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

ecoli

DarByrne1980 wrote: »

just reading back thro ur log and i see you are hoping to run xc. I use to do a fair bit of xc back in the day. reading yesterdays session i thought you were training for a marathon. what was the idea behind the two sessions yesterday?

I would like to say that yesterday was part of a grand design but the truth is it wasn't. I had the AM session planned this week and knew it suited both me and DR to do it in around Tuesday/Wednesday so figured it made sense to have someone to run with on these making them a little easier mentally on both of us than solo (can't stress the effects of the mental side of running)

The evening session was with one of the lads that I coach and given that he is living outside of Dublin we take advantage of any time he is up in this neck of the woods usually once a week to 10 days. This week just so happened to Tuesday evening. Given the aim of the day was a strength workout and focusing on endurance and the fact that both were slower than threshold effort I felt that I could do both without too much risk of injury and not compromising the focus of the day

In terms of the general outline of the plan the sessions are set each week in terms of the focus however the specifics can sometimes change to accomodate (for example a 5 mile tempo or 3x4 2 miles @ AT could be interchanged if there is one of the lads doing a similar session). Aim of this is a) given my work being a bit all over the place I take advantage of every chance I can to train with people so long as it is not completely counterproductive or high injury risk) and b) its a lonely enough aul sport so the bit of a social aspect can do wonders and get you out of a rut sometimes if you start to struggle in the middle of a heavy training cycle

With regards XC and Marathon personally I think the general prep phase from 1500m up to Marathon shouldn't look too much different to be honest (especially in terms of mileage) and it is only when you hit the specific phase that you should notice very distinct differences. At the moment the training is still very much in foundation phase and in terms of the XC season it is being broken up by 2 seperate phases marked with the three focus races of the season.

1) Dublin Novices - at the end of 5 weeks of general strength training
2) Dublin Intermediates - 8 weeks later and during this stage will introduce more specific session
3) National Novice - 1 week later

Oregano_State

Sometimes it's a good idea to really hammer the body, as long as you're not doing it regularly and you take it easy afterwards. That double session will give you a really good training stimulus.

ecoli

Wednesday AM 4 miles recovery (9.17 min pace)
Wednesday Lunch 1 hour Gym work

This morning called for what has now been dubbed the nursing home special :P Legs were heavy from yesterday but no DOMS freshened up by the end.

Gym session went pretty good to and a good solid effort

ecoli

Thursday AM 4 miles easy (7.33 min pace)

Alarm was set last night for a early morning pre work run with the greatest of intentions though once I woke up it took me all the will power I had not to turn over and go back to sleep. Eventually got out and drove to nearby work to my Alma mater for a few easy miles (this morning run was a bigger achievement than Tuesday's run for me)

On this run I got to witness a rare natural phenomenon; the mass migration of Alumnus Shamus in their Ambulatus Mortificatius (i.e walk of shame) ritual. These once proud creatures wearing the traditional garbs of last nights ceremony, decorative clay (now transformed into war paint) and once styled hair now resembling indian war feathers stumbling back to their domiciles in futile attempts to make the elusive "9am lectures"

God I miss college

ecoli

Thursday PM 8 miles easy (7.33 min pace)

It's a bad sign when you are digging into the cheese motivational video's on Youtube for one easy run for the day but for the second time is really taking the pi$$

13 hour work day meant that I hadn't the slightest desire to get out for this one but it had to be done. Only enjoyable thing about this run was finishing

Job done all the same

AuldManKing

ecoli wrote: »

It's a bad sign when you are digging into the cheese motivational video's on Youtube for one easy run for the day but for the second time is really taking the pi$$

My favourite cheese

rom

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL517D2FA99830CB80

ecoli

AuldManKing wrote: »

My favourite cheese

rom wrote: »

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL517D2FA99830CB80

A confirmation that I have spent too much time on youtube given that I have come across the majority of these at one stage or another

ecoli

Friday AM 3 easy, 5x1 mile w/2.30 jog rec, 3 miles easy

Splits: 5.47, 5.45, 5.45, 5.47, 5.42

Feck you E. Coghlan :mad: This loop never gets any easier as into PP for this session to do these reps on the Munich Loop/ Novice XC route for a bit of specificity (though today's weather was stunning and the usual nature of XC season means its gonna rain Mon-Fri next week and completely change it to a mud bath as per usual)

Times themselves are fairly arbitrary outside of the context of the session due to the profile of the loop bit I knew I would be working hard for 5.45-5.50. Was certainly working and by the 4th rep was feeling the legs getting a little rubbery and had to dig in to try and hold the pace. Despite this I felt I had the strength to dig out the extra gear when needed and did so while remaining (relatively) controlled on the last one

Pretty happy with how the session went and starting to string together a few good one's in a row

KielyUnusual

ecoli wrote: »

Friday AM 3 easy, 5x1 mile w/2.30 jog rec, 3 miles easy

Splits: 5.47, 5.45, 5.45, 5.47, 5.42

Feck you E. Coghlan :mad: This loop never gets any easier as into PP for this session to do these reps on the Munich Loop/ Novice XC route for a bit of specificity (though today's weather was stunning and the usual nature of XC season means its gonna rain Mon-Fri next week and completely change it to a mud bath as per usual)

Times themselves are fairly arbitrary outside of the context of the session due to the profile of the loop bit I knew I would be working hard for 5.45-5.50. Was certainly working and by the 4th rep was feeling the legs getting a little rubbery and had to dig in to try and hold the pace. Despite this I felt I had the strength to dig out the extra gear when needed and did so while remaining (relatively) controlled on the last one

Pretty happy with how the session went and starting to string together a few good one's in a row

Hey ecoli, do you have the Garmin link to the loop that you do just out of curiosity? This is the one that we do of a Saturday. Just wondering is it the same or a variation on it?

ecoli

KielyUnusual wrote: »

Hey ecoli, do you have the Garmin link to the loop that you do just out of curiosity? This is the one that we do of a Saturday. Just wondering is it the same or a variation on it?

To my shame I have never hooked the Garmin up to the computer I just use it as a tool during the runs however its a similar enough loop (albeit I see yours has one or two tougher bits) main differences

- Where you go down the dip after the 1st 100m or so I follow on straight over the rolling hills

- Where you follow around the mini forest and back towards magazine fort I turn right (following the worn path) up the little hill and through the forest towards Acres road and turn once I get to the other side and follow back along the grass back towards the magazine fort and join back up with your loop

I'll see if I can get a mapmyrun loop of the course to link though it looks a little more favourable loop than the one you guys do (maybe shouldn't be cursing it as much )

RayCun

its the Dublin Novice XC loop, isn't it?
http://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/233307988

ecoli

RayCun wrote: »

its the Dublin Novice XC loop, isn't it?
http://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/233307988

My memory must be getting foggy or mixing it up with another race I alway thought we headed up a bit further towards the Acres (maybe I am thinking the Garda XC??)

KielyUnusual

RayCun wrote: »

its the Dublin Novice XC loop, isn't it?
http://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/233307988

Thanks a million RayCun. I was wondering what the loop for the race was. Looks a bit easier than the loop we do as it takes out the significant up and down section. Still not easy though!

RayCun

could be
http://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/150443100

ecoli

RayCun wrote: »

could be
http://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/150443100

That's the one I was thinking of alright, I knew I had done it in some race

KielyUnusual

ecoli wrote: »

That's the one I was thinking of alright, I knew I had done it in some race

Yea, the Garda XC route is a lot tougher. Some very bad memories from that course. I'm slightly less intimidated by the XC now. Giving a warm spell for the week so lets hope it doesn't start bucketing down come Thursday or Friday. Very different prospect then :eek:

ecoli

KielyUnusual wrote: »

Yea, the Garda XC route is a lot tougher. Some very bad memories from that course. I'm slightly less intimidated by the XC now. Giving a warm spell for the week so lets hope it doesn't start bucketing down come Thursday or Friday. Very different prospect then :eek:

Dreading it to, us road runners will definitely suffer in a mud bath enviroment for sure I reckon.

Was kinda hoping the weather would be a bit bad today just to get the legs used to it in case

pconn062

ecoli wrote: »

Friday AM 3 easy, 5x1 mile w/2.30 jog rec, 3 miles easy

Splits: 5.47, 5.45, 5.45, 5.47, 5.42

Feck you E. Coghlan :mad: This loop never gets any easier as into PP for this session to do these reps on the Munich Loop/ Novice XC route for a bit of specificity (though today's weather was stunning and the usual nature of XC season means its gonna rain Mon-Fri next week and completely change it to a mud bath as per usual)

Times themselves are fairly arbitrary outside of the context of the session due to the profile of the loop bit I knew I would be working hard for 5.45-5.50. Was certainly working and by the 4th rep was feeling the legs getting a little rubbery and had to dig in to try and hold the pace. Despite this I felt I had the strength to dig out the extra gear when needed and did so while remaining (relatively) controlled on the last one

Pretty happy with how the session went and starting to string together a few good one's in a row

That's a savage session man, big confidence boost with the xc coming up.

ecoli

pconn062 wrote: »

That's a savage session man, big confidence boost with the xc coming up.

A good strength session no doubt and I am feeling strong though it's still early days and I am not getting ahead of myself

- Novice is just shy of 6k so the speed may not be there to compete with some of the 1500/5000 guys on the day (especially as the fast start may knock the stuffing out of me)

- A few wet days and it could screw me up given I am predominantly a road runner and the grass sessions have been on dry hard ground which probably suits me

I'll take it as it comes and if I just get a good solid effort in I will be happy

pconn062

ecoli wrote: »

A good strength session no doubt and I am feeling strong though it's still early days and I am not getting ahead of myself

- Novice is just shy of 6k so the speed may not be there to compete with some of the 1500/5000 guys on the day (especially as the fast start may knock the stuffing out of me)

- A few wet days and it could screw me up given I am predominantly a road runner and the grass sessions have been on dry hard ground which probably suits me

I'll take it as it comes and if I just get a good solid effort in I will be happy

I think the strength you have built up will stand to you more than the speed of the 1500m guys, especially on the sticky course. I think you'll be alright weather wise though, have been keeping an eye on it and it looks likes it going to stay mostly dry (our novice race is Sunday week and I'm already getting agitated!).

ecoli

Saturday 7 miles easy (7.24 min pace)

The excuses were there and came close to not making it out the door for a number of reasons (13 hour work day being just one) but tricked myself into getting out for just a few miles and as I went on a few detours to take me further from the house meant that I finished with a decent run

ecoli

Sunday AM3 miles easy, 16x1 min hills w/ 90 sec jog rec, 3 miles easy

Up just in time for Berlin this morning to start the day the right way, body in a bit of a perpetual fatigued state at the moment with the current workload so the ever present debate of between lazy me and dedicated me pursued however as per usual over the last few days lazy me was put back in his box

Body felt sluggish at first and kinda said to myself if needs be 12 reps would do but thankfully the first half of this session was the worst of it despite the reps getting harder the motivation to finish the session grew rep by rep.

All in all happy with this as the finishing point was within a 5m differential and even though I was finishing at the same point as I did a few weeks back, it was an improvement given that I had a gentle headwind to contend with this morning

ecoli

Monday 4 miles easy (7.21 min pace)

Nothing like an exam to keep you on your toes, however coming off a hellish work weekend and a full day of work it was more a hindrance than anything, still out of the way and got a sneaky run in but bagged second run for sake of an extra hour in bed in evening

Tuesday 10 miles easy (7.31 min pace)

Handy one with one of the club mates, surprisingly legs felt heavy as hell tonight for some reason but wont read too much into it might just be a case of the extra bit of sleep meant the body is catching up.

AuldManKing

Are your exams Physio type exams or (real) Work related??

ecoli

AuldManKing wrote: »

Are your exams Physio type exams or (real) Work related??

These were physio one's. Thankfully no work related exams (well formal ones anyway)

ecoli

Wednesday AM 2 easy, 4x200, 2x400, 800, 2x400, 4x200, 800, 3 easy

Recoveries: 90 sec jog (200m)

Splits:
33,33,32,33
74, 71
2.19
74, 76,
33,33,33,34
2.42

First time back on a track since about end of July. This is one of my favourite tune up race sessions and is a decent bench marker as I do it a couple of times a year. To be honest didn't know what to expect though given that all sessions have been on road or grass.

Aim is just turnover for alot of the workout with a good hard 800m in the middle and then return to turnover, in that sense its always the 400m after the 8 that I fear simply because the legs are a little rubbery after the 800.

Target for the 8 was around 2.22-2.23 which would be in or around fastest I had done this session so was delighted to do a sub 2.20 for the first time in the session. Bit of a lapse in concentration for the last 400 where I just took my eye off the ball a little but overall very happy with the splits.

Finished the usual session and as I was coming around to the end of my recovery saw the duke on the last rep of his workout so I figured I would jump in as a pacer for the last 800m. Worked out well as it meant my session ended up finishing on roughly race effort for it, mind you given it was the slowest pace of the day felt very comfortable.

ecoli

Wednesday PM 40 min gym + 15 min plyometrics

Thursday Evening 4 miles easy (7.23 min mile pace)
Thursday PM 6 miles easy (7.25 min mile pace)

Quick turn around between runs for this (2 hours) as this was a bit of a runmute. Calves fairly fried from the plyo stuff but thankfully no DOMS so thank god for small miracles

ecoli

Friday 4 miles easy (7.42 min mile pace)

Plan was for 6 but to be honest I didn't have six in me, this was a struggle. Bad day at the office but not to worried have fairly good idea of what caused me to feel pretty weak/crap

ThebitterLemon

ecoli wrote: »

Friday 4 miles easy (7.42 min mile pace)

Plan was for 6 but to be honest I didn't have six in me, this was a struggle. Bad day at the office but not to worried have fairly good idea of what caused me to feel pretty weak/crap

Don't be blaming my paranoid psycho ranting to you for your off day

TbL