A Slow Journey to Faster Times

This is me from Chicago

Wednesday 1st January (Day 31/84) - Rest/Cross Training

Last minute decision to switch around today & tomorrow's sessions. I was dying with a hangover and spent the morning vomiting my guts up. When the effects of the previous night's partying had eventually worn off, I was extremely tired and thought I'd be better served running the prescribed miles the next day when I was nice and fresh. So I went to bed pretty early all set for a pre-dawn start the next day.


Thursday 2nd January (Day 32/84) - 12m @ M/L Pace
12 miles @ 8:51p/m average

I'd a long day ahead of me in work today, meaning it was a 6am start for this one. Very cold, dark & windy outside but enjoyable nonetheless. It's amazing how noisy the city is so early in the morning (what time do people start work at nowadays?). Even more so when you consider how quiet & isolated I found it on Christmas morning, more than two hours later just over a week ago.


Splits:

Mile 1 - 8:52
Mile 2 - 8:54
Mile 3 - 8:58
Mile 4 - 8:57
Mile 5 - 8:56
Mile 6 - 8:47
Mile 7 - 9:00
Mile 8 - 8:51
Mile 9 - 8:53
Mile 10 - 8:50
Mile 11 - 8:48
Mile 12 - 8:24

RunForestRun wrote: »

Well P, training going nicely at the minute. I see over in the Goals for 2014 thread you're targeting 3:10 at some stage in the year, will that be Spring or later on in the autumn? Great to see how well you're going.

Thanks. Yeah, no problems so far. I'm hoping I'll be ready for a go at 3:10 in Seville but we'll see. Still 7 weeks to go yet. I have a VO2 max session next week that should tell me a lot. If I can run that time in the Spring, I think I'm going to target a BQ in Dublin.

belcarra wrote: »

Or maybe worth a trip to Frankfurt the day beforehand??

I loved the Berlin Marathon and will definitely be back to Germany sometime in the future. However, I think I have to give Dublin another go this year. If Frankfurt was on at any other time, I'd probably run it.

Saturday 4th January (Day 34/84) - 5m Recovery
5m @ 9:12p/m average

After a ten hour sleep, I got up early enough to get this one in before work. Still knackered after yesterday's session. I cannot emphasise enough how much that wiped me out!


Splits:

Mile 1 - 9:21
Mile 2 - 9:09
Mile 3 - 9:01
Mile 4 - 9:20
Mile 5 - 9:04

Monday 6th January (Day 36/84) - Rest/Cross Training

I spent some extra time stretching and foam rolling this morning in the hope of getting my calf back to normal. Feels pretty good now. Also got the usual cycle of core work done.

This is my schedule for the rest of the week:

Tues - 5m Recovery
Wed - 10m (with 5x1000m @ VO2 Max)
Thurs - 12m (Med/Long)
Fri - Rest/Cross Training
Sat - 6m Recovery (with 6x100m @ strides)
Sun - 15m (with 12m @ MP)

Due to my work commitments, I'm going to switch it around so it looks like this:

Tues - Rest/Cross Training
Wed - 5m Recovery
Thurs - 10m (with 5x1000m @ VO2 Max)
Fri - 12m (Med/Long)
Sat - 6m Recovery (with 6x100m @ strides)
Sun - 15m (with 12m @ MP)

I'm off all day Thursday & Friday which makes it much easier to fit the longer sessions in. It will also give my calf an extra day or two to get back to 100%.

Calvin Johnson wrote: »

Do you think you are running too fast?

I don't think so? According to anyone I've asked, VO2 Max sessions should be your 3k race pace. I've never done a 3k race, but I'm not much faster than my 5k race pace so I think it's about right.

belcarra wrote: »

Your training is going very well P, fair play to you!
It will be very interesting to see how you get on over in Sevilla.
I'd say your shorter distances are pointing towards at least 3:15 anyways and probably 3:10. Have you any long races planned beforehand (I know it's not that far away now!) to lay down a marker?

Where/when are you doing the LSR on Sunday? I'll be hoping to do about 20miles @ 8:10/m pace with the final 4miles @ around 7:20-7:25 if it interests you...?
Maybe you have too many MP miles for it to work though?

I would love to do a half-marathon the weekend of the Raheny 5 mile, but there appears to be nothing of that distance taking place. I'll probably just run 10-13m myself to see what I can do. I'm most likely going to give that race a miss now as it just doesn't fit into my training. Haven't decided yet about Sunday to be honest. I'm in work until 6pm, so it will be at least 7pm before I get out on the roads. If that interested you I'd be up for it as I'm going to run the MP miles at 7:30p/m.

Friday 10th January (Day 40/84) - 12m @ M/L Pace
12 miles @ 8:44p/m average

Glided through this one. Felt very good before/during/after the run. That extra day's rest earlier in the week seems to have done me the world of good .


Splits:

Mile 1 - 8:37
Mile 2 - 9:00
Mile 3 - 8:41
Mile 4 - 8:50
Mile 5 - 8:39
Mile 6 - 8:51
Mile 7 - 8:49
Mile 8 - 8:47
Mile 9 - 8:43
Mile 10 - 8:39
Mile 11 - 8:40
Mile 12 - 8:36

Sunday 12th January (Day 42/84) - 15m (with 12m @ MP)
15 miles @ 7:13p/m average

Although a few people had suggested I could be capable of running 3:10 in Seville, I hadn't really thought about what sort of pace/mile I'd have to be doing in the race to achieve that. When I worked out that a sub 3:10 marathon would mean me putting 26.2 back to back miles together at 7:15min/mile, I started to doubt if it was possible for me as I've never run any sort of long distance at that speed. I was originally going to run tonight's MP miles at 7:30min/mile, but I thought that was a bit pointless and wouldn't tell me anything I didn't already know. So I decided to try and run them at 7:15min/mile. If I could hold on for the whole lot, great, if not I'd drop back to 7:25min/mile which I was pretty sure I could handle. So after three decent warm up miles I was ready to go. I held it as close to 7:15min/mile as I could for the next few, waiting for myself to blow up at any moment. It never happened though, and I actually felt stronger & stronger the further I went. I know I probably went a bit too quick for some of the later miles which helped bring the average for the entire run down to 7:13p/m (not just the MP miles), but I just felt so good that I was able to speed up off that pace that I let myself do it and actually dipped below seven minutes for the final two. Tonight's session has really filled me with a huge amount of confidence. This morning's doubts have been vanquished. I'm exactly halfway through my plan and feel if the following six weeks go as well as the last six, I'll be crossing the line in less than 3:10. Fingers crossed!


Splits:

Mile 1 - 7:33
Mile 2 - 7:49
Mile 3 - 7:21
Mile 4 - 7:15
Mile 5 - 7:14
Mile 6 - 7:12
Mile 7 - 7:13
Mile 8 - 7:09
Mile 9 - 7:12
Mile 10 - 7:05
Mile 11 - 7:03
Mile 12 - 7:06
Mile 13 - 7:16
Mile 14 - 6:58
Mile 15 - 6:49

Tuesday 14th January (Day 44/84) - 6m Recovery (with 6 x 100m strides), 12m @ M/L Pace

Needed to do a double today as I'm unable to do any running tomorrow or Thursday. Should be nice and fresh for Friday's session though.


A.M.
6m Recovery (with 6 x 100m strides)
6 miles @ 9:19p/m average. Strides (20:71, 16:91, 19:19, 17:37, 17:32, 17:06)

Legs were still a little sore from Sunday night, but this easy run seemed to shake that out of them. Felt fine by the time I did the strides and didn't have any worries about the run later this evening.


Splits:

Mile 1 - 9:20
Mile 2 - 9:20
Mile 3 - 9:18
Mile 4 - 9:19
Mile 5 - 9:14
Mile 6 - 9:21


P.M.
12m @ M/L Pace
12 miles @ 8:52p/m average

Weather had cleared up nicely by the time I went out for this one, considering how horrible it was earlier in the afternoon. Wasn't even that cold which makes a change from the past few nights.


Splits:

Mile 1 - 8:41
Mile 2 - 8:46
Mile 3 - 8:58
Mile 4 - 9:02
Mile 5 - 8:57
Mile 6 - 8:50
Mile 7 - 8:56
Mile 8 - 8:55
Mile 9 - 8:49
Mile 10 - 8:44
Mile 11 - 8:51
Mile 12 - 8:56

Wednesday 15th January (Day 45/84) - Rest/Cross Training

My double session on Tuesday earned me an extra rest day today.


Thursday 16th January (Day 46/84) - Rest/Cross Training

Another day off from running. Legs itching to get back out on the road!


Friday 17th January (Day 47/84) - 12m (with 7m @ LT)
12miles @ 6:49p/m average

I was dreading this session a little bit, especially as I read over on the A/Rist in the spotlight thread that it was the one blockic disliked the most :eek:. This was most definitely my day for running hard this week. Stuck with my usual tactic for these type of runs. Gradually ease up to the required pace in the first five miles, before holding the remaining seven below the 7min/mile mark. Couldn't have done it any better to be honest, and was accelerating towards the end which is quite pleasing. If I assume I ran another 7 minute mile at the end, I've done a sub 1:29 half marathon which definitely puts me in sub 3:10 range for Seville according to McMillan. That has left me in a very good mood for the day .


Splits:

Mile 1 - 7:00
Mile 2 - 7:19
Mile 3 - 6:51
Mile 4 - 6:53
Mile 5 - 6:58
Mile 6 - 6:55
Mile 7 - 6:52
Mile 8 - 6:43
Mile 9 - 6:46
Mile 10 - 6:41
Mile 11 - 6:29
Mile 12 - 6:16