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Faster

tailgunner

I'm brand new to running, and have been toying with the idea of starting a training log to keep myself motivated. Wasn't sure about making it public, but a recent thread on people running for the sake of it versus people running to get faster has decided it for me. Even though I'm not running far and I'm absolutely not running fast, I do fall into the latter camp - I want to improve.

So on that note... a bit of background:

I'm 29, male, 6ft 1, 80kg, and have been fairly sedentary for most of my adult life (this is starting to sound like a very unambitious online dating profile). After an indulgent Christmas, I entered 2015 feeling tired, sluggish, and miserable. I decided I wasn't going to enter my thirties feeling like this, and started C25k in late January.

A couple of months later (with one or two breaks here and there to allow my shocked and stunned legs to come to terms with the fact that yes, I run now, and no, it's not a temporary thing), I've just about finished the programme, and have also managed to shift the beginnings of a beer belly that had made an unwelcome appearance.

Which brings me to the present:

Got my gait analysed at the weekend and treated myself to a pair of Asics GT-2000s, in garish royal blue with neon laces. Nice.

I'm loosely following one of Hal Higdon's 10k plans at the moment, running three times a week and trying to go half a mile farther on each of my "long" runs.

In terms of goals for the year, I mainly want to increase mileage and improve my pace, and maybe do a couple of races. I have notions about doing a half marathon toward the end of the year, but haven't told my legs about this yet. I'm not sure how they're going to take it...

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tailgunner

Friday, 18th December 2015

4 miles
39:20
9:50/mi

Not much to report. Ran the first three miles very easy and the last mile at what is probably marathon pace for me. Felt a lot better than I did on Wednesday.

Sunday, 20th December 2015

4 miles
33:09
8:17/mi

Was planning on doing a longish run, but I got up too late and ended up being short on time, so decided on some sort of tempo thing. This was very near 10k pace for me, so I was pretty pleased with the effort given the lack of consistency lately. The rain was torrential for most of it, but it was good craic and my runners got a long overdue wash.

Monday, 21st December 2015

6 miles
1:01:09
10:11/mi

I was in two minds about taking a rest day, but eventually settled on doing a short recovery run. Ended up going a good bit farther than planned in the end, but I can see myself getting lazy later in the week, so probably as well to get the miles in when I'm not full of turkey.

Not a bad few days running.

tailgunner

Wednesday, 23rd December 2015

5 miles
48:08
9:37/mi

Only for the record of this being there on Garmin Connect, I'd swear this run never happened. Can't remember it at all. Looks like it was a little too fast to be an easy run, but too slow to be anything else, so I don't know what I was at.

Sunday, 27th December 2015

9.09 miles
1:31:58
10:07/mi

Flew home to Cork on Christmas Eve and was hoping to get out for short run on Christmas Day, but it never happened. Wrote it off and headed out this morning for a few loops near my parents' house. The first four or five miles were absolute torture - that's what eating one's weight in turkey and chocolate for two days straight will do I suppose - but eventually I settled into it and enjoyed the last few miles. First long run in six weeks, which is a bit ridiculous.

tailgunner

Monday, 28th December 2015

4 miles
39:56
9:58/mi

Waited around all day for the rain to stop, but it never did. Decided I'd be better off getting out before it got dark, so went for another couple of yesterday's loops, but in the opposite direction for added excitement.

Picked up a bit of a niggle in my left calf yesterday which is still lingering today. Rest day tomorrow so I'll roll it out a bit. My mother's rolling pin hasn't got this much action in years.

tailgunner

Wednesday, 30th December 2015

6.22 miles
1:00:52
9:47/mi

The plan was for a tempo run, but I didn't fully trust my calf, and I figured that my route would be flooded in parts anyway so I decided on a medium-sized easy run in the end.

Managed to get it done during a brief period of sunshine this afternoon. It was hard to believe there had been a storm raging only a few hours earlier, though the main road being closed for the first time in about five years was a good hint. Crazy weather.

tailgunner

Thursday, 31st December 2015

4 miles
38:26
9:36/mi

Was feeling very smug heading off for this, thinking I'd avoided the worst of the weather again. Exactly one mile into it though, the heavens opened. Five minutes later, they closed again, but I got soaked in the meantime. I was absolutely frozen for the rest of the run.

Very enjoyable apart from that though. It was a bit quick for a recovery run, but I've only been doing easy runs for the last while so it's probably natural to see the pace creep up a bit.

It only occurred to me when I got home that it was my last run of 2015. To be honest, I genuinely didn't think I'd stick with it when I struggled through Day 1 of Couch-2-5k 11 months ago, but there you go. Onwards and upwards.

Month|2015
Jan|7.86
Feb|14.7
Mar|23.53
Apr|32.91
May|45.88
Jun|42.65
Jul|23.26
Aug|84.29
Sep|106.61
Oct|56.17
Nov|81.45
Dec|55.33
YTD|574.64

tailgunner

Saturday, 2nd January 2016

9 miles
1:28:16
9:48/mi

I brought the long run forward a day to allow for the pub later. I had to keep trying to rein in the pace, but eventually gave up and ran the last mile in 9:21 - not a million miles away from what I hope will be marathon pace in the Autumn.

Couldn't get over the amount of people out and about so early in the morning, until I remembered that my body clock is all over the place and it was actually lunchtime. It'll be nice to get back to a normal routine next week.

Nice start to the new year anyway. My calf is fine again and I can definitely feel the fitness returning.

tailgunner

Sunday, 3rd January 2016

4 miles
39:01
9:45/mi

I'd normally be way too much of a wimp to run with a hangover, but "new year, new me!" and all that. It wasn't too bad, but I definitely felt more tired than usual after a recovery run. Travelling back to England tomorrow so I'll take a rest day.

annapr

tailgunner wrote: »

Sunday, 3rd January 2016

4 miles
39:01
9:45/mi

I'd normally be way too much of a wimp to run with a hangover, but "new year, new me!" and all that. It wasn't too bad, but I definitely felt more tired than usual after a recovery run. Travelling back to England tomorrow so I'll take a rest day.

that's an interesting twist on new year's resolution.... :pac:

Happy new year and good luck with your 2016 running, with or without hangovers!

tailgunner

Tuesday, 5th January 2016

4.45 miles
40:00
8:59/mi

Hello darkness, my old friend. After a week or so of running in daylight, it's back to reflective gear and a headtorch. I was feeling nice and fresh after about 36 hours rest, so I set off on a tempo run.

It seemed to take me a while to hit the target pace, but I eventually ended up with an average of 8:16/mi over 25 minutes for the faster section. Happy enough with that.

tailgunner

Thursday, 7th January 2016

3.33 miles
33:31
10:03/mi

I have yet another cold, so I decided to leave off the recovery run yesterday evening. Not feeling much better today, but I'm working from home and thought it would be a shame not to take advantage since it was a nice day. Decided I'd do a few slow laps of the local park, but when I got there I found that the park had been replaced with a lake, with ducks and geese swimming around the place. Easily the closest I've ever come to a double-take. There must have been torrential rain last week or something.

Anyway, I soldiered on thinking it didn't look too bad at the edges, but that was a terrible decision, and I was up to my ankles in water pretty quickly. Gave up and did another couple of miles elsewhere.

A bit of an aimless run really, but at least I got something done.

tailgunner

Saturday, 9th January 2016

9.01 miles
1:24:24
9:22/mi

I wanted to do a parkrun this morning, but I was so congested with this cold that I was getting out of breath just pottering around the house. So I abandoned the notion of doing any running today, let alone a crack at a decent 5k.

I had despairing visions of missing another few days of running, but I was feeling a lot better by the afternoon, so I figured I'd test the waters with a few easy miles. I don't know how, but all the congestion cleared after a couple of miles and I felt great. I pushed on and ended up with 9 miles at steady pace. Really pleased with this.

Next up is a 12-week plan for a half marathon, starting on Monday. The target race is the Reading half on 3rd April, so that'll keep me occupied for the next while. I'm going with Hal Higdon's Intermediate plan, with a few extra miles added on here and there. I figure this will be a good way of building up a base, as I'd like to be comfortably covering 35 miles a week by the summer. Target time to be decided!

The Muppet

tailgunner wrote: »

Saturday, 9th January 2016

9.01 miles
1:24:24
9:22/mi

I wanted to do a parkrun this morning, but I was so congested with this cold that I was getting out of breath just pottering around the house. So I abandoned the notion of doing any running today, let alone a crack at a decent 5k.

I had despairing visions of missing another few days of running, but I was feeling a lot better by the afternoon, so I figured I'd test the waters with a few easy miles. I don't know how, but all the congestion cleared after a couple of miles and I felt great. I pushed on and ended up with 9 miles at steady pace. Really pleased with this.

Next up is a 12-week plan for a half marathon, starting on Monday. The target race is the Reading half on 3rd April, so that'll keep me occupied for the next while. I'm going with Hal Higdon's Intermediate plan, with a few extra miles added on here and there. I figure this will be a good way of building up a base, as I'd like to be comfortably covering 35 miles a week by the summer. Target time to be decided!

The best of luck with the new plan, I did that plan in 2014 when trying to build a base and I found it brilliant, its a nice mix of interval and distance runs,

tailgunner

Monday, 11th January 2016 - 4 miles easy

4 miles
41:26
10:21/mi

I probably should have gone for a short recovery run on Sunday, but I decided on a rest day ahead of starting the new plan instead. My legs were a bit stiff for the first couple of miles, and the pace was very slow, but I was happy enough to plod along. Finished off with some strides - I really need to get into the habit of doing these regularly.

tailgunner

Tuesday, 12th January 2016 - 5 x 400 @ 5k pace

3.74 miles
36:01
9:38/mi

I'm not quite sure what my 5k pace is. I ran 24:32 in October, off the back of decent half marathon training, then went slightly backwards to 24:38 in November, after four weeks of decent 5k training (to be fair, it was a very bad day at the office). Then I spent several weeks faffing around until I finally managed to get some consistency going over the last couple of weeks.

After over-analysing things for several hours yesterday, I eventually decided that my current 5k pace is probably somewhere between 7:45/mi and 7:55/mi and set up a Garmin workout accordingly.

"Warmed up" (i.e. tried to stop shivering due to the freezing cold) for a mile, then started into the reps. I had been doing these at mile pace a couple of months ago, so the drop in intensity was noticeable.

Apart from the very first rep (I was still freezing!) I found the whole session quite easy, and struggled to keep the pace in check. I know it's only week one, but I'm not sure if I'm doing this session right. I'm not quite optimistic enough to think my 5k pace is much faster, but maybe the recoveries should be shorter or something.

Anyway, enough waffle. The splits were:

1:58.3
1:55.7
1:56.5
1:56.8
1:54.6

Maximus Alexander

I'd say keep the pace where roughly where it is. You probably have to do 10 or 12 of these later in the program and that won't be so easy. If he wanted you to do mile pace he'd have said mile pace.

You could always add in strides or short hill repeats somewhere if you've a hankering for a bit of speed.

tailgunner

Yeah it goes up to 10 repeats I think, so I'll keep the pace where it is for now. I've also just noticed that the fine print on the plan says you should do these at 5k or even 10k pace, so they're obviously not meant to be too quick.

Maximus Alexander

Yeah I suppose the thing to remember is it's a HM plan, so 5k pace is actually fast in comparison to what you're training for. And if you do your test races as you go, you'll probably be lowering your 5k pace anyway.

tailgunner

Wednesday, 13th January 2016 - 4 miles easy

4 miles
38:43
9:40/mi

A bit quick for an easy run, but I was feeling good so I went with it. Not much to report - it was freezing cold again, but really nice conditions for running other than that.

tailgunner

Saturday, 16th January 2016 - Harcourt Hill parkrun

3.11 miles
24:12
7:48/mi

The plan was for 3 miles at planned race pace yesterday, but I wanted to have one more crack at a sub-24 5k, so I took an extra rest day and set off for my local parkrun this morning. It was -2 degrees, but conditions were really good apart from that. Dry, no wind, and even though it was muddy in patches, the temperature meant that the mud was frozen solid.

Another nearby parkrun was cancelled due to flooding, so the attendance was much higher than I was expecting today - a good thing, I figured, as I'd have more people to chase. Went for a 15 minute warm-up, then lined up a few rows back from the front and after the usual briefing, we were away.

I made a conscious decision not to go off too fast this time, and was happy to let people pass me over the first few yards. My aim was to hit 7:45/mi for the first mile, try and take a couple of seconds off that for the second and third miles, and then push hard if things were going well at the end. It was tough going from the beginning, but the first mile of the course is slightly uphill, so I was happy enough to see the first mile tick over in 7:46.

By the second mile, I was reeling in most of the people who had gone past me at the start. The course is a bit more downhill here, but the effort level was rising, and I was suffering badly when I reached the halfway point. My legs were fairly okay, but my breathing was very ragged, and I felt like I was working harder than I should have been. I tried to ignore it as much as I could and maintain the pace. The second mile beeped at 7:48. The pace had slipped a little, but I was hoping for a second wind.

Unfortunately it never arrived. I reached another uphill section and did my best to maintain the pace, but my breathing was almost out of control, and it simply wasn't sustainable. Most of the third mile is a bit of a blur - there was some empty retching, and a general feeling of "this is absolutely awful", and a gradual realisation that sub-24 was gone. I knew I was still on for a decent PB barring any disasters, and that was enough to keep me going. The third mile was 7:59. Then out of nowhere, a guy I had overtaken earlier went flying past, and even though I gave chase as best I could, I couldn't catch him. Covered the last bit in 0:40 and then had a little sit down for myself.

Sub-24 eludes me again, but I really felt like I gave it everything today, and I'm happy enough with that.

tailgunner

Sunday, 17th January 2016 - 9 miles easy

9.25 miles
1:28:32
9:34/mi

My legs were very creaky yesterday and I thought I'd only manage a few slow recovery miles, but I felt grand once I got going and was happy enough to carry on for the planned long run. I've been reading that I should do these runs on roads as much as possible, so I took a slightly different route than usual for this. It ended up being more undulating than I'm used to, but that's probably a good thing too because I'm getting a little too comfortable with completely flat routes.

The first mile was little more than a shuffle, but the pace was nice and steady after that. Picked it up for the last mile and finished strong. Really enjoying my long runs lately, so I'm looking forward to start increasing the distance a bit this weekend.

Nearly forgot to add that this was the maiden voyage of my new Mizuno Wave Inspire 11 shoes. I thought I might have made a mistake going half a size up, but they were perfect. Very impressed overall. The plan is to rotate them with my Asics GT-2000 for easy runs. Not sure how much life is left in the Asics, but after just over 400 miles they still seem fine.

tailgunner

Monday, 18th January 2016 - 4 miles easy

4 miles
41:46
10:26/mi

I had serious DOMS going on so kept this very slow. 9 miles at steady pace a day after 5k at race pace probably wasn't a great idea in hindsight. Did a few strides after.

Tuesday, 19th January 2016 - Rest

0 miles
00:00
0:00/mi

Nailed it.

Wednesday, 20th January 2016 - 30 minute tempo

3.22 miles
30:00
9:20/mi

10 minute warm-up, 15 minutes at near 10k pace, 5 minute cooldown. The average pace for the tempo bit was 8:05/mi, which is probably a smidge fast, but nothing crazy. It was very manageable anyway. Had an epsom salt bath after as my right leg (fast becoming what I refer to as my "bad leg") still wasn't feeling 100%.

Thursday, 21st January 2016 - 4 miles easy

4 miles
40:33
10:08/mi

Leg was feeling a lot better when I set off, but not great after, despite keeping the run nice and slow. No major problems, just that the calf and hamstring are a bit achy. Went to town on it with the foam roller and that seems to have been a big help. I've been neglecting this lately. Rest day today so hopefully I'll be grand for the weekend.

The plan is 3 miles at planned race pace tomorrow and a 10 mile long run on Sunday. Might run tomorrow's one easy if the leg is still acting up, or drop it altogether.

tailgunner

Saturday, 23rd January 2016 - 3 miles @ race pace

4.01 miles
34:35
8:38/mi

The plan was for 3 miles at "the pace at which you expect to run the half marathon". McMillan gives me a half marathon pace of about 8:30/mi, but I'm hoping to be closer to 8:20/mi on the day. "Expect" and "hope" are two very different words of course, so I said I'd compromise and aim for somewhere within that range. That was the plan the night before anyway...

I was a little hungover on the day itself and decided I wasn't up to doing anything fast, so I set off for 4 miles easy instead. My legs had other ideas though, and soon I was tipping along at race pace after all. The pace kept increasing though, and the third mile wasn't far off what I'd be doing in a 10k. Carried on for another mile at easy pace to cool down, feeling a bit annoyed with myself for launching into a hard effort without a proper warm-up. Hopefully no harm done.

Sunday, 24th January 2016 - 10 miles easy

10.01 miles
1:37:09
9:43/mi

I kept this nice and easy but found it a little tougher than the last few long runs - my legs were fine, just felt a bit tired. Happy enough overall though. There have been times that I've been a complete write-off after a long run, so feeling "a bit tired" is progress.

tailgunner

Monday, 25th January 2016 - 4 miles easy

4 miles
41:13
10:18/mi

Nice and slow with some strides after. Legs were very tired but no niggles to speak of, which is good.

Tuesday, 26th January 2016 - 6 x 400 @ 5k pace

4.23 miles
38:51
9:11/mi

Didn't think I'd have time for a run today despite working from home, but I had an unexpected window of opportunity in the afternoon, so off I went. Had some difficulty keeping the splits consistent due to the wind coming at me from all angles, but it looks okay on paper. Enjoyed this one, but glad I got it out of the way today.

1:56.8
1:56.8
1:56.6
1:55.8
1:56.7
1:55.6

tailgunner

Wednesday, 27th January 2016 - 4 miles easy

4.25 miles
43:12
10:10/mi

Pretty identical to Monday's run, with an extra little bit at the end as I'm on track for a monthly mileage record. I did some strides in the middle of the run rather than at the end, as I felt like my form was collapsing a bit.

I think it was my running birthday yesterday too, meaning I'm one year old. I celebrated with some stretching and strengthening, or at least my own version of it. My downward-facing dog is more of a downward-facing donkey, but I'm getting there.

tailgunner

Friday, 29th January 2016 - 4 miles easy

0 miles
0:00
00:00/mi

I had notions of doing this at planned race pace, even though it was prescribed as easy, but life got in the way so there was no running in the end.

Saturday, 30th January 2016 - 11 miles easy

12 miles
1:57:47
9:49/mi

This was a great run, though that was probably to be expected given the mini-taper of two rest days in a row. Ran an extra mile at the end to take me close to the two-hour mark, which should be comfortably over the time I expect to be on my feet in the half marathon. Also, 12 is a much nicer number than 11.

I was tempted to go for a short recovery run yesterday which would have given me a new monthly mileage record, but I abandoned the idea in the end. The official reason was that chasing missed miles is a bad idea. Unofficially, there was wind and rain and I was tired.

Still, January was a very good month for me. I ran a 5k PB, I'm feeling motivated, and I'm running well. Can't ask for much more than that really.

Month|2015|2016
Jan|7.86|103.61
Feb|14.7
Mar|23.53
Apr|32.91
May|45.88
Jun|42.65
Jul|23.26
Aug|84.29
Sep|106.61
Oct|56.17
Nov|81.45
Dec|55.33
Total|574.64|103.61

tailgunner

Monday, 1st February 2016 - 4.5 miles easy

4.5 miles
46:04
10:14/mi

A fairly forgettable slog through what felt like a wind tunnel.

tailgunner

Tuesday, 2nd February 2016 - 35 minute tempo

3.87 miles
35:00
9:02/mi

Warmed up for 10 minutes and then started into the fast bit. Ended up covering 2.47 miles in 20 minutes at an average pace of 8:05/mi. Not too bad on paper, but the first half was too slow and the second half was too fast, so I need to work on the old consistency. Enjoyed it anyway - I much prefer tempo runs to intervals. Lots of stretching and foam rolling after. My legs are feeling better than they have been for a while.

mbarr

tailgunner wrote: »

Enjoyed it anyway - I much prefer tempo runs to intervals.

Same here, it takes me a mile or two to get comfortable at a pace, I find intervals so disruptive!

tailgunner

That's exactly it - all the stopping and starting annoys me!

tailgunner

Wednesday, 3rd February 2016 - 4 miles easy

4 miles
39:17
9:49/mi

A bit shorter and a bit quicker than Monday's run, but it felt far easier without the wind. Strides after.