Running in the Real World

Bungy Girl wrote: »

Just register aquinn while you're at it. Don't thank me.

Firedance wrote: »

ha ha I said exactly the same to her earlier

I tried to persuade her but by mile 18 she was having none of it :cool:

Neady83 wrote: »

Yeaeeeeeeee you're back in the game whoop whoop Delighted to hear you enjoyed your LSR. Having company on the LSRs makes them so much easier on the mind, fair play to Aquinn and the Aussie guy

Now if only we could get the Aussie to show up somewhere around Crumlin on DCM day...

Sun 27: Recovery
3.3 mi @ 10:57/mi; 5.24k @ 6:48/km

Nice and easy loop from Farmleigh through the Furry Glen and back. legs were sore last night but this sorted them out. I seem to be intact. . Touch wood.

Weekly total: 40.68 miles.

So it wasn't near the 50 in the plan but considering the last few weeks a big improvement. And last year, 40 was the highest mileage week in the entire HH1 plan, so I take some solace from that.

Great fun tracking Berlin this morning and seeing all the results coming in.

Firedance wrote: »

Did you register??

the tension is mounting as the deadline approaches... *drumroll*.... *louder drumroll*....







*yes* gulp

Monday, September 28: REGISTERED FOR DCM

Henceforth (until Oct 26 anyway), this log will be relentlessly positive, upbeat and backslappy… no more dips of motivation or health allowed As RRSP might say #Iamamarathonrunner

50+ miles in the plan for this week, so it’s a biggie. Looking forward to it all now.

Unfortunately for my resident coach, he will now have to adjust from ignoring listening to me fretting about my training to ignoring listening to me dithering (his actual word!) about target time! :rolleyes:

Tuesday, 29: Seafront easy
5.3 mi @ 9:51/mi; 8.5Km @ 6:07/Km

Another lovely day. Pleasant easy run to the Wooden Bridge and back. Last 3.5k were @ MP… by accident, the wind was at my back

Back to business after all the colour commentary above :P

The plan for today: 14 miles with 10 alternating around MP
Described as follows: 2 miles warm up then 10 miles alternating MP+ 3% with MP -3%. 2 miles c/d

I was a bit nervous ahead of this, because I’ve missed so many of the midweek sessions and haven’t done any distance at any challenging pace for ages. Took me almost as long to program it into my watch as it did to run :

First, there is the big question of what MP should be… for now, I’m basing it on a target time of 4:10 — a bit above the 4:02 suggested by McMillan, but more realistic and definitely still challenging (this could definitely slip depending on how the next few weeks go).

So that gives paces as follows, if my maths is right:
MP = 9:33/Mi (5:55/Km)
MP+3%= 9:51 (6:06/Km)
mp-3% = 9:16 (5:45/Km)

I decided to take in some of the first half of the marathon course for this (actually mapped out my route in advance for a change). From Manor Street all the way round to Chapelizod Gate.

Observations on the course: Stoneybatter streets are narrow and likely to be congested on the 26th, sharp left turn from Manor St onto Aughrim St, and again onto NCR. And although the sharper uphill from the main gate of the Park is gone, it’s still a drag from the quays to NCR (you end up at the same elevation after all). It’ll be a tight set of turns from the North Road through Lord’s Walk to Chesterfield. The highest part of this section is in Castleknock, after the left turn at Myo’s, so it’s a good drag all the way up through the Park and Castleknock Village and then a fast downhill back into the park and almost all the way to Chapelizod Gate (with a little up/down dip just before turning onto Upper Glen Rd). It’s a nice stretch though, lots of variety.

Anyhow, back to my run today. In a nutshell, I NAILED it — loved this run. The watch was beeping at me constantly because I was going too fast throughout. But I love these intervals, where you really break the run into a series of miles, because the miles fly by and I don’t get hung up on the fact that I have x miles left to go — I just focus on getting the pace right for the current mile. When the first set were too fast, I was a bit concerned that I might crash or not be able to hold on for 10 miles, but before I knew it, I was back out of the park on NCR, almost back at Aughrim St and it was time for the 2mile cooldown. I was thrilled with this, delighted all the way home.

Perfect weather for it too, hope the 26th is like today, except for a cool fresh wind into my face on the way home.

Splits for the 10 mile alternator (in miles for a change):
9:45
9:05
9:29
8:58
9:41
8:58
9:38
9:18 (oops 2 secs over target, how did THAT happen?)
9:40
9:10 (this started at the BOTTOM of the hill up from Islandbridge gate... bad planning)

overall: 14.72mi @ 9:41/mi; 23.7 Km @ 6:01/Km

My legs are sore now, but in a happy way I really see the value of these midweek sessions, as much for race training and confidence building as anything else. Starting to wonder if I should just set my watch to beep at me all the way around DCM, but would probably drive everyone else mad

I didn’t take any gels or feel a need for them, brought a water bottle with 300ml, which I drank, stopped at Phibsborough for a lucozade sport and drank another 300ml of that during the cooldown. All good, I think that will probably be my fuelling strategy on the 26th (in addition to random jellies from kids on the course).

Today brought September’s total to 131 miles/211 Km

Despite having a few dodgy weeks in September this compares to 119 mi/192Km for 2014, so relatively ok, if still behind the plan.

Dubgal72 wrote: »

Lovely session, well done and thanks for the course overview section, pinching that for the novices

glad to be of assistance, hoping to do the second half of the course at the weekend, if I can remember anything about it I'll add to the overview!

Approx 5 miles recovery run at a shockingly slow pace

first time in yonks running without a garmin*, delegated pacing duties to aquinn, with only request being that this needed to be slow. We dawdled looking at windows on Griffith Ave, then headed out the seafront, beautiful evening.

Tired after yesterday, legs felt sluggish but not too bad. Also walked into town earlier and spent most of the afternoon on my feet so enough recovery done for now!


*Murph borrowed it and used it to get a 5k PB in a race in Sandyford!