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Eye of the Tiger Beer.

Singer

Yes, that's the best pun I could think of. As encouraged by the wonderful mentor on the DCM 2015 Mentored Novices thread, this is now my training log thread. Welcome!

Running history

(Some of this is copied verbatim from the novices thread)

I'm 36, male, married with two kids, living in the north Dublin suburbs. I have no real sporting background. I used to play a bit of 5-a-side football with friends until kids & work made scheduling a pain. I wasn't grotesquely overweight or anything, but increasingly aware that I was becoming less active and that there was more of me, and running seemed like something I could work into my week.

I ran a bit two summers ago, nothing particularly long or fast - just doing laps of football pitches on my own and a bit around the estate a few times a week. Max 5k, pace around 5:50/k, completely unstructured training. I vaguely recall having stitches during a lot of the runs. Once the weather went bad I stopped.

Last Spring I started venturing out again. By May I was all the way up to a whopping 7k, pace was around 5:10/k and the stitches had gone away, so I decided to enter the Race Series Fingal 10k for something to aim for. June was almost a complete washout due to a chest infection, and July was spent increasing my distance over a few runs - 2 or 3 a week. I did my first 10k in the race, finishing in 55:54. I must have enjoyed the run so tentatively signed up for the Frank Duffy 10m and Half-Marathon. August had a good few more 10k+ training runs, and I completed the 10m in 1:30:12. I carried on the momentum during September, still just doing 2 or 3 runs a week and completed the half-marathon in 1:59:19, which felt pretty awesome at the time.

After the half-marathon I got the terrible notion that maybe I could do the DCM in 2015. Fortunately I happened across the 2014 Mentored Novices thread (which should be enough to put most reasonable people off), read a couple of books about marathon running and probably a million different articles on random websites of mixed quality. For various reasons I was only running once or twice a week during October/November, though that was mixed with a good bit of gym work.

Once 2015 started I started doing a lot more gym work and was back running twice a week or so, with one of those being around 20k or so. I ran the Trim AC 10 mile on February 1st in 1:19:03 and the MSB St Patrick's Day 5k March in 23:27. Around here I hurt my stupid left foot, so eased off on running for a few weeks. Since then I've increased my frequency and milage a good bit and been trying out different types of runs. I'm not yet doing my LSRs slow enough but I'm working on this

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Singer

A less good week, but not terrible.

I was hmming and hawing about Tuesday's session, kind of worrying about a longer MP session, and ended up deciding to do some HMP reps instead as I've been doing a good few of them. 4 x 8 minutes off 1 minute slower was the plan and jogged over to the Holywell junior parkrun venue. However I pulled the plug after two reps as I was feeling like I was at the end of a 5k, so just jogged the long way home instead. Checking my heart rate later on it confirmed that it was through the roof. This happens every so often, maybe my body was fighting something off, or was tired from all the additional mileage. Not particularly worried about it anyway, half considered doing another session during the week, but I generally was feeling tired (a trip to Glasgow didn't help on this front too) so just took things easy for the week, and only did 5k on Friday. I ended up in the bar at work on Friday evening which added a lot of stress to the pacing gig at Rivervalley on Saturday. A load of folks were over from Raheny and Clonliffe too which added a good bit of speed to the field. I was comfortable enough despite the hangover, I thought I went through half-way bang on 11 minutes, then tried to bank some time to allow for the hill second time 'round. Only after going up the hill and recovering did it become clear that I was a good bit ahead of where I needed to be, I kept things steady enough but finished in 21:32, not exactly excellent pacing. Stressful enough overall, I was worried scared that my hangover would cause a pacing fail, instead my nerves about pacing failure caused a pacing failure. Nobody asked for their money back anyway. Sunday morning was back out with a local running buddy. We set out at a decent pace and held it while chatting on a pretty nice and cool morning. Ended up doing 16 miles, with most of them faster than MP (???). Tired enough towards the end as we slowed down while getting back into Swords. A good workout which made me no longer scared of MP, whatever that is.

Total: 62.8 miles

Next week: Taper time. Over 40 miles anyway. Will head to the Cru on Tuesday for something HM paced, and I reckon I'm gonna give a parkrun a good go on Saturday, then just 10 miles or so. Apart from a good taper the next two weeks will be spent mostly worrying about AVOIDING GETTING COVID SO THAT I CAN GET INTO THE USA.

Singer

A good week even if I do say so myself. Three weeks and a day out to Boston, so trying to throw myself into the marathon mines. This week was the highest mileage since January 2020 and the body is holding up well. Maybe my biggest problem right now is my feet are in bits, a good few blisters and my nails could be in better condition. Nothing sore or anything but they look like crap. Has anybody ever gone to a podiatrist for feet maintenance? I guess I could do it myself but I am a very lazy person. I got a load of blisters recently from some Adidas Adistar runners I picked up on a whim recently that look great but unfortunately rub my feet up the wrong way despite seeming to fit pretty well and are now relegated to walking.

Tuesday's club session at Crusaders was good, it was the same as last week's HM paced ladder of 3,4,6,8,6,4,3 minutes with a slower minute in between reps. First couple of reps were fast as I had my watch in kms from the previous week's parkrun and forgot to switch back to miles and I didn't know what exactly what I should be running in kms, but thankfully I was able to switch mid-session. If I ever design a running watch it will have 3 buttons - stop/start, lap and km/mile switcher. I was feeling a bit bloated having eaten a big lunch at work followed by a second lunch/early dinner before training and got a bit of a stitch towards the end. Average paces were around 6:53 and I naughtily did a fast one to finish (like 6:34 pace).

On Saturday I was in St. Annes for the younger kid's GAA match with the unfortunate start time of 10.30, so not much chance of parkrun. I decided to do a speed session and did 6x800 off 400m jog on the avenue. I was targeting sub-20 paces and it definitely felt tough, hopefully thanks to the increase in mileage. Pretty wrecked by the end of it, didn't hit the pace every time but close enough. The elevation loss/gain on the avenue was definitely quite noticeable by the end of it! Picked up some nice post-run lunch from the food stands, it was quite the morning in the park with the beautiful weather.

Sunday was the longest run since Donadea in 2020 I think, a route I've been meaning to do since I went through my brief period of cycling, running deep into the hills near Ballyboughal. Took it easy enough, it was mostly just for time on feet with some hills. The glorious views over Dublin didn't happen due to it being pretty misty today but still some nice things to look at along the way including an actual plane at Ballyboughal airfield. They were taking off 15 minutes later, but I was getting a bit tired so just kept going after taking a photo. I've taken off on that field numerous times on Flight Simulator, maybe I should've given them a few tips.

Total: 67.5 miles, 7 days running.

Next week: Three weeks out is peak week I guess, so same again, however unfortunately I am going to Glasgow for Tuesday night to visit my sister over there and go to see Thundercat play. I might try to do a MP paced session in the morning before the flight (like 10 miles?) maybe taking in some local hills. Not really sure of what my marathon pace is, maybe 7:45/mile? Planning to be pacing Rivervalley parkrun on Saturday doing 22 minutes which will be the fast thing this week.

Annie get your Run

Sorry to hear about your friend B.

Singer

Ah the curse of writing about consistency on the log. Not only have I not been updating, I had another crappy week over the last month, unsurprisingly the week I had to travel over to London for my mate's funeral. I caught a cold over there (a zillion antigens and a PCR all reckoned it wasn't Covid, but who knows) so was feeling emotionally and physically like crap and so didn't really get out the door much. Other than that some ok signs of improvement running-wise, however my weight loss has stopped at this point, and I am increasingly starting to worry about Boston, so I am going to deploy two super-weapons: 1. run a small bit more 2. stop drinking alcohol. I woke up on March 18th with a decent hangover and thinking about it being exactly a month to Boston, so it's a nice round number to be on the dry for. Sobriety definitely makes it easier to run more consistently and longer too, and also I really don't want to get Covid between now and then, alcohol doesn't tend to help there either.

Week Feb 21 - 27:

Did the marathon session with the Cru on Tuesday, 6 x 5 mins @ HMP off 2 mins slower which went well, paces were on average slightly over 7:00 for the splits. Did a double on Thursday, I had a day off work and I went out in the morning, but turned around having remembered a meeting that I had to go to. So went out again in the evening to bring it to over 10 miles for the day. I got out to Rivervalley parkrun, which was a hungover 22:24. Sunday was a long-ish run of 12+ miles at a decent pace (8:13/mile) with a running pal.

Total: 54.4 miles, 7 days running, not terrible.

Week Feb 28 - Mar 6

Did half an hour or so at 6AM before heading to the airport, then just a couple of runs before taking a few days off. On Sunday the younger kid was up in the Wicklow mountains around Djouce with the beavers, so I jogged/explored/hiked directionlessly around the place. Got stuck on a couple of terrible trails, but also happened across Powerscourt which was splendid in nice weather. 2 hours on my feet and nice to do something a bit different. It was my first time doing anything trail-ish since my MCL catastrophe, the knee itself hasn't had any problems in months now, so I'm taking that as a green light to do some more off-road type stuff.

Total: 24.4 miles... just 4 days running.

Week Mar 7 - 13

Did the speed session with the Cru as the marathoners were off running in Malta that weekend, also probably a better one to do to keep some speed in the legs. 12 x 400 off 45s, which ranged from 1:35-1:30. Not the best but that's what you get for not running. Couldn't do parkrun as the younger kid was playing GAA, so explored the national sports campus while that was on. The highlight of the week was driving over to Bayside and doing a couple of ascents of Howth as part of a HM distance run while thinking about the Boston hills :)

Total: 52.5 miles, 7 days running.

Week Mar 14 - 20

Cru session was good this week, back to the marathon gang, though I ended up running on my own for this pretty much. The session was a "ladder fartlek" of 3, 4, 6, 8, 6, 4, 3 mins@HM pace off 1 min slower, totally comfortable and just over 7/min miles for the splits. I decided to give Malahide parkrun a good go, wearing my fancy shoes and listening to the new Arcade Fire track on repeat on the way over. The run itself was great, chasing down folks throughout, finishing close to all-out in 20:24, nearly a minute off my post-pandemic 5k best time (though not that much faster than Raheny). Sunday's run was another fast-ish one with a couple of lads from parkrun, a hilly-ish 13.8 miles at 8:20 pace.

Total: 56.5 miles, 7 days running

Annie get your Run

Likewise, my condolences on your loss B.

diego_b

Sorry to hear of your friend passing away B.

Singer

Thanks for the weight kudos! My wife is a fan too :)

Anyway, as soon as I go on about consistency on the log I fell off the consistency wagon. I had some crappy news last Friday evening straight after coming in from a run (a good friend died), so hit the wine instead of the original plan of soberly going to bed and doing a parkrun. I didn't properly hydrate after the run which didn't help things. The middle of last week involved feeling pretty mopey and not motivated to get out running, and I'm sure it's completely coincidental that I ended up in the pub twice and at my first post-pandemic gig (Dry Cleaning in the TBMC, it was a bit weird but a good gig). The wobble is hopefully behind me, but I have a funeral to go to in London next week which will be hard to fit in runs around.

56 days to Boston! It'll be interesting anyway.

The week before last:

February 7th: 4.5 miles at 9:50 pace around Swords

February 8th: 6x5 minutes at HMP off 2 mins slower. Enjoyable session at Crusaders. Definitely prefer the longer reps. Around 7:05 pace for the HMP reps.

February 9th: 6.75 miles at 9:35 to/from Malahide

February 11th: 8.3 miles at 9:27, the weekly Beaver den to the Airport loop

February 13th: 10.3 miles at 8:17, increasingly regular Sunday morning run with one of the lads from Rivervalley parkrun. He's way faster than me and I really should be running longer, but this suits.

Total: 38.9 miles

February 14th: 9.1 miles at 9:34, a commute!

February 15th: Decided to do the speed session at the club as I'd missed parkrun. Wasn't feeling great and went off too fast, so this wasn't great at all. 400, 800, 1200, 1200, 800, 400 off 60, 90, <2mins. 1:27, 3:03, 4:50, 4:53, 3:13, 1:29. At least I got it together for the last 400.

February 19th: 6.6 miles at 9:16, actually more like 8, my stupid Apple Watch auto-paused twice. It's very convenient (I like it for work notifications, payments etc.) but it's a crap running watch. Running around Malahide Castle while the older kid was in speech and drama.

February 20th: 10 miles at 8:12 with your man again. What is the point of these runs?! Slower than MP, but first thing in the morning and usually hilly enough. Comfortable enough to chat the whole way though.

Total: 36 miles

Wottle

Amazing job on the 10kg. I'm a little shy of it but its my target.

My fear is putting it back on. Maybe a 5k parkrun with a 10kg bag of spuds on my back will give me the reminder when I need it :-)

Looking forward to following your Boston progress.

diego_b

Very nice job on the weight front, that's very good going. I like the simple plan for the race, a plan you can work with is always better than a plan that you fit in or will injure you.

Singer

10 weeks left to Boston, and I've decided on a "plan" of sorts. On Tuesday I'll do the marathon session in the club. It's usually around 40 minutes of something or another. I can't say I'm a fan of the sessions on the club plan, but doing them with a group is always good. That then leaves parkrun day as my faster day of the week, and Sunday is the long run. It's lacking all sorts of properties of a great marathon plan, but it is convenient and I can consistently do these things. The purpose of Boston is to get back training regularly, so I'm making things as simple and convenient as possible. I think most runners would do well doing having a tempo-y session, a faster VO2maxy session and a longer run every week along with a bunch of easy running. The important thing is consistency so I'm keeping things logistically simple for now to maximise the previously mentioned consistency. Consistency, consistency, consistency. If I do end up missing stuff, I'll try to do hillier runs to prepare for the Himalayan-esque Boston course. In other news my weight has dropped to 88.8kg, 6 months to the day from weighing in at 98.8kg. I'm happy with this.

January 31st - 5.21 miles @ 10:15/mile post-Raheny run, legs and body very much feeling like they'd just done a serious race and then spent some time in the pub afterwards.

February 1st - My first marathon session in a very long time. This was a 40 minute track run involving a pyramid of 3, 4, 6, 8, 6, 4, 3 minutes at HM pace with a minute not-recovery paced jog in between. I wasn't sure how fast to run this, 7:10-7:15 felt about right. Ended up with a few other runners and the last rep was fast as a result. Overall no problems and enjoyed my first tempo session in like 2 years. Total of 9.75 miles.

February 2nd - 9.1 miles commuting home still feeling the race and session in my legs at 9:50/mile

February 4th - 8.1 miles @ 9:32/mile while the younger kid was at Beavers

February 5th - I was thinking of popping over to Donabate for the new course, but late on Friday a call was put out for volunteers at Rivervalley so I offered to run and scan. I ran parkrun quite slowly in the end, the weather was poxy and maybe feeling Raheny still in my legs, finishing in 23:15 despite a moderate effort, over a minute slower than a few weeks prior. 8.1 miles in total

February 6th - Mildly hungover. The wind was brutal so slowly jogged over to Malahide Castle for shelter. I was just about to head back to home when paulieyifter slowed down to have a chat, so I did another (slow for him!) lap around the park while chatting away. 12.3 miles in total, not exactly a great long run but 2 hours on my feet.

Total: 52.8 miles

Singer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118556944#Comment_118556944

Well over 100 Cru out there today! Great support for the race, and Susan did a superb job as always on commentary. Very happy with the race itself, honestly part of the fun of running Raheny is giving shoutouts to all the marshalls I know!

Murph_D

Didn't realise you'd be running so was surprised to see you, think you spotted me first (again, this happened before). Great to see so many Cru supporting the race. Very solid stuff for where you are, kudos. And yes, sorry about the 'issue'. 😔

Singer

The rest of the week:

Monday January 24th: 7.5 miles at lunchtime at 9:19

Tuesday: Cru session in Irishtown, tough enough - active recoveries are hard: 8x600s off 200m jog: 2:21, 2:23, 2:21, 2:24, 2:24, 2:23, 2:27, 2:21

Wednesday: 5.1 miles at 9:36 partial commute

Friday: 7.8 miles at 9:23 jogging while the younger kid is in Beavers

Saturday: 5.6 early miles at 9:20 before spending the day driving family members around to their weekend activities.

Sunday: 7.2 miles including Raheny 5ish

Total: 43 miles

Singer

Very obviously the running highlight of the week was an ACTUAL RACE with REAL PEOPLE!!! As fun as parkrun and club sessions are, running in an actual race is a lot more fun and a lot more interesting in the whole post-pandemic-but-not-really world we're living in. I was mildly cranky all week, escalating towards being actually cranky over the weekend, and my wife very perceptively spotted race week nerves a mile away. It's not like I was living a monk's life during the week, but there's something about an uncommon running race that lets itself take over my brain for at least a week or two out, and it's a very noticeable trait. It's not like Raheny was going to be a mad PB or anything, quite the opposite - I reckoned that if I ran it well I could come in around 4 minutes slower than I'd run 2 years ago and a minute or two outside my slowest time.

During the week I also worried about what I should wear and run on. I was feeling a little embarrassed about the thought of showing up in a club singlet and in fancy Nike runners and running relatively slowly. I mulled about it a bit, and ended up deciding to just show up in my best gear and run as fast as possible. Everything is relative, and I was sure I was going to give it the best I could give on the day. But also, it's not actually great being snobbish about times and wearing a club singlet and wearing fancy runners and all. Nobody really cares and judging people on those terms is very lame.

So anyway, I showed up to Raheny in my club gear and fancy Nike shoes looking to run as fast as I could on the day. It was wonderful being in the pre-race environment - saying hi to club mates as they strided on by, a few chats with other runners who you haven't seen in 2+ years, shout outs to boards.ie folks of yore and today... I mean this is actually kind of ridiculous and a little overwhelming compared to what we've had to put up with for the last while. Knowing that the start of Raheny was usually quite chaotic, I bobbled on down into the starting area but didn't make too much of an effort to push forward. I ended up close enough to a bunch of normal looking club runner types so started with them.

Mile 1: 6:45/mile

It's been two years since I've run a race, but I remembered enough about not wasting energy at the start. And holy moly were there opportunities to waste energy at the start. I dodged around folks but kept things consistent and tried not to waste any energy here.

Mile 2: 6:47 & Mile 3: 6:37

Things opened up a bit, and I maintained my focus on running the shortest possible line at all times. Generally running through the field here, feeling good and jumping in behind a few larger guys where the wind was blowing. Went over the "mile 3 marker" sub-20 which was optimistic about my time.

Mile 4 6:45 & 5 6:43:

Down towards the park, I noticed that the right turn was no longer cut off with cones and we had a shorter route to go. It felt good to get into the park while exertion levels were increasing. As always, the avenue felt like it was lasting forever, but it did come with the opportunity to give some shoutouts to a load of Cru folks coming through. After turning around I passed the 4 mile mark and noticed that it was ~1/4 miles off, though it didn't put me off.

The last bit: ???

I ran as hard as I could and it was terrible. I was annoyed that the finishing time was clearly over 35 minutes, as I had ran with a sub-7/mile pace goal in mind, and I thought I hadn't gone much slower. My finishing time was 35:18, a good bit off what I thought I had ran. As soon as I looked at Strava it was clear that the distance was longer than planned, and I feel sorry for Raheny for getting it wrong on the day. Overall this was a successful race - pace was better than planned, I worked my way through the field and I was all out at the end. Not a bad return to racing, even if it was 4 minutes a 400 metres longer than last time around :)

Singer

Waaaay overdue an update here. Sorry I couldn't make St. Annes' in the end D 'cos of other stuff to do on Saturday (no idea what by now!).

The summary of the last few weeks are - some ok running before Christmas, but my left knee was getting quite niggly, occasionally aching during running and definite aching afterwards, kind of dependent on the way I was walking/sitting/lying down. The takeaway here is that you shouldn't tear your MCL, it is a bad thing to do and can cause problems for years afterwards. Anyway, after parkrun on Christmas day I pretty much took a week off as we travelled over to Disney in Paris, and I was drinking/eating/Disneying around way too much to both with much running. I did like two 5ks jogs. Once we got back I kind of slacked off for another few days, but the last couple of weeks have been solid enough. I'm not getting much faster or losing much weight, progress is so very slow but there are some signs. I'm planning on running my slowest ever Raheny 5 next week, 34:59.99 will do :)

The boring stuff:

Monday 13th December - I was in town to meet a friend, did some work in the (very empty) office and so did a commute home! 9.2 miles at 9:27/mile.

Tuesday 14th December - Irishtown session. 4 x 800 off 90s (3:06, 3:06, 3:11, 3:12) and 4 x 400 off 75s (1:30, 1:30, 1:29, 1:27), this was pretty good.

Wednesday 15th December - An evening jog around Swords, this felt very stiff and niggly. 6.7 miles at 9:53/mile.

Friday 17th December - Another not great evening jog around Swords, 5 miles at 9:47/mile

Saturday 18th December - Rivervalley parkrun in 22:52, not great.

Sunday 19th December - A nice long run out the back roads towards the Naul, 13.3 miles at 9:03

Total: 50 miles

Monday 20th December - Runch around Malahide, 7.5 miles at 9:13

Tuesday 21st December - Crusaders blind 3k time trial. I've never made it to one of these before usually because of going on the pi$$ around Christmas or whatever, so this was new to me. I predicted 12:34, ended up running it a good bit better at 12:08. Was pretty happy with that pace.

Wednesday 22nd December - Just a few miles down the valley, 3.7 miles at 9:38

Thursday 23rd December - another afternoon around Malahide, 7.5 miles at 9:51

Friday 24th December - this time up to the airport, 7.5 miles at 9:39

Saturday 25th December - Malahide parkrun in 21:26 with minimal warmup/cooldown, ran it pretty hard but my tummy was a little weird and uncomfortable.

Sunday 26th December - moderately hungover but brought the older kid to the local GOAL Mile where we managed it in sub-13 pace :)

Total: 38.7 miles

Wednesday December 29th - 3.3 miles to and from the parks from where we were staying at 9:19/mile

Thursday December 30th - 3 miles of a slightly different route at 8:58

Total: 6.3 miles :rollseyes:

Jan 3rd - 9th: 5 easy runs, not worth writing about other than no niggles, Mickey Mouse must have fixed them!

Total: 33.5 miles

Monday 10th January - 5 Swords miles at 9:11

Tuesday 11th January - 7.8 Malahide miles at 9:14

Wednesday 12th January - 6.3 miles at 8:59 dropping a forgotten pencil case into school

Thursday 13th January - 5.6 miles around Swords at 8:42

Friday 14th January - 8.4 miles at 9:26 while one of the kids was at beavers

Saturday 15th January - Finally something not easy. Ran Malahide hard, 21:44. 20 seconds slower than Christmas, but not terrible.

Sunday 16th January - A decent and fast long run with one of the lads from Rivervalley parkrun. We went up into the foothills of the Naul mountains, 13.8 miles at 8:23

Total: 56.7 miles

Monday 17th January - 6.7 slow miles around the Malahide loop at 9:38. Legs felt knackered all day from the weekend's running.

Tuesday 18th January - A session, 12 x 400 off 60 seconds. I ran it in the dark around the Holywell junior parkrun route, and after dinner, so was pretty sluggish. Paces started around 1:45 but were mostly around 1:40 for the rest.

Wednesday 19th January - Runch around Malahide, 7.5 miles at 8:51

Friday 21st January - 8.25 miles at 9:38 while the younger kid was at Beavers. Plodded up to the airport.

Saturday 22nd January - Rivervalley parkrun in 22:01, didn't feel totally all out so happy with that. I was on setup duty so jogged over and around the course. There were some fast lads over from Raheny who were rumoured to be thinking of breaking the course record, but it didn't happen.

Sunday 23rd January - Another early Sunday run, 13.2 miles around Portmarnock and Malahide at 8:32. Felt quite tired towards the end.

Total: 52.5 miles

Murph_D

Join us at St. Anne's next week. Pacers from 19-35 mins!

Singer

Not the best week of running in recent times, though I guess it was way better than almost every other week this year. The stupid storm, life distractions and feeling tired (maybe related to the life distractions?) meant that I didn't get out during Tuesday and Wednesday. My other half was in hospital getting some treatment on Wednesday so it didn't seem worth pushing to get out... also the weather wasn't exactly encouraging me to get outside. I recall Thursday and Friday's runs not exactly filling me with joy, but they got done. I got a text from mister paul on Saturday morning about a gang doing Malahide parkrun, which I was planning to do anyway! Jogged over and met up with folks in the cross-country-esque starting pen. Gave the parkrun full effort but I didn't feel great, unsurprising having not done anything fast in the previous 2 weeks. mister paul passed me before the first km and moved off well beyond trying to keep up. Probably the highlight of the run was seeing a large set of branches on the course (TBO of these parts might have stumbled a bit on it), and I managed to pick it up and throw it into the forest. I did eventually reel in TBO, barking some encouragement as I passed. Checked my watch for the first time with about a minute to go and was a bit annoyed, finishing 35 seconds slower than a few weeks ago. No a great run, but some lovely cooldown and coffee chats after! Sunday continued my wobbly form as I set out on an exciting loop taking in Coolock and Malahide, but for the first time ever following the Santry River from Santry to Coolock. Running under the M1 was kind of cool, but I got really tired on this run and I felt like crap at the end. In retrospect I had only a coffee that morning before going out, which isn't usually a disaster but I also had a few beers the night before, and so I think I was badly dehydrated. Newb error.

Monday 6th December - Monday morning plod around Malahide and the estuary: 7.4 miles at 9:20/mile

Thursday 9th December - Another morning plod, this time around Swords: 5.6 miles at 9:12/mile

Friday 10th December - Post-dinner jog to and from Malahide: 6.6 miles at 9:21/mile

Saturday 11th December - To, from, and cooldown after Malahide parkrun: 10.7 miles including the parkrun in 20:55

Sunday 12th December - An annoying long-run: Swords to Coolock to Malahide to Swords: 13.39 miles at 8:50/miles

Total: 44 miles

Next week: Try to get to the club. Do a parkrun. Do a long run. Do other runs.

The Black Oil

When do you start training to the develop the Bahston accent?

Singer

Ha, I'm not sure if I'm "back" back, but I'm giving it a good go anyway :)

This was an ok week. Started off a little low on the miles, but I managed to pick things up and get to 60 miles again. Some very minor interesting things this week: my right glute was noticeably sore and stiff at the start of the week, I completely ignored it and it went away. I managed to rub away a load of skin AGAIN on my left leg, this time caused by new Brooks Ghosts which weren't tied correctly. This is like the fourth time this has happened in the past couple of months. Have I forgotten how to wear running shoes? Maybe my body is just differently shaped nowadays and I'm more susceptible to skin rubbing problems. Speaking of body, my weight is being a bit stubborn, sticking around 91kg, I'm getting diminishing returns on running and weight loss. Maybe I need to actually change my diet a bit in the new year. Got my confirmation of acceptance from Boston which was a pretty cool email to get. Finally in random titbits, I've been trying to run more during the day and running instead of working (pretty much). I can get stuck inside for what seems like forever while working from home, and getting out into daylight definitely helps my mood.

Monday 29th November - Afternoon jog around Malahide Castle, 7.11 miles at 9:19

Tuesday 30th November - Drove over to Irishtown again, windy and rainy so this was a case of getting the session done. Half the club were sunning it up in La Santa, so the rest of us were just doing 400s. Not a huge crowd there 'cos of the travel and grim weather, I got put into a slower group and then missed the start of the session due to having to do a quick wee. I made my way up through the group, catching folks and moving on, which at least made it a bit interesting. 12 x 400 off 45s: 1:32, 1:33, 1:36, 1:34, 1:33, 1:32, 1:33, 1:31, 1:33, 1:34, 1:33, 1:31. Total of 6.5 miles

Wednesday 1st December - Just a few miles around Swords while the younger kid was at GAA. Glute was sore. 4.6 miles at 9:47

Thursday 2nd December - Had a bloods appointment in Beaumont so decided to run there and back. I'm sure the nurse loved taking blood out of a sweaty arm. 13 miles at 9:05 with barely 15 minutes "rest" in Beaumont in the middle.

Friday 3rd December - Dragged myself around Malahide after dinner. 8.3 miles at 9:36

Saturday 4th December - The kid was playing GAA all the way over in Killiney, so I ran around Killiney. It was very cold and windy and I struggled to feel warm. Went up Killiney hill and got some nice views. 6.4 miles at 9:48

Sunday 5th December - Out to Portmarnock and back in the afternoon after putting the dinner on. Had a nicely slow cooked beef bourguignon after I got back. 14 miles at 8:53

Total: 60 miles

November total: 233 miles

Next week: I doubt I'll go to the club on Tuesday because of the storm, so I'll probably do a session on Wednesday evening. Feeling pretty tired so 2 easy days sounds good. Will probably make one of the local parkruns this week. Saturday morning GAA is finishing up which makes parkrun logistics easier for the next while too, so if everything goes to plan I'll run my 100th on the Christmas Day parkrun in Malahide.

Swashbuckler

You're tipping away nicely again. Getting decent mileage and quality in there. Great to see. Singer's back!

Singer

A good week - 60 miles, a good session, volunteered at parkrun and an actual long run. With the kids not doing any indoor activities, my Tuesday evening opened up... so for the first time since February 18th 2020 I was back in Irishtown with the Cru. I messaged mister paul beforehand and so we both got over to the club. It was a decent enough night, a bit breezy but not too cold. Not a huge number of people there, but a few familiar faces to say hello to. Because I was driving over from Swords and I hate being late for things I showed up very early, jogging around the pitch on my own from about 6. It was 45 minutes later when the usual dynamic warmup and strides routine kicked off which I had actually forgotten about. The session itself went well, it was great being back running in a group and running on the track. It definitely helped me push a little harder, and the last 400 was basically all out which was loads of fun. No niggles at all, feeling a little tired but also I think I'm feeling a bit of fitness return, in that easy runs are actually starting to feel easy. Picked up a pair of Kipchoge cheaterboots in the Nike sale (€180!) which will probably be put away for Boston.

22nd November - Dropped the kids to school and did some pre-brekkie miles around Malahide Castle - 8.7 miles at 9:07

23rd November - Cru session as above, 9.5 miles including dynamic warmup and strides. Session was 400, 800, 1200, 1200, 800, 400 off 60, 90, 120, 120, 90. (1:32, 3:07, 4:47, 4:45, 3:07, 1:26)

24th November - Got in a few miles in between meetings, did the Malahide estuary loop - 7.4 miles at 9:24

25th November - More morning miles, this time up to Santry and back. Stupid Apple Watch lost its mind and didn't really record anything at first, only noticed while at the airport. 7.3 miles at 9:00ish

26th November - Feckin' freezing loop around Malahide, 6.7 miles at 9:23

27th November - Volunteered at Rivervalley parkrun on timekeeper duty. Was hungover from watching the Toy Show (watching it requires alcohol). The weather was better than I was expecting, but there was no getting away from the cold while hanging around the finish line. Good chats all 'round, loads of lovely folks in my local parkrun. Ran there and back, 5.5 miles at quite slow.

28th November - Good run beyond the Frank Duffy 2018 course on back roads towards the hills on the way to the Naul. If I ever decide to do a hilly 20 miler that's a really nice route, 20 miles would get me to the top of the Naul mountains. This felt great, probably pushing steady pace but wasn't watch watching and just enjoying the peaceful roads and country scenery. Set out to do 13.1 miles at first, but everything was feeling good so just kept going. 15 miles at 8:35

Murph_D

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118203838#Comment_118203838

Congrats on the Boston confirmation (even if it hasn't arrived yet!) I saw the announcement about the 0.00 cutoff, happy days for everyone with the time this year. I suppose the fact that there have been hardly any marathons since 2019 has something to do with it. Yep, hills should be in the training alright, down as well as up! No harm in that abandoned session either, you seem to have bounced back quickly enough.

Singer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118204908#Comment_118204908

Money of course! Closing roads is expensive, I heard that the Fingal race wasn't making money. I think the 10k route in Clondalkin wasn't on as many public roads compared to the Fingal 10k route which was one of the reasons why it went over there. There was meant to be a 4 mile in Swords in 2020 as an additional race in the series which presumably would've had less road closures, but it was never run because of you know what: https://twitter.com/dublinmarathon/status/1232406324807393281

AuldManKing

sent you a PM with that Plan I mentioned elsewhere.

healy1835

I have fond memories of that 10 Mile Frank Duffy route. I think I asked the question on one of the event pages during your Boards sabbatical and didn't get an answer...why did Fingal lose/let go of the Race Series event??

Singer

Another decent enough week, though with a session that went off the rails. The undisputed highlight of the week was Malahide parkrun, where I ran into aquinn and mister paul, we had a lovely coffee and natter after parkrun and the world almost seemed normal. Also the parkrun went really well too, I ran 21:20 which is a 25 second improvement on the last time I ran Malahide last month. Felt really in control during the run, kept the pace consistent and pushed well at the end.

Boston have verified my Dublin time, and they announced the cut-off is 0:00, so it is starting to look like I am in and booked flights this week. Starting to think about plans, targets etc. It's 11 weeks from Raheny to Boston, so that'll be the marathon block. Between now and then I'll be keeping the mileage around the 50 mile mark and continue doing the Tuesday 3-5k pace session, and of course parkruns. I haven't really been doing long runs, but they'll need to start showing up at some stage. As a committed Hanson-er I won't be doing 20 mile runs or anything like that, I might take a look at Luke Humphrey's Boston plans (author of the Hanson book). I guess there'll be hills in whatever I do anyway. The only goal of sorts for now is to train for a time faster than my slowest marathon, which seems do-able if all goes well.

The boring stuff:

Monday 15th November - return of the slightly longer commute via Griffith Avenue, which is lovely in autumn. Unfortunately it looks like this was my last commute for a while :( 10.1 miles at 9:07

Tuesday 16th November - the abandoned session. I was doing 3 x (4 x 400 off 60, 45, 15) and 2 mins between sets. Got through the first set, but it was tough. Started the next 400, and I felt utterly drained of strength, a bit weak and my tummy felt weird, so just stopped for a bit and jogged home. I can't think of any similar time like this in the past, but I just knew I couldn't slog it out. Weird. Heart rate was a good bit higher than another session I just looked at, and also didn't seem to drop in the bits in between the reps. 5.4 miles at 9:29

Wednesday 17th November - got the kids to school and went out for 9 miles around Malahide Castle, lovely morning and didn't feel weird. 9 miles at 8:47

Thursday 18th November - got out late for plod around Swords, 6.6 miles at 9:36

Friday 19th November - did a run during lunch around Swords, 5.7 miles at 9:03

Saturday 20th November - To/from and Malahide parkrun in 21:20

Sunday 21st November - ran the Frank Duffy 10 mile course when it was ran in Swords around lunchtime, beautiful crisp weather and the countryside was fab. 10.1 miles in 9:10.

Total: 55.8 miles

Singer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118168378#Comment_118168378

Yeh, they were talking about it being a "new course" record or something like that. It wasn't slippy, maybe apart from the small bridge. Then again I'm not running fast enough to slip these days :)

Singer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118167529#Comment_118167529

Oh I'm staying the Monday night - flying in Saturday, out on Tuesday and home on Wednesday, presumably this is all good for the expo.

The 800s were totally fine, apart from the first one being slow (3:31, 3:21, 3:25, 3:25). It seems my creaking body takes a bit longer to warm-up these days and I can't just go out at 5k pace after a short jog.

healy1835

Have ran that Parkrun loop while staying in the Amber Springs myself. It's bloody tough! There's an extended loop that's even tougher too. I'd imagine it's slippy enough underfoot too at this time of year?

Edit: Just took a look at the course page there and it's a new course from when I was there, so disregard the above!

Murph_D

Good man. Would recommend an extra night in Boston, can’t be rushing to airport after a race like that.

Comeback continues. How did those 800s feel?