Onwards and upwards...and....fasterwards.

I'm not one for short introductions but I'll try!

A small bit about my fitness can be found here in my fitness forum log.

In relation directly to my running, I started in March 2014, I couldn't run 1km and had convinced myself I hated running. I joined a local group which was essentially a couch to 5k programme but with a tutor and other women who wanted to be able to run. I fell in love immediately. That first week I never thought I would be able to run for 30 minutes non stop, but on my 5th week I went to my nearest parkrun with a goal of running it without stopping or walking - no matter how long that took. It took me 37 minutes. 2 weeks later I ran the darkness into light run in Bray in 32:xx minutes.

I resigned myself to the fact I was a slow runner, and kept increasing my distances instead of working on my shorter times. I signed up for the Dublin Race Series, and had a terrible day out at the half marathon, but continued to love running. I supported friends at DCM2014 and knew then that I needed to run a marathon and so it began. I signed up for Edinburgh 2015 but too much too soon got me injured and I had to take a step back. Got over that, and started working toward DCM2015, worked from a personalised plan, which accounted for the fact I was prone to injury. I signed up to the amazing novices thread and took as much advice from Dubgal and the other mentors as I could. I had an atrocious run in the end. Race report here, but learned a lot along the way as answered here.

My plan now is to get faster over the shorter distances, and forget about the longer distances until I've achieved those goals. My plan is never to stand on a marathon startline again unless my target is an achievable 3:59:59. It's been quite a while since I ran a 5 or 10k so I really don't know where I'm at but I feel my fitness is abysmal right now so in my head I'm starting from scratch.

Current running goals for 2016:

5k <25minutes (PB 28:xx)
10k <50 minutes (PB 56:xx)

I'll be running probably 4 days a week, but there will be a lot of cross training on other days.

I'm still on "easy" running mode and have not chosen a 10k plan yet, but will do so over the coming days.

Told you it wouldn't be short

Here goes nothing

aquinn

Yay, there you are. xx

Firedance

great, will follow this with interest whoopsa, you're exactly where I was this time last year, I expect you to pass me out real soon

mbarr

Class, good luck Whoopsa

Maximus Alexander

Good luck, you'll be setting new targets before you know it

hillsiderunner

Ah, come on ... that *is* quite short compared to some of the epics you read round here! Looking forward to reading the log.

6k "easy". Legs still feel very strong but I do feel like my aerobic fitness has suffered along the way.

It's nice running without a garmin though, and I'll do it for more easy runs I think.

libelula

Don't worry too much about the aerobic fitness, that'll come back super quickly.
Consistency will be your best friend over the next couple of months

aquinn

Miles whoops, you need to convert to miles! It's in the T&C of setting up a training log*

*This information is not factually correct but I can't work in KM

libelula

aquinn wrote: »

Miles whoops, you need to convert to miles! It's in the T&C of setting up a training log*

*This information is not factually correct but I can't work in KM

She can't. She needs km's for her cross-training things.

>.>.
<.<.

aquinn

I see she's torn and logs in both so just helping her here that miles are the way forward.

Maximus Alexander

Don't listen to their dirty rotten lies! Most runners use metric.

Oh god I know. I know. I'm so torn >.<

I ran a route I know is 6km. OK? I might flip between them when I run routes I know are 8 miles.

DON'T JUDGE ME

Firedance

Deleted User wrote: »

Oh god I know. I know. I'm so torn >.<

I ran a route I know is 6km. OK? I might flip between them when I run routes I know are 8 miles.

DON'T JUDGE ME

that same route is 3.72 miles though, another little teeny tiny bit and you'd have a lovely round 4 miles

I'm just kidding though, run in whatever measurement suits you, as long as your running it doesn't really matter - Anna is bilingual too

The Muppet

The best of luck with the log Woopsadaisydoodles

FBOT01

Best of luck with your running and with hitting your targets for 2016.

BTW if you can hit the 2nd one then the 1st one is too soft*

*although <25 gives you plenty of scope to go as low as you like

Firedance

Firedance wrote: »

that same route is 3.72 miles though, another little teeny tiny bit and you'd have a lovely round 4 miles

I'm just kidding though, run in whatever measurement suits you, as long as your running it doesn't really matter - Anna is bilingual too

I'm also about to ask a question about time v miles just to really mess it all up again :P

FBOT01 wrote: »

Best of luck with your running and with hitting your targets for 2016.

BTW if you can hit the 2nd one then the 1st one is too soft

Thank you!

Yes, I would imagine that the 5k minute target will be hit a lot sooner than the 10k, but I don't know how achievable the latter is within 12 months

libelula

aquinn wrote: »

I see she's torn and logs in both so just helping her here that miles are the way forward.

In fairness, who am I to talk. I've been known to count my intervals and hills in pebbles

Ososlo

Delighted to see you start a log and look forward to watching you achieve your goals.
Best of luck!

ncmc

Best of luck with the log, I read through the novice thread from time to time and you seem really clued in to your strengths and weaknesses so I’m sure you’ll have no problem hitting those PB’s. Plus if you hit the 10k one, a sub 4 marathon would be very achievable for you so best of luck with it!

aero2k

Deleted User wrote: »

DON'T JUDGE ME

The internet was invented for the sole purpose of enabling strangers to judge other strangers, and more importantly, to find them wanting in some regard.

Firedance wrote: »

Anna is bilingual too

That's all grand since the recent referendum.

Best of luck with the new log. From reading the link in your opening post about lessons learned, you're well on the way to serious improvement. No amount of advice can surpass real world experience, however traumatic at the time.

Oh god, everyone's watching. So much pressure >.>

Maximus Alexander

Only one thing for it, better get out for a run!

I runned today already :cool:

I'm not allowed run too much for four weeks after the Marathon which is MONDAY - I can't believe it :eek:

nop98

Good luck Whoops!

jake1970

Best of luck with the log and your running whoopsa.

A few easy miles here and there since my last post, today is the start of the DCM graduates plan as put together by Myles Splitz so we'll go from here

Tuesday - Day1 Week1

45 minutes easy.
Translates to around 4.5miles - or just over 7km :P

I tried to run by feel and only use my watch to keep an eye on my time and my splits weren't all that bad really, but definitely room to improve.

The only lunatic out running at 5.30am in winter but that just makes me feel extra smug

laura_ac3

Very behind around here at the minute, only just seeing this log now. Good luck with it, following the graduate thread with advice from myles will be of huge benefit - enjoy it.

Wednesday
Wk 1 Day 2

My calf was ouchies from the day before, so decided to run in the evening instead of early o'clock to give it extra time to feel less ouchies. Well I was only raging when I left the house before 7 to see it was lashing rain.

I could have gained many extra smug points from running at 5:30 in the pissings of rain.

Dammit.

So yesterday evening:

15 mins easy
10 mins of strides
15 mins easy

LOVE this. Jog to place, run fast a few times, jog home. Perfect!

Was absolutely knackered so didn't go for swimming lesson and had an early night instead.

That was the first time I had ran two days in a row since the marathon and my legs are actually tired today

Thursday
Wk1 Day2

45 (49!) mins easy.

Nothing exciting to report. I'm so slow. So very slow >.<

RacoonQueen

Deleted User wrote: »

Was absolutely knackered so didn't go for swimming lesson and had an early night instead.

:eek::eek:

RacoonQueen

RacoonQueen wrote: »

:eek::eek:

I know!

I actually woke up on the sofa at 7:30 and the lesson was at 8 so I went to bed and I slept right through til 6

RacoonQueen

Deleted User wrote: »

I know!

I actually woke up on the sofa at 7:30 and the lesson was at 8 so I went to bed and I slept right through til 6

Sounds like a good call then. Can be hard to know if you're just being lazy or if you actually need to rest. If you're sleeping right through like that, sounds like the sleep was the better idea.

Ok ok so I have some confessions to make.

I temporarily hated running there for most of Sunday.

Ran my 45 minutes easy on Thursday as per graduate plan, took the rest day Friday, wasn't on my own for any part of Saturday so had to give that short easy run a miss.

Then yesterday I was meant to run for 75 minutes. I went for a swim, brought the mutt for a long walk, and just didn't want to go running. Not even laziness, because I was fidgety and full of energy, I just decided that I did not want to run. Was having a little panic that that was it and my running life was over and then by 10 last night I was going to head out and get it done but went to bed instead as I was going to the gym at 6:30.

Woke up this morning at 5:15 dying to go out for a run :rolleyes:

I decided not to - and just to jump back into the graduate plan tomorrow.

So went to crossfit this morning and will swim tonight and then run early tomorrow morning again.

TL:dr fell out of love with running for a day, fell back in love last night. State of me face.

mbarr

Deleted User wrote: »

TL:dr fell out of love with running for a day, fell back in love last night. State of me face.

Felt the same yesterday, mad to get back to it today

annapr

Just found this log, I'm behind on running and everything else! Best of luck with the targets and don't let the imperial bullies intimidate you

I have sub-50 10k as a target too so will be interested to see what plan you land on.

mbarr

mbarr wrote: »

Felt the same yesterday, mad to get back to it today

Hope today went well!

I suspect running will be sore tomorrow after this morning's squats.

annapr wrote: »

Just found this log, I'm behind on running and everything else! Best of luck with the targets and don't let the imperial bullies intimidate you

I have sub-50 10k as a target too so will be interested to see what plan you land on.

You're a lot closer than me Anna! I'm very very slow at the moment. I'm dreading doing a race because I don't really want to know how bad I am

500 metres swimming done tonight.

I just followed the graduate plan this week.


Week 2|
Monday|OFF
Tuesday| 45 minutes easy
Wednesday| 30 minutes easy + 6*100m strides
Thursday| OFF
Friday| 15 minutes recovery
Saturday| Race
Sunday| 30 minutes very easy

Nothing overly exciting. Except that I got Thursday and Friday mixed up.

The Tuesday session was nothing more than a shuffle because squats!

There was also swimming and more S&C. Very easy week.

I himmed and hawwed over doing the jingle bells 5k, I had been talking about it for a couple of weeks and was really quite worried about finding out how slow I had gotten. I knew well there would be no PB for me which I was ok with, but I didn't want to know quite how bad it had gotten. I finally signed up five minutes before the deadline, and on Friday night I had the worst nights sleep. I did a marathon just 6 weeks ago, and here I was losing sleep over a 5k. I had been talking to my friend about my nerves, and she did me up a "race plan". This was being based on my running under 30:59 which was where I decided was probably my realistic best case scenario taking all variables into account. So that's what I planned for.

Her plan in short was to go out very slowly for first 500metres, settle into 6:13min/km pace for the next 2k, hang on for dear life until 3.5km which is where I always hurt the most and in this case, where the course gets lovely.

So I did exactly what she said.

Race report:

I didn't have a very orthodox warmup for this race. I got stuck in heavy traffic coming across the city and had to pick up my number before 10:30. I was late and there was no parking anywhere - I ended parked up where I thought was close-ish to donore clubhouse and took off sprinting up the road, it was not as close as I thought and so I sprinted for nearly 2km. Arrived to the clubhouse late and completely out of breath. Was told to relax by a very nice man and handed a bell and pointed toward the registration table. Leaving the clubhouse same nice man told me again to calm down that I had loads of time (it was 10:40).

Briskly walked to the start line and missed the bag drop. Jogged back to that and met some other DCM graduates which calmed me down.

I couldn't see sub 30 signs so moved back a good bit back from the sub 25 group and settled in with folk who looked at my level (not that you can ever tell really!), people were in layers of clothes and I in a wee vest getting the funniest of looks.

False start meant moving backward and losing the grouping I was in, I now felt I should have been farther forward but I was where I was.

Decided to run this one by feel to make Dubgal proud!

Start
Off we went again, took it very handy, was being passed swiftly at this stage by people I knew I would be seeing again. The wind was at our back here until we turned into Chesterfield avenue and it had no effect on up here. There were people walking already, people who had run past me just a couple of minutes before.

Km1-3
Settled nicely into my steady pace, tempted to pass people out but decided against as I didn't want those same people go by me later on for my mistake. I was very comfortable but afraid to push on too soon. I did have a stitch at this stage, but I always have a bloody stitch and I remembered pconn's post in the how to race thread and I reminded myself that I have to have the ability to suffer and so the stitch remained but I didn't let it in. There were some folk I just couldn't pull away from, their running was erratic and when u tried to pass I was almost taken out of it by a buggy so I was getting a bit frustrated here but held back until I got a clear pas.

3-3.5 I was no longer comfortable, I was hanging on here for the glen road. Hanging on for dear life to be honest, but I knew it was close and then I could just beast my way to the finish.

3.5-4.5
No more holding back, just running as fast as I could manage and ignoring the stitch and suffering on. I was starting to pick people off at this point - mostly by their santa hat or antlers!

4.5-5
Tried so hard to push harder here but I hadn't got it in me still I was passing people and only one girl passed me at this point. Bitch. If I could push it I would come in under 30minhtes but I thought if I ran any harder I would puke, so kept the pace steady. Crossed the line and was absolutely delighted with how I had ran. Good bit off my PB but really happy with how the race went.

Considering I ran by feel and only checked my watch at the end of the race, I'm feeling pretty pleased with my splits;

1 - 6:26
2 - 6:13
3 - 6:11
4 - 5:50
5 - 5:34

Garmin time 30:14

So that's where I'm at. I may need to reassess my goals, but I'll give myself another 6 - 8 weeks before I do that.

Kennyg71

What's the story Whopsa, that Jingle bells knock stuffing out off you, are u
Taking a rest. You won't believe my key ring turned up, one of Lads picked it
Up in pub and brought down to club on Wednesday, so I now have 2, so if you
Short let's know and I can return one.&#55357;&#56832;

Well now you've got two!

I still have a couple left over so you're grand.

My current state of affairs is that my sciatica has flared up again. I've been doing a fair bit of strength and conditioning and swimming buy my running has come to a halt. I'm not too concerned, I'm going to work on strength in my glutes/lower back and try and knock this sciatica on the head once and for all and I'll be much better for it. So another couple of days off running but hopefully by middle of the week I'll be back out for an easy trot

Kennyg71

Deleted User wrote: »

Well now you've got two!

I still have a couple left over so you're grand.

My current state of affairs is that my sciatica has flared up again. I've been doing a fair bit of strength and conditioning and swimming buy my running has come to a halt. I'm not too concerned, I'm going to work on strength in my glutes/lower back and try and knock this sciatica on the head once and for all and I'll be much better for it. So another couple of days off running but hopefully by middle of the week I'll be back out for an easy trot

Good to hear your on top of it, hope trot goes well and your back soon:)