Often becomes easy when the easy is often..

Lazare

The spawning of this log reminds me of the time I came up with the name 'Atmos-hire' many moons ago.
I had this mad brainwave about starting up a rent a crowd company that struggling publicans or restaraunt owners would call on on slow nights to fill their venue and get the buzz going. I would bus in a few dozen people, the place would be hopping and word would spread. I'd be rich.

I loved the name so much that I almost ignored the obvious flaws in my plan.

This log is kinda like that. Kinda.

I came up with the thread title the other night in another thread and Murph suggested it would make a good header for a log. I laughed and thought of Atmos-hire, a cool name with no backup.

That was until today.

I feel I ran the race of my life today. The race series 10k.

Even counting DCM last year it's the first time I've felt real tangible effects of hard work and training.

That's likely because I've a point of reference, it being my fifth 10k, but it was a real eye opener, in a good way.

History: Started C25K in Jan 2016. My first race was the Raheny 5 the following year. Was running as stupidly as is expected up to that and cried off until April with a suspected calf or achilles injury.
Got back into things and ran the 10k night run in April in just under 50 mins. Delighted.

Signed up for the series, the marathon and Dunshaughlin 10k.

Signed up to the novices thread and followed the boards plan under the great guidance of Wubble, and others, to all I'm eternally grateful. Ran the marathon of my dreams thanks to all involved here. Careful attention to the advice of veterens was absolutely key to this.

Given today is the reason I decided to start a log, I'll focus on my history of 10ks, starting with Dunshaughlin, as that's in and aroung the time I decided to get serious about training.

Ran Dunshaughlin poorly in terms of strategy and came in in 47:52. Was happy with the pb but it was a slog. Went out way too fast and was in agony for the last couple of miles.

Ran the exact same time at the Fingal 10k but with a vastly different experience, went out easy and built it up, coming home with a kick. Definitely a better strat than Dunshaughlin but no improvement.

Had a bad winter, had big ideas but chest infections in December and February put me out of action for about five weeks. Got things moving again around March and met up with Skyblue in April for the Donadea 10k.
Didn't intend on racing it, didn't set out to. Didn't have a great race either way, faded around 7k but gave it my all and came in with a pb of 46:55. Likely a positive hangover of the previous year's marathon block.

Today felt a whole lot different however to them all.

I've been following a Jack Daniels Q2 plan for the last five weeks. My reading of his methodology is that it's designed to bring your long distance times in line with what your shorter distance times predict. In other words, it works on building endurance. What plan doesn't I suppose, but JD's methods seem to have some magic to them.

I felt so strong today throughout, felt I was pushing it but always felt the confidence that there was plenty in the tank. Have never felt that confidence before.
That pushing it zone was almost always accompanied by an anxiety, a 'wtf are you doing? This can blow up any second!' anxiety. Today that wasn't there, I knocked a minute and 6 seconds off April and although I left nothing out there, and was doubled over afterwards, it felt almost, dare I say it, easy. In terms of endurance.

The plan has me running 6 days a week, three days more than my average.

It's called the Q2 plan because there's two Quality sessions a week, Saturday and Wednesday, you build up your mileage with easy running the rest of the week.
I've settled on 40 mpw.

Q sessions are effectively long runs with stuff. So far mostly some threshold reps mixed in with easy running, and some MP miles. Doing 11 miles before work at 5:30 on a Wednesday morning is the making of you though, getting through them is doing a lot for my discipline. Especially with young kids that like screaming the house down at 2am.

I'm running the first third (six weeks) conservatively, the second third dialled up and the final third at goal paces.

On week five at the moment and currently targetting 3:45 for DCM.

Ran 3:58:08 last year after following a great plan designed to get me around.

Up until today I had anxieties around targeting a 15 minute slice off that. I now feel confident in the plan.

So, after that long winded tl;dr intro, I'll set off into this log, update it as much as I can and hopefully gain something from sharing....

Murph_D

Good luck with the training, and the log. Will follow the JD Q2 with interest, as I’m also doing a JD schedule at the moment (for 800m).

I think you will easily achieve your marathon target, all going well.


Great title!

Kellygirl

Love it C. Great intro and a shame atmoshire never took off. I hope nobody steals the name now ;-)

Looking forward to following your log and congrats again on today.

Baby75

Great intro and log title

I am looking forward to seeing how you get on

ariana`

Welcome to logs Lazare. You set the bar high with your opening post :P

Wubble Wubble

Brilliant opening post C. Best of luck with the log!

Lazare

Thanks so much guys for all your kind words of encouragement.

Got out with the buggy this evening for 4m easy/recovery at 6:23 /km.
Bought a running chassis a few months ago and have only used it a few times at parkrun, but I've discovered it's a perfect way for me to get some evening running in.

Can't normally run evenings with two small kids in the house, just too much to do when I get in from work, wife is run ragged by then so it's never fair. Taking the baby off for 45 mins though always gets the welcome nod.

So the last few weeks have been Q1 Saturday, rest Sun, easy Monday evening, easy Tue morning, Q2 Wed morning, easy Thursday morn/evening and easy Friday morning.

Peak mileage as I mentioned above is 40pw. I've to run 0.9 of that most weeks, so 36 this week.

This week and next I'm working off a conservative VDot of 39, paces for which as follows: (by the way, I do all my running in metric, paces are metric but will talk in miles re distances)

Easy/Rec (E): 6:03 - 6:45
MP (M): 5:37
Threshold (T): 5:12
Interval (I): 4:48
Rep (R): 4:25

Target VDot is 41. My 10k time suggests I'm being quite conservative overall, but I don't think so right now. Was always worried going into this that I don't have the requisite base so I'm happy to stick with it. Plus, a 15 minute slice off it is a pretty big ask, seems so now anyway.

Another year's consistent running and I will target what my 10k tells me to.

Murph_D

Lazare wrote: »

Thanks so much guys for all your kind words of encouragement.

Got out with the buggy this evening for 4m easy/recovery at 6:23 /km.
Bought a running chassis a few months ago and have only used it a few times at parkrun, but I've discovered it's a perfect way for me to get some evening running in.

Can't normally run evenings with two small kids in the house, just too much to do when I get in from work, wife is run ragged by then so it's never fair. Taking the baby off for 45 mins though always gets the welcome nod.

So the last few weeks have been Q1 Saturday, rest Sun, easy Monday evening, easy Tue morning, Q2 Wed morning, easy Thursday morn/evening and easy Friday morning.

Peak mileage as I mentioned above is 40pw. I've to run 0.9 of that most weeks, so 36 this week.

This week and next I'm working off a conservative VDot of 39, paces for which as follows: (by the way, I do all my running in metric, paces are metric but will talk in miles re distances)

Easy/Rec (E): 6:03 - 6:45
MP (M): 5:37
Threshold (T): 5:12
Interval (I): 4:48
Rep (R): 4:25

Target VDot is 41. My 10k time suggests I'm being quite conservative overall, but I don't think so right now. Was always worried going into this that I don't have the requisite base so I'm happy to stick with it. Plus, a 15 minute slice off it is a pretty big ask, seems so now anyway.

Another year's consistent running and I will target what my 10k tells me to.

Well your 10k VDOT, (45:49 from what you have posted?) is 44+. I think you are right to aim a little lower for the marathon distance, but maybe not that low - 39 seems too conservative to me. If it were me, I’d be training at the 44 paces and maybe be prepared to fade a few mins on the day. Either way, you should take heart from yesterday’s race and use it to justify a slightly more aggressive approach. I think. We are all different. Good luck with it either way.

Lazare

Murph_D wrote: »

Well your 10k VDOT, (45:49 from what you have posted?) is 44+. I think you are right to aim a little lower for the marathon distance, but maybe not that low - 39 seems too conservative to me. If it were me, I’d be training at the 44 paces and maybe be prepared to fade a few mins on the day. Either way, you should take heart from yesterday’s race and use it to justify a slightly more aggressive approach. I think. We are all different. Good luck with it either way.

Cheers Murph. You're right, 39 definitely feels easy, maybe a little too easy but it's yielding good results so am in two minds.

I think I'll dial up to 41 for next weekend's Q1 and see how that feels. Skip 40 altogether.

I'll stick with 39 for this week's session given yesterday's effort.

Lazare

5m @ 6:00

Woke with tight calfs, did a few extra dynamic stretches before heading out and a few extra statics after.

Plan suggests an extra day of easy between Q sessions on race weeks, so I'll see how they feel in the morning and decide then whether to push the Q out to Thurs.

Lazare

Calfs felt fine. Like to do my Wed session at the Grand canal near Lyons estate but need to drive there. It's a real peaceful place to run at dawn as there's nobody around and it's full of wildlife. Adds about 15 mins to things though, couldn't afford that this morn so set out local. Meant the session was hillier which is good.

2m easy, 2x 1m at threshold with one min rest, 30 minutes easy, 2x 1m @ threshold, 1 min rest and 2m easy.

Damn it feels good to chalk that off before work.

eyrie

It's such a satisfying feeling getting a proper session done in the morning before work isn't it? Something I would never have tried until the heat lately made early morning much more appealing!

Welcome to the logs Looking forward to reading about how your training's going

Baby75

Lazare wrote: »

Calfs felt fine. Like to do my Wed session at the Grand canal near Lyons estate but need to drive there. It's a real peaceful place to run at dawn as there's nobody around and it's full of wildlife. Adds about 15 mins to things though, couldn't afford that this morn so set out local. Meant the session was hillier which is good.

2m easy, 2x 1m at threshold with one min rest, 30 minutes easy, 2x 1m @ threshold, 1 min rest and 2m easy.

Damn it feels good to chalk that off before work.

So many fond memories of the canal it has changed so much over the years we spent all our summers swimming or exploring the old houses which have all been renovated now as part of lyons estate.

Great to get out early sets you up for the day

Lazare

eyrie wrote: »

It's such a satisfying feeling getting a proper session done in the morning before work isn't it? Something I would never have tried until the heat lately made early morning much more appealing!

Welcome to the logs Looking forward to reading about how your training's going

Thanks eyrie, it sure is. You can't beat early morning running. I love it.

Lazare

Baby75 wrote: »

So many fond memories of the canal it has changed so much over the years we spent all our summers swimming or exploring the old houses which have all been renovated now as part of lyons estate.

Great to get out early sets you up for the day

Yeah, it's a beautiful spot, am blessed to have it on my doorstep. Can run all the way to Baggot St if you wanted to.

Baby75

Lazare wrote: »

Yeah, it's a beautiful spot, am blessed to have it on my doorstep. Can run all the way to Baggot St if you wanted to.

Nice Long run and the opposite direction will bring you down on to the Barrow way and down to Carlow but better to bike that one LOL

Lazare

Baby75 wrote: »

Nice Long run and the opposite direction will bring you down on to the Barrow way and down to Carlow but better to bike that one LOL

Haha, me poor arse

Lazare

Rest day yesterday.

Easy 5 miles this morning to round off the week. 36 miles total.

Have to go out tonight to meet some American friends I haven't seen in twenty years. No pints me plans on taking it easy, getting the last bus and getting a decent Q1 in tomorrow morning.

Hoping 3 pints me doesn't have other ideas.

Lazare

Took the midnight train going anywhere. Well it was a midnight bus, and I drunkenly missed my stop and had to walk 2 miles home. But it's grand.

Upped the VDot to 41 today as planned.

Q1 this week called for a steady easy run of 90 - 120 mins. Ran 105 mins at 5:50 /km. 11 miles.

New paces as follows,

Easy: 5:49 - 6:31
MP: 5:22
T: 5:00
I: 4:36
R: 4:20

Lazare

Couldn't get out Mon evening, have accepted that's going to happen sometimes.

4m easy yesterday morning @ 5:50.

Week 6's Q2 this morning. Workout was 40 mins easy, 2x 2 mile at threshold with 2 mins rest then 2 miles easy.

Miscalculated the route though. Realised 6 miles out that I had 4 miles left. Had to take a shortcut back up the edge of the N7 as otherwise I would've had no time for breakfast. Mostly safe apart from about 200m of hard shoulder. Was running those Tellytubbie hills at Citywest and the Irish Indo building which was fun. Scaling a big embankment at threshold put hair on me chest.
Ended up doing an extra mile instead of two.

Reps were interesting, the first one was a net downhill. Stretched on the 2 min rest then turned around and ran the second uphill. Felt strangely easier, possibly due to my mind being on figuring out a shortcut.

Feeling strong, feeling fit. Feel well able for the increased pace.

BrownEyes79

Great run this morning, nothing worse than miscalculating the return run!
How many weeks is your plan?

Lazare

BrownEyes79 wrote: »

Great run this morning, nothing worse than miscalculating the return run!
How many weeks is your plan?

Thank you C, it's an 18 week plan.

Lazare

4m recovery Thursday morning, and 5m easy last night to round off the week at 35 miles, one mile shy.

This week, week 7, is the first 1.0, so full 40 miles.

Q1 this morning. 4m easy, 6m @ MP, 1m Threshold, 1m easy.

Started off with Corkagh parkrun then ran a loop around Clondalkin, up the new link road and back into the top of Corkagh.

Found it tough to keep the 5:22 pace on the latter half of the MP section, was pretty much all uphill, the effort was the same, but a tad disappointing. Started to dread the threshold section as it approached but it was grand, kept the pace really well for it.

Tough enough session.

Lazare

4m recovery on Sun, rest Mon and 4m easy yesterday morning.

Week 7's Q2 this morning.

6 miles easy, 3 miles at threshold, 3 minutes easy, 1 mile threshold, 2 miles easy.

Last 2 miles of the easy 6 was downhill and with the breeze. The end of that section is the turnaround so the first 2 miles of the faster stuff was, eh, fun.

Really good workout.

An observation... 5:30am runners don't nod hello or wave. They salute.

Lazare

4 mile recovery Thursday morn and 4m easy Friday evening rounded off the week on 40 miles.

Week 8's Q1 this morning.

8 mile easy, 4x 1 mile at threshold, 1 min off and 1 mile easy.

0.9 week, so 36 miles.

Lazare

4 easy miles yesterday morning after two days rest.

This week's Q2 ramped up the excitement.

First bit of interval pace and rep pace stuff.

6 miles easy, 3x 4 min interval (4:35), 3 mins jog, 4x 1 min rep (4:10), 2 miles easy. Just shy of 12 miles.

Had a lousy sleep last night so had to peel myself out of the bed after hitting snooze a couple of times, got up and got it done. Rep stuff was an hour and a half in and I felt strong for them which is a good sign.

Lazare

4 miles Thurs morn and 4 miles Fri evening to finish the week on the scheduled 36 miles.

Week 9 is a 1.0 week.

Q1 today called for an easy run of 120 - 130 mins. Approx 14 miles.

Needed to be home a little earlier than usual on a Saturday so I decided to set off at 8.20 to Corkagh, run parkrun and run home. Initial plan was to stick to the script and run parkrun easy. Kinda decided on a whim to pick it up a little though. Ran it at in and around Threshold, stopped for a few mins after then ran easy home.

7 miles there, 3m parkrun then 7 miles home, 160 minutes.

Last couple of miles were tough, legs felt heavy. Hadn't ran that distance since last October, so to be expected I suppose.

The reason I was happy to go over what was prescribed is, I'm a little concerned about the lack of long stuff. There are no 20 milers. The longest run is 17 miles, and that's not until eary October. There's a few 15s and 16s between then though, with a lot of MP miles.

I do plan to sub in at least one 20 miler though.

Lazare

Ran 4 miles easy last night but felt a little niggling pain in the top of my right foot after, at the crease.

Actually forgot about it this morning and set out but it started to hurt almost immediately. Probably should have turned straight back, cut it short to 3 miles though.

Hurting a fair bit today. Google suggests it's possibly Extensor tendonitis, symptoms match. Sickened.

Was looking forward to tomorrow's session but I think it wise to sit it out. I'll ice and compress it tonight, see how it feels after a bit of rest.

Anyone any experience of it? I'll ask in random thread too.

Bleh.

Kellygirl

Lazare wrote: »

Ran 4 miles easy last night but felt a little niggling pain in the top of my right foot after, at the crease.

Actually forgot about it this morning and set out but it started to hurt almost immediately. Probably should have turned straight back, cut it short to 3 miles though.

Hurting a fair bit today. Google suggests it's possibly Extensor tendonitis, symptoms match. Sickened.

Was looking forward to tomorrow's session but I think it wise to sit it out. I'll ice and compress it tonight, see how it feels after a bit of rest.

Anyone any experience of it? I'll ask in random thread too.

Bleh.

An no Conor. Have you booked a physio session?

Lazare

Kellygirl wrote: »

An no Conor. Have you booked a physio session?

Not yet K, may call that chap Damo always speaks highly of.

Lazare

Tight calfs can cause it apparently. Prob shoulda foam rolled a bit.

Kellygirl

Will foam rolling help fix it have you figured from your research?

Baby75

Lazare wrote: »

Ran 4 miles easy last night but felt a little niggling pain in the top of my right foot after, at the crease.

Actually forgot about it this morning and set out but it started to hurt almost immediately. Probably should have turned straight back, cut it short to 3 miles though.

Hurting a fair bit today. Google suggests it's possibly Extensor tendonitis, symptoms match. Sickened.

Was looking forward to tomorrow's session but I think it wise to sit it out. I'll ice and compress it tonight, see how it feels after a bit of rest.

Anyone any experience of it? I'll ask in random thread too.

Bleh.

I had that in my foot last year it came on after the 3/4 marathon, I rested it for a few days went to Physio and was good to go the following weekend for a 20km run. it was fine after that so hopefully, you will be fine in a few days

I used a ball to roll out any tightness in my feet and used this stretch when all settled down https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8h1eClu5bc

Baby75

Lazare wrote: »

Tight calfs can cause it apparently. Prob shoulda foam rolled a bit.

Tight laces can cause it as well how are the runners they ok

Lazare

Baby75 wrote: »

I had that in my foot last year it came on after the 3/4 marathon, I rested it for a few days went to Physio and was good to go the following weekend for a 20km run. it was fine after that so hopefully, you will be fine in a few days

I used a ball to roll out any tightness in my feet and used this stretch when all settled down https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8h1eClu5bc

Oh that is music to my ears N, thank you so much for that.

Lazare

Kellygirl wrote: »

Will foam rolling help fix it have you figured from your research?

Don't think it will do anything to fix it, just may have prevented it.

Six months of base building woulda prob been more effective though tbh.

Lazare

Baby75 wrote: »

Tight laces can cause it as well how are the runners they ok

Yeah, read that too. Will be mindful of it in future. My Brooks are great though, feel like gloves on my feet.

Lazare

Have a session booked with the pain & performance clinic near Liffey Valley tomorrow, guy is a running specific physio.

Symptoms now feel very similar to this time last year, physio then diagnosed an issue with gastrocnemius area of the calf. He taped me up, I rested for a week and was good to go. So fingers crossed.

Itching here.

Baby75

Good Luck tomorrow

Damo 2k9

Lazare wrote: »

Have a session booked with the pain & performance clinic near Liffey Valley tomorrow, guy is a running specific physio.

Symptoms now feel very similar to this time last year, physio then diagnosed an issue with gastrocnemius area of the calf. He taped me up, I rested for a week and was good to go. So fingers crossed.

Itching here.

Sounds promising, even if it is a potential week of no running, its much better than being sidelined for a couple of weeks. Let us all know how you get on pal.

Lazare

Great session with the physio.

No injury thankfully, just a bit of the body warning me really.

Haven't been warming up and cooling down sufficiently, he gave me some really good tips for that. Also gave me some S&C stuff to do at home. The extra bit I did last Sat prob contributed too.

Have a bit of easy rehab stuff to do over the next few days then get back on the plan next Tue or so.

Delighted.

Wubble Wubble

Brilliant news C ! Best of luck with S&C/rehab.

Lazare

Thank you J.
V relieved.

Lazare

Back on the horse thankfully. 4m yesterday then week 10's Q2 this morning.

4m easy, 2x 2m threshold 2 min rest, 1m threshold, 2m Easy.

Implemented a new warm up routine that involves a resistance band and squats for the glutes, and various forms of Irish dancing, which I'm sure looked great craic at 5am in my dark living room.

Felt an incredible difference. I normally do a few dynamic stretches then hit the road. Usually takes a couple of miles to fully loosen up. Felt that way from the off.

Frank Duffy this weekend in place of the Q1. Will post up what my hopes and plans are for it beforehand.

Great to be back.

Lazare

Ambitious target of 76:xx here this morn.

Time for last year, my only prev 10m is 79:55, so yeah, ambitious.

Baby75

Lazare wrote: »

Ambitious target of 76:xx here this morn.

Time for last year, my only prev 10m is 79:55, so yeah, ambitious.

Good Luck

Lazare

I did it.

76:14

Tough tough race, particularly the mid section, was losing the mental battle for a while between 4 and 6. Strong before that.

From 7 miles I started to realise I was going to hit my target and it somehow became a lot easier, mentally, finished really strong.

Very confident now for Dublin.

Swashbuckler

Brilliant running. Well done.

Lazare

Thanks a mill Swash.

Pro tip, post a target on boards 45 mins before the gun :pac:

Most likely would have came in 77 or 78xx if I didn't post that.

Kellygirl

Brilliant C. Really well done.

Baby75

Set a target and nailed it well done C great running