Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard

Ososlo

Great work C!
Have you a target time in mind for dcm?

tang1

annapr wrote: »

I don't think even Tbl has bought tights on an LSR! (Tang may know better...)

Great going, C!

No, but I've seen him take a pair off before we went for a run though. I didn't ask.

chickey2

Ososlo wrote: »

Great work C!
Have you a target time in mind for dcm?

Up til now I've just been saying sub 4 hours. Going on last year's half time mcmillan says I could do it in 3:50 and Jack Daniels says 3:47. I had thought that was totally unachievable but as I get fitter I'm starting to believe I could target 3:50. I'm going to wait til the half this year to decide.
I'm following the meno plan which has increasing distances at MP. I was doing 5:40 min/km pace but now have increased it to 5:35 (which would be a 3:55 marathon)

Firedance

Nice job C! Lol on the tights, we will have to assume TBL knows all about tights and their recovery properties

Mrs Mc

So impressed you got back for mass as well that has to get you a target time in DCM at least.

chickey2

Mrs Mc wrote: »

So impressed you got back for mass as well that has to get you a target time in DCM at least.

Well DCM is on a Sunday this year.....pretty sure I wouldn't make 12 o clock mass though! I'll be aiming to get to mcgrattans that day!

Bluesquare

Well done on the 20 miler ! How many of these are in the plan? Is the plan board specific ? Hope the tights remained intact !

Bluesquare

Well done on the 20 miler ! How many of these are in the plan? Is the plan board specific ? Hope the tights remained intact !

aquinn

That's super going C. Good for you.

chickey2

I'm lying on my bed with my feet up! It's been a tough week, both running and non running things. I'm still in one piece though!

Tues 30: easy commute. Felt great today despite the 20 miler two days previously. The ocd brigade will hate that I did 12.99km @6:02 HR 151.

Wed 31: 4/3/2/1 mile@MP. This was a tough mid week session. I took an hour off work in the morning otherwise I would have had to get up at 5am! I ran to the phoenix park, did a small lap and then into work. It was a gorgeous morning, made even more pleasant by the rabbits and deer in the park. It was very quiet, I felt I had the place to myself. The MP sections felt good and I hardly noticed the time flying by. I took Anna's advice and programmed the watch in miles but it converted it to km for me so excuse the mix of imperial/metric
4 miles @5:30min/km
3 miles @5:37
2 miles @5:35
1 mile @5:16

Don't know what happened at the last one!
Total 22km

Thurs 01: recovery. Was wrecked today so just did 5.2km@6:49 HR 137. Felt better after it which I guess is the whole point!

Fri 02: took a rest day as I was exhausted.

Sat 03: had hoped to get out but ended up clearing out my wardrobe which took way longer than expected. It's a form if cross training right?

Sun 04: 29 km LSR with 2x5km@MP. I was up early again for this. I took the luas to the museum stop so ran from blackhall place to the walkinstown roundabout along the DCM route and then home. I felt rubbish at the beginning. I think it's the distance catching up on me. HR was a bit high so kept slowing. Looking at the data now I wasn't going that slow, but my pace was all over the place. Took a wrong turn in the park (it so much easier when there's marshals and comes!) but didn't go too far wrong. The park was packed with runners today despite the miserable drizzle. No rabbits or deer today, just lots of slugs! The first 5km@mp went great but that's because it started heading down tower Road so it was almost all downhill. The second 5km was towards the end of the run though and started at the walkinstown roundabout where I then headed up the greenhills Road. Now that was hard! I was tired and it was uphill and my HR went way up. I felt like stopping several times but kept telling myself if I couldn't do 5km at this pace then how was I going to do a marathon! Finally did it and crawled the last 4km home.
First 5km@mp in 5:29 HR 165
Second 5km@mp in 5:35 HR 180 (!)
Total 29km

Weekly total 70.6km. Very tired now.

RedRunner

that's another great week's work. Well done.

denis b

Great work C. If its any consolation I always find that section after Walkinstown Roundabout pretty draining for some reason. Had serious doubts on it during DCM 15 but recovered by the time I got to Terenure. Your training is going well and particularly so on those longer runs for this stage of the schedule.

chickey2

Had a mixed week this week including a mini meltdown on Wednesday but a great 20 miler today.

Tues 6: easy commute. I didn't sleep well thanks to the heat and I couldn't believe how warm and humid it was a 6am. Struggled a bit with this and was a slower than usual
Total 11.8km@6:19 HR 154

Wed 7: plan was 19km(12miles) with 4 x 2miles@HMP. I actually had nightmares about this. Didn't sleep well again and woke at 5am in a panic. I'd set the alarm for 5:30 but stupidly forgot it would be dark and I hadn't laid our any high viz stuff. I checked my resting HR before getting up and it was 72! I kept telling myself I was mad to be up at this hour and why on earth would I want to do a marathon? I got up anyway and got dressed. I was about to have a gel before I set out but realised I would puke if I took it. I was so stressed out i was almost in tears. Thankfully sense prevailed and I went back to bed. I felt awful for the rest of the day and even left work an hour early and went home for a nap. It's the first proper session I've missed so I'm just writing it off. I had a look at the 2013 thread for the first meno plan and was surprised to see a lot of people struggled with this session (if they did it at all) so I didn't feel so bad. I guess it's just accumulation of fatigue and the humid weather doesn't help.

Thurs 8: after a massive sleep I felt a lot better. I considered trying the session but took the easy option which was hard enough! I usually do a short recovery on Thursday but did a commute as I'd nothing to recover from.
Total 13.7km @6:11 HR 156

Fri 9: easy commute. A bit cooler this morning but still feeling a bit off. HR was a good bit lower though.
Total 12.4km @6:12 HR 149

Sat 10: rest, but managed 15,000 steps over the day so not much proper rest!

Sun 11: 20 miles with 10 easy and 10 steady. I headed to phoenix park for this. The plan was two laps of the Frank Duffy route but I got a bit lost so it was bit random! I've done that bloody race three times and checked the map last night but still got it wrong. Anyway, it went really well. The first 10 miles were great. Had to push the effort towards the end but managed to keep the pace. I felt so much better, much more energy and just lighter (even though my weight hasn't changed). Average pace for the first 10 miles was 6:13 and for the second "steady" section was 5:49. My HR was high for the last section though Ave 179.
Total 32km.

Weekly total 69.9km! Typical. Not bad considering I missed a session. Hopefully that's the hump week over.

Firedance

69.9??!!! :eek: between yourself and Anna....

Well done on the 20 miler, I remember mine fondly although I had top notch company for that one You're going great, it's a tough plan there's no doubt about it so no big deal to miss a session at this point.

chickey2

Firedance wrote: »

69.9??!!! :eek: between yourself and Anna....

Well done on the 20 miler, I remember mine fondly although I had top notch company for that one You're going great, it's a tough plan there's no doubt about it so no big deal to miss a session at this point.

It's 43.4 miles if that makes you feel better!

Bluesquare

Well done on the 20 miler ! sounds like you enjoyed it

chickey2

Happy enough with this week. No fifth run yet again but unfortunately there's not enough hours in the week!

Tues 13: easy commute. So dark this morning I had to get the led lights out. It was still quite warm though so it was pleasant enough. I felt great despite the 20 miler and ended up a MP by the end of the run!
Total 11.4km@6:04 HR 145

Wed 14: 22km with 16@MP. I had no problem this morning getting up and out early. I was commuting again so decided to do a few laps of tymon to make up the distance. Got there just as it got light. I won't be able to run there at this hour unless I get a head light. I settled into MP easy enough and the time flew by. There's a guy I often see in tymon in the mornings out for his walk who always says hello. Today I passed him three times, on the third pass he said "would you ever go home and have your breakfast!" It's a great feeling to have over a half marathon done before work!
Total 22km, 3@6:36, 16@5:36, 3@6:06 HR 157

Thu 15: recovery. 6.3km@6:43 HR 141

Fri 16: rest.

Sat 27: 18 miles alternating 2 miles easy with 2 miles MP. I usually do my long run on Sunday but I had a busy weekend including a night out on Saturday so knew I had to get the long run done early Saturday or it wouldn't get done. As I was short of time this was another laps of tymon run. I programmed the watch so I wouldn't have to think much and set off. It's funny how I said to OH as I left I was "only" doing 18 miles! I had a bagel with jam before I left and 500ml water plus zero tab and then picked up a bottle of powerade at the basketball arena about half way. It was horrible but did the job and perked me up.
Total 29 km, MP sections @ 5:35/5:43/5:39/5:44

Weekly total: 68.7km

So I'll doing the half next Saturday. The plan is to race it but I'm not convinced. It's been so long since I've done half marathon pace I'm kind I'd scared I won't be able. I missed the HMP session last week. I'll have to just trust the plan though, it's written to incorporate a half at race pace. My pb is 1:49:59 so I think I'll just head out with the 1:50 pacers and if I feel up to it at 10 miles then push on.

I feel crap after the weekend. Lots of crap food, late nights and way too much alcohol. Will do my best to be good this week!

I signed up for the "run the line" race in November. I was just thinking I should have a post marathon goal to stop me vegetating once it's over. I just hope the weather is a bit better than last year!

Firedance

chickey2 wrote: »

I signed up for the "run the line" race in November. I was just thinking I should have a post marathon goal to stop me vegetating once it's over. I just hope the weather is a bit better than last year!

Brilliant! a partner in crime did you sign up for the long or the short course?

Best of luck on Saturday, your plan sounds like a good one as no doubt you'll be able to push on at mile 10.

chickey2

Firedance wrote: »

Brilliant! a partner in crime did you sign up for the long or the short course?

I signed up for the short course. Should be plenty!

chickey2

Dublin half marathon
Chip time:1:49:15
Previous pb:1:49:59

Managed to squeeze in a pb! Just about. Considering I almost didn't run at all, I'm quite happy with that. I'd been feeling tired during the week and had a scratchy throat and just felt blah. When I saw the weather forecast I couldn't bear a repeat of the 10 miler so I seriously considered pulling out. I had a list of excuses but then I was on here last night and everyone was so positive, I couldn't come on here today and say I wussed out! So I told myself I'd be happy doing sub 2 hours, all I had to do was run it.
So glad I did. The weather wasn't as bad a few weeks ago, although it was very warm. I lined up in wave 2 but wasn't sure where to go. The pacers only arrived a few minutes before the start so there was a bit of moving around. I ended up between the 1:50 and 2:00 pacers so was happy there. The start was congested as usual but I didn't notice as many going at the wrong pace.
I kept the 1:50 pacers in view and just ran. I saw TGFR with her balloons but missed aquinn despite looking out for her! By mile 6 the pacers were pulling away and I was feeling like I'd never make it. I took my first (and only) gel at this stage and resigned myself to not getting a pb (despite promising myself I wasn't aiming for one!)
So I relaxed a bit and before I knew it, the gap was closing on the pacers. When we got to the start of the last hill, the DJ there started playing uptown funk which really spurred me up the hill and I realised I might just catch the pacers. At this stage last year I was barely running, but this year I felt so much better. When we hit furze Road I knew I'd catch them. Meno lost his balloon so had borrowed one of TFGRs polka dot ones so I just focused on that! He turned around and shouted me on so I just went flying past him. Looking at the stats, at this stage I was at 10 k pace and managed to beat my max HR (which was 205 but is now 208!) I was so glad to cross the line.
Thanks do much to TFGR for the lovely flapjacks and thanks to all the supporters (even though I didn't see you!)
I vegging on the sofa now with a nice cold cidre, think I'll need an early night though.

Firedance

chickey2 wrote: »

Meno lost his balloon so had borrowed one of TFGRs polka dot ones so I just focused on that! He turned around and shouted me on so I just went flying past him.

Lol I hope someone got a pic of that well done on the PB, funny how once you relaxed the pace came naturally.

Mrs Mc

Good stuff C congrats on the pb.

Bungy Girl

Well done, C ! Great result. Enjoy le cidre .

Murph_D

Congrats, C - nice going.

Younganne

well done on the PB, mighty training going on here!!

annapr

Well done, C... And well deserved with the training you've been doing. Sorry I missed you yesterday, sorry I missed the flapjacks too!!

denis b

Lots of grit on show C. Package your success for the marathon. Congrats on a fine run.

Singer

Nice work C, great finish. 3:55 still the plan?

chickey2

Singer wrote: »

Nice work C, great finish. 3:55 still the plan?

Yeah I think I'll stick with that. If I can hold a pace of between 5:30 and 5:35 min/km that would be about right. I'm going to aim for that for all the MP runs left on the plan. I'll be happy with anything under 4 though!
It's getting real now!

aquinn

That's super going. No chance of seeing you as crowds around the pacers were massive.

Well done, glad you turned up and raced.

I saw meno with the polka dot, gas.