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What I log about when I log about running

Huzzah!

Huzzah! for running!

Background:

I'm female and in my 30s. I'm not sporty and I wouldn't really consider myself to be "fit". I'm also sllllooooowwww. But, for the most part, this doesn't bother me. I'm still surprised that I can comfortably run 10 miles. (10-whole-miles. Me!:o)

I've been running fairly consistently now for two(ish) years. I'd finished Couch 2 5k a couple of times before but never kept it up; mainly, I think, because I was running my training runs flat out and really didn't enjoy it. Three years ago, I tried again and stuck with it and now, despite my grumbling, love to run (at least most of the time). Key to running more consistently was discovering the runmute. You can't beat the headspace that running gives you.

I started practising yoga last year. I try and attend 3/4 classes a week. There may be "better" ways to cross train/complement my running but yoga is the only thing I'll stick to.

PBs and Goals:

My principal goal for the rest of the year is to try and run a PB at the race series half. My current PB is from the Wexford half earlier this year and is 2:15:4x; I trained like the dickens for it. Still and all, I'm hoping to run 2:14:xx in September. Along the way, I'd like to run a 10K PB at the Fingal 10k. My 10K PB is my oldest and, potentially, my softest. Once I run the half, I've half an eye on tackling a 5K plan - gotta get the value out of the buke - with Jingle Bells being my focus for the rest of the year. That's a way away yet, though.

I used a plan from Pfitzinger and Latter's Faster Road Running for Wexford earlier this year and I think I'll use it again for September. I've built in a buffer week for the Fingal 10k, so the plan will start in earnest next Monday. I've been enjoying running off plan for the past couple of weeks but am looking forward to getting back on plan soon. Gives me less wriggle room for slack off!

Distance|Current PB|Target|
5k|26:53|>26|
5 Mile|46:40|>46|
10k|59:53|58:xx|
10 mile|1:43|1:40|
Half mara|2:15:43|2:14:xx

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eyrie

Annie get your Run wrote: »

You should both look at www.imra.ie cheap to join and very reasonably priced trail runs. I was unfortunate enough not to get to do any this year but hopefully will in the new year - most weekend races are on Jan-March.

I would love to, they sound great! And I love anything that involves mountains. But I'm also a total wimp and the clumsiest/least sure-footed person going, so I'd probably spend the whole time sliding around terrified :eek: I'll have an aul look at the website though...

Huzzah!

eyrie wrote: »

FWIW it's worth I loved the Graduate plan and would definitely use it again, but I've no experience of any of the others you mentioned.

The Muppet wrote: »

+1 on the graduates plan, it has a variety of sessions and longer runs, I used it this year myself for the Great North Run and really enjoyed it.

Thanks for the recommendation. The only thing stopping me is the short length of the runs - I'd top out at about 10 miles on the long run, I think, which is probably fine with the session the day before but I'm an anxious sort

eyrie

Huzzah! wrote: »

Thanks for the recommendation. The only thing stopping me is the short length of the runs - I'd top out at about 10 miles on the long run, I think, which is probably fine with the session the day before but I'm an anxious sort

That was my concern too, but it worked anyway. I made up to 11 miles I think, but I could not imagine having had a better day on race day, it was better than I ever imagined and it just felt easy. So I have a lot of love for the plan! But of course there are lots of others too which I'm sure are also great - this is the only one I've tried!
Oh and if you look at The Black Oil's log he used the marathon version for DCM last month and his long runs stayed shorter as a result but he still fared very well.
I don't know how it works, but it works!

Huzzah!

Annie get your Run wrote: »

You should both look at www.imra.ie cheap to join and very reasonably priced trail runs. I was unfortunate enough not to get to do any this year but hopefully will in the new year - most weekend races are on Jan-March.

I get it too BTW, I was exactly the same last year but it's an event for all standards and the organisers are lovely and very welcoming.

You'll have to report back once you've done one. I'd be interested to hear what the standard is like. I see IMRA as a bit like cross country racing: full of speedy super-fit types, but I'd like to give one a go some time.

Huzzah!

Tuesday, November 28th
Plan: Lactate threshold 11km incl 20min tempo run
Total: As above (1:15:45)
Avg HR: 151 Max HR: 178
Splits: warmup 2k@7:26. 4.2k general aerobic@7:13. 20 minutes/3.5k@5:49. Cool down 1.31@7:40

It’s amazing how easy it is to break a habit. I’ve been runmuting for a long time, definitely over a year and possibly close to two, but because I didn’t run home from work in the last two weeks, it felt new and strange to be setting out last night. I was almost a bit nervous – I seriously need to get a grip

I had my watch set up incorrectly, again, but was able to fix it on the fly. I really love a good tempo run and I enjoyed this. I’ve definitely lost a bit of fitness and the pace of the LT is slower than what it had been, but it’s a bit quicker than where it was during my last training cycle, so let’s focus on the positives.

As an aside, there’s definitely a business opportunity for someone more technical than me to set up people’s Garmins according to their plan of choice.

Wednesday, November 29th
Plan: 13k Endurance
Total: 10km general aerobic
Avg Pace: 6:59 min/km (1:09:57)
Avg HR: 146 Max HR: 159
Splits: 7:08; 7:03; 6:49; 7:00; 7:00; 6:51; 6:50; 6:51; 7:07; and 7:01.

Holy heck, it’s Baltic! I ran this into work this morning. I changed it from an Endurance run into a general aerobic run in advance of Jingle Bells. I’m reading the Hansons’ book at the moment, which made me feel quite guilty for faffing about with the plan. Back to consistency next week, I promise

I had to do this this morning in advance of a night out on the tiles (on a school night, no less). It was tough, tough, tough. My ears were so cold in the wind and I couldn’t wait to get down towards town. I then had to strip off when I got to Beaver Row as I was roasting and ran the rest slightly too cold. Goldilocks would be proud. Into work and into a cold shower. My face is beetroot still!

Huzzah!

I literally just finished my run and I still forgot to mention the reason it was so hard! I had no less than three stitches, despite not having eaten or drank anything and it being an easy run. I had a stitch for most of Tuesday's run too, which was probably caused by eating too close to the run; although, I ate a full three hours before, so maybe not. Today's main stitch was a continuation of yesterday's. I'm coming to the conclusion that they're related to running form and not helped at all by running with a backpack, which is unavoidable at this time of year. Claralara suffered badly from stitches to the point of seeing a physio and he blamed the running backpack.

Huzzah!

Huzzah! wrote: »

Onto 5k training next week. I've decided once and for all, as I kind of knew I would, on the Faster Road Running 5k lowest-mileage plan. The goal race will be the Tom Brennan 5k. Jingle Bells will slot in nicely as a tune-up race, which could well mean I run a faster tune up than goal race, but oh well! There's no firm goal in mind yet, but as close to 25 minutes as possible would be nice

Well, 25.01 was as close as I could manage :rolleyes:

Total: 5.00 (25.01)
Avg Pace: 5.00/km
Avg HR: 174 Max HR: 188
Splits: 5:06; 5:11; 5:07; 5:01; and 4:38

Apologies for the length and rambliness of what’s to come!

My previous 5k PB of 25:48 was set during my last HM training cycle at Johnstown parkrun. I kind of thought when I started the 5k plan that if I followed the plan, 25 minutes at Jingle Bells might be achievable. The past few weeks my training has been less than stellar, largely due to illness, to be fair, so I revised this down to an aim of 25.25, which would mean easy maths of 5.05/km and a course PB of 3 minutes on last year’s time of 28.26.
We parked at the Garda Boat Club and strolled over to the race start. I ran about 2 kilometres of a warm up, during which my hamstring was niggly, but I felt good apart from that. My legs felt unusually fresh and the lower running volume of the past few weeks at least had that in its favour. I stripped down to my long-sleeve top and found my way to the appropriate corral, but it didn’t seem that appropriate when I looked around me and people were talking about walking the race, so I pushed further up. I felt a bit guilty, but I think I started in the right spot as I wasn’t passed by too many people. I felt warmer in the group of people and took my long-sleeved top off but I was chilly enough by the time I got started and my hands were so cold, I didn’t start my watch properly *natch*

Off went the gun and we strolled to the timing mat. I started running as best I could once I got over the mat and soon realised I hadn’t actually started my watch. This obviously didn’t impact my race but it was squeaky bum time later when I waited for the results to see if I’d managed the sub-25 (which is why I’ve dedicated so much of this report to the watch/clotung/cold issue!).

My recent approach to 5ks is to go hard or go home. Sure, it doesn’t matter if you blow up, there’ll be another 5k next week and it’s not like it takes long to recover from the effort, but I really struggled with the demons from the off. The first split was bang on the plan, but I was feeling the effort. My hamstring was getting sorer and I was surprised, because usually I’d forget about niggles once racing. I was cursing myself for not training more and doubting my ability to hold on. I kept telling myself to get to the halfway point, because I knew it was all downhill from there. You can see my struggles in the pace drop on the second kilometre and when I saw it flash up on the watch, I was definitely despairing. Once we turned left off Chesterfield Avenue, I felt a sharp pain in my hamstring and wondered whether to pull up. I debated this for a while but didn’t know whether I was looking for an excuse to stop or whether I needed to. I figured if it was really bad, I wouldn’t be able to run, so I kept going. I don’t remember too much else, but I took some succour when the 3rd kilometre clicked in at closer to the planned pace. I wasn’t able to work anything out, but I thought a PB might still be on the cards even if the 25.25 was gone. The course is downhill from the halfway mark and I was definitely feeling better. A stitch had begun but didn’t really take hold. I don’t remember seeing the 4th kilometre on my watch and I had stopped looking at it by that stage, anyway, but in the final kilometre, I remember seeing 4.40 pace and I got a shock. I tried not to freak out and told myself that it was so close to the end, I’d be fine. The final kilometre is so downhill and rolling that I really felt like my legs were holding me back but my lungs were fine. I don’t think this is actually the case, as my heart rate was tipping near max at this point. We made the final turn and the guy who’d been on my shoulder for the previous few minutes and breathing heavily made a surge. I tried to go with him as I was sure he’d gone too soon and wouldn’t be able to hold it. Fair play to him, he proved me wrong and surged up the field. I had no kick and just focused on the gantry. I could see the clock ticking to 25.25, and I was delighted with myself that I’d achieved my goal. I was completely shocked when I stopped my watch at 24.52, though. I knew that the sub 25 was potentially possible and I couldn’t believe it.

When I got my official result of 25.01 later, I have to say, I wasn’t even a bit disappointed. I’m chuffed with myself. I feel like on a less generous course, I’m probably in 25.25 shape, which would still be a nice chunk off my PB. I just can’t get over the improvements I’ve made since the last Jingle Bells. When I ran JB last year, I was astonished to go sub 29. I’m still not fast but I am delighted with my progression. Sub-25 will be a nice goal heading into 2018.

The only small cloud is I properly tweaked my hamstring. I was limping quite badly with it yesterday, but thankfully, it’s already improved quite a lot. I’m going to take a few days off and see how things are on Tuesday. It doesn’t seem coincidental to me that since I’ve reduced yoga, my niggles are that bit worse and the last three races have resulted in more discomfort than I’m used to.

chickey2

Well done, that's a big improvement on last year!

Baby75

Congratulations that is a great PB sub 25 is for the taking

I hope the hamstring is ok! I had that a few weeks back after the marathon and this stretch helped a lot that my physio gave me to do,

also this exercise

Baby75

I forgot to say, don't try these until your hamstring is pain free again, I am sure you know that anyway but just in case

Huzzah!

Baby75 wrote: »

I forgot to say, don't try these until your hamstring is pain free again, I am sure you know that anyway but just in case

Thanks for taking the time to post the links. I appreciate it. Lots of RICE yesterday and things are definitely looking up

Annie get your Run

Congrats Huzzah! All your hard work is paying off, sub 25 will come very easily now.

ariana`

That's a great improvement Huzzah, a well deserved PB, congrats and well done!

Baby75

Huzzah! wrote: »

Thanks for taking the time to post the links. I appreciate it. Lots of RICE yesterday and things are definitely looking up

I am delighted to hear it

eyrie

Woooop congratulations!! I'm belatedly catching up on everything. That's a great performance, and very nice to get such a chunk off your PB

Hope the hamstring is better by now!

Huzzah!

All roads lead to DCM Berlin 2018.

In 2017, I was fairly consistent until after the half marathon I ran in September. Training was then sporadic with some very good weeks punctuated with not-so-good weeks. I needed bit of time off after both my goal halves this year and that’s something to take with me into 2018. It seems I could’ve planned the year a bit better, with more scheduled downtime. I think my consistency was in some part explainable by picking plans that meant a big step up for me in terms of my training; I essentially was too afraid to miss a run. I ran 2,150 kilometers this year v 1371 kilometers in 2016. I would maybe have benefited from just base building from October on, but whether I would’ve been any more consistent is anyone’s guess.

My goal next year all links in with marathon training. I’m happy to take the focus away from PB-hunting for 2018 and concentrate on running consistently and getting the miles in. One thing that is pretty obvious to me is that I’m lacking substantially in the endurance department. While I’ll never be speedy, endurance is something I can improve and marathon training will hopefully help in this regard. If there is to be any secondary goal to running a marathon in 2018, it will be that my PBs start to line up a bit better and that the drop off from 5k to 10k, and so on, is not as significant.

Which brings me to updating the PB table that started my log off. I decided to include my PBs from 2015 for (my own) posterity:

Distance|2015|2016|2017|
5k|- |28:26|25:01|
5 Mile|58:57|53:15|46:40|
10k|1:08:58|59:53|56:42|
10 mile|- |1:43|1:40|
Half mara|- |2:18:08|2:12:58

So, with Berlin a mere 36 weeks and 6 days away, a goal race before then is required to stop me slacking off and get the mileage up before starting into marathon-specific training. That goal race is the Wexford half marathon in April. Raheny no longer suits me, unfortunately, so I’ve decided to trot around the Enniscorthy 10k in February, instead. I’ll just have to spend my Raheny entry fee on chocolate to make up for missing out on the goody bag. That may be it on the racing front for the first half of the year.

Why Berlin? I took a notion to enter my Boyf into the lottery for the Berlin marathon as his Christmas present and, when signing him up, I noticed there was an option to sign a team up. It would’ve been rude not to. I entered us both, booked a hotel and tried to forget about it until the lottery results. Lottery day was nerve-wracking. I was following the thread on here closely and as the hours ticked away with no success email and my disappointment growing, I began looking for alternative present options. I’m not sure that he wouldn’t have preferred the gloves I’d chosen

Anyway, I need to remember how badly I wanted to do this when I’m in the depths of training, so it’s good to finally be able to log it. I was so excited when I got the email to say we were successful and I couldn’t tell anyone! Torture! I’m going on holidays in May and when I return, I’ll have 15 weeks to train, hence the importance of building a good base before I go.

How do I justify my posts?! Learn how to use Boards should be goal number 1!

Huzzah!

I downloaded this book to read and quickly decided that I liked the cut of the Hansons’ jib and that I would follow the advanced plan for Wexford. I felt like a bit of an imposter following an advanced plan but I seemed to fit the criteria for doing so. Given that the plan is an 18-week plan, once I ran a goal time at JBells, I was happy to spend the rest of December running easy, without any real plan to follow. Between laziness, work being manic, another sinus infection and spraining my back, that didn’t happen. The physio barred me from running for two to three weeks, which put paid to any idea of following the advanced plan. And so, on Thursday of this week, I started the 18-week beginner plan, tweaked slightly to do the long runs as per the advanced plan.

Thursday, December 28th
Plan: Easy 5k
Total: As above (38:19)
Avg HR: 145 Max HR: 160
Splits: 7:36; 7:42; 7:41; 7:33; and 7:41

I cheated and ran this by heart rate, which is the Hansons are not fans of, but the pace was correct, so everyone’s happy, right? A nice easy re-introduction to running. No complaints from the back. It was maybe even all the better for it.

Friday, December 29th
Plan: Easy 5k
Total: 5.3k (39:20)
Avg HR: 143 Max HR: 162
Splits: 7:07; 7:17; 7:20; 7:45; 7:41; and 7:06.

Another heart-rate run, so a bit too fast, but all fine apart from that.

Sunday, December 31st
Plan: 10k easy
Total: 10k (1:16:44)
Avg HR: 150 Max HR: 172
Splits: 7:33; 7:28; 7:34; 7:41; 7:40; 7:20; 7:35; 7:45; 7:48; and 8:00

The beginner plan had 6k as its long run, so I opted to do the 10k that was scheduled in the advanced plan. I don’t think this is any harm. The plans end up quite similar in terms of weekly mileage, so I don’t see any drawbacks to running slightly longer long runs at the beginning, so that the jumps aren’t too big further down the line. I still have a cough from the sinus infection (it’s a tenacious one, into its third week), so I’m putting the slightly higher effort down to that. My watch has been set up properly now, so all runs from here on in will be done the Hanson way according to pace.

gypsylee

Looking forward to following your log for 2018. I am hoping to do the Wexford Half also. I will check out the Hansons Half Marathon plan, beginner plan. I have only done one half marathon in a disappointing 2.45 so I really want to improve on that time. Hopefully if I can do that then DCM may be on the cards.

Good luck with your training. Delighted to hear you got an entry to Berlin.

Huzzah!

gypsylee wrote: »

Looking forward to following your log for 2018. I am hoping to do the Wexford Half also. I will check out the Hansons Half Marathon plan, beginner plan. I have only done one half marathon in a disappointing 2.45 so I really want to improve on that time. Hopefully if I can do that then DCM may be on the cards.

Good luck with your training. Delighted to hear you got an entry to Berlin.

Thank you!

I've a funny feeling you will improve upon your HM time, but don't be disappointed with your current HM PB. Running a HM is an achievement in and of itself.

The Hanson plan is an 18-week, so if you were thinking of following it for Wexford, you'd need to get reading

ariana`

I read this on my phone a few days ago but it's too torturous to reply on the phone so only getting to it now but Berlin!!!! How exciting! Your first Marathon and a tourist one at that and with your boyf. Super! Sorry about the strained back though but hopefully it won't hold you back for long. Sept is still a long way off. I'll be very interested to follow your training, you have a fantastic base and it'll be no problem for you i don't think.

eyrie

Ay ay ay! Lots to catch up on here. Well - wow! Berlin? Very exciting. (Although I can't believe you're abandoning the DCM 2018 newbie club :P) That's amazing though. Will you and your boyfriend train together?
Great to see the new plan already in action too - will be interested to see how you find it! Hope the back is ok!

Huzzah!

ariana` wrote: »

I read this on my phone a few days ago but it's too torturous to reply on the phone so only getting to it now but Berlin!!!! How exciting! Your first Marathon and a tourist one at that and with your boyf. Super! Sorry about the strained back though but hopefully it won't hold you back for long. Sept is still a long way off. I'll be very interested to follow your training, you have a fantastic base and it'll be no problem for you i don't think.

Thanks - I'm a bit nervous the base has gone to pot after the last 4-6 weeks, but we'll see.

eyrie wrote: »

Ay ay ay! Lots to catch up on here. Well - wow! Berlin? Very exciting. (Although I can't believe you're abandoning the DCM 2018 newbie club :P) That's amazing though. Will you and your boyfriend train together?

Ha, no, he can actually run! We have followed similar plans before, so it was nice to be able to compare approaches, etc, but he might do a more advanced plan to me for Berlin.

eyrie wrote: »

Great to see the new plan already in action too - will be interested to see how you find it! Hope the back is ok!

On balance, the timing of Berlin means it's a better one for me to do, even though it's not as handy in most other ways as Dublin, but you're not getting rid of me that easily. I'll hopefully still be able to participate in the novices thread, if they'll have me. Looking forward to reading your goals for 2018 (I'm a pushy one :P).

Murph_D

Good luck with the plan. Worked for me! Curious why you went for beginner version when you originally felt you fit the advanced profile? Not just because you missed a couple of weeks training?

Huzzah!

Murph_D wrote: »

Good luck with the plan. Worked for me! Curious why you went for beginner version when you originally felt you fit the advanced profile? Not just because you missed a couple of weeks training?

Thanks - I downloaded the book on your recommendation. I may have also "borrowed" your spread sheet

The sole criterion for following the advanced plan seems to be that you've run a half before. I've run three and I also felt that the mileage was similar to the plan I'd followed previously, so I was going to follow that plan but something was niggling at me and I wasn't fully confident. The niggle might purely have been caused by the fact that it's called "advanced".

Maybe opting for the beginner plan was a cop out but when I hadn't been running much in December, I reassessed. Looking at both plans, from about week 6 on, there's not a huge difference between them in terms of mileage. Week 6, for example, is 37 miles on the beginner plan v 44 miles on the advanced and the weekly mileage difference gets smaller as the weeks progress. In terms of workouts, there is a difference of a mile between the longest tempo runs (6 miles v 7 miles). The trade-off is that I'll be doing fewer weeks with SOS, but I'm keen to have a few weeks of running 6 days a week before I start sessions anyway. The way I look at it, and I could be wrong, is the beginner plan is more of a 6-week base-building plan followed by a 12-week half-specific plan.

Of course, this could all be nonsense! I'm prone to overthinking these things.

Murph_D

You're welcome to the spreadsheet - was going to give you the link but you're way ahead of me!

Fair enough re the plan. Don't be put off by the name 'advanced' - it strikes me that the advanced version is the real version and the other two were just added to increase the appeal of the book. I haven't really looked at beginner plan but if it has similar mileage you won't go far wrong. The real strength of the plan (for me) was the long HM pace tempos. These are tough - sometimes very tough - but the Tues speed sessions (which for me felt tough but manageable) set you up well for them and give you the confidence to push through the tempo. I'm sure the beginner plan will be fine. Be ambitious with your targets (but always based on actual results obviously). Good luck with it, will follow with interest.

Huzzah!

Tuesday, January 2nd
Plan: Easy 3k
Total: 6k (47:35)
Avg HR: 154 Max HR: 170
Splits: 7:35; 7:53; 8:01; 8:04; 7:19; 7:12; and 7:07

Easy pace per plan is 7:20 to 8:00/km, which sounds about right. The remnants of what ailed me over Christmas combined with a cold meant the effort was somewhat high for the pace. I tried to keep it at the slower end but Storm Eleanor was blowing and when I came near to the finish, I upped the pace to get out of the weather a bit quicker. Exhilarating run.

Thursday, January 4th
Plan: Easy 5k
Total: 6.10k (47:05)
Avg HR: 146 Max HR: 162
Splits: 7:27; 8:02; 8:04; 8:02; 7:58; 7:56; and 7:38

A snotty run. I really tried to keep my HR down, which meant running at the slower end of the spectrum. Lurgy = higher effort than usual.

Friday, January 5th
Plan: Easy 5k
Total: 6.29k (49:41)
Avg HR: 140 Max HR: 155
Splits: 7:52; 7:40; 7:42; 7:46; 7:37; 7:43; and 7:30

The lurgy lingers but thankfully the pace and effort both came down a bit.

Saturday, January 6th
Plan: Easy 5k
Total: 6km (41:41)
Avg HR: 149 Max HR: 180
Splits: 8:06; 6:59; 6:31: 6:57; 6:56; and 6:20

I thought it there was a 6k run in the plan. I did this at Marlay parkrun. A wee 1k run to the start and then pottered around. I didn’t realise I was running too fast because the first k was so slow, the avg for the entire run stayed correct, so my watch didn’t start telling me off until near the end. No harm done.

Sunday, January 7th
Plan: Easy 6k
Total: 10km (1:13:49)
Avg HR: 143 Max HR: 175
Splits: 7:31; 7:14: 7:16; 7:23; 7:15; 7:24; 7:30; 7:04; 7:36; and 7:32

Long run per advanced plan. Loved every minute of this, apart from the Glenamuck Road, which nearly killed me. I slowed as much as I could to keep the effort low on the hill and got browned off and pushed on a bit near the end. I stopped for a breather and a much-needed nose blow at the top and continued on my merry way.

34k total for the week and a nice’n’easy return to running and plans this week. I’m going to do two full runmutes (10K) this week. Happy enough if I keep the effort low, the slightly longer runs shouldn't pose any difficulty. I’m fairly used to runmuting 3-4 times a week, anyway, so it should be grand. Only 5 days’ running per plan this week and next, but I’m going to try for 6. I want to introduce the extra day in the weeks before the sessions start.

ReeReeG

You went back in time to December :P

chickey2

Good luck with the plan! I actually had a read of the Hanson book this weekend. I might try it out once I've had a go at my 10k pb, so I'll be following your progress.

Huzzah!

Monday, January 8th
Plan: Rest
Total: 10k (1:17:41)
Avg HR: 146 Max HR: 165
Splits: 7:33; 7:47; 7:51; 7:44; 7:35; 7:48; 7:51; 7:42; 7:33; 7:30; and 7:43

The plan introduces a 6th day of running in the same week as it introduces sessions, so I thought I’d introduce the 6th day a little bit early, so I'm not doing too much at once. 10k on a Monday is fairly standard for me and I see no reason to change that. First full runmute of the year and I felt really unfit, almost like I’m back where I was this time last year. Nice to not have to get the stinkin' bus, though

Tuesday, January 9th
Plan: Easy 6.4k
Total: 6.23k (50:00)
Avg HR: 139 Max HR: 155
Splits: 9:05; 7:54; 7:52; 7:45; 7:49: 7:37; and 9:22

Ugh the weather persuaded me to have a go on the treadmill - something I do about once a year, so that’s 2018 covered. The nice part of the shorter runs mean running on the treadmill is feasible. This was actually grand. Watched some Netflix and the time went in really quickly. The distance measurement was broken, so I decided to just do a 50-minute run. I didn’t realise the Garmin would actually give me splits; I was only wearing it for the HR and I turned off the GPS to conserve battery, so that’s handy to know for future reference.

Thursday, January 11th
Plan: Easy 6.4k
Total: 10k (49:41)
Avg HR: 140 Max HR: 157
Splits: 7:26; 7:15; 7:29; 7:20; 7:10; 7:19; 7:20; 7:27; 7:34 and 7:11

Morning runmute into work and the perfect morning for it, once I took off some of the layers.

Huzzah!

Friday, January 12th
Plan:Easy 6.4k
Total: 5km (37:13)
Splits: 7:23;7:20; 7:28; 7:16; and 7:42
Avg HR: 146 Max: 170

I could’ve gotten up early to get the full 6k in, but I didn’t. A lunchtime run meant 5k was all I had time for - the main curse of being so slow. The second to last kilometer was uphill and into the wind; if I’d gone any slower, I’d have lost momentum and stopped.

Saturday, January 13th
Plan:Easy 6.4k
Total: 6.4km (46:57)
Splits: 7:25; 7:16; 7:27; 7:22; 7:09; 7:17; and 7:19
Avg HR: 143 Max HR: 159

Slightly too fast on the wind-assisted return leg. Calves a bit tight in the evening.

Sunday, January 14th
Total: 11.2km (1:47:51)
Splits: 7:24; 7:24; 7:17; 7:32; 7:17; 7:12; 7:26; 7:07; 7:20; 7:22; 7:33; and 8:33
Avg HR: 149 Max HR: 164

Ideally, I’d run these a bit slower and at a slightly easier effort but both are broadly right, so I’m just overthinking it!

So, 49ish kilometres this week, and happy to be back running and on a plan. I still feel unfit and kind of blobby, but that’ll pass. Next week is more of the same with a bit of jiggerypokery to be performed as I’ve visitors at the weekend. I’ll probably move Saturday’s 8k to Friday, Sunday’s 13k to Saturday and Friday’s 5k to Sunday as this is the day I’ll be most squeezed for time. There'll be another increase in kms covered, but not as big a jump and then I should be maintaining or even dropping kms again when the sessions start in week 5.