Keep on moving ...............

Speedy44

Friday
Just an easy 5.5mls after yesterday's 800's.
Was going 8min+ pace, felt ok, I guess.

Saturday.
Another easy day, 4mls,again the pace was pedestrian.

Sunday
10mls @ MP was on the schedule, 14mls in total, managed 3 @ MP, 6 in total
Been fighting off a cold all week that my daughter brought into the house last week, think it's finally got the better of me. Taking echinaforce to keep it at bay, but think I started taking it too late and the germs had already taking hold!
Don't feel too bad, just not right. Stuffed up, a bit, kind of a scratchy throat, and in the last couple of days my chest feels a bit heavy.

Today I just felt like I was pushing too much. It was very windy out as well, and I couldn't get a comfortable rythem going. MP miles were 6:48, 6:45 & 6:49, could maybe have banged out a couple more but would probably have done more harm than good. Legs felt more and more heavy as the run went on. I jogged the last mile at 8min pace, total lack of energy when I was done.

Hopefully I can shake it in a couple of days.

WEEK DISTANCE = 45.5mls

Speedy44

Monday
After having to bail on yesterdays planned 10ml MP run due to a sore throat and general overall weakness, I opted for a day off.

Tuesday
Chanced a run, felt ok for first 3mls, but progressively weaker for the last 3

Wednesday
Another day off to rest.

Thursday
Finally felt good again
An easy 6.5mls but finished it in comfort.

Friday
Just 6mls easy + 6 x 100m strides. Felt great in the strides.
Felt like I was getting a blister on the ball of my left foot so picked up a new pair of runners, saucony somethingorother (I'm useless with brands :rolleyes:), same as my last pair, not to heavy.

Saturday
3ml tempo at 6:20 pace. Felt very good, in control.

Sunday
13mls easy after watching London
Felt pretty good, just tried to relax and get through it.

dna_leri

Good luck speedy. Enjoy the experience

theboyblunder

Good luck speedy!

Speedy44

Monday - rest

Tuesday - 8mls easy, felt good, tshirt weather.

Wednesday - Flew to Boston, bloody freezing when we landed, even some snow on the ground!

Thursday - 4 x 800m off 90 sec/200m jog. 3:18,3:27, 3:19, 3:18. Nice to stretch the legs out.

Friday - An easy 4.5mls around the Charles River, my old running loop. Loved it, lots of runners out exchanging waves and nods. Really looking forward to this now :-)

Speedy44

OK, settle in, this is going to be a long one .......................

Been what, about 4 months since I was on here :eek:. Think it took me that long to get over my Boston Marathon experience . Ran about 3:30 or so I think, not sure really what happened there, know after 10mls I was toast. Stupidly got caught in a queue for the Jacks so ended up staring in no mans land in the wrong coral. Was supposed to be at the front of the 2nd wave in the 1st coral but was way back and caught up in the crowd. This of course meant that the first few miles were 7:41, 7:27 & 7:16. Finally got moving and starting getting some MP miles under my belt. Still felt I could get back on pace for a sub 3 by running 6:45's which I figured I had in me. It was a tad warm but not roasting, but still I just wilted. I gave the brother-in-law a high 5 as I ran by their house at 10.5mls, but knew I was gone. Ended up walking through the med tent at 12mls to get them to loosen my shoes as I had tied them too tight.
The rest of the race was just trying to enjoy it as much as possible, which I sort of did in a sick way :rolleyes:.
The brother thinks that even though I was going very slow over the first 3mls and didn't dramatically increase the pace, it could have affected me anyway but making me tense up and thereby sapping the energy from me. That, the shoes, the heat, the head all combined to make this my last marathon for a long, long time!

Anyway, since then I have been more or less ticking over. Was hoping to do the Master Track this summer but never really got enough decent track sessions under my belt. Did a couple with my nephew to help him out, he was doing stuff like 5 x 600m off 200m in 1:40, so I would do the first 400m with him in 67-68. He managed to run 15:06 this summer and win the Nat Junior 5000m and also get a couple of silver's, so not a bad return.
I ran an 8k in Headford in 30:31 back around the beginning of July which I was happy enough with. I then decided to get 5-6 weeks of decent training in to get ready for the Streets of Galway. Wanted to just be competitive there and run about 29:30. Averaged about 45mls/wk in this time, with 2 quality sessions per week.
Bombed again, worst Streets in 5yrs, 30:51. Legs weren't there. I had a bit of a stomach bug and was getting all the team from my charity sorted before hand, so maybe that had something to do with it.

So, what now? Well, it is great that we are in a sport where you can look forward to getting older , and with that in mind, I will be 50 next June so am targeting the World Masters in Lyon. To get ready for that I did a Lactate Threshold Test last Saturday with Dave Tune & Jenny Blizard of Blizard Physiotherapy. They were over from the UK helping my buddy get set up.

Very interesting results. They reckon that I have been running way too slow, but have great potential. Speed endurance has of course always been my problem, so between a new approach to training, changing my diet, and a bit of work in the gym, hope to see some good results.

dna_leri

Good to see you are back, Speedy.

Will you target the 1500 for next June?
Will you do indoors in preparation?

Speedy44

dna_leri wrote: »

Good to see you are back, Speedy.

Will you target the 1500 for next June?
Will you do indoors in preparation?

that was the plan dna, but the guy who conducted the lactate test seems to think I will be better suited to the 5000m. I will run it by my coach as well, but I still think I will be leaning towards the 1500m.

Speedy44

I know I posted here back in August that I was going to be getting more diligent, but been really just too busy (see also 'tired') with family, work and (I am glad to say) training.

Have been training using the old lactate threshold measurements and trying as best to stick to my heart rate zones and ignoring pace, and more or less distance too.
I know I am barely doing half what I would normally do but I am trying to do 3 threshold runs a week which ain't easy. I feel like I am sprinting sometimes just to get up to the t/h zone, and then trying to hold it there is the hard part. I find if I stay in the low end it is doable. It is of course a lot harder doing them by myself, and unfortunately due to work, that is often the case.

The good news is that I feel like it is working. I did a run a few weeks back with a bunch of lads from the local clubs and was shocked to see that I ran 12.5mls in 81:30 :eek:
I took in a low key race a couple of weeks ago and managed to finish 2nd, been a while since I got to the podium so that is always nice. The time wasn't earth shattering to say the least, 8k in 29:56, but it is a good improvement since during the summer when I was a a good minute slower.

I will stick to this routine for a couple more months and try and get up to an hour t/h runs and then stick in 1 tempo run per week as well. Don't think I will hit the track until the New Year.

Now to try and get out in the wind & rain .................

Speedy44

Did about 12mls this morning in rain, cold, sun & heat :rolleyes:
The first mile was too fast and the heart rate was already at the high end of my threshold zone (174).
Settled down then to recovery zone again after about 5mins, kept it at that for 20-25mins when it slowly crept up to the low end of threshold (164-167). Me and another lad let the faster guys off, and then managed to get lost! Turned down a road which turned out to be a cow path that led to a dead end, about a mile later. Nothing like a little bit of xc during your morning run.

Got back on track again, was feeling pretty good actually and thinking about pushing on for the 60mins but the porridge I had 90mins before the run was beginning to complain.

Good run overall though, was in England most of the week so didn't get out as much as I would have liked. Looking forward to a few good weeks now, will probably pick a race at some point, anywhere from 5-10k will do.

Average pace was about 6:55

Speedy44

Mon 3rd - 35 mins in recovery zone

Tues 4th - 45 mins threshold. Feel like I an almost sprinting at times trying to get up to these zones, 1st ml was 6:04. Settled down then to 6:25-35 or so. Was actually in the higher end of the zone (170-171) for the first 30mins or so, I will take this as progress because up until now if I am running there I am struggling to hold it. I just took the foot off the pedal slightly for the last 15mins and got down to 164-166bpm and it felt a lot easier. Could have kept going at it too I think but ran out of time

Wed 5th - rest

Thur 6th - 40mins threshold in lots of rain and mud. Felt like XC, had a couple of my clubmates for company, well almost. They were off ahead of me but I would cut some corners to stay in touch. Fighting a bit of a head cold so wasn't too sure how I would feel. I actually found that once I settled into the zone the gap that the lads on me was not increasing too much, it at all at times.

NOTE
Found out that I am scheduled for my hernia operation on Nov. 17th, after 4yrs on the waiting list! Was almost thinking about cancelling it as I don't want to miss training, but I will be in and out in one day so hopefully the recovery won't take too long. At least now I will also be able to finally do some core work which I will need for the track next summer.
Will do a local 5k on the 16th just to see where I am at.

Speedy44

Fri & Sat
Just an easy 45mins in my recovery zone.

Sun
Met a few of the lads from the other clubs at 9am and did about 10-11mls. Wanted to do 60mins threshold but the legs had other ideas. Took the foot off the gas at 30mins, but after a min or 2 to gather myself, I got into a good rythem and help my hr just a few beats below the threshold for the rest of the run, so not too bad overall. I also think that I am getting closer to the other guys, they normally drop me after about 40mins or so and steam ahead at 6:10-20 pace, but once I get into the right pace, I find I can hold it and they after their initial gain, I can keep them in my sights. Not sure what it all means though!

Mon - rest

Tues
First track session in months.
8 x 400m off 1min; 75, 77, 75, 78. 79, 79, 78, 77.
Happy with this because I was a couple of secs away from pulling out after 4 reps. Dug deep and tried to relax, and it worked :rolleyes:
A far cry from where I plan to be next summer doing 10 of these in 70 secs :eek:

Speedy44

Not a great last week or so.

Only got out 4 days last week in total.

On Wednesday I did about 6mls with about 10mins @ threshold. Ended up taking Thur & Fri off for no particular reason. Did about 5mls easy on Saturday.
Ran a local 5k race on Sunday morning. Totally bombed in it and ran 18:34. Think I just dialled in it really, my mojo was definitley not working. I wouldn't mind mine I could have (should have) won it. I was 5-10mts back from the leaders for the first 2k (3:30, 3:41). Then one lad made a move, I closed the gap and moved into 3rd place, but then there was nothing there. I didn't dig in at all, just let it happen :mad:

Had my hernia surgery scheduled for Monday in Castlebar. So after driving up from Galway they said that they had to reschedule for another 3 weeks (maybe!) as I never had a scan done
So ended up doing nothing on Mon, Tues & Wed, just no motivation.
Finally got out today and did about 9mls with one of the lads from the club. Met a few other lads too so it was good to have company.

I'll get stuck in again now and try to get another race under the belt before the surgery takes place.

Speedy44

Bad week last week running wise.
Only got out on Thursday between work and lack of motivation.

Back in the saddle again this week.
Mon - 48mins in recovery zone
Tues- 40mins threshold. Not sure if there is something wrong with my HRM though as I seemed to be in the high end of the zone without overly exerting myself. Also, I slowed down at 30mins and running at a very gentle pace I was still in my threshold zone.

Wed - Rest

Got my appointment for my hernia operation, its not until January 27th. Not very happy about this, I was hoping to have it done before Christmas so that I would be back training well by Feb. As it stands now, I may not get back properly until mid March, maybe even April. With the World Masters in mind in August, they does not leave me much time to get ready.
Feel like I have to get it done though as I cannot do any core work which I need to do for the track.