From Marlboro Lights to Running Tights!

Tuesday 16th July

5 miles @9:20.

Did this in hot conditions and was not feeling very energetic. Think after two weeks of increasing mileage I will use this as a stepback week as really have taken no break from running in 12 months

Thursday July 18th

Had planed doing 10 miles on Thursday evening but at last minute decided to go to see the Boss in Pairc Ui Chaoimh. Dear Jesus I was nearly as impressed with Bruce's aerobic capacity and conditioning as his singing. Some operator now I must say. I'd say a 63 year old man has never sweat as much in the Park since Frank Murphy heard the word strike!

My wife had a company health check on Thursday as well. I was invited to attend in case I drop from all this running :rolleyes: They were doing checks mainly on cardiac and lungs etc. Doctor was taking my blood pressure and resting HR. she said something like we need to do this again and so we did. she then looked at me after I had said yes to drinking and occasional smoking and said your resting HR is 41. I told her I was over 16 stone two years ago , had started running just over a year ago and had run two
marathons since and was training for a 3rd. She said that oh that would explain it and that this was an indication that I was very fit. Asked her if the ECG machine could find out my max HR easily instead of having to do hill sprints !!:) weight 85 KG so BBQ and holidays no serious damage done:cool:


Friday July 19th.

10 miles @9:12 AVG HR 146
So with new found interest in HR I put on the monitor for 10 miles Friday evening in 28 degree heat. Think my max HR is 185 from previous run few months ago. had calculated through HR reserve rate that I should be running GA runs between 130 and 150 HR. with this in mind only used hr to monitor pace and was surpised to see I had this pace as I had slowed to 10 min miles for last two due to hr rising. mainly I think due to heat as breathing was still very comfortable. Felt fairly drained after this due to the extreme heat and had headache all friday evening and was still wrecked Saturday.


Sunday July 21st

FIT Magazine 10K

6.23 miles @6.55 Average HR 168

Decided to do this earlier in the week seeing as good timing with current plan. Got up measured resting HR.. 38.....must be feeling better
PB from 3 weeks ago was 43:29 so was hoping to dip under 43 this time. Plan was to try to run each of six miles at sub seven pace and see what I had left for the end.

Mile 1-3 6:40, 6:48, 7:07
Started off back in the field so I would not go off too fast. first two miles were grand passing people until i settled in a group of around 5 at similar pace. was ok till mile 3 where pace dropped as into a strong headwind off the estuary. made the mistake of overtaking the group i was in here to try to keep under planned 7 min miles. ended up running on my own into the wind and found it harder to manage pace.

mile 4- 6.2 7:05, 7:06, 6:55, (6:41)
Was then passed by some of runners I had passed and was still on my own till caught one of them at mile 5. worked together with this guy and even though I wanted to go faster I found running off each other was easier to keep steady pace. After picking runners and catching them the guy that was running with me fell off with 3/4 mile to go and I was on my own again. harder to control pace then again as varied up and down in spurts. When I saw the clock with 150m to go it was moving from 42.59 to 43.00. i thought **** ...i must have miscalculated as thought I was on for sub 43. Didn't push as hard as I could then as was bit disappointed. Was not till over the line I remembered that was clock time and I had started fair way back.....was cursing myself I didn't push all out to the line. Was even worse when I got chip time of 43:01. Still a 28 second PB and showed that 2 sessions since last 10 k 3 weeks ago are working as felt far more comfortable today.


Lessons Learned:
Run all out to the line always
Keep in group when running into wind especially into wind
Try to line up with similar pace runners at start of race ...preferably with a target about 30 seconds faster then me

Thursday 25 July

Plan was 10 miles with 6 at MP. Decided to do these a bit faster as kinda want to check where I am with regard to LT runs I did on last marathon plan. didn't fancy trying targeted HM pace yet so decided on HMP from last half marathon in May (7:37)

10 miles @8:15 AVG HR 146

2 miles warm up @9min pace

6 mile splits

7:39 HR 146
7:42 HR 156
7:43 HR 157
7:30 HR 146
7:37 HR 151
7:30 HR 153

2 miles c/d @9:30

Very happy with this especially as I seemed to be finding it easier the longer it went on. Route is undulating too and I found myself easily holding pace on the hills. HR on last half marathon was 165 on every mile. Far lower tonight @ similar pace. Need to get try to get used to around 7:20 pace as new planned HMP.

Friday July 26th
4 miles recovery @ 9.30

Sunday July 28th
4 miles @ 10
Was meant to be 16 lsr. Left it till sunday evening as was busy and knew it wasnt going to be easy as was feeling energy less all day. Result 4 miles and had to walk home....nice walk all the same!

Monday July 29th
15 miles @ 8.55 avg hr 133
Set alarm for 6.30 am. Threw phone at the wall @ 6.31 am. Zzzzzz. Not a morning person qed. Did the lsr when I got home from work. Only looked at hrm to keep easy. Breathing wise this was very easy. However hamstrings were giving serious reminders from 10 on. These lsrs though on your todd are becoming mind numbing. Felt like 5 hours. Other problem is motivation to get out of bed early Sunday morning to do them. Ive ended up doing a few of them Sunday nights and it a right pain in the butt as well. Will have to make up some new plan for these soon.

Saturday August 3rd

5 miles @ 9.45 recovery

Monday August 5th

18 miles @8:50

Long run felt good during this run. introduced the ipod for company and helped a lot.


Tuesday AUG 6th

3 miles recovery @9.45

Wednesday Aug 7th

5 miles @ 8:25 1 warm up , 3 @MP and 1 cd. was late and was in a bit of a hurry so just ran 3 quicker.

Friday AUG 8th

11 miles @ 8:09 with 8 @MP

This was meant to be 2 x 4 miles at PMP 8:00 min with half mile break in between.

Did 1.5 miles warm up and then 8 @MP

splits were 7:43, 7:34, 7:48, 7:39, 7:47, 7:54, 7:44, 7:58.

1.5 miles c/d

went too fast for this and won't be doing that again !!. did first 3 which are more uphill and got a bit of a rest with mile 4 on slight decline. decided to keep going and even though mile 6 and 8 were both uphill I managed to keep pace. However took a bit out of me as legs in bits since.

Usual doubts about this 8 min pace over 26.2 miles. I know I have had this before with 2 previous slower PMP but this time I feel it in the legs especially hamstrings and not the lungs.


Sat AUG 10th

4 miles @ 10 recovery. Even after being on my feet working for 12 hours my legs were still wrecked when I did this sat evening. Knew then what was to come following day.

Sunday AUG 11th

13 miles @ 9:30

was off work for last week but was working at home for the week and too busy to get long run done midweek. ( even took a week off boards!) On plus side was cutting timber for 3 days and this was good for neglected core work anyway. However legs not recovered from efforts on Friday though and effected my long run this morning. called halt at 13 miles of 18 as was just pissed with pain in my legs.......must try to leave few days between sessions in future

didn't run anymore last week. took 5 days off and tried to refresh a bit missing 11 miles session and 20 mile LSR. Seen a few more logs on here with similar struggles at this time of year so hope it will pass and I'll get back into it again. Going to try the 20 mile lsr this sunday and if I can't summon the energy for this then I'll reconsider goals.

Monday August 19th

5 miles @ 9:15
First run in a 5 days and felt weird .....like i had been off for weeks

Tuesday August 20th
3 miles @ 9:45
Easy run just to loosen legs for session

Wednesday August 21st
9 Miles @ 8:15
Plan was 9 miles with 5 @HMP

Wanted to do one of these @LT pace. Aim will be to do 7 mile @HMP in a few weeks time before CHarleville as I feel if I can run half the distance @pace on hilly training route I should have fair crack at 13 on level course.

Anyway 2 miles warm up @ 9:30

5 miles @HMP splits 7:07 , 7:17, 7:21, 7:14, 7:18

This was tough going. thought at end of mile 3 that I was going to blow a gasket but relaxed through it as best I could and found last mile easier. About 20 second per mile faster than similar run in March and even though I still don't seem to have maximum energy I definately felt better having done this. These were the type of runs I felt most benefiial from P&D so going to do few more of these before HM in september.
2 miles c/d @9. funny how 9 min miles at end of session seem effortless compared to recent slogs.

Thursday August 22nd

3 miles recovery @ 9.45

scriba wrote: »

Good session, you'll be in great nick for Charleville, break may have done you good.

Thanks , break has me back able to run but not sure if i'm scraping the bottom of the barrell now!

Tuesday August 27th

5 miles @ 9:15

Wednesday August 30th

13 miles @8:20

So tonights session was meant to be 14 miles with 4,3,2,1 @MP.

Did 1 mile slow warm up and then got into it. forgot how long a break to take between reps so did 4 mins , 3mins and 2 mins @9min pace between them all recoveries uphill as well. Worked the route out in my head driving today. I can now actually measure up to 15 miles of west cork countryside in a zig zag fashion in my mind so I can avoid running MP miles up serious hills. Passes the miles away in the car too!

Splits were
7:52, 7:54, 7:56, 7:57
7:38, 7:56, 8:03
7:47, 7:30
7:44
1 mile c/d slow

Seem to be finding the 8 min pace a little more comfortable now. These sessions are good as time flies unlike the LSR. Left the HR strap off lately as was annoying me but breathing seemed fine tonight. Mile 7 for some reason was hardest but with 2 min slow recovery jog I was grand for last 3.

statss wrote: »

that's a tough looking session, nice one.

Wouldn't be much bother to you in your current form Statts !

I see that P&D plan is working out well for you. I still think the LT sessions on that are harder but I'll keep quiet in case I antagonise that Meno guy and he kills us off altogether! I was following his plan cause he said there would be no MP miles in long runs.......so what have we sunday 2 x 3 @MP in the middle of 18.......takes all the fun out of it.....I may do a SIPTU on it

Thursday August 29th

3 miles recovery @10

Friday August 30th

6 miles @9:10

Saturday August 31st

5 miles @ 9:15

Sunday September 1st
18 miles @8:50

tried to do some miles a PMP in this but never hit pace. legs were not cooperating. route i do is fairly hilly...first 6 are all uphill and seems to sap my legs towards the end which is also hilly. threw in extra effort from 8-10 and 11-14 with avg pace around 8:20. Did a bit of bear grylls too when i needed a sugar hit...had a feed of blackberries from the ditch...told myself they were full of glucose and it worked.

Monday Sep 3rd

4 miles recovery very slow

So around 15o miles for August again, same as july, was hoping for clsoer to 200 but took most of a week off for some recovery time. back to back 50 mile weeks done now and two more to come b4 charleville half. will then decide on plan for dcm.



YTD miles 1326

Thursday Sept 5th

5 miles @ 9:30

Recovery run, unusually legs felt graand after tough session night before. Usually this is a struggle so not sure why I felt fine this evening. won't complain though.

Friday Sept 6th

6 miles @ 8:30

Another very enjoyable run, felt almost effortless and was going to do 10 but then thought of 20 on sunday, that put a stop to my gallop, I am really struggling to gain motivation for the long runs, I'm using the countdown method that there is only around 5 more of these really long lsr's this year