Moving on up ...

annapr wrote: »

hills, wind... you have to be a bit adaptable

laura_ac3 wrote: »

I'm beginning to think we're all having an off week for various reasons!! Refocus for a fresh week.

Ah yeah ... not too bothered and not planning to extend the dossing!

Am still on track for highest-monthly-mileage-ever if I get to Tuesday intervals ...

laura_ac3 wrote: »

Really? That's great. Ticking along nicely so. Any races planned other than your 7 hills?

Almost definitely the Battle of Clontarf 10miles on Easter Monday.

+ I hope the Black Rock '5' on May15th (iconic 4.6mile road race in Fife taking in a bit of beach, sea, and a big hill up to the finish, then a beer for every finisher). That one sells out in minutes so I'll be at my computer ready to pounce at 7pm on Good Friday

Walked home from work in the wind and freezing cold with a light dusting of sleet falling down ... back at the flat, into the running gear, and out the door again to head to intervals. Only a bit of light rain falling now. Got to the park a tiny bit late so missed the first repeat ... then on the second repeat the timekeeper missed me. So only got times for three repeats. Enjoyed this session quite a bit because there was a girl in a pink top running the same loop as me and we were a similar pace. So there was a bit of over-taking and re-taking . She definitely had the edge for the sprint finish though ... I beat her on one or two of the first laps. A bloomin dog on an elastic lead caused havoc for me on the third one after I'd nicely overtaken my competition, lost my advantage .. then tried very hard to catch her at the end of the leg but couldn't do it. Was ahead for the first 2/3 of the 4th repeat but she powered ahead of me after that, and I couldn't even get close. Good fun . Made myself do a fifth repeat by myself after everyone else had finished. Then one easy loop of the park and an easy run home.

Tuesday, 31st March: 1.6miles w/u, 5x650m on 6min clock, 3miles c/d (6.5miles total)
Was without my Garmin so no clue about paces for the w/u or c/d miles, they were easy though. Repeats were [?, 2:55, 2:56, 2:54, ?]. Not too much progress yet, but I'll stick at it.

Which makes ...

March total: 134 miles

All time record . Not sure whether to be delighted or embarrassed about that. Main thing will be to keep it up.

In honour of the occasion am "adapting" Adrian's tables:

Runs|18
Sessions|5
Long Runs|5
Races|0
parkruns|1

Month|2013|2014|2015
January|55|85|70
February|69|9|96
March|53|57|134
April|85|61
May|65|71
June|51|43
July|25|99
August|84|120
September|18|131
October|83|0
November|78|3
December|53|56
Total|719|735|300

annapr wrote: »

good going in March!! lovely table too

laura_ac3 wrote: »

Very consistent looking times there. Impressive mileage as well considering you were coming back from injury not so long ago. All coming along nicely!

Firedance wrote: »

very impressive mileage for March H your training is really coming along. Love the table!

Ah you all know well where I got the table . Hoping to see similar progress as the inventor if I keep the mileage up. Plan for April, May, June is to be around 30-35mile weeks, so slightly higher mileage than March...

Wednesday, 1st April: 6.59miles "get the passport" steady run @8:57
Forgot to take my passport along to work this morning and this was my last chance to print off the check-in. So did my planned run as an out-and-back via the scenic route back to the flat. Most of my running has been at easy pace over the past couple of months, so I decided to try for a steady run... was just about there. Bit of wind but not strong enough to complain about for once. Had a decent downhill in mile 2 and less so in mile 3, so those are quicker (and vice versa for miles 5, 4). Effort fairly consistent I think.
[9:11, 8:25, 8:47, [5mins break], 9:07, 9:32, 8:47, .59 @8:35]

Next run should be the Howth trail run, schedule & cough allowing. Then 3 miles on Saturday and probably the Battle of Clontarf on the Monday.

annapr wrote: »

Best of luck today!! Hope all goes well and you enjoy it!

Hmmmm... can't say I enjoyed all of it, was a teensy bit too warm for me. But fairly happy with it & the walk down to Clontarf in the sunshine afterwards was very enjoyable

Bungy Girl wrote: »

Well done - great time !!

I think as good as I could have hoped for with the extra little bit of heat. I have 1:26:05 on the Garmin which is only a bit off what McMillan said. Thanks for the cheer on the finishing straight, I was really pushing at that stage so it was appreciated!

Monday, 6th April: Battle of Clontarf 10miles in 1:26:09 (8:37pace)
The forecast promised no wind, so I was looking forward to this one... walked into town early to catch the 130 and missed the 8:30 bus. But was in loads of time for the 9:00am and that brought me out to St Annes in plenty of time for registration. Fairview Park was looking gorgeous with all the daffodils basking under the sun and the coast behind as we drove past... Got to St Anne's, registered no problem and sorted out the chip, and headed up to the start to have a quick chat with Dubgal rocking a Bray singlet and some retro shorts a-la Zooey Deschanel.
St Anne's has perfect satellite coverage, my Garmin has never found the GPS so fast. Just as well, because there was no messing about with the race start, we headed off bang on time at 10am. My plan was to take the first few miles about around 8:36-8:40 and I *nearly* succeeded. The first two miles were a little bit faster than planned at 8:29, 8:28 but I was feeling comfortable and didn't feel I'd pushed too hard. Was running alongside a girl in a pastel green singlet from a mile in and she was breathing heavier than me so I was using that as a gauge that I was feeling better than her. Pretty sure I saw RedRunner and a small companion just before the first mile mark?
Anyway after mile 2 we were coming to the start of the first big-lap of the run (we were going to do this twice). Lost a little bit of pace on this at 8:36, but noticed that I passed the mile-marker before the Garmin beeped. Then on mile 4 I was feeling the heat and now I was losing even more pace. I was able to make up some of the time, but the split still ended up as 9:01. Now I was worrying about the rest of the run, and how that was likely to play out .... I was feeling the heat and I had a vision of 6 more 9:00+ miles and that didn't feel too good even though that was the C-goal. Did have some thoughts of DNF ... or the milder option of just finishing it out at comfortable ~9:15 or so. But passed the 4-mile marker even later this time and began to hope there might be some Garmin error from the trees and the bends of miles 3 and 4 ... that gave a little bit of hope (and as it turned out, it seems that was part of the explanation). All the same at that point I was sure that sub 87 would be the absolute best outcome now.
The next couple of miles finishing off that lap were tough but decently under 9min pace so things were looking a bit better. But I knew I wasn't going to be able to push until the last mile or two the way things were going. Was running behind/alongside/in-front-of the pastel-green singlet all through these miles ... plus an older gent from Raheny AC who I was passing on the uphills, and then being caught again on the flats and downs...
Now the second lap of the main loop, and again a slow mile with mile 7 coming in over 9min pace. C'est la vie. We were coming up a small hill early in mile 8 and I did take a few steps walk ... got a bit of encouragement from the friend that pastel-green-singlet now had alongside her and off I went again. Repaid the courtesy by picking up a bit of pace and leaving them behind :rolleyes:. By this stage the guy from Raheny was already in our wake. Was able to pick up the pace slightly in the final couple of miles with the 9th mile coming out at 8:40 and the final mile (or .88) at 8:10 pace. Passed about 8 people I think in these final 2 and half miles, and was only passed by two. There is an out and back around the 9mile point and I got a bit of encouragement from pastel-green-singlet which was nice as I was a bit ahead of her by now. Really pushed on the final mile ... a bit of help with that on the finishing straight by trying to prevent a challenger from passing me (in fact not sure whether I 'won' this one or not, I was so focused on the finish line), and also getting a cheer from BG and family. I hope I didn't scare the child, sure I looked a fright
Was very happy to see 1:26:xx on the clock as I went across the line, and better, to see 1:26:05 on the watch. Got confirmation of the Garmin mis-calculations with the distance showing as 9.88.
Miles: 8:29, 8:29, 8:36, 9:01, 8:53, 8:37, 9:18, 8:48, 8:40, .88 @8:10.

Dropped my chip, a quick look for BG who had moved on by now, a quick chat with Dubgal who had an incredible performance, then changed & had a lovely leisurely walk in the sun to Clontarf to meet friends for brunch.

Not the A-goal but am happy with the 86:09 official time . Don't think I could have run it a second faster. I don't tend to do well in the heat so an extra minute or so is fine (and good to get a bit of warm-weather training too). Only 30secs off the McMillan prediction and I'm sure I'd have been a minute faster in cooler weather which goes to show he is always right (on this data point anyway ).