Running away

AuldManKing · 21-11-2022 10:31pm

Thats a great race well ran - congrats on the PB and dont knock it - its a PB!!

(you might want to edit your time in your report though - 37.39 nearly had me with my calculator out)

Swashbuckler · 21-11-2022 10:41pm

Awesome stuff E. Like AMK you had me wondering.....

You might be like me, more suited to low pressure, adhoc racing, often not with a specific block. I've always preferred that. I can only think of a few races I did a specific block for that I was delighted with. Well done you. That's a big chunk off a 10k time, thanks in no small part to you building your aerobic base massively.

skyblue46 · 21-11-2022 11:54pm

I agree with what all the others have said above. I'm in awe of the effort you put in all the same. I have got myself to a very good place fitness wise but I still won't go all in like you did. Fair play!

Mr. Guappa · 22-11-2022 10:26am

Congrats on the PB - they don't happen by accident! Plenty of work and sacrifice goes into achieving one - both on the day and in the preceding weeks/months/years. This one was well deserved and great to see.

Murph_D · 23-11-2022 1:37am

It's always fun to focus on the race so I'll comment on that first - I think you had a superb outing there. Racing is all about (well, at least partly about) finding some motivation within the circumstances that present themselves and this was a great 10k from that perspective. You went off hard, found yourself in no (wo)man's land, then consolidated and found someone to work off for the meat of the race, before pushing on at the end. I mean, that's excellent work in anyone's language. All the better that it was a seasoned racer that you could work off, and you were careful to pay her plenty of deserved respect! Well done on a great PB.

The structure without racing question is a really good one, and it reminded me of the situation in the first half of 2020 - no races on the horizon for a good while, and even if that was by necessity rather than design, it made me think a good bit harder than usual about what I needed to be doing to be in good shape for the future -that unspecified time when you'd be ready to race again, with other life stuff less dominant. My own instinct was to focus on developing aerobic fitness, aerobic capacity - the kind of work that is enjoyable enough to do (provided you mix in plenty of steady stuff with the easier stuff) and that you know is building your engine for the eventual return.

That's not answering the question of course because it's about structure, not the principle. I just tried to stick to plenty of challenging but not too hard runs, without any real structure at all beyond at least one midweek session (steady to tempo pace) and a long run at the weekend. For me it was enough to feel I was staying in the game while not getting burned out or bored. I took sessions from various places - @Swashbuckler provided some suggestions when I asked, and others came from looking at what some clubmates were suggesting and doing.

Your recent PB suggests you're in good shape and it's a question of keeping that going, maybe the way you currently are with consistent training and taking the odd local race opportunity that crops up at the right time, while also having an eye to the future which means just working on that aerobic base, which as P mentioned above is something that can be as long a process as you like.

At the end of the day, nothing helps more than consistent and steady mileage, and building that mileage, so that it's there for you when you tackle the sharp stuff at the end when you decide to focus on a particular race. And you seem to be doing plenty of that already - the evidence is in the weekend race result - so happy days.😀

Swashbuckler · 23-11-2022 10:32am

Great post.

Bluesquare · 23-11-2022 1:52pm

I’d watch those hungover runs - I seem to pick up niggles lol . I find when I run fast with a hangover I’m much more relaxed . We did 5k time trials during the first covid lockdown - I won’t lie I was hungover for all of them but have no idea where I pulled those times from. Maybe it’s the way forward

Bluesquare · 23-11-2022 1:56pm

I see Pfitzinger has a full chapter on training for multiple distances in his faster road racing book which includes schedules . His mileage is a bit rich for me but you could probably use it as a base . I’m using his half schedule ( but with a bit of mileage shaved off).

Bluesquare · 23-11-2022 2:03pm

Well done on pb - sorry for all the posts I didn’t see the last page somehow so posted on last weeks stuff .

Great running without training with a focus and nice report !

ariana` · 28-11-2022 4:52pm

Thanks for all the great replies last week, I appreciate every one of them 😊 @Murph_D wise words as always, I'm glad someone could put some logic to my strategy! I wish I could say it was a well thought out plan on my part, but it was just what felt right and thankfully it came good, a bit fluky perhaps!

I ended up having a kind of rough week since unfortunately, not a whole lot of running between the jigs and reels. I developed a pain in my mouth on about Tuesday I think it was, I thought it was a tooth ache at first, though it was affecting the whole side of my face/head. Got to the dentist on Friday and confirmed it was an abscess so had a deep clean of 1 tooth under local anaesthetic and an antibiotic for a week. I was only at the dentist in August and got a clean bill of health so we're not sure what caused this, apparently the tooth is sound thankfully.

Monday: Hamstrings a little bit tight so took a complete rest day

Tuesday: A very easy hour long run, circa 11min/m pace

Wed: A long day doing a course work related, fairly wrecked after. Made it to the gym for strength.

Thursday: A very easy 40mins while child 1 is at soccer, all I could muster, feeling rubbish but the air did me some good.

Friday: Attempted to run but ended up doing more of a run/walk for 2 miles and then went home feeling disgusted with myself. Fell asleep about 15 mins into the Toy Show - I never make it to the end but this was an all-time low for me 🤣

Saturday: Just strength and a walk.

Sunday: 1hr run with some moderate intervals - best run all week.

18 miles for the week.

Onwards to a better week ☺️

ariana` · 06-12-2022 4:06pm

Last week was pretty uneventful, got a decent week of running ticked, happy days. Keeping things simple for the rest of the year and probably into 2023. By simple I mean run when I can, mostly easy, the odd tempo, the odd run with some easy tempo/moderate intervals, maybe some strides or a sprinkling of short faster reps for turnover. The next few weeks will be a bit unpredictable with the festivities, but I'll roll with it, it's great to have a normal Christmas season to be excited about, even school plays are back on the cards - I have one child playing the part of a sheep something which he is very h-a-a-a-apy about, we're flat out practising his lines, who knew a sheep could have so much to say 🤔

Monday: 30mins easy around town while my middle had music, streetlights & footpaths for this, didn't know what to do with myself, found myself getting a bit annoyed hopping up and down off curbs 😆

Tuesday: Very easy hour with some friends, chat time

Wednesday: Gym

Thurs: 30min tempo @ 8:10 approx.

Fri: Rest

Sat: Gym session followed by parkrun @ 7:44min/m - had no real plan for this but I have a very poor track record at running easy at parkrun. Started off easy enough, around 1k I was at marathon effort (just had HR on the watch) so decided to hold that but of course I ended up picking it up unintentionally and doing a progression run - 8:08, 7:42, 7:28, 7:02 (.14). At one stage I wondered what pace I was doing and figured around 26-27mins, so I was very surprised to see my finish time at 24:13. It was the most perfect morning, not a Puff of a breeze on any part of the course. I was sorry after I hadn't planned to go after a parkrun pb, I'm pretty sure I had it in me or close enough. Numbers were low but there were 7 people ahead of me so I'm sure I could have latched on to someone around 22-23mins. An opportunity missed but hardly a big deal.

Sunday: 8m with 3 * 2k easy tempo thrown in to break it up.

ariana` · 19-12-2022 11:27am

I've fallen a bit behind again...

Week of Dec 5th

Most exciting thing this week was I booked a repeat LT test for Friday. The recommendation is to taper as you would for a race before this so that shaped the week somewhat.

Monday: Easy 30mins incl. a few strides

Tues: Very easy hour

Wed: Strength + an easy hour

Thurs: Just strength

Fri: LT treadmill test, more on that below.

Sat: Strength & Parkrun - new parkrun PB of 22:59. Wasn't really expecting this at all. I had very little time as I was in the gym at 8:30am, out at 9:20 and straight down to parkun. I only had about 5mins to warm up and couldn't even run from the car in to the park as the carpark & paths were too icy. Thankfully the paths in the park are mostly gravel and were runnable but parts were still dodgy. Very small showing, only 17 runners, I was in 5th place from the start, by about 2km I had worked my way into 4th place and by 3.5k I worked my way into 3rd place and there I remained. I wasn't looking at the watch, but knew I was running as hard as the conditions would allow. I was quite surprised at the end to see I'd run a parkrun pb. Coincidentally I'd run my previous parkrun pb on the same weekend last year. I'll have to go after my actual 5km pb sometime, it's starting to look breakable 😊

Sunday: Back to the park again for a crunchy 5m. Had hoped to do a long run but my whole body was tired and I'll be honest I just wasn't enjoying the baltic conditions at the slow pace I was able for.

27 miles for the week.

LT Test. So I originally did this test in 2019. Initially I used the zones to guide all my LT runs but over time I had started to doubt the zones and particularly recently I feel like my HR has dropped considerably. At the time of the initial test in 2019 my Max was 180-182 but in the past year I have only been able to hit 172 which put into question my LT HR. Going into a year where I'll be planning my own training I wanted to arm myself with as much reliable information as possible. I chatted about this before the test and was told that yes HR zones can change over time as part of the aging process although they don't necessarily change for everyone either. The test is basically 3mins intervals on the treadmill at increasing paces, with 1 min between each interval where a blood sample is taken to check the lactate levels, HR is recorded every minute and RPE is recorded in the 2nd half of each interval. In the early intervals it was very clear I was running much faster than 3 years ago for the same effort (HR & RPE) and over the course of the test it became clear also that my LTHR really wasn't going to be much different to before either. This is not a Max HR test but because I had explained I felt my HR couldn't go as high as before and because I was comfortable with all the paces we'd run, he decided to do an extra interval after we'd reached my threshold and 2mins into this interval he increased the pace for the last minute - I hit a HR of 177 at the end of this interval and didn't feel like I was quite flat out so I can only assume from this that my Max HR is not changed much - possibly around 179/180... I got the full report a few days later with some suggested race times and suggested training etc.. Delighted I did it as it definitely has given me the confidence to push myself a bit harder again, I think I've gone soft over the past couple of years with very little hard racing, and doubts creeping in.

ariana` · 19-12-2022 2:09pm

Cont'd

Week of Dec 12th

Not much of substance really, lots of easy runs in icy conditions, I had a sore knee for a few days, could be related to wearing trail runners that I'm not used too and also holding a bit of tension while running in poor conditions, but perhaps something to watch. It was my right side, all my niggles over the years have been on my right side.

Monday/Tuesday: didn't do anything 😕

Wednesday: Strength + some easy miles

Thurs: Strength + some more easy miles

Fri: Just a very short easy run

Sat: Nothing

Sun: A thaw finally, thank god. Got out and did 10mile long run including some steady efforts and an LT effort, all using HR. Sweated buckets during this run.

25 miles for the week.

ariana` · 03-01-2023 10:27am

A 2 week update to close out the year

Week of Dec 19th

I didn't run til Wednesday and I can't remember why - busy tying up ends in work, kids school play & last minute shopping/Christmas prep most likely

Wednesday: Easy run of 6.5miles

Thurs: 2 * 10mins threshold based on HR, paces were 7:31 & 7:28, a lot faster than Tinman gives me for Threshold (7:50-8:00) but I'm going to stick with HR for a little while anyways and assess as I go. LT test couldn't be any more recent really so I'm going to trust it.

Saturday: An easy run of 7m

Sunday: Christmas day and no run again.

A very light week of 20 miles

Week of Dec 26th

Tuesday: 7m easy

Thursday: 10k/6.25m easy

Friday: A short session of 5 * 2' on/1' off, around 5k effort.

Saturday: another easy run

Another light week of 23 miles.

ariana` · 03-01-2023 10:48am

2022 Recap

1584miles for the year, my lowest mileage in 3 years. The 2nd half of the year was lower than the first so I'm on a downward trend it seems😏

3 PBs from 5 races this year - HM in March, 1:45 down from 1:48, 10m in March 1:19 down from 1:26 and 10k in November 47:39 down from 49:40. Also did 2 shocking 8ks in the Summer where my legs were like they were running through treacle and are definitely better off forgotten. I got my Parkrun best down from 23:06 in 2021 to 22:59 in 2022 without doing very many park runs, maybe 2 hard and a small handful of others with my kids.

Those are the metrics but a lot of other things went on this year that the metrics don't show, 6 months of frozen shoulder, Covid, change of jobs, kid starting a new school and a new routine with it and so on.

I'm grateful for every mile I was able to run in 2022 and proud of the races I was able to push myself a little bit to run a distance a bit faster than I had run it before.

Onwards to 2023 and some new goals which I will have to think about 🤔

Happy new year everyone x

Kellygirl · 03-01-2023 2:08pm

3 excellent PBs too. The year ahead should be interesting too with training with the new paces etc.

Bluesquare · 03-01-2023 2:11pm

Happy New year ! You had a great year - 3 fab pbs despite the decrease in mileage and all the other obstacles life threw in the way ! Well done and I look forward to reading your log in 2023 !

coogy · 03-01-2023 2:47pm

Plenty to be proud of there E! Great to see how so many folks like yourself are constantly striving to keep going one better, it's inspiring!!!

Best of luck for 2023!

ariana` · 03-01-2023 9:26pm

Thanks @Kellygirl, @Bluesquare & @coogy 😊

Goals for 2023

I didn't set any goals last year and I don't think it stood me well really.

I got a full report from the LT test in early December, and it included some race times that are achievable with training. There are two that stick in my mind so these will be my goal times for 2023:

Sub 22min 5k (from 22:42 on the road in 2019 & 22:59 park run in 2022)

I can't see myself specifically targeting 5k but I'm going to be less afraid to throw in the odd hard park run when I have a free Saturday morning and maybe I can work my time down over the course of the year that way, and if a road race pops up then that would be a bonus. It's one I'll keep an eye on but not the priority.

Sub 1:42 HM (from 1:45:xx in 2022)

This will be the main focus. I have no specific race(s) yet, there's a few races in March that I'd love to do but March is completely tied up with family so I'll be looking a bit further ahead to April or May. Possibly Limerick HM and/or the Dublin race series HM or Charleville in Sept.

Generally speaking I'm hoping to stay injury free, train consistently, keep up the gym/strength work that I started in 2022 and be less afraid to race hard at any distance (except the marathon of course) without specific training. Training wise I'll continue to set my own but I'll aim to plan it on a weekly basis rather than flying by the seat of my pants which I've become guilty of recently! Loosely speaking there will be threshold runs, strides, long runs, some work at CV and some steady/moderate intervals mixed in with easy runs - piece of cake to plan it all out, right, what can possibly go wrong 😅

Thanks to everyone who has contributed here over the last 12 months, I appreciate every post and wish everyone well in their running and life endeavours for the year ahead.

OOnegative · 03-01-2023 9:38pm

The very best of luck with the goals E, knowing you & having followed your running progress, those targets are more than attainable.

ariana` · 04-01-2023 12:13pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120061699#Comment_120061699

Thank you kindly B. That means a lot ☺️

ariana` · 09-01-2023 3:17pm

Jan 9th-8th, Week 1 of 2023 on the road to somewhere I hope, I just don't know where yet 🤷‍♀️

This week was all about getting back into the routine again. I set out at the start of the week that i wanted to hit 28 miles this week in an effort to start the build back up after 4 low mileage weeks where the mileage was 27, 25, 20, 23 miles. I also wanted to get back into the gym and eat more normally. I'm not overly happy with all of my runs but I hit my main aims and I have possibly realised I need to at least try to get back on a formal plan. The DOMS from 3 gym sessions really didn't help and on Sunday afternoon I had to cut my walk with the dog short due to a quite sore knee, not that she was complaining, she really doesn't like getting her feet wet anyways 🙄

Monday: I was out all day catching up with some friends, last of the Christmas festivities. Got home and dragged myself out for a run. I didn't realise it until I got going but the back roads were quite icy so I had to detour.

4m @ 10:17min/m incl some strides

Tuesday: 18min LT, 3min rec, 12mins LT, 3min rec, 4 * 400m/200m rec

Did this on HR for the LT pieces, effectively it was 2 * 12mins as it took at least 6' on the first interval to get up to the correct zone. I think I need to do longer warm-ups even though I had nearly 2miles of a warm up. Quite windy and wet, paces were significantly slower than my last LT session but that's the beauty of using HR to guide these runs.

1st rep: 8:03min/m

2nd rep: 7:46min/m

Thursday: Had about 50mins while the young lad played soccer, Garmin conveniently recommended 45mins @ 9:45min/m pace as a base training run so I went with that, up and down a stretch of road less than 1,000m long but it had street lights which is more than I'm used to.

5m @ 9:40min/m

Saturday: This was a fail. Planned to do a long run (10ish miles) finishing with Parkrun as a steady effort at the end (P&D endurance style run), however I slept in so had to do parkrun closer to the start, went too hard - (s)low end of LT - and then really didn't enjoy the rest at all and cut it short. Annoyed with myself but there's a lesson in there - I'm only going to do Parkrun at the end of a long run in future or else as a stand alone race/hard effort.

9m @ 9:00min/m, Park run @ 7:50 ish - Low end of LT effort

Sunday: Just an easy run to see out the week, threw in a couple of 1k EIM intervals but I honestly didn't find them that easy at all. Maybe the remnants of DOMS and Saturdays LT park run effort but I had to work a bit for these.

4m @ 9:07min/m.

30miles for the week.

Bluesquare · 09-01-2023 3:30pm

Well done first week in January . You have given me some inspiration there - I will be doing long runs with LT effort at the end in a few weeks - be nice to do that as part of a park run ! Might make it easier to up the pace ! Thanks for that

ariana` · 09-01-2023 3:55pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120085979#Comment_120085979

It doesn't have to be quite LT effort, that wasn't really what I had planned, more of a steadier effort for the last 3 miles, maybe a lift in pace by about 30 seconds/mile. I'd already done a fairly hefty LT session in the week. I just don't seem to have much discipline with parkrun, I start of nice & easy and let everyone go off ahead but then I naturally pick off a couple of runners without trying too hard and once I start picking off anyone at all I start to enjoy myself and get a bit carried away, totally stupid behaviour 🤪 I need to learn to either commit from the start or control myself or else just stay away!

skyblue46 · 14-01-2023 6:11pm

Hey E, did you do the EIM 1k's by pace or HR? Did you include walking in the recoveries?

ariana` · 15-01-2023 7:31pm

Hi Sean. I did them by HR, 92-95% of LT and I walked about 15 seconds - I just counted this in my head so may not have been exact.

skyblue46 · 15-01-2023 7:44pm

All pretty much spot on...I suppose the "easy" is somewhat of a misnomer. Maybe 'easier' than normal intervals is more appropriate 😂

ariana` · 15-01-2023 8:33pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120112701#Comment_120112701

I think that's it to be honest. Easy for me has been 10min/m give or take 20secs/m for as long as I can remember and these reps are coming in closer to 8min/m which may not be hard but at the same time is significantly different to 10min/m! I'm enjoying them though, they definitely help to make easy runs more interesting.

ariana` · 16-01-2023 4:27pm

Jan 9th-15th, Week 2 of 2023

Nothing too exciting this week, keeping a bit of variety in the paces and steady mileage 30 mile weeks. I'm enjoying running at the moment. The lower mileage suits me. I don't suppose it will make me faster but for now I'm happy to be enjoying the process again.

Monday: The usual Monday special of 30mins easy including a few strides while the young lad has class.

Tuesday: Easy hour, 6m @ 10:23. Not a bad evening after a fairly torrid day, I got lucky.

Wednesday: Looking at the weather on Tues evening I didn't think I'd get to run as there was a yellow weather warning but to be honest it was a case of mellow yellow. CV session on the cards, kept it short & sweet as I plan to with these sessions for a while.

2 * (3', 2', 1' all off 1' rec) @ CV + 2 * 1'/1' on/off

CV pace came in about 7:35min/m, bit of a battle into the wind on some reps to tried to focus on effort.

Thurs: Rest day

Fri: 3 * 1k EIM again.

Sat: 3m up, 12', 12' & 6' @ LT / 3' rec, 2m down - these came in a little over 7:50 but more about the effort as the 1st rep was lumpy and the 3rd rep was into a strong wind. This doubled as my long run this week, 10m.

Sun: Rest day. Young lad back to GAA training in the morning - U15 this year. Though I might get a short recovery run at some stage, instead got a load of housework done early, got the younger kids out for a runabout in the park etc in the avo and passed the evening reading in front of the fire. One of those very satisfying days even if it didn't include a run, a nice restorative finish to the week/weekend and ready to go again. I've a busy week this week, well a couple of extra things on outside of the usual so it'll be hit 'n' miss if/when I get out but I'll do what I can.

Dubh Geannain · 16-01-2023 11:16pm

Don't be knocking 30 MPW. That's been me for the last couple of years 😜

Thought I was great, then I got talking to a clubmate at the weekend, who's a wee bit older than me but finished ahead of me in each of maybe the half dozen different races we've run together. He's on 20-30 MPW and it's been enough to secure him some county and provincial Masters medals. 4 days running sometimes 5.

ariana` · 17-01-2023 11:06am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120117928#Comment_120117928

I was 40+mpw for a long, long time but honestly it became a chore and I was ticking off miles for the sake of it, plodding. It's only the difference of about 2 hrs a week which seems trivial but it's the difference between doing 30mins on a lunch hour to going out in the evening for 1hr 15mins and having a good chunk of the evening accounted for. I could tick off 35-40 this week and maybe even next week and for a few weeks but eventually it catches up with me, I fall behind on life/family admin stuff and I get overwhelmed and anxiety sets in. I start to feel that I'm letting everyone down, not doing homework with the kids, not spending enough time with my elderly Mum, not cooking wholesome meals, forgetting to pay bills and basically letting balls slip left, right & centre.... boom running has caused the one thing it was supposed to help me with in the first place... So we shall see how it goes but right now I'm feeling positive about 30m weeks, you never know maybe I will defy the odds and run improved times on lower mileage too like your clubmate, I'll keep the faith anyways 🤞

Sunny Dayz · 17-01-2023 12:12pm

""Nothing too exciting this week, keeping a bit of variety in the paces and steady mileage 30 mile weeks. I'm enjoying running at the moment. The lower mileage suits me. I don't suppose it will make me faster but for now I'm happy to be enjoying the process again.""

The important thing is that you are enjoying running. As you said in your subsequent post - when it becomes a chore etc. You will find it more satisfactory to do 30 enjoyable miles that you can fit in around life as opposed to 40 rushed miles done because you feel you have to do them and you are spending that running time stressing about the jobs you should be doing.

ariana` · 26-01-2023 3:14pm

Jan 16th-22nd, Week 3 of 2023

I was a weekend warrior this week, by 6pm on Friday evening I'd run 10miles and by 12pm on Sunday that was more than tripled - sometimes that's just the way it goes. Nothing faster than threshold this week, not planned really but when I didn't get a session done Mon-Thurs I wasn't going to squeeze it into the weekend, I felt I squeezed enough into it.

Monday: 2 runs! Not usual for me at but it was a gorgeous morning so when I got a message at 8:30am cancelling a 9:30 work meeting i took advantage and did a sneaky 30mins straight from dropping the kids to school. In the evening I usually do 30mins while my young lad does drumming, felt grand from the morning so went ahead, kept it very easy.

AM: Easy with a few strides (3.4m)

PM: Very easy, avg. hr 133 (2.75m)

Tuesday: Nothing

Wednesday: A snowy 3 * 1K EIM (4.6m)

Thurs: Abandoned session, it wasn't even walkable on the roads here, the proper snow the day before felt much safer than this compacted ice 😕

Fri: Normal conditions again. No HRM for this so loosely based on pace/perceived effort 5 * 1k EIM (6.7m)

Sat: Up, Parkrun @ LT, Down (6.3m)

Sunday: 2 * 2k + 1 *1k EIM (8.5m)

32 odd miles for the week.

ariana` · 07-02-2023 12:12pm

Playing catch up again 🙄

Jan 23rd-29th, Week 4 of 2023

Monday: Usual easy miles + strides

Tues: A nice little low volume session (14' of work in all), 4 * (2' / 1' rec, 1' / 30s rec) + 2' on

2' at 10k approx. 7:20-7:30, 1' @ 5k approx. 7:05-7:15

Wed: Recovery 3m

Thurs: A meatier session - 4 * 5' Threshold off 90s recovery, did this off HR but paces came in at 8:04, 7:29, 7:20 & 7:44 - my 1st rep is always a bit slow as I'm bringing the HR up gradually, the middle 2 reps seem fast but I distinctly remember feeling very strong on them so maybe they were just more downhill or wind assisted!

Fri/Sat: Didn't get to run at all

Sunday: 5 * 1km EIM

31miles and 34 minutes of work but no *long run

Jan 30th-Feb 5th, Week 5 of 2023

Monday: Usual easy + strides

Tues: Easy hour

Wed: A short session with a bit of bite, 5'/5'/5' Threshold/Tempo/Threshold - did this on HR again, paces came in @ 7:36, 8:02, 7:29

Thurs: Nothing

Fri: 5 * 1k EIM

Sat: 8 * 1'/1' during parkrun - the 1' averaged @ 7:17 so around 5k pace/effort.

Sun: Nothing

27miles and 23 minutes of work but once again no *long run

* right now I'd class a run of 75mins or more as a long run

ariana` · 11-02-2023 1:34pm

Just a couple of lines on the 10k I did earlier this week, it was a PB so I think it's worthy of some mention, you never know by the end of the year maybe it will be the highlight - though I sincerely hope not!

This was an inaugural event in honour of our new Bank Holiday. I counted back the weeks and it's only 11 weeks since I ran a 2:01 PB (47:39) but honestly I still figured I could go faster, despite mileage being low since then, I could just feel a little bit of strength on some of my runs, a little bit of confidence that while volume was low, I was getting the intensity bang on.

Got there a little bit later than I'd like and was just about to start a short warm up when someone i really didn't expect to see appeared beside me, felt like an apparition at the time, the same lady has been through something fairly traumatic recently so the warm up was quickly forgotten in favour of 5-6 mins of hearing her story in person as we walked to the start line. We parted ways then as she was planning to run-walk and I headed to find the 50 min pacer to give me an idea of where to place myself. When I found them they were literally on the heels of the girls who were on the start line. I have never started so near the front before but there I was just behind the 50min pacer in the 3rd row (there was 1 second between my Gun & Chip time).

It wasn't long until we were off. The start was a nice downhill and I took off thinking I was running a 3k race, like the clappers, all respect for the distance abandoned with the excitement of being at the front. It was strange, having now run a women's only event before, the field took a lot longer to spread out - I could see the leaders for 2-3k which obviously went to my head a bit. I realised at some stage that I never started my watch, oh boy, I started it then but my head was wrecked trying to figure out where I was when the miles beeped and in the end I ignored it and just followed the 1k markers. It was grand really, I was mostly on my own but I could see some runners strung out in front of me. The Ks ticked by fairly quickly, not a bad course, a few drags and short hills but nothing too bad and there were as many little downhills sections to recover on. Not knowing the time I just kept running and focussing on not really wanting anyone to pass me out and particularly not the 50 min pacer but no chance of that and in the end I got a chip time of 46:42 and 20th place out of 401.

A PB of nearly a minute only 11 weeks after a 2min PB sounds amazing but for transparency purposes I should admit in March 2021 I ran 47:02 at the end of a 10mile TT (according to Strava)…. So really I've only been bringing my 10k PB in line with that run from almost 2 years ago 🙄 For some reason I don't race 10k very well.

Nice to chalk up an official PB all the same - I won't knock it! And I'm enjoying running at the moment without putting pressure on myself so what is there not to be happy about.

Bluesquare · 11-02-2023 2:44pm

Well done on pb - nicely ran. Enjoying the running is key it’s very hard to put the slog in when you’re hating every step ! I think some of my best races have been when I was doing it for “ fun” and wasn’t obsessed with hitting a number !

Sunny Dayz · 13-02-2023 10:57am

Oh wow! A PB and you weren't even watching the clock!

Laineyfrecks · 13-02-2023 1:26pm

Well done on the PB 😊

ariana` · 13-02-2023 1:34pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120228507#Comment_120228507

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120234903#Comment_120234903

Thanks both. Yes it was a nice boost for sure. It was interesting to plug it into a calculator and see the projected times at other distances now. The geek in me likes that they are lining up fairly well and none of the times seem outrageous - in fact they seem achievable with the appropriate training block(s).

ariana` · 13-02-2023 4:20pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120235599#Comment_120235599

Thanks @Laineyfrecks I missed this earlier. Not as inspiring as your recent races but it's always nice to PB and feel like I'm moving in the right direction.

Laineyfrecks · 13-02-2023 5:44pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120236496#Comment_120236496

Comparison is the thief of joy, something it took me a good while to learn. Fitting running into our already busy lives & enjoying it is so important ... once you can find that balance then job done in my eyes🤗

ariana` · 20-02-2023 4:12pm

My training seems a bit samey and uneventful every week to bother logging but I'll try to keep it up all the same. Aim at the moment is just ticking off the basics with some threshold, strides and occasional faster (CV) efforts thrown in (the faster stuff is the first to go when something has to go).

Feb 6-12th, Week 6 of 2023

Monday: 10k race in 46:42 @ 7:31min/m (projects a 5k time of 22:25 which would be a PB, something to chase perhaps 🤢)

Tues: Nothing

Wed: Nothing

Thurs: Plain ole easy run, 45' @ 9:35

Fri: 4 * 5' @ threshold hr, paces were 7:53, 7:41, 7:27, 7:26

Sat: 5 * 1k EIM

Sunday: 10k moderate with some surges, came to 10m with w/u & c/d

33miles inc. a 10k hard effort + 20mins threshold

Feb 13th-19th, Week 7 of 2023

Monday: Nothing

Tues: Nothing

Wed: 6 * 1k EIM

Thurs: 3 * 1m @threshold hr, paces were 7:36, 7:27, 7:31

Fri: Easy with 6 * 30s hill strides

Sat: 6 * 1k EIM, brought it up to 10m with a longer c/d to double as a longish run

Sun: Short easy run

34miles inc. a few strides + 22:30 threshold

I'm in the market for new kicks. I got the Saucony Tempus at Christmas but they are not really working out - a little bit too narrow in the toe box, anything more than 30mins and I can feel them rubbing the inside of one foot. I have Asics Glideride but they have 500 miles on them and are feeling pretty flat. I'm like a child in a sweet shop trying to decide and going round in circles reading reviews, will just have to decide soon 😏

Kellygirl · 20-02-2023 4:23pm

Quite. Few people are wearing the Saucony Speeds as an everyday runner and there’s some really good deals on the Speed 2’s about the place. Would you consider them? I can’t remember was it Runnerinn or where I saw them the other day. I was googling the Tempus and happened to see them.

Bluesquare · 20-02-2023 4:49pm

I adore the speed 3s - would wear them all the time if I could . A part from the fact I managed to get holes in them ( front toe box) after about 12 runs . They are so comfortable though and tick a lot of boxes just not durability if you are someone who does that to shoes .

ariana` · 20-02-2023 5:04pm

Thanks ladies. I only have the original speeds and not finding them very joyful to run in lately either but they have over 300 miles on them and I retired the first pair at 380 so maybe they are due to be retired now too. I was on Elverys earlier and the Asics Kayanos and Nimbus are both €200. I can't believe how expensive shoes have got! Not that I'd buying full price but a good deal nowadays is €120-140 whereas it doesn't seem that long since that was full price! It's becoming a pricey hobby. I must read some reviews on the Speed 3 - I think it's meant to be more stable than earlier versions.

Kellygirl · 20-02-2023 5:15pm

I ordered the Speed 3’s for €125 from Runnerinn … ultimately want the Pro 3’s for an autumn marathon …. Or maybe the new Elites. Either way I want to be well used to running in the Speed 3’s by then. They are meant to me much more stable … my only problem with the Speed 2’s. They aren’t as stable as I need so much as I love them I wouldn’t wear them daily. They were less than €100 though I’m sure.

Bluesquare · 20-02-2023 5:34pm

Speed 3s feel very stable and remind me weirdly of the Nike invincible . The speed 2s were wobbly when walking or running easy - these guys feel nice . They also feel very cosy on recovery’s . I have also did speed sessions in them and the have a decent kick . I’m just disappointed they look dodgy now .

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120266004#Comment_120266004

Weirdly I was thinking pro 3 for the marathon as well as they are supposed to be similar to the speeds but faster . I love the fast feeling when I’m wearing the Vaporflys but I’m even weary of doing a half in them - they aren’t made for comfort .

There is a podcast called the long run which does a good shoe reviews - maybe have a listen. They seem to mention sketchers a bit - but I haven’t figured out if thats a joke or not 😁

skyblue46 · 22-02-2023 9:41pm

It's amazing how people can differ. The Tempus has the widest toe box of any of the shoes I have and my Gliderides have over 500 miles on them and they feel as good as new! I'm still on the lookout for an easy day shoe though. I just am not really liking the Deviate Nitro 2 and the Asics Magic Speed 2 as much as the originals.

ariana` · 23-02-2023 4:20pm

In fairness there's no signs of wear on my Gliderides even with 500+ miles on them, they are very durable. I've just ordered the Glideride 3 from the Asics Outlet store for €78.40, I don't think I will go wrong having them in my rotation anyways, the reviews read very well for them. I'll probably end up getting the Speed 3 at some stage but for now I'll wait to see how the Gliderides work out when they arrive.

Murph_D · 26-02-2023 11:14am

Congrats on that 10k PB which I’m just catching up on. What time did those 50 min pacers finish at? Either way you ran a great race. And don’t do yourself down, those ‘Strava PBs’ aren’t worth a damn. Well done.

Running away

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