Hanging Up My Boots

cunavalos

After spending a lot of time reading several of the logs on here, i have finally decided to take the plunge and keep my own. After playing a part in my GAA clubs most successful season in decades, that elusive county title finally secured i have decided that it is time for a fresh challenge and make room for the younger lads coming through and am taking a break from all things GAA related for a year or two.
In the last couple of years i have done a bit of dabbling in running and cycling but never managed to follow a structured training schedule in either as the next championship was only around the corner. This week saw the start of 18 week marathon training plan culminating in Barcelona on March the 6th , the plan is loosely based on the Hal Higdon intermediate plan. Below are a list of current PB's and goals for the next 18 weeks.

PB's
5k-19.10 June 09
10k-39.10 May 10
5M - 31.52 Feb 09
10M - 70.32 Jan 10
1/2 Marathon - 1:35:xx Dec 09
Marathon - 3:29:xx Oct 10

Goals
Waterford 1/2 Marathon - Sub 90
Dungarvan 10 Miler - Sub 70
Barcelona - Sub 3.15 (Might lower this to 3.10 if training goes well over xmas)

PS
Will still be doing a fair bit on the bike but my main bike goals will be in mid to late summer so will prob be doing 2 turbo sessions during the week and one long spin at the weekend as well as a 5 day commute(10 mile round trip)

RacoonQueen

Good luck with your goals. Big crowd of people on here going to Barcelona, t'will be a cracking weekend.

village runner

cunavalos wrote: »

After spending a lot of time reading several of the logs on here, i have finally decided to take the plunge and keep my own. After playing a part in my GAA clubs most successful season in decades, that elusive county title finally secured i have decided that it is time for a fresh challenge and make room for the younger lads coming through and am taking a break from all things GAA related for a year or two.
In the last couple of years i have done a bit of dabbling in running and cycling but never managed to follow a structured training schedule in either as the next championship was only around the corner. This week saw the start of 18 week marathon training plan culminating in Barcelona on March the 6th , the plan is loosely based on the Hal Higdon intermediate plan. Below are a list of current PB's and goals for the next 18 weeks.

PB's
5k-19.10 June 09
10k-39.10 May 10
5M - 31.52 Feb 09
10M - 70.32 Jan 10
1/2 Marathon - 1:35:xx Dec 09
Marathon - 3:29:xx Oct 10

Goals
Waterford 1/2 Marathon - Sub 90
Dungarvan 10 Miler - Sub 70
Barcelona - Sub 3.15 (Might lower this to 3.10 if training goes well over xmas)

PS
Will still be doing a fair bit on the bike but my main bike goals will be in mid to late summer so will prob be doing 2 turbo sessions during the week and one long spin at the weekend as well as a 5 day commute(10 mile round trip)

Base on your 10k time you should go below 3.10. Best of luck with your log. See you in waterford as I am pacing the 90min.
Have a look at daniels program before you decide on which program.
Only fear for you is maybe cut down one of the turbo as they are tough.
also do your long run satursday and use your long cycle sunday as a recovery session.

Could you give me a typical training week that you have planned.
Based on your 10k and your marathon time you lack endurance in running terms ???
Fair play to you for hanging up your boots. Aint easy to walk away.

cunavalos

village runner wrote: »

Base on your 10k time you should go below 3.10. Best of luck with your log. See you in waterford as I am pacing the 90min.
Have a look at daniels program before you decide on which program.
Only fear for you is maybe cut down one of the turbo as they are tough.
also do your long run satursday and use your long cycle sunday as a recovery session.

Could you give me a typical training week that you have planned.
Based on your 10k and your marathon time you lack endurance in running terms ???
Fair play to you for hanging up your boots. Aint easy to walk away.

You see my times are a little strange that 10k time was 45 minutes after playing a hurling match in the morning and my marathon time was set in amsterdam with no real training. i had started a 16 week plan and after 3 weeks realised i couldnt combine football and a serious marathon program so sort of knocked it on the head but had hotel and entry paid for. I kept up the odd run here and there about 10-15 miles a week and 10 days beforehand went out for 15miles (longest ever run to date) so decided to do the marathon for the experience and set out at 3.30 pace .the first 20-21miles were grand and the last 5 were a bit of a struggle but have to admit the whole experience convinced me that i got more of a buzz from running on my own with strangers giving you genuine encouragement than i have from playing football and hurling recently.
The half marathon time and the 10 mile time also include a 90 minute cycle to get to each of the races so really feel that i should be able to bring down all PB's this year.

First week of the schedule went like this
Monday - 4miles Recovery Pace 8.30min/mile
Tuesday - 3*300m Hill Repeats 2 Mile Warm Up 2 Mile Cool Down
Wednesday 3miles Easy
Thursday - 30min Tempo including 10 mins at 10k pace
Friday - Rest
Saturday - 12 Miles LSR at 8.15min/mile
Sunday - 8Miles incl. 5 at PHMP (7min/mile)

Barring the commute did no cycling this week and the cycling plan is up in the air at the moment and nothing decided yet.

Macanri

Hey cunavalos, welcome to these parts - great to see you keeping a log here - it will be interesting to see the posts, especially the cycling ones. We have very similar PBs. I am planning on doing both Waterford (sub90 as close to 85 as possible) and Barcelona (time TBC) too.

cunavalos

2nd week of 18 week marathon training plan went as follows

Monday
4 miles at recovery pace (approx. 8.30min/mile)

Tuesday
Tempo run
10 mins warm up with 20mins at 10k pace followed by 10mins warm down

Wednesday
3.5 miles at recovery pace

Thursday
4 miles at PMP (6.50 min/mile)
Done at lunchtime so avoided most of the heavy winds

Friday
Supposed to be rest day but finished work slightly earlier than expected so managed an extra hour on the bike, nothing to hectic but since i wasn't doing any other cycling at the weekend felt it wouldn't do any harm

Saturday
Called into work but managed to fit in a 5 mile run at 8.15 min/mile afterwards before dark.

Sunday
13 miles in the woods at LSR effort. Hadn't been in the woods for a couple of months but really enjoyed myself.Started early and tracks were covered in frost but was a really nice bright crisp day and will definitely try and incorporate a trail run into the schedule at least once a week.

Overall Weekly Totals
Running- 35 miles (6-Sessions)
Cycling 70 miles (1 Hour + 6 Commutes)

Living out in the sticks running at night is out of the question and not comfortable enough in the woods to run there at night even with a good headtorch. Will probably need to talk to the boss at work to see if i change my hours around a bit to fit in a few more lunchtime runs and avoid having to run in the dark. I am still finding there is a bit of zip missing from my legs since the marathon and the PMP session each week although short is quite tough.

GoHardOrGoHome

cunavalos wrote: »

PB's
5k-19.10 June 09
10k-39.10 May 10
5M - 31.52 Feb 09
10M - 70.32 Jan 10
1/2 Marathon - 1:35:xx Dec 09
Marathon - 3:29:xx Oct 10

Very similar PBs to me. The marathon will be no bother to you. You should think about some Gold and Silver targets for the marathon. What you have there is a bronze target!

cunavalos

3rd week of 18 week marathon training plan went as follows

Monday
5 miles at recovery pace (approx. 8.30min/mile)

Tuesday
Tempo run
10 mins warm up with 20mins at 10k pace followed by 10mins warm down

Wednesday
4 miles on treadmill
First time on treadmill in 5 years but with the weather the way it is, will probably become a regular on the schedule. I cant say i enjoyed it much and spent much of the time working out mental arithmetic in my head about paces. A question for anyone reading this is pace ran on treadmill equivalent
to pace ran on road because it felt much tougher holding recovery pace on the treadmill than it should have.

Thursday
Interval training(Yasso Intervals)
4 X 800's with 90 sec recoveries
1 mile warm up and 1 mile cool down
Down on 400m sand track found them quite tough but wasn't an all out effort
Interval 1: 2.55
Interval 2: 2.57
Interval 3: 2.55
Interval 4: 2.53
I know that you are supposed to run your intervals at your target marathon time but i don't think running them at 3.10-3-15 would have served any purpose but conversely i am not planning on running a 2.55 marathon. The idea of running sub 7 minute pace for over 26 miles is unimaginable at the moment

Friday
Rest day. Big weekend planned

Saturday
7 miles incl. 5miles at PHMP (6.50min/mile)

Sunday
17 miles on the road at 8.15min/mile. Felt great and had to keep pace in check a couple of times. The longest LSR i have ever done and second longest run ever but felt good

Overall Weekly Totals
Running- 40 miles (6-Sessions)
Cycling 50 miles (6 Commutes)

Happy enough with the week. Everything going well, no niggles and no problems with motivation. Next weeks schedule calls for much of the same but may include a few more runs at predicted half marathon pace as waterford is only 3 weeks away

cunavalos

Sorry about delay in the updates but the bad weather has meant that i have busier than usual in work as colleagues haven't been able to make it in. Training hasn't gone according to schedule and have had to miss a few key schedules so sub 90 in waterford next weekend looks out of reach.

Week 4 Summary
Monday - 4 miles Run Recovery
Tuesday - 1 hour bike Intervals (Turbo)
Wednesday - 3.5miles Run - Easy
Thursday - 1 hour turbo (Just turning the pedals)
Friday - Rest
Saturday - 13 mile LSR (Was a bit icy in places and with the forecast for things to get worse decided to do long run on saturday instead of sunday)
Sunday - Running was out of the question so attempted a long turbo session but got bored after half an hour and gave up


Week 5 Summary
Monday - Nowt
Tuesday - F&*k All
Wednesday - 3.5miles in the ice with head torch (didn't enjoy this at all and decided not to run any more in these conditions)
Thursday - 1 hour turbo (all i can manage in one sitting, its a mental thing rather than a physical thing)
Friday - Despite not having done much this week, the friday rest day is firmly enshrined in my schedule
Saturday - 8 miles at 8.30 pace still a bit icy in places but enjoyable enough all the same
Sunday - 15 miles trail run. Still felt the road conditions were a bit iffy so hit the trails. Pushed the pace a bit after a good warm up and surprised to feel so good after a lacklustre week. Strange that there was still over a foot of snow in places and got a few strange looks from the hikers but didn't feel the cold much


It looks like the Waterford Half will go ahead next weekend but am in two minds how to approach it. The main aim is barcelona in march and although still a long way off i dont think i can afford a full taper beforehand so will probably try and stick to the marathon schedule and treat the half as a fast PMP session but we will see what the weather brings.