Send in the Clowns - BAC 10K Challenge

Emer911 · 07-05-2011 5:56pm

cphowlin wrote: »

Heres a video i took of the 7 hour cut off. Was one of these scenes thats was terrible to watch but i couldn't take my eyes off it!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxqwXpIE8J0

:eek: Oh God that's cruel! And I was feeling hard done by when I missed out on the 2 hour cut-off for the 'Silver' medal!?
We left (hobbled) a few hours before that point, so well done for hanging around that long.

cphowlin wrote: »

Was great to meet you and Emer911. Hope you recovered from the run and the pints (Not sure which caused the most damage, the race or those pints of Old Wobbly) and enjoyed the rest of your holiday.

Great to meet you guys too. Hope you enjoyed the rest of your holiday!
...I didn't partake of the Old Wobbly thankfully, but was still feeling those pints.

Krusty_Clown · 07-05-2011 11:18pm

Thursday: Had booked in for a game drive in the afternoon, so had the morning free for an easy run in the hot humid weather. Left the Addo Elephant House and headed in the direction of the polo club (don'tcha know). This run turned into a real eye opener, as I was running alongside the old plantations, where time (and history) really seems to have frozen in place. 'Grand' old English/Dutch colonial houses are bordered by the corrugated shacks of those who are either the 'house help' or toil in the fields, picking the grapes and lemons for the afternoon iced-teas or the early sun-downers. Steam whistles summon the workers from their tiny homes in the nearby township to the fields, and steam-whistles send them home again when the day's heat is gone and darkness beckons.

While tourism is a hugely important industry in South Africa and helps many of the disenfranchised to make a living they would otherwise struggle to make, it's also an industry that widens the gap between those who have, and those who struggle. You can't help but feel guilty about perpetuating the problem, handing over most of your money to the wealthy whites, while your tips go to the non-whites. A tough run, in the heat and humidity; you couldn't help but wonder if the rustling in the bushes as you ran past was a coiled puff adder or a dangling boomslang. A very different world.

Summary: 4.5 miles in 36 mins, @8:04/mile.

Krusty_Clown · 07-05-2011 11:26pm

Today: 5 mile steady run
After 24 hours of airports, planes, and crappy airline food, I figured a run was needed to get the travel heeby-jeebies out of my system. Ugh. Stomach not great, so not the most pleasant of runs, but at least I didn't have to bang my shoes off the wall to eject the creepy crawlies enjoying a damp, musty sleep. Pretty humid back home, but it's good to have a run around the local haunts, even if doesn't quite hold the same sense of adventure.

Summary: 5 miles in 37 mins, @7:10/mile.

Krusty_Clown · 09-05-2011 10:54am

Yesterday: 13 Mile hilly run around Enniskerry and Bray
Still feeling pretty lethargic, after the weekends travel, but it was nice to get back into the local hills and forests (I marked my territory several times, to warn away potential interlopers to my territory, like Mithril). Included a quick loop through Knocksink Wood (the kind of place you wouldn't dream of running in SA; we really must live in the safest country in the world) before heading down to Bray and home again, with a few quickish miles to stretch the legs.

Summary: 13 miles in 1:37@ 7:21/mile, HR=147

TheRoadRunner · 09-05-2011 10:59am

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Yesterday: 13 Mile hilly run around Enniskerry and Bray
Included a quick loop through Knocksink Wood (the kind of place you wouldn't dream of running in SA; we really must live in the safest country in the world) before heading down to Bray and home again, with a few quickish miles to stretch the legs.

Summary: 13 miles in 1:37@ 7:21/mile, HR=147

In fairness you were taking your life into your hands running into the badlands of Bray

Krusty_Clown · 09-05-2011 1:41pm

TheRoadRunner wrote: »

In fairness you were taking your life into your hands running into the badlands of Bray

Knocksink is now a more dangerous place too, given that I had to make an emergency stop in the woods. There's a lot of that going around at the moment. :eek:

BeepBeep67 · 09-05-2011 8:13pm

100k log views btw - that's also Ultra territory!

TheRoadRunner · 09-05-2011 8:35pm

BeepBeep67 wrote: »

100k log views btw - that's also Ultra territory!

crap beat me to the punch line

BeepBeep67 · 09-05-2011 8:42pm

TheRoadRunner wrote: »

crap beat me to the punch line

I might aswell beat you to one line!

mithril · 09-05-2011 10:05pm

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Knocksink is now a more dangerous place too, given that I had to make an emergency stop in the woods. There's a lot of that going around at the moment. :eek:

At first I was thinking immediate,armed response to intruders might be what you planned but I did not anticipate a minefield. I guess something very unpleasant is likely to happen to your feet if you step off the trail in the woods?

Krusty_Clown · 09-05-2011 11:59pm

Today: 5 Mile recovery run in the park. Nice and easy, but the achilles are a little stiff (must have been the climb up the bank of the Glencullen river yesterday).
Summary: 5 miles in 40 mins, @7:55/mile, HR=135

BeepBeep67 wrote:

100k log views btw - that's also Ultra territory!

Must be my granny checkin' to make sure I'm getting enough vegetables, and wearing a vest.

Krusty_Clown · 10-05-2011 11:37pm

Today: Just a handy 5.2 miles'ish at lunch-time. I left my Garmin 405 in Cape Town, and they've offered to send it back to me, for the princely sum of €96. Hmm.. Don't think it's worth paying that much money for a watch with 8,000 miles on the clock. So will just have to do without for a while, and steal borrow the OH's watch when she's not looking. What a pain in the a$$.

Summary: 5.2 miles in 40:25

hf4z6sqo7vjngi · 11-05-2011 9:44am

KC you should be able to arrange for that to be collected yourself for much cheaper, try DHL/Fedex. By the sounds of it they are pulling a fast one quoting you that much as i would not expect to pay more than €20-€25.

Krusty_Clown · 11-05-2011 12:22pm

Vaughn Easy Stepchildren wrote: »

KC you should be able to arrange for that to be collected yourself for much cheaper, try DHL/Fedex. By the sounds of it they are pulling a fast one quoting you that much as i would not expect to pay more than €20-€25.

Good suggestion Vaughn Easy Stepchildren. They have provided me with a contact address so I can get my own quote (which suggests that they may not be pulling a fast one). I fear I may be writing this one off.

ManFromAtlantis · 11-05-2011 12:45pm

ye've been going out for 8000 miles. good times and bad.

i fear the watch is trying to tell you the relationship is off.

let it be krusty.

Krusty_Clown · 11-05-2011 11:47pm

Tonight: 6 x 1 Mile @10K goal pace
This is the first of the Greg McMillan 'best 10k workouts' and is described as Build-up workout Number 1. I decided that 5:40 - 5:45 per mile would be a good target, and given that I haven't done an interval session since last September, I'd stick with the upper end of the suggested recovery period (3 - 4 minutes). The first one was tough, then the second one was tough, the third, fourth and fifth were tough, but the last one wasn't; it was really tough. Not sure how I'm going to string two miles together at this pace, not to mind 6 of them together, but I guess that's why you follow a development plan. Glad to have completed the session anyway, without packing it in.

Intervals: 5:39, 5:42, 5:45, 5:43, 5:46, 5:47 (average: 5:44).
Average HR=167

Summary: 10.5 miles

Sosa · 12-05-2011 8:12am

I like it Krusty,i am starting that plan next week myself with the 6*1mile...
The intervals inbetween weeks will be handy so its just the 4 tough ones every second week.
I'll be a week behind you so reading that has given me a little jolt to reality what its going to be like ...
Is that going to be you only fast session in the week or have you others planned ?
I have 2 races this w/e but after that only 2 in the following 8 weeks so will be trying to focus on the 10k training for a while.
Its a gut check when you have to rattle out miles at that pace....:eek:

Where did you do the reps ?

theboyblunder · 12-05-2011 9:16am

Sosa wrote: »

I like it Krusty,i am starting that plan next week myself with the 6*1mile...
The intervals inbetween weeks will be handy so its just the 4 tough ones every second week.
I'll be a week behind you so reading that has given me a little jolt to reality what its going to be like ...
Is that going to be you only fast session in the week or have you others planned ?
I have 2 races this w/e but after that only 2 in the following 8 weeks so will be trying to focus on the 10k training for a while.
Its a gut check when you have to rattle out miles at that pace....:eek:

Where did you do the reps ?

+1 that brilliant, I was thinking of giving them a go starting next week for dunsaughlin at the end of june. Now I have two fellow sufferers and one guinea pig!

Krusty_Clown · 12-05-2011 10:05am

Sosa wrote: »

I like it Krusty,i am starting that plan next week myself with the 6*1mile...
The intervals inbetween weeks will be handy so its just the 4 tough ones every second week.
I'll be a week behind you so reading that has given me a little jolt to reality what its going to be like ...
Is that going to be you only fast session in the week or have you others planned ?
I have 2 races this w/e but after that only 2 in the following 8 weeks so will be trying to focus on the 10k training for a while.
Its a gut check when you have to rattle out miles at that pace....:eek:

Where did you do the reps ?

Hi Sosa, I reckon you're in a better position for these sessions than I was. In the last 8 months, I've done three quick'ish sessions; a 10 mile race, a 4 mile tempo run, and a 2 mile tempo run (none of them faster than 6 min/mile). With your track work, running 5:40 or faster (not sure what your target is) will not be so alien to you. I don't have any other fast sessions planned this week. I'm doing a 8.5 mile mountain run this evening, and I'm pacing a 1:30 half marathon on Sunday, so I'll just do recovery sessions in between. I'd like to get a weekly tempo session in as well (closer to 6 min/mile) but I'll leave it for this week, as I reckon my injury risk is high.

One lesson learned: When I was doing the reps If I was really pushing myself, they were a lot harder. If I pulled back slightly I had a more even effort level across the rep, so it felt a lot easier, and the amount of time was the same. Thankfully I had the OH's Garmin to track my pace. I did the reps in my local park, which is flat and good tarmac. Finished each rep into a headwind though... Ugh..

Krusty_Clown · 12-05-2011 10:14am

theboyblunder wrote: »

+1 that brilliant, I was thinking of giving them a go starting next week for dunsaughlin at the end of june. Now I have two fellow sufferers and one guinea pig!

Hey theboyblunder, my planned 10k race is also Dunshaughlin, however I had to cut one week of training out, in order to have the sessions line up (5k race/tempo session). So if you're planning on doing the MacMillan sessions for Dunshaughlin, you'll have to cut out two sessions.

Cracking race. Hope I can make it this year. Think there's a suprise birthday party for my mum around then though, which would trump my racing goals.

theboyblunder · 12-05-2011 10:46am

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Hey theboyblunder, my planned 10k race is also Dunshaughlin, however I had to cut one week of training out, in order to have the sessions line up (5k race/tempo session). So if you're planning on doing the MacMillan sessions for Dunshaughlin, you'll have to cut out two sessions.

Cracking race. Hope I can make it this year. Think there's a suprise birthday party for my mum around then though, which would trump my racing goals.

yeah i'll only have 5 weeks.

....short-cutting the rest out of a programme......Killer sessions which make you hate running? High chance of injury/overtraining?

sounds like me......:)

Best of luck with it, will be following the log closely.

menoscemo · 12-05-2011 12:09pm

theboyblunder wrote: »

+1 that brilliant, I was thinking of giving them a go starting next week for dunsaughlin at the end of june. Now I have two fellow sufferers and one guinea pig!

Yeah, i am also following a modified version of this plan for the 5k in Donore, then the 10k in Dunshaughlin. Trying to build up to doing 3 x 1 mile @5k pace next week. After donore, I hope to do the 4 key 10k sessions in the 4 week lead up to dunshaughlin.

Sosa · 12-05-2011 9:41pm

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Hi Sosa, I reckon you're in a better position for these sessions than I was. In the last 8 months, I've done three quick'ish sessions; a 10 mile race, a 4 mile tempo run, and a 2 mile tempo run (none of them faster than 6 min/mile). With your track work, running 5:40 or faster (not sure what your target is) will not be so alien to you. I don't have any other fast sessions planned this week. I'm doing a 8.5 mile mountain run this evening, and I'm pacing a 1:30 half marathon on Sunday, so I'll just do recovery sessions in between. I'd like to get a weekly tempo session in as well (closer to 6 min/mile) but I'll leave it for this week, as I reckon my injury risk is high.

One lesson learned: When I was doing the reps If I was really pushing myself, they were a lot harder. If I pulled back slightly I had a more even effort level across the rep, so it felt a lot easier, and the amount of time was the same. Thankfully I had the OH's Garmin to track my pace. I did the reps in my local park, which is flat and good tarmac. Finished each rep into a headwind though... Ugh..

Although i have been doing speedwork,i will find these tough,im not getting any faster this year,in fact im about 5s a mile slower this year in all distances except the 10m in January when i should be getting faster...thats why im having a go at this for 8 weeks...then im doing 8 weeks specific half marathon stuff...no intervals and just tempos/hill work and a 15m a week look to my week for the National Half on down here on Sat 3rd Sept

Krusty_Clown · 12-05-2011 11:34pm

Tonight: 15k recce of leg 1 of the Wicklow Way relay
Probably not the best idea after the toughest session I have done in a long time yesterday, and I paid for it on the uphills, with very tired legs. Thankfully BeepBeep67 didn't seem to notice (or was polite enough not to mention it). Before we even hit the start of the leg, I directed us up the wrong path, which mean an uphill detour before we even began (exactly as earlyevening and I did last year!) so not a good start, but didn't take long to figure it out once we hit a red gate, so we jogged back down and started proper. Always a nice run route and the views were special, as always. The path down to Ballybrack Road has deteriorated even more since the last time I ran this route and could be quite nasty if the weather isn't great. Time to rest up for a day or two before Sunday's 1:30 half marathon pacing fun.

Summary: 8.6 miles in 1:14

Woddle · 13-05-2011 7:35am

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

(exactly as earlyevening and I did last year!)

and what me and him did the year before

Krusty_Clown · 13-05-2011 8:05am

Woddle wrote: »

and what me and him did the year before

Haha. Classic. At least it's before the start of the leg, so you couldn't say we technically made a mistake on the leg 'recce.

jeffontour · 13-05-2011 3:40pm

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Knocksink is now a more dangerous place too, given that I had to make an emergency stop in the woods. There's a lot of that going around at the moment. :eek:

Tell me about it. I endured hours of it during a race the May weekend. I laid waste to the shores of Loch Lomond. Approach with caution! In your case it's probably all the biltong and game working it's way out of your system.

Sounds like you had a great holiday, good stuff.

Krusty_Clown · 13-05-2011 3:44pm

jeffontour wrote: »

In your case it's probably all the biltong and game working it's way out of your system.

I did enjoy the billtong and game, but I don't remember eating a week's surplus of the stuff! Things seem to be returning to normal now though. It's amazing the depths one can plummet to in these training 'logs'.

Krusty_Clown · 13-05-2011 4:33pm

Today: 4.5 mile lunch-time recovery run
Ran very easy with a work buddy in Corkagh Park, so really felt the benefits, as everything loosened up nicely. Even managed a shower afterwards, which is a rarity with the lunch-time runs. Just missed the hailstones, that left the area covered in a white-snowy dusting, and left the tourists looking very confused.

Summary: 4.5 miles in 40 mins

Krusty_Clown · 15-05-2011 12:17am

Yesterday: An easy 4 miles with strides. Just a little bit of a run to get ready for today's (5 hours and 45 minutes from now) 1:30 half marathon in Kildare. Hopefully the weather holds out and the wind dies down or it could be a nasty one.

Summary: 4 miles in 30 mins, @7:23/mile, HR=137

Send in the Clowns - BAC 10K Challenge

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