From minutes to miles

Monday - Rest

I had planned on an easy run. Turned down some free drink after work with my run in mind but stuck around for a while. However getting down from the table to go get my bloody non alcoholic beverage I absolutely cracked my knee funny bone off the table leg - oh the pain :eek: I couldn't bend the knee properly, had to limp for the bus, stairs were awkward and it was throbbing the whole evening. I decided to take a rest day and ice it and hope it was better the next day. Lesson learned - always take the free drink :cool::rolleyes: I hate starting the week on a rest day as it leaves no wiggle room if things come up, ah well.

Tuesday - 30 minutes easy (2.9 miles @ 10.20)

Local loop, I remember very little about this, knee was a tad creaky at the start but then fine.

Wednesday - 35 minutes with 20 mins fartlek (3.62 miles)

Headed to the local park for this. Had a vague plan for the fartlek but adjusted it slightly after the first rep. No target for the paces, I just wanted the shorter sections to be progressively faster than the longer bits and to try have some consistency. Ended up with the following paces:

8 mins w/u @ 10.07
1 min @ 7.28, 2 mins @ 7.51, 3 mins @ 8.17
Same again in reverse - 3 mins @ 8.23, 2 mins @ 7.51, 1 min @ 7.25
7 mins c/d @ 10.23

Just missed the hailstones too! The recoveries were 1 or 2 minutes depending on the length of the rep and I walked the first half of a good few of them to catch my breath. I always have this OCD thought that walking recoveries is cheating but I think I got the benefit of being able to give more throughout. Looking back at the splits (I know for the shorter times they're not always as reliable) I'm fairly happy with the consistency, I wasn't watching the clock as I did them or aiming for specifics so it went well.

Thursday - 25 minutes easy (2.46 miles @ 10.11)

Short and sweet, neighbourhood jaunt

Friday - Rest

Saturday - St. Anne's parkrun - 29.30

The plan called for 30 minutes easy so I decided to head for parkrun and go with that target in mind. I always enjoy it and find the 30 minutes there go by much quicker than by myself. The variety is nice and I won't make another one for a few weeks. As luck had it there was a 30 minute pacer, in the form of Mrsmc so once I came alongside her I said I'd stick in the vicinity and have me brought home in the 30 minutes There was a nice group sticking with Mrsmc in the second loop especially and after going up Mt. Playground and bouyed by her shouts at the group to sprint for the finish off I went. Came home a few seconds under target and it's probably a bit fast overall for true easy pace (average 9.36m/m) but I enjoyed the morning and felt strong during the run. Got a shout from Murph_d volunteering and met a few of the usual faces.

Sunday - 53 minutes easy (5.18 miles @ 10.14)

Met a friend at the Phoenix Park for this, first time there in a long long time. Started off a bit too fast but settled into a nice pace and chatted our way around, the time flew by and despite a challenging route with the S-Bends and Military Hill it felt comfortable. The benefit of company! Ended up a few minutes short of the target 50 so tacked on a few to get back to the car.

Total for the week then was 17.23 miles. With no squash or football it was nice to get the 5 days in and have a good week even with all the runs a bit shorter.

Monday - 40 minutes easy (3.92 miles @ 10:12)

Headed to St. Anne's for a simple out and back route from home, to the park, down the avenue and back to home. Can't do anything round here, spotted by Killerz while out and about :cool: Felt great on the out section, wind behind me, slightly downhill - felt like I could run forever. Turned for home, into the wind, incline all the way back - different experience on the back part!!

Tuesday - Rest

Wednesday - Football

New season, with one thing and another it was my first game in about 3 months. Felt like I wanted to puke for about half the game with the different intensity a shock to the system but it was great to be back. Nice win to boot.

Thursday - 40 minutes easy-ish (4.05 miles @ 9:53)

Met Annapr for this one around and set off on a D5/D3 jaunt taking in some of the avenue in St. Anne's. With all the chatting I never paid too much attention to the pace and it was definitely a touch faster than it should have been, especially with the previous night. It had been a busy day at work though and I think I was a bit wired which was probably reflected in the run. After a busy day it either seems to go that way or the total opposite of extreme lethargy. The legs felt a bit stiff starting off but no ill effects at the time though and it was nice to have the company. Supposed to be 35 minutes but I ended up a bit further from home so tacked it on to get back sooner for dinner

Friday - Rest

An appreciated rest day. Muscles I hadn't used in a while from the twisting/turning/sideways motions were making their presence known.

Saturday - 45 minutes with 23 minutes @ M-effort (4.61 miles)

Away in Loughborough for the weekend (Yes, "where?" is the usual response to that) visiting a friend with another one of the girls. She lives near the canal so I dragged myself out in the morning and headed along the canal for this. The weather was a bit warm, but the setting was gorgeous. Loads of barges, locks, pretty gardens backing onto the canal and a decent mix of tarmac paths, gravel, and worn down grass/muck tracks. Legs still a bit stiff getting started but felt fine then.

12 minutes w/u @ 10:08
23 minutes M-effort @ 9:25
10 minutes c/d @ 10:09

Had to consciously keep reminding myself to slow down on the M-effort section to avoid it turning into a tempo as the pace constantly seemed to want to keep creeping up. That's probably reflected in a slightly quicker pace than last time and to what I had initially planned but it was definitely less windy than the last time I did this a few weeks back. I even overtook a barge at one point!! Home then and went into Leicester later that day for some shopping and food and even managed to soak up some of the atmosphere around the King Power

Sunday - 65 minutes easy (6.3 miles @ 10:19)

The previous day was mild by comparison, the sun was now splitting the stones! Hottest run in as long as I can remember, as well as the longest. Headed back to the canal but took in a different branch of it, place looked really pretty in the sunshine. A solidarity canal run seeing as I couldn't make the Boards one I was definitely feeling the heat, at about halfway I stopped at a pub just along the canal to see if I could get some water but it wasn't open yet. Took a break for a minute on a wall in the shade just to rest as I was pumping sweat and suspected my face was beginning to turn the same colour as my red top - I don't cope well in the sun :rolleyes: The little break worked wonders and finished out the run grand, guzzled a nice cool glass of water when I got in. Applied plenty of sun cream before emerging again for our afternoon outing

A total of 18.89 miles for the week.

Monday - Rest

Day off work and would have liked to get out but thought a rest before the next day planned would be wise.

Tuesday - 5.11 miles total inc Bob Heffernan 5k - 26:09

I'd heard good things about this race so decided to a while ago to head out. I have a real bugbear at the minute about the 5k distance, I got so close to sub 25 last year and felt it would have been achievable (and more perhaps) before injury so I feel we have some unfinished business. Plus my mileage isn't exactly facilitating longer distances, so working on that 5k is in my main sights for the next while. The plan was to give this some welly and find out where I am. Then do the Docklands 5k in July and hopefully see a bit of improvement. The plan I'm following will finish a couple of weeks before that, it doesn't have sessions targeting particular distances, it's just getting me back out there with routine and building me a bit of a base with a bit of variety. Something a bit more targeted then next time.

Back to the race, got down BungyGirl style early, easy registration and looked forlornly at the torrential rain. Cleared up just as I headed to the start line, a mile away so that was my warm up with about 5/6 10 second strides. Once we got started I was feeling ok, better than Clonliffe anyway, and I wasn't really paying attention to the watch. I was focusing on going past people and getting into a groove, when I did see the first mile beep at 8:12 I knew I set out faster than intended. I said I'd just keep the legs going as hard as they could and let the chips fall as they may. I was a bit more isolated around here and began to twig I was flagging, couldn't get the legs going as quickly. I hit my usual mental wobble at the halfway point. Every thought I had was telling me to walk, just for a second and the body was willing every muscle to Just. Slow. Down. and accept it. I'm learning now though that if I can ignore that voice for about 90 seconds I come out the other side. I might still have a voice telling me to walk or it hurts but I can ignore it because I've proven it wrong, I can still keep going. I had slowed though, second mile was 8:31. I had a little back and forth with one woman but I couldn't stick with her when she pulled ahead but I did overtake a few people as we went to the finish. When we had passed the 3k mark I looked at the watch and realised two 6 minute k's would still get me under 26 minutes. I focused on not slowing any more and picking it up if it all possible, mile 3 was 8:28 and the last bit was just under 50 seconds.

The watch had me at 25:59 which is the discrepancy with the chip time and the splits. There was some confusion at the start line, firstly I didn't hear a gun so wasn't sure if the race started, the crowd started moving at one point and then stopped and then went again. I started the watch a couple of seconds before I went over the start line in the end so with all that it probably accounts for the difference.

Initially I felt very annoyed afterwards. I made an absolute pigs ear of the pacing and with a better approach I could have *maybe* got under the 26 on the clock. However, it served the purpose I was looking for and it's not like I was in PB territory!! The start line confusion and time differences offer encouragement in that there's hopefully a few seconds there that I could take off easily enough next time out. The final observation I came away with is I get more positives at this stage in my running "career" from taking regular cues from the watch which outweigh the negatives. This reinforced what I suspected and for now, naked racing won't be for me Maybe down the road, and maybe I'll trial a bit in sessions but I think for now I need it to help with that pacing. I know from experience I don't necessarily let myself be dictated by it, I've pushed on before and abandoned my planned pacing strategy if feeling good so I think for now I'll keep that balance. All a learning curve! A mile cool down after to loosen out the legs.

Wednesday - Football

Not great timing but a good win

Thursday & Friday - Rest

First day was planned and second wasn't, life got in the way. Probably good enough due to two previous hard days. I need to remind myself that I need to manage the foot so didn't get hung up on it.

Saturday - 50 minutes easy (5.03 miles @ 9:56)

Regular route of the Raheny loop and a loop in St. Anne's scoping out the new path (I'm sorry BG ). A touch too fast, I was making sure I got home to watch the FA Cup final, by all accounts I missed the worst pre match entertainment

Sunday - 75 minutes easy (7.44 miles @ 10:05)

Met a friend for this again, similar route to last week with Raheny and St. Anne's included. Managed to avoid most of the rain. I was glad of the company to be honest, I think I would have struggled more by myself, legs felt tired by the end. Enjoyable though and lots of chatting. Passed HelenAnne looking very fresh as we headed for home.

Stepback week next week, total of 17.59 miles for this week - if it weren't for that extra rest day I would have hit over 20.....oh....I'm not getting hung up on it remember..... :cool:

Monday - Rest

Went for a bit of calf TLC. Considering a dry needling but didn't go for it this time, might look into it again though. Left calf in particular very tight, especially the soleus. Bloody hell the pain.

Tuesday - Squash

Wednesday - 35 minutes easy (3.41 miles @ 10:16)

This was tough. Body felt tired, and legs felt fatigued. They had felt like that on the cycle home too and the body didn't feel right, like running was completely unnatural and awkward. Was making sure I got home before my Dad called over so mentally reasoned with myself that 30 minutes would do instead of the planned 35. Arrived back at the house and had felt slightly better as I neared the finish, his car wasn't there so I tacked on the extra 5 minutes.

Thursday - 45 minutes inc 30 minutes fartlek (4.58 miles total)

Back to the same green as last time, did the warm up down there. I was adding an extra 10 minutes since last time I did this so decided to stick with the same format as before and include two shorter reps and one longer one with the recoveries. Recoveries were 1 or 2 minutes depending on the length of the reps and as before I walked about half to two-thirds of the recovery time to make sure I was ready for the next one. Structure was 1-1-2-3-3-3-2-1-1.

8 mins w/u @ 10:07
1 min @ 7:25, 1 min @ 7:29, 2 mins @ 8:09, 3 mins @ 8.18
3 mins @ 8:14
3 mins @ 8:20, 2 mins @ 7:57, 1 min @ 7:27, 1 min @ 7:35
7 mins c/d @ 10.21

Fairly similar to the last time. One side of the green is up a slight incline and tonight was into a stiff breeze, the effort was noticeable depending on what side I was on, probably accounting for some differences. Of course whatever way I started I got into a loop of having to run on that side for the whole length while the nicer downhill side seemed to often have part of a recovery :cool: At one stage I considered cutting across to break the cycle but figured that would be cheating, races have inclines too :rolleyes: The first three minute rep had me literally vaulting a dog. A woman decided to come across and cut onto the path from the grass with her dogs with her back to me. That's fine. So I was keeping an eye and was going to go on her outside as I approached, she started drifting with no notion of her surroundings while yapping on the phone so I realised the outside would be a problem and switched to the inside. All fine until her one of her unleashed dogs, with her paying no attention, decided to do a U-turn and bolt right across my path leaving me to add vaulting to my workout to avoid splatting on my face over her dog. Vocalized my feelings and glared a dirty look as I stormed on to recover my pace. I don't think she was too fussed! Legs & body felt much better tonight.

Murph_D wrote: »

Nice work on the show jumping too.

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Thanks folks. I thought I'd a bit of variety to my training D

A question on recovery to anyone who might have insight to answer. Aside from a chance to catch your breath, is there a difference to recovery of standing, walking or easy jogging?

I'm sure I read somewhere something about the type of recovery changing the effect of certain sessions (as in the benefits of what the session gives).