Sub 50 minute 10 km here we go.....

S.L.F.

I'm aiming for a sub 50 minute 10 km.
I'm hoping that tracking my runs on a log will keep me consistent.
I'm currently jogging three to four days a week and have a short cycling commute as cross training.
I do a few weights in the gym once a week as well.

I've entered the Terenure 5 miler which is 5 weeks away now.

This coming week all going well:

Mon: 8 mile cycling commute work
Tues: 1 mile warm up/4 x 1000m with 4 min jog recovery/.5 mile cool down
Wed: 5 miles easy
Thur: 6 miles easy plus 6 x 100m strides
Fri: 8 mile cycling commute work
Sat: Weights
Sun: 9/10 mile long run

I might end up jogging the 8 mile return commute to work on either wed or thurs instead of planned run.

If anyone has any advice for me or spots any mistakes in my training or ways of improvement I would be delighted to hear about it.

S.L.F.

Monday: I ended up doing some weights as I missed it last Saturday. I only really do upper body machines and a few free weights. Took about 40 minutes.
You really need to be doing them about 3 times a week to see results. Better than nothing though.

Tuesday: 4 miles short commute each way cycle to work. I got a new bike and its about 3 times lighter than the contraption I was cycling so I'm not paddy last up the hills coming home anymore
I only got two hours sleep so I was preparing to abandon this and jog a 5k on the treadmill.
I ended up doing the 4x1000m and I could've done a 5th but chose to speed up on the 4th one instead.
I was thinking in my head that I don't want to get too fatigued as I'm in a new job and I'll end up getting run down.
I ran these at 8 minute mile pace which is goal pace and the last one went from 8 minutes to about 7.25.
8 km altogether including warm up and cool down.

S.L.F.

My run on Tuesday evening ended near 10 pm and then I had food and a bath and was really alert after this. I got a terrible sleep so decided not to run Wednesday. So 2 x 4 miles to work on the bike.

Thursday I ran to work and back 2 x 4 miles. Its uphill coming home and my right leg was very tight, had to stretch on a step at every red light I stopped at.
Thursday evening had my third back massage to treat a strain I picked up from carrying my laptop home on my back. I know it seems like a stupid thing to do
but I had no choice so I thought. My back was inflamed but now it seems perfect again thank god.

Friday I had no work so made up for my lack of sleep by having a 15 hour sleep.
I often do this when I'm deprived during the week and nothing wakes me, not even the need to pee.
I went out for a late 5 miler, was sitting in bed at about 10.30 pm reading about all the different headcases ruling the world and decided this headcase is going out to get that Wednesday 5 miler done. Pretty harmless really.

S.L.F.

Sat: Went to the gym and did some free weights and upper body machines. 1 hour.
Tried to get in some stretching as well and went totally overboard. Groin muscles in a jock next day. I don't know why I keep going back to this stretching machine because its more like a torture rack since I can't seem to reel myself in when I get on it.

There's a lot of show offs in the gym that are at that extreme Yoga craze of handstands and legs over the head routine so I might be trying to get in on the act but failing miserably.
At one stage I was doing single legged squats and I never even usually do two legged squats so you can image what it was like trying to sit down on Sunday.

Sun: Nothing - went out for Easter. This was supposed to be a long run day so disappointing not to get out. I'm not going to say my legs and bum felt like i'd been extreme racing on Saturday but they did.

Mon: This was supposed to be a rest day and had no energy anyway.
Ran 5 km on the treadmill. Ran a few repeats at race pace trying to make up for yesterday but was lacking in energy. I'm not sure if it was lack of food beforehand or if I have a bit of lethargy but stopped halfway through 3rd 1 k interval and went for about a 3 mile walk as had to go somewhere after this.

Plan this week is supposed to go like this but I have a feeling I'll be switching things around. If I'm feeling as meh as I am today then I defo wont be doing a planned session tomorrow. I'll see how the body dictates.


T 1 mile warm up - 3 mile tempo @ 8.20 pace - .5 mile cool down
W 5 mile easy
T 6 miles easy plus 6 x 100 m strides
F Day Off
S Weights
S 9/10 mile long run

S.L.F.

Tues: 2 x 4 cycle mile commute and 6 mile jog with 6 strides.

Wed: 2 x 7 mile cycle commute
Was supposed to do a 3 mile tempo run but was knackered.
I'm not that bike fit for a continuous hill after a days work.
So went to bed for an hour and then legged it over to the gym for a late run.
I was still tired so decided to break this up into tempo intervals with max 200m recover on the treadmill
Short warm up and the 5 x 1000 m tempo pace 11.5 increasing to
12 now and again. Too late for cool down - 7.5 km.

juke

S.L.F. wrote: »

At one stage I was doing single legged squats and I never even usually do two legged squats so you can image what it was like trying to sit down on Sunday.

For me, unless I do some form of squat work weekly, the DOMS, they kill!

Will going sub 50 for 10k be a big leap for you?

S.L.F.

juke wrote: »

For me, unless I do some form of squat work weekly, the DOMS, they kill!

Will going sub 50 for 10k be a big leap for you?

That's the thing about the weights as well isn't it...you feel fine doing them and then the next day or two it catches you if you do too much.

You're going very well with them, I need to read more about them and vary my routine a bit.

I don't know how close I am to sub 50, i'll have a good idea if I do the Terenure 5.
I seem to be fit enough to run a good distance and days back to back but I have an awful job getting out of my comfort zone and trying to speed up.

Sub 50 race pace repeats longer than 800 m are tough for me now especially if I'm tired and I'm not sure I'd even hit that pace for a km if I wasn't doing them in the gym.

Thurs: 2 x 4 mile jog commute
Fri: 2 x 4 mile cycle commute.

S.L.F.

Sat: weights about 40 minutes of upper body machines and free weights.
Sun: 9 mile long slow run along the coast. Very enjoyable, perfect weather for a jog.

S.L.F.

Plan for the week:
M Day Off
T 1 mile warm up/10 x 400m with 90 secs recovery/1 mile cool down
W 6 miles easy
T 8 miles easy plus 6 x 100m strides
F Day Off
S Day Off
S 9/10 miles long run with 3 min pickups middle and end

Actual:
Mon: 2 x 7 mile cycle commute
Tues: 2 x 4 cycle commute
As usual I was banjoed from lack of sleep so when I got home I
went to bed for an hour or so.
When I woke up and came around I just about had enough time to bomb it to the gym and do a rushed speed routine which I made up as I went along

Short warm up
12 x 400 m repeats with 100 m walking recovery
First 8 @ race pace 12
2 @ 13
2 @ 14
Warm down for 5 miles.

Felt grand doing these, so much easier than 1 k repeats but I don't even know if I'm doing them at the right pace or maybe I should take 60 second recovery instead of 100 m walk to make them more difficult.

I might try and do a second session this week, I'm not happy with my progress really. I never seem to get faster.

S.L.F.

Wed: 2 x 4 m cycle commute
Thurs: 2 x 4 m cycle commute
Fri: x 4 m cycle commute
Sat: 4 x 1000 m repeats with 3 mins walk/run recovery at 12 on treadmill. for 4 miles altogether.
Free weights and machines for upper body about 40 mins.

Had a lot on during the week so never got out past Tuesday.

Long run planned for tomorrow or Mon.

S.L.F.

Sun: Progressive 5 km on the treadmill
An hour of weights

Mon: 10 mile long slow run. Found the last three miles tiring but got it done.

S.L.F.

Tues: 2 x 4 m cycle commute
Wed: 2 x 4 m run commute
Thurs: 2 x 4 m cycle commute

Went for my daily nap after work and woke up at 8.30.
Went over to do 12 x 400 repeats @ 12/race pace 8 mins per mile and possibly more repeats if I was up for it.
So started off with a mile warm up and started first two reps at 12 with 80 sec recovery.
Thought I'd increase it to 12.5 and did the next 6 at 12.5 with 80 secs walk recovery.
Was going to do 12 with last 4 at 13 but next of all a guy got on the treadmill beside me and gave me a wave and i waved back. Then he started pointing at his wrist as I had ear phones on so I told him I had no watch on and that there was a clock over there. I never copped he was actually an employee telling me the gym was closing. FK I forgot it closes at 9.30 on Thursday and Friday night.
I usually do gym session on Tues or Wed which is late opening nights.
It was probably just as well since I went for massage last night for tight tendon in the calf which is my chronic injury the past 5 years. My back was fairly achy as well but the back part of the massage was heavenly and I wanted it to carry on all night. The leg was not so heavenly and still doesn't feel 100% but was okay after warm up kind of tentative...

So only got about 6 km done with 8 x 400 and no cool down either.

So now I'll rest and do the weights on Saturday and a bit of stretching on my fav machine...my reason for living! Hopefully long run of about 10 miles Sunday.

S.L.F.

Fri: 2 X 4 m cycle commute
Sat: 4 x 500 m repeats with 3 min jog recovery for 5.5 km altogether
1 hour of machine and free weights for upper body
Sun: 10.30 mile long run. Found this tiring after yesterday.

Terenure next Sunday and not sure what pace to go for, I don't think I'm fit enough for sub 40 yet. This is not a goal race so if I'm feeling in good form I might try and follow the 40 m pacers and suffer the consequences if I can't keep up.

I'm going to take it easy this week, I'll probably do a run commute and maybe a 6 miler but I'll leave the weights on Saturday.

juke

Enjoy tomorrow, hope it goes well.

S.L.F.

juke wrote: »

Enjoy tomorrow, hope it goes well.

Ah thank you Juke, same to you!

S.L.F.

32 Mile cycle commute

2 x 4 m run commute on Tuesday

Mental week in work and a massage wed after work meant I never got out for a run.

Sat: 20 min with 4 x 200 m on treadmill and 40 mins of upper body weights.
I kept this to a minimum with the thinking of saving myself for Terenure.

Sun: Didn't feel in the mood to get up on Sunday morning so didn't do Terenure race.
Ran a long run of 11 miles instead.

I was a bit disgusted with myself but I figured I wouldn't get the time I'd be happy with so why bother.
I need to stop paying for races and then not entering them, i think I've done that at least 5 times over the past year.

I'm thinking of entering the marathon since there's 2500 up on this time last year and if I don't enter at some stage it will sell out so why not now while its a bit cheaper.

The next race I'm signed up for :rolleyes: is the womens mini marathon which I hate but end up doing it every year.

Then its the Irish Runner 5 mile which I actually really love even if the last mile or so is painful

S.L.F.

Mon: 2 x 4 m cycle commute

Tues: 2 x 4 m cycle commute

Session on treadmill:

I went over to the gym for this one and brought my ear phone to drown out the gym music. It seems there's some gym radio station now or rather a dj'd tape set especially for gyms and the music is horrendous.

I can usually tolerate and sometimes enjoy the more popular electro tunes but this was really heavy and on full blast. Not even the earphones could save me.

1 km warm up, 5 x 500 m at 12 and 1 x 500 m @ 12.5, 1 x 500 m @13 with 90 sec walk recovery and 1 km cool down.
I miscalculated the repeats as I thought I had done 8. I blame the bad music as I was cursing it the entire time...I'm getting old!

Wed: Morning commute 5 mile jog and home 4.3 miles

Decided to jog to work, had a meeting at 10 am and left home with enough time for a 4 mile jog so while I was going by Grand Canal Dock I decided I'd jog down towards Ringsend for a change. I ended up taking a wrong turn and had to ring into work to say I was lost and would be late.
Anyway it only added another mile but the weather was fab and the route I took was beautiful. I ended up running along this bike track beside the railway bridge and then along the Dodder.
I think I might take this route again but leave earlier if the weather is good.

Jogging home I took a detour so I could pick up some Divine Comedy tickets. Delighted about this as they were one of my favourite bands of my youth and I don't usually get lucky with tickets being sold out so quickly these days.

juke

S.L.F. wrote: »

The next race I'm signed up for :rolleyes: is the womens mini marathon which I hate but end up doing it every year.

I've done that once, in a lead car. Came in ahead of the wheelchair entries - does that count.

If you weren't up to the 5 mile, you probably made the right decision.

I love the idea of getting lost running to work!

S.L.F.

juke wrote: »

I've done that once, in a lead car. Came in ahead of the wheelchair entries - does that count.

If you weren't up to the 5 mile, you probably made the right decision.

I love the idea of getting lost running to work!

You probably had a better experience than everyone else :pac:
If I remember correctly the digital clock was faulty last year and we had to stand there for at least 40 minutes if you include the time you have to arrive in the pen by particularly if you're a 'runner'. Everyone was getting really irritated and hot.
I don't know what it is about that run but it always seems longer than 10 km, maybe its because of the dual carriageway.

Yeah I was better off skipping the 5 miler, if I'm not in the humour then I just don't bother and sure the money is going towards a good cause.

They had a good laugh when I got into work slagging me about it, I'm lucky I have an easy going boss at the moment.

I'm going to probably try that route again and work it into one of my long runs.

S.L.F.

Thurs: 2 x 4 m cycle commute

Fri: 2 x 4 m run commute

Sat: 5 km including 5 x 200 m @ 13 with 2 mins running recovery each.

An hour of upper body free weights and machines

Sun: Didn't eat well today and ran out of juice at 8.55 miles so called it a day.

S.L.F.

Mon: 2 x 4 m cycle commute

Tues: 2 x 4 m cycle commute

Treadmill session:
8 x 400 m @ 12
1 x 400 @ 13
1 x 400 m @ 14

with 200 m walk recovery

7km altogether


Wed: 2 x 4 m jog commute

S.L.F.

Trying to remember my training now but hasn't been up to much as I've been away on holiday.

Thurs: 2 x 4 m cycle commute
Fri: 2 x 4 mile jog commute

Sat: Weights in the morning, had hair appointment and plane to catch

Sun and Mon: No running but did a shed load of walking as kept getting lost even with sat nav :pac:

Tues: Ventured out for a 4 mile run in 24 degree heat and that was in the evening

Wed: 4 mile jog again in same heat plus loads of walking

Thurs: Walking

Fri: 4 mile jog again in heat, my head was actually pulsating after going up a steep hill and I was sweating buckets and this was barely a 10 min mile pace

Sat: Flying again but walked a lot too

Sun: Recovering and picked up number for WMM.
Went over to RDS and actually went around the stands several times picking up food testers like a begger.
I hadn't been shopping yet so had no food at home and I actually reckon I ate enough to cover breakfast and lunch.
One woman told me off for taking 3 chips at the same time to dip in the sauce.
I had myself covered for each stall, I'd go up and take a tester and then tell the women on the stall how good it was and how I was going to buy a pot of their Korma sauce etc so they'd offer me another and then I'd sneak off eating it.

This years goody bag was actually quite impressive compared to about the last 10 years where I was embarrassed for the sponsors getting each of us to walk to a stand to get a rice pot like we were rationing in the war or something.

This time I opened up the bag and I seen Lilly O'Brien chocs etc...ummmmm

It may seem like I'm food mad but actually I didn't eat well all last week so I have been scoffing everything since I came home. No fear of me starving to death for sure.

Met Sinead Kane and her guide as well and told her how impressive her running has been. I was just thinking afterwards how invasive I may have seemed as I rubbed her arm while I was talking to her and she doesn't know me from Adam. Hopefully she didn't mind.

Mon: Women's mini marathon

So back to the reason I'm supposed to be logging...
I woke up fine this morning and got my bits and pieces washed and ready to rock lol.
The only thing is I went for a meal last night and then ate a large Toblerone before bed so my tummy wasn't ready for food at 11 am.
So stupidly all I had was half a banana.

Anyway drove to Stephens Green car park and got out and realised I'd forgotten my bag with my bank card etc.
Luckily enough I had my race number in my hand coming out of my home.
So no option to buy any snack on the way over.

Found a toilet etc and a bit of water and off I went to the start line.
Had to stand around for half an hour but I was in good form and feet were fine. I got to thinking about how they take the barricades away 10 mins before the race to allow everyone to start together and all the slow joggers sneak up past the faster joggers to get a better position and its like being in a sardines tin until about 800 m down the road.

My performance today was as disappointing to me as ever.
I looked at my watch every km for the first 5 km and I was convinced
I would hit the sub 50 mins.
I then started to slow and lose concentration and general optimism and I looked at my watch again at 8 km and I had lost 4 mins.
I really lost heart at this stage and I really struggled not to walk.
I had no goal now and was hungry and thirsty.
I remember being passed out in the last km a lot and at the end I couldn't even muster up a final sprint
I'm not sure of my exact time but its around 55 mins.

Oh I also seen Jerry Kiernan at about 8 km as well, gave him a big hello like a saddo fanatic. In fairness he have me a wave back.

I was really impressed this year with the overall organisation.
I couldn't help but thinking about terror attacks at the beginning and seen a few burly looking men with walkie - talkies around the place but thankfully everything ran smoothly.

The course run in reverse was a breath of fresh air and there were lots of water points for those who wanted to take a drink.
After the race was over there were a few goodies being given out like a coke zero and energy bar and cocktail sausages.
Okay I'll shut up about food now


I was still in good form after the race and at least now I know where I stand and what paces to work my intervals off.

I think for training I am fooling myself doing these 400 m intervals on the treadmill and would be better off trying to do more km and mile repeats and some longer steady state runs if I really want to build up some stamina.
I need to take the finger out, I've actually got slower the past few months.

I have the Irish Runner 5 mile in the park in two weeks so that's something to aim for now.

Onward and upwards as they say.

I'm not sure what training I'll do this week but if I wake early I'll jog to work.

juke

Well, sounds like that was quite a day

Still - at least now you know, under difficult conditions, where you are speed wise. Sometime, for me, it takes a disappointing result to really focus the mind on improving.

Can't comment on the intervals - have never run on a treadmill, they don't have one in my gym.

I ate a lot of chocolate reading your report and typing this reply. Can I blame your report?

S.L.F.

Tues: 2 x 4 mile cycle commute

Wed: So I've decided to start the base training for the marathon. I'm going to jump into the graduate 10km plan at week 9 which will take me up to the Fingal 10km on the 23rd of July.

So the plan called for 12x75 sec @ CV w/ 1 min rec

I went up to the Phoenix park for this and luckily got a break from the rain.
I really need to buy some kind of watch, i was trying to use my phone and run with it and stop and start etc. It really drove me mad. I think I ended up doing about two extra repeats as a result of losing count etc.

Anyway with warm up and cool down it ended up at 10 km.

Thurs: 4 x 2 m cycle commute

Fri: 4 x 2 m jog commute. I was supposed to do 60 minutes very easy on Thursday but I was wiped so I left it till Friday and jogged to work and home which was actually 80 mins altogether.

Chartsengrafs

Difficult to race the week of holidays but good job getting through it. I find travelling saps my legs a bit, if you were a bit fresher going in it may have been a different day.

S.L.F.

Chartsengrafs wrote: »

Difficult to race the week of holidays but good job getting through it. I find travelling saps my legs a bit, if you were a bit fresher going in it may have been a different day.

Thanks Chartsengrafs, I hope you're right

S.L.F.

Sat: 4 x 10 mins at half marathon pace -

I was meeting someone in the gym to do the weights so had to get this in beforehand. I was knackered doing it and also low on time so I basically did the session without any warmup or cooldown. The pace calculated from my 10 km race on Monday was 10.3 or 9.22 per mile.

Followed by an hour of weights. I went home afterwards had a bit of grub and then went for a nap. Woke up 3 hours later. :pac:

Sun: The plan has 2 hours run but I've just jumped in so it would be stupid to tire myself out with that amount of running when I havnt done a decent long run in 3 weeks. So i jogged 9 miles, average pace was 10.05. I thought this went quite well considering the mad wind out there today.

I later walked 4.5 miles with a friend which was a chore.

I have ordered a Garmin 25 from Amazon, I managed to get a seconds one with cosmetic damage with a 29% discount so hopefully it will do the job.

I'm pleased with the amount of work I've done this week, now if I could only speed up a bit I would be delighted.

Bluesquare

Hi there - we appear to have the same goal !! Hopefully we will reach our target this summer ,!

Best of luck on Saturday !

S.L.F.

Bluesquare wrote: »

Hi there - we appear to have the same goal !! Hopefully we will reach our target this summer ,!

Best of luck on Saturday !

Thanks Bluesquare, it looks like you'll be meeting your target soon enough. I'm very excited for you!

I'd say mine will take a while longer but I'm hoping it does happens this summer. yes please.:)

juke

S.L.F. wrote: »

I went home afterwards had a bit of grub and then went for a nap. Woke up 3 hours later. :pac:

Power nap

S.L.F. wrote: »

I have ordered a Garmin 25 from Amazon, I managed to get a seconds one with cosmetic damage with a 29% discount so hopefully it will do the job.

Well wear, sounds like a good deal.

S.L.F. wrote: »

I'm pleased with the amount of work I've done this week, now if I could only speed up a bit I would be delighted.

I hear you... you are being consistent, just keep it up!

S.L.F.

juke wrote: »

Power nap



Well wear, sounds like a good deal.



I hear you... you are being consistent, just keep it up!

Thanks Juke for the support