A Runners log : Patience and Consistency

Seres

Thursday

easy 30min : was suppose to do yesterday and rest today but i switched
tightness has improved a little in the calf and the hamstring on the left but took it really slow
Physio didnt really offer as much insight as i had hoped , told me te stretch quads and hams alot , warm baths , massage , jog the race and cut down a bit on speed work for the moment . i will decided on the race morro , but it looking doubtful but if i do it i will race it , will cut out speed till next tuesday . Have a big session this day week so if the race looks like it will jepoardise it i will leave it .

Seres

Friday 5th -Sunday 7th

Easy runs , 30mins & rest


Monday 8th

decided to do the 1500m scheduled session for morro

Plan : 5*1500m @ 4min/km pace with 3min rest

54.38min/10.7km

rep 1 :5.59/4min/km
rep 2 :5.54/3.56min/km
rep3 :5.57/3.58min/km
rep 4 :5.57/3.58min/km
rep5 :5.58/3.59min/km

tried to stretch the tight hamstring between reps which helped . Bit strange really , one leg get tights during the session and then will ease after and the other leg feels find durin the reps and tightens after . Session went okay, every second rep was easier cause of the wind , could have been more relaxed though , will do some maintenace work tonight for thursdays big session

Seres

tuesday

easy 45min : took fairly slow as i have a tough one morro

Seres

Wednesday

Tempo : 3*20min @ 4.15min/km , 2min rest

Tough session :

Rep 1 : av pace 4.11min/km : 4.10/4.10/4.13/4.11/4.09 pace per Kms
Rep 2 : av pace 4.16min/km :4.16/4.09/4.20/4.15/4.23 ( pace was definitely off here cause of the trees , affecting the satellite
Rep 3 : av pace 4.16min/km :4.36/4.08/4.10/4.17/4.10 : spent moat of the rep trying to recoupe the bad first km , heavy opened for this rep so it was difficult to see thru my glasses and the watch

Happy enough with th session due to recent niggles , was wiped after though as of last week , did alot of maintenance on the body re stretching /warm bath with some epsom salts /bed early too

brutes1

you are a tough one alright thats a monster session, jerry kiernan would be proud, well done very good running, you will be able for anything after that , is the ten mile the plan ya> ?

running in rain with glasses is a pain pain in the ass, happened me sat in the streets, am blind man without, slows ya down and then when u put back on when running at speed they are lopsided:)

Seres

brutes1 wrote: »

you are a tough one alright thats a monster session, jerry kiernan would be proud, well done very good running, you will be able for anything after that , is the ten mile the plan ya> ?

running in rain with glasses is a pain pain in the ass, happened me sat in the streets, am blind man without, slows ya down and then when u put back on when running at speed they are lopsided:)

thanks , went well alright , felt the eftects the following day , just got to keep on top of the niggles with lots of maint work and sleep and ill be sound
Ya will do the 10miler next week, huge overlap with the half and i havent done a race in ages , will prob double up as a tempo 60min @ 4.15km/pace , as this would be so hard to do on my own
Are you doin the 10 ? whats the target ? should be good , huge field
Ya the wet weather can make the speeds sessions very tricky , the glasses are a bit rattled as well which doesnt help

Seres

Thursday & Friday

easy 40mins ; very slow to allow the body to recover after the tempo , Hams and calf had tightened up quite a bit
Stretching : Static & Dynamic

Sat

long Run : 1hr 40min /18km

Started this very slow for the first 4/5km and picked it up a bit after that .
Warm bath with salts & 1hr stretching left me feelin good on sunday

Sunday

Rest

Monday

1500m*5 @4.15 pace /3mins rest :9.86km
rep 1 : 5.57/3.58/km
rep 2 : 5.58/3.59/km
rep 3 : 5.52/3.54/km
rep 4: 5.56/3.57/km
rep 5 :5.52/3.55/km

Session went fine , not too tough ,all the body parts felt good for the session : hamstring has tightened up since so stretching tonight along with other maint work

The plan forward will be keep recovery days very slow and blast out the quality sessions (tempo/interval/progression) with stretching and lots of maint work , especially on the tough days . Will try for massage every 10days-2 weeks

Seres

Tuesday

50mins easy : didnt go quite as slow as of late as the ham and back didnt tighten up till then end

have been doin a little stunt with a sliotar in the evenings , shown to me by Tunguska , and this seems to really help loosen up the tightness in the hamstring , this might be helping along with the other work to keep the body ticking over

Seres

Wednesday

50min easy

No stretching etc done yesterday but feel fine today , will stretch out later . Have no target time set for 10mi sat , will start out @4.15 pace and if feel good at 6/7mil will up the pace a bit and see how i go

Seres

thursday

rest + stretching + massage : murderous session getting the massage , could have chopped veg on the left side of my back it was so hard , hoping this was gonna help for Frank Duffy 10mi , which isnt goin to happen now , up all night with the little one and she is no better today so no cover no race . Second race missed on run up to half marathon target race so looks like i will be goin into the half not having done a race since the start of June !
Ah well anyway the rest of the weeks plan is now to do a 60min tempo sat on my oddy knocky @4.15 pace , not looking forward to this , will be torture

Seres

Thursday to Sunday took a serious nose dive : two missed opportunities at a 10mi with the Frank Duffy 10 on sat and slane 10 on sunday . Sickness swept thru the house from thursday night bout 3am exiting yesterday via the linchpin (myself). Several attempts were made to salvage a 60min tempo or a 10mi race but with no avail .
Anyway new week , the system has been purged and i have less than 5 weeks to goal race .


Monday

40min easy & dry needling and massage : hurt like hell today , whole body aching after the body bashing , at one stage i thought i was gonna be leaving with a headache and a toothache as well ! every tight muscle was gunned down . Anyway im hoping i will reap the benefits this week.

Seres

Tuesday

1800m*5 @ 4.00min pace , 3 min recovery

http://connect.garmin.com/splits/108910713

All on or under target , legs felt fresh and rested , session went well . Have decided to start the reps a bit slower and finish strong , i have a tendency to start to fast , slow up in the middle and just try and hang on for the target time . I will be focusing on holding back early in the rep and finishing strong from now on cause that will be part of the race plan come the 17th Sep .Also paid less attention to the pace and went with how i feel , im a slave to the pace cause i run on my own all the time

Wednesday

55min /9.3km : very slow , tough a$$ session morro

feel a bit tired today , sickness still reins in the house , revealing itself at 3am this morning , everywhere ! A wiser approach is needed tonight

Seres

Thursday

25min*3 @ 4.15 pace , 2min rest interval


Toughest session yet , as predicted , didnt keep the av pace for any expect one


12.22 miles : T2 6.51/4.17 , T2 6.46/4.14 , T3 6.57/4.21


First rep was sound

Second one , half way thru i realised i didnt know where the keys of the car were due to a pit stop , panic set in so one km was well off target , which threw the average pace off , other than that the rep went ok

Third one : was struggling from the outset , tried to relax and not fight it , before half way thru though i decided to reassess , jogged for a minute and then increased the pace to hit the targets for the final kms There was only one really bad km here too


Never happened me before where ive consciously pulled back during the session but i really felt it was needed here in order to hit the pace for some of the final kms otherwise i wolud have just totally bombed

Not gonna be too hard on my self bout this session as i know i gave it as much as i had , body was in bits after

Will post link later

Seres

50min easy/5.6miles : body very stiff after yesterdays session , easy rub got the blood flowing , hr long session of stretching tonight for long run morro . Back stretching seems to be helping ,was anxious to see how yesterdays session would be on it , but back stretching last night plus warm bath means its behaving

Seres

Sat

Rest : Meant for sunday but if i dont do it in the morning the day runs ( no pun intended ) away on me


Sunday

11.15mi/1hr 40min : Very slow meant the hamstring and the back didnt tighten up , wanted to keep the legs fresh for a big session tuesday


Monday

40min/6.83km easy & sports massage and dry needling , lots of Lactic Acid build up on right side released


Tuesday

Big Session : 5*2.2km @ 4km pace , 3 min rest /14.44km

Body felt great coming into it , legs felt light and was mentally prep'ed

Rep 1 : 8.46/3.59min/km

Rep 2 : 8.48/4min/km

Rep 3 : 8.42/3.57min/km

Rep 4 : 8.51/4.01min/km

Rep 5 8.43/3.58min/km

Decided to run 1.4km of each rep before checking pace( i can get very obsessed with pace ) , going by how i felt and then do whatever to get av pace at 4min/km for the last 800m
Worked really well except for rep 4 cause i left it to 300m to go to check the pace , which was 4.02 and there was an uphill to get thru at that stage
Very Tough session but just took it rep for rep
Body held out very well , little or no tightening of hamstring and back during however has tightened up since so stretching and the usual procedure tonight


Have about 4 more tough sessions before the wind down so just need to hang on in there , really dying for a race at this stage !!

Seres

Thursday : 20km with 3*25min @4.15 pace , 2min rest


T1 : http://connect.garmin.com/activity/111121527 : took a bit easier cause i knew two more were to come @6.50 pace shows 4.15 on watch

T2 : http://connect.garmin.com/activity/111121535 : got very hard after the 3rd km , was running against a strong wind and really found it tough @6.49 pace , shows 4.15 on watch

T3 : http://connect.garmin.com/activity/111121544 : was whacked goin into this one so said i would take a break if needs be in middle than i decided to do just 5km but after four km knew pace was gone in legs , stopped for 10/15 sec and said id do another km , ended up finishing it out then

These sessions never really get easier mentally , however my body is def adapting , didnt take as much out of me in term of my body breaking down during the session , held form better , however laid off eating for hours after but my body did adjust itself by nightfall . Last week i couldnt do anything after the session , this week i was pretty fecked but not as bad . Additional can never sleep well after these session


Later : stretching & warm bath with epsom salts

Seres

Friday

50 easy : legs were a bit tight and tired from the mammoth session thursday , tightness in hamstring and glutes , however did feel better by the end , did help to flush some of the LT out


Saturday

Long Run ; 1hr45min/19.28km/5.27av pace

Early start , 7.30 am , only time i could get the run in . I knew Sunday would be a write off because of an occasion later on sat/sat nite . My legs felt very strong and did the last km @ 4.15 pace which felt fine too , could feel the positive effects of the recent hard training on sat and the negative effects of alcohol abuse on the sunday . Havent had a heavy boozing session in about a year and if its as long or longer the next time that will suit me fine too , 2/3 drinks is plenty for me !

Last week of heavy training , thursdays session of 60min tempo @4.15 pace will be the cruncher ,have start mentally preparing myself for it now .

Body feels really good , feel strong and keeping good control on the niggles . Only discomfort i have about preparation for the Half Marathon is that i havent raced since early June !
So i dont REALLY know how my target time fits , cant work off historic races either because its my first HM

Will have dry needling and sports massage tonight to keep the body behaving as is needed

Seres

Sunday

Rest and Recovery


MOnday

60min easy/9.66km : Very slow , body feels great , never been so good despite the abuse it got at the weekend , think i need to disregard the message that it been sent to my head right now !

Seres

Sunday

Rest and Recovery


MOnday

60min easy/9.66km : Very slow , body feels great , never been so good despite the abuse it got at the weekend , think i need to disregard the message that is been sent to my head right now !

Seres

Tuesday 6th Sep

1800*5 @4min pace , 3min rest /12.82km/1hr6min

Rep 1 : 7.07/3.58min/km
Rep 2 :7.06/3.57min/km
Rep 3 : 7.08/3.58min/km
rep 4 :7.10/3.59imn/km
Rep 5 : 7.08/3.58min/km


Had a very busy day yesterday so no lunchtime reps and by evening i felt i hadnt mentally prepared myself for the session . Normally i start thinkin bout the session if it an important one a few hours before i have to do it , like telling myself its gonna be tough so be prepared !
I knew wind was gonna be a major factor , every second one was gonna be hard i figured .
The format for these of late seems to be watch the pace for the first rep then subsequent reps go by feel up till bout 2/3 and then look at watch and maintain or pick up pace as needs be . This is really important for me to do this cause i will be running with other at the HM , which im not used to doing and i need to know what feels comfortable to my body and not be obsessing over the pace. I know that a pace that seems difficult in training might be fairly comfortable in a race enviroment , so the body is the best indicator .
The legs felt really good and strong throughout and i didnt have any problems picking up the pace towards the end when i needed
I had no tightness at all during the session however after it tightened up a bit so stretched it out later along with other maint work
I held back a bit for the session cause ill need all the gas i have for thursdays 60min @ 4.15 pace

brutes1

Solid session seres, you are doing some monster intervals, that is good going, it will stand to you later on in half mara. Are ya following a plan or coach? Those sessions would be more like marathon training ones ..
Are you doing any half marathon pace runs , might be no harm- did a couple pre the half mara in the ironman, 5/6 miles at pace just to get comfortable..

You're right though about the mental aspect of training and hard runs , it takes mental prepration and steeling yourself for pain ...got one later on at marathon pace and it was the first thing i thought of when i woke up, oh sh'.t what lies ahead of me today!!

Seres

brutes1 wrote: »

Solid session seres, you are doing some monster intervals, that is good going, it will stand to you later on in half mara. Are ya following a plan or coach? Those sessions would be more like marathon training ones ../!!

Im not following a plan as such , the plan had been drawn up for me specifically in mind based on what i have considered are my strenghts and weakness . I do the sessions by myself and if i have problems i try and sort them out myself and/or talk to one or two people i know who i consider know significantly more than me about running . Thats about the height of it really

brutes1 wrote: »

Are you doing any half marathon pace runs , might be no harm- did a couple pre the half mara in the ironman, 5/6 miles at pace just to get comfortable..../!!

Im doin alot of HM pace runs which im hoping will be my saving grace for the race . I consider them the key/hardest session of the week.

brutes1 wrote: »

You're right though about the mental aspect of training and hard runs , it takes mental prepration and steeling yourself for pain ...got one later on at marathon pace and it was the first thing i thought of when i woke up, oh sh'.t what lies ahead of me today!!

same as that , have a tough one today and i know i wont relax till i have it finished. I will probably be totally noodled for the rest of the evening after it ! No pain no gain eh !

Wednesday

40min easy : after work , rain and wind , hard to believe its early sep , would have done this earlier but thought i had forgot the runners only to discover them later under the office desk

Gettin to the stage now that im thinking bout how the weather conditions could be like for the day

Seres

Thursday

60min @ 4.15 was planned

60min @ 4.13 was achieved : http://connect.garmin.com/activity/112824681

Last big session for me before the race so i was anxious to get it right . Skipped off a bit early from work. Had the route decided , was an out and back which i had covered for last weeks tempo too. Had a feeling it wouldnt be as bad because it was 15min shy on last weeks session of 25*3 .Did the harder section first from bout 3km to 7km , wind was against me so the splits were slower compared to later kms , was also holding back a bit because i wasnt gonna get any break in session . Legs felt strong and form felt controlled for the most part of the session .
Last continuous tempo was 45min a couple of weeks ago and i could feel much stronger yesterday . The session didnt take half as much out of me in the aftermath either so the body is adapting nicely .
Was important that i could manage this session to confidence build for the race . I know now that i can do over 2/3 of the distance on my own at the required pace .

Krusty_Clown

Seres wrote: »

60min @ 4.13 was achieved

Nice one Seres. Seems like your sub 90 target could be a little soft. If you stick with the sub-90 pace, you should be able to up the pace and finish very strongly. Great training.

ManFromAtlantis

good training there seres. hope race goes good for ya.

dna_leri

Good stuff Seres, you have earned a good race.
Get it right on the day and you'll blast 90 mins -are you thinking about 1:25 ?

Seres

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Nice one Seres. Seems like your sub 90 target could be a little soft. If you stick with the sub-90 pace, you should be able to up the pace and finish very strongly. Great training.

thanks ya thats sort of the plan all going well

dna_leri wrote: »

Good stuff Seres, you have earned a good race.
Get it right on the day and you'll blast 90 mins -are you thinking about 1:25 ?

jesus no , i havent near the work done for that time sub 90 , im happy anything else is a bonus , pretty sketchy on where im at in terms of racing cause its been so long but too be honest im just happy to make the start line injury free , this time last year i was suffering an injury and had to drop out of this race which was my goal race at the time


Friday

30 easy

Seres

Saturday

90min easy


Sunday

Rest


Monday

35min easy : stuck to the main road , canal road looked too menacing , is a hot spot for fallen trees in stormy weather , nice fresh energtic day for a run , cleared the head well for the afternoon stint at the office

Seres

Tuesday : 5*1km , 3 min rest interval

8.97km/4.35min

R1 : 4.07
R2 :4.06
R3 : 3.58
R4 .58
R5 .57

Weather still very crazy so hard to determine correct pace between strong gusts of wind . Last one : got caughth in a torrential shower , hadnt a clue what i was at ! , forgot to lock bezel so it was goin mental and couldnt see two centimetres in front of me with the state of my glasses

brutes1

Weather still very crazy so hard to determine correct pace between strong gusts of wind . Last one : got catch in a torrential shower , hadnt a clue what i was at ! , forgot to lock bezel so it was goin mental and couldnt see two centimetres in front of me with the state of my glasses..

Very funny ha its SO annoyin runnin with specs only the wearer of them knows.
..Your in top shape now for Saturday I think they are bloody good sessions you are doing. Are you on the wind down after today. Hope the forecast is good.

Is there a hurricane still blowin up there, not as bad as was forecast here, long run sunday in pissn rain, had to walk last mile at the end total burnout but recovering now:D

Seres

brutes1 wrote: »

Very funny ha its SO annoyin runnin with specs only the wearer of them knows.
..Your in top shape now for Saturday I think they are bloody good sessions you are doing. Are you on the wind down after today. Hope the forecast is good.

Is there a hurricane still blowin up there, not as bad as was forecast here, long run sunday in pissn rain, had to walk last mile at the end total burnout but recovering now:D

ya that was the last bit of speed before race day , just easy runs now and a few strides . Very gusty alright still , think its suppose to be pretty windy on sat but if it cools off a bit that'll have to do , weather never seems to be half as aggressive in dublin anyway not like the 'wild west'
How long was the Long run sunday ?

brutes1

Seres wrote: »

ya that was the last bit of speed before race day , just easy runs now and a few strides . Very gusty alright still , think its suppose to be pretty windy on sat but if it cools off a bit that'll have to do , weather never seems to be half as aggressive in dublin anyway not like the 'wild west'
How long was the Long run sunday ?

Yeah way less rain in Dub, plus some shelter in the park from trees and a good field to tow you along all bodes well
Long run was down for 20, was strugglin at 12 mile and out on my feet at 17 doin nine min miles, could not run another step, called it a day, body a wreck, very frustrating:mad:,had never happened b4 hopefully back into it this evening easy, after couple of days sleep catch up!

RacoonQueen

I hate to break it to yee but I was running in the park tonight. Was not fun!

Seres

RacoonQueen wrote: »

I hate to break it to yee but I was running in the park tonight. Was not fun!

thanks RQ , suppose its good to know anyway , to be prepared . I was told before that it never gets too windy in the park, that its quite sheltered ?!

Wed : 35min easy : got needling done this morning , not as sore cause not with the regular guy i go too . legs felt pretty good on run , will stretch tonight


Have no real plan/target race after the Half so will have to start thinking of this as i will lose the motivation after sat if i dont set a goal

Krusty_Clown

Seres wrote: »

thanks RQ , suppose its good to know anyway , to be prepared . I was told before that it never gets too windy in the park, that its quite sheltered ?!

Wed : 35min easy : got needling done this morning , not as sore cause not with the regular guy i go too . legs felt pretty good on run , will stretch tonight


Have no real plan/target race after the Half so will have to start thinking of this as i will lose the motivation after sat if i dont set a goal

This is the race start/finish area. Not very sheltered as you can see! But the wind is definitely easing off today. There will be loads of people to use as shelters from the wind anyway, in particular the two fat burly pacers.

Seres

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

This is the race start/finish area. Not very sheltered as you can see! But the wind is definitely easing off today. There will be loads of people to use as shelters from the wind anyway, in particular the two fat burly pacers.

Hey Krusty , dont know the race course at all , can you offer any insights/garmin link ?

brutes1

http://dublinmarathon.ie/map+instructions11_halfmara.pdf

Ran this well ten miles of it in the frank duffy 10 . its a good course, miles one to three flat/downhill at end of this section, mile four includes some testing ups and downs - reverse of national ten k section. The turn and run up chesterfield avenue was Terrible in the ten, windy and had to run along path and poor surface, - was only mile over 6 mins I ran v slow. Miles then up to 9 mile marker are specific to half, from memory not a great surface but flat around by zoo etc.
Then your on to lap two,. BEware there is a boll...x of a hill at 13 mile short sharp and will knock the legs out of ya, long run in to finish and thats it.
Ten mile was very good conditions, so am not sure about where the wind will blow on saturday!

Seres

thanks for that , ya not really ideal the wind thing but sure hey will just have to factor it into the race plan .
Bed early tonight cause will be rough early start on sat , six bells i plan to start burning rubber . Really looking forward to this race now , body feels pretty good and im reasonably fit !

Krusty_Clown

brutes1 nailed it. The hill at the end isn't too bad though. It's short and sharp. Based on the current weather forecast, the two stretches into the wind will be Chesterfield avenue (again) and the north Road (which will likely be sheltered). But there will be lots of runners aiming for sub 90 mins, so lots of shelter, and each of these 'into the wind' sections will be immediately followed by a tail-wind section. The forecast is for 8m/s WSW, which could be a lot worse.

Abhainn

Seres wrote: »

i plan to start burning rubber . Really looking forward to this race now , body feels pretty good and im reasonably fit !

Good on ya, nail it girl

dna_leri

You have earned a good race, go out and enjoy it !

littlebug

Best of luck speedy girl!

menoscemo

Best of Luck tomorrow, you'll smash 1'30 no bother.

Drinks in ryans afterwards if you're interested.:D

Seres

menoscemo wrote: »

Best of Luck tomorrow, you'll smash 1'30 no bother.

Drinks in ryans afterwards if you're interested.:D

Thanks for the offer Niall ,will see how it goes , hope your right bout smashing 90min

jb-ski

good luck tomorrow S.

I've no doubt you'll achieve your target time with the training you've put in.

you'll be in good company anyway for 89 minutes with KC (& PK clubmate of mine).

unfortunately I'm working tomorrow, but i'll (& bike:) be there in spirit to cheer you on.

J

Seres

jb-ski wrote: »

good luck tomorrow S.

I've no doubt you'll achieve your target time with the training you've put in.

you'll be in good company anyway for 89 minutes with KC (& PK clubmate of mine).

unfortunately I'm working tomorrow, but i'll (& bike:) be there in spirit to cheer you on.

J

Thanks , no worries , you served as a good pacer for me in the past in the park .

dna_leri

Top ten finish Seres, impressive !

Well inside target time too, nice one.

RacoonQueen

Great running today. Gave you a shout at the finish but you were too busy looking at the clock!

Patrick_K

Great running today Seres and nice to run some of the way with you.
I was sure a 'chicking' was on the cards when you drew back up along side me on the final hill, great strength in the last few miles.
Well done on your prize!
PK

Seres

dna_leri wrote: »

Top ten finish Seres, impressive !

Well inside target time too, nice one.

Well it was 14th female , but thanks , good day out , prob could have pushed myself a bit more but i wanted to relax and enjoy it

RacoonQueen wrote: »

Great running today. Gave you a shout at the finish but you were too busy looking at the clock!

Ya RQ , i missed you alright ,sorry , Sean told me you were at the finish , thanks

Patrick_K wrote: »

Great running today Seres and nice to run some of the way with you.
I was sure a 'chicking' was on the cards when you drew back up along side me on the final hill, great strength in the last few miles.
Well done on your prize!
PK

Patrick , you werent the only one that didnt want to be chicked , the barechested guy in the last hundred sprinted past me !
Ya was good to have someone to run along side once we pushed away
You seemed very fresh at the end ?
You doin the marathon ?