PROJECT ROTTERDAM 10.4.11

Speedy44

cheers Sosa. Right now I wish I was where you are at

btw, whats with the 'if I do another marathon'

dermCu

I don't mean to be patronising or anything Speedy but I think you can take an awful lot from that session. You are probably a bit too close to the action to see it at the moment. In fact, I'm certain that session was far more valuable than you think and you'll only realise it in a few days or weeks. Forget about missing out on a few minutes of T pace. You did the majority of the work and battled through. As an endurance athlete thats where you want to be; pushing at the limit of what you can do.

Speedy44

Monday
4mls recovery run after yesterday. Took it nice and easy, 7:48 pace.

Tuesday
6.5mls easy, 7:32 pace. felt good

Wednesday
2mls easy, 15mls MP (average 6:45), 3mls easy.

Splits were:
2mls easy - 7:32, 7:14
15mls MP - 6:50, 6:52, 6:42, 6:45, 6:47,
6:42, 6:48, 6:46, 6:40, 6:44,
6:45, 6:39, 6:43, 6:45, 6:41
3mls easy - 7:26, 7:26, 7:11

Felt good the whole way, took me a few mile to get into a zone so to speak, felt like the pace was up and down a bit. Legs a bit sore and heavy towards the end of easy miles, but think thats to be expected.

Distance = 20mls
Time = 2:18:06 (6:54)

theboyblunder

great run speedy. we seem to be pretty much at the same level,at the moment. Its good to finish these feeling ok isnt it?

Nice one.

Speedy44

theboyblunder wrote: »

great run speedy. we seem to be pretty much at the same level,at the moment. Its good to finish these feeling ok isnt it?

Nice one.

cheers tbb.
Compared to my run on Sunday, I finished yesterday feeling a lot more positive.

I'll be watching you closly to see what kind of marker you put down for me in Barcelona

smmoore79

What kind of surface did you do your 18 mile MP run Speedy? At the moment I do any LSR(10 miles being my current LSR!) on grass/trail with a small bit of road.. Great session by the way, you'll be a lot fitter for this marathon than Dublin last Oct!

Speedy44

smmoore79 wrote: »

What kind of surface did you do your 18 mile MP run Speedy? At the moment I do any LSR(10 miles being my current LSR!) on grass/trail with a small bit of road.. Great session by the way, you'll be a lot fitter for this marathon than Dublin last Oct!

I do the majority of my runs on the road smmoore, nice small country lanes with gentle rolling hills (although, depending on the pace, these 'gentle' hills can acquire teeth :eek:).

I do like to do some of my runs on grass & trails but I haven't had the opportunity in the past few weeks. I think after the National Masters Mudfest, I now have an aversion to even a small bit or mud :rolleyes:

Yea, think I am in a lot better shape now than before DCM '10. |Funny though, before that race I thought I was fine, and I was sort of, its just the type of training I was doing was entirely different. Not enought threshold running mostly. For DCM, the furthest I got at MP was 8mls, and even then I thought I was running fast and was hanging on at the end, whereas on Wednesday, once I got past the first mile or two, I was running relaxed and could have done a few more at the end if required.

If you havne't read the Danials training book, I'de highly recommend it.

smmoore79

Im kinda nervous about doin too much on the road. After Tuesdays track session my shins are a little tender so Im thinking my 13 miles this Saturday should be on grass mainly with a little road. Though having said that, i know that I need to practice on road if im gonna train for a race that is mainly on road!!

Plus one on PMP's and Threshold runs. Every Thursday when i trained for DCM I ran 8-10 at 7.30 pace. In hindsight I should have been doing sessions like yesterdays 3 x 1.5m threshold pace run. And on Sundays I always avoided the PMP's when doing LSR's, big mistake!!!

Speedy44

Not sure whether I'm happy with this one or not. A good improvement on my last road race 6wks ago when I ran 29:37 for 8K (equates to 29:48 5ml). Still, I was hoping to break 29mins.

I was on track for the first few miles. The course was tough enough, rolling hills, with a particular nasty long one at mile 4.
The field got strung out early enough and I was trying to stick to my plan and run conservatively enough for the first couple of miles.

Mile 1 was reached in 5:47 which I was happy enough with. I was breathing easy and had just broke away from 2 other lads that I was running with who I knew were already struggling.

This left me chasing down a lad that I normally beat who always goes out too fast. Caught him and went by him no problem. Now I was left chasing a lad I had beat last in my last road race after he had gone out too fast. He ran 28:54 in an 8K last week so I knew he was in good shape.

My 2nd mile was 5:42, a tad fast. Felt like I had indeed increased the pace but wasn't in too much trouble.

Mile 3 was 5:52. Tried to get a bit of a breather on this one but still push on at the same time.Calculated I was 3 secs up on sub 29.

Starting to feel it now. The fact that I was running on my own since 1ml wasn't helping. Wasn't making much inroads into the other lad, I thought he might coome back to me but he was more or less keeping the same distance ahead of me.

Mile 4 was 5:57. Climbing leading into this one. I was now 9 secs off my target. Thought that if was was 4-5 secs off I may be able to pull it back. Hadn't counted on the damn 1/2ml long hill.

Just stuck to my guns and pushed on over the last mile, which I did in 5:55.

Garmin had it at 5.01mls, but it was accutate.Thinking now I should have gone off with your man and stuck with him. He had another lad 5-10yds ahead of him that he was hanging on too.

Finished 7th overall and 2nd in my catogory.

Days Distance = 8.5mls

Weeks Distance = 56.25mls

village runner

Speedy44 wrote: »

Not sure whether I'm happy with this one or not. A good improvement on my last road race 6wks ago when I ran 29:37 for 8K (equates to 29:48 5ml). Still, I was hoping to break 29mins.

I was on track for the first few miles. The course was tough enough, rolling hills, with a particular nasty long one at mile 4.
The field got strung out early enough and I was trying to stick to my plan and run conservatively enough for the first couple of miles.

Mile 1 was reached in 5:47 which I was happy enough with. I was breathing easy and had just broke away from 2 other lads that I was running with who I knew were already struggling.

This left me chasing down a lad that I normally beat who always goes out too fast. Caught him and went by him no problem. Now I was left chasing a lad I had beat last in my last road race after he had gone out too fast. He ran 28:54 in an 8K last week so I knew he was in good shape.

My 2nd mile was 5:42, a tad fast. Felt like I had indeed increased the pace but wasn't in too much trouble.

Mile 3 was 5:52. Tried to get a bit of a breather on this one but still push on at the same time.Calculated I was 3 secs up on sub 29.

Starting to feel it now. The fact that I was running on my own since 1ml wasn't helping. Wasn't making much inroads into the other lad, I thought he might coome back to me but he was more or less keeping the same distance ahead of me.

Mile 4 was 5:57. Climbing leading into this one. I was now 9 secs off my target. Thought that if was was 4-5 secs off I may be able to pull it back. Hadn't counted on the damn 1/2ml long hill.

Just stuck to my guns and pushed on over the last mile, which I did in 5:55.

Garmin had it at 5.01mls, but it was accutate.Thinking now I should have gone off with your man and stuck with him. He had another lad 5-10yds ahead of him that he was hanging on too.

Finished 7th overall and 2nd in my catogory.

Days Distance = 8.5mls

Weeks Distance = 56.25mls

Running that pace 4 days after 20 @ 6.54 makes that vsub 3 a very soft target............That run def was in your legs so you should be thrilled.
Whats target for ballycotton ?

Speedy44

tx VR, hadn't thought about that !
Not running Ballycotton, next race is the Craughwell 10ml in 3wks time.

Not sure yet of a target, I won't be easing up for it, have another tough session 4 days before that (now you've got me worried!). Actually just checked, its 'only' 20mls easy I have.

Anyway, think I would be happy with somewhere between 60:30-59.

village runner

You wil really enjoy your marathon if sub 3 is target. You will prob run 2.57 with no risk. Pacers went through halfway in 89 flat in 2009. Just hope it aint warm and take off sponge of water.

tisnotover

Nice one on the PB, don't worry about the sub-29, you'll get that the next race, your putting it upto me Speedy, would love to break 29 this year! :rolleyes:

Speedy44

tisnotover wrote: »

Nice one on the PB, don't worry about the sub-29, you'll get that the next race, your putting it upto me Speedy, would love to break 29 this year! :rolleyes:

cheers tno.

Don't think I'll have another stab at it this year as 5 milers are few & far between in the wild west ! Do want to go under 28:30 for 8K though in the summer, at least :rolleyes:
Think I'll be targeting my own clubs Streets of Galway in August, its a fast course with a quality field.

Think there's one small matter I need to get out of the way first though, can't recall what it is right now though

Speedy44

Monday
6.5mls easy. Didn't feel too bad after yesterday, legs a bit sore but nothing to worry about. 7:49 pace

Tuesday
8.25mls easy at 7.45am. Beautiful morning for it. Had to get out early as the wife was getting back from the states.

Wednesday
This was the type of run that has you questioning yourself!
Origionally was going to go out twice to minimise effort as its going to be a hard week. Unfortunately due to work commitments I could only get the one run done, so had to make it 11mls.

Felt ok at first, in fact even thougth of doing my Q session today instead of tomorrow. I normally do them on Wednesday but due to Sundays race wanted to take an extra day off.
Weather was nice, sunny'ish, dry, relatively calm, but it was cold, at least I was cold anyway!
First mile was 7:52, then 7:30, 7:34 & 7:47, but I felt like I was running faster. I wasn't pushing it by any means, just felt like I was moving faster.
After I passed 20mins I decided that I was just going to do the 11mls easy. Then I started to feel a bit light headed. Didn't feel like i was going to fall over or anything, I think, but when I looked at the ground on front of me I felt a bit dizzy. Legs also felt jelly like. I just wasn't all there for some reason.
Decided to push on as I didn't actually feel bad. 5th& 6th mls were 7:42 & 7:40, was starting to feel better now. Next 2mls were 7:16, 7:22 & 7:14.
Definitely felt better when I upped the pace, which I did without any real increase in intensity.

Anyway, got through it but not sure what was going on. Felt tired all night and got to bed by 10am and slept like a log and had to peel myself out of it at 8am this morning.

Thursday
Decided I was just going to go out and give this a lash and see how I feel.
Daniels had 20mins easy, 20mins T, 20 E, 20T & 2mls E.

This is what I did:
20mins easy - 7:41/ml
20mins T - 6:05/ml
20mins easy - 7:48/ml
20mins T - 6:06/ml
21:18mins easy - 8:13/ml

This was tough, in fact very tough.

Felt ok in the first 20mins, ideal running weather, not as cold as yesterday either.
First few mins into the first T and I was averaging 6:08's. Gradually increased it until I was at 6:03's at about 10mins. Tried to slow it down but was still at 6:04 at 18mins. Intensity was hard, but sort of relaxed. Wanted to make sure I had enough in the tank to do th enext 20mins. I had last weeks messed up session in my mind as well, so wanted to finish this strong. A lot of rolling hills as well.

2nd T was a killer. Realised going into it that from here on in I 'only' have long runs, PMP run and some mile reps at T pace, so this was the last of these long T's, so I going to finish it come hell or high water.

Started off relaxed and pleasantly surprised to see 6:08 after first couple of mins. Next check at 5mins and I was on 6:13's.
Just keep plugging along I said to myself. Was feeling it now and only halfway there. Slowly started bringing average pace down by a second until I got it to 6:08's with a few minutes out. Dug in for the last minute to try to get it to the same as first one.

Man, I was out on my feet after this, as the last 20mins easy run's pace will show :rolleyes:

Very happy to get through it though, especially after yesterday.
All easy running now for the rest of the week.

Distance = 14.31mls
Time = 1:41:23 (7:05/ml)

Speedy44

Friday
a.m. - 5.5mls easy. Felt pretty good after yesterdays effort. Beautiful morning for it. 7:49/ml pace

p.m - 6.5mls on grass, which was nice for a change. Weather was lovely, except it was damn cold! Felt ok at first but tired towards the end. I need some training partners, one of those days when I was ust fed up running by myself. 7:50/pace

Saturday
8.25mls at noon. Nice day for it, not as cold as yesterday. Felt better than yesterday too, physically & mentally :rolleyes:
Legs a bit sore, quads and left calf in particular. Think I have to start drinking more water, may pick up some recovery fuel as well.
The top of my right quad twitched a few times during the run. It wasn't sore or anything, just strange
7:27/ml pace

Speedy44

Sunday
After having the crappiest nights sleep I've had in a long time, I set off to do my 20 easy miles. Had origionally intended doing 11 of them with the club, but that meant me starting to run before 8am.
I went to bed with a good book (Agassi's autobiography, the 1st chapter alone is worth the price for an example of pushing yourself through pain) at 9pm looking forward to a good nights sleep. Lights out at 10pm, woke up at 1am and then lay there for hours trying in vain to get back to sleep. Got up once for 1/2 hr or so. My last check on the clock was 4.42am, and I was still awake for a bit after that.
Alarm went off at 6.30am, got up, had my porridge etc, but felt it was a bad idea. I was also fighting off a bad cold all night, had the sweats, runny nose and bad sore throat. Didn't want to get stuck in the wilds of Connemara out of gas and freezing cold.
Went back to bed at 7.30am until 10am and headed out for my run from my house at 11am. I planned to pass the house at 12mls and pick up my water bottle and gel, and I could cut it short if I was suffering.

Against all logic (the wife thinks I am mad, laying beside me all night as I moaned & groaned, and now I was going to attempt to run 20mls :rolleyes:) I did this for a couple of reasons.
This is my last big week, mileage wise, and I know from experience that I can normally run with a head cold as long as the body feels ok.

So of course the run went fine. First mile was 8:01, 2nd 7:30. After that they were between 7:15-23. Felt good the whole way.

Garmin stopped working after the run for some reason. Will probably send it back to them tomorrow 'cause I don't want to be without it in the lead up.

Distance = 20mls
Time = 2:28+ (7:21/ml)

Week Distance = 80.5mls

Note:-
Realised while I was running that I've averaged 70+mls/wk since the beginning of the year (9wks). Gotta be happy with that

Speedy44

Monday
First day off since January 4th, and of course I felt guilty about it :rolleyes:
Had it pencilled in as a possible day off and with my cold it was definitely a wise decision I think.
Went to the doc as a precaution as I don't want this thing to turn into anything longterm. Put me on a course of antibiotics.

Tuesday
Still feel the affects of the cold but not as bad. Just an 7mls easy, felt pretty good, average pace was 7:22.

Wednesday
2mls easy @ 7:56/ml
4 x 1ml T/1min rec: 6:04, 6:03, 6:04, 6:00
10mls easy: 7:11, 7:19, 7:20, 7:37, 7:39, 7:44, 7:22, 7:50, 7:37, 7:34
4 x 1ml T/1min rec: 6:05, 6:02, 6:02, 5:59
1.35mls easy @ 8:35/ml

Very happy with this session, felt very good for most of it. Was coasting through the first set of mls, breathing was very relaxed and have to say it was the most comfortable I've felt doing T's, I think been on the track had something to do with it. I was thinking back to the 8 x 1ml off 30secs a few wks back, the extra 30secs rec definitely helps.

Started off the 10mls a tad fast, bumped into some lads from the club after 3mls so was happy to slow down, and for the company. Legs a bit heavy at the end them, took a gel & water then.

Felt good in the 2nd set of mls, they were slow turning on the lights at the track, and the it started raining too, so was getting cold, but still felt fairly good, and even though I was fairly shattered at the end, I still had some more in the tank.

Distance = 22.15mls

Speedy44

Thursday
6.5mls easy. Was a bit sore after yesterday, nothing major. Was mostly in the morning when I woke up. May be no hard to get a rub down though.
Average pace was 7:55mls

Friday
Met up with a buddy from the club and did 7mls+ on the muddy grass. Felt good, nice to be running with someone for a change.
7:21 pace

Speedy44

A few lads from the club were having a 5K timetrial on the track, so I decided that I'd give it a lash, more so to do something different.
Was hesitant initially as obviously I havn't done any reps shorter than a mile, but I was looking forward to a blowout anyway.

There was only 4 of us in it, weather wasn't as bad as was forecast, cold, but dry and not as windy as I feared.

Two of the lads broke away and I stuck in behind the other lad. Just wanted an honest effort out of this, so rather than lap spilts, I just took the K's:

1K - 3:32
2K - 3:34
3K - 3:35
4K - 3:34
5K - 3:28

Felt bad for yer man that he was doing all the work and thought a few times about going past him, but felt I was pushing it as it was and was afraid I'd blow up.

Went through different feelings throughout. Initially I felt the pace was ok and I was tempted to push on,then in the 2nd/3rd K I felt I was struggling and started getting negative thoughts in my head (stop:eek:), then I felt ok again in the 4th K, until he picked up the pace in the last K and I was hanging on.

I have a decent kick so went past him with 100m to go and finished in 17:42.

Beforehand, I had though I would go faster, but am fairly happy with it as the K's were consistent and I finished strong, so I know the strength is there for the long haul. Averaged 5:40/ml which I'm happy enough with.

Distance = 7mls

Speedy44

Had a run over the Craughwell 10ml course before next weeks race. Its going in reverse this year which should make for a faster course.

Ran with a few clubmates, started off easy enough but the last 6mls were 6:55, 7:03 7:28 (slowed as we weren't sure which way to go), 7:12, 6:47 & 6:52.
Of course I shouldn't be going that fast on an easy run, but since yesterdays Q session was only the 5K, it won't do me any harm.

Distance = 13mls
Time = 1:35:55 (7:22)

Week Distance = 66mls

seanynova

your going well as always....how do you think your races of this training plan are compared to your races when training for dublin?

any early predictions on craughwell having run the course?

Speedy44

seanynova wrote: »

your going well as always....how do you think your races of this training plan are compared to your races when training for dublin?

any early predictions on craughwell having run the course?

oh a hell of a lot better off Daniels. Pre Dublin I ran a 10K in 37:59, 6:06 pace. A few wks ago I was averaging 5:51's for a 5ml, and think I ran bad. Yesterday I was doing 5:40's in the 5K. Feel a lot stronger off this plan, so I may do something crazy and shoot for sub 60 in Craughwell :eek:

The course is faster alright, still a few drags but nothing major. A bunch of the lads from the club will be going out at the same pace, so hopefully I'll be dragged along to a decent time. I think I'm in 60:30-59 shape anyway, so I shouldn't blow up too much, I hope :rolleyes:

theboyblunder

just catching up with your log Speedy. Super running - nailing the faster sessions and getting the LSRs done. Its definitely on buddy

Just keep sensible over the next few weeks!

dapope

Hi Speedy,

Just taught i'd reply on your training log instead of the Rotterdam Thread:

The Q sessions are a good test. My whole week revolves around building up to these sessions and getting the most out of them. Everything else has just been easy milleage with the odd tempo added.

Craughwell will tell you what you need to know in terms of a target for Rotterdam. Sub 60 is a good target

I learned alot in Carlingford from the half. My plan was to run 3:45/km pace and see if I could hold on. Mentally I taught I was running the risk of blowing up but it never happened. I was comfortable at 3:40-3:45/km pace and finished the last 4km @ 3:34 pace. Was on track for a 3:20 in the final km only the course was short. Hopefully I can carry this forward to Rotterdam!

Speedy44

Tuesday

After taking my scheduled day off yesterday, I set off for my LSR in glorious sunshine, although it was a bit chilly.

Here's the splits:
7:29, 7:26, 7:19, 7:26, 7:27
7:27, 7:28, 7:21, 7:21, 7:26
7:27, 7:18, 7:22, 7:29, 7:20
7:21, 7:25, 7:43, 7:42, 7:38

Felt ok in the beginning and thought it would be another day when I'd have to apply the breaks. After a while though I wasn't feeling it, nothing too bad, just a bit lethargic. Took a gel & water at 14mls. Surprised when the miles after that were 7:20 or so 'cause I felt like I had slowed and the legs were getting heavy.

After doing the 17th mile in 7:25 and feeling more & more tired, I just decided to slow the hell down before I hit the wall altogether. Thought I was going slower than 7:40's when I did slow down, didn't make me feel fresh again or anythiing but I was able to finish it without completely exploding.

In some sick, demented way, I actually enjoyed this :rolleyes:

Most of my runs I've been feeling good, so I think its good that I had to drag myself through the last few miles of this feeling as I did.

Distance = 20mls
Time = 2:29:34 (7:29)

smmoore79

I see your LSR's are coming along nicley. Yesterdays LSR was still solid splits, I wouldnt be too worried about bein a bit tired. Some days are just like that!

seanynova

best of luck with the sub60 attempt tomorrow speedy, its a nice target and it seems you are in good shape for a craic at it....im assuming a nice break since tuesdays effort so you should be in good nick tomorrow

Speedy44

seanynova wrote: »

best of luck with the sub60 attempt tomorrow speedy, its a nice target and it seems you are in good shape for a craic at it....im assuming a nice break since tuesdays effort so you should be in good nick tomorrow

cheers seany.
Yea, just been ticking over since Tuesday.
Last few days have been 5.5mls, 6.5mls & 7mls with some strides yesterday. Will just do 4mls today.

Weather is supposed to be good tomorrow and they'll be lots of lads (and probably a few women!) to hang onto, so I'll give it a lash.

theboyblunder

Good luck tomorrow speedy - hope the race goes as well as your recent training