Still trying to figure it all out.

Swashbuckler

Race rust is real! You'll get a feel for what your able to push yourself to the more races you do. I'm learning with every race. And the big plus is you have a coach who will encourage regular racing.

hot buttered scones

OOnegative wrote:

More there for sure, I know what you mean about not backing yourself at times and keeping it comfortably hard rather than pushing on. Great racing.

I'm firmly convinced that it doesn't matter how hard you train, or how well you eat and rest - if your heads not right you won't perform to the best of your ability. Yesterday served it's purpose though, was good to get back into it again and get a good idea of where I'm while also regaining some confidence.

Swashbuckler wrote:

Race rust is real! You'll get a feel for what your able to push yourself to the more races you do. I'm learning with every race. And the big plus is you have a coach who will encourage regular racing.

Suffering's a skill! It takes a while to remember how much pain you can take and for how long. Definitely shook off a bit of rust yesterday and I can't wait to go again and do some proper racing.

Swashbuckler

hot buttered scones wrote:

Suffering's a skill! It takes a while to remember how much pain you can take and for how long. Definitely shook off a bit of rust yesterday and I can't wait to go again and do some proper racing.

I think that pain threshold can increase too. I'm looking forward to testing that theory over the next while. Takes balls though.

hot buttered scones

Swashbuckler wrote:

I think that pain threshold can increase too. I'm looking forward to testing that theory over the next while. Takes balls though.

Oh it definitely can increase. Yes sometimes it can go horribly wrong, but when you get it right you'll reap the rewards. It's that ability to bring yourself right to the edge and hold it that needs to be learned - and of course that "edge" is different depending on the distance being raced - does that make any sense? Anyway I think we all need "throwaway" races where we can try things out from time to time.

Swashbuckler

hot buttered scones wrote:

Oh it definitely can increase. Yes sometimes it can go horribly wrong, but when you get it right you'll reap the rewards. It's that ability to bring yourself right to the edge and hold it that needs to be learned - and of course that "edge" is different depending on the distance being raced - does that make any sense? Anyway I think we all need "throwaway" races where we can try things out from time to time.

Makes perfect sense. My edge for a 5k is very different to my edge for a half. That's probably one of the main surprises over the past few months is being encouraged to find races here and there. It really gives you a chance to try stuff out like you said.

Singer

Solid race - very well done and a good start to your racing year.

hot buttered scones

Singer wrote: »

Solid race - very well done and a good start to your racing year.

Thanks B. Looking forward to seeing how you get on for the rest of the year.

hot buttered scones

Monday 12/02
Swapped around my rest days - did 6 easy@8:34 in the evening - but too soon after dinner. Last 2 miles were just rotten with indigestion!

Tuesday 13/02

Rest. I had intended on going out for 6 easy in the morning, but choose to stay warm in bed instead. I had to get a filling later on in the morning so decided I'd go out in the evening after the numbness wore off. Instead I fell asleep while watching the winter olympics instead! I was happy enough to just call it a rest day at that stage, especially since I had an early start the next morning.

Wednesday 14/02

Up at 5.30 and out the door by 6. Planned session:

3x3 mins@6:40 with 2 min recoveries, 8 mins@7:10, 2 min off, 3x3 mins@6:40 with 2 min recoveries.

It was a miserable morning - windy with sideways rain and I was soaked through after half a mile. Somehow the weather never seems to matter that much when you get into the faster stuff. I'd say I had a bit of wind assistance on a few of the reps. Most of the 3 mins where away from the wind with about the last minute into it. For the 8 mins I did about 2 laps of the ferry port, but with the wind at my back for the first 3 minutes or so. To be honest the wind was coming from all sides it seemed, and I even stopped puddle dodging after a bit. I enjoyed this and the effort felt spot on for the 3 minute reps - although I was starting to struggle a bit during the last one of the 2nd set. I ran the 8 minute tempo bit too fast and it felt it during the last 2 minutes, but for the most part I felt relaxed and comfortable. I'll get it right the next time coach, I swear! All the recoveries were jogged, except after the very last 3 min rep. Sometimes when I do this sessions in the morning, especially in bad weather I loose some of the finer detail of how it went because I'm just on autopilot, but it does make it easier to do at times, because I've no time to sit around and procrastinate

Warm up: 2 miles@8:41

Rep paces:
3 mins@6:30
3 mins@6:36
3 mins@6:34
8 mins@6:53
3 mins@6:35
3 mins@6:33
3 mins@6:32

Cool down: 2.66 miles@8:34

A prolonged cool down to bring the daily total up to an even 10 miles, and a decent session done while the sun was still rising.'

When I arrived into work, I found one of my work team mates had left me a prize from the race last Sunday - a team prize in Category C (3rd place) - so 9th place really, but a prize is a prize and it was fairly good too. Well the mrs. was delighted anyway with all the Johnson&Johnson hand cream, moisturiser facewashes etc. I got to keep the water bottle, towel, compeed and beanie!

Thursday 15/02

Nothing yet. Woke at 6, yawned and stretched, then closed my eyes for a second - then it was 7, so no pre work run. I'm in here all day looking out at the glorious sunshine and as the end of my shift approaches, the rain clouds have gathered. It's looking like an early dart for 6 soggy miles later if I can get my HPLC to work.

diego_b

Nice prize that, you'll be sent to do more races!!

hot buttered scones

Thursday 15/02

Things weren't going my way at work and hanging around for another hour wouldn't have fixed them, so I took an early dart for 6 easy@8:24. Thoroughly enjoyed this on a cold, crisp evening with little to no wind.

Friday 16/02

Swapped my long run to today due to my work schedule. I'll get the excuses in first - I'd a bad nights sleep, which included a few hours on the couch after I fell asleep watching some crap on TV. I was also feeling a bit of fatigue - probably cumulative from Wednesday's session and also the lateness of the run the night before (around 7pm). So I wasn't exactly feeling the love before heading out for this. Set off around 12.30 from Mahon Point and took in a bit of the Great Railway route for an out and back. Headed across the footbridge and down the old Railway line past Rochestown and then through Passage and Monkstown before heading back. It was fairly windy - so a swirling crosswind for miles 1-3 and 9-12, headwind from 3-6 and tailwind from 6-9. A fairly flat route with just a couple of small climbs through Passage and of course the footbridge across the South Ring. Too much coffee meant a couple of pitstops in the early miles, then a stop at 8 miles to take off the jacket and at 10 because of shoe laces. I've a pair of Supernova Glides where no matter what I do the laces keep coming undone. I felt fine up to around 8 miles, then started to tire a bit. The last 2 miles felt like a bit of a grind even though the effort levels didn't really increase significantly - so I'm guessing the legs tired before the lungs?

12@8:32 average

Splits:

8:39; 8:31; 8:44; 8:45; 8:34; 8:44; 8:11; 8:16; 8:29; 8:35; 8:28; 8:24

Longest run since DCM and it showed, but I suspect it may have felt a bit easier if I'd have timed it a bit better.

Saturday 17/02

6@9:16 (9:04; 9:02; 9:19; 9:14; 9:48)

I was up surprisingly early after night shift so I decided to head out to the Glen park for a few laps in the daylight rather than have a another plod around the harbour in the dark. 6 miles easy on the plan for today, so given that I;d been working nights, I'd had little sleep and I was feeling fatigued the day before I decided to go at recovery effort and keep it nice and relaxed. I had the watch set to HR and distance, and tried not to let the HR creep up much above 135 - which it only did really when going up the long drag in the park. The last mile was a bit of an outlier, with the pace dropping and the HR rising, but it did include some steps, a couple of laps of a boggy field, and a steep 300m climb out of the Glen.
I could do with a bit more of this to be honest.

chickey2

Did you get the hplc machine working in the end?!

hot buttered scones

chickey2 wrote: »

Did you get the hplc machine working in the end?!

No, not that day. But i got it working last night and discovered it was my fault, not the machines.

hot buttered scones

Sunday 18/02
12x1 min, 1 min recovery

Warmup: 2 miles 8:20; 8:15

Rep paces:
6:19; 6:24; 6:19; 6:14; 6:22; 6:16; 6:12; 6:11; 6:09; 6:19; 6:17; 5:46

Cool down: 2.14 miles: 8:15; 8:05; 1:10 (7:52 pace)

A nice snappy session, in great conditions - dry and cool with little to no wind. I headed out for my warm up from work in the opposite direction and spied a car park at the top of the site I hadn't paid much attention too before. Nice and flat with a good surface. With it being Sunday evening it was empty. 1 lap of this was about 1 minute at rep pace, so I just headed over there. Now - the guide pace for these reps was 6:40, so I was nowhere near that , but a most of the reps felt like they were in the right effort zone. The recoveries were all jogged. I felt like it messed it up by going too fast, so I decided to just hammer out the last one. There was a bit of lack of concentration here - I wasn't overly familiar with my surroundings and was more focused on avoiding kerbs etc than pacing it right. like I said though, the effort felt about right . 7.3 miles for the day.

Weekly total: 47.4 miles

Monday 19/02

6 easy - 1.7 uphill to the shop@8:59, 4.2 the long way round back@8:22

Tuesday 20/02

7x800 in 3:15, 90s recovery

This was supposed to be done on Wednesday. Because of my work week, I have to do the long run on Saturday which means doing the 2nd session on Friday and I wanted 2 days between sessions to recover properly.

Warmup: 2 miles: 8:12; 8:17

Splits:
3:10; 3:11; 3:11; 3:13; 3:12; 3:13; 3:15

Cool down: 2@8:28

The first 3 felt ok, but were a bit too fast. The middle one felt just right. The last 3 felt hard. Most followed the pattern of going out a bit too fast, then slowing down a bit too much and having to pick it up bit towards the end. The last 250m or so of the last couple of reps felt tough enough. Felt great after the session though. Got chatting to an old guy in the park where I was doing these after the last rep - it seems like he was a very handy runner in his day (25 mins for 5 miles he said) - but a couple of bad accidents had left him in a bad way, needing a frame to walk and very immobile. It was fairly sobering to be honest, but I chatted away with him for few minutes and left counting my blessings. There but for the grace and all that.
I managed to get myself a transfer into the Mallow 10 today as well, so I'm very happy with that. I ahd too poor enough attempts at the distance last year, so I'm hoping for a better show in this one.

Wednesday 21/02

Down the Glen for a few laps. Did a good bit on grass and trails. It wasn't quite the recovery effort I'd intended, but it was easy nonetheless. 6@8:37

Thursday 22/02

I'd settled on today as my rest day - and was glad of it this morning.

hot buttered scones

Friday 23/02

Session - 3 x (4x90s) with reducing recoveries (90s, 60s, 30s). goal pace 6:15-6:20 (around 5k pace)
Done this around the ferry port before work - started the warmup at 6:45am. Cool enough morning, but tahnkfully it was fairly bright by the time I'd gotten into the session
I took 90s after the first set and 60s after the second set - maybe I should have started the shorter recoveries earlier? It was only when I set out to do the session that I thought of this, and I just went with what I programmed on the watch.
Covered just shy of 400m on each rep (around 0.23-0.24 miles)


Warm up: 2 miles@8:30

1st set paces (90s recovery after all reps):

6:24; 6:13; 6:18; 6:11

The first rep was a major shock to the system and I was left wondering how I was going to complete the session. It must have woken up the body though, because after that rep I was trying to reign it in rather than speed up. 2nd and 3rd reps were wind assisted for the first half, 3rd ran in the opposite direction with the wind in my face for the last half. The rest of the sets would be reps 1+3 with the wind, 2+4 into the wind. Each rep felt as hard as the last, with the 90s recoveries feeling generous.

2nd set:
6:09; 6:07; 6:14; 6:16 (60s recovery after each rep)

Went out way too fast on the first two, and started noticeably slowing towards the end of each rep by the end of the set
- I have to say the first 2 didn't feel as hard as the pace might indicate. The effort felt about right, but I think I misjudged it slightly hence overshooting the pace. The reps were feeling progressively harder, and the recovery jogs getting slower. I was enjoying it by this stage although I had a feeling that the next set was going to be hard

3rd set:

6:15; 6:13; 6:15; 6:16 - 30s recoveries after each rep

So basically it was a struggle to hit the required pace on these reps. I had to pick it up for the last 100m of the last two to bring it back withing range. I guessed the shorter "recoveries" meant these reps were supposed too feel harder - and the did. The first 2 recoveries were walk/jogs and I just stood there after the 3rd rep waiting for the watch to beep. 30s was just about enough time to turn around and face the other direction. I was bate after the last rep, but happy to have got the session done. I recovered quickly enough for a slow cool down.

Cool down - 2@ around 8:45

I was fairly buzzing for the day after that.

Saturday 24/02

Bit of a crap start to the day - I got up late, and just got caught up in house stuff. We had visitors, people needed ferrying etc etc. I had hoped to get out and back before anyone else was up - in the end I didn't get out until nearly half 2.

12 miles easy - starting on the Marina, headed back towards town for a Monahan Road/ Centre Park Road loop, the back down the Marina, passed Blackrock Castle and onto the Mahon walkway. Back up the old railway line to the Pairc, another one of the aforementioned loops, and finished running the perimeter of the Pairc, and a lap and bit of the Atlantic Pond.
My heart wasn't in this at the beginning - I just wanted to get it done. I was cold and uncomfortable and just not in the humour. The wind at the start of the Mahon Walkway would skin ya - I just slowed down and relaxed didn't fight it. Started to feel a bit better around the 5th mile and was well into by mile 6 with the breeze at my back. I was flying for the last few miles -feeling very strong - and any headwinds didn't bother me in the 2nd half. The pace picked up as well, but the effort never rose above easy level, except momentarily when taking the short climb out of the Atlantic Pond. I felt like I could have ran another couple of miles - so an improvement on last weeks effort.

Splits:
8:39; 8:37; 8:36; 8:33; 8:48; 8:28; 8:16; 8:09; 8:08; 8:09; 8:04; 8:07

So the Beast from the East is on its way - and we may well be covered in snow this time next week. Will I have to resort to the treadmill for the first time since - well, since I took up running seriously??
Can you run on snow covered grass?
Even worse, will my race next week be cancelled?
The gym up the road does monthly memberships - I might invest.

hot buttered scones

Sunday 25/02

6 easy@8:44, with company for few mile. Before night shifts. Don't remember much else about it.

weekly total: 46.6

Monday 26/02

6 easy@8:33 - down around the Glen, getting cold.

Tuesday 27/02

Session: 5x3mins@6:30, 5x30s Hard

Warmup: 2 miles - 8:11; 8:17 - felt good
5x3mins (75s off) - 6:28; 6:26; 6:25; 6:28; 6:28 - jogged recoveries
4 min jog
5x30s (1 min off) - 5:04; 4:41; 5:01; 4:45; 5:07 - walking/standing recoveries.

A beautiful, clear sunny but cold day. The park where I usually do this stuff was shut for some reason, so I had to improvise. A lap of the main road and then back through the supermarket car park was almost exactly 3 minutes at that pace. Each rep started into the wind. The loop wasn't pancake flat, but close enough. The 3 minute reps felt a bit harder than the 800s last week - not sure why, and I think when I compared the HR data from the 2 session it appeared to be about the same. I probably went way to hard for the 30s reps - slowing a good bit towards the end of each one, and decided after the first one to just take the recoveries as full recoveries. A lot of focus on form during the 30s reps, and used the arms a bit more than usual. Breathing was a bit off today which I put down to the dry cold air irritating my lungs.

Cool down: 2.15 miles - 8:56; 8:58; 8:41 pace for the bit. Felt rubbish.

Daily total: 8.2 miles

Wednesday 28/02

Snow day 1. Went out not long after the first snow fall here. So fresh, dry, powdery unspoilt snow is really good to run on if it's not that deep. I'd never run on snow before, so I'd planned on just playing it by ear. Did 1.5 miles on the main road and finished with a few miles around the Glen. Lovely. The only downside was I'd put on a load of layers, but I didn't really need them, so I was a bit warm by the end
6@8:36

Thursday 01/03

Snow day 2. More feckin' snow here. It was harder to run than yesterday - the snow was a bit deeper, and some of the stuff underneath and compacted. I didn't have yaktraks, but I had some yokes I got in Lidl years ago the you pull over your shoes with little studs poking out which seemed to do the trick. More laps go the Glen and some beautiful scenery. Finished up with a bit of sledding and general messing about before I got too cold and had to go in.
6@8:48 - felt like hard work in places

Friday 02/03

Snow day 3 - mega snow. We never got the blizzard conditions here, so no mad winds, but we did get some serious amount of snow(very serious for Cork, like). As luck would have it, today was this weeks rest day. Loads of walking in the snow, sledding, snow ball throwing and stuff like that. We were out for hours. My left quad was killing me afterwards from walking up the hills of the northside in the snow to get a good view. Was supposed to be working, but the plant is closed.

Saturday 03/03

Spent the morning waiting on a call in from work, but found out by lunch that the roads out that way are still bad, so another day off due to plant closure. Conditions look a but messy with all the half thawed snow, so I called it early and took another day off. Besides, I've plenty to be getting on with clearing things up around here.

I'm supposed to be racing tomorrow, but it's cancelled. Conditions should grand for running in the city though, so I need to find out what's the plan.

hot buttered scones

Sunday 04/03

No race so I decided I do a longer than usual long run and see how it went.
13.1@8:20. Started off around the 8:30s and threw a few miles in around the 8:10s towards the end. A nice run on rested legs, still at easy effort for the most part. Still fairly cold out, but all the snow was gone from the city. Don't remember much else about his this other than I enjoyed it.

39.4 miles for the week for 5 days running

Monday 05/03

6@8:42. Stiff at the start, and generally tired. In between night shifts though, so tiredness is expected.

Tuesday 06/03

6@8:40. Same route and between night shifts again, but felt a lot better.

Wednesday 07/03

The kind of day that makes you want to run to a quiet spot and give out a roar. No running, robbed of time.

Thursday 08/03

Yesterdays session done today. Nice day, sunny and actually warm away from the slight breeze - so no need for the long sleeve base layer I wore under the t shirt. Went up to local park for this.

Warmup: 2@8:16;8:31

Session: 1-2-3-4-4-3-2-1 minutes@6:30, 90s recovery.

In an nutshell - was all going fine until the first 4 minute, the last minute if which was very tough. Recoveries went from jogging to walking to standing/walking from the on. Took a lot of willpower to finish this out. I was still fairly controlled with good form for the majority of it though. As usual I think the 2nd 3 minute rep is almost the hardest. There was a bit of redlining going on as well. I think the extra night shift took its toll. Rep paces were fairly bang on except for the last one, where I just stopped paying attention

Rep paces:
1 min: 6:36
2 min: 6:24
3 min: 6:29
4 min: 6:27
4 min: 6:30
3 min: 6:30
2 min: 6:31
1 min: 6:05

Cool down: 2@8:52

7.9 for the day

These sessions always get me thinking - how come it feels so hard to run for 4 mins@6:30 and when I ran for 23@6:15 a few weeks ago? Races do really bring out the best in you.

Friday 09/03

12.1@8:38
The kind of run where I think if this was my first ever run I'd give up. No enjoyment to be had out of this whatsoever. Fierce cold headwinds down the Marina and along the Mahon walkway which left my eyes watering, rain, stiffness and a bit of pain in my feet towards the end. I'd missed a day and was trying to reorganise my schedule around work and think I made a mistake doing this the day after such a hard session. Funnily enough the form was good for the rest of the day.

Saturday 10/03

Up at 6 to get a run in before work. Looked out the window at the wind and rain, said nah and went back to bed for an hour. A total cop out to be honest. I was feeling tired and my legs felt heavy and stiff so to be honest I think I made the right call, especially if the head and the heart wasn't in it. Looking out the window here at work and it looks like a lovely evening for a nice easy run, but I won't get one in. I'll do better tomorrow.

A bit of a mess of a week so far and I think a sports massage is long overdue, but time seems to be such a precious commodity these days - I can't seem to get my sh1t together for love nor money.

Swashbuckler

I had a great post written and lost it haha. Basically,
1. I always have the same thought.
2. Were you better rested for the 23@ 6.15 ?
3. I always have to dig a little deeper one third of the way through a session. It's a mental thing knowing the end is far away.

hot buttered scones

Swashbuckler wrote: »

I had a great post written and lost it haha. Basically,
1. I always have the same thought.
2. Were you better rested for the 23@ 6.15 ?
3. I always have to dig a little deeper one third of the way through a session. It's a mental thing knowing the end is far away.

Ah yeah, I was well rested and L said it was going to be a tough session so I suppose that was playing on my mind. It's a bit nuts to me that I'm in a state at slower than 10k pace in an interval session and then I'll go and knock out 4 or 5 or 6 miles in a race at a much faster pace. I always say that I think I race better than I train, except for marathon pace stuff which is usually close enough.

It was a crappy week though with bad sleep and long nights, and I wasn;t felling the best heading out for this. I remember know what I wrote on Strava - that I felt fairly stiff throughout as well - like I never go into my stride properly which is unusual for me. I think I really benefit from a nice easy run the day before hard session just to loosen out a bit.
I'm starting to feel a bit auld I think!

I love that point when your have less than half the session left to do - I'm almost thinking job done now just the last few to do. Maybe if I could stick to the plan as written I'd get on a bit better

Swashbuckler

hot buttered scones wrote:

I love that point when your have less than half the session left to do - I'm almost thinking job done now just the last few to do. Maybe if I could stick to the plan as written I'd get on a bit better

You're doing alright lad. Don't you worry. You'll see

hot buttered scones

Sunday 11/03

Great to see some good results from all today's races, and thankfully it's gotten me a bit more excited about my own upcoming races than I was last Friday.

Today was the antithesis of Friday for me - even with a spot of gastro trouble I had an enjoyable 20 min tempo this morning before work. I felt a bit lousy when I woke, and was even debating leaving the house, but I got going anyway. A nice mild morning for it. The 2 mile warmup was ok - I felt a bit tired/sleepy I suppose. The tempo started off a bit slow, but I soon settled into a rhythm and was prepared to sacrifice a few seconds per mile to stay at the right effort, which I think I did. I love running at this pace, because it feels (relatively) quick but very comfortable and never straining. I did take about 5 minutes to get into it properly and feel fully warmed up, but I'm well used to that at this stage for these early a.m. sessions. I got a few stomach cramps about 10 minutes into the tempo and though I might have to abort, but they subsided and I was able to finish with no problems. Did 2 and a bit miles for the cool down, but had to seek the seclusion of a well positioned bush not long into it. I would have liked to have tacked on another mile or two to the cool down, but duty called. I've decided I love tempos, provided I focus on the effort and don't get too hung up on the pace. It's an effort level that I seem to be able to judge fairly well, unlike some of the faster stuff which all just feels a bit "ah jaysus this is hard/is this too hard?" at times.

Splits:
Warmup: 8:37; 8:49

Tempo: 2.87 miles@6:58 (6:59; 6:58; 6:52 for the 0.87)

Cooldown: 8:36; 8:43; 0.3@8:51 up the hill.

7.1 miles for the day.
39.2 for the week, and only 5 days running again. It's time to get the finger out.

hot buttered scones

Monday 12/03

6 easy@8:18. Felt very good doing this. The early evening brightness meant I was able to mix up the pre work route a bit and take in the short trail along the water facing Cobh. More evening like this please.

Tuesday 13/03

Session:

Goal pace 6:30 Rest: 90s

Rep time|Rep pace
3 min| 6:26
3 min| 6:28
3 min| 6:29
90s| 6:34
90s| 6:29
90s| 6:25
90s| 6:27
3 min| 6:25
3 min| 6:29
3 min| 6:30
90s| 6:28
90s| 6:32
90s| 6:25
90s| 6:19


All recoveries slowly jogged

Warmup: 2 miles easy; Cool Down 2.3 miles easy

Total miles: 11.11

A good session with a nice bit of volume today. I must admit I was a bit tired heading out for this (in between nights), but felt grand as soon as I got into it a bit, probably the best I've felt doing a session for a couple of weeks. I had caught up on my sleep a bit lately so maybe that helped - I felt a lot looser anyway.
What definitely did help was the fact that I probably used the wind a bit more than I ran into it, but I think the effort was in the right place. The 90s reps felt good after the 3 minute ones, and the last set of 3s weren't as hard as I had anticipated. I thoroughly enjoyed this session. It got me thinking I should probably be asking the coach more questions about what to expect from each session. On the other hand I'm more than happy to just do what's set out for me - avoids overthinking it, which I'm very prone to do.
When I got into work though - I was on the go non stop until 6am, then after a couple of hours finishing stuff off I had a horrendous commute - 65 mins to drive 12 miles home! I was wiped by the time I got home.

Wednesday 14/03

6@8:21

Dropped the young fella off to training near just off Cathedral Road, left the car there and headed down the hill into town for a few miles, with no real plan for a route. I headed down towards the Lee Fields, but the path was flooded just past the Kingsley so I headed up the back of UCC and then down around the back of Beamish's, and then a bit of a tour of the City Centre and back up Blarney Street to wait for the young lad to finish. Totally overdid this. Without fail every time I'm running through town I get a bit of a rush of blood to the head, so there's a couple of miles veering towards steady pace in there. Good fun though, but a bad idea given the session the evening before and the fact I'd had 3 hours sleep and only a slice of birthday cake to eat since I'd gotten up.

Thursday 15/03

6@8:53

Ugh. Paid the price for not taking it easy yesterday. I wanted to bail after 4. This felt much harder than Monday's 6@8:18. No energy at all, and I had been looking forward to it. Nutrition was all wrong too - I didn't eat very much until after my run last night, and skipped breakfast because I didn't feel hungry. I really have to stop doing that - I keep saying this, but never doing anything about it. Anyway, this was one of those runs where I shouldn't have ignored what the head was telling me and pushed on. Hopefully some rest and refuelling today will see me right for tomorrow.

hot buttered scones

Friday 16/03

Tempo session 3x8minutes, 2 minutes recoveries.

A beautiful morning and with nothing on my plate, I had a bit of time to do this for once without rushing. I headed out to Ballincollig regional park - not only is it a great place to go for a run and do a session, but the Strava thread had reminded me of a segment I'd spotted which was basically a figure of 8 lap around the pitches about a mile in length which just seemed perfect. Weather was mild, and a bit windy with a couple of welcome rain showers during the reps. I got no benefit from the wind today - most of the reps were into the wind or with a crosswind, with a tailwind for only a small section. Goal pace for these was 6:50 which I overshot slightly for the first 2 and a bit more for the last rep. I wasn't too worried about that though because I was able to judge the last rep was too fast by feel before I even looked at the watch, and pulled back the effort. The watch was used very sparingly - just making sure I was on target for the start of each rep and then judged the rest of the rep by effort. All recoveries were ran at easy pace. The warm up felt ok - just a bit cold I suppose, but not fantastic. I did an extra long cool down at what felt easy, but the numbers say it was faster than easy my usual easy pace. I felt strong throughout this session and the cool down and thoroughly enjoyed it - it's been a while since I felt that sort of steady strength. The reps didn't burst me and I wasn't counting down towards the end of each one - although I was starting to tire by the end of the last one slightly. I just felt like I was getting into good form again. I also ditched the usual Glide boost 8s in favour of the Takumi Rens, which made it all the more enjoyable.

Warmup: 20mins@8:11 (2.44 miles)
Rep 1: 8 mins@6:46 (1.18 miles)
Rep 2: 8 mins@6:46 (1.18 miles)
Rep 3: 8 mins@6:42 (1.19 miles)
Cool down: ~26mins@7:50 (3.30 miles)
Recoveries after each rep: 2 mins@ 9:09; 8:38; 8:08 300m-400m for each.

A nice round 10 miles for the day (I may have OCD'd it a bit on the cool down for the sake of a round number )

Saturday 17/03

An out and back from the Glen to just outside Blarney on a rolling/hilly course that's a favourite of mine and I don't run too often because of a few narrow roads - I tend to leave it to bright days when there's not much traffic. Tailwind out and a headwind on the way back that'd cut you in half it was that cold. A really enjoyable run where again I didn't focus on the watch - I was surprised at my pace when climbing the short hills and drags. It was slightly faster than I thought but the HR data says the effort was ok. The 11th mile was the toughest but that included a run up Spring Lane -only about 600m long but the last 300m have a gradient of around 8-10% and it always just knocks the stuffing out of me even at a shuffle, but I recovered quick enough. Another run where I felt great throughout and no fading towards the end, like has happened a bit lately.

So 12 miles@8:18 (8:42; 8:21; 8:28; 8:10; 8:06; 8:10; 8:34; 8:11; 8:14; 7:51; 8:46; 8:04) - these paces probably don't mean much in this context, but lets just say the first 2 were warming up, faster ones were mostly downhill and the slower ones mostly uphill. The out and back nature of the route means it all evens out though surely?

Sunday 18/03

Rest. I'd moved all my runs forward a day this week to give me today off - I'm working and the weather's crap so that was well timed I think.

All in all I think I had a good week with just the one crappy run on Thursday due to fatigue, but I got over that hump fairly quickly. It's really put me in a more positive frame of mind. Roll on the Mallow 10.

Weekly total: 51.1 miles for my biggest week since Oct 2-8 last year - but it doesn't feel like it. I'm not too tired today and feel a lot fresher than I have for while. Although I think this has been the best week for sleep for a while too, so that makes sense.

OOnegative

Marathon on the cards this year Dude? Some great training going on here.

hot buttered scones

OOnegative wrote: »

Marathon on the cards this year Dude? Some great training going on here.

I'm holding off until October. I've registered for Frankfurt - I really must get around to booking accommodation and flights. Coach has me doing 10k sort of stuff, but I'm doing a 10 miler, 25k and a half of the back of that, but I've done that kind of stuff before and it went very well for me (2015 Graduate thread). I'm really enjoying just doing what I'm told and not overthinking it tbh - its a big change for me to not be questioning everything - but you gotta have a bit of faith.

To be honest I was absolutely hammered after Dublin and it took me ages to feel right again - I got sick a couple of times too which didn't help, and I just find this winter a drag. But the mojo returned (and went a bit and returned again) and I'm getting back strength and confidence. My only worry is alack of races. I missed Raheny through illness (some crappy virus) and a 4 miler a couple of weeks ago because of the snow, so I've only one 6k race done since DCM. However I have a busy few weeks ahead with the Mallow 10, UCC 10k, Great Railway 25k, Pfizer 6 mile, John Buckley 5k and the Cork Half all on the cards. After all that I should have a great base to go onto marathon training - I'll be looking for slightly less than a nice round number there

OOnegative

hot buttered scones wrote: »

I'm holding off until October. I've registered for Frankfurt - I really must get around to booking accommodation and flights. Coach has me doing 10k sort of stuff, but I'm doing a 10 miler, 25k and a half of the back of that, but I've done that kind of stuff before and it went very well for me (2015 Graduate thread). I'm really enjoying just doing what I'm told and not overthinking it tbh - its a big change for me to not be questioning everything - but you gotta have a bit of faith.

To be honest I was absolutely hammered after Dublin and it took me ages to feel right again - I got sick a couple of times too which didn't help, and I just find this winter a drag. But the mojo returned (and went a bit and returned again) and I'm getting back strength and confidence. My only worry is alack of races. I missed Raheny through illness (some crappy virus) and a 4 miler a couple of weeks ago because of the snow, so I've only one 6k race done since DCM. However I have a busy few weeks ahead with the Mallow 10, UCC 10k, Great Railway 25k, Pfizer 6 mile, John Buckley 5k and the Cork Half all on the cards. After all that I should have a great base to go onto marathon training - I'll be looking for slightly less than a nice round number there

Knew you had Frankfurt on the cards, totally forgot. We’re both Germany bound so for a marathon assault. Coach does like racing & I know from working with him, they bring fitness on leaps and bounds, something i’m really missed last year on a real down year for me race wise. Sub 63 in Mallow(sorry if that’s to soft a target)

hot buttered scones

OOnegative wrote: »

Knew you had Frankfurt on the cards, totally forgot. We’re both Germany bound so for a marathon assault. Coach does like racing & I know from working with him, they bring fitness on leaps and bounds, something i’m really missed last year on a real down year for me race wise. Sub 63 in Mallow(sorry if that’s to soft a target)

63 - jaysus. I was thinking 67. I'll have to up my game so.

OOnegative

hot buttered scones wrote: »

63 - jaysus. I was thinking 67. I'll have to up my game so.

Ah sandbagging at its finest!! Sub 65 at the very very least I would have thought.

hot buttered scones

OOnegative wrote: »

Ah sandbagging at its finest!! Sub 65 at the very very least I would have thought.

My heart says yes. My head says - not quite yet. McMillan says 67 based off my most recent race (23.31 for 6k). My coach says - actually I haven't asked him yet. I'll probably just go at it hammer and tongs and hope I don't blow a gasket half way round. I couldn't break 70 minutes for 10 miles last spring (72 in Dungarvan, bang on 70 in Ballycotton) so I'd be happy with 67. Or even 66. 65 on a good day, maybe a bit lower on a really good day.......

Swashbuckler

hot buttered scones wrote:

My heart says yes. My head says - not quite yet. McMillan says 67 based off my most recent race (23.31 for 6k). My coach says - actually I haven't asked him yet. I'll probably just go at it hammer and tongs and hope I don't blow a gasket half way round. I couldn't break 70 minutes for 10 miles last spring (72 in Dungarvan, bang on 70 in Ballycotton) so I'd be happy with 67. Or even 66. 65 on a good day, maybe a bit lower on a really good day.......

What I've found with coach is there's usually some nice hints in the training as to what pace you should expect to be running in an upcoming race. I've noticed a bit more 6.15 runs lately and I do have a ten miler coming next month. Maybe I'm reading too much into it haha. But around my 5k race there was a nice bit of 5.50ish stuff. 5M and 10k lead up had a nice bit of 5.55/6ish stuff.

OOnegative

Swashbuckler wrote: »

What I've found with coach is there's usually some nice hints in the training as to what pace you should expect to be running in an upcoming race. I've noticed a bit more 6.15 runs lately and I do have a ten miler coming next month. Maybe I'm reading too much into it haha. But around my 5k race there was a nice bit of 5.50ish stuff. 5M and 10k lead up had a nice bit of 5.55/6ish stuff.

I’d be hugely surprised if hbs doesn’t run sub 65 mins in Mallow, unless he has a really really bad day. I found with L you to get used to a certain pace in training but race pace was always maybe 10/15 secs faster(apart from marathon stuff that was royally fcuked up by me).