Running mad or mad to run?

Slogger Jogger

The weather today, such as it was, would test the resolve of the best of us. The schedule called for 16k or so. Frankly, I was determined to do more as I had done 21ish k last Saturday and I felt like doing at least that. However, the weather was a real put off. I decided to test myself (and my sanity) but doing a long run on the treadmill. Ended up running 25K in 1:48:21 Staying on the threadmill for that long is a test in itself. Half marathon time was around 1:31. Needless to say I've never run so far on the damned thing before. Gym was fairly empty so I wasn't hogging the equipment. The soak in the gym's outside hot tub with the wind gusting through the trees afterwards nearly (only nearly) made it worth it. Still, very happy to have run 25k faster than sub 3hr marathon pace (4:08min/k) pace), so it was a good test.

No. of runs this year: 11
Total mileage this year: 103 !!

Slogger Jogger

Monday is recovery day each week of the schedule, so a short treadmill run before work this morning followed by strength circuits was called for. Ran for 30 mins at an avg pace of 4:33 which was just what the doctor ordered. The distance covered this week will dip from that of the last 2 weeks to something more like the HH schedule. I've done more than necessary in the last 2 weeks as I was lucky to have the time to do so. The kinder weather played its part too.

No. of runs this year: 12
Total mileage this year: 107

Slogger Jogger

Evening hill run 'out the back garden' with d'pop. Another magically starry sky to run under. Moon was hiding over the other side of the world, but Venus was like a floodlight in the sky.

Nice pace overall, and some different length uphill sprints with jog intervals. Tough going, but with over 13k done and over 436m of ascents it was a good evening at the 'office'.

Garmin stuff here. http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/7447434 Looks like a volcano!

No. of runs this year: 13
Total mileage this year: 115.7

Slogger Jogger

Yesterday:
Got out at lunchtime yesterday. Conditions were dreadful so it was a case of getting through it and ticking off the miles. Schedule called for a short easy run. Was happy to cover 9.3k in less than 42 mins, good going conditions considering. Garmin track: http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/7455677

Today:
Schedule called for tempo run for 35 mins or so. Made time before work to do a treadmill run in the gym. These tempo runs are new to me and I find the treadmill useful for guiding the pace, but also with the weather its a good fall back option. Ran 10K on the dot in 40:57 so 4:05 pace.

No. of runs this year: 15
Total mileage this year: 127.7

Rusty Cogs 08

You've some appetite for any sort of run SJ. I wouldn't be surprised to see you bouncing along on top of that low loader. Keep it up

Oh, don't forget to update that league log yoke, you could ruffle feathers jumping 5 places over night with a '30' mile run.

Slogger Jogger

Friday:
imra race this weekend has made me juggle around my schedule. Today was supposed to be rest, but I felt okay and if I didn't run today my weekly tot would be down, so I switched the required Saturday marathon pace run to day. Took the 'easy' way out by doing an hour on the treadmill covering 14.1k. Felt comfortable. Not so long ago this sort of pace for an hour would have been far from comfortable for me so something is working.

Saturday:
A longish run in 2 parts. First 14.4k on trails in Tinahely. Weather was terrific. The calm before the storm that would hit in the afternoon. Took it slow and handy. The run and the company was great and the time flew.

Got home and felt fresh and that I needed to add a bit more, so dusted down the home treadmill that hadn't been used in a while and racked up another 8k in 35 mins or so.

Hope the weather improves for tomorrow.

No. of runs this year: 17
Total mileage this year: 150

Slogger Jogger

imra winter league race in Howth. What started as a calm and pleasant day.. the phrase 'couldn't be better' was used on the drive there... quickly changed to more challenging conditions with a biting cold wind which blew a gale at times. Garmin is showing a gain of 217m over the race, which sounds about right. The route probably ran longer than advertised due to the heavy underfoot conditions, conditions which no running shoe yet invented is equiped to cope with gripwise

My total time today is made up of a warm up, the race (337:05) and the warm down. There was a thought before the race that it might be nice to run the route again in warmdown mode after the race. That notion was quickly dispelled during the race!

Very happy with my race overall. Happy that the legs didn't give in due to other recent runs. Course was challenging and quite mucky . Everyone had at least one fall I reckon and the first aid was probably kept busy. I fell just once but bounced back to condition on as if nothing has happened. The cut on the sore knee afterwards is telling me something else though. Probably ran an ideal sort of race... started not too fast and over the course of the race I was fortunate enough to be able to pick people off ahead of me. This was a run where you savour the enjoyment of in the afterglow of the race. Not much enjoyment in the doing, unless you really like muck and hardship. Great stewardship by the organisers made for a great race. Don't know actual placing at this stage.

Track: http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/7470596

No. of runs this year: 18
Total mileage this year: 158

Krusty_Clown

Great running SJ, in what sounds like very harsh conditions. I was up for a run around Glencullen / Enniskerry, and the conditions changed from lovely warm sunshine to sleet, and heavy winds every ten minutes. Can't have been much fun out in Howth.

Rusty Cogs 08

That's a fantastic time SJ (as I'm sure Dp will agree). You could have had the hair in curlers by the time we made it in . There can't of been too many left to pick off by the end. I must make a point of hanging around for the post race social next time. Will be interesting to see how the BAC team did (if you both ran under that banner ?).

donothoponpop

Slogger Jogger wrote: »

..., the race (33:05) ...

That's some runnin';)

Slogger Jogger

Unfortunate, but wishful thinking typo, in my earlier post. 37.05 !!

Slogger Jogger

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Great running SJ, in what sounds like very harsh conditions. I was up for a run around Glencullen / Enniskerry, and the conditions changed from lovely warm sunshine to sleet, and heavy winds every ten minutes. Can't have been much fun out in Howth.

It wasn't a hell of a lot of fun at the time, but looking back it actually was and the toughness of the conditions magnifies the post race feeling of something approaching exhilaration. You know you're alive when you do a run like that

donothoponpop

Slogger Jogger wrote: »

Unfortunate, but wishful thinking typo, in my earlier post. 37.05 !!

Moderators, can we please treat all previous times posted by Slogger Jogger as "benign"? In light of this "slip of the thumb" I think his 1000 mile challenge totals in particular be treated as suspect.

signed,

"A Concerned Individual"

Slogger Jogger

Some people will do anything to move up a place in the rankings :-) I mean you, not me...

--amadeus--

Pattern of suspicious behaviour there alright. I suggest adding 10% to all his times and -10% all his distances from now on?

Slogger Jogger

Recovery run on treadmill before work this morning. Legs were feeling a bit stiff and was dreading the run to begin with but once I got going it was fine.
6.8k in 30 mins 4:25 pace

No. of runs this year: 19
Total mileage this year: 161.9

Slogger Jogger

Hal Higdon's run for me for today was a 40 min tempo run. His tempo runs build up quite slowly to a top speed, near your 10K speed, about 2/3s of the way into the run. I've interpreted this my own way and get up to a decent speed earlier in the run and sustain it for longer as I think thats a more valuable workout and I'll get more benefit out of this in the long run which is what this is about.

Dragged myself out of bed this morning and managed 10.1K in 40 mins. 3:58 pace. Well happy with that. Tough going in the latter stages but its supposed to be :rolleyes:

No. of runs this year: 20
Total mileage this year: 168.2

Krusty_Clown

Great to be able to pull in sub 40 min 10k's at will during training. Some day..:)

donothoponpop

Slogger Jogger wrote: »

10.1K in 40 mins. 3:58 pace. Well happy with that. Tough going in the latter stages but its supposed to be :rolleyes:

Thats a great pace SJ, nice to be this fast in training at such an early stage.

Slogger Jogger

My pace has been helped considerably by coming straight into the HH programme having done the 10K programme (or most of it at least) before Christmas....

After the tempo run yesterday today's run was to be easy. Got out in the open air for a change and did a run before work down towards Blackroack and back via Dun Laoghaire. 8.1k or so in 35 mins. Lovely chilly but calm morning. Nice steady pace and running that bit slower than yesterday (but near to Marathon pace) felt comfortable. Wishful thinking looking ahead to Rotterdam perhaps :rolleyes:

'Only' 10 weeks left to Rotterdam after this weekend... Time flies when you're running!

No. of runs this year: 21
Total mileage this year: 173

Slogger Jogger

Managed to squeeze in 2 runs today
The schedule called for a short marathon paced run, but the wind was such at lunchtime and the company was good so a comfortable run and a chat was the order of the day.

Felt like I needed to do something when I came home (is it the 1000 mile challengeI wonder?) I don't know honestly, but with the rain pelting down outside I was glad I have the treadmill at home as a fallback option. Did 7k in 30 mins, so an avg 4:17 pace which was just what the doctor ordered. All in all a good day.

Total miles today: 9.3

No. of runs this year: 23
Total mileage this year: 182.6

Slogger Jogger

Obeyed the HH schedule today.... So today was a:
Rest day
Jour de repos
De dag van de rust
Resttag
Ημέρα υπολοίπου
Giorno di riposo
休日
Dia de descanso
День остальных
休息日


Total Miles today: 0
No. of runs this year: 23
Total mileage this year: 182.6

donothoponpop

Slogger Jogger wrote: »

Obeyed the HH schedule today.... So today was a:
Rest day
Jour de repos
De dag van de rust
Resttag
Ημέρα υπολοίπου
Giorno di riposo
休日
Dia de descanso
День остальных
休息日


Total Miles today: 0
No. of runs this year: 23
Total mileage this year: 182.6

SJ takes a day off!

See? Told you that you wouldn't turn into a pumpkin!

Slogger Jogger

Switched my LSR from tomorrow to today due to family commitments. Boy, was I glad. This morning was one of those magical days for running. A frosty morning will little wind to speak of. The roads, fields, hills were white with frost. Very clear views of the countryside. The running took care of itself. Had to think on my feet a bit as I was running to try to find a long run route locally that avoided serious hills. And had to be careful on some slippery bits on the road but nothing too bad.

Don't have full stats for the run yet as there are problems with motionbased upload. Very happy with run and eked out 30K at a steady pace.. avg of 4:33 min kms. Avg HR of 154, Max of 165. Having read donothoponpops tale of hitting the wall on his long run yesterday I brought a gel and a bit of water with me. Used the water.. didn't turn to the gel. Still I finished reasonably strongly and at a push I could have done more. Happy days. Pushes me over the 200 miles so far for the year.

Garmin link: http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/7503215

Total miles today: 18.6
No. of runs this year: 24
Total mileage this year: 201.2

donothoponpop

Nice run SJ, nice pace, nice distance. Wind and rain are picking up round here now, so looks like you chose a good time to do it.

Abhainn

ya nice run SJ. Agree this morning was a rare fab one. Felt great alright

Slogger Jogger

Stuck for time this morning so a short recovery run was all I could do. After the stormy conditions yesterday this morning was very mild. Perfect conditions for running really. I only had one route option and that was to do loops of the forest trail beside the house which was very wet and mucky after the heavy rain, but so be it and splish sploshing through the trails wasn't too bad. Ended up running faster than recovery pace in the end - surprised the legs were feeling reasonably good after yesterdays LSR. Avg pace 4:35

Total miles today: 4.6
No. of runs this year: 25
Total mileage this year: 205.8

Slogger Jogger

Got home this evening after a busy day and felt like a run to destress, wind down, call it what you will. Again the advantage of having the treadmill was mine. Did a steady marathon pace run of 8.38k. My weekend of running from a schedule point of view is more than balanced. Starting from tomorrow its week 10 counting down to Rotterdam... So far so good, touch wood.

Total miles today 4.6+5.2: 9.8
No. of runs this year: 26
Total mileage this year: 211

Slogger Jogger

A tough forum this. You do two runs on a Sunday and when you login on Monday you're still knocked back to the 2nd page

Couldn't face an early run before work today so had to sit tight to this evening to do something. The thought of running in a packed gym totally put me off so with the weather being relatively kind, a torchlit run it was to be. Up the local hill and back at a so so pace. More than required for a standard Monday but what the hell. Very atmospheric running in the dark. Little if any stars out tonight for company.

Hill ran here: http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/7519697 Up and down and no nonsense. Route shape is a a tad ghostly or there might be a shark there too.

Total miles today 6.5; 4:58 min/k pace which isn't bad for 336m of ascents.
No. of runs this year: 27
Total mileage this year: 217.5

Krusty_Clown

Slogger Jogger wrote: »

Route shape is a a tad ghostly or there might be a shark there too.

Who are you kidding? It's squiggle shaped.
Great running though. That looks like a tough hill. Does the IMRA run go over the top of it too?