With self-discipline, all things are possible.

tony1980

About me

I completed DCM 2016 this year thanks to the Mentored Novices Thread; a big thanks to nop98 and all his back room team on there for getting us all over the line. I have been thinking about creating a log since then and since finishing the marathon, my mileage has been very low, firstly due to recovery for a few weeks and then lack of motivation, I work better having a plan to follow and something to aim for. I am hoping this log will help keep me honest and I am also hoping to continue getting great advice off all the runners on this forum.

My first DCM Post

DCM 2016 Report

I started running with the C25K app in October 2015, by January I was hooked and had made great improvements. I made the mistake of running a half marathon distance in early Feb during a training run (thought I was invincible :rolleyes:) I was in bad shape after it, got injured and this brought me back down to earth very quickly!

I went from doing 9 hours of running that January (I know this is lowish but for me after only starting the C25K in October, this was excellent) to dropping down to 5 hours in Feb (Considering that one of these runs was 2h15m for the HM) this was abysmal! March and April were much the same and then in May I decided to cop on and take it seriously again but this time, do things properly! Then I made the mad decision of doing the marathon in June

Looking back at my Strava stats, I had only done about 230 miles from Jan to June when I decided to take on the marathon and Oct to Dec 2015 was mostly the C25K so I see how crazy this decision was now but the structure of the training kept me interested and motivated so in hindsight I am glad I made that crazy decision as I completed DCM in my goal time of a sub 4 (3:59:07 - pacers were brilliant!!) and thoroughly enjoyed been part of the Mentored Novices Thread!

I haven't taken part in many races. My 5K PB is from a park run back in June before Marathon training started. I was hoping to try and beat this about a month after Marathon Training but that didn't go to plan. I am going to guess based off how comfortable I am now at certain paces that I would come in somewhere between 21 and 22 mins but lets see what happens when I give it a go before the end of January. My 10K PB is from a training run and I'm going to be honest, I thought it was at 52 mins but after my run today which was some very easy running combined with some speed work, I came in under 52 mins and it said it was my second best 10K effort on Strava so I think it's about 51 mins as I haven't tried to run it hard since January last year when I got 52 mins at the Milford 10k.

Current PBS - Taken these from my Strava Profile so I am not sure how accurate they are except for the HM, Marathon and 5K.

5k: Officially 22m45s (June 2016)
10k: 51m40s (Strava estimate so I think it's about this!) (2016)
1 Mile: 7m05s during a training run (2016)
1/2 Marathon: 1:52:31 Tullamore 1/2 Marathon (Aug 2016)
Marathon: 3:59:07 DCM 2016

Mileage for 2016: About 730 Miles - Some aren't recorded on Strava.

Future Plans:

I am moving back to Limerick this month with my wife and two young kids so I am hoping to join a running club and to start taking things more seriously. Looking forward to the social side of running as nearly all of my running has been solo up to now.

Short term: Milford 10K is at the end of the month so will be a good time to test myself out in this distance a year on from my first and only 10K race. I have no idea or expectations for a time in this race, lets just see what happens! I am going to get involved in the park run every Sat in UL so hopefully I will see a 5K PB soon.

Longer term plans: I initially wanted to do the Limerick Marathon this April but I have changed my mind. I have decided I am going to concentrate on the shorter distances until June and work on strength and conditioning, stretching and my diet. If I can get these right, I hope to bring my times down in the 5K and 10K distances and hopefully to start training again in June for DCM 2017. I am hoping this time to be going into Marathon training with a strong core and with a good solid 6 months of training behind me and my hope is to break the 3h30m barrier, this might be overly ambitious but I'm a stubborn git so I am sticking to it

Athbhliain faoi Mhaise daoibh

Tony

tony1980

01.01.17

9.7 Miles today, started off with 10 mins very easy, then 5 mins easy before doing some speedwork. I done 3 sets of the 30/20/10 workout before reverting back to some very easy/easy running for about 20 mins and then finished with some strides. I ended up with a PB half mile effort and for 400m also. It was great to get out today and start the year off with a very enjoyable run

tony1980

02.01.17

Lovely fresh day out today, perfect for running. Had a little lie in with the kids before going back to reality tomorrow. We watched Kung Fu Panda 3 for about the hundredth time this Christmas...Lol then I headed out for an easy/very easy 6.2 Miles @ 9.25/mile. Felt good and enjoyed the run, my legs were a little sore yesterday but that was down to 3 sessions of SpeedWork in the last week.

I am going to re-start Myles Splitz base building plan for us graduates again tomorrow and take it from there.

scotindublin

Good luck with the log T I will be following it with interest.

Definitely a +1 from me for joining a club; great source of knowledge and encouragement from being surrounded by other runners.

tony1980

scotindublin wrote: »

Good luck with the log T I will be following it with interest.

Definitely a +1 from me for joining a club; great source of knowledge and encouragement from being surrounded by other runners.

Cheers C, yes, looking forward to joining the club, I should learn a lot more there and I am really looking forward to the social side of running and getting out more in a group.

Congrats on the 5K time by the way, that is brilliant, you must be delighted with a sub 20 to start the year off! Sub 19 before the end of 2017??

scotindublin

Thanks T thats one I have wanted to do for a while....was put on the back burner for marathon training last year.

The hardest part about joining a club is making the move to go down for a session....I am not sure what I was so apprehensive about it for. Good luck with it.

tony1980 wrote: »

Cheers C, yes, looking forward to joining the club, I should learn a lot more there and I am really looking forward to the social side of running and getting out more in a group.

Congrats on the 5K time by the way, that is brilliant, you must be delighted with a sub 20 to start the year off! Sub 19 before the end of 2017??