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Child Item

Off the Fence....and looking to go sub 3 hrs

FBOT01

New Year with new challenges ahead…..going to try this log thing out and share my experiences in the hope that the boys and girls of the “boards.ie” community might be able to help me on the road to a sub 3hr Marathon. Yep I said it and it is now out there. No more sitting on the fence..... sub 3hrs is the next big goal!

A little bit of background to put my goal and the challenge ahead in context.....

I’m a 44 yr old 5’ 6 “ late starter with no history or background in running. After hitting 40 and been given a choice between Statins or exercise I choose running. I kicked off my running “career” in January 2011 at the Raheny 5 with the Connemara Half in April 2011 as the target goal. After graduating to the DCM in October 2011 I caught the running bug and have been ticking along enjoying almost every step since.

Marathon History
DCM 2011 03:42:12 (‘FIRST’ training programme)
DCM 2012 03:28:12 ( ‘FIRST’ programme again with extra running days and 10 week pilates course)
DCM 2013 03:13:16 (P&D 18wk /55m – no pilates and it showed in the last 2 miles)

PB’s
5K - 18:19 Parkrun St Anne’s – Oct 2013
5m - 34:20 Raheny 5 – Jan 2013 (only 5 miles I have run is Raheny 5 and until this year I would have been coming off a Nov/Dec break and a heavy Christmas)
10k - 39:05 Docklands – Jun 2013
10m – 1:04:36 Frank Duffy – Aug 2013
½ marathon - 1:28:56 Kildare - May 2013
Marathon - 3:13:16 DCM – Oct 2013

Total Mileage for 2013 was 1,900 miles.

Diary for 2014 starts with Raheny 5 at end of Jan and will be followed by Ballycotton 10 in March and Connemara Marathon in April. Original plan was to work towards a crack at 3hrs in Berlin but didn't manage to get a slot in the lottery so I guess I will have to try it on home soil in DCM 2014 all going well.

I am currently on week 7 of the 18 week P&D 55 to 70 mile program and all is going OK at the moment touch wood........did my first +60 week 2 weeks ago and still motoring.

Last week runs were as follows:
Mon – 7m @ 8:02 avg pace
Tues – 12.39m @ 8:19 avg pace
Wed – 5.87m @ 8:34 avg pace (Recovery)
Thurs – 10m @ 8:09 avg pace
Fri – 5.22m @ 9:02 avg pace (Recovery)
Sat – 12.28m @ 7:58 avg pace followed by St Annes Parkrun 5k @ 6:20 avg pace
Sun - Rest

Week = 55.9m
MTD = 95.8m
YTD = 95.8M

Look forward to getting your views, thoughts and advices over the coming weeks, months, years............and for all they might be worth sharing mine!

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FBOT01

Friday 25/07/2014
7.66m @ 08:45 avg pace (Recovery w/6x100m)

Another warm and sticky recovery run. Took in Dollymount again before heading up into St Anne's to do a few strides before heading home. Need to do a bit of work on the leg turnover as strides felt a lot slower than I would have liked.

Pleasant enough run and I was joined on the beach by a couple of sound lads from DNS who were out for an afternoon cycle on Dollier. They decided the run would be easier on me with company...during our mile or so together we discussed everything from running to cycling to ice cream/carbs/chicken/broccoli/sweet potatoes, etc. in a way that only Northsiders can:) Enjoyed the craic and they were right the run was easier with the company.

Signed up for Mullingar 10 on Sunday. Depending on how I feel on Sunday morning I will either give it a lash or use it as a good way to get in the 12 MP miles that the programme has me doing this weekend.

Saturday 26/07/2014
Rest Day

Swapped in tomorrows rest day as I am doing the Mullingar 10 in the morning.

Murph_D

Have a good one - enjoy!

yaboya1

I'm sure I will see you in the morning but just in case I don't, Good Luck!

Killerz

Good luck tomorrow!

Duanington

Good luck tomorrow FBOT01

Ferris B

Looks like you gave it a lash. Great run. Top 50 in quality field.

FBOT01

Ferris B wrote: »

Looks like you gave it a lash. Great run. Top 50 in quality field.

And only 15mins behind the winner:D

FBOT01

Really enjoyed Mulligar 10 this morn. Nice course. Well run event and a great team of smiling friendly volunteers. Thanks to all involved.

It was a gun start so watch time of 1:03:03 was a little ahead of official time of 1:03:11. Either way it was over a minute off my PB of 1:04:32 and inside my 2014 target time of 1:03:29....so happy out!!!

Race report will follow later.

ThebitterLemon

That a savage running Waldorf (or is it Statler, auld age is catching up with me and my memory isn't what it should be, neither is my running come too think of it

)

Very impressive for an auld lad, hell it's impressive for a young lad!

P, watch out those two auld lads might try and geriatric sandbag you yet!

TbL

yaboya1

Great stuff yesterday.
Well on target for Berlin

belcarra

Hey FBOT - that was me who was hanging around Tang and Yaboya at the start. If they weren't so shlt at introductions I'd have said hello!:D
Great race. Will see you in Berlin if not before.

FBOT01

belcarra wrote: »

Hey FBOT - that was me who was hanging around Tang and Yaboya at the start. If they weren't so shlt at introductions I'd have said hello!:D
Great race. Will see you in Berlin if not before.

Nice to meet you even if we didn't exchange names:) Also good to see you got through yesterday injury free. I hope the recovery keeps going well. See you Berlin or somewhere along the way.

Murph_D

Awesome time, there, M. I don't know why, but when we were chatting on Sat you gave me the impression you were just going to jog around the course. I obviously missed something!.

ThebitterLemon

Murph_D wrote: »

Awesome time, there, M. I don't know why, but when we were chatting on Sat you gave me the impression you were just going to jog around the course. I obviously missed something!.

Murph, himself and the other auld muppet are good at sandbagging

TbL

Ferris B

Murph_D wrote: »

Awesome time, there, M. I don't know why, but when we were chatting on Sat you gave me the impression you were just going to jog around the course. I obviously missed something!.

That's probably what he did.

ThebitterLemon

Ferris B wrote: »

That's probably what he did.

Jesus here's more of it!!!!

It's time to play the music
It's time to light the lights
It's time to meet the Muppets on the Muppet Show tonight.

It's time to put on makeup
It's time to dress up right
It's time to raise the curtain on the Muppet Show tonight.

Why do we always come here
I guess we'll never know
It's like a kind of torture
To have to watch the show

And now let's get things started
Why don't you get things started
It's time to get things started
On the most sensational inspirational celebrational Muppetational
This is what we call the Muppet Show!

TbL

FBOT01

Murph_D wrote: »

Awesome time, there, M. I don't know why, but when we were chatting on Sat you gave me the impression you were just going to jog around the course. I obviously missed something!.

Cheers D. It was definitely no jog. Only signed up on Friday night and had no expectation or plans just went with the flow:pac::pac::pac:

FBOT01

ThebitterLemon wrote: »

Murph, himself and the other auld muppet are good at sandbagging

TbL

No sandbagging around here..... the log title gives it all away;)

FBOT01

Ferris B wrote: »

That's probably what he did.

I wish:D

FBOT01

Mullingar 10
Official Time : 1:03:11
Watch Time : 1:03:01

Prerace
After the usual breakfast of porridge, fruit and juice I hit the road for Mullingar. A few legs pains so threw the foam roller in the car just in case. Arrive about 9:20 so nice and early with loads of time to park up and stroll over to registration. Prerace stuff all seemed to be running very smoothly.

Lovely morning but felt like it was going to be a warm one. After registration I bumped into Yaboya who looked relaxed but focused and raring to go. Then a couple of words with Tang before heading out for a 2 mile warm-up then back to the start line where I caught up with Yaboya and Tang again and we were also joined by Belcarra.

Start was a gun start so being close to the front was obviously in the minds of a lot of people. Running back towards the direction starters where joining from meant that there was no way we would be starting on time…..not sure what they can do about this for future event but I don’t think it is a good set-up for any race. They will also need to look into using more than a megaphone for starter announcements as we were only 15/20 rows back and we couldn’t make out what was being said so anyone behind us probably didn’t even know there was someone speaking.

My plan was simple start out at sub 6:30 and see where I got to. This was a late replacement for a 12 mile MP session so as long as I was under 6:40 pace I was in line with the training plan. All going well I was planning to sneak in under 1:04:00 and improve my PB as I felt that without the hamstring issue in March that I would have done that in Ballycotton.

Miles 1-3
From the off Yaboya stormed through the crowd and the next I saw of him was at the finish line. Great run from him. I threaded my way through the traffic a little more cautiously looking for a group that I might be able to join. Briefly joined a group that included the 4 leading ladies but they seemed to slow a little on mile 3 so I pushed on alone. I was then briefly joined by one of the ladies who turned out to be Pauline Curly and the first lady on the day. She had no intention of staying with me and while I briefly considered jumped on her coat tails I was very glad afterwards that I stuck to my own pace as she crossed the line in 60:xx…now that is what you call progressive pace running.

By the end of mile 3 I was joined by the 2nd Lady and we ran together for the next mile or so until we caught up on a group of about 6 guys who were moving at a pace we were happy to go with for a while…..I think my words to her were that we can join these lads and “freewheel” for a while:)

Miles 4-7
This group contained 4 Tullamore Club runners who were working together into the breeze taking turns to lead the charge. The other 2 guys were just along for the ride. They were moving reasonable consistently. Somewhere between miles 6 and 7 I was offered the front by one of the Tullamore lads. I was probably running a little close to him at this stage as they were slowing a little. I took his kind offer and pushed on and gave them a target to chase rather than a body to draft off. I am too small to have done them any good as a windbreaker anyway. One of the group, a guy in a Fingal 10k T-Shirt, joined me for a while and another one pushed on by during mile 7. I actually missed the Mile 7 marker and though we were further out them we were so let him go. In hindsight I should have went with him.

Miles 8-10
After the 8 mile marker I went fishing and started to reel in a couple of bodies. More from holding my pace than speeding up significiantly. Passed 4/5 runners during this staged and wasn’t passed at all....actually I was only passed by one runner after Pauline Curly passed me in Mile 3. I had 2 more in my sights that I didn’t catch. I just don’t think I got my head in the zone in the last half mile….they were definitely there for the taking when I compare how I felt when I came over the finishline to that in Kilbride. In Kilbride I was eyeballs out…in Mullingar the eyeballs were definitely still in. I did keep my focus enough to realise that the 2nd lady wasn’t too far behind me and while if she had passed me out in the country I might have been able to live with it but if she nipped passed on the line while I was sleeping on the job I might have been due a bit of stick.

Post race
Caught up with Yaboya and Tang after the race and both were happy out after a couple of great runs from them. Also bumped into one of St. Anne’s regular parkrunners who also had a good day at the office. After stuffing my face I did a slow 1 mile cool down before jumping back in the car.

Very well organised event with a great team of volunteers and a super spread afterwards. Certainly as an inaugural running of the event they did an excellent job.

By way of constructive criticism they probably need to look at the start set-up (direction and use of megaphone), consider a chip start and get whoever put out the mile markers to put them in the correct place....the road marking where spot on but whoever put out the mile marker didn’t put them at the point that were marked on the road. None of these would stop me coming back.

All in all it was a good day out and this is definitely one for the diary. It was very well supported by club runners with a quality field. Has the potential to be a very good event long-term.....IMHO:)

Splits were : 6:17/6:19/6:24/6:20/6:16/6:13/6:18/6:19/6:20/6:09

FBOT01

Monday 29/07/2014
9.07m @ 07:57 avg pace (Gen Aerobic)

Nice evening run. Legs felt OK with no obvious hangover from yesterday's efforts.

FBOT01

Tuesday 29/07/2014
9.3m @ 07:56 avg pace (VO2 Max w/6x800 @ 5K Pace Jog RI 90secs)

This was the first VO2 Max session of the current cycle and while I wasn't looking forward to it part of me really likes this type of session.

It is a bit of a pain in the ar*e that I haven't been able to get workouts to download to my Garmin 410 since the feckers changed over to Garmin Express software. That meant I couldn't pre-programme so had to stop and start manually.

My current 5K pace is 5:54 but with desires on sub 18 at some stage I decided to go with something less than that. Anyway after 3m wu out towards Sutton I got to it. The first 2 were tough even though they were slightly wind supported. I turned back into the wind and life got even tougher by the 4th rep the quads were starting to burn and the breathing was heavy. I had to focus hard to try to hold form from rep 4 on and I included a 30sec walk recovery in the 90sec Jog RI for the last two. Considered calling it quits after 5 but sure where would the fun be in that. Stuck with it and glad I did. I was only short of rolling my head by the end of the 6th rep to try to hold pace. I'd say I was a sight for the commuting cyclists heading home from theirs days work in the opposite direction. Rep 5 and 6 were more head on into the breeze than reps 3 and 4 so not unhappy with the slight drop in the splits.

Session broke down as follows:
3m wu | 08:20 avg pace
02:50 | 05:39 pace
02:47 | 05:33 pace
02:50 | 05:37 pace
02:49 | 05:41 pace (press stop a little early)
02:56 | 05:53 pace
02:54 | 05:46 pace
2.5m cd | 08:43 avg pace

Also started an early morning Pilates Class this morning so got an hour of that in before breakfast. I have signed up for 8 weeks so that will bring me up to Berlin.

Murph_D

Jebus, you're flying so you are. Great set of splits at the race AND 2 days later - would you not consider an easy few days to recover at all?

FBOT01

Murph_D wrote: »

Jebus, you're flying so you are. Great set of splits at the race AND 2 days later - would you not consider an easy few days to recover at all?

Cheers D. Other than today's session the rest of this week is actually pretty OK. It is a step back week in the program so all should be good:)

FBOT01

Wednesday 30/07/2014
6m @ 09:03 avg pace (Recovery)

A little humid but a pleasant enough lunchtime recovery run along the coast and up through St Anne's. Job done.

FBOT01

Thursday 31/07/2014
11m @ 07.45 (Med-Long Progression)

Got out pre-breakfast for this one. 1st mile was a real slog @ 08:29 avg pace. Got moving a bit better as the run went on but never really got into a comfortable stride. Got the job done all the same. Avg pace for the 3 segments broke down as follows:
4m @ 08:06 avg pace
4m @ 07:42 avg pace
3m @ 07:19 avg pace

FBOT01

Friday 01/08/2014
7.52m @ 08:11 avg pace (General Aerobic w/12x100m strides)

Funny auld run this one. I spent much of yesterday helping a friend out with some manual labour which involved a lot of lifting and carrying together with stair and ladder climbing. Great cross training but 6 hrs was probably not what the Doctor ordered. Legs felt a little tender this morning when I got out of bed so wasn't sure how this run would go.

Headed out at lunchtime and just as I suspected it might be it was far harder to keep Gen Aerobic pace i.e. sub 08:20/mile than I would have liked. By mile 3 my legs actually felt jelly like and I seriously considered canning it. Decided to stick it out and head on up towards St Anne's to do a couple of strides as it was on the way home. Plan had 10x100m strides scheduled but would have been happy to jog on home if they weren't happening. Started down the main Avenue ignoring the watch and using the benches which are c100m apart as my markers. As soon as I kicked off the first one it was like the legs just came alive. I ended up doing 12 as I was enjoying them so much and was on my toes for all 12 which felt great. Jogged the 1m home trying to figure out what just happened

PS....just noticed that I passed 1500mile YTD yesterday:)

Murph_D

Something to do with slow-twitch/fast-twitch? Either way, it's all good, right? (Well, half of it anyway.) :pac:

Ferris B

FBOT01 wrote: »

Friday 01/08/2014
As soon as I kicked off the first one it was like the legs just came alive. I ended up doing 12 as I was enjoying them so much and was on my toes for all 12 which felt great. Jogged the 1m home trying to figure out what just happened)

Sounds like the early stages of a track fairy coming out of the closet. Best not let on till after Sept 28th.

ThebitterLemon

Hey Waldorf,

You get sunstroke today, you're starting to make as much sense as this lad....

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a223/robinhoo/Emotigifs/Beakerfreakout_zpsca7b280c.gif

TbL