An 18 Week Sabbatical

peter kern wrote: »

ie which day did you feel better?
did you prefer track or road
alone or with somebody?

I don't really know how to answer those questions to be honest. It was my first track race, so I think I'd need to do a few more of them before coming up with a preference. From the mental side of things, I'd prefer a road race, but it's an undeniable fact that track races are faster. And as it's all about the time for me, were it possible, I'd still enter a 10,000m track race in 5 weeks.

I'd the same level of confidence heading into both races, but the implosion I experienced in the solo TT meant I adopted a different strategy for the race in Leixlip.

Obviously having someone to run the full 5,000m with both times would have been great, but you'd need the perfect running partner. And in a race with only 12 runners, I was unlikely to be so lucky. I stuck with the leaders for 2.5 laps, but it didn't work out. Was there any benefit to what I did? It's hard to know, but it was demoralising to see the gap grow over the final ten laps. I'm well used to running on my own in training, and racing on my own in the run legs of triathlons, so having company is certainly not something I depend upon.

peter kern wrote: »

thats good enough for me .
so i take it you are going to train more on the track if you want to do 10 k track race.

That would definitely be the sensible thing to do, so "No", I won't be doing it.

But more seriously, I don't have ready access to a track. If I was more motivated about this 10k mission, I'd probably rejoin Dunboyne AC, and do my sessions on their track. But honestly, my mind is already wandering to what I might do after 3rd July, and it doesn't necessarily involve running or triathlon.

Monday 17th May
Distance Run w/ 1mi (10k), 600m (5k), 1.2k (10k), 600m (3k), 1mi (10k), 400m (3k), 400m (1mi); 3min recoveries I was happy with the paces I held for all of the reps. If anything, I was even faster than I was expecting. So it was a bit of a tonic after the disappointing race two days prior. But the nagging voice of doubt is telling me it might be another case of training well and racing poorly.
Totals: 1:12 - 17.42km


Tuesday 18th May
Run - 21km I had to drive from Dublin to Tullamore this evening, and stopped off along the way to get this run done. I pulled off the M4 and parked up in a village I’d never heard of before; Johnstown Bridge. The change of scenery was good. Being a bit pressed for time, I didn’t really have time for my routine warmup and cool down. Consequently, I was pushing the pace from first to last step.
Totals: 1:26 - 21.40km


Wednesday 19th May
12km Run
Totals: 0:50 - 12.01km


Thursday 20th May
Run 1 - 6km Recovery Totals: 0:36 - 6.01km

Run 2 - 18km w/ 8 x 45” surges I drove to the Phoenix Park for this, and stuck to flat terrain for the entire run. I ran conservatively for 9km before starting the first of eight surges, when my watch auto lapped for the tenth time.
Totals: 1:13 - 18.01km


Friday 21st May
10km Run
Totals: 0:43 - 10.01km


Saturday 22nd May
25km on Wicklow Way With a slightly longer long run than usual scheduled for this weekend, I figured it was worthwhile driving to Marlay Park for it. It was only a short distance from there to link up with the Wicklow Way. It was nice to be away from traffic and the non too inspiring routes I’m used to running in Dublin 15. And if all the climbing I had to do helps with strength, then that’s another bonus.
Totals: 2:11 - 25.00km


Sunday 23rd May
16km Recovery Totals: 1:10 - 12.00km



Weekly Totals
Running - Time: 9:42, Distance: 125.87km
Cross training - Time: 0:45
S & C - Time: 0:00

Monday 24th May
Distance Run w/ 6 x (800m @ 10k pace/800m steady) This looked like a challenging run on paper, but despite that I still opted to go to The Polo Grounds and run on grass. I’m not sure how much speed that took away from me, but I’m telling myself it was significant enough. I concentrated on the effort rather than the pace. I’m pleased with the consistent times I held for the first four 800m 10k-reps. And while I didn’t hold that consistency for the final two reps, I’d much rather be a few seconds quicker than a few seconds slower.
Totals: 1:03 - 15.66km


Tuesday 25th May
Run - 23km I combined today’s two scheduled runs and did the recommended distance in one activity.
Totals: 1:33 - 23.00km


Wednesday 26th May
Distance Run w/ 8 x (200m 5k-3k pace/200m jog) The 200m efforts were all done on flat ground; the odd numbered efforts were all in the same direction on what was basically the exact same stretch of path, the even numbered ones in the opposite direction. So any advantage to be had from either the wind or gradient was nullified. It’s probably easy enough hit target paces for such short efforts, but at least I wasn’t failing.
Totals: 0:57 - 13.01km


Thursday 27th May
13km Easy This was one of the rare runs in the plan that is actually tagged as “easy”, so I felt I had the imprimatur from Magness himself to take it even easier than normal.
Totals: 1:04 - 13.00km


Friday 28th May
10km w/ 6 x 100m strides
Totals: 0:42 - 9.83km


Saturday 29th May
5mins w/ 3 x 1min blocks accelerating to 5k pace Totals: 0:15 - 3.57km


Race - 10k
I arrived at Down Royal Racecourse 24 hours early for a 10k race ChampionChip Ireland were holding on 30th May. However, MyRunResults were hosting the Northern Ireland 100K & 50K Championships at the same venue today, so I parked up without realising anything was amiss until I walked up to registration.

Luckily a 5-person relay race was part of the 50k Championships, and MyRunResults were kind enough to give me a number free of charge. So major thanks to them for accommodating me and saving me a pointless 3½-hour round trip.

Warm up A short trot with three sprints; completed as close to the start of the race as I dared leave it.

Race My hope today was to get as close to 33 minutes as possible, and my strategy was to hold sub 3:20/km pace for as long as possible. I’d forgotten to switch on the auto-lap mode on my watch. So with just average pace showing, I wasn’t fully aware of how early, nor how far, I was off my target pace. I’m not sure I could have done much about it had I known the >3:20 kilometres had started so early. But I drove up North not expecting to run a whole lot faster than 33:32. Also, I was on my own from the get go, and I managed to avoid a capitulation after a 3:26 split midway through. And at the end of the day, I was lucky to be even racing, so I’ll graciously accept the result and take it as a sign I’m on the right track for 3rd July.

Cool Down
Totals: 1:01 - 15.18km


Sunday 30th May
I didn’t bother with the scheduled recovery run, and opted for a 3½ cycle instead.



Weekly Totals
Running - Time: 9:42, Distance: 125.87km
Cross training - Time: 0:45
S & C - Time: 0:00

ThebitterLemon wrote: »

Can I ask why you seem to have dropped S&C these last few weeks, is it a conscious decision?

As I’ve gotten older I’m convinced that S&C is essential for form and improvement

TbL

It certainly wasn't a conscious decision. This is just just what half-arsed training looks like for me, and it's simply just a bad habit I've let develop. Anytime I've had an injury, I'm as convinced as you are about the merits of S & C; touch wood the next reminder isn't just around the corner. I had hoped logging zero hours week after week, would shame me into doing something, but I'm still waiting. While I know it's easy to do effective work at home, home fitness is not something I ever seriously got into. And with gyms being shut for so long, it was easy find an excuse not to do anything. Now that they're open again, my excuse is it's too late in the program to be changing anything.

I suppose I've been foam rolling regularly for 10-15 minutes (sometimes up to three times a day) for the last while. No doubt that's helping keep the injuries at bay, but I don't count it as training. And I intend to go back to Bikram Yoga this week, which combined with running itself (the most specific strength work you can do) has most bases covered.

Monday 31st May
Distance Run w/ 4mi MP + 15mins tempo After a 5km warm-up, I changed into a brand new pair of Saucony Endorphin Pro 2s. Despite only going 1 second per kilometre quicker, I was working much harder for the the 15 minutes at threshold than I was for the MP effort. I’m telling myself though the combined distance of fast running was in excess of 10km, and only 2 days after doing a full 10km at an all out effort, so I’m going to cut myself some slack on this occasion.
Totals: 1:16 - 18.38km


Tuesday 1st June
Run - 18km
Totals: 1:13 - 18.00km


Wednesday 2nd June
20km w/ 8 x 10” hill sprints + 1hour run Totals: 1:36 - 20.02km


Thursday 3rd June
12km Totals: 0:50 - 12.00km


Friday 4th June
Distance Run 3 x (600m, 600m, 400m @ 5k pace w/ 40” rest) I was happy with this run; the second session of the week. Well, happy with the finishing paces above, but as I’ve found out a few times in recent months, it’s a lot easier hold sub 16 minute 5k pace for short reps, than it is for a full 5,000m.
Totals: 1:10 - 16.37km


Saturday 5th June
14.5km Recovery I ran to the NSC, and stuck to the cross country route for the bulk of this run.
Totals: 1:21 - 14.51km


Sunday 6th June
Long Hilly Run Seeking a change of scenery, I drove to the Hill of Tara for this week’s long run. It was all on grass and very much an up and down affair.
Totals: 1:42 - 22.64km


Weekly Totals
Running - Time: 9:15, Distance: 121.94km
Cross training - Time: 0:00
S & C - Time: 0:00

peter kern wrote: »

can i ask how do you calculate that your marathon pace is 3.24 ?

I was aiming for 3:27/km, same pace I held in DCM 2018. While it's only a 3-second difference, I'm not confident enough in my current form that I'd be willing to slowdown when the margins are so fine. It was a day when I wanted to hit my target paces no matter what, and in the moment, the fact I was moving too fast was of minor concern.

peter kern wrote: »

and how can your marathon pace be 3.27 if your 2nd half of your 10 k race was 3.25 pace ...
or to make it clearer, 2 days after a race you train as fast or faster than what you run 5 k in a 10 k race and call it marathon pace...

Well if that’s the way you want to look at it, fair enough. But the way I look at it is I know I’ve ran 3:27/km in a marathon before, so until old age catches up with me, I’m going to continue training with that pace in mind.

PS. Now that you’re here, can you tell me have you ever flown with a bike from Ireland to Iceland?

Monday 7th June
Distance Run w/ 3 x 2,400m - alternate 400m LT/400m 10k to 5k I deliberately chose to do this on MSB’s grass track, as it would give me an easy excuse should I fail to hit my paces. I wasn’t particularly relishing this run, which had an affect on my mentality. Plus pools were back open today, which was an unwelcome distraction. Despite today being a bank holiday, I’d left it until late afternoon to start. So I was under pressure to get things wrapped up before my inaugural swim of 2021, and my mind was elsewhere when I should have been solely concentrating on running fast.
I’m working out the speeds above based on the 100m markings on the track, rather than the more generous figures my Garmin recorded. The numbers don’t look great, but I’m sure there’s a significant margin of error attributable to how quickly I pressed the lap button upon crossing the 100m chalk markings. But Garmin Connect shows that my cadence increased with each attempted turn of speed, so I’ll take that as clearer evidence that I was successfully doing what I was supposed to be doing.
Totals: 0:57 - 12.20km


Tuesday 8th June
Run - 17km After a longer than planned power nap this evening, I wasn’t feeling very sprightly. I seriously considered just doing this as an easy run, but I copped on during the opening kilometre, and stuck to the original plan of 15km at pace.
Totals: 1:09 - 17.00km


Wednesday 9th June
15km w/ 6mins LT, 3mins 10k, 2 x 400m 10k & 4 x 10sec sprints I was well off my 3:23/km target for the opening salvo. Although, I’m pretty sure a lap pace 3:24/km was showing on my watch before taking a left hand turn with about 90 seconds left in the effort. But I just couldn’t maintain the pace, and finished the effort with a rueful shake of my head. The start of the first 10k wasn’t going too well either, and once again, I found myself a couple of seconds off my target pace. I started to think I was in for a long evening, and knew a change in approach was required. Grunting things out wasn’t working. So I consciously took the decision to relax, and focussed on lengthening my stride. As if by magic, my speed increased and it was fairly plain sailing from there on. I actually had to slow down for the 400m efforts; a rare occurrence of late.
*I don’t believe the varying speeds my Garmin is giving me for the 10-second sprints, so I won’t bother detailing them. Suffice to say, they were all max efforts, and the 50-second recoveries were very much needed.
Totals: 1:02 - 14.90km


Thursday 10th June
Run 1 - 10km Legs felt a bit heavy on this run. I was wearing old-school racing flats, so I’m attributing it to that.
Totals: 0:42 - 10.11km

Run 2 - 8km Recovery I’d taken the morning off; not the most sensible decision when a double run day is scheduled. It meant I had to get the two runs done in the evening, and I only began this run at 21:48. It was a lot of reluctance I took the first few steps, but in an attempt to cheer myself up, I ran by the local pubs to see how outdoor drinking is going down with the neighbours.
Totals: 0:49 - 8.01km


Friday 11th June
10km w/ 6 x 100m strides A fairly standard run on the eve of a race done and dusted.
Totals: 0:43 - 10.01km


Saturday 12th June
Race (The Virtual Kind) - 5k

Warm up In an attempt to give this something of a race like feel, I’d driven to St. Anne’s Park to use the parkrun route there. I’ve never ran here before, but it seemed to one of the easier parkrun courses in Dublin. Anyway, I scoped out the route on my warmup, and threw in a few sprints for good measure. Then after stripping down to a singlet, and lacing up my Sacouny Endorphin Pros for only their second outing, I undertook my most half hearted attempt at a “race” ever.

Race It’s hard to draw too much confidence from this, but there’s not much I can complain about either. The route was about as fair a route as I could hope for, and conditions were ideal. It’s simply a case that when a decent performance was required, I just wasn’t able to deliver. I’m losing heart in this whole 10k project the closer it gets to D-Day. The idea that I might not be as fast as I’d like to think I am, is a hard one to get away from. And unless something magical happens on July 3rd, I don’t see how I’m going to break 33 minutes.

Cool Down
Totals: 0:48 - 13.46km


Sunday 13th June
3km Recovery I started this at 21:49, not long after finishing a 4½ hour cycle, so getting this done took a lot more resolve than it should have.
Totals: 0:16 - 3.01km


Weekly Totals
Running - Time: 6:35, Distance: 88.73km
Cross training - Time: 5:28
S & C - Time: 0:00

Monday 14th June
Distance Run w/ 1mi tempo, 2mi 10k, 1mi tempo, 1mi 10k down to 5k I used the Tom Brennan loop in the Phoenix Park for the faster partsof today’s run, so the route was about as flat as I could hope for. But I’d still chalk it down as one of the best runs I’ve done since starting the plan last February. It was hard work, but I successfully hit my target paces. I finished a bit more optimistic about my chances of breaking 33 minutes on July 3rd.
Totals: 1:20 - 18.01km


Tuesday 15th June
Run - 16½km I happened to be in Lucan this evening, and decided to take advantage of this opportunity, and ran somewhere different. After climbing a cnutish hill to get out of the village and cross the N4, I eventually found the entrance to Griffeen Valley Park. I was hoping for a relaxing evening, but I didn’t find it the easiest place to run.
Totals: 1:07 - 16.52km


Wednesday 16th June
Run 1 - 6½km
Totals: 0:28 - 6.66km

Run 2 - 6½km Easy The easy was my own decision, and the pickup in pace happened naturally.
Totals: 0:28 - 6.49km


Thursday 17th June
14km w/ 5 x 800m @ 5k pace + 5 x 20” hill sprints I used a flat stretch of road for the 800m reps, so I’d no excuses to fall back on should I have ended up running them too slowly. They ended up being a bit too fast, but the recoveries were very generous and I felt like I was in control of the pace. For the hill sprints, I used a hill in BIT that I’d never used before, and I feel like I made a good fist of these too.
Totals: 1:12 - 14.01km


Friday 18th June
10km
Totals: 0:42 - 10.01km


Saturday 19th June
Run 1 - 8km Recovery This should have been done yesterday evening, but I’d a busy week, and it was going to be a lot easier get two runs done on a day I didn’t have to go to work.
Totals: 0:46 - 8.05km

Run 2 - 18km
Totals: 1:13 - 18.00km


Sunday 20th June
12km Recovery
Totals: 1:10 - 12.00km



Weekly Totals
Running - Time: 8:26, Distance: 109.75km
Cross training - Time: 0:00
S & C - Time: 0:00

Thanks. I raced in the end; 33:20, which is a PB, but didn’t have me jumping for joy. I’ll finish off the log at some point. I’ve just been a bit scattered lately.