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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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Laineyfrecks

Super time! Well done

Swashbuckler

Great stuff S. Out of interest is there anything in particular you out the improvement down to? Just consistency?

healy1835

I was watching race on FB, and wasn't checking splits. I actually thought you were wearing the club singlet as there was a guy in a yellow singlet who was gradually falling off the 17min group each lap. It was only when i checked the results i realised that wasn't you

great run. Never in doubt for me that you were gonna go sub 17 ðŸ’ª even since the the Jingle Bells you've been improving consistently. Fair play.

healy1835

great run. Never in doubt for me that you were gonna go sub 17 ðŸ’ª even since the the Jingle Bells you've been improving consistently. Fair play.

MY BAD

I haven't updated my log here the past few weeks since I was off 5 days sick. Yesterday I ran my first race since lockdown, The day of the Irish PBs 5000m.I had unfinished business here having a DNF previously here. I wasn't sure how this race would go, I haven't really been feeling it the past few weeks. But saying that I knew I had solid block of training behind me so I knew I'd still be close to my target time 16:59

When I was leaving home it was cool and wet, big difference in the east! I arrived in good time then did a 2.5km shakeout I was sweating during that. I met AuldManKing then, good to catch up again. Registered and chilled out for a bit before starting my warm up of just over 3km. I did my activations and drills in the shade before heading to the track where I just did a few strides. By now the sun was going down. Perfect race conditions I couldn't ask for better.

My first 200 was 38 seconds and 79 for the first 400. I was aiming for 81-82 but it felt good I never looked at my watch again after that first 400 and just went with the pacer. After 2 laps it started to spread out a bit. You could see a solid group working together ahead of the pacer aiming for mid 16s. I was looking my laps on popupraces they were all very similar and bang on 81-82 seconds. The whole race was very smooth if I'm honest except that last lap I was working hard but I didn't kick until 100 to go I wish I kicked sooner maybe 200. That last lap was 76 seconds. I was delighted to see sub 17 on the clock. 16:51.82 to be exact

Chatting to AMK afterwards he was saying I've made great progress. I just looked at the first page of the log two years ago I ran a 18:20 5km. I've really enjoyed the process. I did another 3k cool down before heading back to the rain. Brilliant event. I wish there was more open meets like this around the country. It would be a great way get road runners involved in athletics.

healy1835

Thanks Seán. Mate got stung badly on a pair of Alphaflys from the US a little while back so I won't risk the customs charge

I bought a pair of NB Fuelcell TC in the end today....

MY BAD

What size are you? TC Running company in the US have various sizes. I don't know if address pal will work for that shop. Might get stung by customs too so could end up been very expensive shoes
https://tcrunningco.com/products/mens-endorphin-speed-10-white-mutant?variant=31583064588311

healy1835

Yeah nothing doing in my size anywhere. As my Boards activity shows today, I have a goo on me to buy a pair of runners! Watch this space....

MY BAD

In the post. Got them from Alltricks

healy1835

Did you pick up a pair of Endorphin Speeds in the end Sean? Cant remember....

MY BAD

I've been asked to work evening shift for a while. I'll see how it goes. From a running point of view it will mean I'll miss out on track on Wednesday evenings but should be able to make the Saturday morning session. It will take a while to get in the swing of things.

Monday

Rest day.

Tuesday

Gloomy non stop drizzle but not a breeze for a change. For the first time in ages on a run I was just was like meh.

Easy 50 minutes plus 6x 10 seconds hills
12.14km @ 4:43/km

Wednesday

8km tempo

Warm up 3.4km plus all the usuals. I did my warm up in the forest trail which was closed due the forestry cutting down trees. It made me a bit ad seeing how it was left after them. Still hasn't lost all its charm but not quite the same.

For the tempo I used the same route for last Sundays 5x2km. I couldn't believe how busy the road was on a Wednesday late morning. I wouldn't say I executed the tempo perfectly but it wasn't bad either. Overall I was very happy it to be honest, all very controlled. I was trying to gain fitness not prove fitness.

8km tempo in 30:33

Cool down 3km

Thursday

Peach of a day. I was back on my hilly 10 mile route. I avoided this route last week because the legs were heavy. Great run, low heart rate and really light on my feet. 235m elevation gain on this run.

16.1km @4:38/km

Friday

50 minutes. This included a short hike/jog up a hill beside me and one loop on the top. A new trail was recently added to the hill to make it more accessible to tourists. I took it easy going up the hill. Same elevation gain as yesterday, and like yesterdays run spectacular views on a peach of a day. I added some photos to my Strava.

10km @ 5:14/km

Saturday

6x1km with between 60 and 90 seconds recovery

Great crew out this morning, and few who have wore the Irish singlet on more than one occasion. I used to think I did a long enough warm up but today it was 6km. Really easy like 6:00/km plus then progressed on to sub 4:45/km then the activations, drills and strides. Nearly a hour before we got going! I actually needed that for a AM session to get going today. I know the fast guys are doing their thing on the track and da da da but it's cool to watch how they approach a session. Really enjoyed this session. 5 out of the 6 were controlled I tried to push the last one, the first but 400 was 73s. Way too hot. The next 400 I suffered and managed to just about hold on for the final 200. I think if I controlled this last km better instead of going hard at the start it would have been 3:20 or lower. Really enjoyable session,my coach thinks I'm in great form I feel good too. The recovery was a walk/shuffle across the football pitch so the time varied but coach didn't let me get too comfortable so between 60 and 90 seconds

6x1km splits
3:30, 3:26, 3:25, 3:24, 3:23, 3:22

Cool down 3.5km I has short on time so i couldn't go with the crew on their 5km

Sunday

At work sunday I started to feel unwell so I went home early. I started to get worse and it was getting difficult to breathe. I rang GP on Monday he was concerned because of my symptoms and sent me for a covid test. Thankfully I didn't have covid just a bad chest infection. I've responded well and hope to get back to running soon but I won't rush it. Mad how quick things can turn when you feel the fittest you've ever been to 24 hours later really miserable. Your health is your wealth.

MY BAD

Monday

Rest day.

Tuesday

Easy 60 minutes.
13.1km @ 4:37/km

Wednesday

Easy 60 minutes including 6x10 seconds hills towards the end.
12.5km @ 4:50/km

Thursday

Back with the BAD crew on the track for the 1st time since lockdown. Perfect evening, the only good evening all week. Traffic was cat in town, I was going to be late so I parked up and jogged down to the track so warm up was a bit longer than usual. It was great to catch up with everyone and rub shoulders with some big names in Irish athletics.

Warm up 5.7km plus all the usual. I always feel more relaxed doing my activations and drills on the track than on the side of the road.

4km progression tempo plus 10x 300 with 100 jog recovery

For the 4km progression our targets were 4:10, 4:00, 3:50, 3:40. I was second in my group for the first km then took the lead and paced it as we started a bit hot. Getting back in the habit of pacing will take a while as I've been using pre programmed on my Garmin since lockdown.

Splits
4:02, 3:57, 3:47, 3:39

On the 300s I was targeting 58-59seconds. I went away to hard on the first one but I got in the swing of it was it went on

Splits
53, 55, 57, 57, 57, 57, 59, 59, 57, 56

Cool down 3km

Friday

Easy 10 miles. My legs were heavy after yesterdays session so I didn't didn't do it on my hilly route.
16.1km @4:42/km

Saturday

45 minutes easy
9.3km @ 4:50/km

Sunday

Because I did my session on Thursday instead of Wednesday like usual so I moved my Saturday session to Sunday. I decided to do a long run with something rather than just a session or a plain long run. The last time I combined a long run with a session was 5 weeks ago when I ran a 10 mile progression. I think it's good for a 5 to 10km runner like myself to do the odd longer session every so often. I considered doing another mile progression but I went with session I do in the early build up stages to racing a half instead.

5x2km with 1km float recovery

I was going to target some where between 3:45 and 3:48/km on the 2km but it was really windy out so I pulled it back so not to be forcing it too much. My splits weren't as smooth as I'd like but that was more like January not July today. I kept the 1km float recovery honest enough somewhere between 4:25 - 4:20/km

Just over 3km warm up

2km splits

7:38, 7:40, 7:35, 7:46, 7:35

I averaged between 3:53-3:48/km on those 2kms

Cool down 3km

Total distance 89.1km with 6 days running.

MY BAD

Half way through the year. I miss racing but I can't complain with 1875km or 1165miles. Just two races Raheney 5 mile in January and a PB of 28:35 and then a local 5km the following week on heavy legs 17:34. I've done three 5km time trials 17:14, 17:09, 16:59 and one poor attempt of a mile TT in 5:08. I did miss six consecutive days with a slight injury in mid March. Hopefully I can ticking over and fingers crossed things some way normal in Autumn/Winter

MY BAD

I entered my first race since lockdown. A dirty, hilly 10km along the coast in late July.

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.

Dubh Geannain

Super run.

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

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:

Swashbuckler

Nice one on the sub 17 lad.

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.

MY BAD

Low 17s with the hope of cracking 17.

ThebitterLemon

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

TbL

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.

healy1835

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

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.

Swashbuckler

Another great week. Stringing them together consistently

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.

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.

Swashbuckler

Hope your dad is ok S.

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

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