So, what time will you be back at?

Mr. Guappa wrote: »

Thanks very much for the kind words F!

12 miles at PMP is a whopper of a run. Maybe the mental aspect of it being "only" PMP in a race setting led to under-estimating it a bit, but it's still a savage effort. 16 miles, with 12 of them at PMP? That's a fine morning's work, and you nailed the paces.

Congrats on the promotion too.

ewc78 wrote: »

Well done a good workout. I wouldn't be too concerned about finding it tough. The Phoenix Park can actually be a tough enough place to run lovely and all as it is.
I live in Lucan so run there regularly enough so know every inch of it. I always keep the run gear in the car and if I have a job finish early I'll drop in there on way home, easier to do that than go home to 3 kids and then try to get out for a run! Plenty of inclines there that catch you out and always a wind blowing. Throw in the heat you had on Saturday and the 6 miles you ran before it and you done very well.
Actually heading there myself this morning to do a 14 mile workout with 10 miles at MP split up into sections of 4, 3 , 2 and then 1 miles at MP.

eyrie wrote: »

I don't think you need to be disheartened by that at all! Everyone seems to have found Saturday much tougher than normal, plus you ran 6 miles before it started and you still completed it exactly as planned. On a cool day when you weren't wrecked from the week before you even start it might feel easy and you'd fly it, but the fact is it was a tough day and you were still able for it, so I'd take confidence from that if I were you!

Comic Book Guy wrote: »

Haha F, I only thought of going through some people's logs this lunch time and immediately picked yours.

Being on the same plan as you means this is a great read and its so well put together. You have absolutely nailed the plan to date and did a brilliant run at the weekend. That was a bloody tough looking session but you got it done (have to say I'm glad I missed out on that session!). No need to be hard on yourself over it, you did it properly and it's only natural to be tired after such a session. Look at it as a good mental exercise session too, you had a bit of self doubt but battled through it and overcame it, I know I'd love to be able to bank that attitude for the big one!

Looking forward to reading your reports for the next 9 weeks!

All very kind words, means a lot, all the positive vibes will be banked for the next crap run

Wubble Wubble wrote: »

Fair play for getting through it F. Miles in the bank, the heat kills me as well, regardless of how fast or slow I'm trying to run. Plus you'd a lot going on in the build up. Congrats on the promotion!

Thanks j- a much better week this week. The highs and lows eh!

P&D Week 11: Delighted how it went and came out the other side reasonably unscathed.

Monday: 7mile recovery run per plan. Took this reasonably handy, and early Monday morning, with avg pace pace of 10:28

Tuesday: Plan was 11 miles with 7 at half marathon pace, Treviso had already gave me a heads up on this being a tough session from his runs last week. This is the last of the Lactate Threshold sessions of the plan, which have increased each week. I've really enjoyed them. With Rathoath half marathon in mind I was increasing the average mile pace of this to 8:15 which was the fastest I'd gone in these sessions. Wanted to experience what's required next week :pac: . The session was tough but I got a great confidence boost from it. With a 2 mile warm and cool down either side of the 7 miles, the paces were:

8:11
8:15
8:03
8:15
8:11
8:12
8:11

A new 10k and 5k pb. Sometimes my head is not awake at this hour of the morning but with a 10k pb of 50:45, in hindsight I could have pushed for sub 50mins, if such records count at all if done during a training session!

Wednesday was supposed to be a rest day, but as I was on school run duty this week, I wouldn't have had time to run the planned 12m in the morning of Thuraday. I pushed the session as late as I could on Wednesday, and finally got out after 7pm for the 12 miles.

The session itself was tough but enjoyable, avg pace was 10:09.

Thursday turned into a rest day

Friday was a very enjoyable 5m recovery run with a average pace of 10:41- reasonably "easy" pace wise. Felt really confident heading into the big 20 miler Saturday.

Saturday: plan had the 2nd 20 mile run this week. Was very well behaved last couple of days in preparation, hydrating and eating well. Got out on the road before 7:30 (a lie in!). I use a hydration pack for these 20 mile runs with tailwind as a fuel source. A lovely morning, a few miles in Swords then out to Portmarnock and back again. So many runners out this morning, a busy morning of nods, waves, hello's and glances. Felt great throughout bar the last 2miles when it's more just a case being hungry and getting it done than anything else. Avg pace of 10:09, again reasonably disciplined on the paces for this one.

So a great week, legs still in good shape.

Weekly miles:55m- which I have to say I am delighted with as a weeks training.
Next week:

The plan has this:

Tuesday: 8m v02 session
Wednesday: long run of 12 miles
Thursday: rest
Friday: recovery 5 mile with strides
Saturday: 5k to 10k race
Sunday: 17 mile long run

But with Rathoath being raced on Saturday, I will cut the Wednesday 12 mile to 10m and rest Thursday and Friday pre race. I'm not sure about Sunday yet. Sound about right? Hoping the race plan of 1:48 is not too much of a stretch, will find out next week.

Treviso wrote: »

Nice mileage F. Regarding you running the HM on Saturday, maybe it might be an idea to swap week 15 with week 14? Week 15 has a 18m MPR with 14M @ MP, the Ratoath HM would swap out for that. I'm doing Charleville HM instead of that MPR.

Reason I'm saying it is having gone through the 5k race, followed by the 17M run, its one hell of a tough workout. You might be missing out of that session as there's no way you'll be able to do 17M the day after the HM.

Thanks T,
Yeah I was weighing both options up last week, but I’m going to stick with the plan of racing rathoath and the race series half as a MP run.

If I only get 5-10 miles on the Sunday after Rathoath I’ll be fine with missing the rest of the planned 17m.

Bluesquare wrote: »

Great week ! I’d say you have a good half in your legs!

Thanks M- ye never know how these HM’s will go!!!!

Singer wrote: »

That's a very good week, you're building well!

Thanks B- appreciate that

Cheers lads, really looking forward to it now.

P&D WEEK 12: Frustrations starting the week ended on a complete high! 4 hard weeks left.

New job started this week, which has completely thrown my running routine out the window. I'm commuting back into town so early runs during the week now seem like they won't be happening at all for the rest of this block of training. Will have to just adapt to evening/night running as DCM is just too damn close now.

Monday: A nice V02 max session to start the week's plan off. 8 miles with 5*600m at 5k pace. Did 3 mile warm up before the session. Kept the session splits at 7:30 and felt good through each one. Ran just a 1m cool down mainly so as to not have too much mileage before Ratoath on Saturday.

Tuesday: plan was for 12 miles at 10:20, headed out to do 10 miles, only did just under 7.5miles. It was just one of those runs where the new work and commute routine and just zapped me and was just not feeling the love for a big run. Calves were feeling tight too (maranoia!). Wasn't looking forward to Saturday with lots of confidence Tuesday night.

Wednesday was a rest day

Thursday: ran 5 miles easy just to loosen up and see how everything was set for Saturday. Avg pace was 10:04. Was feeling a bit heavy.

Friday: rest day, but mentally I started to feel switched on. Confidence was growing, I had a score to settle after finishing 1:50:05 at EOI half marathon. All this training has had to have built endurance since then. A quick confirmation chat/strategy with DCM 18 novices had me absolutely raring to go my lunchtime Friday.

I've never hydrated pre race like I did on Thursday and Friday....bloody hell my poor bladder!!!

I like even splits, feel like it suits me, tick each mile off as Garmin beep's the pace per mile and see what's left in the tank for the finish. Chat on the sub 4 thread was swirling in my brain too, I need to focus and know to hold back on the first 6 miles in DCM.

Saturday: Race day- Ratoath Half

Had a decent nights sleep, had wheetabix banana and filled up the tailwind bottle, placebo or not I like to know I have something to take during the race. Went to grab petrol and a coffee in local garage and I nearly didn't make it to the race....completely my fault I went through a traffic lighted roundabout, luckily the other driver saw me coming and hadn't ploughed into me.....I'm awake now!!! Stupidity on my part.

Walking back after collecting my number I met coogy in the car parkfor a chat...great to finally meet an internet friend you've been talking to for over a year...sorry Applegirl we didn't get to meet up...next time

Met another mate but this was eating into my warm up so I said lets run and chat, got a small warm up done before heading to start line. Met a few more friends down there...they were asking what my plan was, they were just using it as training...I felt confident enough to say I was here to pull the arse off of it with a 1:48.....I better deliver now!!!!

Off we go.....

Mile 1-3 pace: 8:08, 8:20 and 8:15
"Ease into the pace" was my thinking here, I was tucked in nicely behind the 1:50 pacers, that's ok, no problem, just ease into it. Roads were tight enough, so passing runners was just going to waste energy. Body felt in control, just let the legs do their thing, wasn't forcing anything. The cold morning had disappeared quickly and the temp was getting up. Throughout these 3 miles, I was thinking "it's all well and good enjoying yourself here with the 1:50 pacers, but that's not the target, are you going to make a move or what."

Miles 4-6 paces: 8:08, 8:06 and 8:15
I made the move at mile 4, the crowd in front was breaking up and the roads were clear, so I just eased up the gears to a nice clear spot and then settled back down. That 500 meters or so was very telling in it told my brain and legs very early on.....I've got this! Strange feeling, never happened in a race before, I knew the tank was ready if needed.

Around these miles, a couple of runners were very close to me, had a small chat about their pace and plans, seemed spot on for mine and so I just fell into a nice rythem of staying around them.

I knew or expected a bite/pain to happen and even though I was feeling confident I would try snap myself back from happy thoughts with "be ready when the pain kicks in" this inner monologue happened from miles 6-10.

Miles 7-9 paces: 8:09, 8:12 and 8:06

This was a fairly mixed bag of miles. Was definetly started to feel it now but yet with every Garmin mile pace beep my confidence was growing. These paces were very strong, this is going far better than expected....but the pain is coming!!!! I was still with the couple of runners, passing runners now. Training mentality was kicking in to, the previous week I had ran 11 miles with 7 at 8:20...this is just a repeat of that session...lets get it done...when I felt the breathing working harder, I checked myself back and slowed the breathing down to get it back under control. Stay controlled!!!!

Mile 10-home! paces: 8:05, 8:03, 8:03 and 8:03 (with the 0.1 at 7:19 for the strong finish )

Mile 10 is when it really kicked in that I had this now, slight uphil back to the entrance was tough but I was still in control, was seeing the minute miles starting with a "7" a few times I checked...wow...too soon, so I eased back to over 8. Mile 11 was my favourite mile....I was positively enjoying this now...stronger with each step.... Out on to the race course and on up the hill to mile 12 was tough with the head wind. Started to hone in on runners ahead of me to pick them off one by one, got through 4 or 5 runners like that...a few runners passed me but I wasn't phased by it, I was still going strong for me and my time.

Turned on to finish straight...the bloody sand for about 20 yards was horrible and threw my stride but got back onto it and finished.....I let out the loudest roar.....YES!!!!!!!!

Chip time: 1:47:10..... I probably had 11 seconds in me if I'd realised how close I was....:D:pac:

Absolutely chuffed with that performance, probably the best race I've ever had.

Stayed around for a short but for chats, met a former work colleague whose son had won the race...she was a very proud mammy!

Sunday: had to run half a junior park run...will try and get some recovery miles done later today

Next weeks plan has to be a balance of recovery and prep for the race series's half. The plan has 18 miles next Saturday with 14 at MP...a tough session but really looking forward to it.

Plan is as follows but I may cut some of these sessions/miles back to help recovery:


Tuesday: 8 miles at 10:40
Wednesday: 9 miles with 5*1000m at 5k pace
Friday: 12 miles at 10:20
Saturday: 18 miles with 14 at MP
Sunday: 5m recovery

Thanks for all the advice and good luck messages for yesterday!

ReeReeG wrote: »

Absolutely fantastic run F, delighted for you!! Such a well paced race, looking so good for a sub 4 in DCM anyway...

Thanks V.....here’s hoping!!!!