Bananaleaf's journey to DCM2019

Bananaleaf

This is where I will post my training journey towards DCM2019.

I am following the Mentored Novices thread.

Aiming to finish but would be absolutely over the moon with a 4:30 finish. Online predictor https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/marathon-calculator/ has me at 4:48 though.

My running background

I have been running regularly enough for about 3years but have been very consistent since November logging an average of 5 days per week. I log an average of 36km per week. My most recent times are:

5km: 27:44 in Jan 2019 (I did a 26:54 in 2017 but can't seem to get near that at the moment)
10km: 57:01 in Feb 2019
Half: 2:10:17 in March 2019

I am a member of a running club but only dip in and out of sessions as the timing rarely suits me. I won't train with my club for the marathon and will follow the boards plan instead.

ReeReeG

Great to see a log starting Bananaleaf Good luck with it all!

Kellygirl

Best of luck with the log and the training Bananaleaf. DCM is an amazing day out and well worth the hard graft.

Bananaleaf

Kellygirl wrote: »

Best of luck with the log and the training Bananaleaf. DCM is an amazing day out and well worth the hard graft.

I have literally just finished reading your report from the day. You made it sound so easy!

Kellygirl

Bananaleaf wrote: »

I have literally just finished reading your report from the day. You made it sound so easy!

I take it that’s 2017 one so? I had an amazing day that day and have had trouble recreating it since! The mentor and his crew that year drilled into us about going slow at the start and building into it and it was the perfect plan. You’ll all be told the same and worth following their guidance for it as it’s so much more enjoyable that way than blowing up.

ratracer

Well done on going for it! I followed the mentored novices here in 2015 and it was such a huge source of knowledge, inspiration and friendly advice from all involved. I don’t think I’d have managed without it, but I got round.

Best of luck, all the hard work is done during the training, the actual day is pretty enjoyable!

Bananaleaf

Monday - Strength and Conditioning (60mins) For the moment this is being done at home with some light weights and body-weight exercises. I will head back to the gym at some point, but for now, doing it at home is handier.

Tuesday - Sports massage and 6km easy pace (8:49min/km)

Wednesday - 2km warm up and 2km cool down at easy pace. 1.6km speed work (short intervals ranging from 30secs to 60secs)

Thursday - 20mins Yoga and 20mins Pilates. At home

Friday - 11km - was meant to be easy pace but was a little bit quicker than it should have been because I was with a friend and she was under pressure to be finished by a certain time. It still felt easy though (7:55min/km)
This run was done in the Phoenix Park and was more or less miles 4-9 of the DCM route (I got a bit lost around Mt Sackville )

Saturday - 5km - was meant to be easy pace but was a bit quicker than it should have been again. Didn't feel as easy as it should have (7:06km/hr)

Sunday - 12km LSR (9:04km/hr) I opted for a short LSR this week because I want to start the plan fresh.

Total kms: 39.9 :rolleyes:

Just to explain where my 'easy pace' and 'LSR' pace is coming from... back in Feb/March I started slowing my running right down and trying heart rate training. So, 'easy' became determined by however quick I could be, provided the heart rate stayed at 149bpm or below.

Since end of May/beginning of June, I have kept this approach for the LSR but have sped up the other runs slightly to make them about a minute or less slower than the LSR pace. Thus, easy pace became somewhere around 8:30min/km.

Tonight is 'Marathon plan eve'. Tomorrow I get to officially say that I am training for DCM. :eek:

Mr. Guappa

Welcome to logs Bananaleaf, and best of luck with the marathon training. You're dedication and preparedness shine through in the Novices thread.

How did you come by the values you base your HR training on?

skyblue46

All the best with the training and the log S. You'll do great. You have a super base built up to go at the marathon plan.

Bananaleaf

Mr. Guappa wrote: »

How did you come by the values you base your HR training on?

To get HR training zone I did the following:

220 - 35 (age) = 185. But my max HR for races was 190 so I used that instead.

190 - 60 (Resting HR) = 130

50% of 130 = 65 (60 + 65 = 125)
75% of 130 = 87 (60 + 87 = 147)

So I had worked out that my ideal low HR training zone would be between 125 and 147bpm. I know I said 149 above so that was wrong.

I did it again last night just to make sure and my average resting HR is now 58 so that brings the low HR range down again to between 124 and 146bpm.

All of this is based on the readings from my Forerunner 35 which may not be all that accurate to begin with, so I haven't been losing too much sleep if I go a couple of beats over as in all likelihood it might be a bit off anyway.

Do you think that sounds okay? I am only really applying this to the LSR now anyway.

skyblue46

Bananaleaf wrote: »

To get HR training zone I did the following:

220 - 35 (age) = 185. But my max HR for races was 190 so I used that instead.

190 - 60 (Resting HR) = 130

50% of 130 = 65 (60 + 65 = 125)
75% of 130 = 87 (60 + 87 = 147)

So I had worked out that my ideal low HR training zone would be between 125 and 147bpm. I know I said 149 above so that was wrong.

I did it again last night just to make sure and my average resting HR is now 58 so that brings the low HR range down again to between 124 and 146bpm.

All of this is based on the readings from my Forerunner 35 which may not be all that accurate to begin with, so I haven't been losing too much sleep if I go a couple of beats over as in all likelihood it might be a bit off anyway.

Do you think that sounds okay? I am only really applying this to the LSR now anyway.

This method is one I use myself. I only use it for recovery, easy and long runs. I don't use it for pace work. I use the 50% for recovery runs or days that I am wrecked. Most normal easy days are at about 60%. I'm not trying to stay below the values on the run but happy if the run average is in or about the correct number.

Mr. Guappa

Thanks for that - I've just recently started paying a bit of attention to HR for easy stuff. I was trying to work out my ranges there using your formula and I think I noticed an error in your zones: 75% of 130 is 97, not 87. That would put your upper level at 157.

Bananaleaf

Mr. Guappa wrote: »

Thanks for that - I've just recently started paying a bit of attention to HR for easy stuff. I was trying to work out my ranges there using your formula and I think I noticed an error in your zones: 75% of 130 is 97, not 87. That would put your upper level at 157.

Oh wow, that is even better than I thought in that case. Thank you

ariana`

Best of luck with the new log and your journey to DCM Bananaleaf, you've a great base going into the training which is really stand to you.

Sunny Dayz

Best of luck with the log and the DCM training.

Bananaleaf

Plan|Monday|Tuesday|Wednesday|Thursday|Friday|Saturday|Sunday
Boards|rest,cross or 3m rec|3m easy|4m (5 x100m strides)|3m easy|rest,cross or 3m rec|8m lsr|2m rec


This week didn't work exactly to plan. Life got in the way of my Wednesday run and had to move a few things around to accommodate a race on Friday.

Monday - Strength and Conditioning (60 mins)
Tuesday - 3miles easy pace (8:30min/km)
Wednesday - I didn't get to run today
Thursday - I rested today because of Friday's club race. 30min Yoga.
Friday - 2km warm up, including 5 strides, followed by my club 5km road race. I finished in 27:48, which is 5 seconds off a PB. It was a very warm evening so I am extremely happy with my time, even though it took a lot of effort. There were a lot of times throughout that I just couldn't catch any breath. (5:34min/km)
Saturday - 3miles easy pace (8:32min/km)
Sunday - 8mile LSR (9:06min/km) 30min Pilates.
For my LSR this week I decided on doing 5 laps of a 2.5km course. The thinking behind this idea was that maybe it would be a bit of a mental challenge, repeating the same lap 5 times. On reflection, I don't think 5 laps is enough as I only really started to get fed up on the last lap, so might try it again for a 16mile run as a mind strengthener.

I know it doesn't seem quite right, reading a log that uses a mixture of kms and miles. The reason for this is that I am trying to slowly adjust to miles ... but I think it's going to take me a while! So far, I have my Garmin switched to miles, but Strava is still in kms, so that's why some of the distances are listed in miles, but the paces are in kms (because I'm reading the paces off my Strava)

I am also doing 20mins stretching on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. It probably doesn't need to be as prescribed as that, but I need to have a set time for doing them, otherwise I won't. I also stretch for a bit (maybe 5 mins) after most runs.

Total kms: 29.8

Kellygirl

It took me a good while to switch from miles to Km’s too but I don’t see any harm in having distance in miles and pace in Km’s if that’s what suits you. I know some others do that and it works for them.

Initially when I changed I was just doing all easy running and not paying much attention to pace. It was only when I started on my next training plan and I knew what pace I was aiming for on each run that the pace in miles started becoming easier to me. I did the same as you though and had Garmin Connect in miles and Strava in KMs for a while.

Bananaleaf

Plan|Monday|Tuesday|Wednesday|Thursday|Friday|Saturday|Sunday
Boards|rest,cross or 3m rec|3m easy|1m w/u, 3m PMP, 1m c/d|3m rec|rest,cross or 3m rec|10m lsr|2m rec


Monday - Strength and Conditioning (25mins) and 7.5km Walk.

Tuesday - 3miles @11:34min/mile - these were supposed to be easy pace, but I went running with a friend so they were a little faster than they should have been. They still felt fairly easy, but the impact of running them that little bit faster would not become apparent until Wednesday ...

Wednesday - 6miles - 1mile warm up, 4miles @PMP (11min/miles), 1mile cool down. It was very hot out when I did this, which made it a struggle. I also later learned (when I re-read the plan!) that I was only supposed to have done 3miles @PMP, so that also explains why I found it tough. It was also definitely a factor that I had run Tuesday's session faster than I should have. I will not be making that mistake again.

Thursday - 3miles recovery. @14min/miles. Found this a bit of a slog, no doubt this was also due to Tuesday's run being a bit too fast.

Friday - 2mile walk with the dog.

Saturday - 13mile LSR @13:13min/miles. This was the Achill half marathon. A very hilly race, which I was glad I was taking it handy for.
It was interesting - the effort itself on the day was quite similar in parts to what it is when I am pushing myself - there was still the mental battle of 'can I keep going?' It wasn't a complete walk in the park - the hills were still tough, maybe even tougher because it was taking me longer to get up them?, my legs were still tired by the end of it. However, the recovery time was incredible compared to those who had raced it. I'm already a convert to slow running, but if I hadn't been, the aftermath of the Achill half would have me convinced. It was miracle-like.

Sunday - REST. I chose to take this day as a rest day as, in my opinion, Saturday's 13mile combined the planned 10mile on Sat and 2mile on Sun that the plan above called for.

I haven't done any Yoga or Pilates this week so I will try and make time for some this week.

Total miles: 25

Bananaleaf

Plan|Monday|Tuesday|Wed|Thurs|Fri|Sat|Sun
Boards|rest,cross or 3m rec|3m easy|5m with 5 x hill sprints|4m easy|rest,cross or 3m rec|13m lsr|2m rec


This week was spot-on according to plan.

Monday - I went for a short swim and a visit to the sauna to loosen myself out after the hilly half marathon on Saturday

Tuesday - 3miles easy. @13:42mins/mile. Learning from last week's mistake, I kept this very easy. I also had my monthly sports massage today. It was very welcome after Achill.

Wednesday - 5miles easy with 5 hill sprints. @13:39mins/mile. I really enjoyed the hill sprints.

Thursday - 4miles easy. @13:40mins/mile. For this run I headed out to Clonskeagh and ran miles 21-24 of the DCM route. I found Roebuck Road to be very easy. I wonder how those words will taste when I'm eating them on October 27 :pac: I made the decision that evening that I won't return to that section of the course again as it may be useful for my last memory of miles 21-24 to be "this is so easy"

Friday - 20mins Yoga.

Saturday - 13miles LSR. @14:10mins/mile. A last minute change of plan meant that we wouldn't be at home Sat morning so I had to come up with a 13mile route on the spot and if possible I wanted it to end with a parkrun. It didn't work out that way so it had to be 5miles out - parkrun - 5miles back. However, due to very good timing - if I do say so myself - I only had to stop once (for about 1min to get barcode scanned) and that was it.

I was quite tired after this run. It amounted to a total of 3hrs 6mins. This is going to become more of an issue as the LSRs get longer, so I may have to look at upping the pace gently.

Sunday - 3miles recovery. @15:25mins/mile. I did this run at 7:45pm this evening and it was still boiling out!

Total miles: 28

I found this week very rewarding. I was delighted to do every single run exactly as it was meant to be done. No modifications, no substitutions and no excuses.

I also found it tough though. I'm a bit worried about how long the LSRs are taking me. I am going to seek some advice from my DCM mentors about this. I enjoy them and the pace is very relaxed. I don't really want to speed them up, but it will most likely get to the point that I will have to. However, I am down on sleep this week. The heat means that my sleep has been more disturbed than usual, so at least that goes some way to explaining things.

Bananaleaf

Plan|Monday|Tuesday|Wednesday|Thursday|Friday|Saturday|Sunday
Boards|rest,cross or 3m rec|3m easy|1m w/u, 4m PMP, 1m c/d|3m recovery|rest|3m easy|South Dublin 10k


This week I was advised to speed up a little as the long runs have been taking too long. My easy pace will now be 12min/miles and LSR pace 12:30min/miles. I don't know about going from 14min/miles to 12:30 right away so I think I will maybe do next week's LSR at 13min/miles and the following week drop to 12:30.

Monday - I did a walk with the dog today and rested.

Tuesday - 3miles easy @12min/miles. I also did a 1hr Yoga class on Tuesday. An actual class, not at home. So much harder! This is going to be a regular thing.

Wednesday - 6miles. My warm up and cool down miles were at 12:15min/miles and each of the 4 PMP miles were at 11:00min/miles. I paced this very well and was really happy with this run. It was much more manageable than the last time I did it (week 2)

Thursday - 3miles easy. This was an easy run, but it felt a bit tougher because it was on grass and there was a bit of a sneaky hill that I didn't know about.
I did this run in the Phoenix Park for a change of scenery. @12:22min/miles

Friday was a 'rest' day, but it was a long day and I was on my feet for most of it. I tried to compensate for this by hydrating loads and stretching when I could.

Saturday - 3miles very easy. 12:55min/miles. The legs weren't feeling mighty fresh for tomorrow's race so I kept this fairly handy. I was very very nervous on Saturday about Sunday's race. I'm not fast and I'm not comfortable racing. Then again, I try to tell myself, 'Who is?' Hydrated loads, packed the bag in advance and pinned my number on my singlet. Got a decent night's sleep

Sunday - South Dublin 10km. @9:27min/miles. I did some drills and strides beforehand as a warm up. Chip time of 58:54. Not a PB. I am both happy and disappointed, if that is possible! I recorded a race report in the Mentored Novices Thread: https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=110750862&postcount=1247

Week 5 will see me venture into uncharted waters with both the overall mileage and the long run. :eek: Pray for me.

I didn't do any S&C last week as I was trying to save the legs as much as possible, but I will do a small bit this week.

Total miles: 21.6

Bananaleaf

Plan|Monday|Tuesday|Wednesday|Thursday|Friday|Saturday|Sunday
Boards|rest,cross or 3m rec|4m easy|6m easy with 5 x 100m strides|4m easy|rest,cross or 3m rec|15m lsr|3m rec


This week was tough on me mentally. I honestly can't say why exactly, maybe unbeknownst to myself I was stressed about the 15miles on Saturday as this would see me doing a distance I've never run before.

Monday - Walk with the dog. Rest and lots of stretching after Sunday's 10km

Tuesday - 4 miles easy @12:09min/miles. No more 3m easy runs on a Tuesday as we move up the miles. I had come to think of 3 miles as "just 3 small miles" so am looking forward to also viewing 4m that way after a few weeks of them. Also did some Yoga today too.

Wednesday - 6 miles easy with 5 x100m strides. Average pace @11:51min/miles, the pace slightly faster due to the strides. Another very hot day so for my rest in between strides I just stood rather than jogged in between.

Thursday - 4 miles easy @11:50min/miles. A little faster than normal as I ran with a friend so lost my focus a little, but not too much.

Friday - Walk with the dog.
On Friday evening I got my running and hydration belt ready for the morning. In recent weeks I've been having doubts about the belt. I'm worried it is going to be too cumbersome, but up to now I've been stubbornly going out with it anyway. As my paces get a bit faster and the distances get longer, therefore the fuel needs getting more demanding, I just know the belt won't work for me. And I know I need to start figuring out an alternative now. This is part of why we do the training runs I know, but for some reason it really knocked my confidence on Friday night.

Saturday - 15 miles LSR @ 12:50min/miles. I brought my music and podcasts with me for this one. I structured it so that I would do 12miles before parkrun and the final 3 would be parkrun. By mile 10 I was really quite tired and remember thinking to myself "This wouldn't even be half way through the marathon". I HATE that I start thinking this way so I started focusing on the fact that I was going to have over 50km done by the end of the week and how amazing is that and look at how fit I am these days that I'm out running all these miles. My timing was excellent this week and I approached the beginning of parkrun just as everyone was setting off, so I blended right into the tail end, not having to stop or slow down much at all.
Having the company of other runners in the last 3miles was great and before I knew it I was finished.

Fuel: I decided to drop the belt and took 2 x 250ml bottles with half a zero tab in each bottle with me. I dropped one into a bush after 3miles for collection on the way back, at 9miles. After 45mins I took a gel (about 3miles), took another at 6 miles (about 1hr and a half) and then a banana at 9miles. I didn't take anything after that as I knew I'd be okay to finish, but I was fading towards the end. Next week I will take same amount but maybe space it out a bit better.

Sunday - 3miles recovery @15:08min/miles. I did this on grass. I haven't been experiencing any pain, but thought that it can't harm me to do some of the easier miles on grass where possible. I found it hard to run on the grass. I went for a swim and sauna afterwards to help stretch me out.

Another week of no S&C. I will definitely do some tomorrow, even if it is only a small bit.

Am away next weekend in Co Clare so I will have to figure out a 16mile route around Lahinch. I am staying in Liscannor and I know of a 5km route close to where I am staying so could do that 5 times (ish) - would make fuel and water situation easy as I wouldn't have to carry anything. On the other hand I'm worried about the temptation to cut the run short if I do that.

Total miles: 32

This is the most mileage I've ever done in a week and it also included my longest LSR to date. I feel good so far and I adapted well to the slight rise in pace this week. My LSR should be closer to 12:30min/miles, not the 12:50min/miles that it was this week, but I'm not worried about that.

Thank you for reading

Mr. Guappa

Nice week - well done!

Maybe it's just a different type of belt you need? I use a flipbelt and find it great, and I have one of their curved water bottles too.

Bluesquare

Welcome to logging ! I use a flip belt as well - barely notice it’s there !

Bananaleaf

Mr. Guappa wrote: »

Nice week - well done!

Maybe it's just a different type of belt you need? I use a flipbelt and find it great, and I have one of their curved water bottles too.

Bluesquare wrote: »

Welcome to logging ! I use a flip belt as well - barely notice it’s there !

I've heard nothing but good things about the flip belts so I think I am going to give them a go. Thanks for your advice Mr Guappa and Bluesquare and also thank you both for your kind words of encouragement.

ariana`

Well done nice week there, congrats on doing your longest run ever. that's a brilliant achievement!!

skyblue46

That's a great week, well done.

As for the belt I'd say just get something that you find comfortable as it is one thing you will definitely need for DCM. If it's any help let me tell you that I'm an irritable auld sh1te and hate running with any accoutrements. I don't carry a phone, wear a headset, carry a bottle but even I found a couple of belts that were quickly forgotten about on the few occasions I wore them.

Kellygirl

Another vote flipbelt here. I think they are brilliant and use them whether I’m doing a 5k training run or a marathon.

Well done on the training so far.

Laineyfrecks

Best of luck with your log & your DCM dream i have just decided to follow suit & started my own log too

Bananaleaf

Plan|Monday|Tuesday|Wednesday|Thursday|Friday|Saturday|Sunday
Boards|rest,cross or 3m rec|5m easy|1m w/u + 5m pace + 1m c/d|3m rec|rest,cross or 3m rec|16m lsr|rest,cross or 3m rec


Monday - Walk with the dog and 25mins Strength and Conditioning.

Tuesday - 5miles easy @12:08min/m

Wednesday - 7miles - 1 warm up, 5m @PMP, 1m cool down @11:31min/m average. The warm up mile was just under 13mins and the cool down mile was 12:36. The 5 marathon paced miles were supposed to be done in 11mins each and my splits seem pretty good:
mile 1 - 10:54
mile 2 - 11:02
mile 3 - 10:57
mile 4 - 11:06
mile 5 - 11:01
But ... I'm finding it hard to get a steady pace going for the PMP miles. I fluctuate between 10:35 or 11:20. Each mile comes out around the 11min/m mark but I spend very little time running at that pace. Maybe it doesn't matter but hopefully I will get better at this with more practice at PMP miles.

Thursday - 3miles recovery @13:25min/m

Friday - Walk with dog and I also went to a Yoga retreat on Friday so did some Yoga too.

Saturday - 16miles LSR @13:32min/m. Upon reflection I am happy with the run, but it was tough and the first half of it didn't go as planned.
The plan had been to run the Cliffs of Moher Cliff Walk. 8miles out and 8miles back. I had researched as much as I could. I drove out to the carpark the afternoon before and told the carpark attendant of my plans and asked if would be possible. She told me that it would be fine to run the route but she advised that I do it early as it would be busy in the afternoon. She also advised me about the uneven terrain.

I was restricted in terms of timing because I was on the retreat, so could only go at 1:30pm though. So, off I went. The first 4miles were fine. It was, as the attendant said, busy, but it was okay. The walk was narrower than I expected so it was awkward trying to get round some walkers, which slowed me down a bit. Also I hadn't realised that parts of the walkway involved climbing up or down steep and dangerous steps which slowed me down a lot too.

Once I hit the 5th mile the rain came. It completely changed the terrain and things got very precarious very quickly. I no longer felt safe - if I kept going it was pretty much a certainty that I would fall and get injured. It was also getting REALLY busy at this point (around the visitor centre) and there was no way I was going to be able to continue without a lot of stop-starting, so I turned back.

Got back to the car with only 8miles done. 8 more to do and I was soaked to the bone, disappointed, angry, cold, tired, fed up. And out of routes. I thought about how pathetic I would feel logging 8miles instead of 16 so I asked the carpark attendant if she had any ideas and she sent me off in the direction of the sea - a route she didn't know the distance of, but she was sure I'd manage my 8miles. Which I did. 4 out and 4 back to the car. It was tough. I was really really tired by 14miles. The remaining 2miles were horrible. My form was terrible. I was shuffling along like I was escaping an attack. The last 2 miles were faster than easy pace but slower than PMP. I just needed to get it done at that point. It was the hills for sure. The route had an elevation gain of 586m.

I also did 2 Yoga sessions as part of the retreat on Saturday, but I kept it very light and didn't overdo it at all. I spent an hr in the hot tub and sauna too purely to relax my muscles of course!

Sunday - REST. Again, there were 2 Yoga sessions as part of the retreat and again I just did gentle stretching poses to loosen the legs.

Total miles: 31

healy1835

Three and a half hour LR with an elevation gain of nearly 600m!! Some going

Bananaleaf

healy1835 wrote: »

Three and a half hour LR with an elevation gain of nearly 600m!! Some going

Thank you. It should stand to me for DCM I hope

Huzzah!

Bananaleaf wrote: »

Thank you. It should stand to me for DCM I hope

Well done on the long run. Make sure and recover well after it this week and keep the runs as easy as possible. Enjoy the rest of the retreat

eabha19

That long run sounds really tough Bananaleaf - well done for getting through it. The 14 miles this week will seem easy peasy in comparison!

Bananaleaf

Plan|Monday|Tuesday|Wednesday|Thursday|Friday|Saturday|Sunday
Boards|rest,cross or 3m rec|4m easy|1m w/u + 5m pace + 1m c/d|4m easy|rest,cross or 3m rec|14m lsr|3m rec


Monday - This was the final day of the retreat so I had a Yoga class and then I did a 5km cycle, since there were bikes available at the retreat and I don't have one at home. Long drive home that afternoon so slept loads Monday night.

Tuesday - 4miles easy @12:34min/m. I like to keep the Tuesdays before a PMP session a little on the easy side, so this was about 30secs slower than easy. I also had another sports massage today. It was needed after the increase in miles and the very hilly LSR I did over the previous weekend.

Wednesday - 7miles - 1 warm up, 1 cool down and 5 @ planned marathon pace:
warm up 13:24
mile 1 - 10:52
mile 2 - 10:51
mile 3 - 10:57
mile 4 - 10:52
mile 5 - 10:54
cool down 12:36
I'm very happy with how I paced this and I was also amused to realise that the overall time was pretty much exactly the same as the last time we did this same session. PMP still feels like it will be a struggle for 26.2miles, but it is getting easier, and for the first time ever, I felt like I could have done a 6th mile at PMP if I had to. (coming soon I know :pac: )

Thursday - 4miles easy @13:52min/m. I did this on grass, hence the slightly slower-than-it-should-be pace. I find grass tough to run on to be honest, but will do the odd recovery/easy session there just because. I'm not experiencing any niggles yet, thankfully.

Friday - Walk with the dog. I should point out that my dog doesn't only get walked on Mondays and Fridays These are just the ones I log because I am counting them for S&C

Saturday - 14miles LSR @12:29 min/m. This is bang on LSR pace for me. At the beginning I didn't want to go on. I have realised that factoring in the parkrun to the end of my LSRs is really helpful - because I am LSRing alone, any encouragement to keep going has to come from myself. Knowing that I have to stick to pace in order to make it to the start of parkrun is a major incentive. Also, running the final 3miles with others is brilliant. The only downside is how early I have to get up - I'm not a morning person so I hate that part. 7am is manageable for now, but when it starts getting into 20mile territory it will be a true challenge. It's only for the next 11 weeks though. 11 weeks :eek::eek: Time waits for no man indeed!
I had forgotten to charge my headphones for this and they died at 6miles, but it wasn't an issue at all, which was a great confidence booster too.

Sunday - 3miles recovery @13:28min/m. This was the most enjoyable run of the week. I don't know why, but I just felt really great running it.

I still haven't gotten around to getting the flip belt. Hope to get out to Run Hub this week as I need some bodyglide too

Total miles: 32 (I can't believe I am running 32miles on a 'step back' week. I'm a new person altogether)

eabha19

Well done - another week clocked up! I've ended up in Castletown at the exact time for their park run on my last few long runs but if I had run the park run I'd have ended up 3 miles longer than planned. I would also have to run 3 miles home after the park run whereas I have a feeling that once I'd run the park run 3 miles I'd be really wanting someone to drive or carry me home!!

kemcloughlin

Great log! You are flying it!!

Bananaleaf

Week|Monday|Tuesday|Wednesday|Thursday|Friday|Saturday|Sunday
8|rest,cross or 3m rec|4m easy|4m easy w/ 5 x strides|5m easy|rest,cross or 3m rec|2m easy|KILCOCK 10M


Monday - Walk with the dog, some Yoga and 45mins Strength and Conditioning

Tuesday - 4miles easy @12:03min/m

Wednesday - 5miles easy with 5 x strides. Did the strides during the 3rd mile. Didn't want to do this run and put it off for most of the day. @12:09min/m

Thursday - 4miles easy @12:45min/m. Didn't want to do this run either. I found it a slog, maybe because I did it on a track? Legs were tired too, which was making me nervous with the race this weekend.

Friday - REST

Saturday - 3miles 'easy' @11:19min/m. The plan had been to go a lot easier than this, but this week had taken me to the grounds of Mountjoy prison for Progression parkrun. Even the tail walker was running, and I was damned if I was going to hold him up! :pac: In all seriousness though, this is a parkrun I would advise everybody to do once. It's a strange one. It is obviously done with the prisoners and what they will get out of it in mind, but I learned a couple of lessons about myself too, which I wasn't expecting.

It wasn't ideal going that fast the day before the race, especially considering I had tired legs to begin with. Planned to sit at home with the feet up all evening and a relaxing epsom salt bath at 7pm before bed, but things didn't work out that way and I finally lay down at midnight, exhausted and stressed, having ended up on my feet all day and with no bath

Sunday - 10miles Kilcock 10 from 10 road race. @9:49min/m Was delighted to PB on Sunday and even happier to be left with the thought that I may have been able to do better. Not sure if I raced this hard or not. I didn't feel like getting sick at the end. I didn't want to go on, but maybe I could have, so possibly didn't push myself hard enough? Race report here if you are interested https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=111009432&postcount=1808 and the splits were as follows:

mile 1: 9:52
mile 2: 9:47
mile 3: 9:54
mile 4: 9:53
mile 5: 9:50
mile 6: 9:50
mile 7: 10:00
mile 8: 9:56
mile 9: 9:43
mile 10: 9:21

Total miles: 26.9 (including 10m warm up)

Laineyfrecks

Bananaleaf wrote: »

Week|Monday|Tuesday|Wednesday|Thursday|Friday|Saturday|Sunday
8|rest,cross or 3m rec|4m easy|4m easy w/ 5 x strides|5m easy|rest,cross or 3m rec|2m easy|KILCOCK 10M


Monday - Walk with the dog, some Yoga and 45mins Strength and Conditioning

Tuesday - 4miles easy @12:03min/m

Wednesday - 5miles easy with 5 x strides. Did the strides during the 3rd mile. Didn't want to do this run and put it off for most of the day. @12:09min/m

Thursday - 4miles easy @12:45min/m. Didn't want to do this run either. I found it a slog, maybe because I did it on a track? Legs were tired too, which was making me nervous with the race this weekend.

Friday - REST

Saturday - 3miles 'easy' @11:19min/m. The plan had been to go a lot easier than this, but this week had taken me to the grounds of Mountjoy prison for Progression parkrun. Even the tail walker was running, and I was damned if I was going to hold him up! :pac: In all seriousness though, this is a parkrun I would advise everybody to do once. It's a strange one. It is obviously done with the prisoners and what they will get out of it in mind, but I learned a couple of lessons about myself too, which I wasn't expecting.

It wasn't ideal going that fast the day before the race, especially considering I had tired legs to begin with. Planned to sit at home with the feet up all evening and a relaxing epsom salt bath at 7pm before bed, but things didn't work out that way and I finally lay down at midnight, exhausted and stressed, having ended up on my feet all day and with no bath

Sunday - 10miles Kilcock 10 from 10 road race. @9:49min/m Was delighted to PB on Sunday and even happier to be left with the thought that I may have been able to do better. Not sure if I raced this hard or not. I didn't feel like getting sick at the end. I didn't want to go on, but maybe I could have, so possibly didn't push myself hard enough? Race report here if you are interested https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=111009432&postcount=1808 and the splits were as follows:

mile 1: 9:52
mile 2: 9:47
mile 3: 9:54
mile 4: 9:53
mile 5: 9:50
mile 6: 9:50
mile 7: 10:00
mile 8: 9:56
mile 9: 9:43
mile 10: 9:21

Total miles: 26.9 (including 10m warm up)

Well done on your PB

Bananaleaf

Laineyfrecks wrote: »

Well done on your PB

Thank you, I am delighted with it.

eabha19

Great racing Bananaleaf. Are you a member in St. Coca's? It was a great race - really well organised, friendly and flat. Will be adding it to my annual race calendar.

Bananaleaf

eabha19 wrote: »

Great racing Bananaleaf. Are you a member in St. Coca's? It was a great race - really well organised, friendly and flat. Will be adding it to my annual race calendar.

Thank you! I am very happy with how it went. Thought I didn't go hard enough, but my quads are telling me differently today!! You should be happy too, you did really well and same as myself, pulled away at the canal. That part is a drag, as you correctly mentioned in your own race report, so you should be proud that you stayed ahead of the pacers while on it - very easy to actually lose time there.

Yes, I am a member of St Coca's. It is a great club to be part of - really friendly, encouraging group who love running. Like so many other races on the calendar, when it's organised by runners, for runners, I believe the standard is always very good.

I was pleased to see that Supervalu didn't bother putting the fruit and water in plastic bags this year too.

eabha19

Bananaleaf wrote: »

Thank you! I am very happy with how it went. Thought I didn't go hard enough, but my quads are telling me differently today!! You should be happy too, you did really well and same as myself, pulled away at the canal. That part is a drag, as you correctly mentioned in your own race report, so you should be proud that you stayed ahead of the pacers while on it - very easy to actually lose time there.

Yes, I am a member of St Coca's. It is a great club to be part of - really friendly, encouraging group who love running. Like so many other races on the calendar, when it's organised by runners, for runners, I believe the standard is always very good.

I was pleased to see that Supervalu didn't bother putting the fruit and water in plastic bags this year too.

The 90 minute pacers were lovely girls too - I enjoyed running with them. I love smaller runs - to me a race where you can get a cup of tea at the end is a winner every time!

Bluesquare

Well done on the pb! Great boost to assist with the training !

Huzzah!

Did you get invited to the Mountjoy parkrun or how does it work?

Bananaleaf

Huzzah! wrote: »

Did you get invited to the Mountjoy parkrun or how does it work?

You have to email them at progression@parkrun.ie and they will put you on the list. I think the current wait list goes up as far as January but it is worth doing.

ariana`

Congrats on the PB!

mile 1: 9:52
mile 2: 9:47
mile 3: 9:54
mile 4: 9:53
mile 5: 9:50
mile 6: 9:50
mile 7: 10:00
mile 8: 9:56
mile 9: 9:43
mile 10: 9:21

Those are great splits, really well raced! It's a good sign when your last mile is your fastest.

Bananaleaf

Week|Monday|Tuesday|Wednesday|Thursday|Friday|Saturday|Sunday
9|2m rec|rest,cross or 3m rec|1m w/u + 6m pace + 1m c/d|4m easy|rest,cross or 3m rec|16m lsr|2m rec


Monday - 2miles recovery @14:49min/m. Stretching the legs after Kilcock 10mile

Tuesday - 60mins Yoga.

Wednesday - 8miles - 1m w/u, 6m @PMP, 1m c/d. I found the PMP part of this run tricky as my legs were tired after the 10m on Sunday. Mr Guappa told me I could opt for 5miles PMP and an extra mile c/d if I wanted, but I knew that the legs weren't that tired. I forced myself to keep to PMP for this run as I know that I will be running quite a considerable chunk of DCM on tired legs. I got caught in a downpour during my c/d mile, so I did well to keep it slow!

warm up - 13:10
mile 2 - 10:58
mile 3 - 10:59
mile 4 - 10:51
mile 5 - 11:11
mile 6 - 10:49
mile 7 - 10:52
cool down - 12:15

Thursday - 4miles easy @12:04min/m

Friday - REST

Saturday - 16miles LSR. @12:18min/m. I usually LSR alone, but I had company for this one and it was great. There was no dread the night before like there normally is and the run itself flew by for the most part. I stashed water in the bushes at 3points along the location. I brought a zero tablet with me to pop into my water bottles along the way and took 2 gels - one at 1hr and a second at 2hrs. The final 5km was parkrun and before it I ate half a banana. Just like the last time I did 16miles, the final 2 were very very difficult. Nervous about how I am going to manage 19miles next week.

Sunday - 2miles recovery @14:29min/m

Total miles: 32

Find myself getting more tired as the training begins to increase. Some mornings when I wake up, absolutely everything hurts for a couple of mins before I shake myself out! Randomly during the day I get the odd ache in my legs. This must be what getting old feels like :eek:

eabha19

Bananaleaf wrote: »

Week|Monday|Tuesday|Wednesday|Thursday|Friday|Saturday|Sunday
9|2m rec|rest,cross or 3m rec|1m w/u + 6m pace + 1m c/d|4m easy|rest,cross or 3m rec|16m lsr|2m rec


Monday - 2miles recovery @14:49min/m. Stretching the legs after Kilcock 10mile

Tuesday - 60mins Yoga.

Wednesday - 8miles - 1m w/u, 6m @PMP, 1m c/d. I found the PMP part of this run tricky as my legs were tired after the 10m on Sunday. Mr Guappa told me I could opt for 5miles PMP and an extra mile c/d if I wanted, but I knew that the legs weren't that tired. I forced myself to keep to PMP for this run as I know that I will be running quite a considerable chunk of DCM on tired legs. I got caught in a downpour during my c/d mile, so I did well to keep it slow!

warm up - 13:10
mile 2 - 10:58
mile 3 - 10:59
mile 4 - 10:51
mile 5 - 11:11
mile 6 - 10:49
mile 7 - 10:52
cool down - 12:15

Thursday - 4miles easy @12:04min/m

Friday - REST

Saturday - 16miles LSR. @12:18min/m. I usually LSR alone, but I had company for this one and it was great. There was no dread the night before like there normally is and the run itself flew by for the most part. I stashed water in the bushes at 3points along the location. I brought a zero tablet with me to pop into my water bottles along the way and took 2 gels - one at 1hr and a second at 2hrs. The final 5km was parkrun and before it I ate half a banana. Just like the last time I did 16miles, the final 2 were very very difficult. Nervous about how I am going to manage 19miles next week.

Sunday - 2miles recovery @14:29min/m

Total miles: 32

Find myself getting more tired as the training begins to increase. Some mornings when I wake up, absolutely everything hurts for a couple of mins before I shake myself out! Randomly during the day I get the odd ache in my legs. This must be what getting old feels like :eek:

Great week's training Bananaleaf. I'm nervous about next week's ne-ne-ne-ne-19 too! Are you planning on visiting Castletown again - if you are let me know and we can say hi!

Bananaleaf

eabha19 wrote: »

Great week's training Bananaleaf. I'm nervous about next week's ne-ne-ne-ne-19 too! Are you planning on visiting Castletown again - if you are let me know and we can say hi!

eabha - I wont be at Castletown parkrun tomorrow, I will be keeping it local at Kilcock. Good luck with the 19 in the morning! This time tomorrow it will be over

Bananaleaf

Plan|Monday|Tuesday|Wednesday|Thursday|Friday|Saturday|Sunday
Boards|rest,cross or 3m rec|4m easy|1m w/u, 6m pace, 1m c/d|4m easy|rest,cross or 3m rec|19m lsr|2m rec



All runs done according to plan again this week.

Monday - Rest

Tuesday - 4miles easy @12:15min/m. I also went for a sports massage today. My hamstrings were quite tight so she worked mostly on them and taped them too.

Wednesday - 8miles - 1 warm up, 1 cool down and 6@PMP. I was thrilled to get this done on a day which was very busy now that I'm back to work. I don't know if it is normal to feel this way by now, but I still don't think I will be able to maintain PMP for 26miles on the day. I don't mind, time isn't hugely important to me.
My splits for this run were:

warm up - 12:40
mile 1 - 10:52
mile 2 - 10:49
mile 3 - 11:00
mile 4 - 10:47
mile 5 - 10:48
mile 6 - 11:03
cool down - 12:33

Thursday - 4miles easy @12:12min/m

Friday - REST

Saturday - 19miles LSR@ 12:23min/m - 3hrs55mins in total. It felt brilliant. I'm sure I'll eat these words a few times before the marathon is done, but I remember saying to myself on the 17th mile "this marathon craic is easy" :pac: I really had a great time - had company up until mile 14 which helped greatly. I have noticed that despite feeling like the gels were ok on my stomach, they're kinda not. So for this run I took a gel at 1hr and 3hrs and a banana at 2hrs with a couple of haribo jellies in between, along with a total of 500ml of water that I had stashed on the route. I think this is going to be my fuelling strategy for the day.

Sunday - 2miles recovery @14:01min/m. I also went for a deep tissue back, neck, shoulder massage as a treat for my upper body

With 8 weeks to go, I am really excited about DCM and having completed a 30km+ run my confidence has skyrocketed.

Total miles: 37

Laineyfrecks

Bananaleaf wrote: »

Plan|Monday|Tuesday|Wednesday|Thursday|Friday|Saturday|Sunday
Boards|rest,cross or 3m rec|4m easy|1m w/u, 6m pace, 1m c/d|4m easy|rest,cross or 3m rec|19m lsr|2m rec



All runs done according to plan again this week.

Monday - Rest

Tuesday - 4miles easy @12:15min/m. I also went for a sports massage today. My hamstrings were quite tight so she worked mostly on them and taped them too.

Wednesday - 8miles - 1 warm up, 1 cool down and 6@PMP. I was thrilled to get this done on a day which was very busy now that I'm back to work. I don't know if it is normal to feel this way by now, but I still don't think I will be able to maintain PMP for 26miles on the day. I don't mind, time isn't hugely important to me.
My splits for this run were:

warm up - 12:40
mile 1 - 10:52
mile 2 - 10:49
mile 3 - 11:00
mile 4 - 10:47
mile 5 - 10:48
mile 6 - 11:03
cool down - 12:33

Thursday - 4miles easy @12:12min/m

Friday - REST

Saturday - 19miles LSR@ 12:23min/m - 3hrs55mins in total. It felt brilliant. I'm sure I'll eat these words a few times before the marathon is done, but I remember saying to myself on the 17th mile "this marathon craic is easy" :pac: I really had a great time - had company up until mile 14 which helped greatly. I have noticed that despite feeling like the gels were ok on my stomach, they're kinda not. So for this run I took a gel at 1hr and 3hrs and a banana at 2hrs with a couple of haribo jellies in between, along with a total of 500ml of water that I had stashed on the route. I think this is going to be my fuelling strategy for the day.

Sunday - 2miles recovery @14:01min/m. I also went for a deep tissue back, neck, shoulder massage as a treat for my upper body

With 8 weeks to go, I am really excited about DCM and having completed a 30km+ run my confidence has skyrocketed.

Total miles: 37

Well done on a great weeks training especially with the longest run to date