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An 18 Week Sabbatical

zico10

After 3½ years exclusively focussed on triathlon and more specifically Ironman, I'm switching my focus back to marathon running for the next 18 weeks. The target race is Rotterdam on April 8th where I hope to run under 2 hours 35 minutes. Depending on how training goes, I might lower that target. But right now, I don't feel like I can be anymore ambitious than that.

I'm going to follow an 18 week, 70-85 mile per week, program from Pfitzinger and Douglas. I followed the exact same program back in early 2014 and that April, I ended up running 2:35:51 in Connemara off the back of the training. (Log is here; https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057105129 and race report here; https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=93473643&postcount=136, for anybody who might like to read either.) I was very happy with this result, but I often wonder how much quicker I might have been on a faster course. I always intended revisiting the same 18 week plan I followed back then, but picking a fairer marathon course to finish off on, to see exactly how fast I could have gone. I finished a long term Ironman goal in mid October and I'm going to take a step back from triathlon for a while. So now is the best opportunity I have had in four years to test out the program once more.

I definitely think I'm a stronger runner now than I was when I started training for Connemarathon 2014. However I don't feel as ready for the high mileage that's demanded for the next 18 weeks and I might be running a small bit of a risk in what I'm about to undertake. Although I've gotten through this high volume program before without issue, I haven't adequately built up my weekly distance over the last number of weeks. As a preventative measure, I might start off doing some of the recovery runs on a cross trainer and hopefully come the end of January, I'll be comfortably coping with the full on 7 days a week running. I like to think I'm resilient enough, but I'm not invincible and picking up an injury only a few weeks into the training, is something that worries me. To lessen the likelihood of that happening, I'm going to seek out grass to run on as often as is practical.

Right now, I don't think I'm capable of holding my interval or even my threshold pace for any sustained length of time. Even running my hoped for marathon pace of

:40/km for just 10km seems daunting. We'll wait and see, but I might have to adjust my training paces accordingly for the first few weeks of the program.

My head space just isn't where it ought to be right now. It's just over 7 weeks since I finished the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii and the motivation to get back to focussed and consistent training hasn't yet returned. I'd prefer another few weeks prep, but unfortunately Rotterdam Marathon is when it is, and I'll just have to come to terms with this from the off. I'm fully expecting these first couple of weeks to hurt (a lot), but they'll also be the kick up the hole I badly need.

In addition to the run training, I'll continue swimming and without detailing it here, I'll log it as cross training. On top of the running I was doing when I set my PB of 2:35:51, I was also swimming 4/5 times a week. I was swimming purely for the sake of triathlon, but I think I underestimated how much of a factor this was in getting me marathon ready. I'm far from being an amazing swimmer, but I've mastered it to the extent that I can get a good aerobic workout from any time I spend in the water and it will once again serve as useful cross training. I won't routinely schedule swims as as I will runs, but both swimming and whatever cycling I do between now and April will serve to boost my engine between now and Rotterdam.

Lastly, I'm as inflexible as a plank and even at the best of times, my approach to strength and conditioning has been pretty hit and miss. But I'm planning to change. I've started doing Bikram Yoga and even though I find some of the postures almost impossible, I am starting to notice an increased flexibility. I'll continue with that once or twice a week, while also including some sort of weights' work.

That's enough warbling for the opening post, I've already started the plan and I'll be back next week with an update on how the first week went.

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OOnegative

All the very best Sunday, hope the race goes the way you want.

Neady83

Really cool tattoo, love the colours and the design. The tortoise is very realistic.

"the hay is in the barn" as they say, give your all and bring home the bacon.

MalDoc

Best of luck at the weekend! That 16:8 really seems to have paid dividends the last week. Out of interest, what's your approach to diet the week of a big race? Do you plan out each meal or just avoid carbs a few days before the race....

RacoonQueen

Best of luck at the weekend Alan!

joey100

Best of luck this weekend, hopefully we see you make a return to tri after it.

rodneyr1981

Best of luck this weekend Alan hope all goes to plan

AuldManKing

Hope you get what you want this weekend! Hope the uncontrollables go your way.

Kurt.Godel

zico10 wrote: »

Plus it can be bloody hard, and that's sometimes as good a reason as any for doing anything.

This is great advice, made me push harder in training this afternoon and I've been thinking about it a lot since. Have a good hard race on Sunday all the way to the line.

zico10

MalDoc wrote: »

Best of luck at the weekend! That 16:8 really seems to have paid dividends the last week. Out of interest, what's your approach to diet the week of a big race? Do you plan out each meal or just avoid carbs a few days before the race....

The 16:8 dieting would definitely pay dividends if I wanted to squeeze into a wedding dress. It remains to be seen how effective it will be for my marathon though. In truth, I've left it too late to get to my racing weight. When you consider it's basically only not eating 4 hours before bed and skipping breakfast, I don't think 16:8 fasting is all that drastic. But if I was lighter two months ago, I probably wouldn't have done it so routinely.

As for my diet during the week of a big race; From Monday onwards, I'll avoid carbs for 3/4 days, then gradually reintroduce them from Thursday/Friday. The day before the race, I'll eat minimal solids and get most of my calories from liquids. It's toast and jam on the morning of the race, two cups of coffee and a sports drink. Half an hour before the race, I'll drink a can of Red Bull and eat a handful of jellies. Then immediately prior to the starting gun, I'll either have a gel or scoff down some more jellies.

zico10

Kurt.Godel wrote: »

This is great advice, made me push harder in training this afternoon and I've been thinking about it a lot since.

I didn't intend it as advice, but I'm glad it resonated. I look forward to reading about this particular swim in your log.

zico10

Monday 2nd April
71.9kg

Recovery Run - 10km

10.01km in 50:05, 5:01/km

This was just an easy jog on a quiet country road in North Tipperary. I wanted to keep the pace nice and slow and while 5:01/km is certainly slow, I got less slow as the run progressed. After 17 weeks of what for me is a high mileage plan, I would have hoped that my perceived easy effort would have yielded something faster than 5 minute kilometres, but then I guess that's not the purpose of these recovery runs.
Totals;
Time: 0:50 - Distance: 10.01km

Tuesday 3rd April
71.8kg

General Aerobic Run - 11km

11.03km in 48:20, 4:23/km

Today was day two of my attempt to rid my body of its glycogen stores and it really told on this run. I started to feel sick from about 20 minutes in and I consciously backed off the pace from then on. I don't think it was the no carbs that was the problem, rather all the nuts I ate in place of the porridge oats I'd usually for breakfast, and again for lunch, today. Lesson learned though and I won't be eating similar before my dress rehearsal run tomorrow. (I didn't eat anything at all as it turned out.)
Totals;
Time: 0:48 - Distance: 11.03km

Wednesday 4th April
71.7kg

Dress Rehearsal - 13km w. 3km at MP

13.02km in 52:36, 4:02/km
Splits; 1) 2.50km in 10:53, 4:21/km, 2) 2.50km in 10:36, 4:14/km, 3) 2.50km in 10:21, 4:08/km, 4) 2.50km in 10:03, 4:01/km 5) 2.50km in 8:57, 3:35/km, 6) 520m in 1:45, 3:21/km
Cool down: 930m in 4:53, 5:15/km

This was my last testing run before Rotterdam and I was slightly trepidatious taking it on. Which is a bit ridiculous, considering it was for only 3km I had to hold marathon pace. The fact it was causing any sort of worry is probably not the best of signs. I was halfway through the third day of a carb and caffeine fast though, and that wasn't doing anything to allay my worry. The temptation to break the fast with a caffeinated gel, right before the 3km at MP started, was huge. In the end, I resisted the temptation and felt proud of myself because of this. If only I could have shown such resolve with all things dieting since Christmas.
My approach to the run was to steadily increase my pace over the opening 10km. I'd set my watch to auto lap every 2.5km, which was the signal to slightly up the pace, before finishing out the fourth quarter of the warm up at MP +10%. I comfortably hit my target paces for the first four splits. It felt easy to increase the pace each time, and although it took a bit more effort to start running at

:40/km pace once the MP section started, I was still very much within my comfort zone. That was until I turned right onto Chesterfield Avenue and began to run into a strongish headwind. It required much more of an effort to keep the pace below 3:40/km and all I could think is I wouldn't have been able to maintain this effort for 42km. When I turned out of the wind, I was ale to get back to running at what felt like a more sustainable marathon pace. Although the splits might give the impression I was trying to finish with a bit of a kick, I was actually holding the same effort throughout the entire 3km segment. I hadn't changed the auto lap function on my watch and carried and when the fifth split flashed on my watch, I carried on running at the intensity I had been holding up until then. With the wind now at my back, the speed for the final 500 metres turned out to be much, much quicker than what I'll need to hold on Sunday. It's a bit of relief after the feelings of despair I was going through running into the wind. It shows how overly reliant I am on my Garmin though and it's probably not something an experienced runner would have stressed about.
Totals;
Time: 0:57 - Distance: 13.95km

Thursday 5th April
71.7kg
Same weight as yesterday; which I'm taking to mean my glycogen stores are as low as I'm going to to get them. I'll continue with the carb free food until supper time, then all bets are off on what my weight will be tomorrow.

Recovery Run - 10km

10.02km in 52:02, 5:12/km

An easy jog to finish off another 16 hour fast
Totals;
Time: 0:52 - Distance: 10.02km

Friday 6th April
72.7kg

Recovery Run + speed - 8km w. 6 x 100m strides

8.00km in 40:11, 5:01/km

I flew to Rotterdam this morning and did this run there. My legs felt okay. I'm not sure how they'd have managed thirty-four more kilometres and 1:22/km faster though. It's really starting to hit home how hard the challenge I've set myself is. Hopefully I'll find a bit more confidence between now and 10 o'clock on Sunday morning.
Totals;
Time: 0:40 - Distance: 8.00km

Saturday 7th April
No weigh-in

Recovery Run - 6km

6.01km in 32:41, 5:26/km

This was just an easy trot before I did my best not to stuff myself at the complimentary breakfast in the hostel.
Totals;
Time: 0:33 - Distance: 6.01km

Weekly Totals;
Running: 4:40 - 59.02km
Cross training : 0:30 I'm not 100% sure about this, but I'm pretty sure I got on my stationery bike trainer at least once. With no work to go to and not being able to swim on account of the recent tattooing, it was done as much out of boredom as anything else.
S & C: 0:00

I'd usually wait until after the full week's running is over, before posting my weekly training, but given it's race day tomorrow, I feel it's timely I update now. It's D-day tomorrow and although I've been building up to it for 18 weeks, it's only really in the last few days that I've started to feel nervous about the race. It's getting worse and worse by the hour, so I don't anticipate a great night's sleep.
I could rabbit on and on, listing a hundred reasons I could do well and an equal number of reasons as to why I could do badly. At the end of the day though, I'd have taken the position I'm in now, had it been offered to me when I began the training back in December. I substituted several recovery runs with cross training, but apart from that, I did every single run exactly as the plan prescribed. After achieving my marathon PB 4 years ago on the back of Pfitzinger and Douglas's program, I was an avid believer in the fact that the work laid out in 'Advanced Marathoning' worked. Let's hope I've no reason to doubt that in 24 hours.

hot buttered scones

Best of luck.

Chartsengrafs

Best of luck Alan.

rodneyr1981

Well done Alan great running

Kurt.Godel

Thats a great race and time, all the more so with the conditions. Well done on your sabbatical, hope you feel cleansed!

zico10

Kurt.Godel wrote: »

Well done on your sabbatical, hope you feel cleansed!

You should know me better than that!

AuldManKing

Now its been more than a week. Wheres the report?

zico10

AuldManKing wrote: »

Now its been more than a week. Wheres the report?

I'm working on it, I'm just experiencing a bit of writer's block at the minute. It'll be done by the bye though, don't worry.

It was a bizarre race for me in ways and some of the finer details are a bit sketchy. I was hoping to see DR's Strava activity to make a bit more sense of it, but he must have lost his watch since.:)

zico10

Out of My Depth - Still leading DR 27km in

After 10 minutes frantically pushing my way through throngs of people, I finally made it to my assigned starting pen. Once I'd successfully gained entry, it took a little more elbowing my way forward to get as close as possible to the tape separating Pen B and Pen A. When I'd advanced as far as bad manners would allow, there were only two rows of runners between me and the dividing tape. I was happy with this, especially so when I thought back to where I had been 20 minutes prior. With a huge sense of relief flooding over me, I took some deep controlled breaths and with the falling stress levels, I began to concentrate on the task at hand.

I spotted Krusty and dublin runner up ahead in Pen A. Without either of them knowing it, a large part of my strategy today was predicated upon how those two ran. So I'm going to refer to them a lot throughout the report. In a nutshell my strategy was 'Run hard, but if you pass either of them, then you're running too hard.' Should we all run to our potential, I shouldn't have been any closer to either of them over the upcoming 42km, than I was right now.

The tension was starting to mount and the tape separating me from the faster pen in front was raised unexpectedly. This meant runners from Pen B could flood into the area in which runners from Pen A had been standing and mix with these supposed faster runners. Looking at the cut of some of them though, I'm not sure how strict NN Marathon Rotterdam's organisers could have been in screening people who applied for inclusion in this pen.

I was much closer to both Krusty and DR now and after greeting the former and taking a few more deep inhales, the starting starting cannon was fired and my dubious quest to break 2 hours 35 minutes began.

I found it difficult to settle into the correct pace in the opening kilometre. It wasn't as chaotic a start for me as it had been last year, but there was still some zig zagging and jostling for position before some sort of sensible order was established. I didn't let any of this unwanted contact bother me though. Both DR and Krusty were still in my sights and I figured the time they had put into me up until now was about what anyone would have reasonably predicted.

I was content with how things were going. I felt like the effort I had held up until now was one I'd be able to sustain all the way to the finish line. I began to relax simply letting the group I was in carry me along. Anthony was amongst them, but I was satisfied the effort it took to stay with the group wasn't going to push me over the edge. 'Just don't get notions and try pass him,' I told myself.

Almost as soon as this thought had germinated, the group split and I was left leading a line of runners trailing in the wake of Anthony's group. With a line of runners strung out behind me and a nice compact group just ahead, I was forced into a decision. The gap on the group in front was 5m and growing. The elastic was about to snap and should that happen, I'd be left on my own battling the wind. I had the choice of either pushing a little bit harder to latch back on, or stay with the runners behind me and hope they would share the workload as the race unfolded. I chose the former and although it caused me to push a little beyond my hoped for level of exertion, upon making contact, I settled back in with the group quickly enough. Although I was at the rear of the group, I felt good and didn't think I was going to be dropped any time soon.

I felt almost too good really and despite my avowed intentions not to, I took the regrettable decision to move in front of Anthony not long after. I kept glancing over my shoulder and noticed that I was pulling away from him. I estimated that I had put over 10 seconds into him at one point and the overriding feeling I had was that I was after making a mistake. I wondered might it have been prudent to slow down and wait until he repassed. This would have put me back in my rightful position, and I'd have gotten a small bit of recovery into the bargain. I didn't act upon this instinct though and it was one of several decisions I paid for in the end.

When he inevitably did regain the lead, I tried to stick with him for as long as possible. He was steadily pulling away from me though, but from having followed him on Strava for the last few months, I wasn't one bit surprised by this. He was still close enough to keep any eye on for the next few kilometres. Krusty was starting to come back to us and it wasn't long before Anthony passed him.

I had the distinction of doing the same about 24km into the race. I already knew the answer, but just as a way of acknowledging him, I asked Gary if he was still on track. His reply was a simple no and he said he was only jogging home at this stage. He wished me well and I kept on moving, hoping a similar fate wouldn't befall me.

Judging my pace off Anthony's though, it seemed as being reduced to a jog was going to be a hard thing to prevent. He was clearly pulling away and it was becoming harder and harder to keep him in my sights. Either I slowing or he was speeding up. The readings on my Garmin made a strong case for the fact I was decelerating. It wasn't long before Anthony did disappear, only to suddenly reappear on my left hand side after he had taken a pitstop. At least that's what I assumed had happened, because at the pace he passed, it didn't seem likely he was after crashing. He gave me some words of encouragement, but it didn't do any good. Had the pass happened earlier, I might have been able to go with him, but for the first time in the race, I wasn't able to react and he disappeared up the road even quicker than he had disappeared 10 minutes earlier.

I'd stuck to my fueling and hydration plan, such as it was, up until now. I planned to take a gel every 30 minutes, which I managed without issue after half an hour, and then again after an hour. Come 90 minutes, my stomach had already started to play up and I decided to hold off taking the next scheduled gel until I reached the aid station handing them out at 32km. It had been my intention to take one here to store in my fuel belt, for consumption 2 hours in. Having skipped the calorie intake on the hour and a half mark, my new plan of consuming the gel as soon as it was given to me, would see the next fix of calories come about 20 minutes later than originally planned. It might have been all in my head, but whatever the cause, I ran out of steam today and if I could go back, I would have stuck to my original nutrition strategy.

Incidentally, it probably wasn't a very well though out strategy. From being so used to frequent 5 hour + training days for ironman races, I think I've figured out what works for me for such days. The training for ironman never requires me to run as hard or as long as I do when racing a marathon. Digestion and absorption of calories is much easier when moving at slower speeds, so perhaps I shouldn't have been so lackadaisical about my approach to nutrition today. Hopefully it will be a lesson learned for the next marathon I do.

Back to the race; my pace was falling and although I didn't relish the thought of a gel, I forced myself to rip open the one I got at the aid station at 32km. I took one small mouthful, followed by an even smaller mouthful. I couldn't face anymore of the gunk and tossed it aside, having consumed less than half of it. I might have been running a calorie deficit at this stage, but I wasn't thinking straight and I didn't care. I'd only 10km to go and I told myself it will be a piece of p!ss. Although I was slowing, I felt I'd enough time banked to still be in with a realistic shot of breaking 2:35.

I was in Kralingse Park at this stage. Although I had never dwelt on them, all the horrible thoughts I'd heard pre-race about this stage of the marathon, came to mind. It seemed to take a lot longer, than I remember from last year, to get back to the straight stretch of road that would take us back to urbanity. I was flagging badly and low on energy, but I just couldn't bring myself to consume the final gel I had in my belt. For the first time in the race, my pace fell outside 3:50/km. Seeing such a slow kilometre split flash up on my watch, was a hammer blow and it was one from which I never really recovered. I tried to console myself with the fact that however bad this was, at least I wasn't faring as badly as 2017.

We got back to the city centre and although I knew I was nearly home, I couldn't muster anything. A lot of negative thoughts started to creep in and it was here I realised sub 2:35 was off the table. The fact I might still finish with a PB didn't occur to me and I remembered Gary's words earlier about how he was just going to jog home. 'Oh fnck it!' I thought, 'If he's content to jog, then there's no real shame in me doing it too.'

Kilometres 41 and 42 were completed in 4:06 and 4:05. I got back to the city centre and saw the clock change from 2:34:59 to 2:35:00. I was about 400m from the finishing line, but unless I was about to run 400m at world record pace, I wasn't going to finish with a PB. Needless to say this didn't happen. I was annoyed with myself for having thrown in the towel and this annoyance ignited some sort of instinctive fight response. I started pushing for the first time in a few kilometres and managed to pick up my pace to 3:43/km for the final 663m.

I crossed the line with a finishing time of 2:36:24, 1:25 away from my target, and 0:34 away from a PB. It would be very easy cite this and that, as the reason why things didn't work out for me on the day, but I think ultimately I failed because of mistakes I made in the 18 week build up. If I were to go into the mistakes here, God knows when this report would be ready. So I'll just leave it at that.

The late spurt I put in, once I saw the finishing clock, was too little too late. The fact I could do it, tells me that once things stopped going my way today, I gave in too easily. I'd found myself in no man's land almost as soon as I entered the park, but that was self inflicted really. I went out way too fast for my goal time and reaching halfway in the time I did, was foolish in the extreme. Starting a marathon all guns blazing doesn't work and I don't know why I thought it might be successful for me today.

There are some positives I can take from my training and the marathon, but a sense dissatisfaction with both is the overriding one. Where has left me? I'm not sure. In a funny way it's made me determined than ever to break 2:35 in 2018. DCM seems like a logical target, but that will be harder than Rotterdam and I also want to do some triathlons in the meantime. Whether I can successfully juggle the two sports, and still hit my marathon goal, is hard to know. I'm still in recovery mode right now and it will be a few weeks yet, before I decide on whether or not to extend this 18 week sabbatical.

Keeks

Cheers Zico for laying ti all out there again...really fascinating to follow your logs.

Without going into any great detail, If you were to list 3 mistakes you made from your training and and 3 from the race what would they be?

zico10

Keeks wrote: »

Cheers Zico for laying ti all out there again...really fascinating to follow your logs.

Without going into any great detail, If you were to list 3 mistakes you made from your training and and 3 from the race what would they be?

Training;
1) I didn't loose enough weight.
2) I didn't take the training seriously enough. I was honestly just going through the motions.
3) I didn't do enough cross training.

Race;
1) I started too fast and I should have paid more attention to my pace.
2) I shouldn't have moved in front of DR. It wasn't like I was passing some random stranger whose form I didn't know.
3) I didn't take enough calories or water on board. (I'm not 100% sure about this one. Nutrition mistakes are a very easy thing to blame when races don't go to plan, and it's possible ingesting more calories wouldn't have made any difference.)

Keeks

Cheers Zico....

Singer

No mention of the conditions in your report - do you think it impacted you much (I guess you mildly hinted about taking on not much water)? If KC and DR weren't there, how do you think this would have changed your race? Also, what would have not going through the motions looked like - more milage or more aggressive sessions?

zico10

Singer wrote: »

No mention of the conditions in your report - do you think it impacted you much (I guess you mildly hinted about taking on not much water)? If KC and DR weren't there, how do you think this would have changed your race? Also, what would have not going through the motions looked like - more milage or more aggressive sessions?

Like many have said, it got noticeably hotter as the race went on. But it was by no means unbearable and while it might have had some impact on my performance, the rising temperatures don't account for a 5 minute difference between the first and second half.

Had KC and DR not been there, I probably would have looked at my watch a lot more. Whether this would have been a good or a bad thing, I can't say. I can't honestly imagine it would have changed my race by any significant amount though. I might have broken 2:36 with more disciplined pacing, but breaking 2:35 would have required way too many ifs and buts.

I'm not sure if "going through the motions" was the correct term to use. Some day I'd like to run big, big miles for a marathon and see how I fare, but this time round, my ideal training certainly wouldn't have entailed more mileage. I felt barely ready to undertake the program I did. Doing anything more, would have been too big a risk. I don't think I needed more aggressive sessions either, but I suppose a dedicated coach might have advised me differently. When I say I was going through the motions, I mean my preparation inspired the same enthusiasm in me as my commute to work on a Monday morning does. I wasn't looking forward to the runs, but I knew they had to be done.
I never relished any particular session and I regularly delayed starting my runs, oft times beginning a 20+km run after 8 p.m. I know this is not unusual for many, but there was absolutely no need for me to have left things so late. There were numerous times, I'd eat too close to a run, not considering how it would make me feel later on. And there are probably a few other examples of a poor attitude that I could list.
Had I a more positive mindset, then I think those things wouldn't have happened. That's all I mean.

rodneyr1981

Where's your swim and bike at?

zico10

rodneyr1981 wrote: »

Where's your swim and bike at?

For one reason or another, I've done very little of either in 2018. Anything I have done hasn't been very testing, but I'm guessing both have slipped quite a bit. I want to get back to consistent swim training soon enough, but I think biking might be pretty minimal over the summer. I honestly don't know when I'll make a return to triathlon. There certainly won't be too many multi-sport races for me this year. I haven't even rejoined TI yet.

The rough sort of plan I have now is to run a sub 2:35 marathon later this year, then target an Ironman in 2019 with the goal of qualifying for Kona that October. It's a very rough sort of plan though and is liable to change.

Kurt.Godel

zico10 wrote: »

For one reason or another, I've done very little of either in 2018. Anything I have done hasn't been very testing, but I'm guessing both have slipped quite a bit.

Surely the bike had a much greater slip?

Joking! But desire and enjoyment are important aspects of multisport (and unisport). If you are unfocused Tri-wise and looking to get a few swims in, the Leinster Open Sea races will start very soon, and several of them include the wetsuit-ed. They're an education in how to swim OW with panache- the fast guys in a Tri swim tend to disappear from the start, but the Leinster OW are handicapped. No greater education than watching how the faster guys manage to stroke by at a greater rate of knots.

You need two logs.

zico10

I'm going to start logging again and document my journey to what will hopefully be my first sub 2:35 marathon at DCM in October. On the advice of Krusty, I'm following the 21 week Marathon Training Plan from 'The Science of Running'. I started the plan on 4th June, so I've a bit of catching up to do with the log. When I do log my training, I'll try to stick to the more salient points and hopefully I won't be too long getting things up to date.

zico10

Monday 4th June

Recovery Run - 6 Miles

9.81km in 43:35, 4:45/km

As I'm putting everything in the plan forward by one day, this was a case of picking a run that felt like the right thing to do.
Totals;
Time: 0:44 - Distance: 9.81km

Tuesday 5th June

10 Miles

16.10km in 1:08:25, 4:15/km

I drove to the Park for this and stuck to grass for as much of it as possible. The ground was dry though and so hard, it probably would have been the same had I ran all 10 miles on the road. There's going to be a big jump in volume for me over the next few months, so despite the futility of running on grass today, I'm glad I did it.
Totals;
Time: 1:08 - Distance: 16.10km

Wednesday 6th June

5 Miles - Easy

8.05km in 41:08, 5:07/km

This was a short easy trot out my front door and back. I'd no energy or enthusiasm for anything faster.
Totals;
Time: 0:41 - Distance: 8.05km

8 Miles

12.89km in 54:37, 4:14/km

I was running on the cross country route in the NSC. I was clipping along nicely when I bumped into a friend running in the opposite direction. I started running with him then and a slowdown ensued. I was glad of the respite though and finished off the run at an easier effort.
Totals;
Time: 0:54 - Distance: 12.89km

Thursday 7th June

Run w. 6 x 10" hill sprints

11.28km in 51:44, 4:35/km

Outside of the hill sprints, I'd no real target pace. Under the Pfitzinger & Douglas plan, I would have classified it as a "General Aerobic Run".
Totals;
Time: 0:52 - Distance: 11.28km

Friday 8th June

5 Miles

8.06km in 33:44, 4:11/km

I did this shortly after waking and I found it hard to get going. It would be great to say the 4:11/km average pace didn't feel like work, but it did.
Totals;
Time: 0:34 - Distance: 8.06km

Saturday 9th June

5 Miles

8.05km in 33:56, 4:13/km

This was supposed to have been done yesterday evening, but circumstances conspired against it happening. My legs felt better than they did for the 5 mile run I did yesterday, even if the pace was slower. I guess this was simply due to having been awake and moving for longer before I started.
Totals;
Time: 0:34 - Distance: 8.05km

Sunday 10th June

14 Miles

22.54km in 1:42:21, 4:32/km

I met a friend for this and was happy for him to set the pace. We met in the Park and we twice ran up Knockmaroon Hill, once up The Khyber Pass and plenty of jaunts up the less taxing inclines south of Chesterfield Avenue. So there was plenty of elevation gain. It was a warm day to boot and if done at a more intense effort, it would have been a taxing run.
Totals;
Time: 1:42 - Distance: 22.54km

Weekly Totals;
Running: 7:10 - 96.78km
Cross training: 0:00
S & C: 0:00

AuldManKing

Looking fwd to this and seeing how Magness compares to Pfitz for you.