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BeepBeep67

Tues: Easy 5k recovery run

Dublin Athletics Board - Graded Meet #3 - 1 Mile
4 races in May and 4 races impacted by wind, but them's the cards you get dealt. So had a revised target of about 5:05 for tonight.
This series really is pretty slick, you turn up, enter and your race will start pretty close to the advertised time. I arrived just after 7 and was registered and changed and ready to warm up by 20 past for an 8pm start. Got a solid warm up in of about 4k between jogging and drills and felt pretty good and relaxed.
Lined up in a field of about 12-13 in grade D in position 9 and after some early jostling that's about where I settled in about 9th place sitting behind 2 guys to get some shelter and 2 further groups of 3 broke away, went through the 1st lap+ in 76 feeling pretty comfortable, felt the pace in my group was slowing so passed one on the back straight and one coming off the bend to go through 2 laps in 2:33. Felt like I had company behind and received a few welcome shouts from stands, so I just focussed on my form and used the tail wind on the back straight to open up and quickly closed on 6th with my momentum taking me past on the bend and 5th place closely followed as we took the bell in 3:50, right down the back straight I was closing on 3rd and 4th and I pushed on coming off the bend and after closing briefly my 44 year old legs were no match for the 2 whipper snappers ahead of me and I missed 3rd by about 2 secs and I clocked 5:06 by my watch.
So the sub 5 attempt gets shelved for a little while and hopefully there will be some calmer evenings ahead in Summer where I can give it another bash.

BeepBeep67

Handy trot around Shanganagh with a couple of buds. 10k in 46:30. Left calf a little tight from last night, the Trig awaits.

BeepBeep67

With the 4 races in May behind me it was back to some serious training this evening. Met up with a clubie in Shanganagh for 2 x 3 k @ Interval Tempo pace which for me was a target of 11 mins. 1st one felt pretty comfortable and I came home in 10:54, and after what felt like the shortest 3 mins of my life it was on with rep #2, struggled a little on the 2nd k but found a 2nd wind and got it back together to finish in 10:50.
This ones a toughie but will be in the schedule a couple of times a month.
Total 10.3k in 45:30

BeepBeep67

Put my AK vouchers to good use this morning:

Inov-8 F-Lite 230: Elite lightweight racing flat ideal for use on hard pack mountainous terrain and shorter distance races. Has a low profile midsole with sticky rubber outsole. Radical design provides good upper support while the patent pending fascia-band™ aids propulsion efficiency of the running cycle.

Looking forward to hitting the trails with them

BeepBeep67

Sat: Only had time to squeeze in a short one, 4 miles @ 8min pace

Sun: Recce of legs 3 & 4 of the Wicklow Way Relay. Met at Glendalough at 7:40, ditched a car and headed to Oldbridge which we eventually found thanks to Woddle's Sony navigation system which probably last had a map update around the Viking era , dropped a car there and then headed to Lough Tay where we stepped out of the car and were nearly blown to Curtlestown, so once we developed a 45 degree running style we were on our way.
Leg 3 is straight forward enough and quite undulating, there's a key turn to the right about halfway, which is worth revisiting as with some severe deforestation it's looks completely different from before - thankfully Woodle's up to date Garmin kept us on track here, the next section is the 'technical' section of this leg, where you really only need to keep an eye on your footing, but with the wind to contend with that made it tricky, fantastic views of the lakes here:

A couple of areas to watch and severral stiles and gates to navigate and then it's a quick downhill to the change over. Left Woddle (running back to Lough Tay) and Maria here and myself and Fin continued.
Leg 4 starts with a bang with about 800mts straight uphill on the road, which could easily have the HR climbing and breathing struggling (warm up advised for anyone on this leg). There's a turn at 2.2k which takes you back off road along a gravel access road for some houses and it's a nice touch to see a sign for water where one of the houses have given access to their outside tap, don't think anyone will need it on this leg though, although there's a nice climb again just after this, over a couple of gates and then more climbing as you run along by some woods. A nice downhill section follows with great views of the Roundwood lakes to the left and you whizz past a viewing area before heading across the plains which could be potentially fast, but not today as the wind was at it's strongest here, trying to encourage us to take a beeline towards Glendalough. A nice quick and technical downhill follows and then we hit some fast trails navigate a road to cross which leads to a lovely wooded section, before boom another stiff climb (this is the leg that just keeps giving), you get the feeling you have reached the peak with about 2.5k to go, but soon after you are 'rewarded' with another rocky climb and then it's fun and games all the way to the finish as you duck and weave down a tight trail crossing one more road and then popping out opposite the Glendalough Hotel. Followed Slogger's advice here and continued over the bridge and onto the leg end.

Total 17.5k at a handy pace.

WTD: 67.5 [42.0]
MTD: 205.9 [128.0]
YTD: 1363.9 [847.7]
Races YTD: 14 [5 x M40 PB's]

RacoonQueen

So if Woddle hodn't chickened out he'd have done pretty much the same distance anyway? :pac:

Woddle

RacoonQueen wrote: »

So if Woddle hodn't chickened out he'd have done pretty much the same distance anyway? :pac:

Yep but at a pace that suited.

BeepBeep67

Mon just a 40 min recovery run in Shanganagh, legs felt wrecked rest of me was fine and dandy.


Tues met with 3 others for 6x1k with 2min rec @ 5k pace, target was 3:34. This felt very comfortable on a nice evening although still breezy. Hit the splits in 3:35, 3:31, 3:31, 3:29, 3:25, 3:16 for an average of 3:28. All is good.

BeepBeep67

Yesterday 5 miles easy @ 7:46 pace.

This evening: Met up with a local runner and headed for Carrick to do a farlek session of sorts. You have a 1 mile jog up to where a 1.5 mile lap begins and after about 600mts of a jog you then have a nice 850mt climb with about 50mts of ascent, before a 2 min recovery over about 400mts and then a nice flat/downhill section for 300mt to get the legs turning over and then back to lap start. Ran the loop 4 times, not flat out on faster sections but enough to get the body working, concentrating on form.
So a total of 12.95k with 276mts of climbing.

BeepBeep67

Coming to the end of a solid May and the body was looking forward to a nice recovery run on the lovely surface that is Shanganagh and that's exactly what I treated it to.
10.32k @ 5:06 pace.

shels4ever

You've had a very solid month indeed, I'm expecting some good times from you this summer. Will have my work cut out to get any way near winning that bet more so since i'm training for longer stuff and will only run 1 3k this summer.

BeepBeep67

shels4ever wrote: »

You've had a very solid month indeed, I'm expecting some good times from you this summer. Will have my work cut out to get any way near winning that bet more so since i'm training for longer stuff and will only run 1 3k this summer.

Are you following a Lydiard program with all those base miles?

shels4ever

Well actually following a Roadrunner program, but the base miles is to get ready to handle the marathon training when it starts about 12 weeks out. With my history with injury with the faster session it seems to be the way to go and if I can stay injury free then I think I can run fast.

Have no idea what my plan is more then a week in advanced but just have the similar views to trr as to what I need but needed some outside input.

Will see how it all goes on the 25th Sept but so far so good.

BeepBeep67

Bust day ahead so just 10k in 49mins to kick start the day.

BeepBeep67

Fighting off a head cold and chesty cough since Thurs evening, no issue running yet, mainly in the mornings, evenings and post run, so giving it the honey, lemon and vitC treatment to see how it goes.

Today up early to do a leaflet drop for the MM next week and popped into Shanganagh on the way home, felt a littlle tired, but the plan was only 8k easy with 6 strides so no drama.

WTD: 71.5 [44.4]
MTD: 277.4 [172.4]
YTD: 1435.4 [892.1]
Races YTD: 14 [5 x M40 PB's]

BeepBeep67

Mon: Felt cr@p I had turned into a mucas production unit, but stuck to the plan and ran 4k easy.

BHAA Dunboyne 5 Mile
Not a great nights sleep last night with a fit of coughing between 2-3, but actually felt ok when I got up at 6am and was planning to play it by ear regarding tonight's race.
It's never the right frame of mind going into a race thinking, I'll see how I feel before leaving work and decide if I'll run, I'll do a warm up and see how it goes, run to plan for a few miles and ease off if I don't feel right!
Anyway got a warm up in of about 4k, felt a bit lethargic but otherwise the body was good and I was shifting gunk out my nose like a water nurf.
Garmin data is all over the shop as I lost reception just before the off and recorded a max speed of 82.7km/h in the 1st mile - so I'm going by memory on the mile splits. The start is very congested and made even more so with the cars that were parked there and after a few minutes of squeezing everyone back we were off.
First 400mts or so was carnage and probably a lot of wasted energy here dodging and finding gaps, but once you hit the back roads it's easy running from there. I settled as quick as I could and the plan was to run 5:50 for the first mile and then settle into 5:55's which would bring me in sub 29:30. That first mile came and went in 5:47 and I was just concentrating on my own rythym as the bodies were coming back and going past 5:54 (11:41), mile had a little battle going with a guy in red and we pulled in 3 or 4 places to clock 5:52 (17:33), I knew I was on for a PB now and even 2x6min miles would get me there and even though I was breathing heavy with the effects of the cold I pushed on and passed another 4 on this mile to go through 4 in 23:30, had worked hard on that mile and was feeling it in the legs, but I concentrated on my form and was surprised to be still reeling in bodies, was spent with 1/2 mile to go and a quick check of the watch showed 26:28 so I went on a long wind up talking 2 more before turning into the track to take one more on the bend to finish in 29:19 - 5:48 for the last mile and and knock 18 secs off my M40 PB - job done.
Good few Boardies around tonight, a cracking run by Pronator sub 27 and Shels finishing strong and ahead of target and a good turnout by the Bray gang. B Big queue for the spread - which I had to jump and grap a few scraps for the car - well done Dunboyne.
Great race, I'm thinking sub 29 next year.

Krusty_Clown

Nice one on the PB. What's your pre-m40 5 mile PB?

BeepBeep67

Never ran one as junior, but had 33 for 10k, so probably close to 26.
Official PB is from Raheny '97 I think 27:29.

Krusty_Clown

BeepBeep67 wrote: »

Never ran one as junior, but had 33 for 10k, so probably close to 26.
Official PB is from Raheny '97 I think 27:29.

Feck.

That is all...

BeepBeep67

Nice trot around the UCD campus on their trails, quite humid and got a bit of a sweat on even though I was only tipping along, had 2 fly in the eye incidents on the 1st lap, so had to lash on the Oakleys for the 2nd lap :cool: - 12.2k in 1hr.

BeepBeep67

What an evening and what a difference from May - here comes Summer (fingers and everything else crossed). Luke was going to Kick Boxing so I dropped him down and headed out along the Murrough for a nice stretch the legs 10k, sunshine and a pleasant breeze for company and apart from a dog running out in front of me (he came off worse) it was an incident free 46 minutes.

BeepBeep67

With the evening that was in it, it seemed a shame to run laps of Shanganagh, so I took a diversion and headed for Ballinastoe woods - great decision! Really enjoyable run taking in the scenery and apart from a few crinklys out for a stroll I did not meet anyone else. Headed up the wide fire track and seen some severe deforestation - sad to see and then when I hit the Wicklow Way I headed out towards Curtlestown for a little bit along the boardwalk - fantastic view of Lough Tay here shimmering in the distance down to the left.

Before heading on a little longer getting a surprised reflexology session thanks to the U Nails on the boardwalk and my minamilist Inov-8's, before doing a uturn and heading back to Ballinastone where I caught a glimpse of the Roundwood lakes peaking through the trees.

Don't think you could see these before, but you can see the impacts from the agressive felling.
Nice downhill section to finish before popping out on the road to make up 10k, sms'd the OH to get the Barbie on and settled into some post run recovery.

10k @ 4:52 pace.

BeepBeep67

Nice handy tea time run on Carrick, nothing much to report, took it handy on the way up and let gravity dictate on the way back down, splits went between 5:41 and 4:08.
11k @ 4:53 pace.

BeepBeep67

Up at 5:15 for MM duties - back home at 11 after a cheeky full Irish and hit the hay for an hour, wasn't really sure what I wanted to do so kinda made this one up as I went along, need to run longish but also needed a bit of a workout - so this ended up being a progression run of sorts.

• 2k in 9:04 (4:32pace)
• 4k in 17:20 (4:20pace)
• 2k in 8:18 (4:09pace)
• 2k in 8:00 (4:00pace)
• 2k in 7:52 (3:56pace) - 10k in 41:28 (4:09pace)
• 4.1k 18:57 (4:37pace)

This was an enjoyable run, with no set agenda and just cranking it up a little as I went along - had pleantly left in the tank.
16.1k in 1:09:35 (4:19pace)

WTD: 78.3 [48.7]
MTD: 59.3 [36.8]
YTD: 1513.7 [940.8]
Races YTD: 15 [6 x M40 PB's]

shels4ever

BeepBeep67 wrote: »

full Irish and hit the hay for an hour,[/B]

That was my treat for the weekend today too, but the OH decided that after saying she didn't want any it was ok to eat most of mine ... So was more of a .5 irish for me.

BeepBeep67

She's only looking out for you

BeepBeep67

Final recce of Leg8 tonight with Slogger, Pronator and one more, got a little wet but could've been worse having gone through a hail storm about 5 mins before the off.

BeepBeep67

Just an inbetweenie session today with the race on Saturday - kind of a half session and one I've done pre race before.

• 3.2k warm up
• 2k @ 10k pace [3:43, 3:42]
• 200 rec
• 1.5k @ 10k pace [3:44, 1:53]
• 200 rec
• 1k @ 10k pace [3:40]
• 2k warm down

Total 10.13k @4:36 pace, easy running and strides now until the weekend.

BeepBeep67

Nice gentile run along the Murrough this evening just letting my thoughts wander to little yellow men and cow slop, the hardest part of this run was keeping my pace in check to run at the planned 5min per k pace and I had to keep shortening my stride, but got there in the end for 8k @ 5:01 pace.

BeepBeep67

Nice and easy 5k trot done, body in recovery mode now.