From Connemara to Galway (maybe)

littlebug

I don’t travel far

My first log brought me from zero to the Connemara Half Marathon so it’s time for a new log and new targets.
Current PBs.
5k – 28.16 (June 2009)
8k- 45.30 (August 2009)
10k- 57.53 (Jan 2010)
10 mile- 1.40 (March 2010)
13.1 mile- 2.22 (April 2010)

Looking at that it looks like I’m getting slower over time. Injury and a winter of treadmill rather than road runs seemed to stall any progress I had been making. Following this with training for running longer rather than faster means there has been little to no speedwork in recent months. I’m also a little heavier than I was last summer so I aim to cut the crAp and lose 5-7 lbs over the summer. Next up are the Galway 5k series races starting with Athenry next week so hopefully I’ll pb in at least one of them! After that I’m considering the Galway City (Half) Marathon in August which, being somewhat flatter than Connemara, I would aim to finish in under 2.15.
In the grand scheme of things I know I’m slow but hey it’s all relative

RedB

Best of luck with the new log and the training for the Galway HM littlebug.
Slow, schmow - its the getting out there that's the point. Enjoy .

littlebug

I'm trying out the orthotics again now that the effects of Connemara have gone. My toe still feels sore sometimes but I really only feel it when I'm walking or driving and rarely when I'm running. Nonetheless there is still something going on. I decided to have a short run in the woods for minimal impact on their first outing. This turned into a sort of interval type run (really because I started out wayyyy too fast and had to stop so I just decided to keep going that way ). Orthotics felt odd but better running than walking. In terms of the run.... 3 miles..ish at various paces faster than my norm with breaks (stop and walk breaks) to recover and also to help lost Americans find their way :rolleyes:

asimonov

Hi littlebug,

Good luck with the new log. Are you following a half marathon plan? What will a typical week of training look like?

Blueskye

Best of luck with the new log Littlebug. Don't be worrying about the speed, the main thing is that you're out there training and enjoying it. (that's what I tell myself anyway )

littlebug

asimonov wrote: »

Hi littlebug,

Good luck with the new log. Are you following a half marathon plan? What will a typical week of training look like?

Straight in with the hard questions Asimonov! No harm.... it's made me think about structuring the training more as it has all been a bit haphazard lately.

The Galway 5k series lasts from next week to 1st June so for those weeks I'll be concentrating on the shorter stuff. I've let my club membership slide and haven't been at track sessions which is where I was getting some speedwork in last year so I'll have to rethink that one... maybe the treadmill is the way to go for intervals?
So for the next 6 weeks the plan is something like-

Monday- rest
Tuesday- 5k race
Wed- rest/ cross?
Thursday-Intervals
Friday= 4-5m tempo
Saturday- LSR- 6-7m
Sunday - Cross

I would aim to average 20m per week
I'll keep the lsr short for those weeks. After that I'll have 12 weeks to the Half Marathon so I would plan to slip in to a Hal Higdon-esque plan at that stage....somewhere between novice and intermediate. I think 5 days running would be a bit much to be honest but I really do need to work on the cross training. I tend to have running days and rest days at the minute Depending on dates I may do the streets of Galway 8k in there somewhere.

Last year I ran 5 x9.03 miles in Streets of Galway. Now I struggle to run 1 x 9 min mile so I "hope" by the end of the 5k series to have regained some (so called) speed. The phenomenon of getting naturally faster just by running more doesn't seem to apply to me
Advice welcome!

BTW Asimonov well done in Connemara!

meathcountysec

Just looking at your proposed training schedule for next few weeks.

Monday- rest
Tuesday- 5k race
Wed- rest/ cross?
Thursday-Intervals
Friday= 4-5m tempo
Saturday- LSR- 6-7m
Sunday – Cross

You have 4 hard sessions there (if you include the LSR as hard, as I do). Your 5K race should be giving you enough speedwork for the week without also doing intervals and a tempo run.

I would substitute easy pace runs for the intervals/tempo, only doing one of them (not both) in a week where there was no race. You could then add in a 5th day with recovery pace running (and not too long) to help build up the overall weekly mileage without having to add on to the other runs.

Hope this helps

Good luck with your new log/targets

littlebug

meathcountysec wrote: »

You have 4 hard sessions there

I have haven't I :rolleyes: I'm not thinking straight this morning at all!
Advice taken and rethink of schedule being thunk! I kind of forgot that the race in itself is speedwork

RacoonQueen

Best of luck with the new log littlebug.

ronanmac

Good luck with the new log, littlebug. You're right about not travelling far, an alternative title could be "From Connemara To Right Beside Connemara!" Here's to a series of 5k PBs!

littlebug

I'm really not very good at this running business I left the house with the intention of doing a 4 mile tempo run. The first mile went according to plan but I ended up pushing it a bit too fast for the second (net uphill) 9.20 and needed to stop at the top of the hill and again after the return mile 8.32 (net downhill) + 1 very very slow mile home. My internal monologue was along the lines of "I hate this.... this is horrible... why am I doing this.... I don't even like running".
So eh.... yeah I can probably run 9 minute miles but maybe not 3 of them in a row. I also need my own personal pacer as my pacing is all over the place. I think for the first 5k race next week I will start near the back and just try to find people running at my target pace and try to tag along. If I start too far forward I'll just overdo it at the start. It'll affect my official time (chipped at end not start) but I'll have my watch time anyway so it won't matter- no one will actually be interested in my time but me!
New improved training plan coming soon when brain kicks into gear. I'll have a better idea of my 5k pace after the first race! Thanks for advice MCS and Asimonov.

littlebug

A lazy Sunday morning watching the london marathon turned into a lazy all day sunday. The day ran away with me and I ended up being restricted to the treadmill. 7 slow torturous miles (1 more than planned as punishment).
I'm really stupid... we went to the park for an hour in the evening... if I'd had my head screwed on properly I would have dressed for the occasion and had my run there while the rest of 'em had fun :rolleyes:

Athenry this evening. It's nice and windy out there. Getting there involves an intricate plan involving a babysitter and organising various people to pick up various children from various afterschool stuff. Now I have to figure out which route to take...busy main roads and new motorway or bad but quiet back roads.
Update later.... pb highly doubtful but if I go in the right direction throughout the series I'll be happy.

pgibbo

Good luck with the new log and Athenry this evening. I hope it clears up a bit. Not too nice out there at the moment. Looking forward to the 5k series now!

One other thing you might want to consider - I think it was tergat that mentioned it, but someone recommended that for every hard mile you race you should take 1 day per mile before running hard again. I know SFA about these things but better safe than sorry.

catweazle

I have Mrs C stepping in for me tonight, legs dont feel back to normal at all.

However looking at the rain out there I think I will be stepping back in again as the fair weather Mrs C backs out.

It will be slow going if its me running, I am going to be holding off anything I have for the weekends race

littlebug

What's the weekend race Catweazle (the wimmins mini marathon in castlebar? ). Whichever of you run... good luck!

Actually.... Cw or pgibbo if you're still reading, do you happen to know what the road from Tuam over to athenry/ newcastle is like and how long it takes?
I don't know why but I'm assuming ye're from over that direction somewhere!

yop

Good luck with it littlebug, make sure you trip Gibbo up there during it, slow the fecker down

meathcountysec

Good luck with the 5K. It was a tad breezy out there at lunchtime. Remember that the probability of it blowing into your face is in direct proportion to the importance of the time desired

catweazle

Yeah road is fine as far as I know, I havent taken it yet as I am a blow in but Mrs C takes it regularly, dont know how long though. Race this week is Joey Hannon Triathlon in Limerick on Sunday. I forgot that mini marathon is on in Castlebar, my gym did a good bit of promotion for that race

littlebug

My timing wasn't great from the outset and I landed in Newcastle with about 25 til race time. I hadn't banked on the toilet queue:o Not going wasn't an option and I ended up having to run faster than I would have liked to the start line, just got my jacket off and thrown onto a bush and the race started. Still out of puff from getting there it was probably a good thing I was at the back so I couldn't run too fast. I spent the first mile or so bobbing and weaving around people. Mile 2 was a long uphill and hard. Most of mile 3 was downhill with a great fast downhill finish.
I'm very happy with the outcome. Mile Splits 9.02, 9.23, 8.35 (+.11 in 54 seconds). Total 3.11 miles (I really have to stop running further than everyone else :rolleyes:) in 27.54 (watch time) a pb by 22 seconds.
I'm happy with that and delighted to get in under 28 mins.

ETA- max hr 199 on the finish line.
ETA again... total circa 5miles with the half mile-ish to the start, and long cooldown run back to the startline for my jacket and back to the car.

menoscemo

5k is 3.11 miles or was it a 3 mile race?
Great time and nice to see there is a bit of speed there when necessary.

littlebug

menoscemo wrote: »

5k is 3.11 miles or was it a 3 mile race?
Great time and nice to see there is a bit of speed there when necessary.

I thought 5k was 3.1 and I'd added .01 Not much I know
Yeah I'm delighted with the time to be honest. Hopefully I can build on that now over the next 6 weeks.

rainbow kirby

Congrats on the PB

pgibbo

Nice to start the series with a PB. Well done. I reckon that PB will go over the coming 5 races. Well done.

littlebug

Cheers pgibbo,
How did you get on yourself?

It's interesting seeing the results. I started right at the back and finished with nearly 200 people behind me so I was passing people throughout the race. In one way it was good for keeping me slow at the start and for the morale boosting feeling you get from passing people but maybe I could afford to move up a bit for the start of the next one.
My garmin data is also interesting as you can see that I started to speed up from 1.5 miles despite still going uphill til after 2 miles. Part of that may have been the thinning of the crowds but I think a lot of it was psychological. I know I kept saying to myself "once I get past half way I'll be grand". Interesting.

Now what are the odds of me being able to run Sundays Wimmins 10k in Castlebar as a long slow run and not race it. I either won't bother with it at all or leave the garmin at home and just take my time with it. But once there's a chip on the shoe that might be hard to do...... and if I race a 10k on Sunday I'd be fecked for Tuam on Tuesday. hmmmmmm....

catweazle

I think you will find you mightnt be as stiff these days after a 10k race, your legs are used to running much longer these days. Definetley start a bit higher up the next day, you probably added on an extra 15-20 seconds to your time from starting so far back.

dolliemix

Well done on PB!:)

ronanmac

Fair play on the PB. Maybe rushing to the start line helped you in getting the lungs open before the race!?

littlebug

ronanmac wrote: »

Fair play on the PB. Maybe rushing to the start line helped you in getting the lungs open before the race!?

Maybe. It didn't seem to do me any harm anyway!

Anyhoo... today... 4 horrible embarrassingly slow miles. Funny how the legs have felt absolutely perfect since Tuesday until I started running on them and they felt like lumps of lead then. By the last mile I actually decided that fast walking would probably be more beneficial. I'm guessing it's a combination of Tuesdays race, little sleep last night and a huge dinner an hour before going out. I'm icing the shins now so hopefully that'll help. What it does tell me is that racing both Castlebar and Tuam is not an option. At the minute I'd say I'll do Castlebar slow (10.30-11 min miles or thereabouts) and race Tuam. I don't think I'm in new 10k pb territory yet and by all accounts Tuam is the flattest of the 5k series so it could be my fastest if I run it "right".

earnyourturns

Woo hoo! PB! Maith an cailin! :cool:

meathcountysec

Good luck on Sunday. It'll be hard to keep the pace in check. Maybe visualise it as the first 6 miles of a half and run accordingly.

BTW, I've just worked out that I'm (we're) behind schedule for completing the 1000 mile challenge. Not trying to scare the horses but rather know now than at end of November

littlebug

meathcountysec wrote: »

Good luck on Sunday. It'll be hard to keep the pace in check. Maybe visualise it as the first 6 miles of a half and run accordingly.

BTW, I've just worked out that I'm (we're) behind schedule for completing the 1000 mile challenge. Not trying to scare the horses but rather know now than at end of November

I know . I was just looking at your sums and I've a lot more to catch up on than you.