Ronnie Runs Riot

ronnie085

Sun: 14.0 miles long @ 7:24 m/m

No ill effects from yesterdays race at all, felt good and strong. Started a little slow just to ease myself in and rid myself of any stiffness in the legs, which surprisingly there was very little. Felt comfortable although the last mile I could feel a little fatigue creeping in. Just made it to the door before the rain started, happy days.

Mon: Rain stopped play

Had planned a 4 mile recovery run, didn't bother in work because of the rain, decided on the dreadmill in the gym after. After a 12 hour work day and a normally 25 min drive that turned into a 2 hour 45 min drive, I was to late for the gym and in no humour for splashing around at that stage. First rest day in 14, not bad.

Tue: AM 3.88 miles recovery

Easy recovery run around Citywest to view the carnage caused by the floods. Still a few abandoned cars at that stage, a collapsed wall and muck and dirt everywhere.

PM: 8.87 miles incl 12 x 400 intervals

Decided to do shorter intervals this week, mainly to give the head a break from the longer slog. Maybe not the best session for half marathon training??? But it will do no harm anyway. Just went with around 5K pace and 200m jog recovery, which felt comfortable, the biggest difficulty was the slippy grass track. Nearly went over on the bends a couple of times ( explains a couple of the slower splits). Felt like I could do a few more when I finished up so was going well today although was working well within myself.

Splits: 85,83,85,86(slip),84,84,84,84,84,86(slip),85,82.

Pretty slow but what the hell, I enjoyed it.

ronnie085

Wed: AM 3.88 miles recovery
PM 8.94 miles easy @ 7:45 m/m

The recovery run in the morning felt a little sluggish, esp for the first 2 miles. Started to feel better after that.
Went for an easy run this evening. Held a very steady pace with only a couple of seconds difference between every mile. Tired for the last couple of miles but nothing a good nights sleep will put right. Tempo session tomorrow yay

ronnie085

Thurs: 12.15 miles incl 3 x 2 miles @ tempo

For once a gale not blowing when I was doing a tempo run, perfect evening for it. 2 mile warm up then picked up the pace. Surprised how good I felt in the first mile, pacing between 6:20/25, second mile I picked up the pace slightly but still well within myself. 5 minute jog recovery and then back at it, again feeling good, running comfortably hard and pacing bang on. Another 5 min jog recovery and another 2 miles to finish off, same as the first 2, nearly to fresh at the end. Dont get sessions like that everyday. 3 mile cool down jog home feeling pretty happy with myself. Downloaded the data and noticed HR was few beats lower that normal for the pace, was actually nearer MP levels , think its a good sign.

Splits (6:24,6:20), (6:21,6:21), (6:23,6:20)

ronnie085

A quick update to keep everything in order,

Fri: 6.2 miles recovery

Sat: 15.6 miles long @ 7:22 m/m

Sun: Rest

Mon: Got lazy after lying around watching the marathon all morning :rolleyes:

Tue: Am 11.4 miles east @ 7:39 m/m
PM: 6.2 miles easy @ 7:38m/m

Wed: AM 9 miles easy @ 7:52 m/m, tough and very windy.
PM 5 miles v easy @ 8:21 m/m

ronnie085

Thurs: 6.14 miles recovery

Little tired for this one, after 32 miles in 2 days I expected that, just preparing the legs for a tempo tomorrow. Looks like its nearly time to upgrade the garmin, just a fancy stopwatch and dodgy HRM at the moment as its not picking up GPS signals anymore. Tomorrows tempo run just on feel :eek:.

Any ideas for a 5 mile/10k race in november, cant seem to find one within reasonable distance of kildare?? Oh and dont really fancy the Mo run since its change to 9k, why not do 8k/5 mile for a real distance and run for mark in the dark doesn't suit with work.

ronnie085

Fri: 11 miles incl 6 @ tempo

Perfect morning, sun even came out to say hello. Jogged a 2 mile warm up out to the usual tempo route, garmin still not playing ball but lucky enough I know where the mile points are from the many hours spent running around it already. Took off, shaking off a few cobwebs in the legs from over a week of steady running trying to get the HR into the zone, using that as a guide. First mile was a struggle, the mind started to play tricks, how am I going to keep going for another 5. then something just clicked and I was cruising, miles 2 and 3 down, half way no problem. Had a little rough patch in mile 4 but kept on pushing on and came out of it fairly quick. The last 2 miles flew by, no problems at all. 6 miles av ~ 6:25 m/m .Happy with that and just as happy I didn't give into the few negative thoughts I was having.
3 mile cool down home to finish the day a happy man.

Brianderunner

ronnie085 wrote: »

Fri: 11 miles incl 6 @ tempo

Perfect morning, sun even came out to say hello. Jogged a 2 mile warm up out to the usual tempo route, garmin still not playing ball but lucky enough I know where the mile points are from the many hours spent running around it already. Took off, shaking off a few cobwebs in the legs from over a week of steady running trying to get the HR into the zone, using that as a guide. First mile was a struggle, the mind started to play tricks, how am I going to keep going for another 5. then something just clicked and I was cruising, miles 2 and 3 down, half way no problem. Had a little rough patch in mile 4 but kept on pushing on and came out of it fairly quick. The last 2 miles flew by, no problems at all. 6 miles av ~ 6:25 m/m .Happy with that and just as happy I didn't give into the few negative thoughts I was having.
3 mile cool down home to finish the day a happy man.

Good stuff. You can't beat a successful tempo for the feel good factor afterwards.

is 6'25 pace (1'24'15) the target for Waterford?

ronnie085

Brianderunner wrote: »

Good stuff. You can't beat a successful tempo for the feel good factor afterwards.

is 6'25 pace (1'24'15) the target for Waterford?

Hey Brian, yeah its not far off at the moment, going to call sub 85 the target, little conservative (I hope). What you going for yourself, after that 10 miler I'd say your aiming high?

ronnie085

Ok, the wheels feel off over last weekend, missed sat then that led into missing sunday, had a weeks holidays last week and the lack of routine caught up on me. 100% focus between now and Waterford. Got back on the horse on Monday.

Mon: 8.3 miles easy @ 7:48 m/m

Just an easy run to get the legs moving again. Felt good and fresh, so no ill effects from the couple of days off. This arrived today as well so had to test it out .

Tue: 8.2 miles incl 5 x 1200m intervals

Back down to real business. 2 mile warm up jog to the track and the into it, aiming at 10k pace (~6 m/m from last 5k). First interval felt comfortable and bang on pace. 400m jog recovery between intervals and on again, still comfortable, bang on again. Started to feel it slightly on the third one but I was never struggling. Again flying for the 4th while the last one was slightly interupted by weaving in and out of pesky kids warming up which I think caused a slightly slower time then the rest of them rather than tiredness. A mile jog home to finish off a good session. Very happy with the pace considering I was on a wet slippy grass track and it still felt comfortable.

Splits: 4:29, 4:29, 4:28, 4:29, 4:33

Wed: Am 3.87 miles recovery
Pm 6.17 miles recovery

Felt ok today, little bit of stiffness in the legs from yesterday but it cleared after a couple of miles, other than that nothing to report.

ronnie085

Thurs: 11.31 miles incl 3 x 2 miles @ tempo pace

Decided to try do these slightly faster, aiming for 6:15-6:20m/m and also cut the recovery time down from 5 to 4 minutes, as the last time I did this it felt a little to easy and HR was lower than I would have wanted. Not to bad an evening,bit of a wind but nothing to bad, so off I go on my usual 2 mile warm up. Then the work started, into a rhythm fairly quickly, holding back slightly if anything, keeping pace to what I planned, then turned a corner and I was running into a sneaky wind for a while, slowed me down but still going steady enough. First interval done,not comfortable but not far off. 4 minute jog and then off again. The first minute or two I struggled to get back into the rhythm but a cheer from a friend out for a walk perked me up and before long I was flying. Turning to have the wind at my back spurred me on more, 2 intervals completed without any drama. The final one was back into the wind again after the 4 minute recovery. Started strong this time and while the last mile was tough it wasn't eyeballs out stuff. Another 2 or so mile cool down and another successful session completed, second of the week .

Splits (2 mile) 12:45,12:32,12:45.

Fri: 6.13 miles recovery

Little slower than normal but I expected that after two good sessions this week, although didn't feel to tired apart from going uphills or into the wind. Should be set up for a long one tomorrow.

ecoli

Looking at this session it seems to me that you are running a Tempo session with 10k session recoveries. If these are truly Tempo pace I think you should be halving this recovery to 2-3 min or if you want to keep these recoveries drop the pace.

The aim of these is to keep the recoveries short and keep the effort going so that you are getting the benefit of 6 miles tempo otherwise you miss out on time getting the heartrate back up into the right zone

ronnie085

Yeah I was thinking that, working by a bit of trial and error with these at the moment. I dont think the paces are far off tempo pace and the last time I did this session had a 5 min recovery and was way too easy, max HR was only MP . Dropped it this time to 4 mins and felt more like it. Was thinking of going to 3 the next time out so you've made my mind up, might even compromise with 2:30.

ecoli

ronnie085 wrote: »

Yeah I was thinking that, working by a bit of trial and error with these at the moment. I dont think the paces are far off tempo pace and the last time I did this session had a 5 min recovery and was way too easy, max HR was only MP . Dropped it this time to 4 mins and felt more like it. Was thinking of going to 3 the next time out so you've made my mind up, might even compromise with 2:30.

Sounds about right my usual rule of thumb for these types of sessions would be 60-90 sec per mile run as recovery. Again shouldnt feel like a killer session but you should not be going into each rep fresh your HR should still be working close to or in the right zone even through the recovery and not be given the chance to drop too much

ronnie085

ecoli wrote: »

Sounds about right my usual rule of thumb for these types of sessions would be 60-90 sec per mile run as recovery. Again shouldnt feel like a killer session but you should not be going into each rep fresh your HR should still be working close to or in the right zone even through the recovery and not be given the chance to drop too much

Thats grand, I'm not far off what I'm doing once I sort the recoverys out, my idea was do a straight tempo one week and then something like this session the next week, just to make it mentally easier more than anything.

ecoli

ronnie085 wrote: »

Thats grand, I'm not far off what I'm doing once I sort the recoverys out, my idea was do a straight tempo one week and then something like this session the next week, just to make it mentally easier more than anything.

Use the same logic myself in terms of when I am doing alot of tempo work during the winter months

ronnie085

Sat: 16.03 miles long @ 7:17m/m

Surprised this morning when I looked out the window to see the sun shining, nice one, couldn't wait to get out, makes a change from the dull, damp, miserable weather. Started off feeling strong, a little to strong, after a couple of mins looked down at the watch, 7:07 pace, wooooo horsey. Settled into a more reasonable pace, feeling good. One of them days the miles just seemed to be clicking off without even noticing. At one point was even thinking of taking a turn off the planned route to make it an 18/20 miler, until I got a burst of sense. The only time I started to feel fatigued was the last half mile or so, not that I was feeling bad or anything, it was probably just a bit of dehydration as I took no water or gels with me. Hopefully will have a day like this on dec 10, just around a min/ mile faster, not much to ask.....

ronnie085

Sun: 5.65 miles easy @ 7:28 m/m

Working today so took the gear in and went for a short one on a loop around Corkagh Park and into Kingswood. A strong wind and a couple of drags tested the legs at times but was feeling good and floated back to the job with the wind at my back. Finished off a good week, couple of sessions and 66 miles

Mon: 11.42 miles easy @ 7:33m/m

The best thing about shift work is every second week I can get out in the morning and dont have to worry about running in the dark. Mornings like this make it even better. The usual first mile or two slow to get going but once I loosened up I felt grand. Planned to just cruise along today, although I was going faster than I wanted to I felt very comfortable. Nothing much else to report, a little tired towards the end but with high enough milage over the last week expected that.

ronnie085

Tue: 8.67 miles incl 4 x 1 mile repeats @ ~10k pace

Was ready for a tough one today and I got it. Weather was perfect, little or no wind so out the door on my 2 mile warm up, out to my tempo route where there is a mile long stretch of road as flat as your going to get. Into the first interval, the usual, this isn't bad, could go faster than this. First one done, no drama. Took a 5 min jog recovery, just wanted to be sure of completeing the session and then into the second one. Again not to bad, although there is a slight drag for the last 200m or so which started to hurt. Finished, slightly more shook than after the first one but not bad. Started off well on the third interval, feeling as comfortable as you can doing these, then it started to hurt earlier this time, time to grit the teeth and hang on which I did. Starting to feel it now but just one to do to finish the session. The watch beeped , dreading this, go, hold on, this isnt to bad, hurting but I was travelling within myself and knew I could hold the pace. A good session completed. Mile and a bit jog home to finish the day. Well deserved recovery day tomorrow.

Splits: 5:50,5:54,5:53,5:53.

Brianderunner

^ Nice session there. Gives me a time target for my 5 x 1 mile session tonight

What's the Waterford goal. Sub 1'22-1'23? we shouldnt be too far from each other i'd say.

ronnie085

Brianderunner wrote: »

^ Nice session there. Gives me a time target for my 5 x 1 mile session tonight

What's the Waterford goal. Sub 1'22-1'23? we shouldnt be too far from each other i'd say.

Just seen your session last night, your flying, dont think I'd get anywhere near them splits with only 2 min recoveries. As for a goal I think everything would have to be perfect on the day to go anywhere near 1:22, sub 1:24 would probably be more realistic, but you never know on the day, might just draw a big target on your back to pull me around :P.

Wed: 3.95 miles recovery

A recovery 'run' in the truest sense of the word. Nearly embarrassed to call it a run it was that slow, not particularly tired or anything, just drifted around in a world of my own.

menoscemo

How many Miles are you running per week at the moment Ronnie? Whats the plans after Waterford, are you going to take a rest?

Just wondering as I'd like to beat you to 4th place in the 1000 mile challenge I may have to start my Ultra Training a month early

ronnie085

menoscemo wrote: »

How many Miles are you running per week at the moment Ronnie? Whats the plans after Waterford, are you going to take a rest?

Just wondering as I'd like to beat you to 4th place in the 1000 mile challenge I may have to start my Ultra Training a month early

Ha ha, well I was going to take it easy and drink and be merry for a week after Waterford before jumping back into a 10k (high milage ) plan, will have to keep an eye on you to in case I cant easy up. Oh just going to update my total to slap you down a place before you get to comfortable there :pac:

ronnie085

Thurs: 12.25 miles easy @ 7:38 m/m

Legs a little dead today although running into that wind didn't help. Hilly route to so good run.

Fri: 7.57 miles incl 20 x 200 intervals

A session of sorts, didn't want to go to hard as I was feeling a little tired so decided a little bit of speedwork would do no harm. Tried to concentrate on holding good form throughout which was tough at time slipping around the track, may get some spikes to stop that in the wet. Averaged around 41 sec for the 200m, with a headwind along the finishing straight everytime.

ronnie085

Sat: 16.01 miles long @ 7:12 m/m

Trying to make a decision on my next sub3 attempt so decided to do some of the Kildare marathon course (although run the roads very regularly anyway) with a lonely marathon run in mind as looking at the results there was very few sub3 finishers(6). Surprised myself with the pace I was running at, the first few miles I felt a little sluggish but still moving at a nice pace. After 4 or so I was flying, feeling good, HR was at the lower end of where it normally is on a long run, going well. Starting to like the idea of running this in May, just a little faster . Turned off to start making a hilly way home, feeling strong on the uphill drags. Started to feel the pace a little for the last mile or 2 but held pace and Hr didn't rise that much. Happy with this run and thinking I might go for it in Kildare. Sub 3 in my own back yard sounds nice.:eek:

Sun: Planned a short recovery run but didn't get a chance, first rest day in 14, so no harm done, still felt guilty.

Mon:11.27 miles easy @ 7:44 m/m

Just a nice easy run in the dark, nothing much to report, feeling good after a slow start

ronnie085

Tue: 8.97 miles easy @ 7:43m/m

Again nothing much to report, just took it nice and handy, with a tempo run planned for tomorrow just wanted to keep the legs ticking over .

Wed: 11.25 miles incl 7 @ tempo

Big session today and wasn't looking forward to it. Forced myself out the door and a 2 mile warm up, then down to work. Aimed for around 6:25 pace or thereabouts. The first mile,well after the body realised what was going on, felt nearly too comfortable, holding myself back if anything. Again second mile was nice and handy,little slow but not by much. Let myself off the leash a little for a few qiucker miles, still feeling good, going well. Getting dark at this stage, wasn't to worried out on the road I was dressed like a Christmas tree but picking my steps was getting a little tricky, plus had to nearly stop as a car coming at me refused to dip their headlights. This made for the slowest mile of the evening. Made it back to the bright lights of the town for the last mile and felt more comfortable, although was dodging and weaving between a few people slowed me down a little. Finished up feeling there was plenty more in the tank, a good confidence boost. A couple of miles cool down to finish off the evening.

Splits: 6:24,6:27,6:21,6:19,6:25,6:30,6:24.

Thurs: 6.18 miles recovery

Nice slow recovery run on a miserable evening. Felt a little tired towards the end, a little of yesterdays heroics still in the legs

ronnie085

Fri: 8.38 miles easy @ 7:36 m/m

Dont know if it was just me going soft but it felt really wintery out today. Again a nice easy run, felt good today, just ran around at a pace that felt comfortable. Long run tomorrow should get me up to 60 for the week. Going to do one more session next week, tuesday or wednesday weather depending when (ie wind:mad:), probably 2k repeats @ 10k pace then do a 10 day taper of easy running and then some strides every few days, maybe a short 2 mile tempo on the Monday/Tuesday of race week.

ronnie085

Sat: 13.93 miles long @ 7:24 m/m

Pretty tough one, running into that wind was painful for the first half of the run and then sailed back home. Took in a few hills which I pushed hard up, felt like I got a good workout, fairly tired when I finished up. 60 for the week again .

Sun: Rest

Mon: 3.96 miles easy @ 8:07 m/m

One of them days, had to drag myself out the door. Made a deal with myself that if I wasn't enjoying it I would turn around after a mile and go home, very close to doing it. On the third mile I turned into the wind and that finished off the little bit of motivation I had. Glad to get something done, will be better tomorrow.

ronnie085

Tue: 9.32 miles easy @ 7:44m/m

After yesterdays failure I was in no mood to run in the sheets of rain so to the gym with me for some dreadmill running. Aimed for 15k running at pace according to hr. First 5k was a bit of a struggle between getting the head around running inside and trying to find a rhythm on the threadmill. After that it wasn't to bad, watching the telebox and just zoned out. Finished up a sweaty mess but job done and what do you know, left the gym and the sun was out.

Wed: 7.24 miles incl 3x2k @ 10k pace

The last tough session before I start to taper, although I think in my mind I was tapering already. Anyway a mile jog to the track warm up, windy again :rolleyes: and wasted no time staring the workout. Aiming at around 6 m/m pace considering I was on grass so I was going to be slower than the mile repeats from a couple of weeks ago on the road. First interval went ok, comfortable if anything although my legs felt a little flat or something. Second one was grand too, making the distance without wishing for the finish line which I expected. 5 min recovery the then into the last one. Finished this a little slower than the rest. I think the first few laps were a little conservative and even though I picked up the pace it wasn't enough to to get back to even splits. A mile cool down home. Happy enough with this although I have a feeling I could have pushed a little harder.

Splits: 7:37,7:38,7:44

Thurs: 6.15 miles recovery

Enjoyable recovery run, no issues after yesterdays session and even the wind has eased up. Weather like this next Sat morning would be perfect, fingers crossed.

ronnie085

Fri: 6.07 miles easy @ 7:28m/m incl strides x 8

Very enjoyable run, felt fresh and pace felt very comfortable. Threw in a few strides to keep the legs guessing. Ticking along nicely now after a poor start to the week.

ronnie085

Sat: 11.43 miles easy @ 7:22m/m

Nice crisp morning, still a little breezy, hopefully that eases up during the week. Felt good today after I warmed up after a couple of miles. Didn't push to hard so very happy with the pace I was going. Feels strange doing 11 miles as a weeks long run especially with a low milage week behind me, can't help feeling lazy. A short easy/recovery run tomorrow to bring me up to 50 for the week (7 days running):eek: