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Still trying to figure it all out.
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25-04-2016 1:06am#1Thread title says it all really. I seem to spend half my life looking up different training plans and reading about different approaches to training and workouts. I'm slowly started to understand some of it, but I'm not sure I'd be able to put together a decent plan for myself. So I thought I'd start a log and see what comes of it. I'm also a bit longwinded, so where better to collect my ramblings than my very own thread!
Background
I'll be 42 years old this year. Started running in 2014 after packing in the fags. Had spent a few months in the gym before that. I'm over 3 stone lighter now than when I started. I ran my first race in May 2014 (6 miles) and was immediately hooked. I overdid it in 2014 and was injured by August. Took 2 months off and was back at it by November, but injury struck again in January 2015. So I've been running without a break since about March 2015. First up was the Cork City Marathon (using a My Asics plan) in 3:49:27. Then DCM 2015 (using a McMillan plan from Strava) in 3:38:39. I jumped on-board with the DCM2015 graduates plan which worked very well for me.
RHR goes from 39 to 42, max HR - about 188. RHR is measured using my Garmin FR235. Max HR - it's the max I've achieved at the end of a race, discounting obvious spikes. Not very scientific, but it'll do for now
My aim this year (so far - if indecisiveness was a disease, I'd definetly have it) is to focus on improving my times up to half marathon, with Charleville in September as my main goal race. Then tackle a spring Marathon in 2017 - probably Cork but after today I'd love to have a go at London.
PB's
5K - 20:06 BHAA Centra 5k, August 2015
6K - 24:55, BHAA FMC 6K, January 2016
4 mile - 26:16 Ballintotis, April 2016
5 mile - 34:29 Ballycotton 5, August 2016 (although my 5 mile split time for a recent 10k was 33:46)
10K - 42:16, BHAA UCC 10K, March 2016 (My one and only 10k to date)
Half Marathon: 1:34:39, Charlevile September 2015
10 mile - 1:08:53, Ballycotton 10, March 2016
25K: 1:50:32, Great Railway Run, April 2016 (Half marathon split was 1:32:37 - but I don't count these splits as PBs -should I?)
Marathon: 3:38:39, DCM, Oct 2015
Goals 2016
5k - very soft sub 20:00
5 miles - sub 33
Half: Sub 1:30 in September - Don't if this is realistic
Marathon: Sub 3:25 or 3:30 in 2017
This weeks training
Monday: 3m recovery @10:26 pace - ran 25k race the day before
Tuesday: 6.6m @8:24 pace
Wednesday: 7.5m@8:29 pace - grassy trail on a rolling 3.5k loop
Thursday: Day shift. 5.7m total, including Ballintotis 4 mile - probably too son to race after Sunday, but its one of the biggest races of the year and they have nice cakes!!
Friday: Day shift. Rest, no running
Saturday: Night Shift. Long Run in the am. 14.6 miles in 2 hours. Average pace 8:13. Average HR 146. Started easy (130bpm -140bpm), then gradually increased the effort (145-152bpm). Hit some hills in the last 3 and pushed the effort here to about 165bpm when climbing
Sunday: Night Shift. Pre work run 7.6m @8:03 pace, average HR 145, hilly course. Was supposed to be 1 hour easy, but it was one of those enjoyable runs were you just run along comfortably and are surprised at your pace afterwards.
Since December last year my pace, fitness, strength and speed of recovery have all improved. I still have some structural deficits, biomechanically speaking, especially the glutes/hips and the calves and I haven't been doing anything to address that, so I'm going to have to go back to doing my strength excercises, so hopefully keeping this log will help with that. I also don't sleep enough, so I may start logging my sleep hours as well.
My next big race is the Cork City Half on June 6. I hope to go under 1:32. In between I have a 4 mile on Wednesday, then a 6 mile race on May 11th. I'll also turn up to the Ballyandreen 5 on May 26th - 1st of a series of 4 summer races. It's quite close to the Cork Half, so I may just do it at half mara pace. As for a training plan - I have none at the moment really. I'm just going to try a few sessions from another thread, with some general aerobic runs and some long runs, along with the races in place of tempos until Cork. When training for Charleville starts I'm thinking about one of the plans from Pfitzinger and Douglas' Advanced road running book.
So, as I said, a bit longwinded. I'm hoping to get some insights, advice and opinions and develop a better understanding of how this all works. And I know I said I wasn't running a marathon this year, but there's a nagging voice in my head telling me I have unfinished business in Dublin - so maybe my goals will shift.25
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Best of luck with the log HBS another DCM graduate log to follow progress.
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Welcome to the logs HBS. you have time to start a structured HM plan stil, if you ask maybe on the random running questions thread and give your current pb & your goal, more experienced folk will offer good advice. I think progressing through a plan is a big help in reaching goals.0
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Welcome to the logs HBS. you have time to start a structured HM plan stil, if you ask maybe on the random running questions thread and give your current pb & your goal, more experienced folk will offer good advice. I think progressing through a plan is a big help in reaching goals.
Cheers for that. Myles Splitz just posted a few trying plans on the graduates thread so I think I'll follow that for now.0 -
Aargh!! Had a big long post typed out, pressed the wrong bloody button on this stupid Mac keyboard and everything disappeared. FFS
Anyway, very mixed bag this week so far.
Monday (pm): 12x400 @ CV pace (6:35/mile) Total miles = 7.5/ Interval paces: 6:25; 6:31; 6:28; 6:34; 6:33; 6:38; 6:29; 6:33; 6:36; 6:36; 6:34; 6:31. Done on the road using a Garmin programmed workout with pace alerts. I wasn't too concerned about the 400m being a bit out
Tuesday (late am): 6.4 miles @9:12/mile, hilly (for me - 490ft elevation gain). Was tired after Monday night and night shifts, so the last 20 minutes felt tougher than they should. Probably hadn't eaten enough over the last 2 days.
Had physio Tuesday PM - sore RHS hip flexor after the 25k race and stiffness in the lower back, gluten on the same side. So tissue work and some dry needling.
Wednesday: Legs and back felt good after physio session. Woke with a stiff neck and left shoulder - an old pre running injury. Applied heat and did a few stretches and it felt better. Went to the BHAA Stryker 4 mile. Time 26:07 - new PB (9 seconds) and 3 mins better than last year. Felt conformable throughout until the last half mile. Dry heaved on finishing without a sprint finish. Splits - 6:35, 6:35, 6:39, 6:19. Last mile net downhill. Not a flat course. Very happy with my performance - didn't suffer until the end, but don't think I could have given any more and feel I paced it very well. We won a team prize (€20 voucher) - that's the 4th time this year at BHAA races and a new experience for me. Great night overall, with team mates getting some high placings and 1st ladies, and a mens and ladies team prize.
Total miles for the day - 6.5.
Thursday: Fu xa ke. Couldn't move my kneck or shoulder when I woke up. Very very sore and tight. I went back to the physio who did some more soft tissue work and more needling. Managed to to improve the range of motion there and then. Spent the evening with heat packs and stretching
Friday. Neck still fubarred, but better than yesterday. Cried off work. More stretching, heat and a few painkillers. No running yesterday, today or tomorrow. Longest break since DCM 2015. Totally p'ed off. It's that type annoying pain and stiffness where you can't really think of anything else. Hopefully it'll be ok by Sunday. Legs feel great though - which is no good as I'm sat on my backside watching the snooker.
So - in the horrors, but trying to be sensible about not rushing back. I just hope a few days won't undo much of the progress I've made over the last few months.0 -
Few days won't cause you to lose anything. Think the usual concensus is that it takes about 10 days to start losing fitness. Usually after a few days off, it's only a bit of staleness that needs to be shook off with a run or two.0
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El Caballo wrote: »Few days won't cause you to lose anything. Think the usual concensus is that it takes about 10 days to start losing fitness. Usually after a few days off, it's only a bit of staleness that needs to be shook off with a run or two.
Cheers. I can get a bit glum when I'm not running and past experience with this neck thing is that stressing about things is not helpful. To be honest, looking back over my last 5 or 6 weeks training I'm probably well overdue an easy week anyway.0 -
Rest that neck up sounds painful. At least if you're looking out at the predicted awful weather we are due you might be glad of the rest. Hope it gets better. Congrats on pb.0
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Cheers Mrs. Mac. Have to house to myself, so I'm breaking all the rules. No running, a takeaway on its way, heating on and sitting in my trackie bottoms watching the snooker. So far here today it's been, sunny, windy, raining and hailing so maybe it's not too much of a loss. I've a few episodes of house of cards to catch up on. These unplanned days with nothing to do are few and far between these days, so I'm going to enjoy it0
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Good to see this HBS, welcome to logs! Are you with a running club or was that a work team?0
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Good to see this HBS, welcome to logs! Are you with a running club or was that a work team?
Cheers Dubgal. It was a work team (Cork BHAA). We've acquired some fast club runners onto our team this year so that helps! I haven't taken the plunge and joined a club yet, but I'm weighing up my options at the moment.
Edit: I've won a tin of biscuits, a gear bag and a tech t-shirt in Category C and the voucher was in Cat B. The most important thing is that I really enjoyed the biscuits.0 -
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hot buttered scones wrote: »Cheers Mrs. Mac. Have to house to myself, so I'm breaking all the rules. No running, a takeaway on its way, heating on and sitting in my trackie bottoms watching the snooker. So far here today it's been, sunny, windy, raining and hailing so maybe it's not too much of a loss. I've a few episodes of house of cards to catch up on. These unplanned days with nothing to do are few and far between these days, so I'm going to enjoy it
I'm out
hope your back at it soon but take all the time you need to recover well0 -
The advice from the physio was not to run until Saturday evening if I felt ok. So that's what I did. I was still a little stiff, but went out after work.
Saturday: 4.4 miles@8:55. Felt ok after this. I gave the neck and shoulder a hood stretch and it didn't really bother when I was running. But I did feel a twinge a the back of my left knee. I think my calf was tight and pulling on it. Gave it a good stretch and hit the from roller when I went home.
Sunday: Night Shift. Headed into work early. Neck/Shoulder well on the way to recovery but I was a bit worried about my knee. Decided to go ahead with 4x10 minutes (2 recovery) @ HM pace and just see how it went. No pain at all from the neck/shoulder once I warmed up and the knee held out. The last interval of this session I found tough, but it was very warm and I was full of food, so no surprise there
Warmup: 15 mins, 1 mile @8:10 (50% downhill), 0.81 mile @ 8:26. This look a bit fast but average HR for the first mile was 126(142 max) and 140 for the second bit (145 max). My Garmin recorded miles split during the intervals so I have no average pace for each interval
1: 1 mile@6:53, 160bpm, 168bpm max; 0.45 miles@6:53, 168bpm, 178bpm max,
2: 1 mile@6:55, 167bpm, 178bpm max, 0.44 miles@7:02, 175bpm, 181bpm max
3: 1mile@7:01, 165bpm, 175bpm max, 0.43 miles@6:57, 171bpm, 179bpm max
4: 1mile@7:03, 165bpm, 172bpm max, 0.42 miles@7:00, 167bpm, 170bpm max
Cool down: 1 mile@9:20
Total mileage: 9:35
So - 1:30 is definitely over ambitious for the Cork half. If I can do it between 7:00 and 7:05 pace I'll be well pleased
Monday: Night Shift. Felt very tired after last nights session followed by a 12 hour night. 7.3 miles@ 8:51, 139bpm average, 155 bpm max (hit this climbing a short hill at the end. This pace felt very easy and HR was below 140 for a good portion of the run, creeping up to about 143 or so towards the end. Neck and shoulder fine now - just a bit stiff after waking up or after I've been sitting for a bit. The knee though is still a bit niggly. Some calf stretches gave relief so I think its that
Tuesday: Rest day. I woke early after night shift. I was knackered, the house was busy, and my body just said no. I had planned to do 45-60 minutes easy today, but decided to rest instead. I'll do some time on the floor with a foam roller and a few stretches later.
So no long run last week, and but I have plenty done so far so if I have to take it easy for another few days then so be it. I've planned a good nights sleep tonight and how I feel in the morning will dictate whether or not I do an easy run or my scheduled session.0 -
I've had what feels like a patchy couple of weeks. I've been feeling a bit fatigued and and a bit achy - just a bit stale. Looking back it seems like I peaked for the 25k, and didn't recover properly afterwards. So left calf and hamstring are still a bit tight and pulling at the back of my knee, but I've been a but more diligent with the post run stretching and foam rolling so that's easing out. I've revised my goal for the Cork Half to just see how I get on on the day. The heat over the last few days has been difficult to run in so if its a warm day I'd say any chance of a PB are out the window - but I don't really care. I entered the half as a test (the 25k race more than fulfilled that), and just to be involved in the biggest running event in my home City.
I've have a lot to log so this will be long. I last logged on 3rd May so this takes it from there:
Weds 4th: 3k-2k-1k Threshold to CV paces (~6:50-6:34), 400m recovery. Came through this session well, the lat 1km was a bit hard but I felt good after it.
Thurs 5th: Long Run, 2 hours. 13.7miles, 8:45 av. pace. Felt good enough, but tired over the last 30 minutes but was able to maintain pace.
Fri 6th: 6.4miles easy/recovery on mostly grass/trails 9:18/m average.
Sat 7th. Rest day+Work
Sun 8th: 15min warm up, 30min tempo (4.2 miles 7:11;7:08;7:08,7:00 for the last 1.2), 15min cool down. Found the first 5 minutes of tempo touch but once I got going I really enjoyed it. HR in around 160-165, creeping towards 170 for the last 5 minutes
This week. My schedule had 2 session - 16x400 @ Threshold pace and 4x12mins @ HMP. I got neither done. I had a 6 mile race and dropped the first session and I blew up during the 2nd session
Monday: Had planned an hour easy but couldn't get out before work in the evening, so a rest day it was
Tuesday: 6.7 miles total (1 hour) 5.5 mile @~8:55 then 6xstrides - just ran the length of a soccer pitch and jogged back, with the last two all out, then jog back home. Foam rolled and stretched
Wed: 9.1 total. 1.8 warmup. 1 mile cool down. 6 mile race. I found this a tough race over hills and warm muggy conditions. Splits - 6:23(downhill), 6:46, 6:57; 7:16 (hilliest part), 6:52, 6:51). I can;t complain becasue I had a hand in the course design, but every mile bar the first had a hill - Strava has a 308 feet elevation gain over the course and the downhill did not make up for it. Official finish time was 41:16 which I'm happy with considering the conditions and I was just finished 2 night shifts. I got home late so just a quick go with the stick on the calves before bed
Thursday: 6.6 miles on the flat, 9:03 average pace. I was tired from the night before but once I got going I just cruised along for an hour nice and easy. I tried to keep the cadence up as I found this works well for me when my legs are tired. HR was a bit higher than normal, but I was fatigued from the race and it was a bit warm up. A real endorphin booster of a run. I finished with a smile on my face. Went home and had a full stretch and foam roll.
Friday: The plan was to get up early and get in half an hour recovery, but that never happened. I had a family occasion to attend so I just relaxed and enjoyed the day.
Saturday: A hangover???? After like two and half beers??? FFS. Dying til around 2. I headed out around 5, just as the sun was at it hottest. Great stuff. After a 2 mile warm up I started into 4x12 mins @ HMP. I was doing laps of a pitch again tbh the first rep felt great, but the pace was way too fast - 6:45, when it should have been 6:55 - 7:15. 2:30 recovery and then down onto the trails and paths for the second rep. Its just harder to run on the trails so I had aimed to do 7:15 for this interval - but the oace was all over the shop - 7:00 for the 1st mile, 7:13 for the remainder and I struggled to finish. Back up onto the pitch for the 3rd interval, but I was just out of gas. The heat had gotten to me and my water stash had gone missing. Stopped 3 minutes in, the restarted for another minute before calling it a day. Still managed to do a 1.8 mile cool down jog (9:03) but I was bate. 8.3 total for the day and a distinct feeling that maybe I'd peaked a few weeks ago
Sun: Nothing yet. I plan a long run this evening though - but I might just do 10 miles instead of the scheduled 13-14 depending on how I feel later
I've been looking at a few marathon plans (P+D 40-55 in particular). I sort of doing that sort of mileage already and I'm thinking that if after the Cork half I just do a few weeks base training/recovery mode I'll be in good shape for marathon training. Actually its the P+D 12 week plan that appeals to me the most. I definitely need to freshen thing up a bit so I'm thinking about doing Dublin and skipping some of the shorter races I had planned. So it'll be the Charleville half as a tune up, the Ballycotton 5 mile summer series and maybe one Cork BHAA 5k. If that sounds like a lot I would have planned on doing maybe 3 or 4 more races over shorter distances as well. I don't know - I haven't made up my mind. I bombed trying to hit 3:30 in Dublin last year and ended up with 3:38:xx - but a number of things didn't go right on the day. I was definitely good for a 3:35 at least. My times would indicate a marathon time of around 3:15, so I would add 10 minutes to that at least. Is 3:25 too ambitious??0 -
Headed out about 7.30pm last night after work for around 2 hours easy. I went down to Blackrock Castle and did the 5 mile loop down to Mahon Point and bacl up the Rialway line to the Marina. I felt really good after an hour so I decided to pick up the pace a bit. I decided I wanted do 45 mins at around 155bpm and then finish string for the last 15 mins at around 160-165bpm. I love the fast finish long runs and get great confidence from them. Anyway it wasn't the greatest idea. I managed around 25 minutes at the faster pace and started to feel a bit ill, so I jogged back to the car and did another slow mile or so to see if the feeling would subside. It was a silly thing to do really because I'd eaten a lunch around 5pm and it just didn't settle. I felt ok until I picked up the pace though.
Splits: 8:32, 133bpm; 8:25,142bpm; 8:42,141bpm; 8:45,141bpm; 8:47,143bpm; 8:47,142bpm; 8:22,146bpm; 7:40, 155bpm; 7:38,154bpm; 7:42,155bpm; 8:19,147bpm; 8:54,135bpm; 9:29,131bpm; 0.13miles@9:53,128bpm
Total: 13.1miles, 1:51:18
I nailed a similar workout a few months ago, but I'm not that worried because of the stomach upset thing. I was feeling strong and the pace felt easy until then.
No running today and a full days work. I'll probably do an interval session tomorrow because I won't have time on Wednesday after nightshift - as always I'll see how I feel in the morning.0 -
Mind yourself M sounds like you might need to listen to the bod and watch that fatigue if it continues you may need a bit of a tonic. Take it handy. Don't know anything about the P & D Plan but M has followed it so I'll mention it to him and he can post up any tips on it.0
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Feeling a lot better. I've slept quite well this week and feel a bit more energised and a some of the aches and pains and tightness have just melted away overnight. Sleep is really, really important. And it's not something that I do very well on a consistent basis. In fact, I think I'd improve a lot by just sleeping better, and not making any changes to my training.
Monday: Rest.
Tuesday: 7.3 miles average 8:50/mile, pace fairly even throughout, evening run before nights. Felt good.
Wednesday: 2 mile warmup, 6x1200m@CV pace with 400m recovery, 2 mile cool down. 10 miles total. CV pace is 6:34-6:42, but because of the fatigue of late and the fact that this was in between night shifts I set the lower limit to 6:50 and would have been happy with that. As it happens there was no need to worry. Interval paces: 6:35/mile, 6:37/mile, 6:39/mile, 6:37/mile, 6:47/mile, 6:42/mile. I'm very happy with this. The first interval (as always) was too fast. The 5th and 6th were tough, but some of that loss of pace was due to a strong headwind. Although some of the faster splits were down to a tailwind. Again, this wasn't done on a track, just with a Garmin, but I'm not too worried about the lack of accuracy over 1200m. So although tired after this session, I felt refreshed and full of confidence.
Thursday: 6.5 miles split into 2 runs. 2 mile@8:40 mostly downhill, then did a few messages (as they say here), then 4.5 miles@9:03 - had to climb back up the hill I ran down previously. Gorgeous day, nice and sunny with a cool breeze. Perfect day for it.
Friday: 7 miles easy@8:52. A nice plod in the rain in park at the back of my place. It was sheltered from the wind but I got soaked - but I don;t mind the rain so much when I'm running and my current Nikes seems to be waterproof.
Overall I'm happy with the week so far. I've been looking after sleep, nutrition and taking it easier on easy days this week and its paying off. And it worth repeating that sleep is really, really important.0 -
hot buttered scones wrote: »I've had what feels like a patchy couple of weeks. I've been feeling a bit fatigued and and a bit achy - just a bit stale. Looking back it seems like I peaked for the 25k, and didn't recover properly afterwards. So left calf and hamstring are still a bit tight and pulling at the back of my knee, but I've been a but more diligent with the post run stretching and foam rolling so that's easing out. I've revised my goal for the Cork Half to just see how I get on on the day. The heat over the last few days has been difficult to run in so if its a warm day I'd say any chance of a PB are out the window - but I don't really care. I entered the half as a test (the 25k race more than fulfilled that), and just to be involved in the biggest running event in my home City.
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I've been looking at a few marathon plans (P+D 40-55 in particular). I sort of doing that sort of mileage already and I'm thinking that if after the Cork half I just do a few weeks base training/recovery mode I'll be in good shape for marathon training. Actually its the P+D 12 week plan that appeals to me the most. I definitely need to freshen thing up a bit so I'm thinking about doing Dublin and skipping some of the shorter races I had planned. So it'll be the Charleville half as a tune up, the Ballycotton 5 mile summer series and maybe one Cork BHAA 5k. If that sounds like a lot I would have planned on doing maybe 3 or 4 more races over shorter distances as well. I don't know - I haven't made up my mind. I bombed trying to hit 3:30 in Dublin last year and ended up with 3:38:xx - but a number of things didn't go right on the day. I was definitely good for a 3:35 at least. My times would indicate a marathon time of around 3:15, so I would add 10 minutes to that at least. Is 3:25 too ambitious??
Hi HBS, welcome to the training logs. Best of luck with it.
While I am by no means a P&D expert I have been through a few P&D cycles at this stage so have some experience with them. I will start by stating the obvious. The clue is in the name of the book "Advanced Marathoning" so if you decide to go down the P&D route you will be taking a big step up in terms of training structure and intensity. If you are not in the right place both physically and mentally when starting you will run a real risk of not making it to the startline.
I had two reasonably consistent year under my belt before trying the 18 week "Up to 55M" plan in 2013. I choose the 18 week version as I wanted to build more endurance in the early phase before getting into the increased intensity. My previous plans had a lot of intensity in them as I never did a traditional quantity based plan like HH. I did the FIRST program from Day 1 which is quality over quantity based. The extra focus on endurance was a key thing for me to allow me to push on. The intensity of P&D never bothered me as I was used to it but runners coming from quantity based plans like HH can struggle with the extra intensity of P&D and injury is not uncommon if you jump into this type of training too early. I am not sure what plan you did for DCM 2015 but you may want to consider another cycle building your overall capacity and letting your body adjust before making the leap.
Whatever route you go before doing anything you should start by focusing on getting all the niggles sorted and making sure that the body is ready to go. You should then build up the base miles to as close to 50mpw as you can running at least 5 days per week with no single run greater than 15m. This will help build your consistency, endurance and general fitness. It will also give you the confident that the mileage targets in the "Up to 55m" plan are no higher than you are used to so mentally all you will have to deal with is the shift in intensity. If you are already running 50mpw then the reduction in mileage in the first few weeks of the plan will allow your body adjust much easier to the intensity than if you are trying to build mileage and intensity at the same time.
So in short
Step 1 | Get the niggles sorted;
Step 2 | Increase base mileage to 50mpw off 5days with LR no greater than 15m;
Step 3 | Set realistic target and define your training pace accordingly;
Step 4 | When you are happy that you have completed Step 1 to 3 and that P&D is the route for you then GO FOR IT;
Step 5 | Stick to the plan!!!!
I will be watching with interest to see how you progress during the year. ENJOY!!!0 -
Thanks FBOT01 for the very detailed response. It's given me a lot to think about. First off a bit more history - I'm running pretty consistently for since about February 2015 - my only real down time was after Dublin were I had 2 or 3 very easy weeks.
From late Dec 2014 to mid Feb 2014 I was recovering from a post tib strain - so strength work, pool running, isolated stretching kept me going. I took up running in 2014 but it was patchy - I got good 5 months until another injury sidelined me from august to the start of October, but I did no training in this period. I was about 6 weeks into a Jeff Gaudette runkeeper plan for Dublin 2014 and injured myself doing the Rock n Roll half 2014. Before that I'd just been in the gym regularly for about a year doing mostly cardio (including treadmill) and weights machines trying to loose weight.
So in summary -2013 was gym/weight loss backing off towards the end of the year. 2014 started back in the gym in January, took to the roads in March, injured in August, back running in October, injured again in late Dec (too much, too fast, too soon). And 30 races ran since Ballycotton 2015. Dublin 2106 will be my 3rd Marathon.
I used a myasics plan for Cork 2015 - 2 short easy runs, 1 tempo effort and one long run a week (about 35 miles/week max). Did a 12 week McMillan Strava plan for Dublin - 5 days a week, 2 sessions, 1 long run (including 1x20 and 2x22) with midweek MLRs up to 12 miles. I enjoyed this plan, but I raced too often during it and ended up tired. Also McMillans "easy" pace was not so easy I think.
I've been following Myles' 2015 graduate plan since Dublin and once that ended I jumped into week 6 or so of the 10k-half plan that he put up to bring me up to the Cork Half.
So Step 1: I'm working on it. I have quite a good physio, I'm committing to starting up the s&c work I had been doing in the lead up to Dublin and resting properly - which I had not been doing
Step 2: Average weekly mileage for the last 2 months is something like 42 miles per week over 5 or 6 days - I do have a couple of 50 mile weeks in there. I strayed from Myles' plan too - I'm doing a 2 hour long run once a week since Feb - i get in between 13 or 14 miles. Well most weeks - not when I have a race and I was sick one week.
Step 3: I'm lost here. PB is 3:38:xx from Dublin. I was aiming for 3:30, but things went wrong on the day and I fell apart after 20 miles. A more realistic goal would have been 3:35. On current form (1:50:3x for a fairly flat 25k) most calculators indicate 3:15ish, but I think that's a bit much. That's why I'm thinking 3:25 - that's going out with the 3:30 pacers and pushing on if I feel good, or hanging on if I don't
Step 4: Nothing much about the P+D plan puts me off other than the MLRs of 15 miles midweek, mostly because I;m wondering if I'll have time to do them. Also I'm wondering more about the 12 week plans because I'm on holidays with the family for about 3 weeks in July, and while I will be doing good bit of running, I'm not sure if I'll be able to stick with a plan (see Step 5)
Step 5: 12 or 18 weeks? I think 12 is more achievable for me. Also I aim to be a lot more focussed this time and not jump into every local race like I did last year. Although I may try for a cheeky 5k PB in August.
Have to dash off there now, but thanks again for the inout FBOT01
Edit: I'm considering training by HR for this training cycle for a number of reasons. Firstly it will stop me going too hard in training, and also I think it could be helpful for doing tempos and the like over hilly routes.0 -
Training:
Saturday: I had a 35 minute tempo on the plan - @7:12-7:23). I felt a bit tired so I decided to try and run towards the slower end, and push that slower end out to 7:30. It didn't go well. After a 2 mile warmup, I started the tempo session but had to stop after 1.5 miles, then twice more after every mile even when I slowed down and tried to keep the HR consistent. Excuses - it was windy, it got very hot during the run and I was focussing on my watch too much - the tree cover down the Marina plays havoc with the GPS in my experience. Another poor Saturday session. I should have cut my losses and just jogged another 20 minutes after stopping. Total miles 7.6. More like an interval session
Sunday: Long run. I felt good Sunday morning. I planned a 10 mile route that would take in the last 8 or so miles of the Half (and full btw) marathon looping back to the car and then if I felt ok I'd run the first 3 miles. I felt great during this run, just trying to keep the HR below 145, allowing it to increase to 150 over any inclines. It was cooler than Saturday. Average pace was 8:28 which surprised me, average HR 144bpm.
I couldn't resist picking up the pace a bit running down Patrick Street. Total miles: 14.1 Felt greta afterwards too. A total turnaround from the day before:
Monday: Rest
Tuesday: Felt a but ropey yesterday. Felt a whole lot worse this morning. SICK. B alls. Sore throat, headache, doctors bill, day off sick. I feel ok now - but I'm not going to push it. So today is an unscheduled rest day.
This puts my plans for the week askew. I had planned to run the Ballyandreen 5 as a HMP run on Thursday night, but I don't think I'll bother now, which means I more than likely won't do the Ballycotton summer series. Which is ok too - it means I'll focus better on my marathon training. So no session for this week, but I'll do some easy miles tomorrow and see how I get on.0 -
Wednesday: Felt better this morning. Did an easy 10k with a few pulls and drags. Average pace 8:52, ave HR 146 bpm. Breathing was still a bit heavy but cleared up about half way through. Had a good rest last night and feel the better for it. I had to get out today and would have been happy with 5k but I just kept going and in the end I felt tired but refreshed, which is good sign I suppose.
I also had a trip to the physio. Nothing to worry about - just a bit of tightness in the left calf and hamstring that's pulling on the inside of the knee. Got a bit of soft tissue work and a bit of dry needling done. I'll have to start doing my calf raises again as I appear to have lost a bit of strength there along with the glute bridges and clams - trying to build up to 25 from 2 sets of 10.
I think I've lost too much weight which has left me feeling a bit weaker than normal. I'm down to 72.3kg from 74.3kg about 2 months ago. I'm 6ft tall. I felt better at 74kg to be honest. I've not been eating enough, but sometimes I'm just not hungry. I need some easy to prepare calorie dense foods. Also everything dairy in my fridge tends to be low cal/lo fat so I wonder should I get my own yoghurts/milk etc. I'm snacking on crap rather than on healthy foods which doesn't help. Ill have to nail this down quickly before marathon training starts or I'll be setting myself up to fail.0 -
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hot buttered scones wrote: »I think I've lost too much weight which has left me feeling a bit weaker than normal. I'm down to 72.3kg from 74.3kg about 2 months ago. I'm 6ft tall. I felt better at 74kg to be honest. I've not been eating enough, but sometimes I'm just not hungry. I need some easy to prepare calorie dense foods. Also everything dairy in my fridge tends to be low cal/lo fat so I wonder should I get my own yoghurts/milk etc. I'm snacking on crap rather than on healthy foods which doesn't help. Ill have to nail this down quickly before marathon training starts or I'll be setting myself up to fail.
I found my appetite increased a lot once I increased my milage for marathon training last year. It hasn't really let up since (though neither has my running). Having non-crappy snacks (fruit, nuts, cheese, bagels... well maybe the bagels aren't great) to hand has kept things spiralling out of control.0 -
Go over onto FBOT's log a log of talk about diet and food over the last few days some interested links and suggestions posted there.0
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Thursday: 7 miles before work (nights). mostly on grass. 8:35/mile, 144bpm average
Friday: Recovery 5k, 9:25/mile, 131 bpm average.
Saturday: 2x20min@HMP, 5 recovery, 2 mile warmup and cool down. 10 miles total. This was tough. I really faded in the latest 5 minutes of both intervals. HR should have been 165-170 max for the intervals, but ended up peaking at around 180, avergaing around 175. It was very warm and humid though, so I'm putting it down to that.
Sunday: 10.8 miles @ 8:47 in the heat again. I thought this run was going to be around 8 or 9 miles but figured it wrong so ended up doing nearly 11. Very warm again (around 4pm) and the HR reflected this (148 average). It got a bit dull and and a cool breeze picked up for the last 3 or 4 miles and I really felt a difference in effort (it was easier).
Monday: Rest. Actual rest. No work and no running.
Tuesday: 5 miles @ 9:01/mile, average HR 134bpm, some very short pick ups at the end. For once I got my backside out of bed and went for a run before work. Legs were like bricks and I couldn't get the HR up at all. I'd say I was still half alseep to be honest. Still, it was a gorgeous sunny morning and it felt good to be out. I haven't run this early in a while, and I need to get back into the habit if I'm to follow a plan for Dublin properly.
I still don't know how to approach the half on Monday. At this stage I'm going to go with a go out hard and fade as late as possible. The course is more or less flat for the first and last 4 miles, with a few drags in the middle. If its 18 degrees or above then I'll be doing a long run with a fast finish, but it will feel like I'm racing.0 -
Wednesday: Unscheduled rest day. Got up late and felt tired after work so I just didn't bother.
Thursday: Felt good after the extra rest day. 6x1min V02 max. Did a 2 mile warm up on trails, the some drills on grass, then the repeats around a soccer pitch. Aimed for 5:55-6:00 pace for the intervals. Interval paces: 5:45, 5:34, 5:45, 5:40, 5:40, 5:28 - around 300m for each one I think. It didn't feel that fast though. I tired in the last 100m but could have done another 100m for each interval and could have done another 2 intervals. I always find it hard to judge the pace of these short hard repeats. 1 and a bit miles cool down, total miles 5.4
Friday: Had a sports massage in the afternoon. Felt good after that. Evening: 5.6 miles, easy, 8:05 pace, 146 bpm average. Threw in a couple of random short pick ups. I really enjoyed this run. It was about 7pm down around Cork Harbour, 18 degrees, a light cool breeze, plenty of shade to run in. It felt easy and the easy/taper week is doing its job even though the pace is a bit faster than normal. I felt fresh and energised for the first time in a while. Woo Hoo!
Saturday: Dunno yet. Got up late after night shift and headed into the Cork City Marathon expo to pick up my number for the half. Expo was poor - just the Edge, John Buckleys and some guy selling surplus race t shirts and a cafe I think. My pop out for 20 minutes recovery later as a warm up for a full stretch but its fierce warm out.
Edit: Headed out for 3 very easy miles. Just jogged to the shops and back. Had a full stretch and foam roll session. Magic.0 -
Best of luck tomorrow HBS.0
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Sunday: 3 miles very easy with 4 strides, then off into town to watch a bit of the redbull soapbox race. Met a few heads and got a bit excited about the race. There was a great buzz about the place. I really thought I was taking this easy but it appears I'm actually quite nervous - so despite telling myself this wasn't actually a goal race I still couldn't sleep much. Got to sleep about 1.30 and was wide awake again about 4.45. I got no sleep last year before the full and I was grand so I'm not worried. I determined to have a good crack off this and at the very least if I can look awesome while powering down Patrick Street then I'll have had a good day (well that's how it looked in my head anyway - definitely not a crumpled sweaty mess with angry running face). I've eaten well and I'm well hydrated and it's not even my longest race of the year so far. Actually I'm probably a tad over hydrated, hence waking at 4.45.0
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Have a good one today, HBS and most importantly ENJOY!!!0
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Have a good one today, HBS and most importantly ENJOY!!!
Cheers. Just about to head out the door to try and catch the full marathon as it runs back through town. It's funny - this was never a supposed to be a major goal race for me - more of a rangefinder to see where I was at, but I'm rattling now. There's something special about a big race in your home town I suppose. I'll be eating a 99 on Panna by 12:15. Or maybe 12:30, who knows!! 0 -
Best of luck today HBS0
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Home, wrecked and a bit annoyed. The start of the half went the wrong way - we ran an extra 0.4 miles into oncoming marathoners and relay runners. Garmin time was 1:39:36 and would have been 1:36:36 had we gone the right way. The heat and humidity really got to me. Felt a bit ill to be honest. I also tripped about 2 or so miles in and went flying but luckily laned on grass. I'll do a full report tomorrow.0
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