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Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose

diego_b

So based on the advice in the DCM 2015 Novices thread from Dubgal72 to start a log....here it goes...

My background,
I am a 33 year old Irish male, originally from the midlands who lived and worked in the Dublin area for the last 10 years. Recently moved with my wife and daughter to County Kerry where we will hopefully stay forever more.
I work at home but travel to Dublin every four weeks to catch up with my office based colleagues. On those trips this I try to rope in some other sporting venture in the city either playing soccer with mates, a training run in the Phoenix Park or a race.

My health background is that 3 years ago I weighed 21 and a half stone (at 5ft 10in in height with a BMI of 42.8). Back then I was often breathless with minor exercise such as a short walk, suffered back pain and didn't sleep well and my little baby girl was just starting to walk so keeping up with her was going to be even more of a challenge. Critically my outlook for a long and healthy life was significantly reducing with every passing year I did nothing about my weight.
I had seen family and friends with similar challenges to what I faced address them in recent years so I used that as further inspiration that it could be done and made to last. I took some advice from my brother who is a gym instructor and a fitness enthusiast. I started to reduce my calorie intake, changed my diet, kept a food diary and started some regular exercise (a couch to 5k). I set myself a target of 3 stone lost before my next birthday. I achieved that target in half time I had set out so I knew the plan would work. The weight loss kept up over that year and I kept up the running and completed a number of 5 and 10k races in same time period.
After 1 year I had got my weight down to 14st and generally speaking it's held pretty steady since then, I could lose a bit more weight but have been advised to hold steady for now and just focus on my fitness which I enjoy maintaining whilst still enjoying my food!

In that time I really fell in love with running and I wished that I had taken it up years earlier. All going well I hope I have many good years of running left in me.

My current PBs are:
5K - 22:50 (29/03/2015)
5mile - 39:36 (27/05/2014)
10K - 47:15 (04/04/2015)
10mile - 1:26:20 (17/05/2015)
Half - 1:56:56 (03/05/2015)

My goal for this year is to complete the Dublin City Marathon and at the moment I am running 20 miles a week and completing the 30 day challenge. Marathon training due to start in two weeks and can't wait.

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diego_b

Catchup again

Monday 28-05-2018

Had a physio apt this evening to look at the hamstring niggle I've been carrying. Appears to be an issue relating to my lower back and general fatigue from the increase in mileage I've had this year, was on course to get close to 2000 miles up from 1450 last year. With that I'm off speed work for the moment and to work on some stretching and strengthening.

Tuesday 29-05-2018

5.7 miles easy in 51:50 @ 9:05min/mi.

Wednesday 30-05-2018

5 mile easy (incl. 5 x 15sec strides) in 44:45 @ 8:57min/mi. I threw some strides into this but didn't push them at all as trying to be good regarded what I was told and planning to race Cork Half at the weekend.

Thursday 31-05-2018

6.5 mile easy in 59:36 @ 9:11min/mi.

Friday 01-06-2018

5 mile easy in 46:19 @ 9:15min/mi

Saturday 02-06-2018

Headed to Cork with my wife, number collection went fine at the expo. We got there around 5:30-6pm and most of the stuff/stands were cleared away. No matter. Staying in the Kingsley Hotel which was at the Mile 24 marker for the marathon (11 or so for the half). Nice spot.

Sunday 03-06-2018

Cork City Half Marathon, first time running the event and whilst I enjoyed the atmosphere around the event I didn't really enjoy the run at all. Not that races are to be enjoyed as such but between the niggle above and general training I wasn't in shape to go for the sub 1:40 on the day. After having had an excellent race in a 10 miler in late April where I went sub 1:14 for the first time and a strong pb I figured might as well give it a go and see how it went. Was on target (even if the effort was high and rising) for the first 4-5 miles but somehow going out the South Link Road and up over the motorway bridge I seemed to lose around a minute and the pacers were moving away rapidly, I had a decision to make...fight for it (despite it probably not being there on the day) or else let it go and ease back. I decided to go for the latter and eased back to 8min/mi for the rest of the race barring the last mile when the 1:45s were coming up to pass me and I got back down to around 7:38min for the last mile. The planned pace for the day had been 7:36min/mi. Have to say even running slower I felt pretty awful for most of the run, my heart rate had eased back to the 160s from the high 170s but I think the heat just didn't suit me and drank plenty enroute. For some reason I kept thinking back to the GLR half in May 2016 when despite a pb run there my feet were destroyed with blisters (they all joined up over the course of the race) that is wasn't worth it and didn't want same again. Give me a cold winter's day any day for a race please.
My heart went out to the marathon runners out there and I felt bad passing some of them in the last mile but I tried to encourage everyone I could to distract from my own crappy run. Anyways one to forget and a course time I should be able to beat easily enough sometime in the future. 1:44:29.
I had some friends running on the day, two did great in the half and got pbs and one mate was running the full and had a superb for at 22 miles before it got to him a bit but he still bettered his time from DCM 2017 but missed out on the sub 3:15 he was trying for. No doubt he'll do that in Dublin if he keeps up his progression. For me not sure where I am at.

Including warm up it was 14 miles for the day.

Stuck on my wet suit that evening when I got home and did my first sea swim of the year, only around 15 mins of actual swimming but certainly easier with a face mask and snorkel so planning to do more of that.

Total mileage for the week: 36.2 miles

diego_b

Monday 04-06-2018

Rest day

Tuesday 05-06-2018

4 mile easy in 36:31 @ 9:07min/mi.

Wednesday 06-06-2018

Rest day, busy enough evening with 3 of the other coaches in the club away I hadgot to lead juvenile training. Long enough session for 90mins (U8-U12s), happy enough with the first 60 mins but the final 30 mins wasn't so good and the relay we finished with was a bit of a mess. You live and learn with this stuff a bit.

Thursday 07-06-2018

5 mile easy in 43:36 @ 8:46min/mi.
Up in Dublin for work so late enough doing this around half 9, staying near Stephen's Green so ran from there down to Merrion Square and ran the first few miles of the DCM route until crossing the Liffey and then ran back along the river. Grand run on a nice evening.

Friday 08-06-2018

Rest

Saturday 09-06-2018

Took in Tralee parkrun this morning...steady pace run finishing in 24:47 (8:06min/mi pace). With a warm up and cool down afterwards it was 4.4 miles in total.

Sunday 10-06-2018

Munster Athletics Track and Field Championships

No racing for me today, had only signed up for throwing events in Shot and Javelin. Had forgotten to mention in log entries that I borrowed a Javelin from my club for the last 2-3 weeks and was practicing a bit at home every 2-3 nights doing a few throws. My best at the County Championships was 17.79 but at the Munsters I managed to increase that to 18.68. I did foul my 3rd and 4th throws but there was only two of us in the o35 competition and my competitor was throwing a good 5-7 meters more than me so just pushed it a bit to see could I crack 20 meters but no joy. Anyways a silver medal which was very nice to get.

Took part in the Shot Put competition as well, no such joy there on improving my distance..hadn't thrown a shot since the counties anyways so no training done. The 7.26kg is fair heavy to try get some distance on and for someone who drives a computer mouse and keyboard for a job I am not really built for it without the requisite training.

In the counties I managed 5.84 meters but two other of my throws were even longer than day than I managed in the Munsters which was just 5.52 meters. I got lucky again that there was only the same fella up against me in the o35s, he threw 2 meters further than me which I was impressed with but another silver medal for me. Really enjoy the track and field days tbh and nice to try out some different events. Next year I'll try get some training in proper and considering buying a training shot and javelin as well.

Some really impressive running on show as the seniors were running at the same time as well as the masters, serious speed at all age levels. If I'd been running in the 800 metre I would have had to break my pb to finish ahead of a runner who is probably twice my age. Fingers crossed for us all we're still getting around at the sort of pace in the years/decades to come!

Late on that evening I did 5 miles easy in 44:46 @ 8:57min/mi.

Total mileage for the week: 18.4 miles but hey two Munster medals so can live with it!

Neady83

I tried the shot putt a few weeks ago and really enjoyed, it's a fun event isn't it? Mind you I picked up the lads shot and was surprised at just how heavy it is. Mind you, it didn't stop some fella from Connemara almost throwing it into the next field

Must give the Javeline a go next time.

diego_b

Neady83 wrote: »

I tried the shot putt a few weeks ago and really enjoyed, it's a fun event isn't it? Mind you I picked up the lads shot and was surprised at just how heavy it is. Mind you, it didn't stop some fella from Connemara almost throwing it into the next field

Must give the Javeline a go next time.

Tis great now, hang around for a hour or so having a chat with people and take a few throws! Yup I have to say I was envious now of the older masters and ladies as the 7.26kg is pretty heavy. Some lads can really ping it, it seems to come from their legs all the through to the arms and they can let rip. We're going to see if my father in law fancies a go next year, you know the older country farmer type...he'd likely throw even the heavier ball further than I can. At 70 plus we might find a new calling for him!

The Javelin is nice now, very technical event it seems but I find it a bit easier to improve on that the shot. Not sure what the club championships are like in Galway and Connaught but in the m35 category you kinda just need to turn up and not foul. Good chance of some nice medals in a lot of the masters categories. I was delighted going from a senior last year!

diego_b

Catch up to try get back up from page 3 of the logs! Here goes my lunchtime!!

Monday 11-06-2018

Some annoying news today that I was advised, on a medical basis, to cut my running back to 20 miles a week due a suggested possible unfortunate side effect.
This should be a short term enough thing, will know in 3 months or so when retested but I am going to really do some sh*tty marathon training for Dublin on 20-25 miles a week.
Planning to offset some of the lost running with swimming and cycling. So whilst I won't be as road fit/fast I will try maintaining general fitness.
No pb attempt for Dublin this year, last year was 3:55:34 after a really crappy run so could I run a 3:50-4 hour marathon without the requisite training. Time will tell.
My plan is to take the Running Shoe Guru plan I wasn't planning to use again (low mileage but high quality runs) and hack it to suit my purpose above.

Tuesday 12-06-2018

6 mile easy in 54:03 @ 9min/mi.
3.2 mile easy in 35:28 @ 11:28min/mi (with my wife and father).

Wednesday 13-06-2018

Rest day. Juvenile coaching this evening, kinda glad to be done with it for the summer as wasn't really in the form for it and the kids were hyper.

Thursday 14-06-2018

4.3 mile easy in 38:39 @ 8:56min/mi.

Friday 15-06-2018

Rest

Saturday 16-06-2018

Half on the Head half marathon.
I trotted this one around on the challenging local course, I figured I'd be 1:45-1:50 and I came home in 1:48:39 (8:12min/mi).
Warm day and two weeks after Cork Half I was happy enough doing the run. The 1:45 pacer passed me around 3 miles in but I didn't go with him and just kept the same effort on the hills.
I last raced this event 3 years ago and finished that day in 1:55:40 so I was happy enough with a decent course pb if even over 8 mins slower than my best half time and 4 mins slower than Cork Half.

Sunday 17-06-2018

Rest day

Total mileage for week: 26.9 miles

Monday 18-06-2018

4 mile easy in 36:47 @ 9:05min/mi

Tuesday 19-06-2018

Rest day

Wednesday 20-06-2018

5 mile easy in 45:35 @ 9:06min/mi.

Thursday 21-06-2018

Just under 20 minutes of sea swimming at the local beach in the evening, was going finest till I got a calf cramp just as I was finishing up. Annoying uncomfortable...hilariously I got one in the other calf then whilst taking off my wet suit. Ah yes two for two on calf cramps.

Friday 22-06-2018

5.1 mile easy in 46:50 @ 9:10min/mi.
Off a half day from work as off to Edinburgh for a stag party at the weekend so out early enough for me for this @ 7:20am.
Good way to beat the general warmness though!
Flight to Edinburgh that evening from Cork, flight delayed for 2.5 hours was annoying as didn't get over there till 11:25pm and needed to be sociable to catch up with the lads. Late enough evening/night after a long day feeling a bit like doing nothing it seemed.

Saturday 23-06-2018

Took in the Edinburgh parkrun, first time doing one outside of Ireland and I enjoyed it.
Large enough numbers with 500 plus running. After a late night, bed around 2-3 I got about 4 hours sleep but still I felt like running it hard enough and came home in 101st position with a time of 22:36. The route is fast (if the wind conditions permit) with an out and back route on the promenade there. Did a decent warm up before and cool down after wards so 4.5 miles in total for the morning.
Bus back to town afterwards and then caught up with the other lads at the stag party in the early afternoon.

Sunday 24-06-2018

1 mile easy in 8:43 @ 1:32am. Made my leave from the group at half 1 and decided rather than amble the walk back to the hostel on my own in 15-20mins that
I'd run it in about half the time so that I did. Running in jeans and trainers is not so bad for such a short distance. Met a fella doing similar in a shirt and tie crossing one of the bridges so guess I was not the only nut job.

5.5 mile easy in 50:34 @ 9:11min/mi.

Having got some tips from local boardsie hillsiderunner (promise to try meet up next time I am over and have a more favourable schedule!) I took in Holyrood Park and did a lap of that.
Really lovely spot that, very scenic as you skirt around (and up enough!) the hills in the centre of the park. Got some sights of the area that I would not have seen otherwise and look forward to returning soon.
Was last in Edinburgh about 10-11 years ago and had forgotten how nice it is. Not so keen on the night life tbh but that would be me in general with any city as I don't drink.
After that then it was back to hostel and out to the airport to fly home to Ireland. Long day as was not home till around tea time. 2 hour drive in 28 degrees was fun!

Total mileage for the week: 25.3 miles

Monday 25-06-2018

Rest

Tuesday 26-06-2018

5 mile easy in 45:35 @ 9:05min/mi. Didn't do this up 9:30pm as wanted to watch the world cup matches that evening and also to offset the heat.

Wednesday 27-06-2018

Rest

Thursday 28-06-2018

5.1 mile easy in 46:22 @ 9:05min/mi. Ran this one before work, again avoiding the heat!

Friday 29-06-2018

3.3 mile easy in 30:26 @ 9:12min/mi. Another one before work to try get some mileage in before the crazy/lovely warm temps.

Saturday 30-06-2018

Pacing my wife at Tralee parkrun for her to get a new pb.
For the first two K she was on track for going sub 30 for the first time ever but after a 6:15 3rd K she slowed back for the rest of the run.
She had recently ran 30:15 in a local 5K so said I'd try help her at the parkrun but didn't want to have a fight with her pushing her too hard so once that 3rd K clocked I knew the game was possibly up.
I tried to hustle her a bit to see could she go again but not to be then.
Coming into the last 800 meters I gave her a bit of a push as I knew she'd be close to her pb and then again for the last 200 meters and she took 12 seconds off so great running for her in very warm weather.
I finished 6 seconds behind her in 30:54. Including warm up, parkrun and cool down it was 4 miles for the morning.

Sunday 01-07-2018

Pacing my daughter at Tralee junior parkrun for her to get a new pb.
Similar approach to what I'd done a day earlier with my wife was I ran with my daughter in the local junior parkrun. She hasn't done it for a few months so was very start stop, fierce pace on the starts though...but plenty of walking. Into the last 200 meters or so I told her that if she could run to the finish she'd get a pb and that she did. I find it hilarious that a 6 year old knows what a personal best is but she seems to understand and was delighted to finish 4 seconds faster than previous.

1.2 miles in 15:16 @ 12:30min/mi.
Figure that even if I can't do exactly what I want with running at the moment I can help some of those around me and there's a nice buzz to that too.
After that I got my own run in around Tralee onto a 10K loop that I haven't run on some in a year or more. 6.5 miles easy in 58:15 @ 8:58min/mi. Sticky enough heat of the mid morning even though it was overcast.

Total mileage for the week: 25.1 miles

Monday 02-07-2018

5 miles easy in 1:00:36 @ 12:05min/mi (with my wife). Fair warm doing this one at 5:30pm with my wife and she struggled a bit. She's signed up for the Dingle Half marathon so I will be helping her with some of her training for that.
She doesn't run on own on the roads at all so buddies up with me or someone else or else onto the treadmill (torture device in the summer).
Cycled over to watch a local sea to summit (and back down again) 5 mile run as some club mates and friends were running so just offered my support.
11.36 miles in 51:11, leisurely pace!

Tuesday 03-07-2018

6 miles easy in 55:45 @ 9:17min/mi. No lying this was horrible last night doing this around 5:30pm. I had some work to do later and not sure how long it would take and I wanted to watch the England game so had to be done.
Hottest run I've done in a long long time I think. Will be back to avoiding the heat where I can now!

Wednesday 04-07-2018

3.1 mile easy in 28:50 @ 9:16min/mi. On the road at 7:40..so much easier altogether. Cut the grass when I got home so a very productive morning before work.

Neady83

Sorry to hear that you've to cut your running back D but fingers crossed it will only be temporary and you get everything sorted.

You've found the perfect way to still get enjoyment from your running though, by pacing/helping others. It will keep you motivated. Well done on having a great attitude.

diego_b

Neady83 wrote: »

Sorry to hear that you've to cut your running back D but fingers crossed it will only be temporary and you get everything sorted.

You've found the perfect way to still get enjoyment from your running though, by pacing/helping others. It will keep you motivated. Well done on having a great attitude.

Thanks S, yup hoping that to be the case...more of an annoyance as such. I was trying to carry a much higher avg mileage this year with a min target of 40 miles a week (was aiming for 2K miles) but anyways still going to exceed last years total so hoping some progression (or at worst standing still) just from general easy runs. No harm to change things up a bit as well...I would like to be able to swim and I get awful guilt about the bike for not using it too often.

Definitely the case, I've benefitted a lot from the assistance/support/camaraderie of pacers in races so never mind doing it really the odd time I have...and thanks!

diego_b

Thursday 05-07-2018

Rest, up in Dublin for work for two days. Caught Alanis Morissette in the Iveagh Gardens. Thought she was excellent!

Friday 06-07-2018

Rest

Saturday 07-07-2018

Templemore parkrun, ran this at a half marathon effort. Fierce warm so was quite happy to keep it at that. I clocked it at 24:41, the official time was about 30 seconds quicker but there was some issues on that front. Doesn't matter! Including warm up and cool down, it was 4.6 miles for the morning.

My DCM training officially kicked off on Sunday and the plan I am on is a Sunday-Saturday plan so will count weekly totals that way (not going to exceed a running total 25miles p/w, see posts up the page as to why).

Sunday 08-07-2018

45 minutes easy, 4.8 miles @ 9:20min/mi

Monday 09-07-2018

Plan had 30 minutes easy but my wife suggested a run together so went with that. 3.2 miles easy in 37 minutes @ 11:33min/mi

diego_b

Tuesday 10-07-2018

Plan had a fartlek session on for today but my wife was busy with work stuff and I wanted to watch the world cup so carried it till the morning instead. Did some S&C work in front of the tele.

Wednesday 11-07-2018

Session from yesterday was 20min easy warm up, 4x30 secs fast with 90 secs easy recovery and 10 min cool down. After getting my daughter ready for her summer camp this morning I tipped out on the road around 8:15 to do this, went grand...legs felt very heavy for the first 10mins but hadn't slept well at all so put it down to that. All in all 4 miles in just over 37 mins.
Big match tonight, looking forward to it now. Hard not to like this English side, for me at least I don't hold onto the whole 700-800 years of oppression stuff though so take it on it's own merits and Gareth Southgate seems a like a good sort so good luck to them. Thierry Henry I will never forgive/forget though so nice to see him going out even if I did like the Belgian side.

Murph_D

Silver lining for Henry, of course!

diego_b

Murph_D wrote: »

Silver lining for Henry, of course!

True but I think his ego would supersede his country's success especially given he's not involved there so hopefully he's out there disappointed!!

diego_b

Thursday 12-07-2018

Rest day on the plan but brought forward the run planning run from Friday. 45 mins easy, 2x12 sec hill sprints with 2 min recovery, 5 min cool down.
Worked out as 5.6 miles in just over 53 mins.

I did this last night around 9:15pm which was a late enough start but busy on Friday so suited better to do it then with over 36 hours since the previous run.

Friday 13-07-2018

Rest day today and planning to do parkrun tomorrow

diego_b

Saturday 14-07-2018

Took in the parkrun in Vicarstown for the first time. Lovely morning but pretty warm so effort was high enough on this. It's a straight forward out and back route along the grass bank of the canal there. Surface was very solid this time of year given the especially warm weather, grass was short enough but did have to adjust my stride from it's normal shuffle to something with a bit more knee drive to get the clearance from the grass.

The course is marked out every 500 meters which I haven't seen for a while at a parkrun, the last one I recall running where there was markers was Naas which had a marker each K. For the last K I tried my best to make some ground on the guy ahead of me but he crossed the line 20 seconds ahead of me. I expected maybe to be somewhere in the 22-23 minute finishing time and came home in 22:53 (7:19min/mi). Some issues with scanning but I did get scanned but not on the results. Have sent a follow up mail and said I will be added. My wife and my father were running also and they were just asked to write their position and barcode number in the book as the scanner was having issues with heat I guess. Including warm up and cool down, it was 4.2 miles for the morning.

That wrapped my week (week 1 of DCM training) at 21.8 miles

Sunday 15-07-2018

Late back home to Kerry this evening after watching the World Cup final at my parents place. I'd only a 50 minute easy run on the plan so was out on the road at 9:40 and did 5.4 miles in 50 mins @ 9:13min/mi.

Monday 16-07-2018

Rest day on the plan for today but my wife wanted to do a run so said I'd do some easy miles with here, 6.2 miles in 1:14:20 @ 11:59min/mi.

Tuesday 17-07-2018

Fartlek session on the plan for today but going to carry that this tomorrow and take a rest day today.

diego_b

Wednesday 18-07-2018

Fartlek session from Tuesday today, so 20 min warm up, 6 x 30 secs fast with 90 second recoveries and 10 min cool down. All in all worked out at 4.5 miles in just under 41 mins.

Thursday 19-07-2018

Rest day on the plan but did a local loop run with my wife, 3.2 miles in 38 mins @ 11:44min/mi. I got her to do some fartlek strides in the after about 20 mins.

diego_b

Friday 20-07-2018

45 min easy run plus 4x12 sec hill sprints with 5 min cool down.
On a half day from work so got this done around lunchtime before heading into town for some errands with my wife and daughter. It was lashing rain during the run, been quite a while since that happened and was enjoyable. Ground a little bit slippy on the hill due the side effects of country living (slurry on the road) and then the water onto a greasy surface but went okay. 5.6 miles in total in 56:51.

Saturday 21-07-2018

Choice of rest day or 20-30min cross training. Ended being a rest day as such with a lot of haring around on stuff to do including some work on a system upgrade. Highlight of my day was volunteering at parkrun with my 6 year old daughter. I was communications person and she was the barcode scanner. She did brilliantly now, she loves self service checkouts so seemed to get the idea very quickly on what to do. We'd only one barcode the didn't scan and I had the book to note it in and he was added to the results. Checking the results afterwards of all the people I knew that she scanned they appeared there. Very proud of her now and people were very nice to her. Many liked the novelty of someone so young and small scanning for them.

Total mileage for the week: 24.9 miles

Sunday 22-07-2018

60 minutes easy run on the plan for today. Another morning at the parkun. My club were doing a takeover of the volunteer roles for the day, I was one of the barcode scanners for the. My wife assisted the RD with the briefing and then ran with our daughter for the 2K. K was pretty tired after the goings of the day before, she ran the first K well but then starting and stopping/walking over the second K but no matter it was a good fun.
After that I got my own run in around Tralee going on a loop to the outskirts of the town, 6.5 miles in 60mins @ 9:12min/mi. It was awful warm during the run so even though the effort was right and heart rate stayed steady I was fairly drenched at the end of it.

diego_b

Monday 23-07-2018

20-30 cross training on for today, that ended up being some basketball and football with my daughter as my wife had some running and a meeting to attend to. I did some core and strength work in front of the tele later on in the evening.

Tuesday 24-07-2018

Fartlek session on the plan for today, 20 min warm up, 8x30secs fast with 90secs slow, 10 min c/d. Have a busy evening this evening so got this done before work this morning. Half asleep for the warm up part as I looked back at my run at lunchtime and I've little memory of a good mile of it. Worked out as 4.8 miles in just under 45 mins.

diego_b

Wednesday 25-07-2018

35 min easy run on the plan, 3.7 miles in 35min @ 9:22min/mi.

Thursday 26-07-2018

Rest day on for today but said I'd help my wife out with her long run and scotch my run for Friday, we'd a wedding on up the country so worked well.

7.7 miles in 1:31:35 @ 11:52 min/mi, her longest ever run.

Friday 27-07-2018

Rest day

Saturday 28-07-2018

Option of rest or 20-30min cross training, having not run the previous day and some leeway in my weekly mileage target (still holding around 25 miles) I'd suggested to my wife we'd tackle one of the parkrun off the M7 on the way back down from my parents place. We'd stay overnight after the wedding. We'd an option of Templemore, Clarisford, Limerick, Newcastle West (not the M7 but would be driving that way). Plan A was Limerick, could have managed Newcastle West if my other half was more enthusiastic shall we say. Arrived in UL around 9:15am and had a few mins to do a quick jog, hit the jacks and back for the briefing. First time running in my old university, however the part the course is on was not there when I was in UL in 2000-2004. 4 lap course with one short lap and then 3 laps the same length, small pull at the start of each lap but grand course, liked the part running alongside the Shannon. For my own effort I said I'd run it around half marathon pace and expect to finish around 24mins, came home 23:53 so happy enough to hit the target. Pretty tired on the last lap with the late night the day before catching up. I lapped my wife about half way through that lap but then ran her final lap with her as a cool down lap for me. All in all it was 4.4 miles for the morning, another new parkrun checked off the list. 43 down and on course to hit my 50 target before the year is out.

Total mileage for the week: 27 miles.

diego_b

Sunday 29-07-2018

Tralee junior parkrun with my daughter, 1.2 miles in 15mins 13secs.

After I got home I did the 70 minute easy run on my plan, 7.6 miles @ 9:16min/mi. Reverse of my route I'd done with my wife on Thursday night.

Monday 30-07-2018

Rest day

Tuesday 31-07-2018

Easy 20min Warm-Up, Fartlek Strides: 10x 30sec ‘Fast’, 90sec ‘Easy’, Easy 10min Warm-Down. Worked out as 5.3 miles in 48:48.

Wednesday 01-08-2018

Nothing

Thursday 02-08-2018

Run with my wife, her longest run ever. Training for Dingle going well for her. 8.5 miles in 1:42:23 @ 12:03min/mi.

Friday 03-08-2018
Saturday 04-08-2018

Nothing x2

Total mileage for the week: 22.6 miles. Should have had an extra run in there as plenty of nothing going on.

diego_b

Sunday 05-08-2018

My club's annual 5/10K run, the Banna Run.
Race has an early start at 9:30am and was there at 8am to help out with a few things, including dropping off 5 batches of gillybars that went down very well after the race. Driving over in the car my wife asked me what my plan was for the race and I said to run it as hard as I could. I've only done 1 or 2 10Ks a year for the last few years and feel I've unfinished business at the distance. My pb is 46:02 that I set twice last year...my hope for the day was to beat that and I went out to do so. Unfortunately my wife couldn't run as committee members were heavily involved in organization on the day.

I had time to get a mile warmup in and felt good, conditions favourable for a summer run.

From the off I got down to my target pace pretty quickly and was holding okay so I thought. After 2K a neighbour moved up beside me and the fact I didn't really want or could exchange more than a few words that early on in a race should have indicated not today but I kept the hammer in as best I could. I had hoped to avg. 4:30-4:35min/k (went into metrics on the watch for a change) but couldn't hack it and by half way the game was up really (splits of 4:27, 4:35, 4:40, 4:44, 4:51) whereas even the 10 miler I did back in April I averaged 7:22min/mi which is a nice bit faster than what I was doing the 10K at but such is form and fitness I guess (second half splits were 4:48, 4:41, 4:48, 4:41, don't have a 10th K split).

I crossed the line in 46:16 (7:32min/mi avg pace) in the end but I suspect my watch telling me 9.89K was the reason for that and should been another 30 secs on the time (I think the starting position was off 100-150m and have flagging it within the club that it needs to be remeasured). On the records it's a course pb for me but pretty sure I've ran faster and better, albeit officially slower on the course when the start line was correct. 46:21 in 2016 was definitely a better run for me back then.

I'll continue to plod on with the DCM training but fancy a crack at a 10K before the year is out as the poxy 46:02 annoys me a bit now! Sorry for the moan but running is not where I'd like it to be at the moment.

Hit 1000 miles for the year early on the course in the morning, last year it was mid October before I hit that and originally this year I expected to hit it in June sometime but plans change!

Monday 06-08-2018

Did some strength and core work watching the Crystal Maze from Friday night. Very happy they brought that series back and really enjoying it all over again....in other tv news. Picard is back....wohoo.

Tuesday 07-08-2018

35 minute easy run on the plan for today, did it before work. 3.8 miles in 35:24 @ 9:18min/mi. No side effects from the race on Sunday which is nice.

diego_b

Wednesday 08-08-2018

Fartlek run on for today, broken down as easy 20min warm-up, Fartlek
Strides: 5x 60sec ‘Fast’, 120sec ‘Easy’, easy 10min cool down. Did this run before work this morning, took me until the 3rd/4th fast interval for the legs to loosen out and annoyingly had to pull off to side of the road for a few seconds to let a milk lorry by. Last interval felt pretty fast through getting to below the 7min/mi mark. Next week brings 1 mile intervals so that should be fun as it's been a while since I did proper structured speed work.
4.8 miles in 43:39.

Neady83

You had to cut your running back in July D, have you got the go ahead to up the ante again?

You had a serious level of sharpness not so long ago so I imagine that you'll return to that level of fitness quite quickly with the sessions that you have in your plan now.

diego_b

Neady83 wrote: »

You had to cut your running back in July D, have you got the go ahead to up the ante again?

You had a serious level of sharpness not so long ago so I imagine that you'll return to that level of fitness quite quickly with the sessions that you have in your plan now.

No I'm holding steady on the mileage front (20-25mpw), now mileage isn't everything but even with it there's nothing too hectic going on effort wise. The quality will increase but I'll be cross training in cycling/swimming in place for some of the easy runs as I'd like to try get some distance into the longer runs and midweek session as the normal mileage on the plan I'm using progresses.

It'll be another 6 weeks or so I think before I can change it up proper, way too late for DCM which I'm still planning to run around but I doubt I can run much of a time on it.

diego_b

Thursday 09-08-2018 & Friday 10-08-2018

Nothing

Saturday 11-08-2018

Templemore parkrun in 23:39, planned to run this at half marathon pace/effort....probably felt a bit tougher than that but having not ran for the previous two days I wanted to push it a little bit. Including warm up and cool down it was 4.6 miles for the morning.

Weekly total: 20.4 miles.

Sunday 12-08-2018

My wife was doing her long run with a club mate this morning (10 miles, her longest ever run) so I waited till evening time to do my own run having done a things during the day with our daughter. The plan had 20 min warm up, 40 mins @ 95-100 marathon pace, 15-20 min cool down. Broke down as:

2.17mi in 20min @ 9:12min/mi
4.63mi in 40min @ 8:38min/mi
2.20mi in 20:43 @ 9:26min/mi

I hadn't really a plan for the pace I would consider to run the marathon pace section at the but the above was probably too fast. Suspect all going well I'd be closer to 4 hours than 3:45 based on my very low level training.

diego_b

Monday 13-08-2018

Rest day

Tuesday 14-08-2018

40 min easy on the plan for today but was very caught for time with a long meeting to attend to after work so just had time for 30 mins. Did 3.2 mile @ 9:14min/mi.

Wednesday 14-08-2018 & Thursday 15-08-2018

Plan had some nice speed work which I was planning to do that evening, but around 4/5pm I started to feel pretty poorly stomach wise. My daughter and wife both had a stomach bug earlier in the week and I got it as well. Was up during the night getting sick and then the rest followed the next day. Was in bed till lunchtime. Between Wednesday and Thursday I lost 2-2.5kgs. Not the best way to do it if can be avoided!

Friday 16-08-2018

Feeling okay I was back to work today and said I'd do an easy run in the evening. Did a loop that worked out at 6.5 miles in 1:00:33 @ 9:19min/mi. After 2 miles I considered turning and cutting it shorter and doing an out and back run but felt grand now was glad to get the run done.

Saturday 17-08-2018

Rose Festival on this weekend in Tralee so nice atmosphere about the town. In general I like what the lovely girls competition does for the area around these weeks and it's a great draw for people to the area especially from abroad. Fossett's in town and all good there (my daughter volunteered herself for one Otto the Clown routine, she loved it. I got picked on from the crowd then a while later for another one he was doing...fecking karma. It was good fun though and he's the best clown I've seen....so entertaining). Anyways back to the Roses, the televised part on the Monday and Tuesday night is really painful though so generally avoid that part.

So for parkrun this morning with the above it meant 10 minutes lost with trying to find parking so I'd no time for doing any warmup but that was okay. Said I'd do a sort of progression run...certainly felt like that effort wise. Suspected I'd run similar to last week and finish in the 23/24 window, came home in 23:27. My logic with using parkrun at the moment is to get some fatigue into the legs ahead of the long run on Sunday. Means my weekly schedule is skewed to the weekend but that's fine with me for what I'm aiming for at the moment.
Had an interesting chat with a mate when doing a few cool down laps wondering have I considered going with his coach (he's making good progress with him). Told him I'm considering changing things up next year and debating not allowing myself even sign up for a half marathon so to focus on 5/10Ks and try get some speed going so might look towards getting a coach (the lack of marathon/half marathon entrance fees would cover a lost of the cost). My 5K pb was set one week after the Tralee marathon in 2017 so surely I can run faster than what I could do the week after a marathon, always annoys me that I've only ever got within just under 10 seconds of that time since, in a lazy way I assumed I'd be able to beat it again without a marathon recently in the legs. Anyways for now I'll do DCM 2018 but it's more for enjoyment than anything. I am in the ballot for London 2019 but I don't expect that to be an issue but if I get in I'll train for that.

Tralee parkrun in 23:27 @ 7:32min/mi
2 mile c/d in 18:28 @ 9:13min/mi

Total mileage for the week: 23.8 miles

diego_b

Sunday 19-08-2018

Like last week my wife was doing her long run with a club mate this morning. They ran 18K this morning, which is her longest run in prep for the Dingle Half, all going good there which is great. Her pacing over the last two runs looks good to me so suspect she'll run the half a few mins quicker than she expects come race day but it's her first time doing a half so need to worry about the time. Weather conditions in Dingle can always be funny that day (or any day I've been there), I think out of the 3 times I've done the race it's been fairly wet and windy at times. For sure last year was pretty wet that I can recall. Keeps you cool though!

My plan today 20 min warm up, 50 mins @ 95-100 marathon pace, 15-20 min cool down. Broke down as:

2.15mi in 20min @ 9:17min/mi
5.76mi in 50min @ 8:40min/mi
2.1mi in 20min @ 9:34min/mi

Similar to last week, felt okay and held the mp pace well enough. Odd weather in that it's quite windy at times with rain in the air but yet really humid. I had some water with me so sipped on that a few times and did the trick.

10 miles in total in 1hr 30 mins.

diego_b

Monday 20-08-2018

Rest day if count a round trip from Kerry to Dublin, son-in-law brownie points earned!

Tuesday 21-08-2018

4.3 miles in 40:30 @ 9:22min/mi, should have been 45 minute easy but I had to cut it just after 20 mins....can't recall why.

Wednesday 22-08-2018

Had an apt with my wife today that gave a second opinion on the running side of things in that the doctor was very very sceptical of what I'd been told a few months back in regards side effects of some of the volume of training I'd been doing...would be different if it was cycling. At this stage it doesn't really matter as getting retested in two weeks to see if any positive change on that front so can hopefully get back on track after that.

In Kenmare for a few days with my wife and daughter so carried the planned run for today until Thursday morning. Did some calf and glut exercises.

Thursday 23-08-2018

Carried over from Wed, (Lactic Resistance Intervals)- Easy 20min Warm-Up, 6x half-mile @ Yasso 800m Pace w/ 90sec Recoveries, Easy 10min Warm-Down
My plan for these was to try do them in the 3:50-4 min range for the half mile. The route I picked around Kenmare wasn't the best planned so I had to turn mid interval at points and varying surfaces and inclines. Usually doing these at home I pick a good stretch of flattish road and can hammer them out. In this case the intervals were (4:17, 4:14, 3:56, 4:04, 4:00, 4:14). The first two were on trails around the back of the Park Hotel so just ran them to effort.
Overall 6.8 miles in 1:02:37.

Friday 24-08-2018

Over to Cork for a few days now. Pool time with my daughter and after that just a bit of swimming by myself, only 15 though. Must research the equivalent of a couch to 5K for swimming as I'm pretty hopeless at the moment. Can do maybe 4 lengths of a 25 m pool at a go in either front crawl or breast stroke but then need a min before I can go again. Wearing my hrm on my wrist it's not that my heart rate is doing anything hectic at all but just don't seem to be able to get the breathing right.

Saturday 25-08-2018

Ballincollig parkrun in 23:46 @ 7:29min/mi

Staying nearby I fitted this in on Saturday morning, second time running the course and the last time I did it (2 years ago) it was at marathon pace so figure I'd get a course pb for myself handy enough. Ran it at half marathon pace (or more what it was) and felt pretty good enroute. Nice two lap course and the numbers seem to have gone up (300) since I last did it, guess being Cork city's only parkrun currently is the reason for that.

Bumped into a guy afterwards who I used to work in the same company with over 10 years ago and had a chat for a few mins. Didn't know he lived locally and just compared thoughts on the area, I quite like that park of Cork as it's a little town to itself. Nice thing with parkrun is there's always someone to have a chat with no matter where you go.

1mi w/u in 9:52 @ 9:47min/mi,
0.7mi c/d in 6:40 @ 9:27min/mi
4.8 miles for the morning.

Later that evening 3.1 mile easy in 37:04 @ 11:54min/mi with my wife.

Left me with a weekly total of 28.9 miles

diego_b

Sunday 26-08-2018

80 mins easy on the plan for today but having done two runs the previous day I took the easy way out and just did 60 mins easy pace on the treadmill in the hotel. Hadn't ran on a treadmill in a few months and it was horrible even with an episode of Last Chance U for accompaniment. Forgot to bring water down to the hotel gym with me and there was no vending machine.
Pace was poor doing this around 9K/hr so I clocked the distance as 5.6 miles.

Saw the results of a 50/100K race down home, my ego was clearly at me when I said to my wife that I could have won the 50K there based on my 50K time from Donadea (I am never at the top end of a race so possibly talking out of arse if I actually managed to be in that position as to how I'd have handled it on the day but it was on the roads around the area where I live so know the routes well. Even being 10-15 minutes slower I'd have managed a podium finish. It wasn't an event that I'd seriously looked at but there was a time I did consider building on the 50K to try train for 100K but I don't know if I ever want to race/run that far. Anyways pure idle/ego stroking speculation as to what could have been done if I was actually fit for running that distance at the moment.

Monday 27-08-2018

Rest day

Tuesday 28-08-2018

8 years married to her good self today, we can celebrate by not killing each other as she runs her first half marathon on Saturday morning with myself for support and encouragement. T'will be grand.

4.9 miles in 45mins @ 9:12min/mi, easy pace run before work this morning.

Did some glut bridges in the evening as prescribed by the physio.

diego_b

Wednesday 29-08-2018

Fartlek run on the plan for the day, 20 min easy warm up, 8 x 60 secs fast with 60 sec slow recoveries, 10 min cool down.

Evening time run for this, had the dinner in the oven so tag teamed with my wife when she came home from work so I got my run in then. Found the faster parts tough enough going, pace wise I got down into the mid 6 min/mile pace but pretty sure I've gone faster than that doing these previously. Decided not to push it too hard and try to run them all at the same effort/pace. Looking at my charts on Strava, the pace and effort looks consistent there as well.

5 miles in 45:30.

After that I tackled my nemesis (daughter's trampoline) that after a number of months and effort to get spare parts following storm damage I've finally won the war as it's groaned back into life. Victory.

diego_b

Thursday 30-08-2018 & Friday 31-08-2018

Nothing, highlight of an evening where I'd normally be running was cleaning out a shed at home. The things you can find time for when maybe you don't run 4-6 miles as would normally be doing.

Saturday 01-09-2018

Dingle Half marathon race report

Small history on this one, I've ran it the last 3 years and this year was planning not to do it but when they sent out the text it was close to selling out I asked my wife would she like to do and said she would so I said grand, we'll sign up and I'll run it with you.

Booked a B&B last week, nice tip on here from someone to say have a look during race week and you might find a cancelled room and guess we did as it was just 94 quid which I thought was reasonable. We didn't get to Dingle until 10pm on Friday night, no real hurry as had no plans to do anything bar lay out our gear and go to bed. Good night sleep with definitely 7.5 hours decent sleeping. My wife was feeling nervous but okay, told her that is natural. Porridge for breakfast even though there was many nice options on the menu but nothing new for race day, even if you're on pacing/support duties!!

We drove down to the Marina, dropped off two other people that were racing, had given them a lift down from the b&b. Managed to find a free parking spot 5 min walk out the road so all good we jogged back to that starting area as a small warm up. Dropped the drop bags around 8:35 and caught up with some club mates for a photo before getting into the starting pack.

9:01am and away we went, the expectation for the day was somewhere around the 2hrs 30min mark. So that was 11:15min/mi pace. My wife had done up to 18K around the 7min/K pace and was happy at that pace. A clubmate (K) who she'd done her 16 and 18K runs with was running with us as well so plenty of company/chats around whilst my wife (I) could focus on the running side of things. Up till around half way we were well on for the sub 2:30 and she'd taken her first gel at 4 miles with the plan to take another around 8 miles. Unfortunately for us, the Slea Head area that is seriously nice to look at was fairly well covered in fog for a lot of run..so we missed the great view for a change. Can't complain as I think that's the first time that's happened to me out there and said to my wife we could drive back another day for the spin/view so she could see what she didn't see on the day.
I noted into the second half of the race she was pretty quiet but tipping away, she joked that she was conserving her energy and I said all good. They was a lot of runners enroute so never a shortage of people to exchange pleasantries with. She took her second gel around 8 mile, took her a few mins to take which was fine but about a mile afterwards so complaining that she wasn't feeling so great. Turned out at that point it was just tension across her shoulders and chest and some simple stretches I showed her that she could do when running sorted it. She got a fright for a minute but all okay then. Small bit of walking for a minute her but back on track then. Going past 10 miles was a nice mark as always in a half marathon when you can think just 5K to go. I can't recall but I think it was 1:54:30 on the watch. We had slowed back on the pace and with the last hill to come in the 12th mile I knew that it would be over the 2:30 mark but she told me afterwards she knew herself but hand on heart she hadn't set a target at all bar doing and it and a likely expectation she could do it around that time.

Going up the hill in mile 12 things slowed right down and she had to walk, she was really struggling and asked for me to hold her hand as we walked...it was nothing romantic but to help her keep going. To me there was nothing beyond normal fatigue here and it's a nasty fecking hill where it comes. Up to the top with 1 mile to go we were back running again, passing the line of buses you know Dunquin is near but nowhere near as you think. There was another small walking break here just with around 1K to go. I just joked you know the faster you run the sooner it's over...that's my mantra at least when the going gets tough. Seemed to help and she got a second wind passing a few into the last 400 meters...myself and our clubmate ran in the finishing area about a second behind. I wanted to let I (my wife) cross the line by herself for a nice personal moment of glory.
She was thrilled when she was done and couldn't believe it really.

About 10 minutes after we crossed the line she started feeling a bit funny as we walked across the field to pick up our bags. She lay down really kinda funny and I said to get up (maybe the wrong thing) and would get her some lucozade. I noted her colour started to go a bit off and she was standing right in close to me then bang down she went. I couldn't hold onto her barring to ease her path onto the grass. Got an awful fright as I didn't know what had happening and I called her name loudly. A few people came over straight away and she came around immediately (but there was about 2 seconds there when my world ended). Someone fetched one of the volunteers from the medical tent and they checked her briefly there and she was fine to get up and walk over to the tent to get a more thorough checkup. All was in order and her colour had comeback straight away, the only weird thing was her blood sugar level was surprisingly high for what she'd be doing and from when she'd eaten last. She'd had half a banana after the race but there was definitely a spike so seems like she fainted from that. Doctor's apt lined up for later this week just as a follow up.

Couldn't let her out of sight then for the rest of the day then like a dope just in case something was to happen again but she was fine and just felt a bit funny about it all. Some of our clubmates running didn't think too much about it and thought common enough but had never happened to anyone directly with me before. It didn't take from the run at all and she'd done great, tough half marathon to take on for your first one. I had the easier surroundings of the Phoenix Park for mine back in 2014. Anyways job done, 2:32:43 chip time for me, 2:32:42 chip time for her.

0.2mi w/u
Dingle Half Marathon in 2:32:43 @ 11:38min/mi

Total mileage for the week: 28.8 miles

ReeReeG

Jeez that's scary, don't blame you for watching her all day. Well done to her though, and lovely of you to run with her!