Training for a Cork '09 Sub 3

Gringo78

Thanks for the advice Amadeus. Have been looking into the whole idea of pacing by HR over the last week and its something I'm seriously thinking of doing so will be keeping an eye on it on my long runs to see how my pace drops off in the latter stages.

Gringo78

April 30th

5 miles easy @ 8min pace. Want to be rested for a long run tomorrow.

Gringo78

May 1st

8 miles Tempo run @ 7:00 pace

May 4th

20 miles LSR @7:42 pace Avg HR 155. Felt a little tough after 15 miles but just for about half a mile and then settled back into a good rhythm again. Hopefully now get another long run of 21/22 miles done next week.

SUNGOD

Gringo78 wrote: »

May 1st

8 miles Tempo run @ 7:00 pace

May 4th

20 miles LSR @7:42 pace Avg HR 155. Felt a little tough after 15 miles but just for about half a mile and then settled back into a good rhythm again. Hopefully now get another long run of 21/22 miles done next week.

two very good sessions gringo keep it up

Gringo78

May 5th

4 very easy miles @8:20 pace. Avg HR 140. Went for a walk yesterday evening to try to loosen out the legs as much as possible after the long run but still felt a bit stiff and sore this morning. ran for hald mile and then did some stretching and felt good afterwards. No niggles and calves seem fine after long run so thats good.

heffsarmy

Well done gringo78, ur training looks alot better, keep it going....are u going to do the 10mile race?

Gringo78

Not going to do the 10 mile race. I have found on my last 2 long runs that once I go over 15 miles things start to feel different, mentally as well as physically so I will try to get another long run in that weekend instead, maybe a 22 miler this Sunday and perhaps an 18 miler then on the 16th or 17th May and taper from there. As regards pace, I'm thinking I should be able to hold a pace of around 7:15 which should be around 3.10 marathon. I think thats my limit for now.

Gringo78

Week 18 Miles Summary (April 20th to April 26th 2009)
M – 10.66 T – 7 W – 0 T – 5 F – 8 S - 0 S – 0
30.7 miles

Gringo78

May 6th

5 miles easy @ 7:37 pace. Avg HR 150. Resting HR was 38 this morning while driving which is the lowest its been for a while.

kennyb3

Gringo78 wrote: »

May 6th

5 miles easy @ 7:37 pace. Avg HR 150. Resting HR was 38 this morning while driving which is the lowest its been for a while.

that HR surely wasnt in dublin traffic? my HR and blood pressure go through the roof with all the idiot drivers out there.

anyway fair play on the training, you ve really upped the workload in the last few weeks and are much more on track to do a decent marathon time.

Gringo78

kennyb3 wrote: »

that HR surely wasnt in dublin traffic? my HR and blood pressure go through the roof with all the idiot drivers out there.

No chance it was in Dublin...in Cork. I drive to work early, park and go for a run so i get to avoid all the traffic thankfully. Makes for a relaxing drive to work.

Seres

Gringo78 wrote: »

No chance it was in Dublin...in Cork. I drive to work early, park and go for a run so i get to avoid all the traffic thankfully. Makes for a relaxing drive to work.

good time saving idea and well as less stress ,
training going well , what date is cork on ?

Gringo78

Seres wrote: »

what date is cork on ?

Cork on June 1st. Not a lot of time left. Could do with a few more weeks to get some more long runs in but am also looking forrward to getting the marathon over with and racing the shorter races again. I regret not doing a marathon years ago when I had the time for the training and no other commitments! Its hard making the time for the training, particularly the long runs.

Gringo78

May 7th

8 miles. 3 miles warmup/cooldown and then 5 mile road race. Ran 31:22 which I was very happy with. Felt really strong running it, and my last mile was my fastest so the marathon training is filtering down to better times at the short races even though i haven't been going near those times in training. Ran the first mile and the last mile at 6min pace whereas 7min/ml pace was the fastest I had gone in training over the last few weeks.

May 8th

7 miles recovery run this morning @7:55 pace.

Seres

Gringo78 wrote: »

Cork on June 1st. Not a lot of time left. Could do with a few more weeks to get some more long runs in but am also looking forrward to getting the marathon over with and racing the shorter races again. I regret not doing a marathon years ago when I had the time for the training and no other commitments! Its hard making the time for the training, particularly the long runs.

feel the very same as ya , wish i hadnt spent my early to mid twenties getting pis*ed and arsing around , diffcult to give these thing a really good shot when you have other more important commitments
strong result for that 5 miles , sure who knows you might be bitten by the marathon bug after cork like alot of the folk here

Gringo78

Seres wrote: »

sure who knows you might be bitten by the marathon bug after cork like alot of the folk here

I'm bitten by it already....1 a year is all I can handle though. I'm looking forward to finishing the training but I'm also looking forward to doing it all again next year...I've learned a lot about my own running over the last few months.

Seres

Gringo78 wrote: »

I'm bitten by it already....1 a year is all I can handle though. I'm looking forward to finishing the training but I'm also looking forward to doing it all again next year...I've learned a lot about my own running over the last few months.

i totally get ya , you get tired of training , then you do a race and then your mad to do another one cause you enjoyed it so much and you want to give it another shot cause you know that you can improve on your training based on what you have learnt form past experience , its addictive !

Gringo78

May 9th

14 miles @7:40 pace, Avg HR 152

Gringo78

Week 19 Miles Summary (May 4th to May 10th 2009)
M – 20 T – 4 W – 5 T – 8 F – 7 S - 14 S – 0
58 miles

Gringo78

22miles at 7:50 pace. Avg HR 153 which i maintained throughout. Found it tough today from about 13 miles which was prob cos i was coming off a big mileage week. Kept it going though to 22 without fading much.

kennyb3

Gringo78 wrote: »

22miles at 7:50 pace. Avg HR 153 which i maintained throughout. Found it tough today from about 13 miles which was prob cos i was coming off a big mileage week. Kept it going though to 22 without fading much.

great running lately, you ve really upped your game. a good marathon experience and time awaits you!

heffsarmy

Gringo78 fair play to you, your putting in really good traing

Gringo78

Gringo78 wrote: »

As regards pace, I'm thinking I should be able to hold a pace of around 7:15 which should be around 3.10 marathon. I think thats my limit for now.

Well, with 3 weeks to go, time to pick a pace I think. Sub 3 definetly not on although perhaps if I was to continue on with the marathon training through the summer I could get there by Dublin. However, due to personal circumstances thats not an option so can't maintain a high level of training after Cork & certainly won't have any time to do long runs.

Will aim for sub 3:10. with the way I pace for races, the best I will do is 3:09 as i will not go out too fast. I will be very happy if I can do sub 3:10:59 for a Boston Qualification time, will be reasonably happy if I go sub 3:15 but anything less than that and I will be (privately if not outwardly) dissappointed. The dissappointment will probably stem from not having done more back in March rather than with how things go on the day

22.5 ¦ 14.5 ¦ 37.85 ¦ 36.3 ¦ 5.4 ¦ 29.5 ¦ 50.1 ¦ 30.7 ¦ 58

Above are my last 9 weeks mileage - Average for the 9 weeks 31miles

Not really marathon training stats so again the dissappointment will be in myself for not having given this a better shot although I feel a bit better now as the last 4 weeks training have gone well and I feel I am in good shape for a shot at 3:10.

So race tactics will be starting out at 7:20 a mile and building up to 7:15 a mile for the first third. Holding 7:15 for the second third and then knocking a second a mile off every few miles in the last third (if I can, of course!). I think this is a conservative approach to a 3:10 target meaning I will be starting out at a pace which would give 3:15 and if I can't up it then, well at least i didn't go out too fast. Over the next 2 weeks I will do a few 3-4 miles tempo runs at those paces to see how my HR is and perhaps rethink things if neccessary. Will be watching my HR during the marathon so will know if I am pushing things too hard on the day

Sosa

Your thinking it through gringo....absolutely no point going out at 6:50 pace and ( possibly ) finding out that you cannot keep that pace going.

I look forward to seeing how you did,i am doing Dublin myself this year...my first marathon,registered last week and have my training plan done out on an excel spreadsheet...ready to rock and roll ....

best of luck...enjoy it !

Woddle

I reckon you should contact Paddy power and see what odds you'll get on sub 3:10
I reckon this log has got alot of people thinking and I reckon half think you'll do it.

I wish you all the best as I quite like your confident attitude,

If I was you though, I would be going more conservative. Your last 4 weeks have been great but it's only 4 weeks and the distance really does need to be respected. It's a shame you can't carry on to Dublin as then I would have no doubt in you going sub 3:10 and even sub 3

Gringo78

4.8 miles this evening, avg pace 7:30, avg HR 147. recovery run so was trying to keep the heart rate down. felt good and no niggles from yesterdays 22 mile run (apart from one blister which only really bothers me in my bare feet)

Killerz

Well done Gringo78, you're doing great. you've really increased the mileage and your times look pretty savage. i'l be looking out for you down in cork. altho, i'll probably be eating your dust by the looks of things!

Gringo78

May 14th

8.6 miles @7:35 pace. Avg HR 158. Felt tired this morning, around 5 hours sleep and didn't want to get out of bed at all but forced myself out.

Gringo78

Killerz wrote: »

i'l be looking out for you down in cork. altho, i'll probably be eating your dust by the looks of things!

You're well ahead of your target Killerz so it'll be me watching out for you I think. Might see you down there before the start. Got confirmation of my number yesterday so all set now. Just have to start putting Boost in my cornflakes to get used to it....couldn't find it in Tesco yesterday!

Killerz

Gringo78 wrote: »

Just have to start putting Boost in my cornflakes to get used to it....couldn't find it in Tesco yesterday!

Ya, i think i'll be giving Boost a miss. that said, its my last long run this weekend, so may try give it a go. just did the weekly shop tho in my local tesco, and didnt think of it. Tesco do some good jellybeans tho, which I have incorporated slowly into my long runs at the latter stages!