A Slow Journey to Faster Times

DukeOfDromada wrote: »

Don't suppose you wore your heart rate monitor for this?

No, haven't worn it since it started playing up at the end of July.

Tuesday 9th September (Day 37/56) - 7m Recovery (with 8 x 100m Strides)
7 miles @ 8:21p/m average

A nice morning jog in the sunshine. Was feeling a bit chesty yesterday, but put some rub on before I went to bed which seemed to help. I also got another amazing night's sleep. 19 days.......


Splits:

Mile 1 - 8:45
Mile 2 - 8:28
Mile 3 - 8:55
Mile 4 - 8:49
Mile 5 - 8:32
Mile 6 - 8:26
Mile 7 - 6:32*

*Strides in the last mile

Wednesday 10th September (Day 38/56) - 12m Med/Long
12 miles @ 7:37p/m average

Didn't feel great this morning, so decided I'd run the first mile at a comfortable pace and try and match that with the rest of them. Got lost in Kilbarrack after taking a wrong turn in the middle of this, but managed to find my way back out so no harm done. Slowed up prematurely at the end to let the last mile slip above the average :mad:, but otherwise mission accomplished. Felt a bit of a twinge in my left quad while I was out there, so gave it a good stretch when I got back. Seems fine now.


Splits:

Mile 1 - 7:41
Mile 2 - 7:25
Mile 3 - 7:37
Mile 4 - 7:37
Mile 5 - 7:38
Mile 6 - 7:32
Mile 7 - 7:39
Mile 8 - 7:40
Mile 9 - 7:37
Mile 10 - 7:38
Mile 11 - 7:31
Mile 12 - 7:46

Friday 12th September (Day 40/56) - 8-10k Tune up Race (9-11m total)
Yasso 800 Session (9.72 miles total)


1.2m warm-up

(Rep Target: 2:55, Actual: 2:53 average)

Rep 1 - 2:54
Rep 2 - 2:53
Rep 3 - 2:54
Rep 4 - 2:53
Rep 5 - 2:52
Rep 6 - 2:53
Rep 7 - 2:53
Rep 8 - 2:52
Rep 9 - 2:53
Rep 10 - 2:52

*I took 400m active recoveries between reps

1.06m cool down


After some more good advice on here I decided to complete this session rather than the recommended race, as I felt I'd done enough racing in this cycle and would get similar benefits from this workout with a quicker recovery. When I awoke this morning, my legs were like two wooden planks. Very, very stiff. I made sure to give them a good going over with the foam roller, as I didn't want to take any chances and was willing to leave it until this evening before going out for this if necessary. However, the results after rolling the right spots for 20-30mins were amazing and I felt like I'd been given a new pair of legs when I was finished. Decided to hit the road straight after that. Had originally been thinking of heading to the track again for this, but looking outside it seemed like we had another pleasant morning upon us with minimal wind, so I chanced doing it along the coast. I should have known that was a pretty unwise decision!
This was a far more difficult workout than I had given it credit for. I was hoping for individual splits of 2:55 (3:38min/km) to mirror my Berlin Marathon target and mistakenly thought this would be pretty handy, considering I only had to complete half a mile at a time going slower than 5k pace. After little over a mile warm-up, I got stuck into the first rep. The usual strong breeze was present along the coast and I immediately realised this wouldn't be anywhere near as easy as I had expected. The East of Ireland Marathon series (10 in 10?) seemed to be taking place this morning along the promenade, so I moved out to the footpath so I wouldn't be mistaken for a competitor in that. What makes this workout so tough is the fact that once you go beyond your comfort zone, you know you've still got a huge amount of reps ahead of you, so it's vital to conserve energy while trying to hit the target splits at the same time. I suppose it stops you getting complacent though. I certainly didn't and stuck with my race attitude of digging in to hold pace, knowing that the further I held it together on target, the harder it then becomes to f*ck it up! It wasn't until I completed the 8th rep that I knew I had the session in the bag on target. Final average for the splits was 2:53. Very happy with this. Really enjoyed the last mile or so cooling down, knowing I had gotten this under my belt. I didn't need to walk any of the recoveries either which was additionally pleasing . That's the last of my hard running in this plan, apart from the final VO2 Max session in the middle of next week. In the meantime, I've basically got two rest days ahead of me now as I won't be attempting my long run until Sunday evening sometime.

Murph_D wrote: »

Great session. You're in fine shape for your goal time. Even more impressively, you lasted a long time on the foam roller. What's the secret?

No secret. Think I just like pain

Sunday 14th September (Day 42/56) - 17m Long Run
17 miles @ 7:52p/m average

This was one of the most difficult runs I have ever completed. I always knew it was going to be a struggle, after a very long & over-indulgent (but thoroughly enjoyable) day yesterday. But that would be a complete understatement. I had the mother of all hangovers today and couldn't even move until around 4pm. I toyed with the idea of pushing it back to tomorrow, but really didn't want to do that if at all possible. At around 6:30pm, I manned up enough to go out the door. The best way I can describe it is: 2 hours, 13 minutes and 47 seconds of hell! I don't feel like I'm exaggerating. But it's done.


Splits:

Mile 1 - 7:59
Mile 2 - 7:58
Mile 3 - 7:49
Mile 4 - 7:58
Mile 5 - 7:55
Mile 6 - 7:52
Mile 7 - 7:53
Mile 8 - 7:53
Mile 9 - 7:54
Mile 10 - 7:51
Mile 11 - 7:53
Mile 12 - 7:47
Mile 13 - 7:57
Mile 14 - 7:52
Mile 15 - 7:50
Mile 16 - 7:43
Mile 17 - 7:44

Pacing Mule wrote: »

LOL 17 miles with a massive hangover.

Yaboya Before ...



Yaboya after

I still feel like the top one......

Tuesday 16th September (Day 44/56) - 7m General Aerobic (with 8 x 100m Strides)
7 miles @ 7:25p/m average

I hate these runs! They should be relatively comfortable considering the pace I'm doing them at, but I've had to complete two of these sessions in the past fortnight and found them both horrible. As much as I'm looking forward to Berlin, I'm glad it's 12 days away as I wouldn't fancy myself at all if it was on this Sunday.


Splits:

Mile 1 - 7:40
Mile 2 - 7:28
Mile 3 - 7:30
Mile 4 - 7:38
Mile 5 - 7:37
Mile 6 - 6:26*
Mile 7 - 7:36

*Strides in Mile 6 (so I could use the lamp posts along the promenade as markers)

Thursday 18th September (Day 46/56) - 8m (with 3 x 1,600m @ VO2Max)

2.02m warm-up

3 x 1,600m splits (with 4:00min recovery)

1 - 5:30
2 - 5:28
3 - 5:27

1.83m cool down


I've been dreading this session all week. I haven't done anything quick since last week and was afraid I wouldn't be able to hit the targets. Anyway I literally felt sick before I went out and was already making excuses in my head. I'm not sure how much of this was mental, but I was sweating during the warm up and felt I was going to vomit if I went any faster. I knew it would do me no favours (especially confidence wise) if this didn't go well though, with virtually nothing else to test me between now and the big day. This was my final mock exam. I decided sick or not, I'd be doing my best to nail this. 3:27min/km is the current 5k pb pace, so splits of 5:31 for the 1600m were the targets. After jogging for two miles I began the first interval. 400m in I was already starting to feel it. but when I looked at the watch that was because I was moving at 3:10min/km pace . Knowing I could afford to slow a bit and still hit the target definitely helped my mental state and I relaxed after that. The other two followed a pretty similar pattern, and although I did feel like vomiting (I didn't :P) I managed to get through them all on target without any walking recoveries. Amazingly I now feel much better physically after completing that. Maybe it was all in my head???