Confessions of a never has been.....

31.10.2013

3 mile recovery run following DCM, felt great for the first 200 metres...then my legs reminded me that they weren't in the best of form. Stopped to stretch a couple of times, pace was around 9:00 per mile

Felt good aftewards and was glad to have done it

rob w wrote: »

Welcome to the logs!

Still havent been out for a run since DCM! Just been stretching and foam rolling.....hopefully get out for one myself this weekend!

Good luck with the training!

Thanks Rob ! No rush in getting back out I guess !

02.11.2013

Rest day today- 45 minutes of press-ups \core work followed by ET on the sofa with my 4 year old .......very enjoyable!

Another slow\short run tomorrow is on the cards, feels strange running these types of runs when I've been used to putting the big miles in for a while now!

04.11.2013

I had planned 10 miles this evening but cut it short to 9 after common sense prevailed ( shortly before I headed out).

Started as usual with 40 odd minutes of core work and press-ups.

Ran out along the coast at Clontarf to East Point - on through north\east wall and the O2...took in some of the North Quays before turning back for home.

I've never really ran this route before and am chuffed to have found it....the quays looked quite spectacular with the crisp evening that was in it. ( I'm still in love with Dublin after DCM) , lovely run...legs felt good most of the way, a little tired towards the end but nothing major

3rd run in the new GT 2000s, must say I'm warming to them ( or them to me?) nicely...they felt snug and lightweight the further I went in them.

I ran this one purely by effort and ignored the watch...wanted to keep it easy but note as slow as my "old" LSR pace

Beautiful evening for it, everyone I met along the way seemed quite cheerful too , lots of saluting going on:)

Warm up 1.5 miles
Run 6 miles
Cool down 1.5 miles
Total miles : 9 @ avg 8.40 pace

AuldManKing wrote: »

Welcome to the asylum.

Nice set of goals you have set for yourself - with the help you'll get from Boardsies, theres no doubt they'll tumble.
Have you got any race lined up? Park Runs are great for keeping sharp and dont take too much out of you.

Thanks a mill AuldManKing - I don't have any definite races in mind but am certainly looking at a 10k soon ( maybe the Movember run this month or the RNLI 10k a couple of weeks later). After that I want to try to race once a month. Parkruns are definitely on the agenda, are they a weekly event? I know there is one in St Anne's too, which is near where I live.

05.11.2013

Nothing too exciting to report

1 mile w/u

3 miles easy*

1 mile w/d


total = 5 miles @ avg 8.12 min/mile

* I ran by feel again today, this would have actually been close to my previous marathon pace and a bit quicker than previous easy runs so I guess I'll have to keep an eye on the pace

07.11.2013

45 minutes core\press ups

1 mile w\u

5 miles easy

1 mile w\d

Total miles :7 @avg 8.17 min\mi

Nothing much to report here except for the fact that the wind cuts through you and I seriously regretted not getting one of those running jackets in Lidl\Aldi ( I always confuse them) a few weeks back AND I lost my gloves at DCM

Anyway, p*xy on the way out into the wind and handy enough on the way back

Up at 07:30 for today's run - a 4 mile easy all on the flat stretch along the coast road at clontarf ( mostly on grass).

Tired getting up but I was keen to get this out of the way as I had a busy day ahead with the kids, took a quick drink of water, waited a minute or two for a signal on the watch and off I went.

Freezing again this morning and as with all week there was a stiff ( Baltic) breeze blowing in my face on the way out. The roads were very quiet this morning except for the few brave souls that took the plunge for an early run, it always strikes me how early morning runners ALWAYS say hello to each other
Anyway, turned for home after mile 2 and had the breeze at my back. Finished up and had a warm bowl of porridge, orange juice and peanut butter ( on bread)

Total Miles: 4 @ 8.15 min\mile

40 minutes weights and core work in the afternoon

AuldManKing wrote: »

Just to be anal concerning the 8 Nov run

A 1 mile tempo run ain't worth diddly squat (q the applause for the 1st usage of that in my boards lexicon history).
For a tempo to be effective the perceived wisdom is for 3 miles or 15/20 mins at a speed that is 15 secs faster than your 10k speed I.e. A pace you can hold for 1 hour.

I know you said you were just trying out the pace, but I really wanted to use the words 'Diddly Squat'.

Ha ha - thanks for that, I suppose I meant my first mile at my new tempo pace? Although to be honest I didn't realise that it wouldn't have been worth a curse as a mile on its own so I'll park that one off in the lessons learned bank :)I really was just out to try the pace to see how the legs\lungs. I'll be given it a proper go late next week ( 3 miles) and I'll see how I get on then

Also - it should be 15 secs FASTER than my 10k speed? Hmmm, I may have to rethink this one - I was going on the assumption that it should be just off shy of my 10k speed?

11.11.2013

Long easy run today. Great evening for it too, nice and mild but still a little breeze to keep things cool.

Spent 30 minutes or so doing a few weights before heading out.

Started off on the coast as usual, ran to east point BP, turned and came back up the coast, turning off at watermill road and heading up into Raheny to get some sort of hill\drag into the run - I looped this road twice to make the miles up and to keep it from being too flat.
( its not much of a hill but it does put a bit of strain on the legs for a decent stretch)
Felt good but definitely tired towards the end.

It feels odd to have 12 miles as the longest run of the week but I won't complain

Total Miles 12.2
Avg pace: 8:35 min/mile
1hour:44 minutes

14.11.2013

Rest day yesterday to get me ready for the track today

Plan was to do 1x mile warm up, 6x400 repeats and 1x mile warm down

This was my first time trying this stuff on a track and actually with a GPS watch. I'd only previously guessed the distance and used a nike+ so I was a bit unsure how to pace the distance etc...

I found the session tough , especially towards the end - my lungs were screaming on the last rep but I was quite happy that I'd done the bit of work and I'm not fazed by the work that I know I'll have to put in.

Splits looked like this

1 mile warm up then:

1:38 ( first one, no idea how to pace it !)
1:23
1:19
1:20
1:20
1:18 ( lungs were screaming at me for this one)

I walked about 100 metres between reps for recovery, might adjust this as I go along, maybe jog 200 ??

1 mile warm down

Finished off the evening with some pull-ups , weights and a bit of core work. Good day today, tough but good

16.11.2013


St Anne's parkrun ( 5k)


Up at 8 o'clock for a slice of toast and some peanut butter and a cup of tea.
Got my gear on and watched in envy as my youngest and her grandad started to tuck into their rashers\sausages....
I left the house at around 09:00 and made my way towards St Anne's Park

2x miles warmup at an easy pace ( 8.15) then headed down the the start line. The plan was to run today's race in Tempo style ( but obviously quicker) - a couple of miles warm up then a decent warm down - and not treat it as a race as such. I really just wanted to see where I am at this distance

I was surprised at the large number of people lined up for the start, although it was a lovely clear morning for a run through the park.
Everything seemed to be organised very well, there was a nice atmosphere amongst the crowd and we were off before too long.

I had no real idea of how to pace this as I've never raced the distance before, except that I knew I could stay under 7 minute miles....how much below, I had no real idea.

There was a little congestion at the start which was no big deal , it soon cleared , I kept an eye on the watch as we moved through the course, just making sure I wasn't creeping over the 7 minute mile mark.

I became very conscious of the effort I was having to put in around the 2 mile mark, I was breathing heavily and my form was suffering a tad - I'm just not used to the pace I guess. I have to admit that I was hanging on to the pace as much as anything for the last mile or so....it was a real effort to keep running as hard as I felt I was.
Having said that, I did finish strongly, handed the barcode\token to the dude with the scanner - time of 20:07 which I suppose I should be happy enough with
I watched a few finishers come home before heading off for a warm down....and making my way back home to the rashers !

A HUGE thanks to the folks that give up their time to make Parkruns happen, I'm delighted to have taken part today and would really advise people to check them out - I hope to run one every few weeks to see where I'm at in the speed department.
I found today tough and had to dig deep at times but I'm certainly glad I did - I have wanted to get stuck into these kind workouts for a while and I'm starting to do just that
All in all this week feels like a good week, two speed sessions down...a few dozen to go

Summary

2 miles w\u @8.15 pm
5k (3.1 miles?)Parkrun @6.31 pm
2 miles w\d @8.20 pm

19.11.2013

LSR day today - the plan was to do 14 miles in total and take in some hills - maybe hills is too strong a word, stretches of ascent.

I started off with the usual weights\core work ( 40 mins) then headed off into the f-f-freezing evening ..all gloved up of course. Running into the wind was nasty enough along the coast but as soon as I turned and moved in away from the coast I hardly noticed the breeze.

took in a couple of roads that lead from the coast up into Raheny again to get some form of a climb into the route and felt comfortable most of the way, I tired a little towards the end but I still had enough in the tank to put the boot down for the last mile which was nice to see.

I've been reading a lot about putting "quality miles" into training and I am starting to feel that I am getting more and more quality miles into my days....time will tell !
I don't actually plan on targeting any 10ks until after Christmas but I am keen to keep up the LSRs and creep back up into 15\16 miles on these runs.

1 mile w\u
12 miles easy
1 mile w\d
Total: 14 miles @ 8.45 min per mile