Faster

Maximus Alexander

You'll take me to the cleaners once you get yourself back onto a plan, but I'll be nipping at your heels to keep you honest.

tailgunner

hillsiderunner wrote: »

Yep.

And I noticed (even) I have higher mileage than TG for the final three months of the year!

(twas a good year for you for sure , TG, but time to get yourself onto a plan)

I know. I'm fast becoming one of those auld fellas propping up the bar, boring everyone with how "I ran a marathon once, you know".

Maximus Alexander

In fairness, only for I so spectacularly failed at DCM I might be in the same boat. It must be hard to stay motivated after putting in a huge block of training and then actually hitting your main goal for the year. You might need to marry yourself to some other target now with the same force that you had for Berlin.

tailgunner

Yeah, that was why I was looking at doing a half marathon soon. The problem is that I'm so out of shape, I'd be looking at running a modest PB at best, and I don't think I could motivate myself to do that. At least with the shorter stuff, you can keep going at them every few weeks.

And to be honest, as bad as the last few months have been, I've enjoyed at least getting out and racing a couple of times over the last few weeks.

I do need to get myself onto a plan though, so I'll do that very soon!

Annie get your Run

tailgunner wrote: »

Yeah, that was why I was looking at doing a half marathon soon. The problem is that I'm so out of shape, I'd be looking at running a modest PB at best, and I don't think I could motivate myself to do that. At least with the shorter stuff, you can keep going at them every few weeks.

And to be honest, as bad as the last few months have been, I've enjoyed at least getting out and racing a couple of times over the last few weeks.

I do need to get myself onto a plan though, so I'll do that very soon!

Good plan to focus on the shorter stuff for now, you'll be back flying it in no time, it won't take you long to get back to fitness this time so while you feel your miles off it, a few weeks consistent training will have you back running well in no time.

So, what plan have you decided on? and what's your first target race?

Maximus Alexander

There's nothing wrong with the shorter stuff. I'm leaning in that direction myself for the first half of the year. I reckon I'll tackle the 10k-HM graduate plan for a nice mix of pace and mileage and then replace some of the Saturday workouts with parkruns. Have you any plan in mind yourself? Your marathon plan was interesting (though would have been too tough for me at the time), so I'd be interested to see what you might produce.

tailgunner

Tuesday, 3rd January 2017

6 miles
1:00:10
10:01/mi

Same as the day before, but in the dark and freezing cold.

Annie get your Run wrote: »

Good plan to focus on the shorter stuff for now, you'll be back flying it in no time, it won't take you long to get back to fitness this time so while you feel your miles off it, a few weeks consistent training will have you back running well in no time.

So, what plan have you decided on? and what's your first target race?

I thought I'd get away with being vague!

I haven't decided on a plan yet, but the target race is on the 19th March. I've a choice of 5k or 10k. I'll do an eight-week plan, so I've a few weeks to decide anyway.

Honestly, all I want to do right now is string a few uninterrupted weeks of running together. I'll do a parkrun or race at the end of this month and see what sort of shape I'm in then.

The Muppet

tailgunner wrote: »

Honestly, all I want to do right now is string a few uninterrupted weeks of running together.

Thats exactly how I feel. A number of times now I have set deadlines to get back to it in a serious way but it's yet to happen.

Next week is the latest deadline , I just have to do it then.

annapr

The Muppet wrote: »

Thats exactly how I feel. A number of times now I have set deadlines to get back to it in a serious way but it's yet to happen.

Next week is the latest deadline , I just have to do it then.

+1 except my post marathon slump lasted for all of 2015.... still trying to come out of it.. decided now that taking it one week at a time is the way to go.

tony1980

The Muppet wrote: »

Thats exactly how I feel. A number of times now I have set deadlines to get back to it in a serious way but it's yet to happen.

Next week is the latest deadline , I just have to do it then.

I'm the same TM, finding it hard to get motivated and I have definitely lost fitness since the marathon. It seems to be a common trend especially after the first one. We put in months of hard work so I think we are ok to drop it down a notch for a couple of months :P

tailgunner

Thursday, 5th January 2017

9 miles
1:29:29
9:56/mi

We'll call this the long run for the week. I spent so long wrestling with a pair of running tights (the temperature was in the minus figures), I figured I'd make the most of it once I finally got them on. Most of it was at a very easy pace, but I picked it up a little for the final few miles. The last one finished with a sprint, as I was trying to dip under a 9 minute mile. It's a sorry state of affairs when that feels like a challenge!

tailgunner

Friday, 6th January 2017

4 miles
39:42
9:55/mi

Easy recovery run. Well, a little less easy than most of my running lately, but it felt more comfortable.

Sunday, 8th January 2017

6 miles
59:25
9:54/mi

More easy running. A bit of respite from the cold weather, so I got away with a single layer. Very muggy though, which affected the breathing as usual.

Picked up the pace a bit towards the end, and found it a lot more comfortable at that pace again. Not sure what's going on there, but surely it's a positive sign.

31 miles for the week. All easy running, but a decent start to the year. More of the same for the next week or two, and I should be good to start into a plan then.

tailgunner

Monday, 9th January 2017

6 miles
53:48
8:58/mi

There was howling wind and rain outside when I got home from work, and I initially wrote this off completely. Got an attack of the running guilts later on though, so off I went. First time in ages that's happened, so hopefully it's a sign of the motivation returning!

The rain had stopped and the wind had died down by the time I got out, and it was nice and quiet on the roads. Decided I'd pick up the pace a small bit when I was coming to end of the first mile and soon I was trucking along at MP. So much for easy running!

Carried on at that pace for a while, then picked it up again towards the end. The legs were tired at that stage, but it felt quite comfortable in general.

No cool-down because I was a bit stuck for time...

Splits: 9:53, 9:01, 9:02, 8:58, 8:44, 8:09

tailgunner

Tuesday, 10th January 2017

5 miles
48:18
9:39/mi

The legs were a little stiff after the previous day's effort, but nothing major. Probably ran this a little quick for a recovery run but the effort felt genuinely easy, so hopefully the old aerobic system is getting used to things again.

Rest day today, and I might tackle a tempo run tomorrow if the forecasted ice and snow fails to materialise.

tailgunner

Thursday, 12th January 2017

5 miles
46:50
9:21/mi

This was an ill-advised attempt at a tempo run. To be honest, I should have left it off, as the conditions weren't great. No snow to be fair - well, a bit of sleet - but it was very slippery.

Anyway, I went with it. Did a two-mile warm-up, and then upped the pace. I wanted to do three faster miles, but left it at two in the end, as it was getting very hairy on the route I was on. Not too bothered about cutting it short, but I'd hoped it would be faster for the effort. Ended up with 8:12 and 8:13 splits.

Bit disappointed with it really. I'll have another go next week.

tailgunner

Friday, 13th January 2017

10 miles
1:38:57
9:53/mi

I finish work a little early on Fridays, which meant I had about 45 minutes of daylight for this. It was meant to be a recovery run, but I felt pretty good so carried on. I guess I didn't really have much to recover from in hindsight!

This felt a lot better than the last few long runs, but I still I feel like I'm more tired than I should be by the end. A few more of these under my belt should sort that out hopefully.

Sunday, 15th January 2017

6.01 miles
57:19
9:33/mi

Felt great for this, and even threw in a couple of strides (literally two!).

32 miles for the week. Still fairly modest, but there were a few faster miles in there so I'm happy enough. More of the same this week, but I'll pull it back a small bit before the weekend. I'm either going to do a parkrun on Saturday or a local 10k race on Sunday, depending on the weather.

The Muppet

Don' t be overdoing it on those strides.

tailgunner

I might shoot for 3 this week!

Maximus Alexander

Madness, you'll blow out your hammers! Mind yourself ffs.

tailgunner

Monday, 16th January 2017

6 miles
54:49
9:08/mi

A slightly better attempt at a tempo run. Just about managed three miles at target pace this time (8 minute miles), but it was a major struggle. It didn't help that I had to do it as a commute either, but sure it's done.

Splits: 8:07, 8:00, 7:53

tailgunner

Wednesday, 18th January 2017

5 miles
45:29
9:06/mi

I've settled on doing the local 10k race this Sunday instead of the parkrun. The main reason being that there's at least the chance of a PB if I don't feck it up altogether. So in the interests of pulling back the mileage a bit to freshen up the old legs, I left this at 5 miles.

I didn't feel like an easy run, so the plan was for steady pace. Got a bit carried away, so most of it was at MP in the end... I pulled back a bit for the last mile though, so at least that served as a cool down. Sort of.

I'll do a very easy 4 miles or so tonight, possibly introducing as many as three(!) strides.

The Muppet

tailgunner wrote: »

Wednesday, 18th January 2017


I'll do a very easy 4 miles or so tonight, possibly introducing as many as three(!) strides.

Nobody likes a show off. :eek:

Kennyg71

tailgunner wrote: »

Wednesday, 18th January 2017

5 miles
45:29
9:06/mi

I've settled on doing the local 10k race this Sunday instead of the parkrun. The main reason being that there's at least the chance of a PB if I don't feck it up altogether. So in the interests of pulling back the mileage a bit to freshen up the old legs, I left this at 5 miles.

I didn't feel like an easy run, so the plan was for steady pace. Got a bit carried away, so most of it was at MP in the end... I pulled back a bit for the last mile though, so at least that served as a cool down. Sort of.

I'll do a very easy 4 miles or so tonight, possibly introducing as many as three(!) strides.

Carefully with strides, aggravated my hammy doing them, it was cold night
but thought had sufficatlty warmed up. Best luck with race.

tailgunner

Thursday, 19th January 2017

4.5 miles
46:24
10:19/mi

Never did the strides! Legs were very heavy for some reason, and my left hip felt a bit strained all day. No idea what caused any of that - I wasn't exactly hammering it the evening before or anything. Had to do this as a commute anyway, so just kept things very easy and took the direct route home.

The hip was fine during the run, and it's feeling a lot better today - it wouldn't surprise me if I strained it putting on my socks yesterday or something equally ridiculous.

tailgunner

After three or four weeks of reasonably consistent running, I felt like it was time I took myself to a race to see what sort of shape I was in. My 10k PB (48:20) is soft, at least compared to the rest of them, so I was hoping to at least beat that, and maybe go sub-48. If I didn't best my time from the end of November (48:42), I'd have to ask serious questions of myself.

Anyway, I turned up and registered, then took off for a "warm-up". It was two degrees below freezing, so I was aiming to stop rattling rather than become warm. After 20 minutes of jogging around some football pitches, with rock hard grass from the frost, I decided I was about as warm as I was going to get, and sure what harm if I couldn't feel the extremities of my limbs?

Lining up at the start, we were informed that the city council had forced the organisers to change the route slightly, so we'd be doing five laps of the football pitches. I was expecting a road race, so this wasn't exactly great news. At least it was flat!

Mile 1

A claxon went, and we were off. The initial congestion eased early enough, but there was no sign of a group forming - just a long stream of individual runners - so I just kept to myself and tried not to hare off too quickly. The plan was to keep the first couple of miles around my 10k PB pace (7:47/mi), then push on. I glanced at the watch and saw I was a little ahead of this, so made a conscious decision to pull back a bit. This was a bad idea in hindsight.

Towards the end of the first lap, there was a narrow path with a hairpin turn at the end which necessitated coming to a complete stop before turning around. That was bad enough, but the marshall told everyone to "keep to the right on the way out, and keep to the left on the way back". This obviously led to runners being on the same side of the path, and carnage ensued.

Thankfully it was only a major issue on the first lap, but my head sort of went at that stage. I was disgusted to see the first mile come in at 8:06, and figured all hopes of a PB were gone.

Mile 2

I got back on track a little bit for the second mile, though it was helped by being the only mile that didn't include the horrible out-and-back path with the hairpin, and came in at 7:44.

Mile 3

It didn't feel like I was working particularly hard physically, but I still wasn't having the best time of it mentally. It felt like I had way too much work to do to reel in the time I'd lost on the first lap, and there was a lot of wondering if there was any point. In hindsight, I'm really pissed off with myself for dwelling on this - there was plenty of race left to run, and physically I was going fine. The watch buzzed with 7:54 for the third mile.

Mile 4

Halfway through the race, and some groups had formed. I found myself at the front of mine, and set off to close the gap in front. Managed that fairly okay, though I think they might have been slowing rather than me speeding up. I'm struggling to think of much detail here - there's only so many laps of a football pitches you can do before they all blend into one really. The fourth mile was 7:52.

Mile 5

I think I was lapped for the first time early in the fifth mile. The guy went storming past, breathing very heavily and clearly pushing hard, which led me to question what the hell I was up to, plodding around and feeling okay. It made me push on a bit anyway, and the fifth mile flashed up with a reasonably respectable 7:48.

Mile 6

I was finally working a bit now, with about a mile to go, and reeling in a few people in front. Just after the last hairpin bit, a guy pulled up to the front of the group, and pushed on. I knew he hadn't lapped me, as I'd gone past him earlier, so I went with him. Thoughts of PBs and times were gone at this stage, which was for the best, but at least I had a bit of a race on.

He slowed a bit with half a mile to go, and I reeled him in. He seemed a lot more comfortable than I was, but I was up for some pain. The sixth mile came in at 7:46, but I wasn't looking at the watch at this stage.

I drew level with my new friend, and he instantly surged ahead, leading to an all-out sprint for the line. If he'd kept it up, he'd have won, but with maybe 10 metres to go, he let out a deflated groan and let me slip ahead. I had covered the bit in 1:25 and crossed the line in 48:36. No sub-48, no PB, and only 6 seconds better than my last attempt at this distance...

I'm still waiting on the official result, but it looks like I was 16 seconds off my PB. So while I'm not exactly in the depths of despair or anything, I am a bit disappointed with the whole thing. I think if I hadn't let my brain get the better of me early on, I could have found 15-20 seconds somewhere.

Anyway, I can build from it. There are eight weeks till my next target race on the 19th March, and there's plenty of running to do between now and then.

mbarr

Sounds like not ideal conditions, fair play for making a race of it at the end. Great report and a decent workout at least, and not far off the PB!

tailgunner

mbarr wrote: »

a decent workout at least

Yeah that's how I'm looking at it. Just need to push on from it now!

dazza21ie

Hi tailgunner I wouldn’t worry too much about your time given the conditions that you had, that race will stand to you better than any session

HigginsJ

The mind is a funny thing and you look back thinking what you easily could have done differently. I wouldn't worry too much about the time as the course sounds far from ideal but I would definitely look at the mental side and see what you can learn, what went wrong.

tailgunner

dazza21ie wrote: »

Hi tailgunner I wouldn’t worry too much about your time given the conditions that you had, that race will stand to you better than any session

Hopefully, yeah. I'm just being impatient thinking I can go and run a PB off three or four weeks of mainly easy running.

HigginsJ wrote: »

The mind is a funny thing and you look back thinking what you easily could have done differently. I wouldn't worry too much about the time as the course sounds far from ideal but I would definitely look at the mental side and see what you can learn, what went wrong.

Yep. It's all well and good to run a good race when things are going well, but I seem to find it hard to push myself when a race isn't going my way, so I definitely need to work on that. You can nearly always salvage something from a race, even a bad one.

Now to be fair, it wasn't like I gave up entirely either, but I definitely lost a few seconds to negative thoughts. I think it's probably an indication that I need to race more often.