Firenze 2010

dermCu

Mon 13th Sept: 6.22 @ 7:07 lunch time run. A little tired.

Tue 14th Sept: 10 @ 7:06 Kept it nice and relaxed.

Wed 15th Sept: 14.16 @ 6:48 The wind was pretty bad so this felt more like a tempo run in places. I'd be moving along nice and easy under 7 m/m then turn a corner into a really strong headwind and I'd have to start working pretty hard to maintain the same pace. Good resistance training I guess.

theboyblunder

dermCu wrote: »

Mon 13th Sept: 6.22 @ 7:07 lunch time run. A little tired.

Tue 14th Sept: 10 @ 7:06 Kept it nice and relaxed.

Wed 15th Sept: 14.16 @ 6:48 The wind was pretty bad so this felt more like a tempo run in places. I'd be moving along nice and easy under 7 m/m then turn a corner into a really strong headwind and I'd have to start working pretty hard to maintain the same pace. Good resistance training I guess.

I hear ya. I tried a little tempo run this evening on a 4 mile stretch straight into it. Awful.

Great run in those conditions.

dermCu

Thur 16th Sept: 10 @ 6:55 I had expected to be a bit tired on this one but it went well. Didn't feel bad at all.

Fri 17th Sept: 0 Rest - My prediction of oncoming fatigue was out by 24 hours. Didn't feel great when I got home from work. Not just physically but I felt mentally tired as well so I took a night off. I had planned to do mile repeats but I knew my heart just wouldn't be in it.

Sat 18th Sept: 9.5 avg pace ~ 7 about 2 mile warm up, 4 x 1 mile with 2:30 recovery 2 mile warm down
5:46
5:37
5:44
5:34
The wind was in my face for all of the outbound mile (1 & 3) and it made a difference.

Sun 19th Sept 20.4 @ 6:54 All I wanted to do was go the distance today. I wasn't too worried about overall pace so I was happy to see the avg under 7. The last 3 or 4 miles were a bit of a battle.

dermCu

Mon 20th Sept: 6.4 @ 7:35 Had a hard weekend so I made sure to keep the pace down.

Tue 21st Sept: 8.66 @ 7:20 My original plan was to do 10 at a comfortable aerobic pace. Within 2 miles I knew I wasn't fully recovered from the weekend so I decided to cut the distance and drop the pace to a recovery pace.

Wed 22nd Sept: 13.55 avg pace 6:44
3 mile w/u, 4 x 10 min @ T pace 2:30 rec, 2.6 w/d
10 min T pace:
6:03
5:58
6:02
5:57

Haven't done any tempo pace running for a while. I wanted to keep the T pace between 5:55 - 6:05 I found the first one hard. At that point I didn't think I'd get 4 done. Glad I stuck with it. The first one was by far the hardest.

dermCu

Thur 23rd Sept: AM 6.12 @ 7:17, PM 5 @ 7:12 Did what I should have done last Tuesday and split this recovery into two short easy ones.

Fri 24th Sept: 10 @ 6:45 Felt like I've done an awful lot of recovery running this week so I couldn't hold back on the chance to run a little faster. Very nearly got wiped out at mile 8. Came around a corner at 6:30 m/m pace and came face to face with some young halfwit riding one of those scaled down motorbikes ( not a scooter) on the path. I just about managed to take a step to my right, he didn't even have time to react. I wouldn't mind too much if he was crawling along at a snails pace but the fool was really booting it. Would have killed him if got my hands on him.

Sat 25th Sept: 5 @ 7:11 Nice easy run. No drama thankfully.

dermCu

Sun 26th Sept 20 @ 6:47 I wanted to run a few M pace miles at the end but with the last 4 miles into a strong headwind I wasn't feeling the love so I bailed out on that plan.

dermCu

Mon 27th Sept: 6 @ 7:24 Got out at lunch, nice little run. It was over before I knew it.

Tue 28th Sept 10 @ 7:08 Felt good, the miles flew by.

More interestingly I went to pick up a new pair of runners at my local running shop after work. I got talking to the manager for a bit as the shop was quiet. He is a marathon and ultra runner and he has all his medals hanging up inside the counter. I was looking through them as we chatted and they were a pretty impressive collection; multiple London marathon, multiple London to Brighton, Comrades and loads others I've never even heard of. Then I asked him about one that just had Grand Union Canal Run on it - "Oh ya, that's a 145 mile race I did" WTF??? 145 miles, wow. So being a bit in awe I asked all the daft questions I could think of. More to myself I said "How do you even recover from that?" and totally dead pan he says: "Well, I did spend three days in hospital afterwards" at which we both pissed ourselves laughing for some reason. Apparently it was raining almost all the way through the race and one of his blisters got infected, enough said. Needless to say I was buzzing the whole way around my 10 miler afterwards.

I'm glad I spent a little bit more for my runners in my local shop because as good and all as it is you just don't hear those stories when you buy your runners from Wiggle.

dermCu

Wed 29th Sept: 13.5 @ avg pace 6:42

3 mile w/u, 4 x 2 mile @ T pace, 1.4 w/d

5:58
5:56
5:57
5:56

Conditions were brutal. Pissing rain for the whole hour and a half. Standing water everywhere. Pretty happy with that. Very different from last week. Felt like I was in control for all reps. I could probably have went for another one but funnily enough I didn't feel like I could have put 3 of them back to back. Makes for an interesting 10k at the weekend. Very unsure about what pace to try for.

asimonov

dermCu wrote: »

Wed 29th Sept: 13.5 @ avg pace 6:42

3 mile w/u, 4 x 2 mile @ T pace, 1.4 w/d

5:58
5:56
5:57
5:56

Conditions were brutal. Pissing rain for the whole hour and a half. Standing water everywhere. Pretty happy with that. Very different from last week. Felt like I was in control for all reps. I could probably have went for another one but funnily enough I didn't feel like I could have put 3 of them back to back. Makes for an interesting 10k at the weekend. Very unsure about what pace to try for.

good running there dermcu - what 10k are you running?

dermCu

Cheers asimonov, I'm slowly starting to feel better when I do anything at tempo pace. I live just to the north of London so I'm doing a race called the Standalone 10k in Letchworth.
There were no local 1/2 marathons available but there were a good few 10ks. I picked this one because it incorporates the veterans county 10k championship. Even though I'm not a veteran I figured that there would be a good few vets in, around or a lot better than my pace so I'm hoping that will drag me along. In the past I've been destroyed by enough vets to know that some of them are mean racers.

How's your training going? Less than 2 months now.......

asimonov

dermCu wrote: »

Cheers asimonov, I'm slowly starting to feel better when I do anything at tempo pace. I live just to the north of London so I'm doing a race called the Standalone 10k in Letchworth.
There were no local 1/2 marathons available but there were a good few 10ks. I picked this one because it incorporates the veterans county 10k championship. Even though I'm not a veteran I figured that there would be a good few vets in, around or a lot better than my pace so I'm hoping that will drag me along. In the past I've been destroyed by enough vets to know that some of them are mean racers.
How's your training going? Less than 2 months now.......

We won't feel the time flying in - once Dublin marathon comes and goes - we'll be nearly at taper.

I'm pretty happy with my training so far, i'm doing 6 days a week at the moment and the mileage is good and the legs are ok with it - fingers crossed it stays that way. I'm starting to build an idea of what my marathon pace might be, but i haven't got a fixed goal yet.

best of luck at the weekend - just tstick behind some wiley old fella and you'll be grand.

dermCu

Thur 30th Sept 6.3 @ 7:12 Feeling a bit tired after last nights tempo but not too bad.

Fri 1st Oct 7.4 @ 7:21 Made sure to keep the pace down.

Sat 2nd Oct: 0 Rest

Sun 3rd Oct:

W/u 3.1 @ 7:50

Standalone 10k 36:33 - At the start of the day I would have been disappointed with that but considering the course and conditions it was a good effort. Lined up near the front with a mix of serious looking youngsters and gnarly auld fellas. The start was downhill and very fast but then you hit a short really sharp hill. At the bottom of the hillI I looked at my watch - wow 5 m/m and there were guys streaming by me, no problem, I knew I'd catch them on the hills and I did catch most of them. Passed the leading lady at 3k. I was pretty happy; running through the hills at a steady pace and keeping out of the wind where I could. That came to an end at about 6.5k. I'll let the splits tell the story:
5:47
5:47
5:36
5:49
6:19
6:07

Passed one of the local boys from north herts runners at 6k, clapped myself on the back and thought I was a great fella and was motoring along well. Went up a hill and turned 90 degrees into the wind. It was like being slapped in the face, the nice steady 5:4* went out the window and I was in trouble fighting the wind. I thought I'd got it wrong and blown my lights too early but looking back on it i didn't. The guy from north herts took me and I realised that I hadn't worn him down, he let me pass, he knew what was coming - fecker. I ran the hills and wind as hard as I could but it was rough to 8.5k. On the plus side no-one passed me to the finish and the gap to the other guys in front of me didn't widen so everyone else was suffering as well. Finished in 10th place, won a prize for being the first unattached male, didn't get chicked and only finished 2 mins behind 2nd place. Spoke with some of the locals afterwards and they reckon it's at least a minute slower than the average 10k. Leaves me with a hard choice about what M pace should be. Will think about it during the week.

W/d 6.3 @ 7:42

dermCu

Mon 4th Oct 6.2 Lunchtime recovery @ 7:29. The run was ok but feeling very lethargic all day.

Tue 5th Oct - 0 - Feeling shattered all day. I was just too tired and didnt want to run.

Wed 6th Oct - 8.5 @ 7:17 - My plan was to do 8 x 1 mile at T pace. Felt ok during the w/u but I got through 3 and was shattered(2 of them I couldnt keep under 6 m/m). I tried to fight on into the 4th but quit after about 400m - zero energy. Crawled home at what felt like a 9m/m

Thur 7th Oct 10 @ 6:54 - Not feeling as bad today. Didnt push it at all.

Fri 8th Oct 6.2 @ 7:08 - Staring to feel back to normal i.e I dont have an overwhelming desire to fall asleep at my desk.

Sat 9th Oct 22.2 @ 6:55** Was nervous about this but it went well. 15 @ 6:55, 5 @ 6:22, 2 w/d(7:12, 6:54)
My pacing for the M miles was all over the place: 6:23, 6:33, 6:18, 6:09 & 6:20
Hopefully I'm over whatever I was suffering from earlier in the week.
There will be beers toninght and on Sunday so I might have at least one full rest day.

**Thats an inaccurate average becase my watch threw a wobbly for a while when its lap database got full. Then when I finished it did its party trick of not responding while there is sweat on the bezel - not even the start/stop button worked!. Screw it, I'm going to throw it on ebay and get a new non-garmin watch. They dont deserve more of my money.

dermCu

Sun 10th Oct: 0 Was out Sat night. But it was my bad planning that stopped me from getting a run in not the booze - silly

Mon 11th Oct: 0 Beer enforced rest day.

Tue 12th Oct: 10 @ 7:01 Legs a little bit stiff.

Wed 13th Oct: 15 @ 6:46
3 mile w/u, 8 x 6 min @ T pace with 1 min rec, 3.17 w/d
5:52, 5:56, 5:53, 5:58, 5:58, 5:58, 6:00, 5:56

1 min rec is not much. At this point in training I just couldn't do the 30 sec rec in Daniels and keep the pace.

Krusty_Clown

Great session on Wednesday dermCu. Have you nailed down the target yet?

dermCu

Thur 14th Oct: 6.2 @ 7:15 Its great to be able to get out at lunchtime.

Fri 15th Oct: am 6 @ 7:14, pm 8.7 @ 7:07 The am run was great, felt a little tired towards the end of the pm run

Sat 16th Oct: 5 @ 7:11 Took it really easy, saving up energy for tomorrows long run

Sun 17th Oct: 22 @ 6:39, 11 @ 6:51, 8 @ 6:18, 3 @ 6:45
Well I know now that 6:18 might be a little on the fast side for MP. I probably could have thrown in another 2 to bring it up to 10 but I had a nagging feeling that pushing it would have risked a longer than normal recovery putting next Wed session at risk. On the plus side after a recovery mile I was comfortable enough at 6:39 for the last 2.

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Great session on Wednesday dermCu. Have you nailed down the target yet?

Thanks Krusty, it was a tough one alright. I thought I might be better able to answer that question after today's session but the honest answer is it could be anywhere between 6:25 and 6:35. Another couple of weeks might help clear things up.

heffsarmy

Good to see your back in the swing off things. Just in relation too your marathon pace, you ran 22miles today 6.39 average, then you prdeict your marathon pace will be 6.25 - 6.35, your selling yourself short. Your will definetly be on the lower end of the scale come Florence.

Abhainn

Very solid long run there today dermCu

dermCu

Mon 18th Oct: 6.2 @ 7:15 Very tired especially for the first 3 miles. There was a lot of huffing and puffing. Feeling the effects of Sundays long run.

Tue 19th Oct: am 6 @ 7:01, pm 6 @ 7:09

Wed 20th Oct: 16 @ 6:37 3 w/u, 3 x 3 at T pace 3:30 rec, 3 w/d
5:52
5:55
5:57

Really happy with the way that went. Not because of the pace but because I was able to speed up or slow down whenever I wanted. Feeling stronger with every week that goes by.

heffsarmy wrote: »

Good to see your back in the swing off things. Just in relation too your marathon pace, you ran 22miles today 6.39 average, then you prdeict your marathon pace will be 6.25 - 6.35, your selling yourself short. Your will definetly be on the lower end of the scale come Florence.

I can see why you'd say that Heff but the truth is that I had to work hard for that 22 miles. I know I tend to do my long runs too fast but that's just the way I enjoy running them. The fact that I run pretty close to M pace probably skews things a little bit. In any case I know exactly what I'll do on race day - keep within myself for the first 16 - 18 and then go for it if I can.

dermCu

Thur 21st Oct: 6 @ 7:15
I was packing my bag in a hurry before I left for work and I put in two left runners in my kit bag so I had to postpone until until the evening. Muppet.

Fri 22nd Oct: am 6 @ 7:02, pm 8.7 @ 7:06 Felt good in the morning but my legs were very heavy in the evening.

Sat 23rd Oct: 0 Rest - Woke up and felt a bit tired (a bit more than usual!!) so I called a snap rest day. It would only have been an easy 5 anyway. Two weeks seems to be about my limit before I need a rest day.

Sun 24th Oct: 23.2 @ 6:35

10 @ 6:49 , 10 @ 6:17, 3.2 @ 6:48

Delighted with the times but I never really felt good the whole way through the run. I was suprised because I thought I'd be fresh after a rest day. I wont lie; the up miles were hard. Espcially the last one, I was holding on.

heffsarmy

Dermo thats another very good solid run, things are looking good for Florence. Have you got many longs run left?

dermCu

Cheers Heff. Only 2 more long runs and a 2 week taper then race day.
Best of luck tomorrow, look forward to hearing about a pb.

dermCu

Mon 25th Oct: 6 @ 7:26 After seeing all great reports coming in from DCM my brain was all fired up and wanted to run fast but no way was the body able after Sundays long run.

Tue 26th Oct: 8.7 @ 6:57 Skipped the am run. I needed an extra bit of recovery. Legs felt sore throughout.

Wed 27th Oct: 16 @ 6:43
3 w/u, 4 x 2 with 2:15 rec, 4 w/d
5:58, 5:53, 5:56, 5:58
There was still a little bit of fatigue in my legs from Sunday so I was glad to keep the pace under 6 for all 4 reps.

dermCu

Thur 28th Oct: 6 @ 7:18 Got out at lunch for a nice little run.

Fri 29th Oct: am 6 @ ??, pm 8.7 @ 6:55
Left my watch at work don't know what the pace was for the am run. I'd guess around 7 m/m. Was feeling pretty good. I'm really enjoying the am runs. So far its been pretty mild. Maybe they'll be less enjoyable if/when some cold weather kicks in.

Sat 30th Oct: 5 @ 7:09 - Just ticking along taking it nice and easy really not wanting to use up any more energy than I had to.

Sun 31st Oct: 24 @ 6:33
I didn't really see this coming. I wanted to get 24 miles in nice and steady.
I wasn't too bothered about running a set number of M pace miles - I was going to save that for next weeks long run.

It was drizzling pretty heavy so by the time I got around to my house after my first 8.7 m loop I decided to ditch the wind jacket. It wasn't cold so there was no point keeping it on, I might as well just run in my t-shirt. As soon as I got rid of it the pace dropped. It was like having a weight lifted off me. I went from 6:44's to 6:2* without any extra effort. I decided to just go with it as long as it didn't become too much of a struggle. Finished tired but strong.

Krusty_Clown

dermCu wrote: »

Sun 31st Oct: 24 @ 6:33
I didn't really see this coming. I wanted to get 24 miles in nice and steady.
I wasn't too bothered about running a set number of M pace miles - I was going to save that for next weeks long run.

Wow. Incredible run. Hope the recovery from it goes ok. You must have a pretty aggressive target lined up. Best of luck with the last few weeks.

dermCu

Cheers Krusty. Surprisingly I don't feel too bad after it. No major fatigue, aches or pains.......yet. I'm going to try and get in 15 under 6:20 next week and after that I'll commit to a marathon pace depending on how it goes.

asimonov

More good running derm, that's a big session; makes my Sunday long slogs seem very mundane!! I can't believe we're in November already, I have my last big week this week - can't wait to get it over. Will you do another big run MP this weekend? I've a long 80' tempo on friday / long slow run (4:30) on sunday before gradual taper starting next week.

dermCu

asimonov wrote: »

More good running derm, that's a big session; makes my Sunday long slogs seem very mundane!! I can't believe we're in November already, I have my last big week this week - can't wait to get it over. Will you do another big run MP this weekend? I've a long 80' tempo on friday / long slow run (4:30) on sunday before gradual taper starting next week.

Thank asimonov. I didn't really plan to run that fast, I just felt comfortable at that pace and kept going. You never really know with these long runs - your approach might end up being the better one. As Krusty said I might end up paying for it in terms of recovery. I'm the same as you; wishing the days away until I can start into the taper. I'll try to get in a tempo session tomorrow, a big MP run on Sunday and one last tempo session the following Wednesday. I'll try to keep the mileage the same until the end of next week and then begin to taper down beginning with a reduced long run on the 14th.


Please tell me that's not 80 continuous minutes of tempo running ?? If it is you'r an animal. What kind of pace are you hitting for tempo?

asimonov

dermCu wrote: »

Thank asimonov. I didn't really plan to run that fast, I just felt comfortable at that pace and kept going. You never really know with these long runs - your approach might end up being the better one. As Krusty said I might end up paying for it in terms of recovery. I'm the same as you; wishing the days away until I can start into the taper. I'll try to get in a tempo session tomorrow, a big MP run on Sunday and one last tempo session the following Wednesday. I'll try to keep the mileage the same until the end of next week and then begin to taper down beginning with a reduced long run on the 14th.


Please tell me that's not 80 continuous minutes of tempo running ?? If it is you'r an animal. What kind of pace are you hitting for tempo?

My tempo runs are done at different paces from 3:35 -3:50 and sometimes vary in the one run. So two weeks ago i did 60' of 5'@3:50 / 5'@3:35 in 6 continuous cycles and the week before that 60' of 3:50. Anything below 3:35 is kept for 1k - 1.5k intervals.

Friday isn't quite 80' of hard tempo but its definitely looking a little on the edge of my comfort zone, it's a straight run of 50' @ 3:50 + 30' @ 3:40 with 20' either side at 5:00 - so while the 3:50 bit should be ok - the last 30' will take a bit of work. But at least at this stage there's a feeling that every session counts so the focus should be there.

If the chance comes and we are clearer on targets and stuff we might be able to help each other out in florence.

dermCu

Wow, thats a savage session you have planned for Friday. That's basically a 1:19 half marathon. I think I'd struggle at that in the middle of training without a taper. Even the 30' @ 3:40 is not easy.

After my long run on Sunday I'll get off the fence and commit to a MP. Absolutley, if we're around about the same target it would be great to work together. If you can run a 1:19 half in training I know what target I'd be setting if I was you but I'll let you say it out loud