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2013; Eat my dust Meno!
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R.E. Paces in training versus racing. It always amazes me too. I am lucky to do 1k at 5k Race pace in training without it killing me...did you time the pace of the 1k intervals or just the overall run?
Haha! Bet you didn't think I was improving that much…watch your back!
Just paced the overall run - I was too fooked to be thinking about the watch as well. The warm-up/down was probably 1.5 miles at 9:15 or so?! Digger might have a rough idea. I'll see if I can figure it out from garminconnect using me calculator and the workout graph. Don't hold your breath though!
geekington wrote: »Clara - I was there last night and the session was sadistic! Don't do youself an injustice, the laps were 1.4km on the nose and hill was a real equaliser! Well done, keep it up!
Thanks Geekington. That's a wee bit reassuring! Sadistic barely describes that session… for such an unassuming hill, it is absolutely sick. I'd only ever run down it and never realised the extent of it!
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Saturday 26th May
The plan: 12 miles (4 easy [8:40], 4 @ HMP [7/7:10], 4 easy [8:40])
After Friday's rest, I thought I'd feel better about this run but I was a bit apprehensive. It was an early start to hook up with a couple of boardsies at 9am in the park. By the time we arrived, it was already hotting up. The starting pace was grand and comfortable. I was chatting and not concentrating on running and started to get a stictch after a couple of miles. I decided to stop talking and just focus on breathing and footfall but it was difficult enough to listen to the usual usual sh*te out of the lads without having a bit of input myself. I think we were all dreading the middle section but there was no backing out - everyone had committed to mine and Digger's sadistic plan. Meno led the pack for this and we all got stuck in. It was really hot and a couple of the guys fell off after a mile or two. I found that the heat and fumes coming off the new tarmac on Chesterfield Avenue were making it even worse. At about 2.7 miles, there were 4 of us still plugging and an executive decision was made to leave it at 3 miles. Although it was hot and I was wrecked, I could have held on for another one (at perhaps a slightly slower pace) but given the weather, the two hard club sessions earlier in the week and the dull stitch, I as happy to ease off and save the body. The middle section was 3 @ 7:04, which is pretty much the pace at which I ran the entire Kildare Half…the mind boggles! For some horrible reason, my stitch kicked in again as we set off at our easy pace for the final 5 miles so I sent the boys off and just ran on my own. I was mighty peeved and needed some time out to concentrate on doing my own thing. I eased back to 8:40 for a mile, took some good deep breaths, stopped twice to stretch out the torso and felt quite a bit better. In hindsight, and although I had a good 2/3 litres of water on Friday, I was probably a bit dehyrated. It was more muscle cramp in my abs as opposed to a food stitch or anything. The couple of times I've experienced it, it’s eased off with water and and/or an electrolyte tablet. I suppose I just need to be more aware and prepared. I'll need to think about fueling on long runs again - I don’t really see the need for fueling up to 14/16 miles at the minute but that could be really silly (especially given the weather at the minute) - I'll just play it by ear for the moment. My final 5 miles averaged about 8:25 which was probably too fast, but felt so easy after the 7:05s. It was so good to have this all done and dusted by 11am!
Total: 12 (4 @ 8:30, 3 @ 7:04, 5 @ 8:25)
Sunday 27th May
5 @ 9:00
The plan called for 5 recovery miles [9/9:15] which we did in the hot afternoon sun. Not even the Firhouse wind tunnel could cool us down. I really enjoyed this as a recovery run and although I wouldn't have fancied going any faster, I didn’t feel totally beat. The legs and lungs felt surprisingly ok. Had/have a teeny twinge on the right side of my lower back but that's nothing new, is probably from sleeping funny and will go away in a day or so.
Cycle - 7mile round trip to Marlay Park where I met a couple of friends for a picnic in the sun with lots of ice cream and treats… I don't actually know how my bike didn’t collapse under the weight of me on the way home!
That's 40 miles to round off my second week of structured and highly enjoyable training - probably the highest weekly mileage in almost 2 months
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Monday 28th May
6.4 @ 8:30
Plan was 6 miles easy at 8:30/40 pace. The weather was still fab so I ran home from work, which was thoroughly enjoyable. All very confortable and niggle free. The only complaint thing is that since the move to the new house, the uphill run home is even more uphill - although I suppose it's good training for Connemara 2013…
Tuesday 29th May
Cycle 7.3 miles (home to work)
Cycle 6.7 miles (work to home)
My cycling commutes are kind of ar*e about face and depend wholly on which turns I decide to take on a given day, hence the differing distances to/from the same places…
I wasn't allowed to run at all on Tuesday in advance of my physiology tests on Wednesday.
Wednesday 30th May
c.4.5 miles in total on a treadmill
I had an appointment in the Physiology lab in Trinity for a complete set of Physiology tests including LT, VO2 max, bloods etc. I was hooked up with a harness and face mask which was too big for my small head and stuck into both of my eyes - not completely comfortable… I got up to 16kmph from 8kmph (running each increment for 3 minutes) before they let me off the hook. There was no rest between each increment - not even to take the blood from the tip of my finger to test the lactate. I had to do it all on the move. Luckily, I was a bleeder so they only had to prick me 3 times to get 9 samples. I was pretty pooped and sweating like a maniac when I was done! Anyway, long story short - I am the runner's version of a 'good diesel engine'…! I better hang on to my toy car for another while so, as it looks like that'll be the only chance I get to run a super turbo charged engine!!
Thursday 31st May
6 @ 8:03
The plan was to go to the club session but to take it easy. Unfortunately I had yet another horrendous day in work, and got stuck in the office late having been at a stinking conference all day so I missed training. In the end I did my duty and went to vote after work, and decided just to do 6 miles myself. I headed out with a flat-ish route in mind intending to do a bit of a Fartlek run. I was advised last week that Fartlek is, by its very nature, totally unstructured and you make it up as you go/feel. The idea is you peg it for a long as is comfortable and take as much rest as you want. Think of the episode of phoebe running in Friends. That's your hard pace you should really enjoy the fast sections. This sounded like a good enough plan for me! When I got out of my estate, taking the route I had planned would have required stopping to cross the road so I decided to swing a right and head the other direction instead. I didn’t really know where I was going but I figured 3 miles out and 3 miles home couldn’t get me into too much trouble. I decided not to look at the Garmin at all and just run by feel (apart from checking the distance the odd time). I rounded a corner and saw a set of traffic lights so put the boot down, raced to them, and eased off to enjoy the scenery for a while. Then I saw a crossroads in the distance so I raced off again. I took the pedal off at the crossroads and swung a right to find myself starting to climb. And climb. And climb. That took the fartlek spurts out of the equation for the time being but I decided to just go with it and see where it brought me. Up. That's where it brought me. 3 miles into the Dublin mountains on really nice and peaceful evening. It's amazing where 2 miles can bring you in this small country. It was bliss. I think the fact that I had no strict pace plan made it even more enjoyable. I completely switched off and just relished the surroundings. I think I was at about 8:20 pace when I hit the 3 mile mark and turned around. I freewheeled back down with proper Phoebe-style flailing arms (though I eased off after a couple of seconds in fear of toppling over!). I did a couple more Fartlek sytle spurts when the road flattened out again, and I got home with an average oace of 8:03 on the watch. I would have loved to have kept going (and easily could have) but I was aware of the tough LSR planned for this weekend. This run was seriously good for my mental health. Before it, I was on the verge of a breakdown. After it, I was only on the verge of being on the verge of a breakdown…
Friday 1st June
Rest day today.
Don't particularly feel like I need it and if I hadn't had a breakfast date, lunch plans and post-work beer plans, I probably would have tried to sneak in a couple of miles or a wee cycle. Probably a good thing that I'm so popular in terms of my LSR tomorrow…haha!:rolleyes:;)
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Whoops…neglected log over here. Have been very busy but training away in the background nonetheless
Saturday 2nd June
14 miles @ 8:13 average (4 easy (8:39), 4 @ HMP (7:09), 6 easy (8:39))
This was a character building run. I don’t need to say much more. Should have chosen a flat route. I insisted on Marlay Park and won. Bad idea. It was pretty windy too. Middle section was TOUGH! Stomach was at me (self inflicted no doubt - though I really didn't think beer, vodka and baby Guinness the night before was such a bad idea…:rolleyes: However hindsight resolves that I will be drinking water tonight before tomorrow's LSR). Digs took a gel around 8/9 miles and although I probably could have done with one, the tum said no. We had to stop at a set of traffic lights on the way home and both of us felt our legs seizing up as if we had just run 20 miles for the first time. It was strange. And a little fun-negative! Was just delighted to get it over with. Felt like a right granny on Saturday night trying to walk in my heels. And even more of a granny when I left half a glass of red on the bar afterwards in favour of my slippers and the couch…
Sunday 3rd June
5.5 @ 8:55
A late afternoon lazy recovery run. Legs felt surprisingly good after Saturday's exploits.
Monday 4th June
8 @ 8:27
Plan was 8 easy miles i.e. 8:30/40 pace. Left it until late enough in the afternoon and the weather was lovely. We tried to take a flat enough route but that's virtually impossible so there was a small amount of undulation - nothing too painful. We were pretty disciplined and kept splits as even as possible. Was tired but not knackered by the end. And in fairness I expected to feel a lot worse after the weekend. One of those runs where you feel you really deserve a delicious BBQ and guilt free lazy evening on the couch!
Tuesday 5th June
Morning Cycle - managed to get 3 miles into work before getting a puncture and abandoning ship. Luckily I got the puncture as I was passing my cousin's house so I got her out of bed to babysit my bike while I hopped on the bus instead. Digger has since rescued my bike and repaired my puncture for which I am very grateful
Evening Club session: the usual Tuesday speedwork i.e. the usual Tuesday torture As usual though, I won't complain - it was really good and no way I would have trained anywhere near the same effort on my own. I arrived about 10 minutes early so I ran an extra mile warm up to get me up to the prescribed 6 miles for the day. Session was as follows:
4 X 200m w/30 second recovery (forgot to hit the watch for the first one - 2, 3 and 4 were 46, 45 and 43 seconds respectively)
3 X 1000m w/90 recovery jog (3:48, 3:56 and 3:49 respectively - I led the first rep and got pipped at the post, eased off on the second one (not sure whether consciously or sub consciously but I knew I was wary of starting to feel wrecked and worried about not being able to finish the last rep), ran the last one with 2 other ladies and managed to push on in the last 150m to finish first)
2 X 400m w/60 second recovery (1:32 & 1:27 respectively - could feel the legs burning about 200m into the first one but I just dug in and held on as I knew it was the last bit of effort for the session)
6 miles in total incl w/u @ 9:15 & w/d @ 8:56
Wednesday 6th June
6.4 @ 9:02
Recovery run home from work. Nice and uphill. Nearly melted in the sun. Pace hovered around 8:57 for most of it (should have been 9/9:15) so I eased off totally for the last mile which is uphill all the way. This run was welcomed and needed after Tuesday night. Could have run faster had I had to but legs would definitely have revolted.
Thursday 7th June
Morning Cycle - 7 miles (home to work) Back on two functioning wheels in the wind and rain! What a difference 12 hours makes with the weather in this country! Sure there'd be no excitement otherwise...
Evening run 6.45 @ 7:51
It should have been at a club fartlek/mile repeat/some other such variation session but circumstances said no to that. Left the bike in work and ran home. I hit it Phoebe style to make up for missing the club. Just ran as and how I wanted to/felt like the whole way - easy/hard/hard/easy/easy/hard/hard/hard/easy… you get the picture. Took off at traffic lights. Eased off when I needed to. Put the foot down to beat traffic. Pulled it back to people-watch. Nothing rigid about my Thursday runs. It was good and tough though - don't get me wrong. There were a couple of faster sections when I was breathing hard and wanted to stop but I'd pick another marker in the distance or I'd look at the watch and aim to get average pace down by one second more. A good 'un by all accounts. Spent the evening making RQ's chocolate biscuit cake and licking the spoon has never felt so satisfying…
Friday 8th June
Friday rest day Need it. Love it. Tough LSR tomorrow.
Will cycle home from work but it will be uber-easy in that manky weather!
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Friday 8th June
Cycle 6.85 miles (work - home)
That was an interesting cycle in lashing rain and gale force wind. Thought the bike was going to go from under me a few times and was a bit nervous in the traffic. I took it nice and easy and got home in one piece so it was all grand.
Saturday 9th June LSR plan (5 easy, 2 @ HMP, 2 easy, 2 @ 10k pace, 3 easy)
14 @ 8:05 (8:22, 8:31, 8:47, 8:21, 8:43, 7:14, 7:14, 8:35, 8:39, 6:51, 6:37, 8:18, 8:44, 8:27)
Headed to the park with Meno and Digs for this one. It had been horribly windy overnight and it hadn't calmed down any great extent on Saturday morning while we were watching the rugby. Nonetheless, there was a job to do. The first 5 easy were grand. We ran an undulating route to get us to a point that would be flat enough and sheltered from the wind for the pacier miles. HMP was to be 7:15 +/- 5 but no faster - we ran those two at 7:14 and they felt good. Legs, lungs all working well - nice and flat with the wind mostly in our favour. When we eased off for the next two easy, I got a stitch - we were running uphill into the wind and I was chattting. Similar to the last time, the stitch kicked in off the back of the faster miles - I think it may be something to do with getting into a faster rhythm and then losing concentration when I ease off and not focusing on footfall/breathing etc. It's like a stabbing feeling in the muscle just under my right ribcage and it is painful! It also may be dehydration in the muscle as it kind of feels like it just cramps up. I stopped to stretch it out between the middle two easy miles and it eased a bit. The boys just carried on talking and dreaming about Rosanna Davison and left me bent over on the side of the road for dead. Charming!! I did the two miles @ 10k pace on my own and they felt alright. There was a dull ache but not one I needed to stop for. 10k pace was 6:45 +/- 5 but no faster. I probably didn't start the first mile as fast as I should have and the legs really wanted to stop and give up after this first mile. I had to give myself a good talking-to and dig in to get the second one though. That was a lot better. The 3 easy miles to finish were alright. The stitch was still there but I just kept my mouth shut and powered through. The last mile wasn't tough as such but it felt neverending! I put the calf gaurds on for the day and night after and the legs felt grand. All in all it was a great run and they only problem was the stitch - I need to figure that out and devise a plan/method to stop it arising and or dealing with it when it does.
Sunday 10th June Recovery (9/9:15m/m)
Run #1 - 3.1 @ 9:00
Run #2 - 2.9 @ 9:14
Yesterday's recovery run was split in two as I had a family event to show my face at. Instead of indulging, I decided to run to and from in order to keep me away from all the junk on offer. It was 3.1 miles from home to relative's house (nice and downhill) which was grand - really really easy 9m/m pace. Hung out for an hour and then headed home cutting a corner or two for 2.9 miles at 9:14m/m average pace. It felt really easy and refreshing on the legs. A recovery steak with a few beers in an attempt to feign interest in the football rounded off the weekend nicely!
46.85 miles in total for the week. Getting back into decent mileage now after Connemara. The break was great but it's good to be back
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Monday 11th June - Plan: 8 easy (8:30/40 pace)
8.18 @ 8:38
A steady uphill run home from work via the scenic route to get the distance covered. I was absolutely shattered all day yesterday. We're talking 'double espressos and sticking needles in my eyes to keep them open' tired! My whole body felt heavy and sluggish. So it was no surprise when this run started rather uncomfortably, eased off after a few miles and then ended a little uncomfortably. My legs were so dead. I think I've done a fair amount of uphill running in the last few weeks and have been neglecting the necessary stretching/foam rolling etc to complement/accompany this. My calves were screaming for a massage. So I just took it really easy - the pace itself felt so handy irrespective of the heavy legs if that makes sense... I didn’t feel the need or the desire to push on at any stage, and was actually a bit surprised that I had fallen within the planned/prescribed pace as I hadn't been watching it at all.
Tuesday 12th June
Cycle 7.1 miles (home to work)
Lovely morning for it - flew in this morning in stark contrast to last week's adventures. I don’t know if I'm getting more confident or competent on the bike or whether I got lucky with the traffic and the weather this morning, but this was good and refreshing A much nicer way to start the day than a yucky bus journey!
Club tonight…I hope the legs come back to life in the meantime!
Actually if anyone has any recommendations for a sports massage around Pearse St/Dublin 2 area - I wouldn’t mind trying to arrange one for Thursday or Friday at lunchtime? I usually go to Ciaran Fitz but with the Ireland game on Thursday evening, that may not suit and I think Friday evening will be cutting it fine for Saturday's run...
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Tuesday 12th June Club session
c.4.15 miles in total
To be honest I was dreading this. And had I been my own training master yesterday, I probably would have skipped it. My legs were heavy and my brain was knackered. Cycled out to Bushy Park which was a good warm up. I got there nice and early so I had a 10/15 minute rendezvous with the foam roller. It was very necessary and I could feel the tenderness as I kneaded my calves. Even though I felt a bit battered after this, I could feel that it helped loosen out the legs so I started to perk up a bit. Training was late starting as the guys from the Special Olympics came down to collect their cheque from the fundraising of the Sportsworld race (the Terenure 5) back in May. The club raised €10,000 which was a fantastic result - well done to all involved (runners/organisers/volunteers)! By the time we were kicking off about 30 minutes later, the heavens had opened and the tiredness of the day had really set in. I would have taken any excuse. Unfortunately, or fortunately, there were none! It was a short sharp session so I knew if I just got stuck in, I'd be home and warm in no time. Had a good warm up with plenty of stretching and strides in anticipation of some hectic enough sprints.
Session was as follows:
4 x 200m w/ 30sec recovery (48 / ? / 45 / 41 - the entire group did these together so it was pretty congested and the path was in bits with the rain i.e. they were a bit of a pain. I started my watch a second or two early on the first and forgot to start it on the second. I think the final two are accurate enough though)
2 x 400m w/ 60sec recovery (90 / 91 - again it was pretty congested. I finished the first one at the end of the top pack so I took a slightly longer recovery and headed back with the second pack - the group had made its natural division at this stage. I led the second one but wasn't watching my watch. I wonder whether I might have pushed harder had I been aware of my pace and / or had there been someone to chase…)
1 x 800m w/ 90sec recovery jog (3:01 - stayed with the second pack and took off feeling strong. Passed one girl after 100m which put me second, behind just one guy. She told me to catch him and stay with him, and that I was well able for it so that was a good motivator. I got him within 3/4 meters and hung on. I was breathing pretty heavily for the last 200m and finished 2/3 seconds after him. It was a tough but good one)
1 x 600m w/ 60sec recovery (2:25 - we jogged back to the 600m mark and took off again. 600m is a tough distance and I wasn’t sure what to be at. So again it was a case of take off and hold on. Finished strong with a couple of guys)
2 x 200m w/ 30sec recovery (44 / 38 - was so wrecked after the 600m that I just wanted to be done. Thought I had given the first 200 all I had left but obviously not. The second one was 38 seconds of HARD effort. There must be a bit of pushing to leave nothing in the tank for the last one knowing that you're all done afterwards, as my last rep is always one of my strongest)
(I got slightly longer recoveries as I finished well forward in the group so that helped a wee bit)
And a short warm down. I was cycling home so figured that would count towards a decent warm down.
This was a really good session. And the fatigue eased once I started. So so glad I hung in and went for it.
Cycle (work - training) 4.25 miles
Cycle (training - home) 2.75 miles
Wednesday 13th June (Recovery 9/9:15m/m)
6.7 @ 9:00
I had a nice handy run into work this morning - the route going into town is very forgiving on tired legs. Took a while to get warmed up but it was comfortable at that pace once I did. Legs felt a good bit looser than they did yesterday which was surprising given the club session, but not given the foam roller attention. Don't get me wrong, they are still in desperate need of a seeing-to, so I've arranged a sports massage with the above recommended therapist before work in the morning.
Tomorrow's plan was to be 6-8 easy miles with strides but given how the legs are feeling, the fact I'm having a massage and in anticipation of another tough weekend run, I'll probably listen to my body and readjust that somewhat.
That's all for now folks!
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Thursday 14th June (6-8 easy w/6-8 strides)
5.45 @ 8:49 incl. 5 x 100m strides @ 5k pace (ish) to finish
As indicated yesterday, I adjusted today's plan in a sensible 'I-will-listen-to-my-body-and-not-jeopardise-more-important-sessions' type of way. The alarm went off at 5:30am and got snoozed until 5:33, before I managed to haul myself out from under the covers. I had left everything ready to go - to the extent that my runners were open and placed facing the door to just step into. I knew that I would have to get up and go without having the opportunity to talk myself back into bed. It's been a while since I did anything this early so the body was pretty creaky for a while. Did a 2.5mile out and back route - wee bit of uphill, wee bit of downhill, wind into my face for the first half, behind me home. Not too bad. The legs loosened out nicely and I finished up with 5 x 100m strides at 5k pace (ish!) to stretch them out and make sure there was still a birra life in them. All grand.
Had a quick turnaround to get in the door, showered, and back out the door for my sports massage in town at 8am. Thanks for the recommendation guys - Peter was great. It was pretty ouch and eek but just what the legs needed. Calves are tight. Hips are tight. ITB, TFL, glutes... all tight! I'm sure the change in training, from plodding ultra miles, to decent club sessions and hard LSRs, as well as a bit more of a mash up with my footwear has led to this. All that, plus my undeniable failure to foam roll and or stretch enough (or at all!) I suppose…. Anyway following on from some uncomfortably interesting digs in some very tender pressure points, I'd like to think I've started to turn over a new leaf. Legs are expected to feel groggy this evening but a helluva lot better tomorrow. I don’t think they can get any worse than they were earlier in the week though. I've booked another massage for next Thursday morning before Dunshaughlin and I was sent off with instructions to sit on a sliotar… (I'll leave that one with your immature senses of humor lads ) so all good for now!
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Thursday 14th June (6-8 easy w/6-8 strides)
5.45 @ 8:49 incl. 5 x 100m strides @ 5k pace (ish) to finish
As indicated yesterday, I adjusted today's plan in a sensible 'I-will-listen-to-my-body-and-not-jeopardise-more-important-sessions' type of way. The alarm went off at 5:30am and got snoozed until 5:33, before I managed to haul myself out from under the covers. I had left everything ready to go - to the extent that my runners were open and placed facing the door to just step into. I knew that I would have to get up and go without having the opportunity to talk myself back into bed. It's been a while since I did anything this early so the body was pretty creaky for a while. Did a 2.5mile out and back route - wee bit of uphill, wee bit of downhill, wind into my face for the first half, behind me home. Not too bad. The legs loosened out nicely and I finished up with 5 x 100m strides at 5k pace (ish!) to stretch them out and make sure there was still a birra life in them. All grand.
Had a quick turnaround to get in the door, showered, and back out the door for my sports massage in town at 8am. Thanks for the recommendation guys - Peter was great. It was pretty ouch and eek but just what the legs needed. Calves are tight. Hips are tight. ITB, TFL, glutes... all tight! I'm sure the change in training, from plodding ultra miles, to decent club sessions and hard LSRs, as well as a bit more of a mash up with my footwear has led to this. All that, plus my undeniable failure to foam roll and or stretch enough (or at all!) I suppose…. Anyway following on from some uncomfortably interesting digs in some very tender pressure points, I'd like to think I've started to turn over a new leaf. Legs are expected to feel groggy this evening but a helluva lot better tomorrow. I don’t think they can get any worse than they were earlier in the week though. I've booked another massage for next Thursday morning before Dunshaughlin and I was sent off with instructions to sit on a sliotar… (I'll leave that one with your immature senses of humor lads ) so all good for now!
I'm a big fan of sitting on a sliotar:D0 -
Marthastew wrote: »I'm a big fan of sitting on a sliotar:D
I'm just wondering where I'll get one at short notice before the watershed on a Thursday evening…?!
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