Tie Your Runner Down - A Log

christeb

XC, did some weights and core work in the garden to get some rays. In the afternoon I went out on the bike, Howth Hill x2 on the hard side (left at the church. Amazing how I meet so many cyclists coming against me (who go up the easy side) and I never see anyone doing the same route as me. It's a killer hill for a couple of hundred metres then it' manageable after. 2 laps were interspersed with ice cream of course, so I didn't kill myself. Cracking couple of days.
Later had a good game of 5-a-side in Ringsend.

Total for the wk: 43m running, Howth Hill x3 on the bike and one game of 5-a-a-side. decent. Next week won't be great, going to do the Duathlon on Wed but then am off in Edinburgh Fri - Sun so we'll see how much running I squeeze in...

christeb

8m @ 8.27 pace HR 143 (quite high for that pace?). Garmin
Easy run as we're racing in tomoorrow's duathlon - really looking forward to it now. Just checked my results from last year, I was 48:45 in this one, I was 109/155 in 48:45, want to finish well inside the top 50 this time around!

christeb

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Garmin
Really REALLY enjoyed the night, as you say it's flat out for the whole thing, little time to think about pacing. 1st run went well, found myself doing 4.45 pace after the first .2m on the Garmin, eventually slowed to 5.48 for mile 1 (fastest mile I've ever recorded!). Reeled in a good few on the bike, on the straight on the 2nd lap I gave out to some chap from Pulse Tri (are you gonna overtake me or are you just drafting?). I finally got angry and put the foot down to get away from him. T2 went better than T1 (took ages to get onto the bike) and finished the 2nd lap in about 6.20 average pace. 43.07 overall, 5.40 faster than I finished this one last year.
I didn't overtake anyone on the last run, about 10 guys went past me altogether so that's the only real obvious area I need to work on.

christeb

6.2m @ 7.24 pace HR 148 Garmin

5.5m of this was with 4 elite Shamrocks (2 x 3 hr mara guys, 1 x top 20 Womens mini finisher, 1 x road relay 1 mile record breaker female!) so was tough going @ 7.10 pace. Stayed with them and had an easy barefoot warm down in the park.
Off to Edinburgh this weekend, hope to get a nice long run in Holyrood Park after reading SJ's recommendation recently. Not sure how much more I'll get done though...

christeb

8m @ 7.46 HR 144
Was away in Edinburgh this weekend so plenty of bad food and grog was consumed. 3 days with no running really leaves you feeling antsy, I considered a run after my Ryanair snooze at midnight last night!!!!
Nice run this eve with Greg, we're starting the marathon strategy talk already - regular physio massages, when to give up booze, races etc.

christeb

Also to note - finished 39th (out of 179) in Wed's Duathlon which I'm pretty delighted with. 2nd Raheny 2m race is tomorrow, going to run 5m in the morning so I won't be 100% fresh but hopefully I'll still do sub 12:00....

christeb

5m @ 8:00 pace
Easy run this morning around St Anne's Park with Greg in anticipation of the 2m race tonight. My new 150g Nike Lunaracers arrived last night so I'll be looking to give them a successful start...

christeb

8.5 m w/ 4 x tempo @ 6.55 pace. HR for these 4 was ca. 165 (battery died).

Started raining in the middle of the tempo set and we were ages away from the car, so soaked to the skin by the time we got there. Nice evening, the tempo run was tough enough but got through it. Glad I wore the racing flats to ease the pain! Decided to cut down on eating crap, I've been a bit loose with my habits, eating plenty of chocolate because "I'm a runner." The lads in work may buy it but the body won't!
Also following tergat's advice and not taking any more rest days, 4 easy easy miles tomorrow morning is the call....
Sent Greg a link to tergat's posts and all the way out in the car it was "tergat says this, did you read where tergat says that..." - I think we owe him a drink!

jlang

christeb wrote: »

Also following tergat's advice and not taking any more rest days, .....

I see a few other logs expressing similar intentions and I wonder if tergat is going to be made feel responsible for the consequences. Personally, I feel I could physically go with an easy run instead of each rest day but mentally I still need to know I don't have to do something every day, (or else I'd be a runner!).

christeb

jlang wrote: »

I see a few other logs expressing similar intentions and I wonder if tergat is going to be made feel responsible for the consequences. Personally, I feel I could physically go with an easy run instead of each rest day but mentally I still need to know I don't have to do something every day, (or else I'd be a runner!).

^ agreed, I'm OK with it though, knowing I have to do 35 mins jogging when hungover or tired isn't a huge deal for me, at least not right now. I'll see how it goes.

christeb

4m @ 8.43 pace.

My first "Tergat" easy run.

Woddle

jlang wrote: »

I see a few other logs expressing similar intentions and I wonder if tergat is going to be made feel responsible for the consequences.

I don't think so, all Tergat can do is give advise and we have to remember that he is dealing with a different calibre of runner, so if we make the adult decision to take his advice and it goes wrong, it's only ourselves to blame, the reason being we should have a better idea of what our bodies can and can't handle.
In my own log I said I was going to follow his advice also but I did put (within reason) and that within reason is if my legs are screaming for a break but more than likely it'll be down to laziness that I take the next rest day

shels4ever

jlang wrote: »

I see a few other logs expressing similar intentions and I wonder if tergat is going to be made feel responsible for the consequences. Personally, I feel I could physically go with an easy run instead of each rest day but mentally I still need to know I don't have to do something every day, (or else I'd be a runner!).

I think the key is to rest if you need to rest , know your body . Also running on a rest days doesnt mean an easy 5 , it could be an very very easy 3 miler too. If your going to run 7 days a week you should bring it into your schedule over time and not just decide to do it on a particualr day.

christeb

shels4ever wrote: »

I think the key is to rest if you need to rest , know your body . Also running on a rest days doesnt mean an easy 5 , it could be an very very easy 3 miler too. If your going to run 7 days a week you should bring it into your schedule over time and not just decide to do it on a particualr day.

True, I've been routinely doing 5 days or so / week, with a day of XC, so I don't see it as a huge jump. Tergat also means very easy easy, which I wouldn't normally do, so it's more a matter of just getting used to plodding some more. I take him point about rest days and will rest when I know I need it but as it stands I'm often antsy on rest days as it is (as are a lot of other posters I notice), so an easy 4 will be the solution

christeb

7.5m @ 8:11 which can best be described as a hungover fartlek! 1.5m initially arouond the block to try out the new Lunaracers, wow they are nice to run in. they'll be debuted at the Mid Summers 5k in 7 days, I'm having preliminary thoughts about sub 19??!!! I must still be under the influence :pac::pac::pac:

Today was amazing, after the initial loop and a pitstop to take on board more carbs (chocolate) and water I went back out. St Anne's Park and onto Bull Island. The water looked so inviting, there were scores out on kite surfboards so I threw off the runners and went barefoot into waters edge. Lovely! On the way back I found a really nice long sand dune so did x10 repeats on it. All in all a great hangover beater! 16m w/ Greg on the cards tomorrow which will bring the total up to 49 / 50m for this week, good going with only 1 week until the 18 wk DCM 09 sched starts up....

christeb

16.8m @ 8.24 pace. HR 143

Really nice day for it, started out around Bull Island and then we went towards Howth. Had the hydration belt with a couple of gels, we popped these just coming up to 8m, I definitely felt stronger for the rest of the run. Got a rain shower at 12m in Howth village, perfect timing! That's 50m for the week, v happy with this, a good base with 1 week to go until the training plan starts.

christeb

AM: 30 mins of weights listening to a newly purchased "The Yes Album" on vinyl. Prog rock-tastic!

PM: Was really tired when I got home from work, a 90 min snooze followed by an easy 3 mile Tergat run in the Park. Beautiful evening out there.

christeb

5m @ 8.31 pace HR 137
Easy early morning run through the Park, onto Bull Island. Threw the runners off and ran barefoot along the waters edge for ~2m and home, barefoot warmdown on the grass. V enjoyable start to the day, need something easy as the body is still recovering from Sunday's 17m.

christeb

1st ever interval session!

2.5m warm up, 6x800s w/ 2 min rest in between - average 2.57, 1.5m warm down. Ca. 8m in total

Went well, I messed up the Garmin so we missed the first one and only recovered by stopping the watch every .5 miles. But really enjoyed it, I broke ini the Lunaracers properly, they really are a sensational shoe. Light as you like with sensational bounce in them, they automatically make you want to run fast. Done the intervals with Greg on the mile long avenue in St Anne's Park, perfect place for them. Calves are very tight but I feel engerised after this one, looking forward to Sunday's 5k in St Anne's Park even more now - c'mon sub 19!

christeb

8.3m @ 8.41 pace. HR 138.
Got caught in a rain shower for ca. 1 mile but this resulted in the most vived double rainbow I've seen in quite a few years, amazing. What would you think if you were a caveman and you saw those colours out of nowhere?!
Legs very heavy after yesterday but we plodded on, hopefully they'll be a bit fresher tomorrow.

figs

Some good running there christeb. Looks like you're well ahead of me at the moment if you're on for a sub 19 5k.

Don't think I'd make anything close to that at the moment! Look forward to reading up on your progress.

christeb

figs wrote: »

Some good running there christeb. Looks like you're well ahead of me at the moment if you're on for a sub 19 5k.

Don't think I'd make anything close to that at the moment! Look forward to reading up on your progress.

Told my training partner that I've put out that prediction for Sunday, obvioously the worst thing I could do! I suppose I'm more motivated as the race is on my doorstep and I've been happy with training recently, especially the pace at Weds intervals. Fingers crossed, it's a big ask though:pac:

Oh and I've put in place a performance related warm-down on the day - 6m if I go sub 19 and 8m if I don't....

christeb

AM: 30 mins for weights / core work listening to Side 2 of "The Yes album". It's a seminal piece of work!

PM: 1 hr of 5-a-side. The lads I played with weren't as good as I would normally be used to, but even so I played out of my skin, couldn't stop scoring. Should I really give up football for next year?!?! Skinned my knee and stubbed my big toe in the process. I'm counting this as equiv to a Tergat "active rest" 4 miler, the legs weren't up for much more today. Calves still sore from Intervals on Wed!

Woddle

christeb wrote: »

Should I really give up football for next year?!?!!

christeb wrote: »

Skinned my knee and stubbed my big toe in the process. !

You answered your own question

christeb

You omitted the couldn't stop part though! 5k this morn, I'm feeling very sub-19ish.....!!!

christeb

3m @ 8.37 pace. Very easy run pre-race tomorrow

christeb

18:28! HR 171. Garmin

1st mile in 5:59, too fast as usual! The race was 2 loops in the park, quite windy but I knew every inch of it as its my stomping ground. Struggled in the 2nd mile, 6:17. 3rd mile got it going again, although I was at my limit. Line came a bit before the watch said it would, 4.83k. Extrapolating it for 5k give 19 on the dot, I'm sure I would have had an extra sprint in me if it came to that! But the clock says 18:28, and I'm obviously delighted by that.

Great runs by my training bud Greg - 18:58 - just pipped the 2nd female at the post - and by shels4ever, good going lads

Very easy 5m warm-down with Greg along the beach, the 18 wk P&D DCM 09 schedule starts in earnest tomorrow with a rest day (read easy 4m Tergat run).....

figs

Great running! Super time. Made a sub-19 look easy! Well done!

christeb

figs wrote: »

Great running! Super time. Made a sub-19 look easy! Well done!

Thanks figs, I spent most of yesterday with a happy runner's glow eluding from me!

This is shels4ever (extreme left in the blue), Greg and I at the very start.

Me struggling halfway through!

christeb

Wk 1.1 (of 18................)
4m @ 8.49 pace. HR 134
Easy run this morning to start the 18 Wk DCM 09 schedule. Just ran around St. Anne's, stopped for a minute to admire the sleeping ducks at the edge of the pond, they really are a sight to behold at 0630 in the morning