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Run for your life!!!!
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Laineyfrecks wrote: »Happy New Year to you
Well done on an amazing year! Have thoroughly enjoyed reading your log & thanks for the advice coming up to DCM - greatly appreciated:D
Will enjoy reading your log in 2020 - lots of exciting times ahead for you
Cheers E!
Exciting times, most definitely. I shall be keeping a close eye on your progress too. Have no doubt that great things await!! 0 -
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Monday 6th January
Rest day
Tuesday 7th January
70 mins easy
7.06m@ 9:14
Possibly my earliest run in a long time. With the increased mileage this week it was a case of needs must.
Wednesday 8th January
15 mins W/U, 8 miles alternate (8:00/7:30)
9.63m @ 7:59
Decided to use this as a runmute after work as the estimated mileage worked out pretty much perfectly. The plan was to enter the PP and run along Military Road before exiting the Chapelizod Gates but even with the slightly brighter than usual evenings, it was a little too dark for my liking and this section of the park didn't appear to be particularly well-lit so changed the plan slightly by heading straight down the Conyngham Rd instead.
With the faster paces, I knew it would be a bit of a challenge seeing as the route is nett uphill and certain parts have reasonably steep inclines.
Splits were as follows: 8:01/7:31/8:04/7:29/7:56/7:25/8:00/7:31
Felt it went really well and as with most of my recent session days, I felt I was well able to maintain the desired pace without feeling too much fatigue.
Thursday 9th January
60 mins easy
6.62m @ 9:04
Trundled down the North quays and into the Phoenix Park for this. Nice afternoon for it and enjoyed the run up to the Aras before taking a right onto the North Road before leaving the Park. The watch seemed to be displaying paces that were noticeably quicker than what I was running, hence the slightly quicker than usual average pace.
Friday 10th January
Rest day
Saturday 11th January
3 mile warm up/Griffeen Parkrun/3 mile cool down
Was really looking forward to this. The plan was to run at 5k pace which was fine by me. Nothing I enjoy more than running Parkruns the only way I seem to know how. Fast.
Woke up to a very blustery morning, but thankfully no rain. Did the 3 mile warm up in Griffeen and was met with a gale force wind as I ran up the last 500m of the course, most of which has an obvious uphill gradient. This should be fun, I thought.
After the warm up and the usual formalities, I felt the usual pang of nerves, convincing myself that everyone around me was better than me. Cop on, it's only a Parkrun!
At the off, I settled into a group of around four/five runners after the front two made their intentions known. Half a mile in and I'd already lost one of the pack so it was me and three others. Took full advantage of the 600 metre-long straight with the wind at our backs to up the pace a little and mile 1 came in at 6:22. So far so good but knew the challenge that lay ahead and how it would affect my splits. Once we came back up the other side of the park, it was a completely different story and as I kicked on against the strong gusts of wind, I left two more runners behind with now just three ahead of me. Confidence boosted no end.
The headwind continued for another long stretch and just after we came out the other side of it, mile 2 came in at 6:44. Cursed the wind and the very large spanner it was throwing in the works. Again, took full advantage of the tailwind along the second of the two loops and by now I was on my own in 4th with 3rd place looking unlikely, even though I was making some ground. Time to face the music again and now the wind seemed stronger than ever, which, coupled with the uphill path, made it seem like an impossible task. Passed a few runners holding up the rear and I knew that 4th place was as good as mine. 3rd mile clocked in at 6:31 and at the final bend and with 19:32 on the watch, I still felt like I had a mountain to climb. All I could do was give it socks which I duly did.
Finish time: 20:27 and best Parkrun finish to date. Better than I expected given the conditions but overall was happy with how I felt in general from start to finish and was encouraged when I saw that the first three finishers ran slower times by at least 30 seconds compared to their outings in the previous week's Parkrun.
Sunday 12th January
12 miles easy
12.2 m @ 9:11
A lovely, evenly-paced tour around Lucan and some surrounding areas. I sometimes have to remind myself that I'm in training for Manchester because it certainly doesn't feel that way. Not that I'm suggesting the intensity of the training is not matching my expectations, I just feel like I'm in a really good place, running-wise right now. Just hope that I can keep things motoring along for another couple of months.
Miles for the week- 47
Miles for the year - 830 -
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Fair play to you, it's not easy to make the time but somebody has to do it if we want our kids to have opportunities to do things and too many parents leave it to someone else all the time and then the same parents end up having to do everything... sorry it's a bug bear of mine obviously :cool:
Yeah, they asked me to come on board a couple of months ago but I was going to volunteer anyway, knowing what great work they do and how short they are of volunteers.
It's actually really good fun and they're a great bunch of kids too so it's all good. 0 -
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Again K sorry for the hijack in replying.
Not at all, the more the merrier I say!!
I definitely share your preference for running in your own company S, it's an aspect of running that I enjoy more than most others. Whether or not it would stand in the way of getting the most from being a club runner remains to be seen......0 -
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Again K sorry for the hijack in replying.
It had nothing to do with the club at all. It boils down to two main reasons. Firstly my shift work makes it impossible for me to attend anything on a regular basis. While the shifts do follow a pattern this pattern doesn't correspond to a 7 day calendar week.
Secondly, on the Sunday mornings that I am off I simply prefer to run in the Phoenix Park than anywhere else that's reasonably local. This removes me from club long runs also.
I suppose it's also fair to draw on a comment made by OOnegative....I'm a contrary auld b0llix! I'm very happy in my own company.
That all makes sense S... Contrary eh? I never would have thought so
Not at all, the more the merrier I say!!
I definitely share your preference for running in your own company S, it's an aspect of running that I enjoy more than most others. Whether or not it would stand in the way of getting the most from being a club runner remains to be seen......
Despite being an introvert i find the miles go a lot quicker in company so i do like to be in a group for the long runs. However if it's a choice between running in a group of two or running solo then i will pick running solo any day, I guess I prefer to listen to others chatting away rather than feeling like i have to be part of the conversation
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Not at all, the more the merrier I say!!
I definitely share your preference for running in your own company S, it's an aspect of running that I enjoy more than most others. Whether or not it would stand in the way of getting the most from being a club runner remains to be seen......
There is definitely room for both K. I saw this post by Steve Magness recently which pointed out 2 benefits of running which struck a chord with me in this age of short attention spans and mobile phone 'addiction'.
" Running helps create two skills which are increasingly rare:
1. When running by yourself, it helps create an ability to be alone inside of your head for a long time.
2. When running with others, you learn to fill time with conversation rather than defaulting to your phone. "0 -
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Whats the plan for Manchester, what are you hoping to get? Any races in the lead up?
Sorry Damo, I've just realised I didn't answer your question properly......
In terms of what I'm hoping for, as you know I just missed out on 3:30 at DCM so I think a realistic target would be around the 3:20 mark I reckon. Anyway, all will be revealed in a few weeks!
Looks like I'll be running the Naas 10 miler at the beginning of March too so that will give me a chance to test the waters.0 -
Sorry Damo, I've just realised I didn't answer your question properly......
In terms of what I'm hoping for, as you know I just missed out on 3:30 at DCM so I think a realistic target would be around the 3:20 mark I reckon. Anyway, all will be revealed in a few weeks!
Looks like I'll be running the Naas 10 miler at the beginning of March too so that will give me a chance to test the waters.
What about the lusk half? Have you ran that before?0 -
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Monday 21st January
Rest day
Tuesday 22nd January
7 miles easy
7.02m@ 9:08
Up with the birds again for some pre-work miles.
Wednesday 23rd January
2 miles easy/6 miles @ hmp/2 miles easy
10.00m @ 7:49
Used this as a run-mute, knowing that the route is predominantly downhill which would obviously work to my advantage, particularly for a session like this.After the initial 2 mile warm up, I upped the gears and found what I am now used to being my HM pace. Experienced a little GPS trouble in parts for the opening mile but after that, it started behaving. Was keeping inside the desired pace easily enough for the most part, remembering to try to keep the form relaxed as possible. During the 5th of the six HM pace miles, along the Conyngham Rd, I felt the first signs of tiredness in the legs, or somewhere, setting in.
Anyway, managed to pick myself up again and was overall happy with the consistency of the splits:
7:04/6:55/6:49/6:53/6:56/6:53
Finished off with a 2 mile cool down.
Thursday 24th January
6 miles easy
6.19 @ 9:03
Night run
Friday 25th January
Rest day
Saturday 26th January
3 miles wu /8 x 600m hills/2 mile cool down
This was another of those sessions that on paper, look like an absolute doddle. In reality - and I mean it this time - this was by far the hardest session I've done to date. Arrived in the PP early. Early enough hat there were a handful of runners still with their head torches glowing. Parked up at the foot of the Khyber and set off on a nice 3 mile warm up, eventually taking me back to my starting point. The aim here was to try to achieve the same average time for each rep and to focus on good form rather than pushing too hard.Still with fresh feet, the pace for the first rep started off at about 5:50 pace, but by the half-way point and with the incline increasing pretty rapidly, it was closer to 6:30/6:40 which I managed to maintain for the rest of the way. First rep came in at around 2:20 and lightly jogged back down to the bottom.
Still remembering to focus on form, I set off again, this time a starting off in the 6:10/6:15 range, and managed to stay within the 6:20-6:40 pace range for the most part. Second rep was a little slower at around 2:25 and for the remaining 6 reps - even though after each one, I was unsure how I could possibly do another - I maintained that same pace throughout. Great workout, tired but elated. Sat on the grass verge for a few minutes to take it the majesty around me. There's no place quite like it.
Sunday 27th January
14 miles easy
14.07 @ 9:07
Up early for the this and ended up sodden from a torrential downpour about an hour into the run. The breakfast I whipped up afterwards made it all worth while. :D
Great to see so many fantastic performances at the Raheny 5 mile. Well done to all the PB-ers!!
Miles for the week- 49
Miles for the year - 186
On a side note, I have decided to put this log to sleep for a little while. I do really enjoy updating it but I've made a conscious decision to curtail my online activity on the whole, and the amount of time that I spend between updating the log and catching up on everyone else's is increasingly to the detriment of other things that should be taking precedent. Nuff said.
For now though, the focus is obviously on training for Manchester - which is going swimmingly - and I will pop back closer to the time to give ye all an update on how things have been progressing. Happy running and see you on Stravaville!!0 -
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