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Positive Vibes. Negative Splits.

MY BAD

Hi,
I enjoy reading the logs here so I'm starting a log here mainly to be accountable to myself but also I'm hoping I can get a bit of advice along the way. I'm club runner and we have a coach but most my sessions are done on my own which can be hard, but it's circumstances out of my control.

This summer I'm training for mainly 5km races. I had a couple of 5k races this year nothing hectic 18:51 and 18:44. I hope to get close as possible to my 2016 PB 17:59 in Rathfarham at the end of September. These are the dates and distances I hope to race.

14th June 5k
8th July 5k
13th July 4 mile
8th September 5k
30th September 5k

I know a lot of runners here use the imperial system but I use metric so apologies in advance. Over 1200km on the clock this year and around 70km average per week over the past two months. So a nice base behind me, okay let's see how this goes. I'll update this every Sunday.

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AuldManKing

You've progressed so much in the 2 years! Inspiring stuff.

Be careful of the plan from the coach beginning with G.
If its who I think it is, a lot of folks ended up injured or leaving halfway through as its very tough.

Swashbuckler

Yeah to back up what A said - the progress has been fantastic - why move away from the current coach? Seems like he's in tune with what works for you.

MY BAD

Thanks lads. I've no intention of leaving my coach :pac: But I like to look at other coaches approaches and plans. Mainly out of curiosity, but I'm always trying to learn more. The guy who sent on the plan did indeed end up getting injured :rolleyes:

KSU

MY BAD wrote: »

Thanks lads. I've no intention of leaving my coach :pac: But I like to look at other coaches approaches and plans. Mainly out of curiosity, but I'm always trying to learn more. The guy who sent on the plan did indeed end up getting injured :rolleyes:

It’s a high risk high reward approach. Works well for some who have had a plateau after years of consistent heavy training but reality is gains can be got in a much safer way.

Mind you it works well for coaching testimonials if you play the numbers game on it

MY BAD

I understand the high risk, high reward outlook. But I think too many average runners let their judgement get clouded on what is actually a high reward. A specific time in once off race isn't high reward for your average runner like myself. In the past I've been too focused on a specific time for once off race rather than seeing a general trend of improvement. I over reached and paid the price severely for it. I like to think now I see the bigger picture, well kinda.

KSU

MY BAD wrote: »

I understand the high risk, high reward outlook. But I think too many average runners let their judgement get clouded on what is actually a high reward. A specific time in once off race isn't high reward for your average runner like myself. In the past I've been too focused on a specific time for once off race rather than seeing a general trend of improvement. I over reached and paid the price severely for it. I like to think now I see the bigger picture, well kinda.

Completely agree with this

I think the other factor to this is the glass ceiling effect. A high reward at the time might seem great but limited potential due to lack of consistency means that you can't push beyond that 60-70% potential range.

So say someone going from 3.40 down to 3.15 in marathon and then can't push beyond or keep breaking down because they havent the consistency over years vs say someone like Krusty who grinded out to long terms blowing those sort of times out of the water through consistently chopping away.

I guess this comes down to the individual as well not everyone wants to be in the sport long term but would rather 2-3 years to give a respectable time and leave it at that.

Swashbuckler

There's also the flipside from the coaching side I expect? Pressure to wheel out big success stories on Facebook to boost profile and encourage more people to come on board. Quickest route to that is the high risk training, get the big results, promote those people and nobody ever hears about the many athletes left behind on the scrapheap.

Swashbuckler

Sidenote for anyone reading: I'm not implying thats what KSU does!

MY BAD

Swashbuckler wrote: »

There's also the flipside from the coaching side I expect? Pressure to wheel out big success stories on Facebook to boost profile and encourage more people to come on board. Quickest route to that is the high risk training, get the big results, promote those people and nobody ever hears about the many athletes left behind on the scrapheap.

I'd say that happens with coaches who make a lot of noise online where the athlete just a number, unless they make massive gains. I count myself really lucky I've never paid for coaching in fact he'll rent the track and pay for it himself. Just quietly helping all his athletes achieve their goals. Also on specific time goals. Don't get me wrong I think it's good to specific time goals but not to be like all or nothing trying to achieve them. They must be realistic to your training and if you feel they are starting to become unachievable pull back a bit reset and build a bit slower.

MY BAD

My mile TT didn't quite go to plan today. I put down 4:59 as a prediction but on a out and back I think 5:04 was a reasonable target. It was a hectic day at work I and I got quite dehydrated working in a room at over 30 degrees and didn't get to have lunch as there were too many break downs. I finished work at 6pm and while I'm on call for work this weekend I knew I'd have a good chance of not getting a call between 7pm and 8pm. So I went out at 7pm it was still very warm in the mid 20s. I still had a bit of a headache from the dehydration if I wasn't on call I would have had my dinner then chilled out for a few hours until after 9 went out when it was cooler.

Did my warm up heading out the road where I planned to run it. When I turned around to jog back into town it was like getting hit by a hair dryer. A very pleasant but strong head wind. Not ideal for a mile TT but it could be worse. The road was very quite for my warm up but as soon as I started doing my strides it started getting busy.

I my usual dynamic warm up and activations. I then did 6 20 seconds strides into the head wind to get the heart rate up and get a feel of the effort.

Three two one off I go. The first quarter was spot on 76. I meet a few cars on my next quarter mile which put me off and lost my concentration I had to step of the road. 79 for the second quarter mile. The turn around went good it would never be pretty. I was glad to have the breeze on my back. I met one car on the 3rd quarter but it didn't put me of much. I still wasn't concentrating right but getting in the swing of it. 77 for the 3rd. I tried to push but never got that burning feeling you'd get on a hard session on the track or the last 200 of a 5km race. 75 for the last quarter. Strava says a 5:08 mile. Its a decent effort. I'll take it but I'll give it a proper effort later in the summer. Hopefully on the track.

I did over 4km cool down. I hope to do 10 miles progression tomorrow evening if I don't get called to work and the body is good.

MY BAD

MONDAY

Rest day

Tuesday

AM: Recovery 45 minutes
8.79km @5:09/km

Started off with quite heavy legs and sluggish so I didn't force it. After 3 or 4km I felt I could push on a bit but I didn't, I just kept it relaxed.

Wednesday

AM: Fartlek: 5x 2mins on, 1 minute float, 1 minute on, 30 seconds float, 30 seconds on, 30 seconds float

No a session for targeting a mile in a few days but at 6am I know I'd be wasting my time trying to run 200s/400s. I had my alarm set for 5:30am but woke just before 5am. I used the extra 30 minutes to do stretching and loosening up. Then onto marching and some light drills in the house. I've gotten out of the habit of 6am runs so that 30 minutes did me the world of good.

Just over 4km warm which included some 4x 90mts strides. Also more drills and activations

I had no pre programed paces on the Garmin as I didn't know how I'd react to doing some speed work at that time in the morning. I actually was feeling very good compared to the previous morning throughout the session. For the 2 minutes on my pace was about 3:30/km and a bit faster for the 1 minute and 30 seconds on. I was a bit generous on myself during the floats pace.

In total 7.1km of work in 27:30 so that's an average pace of 3:52/km or 6:14/mile. I think if I was doing this session in the evening it would have went better. But I'm happy with that effort as I don't like morning sessions, especially before 6am.

Cool down 3km

14.26km @ 4:22/km in total

Thursday

AM: Easy 50 minutes.
Mainly on trail

10.7km @4:44/km

Friday

AM: Easy with 5x 10-12 seconds hill sprints
Mainly on grass with the hills on the road

9.5km @4:50/km

I was texting my coach today congratulating him on his new baby and he tells me he has his first session back on since Covid on Saturday. If I wasn't working Saturday I'd drop the Boards TT like a hot potato, sorry guys.

Saturday

PM: Mile TT

Warm up plus all my usual activations and drills 3.6km in total.

Then 6x 20 seconds strides

Mile TT in 5:08

Not my day. I think I was just going through the emotions without giving an honest effort. I felt in never really got into it or made it hurt. I'll give it another go over the summer.

Cool down 4.5km

Sunday

PM: 10 mile progression

I did this after a busy day at work. But unlike Saturday I had my dinner, chilled out for a few hours, and waited for it too cool down a bit. Just a light breeze so it was perfect conditions for running.

I was bilingual for this session. I did my warm up in km then 10x 1 mile progression for distance while using km for pace. Then cool down in kms

Splits
7:12
7:07
6:59
6:48
6:39
6:33
6:24
6:13
6:10
5:56

10 mile in 66:03

3km cool down

I enjoyed that session I don't do enough of that kind of stuff tbh. I thought I'd struggle a bit but it was all very relaxed even the last two miles.

Total 21.1km @4:15/km

Weekly distance 75.6km with 6days running.

healy1835

That's a cracking session. Have you raced a 10 Mile before?

MY BAD

healy1835 wrote: »

That's a cracking session. Have you raced a 10 Mile before?

Only once back in 2016 64:04. I was a 39:xx minute 10km running back then so I'd like to think I'd go sub 60 on 10 miles now.

MY BAD

MONDAY

Rest day

Tuesday

PM: Easy 50 minutes plus 6x10 seconds hills
11.3km @4:48/km

Wednesday

PM: 2x2mile + 2x 1km

Warm up 4km plus all the usuals

2x 2mile tempo with 2:30 minutes recovery

12:27, 12:22

2x1km with 2 minutes recovery

3:25, 3:23

Cool down 3.2km

16.15km @ 4:22/km in total

Thursday

PM: Easy miles

14km @4:40/km

Friday

PM: Easy 45 minutes including 6x20 seconds strides

9.5km @4:48/km

Very wet and cold. Long sleeves, jacket, and gloves on for the first time ever in June.

Saturday

PM: 8x400 with 200 float recovery targeting 80 seconds

Warm up plus all my usual activations and drills 4.1km in total.

Track session on the road. Still very windy here. Head wind out and tail wind coming back which messed up my splits a bit

Splits
80, 78, 79, 79, 82, 81, 82, 79

Average 80 seconds

Cool down 3km

Sunday

AM: Long run 21km @4:39/km

Weekly distance 84.2km with 6days running.

MY BAD

MONDAY

I don't normally run on Mondays but I was checking out a route for long hill repeats on the mountains. Its a good 1200m in length with a good surface before the surface gets too rough for with over 130m elevation gain or an average of 11% grade

5km @5:22/km with over 180m elevation gain.

Tuesday

PM: Easy 50 minutes plus 6x10 seconds hills
11.58km @4:50/km

Wednesday

PM: 8x1km with 90 seconds shuffle recovery

I met a few lads in my club for this one. First time since Covid 19 lock downs

Warm up 3.2km plus all the usuals

1km splits

3:35, 3:33, 3:31, 3:33, 3:29, 3:31, 3:29, 3:27

My average was 3:31

A young lad who has taken up distance running during the lock down came in was with us for 5x1km. I got him to hop in with me for his last rep, he loves it. But will go back to the GAA when it's back. His Dad runs with us so he might influence him. I think he has great potential

Cool down 3.76km

16.15km @ 4:22/km in total

Thursday

PM: Easy 60 or so minutes

13.14km @4:44/km

I could feel the km repeats in my legs from the previous day.

Friday

AM: Early morning recovery 30 minutes

6.2km @5:00/km

Saturday

PM: 3km tempo, 3x60sec, 4x30sec,3x60sec hills, 3km tempo

Eventful day to say the least at home. Had to rush my Dad to hospital twice. Why he was discharged the first time I don't know. Obviously my head wasn't right doing the session but it went all according to plan. I intended to do this session on the mountains where I ran Monday but that went out the window. Very warm and humid but it didn't seem to affect me to much.

Shorter than normal warm up because its a big session plus all my usual activations and drills 2.7km in total.

First 3km tempo 11:29 that's 3:50/km or 6:10/mile I was very careful not to over cook it with the hills and another tempo ahead.

3x60sec, 4x30sec,3x60sec hills

The hills went very good. I kept recovery 2 minutes jog down for the 60 seconds hills and 1 minute recovery for 30 seconds hills. The hills were all very consistent with no fall off.

The second 3km tempo I could open it up a bit more but I could really feel the hills in my legs, still 3km in 11:25 at 3:48/km or 6:07/mile

Again a shorter cool down 2km as I'm keeping a eye on the weekly distance

Sunday

AM: Long hilly run 21.75km @4:42/km with nearly 300m elevation gain. Oh man I wasn't ready for that humidity. My legs were good after yesterday's session.

Weekly distance 90.3km with 7days running and over 1000m elevation gain. Biggest week since the end of February. A bit less mileage next week as I sharpen up for my clubs virtual 5km in two weeks

MY BAD

Weekly distance 90.3km with 7days running and over 1000m elevation gain. Biggest week since the end of February. A bit less mileage next week as I sharpen up for my clubs virtual 5km in two weeks

Swashbuckler

Hope your dad is ok S.

Im always impressed when I see your sessions on Strava. Some beauts lately

OOnegative

Sweatlicker wrote: »

Hope your dad is ok S.

Im always impressed when I see your sessions on Strava. Some beauts lately

+1 to all of this S, especially the old man bit.

MY BAD

MONDAY

Rest

Tuesday

PM: Easy 50 minutes plus 6x10 seconds hills
12km @4:41/km

Wednesday

PM: 2km, 3x1km, 1km

I went out a bit too early. It was very humid so it took me a while to get into it. The road was very busy with traffic too which is unusual. For the first 2km I was aiming for 6:50. I just went with the flow without forcing it too much. I was mindful of the humidity and didn't want to make a balls of the session. It ended up been seven on the button. Two minutes off recovery then into 3x1km tempo with 60 seconds off recovery. As I got into the swing of it I let it progress. Splits on the tempo/cruise were 3:47, 3:45, 3:43. On the last one I took two minutes off before the last faster 1km. I started nice and smooth but started day dreaming before getting my sh*t together with 300 to go. 3:20.

Warm up 3.2km plus all the usuals

Splits

2km 7:00
3x1km 3:47, 3:45, 3:43
1km 3:20

Cool down 3km

13km in total

Thursday

PM: A solid 10miler on the rolling hills.

16.1km @4:39/km

Friday

PM: 45 minutes easy with 5x 20 seconds strides included at the end.
9.45km @4:46/km

Saturday

PM: 5x 1 mile at cruise with 60 seconds recovery

Horrible evening for a session I headed out after work. I was thinking about doing this Saturday morning before work but the evening suited me better. Very windy and heavy rain. I wore my jacket for the entire session. Even in winter time I'll take of the jacket for the session. But it shows how rough the weather was on Saturday evening. I actually enjoyed it despite the weather. The miles were at cruise pace so somewhere between tempo and 10km pace. I progressed tcve miles as I got into it. A mixture of a standing and shuffle recovery.

Just over 3km warm up plus the usual drills, activations, and strides.

Splits
6:05, 6:03, 5:57, 5:54, 5:48

Cool down 3km. I wasn't long getting cold after the session.

Total 14.6km

Sunday

AM: Out before work so a bit too quick of a turnaround since yesterdays session if I'm honest. Set the alarm for 5:30 on the road at 5:45. I had planned for 18-20km if I had done my session yesterday in the morning. I cut it back a little bit and kept the pace slow on a not to hilly route.

16.5km @4:58/km

Weekly distance 81.8km with 6days running. Time trial next weekend.

Swashbuckler

Another great week. Stringing them together consistently

MY BAD

Sweatlicker wrote: »

Another great week. Stringing them together consistently

Thanks. I've been very happy with the last 12 weeks since my niggle where I missed seven days in a row.

healy1835

Cruising atm Sean. All set for when marathons get going in the spring

MY BAD

Boom! If I had a job where I wasn't required to work 50 hours plus a week, as well as been on call I'd definitely would have raced one by now.

ThebitterLemon

Some great sessions there, whats your target for the 5k?

TbL

MY BAD

Low 17s with the hope of cracking 17.

MY BAD

Monday

Easy 60 minutes
12.6km @ 4:45/km

Tuesday

Easy 50 minutes
10.5km @ 4:45/km

I had an accident at work today, luckily I was killed a bit of discomfort during this run

Wednesday

3km steady plus 2x pyramids

Very humid but dry. The two previous evenings were bucketing down.

Warm up 3.7km plus the usual drills and strides.

3km steady 4:05, 4:04, 4:05

Pyramids were as follows 100,200,300,200,100,200,300,200,100 all with 200 float recovery.

Between 2:50‐3:10/km for the faster stuff so a good turn over.

Cool down 3km

Thursday

40 minutes easy
8.6km @ 4:42/km

Again warm and humid

Friday

25 minutes with 4x10 seconds hill sprints
5.4km 4:48km

I didn't get out until after 9:30pm which is very late for me.

Saturday

5km time trial 16:59

Warm up 3.3km followed by the usual activations and drills. Then another 800m of strides.

I got my brother to do this with me. He's still playing football and GAA but soon retiring. I help him out a bit with his training. At the moment he's doing alot of that MAS running for his GAA club but getting plenty of easy miles in too. With over 1000 miles on his belt this year. His last 5km he was 19:56 so he was delighted with 18:15 today. Wet and windy evening. We both didn't get much sleep all week so we were expecting that to affect us. Point to point course, very similar to my two previous 5k time trials since lock down 17:13 and 17:09. The only difference was I could go further out now so no turning around at 180 degrees. The first km is slightly uphill so it stopped me going off too fast fast like my previous 5km time trials. I'm happy with this one, I feel I could have pushed on more but that's the difference between a time trial and a race. Going sub 17 was a more psychological than anything else for me. My splits were 3:24, 3:24, 3:26, 3:18 with tape over my watch so I couldn't see how I fast I was running. Just trying to get a feel for it.

Cool down 3.4km

Sunday

90 minutes easy
19.5km @4:40/km

Ah lads, what's with the weather lately? Jacket on for this run but could have done with gloves too. Wind and heavy rain. Still have a bit of discomfort all week since the accident but it hasn't stopped me running thankfully.

Total distance 82.6km with 7 days running.

Swashbuckler

Nice one on the sub 17 lad.

MY BAD

Sweatlicker wrote: »

Nice one on the sub 17 lad.

Thanks hopefully I can do it in a real race so I can count it as a PB. What's the story with your log :pac:

Dubh Geannain

Super run.

And your brother too, who has clocked more miles than me this year

Swashbuckler

MY BAD wrote:

Thanks hopefully I can do it in a real race so I can count it as a PB. What's the story with your log

The log has been stop/start for a while now. At the moment it's stop rather than start.