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Chapter 2 - Finding Nemo

Swashbuckler

2018 - Chapter One: The Day That Never Comes - Post 1 to 634

2019 - Chapter Two: Finding Nemo - Post 635 onwards

Original Post:
I've decided to set up one of these in the hope that every now and then someone will come along and in their good nature, answer one of my many questions about my training. I find I've been posting a lot of questions in the Random Running thread so maybe this is a better way of going about it.

Background
36 year old male. Been running for 7 years but only started properly focusing my training since January. Only learned what a tempo, LSR etc. were this year! Previous to that I just went out most days and ran 6 miles at as fast as I could manage. No direction or focus to my training. Had ran some half marathons and mixed in circuit training. But this year I really fell in love with running. Thanks to advice from people on here and chatting to some advanced runners I've met at many races this year I've manage to see significant improvements.

PB's;
5k - 18:22 - Parkrun (2017)
10k - 37:44 - Run Killarney (2017)
Half Marathon: 1:31:35 Charleville (2012). Most recent Half was in June - Half Thru the Heart which I did in 1:33. Extremely tough course and the distance was a little short.

Short to Medium term targets (over the next ~10 months);
5k - Sub 18
10k - Sub 37
Half Marathon - Sub 1:30

Long term targets/dreams;
5k - Sub 17
10k - Sub 35
Run my first Full Marathon (maybe by end of next year).
Run a really good Full Marathon.

Myself and my wife have a baby on the way so I'd say the training could be impacted for a while but I really hope I can keep it up to the same level.

I generally do two/three sessions a week (mix of intervals and tempo), one long run and the rest easy runs. Train 5-6 times a week with one day off.

I do all my Mon-Fri training within my one hour lunch break. LSR is either at the weekend or in the morning before work.

I know I should probably join a club. I would love to but we'll see how life changes once baby arrives. Even if I could do one session a week with a club I think it would be of benefit.

Last weeks training;
Mon: 7 miles steady/progressive starting at 7min/mile and finishing at 6:30min/mile. I'm thinking this run isn't of much benefit as it's in no mans land pacewise for me?
Tues: 5 x 1 mile intervals. Intervals at 5:50min/mile average with 3min recovery between.
Wednesday: 10k easy/recovery @ 7:30min/mile. Not sure if this should be slower but I read that it's bad to have easy and LSR paces the same i.e. too much running at the slow pace. The 7:30 pace felt easy.
Thursday: 15 mile LSR @ 8min/mile. Total time: 2 hours.
Friday: 4 mile recovery jog @ 8:50 min/mile.
Saturday: Parkrun 5k - 18:22.
Sunday: Rest

Probably overdid it a bit last week. Not sure to be honest but I feel good. I'm still learning. I'll be giving up the Parkruns in a couple of weeks for a while so I wanted to run a couple of them pretty hard to end up on a good note.

Any advice is greatly appreciated. I'm looking to improve and still relatively new to proper training so I'm willing to take any advice on board.

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Duanington

Swashbuckler wrote: »

Am I the only one that enjoys the horribleness of them so? Haha

yup!

Swashbuckler

Back in Black wrote:

Have just caught up on your log this afternoon. You have made fantastic progress and well done on the PB. The margins are fine at 5k level but that's a massive PB.

Back in Black wrote:

Looking forward to following your progress for the rest of the year.

Cheers for that and thanks for reading!

Swashbuckler

Am I the only one that enjoys the horribleness of them so? Haha

Back in Black

Have just caught up on your log this afternoon. You have made fantastic progress and well done on the PB. The margins are fine at 5k level but that's a massive PB.

Looking forward to following your progress for the rest of the year.

hot buttered scones

OOnegative wrote: »

Well done on the PB, 5k’s are a hard beast to get right. TbL that used to post here has ran 10,000 marathons and would take one any day over the pain of a 5k. Plenty more to come off that time to.

Me too to be honest. 5k's are horrible. At least you can enjoy the first half of a marathon.
I still want to get my time down though.

OOnegative

Well done on the PB, 5k’s are a hard beast to get right. TbL that used to post here has ran 10,000 marathons and would take one any day over the pain of a 5k. Plenty more to come off that time to.

OOnegative

hot buttered scones wrote: »

Cheers - it's a very very slow process, slower than I'd like. Had physio today and she suspects a tibial stress fracture, or at least the beginnings of one, so I'll have to get scan. I'll be dusting the bike off I'd say.

Sorry to hear that man, that’s a real pi$$er.

hot buttered scones

Swashbuckler wrote: »

Cheers man. Hope you're on the mend.
.

Cheers - it's a very very slow process, slower than I'd like. Had physio today and she suspects a tibial stress fracture, or at least the beginnings of one, so I'll have to get scan. I'll be dusting the bike off I'd say.

Swashbuckler

AuldManKing wrote:

5k's are horrible, but they're short enough that you forget the pain soon after.

Completely agree. Took a minute to recover and walked over to my wofe and she was a little taken aback at the speed of recovery. In saying that I was pretty buckled at the end.

AuldManKing wrote:

I think DD's sub 17 on that short, downhill course, with the massive tailwind has our heads turned- but remember the #1 rule - Never Compare

Haha. In all seriousness though its more the approach than the time. I'm not in sub 17 shape yet but the very aggressive approach was impressive.

AuldManKing wrote:

That's a solid PB - anytime you take anything off a PB is a good run. 23 secs off a 5km is a pretty remarkable effort. Luke will work out what that is as a percentage!

I think I've given Luke the big percentage gift already going from 91.35 to 81.43 in the half. Haha

AuldManKing

5k's are horrible, but they're short enough that you forget the pain soon after.

I think DD's sub 17 on that short, downhill course, with the massive tailwind has our heads turned- but remember the #1 rule - Never Compare

That's a solid PB - anytime you take anything off a PB is a good run. 23 secs off a 5km is a pretty remarkable effort. Luke will work out what that is as a percentage!

Swashbuckler

Duanington wrote:

Well done, P - that's a very strong PB to post at this stage in the game, you're getting faster and stronger with each race and as you rightly point out, the margins are pretty tight over 5k, more to come

ariana` wrote:

Brilliant report. Congrats on the PB. Love the rivalry too, nothing like a bit of friendly competition to keep things interesting

hot buttered scones wrote:

Well done and congrats on the PB.

Duanington wrote:

Well done, P - that's a very strong PB to post at this stage in the game, you're getting faster and stronger with each race and as you rightly point out, the margins are pretty tight over 5k, more to come

ariana` wrote:

Brilliant report. Congrats on the PB. Love the rivalry too, nothing like a bit of friendly competition to keep things interesting

hot buttered scones wrote:

Well done and congrats on the PB.

Cheers man. Hope you're on the mend.

Duanington wrote:

Well done, P - that's a very strong PB to post at this stage in the game, you're getting faster and stronger with each race and as you rightly point out, the margins are pretty tight over 5k, more to come

Thanks D. Dunno how you did it man. Haha. It shall remain a mystery.

I'll have another go after some fine tuning.

ariana` wrote:

Brilliant report. Congrats on the PB. Love the rivalry too, nothing like a bit of friendly competition to keep things interesting

Cheers Ariana. Ah he's much older than me so overall he's performing better, for his age category.

hot buttered scones

Well done and congrats on the PB.

ariana`

Brilliant report. Congrats on the PB. Love the rivalry too, nothing like a bit of friendly competition to keep things interesting :P

Duanington

Well done, P - that's a very strong PB to post at this stage in the game, you're getting faster and stronger with each race and as you rightly point out, the margins are pretty tight over 5k, more to come

Swashbuckler

skyblue46 wrote:

Ah don't be so hard on yourself....that's a super chunk to take off your PB. I think you're just hurting over 3 seconds

Haha I didn't realise til he said it. That made it hurt all that much more. Well he's about to go out and whoop my 5 mile time this week so game on. Haha

skyblue46

Swashbuckler wrote: »

It'll come in time. I have no doubt you'll continue to take chunks off your times and by default end up making those decisions. My buddy has started to notice it a bit more with having people to work off. I can't honestly say I raced Bruffman. If he had anything left in him at the end I was done. Haha. But yeah those decisions mid race are something coach said to me day one and he was right. Only racing replicates those decisions and you learn as you go. A right decision one day can be a wrong decision another day. I think I was a little unlucky today that there wasn't anyone within touching distance to force me to push on.

Ah don't be so hard on yourself....that's a super chunk to take off your PB. I think you're just hurting over 3 seconds :pac::pac:

Swashbuckler

skyblue46 wrote:

I love reading about the decisions you have to make in relation to other runners, groups, going it alone. It's so different from where I run amongst a maelstrom of bodies! You race, I do a time trial surrounded by many!

It'll come in time. I have no doubt you'll continue to take chunks off your times and by default end up making those decisions. My buddy has started to notice it a bit more with having people to work off. I can't honestly say I raced Bruffman. If he had anything left in him at the end I was done. Haha. But yeah those decisions mid race are something coach said to me day one and he was right. Only racing replicates those decisions and you learn as you go. A right decision one day can be a wrong decision another day. I think I was a little unlucky today that there wasn't anyone within touching distance to force me to push on.

Wubble Wubble

Congrats on the PB, another fine (and finely detailed) performance!

skyblue46

I love reading about the decisions you have to make in relation to other runners, groups, going it alone. It's so different from where I run amongst a maelstrom of bodies! :pac: You race, I do a time trial surrounded by many!

Kellygirl

Well done. I always enjoy reading your reports. Congrats on the pb.

Swashbuckler

Shanagolden 5k Race Report

Where to begin..... I didn't execute the Davey D Method as planned anyway. This is a tricky one to judge. I'll start at the beginning.

The week had gone pretty well. I guess one of the key things here (based on inputs from my much more knowledgeable coach) was I had come off a block of training geared towards Tuamgraney 10M and Limerick half, followed by a downweek and then a couple of weeks of 5k specifics. Getting the excuses in early. Haha. If I'm honest, going into this I had Barefield from January in mind where I thought I was in 17.45 shape. I ran a pb of 18.04 there and was a little disappointed I think. So given the work behind me I figured I must be in better shape than then. The great thing about this sport is it teaches you manners as soon as you start getting ahead of yourself.

I had been pretty inspired by D's run in Tallaght to be honest. A 100% flat out balls to the wall honest run. Shur it's only 5k right? How hard can it be? Lol. I'll give it a go.

Woke up at 5am a little wired. Was more nervous than I have been in a while before a race. Had the usual breakfast and chilled around the house. Got baba ready and we hit the road. Landed in Shanagolden around 12.15. Drove the 2.5k finish on the way in. Not the worst. A little drag for 1k but by no means awful. Got there and met my buddy from limerick country club. I've been helping him with his training lately and he was gunning for sub 20. As usual gave the missus and baba a kiss and headed out the road for a warmup and some strides. Felt good. No complaints. Still a little tense. Headed to the start line and had a look around. Saw the top three straight away haha. Sean Doyle, Colm Turner and another lad from Ennis track. Serious runners. They're no use to me I thought. Haha. Sussed out the two lads in front of me. They were chatting away. One of them a young fella going for 16ish. No good to me. The other lad from An BrÃº, we'll call Bruffman, hoping to dip under 17. Hmmmm I thought. We had our countdown and off we went. First 200m was a massive downhill so no choice but to belt on. It always amazes me how unbelievably quick some people take off and just flag completely after less that 1k. I was in a little group with Bruffman but we quickly left them behind and joined the group ahead. I had planned on ignoring the watch completely for the entire race but to be honest I checked it a few times in the first 2k. It's weird. The uncertainty of my pace was a feeling I haven't felt in a while especially given how small margins count in the 5k I was extra conscious. Wanted to run on feel. I didn't really execute that well.

The first km clocked at 3.23 (5.28min/mile pace). Nice! Was happy with that but knew the downhill helped.

So here's where I get really honest. Was I flagging at this stage? No. I stayed with our little group hoping to work together. In hindsight part of me thinks I played it a tiny bit safe. I was reasonably comfortable in the group. Even after 2km which clocked at 3.29 (5.37min/mile pace) I wasn't hurting bad. However I was fearful of the latter stages. If I push on now will I die a death. If I push on now I'm on my own. I decided to stay with the group which was a tad on the safe side. I'm not sure what this cost me in the end or maybe it was the right choice but that's what I did. By 3km me and Bruffman had left the group and were on our own. I had stopped looking at the watch by now as I was hurting. It felt like we were going at a steady clip but wasnt sure. Didn't want to look at the watch for pace.
3km clocked at 3.32 (5.42min/mile pace).

I should mention at around 2.6k theres a 180 degree turn at a cone and you head straight back from the direction we came. That turn was my only complaint. It takes the steam out of you a bit.

Bruffman was still working with me but we were both puffing hard. 4km clocked at 3.33 (5.43min/mile pace). And we were hanging in there. The lad in front of us was going backwards a bit but still a big gap. Was really struggling by now but knew not long to go. Saw the sign for Shanagolden so knew we were almost there. Bruffman had gone backwards and I was clear.
Awful feeling at this stage. Painful. Horrible. Haha. 5ks are a b*tch.
Saw my missus cheering as I entered the village and turned left for the finish line. Saw 17.41 as I crossed the line. I'll be honest it felt like I had put a lot more into the race than that time. Part of the problem is after limerick half and seeing such a huge chunk off the pb you forget that it's fine margins with the 5k. Either way it was still a 23sec pb. By any standards that's a big PB. I'll take it for sure! I just don't think I ran the best race I could have but that will come. I need some fine tuning at the 5k distance so I'm optimistic and encouraged by today. Really nice to run in a race with some of the quicker lads. Some ridiculous times posted. Winner was 15.24 I think. Finished 6th which I'm very happy with.

On an ultra positive note my buddy ran 19.54 and he was delighted. So was I. Highlight of my day to be honest.

So there you have it. The 5k is a tricky f*cker. I love it when a race teaches you some manners. The organization today was excellent. Fantastic spread after and a massage! Really good race with quality runners.

Great encouragement from coach after. Can't wait for the next few months. I love this horrible distance.

Swashbuckler

skyblue46 wrote:

Best of luck tomorrow. I'm sure you'll add to the list of races well run. Something is telling me I'll be reading a race report that won't have many mentions of looking at the watch and will have content indicating a near death experience in the last 100 metres hahaha

I think that pretty much sums up my plan in a nutshell. I'm hoping to use the Davey D Method.

skyblue46

Best of luck tomorrow. I'm sure you'll add to the list of races well run. Something is telling me I'll be reading a race report that won't have many mentions of looking at the watch and will have content indicating a near death experience in the last 100 metres hahaha

Swashbuckler

Monday - Easy 6M at 8.01min/mile
Nice easy run to start off the week. Was feeling it in the glutes a bit which I assume was due to the hilly nature of my long run the two days previous.

Tuesday - Session day!
16x300m Off 50s,Target 62s
The previous 300m sessions had taken it out of me so when I saw this I knew it would be a good marker for where I'm at and how far I've come. The recovery had reduced from 60s to 50s. Targeting roughly 5.30 pace.
To add some spice to the mix Coach had given me some simple drills to start introducing after my warmup on session day. I knew I'd need to find a quiet spot in the estate as I was gonna look like Skippy the Bush Kangaroo hopping around the place. Did a two mile warmup and thankfully found a very quiet corner in the estate for the Drills. Nice to be trying something different.
Spent close to ten mins on the drills and then kicked off the session.
They are short enough that the pace isn't the issue. The recovery is the tough part. What this session told me is I've come on a tonne from where I was. This session was nowhere near the effort it used to be. First time I did this session I had to walk the recoveries in the latter stages. Now, I'm working but not buckled if that makes sense. Form was good throughout. I've started focusing much more on my form. I was anyway but now I'm probably a bit more obsessed especially since seeing how tired I looked on the final stretch of Limerick. This was what I call a belter of a session. I loved it. Sits were;
60/60/63/62/61/63/60/60/60/62/61/61/62/61/60/61

Another big plus in this session is that I actually didn't really need the watch to get the pace. I hardly looked at it til towards the end to see how close I was to 62. Not easy to get 62s spot on though!

Total mileage for the session: 7 miles

Wednesday - Easy 7M at 8.12min/mile
Felt it a little in the legs moreso because of the Drills specifically the calf muscles felt it a little.

Thursday - Easy 7M + 6x20s Strides.
Really felt it in the legs on Thursday. As is often the case with me it's the day after the day after I feel it. Calf a little sore. Pretty tired. The heat probably added to that but predominantly the Drills and session I think.
The strides woke me up a bit. I had been running the strides too hard. Coach said keep them controlled and smooth. Almost like 5k effort. So I took that on board and yes, definitely executed better. I enjoy strides. They mix up the easy running nicely.

Friday - Easy 7M at 7.58min/mile
Felt a little better but still tired. Sleep was ****e the night before. It's like sleeping in a sauna these days with intermittent crying from the baba who's looking for her soother. Haha.
The average pace was a bit off on this one. For some reason the last mile my watch was telling me I had upped the pace even though I hadn't. Anyway no biggie.

Saturday - Off (feels weird not running on a Saturday)

5k in Shanagolden tomorrow. Really looking forward to it. I've also picked another 5k late in June so that's in the plan along with Ballyheigue 10k in June and Killarney 10k in July. Happy days. Missing out on the Ballyhoura series is a bit of a balls but all races on a Friday doesnt suit my exotic mobile home weekend Summer lifestyle.

Just to say it's been pretty motivating seeing everyone racing lately and running so well. Some brilliant runs from people on here.

Swashbuckler

diego_b wrote:

Will you fit the Half on the Head in down there (Jun 16th) and for sure the route takes no prisoners! Iâ€™m running it but two weeks after Cork Iâ€™ll be doing it as a training run.

I'm actually doing the 10k. It fits in better with my 5k training at the moment. Next half will be Charleville.

diego_b

Will you fit the Half on the Head in down there (Jun 16th) and for sure the route takes no prisoners! I’m running it but two weeks after Cork I’ll be doing it as a training run.

Swashbuckler

Cheers lad. Something definitely clicked in the last few months. I think Adare was a bit of a turning point. Took a few races for me to get a bit of confidence. Ennis really turned things. Hopefully the progress can continue.

kerrylad1

Stunning progress over the last few months man.Had a good nose through ur log this week.Great stuff.

Swashbuckler

Very positive about the week just gone.

Monday - 6M at 8.04/mile. As is often the case I remember I ran but not much else.

Tuesday - Session time. When I first saw the email from coach I was very happy (in a weird sadistic kind of way). Sessions looked sharp and pacey.
Tuesdays prescribed session was 3x(4x90s) at 5.30 pace Off 90s/75s/60s. Belter! Did the usual 2 mile warmup loop around the industrial estate. Definitely noticed a rise in temp this week. Took a couple for me to settle into the right pace and as often happens I hit the first few a little too quick. Generally these felt 'good'. I'm focusing a lot more on my form these days especially after seeing the waddle at the end of GLR. Haha. I have noticed by body tends to want to swing a bit when it tires. More on that later.
By the third set I was definitely feeling these but wasn't flat out. Splits were;
5.14 / 5.20 / 5.24 / 5.29 / 5.29 / 5.25 /5.32 / 5.26 /5.28 /5.31 /5.26 /5.24
Love the fast paced stuff and felt a million quid later in the day.
Total miles for the session: 8.2 miles

Wednesday and Thursday - Easy 7M
Really enjoyed these runs and felt good. Legs fine from the session. Both at 8.15 pace. I had to travel to Ashbourne with work. On the plus side I had a hotel room to myself with no waking baby (in theory sounds great but missed the family a lot). On the other side because of this I had a good deep sleep with alarm set for 6.30am each morning for the run and woke both mornings thinking I must be mad. Been complaining about lack of sleep and here I am setting a 6.30am alarm. But there's no way I'm missing the runs so suck it up and get out there. Thursday in particular was lovely. A beautiful morning.

Friday - Session day again. 6x800m Off 90s at 5.45 pace.
On paper I saw this and thought that'll be no bother. How wrong I was.
I had planned on doing some drills to improve the running form (sent by coach) but time was limited so these will start next week. Usual warmup.
I love it when a session surprises you (maybe it shouldn't have but for some reason I though 800m doesn't look like much right?). I knew after the first one that this wasn't gonna be the breeze I thought it would. Not struggling but for sure there was a bit of effort there. I settled into the session to be honest. Worked a bit for the last two. The heat definitely makes a difference too but I'm not gonna complain. We had enough snow and cold weather. Give me some tough sessions in the heat any day. Splits were;

5.47 / 5.43 / 5.39 / 5.41 / 5.39 / 5.49

Pretty happy with that. Hard to nail these perfectly but that's pretty good.
Total mileage for the session: 7.2 miles.

Saturday - 12 miles around Kerry head. What a gorgeous run. Extremely hilly in places so I'm not sure how smart a route it is for an easy long run but it was spectacular and I felt so good during it. Beauty all around. Sun shining. As good as it gets. Anyone following me on Strava should take a look at the elevation profile. Ridiculous.

Total miles for the week: 47.5 miles.

A great week and very happy. This 5k stuff is fun. Baby is going through sleep training in her own room so that has been fun. In fairness she's getting better so hopefully we'll have longer stretches of sleep at night. And that should make a difference. I've definitely noticed a difference in my running when I get good sleep.

Next Sunday I have Shanagolden 5k. Will be interesting to see where I'm at. I'm hearing it takes a few 5ks to get it right so this will also act as a good practice race.

Swashbuckler

Actually I tell a lie. Lahinch wasn't a pb.