Diary of a middle-age runner

gerard65

Wed 3th Mar.
7.3mls in 61mins.
Undescript run on a cold, drap day. Legs a bit sore after the hills yesterday.

gerard65

Thur 4th Mar.
5k/10k threshold session.
3x7mins - 3min jog rec.
Very happy with that. Did these on grass so hopefully that will give a extra benefit for racing on the road, but if not the softer surface will help the legs.

gerard65

Fri 5th Mar
5mls in 44mins. Nice and easy on a sunny afternoon.

Sat 6th Mar.
9.3mls in 85mins
Met up with shels in the park for an easy long run. The conversation flowed and the miles passed quickly. Good to have company on the long runs, otherwise I run them too fast and defeat the purpose.
My best week this year. 40mls clocked up and two fast sessions.

BeepBeep67

Great to see you back with some consistency Ger, any short/med goals?

gerard65

BeepBeep67 wrote: »

Great to see you back with some consistency Ger, any short/med goals?

Thanks. I'm feeling positive for the first time in months. The plan is to run the last BHAA XC race in Maynooth on the 20th. April will be given to training and then 4 races in May - RTE 5miles, Sportsworld 5miles, BHAA beach 5k race and the Intel 10K. I'm still looking for a sub40 10k, either the Intel or Pearl Izumi 10k in Sept will do!:)

gerard65

Mon 8th Mar
8mls in 62mins.
Took yesterday off and really felt the benefit today. This was a hilly run with a long stretch from the Firhouse road to the top of Stocking Ave , a raise of nearly 300ft according to my 205. Felt really good and worked hard on the steepest sections keeping my pace below 8min/ml. Beginning to find some form again.:)

gerard65

Tues 9th Mar.
Long Interval session.
3x1mile, 90sec rec.
This is a tough session. Did them on grass which makes them harder, but pleased with the times.
Total - 5mls.

misty floyd

Yeah consistency is the word alright. Your not missing much sessions at all. Keep it goin Ger.

gerard65

I've got that feeling I've hit a rich vein, but my problem in the past was blowing it - getting too carried away and ending up overtrained, injured. This time I need keep telling myself - rest/easy sessions are the most important part of any training program.

kennyb3

gerard65 wrote: »

rest/easy sessions are the most important part of any training program.

They are!! keep it going your going great guns.

gerard65

Wed 10th Mar.
5mls in 42mins.
Relaxed base milage. Still chilly out there when the sun goes in.

gerard65

Thur 11th Mar
3.2mls in 30mins
Was down for 800's today but the body said no, so took it very easy. Should have taken it easier yesterday.

gerard65

Fri 12th Mar
6x800m. 90sec rec.
On grass wearing my mudclaw's. A bit slower than road or track but perfect for this time of year. Still very chilly out. Where's the spring:(

shels4ever

whats your plan for long run this weekend?

gerard65

shels4ever wrote: »

whats your plan for long run this weekend?

I had to flip a couple of sessions this week so after the 8's today I'll play it by ear. Might leave the long one till tomorrow evening, a bit more time to recover.

gerard65

Mon 15th Mar
4 mile tempo.

Tues 16th Mar
10x400. 90 sec rec.
Two good sessions. Both done on grass which seems harder than road or track but hit goal times yesterday and today. I decided to take last weekend off as I've put alot of quality sessions in recently and I want to get a balance between rest and workouts. This will be my last big day this week as I'm racing on Saturday, last xc race and my last race till May. I know it takes 4-6 weeks before an improvment is seen from LT/Interval type sessions but I'm still expecting a better run on Saturday than recently.(famous last words!!)

shels4ever

gerard65 wrote: »

Mon 15th Mar
4 mile tempo.

Tues 16th Mar
10x400. 90 sec rec.
Two good sessions. Both done on grass which seems harder than road or track but hit goal times yesterday and today. I decided to take last weekend off as I've put alot of quality sessions in recently and I want to get a balance between rest and workouts. This will be my last big day this week as I'm racing on Saturday, last xc race and my last race till May. I know it takes 4-6 weeks before an improvment is seen from LT/Interval type sessions but I'm still expecting a better run on Saturday than recently.(famous last words!!)

I'd say you will go better this weekend then the last race, Not sure i'd do a tempo and then 400's the day after how did that feel? I usually find I need an easy day or two after tempos.

This weekend if I'm close to you at the start I think i may try and stick with you

gerard65

shels4ever wrote: »

I'd say you will go better this weekend then the last race, Not sure i'd do a tempo and then 400's the day after how did that feel? I usually find I need an easy day or two after tempos.

This weekend if I'm close to you at the start I think i may try and stick with you

I normally would'nt have done that, but I'm following Hal Higdon's summer xc training plan, its like his 10k advanced but with a few small changes I think its a better plan.

gerard65

Wed 17th Mar
30mins very easy. Legs wrecked.

Thur 18th Mar
8.3mls slow.
With a race on Saturday there was nothing much to do today so I decided to go for a 60min+ jog. Easy or rest tomorrow.

gerard65

Sat 20th Mar
BHAA 4mile XC Maynooth.
4.05miles in 28:14. Avg pace - 6:58.
Wasn't to sure going into this race. The plan was to try keep an even pace at 7min/ml, but with Mon and Tues sessions still in my legs I wasn't too confident. The good thing about this morning was perfect weather and a nice flat course. I started near the back and slowly made my way through the field keeping a eye on the watch. When I stopped the watch at the end I was very happy with the time. With only 3 wks real training and still 10lbs over-weight for me to average just under 7min/ml XC is a real confidence boost. Miles were 6:57, 6:56, 7:00, 7:03. Last race till May so hopefully I can bank 6 weeks un-intrupted training and start working on the 10lbs. 1lb = 1% in performance.;)

BeepBeep67

Very consistent splits well done.

misty floyd

Nicely done Ger. Well done.

gerard65

Sun 21st Mar
8.6mls easy

Mon 22nd Mar
8.3mls easy
Time-on-feet runs. Held the pace back on both runs, about 8:45 pace.
Wish the weather would make up its mind. Chilly again today and got caught in a cold shower:(

donothoponpop

shels4ever wrote: »

Not sure i'd do a tempo and then 400's the day after how did that feel? I usually find I need an easy day or two after tempos.

gerard65 wrote: »

I normally would'nt have done that, but I'm following Hal Higdon's summer xc training plan, its like his 10k advanced but with a few small changes I think its a better plan.

I think the idea is that DOMS will set in 36-48 hours after a hard session, so its more efficient to get a tempo and intervals done within 24 hours-ish of each other.

gerard65

Tues 23rd Mar
4.58 in 41:40
Completely wrecked. Legs, breathing knackered. Time out.

Fri 26th Mar.
6.16 in 47:26.
This was 1mile easyish, 1mile at just below my current race pace for my last race etc.. Really enjoyed this run after taking the last two days off.
Been looking back at my training diary for the autumn of 2008 when I was running well. It makes interesting reading, at the time I had no program and no weekly milage goals I just ran as I felt with up to three rest days off some weeks (sometimes 4 off). I was also training at a faster pace on my medium distance runs. Instead of trying to cram interval, tempo, hill sessions and log runs into a week I was doing these over a two or three week time period. I was never injured or overtrained and I achieved a lot more than I do with a more formal plan. So I'm going to give a more informal approach a try. I'm calling it the Robinph method!

gerard65

Sun 28th Mar
5.56mls in 41:27.
Just felt like a blast out today. Avg pace 7:27.

gerard65

Mon 29th Mar
10.5mls in 81mins. Avg 7:45
Very happy with this tonight. The idea tonight was to keep the pace quick but just below a struggle and it worked out well. After seeing the rain today I'd decided to rest tonight but on my way home it was clearing up and was mild so with a dodgy weather forecast for the next few days I was delighted to get this run in. I'll take it very easy for the next 24-36hrs.

gerard65

Wed 31st Mar
6 mile tempo. Miles 3&4 6:28, 6:33.
All good considering the bloody weather. Cold and windy evening, the worst combination, but I had to get this done tonight - drinks tomorrow night. April starts tomorrow - goodbye winter(I mean it- get lost).

gerard65

Fri 2nd Mar
5.8 mile tempo.
Mile 2=6:58, mile 3=6:45, mile 4=7:05.
That was OK, mile 3 a little to fast. A couple of the middle k's were 4:12 pace back to back.

gerard65

Mon 5th Apr
8mls in 63:24mins. Hilly.
A strong breeze made this difficult. The longest hill on this course is about a mile long and I had to fight the wind as well as gravity. Was surprised that miles 2 to 6 were very much the same pace, just below 8min/ml, considering the elevation and wind direction change, must be getting good at pace judgement. Went through 10K in under 50mins so happy with that session.