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Awesomeness never comes cheap…!

babacool

Right, here we go:

My name? - babacool. That stands for baba and 😎.

My personality? - I take nothing for granted. If I want awesomeness I have to pay a price!

My goal? - to finally overcome the drug called running!

My philosophy? - Taking a short cut will win you a race, taking the long way will win you the crowed (it’s up to each individual to judge what’s more important!)

I debated a lot with myself if I should give this a go. This “pressure” on creating a log and keeping it up to date. Would anyone even be interested in reading it or even get something out of it? But then realised, this isn’t for others. This is for myself and if someone else will gain something from it, so it be! (Don’t learn from what I do but the mistakes I make!!!!). that means, you who reads this and is mental enough to follow this or “check in” every now and then, don’t expect this to be a training guide or a step by step instruction on why, how, when etc. I will try to keep this as personal as I can which means I will not sort my thoughts. I will jump from one end to another if I need to. I will write and post as I think/speak. Feel free to ask questions but expect honest answers! 😁

Current stats/ PBs:

5k - think around 16:20 or so.

10k - 33:54 or so (TT)

10mile - 57min or so

1hr - 17.23km or so (TT)

half - 1:15:40 or so

Marathon - 2:39:xx

running goals:

short term: survive this weekend
get to the race that I currently train for (Donadea) and get a respectable time
go under 2:25 in DCM 2022

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babacool

just thought I would share those pictures for those still thinking “why didn’t he go on?”.

i had the little one taking a picture after every lap to monitor the progress and to see how much I would change during the race.

me after lap 3.

After lap 4

And after lap 6

lap 7 can’t be shared. Looks too aweful 😂😂😂.

i think that says a lot about the energy levels and why I decided to call it a day. I expected to suffer after lap 8 but not that early on.

now to the next stage of life!

Swashbuckler

Wanna see lap 7

babacool

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118626002#Comment_118626002

It’s for “onlyfans” only 😂😂😂😂

squinn2912

Many twists and turns on the road to awesomeness!!

Here fire up lap 7 you can’t tantalise us like this!

babacool

Correct, awesomeness never comes cheap! 😁

Swashbuckler

Wanna see lap 7

babacool

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118626568#Comment_118626568

Ain’t gonna happen! This chapter is closed now as a new one opens!

county masters in 2 weeks time!

squinn2912

Haha aw fair enough! Looking forward to hearing about you getting back up on the horse

babacool

Right. Starting a new chapter. Not much to report for this week. Took it easy on Monday. Only did about 10000 steps, walking the dog a few times.

tuesday: little one had training in the evening so had an hour to kill and decided to go for a little jog. Cleared with the coach upfront if ok to do 8-10k knowing it will be 10-12k 😁. Every little helps, right? 😁 so ended up doing 12.16km in roughly 58min. Nice and easy.

wednesday = fun day. First time back in office since end of November. And what a day to pick. Expected a gentle breeze and was hoping for strong wind. Cycled into the office with tail wind (45min as took it easy) and home with full on head wind. Man that was fun. Especially those moments when gusts pushed you to the side and you could only hope to not fall over. Took me 61min getting home. Normally I would do that in roughly 51min. (I’m not a fast cyclist, for some reason I can’t do those 100k spins at 35kmh+ paces. I’m happy to manage 20k at 24kmh).

legs obviously done by the time I got home but man was that fun. Thoroughly enjoy that!

thursday: decided to go out at lunch time. Aim was 10k nice and easy. All by feel. Ended up doing 14.4K @ 4:27. Slightly misjudged the distance 🙄.

Thursday evening, the fun begins:

for some reason juvenile training was cancelled. Something to do with severe weather warning or so. Strange how 20kmh gusts are severe now and especially when combined with no rain whatsoever. Ah well. Meant didn’t have to go to training with the little one, at least so I thought. Had a nice dinner (don’t remember what except the chocolate.. man have I eaten a lot of that since Saturday. I think at some point I estimated a consumption of roughly 6000kcal within 5 days purely coming from sweets 😁. And no I haven’t really gained weight) and went on a walk with the dog.

came back home and the little one (from herein referred to as LO) asked if I could join her on a run as she was bored. For some reason she lately enjoys running with me so of course I couldn’t deny her that request. Her plan was 20min easy. Pfff she was in for a little treat 😁.

so we started off running. Nice and easy. 6min pace (we go by kilometre). She was fine, chatting etc. 500m In I’m like “hmmm it’s Thursday. That means training day. Let’s do a little workout!”. She was NOT amused and thought I was joking. So I let her believe that and we went on. 1.2km in, I started to increase the pace. 200m on she coped on to it and the moaning started. For the next 3k the conversation went something like this:

me: ah let’s do a tempo run. Nice and steady!

LO: no dad. No. We are not!

me: ah sure we do! (Increasing the pace to around 5:15).

LO: no dad. Seriously I can’t do that!!!! Slow down!!! I can’t!!!!

me: sure you can. Common let’s do this. We are only going 5:15. You ran faster on Saturday!

LO: yea but there I knew I can stop and walk after 400m!!! Dad I can’t! My legs hurt! I can’t breath!!! Stop!!!

me: ah, believe in yourself. You can talk, you can run! Cmon don’t give up!

LO: no I can’t. My leg hurts. My calf hurts!!!!

me: ah focus on your form. You will be grand!

LO: no I won’t be! Dad! Seriously! I can’t! Slow down!! My ankle hurts! I feel the road through the shoe!!!

me: ah you are fine. We turn around over there! (1.5k into the tempo run)

LO: aaaargggghhhhh that’s far. I turn around here and walk

me: nah you won’t!

LO: yes I will

me: ok do it

LO: dad seriously I will!

me: look we are here now. From now on it will be easier (we had headwind until now)

LO: no it won’t be!!!

me: yes it will!

LO: arrrghhh I can’t! Everything hurts! I cant

me: yep

LO: seriously I want to walk

me: ok

LO: it hurts!

me: yep

LO: you are not listening!

me: yep

LO: it hurts!!!

me: see we are done now. (The above basically went on like that for the whole 1.5k 😂😂😂😂). Nice and easy warm down now

LO: I can’t do that. I’m weird. If I go slow it hurts, if I go fast I can’t because it hurts.

me: you will be fine

LO: I won’t be. I’m not running home! I will stop at the estate and walk (500m from home)

me: ok, I won’t.

Lo: seriously I will walk

me: ok

LO: you aren’t listening!

we reach the estate and I keep going. Little one doesn’t stop but increases her pace 😁. I’m staying with her at no effort. “Why does it look so easy for you?” - because we are talking about a 5:45 pace 😂😂😂😂

and she continues going faster for a further 300m until we are almost home. We stopped (finally) and she stood there: my legs are jelly! I can’t walk.

“you know we don’t train that hard at the club. My legs are fine!” Blah blah blah all good, no moaning nothing. She basically enjoyed that! She uploaded her run to strava “oh dad this says fastest 5k” - “yep and you didn’t even go hard!!!”.

friday: “how are your legs?” LO: fine. Don’t feel anything from yesterday.

me: ok, want me to continue doing sessions with you every now and then? Like tomorrow?

LO: yes. Everyone said how I had improved so much last summer when you trained me!!! (Kinda makes one proud!)

with regard to tomorrow:

oooooh she will be in for a treat. Have a nice hill rep session planned for her. 😂😂😂all about having fun. Including running up and down stairs. There will be plenty of moaning again.

oh: my plan for this weekend? - parkrun tomorrow. A little tempo to hard effort. Will see. Followed by 18-20k on Sunday.

diego_b

Haha I enjoyed that especially "If I go slow it hurts, if I go fast I can’t because it hurts."

babacool

Right. Saturday. 19.02.2022 also known as 9 days til payday or day 50 of the year. Or just simply “wooohoooo only 2 more sleeps til Monday!!!”.

meant to do a parkrun. Unfortunately it got cancelled as the park was closed. Something about a storm or so. Not sure. Texted someone else who I knew he would do a tempo this morning. Luckily he didn’t go out yet so I joined him. My plan: 5-6k tempo (3:35-3:40 pace). His plan: 6miles at 5:40 per mile. Normally I’m good in quickly figuring out what that means but not today. I knew it was 9.6km but no idea what pace.

4.5km warm up. Legs felt heavy and not ready for a fast run. How could they after a week of eating and slow runs. Stopped after the warm up (something I never do) as he wanted to stretch the legs. Perhaps I should start that too? 🤔 - hit the subscribe button, give it a like and comment in the section below! Should I start stretching after the warm up?!

man I’m watching way too many of those YouTube videos (well not me but the youngest. All those vloggers or what them wannabes are called. Them get me out of here z celebs).

anyways we started off. Looked at watch after 300m seeing 3:20 pace. Man I said to myself **** that I’m going home. Luckily he slowed down and we averaged out at 3:30 per k. Plenty of puddles, slippery road. That was fun! Rain and wind! Oh how I loved that. Too bad that the loop itself (2.4km per loop) was almost flat. Would have prefered a bit more inclines.

after lap 1 I decided to not gonna do the full 6miles with him as it was too fast too early. Let him go after 5k and opted for a further 4k at steady pace (3:45) which felt much better. So total of 9k workout followed by a future 4.5k warm down. Nice session and perfect conditions and great company.

back home, shopping and then the fun part: training the little one. Havent still told her yet what the session would be. So she got a bit scared and wanted to go but same time didn’t want to go 😂.

session: 1.8km warm up - 4*100m hill sprints - 2*30m running up steps - 2*100m hill reps - 1.5k warm down

so off we went. After 300m I told her what the plan was. She wasn’t happy! “No dad! I won’t be doing that! You said no hill reps! (I didn’t. I said don’t worry we won’t do hill reps at your friends place 😁). I won’t do that. What if someone sees me? That’s embarrassing! No I won’t do that!!!”. She kept running. Had plenty of chances to go home- just in case someone thinks I force her to do that! I always say “it’s your call. We can go home. No problem!”

came to the hill. The rule was: it is her call how hard she goes up there. The faster she goes up the more recovery she has. Only one rule - never run behind me. I was slowly running up and down the hill. So total time per lap was the time it took me to get up and down!

fair to say there was plenty of “I can’t! I won’t! I need to rest! I can’t breath! My legs hurt! I need water!” 😁

after the hills we jogged a few hundred meters to a set of stairs. 30m in length (no idea how many steps.) the idea was to improve her coordination and make her lift the knees. As usual “I can’t do that. We tried at training. I’m really bad at it.” - well she flew up the stairs. Faster than me!

after that back to the hill. She didn’t know that until we were done. “What? No! I can’t! My throat is dry! I need water!”

and off we went. 2 more reps combined with plenty of moaning.

run home, well… was fun. I’ll keep it short! Most conversation we had was “dad, just shhh. Just stop talking!”

all good though. The moment we got home: “I’m feeling good now. Legs are fine!” Smiling and happy.

oh failed to mention, after the second or third rep (don’t remember) a weird lady stopped her on the way down: “how old are you? 14? When you feel tired you need to rest!”

a gentleman that I am, all I said “no she doesn’t. Mind your business. It’s called training!” And we continued. I get looking out for others and making sure people are fine but when you know nothing about a person and see a kid training with her dad (I mean little one wouldn’t be calling me dad all the time if I wasn’t her dad) and there is no beating or shouting or punishing involved all I can say is “mind your own effin business”!

right… long run tomorrow (muuuuuhhahahahbahahahahahhaa long run. 18-21km 😂😂😂😂😂😂).

babacool

Short one today. 14k easy - 5k moderate.

enjoyed that wind and rain. Aim was to stay relaxed and get some decent elevation in.

now bring on race week!

babacool

remembered that coach and I agreed that there won’t be a plan this week. I made the mistake before Donadea to say “give me at least 10 days of no training”. I forgot to mention after the DNF that I don’t need that break any longer and we can continue.

Turns out that was a good miss on my end as it helped during the week with planing (extremely busy at work) and mental freshness.

Hence took every day by day and just run as I feel. Not thinking about specific sessions or runs upfront but decide on the day. Focus on just getting the legs moving and add as many inclines as possible.

Monday: 8 miles easy

Tuesday: 12k progression run 4:50 down to 3:50. Opted for a loop that would cover 7 sharp inclines (total elevation 157m). Made it a bit more challenging without causing stress to the body.

Wednesday: rest day (running). 19k cycle in morning / afternoon. Another “let’s see who is stronger: wind or my legs” day. Started to feel the glutes (in a good way. Constant up and down running is showing the expected and hoped for results)

Thursday: 12k easy

Friday: another **** day at work. Planned to go for 12k easy and ended up doing 18k easy. Needed that.

Saturday: Plan was 12k including parkrun (easy). Went out too early and after doing 8k and parkrun not even started yet I decided to just go back home and do some strides. Legs felt heavy during the entire run and I started to doubt that the week was a good build up for Sunday. Strides were 4*80m. Looked at the splits afterwards and really surprised by paces: 2:30-2:55 (last one 2:30). I know it’s not really that accurate but a good motivation booster nonetheless.

Sunday: race day.

6k County Inter & Masters Road Race.

Legs felt ok ish in the morning. Weight still around 74kg (didn’t really bother with a diet since Donadea. All the leftover chocolate from Xmas that would last a normal household for about 2 months is gone already and mostly eaten by me 🙂).

Shoe: Rocket X.

Goal: Be faster than my previous best on that course which was 2 years ago and around 20:43.

warm up: Decided on a longer than normal warm up (at least for me). Did almost 6k with no strides or any of that nonsense (stretching etc). All nice and easy and up and down the hill.

warm down: kept short (1k) as has to head back home to see the little one in action on the track (did a further 3k there then when she had a break)

race:

Strategy: take it easy first 2-3k especially first k which is uphill. And then all out last 3-4K. Made the mistake last time to go too hard too early and blew up at the end.

actual:

1st km: Race starts. Everyone behaves and no one goes out like a tornado. First corner (200m in or so) and the hill starts and the first runners decides to push on and had a gap of about 10m until someone in the group (we were about 8 or 9 all together at this stage) said to his friend “are you letting him run off?”. Of course he didn’t so he closed the gap and everyone followed including me. So much to “take it easy the first few k especially on the hill”.

split pace: 3:24

2nd km: Roughly 300m of it were still on the incline. Counted 8 runners in total at this stage. Some I knew (one who kicked my butt back in October at the Xc inters) and some I didn’t. Felt good hanging in there. Well sheltered and controlled despite the first breaker still pushing on. The moment we were over the hill though they seemed to slow down. At least effort dropped as if “yes hill is over, let’s recover from the effort” so I decided “f that. I know I won’t best most of them in a sprint so let’s make it hard for everyone” and went to the front and increased the pace. Could tell that not everyone was happy about that and the group reduced down to 7 runners. We crossed the finish line (race is 1.5 laps) and have to admit it felt good leading the race at this stage. Don’t think that has ever happened in any county race to date. Normally I’m already 10sec behind the best.

Split pace: 3:17

3rd km: Continued to push the pace after a sharp left corner and into the wind. Felt it now and could only hope that others started to suffer as well. What really started to annoy me though, been those damn vaporflys. That loud noise is extremely annoying!!! Was hoping he would either push on or drop off just wanted to get rid of that noise. Unfortunately he stayed with me.

next 2 runners dropped and we were down to the final 5.

Split pace: 3:12

4th km: nothing really to report. Similar to the 3rd km. I ran at the front and everyone else behind me. I knew I won’t drop them anymore and that I will suffer at the end as they had shelter and I took the wind. Couldn’t slow down though as at this stage I knew it’s a guaranteed master medal. So didn’t want to risk it by slowing down and having others catching up again. last few meters the hill started again. 😢

split pace: 3:20

5th km: all uphill. All pain. Now they started to come beside and even infront of me as they got ready for the final. First time I experienced arm pushing and “fighting for position”. Young runners are so competitive!

split pace: 3:28

final km: 100m or so to go until the peak of the incline. My legs were gone to the extent that I knew I couldn’t accelerate. Holding the effort yes, adding no. So in a final attempt to test them other runners I tried to push on again on the first part of the downhill section but realised they had more in the tank than me. and man that wasn’t “a bit more” that was worlds apart.

My final split 3:14 (probably could have gone 1-2sec faster) but the split of the winner: 2:50 or so for the final k. What a kick!!!

Result: 5th overall! 2nd Master and 2nd in my age group. Happy with that as it’s my first individual Road medal! Also 50sec faster than my previous time. Nothing wrong with that!

lesson learned: them Nikes are fast. The master winner I always beat in Xc but the moment he puts on his Nikes he is gone and beats me by 5-10sec over that distance. Incredible.

all in all: dropping out of donadea was the right call! Gave me the opportunity to race that day and get something to show for. Now on to some speed work and who knows, I may break 16min over 5k this year 🙂.

babacool

Friday update. I’m not a Friday person. If someone wants to pick a fight with me or piss me off - Friday is your day! Do it! Go for it! But trust me, you will regret it! A lesson most at work have learned over the years: “don’t have meetings with him on Fridays!” - “oh ****, he scheduled a meeting on a Friday - it must be bad” - “it’s Friday, let’s better not ask any stupid question. We will be ripped apart, let’s wait til Monday and he will approve almost anything!” 😁 as said… not a Fridays person. I like Monday! The closest day to the weekend!!!

anyways, plan for the week (til today) had been:

Monday: 12k @ 4:40

Tuesday: rest day

Wednesday: 2.5k warm up followed by 10 x 500m @3.20 pace off 10 seconds walk & 50 seconds jog recovery & 2.5k cooldown

Thursday: 10k @ 5:00

Friday: 3k@4.45 8k@3.45 & 3k@4.45

what really happened:

monday: shite day at work. Busy all day. No break whatsoever. Found 10min to walk the dog at lunch time and throw in a sandwich as far as I remember. Finally managed to get out shortly before 5. Thought I would struggle but actually felt like I’m flying. Legs just kept moving and went way too fast. 4:25-4:30 first few k. Had to force myself to slow down - on a hilly course. Not an easy task. 4:36 avg at the end.

tuesday: knew that I won’t be able to run/ do a session on Wednesday so moved the session forward. Thought I would struggle as it sounded scary enough and hence picked a tough ish route just to justify a slower pace. Opted for the Castletown parkrun loop. 2.5k mainly on gravel. Normally 5-7sec/km slower than road. Pace in the end really surprised me. All but 2 been under 3:20. Most around 3:14-3:16. Too fast I know but it didn’t feel like it. Form felt good, legs weren’t fatigue at all and breathing was fine. I put it down to the amazing mach3.

wedneday: rest day (running). Cycle in and out of work. Around 39km in total. Didn’t really take it easy and tried to really give the legs a little workout on the way home without causing stress to the body.

thursday: getting closer to Friday which means closer to “leave me the f alone”. Again a day without a real break at work. No time to go out for a run at lunch time. Thankfully little one had training in the evening so could combine it with her training. 10k and I had an hour. Nice and easy. Legs felt tired but good. Finished on time at the track to pick up the little one but of course she wasn’t ready. So had to kill a bit more time and ended up with almost 13k. Doesn’t sound that bad same time it’s 30% ish more than planned. If I would do that every day my mileage would go insane. Also when home I started to feel that extra distance. Legs definitely not in the greatest shape.

friday: oh don’t get me started!!! Issue after issue after issue. It seems like everyone is just waiting for Friday to come and unload all the ****. Stressed a lot, no break at lunch, starving, bad mood and heavy legs (started to feel Wednesdays cycle 😁) isn’t really the best recipe for a good tempo run.

ah well, 1:45pm I decided to f it and just go. Switch of the laptop, put on the shoes (mach3) and just see how it goes. Warm up felt like I’m not moving at all. Walking pace - so I thought. Looked at watch after around 2k - 4:30 avg. ooppps. Tried to slow down a bit for the last k of warm up but then again I didn’t.

tempo start: opted for a nice hilly loop. First 500m or so uphill straight off. Then a bit of downhill and up and down and up and down through the town. Oh I love those runs. Legs are burning, breathing gets heavy (uphill) and recovering quickly (downhill). Cursing and questioning as to why I picked that route, why I picked to be a runner and not competitive eater. Definitely worked hard this time around. Fair to say I have a massive dislike to tempo runs in the first place but combined with everything else it’s hell. Happy when it was done and plan was to just slow down and jog it home. Nice and easy. And guess what, for whatever reason that nice and easy felt nice and easy. But the pace been again around 4:30 avg and that’s uphill. Them shoes are definitely the greatest workout shoes I had so far and I say that after 850km in them, disliking them from day one and wanting to retire them after 400, 600 and 700km. Now I’m hoping they will last a further 200km 😁. And no carbon plate or soft cushioning in them.

all in all, running wise a good to great week. Nothing to moan about. Let’s bring on the weekend.

babacool

Weekend summary. Short and sharp, just like sessions that I dislike!

plan was: Saturday 16k @ 4:30 and Sunday 26k @ 4:40. Short on time Sunday so Switched that around and did:

Saturday: 28.5km @ 4:25 - why 28.5k you (not) ask? Simple, that’s how long the loop is that I took 😁. Practice run for DCM as this will be my default long run/ longer workouts loop. Can easily extend if needed to any length that’s needed. Just not be able to shorten it. Why 4:25? Ran by feel. And although I knew it was faster than supposed to I didn’t want to slow down. Just one of those days.

Sunday: 15k @ 4:30 or so whilst little one competed at the Kildare club league thingy. Never ran around clane. Very interesting. quiet, hilly backroads. Big massive estates. Plenty of options for any distance, weather etc. not say I will be back but not disregarding it either. 🙂

all in all, surprised how the legs were all weekend. Tired when walking but fine when running. Fitness is definitely improving again.

healy1835

Just reading your County RR report. Fair play for taking the race on yourself for so long. Winner from our club is quite the athlete. He'll be one and done at Intermediate level anyway. Quite a competitive triathlete and is dipping his toe a bit more into road racing. Ran a fairly comfortable 2:32 in Berlin. I'd say he's 10 minutes to chop off that if he wanted to concentrate on the roads. Anyway, great racing 👍

babacool

Yea. Not sure if I came across him before but a good race. They made it look easy and thankfully he won’t be in my masters age group ever. Got enough competition there already. 😂

all those young guns. I sometimes wonder what if… what if I had taken up running a lot earlier instead of first hitting the gym to put on weight (during college) and then hitting the kitchen to put on more weight (when the first baby arrived) 😁. Always had a strong endurance base from cycling as a teenager but never focused on running. Definitely something I see at good triathletes. A good endurance base can be gained by the right amount and intensity of cycling.

babacool

Got this weeks plan on Sunday eve. First thought: wow … low mileage again. This is going to be tough!! For some reason, the less I have to run the more I’m dreading the week. I’m more scared of a 50miles week than a 100miles week. Weird. Anyways, decided to really stick to mileage as prescribed this week. Nothing sneaky (at least not much).

Monday: 10k @ 4:35 was planned which brought the first “screw up” as I had 8k in my head when heading out so I only did 8k 🤦‍♂️. Could have easily gone further. Legs felt very light and bouncy and fast yet they also felt extremely heavy. Really strange feeling!

tuesday: 3k warm up followed by 2k@3.40 (80secs rest) 6 x 400m @3.15 off 65 seconds 2k@3.40 & 3k cooldown

decided to do the session on the track and test out the new spikes. So did a 2k warm up to the track. Short break putting on the spikes, 1k to get a feel for it and then off you go. 2k reps done in lane 8. Watch on the left arm. Pacing accurate enough as the lap distance read 448-452m per lap. If one considered it is approximately 8m extra per lane/lap that would bring me to a total distance of 456m in lane 8. So with a 450m reading I’m happy enough. Felt comfortable and could have gone a lot faster. Though I did notice the different feel between spikes and road runners. Light but hard (so far only used spikes for Xc. And there everting is hard 😂).

quick math in the head. 3:15 pace means 195sec per k = 19.5sec per 100m = 39sec per 200m = 1:18 per 400s.

first rep: 17sec after 100m and I didn’t even feel it. Just settled into a rhythm and got to 38sec for the 200m mark. Didn’t look at the watch til the 400m mark, reset the lap with manual lap button press and got surprised by time 1:15min for the rep.

decided to go out slower next few reps and non of those I pushed the last 100s. Always checked the pacing at 100 & 200m and then just a nice steady rhythm.

splits overall: 1:15/ 1:17/ 1:16/ 1:16/ 1:16/ 1:16

the 65sec rest were very easy jogs just to ensure I stay around the start line to always have a full lane 1 lap for each rep.

2k again in lane 8. Felt damn easy which made me think “how awesome is it to run in spikes. Why haven’t I done that before?”

finished, put on the road runners and jogged home. Weird feeling. Felt like running on marshmallows. So soft compared to the spikes. Not saying I will back at the track anytime soon but definitely something to keep in mind for the future!

wednesday: rest day. Cycle in/out of work. Legs feel tired! Other than that nothing to report.

babacool

thursday: nice and easy 8k on the plan. Went for 10k to catch up on the distance lost on Monday. Coach gave me a kudos so seems like I got away with that 😁.

friday: surprised how good I feel mentally today. No stress at work. Finally a Friday that went smoothly enough. No time for lunch though which meant early end of the day. No point in stretching it out for too long. If your work is done, it is done. Switch off!

plan said 16k @ 4:30. Saw a good podcast on Spotify. Some motivational stuff. A compilation of a few people. Not really into that sort of thing but why not giving it ago. So put it on to the watch, earphones on and off we go.

run itself went smooth enough. Decided against a hilly route and opted for the parkrun loop. Nice gravel and slow surface. A few puddles just to add some fun 🥳🤩.

podcast. Man that’s some motivational ****. I can see why people listen to that daily and get hyped up.

the things that I remembered from listening:

“Life isn’t about success. It is defined by failure and how you get up!”

“don’t have a fall back option! Fall forward! At least that way you see where you fall on to!”

“there 3 kinds of people in this world: those who wish for something to happen! Those who watch something happen and those who make it happen!”

”most professional athletes don’t enjoy training, the pain and suffering but picture the result. The feeling when you succeed!”

”the most selfish thing one can do is to help others! It is selfish as the gratitude is for you. The feeling of having helped someone cannot be replaced by anything!”

”it doesn’t matter how rich you are when you die. You cannot bring it with you. The Egyptians have tried and got robbed!”

”it is not about how much you have but what you do with what you have!”

have to say I got so focused on it I even went longer on the run. 17k @ 4:25 in the end and could have gone on if it wasn’t for the podcast to be over. Definitely gonna listen to it again and definitely gonna try it out prior to the next race! 😁

hill repeats tomorrow! I love those sessions. Looking forward to it!

squinn2912

I hope the hill repeats went well! How’s your training going since? What events are in your head?

babacool

Hi,

decided to not continue with this diary as it doesn’t add any value to my training other than distraction. For those who have any interest in learning from my mistakes - follow me on strava 😁.

with regards to events, since the last post:

I became Leinster M2 3000m indoor champion 😁
came 3rd in the county Senior Road race
Clocked the 4th fastest leg 2 time in the WWR
came 1st in the Kilbride 10k
Spontaneously signed up for the EOI Howth Marathon this weekend 😎

what I’m trying to say is, the distraction that I no longer have from posting here or reading through blogs I have now on signing up for races. It’s a good trade.

hope your training is going well too?! Might see you on strava at some point or at a race 🙂

thanks

squinn2912

I was enjoying your log but you’re right if it’s not adding it’s taking away!

What is your strava?

super results by the way!!

Murph_D

(deleted)

babacool

Right. Let’s get back to it, just to keep track of what’s going on.

Little recap:

summer started of great. First finisher at the EOI Howth Marathon in 2:53 on a hot day. Followed by a solid 2nd place at the clonee 10k (beaten by Peter somba isn’t something to be ashamed of 😁. Been a please to “chase” him for the first 200m).

first finisher at the great grocer 5k (a lovely event and the goodie bag is just amazing 😂).

from there on it all went downhill. One niggle came up and by trying to get rid of it, made something else worse (something I never had before and therefore didn’t see the warning signs). Did did the mullingar 10m (PB but not really a great performance, that issue gave me more trouble than expected). One more week of running and then boom!! In such pain that I could barely walk without pain.

of to physio and been told “stress reaction or possible fracture”. Meant no running all august. Bike only. I loved it! Got a well needed rest, physically and mentally. Long story short - thankfully “just” a reaction and muscle issue. Meant I was able to start running again after 4 weeks. Slow but steady build up was the plan but threw that overboard after 4 days. With Dublin so close and not certain if it will be fine or not I decided to take a calculated risk and train hard as if there was never an injury always knowing that if it gets worse again, I stop and take 2 months off.

plan was now: 8 weeks to DCM. 6 weeks of hard training plus 2 weeks of taper. 1st week I struggled doing a 10k progression run, 2nd week I managed a 2hrs workout followed by a long run just to then race the half in 76min. Not bad considering the lack of running and leg strength not really being there.

this week then the first of a 4 week block. And what a week!

Monday - easy running and cycling. 90min in total

tuesday: 8*3min @ 3:25 (60). Felt tough. Still plenty of lactate in the legs from the weekend. But managed all fine.

Wednesday: cycling to and from work plus a detour to get the missing pieces to set up the Hometrainer.

Thursday: 15k easy over 2 runs. Felt very easy.

friday: no time for a lunch run so decided on 30min on the Hometrainer. Big mistake. Setup a 30min virtual ride thinking it will be easy… I picked a mountain route. Legs felt like jelly afterwards. Evening then 14k @ 4:30. Breathing fine but legs… man… that was tough on a flat route!

saturday: my favourite session is back (one of them in a tougher way). 10-5-10-5-10-5-10-5min of alternating paces. 3:50/3:40 was the plan (if done on a flat course). Oh and 25min warm up and warm down. 😁 struggled from start to finish. Used the supersonic for this one. What a lovey shoe. Went on a lumpy loop. Plenty of up and down. Never really any rest. Had to go by effort rather than pace on this one as otherwise would have blown up. Wanted to quit 5k in but got it down and did 28k in total.

sunday: plan was 32-34k @4:30 (if done on flat). Managed 30.5k @ 4:40 and done on anything but flat 😁. Really struggled on this one. One of those days where you would have needed company to somewhat enjoy it. So happy when it was over. Sure I could have done the last 1-2k but that would have been more of a struggle and not really adding any benefit.

Total workout out time this week: 12hrs (running and cycling). Not logged: 5-10min leg workouts per day & 20-25min pool time per day.

3 weeks left before taper (still taking it day by day, run by run and not certain if I do Dublin or not).

plan for next week: 13-14hrs running + cycling

Monday: 12k easy lunch / 30min cycling evening

Tuesday: 15min up @ 20*1min @ 3:20 (60) @ 3:50 15min down (subject to change)/ 30min cycling evening

Wednesday: cycle to/from work

Thursday: 14k easy

Friday: 17k @ 4:30

Saturday: 25min up - 3*(5-4-3-2-1min @ 3:30) (90/240) @ 4:15-4:30 25min down

Sunday: 34-36k @ 4:40 (at least 2:45hrs time on feet)

babacool

Little eye opener this week. Started out decent on Monday. A bit stiff from the weekend but ok ish. First run was fine but then in the evening put too much pressure on myself as in "i have to get out and do more mileage. I need that to build up endurance and leg strength as i feel weak right now." so i went out again for 5k in stead of the planned cycle. Big mistake. Legs tired and heavy and aching. Body not rested enough at all.

Coming tuesday then it turned a bit into a **** show. Knew from the moment I woke up "this isn't a running day". didn't feel it all morning so was more dreading it than looking forward to the session. Debated with myself "should i just skip it or do an easy run or just i don't know..go for it". So in the end decided to go for it. Watch set up and off we go. Warm up felt tough already. Legs just didnt want to move. Countdown started after 15min and the moment it went "beep" i sprinted of as hard as i could. Looked at the watch 3:45 pace (target was 3:15). Tried to push harder and i felt like i am flying (effort wise)...looked at the watch 3:42 pace... fook... this is going to be a struggle!!! first rep over and recovery went ok. Was able to hold the planned 4:10 pace without any issue. Beep it went and off we go again. Worked as hard as I could, looked at watch 3:35 pace... erm... whats going on? Rep over, holding pace for the recovery section felt a bit of a struggle.. beep again... worked as hard as I could... 3:35 when looking at the watch... fook this I said to myself. I am not going to do 17 more reps like that... so decided to switch to a tempo run instead and a bit of strides at the end. Overall i was more than happy when this session was over. (for those interested session in the end: 15min @ 4:45, 6min alternating (3:38/ 4:05/ 3:40/ 4:09/ 3:32/ 4:19), 8k @ 3:46, 3*45sec (3:17/ 3:29/ 3:05) with 45sec rest (4:24/ 4:19), 16min warm down (4:50 pace).

Felt that all day. legs really gone, mind starting to wonder "what are you doing". Only then i remembered "at this stage of the training circle, legs arent made for such sessions. stop being an idiot and try to force pace into them. Benefit - marginal. Risk of a bigger injury - high". So i decided to alter the plan... wednesday still not really recovered (more mentally than physically) so didnt cycle for 2hrs but did a nice 6k recovery jog instead. Which was a smart choice as thursday felt a lot better already and manged 2 runs: Lunch 12.6k @ 4:38 and evening 7k @ 4:35. Kept doing strength work again. Makes the legs tired but strong.

Also chatted to a wise man (i think most of us know who I am referring to) and he gave me good advice: better to do DCM at 70% and have it as a strong base than trying to force it to reach 90-95% but may get injured in the process. It just aint worth it. (not the exact words but thats what I remembered :D). And it makes sense. I pushed the body a lot over the past 2-3 weeks to get back into shape. And although it was good and it has helped I now need to be careful to not throw away everything. Means I no longer try to still go for sub 2:30 in DCM but be happy with a decent sub2:39. Also means the training will now focus purely on that goal and sessions will be a lot less aggressive and volume will not go crazy!

With that said... Weekend will now be a nice 4*(5-1k) on Saturday (3:50 pace for 5k and 4:30 for 1k) and sunday not a 34k long run but 20k (maybe a double) recovery run. Lets see how that goes :)

babacool

Road to Dublin 2022 so far:

Week 1:

Monday: 6k easy

Tuesday: 8*3min @ 3:45 (120)

Wednesday: Rest

Thursday: 14k easy

Friday: 7.5k easy

Saturday: 3*8min - 4*5min - 5*2min (120) (4:05/ 3:55/ 3:45)

Sunday: 30k @ 4:25

Total Mileage Running: 100km

Weekly time on Bike: 3hrs

Week 2:

Monday: 8.5k easy

Tuesday: 7*4min @ 3:35-3:40 (90)

Wednesday: Rest

Thursday: 6k easy

Friday: 6k easy

Saturday: Half Marathon (1:16:34)

Sunday: 24k @ 4:35

Total Mileage Running: 88km

Weekly time on Bike: 2hrs

Week 3:

Monday: 10.5k easy

Tuesday: 8*3min @ 3:25-3:30 (60)

Wednesday: Rest

Thursday: Double Day 6k / 9k easy

Friday: 14k easy

Saturday: 25min up 4*(10-5min (3:50/3:40)) 25min down

Sunday: Double day 30k @ 4:40 / 7k very easy

Total Mileage Running: 120km

Weekly time on Bike: 3.5hrs

Week 4:

Monday: Double Day: 10k / 5.5k easy

Tuesday: 15min up 3 * 1min on/off – 8k @ 3:45 – 3*45sec on/off – 15min down

Wednesday: 6k easy

Thursday: Double Day: 12.5k / 7k easy

Friday: 10k easy

Saturday: 3k up – 4*(5-1k) @ 3:50/4:30 – 3k down

Sunday: 20k steady (4:11 pace, done by feel not by pace)

Total Mileage Running: 120km

Weekly time on Bike: 0.5hrs

Weekend went well. Very well. Perhaps even too well, so well that I wondered "did i got the pace right? Should I have pushed harder on Saturday?" I mean legs were tired at the end but overall session went very well and much better than expected. Thought I would struggle holding a 3:50 pace and would be happy with 3:55, especially since I decided to pick a hilly route (total elevation 233m over 30km distance).

Really surprised when the splits came out as: 3:47/ 3:46 / 3:47 / 3:47. Also I really had to force myself to go slow during the 1ks. Definitely been the right choice to change the plan. And the shoes...not sure what else is there to say about the shoes. Such amazing runners and I would even go as far as saying "there aren't many carbon plate supershoes out there that can compete with this non carbon plate shoe over a 5k - 10k race distance". Granted the shoe didn't help running fast downhill but on the flat and especially inclines, the push you get from the responsive foam is brilliant. Felt very easy. Now what I did notice, the slower I went (warm down) the less I liked it. So definitely not a day to day runner. I go as far as "if i would run in small circles i would bring a second pair of runners for the warm down". Other than that... love the shoe and hope hoka continues that line up in that way (i doubt it though).

Sunday was what really surprised me and made me question if I pushed hard enough or not. Expected to have a lot more fatigue in the legs and would struggle going for a run. Expected to see something like 4:30-4:40 but not 4:11. That also included holding back at some part of the run as the watch read 3:50 (would have been too fast for the whole distance and potential risk of injury) without feeling it. Definitely a good sign.

Let's see what Week 5 brings and how I will feel by the end of it. The coming two weeks will more or less determine the target pace for Dublin. Plan for now is:

Week 5:

Monday: 13k easy

Tuesday: 20min up – 4*(4-3-2-1min @ 3:30-3:35) (75/180) – 20min down

Wednesday: 14k easy

Thursday: 14k easy

Friday: 12k easy

Saturday: 3k up – 2*1mile @ 3:30 (180) – 10*1mile alternating pace (3:40/4:30) – 2*1mile @ 3:30 (180) – 3k down

Sunday: 20k easy to steady

Total Mileage Running: 120-130km???

Weekly time on Bike: TBC

Oh and I got a new pair of shoes for DCM. Can't wait to test them at Week 7s "long run" :)

babacool

Road to Dublin:

Week 1:

Monday: 6k easy

Tuesday: 8*3min @ 3:45 (120)

Wednesday: Rest

Thursday: 14k easy

Friday: 7.5k easy

Saturday: 3*8min - 4*5min - 5*2min (120) (4:05/ 3:55/ 3:45)

Sunday: 30k @ 4:25

Weekly Mileage Running: 100km

Weekly time on Bike: 3hrs

Week 2:

Monday: 8.5k easy

Tuesday: 7*4min @ 3:35-3:40 (90)

Wednesday: Rest

Thursday: 6k easy

Friday: 6k easy

Saturday: Half Marathon

Sunday: 24k @ 4:35

Weekly Mileage Running: 88km

Weekly time on Bike: 2hrs

Week 3:

Monday: 10.5k easy

Tuesday: 8*3min @ 3:25-3:30 (60)

Wednesday: Rest

Thursday: Double Day 6k / 9k easy

Friday: 14k easy

Saturday: 25min up 4*(10-5min (3:50/3:40)) 25min down

Sunday: Double day 30k @ 4:40 / 7k very easy

Weekly Mileage Running: 120km

Weekly time on Bike: 3.5hrs

Week 4:

Monday: Double Day: 10k / 5.5k easy

Tuesday: 15min up 3 * 1min on/off – 8k @ 3:45 – 3*45sec on/off – 15min down

Wednesday: 6k easy

Thursday: Double Day: 12.5k / 7k easy

Friday: 10k easy

Saturday: 3k up – 4*(5-1k) @ 3:50/4:30 – 3k down

Sunday: 20k steady (4:11 pace, done by feel not by pace)

Weekly Mileage Running: 120km

Weekly time on Bike: 0.5hrs

Week 5:

Monday: 13k easy

Tuesday: 18min up – 4*(4-3-2-1min @ 3:30-3:35) (90/240) – 18min down

Wednesday: 14k easy

Thursday: 14k easy

Friday: 10k easy

Saturday: 3k up – 2*1mile @ 3:30 (180) – 10*1mile alternating pace (3:40/4:20) – 2*1mile @ 3:30 (180) – 3k down

Sunday: 20k easy to steady

Weekly Mileage Running: 122km

Weekly time on Bike: 45min

Almost there. One more big week ahead before taper. Weird how I don't feel like I need taper right now. Sessions felt a lot easier than expected, that there are some "concerns" that I don't push hard enough (though I am certain I do and pushing any harder would just mean = let's be happy with an injury). Mentally I am not drained. The distance itself isn't scaring me (yet) and the goal...well, not even sure what a proper goal should be. Happy enough with just getting under 2:40? Disappointed if not even reaching 2:35? I honestly don't know and at this stage don't really care. Looking forward to this week though, especially Saturday. 24k tempo run with proper prep (Race Day gear, breakfast, nutrition and probably close enough copy of the DCM route but not the route itself). Maybe that run will drain me mentally and physically enough to be happy to enter taper and have it all done.

babacool

Midweek entry. Bit of an up and down so far. Glute and leg slightly back on to me since late last week. Means a bit more focus again on strength work which also means legs are a bit more tired for workouts. Easy run Monday and Tuesday. No issue relay. Easy slogs but no real mood to go beyond 12k. Even considered keeping them as short as 2k (didn’t though). Found it almost a chore to get them done.

Wednesdays session (3*2miles @ 3:30 (300)) I was looking forward to especially since Saturday went so well. Looked at 2019 and noticed that I didn’t struggle at all at that session. On the contrary I went faster than planned. So here I was - high hopes to nail it, enjoy it and get a really good idea on where I am with regards to DCM. How wrong I’d been. Got up in the morning and legs weren’t there. Walking up and down the stairs felt like a struggle already as legs were just tired and heavy.

thankfully I took a day off work so a bit less pressure on getting out at a certain time. Meant I could wait a bit longer and see if somehow the legs wake up. They didn’t really so I decided to not even attempt hitting the pace but rather go by form and effort. Programmed the workout on the app, synced to the watch, got ready and out.

warm up went as expected. A bit of a struggle but ok. Workout started and off we go. Few seconds in, looked at watch, pace was ok (3:40 or so) on a slight uphill section with wonky gps. Can’t really remember any run where I went below 3:35 pace on that section regardless of how much I pushed. So happy out. A bit further on looked at watch again just to get a feel on what’s left for the first rep and it said “600m”. Confused me and got me out of the rhythm as I knew I hadn’t don’t 2.6km yet. So whilst continuing to run i cancelled the workout (stupidly thinking it would continue with the lap, it didn’t). Lap got reset so I lost complete sense of what I had done now and what’s left. Spent a few seconds to calculate “I’m on that time now, did x minutes for warm up, think I had been on y pace so far so overall if I run for a further z minutes at x pace I should be done with 2miles”. Surprisingly almost got it right. 1.13km+2.06km=3.19km. Not bad 😁. From there on, no more watch telling me too fast/too slow. Meant I could focus a bit more on effort and not get distracted. Same time spent a lot of time looking at the watch. Not sure what’s worth. Also for some reason I thought 2miles = 3.32km. I knew it’s 3.22 but during the 2nd rep I was convinced the rep was over at 3.32km. So what I was short the first rep I added on the second (and a bit). Last rep 3.22km. I’m not that stupid that I do the same mistake twice 😁. So I completed the reps in: 11:33min/ 12:02min/ 11:40. Sure not even close to target pace but as said, went by effort and couldn’t have gone any faster even if I had tried. Breathing wasn’t there. Very humid.

legs fine during warm down and rest of the day. Felt like I didn’t do a session at all, yet doubts about Saturday started to creep up.

“I struggled running 3:35-3:40 for a mile, how on earth will I manage 24km at 3:45? Ain’t gonna happen.”

But that’s a story for another day….

For now, I doubt I will break in the racing shoes on Saturday. Probably gonna use my standard workout shoes just so I have an(other) excuse for not performing. 😁

i just don’t care at this stage. I enjoy being able to train but I can’t see myself really performing in 2.5 weeks time. No clue where I am at, what to aim for etc.

babacool

right... as mentioned, this week has been a struggle. On Thursday morning I was convinced that Saturday will almost be impossible to hit the pace, so I did what every run would do (or not) in this situation: I changed the plan. Plan was to do 17k easy on Thursday but I decided to just go out and run. Put the music on (2hrs podcast) and run until either the podcast is over or the legs say "stop it. Leave us alone. We are done!"

Decided to not look at the watch at all during that run and just run by feel regardless of pace and distance. To ensure that I really wont have any idea on where I am at distance wise, I added a lot of twists and turns at the start. So any sense of mileage was gone after 5min. In addition picked a route that is hilly enough, just so that the legs get really tired and I have more excuses for struggling Saturday - every little helps :D! What 6surprised me was that the podcast finished before the legs gave up. 2hrs done, looked at the watch (first and only time) and saw 25.8k on it. Knew I was 1k away from home (roughly) so completed that run. Could have gone further if wanted to but decided not to. Overall 26.7km done at 4:38 avg.

Friday, plan was to do 10k but legs really tired so cut it short. The daily leg exercises aren't really helping at this stage. Legs and glutes feel like in a constant fatigue stage. Yet needs to be done as otherwise injury will come back. With that in mind I also made the decision to cancel my Donadea 50k entry for 2023 and rest up fully after DCM without feeling the pressure of having to get ready for another big race. I am not a fun runner (yet), so if I take a race like that on I want to be in perfect shape, especially after the disaster earlier this year. 2024 it is then for the next attempt :).

Saturday - after really overthinking it and picking different routes and paces and sessions and almost deciding on not running at all, I listened to a wise man who basically said "just go for a steady effort and don't focus on pace" (not the exact words but as usual, that's what "heard"). So put on the race shoes, did not program the watch and just went out. Warm up felt easy and slow and effortless (can really see why this shoe has become a favourite for most). Looked at watch at some stage and saw 4:05 avg... warm up... thought "this will be fun". Entered the workout part and just went by feel. First half ok, not really pushing just cruising, knowing second half will be hell. Uphill and into the wind. It seriously felt like the wind picked up the moment i turned. Don't think i got that much of a benefit the first half than what I suffered the second half. Overall the run surprised me to the extent that despite not hitting the 3:45 (did 3:53 avg) this was the fasted I have ran this loop (out and back) and I didn't push. Effort level overall I would say 5 out of 10. Though I don't think I could have gone a lot faster but certainly longer. So good that some endurance is still left in the legs but bad that pace isn't really there.

What I really like about this loop: it is the DCM course over a shorter distance but same or even higher elevation. Up and down all the time and usually 2nd half (going back) is into the wind and mostly uphill. So the run itself I enjoyed, the shoe I enjoyed (just need to figure out how to run in them and how tight the lacing should be).

Sunday, the plan was to do 18-20k nice and easy. Little one asked me in the morning though to go with her for some hill reps as she didn't want to do them on her own. So decided instead of running 90min on my own, to do 60min with her. Good choice. She did 8*15sec (150-180) whilst I jogged 8*200m up and down, just to kill some time.

Lovely bit of workout. Legs screamed at me by the end but all easy so should be fine.

Really funny those sprinters though. She really moaned that the recovery time between reps was only 2.5-3min :D. In her mind it should be 10sec sprint and 10min rest. Sprinters... what do they know about pain :D.

Oh and warm down, I left her behind as she wanted to walk. So i ran off going a longer way to then run towards her and finish with her. Saw her passing me (she didnt see me), tried to catch up to her (running 4:40 pace) and couldn't. she basically sprinted home because "running slow hurts too much" :D.

AH well... taper time and then trying to figure out on race day what to do pace wise.

Road to Dublin:

Week 1:

Monday: 6k easy

Tuesday: 8*3min @ 3:45 (120)

Wednesday: Rest

Thursday: 14k easy

Friday: 7.5k easy

Saturday: 3*8min - 4*5min - 5*2min (120) (4:05/ 3:55/ 3:45)

Sunday: 30k @ 4:25

Weekly Mileage Running: 100km

Weekly time on Bike: 3hrs

Week 2:

Monday: 8.5k easy

Tuesday: 7*4min @ 3:35-3:40 (90)

Wednesday: Rest

Thursday: 6k easy

Friday: 6k easy

Saturday: Half Marathon

Sunday: 24k @ 4:35

Weekly Mileage Running: 88km

Weekly time on Bike: 2hrs

Week 3:

Monday: 10.5k easy

Tuesday: 8*3min @ 3:25-3:30 (60)

Wednesday: Rest

Thursday: Double Day 6k / 9k easy

Friday: 14k easy

Saturday: 25min up 4*(10-5min (3:50/3:40)) 25min down

Sunday: Double day 30k @ 4:40 / 7k very easy

Weekly Mileage Running: 120km

Weekly time on Bike: 3.5hrs

Week 4:

Monday: Double Day: 10k / 5.5k easy

Tuesday: 15min up 3 * 1min on/off – 8k @ 3:45 – 3*45sec on/off – 15min down

Wednesday: 6k easy

Thursday: Double Day: 12.5k / 7k easy

Friday: 10k easy

Saturday: 3k up – 4*(5-1k) @ 3:50/4:30 – 3k down

Sunday: 20k steady (4:11 pace, done by feel not by pace)

Weekly Mileage Running: 120km

Weekly time on Bike: 0.5hrs

Week 5:

Monday: 13k easy

Tuesday: 18min up – 4*(4-3-2-1min @ 3:30-3:35) (90/240) – 18min down

Wednesday: 14k easy

Thursday: 14k easy

Friday: 10k easy

Saturday: 3k up – 2*1mile @ 3:30 (180) – 10*1mile alternating pace (3:40/4:20) – 2*1mile @ 3:30 (180) – 3k down

Sunday: 20k easy to steady

Weekly Mileage Running: 122km

Weekly time on Bike: 45min

Week 6:

Monday: 12k easy

Tuesday: 12k easy

Wednesday: 13min up – 3*2miles @ 3:30 (300) –14min down

Thursday: 26k easy

Friday: 6k easy

Saturday: 3.5k up 23k @ steady to moderate 2k down

Sunday: 12k easy (hilly)

Weekly Mileage Running: 115k

Weekly time on Bike: 0hrs

Week 7-8: Taper

babacool

Midweek thoughts. Taper mode? Not really. At least still don’t feel it. Motivation is currently low. For some reason I am not really looking forward to it.

do I think I can run a sub3? Hell ya… don’t need taper for that.

Do I think I can run a sub2:50? Sure… if I’m not sick or get an injury… should be a no brainer and not really a challenge.

do I think I can run a sub2:40? I would hope so. After all, if I’m not even in PB shape, what’s the point in even starting?

do I think I can a sub2:35 or even faster? No! I have the leg stength in general, I have a good endurance base but I do think I’m lacking something. Just don’t know what it is. At this I believe the race will come 2-3 weeks too early. Im in shape to run a great half. Doing the Dublin half now or next week and anything slower than 73min would be a massive disappointment. Yet I don’t think I (currently) have the motivation to run a hard, all out, flat marathon. I seriously wish the weather is going to be sooo aweful that it won’t be about time. Writing this right now makes me wonder if that’s it! This “pressure” or “expectation” to smash it and run fast. Run a PB that’s currently holding me back?! (Well that and still going day by day running not being 100% fit. The leg still giving me trouble that one just can’t really enjoy it). Did I put that on to myself? Is it my own fault? Certainly… I put out the goal of sub2:27 for this year and I know I would have been there if it wasn’t for august. I am a competitive person who will always reach for the stars… no point not doing it. And yes the next big goal is already set and communicated but for now, times don’t really matter to me.

think I mentioned that to the coach earlier this year. I might just continue running marathons that aren’t about time (for a while). Marathons that will definitely not give you a PB. Fight for a win, race it hard but not really focusing on time. Think that plays a big part right now.

anyways, Monday and Tuesday easy runs. 10k each. And each felt like never ending. Always wanted to stop after 2-3k and just call it a day. Wednesday took a half day. Last big session ahead of me and didn’t fancy doing it after work, as that would have meant impact on the family. Not fair on them, especially since I knew I won’t even enjoy it.

session: 2.5k warm up 8k @3:45 10min @ 4:30 8k @ 3:45 - warm down.

remembered (thanks strava) how much I struggled doing that in 2019. So knew it won’t be fun and I just needed to get it done. Surprisingly hitting the pace itself each rep felt easy enough. Both finished at 3:46 avg despite the bit of wind and rain. Overall I should be pleased (effort around 5-6 out of 10) with that but I’m not. Mentioned that on strava… hated every second of it. Head cold coming (feeling it even more today) and sort of fell asleep during warm down. Really struggled keeping them open. got home, shower (laughing at the dog that sat on the bed worrying about thunder, lightning, wind, rain, leaves etc… she is such a scared dog… ), on the couch and really cold. 21degrees in the house and I was freezing. Reminded me of February, the run up to donadea. Just this time around it wasn’t down to underfueling.

9k today… dressed as if it was 0 degrees out there. So sweating a lot, which I may need to get rid of this head cold asap. Let’s see how the next few days go and if / when the taper blues will kick in. For now Im low in motivation and sort of looking forward to not running for a while. (Saying that now but probably won’t last 10 days without it after Dublin).

pacing and race strategy for Dublin, I wonder if I should go and try the pace pro feature from Garmin and just go by those splits

I mean it does sound reasonable enough to me yet I am not certain. I wonder if the watch would constantly beep when not on pace? What happens if I manually autolap just to also have splits every 5k? Would that distract me? Can’t really test it either as that is based on the 2019 run and hence the watch would probably want me to run that route in order to test it or else just throw out “you are off course”. Ah well..: still a few days left to decide.