Shotgun 2020

shotgunmcos

Thu 2 Apr
Easy/Steady 11.5m @7:55, 1hr31

I had planned do the same route but a progression run with the last 3 miles over the TT route. However late night, poor sleep and I reluctantly dragged myself out of bed. Then found I had plugged the watch in all night but not flicked the socket switch. Nearly bailed but had the heaviest work day ahead alone with the kids. It got me out the door. First couple of miles, sleepy, stiff and horrible. Then just woke up in the crisp morning air.

I kept it easy but probably pushed a little over the TT route, visualising it. Kate has volunteered a 19:30 target on the thread. Thanks Kate, no pressure! I'll do the progression at the weekend instead and see how I feel about that. The last few miles were laboured, like my legs had enough.

S&C today was a bare 28 push ups, 2x 60s planks and 2x 30s planks. I guess a little often is better than a session once a blue moon. DOMs from the chin ups and push ups this week is not helping the running feel great. I'll adapt!

career move

shotgunmcos wrote: »

Kate has volunteered a 19:30 target on the thread. Thanks Kate, no pressure!

I can change it if you'd prefer **emoji Angel with the halo**

shotgunmcos

Fri 3 Apr
Easy 10.6m @8:04, hr 138, 1hr25

WFH Day 18. It was raining. Work busy, the world needing our products and alone with a 3 and 5 year old. Being so well behaved but I managed just 70mins school work with Zoe. She misses school and her friends. Video chats are just weird for them. 8pm by the time I got out for air and movement. Easy miles meandering in around the invisible circle fence. Felt delighted to be running. Quiet streets but did see 2 groups of young fella/wans hardly all from the same family. Muppets.

shotgunmcos

The Weekend 4-5 Apr
Body reeling...

Saturday was an easy run with Zoe on her bike. She is living it and I'm loving running with her.
15mins S&C later which hurt.
Chin Ups
Press Ups
Kettlebell swings
Kettlebell clean and press
One arm KB swings

Today was 15.1m with 2x3m progression efforts. Sunday evening is my least favourite time to run. It was raining and windy. My quads, glutes and hamstrings were smarting from the kettlebells yesterday. All in all I stepped out warming up with leg swings reluctantly.

Essentially the plan was 3m easy, 3m hard, 3m easy, 3m hard, 3m easy. The first 3 miles would bring me back to my front gate, the start of the planned TT route. Not 5 minutes after starting the run, I was regretting the full Irish with French toast I had for lunch. Just before I started the first rep, I urgently needed a stop at home. About 10mins passed as the kids wanted to tell me about their runs. Evan wants to "run like Daddy" and had proudly managed to run up and down the private road at the back of our house. The bones of a mile, he is 3!

It was milling out now but no excuses after that. Back out and into the work. Rep 1 - 6:42, 6:23, 6:12. I wanted to contain the first mile but actually found myself questioning my sanity. The first half mile is a drag up a hill over lumpy footpaths. Downhill into town then so heart rate comes back down just enough to breathe. Run around the park then a short drag onto Hyde road. My cap blew off so retrieved and wore it backwards. An undulating mile. Across the road then a flat last mile on the Rosbrien road. Shoelaces open, feic sake! I was gasping into the wind. It's an honest route. Maybe too much headwind on a windy day.

Legs were feeling it on the easy 3 miles. Back to my door and onto rep 2. Rain is pouring. Legs don't want to know about it. Rep 2 - 7:02, 6:27, 6:23. The first mile was self preservation, I wasnt sure what the legs had. The next mile lumpy but sheltered and held up the cadence. Into the last mile and well into the redzone. A full straight headwind mile. 6:30 pace to half way. A bridge at the end of the road my only focus. Working hard, goddamn this wind! Under the bridge 6:29 pace. Pushed hard for the last minute. It felt not unlike the end of a 5k. Legs spent on the 3 miles home. A car pulled out suddenly in front of me and I hardly had the energy to stop. Absolutely soaked, wet and hungry. Tough session, but the week is done.

Total 72.7 miles and 1 hour of S&C
Plan for next week: lots of base miles, 1 session, more S&C and Yoga.

skyblue46

You really push it, I'll give you that! That first 3 miles hard bodes well for the 5K TT considering it was pretty much on your target pace and you ran 9 miles after it. Great week

shotgunmcos

Mon 6 Apr
Easy Easy 10.39m @9:02, hr 126, 1hr33

Lovely sunny day but a cool breeze. Far too much of the route running into it trying to keep the heart rate <130. <140hr is base aerobic so <130hr is what one would call recovery, or slow! I'm going to throw at least one 9 min pace run into the week, probably after the hardest day. Slow, plodding, boring run. The sunshine seemed to bring everyone out. The footpaths and roads alike were busy! Not only was the run tedious but it was near constant stepping on/off curbs, crossing roads and slaloming parked cars :rolleyes:

Since the run was so easy I chose a 15 minute core routine I'd been putting off.
30sec on/10sec off and 3 rounds of
Plank dips
Plank up downs
Swimming kick
Plank spiders
Bicycle crunches
Side plank rotations

Sweet Jesus I'm going to pay for this tomorrow! I did the first round too enthusiastically and was in bits. Rounds 2 and 3 were just doing a few reps each exercise but I was wrecked. Its an advanced core routine but my core is beginner

shotgunmcos

Tue 7 Apr
Yoga 42mins
Easy 13.72m @8:23, hr 138, 1hr55

Giving the S&C a miss today. Body needs a sleep.
Yoga early this morning. Rescued my mat from the kids bedroom without waking them, an achievement in itself Then 42 mins day 1 of 30. Easy slow stretchy stuff that my core needed.

Later a long run around the perimeter of the radius. I wanted to avoid the city center as much as I could. Busy on the roads despite 2 checkpoints passed. I hope this is not the case up and down the country and people are heading into the countryside. The Emergency CMO Team are meeting on Friday and I'd guess they will extend the lock down. I was day dreaming about a 1km radius on the run itself.

Lovely sunny day, sleeveless top but that fresh southerly was cooling to chilly. Wide berth given to every pedestrian or they simply crossed a road in front of me. A bit longer today than intended but I wanted to run up a country hill within the invisible fence for a good view of the city. Keeping the heart rate <140 takes FOREVER to climb a hill!

The wind was blowing down the TT route again. Its already a slight overall incline but the 3rd mile, though flat is looking likely to be a straight headwind if its a south to south westerly. I may need an option B with laps.

shotgunmcos

Wed 8 Apr
Yoga 28 mins
Easy C 10.67m @7:57, hr 138, 1hr 24
S&C: 1 exercise best effort - 12 chin ups

What a day out there! Sure does make all the crap winter dark running weather worth it when you can skip along in a single layer absorbing the fresh air, feeling the warmth of the sunshine. Early to bed (Netflix series ended) so 9 brilliant dreaming hours of sleep. Up early for an hour of work with no distractions, a half hour on the yoga mat and ready for the day. Making the most of it when Caz is off entertaining the kids. The next 2 days I am home alone with them and work is busy.

Very productive run. I explored a new 5k TT route, came up with a training schedule and chatted with an old triathlon buddy at the top of a hill.

The TT route was originally planned from my house, into town, onto Hyde Road and finish along Rosbrien road. In involved a half mile hill at the start, crossing 6 roads including 1 major road and up and down footpaths. I explored the estate close by which was peaceful enough, albeit a labyrinth. It would take 4-5 laps pretty flat and early enough I could run on the road. A better option. Then I explored a better, cooler route. A lasso

Defined start and finish line. I start from the last pier out of town, one of my favorite spots in the city. A mile straight in the Condell Road cycle path and across the bridge. The next half mile is a climb up through town parallel to the Peoples Park to the train station. Better to have this climb in the middle than either end. Loop a .3 mile lap of the green by the station the its a straight shot back down town, across the bridge for a flat retraced mile to the pier. I'll see the finish line 1km in front of me for grit teeth time

The Training Schedule
M: Easy A: Recovery run <130hr or at 9min pace
T: Easy B: Base endurance run capped at 140hr throughout
W: Easy C: Base endurance run at 140hr but uncapped for hills or strides
T: Session
F: Easy B as above
S: Easy C as above
S: Long Run either steady or with "Stuff"

So I recover after the Long Run with stuff (the toughest run of the week) and build back to a session or progression Thursday. 2 easy days before the LR again.

The rest of the run was enjoyable sunny miles. I had just climbed a hill and met an old triathlon buddy. We shot the breeze for a few minutes across the road from each other. My hamstrings felt locked when I started to move again but loosened down the hill into suburbia. Then into work sweaty, then out to mow the lawn, then into work, then out on lawn for picnic with kids, then into work....

shotgunmcos

Thu 9 Apr
Session: 2x (5,4,3,2,1 @5k) off 60sec, 12.74m, hr 148/173
Yoga 25mins - Yoga with Adriene day 3/30 "Home"

Had to be done early enough for Caz to leave for work. Smashing morning for it. The weather really is bliss for running. It would just be lovely to run along a cliff path, or by the sea. 3 miles easy out to the start of the TT route. By 7am it should have been eerily quiet like a week ago but there were lots of cars on the road. No doubt people trying to sneak away to the countryside before the Gardaí got going :rolleyes:

The session was tough. I set the watch up to control the pace to around 6:20. The first 5 minutes was a hole opener. I was gasping for breath. The minute recovery disappeared in an instant. The 4 minutes started on the climb up town from Jurys to the Train Station. It hurt! Flat around the green and then the 3,2,1 were grand running back down town and out the road. Mile 2 in the TT will be make or break. Of course I turned at the pier and did it all again. A bit more traffic though for the second set and I had to stop on Henry Street and O'Connell Street briefly to let cars pass. I really worked on the second 4 minute rep uphill. Overall the pace was around 6:18 for the reps. If I could string 3 miles of that together I'd be delighted. I was fairly blowing on some of the recoveries though so not sure how realistic it will be.

Around 8am running back through town on the cool down home, A platoon of Gardaí cars, jeeps and bikes left Henry Street station. Interesting to see what happens today now they have the authority to push back or prosecute.

25 minute stretchy yoga when I got home. Calves a little crampy on any toe pointing positions. I finished with 25 press ups. I'll leave S&C for easy run days. Wear sunscreen folks!

career move

Great session Mike. Do you use your inhaler before you do sessions?

BTW I got sunburnt yesterday. Definitely going to put the suncream on today.

shotgunmcos

career move wrote: »

Great session Mike. Do you use your inhaler before you do sessions?

BTW I got sunburnt yesterday. Definitely going to put the suncream on today.

'Sup Kate! You seem to be enjoying Joe Wicks. Not always before. If there is a fog or it's cold, yes. More often after sessions if I am wheezy when I get in the door. I spend more time warming up and cooling down when I can, which helps too.

Swashbuckler

30mins of 5k work is a mental tough session. Ouch.

shotgunmcos

Fri 10 Apr
Easy B (140hr capped) 10.95m @7:59, hr 133. 1hr27
Yoga 22 mins

Awoke at 3am, mind turning over so didn't roll back to sleep. Figured I'd get the run done. Out the door for 3:30am running in the middle of main streets in t-shirt and shorts. Not even the birds were up. Humid it was. I usually try to avoid the center of town and go around the perimeter of the 2km radius to avoid people and cars. Because the town still slept I meandered around the heart of the city keeping the heart rate under 140hr. After a few miles of looping blocks I got bored and took the perimeter again. The Dock Road is usually one of the busiest roads in the city and I ran the bones of 15 minutes on it undisturbed. It actually felt a bit greasy underfoot. I had 2 flyovers to negotiate before I got home. The first pretty steep and my heart rate touched 142 at walking pace. The next one was a short one by my house and touched 141 at very very slow pace. Back into bed by 5am for a bit of sleep before the kids got up.

22 mins sleepy yoga before breakfast. I did 21mins of it, then on the lying down meditative end, I dozed off. Not sure how long for but the kids were amused to find me asleep in the playroom Debating the stickiness of spider webs with my 3 year old over breakfast. I was arguing that spider webs can stick to anything, to which he countered.. "but Daddy webs don't stick to rain!" Just got to love how kids minds work

shotgunmcos

Sat 11 Apr
Easy C 11.34m inc Aerobic 5k Base Test
Yoga 26mins

Birds, birds, birds. I hear them all the time now but the dawn chorus this morning was extraordinary.

Spent March running predominantly easy base miles, then established a 5k base benchmark at the end. The plan was to run 100 miles then retest. So the same route, same warm up and the same 5k as 100 miles ago. The objective to cap the heart rate at 140, control it and see if there is any progress.

Last time: 24:05, hr 139
This time: 23:45, hr 139

Progress! I kept it at 139-140hr as much as possible hence the focus on controlled effort. If it touched 141+ I immediately dialled it back. I just had hr on the watch face to discourage chasing a pace. The cards would fall as they were.

Splits last time: 7:53, 7:39, 7:45
Splits this time: 7:47, 7:25, 7:42

While it was overall faster the 2nd mile was significantly faster for same hr. Mile 1 is mostly an incline and mile 2 net decline. My heart rate recovered faster after the hill allow me push on sooner/harder. So the needle moved aerobically.

The overall run was easy but uncapped for hills after the test. Unlike when I slow down to cap hr on hills, I pressed up them instead.

I'll do another 100 miles and test again just to ensure I'm getting value for the increased easy mileage. Not exactly 5k TT focused stuff but I'm more concerned with laying a foundation for the DCM plan.

shotgunmcos

Easter Sunday 12 Apr
Yoga 25mins abs intensive
Long Progression Run 15.43m @7:41, hr 142-171!, 1hr58

A Royal Flush! Or so Healy calls it.

12 laps of a local loop the South Circular Road. Planned to start easy and drop 10 secs every mile for as long as I could up to 2hrs. Fuelled of course by Lindt Chocolate Bunnies!

Splits
8:55, 8:43, 8:36, 8:21, 8:15, 8:02, 7:53, 7:41, 7:33, 7:25, 7:15, 7:04, 6:52, 6:41, 6:31, 6:25 (0.43)

Lots of people, couples out walking the loop too. Narrow path so I had to pause briefly a couple of times to maintain distancing as a car passed. Mostly I ran on road. At the end of each lap is a practical hairpin turn. An immediate change from tailwind to headwind and a hill. It was grand for the first hour but I started to feel it below 8 min pace. I was wondering which mile I'd cave. After the first 2 laps my earphones cut out midway through Zombie and despite too long messing with them, I had no beats.

After 10 miles and 8 laps, I could have done with those beats. By mile 11 I was working. The turn onto the headwind and 2 minute incline was starting to bite. Mile 12 brought the pace to MP and it was 20+ minutes progressive tempo to 5k pace home from there, working pretty hard on the last 2 hills. Very solid LR. Finished strong.

Total 85.22m in 11hr26 plus 3hrs on the yoga mat.
Biggest mileage week ever! Starting to feel fit. Productive week too as I came up with a plan that works, base test showed progress and I found a TT route.

Treviso

thats a savage run, progression on a 15 mile long run sounds daunting to me. That would be my worst kind of run. Probably keeps the concentration up to keep going faster for the whole session.

You might want to rethink the target time for the 5k TT though. With the last 5K you put in on that session, you wouldn't be far off that time already. Wouldn't want you to be accuse of sandbagging there'll be a lot of accusations closer to the race date

Been following (lurking) your log for some time now, glad to see you're feeling fit

shotgunmcos

Thanks for reading Treviso!
Starting to feel fit means I'm enjoying training or "fit to train". Long way to go.
Also not intentionally sandbagging. My last 5k was end Jan and 20:02. Set a goal of 15 seconds off that and there is a nice hill on my out and back route.

OOnegative

shotgunmcos wrote: »

Thanks for reading Treviso!
Starting to feel fit means I'm enjoying training or "fit to train". Long way to go.
Also not intentionally sandbagging. My last 5k was end Jan and 20:02. Set a goal of 15 seconds off that and there is a nice hill on my out and back route.

I’d be hugely surprised if you don’t run under 19 mins, unless you give up, but that phrase doesn’t exist in your vocabulary. So sub 19.

Lambay island

OOnegative wrote: »

I’d be hugely surprised if you don’t run under 19 mins, unless you give up, but that phrase doesn’t exist in your vocabulary. So sub 19.

Hill or no hill I agree with the sub 19, uless of course another 85 miles are ran before sat

Swashbuckler

Would you consider north circular for the 5k TT? The long loop has a drag but then rewarded with the downhill to the school.

shotgunmcos

Swashbuckler wrote: »

Would you consider north circular for the 5k TT? The long loop has a drag but then rewarded with the downhill to the school.

Its outside my 2k radius. Grand with the route I picked. I'll tackle the hill if I dont burn too many matches before O get to it.

As for sub19. I'd be delighted with that but it's over a minute improvement and I'm not doing speed sessions. Too soon. Sub20 first.

Swashbuckler

Have to take the Mimgreat factor I to account too. That's a nasty hill and it drags on. I predict 19.23

shotgunmcos

Swashbuckler wrote: »

Have to take the Mimgreat factor I to account too. That's a nasty hill and it drags on. I predict 19.23

Not sure what you mean (predictive text type?) But yeah it's a real hill from the bridge roundabout to Henry Street then continues to drag beyond O Connell Avenue up Mallow Street past the park. If I make it up there without blowing a gasket, and catch a breath on the loop I might find a rhythm into the pain cave by the roundabout again. I wont give up on the last mile but it's all about that Mallow Street drag. I have a tendency to start too hard, my heart rate rises too quickly and I struggle to settle my breath.

How many loops of the Jetland will it take?

Swashbuckler

Sorry.... Mungret factor.

Swashbuckler

shotgunmcos wrote:

How many loops of the Jetland will it take?

I think it's roughly 900m so about 5 or 6. I'm still not 100% on it yet. If its busy theres a lot of crossings that could be a little dodge.

shotgunmcos

Swashbuckler wrote: »

I think it's roughly 900m so about 5 or 6. I'm still not 100% on it yet. If its busy theres a lot of crossings that could be a little dodge.

Aha ok you meant the Mungret hill you do 4 times. The other side of the park is fast though.

Yeah crossings are dodge. I have 2x Henry St and 2x O'Connell Ave and 2x Catherine St. So, early morning unfuelled most likely but that's how I did Mungret too.

shotgunmcos

Mon 13 Apr
Yoga 25mins
Easy A (Recovery) 10.66m @9:02, hr 126, 1hr36

So lovely and sunny but had goosebumps on my arm from that Easterly wind! Capped at 130hr this is the slow run of the week. Practically walking on some hills. I did 2 miles of loops around a local estate and it's another option for the TT. At 0.75m laps it would be 4 laps and no crossing main roads. The risk with the town route is 6x road crossing. I'd likely have to run through red lights even if quiet. Something I hadn't considered. Pleasant enough plod around one half of the radius. Legs not too bad but I ought to roll them this week.

shotgunmcos

Tue 14 Apr
Yoga 43 mins
Easy B (Capped 140hr) 12.18m @8:12, hr 138, 1hr39

Another day another run inside the circle. Sort of vexed me a little today that I couldn't break free of the same roads, same curbs, same smells, same sounds. Although to my joy, Cherry Blossoms are out. I nearly broke the invisble bubble at one point. My Mums house is literally the next left turn after the line and I'd have to run 300m outside the radius to get to her. If she hadn't dropped by yesterday to say hi from outside the back door, I'd have broken it. I'm already taking the most of "once a day" but keeping within the rule :rolleyes:

To break the monotony I saved the best 2 parts of the route for the 5 and 10 mile marks. Simply to slow down (even slower) and take in the view across the sun drenched city. To do that I had to run 4 miles of loops around the local suburbia. I met a Dad and his 2 kids on bikes and managed to run exactly their pace for an entire lap. They must have thought I was chasing and running out of gas, only to reappear again around the next corner. The Dad looked pleased that I eventually broke off and headed for vista 1, up a long country drag for a view of hills I cannot reach otherwise

Overall the legs were feeling a bit fatigued. It was warm and the shoes I was wearing are closing in on 500 miles, but there was no pep in the step today. I aint going to moan about a run in the sun though. Another cracking day, and I'll savour every run I get to do.

No press ups or chin ups the last few days. My wrists have been tendor from some enthusiastic hedge trimming at the weekend.

OOnegative

shotgunmcos wrote: »

My wrists have been tendor from some enthusiastic hedge trimming at the weekend.

Which design you go for???

shotgunmcos

Wed 15 Apr
Steady 10.78m @7:43 inc 7x15sec strides, hr 138, 1hr23
Concept 2 Rower 34 mins easy in the sun
Yoga 26 mins

Early run but not early enough for the dawn chorus. Caught the tail end of it. Bright, crisp, frosty dawn. Beautifully still to run. I headed straight for my favourite edge () of the circle, the last city pier. A pair of other runners along the path to the pier. A definite trail evolving on the grass. Patient and considerate bunch us dawn runners. The pier was magic. The rising sun peeping over the highest hotels back down river. The serene glass surface gently disturbed by the wake of lone swan, gliding easily and ducking his head for breakfast. The low tide looked inviting. I knew it was warmer than the air.

5 miles in, now running along the smelly Industrial Dock Road, my least favourite part of the radius. It does have a lovely half mile of countryside connecting it to suburbia. The goal of the run to keep it below 140hr but allow the pace to remain on hills. The hill on this short country road flyover is the steepest on the route. Onto the toes and tap tap tap tap up it, my frozen knuckles beginning to thaw out. As it leveled a postman pushing his heavy bike the last few yards. I nodded as I passed. He nodded in return, passing me on a gleeful freewheel downhill through the tight corridor between the hedges. The green all too brief. Suddenly back in suburbia and its tones of grey and red.

I meandered around the usual roads to the local estate where I did the strides. Intended 6 but later discovered I did 7, so lost in the run I was.

A day of work as the kids ran around with water guns having the best time. I took a break, mowed my elderly neighbour's lawn, then my own then jumped on the rower. A half hour easy while the kids built yet another den on the decking. Its a holiday for them As the sun started to drop in the garden I grabbed a relatively peaceful quick session on the yoga mat, feeling the last of its warmth. All in all feeling pretty good. Session tomorrow and it has to be done in the baltic dawn.