Running away

ariana`

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120061699#Comment_120061699

Thank you kindly B. That means a lot ☺️

ariana`

Jan 9th-8th, Week 1 of 2023 on the road to somewhere I hope, I just don't know where yet 🤷‍♀️

This week was all about getting back into the routine again. I set out at the start of the week that i wanted to hit 28 miles this week in an effort to start the build back up after 4 low mileage weeks where the mileage was 27, 25, 20, 23 miles. I also wanted to get back into the gym and eat more normally. I'm not overly happy with all of my runs but I hit my main aims and I have possibly realised I need to at least try to get back on a formal plan. The DOMS from 3 gym sessions really didn't help and on Sunday afternoon I had to cut my walk with the dog short due to a quite sore knee, not that she was complaining, she really doesn't like getting her feet wet anyways 🙄

Monday: I was out all day catching up with some friends, last of the Christmas festivities. Got home and dragged myself out for a run. I didn't realise it until I got going but the back roads were quite icy so I had to detour.

4m @ 10:17min/m incl some strides

Tuesday: 18min LT, 3min rec, 12mins LT, 3min rec, 4 * 400m/200m rec

Did this on HR for the LT pieces, effectively it was 2 * 12mins as it took at least 6' on the first interval to get up to the correct zone. I think I need to do longer warm-ups even though I had nearly 2miles of a warm up. Quite windy and wet, paces were significantly slower than my last LT session but that's the beauty of using HR to guide these runs.

1st rep: 8:03min/m

2nd rep: 7:46min/m

Thursday: Had about 50mins while the young lad played soccer, Garmin conveniently recommended 45mins @ 9:45min/m pace as a base training run so I went with that, up and down a stretch of road less than 1,000m long but it had street lights which is more than I'm used to.

5m @ 9:40min/m

Saturday: This was a fail. Planned to do a long run (10ish miles) finishing with Parkrun as a steady effort at the end (P&D endurance style run), however I slept in so had to do parkrun closer to the start, went too hard - (s)low end of LT - and then really didn't enjoy the rest at all and cut it short. Annoyed with myself but there's a lesson in there - I'm only going to do Parkrun at the end of a long run in future or else as a stand alone race/hard effort.

9m @ 9:00min/m, Park run @ 7:50 ish - Low end of LT effort

Sunday: Just an easy run to see out the week, threw in a couple of 1k EIM intervals but I honestly didn't find them that easy at all. Maybe the remnants of DOMS and Saturdays LT park run effort but I had to work a bit for these.

4m @ 9:07min/m.

30miles for the week.

Bluesquare

Well done first week in January . You have given me some inspiration there - I will be doing long runs with LT effort at the end in a few weeks - be nice to do that as part of a park run ! Might make it easier to up the pace ! Thanks for that

ariana`

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120085979#Comment_120085979

It doesn't have to be quite LT effort, that wasn't really what I had planned, more of a steadier effort for the last 3 miles, maybe a lift in pace by about 30 seconds/mile. I'd already done a fairly hefty LT session in the week. I just don't seem to have much discipline with parkrun, I start of nice & easy and let everyone go off ahead but then I naturally pick off a couple of runners without trying too hard and once I start picking off anyone at all I start to enjoy myself and get a bit carried away, totally stupid behaviour 🤪 I need to learn to either commit from the start or control myself or else just stay away!

skyblue46

Hey E, did you do the EIM 1k's by pace or HR? Did you include walking in the recoveries?

ariana`

Hi Sean. I did them by HR, 92-95% of LT and I walked about 15 seconds - I just counted this in my head so may not have been exact.

skyblue46

All pretty much spot on...I suppose the "easy" is somewhat of a misnomer. Maybe 'easier' than normal intervals is more appropriate 😂

ariana`

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120112701#Comment_120112701

I think that's it to be honest. Easy for me has been 10min/m give or take 20secs/m for as long as I can remember and these reps are coming in closer to 8min/m which may not be hard but at the same time is significantly different to 10min/m! I'm enjoying them though, they definitely help to make easy runs more interesting.

ariana`

Jan 9th-15th, Week 2 of 2023

Nothing too exciting this week, keeping a bit of variety in the paces and steady mileage 30 mile weeks. I'm enjoying running at the moment. The lower mileage suits me. I don't suppose it will make me faster but for now I'm happy to be enjoying the process again.

Monday: The usual Monday special of 30mins easy including a few strides while the young lad has class.

Tuesday: Easy hour, 6m @ 10:23. Not a bad evening after a fairly torrid day, I got lucky.

Wednesday: Looking at the weather on Tues evening I didn't think I'd get to run as there was a yellow weather warning but to be honest it was a case of mellow yellow. CV session on the cards, kept it short & sweet as I plan to with these sessions for a while.

2 * (3', 2', 1' all off 1' rec) @ CV + 2 * 1'/1' on/off

CV pace came in about 7:35min/m, bit of a battle into the wind on some reps to tried to focus on effort.

Thurs: Rest day

Fri: 3 * 1k EIM again.

Sat: 3m up, 12', 12' & 6' @ LT / 3' rec, 2m down - these came in a little over 7:50 but more about the effort as the 1st rep was lumpy and the 3rd rep was into a strong wind. This doubled as my long run this week, 10m.

Sun: Rest day. Young lad back to GAA training in the morning - U15 this year. Though I might get a short recovery run at some stage, instead got a load of housework done early, got the younger kids out for a runabout in the park etc in the avo and passed the evening reading in front of the fire. One of those very satisfying days even if it didn't include a run, a nice restorative finish to the week/weekend and ready to go again. I've a busy week this week, well a couple of extra things on outside of the usual so it'll be hit 'n' miss if/when I get out but I'll do what I can.

Dubh Geannain

Don't be knocking 30 MPW. That's been me for the last couple of years 😜

Thought I was great, then I got talking to a clubmate at the weekend, who's a wee bit older than me but finished ahead of me in each of maybe the half dozen different races we've run together. He's on 20-30 MPW and it's been enough to secure him some county and provincial Masters medals. 4 days running sometimes 5.

ariana`

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120117928#Comment_120117928

I was 40+mpw for a long, long time but honestly it became a chore and I was ticking off miles for the sake of it, plodding. It's only the difference of about 2 hrs a week which seems trivial but it's the difference between doing 30mins on a lunch hour to going out in the evening for 1hr 15mins and having a good chunk of the evening accounted for. I could tick off 35-40 this week and maybe even next week and for a few weeks but eventually it catches up with me, I fall behind on life/family admin stuff and I get overwhelmed and anxiety sets in. I start to feel that I'm letting everyone down, not doing homework with the kids, not spending enough time with my elderly Mum, not cooking wholesome meals, forgetting to pay bills and basically letting balls slip left, right & centre.... boom running has caused the one thing it was supposed to help me with in the first place... So we shall see how it goes but right now I'm feeling positive about 30m weeks, you never know maybe I will defy the odds and run improved times on lower mileage too like your clubmate, I'll keep the faith anyways 🤞

Sunny Dayz

""Nothing too exciting this week, keeping a bit of variety in the paces and steady mileage 30 mile weeks. I'm enjoying running at the moment. The lower mileage suits me. I don't suppose it will make me faster but for now I'm happy to be enjoying the process again.""

The important thing is that you are enjoying running. As you said in your subsequent post - when it becomes a chore etc. You will find it more satisfactory to do 30 enjoyable miles that you can fit in around life as opposed to 40 rushed miles done because you feel you have to do them and you are spending that running time stressing about the jobs you should be doing.

ariana`

Jan 16th-22nd, Week 3 of 2023

I was a weekend warrior this week, by 6pm on Friday evening I'd run 10miles and by 12pm on Sunday that was more than tripled - sometimes that's just the way it goes. Nothing faster than threshold this week, not planned really but when I didn't get a session done Mon-Thurs I wasn't going to squeeze it into the weekend, I felt I squeezed enough into it.

Monday: 2 runs! Not usual for me at but it was a gorgeous morning so when I got a message at 8:30am cancelling a 9:30 work meeting i took advantage and did a sneaky 30mins straight from dropping the kids to school. In the evening I usually do 30mins while my young lad does drumming, felt grand from the morning so went ahead, kept it very easy.

AM: Easy with a few strides (3.4m)

PM: Very easy, avg. hr 133 (2.75m)

Tuesday: Nothing

Wednesday: A snowy 3 * 1K EIM (4.6m)

Thurs: Abandoned session, it wasn't even walkable on the roads here, the proper snow the day before felt much safer than this compacted ice 😕

Fri: Normal conditions again. No HRM for this so loosely based on pace/perceived effort 5 * 1k EIM (6.7m)

Sat: Up, Parkrun @ LT, Down (6.3m)

Sunday: 2 * 2k + 1 *1k EIM (8.5m)

32 odd miles for the week.

ariana`

Playing catch up again 🙄

Jan 23rd-29th, Week 4 of 2023

Monday: Usual easy miles + strides

Tues: A nice little low volume session (14' of work in all), 4 * (2' / 1' rec, 1' / 30s rec) + 2' on

2' at 10k approx. 7:20-7:30, 1' @ 5k approx. 7:05-7:15

Wed: Recovery 3m

Thurs: A meatier session - 4 * 5' Threshold off 90s recovery, did this off HR but paces came in at 8:04, 7:29, 7:20 & 7:44 - my 1st rep is always a bit slow as I'm bringing the HR up gradually, the middle 2 reps seem fast but I distinctly remember feeling very strong on them so maybe they were just more downhill or wind assisted!

Fri/Sat: Didn't get to run at all

Sunday: 5 * 1km EIM

31miles and 34 minutes of work but no *long run

Jan 30th-Feb 5th, Week 5 of 2023

Monday: Usual easy + strides

Tues: Easy hour

Wed: A short session with a bit of bite, 5'/5'/5' Threshold/Tempo/Threshold - did this on HR again, paces came in @ 7:36, 8:02, 7:29

Thurs: Nothing

Fri: 5 * 1k EIM

Sat: 8 * 1'/1' during parkrun - the 1' averaged @ 7:17 so around 5k pace/effort.

Sun: Nothing

27miles and 23 minutes of work but once again no *long run

* right now I'd class a run of 75mins or more as a long run

ariana`

Just a couple of lines on the 10k I did earlier this week, it was a PB so I think it's worthy of some mention, you never know by the end of the year maybe it will be the highlight - though I sincerely hope not!

This was an inaugural event in honour of our new Bank Holiday. I counted back the weeks and it's only 11 weeks since I ran a 2:01 PB (47:39) but honestly I still figured I could go faster, despite mileage being low since then, I could just feel a little bit of strength on some of my runs, a little bit of confidence that while volume was low, I was getting the intensity bang on.

Got there a little bit later than I'd like and was just about to start a short warm up when someone i really didn't expect to see appeared beside me, felt like an apparition at the time, the same lady has been through something fairly traumatic recently so the warm up was quickly forgotten in favour of 5-6 mins of hearing her story in person as we walked to the start line. We parted ways then as she was planning to run-walk and I headed to find the 50 min pacer to give me an idea of where to place myself. When I found them they were literally on the heels of the girls who were on the start line. I have never started so near the front before but there I was just behind the 50min pacer in the 3rd row (there was 1 second between my Gun & Chip time).

It wasn't long until we were off. The start was a nice downhill and I took off thinking I was running a 3k race, like the clappers, all respect for the distance abandoned with the excitement of being at the front. It was strange, having now run a women's only event before, the field took a lot longer to spread out - I could see the leaders for 2-3k which obviously went to my head a bit. I realised at some stage that I never started my watch, oh boy, I started it then but my head was wrecked trying to figure out where I was when the miles beeped and in the end I ignored it and just followed the 1k markers. It was grand really, I was mostly on my own but I could see some runners strung out in front of me. The Ks ticked by fairly quickly, not a bad course, a few drags and short hills but nothing too bad and there were as many little downhills sections to recover on. Not knowing the time I just kept running and focussing on not really wanting anyone to pass me out and particularly not the 50 min pacer but no chance of that and in the end I got a chip time of 46:42 and 20th place out of 401.

A PB of nearly a minute only 11 weeks after a 2min PB sounds amazing but for transparency purposes I should admit in March 2021 I ran 47:02 at the end of a 10mile TT (according to Strava)…. So really I've only been bringing my 10k PB in line with that run from almost 2 years ago 🙄 For some reason I don't race 10k very well.

Nice to chalk up an official PB all the same - I won't knock it! And I'm enjoying running at the moment without putting pressure on myself so what is there not to be happy about.

Bluesquare

Well done on pb - nicely ran. Enjoying the running is key it’s very hard to put the slog in when you’re hating every step ! I think some of my best races have been when I was doing it for “ fun” and wasn’t obsessed with hitting a number !

Sunny Dayz

Oh wow! A PB and you weren't even watching the clock!

Laineyfrecks

Well done on the PB 😊

ariana`

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120228507#Comment_120228507

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120234903#Comment_120234903

Thanks both. Yes it was a nice boost for sure. It was interesting to plug it into a calculator and see the projected times at other distances now. The geek in me likes that they are lining up fairly well and none of the times seem outrageous - in fact they seem achievable with the appropriate training block(s).

ariana`

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120235599#Comment_120235599

Thanks @Laineyfrecks I missed this earlier. Not as inspiring as your recent races but it's always nice to PB and feel like I'm moving in the right direction.

Laineyfrecks

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120236496#Comment_120236496

Comparison is the thief of joy, something it took me a good while to learn. Fitting running into our already busy lives & enjoying it is so important ... once you can find that balance then job done in my eyes🤗

ariana`

My training seems a bit samey and uneventful every week to bother logging but I'll try to keep it up all the same. Aim at the moment is just ticking off the basics with some threshold, strides and occasional faster (CV) efforts thrown in (the faster stuff is the first to go when something has to go).

Feb 6-12th, Week 6 of 2023

Monday: 10k race in 46:42 @ 7:31min/m (projects a 5k time of 22:25 which would be a PB, something to chase perhaps 🤢)

Tues: Nothing

Wed: Nothing

Thurs: Plain ole easy run, 45' @ 9:35

Fri: 4 * 5' @ threshold hr, paces were 7:53, 7:41, 7:27, 7:26

Sat: 5 * 1k EIM

Sunday: 10k moderate with some surges, came to 10m with w/u & c/d

33miles inc. a 10k hard effort + 20mins threshold

Feb 13th-19th, Week 7 of 2023

Monday: Nothing

Tues: Nothing

Wed: 6 * 1k EIM

Thurs: 3 * 1m @threshold hr, paces were 7:36, 7:27, 7:31

Fri: Easy with 6 * 30s hill strides

Sat: 6 * 1k EIM, brought it up to 10m with a longer c/d to double as a longish run

Sun: Short easy run

34miles inc. a few strides + 22:30 threshold

I'm in the market for new kicks. I got the Saucony Tempus at Christmas but they are not really working out - a little bit too narrow in the toe box, anything more than 30mins and I can feel them rubbing the inside of one foot. I have Asics Glideride but they have 500 miles on them and are feeling pretty flat. I'm like a child in a sweet shop trying to decide and going round in circles reading reviews, will just have to decide soon 😏

Kellygirl

Quite. Few people are wearing the Saucony Speeds as an everyday runner and there’s some really good deals on the Speed 2’s about the place. Would you consider them? I can’t remember was it Runnerinn or where I saw them the other day. I was googling the Tempus and happened to see them.

Bluesquare

I adore the speed 3s - would wear them all the time if I could . A part from the fact I managed to get holes in them ( front toe box) after about 12 runs . They are so comfortable though and tick a lot of boxes just not durability if you are someone who does that to shoes .

ariana`

Thanks ladies. I only have the original speeds and not finding them very joyful to run in lately either but they have over 300 miles on them and I retired the first pair at 380 so maybe they are due to be retired now too. I was on Elverys earlier and the Asics Kayanos and Nimbus are both €200. I can't believe how expensive shoes have got! Not that I'd buying full price but a good deal nowadays is €120-140 whereas it doesn't seem that long since that was full price! It's becoming a pricey hobby. I must read some reviews on the Speed 3 - I think it's meant to be more stable than earlier versions.

Kellygirl

I ordered the Speed 3’s for €125 from Runnerinn … ultimately want the Pro 3’s for an autumn marathon …. Or maybe the new Elites. Either way I want to be well used to running in the Speed 3’s by then. They are meant to me much more stable … my only problem with the Speed 2’s. They aren’t as stable as I need so much as I love them I wouldn’t wear them daily. They were less than €100 though I’m sure.

Bluesquare

Speed 3s feel very stable and remind me weirdly of the Nike invincible . The speed 2s were wobbly when walking or running easy - these guys feel nice . They also feel very cosy on recovery’s . I have also did speed sessions in them and the have a decent kick . I’m just disappointed they look dodgy now .

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120266004#Comment_120266004

Weirdly I was thinking pro 3 for the marathon as well as they are supposed to be similar to the speeds but faster . I love the fast feeling when I’m wearing the Vaporflys but I’m even weary of doing a half in them - they aren’t made for comfort .

There is a podcast called the long run which does a good shoe reviews - maybe have a listen. They seem to mention sketchers a bit - but I haven’t figured out if thats a joke or not 😁

skyblue46

It's amazing how people can differ. The Tempus has the widest toe box of any of the shoes I have and my Gliderides have over 500 miles on them and they feel as good as new! I'm still on the lookout for an easy day shoe though. I just am not really liking the Deviate Nitro 2 and the Asics Magic Speed 2 as much as the originals.

ariana`

In fairness there's no signs of wear on my Gliderides even with 500+ miles on them, they are very durable. I've just ordered the Glideride 3 from the Asics Outlet store for €78.40, I don't think I will go wrong having them in my rotation anyways, the reviews read very well for them. I'll probably end up getting the Speed 3 at some stage but for now I'll wait to see how the Gliderides work out when they arrive.

Murph_D

Congrats on that 10k PB which I’m just catching up on. What time did those 50 min pacers finish at? Either way you ran a great race. And don’t do yourself down, those ‘Strava PBs’ aren’t worth a damn. Well done.