So, what time will you be back at?

Dealerz2.0

Thanks K- appreciate that- I’ve really enjoyed the plan I have to say.

Dealerz2.0

Comic Book Guy wrote: »

Another great week F and we'll done on nailing your approach to the 20 miles.
Plan A should be demoted to Plan D though and rest upgraded! 3.55 is definitely there for ya in 3 weeks time (Lordy, it's only 3 weeks!).

What way are you mixing up next week's schedule? Next weekend is tough although its just a reduced repeat of last weekends run.

Cheers J
I feel great after following the plan.

I’ll try and keep it at 38 miles for the week, will do the park run race again next Saturday as part of the 9 miles, rather than 10k, so I’ll probably just either take some miles off each of the 5 sessions or take additional rest days mid week and do the weekend as per plan (9miles Saturday and 16 in Sunday).

What about you?

Comic Book Guy

Dealerz2.0 wrote: »

Cheers J
I feel great after following the plan.

I’ll try and keep it at 38 miles for the week, will do the park run race again next Saturday as part of the 9 miles, rather than 10k, so I’ll probably just either take some miles off each of the 5 sessions or take additional rest days mid week and do the weekend as per plan (9miles Saturday and 16 in Sunday).

What about you?

Not sure about the coming week F but I think I'm going to drop the intervals in the last 2 weeks and maybe just do some strides those days instead. Like you I think I will be taking a mile or 2 off some runs from here on in.

Dealerz2.0

Week 16: 3 days without running and still a great week

Coming into the week, I was tired from the previous week, was going to be taking some miles off the plan just hadn't decided which.

Monday: plan was 8 mile v02 session, I cut it back to 7 miles. Decent session, didn't overly push the session

Tuesday: 5m recovery at 10:43 pace, just ticking along.

Took Wednesday to Friday off, no other reason but that I wanted to feel fresh for the weekend and just wanted an extra break. It worked felt fresh Saturday morning, and looking at other runners out and I wasn't had me chomping at the bit when I woke Saturday.

Saturday: plan was for a 9-11 miles with a 8-10k time trial. So I tried to repeat the same session from a few weeks back, except change the park run venue (the river valley hill is just too much!!). Ran a bit quicker than planned ( I was late leaving the house!) over to malahide which ended up about 4.6 miles pre park run.
Got there about two minutes from the gun, which suited me as I ended up near the front. Had no real plan for the park run, knew I could beat the 24:10 from 2 weeks ago because of that bloody hill . Set my self a target per mile of around 7:45 and if I wasn't feeling it I'd just slow down.

Mile 1: pace was 7:39, really fell into a nice stride very quickly, similar bunch of runners around me, nice trip around the tennis courts.

Mile 2: pace was 7:52, no real issue to explain the fall in pace, probably just concentration, was ticking along nicely on the outer lap of the park.

Mile 3: pace was 7:31, Had no plan for a all out finish, but competitive spirit took over as a few runners started to pull away, I wouldn't really be a watch finish time watcher in a race, but realised too late that a sub 23mins was on the cards, next time so. Finished 23:03, very happy with that.

Ran 4.6miles home in much less of a rush and easier pace of 10min miles

A very nice confidence boosting morning.

Sunday: plan was for 16 miles, woke up late to the heavy rain, and was on the road for 8:45am. It never stopped raining for the entire 2:30 hours. Reduced the miles to 15, ran some faster miles towards the end and finished with a few cool down miles. Another decent run in the bag.

Miles for the week: 39

Next weeks plan is for 32 miles but will probably take the 3 mid week days off again and that should bring the plan to 25 miles for the week, a nice little taper week.

So as per last week notions, I'm planning on 3:55, spent a bit of time putting a pace band together.

How does this look?

Mile 1: 9:14
Mile 2: 9:09
Mile 3: 9:32
Mile 4: 9:10
Mile 5: 9:09
Mile 6: 8:58
Mile 7: 9:16
Mile 7: 1hour 4 mins
Mile 8: 8:40
Mile 9: 8:44
Mile 10: 8:41
Mile 11: 9:10
Mile 12: 8:49
Mile 13: 8:58
HM 1:58
Mile 14: 9:11
Mile 15: 8:55
Mile 16: 8:50
Mile 17: 8:58
Mile 18: 8:45
Mile 19: 8:47
Mile 20: 8:49
Mile 20: 2:59:45
Mile 21: 8:59
Mile 22: 9:05
Mile 23: 8:42
Mile 24: 8:43
Mile 25: 8:54
Mile 26: 8:55
Mile 26.2: 1:58


Running negative splits in a marathon is a daunting challenge I have to admit, a very conservative starting 7 miles will hopefully keep plenty in the tank when wheels start to get loose.

Comic Book Guy

Great stuff F!

God I'm getting nervous now when I see contemporaries chatting about pace bands! Yours looks good though and definitely more room to really push on for last 10k then you have accounted for.

Dealerz2.0

Comic Book Guy wrote: »

Great stuff F!

God I'm getting nervous now when I see contemporaries chatting about pace bands! Yours looks good though and definitely more room to really push on for last 10k then you have accounted for.

Yeah but when you say to someone “ah yeah, I’m going to run the second 13 miles faster than the first 13 miles”, it does sound absolutely mad.

I’m not sure I’ll wear it as a band, probably keep it in my pocket to check when I need to. I do race better when I can tick miles and paces off.

Nerves are good J, keeps you interested!

Kellygirl

Looks good. I’d possibly make the first mile a little slower. I think you can afford to and you’ll prob find mile 3 doesn’t need to be as slow. I;m just going by those course specific pacebands I did up before. Did I send them to you? PM me your email address if not.

Dealerz2.0

Kellygirl wrote: »

Looks good. I’d possibly make the first mile a little slower. I think you can afford to and you’ll prob find mile 3 doesn’t need to be as slow. I;m just going by those course specific pacebands I did up before. Did I send them to you? PM me your email address if not.

Thanks K

Mr. Guappa

What wave are you in?

Dealerz2.0

Mr. Guappa wrote: »

What wave are you in?

Wave 3 A, was going to try near the top, not sure what difference that will make, but even just for a bit of clear space.

Dealerz2.0

Final week and a bit!

So went a bit off plan during the taper weeks, cutting back on the miles, more just to make sure I was rested.

Monday: rest day

Tuesday: 5m recovery at 10:49min mile

Thursday: 5m with 3m at 5k pace. Kept this at 7:45 min mile pace. Really enjoyed these tough sessions in the plan...will kinda miss them, you knew you had done a good session when you finished them.

Friday: 5 mile recovery with strides, the strides were done half arsed if I'm honest, not much commitment to pace.

Sunday: plan was for 12 miles easy, intended to do 10, but ended up doing 7.5 miles at 9:33. Lots of excuses for the session but no point dwelling on it ( I did dwell on it a fair bit Sunday). I definitely train better on my own. Had a lovely post run breakfast in gourmet food parlour with the local running group.

Tuesday: 5 mile recovery at 10:31

Wednesday: 5 miles with 2 at MP 8:50 (supposed to be 8:55!)

General thoughts:

I really enjoyed the P&D plan, I chose the plan to build endurance from Belfast, I feel like I have definetly built on my fitness from the Belfast training block, hopefully I get a result that shows that too. I kinda don't want to pin the success or failure on the end result, but rather the improvement in my fitness and the pb's that came post Belfast, but it is really hard not to think that way.

Monday and Tuesday had a bad dose of maranoia but being so busy in the new job completely distracted me the rest of the week which was great. Going to the expo tomorrow to tick that box.

ReeReeG

Really hope it all comes together as it should on Sunday F. You've fab training under your belt, and deserve a good day! Best of luck and enjoy it!!

Dealerz2.0

ReeReeG wrote: »

Really hope it all comes together as it should on Sunday F. You've fab training under your belt, and deserve a good day! Best of luck and enjoy it!!

Cheers V

Comic Book Guy

All the very best F, you fully deserve a sub 4 hour PB and it's definitely there for the taking for ya.

Have really enjoyed reading your log and looking at your runs on Strava for extra motivation to match your effort and dedication since it was you that put me onto this plan!

Hope you have the race of your life on Sunday!

Dealerz2.0

Comic Book Guy wrote: »

All the very best F, you fully deserve a sub 4 hour PB and it's definitely there for the taking for ya.

Have really enjoyed reading your log and looking at your runs on Strava for extra motivation to match your effort and dedication since it was you that put me onto this plan!

Hope you have the race of your life on Sunday!

Cheers J
Yeah it’s been a great motivator matching the sessions of each other the last 18 weeks, thanks a million for the support buddy.

Believe in yourself on Sunday J, you’re a far stronger runner than this time last year.....that cow that frightened you in the dark told me that!

Myself yourself and T have done a great training block for DCM following the same plan and I think (!) the three of us enjoyed it, I certainly did.

skyblue46

All the best for Sunday Fran. You have had an amazing year since your first foray onto the novices thread last year. Get out there and smash it. That sub 4's time has come.

Hedgehoggy

Best of luck to ye both.... But following yer logs made me wish I'd done that plan too!!! Savage training done!

gypsylee

Have a great run on Sunday F. Your dedication and focus on the plan will pay off for you. Hope you have a marathon that you truly deserve. Go smash it!

Singer

Have a great run on Sunday! Hope you pull it off on the day, you deserve it from the training.

ariana`

Good luck F, kill it out there on Sunday!

Kellygirl

Best of luck Fran. See you Sunday!

Treviso

Best of luck F on Sunday, you've got the sub 4 in you with the training you've done. Was great to share the same plan as you and CBG, albeit me being a week ahead for so long!

Will hopefully see you in McGrattans afterwards for celebration drinks!!

Dealerz2.0

skyblue46 wrote: »

All the best for Sunday Fran. You have had an amazing year since your first foray onto the novices thread last year. Get out there and smash it. That sub 4's time has come.

Thanks S- appreciate that

Dealerz2.0

Hedgehoggy wrote: »

Best of luck to ye both.... But following yer logs made me wish I'd done that plan too!!! Savage training done!

Thanks G- I'd recommend giving the plan a go....if you haven't had enough after Sunday!!!

Dealerz2.0

gypsylee wrote: »

Have a great run on Sunday F. Your dedication and focus on the plan will pay off for you. Hope you have a marathon that you truly deserve. Go smash it!

Thanks J- appreciate the comments

Dealerz2.0

Singer wrote: »

Have a great run on Sunday! Hope you pull it off on the day, you deserve it from the training.

Thanks B, and all the best to you too.

Dealerz2.0

ariana` wrote: »

Good luck F, kill it out there on Sunday!

Thanks E, will give it a good lash

Dealerz2.0

Kellygirl wrote: »

Best of luck Fran. See you Sunday!

Thanks K, and you too, hope it all goes well.

Dealerz2.0

Treviso wrote: »

Best of luck F on Sunday, you've got the sub 4 in you with the training you've done. Was great to share the same plan as you and CBG, albeit me being a week ahead for so long!

Will hopefully see you in McGrattans afterwards for celebration drinks!!

Thanks and you too T, the very best of luck

Huzzah!

I’m looking forward to seeing you smash the sub4 tomorrow. Have a great run!