Once in a Lifetime....for now

Week ending 18/3/18

Monday 12th: The day after Bohermeen half and the hamstrings were feeling it a bit. Went out for a very gentle 3.1 miles at a recovery pace of 10 min miles. Legs began to loosen out a bit after the first mile or so.

Tuesday 13th: Still buzzing after the weekend and feeling the legs coming around. Tipped around the local roads for a little 5 miler @ 9:19

Wednesday 14th:More of the same easy miles, slightly longer than day before, 7.13 miles. Again the pace was a very easy 9:23. Legs felt totally back to normal.

Thursday 15th:10.09 miles @ 9:14. Once again around the local roads and parks of Whitehall, Glasnevin and Beaumont. Felt really easy even if a touch faster than planned.

And there ends my running for the week. Had a little chat with a friend on Thursday evening and got talking about my year of running and how little had preceded it. As I listened to myself talk I realised how little break I had over the year. Now I had run 4 consecutive days after a half and was already back to 10 mile run. Perhaps a couple of weeks gentle running would be fine but bearing in mind my intention to start the Grads plan for 5/10k next week I decided to give the body 4/5 days of a total break from running to be followed by a few days of very easy runs before starting the plan.

I know it's not scientific but it just seemed the common sense thing to do. Time will tell I guess.

scotindublin wrote: »

Not to throw a totally wobbler into any plans but I know a few of the lads in the club do 3 hard weeks followed by 1 easy week.

On the easy weeks they would still run the normal amount of days but drop the mileage/intensity.

I think it is an art in itself working out what works for you; everyone is different.....as always common sense is they key here.....if your body needs a rest give it a rest.

You are going great guns just now and you seem to have the sessions/easier days going really well and the progress that you have made is a testament to this.

Hopefully catch up with you at a race soon enough.

Haha. All advice is welcome. The body was feeling fine to be honest. Just thought that a little recharge before starting another 14 week plan might be best.

As regards races I'm in the middle of planning the next few months. I'll do the couple of races mentioned above at the end of the plan and be looking at throwing in 3 or 4 during the plan. Decisions, decisions, decisions! :pac:

Week ending 25/03/18

Monday 19th: Last day of my few days rest.

Tuesday 20th: A few easy laps around Johnstown Park. 5.15 miles @ 9:14

Wednesday 21st: I went out for a gentle run with her indoors as she eases her way back after injury. Did a bit around Marlay Park and then down to St Endas Park for a nice lap and back to Marlay. 6.21 miles @ 10:16

Thursday 22nd: Decided to go out to Howth for this one but hadn't really got a plan in mind. On the drive out I decided I'd do the cliff path. I hadn't been on it since before McDonalds arrived in the country! What a brilliant decision. I loved it. Steep steps, narrow paths, great views of Dublin Bay. Trundled down the hill into Howth and decided to go out to the end of the pier. Turned back towards Sutton and took the notion to throw in a couple of Kms at tempo. Talk about making it up as I went along. :pac: So the slow up hills, faster tempo and easy bits averaged out at 9:19 per mile for the 9.61 mile loop.

Friday 23rd: Legs in ribbons! Well the quads mainly. I still felt like getting out for something easy so just trundled around Johnstown and Poppintree Parks for 6.22 miles @ 9:20.

Saturday 24th: Finally got to complete the Dublin set of Parkruns as Darndale was up and running again. Legs felt even worse than the day before so I decided against even doing a warmup. Only 20 were taking part. After 2k it was clear that the strange opportunity to be a first finisher was real. I'd just done them at HM pace but only had one lad left with me. I picked it up a bit and shook him off. Probably the slowest time of the weekend to get over the line first but hey ho...it's now recorded forever 3.1 miles in 21:07

Sunday 25th: 14 miles @ 9:05. Still stiff but decided I'd play it by ear and make a decision at each crossroads! After a few K I loosened up a bit. Passed by the fire damaged Metro Hotel in Ballymun. It didnt look as bad as I thought it might. At this point I decided to head out to the airport and do a lap around it. Beautiful sunny morning, an absolute joy to be out. Found myself going a bit too fast on the long straights parallel to the runways but just went with it. Loved the run!!

So after a week of free styling it's back to a plan next week, the grads 5-10k plan. I won't be welded to it and will tweak it to allow a few more laps of Howth and a few races along the way. Aiming towards Dunshaughlin 10k and St Cocas a few days later. Thinking of throwing in the Donadea Castle 10k and the Bob Heffernan along the way.

Congrats to Ariana and HBS for two shiny new PBs and excellently run 10 mile races today. Well deserved rewards for their training.

Unthought Known wrote: »

Now you're just showing off Congratulations S, that can never be taken away from you.

Haha...On a serious note I have to say I have the height of respect for the volunteers out there. I know the volunteers nationwide deserve great credit but this group are in a different league. To battle against constant cancellations, low numbers and huge parkruns nearby in St Anne's and Malahide and keep it going is truly amazing. Such a determination to make use of a local resource and encourage others to do so. Kudos to each and every one of them!

scotindublin wrote: »

Good to get in the winners enclosure S! I have no doubts you will smash the 5/10k plans....a bit of a different type of training for you.

Yeah it is kinda....it's only the sessions that are different to the half plan. The easy days are pretty much the same but the sessions seem to be of a shorter and faster variety...the sort I struggled with on the rare occasion they were on the half plan. :pac:

Glad to read elsewhere that you're good to go again.

So I'm back on a plan and loving it. I made my mind up to vary this one a little bit particularly for the first 6/7 weeks. I'm hoping to do 45/50 miles a week, throw in a few races but do them as sessions, get a good hill run in at least 2 weeks in 3 and keep all the easy days really easy. Hopefully there will be a good 5 and 10k at the end of it! :eek:

Monday 26th: 3.25 miles gently jogged round the local park. It was needed after the 14 miles of the day before!

Tuesday 27th: Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays on the plan are down as 60 mins very easy pace. I'm planning to do more in the 70/75 minute range at the moment but paces will definitely be very comfortable. Did a loop around Beaumont and Whitehall at a 9:23 pace for 7.36 miles.

Wednesday 28th: Yay, back to sessions day! 8*1 minute hill sprints was asked for so off over to the Kyber I took myself. Did a lap of the acres as a warm up and then set about it. Paces were pretty much spot on but it wasn't easy with a stiff cold breeze blowing down the hill. Cooldown brought the miles to 7.28

Thursday 29th: I enjoyed my time in the Park so much that I headed back again. Plenty of grass running, plenty of easy pace, more than plenty of enjoyment. It's good to be alive! 8.25 miles @ 9:21

Friday 30th: Time for a hill run! Craugh and Tibradden Woods were the destination. Some steep ascents in parts which I probably attacked a bit over enthusiastically! It's a great way to warm up quickly :pac: Settled into a nice rhythm after that and really enjoyed it. 'Twas a dark and misty morning and there were none of the usual views of the city through the low cloud. There had been a light snowfall the night before which made for a really beautiful setting. Most uplifting run of the year so far. 5.29 miles @ 9:38

Saturday 31st: Parkrun day and session day. Session said tempo run for 30 mins, Parkrun said no! Best compromise I could reach was to do it at my hoped for 10k pace. I did that but it wasn't as easy as it should have been. The 975ft of climbing the day before had left the legs a bit heavy. :eek: Having completed all the Dublin set of Parkruns last week I went to Navan for this. It was a very enjoyable morning. Sam Maguire was a special guest and most of the runners wore their county colours which made for a very colourful crowd. Kildare was the first finisher...what's rare is wonderful!

Sunday 1st: Back to the Park for a Sunday morning jaunt. Not as busy there as it usually is what with it being a day of huge significance on the Catholic and chocolate manufacturers calendar. Pottered about while on some sort of high...not sure if it was endorphins or just a strange reaction to very little sleep after my night shift. For the record I covered 12.16 miles at a pretty even paced 9:17 per mile.

So that was the week that was. Man Utd won, Leinster won, the boys in blue won yet another title and Swashbuckler produced a fantastic performance in the Adare 10k. That lad has an infectious enthusiasm and work ethic, something many of us could learn from...dodgy choice of tattoos though! :pac:

For the week to come....more of the same and a trip to a 10k in Donadea. I'll either do that at tempo or at a 6*5 mins at Threshold with 2 min jogged recoveries as the plan suggests...Not sure which would be best.

On another note.....after 5 months of lacking any interest in DCM 18 I think I feel a stirring! It's not much but there's every possibility it will grow to a stomach bursting Alien type creature over the coming weeks

Baby75 wrote: »

Great week S, oooh and more than a little happy to hear you may consider DCM 18 I hope it becomes a yes I am soon!

It's more a fear that if I don't enter it and then want to do it I'd be majorly pi$$ed off! :pac:

Week 3 Grads 5-10k Plan

Monday 9th: I'm sticking with the few recovery miles on rest days as I find I'm enjoying it and feel like something is missing in a day if I don't get the gear on and get out for some sort of a run! I went over to the Park and did a gentle 4 miles @ 9:41 and then popped into the visitor centre cafe for a gorgeous salad and a strong Americano. If only all Mondays were like this!

Tuesday 10th: Up the road to Johnstown Park for a few laps on a nice day. Nothing out of the ordinary. 8.27 miles @ 9:23

Wednesday 11th: Session day. 8 x 1 minute hills. Back over to the Park and everyone's beloved Khyber. I took a tip, I think from AMK, to drop something at the point I reached on the first repeat and to then run to it on each subsequent repeat. It worked a treat, all repeats were consistent, on pace and I think took the right amount of effort. The only downside was that as I didn't need to be looking at the watch I ended up miscounting and doing 9...the last one being done while my watch was counting down my cooldown minutes! :pac: A warm up around the acres followed by a similar cooldown and a bit down the S bends brought the mileage to 7.68

Thursday 12th: The Phoenix Park certainly saw plenty of me this week! Back over for some very easy miles. 7.11 of them @ 9:15

Friday 13th: Following on Monday's theme of not liking days off I got out for 4 jogging miles locally.

Saturday 15th: Plan was for 5 x 5 mins at threshold (4:20-4:29 per km)with some rests. As I wanted to do Parkrun I amended this to PR at threshold which would have meant about 21:40. I set the watch for a 22 minute workout at a 4:18 to 4:30 range. Still can't figure out why I do my sessions in Kms and general runs in miles!!! :pac: As luck would have it there was a 22 minute pacer so I decided to tag along with him. He set off a tiny bit too fast and as a result my watch started incessant beeping to tell me that 4:16 pace was faster than planned. As I ran alongside the pacer I felt obliged to apologise for all the beeping!! Anyway about half way he slowed to his required pace and I moved forward a bit to save his ears and sanity. Started to pick off a few and lifted the pace as I went along. Stopped the watch as I finished and was surprised to see over a minute left on the workout. That meant it was only my second ever sub 21. When I looked at the run time it was 20:41, a few seconds slower than Jingle Bells but a pleasant surprise considering it certainly wasn't flat out.
On looking through Strava later I realised that the pacer was a man who normally sits atop the Novices Strava page who runs some unimaginable miles every week...no not a real Novice! So please accept my apologies for the watch Mr Higgins
During my cooldown I saw a face I recognised from Strava and stuck out my hand for a very brief introduction. MurphD it was a pleasure to meet you. Total miles for the day was 7.91.

Sunday 15th: I decided to do my long run in the Phoeno again and then watch some of the GIR. This plan was made on Saturday and I was kinda regretting it on Sunday morning. What a miserable day! Some of the exposed parts of the park were really horrible. Race traffic was very congested so I left the park for the last third of the run. It ended up being 14.47 miles @ 8:59
I was wet to the bone after this so back to the Hole in the Wall carpark, into the car, strip naked and throw on some dry clothes. Thank God for steamed up windows!! :eek: I met herself and we headed down to the race finish. Got a spot about 200m before the line. What a great finish to the elite men's race...as they passed us the lead 3 were sprinting shoulder to shoulder with not the thickness of a vest separating them. After that was a stream of hundreds and thousands of very wet and weary runners. I saw AMK pass on the far side of the road hugging the rails. I couldn't decide if he was saving himself for another day or just totally fooked but a read of his race report this morning clears that one up!! Back to the Hole in the Wall for some grub and a sit in front of a lovely hot fire. I would have killed for a few pints but unfortunately the night shift was waiting for me.

Looking forward I think I'll do the BHAA 5k on May 2nd and then a few more during that month. All roads still leading to the bustling metropolis of Dunshaughlin and 42 minutes plus xx seconds of pain!!

Weekly miles: 53.6
Month to date: 119.1 miles
YTD: 654 miles

eyrie wrote: »

Love the casual second-fastest-ever-5k there, no big deal to you at all!

I know...a very pleasant surprise! Bodes well for May and June.

So where's your log update young lady?

So a drop down week of sorts and it felt a bit dull for some reason, most likely that I didn't manage to get away from local roads to add the usual variety to my runs. I have been stimulated by a few threads here to have a look at some HR running....more as a confirmation that training paces are reasonably accurate. I'll use the Karvonen heart rate reserve method as it seems to make a lot of sense.

Monday 16th: 30 minute recovery jog. 3.1 miles @ 9:40

Tuesday 17th: A nice 1 hour easy run down to Donnycarney and back up Griffith Avenue. 6.5 miles @ 9:17

Wednesday 18th: Session day. 6*2 mins @ AP. Paces were a touch too fast but were slightly wind assisted. Warm up and cooldown brought the mileage to 7.9 for the day.

Thursday 19th: Up to Poppintree Park for a few laps. 7.1 miles @ 9:07

Friday 20th: 5 miles at recovery pace instead of a rest day. 9:35 per mile.

Saturday 21st: Parkrun at threshold instead of a 4 X 6 mins threshold session. Paced it very evenly @ 6:48 per mile average.

Sunday 22nd: Went out for the planned shorter than usual 'long' run after work. It felt really good and after a couple of very easy miles I decided to throw a few km in at an easy tempo pace. That took me up to Santry Demesne and for the run home I dropped it back to very easy pace. My planned 90 minutes meant 10.5 miles done at an 8:34 pace.


Weekly Miles: 46.6
Monthly Miles: 165.7
YTD: 701