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Yeh, I'm in. My last full training block was probably my novice DCM!
I won't be able to do a full training block this year either... well, it will be compromised at the start. I'm going to Barcelona for almost all of July, 2 weeks or so will be working, and then 2 weeks off. The focus won't be on running, it'll be on hanging out with the family and doing family stuff. Also, the weather will be utterly dreadful, so I'll probably end up running on treadmills. Not unlike what happened in last summer in SF, except I won't be doing a marathon for fun in the middle of the trip
The good news is that I'll be home with 12 weeks to go to DCM, which is a short training block. As said previously, I like the look of Hanson's! However while jumping into a shortened Hanson's targeting sub-3 looks quite do-able right now, who knows what shape I'll be in at the end of July. Hopefully not as bad as I was at the end of last August. So what running that does happen in Barcelona needs to be decent enough. I could try to do the Hanson quality runs at least, but maybe I'll spend my time running up to those hills overlooking the city or more likely I'll just plod when I can on a treadmill. :rolleyes:
I also have a wedding in Italy to go to in August. Argh!!!0 -
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Race Report!!!
As threatened, I participated in #pbfest2019, i.e. the Bob Heffernan 5k. It is a near perfect 5k race - the weather is always great (i.e. both this year and last), there aren't any significant hills (though a couple of bumps just to keep you on your toes) and the field is ridiculous. There were over 100 sub-18 runners, and over 240 sub-20 runners this year!
My plan going into this was to run marginally faster than the recent Malahide parkrun 5k PB of 18:20, as it's kind of embarrassing having a 5k PB being a parkrun PB. It's a bit better than a Strava PB, but not by much. I got a lift out to Johnstown's Bridge with Cormac from work, and we arrived later than we should have thanks to some woeful traffic but in reality with loads of time to get changed and meet up with murph_d, annapr, mister_paul, fbot etc. before heading out to do a warmup. There were mild concerns about the evening being kind of warm, but really I was more worried about the chaotic start, and so after jogging to the start area and getting in a few strides we positioned ourselves kind of near the startline. The start was definitely busy, the lead car coming through the field and a false start at the front definitely didn't help things. When the countdown to the actual start was done, it was very compressed where I was and there were a lot of folks around me who didn't look like they'd be finishing near me. Ah well.
The part of a 5k when it isn't all awful: 3:37
I got stuck behind numerous gangs of slower runners in the first couple of minutes, and got kind of annoyed. However I didn't waste too much energy ducking and diving around them, I generally waited for opportunities to open and then headed on into open spaces. For a long time my watch was showing me well under PB pace though, and I ran hard enough to get under the target pace for the 1st km.
Settling in 3:36, 3:42
After the turn to the left I was feeling pretty good and passing a lot of runners. There were a good few around me doing the same. The very accurate km markers were counting down the kms left, and as I passed the second km for a few seconds I was thinking that I was 3km in, but quickly realised that this was very much not the case. Not too much of interest happened here, I kept trying to keep sub-3:40 on the watch, but ended up struggling a bit after the half-way mark.
Existential anguish 3:43, 3:28
I've done enough 5Ks by now to know that the 4th km is THE WORST. I was kind of running by myself for a good bit of this, sometimes catching folks, sometimes being passed. Breathing was getting hard, but I knew that I had a few seconds in the bank to spare for a PB. I had a vague idea that the last km was fast, and as we went around the final bend at the 4km mark there was a good downhill to run into, and I had somebody to run it with. We caught up with a pair of Raheny ladies and passed them. At this stage I was just convincing myself that things weren't too bad. There was less than 4 minutes left! Then there was a badly placed hill of approx 5 foot and that took a good bit of steam out of me. A sign said 500m left... sure there's just a track lap left! Run! I tried to run hard but ran out of steam, and was passed by a couple of runners. The time on the clock going over the line was well inside a PB.
Gun time: 18:13
Chip time: 18:07
118th out of 628.
A massive 13 second PB! The 60 seconds or so after finishing weren't great. I'd utterly destroyed myself. After that was fine though - I had a quick chat with auldman, then found the rest of the Cru and Raheny gang and had a quick debrief. I then found myself in the company of Lazare, scotindublin and skyblue who all had great races. After a chat with a content annapr I did a cooldown run with the lads, and then we headed into the awful/amazingly kitsch nightclub for some sambos and more chats, and then watched some of the prize ceremony before heading back to the big smoke with Cormac.
This was a great race, and a great social occasion This is likely my 5k PB for some time to come, and I'm over the moon with it! It was great to be part of an enjoyable race (as much as 5ks can be enjoyable), there were plenty of happy campers and lots of well deserved PBs/SBs 0 -
You are correct as usual. Thanks for the heads up! The good news is that the symptoms have been getting a good bit better, I'd call this morning's rise out of bed as "stiff" rather than "sore".
I did recently start running again on an old pair of Nike Free RNs which basically have no support, and that review mentions achilles pain. They might have triggered the woes. I think I'll throw them out!
Ha, not something I like being correct on, just a time of my running journey that has left me still paranoid about PF! I just know I didn't address it properly until way too long and the damage was done because it tended to get better with exercise, not worse like other injuries. Glad to hear it's improving, mind yourself.
I also came in say well done on Bob but I'm going to skip that first and confess I take issues with your comments on parkrun!! 🀔 If it's a course that's accurate it's no different to other 5ks. It's timed so the result is the same and if the field is good people can work together etc. I also know you pace at parkrun same as myself so more importantly it's easy to see first hand that people are working just as hard to get their targets. 5ks are horrendous wherever you do them Strava pbs though, yeah that's not a real thing
Anyway I'll get down off my soapbox and get to the well done at Bob part! Great time and great to see you in a good patch of form. Well deserved for your continued consistency.0 -
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I also came in say well done on Bob but I'm going to skip that first and confess I take issues with your comments on parkrun!! �� If it's a course that's accurate it's no different to other 5ks. It's timed so the result is the same and if the field is good people can work together etc. I also know you pace at parkrun same as myself so more importantly it's easy to see first hand that people are working just as hard to get their targets. 5ks are horrendous wherever you do them Strava pbs though, yeah that's not a real thing
I was being a little flippant and maybe a bit self-deprecating there
A 5k is a 5k, but I guess if you're going to train for and target a 5k, you should probably do a race rather than a parkrun. parkruns are that bit more casual and chances are you can squeeze out a marginally better time with most people going all out around you and the general race atmosphere. Chip timing probably helps a little bit too! I'm all about the marginal gains 0 -
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Date|Distance|Pace|Notes
20th May|3.7 miles|9:05|A short jog after work. A 1 day taper I guess
21st May|6.2 miles|?|Bob Heffernan 5k@18:07 including a warmup and cooldown. #pbfest2019
22nd May|10 miles|8:56|A commute home
23rd May|9.7 miles|9:03|Another commute home
24th May|6.6 miles|9:07|Working from home, so did an hour around the Swords Celtic football fields while my younger kid was playing ball
25th May|7 miles|?|To/from/and Rivervalley parkrun in 19:45. Finished 3rd with the usual top-3. Far from all-out but a decent effort. Delighted to be able to knock out a Rivervalley sub-20 without too much difficulty. Did a short cooldown with the other podium finishers, cut short due to having to get home quickly to accomodate other family activities.
26th May|13.8 miles|8:56|I was doing an NCT in Ballymun, so headed over to the Phoenix Park afterwards. I was a little hungover, but mostly enjoyed running around the park. After 10 miles or so I bumped into ultrawoman so did a few 24 pace laps with her and then split off. A highly enjoyable run!
Total: 57.2 miles - not bad given that it included a 5k PB and a sub-20 RV.
Next week: A Cru session (already done!) and maybe a parkrun?! Sunday might be grim - Champions League final the night before, and a 9 year old birthday party, so who knows.0 -
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Two weeks of not particularly great running because of worthwhile and anticipated distractions. Could have been worse I guess.
Date|Distance|Pace|Notes
3rd June|10.7 miles|8:41|Bank holiday ramble around Malahide
4th June|8.1 miles|?|Cru session. 4 x (800 off 75, 400 off 60) - 2:52, 1:21, 2:51, 1:22, 2:55, 1:24, 2:54, 1:22. It wasn't awful.
5th June|10 miles|8:40|Commute
6th June|10.9 miles|8:44|Slightly longer commute via Kinsealy
7th June|10.1 miles|9:13|Early commute home 'cos heading down to Carlow for the evening...
8th June|5.2 miles|?|...the evening turned out to be a little more enjoyable than planned (insert beer emojis here), but I still managed to drag myself to Carlow Town parkrun. Not a huge crowd but as always a nice atmosphere and worthwhile showing up to. The course is an out-and-back along The Barrow, then over a bridge and a short loop around a small park. I ended up finishing 3rd in 20:46, but it felt like 18:46
9th June|0 miles|0|More not-running, this time due to Ride and The Cure the evening before...
Total: 55.2 miles
Date|Distance|Pace|Notes
10th June|7.8 miles|8:26|Over in London for most of the week at a conference (and catching some gigs). I quickly found one of my usual routes along Regent's Canal, this time getting as far as Victoria Park.
11th June|4.7 miles|9:16|Just a few early miles along the same canal.
12th June|3.8 miles|9:10|A few more AM miles along the canal.
12th June|6.5 miles|?|And some more miles in the PM along the canal. Watch ran out of battery.
13th June|7.5 miles|8:36|An hour of running an hour after landing.
14th June|0 miles|0|Minding the kids alone for the day, was meant to get out during football practice but the rain got rid of that option.
15th June|11.1 miles|?|Malahide parkrun! My body was feeling rested from the relative lack of running, but also kind of destroyed after 5 nights on the beer in the proceeding 7 nights... bleh. I have come around to the fact that I need recent memories of hard running to run well, so I had low enough expectations going into this, but would see what happens. I'd forgotten my watch in work, so this was done blind (phone tracking the run in my pocket), however I very quickly started running at the business end with R from the club and A, a serial first female finisher. We worked together in the first mile, though when we crested the summit of Mount Pitch'n'Putt A pulled away and stayed there until the end. I kept up with R until around the 4th km when my recent lack of sharpness hit me hard. The conditions also weren't great, the ground was quite wet and slippy in places with soggy leaves hanging around some of the corners in the forest. I finished in 18:38, which up until not long ago would have been a PB, so still a respectful enough time. Also a 3rd place at Malahide! Presumably due to the Irish Runner 5 mile, but I'll take it.
16th June|13.8 miles|8:37|I cashed in some Father's Day credits to get out to The Phoenix Park for the club long run. I gave Crockmac a heads up, and met him on the way into the park. We ended up doing two hours, mostly on trails and grass, and had some good chats along the way. The pace was pretty sedate, though a load of folks just did shorter routes. Finished up meeting murph_d and annapr on the way up to the Visitor's Centre, had some more chats and then had some refreshments that went down very well. Didn't feel like I had just run for two hours, being off the roads is good from time to time!
Total: 55.4 miles
Next week: A fair bit of volunteering this week, handing out t-shirts/numbers etc. and then stewarding at the Docklands 5k on Thursday. I've also signed up for pacing on Malahide parkrun on Saturday. Hopefully will get in some running too.0 -
A fun week. I did my first ever yoga session on Monday, which was definitely very different than pilates, lots more mobility/stretching and a lot more hippy-esque The usual pilates was on Tuesday too, but after the session on Tuesday evening I had picked up a little niggle in my left leg. It started off in the bum region but seemed to work its way down. It's only slightly sore and tight, but definitely noticeable. I have a vague suspicion that it's related to the yoga and extra stretching.
Thursday involved a load of volunteering for the club, handing out t-shirts and race bibs on Thursday lunchtime (it was kinda slow and a bit boring, but got to get to know some more clubmates) and then I had a load of jobs while stewarding for the race as I was around the start area - setting up and taking down the starting gantry, getting people off the cycle track, setting up cones and putting tape between then, taking the tape back down, making sure runners weren't going to plough into a kerb at the 600m to go sign, collecting rubbish and t-shirts and finally moving some movable bins around. It was very well organised as ever and it's a very impressive thing to be part of. The race plan is an excellent read! The cherry on top was the grub and booze at the end. It was great to see a load of boardsies too.
Saturday was pacing 20 minutes at Malahide parkrun. I was quite anxious about this, even though I should be well capable of the pace. I slept badly, worrying numerous times that I had slept in. Once I got to Malahide I had no problem with the pace... even though I knew that the GPS would go haywire in the forest and add around 15-20 seconds I was still worried about not being under 20. Up until the 3rd km mark I was bang on track, but basically put in a couple of 3:50ish kms to finish.
Date|Distance|Pace|Notes
17th June|10.2 miles|8:40ish|Commute, GPS went a bit weird at the start.
18th June|9.3 miles|?|Club session. With 200s and some generous standing recovery, this was always gonna be a bit fast... I over-did it at the start though, and the second half was tough. Session was 4 x (600, 400, 200 off 75, 60, 120 standing recovery). See the suffering right here: (2:03, 1:17, 36), (2:02, 1:19, 37), (2:04, 1:21, 38), (2:08, 1:24, 39)
19th June|9.1 miles|8:57|A slightly earlier commute than usual
20th June|9.1 miles|8:52|A morning commute to facilitate stewarding etc.
21st June|11.4 miles|9:05|A slightly longer commute than usual, to my sister-in-law's. Had to run through denis_b's forest in the valley to get to her estate, got a little lost along the way.
22nd June|10.1 miles|?|To, from and Malahide parkrun in 19:40
23rd June|10.7 miles|11:04|The older child was at Beaver camp, so I showed up 2 hours early to collect him and went exploring. I had no plan other than to run up a hill or two. I ended up on some pretty mediocre trails at the side of some forests which weren't great to run on, but ended up finding a way to Ticknock and took in some of that area before retracing my steps. Wasn't pushing myself at all, but it was nice to get out into the hills for a change.
Total: 70.2 miles
Next week: Can't make the club and more general busyness might put other running under threat! We'll see. Might give a parkrun a good go on Saturday as I'm off to Spain on Monday week.0 -
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Missed last week's update due to being busy with prep and travel to my, er, warm weather training camp. All of my runs over here in Barcelona have been done early enough in the morning, before breakfast and with just a glass of water before heading out. It's been about 25 degrees or so starting my runs. Hopefully hill, heat and fat burning adaptation will make up somewhat for the very slow pacesI missed a couple of days due to being busy with travelling and then a hangover followed by a trip down the coast to the beach. Running isn't a priority over here, but I'm trying not to lose *all* my fitness.
Date|Distance|Pace|Notes
24th June|9.9 miles|8:52|A commute, I guess.
25th June|10.2 miles|8:26|Another one?
26th June|9.1 miles|8:55|Looks like a shorter one.
27th June|9.2 miles|8:47|Sunny morning commute.
28th June|9.1 miles|9:00|Last commute for a while
29th June|8.9 miles|?|Malahide parkrun. Decided to give it a good go as a marker so I can see how unfit I am when I get back from Barcelona. Went out aggressively, suffered in the middle but finished strong. Was running with and swapping places with a pair of lads who were also putting in good efforts, at the bottom of the final hill I had the energy to get past them and finish aggressively enough. Time was barely under 19 minutes though, lack of short-term quality running I reckon. I think I really am a "form" runner - days off and no sessions means I lose a lot of sharpness quickly.
30th June|13.8 miles|8:44|Squeezing in a late run to/from Portmarnock. Nice evening along the coast, listening to The Cure live from Glasto. They sounded better from Glasto then they did at Malahide, higher production values I guess.
Total: 70.4 miles
June total: 260 miles
Date|Distance|Pace|Notes
2nd July|6.2 miles|9:42|Rambling around the lower parts of the hills above Gracia trying but failing to find a way up higher.
3rd July|6.5 miles|9:23|Run down to the port and back up again.
4th July|7.8 miles|9:29|Over to Sant Andreu's stadium, a football team who I inexplicably follow thanks to Football Manager 2011, and back to Gracia past Sagrada Familia.
5th July|10 miles|10:16|Up to the top of Tibidabo, the hill with the big tower and church overlooking Barcelona. The route provided by Google includes a gigantic staircase which is utterly exhausting to get up. Some great views at the top, if a little misty in the morning.
7th July|10 miles|9:57|Up the same route Tibidabo again. More mist and a lot more Sunday cyclists about I suffered a bit on this run, I mustn't have been as hydrated, and spent a lot of the run thinking about various liquids that I'd like to be consuming. It was a little later in the morning too which probably didn't help. I wore a kind of tight sleeveless running top, and have a strange rash on my chest right now which according to Dr. Google is probably a heat rash.
Total: 40.7 miles
Next week: More of the same - early morning running with some hills thrown in. Montjuic and the seafront look like classic running routes that I should tick off. Not really pushed on doing anything of quality, other than running up hills. 50 miles would be nice, as would finding a better route to get up Tibidabo that doesn't involve those damn stairs.0 -
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This ended up being an ok week milage wise, though of course with not any real quality running, other than hills/heat/no food. Over 5000 ft in elevation which is another world record. I have a mild niggle in my left foot, it feels tender to walk on first thing in the morning and occasionally I can feel some mild throbbing. No real location of the niggle, other than not the toes/heel/achilles, it's kind of the entire left side. As usual I intend to completely ignore it, but documenting it here just in case it turns into something else I guess it could be as a result of the hills, though I also only have one pair of runners over with me (my most recent pair of Brooks Ghosts 11), so running in the same runners every day could be a factor too.
Also got the "you're in" mail from Anto for Donadea!
Date|Distance|Pace|Notes
15th July|9.2 miles|9:02|Up to the Tibidabo tralls again.
16th July|9.7 miles|8:43|Same as above, except went in a different direction. Ended up running through some nice parts of the city I hadn't seen before, seemed like the Ballsbridge of Barca with consulates, English schools, gated apartment complexes etc.
17th July|8.5 miles|9:05|Up Montjuic past the Olympic stadium etc.
18th July|10.3 miles|8:08|Down Diagonal to El Forum, where I started running behind a fit looking local. I decided to use him as a pace setter and did 3 sub-8 miles with him. We broke up around Barceloneta and I made my way back up to Gracia via Las Ramblas. Running faster was fun!
19th July|6.5 miles|8:51|Just a few easy miles. Down to Citudella.
20th July|10.5 miles|8:49|More running around the hills.
21st July|5.4 miles|8:36|A few early easy miles
Total: 60.3 miles
Next week: Back home on Friday. Looks like it's going to be even hotter over here, and I'm off to Port Aventura for a night without running gear, so less milage. Intend to do a parkrun on Satruday to see how much speed I've lost.0 -
A week with two days off running (!), but the with some reasonable quality too. The week started in Port Aventura (not a total success due to the kids not enjoying the hot weather), and I didn't bring my runners with me so that was a day off. My Barcelona adventure came to a close on Friday, but I didn't go out for a run that morning due to the logistical problems of not wanting to pack sweaty running gear, and by the time we got back home I was in no form for a run after a long day hanging around the airport with kids etc. Saturday's parkrun time trial went pretty well. The purpose of it was to see how much speed I'd lost in Barcelona. I was worried that the trip would be similar to last summer's SF trip where I completely slacked off, however it didn't really turn out that way and I ended up doing some running of reasonable quality (i.e. a lot of hills) though nothing fast. I did Malahide parkrun just before we left in a slightly disappointing 18:55, and then yesterday I ran 18:36, my third fastest 5k (though after a rest day). I've no idea what this really means other than I guess I haven't completely lost all my fitness
I started into the first run for DCM today with a 12 mile long run at Hanson long run pace. The prescribed pace was 7:29 according to the book, however I ended up doing it all a bit faster, mostly because I turned off mile splits so was mostly using my Garmin's current pace to track my speed and was trying to keep it under 7:29 and doing a bad job of that The effort got a little hard near the end, but otherwise was comfortable enough and an enjoyable run.
Date|Distance|Pace|Notes
23rd July|10.7 miles|8:53|Up my now favoured route around the foothills of Tibidabo, which avoids the staircases and extremely steep roads, along the trails for a few miles and then down through Vallcarca.
24th July|10.2 miles|7:57|Another of my favoured routes, down Diagonal to El Forum, along the beaches and then back up to Gracia via Las Ramblas and Passeig De Gracia. Decided to throw in some faster miles along the beach but quickly got put in my place by the heat, effort level was very high, so eased off. Still a good paced run overall.
25th July|10.7 miles|9:01|Another run around the foothills and my last run in Barcelona.
27th July|9.2 miles|?|To, from and Malahide parkrun in 18:36
28th July|15.7 miles|7:38|Including 12 miles at 7:17 average pace. Fastest 7:11, slowest 7:20. Did loops around Rivervalley which has some good drags, and it involved running into the wind for a long stretch.
Total: 56.7 miles
Next week: Obviously I'm going to start messing with the plan :pac: For the next few weeks I'll just do the Tuesday Vo2 max track sessions at the club. The distance is the same as the Hanson sessions (4.8 or 5 km) and the purpose and pace is pretty much the same, though the reps are progressively longer in the Hanson plan. When the plan switches the Tuesday session to be "Strength" instead of "Speed" then I'll start doing those instead. Thursday will be 7@MP. I will probably switch the long run to Saturday as I have a wedding drinks thing to go to that night. The following weekend I'll be in Italy for another damn wedding so I will do 12@Hanson Long Run pace again. I might cut the commutes down a little, especially on Wednesday which is supposed to be a rest day.0 -
Week 1 of the Hanson/Singer training plan done! The first one is the hardest, right? :pac:
Tuesday's track session wasn't amazing but I had loads of excuses: first fast session in over a month, it was raining, I gave up caffeine the day before so was feeling groggy and I was a little tired from the weekend's hard parkrun followed by the fast longish run. I did the first of many marathon pace miles early on Thursday morning, a little fast but on a flat loop. And as threatened I did next week's the long run on Saturday as I'll be in Italy for a wedding. It was ok, again a little fast on a bumpy loop around Rivervalley. I really didn't plan it, but couldn't resist doing 3.1 of the run at Rivervalley parkrun. I cut it tight enough so that I was only standing around for it to start for a few minutes, and didn't hang around afterwards for chats and finished the run. Despite a lot of sessions (5 in 8 days) I'm feeling good, no niggles etc.
So here's what the plan looks like right now, taking into account some shuffling around for travel and changing up the final week a little as I like doing a few MP miles that week. I'm registered for both the Frank Duffy and Dublin half, but right now am not planning on doing either, though am vaguely tempted by showing up at the half, though not sure what would make sense to run. Feedback very welcome!
Date|Distance|Pace|Notes
29th July|10 miles|9:01|Commute
30th July|7.9 miles|?|Cru session in the rain. 4 x (800, 400) off 75, 60. 2:54, 1:23, 2:56, 1:25, 3:00, 1:27, 2:58, 1:24. Not great.
31st July|9.1 miles|9:05|Commute
1st August|10.8 miles|?|Up at 6AM and out just a glass of water before heading out. Jog to Holywell Junior parkrun, 7 miles@6:43, jog home. Very happy with this!
2nd August|10.5 miles|9:13|Commute to my sister-in-law's on the other side of Swords, which included running through a forest (there's no path to the estate)
3rd August|13.7 miles|?|Short jog to the Rivervalley loop, 6 miles looping, then Rivervalley parkrun and then another loop to make up the 12 miles. Average pace 7:14, some good drags and hills in there too.
4th August|8.4 miles|8:45|Easy miles to and from Malahide
Total: 70.6 miles
July total: 236. A few days off due to the Barca trip meant lower milage than usual.
Next week: As above, just the two sessions and then some running in Italy squeezed around a wedding. I'll be able to put all that warm weather training to some use 0 -
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OOnegative wrote: »Giving up caffeine , why?
I drink 2 or 3 cups a day in work, occasionally more. At the weekends or days off I get headaches if I don't drink coffee at the same frequency, which is annoying. I could probably cut down to one cup a day or so and not get headaches, but I decided to just go cold turkey to break the habit. It took until Friday to feel normal again! My work routine is now to drink a cup of decaf when I get in, and some sort of mint tea later in the day. I guess it might make a pre-race caffeine hit more potent, but it was definitely for general comfort reasons and not running that I did it 0 -
I drink 2 or 3 cups a day in work, occasionally more. At the weekends or days off I get headaches if I don't drink coffee at the same frequency, which is annoying. I could probably cut down to one cup a day or so and not get headaches, but I decided to just go cold turkey to break the habit. It took until Friday to feel normal again! My work routine is now to drink a cup of decaf when I get in, and some sort of mint tea later in the day. I guess it might make a pre-race caffeine hit more potent, but it was definitely for general comfort reasons and not running that I did it
Ah ok, suppose it effects us all differently. I find I benefit from drinking it, two mugs a day no more though. I worked with a lady who was a Coke addict, ended up in A&E with severe headaches when she tried giving up!!0 -
Whee... an exciting two week catchup. Spoilers: I did all the sessions in the Hanson/Singer plan, and they went to plan though effort levels are still a bit too high for the MP stuff. Milage a bit low due to the wedding in Italy.
Date|Distance|Pace|Notes
5th August|10.2 miles|8:26|A nice bank holiday run around last year's Frank Duffy course
6th August|8.7 miles|?|Over to Irishtown for the Crusaders session, which was 3 x 800s off 90, 3 x 600s off 75 and 3 x 300s off 60. Times were (178, 172, 171), (131, 127, 129), (63, 62, 58). One of the more fun sessions but paces were a bit weird.
7th August|9.1 miles|9:05|Commute home
8th August|11 miles|7:27|Up at the crack of down for 7 @ MP around the Holywell Junior Parkrun arena. Ended up with 6:40 average pace: 6.40, 6:41, 6:38, 6:42, 6:42, 6:40, 6:38. Heart rate and effort were elevated for the last two.
9th August|0 miles|-|Travelling to Bellagio for a wedding. Up at 4.30AM for the flight, by the time we got to Bellagio, checked in, car parked (easier said than done) and fed it was nearly the evening and we needed a nap before the pre-wedding drinking started...
10th August|10.7 miles|8:43|Out around noon into the midday heat due to an excessive lie-on. Spent the run looking for somewhere good to run, which in the end there wasn't. The environs of Bellagio is beautiful, hilly and mostly pathless, so I ended up looping around. Over 1,600ft of climbing.
11th August|0 miles|-|Post wedding hangover.
Total: 50 miles
Date|Distance|Pace|Notes
12th August|0 miles|-|Post post-wedding hangover and travel back home.
13th August|8.3 miles|?|Cru session once again. 4 x (600, 400, 200 off 75, 60, 120). After taking two days off I kind of punished myself a bit here, and paid for it by suffering a fair bit on the track and ended up with two calves that were quite sore for a few days afterwards. Silly Singer.
14th August|10 miles|9:09|A commute that felt completely rubbish. After the weekend on the pi$$ I still wasn't sleeping well. Commutes are usually very boring affairs, but this was notable in its rubbishness.
15th August|10.8 miles|7:35|Back up to the Holywell arena at 6 in the morning for some MP miles. Splits hit, but again felt rubbish and the last 3 miles were way too hard, a look at HRM data afterwards confirmed. Average pace of 6:46: 6:49, 6:42, 6:45, 6:45, 6:44, 6:48, 6.50.
16th August|10 miles|8:35|Got a good night's sleep, headed out for an afternoon run around some of the DCM course before attending a work party. Nice run, felt a zillion times better than the previous day. Got amazingly soaked in the rain.
17th August|8.3 miles|?|Was up early with one of the kids and used the excuse of going to a parkrun to get some hangover clearing miles done early enough in the day. Decided at the last minute to head over to Rivervalley, was going to just run it easy but ended up doing it at a steady pace. Just after I finished, so did murph_d who finally showed up at my local run to see what all the fuss about the hill was about Had an enjoyable cooldown with him after!
18th August|15.3 miles|7:18|The kids were at the cinema so popped over to The Phoenix Park for my third Hanson long run, this time the distance extending to 14 miles. Target pace was 7:22. I did a mile warm-up, and then got stuck in. It was windy and I made it a little hillier by following the DCM route up to Myos. Passed AMK in my penultimate mile, and I anti-socially didn't stop as I didn't want to ruin my nice splits, so a "hi" sufficed Average pace for the 14 was 7:12, generally felt great and the HRM data agrees.
Total: 62.8 miles
Next week: A higher milage week would be good. MP tempo steps up to 8, long run up to 15.0 -
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Almost a good week, until the last few miles which went off the rails :mad:
I did everything I needed to this week, and then a little more. I couldn't resist throwing in a parkrun pacing effort on Saturday, proceeding the 15 mile Hanson Long Run on Sunday. I then had a few beers on Saturday night, but also was able to wait until after lunchtime or so to head out for the run on Sunday. So off I went, doing a nice 1 mile warmup (8:12) before speeding up to faster than the prescribed pace (7:22). I felt great for the next few miles! I was actually thinking that I felt in great shape and that maybe this training is actually working. Then somewhere around Portmarnock beach on the way back to Swords, things got harder. I started drinking the bottle of Lucozade Sport I had been carrying, and noticed that I was quite thirsty. Then my stomach went a bit weird and I did a "wet burp" which through me off a little. By the time I got past Malahide village I was struggling to keep pace, feeling quite tired. I made the not great decision to run down the estuary which isn't the quickest of routes as the surface is gravel/grass and is exposed to the wind and sun, which just helped me slow down. I was going to do 16 or 17 miles with the 15 sandwiched in the middle, but there was no point in extending the run as things were going pear-shaped, so I just did the 15. When I got home I drank a load of water... and then later on when out for dinner I ordered a jug of tap water immediately, and drank the entire thing in 5 minutes. So the conditions (heat, hangover) had an effect, which was very disappointing.
Mile splits in the end were:
8:12, 7:16, 7:19, 7:15, 7:13, 7:19, 7:17, 7:17, 7:19, 7:18, 7:20, 7:22, 7:31, 7:42, 8:13
Date|Distance|Pace|Notes
19th August|10 miles|8:51|Commute, partially with Crockmac for the first time in ages!
20th August|9.7 miles|?|Cru session. 8 x 600s off 200ish jog (2:14, 2:15, 2:16, 2:11, 2:15, 2:12, 2:15, 2:09). Was in a group for this, good camaraderie though I got stuck a few times.
21st August|9.1 miles|9:00|Commute
22nd August|11.8 miles|7:26|Up at 6AM to do the MP session as usual. This went a good bit better than the previous week, went into it tired but didn't struggle to hit the desired paces. The 8 ended up being (6:46, 6:45, 6:43, 6:44, 6:46, 6:45, 6:42, 6:42). I did this at the Holywell Junior Parkrun MP Bowl, which has a good view of the planes landing at the airport. Interestingly, somewhere around mile 4 or so an American Airlines plane did a go-around while landing. Later on that day in work I ended up listening to the air traffic control feed archives to find out what happened. It turns out that 4 swans invaded the runway, and so a Ryanair jet was stuck for a few minutes and couldn't take off.
23rd August|9.3 miles|8:57|Commute
24th August|9.8 miles|?|Pacing 22 minutes at Malahide parkrun. Came in 25 seconds early Went through half-way perfectly on pace, and then as usual GPS went crazy as we went into the forest. Where I think that 4km marker had me in 15 seconds under, but I must have kept going faster. Both my last 2 pacing parkruns have come in way under.
25th August|15.1 miles|7:28|Hanson Long Run as above.
Total: 75 miles
Next week: A bit of a pull-back week, partially due to travel to Edinburgh for work for most of the week. Will get two sessions in though (and maybe a parkrun
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Two Hanson sessions that went well, and some running around Edinburgh. Though the real highlight was my 9 year old kid deciding he wanted to do parkrun with me on Saturday morning. He's not a great runner, as has been clear from many Junior Parkruns, but we got through it together and have probably bonded as a solid father/son unit as a result We finished in just under 43 minutes, so it's probably a bit cheeky to count as "running", as in reality it was a mix of very slow jogging, lots of walking and occasional inexplicable sprinting. I did sweat though and had to have a shower when I got home.
Other than a bit of tiredness, and I think my appetite has stepped up a gear, running is going fine and I have no niggles to worry about.
Date|Distance|Pace|Notes
26th August|10 miles|8:56|A commute
27th August|7.6 miles|?|Up at the crack of dawn to get the Hanson session in before flying to Scotland. Session was 3 x 1600 at 6:02 so decided on 3 x sub-6 1 miles: 5:58, 5:57, 5:58.
28th August|5 miles|10:47|Morning run in Edinburgh, went up Arthur’s Seat (800+ feet climbing). It wasn't very runnable near the top, and I got stuck behind some people on the way down. Good fun hopping around the hill, and it was funny to be at the top in shorts and t-shirts compared to all the hikers around me who were fully dressed for some Scottish weather conditions (it was very windy in fairness). On the way back down I started to question why on earth I was running up a rocky death-trap in a pair of regular old runners when I'm supposed to be training for a marathon... it was good fun though.
28th August|5 miles|8:44|A few non-hilly miles around nice parks beside the University (The Meadows).
29th August|5.9 miles|8:36|Running randomly around Edinburgh, skirted Holyrood and some of The Meadows again. Some DOMS in my quads from the hill running.
30th August|10 miles|9:04|Commute, still some minor DOMS. Passed the 2000 mile mark for 2019.
31st August|3.1 miles|13:17|Rivervalley parkrun. Not sure if this counts as a run....
31st August|12 miles|7:23|Out after dinner with what felt like was a gigantic stomach. I was worried that this would get sore or otherwise interfere with the planned session, though it didn't really happen. 8 miles at MP: 6:40, 6:42, 6:42, 6:45, 6:38, 6:42, 6:41, 6:36. This felt great and I could have continued for a good while longer. Heart rate data agrees. I did this around one of my session spots in Swords, on a tarmac path around Ridgewood pitches. It's about a 500m loop and has a slight elevation change on each lap which keeps the effort changing. My 10 mile PB is 6:36 pace... looking pretty soft now.
1st September|13.5 miles|8:44|Only 10 on the plan but no harm in something a bit more. Not much more than 12 hours after the session though, legs were a bit creaky at the start and I've been tired all day since, just as you should be during marathon training! Went out to Malahide Castle and surroundings.
Total: 72.4 miles (including the parkrun! :pac:)
August total: 290 miles
Next week: Hanson sessions starting to get serious. 6x1 mile at ~6:30 pace on Tuesday (prescribed pace for 2:55, doesn't seem impossible), 8 miles at MP on Thursday and 16 at ~7:20 on Saturday/Sunday.0 -
This week's sessions were:
6x1 mile off 400 at 6:30 pace. Averaged 6:26.
8 miles @ MP. Averaged 6:50.
16 @ 7:15. Averaged 7:13.
Also threw in pacing 21 minutes @ Rivervalley parkrun, finished in 20:58
Sounds great, eh? In reality this week felt like a nightmare.
I decided to try doing the Tuesday strength session at the club in the lanes where the marathoners do their thing. I've run different sessions a couple of times in the past, it's not terrible as things go on as the different paces of the marathoners means that everybody is well spread out anyway. The marathoners were doing a timed session, 40 minutes at varying paces, and mine would have me on the track a little longer. The pace started to hurt pretty early on. Conditions were windy and humid which may have been a factor, and I was very parched by the end. I managed to hold pace though the effort was hard towards the finish. It was heartbreaking watching everybody finish their sessions while I plodded around.
That night I woke up in the middle of the night with a splitting headache around 2AM and could get back to sleep for 2-3 hours. When I weighed myself in the morning I was nearly a kilo lighter than the day before, so I probably dehydrated myself. I was at a work thing out of the office all day Tuesday and so possibly wasn't hydrating as per my normal routine. On Wednesday I was out late at a comedy gig, but threw in a post-work jog. I didn't drink but was home relatively late so sleep wasn't amazing... and I was up on Thursday at 6AM or so to do the MP session. This was difficult, I didn't feel great going out. It was pretty windy too, and for whatever reason I decided to do the session to and along the coast. After I turned around at Portmarnock the second half was mostly into the wind, and I fell off the pace, the last 3 being all >3 hour marathon pace. Thursday and Friday were stressful days in work, with some last minute prep for a conference talk and then the conference itself, and I decided to not bother running on Friday and just go to the pub. My left big toe had been sore all day on Friday so a rest was probably a good idea.
The pacing gig at parkrun went well despite the hangover, the usual nice crowd at Rivervalley and the pace felt fine. I finished 3rd but did drag a few along with me before burning them off with my beautifully consistent pace, and I got a couple of thank yous which is always nice. hardworker of these parts was on tunnel duty and complimented my pacing which I was pretty happy with! After getting home my toe went even worse and it was pretty painful all day. I think I had been a little aggressive with the clippers recently and the nail area got a bit infected, so I applied antiseptic cream all day and even bought an ingrown toenail kit which wasn't much use.
Later on Saturday, I started feeling a cold coming on. There was one doing the rounds in work and the kids seemed a bit ratty and snotty so it was probably inevitable. Now is probably not the worst time to get a cold, better now than any other week closer to the marathon, but it's still a pain. I woke up again in the middle of the night on Saturday night with a headache and had another bad night's sleep. I was thinking of not bothering with the long run, but ended up pushing it to the end of the day and took the rest of the day relatively easy. The toe infection appeared to be on the mend and was only sore when touched. I was pretty tired and mucousy all day but didn't feel the worst going out. I locked into a decent effort and ended up enjoying the run, listening to Friday's Second Captains and Saturday's Giles Peterson BBC Radio 6 Music show in the nice mild evening. Historically I've done loads of good long runs on Sunday autumn evenings, and this was one of the best. I still feel pretty crumby with the cold and I'm sure it'll eat into next week a bit.
Anyway, well done to anybody who's read all my moans. I need to get better at sleep, hydration, drinking less alcohol, taking better care of my feet and not getting colds. Pretty basic stuff
Date|Distance|Pace|Notes
2nd September|10 miles|9:03|A commute
3rd September|12.8 miles|?|Over to Irishtown for the session on the track. 6 x 1 mile off 400ish jog: 6:23, 6:27, 6:28, 6:26, 6:28, 6:26
4th September|7.6 miles|8:54|Jog around after work, followed the DCM route to Chesterfield and then back into town.
5th September|10 miles|?|8@MP - 6:51, 6:48, 6:44, 6:46, 6:51, 6:53, 6:5, 6:53
7th September|8.7 miles|?|Rivervalley parkrun @ 20:58
8th September|17 miles|?|16@7:13 and a mile warmup
Total: 66.3 miles
Next week: Get over this cold. Tuesday is 4 x 1.5 miles off 800, 9 miles @ MP will probably get pushed to Friday as I'm working from home so can do it at lunch.0 -
Your training is going great B.
Prior to starting this block, you had built a huge base with your legendary runmutes - how are the levels of fatigue now compared to then (i.e. have the sessions left you bollixed )
Also - following this block - will you return to your mileage from runmutes or change anything??0 -
I'm definitely tired-er. Who would have thought that adding on bit more quality running would do that? I was doing similar milage back in April/May and that felt a lot easier, as I guess it had a lot more junk miles proportionally, and I was only really doing 1.5 decent sessions a week.
I've been a bit sloppy. Busy with work, not sleeping as well etc. that I'm trying to correct. I'm going to start taking a few random days off work to reduce the 6AM starts and general busyness... I just submitted the time off requests, so thanks for making me think of this!
No plans to change my general runmute setup, I'm sure I'll fall back into my usual pattern in November, though in theory I should be training for sub-4 glory at Donadea 0 -
I've been a bit sloppy. Busy with work, not sleeping as well etc. that I'm trying to correct. I'm going to start taking a few random days off work to reduce the 6AM starts and general busyness...
I love that - life is busy, running is busy, work is busy.
The fix is to keep running and reduce work 0 -
Cold schmold. Despite being a cranky snot-production machine this week, it didn't really make any difference to my running and I ran my highest milage week since my doomed DCM attempt in 2016. The prescribed Hanson sessions went well other than occasional coughing and snotting. The best part of the week was Rivervalley parkrun. Utterly beautiful morning and having run the session the day before I was only going to be running easy. The weather was amazing and even better denis_b was there doing a bit of touristing, so the parkrun was spent nattering away. It was a special day at Rivervalley as one of the regular runners was doing a memorial run for his wife who passed away recently, and so a load of Clonliffe Harriers and TT Racers showed up in their singlets out of respect, massively increasing the size and quality of the field. Shame to not be able to take advantage and run it hard, but that's not in the plan
Date|Distance|Pace|Notes
9th September|10.3 miles|8:27|Commute
10th September|12.4 miles|?|4 x 1.5 miles off 0.5 jog, done on the Crusaders track on lane 7/8 with the marathoners. I figured out a new trick, when doing a different session wait 'til the other one has started and the runners are half-way around the track, then start so that by the time you're going past/getting passed by other runners they're well spread out. Paces were good: 6:23, 6:24, 6:25, 6:22
11th September|10.1 miles|8:50|Commute
12th September|10 miles|8:49|Commute
13th September|12.7 miles|7:08|Half-day off work so did this in the morning listening to Mary Anne Hobbs on Radio 6. Went over to Holywell Junior Parkrun stadium. This felt good and went robotically well: 6:39, 6:39, 6:39, 6:37, 6:38, 6:39, 6:38, 6:38, 6:31.
14th September|8.8|?|Rivervalley parkrun as above
15th September|15.7 miles|7:50|10 on the plan but felt like doing a bit more... also 80 is a nice round number. Went out at an enjoyable pace, wasn't watch-watching at all. It's nice running in the drizzle. Did the Malahide/Collins Avenue/Santry loop, listening to the Michael Owen interview on Second Captains (better than expected, Ken did well) and a podcast about the airline industry (avtalk). I dunno why I listen to the airplanes one, but I really like it. Maybe living beside the airport all my life?
Total: 80.4 miles
Next week: 3x2 miles@~6:30 on Tuesday, 9@MP Friday, 16@long run on Sunday. Another 80 miles would be great. I think I could destroy my HM PB but have no FOMO for missing next week's Dublin Half, all eyes on DCM.0 -
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