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Running in the Real World
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Erdinger :eek: my favourite recovery drink. Terenure are now on notice that I will be there next year. This race was on my to do list except that I got my 10km dates mixed up so had to miss out.
Have noticed that you have your running appetite back Anna. All those GAA early summer fixtures will bring on your running and help with the endurance in every sense of the word
. Enjoy. 0 -
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Nice stuff A! Not sure the grape-based carb loading the night before was the best plan, but you did pretty well anywayYour consistency in training and wine drinking is paying dividends, well done Delighted to see you enjoying running and racing again.
My preparation followed the Singer method
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Monday: Rest, brisk walk to and from school (does 20 min walking count as cross training?) and lots of stairs at work, no ill effects from the race.
Tuesday: Early morning recovery run
5.1k @ 6:10; 3.1 mi @ 9:55
These early dawns are playing havoc with my sleep... the dawn chorus is getting louder and earlier. Wide awake at 5, back asleep by 6 when the alarm went off, dragged myself out by 6:30. Nice and easy out the coast, past the ever building morning rush hour, sporting my Terenure tshirt. Warm and humid morning, almost collided with a bike on the ridiculous cycle path outside Fairview Park, where it changes from one side of the path to the other... luckily the cyclist shouted from behind and we exchanged sorry and thanks... no aggro at all.
A pair of swans flying low over the estuary, thankful for that sight.
Wednesday....
raced home from work late for GAA training, changed into running gear in record time, sat in traffic because of a checkpoint in Clontarf (apparently a Hutch or Kinlan lives on Castle Ave)... finally deposited boys to the pitches, only for u-7 to start a little enthusiastically... let's just say he could have a future in the Ulster championship... so I had to stick around although I felt like slipping off and disowning him.
All that a long way of saying it turned out to be a rest day!
Thursday: to donegal after work.
Friday: 52 min easy
8.5k @ 6:07; 5.2 mi @ 9:50
Lovely run around the hills with D. Nice and easy with a few strides at the end.
Big excitement in the townland tonight because a squad car was spotted for the first time in living memory... apparently some houses were broken into last night but we can rest easy because the guys were arrested... supposedly from Cork and Belfast
Oh and there's a nest in our postbox, complete with 5 little chicks, hoping we haven't scared the parents away... and to complete the avian theme, heard the cuckoo today...
Considering some parkrun tourism tomorrow, considering Letterkenny, Sligo or Enniskillen... although the idea of sleeping in might just be more appealing than leaving the house at 8am....0 -
Saturday: Sligo parkrun
5k @ 5:19; 3.1 mi @ 8:32
Decided on Sligo this morning and left the house just after 8, arrived around 9:20, found the parkrun sign and parked about 20m from the start. D went off to do a warmup and I went in search of a toilet, but didn't find one and by the time I was starting to look for a tree it was time for the briefing.
Think there were about 30-40 runners and the RD caught me by surprise with her sudden 1-2-3- off. I just wanted to do this easy so settled in behind a couple of girls, feeling very comfortable. Glanced at the watch after about 500m and was surprised to see 5:20 pace. The course goes up into a park and two loops around a walking/cycling path... there's a decent climb up to the top of the field (twice) and a lovely downhill back around with a downhill to the finish. Felt really comfortable throughout this, only working a bit hard on the last Km passed people on the hills (up and down) and really enjoyed it, taking in the views of the Dartry mountains from the top half and spotting D in the distance already starting his second loop.
Met D at the finish, where he was still proudly holding on to his number 1 token... first finisher, woop woop. Between that and his Donadea 50k tshirt, he was being treated like an elite by the other runners
Delighted with that run today, it felt so easy compared to Terenure last week at the exact same pace... what is up with that. Maybe it was the distraction... the pain of needing to pee was worse than the pain of running, might be a lesson there for the future :eek:
Splits: 5:20, 5:25, 5:34, 5:04, 5:07
No official result yet.... but watch time was 26:49. (Official time 26:45)
Cool down (and pee behind a tree) along the lovely lake path... it's a beautiful spot, Benbulben looked spectacular across the lake.
Very enjoyable morning and D is still on a high 0 -
To wrap up last week a final run in Donegal....
Sunday 21st May: 12k Easy
12k @ 6:13; 7.4 mi @ 10:01
Made this 12k just to break 20mi for the week. Out and back up the hills, bit creaky at first but by the time I turned back I was in the zone. Very enjoyable run. Tried to catch a pheasant for about 100m (running on the road, not flying), those birds are faster than they look.
20.5 mi for the week
Monday: Rest
Tuesday, 23rd May: 12 x 400m/2min @ 5k pace :eek:
10.3k @ 5:59; 6.3 mi @ 9:38
By my standards, this is a monster session. I haven't quite landed on a HM training plan so have been looking at D's fancy Hanson spreadsheet and decided to try this, the first session on it. D's encouraging comment: that's not a session to do before breakfast. :eek:
Worked out that my current 5k pace is in or around 2 mins for 400m. Programmed the watch last night for 5:00-5:10/km, then hardly slept worrying about it.
Out to a beautiful morning, still and lovely. Warmed up to Alfie Byrne road then did most of the intervals on the seafront to the wooden bridge and back, with the final 3 from there to Fairview park. Unlike some around here who prefer to repeat the same 400m, I prefer to feel as if i'm going somewhere.
Had no idea if I'd be able for this, think the most I had done this year was 5 x 2 min, and never did 12 reps of anything... so kept the pace conservative and took the maximum recommended recovery time (100% of the rep time).
The first couple felt really comfortable, told myself I could bail after 6 if necessary, then extended that to 8, then what the hell, did all 12. I was amazed that the pace felt fine, the 2 min reps felt short. When I looked at the reps on garmin a few were a little bit slow so that explains it (number 10 included stopping to go through the gate of the park).
Splits: 5:05, 5:08, 5:10, 5:02, 5:03, 5:05, 5:01, 4:57, 4:43, 5:14, 4:47, 5:14
Could it be that I'm actually getting a bit fitter..... I even stayed awake in work all day after 0 -
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Friday, May 26: Korinthos running
8.1 K @ 6:01; 5mi @ 9:41
Lucky to be in Greece on hols for the next week. Even though the weather is better in Ireland at the moment. Out before breakfast along the gulf of Korinth, lovely calm water, not too hot. Felt very tired and sluggish so quickly abandoned any plan of doing 3m at tempo. Did 1k at almost tempo so that will have to do for now. Despite that i can still fill a little virtuous.
Straight into the sea after for a dip in the running gear... the girl where we are staying told us the water's cold, but it was lovely. Definitely not the North Atlantic.
Saturday, May 27: Nea Kios running
8.1 k @ 6:12; 5 mi @ 9:59
Out before breakfast again, on a lovely cliff path from Nafplio, such a beautiful place to run. Did the first 4K with D, he went on a bit further and I came back. Same as yesterday, I felt very creaky at the beginning but was feeling better towards the end, even with a steep enough hill thrown in.
Can I count climbing around various ancient ruins as cross training?
The smugness from home about the weather being better there seems to have washed away this morning
Happy parkrun day everyone!0 -
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Sunday, May 28
10k @ 6:22; 6.2 mi @ 10:14
Woken by church bells at 7 (:eek:) this morning after a relatively sleepless night. Went out for a run at 7:45 or so, the same cliff path again but further this time, 10k in the Hanson plan. I've felt sluggish, breathing not great here, maybe it's the humidity. But persevered and did the 10k, slugging away up the hills. Rewarded by beautiful views. Over 20 miles again this week, my modest goal achieved.
Weekly total: 22.6 mi
Week of May 29
Monday 29: Rest... and hiked up and down 1000 steps to Palmidi Castle, a bit of cross-training I suppose, my calves were not happy with that, but it was worth it for the views.
Tuesday 30 : Session Day -- half a session is better than none :cool:
Plan: 8*600 @ 5k pace. Actual: 5*3 min @ 5k pace
8.5k @ 6:43; 5.2 mi @ 10:49
D had found a local public running track, which we recce-d yesterday (oh how our holiday routines have changed). I'm piggybacking on his Hanson plan so we both had the same session prescribed. He didn't approve of me converting the 600's to 3 mins, but it worked for me for programming the watch (since my target time was 3 min anyway). I've never trained on a track before, it was a nice public facility, with a little stand, next to a swimming pool and tennis courts. Not bad for bankrupt Greece.
Anyhow, up early, nice warmup around the cliff path... but I had no energy and was feeling very sluggish approaching the track. Decided early on not to attempt all 8 based on how I was feeling. Happy enough to do 5 reps, I was overheating in the sun. I took the full 3 min recovery allowed too. First 4 reps were on pace -- 600m in 3 mins, final one slowed down considerably. Happy enough with that in the circumstances. I am on holidays after all!
Splits: 5:00, 4:58, 5:00, 5:01, 5:21 (target: 5:00)
D of course, being the smug consistent person he is, nailed the 8 reps.
Strava tells me I'm 3rd on the alltime women's leaderboard for one of the laps
There were a few locals using the track... mostly walking around it. Can't figure out why they would walk around a track when they have a beautiful sea front 100m away, but they seemed content enough.0 -
Wednesday, 31 May: 6k easy
6.4k @ 6:26; 3.9 mi @ 10:22
Ran along the beach in Kardamyli, very beautiful place, very few options for running that aren't vertical. Still not feeling very energetic but got out there and did it and enjoyed the scenery.
Thursday, 1st June: Vyros Gorge Hike
10.2k @ 21:24; 6.3 mi in 3:07
Tempo thursday as D eagerly calls it and off he went at 7am to do his tempo run. I on the other hand took a rest day, and then we did some cross-training hiking up a gorge and back down. Fantastic scenery but hot, stupidly wore a cotton tshirt which looked very unattractive by the end with all the sweat! Almost the only people we saw in four hours were four Dutch hikers, all in their proper hiking gear who all looked at my sandals and tutted that they were the wrong shoes. Pfft. We still left them in the dust though.
Friday 2 June: Easy
6.1k @ 6:43; 3.8 mi @ 10:49
Considered doing the tempo today, but I'm finding running in the heat difficult and I'm knackered from lack of sleep so decided to keep this easy. Out the beach road again, struggled even at easy pace. Finished off with a really lovely dip in the sea, so refreshing and the water is so clear. Thus concludes my Greek running for now.
Saturday, 3 June: 5 miles easy
8.2k @ 6:14; 5.1 mi @ 10:01
Long day, up early to drive to the airport then flying home. Out the sea front around 6pm into the lovely evening, fresh after rain, pleasantly warm and a refreshing breeze when I turned around. Dublin Bay is not the Med, but it's always lovely to be home... and this is a much better climate for running, at least for me.
Sunday, 4 June: 7 miles easy
11.4k @ 6:09
Up early yet again and volunteering at St Anne's Juniors... the park looked beautiful in the morning sun (who needs Greece?!). The course record was smashed by a 14 year old who did the 2k in 6:29, having finished 2nd in senior parkrun yesterday in an age record of 17:18... lovely running style and a joy to watch. Also a joy to watch the other 215 or so kids and their enthusiasm. One little fella, after about 1k, in response to my encouragement almost stopped and said dead serious: "I'm running out of steam..." then kept going... He looked about 4. :pac:
To finish off a happy morning, I had the joy of doing 7 miles with the irrepressible aquinn who is coming back strong from her injury. Lovely chatty couple of loops of St Anne's. Legs felt fine and didn't feel the time going.
25.2 mi for the week. So, I didn't do the tempo or finish the speed session, but happy enough with that. I was on holidays after all 0 -
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I am seriously impressed with your running on holidays Anna #goals can't see me being that committed. Will be looking forward to your progress on the Hanson plan to see how you find it. You're in the cool gang now
Ha, one day back at work and I've fallen off the wagon again.... :cool:
setting the alarm for dawn now :eek:0 -
Week of June 5
Monday 5th : Rest (planned)
Tuesday 6th : Rest (AKA wimped out before work and after work)
Did I mention I read the whole entire Hanson HM book while on hols... very sad I know. They insist on Tuesday and Thursday being session days (or SOS... something of substance runs) and are quite religious about it being the same day every week. Oh well.
Wednesday: 6*800m @ 5k pace
12.4k @ 6:12; 7.6 mi @ 9:59
Up early for this, before breakfast, before coffee... sigh. Plan has 6 x 800 with jog recovery for 50-100% of the interval time, and 1-3 mi warmup and cool down. Target time for the 800's was 4 min and I decided on 3 min recoveries.
Warmed up out to the sea front and into the rising sun, noting that there was a good breeze behind me. This was a tough session, pace felt fine with the wind at my back but when I turned back into the breeze, the effort went way up. The first one was ok, second one I said no way I can do 6, so I tricked myself into thinking this was the last one... needed all of the recovery and really struggled. A bit of a fail because I had to pause briefly during a couple of the intervals. Then when the watch started telling me I was going too slow, I was so tempted to give up but told myself just finish them, even if you don't hit the target, get as close as you can.
The cooldown felt awful, legs were just not working... I had the strange sensation of my legs just bonking, D told me that's lactic acid build up (never knew what that was before). Next thing I'll be getting tight calves (no idea what those are either).
Splits (times): 3:59, 3:59, 3:54, 3:56, 4:19, 4:02 A bit of a cheat because I paused in a couple of them.
Bloody starving when I got home and knackered all day after. "Cumulative fatigue" (?) in Hanson speak.
Thursday 8th : 6k easy
6.3K @ 6:17; 3.9 mi @ 10:06
Dragged myself out of bed into heavy rain, legs were sore from the day before, didn't have headphones for a podcast... first 50m, ugh this is going to be miserable... but then something happened and it turned into the most enjoyable run ever. Splashing along leafy greeny Griffith Avenue in the early morning with the fresh rain, fantastic run, very enjoyable.
Friday: nada
Convinced myself that I would do the planned tempo in the evening between work and going out for dinner... I need to be more honest with myself. The only guarantee that I will get my run done is if I do it first thing in the morning. Lesson learned.
Saturday 10th: 9k easy
9k @ 6:09; 5.5 mi @ 9:53
Another lovely run, hungover from a night out on Friday, finally able to move at around 5pm, running is a great detox. Windy and warm on the seafront... nearly lost my hat again.
Listened to an interview with a Saudi woman, human rights activist who was arrested for driving... really despicable that Ireland helped vote them onto the UN Women's Rights commission. Women are not allowed to do any sport there, along with a host of other restrictions and abuses of their rights. Grrr. :mad:
Sunday 11th : 8 mile LSR
13.1 K @ 6:22; 8.1 mi @ 10:15
Sandwiched between junior parkrun and 7 year old birthday party.... Felt like a slog most of the way, but wasn't as slow as it felt when I uploaded it. Warm out, was happy to be back in the shade of Griffith Avenue.
Volunteered at Albert College junior parkrun this morning, celebrating their first birthday, great to see it and there was cake
The week:
25.3 mi (.1 mi more than last week!), but only 4 days running. Still haven't managed to tackle a tempo session. Happy enough though even if I'm not a Hanson purist so far.0 -
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Monday, Tuesday: Rest
Tuesday, thought I had set alarm for the morning but i didn't. Thought I would go out after work but I didn't.
Wednesday 14: 5 x 1k @ 5k pace, off 3 min recovery
11.4k @ 6:06; 7.1 mi @ 9:49
I had a sharp twinge in my knee going up and down stairs yesterday and it felt a bit tender when i got up this morning, so I wondered how it would react to running. With the watch set and all my potential excuses lined up, I headed towards the sea front. Only a mild breeze today, from the east for a change.
Knee and everything else held up ok during the warmup, so said I would try one rep and see how that went. First rep was fine, into the breeze, had to slow myself down at the beginning but felt like I could do another one. Tricking myself like that seems to work... thought I was great on the 4th one, then remembered it was 5 reps :eek:, got it done anyway. Much better than last week's 800's, no stopping this time.
Reps (target was 5:00): 5:02, 4:49, 4:56, 5:08, 5:00
Enjoyed spending Weds evening at Trinity track, lovely evening to be in town watching other people running... nice to meet Wubble Wubble, see Adrian just pipped at the post and of course D winning a mug
Thursday, June 15: Easy/Recovery
6.7k @ 6:19; 4.1 mi @ 10:10
Nice easy recovery run with track fairy D. I could feel various muscles in my legs from the session yesterday, not in a bad way. Knee is perfectly fine again, weird huh?
Friday, good intentions got me nowhere.
Saturday: St Anne's parkrun (5k @ 5:37; 3.1 mi @ 9:15)
8.5k (5.1 mi) total including w/up & c/d
I keep avoiding the tempo sessions on the plan, there was a 4 mile tempo this week, but as I didn't do the 3 mile tempo last week, I thought I might use parkrun for that, which would have been about 8:45/mile or 5:25/Km. With being out last night and the heat this morning, I quickly abandoned that idea for a sociable trot around with aquinn. As it happened, it turned into a bit of a progression run, with at least the final mile faster than tempo. Very enjoyable, I like the new/old course better, but you can't beat that final 400m down the avenue. So can I claim that as a kind of session.
10 miles to do tomorrow before getting on the road to Clones (darn 2pm match starts).
Sunday, 18th: 10 miles LSR
16.2K @6:24; 10 mi @ 10:18
Got up just after 7, almost gave in and went back to bed... went southside for a change, down the docks to Ringsend and Sandymount Strand. Quickly realised that i needed to be in shade for as much of this as possible so came back via the leafy and shady Merrion Rd and Dodder.
Evidence of a warm summer saturday was everywhere... overflowing bins, rubbish, drunks (at 7am... clearly I'm not living the life!). Pity because otherwise it was a lovely morning. Run was fine too. I was starving by the time I got home.
No comment about Clones, except it was very hot and exhausting. The 7 year old wasn't impressed at the facilities (spoiled by Croke Park) or the result.
26.5 mi for the week. One of these weeks, I will get out 5 days and break 30. 0 -
Week of June 19
Monday: Rest
Tuesday 20: No session
7.3k @ 6:15; 4.5 mi @ 10:03
Took advantage of having the morning off for school sports day to go out at the very civilised hour of 9:30. Session was supposed to be 4 x 1200 @ 5k pace, so went up to Albo thinking I could do the intervals there. Was feeling wrecked after a poor night's sleep. Started the first one and just didn't have it in the legs so abandoned after about 500m and settled for an easy run instead. When I got home, D said, why didn't you just adjust downwards and do the intervals at 10k pace. Duh, never thought of that. The tyranny of the watch beeping at me would have been too much.
Wednesday 21: more easy running
8.1k @ 6:08; 5 mi @ 9:52
Back to normal pre 7am running. Didn't attempt tuesday's session today either, reasoning that I would save myself for 'tempo Thursday'. Can't remember much about this run.
Thursday: Tempo Thursday... nope, rest day. :rolleyes:
Friday, 23: 60 min with 20 @ HMP
10k @ 6:00; 6.2 mi @ 9:39
Woken up by the wind in the middle of the night so decided to stay inland, doing the tempo on a Griffith Ave/Homefarm rd loop. The Hanson plan is up to 4 miles tempo, but for this week my main focus was getting the mileage up a bit so was happy enough to do a tempo session from the good old Clearlier plan, already programmed into the watch. Tempo was at HM pace, target 5:25/km. Actual pace was 5:17. The pace felt comfortably hard, if that makes sense. Enjoyed this run, maybe before 7am is becoming my best time to run :eek:
Saturday, 24: 5ish Miles Easy
8.25k @ 6:18; 5.1 mi @ 10:09
Spent the morning in Howth, at the scenic Binn Eadair GAA pitch, admiring the views to the Mourne mountains (more interesting than the u-7 blitz on the pitches). Followed by a lovely walk on the pier with the 7 year old. Didn't get out until 6pm, which was probably just as well because I was a little hungover earlier after a work night out. Did the default seafront run, turned back into what felt like a lovely cooling breeze at first, but soon started to feel like a gale to struggle through. Felt like going to sleep after it but somehow managed to go for a drink and be out until all hours.
Sunday : 12 mile LSR
19.5k @ 6:21; 12.1 mi @ 10:13
The omens were not good for this run, another night out last night with the St Anne's parkrun core teams, in bed at 2, out early to volunteer at junior parkrun. We weren't at our best this morning, a little more chaotic than usual, with 237 kids and their parents wondering why things were so slow to get going.
After delaying as long as I could, decided to head towards the Phoenix park. Went up the canal from Cross Guns and was enjoying the tranquility of it so much that I just stuck to the canal instead of going to the park. The stretch between Ashtown and the m50 is so lovely and peaceful. I crossed the m50 (first time for that), marvelling at the layers of transportation spanning the centuries. Stopped feeling philosophical shortly after that as tiredness kicked in, but it was all downhill to home. This was the only run done as prescribed in the plan. Longest run since I don't know when, but held up well and mostly enjoyed it. So knackered after it.
But the good news is... 33 miles for the week. Happy with that week's work and never drinking again 0 -
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No kidding, G, too easy to find excuses if I don't do it first thing. Next time, I'm going to be smart like you and do my LSR BEFORE the night out... except of course I'm never drinking again..
All joking aside I can thoroughly recommend that. No hangovers, no lost days etc
That's a great weeks work Anna.0 -
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Week of June 25
Monday: Rest
Tuesday: Home alone so couldn't go out in the morning and worked late so enforced rest.
Wednesday: 4 X 1200 @ 5k pace, w/3 min recovery--sort of
11.4K @ 6:05; 7 mi @ 9:47
Couldn't get up early enough this morning so made a big effort to get out of work as early as possible. Nearly falling asleep in the car on the way home, almost talked myself out of going for a run, then almost talked myself out of the session.
Felt lively enough on the warmup, target time for the 1200's was 6 min (5:00/km).
First rep into the breeze on the sea front, pace felt fine although 1200m felt very looong. Walked/jogged the recovery to the wooden bridge. (6:00 min)
Turned around for the second rep, felt warmer with wind behind me, counted down the lamp posts until the 1200 was done. Decided I could manage one more. (5:52 min)
Into the breeze again, the 3rd one felt longer... possibly because it took longer. (6:09)
Towards the end I was starting to feel the need for a toilet and began to fear a bowel malfunction. Whatever about being a real runner, Clontarf seafront is not the place for it. :eek: Luckily 1) I was close enough to the garage beside the yacht club which has a toilet so took a break there and 2) I had enough change on me to buy a lucozade sport.
Coming out of the garage, I was feeling a bit dizzy, walked back across the road and felt a bit better. Decided to give the last rep a go but had to stop after about a minute because my legs were so wobbly and I was afraid I was going to faint. Abandoned the interval and jogged slowly home.
Lesson learned... not easy (for me anyway) to do a session at 6:30 pm, after only having a small salad at lunchtime.
Thursday, Friday: maybe I was coming down with something, rather than just bonking on the session. Continued to feel a bit dizzy/wobbly so decided rest was needed.
Saturday: Donabate parkrun (26:24)
5k @ 5:17; 3.1 mi @ 8:30
Decided on some parkrun tourism for a change, but still not feeling right this morning. After a great week last week, I wanted to have some quality this week even if I'll be doing well to break 20 miles. So planned on using parkrun for the tempo session. Collected Laura_ac, did several circuits of Newbridge demesne before finding the entrance but arrived in time to be welcomed by the Donabate crew and meet aquinn, yaboya and OH's.
No warmup, started off with Laura and aquinn, both of them grumbling that they were looking for a nice chatty 30min run, not tempo pace (around 27:05). We stuck together for the first couple of Km, then Laura told us to go on and aquinn sped off into the distance, getting her mojo back for sure . The grounds of Newbridge are beautiful and the course goes through lovely woods (knew the garmin would be useless so didn't look at it too much)... then doubles back a couple of times, which was fun greeting people... yaboya in 2nd place, D, etc.
Spotted some llama, highland cows and baby goats
I felt like I was working hard enough through this, even though I had still been feeling iffy before it, once I started running i felt better (there's a lesson there!). Had enough left to try to catch the guy in front of me in the last 400m but he heard me coming and left me in the dust.
Target HMP is 5:25/km; pace here was 5:17 so a bit too fast. If Garmin is to be believed, final 2k were more like 5k pace than tempo. Delighted with that anyway.
Short cool down and coffee with the gang after.
Sunday: 10 mile LSR
16.1K @ 6:16; 10mi @ 10:05
I have a bad habit of lying awake wondering whether I should get up and do my run early. Result is no sleep and no run :rolleyes: . Started that about 5am this morning. I heard one of the O'Donovans (Gary I think) talking about how he trained himself to sleep well because he didn't ever want to find himself unable to sleep before an Olympic final and he got his 8 hours+ the night before in Rio. I'm very envious, and wish he had shared the secret technique!
Anyhow, decided to do the run after junior parkrun, instead of before. Parkrun took longer than usual due to barcode scanning problems... 238 juniors is a lot to process manually :eek: (thanks Laura for the help!). Finally escaped in the company of KennyG (leaving most of his family behind to sort out the results) who was doing a recovery run.
We did a couple of laps of St Anne's, G very helpfully keeping the pace slow enough for me. We had a very sensible conversation about how I shouldn't push it to do 10 miles if I wasn't feeling great, I decided I would settle for about 7-8... then G headed for home and I kept going until I hit 10 miles. Great to have the company for the first half.
20.6 mi for the week, just about stayed in the 20's... only 3 days running but at least I got the two sessions and long run done. I'll take that for this week.
Docklands 5k next Thursday evening... all going well, hoping for a sub-25.0 -
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Monday, July 3: Rest
Tuesday, July 4: 5 miles easy
8.7k @ 6:15; 5.4 mi @ 10:04
Hot hot hot going out towards Clontarf, the air felt thick with humidity. The breeze on the way home was very welcome. I feared for Docklands 5k if this weather continued.
Wednesday: Rest
Thursday: Docklands 5k
7.6k total including w/up and c/down
Walked into town with BG, left her for her marshalling duties and found Laura opposite the Ferryman.
My most recent paced parkrun was 25:33, including the St Anne's hill. On a flat course and after a lot more 5k pace training, sub-25 was my A goal. My B goal was to continue to show progress and beat 25:33. Warming up with Laura, we discussed strategy, she thinking she might go for sub-24, but both decided to start ahead of the 25 min pacers.
What i remember of it:
Lined up in front of the pacers and listened to the announcer trying to get the eager fast people to move back behind the line so the race could start :rolleyes:
First km... pace just under 5:00/km, felt comfortable, thought I can maintain this pace for a while....
Second Km... the ultra cheery, relaxed 25 min pacers drew closer behind me and I could hear them chatting casually and waving at faster runners on the way back. Still bang on time, feeling like it was hard work now but ok.
Turned around at the Point, with the pacers slightly ahead of me, congested here and I got caught behind a few people who slowed me down a little.... the pacers got further away and I never caught them again. Even so, I was still on track when the watch beeped 3k back at the Samuel Beckett bridge, where BG was marshalling and I think missed me both times.
After that it just got tougher. Struggled past aquinn at chq, turned onto the bridge thinking this should be the home stretch and then realised we hadn't hit 4K yet.
When 4K beeped it was 5:20 and i thought... 'it's gone.' The pacers were well ahead now. It felt a long way down the quays to the finish line... i did a quick calc and thought if I could just hang in I could at least do better than 25:33... usually I can finish with a bit of energy. Not this time, in the final 400m, people were streaming past me and I almost stopped, slowed down to a trudge for a bit, then gathered myself again and got myself across the line.
Dripping sweat. Chip time 25:36. 5:07/km
Splits: 4:55, 4:58, 5:02, 5:17
, 5:08, (4:28*)
*my garmin puts it at 5.05km... if you take away the .05 I hit my B goal. Must run straighter next time...
Reflections: Annoyed with myself that I couldn't have taken 4 seconds off that time! Pacers are great when you can keep up with them, but a bit disheartening when you see them disappearing into the distance... I just didn't have the energy in the last km.
Highlight of the evening was a sneaky drink on the way home and jogging home from the pub
Friday: Rest and drive to Donegal. Almost went for a run at 10pm when we got there, it was so bright and beautiful evening. But didn't.
Saturday: 11k easy
11k @ 6:12; 6.8 mi @ 9:58
A spectacular day for running in the hills, did the local loop... blue sky, sunshine, a cooling breeze, deer, hares... perfect. Very enjoyable.
Sunday: 20k lsr
20k @ 6:17; 12.4 mi @ 10:06
More normal weather today... light rain when I started out. Picked an out and back route that would be mostly uphill on the way back (and with plenty of hills on the way 'down' too). Turned onto an exposed road beside the sea and got a blast of wind and horizontal rain, what could I do but laugh out loud. The few motorists that passed me were peering out through their windscreen wipers wondering who this mad person was. A pair of cyclist tourists passed me (going uphill and into the wind) looking miserable.
Last few uphill miles were tough and I can feel the effect of the hills in my muscles now.
29.5 miles for the week. I considered adding a mile to break 30 but I reckon the hills this weekend made it feel like 30+ 0
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