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Earning my go-faster stripes...

eyrie

After much lurking, I'm dipping my toe in this running log business. I've learned so much from reading many of the logs here already, and it's time to start properly tracking what I'm doing and where it gets me (or doesn't).

Quick background: I'm female, early-ish 30s, with no real history of sport/exercise at all bar going to the gym a bit and walking practically everywhere I go. I've dabbled in running a few times previously (the typical couch to 5k stint on a couple of occasions) but it never stuck until about 9/10 months ago when I got the bug badly, and so far it has stuck. I've been running 5 days a week, lately around the 30 mile a week mark, give or take a few.

I'm slow, but I enjoy training and when I pick a plan I stick to it, to the point where in the last 6 months I haven't missed a single planned run. Recently I started experiencing bouts of extremely low energy and some dizziness, and my paces got even slower. Took myself off to the GP and was told I have practically no iron at all, so I'm now dosing myself with the stuff and hoping my paces start to improve a bit.

My first real running goal was to complete a half marathon, which I finally did last weekend (the Rock 'n' Roll Half) in the pleasantly-surprising-to-me time of 1:57:5x. Now that that's done I'm keen to think about what's next.

Current PBs

5K | 24:36 | August 2017 (Parkrun) or
| 25:44 | April 2017 (race)
5 mile | 43:16 | May 2017
10K | 53:00 | June 2017
HM | 1:57:5x | August 2017

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ariana`

eyrie wrote: »

2018

I'm not one for resolutions or major goals really, but I've had this annoying little corner of my brain that's been whispering "marathon, marathon" since reading the novices thread back in 2016. So the vague plan (wild hope?) is to attempt it this year. That said, I'd really like to do another half because I enjoyed the first so much. Oh and there are other helpful aspirations like "run more!", "get faster!" etc.

As I think about all of this I'm struggling a bit with the thought of balance, too. Training for the half last summer, I felt I was constantly saying no to things my boyfriend wanted to do, or missing time with family and friends. This year I've started a masters on top of that. Soooo... I don't know what the solution is (except for the nagging feeling that there probably isn't one, you just do what you can), but I like to run and I want to keep doing it.

Once the idea is there then it will just keep niggling at you until you do it so you may as well just bite the bullet and get the monkey off your back

It's a juggling act no matter what. I don't remember saying no to anything big/important while training for DCM. It really opened my eyes that when you want something badly enough there is almost always a way to work around it. It may just involve getting up extra early, giving up TV time, or letting the house work go a bit (ok a lot :eek:).

You hit well over 1,000 miles training this year so you've already got a super base and you're already doing more than the weekly mileage required of a novice plan.

Best of luck with Raheny!

Huzzah!

eyrie wrote: »

2018

I'm not one for resolutions or major goals really, but I've had this annoying little corner of my brain that's been whispering "marathon, marathon" since reading the novices thread back in 2016. So the vague plan (wild hope?) is to attempt it this year. That said, I'd really like to do another half because I enjoyed the first so much. Oh and there are other helpful aspirations like "run more!", "get faster!" etc.

As I think about all of this I'm struggling a bit with the thought of balance, too. Training for the half last summer, I felt I was constantly saying no to things my boyfriend wanted to do, or missing time with family and friends. This year I've started a masters on top of that. Soooo... I don't know what the solution is (except for the nagging feeling that there probably isn't one, you just do what you can), but I like to run and I want to keep doing it.

Up next - Raheny
The one thing that is actually happening though, is the Raheny 5 mile at the end of this month. I've already gotten off to a bad start with this one. I signed up for it a little while ago, lured by talk on here of a mouth-watering goodie bag. However, holiday and then Christmas happened, and I never got around to starting training. Or even to keeping up my base running, for that matter. So now I find myself in January, after 5 weeks of pretty scant running, more unfit than I've been in months. Great! Four weeks to cram-train, because I'm sure that works... But feck it, it's one race. At the very least this will hopefully teach me a valuable lesson about preparation. It's felt good being back at it this week.

After that - time to pick a goal, pick a plan, and get going. Happy 2018 all!

Some nice goals. Plenty of time to get back in the swing before Raheny. Your fitness will come back quickly.

No harm in running the marathon without a time goal. As Ariana says, you're already running as much, if not more, than the novice plans. I understand how tough it is trying to do a masters while working, though!

eyrie

I've developed a bit of a mental block about this log it seems - knowing it's sitting here horribly out of date but not able to bring myself to update it. So I'll attempt to keep this brief and get caught up.

Started January having done very little running for the previous 5/6 weeks. Raheny 5 mile coming up at the end of the month, so I decided to do the last 4 weeks of a Hal Higdon 8k plan - bit of a mix of the intermediate and advanced plans.

Week of 1st - 7th January

Monday 1st January - No running. Bad start... Went for a nice bracing New Year's walk instead.

Tuesday 2nd January - 5.21 miles / 9:50 avg pace / 165 (180) HR avg (max)
Tempo run of sorts, which was the middle section of this run, sandwiched between a couple of slower miles.

Wednesday 3rd January - 5.27 miles / 6 x 400 at 5k pace / 157 (192) HR avg (max)
OUCH. Have done zero speedwork since last August, and this basically traumatised me. Not smart, maybe. Hit goal paces for the intervals but it wasn't fun, which that max HR reading attests to.

Thursday 4th January - 15 mins strength training + 4 miles easy / 10:59 avg pace / 148 (160) HR avg (max)
Very windy, but kept this nice and easy.

Friday 5th January - 3.62 miles / 10:44 avg pace / 143 (152) HR avg (max)
Short and easy effort.

Saturday 6th January - 6.12 miles / 09:32 avg pace / 162 (192) HR avg (max)
Plan was 6 miles w/ 3 at target race pace. Didn't really know what that should be so aimed for 8:00 - 8:25. First mile of the three was too slow, the others were too quick. Very windy. Felt pretty tough.

Sunday 7th January - 6 miles easy / 10:40 avg pace / 148 (159) HR avg (max)
Short 'long' run.

Weekly mileage: 30.22 miles

Feels good to be back in the habit, but there were a few ropey moments. Can't remember the last time running felt as hard as it did a few times this week. A lot of fitness lost it seems.

eyrie

Week of 8th - 14th January

Monday 8th - 15 mins strength training + 3.25 miles easy / 10:53 avg pace / 144 (151) HR avg (max)
Can't remember anything about this, except that kettlebell swings are fun.

Tuesday 9th - Tempo: 5.4 miles / 9:37 avg pace / 160 (183) HR avg (max)
Tempo section in between some slower miles.

Wednesday 10th - Rest
Schedule didn't allow for any running today so moved the planned runs around.

Thursday 11th - 4.05 miles easy / 10:31 avg pace / 147 (155) HR avg (max)
Easy run in the evening.

Friday 12th January - 4.02 miles easy / 10:42 avg pace / 146 (157) HR avg (max)
Wasn't feeling great for this, but it was short and easy so no complaints.

Saturday 13th January - 5.1 miles / 09:11 avg pace / 170 (194) HR avg (max)
5 miles w/ 3 at target race pace. Massive improvement on the same workout last week, at least in terms of how it felt. Still hard, but more manageably hard, if that makes sense. Splits: 8:06, 8:07, 8:03

Sunday 14th January - 8.05 miles / 10:16 avg pace / 149 (157) HR avg (max)
Pretty windy. Felt good and easy, so I was surprised to find I was pretty tired later on. Fitness still not back, obviously.

Weekly mileage: 29.89 miles

Second week back was a bit better than the first week back, so baby steps

eyrie

Alright then, time to get this back up to (almost) the present! Here's last week

Week of 15th - 21st January

Monday 15th - 10 mins strength training + 3 miles easy / 9:53(?) avg pace / 147 (157) HR avg (max)
Treadmill run and I don't quite believe the pace my watch reported! But no matter, it was an easy run and the effort felt right. Ran out of time for my strength training at the end so this was very minimal

Tuesday 16th - 5.1 miles easy / 10:14 avg pace / 151 (161) HR avg (max)
Snow! Out at lunchtime for this. Blaming the weather for the increased HR

Wednesday 17th - 6 x 400 @ 5k pace
4.1 miles / 157 (187) HR avg (max)
Aimed for 7:55 pace for the intervals but ran all of them a bit quicker. Oops.

Thursday 18th - 6.1 miles easy / 11:01 avg pace / 147 (156) HR avg (max)
First runmute (with the backpack) in a very long time! Pace was slower but this actually enjoyed this one, took it easy.

Friday 19th January - 5 miles w/ 3 at 'pace'
5.1 miles / 167 (192) HR avg (max)
Had to do this as a run to work with the backpack too which wasn't ideal. I assumed that would mean the 'pace' miles would be slower, but they ended up fairly bang on - 8:13, 8:11 and 8:01 (goal was 8:10 ish).

Saturday 20th January - Rest
In college all day.

Sunday 21st January - 8 miles / 10:43 avg pace / 145 (158) HR avg (max)
Into strong wind for a lot of this. Tried to keep the effort low and not push against it too much.

Weekly mileage: 31.4 miles

Fairly happy with the week, I feel like I'm slowly getting back into the swing of it. Pity there aren't a few more weeks before Raheny!

chickey2

eyrie wrote: »

Pity there aren't a few more weeks before Raheny!

Yeah, I hear you! Looks like you've been consistent for the last three weeks so that will stand to you. Good luck!

eyrie

chickey2 wrote: »

Yeah, I hear you! Looks like you've been consistent for the last three weeks so that will stand to you. Good luck!

Ha thank you, I'd love to think my three weeks of consistency would be enough but somehow I don't really! However I keep reminding myself of this epic goodie bag at the end that everyone keeps talking about, so curiosity/greed will get me there if nothing else does!

Good luck to you too! Hopefully we get a good day for it

Huzzah!

Best of luck on Sunday

ariana`

Good luck Eyrie!!!

eyrie

Quicky recap for last week before getting to the fun stuff (race! woo!)

Monday 22nd - 3 easy miles / 10:44 avg pace / 140 (152) HR avg (max)
Hit the treadmill at lunchtime. Short, easy, nothing more to say

Tuesday 23rd - 4 easy miles / 10:44 avg pace / 145 (154) HR avg (max)
Lunchtime again but made it outdoors this time. Still windy out there!

Wednesday 24th - 4.3 miles / 10:32 avg pace / 152 (184) HR avg (max)
5 x 400 at 5k pace. All in order.

Thursday 25th - 3.1 miles / 11:17 avg pace / 146 (162) HR avg (max)
Ran home from work with the backpack. Makes a definite difference to pace relative to effort.

Friday 26th January - 3.1 miles / 11:17 avg pace / 144 (153) HR avg (max)
Morning runmute this time. Exact same pace as yesterday interestingly, though franctionally lower HR for it.

Saturday 27th January - Rest
Planned to do a short recovery run and a few strides ahead of the race the next day, but I was feeling crap so just rested.

eyrie

Sunday 28th January - Raheny 5 mile
Not really sure how to explain this one. I'm not exaggerating when I say I would have cancelled on it completely if my lovely boyfriend hadn't changed a load of plans to be free to drive me to the race, so the guilt got me there! Woke up on Sunday feeling crap, went out for a gentle jog and felt really dizzy, and, ahem, got sick a tiny bit when I got home. Not very promising! Told myself I'd run the race but not expect anything, just take it easy.

Previous 5 mile PB was 43:15 ish, and I thought on a good day I might make sub-41, but this didn't seem to be a good day. McMillan gave me a 40:45 prediction based on a 5k from last summer, but I was a lot fitter then.

Got there and was completely thrown by how busy it was. I've never done this one before and wasn't expecting half of it. It was like a music festival! Without the music... Saw people all around me warming up, etc, but I didn't bother. What was the point?

The Race
Lined up near the back (because of the new go-slow plan) and waited. Quickly realised I'd made a definite mistake there. I may not have been flying around, but I spent the first several minutes barely able to move for how many people there were in front of me. I guess it's to be expected with a busy race but it was very frustrating. I eventually settled into it after about 1/2 mile and realised my pace was picking up. In training I was aiming for 8:10 pace, but I was now a little quicker than that and feeling surprisingly good.

It's a nice course, felt like it was downhill all the way somehow. Seemed weirdly quiet running through the streets. Most of the race was a bit of a blur, just ticked along really, feeling pretty decent for the most part. The only bit that really dragged was up the main stretch in St Anne's Park, but I tried to just go with it and not drop the pace. I was afraid to really go for it until the last 0.5 mile or less to go, which is a persistent problem of mine in races. I managed to speed up with the finish line in sight but crossed it feeling pretty energetic, which I think means I did it wrong

I somehow came away with a chip time of 38:53. No idea where that came from, and I'm still scratching my head. It's a lovely surprise, but it doesn't feel entirely real since I had no intention of going anywhere near sub-40, didn't think I was capable.

Then home for a cup of tea and a celebratory biscuit from the goodie bag

ariana`

Brilliant time eyrie but I'm not a bit surprised. You've been ticking away with consistent high mileage weeks and it's paid off. Imagine if you were feeling 100%

;) Well done girl

Huzzah!

Yeesssss! Nice work. Congrats on the PB. You've an exciting running career ahead of you, methinks

Annie get your Run

Congrats!!! That's brilliant! As ariana said, your consistent training has definitely paid off for sure

gypsylee

Well done Eyrie, congrats on a great time. Off to a great start for 2018.

skyblue46

That's brilliant running and a great testimony to the miles you've put in. Congratulations!

chickey2

Fantastic, that's a great pb! Especially if you weren't feeling well.

eyrie

ariana` wrote: »

Brilliant time eyrie but I'm not a bit surprised. You've been ticking away with consistent high mileage weeks and it's paid off. Imagine if you were feeling 100% ;) Well done girl

I'm starting to think I would have done worse if I'd been feeling well - low expectations might just be the answer!

Huzzah! wrote: »

Yeesssss! Nice work. Congrats on the PB. You've an exciting running career ahead of you, methinks

Ha! Thank you, but I'm questioning your definition of 'exciting' now... :P

Annie get your Run wrote: »

Congrats!!! That's brilliant! As ariana said, your consistent training has definitely paid off for sure .

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed the day yourself - good discipline there to stick to the plan!

gypsylee wrote: »

Well done Eyrie, congrats on a great time. Off to a great start for 2018.

Thanks, and the same to you!

skyblue46 wrote: »

That's brilliant running and a great testimony to the miles you've put in. Congratulations!

Thank you! Super performance yourself - loved the report

chickey2 wrote: »

Fantastic, that's a great pb! Especially if you weren't feeling well.

Same to you

We must have been very close to each other at the end

eyrie

Back down to earth. Sunday's race gave me a renewed taste for them, so I need to think about what's next. I had been planning on training for a half in late spring/early summer, which would have me done and dusted in time to start thinking about maaaaaybe attempting marathon training. But now I'm wondering if I should focus on shorter stuff for the next few months instead of a half. I'd really like to do another half, but part of me thinks that shorter races that might need a teeeny bit less time spent training would be sensible when I have a lot of other stuff on over the next few months. Decisions, decisions...

Oh and I should really figure it out pronto, so I can start a new plan next week. I'm so torn! Anyone care to decide for me?? :pac:

Taking it semi-easy this week anyway while I decide, have picked up a cold too so that suits for now.

Monday 29th - Rest
Planned a recovery run but didn't end up doing it, mostly for reasons of laziness

Tuesday 30th - 4.1 miles / 10:30 avg pace / 144 (157) HR avg (max)
Nice to be back out. Just an easy lunchtime one but it felt good.

Annie get your Run

Well, if you're thinking of marathon training you'll most likely be doing a half in the run up to that, so why not focus on the shorter stuff for now! Win win

You also recover quicker from shorter races so you can do lots of different ones and enjoy the next few months before the serious work of marathon training starts.

eyrie

Annie get your Run wrote: »

Well, if you're thinking of marathon training you'll most likely be doing a half in the run up to that, so why not focus on the shorter stuff for now! Win win You also recover quicker from shorter races so you can do lots of different ones and enjoy the next few months before the serious work of marathon training starts.

You know, I like the way you think...

I've just been sort of tied to the idea of a half because I enjoyed the first one I did so much, but as you say I'll probably do one later in the year anyway. I think part of me thinks I need to have improved my half time a good bit before starting marathon training to give myself a bit more confidence over longer distances. But your way I get to do more races!

skyblue46

eyrie wrote: »

You know, I like the way you think...

I've just been sort of tied to the idea of a half because I enjoyed the first one I did so much, but as you say I'll probably do one later in the year anyway. I think part of me thinks I need to have improved my half time a good bit before starting marathon training to give myself a bit more confidence over longer distances. But your way I get to do more races!

You'll have no problem with training for a marathon considering where you are at now. You're well ahead of the game. Enjoy the shorter stuff over the next few months before knuckling down to the Novices '18 thread and plans

Huzzah!

Why not find a race that interests you and then pick a plan to suit? Lots of plans have races incorporated, so you might race a few times in the build up to your goal race, too.

eyrie

skyblue46 wrote: »

You'll have no problem with training for a marathon considering where you are at now. You're well ahead of the game. Enjoy the shorter stuff over the next few months before knuckling down to the Novices '18 thread and plans

I love your confidence! But... ehh.... I'm still terrified at the thought of it to be honest. But sure there's only one way to find out

Huzzah! wrote: »

Why not find a race that interests you and then pick a plan to suit? Lots of plans have races incorporated, so you might race a few times in the build up to your goal race, too.

Yep I think I'm going to go for a 10k, and then a 5k or two in the build up as part of the training. Kind of excited at the prospect now!

skyblue46

eyrie wrote: »

I love your confidence! But... ehh.... I'm still terrified at the thought of it to be honest. But sure there's only one way to find out

Now now I'll not be hearing of the word terrified. This time last year I had run the grand total of 162 miles for the preceding 12 months and was not the only one on last years thread to have that experience level. Some had less, some had more....but all who took to the line finished and finished well. So yes I would have huge confidence that you can, and will, do it!

eyrie

Wednesday 31st - 4.45 miles / 9:42 avg pace / 149 (174) HR avg (max)
Blood test this morning to see if my iron levels have finally decided to come up to normal. Fingers crossed. Random run at lunchtime - 2 x tempo miles with 1 easy mile in between, plus warm up and cool down.

January mileage - 124 miles
Compares fairly well to the 14.5 miles I apparently ran last January!

Thursday 1st Feb - 5.7 miles / 10:36 avg pace / 144 (156) HR avg (max)
February!!! Runmute home in the evening with the backpack. Surprised at the pace - noticeable bit quicker than last week's backpack runs, for the same heart rate.

Friday 2nd - 4.6 miles / 10:51 avg pace / 144 (156) HR avg (max)
And the reverse - runmute back in to work this morning, with a fairly empty backpack. Felt fairly tired about 2/3 of the way through this, but still getting rid of a cold plus not a great night's sleep probably to blame.

That ended up being it for the week. Friday night I started to feel really dizzy out of nowhere, and it continued through Saturday so running didn't feel like a good idea. Sunday the dizziness was gone but I was exhausted and really not feeling like myself, so again just took it easy. Bit weird but I've been trying to get rid of a cold that seems determined not to budge, so that may have contributed.

Weekly mileage: 18.8 miles
Pretty poor, but it was kind of a filler week after Raheny last weekend and before starting the new plan, so no real damage done.

ariana`

Did you get results from the blood tests? Maybe the dizziness is from your iron? Mind yourself anyhow.

eyrie

ariana` wrote: »

Did you get results from the blood tests? Maybe the dizziness is from your iron? Mind yourself anyhow.

Haven't got the results yet but I'm hoping they'll show that my iron is way up, not down, as I've been taking supplements for months now! But we'll see, I should find out in a few days. I'm feeling much better today anyway so it could just be down to a week of not enough sleep too. Thanks

eyrie

Ahhh the joys of a new plan! Really feeling the running love so far this week - been excited to get out for every run.

After much dithering I've decided to train for a 10k (dreams of another HM will have to wait a bit longer), following the lower mileage 10k plan from P&L Faster Road Racing. Here goes...

Monday 5th Feb - Easy run + 6 x 12 sec uphill + 6 x 100m strides
6.1 miles / 10:23 avg pace / 149 (178) HR avg (max)
Running is weird. I almost postponed this as I was feeling crap, but went out anyway and had a great run. First day of the new plan. I guess the weekend off helped but I felt really strong.

Tuesday 6th - Rest
Was itching to run today but it was a planned rest day since I knew I wouldn't have time for a long enough run.

Wednesday 7th - Endurance run (10:41 - 9:38 pace)
8.1 miles @ 10:05 avg / 152 (168) HR avg (max)
Splits: 10:21, 10:24, 10:36, 10:04, 10:01, 9:53, 9:39, 9:30 (1:12 for last bit)
Still can't shift this cold. Grrr. I was excited for this - first time getting to try out the new paces dictated by the plan. Delighted with how it went. The first two miles were too quick but otherwise the paces were bang on and felt great. Enjoyed it thoroughly.

ariana`

Hi eyrie, congrats on the new goal and plan, you sound like you're really buzzing from it already which is fab! I have that book but haven't managed to follow any of the plans (yet!) - even the lowest mileage ones are too big of a commitment for me at the moment but i'll be following with interest. Have you a target race?