nav[aria-label="Primary Navigation"] { padding: 0; & ul { list-style: none; width: 100%; display: flex; flex-direction: row; justify-content: start; align-items: start; gap: 30px; padding: 0; & li { margin: 0; } & ul li { list-style: none; } } }

Child Item

Timber!!

overpronator

As you may have guessed from the title this thread is going to be my training log!

Bad jokes out of the way I have found the training logs on here to be both extremely educational and motivational. Furthermore they brought home to me what required to properly improve and the work people put in to do that, I have great admiration for many posters on here and hopefully with chat and feedback through this thread I can improve bit by bit.

About me, I'm a 30 year old male with a pretty sedentary job. In the past I played GAA at a good, sometimes very good level but succumbed to injury and more accurately apathy and pints in my early to mid twenties. The most exercise I got over a 5 year period consisted of five a side a couple of times a week thinking that was keeping me fit, the usual nonsense.

I started running properly about 18 months ago when I "trained" for the Irish runner 5 miler in the park. That involved going up there once or twice a week for the 3 weeks before the race and tearing around the course as fast as I could:). That progressed to the remaining races in the race series where through the graduates 2012 thread I picked up some basics, got some long runs in and got myself around DCM12 just under the 4 hour mark at 3.54

Last year I got more structured and followed a Hal Higdon type plan for the Limerick marathon. I had a tough day finishing in 3.36 blowing up around 20 miles chasing 3.30. I did the race series again last summer and followed a Hybrid plan of P&D which I supplemented with Meno's midweek long MP sessions in place of VO2 max workouts for the last 5 weeks and got around in a comfortable 3.26.

My current PB's are

5k 19.48
10k 41.00
10 Mile 68.45
Half 1.34.03
Marathon 3.26.51

The goals for this year however ambitious, were (and still are) a sub 40 10k and a sub 1.30 half.
The little matter of the London Marathon 2014 has gotten in the way of specifically focusing on these goals. I hadn't intended on doing a Spring Marathon this year but myself and my GF got offered a spot so I couldn't turn it down really.
I'm currently following the 12 week P&D plan up to 55 miles and have been just doing slow base building for the month before the plan started. I will follow the structure of the plan quite closely but will add more mileage depending on how I feel but will again supplement some of the VO2 max workouts at the end with longer marathon specific efforts as I think it was these sessions from Meno's graduates plan last summer that made the difference for me in DCM 13.

From my PBs its clear that my endurance isn't really where it should be yet so hopefully another marathon cycle with more fast finish long runs, sessions Ive never really gotten to grips with will help with that.
Ill post again later with a summary of what ive been up to for the last 3 or so weeks, hopefully this log will keep me more active on here for feedback as im sporadic enough when it comes to posting but love to lurk!

Comments, feedback and general slagging welcome.

Find more posts tagged with

Quick Links

Comments

overpronator

First night back in and around the phoenix park last night for an easy 6 or so miles. It was a lovely evening and the legs felt grand, still some tightness here and there but I think a few runs over the next days will ease that out as I've been fairly inactive in running terms over the last 10 days. I tried out my new flats, DS racers and the feeling of a really light shoe with minimal cushion is something I really enjoy even if the bright red is a bit much to get used to at the minute!
I've also entered the Terenure 5 mile as a medium term goal to make sure I keep some focus in training over the next while and hopefully Ill get to do alot of shorter races over the summer months, that's the plan anyway.
I also have an entry for the Boyne 10k, my hometown race on May the 4th but will make a call on whether to race it or just tip around next week. It comes a week earlier than I though so im undecided. I wont be doing any sessions until after that weekend anyway so it might be a decent one to blow the cobwebs off, it looks to be a tough course from what I'm hearing:)

overpronator

I ran the Boyne 10k today in Drogheda without the intention of racing it but half a mile in that was out the window! Such a lack of discipline. I got around in 40.56 which is a small PB, only by 4 secs but I'll definitly take it as the course is a beast and on a flatter track like the Fingal 10k I think it would be worth maybe 30 secs to me. It was "nice" to reaquint myself with 10k type pain as it's a such a different animal to running longer. Overall a good day as I'd only been jogging a few times a week since London which was this day three weeks ago, but I feel recovered now so will get stuck into a 10k programme the week after next.

Beef

Excellent - a big chunk to come off that after a specific training program I'd say.

RedRunner

Well done OP. That "indiscipline" sounds very familiar! :-)

overpronator

I had a week of easy and steady running this week. I took Monday off after the 10k as I felt completely cooked, not in the legs but just generally tired. I got out Tuesday evening for an easy 5 recovery just shy of 9 minute pace, felt thawed out.
Wednesday I went into the park and ran 8 miles on the Trails with 5 at a steadier clip (7.35-7.45) in the middle, really enjoyed this run and it felt comfortable.
Thursday was 6 again at a similar pace, I cant really remember too much of this one.
No run on Friday as a 12 hour day in work saw to that.
Saturday morning I got out for my first double digit run (and good soaking) since London. I did 2 very easy at the start with the better half and afterwards did another 11 around the park probably around 7.50 average. It was good to keep in touch with the endurance side of things with a longer run and intend getting this back up to 16 miles and keeping it there for a while.
Today I got our for a gentle 5 miler at 8.30 pace to shake off the burger and gelato I shovelled into myself in at the Giro.

38 miles and a nothing week really but the legs feel decent. Ill ease back into some speed early this week ahead of the Terenure 5 miler on Sunday. After that I'm going to give the McMillan 10k sessions a bash ahead of targeting the Fingal 10k in July for hopefully a good run.

outforarun

overpronator wrote: »

After that I'm going to give the McMillan 10k sessions a bash ahead of targeting the Fingal 10k in July for hopefully a good run.

Great run in Boyne, well done. Your summer plans are close enough to my own plans. might see you at the Fingal 10K. I'm aiming to do the McMillan 10K specific sessions as well, aiming to have them completed ahead of the Blessington 10K in September.

overpronator

I dipped my toe back into some speed last night to pre-empt the start of the McMillan 10k sessions, 5X1k off 2 minutes active recovery. Splits were

3.36 (5.49)
3.47 (6.08)
3.37 (5.51)
3.57 (6.23)
3.39 (5.53)

These splits look all over the shop but the wind up on the acres was very blustery and messed things up. The fourth split was entirely into the wind was the only one I was eyeballs out on but it was by far the slowest which tells its own story, then with the wind at my back for half of the last one it looks like I got it back together even though I was tiring by then. Im happy with the effort if not the consistency of splits but you have to start somewhere and taking the positives it's the first post marathon speed session under the belt.
Ill do a recovery run today and try to get something approaching 12 miles in on Thursday, legs allowing and then easy running and a few strides on Friday and Saturday ahead of Terenure 5 miler on Sunday morning.

outforarun

With the wind a factor, a 3:43 min/km average split is nice going. What 10K pace are you going to plug into the McMillan sessions?

overpronator

outforarun wrote: »

With the wind a factor, a 3:43 min/km average split is nice going. What 10K pace are you going to plug into the McMillan sessions?

I did have the wind at my back for part of some of the reps so it probably evened itself out to a tad slower than 3.43 though! I reckon that ill take the relative paces from the 5 miler on Sunday and maybe if they become more manageable try to improve. The sessions look tough and grinding so I think it will be very challenging.

outforarun

I reckon if all goes right a 31:XX is on the cards in Terenure?

I'm curious to see the sessions you use between the key McMillan ones.
(you're always a few weeks ahead of me, doing the same plans targeting more or less the same paces).

overpronator

outforarun wrote: »

I reckon if all goes right a 31:XX is on the cards in Terenure?

I'm curious to see the sessions you use between the key McMillan ones.
(you're always a few weeks ahead of me, doing the same plans targeting more or less the same paces).

Yeah were neck and neck alright and running the same stretches of road for training too! 31.xx would indicate that id be getting towards sub 40 shape in the 10k and whilst I feel I'm not there yet I'm probably gonna give it a bash on Sunday, its bit of a stretch but that's the beauty of the shorter races, I can just go again pretty soon after if/when I make a mess of it!
Ill probably supplement the 10k sessions with 1k or 800m repeats at 5k pace for ease purely as I don't have access to a track and wouldn't trust the garmin to measure 400m or 200m accurately. Ill definitely throw a longer tempo run in and a park run in too.
What kinda goals have you for the 10k yourself?

outforarun

overpronator wrote: »

Ill probably supplement the 10k sessions with 1k or 800m repeats at 5k pace for ease purely as I don't have access to a track and wouldn't trust the garmin to measure 400m or 200m accurately. Ill definitely throw a longer tempo run in and a park run in too.
What kinda goals have you for the 10k yourself?

Yeah I'd be thinking 800 repeats as well, and a Parkrun sounds good. I'd plan on keeping a Sunday run of between 12 to 16 miles at LSR pace.

10K goals for me? That's what I'll be thinking about over the next few weeks. The 39:13 I logged on the Garmin in training two Saturday's ago has forced me to rethink goals.

I'll target a 31:XX in the Irish Runner 5 miler at the end of June. If I've recovered from CCM then I'd be confident of hitting this target. Fingal 10K is next up, I guess now I'll have to target a sub 39, and I'll be very disappointed if I don't at least log an official sub 40. Then there's Blessington in September. In theory the McMillan sessions are building up to that one. I really don't know yet what time to target, sub 38:30?

overpronator

outforarun wrote: »

Yeah I'd be thinking 800 repeats as well, and a Parkrun sounds good. I'd plan on keeping a Sunday run of between 12 to 16 miles at LSR pace.

10K goals for me? That's what I'll be thinking about over the next few weeks. The 39:13 I logged on the Garmin in training two Saturday's ago has forced me to rethink goals.

I'll target a 31:XX in the Irish Runner 5 miler at the end of June. If I've recovered from CCM then I'd be confident of hitting this target. Fingal 10K is next up, I guess now I'll have to target a sub 39, and I'll be very disappointed if I don't at least log an official sub 40. Then there's Blessington in September. In theory the McMillan sessions are building up to that one. I really don't know yet what time to target, sub 38:30?

I must have missed that 39.13, that's savage going fair play. 38 low for you by the end of the summer!

overpronator

5 mile recovery last night around 9.10 average. The legs weren't too beat up after the session to my surprise but I was wrecked and the hr was drifting up at the end.

10 miles tonight on the mud and grass trails around the park, 8.20 pace. It was an absolutely lovely evening tonight with a nice bit of heat in the air, still feeling a bit tired so I might take a rest day tomorrow with one eye on Terenure on Sunday.

overpronator

I took yesterday off and I was glad I did as when I jogged over to Terenure to collect my number this morning I felt great, what a day outside but I'm gonna spend it hiding behind the sofa as Arsenal no doubt do their best to ruin my day. There's a lot riding on today as I've a lot of Liverpool supporting mates lurking in the long grass for me after the fun I got out of their "slip" ups over the last few games! (Boy was that fun ha ha)

7m @8.15

DOCO12

Best of luck tomo. I only just discovered your log lately, will follow with interest.

overpronator

31.52 chip time, I'm very happy with that but I think I could have done some hamstring damage

Ill do up a report later, currently RICEing.

overpronator

I was looking forward to this race for a while as I had heard nothing but good things about it, plus its fairly local to me. I had shaken the shorter race cobwebs off somewhat a couple of weeks ago in Drogheda but I had a painful afternoon and didn't think I ran well, I hoped to go a bit better today. The goals were sub 32.30 as a minimum but to go for sub 32 and see if I could hold on, if I blew up I blew up, no harm. McMillan put me down for 32.4x but with the course in Drogheda I felt I should outdo that
After I parked up I did a warmup and lined up between the 30 and 35 minute pacers and before I knew it we were off. I got away cleanly with little dodging and weaving which was nice.

Mile 1
I glanced at the watch after a couple of minutes and saw I was moving at 6.15 pace with little effort, it took me a second to realise that was due to the slight downhill along the Templeogue road (I remember getting a second wind along here in DCM last year) and a tailwind, I knew it was too fast but decided to go with it and make hay until the turn in Terenure village, felt good along here as you should do on Mile 1! MILE 1 6.14
Mile 2
As we turned onto Terenure road west we were into the wind and a slight drag, it was here I felt my hamstring tighten up. I'm no stranger to hamstring issues and have suffered 2 serious tears in years past so I knew what I was feeling. I pulled back pace wise and hoped it would ease, I could feel it straining and knew it was more than tightness. Around 1.5 miles I was within 10 seconds of a DNF but it started to feel a bit better so I said id keep going. I bled some time here with a slow mile as we rounded the KCR for the first time. Mile 2 6.31
Mile 3
This was the toughest part of the course, from the KCR down Wainsfort road to Templeville road and back to start lap 2. The wind was a factor here but I had started to pass people but was starting to hurt by the end of this mile, another slowish one and it really seemed like it went on forever. Alot of people were slowing drastically here and I was glad to turn back onto Templeogue road Mile 3 6.28
Mile 4
I recovered well here, maybe some lingering marathon strength and was still passing a few, the hamstring reared its head here but not as bad as before however I knew I had probably done damage. I felt I was moving well and my form was holding up, I'm usually a mess when I start to tire. By the end of the mile I was in full hurt mode put posted a quicker one Mile 4 6.17
Mile 5
I wasn't sure where I was in terms of a finishing time as we hit the final mile but I knew I was close to sub 32, I worked as hard as I could to just keep 6.20 pace and I looked at the watch more in this mile then in the previous 4 combined. The wind was a bitch as we came back around again and I started to feel a bit naseous as is normal these days! Half a mile to go and we're on Fortfield road again for the finish, I'm now a fully paid up member of the hurt cave, calves were full of lactic and the hammer was twanging. A lady shouted at me to pump my arms as I neared .25 to go and that really helped me keep moving, thanks anonymous lady! As I spied the clock I could see it ticking around past 32 just as I crossed so I was afraid I missed it but after the dry retching and spluttering I checked the watch time I saw 31.5x and was delighted. Mile 5 6.20

5.01 Miles 31.52 111th place.

Instantly the hamstring tightened up and after a sit down and a chat with a couple of people I tried a small cool down jog, I knew by how it felt to leave well alone so I shuffled back to the car and headed home.

I'm happy with the time as McMillan puts me sub 40 for the 10k for the first time but if I had any sense I would have DNF'd particularly as I'm au-fait with how hurt hamstrings can feel, at least it didn't pop but it feels bad right now.
Its completely my own fault for running a session on Tuesday and a race today. I thought id get away with a session containing less than 20 mins "work" but I was wrong. You live and learn.
Finally thanks to Sportsworld and Terenure for a great race, its a lovely fast course and ill be back for sure.

statss

getting under 32 is a solid result, well done. hope the hammy is alright.

career_move

That was a great time. Fingers crossed for the hamstring

yaboya1

Great stuff OP.
Nice run so soon after a marathon.
Definitely more to come off that. I assume it's a PB?

Tom Joad

Well done on the Sub 32 - great running.

overpronator

yaboya1 wrote: »

Great stuff OP.
Nice run so soon after a marathon.
Definitely more to come off that. I assume it's a PB?

Yeah it was a PB, the only other 5 mile race I've done was my first ever race race back in 2012, the Irish runner 5 mile it was 38.45 I think!!

outforarun

Well done. I would have put money on you hitting 31:XX. Take it easy on the hamstring for a bit. Tag on 2 more K at that pace and you have a sub 40 10K in the bag.

overpronator

A pretty pretty tame week here again, I took Monday, Tuesday and just to be safe Wednesday off after Terenure as the hamstring was pretty sore and tender for a couple of days. I was losing my mind by Thursday so I went for an easy 5 miler to test it out, thankfully there were no issues beyond a little tightness but the rest of my lower legs were in a jock, 3 self enforced days off after an all out effort like Sunday was a bad recipe for recovery. I got another easy 7 in the following day and the legs felt worse!! The power of recovery runs or in this case the lack of are unreal.
I was back home visiting the folks on Saturday morning so I did an easy out and back 10 in a completely fasted state along some wooded trails and old towpaths back in Drogheda. I felt OK for most of this and the legs were good but I reckon I might have bonked by 13-14 if I had stayed out. I'm going to experiment with these runs over the next while if I can and build them up slowly.
I did notice a large Garda presence with roads closed to cars along the river Boyne on my way out but didn't think much of it, I assumed something had happened on the river but when I was on my way back I learned the reason! I turned a corner onto a closed stretch after asking a garda if I could motor on, off in the distance I could hear drums and band music getting closer and as I ran over a small bridge I see probably 100 members of the Orange order and apprentice boys marching towards me!! So random. I just kept going and zipped past them as they marched to some smiles and hellos, which i returned, some bemused looks and some scowls! The gardai escorting them had a good chuckle at me. I'm not political in any sense so to see this up close was interesting but it was kept very quiet as nobody I talked to back home knew it was going ahead! Definitely my most interesting run in a while.
This morning my GF was running a 10k in Arklow with her Mum so I tagged along with a stinking hangover leaning 50\50 to running it as a tempo. Seeing as the legs felt good yesterday at the last minute I got a late entry and tipped around just a shade under 7 min pace for a really enjoyable leg stretcher on a beautiful morning. Its the first time I didn't "race" a race and boy was I glad I didnt as the first 4 miles were mostly uphill!! I went around in a comfortable 43:13 for 17th place and a great hangover cure.
Overall an enjoyable week once I got going but I need to get the mileage back up if I'm to sustain some 10k sessions.

overpronator

Monday was a gentle recovery after the tempo/steady session the day before, just 4 miles around 9.30 I think, felt nicely recovered after this one.

Tuesday was a smashing evening and I decided to take a run out to Waterstown park in Palmerstown to suss out the new park run course thats starting there at the end of June. I can see this being a tough one with a big big downhill at the start on cambered paths followed by a decent flat section before the same big climb on the other end of the park to make it back to the finish, a lung buster. Its a lovely park out there and id been threatening to take a little spin out there for a while so glad that I did, this was 10 miles at 8.10

Last night was a session from McMillan's 10k plan, 6x1mile with 3mins jogged recovery inbetween. I had honestly been dreading this one all day as I was worried about the hamstring giving me issues again aside from how tough it sounded, but it went well in the end thankfully.

Splits
1 6.24
2 6.16
3 6.15
4 6.16
5 6.19
6 6.18

I was happy with the consistency of the splits, I took the first one to ease into the session in case of hamstring issues and went from there. I seemed to recover decently between reps and from rep 4 on the last quarter of each mile became tough but I was able to keep it fairly controlled. Glad to get this one done and Ill enjoy an easy recovery today and something similar Saturday before something a tad longer Sunday.

Bahanaman

That's a really good session. I'd safely say you put the hamstring issue to bed!

statss

Great session, I see you did these reps around the 15 acres - looks like a good spot to do them , pretty flat.

overpronator

statss wrote: »

Great session, I see you did these reps around the 15 acres - looks like a good spot to do them , pretty flat.

Yeah I started going up there for the final P&D speed sessions before London and its great. Its almost completely flat, tiny bumps here and there with a little camber on certain stretches but its perfect for these kinds of sessions I think.
There's always a noticeable wind blowing in one direction or another too because its fairly exposed, so that's handy prep for races! Id recommend it anyway.

overpronator

Friday 3 miles at 10 minute pace. On Friday after the session I did a very easy recovery jog, I was feeling pretty beat up here and I do wonder if I have the mileage base to sustain these McMillan 10k sessions. Time will tell.
I ended up taking Saturday off and did a decent bit of stretching and rolling to easy out any bumps and bruises.

Sunday 16.4 miles at 8.33 average
Sunday was a long run back home in Drogheda, I really enjoyed this and thankfully the legs had come around. It was a fairly hilly LR with alot of climbing (compared to what I'm used to) early on with a nice decent to follow along the old N1. It finished on some very mucky torn up forest trails and paths so the lap splits were all over the shop as was the heartrate but it was great fun and the varied terrain was a nice change for me. I was tired after this but satisfied with 46 miles for the week.

Monday 5.4 miles 8.32
A nice easy run in the Phoenix watching people stuck in cars losing their minds trying to get out of Bloom!

This week is a supplemental session from the McMillan 10k plan, I don't have access to a track to do the prescribed 400s and as I wouldn't trust a Garmin to accurately measure something quite so short I'm going to to do 6x800 @ 5k pace probably on Wednesday all going well.