Confessions of a never has been.....

Duanington · 11-04-2015 09:56PM

11.04.2015

Wednesday

AM - 4 miles easy into work, too long ago to remember much about this one

PM - 6.5 miles easy after work, nice run. Calves were still a little stiff from the 2 races over the weekend. Energy levels felt very good despite the stiffness, no idea of the pace on either run as I had no watch with me.

Thursday

Out on an early lunch for my hill session, plan was for:

12x30 second hill reps @ 5k effort (jog back recoveries)

Needed a good warmup for this so I took it very handy over the first mile or so before upping the pace a little for the reaminder, bringing the warmup section to 2.5 miles.

Made my way to my hill to get started on the session, had a bit of company for most of this which actually made the session a little easier.
Kept the effort levels good right through each rep and felt strong all the way through to the end of the session. The jog back recoveries made it tough going towards the end of course but I was always able to put in the work on each rep.

Finished off with a couple of easy miles to take the total to 7.5, this was a really good session - one of those when you just know it has hit the sweet spot afterwards.

PM - 3 recovery miles along the coast followed by some core work. Enjoyable run on a very nice night. Enjoyed plodding along on the grass, kept the pace to around 9 min\miles

Friday

AM - 4 miles easy into work, had a very early start on Friday morning so this run was done in almost total silence along the coast. Beautiful morning for running. the legs felt a little better than the day before despite the hill session.

PM - 4 miles easy, usual run home from work. Again, kept the pace all nice and easy even though I was tempted to up the effort a little at times. Legs felt good, had a little wind at my back - another generally nice run.

Saturday

7.5 miles with 6@tempo effort ( Great Ireland Run !)

Up and out the door nice and early with the kids for today's now annual trip to the park. The youngest was running in the mini run and my sister was running her first 10k so we'd a good day planned ahead.

Arrived to the park nice and early, ditched the car and made our way to the starting areas where we had a few cups of tea and took in the atmosphere as it started to build.
Had a great bit of craic at the mini run with my youngest, she did her usual trick of sprinting off for the first 50 metres, jogging, walking, moaning, asking for a carry for the next 1400 metres and sprinted home for the last 50 metres.

Great craic

I had today pencilled in as a tough tempo run and the conditions\course were perfect to provide the chance to do just that.
I left watch at home today, not on purpose as it happens but I turned down the chance to have someone bring it to the park when it dawned on me that it may not be the worst thing to have happen.
Took in a warmup of around 1.5 miles with my sister before getting to our respective starting pens - Saw Marthastew CRUising ( get it?) past the roundabout around the 3k mark on our way back.

I was only in the starting pen when the announcer started the race which caught me a little by suprise - I was a little too far back for comfort ( my own fault for having no watch !) so the first mile or so was a little slower than I had planned, I spent most of it skipping around people and spent the 2nd mile or so running along the bike track\grass. I can't complain though, I love these environments, there was a good buzz on the day and even though I was dodging traffic, I was moving well and enjoying it.
The field opened up a little just before the S bends and I started a bit of hard work , moving up the field and working hard on each hill as it came.
I kept the effort levels just outside of race pace most of the time on this one, with no watch it was tough to get this right but if I had to guess, I would say the first half was more HMP than tempo, the second half was probably spot on.

The wind was a realy b*tch on the stretch from the S bends to the furry glenn, the road here was very exposed and I could see quite a few people struggling to stick with it. Down the glenn and back out, I upped the pace just a little after the 9k marker , picking off some people along the way - one lad shot by with around 400m to go and although I was tempted to go after him, I settled into a nice finishing stride rather than a burst for the line.

Crossed the line with 40.something on the clock and a chip time of 39.57

Great workout in the end, great day out - tough conditions all round but I felt strong and controlled most of the way - I still love any race in the Phoenix Park, we're lucky to have it peeps

( Sister was also chuffed with her first 10k)

No time for a warmdown so I got out this evening for 4 recovery miles.

11.7 for the day

Duanington · 20-04-2015 11:37AM

20.04.2015

Busy week last week with work\family so I had to take a couple of days off before getting back into things on Tuesday.

Sunday\Monday - off

Tuesday

Glad to be back at it - I actually had the day off work as it happens so got this run in earlier than I normally would. A few scoops the night before left the head feeling fairly fuzzy so rather than mope around the house too long, I got the gear on and headed out for my LSR of the week.
Took a windy, bumpy route around Clontarf, Raheny, Donaghmede, Donnycarney and worked it almost perfectly so that I finished off back where I had left the car the previous night ( and guzzled a bottle of water).
My legs felt great and despite the heat\hangover I really enjoyed this one

14.5 miles @ 7.57 min\mile

Wednesday

AM - early morning run into work, kept the pace down as always and once again I felt great. I've stopped using the bike lane on the coast now as the grass is nice and dry these days. Beautiful morning for it
4 miles easy

PM - Run home from work, another enjoyable one. Dropped the backpack off and tagged on a little more
6.5 miles easy

Thursday

Busy day at work but working from home so I nipped out at lunch for this week's hill session;

16x30sec hills ( 10k effort) with jog back recovery

Another cracking day for running, got in a nice warmup before starting the session.
Within the first couple of reps it became apparent that this was going to be a real tough session. Maybe the slightly slower pace through me a bit or perhaps the rising temperature was playing its part?
Either way, it was a toughie but I got through all 16 reps and I'm pretty sure I held the effort levels right until the end.
Quads were burning a little towards the end - tough but good session.

Ran a warmdown to bring the total to 7.5 miles

Core work\stretching in the PM then 3 recovery miles.

Total for the day: 10.5 miles

Friday

AM - 4 miles easy. Quads and Glutes were feeling the burn on this one so dropped the pace right down to recovery levels on the way into work.

PM - 4 miles easy. Felt a whole lot better on this run...ate very well during the day and after a really tough day at the office I was only too happy to throw on the gear and get out running in the sun. The coast looked pretty amazing in the evening sun, the tide was in, people were out training on the grass verge - lovely run

Saturday

I had scheduled in a HMP session this morning, the first real tester of this training block. Set the clock very early, came down for a quick banana and by the time I had reached the kitchen, I knew I wouldn't be running the session.
I could still feel the hills in the legs\arse so decided to put off the HMP session for a day to give an extra day's recovery.
Took in 6 miles easy instead, nasty wind out on the coast so it worked out quite well

6 miles @ 8.15 min\miles

Sunday

AM - up nice and early again and snuck out for 4 easy miles while the kids were still conked out. Tough session later in the day but I kept the effort down and just soaked in the atmosphere on the coast road.

PM - a bit of work on the chin up bar, some stability work then out for the rescheduled session:

10 miles w\8@hmp

Took in a warmup then got started straight away into the HMP section. Headed down into Fairview, lapped the park there then headed back out the coast before heading up into Raheny.

Felt good on this for the most part but I did get a stitch around the mid-way point which stayed with me for a couple of miles - I'm not sure where this came from, maybe running into the wind had my breathing messed up? Anyway, it cleared off after around the 6 mile mark thankfully.

Strange session, I found the first couple of miles tough enough, had that p*xy stitch in the middle part , started to feel good and felt nicely jaded at the end.

Got in a warmdown to bring the total to 10.5 miles

HMP splits ( hoped to keep it in the 6.25-6.30 range):

6.27
6.25
6.28
6.25
6.22
6.24
6.28
6.25

Registered for the Wexford half next Sunday to see where I'm at over the distance right now

Duanington · 21-04-2015 11:23AM

21.04.2015

Monday

Took the morning off to give the legs a breather following the previous night's session. Another hectic day in the office and as always I was glad to get the gear on and head off for my run home.

I took a slightly roundabout route home to give me 5 recovery miles - no real idea of pace but it felt recoveryish :-)

Legs were tired but not sore on this one.

I've mailed a couple of running clubs to get an idea of training times, hoping to get down to train over the next few weeks but finding the right time\day slot to make training is my biggest issue ( with work\family etc)...we'll see

Duanington · 26-04-2015 03:48PM

Wexford half marathon 1.24.20 unofficial , delighted with the time...hard work over the last 4 miles . Report to follow , PB beers for now !

FBOT01 · 26-04-2015 03:51PM

Nice one, D. With all the marathon activity this weekend you snuck that one in nicely. Great run. Enjoy the PB beers!!

tang1 · 26-04-2015 04:01PM

FBOT01 wrote: »

Nice one, D. With all the marathon activity this weekend you snuck that one in nicely. Great run. Enjoy the PB beers!!

+1 to that, great running D, enjoy those beers indeed, well earned.

dintbo · 27-04-2015 06:51AM

Great time D well done. The last few miles were pretty tough with that wind!

yaboya1 · 27-04-2015 09:16AM

Duanington wrote: »

Wexford half marathon 1.24.20 unofficial , delighted with the time...hard work over the last 4 miles . Report to follow , PB beers for now !

Well done D.
Hope you enjoyed the beers.

Duanington · 28-04-2015 11:01AM

28.04.2015

Been a bit slack with updating the log over the past week or so - busy, busy, busy.

Tuesday

No run in the morning, with the half booked for the end of the week, I had planned to limit the number of doubles this week ( even if my doubles are pretty short ).

6 miles easy for the day

Wednesday

As above!

Thursday

Out for my lunch hour to get a steady session in - pretty straightforward route, up towards Sutton along the cycle track, turn around and come home.
Really enjoyed the 2nd half of this, I found the first half a little "blowy" but running along the coast on the track can be great sometimes - the surface is flat and smooth and of course the scenery can be fantastic.

I was careful not to overcook the effort on this run, with fresh legs it can be tempting to up the effort levels a bit and see where you go!

Splits were:
8.05
7.10
7.05
6.55
6.57
7.00
8.30

Some core work and stretching afterwards.

Friday

4 miles easy - just another run home from work. Kept the pace down again and I somehow dodged a couple of heavy downpours - the sun was actually blazing for most of this run and then the heaven's opened when I got home

Saturday

Out at lunch time for 3 easy miles - just to shake the legs out a bit I threw in some HMP strides. Kept this to the grass in Clontarf, nice and bouncy !

Did a few minutes on the chin up bar later

Duanington · 29-04-2015 02:29PM

29.04.2015

Wexford half marathon

At the start of the year, I had penciled in a half marathon for the end of Spring to tell a tale as to where I was over the distance. The hope was that I would have had a good block of training done by that stage and although the focus would be over 5k\10k distances up until that point, my limited knowledge on training\running probably means that I train in a manner that benefits all 3 distances ( without ever mastering any of them!).

I like to combine half marathons with a night away somewhere, away from Dublin – it’s a great way to get a few friends together and see parts of the country that you wouldn’t normally be in. Achill, Athlone and Waterford last year were great weekends away and 2 of the 3 were successful races for me too J

Someone mentioned Wexford to me a while back as a possibility – the “record breaking” course as the organizers call it (slightly misleading if you ask me) looked to be reasonably flat with enough drags and bumps along the way to keep it honest, 90 minutes or so by car away and the hope of some good weather made it the obvious choice.

The week leading up to Wexford was really just spent taking in some easy days, I had one good HMP session 7 days out - in hindsight, this was possibly a little close for comfort for me but by the day before the race itself, I felt fresh and ready to test myself properly.

Having rounded up a few travel companions (including a 1.14 half marathon man), we were on the road bright and early on Sunday morning. Good craic in the car on the way down with no real talk of the race itself. We arrived in Wexford before 9, got parked and went for a stroll around the town….the first thing that struck each of us as we stepped out of the car was the freezing cold wind…it really was biting and was fairly strong too, we retreated to the warmth of the Talbot Hotel for 30 minutes or so where a nice crowd had gathered, adding to the atmosphere.

Myself and the 1.14 lad headed off for a warmup with about 25 minutes to go…taking in a couple of easy miles with some strides and chatting a good bit about running in general (it turns out there really is no secretJ ), the other 2 lads that were running went off to do their own thing and having wished everyone well, we all made our ways to our separate starting areas. I lined up just beside the 1.30 pacers and waited for the gun. I was feeling good and warm despite the wind but I’d be lying if I wasn’t concerned a little by it’s strength. I didn’t know the route at all but knew there would be very exposed sections along the way and could only hope that I’d be running in a good group during those sections. ( I also knew that the wind was coming from the North which would possibly make the last few miles very tough if they were exposed)

Miles 1-3 ( 6.07, 6.18, 6.33)

3,2,1 and we were off, big cheers from the crowd as we headed down the quay for about 400 metres before doing a U turn out onto the road onto the route. I was a little boxed in but wasn’t worried at this stage, once the road allowed for it, I’d pass the crowd in front ( which somehow included the 1.30 pacers). Winding our way through the town, I could feel the pace was maybe a little hot for me so I decided to get out in front of the crowd ahead and relax into my planned race pace (6.25). The first beep told me exactly what I had suspected, I had gone out too fast and even though the effort felt fine, I was well aware that there would surely be tougher times ahead so I eased off the gas just a little, trying to settle into a nice rhythm as early as possible. I was running in a much smaller group now, maybe 5 or so runners, with 2 distinct groups up ahead, moving away as the race ticked by – I was happy enough to stay put so long as the pace was right ( letting a couple of people pass me during the 2nd mile).

Once the watch beeped for the 2nd mile, I knew I was back on track pace-wise and I was feeling quite strong, enjoying the scenery of the sheltered country roads that we had moved onto. Pretty soon into the 2nd mile, I started to feel the effects of a long drag that we had moved onto…the roads were a but up and down so there was lots of short climbs then even shorter drops but I knew that we were climbing overall, I could feel it in my legs. Around this point, I also became aware that I was monitoring the watch FAR too much and wasting energy in doing so, I decided to forget the watch for a bit and just make sure that I could manage the route ok.

Mile 3 beeped – 6.33 and on we went

Miles 4, 5 and 6 (6.27, 6.17 and 6.29)

The long drag continued right the way through mile 4, I found myself running with a lad who was aiming for 1.25 but like me, he didn’t know the course at all and was surprised at how bumpy the first few miles had been. The conditions actually felt good though, the wind was cold enough to keep the body temperature down and the sun was shining enough to make the whole route look impressive. Moving in towards the beautiful surrounds of Johnstown castle, the route started to dip a little and I could feel the pace quicken – without any change in effort. I really enjoyed this section, taking us in and around the picturesque grounds. We had maybe .5 mile of gravel to deal with which was a bit of a pain ( and definitely slowed the pace a tad) but before too long we had moved out of the castle grounds and starting our climb back out onto the roads South of the castle….the going was good but tough, I was feeling good about a PB but was still worried about the more exposed sections on the course that surely lay ahead.

Miles 7, 8 and 9 (6.15, 6.27, 6.29)

The route had flattened out nicely by the time we left the castle, lots of ups and downs as is the norm on country roads but I had found myself a new running partner at this stage, a local lad and was enjoying the challenge of working up the small hills with him. The shouts of support from the few supporters dotted along the way were a real help too, they were shouting for their local guy but I was happy enough to take them onboard aswell J

The roads along this stretch had less shelter on either side than we had for the first half of the race and the wind was starting to make its presence known – blowing across us because we had changed direction after leaving the castle. It didn’t feel like an issue at first but as we progressed through the section, it was blowing harder and harder – rattling my race number which always gives me the fear that it will blow off ( and nobody else’s seems to rattle like that either !), as we approached a sharp left turn ahead, I started to worry about having to run into the wind – that’s what it looked like we would be doing if my appalling sense of direction was to be trusted. Sure enough as we turned the corner, we were met by what seemed like a wall of wind. The route had turned north and we were now ploughing directly into it, I have to admit that my heart sank a little at this point, a panicky glance at the watch served only to sink things a little further when it read 6.45…this was going to be tough!

Miles 10, 11 and 12 ( 6.38, 6.30 and 6.31)

I had no idea where I was in terms of a 1.25 target at this stage, I couldn’t concentrate hard enough to do the maths so I gave up for a bit and tried to focus on the road ahead. I could see a group of 3 about 200 metres ahead and thought briefly about trying to catch them, my legs were starting to burn a little, my breathing was all over the shop and was that a stitch I was beginning to feel? Yep, it sure was.

I was working much harder than I had anticipated at this stage in the race and struggling to hold onto the pace in all honesty. My running buddy slowly drifted back away from me and the group ahead seemed to be holding their distance so within 5 minutes or so of turning into the wind, I was plodding along on my own. Thoughts of easing up and finishing at an easy pace started to enter my head, this was really hurting more than any session I had done – how could I expect to hold this effort for another 4 miles…? I passed the last water station without taking any water, I was actually a little thirsty but I was worried that I would break up the small bit of momentum I still had. “Its only wind D, you run through it ALL the time” – my usual self motivational pep talks weren’t working, this could was going to be a car crash if I didn’t man up pretty quickly…I was in danger of falling into that self pity trap that can lure me in when I’m struggling, the excuses were flooding in now, no specific HM training, sure its only a tester to see where you are, the lads will be along in 20 minutes or so – you could finish the race nice and easy with them and have a bit of craic along the way.

I started to think about other races and how I had responded to this kind of pain…by just shutting up and getting on with it, this felt different though, tougher, a harder challenge somehow. I remembered giving someone a piece of advice once ( a fellow boardsie actually) about how when I am struggling with nerves, I focus on the very basic mechanics of running – breathing, swinging my arms, striking the ground correctly …really focusing in on the basics….I decided to try my own advice for a bit to settle things down – if nothing else it would hopefully stop the rot and if the course got a bit sheltered again, I’d still be able to kick on. Within a minute of trying it, I felt better – not physically better, I was still hurting like hell and really battling into the wind but I felt in control again, the watch beeped 6.30 and I was surprised, I was fully expecting 7.xx to pop up. Having regained some sort of focus and control, I started to breath just a little better, a couple of nasty drags actually provided a little shelter from the breeze and I took a small bit of pleasure from forcing myself to up the effort a little to get them out of the way.

The signposts for Wexford town started to appear along the route, providing another little bit of comfort ( funny how, we know how far we have left to run from the watch but little things like this are far more comforting and reassuring ). Runners from the 10k which was taking place along parts of the route were appearing ahead now and I started to pick them off which helped distract me from the wind. The town was close now and while I was hurting bad and blowing hard, the dread which had engulfed me a few miles ago was starting to lift.

Entering the outskirts of Wexford town, the effort that goes into these races became obvious as the Gardai tried their best to please both motorist and runner at the first roundabout, a little further ahead, traffic cones and stewards ensured the safety of anyone taking part in the race, both took the time to give me a shout of encouragement as I moved past some of the tailenders from the 10k. Moving into Wexford town proper, I knew the finish line was less than a mile away, normally this is where I am more than capable of upping the pace big time and finishing with my quickest mile – not today, the previous few miles had left me drained and I had been hanging on for this section for quite a bit, I upped the effort levels but it was killing me to do it! The streets were starting fill up now with more and more people stopping to cheer runners on, the wind was almost gone with the buildings providing shelter. I could hear the announcer at the finish line now and dug a little deeper again, I knew I was nearly there and just needed a burst to ensure a good PB. My 1.14 buddy appeared up ahead, medal around his neck, roaring words of encouragement (blatantly lying to me and telling me I was looking strong !)….the finishing chute appeared ahead, the crowds, the atmosphere…the pain disappeared almost instantly as I put the boot down for the last stretch, crossing the line in 1.24.20

Medal, banana, water…..relief

Got in a warmdown almost straight after and did a little stretching, my legs were really feeling the effects which made me feel a little happy with myself, I hadn’t imagined things – that was a tough race and a well earned PB

Glad to have a half marathon done at this stage of the year, I do think I could maybe have dipped below 1.24 on a different day but I can’t make any excuses for myself. Lots of work to do over the next few months if I’m to close in on a 1.20 half but there’s another tough battle under the belt to help me along the way

tang1 · 29-04-2015 02:46PM

Well done D, you showed real grit & determination to get through that. Great time again. Wind cant have been easy for someone as tall as you.

Dubgal72 · 29-04-2015 02:59PM

Fantastic report D and congratulations on the pb! I love the honesty in your reports and the accounts of the mental battles you go through, I really learn a lot (as well as going 'oh yeah, I felt like stopping at that stage too

). Well done on battling through, a hm is a long way to hurt but you pulled yourself through with knobs on

dintbo · 29-04-2015 03:47PM

Great report D. I 'ran' that half as well though I'm not nearly as fast as you (yet!!) I had the exact thought when we turned onto the main road and into the wind - 'you've worked hard now relax and jog the last few miles'. Dam brain can be a cheeky bugger sometimes. Well done on a great run.

annapr · 29-04-2015 09:02PM

Well done on your PB, Duanington, and great time! ... really enjoyed your report, especially how you got through the mental battles. Another trick to keep in mind for the future...focusing on the mechanics.

Ososlo · 29-04-2015 09:14PM

Fantastic honest report D.
Great result on a tough windy day.
Well done and hope the recovery is going well

Calvin Johnson · 30-04-2015 12:12PM

Well done DD - enjoyed the mental battle.

FBOT01 · 30-04-2015 01:38PM

Great run, PB and report, D. Fairplay.

It is always a good sign when your last mile isn't 30secs+ quicker than all the rest as it means you have put in a good days work and weren't just saving yourself to show-boat for the crowd on the finishing straight

Are you targeting a particular race with the sub 1:20 target or is that just the overall aim for the year with the target race yet to be decided?

Duanington · 30-04-2015 02:19PM

Dubgal72 wrote: »

Fantastic report D and congratulations on the pb! I love the honesty in your reports and the accounts of the mental battles you go through, I really learn a lot (as well as going 'oh yeah, I felt like stopping at that stage too ). Well done on battling through, a hm is a long way to hurt but you pulled yourself through with knobs on

ha ha - thanks DG, its all about those battles!

Duanington · 30-04-2015 02:21PM

tang1 wrote: »

Well done D, you showed real grit & determination to get through that. Great time again. Wind cant have been easy for someone as tall as you.

Thanks Tang - yeah, I don't want to make too big a deal of the wind to be honest but it is my over-riding memory of the last 4 miles or so

Duanington · 30-04-2015 02:22PM

dintbo wrote: »

Great report D. I 'ran' that half as well though I'm not nearly as fast as you (yet!!) I had the exact thought when we turned onto the main road and into the wind - 'you've worked hard now relax and jog the last few miles'. Dam brain can be a cheeky bugger sometimes. Well done on a great run.

Well done dintbo - do you have a log? had a quick look but I don't see one there.

Duanington · 30-04-2015 02:24PM

annapr wrote: »

Well done on your PB, Duanington, and great time! ... really enjoyed your report, especially how you got through the mental battles. Another trick to keep in mind for the future...focusing on the mechanics.

Thanks Anna - I think the focusing on the mechanics thing actually distracts me from wallowing in self pity to be honest ( I also do it at the start of some races to ease the nerves)...and I'm easily distracted thankfully

Duanington · 30-04-2015 02:26PM

Ososlo wrote: »

Fantastic honest report D.
Great result on a tough windy day.
Well done and hope the recovery is going well

Thanks A - its going well alright, for the first time in a long time I could feel the race in my legs for a few days but it seems to be easing up now

( stole a few stretching techniques from your log actually !)

Duanington · 30-04-2015 02:27PM

Calvin Johnson wrote: »

Well done DD - enjoyed the mental battle.

Thanks CJ - I'm glad you enjoyed it, I didn't ! ( best of luck the weekend)

Duanington · 30-04-2015 02:33PM

FBOT01 wrote: »

Great run, PB and report, D. Fairplay.

It is always a good sign when your last mile isn't 30secs+ quicker than all the rest as it means you have put in a good days work and weren't just saving yourself to show-boat for the crowd on the finishing straight

Are you targeting a particular race with the sub 1:20 target or is that just the overall aim for the year with the target race yet to be decided?

ha ha - thanks M, if you call running as quick as I can to end the hurt and falling over the line at the end, heaving on the ground for another 20 minutes showboating then I'm guilty as charged.

I honestly don't know on the target race, I just know that I feel I have a lot left to give over the distance if I get another good chunk of training under the belt, I had a good chat with some of the quicker lads afterwards ( over a few scoops). Maybe Athlone is the place to give it a crack, I'm not sure but I'll run a couple of testers over the summer to keep an eye on progress.

BTW - I said 1.20...not sub 1.20 but now that you've put the idea in my head .....:pac::pac:

Duanington · 30-04-2015 02:43PM

30.04.2015

Monday

5 very slow and hungover miles on the grass in Clontarf. I was doing the driving back from Wexford so had to drop off some of the lads throughout various spots in Dublin, making for a looooong journey home.

Got the nutrition back on track with a fine feed of homemade curry - yum

Tuesday

Back into work today but took the bus in the morning to give the legs a breather, had a mental day in the office and was late getting out but was glad to throw the gear on ( including a new pair of runners) and head off for home.
Again, all nice and easy - my calves in particular were stiff from Sunday. Took in an extra 2 miles to make the total up to 6 for the day

Wednesday

AM - Up bright and early for my run into work, legs felt much better this morning but I still kept things right down in terms of effort. keeping to the grass where I could.
4 miles in total

PM - Another busy day in the office but got out just after 6 for my run home. There was a nasty breeze blowing all the way home ( at my back thankfully, I'd had it in my face in the morning

). Tagged on another 2 once I reached home to bring the total to 6.

10 miles for the day

dintbo · 30-04-2015 07:07PM

Duanington wrote: »

Well done dintbo - do you have a log? had a quick look but I don't see one there.

I don't right now. I have been thinking about it though. Maybe after Cork...

Duanington · 01-05-2015 10:14PM

01.05.2015

Thursday

Out for lunch for today's session and made my way down to St Anne's so I could run it on the football pitches there - I knew it would slow things down a little but the surface would also give my legs a little relief from the hard ground.

Plan called for:
200, 400, 600, 800, 600, 400, 200 - active recoveries ( half the distance)

After a good warmup I got started on the reps, really not worrying about pace or times, just focusing on effort.
The times worked out as:

200 - 41
400 - 1.25
600 - 2.10
800 - 2.59
600 - 2.08
400 - 1.25
200 - 42

A really nice session, the 600s were tough but the recoveries were enough to keep things out of the red zone
Ran a warmdown to bring the total to 7 miles

PM - core work, stretching and 3 recovery miles along the grass verge in Clontarf. Really enjoyable run, legs felt as good as they've felt in a while.

Total for the day: 10 miles

Friday

AM - usual run into work, bit of a nasty breeze building on the coast which whipped away any lingering tiredness fairly lively. Lots and lots of bikes out and about with people finding alternative ways to commute, who needs a bus service ?!

PM - Run home, again - all very easy...I'm enjoying the bit of bounce from a new pair of runners at the moment ( Kinvara 4s) which is always good. Noticed a tingle on the back of the throat tonight, I'm hoping its not a head cold or any $hite like that.

8 miles for the day

yaboya1 · 02-05-2015 10:01PM

Only catching up on your race report now D.
Really interesting reading.
Well done again

Duanington · 03-05-2015 11:00PM

03.05.2014

Saturday

A very busy weekend meant that I had to reschedule a couple of runs and still keep with the recovery theme for the week.

Spent the day at a Christening with the Family which meant it was fairly late by the time I got out for a run. 5 miles easy on the coast, I was tempted to can it completely but the kids were sick of the sight of me by the end of the day so I spared us all and left them to the tv while I ran.

Did a nice bit of work on the chin-up bar afterwards.

Total: 5 miles

Sunday

Another day of celebrations today, communion this time - I spent most of the day picking my jaw off the ground with the wads of cash that changed hands every few minutes, the youngfella in question had started off the day hoping that he'd scrape enough for an x-box...he could have bought a heap of them by the time I left them to it.

Once again, late getting out which meant no warmup and no warm down either side of 6 steady miles.

Legs feel good, the week has gone well and I'm ready to get stuck in to some tougher weeks over the next while.

RedRunner · 04-05-2015 12:16AM

Great running in Wexford D. Nice PB and enjoyed the report.

Confessions of a never has been.....

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