Running in the Real World

Firedance wrote: »

Its not the word that bothers me, its the idea that its somehow a bad thing to be beaten by a woman, what difference does it make whether you were pipped to the post by a man or a woman? You lost a place to a fellow runner, their sex shouldn't matter. Anyway, its just my opinion, I don't loose sleep over it or anything

I generally hate the use of chick, bird and any term that diminishes any group of people...

having said that, I do enjoy it when some of the better runners on here find themselves being well beaten by the 'weaker' sex

Tough week in the plan, this week and next are the highest mileage (50+ with a 22 miler each week :eek:). If I can get through these 2 then I think I will be ok for DCM. I haven't registered yet, so by Sunday the decision will be made!

Sunday 20 & Monday 21: Rest and recovery

Tuesday 22: 6 miles easy
6.2 mi @ 9:50/mi; 10 Km @ 6:07/Km

Shook off the lethargy for a nice lunchtime run out the seafront to the far side of the wooden bridge and back. Legs felt great, breathing good, all nice and easy.

On the way back, tested myself with some strides, with recovery in between. Lost count of whether I did 4 or 5... controlled, not maximum effort but 70-80%. Didn't track time or pace, each one was 3 lampposts , approx 60m I think.

I felt great after this run, finished feeling strong. I'm cautiously optimistic now, with the first real test tomorrow -- the plan calls for 14 miles with 10 @ MP.

So having discussed this with my resident coach, he is suggesting that it might be too much to ramp up to 50+ this week after the last couple of setback weeks. His recommendation is to get the LSR done, but maybe reduce the Midweek session -- so I think I will adjust tomorrow's session to 10 miles with 6 @ MP. 22 miles might be ambitious for the LSR, but I think it's important to give it a shot anyway. I won't do it until Sunday to give myself the maximum recovery.

Suggestions welcome if anyone has other ideas! So long as they don't include strange lingo from the midlands :pac:

Ososlo wrote: »

What was your mileage for the last 3 or 4 weeks? I definitely wouldn't target 50 miles unless you've had a few recent weeks well over 40.

And what were the recent long slow runs again? Have you done at least one 18/19/20 recently?

Good to see you're feeling better!

I had a couple of weeks close to 50 in August, but since then it's been a downward spiral... last few weeks were 32, 22, 16 :eek:

I've done 2 x 18 and 1 x 20. Most recent long run was 18 miles on Sept 6.

Good to have you back, O!!!

Wednesday 23: 9k easy
5.6 mi @ 10:08/mi; 9 Km @ 6:18/Km

Supposed to be 10 miles with 6 @ MP (adjusted downwards from 14 mi), but knew from a couple of Km in that this was not going to happen today. Legs like jelly again. Turned back just after the wooden bridge. Ended up with about 4k at MP but couldn't manage any more than that. Convinced that I am not signing up for DCM after this.

Thursday 24: 12.2Km
7.6 mi @ 10:12/mi; 12.2K @ 6:21/Km

Got up this morning feeling like I never wanted to run again, forgot I had agreed to meet aquinn for a lunchtime run. Since it was a choice between running and supermarket, I chose the lesser evil . Fresh sunny windy autumnal day, met herself on the quays and did a lovely leafy loop of D2 and 4. Almost lost my hat twice in the gusts. Came home through East Wall and Fairview Park. Waterways crossed =Tolka, Liffey, both canals, Dodder

About half of this run was close to MP (the half where I had company of course). Felt good through most of this, a bit tired at the end but nothing extreme and a bit wiped now. I decided heading out that I’m just going to try and enjoy whatever runs I do this week and not worry about hitting mileage targets or bloody marathon training. That worked today and of course the lively company helped too

Friday 25: Rest

Saturday 26: 18 mile LSR
18 mi @ 10:25/mi; 29 Km @ 6:28/Km

Spectacularly beautiful day in Dublin, in a great to be alive kind of way. Volunteered at St Annes Parkrun to start the day — celebrating their second birthday, fantastic event and really well done to Killerz and all the core team. Mrs Mc got an award for volunteer of the year, well deserved They ran the course backwards for the special occasion, causing Yaboya some difficulty in his pacing duties.

Coffee, flapjacks and super healthy juice drinks afterwards to fortify us for my attempt at an LSR. Set off with fellow volunteer Aquinn who was planning to join me for her planned 2 hours. After extensive route planning (along the lines of 'will we go left or right at the coast') we headed around the bay... All the way to Sandycove!

We were joined by another runner from Blackrock to Dun Laoghaire - a friendly young Aussie guy (and goodlooking too!). This might have helped our pace a little.

Aquinn was armed with her Leap card and as her 2 hours were up she looked longingly at the Dart station in Dun Laoghaire as we headed back towards town... but she couldn't quite bring herself to abandon me, even as we passed the ice cream shop after fantasising about 99's.

Thought we might get the dart in Booterstown, but no, still 2k to go. A popped across to the pub to use the facilities and refill our water bottles, while I did very slow circles of a field beside the dart station.

Back in to Sandymount, the garage on Strand Road with its fridge full of ice cream like an oasis in front of us. But wait, 400m short of 18miles... A few ever decreasing circles took care of that and we got our reward. Best Cornetto ever!! A had been threatening to make me do 20 miles but I bribed her with an Iceberger.

A very creaky walk to Sydney Parade and dart home. We got off at Clontarf and realised we had made a rookie planning error--we had to cross the tracks to exit... Stairs and more stairs. The groans out of us scared our fellow passengers (sometimes you forget that not everyone knows you just ran 18 miles). Murph ignored my hint to pick us up at the dart :roll eyes: so a final mile of slow walking home.

Fair play to A for sticking with me, I was secretly hoping she would! The company was great, beautiful day, best long run I've had in a long time.

Feeling optimistic again now... Unless I'm broken tomorrow, I might just register for DCM.