Berlin Q or Bust: Road to sub 2:45
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YES!
Thankfully I still have a few pairs of old reliables hanging around to run in.
There's some good suggestions over in the athletics equipment thread
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I'm sure the PR machine has always been in full swing for shoe adverts down through the years, but it's definitely hard to get a handle on what exactly some shoes are suited to. I'd find solereview.com pretty reliable down through the years. I'd try and limit super shoes for raceday, and maybe the odd big session. I'd find the latest Pegasus iteration are a nice shoe for easy runs, Invincibles or 1080's for recovery type stuff.
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Murph_D's call to arms has worked! So...where am I? Murph, AMK and Squinn are the only connections I have on Garmin Connect (not sure what the great Swashbuckler's status is these days but he's my other connection!). So they will have had some idea that a comeback is ongoing.
Towards the end of April, I started afresh with the aim of getting to DCM ready to run a marathon. Motivationally speaking this was the only show in town. I've always gravitated towards the marathon (to the detriment of all my other PBs) and to keep me motivated and invested, I needed the carrot of DCM. Times went out the window and it was a case of accepting where I was fitness-wise and just building from there.
I had been in a weird place while I was injured/in the early stages of a comeback; down and depressed about being unfit, constantly thinking that I needed to clean my lifestyle up and get back to some sort of healthy living....all whilst doing absolutely nothing about it. I don't know what you'd call it, self sabotage or something. Wasn't good whatever it was.
It took me a while to get into a decent headspace but once I got there the training started to come back. My mate who has always looked after my programmes is in a busy period of his life atm so rather than pestering him for training plans, session notes etc (which he would have done no problem), I said I'd freshen things up and start anew with a different training plan. Another running buddy, who would be very knowledgeable about both training plans and my own running history, agreed to have an attempt at rustling up a programme to get me to DCM and we've been tipping away very nicely since the end of April.
'So where are you!?' I hear the handful of Boardsies left who might read this roar 😁 Well, for a start I'm lighter than I was a few weeks ago. Still some poundage to shift, but that's only going one direction. Running-wise.....I've been tipping away around 50miles a week for the last 6/7 weeks. This mini block was just about getting me fit enough to start a marathon block and so swimmingly did it go, I've started the DCM block a couple of weeks ahead of schedule.
I don't know what shape I'll end up getting in by the last Sunday in Ocotb3r, but just being able to bang out sessions and LRs again is very satisfying. Obviously, coming from such a low base, the improvements have been quick and I'm sure they'll plateau a little in the coming weeks, but I'm feeling fairly robust and very very motivated.
Weekend before last, I ran my first race since that day in Manchester. Corkagh Park 5 Miler. Was dreading it tbh. Goal was to break 32 mins, a world away from my last few Raheny tilts, but no less of a task. As mentioned in the Novice thread, course was on the tricky side and conditions were pretty challenging. Started conservatively, got over excited on the 3rd Mile (6:07) and almost spontaneously combusted during the 7th km, but managed to come home in 31:49 so job was done. Course and weather probably worth a few seconds, but I'd hope that by the Frank Duffy I might not be too far off that pace for the 10 Miles.
Weekend just past, I cranked out a 14 Miles LR, 3E/4ST/2E/3MP/2E, on a baking hot and windy Saturday afternoon. 4ST & 3MP both averaged under 6:50, which I was happy with on a hot and windy day.
As I'm not chasing any PBs this summer and just using races as training stimuli, I'm not too fussy where I go. I'll probably do the Frank Duffy and HM in the race series, maybe the 10k too. My perfect streak of PB's in the HM in the Phoenix Park will have to come to an end, but I've always enjoyed that race so will keep it in the plan for the good mojo it brings. (Did I ever mention my 79:59 when my laces opened 3 times?)
So there you go! I'll try and keep in touch with the log as the summer goes on, but will probably just log the highlights (if there's any) 😁.
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Glad to see this, fair play J - keep her lit
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I have to say - I'm in awe of people who can let go of past glories and accept where they are and then go on a public forum to discuss it. Its not an easy task and in your mind every race or session is denoted with an asterisk......"Yeah but, 3 years ago I ran X".
Top marks Mr Healy.
I may just have to follow your lead and re-invigorate my log.
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Thank you AMK. Whilst I did reference some past exploits in Raheny and the PP, that was just for a bit of colour. Onwards to Fingal and a sub 40 tilt 😁
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Nice one J.. Good to see
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Great to see you active again here, and see you getting back to form. Fair play.
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Last couple of weeks have gone just fine and dandy.
Mon 26th June: 10.2k Easy: 52:40@5:11/km inc 6x12sec hill sprints
Easy trot around the camp. Enjoyed the hill sprints.
Tue 27th June: Session: 12.4k: 54:15@4:24/km - 6k Alternating Tempo + 5mins
Tempo km splits were (4:10, 3:57, 4:06, 3:54, 4:08, 3:56) 4:02/km ave + 5mins @3:41/km
Still reaching for paces a bit and whilst the plan was for 4:15's and 4:00's, after the first km I was feeling pretty comfortable and rather than hold back I just used the first two splits of 4:10 & 3:57 as my guides for the rest of the tempo. 5 min recovery jog and then the last 5 mins at 'faster than 4:00/km's' but 'don't strain'. I probably didn't quite meet that part of the brief but it was enjoyable just to let the hand brake off a little.
Wed 28th June: 10k Easy: 52:14 @5:13/km
Non-descript late evening jog across the plains.
Thurs 29th June: 7 Miles Easy: 57:47 @5:08/km
Early morning ramble.
Fri 30th June: LR Session: 14 Miles: 4E/3MP/1E/3MP/3E: 1:37:54@4:21/km
School closed early, so went straight out to get this one in before heading out for a few end of year pints. Maybe it was those 'June 30th' vibes that those of us who are working in Primary Education get, but I probably ran this a lot harder than I needed to. But I regret nothing! If I have a rough idea/hope of MP being 6:50 miles, then my averages of 6:37/mile for both MP sections were probably a bit excitable. But who knows.......
Sat 1st July: 'Rest'
Wasn't in too bad of a shape and considered going for a run, but ended up having a few beers and watching the action in Croke Park instead.
Sun 2nd July: 8 Miles: 1:05:54@5:07/km
No real ill-effects of previous couple of day's exploits.
79km for the week off 6 days.
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Mon 3rd July: 10.2k Easy: 52:19@5:09/km inc 8x12secs Hill Sprints
As last week but with a couple more hill sprints. Had the Invincibles on for this and didn't really enjoy doing the hills in them. They really aren't designed for any type of effort.
Tue 4th July: Session: 10 Miles: 1:11:39 @4:27/km inc 6km Alternating Tempo + 2x5mins
Just pushing out the previous weeks session a little. Looking to get comfortable in and around 4min km's with an eye to running a HM close that pace in September. Breezy evening for this, but was feeling good again. KM splits for Tempo were (4:05, 3:52, 4:00, 3:49, 4:07, 3:53) 3:58/km ave. The two 5mins were a lot more disciplined than the 5 mins of previous weeks session and clocked in at 3:55 & 3:53.
Wed 5th July: 10k Easy: 49:55 @5:00/km
Early shuffle.
Thu 6th July: 10.1k Easy: 51:03 @5:05/km
Little tired for this one.
Fri 7th July: Session: 18.1k: 1:22:35 @4:34/km
This was difficult just in terms of setting it up on the watch! For posterity it was 2E/3St/ 5x3mins@>10k/ 5x45 secs@5k / 5x15secs all out.
Steady miles averaged about 4:20/km, 3mins about 3:51/km, 45secs about 3:34 and the 15 secs were all over the place GPS pace wise, but pretty much started and finished in the same spots. Wasn't expecting the volume and was a little concerned about my ability to go long the following Sunday. I was reminded that I am marathon training and that was enough to focus the mind!
Sat 8th July: 6.7k: 34:54 @5:12/km
Debated taking the day off, but didn't want to have my LR as the next run after a hard session. I'm not there yet, so I went for a small run to get the crap out of my legs.
Sun 9th July: 18 Miles: 2:13:15 @4:36/km inc 14 Steady@4:29/km
Need to get some distance into the legs again. Decent start. Tired by the end but felt good for the most part.
100k, yes 100k for the week!
Fingal 10k this Sunday...
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Easy week leading up to Fingal 10k.
Mon: 10k Recovery: 53:50 @5:23/km
Legs felt decent after previous day's 18 Miler.
Tue: 8.3k Easy: 44:05 @5:19/km
Squeezed this is during the young fella's training in Sarsfields. Felt really good. 400's & 800's in or around 3:45/50 pace.
Thu: 6.5k Easy: 34:38 @5:20/km
Nothing to report.
Fri: Rest
Didn't particularly want to take a rest day, but you gotta trust the plan don't you?
Sat: 5k Easy w/6x20 sec strides: 24:25 @4:53/km
Predictably, I felt terrible on this one.
Sun: Race: Fingal 10K: 39:18 @3:55/km
Got up to Swords early as I had to collect my race number due to almost missing the registration deadline the week prior! Whilst it meant an earlier start to the day, I was awake anyway and figured I might get a parking spot closer to proceedings. Read the paper and was quite relaxed by the time I met up with AMK for the warm up. Being the stand up fella he is, he very generously eschewed the chance to claim an Age Category W to pace yours truly around.
The target was sub 40. Which felt fairly manageable, but at the same time, my confidence in executing a race plan is still very much a work in progress. It's a different feeling to standing on a start line hoping to get a PB. The pressure is there, but no nerves of any kind. Maybe the marathon will feel different, but when you've faster PBs in your back pocket, there's no fear of the pace you're planning on running. It's just a case of delivering a result that does your training and current fitness justice, ticking a box and moving closer to your goal race.
Start pen seemed to be poorly located. The crowds from the village and the castle all coming across the front of the pen and having to make their way to the back, or hop the barrier, much to the chagrin of the stewards who it seemed had never laid eyes on a start pen of a race before! Chatting away to Alan, I wasn't too perturbed by the delay and eventually we set off.
I say sub 40 was the target, but I wanted to go faster than my 5 Mile pace, 3:57/km, from Corkagh Pk last month, so 39:30 was in my head.
The race was pretty straighforward in the main. AMK was the consummate pacer. I knew it was going to pinch at the end, so I didn't go out too hard. Mile splits were 6:20, 6:20, 6:22, 6:16, 6:20, 6:17 and 3:40 pace for last 400m or so for a time of 39:18. They probably tell the story on their own; solid start, pushed on a bit without going bananas. First 4 Miles were very comfortable, really operating with the handbrake on. But running a solid race was more important to me than any prospective 38:xx, which wouldn't have really meant anything in the greater scheme of things.
Was great to see Duanington & Murph over the morning too. Spotted MacPhisto from these parts sitting on the kerb after about a mile, not sure if he took a tumble or had a niggle,but he got going again and still put a solid time on the board.
I see AMK has already detailed my latest shoe lace faux pas. Yeah, not much to add really. If it was a longer race I would have tied it, but 4 miles in, I was willing to roll the dice. Anyway, I got a shoe tying tutorial from the main man after so I'm sorted now...
Frank Duffy in 5 weeks and looking forward to it already. Excited about where fitness is going and motivation levels are very high. Not getting ahead of myself, i know the marathon training is only starting, but a lot can happen in 15 weeks. Onwards!
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Good to see you back at it sir, fair play. You have great consistency in the lace tying department!! The new training zen is good.
I decided to take a break after a mile to reflect.... 😁 I am not sure what happened, but I came crashing down to earth with a spectacular thud. The first I knew about it was when I hit the deck hard and used the right hand side of of my body as a shock-absorber and my back as a brake-pad. Possibly a tiny clip from behind or I crossed somebody's line, but I don't know ( or maybe a sniper on the Swords overpass or grassy knoll ). I decided to finish the race out on adrenaline after my 90 seconds of reflection and a quick systems check to make sure the limbs were attached 😜 I guess all the Tour de France viewing and Sean Kelly's voice in my head got me going. Suffering with the road rash and the after effects of the body slam this week, but hopefully back on the horse soon.
As you said above, onwards. Looking forward to watching your progress.
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Mon: 10k Easy: 52:47@5:16/km
Non descript shuffle around the bog. Legs felt good in the aftermath of the race.
Tue: 10.2k Easy inc 6x20 sec strides: 51:09@5:02/km
Nothing too crazy on the strides front. Just 10k pace.
Wed: 40mins Shuffle: 7.6k @5:15/km
Felt tired during this one so didn't go any longer.
Thu: Session: 9 Miles inc 4x1k/1k off 90 secs: 1:04:30@4:27/km
Hectic enough day. Had planned on getting it in earlier, but I was on Taylor Swift ticket duty for my wife, so the day slowly but surely started to drag as each presale came and went without a ticket. Luckily enough I managed to get two tickets by going back into one of the earlier presales and refreshing for a while. So by late afternoon I had the tickets, but hadn't gotten my run in!
Managed to offload children on one set of their Grandparents and headed off to the Lidl loop, under fuelled and under hydrated. Plan was for 4x2k, with each 2k including a 4:15 &4:00 kms.
Wind was grim enough but felt pretty good during this one. Splits were (4:13,3:59)(4:10,3:57)(4:07,3:55)(4:10,3:59)
Fri: 10k: 47:43@4:46/km
Ran into a running buddy I hadn't seen for a while a few hundred meters in and ended up going with him and consequently running way too fast. Felt fine, but scolded myself afterwards.
Sat: 10k Easy: 54:24@5:26/km
Up early for this one. Didn't have watch so used Google Fit on the phone. You wouldn't want to be relying on it. Not a great interface at all.
Sun: Long Run: 17 Miles inc 3E/4Steady/1E/2Hard/1E/4Steady/2E: 2:01:06 @4:26/km
Had been looking forward to this all week, which I'm taking as a good sign of where my head is at right now. Have had conpany on most of my recent lobger efforts, but this was solo. Dropped a couple of bottles on the route the previous evening and managed to tweak something in my lower back getting out of the car which was a little worrying. Took a couple of painkillers and rubbed some gel stuff into it and by the morning it was okay.
Conditons were damp but calm and once I got going I knew it was going to be a good run. First 4 steady miles averaged 4:21/km and I was cruising at that pace. Took on water and a gel after 5 and 10 miles. Route was lumpy enough but apart from a waterlogged stretch that I managed to navigate around, everything went to plan. 2 hard miles averaged around 4:02/km but that stretch included a dodgy GPS section so im truth I reckon they averaged closer to 4min/km pace.
Decided to push the pace a little on the second batch of 4 steady miles and averaged 4:14/km for those. Tipped up to Croke Park afterwards for the hurling final and a few beers. Great day.
90k for the week. Building nicely.
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Nice one, you picking it up again quick enough!
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Monday: 10.5k Recovery: 56:01 @5:21/km
Previous day's exploits on the roads and in Croke Park didnt have any lasting effects and felt decent on this one.
Tuesday: 12k inc 10x12 Hill Sprints: 1:07:35 @5:49/km
11k excluding the hill sprints at around 5:20/km pace. Hills at the end had the desired affect of waking legs up.
Wednesday: Session: 20k: 1:34:18 @4:43/km
WU/3St/6x3mins@>10k/6x45 secs@>5k/6x15secs flat out/CD
Building on previous version of this session by adding in extra rep for each of the intervals. Steady miles worked out around 4:26/km & paces for the 3mins, 45secs, 15secs averaged out around 3:46/km, 3:34/km and low 3's, high 2's for the 15 secs.
High volume in those sessions, but the legs seem to be coming on each week. Cardio wise the sessions seem very achievable at the moment. Just need to stay focused and not push for the sake of pushing things.
Thursday: 8.2k Shuffle: 44:58 @5:28/km
'5 miles as slow as you can'. Done.
Friday: 8 Miles inc 4 Steady: 59:33 @4:37/km
Steady miles averaged around 4:28/km. Seeing as the idea was to tire the legs for the next day's LR, it was definitely a case of objective achieved. Felt tired during the steady miles, but felt good at the end of the run. I knew the LR would be a decent test.
Saturday: LR 18 Miles: 2:11:29 @4:32/km
2E/10St/1E/4MP/1E
After being deservedly told off for running last weeks steady portions of the LR too quickly, I was determined not to do the same again. I'll put last weeks pace faux pas just down to being excited to be able to run those paces again during a LR and I took my eye off the prize as a result.
Steady pace was set at around 7:20 miles today, so i took off mid morning on a lumpy enough route with a breeze blowing that wasn't really going to help me until late on.
The 10 Steady miles averaged 7:19 and despite the legs being a bit in the tired side, I was able to dial into that pace pretty comfortably. The easy mile prior to the MP miles however was pure torture. I genuinely thought I wasn't going to get going again, but with the wind belatedly showing up to give a helping hand, a 6:48 mile shocked me back into action and, despite a nasty little climb during the 3rd mile, finished with a 6:40 mile to average 6:47 for the 4 MP miles.
Shuffled the final mile through the town, getting caught at a few crossings and finishing pretty damn tired!
Momentum is building. If I can keep it going a week at a time, I'll be in a good place come the end of October. 5/6 mile shuffle in the morning will bring up a 100k week. Onwards.
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"After being deservedly told off for running last weeks steady portions of the LR too quickly, I was determined not to do the same again"
Relieved to see this, you're in a good spot, J - stay there !
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* I've had this draft in Google Keep for about two weeks now.....will get it up today hopefully.
Monday 31st July: 9.1k Recovery: 48:33 @5:19/km
Okay, let's catch up a little here...
Pretty sedate ramble around the bog.
Tuesday 1st August: 10k Easy: 53:02/km @5:18/km
I actually don't remember anything about this run just looking at it on Garmin now.
Wednesday 2nd August: 20k: Inc 4x40secs + 2x20mins off 5 min jog
Rather annoyingly made a hames of setting up my watch on this one so the 4x40 second strides had to be subsumed into the warm up but I rolled with the punches and the the nice and neat 2x20min interval step remained intact.
Felt much better on the second 20 mins than the first, which I'm putting down as a positive. Averaged 3:59/km and 3:56/km for each of the 20 mins.
Thursday 3rd August: 10k Recovery: 52:41 @5:16/km
As Tuesday.
Friday 4th August: 5k Easy: 26:47@5:21/km
Out the door before 6am as I was playing golf for the first time in a couple of years later that morning. Headed up to Corballis in North Dublin. Par 66 links and amazing value for money. Played so well that I might leave 3 years between the next rounds!
Saturday 5th August: 7 Miles Easy: 55:40 @4:56/km
Sunday 6th August: LR: 19 Miles (2E/10St/1E/5MP/1E) 2:16:28 @4:28/km
Ended up reversing planned route to take in Kildare Town later in the run as a mate who was going to come with us on the bike never showed up, so we needed to pick up water later in the run. Lumpy route with an annoying breeze which was pretty much against us for most of the steady and helping for most of the 'MP'. Steady 10 clocked in at an average of 4:29/km and the 5 MP, with the aid of the wind, some downhills and a complete loss of discipline towards the end (we started to really hammer each other, taking turns at the front and just going hard really) came in at 4:09/km average with the last mile in the 6:20's.
It felt great to be able to pick up things at the end and the steady miles were far better executed than previous attempts.
Monday 7th August: 5 Mile Shuffle: 43:57 @5:27/km
Legs tired but felt better by the end.
Tuesday 8th August: 8 Miles Easy: 1:05:57 @5:07/km
Caught up with an old clubmate who is running Chicago. Enjoyed the chat.
Wednesday 9th August: Session: 4x40 secs/20 mins/4x5 mins.
My wife's granny passed away during the week so that resulted in a little more parenting for my goodself than usual....tried to show horn this in around 9pm after a long day. I should know better at this stage, but I said I'd give it a whirl as it wouldn't suit to push it to the following day.
Still very warm by the time I got onto the Lidl loop. Managed the 20 mins section at an average of 3:57/km and was actually feeling decent as I headed for the 4x5 mins. In hindsight I may have been a little delirious as I hadn't fuelled very well (at all). Managed to trip up over a kerb and take a tumble during this 20 mins. Added to getting caught at a couple of roundabouts my lace opening (I know), the writing was kind of on the wall.
If I needed to I was going to scale back the 5 min pace to 4:00/kms. First 5 mins came in at 3:48/km pace but I was fraying at the edges at this point. About 100m into the next 5 min rep I swallowed a fly and nearly coughed back up a lung....when I came around I had a quite word with myself, bit of a scolding, and jogged back to the car.
Got a bit of quality in, but I'm around long enough to have made a wiser decision to just drop the session.
Thursday 10th August: 8 Miles Easy: 1:06:59@5:12/km
No lasting effects from previous evenings **** show.
Friday 11th August: 5 Miles Easy: 41:12 @5:07/km
Ramble around Corkagh Park after funeral.
Saturday 12th August: 8 Miles inc 35mins steady: 59:46 @4:38/km
35 mins came in around 4:26/km. Dreadful conditions and did it out on the open roads of the plains,but felt good.
Sunday 13th August: LR 20 Miles inc 18 Steady: 2:23:31 @4:28/KM
Nothing for this one except to get out and do it. As opposed to the last few LR's I went up to the Lidl Loop, 7 laps of which got me the 20 miles. Got into a decent rhythm and the steady 18 averaged out at 4:25/km. Tired afterwards, first 20 miler in a long time.
Monday 14th August: 5k Easy: 26:58 @5:23/km
Tuesday 15th August: Session: 7 Miles inc 3x4mins/3x90secs/3x40secs
Not gonna lie, this was done on very very tired legs. I wouldn't say I'd underestimated the effects of the 20 Miler, just out of practice that's all. On the warm up I wasn't sure if I'd even be able to get up to the planned 4:00/km pace for the 4min section. Got through the session, averaging 3:58/km for the 4 min efforts and actually put in a couple of decent shorter reps too.
Wednesday 16th August: 10k Easy: 53:09@5:19/km
Thursday 17th August: Rest
Friday 18th August: 5.9k Shakeout + Strides: 31:23@5:22/km
Not exactly bouncing off the wall, but got them in before the heavens opened. Was not looking forward to the following day's race & weather conditions in any way, shape or form.
Saturday 19th August: Race: Frank Duffy 10 Mile: 1:06:28 @4:06/km
Got up to the capital around 8am. Parked in AMK's house and we drove down to the PP and got a bit of a warm up in which confirmed that the wind was even grimmer than expected. Given the route and the conditions the plan was to go under 65 mins. I'd chosen the FD primarily for the good vibes the race series brings and the fact that it was a far tougher track than Kilcock 10 Miler the following day didn't really matter to me. I was now reaping the fruits of this decision!
The plan was to hold off on the pace during the first couple of miles, to keep something in the tank for the mid section of the race when the wind was going to be a big factor. Complicating this was the generous profile of those miles. Looking back, I should have just gone out slower! First 4 miles were 6:20, 6:25, 6:22 & 6:31. I wouldn't say I was feeling amazing here, but when we turned on to Chesterfield I knew I was in trouble straight away. From there on in it was just a bit of a sufferfest. The only thing I was focusing on was not quitting. After Manchester I said I'd never do it again, and thankfully Saturday was not added to that category of shame. It was a weird place to be in. I wasn't dying, but just couldn't summon any extra pace. Miles 8&9 saw me just waiting to be put out my misery (6:57 & 6:54). Managed some semblance of a spurt in the last mile to clock in at 66:28. 5 Mile Splits were 32:28/34:00 which tell their own story.
Not a great day, but managed to gut things out and I'm sure the fitness will get a bit of a boost from it. The fact that I covered the last 5 miles forty seconds slower than the last 5 Miles of my LR a couple of weeks ago pretty much sums up where I found myself on the back half of that course. When I find myself eyeing up 10 Mile Pb's in the future, touch wood, I probably won't target old Frank.
Around 14 Miles for the day inc warm up and cool down.
Sunday 20th August: 12.2km: 1:04:36@5:18/km
Clearing head and legs. Dialled in now. Big 8 weeks of training to come.
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Monday 21st August: 10k Easy: 52:53 @5:17/km
Tuesday 22nd August: 7 Miles Easy: 57:02 @5:03/km
Wednesday 23rd August: 10k Easy: 51:30 @5:09/km
Thursday 24th August: MLR 15 Miles: 1:54:32 @4:45/km
After Saturday's, for want of a better word, struggles and the general sense of tiredness that accompanied me last week, we left the midweek session and put in a steadier longer effort.
After being tasked with collecting a new car for my sister in the back end of Offaly, and then dropping it off to her in Clontarf, it was about 5pm by the time I got out for this after the guts of 3 hours in a car. Headed out along the coast as far as Howth and then back. It was a gorgeous evening and I really enjoyed the change of scenery. Managed to get a bit lost after unwisely swinging up by the outskirts of St Anne's Park rather than running through it.
Ended up probably running further than 15 miles as I forgot to start the watch after stopping a very helpful lady who pointed me in the right direction. An enjoyable evening. Hopefully I'll make a return to the Raheny 5 Mile in '24.
Friday 25th August: 8.8k Easy: 45:07 @5:09/km
Saturday 26th August: 10k Easy: 51:42 @5:10/km
Sunday: 27th August: LR: 20 Miles Inc 2E/8St/1E/7MP/2St: 2:23:34 @4:28/km
Since the week was primarily made up of non descript easy runs, this run took on an added importance. 9 weeks to DCM so I want to eke as much as I can put of these LRs and, more importantly, I wanted to feel good after last week's little dent in the confidence.
I've done most of my LRs with a buddy who's hoping to break 3 hours in October for the first time, but he's out for a few weeks with Medial Tibial Stress Syndrome which isn't ideal for him and will probably rule him out of Dublin. He was happy however to hop on the bike and help me out with fuelling, vibes etc this morning.
Chose a pretty challenging route with a lot of ups and downs and did a bit of a dry run of taking on gels & water to simulate raceday a little bit.
Plan was for 4:30/km for the 8 Steady miles and 4:15/km for the 7 miles MP. Happy to say that it all went very smoothly. Averaged 4:29/kms for the steady and 4:13/kms for the MP. Probably the best and strongest I've felt on a run since I came back from the lay off. Could have banged out a few more MP miles if needed and felt very very strong. A good morning.
106km for the week.
Post edited by healy1835 on11 -
Monday 28th August: 5 Miles Recovery: 44:24 @5:31/km
Gentle gallop on the plains.
Tuesday 29th August: 8 Miles Easy Inc 12x12 secs hills: 1:08:46 @5:20/km
Met a buddy who's running Chicago. He'd just ran Tullamore at the weekend so great chats were had.
Wednesday 30th August: Session: 60 min Alternating Tempo. 3mins off/on @4:15/4:00 per km.
This session piqued my interest when I saw it pop up in the plan. Headed out after school on to the loop in the camp. Shortened warm up from the prescribed 2 Miles as there was the possibility I might have a shorter window than I needed.
Started into the 60 mins and the first 3 mins rep comes in at 4:14/km, nothing to see here. Up the pace, open the stride and glance down at the watch....4:19/km pace. Okay. Patchy GPS maybe. Give it another minute, not a huge change in pace and ends up clocking 4:15/km for that 3 minute section.
I'll digress here. I'm around long enough at this stage to have realised that it was a GPS issue and examined the watch. Of course I didn't do this. Instead I absolutely rinsed myself trying to get back on pace. Came off the loop and tried to see if coverage was better on another road in the camp and clocked up 4:23/4:30/4:35 for the next three 3 minute intervals! During these nine minutes I had come to the conclusion that I was finished. Now that we were in the big weeks of the block, I'd come a cropper. Then the skies parted and I pondered whether I should just stop the watch, end the current activity and start a new one....which of course was something I should have done 12mins prior.
I don't know how fast I was moving for those intervals, but it was felt much faster than the rest of the session which went swimmingly. Averaged 4:11&3:58/km for the alternating sections. I did however only do 54mins as I miscounted after starting the session again, but seeing as I was running stupidly fast for those early reps it was probably just as well.
Tough session, but felt good. Just over 12 miles all in.
Thursday 31st August: 10k Easy: 54:45 @5:28/km
Damp early morning shuffle across the plains
Race Number for the Race Series HM came in the post this morning. Plan is to do it at MP as part of a 22 Mile LR. (which was alway the plan, even before I raced the Frank Duffy!)
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Friday 1st September: 8 Miles Inc 5 Miles Steady: 59:16@4:36/km (5 steady @4:29/km)
Looking to tire the legs for the next day's LR.....
Saturday 2nd September: LR 21 Miles Inc 5x3Miles MP off 1km: 2:27:55 @4:22/km
Wasn't looking forward to this one. Heading over to the UK for a wedding in a couple of weeks so trying to squeeze in some quality before I go so this meant the next two LR's are on Saturday. My eldest fella had a match that morning so now the run was pushed to the afternoon. Various tests had been sent from above that morning too, so by the time 2pm came about, I was a bit frazzled and the prospect of running 21 Miles in 22C with FIFTEEN of them at MP did not appeal.
My early Sunday morning LR routes around the back roads of Kildare do not transfer to Saturday afternoon from a safety point of view. This meant dreaded loops. Planned to go to the Lidl loop but there were a few temporary visitors encamped there so I gave that a swerve. So, having avoided the Curragh Camp for any LR I returned to the loop, parked the car, set up a water station with gels and had at it.
Felt pretty leggy in the 2 mile warm up, but I was armed with the option to drop the pace back if required. Started into the effort and spent those first 3 miles going back and forth with myself about whether I was feeling good or not. Km off came in around 4:40/km and felt very very slow. Kept the water input high and took 3 gels over the course of the run. Pretty much from the second set of MP miles I knew that I was going to have a good day. It was the first time in this training block that I found myself thinking (whilst I was running them) that I could hold this pace for a marathon. The loop ensured the running was mindless enough and I was able to tune in and get into a nice rhythym, only glancing periodically at the watch. Things pinched a little in the last set, but by then the session was in the bag. Had considered pushing things a little on the last set, but after the first mile I remembered the sage advice I had gotten during the week which basically reminded that I was only factor that might f*%k things up from here on in!
Splits for the 3 Mile efforts were;
20:20 (6:47,6:45,6:45)
20:22 (6:47,6:49,6:49)
20:21 (6:47,6:47,6:47)
20:16 (6:43,6:44,6:48)
20:13 (6:38,6:46,6:49)
Ave pace 4:12/km
Tired afterwards, but happy with the effort in tricky conditions.
Sun: Rest
Could have shoehorned in an easy run, but having ran 125k in the previous 7 days and only 2 rest days since the end of June, I decided that now might be the time.
98K for the week (The discipline required not to tip out to get over the 100k was for real :) )
Post edited by healy1835 on12 -
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I'm always impressed by your running but that deserves second level kudos and a tip of the hat for NOT chasing those 2km's 😀
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I do like your plan - I'm considering following it for my next Marathon block.
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You are doing some great training but even better than that your confidence is spot on, delighted for you!
Best of luck with the rest of your block🤗
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A tough week of training in those conditions. It's not the heat that kills, but the humidity (or dew point apparently).
Monday 4th September: 7 Miles Easy: 1:00:59 @5:24/km
Tuesday 5th September: 7 Miles Easy: 1:00:39 @5:23/km
Two very warm shuffles around the plains. Legs back close to normal by the end of Tuesday's run.
Wednesday 6th September: Bailed Session: 4x2 Miles....
Like a lot of the country, the rise in heat and humidity impacted massively on things in the second half of the week. I'm not too bad generally in the heat (note, my debut Sub 3 marathon in Limerick on a hot May Bank Holiday will probably ensure I think this for the rest of my running days!), but the humidity levels seemed to ramp up massively from Wednesday on.
Plan was for 3:55/4:00/km pace for the 2 mile reps. Once I go going it became apparent pretty quickly that I was working very hard to maintain anything close to that pace. I had chosen a pretty tough 2km loop with a lot of ups and down and zero cover from the sun and wind, which only increased the difficulty level.
Managed to churn out 13:03 & 13:02 splits for the first two sets, but after about a km into the 3rd, still averaging 4:02/km pace, I had to pull the plug. It wasn't happening and I'd spent so much energy during those first reps, that even rowing back the pace and finishing the session didn't seem very wise.
Jogged until I reached 10 Miles and called it a day. Tough going.
10 Miles: 1:15:30 @4:41/km
Thursday 7th September: 7 Miles Easy: 59:49 @5:18/km
Up in Dublin for a work thing around lunch time so came up early and got a few miles in around the PP and Stoneybatter. No real lasting effects from previous day's exploits.
Friday 8th September: 10k Easy: 54:54 @5:30/km
Up and out before 6am as I really didn't want to be running in the heat later that afternoon as I had an early LR planned for Saturday.
Saturday 9th September: 21 Miles: 2:36:03 @4:37/km
Talked about possibly changing the plan and pushing this to mid week and replacing it with a session of some ilk, but that didn't really suit so I ploughed on ahead. This was meant to include 4x4Miles at MP, building on last weeks 3x5Miles, but I knew that this was not a very good idea in those conditions. Armed with social media posts from most of the luminaries of Irish Coaching telling everyone to slow down, I set off into the cloudless sky at 7am and the heaviest conditions I'd ever ran in.
Chose the same route as the 20 Miler from a couple of weeks ago which is as honest as you can find in these parts. Plan was to run first 4 miles at what felt like a marathon effort and then see if that was maintainable for 3 more sets and if not, adapt accordingly. Averaged 4:24/km for the first 4 pretty bumpy miles, but even this effort felt too hard. Right Johnny, just keep the 4 mile sets as steady as you can and get the distance in...
Ended up really enjoying the run. The conditions were really challenging but I felt strong. It was liberating enough not worrying about hitting prescribed paces and just running purely on feel and effort. Took on lots of liquids and 3 gels as I had a buddy on the bike with me. The company was a godsend to be fair. The other paces for the 4 mile sets were; 4:31/km. 4:36/km, 4:31/km.
Sunday 10th September: 9.1k Recovery: 48:41@5:21/km
Felt remarkably good on this one. Easy shuffle around the bog before heading up to the Aviva for the game.
104km for the week.
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Off to the UK for a wedding tomorrow so this week is a bit of a step back week.
Mon: 9 Miles inc 12x12secs hills and 5 Miles Steady
Harder run than usual due to trying to fit in a bit of quality before the little break. Was a little worried that the legs might be heavy after the LR on Sat but that wasn't the case. Hills woke up the legs nicely and was cruising for the 5 Miles Steady @4:24/km
Tue: 10k Easy: 52:37 @5:16/km
Feeling noticably fresher today. Drop in temperatures plus increasing fitness dovetailing nicely I think.
Wed: Session: Alternating Tempo 8x(4mins@4:15/km,4mins @4:00/km)
Biggest session I've probably done in the block and I'm happy to say probably the best and strongest I've felt yet. One of those days when even in the warm up, you know you're on it.
Bit of a GPS glitch saw me have to start a new activity just after halfway. But it was a very brief issue and didn't affect things at all. The sketchy GPS probably saved me from myself.
For the first few sets I was averaging about 3:56/4:08 for the on/off and I was moving so easily through the session that I was giving thought to going completely off plan and segueing into a 10 Mile TT of sorts and banishing some lingering Frank Duffy frustrations. Thankfully I chose not to do that and finished with 64 mins averaging 4:03/km pace, still considerably quicker than my FD pace.
20.5k for the day. Confidence boosting stuff.
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Things are getting very real around these parts. The marathon dreams have started...vivid and weird in equal quantities so far but i'll spare any readers the details. Over in the UK for a wedding so had a few down days which we had planned for and hopefully have freshened things up for a couple of big training weeks ahead.
Thursday 14th September: Rest
Friday 15th September: 7 Miles Easy: 59:17@5:16/km
Staying with friends in Cardiff before heading down to London for a wedding. Got a few easy miles in around the city.
Saturday 16th & Sunday 17th September : Rest
Home early on Sunday and had great plans to run, but was pretty tired and had scheduled the day off anyway so just decided to leave things.
Monday 18th September: 10k Easy w/strides: 54:36 @5:28/km
Glad to be back running after the little break. Felt okay
Tuesday 19th September: Session 5x2k @4:05-4:00/km off 3min jog
As I'm running the HM as part of a big LR session on Saturday, this had to happen on Tuesday. If not then we were going to downsize it to 3x2k on the Wednesday, but I managed to get it done. Conditions were iffy enough with a really strong wind playing havoc with my attempts to keep even splits. Only had a pair of Pegasus in the boot of the car, so had no assistance on my feet for this one. I once again managed to programme the watch incorrectly for the session. Instead of 5 repeats I only put in 2 so had to end activity after about 500m of the 3rd rep and do the rest manually. Pace felt pretty comfortable for the most part and there was a lot of checking myself for going too fast.
Managed the pace and breeze pretty good in the end. Splits were 7:59, 7:58, 8:00, 7:57 & 7:58.
About 15.6km for the day.
Phoenix Park at the weekend. Few steady miles beforehand and then hopefullly a drama free MP workout sitting in the middle of the 90 min pace group.
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Wednesday 20th September: 10k Easy: 52:15@5:13/km
Thursday 21st September: 7 Miles Easy: 59:32@5:17/km
Friday 22nd September: 5 Miles Easy: 40:27@5:02/km
All fairly non-descript stuff. Had the beginnings of a dose on Friday and was slightly worried about getting sick but, spoiler alert, it was fairly mild and seems to have gone on its merry way by now.
Sat 23rd September: LR Session: 22 Miles: 2wu/5St/13.1MP/2cd
Aside from a couple of pacing gigs in the past (ironically one of these was a 90min HM pace job) I'd never toed the line in a race where I wasn't planning a race effort. So Saturday was a new (and very enjoyable) experience.
Got up to the PP in decent time. Got a good parking spot down the bottom of White's Road and decided I'd head in to do the first 7 miles whilst also taking advantage of the Portaloos and pick up some safety pins from the Information tent. Had a running hoody/jacket type thing on as it was a bit nippy. Once I'd gotten the aforementioned couple of bits out of the way, I said I'd just plough on with the steady miles and return to the car near the end to change into race singlet and stick on bib.
Coming down towards the Zoo I was sweating absolute buckets, unsure as to whether it was down to my poor choice of running apparel or actually being sick. As i'd no top underneath this hoody, I spared the my fellow runners the sight of my shimmering torso and got back to the car as quickly as I could. Into the singlet, number on and finished out the steady section just in time to meet AMK who had once again generously agreed to keep me company.
(7:13, 7:16, 7:16, 7:19 & 7:09) 5 Steady
Took up a position in the pen close to the 90min pacers (Killerz from these here parts performed pacing duties admirably throughout) and shot the breeze for a few minutes. The liberation of not racing felt amazing here!
The pace felt very comfortable from the off. The pace group was a little tight to be honest, but I was just using them to zone out and not worry about the pace for the first few miles. Myself and AMK were having the chats and talking about anything and everything here; Ange-ball, United, shoes, races, athletes etc. I'd probably have found the two of us annoying If I was racing beside us! Debated getting ahead of the pace group at a couple of points, but decided to leave it as it was very crowded and didn't really need to. Turning onto Chesterfield was a bit of sh1t show. Really tight corner through the railings at the top and then the tight paths didn't make for a great route. Then again I didn't really mind as I wasn't racing. Ran behind some dude for a mile or so with a bluetooth speaker in his pocket that was thumping out tunes!
Miles 1-5 (6:51, 6:45, 6:50, 6:58, 6:53)
Things opened up a bit as we got to the football pitches and we were able to extricate ourselves from the traffic a bit. Ran with Alistair Higgins? the ultra runner who was out for a run for a mile or so and we peppered him with a few questions about Spartathlon. Turned onto Acres Rd for the first time and was tipping nicely. At this point I think AMK asked me how I was feeling and my answer was along the lines of 'Alan, I feel like I should be pacing the thing' I wasn't working at all and I was feeling very good.
Miles 6-9 (6:36, 6:45, 6:46, 6:44)
Coming down Ordnance Survey rd Alan tells me I'd moved on to 6:30 pace and if I wanted to go, then work away. I hadn't consciously upped the pace, but I was happy enough to finish at a bit of a quicker clip. Upped the pace without pushing too hard, and gave the last 400m a bit of a bash.
Miles 10-13 (6:23, 6:34, 6:30, 6:20)
Official Time was 1:28:26. Was really happy at how easy MP felt and how fresh I was after the run. Was in a great mood afterwards and with 5 weeks left, I can't wait for Oct 29th. I've come a long way since the start of the year. If I can rock into DCM feeling as good as I did on Saturday then I'll take that.
Sun: 10.2k Recovery: 55:17@5:25/km
Rambled around Shelbyville while eldest fella was at a party. There was a 10k & 10 Mile race going on. From what I could ascertain most of it took place on the footpaths of Naas and looked really sketchy from a runner safety point of view.
102k for the week.
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Great to see this, I was in the park doing a session on Sat morning, hung around after and saw yourself and AMK nattering away coming up by the acres, it all looked very, very comfortable, fair play
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Monday 25th September: 10.2k Easy: 53:49@5:18/km
Ramble on the plains.
Tuesday 26th September: 7 Miles inc 12x12sec Hills: 56:00@4:58/km
Around the Camp. Hills woke legs up a bit as I'd felt a bit on the sluggish side during the main body of the run.
Wednesday 27th September: Session 20k inc 64min Alternating Tempo: 1:24:14@4:13/km
This was looming over me all day in work, and as the weather continued to deteriorate outside, so did my mood! I'd made up my mind that it was happening and decided against a suggestion to move it tomorrow. So with horizontal rain sheeting down, I set off onto the trusty loop. I figured the 1.2k loop would at least give me some chance at consistent splits, whatever they may look like. I was willing to go by effort if target times weren't an option. The session was actually meant to be 9x4mins on/off but the condtions were so bad that I said I'd just decide as the session went how wise a move it would be to complete the whole session.
As it turned out things went fairly well. It was character building stuff don't get me wrong, but the loops helped and I felt strong. I nearly got clipped by a falling branch at one juncture and the flooding on one part of the loop nearly saw it become unpassable, but we got out the other side in one piece. I did cap it at 64 mins as I was pretty beaten up by then and had at least matched the length of the previous Alternating Tempo session from a couple of weeks ago. Averaged 3:57/km for the 'on' and 4:12/km for the off, pretty similar to the previous session but in much more challenging conditions. The 'off' stuff in or around MP felt good, so all in all a good effort.
Thursday 28th September: 8.7k Recovery: 48:16/km@5:33/km
Sleepy shuffle at 5:40am. Was wide awake from 5am so figured I might as well get the recovery run in and free up the rest of the day
Listened to the latest episode of Inside Running Podcast this morning. Some great marathon advice in there regarding pacing and negative splits etc. I'd recommend it to everyone. The lads don't do short pods, but the chat at the start of the episode and again at 1hr20mins is golden.
Post edited by healy1835 on13 -
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Cheers for the podcast recommendation! Had a listen & it makes so much sense but Jesus you need to be so disciplined to follow it & believe it! I think we are always afraid that we'll leave something out there, it's such a fine line!
Nice training, had one of those character building runs myself on Wednesday 😉
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