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

ecoli

Monday AM 6 miles easy (7.20 min mile pace)

Just a handy one this morning. Legs felt fantastic to the point where I would question had I raced at all yesterday but the breathing not back right just yet but hopefully is just a case of a few more days to sort itself out. Had a look to see official times from yesterday was 5 seconds faster than I thought. For someone so focused on time in the past it was a bit unusual that I crossed the gantry and saw time over head but never once looked at the watch after the race so forgot the fact that start mats were before the gantry. Bumped into one of the lads from the club in the park and did a few of the miles with him.

ecoli

Monday PM 7 miles easy (7.20 min mile pace)

Motivation definitely lacking today. Think the blocked nose has me in a bit of a self pity mode and I was half thinking of leaving this in the hope that it will clear up later in the week and I will make up the miles then but I managed to peel myself out. First mile or two feeling crap (despite ones again legs feeling great) but after this felt ok, weird to see I averaged exact same pace on this run as I did this morning despite not looking at the watch or running the same route

ecoli

Tuesday 20 miles easy (7.14 min mile pace)

Into PP with quirky and tRR for this one and just tipped along handy. Swelling in the nose is coming down slowly but surely but still causing breathing issues but just getting on with it as it doesn't seem to affect the running, just means that iregardless of pace I can be heard a mile away like a train in the night.
Left quirky around 13 and pushed on, tried the gel from the Raheny goody bag (still experimenting to see which ones work best) and have to say its in top two. Took a tumble around 15 miles (which would have put Ashley Young to shame) when taking a turn and the muck went from under me. Thankfully I came down on the chest and almost bounced back on to me feet with the legs unscathed and generally feeling grand (bar few minor cuts on the hand)
Overall probably the best I have felt on an easy long run to date (the difference a bit of company makes )

BeepBeep67

That's a nice run to get in after Sunday, what's the next key race / milestone?

ecoli

BeepBeep67 wrote: »

That's a nice run to get in after Sunday, what's the next key race / milestone?

Torrevieja HM in 4 weeks time. Haven't booked it yet though so need to get the finger out and sort funds:rolleyes:

ecoli

Wednesday AM 5 miles very easy (7.44 min mile pace)
Wednesday Afternoon GYM

Kept the morningf running very handy with the long run yesterday. Didnt feel great at the start but feeling better after getting out. Nose still an issue although I think its starting to improve so hopefully a few more days and I will be able to breath in from both nostrils (Will never take the saying "breath in through your nose and out through your mouth" for granted again )
The gym session was fairly lacklustred, first while was kinda going through the motions but as progressed got a little better but still not what I would have liked but can't feel great the whole time I suppose

ecoli

Wednesday PM 6.5 miles easy (7.16 min mile pace)

Came back from coaching and said I would get out in the next half hour, this thought was replaced with a decision to take the evening off once I updated my training log to see I already had 38 miles this week so I was on course for north of 110 which seemed like too huge a jump, then came another thought that given its a week off work the recovery is better than the upcoming weeks so I could handle a high mileage week this week, then I thought of wanting to be fresh for session tomorrow and running more miles later in the week when (hopefully) the nose had fully healed.
In the end the tooing and frowing in my mind got me utterly frazzled to the point where I said I would knock it on the head and just chill for the night.......... 20 min later I was restless so decided why not get out and kill time so on with the running gear and out the door a good 90 min after intended (the luxury of being off work and having free time to waste for once:D).
The run took a similar pattern to nearly every run I have had since the nose injury on Saturday, start off feeling like crap and getting better as I went on. Last mile I see sub 7s creeping onto the garmin and reel myself back in.

T runner

ecoli wrote: »

Wednesday PM 6.5 miles easy (7.16 min mile pace)

Came back from coaching and said I would get out in the next half hour, this thought was replaced with a decision to take the evening off once I updated my training log to see I already had 38 miles this week so I was on course for north of 110 which seemed like too huge a jump, then came another thought that given its a week off work the recovery is better than the upcoming weeks so I could handle a high mileage week this week, then I thought of wanting to be fresh for session tomorrow and running more miles later in the week when (hopefully) the nose had fully healed.
In the end the tooing and frowing in my mind got me utterly frazzled to the point where I said I would knock it on the head and just chill for the night.......... 20 min later I was restless so decided why not get out and kill time so on with the running gear and out the door a good 90 min after intended (the luxury of being off work and having free time to waste for once:D).
The run took a similar pattern to nearly every run I have had since the nose injury on Saturday, start off feeling like crap and getting better as I went on. Last mile I see sub 7s creeping onto the garmin and reel myself back in.

#

Hi Ecoli. I had that mental too-ing and fro-ing for my Rotterdam marathon.
There are always arguments for and against an action and as we focus on more mileage and an important target this internal argument can become more pervasive.
I had it during my marathon specific phase and I made mistakes over it. You aren't making any mistakes now, but its vital to have your schedule down and solid as things crank up closer to Rotterdam.
Id recommend having a club coach on your shoulder and in charge (even though it will be your schedule) during this period. You can change a run if very tired or if life gets in the way etc. But having a coach for that phase, will remove any worries you have. If youre 100% coaching yourself, you are more likely to start worrying and second guessing and that is a huge danger in the last 3-4 weeks before taper. During that time you just need to concentrate on running, you don't need any mental worry as you'll be tired physically anyway. Hand it over to a coach, and youll have more mental energy for the task at hand.
That's one thing I got wrong for mine and I intend to correct this time.

Youre schedule is excellent. You seem to have free reign over the pace of the long steady runs (i.e between easy and marathon pace)

I reckon these should be run at as fast a sustainable pace as possible within the constraints of your overall schedule, recovery etc.
If feeling good, finish them slightly faster, or plan to finish 1 uphill.
These runs will allow you to run a fast even pace for the marathon. The closer they are to PMP, the more specific they are. Id view them as long tempo runs. Not PMP, but not far off.

Glad the breathing is improving. Youre managing it well.

Clearlier

T runner wrote: »

#

Hi Ecoli. I had that mental too-ing and fro-ing for my Rotterdam marathon.
There are always arguments for and against an action and as we focus on more mileage and an important target this internal argument can become more pervasive.
I had it during my marathon specific phase and I made mistakes over it. You aren't making any mistakes now, but its vital to have your schedule down and solid as things crank up closer to Rotterdam.
Id recommend having a club coach on your shoulder and in charge (even though it will be your schedule) during this period. You can change a run if very tired or if life gets in the way etc. But having a coach for that phase, will remove any worries you have. If youre 100% coaching yourself, you are more likely to start worrying and second guessing and that is a huge danger in the last 3-4 weeks before taper. During that time you just need to concentrate on running, you don't need any mental worry as you'll be tired physically anyway. Hand it over to a coach, and youll have more mental energy for the task at hand.
That's one thing I got wrong for mine and I intend to correct this time.

Youre schedule is excellent. You seem to have free reign over the pace of the long steady runs (i.e between easy and marathon pace)

I reckon these should be run at as fast a sustainable pace as possible within the constraints of your overall schedule, recovery etc.
If feeling good, finish them slightly faster, or plan to finish 1 uphill.
These runs will allow you to run a fast even pace for the marathon. The closer they are to PMP, the more specific they are. Id view them as long tempo runs. Not PMP, but not far off.

Glad the breathing is improving. Youre managing it well.

Sounds to me like T runner's your new coach.

He's right, it helps an awful lot to have a schedule written down somewhere (in your head isn't good enough) with somebody to bounce it off.

ecoli

@T Runner probably one of the best pieces of advice I have got in a long while. I agree this week I have a bit of luxury with regards no work commitments so increased recovery and as a result am able to have that extra bit of workload but come next week it will be back to normal and from there it will be about staying smart and not making the mistakes I have made all too many times as a self coached runner in the past.

I also like your post with regards a coach to keep an objective eye over things and it is something I may actually look to. At the moment I have been bouncing idea's off tRR and drquirky a fair bit just to make sure I am not convincing myself of a fools logic with some decisions I am making but I think I may ask my old coach to take a look over things if he has time (training for Rotterdam himself so I dunno will he have a chance)

ecoli

Clearlier wrote: »

Sounds to me like T runner's your new coach.

He's right, it helps an awful lot to have a schedule written down somewhere (in your head isn't good enough) with somebody to bounce it off.

I agree thankfully I have the schedule done up on a google spreadsheet. It gives a bit of structure though I have loosely based things off it and make changes based on how I am feeling, circumstances, work commitments etc but ultimately it has been a good tool for preventing me going too far off track.

Now just need to share it with someone to keep things subjective

ecoli

Thursday AM 2 miles easy, 2 x 20 min Tempo w/ 4 min rec, 1.5 mile easy

Splits
3.41 miles in 20 min (5.52 mile pace)
3.35 miles in 20 min (5.59 mile pace)

Met up with quirky at the club this morning. When I saw the text "meet you at the track" didn't even question and just thought the plan was on the track so had geared myself up for this as given the nose I was a little apprehensive of how any quality session would go however quirky had the roads in mind which in hindsight is where should be ran as I intend on majority of my sessions over next 10 weeks to be on roads (Rotterdam is not run on a track after all).
Fair amount of DOMS in the glutes from yesterday's gym session but knew they would loosen out once I got going. Went down to Tymon park and did this on the 5k loop where we hold most of our club races. First mile I took the lead and was motoring along nicely in low 5.40s not feeling too bad, next mile again fairly controlled with mid 5.40s and then came the biatch of a mile where we dropped outside six with the climbs, quirky pushed on at this point and gained a bit of ground but I dug in and manage to claw some of this back, loop ended up being more challenging than I gave it credit for.

4 min break and we decided to do the same loop in reverse (not that it made much difference to be honest as there were still a few decent climbs). Being honest I was struggling a bit on the second one, quirky took the lead from start to finish and though managed to get up on his shoulder at times I was working hard enough. After 12 min I said to myself just get to 15 min, got to fifteen min and then said just get to three mile, got here and there was less than a half a mile left so dug in, times a little slower on the second one but again was a case of one tough mile along with two steadier ones. All in all happy to just get this one in. Times not amazing but this week is more about getting it done as I have felt crap all week

TRR

ecoli wrote: »

I also like your post with regards a coach to keep an objective eye over things and it is something I may actually look to. At the moment I have been bouncing idea's off tRR and drquirky a fair bit just to make sure I am not convincing myself of a fools logic with some decisions I am making but I think I may ask my old coach to take a look over things if he has time (training for Rotterdam himself so I dunno will he have a chance)

I've been doing my best to sabotage him

ecoli

TRR wrote: »

I've been doing my best to sabotage him

You mean 28 miles @ MP is not a good idea for a race simulation session?

ecoli

Friday AM 5 miles recovery (9.08 min mile pace)

Just a handy one to loosen out the legs, glutes still a little tight from the gym work but nothing alarming. Got lucky enough with the weather managing to pick a nice 42 min slot in between showers (just started picking up again as I was finishing up)

TRR

looks like Tom is heading to Reading so I'm off the hook for XC (I hope). You still heading to Spain? If spondulicks are an issue that Bohermeen half is spot on.

ecoli

TRR wrote: »

looks like Tom is heading to Reading so I'm off the hook for XC (I hope). You still heading to Spain? If spondulicks are an issue that Bohermeen half is spot on.

Bohermeen may very well be a possibility as I may have to divert budgeted funds for it towards X Rays and a trip to A and E if there is no improvement over the next few days on the nose as the swelling has been coming down but still not happy with how the breathing is.

menoscemo

ecoli wrote: »

Bohermeen may very well be a possibility as I may have to divert budgeted funds for it towards X Rays and a trip to A and E if there is no improvement over the next few days on the nose as the swelling has been coming down but still not happy with how the breathing is.

Just booked Bohermeen myself also doing Blabriggan as a PMP on Paddys day...I think there are a good few of us doing the same.

TRR

ecoli wrote: »

Bohermeen may very well be a possibility as I may have to divert budgeted funds for it towards X Rays and a trip to A and E if there is no improvement over the next few days on the nose as the swelling has been coming down but still not happy with how the breathing is.

If you want me to do a lethal weapon style job on your nose let me know. I'm the man for the job

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Igrdi_lhhW4

menoscemo wrote: »

Just booked Bohermeen myself also doing Blabriggan as a PMP on Paddys day...I think there are a good few of us doing the same.

I'm thinking of doing Balbriggan as PMP now myself. Was going to do the 5k on the 16th but I think something else has popped up so St Paddy's day looks good now

ecoli

TRR wrote: »

If you want me to do a lethal weapon style job on your nose let me know. I'm the man for the job

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Igrdi_lhhW4

Thanks for the offer but I still reckon this is all an elaborate plan to sabotage me, firstly sending your minions to do a number on me night before a race and now offering a "helping hand" to put me out for the next race

ecoli

Friday PM 7.5 miles easy (7.28 min mile pace)

Nothing to special, a sluggish running generally feeling rubbish all day (seems to be the theme of the week :P) kept nice and handy just logging miles in the bank.

Seeing alot of monthly stat recaps appearing on the logs so I guess that's what the cool kids are doing these days so may as well do the same

Jan Stats
Days Ran| 28/31
Miles ran| 336 (10.84 per day)
Sessions ran|7
Long runs (+18 miles)| 3
Ancillary workouts| 7
Races Ran|1

ThebitterLemon

Aren't you a bit premature with your Jan stats, you've still two hours to get a few more miles in

ecoli

ThebitterLemon wrote: »

Aren't you a bit premature with your Jan stats, you've still two hours to get a few more miles in

Been off work this week so the late night runs wont be back on the cards till next week

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Carlingford half is another option, it's on the same weekend as Bohermeen but could be a marginally faster course.

ecoli

Ahmad Microscopic Holster wrote: »

Carlingford half is another option, it's on the same weekend as Bohermeen but could be a marginally faster course.

Dunno have heard alot of good things about Bohermeen although Torrevieja is still hopefully plan A as I don't think there is a race in Ireland I have ran with as flat a course for laying down a good PB

ecoli

Saturday AM 10 miles (no watch)

This one got put on the long finger for a good chunk of the day to the point that I was nearly considering singling but managed to get it in time to still make a double possible. Picked up the Garmin to notice that it hadn't connected properly as never charged last night :rolleyes: Luckily the high mileage and over the last few weeks and months have meant that I can list of 2-3 routes from the house from anything ranging from 4 miles - 18 so I just picked on of the usual routes just a shade over 10 and off I went listening to the body, first five mile were into the wind and not the prettiest but it made the trip home rather enjoyable better than I have felt the last few days anyway so I am praying to anyone that will listen to try and get back 100% before too long

TRR

Ahmad Microscopic Holster wrote: »

Carlingford half is another option, it's on the same weekend as Bohermeen but could be a marginally faster course.

Don't know about that. I ran carlingford a few years back and would have thought it wasn't the fastest especially if the wind is blowing. A good half bone the less.

digger2d2

TRR wrote: »

A good half bone the less.

Is this something to do with a semi??

ecoli

Sunday AM 5.5 miles easy (7.25 min pace)

When woke up today felt tired dehydrated and just generally crap (not that it is anything new this week) so decided to swap around the AM and PM runs and just loosen out the legs for session later on. Kinda wish I hadn't considering the conditions out were perfect but I guess you can't have it every way. Kept this one very handy though the paces were slightly creeping in the right direction by the end so hopefully it bodes well for session later. The way I have been the last week I kinda need a bit of a confidence boosting session.

T runner

ecoli wrote: »

Sunday AM 5.5 miles easy (7.25 min pace)

When woke up today felt tired dehydrated and just generally crap (not that it is anything new this week) so decided to swap around the AM and PM runs and just loosen out the legs for session later on. Kinda wish I hadn't considering the conditions out were perfect but I guess you can't have it every way. Kept this one very handy though the paces were slightly creeping in the right direction by the end so hopefully it bodes well for session later. The way I have been the last week I kinda need a bit of a confidence boosting session.

Hi ecoli. Youve had a couple of bits of ill health, but youre still ticking through it. It wil come together soon and with the work youve done, youll be flying. With tje sessions when my marathon comes around ill be erring on the aerobic side. Dont worry too much about individual sessions, youll be flying in them again like you were a week or two ago. Big picture is most important and youre big picture is excellent. Youre goal now is to get through the work in a sustainable way and get fully healthy. With those mini objectives in mind for this tricky period, then youre doing well. Youre form hasnt gone, just a bit of ill health. It will pass.