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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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Comments

Kellygirl

Brilliant running. Well done.

diego_b

Fine running there and that route takes no prisoners and no matter the level runner it's hard to judge the effort I think (add in wind for good measure!).
For sure that hill after the 5K marker is the worst thing on the 10K route there...you've so exposed there for a mile or so and then you get that poxy hill. Keep up the good work as that's great progression.

Baby75

Great running I enjoyed reading that report

Duanington

Great progress, P - and sounds like you'd a great race on your hands over the last mile or so. Get yourself into a few more competitive races and embrace that stuff, so much more to come

Swashbuckler

Cheers everyone. I forgot to mention the feed of pints afterwards which is of no help to my training. Lol

Kellygirl

Swashbuckler wrote: »

Cheers everyone. I forgot to mention the feed of pints afterwards which is of no help to my training. Lol

There has to be some reward!

Swashbuckler

Kellygirl wrote:

There has to be some reward!

Yes but 10 rewards is probably not the brightest. Haha

AuldManKing

Super racing - I really envy that report - pushing for a podium spot. If you get it or not is in some ways irrelevant in the bigger scheme of things, but the actual process of racing is fantastic. I really enjoyed that and its something I can take from this.

Well done and massive congrats on a hard fought 4th.

Swashbuckler

AuldManKing wrote:

Super racing - I really envy that report - pushing for a podium spot. If you get it or not is in some ways irrelevant in the bigger scheme of things, but the actual process of racing is fantastic. I really enjoyed that and its something I can take from this.

Very nice of you to say. Thanks.

Definitely agree. In many ways I was more proud of the actual racing element of it than if I had simply finished in third.

Before yesterday I hadn't understood what it meant to be broken mentally but that surge he put on me just finished me off. Haha

ariana`

Briliant report, i loved reading, edge of my seat willing you to take kerryman in the last 400m but unfortunately it wasn't to be but you left it out there, really gutsy well done.

Swashbuckler wrote: »

Cheers everyone. I forgot to mention the feed of pints afterwards which is of no help to my training. Lol

I did this on Saturday too :rolleyes: It has to be done occasionally though right :cool:

Swashbuckler

ariana` wrote: »

Briliant report, i loved reading, edge of my seat willing you to take kerryman in the last 400m but unfortunately it wasn't to be but you left it out there, really gutsy well done.

I did this on Saturday too :rolleyes: It has to be done occasionally though right :cool:

It does for sure. I guess i'm just feeling a bit guilty as I have a christening this weekend where I'm godfather and a race on Tuesday. The Tuesday race is one I've really had my eye on coz it's usually a deep deep field so big opportunity to get into a group and work. Will have to behave somewhat at the christening.

Back in Black

Well done a great performance - you've made serious progress over the last year or so. enjoyed reading your report too.

Swashbuckler

Another fine week. This 5k stuff is tougher than I thought it would be. I fancied myself as a bit of a session guy but Luke has definitely taught me manners. Haha. Legs felt good after the race. Strange. I was more tired before it!

Monday - Easy 7M at 7.58
Felt really good on this run. I skipped the strides as I felt I didn't need to add that stress to the legs so soon after the race to be honest.

Tuesday - 4x(400/300/200) Off 90s and mins between sets. Target 78s/56s/35s.
On paper this is my dream session. Speed mixed with shorter distances. I love this stuff. Off paper I queried my sanity in the middle of this. Haha.
Did the usual warmup and some Drills. Set about the session. Very warm day but I was up for it. The plan was to get some speed and turnover into the legs with the idea being I'd be pushing a little harder on the 300 as I was on the 400 and more on the 200 than I was on the 300. Paces were pretty much meant to be 5.15/5/4.45ish.
This turned out to be one of my better executed sessions. Just was in the zone. Form held great throughout. Had to work a little in the middle sets but genuinely loved the session. Splits were
74/55/34s
77/56/35s
78/55/35s
76/56/33s
Really solid and pushed the boat out for the last 200 but still very controlled. I've been following with interest a lot of comments and posts lately about form and cues. So constantly checking in with myself. Turnover and form is D's mantra and it defiitely helps.
Total mileage for the session was 7.36 miles.

Wednesday - Easy 7M at 8.21
Headed into the city for this and back to work. For once I was sensible and slowed this down. A good sensible recovery run.

Thursday - hectic at work. Just couldn't get away but managed to scrape a 4.7 miler in. Annoying but so be it.

Friday - 14x400m targeting 82s off 60s.
I must say when I saw this I took a second glance. Given how tough I have found the 300m off 60s intervals previously I was a little anxious. Haha. It was tough but not as bad as I expected. In this block in particular I've had to take a part of the recoveries walking. Not sure if that's a sign of going too hard or not but I haven't been told off yet. Haha.
I have to be straight up here and say I pushed the pace on a few of these much too hard. Not to say my form went. But when I saw a couple of the splits they were wayyyyy off the mark. Tougher session than Tuesday I thought. Splits were;
79/80/82/81/81/81/77/81/76/82/80/80/82/76s
So yeah a few much too quick. Can't say I was buckled but for a lot of these I walked 30s of the recovery. Total mileage for the session was 7 miles.

Saturday - Easy 12M at 8.06
Nice long run. I'd much prefer to be able to run the longer runs on the scenic route down here in Ballyheigue but they are so hilly and can easily turn an easy run into a bit too much effort so the route I've been running lately is a fair bit flatter with some climbs and very boring. Lol. Grand run and legs were a little tired but nothing to worry about after a hard week.

Racing in Borrisoleigh 5k on Tuesday. Last year the top 50 were all sub 20 and my current PB wouldn't have got me inside the top 10 so there should be a strong field. Weather looking to be horrifically warm, but no point dwelling on that. As AMK says, run the best race you can on the day (paraphrasing). I also know I'll get no sympathy about heat from the folk on here after yer exploits at the weekend. Some great running and delighted to see skyblue approaching that sub 40 mark. It's all about the nutrition lads. Sandwiches are the key to success. Roll on Tuesday.

Swashbuckler

Forgot to mention I tried out a pair of Nike zoomfly on Monday that my buddy is trying to offload. Single handedly the most horrific things I've ever had on my feet. Heels are chopped to bits and don't even get my started on the soles of my feet which were burning at first and ended up numb by the end.

AuldManKing

Nice work tonight.

(1) That's a solid time in THAT heat.
(2) That's a solid time when you wanted to stop but didn't.
(3) That's a solid time. Full stop.

Top marks.

skyblue46

AuldManKing wrote: »

Nice work tonight.

(1) That's a solid time in THAT heat.
(2) That's a solid time when you wanted to stop but didn't.
(3) That's a solid time. Full stop.

Top marks.

In the light of your wanting to stop comment I'm really looking forward to the race report. Even if it's at a different level ye're ballsiness is something I try to learn from.

Swashbuckler

AuldManKing wrote:

(1) That's a solid time in THAT heat. (2) That's a solid time when you wanted to stop but didn't. (3) That's a solid time. Full stop.

skyblue46 wrote:

In the light of your wanting to stop comment I'm really looking forward to the race report. Even if it's at a different level ye're ballsiness is something I try to learn from.

Cheers lads. I guess I'll have a stab at explaining. Haha..

Swashbuckler

Borrisoleigh 5k Race Report

The best part of these 5k races is that the reports afterwards are pretty easy coz there's very little actual racing to talk about. Haha.

So I'm not gonna focus too much on the heat in this report. We all know the story. And Borrisoleigh was no exception to the rest of the country today. I made a point of hydrating well yesterday and today. Diuralyte last night, this morning and this afternoon. Nutrition was the tricky one. Not used to eating the way I needed to today for an 8pm race. Slept well. Was nice and cool at work and on the drive up with air con.

I had really been looking forward to this race. Luke had me primed with some great sessions recently which above all else will stand to me irrespective of the race. I knew the quality of the field. Knew very little about the course but after a quick chat with the organizers before the race we (traveled with a buddy) were told that the start was a tad downhill. Flat for 2k. Decent uphill at 2k followed by equivalent downhill and mostly flat for the rest with a drag the last 200m.

I was to-ing and fro-ing about my approach to this race all day. I figured if I'm gonna travel that far for a 5k and surround myself with quality runners then why not just give it a fecking good go. The heat was making me doubt myself. Couple of texts from Luke had me back in the positive mindset. He always somehow knows how to say the right thing at the right time. So feck it. I'm going for it. If I DNF then so be it. The shame of telling the club lads that I failed on my first run in the singlet loomed over me. Haha. So the mindset was go out hard, and hang on for dear life. Screw the heat.

We registered at the community hall, got our numbers and jogged a warmup not that a warmup was needed! Took to the start line about three rows back. Couldn't justify standing beside Sean Tobin. Lol. Air horn went and off we went. Fast start! I went with it. Settled into a group going 5.25 pace. I've rarely been surrounded by such quality. Sean and Freddy were off like lightning. We had a nice group which thinned out after about 500m. I kept the pace aggressive and passed a few here. After 1km the road turned off to the right and down a nice shaded country road. Lovely. First mile clocked 5.30. Spot on where I hoped. Had a peek at the watch at the 2k marker and it was 6.50. Good stuff. OK Paul, this ain't so bad right? Mouth was like the Sahara but I expected that. We then hit the only hill on the course. It did knock the stuffing out of me a bit and I struggled to maintain the pace. It was here I really hit the red line and I could feel my form default to what it does when I get tired. Tried to fight it but pointless. I was holding on and trying to improve my form was only making things worse. Time to be brave Paul. Suck it up. The uphill was quickly followed by an equivalent downhill. Mile 2 clocked at 5.45. It was a reflection of where I was at physically. So so so tough at this stage and back out on the main road in the sun for the last 2k. Everything in my body wanted to stop. Mind screaming at me. Literally felt like there was a demon on my left shoulder telling me "it's OK to stop. The footpath is just over there. Go on. Stop." Then the even worse demon on the other shoulder.. "Keep going Paul. You can't travel this far and quit. You left your missus and baba at home on the nicest day of the year, no way are you texting her telling her you stopped. You can't tell the club lads you didn't finish. You know what, just make it to the 4km mark and we'll chat again then." Haha. I can't honestly say that much racing went on in my mind. I did pass one lad at this point and he pulled back up on me. Then we caught another lad and went by him. Then the first lad pushed on strongly. That distracted me a bit to be honest. Left demon and right demon battling against each other. "it's 4k now. There's no point quitting now". "ah go on quit, it's just a short walk to the finish line then". Sign says 800m to go. Grit the teeth and hang on. Sign says 600m to go. The longest 200m of my life. "600m is nothing. You've done 300's in a session a bunch of times. Just two of those". Not looking at the watch. I don't care to be honest. This is my limit. Sign says 400m to go. Those fuc*ing signs. 200m to go. OK now I know I'll make it but believe it or not I still wanted to quit. One last push and crossed the line. Unofficial time is 17.37. Probably a pb. I don't care to be honest. It wasn't about a marginal pb. I went all in and came up short. I'm delighted I did and delighted I was able to hang on. I was redlining after 3k.

So there you have it. Need to check official time but for me that's about as tough as it's ever gotten. I've never been in a race where I still wanted to stop after seeing the finish line. Tough tough race. The route itself is very fair on a normal day. I can't complain. That hill isn't an awful hill by any stretch. The strength of the field is amazing. Never seen so many club jerseys and never seen so many people ahead of me after taking off at 5.10 pace!

The spread afterwards was just magnifique! . I've never been offered ice cream in a wafer after a race before. The chocolate biscuit cake was phenomenal. Haha. Great sandwiches that skyblue would've had a field day with.

So yeah, tough night of it but I refuse to speak negatively of the 5k. It's a tough MF of a distance. Glad I went balls to the wall. I know I can run better than that but conditions are out of my control. Two consecutive sub 18s which is decent progress considering my targets at the start of the year. Hopefully I'll get another shot at a 5k soon. A good evening was had.

Update : finished 9th. Top 43 all sub 20.

OOnegative

Nicely done, can’t have been easy running in the heat they are reporting back home at the minute.

eyrie

You write a hell of a race report!! Serious grit shown there, very impressive. Well done

Swashbuckler

OOnegative wrote:

Nicely done, canâ€™t have been easy running in the heat they are reporting back home at the minute.

Wasn't easy but wasn't easy for anyone else either. Haha. Sean Tobin still beat his course record by 20 or 30 seconds.

eyrie wrote:

You write a hell of a race report!! Serious grit shown there, very impressive. Well done

Cheers for that. Appreciate it. Trouble with all this honesty is people can see exactly where my head is at so if I'm ever racing any of the lads on here they'll know how to break me. Haha

Duanington

Well done, P - that one will stand to you, no doubt about it

Swashbuckler

Phew. Tough week!

Monday - 3M Shakeout with Strides. Gentle run to loosen up the legs for the race on Tuesday.

Tuesday - 5k race in Borrisoleigh. See above for overly descriptive ramblings.

Wednesday - Easy 7M at 8.23 average.
God it was warm. Ran this topless around Limerick city coz that's how I roll. Slowed this right down although I'm not sure anything is easy in that heat.

Thursday - Easy 7M at 8.23 average.
God it was even warmer. Topless again. Sweated buckets. Hard to know if legs were tired from the race or the heat or both but legs are tired. Draining.

Friday - (2x6min)(2x4min)(3x3min) Off 2min. Target 6.30 for first bracket. 6.15 for second. 6.00 for the third. First problem was this wouldn't send from my Garmin connect to the watch so I had to semi old school it. Just went on the time on the watch. Spent 16mins warming up. Drills. Then got into the session. Went out on the roads for this. Blistering heat again. Felt like the hottest day of the week. The 6.30 sets weren't so bad. Managed them OK. The 6.15 sets were a bit more of a struggle. By the time the 6.00 sets came around I was pretty knackered. Only managed 2mins for the first one but stubbornness took over and did the rest of the session as prescribed. It was a struggle and I needed to walk a minute of the recoveries. I was just knackered and glad to see the back of the session. On any other normal day that's a very manageable session but not this week!

Saturday - Easy 12M at 8.08.
Had a few cans of Guinness last night to celebrate being on holidays. That combined with the week gone by just made the run a slog. Was never doubting I wouldn't complete it but it was a tough slog especially from 7 miles on. By the end I stopped dead on the beach and was thankful I was done and have a rest day tomorrow. Had a beauuuutiful dip in the Atlantic. How refreshing after the heat all week.

Total mileage for the week 42 miles.

Tough week. Did a little philosophising on my long run. I remember hearing a quote recently. If you start skipping runs because the weather is too bad, pretty soon you'll be skipping runs coz the weather is too good. Got me thinking. Weeks like this are a blessing. If you can carry on business as usual on a week like this, or even better, race your heart out in this heat that's money in the bank. Mental toughness being developed as well as physical toughness. I'll draw on some of my experiences this week. Next time the going gets tough in a race at least I'll know I've suffered badly before and came through. That race on Tuesday being case and point. Anything that keeps you going, that keeps you fighting, that keeps you in the race.

Another point of note was I was chatting to one of my neighbour's on site here today. He was a hell of a runner in his day. He gave me his diary from 1984 and I had a read. Very interesting. Lots of stuff jumped out. He did a tonne of cross country. Not one mention of paces anywhere and only a couple of mentions of times. Never wore his watch. Ran everything on feel. Ran a very similar schedule to me actually which I found interesting although his mileage was a lot higher. A different time. No technology. Just running. Deadly stuff.

Duanington

Good week, P - just a note on the heat, its effectively warm weather training stuff at the moment which I always imagined would be tougher than normal training.....so it has to have an effect on general energy levels, I think everyone is feeling it a bit at this stage.

Swashbuckler

Duanington wrote:

Good week, P - just a note on the heat, its effectively warm weather training stuff at the moment which I always imagined would be tougher than normal training.....so it has to have an effect on general energy levels, I think everyone is feeling it a bit at this stage.

Cheers D. Definitely felt that way especially Friday. On paper that session would be relatively handy.

Swashbuckler

Cut back a little on the mileage last week. Was definitely feeling it a bit from the week before especially that Friday session.

Monday - Easy 6M at 8.02
Im on holidays! Down in Ballyheigue for two weeks with the wife and baba so this was run in Ballyheigue. Sunny day. Beautiful. Good for the mind. Great to be off work. Really enjoyed it. Finished off with a few strides. And a dip in the ocean.

Tuesday - 12 x 45s Hills off 90s.
Its still one of the toughest sessions. Given I'm in Ballyheigue I picked a really special hill for this haha. No idea what the elevation was but decided this one was steep enough. Ran the first one hard. Finished up at a manhole. That's my reference point for the remainder of the session. There's not much to tell about these sessions. They're as tough as they sound. Up the hill hard focusing on form. Keeping it smooth. Trying to maintain the same distance each time but working a little harder as it goes on. Barely 15s of rest by the time you reach the bottom of the hill. Great session. Another dip in the Atlantic. Set up for the day.

Wednesday - Easy 7M with my buddy at 8.02. As meant to be 6M but the route we picked pushed us up to 7M. Really enjoyed this with company which is a rarity. Followed by dip in the Atlantic.

Thursday - Easy 6M at 8.12
Felt a little tired so slowed this down a bit. Another nice run thinking about the questions posed to me in the spotlight thread. Haha. Followed by...... You guessed it..... Dip in the Atlantic.

Friday - Mona Fartlek
Completely forgot I had ran this before a good few months back. Enjoyed it then and enjoyed it again. 2x90s,4x60s,4x30s,4x15s off equally reducing Recoveries. Start off at 10k effort and increase the pace for each set. Maintain a jog in between. For once I just didn't look at the watch atall for the session. Went purely on feel and was pleasantly surprised by the pacing. I really wanted to get a feel for the effort and not the numbers on the watch. Paces;
5.54/5.57
5.20/5.42/5.43/5.32
5.13/5.23/5.10/5.05
4.53/5.06/4.53/5.08
Not too bad atall. Guess what I did after.... Hopped in the Atlantic.

Saturday - Easy 10M at 7.54
Enjoyed this run so pushed on a tad. Felt good. I've felt pretty good all week apart from Thursday. The benefits of being off work.

Total mileage for the week was 41.5 miles so a little on the lighter side.

One thing I registered this week was how lucky I am I can train at work. It's not easy working a run every day around family time without carrying some guilt with you (even if the missus is fine with it). Gives me a new found respect for all the lads and ladies who can't train at work and still manage to maintain their running. Fair play.

Another week off this week. Loving it. The weather is fantastic.

coogy

Swashbuckler wrote: »

One thing I registered this week was how lucky I am I can train at work. It's not easy working a run every day around family time without carrying some guilt with you (even if the missus is fine with it). Gives me a new found respect for all the lads and ladies who can't train at work and still manage to maintain their running. Fair play.

Another week off this week. Loving it. The weather is fantastic.

I'm with you there. I've managed to get the bulk of my mid-week runs done in work and it's such a relief to come home knowing that you won't have to be ridden with guilt over the ol' "just heading out for a run" line.
My other half is fine with it too and she gives me great encouragement but it doesn't stop me from feeling like I'm being completely selfish.

Swashbuckler

Funny old week. I had been pretty sensible on the first week of holidays. Not so much on the second week! It being birthday week meant a skinful of pints Wednesday and Thursday. Major hangover Friday. I didn't let it impact my running in the sense I ran every prescribed run but by God did I feel crap Friday.

Monday - Easy 7M at 7.59
Another one in Ballyheigue. On my own but really enjoyed it. No dip in the Atlantic this time. This week we had a lot of family stuff planned so plan was to get out running when it suited. Finished up with some strides. Really enjoying the addition of strides in the last couple of months. It has definitely added a new dimension.

Tuesday - 8x400m off 90s. Targeting 78-80s.
Did this in the mobile home site. On paper I though this looked handy enough. In reality it was a tough session. One I really enjoyed but worked for it for the last three. Nothing major to report apart from the usual internal dialog and checks that I always have during a session like this. Keep form strong. Working, but not flat out race effort. By the end I could feel I was working a bit harder to maintain my form but a great session. Splits were;
77/77/76/78/78/79/81/78s
Was really happy with these splits as this was run entirely on feel without checking the watch.
Total mileage for the session was 6M.

Wednesday - Easy 7M at 8.05 with my buddy. Good company and good chat. It flew. Wish I could run in company more often. Had a few pints of Guinness that night watching the game. Gutted with the result to be honest.

Thursday - Easy 7M at 7.57
Guinness fuelled running. Didn't overdo it on Wednesday night but enough to feel it the next morning.
Lots of pints that night. Like, lots.....

Friday - woke up pretty fecked. Had a shower and decided to put off the planned session to the evening. Headed off to the aquarium in Dingle with the missus and baba. She saw all of two fish before conking it. Lol. Mammy and Daddy enjoyed it though. Had the most gorgeous meal up the road after. Beautiful seafood. Some ice cream in Murphys. Has to be done. Not ideal prep for a session later in the day! Got home and headed out regardless.
2M at 6.15, 4min jog, 4x600m at 5.30 off 90s.
Did the usual warmup. I didn't feel too bad considering and the 2M at LT pace felt exactly as it should. Ended up doing those at 6.09 and 6.05. A tad quick. The 600m reps were OK apart from the third. Splits were;
5.24/5.29/5.47/5.26
Third one was a little off. Think I lost concentration a bit. I was lucky that the day I chose to be hungover was the day where the fast stuff wasn't particularly chunky. 600m is bearable with those recoveries.
Total mileage for the session was 8M.

Saturday - 14M around kerry head at 7.51.
I think I chose this route deliberately to punish myself for my shenanigans. Haha. It's probably the hilliest route you can run in these parts. Oddly enough I felt good on this run. Tired at the end but loved it. Nice to see some clouds again. Haha.
Also nice to see the long run get longer again.
Total mileage for the week was 49.6 miles.

All in all a good weeks training with poor nutrition and lots of booze. It's been said to me by a couple of people that it's important to switch off every now and then which I definitely agree with. It's strange but a week like this can remotivate you.

Run Killarney 10k in two weeks. Ran my first sub 40 there last year with a 37.50 so we'll see where I'm at relative to that. Definitely feeling a million times in better shape than then.

Was great to see the success of the Day of Irish PB's yesterday. I'll have to use my connections to get them to move the date next year. Haha.

Swashbuckler

A little late with last week's log but better late than never.

Monday - the usual Easy 7M with strides. Nothing to report as I don't even remember it at this stage.

Tuesday - 6x1k Off 75s targeting 5.50 pace. A nice session and nice to see some stuff in or around 10k pace (ish).
Found this session pretty good to be honest. Pleasantly surprised which is testament to the 5k block I've put in lately. I'm sure people are sick of hearing the usual "felt good, focused on form" etc etc at this stage. Pace for the splits were;
5.40 / 5.42 / 5.44 / 5.49 / 5.46 / 5.42
Solid splits and solid session.

Wednesday was easy 6M as I was caught for time. Had a wedding in Doolin. A mighty wedding but had work the next day so kept it reasonably sensible. Thursday was the usual Easy 7M. Added some strides after the Thursday run.

Friday - 2M at 6.15 followed by 8 hill intervals. Jaysus those hills. The 2M went well. I think the pace was in or around 6.15 average for the two miles. The hills kicked the crap out of me as they always do. I think those hill intervals are one of the key sessions for me. I always feel like they are responsible for a lot of gains in terms of base speed, form, leg turnover etc. I love them in a weird way. Was buckled by the end. Laid out on the grass with passers by laughing at me.

Saturday - Easy 14M
Woke very very early and decided rather than just lie there I may as well sneak out and by the time I'm back the little one will be due to wake and I can help out. Downside is the body took around 6 miles to wake. And I ran the tough loop around kerry head. Parts of the run were much too high an effort. You'd think I'd know better by now. I knew the body felt groggy but I hoped it would wake up sooner. Still enjoyed the run though. There's something about those long runs that really let me clear my mind. Sets me up nicely for the rest of the weekend too.

Total Mileage for the week 50.4. Back in the 50's! Solid week again. I've strung a lot of solid weeks together. They'll all stand to me.

Race week this week! Run Killarney 10k on Saturday. The scene of my first sub 40 last year. Looking forward to it. It can be a bit of an annoying race trying to pass out a lot of half marathon runners. I was on and off the path last year quite a bit.

Sorry if the update is a bit rushed this week. I'm half asleep!

Swashbuckler

As always, I like to get my weekly update in before race day to save me spending an hour writing up the update and race report tomorrow.

Monday - Easy 7M at 8.00
Nothing major to report. It's been a very humid, warm week here. Finished up with some strides. Love strides.

Tuesday - 2x800 off 60s / 2x600 off 75s / 2x400 off 90s. Targeting 5.50/5.40/5.30

Tbe usual 2M warmup on another warm day. On paper this looked OK to me. It was a little tougher than I had expected. Short recovery for the 800's probably the reason. Took a bit of work to settle into the pace for the first 800. After that I was pretty pleased with my pacing in general. Split paces were;

5.51/5.49
5.37/5.42
5.21/5.23

Happy with those. Shortish cooldown gave total 5.8 miles for the session.

Wednesday - Easy 7M at 8.06
A little tired after the session and another warm, muggy day so just eased in to the run with some slower first few miles.

Thursday - Easy 6M at 7.54
Probably the most tired I've been all week. The muggiest of muggy days. It's been that kind of week hasn't it.

Today I'll do a 20min shakeout and some strides.

Tomorrow is race day. 10k again. Always enthusiastic when it comes to my favourite distance. Hopefully less muggy but let's see what the race brings and we'll go from there. Nothing specific in mind apart from doing myself and my training justice. Buddy of mine running too. He's in the middle of personalized McMillian plan for DCM which has been interesting to dissect. Road trip early in the morning and then back to the family for some quality time with wife and baba. It'll be weird not having her there. Good memories of her giving out to me for not bringing a backup watch last year. Lol. The finish line in Killarney is very good as it funnels and has spectators on both sides. God knows what state I'll be in once I get to that point.