Let the madness continue

BrokenMan · 01-06-2011 01:06PM

Went into this one feeling reasonable good about myself for a change. Left the car at work and jogged up the 1.75 miles to the start. Figured that I would try to pace myself evenly at 4:12 for the full 5K and see where that left me. First K was a little fast, but was bang on for the second. My legs just weren't feelign up to tit after that though and I constantly had my pace dropping off, tried to correct it but off again straight away. Not sure if it was the changes in surface, the race is a mixture of grass, roads and trails, or I just wasn't up to it on the night.

I always seem to fade through 3 and 4 for some reason.

Still an enjoyable race well run as always with this series.

Between warm up and warm down total for the night was 6.85 miles

Splits
1K 4:08
2K 4:12
3K 4:22
4K 4:22
5K 4:16

Distance 6.85
Pace : 4:16 per K for race
Weather: light breeze, light showers
Totals

Week: 6.85
Month : 80.31
Year : 599.82

BrokenMan · 02-06-2011 02:14PM

Last night went out to run at a quickish pace with one of the lads. We totally ignored the watches and just ran on feel alone. My knee gave me a bit of trouble for a mile but was perfect after that. Checking back on the mile splits at the end we were surprised to find we kept going faster mile on mile whithout realising it. We both thought we were very even paced.

Overall an enjoyable run.

Distance 5.17
Pace : 8:00
Weather: light breeze, light rain
Totals

Week: 12.02
Month : 5.17
Year : 604.99

BrokenMan · 02-06-2011 02:16PM

Easy run at lunchtime in beautiful sunshine, I had almost forgotten what it was like. Stopped for a stretch at halfway. Uneventful apart from that.

Distance 4
Pace : 8:25
Weather: light breeze, sun
Totals

Week: 16.02
Month : 9.17
Year : 608.99

BrokenMan · 03-06-2011 10:48AM

A really nice easy run today in glorious sunshine. Legs were stiff and sore but it just didnt seem to matter. rest day tomorrow and then do around 10 on Sunday. Really am goign to have to get a bit more structure in again though once the 5K's are finished.

Distance 5.43
Pace : 8:54
Weather: sunny
Totals

Week: 21.45
Month : 14.6
Year : 614.42

Concerned2 · 03-06-2011 01:11PM

Are you currently following a training plan or just keeping the training tipping over until you reach the start point of your marathon build up for Dublin & what plan are you going to follow for Dublin this year ?

BrokenMan · 04-06-2011 09:41PM

Just tipping over at the moment until I get through the 5K races. Goin gto pick up a 10K plan then with the target being the streets of galway, I know its an 8K race but the 10K plan certainly wont harm my time. More than likely going to be followin a 12 week marathon plan then thats being put together by one of the guys in the club.

BrokenMan · 05-06-2011 04:15PM

10 miles today. the first 5 were pure torture. Pace was faster than normal for my longer runs but that wouldn't have caused any problems this early. My lower calfs were in knots and just refused to ease out. I stopped 3 times in the first 5 miles to stretch and massage them. On the second half they did eventually ease and the run was pretty enjoyable after that. I did come close to turning back around 3 miles in but Im glad I kept going. Lots of stretching and ice on the agenda tonight.

Distance 10
Pace : 8:29
Weather: sunny, breezy
Totals

Week: 31.45
Month : 24.6
Year : 624.42

BrokenMan · 08-06-2011 10:49AM

Loughrea is IMO the toughtest of the 5k races and last night was to prove the same.
Thankfully by the time the start came around last night the rain had eased but the course had a lot of standing water. This along with a narrow road for the first K made for a pretty slow start. People seemed reluctant ro run through the puddles and were constantly weaving about.
Knowing the course and the slow first K I knew there was no point in pushing things too hard but I was surprised to notice a reasonably fast second K. Pace had dropped off again for the third and the fourth was uphill all the way with a coupl eof false tops thrown in for good measure just to make you feel it even worse. The last K though is great straight down the hill and I just let my legs go. Was actually surprised by my split for it.

Overall my slowest run of the series but cant say I am surprised at that. Did beat last years time by 40 seconds though so its actually by biggest improvement race on race.

With a warm up/down total for the night was 4.5

Splits
1K 4:25
2K 4:04
3K 4:25
4K 4:52
5K 3:57

Overall - 4:21 per K

Distance 4.5
Pace : 4:21 per K
Weather: overcast and damp
Totals

Week: 4.5
Month : 29.1
Year : 629.92

BrokenMan · 08-06-2011 01:25PM

Took it handy enough at lunchtime even though the legs felt pretty good. Weather was back to its miserable best though. Uneventful run apart from one near miss where some 'lady' opened the car door right in front of me, had to take drastic avoiding action. Glared at me as if it was my fault for having the cheek to be using the footpath.

Distance 6.2
Pace : 8:31
Weather: wind and showers
Totals

Week: 10.7
Month : 35.2
Year : 636.12

BrokenMan · 09-06-2011 01:32PM

Handy 4 miles at lunch. Legs were a bit off again but nothing major. Had a good stretch as well. Back to the god damn wind too :mad:

Distance 4
Pace : 8:40
Weather: wind but dry
Totals

Week: 14.7
Month : 39.2
Year : 640.12

BrokenMan · 11-06-2011 08:21PM

Just an easy 4 miles today as I'm running Monivea 5K tomorrow and its goign to be my last chance to get under 21 for a while before concentrating on the longer stuff again. Calfs were a bit tight for the first mile but ok then. Piked up the pace over the last mile and a half to run some off the cuff intervals.

Enjoyable run and must do that more often.

Distance 4
Pace : 8:17
Weather: dry and sunny
Totals

Week: 18.7
Month : 43.2
Year : 644.12

littlebug · 11-06-2011 08:45PM

BrokenMan wrote: »

I'm running Monivea 5K tomorrow

See you there

BrokenMan · 14-06-2011 09:03AM

Sunday. A wet and miserable day for a race but I headed over to Monivea anyway. From the off I just knew it was goign to be one of thise days. After picking up my number went back to the car and realised I had left my watch at home. On my warm up my shin started to hurt then. Figured though I woudl just run as fast as I felt able to and see where I wound up. The course itself is very nice, lap of the green in the village before heading out for a mile and a bit on the road. Onto the forest paths then up to the finish. The underfoot conditions were a little slippy and with my shin being sore I didnt want to push it too hard. Finiished in 21:44 so happy enough given the conditions and no feedback on my pace.
Definitely a race I will do again.
Guess the sub 21 will have to wait for a while now.

Warmup/down added an extra mile on

Distance 4.1
Pace : ?
Weather: wet and breezy
Totals

Week: 22.8
Month : 47.3
Year : 648.22

BrokenMan · 14-06-2011 09:05AM

Started a plan last night designed to get me from now to the start of a 12 week marathon plan. Target race for this will be the Streets of Galway 8K.

3 miles last night at whatever pace I felt like. Turned out i felt like running reasonably quick. The 3 miles hardly felt like proper training though but it should build up nicely over the next few weeks.

Tough interval session scheduled for tonight.

Distance 3
Pace : 8:14
Weather: dry and sunny
Totals

Week: 3
Month : 50.3
Year : 651.22

Concerned2 · 14-06-2011 10:21AM

I was just looking at some of the photos on the web for the Monivea race & it looked like ye got a good soaking ! I was suppose to do a run Sunday morning & chickened out when I looked out the window & saw the pelting rain

BrokenMan · 14-06-2011 03:57PM

Was one of the wettest I've run in a while now alright, almost ranks up there with the Waterford half back in January but without the galeforce wind thankfully.
If I wasn't racing I would have probably given the day a miss as well.

littlebug · 14-06-2011 07:58PM

Well done on Sunday BrokenMan. It wasn't just me that felt it slippy then.

I kind of enjoyed the rain

BrokenMan · 15-06-2011 09:47AM

As anyone who reads this probably can tell I'm not a fan of speed sessions but it's definitely time to bite the bullet and get serious with them. Club was startign a new set last night so I have decided that frm now on Tuesday night is pain night (has been for the last 5 weeks anyway).

Last night was warm up then 4x1 mile at 10K pace with no more than 1/4 mile cool down between each rep. Reps were all pretty tough as I was tired heading into them but apart from the 3rd I managed to hit the prescribed pace. Got a stitch half way through the third one but managed to get rid of it on the recovery before the fourth.

Distance 7.61
Pace : Intervals 7:00, 7:01,7:20, 6:50
Weather: dry, breezy
Totals

Week: 10.61
Month : 57.91
Year : 658.83

Concerned2 · 15-06-2011 10:39AM

That looks like a tough speed session. Most of the mile intervals I've ever done @ 10k pace had 1/2 mile easy jog to recover & I still find them mighty tough. It should be a good sharpener for the Streets in August.

BrokenMan · 15-06-2011 11:37AM

Concerned2 wrote: »

That looks like a tough speed session. Most of the mile intervals I've ever done @ 10k pace had 1/2 mile easy jog to recover & I still find them mighty tough. It should be a good sharpener for the Streets in August.

Aparently the shorter recovery helps to better promote stamina and get the bosy used to running hard when fatigued. The initial emphasis on these is for the Streets but the idea is to use it as a strong base for Dublin as well.

All I know for sure is that it hurt a lot.

BrokenMan · 15-06-2011 01:05PM

Kinda recovery type run today. I still run these too fast though. 2 miles out followed by some stretching then the 2 miles back and more stretching. Nice run just felt the legs a bit after yesterday.

Distance 4
Pace : 8:46
Weather: dry, breezy
Totals

Week: 14.61
Month : 61.91
Year : 662.83

BrokenMan · 16-06-2011 02:38PM

4 miler again today at lunch. Legs were very tired though and couldnt get my pace up where I wanted it, was hoping to average around 8:15. Was very windy on the way out as well. Paying for not running yesterday as slow as I should I guess.

Distance 4
Pace : 8:26
Weather: dry, breezy
Totals

Week: 18.61
Month : 65.91
Year : 666.83

BrokenMan · 19-06-2011 08:10AM

Wasnt really up for thsi one at all. I have often felt that way heading to a race and still managed to put somethign reasonable together though. Wasnt to be on this occasion though. Did a nice easy half mile warm up and I just couldnt feel any spring in my legs at all.
Started off at a good pace all the same and wnet through mile 1 in 7:01 but even then I knew I was going to have to take the foot off, my shins were both starting to ache and thats never a good sign for me. Mile 2 was a bit of an uphill drag and my pace had come back to the mid 7s but there was no improvement in the shins, worse if anything. Decided at that point that there was no point running hard and dropped the pace righ back to 7:40's fror the next 2 miles. Picked it up a little again for the last 2 as the legs seemed to have eased out but nowhere near a full effort. Crossed the line in 46 mins.

Despite not feeling great on the day must say its a well organised race and the route is very fair, only down side is that some of the KM markers seemed to be way off but the distance overall was spot on.

Going to take at least a month off racing now to let the batteries recharge, that's 7 races since the start of May, pretty much one a week.

Distance 6.2 + .5 warm up
Pace : 7:22
Weather: damp and light breeze
Totals

Week: 25.31
Month : 72.61
Year : 673.53

ronanmac · 20-06-2011 06:17AM

BrokenMan wrote: »

Going to take at least a month off racing now to let the batteries recharge, that's 7 races since the start of May, pretty much one a week.

Seven races since the start of May :eek: You're up there with pgmcpq for race addiction!

BrokenMan · 20-06-2011 12:56PM

ronanmac wrote: »

Seven races since the start of May :eek: You're up there with pgmcpq for race addiction!

Im going cold turkey now for a while.

Think I might sign up for my local Racers Anonymous meetings

BrokenMan · 20-06-2011 12:57PM

Easy 3 miles on the cards for today and thats all I did. Legs felt ok apart from a little soreness back in the knee again.

Must try and find a few new routes to run though, I'm starting to put names on the lamp posts at this stage.

Distance 3
Pace : 8:48
Weather: bright and breezy
Totals

Week: 3
Month : 75.61
Year : 676.53

Concerned2 · 20-06-2011 08:04PM

I think you're as well off to take a break from racing for a few weeks alright. When I did a 5k race series last winter there were 4 races all about 2 weeks apart , I was well fired up for the first few but by the time the 4th race came around I was just going through the motions. I think if I did 7 races over 7 weeks my motivation would be gone very stale. Maybe if you just train solid for the next few weeks you could be well fired up & motivated for a big PB in the streets. I know besides the Dublin marathon a sub 35 min time there is my main goal for the year

BrokenMan · 20-06-2011 08:31PM

you are spot on Concerned2, those are the 2 big goals for the year and a good chunk off my Half Marathon time as well hopefully in the National Half in September.

BrokenMan · 22-06-2011 10:52AM

Speed session again last night. This one was a pyramid session with timed sets of 'hard' running, faster than average 5K pace, with short jogging intervals in between. 2 mile warm up followed by :
3 min hard, 90 sec jog, 4 min hard, 90 sec jog, 5 min hard, 2 min jog, 6 min hard, 2.5 min jog, 5 min hard, 2 min jog, 4 min hard, 90 sec jog, 3 min hard.

The road we were doing this on had quite a few hills as well which made it feel even tougher.

Paces on the intervals was

6:50, 6:48, 6:52, 7:01, 7:00, 7:10, 6:52

The hills would have had an impact on the times and the effort felt fairly even throughout. Thought I was going to collapse after the second last one though.

Distance 7.81
Pace : ?
Weather: wet
Totals

Week: 10.81
Month : 83.42
Year : 684.34

BrokenMan · 23-06-2011 09:50AM

Recovery run last night and I definitely needed it. Legs were pretty still and heavy. Slightly worringly I got a pain behind my kneecap after about 2 miles but it disappeared totally after stopping, it didnt slow me down or get any worse. Hopefully its nothing.

Distance 4
Pace : 9:02
Weather: wet again
Totals

Week: 14.81
Month : 87.42
Year : 688.34

Let the madness continue

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