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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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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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Swashbuckler

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

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!

Duanington

Swashbuckler wrote: »

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

yup!

Back in Black

Swashbuckler wrote: »

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

No I'm with you on that. Give me the dry retching/ legs buckling after a 5k anyday over the "will I ever be able to use my legs again" feeling from a half marathon. At least I can drive home after a 5k!!!

Swashbuckler

Another good week. Running, sunshine, lots of sleep. Happy days. Took a couple of days off work to recharge the batteries. Was needed. Felt great for it.

Monday - Easy 6M at 8.01
This was run in my Summer home away from home in Ballyheigue. Beautiful day and a glorious run in the sun. Followed by a lovely meal in Ardfert with wife and baba. Fantastic. No ill effects from the race.

Tuesday - WU+Drills+(4x4min @6.30) Off 90s+ (4x20s Strides) + CD

A nice mix there! This was run on the mobile home site. A nice flat loop and extremely hot. The hottest day this week. These were just a leg loosener after the 5k efforts a couple of days earlier. I'm enjoying the Drills. I'm sure I look ridiculous but who cares. Haha. The 4x4mins were all fine. Nothing even close to difficult. Just strong running. Splits were;
6.32/6.28/6.27/6.22
With the cooldown the total mileage for the session was 6.5 miles.

Wednesday and Thursday were 7M easy back in Limerick. 7.59 and 8.05 for these. Strides included on the Thursday run. Was feeling it a bit in the legs on Thursday. The Drills definitely having an effect on the calf muscles. Sore but getting stronger. Struggling to get the skinny jeans on these days. Haha.

Friday - 8x400 off 90s targeting 78-80s
Now ill be honest when I saw this on the plan for the week the immediate thoughts were 400m is grand. 90s is a big recovery. No bother. Wrong.......
One of those sessions that teaches you respect. Haha. After the first one I thought to myself "you're about to get the sh*t kicked out of you Paul". And so I did. This was tough. Purely the pace of it but I must say I loved having to hammer a session. A pain during but by God did I feel great after. The 90s seemed generous but it was needed. By the fourth one I was walking the first 30s of the recovery. By the end I was laid out on the grass. Loved it. The heat didn't help but I'm loving running in the hot weather these days. It'll only make me stronger. Splits were;
77 / 77 / 76 / 78 / 81 / 78 / 77 / 76
A little too quick on a few but with a session like this I always seem to tend towards too fast than too slow. Had to keep the "warm down" short as I was caught for time. Total mileage for the session 5.6 miles. Drills were included after the warmup too.

Saturday - Easy 12M at 7.56
I felt great in this one. Everything just felt flowy . Lol. Had to keep pulling myself back to keep it easy. Lovely run out to causeway and loop around back to Ballyheigue. A less hilly route for the long run this week. Passed 1000 miles for the year on this run. A nice achievement only five months in. Been a consistent year so far and long may it continue.

Other noteworthy news after hijacking Daveys thread all week asking advice is I have officially joined a club. So I'm now a Limerick AC runner. What that means in the short term I'm not sure. I'll be sticking with Luke as long as he'll have me. Haha. I'll hopefully do the odd session with them but predominantly will be sticking to my own (Luke's) plan. I will be doing cross country next season which is one of the main reasons I joined the club. Touched base with a few of the lads in the club and explained my situation. They were happy to have me and explained that everyone has their own approach. Some run all the club runs. Some don't do any. Whatever works for you. That suits me. So all in all a good week.

Duanington

Great stuff, P - onwards and upwards

Swashbuckler

I must say this 5k training is tough. One of the toughest blocks so far but oddly one of my favourites. I guess it says a lot that I prefer the speed stuff. Probably tells me where my weaknesses are (the longer stuff. Haha).

Monday - Easy 6M at 7.45 plus strides
Yep I probably ran this a little quicker than usual. I ran this with company in Ballyheigue with a lad i met at parkrun last year. Strong runner. I had told him I'd be running at around 8.15 pace. But as we took off the conversation flowed and we just took it as it came. We ran the 10k race route so it was great to get another feel for that before next weekend. It's a tough route. Genuinely tough with at least three big proper kerry hills. Finished up back attl the mobile home site and topped off with 6x20s Strides. I've really started getting a feel for the strides in this block. One word from Luke was the turning point - "smooth". I was trying to run them at full pelt. A lovely days running and nice to run in company again. My work buddy who I used to do some easy runs with has plantar since January and hasn't recovered yet. Feel for him coz he's a very good runner and loves it as much as me.

Tuesday - 6x1k Off 90s at 5.50 pace
This is what I'm liking about this block. All the paces have gotten quicker which is great. I ran the usual warmup and did my Skippy the kangaroo Drills (starting to feel the difference from them too). Started into the session. Was tired for this. Baby was sick so I had about an hours sleep but the adrenaline kicked in and I was up for this one. I am feeling the heat a bit these days but who isn't. I felt OK on these. Definitely a bit of a step up from the previous 1k sessions but the 90s recovery makes these OK. Really trying to focus on form these days so very much tuned into how I'm running while I'm running. Maybe a little too obsessed coz to be honest it's hard to know if you're doing the right things. Probably best not to overthink it but mainly making sure my upper body isn't twisting and trying to kick off the back foot but like I said its hard to know. Session went well and splits were.;

5.41 / 5.48 / 5.46 / 5.44 / 5.45 / 5.49

Overshot the mark on a few of these but no harm I felt good. Finished up with a "cool down". Who's really cooling down in this weather. Total mileage for the session was 7.3 miles.

Wednesday and Thursday the usual Easy 7M at 8.08 and 8.09. Only thing of note was the Wednesday run was a little too quick as I was very tired. I should slow these down in future but fell into my usual pace. Thursday included strides after. Felt much better.

Friday - A Luke Special. (3x300m)60s(800m)90s(3x300m)60s(800m)90s(3x300m) all at 5.30pace.
To be honest after I finished the warmup I just felt zapped. I just wasn't up for it. Drained. So that was a worry. But I talked myself into it. Just get moving and see how you go. It's worth noting that we all have days like this. It might seem like some of us hammer out sessions with no bother all the time but there are days for all of us where you just feel meh. The key is to talk yourself into the run and not out of it! So off I went. What can I say. Everything about it was tough. Haha. Really tough. I was just drained and it was so hot out. I needed to walk the first 30s of each recovery which was a fair compromise haha. The 800m were particularly tough. If I'm honest I think I'd find the session tough but OK on a normal day. I could feel my form going a bit on the second 800m. At least I'm recognizing it and correcting it which is good. Finished up and panned out on the grass for a minute. Goose well and truly cooked. When I looked at the splits after I maybe understood a bit better why I found it so tough. Or at least one of the reasons why.

5.20/5.22/5.14
5.28
5.23/5.20/5.12
5.31
5.10/5.18/5.13

So the 800s were spot on and some of the 300s were a couple of seconds too quick. Ran some of them in 58s and they shoulda been 61s. I didn't get a bollicking from Luke so all good. Haha

Saturday - Easy 12M at 8min in Ballyheigue. Really enjoyed this. Was a little tired but legs woke up a couple of miles in. I love these runs. Daydreaming and contemplating life haha.
Was thinking about the mental aspect of running on this run and how I had talked myself into the Friday session. The old me probably would've made my excuses but times have changed. Mentality has changed. The same comes with racing. I very much try and talk myself into a postive move rather than a negative one. In races I'm trying more and more to take that risk and make that push. A year ago I was talking myself into easing back. Months later I was talking myself into holding the pace. Now I talk myself into not only holding but trying to push on or catch that guy ahead. Just found it interesting how the mental aspect of my running has come on with the physical. A never ending work in progress. Anyways a good week of 48 odd miles. Tired from it.

Race week this week. Ballyheigue 10k on Saturday. What do I want from the race? Well it's not pb territory but that doesn't matter. It's a race that has spanked me twice. I'm in much better shape now though. So if I'm honest I'll just throw it out there and say I want to win it. Last year I wasn't a million miles off. We'll see this year. Depends who shows up I guess but I'll be fighting hard that's for sure.

Kellygirl

Best of luck with the race! I hope you win and fair play for saying that’s what you want.

hot buttered scones

Go on lad! Give it socks!

Swashbuckler

Kellygirl wrote: »

Best of luck with the race! I hope you win and fair play for saying that’s what you want.

Haha I may regret saying it come Saturday afternoon. To be honest it'll come down to who shows up. There are plenty of faster lads in that region than me but i finished third last year and looking at the winning time the last three years I'd be there or thereabouts so we'll see.

Swashbuckler

hot buttered scones wrote: »

Go on lad! Give it socks!

Definintely - the plan is to end up in a state equally as bad as last year. Buckled on the ground. Some tough hills around those parts

ariana`

Good luck on Saturday P.

diego_b

Best of luck with it now, I am running the half myself but only using it as a training run. It is tough route for both 10K and half for sure.

Swashbuckler

diego_b wrote: »

Best of luck with it now, I am running the half myself but only using it as a training run. It is tough route for both 10K and half for sure.

Great stuff. Best of luck. Might see you in Flahives after for a burger and a Guinness

Baby75

The very best of luck and yea give it socks

OOnegative

Best of luck in Ballyheigue.

Huzzah!

Good luck on Saturday!

Swashbuckler

Cheers to everyone for the well wishes. Race tomorrow so we'll see how it goes. Very tired this week. Sleeping great but it's purely training tiredness to be honest. Last week was a big week so some of the tiredness carried over to this week.

Monday - Easy 7M at 7.58
Ran first half of this with a couple of lads from work who are also in the club I just joined. A little on the quick side and they branched off on their own halfway as I wasnt running the ten miles they were. Enjoyable to run in company. Legs were a little tired. All the more reason I shouldve slowed down. Finished up with some strides. For some reason these seem to wake me up a bit.

Tuesday - 5x3mins Off 90s targeting 5.50 pace + 4min jog + 4x30s Hard.
Legs still tired so I skipped the Drills. The calf muscles in particular in this block are tired and even on the sore side. I'm guessing it's related to the Drills for sure. Hopefully it's a sign they're getting stronger. Did the usual warmup and settled into the session. First one was a little on the slow side. Tricky to settle into 5.50 after a week of faster. The session wasn't hard but the tiredness made it a little harder than I think it should be. Splits were
5.56 / 5.44 / 5.47 / 5.54 / 5.45.
I didn't preprogram this so I ran the 30s Hard based off the clock. They were all between 4.45 to 5.00. Felt strong... But tired. Haha
Total mileage for the session 7.5 miles.

Wednesday - Easy 7M at 8.00
So given how tired I felt this week I think I really should be slowing these runs down. I don't know what it is about me but I default to that pace. Slowing down just feels like I'm dragging it out. Need to cop on to be honest.

Thursday - Easy 6M at 8.07
On this run I decided I was taking the option to rest the next day and hopefully recover a bit. This week is the first time I can say that all my easy runs just felt like a bit of a slog.

Friday - was given the option of a 3M shakeout. Decided to rest. Wise decision I think. Hate skipping a run but I haven't been fresh this week. Sleep has been great. Waking a little early but not sure that's to blame. So today was a nice mental and physical break from running and I'm going into tomorrow enthusiastic to be honest (even though this log might seem like the opposite). Can't wait to get out there and hit those hills and see what happens. Either way I'm sure I'll have a good story to tell. So the summary of this week is #tired

Kellygirl

Looking forward to the report P. Best of luck.

skyblue46

Give it your best is just stating the obvious, I know you'll leave every last drop of effort on the road. Enjoy the pain!

Baby75

Good luck and have fun ( I hope )

I hope the legs are feeling fresh in the morning

Swashbuckler

Baby75 wrote:

Good luck and have fun ( I hope ) I hope the legs are feeling fresh in the morning

One thing I've learned and the advice from Luke will always stay with me "you don't need to feel 100% to run a great race". I went out and ran 36.05 the day after. So I've learned not to panic if I feel tired. You never know til you're in the thick of the race. Even the warmup tells lies!

Baby75

Swashbuckler wrote: »

One thing I've learned and the advice from Luke will always stay with me "you don't need to feel 100% to run a great race". I went out and ran 36.05 the day after. So I've learned not to panic if I feel tired. You never know til you're in the thick of the race. Even the warmup tells lies!

That is very true

Swashbuckler

Ballyheigue 10k Race Report

There will be no stories of heroics today. Haha.

I knew going into this race that the course was tough. Sometimes too much knowledge can be a bad thing. But anyway, thoughts of pbs or anything like that didn't exist for this one. I wanted to be competitive. Knowing how I'm running I figured I should be there or thereabouts in the pecking order.

I made the short journey from my mobile home up the village to collect my number with my buddy at 9am. Very blustery weather. Had slept very well and felt good. The days rest on Friday definitely helped. Sleeping really well these days. Baba is sleeping through the night. The nerves kicked in a bit after collecting the number. It's happening a bit more lately. Same before Limerick and Shanagolden. Need to get a bit of a handle on it.

The half marathon was due to start at 11 and the 10k at 11.15 so I headed for warmup with my buddy at 10.45. Got two miles in and added some strides. Lined up on the main street just as the half marathon passed. Gave them some cheers and got lined up for the 10k. Had a peek around at who was lining up. Hard to tell but some lanky looking lads in club shirts is usually a sign of a couple of fast fellas. Off we went.

The first mile of this race is a pain. It's a big fecker of a hill. Continuous and steep and tough. I've ran it a bunch of times. Running it at pace is a different story. Haha. Three lads had motored off ahead. There was no way I was keeping with them at that pace up the hill. They ran it at around 5.30. No thanks. First mile was as tough as expected. But I ran it knowing what was still to come. First mile clocked at 6.05. I was surprised when I saw that. Quicker than I expected.

By now the field had properly thinned out. I was passed on the hill by a Kerry club runner. So I was placing fifth. The top three were about 100m ahead. I secretly hoped they had underestimated the route so I tried to stay in touch with the Kerry club lad.

Mile 2 has a flat portion but then we turn off the main road onto a nasty steep hill. Wind was in my face here. Still feeling OK. Not red lining by any stretch. Passing a lot of the half marathon runners. This was a help mentally to be passing people. Kerry club lad still in touch. Leading group still 100m ahead. More hills to come. Second mile clocked at 6.11.

The third mile is the worst part of the route. It's pretty much all either hills or drags in windy conditions. It was here I passed the kerry club lad using my strength on one of the hills. It's one of the big differences I've seen in the last year. My strength in general has improved especially on the hills. Doesn't mean I like them. They're still a bitch! But I can manage them better. In hindsight I ran the first three miles a little conservatively. That's what I mean about too much knowledge sometimes being a bad thing. But it's very hard to judge. I've gone hard on that route before and paid the price. Anyway, I digress. Mile 3 was tough. I was in fourth. The leading three hadn't made any gains. I could still see them. Kerry club lad wasn't far behind. Mile 3 clocked at 6.18.

Start of Mile 4 has the steepest hill on the route followed by a drag. Suffered here a little so maybe I hadn't been too conservative! By the end of mile 4 I was starting to catch the lad in third but Kerry club lad wasn't far behind me too. I knew in mile 5 we would finally start to get some downhill payback for all of these fecking hills and I could push on. Mile 4 clocked at 6.28.

Start of mile 5 is finally some flat road so I could pick up the pace a bit and start trying to reel in third place. The leading two were gone. They had pushed on. But third place was coming back to me. Passed him on the flat on mile 5 before we hit the downhill. So I was now in third. Suffering from the hills. But knowing some payback was coming. Finally the big downhill! Hurray! I let the legs loose. Had a peek over my shoulder and kerry club lad was bolting down the hill. Feck. Haha. He passed me at a wicked pace. So I had visualized being in a battle during the week and thought to myself now is the time Paul. You're battling for third. Don't let him go. Keep in touch. So I upped the pace a bit more. I wondered if maybe he was just strong on downhills and maybe he'd even out on the flat. I was right. When we reached the downhill I had managed to stay within touching distance. Had a look at the watch. 5.4 miles in. Not long to go. Time to leave it all out there Paul. No point finishing with something left in the tank but at the same time I need to make it to the finish line. Haha. So I pushed up on him. Working hard now. Managed to get level and pass him. This was the fourth time we had exchanged places. I was working really hard here. He sounded OK. Breathing fine. He put a surge on and passed again. Still 400m to go. One lap of a track. I tried. I really did but he was matching everything I had and couldn't muster enough to pass him again. He finished one second ahead of me. So I placed fourth with a time of 37.34. Mile 6 was 5.23 and the last 400m were 5.15. So a solid pace for the last section of the race. The last mile of the race is mostly on flat so I was pretty pleased with my pace here. Didn't feel the worst at the end in the sense I didn't collapse on the ground. Haha. Kinda nice to finish with some dignity for once. Lol. Had a good chat with the Kerry club lad. Nice fella. We had a right good battle. I enjoyed it.

So there you have it. A good race. Pleased with the time as my previous best on that course was 41.06. Also that time of 37.34 would have been a pb for me last year. To run that time on that course tells me how much I've come on. The time would have been good enough to win the last two years too.

I was never in contention to win. I guess you can have no control over who shows up. But in the long term I want to be that guy that shows up at a race and ruins other peoples plans of winning. Haha.

Not much to over analyze in this race. It was a good solid run on a tough course in tough conditions. Going forward I'll be looking forward to running in some races with deeper fields. I'd rather finish 50th getting dragged along by faster guys than finish 4th in a thin field running on my own for most of it. Cross country season will be interesting!

Up next is Borrisoleigh 5k Tuesday week and another crack at one of my favorite distances