Am I Running Or Jogging?

Singer wrote: »

They sound well deserved! Your splits on Strava don't reflect the internal horror detailed in your log, there was I thinking that it was a good long run

Ah it wasn't really that bad overall. I'd say 5-6 of the last 10k were fairly miserable but the rest was fine. I mostly felt crap afterwards.

Feeling better this morning, thanks FD. I didn't get a great night's sleep so I'm a bit tired (might have a nap later ), but not feeling sick!

Plan: 8 Miles, 6 PMP

The good vibes from yesterday bled over into today and I ran this at too high an effort. The whole run including the warm up and cooldown miles still comes out at a touch faster than my PMP. Add to that the bag on my back and the fact that most of it was uphill and the effort was considerably higher than it ought to have been. I knew this while I was doing it but I was having a great aul time and couldn't convince myself to slow down. I was just really enjoying putting in a comfortably hard effort for a change.

A lovely run that I may well pay the price for when I head out to have a crack at 19 miles on Saturday. :eek:

Total: 12.8km @ 5:33/km

That brings August to a close with another new monthly record of 226km. I've been keeping the lads over at the Guinness book busy the last couple of weeks. :pac:

Plan: 4 Miles Easy

Not much to report. Legs a little tired. 19 miles next. :eek:

Total: 6.4km @ 6:18/km

There's an 18, a 19 and two 20s left on the plan, nothing above 20. I've read a few of the more experienced heads around here advising not to go above 20 because apparently recovery times rise rapidly after that, so even though mentally I'd like to do maybe 22 I will definitely defer to their wisdom!

Singer wrote: »

If you were to do 22 at your last LSR pace, you'd be on your feet for 3 hours 45 minutes, which sounds like a long time to me (I have never run for that long!).

http://running.competitor.com/2014/07/training/are-you-overemphasizing-the-marathon-long-run_55719/2

McMillan suggest 3 hours 30 minutes should be the limit... https://www.mcmillanrunning.com/articlePages/article/2

So you're saying... Go faster?

That said, if you're at 20 and feeling good...

I don't think there's any risk of this happening.

I was thinking similar myself. I'm already on a plan that had me right on the cusp of what my body can handle at the moment so I wouldn't want to push it. It's been going well so I'm not gonna look a gift horse in the mouth.

However, if I decide to it again next year my easy pace should be quicker so I'd probably think about choosing a plan with some longer runs.

Firedance wrote: »

No no no nooooooooo!!!! Don't do it max, it won't be worth it for very many reasons. Plenty of time for that in future marathon training plans but for now, stick.to.the.plan.

Fear not, I won't take any risks at this stage!

Plan: 19 Mile LSR

I really wasn't looking forward to this because I'd stuggled a bit in the latter stages of the 17 miler last week. Granted part of that was down to illness, but it still left a bad taste. I was up early enough and was going to head out and get it over with, but the forecast said the rain would easy a little in the early afternoon so I decided to wait a while.

My plan was to run down to Templeogue and join the DCM route there, following it for the last 9 miles to the finish, before running home. A bit of mental maths said that came out around 19 miles. The rain eased off as expected and was relatively light when I headed out, which is my idea of perfect running conditions. I pretty much always get dehydrated during LSRs, but with the rain keeping me nice and cool so as I wasn't pumping out sweat, I was cruising along without that concern.

I had decided to go a little quicker today for two reasons; because I wanted a better feel for what the route would be like on the big day when I (hopefully) won't be plodding along at 6:30/km; because these longer runs would be well over 3 hours at that kind of pace. I went with the quicker end of my easy range instead and it paid off.

I felt pretty great throughout. I had the headphones in (I don't care what anyone says, I like my music) and listened to four Muse albums back to back and felt like I was gliding along most of the way. I hadn't bothered to bring any water so after I passed HM distance I stopped at a shop for an isotonic drink and noshed a gel too for the crack. Then it was on to Merrion Square before heading back home.

Funnily enough the route home was the same one I do on my commutes, which takes in the part of the DCM route up through Clonskeagh and past Roebuck, so I had to double up on that stretch. Things only got tough in the last mile when I had to climb the mountain up towards The Goat and on up Birches Lane (the worst). At that stage my legs deteriorated pretty rapidly but with only 1km to go I dug in and then sailed down the other side of the hill towards home, feeling pretty pleased with myself.

It was by far the most enjoyable LSR I've done, as well as my longest ever run, and contained my fastest HM of 2:06 (I've yet to race one). So all in all, a resounding success. I have to say, a lot of my reservations about the marathon were vanquished today. I'll do a bit of a write-up about the part of the course I ran in the novices thread.

Total: 30.6km @ 6:01/km

Yesterday, Plan: 4 Miles Easy

Very tired, very warm. Meh.

Total: 6.5km @ 6:18/km


Today, Plan: 8 Miles Easy

Really tired all day today, I think this resurgence in warm weather and humidity has disturbed my sleep. Ran this as a commute and really wasn't in the mood. Sweat was pouring off me and I was just knackered throughout. Got it done though and that's what matters. It's probably the nasty ones, rather than the enjoyable ones, that will stand to us most on October 30th.

Oh and I wore the wrong runners to work, and had to run home in them. In my tired haze this morning I put on my usual walking-to-work runners that were retired from running about 10 months ago and have easily got over 1,000 miles of running/walking in them. So that was annoying.

Total: 12.8km @ 6:00/km

Plan: 20 Miles LSR

Aw man, I'm shagged. I spent two hours just lying on my bed in a towel after this. Couldn't even convince myself to get up for something to eat!

I was going to get up at 9 and go straight out for this on an empty stomach, but my OH was up at 7 because she was volunteering for the DSPCA today and even though she was super quiet, some noise she made at some point woke me up. So I was behind on sleep by over an hour. I waited until she left and nodded off for another couple of hours. Then the United match was on at 12:30, so I had to do it after.

I could tell by about 4 miles that I wasn't in the same shape as last week and that at some point this would turn into a slog. I kinda new I'd eventually have to pay the price for how good last week was. I was grand like, but didn't have the same pep in my step at all.

I stopped at about 18k for a Powerade and took a gel with it. Carried on until about 25k before the wheels started to come off a bit. For the last 4 miles I felt like a clockwork toy gradually winding down and I had to dig pretty deep for the last mile. The endurance just wasn't there this week at all, could be down to having had very poor sleep for most of the week.

It's done though and I'm delighted about that. I'm even starting to feel human again now!

Total: 31.85km @ 6:12/km

Oh yeah, my mental maths was wrong and I actually stopped about 300m short of 20 miles!! I was livid about that when I realised, but now I'm over it. It's not like it actually matters at all.