Let the madness continue

This was anew 10K on the calendar this year and as it was local I though I may as well give it a go. Very nearly didnt make the start line though. Forgot my age on Friday and was messing about with the kids on the trampoline, cue nasty bruised heel and no running at all over the weekend. Will I ever start to act my age?

Anyway heel was fine this morning so headed down and was impressed overall with the organistation and overall setup from registration right through to the after race food.

Once the race got going I settled into a quick enpugh pace for th efirst K just to test the legs out. Realised after a mile though that if I was to get around I would have to drop it off a bit. I was finding it pretty tough up to the half way point but I wasn't losing any ground on thise around me so guess it wasnt just me. Through half way in 22:30 and actually started to feel a bit better for the next couple of K. Once I hit the 7K mark though it really started to hurt but by this poin there was a group of 5 of us running pretty much together and I was determined not to fall off the back. The last 3K seemed to go on forever though. Once I hit the 9K mark I tried to pick the pace up a bit and surprisingly my legs actually responded. Could se the finish line from around 400 out so just tried to keep going and hold on crossed the line in 44:31.
Got to say delighted with the result with nearly 2 1/2 mins taken off that miserable soft PB from January especially with a marathon still in my legs a bit from a couple of weeks back.

Distance 6.2 miles + 1K warm up
Pace : 7:09
Weather: sunny and pretty warm
Totals

Week: 6.8
Month : 68.87
Year : 492.06

Concerned2 wrote: »

Great 10k time there brokenman , especially to negatively split the race (I'm nearly always slower in the 2nd half of races). Do you think the endurance you've gotten from marathon training enabled you to pick the pace up over the final few k's even though your legs were heavy going into the race ?

Thanks Concerned2
Couple of things probably contributed mainly that the first half was net uphill and the second half net downhill, not by a lot but every little helps. Distance training for marathons definitely helps on the shorter distances alright, but personally I find 10K to be the hardest distance, you are nearly running at your 5K pace but its for twice as long.
Biggest thing that lead to the neg split today though was down to someone esle, just after 5K one of my clubmates and training partners came up on my shoulder and we definitely worked together to get through the last 5K. It makes a huge difference if you have someone to pace off, particularly if its someone you know.

Tough run this evening. Was out with a sub 3 and 2 sub 3:15 marathoners. Nice easy run for then but nearly had me in bits. Happy that I was able to stay the pace thpugh, especially as the legs were still a bit heavy from Monday. Think 'm gonna have to build some of the marathon training later around these Wednesday runs.

Through 500 miles for the year as well

Distance 5.05
Pace : 7:41
Weather: dull but mild
Totals

Week: 15.85
Month : 77.92
Year : 501.11

littlebug wrote: »

If my own experience with trampolines is anything to go by then no

Well done on the pb. Fantastic improvements this year BrokenMan. Straight into the 5k series next week?

Thanks littlebug.
Plan on doing the 5K alright, not sure if I will be running next week or not yet. Local leg so might wind up helping out.

Got a few things on over the weekend so figured I woul dhead straight out from work for my long run. First attempt at one since COnnemara and it really was a struggle. Just couldn't get into it at all right from the off. Felt tired and sluggish from the start and my pace just kept dropping off mile on mile. Didn't have any gels with me which probably didnt help later on but it doesnt explain the bad start.

Hopefully just one of those days. Noticed I was missing some mile from the monthly total as well, didnt putin Mondays miles. Corrected it here.

Distance 15:39
Pace : 9:26
Weather: sunny, breezy
Totals

Week: 35.26
Month : 104.13
Year : 520.52

Yesterday morning a bit of a strange run. Was taking it nice and handy and the calves felt really tight and sore again. Was kinda hoping that had passed again. Stopped after 2 miles for a good stretch and picked my pace up after that and it seemed to help. It almost feels like when I run slow I run worse
Finished feeling OK again.

Im really getting fed up of this wind though.

Distance 5.82
Pace : 8:29
Weather: sunny, windy
Totals

Week: 5.82
Month : 5.82
Year : 531.53

No run yesterday, the knee just didn't feel right and was sore walking up stairs. Decided that it was best to just rest it.
Today a nice handy 4 miles just to check everything was workign ok. Still feel a little bit in the knee but its definitely improved. No idea what I did to it though.

Next week wont be getting alot of miles in between one thing and another so should work out well as a bit of a rest.


Distance 4
Pace : 8:41
Weather: sunny, windy
Totals

Week: 15.82
Month : 15.82
Year : 541.53

Been away with work since Wednesday and got absolutely no running in until today. Felt grand during the run but since then my knee has been pretty sore and stiff. Strange as it had been feeling grand all week. Its starting to worry me now and its definitely time to pay a visit to the physio to see whats happening. Its just been going on a little too ling at this stage. Strangest thing is though that it doesnt seem to hurt when I am actually running.


Distance 6.2
Pace : 8:12 per K
Weather: dull and breezy
Totals

Week: 9.3
Month : 28.22
Year : 560.83

Gentle 4 mile at lunch time today. First time in nearly 2 weeks that I have managed to put in back to back days. Felt a little stiff from last night but thats to be expected. Apart from that nothing major to report. Knee held up fine, just a little twinge.

Am going to try and get some focus back into my training again, Protumna is off the sards at this stage just not enough time to get up to distance and down want to risk breaking down. Am thinking of following a 10K plan to try and build up a bit of speed endurance which will hopefully stand to me come DCM training time.


Distance 4
Pace : 8:20
Weather: windy :mad:
Totals

Week: 7.1
Month : 32.22
Year : 551.73

This is traditionally one of the harder of the 5K series races but this year the course was reversed. this meant a steepish hill right at the start but the worst hill other years was now downhill.
Again with just a 10 mile bike ride on Sunday in the tank since Saturday I wasn't really sure where I was here. Legs were pretty stiff and sore and just wasn't really feeling the love for it. Decided to just go out nice and easy and get the race done. First K being uphill certainly helped with that and afterwards I settled into a nice comfortable pace, took th ehill at 4K handy. Kicked on for the last K again and finished feeling pretty comfortable and a lot better than I had at the start. Slowest run so far this year (21:34) but I pretty much knew that before I started

With a warm up and warm down 4.6 miles in total on the night

Splits
1K 4:34
2K 4:14
3K 4:12
4K 4:25
5K 4:05


Distance 4.6
Pace : 4:17 per K for race
Weather: light breeze, bright
Totals

Week: 4.6
Month : 46.86
Year : 566.37

Sports massage yesterday. Left calf was so tight I was nearly crying like a baby. Went out for a gentle run in the evening just to try and get the blood flowing through the muscles. Was pretty painful at the time but it seemed to do the trick. Feels ok this morning.


Distance 4
Pace : 8:30
Weather: breezy and showery
Totals

Week: 14.8
Month : 57.06
Year : 576.57

Easy 4 miles today. Legs were a bit tired from yesterday but nothing out of the ordinary. Stopped half way for a good stretch. Nice to have gotten over 30 miles in this week, big improvement on recently.


Distance 4
Pace : 8:43
Weather: breezy, overcast
Totals

Week: 31.2
Month : 73.46
Year : 592.97