Spiral out - keep going

Was a stepback week for me last week, so plenty of easy running

Tues 27th, 7m easy - 8:31avg grass
Wed 28th, 7m easy - 8:20avg went to Tramore Valley park for a change of scenery
Thurs 29th, 7m easy - 8:29avg grass
Fri 30th, 12x12" hill sprints - 8:12avg
Sat 1st, 7m easy - 8:30avg grass

I don't know what it is with stepback weeks but legs always seem very heavy with no pep in them for the week.

Sun 2nd, 12m@6:40 & 2m wu/cd
Have underestimated this run the last two times, thinking it would be a piece of cake compared to the faster paced runs. I was prepared this time but still found elements of the run tough.

Wore the Nike Tempo for this run and my god how uncomfortable they felt. Like two bricks covered with sandpaper on my feet. I guess I've experienced what AMK was talking about in his log, been spoiling my feet too much with super cushioning. Need to lose a toenail or gain multiple blisters to call myself a proper runner.

After the usual 5.xx pace start, I quickly settled into the required 6:40 pace (or a bit below it). First bit of the run was with the wind so was relaxed enough. Pace began to slow a bit and I didn't feel like I was in a good rhythm by halfway. Mentally I was feeling the slog and thought I would struggle till the end. I knew the last 4 miles would be into the wind so needed to get a move on for miles 7 & 8. Passage walkway is such a nice part of a run to get some fast miles, dead straight and flat for most of it.

By the time I turned into the wind, I was in a good zone so kept it going. I wasn't pushing myself to the max but the effort levels felt ok. Finished the run with a 6:35 average and another HM PB of 1:27:15.

The Tempos definitely don't give the same recovery benefits of the NEXT% as the legs are quite stiff today. The fear of next Sunday's tempo has already started (10m@6:10), which will be roughly my TT time from December 2020. I struggled to get 8 done 2 weeks ago but hopefully the stepback week will benefit me. I'm sure it'll go ok, I like a challenge

A very up and down week, with all routine thrown out the window. An imperfect storm where my kids were off school for the week but my OH was not, meant I was looking after them in the morning. Also had to endure several days of US audits in work late afternoon/evening so a few evening runs thrown in as well.

Tues 4th - 7m easy, 8:29avg grass

Wed 5th - 10x2' on/off, 5min rec, 10x90secs on/off, 10x1' on/off
Guide on paces were the 2mins at roughly 10k pace, 90secs at 5k, 1min at 3k. So on paper this looks like an okish session right. A coaches warning about it made me examine more closely. 45 minutes at sub 10k pace - oh boy. Those fears were proved right

It was the second day of audit work and only finished up at 7pm. Knew I would be out more than 2 hours so was going to be a late one. For the 2', advice was to run the first 5 at 5:45 pace and the next 5 slightly quicker. Knew they would be the worst so decided to take a tailwind for all of these. Only drawback is the rest of the reps would be against the wind. Got off to a good start 5:40, 5:49, 5:45, 5:37, 5:49, with the next 5 on target as well 5:38, 5:38, 5:44, 5:43, 5:39. 6 miles covered, with 5 minutes easy.

Turned into the headwind and knew it was going to be a sufferfest on the way back. My legs were already tired from the 2'. I said I would try to hit 5:45 for the 90secs into the wind, anything lower was a bonus. I was able to hit most of them but my legs were killing me 5:49, 5:40, 5:38, 5:39, 5:45, 5:34, 5:44, 5:38, 5:38, 5:48. Didn't know what I had left in me for the minute reps.

At this stage I didn't care about targets, just get them done. First few went ok but things went downhill then 5:37, 5:39, 5:09!! Pace slowly reduced for the next four 5:41, 5:46, 5:48, 6:00. Then my legs started to cramp up for the last 3. Probably should've finish there but was determined to finish out the session, albeit with half walked recoveries 5:53, 5:48, 5:54

Got to admit that was the toughest session I've ever done and I was in bits that night and the next few days. Ran over 17 miles for this one, finishing after half 9 :eek:

Thurs 6th - 7m recovery, 8:45avg grass. Evening run, legs in bits, tough to get through

Fri 7th - 7m easy, 8:29avg Was meant to be a hill sprint session but decided against it during the warmup. Right leg was still quite stiff, calf was rock hard. Did ease out over the course of the run

Sat 8th - 7m easy, 8:49avg grass. legs still tired as can be seen from the average pace. Was worried about tomorrow's session

Sun 9th - 10m@6:10
Woke up and at least my legs didn't hurt anymore. I was still quite nervous about the run as I knew they were tired and weather conditions weren't the best. Could feel the tiredness during the warmup but said I'd give it a shot and see how it goes. Can always cut it short if things went pearshaped.

First mile had a wind assisted feel to it and came in at 6:04. In fact the first 5 miles would have favourable wind so wanted to have some time banked for the second half. Things settled for the next 2 miles with a strong side wind 6:10, 6:10. Next mile gave me my first taste of the headwind for half it 6:15 before the last tailwind assisted mile. Thought I could claw some time for that one but ended as a 6:10

Halfway and I was feeling really tired but nothing was hurting. Next mile had me going over the Blackrock castle hill and it really stressed the legs going over that part. I felt like I was barely moving down the marina stretch and seriously debated whether to call it quits here or after mile 8 6:14 Turned down the railway line walkway into the wind and said to keep going till mile 8, thats a respectable distance. At this point the average pace was around 6:12 and I noticed that during the 7th mile that it wasn't dropping that much 6:14.

With 3 miles to go, I decided to struggle through the whole ten miles . I was going ok and keeping the pace. Even though it came in at 6:24, the main reason was it ended on the uphill part of the footbridge. Second last mile and legs are burning, gone were the idealistic thoughts of clawing back the pace - instead just wanted to keep at the current 6:13 average 6:14. Last mile was torture. The long straight walkway seemed to go on forever, was glancing at the distance left on my watch every 100m till the beeps finally began the countdown 6:09

It was a 6:13avg for the 10 miles. Considering the midweek session, how sore and stiff the legs were since then and the wind conditions, I was delighted with the run. This week was a tough one and must admit I didn't enjoy running from Thursday to Saturday. Glad things went well today and the body feels better now

Weekly mileage - 59 miles
Year to date - ???? (strava is down) should reach 1k next week

On racing, yes racing news, thanks to a member of the novices group's whatsapp message, I was able to get an entry to the Thoroughbred HM in Kildare on the 20th June. I'm cautious about whether it'll go ahead or not but at least I have something to aim for in the short term.

Well it was bound to catch up with me at some point. After some recent big sessions, the legs finally pushed back on Wednesday

Tues 11th - 7m easy 8:24avg grass
Legs actually felt great for this one, after the rest day. A lot better than the previous week

Wed 12th - 2x10'@5:55, 2x7'@5:50, 5x3'@5:45 (3min rec), 20'wu/cd
All seemed normal, except knowing that the session was going to be seriously hard. 49 minutes of the longer tempo type rep will be a serious challenge.

First 10' rep went to plan and didn't hit me too hard. Did the 3 min rec and turned into the wind to start the second one. As it was into the wind, I didn't mind the pace drifting out a bit but still had to put a big effort to keep it at 6min pace. I needed to walk the majority of the recovery and knew I was in trouble.

Changed the planned route as needed to turn with the wind if I had any chance of completing the session. Surely the reps would get easier as the time decreases, i was over the worst!? The first mile of the 7 mins was on pace but my legs lost all sense of power/energy for the last minute. My form was super ragged. I needed to walk this recovery as well, and decided to call the session there and then.

At the end of recovery I decided to give the last 7 min rep a shot, but not care how fast I go for it - just give it a bit of effort back to the car. Was a 6:15 rep. Changed the shoes and went for the cool down. It's a strange feeling, knowing that you definitely have nothing in the legs speed wise, but are still able for a cooldown. Still was a decent 34min workout so not a total loss

Conversation with the coach that afternoon and it was decided that I would go into a week of easy running, to allow the legs to recovery properly and to absorb the recent big sessions. Those big sessions are here to stay but will be spaced out to allow me to recover from them

Thurs 13th - 7m easy, 8:34avg grass. Legs were heavy but got through it
Fri 14th - 7m easy, 8:25avg Went to Tramore Valley for a change
Sat 15th - 7m easy, 8:32avg grass

Sun 16th - 90' easy, 7:55avg
Wore the VF 4% for easy as wanted to keep it around the 8' pace, so easy(ish). Went to the west of the city around the Straight road for a bit of a change. Must admit that I enjoyed this run, legs felt ok and the 90' flew by

Weekly mileage - 51m
Year to date - 1043m

So passed the 1k marker for the year (ironically during the warmup of the failed session) so happy with that. Another 5 more days of easy running before i get back into the faster stuff. Was happy answering the questions put to me during the week for the A/Rtist in the Spotlight - https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2058184999 Will try to pick the next victim person next week

skyblue46 wrote: »

T, I hope you don't mind if I ask a question. Don't take it the wrong way because as you know from the training I'm doing at the moment I'm not afraid to go against conventional wisdom either :pac:

I'm just wondering what the absolute adherence to paces is all about? Wearing special shoes, turning downwind, turning yourself inside out...Surely allowance must be made for weather conditions, inclines etc? For example if the intention of the 5:55 paces was to have you running at 10 mile pace thats great. But in a straight 10 mile race into the wind you would not be trying to run at 5:55 as you would realise it wasn't an appropriate pace. Is the effort not more mportant than the time on the watch?

Thanks S and it's something I need to be keep reminded about. Yes, the paces are a guide which should be dependent on conditions. I'm still not great on judging effort levels for runs, it's something that I'm still trying to learn - hence the watch gazing I suppose. The rapid improvement seems to be slowing down, so hopefully I'll get better at judging effort when the paces steady somewhat.

I think that session was an outlier though, where the body was struggling. I was trying every trick in the book to get through it. TBH the wind that day wasn't the strongest, just added to the strain on the day

Thanks for putting it better than I could A

AuldManKing wrote: »

But to defend the coach - he epouses the pace as a guide and advises us to slow down on uphills & into the wind.

Yea to confirm, he constantly tells me that these paces are a guide and I should run by feel/effort. Also to stop the watch gazing - as well as going over effort levels, it may also be restricting me at times. I may eventually learn this lesson

shotgunmcos wrote: »

I'll do flat loop for anything up to 5 min reps as I can get it done in a lap. Otherwise tempo, MP etc is all terrain.

Sorry for asking in your log Treviso but seems folk have set up shop here today!

When plugging reps like 5x Xmin @6:XX into your watch do you create a +/- 5sec range then just run on feel and see how it turns out? Or try to stick to the middle of that range (your target pace)?

Reason I ask, is that I plug in the +/-5 sec and try to run on feel but the buzzing of the watch outside the range is distracting. However you do want it to buzz/beep to let you know rep/rest is over..

Myself, I do not put a +/- 5sec range into the workout, just the 5x Xmin parts - hence the watch gazing on my part

Training is a bit of a blur recently so another boring update here.

Tues 25th - 7m easy, 8:19avg lashing rain from start to finish

Wed 26th - 20x1' on/off
Wore the Nike Tempo shoes for this as I didn't expect it to be a tough session. They feel so uncomfortable these days, might retire them just shy of 215 miles. Target pace was a shade under 5k pace. Most of them came in around 5.30 pace which was fine. I always underestimate this session though, feeling it will be easier that it actually is.

Thurs 27th - 7m easy, 8:30avg grass

Fri 28th - 12x12" hill sprints Only thing of interest here was I felt I was sluggish for the hill sprints during them but turned out they were quite rapid when checking in Strava

Sat 29th - 7m easy, 8:36avg grass

Sun 30th - 6m@6:10, 2m@6:05, 30'WU/CD
So the coach has put together a group of his Cork runners roughy at the same level, so we can run these sessions together for a couple of reasons. One is to stop us from racing these sessions to the max, and second is group running will make them feel a bit easier. Called the group the Cork Hobbyjoggers, such a sense of humour

This was the first official run together but a few had different sessions (some had 8m@6:15). I was happy to go at that pace too but turned out it was a quick session for everyone. There were two big changes for me that I'll need to adapt to. First was not looping back to the car for the warmup, we stayed out for the whole session. Second and biggest was the pace of the warmup/cooldown miles. They were running them in the 7:30-8 range, whereas I would always be over 8min. I could feel it even before we started the fast miles.

There was 8 of us in total so was a nice group. Weather was particularly hot even at 8am, but I normally don't mind those conditions. First couple of fast miles felt good 6.16, 6:09, was nicely tucked in at the back. Had to remember to take my turn at the front, the unwritten rule. At the front for the next 2 6:08. 6:07, were a bit tougher but overall ok at halfway. Pace increased here by the group for the next mile 6:05 and one of the group dropped off. I took another go at the front and pace inadvertently increased again 6:03 (whoops)

I began to feel it a lot with 2 miles to go. Working off time is unusual for me, seeing 10 minutes left seems like the end of the run - whereas seeing nearly 2 miles left doesn't (hard to explain). The group started to eek ahead of me and I didn't have the energy to keep up. My main goal was not to leave them get that far ahead. The fact that the last two miles were both 6:07 was a great relief to me. If I ran this by myself I would be thrilled. Being left a bit by the group, even though they ran faster than prescribed, didn't make me feel as good. This group running thing may have it's drawbacks. Have to remind myself that these training sessions are part of an overall bigger picture - that'll come with more running experience.

Warm down pace was a bit quick as well, Overall the 16 miles averaged out at 6.52 :eek:

Weekly mileage - 55

Tues 1st - 7m easy, 8:38avg grass

Wed 2nd - 8x1mile@5.45 (3min rec)
No fear of me underestimated this one, in fact I had been dreading it since the weekly plan came out last Sunday. 46 minutes of work at 5.45 pace, jeez. Discovered from another person doing this session that it's 10 mile pace - haha, as if.....
Was able to meet up with one of the Hobby joggers for the session and I do think it was a big help for both of us. The mile rep seemed to always be the same, I would lead out too fast and he would overtake and be stronger towards the end. I think I paced them well, all came in under the 5.45. Got a slight twinge in the hamstring after the fourth rep, but it disappeared thankfully for the rest of the session. Mile reps were 5.40, 5.43, 5.43, 5.44, 5.43, 5.44, 5.43
I was delighted with how it went and just looking back at it now, makes me feel even better about it. Maybe it could be my 10 mile pace

Thurs 3rd - 7m recovery, 8.40avg grass with very stiff legs

Fri 4th - 12x12" hill sprints, 8.15avg Was snapped by the local paperazzi (club member who was doing some recon for today's Virtual HM) while doing the early reps. At least the form looked good in the photos, but probably degraded when he disappeared.

Sat 5th - 7m easy, 8.41avg grass. Good to see the increase in activity at the UCC Farm. Lots of GAA teams out training

That's me up to date. The Thoroughbred HM has snuck up quite quickly, just over 2 weeks to go. I really didn't think it would go ahead but looks like it will (yay). After tomorrow long tempo and Wed's session, I'll have a welcome taper to it. The plan at the moment will be to start at 6min mile pace and see how I'm feeling at halfway, push on if I can. Never thought that I ever would be planning to run a HM sub 6 min pace, but it's just a number right

Sun 6th - 10m@6:15, 30' wu/cd
From last week's group of 8, the bank holiday weekend had disrupted most people's plans and the group had whittled down to 3. This will happen most of the time but was still good to have two others to run with. Same route as last week but with an extra loop at the start of the warmup.

Some quick warmup miles and we were into the fast miles. We started at a fast pace, too fast probably, after the first 4 miles my watch showed a 6:08 average. Felt like I couldn't keep going at that pace. Thankfully the next few miles settled into more of the goal pace. One of the group kept going at the faster pace so went a bit ahead for the rest of the run. I had no inclination to follow and neither did the other guy. Last 3 miles and my legs felt very heavy and it did feel like a slog. Watch had us at 6.10 avg at the end, a 61.42 10 miler, which is very close to my current TT PB. Another fast cool down resulted in a 1.25.15 HM PB, and 18 miles at 6:47avg. Longest run of the year

Tues 8th - 7m easy, 8.43avg grass, legs felt surprisingly ok

Wed 9th - 20'@5.50-->5.45, 5min rec, 10x2' on/off. 20'wu/cd
Really worried about this one, because of the 2' reps instead of the normal 1'. Things lined up well for this session. 20' tempo meant I could use it for our club's Fota Cheetah 5k virtual race. I also needed to break in my new Alphaflys before the upcoming HM, so they helped me reduce the 5k time.

Conditions for the session were very warm and muggy, turns out humidity was at 100%. Honestly though, it didn't seem to affect me that much breathing wise - it was the legs that felt the session the most (unless the humidity drains the legs). Ran with the same person as last week, which was a great help again. Changed the shoes after the warmup and felt the spring of the AFs.

In my own head, I wanted to do the first 5k in 5.45 average and then relax a bit for the remaining 2.xx minutes. The first mile felt grand, thought the rest would be easy but into the 2nd mile and I was working a lot. Had to do a 180 turn ten minutes into the tempo, getting up to pace after the turn was difficult. Was still holding the 5.45avg into the 3rd mile and managed to hang on till the end of the 5k. Finished on a 17.49 5k time.

Pace dropped quite a bit after those beeps, to a 5.56 pace. After the elation of that run came the realisation of the upcoming 10x2' portion. Goal pace was somewhere between 5.30-5.40 pace, depending on how the legs felt. They all came within that range but boy was it a struggle. My legs filled with lactate after the 3rd rep, by the 5th I couldn't get much pace into them but was able to grind out the remaining 4. It was a session that I suffered on but one that I felt great after completing it.

Thurs 10th - 7m recovery, 8.44avg grass. Legs felt great before the run but were quite lethargic during the run