An 18 Week Sabbatical

I’m going to resurrect this log, and see where it goes. From November until the start of February, I’d just been messing about not really knowing what I was doing from one end of the week to the next. That changed when I started following the 21 week 10,000m plan from ‘The Science of Running’ by Steve Magness. I’d like to say I’m 100% committed to this, but that’s only true when I’m out running. I was planning a year of Ironman racing, and depending on how events transpire over the next few months, I could end up reverting to that.

But 2 weeks in, and I’m still here. I’m not quite ready for the prescribed weekly mileages, and only for the fact that I successfully got through Magness’s marathon plan, I wouldn’t be taking this on. I’ll be tailoring things to suit for the time being, before things kick off in the “Pre Competition Period”.

Getting back to the point I alluded to in the first sentence, about not really knowing where I’m going with this; I’ve no target race picked out. How could I? But the peak race is meant to happen 26th June, so if anybody knows of any 10k race that they think might go ahead, then I’m all ears. I hope it won’t come to this, but it could be a virtual TT. And even if the peak race isn’t, there are four other prep races in the plan that might well have to be solo efforts.

As a footnote, even if I do stick to this 21 week running plan, I think I’ll be back to triathlon before the year is out. So I don’t plan to completely shelve cycling. It might be more problematic when I’m running 100 miles a week, but 2 weeks into things, I’ve managed to fit in a few hours here and there. Likewise when pools reopen, I’ll be back in the water. Without detailing either sport, I’ll log them as cross training here. Fatigue levels over the coming weeks might scupper those good intentions, but I’ve made it this far unscathed.

AuldManKing wrote: »

Looking forward to following this journey - been reading a bit on Magness recently as well.

That doesn’t surprise me.

Itziger wrote: »

Hey Zico, and AMK, is the Magness book very technical or would a fella like me be able to follow it? I love all things running but if they start talking about optimal mitochondrial dilation curves on page 2, I begin to lose interest!!

I can buy it on Kindle for 10 bucks.

It’s not called the ‘Science of Running’ for nothing. Some chapters are pretty heavy going, but I didn’t read them all. Magness does give his approval to skip some of the chapters, and I gladly did. Like yourself, I easily switch off when things get too technical. I tried reading it again after DCM 2018, but gave up.
In the intro, Magness writes “There will be no formulaic training regimes or easy to follow training plans included.” But I honestly didn’t take away too much scientific knowledge from the chapters I did read. Essentially it was a “formulaic training regime“ for me in 2018. The perceived wisdom seems to be you need to know why you’re doing the training that you’re doing, but I didn’t find that to be the case. I just looked at the runs in the 21 week plan and did them. And it’s the same approach I’m taking now.
If you’re buying the book with the intention of following one of the plans, then it could be worth it. Although that comes with the proviso that the first line on the back of the book is “If you are looking to finish your first 5k, this book isn’t for you.” If you’re buying it out of curiosity, then going on what you say above, I wouldn’t bother.

Monday 8th February
18km
Opening Kilometre: 4:37
Kilometres 2-15: 3:59 average
Final Kilometre: 4:37

I’ve temporarily relocated to Tullamore, and today was my first time venturing out for a run here. Unsure of any suitable routes and hoping to avoid any holdups, I stayed away from the town and opted to run on N52 in the direction of Durrow. It turned out to be a lumpier road than I had bargained for. Or maybe it just seemed that way as I’m not as fit as I’d like to be. I’ll likely be in Tullamore for a few weeks, so plenty of time to find out.
Totals: 1:05 - 16.01km


Tuesday 9th February
15km
Warm-up: 1.50km in 6:56, 4:37/km
Kilometres 1.5-14.5: 4:00 average
Cool down: 0.52km in 2:27, 4:44/km

Day 2 in Tullamore, and I chose a different road to yesterday. Whenever I encountered a drag during the opening few kilometres of 13km at pace, I struggled to keep things on track. But then I was also dealing with a headwind, plus wearing several layers and a flappy gilet to deal with the windchill, on a day with top temperatures of 2°C. So I’ll cut myself some slack.
Most pleasing thing of all is how I salvaged the thirteenth kilometre of this section. Unfamiliar with the route, I thought I was finished when my watch autolapped for the penultimate kilometre. I backed off and settled into cool down pace. As I approached a roundabout, I realised I had finished prematurely and thought “Ah feck it! 12km at pace isn’t a bad run.” I’d about 300m left before my cool down was supposed to have officially begun. However, I’d maintained 4:11 pace for the first 700m, and it wasn’t going to be too much of an ask to get it down under my 4:09/km upper limit. I upped the effort, and was rather pleased to see 3:56 flash on my watch when I completed this final kilometre.
Totals: 1:01 - 15.02km


Wednesday 10th February
14.50km w/ 6 x 10” hill sprints
Warmup: 2.15km in 10:08, 4:42/km, 125bpm
Hill sprints: 1) 8.7” @ 3:23/km, 2)10.9” @ 3:46/km, 3) 10.1” @3:16/km, 4) 11.9” @ 3:34/km, 5) 11.1” @ 3:12/km, 6) 11.1” @ 3:41/km
Run: 10.02km in 39:31, 3:57:km, 139bpm
Cool down: 0.87km in 4:36, 5:16/km

I took a 2 minute walking recovery after each hill sprint. I didn’t feel such generous recoveries were necessary, but as far as I could make out, that was Steve Magness’s advice. Part of me thinks I’m simply not capable of sprinting fast enough to warrant the recovery. And perhaps if I could run faster, I’d need every second of the 2 minutes walking.
Anyway, once the eight sprints and subsequent walks were completed, I got stuck into the main body of today’s run. I sussed out another road’s suitability during this stretch. It was scenic, but lumpy. I would have settled for drab, but flat. The 10k itself while not tough, certainly wasn’t easy. I can think of a few reasons as to why, but it’s still very early days in the plan, so none of the reasons are cause for concern.
Totals: 1:07 - 14.50km


Thursday 11th February
10km Run
Opening Kilometre: 4:38
Kilometres 2-8: 4:01 average
Final Kilometre: 4:37

I was on the Tullamore bypass for the bulk of the 8km at pace, and was exposed to a horrendous headwind for the first half. It was obviously helping me on the way back, but the wind chill combined with the 2°C ambient temperature made the help hard to appreciate.

Totals: 0:41 - 10.00km

There was a 6 mile recovery run in the plan for later today, but I substituted it with an easy 1-hour spin on my turbo trainer.


Friday 12th February
12km Progression + 1km Cool down
Kilometre splits; 1) 5:03, -1m, 2) 4:53, +1m, 3) 4:42, -5m, 4) 4:34, +1m, 5) 4:22, +11m, 6) 4:17, +5m, 7) 4:03, +4m, 8) 3:56, -12m, 9) 3:42, -13m, 10) 3:36, -1m, 11) 3:29.5*, +5m, 12) 3:13 -1m,
Finish) 4:35
*I feel it’s important to record I hit my :30/km target.

This was the scariest looking run in the first 2 weeks of the plan, and I’m glad I finished it having hit my targets. There was a significant wind today, and I made sure to plan my run, so as it would be as advantageous as possible. The way the bypass circles round Tullamore, meant after performing a 180° turn at the halfway mark, it was still another few kilometres before the crosswind turned into a most welcome tailwind. Consequently I never really got the sneaky mid-run recovery I was hoping for, but at least when it came to the fastest few kilometres, the wind was at my back. I’m not sure how long more I’d have held the 3:13/km pace I finished on. Not much longer I suspect, but I’ll find out for sure next week when I’ll tag on a thirteenth kilometre.
Totals: 0:54 - 13.00km


Saturday 13th February
22km Long Run - Easy (My decision)
As short as it was, after the hard work in yesterday’s progression run, I decided I’d run a far more conservative pace than usual. So as I wouldn’t be distracted by the readings on my Garmin, I switched the units to miles and ran to feel. It caused a few moments of panic when I saw 7:00+ pace showing on my watch, before I realised it was 7 minutes per mile, rather than the snail’s pace of 7 minutes per kilometre.
Totals: 1:41 - 22.54km


Sunday 14th February
12km Recovery
A most welcome recovery along the Grand Canal. I’ve been wondering where I’d find a nice flat route in Tullamore, and this should do. I knew the Grand Canal Greenway was a tarred path, but I was worried sporadic gates would be a bit of pain. They’re scarce enough though, and set up in such a way that I didn’t lose too much momentum getting through. I think the Greenway will suffice for next week’s progression run. Should walkers and gates arise simultaneously when I’m trying to run 1,000m at :10/km, I might just have to grunt a little louder than normal to clear a path. But other than that, I think it should work.
Totals: 0:49 - 8.00km



Weekly Totals
Running - Time: 7:42, Distance: 103.08km
Cross training - Time: (all virtual cycling)
S & C - Time: 0:35 (A lame attempt at a strength workout; push-ups are a lot harder than they used to be.)

I was happy with most things this week. I wasn’t as fast as I’d like to have been for Monday’s hill sprints, and to a lesser extent for the final 2km of Friday’s progression run. But I guess that’s why I’ve taken on this plan.
Several days this week were very cold and windy, but I think I got off comparatively lightly here in Tullamore. I never had to contend with snow or ice, so that was a win. Fingers crossed that’s the last of the extreme cold weather for the year.
Here’s hoping I’m as cheerful in 7 day’s time.

shotgunmcos wrote: »

Solid week. 2 mins is a generous recovery for short hill sprints. Whats the difference between those hill sprints vs your normal strides? What was the approx gradient? Was the objective to build strength/form like doing strides so you don't over tax the system? Sorry, haven't read Magness (yet) so not familiar with the approach.

And to be able to knock out a 39 min 10k afterwards at low tempo 139HR is alright for week 2 I guess :cool::eek:

For strides, I start running merely thinking of form. Counting “One thousand one, one thousand two, etc.” in my head, I inject some pace every three seconds, finishing with what feels like a 5k effort. I concentrate on holding good form throughout the strides, whereas the hill sprints are eyeballs out from the get go.
I couldn’t tell you what the gradient was, I didn’t take my protractor out with me. The hill wasn’t too steep though. Garmin Connect gives readings from 0m to 6m elevation gain over the 100m reps, and I started and stopped each stride in more or less the same place. It also says there was 2m lost on one of them, which would have been impossible. Make of that what you will.
Like I said to Itziger, I don’t delve too deeply into the whys of the plan. But from what I did read, I think the purpose is to recruit muscles/fibers a distance runner wouldn’t normally use. I’m sure there’s a better explanation than this, but that’s enough motivation for me to do them. If somebody else wants to weigh in here, they’re welcome to.

Cheers for the praise, but I wouldn’t have classed those 10 kilometres as a tempo effort. There’s a split 20 minute tempo coming up on Monday. I assure you my HR will be a lot higher than 139bpm for that.

Monday 15th February
16km w/ 8 x 10” hill sprints
Warmup: 2.15km in 10:04, 4:41/km, 118bpm
Hill sprints: 1) 10.8” @ 3:44/km, 2) 11.9” @ 3:19/km, 3) 11.6” @3:37/km, 4) 10.9” @ 3:17/km, 5) 11.5” @ 3:13/km, 6) 11.4” @ 3:16/km, 7) 11.7” @ 3:10/km, 8) 11.1” @ 3:19/km
Run: 11.28km in 43:22, 3:51/km, 149bpm*
Cool down: 1.01km in 4:47
This was more or less the same deal as last week’s hill sprints, but with two extra sprints added, and a single kilometre added to the “run” part. Once again, I spent two minutes walking the recoveries, and once again, I didn’t feel I needed all that time.
The 7 miles at pace felt easier than last week, but I took a much flatter route, and there was nothing like last week’s strong gusts of wind today. *I only notice my heart rate was 10bpm higher than fit the equivalent section in last week’s run, because shotgunmcos commented. I did move 6 seconds per kilometre quicker, but the higher heart rate doesn’t really fit with the narrative that it felt easier. It’s never something I unduly concerned myself with though, and I only it because.
Totals: 1:16 - 16.36km

65 minute virtual cycling in the evening


Tuesday 16th February
14.50km
Warm-up: 1.0.0km in 4:47
Kilometres 1-14: 3:54 average
Cool down: 0.50km in 2:15, 4:26/km
Back onto the Grand Canal Way today, but I headed west instead of east. I missed a crossover point that would have taken me onto a tarmac path on the opposite bank. I then had to contend with a muddy stretch clearly used by tractors. After slipping for a third time, I decided to stop and turn around. Thankfully I stayed on my feet, but I didn’t want to chance it happening a fourth time. I’d the wind my back now, and once I got back on the tarmac path, I cruised home.
Totals: 1:02 - 15.02km

8km w/ 6 x 100m strides
Warmup: 1.00km in 4:32
Run: 4.50km in 18:04, 4:01/km, 142bpm
100m Strides: 1) 20.2” @ 3:22/km, 2) 21.7” @ 3:37/km, 3) 21.1” @3:31/km, 4) 21.0” @ 3:30/km, 5) 21.2” @ 3:32/km, 6) 21.0” @ 3:30/km
Run 1.00km in 3:56
Cool down: Walking
I was pleasantly surprised how fresh I felt for this. And with my legs still feeling good after the strides, instead of using the final kilometre as a cool down, as I had originally intended, I went back to my general training pace to finish out the 8km.
Totals: 0:33 - 8.00km


Wednesday 17th February
16km
Warm-up: 1.00km in 4:36
Kilometres 2-15: 3:52 average
Cool down: 1.00km in 4:35
After three hours plotting a route on Garmin Connect, I eventually opened my front door and faced into what was supposed to be the first of two daily runs. I need to develop a more intuitive feel for pace, so I didn’t look at my watch for half of the run. I couldn’t resist looking at the kilometre splits every time they flashed though, so there’s I’m still doubting myself clearly.
Totals: 1:04 - 16.01km

55 minutes on turbo trainer
My legs felt heavy when the time came for a scheduled 4 mile run. And it occurred to me I’ve been doing a lot more of the plan than I intended. So being prudent, I did this instead.


Thursday 18th February
13km Progression + 1km Cool down
Kilometre splits; 1) 4:57, -9m (I wanted to keep this between 5:00-5:10/km, but I just couldn’t run slow enough), 2) 4:55,-2m, 3) 4:47, +6m, 4) 4:31, +19m, 5) 4:22, -10m, 6) 4:12, -3m, 7) 4:05, -1m, 8) 3:56, -10m, 9) 3:44, +2m, 10) 3:36, +8m, 11) 3:36, +10m, 12) 3:19.7 (Hit my :20/km target😀), -8m, 13) 3:15 -3m (Failed - aiming for :10/km; this included having to slowdown for an almost about turn at a round about, so I might have eked another second or two out of the effort, but the game was up long before then.)
Finish) 4:35; I’d just about chalk this down as a successful run. (I don’t know if it qualifies as a session.)
I can’t honestly remember the last time I ran a kilometre in less than 3 minutes and 10 seconds, so I was being tremendously ambitious hoping to run one at the end of this progression run. (Even if I did plan a route with a downhill finish.) Things feel like they’re going in the right direction though, and I’m hopeful of successfully executing the feat the next time a progression run crops up. It helps that that won’t be until the start of May. That of course comes with the proviso that I stick with this 10,000m plan for that long. But so far, so good, and I am actually enjoying the training. So fingers crossed I don’t get distracted along the way.
Totals: 0:41 - 10.00km

50 minute virtual cycling in the evening


Friday 19th February

10km
Warm-up: 1.00km in 4:57
Kilometres 2-9: 4:01 average
Cool down: 1.00km in 5:06
I went out the door only planning 6km at pace. It seemed a bit short the more I thought about it. Knowing it was only a recovery run I’d to do this evening, piled on even more guilt. Making a decision on the fly, I settled on 8km, and happily called it at that.
Totals: 0:42 - 10.01km

8km Recovery I was trying to keep my heart rate at around 100bpm. It required “running” ridiculously slowly, but hopefully it was beneficial.
Totals: 0:54 - 8.00km


Saturday 20th February
Long Run w/ 6 x {30 second surges + 3 minute run}
Warm-up: 1.00km in 4:50
8 Kilometres: 3:57/km average, 142bpm
Surges + 3’ run;
1) 0.15km @ 3:17/km, Max = 3:00/km + 0.77km @ 3:55/km
2) 0.17km @ 2:59/km, Max = 2:56/km + 0.76km @ 3:57/km
3) 0.16km @ 3:09/km, Max = 2:58/km + 0.77km @ 3:53/km
4) 0.16km @ 3:03/km, Max = 2:54/km + 0.78km @ 3:52/km
5) 0.17km @ 3:00/km, Max = 2:53/km + 0.77km @ 3:54/km
6) 0.16km @ 3:04/km, Max = 2:57/km + 0.77km @ 3:55/km
8 Kilometres: 3:55/km average, 147bpm
Cool down: 1.00km in 5:08
I approached the surges by increasing my pace once after 10 seconds, and again after 20. I was running pretty much flat out come the end of the 30 seconds. I wasn’t allowing myself any recovery, and settled straight back into my general training pace. I was pleased how well I managed this and my heart rate responded appropriately. I’ll record this as one of my better long runs of late.
Totals: 1:34 - 23.59km


Sunday 21st February
8km Recovery
This was down as an 8 mile run in the plan, but between this and that, I didn’t have time for much more than the 8km I did run. Although after less than 3km today, I had already gone beyond a 10% increase on last week’s mileage. Consequently I didn’t feel too guilty about skimping on the recommended 8 miles.
Totals: 0:49 - 8.00km



Weekly Totals
Running - Time: 8:44, Distance: 118.58km
Cross training - Time: 2:50 (all virtual cycling)
S & C - Time: 0:00 (Not something I’m proud of, but my normal routine is out the window, and I find hard to start new habits when that’s the way things are.)

BeginnerRunner wrote: »

Having just saw the most recent circa 120km/week updated, I'm now off to pg1 to read from the start

Good luck with that. It’s 15 pages mostly filled with self doubt and worrying about being too fat. It probably reads like a teenage girl’s diary.

Monday 1st March
19km w/ 25 minute split tempo
Despite the appeal of the pancake flat Grand Canal Way, I decided I’d do this on normal roads. After my substandard tempo run last week, I was a little bit apprehensive about this. Before beginning the first 12½ minutes, I stopped to remove the base layer I was wearing. I stuffed it in a hedge, and 30 seconds later I was off, running in just a T-shirt for the first time since autumn.
Unlike last week, I didn’t aim for a particular pace. I was hoping what felt like a tempo effort would turn out a satisfactory pace. I don’t remember many downhill stretches over the first 12½ minutes tempo, but there must have been some. I certainly noticed them retracing my steps during the second part. The wind was at my back now though, and I never felt like I was over reaching.
While some bit off what I’m truly capable of for a tempo effort, the 3:28/km average finishing pace will do for now, and it left me in a much better mood than I was in after last week’s tempo run.
Totals: 1:21 - 19.06km


Tuesday 2nd March
Run 1 - 10km
Totals: 0:41 - 10.01km

Run 2 - 10km I’m not 100% sure of the accuracy of the HR readings on either of today’s runs. There were spikes and drops in both that don’t seem realistic, so I won’t bother logging the data.
Totals: 0:42 - 10.01km


Wednesday 3rd March
Distance Run w/ 8 x 30” surges + 3’ run
I was up in Dublin today, and did the bulk of this in the NSC. It was great to be back on familiar and unchanging terrain. With no surprises in store, it was easy gauge the effort required to hit the necessary paces. I was deliberately not going as deep for the surges as I did 11 days ago. I still increased the pace every 10 seconds, but come the end of each surge, the effort was far closer to what I’d be capable of holding in a 5k race.
Definitely good speed overall; but I was wearing Nike’s original 4% shoes. When I bought them, it was my avowed intention to save such expensive runners for a race, But the heels literally fell off after a race last August, and I’d no longer trust this particular pair. They had seen very little use up until then (100km approximately), so I think there should still be a little bit of life left in them. Today’s run would seem to confirm that suspicion.
Totals: 1:01 - 15.41km


Thursday 4th March
Distance Run - 14.50km I did the exact same run on the exact same route as last week. Just to get a comparison, I did it again. I was quicker today for a lower heart rate. Only that the wind was far less of a factor today, I’d chalk that down as an improvement.
Totals: 0:58 - 14.51kmn


Friday 5th March
Distance Run w/ 2 x 4 Miles at MP
The way my recent tempo runs have been going, I felt there was little point chasing my marathon PB pace of 3:27/km. I settled on :35km as a target, but I realised it wasn’t a pace I was simply going to be able to click into.
The first 4 miles actually passed comfortably enough. I had to work, but keeping things under my 3:35/km target didn’t prove too strenuous. The second 4 miles proved a little more difficult though. My legs just didn’t seem to want to cooperate, and there were several moments when I felt like throwing in the towel. I was nearing the end of the 4 miles, when I was confronted with a 480m hill, with 18m of elevation. Whilst running up it, my pace drifted out to 3:36/km. I was thinking “F*ck it, at least you tried!” But what goes up, must come down, and the same hill presented me a fast declivitous finish. I was able to claw back one second, and while I didn’t manage to hold :35/km pace for the second split, at least I can say my average pace for the 8 miles was passable.
I do find it a bit strange that even though it was by the skin of my teeth, I still hit the target I’d set myself. When I saw it was getting away from me in the last few hundred metres, I was able to dig a bit deeper to keep things on track; Central Governor being put back in his box, perhaps.
Totals: 1:07 - 17.14km


Saturday 6th March
Long Run - 15 miles easy
Steve Magness hadn’t tagged this as an easy run, but I felt like it had been a challenging enough week up until now. I thought I had earned the right to back off a bit. I plotted a route on Garmin Connect, and just had the course displayed on my watch for the entire run. I ignored all other metrics and concentrated on taking it easy.
Totals: 1:49 - 24.17km


Sunday 7th March
16km Recovery
I decided I’d explore Charleville Forest/Castle/(and as I found out) some farmer’s private land. It was about 3km from my front door to the gates of the castle, and once in the demesne, I followed paths into the thicket; some paths led to dead ends, and others which led to undergrowth so thick, simply moving forward became bushwhacker-esque. After such trials and tribulations, I found myself running down a path bordered by fields. There were sheep grazing to one side of me, and cows to the other. I was enjoying the scenery, when a lady emerged from a barn, cried out at me, and gestured for me to turn back. Now realising, I must have been trespassing on private land, I held my hand up in apology and turned round. I think the farmer realised it was an honest mistake, and she seemed to accept my apology. Incidentally, I somehow doubt I was the first person to inadvertently stray onto her land today. But anyway, after all this, I’d covered far more distance than I had planned. I began with 15km as my goal, but even by tagging on an extra one kilometre and one hundred metres, I was still well short of my house. I’d covered 10 miles by now though, the max distance Magness recommends for recovery runs. Happy with what I’d done, I contented myself with a long walk home through the town of Tullamore.
Totals: 1:32 - 16.10km

8km Recovery I hadn’t planned this run at all, but after sitting down for my afternoon breakfast, I logged onto Strava, and saw I was approximately 8km shy of increasing last week’s mileage by 10%. I’m happy with how my body is holding up, and I want to be able to log two 100 mile weeks in weeks 7 and 8 of this plan. I think it’s best if I start building up to 100 miles by small increments, rather than one big 40km jump. So tonight’s second daily run was the first step down that road.
Totals: 0:45 - 8.01km



Weekly Totals
Running - Time: 9:55, Distance: 134.40km
Cross training - Time: 1:25 All virtual cycling
S & C - Time: 0:00

Murph_D wrote: »

I’ve done that inadvertent trespass thing too. Always worth it.

Couple of questions:

1. Is NSC the sports campus, and if so we’re you on the grass or the roads? Do the 4% shoes work on grass - wouldn’t have thought so, especially if wet.

2. That MP split run - if HR was so much higher on second stretch, is it really M effort?

Cheers.

It’s the National Sports Campus I’m talking about alright, but I didn’t go near the X-country route. The run was all on road or at least hard paths. I can’t imagine the magic of the 4% shoes would work as well on grass, but I’ve never tried either.

You’re probably right, it wasn’t a marathon effort, and there’s no way I’d have kept the intensity up for 26 miles. But it was an out and back run, with a tailwind on the way out, and and a headwind on the way back. That definitely made the second 4 miles harder. But more often than not, I’d rather aggressively chase targets than just accept I’m not in shape, and run to feel. I think I’ve done alright with such an approach in the past, so until I see something that tells me this isn’t working, I don’t think I’ll change my approach. Looking at it now, I should have left out the word “Effort”. “4 miles at :35/km no matter the cost” would probably have been more apt.

Incidentally, 159bpm was my average HR for my 2:26 marathon.,

It’s already past my bedtime. I’ll give you a detailed reply tomorrow.

Monday 8th March
1 hour 40 minute w/ 30 minute split tempo I’d done a short spin on my turbo trainer this morning with a few accelerations in the hope it would be an ideal leg loosener for this tempo run. My legs felt a little bit dead when crunch time arrived, and I’m not sure if the earlier spot of cycling was a help or a hinderance.
I used a stretch of road I’d discovered on last Saturday’s long for the tempo efforts today. My memory of it was that it would be mostly downhill for efforts of 1 and 3. My memory turned out to be faulty though, and with what was mostly a gentle crosswind throughout, none of the efforts proved easier than another. I think I made an okay fist of things, but I’m well into the base period of the plan now, so I won’t start rejoicing. And come the pre-competition period, I’d hope to be a good few seconds faster for the effort I was putting in today.
After finishing the combined 30 minutes of tempo work, I could have taken a shorter route home, but had to go back to retrieve a few items of clothing I’d stashed in a hedge. It made for a long cool down, but at least it served to bump up my weekly mileage.
Totals: 1:40 - 22.06km


Tuesday 9th March
Run 1 - 8km I was wearing a very old and cheap pair of beaten up runners for this. Considering that, I was happy enough how easy I found it to hit my target pace. Or maybe I’m just over complicating things.
Totals: 0:32 - 8.00km

Run 2 - Distance run w/ 13km progression
A progression run wasn’t in the plan, but it was the boards monthly challenge, and I thought it would be possible to incorporate that into the 9-mile run that was on the plan. Some of the gaps were bigger than I was aiming for, and this meant I had to exceed the pace range I’ve set for general training runs. Still, I’m sure there was some benefit to the progression, and I wasn’t all that remorseful about going off script.
It was very windy tonight, and repeatedly running the same 1.2km loop, the wind was frequently changing from a headwind to a tailwind. The effort required to maintain pace shot up when tackling the headwind, then it became hugely beneficial as a tailwind. It was very hard to judge the effort required to keep the progression on track, but the HR stats above tell me I got things right.
Totals: 1:00 - 15.00km


Wednesday 10th March
17km w/ 6 x 10” & 2 x 20” hill sprints & 12km run I really felt the extra 10 seconds that were added to the 7th and 8th hill sprints. I find it hard to believe I didn’t hit my max speed during those two efforts, but this wasn’t the case according to Garmin Connect. Unlike the 10-second efforts, I felt the 2-minute walking recoveries were in order following the longer sprints.
The wind was horrible once more, and the way I’d planned my run had left me with 4km of heartbreak running straight into it. It was a huge help when at my back, and enabled me to record my second fastest kilometre split of 3:55 despite it including 11m of climbing. For comparisons sake, when the wind was at its worst, I could only manage a 4:00 kilometre, despite 9m of elevation loss.
I was delighted to finish is probably the best thing I could say about this run.
Totals: 1:20 - 17.00km


Thursday 11th March
Distance Run - 12km Just like last night’s run, the bloody wind is my abiding memory of this run. I hadn’t noticed how strong it was blowing until turning into it midway through kilometre 7. It became a real struggle for the next while. I merely detail the net elevation gain and HR for each split to show how hard I was having to work, while still not always bringing things home on target.
But just like last night, it was another run ticked off, and thankfully I don’t have to deal with wind like today’s on every run.
Totals: 0:50 - 12.01km

Run 2 - Distance run 10km I felt I’d been bet up enough on the previous two runs, so I decided not to push the pace below 4:00/km tonight. The wind was still blowing, but nothing like earlier in the day. I wasn’t taking any chances with it though, and stuck to the more sheltered routes I’ve discovered around Tullamore.
Totals: 0:43 - 10.00km


Friday 12th March
Distance Run w/ 6 x (200m strides + 200m jog) I left this until quite late in the evening, and the modus operandi was to just run and hope for the best once the 1,000m warmup was out of the way. I was a bit slower than I was hoping, and coming towards the end of proceedings, I put in a bit of a dig to unsuccessfully bring the 12km section in at 4:09/km pace. I clearly haven’t my training pace dialled in yet; a sign I’m not as fit as I’d like to be.
Totals: 1:11 - 16.40km


Saturday 13th March
Long Run - 15 miles easy w/ 10min pick-up Sorry, but I’m going to bitch about the wind once again; 36.9kph according to Strava. The running gods seemed to be toying with me all week. When I needed the wind’s help the most today, it instead conspired to provide the biggest hinderance it could.
I managed 21km at 3:59/km, and the first quarter of my 10-minute without over extending myself. It was then though the fun started. I’d broken the 10 minutes into 2½-minute segments, and the targets for each segment were <4:00/km, :50/km. :40/km, and :30/km consecutively.
I was a bit too fast for the first quarter, but wouldn’t say hitting 3:47/km pace completely derailed things. As long as I went even 1 second per kilometre faster for the next split, I’d have given myself the proverbial slap on the back. A c*ntish drag and the wind put paid to that though. I was running northwards on Tullamore bypass, and the longer I stayed on this road, the more it swung round forcing me into a head on battle with a northwesterly wind. If there was an easy out, I would have taken it, but ploughing on and accepting whatever numbers GPS threw up was the only option.
Even though it was a very humbling experience, I’d like to think given better circumstances, I’d have hit my target paces for the 10-minute build. There’ll be calmer days with more favourable terrain in future, so time will tell I guess.
Totals: 1:40 - 25.03km


Sunday 14th March
13km Recovery This was my last run in Tullamore, and I was greeted with a damp, drizzly morning to send me on my way. The strong winds had died down though, so in comparison to the previous few days, it felt like I was leaving a runner’s paradise.
Totals: 1:16 - 13.00km

6km Recovery My Tullamore odyssey is over, and I came back up to Dublin for the resumption of classroom learning tomorrow. Between doing laundry, packing my car, driving to Dublin, unpacking my car, and whatnot it was nearly 11 p.m. when I was finally ready to begin this run. Ordinarily, I wouldn’t have bothered with it, but I was determined to hit the 90-mile weekly target Magness had set.
One and a half laps clockwise, and one and a half laps anti-clockwise around my estate saw me meet that target, and in the process log my highest weekly mileage since my halcyon days of 2018.
Totals: 0:37 - 6.00km



Weekly Totals
Running - Time: 10:50, Distance: 144.53km
Cross training - Time: 1:44 All virtual cycling
S & C - Time: 0:00

shotgunmcos wrote: »

I hear you Zico. I would LOVE to get over to UL for a swim, just to feel the water. Likely I'll brave the sea before that happens.

Although in a slower league, I'm on a similar path. 10k plan with a TT then bridge to the marathon. 8 weeks 10k plan then 5 week bridge to start a DCM plan, if its a thing. Have you done a 10k/speed block before a marathon plan before?

Honestly don't know how you could be focused on triathlon, let alone long distance at this time!

Do you feel you have unfinished business with the marathon or would you do a plan and be content with the output of whatever you put into it?

True that Kona will always be there and your competitiveness per age group will always be there too. Running faster only goes so far

I would definitely benefit from pools being open. But to be honest, there's nothing enticing about the Irish Sea right now. It actually suits me that it's outside my 5km radius. I'll wait for a summer heatwave before I consider taking the plunge.

What's good for the goose is good for the gander. Whatever league you're in, I imagine getting faster over shorter distances can only benefit one's marathon training. I'm sure there are faster guys than me who've had success with our approach.

Bar training for marathons, I've never before followed a tailored running plan. So, no, I've never done a 10k/speed block before a marathon plan before. It will be interesting to see what comes of this. I'm not seeing it yet, but with 13 weeks still to go, I do expect to get faster, and if nothing else, I'd be confident of at least bettering my official 10km PB of 33:52. Just hopefully, there's an official race I can do it in. After that, I'll reassess, but whether it's Ironman or marathon I end up training for, the 21 weeks won't have been a waste of time.

I don't feel like I've any unfinished business in the marathon. I could have paced DCM 2018 far more sensibly, but it's not a regret. It was my goal for a long time to break 2:30, I did that, and if that's my lot, I'll be happy with it. But of course, much always wants more, and I haven't yet accepted that's the best time I'll ever do. With carbon fibre plated soles now in play, something I didn't have in 2018, I'll stubbornly hold onto the belief that my best times can still be broken.

Itziger wrote: »

This should be reposted every time someone asks about Easy runs. Many of you will probably have seen a YouTube clip of a guy singing the old Easy Days Easy mantra. He says one day he came across an elite female runner walking a small hill and asked her if she was ok (thought she was injured!) When she said she was fine, he asked her why she was walking..... Her response, Today is an easy day, if I run up this hill it's not easy..... I think so many of us are guilty of that mistake. I used to be terrible but I have improved a bit. One answer might be to leave the watch at home altogether and just jig jog away. Although I like Zico's "Could this be easier?" version too.

I feel I should clarify that I was talking about recovery runs, not easy runs, in the post you quoted. I draw a very clear distinction between the two. When someone takes up running for the first time, frequently asking the question "Could this be easier?" might be useful. But as soon as you pick a target time, you need to think differently about your easy runs. I’d go so far as to say “easy” is a bit of a misnomer, and if you instead think of them as “general aerobic” runs, the term used by Pfitzinger and Douglas, then the necessary shift in mindset happens.

I recognise “easy” is a subjective term, but it definitely shouldn’t mean “ridiculously easy”, which is what my recovery runs are. For me easy is a pace that is just slower than the 3:48-4:09/km range I target for my normal distance runs. I worked that out from my MP + 10%-20%, as advised by P & D in ‘Advanced Marathoning’. I allow myself a more generous margin for what I would deem an easy run, and add an extra 10% to my MP. So the pace range for my easy runs is between 120-140% of my marathon pace. That works out as 4:09-4:49/km. if I’m north of that, then I work to bring my pace back in range. If that wasn’t easy, then there’d be something seriously amiss.

And to be honest, following Magness’s 10,000m plan has me wondering how frequently you need to resort to easy running. While recovery runs are a frequent feature of the plan, there are only two complete runs tagged as “easy” in the entire 21 weeks. And one of them is only 2 days before the goal race. It’s a 6-7 mile run, and by then, I’d hope 4:09/km pace for that distance is a piece of p!ss. If it’s not, then I’m in for a world of pain 2 days later.

Monday 22nd March
Long Run w/ 25 minute split tempo + 2 x 800m @ 10k pace
Short as they were, the addition of the two stints at 10k pace to this week’s tempo run, made this an important session to get right. I tried to make things as reflective of a real race as possible by doing the first effort with the assistance of the wind, then retracing my steps to tackle the wind head on for the second effort. The 30 seconds off didn’t give me a whole lot of recovery, so I like to think I’d have held the 3:12/km average pace without the break. I find it hard to believe I could hold that pace for a full 10km though, but it wasn’t a lung bursting effort either. Although it might very well have to be 84% of the way into a 10km race. But after the 25 minutes of tempo running tonight, my legs weren’t completely fresh either, and it didn’t feel like I was overreaching. 3:12/km equates to a 32:00 10k time, which is well beyond me right now, but if I progress along the same trajectory as I did when following Magness in 2018, I might get closer to it than I think.
Totals: 1:38 - 22.77km


Tuesday 23rd March
Run 1 - 8km
Totals: 0:34 - 8.01km

Run 2 - 14.5km w/ 6 x 100m strides The strides were done up a slight hill, which was even slightly more uphill than the hill I used for last week’s strides. Paces were slightly faster as well, and reflecting on the improvements, I felt slightly better about myself.
Totals: 1:03 - 14.50km


Wednesday 24th March
Run 1 - 10km
Totals: 0:41 - 10.01km

Run 2 - 18km A longish run up around Rosemount and Northwest Business Parks. After it uploaded to Strava, I saw I achieved the 2nd fastest time on a 1.17km segment. I wasn’t aware I was running a segment, and while I’ve never gone out chasing chasing course records, it’s nice to study them and see how I compare to others. Feeling good about myself, I investigated further to see who had the top spot. I found out it was Sean Tobin, and that I’d need to have been 1 minute and 30 seconds quicker to take the crown. That would require running my aspirational 10km pace on what is an uphill stretch of road. And Sean Tobin was probably out for an easy jaunt when he was running. It really shows where you stand in the grand scheme of things.
Totals: 1:13 - 18.01km


Thursday 25th March
Run 1 - 6km Recovery
Totals: 0:33 - 6.03km

Run 2 - 16km w/ 8 x (200m @ 5k-3k pace/200m jog) I worked out the above paces based on the markings on the track rather than taking the readings on my Garmin, which look better, but experience tells me are unreliable when running ovals.
I drove to Porterstown Park for this, parked there, then ran to Castleknock College for the bulk of the warmup. After returning to my car, I changed into spikes to do the real work on MSB’s 400m grass track. Happily every 50m was marked out, which suited my session perfectly.
The plan was to run the first 100m at 5k pace, then pick it up for the last 100m. I broke it down as 1) run for 100m, 2) accelerate, 3) accelerate again after 150m. At least that was the plan, but the final 100m were on a bend, and uphill (believe it or not). I probably could have arranged things better to take more advantage of the wind, but I was putting in the appropriate effort at the appropriate times, which I suppose is what the session was all about. I had deliberately chosen to run on grass, so as not to get too hung up on numbers, so there’s little point worrying about paces now.
Totals: 1:17 - 16.14km


Friday 26th March
10km Run I ran up to the NSC for this, and was greeted by yet another set of newly erected barriers blocking entry to the public on one of my usual routes. This is the third barricade put up on what used to be a regular route for me. I just hope the changes are temporary.
Totals: 0:43 - 10.00km


Saturday 27th March
Run 1 - 8km Recovery This should have been done yesterday, but thinking I’d have loads of time to get two runs done in the evening (on account of a half day in school), I forwent my usual pre-work run. I did have loads of time, I just didn’t manage it well, so the recovery run was moved to this morning. I was still following the sequence of the workouts, so it felt like I was staying true to the plan.
Totals: 0:51 - 8.00km

Run 2 - Long Run - w/ 16km @ MP Humbling, windy, very windy, but still very humbling!
I wore my ON Cloudracers, the same runners I wore for DCM 2018, to find out how advantageous carbon fibre plated soles are; turns out very. This doesn’t surprise me, but I need to do some test runs that I can compare to the last time I solely focussed on running. I’d like to blame the wind for my woes, and while 40km per hour winds didn’t help, they don’t explain away all of the splits that were so far off my :35/km target. And I don’t think the ON runners do either.
Totals: 1:34 - 23.61km


Sunday 28th March
Run 1 - 16km Recovery The majority of this was on grass; very slow, but at least my heart rate was very low as well.
Totals: 1:36 - 16.00km

Run 2 - 6km Recovery I wasn’t too enthused about getting dressed up for a second time today, especially for a half hour run. Bit I needed another 6km to make it a second consecutive 100 mile week, so it felt like I had no choice but to do it.
Totals: 0:34 - 6.00km



Weekly Totals
Running - Time: 12:24, Distance: 161.09km
Cross training - Time: 0:00
S & C - Time: 0:12 Almost too embarrassed to log this, but I did a few press-ups upon waking up two mornings this week. I thought it would kick start good habits, but still waiting.

Monday 5th April
km w/ 20min tempo + 3 x 3min uphill My HRM readings today were complete BS, so there’s no point detailing them.
I drove to the Phoenix Park and did the full 100 minutes there. The tempo portion was done around the Playing Fields, and I got about 2⅓ laps covered in the 20 minutes. This is the longest continuous time I have spent at tempo in this block, but with base training well and truly period over, I didn’t think I could soften my target. So the objective of holding :27/km remained the same.
It was another day of strong wind and sudden gusts, which made things much harder on certain parts of the irregularly shaped quadrilateral loop I was running. I tried my best not to react to the conditions, telling myself it was guaranteed to be easier when I’d inevitably be running with a tailwind. Of course, this is what happened, but I don’t think it ever compensated for how hard I was being forced to work when conditions weren’t in my favour.
I was a second or two outside my target pace when I turned out of a headwind for the final time. I still had 2 minutes left to run, and there was an automatic increase in pace now that the wind was no longer working against me. Expecting things would automatically fall into place, I relaxed a little too much at this juncture. No increase in pace showed on my Garmin, and I was forced me to dig a little deeper than I would have liked to bring it home.
Despite 20 out of 29 minutes of hard work done, it didn’t feel like I was anywhere near finished. The hill reps up next had me a little trepidatious. Ideally, I would have started them a lot sooner, but the base of the hill was 2-3km away and I don’t think there was any expectation in the plan to tempo over to the nearest available incline.
I decided to use a different hill to the one I’d settled on during a scouting mission last week. This last minute change meant the wind would be less of a problem. It wasn’t specifically stated in the plan, but I reckoned the intention was to do these at a tempo effort. Being all uphill though, aiming for a particular pace wasn’t sensible, so I just tried to replicate the effort I had been holding for the earlier 20 minutes.
I wasn’t too far off the :27/km tempo target with this approach, and come the final 3 minutes uphill, I thought “What’s the worst that could happen?”, and pushed a little bit harder than I did for the first two reps. I hadn’t completely flogged myself though, and don’t think I would have had any problems had there been more uphill efforts required.
Early days yet; but I felt good about my progress after this.
Totals: 1:06 - 16.60km


Tuesday 6th April
16.5km As per usual, it was up to the NSC for this run, and I stayed in there for every one of the 13 kilometres at pace; never once straying onto the grass.
Totals: 1:05 - 16.01km

There was a second 5-mile run scheduled for this evening that I didn’t get done. The plan is to make up for the missing distance over the course of the week.


Wednesday 7th April
Run 1 - 14km* *This was down in the book as an 5-mile run, but I added an extra 4km to start making up for some of the missing distance from yesterday evening’s missed run.

I’m back in Tullamore for a few days: Today, I took a roundabout way of linking up with the Grand Canal Way. I was getting to the halfway point in my run, when I decided running up a country road with no through traffic would be a good way to finish out the first seven kilometres. My watch beeped when 7km were completed, and I thought of turning. It was only another 50m or so to a bend in the road that I thought would make a more natural turning point. I carried on and duly rounded the bend, only to be greeted by an Alsatian idling outside a farmhouse. “Just my ****ing luck!”, I thought. The dog didn’t bark or show any signs of aggression, but I didn’t want to risk going any closer to it, so I promptly turned on my heels and started heading back for the safety of the Grand Canal Way. I looked over my shoulder, hoping to fnck, the Alsatian hadn’t given chase. He was loping down the road, but thankfully didn’t seem to be in any great rush, and was merely seeing off the unfamiliar interloper. I made my way back to the canal, and then back home without any further incident.
Totals: 0:57 - 14.01km

8km Recovery I thought about catching up with the rest of yesterday’s missed miles in this evening’s run, but it was tagged as “recovery”, which I’m guessing has something to do with a bastard of a run scheduled for tomorrow. The missing miles were meant to be run at pace, so it didn’t seem prudent to be adding them onto a short recovery run this evening.
Totals: 0:48 - 8.01km


Thursday 8th April
18km w/ 4 sets of (4’ tempo, 2’ 10k pace, 4’ jogging) The bloody wind once again proved to be my nemesis. I seem to be frequently blaming Mother Nature for my woes, but the differences in my paces go some way to proving I wasn’t just imaging things.
This looked a tough run on paper, and I can’t say I was particularly relishing it. The prospect of failure loomed large, but with an average pace of 3:25/km for the tempo efforts, and 3:12 for the 10k ones, I’ll chalk it down as a success. I never like tempo runs, and have routinely found them to be the hardest thing to do well in any of the running plans I’ve followed. I often need to work too hard to hit my target pace. But today, knowing I had to hit 10k pace immediately after finishing the 4 minutes tempo, ensured I kept the effort in check. The approach worked well, and it was only when coming towards the end of the combined 6 minutes, that things got difficult.
I was running on the pancake flat Grand Canal Way in my Nike 4%, but things won’t be any different when I do my peak race in 12 weeks (in fact I’ll be wearing even better shoes, and Allah willing, it’ll be a lovely calm day); so plenty to draw confidence from.
Totals: 1:16 - 18.00km


Friday 9th April
Run 1 - 19km Run I ran a bit longer than the plan decreed; partly to make up for the missed 5-miler of Tuesday evening, and partly because I missed a turn on the return leg of what was an out-and-back run.
Totals: 1:07 - 16.51km

Run 2 - 8km It was just a case of getting this done to round off the week. I thought about going for something easier than my standard training pace, but with two consecutive recovery runs scheduled for both Saturday and Sunday, I soon reasoned this wouldn’t be at all necessary.
Totals: 0:34 - 8.01km


Saturday 10th April
13km Recovery
Totals: 1:12 - 13.00km


Sunday 11th April
14km Recovery
Totals: 1:21 - 14.00km



Weekly Totals
Running - Time: 10:14, Distance: 134.04km
Cross training - Time: 0:45
S & C - Time: 0:00

Monday 19th April
10km warmup + 3 x {500m(5k), 300m(3k), 200m(1mi)} This was a daunting session on paper, but I’d no problem increasing the pace when required. I wanted the session to reflect race conditions as much as possible, so I ran the reps however the road fell on the same route I’ll use for Saturday’s TT. So sometimes the gradient, wind, etc. were in my favour, sometimes they weren’t. I maintained my speed over the three sets, and during the last 500m rep, I even had the rare experience of having to slow down because I was running too fast. Being able to run the subsequent 300m and 200m reps in my quickest times for the night, shows it hadn’t cost me. I finished the session very pleased with myself, and quietly confident ahead of Saturday’s TT. As it turned out, that confidence was misplaced, but that’s a story for another day.
Totals: 1:21 - 17.36km


Tuesday 20th April
Run 1 - 10km As per usual, it was up to the NSC for this. I was running out of time, and didn’t complete the full 1km cool down.
Totals: 0:41 - 9.73km

Run 2 - 12km After yesterday’s session, and another planned for tomorrow, I considered making this an easy run. I even started out with this plan, but once the first kilometre was completed, I copped on and decided that the truer I was to the plan, the better. If Magness had meant for this to be an easy run, I’m sure he would have detailed it as such.
Totals: 0:50 - 12.00km


Wednesday 21st April
16km w/ 12 x 200m @ 3k pace I drove to Porterstown Park to use the 400m grass track there. After warming up on the outer path, I changed into my spikes for the intervals. A 3,000m race is not a goal, but if it was, my goal time would be 8:59 or quicker. This translates to :00/km pace. To hold that, I needed to run the 200m reps in less than 36 seconds. The last time I ran in Porterstown, I averaged 37.5 seconds for four 200m reps, which were ran at 5k down to 3km pace. They weren’t easy, and In light of that, I wasn’t particularly relishing the prospect of having to run twelve 200s at an even higher intensity. Failing to hit the <36sec target seemed like a very realistic prospect. Thankfully this just happened for the very first rep, which is often my fastest one. Looking back on the times made me quiet happy. They took me more out of me than I’d be able to give in a 3,000m race, but sometimes hitting the numbers is more important than how you hit them. And today’s session felt like one of those times.
Totals: 1:12 - 15.44km


Thursday 22nd April
Run 1 - 8km Run This was a shorter run than normal; I guess to serve as part of a mini-taper for Saturday’s “race”.
Totals: 0:38 - 7.76km

Today was supposed to be a double run day, the second of which was a 9-miler. But I was getting the early warning signs of an impending injury. Porterstown Park hasn’t been getting much rain of late, and there wasn’t much give on the grass track yesterday. It was good for running fast, but not very forgiving when running in spikes with zero cushioning. I’ve suffered through more severe pain, and came through longer runs unscathed, but I remembered the cautious approach I resolved to take starting off this plan, and did an 80-minute cycle on my turbo trainer instead.


Friday 23rd April
6 miles w/ 6k easy + 6 x 100m strides
Totals: 0:46 - 9.69km


Saturday 24th April
4km easy
Just a very short leg loosener an hour ahead of today’s TT
Totals: 0:20 - 4.00km

5km TT

After the above warm-up, I stripped down to shorts and singlet, did a few stretches and some drills, then a few sprints to keep the blood flowing, took a few deep inhales, and began the race.

I’d a long report typed up that still didn’t say half of what’s gone through my mind since. Analysing things to death was only annoying me. In a nutshell, it wasn’t the performance I was expecting. Hopefully the next race I do will be a proper race, and a significant improvement on the performance I turned out today.
After a long walk of shame, I began this slow trudge home. I’d all day to reflect on what was a substandard performance, which is not so much because I was so far off my 15:50 prediction, as the complete collapse I experienced in the fifth kilometre. I like to think I’m able to hurt when needed, but there was no evidence of that today. I didn’t even feel any great levels of discomfort at any stage, so it’s rather puzzling what happened. Training has been going well of late, and while it wasn’t the peak race today, a race was still part of the plan. I’m assuming by strictly adhering to the plan, I’d have been in someway half decent shape on a race day. I felt good all week, and even one week later, I haven’t came up with any answers. If something similar happened on a training run, I’d just put it down to a bad day at the office. I’ve no other option but to do the same here, and move on.
Totals: 0:38 - 9.59km


Sunday 25th April
I had the option of a day off or a short recovery run. The good weather meant there was no way I was going to take the day off and sit on my couch all day, so I did an easy 100km on the bike instead.



Weekly Totals
Running - Time: 6:20, Distance: 85.59km
Cross training - Time: 5:02
S & C - Time: 0:47

I’ve a much clearer picture of what the year has in store than I had on my resumption of this log. I got an email a while ago telling me my Ironman in June has been cancelled. However, there weren’t many running races I was certain would go ahead. So even though I grew more and more committed to this 21-week plan, it still felt like a bit of a side project. Since then, things have changed for the better, and the Irish running calendar is starting to take shape. I’ve entered three races between now and 3rd July.

15th May - 5000m Time Trials, Le Chéile Athletic Club, Leixlip
30th May - Down Royal 10k,
3rd July - Gold Coast 10k, Ballygally

I also need to find another race on 12th June, but there’s no panic on that. The 10k on 3rd July will be my peak race, which is a week after it’s supposed to happen, but that should be easy enough work round. Ideally I’d like to do the peak race on a track, so if I can find something more suitable, then I’m prepared to switch target.

Now that I’m at the start of the “Competition Period”, barring catastrophe, I can guarantee that I’ll see the plan through. I’m not sure what I’ll do after the peak race, whenever it is, but at least I’ve something definite to focus on until then.

Monday 10th May
Distance Run w/ 6 x (1 mile @ 10k pace/4mins rec.) While the resumption of sports no doubt made a lot of people happy today, it messed with my sporting plans. I was hoping to do this session on my go-to routes in the NSC. But the return of group training meant there were a lot more cars there than there has been of late. After discovering this on the warm-up, I deemed it would be too dangerous to be both dodging cars and belting along at 10k pace. So I ran to Ballycoolin Road and did the intervals there. There were a couple of points on the stretch of path I was using that necessitated slowing slightly, but bar taking my chances with the cars in the NSC, there wasn’t much else I could do. The 1-mile intervals were done as three sets of one out and one back rep. It was predominantly a crosswind for each rep, and the differences in the paces are mainly attributable to elevation.
Due to rain, I left my go-faster shoes at home, so I’m hoping there’s another second or two I could take off my overall average pace of 3:17.83/km for 6 miles of fast stuff. Even without that, holding the same pace in a 10k race, would see me finish in under 33 minutes, which judged against Saturday’s 5km race time, would have to be deemed a success.
Totals: 1:25 - 20.44km


Tuesday 11th May
Run - 21km I combined the two daily runs and ran from Clonsilla to Leixlip along the Royal Canal. Due to COVID restrictions, it’s the first time in a long time I’ve ran this route. I’d love to say it was inspiring to be back, but it just felt like a dreary long slow run.
Totals: 1:29 - 21.34km


Wednesday 12th May
Run w. / 7mins tempo, 2 x 3mins 10k, & 2 x 45secs 5k It was wet today, so once again, I wasn’t wearing my racing shoes for a speed session. But on the plus side, it wasn’t windy, and I was grateful for that much. I was working hard, but at the same time, I was acutely aware that the tempo effort needed to be followed up with two faster 10k efforts, which in turn needed to be backed up with two even faster 5k efforts. All reps were all brought home on target, and I feel like I did a good job metering the effort.
Totals: 1:02 - 14.66km


Thursday 13th May
Run 1 - 8.5km Totals: 0:36 - 8.52km

Run 2 - 13.65km I was almost 9km into what supposed to be an easy 7 miles, when I bumped into my brother who was also out for a run. I knew a significant slowdown was going to ensue if I started running with him, but I wasn’t attaching much importance to the run anyway, and it would have been a bit rude to just run by him. So I fell in step with him, and was thankful of the company. It’s the first time I ran with another person in what feels like an eternity, so the remaining slow miles passed rather quickly.
Totals: 0:42 - 13.65km


Friday 14th May
10km Run
Totals: 0:42 - 10.01km


Saturday 15th May
4km easy
Totals: 0:20 - 4.01km

Le Chéile 5,000m TT

Warm up This included three hill sprints of 7 seconds, 16 seconds and 25 seconds duration. Two and a half laps of the track progressing to what I hoped would have been today’s race pace.
Race

The lap times above will tell the story of the shortest race report I’ll ever write; Disappointed.

I wasn’t in the mood to immediately go for a cool down jog, and while quietly brooding on my own race, I watched the final one from outside the track. By the time that race ended, it had just started to rain heavily, so it made the decision to hop into the shelter of my car and drive home even easier.
Totals: 0:37 - 9.46km


Sunday 16th May
12km Recovery Totals: 1:10 - 12.00km



Weekly Totals
Running - Time: 8:29, Distance: 115.82km
Cross training - Time: 0:00
S & C - Time: 0:45