The 2023 Graduates Thread - What's Next?

Mr. Guappa

Good stuff as always @Bungy Girl. Going by your weekly updates it certainly seems like the Base block has been a success for you and you're in a good position now to look forward to the rest of the year. With you delaying the start of your 5k plan we'll be perfectly in sync with our weeks as I had been a week behind. Not sure yet if I'll do the 5k/10k or 10k/HM one, but the first 6 weeks of both plans are the same, so I've a bit of time to decide anyway. Do you have a particular race or races in mind towards the end of the plan?

How is everyone else getting on? Flying it, or struggling a touch? Let us know. Anyone toeing the line in Raheny next weekend, or Trim/Dungarvan the week after?

Sunny Dayz

Did my first long run in ages yesterday morning - 13km. Was so tired by the evening. Not following the Grad's plan but trying to keep a running routine going of 2 x track sessions, a 5km either after work on Fri as I finish early or doing parkrun on Sat morning and a long run on Sun. Have been doing most of that the past while except for the long run.

Doing the Charlie Curran 5 mile this weekend coming - haven't run it before, we usually do Raheny but fancied a change.

Bungy Girl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121653007#Comment_121653007

I've no specific target race (maybe I should !), was thinking I can just do a parkrun but it might make more sense to invest in a race - I'll be more committed then 😊. Great that we'll be plan buddies 😎.

I'm not doing Raheny as it clashes with tennis (which takes care of the next 4-5 Sundays). If we get out of group stage and into the playoffs (it would be a miracle 🤣) that'll be even more Sundays gone. So for now my long run has to be Thursday and everything else gets shuffled around.

Best of luck to all doing Raheny 5!

Louis 2018

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121653007#Comment_121653007

Ran the Charlie Curran in Carlow on Sunday, tough 5 miler with the wind conditions far from ideal for the last couple of km but very happy with time as it was a PB. Couple of 5k races over the next few months with a half in May booked in so hoping to get started on a programme for that next week.

Overall feeling good, getting in 3/4 runs a week in addition to cross and gym sessions.

Mr. Guappa

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121693864#Comment_121693864

Great stuff @Louis 2018 congrats on the PB. Any PB at this time of year is a great bonus, and a nice reassurance that all the gains made last year in the marathon block are still there.

Best of luck with the HM training, sounds like you're in a great place to be starting into that.

Mr. Guappa

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121661176#Comment_121661176

Yeah, I think most people would say they'd dig that bit deeper in an actual race compared to a parkrun. The great thing about 5k racing is that the recovery is pretty swift so you can afford to have a couple of cracks at different races in (relatively) quick succession.

Bungy Girl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121697240#Comment_121697240

I'm looking at the Bob Heffernan 5K in May now. I'm told it's a great race and, most importantly, flat !

Last week's training was just random runs ahead of starting the 5/10k plan this week. I did keep track but my spreadsheet got scrambled and I wasn't bothered to rescue it. About 23 miles total I think. Also 2 league tennis matches (we won both !). And there was a swim in there somewhere too.

Bungy Girl

Week 1 of the 5-10k plan done. 5 runs total (27.7 miles). Also did 1 (short) yoga, 2 tennis practices and a bit of cycling. I had planned to do the 20 mins recovery run too but couldn't fit it in and didn't get to the gym either. It was great to have the variety on the plan this week (hills and tempo). Not sure I'm getting the paces exactly right for the speedy stuff but the hill reps were fairly consistent and the tempo, which I did at parkrun, was faster than moderate but not eyeballs out. Looking forward to Week 2. How did you get on @Mr. Guappa ?

Mr. Guappa

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121721954#Comment_121721954

A good week for me too. First time in a long time doing hill work and felt it went quite well.. effort felt consistent and each 1 min rep ended at roughly the same spot on the hill, a good indicator of even effort. I didn't worry too much about paces, just tried to find a good, hard pace without losing form. Finished thinking I'd manage one more rep if I (really) had to, but no more than that.

The wind has been playing havoc with a good few runs lately, including this week's tempo run... I try to dial back the pace and find the right effort, but usually end up working a bit too hard. Very happy with this week's long run though, just a really smooth run.

I'd intended on working towards the Dundrum (Tipp) BK5K in early May as my target race, but I might not be available for that now, so will need to look at alternatives. Plenty options about around that time though, so I'm sure I'll find something suitable. Did one of the Offaly 5k series last year, so could look in that direction again, we'll see.

Edit:

https://lindienaughton.blogspot.com/p/calendar.html?m=1

This calendar gives a pretty comprehensive list of races throughout the country, and will be updated as more are confirmed. Plenty 5k's in April and May anyway!

Bungy Girl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121723089#Comment_121723089

Ha, yes, I remember being told that if someone put a gun to your head and/or a bottle of prosecco on a stick in front of you, if you could do one more rep then the pace was about right 😂

bazwaldo

I'm still trying to get back into the swing of things post DCM. Physio and recovery were about two months long and I have just done mostly easy runs since and not much distance. No more than 20km a week and no run longer than 8km. I recognise now how much I achieved during the DCM training as running a HM was weekly and underwhelming was done so often, whereas now running for an hour would be a major struggle.

I had every intention of starting the base plan shared here but for whatever reason I could never get started with it. I found it hard to commit, caught a cold, was busy in work...

I want to do S&C once a week, yoga at least once a week and I usually play 5-a-side football once a week so I couldn't figure out how to merge those into the base plan so I just kept putting it off.

To get the ball rolling and to get some fitness back (it has massively dropped since DCM), I have started doing the Garmin suggested runs. I'm only done a few days of it so far but am really enjoying it. I used a Garmin training plan for a HM last year and I like the way it's all programmed into the watch and it adjusts each week based on my efforts. It's a bit non-committal which for the moment suits me. I should set a goal by entering a race, to have something to build up to and to help me stick with it.

I think improving my 5k is my next challenge. I'm probably 90 seconds off my usual 5k times from a year ago. 

Mr. Guappa

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121728466#Comment_121728466

I can't say I'm overly familiar with the Garmin plans @bazwaldo, but if you're enjoying it and it's helping to get you out the door and re-establish a small bit more consistency then that's great. As long as there is a nice sprinkle of easy runs in there I'd be happy. You could earmark a parkrun in March as a target, maybe even do one this weekend to put a time in the books, and then try to improve on that in 4/6 weeks time with a bit of consistent training.

bazwaldo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121733164#Comment_121733164

Yes, there are plenty of easy runs. For the next 7 days, there is one rest day, one with intervals and 5 easy runs (inc 1 long run).

A post on reddit got me trying it after some googling about it initially - https://www.reddit.com/r/Garmin/comments/1408zds/garmin_daily_suggested_workouts_my_dos_and_donts/

https://www.garmin.com/en-US/blog/fitness/daily-workout-suggestions-for-runners/ explains how it works.

Bungy Girl

Week 2 completed : 29.3 miles total including 2 sessions. I had to cut my long run short unfortunately as it ended up being on the same day as a league tennis match and I wanted to save my legs in case it was a 3-setter (needn't have worried, we dispatched them without losing a game 😂). So LR that day was 70 mins instead of 105 mins.

I wasn't sure about the paces for the CV and threshold sessions so went for a wide range in both cases and ended up averaging 8:20 min/mile per CV rep (6 x 3 mins) and 8:35 min/mile per Threshold rep (5 x 5 mins). Might have been a little soft on myself but it wasn't way off.

Am really enjoying the variety on this plan. Apart from the usual challenge of fitting everything in it's working well I think, and hopefully I'll see some progress in my 5K after it ! I don't expect to get near my PB (it's almost 10 years old 😲) but a sub-25 as an initial goal is achievable I think.

Mr. Guappa

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121763135#Comment_121763135

No harm in taking it a touch handier on the paces, or aiming for the slower end of the range, at least initially in the earlier weeks of the plan as you find your feet and gain a bit of confidence. I missed all last week (bar 3 miles) with a dose - frustrating, but can't really be helped and I'll just look at it as a very generous step-back week! I did that 6 x 3 min CV session this morning, and it was a real confidence booster - gave myself some wiggle room with the paces coming off the illness, but it went very well.

Completely agree with you on the variety in the plan - I also feel that the 6-week base phase gave us a nice platform to be ready for these speedier or chunkier sessions.

Bungy Girl

Not a bad week. 28.3 miles total. Had to cut short a couple of the runs due to time constraints but did get the full long run in this week and the hill session. The tempo ended up being parkrun done at a quicker pace than normal so that wasn't the full 30 mins. Looking forward to the AP session (I've set the target at 07:50 - 08:10 min/mile pace for the 6 x 2 min reps). I've an errand on the southside on Thursday so rather than sit in traffic for hours I'm going to get the Dart over and then run home for my LSR.

In tennis news we won again so we're into the knock-out stages so that's the next 2 (at least) Sundays gone 😊

Mr. Guappa

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121789213#Comment_121789213

Nice week again @Bungy Girl - congrats on the Tennis! Lots of moving stuff around last week for me too, but managed to log a decent week in the end. Adare 10km now on Sunday - my first race since the marathon. I'll go out and try for a PB anyway, although tbh I've no idea what to expect.

Bungy Girl

Best of luck for Sunday @Mr. Guappa ! Hope it goes to plan.

Bungy Girl

Hope all went well for the 10K @Mr. Guappa !

I had a scrappy week, only 20 miles in total, but I did get my long run, a session (the AP one) and a time trial in, so it wasn't a complete disaster.

@Murph_D very kindly paced me at Malahide parkrun. I requested 25:30 thinking that might be do-able based on a sub 26 in Fairview parkrun earlier in the year (tougher course). Imagine my surprise when my watch showed 24:55 at the finish. Murph must have decided at some point I wasn't being ambitious enough with my target 🤣. Fastest time in years, but jeebus it was very tough. Legs, lungs, everything all in bits.

The LSR during the week was a point to point from Dalkey back to the northside. Chose the wrong direction as it was into a freezing cold wind the whole way but it's a lovely run along the coast and more or less flat.

Half way through this week already and so far so good.

Mr. Guappa

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121827321#Comment_121827321

Congrats on the parkrun @Bungy Girl... great to see such a positive result so early in the plan. Legs, lungs, everything all in bits? Sounds about right for a 5k... well done 😀

My 10k went ok(ish). 43 minutes even, so a frustrating 6 seconds slower than my PB. I do have a string of plausible excuses though! It is an annoyingly lumpy course, and it was pretty windy for the race too. Plus, I missed a week of training with a dose at the start of the month, so all in all I'm happy enough and know that I have room to improve next time when I'm a bit sharper.

I wasn't intending on doing another 10km race anytime soon, but now I feel like I've some unfinished business with the distance so I'm going to try work another one into the schedule.

Sunny Dayz

Well done Bungy Girl and Mr Guappa on your races!

witnessmenow

Hope everyone is getting on well with their running!

I'm somewhat back on the horse since my last update before Christmas, but still really easing back into it!

I had a chest infection over Christmas, not sure if thats what I was complaining about in my original post too, but haven't had the same issues since I finished up that medication (but probably not running as much!)

Had to travel for work in early January and came back with covid, other than being really tired I was generally ok, but it 100% had an impact on me for a maybe 4 weeks. First run back after Covid was an easy enough 5k and my heart rate hit 190 towards the end!

That seems to be behind me now as I feel my running/fitness is now more in line where I should be for the amount of training I've done (not very much!)

I dropped to the half in Kinvara the weekend before last having originally signed up for the 3/4, but even the half was a big stretch, I had only run 10k or over once since the start of December. Really difficult conditions and I did ok for the first 18km and struggled the last 3, but came through ok.

I sure am glad I didn't sign up for any Spring marathons though! Although I am a little jealous of the club mates who are starting the ramp up the miles now, would have liked to have been in that position, but it will come again soon enough!

Going to get myself back into a routine of 5 times a week starting this week, just do some easy KM to get myself used to it again. 5K out of the way already this morning so off to a good start.

Mr. Guappa

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121878621#Comment_121878621

Great to have you back @witnessmenow. It's always tricky coming back to training after an interruption - there can be the temptation to ramp things up too fast too soon, be that via too much mileage or too much intensity, but you seem to have a solid plan there by taking it easy and getting the body used to running 5 days a week again at an easy pace. The fitness will come back, it just requires a small bit of patience. The good news is that the mornings and evenings are becoming that bit brighter every week, making running much more enjoyable.

Bungy Girl

I had a scrappy couple of weeks, between one thing and another, but back on track now and currently on Week 6 of the 5k/10k plan. It's looking like the Bob Heffernan 5K in May will be my goal race so I still have a week to spare on the plan in case I get thrown any more curve balls! After @Murph_D dragged me around Malahide parkrun a few weeks ago, I've adjusted all my paces for the sessions using The Running Calculator and they seem about right now (faster than what my half marathon time suggested). I'm not sure what to aim for in May, sub 24 might be a good target, I think I'd be happy with that. I'll know closer to the time if it's achieveable I suppose.

We got eliminated from the tennis league at the playoffs stage, just missing out on a promotion for next year. September will be the next proper league so I should have more time for running between now and then.

Hope you're getting along well @Mr. Guappa , have you fixed on another 10K race yet ? Well done on being so close to a PB on what sounded like a less than favourable course !

Murph_D

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121892785#Comment_121892785

Dragged around? You were working hard but in control all the way! Best of luck with this.

Mr. Guappa

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121892785#Comment_121892785

Thanks @Bungy Girl. You've shown great consistency all year, so a scrappy few weeks won't do much harm in the overall picture. Had a scrappy February myself between a dose and a couple of trips, which meant runs were moved around a lot. Feel like I'm back on track now too after a couple of consistent weeks.

One thing the Adare 10k showed me, was that I need a bit of practice at the shorter distances. There's a lot of 5K options every week it seems, and I think I'll do either the Streets of Kilkenny or the Banagher 5k which are both in the next 2-3 weeks. I just want to try and get used to the appropriate effort levels (and pain levels) at th shorter distances, so one of those races should be good practice. 10k's are less plentiful, but I've identified a couple that I might be able to work into the schedule towards the end of April - Maynooth or, more likely, Splashworld (Tramore).

Louis 2018

Anyone running Dunboyne 10k next week? Have heard lots of good things about it.

Mr. Guappa

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121897619#Comment_121897619

I've never ran it but it has a great reputation. Almost 700 finishers last year, which is a massive number for a 10k. No matter where you are in the field you'd have someone to work off/with.

Louis 2018

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121897635#Comment_121897635

Yep some big numbers for a 10k, doubles up as the National 10k championship I noticed too. Looking forward to the fast finish on their running track!

witnessmenow

First week of back at it under my belt.

All easy: 5K | 7K | 5K | Rest | 5k | 20K | Rest

Didn't set out to run marathon distance, but a happy accident.

Generally went fine. The 20 on Saturday was probably a bit of a stretch considering where I am but it went ok, stopped for a couple of walks around 15K in but was able to pick myself back up again and finish out the last few KM without issue. Was tired today, slept in til 9:30, the luxury!

Hope everyone had a good week!