Winging it

edinrunna

Background

26 year old male, started running around a year ago. Used to play GAA but tore my ACL at 22 and never got it repaired. Have moved to Edinburgh since and done almost no physical exercise until last summer. Apart from walking, I did maybe 5 5.2km runs in 2017 and a few half hearted attempts at pull up and push up programs. I did those 5.km runs in around 23/4 minutes so had not lost all fitness completely.

Last summer started running with a friend, she was training for a 25 min 5k, so I set myself a lofty goal of a 20min 5k in a few weeks. Ran a few 4.66k runs hovering around 20 mins, making me feel like I was close. Instead entered the Great Scottish Run 10k, upped training to maybe 3 times a week including a 15k long run in around 1hr15. Did no running the week of the race and had a late night on the Friday. Still felt good Sunday morning, and ran 41:38, 1st 5k in 20:26 and then struggled to the end.

Took a few weeks with little activity before upping to 4 times a week and at least 1 run over 10k. Got up to 16/18k a few times. Decided to attempt a 5k parkrun with a sub 20 in mind, but ice on the course meant that got cancelled. Decided to do it on a track instead. Had just bought a Garmin and this was its first activity. The track was also icy, so I had to run some parts in outer lanes. So the watch had me at 5k 150m from where I should have been finishing in lane 1. Not sure how much of a difference running outer lanes would make but I got 19:38 and was happy enough. Felt I could have gone faster in a race with competition and better conditions. Splits were pretty even all 3:55ish.

Did almost nothing then until New Year when I set myself a target of 1000 miles for the year, along with maybe a half marathon late in the year. Began reading and watching a lot of videos on training and running in general.


January

Off to a bad start with 34 miles over 6 runs. Told myself I would make all my runs 8k minimum for a while but ended up doing none. At this point I was hoping to run 20ish miles a week and then increase mileage later in the year.

February

Started the way January ended, no running at all. Got some motivation/discipline back in the last few days of the month and ran a few days in a row. The middle day was a long run where I didn't decide on distance until I set off. Nearing the finish I noticed I was close to 20k so if I extended another 1.1k it was half marathon distance. Increased the loop slightly to hit 21.1k in around 1hr36. Felt fine the next day and ran 12k the next day. 5 runs 37 miles.

March

Started well with consistent runs 4 or 5 times a week including a 23k long run. Ran a fast km in the middle of a 10k steady run in 3:47 and recovered quickly to 4:45 pace which made me optimistic I could be close to running a decent time. For what I wasn't sure, ,maybe a parkrun but then Covid hit and and possibility of racing was gone.

I have been furloughed so no time constraints at all and running a good way to pass some time, I started running almost everyday, usually at least 10k and up to 16 or very occasionally 20ish.

Near the end of the month I did a solo 1 mile time trial effort, to see if I could gauge where I was at, and really just for something a bit more interesting to do. Ran a slight uphill in 5:44 by my Garmin, 5:40 by Strava. I think the watch is more accurate. The area I ran has plenty of trees but GPS usually seems fine.

20 runs 145 miles


April

Much the same at the start of April, lost discipline a few times in the middle for a day or two but still consistent enough. Slowed my pace a bit to make them proper easy runs as most before were probably like tempos or steady runs and I was starting to feel the effects. Probably wasn't far from injuring myself so lesson hopefully learned there.

Near the end of the month I decided to do a 3k time trial. Attempt 1 got to 2k and gave up, had gone way too fast but probably should have just slowed down and finished. 1st k was 3.2x and 2nd 3.3x. Attempt 2 went the same as attempt 1 just slightly slower. Gave up for the night and came back the next day.

It was raining this time and I cursed myself for not finishing the night before. Attempt 3, 500m DNF. Pace was 3.25ish. Last attempt. Just do it even if it ends up over 12 minutes. 1st k too fast 3.2x. 2nd k a bit steadier 3.4x. Final k thoughts of stopping are hard to ignore but manage to hold somewhere close to 4min/km pace and just about get to the third beep. 11.24 final time, Strava said 11.23. Was just happy to have finished it really, I know it should have been paced better.

22 runs 133 miles.

May

Again a good start with 9 consecutive days with varying distances and intensities. Started running some easy runs with a friend this month too. This would lead to running twice some days with a couple of hours break in the middle. Decided on a mile time trial on the 23rd. I didn't do any specific workouts but tried to sprinkle in some fast pic ups at various stages of easy runs.

23rd was a windy evening and I didn't feel great warming up but didn't want a repeat of the 3k effort. Got a good turn around point and measured half a mile on the watch. It was a good spot for the finish line with noticeable features. After standing around a couple of minutes with nerves I took off at too fast a pace again. I was aiming for 5:30 but was hovering a bit below. However I felt much better than I thought I would and the turn around came quick enough. I didn't check the time but started to struggle a bit from here. Form went awful and I was struggling to keep my head up. Checked the watch at .75, couldn't figure out what it meant so just tried to regain composure from there. Got to the exact point I had marked and the watch beeps at 5.27. It's 5.30 by the time I stop it at 1.63km. Strava says it was 5.23, again I am going to go with the watch.

24 runs 188 miles

June

The main difference this month will be I am now measuring in miles! Not sure why but I now try to keep easy runs between 7.45 and 8.00 pace. Apart from some runs where I will run with a friend which could range from 8:30 to 10:00 pace. Some days I might split into 2 runs depending on whether I will have company. Those days will probably be two 4ish mile runs.

Mon 1st June

2 runs, 6 miles including a loop of Queens drive which entails a steep climb of around 1 mile, a short flat bit and then steep decline for 1 mile. Walked with a friend for a couple o hours, then did 4 miles on the way home. 7:40 pace for the 1st one (a bit fast maybe) and 7:58 for the second.

Tues 2nd June

9.4 miles broken up into 4 different runs! Ran with a friend, so between getting there and back, and taking a short break to check a niggle in the middle, 4 runs! 3 of them around 8min pace and 1 around 9 min pace.

Wed 3rd June

4.5 miles easy in the morning. Then another 2.5 miles very easy with a friend (short walking break in the middle). 7:55 pace and 12:17 pace.

Thurs 4th June

8 miles by myself, wasn't sure what I was going to do till I started. The main path I run on diverges after around 4 miles, so I took a route I normally avoid that goes through the city centre. Some very steep hills but managed to hold a steady enough pace.

I am still struggling to do any sort of speed work with any consistency. If I could do one proper tempo run or interval session I would be happy to start with that. But almost every run ends up being steady to easy. I am quite interested in trying to improve that mile time, but my lack of speed work, and probably strength work, is limiting my training at that pace. I've decided to join a club but for obvious reasons there's probably no activity for a few weeks.

I've started this week with really high mileage so might tone it down a bit to reduce injury risk. Hopefully I'll get a lot of easy miles done with company, not sure if it makes a difference running twice on these days. I've started to do pushups every second day as a very small step to adding in some strength work. I was very bad at the start but I've built up to 5 sets of 15 which I'm just maintaining for now. I'm hoping to add pullups on the other days, eventually! I had joined a gym a week before it closed due to Covid! Not sure when they'll reopen here as everything is a bit all over the place.

For now I will probably continue to wing it day by day until some form of normality returns. I am expecting to be back to work 4th July, this will be a testing time. I've found it easy to be consistent the last 3 months because I've had very little to do. But I am optimistic that I've ingrained the habit by now. I am also enjoying the running at easy paces much more than running everything steady to moderate. I have some very nice places to run so I'm lucky in that regard, and there's a good bit of variety with plenty of hills at varying steepness dotted around the place.

Things I know I could improve on, diet, sleep, alcohol intake and probably a few more things. Hopefully over time I'll start to look at these a bit more but for now my focus is on maintaining the consistency and enjoying the running.

In terms of goals, nothing much specific in the short term until races or parkruns are a thing again. Maybe a few time trial efforts here and there, a 5k one interests me to see where I am with that. I'd like to think I would be closer to 19 than 20 but I find the solo efforts fairly hard to pace.

Long term, not going to be fixated on anything but a few of the common ones would be nice. A sub 5 mile, sub 60 10 mile, sub 3hr marathon would all be possible goals depending on how I progress. For this year and maybe some of next year I know I'll have to keep the consistency if any of these are to be achievable.

I'm noticing now how ridiculously long this post is, so fair play to anyone who's made it this far! Will hopefully update the log a couple of times a week, any input would be appreciated! It seems like there's a great community of runners here so I'll hopefully get involved in general too. Have looked over a few logs today and some great reading in there!

OOnegative

There’s clear talent there if your able to knock times like that out off minimal training. The winging it approach maybe enjoyable but if you place some structure on your running you’ll see greater improvements.

edinrunna

Thanks. Yeah I foolishly thought for a few months there that I would be able to structure and stick to some sort of training plan myself. I'm in the process of joining Edinburgh Athletics who seem to be a fairly decent club here. I'd certainly like to see what my potential is and I need people with the knowledge to show me how. It will also be nice to get involved with a club in general, been starting to miss the community spirit that GAA back home brought.

Most of my training until very recently was solo and I under estimated the benefit of running with company. Most of the friends I run with stick to shorter distances but the miles fly by. Not so sure they will keep it up once gyms and sports are back so I want to make the most of training with a group.

OOnegative

Good idea about joining a club, running with other runners your level and above will bring you on no end. Plus access to coaches/experienced runners offering you advice will help also. Many learned runners on this forum also who are glad to help.

edinrunna

Yeah I'm looking forward to it big time, hopefully won't be too long before I can get going with them. Having read some more of the logs here it's apparent there's unreal experience and knowledge here, some really interesting reads. Dubh Geannains Sub 5 mile log is a fantastic read and delighted to see he cracked it. I feel like I'm around where he was when he started the log just now, if I broke 5 in 18 months time I'd be absolutely delighted!

Fri 5th June

6 miles easy 7.51 pace solo.

Swirling wind this morning but that's pretty much par for the course in Edinburgh. The path I mainly run on is fairly well sheltered now with trees which helps. Few drops of rain around halfway through but for some reason I quite enjoy running in the rain.

Up until a few weeks ago my runs were almost all late evening, sometimes as late as 11pm. The path (old railway line converted to a cycle path) would be full of foxes, rabbits cats and all sorts of wildlife. Apart from a few "characters" I'd rarely see another person. Running it in the mornings and afternoons it can be busy enough with walkers, runners and cyclists. Today, like almost every other day, there was an argument between a a walker and a cyclist. The path is plenty wide even when it's busy but somehow these arguments seem to happen all the time. I like getting out earlier in the day but definitely preferred the foxes as company!


Short Term Plan

I am determined to get at least one faster session in at least once a week this month. Today was not the day so I will aim for a 20 minute tempo tomorrow. Would like to be hitting 3 miles in the 20 minutes but won't get hung up on pace, just doing it will feel like an achievement!

I think I will focus on 5k for the next while if I can. I can't really decide whether I prefer short or long distances so 5k seems to be the happy medium and it will be a good starting point whichever direction I go. Maybe I'll even stick with 5K!

With no races planned I will probably try some sort of a time trial at the end of the month. If I could get close to 19mins I'd be very happy. I saw the Boards TT yesterday and will go for 2840m in 10 mins. Not sure how achievable that is.

Really great stuff from the organisers and I see there was TTs the last couple of months, fair play to all the posters that organised and go involved. I have almost no race experience and I'm itching to get going in one, I can only imagine what it's like for all the regular racers!

Treviso

Best of luck with the log - as OOnegative says there's plenty of potential there.

How are you judging your paces? Where are you getting the 7:45-8 min easy and 6.40 for the tempo? You should use the training paces from here from your last 5k TT to give you an idea - https://runfastcoach.com/calc2/index.php

If you're planning on doing 1 or more faster sessions a week, then you should slow the easy runs down. It'll give you the same benefit as running them at the pace you are already, plus you'll be fresher to hit the session paces.

I'm a fairly new runner myself and have learned a lot from this place. Will follow your log with interest

edinrunna

Treviso wrote: »

Best of luck with the log - as OOnegative says there's plenty of potential there.

How are you judging your paces? Where are you getting the 7:45-8 min easy and 6.40 for the tempo? You should use the training paces from here from your last 5k TT to give you an idea -

If you're planning on doing 1 or more faster sessions a week, then you should slow the easy runs down. It'll give you the same benefit as running them at the pace you are already, plus you'll be fresher to hit the session paces.

I'm a fairly new runner myself and have learned a lot from this place. Will follow your log with interest

Thanks for the input! I try to run them on feel, that pace usually feels very easy. I'm guessing though if I do add speed sessions I would need to slow down easy days to get the full benefit from the sessions. I used a similar calculator to the one you linked, on Jack Daniels website and it kind of fits in with the paces I'm doing albeit I seem to run at the faster end of the ranges. I used my most recent mile time trial because my last 5k was last year and I've done way more running since then. Is it probably better to err on the side of caution do you think? As in - if in doubt slow it down?


Saturday 6th June

7 miles easy 7.51 pace

My knee with the torn ACL felt very weak this morning, this is something that seems to come and go. I ran down a steep hill on Monday, trying to control the pace but probably a bit fast and this is probably to blame. So no tempo run today but I'm not too disappointed as I would prefer not to risk any sort of injury.

Other than the knee feeling a bit dodgy it was a very enjoyable run, similar conditions to yesterday but no rain. I think the knee is a bit of a psychological barrier as much as anything else, there isn't any pain but just doesn't feel solid. Not sure if I could use some sort of a support I could use, I'll look into it.

edinrunna

Sunday 7th June

Nothing. A few beers on Saturday turned into a good few more on Sunday. Something that really held me back in my first few months running was letting a hangover write off up to a full week of running. Gonna make the effort not to fall back into that habit, but a loose weekend here or there should be fine.

Monday 8th June

4 miles easy 8.02 pace

Nice and handy to sweat out the weekends indulgence. I considered a second run in the evening but life got in the way. I'll have to get used to that happening again after the last 3 months!

Tuesday 9th June

8 miles easy 8.01 pace

It was nearly 10pm when I got going, dark cold and wet. Depths of winter conditions. Fairly straightforward run, planned a route with a steep incline at around halfway and then a gentle slope back home. Tried to keep the pace consistent up the hill, which I somewhat managed so happy enough with that.

Wednesday 10th June

4 miles easy 8.02 pace

Don't think it stopped raining since last night, very wet paths but no issues at all. I might get out again this evening with a friend for a few more easy miles.

The bad knee is still feeling a bit weak but is definitely improving with every run.

edinrunna

Wednesday 10th June Evening

6 miles 8.00 pace

Got out for another run after 4 miles in the morning, my first "proper" double. Not much to note about the run but I felt very fresh before during and even after so if doubles become necessary I'm happy I eel like they're doable at least.

Thursday 11th June

12.5 miles 8.30 pace

Around 7 of these miles were with a friend, the splits were all over the place but all of it was done at an easy conversational pace. Miles really do fly by with company.

Friday 12th June

4 miles 7.49 pace

Legs took a mile or so to wake up, picked it up a bit towards the end for a few hundred meters.

Saturday 13th June

7 miles 7.40 pace

This was supposed to be a progression run. I wanted to start at 8min pace and cut down 10sec every mile. All going to plan until the start of the 4th mile where I felt very tired all of a sudden. I decided to reset back to an easy pace and then pick it up if I felt better. This did the trick, mile 4 was 7.56, mile 5 was 7.36 and mile 6 was 7.02. 1 mile cooldown was 7.43 so not a cool down at all really but not bothered about the pace on those. While not particularly fast I was feeling a bit anxious doing anything faster than easy, but apart from mile 4 this was very comfortable.

Sunday 14th June

10 miles 7.35 pace

It was very humid this morning. Felt a bit sluggish at the start but settled into a nice steady pace after 2 miles. The paths were very busy, had to come to a complete stop about 10 times to let bikes past. The last 15 minutes required a bit of effort, I had only eaten a banana before hand so was running low enough on energy.

55.5 miles for the week which is a record for me, 7 days running too which I have done before but only a few times. Every run was enjoyable, nice to get a progression type run in despite it not going to plan.

Probably going to be back to work in the next two weeks so I'll be forced to plan runs a bit better, hopefully I'll put more structure on it from then.

edinrunna

Monday 15th June

5 miles easy 7.45 pace

Done a far bit of walking on Sunday evening and Monday afternoon, was tired enough come Monday night and considered a days rest but felt good during this run. My right knee, which is my good knee, had a sharp pain while walking on Sunday but felt fine during this. Slight reappearance of the pain after the run

Tuesday 16th June

5 miles easy 7.55 pace

Had a fair bit of walking and cycling planned for the day. Ran to where I was beginning the cycle. Both knees feeling fine. Then the trouble started. I've done pretty much no cycling for years. Found even the slightest hills a struggle, quads felt incredibly weak. I knew they were not where they should be having done so little work with them since tearing my left ACL 4 years ago. Followed the cycle with a very long day of walking (probably 20+ miles) with a fair bit of drinking thrown into the mix.

Wednesday 17th June

No running, both knees a bit sore so no point in aggravating them.

Thursday 18th June

Looking forward to getting out for a run, but the pain in the right knee was not gone anywhere. Went for a sort walk, the pain got worse. Not good.

Friday 19th June

Minor if any improvement. Not sure what the issue is, maybe tendonitis or something similar. Going to rest completely till it's better, if that doesn't happen in a few days a trip to the doctor is probably in order. Very very frustrating, I'd really nailed down some consistency. Whatever happens I know I need to add some serious strength, all over really. Hopefully this is a very short lived break.

edinrunna

Wednesday 24th June

4 miles easy 7.50 pace

7 days complete rest and the pain in both knees gone completely. Ran this a bit too fast I'd say, serious heat this morning, sweating buckets once I stepped out the door. The old railway paths are closed so did this on the Union Canal which is really narrow. Came to a complete stop a few times to let bikes past so thinking about it now definitely ran too fast. More importantly no issues in either knee before during or after.

Back into the 5*15 pushups and added 5*15 bodyweight squats after the run. I plan to alternate this with pull ups and core. During my 7 days rest I came to the conclusion that I've become unacceptably weak in the past few years. Running will be the main focus but need to add strength too and I'm sure this will help the running and reduce injury risk.

I also came to the realisation how helpful running has been on the mental side of things. Found myself in a much lower mood all week, very little motivation to do anything or see anyone. The lockdown was the start of my consistent running, and now I don't know how I would have gotten through it without running.

Plan is to do 4 miles easy every day for the rest of the week and evaluate where I'm at then. Hopefully running clubs will be back to some sense of normality in the next few weeks and I can start getting involved. We seem to be a bit behind Ireland here in relaxing things but the signs are getting more positive. Might be back to work Monday might not be, just taking things day by day at the moment.

edinrunna

Nothing too exciting in the last week.

25th - 4 miles 7.42 pace
26th - 4.5 miles 7.39 pace
27th - 5.5 miles 7.43 pace
28th - 6 miles 7.49 pace
29th - 7.3 miles 9ish pace with company for 4 miles
30th - 5.7 miles 7.51 pace
1st - 4.6 miles 7.49 pace

Every run apart from the 7.3 miles was done at easy pace with a few pick ups at various stages to get a feel for some speed. No injury concerns at all which I'm delighted with. Looking forward to the 10 minutes trial on Saturday, 2,840m is probably a bit optimistic but I'll give it a bash.

June was just about 150 miles over 22 days running which I'm happy with seeing as I took 7 days off completely with an injury. Happy to have come back from it with consistency and I'd like to think I've been sensible with all the runs since.

Still no signs of clubs getting back to action here unfortunately but hoping it isn't too far away. I've set myself a fairly loose plan for the month if I can't join one.

Mondays - easy 4-6 miles
Tuesdays - Intervals
Wednesday - easy 4-6 miles
Thursday - easy 6+ miles
Fridays - Tempo
Saturday/Sunday - 1 easy 4-6 miles and one 10 mile long run

Very loose and lacking on detail but I'll find it hard to know what can be done on different days depending on work and life, but I should be able to stick to the above. I'll be hoping to hit around 50 miles or above each week. The rest of this week will be all easy except for the 10 minutes Saturday.

edinrunna

2nd - 5.6 miles east 7.49 pace
3rd - 4 miles east 7.54 pace - Ran this before work a 7.30am which is by far the earliest I've ever ran!

4th - 10min TT

I was very nervous for this! Between picking a place to do it, a time to do it, and everything else I was a wreck! A few friends were going for a 5k run so I decided I would do it with them as a warm up, and then use them as motivation not to stop while I did the 10min run.

I had heard about a gritted track that is free to use so we did the warm up out to there. 3.1 miles at 10.31 pace. After wandering around trying to find the entrance we then discovered it's more like a gravel track but I was happy enough doing a couple of laps with strides thrown in. Just as I started the wind started howling, straight down one of the straights.

Having an audience there was both motivating and terrifying. I knew I would at least finish. Off I went at a ridiculous pace, think it was close enough to 5min/mile. I started into the wind, by the time I was coming back into it I was already feeling tired. I was killing myself trying to keep pace, and then too tired to take advantage of the tail wind on the opposite straight.

After 3 laps the thoughts of stopping were strong, bt every time I passed my friends I convinced myself to keep going. I had been doing well at not looking at the watch at the start but by 5 minutes I was glued to it. I was terrified of seeing 7min pace but I think 6.40 was as slow as I got. Around 9 minutes I tried speeding up again but felt like I was going backwards. One last straight into the wind and then the burn really started. Watch started beeping for the last 10 seconds and I felt like I was going to collapse. Beep or 10 minutes and that's exactly what I did, into a heap on the ground.

A few minutes trying to catch my breath and looked at the watch. 1.62 miles so I knew I was way off 2,840m target. My audience were very supportive though which helped with the disappointment. I definitely struggle with going out too fast, it's happened every time I do a time trial. I'm using the wind as an excuse but in reality I should have been able to take advantage of it when it was at my back, but I was almost using it as recovery. All good experience though, and felt good to put in a hard graft!

Ran one of my supporters home as a warm down, 3.8 miles 10.25 pace.

5th - Had a small party to go to on Saturday night that spilled into Sunday and early Monday, walking to the off licence about as far as I went.

6th - Not used to severe hangovers after this lockdown. Somehow managed to meet a friend for a short recovery. 1 mile at 8.08 and then 4 at 10.03 with company.

7th - Was still not feeling right today and had a fairly long day at work, but I'm determined to stick to my vague plan. Couldn't think of a good place to do intervals as the proper track is still closed and didn't want to run out to the gravel one. Did a 1.5 mile warm up at 8.14 and found a stretch of road with little traffic. It's on a bit of a hill but decided it would do. Set the watch for 8x400m with 1.30 rest. This is the first proper session for me so wanted good recoveries but wasn't sure how to pace it. Went at what I felt was 1mile pace, first rep up hill and then alternating between up and down.

The first few felt ok, I just walked in circles for the rest, and I was nearly 100% between the first 5. The last 3 were much tougher, I kind of wanted to go all out for the last one downhill but didn't really have it in me. Splits were:

81,80,79,80,81,81,81,80.

I'm surprised they were that even, some of the uphills felt much slower. The last few definitely felt like sprints and I'm not sure I could have done much more. Still happy to have done it, motivation was very low but got better as it went on.

1.5 mile warm down at 8.10.

Any suggestions at more structured sessions would be greatly appreciated, this one was definitely in the spirit of the name of the log!

Well done to everyone on Saturday, some brilliant times and reports! I would probably have been in the DNF crew if I didn't have an audience, these solo TTs are not easy at all!

edinrunna

Last week was a bit of a disaster running wise after a good session on the Tuesday. The negative side effects of lockdown seem to be be emerging, lots of my friends and colleagues feeling very anxious and despondent. A close friend was having a very rough time of it so running took a bit of a backseat.

8th - 2 miles at 9.54 with said friend.

9th- 7.3 miles easy 8.14 pace. Made a nice loop here joining up the Union Canal and the Water of Leith path, two nice places to run but can be a bit congested.

10th - Supposed to be a tempo run today but stressful day in work. Facemasks became mandatory indoors and with that came confusion, aggression etc. Went for a long walk instead.

11th - Short on time but managed to get 4.5 miles easy 8.00 pace

12th - Should have been a long run but went for a long walk with a friend instead. 25ish miles for the week my lowest in a good while.

New week new beginnings!

13th - 7.7 miles easy out and back the canal. I was dreading this, worried all and any fitness must have been wiped out missing two runs in the last three days. The first few miles were a bit of a pain, started to get into it and really enjoy it by the last 2. Threw in a 7.03 mile just to make sure I still had some semblance of speed.

14th- Intervals

Set up a 6x0.5 mile workout on the watch with 2 min rest. Wasn't sure how to approach this again, had a vague plan of 5k effort for the reps and jog the recoveries. I ran to a quiet stretch of the old railway path, again its a slight hill so downhill on even reps and uphill on odds.

2.45, 2.50, 2.50, 2.55, 2.48, 2.53

The recovery between the last 3 had to include 30 sec walk and then back to a jog. Maybe it's a mental thing but I really struggled to finish the last one, and felt like getting sick at the end. This is definitely faster than 5k efort too, no way could I keep that up for much longer than a mile. I think I need to get much better at judging paces on feeling to get the most out of these sessions.

Around 1.5 miles warm up and cool down just over 8.00 pace, just over 7 miles altogether.

Hopefully I'll run 7 days this week.

edinrunna

15th - 6 miles easy 8.01 pace

Edinburgh Council seem to have decided to repair every good running path in the city the last few weeks. Loads of paths closed so this was a frustrating enough run of getting to places and seeing that they're closed.

16th - Unplanned rest day. A few things came up in work and had no interest in running at the end of the day

17th - 20 minute tempo

Still struggling to figure out what paces I should be doing for this sort of run. Was in bad form most of the day and a bit angry about no running yesterday so probably ran this too fast. Hit 3.17 miles and Strava gives me a new 5k PB of 19.26. I started by trying to get a feel of "comfortably uncomfortable", and not looking at the watch till the 1st mile split. Watch beeped at 6.09 so I dialed it back a small bit, next two were 6.21 and 6.19, last bit was 6.03 pace as I got a bit giddy knowing I'd do 5k under 20 minutes.

It felt very controlled, breathing was fine and form didn't go to **** near the end like it has when doing intervals the last two weeks so very happy with it. Having said that I don't know if it would fit the purpose of a proper tempo run so I still need to figure that out. Definitely helped me mentally though, the days bad form has been chased away.

2.5 mile warm up and 2 mile warm down both around 7.45 pace.

Off work tomorrow so hoping to do a 10+ mile long run, will need to get creative with a route. I did todays run around the meadows which is ok but a full lap is barely 1.5 miles so wouldn't like to do any more than 4/5 miles here.

edinrunna

18th 13.2 mile long run 7.34 pace

Lovely weather and a nice route made this a really enjoyable long run. I haven't done many above 10 miles for a good while so this was really nice to get done. The first half was pretty much all uphill so opened up a bit on the way back after easing into it. Energy did get a bit low for the last 2 miles, I didn't drink any water or eat anything during the run which is probably the reason?

19th 4 miles easy 7.56 pace

Quick shakeout before work, legs took a few minutes to wake up but felt nice and easy after that

20th 3.15 miles 10.21 pace + 4 miles 7.47 pace

Ran the first one with two friends and the second solo. Lovely evening for running again and feeling good about the last few days running.

Busy day tomorrow but determined to get in an interval session. Thinking of doin 400s again but hopefully 10 this time and try to jog the recovories. Also want to be more controlled with them so maybe aim for 85 second reps and jog 60 seconds in between. Have a few ideas to try find a flat straight stretcth rather than alternating reps up and down hill.

edinrunna

Bad few days for the cinsistency, hopefully back on track...

22nd - 10x400 90 sec jog recovery

This was in bad conditions so was happy with the splits, odd ones slightly uphill vice versa for the evens

80,77,79,80,79,79,80,79,80,77


Recoveries started to feel short for the last few but just about managed.

24th - 4.5 miles easy 7.49 pace

26th - 6 miles steady 7.14 pace

29th - 4 miles very easy 8.24 pace - comeback run after a few heavy days of debauchery

30th 4 miles easy 7.47 pace

Not happy with how many days I missed, some of them I don't mind but others I have no excuse other than laziness. Back on the horse now hopefully.

Murph_D

Interesting stuff. Did you consider adjusting your training times after your TT? Result of 1.62 miles for 10 mins suggests a 5k time of just over 20 mins. That would mean your easy pace should be around 8:15-9:10, rather than the sub-8s you're knocking out on a regular basis.

Just some food for thought. Might be an idea to use the training paces that a calculator like McMillan or Jack Daniels would throw up.

Best of luck either way.

edinrunna

Murph_D wrote: »

Interesting stuff. Did you consider adjusting your training times after your TT? Result of 1.62 miles for 10 mins suggests a 5k time of just over 20 mins. That would mean your easy pace should be around 8:15-9:10, rather than the sub-8s you're knocking out on a regular basis.

Just some food for thought. Might be an idea to use the training paces that a calculator like McMillan or Jack Daniels would throw up.

Best of luck either way.

Thanks for the input! I felt the 10min TT was a very bad underperformance but I did reconsider training paces a bit but found myself naturally gravitating towards the just below 8.00 pace. I did a 20 min tempo run a couple of weeks ago and covered 5k in 19.27, if there was an opportunity to race 5k I'd be hoping for somewhere around 18.30. I actually use Jack Daniels calculator for paces but I do seem to always be going at the faster end of the ranges.

I'm planning to do another TT next week, either the 10min again or else a mile. I've done a few speed sessions since the last one so I hope that will make a diffference, also hope to pace myself much better as I blew up way too fast in the last one.

Murph_D

OK, fair enough, I missed your 20 min TT. But even if your current 5k is 19:30 (take the Garmin distance measured with a grain of salt), that would be an easy pace of 8:04-8:54 going by JD. So about 8:30 on an average day. Beware of 'naturally gravitating' towards faster paces - most runners tend to do this, according to some sources.

If you're doing a TT, try to do it on a track and forget the Garmin distance measurement.

edinrunna

1st August - 10 mile long run 7.25 pace

Did this on the same route as the 13 mile run a couple of weeks ago, really enjoy it. Eased in with a few easy miles and felt really good upping the pace for 5/6 in the middle. One of the more enjoyable runs in the last while and felt great afterwards

2nd - Rest day, a few things came up in work and decided against forcing a late run for the sake of it

3rd 4 miles easy 8.32 pace

On Murph_D's advice above slowed this down a bit compared to usual. To be honest found it difficult to stay at the pace, constantly checking the watch and most times found I had been speeding up without noticing. Completely agree that the naturally gravitating thing can be a problem, I used to do every run around 7min pace a few months ago! Will try to stick to closer to this pace for a few weeks anyway.

Clubs are not really back here yet so still haven't joined one. The one I was planning to join are only doing one on one sessions for coached athletes so will have to wait another while it seems. The track isn't open yet either and don't think it will be till September. Have spent a fair bit of time in pubs since they opened, would prefer if they were closed and the track was open!

As above also I want to do a TT next week, either 10 mins or 1 mile. Definitely agree Garmin GPS is not always the best so will do it on the parkrun course which has mile and km markers on the ground if I remember correctly. It's on a completely flat beach promenade so as long as it's not too windy I'll do it in a straight line.

edinrunna

4th August

3x1mile with 4 min jog recovery

Wild conditions today, spent all morning slogging through an essay so wanted something hard to clear the head a bit. Mulled over next weeks TT on a warm up mile and have decided to do a 5k on the parkrun course to leave no doubts regarding GPS or wind because its an out and back. Because of this, I decided 3x1mile would be a good session to prepare for that. Aimed for a comfortably uncomfortable pace. Again the lack of a track to do this is frustrating with inaccurate splits and alternate reps up and downhill. There was a strong wind to run into on the downhill reps and a good tailwind uphill.

Garmin splits said 5.41, 5.53 and 5.53. The 4min recovery was probably a bit long, was almost getting restless between reps trying to start and finish in the same spot. All 3 reps felt fine except for the last 300m of the third one where I got an urge to vomit so slowed significantly. Happy with how the effort felt and whatever pace that actually is I'm confident I will hold it for 5k next week.

The main reason for choosing 5k over 1 mile or 10 mins is a combination of Murph_Ds advice above and watching Matt Rees (The Welsh Runner) on Youtube. Train to current fitness, not goal fitness is something I need to focus on and without races or a track I have no idea of current fitness. Will probably do a shorter tempo run and a long run at the weekend but other than that all will be easy miles where I'll try to keep the pace around 8.30ish. 18.30 is the goal for 5k but more importantly will be to give it an honest effort and finish first time. After a few disastrous efforts in the last few months I need to learn to both pace myself at the start and win the mental battle at the end.

Murph_D

Well, if that session was really comfortably uncomfortable,

(a) you should have no trouble hitting your goal; and
(b) you really did screw up that 10 min TT.

Best of luck. Relax and ease into it.

Treviso

Would recommend setting up a 5k workout on your watch that will show the average pace for the whole run and not just the current km/mile.

It might help you to pace the start of the run. Once you see sub 6 mins on the average pace you know you're on target. If you've anything left in the tank towards the end, you can kick on

Best of luck with it anyway

edinrunna

Thanks for the advice! Would I have to switch the pace to km to do that? Or should I just set it as 3.11 mile workout? I'll be using the parkrun markers anyway so I suppose it won't make much difference as long as I know the avg pace.. I feel I'll spend a lot of time overthinking all of this over the next few days!

Treviso

edinrunna wrote: »

Thanks for the advice! Would I have to switch the pace to km to do that? Or should I just set it as 3.11 mile workout? I'll be using the parkrun markers anyway so I suppose it won't make much difference as long as I know the avg pace.. I feel I'll spend a lot of time overthinking all of this over the next few days!

If you use a garmin, you can program a 5km workout on garmin connect and it will switch to miles on your watch. I normally switch to km on the watch, program the workout, switch back to miles.

edinrunna

Brilliant cheers!

edinrunna

As seems to be a theme with the logs here things not going great with me either. Few personal things have come up in the last week that's put running on the back burner in any sense of seriousness. Was feeling good for having a crack at a 5k TT early this week but happenings over the weekend put paid to that and really need to sort other things before putting much thought into running. Will try to keep doing 4/6 mile runs a few times a week as finding they are good for clearing the head, albeit doing them too fast. Will hopefully have my house in order again in September but til then probably won't update the log as it will be pretty boring running wise. Hope anyone dealing with injuries, lack of motivation or any other issues can get through them and come out the other end stronger.

edinrunna

Starting to get a bit of consistency back so will start to update this again.

The last two weeks of August ran maybe every second day mostly 4 milers a bit faster than easy but really just using them to clear the head and get out in the fresh air for a while.

Began September with pretty much no running except for one 4 miler on the 10th which was essentially a progression run for 7.40 down to 7 flat at the end.

From the 15th have been getting out most days, trying to keep the easy stuff easy and above 8min pace but sometimes getting progressively faster when my mind wanders. Trying not to look at the watch and even done a few without the watch but I think I definitely go too fast when I do that.

Only 3 runs with much substance to them

Friday 18th

1 mile warm up, 2 miles just above hopeful 5k pace, 6.08 and 6.09, 1 mile warm down.

Friday 25th

1 mile warm up, 5k in 19.04, 2 mile warm down. Wasn't really sure what I was doing here, after 1 mile warm up just got straight into running fairly hard without killing myself, after 2 miles was feeling good so just kept going till 5k and then continued at a steady enough pace for the warm down. Mile splits 6.11, 6.11, 6.04 and 5.55 for the last bit. This would be net downhill by about 20ft.

Sunday 27th

10 mile long run 7.13 pace. 6 miles has been feeling long lately so got out this morning in perfect conditions. Started easy but felt really good so upped to steady. There's a lovely downhill stretch on the way back that I just felt like going hard so mile 7 was 5.43. Mile 9 was 6.16 on a lovely flat stretch of the union canal.

Feeling good about running at the moment so will try to add some more structure this week and going forward. Will try to control the easy days and find my proper tempo pace. As always advice and input appreciated. Have still been reading logs the last few weeks for info and inspiration, some great running happening around here.

crisco10

Good to see you back!

This is a real "do as i say" comment - but I think a little structure will do you good in terms of flagging which are easy runs and keeping those easy. Then the sessions are more fun too, cos the governor is a off a little bit!

edinrunna

Cheers, yeah I agree if I can start doing sessions twice a week I think I'll be able to control the easy runs a lot better.

Tonight was 5 miles at 8.50 pace which is probably the slowest solo run I've ever done, however it was much more comfortable and I managed to average a cadence of 166 which was something I struggled with before. I also passed the 1000 mile mark for the year with the 4th mile which was the main goal at the start of the year, so happy to have hit that with 3 months to spare (thanks mainly to lockdown)

One thing I felt though was that I don't think I'd particularly enjoy doing a long run at that pace, will I still get the same benefit by doing those more at a steady pace or even progressive?

Will do some sort of a session in the morning, maybe 400s or 800s at 5k pace.

edinrunna

This morning was 6x800 with 3 min jog between.

Jack Daniels calculator says these should be around 2.55 per rep with a similar recover so went with this. Wasn't feeling great before this and a bit worried I might have an Eric Dier moment at some point but thankfully made it through. I wouldn't have been as close to an escape route as he was last night!

Rep paces were 5.36 (8.55), 5.44 (8.42), 5.33 (9.24), 5.42 (9.12), 5.57 (8.52), 5.45 (9.27) with 1 mile warm up and cool down for just under 7 miles in total. Happy with the session, felt very controlled and was pretty much fully recovered for the start of each rep.

Plan for rest of the week is easy tomorrow, 20 minute tempo Friday, easy Saturday and long run Sunday.

Have just seen there is going to be chip timed 5k races returning here this month so will target Oct 13th to see where I'm at.

edinrunna

Thursday 1st

6 easy at 8.23

Nothing too interesting with this just getting in the miles

Friday 2nd

1 mile w/u, 20min tempo 3.15 miles, 2 mile c/d

Did this in the same park the 5k will be in, ran about half of it on grass/trail type surface. Probably should have done a longer warm up as I didn't really feel ready to run faster. Pace was a bit up and down trying to keep it controlled, especially around corners. Lots of traffic to contend with as it's a lovely sunny afternoon here. Mile splits were 6.14, 6.24 and 6.27 with the last bit 6.14 pace. Feeling fairly indifferent about this run, wasn't too difficult but at the same time was working hard enough.

edinrunna

Sat 3rd

No running, got called into work early and when I was finished I was in no mood for it

Sun 4th

8 mile "long run" at 7.16.

Wasn't feeling particularly good at the start of this but saw it through and last 3 miles were sub 7 which was the aim. Saw a woman doing the virtual London marathon, couldn't imagine doing such a long run solo, terrible conditions for it too.

31 miles for the week over 5 days which is a bit lower than I wanted. Ideally an extra easy 5/6 yesterday and 2-5 extra miles today but not too worried. Hopefully 6 days this week with 12x400 at race pace and a shorter tempo with time trial next week.

edinrunna

Monday 5th

5 miles at 8.00 in soaking rain.

Tuesday 6th

Morning - 3 miles at 8.11 - was gonna do a session this morning but short on time so decided to chance a double and do an easy run early

Evening - 12x400 at 5k pace off 1 min easy

Not sure how I thought up of this but figured it could be a good one a week out from a "race". 1 mile warm up to the paths that I do almost all of my running on now. I remember it being much better lit up bac in March/April but now there are some very dark stretches, add in lots of big puddles and maybe this isn't the best of ideas. Thankfully no trips or running into ditches.

Paces not as consistent as I'd like, couldn't look at the watch at all so ran by feel.

1. 6.02 (7.51) 5. 5.59 (7.30) 9. 6.23 (7.26)
2. 6.01 (8.02) 6. 6.01 (7.51) 10. 6.08 (7.54)
3. 5.56 (8.36) 7. 5.52 (8.09) 11. 5.31 (9.28)
4. 5.58 (7.40) 8. 6.10 (7.54) 12. 5.33 (10.01)

Looking at them now the first few were pretty spot on, clear drop off towards the end but deliberately picked it up for the last two. This is probably more like a fartlek I suppose? Pace felt very manageable throughout but obviously no rest in a race so will definitely be feeling it in the last couple of km next week all going to plan.

1 mile w/u and c/d for just under 6.5 miles and 9.5 miles for today.

I'll probably keep it all easy or the rest of the week and take Sunday off (will probably do some hill walking though) and then a short easy run Monday. Or is there maybe another shorter session I could do this week for sharpness?

edinrunna

Wednesday 7th

6 easy @ 8.07

Thursday 8th

4 easy @ 8.19

Friday 9th

5 easy @ 8.10

Saturday 10th

Off

Sunday 11th

4.19 easy @ 8.09 - think Garmin added a bit here was more like 4 @ 8.30

Monday 12th

4 easy @ 8.34

All pretty much the same just varied distance. Looking forward to giving it a lash tomorrow.

A goal sub 18.20

B goal sub 18.30

C goal sub 18.45

Plan is to try go out at just below 6min pace and then if anything left in the last km or so pick it up. Weather pretty bad but not too concerned, wind would be the biggest problem. It's a two lap course wih one pretty bad turn other than that it's flat and should be pretty good for a fast time!

Laineyfrecks

Just stumbled on your log! Very decent times indeed.
I am a relatively new runner too after only getting my act together to run my very 1st marathon, DCM 19. I have gotten some brilliant advice from people on here. My huge problem was slowing down for easy runs, but now because I run 6 days a week it's invaluable to me, means my sessions go better & less risk of injuries!

Very best of luck with your running & log

edinrunna

Laineyfrecks wrote: »

Just stumbled on your log! Very decent times indeed.
I am a relatively new runner too after only getting my act together to run my very 1st marathon, DCM 19. I have gotten some brilliant advice from people on here. My huge problem was slowing down for easy runs, but now because I run 6 days a week it's invaluable to me, means my sessions go better & less risk of injuries!

Very best of luck with your running & log

Thanks for the input! Have read some of your log, it's inspiring stuff, the rapid progress is definitely a testament to your commitment but more importantly discipline!

Couldn't agree more re the easy runs and the volume, I used to run every run around 7.10 pace which was just asking for an injury. Hopefully I've got my paces around the right level now. If i can improve the same rate as you I'll be flying it!

edinrunna

Tuesday 13th

5k "race" chip time 18.22

Woke up this morning to heavy rain and strong wind, thankfully both had died down a bit by the time the run was happening. There was 8 runners, with start times staggered by 5 seconds in order of predicted time. I put down 18.30 which had me starting second. I did one lap of the course for a warm up along with a few strides (first time really doing them) and a few light stretches.

The route has a section on grass which was flooded so we went a tiny bit longer by going around on a path. This meant crossing a small patch (maybe 20m) of flooded grass to get to the path.

The guy ahead of me took off at a fair pace, I started way too quick and after 400m by my watch I was at 5min/mile pace - way too fast. Tried to get some control back and mile 1 beeped at 5.39, breathing heavy already.

Felt like I had gotten some control at this point, any time I glanced at the watch pace was 5.50/5.55. After 1 lap I was working hard but felt sustainable. Crossing the grass patch felt dodgy, was just waiting to slip but thankfully got back to the path in one piece.

Mile 2 came in at 5.58, happy enough at this point but the breathing is getting heavy and find myself slowing a bit.

Struggling to hold pace in mile 3, the legs feel good but the breathing has lost control. Mile 3 beeps at 6.03. Just hanging on at this point, manage to pick it up slightly at the end to 5.48 pace.

Gun time 18.28, chip time 18.22 so B goal achieved and maybe on a better day 18.20 or below was there. The guy ahead finished in 16.23 so was out of sight pretty quickly, a 16 year old girl was behind me in 18.27, serious run from her.

Very happy with the result, I suppose the next natural goal should be sub 18. The organisers of this race also do 10ks on Sundays, so I'd like to take a stab at sub 40 for one of those soon enough. Its definitely aerobically I struggle so more consistency is required, will hopefully increase the mileage slowly too.

Thanks to everyone that has given support and input so far, much appreciated!

ThebitterLemon

edinrunna wrote: »

Tuesday 13th

5k "race" chip time 18.22

Woke up this morning to heavy rain and strong wind, thankfully both had died down a bit by the time the run was happening. There was 8 runners, with start times staggered by 5 seconds in order of predicted time. I put down 18.30 which had me starting second. I did one lap of the course for a warm up along with a few strides (first time really doing them) and a few light stretches.

The route has a section on grass which was flooded so we went a tiny bit longer by going around on a path. This meant crossing a small patch (maybe 20m) of flooded grass to get to the path.

The guy ahead of me took off at a fair pace, I started way too quick and after 400m by my watch I was at 5min/mile pace - way too fast. Tried to get some control back and mile 1 beeped at 5.39, breathing heavy already.

Felt like I had gotten some control at this point, any time I glanced at the watch pace was 5.50/5.55. After 1 lap I was working hard but felt sustainable. Crossing the grass patch felt dodgy, was just waiting to slip but thankfully got back to the path in one piece.

Mile 2 came in at 5.58, happy enough at this point but the breathing is getting heavy and find myself slowing a bit.

Struggling to hold pace in mile 3, the legs feel good but the breathing has lost control. Mile 3 beeps at 6.03. Just hanging on at this point, manage to pick it up slightly at the end to 5.48 pace.

Gun time 18.28, chip time 18.22 so B goal achieved and maybe on a better day 18.20 or below was there. The guy ahead finished in 16.23 so was out of sight pretty quickly, a 16 year old girl was behind me in 18.27, serious run from her.

Very happy with the result, I suppose the next natural goal should be sub 18. The organisers of this race also do 10ks on Sundays, so I'd like to take a stab at sub 40 for one of those soon enough. Its definitely aerobically I struggle so more consistency is required, will hopefully increase the mileage slowly too.

Thanks to everyone that has given support and input so far, much appreciated!

Great run in ****ty conditions, well done.

You’d manage a sub 40 in your sleep!!!

TbL

Laineyfrecks

Cheers for the kind words!

Well done on the race, will echo what TBL said, 40mins won't be a problem for you

edinrunna

Thanks guys, Jack Daniels calculator says the equivalent 10k would be 38.06, not sure how realistic that is but will aim for something close to that in a few weeks time!

Wednesday 14th

3.1 recovery @ 10.31 plus 4.1 easy @ 8.13.

Ran a 5k in the morning with a friend, first time not running solo in ages, the company is great. A few friends got into running over lockdown but have abandoned it for the most part, will try to get them going again! Was enjoying the run so added on 4 more miles by myself afterwards.

Thursday 15th

6 easy @ 8.12

Legs slightly stiff for the first few minutes but fine for the rest.

Friday 16th

30 minute fartlek, 4.55 miles @ 6.36

This was 15 times 1 minute on 1 minute off, trying to keep the off parts fairly steady. The watch was probably not very accurate for the splits due to going under bridges etc, the paces supposed range from about 5.20-6.00, with the off bits from 7.00-9.00. Downhill drag for the first half and uphill drag for the second half to make the second half more difficult. Pretty much tried to just go what felt hard for the on parts. 1 mile warm up and cooldown.

Really enjoyed this session, I'll maybe try to alternate this with a 20 minute tempo weekly and hopefully an interval session and a long run with it for the next few weeks. I've scouted a good park to to do the tempos in which has a couple of steep-ish hills and is mostly trails and grass. Also want to start adding strides and hill reps too but very conscious of trying not to do too much too quick. 5 days running so far this week so hoping for a clean sweep for the first time in a good while!

edinrunna

Sat 17th

10 mile long run @ 7.55

Usually do long runs a bit quicker but seeing as this was the day after a session took i easier for the most part, a few steadier miles in the middle mostly downhill. Hope to increase this by a mile every week for a few weeks to get up to 14/15.

Sun 18th

5 easy @ 8.22

Not much to note on this other than finding this pace much easier to run at now, used to be a bit clumsy but feel like I can maintain better form now.

edinrunna

Monday 19th

5 easy @ 8.38

Kept this as easy as possible as planned to do a good session Tuesday.

Tuesday 20th

8 x 1200m with 3 min jog recovery

Any sessions I've done are ones I've either seen on Youtube videos, or stolen from other logs here. Have never seen this anywhere before so I don't know how I came up with it and not sure I'll be attemting it again, tough session! I almost definitely did the reps too fast, or else did too many. Paces were

5.48 (8.36)
5.54 (8.21)
5.58 (8.58)
5.50 (9.35)
6.02 (9.06)
6.05 (9.15)
6.12 (9.11)
6.04 (9.46)

The first 4 are downhill and second 4 back up the hill, not very steep but long drags. The last 400m of the last 3 reps were mentally and physically very tough! I was well recovered after the 3 minutes each time at least. Garmin says there was a 41.37 10k in there which would actually be a 1 second PB!! 1 mile w/u and c/d, around 10.5 miles in total.

edinrunna

Wednesday 21st

5 easy @ 8.49

Thursday 22nd

8 easy @ 8.55

Not sure my Garmin is very accurate when it comes to heart rate but it says the average for this was 129 BPM, the lowest I've seen it I think!

Friday 23rd

1 w/u, 2 hard, 1 c/d

Had planned on a longer tempo run but was short on time, 2 hard miles were 6.10 and 6.12.

Saturday 24th

12.78 long run @ 7.42

Joined up 3 routes to do this so wasn't sure how long it would be in total. Normally try to do the second half of these steady but was finding conditions fairly tough with puddles and leaves. Picked it up for mile 9 and 10 to 7.13 and 6.59 but was struggling a little bit so finished off easy.

45 miles in 6 days this week, will do an easy 5 tomorrow to cap off what has been one of the more intense but enjoyable weeks of running I've done!

edinrunna

Sunday 25th

5 miles easy @ 8.11

Pretty cold and dark for this one, a sign of things to come!

Monday 26th

6 miles easy @ 8.11

Did this in the morning so not dark but just as cold! Did some push ups and squats afterwards to try get some "strength" work started again.

Tuesday 27th

8 x 400m with 60 seconds rest

I set up a workout on the watch for 10 x 400m and ran a 2 mile warm up to a stretch of path that is a long straight slight incline. I wasn't feeling particularly good and had some soreness from the few push ups and squats the day before! The aim was mile pace which according to Daniels calculator is 5.20ish. My watch doesnt show pace during the intervals, only distance, but any time I've done 400s I've been able to judge it pretty well.

The first few were hard but manageable, the 60 second rest felt rapid and was just about getting my breath back to start the next one. On the 7th rep (uphill) my form broke down badly for the last 100m or so. The rest felt non existent, and the same happened on the downhill 8th rep, and began slowing down with 50m to go, so pulled the plug there. 2 mile cool down home and I was very disappointed with myself, first time not finishing a session.

When I got home to check the paces my disappointed eased a little, as I had done the first few way too fast. The paces were 5.06, 5.05, 5.17, 5.04, 5.18, 5.07, 5.18 and 5.18.

I need to do these on flat surfaces I think, but the track is still closed! But will try to find somewhere better, I go too fast on the downhills and struggle to keep form on the end of the uphills. They aren't steep inclines but definitely noticeable.

Wednesday 28th

5 miles easy @ 8.31

Very cold and very dark for this, need to invest in some better gear for this weather.

Plan for rest of week is longer easy run tomorrow, fartlek Friday, easy Saturday and long run Sunday. Will maybe do half marathon distance Sunday as jealous reading reports in logs here from virtual marathon weekend, some unreal performances! Although won't run it as a TT or anything, just the usual easy first half and faster second half.

Would also like to buy a book about running training, I have no specific goals but does anyone have any recommendations for something that encompasses most aspects? Jack Daniels is the one I'm thinking of as it seems popular (and I use his calculator!) but if theres anything that might be better maybe I'll get two. Wold really just like to be better educated on the thinking behind things like sessions, easy runs etc. and then maybe I could stop winging it and stealing session ideas from other logs!

Murph_D

I’m a fan of the Daniels Running Formula book. Lots of evidence-based advice, huge variety of sessions and plans for every distance.

Sacksian

For anyone, but especially for someone interested in more middle-distance stuff, I'd recommend "The Science of Running" by Steve Magness.

What I like about the general tone is that he's not particularly dogmatic about any one approach and is very much of the "experiment of one" model for coaching runners (e.g. the "My Rules of Everything" and "My Rules of Training" sections).

It's also a really useful book if you're interested in managing your own training and if you're not necessarily a 'plan' person.

There's some stuff that I haven't seen covered in as much depth in other books - particularly the bits around tailoring sessions/tempos/long runs, etc differently for slow-twitch and fast-twitch runners, which might be relevant to you. As well as the various appendices on progressions of specific endurance sessions for various distances / hill circuits, etc (which are applied to a degree in the plans). This is the sort of stuff that gives you the tools to figure out what a training block might look like for you if you're designing it yourself.

A lot of material drawn from the literature review for his Master's thesis so that element of it is actually a fairly objective review of relevant research.

Loads of interesting stuff and loads of useful stuff, apart from the plans themselves. Their inclusion sort of undermines the general "experiment of one" philosophy of the book. I think they're just there because that's how you sell books about training and it's hard not to have them there.

But I'm not a fan of plans anyway, and always sceptical about those really complicated multi-pace sessions (of which there are a LOT in the Magness book), simply because so few athletes buying this sort of book know, and/or are disciplined enough to differentiate, their 1500m vs. 3k vs. 5k. vs. 10k paces in a single session, so the sessions just end up a random collection of efforts/paces pulled from the air (which sort of devalues them). But the way in which he lays out the progression of different sessions for different distances for fast-twitch runners and slow-twitch runners in the Appendices (not the plans) is really good.

I said elsewhere that, if ever I lost it, I'd buy another copy. I did lose it and did buy another copy (then found the lost copy and gave it to someone else).

It probably suits some runners and not others. It suits me.

Dubh Geannain

If you're getting a book. I'd recommend getting a hardback. I got Daniels book on the Kindle. Made it over halfway through and meant to go back but it was a pain in the hoop as you'll find yourself looking to flick back an forth through the chapters. I'm actually going to get the physical book on my next Amazon order. I'm sure you can bookmark pages on the Kindle but it's just not as handy if you want a quick refresher.

edinrunna

Cheers guys, that Steve Magness book sounds like exactly what I'm looking for, will also get Daniels as it seems to be the bible for distance running, and the variety seems like it would be useful.

Dubh Geannain, I don't have a kindle so it'll have to be hardback out of necessity! Much prefer reading from paper than screens anyway, and like you say I like to be able to flick backwards and forwards through books. If I can keep up the consistency for the rest of the year and hit a few small short term goals I might follow in your footsteps and attempt a 5 minute mile training block in Spring.

Sacksian, I think I have similar mindset when it comes to training. I haven't done many sessions but the ones I have I try to keep them simple and focus on one pace for the work (although I am fairly inconsistent in hitting those paces!) Experimentation also appeals to me so I'd like to have a decent background knowledge to try to find methods that suit my abilities and goals.

Thanks again for the recommendations!

Might as well throw in today's run while I'm at it, 7 miles easy @ 8.21, miserable weather but at least it was in daylight.

edinrunna

Last week was a disaster.

Friday 30th

16 x 1min on/off around a hilly park. It was mostly on grass which varied between very boggy and very slippy. Good workout though and pushed hard on the on bits that were uphill trying to keep the off bits fairly steady. 4.55 miles @ 6.51 with around 2 miles warm up and cool down to get to the park.

Rest of the weekend became a write off.

As did the beginning of the week

Wednesday 4th

4 miles easy @ 7.44

Had to force myself to get out and do it and didn't enjoy it. Ran a bit faster just to get it over with.

Sunday 8th

6 miles easy at around 7.45. Watch was dead so guessing the pace, bit too fast like the one on Wednesday.

For my own sanity really want to be focused and consistent this week. Got Daniels book still waiting on the Magness one, have only really skimmed Daniels so far, looks good though. Don't know if I'll follow any plans in it rigidly but will definitely pick up some good knowledge.