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Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose

diego_b

So based on the advice in the DCM 2015 Novices thread from Dubgal72 to start a log....here it goes...

My background,
I am a 33 year old Irish male, originally from the midlands who lived and worked in the Dublin area for the last 10 years. Recently moved with my wife and daughter to County Kerry where we will hopefully stay forever more.
I work at home but travel to Dublin every four weeks to catch up with my office based colleagues. On those trips this I try to rope in some other sporting venture in the city either playing soccer with mates, a training run in the Phoenix Park or a race.

My health background is that 3 years ago I weighed 21 and a half stone (at 5ft 10in in height with a BMI of 42.8). Back then I was often breathless with minor exercise such as a short walk, suffered back pain and didn't sleep well and my little baby girl was just starting to walk so keeping up with her was going to be even more of a challenge. Critically my outlook for a long and healthy life was significantly reducing with every passing year I did nothing about my weight.
I had seen family and friends with similar challenges to what I faced address them in recent years so I used that as further inspiration that it could be done and made to last. I took some advice from my brother who is a gym instructor and a fitness enthusiast. I started to reduce my calorie intake, changed my diet, kept a food diary and started some regular exercise (a couch to 5k). I set myself a target of 3 stone lost before my next birthday. I achieved that target in half time I had set out so I knew the plan would work. The weight loss kept up over that year and I kept up the running and completed a number of 5 and 10k races in same time period.
After 1 year I had got my weight down to 14st and generally speaking it's held pretty steady since then, I could lose a bit more weight but have been advised to hold steady for now and just focus on my fitness which I enjoy maintaining whilst still enjoying my food!

In that time I really fell in love with running and I wished that I had taken it up years earlier. All going well I hope I have many good years of running left in me.

My current PBs are:
5K - 22:50 (29/03/2015)
5mile - 39:36 (27/05/2014)
10K - 47:15 (04/04/2015)
10mile - 1:26:20 (17/05/2015)
Half - 1:56:56 (03/05/2015)

My goal for this year is to complete the Dublin City Marathon and at the moment I am running 20 miles a week and completing the 30 day challenge. Marathon training due to start in two weeks and can't wait.

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Wubble Wubble

diego_b wrote: »

Thanks, cashing in on not racing too much by racing too much and knocking off some soft PBs but I'll take them!

Fish in a barrel

Well done (again!)

diego_b

hot buttered scones wrote: »

Well done and congrats on the PB!

Kennyg71 wrote: »

Well done on PB D, you're going really well.

Thanks, cashing in on not racing too much by racing too much and knocking off some soft PSs but I'll take them!

Kennyg71

Well done on PB D, you're going really well.

hot buttered scones

Well done and congrats on the PB!

diego_b

Munster Athletics Road Championships 4mile race report

Another weekend, another race. This time it was to be the annual Munster 4 mile road event. My first time taking part in a provincial event and whilst a little bit concerned about racing for the 3rd weekend in a row I was confident I could probably get a pb out of it and try do my best for the club novice team I'd be entered in under as well as running as an individual.

Before getting to Currow I took in a charity event in Castleisland that was a fundraiser for a cancer bus service between Kerry and Cork. Just entailed running 3 laps of the track with my wife and daughter (4yr old) and that was that...nice warm up for my race later and took in some of the hive of activity which was the county development squad doing their training.

Arriving at Currow then I met up with my clubmates and took in the atmosphere. Ended up doing 2 warmups as the way the event was run the women's race went off/completed first before the men's race. Some unreal times in the women's race with Shona Heaslip the outright winner in 21:01 I think it was (she was a good 2 minutes plus clear of second place)...I joked with the coach in my club that I don't think I can even sprint that pace!
My pb for 4 miles was recorded as 29:36 from a 4 mile race in Farranfore last June, I had gone through 4 miles in Raheny this year in 29:07 so I set my target as sub 29. I intended to try pace it evenly as possible (unlike last week's 5K were the last mile was a bit ott on effort) so 7:15min/mi it was going to be and then with a push for the finish.

Mile 1
Quick start this for the 300 meters or so downhill out of the village but then into a good pull up to take us to half a mile in. The second part of the mile had a tight 90 degree turn and then a small bit more draggyness as we seemed to be running along the side of height looking down towards where we started.
Got a bit of fright from the start where it seemed to be the case I would be one of the back markers here, from what I could tell there was only 1 or 2 behind me going through the start line and I passed 3/4 in the first half mile with 2 more passing me over the rest of the race. 7.06 for the mile.

Mile 2
Flat enough this section, some minor bends so it was pretty easy to keep a good line. Wasn't gaining ground on those ahead so just focused on the target pace as the pb was on the cards. Got passed around here with a guy who'd been coming up behind me for a few mins (could hear his breathing), I didn't respond to his move and let him go instead of trying to stay with him. 7:14 for the second mile.

Mile 3
Was a bit disappointed with this mile as we got back some of the climb from the start but I didn't make hay here. I was on target pace but that was it really. 7:14 again here which was nice symmetry. Effort was pretty high towards the end of the mile as we were coming towards the outskirts of the village and wanted to start a push.

Mile 4
Going into the final mile I felt better than I did in the final mile the previous week so I felt I had paced this well and I should pb well here. All I could was give it my best now with what I had left. Remember seeing the 1/2 mile sign to go and thinking ffs I really rather I had not seen that....I was just thinking 3-4 mins and get it done. Into the last few hundred meters I felt I gained a small bit of ground back on the guy who passed me in mile 2. He was about 10 seconds ahead of me but I wasn't able to reel him in. Some nice cheers from clubmates coming to the finish line. Seeing the clock I came home in 28:30/31 (not sure but no matter the job was well done on what I was targeting)
6:57 was the final mile.

Took a few mins to recover and caught up with my clubmates to compare notes on the race. Cool down jog with the head coach then and back to the community centre for hearing/seeing the results. We hung around for almost an hour but there seemed to be a few issues (it was taking ages) so said we'd head on. There wasn't going to be any medals today with the standard on show but no matter really, I enjoyed the race and happy to have achieved my target for the day. Some of the women in my club scored in the county team which was nice, there's chance some of the men in the club will have done similar but we'll see when we see the results!

Strava Link

diego_b

Catchup on the week

Monday 27-03-2017

45min cycle in the evening time, giving I seem to be doing a lot of racing at the moment I am mixing it up on the general training front to give my body a chance. Took in a nice cycle (avg pace of 14.4mph over the course of 11.35miles), first half of the cycle was flat with the second having some climbs in it.

Tuesday 28-03-2017

40min easy run covering 4.2miles @ 9:37min/mi. Legs felt okay after the weekend. I had been a bit stiff on my left achilles but the cycle the previous evening seemed to have eased it out.

Wednesday 29-03-2017

Nothing, some pretty fun juvenile coaching in the evening time though. It's only my 3rd time planning/leading a session but it went pretty well.

Thursday 30-03-2017

(Fartlek)- Easy 20min Warm-Up, 8x60sec ‘Fast’, 60sec ‘Easy’, Easy 15min c/d
Picking a choosing a few sessions that were in the last few weeks of the marathon training plan I was on just to mix it up a small but outside of manly easy running and racing over the last few weeks and next. This went pretty well but again afterwards I could tell me legs are feeling the effects of racing.
5.5mi in 50mins, top speed recorded was 6:39min/mi.

Friday 31-03-2017

Rest, considered another cycle but left it be.

Saturday 01-04-2017

Ran another marathon, only joking...April fools!

Total mileage for the week was 13.45miles

diego_b

Mrs Mc wrote: »

Wow that's brilliant congrats on the silverware great to get that after a marathon.

Thanks very much A, yup it a real bonus to be honest. I thought I'd have to wait another few years to go up another age category but I might get lucky in the o35 for a few years, depends on who shows up on the day ;-)

Mrs Mc

Wow that's brilliant congrats on the silverware great to get that after a marathon.

diego_b

Younganne wrote: »

Woo hoo, a Big marathon PB and a week later a 5k PB & a medal. Well done D, plenty more PBs on the way this summer.

Thanks Anne, a good start to the year! Hopefully can chip away at the rest of them over the summer!

Younganne

Woo hoo, a Big marathon PB and a week later a 5k PB & a medal. Well done D, plenty more PBs on the way this summer.

diego_b

This Fat Girl Runs wrote: »

Wow, that's pretty awesome! You're flying these days!

Thanks C, not going too bad at the moment thankfully. The marathon training got to be a bit of a slog over the last few weeks of it so going to maybe keep off plan for a few weeks and try out a few things.

jake1970 wrote: »

Well done diego great running especially so soon after the marathon, I wish I had your powers of recovery.

Thanks L, touch wood it seems to be okay. Just have to listen to the body for the moment. I am signed up for the Great Ireland 10K in the PP so would be hopeful to get a pb there if I can maintain a good level of fitness/activity over the next 2 weeks.

jake1970

Well done diego great running especially so soon after the marathon, I wish I had your powers of recovery.

This Fat Girl Runs

Wow, that's pretty awesome! You're flying these days!

diego_b

Wubble Wubble wrote: »

Congrats D, that's a fine achievement in a 5k, only a week after a marathon :eek:

Kennyg71 wrote: »

Nice one D, great result delighted for you.

Neady83 wrote: »

Nice one Diego and off the back of a marathon, that's some going. A medal to be very proud of

Thank you all kindly, I was in two minds about doing the race at all to be honest as was wary of injury but was glad I did it with how it turned out. I hadn't raced a 5K since last July so no clue where I am with that distance (suspect conditioned/recovered/paced properly I could get closer to 21 flat). One of the kids in the club is around that pace so maybe I'll try keep up with him at a parkrun someday and let him pace me, how can I play it cool and not huff and puff too much trying to keep up with a 9 year old!?!

Neady83

Nice one Diego and off the back of a marathon, that's some going. A medal to be very proud of

Kennyg71

Nice one D, great result delighted for you.

Wubble Wubble

Congrats D, that's a fine achievement in a 5k, only a week after a marathon :eek:

diego_b

Kerry Athletics Road Championships 5K race report

The annual Kerry Athletics Road Championships took place in Beaufort yesterday. This is the same venue as I've ran a 10K race on New Year's Day the last two New Year's Day so felt pretty comfortable driving over to give the race a go. I didn't expect much from it and said to my wife in the car I could probably run 23-24 mins without pushing it. It was only a week since the marathon and whilst I knew the race probably wasn't the best idea the club encouraged people to go to support the event and I was feeling good.

Splits of 6:35/7:21/7:22min/mi will tell you how my approach went. I started off pretty lively and just keyed into a level of discomfort I was thinking was going to be okay for the 21/23 mins. The first half of the course was pretty fast but the second half had a few little climbs that hurt a bit. On the one around the 3K mark I passed a Listowel AC guy who had started walking. With no one to try chase down I was just giving it my best then to make sure that if he got a second wind he wouldn't come back and past me. I was thinking maybe there was a change of a team medal here and I was giving it as good as I could. Breathing was pretty heavy but the effort remained pretty constant throughout the second half of the race and that was bloody hard. I remember why I kinda hate 5Ks!! I tried predicting my finish time after looking at my watch but I wasn't able to work it out. Just into the finishing straight I could see 21:xx on the clock (someone was standing in front of it) and picked it up the best I could with 21:41 on it as I passed the line. Took a min or two to get my breath back and then cheered the clubmates that followed soon after. My wife was running as well, told her before that I really love when we're attending/running events together!

I suspect with better pacing I could have got a pb as well. This was an official race but I managed to get around in 4.94KM/3.07mi with just sticking on the black stuff. Not sure how the measurement is done but comparing with a few other runners they got the same as me and some others got the exact 5K so I guess it depends on how tight a line you ran. My actual pb I have recorded from a race last summer that measured about 0.1mi short and I came home that day in 21.30 so 21.41 is probably my proper pb.

Bit of a cool down jog around with the head coach in the club who ran a superb time of 20:08, so close to sub 20 but the climbs in the second half took it away. Afterwards in the hall we hung around to see who was picking up medals as some of the o40/50 ladies and a few of the guys in the o60 age group are always good to get a medal with the times they can do. Met TBubendorfer of this parish for the first and had a chat for a few mins (well done your medal), nice to compare notes on countryside running!

They started naming out the winners in the different age categories with some clubmates as I suspected getting medals, then into the in the o35 male results and I saw the first man up and thought I wonder what did he run as he was down the road a bit from me I guess, then in second place I just heard, my fullname and my clubname and I was thinking "ah no way I didn't did I". I won't lie I was/am really thrilled! My first ever medal for placing at a race and it's simply lovely. A fellow clubmate also got the third place medal as well so we did well in the category. Hoping my coach can get graded down into the o35 results (he is o45) so we can get a team medal too!

Really enjoyed the day and we'd a great turnout I think with 12 athletics across the age/gender categories, we came away with 8 medals and there's the possibility of some team medals to follow. Would definitely expect some of the ladies to get a team medal...not really sure how the categories works for teams, you can score in two age categories for a team so we'll see in a few days via the club.

Strava link

My precious

diego_b

Catchup on the training log

Following the marathon I took most of the week off, my quads were feeling it for the first few days especially on the stairs. By Wednesday things seemed back to normal so figured I'd get to running within the next few days with some easy runs.

Thursday 23/03/2017

30min easy, 3.22mi @ 9:18min/mi.
Legs felt alright enough and with a nice evening I took my first run back. No niggles coming off the back of the race.

Friday 24/03/2017

Rest

Saturday 25/03/2017

45min easy, 4.8mi @ 9:29min/mi.
Probably the warmest day of the year I have ran in so far. I joked on my Strava update about don't give me sunshine and thanked not to have had such a warm day the previous Saturday as there's no way would I have ran as well and would have expected blisters.

Total mileage for the week was 8 miles.

diego_b

The Black Oil wrote: »

Now that's a an expression I haven't heard in a few years, and usually only in reference to broken computers. Thanks for bringing it back!

Haha I work with very old computers/tech for a living but they are very reliable thankfully!!

The Black Oil

Legs were bunched but I was just so elated.

Now that's a an expression I haven't heard in a few years, and usually only in reference to broken computers. Thanks for bringing it back!

diego_b

denis b wrote: »

Great job D. Always interesting to see the thought processes at work through a race like this. Very honest and informative report which I read twice. That was a fair wallop off your pb under the best of circumstances. On a day like that, on a tricky course, it was a superb achievement. Well done.

Thanks x2 Denis for reading it twice, it is one of the nice aspects to the long distances that you can have a few goals/strategies and time to adjust if needs be. Thought it would be good to share what I was thinking around it all. The reverse if I have came home in 3:51 I probably would have been pretty annoyed with myself but trusting in my training worked....this time!

hillsiderunner wrote: »

Nice report, very well paced, and there's plenty in there to give the injured/underachieving among us a little bit of hope . Enjoy a few easy weeks before you plan ahead!

Thanks, touch wood I've not had anything that has lasted longer than six months and been able to generally keep running. I sometimes wish to be doing higher mileage but I think that is a number of years away as too much too soon and I find a silly niggle. Happy to be fit, healthy and running whilst getting faster which is a bonus! I may have been looking at half marathons earlier around June Bank Hol but time enough yet!!

hillsiderunner

Nice report, very well paced, and there's plenty in there to give the injured/underachieving among us a little bit of hope

. Enjoy a few easy weeks before you plan ahead!

denis b

Great job D. Always interesting to see the thought processes at work through a race like this. Very honest and informative report which I read twice. That was a fair wallop off your pb under the best of circumstances. On a day like that, on a tricky course, it was a superb achievement. Well done.

diego_b

This Fat Girl Runs wrote: »

Wow, what a race! Chuffed for ya, D! Well done!

Thanks very much C!

This Fat Girl Runs

Wow, what a race! Chuffed for ya, D! Well done!

diego_b

Kennyg71 wrote: »

Great report D, really brought me back to that buzzing feeling you get, when you know you've had a great run, Nicly done.

Thanks G, even though I was feeling the pain/effort then it I did have a few holy sh!te moments on the last mile thinking I have nailed this....just keep going now.

tailgunner wrote: »

Great report, and a rock solid performance.

Thanks very much tg, delighted with how it went and the training paid odd in spades.

Neady83 wrote: »

I was waiting until I had some peace, a big mug of coffee and a bar of galaxy chocolate to read this. Hats off to you on a fantastic training block and a really well executed race. I'm really delighted for you - those two blocks of training together, even with the calf injury, brought you so far along. I'll be having a look at that training plan and back through your log when I'm taking on a marathon again. I hope you're having a well deserved rest

Thanks Neady, it does feel like that. I recall reading marthastew's artist in the spotlight thread and I recall her saying she did two plans relatively close together and she felt it brought her along a lot. I think the two plans close together (albeit the same plan) have done something similar for me (relatively speaking!!). No niggles coming out of it all now so just have to rest/recover now and set the next target. Will leave it till later this week to go for an easy run, the 5K road club championships are on in Kerry this weekend. My club has asked all to attend even if walking, I will run it but it will relatively easy pace for that distance. The plan I used for this and Dublin is the Running Shoe Guru plan

jake1970 wrote: »

Well done D great running. You really dug deep for your A goal. Congrats on a brilliant PB.

Thanks L, I did a bit alright but thankfully it was there when I went for it which was a great feeling. Once I kept my head in the game in a few tough spots I was able to go for it.

Wubble Wubble wrote: »

Brilliant run and report D, delighted all that training brought out a great result.

Thanks J, yup I was feeling a bit sorry for myself having missed out some races early in the year (and will miss more regular ones this year due to scheduling of real life stuff) but there's nothing to stop me completing a proper plan and making the gains I hopefully can achieve.

Wubble Wubble

Brilliant run and report D, delighted all that training brought out a great result.

jake1970

Well done D great running. You really dug deep for your A goal. Congrats on a brilliant PB.

Neady83

I was waiting until I had some peace, a big mug of coffee and a bar of galaxy chocolate to read this. Hats off to you on a fantastic training block and a really well executed race. I'm really delighted for you - those two blocks of training together, even with the calf injury, brought you so far along. I'll be having a look at that training plan and back through your log when I'm taking on a marathon again. I hope you're having a well deserved rest