"If I'm not out there training, someone else is."

ecoli

RayCun wrote: »

That reminds me! We were on a coach down to Athlone on Sunday morning, about 9.40, and as we passed Tymon we saw two Tallaght athletes running across the motorway :eek: I know you guys are desperate to escape, but there are better ways!

Its our Spartan style training that makes our athletes fearless. There was five who started that run but we only accept the strongest. This is what separates the runners from the knocklyon joggers

TRR

ecoli wrote: »

I can now see why he is a grumpy auld fecker on boards,you would be to if you had people chucking glass bottles out car windows aiming for you while you run (thankfully narrowly missed us as it smashed of a wall inches from us)

I just thought it was part of the ongoing feud you are involved in between 5th and 6th year in Tallaght community school.

Gas thing about those scum bags is we wouldn't have kopped that the bottle had been thrown until they started hurling abuse at us. I told Mrs TRR I'm never wearing that bright top again. My point regards being a moving target were correct

RayCun wrote: »

That reminds me! We were on a coach down to Athlone on Sunday morning, about 9.40, and as we passed Tymon we saw two Tallaght athletes running across the motorway :eek: I know you guys are desperate to escape, but there are better ways!

Probably just taking a bit of a shot cut after their 28 mile training run. That's how we roll

RayCun

Fair enough. Just so you know, I'd be happy to try running you guys down any day

RayCun

TRR wrote: »

Probably just taking a bit of a shot cut after their 28 mile training run. That's how we roll

short cuts? yeah, we knew that :pac:

TRR

RayCun wrote: »

short cuts? yeah, we knew that :pac:

suppose it explains why we are always so far ahead

drquirky

TRR wrote: »

Gas thing about those scum bags is we wouldn't have kopped that the bottle had been thrown until they started hurling abuse at us. I told Mrs TRR I'm never wearing that bright top again.)

I've given advise before that it is safer to wear dark clothes at night when running - this story is a perfect example of why. I used to run late in an absolute ****hole of a rust belt town and I learned pretty quick that invisibility is a key defense against scumbags.

TRR

drquirky wrote: »

I've given advise before that it is safer to wear dark clothes at night when running - this story is a perfect example of why. I used to run late in an absolute ****hole of a rust belt town and I learned pretty quick that invisibility is a key defense against scumbags.

exactly, mrs trr has bought me flashing lights and reflectors in the past and I generally don't wear them running through certain areas. I was once chased by a young lad on a horse, no joke. I'm now like a ninja around certain parts of Tallaght.

ecoli

Tuesday AM 5 miles easy (7.33 min mile pace)

Handy one this morning legs felt decent. Took it nice and handy with session tonight on the mind and want to be fresh for it. Was back on the other side of the border of Tallaght/Walkinstown this morning feeling much safer

RayCun

you know, Brothers Pearse runners don't get things thrown at them. Maybe we're focussing on the wrong variable here?

ecoli

RayCun wrote: »

you know, Brothers Pearse runners don't get things thrown at them. Maybe we're focussing on the wrong variable here?

I agree trying to hit a fast moving target of a TAC athlete is a sport compared to a BP runner well....

ecoli

Tuesday PM 1.5 miles warm up, 4x3k @ Threshold w/ 2 min rec, 1.5 miles cooldown

Splits
10.45 (5.46 mile pace) - (3.38, 3.36, 3.31)
10.42 (5.45 mile pace) - (3.38, 3.33, 3.30)
10.45 (5.46 mile pace) - (3.36, 3.35, 3.33)
10.29 (5.37 mile pace) - (3.33, 3.27, 3.28)

When doing up training for this cycle both this week and this session were ones that stand out and had me thinking "Sh!te gonna have to be in some shape to get through them". Thankfully though this session was tougher on paper than it panned out in reality.
When I got to the track and felt the wind I had kinda said to myself hitting around 5.50 pace would be a good solid effort. Broke this down into km's just so I would have an idea for splits and seemed to also help mentally. I dunno what it is about 1ks on track but mentally they just seem easier for me and always have. I think it is down to feeling like its just an 800m with a stride out latched on at the end.

1st rep went off and I was a little sluggish however this is natural enough with me when I have a shorter than normal warm up but due to time constraints as I had to fit this session in before coaching. Got into my running as the rep progressed and was over pretty quickly without too much damage. A short 200m very easy jog and was good to go again.

2nd rep I started developing a bit of a stitch but thankfully it was very mild so I got away with it.

3rd rep and I was in my full running so first k was a little faster however fatigue was starting to set into the legs at this stage so no real progression here and ended up being my most consistent rep of the whole thing.

Last rep and doubt had crept but the legs were still relatively okay so continued on. At this stage one of the club marathon groups started their session. I dunno if they were doing 600s, 800s or 1ks as I was in a world of my own, the only thing I knew was they started at the 200m mark as I came around after my first km. I pushed out into lane two around the bend but they were not passing me (though front runners were making ground) Finally passed me after 100m and I tucked in behind them and matched their pace. Despite the pace being upped a good bit the effort wasn't too bad as I was getting a bit of a respite from the wind. Tucked in to see a 2.44 800m split which I said feck it and went with.

After they finished up their rep I figured I would be hurting pretty bad but I think the legs had just got used to the pace and given it was my final km of the session I was able to maintain it and finish strong

Delighted with that session as it was a huge confidence boost. I have been ticking along hitting sessions without being blown away by too many but have been consistently improving through the plan and tonight was a reminder that it is working.

If the sessions for the rest of the week are half as good I will be a very happy camper

theboyblunder

Great session in that wind! Youre getting fit again very quickly.

ecoli

theboyblunder wrote: »

Great session in that wind! Youre getting fit again very quickly.

Cheers. I definitely have the strength these days. I think I have approached the comeback pretty sensibly (for once) since the end of August with nearly 8 weeks of base building (cross training + easy + steady miles) before I started sessions. Now the main thing for me is just to keep the head down and get a good string of consistent training in. I know not every session is gonna be as good as last night but if I can manage to keep plugging away I will be in good nick.

ecoli

Wednesday Afternoon 4 miles easy (7.41 min mile pace)
Wednesday Evening Plyometrics + weights
Wednesday PM 5 miles easy (N/A pace)

Planned on trying to slip away for a sneaky half hour in work but given rescheduled matches from last night meant we were fairly busy around that time so not a fear of me getting out.
I knew this was gonna be a fairly busy day so home from work, straight out for a handy one after last nights session, then followed this up with a treatment and then hit the gym for plyo's and weights. Put in a solid workout here and was happy with it.
Back home for a bit of grub and a sit down to give myself an hour or two before the next run. It was only then did I realise how fried I was from the gym session. it was 9 o clock and I could barely keep my eyes open:eek: Popped on the Jumpingthegun podcast and just lay there listening to it and managed to motivate myself to get up and aim to get out the door. The universe however was sending me signs telling me that I was done for the day.
Got up and couldn't find the headphones.... Balls! left them at the club earlier, not to worry will grab the house mates. Grabbed the Garmin...... Balls! had left it on earlier and and battery was as flat as the Dubai Marathon. I nearly conceded defeat at this point and started to consider it a blessing as I was fried so what good would a few miles be anyway. Thankfully my HTFU alter ego kicked in and said to hell with it and was out the door and off on my way following a route I knew the exact distance of.
Despite the legs being sore from the plyo's I was feeling good bit better than the run earlier in the day and the pace was a good bit healthier and I was moving nicely.

Now time for bed with a peace of mind

dublin runner

Hey. Excuse me if I missed it but what's the goal time for the marathon?! Or are you yet to decide?

ecoli

dublin runner wrote: »

Hey. Excuse me if I missed it but what's the goal time for the marathon?! Or are you yet to decide?

Won't nail down a time until about 10-12 weeks out but ideally 2.30-2.35, I would be very happy with (unless that aul fecker tRR finishes faster than my time in London that day )

dublin runner

Great target, fair play. Yeah it's hard to put a time months out but do you have a race in mind nearer the marathon to give you an indication e.g HM in sub 1.14 or do you rely more on your training times and general form?

ecoli

dublin runner wrote: »

Great target, fair play. Yeah it's hard to put a time months out but do you have a race in mind nearer the marathon to give you an indication e.g HM in sub 1.14 or do you rely more on your training times and general form?

I have a few marker races which I will use to track performance. The two main ones will be the Raheny 5 miler at the End of January and then the Torrvieja Half Marathon the end of February. In the mean time I have a few races lined up over the next few weeks but nothing more than a bit of practice for running hard and pushing me mentally and physical so in that sense they are more like training runs despite hard efforts (won't be holding back).

Generally I can have a good idea of where I am with training but nothing substitutes for a race.

ecoli

Thursday 10.5 miles easy (7.07 min mile pace)

Woke up this morning with plenty of time to get a run in before work however I knew that I was not fully recovered from the previous days efforts. I dunno was it a case of having the three sessions so close together or underestimating my pace on my "easy" run but I knew that the body needed more time. Usually with DOMS its a case where they loosen out on a run but this was slightly more. I am generally good with picking up on this as I have a tendency to have an almost overheated feeling coupled with a slightly high HR (not that I monitor it but generally have a fair idea). Anyway made the decision to knock the morning run on the head. If I could get out for half an hour on break in work later well and good but if not I wasn't gonna get hung up about it.
Headed out after work then and was feeling good bit better. Legs were in ribbons from the plyo's and weights but other than that not too bad. The run itself flew in.

ecoli

Friday 4 miles recovery + strides (9.02 min mile pace)

Could have been down to lack of sleep due or just really pushed it on Wednesday but still feeling DOMS in the legs today so hopefully tonight's run will flush out the legs so that I can give the Parkrun a decent lash in the morning.

ecoli

This race was a very late addition to the plan. I was supposed to do 1k reps today but I felt a good blowout before Clonliffe next week would serve me better and I have effectively a free session in a few weeks plan (initially was down to race but couldn't find anything suitable around that weekend) so I decided I would push it till then. After waking up to the wind this morning I was glad I did:D

Arrived at Marlay early to get a few miles done. Hamstrings a good bit better than they were yesterday but still tight enough. The wind was absolutely comical so I knew any plan of getting a time marked down was out the window I just wanted a good hard effort.

There was a good crowd from the club out for this one and with tRR, drquirky and another lad from the club who has been running 16.50s regularly the last while I knew I would have good markers to base my performance off. Having such a strong wind completely took any sort of pressure of this one and was completely relaxed.

Gun went and I was off. Started rather conservatively only to notice lace was loose. Perfect! This was my first proper race (actually relatively fit and non pacing gig) since the summer and I had made such a rookie mistake. The thought of stopping to tie the lace was a fleeting one however and just decided to make the best of it and pray early race congestion wouldn't be the death of me.

Hit the first turn just behind one of the lads from the club with tRR and drquirky pushing on to the front of the pack. "If I can stay with Niall I know I am in atleast 17 min shape" - this was my thinking and stuck to him like a fly to sh!te. Came around the first mini loop and little respite from the wind. It was at this point that I was feeling a little too easy however and the first 4 were starting to pull away. Half of me was thinking to stick with the other club lad and focus on a 17 min effort I know would be assured by running with him. The other half of me was thinking feck it catch the lads before we go back into the wind to get a good hard effort and if I blow up I blow up. I had nothing to lose so I went for it. Put in a hard surge and caught drquirky and another lad just before we turned back into the wind just around the 1k mark.

The next 2k were not pretty. I was hanging onto the lads but was working hard. Came to the hill into the wind and I was actually making ground on the lads. This was short lived however as the the hill and the wind broke me and I fell off the back of the lads. I was hurting pretty bad by the time I got to the top of the hill but I was still hanging in.

Got a bit of relief when we turned out if the wind so I just planned on working hard for the remainder and hopefully hold 5th (which seemed reasonable as I had a good gap on the other lad from the club at this point). I then started to realise than the lads weren't gaining ground since the hill, in fact if anything the gap was slightly decreasing. A voice long thought to be not of this world then decided to make a spectacular return, "You can push harder than this". Lengthened the stride and relaxed the shoulder and started to get going. Sure enough the lads started to come back to me.

Came around to the last loop and back into the wind (thankfully for the last time) and me drquirky and another lad were neck and neck. Quirky pushed into the wind, I responded shortly after and took the lead into the wind but for the second time in the race was nearly broken by the wind and the lads got a gap of about 5-10m. Held on for dear life and was now in the home straight and I had something left in the tank. We came to the last 200m and I floored it, caught quirky but the job wasn't done yet 50m to go and I looked like I had the other guy as well to scrape the top 3 but what ever I put into it he responded to and did just enough to hold me off. Crossed the line and first thoughts were "Hold down the brekkie, for the love of god" - A sign that the aim of the day was met, a good blow out (in a non literal way ) and hard effort.

Looked at the watch for the first time in the race once I crossed the line to see how the race had panned out

Result: 17.18 (3.23, 3.43, 3.45, 3.11, 3.13)

I guess you can see which kms were into the wind:D

All in all I am really happy with this. Despite not being able to see what kinda shape I am in time wise, I am able to gauge a good bit by the lads from club who were racing today and roughly I would say that this is a solid sub 17 performance which is where I wanna be right now. The biggest positive I was able to get from this is the mental strength. I was broken twice by the lads and managed to claw my way back which is something that I have not seen in my running for quite some time, that ability to dig in when hurting.

Hopefully now conditions in Clonliffe next weekend will be a little more forgiving:)

career_move

Nice work

Beef

Serious effort - you make me a little sick every time I read your training/racing reports.

I was doing my LSR and I was actually laughing at 1 stage the wind was so strong.

ecoli

Beef wrote: »

Serious effort - you make me a little sick every time I read your training/racing reports.

I was doing my LSR and I was actually laughing at 1 stage the wind was so strong.

I probably have that effect on a few people (though funny enough very few of them ever know about my training/racing )

To be fair we had the same reaction when warming up. Thankfully the course has a good bit of cover in places so I suppose we got off lightly compared to others (must have been hell in the Park today)

theboyblunder

Super run. It was gusting at over 100km/h today and that hill is a heartbreaker on its own at 5k effort.

pa4

Definitely a sub 17 effort, the wind was crazy out there today. Roads blocked from falling trees around where I live! Was driving home from an exam and thought I was gonna lose control with the cross winds!

ecoli

pa4 wrote: »

Definitely a sub 17 effort, the wind was crazy out there today. Roads blocked from falling trees around where I live! Was driving home from an exam and thought I was gonna lose control with the cross winds!

Had a luck escape on the way into work myself where a fairly chunky branch snapped and just missed coming down on the bonnet (thankfully I was slow pulling off in traffic )

ecoli

Satrurday PM Sneaky 4 mile easy (7.36 min mile pace)

Just a short one after work. Not pretty but the legs will thank me tomorrow :P

ecoli

Sunday 7 miles easy (7.30 min mile pace) + 5 miles easy (7.44 min mile pace)

Today was not a good day in general. 5 hours sleep, didnt get out for a lunch break from work and was stuck for time. Got home and was met with the house mate planning on joining me for my easy run so I left the ipod and key at home. Tipping along very handy (7.50 pace) and about a half a mile in get told to push on ahead so no music and legs heavy from yesterday tipped along handy enough. Get home to be locked out until he finishes his run with me not being a happy camper.

I then had a short turn around for my second run as I was up with the parents for a few hours and supposed to be out with tRR for a run 3 hours later. Little did I know tRR had text me saying he was gonna give it a miss but I didn't see it until after. Pace was handy but to be honest legs were heavy as hell so was not the easiest of runs (though could have been running 15 min miles and would have probably found it difficult)

A nice present of a bottle of wine today to perk up my evening though and glasses are going down smooth

digger2d2

ecoli wrote: »

Sunday 7
I then had a short turn around for my second run as I was up with the parents for a few hours and supposed to be out with tRR for a run 3 hours later. Little did I know tRR had text me saying he was gonna give it a miss but I didn't see it until after.

He was probably busy plotting the downfall of the Swiss nation