From Couch 25k To Where Ever

The Muppet

8.48 miles easy today @ 130 bpm @11:06 average pace with 5 x 100m strides in mile 7 .

A decent run on grass in the rain in the local park, lovely , more mileage than prescribed but no harm in that I think.

The Muppet

5 miles easy today @ 133 bpm @10:22 pace.

Heart rate says easy but pace is PMP which is interesting, it felt easy.

Pilates this evening, love this as I always feel really refreshed after it.



I've had a good solid month , running just over 154 miles my most in a month to date , I had no idea i'd ran that much, it's a little more than the advised 10% increase per week, I hope I'm not over doing it , but it has been all easy running and I'm feeling good on it so far.


Month|2016|2015|2014|2013
jan|94.78|46.2|8.31|0
feb|61.68|13.9|30.35|0
March|111|4.64|47.37|7
April|110.7|21.08|42.23|25.01
May|121.32|65.69|36.37|33.78
June|154.31|97.03|52.69|33
July|-|108.73|25.33|49.74
August|-|110.42|57.9|29.42
September|-|94.12|58.37|13.87
October|-|125.17|95.32|3.01
November|-|100.78|88.95|0
December|-|63.16|23.83|0
Totals|653.79|851.69|567.02|194.83

tailgunner

I wonder if you should revise your planned marathon pace? I'd say you're more than capable of aiming for 4:15, if not faster.

You seem to be breezing through the mileage recently, particularly the long runs. Fair play.

The Muppet

tailgunner wrote: »

I wonder if you should revise your planned marathon pace? I'd say you're more than capable of aiming for 4:15, if not faster.

You seem to be breezing through the mileage recently, particularly the long runs. Fair play.

Thanks for the feedback TG, perhaps your right about pmp. I,m signed up for the whole race series so I will have a better idea after a few of those and will settle on a pmp then with the help of some feedback from our mentors.

The training has being going well and the LSR in particular which has surprised me tbh. I guess I'm a slow twitcher.

I was actually contemplating going for 4.45 as I'm honestly not that tied up with time, I just want to have a good run and enjoy the experience as much as running a first marathon can be enjoyable and do the best I can without flogging myself.

tailgunner

I'm a bit torn myself. I had always planned on racing it, but I'm starting to wonder if there's any point to doing that for a first marathon - my lack of endurance means that the distance alone is going to be a challenge in itself, regardless of pace. I simply don't have enough miles in my legs to perform anywhere near the level I might otherwise be capable of, so what's the point in chasing a time?

But at the same time I know I'll be in race-mode on the day, and jogging around simply won't be an option. I think doing the best I can without flogging myself will be my goal too - the difficulty is working out what that translates to in miles per minute!

The Muppet

tailgunner wrote: »

I'm a bit torn myself. I had always planned on racing it, but I'm starting to wonder if there's any point to doing that for a first marathon - my lack of endurance means that the distance alone is going to be a challenge in itself, regardless of pace. I simply don't have enough miles in my legs to perform anywhere near the level I might otherwise be capable of, so what's the point in chasing a time?

But at the same time I know I'll be in race-mode on the day, and jogging around simply won't be an option. I think doing the best I can without flogging myself will be my goal too - the difficulty is working out what that translates to in miles per minute!

That's exactly how I feel, I'm thinking of going with a pacer group and then just running it by feel and speed up or slow down as required. suppose its a bit early to settle on that as there is so much to get through before we even get to the start line .

You doing more milage than I am though that should see you through are you doing any races on your plan?

tailgunner

Well there are none on the plan, but I didn't like the idea of going from May to September with no racing at all, so I signed up for a 10k on 13th July and a half marathon on 14th August. It's looking unlikely that I'll make the 10k now though. It's a shame, as it's on a Wednesday and would have been a good substitute for a mid-week session.

I definitely want to do the half, but I might use it as an MP session, as I'm worried about recovery eating into the following week if I decide to race it.

But then, there's every chance that racing it would bring on my fitness enough to discount whatever I'd lose from skipping a couple of sessions the following week. And it's six weeks out from the marathon, so plenty of time to recover and get back into hard training before the taper. At least that's what I'm telling myself!

If I've learned anything from marathon training so far, it's that I overthink everything to do with running. Or maybe just everything full stop.

Are you going with the Boards plan?

The Muppet

Yes I'm on the boards plan but I'm a bit ahead on the weekly mileage at the moment, it will catch up on me in a few weeks. I'm hoping getting ahead of it will stand for me on the day .

I over think the running myself . I have tomorrow's lsr route planned on Google pedometer since last Monday. I've always planned a week ahead with my runs. Mad I know but it works for me .


There are races built into the boards plan that we can race . Which plan are you on ?

tailgunner

BAA Level 2. Enjoying it so far - there's a bit of variety to it, and I like the way the long runs are staggered, so every other week is a small step back in distance.

The Muppet

16.27 mile LSR this morning @ 132 BPM 10:31 average pace.

Pace is a little quicker than it should be but the heart rate was at my easy range of 132 bpm and only raised above than on the up hills so it is what it is.

The first 3 miles were into a strong wind an mostly on a climb, the other 13miles were all at pmp or quicker , I know thats not right but dont ask me how because it was not intentional, my heart rate was within range, I actually had a few chats with myself to make sure i was running easy because the pace didn't look right to me.

Felt good the whole run , it was very windy in places and had a nice shower followed by sunshine so I think that covers all possibilites for the big day unless we get snow in october. Had to resist the temptation to add on 2 miles at the end as I have an idead of how I'm going to blend into the plan milage around the fingal 10k week so I dont really want to up the milage any more until after that.

The Muppet

Early Morning recover run today , that's week one of the Marathon plan completed and all is good, only 17 weeks to go.

3.15 miles @ 123 bpm @12:03 pace

The Muppet

50 minutes on the bike this evening for my cross session

The Muppet

5 miles easy @132 BPM 10:32 pace in 52:47 minutes.

I felt quite queasy from the off today probably due to diet , I considered calling it a day in the first mile but stuck at it to complete the run. After mile 2 I tried my Pilates breathing technique and It appeared to help.

The Muppet

I ran my first pace session of the marathon plan this afternoon. It should have been 1 mile warm up 3 @pmp and 1 cool down.

To keep in line with my current milage I decide to add a mile to each section so it ended up 2 mile warm up 4 miles @ pmp and 2 mile cool down, 8.08 miles in total.

I ran this from st annes park gate down to the howth road and towards Baldoyle. I ran the pmp a little too fast and the last cool down mile as well .

Miles splits HEARTRATE
1@ 11:36 130 bpm
2@ 11:20 127 bpm
3@ 10:06 133bpm
4@ 9:47 135bpm
5@ 10:00 135 bpm
6@ 9:44 136 bpm
7@ 11:40 130 bpm
8@ 10:02 136 bpm

The Muppet

5 miles easy @ 130 bpm 10:55 pace.

I concentrated on keeping the Hear rate under 132 and running easy. I sweated buckets evenue at that and tge auld legs are feeling it this evening . I guess that is down to the heat.

Off to my pilates class shortly for a nice stretch I'm sure the legs will feel rejuvenated afterwards.

Very Welcome rest day tomorrow.

The Muppet

5 miles easy @ 130 bpm 10:55 pace.

I concentrated on keeping the Heart rate under 132 and running easy. I sweated buckets and the auld legs are feeling it this evening . I guess that is down to the heat.

Off to my pilates class shortly for a nice stretch I'm sure the legs will feel rejuvenated afterwards.

Very Welcome rest day tomorrow.

tony1980

I felt it on the legs tonight myself TM, the humidity was a killer earlier this evening. Found the run a real struggle, so I am looking forward to a nice rest day tomorrow same as yourself, you have earned it!

The Muppet

tony1980 wrote: »

I felt it on the legs tonight myself TM, the humidity was a killer earlier this evening. Found the run a real struggle, so I am looking forward to a nice rest day tomorrow same as yourself, you have earned it!

It was a killer Tony I was out lunchtime today, I hope it's not like that Saturday.

Just back from pilates and tge legs are felling a fair bit better now.

Enjoy your rest day they are all hard earned.

The Muppet

tony1980 wrote: »

I felt it on the legs tonight myself TM, the humidity was a killer earlier this evening. Found the run a real struggle, so I am looking forward to a nice rest day tomorrow same as yourself, you have earned it!

It was a killer Tony I was out lunchtime today, I hope it's not like that Saturday.

Just back from pilates and the legs are feeling a fair bit better now.

Enjoy your rest day they are all hard earned.

The Muppet

You know those days when you feel you could run forever , well this wasn't one of those days for me.

I decided to run from Swords into Dublin and back for my lsr today . Checked the distance on goggle and it fitted fine with my 17 mile plan for today . What Google didn't tell me and I didn't realise despite having driven it thousand of times is its all hills. 5 miles uphill from swords to santry and 3.5 downhill to smithfield.

To be fair I wasn't in the mood for it today and did no prep it was just up brekkie and out. Physically it was fine though the hills took their toll but mentally it was tough . It was all I'll just do one more mile and I'll get the bus . I dont usually have ant problem motivating myself to run but It's been a tough week in real life so I think this morning was just a build up of all that, the auld head wasn't right. They can't all be good days and on the positive side I dug in and got it done which is the main thing I guess.

That's enough Drama/Rambling for now .

17 miles @128 bpm 11.30 mile.

The Muppet

Lovely 3 .17 mile recovery run @127 BPM 11:44 pace.


I felt quite good today all things considered , I had a serious meeting with a wooden rolling pin yesterday evening I had been neglecting the foam roller of late and I had quite a few knots to shift, sore but effective.



Thats week 2 of the Marathon plan completed , Its been a difficult week to fit all the runs in as I have a realtive in hospital , daily visits there on top of all the usual daily stuff meant I had to run at different times and locations to keep on track. It'll be more of the same for the forseeable future.

I had a weird LSR yesterday, I was grand physically but struggeled mentally, I was thinking about this since and I put it down to not preparing properly, I wore a cap and compression top under my shirt expecting rain but with hindsight I think it was too warm for those even with the rain. I should have though more about the route , My elevation Gain this week is 930 ft, i guess the hills wont do me any harm but it is something I should have been mentally prepared for which I wasn't . It's all a learning process It wont happen this week for sure.


I'm really enjoying the plan, I'm still a little ahead of it but over the next 2 weeks I think it will catch up with me .

The Muppet

An hour on the bike today cross. actually really enjoying the cycling, got a notion of doing a triathlon sometime in the distant future during todays cycle , thats how this running lark started.

Maximus Alexander

Pretty sure you're not allowed talk about that around here. You'll be run out of town with torches and pitchforks.

But in preparation, you might as well switch back to kilometers...

The Muppet

Maximus Alexander wrote: »

Pretty sure you're not allowed talk about that around here. You'll be run out of town with torches and pitchforks.

But in preparation, you might as well switch back to kilometers...

Meh , it was just a fleeting thought , but a sprint triathlon looks achievable for a start.:D Totally focused on getting the Marathon this year first and see where that leaves me. You have to keep planning ahead, well i do anyway.

Firedance

Maximus Alexander wrote: »

Pretty sure you're not allowed talk about that around here. You'll be run out of town with torches and pitchforks.

But in preparation, you might as well switch back to kilometers...

That's a far bigger offence!!! *roots around for pitchfork* :D:D

The Muppet

Maximus Alexander wrote: »

But in preparation, you might as well switch back to kilometers...

Not a chance max In my head 26 miles is much shorter than 42 kilometes.

The Muppet

6 miles easy today @131 bpm 10:36.

I eased into it today and had a good run, was feeling strong at the end.

Battery Kinzie

You seem to be well into the swing of marathon training, fair play.

I noticed that your PMP HR was quite low for the 4 mile session you did. Whats your max HR? Do you think your PMP might be a bit conservative?

The Muppet

My max hr is 174. I was advised that my easy runs should be done at sub 132.

My pmp may be a little conservative but it is my first marathon in fact 5k is the longest race I've run to date.

Vdot tells me that based on my 5k times should be aiming for 3:49 , previous novice threads tell me not to believe it. See sauzagedogdaves posts in this year's novice thread.

Im working off a 4.30 marathon for my pmp . That may change in either direction after the race series .

My primary aim for the big day is to run it all and enjoy it and finish in one piece to run another day. While I want to do the best I can I'm not really that caught up with time.

Battery Kinzie

The Muppet wrote: »

My max hr is 174. I was advised that my easy runs should be done at sub 132.

My pmp may be a little conservative but it is my first marathon in fact 5k is the longest race I've run to date.

Vdot tells me that based on my 5k times should be aiming for 3:49 , previous novice threads tell me not to believe it. See sauzagedogdaves posts in this year's novice thread.

Im working off a 4.30 marathon for my pmp . That may change in either direction after the race series .

My primary aim for the big day is to run it all and enjoy it and finish in one piece to run another day. While I want to do the best I can I'm not really that caught up with time.

Sounds like you've the right mindset heading in. Didn't mean to sound like I was suggesting you aim for faster incase it came across that way!

Good luck with it all, looks like you'll smash it.