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Man! I feel like a runner

ReeReeG

I’ve been considering starting a log for some time now, having read quite a number of them on here regularly. (I’m a lurker coming out of hiding). It seems like a good way to keep track of progress, but more importantly for me, how each run feels. Regular stats on Strava don’t do that for me!
My background
I had tried running with friends in 2012 / 2013, and did a couple of 5km and 10km races, but never enjoyed them. I tried again in January 2015 and realised I enjoyed it this time around, especially after I went along to parkrun that February. I started signing up for a few 10k races (best at that stage was approx. 55 mins).
Continued running off and on in 2015 and 2016, but as I had slowed a lot by November 2016 (struggled to run 10k under an hour), I realised I needed to get a routine going if I wanted to improve. And I wanted to improve. I had joined a club in summer 2016 but never made it along to train with them until May this year due to personal circumstances. Since starting to run consistently (i.e. 4/5 times a week) last November, my times have dropped, my easy pace has quickened, my form has improved (I think) and my overall sense of well-being (and smugness) has grown! Club running has certainly helped, as well as introducing speedwork into my training.
My week is typically 4 easy runs (incl. 1 longer run) and 1 speed session / faster run (e.g. parkrun). Some weeks go to plan more than others ðŸ˜Š
My PBs to date
5k:    23:46 (Twilight Challenge, Sept 2017)
5 mile: 43:04 (Raheny 5 Mile, Jan 2017)
10k:     50:31 (Dunshaughlin, June 2017)
10 mile:   1:30:xx (Ballycotton, March 2017 [Goodbye my old friend])
Half-marathon:  2:01:xx (Donabate, Sept 2017)
My struggles
I still struggle mentally in longer runs, doubting if I can maintain pace or complete the distance. I know I need to slow up more in my longer runs, and I am still figuring out how to start a race at the right pace ðŸ˜Š I do use a Garmin but am terrible for checking my pace; I often run by feel but sometimes that goes all wrong.
My goals
1.   Aiming to go sub-50 in a 10k by the end of the year.
2.  Targeting a marathon in May next year. As part of this, I am going to try stay at 30 miles-ish) per week so I have a decent base heading into marathon training after Christmas.
3 Update this log weekly and hopefully receive and review advice given by the lovely boards runners!
And that’s enough for an intro post I think…

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ariana`

It's lovely to see you building back up again V. Along with the s&c you will be a fitter, stronger, faster version of you again in no time!

Agreed re. the weather, i feel like it hasn't stopped raining since August but adding in the cold the last month as well was just cruel :mad: I don't think i wore running tights at all last Winter and i haven't been without them this past month.

ReeReeG

ariana` wrote: »

It's lovely to see you building back up again V. Along with the s&c you will be a fitter, stronger, faster version of you again in no time!

Agreed re. the weather, i feel like it hasn't stopped raining since August but adding in the cold the last month as well was just cruel :mad: I don't think i wore running tights at all last Winter and i haven't been without them this past month.

Thanks E. I'm sure I'll be stronger, but faster I can't quite see yet :pac:

Fair play if you didn't wear leggings last winter, I'm an awful wimp! I don't care about my arms, but can't bear to have the legs cold!

eyrie

ReeReeG wrote: »

I found it hard to motivate myself to get out this week which was weird. I'm guessing it's the weather. I honestly can't remember a November as wet as this in all the time I've lived in Dublin. Proper grim.

I so hear you, I've been majorly struggling with the motivation too.

Great week there though, you seem to be managing the build back up beautifully. Have to agree with ariana, I'd say you'll be faster than ever when you get back into the swing of things, particularly with all the extra strength!

Dealerz2.0

It’s still a decent week’s miles V

ReeReeG

Mon 25th
Cycled to S&C, 45 min class. Cycle home after work, possibly the most miserable cycle ever in that rain. Went back out as I was wet through anyway for my recovery run, 2 miles @ 11.02/m.

Tues 26th
I'd intended on going out early for my run as I had a work trip to Shannon that day, but I woke and heard the rain absolutely beating against the window, and decided to stay in bed a little longer instead :-/ Wasn't home from Shannon until late so no exercise at all

Weds 27th
Up early again for another cycle to S&C, where I learned I am still rubbish at push-ups

No cycle home, or time for a run, as I had a work event that night. The season is truly upon us!

Thurs 28th
Cycled home from work,and made it up to club training. Tried to keep easy 'easy', but as ever with a group it's hard to get that right. Ended up in the last 2.5 miles on my own which was fine, albeit a bit annoying. 5.8 miles @ 10.08/m.

Fri 29th
Needed a run after work to expel some anger

3.4m @ 10.19/m. Legs were heavy enough but the run helped the head at least.

Sat 30th
I was up early to drive down to Templemore parkrun where my eldest brother was doing RD for the first time. Although, my 2 year old niece was claiming that she in fact was in charge :pac: Didn't have enough time for much of a warm-up, and legs were still feeling fairly heavy. Parkrun was 26.36, only 3.8 miles total for the morning.

Nov total: 67.7

Sun 1st
When I'd arrived in Offaly the day before, my mother informed me of a 5k run in the town on Sunday in aid of a local family who are going through a really awful time. I decided I'd enjoy a lie-in and do my 'long' run with the 5k in the middle. Felt pretty good for this, although I ran the 5k harder than intended and was fairly tired afterwards. 75 mins total, 7.8 miles @ 9.34/m average.

Total miles: 22.9
Total time: 3hrs 46 mins

Short on my 4 hour target unfortunately, but with a couple of steady efforts in there, I'm not too upset.

It will be another week of trying to juggle around work / events, and include S&C, but hoping to get something of a start on HM stuff. I've Jingle Bells next Sat, and will run it for fun because I will just get annoyed at my regression since summer if I go for anything else!

OOnegative

Best of luck Saturday, run well!!

ReeReeG

I'm following the grads HM plan for Cambridge, with this being week 1. However, still bearing in mind I haven't got the best base, I'll be building into a little more gradually.

Dec 2nd - 8th

Mon 2nd
S&C 45 min class. I think I might actually finally be able to squat properly. Cycle to and from work.

Tues 3rd
Cycled to and from work, and headed to club training. 5.3 miles @9.56/m, chatting all the way. Loved it.

Weds 4th
S&C 45 mins, drove in and home as it's early enough for traffic to allow me to do that! Had a work event that night so needed to get the session done at lunchtime. 8 * 1 min hills... eeeek! With it being my lunch break, I had to keep the warm-up and cool down miles fairly brief, only about 1 mile each way. Headed to my usual place for doing hills by the Dropping Well and stuck to the quieter side of the road, but this is also the side of the road with less path available i.e. it finishes after (for me) about 50s. This suited me fine tbh.
The distance was 0.12m and ranges were between 51-56 seconds. I was absolutely wrecked for the last 2, but considering I thought I might only manage 6 reps, I was delighted with the session.

Thurs 5th
Nothing, and work holiday drinks that night (we're not allowed use the C word for fear of offending people :rolleyes:)

Fri 6th
I had plans to do 30-40 mins this evening, but my.. well, butt cheek, was in agony all day!!! Happens from time to time and I think I know what it is, but will keep an eye out now to see if I'm right. So in the end I rested to see if it would be ok for the next morning.

Sat 7th
I was feeling fairly slow and unfit and not sure how my behind was today, so I got to the park early and just ran for a while. I figured if I wasn't going to be up to much in the Jingle Bells 5k, I'd at least bank a few miles for the day. 4.8 mile warm-up @ 10.20/m, and spotted a familiar faces from these parts as I trotted around.
I found my sister who I was genuinely expecting would beat me in the race, and we lined up around the 25 min mark. My goal was to run negative splits. The sister took off when we got going and I let her go; I'd looked at my watch and knew it was a pace I couldn't maintain. Settled in at about 8.05/m, give or take, and found that I was enjoying myself. Picked up the pace a bit around the 2km mark, and shortly afterwards caught my sister who was clearly struggling. It turns out she had a stitch, ran with her for a bit and for someone who had a stitch she picked up the pace a lot as we headed downhill after 3km! Started to lose her towards the bottom of that hill, and knew I was feeling strong as I was running up the hill around 4km. Got a shoutout from skyblue at the top who seems to have been doing a great job spotting everyone! I was hitting a nice pace now heading back towards the finish line, I was tired but my legs just kept going thanks to the downhill! The finish line actually arrived way sooner than I figured, and I finished with about 24.36 on the watch.
My chip time is wrong online as it matches my gun time exactly, and I did not start on the start line! So I reckon about 24.30 odd is my time. Not much fussed as it is well off my PB, but it's quicker than I expected and than my recent parkrunning. I didn't feel like I was absolutely pushing either so that's a positive.

My sister came in about 40 seconds later, not near a PB herself but I'm very relieved I beat her :pac: Caught up with a few clubmates, and then headed back towards my car running into a few more from here (great PBs from Rossi and coogy!)
Anyway, then being the fool that I am, managed to hit the kerb/bank leaving the car park in Phoenix Park and completely punctured my car

thank goodness for the kindness of strangers (I do know how to change my tyres but my strength was lacking).
Total miles for the morning 8.8

Sun 8th
I'd arranged to meet a few clubmates early before the park closed at midday due to the storms. I was very tempted to not go when I heard the rain and wind, but headed up anyway. It turned out the park was completely closed so we ran to St Enda's instead and around the perimeter of Marlay. Finished at 7 miles so still not getting there with the long runs really, but I'll get there hopefully. Avg pace 10.23/m.

Total miles, 25.2.
Total time, 4 hours 16 mins.

Sure, it's going the right way.

Lambay island

Well done on the race. Looks like you ran it as a progression run - impressive. I think i saw you at top of the queue for portaloo at the start but wasnt 100 percent sure and was on my way up to start line at the time.

I did that perimeter around marlay a few times during dcm training. Can be a spooky place on your own in the dark near that whitechurch graveyard

Mr. Guappa

Nice week.

I think I'm right in saying this is your first time following a grads plan? I think you'll find it very good - best of luck with it.

ReeReeG

Mr. Guappa wrote:

I think I'm right in saying this is your first time following a grads plan? I think you'll find it very good - best of luck with it.

No, I followed the base plan about this time last year and then the 10k at the start of the year. They're really good so worth a shot for HM too!

ReeReeG

Lambay island wrote:

Well done on the race. Looks like you ran it as a progression run - impressive. I think i saw you at top of the queue for portaloo at the start but wasnt 100 percent sure and was on my way up to start line at the time.

Probably was me alright, was waiting for my sis around there!

Well done again on your amazing PB!

ariana`

Lots of positives there V. It's great to see you building back up. Best of luck with the HM plan.

Wubble Wubble

Great to see all this progress V. It bodes well for Cambridge providing you stay healthy. Fingers crossed!

ReeReeG

9th - 15th Dec

Mon 9th
Cycled into S&C before work, came out afterwards and got on the bike and quickly realised I had a flippin' flat. Luckily there's a bike shop on the way to the office so managed to get it sorted for the cycle home.

Tues 10th
Headed up to club training and kept it handy, 5.3 miles @ 10.23/m.

Weds 11th
Rest day

Thurs 12th
Cycled into S&C before work again, and cycled home after work. Then headed out for the 6 x 3 mins CV pace session on the grads plan. I wasn't really sure what pace to run at, so used the JB5K time to calculate some sort of window. Target paces then were 7.55 - 8.05. It felt bloody hard anyway but I really enjoyed getting stuck into a session like this again. Paces hit were 8.05, 8.00, 7.48, 7.43, 7.58, 7.33 ... no wonder it felt hard! 7 miles total for the evening.

Fri 13th
Easy 45 mins in the evening, 4.3 miles @ 10.29/m. Calves weren't feeling amazing to start with to be honest.

Sat 14th
The club were all doing parkrun so I ditched the session for a progression style parkrun. 15 mins easy beforehand (10.12/m) then parkrun avg pace 8.40/m. The calves felt dodgy in the warm-up but never even thought about them in parkrun.

Sun 15th
Managed to get myself up to Marlay to meet a few clubmates at 9am, having been out with the sisters yesterday

90 mins easy, 8.6 miles @ 10.28/m. Again, some calf discomfort for the first 10-15 minutes.

Total miles: 29.9 (ugh)
Total time: 5 hours.

I'll be in for another couple S&C classes this week so I'm going to bring up the issue of my calves again, hopefully just a bit of maintenance needed perhaps. Although I definitely have to concentrate on moving from the hips more; they felt much better when I did the last few days.

eyrie

Getting nicely back into the swing of things by the looks of it, great stuff. Hopefully the calf thing is nothing.
Thinking of starting the Grads HM plan next myself so I might be copying you! When's Cambridge again?

ReeReeG

eyrie wrote: »

Getting nicely back into the swing of things by the looks of it, great stuff. Hopefully the calf thing is nothing.
Thinking of starting the Grads HM plan next myself so I might be copying you! When's Cambridge again?

8th March! Which seems like ages away but I know will fly in as soon as January comes and that makes me nervous! Any HMs in your mind?

eyrie

ReeReeG wrote: »

8th March! Which seems like ages away but I know will fly in as soon as January comes and that makes me nervous! Any HMs in your mind?

I know, it's mad but that will definitely come around quickly. I wouldn't mind doing Bohermeen if I can, which actually is the same day as yours I think! Not sure I'll be free that weekend but I might start training for it anyway and see.

ReeReeG

I may have fallen victim to Christmas festivities / being afraid of rain a bit this week

Mon 16th Dec
Cycle to and from work. S&C class in the morning.

Tues 17th
Cycle to and from work. Headed out for a run before a few drinks out and a pub quiz (2nd place, whoop). 5 miles @ 10.22/m avg. Left calf gave out at the start.

Weds 18th
Managed to get myself out of bed for S&C early, but only because I drove in and back as I was working from home. Hallelujah. Intended on a run / session, but the rain was just brutal so I chickened out.

Thurs 19th
Did Wednesday's hills session early before work. It actually went ok which was surprising given the hour! Did the full 1 min of hills x 8 (as opposed to 50 seconds odd there two weeks ago). Not a bad start to the day, 4.3 miles total. The day ended with after work drinks which went straight to my head:pac:

Fri 20th
I had no time for a run between finishing up work and Christmas shopping, packing for the guts of 2 weeks in Offaly and going to see Star Wars.

Sat 21st
Wottle had organised a sunrise run for his runners, but kindly had it as an open invite to all

I met him and his group near Marlay and we headed up Kilmashogue. The sun wasn't totally visible but it was a lovely run and one of those mornings where you just feel blessed. Back down to Marlay in time for a lovely chatty parkrun, and then I had to jog back to my car. 9.5 miles total for my morning which I decided was the week's long run covered

Hectic day then down to Kilkenny for a nephew's birthday party, then back to Offaly for another party...

Sun 22nd
Had yet another Christmas gathering so ended up with no run! I'm not much bothered though as it's been a lovely Christmas build-up this year

Total miles: 18.9 --- January will have to get serious!
Total time: 3 hours 22 mins

This week sees a lot more free time, although still some travelling to family events, as well as the Athenry 10k.

Happy Christmas to all on here, I hope you have a lovely break (if you are lucky enough to be off work) and lots of happy Christmas running!

Wubble Wubble

A very Happy Christmas to you and yours V.

Huzzah!

Have a great Christmas

Enjoy Athenry!

coogy

Happy Christmas V! Enjoy the celebrations!!!

Mr. Guappa

Happy Christmas V

ariana`

Hope you had a lovely relaxing Christmas day, good luck tomorrow!

OOnegative

Best of luck in Athenry, run well!!

ReeReeG

23rd - 29th Dec

Mon 23rd Dec
Nada, was working from Offaly... did I get much done, of course not

Tues 24th Dec
Headed out for a Christmas eve jaunt around the town, 5.6 miles @ 10.25/m.

Weds 25th
Nothing

Thurs 26th
Fields of Athenry 10k
Back to this race for the 2nd year running. I wasn't expecting much given how the lead-up to Christmas can be, in terms of eating and drinking. I at least hoped I would do better than last year's 50.03 but last year hadn't had a few weeks of no running and dodgy calves before it :-/

Got over to Athenry in time to see my littlest Galway nieces in the kids race (the 6 year old flew it!), collect my number and a short warm-up with 2 of my brothers. I lined up somewhere between the 50 and 55 minute pacers and the race started pretty promptly. I knew straight away my legs were feeling a little sluggish, so thought I'd try keep to a conservative start at least and see if I warmed up to a better pace. I started to feel fairly tired about 2.5 miles in but just kept trying to catch people and not get passed toooo much. In my head pre-race, I thought I could pick it up for the second half but I just couldn't at all. There were more drags throughout than I remembered, but that could just be down to being more tired! Anyway, once I was through 4.5 miles or so, I knew I could just hold on for the last fast kilometre and attempt to pick up then. Which I did a bit, not massively but a bit. I passed about 4 people on the last straight which was nice :pac:
Finish time: 51.03 -- exactly 1 minute slower than last year! Pfff. And about 6 mins slower than I was in April of this year. It's frustrating, but c'est la vie.

Fri 27th
Went out in the evening back in Offaly for 4 miles @ 10.27/m

Sat 28th
No chance for a run between driving my folks to Cork for my niece's christening and back again. Lovely day out.

Sun 29th
Enjoyed a nice lie-in after all the driving the day before, and headed for something of a long run in the afternoon. I stuck in my earphones (rare for me) and went running to a couple parts of the town I don't usually. Great afternoon for a run. 8.2 miles @ 10.23/m.

Total miles: 24.9 (4 hours 5 mins)

ReeReeG

ReeReeG wrote: »

2018 review
2019 Goals / targets / plans
Ever since I heard (hopefully correctly) that a sub-45 min 10k would get you an elite entry in the mini-marathon, I have gotten obsessed with making that my next target (never mind that I hated that race the one time I did it!). I don't know if it's achievable in 2019, but I'm happy to play the long game and chip away at my PB.

And I don't want a single DNF this year.:rolleyes:

I will also keep an eye out for IMRA races, as well as some track meets in the summer (the lower grade ones ).

Mileage wise, I'd like to hit 1500 in 2019, although without marathon training I'm not sure how that will go.

I didn't post very specific goals but I found a few.
- I did in fact chip away at the 10k PB (47.38 --> 45.57).

- I also managed a 5k one (22.40)
- I also got my mile time down twice (6.49 -> 6.36 -> 6.24)

- I did have a DNF but blaming that on health!!
- I tried one IMRA, they clashed with tag rugby too much to do more
- I did not manage 1500, was on course until my calves failed me, and finished the year with 31 less than 2018 i.e. 1334 miles.

The year wasn't ideal by the end, but really it wasn't a write-off either! I very much enjoyed the build-up and training early in the year for the 10k distance, and I managed the best training I've ever done over a summer period. I've usually struggled in those months what with plans and holidays etc.

Anywho, my take away from 2019 is not to neglect the complementary stuff i.e. S&C.

2020 targets
- Keep up S&C
- HM time sub 1.45 (PB is 1.46)

- 10 mile time sub 78 (PB is 1.19)

- 10k time sub 45 (PB is 45.57)

- 5k time sub 22 (PB is 22.40)

- DCM - to finish!!!
- parkrun volunteering to 25 ( on 21)

Happy New Year to everyone who's taken the time to read my log this year, it's appreciated and I wish you all an enjoyable, running-filled 2020!

Wubble Wubble

What? No mention of being first woman in the Inishbofin 10k? :pac:

All the best for 2020.

ReeReeG

Wubble Wubble wrote:

What? No mention of being first woman in the Inishbofin 10k?

It was gonna get it's own special post

I actually forgot about it! Thanks for the reminder

ariana`

Fair play for seeing the good that came before the not so good, fantastic attitude. Happy new year, hope 2020 is kind to you x

Dealerz2.0

The very best of luck V with your 2020 goals