Becoming a Real Runner

Mr Slow

RayCun wrote: »

They probably will be, but do you really want to find out with 90 minutes still to run? I'm sure you have lots and lots of shoes that are just as pretty :pac:

Ray shhh, nobody advises 'The Leader' you should know that!:pac:

chinguetti

Anyone running with the 4 hrs pacers on Monday, please note that Meno has pretty runners.

So when/if the going gets tough, follow the pretty runners wherever they may lead. He'll make McGrattans for a little after 2pm.

menoscemo

Wednesday 26th
5 miles recovery 9:08 pace (131 HR). As has been happenning after a lot of my track sessions recently, my hips were very sore and the hamstrings felt quite tight. Felt stiff to begin the run but seemed to loosen out at the end. Lots of stretching afterwards.

Thursday 27th
The plan was to do 6 miles at 10k pace (2miles x 1 + 4x1 mile with 5 and 3 minutes recovery respectively).

There was a great buzz about the club with so many doing the Marathon on monday. I did a warm up with a few of the lads (2.3 miles @ 8:44) before heading back to the track for the intervals.

I couldn't get going at all, the legs felt sluggish and I was feeling the hamstrings. I wasn't going much faster than HM pace so decided during the first mile that I would be doing 3 x2 mile cruise intervals. I did the first 2 miles (6:43, 6:44) and stopped for a jog and immediately felt a sharp pain at the top of my right hamstring, near the hip. Stretched a bit and did a slow lap with a few others but it was still sore so i called it a day early :mad:. I'm regretting doing those 2 400's after tuesdays workout now.

4.9 miles for the day

Friday 28th
No running, I went to RQ for a diagnosis. I haven't torm anything but seemed to have bruised my hamstring in a few places (I think :rolleyes:). She proceeded to destroy my 'good' leg worse thatn the bad one so I couldn't remember where the original pain was :pac:

Saturday 29th
Picked up pair of white compression shorts after my 2hr stint on the pacer stand at the expo (quite tiring in itself).
Tested them out with a short run:
3.2 miles. I can still feel the hamstring but it's not too bad. at a slow pace it shouldn't be a problem

Sunday 30th
Another short run like yesterday 3.5 miles @ 8:27. Ran without the compressions shorts no bother, so I should be fine tomorrow. Legs a little heavy, the left leg (the good one) is showing up several bruises from fridays Physio :mad:.

Weekly total 5 runs 26 miles


Month|No. of days Runnning|Miles
January|28/31|256.3
February|24/28|236.9
March|23/31|221.9
April|22/30|150.2
May|25/31|198.5
June|24/30|173.2
July|28/31|269.4
August|23/31|237.6
September|22/30|200
October|25/30|161.1
Total|238/298|2145.7

seanynova

enjoy pacing tomorrow!

claralara

Hey! Fagan! Check out my race tshirt - pic on my log!

menoscemo

Monday 31st October- DCM 4 hour pacing
26.45 miles in 3:59:22 (9:03 min/mile)
Preparation for this was less than ideal unfortunately. I set the alarm for 7am with a taxi booked for 7:40 to bring me to the Conrad for a pacer meeting at 8.
A few drinks the night before but nothing mental, I was in bed by 11pm and got a good 8 hours sleep, but I totally miscalculated times and by the time the taxi man rang I was only just in my pacing gear and had had no breakfast I grabbed and apple and a bar from the goody bag and headed down. Unfortunately the bar had almonds (I'm allergic to nuts) so I only had an apple and a coffee I got at the hotel before the start line. I also only packed 3 gels, d'oh!.

The race itself was great. Met loads of people on the start line and there was loads of banter. I knew from experience that the mile markers were erratic over the first few miles, so I took off autolap and hit the lap button manually to record the miles. As you can see from the link, some miles are much longer than others: (e.g. Mile 1 was 0.94, mile 2 was 1.09 and mile 4 was 1.05 :rolleyes:) made the pacing quite difficult and we had to run faster than 4hour pace to keep on target.
I had to take my first gel on 4 miles as I was starving .

Myself Oisin, and Cristeb took turns at the from off the pacing pack over the first third of the race, but I found myself in the front of the pack about a third of the way through and passed the 8 mile marker about 20 seconds down on my 4hr pace band. I wasn't sure if it was as a result of a long mile, or just a long course, but decided to take advantage of a nice downhill section before the hill at Sarsfield rd and upped the pace to 8:40ish, before coaxing the group slowly up the hill. I Opened up a 10-15 second gap on the other 2 pacers at this point, which I unfortunately maintained all the way to about 21 miles. I kept looking back to see the other 2 lads about 50m behind, but i was afraid to drop the pace as I was only ever a few seconds up or down on the pacing target....At one stage I looked back coming up through Crumlin only to get a tightness in my hamstring, I was a bit nervous about this but managed to loosen it up with a few shakes of the leg.

One of the highlights of the race at this stage was passing the 'mankini man' I had to warn everyone to look away but of course they did the opposite and the results was quite a few screams from the more sensitive souls :pac:

I had quite a big group around me at this stage including claralara who was running really strong. i spent most of the time chatting but also roaring to the crowd 'come on the 4's' as we passed big bunches of spectators.

Claralara pushed on at about 14 miles only to take another 6 minutes off her time :eek:, I met chinguetti a few miles later and he pushed on to join up with CL.

By 20 miles I had long since taken all my gels and was happy to take up any offers of fruit or jellies from the spectators. It was a big job coaxing the runners up through Clonskeagh and up Roebuck hill as most were panting furiously and some were out on their feet, however I told them to get through the next few miles and it was all downhill. Over roebuck and thankfully I was rejoined by Cristeb and Oisin as we approached the N11. I was glad Crsiteb was able to take on some of my shouting duties as by this stage I was low on energy and shouting was giving me dizzy spells . Despite the fact I was pacing not racing and the pace and HR were nice and easy, it was probably the closest I have come to actually running out of Glycogen in a race, due to my own stupidity and lack of preparation :rolleyes:

Despite this I really enjoyed the last few miles and the crowds around beggars Bush and the back of trinity were immense -the hairs really stood up on the back of my neck in a few places. Down the home straight myself and Cristeb did a little backwards running as we roared the final few pacees over the line, and it was great to be thanked by so many people in the finishing chute. One of my highlights of the day though was definitely devouring the Isotonic drink and Aerobar from the finish line goodie bag :pac:

After a shower in the hotel it was down to the pub to meet loads of other boardises. There were so Many great performances and stories from so many people that I'll not even try to list them all here, as I’d surely forget someone and offend them.

Tuesday 1st November
Recovery run: 4.6 miles @ 9:20 pace
Surprisingly the legs feel fine, I might even be ok for My tempo run on thursday.

I have however decided to run no more marathons until The Donadea 50k in February- 12 this year already and it is really affecting my training I think, detrimentally so. The goal for the moment is the half in waterford and I want to get all my quality session done between now and then. I am registered for the Eddie Murphy Memorial 30 miler in Sixmilebridge in a fortnight, but I am going to have to give it a miss. In memory of Eddie and to supprt the race I'll still go down and run about 15 miles as an LSR (it's a 1 mile lap course).

wtd 2 runs 31 miles


Month|No. of days Runnning|Miles
January|28/31|256.3
February|24/28|236.9
March|23/31|221.9
April|22/30|150.2
May|25/31|198.5
June|24/30|173.2
July|28/31|269.4
August|23/31|237.6
September|22/30|200
October|26/31|187.5
November|1/1|4.6 miles
Total|240/300|2176.7

kennyb3

Jaysis Niall a run the day after - your a metronome. Havent been around too much but meant to say fair play on the 5k pb, well deserved.

TheRoadRunner

Would not be better off putting the marathons aside for a year and really give it a lash. Donadea is only 3.5 months away hardly a massive gap. Need to think of your long term goals And figure the best way of achieving them.

Oisin11178

http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/52966442

menoscemo

TheRoadRunner wrote: »

Would not be better off putting the marathons aside for a year and really give it a lash. Donadea is only 3.5 months away hardly a massive gap. Need to think of your long term goals And figure the best way of achieving them.

I hear ya, but I am signed up for Donadea and Conn Ultra again. Conn ultra is the goal for the first half of the year again, I am hoping to get under 5hrs 30- may not mean much to most but I reckon it is a pretty good time and very competitive in the field (would have placed top 20 last year and only 1 'chicking' )

Maybe next year I'll take your advice. I'm hoping with this years base I can keep the mileage that I did last winter while not neglecting on quality sessions.

menoscemo

Wednesday 2nd
5.8 miles @ 8:56 Legs still ropey. I decided I wouldn't be doing any speed wrk until at least the weekend

Thursday 3rd
7.3 miles @ 8:37. Run home from work, predominantly downhill. I didn't check the garmin until near the end, It felt like I was doing 8 min/mile , still not much power.

Friday 4th
7.4 miles @ 9:15. Back into work, predominantly uphill, Less than 12 hours since the last run but the legs felt much better. pace is slow because I hate running first thing and had no breakfast.


Saturday 5th- Tempo Run
13.3 miles @ 7:50 average. Half Marathon specific work out. I did a nice long lap of Phoenix park to warm up (guts of 7 miles). The pace was 8:20ish for little effort so I knew the legs were pretty much back to normal. Launched into 5 Miles at Goal HMP, they went 6:46, 6:57, 6:50, 6:50, 6:47. I'm pleased with this, the last mile was tough as it was straight into a wind and I had to push, but up to that the HR was about 164-167 which I know is easily sustainable for a Half Marathon. Cool down of 1.5 miles at 8:20ish pace.

wtd 6 runs 64.8 miles


Month|No. of days Runnning|Miles
January|28/31|256.3
February|24/28|236.9
March|23/31|221.9
April|22/30|150.2
May|25/31|198.5
June|24/30|173.2
July|28/31|269.4
August|23/31|237.6
September|22/30|200
October|26/31|187.5
November|5/5|38.4 miles
Total|244/304|2210.5[/QUOTE]

Woddle

Good stuff meno, I beeped at you yesterday but you were in the zone.
Whats the half PB?

menoscemo

Woddle wrote: »

Good stuff meno, I beeped at you yesterday but you were in the zone.
Whats the half PB?

I'd say it's more of a case that I was listening to Newstalk...you musy have been up early?

PB is 1:31:50, which is bang on 7 min/mile. Did it on the Waterford course last January. I'm just hoping for anything under 1:30 in December.

Woddle

menoscemo wrote: »

I'd say it's more of a case that I was listening to Newstalk...you musy have been up early?

PB is 1:31:50, which is bang on 7 min/mile. Did it on the Waterford course last January. I'm just hoping for anything under 1:30 in December.

I was getting the car ready for it's NCT.
That tempo session shows you're on track anyway.

menoscemo

Woddle wrote: »

I was getting the car ready for it's NCT.
That tempo session shows you're on track anyway.

I see you have fast stuff next week. Will you be hitting the track on Tuesday or Thursday?

Woddle

menoscemo wrote: »

I see you have fast stuff next week. Will you be hitting the track on Tuesday or Thursday?

No I'm committed to helping with the juveniles now. I've got next weeks plan and it's only one day fast, 14-20 by 30 secs.

menoscemo

Sunday 6th
3.5 miles recovery. Just a Jog around the block to flush out the lactic

weekly total 7 runs 68.3 miles

Monday 7th
6.8 miles @ 8min/mile. The intention is to get all my 'easy' and long runs to down around this pace. I had to actively stop myself running slower (i have a lazy tendancy to run easy runs at recovery effort) at first but got into a nice rythm. The effort was still fairly low (144 avHR- but actually about 142 excluding the garmin spikes in the first two miles), which shows I can sustain this pace for a long long time. This is the pace I intend to go out in the Conn ultra at.

Tuesday 8th
Session: 10 x 800m @ 5k pace (2 minute recoveries). Warm up of 1.7 miles and then onto the track. I first tried this session about 6 weeks but only managed 6 reps. Tonight I finally finished the workout and felt a lot more comfortable tonight than I did after the 6 reps back then- so I am very please with the progress .

Reps went: 3:00, 3:03, 3:04, 3:03, 3:03, 3:04, 3:03, 3:03, 3:04, 3:03

8.5 miles total

WTD 2 Runs 15.3 miles


Month|No. of days Runnning|Miles
January|28/31|256.3
February|24/28|236.9
March|23/31|221.9
April|22/30|150.2
May|25/31|198.5
June|24/30|173.2
July|28/31|269.4
August|23/31|237.6
September|22/30|200
October|26/31|187.5
November|8/8|57.2 miles
Total|247/307|2229.3

Mr Slow

Just asking so don't bite my head off:

As 10 x 800m is relatively comfortable for you, would 5 x 1 mile @ 5k pace be a more effective session? or to put it another way, your next step?

menoscemo

Mr Slow wrote: »

Just asking so don't bite my head off:

As 10 x 800m is relatively comfortable for you, would 5 x 1 mile @ 5k pace be a more effective session? or to put it another way, your next step?

Why would I bite your head off?

I wouldn't say it was dead comfortable, it was pretty tough. Ecoli says, you should always finish a session thinking you could do one more and thats the feeeling I had on tuesday. When i first did 6 reps 6 weeks ago, I was out on my feet for the last one and the times were slowing each rep.

I am not expert enough to come up with a more varied plan on my own tbh...I have only just reached 10 for the first time at this pace (still a fair bit faster than my actual 5k pace by the way) so my intention is to consolidate this session for a few weeks. I know that consistency is a big key to training so i am going to stick to that maxim.

After another go or two at 10 x800m, I'll cut the rest between reps from 120 seconds to 90 seconds and then concentrate on getting the times of the reps down to under 3 minutes per rep. If I can do that I will still be pushing myself harder each week and know that I am still progressing.

Mr Slow

menoscemo wrote: »

After another go or two at 10 x800m, I'll cut the rest between reps from 120 seconds to 90 seconds and then concentrate on getting the times of the reps down to under 3 minutes per rep. If I can do that I will still be pushing myself harder each week and know that I am still progressing.

That makes sense, the only thing I've noticed is that a lot of programs increase the distance of the rep rather than the speed of the interval to have you running for longer in each one at Vo2 max but I'm open to correction on that one.

menoscemo

Mr Slow wrote: »

That makes sense, the only thing I've noticed is that a lot of programs increase the distance of the rep rather than the speed of the interval to have you running for longer in each one at Vo2 max but I'm open to correction on that one.

I already do longer intervals every other Thursday (alternated with a tempo run) they are 6 miles in total (hoping to hit 3 x 2miles tonight but have been doing some 2miles mixed with some 1miles). 800m are already long enough reps for VO2 max (I think). I know that speed is not my issue, rather speed endurance, so that's why I am concentrating on doing a large number of longers type intervals and Tempo runs.

Mr Slow

menoscemo wrote: »

I already do longer intervals every other Thursday (alternated with a tempo run) they are 6 miles in total (hoping to hit 3 x 2miles tonight but have been doing some 2miles mixed with some 1miles). 800m are already long enough reps for VO2 max (I think). I know that speed is not my issue, rather speed endurance, so that's why I am concentrating on doing a large number of longers type intervals and Tempo runs.

There's a whole lot going on there, is that part of the McMillan 10k program?

menoscemo

Mr Slow wrote: »

There's a whole lot going on there, is that part of the McMillan 10k program?

Yeah the idea of the longer intervals is from Mcmillan 10k programme, I never really finished that programme properly last time :rolleyes:. If I don't quite hit 10k pace in them i am not too worried though, as long as it's faster than HM pace I am quite happy (the McMillan Programme does not include 800m intervals 2 nights before).

As you can see, I am making a lot of this up, but concentrating on what i think my weaknesses are, I could really do with a bit of guidance or with the club sessions starting up again (at the moment there are just a few people doing their own thing- most are still recovering from DCM).

Mr Slow

menoscemo wrote: »

Yeah the idea of the longer intervals is from Mcmillan 10k programme, I never really finished that programme properly last time :rolleyes:. If I don't quite hit 10k pace in them i am not too worried though, as long as it's faster than HM pace I am quite happy (the McMillan Programme does not include 800m intervals 2 nights before).

As you can see, I am making a lot of this up, but concentrating on what i think my weaknesses are, I could really do with a bit of guidance or with the club sessions starting up again (at the moment there are just a few people doing their own thing- most are still recovering from DCM).

Yep it's hard to find the right balance of specific intensive training to recovery but 2 hard sessions in 3 days is a lot, possibly counter productive?

menoscemo

Mr Slow wrote: »

Yep it's hard to find the right balance of specific intensive training to recovery but 2 hard sessions in 3 days is a lot, possibly counter productive?

I Dunno? But I can push the thursday session to a friday or else the Tuesday one back to Monday if I am struggling on the 2nd session. Tonight will be agood indicator of whether it is too much or not.

Mr Slow

menoscemo wrote: »

I Dunno? But I can push the thursday session to a friday or else the Tuesday one back to Monday if I am struggling on the 2nd session. Tonight will be agood indicator of whether it is too much or not.

I thought this was an ongoing thing, enjoy your running, I'll be sitting here medicating!

menoscemo

Mr Slow wrote: »

I thought this was an ongoing thing, enjoy your running, I'll be sitting here medicating!

I do enjoy it.

stipes212

I do enjoy it.

THIS

menoscemo

Wednesday 9th
5.7 miles recovery (9:18 pace). Nice run around Tymaon woith Aimman (HR 130)

Thursday 10th
Session: 2.2 mile warm up, followed by 3 x 2 miles at Threshold pace on the track. 2 mile reps went: (6:44, 6:39), (6:44, 6:35), (6:44, 6:39). These went really well and I felt like I could have done a few more. The plan was to go out handy enough and speed up over the last few laps which worked well as the second mile was significantly faster than the first each time. 5 minutes jog recovery was probably way too much for this session so I'll look to take it down to about 3 minutes next time.
10miles total for the night

Friday
Was hoping to get out for a run a luchtime but I never got a chance . Went to see the match in town after work.

Saturday 12th
6.3 miles @ 8:24 pace. Little bit hungover, but the effort still felt way too high for the pace (150 av HR)

Sunday 13th
13.6 miles @ 8:40 pace. Group run, met up with a load of folks this morning and we split into two groups. I did all of my run with Figs, we had chinguetti and Gizzly??? for company for about 5 miles as well. A lot of the run was through muddy trails so the pace sliped a touch, the efort still felt a little tough for the pace though (150 avhr again). Hopefully I am not coming down with something.

Weekly total 6 Runs 51.9 miles

Good weeks training overall.

Month|No. of days Runnning|Miles
January|28/31|256.3
February|24/28|236.9
March|23/31|221.9
April|22/30|150.2
May|25/31|198.5
June|24/30|173.2
July|28/31|269.4
August|23/31|237.6
September|22/30|200
October|26/31|187.5
November|12/13|92.8
Total|251/312|2264.9

Oisin11178

Was hoping to get upto the park for this one. Had a lie in, in the end. Did 15 at 8.25 in the end. Did you find it very hot today?. I was sweating buckets.