Timed with a calendar

Tuesday: 4 miles run/walk/polymetrics

Forgot to add this in the previous post. Out early (below freezing .. brrrrrrr) with Mrs P as she gets back training after a break of six months.

Monday: 2 miles run/walk
8+ miles recovery: Time: 1h22, Pace: 9.43 HR:116-119(119)
Out early on the "Mrs P reboot" project. Then off to join some folks for a leisurely potter around the tow paths. Useful to keep me honest on pace.

Tuesday: 12+ miles w/7 @ subtempo.
Humm ... the first sign of trouble in a while. The plan calls for upto 10 miles at subtempo. Previously I had hit 9 with a little HR wobble at 10. So going into this I was expecting to at least match that.
Tbh, heading out I not looking forward to this. It was grey, rainy, blustery - not inviting. I switched to the heavy winter shoes with the screws to provide traction on the waterlogged packed earth paths. But I was still expecting to complete the session without much trouble. Warmup was just shy of a mile (until the HR monitor started showing reliable readings). Even allowing a charitable margin for error, the HR begin drifting seriously after mile 4, by mile 7 it was clear the things were going south, and after mile 8 (8.01) I decided the HR drift called for bagging the remaining miles and dropped to 130 HR. This left me 3+ dreary miles from home. Character building I guess.

Not sure what to make of this .... negative thoughts leaking into pace ? Heavier shoes ? Not enough recovery from Thursday/Sunday ? Next time out on this session (Friday) I'll be back to a rolling course.

Subtempo miles: 7.19(135):), 7.26(140):), 7.35(141), 7.37(141), 7.36(141), 7.43(141), 7.49(141):(, 8.01(138):o
Mop up miles: 8.36(133), 8.42(131)

The results of a search on Hadd on boards and elsewhere. Just tucking them here for future reference. The only substantive addition is the suggestion of strides before the the subtempo runs. Might start to phase strides in from next week just to keep some zip in the legs.


http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056871366
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=87907917

http://can.milesplit.com/discussion/topics/90162

Ed Mc Groarty wrote: »

Ah no!
That lad with the speaker, that's just wrong wrong wrong.
Great impromptu motivation for a speed session though.

You must have missed the great c/w classics like ... "Ma runnin' buddie done me wrong", "Garmin connect says I'm in Nashville" and of course "Don't y'awll tread on mah tempo".:D

Yes, I might have to skip weekday sessions - it's just too embarrassing.

Friday: 4 run/walk Pace:~12.30
12.5 w/11 subtempo: HR:137-145(143), Pace:


Edit: Just to add - did a short warmup followed by 5 very slow and creaky strides to before setting out on this run.

A new rolling route. My planned guide for the morning dropped out so I joined Mrs P on her ongoing comeback. Following a 30min breather, some research of the route, I headed out for the main action of the day: Upto 10 miles at subtempo HR (140) with as little drift as possible.
The route great but tough - largely rolling hills (the highest HR I noticed was 155), and I did find it tough. Unfortunately the HR results show I ran it too hard - 144 was the median HR. In my defense it is hard to judge how the average will end for any mile when HR can range from 13x-15x depending on the slope. I lost pace on the few flat or slight downward slopes, I find it hard to shift gear upwards - the effort of accelerating to a HR feels much greater than the effort of sustaining it - though I know this does not make much sense.


so it is hard to judge based on any individual mile, but the cardiac drift trend is still evident. I did an 11th mile just to see if I could get the HR back to about 140 and check the pace on a final mile with any major climbs - but failed miserably on both fronts. Still much happier about today than Tuesday's shambles.

7.37(137), 7.34(139), 8.06(145), 7.49(142), 7.52(142), 7.36(144), 7.49(143), 7.50(144), 7.46(143), 7.54(144), 7.51(144)

Monday: 8 miles. Time: 75m, @9.20, HR:115-118(117)
8 early morning miles feeling the way forward in a heavy fog.

Tuesday: 13 miles w/10subtempo, @7.47, HR:135-141(141)
I love this town : during warm up I passed a guy playing a ukulele singing "We have no bananas".

As to the subtempo miles : The first few miles I was not feeling great, thinking I was working harder then the HR suggested. The it settled down and in the later miles I was thinking that that I would complete the 10 with little or no heart rate drift. During mile 9, I checked and the pace was 7.27 with the HR about right. But when the mile beeped soon after it showed 9.35, and while mile 10 was better on track, my attempt to stretch this to mile 11 was not looking good at 7.4x before I came upon a massive flock of ducks and had to come to a walk to persuade them to make way.

So ... better....close but no cigar.
Subtempo (flat): 7.26(135), 7.26(140), 7.31(142), 7.29(140), 7.32(141), 7.28(141), 7.29(141), 7.28(141), 7.35(142), 7.33(142)

Well, I was not lucky. The "niggle" grew teeth and knocked me out for three weeks. Then when I returned, after my third run I developed tendinitis in the foot which took out another week. Finally got back last week and did a 14 mile suffer fest on Friday, where my lack of fitness combined with grossly underestimating how cold it was and so I had to stop at every public building (and there are few enough of them) to warm up . Finally we've been slammed with 2.5 feet of snow so running outside is going to be problematic for a while.

So probably about 20-25 miles largely on the treadmill for the last two weeks. The few outside runs have seen the HR hit 140 at what feels like minimal effort so despite using the bike and elliptical aerobic fitness is shot.

11 weeks to Connemara .

So starting to push the boulder up the hill again.

Tuesday: AM: 40 mins, TM @10.00mm.
Not wearing a HRM in the gym, but going off feel this seems about right for the effort level. Pace is crazily slow - but it does not feel like that so I don't know how to judge this.

EDIT: Wait ... we've lost another few veteran posters .... what the hell ??

Ok.... it's offical. The marathon gods hate me

My record includes:

2010: New jersy marathon. Finished with temps about 90F andhumity 80%. Extra medical aid had to be brough to the course on the day as about 1/3 the field failed to finsieh..
2012: New York: Cancelled due to Hurricane Sandy
2014: Central Park Marathon: cancelled due to ice storms
2015: Chase the Unicorn: finished with temps at 94F. A sizeable portion of the field had the wit to pull out before the second loop.
and so onto 2016 and .... Connemara



The run up to this race was less than ideal. A bout of tendonitis in the leg in December was followed by tendonitis in the right foot, and finally a bone bruise in my ever troublesome left knee when I resumed running on a treadmill in fridget conditions. So I was reduced to four weeks training ( 3 weeks and 1 week mini-taper). However with the trip booked, and my neice making her marathon debut I was detemined to get to the start line if at all possible and nurse my way to the finish.
In the last week I knew it would be a new personal worst, but I thought I might be able to keep it sub 4 hours to keep an unslighly 4.XX off the record. Anything more would be a bonus. Mrs P was doing the half off even less training than me (we were going to cut quite a pair), and finally nephew was running with his sister.

The plan: With so little training and little idea how I would fare on the hills I was planning to run by heart rate. I bought a new optical HRM this year and after some early problems it had worked out well. The early race was going to be ultra conservative and then we'd see how the second half went.

The start: Well, I had checked the forecast and I could have sworned it said "showers" but "calm". Getting off the bus from Galway the gusts of wind at the start of the full were shocking and I finally tried to hide behing the toilets as I reconsidered my choice of singlet and arm warmers. Finally I decided to put on a long sleved shirt I had been planning to use to change at the finish and add the single with the bib over it. I worried I'd be too warm but decided in a worst case I'd be able to take it off later ! Executing this change my bag blew away ... and was reduced to an undignified scramble to save to before it flew away completely. I also made the critical decision to go for a bandana rather than a cap that would be likely to take off in the wind. I was not able to find my niece and newphew. At least when the runners collected for the start there was some shelter and body warmth.

I lined up behine the 4.00 pace group with the idea of using them as a guide to help the discipline and a visisble pace guide.
I found the couple of miles tough. The swirling wind gusts disrupted any attempt at rythem and the compressing of the pace group ahead made things a bit crowded. With the gusts of winds knocking people every which way it was like trying to run behind a late night stag party.

Pace: 9.09, 9.01, 9.08

But I was feeling pretty good and when an early turn turned the prevailing wind into a nice tail wind I pulled ahead of the pacers and was pretty comfortable and starting to feel confident. I started to think I might really regret the decision to add the long sleved shirt but live was good.

Pace: 8.42, 8.55, 8.37

However one big problem was the the HRM had a complete melt down and was throwing up crazy figures ( figures closer to 5k than marathon pace). I tried adjusting it several times but with no success. This was really annoying as it had given me no sign of trouble. (Damaged on the trip maybe ?). It was clear early on that the HRM was going to be no help at all and I was going to have to rely on feel.

Around mile 6 I heard a guy behind warn that we were heading into a hill and headwind after the next turn. Sure enough shortly after the next turn there was hill I that overlooked on the drive around the day before. Still things were comfortable enough. But at some point shortly after the wind became a head wind and the rain joined the gusts to make life miserable.

Pace: 9.06, 9.08,

Around mile 10 my next problem started. My right sock started to work its way down into my shoe. This was not a new pair and I have no idea how/why (possible this might have been a new sock/show combination). I decided a quick repair would be wise. Unfortunately I had no idea how numb my hands were already. So while I got the wet lace partially untied I could not complete the job. At this moment the first of the hail storms started and I began to regret my lack of the visor that would have been on the cap. However the cap would probably have been in the possession of a sheep by then anyway. By the time I had finally got the shoe back on I could not the right glove back on !! I gave up on the wrestle with the glove and carried on. By now the 4.00 hour pace group had over taken me and was only dimly visible. Within minutes my Garmin reported "Low battery" wtf ??? There was some bad language.

Pace: 10.34,

On the start of the road into Leenaun things became progressively worse. I had been closing the gap on the pace group but I decided that as conditions gor worse I could not afford to be alone so I decided to put in some work and rejoined the back ofthe pace group. Just in time becasue this was brutal. I was thinking that if this kept up there was no chance I would finish. I was bent over and trying to stay away from the pooling water on the left but avoid being blown by a gust into the line of traffic passing on the right.

Pace: 8.44, 8.28, 9.25, 9.11, 9.14

As we got into the town there seemed to be a bit more shelter and by the half way mark I was just wet and miserable. The turn from Leenaun brought the start of the hills but this was more than offset by the relief from the head wind for a while. Once at the top the wind was back again though not straight on and the second bout of hail started. As conditions worsn again my head was down and I missed a lot of mile markers - it was one foot in front of another territory. Aware of my lack of training, and becoming increasingly worried about exposure I was in "one foot in front of the other" mode though the pace seems to have picked up over the top of the mile 14-15 hill. Beyond this much of this is a blur until the turn over the bridge and the start of the HOTW. I was pleased and suprised however to reel in and pass the pace group again without undue effort.

Pace: 9.52, 8.18, 8.41, 8.42, 8.52,

Heading into the race I wanted to reach this point with enough gas left to minimize the damage on the next few miles. I met Mrs P a little after mile 20 and was very happy to see her doing ok. After a small whine I resumed my "run".

Pace: 9.19, 9.06, 9.10, 9.33,

I think (my memory is hazy ) but at some point on the HOTW the wind became a head wind again and try as I might about 2/3rds up I was forece to walk briefly (though the mile pace suggest longer). Again the pace group caught me and I marshelled myself sufficently to tag onto the back with the hope that they could drag me to the top.

Pace: 11.09,

Once at the top some guy offered me a bottle of the sports drink (thanks by the way if you are a boardsie - I had not seen these). Suprisingly I got a bit of second wind and a big boost from seeing my brother cheering at the side of the road. I allowed the downslope to carry me on, and took advantage of a lull in the weather to empty the tank over the last couple of miles. It's funny but I really felt like I wss flying. Again I passed the pace group and finished confident that I had nipped on below 4 hours.

Pace: 8.57, 8.43, 8.24 (.44).

Unfortunately the pace group finished outside 4 hours so my optimism was misplace and sadly I now have an ugly 4 on my marathon record. Final time 4.01 ... chip time 4.00.52. I'm a little disappointed but given my (lack of) training, and the conditions I am not going to beat myself up. I actually think it was one of my better marathon efforts. It's a pity it worked out like this becasue I don't know when or if I'll get to do Connemara again. I am optimistic that there is enough there for me to think about a decent effort and at least a return to BQ times later in the year.

On finishing I changed into every piece of dry clothing I had. But despite 3 coffees I could not stop shivering. I went back out to see Mrs P and my niece and newphew roll home - all looking a lot better than I felt.

Finally - big, big shout out to the volunteers. Manning those water stations for that length of time would have sapped my will to live,

Yet, another reboot! Plans for Connemara got derailed by a succession if injuries from December. It eventually became an exercise in "can I complete a marathon off four weeks training". The answer is "yes" and despite my slowest ever marathon I was happy enough.

So now onwards. I have signed up for another marathon in early September. This is an all out effort to get a BQ - after three successive failures (actually two attempts) - and finally return to a more acceptable marathon time. The ability is there - my 18 miler from last year makes me believe that if only I can stay healthy and get a break with weather - not 90f+ :blink: and not ...whatever the hell that was in Connemara ... I can still do it. Failing to BQ will be expensive as I am likely to return to Connemara and maybe take a crack at the ultra.

So to take stock: My endurance is ok I think. I finished Connemara feeling strong ( I think, it was so bloody cold it was hard to tell). But my speed is woeful. So I have decided to focus on speed for a few weeks to try to put some zip back in the legs. In an experiment last week I ran 4 * 1 mile intervals with about 1/3 of a mile recovery and began at 6:45 mins/mile and finished at 7:15.

For me the canary in the coalmine is the 10k. I know I am in shape if I can break 40. Right now I am so far off this/ So I am going to do a few races over the 10-15k range over the next few weeks to try to race my self fit before launching back into marathon training. I think I am going to return to P&D. It served me well before a few years ago and I have had no success at the marathon dietance since leaving it. However, on paper HADD seems to address my weaknesses, so I am going to resume HADD with lower mileage, and hope the racing will provide a jolt of speed to allow me get back to reaonable Hadd-sub tempo runs in short order.

Weight: I am about 12lbs over my ideal weight right now. This is product of job related logistics - and a lot of ill discipline. This is a major issue.

Stretching: I believe in the post run stretch. I think putting more focus on this with some yoga will help my misalinged hip issues that I suspect are at the root of a lot of my injuries. Ok ... now I am going to go remind myself how to create tables !

Monday: 5/2

3 w/Mrs P
9 (creek-ringoes)
5 (nj-tow)

Tuesday:
4 (creek). Soggy morning
30mins swim

Wednesday:
5.5 miles w/15*200m 0:44-0:46.
Was reasonably pleased with this one. Pretty consistant from start to finish.

Thursday:
12.5 Early morning. The group had me running a bit faster than my normal plod
5: Slow early evening gentle trot.

Friday + Saturday: nothing, nada, zip, zilch
**Sigh ** that stiffness I woke up with for a few days was worse this morning and did not seem to loosen with a bit of walking. Dr google suggested that it's actually an Achilles strain :(. So decided to pull the plug

Sunday:
HoHa Classic 5m (34.**):mad: + 1
Oh lordy, I am slow. My heel felt a bit better after two days off so I decided to go ahead and risk this one as it is my old club race and a hardy annual. This run was demoralizing. I got smoked by several guys who I would expect to be able to hang with at worst. By mile 4 I was cooked and broken. My final mile was at what would have been MP a few years ago. EDIT: And I'mpretty certain that the course was short. 4.90 on my watch. !!

Day|Run |Pace | HR | Miles | Comments
Mon | Very slow | 10.00+ | | 3 | slow w/Mrs P
| Slow } 9.19 | 125 | 9 | creek + ringoes
| Slow | | | 5 | watchless
Tue | Slow | 9.19 | | 4 | creek + ringoes
| Swim 30mins | | | |
Wed | 15*200m | 0:44-0:46 | | 5.5 |
Thurs| Slow w/faster end | 8.44 | 128 | 12.5 |
| Slow | 9.38 | 121 | 5 |
Fri | | | | |
Sat | | | | |
Sun | Race 5m + 1 | 7.05 | | 5+1 |
Total| | | | 50 | Need to up that mileage


I'm having a bit of an existantial running crisis right now. I am unable to generate any kind of pace and I'm at a loss as to why. Physically I feel ok, ( well other than the hell issue ), but my results are just ... mediocre. And now my achilles is threatenng another spell out of action. Four years of no progress is being followed by one of regression . I may need to re evaluate. Maybe Hadd is not for me ?

Well ... it's been a while. RL went a bit off the rails at the end of May. Training became ...a lot of slow social comfort zone runs. Diet went to hell - meaning I was almost 10lbs over my weight back when I was threatening PBs. Coffee and sugar were back .
Coming into my August marathon I did string a number of 80+ mile weeks together, but with very little hard running other that a once a week track session. A few attempts at tempo runs were sobering - I could not hold expected pace.

So .... the results were:

August: Leigh High marathon: 3.39
This was a BQ or bust race. Bust it was. Humidity was high and so was my HR - even at the start. Bust it was. At 20 miles there was a very steep climb with a horrible loose gravel surface that pushed me over the red line. At mile 23 with my race blown a guy in front of me pull up abruptly and I was just about able to grab him before he fell over. Stopped with him a 1-2 minutes before he insisted I take off again. This race made the news due to a slow moving freight train cross the course during the race delaying a lot of runners at 3.00-3.10 pace. Insanely someone who was there told me a few idiots rolled under the carriages to get past. :eek::eek:

October: LBI 18 miler: 2.25
Well this was actually a decent race for me ! The race is a point-to-point on a barrier island on the Atlantic coast. Unfortunately this was the weekend of hurricane matthew - so it was Connemara Marathon-eque conditions again, although a bit warmer. Rain, hail, bust most of all a 25-30mph head wind the entire route. I drafted shamelessly, finished 22nd, took the AG. Despite the time probably my best run this year.

November: Bucks County marathon 3.33.09
This is now a local marathon for me ... so why not. It's along a packed earth tow path that I run almost daily. I started it with a friend running his first full so I was very conscious to remain disciplined. Unfortunately he dropped off me around mile 8 and while he was still visible until mile 13 I lost him completely after the half way mark. Again by mile 16 I was aware that the HR was too high and the pace started to fade ... by mile 23 BQ was gone so the last 3 miles were devoted to not being passed (by this stage the field is spread out - I could not see anyone ahead but I did see a figure behind in blue gaining on me ) and finishing.

So.... looking at these results this morning it is clear that my endurance is poor. Despite the high mileage. So it's time for a re engineering of training over the winter. I did a lot of 14-17 mile runs this year - in part because that suited the group I ran with - but only 1 20 mile run. As I said above I did very few hard sessions and consequently I think I did not really get the stress/recovery (hard/easy) training stimulus.

Resolutions:
1. I need to run longer runs. 20+ miles with some PMP miles. Sadly this probably means leaving my training group.

2. I need to get in tempo, and tempo intervals in particular.
3. Drop weekly mileage back to 50-60 max.
4. Diet .. this is the tough one. I need to shed 10lbs - back to about 145. This is the struggle as I tend to comfort eat when stressed - and this has been a stressful year.

Specifically I am going to look at Daniels and put a 10k plan together. Getting my 10k under 40 would be a indicator that I'm back. Reviving this log might keep me honest!

Monday 23: 6 miles @9.25 strictly recovery

Tuesday 24: 10 miles @8.42 easy-ish. Still the final few miles gave a hint that my endurance is not where I'd like it to be. Not too surprising given that my mileage has been down over the last few months.

Wednesday 25: 10 miles @8.28 Similar to Tuesday. Recent rain has left most of the off road routes around here muddy. So as I want to avoid taking on the hills involved in any road route I am restricted to the one route that drains well.

Thursay 26: 13 miles @8.37 Group run - again same route. We seemed to be moving along at a decent pace (as I listened to them all plan for Boston:() so the average pace is a bit surprising.

Monday 6: 6 miles @9.34 Recovery

Tuesday 7: 7 mile @9.25 Recovery again.

Wednesday 9: 16 miles @8.48
With an eye on April I am starting to look at building mileage again. This was a sobering start. Not sure if Sunday's run is still in the legs ... but this was tough on a flat route. I started to feel the strain about mile 12. Disappointing - work to be done.

Thursday 8: 2.5 miles:o @ 9.53
Thursday was wiped out by a snow storm that dumped about 6 inches when done. I did stagger out for a token trudge - but who am I kidding

Friday, I conceded to the conditions and did some core.

Saturday 11: 10 miles @ 8.46
Drove out to a county road with a nice wide hard shoulder cleared of snow and did an out and back. No too bad - though the route is a bit monotonous.

Sunday 12: 5+ mile race (Choose your way). 36.26 for 26th elevation 342ft ?.
Interesting race ! It is a loop course. The wrinkle is that you get to choose which direction to race - clockwise or anti-clockwise ! I chose the direction with a steep start and the hills front loaded. On balance I am not sure this suited me. Also it got tough as I was alone for much of the last 2.5 miles. Looking at the HR data it looks very much as if I did not push hard enough. A guy did catch and join for the last half mile which I actually found a bit distracting as we were side by side - and he duly smoked me on the last straight to the finish . Looking at the results I suspect the other route might have been faster. [That elevation figure looks very suspect]

Monday 20: 10 miles @8.56 easy
Too long, too fast for recovery ... but my excuse is that yet again I became unemployed :mad: ( walked away from an impossible situation).
Tuesday 21: 9 miles @8.55
Using my new found freedom to explore some new routes !
Wednesday 22: 6 miles hills
Thursday 23: 12 miles w/10*150 strides
Friday 24: 7 miles @9.05
Saturday 25: 5 miles @9.14
Saturday 26: 4.3 miles Staggered Start 30.47
Ok so this was the final race of the winter series, and basically a fun run. A handicap race with the handicap being calculated based on times in previous races. So ...Mrs P got a handicap of about 11 minutes and mine was .... 30.59 :eek:
So my 30.47 was good for 171st ! I did not catch Mrs P, nor was I able to hold off my AG rival who started at 32.xx.... Interesting experience, it brought home how difficult it is when the guys you are chasing down are travelling at unpredictable paces, The last half mile was pretty chaotic - only the most competitive made up places (though there were a few :rolleyes:).