Sub 5 minute mile

ahnowbrowncow wrote: »

Great run and post Dubh Geannain. I'm always interested in seeing how you're getting on and wondering how that would translate if you were to play football.

I presume you were never this aerobically fit when playing? How much of a benefit do you think your current level of fitness would have been to a younger you when playing? Or do you think it may have been somewhat detrimental if you weren't able to focus as much on other areas such as anaerobic and stength training?

The average distance covered by intercounty players in 2018 was 9.2km with an average sprinting distance of 1,731m (distance when over 20km/h).

Aerobic capacity is obviously important and with your 800m to 10 mile times you're ticking the aerobic boxes and with an average speed of 22.5km/h for 800m, I'd imagine you'd be well able for shorter faster bursts.

Absolutely. I was never this fit at any point in my life. I was usually the fittest on the team whatever level I was playing at at the time. If I wasn't (like coming back from injury) I'd work harder to get back there.

Well I played a bit of Junior D for a month and a half last year. The fitness was handy for a couple of long surging runs and quickly recovering. I'd have covered the most ground of any player on the field. Whether I was effective enough is debatable I still wasn't terribly speedy.

Since last year I'm down around 4 lbs from what would have been my standard weight for the past number of years. Working from home without access to the weights I'd left in the office being mostly responsible. It might not sound like alot but I'm a little under 11 st now. If anything my fitness now would have me at more of a disadvantage now in some ways. My game was always to be as busy as possible knitting moves together and running long runs up and down the pitch. I could kick a few points too but the aim was usually to get it to the marquee forwards. I could run comfortably with the ball but if I hit a strong arm I'd often be doubling back looking for an offload for 2 reasons.
1. Not being a powerful player. Despite working out but not obsessing over it, I'd never get near to the size of most of the other players, so couldn't always break some tackles. This became more and more difficult in recent years as players got bigger and bigger.
2. Not having a lethal change of pace. Doing sprint drills I'd be left on the line by a few lads but would usually come back fairly quickly as I think my general running technique was better. Not having arms free in a game to help propel me would be a hindrance.

On the 2 points above. I could have addressed both a bit better but firstly I didn't like the thought of making myself unnaturally big along with the maintenance and appetite that would be required to support the extra bulk. I'll hold my hands up on the second point moreso though. I wasn't cute enough to work on that shortcoming myself.

Chivito550's and Ivory Tower's logs would be my recommendations to follow for real speed work type plans.

Truth be told, while having no regrets I think I might have been better suited to soccer or athletics all along but the comradery of the GAA kept me coming back.

PS - the plan still is to avoid the football this year. I've met some of the lads a few times out and about and they're still getting bigger! I've had plenty of injuries, some of which I'm still living with the consequences of so I consider myself extremely lucky to be able to run like I can now at all. Bernard Flynn's Laochra Gael episode was on TG4 last week. I really enjoyed it and could relate to the fear of losing your spot on the team if you missed a game through injury. He was properly banjaxed in the end. Sean Kavanagh's is on tonight whom I had the pleasure of marking him once in a pre season Ulster competition. Both midfield, he collected the ball on his own 45 and proceeded to run forward. I tried to hit him and bounced off. He kept going and I gave chase, catching him again around our own 21 where I tried to tackle him again only to be flicked away like a pesky bug. I could only watch helplessly as he proceeded to bury the ball into our goal. I'm sure he'll recount our unforgettable one sided duel tonight and how I made him the player he was :pac:

The 5 k TT the previous Sunday was knawing at me a bit afterward. It shouldn't have really but you can't let a decent motivation opportunity pass by. I've decided to go back onto another 800 m plan soon but for now will run something like one session per week along with a hard effort of some sort depending on how I feel for a few weeks. It'll either be another session or a TT type effort. Going to base it off just how I'm feeling. So many distances to try.

April 26-May 2
Monday 10 k easy - 47:45. A longer run than I'd normally consider doing the day after a TT but I wanted to assure myself the legs weren't as tired as they should have been following the effort.
Tuesday 6.5 k easy - 30:12
Wednesday 5 x 1k Intervals off 2 minutes rest, 4x200R The first workout in phase III of an 800 m plan except instead of 3 minute intervals I pushed it up to 1 km. So the efforts were 3:21, 3:19, 3:20, 3:19, 3:15. Half on grass, half on path. Was working but my form held up fine so was happy with them and was able to hit the necessary pace for the 200s after (34, 34, 35, 33).
Friday 14.5 km - 1:09 Turned out to be the last run of the week for me so was lucky I had decide to make it a long one.

Mild touch of something brewing over the weekend so rested up and dosed on honey and lemon. I'd actually been trying to cram 200 km in for April but didn't think going out and running a half marathon on the Friday would be a good idea. finished up on 195 km for the month. 3 km short on April 2020, so this was the first month this year I didn't exceed my 2020 equivalent.

May 3 - 10 km TT
New month and after 2 days rest. What will I do? During the week I got a Strava notification that I'd lost a segment crown. The guy had done a 10 km TT and set the record on that segment while doing it. His time was 35:33 or something like that. I gave him a thumbs up and looked at his run in more detail. The pace needed to do that. 3:33/km. Fair play to him. The decision was probably made at that stage. I'm going to try and beat my 10 km 2021 target of 36:30. It was some day for it weather wise.

I did a little math based off my inspirations pace of 3:33/km and 3:35/km was decided on. It's an easy number to work with. 10*3.5 plus 10*5 would yield a 35:50. So the plan was to aim for 3:35 splits and work out how I was going based off each. Plan B was upon detonation/implosion I'd aim for just over 8 km and call it a five mile effort.

Slow jog out of the house with my windcheater flapping in the wind. The heavens opened before I left the estate and my watch refused to get a signal. I wasn't going to be put off that easily though. I jogged around a mile before it finally beeped. No further warm up or stretches, off I went.

1 km - 3:27. Started with a crosswind which quickly turned into a tailwind as I sailed up the Navan road. The watch was really all over the place still and my pace was up and down without much change in effort so I ignored it for the most part. Surprised to see the first split but lesson learned from last week was to make use of the wind when I have it.
2 km - 3:34 - Half with and half against the wind. Coming back down the road again. I'm up by 9 seconds.
3 km - 3:43 - Head down the road working the arms keeping. Stride length is definitely shorter so just keep the effort comfortable.
4 km - 3:36 - A little bit of shelter from a cross wind in places. Feeling okay. 8 seconds or so up.
5 km - 3:35 - In the middle of this I ditch my windcheater, literally, throwing it over a ditch noting roughly where it'd be afterwards. No one will touch it because of Covid. Still on pace.
6 km - 3:43 - Expecting to lose time into the wind but knowing I'd a little buffer built up. Definitely starting to suffer a little now but know the relief will come soon. I figured I was bang on my target time now.
7 km - 3:36 - Do I pick it up more and aim for finishing at 8? No, hold steady for the next two and then it's only two left. Just over target by about a second or two.
8 km - 3:32 - Uphill mostly but with the wind on my back. This will be the last km I can make use of it (or so I thought ) . Okay I've definitely got nice buffer here going into the last 2. Hold the 9th and the final km will take care of itself.
9 km - 3:45 Horrible, horrible wind. Really feeling it all the way through this km. I assure myself that my legs will keep moving even if the pace falls off a cliff. Do I fancy the last km now? Not so much. Feic it, it's my run and my rules I'm going to take the wind for the last km. I figure out a loop I can take up ahead that will take me back the way I came over the 9th km to turn my assailant into my assistant. The turn around was still tight enough, around 120 degrees, as my legs nearly went from under me. Just as I turned the watch beeped. My mental arithmetic told me I was about 4 seconds over 36 flat pace so needed to be around 3:30 to seal a sub 36..
10 km - 3:23 After the initial wobble, I managed to almost immediately pick up the pace and went into cruise mode, not thinking of the suffering anymore. A nice consistent effort for the full km without the need to sprint the finish was the plan and what I managed. Watch was switched to distance and time now so I'd no idea of the pace really but felt it was around 3:30. Stopped the watch at 10 km and 35:58. Bloody delighted. Beat my target with change. It was only when I got home and realised I split 3:23 for the last km and that my mental arithmetic was well off. Of course I didn't account for any decimals and had rounded everything down, so got really lucky to run such a fast last km to get there even if it was with the wind.

FWIW - My own pain scale
800 m TT - 10/10
5 k TT - 9.5/10
10 k TT - 9/10

There's probably a reason I didn't go straight and try a mile after the 800m plan. I just know I'll suffer more during it.

shotgunmcos wrote: »

You Sir, are on a roll! Awesome TT, especially the finish to drag it under 36. Inspiring!

Thanks Shotgun. TBH if I had kept to my planned route for the last km it probably wasn't happening and I would have been a couple of seconds the wrong side. I'll take it though because the day itself was muck and the rest of the run was good and honest.

I was wondering today should I have just ran out the Navan road for 10 k with the wind on my back all the way for the craic. I think consistent splits of 3:30 were a possibility but then it would have been an torturous trot home again.

skyblue46 wrote: »

Fair play on all the recent performances. I have to say I admire the total lack of BS...no coach, no fancy shoes, no spartan diet...just getting out there and running. Lots more to come without a doubt. Keep enjoying it

Thanks S. Since you mentioned the above :pac:

While not always successful I do like to try things myself when possible. Could be a bit of the Cavan meanness in me or the engineer or a combination of the two. There's a few around here that have been as good as a coach as far as I'm concerned so I've been very grateful for the input and certainly wouldn't have improved without the feedback. Sacksian and Murph deserve specific praise. You only need to look back at the first page of the log to see how clueless I was.

I'm aware my diet is not fantastic. I've made spurts to cut back on the sugar but that's about it. This is the one that bothers me most and I've been woeful at replacing the snacks with healthier alternatives. I'm not scared of any other food type but have gradually if unintentionally cut back on alcohol mostly due to having kids. Also, despite being wary of animal protein as a reinforcer of harmful cell growth I'd still eat meat most days. I certainly do not practice any dieting disciplines but find the process of autophagy fascinating. I think if I wasn't running I'd look at that aspect of diet more but believe exercise assists in inducing this process in a lot of organs (though not all). That's all I'll say about diet for now.

I've two pairs of runners. I had to double check the names there. I find the names very confusing and hard to follow. I've a pair of flats (adidas adizero sub 2) and my everyday runner is Nike Ultraboost PB. My flats badly need replacing though. My runner situation is definitely subject to change. It's such a hot topic around here I've been close a few times to see what all the fuss is about. And the more I read on here the less confused I am of the varuous brands and types. One thing thing holding me back a little is that I'd lose that comparability to my previous runs.

May 3 - May 9

• Monday - 10 k TT
• Wednesday - 8.5 km easy - 40:31
• Thursday - Intervals, 15x(60on, 40off). Paces averaged around 3:18/km. Thought I might do 20 but knew 15 was plenty as the session progressed.
• Friday - 9.5 km easy - 45:30
• Sunday - 9.1 km easy - 40:30

Back up to 30 miles for the week.

Swashbuckler wrote: »

What size are you in runners?

There he is. I actually bought the flats after one of your posts! They were my first ever pair of non regular runners and remember my pleasant surprise at how light they felt compared to my Asics at the time. I'd be an 8.5 UK or 42.5 EU usually.

I won some money playing Fantasy Football this year \o/ Actually had a terrible year overall but the league I was in was equally as bad I won by a single point in the end so yesterday was quite nervy as the games were going on. I've been playing since I was in college but this was the first time money was involved for me. I think it became a little less fun as a result and I'm not sure if I'll do it again.

Aaaanyway, while they were certainly not on my radar previously I just might pick up a pair of carbon plated shoes after all Not going to jump the gun just yet though, I'm considering putting it towards a treadmill or an exercise bike either. Tough decisions.

On the running front. I hit my 30 miles two weeks ago but missed it this week gone by.

Two weeks back I did a 10x400 @ mile pace session w/ 1 min r/. Just wanted to see if I might be in sub 4:50 shape. I'd love to be able to run it without completely redlining but think I will actually have to push myself hard to get there. The target for the session was 72 secs and I hit [74,71,72,72,72,73,72,73,72,68]. It wasn't a struggle and feel I could have hit the targets with a little more effort on the ones I missed by a second here and there. Marked out the distance would have helped too. It'll be tight I'd say and the thoughts of doing 4 back to back (plus 9 metres) puts the fear on me a bit.

Last week I redid the following 800 session from a few months back - 3x(600FR, 30 sec r/, 200FR, 7 minutes jog). Last time out I missed the pace on all the 600s but this time I managed each of them with 1:47, 1:47, 1:45. No issues with the 200s after 30seconds rest. They always feel very short after a longer rep. Was very happy after this and a good wake up for the legs.


3 Km - TT
Last Saturday was supposed to be an Intervals session but I changed it out for a 3 k TT. Had a couple of drinks Friday night but wasn't heading out for this until the late evening so was back to normalish by then. Managed to get out between the showers too which was a bonus. Having fallen short of 10 minutes on a couple of occasions previously I decided on a different tac. 3:20 is 10 flat pace but I planned to run the first km in 3:15, expect to fade from there but not too much that a final km kick might see me home. The route was uphill out the Navan road and back in again. I reckoned it was around 1.5 k up and then down, so 3 km and I'd get the benefit of having a downslope for the second half. It was a bad estimate. :rolleyes:
1 km - Up the navan road at a nice clip. I think I touched 3:00/km initially but reeled it back to target. I wasn't feeling the pace was something that was going to take a toll. I was feeling good. Watched beeped at 3:14. Lovely
2km - Right, try an hold 3:20 pace. I came to my loop around after only 300 metres or so, so knew I was going to have to run past my starting point. Kept the breathing controlled and the form relaxed and soon saw the watch beep at 3:18. Sweet, there was no doubt I was on course at this point.
3 km - Allowed myself to slow a bit to 3:25/3:30 pace to save a little for the finish. A nice position to be in. I knew I could afford to do this as I was probably around 8 seconds up. Also, by running past my starting point I was going to have a little extra elevation gain. Picked up the pace for the last 300 metres to as close to a sprint as I could manage. 3:15.

Final time - 9:46.

This is as short a report as they come because it really did go by in a blur. While I was certainly working hard, the suffer fest never really hit apart from maybe when I was trying to sprint at the end. Just one of those days. If only they could all be like that. My plan of not specifically pacing for 10 minutes paid off too I think as there was less psychological baggage involved in the effort. Nice to have another 2021 target checked off the list.

Swashbuckler wrote: »

Thats a super 3k TT. Fair play.

My claim to fame on Fantasy Football was the year I spent a week in the top 10 in the world (number 1 in Ireland). Finished out the season 49th in the world and top 10 in Ireland....Gave it up since...Too stressful!

:eek:

I hope that's on your CV for awards/achievements.

Laineyfrecks wrote: »

Great 3k TT & what a nice feeling having another target ticked off the list

Thanks Lainey. My initial approach wasn't to have so many targets. It kind of just happened this year.

I've had single year targets before which I didn't hit and so was left looking back to find some positives to take out of the year in that case. There are always ones to find (like I was running more and enjoying it) but setting a few extra targets that aren't primary ones are great fun. All upside with little downside IMO.

Some serious FF performances. All eclipse my best ever finish. I had to go back and check there. I managed 1936 once which wasn't far off the year when I actually achieved that :pac: Yep, there were a lot less distractions back then. The current distractions are all good off course.

Oh and I collected my winnings today. Apparently 3 never paid in so the pot was reduced slightly. Still it came to € 440. Feel a little undeserving as I got lucky with it being a relatively weak league.

"Awful tired now boss. Dog-tired".

After getting 3 days of no running over the bank holiday weekend I decided to do some cramming mileage wise. On the Monday I ran the furthest I have since doing the Connemara Half back in 2007. That was the only race I had run as an adult up until the last couple of years. Turns out I actually posted in the main A&R forum back then too and even competed against the famous Krusty that day. It'd be over 10 years before I think I posted in the forum again. Anyway...

June 7-13

• Monday. 21.15 km Steady - 1:28:13. Having run a steady 12k at 4:00 pace the previous week I figured I'd bump it up to 4:15/km for an intended HM run. I brought a tiny water bottle in hand for this. Actually forgot I had it but did eventually start using it after around 16 km. It wasn't much and I think I might have survived without it. Carried it home then too as I never passed a bin to dispose of it. The effort was controlled for the most part. Never went to heavy breathing or worried if I was nearly finished until the last 2-3 kms. Over the last 2-3 kms I became more aware of the impact of hitting the road in my bones. It must have been a sign that I was going to flag if I kept going. It's not a sensation I'm familiar with and it had me wondering if that's the cause of injury for many i.e. pushing on when the muscles are properly fatigued. As I mentioned I was never feeling feiced at any point really though and the pace actually finished up being 4:10/km. It was an enjoyable experience overall and I caught up on a couple of podcasts. Maybe I was working a little bit harder to maintain the pace towards the end. I knew my target was going to get me under 1:30 anyway then I didn't want to look at the pace chart after and see it dipping towards the end I suppose.
  
• Wednesday Session - Reps 3x400R(70s), 4x300FR(48s) - The hotel is now busy again so I was off to do these on a less preferred stretch of road. Turns out there's a 3 m incline (according to garmin) over the stretch I ran which might explain the times differing between each second rep. With every second one having an elevation gain and proabblu a slight headwind the 400s were 68, 72, 67 while 300s were 48, 46, 47, 46. Legs were tired before starting the session but knew they'd be grand once I got into it. Still with the heat included I was well cooked by the last 300. That was almost as fast as I could have run it I think.
• Thursday - 4.2 km Recovery jog w/ buggy. Down to the shop and back. Later that evening - 8.1 km - 41:50
• Saturday Session - Intervals 8x(2 min Hard, 1 min jog), 4x200R. Hard effort is Interval pace apparently and my current target interval pace is 3:15/km by my calculations. I found this a tough session with my mileage cramming earlier in the week catching up on me. Very surprised when I got home to see I actually managed the pace exactly on 7/8. With me flagging a bit on number 7 coming in at 3:20/km. During the 5th rep I was considering packing it in at 6 but stubbornly stuck it out. Ran towards home and on the way decided I may as well do the 200s too. They did feel a piece of cake after the main body of the workout. No issues with them. I'll make a note that I should always be fit to get the reps even if I pull the plug on the main session.

35 miles last week over 4 days running.

Murph_D wrote: »

Jeepers. An 88 min HM followed by two more sessions in the same week. Seems a bit OTT - careful now!

OTT maybe. But only a little. I'd a quiet week and 3 to 4 days before it. Certainly wouldn't be making a habit of it. Having plenty of zero mile days at the moment too.

Right. *checks notes*

July 5-11 - 47 km. I was still running easy the groin seemed to be improving. Before the holidays I did a 10 miler trying to be disciplined with the pace. With around 2 miles to go I was coming down a steep hill when I felt a twinge in it and was cussing myself for not going even easier down the hill. Finished that run off in fowl humour. Waited for the pain to hit me in bed that night but while I could feel it it wasn't as bad as expected. Off to Teelin in Donegal for the week where I went for a gentle hilly trot around the hills on the Sunday.

July 12-18 - 25 km. Climbed Slieve League with the two boys up the Pilgrim Path. Beautiful day but the clouds rolled in right as we reached the top to the point where we couldn't see a few feet in front of us. I decided I didn't want to be one of those idiots you hear about getting rescued off of Irish mountains so we made a hasty turnaround. I'd say we were no more than 200 steps from the very top but we didn't chance it and so the kids never go to see the Ocean. They were still delighted with their exploits all the same so all was good and we were going to be driving up to the viewing point during the week anyway and I was going to point to them where they had been. Had a quick look at Strava that evening and saw the route up to the viewing point along with a Segment or two. Groin was holding up so I decided I'd try a decent effort up to the car park. Off I set. I didn't know where exactly the segments were so ended up giving it a decent effort all the way up. Around 5 kms from the house. Not used to hills in Meath but I remember enjoying them when growing up in Cavan. Got up without needing to stop but obviously I had to take a couple of minutes to enjoy the view once up before tipping back home again. I let the hill back down dictate the pace as I was starting to accept the fact I should just enjoy the non-planned running when I can and kind of forgot about minding the groin as I covered the decent in 20 minutes. Amazingly, there wasn't any negative feedback from it. I didn't feel I deserved to not be suffering a little after the run as I certainly had thrown caution to the wind a little. That said I took 3 days off running. The weather was too nice and typically Irish we were trying to scramble to do as much as possible within the days because sure it could start raining at any moment. Back to Meath at the end of the week and I decided to do my first session in 5 weeks as a tester. 4x1km w/ 400m jog. Tough going but averaged 3:20/km with a bit of puffing.

July 19-25 - 40 km Not back up to 30 MPW yet but managed two sessions. 1 speed and 1 interval session. The speed session was my first in a long time but the main issue thankfully was fitness as opposed to injury. Hit the target paces albeit with walking recoveries for the fast reps.

July 26- Aug 1 - 41 km. Again short on mileage. I did one made up speed session. 2x800Reps, 4x200@fast_pace. Loose targets for these I'd hoped I'd clock the 800s at around 2:20/21 but they were 2:22 and 2:24 which were around 3:00/km pace. The pace for the 200s were in the 2:30s with the legs feeling it a bit after the 800s so I was satisfied I could really push the pace again.

Aug 2 - 8 - 50 km. Finally back up to over 30 MPW. 1 speed session this week. 3x500R(87.5), 3x300FR(48). Again with the walking recoveries after the 300s but hit the paces. Someone had a fire going in a nearby field so I was doing my best to not be breathing heavy every time I passed that section of the road. 1 Interval session also. 4x800s. Happy with the pace I managed on these (around 2:36 each).

So there I am. Didn't go the to physio. I'm great for not looking after injuries 🙄 I grew up watching and then playing with too many GAA hardmen which will no doubt bite me big time in the future. The groin is still a bit twingy but not during any running, only when not moving too much. It's definitely getting better of it's own accord and I don't think the running is causing it any harm at this stage or so I like to tell myself.

Someone put the idea in my head about actually running an 800m Masters race. I've gone so far as to contact Athletics Ireland to see if I need to be registered with a club to take part in the National Masters. Needless to say I'm still awaiting their response so I'm going to bite the bullet and join the local AC I think. If I don't make that race, maybe there'll be some mile or even a 5 km to have a bit of fun at. I don't feel I'm in the shape I was in a couple of months back but I hope it's just a case of getting my weekly mileage back to a more consistent level. Edit: I'm also going to try and run a sub 4:50 mile at some point in the next few weeks. I think/hope it's achievable while giving it a little less than 100% effort.

Plans to run the National Masters got torpedoed last week. I got news that on that weekend I've got both my godsons birthday party and nieces communion so I'll be crisscrossing the country a bit that weekend. Then I got sick so it wasn't looking like I was on track to be in the shape I'd like to have been anyway to do myself justice.

Still though. Plugging away three 30 mile weeks in a row before this week where I hope to hit it again. That consistency of mileage usually puts me in pretty good shape for some longer distance stuff so I'm definitely going to be testing it in September. The groin has gone backwards a little so I'll keep an eye on it.

August 9-15 - 48 km

Speed Session - 4x400FR (64s), 4x400R(70). I had the two boys with me for this and they tried to keep up for the first 200 metres on a few. Wasn't on it today with the Fast Reps 65, 65, 65, 67 before cruising the Reps in 68, 70, 69, 69. The FRs were all in the one direction while the the Rs were in the opposite so the GPS might have been conning me a little but I definitely found the FRs hard to hit.

Interval Session - 4x1k on, 2:30 off. Out with the kids again. This time on their bikes where we'd have a 2:30 rest before I'd try and chase them down for the 1ks. These again were tougher than I'd hoped but we had a bit of fun. 3:27, 3:18, 3:23, 3:22.

August 16-22 - 48 km

I was sick for the first half of the week so had 3 days off. Glad I managed to cram the mileage in so just ran what I felt on the weekend. No fast stuff.

Steady Run - 9km in 35 mins.

Interval Pyramid - 2,4,6,8,8,6,4,2. Same pace target as my previous interval session of around 3:20/km. All the splits were actually 3:1X as I covered 15.5 km over the whole run. I got a nice lift from this.

Onto this week where the groin is playing up again. Need to be little careful. I was onto Trim AC last week so membership is imminent on that front. We'll see if they can tempt me with any events.

I forgot to mention I did my first parkrun last week with the family. I posted about it in the parkrun thread. Also, I got confirmation today that I'm officially a club member. The registrar asked if I'd be interested in cross country. We'll see how the dates fall for that but the races will be in October. If I can manage one I'll be delighted.

September 13 - 19 - 48 km

The return to school for everyone has squeezed my free time a lot. I'm at home minding/collecting/working Monday to Tuesday and every second Wednesday so I'm under pressure to fit everything into a little less time. Ended up in A&E with the baby last week too. After waiting 4 hours Wednesday night we gave up and went home with my wife retuning Thursday morning before finally being seen. So energy was at a low ebb. Managed to get a early long run in on the Monday and a lethargic session at around about mile pace.

8x400R @milePace w/ 1.5min rec . I've an idea of what mile pace is. I still hope to run sub 4:50 this year but ran these at 4:40 pace as that's what Rep pace works out as on the old 800m plan i.e. 2:55/km. Very tired on these but made sure not to absolutely kill myself hence the 1.5 minute standing recovery. If I was feeling better this might have been 10x400 w/ 1 min recovery and have a proper fitness test. I got them done anyway with the theme being I started each well but faded towards the end. I know I was tired but the fading suggests that 4:40 is not my mile pace yet. I don't think I was starting them too fast. Splits were [68,68,69,68,69,69,69,68] so all just under 2:55/km pace. I had to be satisfied enough that I could manage those splits given the way I was feeling but certainly wasn't buzzing afterward.

🏃 5 km TT - 16:59 😎 PR. After the midweek session I took in one recovery run and a day off. I'd no idea what I'd do on Sunday at that stage but was planning to get up early before the kids and out for a long run of some kind. It didn't happen. Running has been a bit aimless with the injury the last couple of months but I've managed to maintain roughly 30 MPW and while not feeling I'm in particularly top shape or sharp I decided during the day I'd have a bash at a 5 k TT. The plan was to try 17 minute pace but to be prepared for a blow-up even potentially quitting after 3 km which I would then simply accept as a decent cobweb duster.

• 1 km - 3:23. A decent start. Up the hill and out of the business park. Not sure how I was feeling yet, I had gone out only a little fast and was slowing naturally without forcing myself to. A perfect split on appearance.
• 2 km - 3:25. There or thereabouts. I was still probably slowing during the start of the second km as I came to the one stretch of the route that has neither a footpath nor street lights to complete my loop back into the business park. I'm leaning towards it being a blessing that I met two cars (who must have thought I was nuts) on the short 2-300m stretch coming towards me. It meant two things. One, I crossed to the left side of the road as I wasn't wearing any reflective clothing and two I upped the pace quite a bit to shorten my time on that stretch. The blessing being that I'd arrested the deceleration enough that the km probably ended up being a couple of seconds quicker than it would have been. Would I pay for it though?
• 3 km - 3:23. The start of the 3rd km was pretty much where I'd started the 1st and I had to dig in a little as I went up the small hill again. It still slowed me and I was starting to suffer quite a bit. I was ready to accept the inevitable decline. The road had a gentle slope downwards for a bit so I let my legs spin a bit faster without upping my breathing effort. When the watch beeped at 3:23 I couldn't believe it. It meant I was on pace but the horror hit me that now I'm really going to have to dig in if I want it. Was it the last kick of a dying horse? At least I'd given it a go.
• 4 km - 3:27. Absolute suffer fest for the dying horse. A km where I'd a net downhill but still dropped pace explains it well. I was starting to gasp so I'd a battle to maintain my form and try and relax my breathing. Started watching the watch a little too much here. "Feic only 300 m of this km gone", "Okay it's just a mile left", "Just get to the 5th km". Passed a scared looking pedestrian who gave me a wide berth. Down to the bottom of the hill to make a 90 degree turn at traffic lights before heading back uphill. Trying to focus on anything that took my mind off the suffering, so it's the arms now that I imagine are doing the work. I don't get the reassured feedback of this as my arms are beginning to flag a little too. When I saw the split I figured 17 or below was off the menu but if I could somehow not lose any more speed I should beat my best of 17:13 at least.
• 5 km - 3:20. I'm absolutely gasping and turning heads on the far side of the road. A car passes where someone shouts out the window at me. I don't know how I even notice these things I feel I'm in a tunnel now. Back to the mind games. I know I'm spent but I also know my legs can go faster for a short while without my lungs to assist as much so just need to hang on until around 200 left. Empty anything that's left, not even looking at the watch, just waiting for the beep which mercifully comes and I hit stop straight after. 17:01. No time to think I'm going to fall over. I wobble a little but remain vertical somehow. There's a small hip-high fence beside me that really doesn't look comfortable so stagger on. 50 yards up ahead is a petrol station and Supermacs. I can't be lying here or the defibrillator will be out so I wobble on not sitting down. Eventually getting back to a slow jog.
• Final time - 16:59 I began to digest the time. A surprising PR of 17:01.02. Never believed I was in the right shape to pull that out. Damn, I was much closer to sub 17 that I thought I'd be to at the 4 km mark. Wait, what were the splits? Something was no adding up. I then realised I'd waited for the watch to beep for the 5th km before pressing stop. I had to wait until I got home to check Garmin Connect. There it was 0.01 km extra and 1.7 seconds. Subtracting it gave me 16:59.3. That's good enough for me so feic it, I'm taking it 😝

Thanks everyone.

Ah cool. Fair play to him. Saturday is often a non running day for me so having the parkrun on the doorstep hopefully will help clock up some easy miles the odd week. I probably won't be able to ditch the buggy for a while yet to go gung ho at it.

@Lambay island It's funny in that I'd the complete opposite feeling after the 400s. Just need a few good nights sleep sometimes I guess. Spent Sunday night on the baby's room floor as my reward 🙄. She's going for a COVID test today, along with one of her brothers. Pretty sure she picked up whatever it is in A&E last week.

Did I mention a potential race? That's what I get. I've only just gone and turned my ankle quite badly outside the school. Stepping off the path, my foot landed on the downslope of a gutter and I'd say I took a few years off some young lives with my roaring as I fell to the ground 😥.

Straight on with the ice now. I'm no stranger to ankle injuries but it felt like the worst I've done in a long time. I'm hoping it hurt more because the adrenalin wasn't flowing like it would be on a run or during a game. We'll see if the ice does the trick. Less than a half hour ago and it's already badly bruising on the opposite side of the twist from the foot being elevated. Fingers crossed on this one.