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What I log about when I log about running

Huzzah!

Huzzah! for running!

Background:

I'm female and in my 30s. I'm not sporty and I wouldn't really consider myself to be "fit". I'm also sllllooooowwww. But, for the most part, this doesn't bother me. I'm still surprised that I can comfortably run 10 miles. (10-whole-miles. Me!:o)

I've been running fairly consistently now for two(ish) years. I'd finished Couch 2 5k a couple of times before but never kept it up; mainly, I think, because I was running my training runs flat out and really didn't enjoy it. Three years ago, I tried again and stuck with it and now, despite my grumbling, love to run (at least most of the time). Key to running more consistently was discovering the runmute. You can't beat the headspace that running gives you.

I started practising yoga last year. I try and attend 3/4 classes a week. There may be "better" ways to cross train/complement my running but yoga is the only thing I'll stick to.

PBs and Goals:

My principal goal for the rest of the year is to try and run a PB at the race series half. My current PB is from the Wexford half earlier this year and is 2:15:4x; I trained like the dickens for it. Still and all, I'm hoping to run 2:14:xx in September. Along the way, I'd like to run a 10K PB at the Fingal 10k. My 10K PB is my oldest and, potentially, my softest. Once I run the half, I've half an eye on tackling a 5K plan - gotta get the value out of the buke - with Jingle Bells being my focus for the rest of the year. That's a way away yet, though.

I used a plan from Pfitzinger and Latter's Faster Road Running for Wexford earlier this year and I think I'll use it again for September. I've built in a buffer week for the Fingal 10k, so the plan will start in earnest next Monday. I've been enjoying running off plan for the past couple of weeks but am looking forward to getting back on plan soon. Gives me less wriggle room for slack off!

Distance|Current PB|Target|
5k|26:53|>26|
5 Mile|46:40|>46|
10k|59:53|58:xx|
10 mile|1:43|1:40|
Half mara|2:15:43|2:14:xx

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ariana`

Huzzah! wrote: »

I must apologise for breaking the good weather. I bought some shorts and tank tops and jinxed it.

I feel like next week is the ‘real’ start to the plan. It has six days’ running, two SOS and, all going well, I’ll be back in the 60kms-kms-per-week range.

I was wondering who to blame :pac:

Serious training there, well done! I love the table too, very easy to read through. You may never grow to love the Pilates but you won't regret it, it'll stand to you.

Huzzah!

Day |Plan|Actual |Avg Pace| HR|Comments|
Monday, 18 June |Easy 6.4km|Easy 6.4km|7:21/km | 131(156) | Got lashed on but a pleasant run, nonetheless |
Tuesday, 19 June |Easy 6.4km| Easy 7km | 7:31/km | 139(160) | I was feeling off all day, so I pushed the planned SOS to Wednesday. Struggled on this one; I think it was super humid. |
Wednesday, 20 June |w/up +12x400+ c/down|12km|1:58; 1:59; 2:00; 1:58; 1:58; 2:01; 1:58; 1:58; 1:57; 1:58; 1:56; and 1:58 | 160(182) | I’m not a huge fan of speedwork and I was a bit bored for the first few of these and then they got tough! Happy enough to see a nice improvement since the last time I did this session |
Thursday, 21 June |Rest | Rest | - | Did a slightly tougher pilates class and my hammers still haven’t recovered |
Friday, 22 June | Tempo 8km | 12km | Tempo@ 6:13/km |- | PMP = 6:20/km. I set this up as 5 x 1 meters like a dope, so had to figure out a solution on the fly. Turned pace alerts on but it was alerting me to current pace not average pace, so I had to ignore it. Eventually found the avg pace screen on my watch and tried to focus on that. I’ve no idea of how these feel as I haven’t done any yet, so I couldn’t just ignore the watch |
Saturday, 23 June| Easy 13km | Easy 13km | 7:14/km | 139(159) | A dichotomous run: I struggled to keep the pace slow enough, the effort was nice and low but my legs felt very tired and heavy |
Sunday, 24 June| Easy 13km | 15km | 7:40/km | 145(170) | This was very, very tough. I think I managed to run my slowest kilometer ever on this one. I’ve been avoiding the Glenamuck Road since I’ve been back and I tackled it today. I need to run it more frequently. I wore my new shorts and the CHAFE! I accidentally bought super short-shorts and I don't think I'll be wearing them again|
Week Six Total |66.4km ||Week 6 Comments| I finally feel like I’m training for a marathon now, with the heavy legs to match.

eyrie

That's a big jump in mileage compared to the last couple of weeks - it really looks like you're into the serious business now! Not surprising that the legs would reflect that. But it's great (and I presume very encouraging!) to be able to see progress already in the speedwork.
It's so exciting!!!

juke

You sure are getting the miles in. Newb question, but is it wise to do extra miles, over and above the plan? I presume you only do it when you feel fresh. I'd worry that over all, it would be too much for me and my old legs.

Also - ditto on the chafe. Using body-glide a lot the last couple of days :eek:

skyblue46

juke wrote: »

You sure are getting the miles in. Newb question, but is it wise to do extra miles, over and above the plan? I presume you only do it when you feel fresh. I'd worry that over all, it would be too much for me and my old legs.

Also - ditto on the chafe. Using body-glide a lot the last couple of days :eek:

Huzzah is training for Berlin and on a pretty advanced plan. You stick to your plan and your old (like mine) legs will be fine!

juke

skyblue46 wrote: »

Huzzah is training for Berlin and on a pretty advanced plan. You stick to your plan and your old (like mine) legs will be fine!

I know Huzzah!'s plan is for Berlin - but I just noticed some 'actual runs' are more than 'planned runs'. I'm just curious.

Huzzah!

eyrie wrote: »

That's a big jump in mileage compared to the last couple of weeks - it really looks like you're into the serious business now! Not surprising that the legs would reflect that. But it's great (and I presume very encouraging!) to be able to see progress already in the speedwork.
It's so exciting!!!

Yeah, it is a big jump. They're not huge believers in the 10% rule. It is exciting and scary - I'm trying not to look too far ahead: Plan

juke wrote: »

You sure are getting the miles in. Newb question, but is it wise to do extra miles, over and above the plan? I presume you only do it when you feel fresh. I'd worry that over all, it would be too much for me and my old legs.

Not a newb question at all. It's very valid. I added a few extra kilometers in week 5. You're allowed add to easy days and it was an easy week. As you can see from the plan above, the jump between week 5 and 6 was big, so I padded week 5 a bit.

For week 6, the only added bit was 2km to the long run. Everything else was per plan. Actually, I scrimped on the warm down a bit after Tuesday's SOS :P Again, the long runs make big increments, so I was just adding a little bit each week to make the gaps a bit smaller.

And my legs feel old if that's any consolation

Huzzah!

. Quite simply: I messed up. I decided to run it a decent effort, but I didn’t really decide what would constitute this. I didn’t really pay attention to my watch until it was too late. A stitch stopped me in my tracks and I struggled badly right to the end. I can’t blame the heat for this, even slightly. It was all just bad planning on my part. Fail to prepare, prepare to fail, as they say. The only good thing was that I didn’t just quit and walk home, which would’ve been easily done on the course in question |
Friday, 29 June | Easy 6.4km | Easy 7.5km | 7:40/km |146(157)| Another lunchtime run. Legs felt fresher than they should’ve. |
Saturday, 30 June| SOS 8km@PMP | 5km@PMP | 6:18/km | 155(176) | I was under pressure to get this done and I just decided before I set out to cut the tempo short. I really enjoyed it and honed in on the pace a bit better than my first effort. Drove to Belfast immediately after. Whatever about people changing to miles in their training, I really struggle with my SatNav deciding to give directions in imperial: “In 400 feet, turn left.” |
Sunday, 1 July| Long 16km | 16km | 7:03/km | 149(166) | First of the Hanson long runs. The long runs are slightly quicker than easy runs, although there’s some overlap. I ran this as a progression run and had a super time|
Week Seven Total |55.1km ||Week 7 Comments| A little bit behind plan but nothing to worry about. An enjoyable week of running, apart from acting the clown at the Docklands 5k. I’m in the minority as I’m loving the weather at the moment. I spent most of the winter freezing, so it’s nice not to be. It’s so rare to have such warm weather, with relatively low humidity. Fingers crossed the humidity stays low.

Kellygirl

With you on the weather. I love it.

Baby75

Agree on the weather

Well done on the 5k it takes a lot of digging deep when your body screams stop but you keep going anyway

Huzzah!

Week 8 :eek:

Day |Plan|Actual |Avg Pace| HR|Comments|
Monday, 2 July |Easy 10km|Easy 3.31km|7:37/km | 132(146) | Cut short by a tummy upset. I’d a feeling it wasn’t going to go to plan and should’ve listened to my gut, if you pardon the pun. |
Tuesday, 3 July |SOS w/up 8 x 600 c/d| Per plan 13.5km|3:05; 3:06; 3:05; 3:04; 3:06; 3:03; 3:03; and 2:58 | 161(180)| The guidance for these is to do them at 5-10k pace, but I tend to do them at 5k pace. This week, given the heat and the proximity of last week’s tempo, I decided to cut myself a little bit of slack and drop the pace a little towards a notional 10k pace. They were definitely tough enough, which vindicated the decision. Happy to pick up the pace a bit for the latter intervals. I managed to run into a bush on the cool down - I really need to pay more attention :P|
Wednesday, 4 July |Rest|Rest| - | - | - |
Thursday, 5 July |SOS w/up + 8km Tempo+ c/down | 12k | 6:14; 6:18; 6:21; 6:15; 6:18; 6:18; 6:13 and 6:20|163(175)| A tough enough SOS pmp run, but they’re supposed to be tough, I guess. Pilates in the morning. I’ve decided to do two more weeks of beginner level and then I’ll give intermediate a go. |
Friday, 6 July | Easy 8km | Easy 8km | 7:25/km |140(157)| These always tend towards the faster end of my pace range, for some reason. I felt okay on this. |
Saturday, 7 July| 16km Long | 21k Long | 7:04/km | 165(183) | I had entered this last November and decided to run it as a training run. To date, I’ve run seven halfs - four as race efforts and three as training runs and this was my slowest one to date. I was slightly surprised at how much slower it was than hilly Wicklow but I guess I was at week 13 of a training plan when I ran Wicklow and it was much cooler. Even last year’s RNR was quicker for a lower effort, but I’m not going to dwell on it too much. I enjoyed the run. It’s a scenic route and not one I’d race, I don’t think. I found the beach section tough on the way out as I wasn’t expecting it to be as long as it was. I was happy that even though my legs felt very tired near the end, they kind of just kept ticking over at the same pace without faltering. I walked twice - both times when I came to soft sand. It had felt like glue on the way out, so I decided not to force it on the return |
Sunday, 8 July| Easy 10km | 10km | 7:35/km | 137(155) | My legs felt a lot better on this than I was expecting. There was a nice 15-minute walk to the car yesterday, which helped, but no doubt any fatigue will hit properly tomorrow|
Week Eight Total |68km ||Week Eight Comments| The long run this week was only supposed to be 10 miles but as it jumps to 15 miles next week, I was happy to have the excuse of running in the half to bridge the gap a wee bit. This week looks like a step up in general, with the tempo distance also increasing.

On the research front, I need to start looking into marathon nutrition. I struggle to ‘drink’ typical gels and have used Clif Shot Bloks for this reason. I’m not sure they’re feasible for a marathon as they seem to have a low enough recommended daily allowance - although, maybe you can ignore that in the context.

Baby75

Have a look into Tailwind https://www.tailwindnutrition.co.uk/ you add it to water and it covers everything from carbs to electrolytes and very easy on the tummy!

Or you could make your own Isotonic drink I can share the recipe with you

Another option is making your own gels using honey and you can get little gel bottles to put them in. https://highfive.co.uk/product/accessories/gel-flask/

my favorite option is tailwind though!

Kellygirl

I remember you saying before you struggle with energy gels etc. A friend of mine uses Amino Energy. It comes in the same form as tailwind (a powder) though I couldn’t tell you whether it is a similar thing or not.

Huzzah!

Baby75 wrote: »

Have a look into Tailwind https://www.tailwindnutrition.co.uk/ you add it to water and it covers everything from carbs to electrolytes and very easy on the tummy!

Or you could make your own Isotonic drink I can share the recipe with you

Another option is making your own gels using honey and you can get little gel bottles to put them in. https://highfive.co.uk/product/accessories/gel-flask/

my favorite option is tailwind though!

There are only cups of water on the marathon route, so I wonder if Tailwind is feasible. I must look into it a bit more.

Kellygirl wrote: »

I remember you saying before you struggle with energy gels etc. A friend of mine uses Amino Energy. It comes in the same form as tailwind (a powder) though I couldn’t tell you whether it is a similar thing or not.

Yeah, my tummy was a bit upset during Wexford - I assume a little bit of tummy upset is normal?

My main issue with the gellier gels is that I can't breathe through my nose, so I end of not being able to breathe at all when taking them. I might try practicing and see.

Kellygirl

Huzzah! wrote: »

There are only cups of water on the marathon route, so I wonder if Tailwind is feasible. I must look into it a bit more.

Not so handy then I’d guess unless you wear a backpack. But my friend carries a small bottle of really concentrated Amino Energy and kind of takes a sip of that and washes it down then with water rather than diluting it each time.

Yeah, my tummy was a bit upset during Wexford - I assume a little bit of tummy upset is normal?

My main issue with the gellier gels is that I can't breathe through my nose, so I end of not being able to breathe at all when taking them. I might try practicing and see.

Mine doesn’t get upset but I have taken immodium before marathons to prevent it. I take High 5 Isogels- they are not gloopy like gels and already diluted with water and don’t cause me any hassle.

Kellygirl

Part of my post appeared in your quotes there. Sorry. On my phone.

Baby75

I carry it in two small bottles 250ml in a belt already made up, then I take water from aid stations. At DCM last year I carried it in a hydration pack on my back no issues at all! this year I have a vest and two soft bottles that go in the front of it, I love it so light and easy to carry. For DCM this year I am going with a belt and two bottles. I have used other types of energy drinks and it just does not give you the same boost not to mention no need to worry about carrying extra salts like zero tabs it covers everything.

Huzzah!

Baby75 wrote: »

I carry it in two small bottles 250ml in a belt already made up, then I take water from aid stations. At DCM last year I carried it in a hydration pack on my back no issues at all! this year I have a vest and two soft bottles that go in the front of it, I love it so light and easy to carry. For DCM this year I am going with a belt and two bottles. I have used other types of energy drinks and it just does not give you the same boost not to mention no need to worry about carrying extra salts like zero tabs it covers everything.

Great, thanks. Do you use caffeinated or no and where do you buy it? Sorry for all the questions. I'm keen to give it a go now and the trial packs aren't available at the moment.

eyrie

Huzzah! wrote: »

I managed to run into a bush on the cool down - I really need to pay more attention :P

See this is exactly the kind of thing that happens to me. Often.

That's a super week there Huzzah!, and fair play for managing to make the Clontarf half an enjoyable experience in those conditions!

I have no advice on the nutrition/fuelling front, but I listened to this podcast recently which was really interesting. Talks a lot about the specific requirements of women in distance running, and how the nutrition and hydration needs are different. Mind you she advocates fuelling with whole foods rather than gels, etc, and it sounds like that would be the last thing you want! Her general comments were pretty interesting though, it's worth a listen.

Baby75

Huzzah! wrote: »

Great, thanks. Do you use caffeinated or no and where do you buy it? Sorry for all the questions. I'm keen to give it a go now and the trial packs aren't available at the moment.

I like the caffeinated one or without both work great, we normally get ours from https://www.tailwindnutrition.co.uk/TWSTK.html you can get 2 stick packs for about 2 euro

you just can not get the 10 pk of each flavor as they are sold out of some flavors

Hubby swears by the recovery drinks as well, I have not tried them yet

Huzzah!

eyrie wrote: »

this podcast recently which was really interesting. Talks a lot about the specific requirements of women in distance running, and how the nutrition and hydration needs are different. Mind you she advocates fuelling with whole foods rather than gels, etc, and it sounds like that would be the last thing you want! Her general comments were pretty interesting though, it's worth a listen.

I started listening to this this morning. We're a complicated bunch, it seems!

Baby75 wrote: »

I like the caffeinated one or without both work great, we normally get ours from https://www.tailwindnutrition.co.uk/TWSTK.html you can get 2 stick packs for about 2 euro

you just can not get the 10 pk of each flavor as they are sold out of some flavors

I'd ordered some of the 2 stick packs before you responded (I'm impatient) and they arrived this am. Excited to try them at the weekend. Thanks again.

eyrie

Huzzah! wrote: »

I started listening to this this morning. We're a complicated bunch, it seems!

I know right?? Ha, no major surprises there I suppose. I like the "women aren't just small men" point though, and it does seem like there's some other stuff to consider and learn more about. Not to mention it's mindblowing (or infuriating

) that so little of this research has been done on women at all, so there's so much less known!

Huzzah!

eyrie wrote: »

I know right?? Ha, no major surprises there I suppose. I like the "women aren't just small men" point though, and it does seem like there's some other stuff to consider and learn more about. Not to mention it's mindblowing (or infuriating ) that so little of this research has been done on women at all, so there's so much less known!

I actually thought at first that she said: "women aren't just slow men" and I was a bit taken aback.

Very interesting on the not feeling thirsty at certain points of the month, so drinking to thirst not being reliable.

I shall report back when I've listened to it all.

shotgunmcos

Did I see you mention moving from the beginner to advanced(thought Hanson goes from just finish to beginner to advanced) plan? Mid cycle? If so have you moved and if so why? If not what made you consider the change? How are you finding the method so far? You must be moving onto the strength section now?

Huzzah!

shotgunmcos wrote: »

Did I see you mention moving from the beginner to advanced(thought Hanson goes from just finish to beginner to advanced) plan? Mid cycle? If so have you moved and if so why? If not what made you consider the change? How are you finding the method so far? You must be moving onto the strength section now?

Hi there, happy to answer your questions but keep in mind I’m a lot slower than you!

I followed fbe Hanson half-marathon plan for Wexford half. I’d thought I would do the advanced plan because I’d done the Pfitz 30-47-mile half plan a couple of times before that. I ended up spraining my back, so didn’t run at all for a few weeks before starting the plan, so I decided to follow the beginner but with the long runs as per the advanced plan. I really liked the plan and ran my most comfortable half and PBd by 4+ minutes. I genuinely felt stronger the further into the race I got. It has been suggested that I set my target too low, though.

I’m now following the marathon plan for Berlin.

Other faster Boardsies who have followed the plan are MurphD and Yaboya (I think). No doubt they’d happily answer any questions you might have, although the latter isn’t around as much.

Baby75

Huzzah! wrote: »

I'd ordered some of the 2 stick packs before you responded (I'm impatient) and they arrived this am. Excited to try them at the weekend. Thanks again.

How did you find it

Huzzah!

Baby75 wrote: »

How did you find it

My bottles were too small to give it a test run, so I stuck to the bloks this week. I've ordered a hydration pack thingy. I thought running was supposed to be a cheap sport :rolleyes:

Felt really good with the Bloks so now my head is turned again. Will be two weeks before I give the Tailwind a spin, but I'll keep you posted.

Huzzah!

Day |Plan|Actual |Avg Pace| HR|Comments|
Monday, 9 July |Easy 8km|Easy 8km|7:24/km | 142(162) | I passed ReeReeG on this run without realising - I am, of course, the least observant person on the planet. |
Tuesday, 10 July |6x800@5-10k| Easy 10km | 7:32/km | 145(161) | I missed my SOS. I feel super guilty about it. It’s honestly still weighing on my mind. I’d to work until 7, which just made getting the session in impossible. I’d to factor in getting to a suitable location, etc, so I just said I’d do it on Wednesday, but then it made no sense to do it on Wednesday, because I’d be pushing the tempo out to Friday and trying my longest run ever on Sunday, so the SOS became a sacrificial lamb. The GUILT, though. |
Wednesday, 11 July |Rest|Rest|- | - | - |
Thursday, 12 July |Tempo 13k plus w/up +c/d | 17km incl 13@pmp | 6:18/km | 156(168) |Pilates in the am, followed by a slight nervous breakdown that PMP was 6:05/km and not the 6:20/km that I’d be training to, followed by acceptance that time doesn’t matter, I can only run what I can run, followed by D (who can add and stuff, unlike me) confirming that 6:20/km is correct and alll before morning coffee, too. The PMP session felt better than the previous week, no doubt because I missed Tuesday’s SOS, but was still chuffed to complete it. 8k to 13k was a slightly daunting jump in distance |
Friday, 13 July | Easy 10km | 10km |7:34/km | 133(153) | The stats look great for this: nice and low average heart rate, pace up at the quicker end of the range but it was a sufferfest. It was the first run that my legs rather than trying to keep my breathing/HR easy were what held me back. I couldn’t have run a second faster, nor could I have run a second slower. This was the pace my legs were stuck in and it was a really easy pace breathing wise but my legs were wrecked. My quads in particular were in a jocker. Pilates, I’m looking at you! |
Saturday, 14 July| Easy 8km | Easy 8km | 7:25/km | 141(162) | D has taken to calling that initial walk when we get up, “the Hanson Hobble”. My legs were still really tired and I chose to run the first part of this on a nice downhill to get the blood flowing. It meant for a nice uphill middle but it worked out well.|
Sunday, 15 July| Long 24km | Long 24km | 6:47/km | 152(170) | The Hanson Hobble really made me dread this run and I set out with promises to myself to keep it at the slower end of the long run pace and even to ignore long run pace altogether if required. Typical Hanson style, I felt better the more I ran. Part of this is to do with the caffeinated shot bloks I took, no doubt, but the training I’ve done to date has a part to play too. I got a bit carried away and did about 5k at PMP, without realising, near the end. I’m also delighted that my 16mile run should be within the three-hour max range as I’d be worrying that I was going to have to break that steadfast Hanson rule. The Bloks went down really easy, as they always do in training runs. I wish they were as palatable when racing. |
Week Nine Total |77.9km (natch) ||Week 9 Comments| A tough but good week this week. Despite missing my SOS, I covered all but .1km of the required mileage - at least I think I did, it’s down as 47miles/80 kilometers in the book which isn’t a correct conversion, but I did the same as D and he followed the plan to a tee. Really proud of myself for this morning’s run. I think it’s my longest run ever, but more importantly than that, it was a tough start and I was bricking it. I definitely could’ve run further at the end. Halfway there now, which is crazy! My goal heading into the second half of the plan is to slow the runs back down again, where the legs allow it, at least

Baby75

Great week running Huzzah and keep me posted on the tailwind

I found some great information on the tailwind facebook page today on different ways to mix up the tailwind to suit I brought 2 small 250ml bottles and mixed it stronger less water but I made sure I took in lots of water at aid stations for a race for training I will use my hydration vest and put it in 2 soft flasks or have tailwind in one and water in the other

juke

Just looking back over your tables, is your 'easy' slower than your 'LSR' time?

Saw this mentioned on the novices thread - first time I realised different (and more advanced) plans can be structure so differently.