Chasing numbers

DigiJem

Oct 16th - 16m LSR

Didn’t get to the park until well after 4, so parked over at garda hq. First ten miles were fine, legs felt surprisingly good after yesterday. Up Chesterfield and out to Castleknock before coming back via Farmleigh. Then around by Military road, and back to the car. All good, took a get a mile 7, didn’t really need it just trying to get used to taking them again.

Stopped at the car for a drink at mile 10, and set off again with a different pair of legs. They suddenly felt very heavy and for a couple of miles I had a pain on the top of my left foot. Ran on the grass for a while and it disappeared. Diagnosed as early stage taper madness, probably one of several phantom niggles to freak out about over the next two weeks. Kept the pace up as the light was fading, up North Road, down Chesterfield until the watch beeped for 13 miles, then retraced my steps back to the car.

Avg pace: 9:25 min/mile, avg Hr 144

DigiJem

Oct 18th: 7m with 6x100m strides - avg pace: 9:54 min/mile. Nice run although freezing, had to dig out the gloves.

Oct 19th: Plan had 8m with 3x1600m @ 5k pace. Did 2 miles as warm-up, then the first fast mile. Started out fine, but ran out of steam at .75 and stopped. Exact same for 2nd mile, only managed .75. Finally managed the full mile at the 3rd attempt, quads and lungs really burning at the end. Pace wise it was ok, target was 7:40 and I did 7:42, 7:44 & 7:38 with a quarter mile walk/jog in between.

Just did a mile cool-down to get home, this left me 2 miles short but I didn’t see the point in plodding around just to hit the mileage, plus I was cold and fed up. This was the last hard session of P&D and I’m annoyed with myself for not getting it right, but it’s one of the few sessions that’s gone badly so I shouldn’t worry about it too much.

jcsmum

No you shouldn't!!

DigiJem

Oct 20th - 5M recovery w/ 6x100m strides. An easy run, went as slow as I could while trying to keep warm. Avg pace 10:43, avg hr 139

DigiJem

Oct 22nd – 12 miles

Run went fine, kept it nice and easy and managed to avoid the heavier rain showers. Felt very tired afterwards though, eagerly awaiting this taper magic to kick in. Avg pace 9:41, avg hr 145

DigiJem

Oct 25th – 7 miles with 2@pmp

2 easy miles then 2 @ pmp. Got it hard to stick to pmp on the route I took, had to stop to cross roads a few times. Nice run though on a mild evening. Finished with 3 easy miles home. 9:55 pace for the easy miles, 8:50 for the pmp miles. HR went a bit nuts, first 4 miles have hr going from 140 to 155 – very normal, then up to 217 up to 248. Not a spike, was consistently high for the last 3 miles – not sure what was going on.

Oct 26th – 6 miles recovery.

Had to get this done before work this morning so up early and eventually got out the door after a lot of procrastination and coffee. Determined to keep the pace slow so it felt like a real slog around town. A new battery in the HR strap seemed to solve the problem, avg hr 134, avg pace 10:43. Sports massage this evening to get the legs ready, then only a couple of short recovery runs to go…almost there

theboyblunder

Good stuff. Best of luck for monday!

Im pretty sure the HR is a computer glitch - 217-248 is meet-your-maker time

dolliemix

Best of luck on Monday

Nules10

DJ good luck Monday. hopefully catch up with you afterwards

littlebug

Best of luck DJ.

DigiJem

Thanks for the good wishes, getting excited about the race now.

Oct 28th: 5m recovery, with 6x100m strides - avg pace: 10:48 min/mile, avg hr 137
Late home from a long day at work, so I was very happy just to trot around at recovery pace. Strides were ok, did them in the usual spot but it was pretty dark so I was keeping an eagle eye out for anything (real or imaginary) that might trip me up.

Oct 29th: 4m recovery - avg pace: 10:23 min/mile, hr went stupid again.
2nd last run, and the sun came out for it. A great run, the legs felt great and they were itching to go faster, had to keep a good eye on the garmin and stick to recovery pace. First pasta dish of the weekend in the oven, smells good :pac:

shazkea

Good luck on Mon DJ, you'll do great. See you in Mcgrattans after

RubyK

You've put in consistent hard work DigiJem, and will be rewarded on Monday

jcsmum

RubyK wrote: »

You've put in consistent hard work DigiJem, and will be rewarded on Monday

+1

Brianderunner

Good look tomorrow J. Say hi as you speed past me

DigiJem

Oct 30th: 3 miles this evening after picking up the number at the expo. Jogged from the hotel into merrion square where they're well underway with setting up the starting area. Nice & mild out with only a little breeze, would love that weather tomorrow. Avg pace 11:19 min/mi, avg hr 137

liamo123

Best of luck tomorrow DJ....

DigiJem

30th Oct 2011 – DCM 2011

Nice morning in the end, the hat, gloves, etc weren’t needed. Got to the start and lined up behind the 3:45 pacers. Off we went, my plan was simple, keep the pace to 8:44 min/mile, and that should have me finish under 3:50.

First few miles flew by, stuck to the pace and got to the park fairly easily. Relaxed and enjoyed the crowds, the support was amazing, it felt there was way more people than last year. Took a gel at 5 & 10, so far so good, the pace had crept up a little though.

Passing halfway I was about 40 seconds ahead of target, and everything felt ok. Only problem I was having at this stage was getting enough water, I drank way more than usual throughout the race. Took the 3rd gel at 15 and somewhere around here passed Vagga who was struggling with his knee at this stage.

Just before Milltown I suddenly felt very queasy, it got very hot and the legs felt heavy. I was struggling to keep the pace at this stage, but again the crowds really helped. Took a gel at mile 20 and pushed on to Fosters Avenue. Got a 2nd wind once I came towards the flyover, got a shout from my brother here but I was 10 yards past him before I realised who he was.

Onto Merrion road and the crappyness returned and was to stay until the very end. Had another gel left but I was afraid to take it as the stomach was pretty rough.

Mentally I was very low at this point, all my thoughts were negative and every voice in my head said feck the time, just get to end. I had stopped looking at my watch and was sure I was running really slowly and my target time was gone. Looking at the splits today I hadn’t actually slowed that much at all, I was still bang on target. Had I checked my paceband I would have seen that, but I guess the head does daft things when tired.

Anyway, my brain came up with a new target, just make it home without walking - that went fine until that little bitch of bridge at grand canal, it forced me to a sudden walk. I was staggering and thought my legs were going to buckle so thankfully got running again after about 10 steps.

From here I just focused on keeping the legs turning, I started to count my steps up to 100 then started again. I knew I'd get a lift from the crowd once I got to mile 25. Final mile went on forever and eventually the finish line came into view. I had nothing left to speed up and I crossed the line relieved to have made it. Looked at the watch, bemused that it read 3:50:34 – I thought I was way off that time. Typically instead of being pleased I was moaning about missing the target by 30 seconds…I’m never happy :pac:

I dont think I've ever been as tired after a race, even last night I was like a zombie. Back to semi normal today, the legs aren't too bad. With a clearer head today I’m absolutely delighted with my time, chip time of 3:50:32 that’s a pb by 23 mins from last year and it hurt a hell of a lot less.

menoscemo

Well done DJ, cracking time. Sorry I never got much of a chance to talk to you in McGrattans after the race. You were gone almost as soon as I came in.

dolliemix

Wow well done digigem. That is an amazing time and unbelieveable that you have improved by 23 mins in just one year. Congrats! Inspiring stuff

theboyblunder

23 mins is a massive chunk off your PB. Well done! Great running

pistol_75

Congrats on the massive PB.

liamo123

Very well done DJ.....Great run in tricky conditions...congrats

shazkea

DJ, brilliant run so congrats on a great PB

Nules10

fantastic PB DJ well done, Great running. was lovely to meet you again yesterday.

jcsmum

Well done again amazing and well deserved time.

claralara

Well done again DJ! Cracking performance and an amazing time

RubyK

Congrats on a great preformance Monday! Brilliant training & running. Well done

DigiJem

Slowly getting back into it:

4th – 3m easy. Avg pace 10:18 min/mi, avg hr 145.
5th – Turbo 30 mins
6th - 4m easy. Avg pace 10:15 min/mi, avg hr 146
7th – Turbo 48 mins.

DigiJem

8th: 4 miles, nice lunchtime run in the drizzle - 9:33 min/mile, a little faster than planned for the first 2 miles, legs soon decided they didn’t like that so slow for the last 2 miles.

9th: 4miles, 10:23 min/mi - kept it at recovery pace, a bit of a slog.

10th: 4miles, 9:59 min/mi. Felt back to normal tonight, might try a longer run at the weekend.