Berlin 2016: Back to Basics

tunguska

Have you decided about the Dublin marathon yet?

Krusty_Clown

TheRoadRunner wrote: »

Wednesday: lock and load 6 * 1 mile reps with 2 minute recovery. Best and easiest session of the year so far. Splits were 5.32, 5.16, 5.26, 5.22, 5.21, 5.24.

Holy crap. 5:16 and easy in the same sentence?
Do you have a PB for a mile?

Peckham

Wow!

Also looking at last week, you seem to build miles up quite nicely. I'm doing 53 this week, but going about it an entirely different way:

M: 4 (recovery)
T: 13 (with tempo)
W: Rest
T: 14 (easy)
F: 4 (recovery)
Sa: Rest
Su: 18 (easy)

Different strokes for different folks.

shels4ever

[QUOTE=TheRoadRunner;67161863
Wednesday: lock and load[/B] 6 * 1 mile reps with 2 minute recovery. Best and easiest session of the year so far. Splits were 5.32, 5.16, 5.26, 5.22, 5.21, 5.24.

[/QUOTE]
I still thnk your inner track runner wants to come out for one last blast.......

TheRoadRunner

tunguska wrote: »

Have you decided about the Dublin marathon yet?

No not yet. I really want to do it but work and home life are threatening to interfere. I've no interest in running Dublin unless I can really put the head down and knock a massive chunk off my marathon PB. I was 50/50 now I'm probably 40/60

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Do you have a PB for a mile?

4.40 but I ran that in another life time.

shels4ever wrote: »

I still thnk your inner track runner wants to come out for one last blast.......

I don't enjoy track running anymore, I love it when it's going well but have tried to get back into it a couple of times and I usually end up getting pissed off with myself.

T runner

Hi RR

Just a thought. If you could get a 10k in before the Frank Duffy it might be ideal. You have the stamina to last a fast 10k from the tempo runs and the 4.9 miler. The 10k will give you 30+ hard minutes.

There is one on the same day as the kilomarathon in Kildare and 2 weeks before Frank D.

(I dont know anything about it to be honest, but it may be fast.)

http://www.runireland.com/events/2010-08-08/jim-roche-festival-road-races-aid-crumlin-childrens-hospital-10k-262k

A PB there, a 35 minute tempo run (possibly) the following week and you could really let rip for the 10 miler.

Might be an option for a 10k PB attempt.

TheRoadRunner

T runner wrote: »

Hi RR

Just a thought. If you could get a 10k in before the Frank Duffy it might be ideal.

I was just thinking the same this morning and have been actively looking for races. I usually like to race when I feel good and at the moment I'm definitely on an upward curve. Might have a look at that 10k. However I need to get some long runs in at the weekend so this is the reason I may not run.

TheRoadRunner

Thursday: 9.5 miles @ 7.17 min per miles pace with Stupid_Private in the pheno, nice run and the miles ticked away without much effort.

Friday: 7+ miles @ 8 minute pace. Feeling a little tired on this run. I think the mile reps and slightly faster than planned run on Thursday may have caught up.

Saturday: 14 miles @ 7.22 pace. Ran a few with Shels which helped as he is my new designated bitch waterboy and kindly brought some water along. Would have rather ran this on Sunday and taken Saturday off but I knew Sunday was a no no for a longish run with family commitments. Actually felt ok once I got 5-6 miles under my belt.

Another solid but unspectacular week. I hit about 55 miles. I had hoped to be hitting 60+ at this stage. A couple of things are effecting this, firstly I should be running a few extra miles here and there during the week and secondly once again my long run is not long enough. My inability to run the longer stuff (18+ miles) is down to mental fatigue versus physical fatigue. I don't have the appetite for 2+ hour runs at the moment and as a consequence have decided to do the Dublin marathon would be madness as I know my appetite for long stuff will be missing for a few months. This happened to me 3 years ago and I ran the most unenjoyable race of my life. The lads in the club are planning running Berlin in 2011 so that will be my next marathon, in the meantime I'm going to try get faster over 10km etc.


I'm enjoying concentrating on some of the shorter (relatively speaking) road races and instead of running the marathon hope to put my energies into running a good XC season. I've never ran the Dublin or national senior cross country and think I need to rectify this.

TheRoadRunner

Monday: 7.5 miles at 6.48 pace. Shouldn't have been so fast but felt great so let my legs go with the flow.

Tuesday: 8 miles @ 7.12 pace. Felt great again today and had company. Chatted the whole way around and wasn't too happy when I realised we were clipping along quicker than I would have liked. It felt so easy but I have a feeling it will catch up on me tomorrow. I've a whole pile of pain ahead of me tomorrow with a tough interval session penciled in.

Really looking forward to the Frank Duffy ten now. Things are going well, so long may it continue

TheRoadRunner

Decided last night on the spur of the moment to run the 10k in Moone this weekend. I have a pain in my arse training. I love racing but try not over race by targeting one race a month on average. Don't know anything about the course but we were going to be down that neck of the woods Sunday anyway so decided to make a day of it. Wouldn't mind trying to run under 35 minutes but won't know if this is possible until I run the course. If it's decent enough I think a pop at sub 34 minutes is possible. If it's poxy I'll treat it as a very hard tempo run.

Because the race is on this Sunday this meant a bit of a rejig of todays session. Initial plan was for some long intervals. Instead I did 6 * 1K with 90 seconds recovery. All reps were on grass, under 3.30 and felt comfortable enough even though the wind did it's best to knock me around. Was going to continue on up to 8 but decided there was no sense in running the additional 2 and finding my legs are hanging on Sunday.

8 miles total including warm up cool down. Will take it relatively handy for the rest of the week

TheRoadRunner

Thursday: 8 miles @ 6.50 pace

Easy run today and while the pace looks quicker than my normal easy runs it didn't take anything out of me at all. The fact it was on the road and not my usual grass/trail routes may account for quicker pace but I also had my heart rate monitor on for the first time in a while and it was ridiculously low for the entire run. This reinforces to me that I have a decent aerobic base at the moment.

If I feel as good as I did today on Sunday I'm on for a whopper run.

shels4ever

Just spotted your water boy crack.. the reason your running so well is the water.... an nice EPO, HGH mix that i've made up....

TheRoadRunner

shels4ever wrote: »

Just spotted your water boy crack.. the reason your running so well is the water.... an nice EPO, HGH mix that i've made up....

In the words of father jack "more water )

TheRoadRunner

Friday: 6 miles @ 8.38 pace, Nice and handy on grass

Saturday: Was hoping to do 4 miles and some strides but couldn't get out, long story. Had Family dinner that night and it was chinese, hardy ideal pre-race dinner but I stuck to the noodles. I did sneak a little taste of some other dishes though, I managed to hold firm and skipped chocolate birthday cake.

Sunday: 10km road race Moone. Very hot day. Was around 24 degrees when we started. Was so happy I wasn't running kilomarathon and even more so after I seen the hills on the course. They weren't anything unreal but were severe enough to throw any plans of a good PB out the window.

Warmed up well and legs felt great. Gun went and slipped in behind 2 good runners. After a km I was feeling ****e, I was blaming the chinese but when I
checked my split I was realised I was traveling way too fast, I eased back slightly and was immediately passed by 2 runners so was now in fifth. Got into my own pace but this was short lived as the hills over the next 3 km seriously brought my pace down. On the up side I was running strongly back in 3rd and closing on 2nd.

Caught second at 5km and went ahead into a stiff breeze. I'm quite tall so wasn't going to act as a wind barrier so eased off. Second place pushed on again and I kept a gap of 10 metres. Got to 8 km and was itching to go. First was away in the distance and won at a canter (over a minute). I decided to wait until 9km and make one big move, second was upping the pace but I kept close.

Got to 800m to go and put he foot down between my "big move" and other guy giving up I made 35-40 seconds on him to the finish. Finished in
34.53 which is actually a PB (hope to lower this again soon). Ran the first hilly 5km in 18 mins dead and second in 16.53 so I'm happy with that.

There is a sub 34 in there somewhere on the right day/course. Really enjoyed the day. Great community atmosphere to the race and the weather really helped thsi (if not the running).

tisnotover

TheRoadRunner wrote: »

Sunday: 10km road race Moone. Very hot day. Was around 24 degrees when we started. Was so happy I wasn't running kilomarathon and even more so after I seen the hills on the course. They weren't anything unreal but were severe enough to throw any plans of a good PB out the window.

Warmed up well and legs felt great. Gun went and slipped in behind 2 good runners. After a km I was feeling ****e, I was blaming the chinese but when I
checked my split I was realised I was traveling way too fast, I eased back slightly and was immediately passed by 2 runners so was now in fifth. Got into my own pace but this was short lived as the hills over the next 3 km seriously brought my pace down. On the up side I was running strongly back in 3rd and closing on 2nd.

Caught second at 5km and went ahead into a stiff breeze. I'm quite tall so wasn't going to act as a wind barrier so eased off. Second place pushed on again and I kept a gap of 10 metres. Got to 8 km and was itching to go. First was away in the distance and won at a canter (over a minute). I decided to wait until 9km and make one big move, second was upping the pace but I kept close.

Got to 800m to go and put he foot down between my "big move" and other guy giving up I made 35-40 seconds on him to the finish. Finished in
34.53 which is actually a PB (hope to lower this again soon). Ran the first hilly 5km in 18 mins dead and second in 16.53 so I'm happy with that.

There is a sub 34 in there somewhere on the right day/course. Really enjoyed the day. Great community atmosphere to the race and the weather really helped thsi (if not the running).

Great report and very nice PB ! Interesting to read about how you were thinking about when to make the "big-move", I guess thats something that you get to know with more and more racing ?? God knows I need to start doing it further out than 400m to go..I seem to finish with too much in the tank sometimes lately... :rolleyes:

Krusty_Clown

Congrats on the second place and nice PB! I can only dream...

TheRoadRunner

tisnotover wrote: »

Interesting to read about how you were thinking about when to make the "big-move", I guess thats something that you get to know with more and more racing ?? God knows I need to start doing it further out than 400m to go..

I know the feeling. I find intervals really help you learn what you've left in the tank? Without these I'm an uncalibrated piece of meat and either go way too soon or way too late

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Congrats on the second place and nice PB! I can only dream...

In fairness the dept of the field wasn't great up front. Just had a look at the results so 2nd place needs to be put in perspective. I reckon the time is there for you if you concentrated more on the shorter than the longer stuff. Easier said than done but maybe a 6 months 10km training cycle might appeal to you sometime next year?

asimonov

Congrats on a great result, as KC says we can only dream of those times and LOL at uncalibrated piece of meat.

TheRoadRunner

Monday: 7 miles @ 7.07 pace. This run was without doubt one of my most enjoyable runs ever. This week is mental work wise, as well as a couple of deadlines I also had a pretty important interview. I wasn't in the mood of a run and while driving home told the Mrs I would be back early as was skipping the run. Now Mrs RR usually likes to see me home earlier than planned but on this occasion she must have heard some stress in the voice and told me to HTFU and get a run in. After 5 minutes of running the sun came out and after 10 minutes I had a plan of action mentally for the week ahead and some things that had been nagging at me were put to bed. The rest of run I ran like a happy gob****e Phoebe style, in parts I was seriously hammering in others I was just jogging along watching matches that were going on in the park. I was getting all nostalgic running around and I'll save you the details but suffice to say I was a happier man when I finished. If I hadn't of been so hungry I would have ran all night. Deadly buzz going on better than any drug or vice.

Tuesday: 8 miles @ 7.30 pace. Nice run along canal and trails with a couple of friends. Nice and enjoyable.

Wednesday: 9.5 miles @ 7.50 pace. Had interview today so decided to get a run in directly afterward before I faded later in the day. Had company again and this was another super enjoyable run. As with Monday I wanted to run another 4-5 miles but sense prevailed.

Plan for the rest of the week is something handy tomorrow again to make sure I'm over Sunday's race. Something hard and fast (baby) on Friday and long run of 15-16 miles Sunday. Will do a light speed session early next week in preparation for Frank Duffy 10, may try to get into the park to run the route before race day.

misty floyd

Thats a deadly post. Also, well done on that race there in Moone, great race report.

TheRoadRunner

Thursday: 8 miles @ 7.50 pace nice and relaxed in prep for Friday intervals.

Friday: Original plan was for 2-1-2-1-2 mile intervals with 2.30 recovery. Didn't get much sleep last night so loaded the 2 miles to the front in case I ran out of juice. Wanted the longer intervals done first so instead did 2-2-2-1-1. Had hoped to have done this session twice before Frank Duffy next week but won't happen now.

Times were
1)11.15
2)10.50
3)10.50
4)5.12
5)5.09

Last mile was a bit of a killer, my nuts were up in my guts. Breathing was fine throughout and wasn't flooded in as much lactic as I had expected. Definitely could have pulled out another couple if required but will hold back something for next weeks ten miler.

heffsarmy

Thats another great session RR, its good too finish strong and still feel you could have done more. I'll be chasing your shadow next week.

theverminator5

whats your best time for a mile

Stupid_Private

Jaysus... I was feeling good about my session until reading that

TheRoadRunner

theverminator5 wrote: »

whats your best time for a mile

Not too sure 4.40 or the likes. I have a 4.05 1500 but that was when I was 16. A life time ago.

TheRoadRunner

Stupid_Private wrote: »

Jaysus... I was feeling good about my session until reading that

We will see next week. Hopefully today wasn't a bit too much. Feels ok now. But hopefully there's more to come.

theverminator5

TheRoadRunner wrote: »

Not too sure 4.40 or the likes. I have a 4.05 1500 but that was when I was 16. A life time ago.

a serius time

TheRoadRunner

Saturday: 5 miles at 8.30ish pace. Was going to take day off but did some serious drinking Friday night. I was out celebrating . After dinner I undertook what I've heard Shane McGowan and other well know Irish alcoholics call "an epic pub crawl" while the medical council have sent me a text message to ask do I need to be put on the transplant list? I should have clocked it with the Garmin. Anyway needed to sweat out some of the badness and get my system back in order. Nice and handy very enjoyable. Legs felt good also.

Sunday: Plan was for 15 miles nice and handy. Pace not important but how I felt was more nb. I ran 5 miles with a few lads from the club around 8+ min mile pace. Was feeling $hite so pushed on a little, sometimes it's easier to run a little faster. After a mile I bumped into two very handy runners so ran the next 10 with them well below 7 minute pace. Felt a lot more comfortable. Really looking forward to 10 miler on Saturday. Hopefully the weather will stay nice or at least the rain/wind stays away. My initial plan to aim for 56.30 may be a little unrealistic but I think I'm still going to go through 5 mile in 28 minutes and see how long I can hold on.

TheRoadRunner

Monday: 7 miles @ 7.05 pace. Quicker than planned (yet again) but it was a late one and just wanted to get it over and done with.

Tuesday: 8 miles @ 7.45 pace. Felt quicker but this is done to tiredness I reckon. I can feel a few niggles coming on and I plan to take it easy for the next few days to ensure I get to the start line injury free Saturday.

Assuming all goes well this weekend I'm going to enter a little race phase. I'm hoping to run a 2 mile on the track the following Wednesday and then may do the rockford 4 in Tinryland taht weekend. Will keep ticking over until the 10k in Firhouse and will then take a compete week off as I have holidays planned. I love racing so it's time to reap the benefit of the consistent weeks of late. That's 4 race quite close together. If I do them or not depends on the body but I think 4 pbs are possible !

TheRoadRunner

Wednesday: A light work out of 6 * 1k at 10 mile race race, 90 seconds recovery. Had to hold back as pace felt easy so that was something positive. Did this session with a couple of lads who did Fridays session with me also. They were working a lot harder than me which I was happy about as the end of last year they were burying me on all our training runs. It's nice to turn the tables, viva LaRoadRunner

Legs are a little tired at the moment. Tomorrow and Friday are very easy days so that will definitely help. I've also got an appointment with a physio Stupid_Private likes to refer to as "The Magician". He is a brilliant physio and I'm hoping he can get a bit of ooomph back into the legs. I'd also like to point out to SP that my visiting the magician is not cheating.