The Boggers Log

Today: the plan called for 4/6 miles easy but as I'd postponed yesterday's session, I'd to do it today. Last few days have been a bit manic travel wise and I haven't been in the same place for more than a couple of hours. Had to head to Paris today.

Busy day and I was only going to run easy again today but then I saw Double D's post above and thought ffs, I'll have to try the feckin session now

When it comes to HTFU, DD is the man!

I'd to do this on a treadmill and mentally I'm immediately in a bad place as I detest treadmill running.

Anyway the session was 2 miles easy wu/cd with 15 minutes @ 7 min pace off 3 mins rec, with 5 x 2 mins @ 6.10 pace off 2 mins rec followed by another 15 mins @ 7 min pace.

Had to shorten the wu/cd as I was a bit tight for time, was sweating like a fat man in a steam room from the off. Was so bad the singlet I was wearing was drenched and stretching down my thighs, almost like a man mini skirt (settle down Tang!). I set a small incline on the treadmill and set the paces a little faster to compensate for been inside.

15 min reps done @ 4.18 km pace

2 min reps done @ 3.47 km pace

Rant of the day: lads with little ponytails sprouting, like some class of vegetable, out of the tops of their heads!!!

15k for the day.

TbL

Thursday: plan called for a 4/6 mile easy double.

Was up very late on Wednesday and an early morning start on Thursday morning put paid to any chance of an early run. Landed in Dublin around 11pm and was too tired to drive home so I got a room in one of the hotels beside the airport. Convinced myself that a midnight Nursing Home Special would be a good idea, but it probably wasn't. Got 4 chilly miles done @ 9.12.

Friday: early morning drive down to work in Galway and instructions to take Mrs TbL out on the town left a very tight window to get any run done. Managed to get 7 miles done @ 8.52, not really feeling the love for it at the moment!

Saturday: originally the plan had me down for the Dunshaughlin 10k, but I was unable to secure the appropriate planning permission so I was down to just do 30 mins easy with strides. Ended up with an unscheduled rest day!

Today: had managed to secure short term planning approval for the more local Annaghdown 10k. Weather in Galway was terrible today, very wet and windy and around 3pm when I was due to set off I was considering abandoning it altogether but in the end I decided to give it a bash. After a bit of a detour I managed to find the registration hall, picked up my number and headed off for a short one mile warm up. Felt ****e running into the wind and I knew the second half of the course would be into the wind, so I didn't set any time target but just to run it hard. Nearly got caught out as the start was about 200-300 metres up the road and I just made it before the off.

Didn't seem to be many running it but I saw Matt Bidwell, a sub 2.30 marathoner, at the start I reckoned my chances of winning it were now only 50/50

Was passed by a fair few lads belting along from the off and I decided to rein in the pace as I knew it wasn't a PB course and the second half was harder. Felt terrible for the first few miles although I started passing people and after mile 1 I wasn't passed again. Wind really started to bring the pace down although perversely I started to feel strong during mile 4 (the slowest mile of the race) and made up the ground on 4 runners ahead of me. Passed two of them and caught the other two just after 8k, tried a "surge" to break away from them but they reeled me back in. At this stage I really didn't care about the time but wanted to see if I could win this mini battle.

The second half of the course has a fair few inclines to contend with and at the next hill I tried to up it again, a quick glance seemed to suggest I'd dropped one of them but the other lad was only a bit behind. I took a brief breather and he came up on my shoulder, but I responded with another decent burst and put a few metres between us. I came to a slow jog at an unmanned turnoff as I didn't know which way to go but I then saw a luminous jacket up the road and I took off again but the pace drop off meant that I'd only a few metres on my pursuer. Tried to burn him off but I looked around twice and he was gaining, put in another little burst and managed to hold him off. Crossed the line and had a wet retch, had to make a bee line for the nearest wall!!

Not happy at all with the time 40.55 but then again I rarely am. Finished 5th and was happy to win the mini race over the last 2k. 6 miles at 6.33 pace is poor but I'll take it as a tempo session and move on.

6.25
6.30
6.32
6.46
6.41
6.39
5.46 (for the .2)

TbL

Today: plan called for a 4/6 mile easy double. Took a late lunch break to get the first run in and headed over to the pitches in Dangan. I'd expected the legs to be giving out but they felt fine, should I be pissed off in that maybe I didn't run hard enough yesterday or happy that I seemed to have recovered well. Stop overthinking it you twat and just run!!

Did laps of the pitches while reflecting on yesterday's run and a text conservation with the HTFU guru, Double D. Still think one of my biggest weaknesses is the mental aspect of racing and training my brain to overrule the body when the hurt starts to shock the system. Not sure of this, but in longer distance races I seem to get periodic bursts of adrenaline that help with pain management but I never seem to get the same effect in the short races.

Anyway 6 miles done @ 8.33

Got out for the second run later in the evening, tried pretending I was running for my life to see if I could replicate an adrenaline release but no joy

Maybe I should ask Tang to run after me in the buff with a tube of lube, that should do it

4 nursing home special miles @ 9.19

10 miles for the day.

TbL

ger664 wrote: »

C

I think you should join a running club. I know your work/travel lifestyle would mean you get very little benefit but it is way easier to get past mental block of pushing hard if you do a few faster sessions in a group rather then solo. Even if you only got in one or two a month it would be well worth the membership fee.

Ger

youngrun wrote: »

Very true
GCH have organised Tues track/trail sessions , membership+track fee is v reasonable. Summer slot is 6.30 , warm up/drills/then session either on track or trails. all done in an hour. plenty around 40 ten k and either side of. Plenty of group runs organised , incl a Sun am 9 am 11-12 miler.

Thanks lads but I don't think this would work for me. I doubt I'd get one a month in given current travelling and other commitments. I need something more flexible and I think I'll see if I can go back to doing what I did on previous cycles.

I used to run with some faster Boardsie lads, like AMK, FBOT, DD, DrQ, Ecoli, Dublin Runner and Yaboya for my sessions which for them might be a steady run. I really found this great as they dragged my ass along at a faster clip than I'd do solo. I'll never forget one 15 miler with Ecoli & Dublin Runner that seriously hardened me up.!!! Think it's time to dust off my little black Boardsie book and put on my lipstick.

TbL