From minutes to miles

Monday - rest
Tuesday - rest
Wednesday - Football
Thursday - 22 mins
Friday - rest
Saturday - St. Anne's Parkrun
Sunday - 30 mins

Happy enough with the week. With Christmas mania over I took the chance to head to Myles on Monday evening for a general bit of precautionary maintenance just to try stay on top of the calves, achilles and plantar especially getting too tight. Had a chat about the PF about how it's hard to fully get rid of, to stay on top of the other bits and pieces and working with what's manageable with it. Got a couple of extra exercises to do as well to help overall. Took the Monday and Tuesday off. Wednesday back to football, miserable weather for it. Iced etc straight after it and no ill effects the next morning which I've found is the big test for everything I'm doing at the minute. Decided to head out Thursday then but to keep it shorter just in case.

Saturday - Parkrun in 29.38
Had decided to do this as it was about right for the next run this weekend, Annapr and BG said they'd come along too. After waking up to miserable rain by the time we met at the park it was the perfect morning for it and a great crowd there. The plan was to finish in about 30 mins, doing it mostly at easyish pace with perhaps a burst for the finish. Bit late getting started and when we did the first mile was slow getting into it due to the numbers and a few narrower spots due to huge puddles etc. By the time we turned onto the avenue though we had got into our stride and had more space. At the turn for the second lap BG flagged that we'd gone through at 15 mins, we'd need a slightly quicker second half for the sub 30 min goal. The pace had crept up a bit and I was worried for minute or two I might flag but listening to the other pair nattering distracted me and on we went and it passed. Turning on the avenue again we had a chat about getting under the 30, all good until I heard something about "kicking on" - eh no, not quite yet says I - we hadn't even got to the 400m line by then :eek: Got to it we did though so on we went. Really struggled to keep up with the other two at this stage, was just trying to stay hanging on their heels as they offered encouragement. BG was a very diligent pacer staying just ahead until the end as Anna shot off for a finishing kick KennyG informed us that it was 32 seconds before we crossed the start so either way it ended up being quite comfortable under the 30 in the end. The 3 miles ended up as 10.27, 9.38, 8.58 (haven't uploaded to Garmin yet so not sure about the last bit). Really enjoyed doing this, a good way off my PB from May (25.13) but it ticked all the boxes for the day and it was a nice way to slowly re-introduce a bit of faster stuff, and very enjoyable with the company. Good to know I still have something a bit faster than my current easy pace still in there somewhere!

Headed on Sunday for a slow 30 mins, happy to finally hit that mental milestone target. I'll probably keep some runs each week at the 30 min mark and maybe only push on for one longer one now each week, see how it goes. I have no definite goals for the year yet, but the plan for the next few months would be to stick with races in the 5k-10k mark all going well. I'll introduce strides again soon before maybe a simple fartlek once a week once I have a bit of consistency there.

Monday – Squash
Tuesday – 22 mins
Wednesday – rest
Thursday – 30 mins
Friday – rest
Saturday – St. Anne’s Parkrun in 28.35
Sunday – 38 mins

A good week to give squash a go as I was able to skip football, so phasing another activity on alternate weeks. Had played a couple of games before Christmas with no problems and even a few months ago it never seemed to aggravate the foot for some reason so was reasonably confident this would be fine, and it was. Not a very intense game after Christmas break etc so good week to ease back in. Took it easy the following day to be on the safe side and followed it with a rest day. Anna made her way to deepest D5 on Thursday and we had a nice trip around the usual undulating roads of Killester, Artane etc. Great to have company and keep at that 30 minute mark.

I braved the icy conditions on Saturday for parkrun but it was actually fine for the most part. I had it in my head to at least finish around the same time as last week. Same again, started with a slower first mile and built up into it and tried to inject some pace for the last mile and finish – a progression run of sorts!! Miles were 9.56, 9.23 and 8.40. At times it definitely felt harder as I was by myself this week but then when I realised I was going to finish faster that explained it During the push for the end the self-doubt was creeping in and I was thinking this is tough, I’m never going to beat my PB again but considering I’ve only just hit this mark in the last couple of weeks I decided not to get too hung up on it, it’ll all come together again hopefully. And I knocked a bit off last week so going in the right direction. Big crowd there on the day and met a lot of the usual faces and a bit of parkrun socialising in the coffee shop after.

I planned 35 minutes around St Anne’s for the Sunday and aquinn and Anna said they’d head that direction so I met them there and jumped in for my portion with them. When we parted ways, with my 35 minutes done, I had the whole of the avenue ahead of me to get back to the car. So I went rogue and tacked on an extra three minutes and ran some and walked the rest. Really enjoyed this, the park looked great and the run flew by with lots of chatting. It probably was a bit fast for my easy pace at the minute but I survived. I’m trying not to get too caught up in paces and data etc at the minute, just get back into the swing of things and go by feel and get the legs ticking over again.

Monday - Rest
Tuesday - 35 mins
Wednesday - Football
Thursday - Rest
Friday - 30 mins
Saturday - Rest
Sunday Raheny 5 mile

As planned I took an extra rest day for the foot this week, and to ease off with Raheny on Sunday. I had planned to go swimming to add in something else but that never happened. Best intentions and all that Met aquinn for an easy Tuesday run. She was to head my direction, phone-less, so we had well laid out and specific plans for a meetup point. "Head up X road, I'll be heading to you"....."eh what side"....."do you know Y pub, around there"...."oh is that beside the dominos??" - and so we were set with our reference points Worked out fine (thankfully, we'd never hear the end of it if it didn't ) and the 35 minutes flew by, I felt great. Cue Friday and I felt crap on that. Felt weak and light headed, maybe I hadn't eaten enough that day, although I did have some fruit finishing work before heading home. One of those days I suppose.

Raheny 5 mile: 44.45

This was my big aim over the last couple of months, but I only signed up a week or two ago. I knew I wasn't coming into it with a chance of racing it for a PB or off great mileage, but I was hoping to even head around at my easy pace and make it my longer run of the week. After the last couple of weeks that plan seemed reasonable with my weekend runs being at 4, 4.5 miles-ish. The vague plan was to treat it as a "progression" run, with an easy 10 minute first mile and gradually picking it up with some middle 9/9.30 miles for a faster finish and maybe finish in under 48 minutes. I didn't think that I was going to be capable of stringing consecutive faster miles given my lack of speed training.

What do they say about best laid plans? :rolleyes::D I found the start quite congested, I possibly started too far back but it's always hard to know. I tried not to weave and think of my plan to start easy. About a half mile in a friend of mine appeared beside me and sure I got so busy chatting and running with her I forgot all sense of discipline!!!! Mile 1 was 9.25 I found the Howth Road stretch very congested and one critique I would make of the race is that this narrowed from last year and it was very noticeable, it was too cramped for the numbers around. It was windy along here but I felt ok and the body felt strong and was surprised to see the pace under 9 mins whenever I looked at the watch. It was at this stage I decided to just forget about my plan and race it for whatever time I could get on the day. Turning onto Sybil Hill we're into home turf and a much loved downhill stretch that I wanted to take advantage of. Saw the OH here and my Dad a bit later at the turn onto Mt. Prospect, with his bloody ever present camera Mile 2 came in at 8.58 and I was feeling ok still, breathing was noticeable but not overly laboured. I lost my friend somewhere along here. Heading towards the park and the third mile mark I saw a friend's mum out watching, I got a very enthusiastic and vocal cheer, she's a very competitive and diligent runner herself and her enthusiasm for everyone and running and racing is just infectious. I find this drag to the park tough always and so was happy to see the third mile clock at 8.43, I was feeling it but not ready to flag just yet.

Turning into the park my legs were beginning to tire and as we hit the avenue the wind was very noticeable. The pace was beginning to drop and I was distracting myself with trying to spot people I knew on the other side (only Mr.Stew). After initially trying to work to keep the pace where it had been I decided not to get too hung up on losing a few seconds here as the effort might be best saved for the turn towards the finish. Taking the 180 I spotted Redrunner who gave me some encouragement. The watch beeped at 9.06 for mile 4 so I had lost a few minutes. It was around the third mile point I had decided to think that maybe sub 45 might be on the cards and at this stage I was working out in my head if this was still possible after a slower 4th mile. I hadn't kept proper note of all my previous miles but knew some were above and some below 9 minutes but not sure by how much.

I was fading in the last mile but was determined to keep it under 9 pace for the first half and then pick it up towards the finish. As we headed along the parkrun route one man said "half a mile to go"... - liar, it was three quarters :mad: Then a finisher offering encouragement by waving his goody bag choc biscuits around "these are waiting for you at the finish" :pac: Heading out of the park FBOT01 gave me a shout out (much appreciated!!) and coming towards the last green I started to try pick it up. I was feeling horrendous at this point, my legs felt like jelly and I think I had saliva on my big red face and dodgy breathing and then like a noisy vision I heard Anna, FD, Murph_D and DG cheering. I waved an arm in the direction but I don't think I even saw them properly They were exactly what needed at that point (many thanks) and I found the energy for a burst with some advice shouted after me - run strong??? I looked at my watch and figured sub 45 was definitely on and went for the finish - mile 5 was 8.22.

After some weird catching breathing sounds and a quick onset of leg tightness and gathering some composure I was delighted. Good bit away from my PB, more than I thought actually (41.18, Terenure 2015) but given the last 6 months I'm not complaining. I really enjoyed the whole thing, it was great to be back (first race since June) and I'm very happy with my time on the day, better than I could have anticipated. It was tough at times, which you'd expect, but overall the body felt good and strong. It's set a marker of where I'm at and gives me something to build off. Met a good few after, sampled some lovely flapjacks and great to catch up with lots of people. Step back this week and then on again!

annapr wrote: »

You looked great when we saw you, very relaxed and you picked it up and bombed on (trying to get away from us we thought).

Good going today, aim for a revenge smackdown in Terenure?

Nah, I was just dying to get those chocolate biscuits that fecker had been waving around hmmm, we'll see, I suspect you've edged too far ahead to make it a respectable smackdown. I'll asess!