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I didn't get this far to get this far.

Bluesquare

Morning

Decided to start a new training log - to keep me honest .

I had a bad bunch of races in September last year that knocked the motivation out of me.

From September to December my mileage really dropped - I wasn't enjoying running and each run was getting more difficult . Got bloods checked etc but I was just found to be a moany git.

Something made me sign up for DCM - extreme sheepism maybe , I'm still not convinced but we will see.

So here I am after a January of good running - getting mileage up , loosing the xmas bulge and enjoying it again.

Current pbs:
5k: 23:43 (2018)
10k 50:48 (2016)
Ten mile: 1:26:15 (2019)
Half Marathon: 1:54.25 (2018)
Marathon: 4:27:19(2016)

I seem to train better than I run which is a bit flakey of me .

My ideal targets for 2019 would be:

5k: 23:30
10k: 49:59
Half marathon: 1:49:59
Marathon: 3:59:59

But happy to just chip away at the numbers. I hate marathons but really want to do a sub 4. We will see !

Some sandbagging: I have a long train commute 3 days a week (work from home other 2). Have a couple of brats to keep my time for running limited. I'm a 43 year old asthmatic with a thyroid problem which can make recovery a bit of a saga. Oh yeah and have to be careful to keep popping those iron pills or the energy wanes. Right that's the excuses out there! Will try not to bring up again

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Bluesquare

Laineyfrecks wrote: »

Glad it's not just me all emotional!

Very best of luck next week, i hope you smash that target time

Ah thanks . I’ll sure give it my best effort !

Bluesquare

Kellygirl wrote: »

That’s a great post. Looking forward to meeting you next week.

Thanks , and likewise . I really must find out where Mc Grattans actually is !

The Black Oil

Bluesquare wrote: »

Thanks , and likewise . I really must find out where Mc Grattans actually is !

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=101452551&postcount=5247

Handy map here.

chickey2

Best of luck, I'm really hoping you smash that 4 hour goal!

ReeReeG

Bluesquare wrote: »

I have had a good training block . The year started well but an ankle sprain had me waylaid for feb/March . After my recovery I built mileage up for a few months before marathon cycle to 25-30 miles a week . Finally managed to break sub 50 for 10k in June in Dunshauglin , I was made up! Considered giving up running then but not the ideal trick before a sun holiday ! Powered through the summer systematically ticking off all the boxes on my schedule.

Some runs felt difficult but I got through them and whilst still running the prescribed paces . Some felt great and gave me a great old buzz . I changed my diet slightly adding more protein . Didn’t take gels at all this time for long runs and ate real food instead and drank Osmo . Osmo is like a super strength zero but with glucose . Ran myself some smashing twenty milers with half the miles @ PMP (5:30). They were tough yokes but I nailed them even If I was walking like John Wayne after . A mini set back with a dismal frank Duffy in the park - but I didn’t let it get under my skin ( well maybe for a few days)

I knocked 4 mins off my half time in Ratoath - a race I perhaps ran too cautiously but was bloody delighted .

Anyways this training block had been a blast - I really enjoyed it . It’s a completely different experience then my last marathon training block and I won’t lie I feel good . I have felt in control and wasn’t stumbling exhausted from run to run . Last time around at this stage I was finding even easy runs hard and everyone told me that was normal - it clearly wasn’t .

So whatever goes down next week - I’m glad I made it to this point . I think if I’m ready for sub 4 I’ll take and if not I’ll have a great race anyway and come away with a shiny pb.

I’m especially happy with my sub 50. That made my year already so anything else is icing on the cake !!

On the emotional taper theme I’ll throw in my two pence worth ..... I’ve learned a lot from the boards - mostly on the theme of slowing down to go fast and appreciate the advice over the years . Hoping to catch some of ye in the pub after !!!

Great idea to write out all this now, it should be a good confidence boost before Sunday, reminding you of the progress you've made this year already. You've great work put in, hope the day goes well for you

Bluesquare

ReeReeG wrote: »

Great idea to write out all this now, it should be a good confidence boost before Sunday, reminding you of the progress you've made this year already. You've great work put in, hope the day goes well for you

Thanks - I keep rereading it already - to remind myself of all the positives .

Will you have a sign in miltown ? Or be wearing a rose or something ?

Bluesquare

The Black Oil wrote: »

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=101452551&postcount=5247

Handy map here.

Cheers - I’m sure I’ll still managed to get lost though - map reading not my forte !!!

Bluesquare

chickey2 wrote: »

Best of luck, I'm really hoping you smash that 4 hour goal!

Thanks - if I do I’ll really have to give up running though - I’ll have no goals left !

ReeReeG

Bluesquare wrote:

Will you have a sign in miltown ? Or be wearing a rose or something ?

A rose is a very random suggestion, haha!
Was considering making a sign, but would end up making 3 (boards, one for club, one for brothers also)!

skyblue46

All the best for Sunday. Most of all, enjoy it

Kellygirl

Looking forward to meeting you a Sunday R. You’ll have a brilliant race.

Bluesquare

Thanks guys . I’m remarkably calm and quietly excited about about whole thing right now. Still waiting for the apocalypse to happen so I don’t have to run 26.2 miles !

I expect my nerves will manifest in excessive toilet visits tomorrow ! In the meantime I’m still happIly carb loading and a bit sad that I have to go back to regular size portions next week.

I hope to catch up with some of you in McGrattans on Sunday -best of luck all !

Mr. Guappa

Best of luck tomorrow R! I've enjoyed following your training this past while, and hope you have a great race. See you after in McGrattans!

eyrie

Massive good luck to you for tomorrow Bluesquare! Hope you get the race of your dreams, and I’m looking forward to reading all about it

Bluesquare

DCM 2019

Not really sure I have fully processed this yet but here are the facts as I remember ;

Saturday
—————

Expo - I was very excited going like this was the actual race !! Drove up an hour to get there and back . Stomach a bit off on way back , but normal enough for me in a car , made the mistake of having a coffee straight after and felt off then until dinner time . Put it down to nerves and car sickness . ( I have a nervous stomach at best of times )

Slept great all week and had an ok sleep on Saturday night- like maybe 5/6 hours.

Pre race
—————

Everything went well , stomach seemed ok . Ate my porridge , Had a cuppa tea , went the loo etc etc . Ate a flapjack about 30/40 mins before the race . Decided not to take the caffeine shot ( thank god) but assumed I had put it in the flip belt to take at half way .

Got a bus there took forever - but stomach seemed grand .

The race
—————

Lined up at back of wave two with three guys from my club all with a sub 4 target Had a solid plan to go through 10k at about 58:30 and half way about 2:01:30.

I wasted a lot of hours dwelling on a pace plan I didn’t look at after 5k.

The first 3 mile were calm enough: 9:35,9:23,9:29, slightly slower then we had wanted - then in the park we sped up slightly , telling ourselves we were naturally just making up time : 9:11,9;09:904 .

Still felt good at this stage and loving the atmosphere . After that stopped looking at pace - a lot was down hill and effort felt the same : 8:43,8:48,8:51,9:13,8:48,8:55.

I knew when I crossed half way I had messed up - the clock read 2:00:25 or something along those lines . That was a min faster than I had planned for .
Shortly after half way there was an incline and I let the guys charge off - I thought I’d catch them later and I knew I had a refueling stop coming - to get another bottle of Osmo . Allowed myself a few secs to put the bottle in my bottle holder contraption thing and to take a sweet . Then motored on . I looked for my caffeine but appeared to have shoved tissues in my belt instead .

For the life of me I just couldn’t get the 5:30/8:50 pace by myself : 9:29,9:07,9:06. I began to let the doubts creep in and started walking for a few secs everytime I felt like it was too hard ( then got very annoyed as I promised myself I wouldn’t do that exact thing) . I stopped trying to follow my planned paces as I just couldn’t sustain it for more then Km and decided to go with just getting it done and running :9:37,9:06,9:39,9:25,9:27,10:24. I walked up the hill of death . Then at the top I knew I was almost home - this seemed to relax me a bit - and had a nice fast Km straight after. Then just before the UCD flyover my real problems began.

My stomach started cramping big time - I needed a loo - I developed a very interesting gait trying hard not to well you know . My new found energy diminished and was diverted into cheek clenching and toilet spotting . Very unpleasant and nerve wrecking and sore . Spotted loos at 25 miles but decided to take my chances - if I stopped I wasn’t finishing. Last miles were: 9:33,9:37,9:37,9:25and 8:39 for the last bit .

I was very pleasantly surprised that my watch said 4:05:12 - dunno what I was expecting but it wasn’t that . I was distraught with the fact I still wanted the loo so having to get a medal and a bag before there was a toilet was a gruesome chore.

Finally a toilet . Thank god for the tissues. Can’t imagine what the effects of caffeine would have been . Shudder .

The aftermath
———————

I met my friends . Lost them . Went the loo again . Tried to go to hotel to meet others . Got lost arrived back to race area , started trek again , wanted toilet again, no toilet ,very bad cramping , still walking , puked , freezing , still walking , eventually figured out how to get there but decided I needed to get home . Wandered to Connolly station , spent 20 mins in loo then got the train home .
Couldn’t eat , and spent the entire day between sofa and loo. No celebrations or photos with medals . A total anticlimax .

Conclusion
——————

I don’t have one really . I looked at my stats after and my heart rate was quit high starting - never in the green zone . That’s not normal for me . It appears that I started my little walks when my heart rate started sky rocketing .

Would a person with a better mental attitude have ignored the dodgy feeling and pushed through . Did my little walks help me actually achieve the time I did or would I have hit a bigger wall later on.? Did I have a slight tummy bug ?

My first reaction was that I let myself down - I gave in to the little voice . So although I was happy with a 22 min pb I wasn’t really happy with my performance .

I never had a sense of how I felt in training - pushing my self whilst totally in control .

The high heart rate starting and the being sick bit I think is me looking for excuses .

What’s next
——————-

I really don’t know . Do I move forward and try a spring marathon ? I think I need to race more . Maybe shorter ones for a while .

My time reflected what the tough calculators said it would - but aiming for a 4:05 marathon just seemed wrong .

Kellygirl

Congrats on the PB though I’m sorry you didn’t have the race you deserved to have. Give yourself time to recover and maybe look at some races in a few weeks to capitalise on the fitness boost from this block? I’m considering Waterford Half on 7th December.

Bluesquare

Kellygirl wrote: »

Congrats on the PB though I’m sorry you didn’t have the race you deserved to have. Give yourself time to recover and maybe look at some races in a few weeks to capitalise on the fitness boost from this block? I’m considering Waterford Half on 7th December.

Thanks K-I’m sure I’ll happy in a few days once the flashbacks stop

Have you a recovery plan. I had thought to do nothing for a week- then some easy running and maybe a hiit class to mix it up for a while ?

Dealerz2.0

Congrats on your pb and completing a marathon, they aren’t easy. Enjoy the recovery and making plans for 2020!

I found the spring Marathon after Dcm 18 a nice motivator, but going back into say DCM 2020 straight away can be mentally draining never mind the physical.

Kellygirl

Bluesquare wrote: »

Thanks K-I’m sure I’ll happy in a few days once the flashbacks stop

Have you a recovery plan. I had thought to do nothing for a week- then some easy running and maybe a hiit class to mix it up for a while ?

No major recovery plan in place. We’re away with the kids this week now and I have my running gear packed but will only go if I feel like it and no pressure. Next week I’ll get back into easy running when they go back to school and see how things go. No rushing anything anyway.

Huzzah!

Gosh. I'm sorry to read about your race. Honestly, fair play on sticking it out when feeling so rough. I really hope you can enjoy your PB - it was very hard won.

As for the next thing, I've no advice but do whatever you enjoy best.

ReeReeG

Oh lord, that doesn't sound like a pleasant experience. You did well to carry on though - unlike me last year. Terrible timing for the body not to feel well, but you battled on. Recover well and mind yourself.

Wubble Wubble

Hope you're feeling better R. Congrats on the PB, although the closing miles and the aftermath don't seem to have been at all pleasant!

eyrie

Oh gosh Bluesquare, I'm sorry to hear it was so rough on you. I just saw your time and thought you'd done great (which you did) but didn't realise what you'd gone through. The aftermath sounds brutal! Fair play to you for battling through and finishing, I can't imagine doing that feeling like you did. Very unlucky. But a super PB all the same, well done!

Mr. Guappa

Well done R. I do think you are being too hard on yourself. A 22 minute PB is a great achievement under normal circumstances - you achieved it despite a thoroughly unpleasant finish. As you say, your time reflected what the calculators predicted. Lots to be very positive about.

Bluesquare

Thanks All- seems like a lifetime ago now , and a race that happened to someone else .

I quickly went off the idea of a spring marathon , I don’t like marathons lol dunno what got into me !

Feeling very unmotivated atm, and lethargic to boot. Running just seems hard . I think the November darkness and the consistent rain has drained the life from me , and encouraged comfort eating .

Have signed up for the Bohermeen half in March and will probably attempt to toddle around a few local five ks in the meantime .

Since DCM:

28th October-3rd Nov:
4 mile @6k @ 10:25

4th -10th Nov:
13 mile (3 runs all easy)

11th-17th Nov
7:15m@10:00
6:22m@9:30
6:22@9:39
6:22@8:55

All runs apart from last just “ran” with friends with no plan or goal in mind . The last one i tried to test out legs to see how fast they could go ( inspired by club members (who had done marathon) pbs in a local 10k day before . I think I made the right choice in not running because legs were like lead and LT felt stupid hard.

18th- 24th November

20' W/u 12 x 45s' V02 on/off, 20’c/d (6.3 mile) 4 v. easy @ 10:42 min mile
3m easy, 3 x 1k @5:15 w/1' rec ) (6.2 mile)
9.5 mile @ 10:12

Found the 45 secs V02 max a nice change of pace - good to get legs moving again . The LT session was tedious.

25th Nov-1st December

25’ W/u, 12 x 60s on/off, 25’c/d , T25 upper focus 4 easy@10:15
10k Progressive @9:10
16k easy, 6 x 45s LT surges @9:56

The 60s felt much harder then the 45 secs the week before . The 10k progressive was disappointing as I felt my effort input was huge compared to speed ( I was going what felt like flat out to do an 8 min mile for final Km)

The long run , I put off and off and off not getting out till after 7 on Sunday night , left myself running around in the dark and the cold . I told myself I didn’t need to do 10, 7 would do , then 8, and so on. I also promised myself if I did the 10 I could ignore the strides .

Anyways a decent enough week but it all felt awful and the effort of leaving the house was the hardest bit .

Kellygirl

There really is a few of us in a similar frame of mind at the moment. At least you are keeping up the running and when your mojo comes back again you won’t have lost fitness.

hillsiderunner

You're doing plenty I think, it's still just 5 weeks out, the mileage looks just a bit should be for the recovery weeks. Bet there are PBs in the shorter distances coming your way.

Bluesquare

December is all a blur now - not a good running month .

The week beginning 2nd December:
—————————————————

Tues - 8m with 6*1k@LT (1 min jog recovery)
Sat - 17k easy

Have no clue why this is all I did . I’m sure there was a good reason but I didn’t document .

Week beginning 9 the December :
————————————————

Monday : Shaun T - Ript ( strength Hiit 25 mins hardcore!) + 2 mile walk
Tuesday : 6.5 mile on treadmill with pyramid 5k intervals
Thursday: 10 mile easy @ 10:00
Sunday : 6.5 mile @ 9:20

Xmas party season interfering here !

Week beginning 16th December :
———————————————-

Monday - 2 mile with kids @ 12 min mile + HIIT ( core cardio 25 mins)
Tuesday - 8.1 mile easy
Thursday -50 mins HIIT
Friday - 25 mins HIIT
Saturday - 5 mile @ 9:44

Not a huge amount of running but plenty of exercise

Started to get a head cold near the end of the week which was in full swing by Sunday. Forced myself out the door on the 23rd for a tenk - it felt ok if not a bit coughy . Unfortunately this run seemed to tip me over the edge into the abyss of Xmas sickness - feeling very dodgy very quickly after the run . Ended up getting a nasty dose and was unable to run or do much of anything until the 28th. Ran a very slow 2 mile and it felt awful . Tried again the next day with 5k but I was kidding myself. Took another day of rest and ran 5 mile on news years eve in Cork ( out of respect for tradition ! )
Even after allowing myself very long rests at traffic lights I still struggled at an easy pace . The fit of coughing after choked sense into me - I obviously wasn’t recovered at all ! Hence I did nothing for another few days .

3rd of January - chanced tenk with a friend . Deffo feeling better but not 100%
4th of January - 4 mile easy . Same as above

Didn’t end the year on a good note but deffo had a great year so I am optimistic for the year ahead that is once I can shake off this damned dose.

I will have to sum up the year and come up with some goals for 2020!! I have to try and move away from old goals not met as well because I suspect that causes me / my training to be stagnant !

Bluesquare

2019
———

I started the year as I always do - a few pounds heavier and happy to train hard and eat well.

Had a great January - in full throttle aiming for a sub 150 half in March. I ran the Trim 10 mile as a warm up race at the beginning of February -earning a new pb of 126:15 . I was delighted with this time as I didn’t really race - in hindsight I probably should have just went and bloody went hard at it - but hey I enjoyed it nevertheless and finished strong .

Unfortunately my goal race at the beginning of March wasn’t to happen as two weeks out and with all the training done I went over on my ankle and tore some ligaments . This may have been a blessing in disguise as the weather in Bohermeen that day was horrendous- with very strong winds . My asthmatic self would have hated it and struggled mightily to get any result on the day .

So it took about six weeks to recover from this and in April I started training properly again . My first race then was the Boyne 10k (5/6 weeks later) which is one tough race - but it’s on home turf and a great buzz of a run so it needs to be done ! This took me 51:55 mins - probably could have been faster - didn’t feel like I gave it full socks !

After the Boyne 10k I upped my mileage - as I was trying to have a nice base of 30 miles a week before marathon training began . I also slowed down a lot on easy runs ( finally following boards advice ) and tried to stick to the 80:20 rule . Any fast sessions I geared toward that elusive tenk pace .

This strategy worked a treat and the hard work paid off - landing me my long sought after tenk goal of dipping under sub 50! The stars aligned and gave me a new shiny pb of 49:38. This set me up nicely to go off chasing the sub 4 dream .

I stuck to my marathon plan religiously and only missed one 4 mile run in the 16 weeks . Every box was ticked , every session nailed . I have never felt so strong and confident as a runner . I ran the Ratoath half in September. I have blown up many times in halves so I decided to take a very conservative approach and try just to pb and forget about the sub 150. The goal was 153 - and I managed 151;25 . I was delighted - and had learned some good lessons.

The big day rocked around and unfortunately the sub 4 was not to be . However I did knock 22 mins off my marathon time (4:05:10) so it wasn’t so bad .
I fundamentally believe I’m fitter then my results show ( was fitter) but I’m terribly bad at racing . Maybe just precious .

So 4 new pbs and 1400 miles - not bad for someone running as long as me . More miles and slow miles - this is my takeaway from this year . Took me a while hey!

Bluesquare

Goals for 2020

2018 pbs

5k = 23:43
10k= 50:47
Ten mile: 1:27:28
Half= 1:54:25
Marathon (4:27:26 (2016))

2019 pbs

5k = 23:43 ( no 5ks raced)
10k = 49:36
Ten mile :1:26:15
Half = 1:51:25
Marathon: 4:05:14

2020 goals : Not really sure but I’ll go for the obvious

5k: sub 23:30
10k: sub 49
Ten mile : sub 125
Half: sub 1:50
Marathon: sub 4

I have signed up for Trim ten mile and Bohermeen Half so far . I have also signed up for DCM but at the moment not really keen . Need to get back into the swing of things and actually race . I know I say that every year lol !