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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

Monday 01-10-2018

Rest day today, slightly stiff from yesterday's runs but nothing too bad.

Tuesday 02-10-2018

On a half day from work today as a few bits and pieces to take care of. Got some positive news on recent issues that had me cut my mileage back in early June so should be able to start increasing my mileage back up again as it appears to have been unrelated, not really surprised on that front but what can you do, not much good for DCM at this stage but anyways helps to formulate future plans as I've missed being out there 5-6 days a week (currently 3-4 and haven't being supplementing missed runs with cycling or swimming as I just want to run). London ballot results out this week so hoping the marathon gods look favourably for me this time around.
Took in a bit of cross country running in the late afternoon on my club's training field. I did 3.8 miles in 35 mins @ 9:09min....I did class the run as easy but the odd thing was that after about 15-20mins of running (around 9:15/9:20min/mi pace) I felt quite alright with the cross country stuff and could pick up the pace a bit at the same effort. Guess a good lesson learned ahead of what should be a cross country debut in the Kerry Masters at the weekend...start off easy enough and maybe let the race come to you a bit. I've never raced cross country before so no clue what I am getting but certainly lapped is one thing. Not sure if we have enough for a team in the Under 50 age group from my club but been trying to encourage current/lapsed members to give it a go. Anyways, will see what Sunday brings.

diego_b

Sunday 30-09-2018

Plan had Easy 30min, Marathon Pace Tempo Run (90min @ 95-100% of Goal Marathon Pace), Easy 20min Warm-Down

There was a local 5K run on at 12pm that my wife and daughter were planning to run, the plan being for my wife to run herself and I'd run/walk with our 6.5 year old. It's at least about 18 months since she last tried to walk a 5K...I carried her for about half of it so wasn't sure of what was to come. I got my own run in before that starting just before 9am so I'd be home for 11:20 to change my clothes and back out again.
Couldn't decide on the route I'd run so decided to replicate the training I used to do for the 50K and run to the neighbouring village, just under 3 miles away and then start doing laps that are maybe just shy of 3 miles long, I did 4 laps approx before taking a different road home before completing the 4 the lap. Run went well and got into a good rhythm running around and around the same loop (same one would be hosting the 5K race that morning).

Run broke down as:

3.24mi in 30min @ 9:16min/mi
10:32mi in 90min @ 8:43min/mi
2.44mi in 23:19min @ 9:33min/mi.

16 miles in total

After that the 5K with my daughter went well, she ran the first K then would walk from maybe 100m before running for another 200-300m...rinse and repeat for the rest of the race. She was about half way through when she said this is a bit long. I just told her that you know those episodes of Horrid Henry you watch...well what you've left to run is maybe the same length of time as watching two of those episodes. Seemed to work and she never mentioned the distance left to run then when she wondering had she just one episode left to run yet. 43:23 @ 14:17min/mi for the 5K. Very impressed with her doing that now as I told her that there's no way could I have done that at her age. My wife did very well too, coming in just under 30 mins, first thing she said to me was that the route was a bit short...maybe 100-150 so she probably would have been a minute slower but very happy with her run. I had noted the distance on my watch as well but we both expected that to the case. That sub 30 will come eventually for her!

diego_b

Monday 24-09-2018

Rest day

Tuesday 25-09-2018

Off work today go 4.2 miles easy in 40min @ 9:30min/mi done after dropping my daughter to school. Off to Cork for the rest of the day then to take in the Legends for Liam game, rolling back the years a bit there watching guys play that covered a significant period of my life from my early teens right through to my early 30s until the last of them retired. Well thought out occasion and hopefully the funds raised will help Liam Miller's family and the charities due to benefit from the occasion. RIP to one who died so young.

Wednesday 26-09-2018

Plan had (Lactic Resistance Intervals)- Easy
20min Warm-Up, 8x 800m (half-mile)@ Yasso Pace w/ 90sec Recovery Jogging Between Each, Easy 20min Warm-Down

However as soon as I was done with work I was over to my club's training grounds to help out at a Primary Schools Cross Country Sports event we were hosting. My duty was to assist another coach at the start line, with races from first class (400m) right through to 6th class (1400m) with each class running 200m more than the previous class. The event went great and we'd the races all run through in just over an hour which everyone seemed to appreciate albeit a lovely evening to be out. Class seeing some really brilliant racing, seeing the kids who already have some tactics down as they nicked a few positions over the last 50-100 was a highlight. Hopefully it will be repeated again as the feedback to the club was very good. Got home just after half 8 so carried my run over to Thursday.

Thursday 27-09-2018

Speed work carried over from the previous day, got this done after work. Total of 8.7 miles in 1:17:15. For the intervals my target time for the 0.5mi splits was 3:50-4:00, actually achieved was 3:59, 3:52, 3:55, 3:57, 3:55, 4:00, 3:55, 3:51. Pretty happy with those as they were controlled efforts and could have done more which is all good.

Friday 28-09-2018

Rest

Saturday 29-09-2018

Wasn't sure if I'd be parkrunning this week but turned out I could make it. I'd inquired about pacing but the slots were taken. I was going to run around 24 mins again much like I have been doing on the days preceding my long runs for a bit. Very short warm up, 0.2mi...hardly worth mentioning. Tralee parkrun 3.1 miles in 23:44 @ 7:40min/mi.

Total mileage for the week: 30.8 miles

diego_b

Sunday 23-09-2018

Charleville Half Marathon race report

This was an interesting race for me as wasn't under pressure unlike other races this year where it was a goal race (Donadea), my club's 10K in August and the Cork Half in June. Donadea went great but the other two weren't what I'd have hoped on the pace front. Last year I got my pb of 1:40:23 but I know my training isn't there at the moment so I figured I'd be unlikely to trouble that. Travelled over with a neighbour so just chatting away for the journey about stuff in general so no pressure at all with internal monologues. I had hoped to at least record a year's best time which was to break 1:42:49 from Ballybunion Half on Easter Saturday...that is a tough hilly route where I ran with the 1:45s up until around 10 miles and then pushed on for fast finish. I'd expected Sunday to be bad weather but it was ideal conditions for running, did 1.5 mile warm up nice and easy pace around 10min/mi out the first mile of the course and back again...noted the wonderful drag of course coming back to the start.
Walked up to the start line and sake feck it I'd line up behind the 1:40 pacers and see how it went. Didn't have a pace band on (usually always do for half marathons). Off we went (didn't hear Rob H start us off but sure follow the crowd going that way!

Mile 1-3 (7:24, 7:33, 7:30)
Settled into the pace here okay, you do have fast start here but just hung out the back of the pace group. I think I eased up right behind it here but didn't pass out the middle pacer. The third pacer was alongside or behind me here at times. I unbeknownst to me spotted aquinn here but wasn't sure it was here as wasn't sure of her time target for the day but I did see what looked like a Crusaders top from the side and a pair of pink armsleeves. I later found out it was her.

Mile 4-6 (7:28, 7:35, 7:38)
Saw a few people walking very early in the race, not sure was it mile 3 or mile 4 but I think it was even before the water station and that was in Mile 4. Not sure if I've seen that that early in a half marathon before. In my own case felt I was doing okay here but I was probably about 5 seconds behind the pace group going in towards Kilmallock. I had a gel to hand but said I'd hold that back till maybe 8 miles for it kick in over the last 5K or so into town. Usually take a gel half way in a half. Was right up behind the pace group going under the tunnel thing into Kilmallock. Nice atmosphere here as we moved through the town.

Mile 7-9 (7:35, 7:34, 7:47)
Left turn now as we came up to the water station, really good support here on this turn and I can remember that from previous years here. Nice to see club tops from the North Cork AC that hosts this event. It's a great race that club has got going here and long may it last. Had a thought earlier this week that if the race got postponed and the new date didn't suit that I wasn't going to seek a refund. Not trying to blow my own trumpet here but they really pull out the stops so delighted that the weather gods worked in their favour here and another flawless event. I remember going through half way and checking my watch 49:50 so I was still on target for sub 1:40 but I was finding the going a bit tougher now. I knew the part the come had a faster downhill section in it and with that I did pull up to the back pacer again but I just committed to holding the effort mile by mile for as long as I could. Mile 9 I was dropping back again and I let the group go, I knew I could ease back by maybe 10-15 seconds a mile and still get my year's best. I guess I had maybe thought about a pb attempt around the halfway mark but last year I was hobbled for a week with a calf injury so said I wasn't doing that again, I'll get my half pb (and sub 1:40) when I train proper for it.

Mile 10-Finish (7:55, 7:52, 7:44, 8:04)
Bit of a slog here now but such is the case if you go too fast as the start as I had done so really, I could have given myself an easier day but it was nice to push the boat out here and coming back towards town I suspect the gel I took around mile 8 kicked in as I felt pretty good in the 12th mile relatively speaking and started to push hard again. A clubmate went past me here, we only managed a word or two but he was moving faster than me the fecker!
The last mile though was pretty horrid, I noted was breathing was awful here, think I discovered my diaphragm here (I don't sing) as due to effort the odd breath here and there had vagaries of a moan from the depth of my stomach. Don't know if I've heard that in race from me before but suffice to say I wasn't going to getting a sprint finish as I had nothing left to give. Turning the gate to run down to the finish I think aquinn flew past me (or was in earlier that mile, you might recall A), whenever it was she really flew past me here and put in a hell of a drive to the finish. Myself I checked over my right shoulder, nothing coming so just ran it down to the line as best as I could. Took a min with my hands on my knees and was okay then. Bumped into my clubmate then, he'd done great.
And caught up with my neighbour then who did a great first half marathon and his brother who went sub 1:30 as well. Just as I turned to head back to the car the girl with the pink armsleeves spotted and came over to me to say hi and indeed it was aquinn and asked was I D and I said I was (great to meet you properly back running and doing so well) and then she introduced me to misterpaul, annapr and swashbuckler. Great to meet people from here, it's still a novelty to me to do so....every time!

I headed back to the car for a min then to change and back to the hall where I met Murph_D for the first time and also yaboya as well. Another new person for me to meet as well. Nice chat with all and well done to each of you on your runs. After that back home to Kerry....job done for another year. Though I am starting to seriously think about properly targeting Charleville HM as my goal race for next year (and not just one I do as part of DCM training) and train for 5/10Ks in the first half of the year....I really want to better my time over the sub marathon distance so I can ultimately be faster at the marathon distance again.

Gross time: 1:41:28
Net time: 1:41:10

diego_b

Thursday 20-09-2018

Rest

Friday 21-09-2018

45 minute easy this morning before work, 4.8 miles @ 9:20min/mi. Grand run now even with the wind. Running jackets back out of the closest these days on some easy runs, plus a hat. No parkrunning tomorrow so that will be it for this week. Next run for me will be Charleville on Saturday, not planning for a pb attempt as simply not in the nick for it at the moment. Current year's best for me this year is 1:42:49 (Hilly course in Ballybunion). I've only ran faster than that time twice before (both last year), Charleville (1:40:23, my current pb) and Killarney (1:41:44). Both were attempts at going with 1:40 pacers and given where my training is at I don't think I can attempt too much of a withdraw for what little I have saved so far for DCM. A year's best would be nice but if the wind is whipping up too much I'll be parking it with the 1:45 pace group for a good bit of the run and just figure it for a decent workout.

Saturday 22-09-2018

Rest

Today mileage for the week: 25.3 miles

diego_b

The Black Oil wrote: »

Fair play on the park run. Giving back can be done on the course in the community too.

Searching Self Build show now...

Thanks! Best of luck if you're going down that road, we're recently got our planning permission so occupying a lot of time trying to learn about construction things!

The Black Oil

Fair play on the park run. Giving back can be done on the course in the community too.

Searching Self Build show now...

diego_b

Sunday 16-09-2018

Up in Dublin at the Self Build show and not back to Kerry till 8pm so left the long run to carry over till Monday.

Monday 17-09-2018

Plan had easy 20min, Marathon Pace Tempo Run (70min @ 95-100% of Goal Marathon Pace, or GMP), Easy 20min Warm-Down
Got this done within a gap of wind and rain and ended just doing 10 minutes on the warm down.
2.11mi in 20min @ 9:27min/mi
8mi in 70mins @ 8:46min/mi
1mi in 10:00 @ 10:12min/mi

11.2 miles in total for evening

Tuesday 18-09-2018

Rest day

Wednesday 19-09-2018

Due to Storm Ali club activities were cancelled for the evening so got my midweek speed session done to plan on Wednesday as it should be.

Plan had easy 20min Warm-Up, 5x 1600m (one mile)@ 105-110% of GMP w/90sec Recoveries Between Each, Easy 10-15min Warm-Down

I started my run at 6pm planning not to go too far away from home (about 3 miles at the furthest point in case things started to take a turn for the worse on the weather front) and it went very well thankfully. In total it was 9.3 miles in 1:21:06, my target mile splits were 7:55-8:20, actual times achieved were 7:55, 7:58, 7:55, 7:57, 7:53. It was a good controlled effort with the first rep downhill, last rep into a headwind for about half of it but kept it consistent enough. Felt like I could have done another rep which was a good sign.

diego_b

Sunday 09-09-2018

Rest day on the plan here but given the way I've been only partially following the plan I put an additional long run in here knowing that I could adapt the rest of the week's plan.
So I went with 20 min easy, 70min @ 95-100% marathon pace, 20min cooldown.
Worked out as:
2.16mi in 20min @ 9:14min/mi, 8.1mi in 70mins @ 8:39min/mi, 1.04mi in 10:10 @ 9:49min/mi

Monday 10-09-2018

Rest

Tuesday 11-09-2018

60 min easy run on the plan for the day but that was based on not having done a long run at the weekend so I did some cross country running around a field near my house. Each lap was around 1K long so I did just over the 5 laps to get 5K done. Ground extremely hard at the moment and quite bumpy in spots so being very much a novice at this I am minding my ankles. I badly sprained my left ankle two times in a 2-3 year period 8 to 10 years ago but the issues that caused that seem to gone through various rehab and strength stuff over the years....touch wood. 3.1 mi cross country in 30 mins @ 9:39min/mi.

Wednesday 12-09-2018

Rest day, more juvenile cross country training. We finished up with a relay race with two large teams and was impressed with our daughter running very well on her leg. It was about 300 meters long and she was flying it her best. She loves the relay races for some reason.

Thursday 13-09-2018

Carried over from Wed, plan had (Lactic Resistance Intervals)- Easy
20min Warm-Up, 14-16 x 400m @ 110-115% of GMP w/ 90sec
Recovery Jogs, Easy 15min Warm-Down. Legs did not feel so good at all attempting this so said I'll try do 8 and see how it goes as mindful of injury.
In the end I got 10 but christ they were painful, my calves were screaming a bit following the xc running on Tuesday night so I knew by rep 8 and 9 I wouldn't do many more so just gave it my level best for one more and that was it.

Broke down as follows:
2.14mi in 20min @ 9:21min/mi,

10x0.25mi (just over 400m), target was 1:53-2:00 (achieved was 1:52, 1:59, 2:00, 1:59, 1:57, 1:59, 1:56, 1:58, 2:00, 1:52)
1mi in 10min @ 9:48min/mi

Ideally you do the above run on a track or a measure part of the road as the GPS can catch you out but I try use a flat section of the road for it.

Friday 14-09-2018

Rest day

Saturday 15-09-2018

Tralee parkrun
Got into town around 9:15 so just to do half a mile warm up before the briefing. I spotted an older clubmate (also D) of mine doing a good warm up and stretches before hand so figured he was going for a time. I noted his progression recently down through the numbers to 24:01 and at 65 I think this is very good going. Had an idea in my head to say it to him someday that if I wanted I could pace him for a bit knowing that at the moment I am just running these comfortably in the 23:30-24, around half marathon pace.

In the first of 3 laps he passed by me and I just said hello, I settled in a few paces behind him as we progressed around the first two of the three laps. I knew by his running he was definitely shooting for a pb and said if he drops back towards me I'll make sure to try keep him going. Start of lap 3 and he's back beside me. He says to me to keep going on and I said nah you're grand I'll stick with you, I just said no talking just running and lets keep it going. He gave me the thumbs ups so we were on for that last mile. Plenty of traffic to get around on the third lap so I slipped in front of him for that but then eased back to ensure he was on my shoulder and keeping pace. Into the last few hundred meters I knew he was good for his time if he could keep it going, around the last few bends and one final good push towards the line. Hit the button as we finished and was delighted to see 23:53 so a pb by 8 seconds for him.
He was thanking me afterwards for helping him out and said it's the fastest he's run since the 80's. I just said no bother and I'd had it in mind someday to run with him as the last two times I've gotten a pb there I've had someone help me out like that to just keep it going.I hope to be able to run that pace when I'm 65!

0.5mi w/u in 5:12 @ 10:20min/mi
Tralee parkrun in 23:53 @ 7:41min/mi

After that my wife and I did a parkrun freedom run so 3.1 mile in 35:34 @ 11:27min/mi. We're going to try alternating week by week who gets to run and who gets to drop our daughter to her various things on a Sat morning.

Total mileage for the week: 28.1 miles

diego_b

Catchup time

Sunday 02-09-2018

Legs fine after my pacing work with my wife the previous day in Dingle, all well with her as well. She had bloods done during the ahead and all clear, doctor thinks it was just a tough day for her....good for her is that she's talking about doing another half next year in Tralee so all good.

Plan had 20 min easy, 60min @ 95-100% marathon pace, 15-20min cooldown.
Worked out as:
2.14mi in 20min @ 9:23min/mi, 6.9mi in 60mins @ 8:42min/mi, 2.08mi in 20min @ 9:38min/mi.

Monday 03-09-2018

Rest

Tuesday 04-09-2018

45 min easy run on the plan for the day but I took up the opportunity to do some cross country running (was more sand dune running really) in the evening. Tried out my new xc runners and all good there, they are so light though so we'll see how long they last for. Saucony Carrera XC2s.
2.8 miles cross country in 27:52 @ 9:50min/mi.

Wednesday 05-09-2018

Speed work on for today but also juvenile coaching so carried over session to Thursday. Aside from some jogging around with the kids over some of the hour nothing here. One wet/windy evening!

Thursday 06-09-2018

Carried over from Wed, plan had easy 20min w/u, 4x 1600m @ 105-110% of GMP w/ 90sec Recovery Jogs, Easy 10-15min c/d.
Up in Dublin for work and staying in town so got the Luas out to Milltown after work and ran back into town along the DCM route...last time I ran this I was walking some of it there near Glenmalure park (didn't know the name of the spot but I do now). Run went well and there was some exorcising the demons with the pace I ran it it. The target for the intervals was 7:55-8:20 but I ran it pretty hard. Actual was 7:48, 7:42, 7:55, 7:39 (fun running back in from the RDS and opening it up a bit more over the last interval). 8.1 miles in 1:10:38.

Friday 07-09-2018

Rest day

Saturday 08-09-2018

3.2 mi in 30 min @ 9:22min/mi

Total mileage for the week: 25.2 miles

diego_b

ReeReeG wrote: »

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!

Neady83 wrote: »

What a lovely race report D and a massive well done to your wife on her first half marathon (and a challenging one she set herself too). Sounds like it was nicely paced too.

Hope the doctor can shed some light on why she fainted or at least get to the root of the high blood sugar after such a long time running.

Thank you kindly, she’s been grand since and recovered very well from the run (even with the epilogue event). She has a GP visit tomorrow morning so will see what comes from that. A club mate suggested last night that possibly that second gel could have been a factor and may not have been digested by her stomach fully during the race and then caused a spike...we’ll see anyways!

Neady83

What a lovely race report D and a massive well done to your wife on her first half marathon (and a challenging one she set herself too). Sounds like it was nicely paced too.

Hope the doctor can shed some light on why she fainted or at least get to the root of the high blood sugar after such a long time running.

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!

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

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

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

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 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 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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.