Send in the Clowns - BAC 10K Challenge

BeepBeep67 wrote: »

8k XC in Avondale, followed by a 25 mile run home :eek: :rolleyes:

Yeah, a bit of a trek home from that one! May have to give this one a miss unfortunately, in favour of a marathon-specific session.

theboyblunder wrote:

IIRC its the 19 with 15 @ PMP that youve missed? I also remember the plan getting a bit silly around this time - easy 14 miler at the weekend and a brutal 18 miler midweek, or something like that?

Yep, that's the one. However, I ran 19 miles with 16@PMP last weekend, so I reckon this kind of cancels it out. Having said that, I was eyeing up the Tarmonbarry Half marathon this weekend, for another potential PMP session (albeit with slightly less miles), which wouldn't be too bad two weeks out from the race. Something like 18 miles with 13@MP. Either that or I'll do as you suggested, and I'll do the 2x3 mile tempo instead, which will take the pressure off having to do it mid-week.

Today: 1 hour easy - A little stiff from yesterday's endeavours, but the body and legs were loosening up as the run progressed. Trying to tick off some of the roads I haven't run around Clondalkin previously, before the big move, but I reckon I've pretty much hit them all at least once at this stage. Clondalkin holds no more mysteries.

Summary: 8 miles in 61 mins, @7:39/mile

Pronator wrote: »

Well done yesterday KC - all very positive coming up to DCM that you can achieve your goals;) Jasus I'm a bit tender today myself after the bike - run - bike, maybe I'll stick to the running:eek:

Uh oh.. You know what's next... It starts with a Duathlon, then you'll be be going for a dip with Abhainn and Kurt Godel. One morning you'll wake up head to toe in rubber and latex and the transformation will be complete.

Today: 1 hour easy run
Once again, I meant to go out for an easy 6 miles, but once you pop, you can't stop. Followed up this evening with P&D core and weights.
Summary: 8 miles in 58:27, @7:16/mile

Today: 9 mile schloppy run!

Supposed to meet Shels, but by the time Keith had finished his pre-run yoga and my Garmin had picked up enough satellites to start, we were a few minutes late to the designated starting point. Kept an eye out for him, but it's a big park (on this wet soggy day- a big empty park) and squelched around the fields and pitches for 9 easy miles. Keith dropped off after 5 miles, so I picked up the pace to easy, for the remaining three miles.

Summary: 9 miles in 70 mins, @7:48/mile

Today: Sessionus Interruptus - Tergat 5-4-3-2-1 @MP (kind of)

Unfortunately I had to make the decision to give the Wicklow intermediate XC a miss, in favour of a marathon-specific session, which was a shame as I really enjoyed the Avondale course last year. Hopefully I'll be back in a few weeks for the senior race. Jack Daniels had a rather unappealing session, with tempo miles followed by a long easy run, which is pretty much what I did last weekend. I also wanted to get some PMP miles done, but it was too close to the race to do 15 miles in one segment, so I figured I'd give one of Tergat's sessions a go. 5 miles, then 4, 3, 2, and 1 with two minutes rest between segment sounded intriguing and less demanding then a straight 15 miles.

First segment: 5 miles in 30:27, @6:06. Went well. Started running into a head-wind, up a drag and hill, which was tough for the first three miles, but as soon as I got to the top of the climb and had the wind behind me, it felt more like easy pace. Second segment: 4 miles in 24:26, @6:07/mile. Again went fine. Started downhill and then hit the tough N11 windy drag, which again was tough.

Third segment: Gah! Started easy as pi$$, then the stomach cramps hit me. Had to pull up, then jog, then stop. Ran to Tesco, and the customer loos were locked. Ran to the nearby GAA/Rugby clubhouse; couldn't find a loo. Then did what yogi bear would do and headed for the trees. Lost around 10-15 minutes, during which the legs and body had cooled down. Toyed with the idea of calling it a day, but with just two weeks to the marathon, I didn't want an unfinished session in my recent history. Started running again, and managed to get the average pace down to 6:17, before I ran out of distance.

Fourth segment: 2 miles in 12:11 @6:06. Legs still feeling the after-effects of cooling down, and body wasn't great, but the miles felt handy. Final segment: 1 mile in 6:05. Easy enough, finally turning around and running down the N11, with the wind behind me.

Including the two mile warm-up and 1.8 mile warm-down, I covered just over 19 miles, with 15 of them at or close to pmp. It's a decent session, and one I'd like to include in future marathon programs (albeit without the interruptions), particularly during the ramp-up, as you really get a good feel for what marathon pace feels like, without the stress of a straight run.

Summary: 19.4 miles in 2:08, @6:29/mile + breaks.

Today: 1 hour easy run

Well, after an absence of three years, it's great to be back working on 'southie again. Celebrated with an easy loop, taking in Leopardstown, Lamb's Cross and Kilternan before heading back via Carrickmines. Hills! I had forgotten what they were like. Two years of Clondalkin's gentle drags and rises has made me soft. Look forward to running some decent hills once this marathon deed is done. Legs and body feeling good, but still the odd knee twinge and some bruising on my foot, suggesting that I did some damage on Sunday. An easy 60 miles this week and 40 or so next week should see all that repaired.

Summary: 8.59 miles in 60 mins, @7:00/mile

RacoonQueen wrote: »

New job?

Nope, same job, same company, just less Clondalkin'ish and a runnable distance from home. Happy out.

I would do, but my garden isn't quite as big as yours. I could probably fit one in a pinch but the feral cats and latest addition to the pet farm (George) wouldn't be too happy about it.

average_runner wrote: »

At least i am not the only one that has one of them!! Also have 2 frogs in back garden but no pond anywhere!!!! Keep coming back every year!

Have you considered feeding the frogs to your hedgehog? Survival of the prickliest.

Today: Lazy 8 mile recovery run
Doing a bit of exploring around the local area, finding new potential haunts for recovery runs, intervals, strides and identifying short-cuts from one neighbourhood to the next. Found some good tarmac for shorter intervals (400m) but need to find something a little longer (1-3 miles), though now that I've moved a little further south, I might finally be able to make some of the club's track sessions (doubt it though). Kept the pace very easy, to try get some of those niggles cleared up. Core and weights tonight, and tempo session tomorrow.

Summary: 8.26 miles in 1:05, @8:01/mile

Dory Dory wrote: »

That George is a real cutie pie!!!! (He's a little noisy when he eats, though...) So, you have hedgehogs just wandering about?? Folks here pay good money for them at pet stores.

I'll start shipping them to you in boxes. Do you mind a few fleas?

They are everywhere, but it's quite rare that you would see them (unless you count hedgehogs squished on the road) as they're shy and nocturnal (but then you'd know that already!). Quite rare to have them visit your back-garden, hop onto the cat-food tray and start crunching away, while the cats look on in bewilderment. I understand that once they start to visit though, they are likely to come back. This is the second time we've seen George in a week, and I reckon I saw the same critter sitting on our front doorstep a year ago.

cambo_gueno wrote: »

Where have you moved to ? I presume you mean work ?

Yep, work has moved to Carrickmines. It's still all very fresh and new. The best running road is unfortunately directly outside my office. Sounds great, but the idea of doing repeats and intervals up and down outside my office like a lunatic, while everyone I work with looks on in bemusement, just isn't that appealing! Given the amount of material, eventually, there would be photographs and youtube videos.

BeepBeep67 wrote: »

Not sure the full distance - maybe 1.2k or more, but there's a nice stretch for intervals along the relief road into Westwood and you used to be able to run around parts of the Golf/Race course.

I know this road well, as it's a part of my regular long run route, so I have already built up a certain amount of animosity towards it, as it has a nice drag, which is typically coupled with a juicy head-wind and half way into a marathon pace run, it's a bit of a b1tch. Didn't stop me doing today's session on it though (and now I hate it even more).

Today: Jack Daniels 3 x 2 Miles @Tempo

Looking at today's planned session in the Jack Daniels A Plan, I can't help but think it's a copy and paste error. It's a repeat of a session two weeks earlier, which has two 15-20 minute tempo sections and two long easy runs, bringing it up to 19+ miles (which would be 1/3rd of my weekly mileage). So I dipped into the Elite plan, where the associated session is less demanding in terms of overall mileage, but has a little more intensity. The plan calls for 3 x 2 miles @Tempo, with 2 mins easy running. Give that I haven't been doing the other Elite plan sessions, I decided to rest for the 2 mins between intervals instead of running easy.

I considered doing the session on Ballyogan Road (just outside my office) so I headed off and did my two mile warm-up, but soon realized that the hill (more of a rise really) just wouldn't make for a good tempo session as the distribution of effort would just be too great on the uphill part and too easy on the downhill. So instead I headed down to the slip-road to the back of the race-course. It's a private road, but it's relatively quiet, with just a few mummies in their 4x4's honking in frustration if you choose to run in the gutter instead of the concrete path. I know I shouldn't be on the road, but in my defense, I hug the kerb and it's an empty road with three lanes (an empty lane in the middle that cars on either side of the road can move into) and I don't present any different of an obstacle to a cyclist, but still the mummies in their 4x4s feel the need to tell you that you're occupying their space and should be on the concrete footpath. /rant over.

This road isn't great for tempo-paced miles either, as it too has a rise up to the race-course, but thankfully on this particular day the wind was behind me for the first uphill mile and head-on for the second half of the downhill tempo section so the effort was pretty even. That's not to say that it was easy. It was only during the warm-down that I realized that this is like a very challenging version of the penultimate MacMillan best 10k workouts, with only two minutes rest instead of MacMillan's prescribed 5 minutes, and my pace was only a couple of beats off of 10k pace. So some positive things to be inferred from that. I still need to find some good flat road, but with only one short session remaining until the marathon, the hurry isn't as great.

2.47 Mile warm-up: in 17:47, @7:12/mile
Tempo 1: 2 miles in 11:30 @5:45/mile
Tempo 2: 2 miles in 11:20 @5:40/mile
Tempo 3: 2 miles in 11:18 @5:40/mile
2 Mile Warm-down: in 15:06, @7:33/mile.

Summary: 10.70 miles fast.

BeepBeep67 wrote: »

How long was the slip road - looks longer than my guesstimate?

Yeah, it was about right. You could stretch it to a mile, but you'd need to start closer to the roundabout on one end, and run into the racecourse HQ on the other end and run the risk of earning the wrath of the security folks.

myflipflops wrote: »

I'm sure you have mentioned it plenty of times but what is the goal pace for Dublin?

The goal pace is 6:09/mile (3:49/km) for a target of 2:41:08. The number is actually my current vdot equivalent of my 10k/half marathon etc. It's an arbitrary number, as good as any other number, it's just faster than my goal pace from my previous two marathon outings, so the real goal is just to crack 2:42 and take whatever else I can get (if it's on offer!). I'm not too concerned about pace on the day either. I tend to run faster or slower depending on how things are going at that particular time, so I'll check my splits every few miles to see how I'm tracking.