From minutes to miles

Thanks for comments folks. Definitely tongue in cheek with the PB comments, just happy to be back in a position to give it a go.

Dubgal72 wrote: »

Well done Laura, sounds like you committed to some pain and it paid off Well done and yes, the consistency is key so carry on as you are. Foot ok today? Bit too late for you, but I have found that alternating buckets of iced water with warm/hot really helped stave off an attack after a race or hard effort.

Thanks DG. Yes foot relatively ok. Bit of backchat just letting me know I had put it through more than an easy outing but no pain this morning when I woke up. Iced it a bit alright but I must try the alternating, thanks for the tip.

Bungy Girl wrote: »

Great report Laura, and well done for going after that sub 35. And smashing it!

What will be the focus of the new plan ? 10K or .... ?

No real focus yet. It's a bit of a general plan. There's no crazy mileage involved, it's really just building on what I've been doing since I came back from the injury and adding a bit more structure and regular build up. Adding in some speedwork and getting a base back and then putting down some more specific focus. I think I'll be sticking mostly to 5k-10k for the next while anyway. I have a few races eyed up just to have something to keep aiming for and mark progress but none set as a goal or target yet. I am hoping to do a few of the Raheny summer league races midweek too.

Happy enough with the week, continued the bit of consistency and added in some speed and a "longer" run. Was funny, I was telling the other half that I really enjoyed the week of running and in my head I felt I'd hit big mileage but when I worked it out I realised it was going to be about 17 miles :rolleyes::D:o It's all relative though, a few months ago I would have bit off a hand that offered that, and combined with the race at Dunboyne I'm hopeful that I can start tackling some of the PB's I set last year.

Monday - 27 mins (2.6 miles @ 10.23 pace)

Supposed to be slower but I was running before work and got a bit conscious of the time. When I woke up my legs were definitely letting me know I gave it welly at Dunboyne!! I thought about skipping this but I'd worked out the week and didn't want to start jigging the plan around. The legs did feel better after the run but the stiffness continued for the day and Tuesday as well.

Tuesday - rest

Wednesday - 35 mins (3.43 miles @ 10.13 pace)

I remember very little about this, was before work anyway, think I felt reasonable on it.

Thursday - 35 mins with 18 mins tempo (3.64 miles)

10 mins w/u @ 9.47
18 mins tempo @ 9.09
7 mins c/d @ 10.50

My first planned speedwork in a good while. Stuck with the trend this week of running before work. I didn't want to do this first thing after waking up so I headed off on the bike as usual and got woken and warmed up and did this near work, actually worked out pretty well. I was dithering on what pace to aim for. I was a bit unsure about just the "listening to your body approach" as I can have a tendency to go off too enthusiastic so I wanted to combine that with a ballpark pace for guidance. Looking back to my first similar session like this last year the average pace was 9.25 and Dunboyne was 8.33. The tempo was to be a pace I could hold roughly for an hour so I thought somewhere between 9 and 9.25 would be ok. Finishing the warmup and heading into the tempo I moved up a few gears and settled into a pace that felt about right. I checked the watch every few minutes just for guidance and to make sure I wasn't drifting too much one way or the other. With about 10 minutes done I was feeling the effort but it was still sustainable and the remaining minutes ticked off fairly quickly and anytime I looked at the watch it was fairly consistent throughout. Not sure if I got the pacing approach right but it's a start.

Friday - rest

Saturday - St. Anne's parkrun 29.40 (3.11 miles @ 9.30 on the watch)

Headed off to run St. Anne's parkun on the first outing of the new course. I was questioning my sanity as I woke up with a touch of hangover after a late night and couple of drinks too many and had my breakfast. Once I got moving and had some food/juice I was grand and made my way to the park and joined the crowds on arrival with loads of time to spare (9.26 am ). I have to say I really enjoyed this. I think the new route is much nicer, it goes through some nicer parts of the park in my opinion (I always find the bit by the tennis courts and pitches a bit barren). There's still plenty of flat sections and some downhills. Yes, there is one short, sharp hill that has to be done twice but overall is a very fair route. The fact I usually do that hill every time I'm in St. Anne's does help but the couple of hundred metre stretch after as you go for the avenue is a leg sapper that's for sure. I said I'd do this at easy pace, but I do find with parkrun that I never do it as easy as I should when I have that aim. True to form I found myself quickening on occasion here and had to mentally talk myself back from trying to chase targets in front. I still did do it a bit quicker than true easy pace but I felt pretty good throughout. I could have done a fartlek/strides today but I probably won't get to do a parkun for a couple of weeks so said I'd take the chance today. Excellent marshaling and abuse support from aquinn and annapr around the course helped keep my spirits up when I knew I was on approach.

Sunday - 50 mins (4.73 miles @ 10.35)

Long run of the week and longest in a while so really focused on keeping the effort and pace very easy. Headed down to St. Anne's, took in a few parts of the park (including that hill) and turned back for home. Felt good on this as well and was happy to stretch a run out. Hip felt a bit tight so have to get very disciplined again with the exercises on that front.

So, 17.51 miles done for the week. That .01 is driving me nuts but this comes with the territory of running by time I suppose :cool:

HelenAnne wrote: »

Well done on a good week, Laura. Good to see you on Saturday, sorry we didn't get to chat and I didn't get to ask you how you got on etc -- my group were moving inexorably towards the café, so I had to run. We could have compared long-lasting colds!
Saw you on Sunday as well - Eoin & I were walking down the main avenue in the park - but you'd sped on before I could get your attention. (You may have spotted me, you came up behind us and I was wearing a very bright pink coat )

Thanks HA, good to see you too! Congrats on first woman home, good to see you getting back into things as well. I must have been lost in my own world on Sunday, I didn't even spot you - although there was definitely no speeding. I've a vague memory of going past a couple on my left, maybe that was you guys?

Monday - Squash

Tuesday - 40 minutes easy (3.82 miles @ 10.28)

Headed towards St. Anne's and did nearly the length of the avenue and turned for home. As I was going down the avenue the setting sun was directly behind me causing a 10 foot shadow of me to bob along right in front of me. It got ridiculously distracting to the point where I found myself mentally wondering if that's really the proportion my hips look compared to the rest of me normally....I couldn't wait to turn around and was delighted when I did - except for the glaring low lying sun now right in my eyes :rolleyes: Pretty sure Duanington went by me in the opposite direction, at least I hope it was him, otherwise I've resumed my habit of shouting greetings at random strangers

Wednesday - 35 minutes easy (3.28 miles @ 10.41)

I had originally planned to do my tempo but cycling home from work the mind and body both felt tired, I felt really drained and I thought an easy run might be better. Jigged the week around and headed for 35 minutes instead. Put together a new route heading towards the Howth Road, to the edge of the park and doing a loop of the relay/road races course and back for home. Felt much better after but wise to skip the tempo I think.

Thursday - Rest

Friday - 45 minutes with 25 minutes tempo (4.64 miles)

12 mins w/u @ 10.25
25 mins tempo @ 9.08
8 mins c/d @ 10.38

I made a bit of a balls of this in that it was only supposed to be 23 minutes tempo. I had the day off work so headed for St. Anne's and timed it so that I'd hit the park to start the tempo on the avenue. For some reason I had mentally talked myself into being convinced this was going to be a tough session - before I'd even got started Even though the one a couple of weeks ago had gone well I was nervous about adding on an extra 5 minutes (not even my miscalculated 7 :rolleyes:), had I eaten enough, or was I too full. Seriously??? Most unlike me. I started off by trying to be really conscious of not tearing off but really easing into the tempo pace and finding a settled groove. I was over halfway through and had a route timed out in the park when I came across the parents of a long ago "BFF" school friend of mine. I waved hello but they were waving at me to come over and stop for a chat. I didn't want to be rude even though a little part of me was thinking...no, my tempo mojo Anyway it was nice to see them and once I got going again I was grand, although it did throw me off and I ended up confusing time elapsed with lap time on my watch and completely miscalculated how long I had left. It was only when I was nearly finished the cooldown and noticed my 45 minutes were nearly up that I had a mistake along the way. Whoops! Ah well, it'll make sure I have no weird worrying about my next tempo anyway. The pace was fairly consistent with my last outing even if the last two minutes were lap sapping up that incline coming out of the park. The nearby secondary school were coming back from lunch and I was genuinely taken aback at how many kids were eating hot chicken rolls, cans of coke etc.

Saturday - Rest

Sunday - 60 minutes easy (5.68 miles @ 10.34)

Headed to St. Anne's again for this and took in the avenue, the new parkrun route and a few other loops. Tackled Mt. Playground twice, and found the wind down the avenue a bit energy sapping. My new Garmin triumphantly announced a "NEW RECORD" - longest run for me in months. Which is a tiny bit depressing because I was tiring towards the end but it was a decent week overall and it's coming together so I can't complain really.

17.43 miles for the week with a stepback week on the plan now. I also have to become BFF's with my foam roller and tackle these calves over the next few days.

annapr wrote: »

You just have to start being rude to all those old neighbours etc... Can't interrupt the tempo!

I'd say the sweat coming off me while we chatted was enough to put them off wanting to talk to me again for a while

Murph_D wrote: »

Nice work. You're right to think tempo sessions are going to be tough, because they are! Well done on the new record too, good milestone to lay down for now.

Yeah I always expect them to be tough and I've seen that expectation on other logs, yours included I think, but I had a real mental wobble about this one for some reason - maybe just one of those weeks

Duanington wrote: »

That was me in St Anne's alright Laura - you were moving too quick to hear my reply properly ! Nice work this week by the way, well done :-)

Haha, moving too quick, you're gas I only spotted you as you were nearly past, squinty evening sun :cool:

aquinn wrote: »

I've lost you a few times to phonecalls and had to go back and find you!

Great amenity St Anne's and lucky you to get to avail of it. High mileage week. Whoop.

Tempo runs always wreck with head but are grand once you get going so no fear this week or fretting. Well done.

Thanks A. Yeah I love it there, so many different parts to it and great to have it fairly close. You can hobble your way down for some parkrun volunteering again soon!! High mileage indeed, going to break that 20 mile barrier again soon

Killerz wrote: »

No escape - you were spotted in full flight on Gracefield Road close to Artane Roundabout earlier on today. Spotted you too late to roll down the window and holla

Full flight - that depends on whether I was on my way out with the wind behind me or shuffling home into the wind Can't go incognito in the local 'hood anyway :cool:

aquinn wrote: »

Laura wouldn't have a clue where you are on about. She needs a pub or pizza landmark and then will know.

annapr wrote: »

Very unfair, she does know the roundabout

As soon as I saw aquinn comment I knew Anna wouldn't be far behind Thank you Anna, I do. And aquinn was the one who needed the dominos reference point with the pub that time. You don't know the name of one road, one time and you never hear the end of it