What I log about when I log about running

Kellygirl wrote: »

It was nice to finally follow you on Strava!

It never dawned on me before now to look people up. I'd mainly been using Strava to check splits that Garmin wasn't giving me. It adds another dimension to logs - I can understand people who log in miles better because Strava translates for me

Kellygirl wrote: »

Was it the female winner? She was doing 100 mile weeks or something - no club, no coach, nursing and working 12 hour shifts - fairly impressive!

Yep, Desi Linden. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desiree_Linden One of the Hanson brothers is her coach. She also wrote the foreword to the half marathon book. Clutching at straws, me?!

eyrie wrote: »

You're absolutely flying it now Huzzah! Clearly in a great position if you're able to say the sessions are feeling that easy. Time to reap the rewards of all the hard work! But first the small matter of a taper to enjoy

If we ignore the tempo, it's all looking rosy

Feet up, eating chocolate. I could get used to this tapering life.

Monday, April 23
Plan/Actual: Easy 8k
Avg Pace: 7:29min/km
Avg HR: 132 Max: 146

Legs felt heavy but I was pleased at the pace for the effort.

Wednesday, April 24
Plan/Actual: Easy 8k
Avg Pace: 7:28/km
Avg HR: 138 Max: 151

I was supposed to do this on Tuesday, but oh well. Same route as Monday, somewhat less please pace for effort. I had a backpack, which maybe made the difference. I was also full of chocolate Legs still heavy.

Saturday, April 28
Plan: Easy 5k
Total: Easy 4.38k@7:53
Avg HR: 144 Max HR: 160

I didn’t get out on Thursday or Friday and wasn’t too worried about missing the scheduled runs. Surprisingly high HR for this run. It maybe doesn’t suit me to take quite so many days off, but I was happy with how my legs felt.

Thanks for all the good wishes, they were very much appreciated.

Wexford Half Marathon 2018
Avg pace: 6:04/km
Avg HR: 171 Max HR: 183
Splits: 6:04; 6:06; 6:10; 6:08; 6:09; 6:08; 6:06; 6:08; 6:09; 6:02; 6:10; 6:07; 6:12; 6:06; 6:09; 6:08; 6:05; 6:05; 6:04; 5:56; 5:35; 4:22 (.1)

The goal for this year is to run a marathon, and I wanted to spend the first half of the year building a good enough base to start marathon training on. I swore off half marathons last year. I’ve never run one well, but I do enjoy training for the distance. I’m not dedicated enough to follow a pure base building plan, so I decided to pick a lofty goal to keep my mind focused in the early months of the year and a decent half plan that looked challenging but doable. I needed a wee break from Pfitz and I saw MurphD’s success with the Hanson brothers, so I bought the book. I thought I could follow the advanced plan, but a dose of the lurgy over Christmas, coupled with a back sprain made me decide on the beginner plan, reasoning that it looked much the same as the advanced plan from about 12 weeks out. I’m still glad I made that decision. 18 weeks of SOSs might have ended me.

One of the main differences of the Hanson approach is that you decide on your goal at the outset and base your training paces off that. My PB was 2:12:58, set at the Dublin half. I chose a goal of 2:10 (6:10/km) because, basically, it was the next time on the table in the book. I soon realised that there was a calculator on the Hanson webpage that would’ve allowed me pick any goal, but I wanted a stretch goal and the paces for the easy runs looked about where I was at, so I stuck with it.

So, the race. I wasn’t as nervous as I was last year. I honestly felt that my goal was out of my reach. I felt rotten before the race - indigestion, I think. I sidled up to the pacer and heard her talk about her strategy, which was to run 9-minute miles and bank some time. That wasn’t a pacing strategy that suited me, particularly given the profile of the course (uphill first half) and 9-minute miles sounded too fast. Sure enough, she shot off over the horizon never to be seen again (at least not until the end).

1-8 Kilometres

My legs were fresh but my breathing felt laboured, even at this early stage. I could hear my heart thrumming in my ear for much of the opening kilometres, which was disconcerting. I resolved not to look at what my HR was doing, but I felt the effort was unsustainable. I told myself that I’d run this pace at the K-Club 10K, so I was going to keep it up for at least 10k today. I felt very warm and was sweating quite a bit, which I’m not used to. I’m not a big sweater generally and I’ve spent most of the winter on the cold side when running. One of my closest friends surprised me at the 5k mark and it gave me a huge lift. I was surprised at how quickly the kilometres were ticking by and I popped my first Cliff Shot Blok on schedule. I struggled with these and ended up taking fewer than planned, maybe because of the indigestion earlier. I realised we were coming up on the toughest part of the course and I could see the road rise in front of me.

8-16 Kilometres

The hill up to Murrintown was new and had been flagged as a tricky. I certainly dropped my pace right down here, along with my head, and just concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other. I passed a runner and she puffed out some helpful words to me: “use your arms; save the legs.” I started pumping my arms but had crested the hill before I knew it. I didn’t rush on the downhill to pick up the pace. I just let the effort drop and the pace slowly increased while I caught my breath. I managed to have the pace back where I wanted it before the end of the kilometre, but I did think if I was a proper runner, I’d have made more hay on the downhill. My memory of Wexford last year was unrelenting dragging hills, so I kept pulling the pace back on this downhill stretch. I couldn’t believe how quickly the run was going. Usually, I feel every minute of a half. The longest kilometre was kilometre 13 and I popped another shot blok here. We turned onto the main Wexford/Rosslare road at the 13k mark and I was surprised that we were already running for home.

17-21 Kilometres

There are a few hills on the run back in but nothing major. These had felt like mountains last year. I often run this way when I’m at home. We’d to run through a roundabout and I could feel the pace start to pick up. I was feeling strong but was unimpressed when a Garda left a car go in front of me. I thought I’d have to stop and I was worried I wouldn’t get going again if I did. I may have let the Garda know my feelings – apologies to him. Emotions were running high. I couldn’t get over that I was still running strong at this point. When I’ve run halfs before, my race has usually been a death march from the 16km mark. I realised that we’d to run into the industrial estate, which was a change from last year, and I understood why turning onto the main road had seemed to come much earlier. Usually, having to do a switchback would be demoralising, but I took solace in the fact that when I would be turning back onto the main road, I’d be nearly home. I met the 2:10 pacer coming against me. I’d love to know what time she ran because she was about half a km ahead of me at that point. I did a quick calculation and thought I’d four kilometres left and a brief panic that I’d messed up the math and that the pacer was, in fact, bang on schedule. I then realised I’d only three to go. It was similar to my K-club and Wicklow training runs: I just started feeling better the further in to the race I got. I allowed my pace pick up but didn’t have the confidence to really go for it. My legs were starting to tire and I’d the start of a cramp in my right calf. What really held me back, though, was a persistent stich and slightly sicky tummy and a small lack of confidence. But once I got to the 19 kilometre mark, I just pushed on as best I could. As I was running down to the finish, the 2:10 pacer was running back to sweep her charges up. There was 2:09 on the clock when it came into view and I forgot this was gun time, so I pushed on again. Stopped my watch on 2:08:20, a pb of 4:38 and an improvement of over seven minutes on last year’s time.

Pomplamousse wrote: »

Wow, congratulations:)
That's some chunk off your previous PB, well deserved:D

How're you feeling after the 10k?

ReeReeG wrote: »

Fantastic PB, well done!!! My only critique is where you say "if I was a proper runner"... you are a proper runner!!! Don't be so hard on yourself

I suppose I just meant a proper "racer", rather than "runner."

Pomplamousse wrote: »

Grand thanks. Didn't notice any pain during the race and still ok now. Progress:)

I was thinking of you as I passed the 10k turn off. It all sounds promising. No doubt the fitness will be back soon and you can start on your DCM 2018 journey.

Kellygirl wrote: »

Well done. Was dying to read your report. You did great and I suspect you had more in you if you hadn’t been feeling a bit off and with a bit more confidence. You have huge training behind you at this stage which showed today.

Delighted you got your pb. Well deserved. What’s next now?

I always get a sick stomach at the end of a half - I think it's the gels/adrenaline/effort combination. We can call it Gelly-belly.

Next up is Berlin, which is a mere 19 weeks away :eek:

Bungy Girl wrote: »

Congratulations Huzzah! A very well judged race (much better than the 2:10 pacer by the sounds of it! ). Hope this gives you lots of confidence for Berlin, looking at those last few splits you were able to finish really strongly. All those miles in your legs really paid off. Will you stick with Hanson for the marathon ?

Thanks - I think the strategy paying off was more by luck than by design :P

Strongly leaning towards Hanson for the marathon now, if I can get my head around the 16-mile max LSR. Just a matter of trusting in the plan, I guess.

chickey2 wrote: »

Well done! To finish strong and get a pb is fantastic. I'll be following your marathon prep with interest!

Thanks, Chickey. I read through your log from when you followed Meno. It was super helpful. Hopefully, you'll be back logging soon.