Run for your life!!!!

coogy

Grads 10k-Half marathon plan - Week 14


Monday 20th May - Off


Tuesday 21st May - 45 mins easy. 4.95m @9.22
Early start this morning and picked a slightly different route just to mix things up a little.


Wednesday 22nd May - 6 x 1min Vo2 (7:20) w/ 2 min rec jog. Warm up + cool down either side.
Did this late in the evening and as I expected, the pacing was tricky to manage given the shortness of each rep. Still felt good afterwards even though it was a relatively short stint.


Friday 24th May - 5 mile easy run. 5.05m @ 9.03
Work this week had been incredibly stressful and I desperately needed to let off some steam so in some ways I saw this as my most important run of the week.
Headed down the docks and into Ringsend Park for the first time in a while. Thought I saw some familiar faces along the way but was probably mistaken.
Upped the pace slightly for the last mile just to get it out of my system.


Saturday 25th May- Off
It was my son's communion today so obviously no running involved. :rolleyes:
Super proud and a great day was had by all. I even managed to indulge in the intake of alcohol. A rare occurrence for me.......


Sunday 26th May - Couple o' miles. 2.83m @ 7.53
"Just going to collect the dog!"
What followed can only be described as farcical.
See Strava entry for all you need to know.


Miles for the week - 18

Miles for the year - 686


And so concludes the 14-week 10k-Half marathon plan. Can't believe how quickly that all passed. Still delighted with the half marathon PB in Bohermeen (which seems like a lifetime ago now) and I have the Dunboyne 5 mile coming up tomorrow which I'm really looking forward to as it's my first 5 mile race.
I felt things unravel slightly towards the end when I started missing runs here and there as well as experiencing a couple of mental blips. Generally though, I definitely feel the benefits from the plan and have come out of it a better and stronger runner. That said, there's still lots of work to be done before I feel like I'm physically ready to take on another marathon while being 100% confident of achieving my goal. Nowhere near enough core strengthening workouts being factored in to my weekly routine so that will have to change. Apart from the physical aspect, a lot of it is in my head too. 'Back yourself' - a mantra repeated by AMK during his Rotterdam outing - is something I need to adopt, starting now.
Also looking forward to a few more races along the way between now and October.


Thanks for reading!!

Kellygirl

Have you ever used Strava Flybys? Great for checking if you did pass somebody in particular!!

coogy

Kellygirl wrote: »

Have you ever used Strava Flybys? Great for checking if you did pass somebody in particular!!

It was the first thing I did when I got back to the office!:D

Definitely not who I thought it was

Huzzah!

I checked to see if it was me as I ran down around there but your run was at lunchtime.

Have a great run tomorrow. Back yourself! Looking forward to hearing about it.

coogy

BHAA Dunboyne 5 mile.
This was my first attempt at a 5 mile race and in the days leading up to it, I was probably spending more time than is necessary figuring out some sort of pacing strategy. In other words, nerves were getting the better of me.
I knew that to achieve a comfortable sub-35, I'd need to be hitting splits of around 6:45-6:55.
Arrived in plenty of time to collect race number and met up with a work colleague and her boyfriend as we lightly jogged the half mile or so to the start line. Spent about 15 minutes on some dynamic stretching and loosening up.
It had turned into a beautiful evening and conditions were perfect.
Lots of great representation from various running clubs, notably Raheny, Dunboyne and Porterstown.

Mile 1 - 6:44
As we set off, there was a fair bit of congestion and had to take care not to be tripped or trip up anyone else. After a couple of minutes, I checked the pace on the watch and it read 6:40 which took me a little by surprise as it did not feel like I was running anywhere near that pace. Another example of how your form in a race environment can differ so much from a standard training run.
As the mile progressed, I felt ok and knowing that I would need to sustain this for the next 33 minutes or so, I decided to just go with it and see how it all panned out. The bottleneck eased off after about 5 minutes and I eventually settled into my stride.

Mile 2 - 6:43
By now I felt like I was getting used to the pace and found myself in a group of about five or six other runners and even at this early stage, I was constantly checking my watch to make sure that I stayed within my goal pace.
The group eventually split up (some upped the pace and others fell behind) and I decided to just focus on my own race, still managing to keep on top of the pacing.

Mile 3 - 6:53
As I reached the halfway point - which should have been a welcome sight - I thought of what I had done to get this far and if I had enough in the locker to keep things motoring and in my head I had started to do what I usually do when I feel like extra effort might be required:

• work out and break down how long is left and what I need to do to hang on
• ask myself if I can do this

Felt that I was just about doing what was needed to keep the momentum going.

Mile 4 - 6:58
For the first time, the pace slipped past the 7:00 mark and a feeling of dread hit me that things were beginning to slide. Told myself to stop looking at my watch, only to sneak another glance at it seconds later. My pace was now wavering between 6:50 - 7:15 and each time I felt it slip, I had to step it up a notch to keep things on track. I felt like I was struggling but I wouldn't allow myself to admit it. A general feeling of discomfort was beginning to creep up on me but I was glad that I wasn't experiencing any pain.
"Why am I doing this?" "What is the point of all this?" "Why am I training for another marathon?" were random questions that appeared out of nowhere. As usual, I had no answers, gave myself a kick up the backside and told myself to just keep it up.
Traded places back and forth with a handful of runners for most of this mile.

Mile 5 - 6:53
The last mile was a real mixed bag. On one hand, there was the relief that there was just one mile to go, or "only seven more minutes" if I played my cards right and on the flip side, I was properly struggling to banish any thoughts I had of throwing in the towel, however extreme they may have been. I thought back to my half marathon experience in Bohermeen where I finished strong for the final mile but I knew there was no comparison on this occasion.
Even with such negative thoughts, I was overtaking a fair few runners with half a mile to go, having to really dig deep to find another burst of energy from somewhere.
The final 600 meters had us running through a trail path which led up to the field where the finish line was situated. A seemingly endless lap of the field had me at my most desperate. As I came around the second last bend, I had a glance at the watch and saw 33:xx:xx and though "thank f**k, I'm home and dry. A final burst of speed saw me the over the finish line in 34:08, well ahead of the time I had predicted for myself, thanks to the earlier miles. 151st out of a field of 409. Job done.
Saw Mick Clohesy hanging around having earlier completed the race in 23:35. Unreal.
After a quick chat with the inimitable Rossi7, I made a bee-line for the refreshments tent where they had a fantastic spread of sambos, fruitcake, swiss roll, jaffa cakes, biscuits and cupcakes. Plenty of food for everyone, very well organised. Hung around for a while chatting to friends and a couple of Griffeen Parkrunners.

On reflection, I am obviously happy with my time but not sure if the struggle towards the end is as a result of setting out too fast. I don't think I did as I knew what I had to do before setting out. I like to think that the struggle towards the end was more a case of acknowledging "this wasn't meant to be easy".

As for the next block of training, I will be using this race time as a base for my training paces which is not a million miles off what I was using up till now (20:50 Parkrun).

I will definitely do this race again next year. Great experience!


Thanks for reading!

Kellygirl

Well done K. I’m smiling at the internal dialogue. I know it well.

ReeReeG

Great running!! Sounds like a real honest effort, and you backed yourself good job!

Mr. Guappa

Well done K, that's really good racing, seems like you judged the effort very well. Nice work!

ariana`

Nice one! I'm pretty sure the last mile is supposed to be tough, that's how you know you done it right! Great time and effort, well done.

Swashbuckler

If you don't have very negative thoughts towards the end, you've ran a tempo run not a race. Well done. Super time.

tbukela

Great report and time. Well done.

JMSE

Seriously well done on the race, I’m just replying to help you get over your question on your form in the latter stages - it’s simple, the 4th mile is a bit draggy and is slower for everyone. Same for me this year and last, 4th is way off the other miles. So keep it up, onwards and upwards!!

Hedgehoggy

Great race report Ken and brilliant running. Fantastic results!

Wubble Wubble

Great race and report there K, some performance for your 5 mile debut! The 4th mile is always the hardest in that race. They're the kind of questions I ask myself a lot in races like that

coogy

Kellygirl wrote: »

Well done K. I’m smiling at the internal dialogue. I know it well.

Thanks K, nice to know it's not just me!!

ReeReeG wrote: »

Great running!! Sounds like a real honest effort, and you backed yourself good job!

Cheers V! I know I mentioned nerves in there somewhere but I don't really think I was nervous. Just giddy excitement I guess!! :roll eyes:

Mr. Guappa wrote: »

Well done K, that's really good racing, seems like you judged the effort very well. Nice work!

Thanks A. Yeah, I think I managed it as well as I was physically able, didn't feel like it at the time though! It's amazing what a couple of days reflection does for the mind. If I was to write that report now, I think it would be very different!

ariana` wrote: »

Nice one! I'm pretty sure the last mile is supposed to be tough, that's how you know you done it right! Great time and effort, well done.

Thanks E! It's a great race distance to run. Looking forward to taking on some more soon!

Swashbuckler wrote: »

If you don't have very negative thoughts towards the end, you've ran a tempo run not a race. Well done. Super time.

Thanks P, appreciate that!

tbukela wrote: »

Great report and time. Well done.

Thanks a mil!

JMSE wrote: »

Seriously well done on the race, I’m just replying to help you get over your question on your form in the latter stages - it’s simple, the 4th mile is a bit draggy and is slower for everyone. Same for me this year and last, 4th is way off the other miles. So keep it up, onwards and upwards!!

Thanks! I'll remember this for next time! :cool:

Hedgehoggy wrote: »

Great race report Ken and brilliant running. Fantastic results!

Thanks a lot G, I love it when a race and race report come together!

Wubble Wubble wrote: »

Great race and report there K, some performance for your 5 mile debut! The 4th mile is always the hardest in that race. They're the kind of questions I ask myself a lot in races like that

Thanks J. Yes, plenty of questions but sometimes it's best not to have the answers to hand,mid-race.......;)

Huzzah!

Finally got a chance to read your report. Well done again. Sounds like you judged the effort perfectly.

coogy

Huzzah! wrote: »

Finally got a chance to read your report. Well done again. Sounds like you judged the effort perfectly.

Thanks E! Already looking forward to my next one, now that I know what it takes! :pac:

coogy

Wednesday 29th May - 45 mins easy. 4.95m @9.22
Just about squeezed this in, making sure I gave the legs a somewhat short but necessary workout after the previous day's efforts.

Thursday 30th May - Saturday 1st June
Coughing. Spluttering. Bleugh.

Sunday 2nd June - self-prescribed 90 minute lsr (stopped after approx 2 miles)
Wanted to finish off the week with a long run to lead me nicely into the beginning of the base plan next week.
Went to bed the night before feeling a little better than I had earlier in the week but perhaps it was just me on a high after Liverpool's SIXTH European Cup final victory.
Woke up feeling a bit meh but got up anyway, got changed and out the door at 6am. Didn't feel right from the off but thought I'd stick it out for a bit to see how things would go. Decided to ignore the route I'd planned and headed down to Griffeen in case I decided to call it a day. After about a mile and a half, I started breaking out into a sweat, the sort that tells you that you need to stop what you're doing. Headed for home knowing it was for the best. Got back to the house, fell asleep on the couch and was woken by the kids at 9:30am. :rolleyes:

So, little in the way of running this week but not too bothered as the plan had already finished last week.
Looking forward to the next 6 weeks, hoping to have another couple of races under the belt by the end of it.


Miles for the week:11.56
Miles for the year: 698
Thanks for reading!

Strawberry Swan

Great result and race report on Dunboyne. Very well paced run and you dug very deep.

I'm very impressed how consistently you train and keep up with the graduate plans. And not following it when your body decides otherwise which is very smart, probably why you haven't got injured.

How have you found the plans overall? Is there anything you would change about them? What do you really like about them? I think I need to start following plans after DCM to really structure my running and make bigger improvements.

coogy

Hi M, thanks for the kind words!!


As far as the consistency of my training goes, it's really down to one thing which is my growing love of running. That's what keeps me going. I just want to run all the time now and I know exactly what I need to do to see each plan through to its conclusion. I feel lucky enough to be able to do that without missing out on too many days, if any at all.

The plans themselves? I take great reassurance from knowing that they are by now tried and tested and have reaped huge rewards for countless other runners so I have to have the confidence in myself that it can do the same for me, once I know I am giving 100%. They have a really good variety of different types of running. The session days, which are my favourite, are definitely designed to bring the absolute best out of you.


Are you doing DCM this year?

Kellygirl

Strawberry Swan wrote: »

How have you found the plans overall? Is there anything you would change about them? What do you really like about them? I think I need to start following plans after DCM to really structure my running and make bigger improvements.

Hi M, just to agree with K, the plans are brilliant. It took me a year to start following them between one thing and another but my running has only started to improved since I started the Grads plans. I love the sessions most of all too but there is so much easy running there too that you build up the mileage while keeping the legs fresh. You might run 30-36 miles in a week and only 6 of them maybe me at some sort of fast pace. What plan will you follow for DCM?

Strawberry Swan

Thanks guys for your thoughts on the plans. I will definitely give them a serious go as I see great results with both of you and others. My mileage has never been very high and I have been very slowly building it up. I haven't gone above 20 miles per week this year yet but almost there.

I will be doing DCM but haven't decided what plan yet. Maybe the boards plan again. Any thoughts?

Kellygirl

Strawberry Swan wrote: »

Thanks guys for your thoughts on the plans. I will definitely give them a serious go as I see great results with both of you and others. My mileage has never been very high and I have been very slowly building it up. I haven't gone above 20 miles per week this year yet but almost there.

I will be doing DCM but haven't decided what plan yet. Maybe the boards plan again. Any thoughts?

I think Boards would be good M from your current base. Nice and simple and you know what you are doing.

coogy

Logging this now as I'm not sure how the remainder of the week is going will shape up....


Base plan, Week 1

Monday 3rd June - 30 mins easy. 3.28m@9:10
Nice easy run to get the plan up and motoring. Two things I want to try during the next six weeks:

• Make the easy runs a little slower
• Banish any thoughts of DCM while running :rolleyes:

Tuesday 4th June - 50 mins easy. 5.34m @9:22
Day off work today so was planning an early morning run but woke up too late and with plans already made for later in the day, I had to leave this till late.
Rained for pretty much the whole day and although it had eased off by the time I left the house at 9pm, there was still steady enough downpour. What better way to finish the day?


Wednesday 5th June - 60 min progression run. 6.98m @ 8.36
A 2 mile warm up took me down the quays and half way down Conyngham Road before beginning this progression run. Had worked out the paces the day before and although I had this run programmed into my Garmin from earlier in the year, I decided not to use it as I sometimes find the constant vibrating and beeping very off-putting.
Split the run up into 6 x 10 minute segments, starting with a very easy pace of around 9:50-10:00. The following segment was in and around 9:30 pace which I managed to stick to easily enough as the majority of it was uphill.
Moving on to a pace of around 9:00 for 3rd segment through Palmerstown where things started to level out a good bit. For the 4th segment, the pace was stitched on 8:30 for almost the whole time and I was now starting to enjoy this, although part of me wondered if there was too big a jump in pace from the previous 10 minute segment.
Next, as I made my way down the N4, I moved up a gear to an 8-8:10 min/mile pace. Again, doubted my pacing decisions but I was still feeling like I was within a comfortable enough range. With just 2 miles to go, I moved up again to a pace of around 7:45 which felt for the first time that I needed to push a little. That said, I didn't have to do too much to maintain this pace.
Finally, as I took on the final mile before reaching home, I started to feel the difference with the 7:30 pace and for the last half mile or so, I was beginning to think to myself that I'd definitely overcooked it. Made it back to the house almost on the stroke of 60 mins.
As soon as I got home, I started beating myself up (not literally) for getting it wrong but when I checked back on my pacing for the same run back in January, I think I got it pretty spot on, especially considering that I am now working off faster training paces.

This is solely for my own benefit but here are the splits from earlier this week compared to 9th January (in brackets):

Mile Pace
1 9:53 (9:49)
2 9:26 (9:28)
3 8:54 (8:54)
4 8:31 (8:23)
5 7:45 (7:43)
6 7:35 (7:43)


Thursday 6th June - 45 mins easy
Decided to head over to the Trinity track for this one and when I got there, there were a few dozen runners doing their speedwork sessions so I made sure to stay well out of their way and stuck to the perimeter of the track. Annoyingly, the Garmin froze and couldn't pick up a gps signal so after 10 minutes, I restarted the watch and went again. After about 20 minutes or so, I started to feel a little discomfort in the left knee but kept on at the easy pace as I had only another 10 minutes of running left to go. These 10 minutes seemed to last an eternity and I was now worried that something wasn't quite right. The last few minutes were spent running gingerly enough and the discomfort in the knee seemed to be getting worse.
Spent a good 20 minutes afterwards stretching and massaging the knee.

Today (Friday) there does not seem to be much improvement. and I have also noticed a bit of tenderness in the calf muscle.

I will do some more stretches this evening and see how things are tomorrow morning before I decide whether or not it's wise to do the session on the plan (40 min easy + 10x100m strides (AP with full recovery)).

The only thing I can think of is that after Wednesday's progression run, at least an hour and a half passed before I did any stretching. Probably hasn't helped.

So not a great start to the base plan. Hopefully, it's nothing serious but definitely won't do anything foolish if I need to rest.


Thanks for reading!

Kellygirl

Are you not doing DCM this year K?

coogy

Kellygirl wrote: »

Are you not doing DCM this year K?

Haha, sorry K, that comment I made about DCM was very ambigious.......:rolleyes:


Yes, I am doing DCM this year. I'm just trying to block out any thoughts of DCM for the time being so I can focus solely on the training. Once I let it get into my head and the conundrum of target times etc. I find it sometimes takes over and it becomes a bit of a monster.......

Kellygirl

coogy wrote: »

Haha, sorry K, that comment I made about DCM was very ambigious.......:rolleyes:


Yes, I am doing DCM this year. I'm just trying to block out any thoughts of DCM for the time being so I can focus solely on the training. Once I let it get into my head and the conundrum of target times etc. I find it sometimes takes over and it becomes a bit of a monster.......

Ah I get you. Yeah I know what you mean.

Mr. Guappa

I've a couple of thoughts/questions/observations, if that's ok?

Did you do a cool down after the progression run? Seeing as the run started out at an easy pace anyway, I'd have skipped or cut the warm up short and added a cooldown instead.

Do you have any more races coming up soon? Something towards the end of this base phase would give you a short term target, to keep the mind off that run in October!

Hopefully the injury is nothing serious. No harm in canning the run tomorrow if in doubt, and I'd probably keep it easy in any case, forget the session. In fact, I did wonder if a couple of weeks of no sessions, just all easy stuff would be a good shout in any case? Give the body a breather in between plans. It's something I'm considering doing before the DCM block. Don't know if it's wise or not, and I suppose the base plan is there for a reason, but I just know that I was surprised at how good I felt after injury forced me to keep everything easy back at the end of March for a few weeks.

coogy

Mr. Guappa wrote: »

I've a couple of thoughts/questions/observations, if that's ok?

Did you do a cool down after the progression run? Seeing as the run started out at an easy pace anyway, I'd have skipped or cut the warm up short and added a cooldown instead.

Do you have any more races coming up soon? Something towards the end of this base phase would give you a short term target, to keep the mind off that run in October!

Hopefully the injury is nothing serious. No harm in canning the run tomorrow if in doubt, and I'd probably keep it easy in any case, forget the session. In fact, I did wonder if a couple of weeks of no sessions, just all easy stuff would be a good shout in any case? Give the body a breather in between plans. It's something I'm considering doing before the DCM block. Don't know if it's wise or not, and I suppose the base plan is there for a reason, but I just know that I was surprised at how good I felt after injury forced me to keep everything easy back at the end of March for a few weeks.

A, I certainly leave myself wide open don't I?

I realised, about half way through, that I wouldn't have time for a cool-down as my OH was impatiently waiting keen for me to get home as she had a school meeting to go to so I was kind of against the clock there. But yeah, would have made sense doing it the other way around and had time been on my side, absolutely would have factored that in.

I might give tomorrow a miss completely, just to play it safe, (wait, did I just consciously sacrifice a run?) do some more stretching perhaps. Hopefully I'll be ok for Sunday's 90 min easy run. As for the next two weeks' sessions, there's another 60 min progression run in week 3 and a 70 min progression run in week 4. I think when doing these, I'll have to make sure that I'm not putting myself under pressure time-wise so they'll more than likely have to be late evening runs.
I'm also wondering if my shoes are starting to give way in terms of support. I know a new pair is long, long overdue, hoping to replace them next week, all being well.

coogy

Grads Intermediate plan - Week 1 (continued)


Saturday 8th June - Rest



Sunday 9th June - 90 mins easy. 10.02m @ 9.37
The previous two day's rest/stretching seemed to have the desired effect. Even by Saturday morning, the pain in my knee that I was feeling on Thursday had completely disappeared and by Sunday when I woke, was left only with the smallest sensation in my calf but I knew that I would be ok for the 90 min easy run.
Left the house about 20 mins later than planned on account of not being able to find my watch :mad: so I had to settle for the ol' phone-in-hand routine, not great if you want to keep an eye on your pacing as the reading on the Strava app provides very limited info.
This turned out to be no bad thing as it really made me err on the side of caution and slow things right down. I knew in the early miles that I was running at a much slower pace than I'm used to and hoped I was able to keep it up for the whole 90 minutes. It was a cracking morning for a run and headed up to the peaceful surroundings of St. Catherine's Park, now one of my favorite places to run.
Legs felt good throughout and was finally getting used to the slower pace.
Managed to just about squeeze in the 10 miles, thanks to a lap of our estate to make up the extra mileage and made sure to get a good bit of stretching in afterwards, mindful that I didn't repeat the mistakes made earlier in the week.
Rest day today before 45 easy tomorrow and a 45 min moderate (8:20-ish) paced run the day after. Any repeat issues and I'll get myself off to a physio.

Miles for the week - 32.44

Miles for the year - 730


Thanks for reading!!