The Early Years Edu-racer

racersedge

I’ve contemplated writing a blog for years, and for years I kept putting it on the long finger. So I figure if I at least get the first post done, that will get the ball rolling, right?!

Tell of the Tape
My name is Philip, I’ve just gone 35 at the time of writing this and I work as an Early Years Educator. Growing up, I wasn’t sporty or anything like that. I don’t know how I fell into running, I kind of just did. It has turned me into a trendsetter in the family and it’s brought on multiple generations of the family along with me now!

I think starting off, it was mainly to shed weight – but now, it’s all about that running feel and wanting to push on to beat the previous records I've set myself. If your interested, you can check me out on Strava here.

The Obligatory Back Story
After a few aborted attempts to start running, I mark December 2015 as my true start point of running, starting just before New Years to avoid the whole ‘New Year, New You’ lark as a reason to give it up. I started steadily, a couple of kilometres at a time before finally building up to my first 5k. I incentivised myself to keep it going and get better. After getting to 5K, I went and got myself a proper pair of running shoes (thankfully, Kildare Village Outlet was just down the road). At the next milestone, I invested in a proper watch, only then to win one thanks to Harvey Normans – probably still the most expensive prize I have won!

While I had gotten the train started, I suffered from properly scheduling it. A lot of that had to due with dovetailing work with a part-time college course and buying a house. It was easy to spot the peaks and valleys in my running when you looked at it from a 12-month window! I did however begin to start taking part in some local races. I have to blame the wife for this mainly, as she started to run as well and came up with medals and such and lots of talk about the buzz of the race. So she’s the reason I ended up getting hooked on them.

It took me until 2017 to get up to 10K. I can remember my first well – it took me about an hour. I was elated and thought if this was the longest I ever did, I would be happy. This was preceded not long after by my first injury, which knocked me out for a month or so. But the good thing was I had the urge to run, and after a few physio sessions, I was back at it and eventually competed in a few 10K races and by the end of that year, I had gone sub-50.

Then came racking up further distances. It happened by accident, honest! My wife (again), was training to do a half marathon with her friends. I ended up helping out with a few of their training runs and felt ‘okay, this would be interesting to push myself’. So I ended up just going out and doing a half one day – and lived to tell the tale. I ultimately ended up subbing in for one of her friends who picked up an injury in what would be my first half marathon race. Honestly, there wasn’t much to write home about it as I ended up pacing my wife. But, it just started that little voice in my head, asking what could I do in a proper half marathon attempt. Even better, what about a marathon?

So, naively enough, I signed up for Dublin 2018. Joined the training group for newcomers here and that’s how I met a few of you lovely people on Strava. I learned quite a bit in that year. I learned solo long runs are killers, so I started to run with the local group in Monasterevin. I also learned that a marathon truly is a beast of a thing and my hopes of a sub-4 were firmly dashed at about the 32K mark as the wheels came off. Such a learning experience.

By now, in 2018, I felt I was more of a proper runner – going throughout the year and keeping things steadily improving. As was the size of my shoe collection! 2019 though was the year of years for me. I believe I hit a PB in every distance, some greater than others. I felt like aces. Dublin 2019, while I did improve, I did still run into trouble late on and it still is that black mark on my scorecard I want to fix. I was all geared up for a fantastic 2020 and then, COVID of course. Everything out the window. But I kept on running. It definitely helped to keep the sanity and while the year lacked PB’s, I actually ended up nailing my marathon adventure with the virtual Dublin. Maybe the virtual element of it took away the pressure.

So now, 2021 is still in the unknown. I have to say getting the motivation to run hasn’t been an issue, if anything I have myself in such a routine that I feel bad if I don’t run. But not a whole lot to train for. I had started PT sessions, in part thanks to a link-up with work, late last year to change things up a bit. I know as the evenings get brighter I want to add a bit of structure to my runs now, as opposed to going out and just keeping things ticking over.

The Current Scoreboard
Distance|Time|Location|Date
5K|20:43|Irish Day of PB's 2019|14/07/2019
5M|34:46|Charle Curran Memorial Run 2020|26/01/2020
10K|44:24|Michael Manning Memorial Dunshauglin 10K|22/06/2019
10M|01:14:45|Endenderry AC 10 Mile 2019|21/07/2019
HM|01:39:04|Ratoath Half Marathon|14/09/2019
FM*|03:55:18|Virtual KBC Dublin Marathon 2020|24/10/2020
FM|04:09:35|KBC Dublin Marathon 2019|27/10/2019

* Denotes time done in a virtual format. Ideally want to do it in a proper environment!

So… that wasn’t too hard. My first post done. That’s a start. Now that this is started, it’s only the small matter of keeping things going! How hard can that be?! Feel free to offer and tidbits, sage wisdom or anything in between!

API

Fair play doing the virtual Dublin marathon, i think the lack of a crowd would've had the opposite affect on me. Well done on the sub 4.

I'm even more impressed that you managed to get something free from Harvey Norman. That must be a first

AuldManKing

Welcome aboard.

Congrats on the 3.55 in a virtual marathon. Not easy.

And you can do a table!!

racersedge

AuldManKing wrote: »

Welcome aboard.

Congrats on the 3.55 in a virtual marathon. Not easy.

And you can do a table!!

To be honest, I just nabbed the coding for it by looking at the February Challenge leaderboard!! I always had it in my head that I wanted to list out my times like that, but noted a lack of a 'how to' when it came to the tables! So at least a completed table gave me a chance to see how it worked!

API wrote: »

Fair play doing the virtual Dublin marathon, i think the lack of a crowd would've had the opposite affect on me. Well done on the sub 4.

I'm even more impressed that you managed to get something free from Harvey Norman. That must be a first

Honestly, I was surprised by it as well, mainly because I went in with low expectations. Myself and the lads I run with decided we would do it, mainly because it gave us a focus on our weekend runs. I didn't follow the plan (particularly the mid-week stuff) to the same degree as I would have on previous Dublin attempts - and nowhere near the dedication I was when I was training for Prague (I had booked with a running buddy to do that marathon in May before COVID reared its head).

I treated it as a chance to change things up. Tried different gels, a different fueling strategy (it helped that we did four loops, which meant we had houses on the route we could have as refuel spots). Probably helped that I could wake up, have breakfast and an hour later run - rather than waiting the three odd hours from wake-up to the start of Dublin. I'm immensely proud of it because up until then, I felt like I had failed at the marathon. I wanted to get through it without having to walk it. I did stop, briefly for about 30 seconds to stretch into the last kilometer (again I think this is learning experience, where before I just walked through and hoped for the best). I think it also helped running with my usual running crew. We were pretty methodical pace wise throughout. I just hope to do it offically at some point in the future!

As for the winning the watch at the time - no-one was more surprised than me. I thought it was a hoax e-mail! I had only bought a Polar watch as my first running watch not even two months before. Sold that on and ran with that 225 for a number of years before selling it on to someone in my running group when I got a 235. So in terms of watches, I haven't spent massively.... yet!

racersedge

The February Challenge Attempt

So, late last week I had a crack at this. It wasn't my full intention to do so, as I had picked out a climb in Killenard as my place to go. But I didn't feel like driving out that way and I figure an 7K/8K warm-up is probably a bit over-the-top. Plus, I'd also have to run back from there after doing the attempt.

So I looked about on the local map and recalled some inclines in the local woods. My intention was to go out and just do a recce for it but I decided to just give it a lash.

That first kilometer was a killer! I probably took off far too quick - and admittedly I'm out of practice at pushing hard. The first klick was probably the toughest as there was little in the way of a downhill. I honestly thought at the end of the first one, I was done! Soldiered on though, and as I recovered on the downhill, I managed to find my rhythm. It was tough alright, but it was manageable. In total I got about four laps of the woods in, working out at about 50m+ elevation a lap.

I definitely think there is a little bit more in me. I felt tentative on the downhills - partly to recover but also because the ground was slightly damp and given the decline, I was unsure of my footing. The last thing needed was to faceplant myself into that kind of terrain. So I feel like I could have goosed a little bit more out of it.

If I can get another crack at it, I may change location. Looking at some of the scores thus far, I ideally need to find something steeper and preferably shorter to really get a good run in. Killenard still remains an option, but I do wonder if I can find something closer by.

Ultimately though, when I reflect on the run, I'm delighted with it. I got just shy of 9K in on hilly terrain while keeping to my personal best 10K time. The day I did my best 10K time in Dunshauglin, according to Garmin, the elevation gain was only 30m.

So that has tickled my curiosity as to what I could do if I gave a 10K a proper lash....

racersedge

So.. it's been a while since I've posted here, despite my best intentions!

A lot has been on since I originally started posting. Busy with work, having to move out of the house for longer than expected while works got done and I suppose a bit of laziness on may part as well. On the bright side, while I was lacking on the action side of things here on his blog, I at least was keeping with the running.

I had plenty to focus on with actual real races to prepare for! The first was getting signed up for the Thoroughbred Half in Kildare, which went ahead last weekend. I have to admit, when I first saw them posting up about it saying something was going to happen, I fully expected a virtual only option. But lo and behold, an actual race!

In terms of of training, I had to quickly get myself sorted out. I decided instead of trying to research a specific half plan, I decided to run with the first part of the ASICS sub-4 I had been using early last year training for Prague. Why this plan? Well it has a variety of weekly runs that I could use to build up my pace and left the long runs free that I could do with the lads. Of the three mid-week runs, I chose two of them (dropping the easy run) as I was doing days of strength training. The plan had a half incorporated into it, so I used that as my end point. I have to say that it went fairly well. I felt within myself and that the addition of the strength and conditioning training has helped me out with the running.

The big day finally arrived last Sunday. Temps were.. higher than expected. I think we started out at about 15 degrees and finished somewhere around 17-18. Humid once the sun broke through the clouds. This event was broken into a number of waves to start us going based on our predicted finishing time. I personally played it safe, putting down a 1h45m as it was my first Half since Rathoath in September 2019. I had hopes for it, but I also didn't want to get stuck in a group where I was languishing. Personal Record before this was 1H39mins, and while I fancied a crack at it, I was going to judge it kilometer by kilometer on the day.

So starting off the second wave, I saw the really fast lads jet down the road. Left them to do that! Behind them was a sizable group of I'd say 7-10 lads. Right I figured, I tail them. Stuck behind this group as the run progresses and slowly but surely people started to drop off. The group itself broke up by the second water stop after the 10K mark. At this point there was one lad who was going on, with the others falling back. Decided I felt fine and I'd push on after that lad from a nearby local club. Had a quick chat with him as we were around 13-15K and as we hit back onto the Curragh, coming to the final water stop I knew I had enough in reserve to push on.

At this point, I definitely felt the heat on the day. That stretch along the Curragh back into towards Kildare felt very long. It helped to have some support out. A few offered water but I have to say, I didn't want anything to break my stride! I caught up with a lovely gent from Naas from the first wave and we had had a grand chat (as you do when running 4:30m/per km!) along the final stage of it. Once I got over the crest out of the Stud, it was the home stretch from there. I lit up the jets and pushed on the for the final kilometer, coming home in 1H35.50.

Absolutely chuffed. An almost three and a half minute PB. Better than I could of have hoped for, especially given the conditions on the day. I reckon, judging by photos at least, I was the third home from within my wave as two, which was a nice little confidence boost as well. And to be fair, I actually felt good after it. It was more a stiffness in the arms than the legs, which surprised me!

First race of the year, first race in almost a year and a stellar outing!

But wait, there is more.. while not planned, I ended up signing up for the Kilcock 5K a few weeks ago. The timing, not ideal. Five days after the Thoroughbred; a Friday evening race after a long working week (especially when you work with kids ) and also personal pressure of never having hit a sub-20. (It's been an ongoing goal of mine).

Took it easy during the week, an easy 8K on Wednesday just to keep the legs in check before Friday evening. What a race. It felt like an actual race. Everyone lined up and like a stampede going once it going. The race pace, the level of competitions, it was unreal. Even looking at results, there were very few who were not attached to an actual Athletics Club. I felt in exhaulted company.

I was a little worried during my warm-up. Felt a bit of tightness on the back of my leg. Debated whether it was just a phantom pain but once I got going, it caused no issues. I just went for it. A great start and the first few kilometers saw me build up a bit of a cushion for a sub-20. The back half of it was a bit of as struggle and I felt a little leggy. Bit of a stomach cramp at about 4K. But yeah, pushed on and the finish brought me 19:12. 19:12! A 90-second PB. Absolutely over the moon. Breaking sub-20 has been a long term goal for me, so to do it and do it like that was a massive, massive achievement!

What a week of racing. I could have probably done two separate posts for this, but I maybe this is the impetus to start using this blog more. I need to sort out what's going on next. Like a bus, that was two races at once. Now nothing immediate on the horizon. For now anyway

racersedge

So, after starting off this blog with the greatest of intentions of keeping it updated regularly - I've failed at doing that, regularly. So here's hoping it won't be another long wait in between posts (I say, crossing my fingers to cover myself off just in case).

When I last posted, I was coming off the highs of a great week after smashing my Half Marathon and 5K records within five days of each other. To recap what happened after the last post, my main focus became training for the Antrim half. With Dublin cancelled, it was a non brainer. I managed to avoid the temptation to jump on an opportunity to go to Belfast (thank feck, says I after what happened) and Galway. While my base fitness was there, I really didn't like the idea of jumping into a marathon programme three weeks behind. So trained hard for Antrim. Stepped it up even, by using the mid-week runs from the ASICS sub-3:30 Marathon plan to push me on. The end result was another PB smashing run as I came in sub-90 minutes (even if they did measure it short as we now know!). I followed that up two weeks later running locally, doing a half in 1H30:02 on a much more difficult course. So that was all back in September. What have I been doing since? Mostly keeping the mileage up and keeping it varied. A number of the lads I run with were training for Belfast/Galway or going to Clonakilty in December, so I joined them for parts of their long runs to keep the miles up

I have decided though to make a few key decisions to hopefully improve things going forward (and yeah, one of them is to use this bloody blog more!)

1: Looking into joining a club. I love running with the lads and my hometown has a running group, but not an official club. My current town of residence does. It's an opportunity to maybe get to know more people and get to vary things up. I intended a training session last week, ripping the band-aid off so to speak about meeting new people and going back again this week to continue to suss it out.

2: Going to get my V02 Max tested. This has always been something of genuine curiosity for myself. Going to get it done tomorrow actually (so I'll have an excuse to blog back here!) and handy that it's actually partially covered under my health insurance plan. I've been threatening to do the manual way of finding out this stuff for ages but keep putting it off. If I'm going to push on and do what I feel I might be capable of, I think it's only right I try to ensure I have as much info as possible on how the body is working. And if it turns out I don't enjoy the process, well, can chalk it down to experience.

3: The big 'still haven't cracked it yet' is the marathon distance. I'm still down for Dublin next year, but I'm becoming increasingly convinced I need a second one early next year so I'm not having everything betting on that one shot in the chamber. I'm really thinking about Manchester, after a lot of positive reviews of it's recent one. Ticks a lot of boxes with been close enough to home, no language barrier and early enough in the year to allow for a break between a cycle training for that and then on to the Dublin cycle. The one negative is the idea of starting training in December for it. Oi... but it ticks boxes, and seems to get a lot of praises. A bit of a no brainer.

So that's where I'm at. 2021 has been great to see some massive strides, in thanks to consistent training, strength and conditioning and the cutting a lot of flab out. Feeling like I'm definitely getting more serious about my commitment to things now and hopefully in the coming weeks I'll have some pretty detailed plans for 2022 and what I'm aiming to build for.

Now, I just have to remember to not wait the guts of three months before posting again on this thing.....

Unknownability

I would highly recommended Manchester if you need a marathon in April, a lovely course and extremely well organised.

Can I ask where you are getting tested for V02? I've emailed a few places with no responses.

Must start my blog back again!

Laineyfrecks

Best of luck with the V02 test, also something I would be interested in maybe in the new year!

I also would recommend Manchester, good experience all round😊

Mr. Guappa

The background and introduction to running you describe in your OP is similar to my own story, although you are a couple of years younger. In fact, the PB's in your initial post are very similar to mine, although while you have kicked on, one injury after another since the start of covid has stalled my progress. Still, it's heartening to see the chunks you've taken off various PB's since you started the log. Great stuff. Best of luck with the upcoming goals.

racersedge

Keeping the momentum of posting going to report back on getting my V02 Max done yesterday. To answer the question put forward by @Unknownability, I got it done with Health Matters in Tallaght. Found them via Googling. I think the first place I stumbled on, it might of been UCD, was talking north of E100 for it. The base cost with Health Matters was E65. So even at that it wasn't going to break the bank. I'm also with Irish Life Health and have a sports orientated add-on which knocked another E30 off it. About time I get something back off the health insurance! I was in contact with them early in the month and the first booking slot they had was this week. They also do weekends, if that helps - I just happened to have this week booked off so meant I could do it mid-week. Sean is the guy who operates it there.

Got there early (they operate out of a fitness centre there. Gave my name at reception and had the chance to get changed ahead of it (promptly realising I'd forgotten to bring a towel. No showering after I suppose!) and then waited in reception for Sean to come down. A very nice chap. Found him knowledgeable and interested in finding out exactly what I was doing, what my aims and goals were going forward and where I had come from. As part of this test, because the health insurance covered it, I also got a Resting Metabloic Rate test. I've had a couple of these done with my PT guy in the past, and since I'm currently cutting, it was handy to get an updated number. This way was more comfortable than the handheld system my PT had. I basically spent 12 minutes breathing into a tube while the equipment picked up information. After that, the results were printed out and we then headed out onto the gym floor for the V02 Max test.

Truth me told, this is the first time I've been on a proper gym floor (my PT guy operates out of a rented room currently, although is opening his own gym in Athy in the coming months). Sean had a set threadmill ready for the test. I got hooked up with one of those breathing masks strapped around your face (feeling like Luke Skywalker in the Bacta tank in Empire Strikes back) and a heart rate monitor attached. He went through in great detail of how things were going to go. The first few minutes were spent standing still on the threadmill to obtain a baseline. Then he started to up the pace. Started with walking and I'd say every couple of minutes he would up the pace (and at times the gradient of it). Throughout, Sean talked me through things. Making sure I was comfortable, giving some feedback of how things were looking and to be mindful of certain zones (such as between 7kph and 8kph where you are somewhere between the walk and jog).

I have to admit it felt a bit strange running on a threadmill. When I first started running, I used one. But it's been YEARS since I have been on one. I had to stop myself looking behind at times to make sure I wasn't going to fall off. Pace steadily increased as we pushed myself harder. I got as low as going 3:30 a kilometer before I felt I had reached as far as I could go, after building up from that slow walk. This whole process was about 20 minutes in total on the threadmill. I might of had a couple of extra seconds in me either side of it but I felt tapped at this point. The threadmill was slowed back to walk for the opportunity to gauge recovery time before we headed back into the office to review the results.

Like the RMR test, I got a detailed several page document that displayed all the information gathered. Sean had plenty of positive feedback, saying I had done very well and never once looked like he needed to intervene because of how the vitals looked. During our chat after, he went through in great detail, saying everything looked well - although recovery could be better. He did add the caveat that the results of the day would obviously change depending on training, weight etc. (which I gathered as much anyway). I peaked at 176bpm on the day, but he was conscious to say that isn't my max heart rate, just what it was on the day. In this info is individual heart rate zones to target during workout (Recovery; Endurance; Tempo; Intervals) and also a breakdown of the amount of calories I burn when running at a certain heart rate. My V02 Max score came in at 55.5. That's a few points higher than what the watch or RunAnylze is predicting it should be had - but nice to know I'm higher than what they are predicting I'm at. All the pages of info I got came with detailed breakdown of how to read and dissect this information at home. I was also told that if I had any questions or queries I could get in contact with him.

All in all, I was in and out within the 1h15min window for the appointment. The V02 Max was scheduled for an hour, with the RMR test for 15mins. So nice to get out as expected. Sean escorted me back down and showed me again where the changing rooms were to get myself sorted and then headed on out. All in all it was an interesting experience. I've now at least got firm heart rate zones to work from going forward and keep a close eye on to ensure I'm hitting the right zones during training. I also learned I've gained an extra 230 calories a day which makes me a very happy camper when cutting!

Happy to try and answer any potential questions I might not of covered in my trip there if anyone has any, either here or just drop me a message.

racersedge

Since the last post, I've made a few key decisions that will affect the early part of 2022. When I last posted, I was mulling over the decision to go for Manchester. Well, I've since committed to it. Signed up, flights booked and will get around to sorting out the accommadation in due course. In a sense it was an easy decision that I just needed to rubber stamp. I really like the idea (at least until I have to start the training block in a few weeks that is!) of having a second bullet in the chamber for a marathon next year. Everything about the marathon, including the postings here, has been nothing but positive about it. Easy decision and an opportunity to really give it a proper, proper go.

With regards to a training plan for it, I'm circling staying with the previously mentioned ASICS's plans I have downloaded. I like how it gives the detail on what to be aiming for per session, rather than a general 'go easy, go hard' type of one. I'm open to suggestions on it, mind you. But that's the front runner right now, particularly after finding success with following the first half of the program and obtaining half marathon PB's for the Thoroughbred and then again in Antrim,

What I do want to sort out before the serious mileage begins is my training gear for it. A number of the shoes in current rotation are definitely closer to the end than the beginning. As I detailed over in the "What shoes are you wearing now/next' thread over in the Gears and Equipment forum, my attempt to get cheap pair of New Balance 1080's into rotation didn't go all that well. So I'm probably going to play it safe so to speak, and go back to the brands I know work well for me and get a decent rotation ready for what's ahead of me. Keeping a hawkeye look on several sites for deals, particularly with Black Friday coming up to see if I can swing something useful from it.

My weeks and my runs are getting more consistent as of late in terms of what I want to get out of them. My running days have tweaked with me joining in club sessions as of late. Traditionally I've ran Monday and Wednesday as I've done a PT session during my lunch hour on the Tuesday and Thursday. Club sessions are on Tuesday and Thursday, so going forward that's going to lead to some doubling up (although because of coursework on a Thursday, just doing one session with the club. Likely going to need some tweaking going forward with marathon training in mind to make sure I'm not overdoing it. Need to have a proper chat with my PT guy as well, as we are in the middle of cutting at the moment and that's something I'll need to address in January when the mileage really starts turning up. Also, key, is trying to keep some of my runs as bloody easy runs. Definitely done a few recently where I was pushing it too hard to get back in before weather or back to put the child to sleep. Need to stop those bad habits.

Speaking of the club sessions, I've been done for about four now. Joining them unofficially until they open up membership for the next year anyway. Definitely enjoying the difference in the days. It's not like I haven't done intervals before, but its the first time doing it in a group. What strikes me about it is how little you actually spend looking at your watch during it. Your focus is on the person ahead and the cone that is the finish line as opposed to waiting for the mechanical beeps of the watch to tell you what your pace is at and when to stop. That's refreshing. Their current programme finishes up in a few weeks, culminating with a 5K at the local parkrun. So be interesting to have a lash at that and see where I stand with my 5K time after the race I did in Kilcock earlier in the year. My intention is definitely to join up proper once membership opens up. As I said, it's a different experience, particularly as someone who has spent the last five-odd years living in the town and running solo during the week. The company is nice and look forward to getting to know more runners outside my current small circle of running mates.

Speaking of plans for early next year, I signed up for the Raheny 5 mile in late January. I can see where it finds (kinda) into my plan for Manchester. Which I'm glad I could. I've always been tempted by it in the past few years and it just didn't work out logistically. Usually I ended up in Carlow for the Charlie Curran run for a 5 miler in January. So I'll be there, with the wife, and maybe my Dad if he can sort out the dates (so hope the mother can mind the child for me!) Really looking forward to that.

marathon2022

I signed up for the Manchester Marathon as well. Long way to go but looking forward to it.

Shoes are on my mind lately as well. My current rotation is Reebok renew run 3 for daily running(very like Ghosts but only 70euro), Saucony Endorphin speed, for tempo-lots of miles, and Nike Vaporfly I bought for a little stint at 5km a few weeks ago.

I recently bought the NB fuelcell rebel, tried, and sent them back. didn't suit me. Yesterday I bought a pair of Under Armour velocity something or other. I will give them a go in the next few weeks at an easy and aerobic pace.

My plan is a free BAA 20 week plan, level 3. Looking at sub 3.30 so pace ranges are currently 3.15 to 3.30. I will nail down the right zones in the next few weeks

https://www.baa.org/races/boston-marathon/boston-marathon-training

It was the first decent-looking plan that came up on google after I decided to do the Manchester, so more a close your eyes and stick a pin in the paper type choice as opposed to any advice.

With regards to the fights to Manchester for the race, I found out to my surprise that Aer Lingus was half the price for flights over (Friday-Monday) compared to Ryanair. Just in case anyone else is planning on booking.

Good luck with everything, hope you get there in the best shape possible and achieve your goals 🤙

racersedge

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118164543#Comment_118164543

Appericate the input there. Hadn't come across that one in the past. Will definitely have a look at it. In the interests of sharing, this was what I have been at with the ASICS plan from here. Some lad posted them up to keep them alive. Initially started using it for training for Prague last year before COVID happened and felt like I was improving with it (enjoyed the variation). As said above, used up to the half mark of it for training for my halfs this year. But I like to mix it up to ensure I'm improving and on a quick glance, like the variable runs and the info on what to do with with them.

https://www.petewilcock.com/asics-marathon-training-plans/

A bit of deja vu when you mention the New Balance Rebel's. I had a pair. Literally bought them just before I ran the 1080's after spotting them on the shoe thread (I'm a devil for looking for a deal). After the issues with the 1080's, I just couldn't bring myself to try and run with them with no viable return policy that you might find with the likes of Nike, Brooks or ASICS's offer.

Regarding flights, obviously things have changed slightly. Could of tossed a coin as to which deal was better at the time, although I'm planning to come home the Sunday evening so that's what decided it for Ryanair. I figure accommodation should be the easy part now that I've got the flights and of course, the marathon sorted!

racersedge

A quiet few weeks here accumulated yesterday with heading to the Parkrun in Vicarstown. The training sessions I had been jumping in with the club had been geared towards it and made sense as I try to become a bit more of a social butterfly and get to know others who I share common interests in. It fell nicely too, as most of my usual running group had headed down to Clonaklity for that event. I swore I never was going to do that again after the hardship I experienced in 2019. Nearly scared me off marathons that did for good! So yeah, the Vicarstown date feel nicely for me and gave me an excuse to just see where my ultimate pace was still out.

It was cold. Freezing. Apparently, Strava's weather bit tells me it felt like -3 with a wind. It definitely felt that way. It was a morning that made me think hard about what was appropriate to wear! It was my first time out in Vicarstown since 2019, be it for a Parkrun or for the 10mile loop I do with the lads. Big changes since I was last there as they are now on the other side of the canal. I'm assuming this has to do with the development of the Blueway along the canal. Big plus for it is that it's gone from been on a grassy surface to now been on a finely gravelled one. Much more pleasant experience, particularly if you need to step out to get past someone. The only real bite in it is a slight incline/decline as you pass by one of the bridges over the canal. Not so bad on the way out as with running on the right hand side, you can angle yourself to the shortest path over. Less so on the way back with others coming the other way. That said, I'm probably making it out to be much worse than it is.

Strapped on the Speed's for this one and away I went. Ultimately came in at 19:21 according to their timing. Only 8 seconds off the PB I set in Kilcock and it's only my second every sub-20. Hard to know if I had anything else in the tank. Legs felt okay, it felt more with the breathing as a hinderance for things. I've had a bit of a head cold as of late, which seems to be a never-ending thing in the creche at the moment over the past 4-6 weeks. So coming in with that time I'm fairly happy with it. Shows the pace is in the same ballpark as it was back in June (although I would have liked, greedy git that I am, to have been quicker).

Next big thing to get cracking on in the next few weeks will be starting with training for Marathon. I've more or less decided to go with a hybrid plan using the previously mentioned ASICS's plans, with a mix of the club sessions sprinkled in. I've got to get it down that works with the busy lifestyle and the fact that as an early years educator, I'm in a job that is pretty active on each day even before we consider going out for a run.

Like I'm sure many others, Black Friday provided an opportunity to update the gear. Probably went a bit OTT but I have the shoes sorted for the next training cycle. After dabbling unsuccessfully with different brands, I'm going all in on Saucony. Treated myself to pair of the first gen Pro's at that great price posted over in the Deals page. Bit of luxury? Maybe.. but after the year I've had I think I'd like to see what all this carbon plate talk is about. I'm also supplementing them with a pair of Ride's and Triumph's, which I got with Elvery's buy one, get one half price deal - and both shoes had 20% off as well.. so in essence I get what I'd like to think are great deals on them all. Also built up the stash of gels. So yeah, I'm going to bar myself from looking at those threads for a while to avoid any more temptation.

16 week plan for Manchester starts on 13/12/21. Jeez, that feels close. I'll be probably posting a lot more on this when this properly kicks off and seek the sage wisdom of many of you as I try to navigate my way to a marathon PB in April!

racersedge

Less blogging, more logging! This week marks the first of a sixteen-week training cycle for Manchester. (I really hope I have calculated my dates right on this! But Excel agrees with me, so I should be okay!) So my intentions is to actually log, rather than blog, to hold myself accountable and maybe get some pointers along the way.

Aims and Goals:

Manchester Marathon, Sunday April 3rd, 2022. That’s the target (all going well with the way things are looking at the moment!) I’m swinging for the fences with this one and aiming for a 3:30. It’s a big jump, coming from an unofficial best of 3:55. But I feel that since then, I’ve been working a lot of different aspects to improve myself. My half marathon times tell me that I’m much better than I am. So I’m all in, all serious with pushing forward on this and to see how it lands – and (all going well), Dublin will be there if I make an absolute hash of it.

My plan is to make one weekly report, compiling all the sessions into one rather than spamming the board with short updates. See how that goes, depending on what happens though.

Week One Report:

Monday – Off Day

Nothing much to report. Just the usual busy day’s work as an early year’s educator getting the kids ready for Christmas. So extra busy!

Tuesday – Intervals and Upper Body S&C session.

The local club (whom I’m hoping to become a proper member of in the new year when they open up applications) have just begun the next rotation of training, which cumulates with a 10K in late January/early February. I’ve decided to work those interval sessions when they suit into my schedule. I personally think it helps running with other people, particularly with intervals as you feel at times you have someone to chase down or to stay ahead of. The evening saw six 800m sprints with a 90 second recovery. Tough going. I managed to keep my six stints under my 5K pace, which was my intention for the evening. The total distance for the evening came to 8.4K once the warm-ups and cool down’s were included. I got down early, did a 1.2K warm-up myself just to get myself ready for it. Hoping on evenings that the weather plays ball, I’ll easy run down and back from the session.

Tuesday also saw my upper body S&C session with my trainer. Big changes here as he’s finally getting around to opening up his own gym. So it’s a bit hectic now to get down to him on the lunch hour, as I have to drive to the other side of town rather than walk across the yard. At least work is on board with it and they have given me scope with my lunch breaks to be back a little later on those days. Perks of been introduced to the training via them I suppose. The past several weeks we have also been working on velocity based training, using the gymaware to track it. However, now that he has a proper gym setup, I was been the guinea pig to all the new machines. So definitely felt the heavier weights on the day after been light and speedy the last few weeks.

Wednesday – Marathon Paced Run

Back running solo after running with the club tonight. Third day of a busy week and I admit I was feeling a little stiff on heading out, but that cleared up. 5 miles (8.07K) in total. A mile warm-up and cool-down either side of doing three miles at desired marathon pace, which averaged out a little under of what I would need at 4:52/km. I had the watch set up to give me timely reminders to stay within it and I felt I did okay. Possibly a little tougher than I thought, but I have to admit I jumped out straight once I got in and decided to eat when I got back to get the run in prior to the little one going to sleep.

Thursday – Easy Run and Leg Day S&C

So this is where I’ve tweaked the plan to suit my own schedule. Basing on the previously spoken about ASICS’s template of a plan, they had Intervals-Easy Run-Paced/Alternate Run. I see the logic. However, I knew I had leg day with the S&C trainer and coming out to a paced run after that would have been rough. So I swapped them around. Which I was eternally glad for! Again, as there is a heap of new equipment in the gym to experiment with, it was a guinea pig day, trialling new machines and working with heavier weights than I have been in recent weeks. So I was glad to have a 4 mile (6.5K) run to plod around nice and easily on a Thursday evening.

Friday – Off Day

Took the day to take it nice and easy, apart from what is now a regular walk on lunch when I don’t have lunch timed training to do to keep myself going and active.

Saturday – Long Run

Well, I say long, but it was only 8 miles (13K)… so a short long run! And the group was down to just three of us with everything going on. Very foggy morning, so we ended up doing a repeat of last weeks route which was a much safer route than the one I had initially planned. Nice to get out and have a chat with the lads, likely to be the last time before Christmas. A nice easy pace to it and as with all Saturday morning runs, its nice to just be in and have the rest of the day to enjoy.

Sunday – Hill Session

Glutton for punishment. Out the door early enough and drove to the local woods. On one hand, it feels a bit silly to drive 3K to go the woods. However, that’s an extra 6K total out and back and I don’t want to overstep the mileage and I also wanted to particularly focus on a hill session. So I got three loops of the local woods, which I used for the elevation challenge done back in February. Injected some pace into it. Always amazes me, despite been what I would regard as fit, that those stepper elevations quickly change your breathing, even at the start. It was a tough, but very worthwhile session. At least despite the fog, dampness and the leaves, the ground was pretty solid. I’m intending to carry out this kind of session regularly on the weekend to give some variation to what I’m doing.

Week One Notes:

Happy enough with how the first week went. Admittedly, it was a steady uptick in weekly mileage compared to recent weeks. I’d of preferred there to be a more gradual step up, but a few things over recent weeks meant I was a bit shorter for overall distance than I had intended. That’s life, I suppose. A grand total of 42.8K achieved this week, with five runs total and two S&C sessions. I enjoyed the variation, that each day had something a little bit different.

Next week of course, will bring its own challenges as I navigate the training around Christmas with a young child. I’d imagine in the week I have off afterwards I’ll properly incorporate some extra shorter runs to make up for the fact I’m likely to be sitting on my tosh more. The new year will bring some changes on the S&C front. My trainer now has a slot available on Monday lunch times, so I’ll move my Tuesday session to that. That will at least mean it’s one less day where I am double-stacking. What I’m thinking I might do is to return to doing my leg/lower body day to that session. (I used to have it on a Tuesday, changed it in the weeks leading up to Antrim and left it as is). That means I can probably return the three weekly runs back to having the easy/recovery run on the Wednesday between the two harder sessions. I’ll see how that one plays out. I know I need to be mindful of fatigue in the legs, particularly as those long runs start getting longer into the new year.

Happy with how the new gear is suiting. Most of the runs done with the Saucony Ride’s, with me breaking out the Endorphin Speeds for the intervals (which I can so more now that I got a pair of the Pro’s on Black Friday, I don’t need to hold onto the Speed’s as my ‘race shoe’, for now). With the nice and cosy Triumphs for my long run. Layered up good and strong with the colder temperatures as well, as now that I’ve shaken the head cold, I don’t plan to have it back over the holidays.

The long runs at least on Saturdays will be easier now that a few my running mates have decided to do Manchester as well. The intention was they would have joined me on parts of the long runs (or I would have double back towards the start for them to join on another lap) so that will be a bigger bonus once the distances go past 21K!

So, bring on week two! I can see already I need to change the long run, which would be due on my traditional long run day of Saturday. Don’t think the wife or child would be impressed if I disappeared that morning! So, I’ll probably shift that to Friday that I’m off on Christmas Eve. Might even have a look around locally to see if I can find somewhere different to run for a change to spice things up a bit.

racersedge

Week Two Report:

So, I had intended on breaking this into two posts given the way the week went. Then Christmas happened, and I'm now two days overdue on this one and already into week three. That's life!

Monday - Day Off:

No PT this week, as I spoke about last week. I could have gotten one session in this week with my trainer, but the traffic through Athy at lunch time is bedlam and a lot of pressure to get back in time for work. I had intended to do some upper body circuit training with my dumbells, but a busy and a late day in work meant that by the time I got home, that went out the window. Rest is good as well. So a good habit to get myself into it.

Tuesday - Intervals:

In the door and straight out for intervals. I made a conscious decision with everything going on and the closeness to Christmas that I would run solo rather than with the club group. No point taking any risks ahead of the Christmas family meet-up's. So the session followed the base plan, which ended up been 12*200m intervals at my 5K pace. 5 miles (8.1K) total with a mile warm-up/cool down as is the norm on this plan. The session went exceedingly well. I've forgotten how at ease it feels at times wearing the Speeds. Mind you, they came back absolutely manky (a byproduct of picking up the original white/mutant colourway on them. All my sets were a shade under my 5K time, which I felt all the better for given it was a late Tuesday evening after a trying day at work.

Wednesday - Half Marathon Tempo Run

This should hopefully be my last back to back hard session, with the changes made to my PT session schedule in January. Have to admit, the first part of it felt rough. Again, a tough day in a work left me a little drained. I'd say the efforts from last night also had a lingering effect. 5 Miles total, with 3 miles at HMP. I'd say it took a couple of kilometers to find my rhythm once I got the warm-up done and hit into the groove. I hit, which was the main thing, so maybe it was more mental than anything else that it felt more of a chore before I felt comfortable at it. Back to back runs in the Speeds. I think I've used them more in the last couple of weeks than in the first few months of ownership now that they aren't been kept for a race shoe. 10 Miles in the book for the week.

Of course, the day wasn't without it's drama. Had to leave work early as the little one had a temperature spike and the missus was up in Navan bringing her mother to a funeral. Had thought I might get out a little earlier in the afternoon with her on the way home. Then she went and put her car into a ditch driving home on the blooming back roads... so yeah, I'm guessing from a mental point of view, there was a bit of a challenge to the day when considering everything like that. Luckily, wife is okay and she got away with very minimal damage on the car. Could of been a whole lot worse. The little one is okay today. That's all I need a few days before Christmas...

Thursday - Off Day

Last day of work. Flew solo today as the little one wasn't with me. Last day in the creche is generally quite, though a good few of my full daycare kids were in. So the day dragged some. All the other staff got to go home early before me, which I reckon boils down to me finishing early the day before. Got two nice things as present that are running related though - a pair of gloves from one of my kids and my secret santa gave me a printed t-shirt with 'Oh what fun, it is to Run' in a very festive background. A lovely personal touch.

Work is now finished until the 4th. So happy days. By the time I got home, my intended 'at home' upper body set was definitely not on the cards. The couch and a bit of tv!

Friday - Long Run

Switched up the long run to today as tomorrow would be a bit awkward. Got 13.1miles (21.1K) on the books. Up early at 7am to get going ahead of a busy Christmas Eve. That and I was eyeballing the weather. I had a few routes in my head that I wanted to do, but settled on one that spent the first half down quiet roads given the darkness. The one advantage, for anyone looking at my Strava and the long stretches, is that in the dark, you can't see the end of how long the straights were! Some small mercies! Ran reasonably close towards the old hometown before looping back towards Port. As I headed back into town I decided to tweak the final bit of the run to bring me up a few inclines and the like and finished off with a couple of kilometres of a walk back to the house to cool down.

Really enjoyed this run. Took a few klicks to bed in and a bit of tightness on the outside of the foot, but then the Triumph's came into their own and it felt like a snug, cosy ride on my feet as I kept to a 5:25min/km average out there. Felt like there was plenty more mileage left in the legs if I needed to go further.

Saturday - Off Day

I had grand plans of getting out for a quick 5K today. Weather didn't play ball. Awful weather and no point been stupid running out in it. Christmas Day with the family though was really enjoyable. Ate a lot, drank a lot. Lots to run off! Not much excitement in terms of what I got. My Christmas Day was really around Black Friday for what I got myself to be honest...

Sunday - Making up the Missing Mileage

Yeah, didn't know how this was going to go to be honest. I was missing 13K this week, so that was the minimum. I set myself out a route around town to do that. I tacked on an extra three, because I thought I'd need that to just wake up and get moving properly. Despite the amount of food and drink that went down yesterday, I was surprisingly ready to run. I felt comfortable. I felt good. Maybe that's the secret to prepare for the marathon - eat and drink loads the day before. This was just a good bloody run. I was back in the Reebok's this morning, as I have them stashed in my parents place to reduce the amount of gear I need to travel around with. So in total, I did 16.1K on this.

And then I added another slow 6K. The wife needed to get out for a 10K and she wanted support for it. So I joined her for the first part, before she got worried about the child left with the grandparents. Once I got her over the worst of the long stretch back into Monasterevin, I peeled off home. It was an unexpected 6K, but it was a very slow one by my standards as the missus is trying again to get back into running. On the bright side, it probably minimises some of the damage done on Christmas Day.

Week Two Notes;

Busy week ahead of Christmas. Didn't get any of my upper body sessions in, but that's not the end of the world. I want to focus on them for next week though to get back on track. For all the craziness of the week, I had plenty of good runs, aside from some initial 'getting out and getting going' feels on Wednesday and the Friday morning. I logged 59.7K in total this week. Sharp uptick, so I want to mind that going forward to avoid such a big jump going forward. Paces were good, body felt good. Only thing I probably missed out on was getting out on some hills to do some work as I did last Sunday. But the week ahead, I'm off and I can probably tailor things a little better to my liking.

Two weeks down, fourteen to go.

racersedge

Week Three Report:

Into the third week of sixteen. Although given the time of the year and the black hole that time represents, I couldn't tell you what day it is. The closest I come to understanding where I am in the week is off the running plan - and even that I managed to mess around with this week. Also decided with the week off we would try to potty train the child, which is going... okay, I suppose, is the best way at going it. Child is probably hitting just above .500 currently, so I'm classing that as a somewhat success.

Monday - S&C (at Home)

Dusted off the adjustable dumbbells and got cracking on the upper body circuit my PT had given me. It's the first time in about a month I've done this at home, since a lot of late November/early December was taken up with finishing off my mentoring course (note to self, I need to really sign into that email account to make sure there are no notifications I need to be aware of). Session was broken into two as I needed to put the little one to bed half way through. I also put in a 7K walk with the child in the buggy to start the day.

Tuesday - Intervals

Second week in a row I decided to do my own thing. A lot of this was more down to having the day off and been able to run early. Plan had it down for 6 miles, but I just can't, can't do 9.whatever kilometres that it is for 6 miles and stop there. It's just engrained in me that I have to go to the 10. Funny though, as someone who runs in kilometres, I also won't stop at 8K or 16K.. I have to tag on the extra little bit to make it the even mile mark. Anyway, just a random thought on that. I'm assuming it's just my brain internalising that I need to hit actual race distances.

So yeah, it was six on the plan. I did seven. The rationale behind this is also that I'm not moving as much as I would during a working week (and boy is that showing on the scales), so an extra mile added on would at least help me in these times of indulgence. So after the pre-requisite warm-up/cool-down miles either side of it, I had four 1.6K intervals at 10K pace, with 400m recoveries. This one is a little subjective, purely because I don't have a proper representative 10K time. I last did some 10K races in 2019. I actually beat my 10K best during my efforts in half marathon's this year. So I've played around with a figure loosely close to what runalyze has been suggesting I am capable of. I need to find a 10K to go all out on, don't I? See where I am at.

I have to say, I really enjoyed this run. God I love my Speed's. Did I say this last week? Maybe I did. I suppose I'm running more in them now that I have a set of the Pro's for my Race Day shoes. If I hadn't gotten a decent deal on picking up the Ride's and Triumphs, and also knowing what I do now, I should have probable just put more Speed's in the rotation. I've been wearing them at least once, if not twice a week now depending on the session and they just make things so much easier - during the run and after the run. Of course, please spare a moment for the fact that I got them in their original white/mutant colours. So, they aren't so much as they are... well, see for yourself!

But still snug as a bug!

Wednesday - 6M 10K Steady

A bread and butter steady pace 10K which average out around 5:14min/km. You really feel the freshness of been just able to run in the morning and no work to effect you. Actually, come to think of it, its a bit of a struggle to remember the last time I ran when it was dark. Damn it feels like a long time ago. A tad bit windy on the second half, although I was also quicker than my average through that section, so go figure. It was just a good run that I felt could have gone if I needed to. Stopped well short of home, so I could enjoy a cool down walk and make up for the lack of movement for the rest of the day.

Thursday - Recovery (from oh so many things)

Training has been great, up until today. This is where I hit some bumps and a wheel fell of the wagon. Well, let's get this one straight. That happened last night. My brother, who lives four doors down, was up for a meet up last night. Drink was involved and I made an absolute muppet of myself by having too much. I don't drink often. I'm very much a social drinker. I'd argue I drank more on Christmas Day, but in that case I stuck to what I knew and had plenty of food in the stomach. Last night..owww, I decided it would be a great idea to finish off some of the liquour in open bottles. I can remember there was some late night pizza, a very poor attempt to play F12021 against my brother without crashing and an extremely sore head this morning. The only saving grace was the child slept on.. thank f* for that!

My head was actually that bad I had to go out and walk around the estate to just get some fresh air. I haven't felt this bad since... well, I was a lot younger with more hair and less cares in the world. I also had my booster shot this morning. So I got that, which effectively ruled out getting a second S&C session in with the dumbbells.

I was tempted, almost, late in the evening after I got some food into my belly, to go and get the run I was due to get in.. but I decided against it. Early night, hope for the best and tackle that run in the morning....

Friday - 7M Progression Run

Some side effects from the booster... bit of a headache and a general feeling of meh (but that could also be the residual effects of the alcohol). Nothing was stopping me getting out. 7 miles (again, like Tuesday, this should of been 6 but I upped it to have a proper cool-down mile at the end of it). Despite my general feeling of not feeling great, the run made me feel better. Progression runs I find to be a bit tricky. You feel like a bit of a slave to the watch, as it is constantly bouncing up and down depending on the GPS signal. You feel like your constantly adjusting. I suppose I didn't help myself with having narrow 5sec windows to stay within, but remember this was all set up on Wednesday evening when I was fresh and ready to take on the world.

The one thing that was notable, for both Thursday and Friday, was the elevated resting heart rate. Spiked majorly. The same could be seen on this run. I was at least a good 10-15 beats ahead of where I should have been for the effort that was been put in. But I got it done, which is the main thing. The only annoyance is that today should have been the rest day, ahead of the long run tomorrow. That's the dangers of skipping a daily run.

Saturday - 13.1 Long Run

10am feels alien. I'm so used to running at 7am or even 8am. But with the lads off and none them having to haul kids to training, it's 10am. Which just feels...

The lads, who are following a Hidgon build-up for their long runs, only had 12miles. So I arrived early and did a loop around town to make up the difference as I wanted to get the half in. Headed out into the Kildare countryside, taking in a route that anyone who did the Medic Half in September or parts of the Thoroughbred Marathon would be familiar with. Challenging enough route.. plenty of undulating, some hills and some eejit who left his gate open with some very excitable but untrustworthy dogs.

It was good to be back out with the lads. First time out since the week before Christmas. Just three of us, so a small group compared to what we usually have. But the good thing about these guys is that they are at the paces I want to be at. The one thing I would say about this long run is that it felt long. First one in a while that felt with that way. Health-wise, feeling much better. Bit of a headache but amazing to see how my resting heart rate was back to normal, and even the heart rate for the activity was well back to normal compared to Friday's run. Lovely morning for it. Bit windy at times and the occasional eejit in a car, but that's what you get running the back roads. In hindsight, I probably should of packed a gel just to have. I think it was one of those runs where a pick-me-up would have been helpful. One more planned for the week, with the intention of hitting the woods for a few laps.

Sunday - Hill Session

Another bright and early start. I expected the missus wanting to get out for a run so I wasn't expecting to get out as early. But she wants to work a long run in tomorrow so it was off to the woods for me. I'm not the biggest fan of having to actually get in the car and drive to where I want to run. But this was about getting a hill session in and the target was 4miles. Considering it's a 3K run up and back, it would leave a single lap of the woods for myself. Could've walked it, but this be the joys of having a young child as well. I need to be back. So made the short drive to the woods and settled in for three laps of it, which brought me to 6.8K in the end. I didn't have the intention of going quick, but it was one of those runs where when I looked at the watch and thought 'oh, that's quick'. Not bad either on a pair of Brooks which are now at just shy of 900K on them. Decided to use and abuse the last of them given the slightly mucky conditions still found in the woods.

Week Three Notes:

Another week in the books, with a grand total of 60.55K mileage in the bag. Close to last week's amount but definitely better quality given that six of last weeks were me jogging along with the wife to help her. Good foundations are now in place. Next week is a bit of a crunch week, in so far that I'm back to work and it will be a case of tailoring the plan and the mileage to suit a busy work life. Back to PT next week as well, with a change of days to Monday (replacing the Tuesday) and Thursday. So at the very least, I'll only have one day where I'm doubling up the workload. Intention is to return to doing leg day with the PT on Monday, so while they will be worked hard, I've some time to recover before Intervals the night after.

For the month itself, just hit over 200K and also marked 200 runs for the year and just over 2,000k on the books. If you had asked me at the start of the year I'd do that, without having a marathon to train for, I'd of said it would have been a stretch! Actually, according to Strava, I'm fast coming up on my one thousand recorded run (according to Strava, I'm nine off, but I'd image I need to subtract the guts of 5-10 runs for those recorded warm-up's and cool-down's etc. Small little landmarks to hit.

In a way, I can't wait to get back to work only because I'll have more consistent activity. PT has been counting calories and the like with us working at a cutting phase. Just isn't working over the Christmas period. Not that I've been religiously strict to it, but I've been okay given the amount of temptation. But the weight has kept going the other way. Given that workday sees me on my feet moving and working with kids, I think it goes to show how much that has played a part in that. Obviously, I've been active and getting out, but I'm also used to having that running activity and getting anywhere from 8-10K steps a day of movement a day as well. So it all plays a part. The amount of sweets left over doesn't help either.

racersedge

Week Four Report:

Week four of the plan. Back to work this week. Some Christmas excess weight to lose and the cold weather. Welcome to January!

Monday - S&C Session

Back to my PT guy who has properly got everything set up in his new place ahead of his open day on Saturday. Place looks well and he's got a lot of high end equipment. Which means lots of new ways to push me! Leg day today, which he had actually set up for without me asking. I had thought of returning the leg day to earlier in the week to save it appearing on a day I had to run. The speed block is finished so back to general power building again in this regard. Straight into testing out his new kit such as the run rocket and tank. I definitely felt it after this session, in a good way. I think the variety of new gear he has will hopefully aid in building on the great work we have done over the past year. So excited to see where this takes me.

Tuesday - Intervals

First club session of the year for myself. The session itself planned by the club was eight 600m intervals with a short 200m jog as a respite. I made the decision to run up and back to training to add some extra mileage. To be honest, I thought it was a little shorter than the 3.4K that it ended up been. That, including the session itself which came to a tracked 8.2K, I ended up doing 15K on the night! That took me a bit by surprise when I tailed it up and to be honest, a little unintended.

The session itself I enjoyed. I find the 600-800m intervals to be tough going. I had one very fast guy ahead that I tried to keep in sight. I tried to run smart, not overdo it and at least keep my interval paces to thereabouts my 5K pace. I think looking at the stats after, I kept all eight stints within eight seconds of each other. So that felt good. I also found out that they were opening up membership for the new year, so now I can actually officially join the club proper!

Wednesday - 11.27K Steady

Got off work a couple of hours early (owed when everyone else got off early on the last day before Christmas) so I got out the minute I got home for a run. A steady/easy run was on the cards that averaged out just under 5:30min/km. To be honest, it took me about four klicks find my rhythm and to go at an easier pace. I'm actually finding that over 5:30min/km pace a lot harder to keep recently. I have a grand 11.27K/7M route that takes some hills towards the end of it. Port is lacking in inclines in places so trying to make the most of up and near the woods whenever I can to add some short climbs into the routes.

Thursday - 11.27K Alternate Run Aborted & S&C Session

Today sucked. I'm going to start off with that I had a really s****y day in work. Hands up, it was of my own making. I made a mistake that led to another mistake. Shouldn't of happened and nobody is more let down about it than me. And I got rightly reamed out for it. I'm an emotional guy and today hurt. The mistake and how it's impacted my working relationship is going to be an open wound for a while.

To compound this, I could have really done with a run today - and that I had to abort. Started to sleety snow as I headed out. The wind picked up. I got about 800m down the road running into snow darts in my face when I just said 'this isn't worth it.' So I turned around and came home. The last time I ever remember aborting a run was my first 20miler run, when I ran solo back in 2018. I had to stop there when I just hit the wall. Different reasons tonight. There was no need to kill myself when the weather was so bad at the start. I remember having to run through such similar weather in my training for Prague in 2019, but at least when the snow darts came, I was so far out I had to run home. No point doing stupid stuff and risking injury or getting sick. To rub salt into the wound, the snow of course stopped shortly after I got home and showered.

I did at least get my S&C session in at the gym. Upper body day. Back to having to blitz that session as I'm back in work and need to be back. But it's done.

Friday - 6.5K (Emotional Charged) Run

Another s****y day in work as I had to deal with a bit more fallout from my mistakes. Again, I deserved what I was told. Lucky to probably get only a reaming. I'm not going to go into more on it because at the end of the day, this is a public forum and while I don't think any of them are here, it's not the place. Ultimately, I need to pick myself up and use this as a fuel to focus and get my head back together ahead of next week.

Last night's aborted run has of course mucked up the running schedule. I should have a rest day. So I took Sunday's run and did it tonight. Usually do the 6.5K/4M run in the woods. This turned into an 'on the road' just get all the frustration out tempo run. Ran hard - not to a limit, but just wanted to get out, get it done and get it in. Burning some frustration out. Did I feel better... maybe.

Saturday - 22.53K Long Run

The plan was to run this early in the morning. I looked at the weather and thought 'nah'. Look, I know if the weather is bad on race day, I have to deal with it. But given the January weather, I can't train if I'm sick. So I had a rate mid-day long run. The plan was to split the run in two. First half at 5:35min/km pace, second half at MP pace, which since I'm currently training to do a sub-3:30 (or at least aiming for it), it was set for 4:55min/km.

This run went well. A lot of time to 'talk to myself' about the last few crappy days of work. I found the first few klicks a bit hard to keep at the slower pace, but I would later learn the wind was probably on my back. The first segment came in a little under target for the pace. I took a gel at 10K, prior to the change up in pace. I don't think I necessarily needed it, but it's also a case of training the body to start getting used to them. Going with the SIS ones after having them for the Medic Half Marathon in September and Swashbuckler finding the deal on them around Black Friday.

Second half started nicely as I hit the downhill at Killenard. It was the turn back in towards town where I felt that wind into my face. But what surprised me was how I was able to easily maintain the right paces for what I needed to. I purposely tried to pick a route with a number of hills and drags in it. Arguably, running this course in reverse would potentially be more difficult (particularly with the roughly three quarters of a kilometer climb into Killenard that I got to go down. But then again, there was one tough climb on the second half that would have been more fun to go down. So ebbs and flows. That hill was definitely the hardest effort and saw the natural spike in the heart rate. But it recovered well and I'd like to think the stats were all in the right place.

Finish the run happy with the effort. Didn't feel that it had taken the toll on me, which is a good sign.

Sunday - 11.27K Alternate Run

Fixing the botch in the schedule after the aborted run with Thursday's alternate mile run. Let the wife get out first thing this morning before heading out. Alternated between 5:30min/km to 4:55min/km for each mile. As previously stated, a bit of work needs to be done on keeping those slower paces within the right boundaries. It's all too easy to be under it and that is something that I am acutely aware of that needs to be fixed going forward. Nice, chilly morning for it.

Week Four Notes:

A lot of running positives. 66.7K in total this week. 3K more than expected which is more down to Tuesday's run up/down taking a little more distance than I had anticipated. I had considered lowering some of the other runs, but the way my week worked out, I needed to burn some frustration out. Ideally, I don't want to be messing around with the schedule of the runs and having to do a triple-header over the weekend with the long run. Hopefully this can be rectified.

Enjoyed back been to PT proper this week. The new gear that is at my disposal to train with will help in honing and building up on the S&C side of things. Ideally, I would have gotten an 'at home' S&C session with the dumbbells in, but the change in schedule caused by the aborted run threw all that plan out the window to be honest.

From an mental point of view, it's been a very tough week. Work was crappy and I know I need to pick myself up, dust myself off and start rebuilding some of the bridges I damaged through mistakes. It's a bit of a mental test for me as I am the kind of person who beats the living crap out of myself over things like that. If anything, I'd like to think I need to build up some mental fortitude when it comes to the marathon anyway. I'd be lying if I said there isn't some lingering career path questions I have had going recently that are only heightened by recent events.

But let's finish this log on a positive. This week I got a lot of mileage in, a lot of variety in and I feel good after it. I'm also now a member of an actual AC now and I'll soon have new colours to run with. I'm really excited to see where this takes me in the coming weeks and months ahead and representing them in races and maybe having the opportunity down to the line to contribute and maybe try new things within running.

To the week ahead. Fresh start. Let's go...

racersedge

Before I start talking about Week 5, I have to say a few words about the tragic events with the young woman in Tullamore this week. I didn't want to lump into my usual training log. It needs its own piece. Tullamore is about 25 minutes down the road from me, so pretty close. I know it as a town with a strong running community. There are no words to describe what happened to that young woman. While it happened on Wednesday, it was only Thursday when I went for a run that what happened played on my mind. I headed out for my run and realised I was catching a female walker. I just found myself thinking about what might be going through her mind as I approached. Maybe she thought nothing about it - or maybe she had her phone in her hand ready to call given the events of Wednesday afternoon. I don't know. I just found myself thinking quite a bit about it on the run and the days since.

I've found myself reflecting quite a bit on this since. As men, we do take for granted what we are able to do freely. This is no more true for myself when I think about my chats with my wife about running routes. She is getting back into the swing of it as of late and I'd regularly advise her on a few routes. Some of them I just say naturally, such as 'if you take this way, you will add an extra klick' etc. Things we all probably say without a second thought. After the events of Wednesday, I can't help but think though that some of these stretches that I feel completely comfortable with doing, I wouldn't blame my wife for feeling nervous about. In fact, I'm nearly nervous for her if she was to go down that way now that I think of some of the unlit, quiet back roads I take regularly. While the 'safety first' option probably hasn't been the reason for the choice of routes for my wife, its clearly a subconscious one. It's something I know I need to be more mindful of when I do talk about such things in the future.

That in itself is unfair for women. I've been brought up to be respectful to all. I've tried my best in life to do that. Don't get me wrong, I am imperfect. I've faltered, I've stumbled and on rare occasions I've been an inconsiderate crass prick when I've had beyond my limit of alcohol on a night out. But I've tried my best to be the best me that I've been raised by my parents to be and to be the kind of person who points out these kind of injustices when they are seen.

We all deserve to have the same opportunities, the same sense of security in life. First world countries are quick to point out the injustices facing females in other countries, yet we have tragedies such as Wednesday evening occur here. As I male, I do ask myself what I could do more. I have a wife that I want to have a sense of security when she goes out on a run. I have a young daughter that one day will lace up her own shoes and head out into the world - I want her to be safe, to be able to engage in any opportunities she wants to without feeling the need to look over her shoulder or wonder does she need to cross the road when she sees someone approaching her.

We need to do better. For Ashling. For all those who have lost their lives that shouldn't have. For our mothers, our sisters, our daughters. We need to do better.

racersedge

Week Five Report:

Week Five. Quickly approaching halfway at this point. The weather is cool but little rain planned. The intention is to get all the sessions in as planned for once and on schedule.

Monday - S&C Session

My PT finds new ways to push (or torture, depending on how your feeling) me on leg days. Kidding aside, I'm enjoying it. The new gear he has there has led to a bunch of variation compared to when he was working with limited gear before Christmas. It's tough going, but I'm hopefully seeing the improvements. Mind you, I nearly face planted myself into the 100m astro run he has set up when he suggested I do some sprints at the end of the session. Do one, he says. Just before I start he suggests maybe two. I get down into a sprinters position, take off and then all coordination goes out the window and I look like a flailing whale! Somehow, I didn't crash and burn - but probably shows the fatigue in the legs after a tough session. Suffice to say, I didn't attempt the second sprint!

Tuesday - Intervals (Club Session)

After last weeks rather long run with the up and back to the house, I played it safe and drove down tonight. Got down early to do some laps beforehand to add the extra mileage I needed (the plan was saying 6 miles). On tonight's agenda it was 5*1K with a 2 minute walk/cool down in between. I toyed with the idea of trying to keep to a 10K pace, but I find on club nights, you see someone in front of you and you just feel the need to stick with. Which I think I need to do as well, because I don't want to be in no-man's land either with these. So the intervals were going sub-5K paces. Strava tells me one of my segments is no my best ever 1K, so that's something. Of course, if you had asked me to string them all together for a 5K... yeah, bit of a challenge. Got a great chat on the recoveries with the very fast lad there, so I'm starting to make some acquaintances up in training now, which is nice. Definitely enjoy the group training and glad I can fit it into what I am doing for the marathon training.

Wednesday - 13K Steady and Easy

Have to admit, I looked at the distance and thought 'that in the middle of the week!' Plans weren't helped when a bunch of staff were close contacts and I got asked to work later. So instead of getting out before the wife, I had to go after. I managed to keep a nice steady pace going. Admittedly, I think Monday and Tuesday's exploits are felt in the legs. I found it a lot handier to keep to a 5:35min/km-ish pace than say Saturday morning. I do wonder though does the watch pace stay a little bit more static during a normal running activity as opposed to a pre-set work-out where you set pace parameters. Found the extra mileage compared to my 11.2K run to add the little bit extra on. Had to apologise for the wife coming in because for some reason when I read 'do this in 72 mins' on the plan, I said "sure I'll just be a little over the hour' - obviously forgetting that a little over the hour would have been 62 mins!

Thursday - 10K HMP Tempo Run & S&C Session

Yep. Feeling the legs a bit more now with the gradual pace build up. An easy mile to start off before I did just over 4 miles (I wanted to finish on 10K - not 9.whatever that 6 miles is) at HMP. Going back to my thoughts on the watch pace. I felt when I looked at it, it was bouncing around quite a bit throughout the segments. Yet looking at the kilometer averages, I came in bang on 4:14min/km - which is what I ran in Antrim. So did what I needed to do. It's a good precursor ahead of Raheny in a few weeks. While I don't plan to compromise my training for the race, I definitely want to give it socks and see how much I can break my 5 mile time.

I've spoken more about this in the post above. I did find what happened to the young woman in Tullamore playing on my mind, particularly as I passed a lone female walker. Felt the need to write a bit more about it than sticking it in the middle of this paragraph. Those thoughts deserved more. She deserved more.

Thursday also saw the second S&C session. We are doing a little bit more legs to go with the upper body work we are doing. So more work on the tank. So no wonder the legs are feeling it this week. I have to admit I'm kinda chuffed at doing pull-ups while having a 12KG chain around the back of my neck. Session was a but shorter than usual, due to staff still missing and wanting to be back and not abuse the privilege I have of the extra time given to my lunches for these sessions. Need to build back up the credit after the last's week damage.

Ideally, I need to start fitting at least one 'at home' S&C session with the weights. I have that on the agenda for Sunday. I just need to motivate myself for it!

Friday - Rest Day

A bit stiff, but moving freely. No runs today. Got the step count in with a decent walk at lunch. Some nice healthy chicken to up the protein count for dinner coming in. The weight is coming down after having a few off weeks where it is up and down. Body scan coming up soon so I need to right myself and get back on track to where I was before Christmas and make up for the lost ground.

Saturday - Long Run

Upped to 25.75K today. Or 16 miles for those of you working in that metric. The lads I usually run with were doing 14 miles, so I arrived early and got the extra 3K in to limber up. Tried to time it right that I wouldn't have to wait long for them when I got back around, but still ended up waiting for a few minutes. Got going and boy, did I just feel in the zone. It felt easy. Pace for the first chunk was a bit down on the plan suggested (about that 5:35min/km - 9:00min/mile one) but I was happy for the company. I felt so at ease, and that's something even the lads said. Pace picked up towards the end and the average for myself came in at 5:42min/km. So close enough to target. But I felt fresh. I felt relaxed. I felt I could have gone further. I had been thinking about an Epson salt bath yesterday, but I'm not sure if I need it now after that. I might still though. Wife and child are gone today so it's a free afternoon, one I don't get often. Got to take care of myself as the mileage ups.

Sunday - Hill Session

Up to Carrick Woods for the near 7K session. Pushed it hard and it was best and fastest session up there in the three attempts. It’s tough but rewarding and I felt like I was taken advantage of how fresh I felt after yesterday (and maybe that epsom salt helped?). Three laps total and a short recovery walk back to the car afterwards. I’m enjoying the variation of getting up to the woods. The old Ghosts are holding up well, but I could feel some slippage on parts of the ground I’m thinking maybe next week to change it up and run the opposite direction to see how that goes.

Week Five Notes:

So this is the week where I did everything has planned. The runs when they were supposed to be done. No triple run at the weekend. Everything went great. I can feel the mid-week ones working me hard and it's evident by the end of the week. That said I'm thrilled with how that Saturday run went. It felt effortless. More of that please.

66.59K recorded in total. 100m less than last week but then I went over distance last Tuesday with running to and from training. Looking at the health stats though, overall I didn’t push it has hard this week, so building nicely.

Now, after a week of doing the plan right, I need to tweak things. It has next week as having the Half Marathon race week. Obviously, no HM next week. Donadea which was yesterday was an option, but my recollection of the surface wouldn't of been ideal to go out and push hard. I do have Trim (signed up prior to Manchester) in a few weeks - so while it's a 10miler, not a half, I'm going to shoehorn that in as my race week. So I'm going to swap week's six and eight around in the plan is my thinking on that one. Hopefully it's the only major change I need to make to the structure.

Something else I need to consider is that over the next few weeks, the plan does suggest 10 milers in the middle of the week. It's something I initially said 'no way' to. But looking at those weeks, the interval sessions are down to 5 miles, as opposed to 6's and 7's. So.. to be honest, I'm more likely to add an extra few klicks on the other days and keep my longest mid-week run to 8. Been out for 90mins, in the dark, after working with kids all day.. it's a tough ask. But I'll make a judgement call to see how I feel about things over the week and change if necessary.

racersedge

Week Six Report:

Week six, but following the eight week of the plan to swap the race week around to suit running in Trim in a few weeks. Obviously the 10 miler isn’t a like for like with a Half, but Trim was booked before Manchester, so fitting it in.

Monday - S&C

Bit or a scare today during the session. Get some tightness in the calves I felt as the session went on. We got the foam roller out and did a bit of work on it and we finished the session with a bit of cardio to make sure we didn’t stress things out. Some more work with foam roller at home to just keep an eye on things.

Tuesday - Intervals (Club Session)

Got down good and early to get some extra mileage in for the evening. More enjoyable that way than having to run home after. 6*800m with a 90sec/200m recovery. Difference with this session was that I was the quickest there. Always been someone faster up until now so a different type of motivation to keep myself going. Could definitely feel the effects of it on the second half of it. More importantly, no issues with the calf.

Wednesday - Long Run

I remember having a conversation with myself over the viability of running the longer midweek runs when they came up. The plan was even to look at the sub-4 plans midweek runs to run them. Well, somewhere between then and now, I decided I was going to follow this plan as closely as I could and give myself no excuses. So after a busy day in work, on when the shoes and out for a 10 miler! The run itself went grand. I think the heavier workload on Monday and Tuesday made it easier to keep to a slower pace. The route was pretty mundane. Three laps of the triangle around Lidl as I wanted to stay in a brightly lit area. It’s just something to deal with given how dark it is. I’m also conscious of changing up parts of the route to not be constantly doing the same thing over and over.

But yeah, shows where the mindset is at. I had completely ruled out the idea of this kind of run about 7-odd weeks ago. Yet here I am.

Thursday - Easy and Steady and S&C

With the marathon in mind, my second S&C session is now part legs , part upper body. Also having conversations with my PT over an end date for staying in a deficit, particularly with the mileage building on the runs.

The third run of the week was a second easy run. Which felt a bit strange as it’s the first in the schedule. As I passed the woods about halfway through a pair of runners came out and followed me exact same route for I’d say about 4/5K! They must of been pacing just a smidge quicker as it took forever for them to overtake me. Get odd that they seemed to follow me on every turn! That said, I’m proud of my discipline on this one. Would have been all to easy to up the pace and just create some distance. But I stuck to my pace and did what needed doing for the plan.

Strava tells me I’ve his 200k for the month already. Given I have two weekend long runs left and at least another midweek 10miler, there is a real possibility I crack 300k!

Friday - Rest Day

If you can call my line of work a rest day, that is!

Saturday - Long Run (Split Pace)

What a way to spend a birthday. 16 miles on the cards. First half at about 5:30min/km. Second half at marathon pace. First half was a little slower than that as I decided to run the first half with the lads. Jetted off at the 8 mile mark and set a pace better than expected. Second half proved to be more challenging as well than the last time I did this split run. More elevation and climbs to deal with.

I felt good after it. Once I get to pace, I feel at ease. Heart rate looks in a good place. The confidence is building. Now to go and spend time with the family and eat cake. Probably the last ‘splash out’ weekend for a while!

Sunday - Steady Run

Cake. Beer. Takeaway.

Glad I didn’t step on the scales this morning.

That said, the runs need to get done. So an easy and steady five miler. Pace was a little under that but I get in good knick. Cold morning, bit of a wind. Change in location made for some different scenery.

Week Six Notes:

This weeks total mileage comes to 73.43K. 10 weeks left on the plan now. I’ve made a change to my coming home fight. Originally planned for Sunday evening, but with the lads running, I’ve pushed it to Monday morning. Less pressure now and I can hang about for them. Going to see if I can squeeze the Tuesday off work now as well just to properly relax after.

Speaking of work, another crazy week as COVID had people isolating. I think I’m the only person who hasn’t missed time in the last six weeks or so due to been a close contact or testing positive. I’m actually shocked I’ve avoided it so far (or as I am now saying, I’ve never tested positive for it). It does feel like I’m doing gymnastics around it. My room partner caught it. The two girls who take care of my kid have gotten and it’s in my wife’s place. So regular testing and just waiting to see. But yeah, crazy week and I got stuck because of the shortages with been on a 9-6 shift. I hate that shift with vengeance, particularly with a young child. But you do what you got to do.

For the week ahead, the big thing to look forward to is Raheny on Sunday. Can’t wait. I’m not going to compromise my long run for it though. I’ll give it my all - and it will be a chance to see what the Endorphin Pro’s are like. But at least with the long run, I have the guts of a day and a half until the late afternoon Raheny start. I’ve always wanted to do it. Just struggled to make it work (Admittedly, I prefer my races early and on a Saturday). But with everything that has gone on, when the opportunity came up I wasn’t going to miss it. Getting this to work in the plan was a lot easier than making Trim work. Looking forward to that race atmosphere, so I’ll probably do a training report for the week on Saturday and a proper race report for Sunday - unless I make a proper balls of it.

ITS RACE WEEK!

racersedge

Week Seven Report:

Almost halfway through the training programme now. Mad when you think about it like that. So far, things continue to go good for myself. A brief re-cap of what I've gotten done this week (decided to tweak the format of dispensing the info to make it a little more digestible I hope!)

Monday: S&C Session.

Tuesday: Intervals with the Club. 6*800's with warm-up/cool down's either side. Total Distance: 11.3K

Wednesday: Long Run. Total Distance 16.1K

Thursday: Tempo Run with the Club. Total Distance: 10K and a S&C Session

Friday: Rest Day

Saturday: Long Run. Total Distance 29.4K

The Rundown:

The week has gone well so far. S&C wise we are focusing more predominantly on the legs. I need to start doing some short upper body sessions at home now to maintain that as we are doing less of that now. Hopefully get to that in the coming weeks. It's just been all a bit hectic recently. Routine is king. I feel like I've committed, at least in terms of the plan, to follow this sub 3:30 one through as I did another mid-week long run. Committing to the plan and seeing what happens! For that, it was two laps of the hometown. Decided I'd stop in on the way home from work as the missus had picked up the child. Of course, got there and realised I had forgotten the running watch! So I was left hoping that the battery on the everyday watch would hold out - not to mention it was the first run with that so I was left looking at an average pace only displaying on the screen. I hit the expected target at least, but I was just left hoping I'd get home before the battery ran out. Turned out I was closer to losing the batter in my running light than I was my watch!

I usually do my own thing on a Thursday, but after speaking with one of the senior members of the club on Thursday, they said they could have a racing singlet for me ahead of Sunday. So that at least solved the awkward conversation I was having with myself about what I was going to wear now that I'm part of the AC now! I decided to join in the training from there. Like I do on a Tuesday night, I got some pre-session laps in to warm myself up before heading off with them. The plan itself said do it at half marathon pace, but it ended up more marathon pace for the 5K tempo part of it. I'm happy enough with that. I have Raheny on Sunday and the pace allowed me to run with some of the others and be socialable on the like!

Got the long run done this morning. First thing to say is that maths skills are terrible. For some reason I had myself convinced all week I needed to do 5 miles on top of the 13 miles the lads were going to do doing. Of course, 13+5=18. I was supposed to do 17. I realised this right at the end of 5th mile, knowing there was little place to actually cut on the route to claw some back. I purposely started out before the lads, knowing I wanted to maintain a 5:20min/km to 5:30min/km pace for it. Caught them by 14K. I'm not the biggest fan of the loop we did out about Fisherstown. I hate the stretch heading back into towards the old main road. But it's character building to do those routes you aren't a fan of. Of course, the rain and the wind into the face on the way back in didn't help. So I've an extra mile or so on the clock that wasn't on the plan. Ran predominantly in the Speeds this week as I debut my pair of Pros tomorrow

The run marked me crossing 300K for the month. I've never done more than about 230-240 so, yeah.. that's a lot! But I'm feeling good. It's 67K for the week. After tomorrow it will be 75K (if I trust my own maths, which is debatable after today!)

Really looking forward to Raheny tomorrow. First short distance race since probably the Day of PB’s back in mid-2020. As I said last week, I made a decision not to compromise the long runs for it. Of course, I’m going to give it socks. My previous best 5 mile time is about 35mins, done at the Charlie Curran back in Jan 2020 before the world got turned inside out. That’s the same pace per kilometer as I did in the half’s in last August and September. Also, first time to bolt on the Endorphin Pro’s I picked up at Black Friday.

So giddy pre-race excitement. Just a strange long wait until the 3PM start. I’ll hopefully have a positive race report tomorrow evening (although will be late when I get in).

racersedge

Raheny 5 Mile Race Report:

Race Day. My first since September when I did the Medic in Monasterevin. The late afternoon start, I have to say I'm not the biggest fan of. I prefer the get up, race and be able to enjoy the day. Even in terms of race prep, you feel like you are just dragging the morning out until it happens. More opportunity to mess up as you are twiddling your fingers. Off early in the car for the 70minute odd drive, with a quick stop off to pick up my mother who was on baby sitting duty. Got up in plenty of time at least and parked up. The child didn't sleep, which surprised me and not ideal as she has occasional separation anxieties!

Head down to the starter area and all the child wanted to do was get out of the buggy, so we had to keep her moving. First proper walk in the Pro's.. Oooh, they felt nice to walk with (I purposely didn't drive up in them!) You could just feel the atmosphere in the air as you approached. Runners everywhere - walking, jogging, stretching. The sounds over the PA system. You really do miss that. I managed to slip away from my mother about 15 minutes towards the start so the child wouldn't see me to get to the start. The tightness of the crowd... again, you forget what that is like. Could see as always, people trying to snake up towards the front through the open gaps. Spotted my brother in law across from me and remembered his advice, as the advice that had been said here before about watching the start. Delighted to also be racing for my club for the first time. Kit on felt nice.. comfy. Sense of... obligation to do well even.

As for the race, I had a solid start. That first kilometre or so is generally about trying to stay out of trouble, dodging people who start up the front senselessly! I actually saw my brother in law for the first half a kilometre, which worried me. He's a much faster runner, so I was thinking I was either too quick, or he was already in trouble. I later could see he was just pacing himself. Myself, I settled into a rhythm, focusing on the person ahead and just picking people off. I minded myself on those small inclines and when the wind picked up. Each klick just went sub-4min/km. I hit the 5K mark and thought 'jaysus, I've actually beaten my own 5K time'. What I was most happy about was how comfortable I felt. I was pushing it, but I actually felt there was a little bit in reserve. When I need to push forward a bit, I could.

Of course, bit disappointed with the apparent measurement hiccup. Realised it myself coming in towards the finish. Ultimately, I'm not going to let it ruin how good the run went. Manchester remains the primary goal, and as I said in recent training logs, I wasn't going to compromise my training for this race. I wouldn't of ran 18 miles yesterday if I wanted to nail it. I came in, officially came in at 32:32. Pre-race, I would have settled for somewhere between 32-33mins, with a great finish been sub-32. Taking into account the apparent error in measurement, I would have potentially come in sub-31. So that is something. The big takeaways from this performance, is that there is likely a sub-19min 5K in me, and potentially a sub-40 10K. Something to think about when the opportunities arrive.

I got in before the finish. Lovely to see my mother with my child in the buggy and a big happy smile from her. Joined the queue for the plaque because, well's its a bit different. Rain started to fall as we waited for my wife to come in so I brought the child back to the car just as my missus was coming in. She was naturally more disappointed because of the mis-measurement than me as this was her big race ahead of things to come. Back to the car and once we cleared Raheny, a relatively calm drive home back down in just over the hour (which of course, the child now decided to sleep!)

Going back to what I said at the start, the annoyance of an afternoon race, specifically a Sunday afternoon race, is there is little time to enjoy the evening. In the door just before 6PM, I'm not having to prep for the next day's work. But it's definitely been a productive day. I have Trim next week. Another Sunday race, but at least that starts at 12! Intending to break my PB there as well.

Bring on another race week!

racersedge

Week Eight Report:

After the exploits in Raheny, it's back to the grind. This is in fact the week six part of the plan, which was the half marathon race week part. I swapped this with Week 8 at the time to make it work with doing the Trim 10 Mile on Sunday. As it was the case last week, the log goes up today with the hope of doing a race report tomorrow.

Monday: S&C Session.

Tuesday: Intervals with the Club. 5*1K's with warm-up/cool down's either side (and a short pre-session warm-up that I do myself before it all kicks off. Total Distance: 9.8K

Wednesday: Long Run. Total Distance 16.1K

Thursday: HMP Tempo Run with a mile warm-up/cool-down either side of it. Total Distance: 11.3K

Friday: Rest Day

Saturday: Easy Run. Total Distance 10K

Weekly Distance: 63.3K* (47.2K for the week plus 16.1K for Trim tomorrow)

The Rundown:

First off, it's been a s****y week for myself personally. More issues with work - both as a professional but also as a parent. I've a decision to make by Monday. Commit to a rebuild or look to start a fresh. Honestly, I've yet to find a reason for me to stay, aside from the utter complication of having no place to have my child minded and therefore my wife having to give up her morning role. It's the domino effect of things. Anyway, this probably played on my mind during the week. I didn't do my second PT session on Thursday because of where the head was at. This week has felt tough, even taking aside the mental impacts of things. I'm guessing I'm feeling the impacts of Raheny's efforts because its the first week it's felt the legs are a little tired. This was notable on the Thursday evening run with trying to keep to the HMP. Now, I will say the weather was crap on that day - windy, rainy... my shoes, well - look at them! Their colour is gone closer to black and they are white!

I am proud of myself for keeping with these mid-week ten milers. Again, did this in the hometown. Changed up the route so I wouldn't be doing laps. I remembered my watch this time as well! I have two more left on the plan, with one of those been next week. The long run mileage starts heading into the 20milers now as of next week. I did an easy 10K this morning. The plan had 5K, but given I'm losing 5K of distance with racing a 10 miler instead of a half, I did the extra 5K. Ideally I would of used the Speed's, such as the way I did things last week, but they are still drying out!

Trim 10 miles tomorrow. Signed up for this prior to committing to Manchester so this was shoe-horned into the plan. Given how the legs have felt this week, it will be interesting to see what kind of effort I can put into it. Definitely going to PB the distance unless things go horribly wrong, as my official 10 Mile PB stretches back to Endenderry back in 2019 (01:14:47). That should be well beaten unless things go savagely wrong. At least its an early start time than Raheny and will mean home at bit earlier too. I'll let you all know how it goes on.

Otherwise, not much else to report for the week. I do have a pair of Endorphin Speed 2's on the way after nabbing a good deal on them via 365Rider. Don't need them yet and may not through the training run. But until I put some serious distance onto the Pro's to be sure of them as a race shoe (which I will need to do), having a brand new pair of Speed's ready to go as a back-up for Manchester is a good idea - and if I don't use them, they are ready to go for the Dublin cycle of training.

Murph_D

Well done in Raheny. I was wondering about your training paces (based on your race times) but I agree now that 3:30 should be well within your grasp if you keep to the appopriate efforts to develop the endurance adaptations you need. Keep up the good work!

racersedge

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118587455#Comment_118587455

Thanks @Murph_D . When I started this training cycle, I imagined basically using chunks of the 3:30 and 4:00 plan to suit what worked for me. As the weeks went on, and how comfortable I was feeling, particularly at the split pace long runs, I felt I could commit to the 3:30 plan. Admittedly, this wouldn’t even be under consideration if I hadn’t achieved the sub-90 for the half in Antrim and doing the 90 in the Medic a few weeks later. Those runs, even though they feel an age ago now, built the confidence.

Obviously doesn’t guarantee I’ll get what I want of course. In the past, of the three actual marathons I’ve done I have come a cropper - only the virtual Dublin in 2020 did it go right. Different place now though. The next four weeks will be telling as I’ll be hitting the really long stuff. Whatever I learn from this cycle will at the very least inform Dublin in October (although arguably Manchester probably offers a better opportunity for a PB based off the experience of people who have done both!)

Staying positive. Training thus far as gone really well and I think overcoming those mental hurdles of those mid-week long runs bodes well at least for my running mental strength aspects (I hope).

Murph_D

Ah, I'd missed (or forgotten) the half marathon time. Even better. 3:30 marathon pace must feel really comfortable.

racersedge

Trim 10 Mile Race Report:

Trip to my wife’s home county this morning for Trim. A seventy minute jaunt up the road. My wife’s sister lives in the area so at least having somewhere for her and my daughter to wait things out wasn’t as big an issue as Raheny. Drive up went okay. Didn’t feel great though. Stomach was a little at me and a headache. I put it down to driving towards the sun. My pre-race feed strategy hasn’t really changed. I was grand, just not great.

Parkee in Lidl and swapped seats with the wife and headed to find the toilets and the bag drop. Ended up going the long way (via the start) but at least they got the warm up in. Was worried to see a high heart rate for a jog up and about. Put it down to nerves. I like to be well set up before a race - not usually a ‘arrive 20 mins and find where everything is’ kinda guy - part of the reason I’m flying into Manchester on Friday before the race than risking a Saturday!

A shower of rain right before the start made me think I should have brought a light hat and gloves. But it passed just before the start. Found myself pinched a tad on the first left turn (don’t know why I thought we were going right), but not too bad. I was only thinking about that discussion on the forum about how to take hairpin turns as this happened! For the most part, looked like people followed the pace boards for setting up (but still the occasional one who didn’t. Decent wide road down past Lidl at least allowed the opportunity for everyone to settle.

Set about getting into a rhythm within the small group I was in. Checking out what clubs were around, appreciating the support.

However, got to 3K and it just felt like my stomach went rock hard. That would be fine if I had a six pack to go with it but not now. Thinking back, yesterday’s slow run felt like the stomach wasn’t 100%. Just felt rock hard. Wondered if I was going to find a ditch en route. I hadn’t done anything major different to the pre-race routine. I do believe it was to do with stress from work. Last time I felt like this was Tullamore in 2019, where I had to slow, stop and trudge home. My work situation wasn’t great there either. While I know what needs to be decided for it, I do think it all manifested itself today in the race.

So at this point, it’s a mental battle as much as a physical one. Over the race I chose to take just one sip of water at the first water station. I dare not take anymore. I had a gel packed, but wasn’t going near that at all given where my stomach was at. Staying within a group helped. Just allowed me to follow the person ahead.

The turn at Dunderry brought the challenges of the wind. Could tell on the way out the cross wind was strong. Just last the 6K mark, you were running into it until about 9K. Tough going, and it seemed at this point the elevation also started to be tougher. The group I was around started to dissipate. Stomach kept turning. I’m mentally talking to myself at this point, one step at a time and just easing back a little to cater for the wind and the elevation.

Delighted to make the corner at 9K. The support there also helped. I let the guys ahead just power on. At this point I am now actually talking to myself out loud. Reaffirming I know how tomorrow would go. The decisions that will be made. Here comes the rain again for good measure.

Kept the eyes ahead, looking for the next step, the next kilometer. Passing each one seemed to give me confidence, even if the stomach was churning away. Getting to two klicks to go, I looked at the watch. 56 minutes. Okay I’m thinking, that’s a 1:06. That’s okay. Don’t ask me why I was planning to do 2K at 5min/km. But at that moment, I made that maths error! Think we have learned from last weeks extra mile on the long run, my maths aren’t great!

Knowing the final kilometer coming up, the distance sound of the audio from the finish, brought a pep in the step. The legs had something left, even if I wondered if the stomach and head would. The final turn, back into the wind again. Strong as ever. Approach the finish line and I honestly was shocked to see 1:04 on the clock (I’d realise after the race my mathematical error). Up the pace, everything left put into the legs and powered to the finish.

Chip time: 01:04:31

A touch of emotion about that after what felt like a tough day out on the roads. Unexpected surprise. I had thought to myself wouldn’t it be great to hit 01:05. But smashing that. Damn. Previous PB at Endenderry, albeit set back in 2019, obliterated by what, ten minutes.

Absolutely delighted. Averaged out about a 4:00min/km in the end. Probably tells me I was holding back a little in Raheny as well. I’m a very happy camper this evening. Legs are sore. After having a quick Epsom salt ball and some foam rolling on the cards as well to work out any kinks.

But for now, I’m going to enjoy this moment.

marathon2022

What a fantastic marker for the Marathon, the 3.30 target is very conservative with a 1.04 10 mile. You shouldn't lack confidence so if you get to the start without any issues the sky is the limit.

Laineyfrecks

Well done that's a super time especially given the conditions today! I agree this should fill you with confidence.

racersedge

Week Nine Report:

Over the proverbial hump of the middle of the plan - although you wouldn't think it looking at the mileage that is to be accrued over the next few weeks. Fresh (so to speak) after my efforts in Trim and looking ahead to the first of the 20-milers on the plan (which only a few weeks ago I realised there was an extra one on the agenda that I never copped on the plan before!).

Monday: S&C Session.

Tuesday: Intervals - 7*1K with 200m recoveries. Total Distance: 11.6K

Wednesday: Long Run. Total Distance 16.1K

Thursday: Alternate Mile Run (5:30min/km to 4:55min/km approx). Total Distance: 11.3K

Friday: Rest Day

Saturday: Long Run. Total Distance 32.2K

Sunday: Club Social Run. Total Distance: 10K

Weekly Distance: 81.2K

The Rundown:

So, let's begin with the work related stuff. While I knew the direction I was going, Trim really did tell me where my head was at. So I handed in my notice on Monday. I've been unhappy for some time in my role and if anything, Trim showed me how it is affecting something I enjoy doing - my running. I had made the decision prior to it, but the thoughts about it definitely played a role on the day. It is like a weight has lifted off me. Believe me, given the way this week has gone, I'm glad. The only way I made it through the week was safe in the knowledge that my time there is coming to an end. It's bittersweet, in a way. I have enjoyed my time, but the last six months have been difficult and I'm very much aware I'm not going to achieve what I want there. In a way, working in the early years, which is losing people by the new time, I am in a good position to be able to walk away with reasonable confidence of finding something. I am very much contemplating a change in career, but I honestly don't know where to begin in the short-term. So for now, I'll likely remain the Early Years Edu-Racer. Though maybe in the not too distance future I might need to re-name or restart this log!

Right, that's the work stuff dealt with. Okay, one last thing. My hours got changed, which is a pain in the arse for running. So instead of finishing at 5 on my running days, I'm not done at 6. So it's made things awkward, particularly with club training at 7. That said, I had already chosen not to go to training this week. There is a club social run to end the current training cycle on Sunday, so I fell back to the programme plan as it was more beneficial. Oh, last work thing, I swear. Our short staffing issue also made lunches unpredictable. I got only 35 mins with the PT on Monday and ended up deciding to cancel Thursday as I felt the time constrains wouldn't make it worthwhile. Ahh the joys. To make matters worse, I'm 9-6 all next week. <sarcasm>Yippee</sarcasm>

The running week went grand. Like last week, I could feel that bit of tiredness in the legs after Trim. I was actually glad that the Thursday run was an 'easier' alternate mile run as opposed to having to push it harder. Tuesdays Interval session was looking for 10K pace, but I set up a wide pace alert to take into account the efforts in Trim, so those interval times were more 10M/HM pace. No point killing myself.

This week saw the first of the 20+ mile runs. It went really well. Started earlier before the lads doing 18M. Caught them by mile 5. Left them with about 3 miles to go to ensure I kept my target average pace in check. I felt comfortable on a busy route. Heart rate was in a really good place. I know I haven't done a 20 mile since 2020, but comparing my last to today in terms of effort and the like - night and day difference.

Confidence in growing. I know I have been training for an average marathon pace to get in my in just under 3:30. I'm at a point do I start to maybe just nudge that pace faster given how well the plan has been going so far. It's the eternal debate. Play it safe, get what I want or do I want to feel like 'jeez, I could of gone a few minutes quicker'. It's something I'm currently playing around with.

Sunday for a change, I'm doing a little bit more than planned. The club held a social run to end the recent training cycle . Great opportunity for me to get out and meet some new people and put myself out there more. Intentions was to go for breakfast after but the missus has a dodgy stomach so that put paid to that plan.

Next week, it's a bit of a step back. No mid-week 10 miles, although Tuesday has a 9 mile intervals. The roster change at work, plus the fact that the club will just be starting a new training cycle, will likely see me do my own things there. The long run has it as a 15 mile quick (as in around HMP ) run. Most likely it's where you would place your second HM race attempt in the plan. I'm hesitant to go out and try that solo for two reasons. First, I haven't found a half even that might work. The second is that the change in the plan to accommodate Raheny and Trim pushed my race efforts deeper into the plan. Do I really want to add yet another race effort to things and risk things? So my current thought process is to of course to do the distance, but to treat it as a marathon pace tempo run. That in itself could be a huge confidence builder for maintaining that kind of pace and see what it's at. Again, it's something I need to think about as the week goes on.

Into the double digits of the weekly plan we go!

racersedge

I can’t sleep, so now is probably as good as time to blog and throw out a question.

How best to judge your prospective marathon pace?

It’s a question I’ve been asking myself quite a bit in recent weeks. Those following the blog know I’ve had two good race events in Raheny and Trim that have all arrows ticking in the right direction. When I started this journey, the intention was to get as close to 3:30 as I could. I felt the need to give myself the best opportunity to do this was follow a sub-3:30 plan, which I had used the first half of to compete in half marathons late last year.

So far, I’ve hit every session. The mileage is good. So far I’m injury free. Heart rate readings seem in the right place. I haven’t felt tanked after any of the sessions. There has been at least two long runs so far where it asked me to hit marathon pace for the second half of. Both went well and I ran under a time that would have brought my in around 3:30 mark.

Which brings me to the question I am now pondering. Do I play it safe, hit that goal of 3:30 or below. Or do try to harness the fitness I have in my right now and aim to go lower. Originally, the idea behind Manchester was to set me up for Dublin. But that been said, chances are Manchester probably provides a better opportunity for me to set a proper PB as opposed to Dublin Do I let that chance slip away.

As I stated in last week’s blog entry, I have a 15 miler on Saturday. No races on that date and my intention is to run it at a race pace. My thinking at the moment is to run that under that 4:50-4:55min/km I have used for any run marked MP so far in the plan. The thinking is to put 15 miles at a pace, in the shoes I plan to run Manchester in, might give me a good idea of where things stand.

Just wondering what experience people actually have of pivoting mid-plan. I suppose I’m not thinking ‘jeez, let’s go sub-3 here or anything. But I’m thinking I could, potentially knock 10-20ish seconds off a kilometer. Maybe that’s been really arrogant either. I’m sure there is plenty of experience here on this forum that might be able to enlighten me on this one… 

Wottle

Not arrogant at all. I'm in a similar position but my marathon is in two days and I've decided to start a little cautious and try feel the sweet spot and keep an eye on HR.

How many 20 milers have you got banked? What's the plan like the following week and will it be compromised running 15 miles at MP?Just STH to keep in mind.

If I could rewind my own training to a couple of months ago, I'd make sure with 6 weeks out ( your timeline) that I had at least 3x20 milers done and had a half marathon lined up, if you're looking at 3'20, a sub 95 half would boost that confidence.

I'd then have a recovery week at 5 weeks out and at 4 & 3 weeks out I'd be trying to hone in on MP based off the half result.

A few weeks back I ran 69 for a 10 mile solo time trial on a Thursday and tried to back it up with a faster than needed 18 miler with 3x3 miles at half marathon pace (I should have recovered properly from TT). It wrecked me for a couple of weeks and I got very sluggish, trying to recover from the exuberance all while trying to stick to the upcoming plan. I ended up having to cut back on some of the intended sessions.

I think you're right about going for it now over Dublin, Manchester a much quicker course. Good luck.

marathon2022

All things considered if the conditions are good on the day and your last few weeks of training go to plan my advise to you would be to keep your eye on the ball, stick to the plan for 3.30 and nail it.

***But I'm better at giving advice than taking it 👉️,personally I would go for 3.20, **** it, DNF or 3.20 finish either way you will learn. You have Dublin to fix any fuckups.

racersedge

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118651177#Comment_118651177

So far, I have one 20 miler in the bank which I did last week - which for all intensive purposes went very well. This week, aside from the faster pace long run, is essentially a step-back week. I think it comes out at about 39 miles for the week overall. The following three weeks on the plan are quite busy in terms of the long runs. Next week will be 20 miles of split pace (first 10 miles at 5:35min/km, second 10 miles at MP). Week after that it has a 'slow' 22 miler (it lists a 9min mile for pace), followed up the week after steady 20miler (back to 5:35min/km). I missed that last 20 miler until I reviewed the plan one night after a few drinks. Had to check the following morning to see if it truly was there. So in total, there will be four 20 mile runs within the plan.

That leaves me three weeks out from the race. Not a massive taper to be honest, but I'm trusting the plan as I have so far.

I can echo your thoughts about ensuring adequate recovery. I definitely felt those race efforts at Raheny and Trim in the following weeks of training. This week, I haven't had the same sort of fatigue, which is precisely the reason I'm not treating tomorrow's 15 mile at HMP as it says. Okay, pushing it to MP is going to be a test, but I'm not looking at three very hard race efforts in four weeks. If I use this plan for Dublin again, I would definitely avoid trying to shoehorn a race into the plan as I have. I'd of rather had two really good half races spread apart as planned. I've actually managed to avoid loading anymore races into the schedule. Was sorely tempted by that Clane 5K on Tuesday, as I was with going to Portloaise for St. Patrick's Day. Part of me is like 'sure it's only 5K, I could replace it for an interval session'. But it's practically three weeks out with the Portloaise race. Too risky. But I'm trying to diligent and not overwork myself. It's the same with thinking ahead for Dublin. In the past, I'd of raced Kilcock 10 Mile and the Tullamore Half back to back. Something I plan to avoid, as much as I would love to go to Kilcock.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118651263#Comment_118651263

Yeah, see I'm trying to make sure I haven't got delusions of grandeur. I was cocky in my first marathon, thought a sub-4 was on. It took me four attempts to get there. Now, granted I'm in a much different place fitness wise since then now. Not only am I getting the high mileage in, I have two quality S&C sessions that are working the legs good as well. All my health stats are trending in the right direction. I won't go as far as to say these sessions are feeling easy, but I'm recovering quicker than I have in the past. I really notice the difference with the lads I run with, with how I'm feeling post run versus them. I'm trying to be realistic with it. I'd hate to leave too much time on the table, but I also don't want the feeling of another 'failed' marathon attempt. It's more a question of just how far to move the dial forward. I think tomorrow might tell a lot. Plan to set up a wide pace band on the watch. I've a decent route planned - quiet country roads on the way out that are relatively flat with some hills and drags towards the end to add something to it. I hope it will tell me alot, but I'm also watching the weather as while it's going to be unpredictable as to what it will be on race weekend, I'd rather not get destroyed due to heavy rain or winds tomorrow and ruin the effort!

marathon2022

There's a lovely windless window from 6am to 9am in the morning were I am(east coast) , probably not dry and pretty cold but that's fine. I've a 9e9mp2e session. If I can drag myself out if bed at 5.30 that is.

racersedge

Ahead of the usual weekly report, I just said I'd give a more specific report on today's long run given that I was considering what way and pace to approach Manchester now that we are what.. about six weeks out?

Up at 7am, looked out the window at the rain and thought to myself 'nah, I'm going to wait this one out'. I know on the day, you can't control the weather, but at the same time I need to keep myself fit and healthy. Came down, got breakfast and went through that routine - probably a little later than I would have planned if I was going out for 8am. Then the weather cleared up a bit and a look at the weather apps said there was a window of opportunity. Quickly got dressed and out the door I went. Hands up, I did overdress, particularly when I was been told the RealFeel was about -1. So on went the tights and a light rain jacket to ensure I was keeping myself warm.

The first thing that struck me was how 'easy' it was to maintain a pace. I had set a pretty wide pace band for alerts on the watch and I definitely found myself having to ease off a little as I found myself at the faster end of it. I had a specific route in mind, that was relatively flat on the way out and then had more of the elevation and hills on the back half of it. Had to dance through a flooded part of a road about the 8.5K mark (luckily there was just about enough of a pathway through). It was about the 9-10K mark I got out as far as I was when I started to head back towards the town. It was here it was noticeable the uptick in the wind. It wasn't terrible. You noticed it, but it didn't seem to slow me down. Between that and the undulation of the second part of the run added more of a difficultly to the run, which also isn't a bad thing. While Manchester is promoted as a flat route, I don't want to be exclusively training on the flat stuff either.

Flew along nicely. Took two gels in total. Probably a bit earlier on both occasions that I would need to at Manchester, but I want to make sure they are settling fine in the stomach more than anything else. The big thing going for me was the consistency. That dip at the 16K mark was on the longest hill climb I had along the course, so not surprising at all. In fact, I was surprised myself with how comfortable I could maintain an average pace of 4:34min/km throughout the whole thing. Of course, there is the small matter of doing that for another 18K on the day...

In terms of the shoes, the Pro's felt extremely comfortable throughout the run. No issues at all, which I was just something I wanted to check out ahead of Manchester. A bit of vanity here, but anyone any experience of washing a pair of carbon plated shoes and not messing them up? Tad messy after today! But all in all I'm very happy with them. As I said earlier, I felt extremely comfortable at holding that pace throughout the run. Heart rate held up okay as well. Next week will be another interesting test on that one with the split pace 20 miler,. where the back half goes at marathon pace.

So what does this session tell me. Hitting sub-3:30 shouldn't be a problem. I say shouldn't, because we all know that with all the best laid plans, what happens on the day happens on the day when it comes to running. Setting my sights faster to take advantage of where I am is the way I'm feeling at the moment. Today felt good. But as I said earlier, there is another 18K to contend with. I could easily take a few seconds a kilometer off of today's average and still come in well below target. It's a lot of food for thought.

But I'm a happy man after that run. Glad to get in just as the wind was really starting to pick up. If I had gone with the alternative plan of been out later, it would have been a much tougher run. But glad I also didn't take the easy way out with an 'easy' course to run too.

racersedge

Week Ten Report:

Monday: 7M Steady Tempo & S&C Session. Total Distance: 11.3K

Tuesday: Rest Day

Wednesday: Intervals: 11*800m at 10K Pace with 200m recoveries. Total Distance 14.5K

Thursday: Marathon Pace Tempo Run. Total Distance: 8.1K

Friday: Rest Day

Saturday: Marathon Pace Tempo Long Run. Total Distance 24.2K

Sunday: Easy with Strides Run. Total Distance 5K

Weekly Distance: 63K

The Rundown:

So a change up in the routine this week to cater for a job interview on Tuesday night. So given that I had Saturday and Sunday, with Sunday been a harder effort, it made sense to put Wednesday's steady run in there on Monday instead. Of course, I went about 20 seconds per kilometer quicker than I needed to. I got out late, my dad had been over trying to help sort out the fancy door lock so I was a bit undisciplined. In hindsight, probably should of just gone with the intervals given my pace. Braved the wind on Wednesday night for the intervals. Tough, tough session. I set the watch timing alerts wide enough and I just about managed to keep them around and below the 4:00min/km mark. The wind played havoc, plus the drags. I ended up just doing loops around a short area to stay somewhat safe. Thursday's 8K went grand. First time since mid-December I've done what is my bread and butter 8K route. Just shows where my mileage has gone.

The plan is going grand. The one thing that does annoy me about it though is the typo's. Clearly on some of them the maths is wrong. Case in point, this weeks interval session. It's listed as 9M. It was supposed to be 8*800 with 200m recoveries - with a mile either side for a warm-up and cool-down. That adds up to 11.27K or 7M. Yet the weekly mileage for has it calculated at 9M. So that's why I did 11 stints to make it work. It's not the first typo I've noticed. There is definitely a few in the sub-4 plan as well. Just annoying, particularly when you are in a rush to get out the door and you realise your whole programme needs tweaking. Minor vent there!

As described above. yesterday's long run went well. Recovered nicely and got an easy 5K with strides in this morning. Would you believe it's the first time I've ever attempted to put strides into a regular run! Ahh the things we learn. Got out before the weather got truly terrible out there.

Next week... the next two weeks are the big final two heavy miles week. Ironically, they will also be my last two weeks in the current workplace. Not exactly ideal, particularly with the change in my rostered hours. But will have to make it work. The weather deciding to go all winter-like at this point isn't great either, but it builds character! Likely to look into getting a sports massage in the next week or so, just to get everything checked over and make sure everything is looking tip-top heading into the final six weeks into the plan.

racersedge

Week Eleven Report:

Monday: S&C Session & Sports Massage

Tuesday: 'Relaxed' Fartlek. Total Distance 10.22K.

Wednesday: Easy Run. Total Distance 10.22K

Thursday: Progression Run & S&C Session. Total Distance 11.27K

Friday: Rest Day

Saturday: Split-Pace Long Run. Total Distance 32.2K

Sunday: Steady Run. Total Distance 8.1K

Weekly Distance: 72K

The Rundown:

This week was, at least for the mid-week stuff, a step back after the bigger effort that was needed on the Saturday run. Began with getting a massage. It’s been on the agenda for a few weeks now and with the workload not as tough, it was ideal time. No major issues at least there. Tuesday had it listed as 'relaxed fartlek'. To be honest, I’ve never really done a normal one so, this took a bit of reading and googling. Settled on doing 500m at MP, 500m at HMP and 400m easy. Six rounds of it either side of a warm-up and cool down. Wednesday easy was grand.

Thursday went a bit messed up. Distracted by an incident in work (you think I could get through the last week and a bit in peace. That and seeing a large group heading the way I wanted to go distracted me. A breeze caught me and I had a slow bambi fall to the ground. Graceless! Got back up, embarrassingly checked in with someone who saw me fall and got back it - had a run to complete. No major damage. A skinned right knee that hurts more when I’m sitting than running and a small cut on the palm of my hand. Probably helped I was wearing gloves and tights. I think that accounts for my first even fall/tumble not exactly the time to be doing it so close to Manchester!

That aside, the long run went really good. Had to go solo with the lads elsewhere. My first 20 miler on my own since a failed attempt to do so for my first Dublin in 2018. Such a different place now. Split pace, and I added in a new segment to the route to vary it up after what feels like a week going over the same bit of ground. Felt good on the second half running at MP. Undulating course with plenty of drags to challenge things. Between that and last weeks long run, confidence is very high at the moment.

Steady five miler due tomorrow to finish the week. Shouldn’t be an issue on it (although would of said that for Thursday too!). Next week will see the height of the mileage in the plan, including 22 miles easy next weekend. Last week of work too, so I’ll be happy to just get the heck out of there come Friday.

racersedge

Week Twelve Report:

Monday: Rest Day

Tuesday: Intervals 16*400m at 5K pace with 200m recoveries. Total Distance 12.8K.

Wednesday: Easy Run. Total Distance 16.1K

Thursday: Alternate Miles Run & S&C Session. Total Distance 14.5K

Friday: Rest Day

Saturday: Long Slow Steady Run. Total Distance 36K

Sunday: Easy Run. Total Distance 6.5K

Weekly Distance: 86K

The Rundown:

Week Twelve.

Hump Week.

Wait a minute. Hump employs been in the middle of things. So let's settle on calling it 'The Longest Week'.

This week marked the highest mileage of the plan. My highest mileage week ever at running. And I have to admit, I felt it, particularly on the Thursday run when I was out for the alternate mile run. I had a few conversations with myself about wanting to cut it short. If I had my way, this would be a week I'd take off work to get the mileage in!

Of course, a lot happening this week which probably attributed to it. This was my last week in my current work. That went grand, but was a pretty understated send-off. It's a closed chapter and if anything, the last week there definitely told me that I was happy to be going. I have next week off (go figure when this was the high mileage week) before I start my new role. As much as it was tempting to take a few weeks off and start a job post-Manchester, let's be honest - it wasn't a financially viable option.

A bit under the weather at the start of the week. It was first noticeable last Sunday with a higher resting heart rate. I reckon I picked up a bit of a cold on that 20 miler last week (and of course, knowing it was split-pace, I didn't want to be wrapped up warm). Felt it for the first few days and skipped my PT session on Monday to be safe. Got through a tough solo interval session on Tuesday. I look forward to when that mileage drops and I can get back in sync with the club sessions for the company (and hopefully better working hours around that.) While I wouldn't get any awards for my fashion sense, I ensured to wrap up warm on all my runs to play it safe. It was also nice to get a few runs around the old hometown to change up the routes.

Long run went really well. Yesterday was a beautifully crisp (but bloody freezing!) morning. But it's great to see that hint of daylight in the morning, and even the evenings now. That run went a little quicker than expected (I'd say the cold weather had an influence at that), but I'm grand with that. An early start so I would have running company for the first 12 miles - I can't remember the last time I was out just after six am for a run - was a massive boost and I felt grand doing the last 10 solo.

Next week, well, I'd hardly call it a taper week. It is a less mileage week though as things start to 'ease up', so to speak. With been off, it means I can at least get the runs done early and in daylight, which should give me some options on different routes to do at least.

Almost there though. We are now in the four week countdown to Manchester. I have to say, my confidence is feeling good. I feel in a really good place. Hopefully I can put any mental issues aside that has been caused through work and get an easy start to the new place to ensure my head is in the right place for the race.

Laineyfrecks

Very nice week there, great to be on the countdown & feeling confident.

Best of luck in the new job.

racersedge

So, I think a bit of cabin fever is setting in after a lot of recent long, solo runs. Weeks ago, I was adamant I wasn't even going to consider doing the 5K in Portloaise on St. Patrick's Day. But today, as I was finishing off my long run, I was back to debating with myself as to whether I should do it it or not. I'm blaming cabin fever. The runs recently have been long. Most of it has been evening runs so it's continually doing the same bit of tarmac, the same routes for safety. The longer interval runs (plus the change in working hours) have meant I haven't had the break-up in of doing the intervals with the club recently. A quick look at my training calendar tells me I have only had one run with another human being (that been last Saturday for 12 of the planned 22) in the last month.

So the mind starts to play tricks. I've tried to use this week to vary things up, but only this morning's long run really allowed for it (and even that had to cater for the way back with school traffic). So there I am, about 5K from home trying to justify doing it just to change things up.

The Pro's:

It would be nice to have some actual human contact on a run. I can justify it by swapping out the week's interval session and give it a right bash. A chance to potentially break 19 minutes for the first time in a race. The extra day off with Friday for recovery. My dad is running it so it would be nice to go over and back with him with his recent travels. Last minute confidence booster ahead of Manchester. It's only 5K and I could argue that the plan does say do 'Parkrun 5k', which I've always assumed means a pacey 5K.

The Con's:

It's flipping three and a half weeks before Manchester. Potential of an injury or doing some damage that affects Manchester. Is there ample recovery time, especially considering what it felt the efforts of Raheny and Trim took into the next week of training. Potential to kill some confidence if it goes badly. Do I really need this, or is it the recent weeks of isolating runs just messing with my head a little bit.

So yeah, these are the thoughts that go through my head on a nice Thursday morning. I don't need this, but I do kinda want it, if you know what I mean. But that is what this log is for. To put up things that are on my mind rather than having that internal debate within my own headspace for a change. And it could be worse... I could be having this debate about doing the half in Mullingar instead!

marathon2022

Do it. Get your PB and chill for the taper

Laineyfrecks

It's a tough one. I know how it feels to want to just race & getting the chance to run with fellow humans😂

I think you need to weigh it up, although there's probably a tiny risk of injury especially with it being a 5k, is it worth the risk to not possibly be able to run your marathon? You have trained hard for it so to me that would be the main thing so tbh I wouldn't risk it. I think with my recent injury I have become more cautious but thats not necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes it's worth it just to take a few risks but sometimes its worth it to keep the main thing the main thing.

Either way best of luck with your decision 😊

DeepBlue

Maybe consider it from the point of view of 6 months down the road. What would you prefer to look back on - a very good Portlaoise 5k or a very good Manchester marathon?

It's definitely something I found grating in the marathon plan, all this fitness gained and bouncing off the road and yet not allowed to race except for the prescribed 10K or HM so I totally get the desire to run it.

Then again, you do say a 5K is on your plan? I would have thought not running it is the no-brainer decision but if it's on the plan.............

racersedge

Week Thirteen Report:

Monday: S&C Session

Tuesday: Intervals 5*1M with 400m recoveries. Total Distance 13.3K.

Wednesday: Marathon Pace Run. Total Distance 11.3K

Thursday: Long Run Run & S&C Session. Total Distance 16.1K

Friday: Tempo Run. Total Distance 8.1K

Saturday: Long Run. Total Distance 32.2K

Sunday: Rest Day

Weekly Distance: 81K

The Rundown:

Week Thirteen. Unlucky for some. Well, I could hardly call it unlucky with taking the week off between finishing the old job and starting the new one. I suppose you could argue any lack of luck came through the variable weather conditions and the stupidity high fuel prices left me running the same ol' routes and leading to a touch of cabin fever.

Oh, to finish off one the last log post, I did indeed sign up for Portloaise. I have options on the day if I change my mind about giving it a good stab by running with my dad as an easy run. So yeah, sometimes you need to blow a little steam off and that will be it.

Aside from the cabin fever, the week has gone well. I'd be lying if I said I probably expected a bit more at times from the freshness of running earlier in the day as opposed to after work. But then again, I have employed on a number of runs of 'get up, quick breakfast and get out' strategy to make the most of the time the little one is out of the house. Got to Decathalon this week as well and picked up some new gear given that I spend more time in my running gear than lounging gear these days!

Decided to get my Sunday run in on Friday. The first time I've actually done the short run ahead of the long run. Few reasons for that. The most obvious is that I'm off and it's a good chance to get it done. Having a small get together for the little one for her birthday tomorrow afternoon so it would be nice to have Sunday free. I'm also only starting on a short day on Monday for the first day, so there is an opportunity to squeeze the interval session in either before or after run and changing up the format of the week to cater for not only Portloaise, but for the long weekend ahead.

With the last of the 20 milers done (that's three 20's and one 22 done in total), we are now officially on the wind-down towards Manchester. It was nice to change location and run out in Vicarstown. First time since 2019 to get out that direction. Two loops of it and a challenging route to push things. Felt a little leggy, but that’s probably not a surprise after five days straight of running.

While we are now I suppose into the taper phase, the mileage doesn't drop off the cliff - at least compared to the likes of what you would get on a Higdon plan. Likely to drop to one just one S&C session going forward as we try to sort out a schedule for the future with me moving away from he is based with the change in job. Ideally, want to keep going to him as he knows his stuff, I've improved with him and I'm loyal to those who aid me. Just a matter of seeing what I can do given I've gone the complete other direction now.

Three weeks to go. I better go make sure the passport is in date!

racersedge

Streets of Portloaise Race Report:

It's Saint Patrick's Day. The start of a long weekend and what better way to start it than with a race. So yeah, as I described in the last log post, I signed up after cabin fever set in. I had given myself some allowance on it, where I could decide to run with my dad if I felt like treating it as an easy run. I tweaked the week slightly, running Monday and Tuesday to take yesterday off to be fresh for it.

Up early (thanks little woman!) and headed over early to my dad's. Race gear was effectively what I will be using for Manchester, sans the gels. So in a way it's a good last equipment check (although I might look for a different pair of shorts as these ones were more 'short distance' shorts!). Left wife and child with my mam and had a nice opportunity to talk with my dad on the trip over to Portloaise. Once there, it was great to see some old faces I haven't seen in a while and a great representation from my club. I haven't seen many since the club run 10K, which is what, about five or so weeks ago with everything with work and the increased mileage. Saw some familiar guys I'm used to trying to chase down in training, so I knew I was in good company.

Weather was bang on grand for it. A wind at the back for the start. The gun goes off and away we go. As always, that first half a kilometer was a small matter of playing dodgems trying to work around people. The first klick was mostly going downhill, so no surprise to see a quicker than expected first kilometer. Could already feel that breathing working hard as we navigated through the town centre and snaked out the far side of town. Settled into a rhythm within a small group I was in and the second and third kilometers were consistent, albeit slower than the first. From 3K onwards, it became more of a challenge. We are turned back around and the wind was now into your faces - this, added with the climb back up the far side saw the field spread increase. Kept the guy and/or gal in front in eyes and kept powering on. At the height of it, around the 4.5K mark (ish) I could just felt tough and I was glad, like many, to get over that crest of a hill knowing the rest was down hill. We passed the start area, now deserted to what it was about 15 minutes ago for the stretch back in - effectively repeating the first kilometer back into town.

A reasonably sized crowd (especially given I don't think the town was having a parade?) that got closer to you as you hit the narrow streets. That had a really nice feel to it. That downhill drop over the last few hundreds was a god-send. Felt I was close to rolling down it. A cross the line and a moment of reflection before looking at the watch. 18:31 - with a chip time of 18:30. That's almost a 45 second PB (I was 19:13 if I recall in Kilcock last year). Caught my breath (I swear Strava is taking the p*ss saying my Relative Effort was 59!). Caught up with a number of club members to see how they got on and then cheered on my Dad as he came in.

Lovely way to start the long weekend. I accomplished what I wanted.. what I needed to do. Scratched an itch that was to see where I stood in terms of a race. Set a new personal best. Didn't do any injury! And got to spend some time with my dad while at it. Added bonus to see a great turn-out from others in the club, who's contact I have missed the last few weeks. At least the way the taper works, I can go back to incorporating the club sessions back into the plan for the final two weeks of the plan.

Two more runs due this week - I'll go into more detail on things in the weekly blog.

marathon2022

Fantastic report. That's what its all about.

Good luck in the Marathon

racersedge

Week Fourteen Report:

Monday: Intervals - 11*800 at 10K pace with 200m recoveries. Total Distance 14.5K

Tuesday: Steady Run. Total Distance 13K.

Wednesday: Rest Day

Thursday: Race - Streets of Portloaise. Total Distance 5K

Friday: Long Run. Total Distance 24.6K

Saturday: HMP Tempo Run. Total Distance 10K

Sunday: Rest Day

Weekly Distance: 67.1K

The Rundown:

Three weeks to go. Judging by this weeks workload, it is a case of it starting to ease off. But it doesn't really feel like a real taper yet. That said, I'm sitting here writing this, looking at that weekly distance total and it just feels that it's wrong. It is what it is supposed to be. But after hitting 72K, 85K and 81K for the past three weeks, I would be lying if I thought I should be doing more. But that's the whole point of starting to taper. Reduce mileage, let the training truly soak in and rest up.

Tweaked the week around to suit fitting in Portloaise. That was worth it given the result, which I detailed above. Definitely could feel some after affects with during the long run on Friday afternoon. But that said, it was nice to get it done and have the rest of the long weekend. I would say though that I was constantly thinking it was Saturday for the rest of yesterday (which probably isn't a bad thing to be a day ahead of yourself!). Got out early this morning to get in what should of been the third of the mid-week runs with a HMP Tempo run. Felt like an accomplishment to finish the run on Tuesday. It marked the last 10K+ run mid-week run of the plan. Next week's, its 8K's and 10K's only. I remember a time where 8K's were just the limit of mid-week distances. How times have changed.

What struck me this week was the brightness in the evenings now. It was great on Tuesday to be able to get out and not bring the light for a change. The extra days off also helped in this regard. No S&C sessions this week with the change in job. The plan was to try to shoehorn something in, but at the time of writing this hasn't happened. I need to start doing some stuff at home just to keep things ticking along.

Two weeks to go now. Definitely looking at next week's mileage I am into taper mode. Considering another massage session in the next week or so, maybe, to have myself well primed. A matter of looking after myself now and avoiding injury, colds and Covid for the next two weeks. I'm likely to keep roughly the same structure into next week as I did this. Definitely want to get back down on Tuesday evening for the club session. Need to start keeping Wednesday free now as the wife plans to start pregnancy swimming classes on the Wednesday night. Good time for it to kick off as I'm hitting the taper! Weather is looking great as well looking at the next 10 days (haven't dared to look towards marathon weekend yet!)

Almost there. Next stop, Taper-ville.

racersedge

Week Fifteen Report:

Monday: HMP Tempo Run. Total Distance 8.95K

Tuesday: Intervals. Club Session 4*Mile with 2min rest. Total Distance 8.15K.

Wednesday: Upper Body S&C (at home).

Thursday: Steady Run. Total Distance 10.3K

Friday: Rest Day

Saturday: Long Run and S&C Session. Total Distance 16.2K

Sunday: Easy Run. Total Distance: 6.5K

Weekly Distance: 49.2K

The Rundown:

This week was well and truly a taper week. I swapped the order of the runs around to free up Wednesday (the other half is doing yoga swimming lessons on the evening now - nice timing to start it as my mileage was going down!). I also made a point of getting down to the club training session as it's been ages since I've gotten down. It was nice to have the company - and to actually see people in a bit of daylight for a change. I could of gotten away without going down (especially with the way covid figures are going), but it was nice to see everyone before Manchester.

I finally got off my lazy bum and tried to kickstart some S&C at home. Better late than never I suppose. The upper body stuff has gone terrible as of late since the proper sessions have been really working on the legs. Speaking of S&C, I got over to my trainer after missing out last week for a pre-marathon maintenance session. We will discuss how we go forward after Manchester - likely have to chop it down to one session as his location is at the opposite to end to where I live and work now.

Judging by my hear rate readings and effort that it is showing up, this really was an easy week. Have to admit I was questioning whether it was working right at times. Mind you, I'm glad my confidence is high because if I was judging by the drop in my 'Marathon Shape' according to Runalyze over the past week as the distance has dropped could easily have freaked me out! Obviously their formula doesn't really taken into account the tapering weeks really.

So next week is the big one. Already put some safeguards in place. I have a massage booked for tomorrow evening to make sure everything is in good place. I'm in Pink A wave, and after having concerns that I might be buried behind a slower pace group, I was delighted to find out when they announced the pacers that I have 3:15 pacer within the group. The weather forecast so far looks like it might be ideal too.

So main objective for this last week - don't do anything stupid. Don't get injured. Don't get sick. Don't get covid. Just a few short mid-week runs to get in ahead of flying over. Time to start packing the bag!