Can I give more? The answer is usually yes

Murph_D wrote: »

Raheny’s not a half marathon, B - excellent session and a great week.

Cheers D, silly comment by myself & not meant to belittle anyone racing Raheny.

Monday 29.1.18

6.15 miles Easy@8.45min/miles in53min 45secs

As has now become standard on a Monday a jaunt around Bosjes Van Poot then across into Westduinpark and back home. The paths in BVP just had fresh cement and gravel laid on it or so i thought, as i ran on i discovered it was actually cement mixed with sea shells. Good way to use unwanted sea shells i suppose use to on the paths of the parks.

Tuesday 30.1.18

w/u, 10x2mins@10k off 60secs rec, c/d

Down to Zuiderpark as usual to get any of the faster stuff in, the customary gale was blowing(not really) but the breeze was there even though there was't a movement in the trees. Two mile warm up and into the 2min intervals, i done these earlier on in the plan and found them very tough and that was off 90secs recoveries, but i was looked forward to see how much i have come on since then if any. I found them very manageable and found the 60secs a bit long to be honest about it, couple were faster than the pace prescribed but i felt good. Splits were as follows:

6.15/6.13/6.10/6.12/6.14/6.14/6.11/6.07/6.05/6.16

Delighted with how i felt on these and even contemplated doing another 3-4 but stuck to what the plan said. 8.05 miles in total for the run.

Wednesday 31.1.18

Rest Day.

Thursday 1.2.18

5.05 miles Easy@8.35min/miles in 43min 21secs

Kept this solely to BVP and its paths and trails, good bit of up and down on this but the legs felt great after the previous days session. All good and happy with how training was progressing in general.

Friday 2.2.18

6 miles Steady@7.41min/miles in 46min 04secs

Never under pressure not that i should be on this but did not feel comfortable as i would have liked running it, not having anything to eat all morning and going running at midday no doubt contributed to the discomfort. Morning got away from me but still no excuse of having not eaten anything:mad:.

Saturday 3.2.18

15.10 miles Easy@8.21min/miles in 2hrs 6min 3secs

It was mid-afternoon by time i got out for this, actually was bang on start time of the CPC in a few weeks time. Different route once more heading towards the Haven this time which was full of fishing boats unloading various types of fish/shellfish as i ran past, then onto the marina that had some very expensive looking boats/catamarans/sailboats moored there. No sign of TbL's curach though!! Out then onto Scheveningen Prom which had loads of walkers out enjoying the fresh winters afternoon. Came to the end of the Prom and i thought i could have entered trails around the dunes but access was not allowed for some reason. No option but to run on the beach to get the required miles in.

The sand was compact enough and mostly good to run on, as i ran i spotted these:

http://www.thejournal.ie/world-war-ii-bunkers-the-hague-3513622-Jul2017/

there was 5-6 of them in a row and they looked big and imposing as they jutted out of the dunes looking out at the North Sea, scary to believe less than 65 odd years ago this beach was a focal point of WW11. Five miles in total ran on the sand before i retraced my steps for home. Felt great on this, really good run.

Sunday 4.2.18

w/u, 4HMP, c/d

I woke this morning and my quads were in shreds, the run on the beach may have been nice but my legs did not agree. Got out shortly after 11am and headed for Zuiderpark, it was cold out, a real feel of -4 but that was a insignificant compared to pain in my quads. Got 2 miles warm up in then into the HMP miles. It was just a matter of grinding them out and ignoring the pain in the legs, totally switched off and day dreamed looking at my surroundings i just wanted to get through the fast miles and get home. The last half mile of the 4th one was pain in my legs i have never experienced before, quads were burning and just wanted me to stop, i did when i finished the 4th mile. The splits for HMP miles were:

6.28, 6.28, 6.30, 6.26


In hindsight not the smartest thing to run on sand a day before faster miles, i cut the cool down short as my legs were honestly sore.

48.15 miles this week and less tired compared to last week thankfully. Lighter week intensity wise next week which will hopefully let the body recover a bit and let the training take effect.

career move wrote: »

Hope the legs are feeling better today. It's interesting reading about the new places you're running in

Still not great, sight of stairs has me in tears!!! I find running is a great way of getting to know your way around a new location. Not to knock her but my wife has zero sense of direction so one of us needs to know our way around a bit.

Monday 5.2.18

Rest Day.

Tuesday 6.2.18

6.20 miles Easy@8.33min/miles in 53min 01secs

Standard easy run around Bosjes Van Poot and Westduinpark, can't really remember much about it apart from where i ran so nothing must have happened and must have felt good doing it.

Wednesday 7.2.18

Enforced rest day, i suffer from time to time with ingrown hairs as a result of shaving. This was the worst one i have ever had, the right hand side of my face was up like a balloon and i was eating painkillers like smarties to ease the pain, no run.

Thursday 8.2.18

8.20 miles Steady(-20secs)@7.22min/miles in 60min 22secs

Pain eased on my jaw after the hair in question was extracted:eek:!! Won't offer anymore details than that!! Idea behind this run was to keep the legs ticking over somewhat before Sundays race. Down to Zuiderpark as per usual if i'm running anything faster, man i was floating on this, starting most miles in 6.3x pace before i rained the pace in to a sensible level. Wishing as i ran around that the legs would be like this come Sunday afternoon.

Friday 9.2.18

8.05 miles Easy@8.34min/miles in 69mins 01secs

Another new location for a run, up Laan Van Meedervoort and into:

http://denhaag.com/en/location/27383/landgoed-ockenburgh

The villa in under reconstruction at present so i could only look at from a distance, there is a pond in front of the villa that was completely frozen over and resembled an ice rink, the trails around the estate were a joy to run on a mixture of muck and sand, another wonderful place to run and another i will visit again in the future.

Saturday 10.2.18

5.75 miles Easy@8.39min/miles in 49min 42secs

Once more up to BVP and Westduinpark for a run, keeping the pace as slow as possible in the easy range. Nothing to report on it and the body feeling good.

Sunday 11.2.18

Noord-Aa Polderloop 15km - 62min 12secs(12th/203)

This was to be my main warm up race before the CPC Loop Den Haag, up early and got a good breakfast into me and left the house shortly after 10am. First thing i noticed when i stepped outside was the strong wind that was blowing, i knew little of the topography of where the race was to be ran but if it was like the rest of Holland it would offer little shelter from the elements.

Got the tram then a 10 minute walk or so to the race location, the race is centred around the Zoetermeerse Plas a big fresh water lake that is completely exposed to the elements, there was waves on the thing that wouldn't look out of place in the Atlantic Ocean. Picked up my race number and took a stroll around the place to see what was what. Took in the kids race that was really well contested and had a sizeable turnout.

Went to do a warm up with about 35 minutes left before race start and ran out the first mile of the race route and turned back, thing that struck me was the last 800m was going to be into the teeth of the wind!!Lined up with 10 minutes or so left and bang on time we were let off, few people as usual in the wrong place but you get used to that. Took advantage of the wind aided first mile and was moving well, knew the next bit was to be into the wind but after that i had no idea how the wind affected the route. There was a bit of a forest after for shelter then we crossed over a canal and took a sharp left, smack right into the wind.

I gritted the teeth and put the head down and ran as best i could, looked at the watch and the pace had shot right up. It wasn't a day for times anyway and all i wanted was to put a solid effort in, strode on but started to notice on the road with the aid of the sun i was being used as a wind shield by 4-5 other runners. I moved to the middle of the road but the fcukers followed, slowed a bit they slowed to:mad:. Surged, they did to, decided i was only using energy and ran my own race from then on, lazy ba$tards. We came to the only rise on the route and done a 180 on ourselves and at last had the wind at our backs. Went through 5k in shade over 20.50 going by digital clock on the route.

With the wind at our backs the crew i had towed for the past 2 miles or so showed themselves, wasn't having it and kept to the head of the group that had formed, it was 10-11 now with other runners that had come back to us after going out to hard. Comfortable again and was feeling good after getting out of the teeth of the wind, few surges by lads in the group but covered them and kept to the front, sharp left then down a small rise and sharp right and all of a sudden the steps behind me stopped. I looked behind and there was no one, the runners i had towed along were in the 10k race and split off just after the drop down the small rise.

I was Billy no mates now out all on my own, gap to runners ahead, big gap to those behind, the wind now was off the right and hurting slightly, long straight here and we turned right and again bang into the wind, at one point here i was hit by a gust that stopped me dead and looked up and it had done the same to those ahead. Pace was above 7mins now but i was fighting as hard as i could, then i looked up and seen the leader coming back towards me, there must be a turn around ahead, relief when i reach it. I counted the runners as they passed to take my mind off the wind, counted 14 ahead of me.

Turned and the pain eased and got my breath back after a few minutes, back the way we came, and i had one goal, chase down as many runners as you can between now and home. They were some way ahead but it occupied the mind away from the hurt that was setting in. Shortly after 12k i passed one runner who had started to flag, we turned right here and retraced the first 1.5miles of the race. I had one more runner in sight and that was all i could possibly catch.

I gained on him bit by bit and came on his shoulder with 1k to go, he looked at me then my bib, they were different colours to indicate what race you were doing. He seen the blue on mine meaning i was doing the 15k and surged, right that's the way its going to be. I went with him, running side by side now, he was a member of the organising club and was getting loads of support, we hit the last 800m and i made my move, lets see how tough you are!! Opened a small gap, but he came back, surged again and opened a bigger gap this time, he still came back. Course showed 300m left, had one more surge in me but that was it, if it didn't work he had me, head down gritted the teeth and went, dared not look back, kept the effort going to the finish, the man on the mic done his best to say my name but made a balls of it . Crossed the line happy i had left every bit of effort in my legs out on the route. Splits were as follows, easy to see wind affected miles:

6.26/6.43/6.52/6.23/6.32/7.08(:eek:)/6.31/6.48/6.42/6.39 last bit.

In years gone past i would have given up on this race the minute the effort went above what i liked, not today and not in the past 12 months, this is one of the things i was happy with last year and something i have come on with in regards racing. In regards wind this is hands down the toughest race i have ran because there was nowhere to hide and no runners to take shelter behind. It was a day for effort and not times, i put in the 100% effort on this, that i am sure about.

39.50 miles for the week with an unplanned rest day and a decent race, i'll take it thanks. Oh and a new 15km PB:P:P:P.

Annie get your Run wrote: »

Nice job B! You can't ask for more than you have left it all out there. Your consistant training is paying off.

Nice to have all these different running routes too, makes a change from having to drive into Summerhill to find some light for your winter runs

About time I was spoilt once in my life, if it’s running routes, so be it!!!

Murph_D wrote: »

Great running, and a great result, B. Sounded bloody tough. Well done!

Cheers D, tough going in places alright.

martyboy48 wrote: »

Still a stubborn bollix while racing I see 😂😂 Solid effort there, great stuff....
Please please please easy running over the next few days ☺

I can only imagine what yer man was calling you on PA system ☺

Cheers Marty, can take the man out of the Bog and all that!! No less stubborn than yourself. Be all easy till Friday at earliest I promise you.

Good stuff B, nice to have that to build on for the next few months now, well done

healy1835 wrote: »

15k PB good solo effort by the sound of things....is 15k a regular race distance over your direction?

They have the strangest of distances over here, there was a race up the road last week that offered distances over 3.2, 6.4 & 9.8k. 15k appears to be a fairly standard distance here though, give me 10 miles any day though. But there is a few races that offer an English 10 mile as it’s described on websites!!!

jake1970 wrote: »

Great running and great report B.
Your training is progressing nicely, whats the target for the half?

Cheers L, anything with 1.25.xx is the goal for the CPC next month.

Back in Black wrote: »

That’s a great run B. Proper racing too which is great for building the confidence. Mind the body this week

Cheers J, very happy with the run alright.

well done B, great racing and great report, I can nearly feel the wind from the descriptions!!

Great racing there B, seems like fierce wind to have to run through!

Well done. Great racing and great determination on display there. Looking good for the half.

Monday 12.2.18

Rest, hips & quads hugely sore from previous days race.

Tuesday 13.2.18

5.85 miles Easy@8.48min/miles in 51min 29secs

I knew from the day I set this plan out I would be only running a 5 day week this week, don’t run on my kids birthdays end of. This was more or less pain in every step, hips were very tight and were bothering me the whole way through even though it was on the soft trails of Bosjes Van Poot. Not pretty & not what I wanted or expected.

Wednesday 14.2.18

6.10 miles Easy@8.41min/miles in 53min 01secs

Not much better than the day before, hips still in a jock and that didn’t bode well for Valentines night!!! Joking aside there was no change in them even with plenty of stretching the day before. Run again was kept to the relative softness of BVP.

Thursday 15.2.18

6.20 miles Easy@8.16min/miles in 51min 13secs

The pace was somewhat faster on this but the hips still offered little let up in pain, kept to the flatter sections of Westduinpark on this some was good some was painful. Spent the run deliberating in my mind which run to shelf this week, the 13 mile long run or the 10 with 6@HMP? The next days run would help me make my decision.

Friday 16.2.18

8 miles Steady@7.40min/miles in 61mins 18secs

Down to the flats of Zuiderpark in the early spring morning sunshine, hips somewhat better but still not 100%. Thought of, your one run away from an injury constantly popped into my mind from time to time as the darts of pain occurred in my hips. I would run a pain free lap then a lap with sporadic sharp darts of pain in my hips. Happy in two ways after this, one to get through at the pace I did and two to be over the pain!!!

Saturday 16.2.18

13.15 miles Easy@8.19min/miles in 1hr 49min 19secs

The 10 with 6@HMP got the sack, why? Because I was not able for it, sorry, the body wasn’t. I normally recover very quickly from races but the 15km knocked me for six!!! Out early into the cool Spring morning sunshine and more running tourism, down through Zuiderpark and on to the suburb of Rijswijk and the new parks of Park Overvoorde, Park Steenvoorde & Rijswijkse Bos that contains De Put a natural water lake that has a heated section of it cordoned off. Half tempted to jump in to see if it would ease the hips but resisted. Hips still tight but not a patch on earlier in the week. Photo of Zuiderplase and its fountains below in the Spring sun.

Sunday 18.2.18

Rest, our little Princesses Birthday.

39.30 miles for the week, 10 short of what was required but as I said earlier it was a week I was sacrificing a run regardless. Hips are somewhat better today but still not 100% even with all the stretching. Had in laws with us most of the week that resulted in 3 late nights and booze, after 11pm is late for me since I came here!!! Not ideal in regards recovery either but real life gets in the way sometimes, not a full time runner like AMK!!! If I chose to run the 6 HMP miles i’d say i’d be crocked typing this. 50+ miles on the plan for coming week before a two week taper, weight is still good at 12stone 11pounds, few more off that before race day no doubt. A week to just survive and move on.