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

AuldManKing wrote: »

I'm considering St Annes on Saturday

Cool I plan to be there anyway so might chase you for the first lap and see how it goes from there.

Duanington wrote: »

Playing catchup a bit here M - well done on Sunday, great report and a good start to the year for you

Cheers D. Welcome Home:)

28/01/2015 - 8.26m @ avg pace 08:46 (Easy)

Plan had 8-10m easy today. Got just over 8 in and although the pace was far slower than I would have liked there was nothing easy about them. Cold, wet, miserable run which I was glad to see the back of. A couple of twinges behind my left knee which I also felt yesterday. Will keep an eye on it during the week.

menoscemo wrote: »

Were you running incognito yesterday or something? Because it seems like you were right there yet I never spotted you....

Was running late and arrived just at start. Saw you as you finished but when I came back from my cool down I didn't see you so assumed you had jumped ship.

i see you are on the results as having run a new parkrun PB. Good running.

menoscemo wrote: »

Thanks but Parkrun PB is a minute behind the real one!!
I went straight out for a c/d jog back to the car in clontarf. Still and all, you must have been right in front of me and I didn't see you, I was looking out for you and all!!

Must have been the nappy buff I had on my head that made me hard to spot:)

29/01/2015 - 6.61m @ 08:05 avg pace (Easy w/9x100m Strides)

Life got in the way so had to swap the planned 2hr Progression Run with some easy miles. The easy miles felt a lot easier today than yesterday although the strides didn't feel as good as they did last week.

30/01/2015 - 15.6m @ 07:50 avg pace (2hr "Progression" Run)

Kicked this off with a rough plan to go back to the progression format I followed last year which was breaking it into 3 sections 6/5/5 with planned avg paces at 08:00/07:40/07:20. First 6 miles went according to plan and were helped by the fact that I was heading towards Sutton with the wind behind me. Turned towards Baldoyle for the next section which brought me straight into the wind. The next 6 miles were pretty much into the wind and uphill. Section 2 only got to 07:50 avg pace with mile 11 being the slowest of the day. Last 2 miles were downhill so managed to get them into the 07:30s. Overall this was a good session and while the pace was slower than planned the effort was all it needed to be. Quads really felt like they had worked hard on this one.

01/02/2015 - parkrun St Anne's 18:25 (5th place finisher)

Headed up to parkrun with no real plan other than to stretch my legs with a sub 20 run. I was kinda hoping that AMK didn't show up for a hurtfest parkrun as I might have had to chase him for a while:pac:

After a 1.5m warm-up I lined up about 6/7 rows from the front. As we lined up I saw a regular sub 18 parkrunner a couple of rows ahead. At the off I decided to try to keep in contact with her as see how I got on. I was a little off the pace and as a result ended up on a solo run in 8th about 5/10 yards behind a group of 5 with 1st and 2nd another 20/30 yards ahead. As we approached the end of lap one I was still holding the gap and the 2nd place guy was rapidly coming back to the group. One guy in purple had come back a little towards me so decided I would target him on lap two.

As we hit the 3km mark the sub 18 runner pushed ahead and it wasn't long before she was in second on her own. The guy in purple also kicked on and started to make up ground on the guys ahead. I was happy to chase him and somewhere around the 4km mark we past 2 guys so I was now in 6th with the purple t-shirt guy still ahead. As we headed down the avenue I decided to do something I haven't done in a long time. I committed to the chase and prepared myself so some real pain. I was either going to pass the guy in purple or feel some serious pain trying and wasn't stopping until I crossed the line. I hadn't looked at the watch at all and didn't care about the time. I wasn't going to use the fact that I was most likely off PB pace as a cope out. The guy in purple knew I was approaching as he could hear me blowing from 5 yards back. He pushed on again. With 400 to go I made my move and past him like a train.....blowing like an old stream train rather than flying like a Eurostar:D. He didn't respond but I pushed all the way to the line regardless. I was pleasantly surprised to see the watch saying 18:25 which is only 6secs off my PB. Very happy with my days work. Finished off with a 0.5m cool-down followed by coffee and token sorting. Marthastew joined us for coffee and as always it was good to catch up.

This brought a close to a January that saw me run everyday and clock up a total of 242 miles. 1st 200+ month since September. In fact, I was only 9 mile short of beating my combined mileage for Nov and Dec. January also saw me get back into doing some quality sessions courtesy of Ecolii's Continuity Training Thread and getting the reward in a sub 30 PB run in Raheny. Good start to the year.

Plan for February is to do more of the same and keep building my speed and strength in advance of Ballycotton. Main extra focus will be to try to get back doing some stretching and to get my diet under control. Haven't stopped eating sh1t since Christmas.

Murph_D wrote: »

Hell and Back? Come on Mark, spill the beans...

Hey D, not sure I should be even mentioning that on this forum. Mods might be after me:)

But I threw caution to the wind and put a quick summary up above just for you:D

Good craic and a great day out.

05/02/2015 7.5m @ 07:56 avg pace (Easy w/9x100m Strides)

This week is a bit all over the place. Plan called for 55min MP with wu and cd either side. Time was against me so swapped in tomorrow's easy with strides instead. As with yesterday I hit the road immediately when I got in. Did my now regular 7miler route up Watermill Rd, down Howth Road and back along the coast finishing with a mile of strides between baths and bull wall. All good. Another nice evening for running. Not having the wind to worry about does really make it much more pleasant out there.

Note to self.....reduce the coffee intake during the day to avoid having to make emergency pitstop in the Beachcomber:)

06/02/2015 3.96m @ 09:15 avg pace (Recovery with dog)

Pushed for time today as I picked golf over running in the afternoon so just managed a 4m recovery run with the dog before the Wales v England game. Apart from an embarrassing little trip over the dog that left me panned out on the footpath this was uneventful.

07/02/2015 parkun St Anne's - 17:42 (3rd Finisher)

Had an early breakfast and dodgy stomach before leaving the house to run up to parkrun. Also did a little foam rolling to loosing out the calves as they were a little tight.

christeb was talking during the week about getting a speedy Raheny guy to pace him in a Sub 18 attempt today. I had said I would tag along and see if I could hang on the back and dip under the 18min mark myself. As previously mentioned I haven't run a 5k in a serious attempt at breaking my 5k PB of 18:19 since it was set in Oct 2013.

After a 1.5m warm-up I arrived at the start area and did a some stretching before saying hello to Murph who was timekeeper for today and to Ferris B and Annapr both of who were returning after layoff. Good to see them back and was glad to see Ferris doing exactly what the doctor order;)

christeb's pacer wasn't available but I assumed he was going for it anyway so lined up just behind him. He took off like a rocket and I jumped in behind. We were 1 and 2 after the first 200m meters. By 400m I had been passed by two lads and knew I was never going to be able to hold the pace so I let them move ahead and tried to find a rhythm.

As we approached the 1km mark I was passed by a female runner. I knew the female runner was a very solid sub 18min runner as she has been leading female finisher in St Anne's on all 16 occasions that she has run it. I now had a new plan and that was it sit on her shoulder for as long as I could. She was moving very comfortably and I settled in for another 14/15mins of pain.

By the time we passed the half way stage we were 2nd and 3rd with the lead runner a 100m+ ahead and building his lead all the time. Murph called the spilt at what I think was 8:57 but could have been 8:47 I just know it started with an 8 which was good enough for me at that stage. Not long after the 3km the female runner took advantage of a small downhill to push ahead and I slipped back by a couple of yards. All was not lost and I was still in touch. The 4th km was very tough and I was really feeling the pain. I had to refocus here to get my stride back. As we reached the top corner I was maintaining the gap to 2nd but as I rounded the corner I could see the next runner who had definitely gained on me.

Hit the main avenue and now had 900m left. I was breathing like a stream train and could hear the foot steps behind me. I pushed a little and made a couple of yards back on the runner ahead but I still had 30/40m to make up. Runner behind was still 20/30m or thereabouts behind.

Next marker was to cross the yellow line on the Avenue which is about 400m out. At this point I started to bring the arms in and felt I still had a little to give if the tracking runner caught me. I don't know how far the runner in front was ahead at this stage as the last 400m is a bit of a blur. I knew where the finish was and with 200m to go I pumped the arms and empty the tank. I think Murph will agree with me that I finished eyeballs out. Had to catch my breath before even stopping the watch. I was chuffed and to be honest a little surprised when Murph confirmed the time as 17:42 and a 38sec PB:pac:

Congratulated the runners before and after me and thanked them for their help in pushing me to a pretty all out effort PB which saw me as 3rd finisher overall and 2nd male finisher.

After 0.5m cool-down I linked up with Ferris who had just set himself a very decent comeback PB. We did another 0.5m lap before adjourning for coffee.

Splits were: 05:48/05:42/05:54.....with pace for last 0.1 showing as 04:44/m:eek:

For me this was one of the good days that we all train for and makes the bad days worth it........it is funny sometimes the things that make you smile and today I have been wearing a sneaky little smirk allday. I am sure tomorrow it will be back to a grimace as I struggle through the 12 miler I have to do to keep my 100% Jantastic record:D

AuldManKing wrote: »

Cracking time today!!

Cheers A. VERY Happy with it:)

ThebitterLemon wrote: »

Out with it Waldorf, we all know you're bursting to tell us!

TbL

It is not often you are right, TbL

Murph_D wrote: »

I thought he was Statler?

I thought I was too, Murph but sure if you kept correcting auldfellas like TbL everytime they get a little mixed up you'd have no time for running:D

yaboya1 wrote: »

Great run Mark.
Well done


Can't believe you got chicked though.....:pac:

Cheers P. I was going to leave that bit out but I was making sure I got my defence in first before Murph got his chance to "clarify"..........she matched her PB to beat me, does that make it better:o