Once more unto the breach - A Marathon Mission

KSU

**Copy and paste background warning**

30 year old unfit father who has completely disconnected from running in recent times trying to get back into some sort of shape and start a 22 week program in the build up to Dublin Marathon thought this would give me some accountability.

As it stands I am a mid 18 min 5k runner (and a 53 min 10k runner of course :D ) at the moment but hoping with +20 weeks to sustain this sort of pace for Dublin

Plan is simple for now - Run alot, run easy enough to recover on easy days and hard enough on hard days to improve

Week 1

Monday*
Double Run include strides
Total Running time: 1 hr 47 average HR 163
Inefficiency: approx 1 min 50 per mile

Tuesday* /
Double Run including workout (Tempo**)
Total Run Time: 1 hr 42 average HR 162
Inefficiency: approx 1 min 24 per mile

Tempo breakdown: 34 min 08 @ 165 average (Pace : -1 min 9 per mile)

Wednesday
Single Run
Total Run Time: 40 min average HR 152
Inefficiency: approx 1 min 20 per mile

Thursday
Single Run include Strides
Total Run Time: 1 hr 8 min average HR 158
Inefficiency: approx 1 min 2 per mile

Notes
* Currently on medication for illness influencing HR
** Impromptu session

This is my first full week back so has been pretty grim but will resume full training next week and base building.

OOnegative

Obviously have a decent base or strong running background if you’re doing doubles........

aquinn

30? Ooooo, new age category to chase.

All ok with the heart if on medication?

KSU

OOnegative wrote: »

Obviously have a decent base or strong running background if you’re doing doubles........

Used to do a good bit of running alright trying to get back to it.

aquinn wrote: »

30? Ooooo, new age category to chase.

All ok with the heart if on medication?

All good just a bout of illness I was on over the counter meds for. Thought it was more a reflection of the fitness till I actually finished up and noticed the difference in HR and effort.

skyblue46

Excuse my ignorance but what do the inefficiency numbers refer to?

KSU

skyblue46 wrote: »

Excuse my ignorance but what do the inefficiency numbers refer to?

A crude metric but its a measure of fitness. Basically it is where I am no vs where I used to be for relative paces and efforts so I am effectively tracking on average about 90 sec per mile on average slower for the same effort than I would be when in good shape.

skyblue46

KSU wrote: »

A crude metric but its a measure of fitness. Basically it is where I am no vs where I used to be for relative paces and efforts so I am effectively tracking on average about 90 sec per mile on average slower for the same effort than I would be when in good shape.

Ah I get you. So it compares to heart rate and paces at the time you ran the mid 18 5k to now. Have you got any idea what time you might manage for DCM if your training goes to plan?

KSU

skyblue46 wrote: »

Ah I get you. So it compares to heart rate and paces at the time you ran the mid 18 5k to now. Have you got any idea what time you might manage for DCM if your training goes to plan?

Compares to when I was running at my best so roughly speaking would breakdown around the following

circa 140 would be easy pace effort
circa 155 would be steady effort
circa 165-175 would be Marathon effort
circa 180 would be race effort (usually where I top out at with race efforts from 5k to half marathon)

These are more just based on my experience from my running over the years.

In terms of time it all depends on how fit I can get in the next 12 weeks before getting specific for the marathon. Don't wanna be chasing fitness past then but rather just dialing in the effort for racing.

Fusitive

Good luck with it. Speaking as a man of experience on the trials of coming back after a layoff, dream of an end goal but think about progress from where you are. Getting back up and going is the main thing and chipping away at current fitness. Be careful with run/workout pace comparisons to peak shape, I know that road too well. It will come back but fitness does it in it's own time and on it's own terms I find.

Anyway, best of luck with the training and getting back up and running!

skyblue46

:pac::pac::pac:...if you hear a loud crash it's the sound of the penny dropping!!

OOnegative

skyblue46 wrote: »

:pac::pac::pac:...if you hear a loud crash it's the sound of the penny dropping!!

Told ya......

KSU

Had kinda hoped lumping runs together etc might give me some little bit of anonymity ....... sadly not to be.

OOnegative

KSU wrote: »

Had kinda hoped lumping runs together etc might give me some little bit of anonymity ....... sadly not to be.

Good to see ya back but your undercover skills are rubbish!!! Expected better from a man from D24!!!

KSU

OOnegative wrote: »

Good to see ya back but your undercover skills are rubbish!!! Expected better from a man from D24!!!

Your investigation skills are getting rusty, need to update your files

OOnegative

KSU wrote: »

Your investigation skills are getting rusty, need to update your files

Ok i’ll give you that one!! Member of a club from said area so.

Murph_D

Can only roll my eyes with all this drama stuff. Why not just spit it out (not just the OP). :rolleyes:

Having said that, welcome back, all of ye.

KSU

Murph_D wrote: »

Can only roll my eyes with all this drama stuff. Why not just spit it out (not just the OP). :rolleyes:

Having said that, welcome back, all of ye.

Ha just want for the quiet life, looking for me retirement chair in the corner. Have gotten really disconnect from running in general the last while (shockingly drove through Terenure a few weeks back without realizing the 5 miler was on) so only came back for the accountability.

Swashbuckler

Welcome back!

KSU

Time for an update.

Seeing as the anonymity was blown out of the water suppose the vague training updates are a bit redundant (won't have to worry about anyone piecing it together from my strava )

3rd week back and have progressed the as follows

28 miles over 4 days (including staff relays in 18.20)
49 miles over 5 days (a 5 miler friday to round off last week)

Away for a wedding at the weekend so took those as days off as I build back to full training and moved to a 6 day week with two session this week

Mon OFF

Tues AM 4 miles easy PM 9.5 miles incl 8x20 sec strides

Wed AM 6x3 min @ 6 min pace (60) PM 4 easy

Thurs AM 5 easy PM 9 easy incl 5x20 sec strides

Fri AM 7 easy PM 3.2 easy

Heavy week so far and adopting the slightly controversial approach of dropping myself in at the deep end. Easy are starting to feel a bit more controlled as week went on was starting the get the zen type feeling of focusing on staying relaxed as possible on easy days. Still a bit to go but easy is starting to feel easy around the 8 min mark which given I have been averaging about 12 miles a day is better than I would have expected.

Session was tough enough a great little loop nearby the new house with some good rolling hills however quite exposed in wet and windy conditions (which it was) averaged 6 min pace which was about what I expected for roughly 10k effort at the moment. Biomechanically however I felt clumsy and not good at all. This improved a bit with each rep but ultimately just re-iterated the amount of work to be done over the next while to get fit before I start to worry about paces etc.

Tempo and a long run over the weekend which should round me off at about 75 miles for the week. Very solid week over 6 days and from there move to 7 next week.

Murph_D

Interested in the biomechanical bit - do you do anything in particular drill-wise to correct or improve form when you get this feeling? Asking for a friend.

KSU

Murph_D wrote: »

Interested in the biomechanical bit - do you do anything in particular drill-wise to correct or improve form when you get this feeling? Asking for a friend.

I think most of this is just the fact that I have done feck all faster work the last while and I am unfit so not running relaxed as I would like or should be, even on easy runs this is improving though and every day feeling a little better.

In terms of what I do in this regard biggest thing is not over reaching in reps, I want to run as relaxed as possible at the right efforts rather than trying to eek out an extra second here or there. I would rather hit paces and feel as easy as possible in a session rather than knock it out of the park if that makes sense.

Outside of this its the little things that we all ignore

- Strides 1-2 times a week
- Drills 1-2 a week
- Strength and conditioning
- small bit of yoga

The main aim is just to keep the body in touch with decent range of motion after that its just about consciously focusing on staying relaxed in my running as much as possible.

Saturday

40 min tempo (10/5/10/5/10)
*10 min MP effort
*5 min HM effort

Paces: 6.44/6.20/6.48/6.24/6.43

This felt good I was way more controlled than I was expecting and definitely running within myself which is where I should be, HR kinda backs that up and overall happy with the session even if its about 40 sec per mile off where I had been early in the year but I am not gonna fall into the trap of chasing fitness but rather just focus on improving and the journey rather than the end goal. Gonna need alot of luck to get to a position where my original target for DCM is reasonable so just wanna focus on getting fitter week in and week out till the end of the general phase I am going into for the next 10 weeks from here (10 weeks general fitness training, 8 weeks marathon specific and 2 week taper)

Sunday aim is a post work 18 miler which will bring me up to 75 for the week a very solid to get me up to general training.

As I said previously the reason I came back was for accountability so I am gonna post up following weeks plan every Sunday to keep me honest.

Next Week Plan
Monday Easy
Tuesday Fartlek - 3 min reps @ approx 5.50-6.00
Wednesday Easy
Thursday 40 min tempo - 6.40/6.20
Friday Easy
Saturday Progression (7.40-6.45)
Sunday Long Run

Easy runs will aim to be about 7.45-8.30

If anyone is around in the mornings during the week and fancies jumping in drop me a PM, been a long while since I have had the opportunity to link in with people to train but will be able to going forward so any company is appreciated. Flexible on venues within Dublin.

KSU

Mon 6.4 miles easy (7.43 min/m)

Tues 7x3 min @ 10k effort (2 min rec dropping to one min for the last three)
Splits: 5.28, 5.37, 5.38, 5.36, 5.44, 5.45, 5.38

Wed AM 8.4 easy (7.43 min/m) incl 8x20 sec strides
Wed PM 4 miles v.easy (8.25 min/m)

Thurs Tempo* - 10 min MPE, 4 min HM (6.47, 6.32)

Fri AM 7 miles easy (7.43 min/m)
Fri PM 9.3 miles easy (7.30 min/m) incl 7x20 sec strides

Sat 9 mile progression run (6.52 ave)
Splits: 7.53, 7.27, 7.17, 6.57, 6.42, 6.34, 6.24, 6.18, 6.13

Sun 17 miles easy (7.42 min/m)

Overall a very solid week. First session up and ran on the same loop as the previous week. I think I may have been a little too pessimistic in my shape from that one as was a good bit faster this week and don't think I have seen too dramatic a fitness jump to account for it. Delighted to see my running legs coming back under me a bit feeling a good bit smoother and more controlled this time round and although there was a bit of extra recovery in the first few it was still a solid session.

Thursday I am putting down as a blip. The little lad had to stay home from créche due to illness so I sorted working from home, unfortunately nature of my job requires fairly constant monitoring as such between him and work the day was a fairly hectic one (didn't help we were already having a horror in work. By the time I finished work I had been up looking after him for mostly for the entire day so I was fairly fried, weather didn't help too much so just wanted to be done with the run. Got out and started. Overall body felt fine but just mentally I wasn't there. before i knew it I just stopped dead. Drew a line under it fairly quickly as just a mental blip.

Because of Thursday's non session I let myself work a bit harder on the progression run and loosen the reigns. Felt good on this one and even though the return leg of this was into the wind I got into a good groove and was cruising. Last mile and I was pushing the envelope a bit but overall happy with the session especially with 16 miles in the legs from the previous day

Long run not too eventful glad to get another +2 hr run under the belt at the end of a 75 mile week

Weekly Mileage Progression
Week 1|28.3 miles
Week 2| 47.6 miles
Week 3| 75.4 miles
Week 4|76.2 miles

Plan for upcoming week
Monday Easy
Tuesday Fartlek - 2 min reps @ approx 5.40-5.50
Wednesday Easy
Thursday 40 min tempo - 6.40/6.20
Friday Easy
Saturday Steady (6.50 - 7 min pace)
Sunday Long Run

As always anyone who wants to link in with this drop me a PM

KSU

Mon OFF

Tues AM 10x2 min (75 sec rec)
Splits: 5.31, 5.51, 5.34, 5.41, 5.54, 5.36, 5.43, 5.54, 5.38, 5.46

Tues PM 4 miles easy (8.10 min/mile)

Wed 4 miles easy (8.36 min/mile)

Thurs AM 5 miles easy (8.05 min/mile)

Thurs PM 6x600m hills
Splits: 2.20, 2.22, 2.19, 2.18, 2.19, 2.19

Fri AM 9.5 miles incl 8x20 sec strides (7.41 min/mile)
Fri PM 6 miles easy (8.14 min/mile)

Sat
40 min tempo (10/5/10/5/10)
*10 min MP effort
*5 min HM effort

Paces: 6.39/6.13/6.45/6.16/6.34

Sun 17 miles easy (7.43 min/m)

Monday was a scheduled off day, little lad had vaccines so I was off to look after him so we were house bound for the day.

Tuesday and back to my new usual haunt for these sessions. Its a cycle track of just over 1km with rolling hills hence the splits. Happy with the session and was moving well throughout and the recoveries were solid pace. Not an overly tough session but a solid one all the same and these are getting back to the level of comfort I should be at these efforts.

Wednesday was a bit of a write off as the little lad had been sent home from créche Tuesday so I was working from home while minding him. It's not ideal as the job takes alot of attention so trying manage the two tends to have me wiped by the time I finish so I got creative to get a few miles in before I started and took out the buggy. It's not a running buggy more a mini tank but having seen reviews online I saw that people had done so before. around the park for 4 hard fought miles despite the pace

Thursday and copped mistake I made on the plan posting up here last week, I was a week off, Thankfully no one follows up my offers for a training buddy so didn't mess anyone up haha. Solid effort on the hills and happy with how it went. Roughly about 5-6 seconds off what i usually do this hill in when fit but I will take that at the moment for sure as a positive fitness is tipping along nicely

Friday morning and actively chose a hilly 2 mile loop and tipped along. In hindsight probably a bit overkill on the hills and developed a bit of a niggle in the foot. Plenty of work on it throughout the day in the office on it and though was still a bit of a niggle on the evening run it was manageable and avoided hills and stuck to grass seemed to do the trick

Saturdays Tempo a step up on two weeks previously and tipped along nicely, cut the cooldown short due to time constraints but wasn't too worried as at one stage I was convinced I wouldn't get out at all as I thought I missed my window early morning when little lad feel back asleep on top of me after an early start to day.

Sunday's run was the most miserable weather imaginable and yet oddly I was full of motivation tipped away without too much trouble for a third consecutive long run of over 2 hours don't think I have ever managed that. Hopefully a good bank of long runs will provide the foundation needed to get best out of the marathon specific stuff.

Weekly Mileage Progression
Week 1|28.3 miles|| Week 5| 72.9 miles
Week 2| 47.6 miles
Week 3| 75.4 miles
Week 4|76.2 miles

Plan for upcoming week
Monday Easy
Tuesday Fartlek - 3 min reps @ approx 5.40-5.50
Wednesday Easy
Thursday cruise interval miles @ approx 6.10-6.20
Friday Easy
Saturday Steady (6.50 - 7 min pace)
Sunday Long Run

As always anyone who wants to link in with this drop me a PM

KSU

Mon OFF
Tues OFF

Wed 9.2 miles incl 7x20 sec strides (7.46 min/m)

Thurs AM 7x1 mile LT* (recoveries start at 3 min and drop by 30 sec per rep
Splits: 5.54, 5.53, 5.54, 5.54, 6.01, 6.02, 6.05* (500m)

Thurs PM 5 miles easy (8.17 min/m)

Fri AM 5 miles easy (7.59 min/m)
Fri PM 7 miles (7.42 min/m)

Saturday 6 min (4x1 min) 5 min (4x30 sec) 4 min
Splits 6.11 (5.31, 5.18, 5.17, 5.20), 5.59 (4.36, 5.08, 4.52,4.46) 5.48

Sun 12.4 miles (7.42 min/m)

From the get go this week was an uphill battle. I came back to the car last Sunday to multiple missed calls from the OH. Little lad with very high fever (vaccines last week) Given that I had been in work all day while herself was looking after him I was on overnight monitoring duty. This rolled into working from home Monday so by the time I actually got out for a run (and I did get out) I had been awake for about 40 hrs straight. Didn't manage to even make the park a whole 2 min from the house before I knew it wasn't happening and walked back.

A bit of broken sleep helped Tuesday but with herself working from home to allow me to get in I was looking after him before and after so no run happening at all. Fever finally broke Wednesday. and thankfully he started to improve.

Thursdays session was a big step up dunno whether it was the weather or what but feeling nice and controlled and shocked myself to see sub 6's feel relatively controlled. Did these along the canal so footing was good but let my ego get the best of me by not accounting for the heat and also trying to hold pace into a very strong head wind on the odd numbered reps. This caught up with me as session went on but I was working a little too hard and decided to cut the last rep short not ideal but still a much better session than I had suggested.

Got my first taste of marathon fatigue over the next 24 hours with 3 more runs on very heavy legs felt like absolute garbage but effort levels were fine so they were just about ticking the boxes

Saturday and as I had missed Tuesday's session decided to change it up a little with the session. trying to decide the best fit I was looking towards something like "The Lumberjack" a popular US collegiate workout (4x400, 2 mile tempo, 4x400, 2 mile tempo, 4x400) however I wanted something a bit lighter after Thursday session so came upon a session I had on my garmin from earlier this year. The aim was to have the longer reps with progressive faster tempo efforts with a bit of turnover work in between to work on good form.

Session went well despite poor nutrition (forgot bank card so I was eating anything I could get my hands on in work as opposed to good nutrient dense food)

Sunday and I was looking to finish the week solid despite the start though stomach issues meant I had to cut the run short so all in all a so so week overall sessions were good but extra days rest and short long run less than Ideal but draw a line under it and go again.


Weekly Mileage Progression
Week 1|28.3 miles||Week 5| 72.9 miles
Week 2| 47.6 miles||Week 6| 59.8 miles
Week 3| 75.4 miles
Week 4|76.2 miles

Plan for upcoming week
Monday Easy
Tuesday Fartlek - 5 min reps @ approx 5.40-5.50
Wednesday Easy
Thursday cruise interval miles @ approx 6.00-6.10
Friday Easy
Saturday Easy
Sunday Long Run

As always anyone who wants to link in with this drop me a PM

KSU

Mon AM 7 miles easy (7.57 min/m) PM 4.5 miles easy (8.00 min/m) + mobility and bandwork

Tues 4x5 min (2 min), 4x30 sec (60)
Splits: 5.43, 5.38, 5.37, 5.33 4.32, 4.41, 4.52, 5.01

Wed AM 9 miles easy (7.41 min/m) PM 4 miles east (8.02 min/m) + mobility and bandwork

Thurs AM 8.5 miles easy (7.33 min/m) PM 8.5 miles easy (8.08 min/m)
Fri 6 miles easy + 5x20 sec strides

Sat OFF
Sun OFF

Never take anything for granted!

A good start to the week tipping along with mileage body feeling fairly good. Tuesday's session went better than expected as the loop I am doing these on is a very undulating one so given the progressive nature and how controlled I felt compared to the 6 min efforts a few weeks back at same effort definitely showed progress.

Thursday things started to unravel, car issues literally as I was about to head to work meant that session went out the window as I had a moderate effort into work to ensure I wasn't too late followed by a long tired run home after work.

Planned to push the session back to the weekend (Saturday evening post family occasion, not ideal but had to be done) Unfortunately the OH ended up with another illness (swear our new house is cursed) so I was left with the family occasion followed up by looking after himself who was refusing to go to bed. In the end this continued into Sunday and didn't get a chance to get out either day. Need to get back on track soon as I can't afford these slip ups constantly

The aforementioned session to be done today as this week is a bit of a change in tack

Away for the weekend travelling, rather than just have a down week (as I have two of these weekends planned in coming weeks) I penciled in tough more marathon based sessions which normally wouldn't factor in to a plan but the idea being that there is plenty of recovery either side of these to ensure that I adapt from the stress after

Weekly Mileage Progression
Week 1|28.3 miles||Week 5| 72.9 miles
Week 2| 47.6 miles||Week 6| 59.8 miles
Week 3| 75.4 miles||Week 7| 56.5 miles
Week 4|76.2 miles

Plan for upcoming week
Monday Cruise Interval Miles
Tuesday Easy
Wednesday Easy
Thursday Marathon Long Run Session
Friday Easy
Saturday Easy
Sunday Easy

KSU

Monday OFF
Tues 7 miles easy (7.52 min/m)
Wed AM 3.9 miles easy (7.53 min/m) PM 4.2 min/m
Thurs OFF
Fri OFF
Sat OFF
Sun 4 miles easy (7.06 min/m)

Sometime just not right this week. Was in no humour for eating health and sleep was off. Can't quite put my finger on it thought it was the humidity at first but can't explain it just couldn't motivate myself. Given all the sickness that has been around the house the last while could just be the bodies way of telling me it was fighting something off but ended up taking a few days off.

Was a planned step back week somewhat this week anyway with the focus on a long run session but bagged it and just rested up, started coming around by the weekend (was away and slept in longer than I have done since the little lad was born something not like me at all) seems to have done the job.

Not gonna stress about a bad week if it benefits me in the long run and judging by how this week has started looks to have done the job. Bit of a rust buster this weekend. No great expectations just wanna get a bit uncomfortable seeing as I haven't raced since January.

Weekly Mileage Progression
Week 1|28.3 miles||Week 5| 72.9 miles
Week 2| 47.6 miles||Week 6| 59.8 miles
Week 3| 75.4 miles||Week 7| 56.5 miles
Week 4|76.2 miles||Week 8 |19.1 miles

Plan for upcoming week
Monday Easy
Tuesday Long Run
Wednesday Easy
Thursday Marathon Tempo
Friday Easy
Saturday Easy
Sunday Race

OOnegative

South Dublin 10k?

KSU

OOnegative wrote: »

South Dublin 10k?

Practically runs by the house so be rude not to check out my local race

OOnegative

KSU wrote: »

Practically runs by the house so be rude not to check out my local race

Hopefully see you there.

KSU

Mon 7 miles (7.32 min/m) + Strength and conditioning
Tues 18 miles moderate (ish) (7.27 min/m)
Wed OFF

Thurs 11 miles w/6 tempo (4 MP, 2 mile alternating - 800m HM/Steady)
Splits: 6.21, 6.19, 6.21, 6.23, 2.54, 3.20, 2.57, 3.20

Fri AM 8.8 miles (7.48 min/m) incl 5x20 sec strides PM 4.4 easy (7.30 min/m)

Sat 3 mile shakeout (8.06 min/m)

A bit preemptive with this week. Another so so week which are becoming a bit of a nasty habit the last few weeks. Early Flight Monday morning so stuck to the one run but managed to finally get my lazy a$$ back in the gym. Amazing how 3 simple exercises can hurt so much as this was a quad specific workout

Box Squat Jumps (plyometric)
Barbell Back Squats (Main lift)
Single leg box pistol squat / with weight (unilateral work for imbalances)

Weights weren't super heavy but the volume and variation really worked me will build to 2 sessions next week and hopefully maintain that (Quad day and hamstring day)

Tuesday morning saw me have company on my run for the first time I think in nearly a year, was delighted even if the pace was creeping down quicker than normal as I hadn't done a session in two weeks I didnt mind. Humidity not great and was fairly knackered come the last 2-3 miles but happy to get it done early week.

Wednesday laziness kicked in before work and put the run off saying I would go after unfortunately got a call from the creche and had to pick up the young lad and work the rest of the day from home. As I got caught on the hope I had left all my stuff in work including runners so by the time I finished work shift got back over to the office and picked them up it was nearly midnight so decided I had to bag it

Thursdays session went pretty well nice and controlled and nice to add a bit of variation to the tempo, broke it up somewhat mentally and paces were pretty much bang on as the targets were

MP - 6.20
HM - 5.50
Steady - 6.40

Friday and Saturday felt like garbage in generally but I am hoping that is just the humidity. This will be 1st proper race since January. If I can hold the pace I did back then (5.42 pace for 5 mile XC) I will be happy don't really care too much about time the main thing is just to come away from it with a good solid race effort under my belt.

KSU

Coming off the longest sabbatical I have had from racing in god knows how long it was good to be back. During the week however won't lie was feeling like muck and was kinda dreading this but I knew I had to get a hard effort under my belt. I chose this race for simple logistic reasons as it was on my doorstep so I could get out without being missed too much in the house before work.

I jokingly said to the OH knowing my luck the little lad would decide he wants an early start just to botch and chance of Daddy getting a good night sleep, low and behold a 4am start even earlier than his normal (between 5 and 6) accepted it and just got on.

Handy jog down to the race and a few hellos to club members and some boardsies (aquinn and misterpaul coming to the rescue with safety pins as I made a rookie mistake) made my way up near enough the front to come across the boards honour guard of tang, AuldManKing and BackinBlack as well as an introduction to healy1835 (nice to meet you again)

Just before the start gun I spotted a lad from the club a few rows ahead of me. This lad had a breakthrough marathon earlier in the year (2.41) and is in great form and is one I will be keeping a close eye on in build up to Dublin as I am pretty sure our paths will cross at some stage along the course. It was the first bit of competitiveness nature kicking in for a long time. I reckoned could be close enough to him so figured him rather than the watch was a good target to track.

1st mile and was conservative enough. I knew there was a little drag as well as a head wind in the 1st 2k so wanted to make sure I wasn't overdoing it too early in the race. I was fortunate enough to slot into a large group including the leading women. Hit 5.40 for the 1st mile which was a little quicker than I expected for the effort.

A bit of bobbing and weaving going on with the women obviously trying to shake each other and avoid anyone benefiting from drafting. Funnily a couple of metres up the road did I spot the legendary Tommy Hughes leading from the front of a group not giving a fiddlers and just grinding it out. 2nd mile in 5.39 and still feeling controlled though I was slightly off the back of a group but with wind on the back I didn't mind too much.

3rd mile in 5.39 again and surprised I was in such a good groove. I was in 3rd gear but just missing that desire to dig to the well (something a 6 month absence from racing will do to you)

4th mile (5.40) and I was working into the headwind with a bit of a climb. Funnily despite the consistent splits I was making more ground on the tougher milers than increasing the pace on the quicker ones, a definite sign that the strength vs Speed ratio is firmly in the former camp at the moment. Coming back down into the village however I noticed the cross wind had picked up a bit which was fine here but I needed to get back to a group before I hit the canal or I was gonna be in all kinds of trouble. I put in a strong surge (probably dropped to around 5.20 pace) and slowly started to reel in a group of about 4/5 runners including the top 3 women. It was a gamble but it worked as I managed to catch them just turning on to the canal.

Here I let the group dictate the pace, it felt a little slow after the surge however I knew that I would not sustain that and needed to regroup from the effort I put in there. Racing the 5th mile in 5.43

Pace didn't falter too much and it left me in a good position as many were suffering at this stage and I started moving up (unfortunately my club teammate was not one of these and had pushed well off into the distance). Came off the canal with another 5.43 (6th mile) and from here spotted a Raheny lad I often run. It was a good surge put in and thought it was enough to pip Breege Connolly to the finish but had left myself too much to do.

Official Finishing time: 35.21

Afterthoughts:

Despite the time being nothing to write home about I am very happy with how I ran it. The fact that there was only a 4 second differential between fastest and slowest splits and a strong close shows that endurance was there, a bit of race sharpness and probably sneak under 35. While there is still plenty of work to be done over the next 14 weeks it is still an optimistic early training block performance.

Weekly Mileage Progression
Week 1|28.3 miles||Week 5| 72.9 miles|Week 9||68 miles
Week 2| 47.6 miles||Week 6| 59.8 miles
Week 3| 75.4 miles||Week 7| 56.5 miles
Week 4|76.2 miles||Week 8 |19.1 miles

Plan for upcoming week
Monday Easy
Tuesday Marathon tempo + hills
Wednesday Easy
Thursday Long Run
Friday Easy
Saturday Easy
Sunday Cruise Intervals (1 mile)