Talent is overrated

P_Fitz

Sunday Long Run

Distance: 14.5 miles
Pace: 8:20

Another enjoyable run up to Bohernabreena resevoir. Definitely my favourite run of the week. Seven of us went on a very cold morning, the roads were dry so generally no problems with ice. There were loads of runners up there, I never saw so many, maybe it was because we left later than normal, we set out at 10:00 as opposed to the normal 9.

Monday Easy Run

Distance: 7.5 miles
Pace: 7:55

It the past I used to run to and from work on Mondays but as my Sunday runs are getting longer and my weekly mileage is increasing substantially i said i'd but it on hold for a while. I'm doing close to 50 miles a week now and don't want to over do it at this stage of the year when there are no major goal races ahead. The last thing i want is to pick up injuries. It was a cold evening, but again it was dry and no breeze, so nice for running. Loads of people out today as well, the wind and rain is a major turn off. The first couple of miles were slow enough, but then I picked it up and brought the pace down, I was feeling good. Speed session tomorrow, looking forward to that, we'll be doing 800s. This will be my first proper speed session in two weeks.

P_Fitz

Tuesday, 800's

Reps:
2:52
2:44
2:59
2:48
3:01
2:47

First time doing 800's in a long time and it's bloody hard work. We started off running up an incline, 2 min break and then back. So every second one is quicker as it's downhill, you'll need to compare black to black and red to red in the above list. My first one was too fast but after that they were reasonably consistent. Leg's are tired now but it's great to have this done.

P_Fitz

Wednesday, Progression Run

Mile splits:
7:46
7:33
7:24
6:34

This was only meant to be an easy run but i felt good so i picked up the pace and was tipping along nicely at the end. It was nice to mix it up a bit.

Thursday, Tempo Run

Distance: 5 mile
Pace: 6:35

Mile Splits:
6:51
6:35
6:32
6:32
6:29

We were flying tonight. My plan was to do 7:00 min/mile but when i got going i felt really good and pushed on. There were four of us running together of similar ability which really helped. The route we took was fairly hilly which makes the times better again. It was very cold and freezing hard with the surface icy in places. I'm delighted with this run, best tempo in a long time, a real boast in confidence. When the distance running to and from the meeting point is included the total distance for tonight was 9 miles.

P_Fitz

Friday, Bang Crash, Wallop!

What a night. I set out at 8:00pm for an easy run planning to do about 7 or 8 miles which would have brought me up close to 50 miles for a great week of running. After about a mile things went bad, very bad. I was coming up to a roundabout with a car driving in parallel to me, I had a look and he wasn't indicating so i presumed he was going straight on. Yes, you guessed it, he wasn't. I ran out to cross over he took a left and bang! It felt like everything was happening in slow motion, i was half way across when i realised he had turned, then it was oh sh1t he's going to hit me, bang against the bonnet (which are remarkably bouncy by the way), up into the air for what seamed like an eternity then crash down onto my back followed by my head walloping against the road. When my head hit the road my reaction was oh hell that is not good. I opened my eyes and everything was swirling around, my eyes closed again i lay there in the middle of the road with arms and legs spread out like a star. The driver came out and looked down at me, he was in as much shock as i was, he just looked at me without saying much. A couple of more people arrived shortly and they started to give me attention, a few minutes past and one of them asked the driver when was the ambulance due, at which point they realised the ambulance wasn't called. I lay there for about ten minutes, eyes closed doing a lot of moaning and heavy breathing and then a fire engine arrived. I don't know why a fire engine came, maybe there was one locally. An ambulance arrived a few minutes later and put my neck in a brace and put me onto a board. I wasn't feeling much pain at this stage but the back of my head was bleeding and by all reports i had an impressive looking bump. When i got to the ambulance i was brought straight into a cubicle where they did a thorough check for neck and spine injuries but all was good. Bar the cut and swelling to the head and a few other scratches i was in remarkably good condition. Bloody lucky. I don't know how i got away with what were more or less superficial wounds. It could easily have been a hell of a lot worse. Anyway, i was released from hospital this morning with no more than a few scratches and bruises and a sore head. Incredibly lucky.

The main thing is that the legs are fine so there will be no problems getting back running in a few days! You have to get your priorities right.

Anyway, apart from the obvious it was a great week of running. I did about 42 miles, with a nice 14 mile LSR, a good 800's speed session and an excellent tempo run. Hopefully i'll be able to get back out again in a few days.

Ososlo

Omg thankfully you're ok! What a scary experience. Don't be in a hurry to get back! You must've been very shaken.
Recover well and quickly!

RayCun

wow, get well soon!

Ed Mc

Bloody hell! speedy recovery.

tang1

Jaysus,take your time coming back, dont be rushing.

ECOLII

Glad to hear to got away relatively unscatted.

Look after yourself and be sensible over next few days

blockic

That was an experience! Wish you well in the recovery..I can see how it could easily happen!

Tom Joad

Scary stuff - glad you are ok. Take care

P_Fitz

Monday, easing back into it

Distance: 3 miles
Pace: 9:03

Tonight was my first run since my accident a few weeks ago. I thought i was grand at the time of my last post but my back wasn't quite right and it has taken until now to get back running. It's great to get back out running again it really gives a lift to the evening. I'll be taking it easy for a while before i get back into full training.

Tom Joad

Great to see you back at it.

annapr

Welcome back. Very scary what happened to you. Take it easy.

P_Fitz

Things are going good again, back is almost 100% good. Here's a run down on what's been happening

Tue, Feb 17th
This was a club run night when we were meant to be doing 2 * 20min tempo runs. I was going good until about 15mins into the first run and the back started to hurt so i slowed it way down for rest of the evening

Wed, Feb 18th
Easy 5 miles, 8:45 pace

Thurs, Feb 19th
Club run, took it easy again, 9 miles at 8:05 pace

Fri, Feb 20th
Easy run, 7 miles at 8:09 pace

Sat, Feb 21st
First full proper speed session since coming back. 450m Hill run, splits:
1:51
1:55
1:55
1:53
1:54
1:55

As you can see, bar the first one, they were consistent. The last time i did this session my average time was 1:53 so I haven't lost much speed since i was off.

Total mileage for the week was 35 miles which i'm delighted with.

Sun, 22nd Feb
My hamstring had been a bit tight the day before and was still tight this morning. I was in two minds on whether to have a rest day (i ran the previous 6) or run anyway. I was itching to get going so I decided to do a run on a threadmill with a decent incline at 9:00pace, this gave me a good run with the shorter steps making it easier on the hamstring. I did 6 miles.

Mon, 23rd Feb
Rest day (and the hamstring was fine).

P_Fitz

Tuesday, 24th Feb
Another tempo run with the club. The tempo runs are still hurting my back, i had to stop this early. The back pain then put me out of action for a few days.

Sunday, 1st March
Lovely 13 miles at 8:30 pace up and around Bohernabreena resevoir. It was bloody cold, there were hail stones on the way up followed by snow, I was well wrapped up so it wasn't too bad. The place looked fabulous with the fresh snow on the ground.

Monday, 2nd March
Easy 7 miles at 8:20 pace.

Tuesday, 3rd March
Club session, hill sprints 280m:
1:07
1:05
1:05
1:06
1:04
1:06
1:03
1:04
1:03
1:04

Fairly consistant splits there.

Wednesday, 5th March
7 miles, 8:40 pace but I felt like i was pushing harder. I've been feeling tired this week for some reason.

I'm signed up for the Bohermeen 10km on Sunday. I haven't done a proper tempo session in over a month so I don't know how i'll get on. Hopefully the back will be OK. My 10km PB is 39:01 which is one of my softer ones so i hope to go under 39mins.

P_Fitz

Well, i pulled out of the Bohermeen 10k. I decided on Friday to cut out the tempo work and races for a few weeks and hope the back fully heals.

Friday, 6th March
My daughter was at hockey training in the evening so i took the oppurtunity to get a run in then. I ran 5miles around and around and around the pitch, at 8:00 pace. Boring as hell. My pace was quicker than had been of late which is good.

Sunday, 8th March
The usual run up and around Bohernabreena reservoir. Five of us went, 14 miles at 8:20 pace, a lovely morning for it. Thoroughly enjoyable, i love the long runs. I was tired after.

P_Fitz

Tuesday, 10th March
I like writing these logs when things are going well and today was one of those days. We had a club session where we were running 8 * 5 mins with 1 minute break in between. These were to be run at lactate threshold pace or the pace for an hour race. My pace should be 6:20. I deliberately took it relatively easy so as not to hurt the back, i kept at the slower pace for the first 6 with no ill effects on the back so for the last 2 i put the boot down. The back held up fine which is fantastic. It was a little bit uncomfortable later in the evening but still a big improvement. The run was up a slight hill for the first 5 mins and back down again for the next 5 mins so every second split is faster. Split paces were:

7:04
__6:38 (the tab indicates downhill)
6:58
__6:33
6:51
__6:10
6:12
__6:02


Total mileage for the day was about 10 miles.

P_Fitz

Wednesday, 11th March
A good 8 mile run this evening at 7:51 pace. This was the fastest easy run in a long time, no problem with back at all. Splits were:
8:01
7:28
7:34
8:08
8:01
7:59
7:45
7:54

Thursday, 12th March
Another really good club session. 6.5 miles at about 6:55 pace. The watch ran out of storage memory after 2 miles so I've only that pace to go with, but the pace was fairly consistent. Total for the day including some easy miles at the start and end was about 10.5 miles. 42 miles for the week which i'm happy with.

I've a cold today (Friday), three days of tough running probably didn't help the immune system.

I hadn't planned to, but i'm going to sign up for the St. Patrick's day 5km. Hopefully the cold will have cleared up, I'll have to pick up my number on race day which is always a pain. All going well I'll be aiming to do it in 18:30, you'll find out Sunday evening how i get on!

tang1

Good luck Sunday, your coming back into form nicely.

P_Fitz

Sunday, 15th March
18:59 in the St. Patrick's day 5km. Very disappointed and I've no excuses, the course is dead flat and the weather was perfect. I felt i put in a good effort but I just didn't have it.

I ran 18:20 in the Donore Harriers Jingle Bells 5km before Christmas, it had a sizeable down hill but i was still still hoping to match it. My goal for the year is 17:59 so I've a hell of a lot of work to do. Km splits for the day were:
3:37
3:39
3:44
3:49
3:49
The splits should have been 3:40min/km to get 18:20. My watch said i ran 5.09km with an average pace of 3:43 which would have given me a time of 18:35. There was a lot of zig-zaging on the course, I'll really need to be more carefully running the tangents in future, maybe cycle the course.

Anyway, the next goal is the 10mile Battle of Clontarf in Raheny on Easter Monday. I'll be aiming for 64mins for that, hopefully that'll go better.

P_Fitz

Sunday, 15th March
I was annoyed after the MSB 5km so i went out again that evening, i felt like i wanted to run it again but put in a greater effort. I wasn't intending to go too far but i ended up doing 7.5miles at 9:00 pace. It doesn't say much for the effort i put into the race if i can run that distance on the same day. I was going to leave that run out of this log but i said i might as well me honest and confess.

Monday, 16th March
An uneventful 3.7miles at 7.55 pace.

Tuesday, 17th March (Paddies day!!!!)
My usual longish run up to the reservoir with 4 others. 11 miles at 8:30 pace.

I'm going to reorganise my training plan from now on. I'm going to reduce the distance of the easy runs but increase the pace. Also, I'm going to add in an additional speed session on the Saturday. New plan as follows:

Sunday: 14 miles at 8:00 - 8:30 pace, distance and pace will depend on who's running with me
Monday: 3 mile recovery run at a maximum of 8:30 pace
Tuesday: Speed session with club, the distance before and after adds up to about 9 miles
Wednesday: 5 miles at 7:45 pace
Thursday: Tempo run with club. The tempo run itself is 6.6 miles. Including before and after this comes to 9 miles.
Friday: 5 miles at 7:45 pace
Saturday: This was previously a rest. Hill sessions. 5 miles in total running.

This adds up to about 50 miles for the week. I'll be racing from 5km to 1/2 marathon this year and i haven't geared the plan for any particular race distance. I just hope to hell i don't get injured.

Any thoughts and feedback on this would be very much appreciated.

Tom Joad

P_Fitz wrote: »

I'm going to reorganise my training plan from now on. I'm going to reduce the distance of the easy runs but increase the pace. Also, I'm going to add in an additional speed session on the Saturday. New plan as follows:

Sunday: 14 miles at 8:00 - 8:30 pace, distance and pace will depend on who's running with me
Monday: 3 mile recovery run at a maximum of 8:30 pace
Tuesday: Speed session with club, the distance before and after adds up to about 9 miles
Wednesday: 5 miles at 7:45 pace
Thursday: Tempo run with club. The tempo run itself is 6.6 miles. Including before and after this comes to 9 miles.
Friday: 5 miles at 7:45 pace
Saturday: This was previously a rest. Hill sessions. 5 miles in total running.

This adds up to about 50 miles for the week. I'll be racing from 5km to 1/2 marathon this year and i haven't geared the plan for any particular race distance. I just hope to hell i don't get injured.

Any thoughts and feedback on this would be very much appreciated.

Is this a reaction to your disappointment when the 5k? Think you are being hard on yourself after the 5k- you missed the guts of a month after your incident with the car and have had to cut a few sessions short with the back. Are you fully over those niggles??

I think you might be upping the intensity a wee bit too much too soon and could be risking an injury especially given your recent niggles. I thought your previous plan was fairly solid and I would be inclined to stick with that and give it the time to reap the rewards.

P_Fitz

Thanks for that TomJoad, somebody else has said the same. I'm going to cut out the Saturday speed session, for a while anyway, and see how i get on. I'll review the schedule at a later date. Thanks for the feedback.

No problem with the back when running, thanks for asking.

P_Fitz

Wednesday, 17th March
Headed out with another lad from the club, we did 6 miles at 8:00 pace. There was a fair lump of a hill (stocking lane) near the end of the run which was hard work. I was tired after.

Thursday, 18th March
Tempo run with the club. The plan was to do the first of three laps (2.2mile lap) at a decent pace, then pick it up for the second lap and then slow it down a bit for the final lap. Lap paces were:
7:16 min/mile
6:50 min/mile
6:56 min/mile

We didn't slow as much as intended on the last lap but it was a good session, and i felt strong.

Race pace for the ten mile will be just under 6:30 min/mile.

9 miles ran in total

P_Fitz

Saturday, 21st March
Well there's been a change of plan again. A coach in the club did up a plan for me for the next two months which will include the third speed session on the Saturday but I'll be introducing it gradually. Some real positive feedback from him regarding goals and ability which is great to get. Saturday's are awkward for me because my wife is doing a course for the day. I went out for the first of these sessions when she got home at 6:00. The sessions will be a combinations of hills, tempos and parkruns where possible. I went up to the Hellfire club on a beautiful sunny evening, I live just at the base of the Dublin mountains which is great. There, I did 4 * 2 mins at pace with 1 min jog in between. These will increase to 10 reps in future. A lovely evening for it and all went well. 4 miles in total.

Total mileage for the week was 46 miles.

Sunday, 22nd March
Went out with another lad from the club on my usual reservoir run at 12:30 which is a few hours later than normal. I was absolutely wrecked. I ran 10 miles (shorter than normal) at 8:30 pace. So lesson learned, no training the evening before the long run (or what should be anyway). Next week I'm going to get up early on Saturday before the wife goes to her course, do my mini speed session and be back for 9:00. Bit of a pain but what can you do.

P_Fitz

Monday, 23rd March
To be honest i don't remember anything about this run so it can't have been too exciting. Going by the watch i did 5 miles at 8:04 pace, as per my schedule.

Tuesday, 24th March
Great club session. Run for 5 mins at 10 mile pace, then a 40 second rest and then back to the starting point at the same point. So, everybody was back at the starting point after every second leg. There were 8 legs up a gradual incline so every second leg was a pick quicker. My paces were:
6:24 min/mile
__6:09 (decline)
6:26
__6:07
6:23
__6:09
6:25 (but i had to stop early, not running related)
__6:04

I'm planning my 10 mile race pace to be 6:24min/mile (64 mins) so I'm happy with my progress. As I said, a great session and full credit to those who but the effort into organising it for everyone in the club.

Thursday, 25th March
The wife was going to the cinema on Wednesday night so I missed out on my planned 8 mile run. On thursday we had another great club session, I don't mean to be immodest but I'm delighted with how I'm progressing of late. Three loops, 2.2 miles each, around a park and some housing estates in Firhouse. Five of us started out together and did the first loop at 7:13 pace. We dropped two lads on the second lap and did that at 6:49. On the third lap one of the lads pushed on and about half way around the other lad dropped off. I did the last lap at 6:34 pace. As I mentioned earlier my planned race pace for the Brian Boru 10mile next Monday week is 6:24 so I was very happy with these times. The fact that i didn't run the day before helped a lot with my pace.

Friday, 26th March
Oh bloody hell what can I say about this. My daughter was playing hockey this evening so I spent the hour running around the pitch. 48 long boring laps. An awful run, just going around and around. Friday is my rest day but because i had to take Wednesday off i did the 8 miles tonight instead. I hope to hell the wife isn't going to the cinema next Wednesday.

My training plan has me down to do speed sessions on a Saturday. I was intending to introduce them gradually after the coming weeks but after running this evening and a planned long run on Sunday morning I'll have to give it a miss. No harm mind you.

I've started to eat a bit better. I was good with eating plenty of fruit but I'm starting to drink more water and eat less fatty food too. I'm also going to start doing some core work; sit-ups, press-ups, plank, various leg lifts etc. Hopefully this will all help a bit.

Total mileage for the week was 42 miles.

Phew, that was a long one.

P_Fitz

Sunday, 29th March
Eleven of us headed off up to the Bohernabreena reservoir. Wet miserable morning but nice to have a much bigger group than normal. 14 miles at 8:23 pace. I had blisters when i got home, they weren't sore at all, i only noticed them when i took my socks off, i had blisters the previous long run too which is strange. I don't know why I'm suddenly getting them, nothing has changed in terms of shoes or socks of late.

Monday, 30th March
This was meant to be an easy 5 mile but the wife was heading out so i had to get back in a hurry to look after the kids. Pace was 7:46, i would have preferred something gentler.

Tuesday, 31st March
Great club session. Twenty minutes at 10 mile race pace, then 3 min break followed by another twenty minutes at 10 mile race pace. My planned 10 mile race pace (to get 64mins) is 6:24. This is for the 10 mile race in Raheny on Easter Monday. I did the first twenty minutes (3.16 miles) at 6:21 and the second twenty minutes at 6:18 which i'm happy with. I might even drop my goal time a bit for the race, i'll see on the day. My time for the last race i did was much slower that what i was aiming for so I won't get too cocky.

RayCun

great run in those conditions

P_Fitz

Wednesday, 1st April
8 mile easy was on the menu today. I headed off with another fella from the club, we had to go our separate ways after about 4 miles as he needed to get home early. It was wet and windy and at about the 5 mile mark things began to get uncomfortable, I'll let you join the dots but when i got home i needed two plasters and a big dollop of vaseline. Not nice.

Friday, 3rd April
The wife was away on Thursday so I was on babysitting duty and missed the club session. No harm anyway because i was still a bit tender from the previous day. Friday is my rest day so there way no problem switching the rest day. I was off work for Good Friday so i decided to head up the hills. I live in the last estate before you hit the Dublin mountains which is great. Within 5 minutes of leaving the house you can be climbing steep country roads. I headed up to the Hellfire Clubhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montpelier_Hill, a tough 2.5 miles climb. I took a short break there enjoying the fantastic view before heading back down through Massey wood, onto Cruagh Rd then along Mount Venus Rd, past the DSPCA and back down to Firhouse. The woods were very mucky and could have done with a pair of trail shoes. Anyway a great run, 8 miles at 8:43 pace with a total climb of 520m.

I've started using Garmin Connect and Strava, i've always just used the training centre software that came with the watch. I'm finding it a real pain to sync with the watch, completely unreliable. I've spent about an hour trying to upload this run and it's doing my head in, grrrrr. No problem loading the data to the training centre software.

I'll do an easy five mile tomorrow morning which will bring my weekly mileage up to 48miles. My training plan has me down as doing an easy 4 miles on Sunday too, I don't know whether or not I'll do it, I've never ran the day before a race before. Anyway, Brian Boru 10 mile on Easter Monday here I come. I'm feeling nervous already.