Spiral out - keep going

Sunday 5th - 14.5m, 13.5m@7.52

This run kinda matched my longest MP run for the DCM in August. Felt ok after the rest day on Saturday, no sign of the groin issue from Friday but couldn't be certain until I started running. Was a small bit windy as well today.

After a mile warmup, I started at the 7.52 pace. It's amazing how comfortable that pace felt today compared to DCM training. Weather was very mild so took off my base layer when I passed the car at mile 4. Also, dropped my headphones back to the car - I'm finding that I prefer to run without music for any non easy run these days.

First half of the run seemed to be against the wind. Miles were
7.56, 7.48, 7.53, 7.46, 7.51, 7.58, 7.49
Reached the furthest turning point and headed back to the car with wind at my back. Miles were
7.48, 7.52, 7.46, 7.42
Was feeling good at this point but turned out last 2 and a half miles were going to be directly into the wind in an exposed area. Had to increase effort here which in turn caused the paces to increase, makes no sense really! Miles were
7.44, 7.35, 7.47 (1/2 mile)

Was happy to get through the run without any injury issues and being able to hit the paces.

Weekly mileage - 35.5m
Year to date - 28.5m :eek:

Next week's plan looks good with plenty of easy runs, one manageable tempo and a slower long run. Increase of mileage though, going up to 50 miles.

skyblue46 wrote: »

Just curious T....what's the thinking of 13.5 miles at MP. In light of an upcoming 10 miler particularly.

I suppose it's not really MP anymore S, was just doing a bit of a comparison in paces from DCM training. The plan I'm following is not specifically aimed at the Dungarvan 10, but more of a gradually buildup to the Cork half marathon.

Endurance for me is where I need to do the most improvement. My shorter distance PBs don't correlate to the longer distance ones. If I can improve endurance, the longer distance times will reduce, as will the shorter ones - I have the speed but not the engine yet!!

I've been finding the various types of runs on the plan really enjoyable and can already feel the benefits. So to answer the original question, I'm assuming that running 13.5m at a quick enough pace will improve my overall endurance. To put things in perspective, I'm going to try to run Dungarvan at a quicker pace (6.40) than my 5k time from May :eek:

Road to Dungarvan Week 9

Quite a daunting week with 6 days running on the plan for the first time and also, 6 days consecutive days running if you include last Sundays. Miserable weather forecasted for the week too

Monday 13th - 6m easy, 9.27avg

Ran this in the midst of storm Brendan, no other time to do it really. Decided to run it in the local park where the lack of trees made it the safest place to run. Wasn't too bad except for a long straight stretch where I was fighting into the wind struggling to breath. At least it made the run exciting. Running in these conditions has finally made me come to terms of being addicted to running - I couldn't not run today

Left the park to find a tree after falling into the road covering 2 of the 3 lanes. At least it didnt fall into the park and on top of me!

Tuesday 14th - 8m 3x2m@6.59 w 400m/3min recovery

Another run, another soaking - Was lashing for the whole thing. Forgot to select the interval session on my watch so did a 1m warmup and then started the interval workout. Wind did play a factor in it but not as bad as yesterdays. 1st and last reps were with the wind, middle one against.

1st - 6.52 6.50 - jogged recovery
2nd - 6.54 6.51 - walked recovery here due to the extra effort against the wind
3rd - 6.53 6.53 - jogged recovery

Felt a bit meh about the session afterwards for some reason. It's only when I checked Strava afterwards that I realised how good it was. Even with the 2 recoveries (one walking), it was my 2nd fastest ever 10k (44.53), 1st being Charleville HM. Made me feel a lot better about it.

Wednesday 15th - 7m easy, 8.40avg

You might see the average pace there and think it was too fast for easy but it really did feel easy at that pace that day. It was a great run going around the Blackrock loop. Maybe it's because I do most of my long runs around that route that the quicker pace felt easy.

Thursday 16th - 5m easy, 9.13avg

Did the 5m loop out in Ballincollig regional park. Not as easy feeling as the day before but still felt good.

Challenging session tomorrow before I finally get a rest day

Still unsure about the 6 days even though I feel ok this week. I like my rest days

Friday 17th - 8m 4x1m@6.49 w 800m/8min recovery

Really struggled to do a similar session a few weeks ago, so was worried about it. It was 4 reps this time instead of 5 but the paces were quicker. This time round though, I was able to hit the paces and more importantly, keep the recovery pace to 8 min/mile. The last time I had to slow the recovery to 8.30 as I felt I wasn't recovering enough. This time I felt I was recovering at 8min pace.

1st rep - 6.48 (7.58 recovery pace)
2nd - 6.47 (7.58 rec)
3rd - 6.43 (7.50 rec)
4th - 6.41 (7.54 rec)

Was delighted to nail this session, and while it was tough I felt good towards the end. 2nd best 10k ran during the session (44.29)

Sunday 19th - 16m 13.5m@8min 2m@7.49 - 7.58avg

Lovely morning to run even though the path were a small bit icy. The biggest obstacles were the amount of people out - spent a lot of the time slaloming between the different groups.

I did notice around the 6 mile mark that the legs were feeling a bit tired, probably after the Friday session. Was able to keep the miles under 8min and up the pace for the last two. The legs had that familiar lead like feeling afterwards, that I remembered from the long runs for DCM.
I kept thinking that the pace for this run was very similar to my actual DCM pace, so that gave me encouragement of the improvement I've been making since then.

Weekly mileage - 51 miles
Year to date - 130 miles

Good tough week done, happy to come out of it unscathed. Think the plan eases out a bit for the next 2 weeks in preparation for Dungarvan.

Warning no exciting race report, just a boring two days of running

Great to see some fantastic running from boardsies today in Raheny, felt really jealous seeing all those times come in today

Friday 24th - 7m, 6m@8.40, 1m@6.59

Ran this around my normal Blackrock loop and it felt great. 8.40 is considered an easy pace these days but it depends on the day. Today it felt real easy and I was enjoying the jog around. Bumped into my sister running with her friend towards the end, so ran with them for 2 miles. They were complaining about me running too fast for them (9.30) so I slowed to 10.31 for the 6th mile. Left them for the last mile and sped back to the car in 6.49

Sunday 26th - 11.5m, 10m@8.09 1.5m@7.45, 8.01avg

Ended the week with a shorter long run than normal, with paces a tad slower than previous weeks too. The 8.09 pace felt great and quite easy, while the legs felt good too. Miles were quite consistent as well
8.09, 8.05, 8.06, 8.12, 8.06, 8.09, 8.08, 7.56, 8.00, 8.01

No problem with the increase in pace, maybe too much as it averaged 7.35 for the last 1.5m. Felt really good after it though

Weekly mileage - 47.5
Year to date - 177.5

With Dungarvan next Sunday, next week sees a lot of easy runs with 1 speed session (albeit a bit easier than normal). The plan at this moment is to run with the OH with a pace of 6.45 at the start. See how I feel around the 6 mile mark and go from there.

Dungarvan 10 race (finally!!)

So after the run on Friday, I went out for a 2 mile shake of the legs and some strides. After getting through this without any issue, I was confident that everything was ok injury wise.

Left Cork in plenty of time with the OH and picked up a friend on the way. Arrived in Dungarvan in plenty of time, picked up my number and went off on the warm up. Wind was blowing really hard so it was a concern for the race. Changed into the Legalflys and headed up to the start line.

Plan for the race was to run with the OH at a pace of about 6.40-6.45, try to shelter as much as we could for the first 5 miles and go from there.

Mile 1
Good start to the race but looked like we started a bit far back when the 70 pacer balloon suddenly popped up in front of us. Lot of jostling about around the first few bends and I did make a mistake of going onto a footpath. Nearly slipped and came a cropper, which would've been my own fault - schoolboy error. Back round to the start line and off out of town we went 6.37

Miles 2,3,4
Trying to settle into the pace at this stage is really hard; must admit I did find the going tough early in the race. Myself and the OH were passing a good amount of people though, while trying to shelter behind as many people as possible. End of mile 2 saw us take a sharp right off the main road and onto country roads.

OH then had a problem with the pinning of her gel so I ended up carrying that in my hand till mile 5 (my pocket was full). Went up the first hill ok and a nice downhill section past the first water station at mile 3. I was still struggling with the fast pace so poured most of the bottle over my legs, back of neck and back. Mile 4 was the slowest but it was a hard mile, with the wind hitting us at an angle that was really hard to hide from.6.41,6.25, 6.48

Mile 5
Still battling hard into the wind. We're in a nice group of runners here running at roughly the same pace so it was easier to tuck in here. Headed up to the 2nd water station so time to take a gel. Hand the OH the sweat covered Maurten that I had been carrying all along (if I was a a proper gentleman, I should've taken that one myself ) and took out the nice fresh one from my pocket.

I normally don't need water taking Maurten gels so it was probably a mistake taking a bottle of water whilst trying to eat the gel. Not sure if it's just me or not, but they take a while to eat - more of a jelly than a gel.6.42

Mile 6
The water station broke up the group that had formed and myself and the OH drove on, sensing that turn back was only small bit up the road. Got to the turn and it was a great relief to not have to face that wind. But wait, what was this blowing in my face - more bloody wind! Sticky mile this one as we knew there was a nice downhill section up ahead but could ages to get to it. I did feel at this time though, that I was feeling marginally somewhat fairly ok, better than earlier anyway.6.39

Mile 7
Strange miles these. Some points I felt really strong, well able to push on and then seconds later I would feel my legs were getting heavier and heavier. We forgot about a tough drag up to the downhill section and we struggled here tbh. At this stage I thought my goose was cooked - legs were super heavy. Downhill section finally arrived and I kinda attacked it just to make some time up. My OH thinks I'm making an early attack and wishes me well, but I shake my finger to say that wasn't happening. With the next turn there was finally a feeling of wind at our backs.6.38

Mile 8
Longest mile ever on a really straight road. I was feeling a bit narky, conditions of the roads were annoying me - typical irish boreens where the middle of the road slopes out either side. My right foot was giving out to me. My really expensive shoes shouldn't be dealing with these types of conditions. Yes I was probably delirious! Finally the next turn was in sight, where we would rejoin the main road and face some hills.6.35

Mile 9
Nice steep slope to join the main road, followed by a short downhill. I remember seeing some annoying politician's face on a billboard at that time which added to the pain at that stage. I thought there was meant to be a steeper hill here but didn't feel like that. Looked at my watch and there was a mile and a half left. Pace had slipped a bit so I felt I could push on/suffer for the remainder. I left my OH at this stage and again, she gave me some words of encouragement to go for it. Maybe I upped the pace a bit too much but was catching and passing loads of people. The end of the mile got us to the last hill of the race, which we first passed around mile 2 6.38

Mile 10
The hill was in two stages, middle was flat, and I did feel a bit gassed at the top of it but only half a mile left. There was a nice downhill section which I was able to attack again and get my breath back. Felt I was being tracked by two guys I had just passed so had to keep the pace up. End of the downhill and not much left. Was still pushing the pace, crowds were cheering us on here so couldn't be seen to slow down. Around the last bend and went as fast as I could.6.08

Chip time - 66.02
Thought I had done enough to go under 66 but no harm done seeing as goal time was around 67ish.

Lies, damned lies and statistics
Just to make myself feel better. Dungarvan was my first proper race ever last year. It's over a 10min PB from that race and a 8min PB for 10 miles, from Mallow last year. Even my time without performance enhancing gadgets shows improvement - Predicted time sans next% - 69.20 :D 5min PB

On other matters, I've signed up with a coach and will start a new plan this week. From glancing at it tonight, it's look tough but let's see how it goes. Feet up tonight with first beers since new years eve and Superbowl on the tv

Mr. Guappa wrote: »

That's great racing T - seems like you gunned it from start to finish. Yeah, you've got speed, but you've also worked your tail off since Dublin (and over the last year) and you have the grit to dig in and fight through when the going gets tough in a race. That's a great combination. Savage result today (in the Legalflys :pac:), and plenty more to come.

Thanks A, it's definitely been an aim of mine to improve endurance and I'm seeing the results now. From looking at the new regime, there'll be even more focus on it

Friday 7th - 7 mile easy, 8.47avg

Had planned to run this one on grass, to give the legs a bit of a break. It had been dry all week so reckoned the ground had firmed up. An hour before the run and it started to lash so decided not to risk injury again and went to my normal 7m loop around Blackrock castle. Was running easy but somehow the pace for the last two miles increased - maybe I was looking forward to the rest day on Saturday

Sunday 9th - 3x1mile@6.20 w 1mile@8.00 recovery in between

Big upping of pace here. Last time I did this sort of session, it was 4x1mile @6.55 so the 30 second increase seemed daunting. Storm Ciara was howling all morning, with torrential rain - it seemed there was no way to escape running in it. Then, out of nowhere, the skies brightened up and there seemed to be break. Off I headed in a hurry.

Was going to cheat as well for this session, with all speed miles with the wind and the recoveries against. Guess I needed all the help I could get. 1 mile warmup and off I set on the first rep. As always, I don't know how to judge 6.20 so first glance of the watch showed 5.55. Eased it back a bit and managed to get the 1st one on time - 6.16. Turned around and did the recovery into the wind. It was hard to keep it near the 8 minute pace. Found that I recovered breath wise ok but the legs were not recovering that much.

Second rep and again I started too quick, another 5.5x pace when I looked at the watch. This time the pace eased itself due to effort and I found myself struggling towards the end. Still snuck in on time - 6.20. I was thinking that the 3rd one would be hellish if I was struggling on that one. Same thing with the recovery mile, 8min pace was a push on the legs.

Last rep and this time pace started at 6.10 and I was struggling early on. Half a mile left and I was suffering a lot. Kept looking at the watch every 30 secs I say, to me the distance remaining seemed to go up at times Finally it ended - 6.15 The recovery mile was ok, but the legs felt achy for it.

Happy with how it went and how my legs feel now as I type. Ready for week 2

Weekly mileage - 43 miles
Year to date - 246

Bad news is 3 sessions for me next week but at least for one of them, I get to do a parkrun at a speedy pace. Second parkrun ever for me (First was a 23min run in January 2019) and I'm hoping the race environment will help me with the pacey miles.

Mallow 10 week 3

Definitely an element of fatigue starting to creep in but another tough week lays ahead.

Monday 17th - 8 miles easy, 9.11avg

All easy runs this week are a lengthy 8 miles, which I find to be extra long and need more motivation for. Trying to change up running routes to keep me going. Ran this one in Ballincollig, legs were fairly tired but got through it. Thought I escaped the rain until the last mile when it bucketed down and I got soaked (yet again!)

Tuesday 18th - 5x1m@6.30 w 1m@8.00 rec in between

No motivation needed for this one. Another windy day but I decided just to pick a route and not worry about what direction it was blowing. Running 6.30 miles in Brooks is a lot tougher than the Vaporflys, took me a lot more effort to get them in on time. By rep 2, my legs had turned to jelly. The 8min miles were just about giving me enough recovery to get the next fast one done. Felt like I was on the edge the whole session, which is good. Didn't push to keep the recoveries bang on 8min due to the wind. Times were
6.31 7.59rec
6.32 8.04
6.28 8.06
6.29 8.14
6.28
Ran a 73min 10mile in total for that session, crazy to think that I went so fast for a training run

Wednesday 19th - 8 mile easy, 8.57avg

Did the same route as Sunday, from Carrigaline to Crosshaven, a lovely 8 mile out and back along some old railway line walkways. Fierce windy on the way back too. Lower back is feeling a bit sore today but should be fine. Another 8 mile easy tomorrow

Laineyfrecks wrote: »

That Tuesday session looks savage and in that wind too:eek:

Fair play Trev some hard work going on here!

Thanks E, effort levels have increased alright. All this to improve by 1 minute by next month!

But seriously, these sessions are specifically working on my endurance, which will help me for the longer goals of Cork Half and DCM.

Damo 2k9 wrote: »

Them sessions are smashing, very similar to what I have been doing over the last couple of weeks and I find they really work wonders for endurance. Knowing you can pull it off on a training run in middle of a heavy week is great confidence booster.

Great to see you got on board with a coach, it's great having that sense of accountability haha! Well that's the key for me, I lack structure terribly.

Well given your performance over the weekend, I'll keep on doing them if you say they've improved your endurance! Well done on that race again.

I am enjoying having the coach onboard and not having to do any thinking myself. I'll leave that up to the experts!

Thursday 20th - 8m easy, 8.59avg

Can't remember much about this run apart from running around the Blackrock loop. Legs were feeling tired and tender all week so this just maintained that fatigue.

Friday 21st - 3x3m@6.58 w 1m@8min in between

Definitely the hardest session I've done, with the combo of the length and pace of it, along with how tired I was feeling. Was nearly impossible to plan this route to give me the advantage of a majority tailwind.

After a mile warmup, I started on the first 3 mile rep with a tailwind for the majority of it. However, whether it was me trying to conserve myself for the rest of the session or not, I couldn't really hit under 7 minutes. Not far off them but still a worrying sign of things to come. 7.04, 7.01, 7.01

"Recovery mile" was tough into the wind so left it drift to 8.10 before starting on the second rep. This one was 2 miles into the wind and 1 mile with it. First mile was similar to the first rep, just over, but the 2nd one was even slower. Was battling the wind and the legs were heavy. Was happy to turn and get some help from the wind for the 3rd one. It was the only mile I hit under 7 mins 7.04, 7.08, 6.59

Another tough recovery mile which came in at 8.17. I wasn't really recovering in the legs though and they were really heavy starting the 3rd rep. Mixture of wind for this one but it was the least of my concern. First mile was ok-ish, tailwind helped me a bit. Second one though and I struggled badly, legs were shot and needed to run into a strong headwind for the last bit of it. Last mile with the wind and I tried to push it till the end 7.07, 7.18, 7.03

Was pleased with the effort and wasn't too disappointed with missing the times. I think it is good to have these hard days at times, stops you from getting too far ahead of yourself

Sunday 23th - 6m@6.58

After a rest day Saturday, I wasn't too sure how this run would go. My legs were still tired and had to put 6 of those Thursday miles together into one. Was invited to run with a friend and meet up with a few others from her club. This was probably the distraction I needed - not to embarrass myself in front of other runners. After a 2 mile warmup, started off on the tempo miles.

First 3 miles were with the wind and I was able to settle in to a good pace actually under target. Second part was into the wind at times, with some shelter too. 1 mile involved a strong headwind and having to go up and over a footbridge, which caused me to miss my target. Dug in for the last 2 miles and was relieved when it was over.
6.53, 6.57, 6.56, 7.11, 6.56, 6.59

Weekly mileage - 55 miles
Year to date - 349 miles

A really hard week, with high mileage and 3 hard sessions. Glad to get it over with. Another challenging one next week but seems to be easier on paper (famous last words). After today, I've decided to join Eagle AC here in Cork. I think it'll help me with these weekend runs, especially coming up to DCM. There's a lot of runners at my pace, plus loads faster, that I can learn from and hopefully improve with.

Friday 28th - 8 mile easy, 8.43avg

Horrible morning with loads of rain, but wind wasn't as bad. Decided to run this as close to home as possible. The 8 miles actually went fast enough and before I knew it I was looking into a well earned rest day.

Sunday 1st - 12m@7.25

Call me strange but seeing a run with 7.xx as the pace is a welcome relief these days, no matter how long the run is. I still knew it would be tough though. Met up with a couple of folks from the new club for the warmup and off we went.

Their idea of warmup pace is significantly faster than mine so I was glad when the 2 warmup miles were over and they set off into the distance. I tried to settle into my pace. First few miles were a small bit slow but guess I was saving myself for the return miles against the wind. 7.40, 7.33, 7.31, 7.24

Middle miles were more like it, had to keep up the pace and not let myself relaxed really 7.24, 7.30, 7.26, 7.23

Started counting down the miles from here, legs were beginning to hurt but not as much as I'm used to these days. Finished up the last mile as my quickest 7.23, 7.26, 7.23, 7.14

Weekly mileage - 52
Year to date - 401 miles

I've felt great this week, compared to last. My fear though, is that it was a stepback week and this is why I feel like I have a bit more energy. We'll see how next week goes. I already see that the paces have increased in my plan :eek::eek::eek: