Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard

chickey2

Tues 21: 13km with 2 sets of 5x150m (250m recovery, 4 min between sets): I'm guessing this session would be best run on a track but I don't have access to one and I have to incorporate my runs in to my commute so there was a lot of guesstimating the intervals. I had to factor in junctions, paths, gates, people and dogs! When I got home and checked the distances on the Garmin I was surprised to see I wasn't too far out on most of them.
Total 13km @5:56 HR 153

Wed 22: 11km general aerobic: Since I'd been doing a lot of running in to work (all downhill) I thought I'd better try a run home (all uphill) to remind myself my easy pace isn't really that fast. Big difference! I ran at the same effort as I run in but ended up going almost a minute per km slower. I didn't help that there's a lot more traffic and people about at 6pm compared to 6am!
Total: 11km @6:29 HR 155

Rest day today and it looks like tomorrow will be too which isn't in the plan :-(

chickey2

I'm eventually getting around to updating.
As I thought, Friday ended up as a rest day as it was just so mad I couldn't fit in a run. Saturday was supposed to be a rest day but as I'd missed Friday I headed out. i was toying with the idea of doing a parkrun as I rarely get the opportunity to run on Saturdays. I was also wondering was the paced miles on in the Phoenix park. i ended up heading into the Phoenix park with the back up plan of a run there if there was no paced miles. I got off the Luas at Heuston and headed up to the park from there. I went all the way to the Castleknock gate but no sign of any paced miles! No harm though as I got a nice run in the park and as it was my recovery week I probably shouldn't have been racing anyway! I would have liked to have done my LSR there in the park but unfortunately was short of time so had to head home.

Sat 25: Total 10.6km@6:20 HR 159

Had to head out West that afternoon and wasn't back til late on Sunday so didn't get an LSR in at all :mad:

Weekly total: 34.7km Not great. It was a recovery week but I should have done more that this.

So onwards to this week:
Mon 27: Rest

Tues 28: LT intervals 20&16 mins with 4 min recovery: Didn't feel great heading out but it wasn't a surprise after being lazy for the last few days. Ended up good though, First interval 20min @4:59 HR169, second interval 16 minutes @5:01 HR176
Total 13.76km @5:37 HR163

Wed 29: 13km general aerobic: Another commute. Happy enough until I hit Crumlin and then really needed the loo again. I hate when this happens! I always run the early morning runs on an empty stomach and most days I'm grand but every now and then I get this horrible cramp in my bowels and really need the toilet. I forgot all thoughts of pace and HR and concentrated on getting to work as fast as I could (but not so fast I would have an accident!) As I passed the Garda station I was tempted to run and and ask to use the loo as it was an emergency! Manged to make it a bit further though without incident.
Total 13.7km @5:58 HR155

Murph_D

Nice week, I wouldn't worry about being a couple of kms short last week. Pity about the paced mile - glad I didn't head up for it now myself. Nice work on the session yesterday.

chickey2

Thanks Murph. Although the OPW site said the paced miles were on there was no sign of it on the Irish runner site so I wasn't too surprised when it wasn't on. It's a bit vague, it just says "we look forward to bringing you more if these events in the near future.

Firedance

Irish runner FB post just now saying paced mile is on again sat 8th August

chickey2

Firedance wrote: »

Irish runner FB post just now saying paced mile is on again sat 8th August

Typical, can't make it as OH is away that weekend so I've got the kids. Might see if I can get a babysitter but it's a bit early on a Saturday for my usual ones!

chickey2

Fri 31: 11km General aerobic with 10*100m strides: Did this on the way home from work so uphill all the way. I was annoyed about something that had happened at work so the time flew as I was concentrating on that rather that on how far I had to run! Great thing was I finished the run before I knew it and I haven't thought about the thing that was annoying me until now! Thought I wouldn't be able for the strides but ended up doing 11 as I lost count.
Total: 11.65km @6:14 HR 164

Sat 01: Had a 6km recovery run on the plan but couldn't drag myself out of bed. This is the first week of 5 runs a week so I'm not used to it. Had to go out West again this weekend so my routine has been really thrown.

Sun 02: Supposed to do my LSR but hadn't time again but knew I could do it on the bank holiday so didn't feel too bad.

Mon 03: 19km endurance with last 5km at LT pace: As per earlier, my routine is totally out with all the travelling and the bank holiday. Planned to get out early so I'd be home for some family time. Ended up having a lie in, but as OH said my body must have needed it. Decided to head for Phoenix park but to run all the way and then head to work for a shower and meet OH and the kids there. At least that way they weren't waiting all day for me to get home before they could get out. I've not run to the park before as it's 12 km so by the time I get there I don't get much of a run in the actual park! My HR was quite high on this run despite most of it being downhill. I felt comfortable though and wasn't out of breath so kept going. Saw a huge herd of deer in the park for the first time. I'm usually on there on race days when they stay hidden. It really cheered my up! The last 5km at LT turned into 4km as I'd misjudged the map. Just as well as I was wrecked by the time i got to work and don't think I could have done another 1km.
Total: 18km @ 6:17 HR 168 The last 4 km were 5:38/5:26/5:17/5:40

Finally added up my distance for July and ended up trying a table. Hit 217km this month which I'm delighted with, my highest monthy distance ever!

Month|2014(km)|2015(km)
January|23.4|112.6
February|19.1|124.1
March|64.4|83.1
April|112.7|97.5
May|105|142.3
June|120|146.6
July|68.7|217.4
August|128.6
September|134.3
October|181.9
November|78.4
December|83.5
Total|1120|923.6

chickey2

Tues 4: plan called for 13km with 6x12sec uphills and 10x100m strides. As I'd just done my long run on Monday I decided to just do an easy run and ditch the speed work. Had to dump the kids again (can't wait til school is back!) so didn't have as much time as I would have liked. Headed to marley and did two laps and then back to pick up the kids.
Total 10.2km @ 6:40 HR 151

Wed 5: 14km endurance. Did just that. Started out slow but did the last two km at just under 6:00 each which I was happy with.
Total 14km@6:24 HR 157

Thu 6: rest

Fri 7: 14km with 6*1km @5k race pace. My first V02 max session. I managed to feck up the first interval as I was so keen to going I just hit the lap button and started running, forgetting to check where I was. My watch only shows total distance so because I'd done a warm up and didn't check the distance, I'd no idea when to stop. I just guessed and hit the lap button which told me I'd just fine 900m. The others were all 1km though. Started feeling nauseous on the 4th so knew my pace was OK! Thought I might stop at 5, but my legs kept going and I even managed to speed up for the last one. I was wrecked but delighted once I finished. Looking at the HR data after though I'm a bit confused. The book says my HR should be hitting 92-97% of my HR reserve which for me is 193-202. But my intervals ranged from 174-181 with my max HR at 186. So it looks like I should have been going faster. My paces were 4:25/4:27/4:39/4:39/4:43/4:29 which I was happy with. It felt like 5k race pace and I really don't think I could have gone faster. Might check my RHR and see if I need to recalculate my figures.
Total 13km @5:44 HR 166

Sat 8: plan said 8km recovery. I was on my own with the kids again so wasn't going to bother, but as the weather was so good I took them both out on the bikes while I ran. At least that was the idea! The 8 year old was great and flew ahead while I struggled to run while dealing with the 5 year old. She kept stopping, she needed to put her jacket on/fix her helmet/put her jacket back on/look at the butterfly/pull her pants out of her bum!:-) etc. Total 4.4km @10:47 (yes that km pace not miles! Think it's a record for me) Better than nothing I guess. I asked the 5 year old would she like to come running with me when she's bigger. She said "no, I want to be lazy like Daddy"

Bungy Girl

chickey2 wrote: »

I asked the 5 year old would she like to come running with me when she's bigger. She said "no, I want to be lazy like Daddy"

Brilliant

And nice work on those 1K intervals!

Murph_D

Yep, nice work there. When the nausea starts you know you're working!

Dubgal72

Haha deadly report Your five year old rocks!
Great work on the intervals too. I was talking to my coach and he agrees that there is real value in the 'able to a few more reps' approach, but now and then if you risk 'emptying the tank', during a session, you will reap the reward too. And you did have a good recovery day after

annapr

Just catching up here, good session! and your 5-year-old clearly was helping with recovery pace

chickey2

I forgot to add on my long run from Sunday to finish off last week. Did the full 19km as planned and ended up walking one more at the end as my route planning skills leave a lot to be desired. In fairness I was running to and from my Dad's so it was an area I don't normally run. It was great to have a change of scenery. Even managed a bit of the DMC route for old times sake! Stupidly misread the plan again and thought the last 5 was at LT but that was last weeks long run and this weeks was supposed to be all at easy pace
Total 19km @6:07 HR162

Total for week: 78.7km :eek: Just to clarify I did my long run on the bank holiday Monday so this week included two long runs. Over the two weeks I did 117.8km in total which is more like it.

So this week I start week 7 of the plan which is about half way. I've missed a few runs but no more than one a week and certainly not one every week. I've another increase this week to bring me up to 72km and my longest LSR so far (21km) I'm going to treat it as a trial run for the half and try and get out at the same time as the race and use the gear I'm going to use on the day. I'll try a gel too. I've been bringing them but not using them for my long runs so far. I'm way above the distance i was covering this time last year so I really hope I can take a chunk off my 10 mile (1:33) and especially the half time (1:57). I even had a look at my stats for the 10mile last year. i managed pretty even splits, I just need to do them faster this year!

Mon 11: 14km with 38min@tempo: Did just that, although the total distance was a bit short. As always started out hard and was sure I'd never get to 38 mins but got in to it and was really happy with the pace. Did 7.6km in the 38mins and the splits were 5:10/5:04/4:58/5:03/4:56/4:56/4:55/(4:49)
Total 13.3km@5:36 HR162

annapr

Good going, C. I'll be very surprised if you don't smash that frank duffy time.

chickey2

Wed 12: 16km endurance. Another commute. I can't really remember much if this run! Garmin tells me I did 16.3 km @6:32 pace HR 159

Thurs 13: rest

Fri 14: 13km general aerobic with 10*100m strides. I remember this one for all the wrong reasons! It was another commute so headed off at 6am on an empty stomach as usual. About 5km in I was starting to feel my bowels cramping. It was the same as happened a couple of weeks ago. Long story short I managed to make it to work but did the opposite of strides as I had to stop a few times and walk so as not to have an accident :-( I've stopped taking the iron supplement to see if that's the culprit. I've been fine since. Might start it again next week but only every second day but if I have another bad run I'll ditch the supplement
Total 12.7km @6:12 HR 151

Sat 15: plan said 8km recovery but since it was the first week I actually managed a proper recovery (ie without kids!) I decided to just run slow for 40 mins.
Total 6.2km @6:27 HR 151

Sun 16: 21 km progression run. Decided to do this as a dress rehearsal for the half. Had my smoothie before and took a gel just before I left. It was the first gel I've had since DCM 2014! I started off nice and slow and progressed as planned. I just watched my HR rather than pace as its a quite hilly route. I was aiming for 7km@150, 7km@160 and 7km@170. I cant get the splits right now as Garmin is acting up for me but it worked out well and I did the 21km in 2:09:40 which is 6:11 pace and my average HR was 163. I feel grand now as it didn't take too much out of me. I didn't take another gel as I didn't feel I needed one. Think I'll just stick to one just before the start for the big day but will bring one in reserve.

Weekly total: 69.5km. Should have done another 500m on that recovery run!

Murph_D

Nice week (apart from the cramps). Can't imagine running strides on a commute anyway, can't be easy! You're doing very nicely with the plan.

annapr

Good week for you C... I laughed at your 'opposite of strides'... I know that feeling :eek:

chickey2

I've been bad with updates this week. Too busy! And not necessarily running!
The week started off badly as I had a rest day on Monday and then didn't make it out on Tuesday as I had an 8am meeting so couldn't fit a run in before work. I had hoped to get to Morton Stadium that evening for the paced miles but OH was late home from work so by the time I got to the M50 it was 6.30 and the traffic was awful so I came off at Ballymount and went home Was in bad form then so opted for a some wine and TV with OH rather than going out for a run.

Wed 19: Plan was 11km endurance but as I missed yesterdays run I did 12.3km and a few strides. Felt a lot better after this
12.3km@6:28 HR 158

Thurs 20: Rest

Fri 21: 5K with 4x100m strides. This was mini taper for the 10 miler on Saturday. It's been a while since I've done a short run during the week so I had to figure out how to get to work (12K away) while getting in a 5K run.
Total: 5k@6:05 HR 159

Sat 22: Frank Duffy 10 mile. The plan for this was to do the first 6km easy and then speed up and race the last 10k. As I was going to start slow I headed to the back of the pack. Lots of headphones there :rolleyes:. Started out slow enough but a bit faster than I had planned. It's so hard to run slow in a race. Hit the first 1km in 6:02 so slowed down a bit. It was nice and easy so had lots of time to look around. One of the downsides of being at the back of the pack is they had run out of cups at the water station! They had water alright, but it was in 2L bottles so they were just handing them out! I didn't bother taking one as I had barely broken a sweat so didn't need it, just as well! Once I hit 6km I started really moving. It felt so much better to be going fast. Problem I had to keep overtaking. i was expecting to see I'd run 11 miles in the end with all the weaving I did! I was nice at first to overtake, but got to be a real pain on the narrow paths. I was so glad to get back on to Chesterfield avenue. I hit the half way mark at 46:52 in place 2870.
The rest of the race was pretty uneventful, I just kept going, trying to keep as close to 5min/km as I could. The hill towards the end didn't seem half as bad as last year! I had to walk it then, but managed to keep running this year (despite slowing quite a bit). I purposely didn't look at my watch as I knew I'd be way off my ideal pace. Once I hit the last km I emptied the tank and went for it. Sprint to the finish and got in at 1:28:50 in place 2257. So I had a lovely negative split (5 minutes) and over took 615 people in the second half! :cool: Last year I did it in 1:33 and that was flat out, so I was delighted.
Had a quick chat with a few boardsies after, sounds like PBs all around.
So celebratory drinks tonight, and then I get to do another 10 miler tomorrow:eek: It'll be a lot slower though.

Split Avg Pace
1 6:02
2 6:04
3 6:12
4 6:13
5 6:13
6 6:03
7 5:03
8 5:09
9 5:02
10 5:02
11 5:05
12 5:08
13 5:14
14 5:29
15 5:36
16 4:58
17 3:17
Summary 1:28:49.4 5:31

Edit: Just had another look at the position thing, it gives a stage position which I took as my position at half way, then there's an overall position and a chip position, what's the difference? My overall position was 2662 so maybe I didn't overtake as many as I thought

laura_ac3

Nice pb chickey, well done. Good to see you too. Sorry if you mentioned it in a pre race build up post but why plan for the easy start and race the 10k and not all of it?

chickey2

Thanks Laura. The plan called for a 8-10k tune up race or a 16k easy run. I decided to combine the two. Tomorrows lsr will be a bit shorter than usual but I still wanted to do it so didn't want to kill myself today.

Firedance

well done today! especially as you didn't race the whole thing, nice work

Bungy Girl

Well done Chickey, such discipline ! And a huge improvement compared to last year, you'll rock the Half

Murph_D

Nice going - you probably could have started a bit farther up but it was very considerate of you all the same!

Not sure how useful the stage position is, depends if it's based on chip time or gun time. Hopefully someone knows!

nop98

chickey2 wrote: »

Just had another look at the position thing, it gives a stage position which I took as my position at half way, then there's an overall position and a chip position, what's the difference? My overall position was 2662 so maybe I didn't overtake as many as I thought

Hi chickey2, well done on the PB, pity never got to say hello.

I am guessing, but I think you are correct that the stage position is your half-way "absolute" position (e.g. yours was the 2257th chip to pass the half-way timing mat regardless of start-wave). The overall position must be the same, but then for the finishing-mat, and the chip-position takes your start-time into account.

That said, overtaking >200 people in an 8km stretch (especially with these narrow paths down the bottom of Chesterfield) is phenomenal! For a 5 min/km pace, that's one every 10-12 seconds (if my arithmetic doesn't fail me) - probably more as you'll invariably get overtaken a couple of times yourself!

Well done again!

laura_ac3

chickey2 wrote: »

Thanks Laura. The plan called for a 8-10k tune up race or a 16k easy run. I decided to combine the two. Tomorrows lsr will be a bit shorter than usual but I still wanted to do it so didn't want to kill myself today.

Ah I see, a good compromise so. More to come so next time out all going well presume the Dublin half is the goal race at the end of this plan?

chickey2

Thanks for all the congratulations.

I headed out on Saturday, drank a bottle of wine but was in bed by midnight and slept like a log til 11am! Did a bit of hanging around on Sunday morning hoping for the rain to lift, but by 3pm I realised it wasn't going to happen so I needed to just get out. Went out thinking I'd be wrecked but my legs were surprisingly light and I felt great! The rain was invigorating and i just felt like I could have run all day. Did 16km as per the plan and was thrilled with myself. The plan really is working as last year I could barely get off the sofa the day after the Frank Duffy.
Sun 16km @ 5:57 I didn't have my HR monitor as I left it in work.
Total for the week 49.8km, not great as I missed a 13km run

Mon 24: rest. Needed it!

Tues 25: Got up at 5:30 :eek: and managed 18km before getting to work at 7:45. Not only did I not have my HR monitor but my watch lost GPS signal after 150m and refused to reconnect at all. So basically it was an expensive stop watch. Luckily I was doing a route i did recently and i know its exactly 18km. Did it in 1:53 so happy with that.
Wrecked now and need to go to bed, another early start tomorrow

annapr

Good to see you on Saturday, C... you're doing really well with that plan, putting some of us to shame!!

Bungy Girl

chickey2 wrote: »

Tues 25: Got up at 5:30 :eek: and managed 18km

That's the middle of the night :eek: Respect!

chickey2

Bungy Girl wrote: »

That's the middle of the night :eek: Respect!

Yeah, it was still dark! It hadn't occurred to me the night before so there was a mad search for a high vis jacket. It was nice to see the sunrise though.

chickey2

Stupid lap top is broken so I'm doing my updates in the phone, apologies for spelling and grammar!

Wed 25: 13km general aerobic. Had planned to get up early but it was pouring rain and I was tired so got the luas in to work and ran home. Much better idea as it was a lovely evening. Did a loop of tymon to make up the distance. Loads out running.
Total 13.3km @6:22 HR 156

Thurs 26: rest

Fri 27: Today I learnt the lesson that you need to stick to the plan! It was a bit if a disaster really. The plan said 16km, 2 sets of 2x1,200m, 1x800m @3-5k race pace. I knew this would be best done on a track and had considered heading to kilbogart but chicklet 2 has just started school so I only had a 2 hour window and I couldn't be late to collect her. I decided to do long hill repeats instead so headed out with this in mind. After a warm up I found myself close to the local gaa pitch and suddenly had the idea to do ecoli's diagonals instead. I've not done them before and I'd only read about them here ages ago. I started off way too fast. Slowed down but then wasn't sure was I doing them right. Then the doubt set in and I had a major wobble. I ended up sitting on the grass wondering what I was doing as I'm obviously crap at running and I should just go home. I was looking out at the mountains and thought I should have gone there instead so jumped up and headed uphill. Not long later I realised I needed to watch the time, which annoyed me again so ended up sitting on a rock taking deep breaths. I don't know what was wrong with me. Ended up heading back to pick up chicklet. Felt crap for the rest of the day and even had a bit if a temperature so had a dose of sambucol and went to bed at 9pm.
Total 12.9km @6:35 HR 158

Sat 28: 6km recovery. Felt great when I woke up! Weird. Anyway, recovery run went well, took it easy and felt good.
Total 6km don't have stats but it was almost exactly 40 mins.

Sun 29: 23km endurance. Was in Clare for this so didn't really have a route. Headed out of ennis on the old Limerick Road until I hit the motorway at the Clare Inn, then back the way I came but took the N85 ring road around Ennis. It was grand, slow enough but didn't get the horrible negative thoughts I had on Thursday. I felt right at home when some lads in a car beeped me and shouted "nice arse". I thought that only happened in Tallaght!
Total 23km in 1hr 20

Weekly total 73.3km

Highest distance week ever and highest of the plan. It starts decreasing next week. Can't believe it's only 3 weeks til the half!