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Running in the Real World
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Nice work on the parkrun Anna
I don't envy you, I really dislike the pain that comes with the 5km.
Ballina is a very pretty place to run isn't it? and Belleek woods are special. There's a half marathon coming up there in May you know
Haha, you never give up
. We did notice the signs for the half... Belleek woods are very special, and the Moy estuary, really enjoyed it. 0 -
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just to finish last week first...
Sunday, April 23: 80ish easy
11.7k @ 6:40; 7.2 mi @ 10:44
Lovely run after junior parkrun from st Anne's to the wooden bridge, along the beach and back for a lap of the park, in the sparkly company of Mrs kennyg.
26.3 mi for the week
Week of April 24
Back at work, interfering with my running again. :rolleyes:
Wednesday: Easy/progression
6.6Km @ 5:50; 4.3 mi @ 9:24
GAA training for the u-8, this week D entertained the u-7, so this turned into a bit of a progression run, the flow interrupted only by stopping to take photos of the amazing evening sky over Bull island. Lovely evening, lovely run. Felt great. Found D and u-7 hanging off an exercise machine on the seafront on the way back.
Saturday: 48 min easy including 6 x strides
8Km @ 6:02; 4.9mi @ 9:42
Felt very clunky starting off, you know when every limb seems to be working against you. As always felt better when I settled into it. On the advice of Dr D, decided to keep this easy but incorporating 5-6 strides.
Did the first 2 strides uphill on Ballymun Rd, just for a bit of extra effort. Then did 4 more on Griffith Ave on the way home. Started with 15-20 secs, but stretched the last 2 to 32 sec each. I tried to focus on form and being controlled. Delighted to see a pace of 3:58/km for the 5th one. I know it's meaningless but still.
I signed up for the paced mile next Sunday in the PP, I can watch the 6min smackdown from way behind. I've never done one and figured it would be a good tune up for Terenure.
Sunday: 95 min easy
15.2Km @ 6:17; 9.4 mi @ 10:06
RD-ing at Junior parkrun this morning so after doing the results etc. went out with Mrs Mc and another parkrun volunteer. It was windy so we decided to avoid the coast, did a lovely loop of the perimeter of St Anne’s, then Mrs Mc and I did another half loop before I left her to come home along the seafront. Happily the wind was from the southeast so at my back on the way home for a change. Felt tired at times and not properly hydrated but overall, my endurance is definitely improving.
18.7 mi for the week (only 3 days running)
And tomorrow's a bank holiday ...:D 0 -
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May, seriously, where is the year going.
Monday May 1: 40ish min easy
6.6 Km @ 6:12; 4.1 mi @ 9:59
Took advantage of the bank holiday to go out the seafront in the afternoon. Lovely sunny day with a cool breeze. The seafront was thronged with runners, walkers, cyclists, a real bank holiday feel to it. Kept this one very easy after the longish run yesterday. Pleasant run except for dodging lots of little flies along the coast.
Spent some of the BH afternoon researching half marathon plans and timing, to get me to Charleville. Also came across the 'best 10k workout ever' thread and might give one of the sessions there a shot this week since it should apply to 5 miles as well. What's another 2k after all.
Thursday, May 4: To Easter Island Head and back easy
7km @ 6:11; 4.3mi @ 9:58
Got home later than planned again, ended up going out about 8pm... lovely bright evening on the seafront but windy enough. Turned around to come home to be blinded by the setting sun... shouldn't complain but had no choice but to run towards it and could see nothing, very uncomfortable. Felt a bit wobbly at times, at one point i had this strange sensation that my legs were not connected to me, going in circles... I considered turning around early or taking a break on one of the seats but kept going and was fine and felt strong by the end.
Saturday, 6 May: Second fastest parkrun ever (for me)
5k @ 5:07/km; 3.1 mi @ 8:12
In my quest to continue to get back closer to parkrun pb, I accidentally enlisted FBOT to pace me to sub-26 min today (all Mrs Mc's fault). Was hoping this morning he might have other things to do, but he arrived at St Anne's with a look of intent. Nowhere to hide!
Arrived early and did a few km round the park to warmup, there was a buzz because looked like Mick Clohisey was running. Lined up beside FBOT for the start. He told me not to talk... and not to feel I had to answer him when he talked... that was a relief. I told him I was aiming for 5:10/km... he gave me a look that said I am not going to speak that language and told me to leave all that to him.
First Km felt very comfortable, shout out from Laura on marshalling duty. M*'s advice was not to overdo it on the downhill, we'd need it more in the second lap. Fairly strong wind, luckily against us in the downhill and behind us along the coastal section. Second Km still ok... breathing hard getting to the top of the hill... D was on timer and called out the time at the halfway point, I didn't want to hear it... 12:56 maybe... then struggling to get past the despair and back to the downhill... barely saw Laura as we passed her the second time, pure relief to be going downhill again... wind assist along the coast, really struggling to stay at M's shoulder as instructed... just as we got close to the bottom of the hill another regular came up and joined us, giving me lots of encouragement. Somehow made it up the hill, the final corner... M says go for it, you can put up with anything for 30 seconds... fell over the line in 25:31....
So what I wanted to practice today (and last time when BG paced me) was not letting the negative self-talk stop me... I tried to banish all the 'you can't do this, you can stop,' visualising myself walking.... and replace with 'you can do this', I used the old DG, check yourself, are you in pain... I used the when you feel like you're flagging is the time to push more... I used the BG on a scale of 1-10 what's the pain level (closer to 8 this time)... and BG's breathe in through your nose... and when all else was failing and I really wanted to stop... 'you can't let yourself down in front of M'...
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I'm going to try to remember all of this for Terenure next week.
M is a pacing pro... exudes calm and confidence... and offering well timed words of encouragement or advice. Thanks M!
Splits (that bloody 3rd Km letting me down again):
Km: 5:05, 5:10, 5:19, 4:52, 5:00 (Km)
Mi: 8:16, 8:22, 8:02, (7:30)
Very wobbly for a while after, light headed.... but nothing a scone and coffee couldn't fix. The Claw smashed the course record in 14:46... I think he was trying to lap me but I held him off
Realised after that this is my second fastest parkrun ever and my third fastest 5k... so that feels like progress.
Heading to the Park tomorrow for the Irish Runner paced mile, have never done one of those so should be fun.
*FBOT... Not the Claw0 -
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Well done yesterday, Anna. Just so you know the 3rd km included the hill for the first time so a drop in pace there was to be expected. I don't think the 3rd km let you down at all. I think you held everything very steady throughout the first 3 kms and set yourself up well to take advantage of the downhill in the 4th km to push on for a strong finish. 30sec negative split should give you great confidence to keep going in the right direction. I think a similar strategy should be the plan for Terenure. Set yourself a reasonably challenging but achievable goal then pace yourself for that throughout the first 3-3.5miles and then push on if you can.....and remember you can put up with anything for 30sec or even 60secs if you really want it
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Sunday May 7: Irish Runner paced mile and recovery run
11.8 K/7.3 mi for the day
Well that was a bust.
Made some rookie errors... 1) did not adjust for my 5k effort yesterday 2) went out for a drink (or two) last night 3) went off at 7:30 pace instead of starting with a slower pace and picking it up if possible.
I did wonder when I got up if I should do this, wasn't feeling energetic. But the Park was glorious this morning, arrived in plenty of time and the relaxed setup was great. Did a bit of a warmup with D and KennyG, then went up to the start. Myself and one other woman thought we were aiming for 7:30 so we were assigned a pacer. The pacer led a vigorous warmup and I was knackered after that.
Within about 200m of starting, I was already struggling to keep up with the pacer, breathing was heavy, head was woozy, knew I shouldn't be trying to do this, so stepped off just before 400m where the DNS support crew were stationed. I suppose I could have just slowed down, but I would have been running on my own so didn't see the point.
It was great to see D and KennyG both getting PB's... very exciting to see the final countdown on the clock in the last 100m.
Will definitely give these another go though, very relaxed and friendly event.
No regrets anyhow, I decided to run home from the park and quickly realised that I shouldn't have done anything more than a recovery run today... I had no energy, felt weak all the way home, thankfully it was downhill along the canal.
Beautiful day, happy with my week's work. Garmin tells me I had a PR for 1 mile (7:52) and 1k (4:46) yesterday so I'll take that.
21.1 mi for the week.0 -
Well done yesterday, Anna. Just so you know the 3rd km included the hill for the first time so a drop in pace there was to be expected. I don't think the 3rd km let you down at all. I think you held everything very steady throughout the first 3 kms and set yourself up well to take advantage of the downhill in the 4th km to push on for a strong finish. 30sec negative split should give you great confidence to keep going in the right direction. I think a similar strategy should be the plan for Terenure. Set yourself a reasonably challenging but achievable goal then pace yourself for that throughout the first 3-3.5miles and then push on if you can.....and remember you can put up with anything for 30sec or even 60secs if you really want it
Thanks M, good advice and thanks again for excellent pacing yesterday! 0 -
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Wednesday: GAA Training run
6.3K @ 5:59; 3.9 mi @ 9:37
Deposited both boys to GAA and had an easy run out the sea front. Would have done 4 mi except I had to get back to make sure the u-7 was behaving.
Saturday: 20ish min easy plus strides
4.44k @ 6:13; 2.7 mi @ 10:01
U-8 match in Na Fianna gave me the opportunity for this, did a few leisurely loops of lovely Griffith Park, looking gloriously green. Added 6 x c.15secs strides to keep the legs ticking over.
Ok, maybe I tapered a bit too much.
Sunday 14 May: Terenure 5 mile (42:56)
8.1 K @ 5:21; 5 miles @ 8:35
I like this race, fond memories of my 5 mile pb (41:18) from 2015. I knew I was nowhere near PB territory, but last week's parkrun of 25:33 gave a McMillan prediction of 42:22 or 5:15/km. So I decided I would try to do that, and if I was feeling good in the second half might even sneak under 42, but the main goal was to do better than Raheny (43:04) and do 42:xx. And also to forget the nightmare I had here last year.
Preparation could have been better -- a night out on friday night, more wine last night, poor night's sleep. But felt good when I got up this morning. We got a lift from Ferris who had to collect his number, so we got to the race HQ before 9:30 :eek:. I was a bit jealous of BG heading off to get breakfast to fortify her for supporting. I did a couple of easy Km as warmup, although it seemed too soon to warm up. Met lots of people gathering.... boardsies, parkrunners, etc.
After what felt like hours hanging around (because it was) the race:
Started well, felt very comfortable in the first mile... I wasn't looking at the watch too much, just a glance to check the pace. First Km was a bit fast, but ok because slight downhill.
...except my mouth was very dry and I felt parched (I'd been sipping water right up to the start so shouldn't have been a problem)....
It got harder after that, 2nd Mile was endless, waiting for the water station to appear. I had to stop to get a bottle of water as they struggled to keep up with the demand.
Back around then towards Terenure and that stretch down past Bushy Park and the College was a killer -- relentless sun and heat, I was very happy to turn back again and get to the 4 mile mark. But I knew I was slowing a lot, and while the wind was cooling it was gusty enough.
The best thing I can say is that when I did start slowing, I didn't let myself away with it... tried to stay focused on people in front of me, told myself not to go over 5:30/km... When I turned what I thought was the final corner, I told myself 3 mins from here, you can still get under 42 mins... turned out to be the wrong corner :pac:
Struggled to the end, don't think I mustered much of a finish but happy to get there.
Overall, a little disappointed I didn't get closer to 42:00 but happy to have done better than Raheny (just about) and to get under 43 (just about). Still heading in the right direction (just about). Last year I was almost a minute slower and really struggled, so while it was tough at times this year, I think I was in better shape for it.
I would like this race a lot more if they could arrange some cloud or even rain.
Great to see loads of people there... well done to Mrs Mc on her PB (only one of the day I think)... big thanks to BG, HelenAnne, Hillsiderunner for the shout outs at different times, it really does help.
Lovely cakes in the hall afterwards and the Erdinger was very refreshing. Really well organised race with great atmosphere.
Splits:
Km: 5:09, 5:15, 5:28, 5:25, 5:15, 5:15, 5:30, 5:28, (5:21) -- so i was on target for almost half the race
Mi: 8:21, 8:40, 8:37, 8:35, 8:45
Mileage for the week: 13.1
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