What I log about when I log about running

Monday, January 15th 
Plan:Off
Total: 10.08km (1:16:26)
Splits: 7:42: 7:44; 7:44; 7:35; 7:34; 7:34; 7:46; 7:23; 7:22; and 7:30
Avg HR: 147 Max: 168

I've no recollection of this run whatsoever, which is a good sign. It means I'm getting back into the swing of things.

Tuesday, January 16th 
Plan:Easy 8k
Total: 8km (1:07)
Splits: 7:44; 7:21; 7:29; 7:31; 7:32; 7:34; 7:32; and 7:02
Avg HR: 147 Max HR: 168

I told myself I'd get up and run to work, but the sound of the wind put me off. I regretted not getting up later in the afternoon when the snow started. I'm trying not to miss runs, so I took to the treadmill again. It was fine once I got going. It does make getting home awkward though.

Thursday, January 18th 
Plan: 5km
Total: 5km (36:49)
Splits: 7:16; 7:12; 7:27; 7:33; and 7:02
Avg HR: 144 Max HR: 167

Client meetings all day and an evening out meant I had to do this in the morning. I was so cold when I got to work that I took to the treadmill again. This felt longer.

Friday, January 19th 
Plan: 5km
Total: 13km (1:37:20)
Splits: 7:30; 7:33; 7:41; 7:20; 7:28; 7:27; 7:22; 7:33; 7:17; 7:22; 7:19; 7:24; and 7:43
Avg HR: 143 Max HR: 177

I decided to move Sunday's long run to Saturday and then it dawned on me on Friday afternoon that it would actually make more sense to get it done that evening. Felt sorry for myself heading out on this but once I hit my stride, I really enjoyed it. I'm hopefully starting to feel the fitness come back a wee bit.

Saturday, January 20th 
Plan: 8km
Total: 8.3km (1:01:56)
Splits: 7:21; 7:29; 7:34; 7:23; 7:33; 7:40; 7:30; 7:14; and 6:58
Avg HR: 140 Max HR: 164

Out into the lashings of rain to get this done and it was hard. I never hit my stride or got comfortable. I grinded it out and was glad to finish. Maybe I could've slowed it down a touch. Anyway, tis the difficult ones that make us stronger.

Sunday, January 21st
Plan: 13km
Total: 5km (38:26)
Splits: 7:17; 7:31; 7:29; 7:35; 7:25; and 7:36
Avg HR: 132 Max HR: 156

Felt much better on this run and enjoyed it despite being freezing.


So, 49ish kilometres again this week and feeling a bit less blobby. I'm happy that the runs are feeling easier and this is reflected in my heart rate. I'm finding running six days a week a little bit tough, if I'm honest, more in my head than physically. Finding yesterday's run so difficult, it was hard not even being able to appease myself that I'd a rest day coming up. I'm glad that today's run felt so easy. It does make skipping a run not an option, which may or may not be advantageous. Anyway, looking ahead, next week will see the first of the sessions, with a tempo run (Hanson style) on Thursday.

eyrie wrote: »

Six days a week is definitely an adjustment. Although in a way it kind of makes it more automatic, so easier in that sense? But I get you. And it's not helped when the weather is as bad as it has been!

Yep - at least, I hope it becomes more automatic

Saturday, January 27
Total: 16km (1:53:26)
Avg Pace: 7:05 min/km
Splits: 7:25; 7:21; 7:31; 7:48; 7:31; 7:17; 6:40; 6:42; 6:30; 6:29; 5:38; 7:12; 7:27; 7:16; and 7:16
Avg HR: 149 Max HR: 182

I decided to swap my long run to Saturday so that I could incorporate a parkrun. Johnstown parkrun has, quite helpfully, moved to Wexford racecourse, which is 5km from my parents’ place, meaning I can now run there quite easily. Up early for breakfast and back to bed for an hour before heading out. One of my first ever posts (if not my first) on the A/R was in response to a query about a suitable place for hill sprints in Wexford town and the hill up to the racecourse was where I suggested they could be done. I was mindful of this as I trudged my way up to parkrun and was a bit surprised at my effort levels. Anyway, I arrived in plenty of time and added on an extra km to bring me to six before pr started. I really enjoyed every step of this. I loved being able to watch the fast folks. You can nearly make them out for the entire course. It’s three loops and .5 of a loop to finish. I love running pr at an easy pace, even if it does lower my overall average time and getting to chat to people or eavesdrop on their conversations. The course has a gentle uphill, followed by lots of nice gentle downhill. You then start to climb again and this is difficult because the wind hits you right in the smush as you climb. I decided to let go for the last 400-or-so meters as it would’ve been rude not to. As I crested the hill, I noticed a guy ahead who’d taken a break. He started running again as I went past him and I encouraged him to stay with me. He’d the hard work done at that point, so I told him to sit back and enjoy the downhill. I’m never really sure whether to encourage people or not, but he stuck with me and we finished together.
I definitely ran the parkrun too fast for easy, but it’s about right for long-run pace as per the Hanson calculator. The first proper long run is next week, so I was just practicing

Sunday, January 28
Total: 6.4km (48:34)
Avg Pace: 7:34 min/km
Splits: 7:44; 7:33; 7:37; 7:30; 7:25; 7:30; and 7:47
Avg HR: 135 Max HR: 152

After running a touch too quickly on Friday and Saturday, I was determined to run this as close to the slower end of the prescribed easy-range pace and to keep my HR under 140bpm. I managed the latter and am happy that the pace was slow enough, if not quite as slow as planned.

56 kilometers this week and still ahead of plan. There are two SOS next week, so I think I’ll follow the planned miles as closely as possible. Interestingly (to me, anyway), if I’d followed the plan to the letter this week, I would’ve run 45km and it calls for 59km next week, which is quite the jump, so I’m glad I upped the mileage earlier at the beginning. I’m a small bit cacking it for the first speed workout, but it’ll be good to give one a go and see how I get on.

Monday, January 29th 
Plan: Easy 6.4km
Total: 6.5km (47:15)
Splits: 7:48; 8:05; 7:50; 7:46; 7:40; 7:48; and 7:46
Avg HR: 131 Max: 153

I was happy to keep this at the easier end of the range and that I did. I ran up a hill that I haven’t run up in exactly one year. I cried the last time I ran up it No tears to report on this run. I did follow the Dodder path to Milltown and won’t be doing that again until the brighter evenings. I was dark and I was fwightened.

Tuesday, January 30th 
Plan: 12x400@5k pace
Total: 13km incl 12x400@5k pace
Splits: 2:00.9; 2:02.8; 159.4; 2:02.9; 2:00.8; 2:02.5; 1:57.4; 2:02.2; 2:00.3; 2:01.8; 2:02.1; and 2:04.5
Avg HR: 147 Max HR: 180

I assume my 5k pace to be in or around 5.25/km and that’s how I set these up. They felt manageable until the last few, which were tough. I thought I only had to do nine, hence the faster split, and nearly passed out when I realised I’d to do 12. I was glad of the rest day on the Wednesday.

Thursday, February 1st 
Plan: Tempo 5km
Total: 10.3km, incl 5km tempo.
Splits: Tempo: 6:05; 6:07; 6:08; 5:59; and 6:09
Avg HR: 159 Max HR: 173

I was away last weekend and have been getting home late in the evenings, so I decided to chance this as a runmute and hoped the hilly route didn’t make this too difficult to complete. Well, it didn’t. I loved this run again. I’m also disappointed again that I ran it too quickly as that isn’t the point of the session. I’ve changed these workouts on my watch to one kilometre repeats, so, hopefully, that will help me run future tempo sessions at the correct pace. Soreish hamstring today. Need to figure out a way to not wear hills until after Berlin.

Friday, February 2nd 
Plan: Easy 6.4km
Total: 8km
Splits: 7:35; 7:33; 7:30; 7:23; 7:16; 7:20; and 7:23
Avg HR: 129 Max HR: 141

I moved Sunday’s long run to Saturday and feel like the Saturday run should precede the long run, so I moved it to Friday. Ran into work at a super easy effort. Tickityboo.

Saturday, February 3rd 
Plan: Long run 19km
Total: 19km
Splits: 7:32; 7:17; 7:16; 7:08; 7:03; 7:19; 7:16; 6:40; 6:49; 6:30; 6:32; 6:54; 6:43; 6:53; 7:19; 6:47; 7:19; 6:47; 7:08; 6:53 and 7:37
Avg HR: 140 Max HR: 170

The first of the Hanson plan long runs. My prescribed pace for these is: 6:44/km-7:40. (Whoops - I had 7:20 in my head) Anyway, I’ve been doing the long runs per the advanced plan and wondering if it’s time to revert to the beginner plan because this run was tough. I decided to split it into halves, Pfitzinger style, with a more sedate first half followed by a pacier second. All was fine until I ran the stretch from Kilternan to SSide and the wind had me feeling like I was running to a standstill. It was joyful having to do this not once but twice. The middle section was definitely the toughest and I finished feeling strong. Not as a big an issue was that I kept having to remind myself that I was running. Running the easy runs is almost a meditative default for me now and, as my mind would wander, the pace would drop. Spent a good 15 minutes stretching post run and the legs felt tip top today.

Sunday, February 4th
Plan: Easy 8km
Total:  6.2km
Splits: 7:37; 7:31; 7:45; 7:44; 7:37; and 7:39
Avg HR: 131 Max HR: 153

Friday’s run swapped to today. Kept this in the recovery zone by and large. Everything is feeling good.


63 kilometres done and I’m happy with the week’s work. I’m already looking forward to the end of the month, which will also see an end of the speedier sessions I’ve to skip this week’s tempo (boo) as I’m doing Enniscorthy 10k on Sunday. I’m really looking forward to racing despite, or maybe because, I have no idea what to aim for. Time to get my thinking cap on.

eyrie wrote: »

Wow that's a serious week of training, well done! Impressive

What's the difference between the advanced and beginner versions of the long runs - is it distance or pace? Or both? Sounds like the wind played a big part in you finding it tough though.

Yeah, probably and I did my long run a day early, too, so I need to factor that in. The beginner plan started with a long run of 4 miles, so I opted to follow the advanced runs, instead. It seems from here on in, though, the beginner plans are all to be run at "long" run pace but they're a small bit shorter than the advanced long runs, which are only run at "long" run pace every second week, so I think I'll stick with the advanced ones for now.

Hope you're back in good form soon

Thanks for your words of encouragement for the Enniscorthy 10k; unfortunately, I didn't do them justice. Race report below.

Monday, February 5th 
Plan: Easy 6.4km
Total: 6.42km
Splits: 7:41; 7:55; 8:00; 7:40; 7:26; 7:23; and 7:26
Avg HR: 142 Max: 153

Emmmmmmmm… I’m sure it felt fine. Not sure what the slower kms were about but all within the permitted range, so nothing too concerning.

Tuesday, February 6th 
Plan: 8x600@5k pace
Total: 12.5km incl 8x600@5k pace
Splits: 3:02.3; 3:02; 3:00; 3:04.2; 3:01.7; 2:59.9; 3:03; and 3:06.0
Avg HR: 162 Max HR: 182

Yeah, these are hard. The last split would’ve been closer to the required speed (3.03), but I stopped when I came to a traffic light thinking that was the end of the split. My brain was de-oxygenated at that point, to be fair. All the other splits are close enough, I think. I can remember the quickest split feeling just effortless. The plan was to run to the Luas as a cooldown, but I realised when I finished the repeats that if I legged it, I could get the, much-closer, bus, instead, so I cheated a bit on both mileage and cool down. Naughty.

Thursday, February 8th 
Plan: Tempo 5km
Total: 10km, no tempo.
Splits: 7:36; 7:14; 7:08; 7:17; 7:08; 7:05: 7:20; 7:42; 7:09; and 7:16
Avg HR: 146 Max HR: 162

The plan says if racing to swap Tempo Thursday with Saturday’s run, which is what I did. This was unpleasant from start to finish. Why was it unpleasant? Because it was humid and I ran it too fast. Why did I run it too fast? I don’t know, but I was consciously trying to slow down for a lot of it to no avail. No excuses, though. There’s no reason to run too fast, particularly when it’s a struggle to do so.

Friday, February 9th 
Plan: Easy 6.4km
Total: 5.27km
Splits: 7:33; 7:37; 7:17; 7:18; 7:05; and 7:03
Avg HR: 144 Max HR: 161

The plan was to take the bus some of the way into work in the morning and run the rest of the way. My first mistake was relying on Dublin Bus. The bus never showed up and the next one didn’t allow enough time to get a run plus shower in, so I did this at lunchtime, instead. 5k is the most I can get done over lunch and 5k is what I did.

Saturday, February 10th 

I wasn’t sure if swapping this run to Thursday meant no running at all on the day before a race but I thought a nice’n’easy 5k would be just the ticket. Just as well, I unpacked my gear when I arrived in Wexford as discovered I’d forgotten my sports bra. A trip to the sports shop meant no running.

Sunday, February 11th
Total:  12km, including 10k race
Race Splits: 5:31; 5:39; 5:29; 5:46; 5:33; 5:57; 6:20; 6:12; 6:07 and 5:31 (57:56)
Avg HR: 176 Max HR: 185

Enniscorthy 10k and not the result I wanted, but I ran as best I could, so I can’t be too disappointed or so I keep telling myself, anyway.

The boyf has just started his 12-week plan for the half and he wasn’t keen to race. He planned on running this at his endurance pace, which fitted right in with my aim of running 5.35/km for a finish time of 56 minutes. I’m not sure where I got this time out of. It was the time I aimed for, and also missed, at Donadea. My endurance is quite bad, so I don’t really use calculators as a guide, except to maybe laugh at the times they suggest I should be able to run. I’d gotten into the habit of just aiming for a small PB in each race and I think it’s a habit I’ll have to resume. She says, ignoring the hoped for time at Wexford.

So, we arrived nice and early. It was bitterly cold, almost unbearably so in the wind. I ran a comfortable warm up, although my heart rate was too high and lined up with D. Without much ado, the race began and we ran to a main road, turned left and the climbing began. I felt horrible from the start. The pace was okay, but my legs felt heavy and my arms were really sore. We ran the first kilometre too quickly, so I soon sent D on his way. I had a feeling I was in for a shocker and didn’t want him to worry about me or feel bad if I couldn't maintain pace. The second km was a bit too slow, but I wasn’t worried. I was working hard and if it was too slow, then so be it. I could feel the pace pick up as we ran up another hill. It felt okay until we levelled out and then I felt like I’d really overdone it. My breathing was loud. We turned right at some point and there was a line of traffic waiting to turn. One of the drivers was beeping and someone commented how impatient people can be. I could barely muster a reply. Just before the 5k mark, there was a lovely downhill. I could just about run at the required pace here and the alarm bells were fairly clanging in my head. They’d a clock at the 5k mark and I realised that I was still on pace. I knew I couldn’t keep it up, though., so it didn't give me the same boost as normal. I’d heard someone say earlier that there was a nasty hill just after the water station at 5k. It was here that a bad stitch started. I walked for a second to get rid but to no avail. One of the Slaney Olympic club runners told me there was only one bad hill after this one, so I started running again. He lied. There was definitely more than one bad hill after here. I didn’t care about pace. The next few kilometres were some of the toughest I’ve ever run. I was soon on my own running into a nasty headwind. If anyone passed me, I couldn’t stay with them for long. At one point, myself and a Raheny runner were passing each other. He sounded as bad as I felt and he tried to encourage me. I remembered someone saying that the last mile and a half was a lovely downhill. I think maybe only the last k was downhill, which would’ve been lovely, but it was into the same strong headwind. Raheny was far ahead at this point. He ended up finishing about 30 seconds ahead. The closest runner to me was about 30 seconds behind.

Someone mentioned what a difficult day out it was as we walked to the clubroom. Maybe I can take some succour in that, but not really. I wasn’t able for the pace from the off.

46kms for the week. The plan had been to do a 2k cool down, which would’ve meant a 30-mile week. I was just too tired and cold when I finished and satisfied myself with a cool-down walk.

I guess there are no races in the plan for a reason. I’d half an idea to do the Clontarf 10 mile on Easter Monday, but today’s effort means I won’t. I’ll be sticking to the plan from here on in. Except maybe for the suggestion to resume the plan straightaway and do a session on this coming Tuesday - I think that may be a bit looney.