Am I Running Or Jogging?

Yesterday, Plan: 4 Miles Easy

This was meant to be done Thursday but I managed to bring the wrong set of keys with me to work and was locked out when I got home. By the time herself got back it was a bit late and we needed to put the dinner on so it fell to Friday. The run itself was great. Conscious of the LSR the following morning I kept it very easy and actually really enjoyed it.

Total: 6.5km @ 6:19/km


Today, Plan: 14 Mile LSR

I'm gonna be honest. After failing to do 16 miles last week I was never going to stick to 14 this week. There was a dragon that needed slaying and it had to be done.

The plan was to get out early and, in fairness, I did get out a lot earlier than last week but still not at a time that would be considered 'early' by any of the rest of you. It was well after 12. Fortunately, it was also much cooler today, overcast, and there was a nice breeze.

I took the same route as last week too, because if you're going to be slaying dragons, you might as well make it the exact same one. Where last week I had a ton of energy setting off, this time I felt much flatter. My legs felt more tired and it generally felt a bit more like work, despite the slow pace. I wasn't letting it get to me though, because I was confident I could still do the distance and it would prove that the only thing that stopped me last time was dehydration.

Sure enough, the rest of the run was refreshingly dull. The kilometers ticked by, the pace stayed fairly even, and I actually perked up over time. By about half way I felt much fresher than I had setting off. I had brought two gels for testing and I took the first one around 8k. It seemed to result in a very mild stitch for a short time, but nothing unmanageable. At 18k I stopped at a shop for more water and took the second gel, this one had no ill effects.

After that, it was up the hill past St Endas where I had died spectacularly last week, and all was good. On into Marlay for a lap and then homeward and I was actually picking up the pace a little bit. The legs were absolutely spent in the last mile, but that was ok. That's what I'd expect. The legs are what should be spent, not the rest of me like last week.

When I finally finished I was feeling pretty triumphant, it was really great to get that one off my back and to know that I could have kept going if I had to (though I wouldn't have enjoyed it).

When I got in I had a protein shake for the first time. Strawberry flavour, wasn't too bad. It will be interesting to see if that has any noticeable effect on recovery.

Total: 26.1km @ 6:26/km

Yesterday, Plan: 4 Miles Easy with Strides

Took it nice and easy with 5 strides in my stride field somewhere around the middle. Strides are great crack.

Total: 6.5km @ 6:06


Today, Plan: 7 Miles Easy D'Oh! 5 Miles Easy.

This was a commute. The last two weeks on this route have included PMP miles and habits are hard to break. I kept noticing my pace creeping up and having to try and pull it back. I got absolutely drenched on this run, I'd say I was carrying a few kilos of rainwater with me. :pac: Given that I'd been doing a pretty poor job of keeping the effort strictly easy, I decided not to continue up the hill towards The Beacon and peeled off to do the last 3k on my flatter local loop.

I actually don't mind running in the rain generally, it was quite refreshing overall.

Total: 11.4km @ 6:07

The Muppet wrote: »

Which plan are you on Max ;-)

Oh my God you're joking me! I need to look at the plan every day from now on! :rolleyes:

Long one inbound, but I like to have deets for posterity. :P

Frank Duffy 10 Mile

I went to bed before midnight. Now, granted I lay awake until at least 00:40, but I tried! These races keep getting longer and I had the predictable nerves yesterday evening. It was replaced by placid calmness when I woke up this morning though. I followed the same routine as the last two races. Gear laid out the night before. Get up, pop the coffee on, pop the porridge on, stick on Boards for a browse, get the gear on, water and get out the door.

On the way down the M50 the wipers were at max speed and we still couldn't see out the window. There was a driving rain that had all the traffic slowed to a crawl. Things were looking grim, but thankfully it had eased a bit by the time we got to the park.

I'd no idea where to line up in the single giant wave so I just squeezed in somewhere and hoped for the best. I think no matter where you squeeze in though you're going to end up behind slower runners and so it was. Once we were off I kept in mind the advice to avoid weaving. I normally weave like I'm possessed to try and pass the slower runners, but I thought it was time to practice having a bit of patience.

Miles 1-4

It was seriously congested, much more so than any of my prior races and the first kilometer ticked by much more slowly than I had planned. The herd hadn't thinned much by the time the second rolled around and while the pace had improved a bit, it was still slower than I wanted. I was a good 40 seconds behind my target time already as a result. Things were looking up in km 3, gaps were opening up and we were on a downhill so I made back some of the time but I was conscious of not giving it too much welly because there was a long way to go. First water station flashed by, but I didn't bother with it.

I passed through 5km in around 26 minutes, a little slow because of the start but I was feeling great going up Military Road. The advantage of starting a bit too far back is that you're passing people all the time, some of whom are struggling already, and when you're still feeling fresh it gives you a great mental boost. Passing through 6km and onto Chesterfield I was still feeling fine. At the turn off by the zoo, pretty much on the 4 mile marker I spotted my girlfriend cheering, gave her a big wave and blew her a kiss and was generally delighted with how I was feeling. The pace was pretty much on point now.

Miles 5-8

It wasn't until I turned onto the North Road and was about to hit the 5 mile marker that I had any negative feelings at all, but even then it was minor. I noticed that the bit of spring in my step had faded and it was probably going to gradually get more sloggy now.

The North Road section is long, boring and exposed and after all the congestion earlier I had now managed to find myself quite isolated. There were scattered runners around me, but the nearest group was maybe 100m ahead so I couldn't tuck in anywhere. I had a gel in my pocket that I brought purely for marathon training purposes, because I've never tried them at this pace before, so I popped it after the 5 mile marker and it went down okay. It was a little more awkward to eat but that was about it.

The rest of this section is a blur, I was just focusing on keeping the pace consistent, looking after my breathing and trying not to let the wind trick me into expending too much energy. There was a water station somewhere along here and I took some this time to wash away the gel stickiness from my mouth. I shoulder charged another runner at the water station and yelped an apology: he was cool about it. My focus was on getting back to Chesterfield for, what I was thinking of as, the home loop.

The turn onto Chesterfield arrived, putting the wind at my back(ish), though it's funny how you scarcely feel it at your back after all the horror it has caused in your face. Still, I got to recharge and pick up the pace on this stretch and I recall passing people as we went through 7 miles and starting to feel pretty good again. As I approached the Phoenix Monument and 12km I spotted my girlfriend again, dead ahead, camera in hand. Gave her a big smile and a wave and it wasn't even forced. I'd glanced at the watch and was pretty happy with the time-vs-how-I-felt-ratio. The photos are gas. I've a big sh*t eating grin on my face and all the people behind me look like they'd prefer to just be literally dead.

Miles 9-10

There looked to be respite in the Acres Road and its lovely long downhill, but I couldn't help but think "don't lose the run of yourself, this is only a loan and you'll have to pay it back soon". Turns out I had to pay it back in spades, much sooner than expected. It was really exposed here and the wind was punishing! I had very quickly gone from "Whoopie, only 4k to go!" to "Holy sh*t, can I do another 3k?"

I managed to dig in though and hold the pace until the Upper Glen road. This was the first time in the whole race that I actually felt properly burdened. After spending a lot to hold the pace in the wind I was now faced with a literal uphill battle and things got a little sketchy for a couple of minutes, but after the road does that little kink right and then left things flatten out again and I knew I'd only a kilometer to go so I started to gradually open the throttle.

In the home straight I discovered I'd 'kicked' a little too early and with only 200m to go the pace was starting to drop again but I spotted my girlfriend for the third time and found a little extra to pick it back up for the last 100.

I was delighted to cross the line in 1:23:40 which is gloriously close to my McMillan prediction from the 10k, suggesting that my endurance is better than I had feared. But what's more, I'm pretty sure I could knock a minute, maybe more off that. I started slow and ran within myself most of the way, so I'm pretty pleased with myself this afternoon.

Total: 16.2km @ 5:09/km

Thanks all! I allowed myself a glass or two of wine last night and I was still feeling pleased as punch heading out for my recovery today.

Singer, without your words of caution ringing in my ears there's every chance I'd have gone out too hard and blown up in mile 8. Especially considering the congestion early on and how eager I was to be free of it, so I appreciate it.


Plan: Recovery

As recovery runs go this one was pretty poor, in the sense that it was too quick. I continue to be confounded by the things that my body is happy enough to do these days. If I'd attempted to run a 10 mile race last August, I'd have spent the following day on a drip in a hospital bed, rather than nipping out for another 4 miles.

Total: 6.4km @ 6:11/km

This weeks total amounts to a modest 40.6km (25m), which I feel oddly guilty about.

Hah! I'd be happy enough to do them at that pace but unfortunately my heart rate does not agree that it's correct.

Yesterday, Plan: 4 Miles Easy

I still haven't been feeling great, there's definitely some sort of bug at play. With that in mind I took it very easy for this one and barely broke a sweat.

Total: 6.4km @ 6:39/km


Today, Plan: 17 Mile LSR

I was very dubious about taking this on. I still felt pretty off this morning and would have been just as happy to go back to bed rather than tackle my longest run to date. However, I haven't missed a run yet on the plan and this is a fairly important one, I knew that not even attempting it would only plunge me into misery. So, I made a deal that I'd go out and keep it slow, see how much I could do and be prepared to call it off if it wasn't working.

With that in mind, I had resigned myself to running laps of Marlay Park so that I'd be fairly near home if I did have to call it off, rather than being stranded in Walkinstown or something. I stuck my headphones in and thought I'd just switch off the brain and leave the body to it but the Marlay Park plan didn't last long. After one lap I had already had enough of the avalanche of feral children on scooters and the hordes of small dogs walking their humans on 3 meter ropes, so I was out the gate and on towards Knocklyon.

I hadn't brought any water with me and planned to stop at a shop when necessary, but I regretted this because it turned out to be warmer than I anticipated. At 12km I stopped at a garage and grabbed a Lucozade Sport which was gone by 14km, but the bottle continued to haunt me until 16km when I finally found a bin.

At this stage I was starting to fade. I wasn't feeling great at all and it was a bit of an effort to keep putting one foot in front of the other. At 17.4km I realised that there was only 10k to go and that, while it was going to be a miserable 10k, it was only 10k. So I pressed on. At 21km I stopped at another shop for a Powerade and also gave the legs a quick rub down as they were starting to stiffen. It was tough to get myself going again even though I was only stopped for maybe 2 mins.

By around 22km it became mentally a lot easier, even though my body hated me, because I knew I was in the home stretch. The horrible looking hill behind Nutgrove was much less fearsome than it looks, and shortly afterwards I was back in my own 'hood, pounding familiar pavements for the last couple of km.

When I got in I downed a protein shake and had a rather uncomfortable shower before sticking on the football and partially regretting my decisions. I feel much more unwell now, so it probably wasn't the brightest move. But in fairness, I'm happier to have gotten it done and feel a bit sick than I would have been with the alternative. So there.

Also I rewarded myself by ordering pizza. And chips. With garlic sauce.

Total: 27.4km @ 6:24/km