Cool runnings

davedanon · 09-05-2015 1:01am #1

This is my training log. I've been wanting to start one for a while, but there didn't seem much point until I got London out of the way. I'm feeling a bit aimless now, as it happens, but I hope this will help cement things in my mind. I'm also starting it because a training diary is a useful tool for tracking progress, and while I'm an assiduous logger of my miles on Garmin Connect, there is a lack of detail to individual runs, unless you post notes, but I think this is a better option. So, I'm doing this for me, but any feedback garnered, be it positive or otherwise, will be extremely useful and gratefully received. The potted history goes like so:

I'm 52, and I've been running since 2008. I have my wife, and sister, in different ways, to thank for the fact that I lined up at the start of the 2008 RS 5 mile in the park and subsequently ran 40:xx. Then I did the 10, and the half. The marathon I (wisely) left until 2009. I had joined Tallaght AC, and after lots and lots of miles, I ran DCM 2009 and miraculously finished in 3:47. This was a minute quicker than my one previous marathon, DCM 1983, when as an undertrained 20 year-old I struggled home in a terrible state, and that was when the route went through my native village of Raheny. Oh the shame, now thankfully expunged. My marathon experience has been very much one of a good day, followed by an indifferent or outright bad one, but bit by bit the times have come down, sub 3:30, then 3:20, until I ran 3:14:18 in London 2015. That brings it up to date. My current goals are to spend the next couple of months training for shorter stuff, then have a crack at another pb in October at the DCM, but to be honest I'm very much feeling my way. After Derry last spring I had a disaster in October, but then so did many. My ultimate aim is to have a couple of decent cracks at sub-3, or at least as close to it as I can get. Dublin is very possibly not the best place for that, and I will need every possible advantage to pull this off. At the moment I think I've recovered well, but my feeling is that one only has so many hard marathons in the legs, and if I do Dublin it's because I always do it, rather than as part of a long-term plan. Which seems a bit vague and unfocussed, and possibly even a waste of precious time. All of which is a typically long-winded way of saying that I'm not 100% sure of what I'm at here yet. Sort of making it up as I go along kind of thing. So here goes....

kit3 · 09-05-2015 7:31am

Good to see this D - will follow with interest. Cool title

Happy running !

TRR_the_turd · 09-05-2015 8:41am

Good stuff Dave. I will only read this log if you promise to provide a weekly update with photographs detailing "happy Friday"

davedanon · 09-05-2015 3:46pm

TRR_the_turd wrote: »

Good stuff Dave. I will only read this log if you promise to provide a weekly update with photographs detailing "happy Friday"

That shouldn't be a problem. Recipes also available...

davedanon · 09-05-2015 5:35pm

Monday 4th
3 mile easy. Got meet time wrong, so cut run short when I encountered colleagues on their way back.

Tuesday 5th
3 mile tempo, with 3.5 mile warm-up/cool-down.
1.5 @ 8.30 (approx)
3 @ 6.50 (approx)
2 @ 9.00 (approx)

Wednesday 6th
5 mile easy
5 @ 8.41

Thursday 7th
5x.2 mile interval, 4 mile warm-up/cool-down
2 @ 8.14
1 @ 6.00 (Time/pace splits: 1.13/6.03, 1.13/6.03, 1.12/6.02, 1.11/5.58, 1.09/5.52)
2 @ 9.09

Friday 8th
Day off

Saturday 9th
Tymon parkrun, 3 mile warm-up/cool-down.
1.63 @ 8.27
3.1 @ 6.23 (19:48)
1.3 @ 9.20

Sunday 10th
A belated 10 mile long run. Hangover at last permitting, I set off, with the vague notion of finding somewhere different to run, and initially planned to run into the park down from the house, over the notorious 'whistling' bridge and up to Old Bawn, then from there over towards the Stocking lane hill. However, I got sidetracked, and ended up down at the end of Seskin View road where it meets the bypass. There is a little river that flows into the Dodder here, and I decided to follow its course back up towards Tallaght. I've something of a fascination with the local rivers, but I'm not sure what this one is called. One map refers to it as the Tallaght stream, but I'm not sure if that's correct. Anyway, it follows the bypass, then goes into Sean Moore park, out the other side and through Killinarden ((a smoky little fire beside one of the bridges I crossed was the stand-out feature here). After that it crosses the bypass and heads off through Jobstown, which was where I left it, and took the steep hill road that climbs out of Killinarden up to the bottom of Horan's Lane, which I'm sure is familiar to some of you. On the way back towards Kiltipper, I stumbled across a little turnstile I had never noticed before, and ran through some fields that were criss-crossed by little trails, and eventually came out on the path at the new-ish park between Kiltipper Woods and the Waterworks. The Holy Grail of running - the path less travelled. Well, for me anyway. Then I followed the path back and down Kiltipper, going around by the bridge again. Thoroughly enjoyable, I barely noticed the miles going by.

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/770808346

Miles for the week: 36

A slightly eccentric week, for various reasons. Got time wrong on Monday; watch problems on Tuesday, hence vague timings. Work prevented attendance at club on Thursday, so did 5x1 laps of Bros Pearse's dinky little grass track (322m, or .2m, btw). Parkrun on Saturday, just to see where I'm at, speed-wise, with Terenure looming. Quite happy with a steady run culminating in a hard finish to stave off some competition and a sub-20 result.
I'm still in recovery from London, so mileage is being kept low, with a couple of more intense, but still fairly short, runs. Three speed sessions in the week all the same. Feeling quite fresh so pleased with progress post-London.

paddybarry · 09-05-2015 7:19pm

davedanon wrote: »

Monday 4th
3 mile easy. Got meet time wrong, so cut run short when I encountered colleagues on their way back.

Tuesday 5th
3 mile tempo, with 3.5 mile warm-up/cool-down.
1.5 @ 8.30 (approx)
3 @ 6.50 (approx)
2 @ 9.00 (approx)

Wednesday 6th
5 mile easy
5 @ 8.41

Thursday 7th
5x.2 mile interval, 4 mile warm-up/cool-down
2 @ 8.14
1 @ 6.00 (Time/pace splits: 1.13/6.03, 1.13/6.03, 1.12/6.02, 1.11/5.58, 1.09/5.52)
2 @ 9.09

Friday 8th
Day off

Saturday 9th
Tymon parkrun, 3 mile warm-up/cool-down.
1.63 @ 8.27
3.1 @ 6.23 (19:48)
1.3 @ 9.20

Sunday 10th
At the time of writing, not sure if it's boards trail, or club sunday, run...

A slightly eccentric week, for various reasons. Got time wrong on Monday; watch problems on Tuesday, hence vague timings. Work prevented attendance at club on Thursday, so did 5x1 laps of Bros Pearse's dinky little grass track (322m, or .2m, btw). Parkrun on Saturday, just to see where I'm at, speed-wise, with Terenure looming. Quite happy with a steady run culminating in a hard finish to stave off some competition and a sub-20 result.
I'm still in recovery from London, so mileage is being kept low, with a couple of more intense, but still fairly short, runs. Three speed sessions in the week all the same. Feeling quite fresh so pleased with progress post-London.

I was down at Tymon today. Tough course, will say hello next time.
PB

davedanon · 10-05-2015 12:07pm

paddybarry wrote: »

I was down at Tymon today. Tough course, will say hello next time.
PB

Ah yes, think I know who you are now. You're a regular down there, aren't you?

paddybarry · 10-05-2015 12:55pm

davedanon wrote: »

Ah yes, think I know who you are now. You're a regular down there, aren't you?

Yeah, I have done a good few Parkruns. Would often do some sessions down at Tymon aswell.

davedanon · 10-05-2015 1:01pm

paddybarry wrote: »

Yeah, I have done a good few Parkruns. Would often do some sessions down at Tymon aswell.

Yeah, it's our backyard, as the yanks would say. Currently we're doing hill sessions on Thursday nights beside the steel monument thingy, and tempo runs on Tuesdays which are basically a lap of the park, taking in the laneway across the M50.

Pacing Mule · 10-05-2015 1:05pm

Nice one Dave. Will be following this with interest.

Murph_D · 10-05-2015 1:31pm

Ah sh1t, Dave, I was under the impression for some reason that you were one of the few, if any, on here who was older than me. Are you sure you're only 52?

Good to see you start a log. Great run in London.

kit3 · 10-05-2015 4:28pm

Murph_D wrote: »

Ah sh1t, Dave, I was under the impression for some reason that you were one of the few, if any, on here who was older than me. Are you sure you're only 52?

Good to see you start a log. Great run in London.

I don't know Murph - have you checked out TBL - the way he talks he could be the granddaddy of us all (although I do suspect that this may not be the case

)

davedanon · 10-05-2015 4:34pm

Murph_D wrote: »

Ah sh1t, Dave, I was under the impression for some reason that you were one of the few, if any, on here who was older than me. Are you sure you're only 52?

Good to see you start a log. Great run in London.

Are you saying I post like an oul' fella? I thought my stuff was youthful, vibrant and vigorous in tone!

Murph_D · 10-05-2015 4:44pm

davedanon wrote: »

Are you saying I post like an oul' fella? I thought my stuff was youthful, vibrant and vigorous in tone!

Not at all - just that I'd noticed your unusual age band category in the 1000 mile thread. If you're M51 that means you must be older than me.

davedanon · 13-05-2015 1:35am

Monday 11th
5 miles easy. Club run with colleagues who ran quite slowly, but I wasn't bothered. Glutes noticeably tender after yesterday's run, was putting it down to Killinarden hill until I remembered I'd done a bit of scrambling up and down some quite steep inclines as well. Silly boy. Pace very easy but all the same I felt a bit empty and wobbly as we finished. Was gratified to discover a biscuit tin full of bourbon creams and jaffa cakes in the clubhouse kitchen.

5m @ 10.03

Tuesday 12th
Tuesday night is tempo night. 3m with 3.5 warm-up and cool-down. With Terenure on Sunday decided not to add an extra mile, and also made sure not to shoot off at 6.30 pace like last week, so stayed with a few other lads and tried to keep a lid on proceedings. Running economy felt a little off, probably a combination of a sore arse and too much snacking prior to running (doesn't agree with me), and after a mile I worried that I was working too hard to maintain the pace and should probably slow down. The male ego being what it is, I carried on of course, and eventually finished 2nd out of the group, gratifyingly holding off a couple of challenges for a 6.38 average. Either it's a tough but perfectly-judged dress-rehearsal for Sunday, or I've left my race in Tymon park. Time will tell.

Splits as follows:
mile 1 6.39
mile 2 6.43
mile 3 6.31

neilc · 13-05-2015 1:12pm

Will be great to follow your log Dave. I'm trying to convince myself that the same goal is still possible, so your progress and how you get there will be very interesting!! Best of luck with it.

davedanon · 15-05-2015 9:45am

Wednesday 13th
Day off.

Thursday 14th
6x400m with 4 miles warm-up/cool-down. The rest of the group were doing 10x600m, but I just did a few 400s, being A) still recovering, and

preparing for Terenure. I'm trying to balance the recovery with speed work, so that I can get to the 16 week training block for Dublin rested and yet in good shape re the shorter stuff. Club summer races are upcoming as well, the longest of which is 5.5 miles. I ran these with a teammate noted for his off-kilter lap timing sense. We set off just behind the 600 group, but when I lifted my head after 200m he had burned past them en route to a 70 second 400m. He behaved himself better thereafter, but the lap times still vary quite a bit. I hadn't been on the track since doing a full Yasso set weeks before London. I coped reasonably well.
2.25m @ 8.27
1:28, 1:26, 1:27, 1:23, 1:30, 1:26
2.1m @ 8.51

davedanon · 17-05-2015 2:43pm

Friday 15th

5 miles easy. Nice relaxed run up to the Waterworks, then through the fields to Kiltipper and back home. Nothing much to report. Maybe a little too hilly.

5.29 @ 8.53

Saturday 16th

Day off.

Sunday 17th

Terenure 5 mile with 6 miles warm-up/cool-down. It's close enough, and didn't want any parking faff, so jogged the three miles down. I often race better after a longer warmup anyway. Perfect conditions today, apart from the mildly stiffish breeze in places. After last year's misadventures, I paid attention at the start and watched out for the speedbumps. Covered the first mile in a very relaxed 6.14, and after cruising up Wainsfort I was actually entertaining thoughts of a very good day, but gradually the lingering marathon after-effects began to exert increasing influence, and in the end I was hanging on for the finish line. Quite happy with the time, though, a bit faster than Raheny, and I had thought beforehand that I would do well to go under 32 minutes.

3 @ 8.14

5 @ 6.28 (32.16)
mile 1 6.14
mile 2 6.27
mile 3 6.25
mile 4 6.28
mile 5 6.41

3.18 @ 9.04

davedanon · 20-05-2015 12:40am

Monday 18th May

5 miles easy. Was quite prepared to skip this, but eventually stopped weighing up pros and cons and just got changed and went. Planned time and route so I would meet clubmates on the regular monday park run. Nice and slow. I'm using the pace of these easy runs to judge recovery, and significantly the last mile back to the house on my own - against the wind and slightly uphill - was the quickest.

5.35 @ 9.14

Tuesday 19th

4 mile tempo with 3.5 miles warm-up/cool-down. A stiff enough ask only 2 days after Terenure, but I decided to make no allowances and see how the body reacted to a 2nd trip to the well. I could feel the weekend's effort in the legs as this played out, and though I had to give way to a clubmate* in the closing stages, I found myself producing little surges from time to time, which was pleasing. A tidy last mile too, and only a couple of seconds per mile slower than last week's shorter run.

* not that tempo runs with clubmates are in any way competitive or race-like. Oh no.

1.45 @ 8.32
6.38, 6.54, 6.48, 6.17
2.12 @ 8.59

davedanon · 21-05-2015 10:15pm

Wednesday 20th

Day off

Thursday 21st

3 mile warm-up and cool-down, 6x1k track session. I thought we were supposed to do hills tonight, but to be honest the prospect of 6x1k was just as unappealing, given I've done no hills with the group and only a few 400s. Got through it ok though, there were three of us running these at 4min/k pace, so two lead-outs each. Quite warm and muggy in Tallaght tonight, where the trip down was enlivened by the sight of an overturned car at the junction with the bypass.
2.25 @ 8.04
4.01, 4.01, 3.57, 3.59, 4.01, 3.54
1 @ 8.43

davedanon · 24-05-2015 12:42am

Friday 22nd

Day off

Saturday 23rd

Tymon parkrun with 2 mile w/u and c/d. Somewhat hungover this morning, drove down rather than run from the house, which wasn't a good sign, and only had time for a mile of a warm-up. Very warm conditions too, so wasn't expecting much of a performance. In fact I was kind of hoping a slow first mile would give me an excuse to just lollop around in 20-something, but I was both pleased and dismayed with my 6.14 - pleased that I was running so quick despite not being 100%, dismayed because now I would have to continue this effort for 2.1 more miles. It got hotter and hotter, and mile 2 came around in 6.17; again, I was surprised. I didn't feel I was at my best, yet my speed was holding up well. Last mile, and "Hanlon's Corner" (Viv, on his bike) heralded the nasty last section which everyone dreads. I had been slowly reeling in the guy ahead of me, and along here I overtook him, but the place gained was soon taken away as another chap came past. I chased him as hard as I could, but he held me off and I finished in 19.29.9 according to my garmin. When I uploaded this to the website it got rounded off to 19.30 which was a new parkrun pb. By one second. Then my result was posted up as 19.31 - aaargh!

1.07 @ 8.27

3.1 @ 6.18

1.07 @ 9.44

PaulieC · 24-05-2015 12:45am

Ooh danon

davedanon · 24-05-2015 12:36pm

Sunday 24th

Sunday run. A bit wooly-headed getting up this morning. Didn't vacate the scratcher until 7.30am with the run starting at 8. Couldn't get going, felt very lethargic and the lungs wouldn't open up at all. After about 5 miles I took a breather, and two clubmates caught up with me, so I ran with them, and the company/conversation woke me up a bit and I felt more comfortable. I thought they would take the most direct route back to the club, but it turned out they had a route in mind, so I stayed with them, and we did 10 miles in all. Happy that we did too. Anything under 10 doesn't feel like a proper long run.

10.01 @ 8.40

Miles for the week: 35

davedanon · 27-05-2015 9:58am

Monday 25th

Day off

Tuesday 26th

4m tempo run with 3.5m warm-up/cool-down. Only four in attendance with everyone either on holiday or up in Dunboyne. A very warm evening, which possibly contributed to my poor showing which culminated in an unscheduled stop at 3 miles, by which time I was down to marathon pace, after a possibly too fast first mile. I think the real reason was my boozing habits of late though. Been hitting the sauce a bit too much, and I was out again last night after. Well, you can't turn down free beer in the Lord Mayor's personal bar in the Mansion House, can you? Anyway, finished the run in one piece, and as someone said elsewhere, even if you don't nail the session, it's still a good workout.

1.44 @ 8.39
4 @ 6.52 (6.30/6.53/7.26/6.42)
2.16 @ 9.41

davedanon · 28-05-2015 11:06am

Wednesday 27th

6 mile run. This was supposed to be a recovery done at easy pace (ie 8.15/9.00 for me), but I was a bit antsy, not bored exactly, but wanted to spice it up a bit, make it a bit more interesting. So when I reached the artificial pitches in Tymon I stopped and made up a little interval session on the spot for myself. I didn't want to do full intervals in between heavy Tuesday and Thursday sessions; more of a stridey thing, where you concentrate on form. So I set up the Garmin for 10x.1m with 400m intervals. I also had been feeling a bit weary, couldn't get the lungs to open up, and I wondered if these snappy little bursts would wake me up a bit. Well, it certainly made the session fly by. In no time at all I was around the park, out the basketball arena side entrance and heading for home. My pace was mostly slightly above 5k, sometimes at 5k pace. Started to feel the effort during the later recovery 400s for sure, but hopefully I haven't tired myself out for whatever tonight has in store.

2.38 @8.33
3.50 @8.16
0.44 @8.33

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/786420113

6.32 miles in total

davedanon · 29-05-2015 1:34am

Well, I just spent 30 minutes detailing tonight's hill sprints, but the report f*cking disappeared when I tried to post it. Stuff being unrecoverable when something goes amiss is just one of the myriad delights of this creaking, leaky old tub that the perpetrators dare to call a 'talkboard'. Grrr. Anyway, I did hills, it was windy, I gasped then I coped, want times ask me a*se, that's all, goodnight. Oh, and I will c&p this now just in case boards loses it on me again.

kit3 · 29-05-2015 2:10am

davedanon wrote: »

Well, I just spent 30 minutes detailing tonight's hill sprints, but the report f*cking disappeared when I tried to post it. Stuff being unrecoverable when something goes amiss is just one of the myriad delights of this creaking, leaky old tub that the perpetrators dare to call a 'talkboard'. Grrr. Anyway, I did hills, it was windy, I gasped then I coped, want times ask me a*se, that's all, goodnight. Oh, and I will c&p this now just in case boards loses it on me again.

Something tells me that asking your a*se wouldn't get us anywhere - did you have a nice night after the hills ?

davedanon · 29-05-2015 2:26am

kit3 wrote: »

Something tells me that asking your a*se wouldn't get us anywhere - did you have a nice night after the hills ?

A gentleman never tells. I promise I didn't call my dealer though.

davedanon · 29-05-2015 9:02am

Thursday 28th

Ah, the cold light of day. Always a good time for a re-appraisal. So, if only for my own benefit.

Hill sprints with warm-up/cool-down. My first attempt at these; everyone else had been at them since before London, so I reckoned I'd manage 8 out of the planned 10. The Principle of Specificity talked about elsewhere also means that a new routine takes time getting used to, and I was doing no doing talking on the first few jogbacks, but then, neither was anyone else. Could feel the legs and the lungs adapting after 3 or 4, and even managed a 9th rep. The hill measures exactly 400m, so a 1.36 average into a stiff wind was pretty decent. Unfortunately the splits can't be shown properly as I measured the jogback as well (hey, it all counts) but they ranged between 1.33/1.39, pace range 6.15-6.40 or thereabouts.

1.55 @8.44
10x400m @1.36 av
1.56 @9.36

Total about 7m (jogbacks not included)

kit3 · 29-05-2015 10:18am

davedanon wrote: »

Thursday 28th

Ah, the cold light of day. Always a good time for a re-appraisal. So, if only for my own benefit.

Hill sprints with warm-up/cool-down. My first attempt at these; everyone else had been at them since before London, so I reckoned I'd manage 8 out of the planned 10. The Principle of Specificity talked about elsewhere also means that a new routine takes time getting used to, and I was doing no doing talking on the first few jogbacks, but then, neither was anyone else. Could feel the legs and the lungs adapting after 3 or 4, and even managed a 9th rep. The hill measures exactly 400m, so a 1.36 average into a stiff wind was pretty decent. Unfortunately the splits can't be shown properly as I measured the jogback as well (hey, it all counts) but they ranged between 1.33/1.39, pace range 6.15-6.40 or thereabouts.

1.55 @8.44
10x400m @1.36 av
1.56 @9.36

Total about 7m (jogbacks not included)

That seems like a long enough hill - how gradual/steep was it (if you could equate it to any of the hills in the Phoenix Park that would be really helpful - bit cheeky I know :rolleyes: )

davedanon · 29-05-2015 10:29am

kit3 wrote: »

That seems like a long enough hill - how gradual/steep was it (if you could equate it to any of the hills in the Phoenix Park that would be really helpful - bit cheeky I know :rolleyes: )

errr, I suppose a couple of short bits would be equivalent to the Khyber road. The rest is shallower.

Cool runnings

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