What if...

conti

... in 2018 I could break through all these figures ending in '8' barriers?
Sub 18 5k
Sub 38 10k
Sub 3:08 Marathon.

Brief history: 35, male. Started properly running 2 years ago after years of start/stop attempts. Having blood pressure issues got me started again, only this time I committed and fully completed C25K followed by bridge to 10K which ended up getting me hooked on running.
I started tracking on MapMyFitness and did a couple of their plans; 10k, half, then their marathon training plan which led me to my first full, DCM 17.

PB's so far
5k 18:12
10k 39:09
10m 1:04:45
Half: 1:26:15
Full: 3:16:20 (This makes my 3:08 target pretty ambitious)

I'm just coming back from recovery from Brighton marathon 3 weeks ago (where I screwed up big-time by not having a fuelling strategy) last I week I reintroduced speed sessions via a bespoke (ish) training program whereby I'm intertwining a MapMyRun 10km improver program with the first 4 weeks of the Pfitz 70–85m plan where eventually I will just graduate into the Pfitz plan in preparation for Longford Marathon in August, tweaked so I don't do Mondays and will squeeze in some parkruns on Saturdays.
I remember reading on a blog post that the Pfitz plan could use some speed work, especially if you're not new to the program, so this seems like a rational plan.

Pretty straight-forward! :rolleyes:

I have 4 shots at the 10km, Abbeyshrule 10km (a village in Longford near where I grew up), RnR 10km, SSE Clondalkin, and Born2Run in Malahide May 27th.

5k's, nothing planned except parkruns, the Staff Relay challenge in phoenix park (which isn't timed per runner so will have go with Garmin for that one), and Grant Thornton in September.

Plan for rest of May is roughly like this with distance slightly increased each week:
Mon: Off but stretching and misc cross-training.
Tues: Fast intervals, 4x 2min and 4x 1 min intertwined with a 5k cooldown.
Wed: Recovery 8–12km easy, depending on time constraint (Sometimes as I'm having my morning pre-run coffee I end up lost in a Reddit thread).
Thurs: General Aerobic 14–16km. Slightly above recovery pace.
Fri: General Aerobic (or recovery if I have soccer that evening) 14–16km
Sat: parkrun with 5km warmup and 7km cooldown OR 2x Tempo intervals @between 5 and 10k pace.
Sun: Long run. Every second Sunday to practice fuelling and a negative split. So just before halfway mark, eat something while running and try second half of run faster than first.

This week should bring me to about 90km a week but by the second week of June I should be well over 100 after introducing the Med/Long weekday morning runs of 18–24km.

Aside from occasional shin splints, I've been doing well with regards injury so far.

The 'What if' title is taken from this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tSTk1083VY episode of JRE with David Goggins, a highly recommended listen/watch should you want an insight into the mind of a crazy person, but be warned, the graphic info about his first ultra is very much NSFL!

conti

First update. Two failed attempts at sub 38min 10km: 38:40 at Malahide Castle B2R 10km, and 38:50 at Abbeyshrule 10km, the latter was ideal conditions except on the second lap of the route the runners and the walkers were on the same narrow road which slowed some runners down.

Missed a lot of training in June due to sickness followed by a week of reining in the mileage while I acclimatised to the heatwave.

Last week I started back on the Pfitz 55–70 plan (kind of). Got back into med-long runs on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings followed by 3 days consecutive days of recovery 10–12km recovery runs. Sunday was meant to be long run of 30km but due to time constraints I just did 22 but upped the tempo to make up for it. It averaged 4.25 /km splits.

Yesterday was meant to be 21km general aerobic but after running it at natural pace made it averaged at 4.26/km, guess it was the rest on Monday. This good though, after doing a few months of low heart-rate training last November to February my natural pace had gotten slower.

Plan is to do 3 consecutive weeks like this, 90–110km per week while fitting in a couple of 10k races (SSE Sunday and RnR August 12th), and taper for Longford Marathon on the 19th.

All going well weeks will look like:
Mon: Rest
Tues and Wednesday: 18–24km general aerobic w/ some marathon paced.
Thurs: Recovery 10km w/ strides.
Friday: 14–16km general aerobic w/ strides.
Sat: 16km general aerobic or parkrun and 10km.
Sun: Long run, 30–35km.

OOnegative

You go to school in Ballymahon?

conti

OOnegative wrote: »

You go to school in Ballymahon?

Yeah, long time ago. Finished in 2000.

OOnegative

conti wrote: »

Yeah, long time ago. Finished in 2000.

Figured as much, finished in ‘96 myself. No shame finishing 2nd to the man who won in Abbeyshrule, very good runner.

conti

OOnegative wrote: »

Figured as much, finished in ‘96 myself. No shame finishing 2nd to the man who won in Abbeyshrule, very good runner.

Yeah was delighted with 2nd place, first time to place top 3 in a race and a I managed to miss the medal presentation! Yeah the winner was nearly 2 mins ahead, he got an insanely good time.