on their backs and just a couple of people with them. Seemed they'd already been trained a bit and weren't looking for a race, I'd have been no match for them anyway. After a few "HM" mins had a look at my watch to see pace a bit over 10min .... worked to pick it up as I went round the fields but it didn't improve much, mile came in at 9:57 despite working hard, then the second time round the fields for another difficult mile, exactly 9:57 again, no kidding. Not sure there was any point bothering with the extra 5mins but I did them and this was 9:42, little bit of downhill advantage helped. Oh dear.
Was doing the HM mins mainly on grass which would explain some fall in pace. Also there's a bit of rise-and-fall on the lap. Though .... nothing too major and certainly not enough to explain 50secs+ slower than target pace. Felt harder than HM pace too being honest. Anyway it was attempted. c/d and w/u easy/slower-than-easy.
Sunday: 91mins easy, hilly (8.08miles @11:16 avg pace)
Plan was to put some extra hill-climbing into this run in preparation (of a kind) for Fat Turkey. So into Holyrood (as usual), and I did two clockwise laps of the circular road, then back home. Half the miles on hard surfaces, the other half on grass. Had originally thought I might do a steeper climb up the Radical Road after my first lap, but given yesterday's fail I decided to stick with the easy option: run still had 70m-80m climb over a mile, done twice, so a decent bit of uphill anyway. Paced myself carefully on the climbs but did push a bit (bit over easy) in the last couple of miles, always having my mind on average pace. Must do better.
Was early afternoon I was doing this, well before sunset, but the clouds were low in the sky and the light dim. More nods from other runners than usual, maybe the bond of December running. In fact the run was split into two because I got shouted by an past colleague just before I started the second lap and she was in the mood to chat, so I stopped myself and watch for about 5mins.
Back into the flat and stair drops and stretches ignored in the rush to switch the TV onto BBC2 to see the European XC. Poor Fionnuala, did the main work and got out-kicked. Very well done by Jack O'Leary and Callum Hawkins. Apart from the controversy of the Turkish/Kenyan athletes have to say the course didn't seem typical cross-country, imagine the Irish runners might have preferred a bit more muck.
weekly total: 26.2 miles as 5runs (274mins), 1swim (1000m), 1pilates
niggles and exercises:
Back exercises 5days/7 with today's done already.
Stair drops 2days/7 but will do them tonight to make 3days (achilles not too bad have to say).
Have other grass runners noticed the recurring problem of dirt on inner ankles? If I'm not vigilant enough when I'm showering and over the past months I'm often noticing little scuffmarks when shoes and socks are off.
Day off tomorrow, and food and drink in the evening, then pick week 7 up starting Tuesday. 0 -
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12th-18th Dec: week 7 of the Myles S graduates plan http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=101424076&postcount=910
Got it all done more-or-less as planned this week.
Monday: nothing as planned
Tuesday: 4.7miles easy (about 50+ mins I guess)
Forgot my Garmin this morning, so did the exact same route as last Monday, including the tiny little out and back near the office that I needed last week to use all the minutes. So have the distance but no idea of pace except it was comfortable. Mostly grass/clay trails on the usual office loop.
Wednesday: 10mins w/u, 5x4min @10k pace w. 3min rec, 10min c/d (5.2miles), pilates
Not early enough to work to justify nipping out to swim class, but let's be honest, it's bitten the dust for good, I'm not going to turn up out of the blue for the last week. But never mind .... Intervals day! Went out around lunchtime to my usual office loop, but stayed on the tarmac for all the intervals and recoveries so I'd have the paces right. Target pace 8:37-8:52. Actual paces for the 4min reps were 8:46, 9:01, 8:41, 8:48, 8:32. Had a narrow turn near the end of loop2 so think the Garmin might have dropped a small bit of distance at that point, I'd been on target for most of that rep. Was a blustery day and most of the 4th rep was into a headwind so was happy to get that one on target. Breathing a bit heavier on the final slightly-faster rep (though no harder than in Saturday's HM section I have to say, probably less in fact).
Thursday: 51mins easy (4.55miles @11:17 avg)
Round the neighbourhood loop in the evening.
Friday: 800m freestyle
Went off to the pool in the evening to get the swim in, 4x50m and 6x100m except one of the 100ms was broken with some spluttering. Usually I have 1000m as a minimum for a swim, but was watching the clock a bit and as I came up at the end of the 800m I had another look at it and then something propelled my limbs towards the side of the pool and then I was getting out, with *purpose*, no going back. There was enough time left to do some extra lengths in case anyone is wondering.
Saturday: 50mins easy (4.25miles @11:46 avg pace)
Slower than easy run, mostly done on the grass loop round the playing fields, one mile of hard surfaces for the there-and-back. Could have done with the trail runners, that's the n-th time in the last weeks I've thought that, should be paying more attention to the forecast. Junior greyhounds with their hi-vis jackets there again, leaving the park as the sun went down on my second loop.
No stair drops, no stretching, not even the back exercises. No sure what it is about Saturdays ....
Sunday: 90mins progression (40 easy, 30 slightly-slower-MP, 20 MP), 9.04miles
Checked the forecast and got a pair of shorts back out of the cupboard.
Script was to do the 30mins and 20mins at "effort" pace but I've no feel for MP effort. And not 100% about steady either, except I'm beginning to suspect it's the effort I used to do most of my running at a year or two ago ... Anyway, that means that despite the "effort" instructions I was going to use the paces for this. That means 9:37-10:07 for the steady/slightly-faster-than-MP, and 9:07-9:37 for the MP. Didn't want to have to try to estimate the effect of hill factors with a long route, so laps of the neighbourhood loop it was .... 8 and and a bit laps total in the end. There's a bit of rise-and-fall on the loop but it's the same each time round, so no calculation issues. I go past a collection of shops, cafes, pubs at the top of the loop and a couple of older gentlemen at the window of a takeaway seemed to be keeping note of my repeated laps as I went round.
Easy minutes came out as 10:57, 10:52, 10:49 and the .68 again @10:49. Few secs faster than official easy for those last two paces, but close enough. The 30mins of slower-than-MP was ... hmmm ... not as comfortable as expected but 9:55, 9:52, 9:41 all within target range, didn't bother timing the "bit" of this section. Then upped the effort level and the remaining 21+ MP mins gave paces 9:24, 9:30, and the .17 @9:19. A few slow mins back to the flat.
Verdict: MP felt a bit harder than I'd expect, at least from those race reports where they talk about the first 10miles feeling so comfortable. Those 21mins felt closer to "feel" of HMP.
weekly total: 27.7miles (294mins as 5runs), 800m (1swim), 1 pilates.
niggles and exercises:
back exercises 3days/7, worst *ever*. Back/sciatica is behaving well, but official rules are every day, and my own rules at-least-5/week. If I go below 5days again going have to start banning the running.
stair drops done once a day 3/7, that's ok I think as it's just for keeping the achilles quiet.
Left hamstring/adductor niggling a bit, did some dynamic stretching after today's run, will keep an eye.
Stretching mostly good.
Week 8 and 9 of the Myles 2015 plan were the run-up to the Raheny 5. Don't have a 5mile race in two weeks, but I do have the Fat Turkey in 10days. So am scaling-down/changing next weekend to have less minutes, and also the bit of race-effort that was written in for midweek of week 9:
|
Monday | maybe swim
Tuesday | 50 minutes easy
Wednesday | 10 min w/u, 8 x 2 min @ 5k pace with 90 second recovery recovery, 10 min c/d
Thursday | 50 min easy
Friday | nothing
Saturday | 10 min w/u, 1,2,3,2,1 minutes @ race effort w/ equal time recovery, 10mins c/d
Sunday | 70 min Easy
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