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Mum on the Run
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+10 to Mulberry's post, last summer, I was on a nine or ten day rolling schedule (session, rec, rec, session, rec, rec, lr rec rec) but I. Was. Shattered. On each recovery day! So much fun though. Factor in extra time for warm up (thorough limbering, drills and strides) and warm down too (myrtl great for reinvigoration). Make nuts your 'always on you' snack and wolf down a handful after a session. ENJOY and delighted to see you go for this end of the spectrum (despite Ososlo's best efforts
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I still have a couple of weeks to go before the plan starts so I’ll be using the time to try to get a proper S&C routine going, do the time trials and read up on HTFU type training. Thursday is the new Monday as it makes sense to start the new plan midweek.
Thursday 4th February – Easy
After a few days off post-Raheny 5 (I did nothing apart from Pilates on Wednesday) I was chomping at the bit to get out. Lovely mild evening for it and the wind was behind me all the way to the Bull Wall. Hit a wall of wind on the way back but it wasn’t cold or wet so I wasn’t bothered.- 5.3 miles @ 9:01 (path, grass)
Friday 5th February – S&C, Easy
Level 1 Pilates class, which was grand, a bit too easy if I’m honest but it’s good for technique. Then up to St. Anne’s for a loop on what’s left of the trail followed by a lap of the parkrun route finishing with strides on the avenue.- 5.9 miles @ 8:39 (tarmac, grass, trail) incl. 6 x 20 sec strides
Saturday 6th February – St.Anne’s parkrun
Hmmmmm. Not exactly the result I was hoping for but probably a fair assessment of where I am at the moment and proof of why I need to HTFU! Ran as best as I could today but then went to cheer my club mates at the BHAA XC in the Phoenix Park and really wished I’d chosen to race that instead. BUT… the idea is to put down benchmarks at 3K (done), 5K (done now) and 1 mile (asap) to measure any future improvement. Going slightly backwards at the moment (aside from XC which seems to be going really well) so hopefully I can reverse the trend over the next while and get the times down for those distances. If today proved anything though, it’s that if there was year round XC I’d wouldn’t bother running on the roads ever again.- 5.6 miles incl. 5K parkrun (21:40), warm up, strides, cool down.
Sunday 7th February – LSR
Bit chilly, wet and windy but it was great to get out in the afternoon and blow away the cobwebs from a late night and perhaps a scoop too many
. Did the Frank Duffy 10 route for this, at least that hill is getting a bit easier :rolleyes:. Splits from a month ago vs. today are below. I forgot about the diversion near the pope’s cross this time and last time I didn’t do the short diversion off the North Road so it’s not an exact mile per mile comparision. Some of the splits today were wind assisted and the last 2 miles were into a fairly stiff headwind compared to a perfect windless day the last time so progress is being made. For some reason my pace always seems faster in the Phoenix Park even though the effort is the same. Maybe it’s running on tarmac as opposed to the usual grass/trail or just a better GPS signal.- 10 miles @ 8:14 (tarmac)
7/2 Splits (8:21, 8:14, 8:12, 8:26, 8:10, 7:57, 7:59, 8:20, 8:36, 8:05)
4/1 Splits (8:19, 8:25, 8:35, 8:31, 8:21, 8:11, 8:05, 8:23, 9:02, 8:33)
Monday 8th February – Easy
Nice run around the ‘hood with aquinn and annapr. Bit wet and windy but we were blown home on the final stretch. Thankfully we avoided running in to the middle of the latest gangland warfare incident :eek:.- 4.3 miles @ 9:49 (path)
Tuesday 9th February – Easy
Loop of D.9 and D.3 taking in Donneycarney, Malahide Road, Griffith Avenue and Swords Road then down to Calderwood Road for some hill sprints. Enjoyable run despite the cold. And the wet. And the wind.- 4.1 miles @ 9:08 (path) + 4 x 8 sec hill sprints (full recoveries)
Wednesday 10th February – S&C, Track session
Level 2 Pilates which was tough, but good, then ran over to the track for some speedy stuff. Plan was 4 x 400m (30 secs recovery) and 4 x 800m (75 seconds recovery) at 5K pace. Given my recent form over the distance (equivalent of 1:44/lap) I didn’t think this would be too much bother. Ha! Splits were a bit faster than anticipated but not by much and the last 800 was bleurgh. But I could have done another one with a gun to my head so I think that counts as a good session?
400m Splits (30 secs rec) 1:41, 1:41, 1:40, 1:43
800m Splits (75 secs rec) 3:21, 3:25, 3:26, 3:29
Had a quick snack then ran home and ate a massive dinner.- 8.0 miles incl. track session as above
TOTAL WEEKLY MILES: 43.20 -
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Have started on week 2 of my own HTFU as was similarly kinda annoyed at where my own running was, ie going backwards! Did a benchmark 5km and 8km but must do a 1km or 1 mile as well. I'm the kind of person that has to see the cause-effect and always need the evidence. Enjoying the change and will be following your "cause" with interest.
Likewise! Great to have company on the HTFU journey
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Lots of choice at the moment for a mile TT: The Alsaa winter league is on next Tuesday and the following week there's the Irish Runner Paced Miles at the same venue. Let me know if you need info on either.0 -
Bungy Girl wrote: »You did ok
Thanks G, I'm looking forward to the new plan and have lots of XC races coming up to the keep me happy so it's all good in the 'hood
Pacer assisted, and 6 of us trying for time, wouldn't be able to push as hard
On my own , haven't run 5k since.0 -
Bungy Girl wrote: »Likewise! Great to have company on the HTFU journey.
Lots of choice at the moment for a mile TT: The Alsaa winter league is on next Tuesday and the following week there's the Irish Runner Paced Miles at the same venue. Let me know if you need info on either.
Cheers. Is it possible to just roll up for ALSAA?0 -
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Will do. This will be a first. Last time I ran on a track was in Secondary School. We turned up with football boots on and they wouldnt let us run. Boots off and the team ran barefoot....and won the 200m relay event. http://b-static.net/vbulletin/images/smilies/biggrin.png
Will bring the runners just in case
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Thursday – REST
A fancy lunch in town, involving a single glass of wine, which on closer examination turned out to be 250ml ! A third of a bottle, oops, but it was a very nice Chablis so it would have been rude not to finish it.
Friday – S&C, Easy
A new gym routine, followed by a naked run in St.Anne’s as I’d forgotten my watch. Just did a loop inside the perimeter and it was a lot muckier than usual, I was slipping and sliding all over the place. Would have liked to have run further but I was starving and my legs were a bit banjaxed after the gym.- 3.8 miles @ easy pace (trail, grass, tarmac)
Saturday – Easy
Oh sweet Cheeses the DOMS, the DOMS…woke up in a heap with every muscle screaming. That new gym routine is a bit of a shock to the system! Canned the idea of a hills session with the club and went out for an easy naked run (brought the watch but didn’t look at it) up to the Bull Wall via Fairview Park. Spring has sprung with snowdrops and crocuses everywhere and even a bit of heat from the sun when the wind dropped. Really enjoyed this and legs feel (a bit) better after it.- 6.0 miles @ 9:33 (grass)
Sunday – Long Run
Junior parkrun to start the day, and BG Jr. got herself a PB. At least someone in the family isn’t going backwards :rolleyes:.
Legs still feeling the DOMS from Friday’s gym so long run today was a plod. Ran up to St.Anne’s then 2 loops of the inside.- 11.0 miles @ 9:35 (path, tarmac, grass, muck, trail)
Monday – Easy
Ran out to Santry for the running lecture at the SSC which I linked to here a couple of weeks back. Bumped into Firedance, what a nice surprise. The talk covered running biomechanics, injury prevention, strength & conditioning and programme design. Interesting, and I would say these guys (Colin, Evin) would be excellent to consult if you were constantly getting injured. Definitely reinforced the priority I need to give to the gym work from now on. Ran home.- 7.4 miles @ 9:26 (out) and @ 9:13 (back)
Tuesday – Mile TT, S&C
Himself is on a jolly for work from tomorrow which means I’m housebound until Friday (well, not quite, I get to go to work). This meant packing a lot in today unfortunately so it was a late one.
Did the mile TT at Alsaa, after a cursory warm up on the track. No time for strides or drills or any of the stuff I should be doing. It was wet and a bit windy but not cold so no complaints about the weather. Met Denis_B and had a quick chat. Noticed he had brought his runners and not his football boots this time. There was just the one race tonight (sometimes they have a sub-6 and a 6+ race which in retrospect would have been better because I went off way too fast on the first lap and the remaining 3 were torture. It seems I get away with this approach in XC but not on the track :eek:. My legs were literally jelly on the last 100m and I wasn’t sure if they’d make it to the finish line. Denis cruised by me at some point during the last 100m, and I staggered over the line a few seconds later. So, benchmark is set and I have learned a few lessons about pacing. It’s about 4 seconds quicker than this time last year (good), 14 seconds off my PB (not so good), BUT it’s 12 seconds quicker than the Goal Mile on Xmas day AND an accurate assessment of where I am and the whole point of Operation HTFU is to improve over the next 8 weeks from where I am now. Did some cool down laps then headed to the gym. Bit of faffing about while I tried to locate all the bits and bobs I needed. Why oh why can they not have the weights written on the med balls ? I was looking for a 3Kg or 4Kg and had to resort to one that I reasoned weighed about as much as BG Jr did when she was born. Good session. Something very therapeutic about gym work, even though I always dread it. Tired now.- 4.1 miles incl. 1 Mile TT (6:28*) approx. laps 1:32, 1:37, 1:38, 1:41
Wednesday – Easy (a.m.)
Up early for this before my house arrest and got a few miles in along the promenade- 4.3 miles @ 9:15 (path, grass)
TOTAL WEEKLY MILES: 36.6
Operation HTFU starts in earnest tomorrow. With a rest! 0 -
Thursday – REST
Embraced the houseboundedness and settled down for the night in full charge of the remote control and a bar of Tiffin. Happy days
Friday – S&C, Speed
Level 1 Pilates which is really too easy now but there’s no intermediate class on a Friday morning.
Drove to the track for the first proper HTFU training session. The excitement! Plan says 20 mins including 10 x 20 secs @ target mile pace (or a bit quicker), evenly spaced over the 20 minutes. Plus a warm up and cool down. I had figured out beforehand that to hit 5:5x pace on the track I’d need to cover 90 metres in the 20 seconds. Warmed up with a few laps then did some drills and strides. Changed in to my fancy new Saucony A6s and did 10 x 20 secs fast with 1:40 jog recoveries. First few were easy, and I was thinking it was a very soft session, but by the end of it I could really feel it in my legs. I know the Garmin isn’t accurate over such short distances so I’d imagine the paces below are off by a good bit, but I think I got the effort reasonably ok, perhaps a bit too fast. Next week it moves to 10 x 30 secs with 1:30 recoveries :eek:.
I was sharing the track with a masters runner who was training for Athlone. We chatted after our sessions and he’s competing in the 60m and 200m in the o/65s. He looked 15 years younger! He had some interesting advice about the mental aspect of racing and referred me to ‘The Chimp Paradox’ by Steven Peters which I will look up.- 5.7 miles incl. drills, strides and 10 x 20 sec @ mile pace
(20 sec paces: 4:47, 5:31, 5:42, 5:35, 5:24, 6:04, 5:36, 5:23, 5:31, 5:55)0 -
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Saturday – Easy
Plan said 40 minute easy and I pimped it with some strides. Flew down the promenade with some wind assistance and had it in my face all the way back. Body’s feeling good ahead of tomorrow’s XC. Had a niggle in my back earlier but some McKenzies and strategic stretching and foam rolling sorted that out.- 4.5 miles @ 8:52 incl. 6 x 20 sec strides (path, grass)
Sunday – Meet&Train Winter League Rd.3 (Dunboyne)
The penultimate race in the league. Forecast wasn’t great and sure enough the wind was howling and the rain didn’t let up during the drive out. Met up with team mates at Dunboyne AC HQ and jogged to the Cow Park about a mile away. Didn’t even get a chance to do a lap of the course as we were called to the start almost immediately. Got stuck a few rows back as it was a fairly narrow start. Had a brief moment of panic as my shoe appeared to have been sucked into the mud but managed to yank it out as the starter counted down. Took ages to get around the crowds but followed a team mate wide and finally got some space. Course was just under 3 laps and I can honestly say there was not one bit of solid ground the whole way around. I had the 12mm’s in and could have done with longer. It was, needless to say, tough underfoot but I felt reasonably ok on the first lap anyway. Got a shout out from super supporter Firedance, a risky move on home turf (thank you FD!). Don’t remember much about the 2nd lap, just trying to hold position I think. Halfway through the 3rd lap I realised I was gaining on 2 runners in front. I caught up to them just before we turned for the home stretch and made a massive effort to get ahead of them, hoping they had nothing left. Of course, OF COURSE, this was caught on camera and there’s a photo of me heading towards the finish looking like I’m about to biff someone. Got both of them though . Delighted with this race as I managed a strong finish which I haven’t been able to do recently. I placed 10th overall, 2nd scorer for the team. We were third team but it was very close: only 4 points separated the top 3 teams. We’re currently placed 2nd overall in the league so all to play for next weekend. Bring it on!- 4.4 miles incl. 2 miles XC race (muck, more muck and a bit more muck. Did I mention it was mucky ?)
Monday – S&C, Easy
I have the week off so spent an hour or so in the gym this morning followed by a leisurely run around St.Anne’s.- 4.3 miles @ 9:24 (path, trail)
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Bungy Girl wrote: »Saturday – Easy
Plan said 40 minute easy and I pimped it with some strides. Flew down the promenade with some wind assistance and had it in my face all the way back. Body’s feeling good ahead of tomorrow’s XC. Had a niggle in my back earlier but some McKenzies and strategic stretching and foam rolling sorted that out.- 4.5 miles @ 8:52 incl. 6 x 20 sec strides (path, grass)
Sunday – Meet&Train Winter League Rd.3 (Dunboyne)
The penultimate race in the league. Forecast wasn’t great and sure enough the wind was howling and the rain didn’t let up during the drive out. Met up with team mates at Dunboyne AC HQ and jogged to the Cow Park about a mile away. Didn’t even get a chance to do a lap of the course as we were called to the start almost immediately. Got stuck a few rows back as it was a fairly narrow start. Had a brief moment of panic as my shoe appeared to have been sucked into the mud but managed to yank it out as the starter counted down. Took ages to get around the crowds but followed a team mate wide and finally got some space. Course was just under 3 laps and I can honestly say there was not one bit of solid ground the whole way around. I had the 12mm’s in and could have done with longer. It was, needless to say, tough underfoot but I felt reasonably ok on the first lap anyway. Got a shout out from super supporter Firedance, a risky move on home turf (thank you FD!). Don’t remember much about the 2nd lap, just trying to hold position I think. Halfway through the 3rd lap I realised I was gaining on 2 runners in front. I caught up to them just before we turned for the home stretch and made a massive effort to get ahead of them, hoping they had nothing left. Of course, OF COURSE, this was caught on camera and there’s a photo of me heading towards the finish looking like I’m about to biff someone. Got both of them though . Delighted with this race as I managed a strong finish which I haven’t been able to do recently. I placed 10th overall, 2nd scorer for the team. We were third team but it was very close: only 4 points separated the top 3 teams. We’re currently placed 2nd overall in the league so all to play for next weekend. Bring it on!- 4.4 miles incl. 2 miles XC race (muck, more muck and a bit more muck. Did I mention it was mucky ?)
Monday – S&C, Easy
I have the week off so spent an hour or so in the gym this morning followed by a leisurely run around St.Anne’s.- 4.3 miles @ 9:24 (path, trail)
Nice going, G. Well done.
You forgot to tell us what % your time was compared to the winning time? I thought that was a key stat for XC 0 -
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Tuesday – ‘Long’ Run
The long runs on this programme are shorter than I’m used to so I may be adding on a few minutes as the programme progresses if I’m not too shattered from all the speedy stuff! Today called for 60 mins and I headed to the Phoenix Park which was just perfection itself in the sunshine.- 6.3 miles @ 9:46 (mud, trail)
Wednesday- S&C, Paced Mile
Level 2 Pilates class in the morning, loving my week off! Jogged the mile there just to prep the legs for later. Good class with a different instructor. Spent some time in the Jacuzzi and steam room afterwards with a few dips in the plunge pool (only my legs because I’m a wimp :eek:).
Signed up for the Irish Runner paced miles event a while back and after last week’s disappointing but realistic 6:28, the aim for this evening was to try to pace it a little more evenly and hopefully finish strongly this time. The whole event is very impressive and great value for a fiver! There was a talk in the Alsaa building beforehand, then a warm up, before heading out to the track for a lap before the start of the various paced miles. I met Spaceylou who looked really strong on her mile and broke away on the last lap for a very fast finish. Well done, and very nice to meet you.
My plan was to try to lose 5 seconds per lap off the 6 min pacer (Catherina McKiernan no less!) with a view to finishing in and around 6:20. I didn’t pace last week’s 6:28 well and tonight there were the added bonuses of windless conditions AND my new secret weapon: Saucony A6s. I also had time for a decent warm up. So I reckoned 2 secs faster per lap should be possible. I started at the back of the group, gave myself a stern pep talk about not going off too fast, then we were off! Pace felt hot enough and I was glad I wasn’t going for a sub-6 (some day…..:rolleyes:). I clicked the lap button manually each time we went through the finish gantry but I didn’t stop the watch at the finish so the last lap is my official finish time less the other laps. I can't make sense of the lap splits on the official results so I'll stick with mine. Absolutely delighted with the result, much better pacing and a strong finish. Lots of room for improvement but I’m only 1 second off my PB and still have 7 weeks to go. Happy days.- 5.2 miles total incl. Track Mile (6:15)
TOTAL WEEKLY MILES: 30.4
Week 1 of Operation HTFU done and dusted. I made a few adjustments to the programme to allow for the XC race (this replaced a 15 min tempo), the paced mile (hmmmm…:o) and threw in some strides to one of the easy runs. Reasonably compliant. It’ll be much the same for the next few weeks until the XC is over then I *should* be able to stick more closely to the schedule. I don’t really want to let the mileage slip under 30 mpw though unless it’s a step back or a taper week.0 -
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