Chasing numbers

jcsmum

DigiJem wrote: »

Headed out after watching the marathon, a nice recovery run. 5 miles, pace 10:07, hr 139

The marathon was amazing. Luckily I did my recovery run before it as I was exhausted just watching it.

DigiJem

Sat on the couch watching sport all day, which made me feel very lazy Eventually, I dragged myself out for the 8 GA miles. Pace 9:35, hr 141. Starting week 5 of the plan today, and so far I’ve skipped the strides every week, so I stopped with a mile to go and did the 10x100m

DigiJem

7th – unplanned rest day, hate using my rest day so early in the week but couldn’t be helped.

8th – 14m MLR, headed out straight from work. An out & back route for the first 8 miles, stopped for a water break. It was fairly warm at this stage, not complaining, and I headed off for the last 6 miles. Nice enough run, the last few miles were tough, but the thoughts of a cool chocolate milk back in the office fridge was enough to keep me going. Pace 9:34, hr 150

DigiJem

9th: Plan was to do the 10 miles I missed on Tuesday, but it didn’t feel good from the off. I was only doing 9:45 pace but it was a struggle. No clue why, maybe it was the heat. Anyway, I called it a day after 5 miles. Pace 9:47, hr 136

10th: 5 recovery miles, pace 10:17, hr 142. Left the run later tonight and waited until it had cooled down a bit. Ok run, it still felt tougher than the pace actually was. Heading off to Galway for a week so hopefully the change of scenery will perk up my running legs. Doing the Streets of Galway tomorrow evening, one of my favorite races so looking forward to that.

DigiJem

11th - Streets of Galway 8k: Headed into the start with my 2 brothers, who were also running it. The start was the usual squash of runners and walkers. Off we went into town, the first mile was spent weaving around slower runners, the roads are very narrow. Into Eyre square, and unlike previous years there's no atmosphere at all, no cheering. Out towards the Catherdral and while I was comfortable I know I was slower than planned. My aim to beat last years time but that was not looking good.

Kept plugging away but I couldn't improve the pace. Soon we were heading back towards the sea, the breeze was very welcome as we came down into Salthill. Sped up a little for the last 2k, finishing in 39:45, avg hr 162. Enjoyable race as always, but disappointed with my time, almost 2 minutes slower than last year, guess that just is where my fitness is at right now.

12th - my own version of the streets of Galway, only longer and a lot slower. Legs were very sluggish to start and i kept the pace nice and slow. Enjoyable run but very hot for the first 2 hours, a couple of water pitstops were needed. A lovely rain shower cooled me nicely for the last 4 miles, I'm sure I was the only person around Salthill glad to see rain. 17 miles, pace 9:45, hr 140

DigiJem

13th: early morning 6m recovery run, the plan has a second recovery run in the evening but I scratched that one, had no time to get it done.

14th: Early start from Galway for an hospital appointment in Dublin, got there to find it cancelled, so the day was not off to a good start. Changed into my running gear and headed to the park for the first vo2max session of the plan; 11 miles with 5x1200. I started with an easy warmup mile, then did the first 1200. The pace on the garmin was all over the place, but I did it in 7:51. It was supposed to be 7:15. The next 2 were as bad, 7:44 & 7:52 but in terms of effort they felt flat out.

Couldn't bring myself to attempt any more and called it a day after 7 miles. So frustrated afterwards, walked back to the car park for an undeserved ice-cream in the sunshine which helped to ease my mood. Going to take a few rest days now, training feels like a hugh chore at the moment. Hopfully a short break will revive my running mojo

sunflowerRo

You've been clocking up savage miles J. A small break will do you the world of good and will leave you hungry for it again. Enjoy some time out. You more than deserve it!

jcsmum

sunflowerRo wrote: »

You've been clocking up savage miles J. A small break will do you the world of good and will leave you hungry for it again. Enjoy some time out. You more than deserve it!

My sentiments exactly

The_Boy_Wonder

Not sure if you remember I was saying on the LSR a few weeks back that not long before that I missed 4/5 days of runs. Just couldn't get motivated for it. Two weeks later I did my highest mileage week ever. So I guess the moral of the story is sometimes you just need to step away from it for a while and come back with the grá restored!
Enjoy the rest/break

And that Monday you were trying to do intervals, was a day for a sunlounger. I tried to do 6 LT miles the same day and failed after 4!

RubyK

Savage training being done by you DigiJem, I've no doubt after a few days break you'll be raring to go again

DigiJem

Thanks guys, a couple of rest days did me no harm, i'm going to switch to running 5 days a week for the next while which should make things a bit easier.

So, after a morning of playing the new Super Mario game with my niece, I was happy to ditch the clan and get away for a long run. Gorgeous weather, first 10 miles were grand, got tougher after that with very heavy legs near the end. Glad to get it done, though it needed several pitstops for water, very hot out. 20m, pace 9:46

The_Boy_Wonder

DigiJem wrote: »

Thanks guys, a couple of rest days did me no harm, i'm going to switch to running 5 days a week for the next while which should make things a bit easier.

So, after a morning of playing the new Super Mario game with my niece, I was happy to ditch the clan and get away for a long run. Gorgeous weather, first 10 miles were grand, got tougher after that with very heavy legs near the end. Glad to get it done, though it needed several pitstops for water, very hot out. 20m, pace 9:46

20 miles :eek: Back in the game!!

RubyK

It didn't take you long to recharge the batteries! Great stuff

DigiJem

Did nothing for the last 2 days so time to knuckle down and get back to following the plan. 10 GA miles this evening, pace 9:54, hr 148.

DigiJem

21st – 9m with 4@8:22 pace. 3 easy miles to start with, easy miles were about 9:30 pace, then the pmp miles (8:21, 8:22, 8:14 & 8:30). Had hoped to get more then 4 pmp done, but not to be. 2 easy miles back to the car.

22th – rest day

23rd – 6m recovery, pace 10:07, hr 145, first run in the dark in ages, very hard to get used to it.

DigiJem

Just a short recovery run, one I was meant to do yesterday. Legs felt great, finally all the tiredness and niggles have disappeared. 5 miles, pace 9:59, hr 142. Longford half tomorrow, really looking forward to it.

Marthastew

Best of luck tomorrow J:)

DigiJem

Longford Half marathon:

Bad day out there today, my race was pretty much over by mile 5.

Plan was to do the same as the River Moy half, try to keep the pace under 8min/mile. Started out fine, 7:58 & 7:52 for the first 2 miles, but then quickly struggled to keep it under 8, next 2 were 8:18 & 8:08. Felt pretty rough and my breathing was awful, I knew I needed to slow down.

By the end of mile 5, I was seriously considering quitting, but we soon turned off the N5 into the countryside, and I decided to slow down, relax and just try to enjoy the run - if nothing else, i could top up my runners tan!

This is by far the nicest section of the route, very quiet though. By this stage I was avoiding eye contact with the garmin because I knew the pace was getting progressively worse. The miles ticked by slowly, I just wanted it over, the last 6 miles went on forever. Finally back into Longford, crossed the line in 1:51:32 by my watch.

banner_phoenix

Ah sorry to hear that DJ but hopefully it will make Berlin all the sweeter when it does go to plan.

jcsmum

Eyes on the prize J, Berlin. Pity today didn't go to plan, just one of those days.

DigiJem

8 miles, pace 9:17 - Plan had a 8 mile recovery run but the legs didn't need it, so just did the mileage nice and easy, and ignored the watch during it.

Younganne

Sorry to hear things didn't go to plan for you on Sunday, you were well up on the finishing positions(in your category), so well done on that!

DigiJem

29th – 9m easy, pace 9:28 - plan had a v02max run but I didn’t fancy it one bit so I just did the mileage. Best run in ages, really enjoyed it.

30th – massage, so took a rest day.

31st - 6m recovery, pace 10:07. Legs a bit sore in spots after the massage to just an easy run to loosen them before the long run tomorrow.

DigiJem

1st - late up to the park, I had mapped out a 7 mile route to do 3 times. No problems on this run, felt good. 21 miles, pace 9:21

3rd - Have a 10k planned for next weekend, so decided it was time to dip my toe back into the water with a little speedy stuff. Nothing too scary, 5x600m@5k pace. 3 miles easy up to one of the industrial estates, then the 600s (7:33, 7:17, 7:19, 7:09 & 7:22) with about 2 minutes recovery. Target pace was 7:15 so it went ok. Just over 2 miles home to bring it up to 8 miles.

DigiJem

5th - late leaving work and starving. Plan had 12 miles and the legs were itching for a nice run. But the hungry tummy won out as usual, I did manage a shorter run - 6 miles, pace 9:15, hr 145

6th - did yesterdays run – 12 miles, pace 9:25, hr 152

DigiJem

This was the weekend I hate in the P&D plan, a tune-up race followed by a long run. I did it a week earlier than planned as I want to run the half in Athlone next weekend.

8th – BHAA 10k Firhouse

I warmed up in the lovely sunshine, and soon lined up near the back of a very small field. The start was downhill, so the first k was a little fast. I quickly slowed down as we turned onto the long drag up the Firhouse road. It went on forever, and you knew you’d have to face it a 2nd time. Anyway, I plugged away, the pace was fairly consistent for the first half of the race. Took water at 5k and threw the remainder over my head, it was really hot at that stage.

The 2nd drag up the firhouse road was very tough; I lost a good bit of time here. At this stage I was struggling to keep the pace under 8 min/mi. I got a bit of a second wind when I saw the 8k marker; I knew the torture was nearly over. One last final push to the finish, I though I got home under 50 but the chip time is 50:02, so not this time.

My time was ok, nothing great, over 2 minutes slower than Dunshaughlin earlier this year. Still I was happy that there was no repeat of my Longford implosion, and my breathing felt much more comfortable than it has of late.


9th – 17 miles, Pace 9:30, hr 148 – I didn't get started until 3ish, legs felt very sluggish but they soon warmed up. First 10 miles were fine, distracted myself with a marathontalk podcast. I started to wane at 13 miles but mother nature threw me a bone with a lovely cooling shower. Last long run over and done with.

I tagged on another mile on the grass as a cool-down. It was mainly to try out my shiny new xc spikes, but also to hit the 50 mark for the week mileage. Last 3 weeks were low mileage so I wanted to complete a 50mile week before the taper starts.

RayCun

Spikes!

DigiJem

RayCun wrote: »

Spikes!

Yep spikes, they felt very flimsy compared to my runners. I hope to do a few cross country races, just to try something different.

jcsmum

Pity I didn't know you were doing the 10k, I was on my way back from my LSR while it was in progress. Would have stopped to cheer you on. That is a horrible loop. I avoid it like the plague.
So good on you!
And an LSR the day after!!

DigiJem

8 miles, pace 9:17, hr 149 – straight out from work into the sun, which lasted for all of 5 minutes. An early soaking, but soon dried off; a nice relaxing run.