Confessions of a never has been.....

ThebitterLemon · 13-01-2014 11:14pm

Nice session, also wish I had your dedication for core work.

TbL

Duanington · 13-01-2014 11:22pm

ThebitterLemon wrote: »

Nice session, also wish I had your dedication for core work.

TbL

thanks TBL - re core work, its as much a realisation that I have poor form\am injury prone without doing this stuff, its part of the routine at this stage.

ThebitterLemon · 13-01-2014 11:31pm

I only do very little of it, I badly need to do more, and my running form would make you look like Martin Lel

How long/often do you do it and which exercises do you find work the best?

TbL

Duanington · 13-01-2014 11:42pm

ha ha - well I've kind of settled into a routine of doing ab-work like planks, crunches ( not situps as such), leg raises, side planks every second day for about 15\20 minutes- all slow, controlled stuff as opposed to fast moving spine breakers. I try to mix it up as much as possible ( i.e. I don't do the same routine twice in a row) Then I would do press-ups\pullups\weights on alternate days too - again, about 15\20 minutes.

The pull-ups are actually great for your core too I find - in fact, I would say planks and pull-ups are probably the best of the lot for the entire core ( for me anyway)

I get most of the techniques from youtube, I keep doing what I like and I drop what I don't like. I'd just say to be careful not to overdo it if you do start off doing some of this stuff, ease into it and you'll find yourself looking for different techniques etc in a few weeks.

I've eased off a little over the past week or so but I do try to keep to doing core work 3\4 days a week most weeks

Duanington · 14-01-2014 11:56pm

14.01.2014

LSR

Back out west straight after work for tonight's LSR. I stopped in to Mammy D's, got change and headed off out. Despite the wind and the drizzle ( it wasn't quite rain) it was actually a lovely night for running.

I took in quite a bit of Lucan, a bit of Adamstown and a decent chunk of Clondalkin along the way, plenty of little hills ( railway\canal bridges) to make parts of the run nice and interesting. I enjoy this route because it has a series of straights that are around 1.5 miles in length which keeps things fresh ...mentally.

I felt strong throughout this run, kept the pace in check and made sure I was in control of my form and breathing at all times, any time I started to drift at all, I re-focused on my form which seemed to bring things back under control.

Glad to get this one in, its another LSR the night after a tempo workout which is not ideal but I am keeping the pace in check and don't have an alternative day at the moment.

Total :14 miles @ avg 8:47 minutes per mile

Duanington · 16-01-2014 11:46pm

16.01.2014

Wednesday

Rest
35 minutes of core, light weights

Thursday

8x400 repeats (200 jogging recovery)

(15 minutes of press-ups before heading out)

Started off with an easy 2 miles warm up. My calves felt a little tight during the warm up so I ditched the idea that I had toyed with of adding 2x800 reps to the end of tonight's session, I'll add these in separately over the next few weeks.

Last time I ran these was on the track and I targeted 1:27 per 400 so I kept that target in mind.
I made my way down to the cycling lane near bull island and the rain started to come down just as I started off - it actually felt great on my face. Perfect night for it really.

Reps looked like this

1:26
1:25
1:26
1:24
1:25
1:25
1:24
1:21

Again, I worked on staying controlled throughout this one - no flailing arms or puffing too hard, focused on form and I felt good (mostly!)

Finished up with an easy 2 miles with a light stretch every half mile or so

Glad to have this done, I'll probably go with 800s next week then back to 1k reps.

Duanington · 18-01-2014 12:33am

17.01.2014

Recovery run tonight, had a few things to do after work so as soon as I got the chance, I got stuck into 10 minutes or so of pull-ups and headed off.

Nothing much to report here, except the sea was like glass tonight...eerily calm. Enjoyable run, the legs were a bit stiff and felt much better by the end.

5 miles @ avg 8:42 min miles

Duanington · 18-01-2014 9:56pm

18.01.2014

Out at 07:30 for this morning's run. one of those cold wet mornings that does not seem very appealing at first but once you get out, you're glad to be out ( no wind!)

Met plenty of fellow footsoldiers out braving the elements this morning, it always surprises me how many nutcases there are doing this kind of thing

4 miles easy on the grass (mainly) at Clontarf, very enjoyable - back for porridge, peanut butter sambo and a giant cup of tea

4 miles @ avg pace 08:27 min\mile

40 minutes of weights ( shoulder and arm) and core work in the afternoon

Duanington · 19-01-2014 11:59pm

19.01.2014

AM - some stretching and press-ups

PM

I had originally planned an easy 6 mile run tonight but I got life stuff organised a little earlier than planned so took advantage and squeezed in my Tempo run a night earlier than planned.

Perfect night for it tonight, cold, clear, dry and no real breeze to speak of. I flirted momentarily with the idea of heading to bed early and giving any run a miss but copped on and set off for a 1 mile warm up ( a little over a mile actually).

I ignored the watch for most of this, didn't pay any attention to splits until afterwards and really focused on staying controlled, working hard but not so hard I was gasping. ( comfortably difficult?!)

The route was flat for the first couple of miles but then took in a couple of soft hills\climbs\downhill stretches.

Splits looked like this:

6:50
6:52
6:54
6:46
6:36 ( big downhill stretch for the last 1/4 mile though !)

I never felt too under pressure on this one, really enjoyed most of the run and felt great afterwards. Delighted to get a 5 mile tempo under the belt as I can't run Raheny next week so I would have been curious as to what time I could do there.

1 mile easy to finish off.

Happy with this week's effort, back to over 40 miles for the first time in quite some time and they all felt like purposeful runs

Duanington · 20-01-2014 10:30pm

20.01.2014

Met the bro straight after work for this evening's run, great to have the company. Another great night to run, clear sky, chilled air and a bit of banter on the way around.

My legs felt a little tired towards the end , nothing to worry about though, just a hangover from last nights tempo.

Another enjoyable run, a quick cup of tea and a peanut butter sandwich before heading home for a bit of core stuff\chin ups.

Total miles 7 @ 8:30 min\mile

Duanington · 22-01-2014 12:17am

21.01.2014

I've been running my LSR on Tuesday nights for the past couple of weeks but I've had to re-jig things a bit this week, work and family commitments getting in the way !

Anyway, rather than squash ina reduced LSR tonight, I got in the second of this week's sessions and put off the LSR until later in the week.

Plan for tonight was 7 miles (easy) with 8xhill (fast) repeats approx. 150 metres)

Isn't the body a strange, strange thing? I could feel my energy levels dropping as the day went on today, the drive home from work seemed endless and by the time I got out the door for a run ( no time for the usual pressup\core stuff with cool tooones), I was visibly tired looking. the first 4 EASY miles felt never-ending and I had to resist the urge to stop on a number of occasions.

After what seemed an eternity I arrived at my chosen hill for tonight's session, which I must add I suspect is not quite as taxing as it should be so I may change location next time out.
Anyway, I took a 2\3 minute breather and headed off for the first rep...I had intended to run these relatively hard, certainly quicker than 5k pace and did just that. After the 2nd rep, I was in the zone, the energy levels were back up and the mind had sharpened once again....

I'm not sure if this info is of any use to people but I'll stick it up anyway:

Rep avg pace
1 6:30
2 6:05
3 5:57
4 5:37
5 5:46
6 5:40
7 5:46
8 5:29

Enjoyed this session, I can't say I found it too tough though ( but I couldn't say it was easy either)..maybe over the last couple of reps and even then I did feel that I could have done more ( time permitting). Next time out, I'll increase the distance and add a couple of reps on. Floated home during a 1.2 mile w\d....no sign of fatigue or tiredness...slightly sore but very content

Total miles: 7.2

statss · 22-01-2014 12:23pm

don't be afraid to drop a session now and then if you are feeling shattered, I find sometimes the day off is better for you in the overall cycle.

Duanington · 22-01-2014 12:38pm

thanks Statss - point noted !

I've a rest day today thankfully so I'll be getting an early night tonight

Duanington · 23-01-2014 11:56pm

23.01.2014

Late run tonight out on the coast road - mainly on the grass which I always prefer. I squeezed in 20 minutes of pull-ups before heading out which warmed me up nicely.

Kept it nice and easy tonight, the legs were a little tender from Tuesday nights run ( which I claimed was a little too easy !)

LSR either tomorrow or Saturday and I will creep up into the late 40s mileage-wise which I'll be happy with.

Total miles: 4 @ avg 8:20 min miles

ThebitterLemon · 24-01-2014 12:06am

20 mins of pull ups - you're joking right! Was that 20 mins solid or did you do one or two, smoke a cigar and then do one or two more

TbL

AuldManKing · 24-01-2014 12:28am

ThebitterLemon wrote: »

20 mins of pull ups - you're joking right! Was that 20 mins solid or did you do one or two, smoke a cigar and then do one or two more

TbL

That's my post of the year so far.........still laughing.

Duanington · 24-01-2014 1:12am

ThebitterLemon wrote: »

20 mins of pull ups - you're joking right! Was that 20 mins solid or did you do one or two, smoke a cigar and then do one or two more

TbL

ha ha ha - ok, not solid ...plenty of cigars smoked in between sets!

Duanington · 25-01-2014 12:09am

24.01.2014

LSR night tonight

I decided to mix it up a little tonight and throw in a daycent hill or two in my long run. The last few long runs have gone quite well and I haven't felt under any real pressure during the run for quite a while now.....Howth fairly put manners on me in that regard!

I headed off up the coast from Clontarf, through Sutton Cross and up towards Howth head, what a spectacular run we have on our doorsteps people, the view to the right (over Dublin Bay) as you head up the first climb after Sutton is nothing short of breath-taking, it makes the climb that bit easier.

After maybe a mile into the first hill, I was reminded of someone's log I read recently where they mentioned that the find concrete paving quite heavy on the legs - I, unfortunately, suffer from this affliction too!
Once I passed the 5 mile mark I settled into a nice rhythm though ( staying around 8:55 min miles), enjoying the sound of my own footsteps in what seemed like complete isolation ...and yet the bustling city was in clear view over my shoulder..great stuff.

Once you reach the Summit pub, its all downhill from there...downhill runs always worry me, I tend to overcook the pace a little and leave my thighs in ribbons...I tried to keep the pace in check but then I was conscious of the amount of effort taken to do that - looking at the splits I ran the downhill section at around 8:35 min\mile so not too bad. On into Howth village where the gorgeous smells wafting out from the kabillion restaurants and pubs left me with a serious hunger and I was back on the flat headed for home.

I picked up the pace over the last mile ( 8:10)to finish off what was a very tough but very enjoyable run. I remember the last time I ran this route because it was during the heatwave last year and I remember stopping 2\3 times with exhaustion. No such problems tonight and I will definitely put this route into the plan again in a few weeks - great to work the legs over those hills.

Total miles 14 @ avg pace 8:45 min\mile

Now where did I put those cigars....

ThebitterLemon · 25-01-2014 12:30am

Good session, you're smokin

TbL

Ososlo · 25-01-2014 12:41am

Nice run! I was going to do similar towards Howth direction over the weekend. Do you mind me asking for how many miles were you climbing once you left Sutton Cross running towards Howth summit pub? And is it extremely steep? Thanks!

Duanington · 25-01-2014 12:53am

Ososlo wrote: »

Nice run! I was going to do similar towards Howth direction over the weekend. Do you mind me asking for how many miles were you climbing once you left Sutton Cross running towards Howth summit pub? And is it extremely steep? Thanks!

Of course not Ososlo - I should probably have given that detail in the log. It was an overall climb of around 2.5\3 miles from Sutton Cross up to the top I think but there are quite a few dips on the way up so you're not climbing constantly.

Its steep enough to slow you down considerably without putting in some effort but I wouldn't let that put you off, once you get over the first climb ( just under a mile), you get a downhill stretch which gives some welcome relief - give it a go. I will say though, if running at night, wear bright clothes, there is street lighting all the way up along the footpath but there's no wall\barrier between the path and the road .

Its a great run - well worth taking it on if you have the guts

Ososlo · 25-01-2014 12:59am

Duanington wrote: »

Of course not Ososlo - I should probably have given that detail in the log. It was an overall climb of around 2.5\3 miles from Sutton Cross up to the top I think but there are quite a few dips on the way up so you're not climbing constantly.

Its steep enough to slow you down considerably without putting in some effort but I wouldn't let that put you off, once you get over the first climb ( just under a mile), you get a downhill stretch which gives some welcome relief - give it a go. I will say though, if running at night, wear bright clothes, there is street lighting all the way up along the footpath but there's no wall\barrier between the path and the road .

Its a great run - well worth taking it on if you have the guts

ha you've put it to me now:D I'm not one to shy away from a challenge. Ok, well 2.5-3 miles of a climb isn't the worst I guess and I can slow it as much as necessary as pace isn't the object for me anyways. Nice to hear that there's a little relief after a mile. I'll do it during the daylight for sure. Weather's to be sh1ght so that'll add an extra dimension to the challenge:D Thanks a mill Duanington!

Duanington · 25-01-2014 9:30pm

25.01.2014

AM - got out nice and early this morning after what was surely the deepest sleep ever experienced, coma like I tells ya!

4 miles at recovery pace on the grass at the coast road in Clontarf, legs were heavy to start with but felt better as I went along.

PM - some core\press-up work then out for another 4 miles at recovery pace, same spot - the grass on the coast road.

I somehow managed to avoid the downpours today too :-)

After the second session my legs felt much, much better

Total miles - 8 @ avg 8:55 min\mile

Duanington · 26-01-2014 11:28pm

26.01.2014

Serious winds out there this evening, to anyone who raced today - I salute you, those conditions are far from straightforward to run in, let alone race. Reading through some of the logs, a lot of people managed fantastic times regardless which is both impressive and sickening !

Another easy run on the coast road this evening , 5 miles easy....running into the wind for the first half was a pain the ar$e at times - once I turned for home it became a breeze:D of course !

Legs felt very good after the recovery sessions yesterday so I had to keep an eye on the pace on the way back.

Total miles 5.1 @ avg 8.:28 min miles

Duanington · 27-01-2014 11:00pm

27.01.2014

Zipped across the M50 after work this evening and got home a little earlier than I had expected. Stuck on the tunes ( Daft Punk mix from 1997 on BBC Radio 1 - superb shtuff!) and got started on some light weights and core work.

Tempo night tonight...plan was to tackle 5x1mile @ pace with 90 second recovery. The "tempo" pace was to be quicker than I would normally run tempo , no scientific or logical reasoning for this except that I am trying to vary these runs a bit to keep things fresh. With the 90 second recovery I tend to run them quicker than normal anyway, I had a target of 6:35-6:40 in mind starting out.

Started off with a 2 mile warmup..starting very easy and upping the pace over the past .5 mile to ensure the blood flowed through the legs enough.
Made my way down to the long straight section of tarmac along Sutton\Bayside to get started on the reps

Reps looked as follows
1 - 6:34
2 - 6:40
3 - 6:41
4 - 6:42
5 - 6:35

This was a tough one, I have to admit - the wind made it difficult at times and I had to work hard to keep the pace up over the more exposed sections.

Having said that, I did feel well recovered at the start of each rep with the 90second recovery - tough session but enjoyable ( afterwards, as always!)

( I'm even more impressed with some of the times achieved at Raheny yesterday having tried to run at pace in that wind !)

ThebitterLemon · 27-01-2014 11:06pm

Class session : ****e music

TbL

Tom Joad · 27-01-2014 11:14pm

Great session that will really stand to you. Nothing wrong with a bit of Daft Punk either

Cleanman · 27-01-2014 11:17pm

Great session - one more rep than you managed two weeks ago at a slightly faster pace......great progress. Where's the next race?

Duanington · 27-01-2014 11:54pm

ThebitterLemon wrote: »

Class session : ****e music

TbL

ha ha - thanks TBL - leave the robots alone!

Duanington · 27-01-2014 11:55pm

Tom Joad wrote: »

Great session that will really stand to you. Nothing wrong with a bit of Daft Punk either

Thanks TJ - it certainly had that feel to it alright, time will tell.

Duanington · 27-01-2014 11:57pm

Cleanman wrote: »

Great session - one more rep than you managed two weeks ago at a slightly faster pace......great progress. Where's the next race?

Thanks Cleanman - I'm hoping to run the Kinvara 10k on March 1st. I ran it last year and loved it, not the easiest of courses but one of those races with a great atmosphere, great scenery etc....a good day out too. Hopefully a parkrun before then too

Cleanman · 28-01-2014 9:59am

Duanington wrote: »

Thanks Cleanman - I'm hoping to run the Kinvara 10k on March 1st. I ran it last year and loved it, not the easiest of courses but one of those races with a great atmosphere, great scenery etc....a good day out too. Hopefully a parkrun before then too

Nice one, you'll be knocking huge chunks off your time last year with the rate of progress you're making. I believe Kinvara is a good race. I must go down and do it some time.

Duanington · 28-01-2014 10:09am

Cleanman wrote: »

Nice one, you'll be knocking huge chunks off your time last year with the rate of progress you're making. I believe Kinvara is a good race. I must go down and do it some time.

We'll see - its a tricky enough course in parts but I should take something off last year's time alright with a bit of luck :-)

Stazza · 28-01-2014 10:44am

Duanington wrote: »

ha ha - thanks TBL - leave the robots alone!

Class session and great music:D Even though I'm an old fella I like a bit of Funk. They remind me of a mix between Maze featuring Franky Beverly crossed with Level 42. I don't know what genre you'd put Daft Punk in these days but I certainly like them.

The training's looking good.

Duanington · 28-01-2014 11:17am

Stazza wrote: »

Class session and great music:D Even though I'm an old fella I like a bit of Funk. They remind me of a mix between Maze featuring Franky Beverly crossed with Level 42. I don't know what genre you'd put Daft Punk in these days but I certainly like them.

The training's looking good.

Thanks Stazza, working hard at the moment alright and trying to progress gradually - hard work, consistency and patience are my buzz words at the moment, time will tell if its enough to get me where I want to be

.

I've a lot of love for those two Frenchmen, I've no idea what genre they fit into these days, they've morphed into a bit of a mixed bag - either way they're a class act ( even if one or two of their songs get played to death on the radio) - sure I'm an old man myself if I'm working out to a session of theirs from 17 years ago :eek:

ThebitterLemon · 28-01-2014 12:44pm

Stazza wrote: »

Class session and great music:D Even though I'm an old fella I like a bit of Funk. They remind me of a mix between Maze featuring Franky Beverly crossed with Level 42. I don't know what genre you'd put Daft Punk in these days but I certainly like them.

The training's looking good.

Stazza,

I'd say you don't listen to music when you're training, given your age, it'd be hard to get fired up by Victorian marching band and 1930's Gospel choir music

TbL

D,

Try a bit of Floyd or some decent 80's music!

outforarun · 28-01-2014 12:55pm

Some good running on here at the moment. Loved reading your Howth report. It reminded me of running round the Head last summer (seems like a different country). I caught the bus over to the pier and ran the Head clockwise. Really enjoyed that run and the the transition from pier to heath and hills to coast to docks to city centre and home.

Great mile repeat session you did as well. Healthy looking splits. I'm really curious now to see how you get on at your 10K in March.

Duanington · 28-01-2014 1:02pm

ThebitterLemon wrote: »

Stazza,

D,

Try a bit of Floyd or some decent 80's music!

I'll see if I can dig out my Pat Cash headband so

ThebitterLemon · 28-01-2014 1:10pm

Duanington wrote: »

I'll see if I can dig out my Pat Cash headband so

Don't knock Pat Cash, I'd say that he'd manage 20 mins solid pull ups while smoking a cigar

TbL

Duanington · 28-01-2014 1:29pm

outforarun wrote: »

Some good running on here at the moment. Loved reading your Howth report. It reminded me of running round the Head last summer (seems like a different country). I caught the bus over to the pier and ran the Head clockwise. Really enjoyed that run and the the transition from pier to heath and hills to coast to docks to city centre and home.

Great mile repeat session you did as well. Healthy looking splits. I'm really curious now to see how you get on at your 10K in March.

Thanks outforarun - looking at your log, your building up a steady head of steam yourself, very impressed with that early start!

Howth is a great run alright, every time I do it I wonder why I don't do it more often. I'd say running the head clockwise is a tougher run actually, you've no respite from the hill at all until the summit - well done!
Re the 10k time, we'll see - I'm just keeping the head down and working hard for now, times will take care of themselves if I can do that much :-)

Duanington · 28-01-2014 1:31pm

ThebitterLemon wrote: »

Don't knock Pat Cash, I'd say that he'd manage 20 mins solid pull ups while smoking a cigar

TbL

ha ha - I've no doubt he'd manage that alright...and still look like a cool bastid after:cool:

Duanington · 28-01-2014 11:27pm

28.01.2014

Had to sort out a few things after work so I was a little later getting out running than I had hoped. I also had to battle with the traffic on the M50 :mad:

Eventually, got sorted and headed out into the cold , off towards East Point to start with, 180 degree turn, back up the coast, turning in towards Donaghmede, Raheny and back down through Clontarf.

I'm aware I'm running LSRs after tempo runs at the moment but it has gone ok so far...in fact, I am starting to feel that running on tired legs is starting to pay off. Having said that, its probably too risky (for me) to keep it up long term and I'll probably start changing things around every second week if I can.

Good workout tonight, my legs tired towards the end but I had no problem completing the run

Total miles 14.8 @ average pace 8:46 min miles

Duanington · 30-01-2014 10:08pm

30.01.2014

Wednesday - rest

Thursday - I had a choice today, either I do the sensible thing and take a recovery run or I try to squeeze in the 3rd session of the week and avoid having to do it in the wind\rain that we're due to have over the next few days.
In the end , I did neither!
The session in question would have been 5x5k [EMAIL="repeats@race"]repeats@race[/EMAIL] pace with 90 second recovery ( not dropping the recovery time just yet)....I did my 2 mile warm up on the coast, legs felt a little tired but not stiff at all. I made my way down to the flat stretch at Sutton strand and started off on the reps.

After about 600 metres, I knew this was not going to happen - my legs just were not recovered properly - I had to work to hard to maintain the pace...lungs were fine but I could really feel it in my legs. I decided to cut the number of reps and just run 3 with 90 second recoveries

3:50
3:45
3:45

2.5 miles very easy to get me home then a bit of core\pressup work ( with Led Zeppelin III :cool:) .

I should have been sensible, stuck to my plan and taken the recovery option. A little pi$$ed off with myself for trying to cram 3 sessions into 4 nights but I'll chalk this down as experience. I seem to have gotten away with it anyway, the legs felt great afterwards

Duanington · 31-01-2014 11:42pm

31.01.2014

Last run of a good month - I can only think of 2 runs that didn't quite go to plan ( last night's being one of them :mad:)...everything else has gone quite well.

Took it nice and easy tonight and managed to do it just before the rain started

headed down towards East Point, did a u turn and ran back up the coast, keeping the pace down to 8:30ish. Lovely night for it too, cold, clear, a light breeze and not many people out ( except the council workers scrambling to get the flood defences up).

Total miles: 6.2@ 8:28 min miles

Duanington · 01-02-2014 11:57pm

01.02.2014

AM - Out nice and early for this morning's run, straight forward run down the coast on the grass. No sign of any real flooding but the grass is well and truly manky at the moment. The wind was p*xy for the first couple of miles but was a welcome companion on the way back
4.2 miles @ 8.30 min miles

PM - Light weight session then out this evening for a couple of very easy miles with my eldest ( this is turning into a weekly thing which is great) . 2.2 miles @ 9.20 min miles

Total miles 6.4

Duanington · 02-02-2014 11:55pm

02.02.2014

Tempo run tonight and looking out the window, it looks as if I got this one done in the nick of time -it looks fairly wild out there now.

The plan for tonight was to revert back to straightforward tempo and extend the distance out to 6 miles. This would be the longest tempo run I've ran since before DCM and would hopefully go some way to training the body to exert a bit of sustained pressure over the distance.

Typically I would aim to run these at around 6:50 min miles but tonight I was quite content to focus on effort and make sure I sustained it for the entire 6 miles.

2 miles nice and easy to warm up ( down along the grass at the coast) then off into the wind to start with the tempo stuff.
The first mile was into a stiff enough breeze, I cut back in from the coast up watermill road at around the 2.5 mile mark, onto the Howth Road for mile 3 into mile 4, and finished off mile 6 running down to the bottom of mount prospect avenue ( recent Raheny 5 mile runners will know the route).

The wind made this tough at times and the climb at watermill road left me struggling a little to hold the effort but apart from checking in on the watch every couple of miles, I was quite content to work the legs, keep the breathing steady and focus on relaxing as much as I could

Mile splits looked like this

6:51
6:55
6:51
6:56
6:52
6:44 ( health warning - decent downhill stretch!)

Very happy with this one, I had to put it in to maintain the effort at times and I felt well worked at the end but felt recovered within 2\3 minutes which is promising
1 mile easy to finish off then back home for lots of food :-)

Duanington · 03-02-2014 11:07pm

03.02.2014

Recovery run tonight - lovely evening for it too.

Took myself down the coast on the grass towards the O2, turned and came back home. Really enjoyed this one, kept the pace right down and even walked once or twice for a minute just to hammer home the purpose of the run ( to myself

) - recovery

Made my way home and did a few light weights to finish the day off. Legs felt heavy enough for the first few miles to be honest but felt a hell of a lot better afterwards thankfully.

Total miles: 7 @ avg 9:05 min miles

Duanington · 04-02-2014 11:10pm

04.02.2014

Tuesday nights are usually my LSR nights but I have to swap things around this week, which should be easy enough actually as I plan on running slightly less miles this week - I've put in some tough sessions over the past few weeks and plan another couple of tough weeks from next week onwards.

Nothing major to report on this one, 6 miles easy, I stayed in and around the housing estates in Clontarf\Killester to try to avoid the gusts of wind....I didn't succeed, I was running to stand still at times - its bloomin dangerous out there with flying twigs, cans, bottles, skinny joggers etc

Stay safe people!

Total miles: 6@ 8:40 min miles

Duanington · 07-02-2014 12:35am

06.02.2014

Wednesday - rest

Thursday

This week is a strange week for me, I planned it to be a step back week in both miles and effort but I did also want to take the chance to try out a different type of session that I had been thinking about for a while.

The plan was to head out for 1 easy mile to warm up..into a second steady mile then into

60 seconds @ 3k pace
45 seconds easy pace recovery
and continue like that for approx. 2 miles

The 60 second reps looked like this:

Rep Pace
1 6:17
2 6:20
3 5:57
4 5:59
5 5:54
6 6:05
7 5:54
8 5:49 ( 30 seconds recovery)
9 5:33 (30 seconds recovery)

This was probably tougher than it looks on paper, although only really for the last two when I dropped the recovery time from 45 seconds to 30 seconds.
I pushed hard for the last two and really focused on leg speed. I felt strong all the way through but knew I had worked hard by the end. Not the longest of sessions but different to the typical type of session I've been doing and I enjoyed the shorter, faster reps for a change.

2 miles easy to finish

Lovely night for it too - you've got to enjoy it while we have it !

Duanington · 08-02-2014 11:56pm

08.02.2014

Friday
4 miles easy straight after work, nothing spectacular - stinging, freezing rain seems to be the order of the day at the moment.

4 miles @ 8:28 min miles

Saturday
Decent session of core\pullup work followed by 5 easy miles. Wind was a fairly strong for the first couple of miles but had it at my back for the rest. Legs feel great at the moment, its been the easiest week for a while running wise and hopefully it'll set me up for a tough week next week ( starting tomorrow)

5 miles@ 8:35 min miles

Confessions of a never has been.....

Comments