Running mad or mad to run?

Slogger Jogger

Abhainn wrote: »

Good running SJ.
Great pics also. There is great serenity in running in those surroundings.

Thanks Abhainn. Depending on the weather it can look a whole lot less serene . Will you make our hill race this Saturday?

Slogger Jogger

54 days to Rotterdam.

Schedule said tempo run for 45 mins, so hit the gym treadmill early doors, started slowish and ramped it up bit by bit. Got through 10K in sub 40 min (just about). Got through 11.4 in total, which was 3:57 min/km pace, which I was well pleased with. I won't say it was easy but it felt reasonably comfortable, which shows that things are ticking over nicely I suppose.

Total miles today: 7.1
No. of runs this year: 44
Total mileage this year: 337.2

Abhainn

Slogger Jogger wrote: »

Thanks Abhainn. Depending on the weather it can look a whole lot less serene . Will you make our hill race this Saturday?

Afraid not sir. A boring 23 miler planned Sat am so that will keep me busy. Best of luck in the race. The local ones are always special.
Looking forward to the race report

Slogger Jogger

53 days to Rotterdam.

Easy 5 mile real genuine unwussy open air run, at lunchtime . Avg pace 4:29 min/k. A filler between the tempo run of yesterday and the marathon pace run of tomorrow.

Total miles today: 5
No. of runs this year: 45
Total mileage this year: 342.2

Slogger Jogger

52 days to Rotterdam.

A bonus today. Managed to get 2 runs in.
1st was the scheduled marathon pace run. Schedule said 4 miles at MP. Managed to do a bit more and did 10K, on the treadmill, with the elevation set to alleviate the wussy factor. Avg pace 4:17 min/km

2nd was an evening jog up and down Annacurra hill with donothoponpop. Took it very easy as the main intention was to see what condition the route was for Saturday's route. The 'good news' is that there is still a fair bit of snow on the track so the race will be a bit different to the usual hill race.

Total miles today: 12.2
No. of runs this year: 47
Total mileage this year: 354.4

Slogger Jogger

Only 50 days to Rotterdam, although it doesn't feel like too long ago when I started this journey.

Yesterday was the required Rest day in the schedule. Wasn't total rest as I was a nervous wreck organising the Annacurra hill race today and I MTBed up the hill to check out the route and that left my quads quite sore today as I just don't have biking muscles. Needs training (at some other time).

Today was quite an event. 'Running' a race event and running a race all combined. Went fantastically well. My schedule total was down today as I could only do the bare minimum required in the race, but still very happy. I'll struggle to get near the 32k required tomorrow as I'll probably still be exhausted... but happy at the same time. I'll probably never be 6th or on a winning team again so enjoy the moment

Total miles today: 5.5 (4:27 min/km pace over a 358m ascent hill race)
No. of runs this year: 48
Total mileage this year: 359.9

Slogger Jogger

Today was never going to be easy. After yesterday's race (and post race beers plus some wine last night) I'd the prospect of the longest yet run on training schedule. I contemplated swapping a shorter run to today and owing myself the long run, but then decided to do a 2 run strategy for the day, something which the sore race legs would forgive me for. It was a fine spring day too so it couldn't be wasted.

Run 1: Mid morning run around Anncurra race route again, plus the same again, but on other trails around the hill. 20k total 692m ascents 5:04 min/k pace. Home for brunch, rest, newspapers and rugby.

Run 2: After the Rugby match, I tried to rub some life into the legs and they were a wee bit stiff and sore. Hmm, this was going to be fun. However I knew that once I got going I'd be fine :rolleyes: And so it proved...
13k total, 185m ascents, 4:34 min/k pace. Surprised myself with this one.

Total miles today: 20.5 !
No. of runs this year: 50
Total mileage this year: 380.4

Oh, 105 days to Edinburgh marathon too....

ultraman1

good goin SJ

Krusty_Clown

Sure you deserved the pints after the success of the race, and your personal result, but did you have to make it so hard on yourself doing the same circuit again?! There's an element of masochism there!

At least now you have a target time to beat - 36:45. Just two and a half minutes to knock off!

Slogger Jogger

It wasn't the run I'd intended but faith had other ideas. I got a call at 10.30 today from someone looking for race registration. Eh, lets just say they had the wrong day. In my tired and perhaps hungover state I obviously wasn't thinking clearly and before I knew what I'd said, I was down in the car park with them ready to roll Snow was less evident, but replaced by more wet and muck. And I fully ran the hill today something I didn't do yesterday. The mind and the body plays some weird tricks on you at times. Once I ran it once it was the easiest choice (in a way) to run some of the same tracks again straight away, as otherwise I'd have to jog home and change into regular runners from my trail shoes. So in summary you're probably right about the masochism :rolleyes:

Slogger Jogger

Did the bare minimum recovery run today. Knackered after the weekend and body was sore, but once I got going it was okay.

Total miles today: 4.1
No. of runs this year: 51
Total mileage this year: 384.5

Slogger Jogger

The body was still tired and sore from the weekend just gone. Wasn't looking forward to the scheduled 800 intervals, but set out to do them in any event. Off to Shangannagh and did a bit of a warm up. Calf muscles were sore before any intervals. Couldn't push the pace too much. Took a 2 min slow jog interval between the 7 800s. Then a slow recovery. No real wind to speak of so it was perfect conditions really.

800s were timed as follows. Pleasantly surprised as it felt slower.
03:01
03:02
02:58
03:00
02:57
03:03
03:06 Conscious of relaxing towards the end of this one.
An average of 3:01 so very happy overall for a tired bod.
http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/7644670

Total miles today: 7.5
No. of runs this year: 52
Total mileage this year: 391.9

Abhainn

Well done SJ on Sat's race. Great result. Wise decision to take yesterday's intervals a bit easier

Slogger Jogger

46 days to Rotterdam.

Cheers Abhainn. I'm feeling the effects of the weekend 3 days on :rolleyes:
Today, due to sore limbs and time pressure I just about did the minimum distance as per the schedule. 5 miles at your own pace said Mr Higdon. Ran with my mate Ian, a fellow survivor from Saturday's hill race, and despite chatting away we ended up doing the run at 4:15 min/km pace

Total miles today: 5
No. of runs this year: 53
Total mileage this year: 396.9 Knocking on the door of 400.

--amadeus--

How did you find splitting the LSR? Do you think it made it harder or easier than teh equiv all at once?

Slogger Jogger

Hi Amadeus, It was a case of having to on Sunday, but I found that it worked well. The 2 run approach probably took more out of me in the end that 1 long run as I found having tired and sore limbs through to Weds. I would have been better advised to keep the hills to a minimum in those runs though, something I did the opposite of.

45 days to Rotterdam.

Early morning tempo run on the treadmill. Started fast-ish and got faster. Quite tough, but did my fastest ever wussy treadmill run. 1K in 39:04 3:54 pace. :eek:

Total miles today: 6.2
No. of runs this year: 54
Total mileage this year: 403.1

Slogger Jogger

44 days to Rotterdam.

Schedule called for a rest day today. For once though this week the body was okay and wanted to run. Resting is an anxious business on the 1000 mile table in any case . Hooked up with a running mate and brought him on the middle part of the Wicklow way trail run. Starting at Crone wood heading north for 8 and a bit km before retracing our steps. Took it easy pacewise - pace would have been difficult on some of those uphills in any event. Walking was necessary on some still snowy bits on the section near Prince Williams Seat. A great 90 mins and perfect conditions for it too and not a sinner to be seen. The elevation graph is quite tasty and gives a good indication of our 'climb'.

http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/7660046

Total miles today: 10.2
No. of runs this year: 55
Total mileage this year: 413.3

donothoponpop

Wow, thats some climb! Sorry I couldn't be there, its a part of the WW I don't know and need to get familiar with.

You sure picked a great day for it, nice run SJ!

Slogger Jogger

43 days to Rotterdam.

Did a recce of Trooperstown hill, with some extra km pinned on for good measure. A very nice route, quite runnable, if a bit rutted in parts particularly on the steep downhill. All in all a nice easy run with good company, great weather and fab views over Wicklow. Details of run here. Actual race route will be around 10.5k
http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/7664225

Total miles today: 8.9
No. of runs this year: 56
Total mileage this year: 422.3

Krusty_Clown

Back to back very tough runs. Great running. You should be doing an alpine marathon instead!
Any recommendations for footwear for the Trooperstown course?

Slogger Jogger

Your trail shoes will do the job. Theres some trail, shale and muddy bits over the course. I'll be wearing my current favs which are my salomon speed cross II.

Slogger Jogger

42 days to Rotterdam.

Regular viewers of this thread will be aware that I'm following Hal Higdon Advanced marathoning II schedule. I'm applying about 90% of the schedule fairly strictly and loose enough about the other 10% - in doing so I'm probably being harder on myself as I tend to do some longer runs that he says... today being an example.

This is a step-back week so according to Hal I should do a half marathon distance LSR today. I felt like doing a bit more so I decided to do an out and back on the backroads 14k out, 14k back. It was cool and breezy through so not a bad running day.

The out bit is net uphill and at the turn I was averaging 4:30 min/k pace. A pretty good LSR pace considering. With the hill behind me on the way back I decided to go a bit faster. This was tough going in parts but managed to push it so that at the finish I'd gotten the overal average back to 4:18 or as near as damn it to marathon pace. A good test and not easy but I feel good having done it. There was a decent climb overall too so to get back to that average speed was good.

http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/7672292
Total miles today: 17.4
No. of runs this year: 57
Total mileage this year: 439.7 (total this week 59.3)

donothoponpop

Thats a great run SJ, fantastic to get 17+ miles at that pace.

While I was looking at your MotionBased account, I see that this one is your longest run: besides a 16miler, you have nothing longer than the several 13's you've done. Now obviously if you can run like you did today, you're doing something right:), but most marathon programs I've read seem to include a couple of 18's, couple of 20's, and at least one 21 or 22.

Will you be doing any longer runs before Rotterdam, and did you do longer runs for your previous marathons?

Slogger Jogger

Thanks! The motionbased account doesn't have a 100% picture.. I've done a 30k and a 32k in recent weeks. There are 2 32k runs in the coming weeks and other 20k runs. I'll probably do closer to the 30k where HH calls for 20k (as I don't see the point of a 20k long run to be honest). The relative lack of long runs comparing HH and P&D is notable I suppose, but so far so good for me.

Next week poses a dilemma in that I need to do 32k LSR. If I do that on Saturday the legs will be heavy for the imra Trooperstown race. Its a case of going with that approach or not doing Trooperstown at all. Decisions decisions.

Previous marathons I've gone more for a 'time on your feet' approach for the long runs. So I probably got up as far as 2 and a half hours, but that would have been on very hilly backroads, where this time - believe it or not - I'm avoiding the worst of the hills.

donothoponpop

Ah! I thought you'd done longer runs tbh, good to see that you've done them. As we've previously discussed, my reading of the HH against P&D is that HH is very light on long runs- but I know you're doing extra milage than HH, as your position in the 1000 mile challenge attests to!

I know what you mean about Trooperstown/long run. I'm thinking that at this stage, its "eyes on the prize" time, which is all about Rotterdam, so might not do Trooperstown either. Plenty of opportunities to beat you in the summer imra races:)

--amadeus--

So how long (time wise) was your longest run?

It'll be interesting to see how we all stack up in the last 6 miles of Rotterdam - virtually all of my runs have been with the WonderHound by the river so on a gravel track and totally flat, compared to the heavily hilly trail running that you two do. Also you two race regularly, I almost never do. That with the mix of training programs will see us line up with very different routes to the same goal. Wonder what changes we'll all be making come the autumn marathons (DP, don't kid yourself, there will be an autumn marathon... )

Rusty Cogs 08

Great running going on here. I'm actually getting excited to see how you all do. Any chance of a live link on your GPS to the t'interweb. I could wear my Sue Barker wig and stare at the PC with a rictus grin

Slogger Jogger

--amadeus-- wrote: »

So how long (time wise) was your longest run?

It'll be interesting to see how we all stack up in the last 6 miles of Rotterdam - virtually all of my runs have been with the WonderHound by the river so on a gravel track and totally flat, compared to the heavily hilly trail running that you two do. Also you two race regularly, I almost never do. That with the mix of training programs will see us line up with very different routes to the same goal. Wonder what changes we'll all be making come the autumn marathons (DP, don't kid yourself, there will be an autumn marathon... )

Hi Amadeus, Your route sounds cool. 2 hours 21 mins for a run just over 30k. I did 2 hours 40 last Sunday but that was a 2 part run over the Sunday (extremely hilly).

Slogger Jogger

41 days to Rotterdam.

The Monday recovery runs are getting to be a bit of a drag, but a necessary evil.

BTW, secured my place in NYC for 1st Nov. Now I just need to pay for the travel and stuff.

Total miles today: 4.1
No. of runs this year: 58
Total mileage this year: 443.8

donothoponpop

**post deleted by donothoponpop**

Pointless pondering on your LSR's from me here, useless stuff really:)