Running Under the Influence of Jack Daniels

Tom Joad

By necessity I do most of my running before 7am but even though I'm used to it would never dream of doing a hard interval or tempo session at that hour of the morning. I'm fine doing the other stuff and no longer bother with trying to eat before I go - sometimes i have a drink of water but most times don't bother. For me a banana and then a run is a big no no - everyone's different but something to consider

beeduybe

Friday 22nd March
5.74 Miles @ 8:18
It was ridiculously wet and windy but I enjoyed every second of it

Saturday 23rd March
5.41 Miles at 8:28
Just a leg loosener before the race on Sunday.

Sunday 24th March
Dunboyne 4 Miles
Conditions were a lot windier than I would have liked (21mph according to Garmin Connect) for my first 5-10k range race of the plan. My 4 mile PB of 26:13 was set in the same race last year but given my improvement since then I went into this one expecting a time in the low 25's. Plan was to try and average about 6:15 minute miles which I felt was a reasonable target given my training and my run in the Bohermeen HM.

Started off about 3 rows from the front and despite feeling like I was holding myself back from going too fast at the start was surprised to see 5:5x pace on the watch as we passed the hotel about half a mile in. My first reaction was feck, way too fast so I made a conscious effort to slow down a bit and went through the first mile in 6:06. The second mile was mostly into a side wind so was neither really an advantage or disadvantage but was more annoying than anything else. I made up a good few places here but was passed by some people at the same time. The third mile saw the worst section of the course as we had to run straight into a headwind. Fortunately a taller guy decided to pull out in front of me so he had inadvertently volunteered himself as someone for me to draft off. He started to slow a little so I passed him and tried to latch onto the back of a group as we went through the middle of the town. Just after this point a Bohermeen singlet passed us and I knew she was a strong runner so I decided to try and go with her and try and keep her in sight. By the 3 mile marker I was right up beside her and the momentum I'd built up in catching her actually managed to take me past her as we entered the section through the housing estate.

I knew the wind would be on our backs for about the last half mile as we passed the start line again so my plan was to pick it up from there and finish strong but when the time came I was absolutely spent and couldn't manage to pick up the pace and a few people passed me, including the Bohermeen runner, which I couldn't respond to so was just a case of hanging in there from that point to the finish and ended up crossing the line in a time of 25:30.

Garmin splits: 6:06, 6:23, 6:23, 6:22, 0:14(last .04)

Last year in the same race I finished with a max HR of 202 when I paced myself perfectly. This year I had a max HR of 195 which I think really shows I that I left quite a bit of time out there on the course today. If I'd ran the first half mile a good bit slower I'm sure I would have been able to maintain a faster pace for the rest of the race as the build up of lactic acid killed me so lessons learned for the next race which will probably be the Fr Murphy 5 mile next weekend. On the positive side I'm relatively happy with my time and new PB as the conditions were tough and when comparing my time to a few others I finished ahead of I still had a pretty good run.

Month|Miles
March|158.53
Total|561.62

RunningKing

Great running beeduybe, nice PB in horrible conditions.

Tom Joad

Well done on the PB beeduybe - great stuff especially in them conditions.

irfrm

Well done on the PB, great result after all the training,

beeduybe

After last weeks disaster of a session at 7am my runs from Monday to Wednesday were ran at that time to help familiarise myself with early morning running for Thursday's session which would be at the same time.

Monday 25th March
5.05 Miles @ 8:36
Recovery Run.

Tuesday 26th March
5.24 Miles @ 8:17.
Nice few miles.

Wednesday 27th March
9.00 Miles @ 8:26
I planned to throw in a few strides to this run to help get my body to adjust to early morning faster running. Felt a bit sluggish on the first few but once I settled into them I felt good so ended up doing at least 20 of them so it kind of turned into a bit of a fartlek run.

Thursday 28th March
9.24 Miles @ 7:56
JD Phase 3, Week 6, Q1 Session
5 x 1200m with 4 min recovery

Last weeks attempt at the session was a complete disaster so I came into this one much better prepared mentally and physically despite having to deal with intermittent snow showers throughout. There was a gradual drop in pace in each interval but the effort levels were consistent so was happy to get through the workout in one piece.

Splits|Pace
4:42|6:16
4:47|6:23
4:48|6:25
4:50|6:27
4:53|6:32


Friday 29th March
4.81 Miles @ 8:44
Recovery paced run on grass.

Saturday 30th March
5.16 Miles @ 8:10
Just an easy run to keep me ticking over before the race tomorrow.

Month|Miles
March|197.03
Total|600.12

Tom Joad

What race you running tomorrow?? Good luck with it

beeduybe

Tom Joad wrote: »

What race you running tomorrow?? Good luck with it

Cheers. It's the Fr Murphy 5 miler in Meath. Will be hoping to knock a good chunk off my PB. Best of luck in your race too.

beeduybe

Sunday 31st March
Fr Murphy 5 Miles
Arrived in Kildalkey for this one to discover that the race was being run on a completely new course so my decision to study my Garmin log from last year to remind me what to expect this year was a complete waste of time :rolleyes: It wasn't quite as cold as Dunboyne last week but was just as windy so any chance of a super fast time was probably out the window but I still set a target of sub 32 which would have meant an average pace of about 6:23. Noticed somebody wearing a boards top just before the start and went over to introduce myself and it turned out to be tang1 who said he was also targetting a time around 32 mins.

Conscious of the fact I went off way too fast last week I made sure to hold back for the first half mile today and was pretty happy to see around 6:20 average pace for most of the first mile. The first mile ended on a hill though so lost a few seconds here and went through mile 1 in 6:24. Mile 2 had a good downhill stretch to make up for it though and was back on track with a split of 6:20. Found myself running alongside two others here - a guy in a white t-shirt and another one who always finishes ahead of me in the BHAA races so I said if I could keep with him I would be doing well.

I could see tang up ahead in a group which included the Bohermeen runner who pulled away from me in the last mile in Dunboyne so made sure to try and keep them in sight. I was starting to feel rough at this point so changed my focus to trying to close the gap on them but as soon as the thought crossed my mind we turned straight into a headwind so I ended up working alongside the two guys I was running with just to get through this stretch which resulted in a disappointing fourth mile of 6:33. My BHAA rival tried to pull away so I decided to go with him as we entered the final mile which was pretty much one long seemingly never ending stretch of road. With what I thought must have been half a mile to go I made a break from him. I could see a Star of the Sea singlet up ahead so made it my target. I thought the finish must be close but the more I ran the less closer it seemed to be getting and was disgusted when somebody shouted out 600m to go :mad: Finally I reached the turn onto the finishing straight and despite having closed the gap on Star of the Sea I wasn't going to catch him. With about 30m to go the guy in the white t-shirt I was running with earlier in the race appeared out of nowhere and sprinted past me but I couldn't respond as a final mile of 6:17 had taken everything out of me. Official results have me at 32:08 which is a nice 75 second PB

I met tang again afterwards and congratulated him on his great run as he was well under 32 minutes and looked very strong throughout. We also met digger who was on camera duty as well as claralara who ran a pretty good time off a hard weeks marathon training.

Month|Miles
January|205.34
February|197.75
March|207.70
Total|610.79

tang1

Nice to meet you eventually, great running today aswell, anyday you PB is a good day in my book. No doubt i'll bump into you during the summer at some of the Meath Races.

RunningKing

Nice race, nice time, nice PB, nice report.

Tom Joad

great running again - that's two cracking PB's in a row..

beeduybe

The Fr Murphy 5 miler brought Phase 3 (Transition Quality Training) of the Daniels Plan to an end with a nice PB on top of the PB’s already set in Bohermeen HM and Dunboyne 4 miler. I’ve now entered Phase 4 of the plan or the Final Quality Training Phase which should be the peak performance stage. I’m going to pick and choose a few sessions from Daniels A and B plan depending on my schedule / race plan. Daniels puts a strong emphasis on threshold running in this phase so that will be my primary training focus but will throw in some interval and reps from time to time. Next planned race will be a sub 40 attempt at the K Club 10k on 20th April. If that goes well I will probably look to do a 5k in early May.

Haven’t had a chance to update the log for a while but have still been getting some training in.

Monday 1st April
4.90 Miles @ 8:36
Recovery run.

Tuesday 2nd April
Rest day.

Wednesday 3rd April
8.55 Miles @ 8:18
Mix of footpath, grass and sunshine

Thursday 4th April
8.96 Miles @ 8:04
Strange run this. Felt horrible at that start, great about half way, terrible again and great for the last few miles.

Friday 5th April
5.69 Miles @ 8:07
Easy run with some strides.

Saturday 6th April
10.95 Miles @ 7:31
JD Phase 4, Week 1, Q1 Session
3 x 2 Miles @ T pace with 2 min recovery

A perfect morning for running and for the first time in ages I was able to do a session without having to contend with the wind. The session couldn’t have gone better as I felt strong and managed to keep my pace in and around my planned average pace of 6:40 - 6:45.

Splits|Pace
13:15|6:38
13:17|6:39
13:22|6:42


Sunday 7th April
10.62 Miles @ 8:22
Nice Sunday morning run which took in a stretch of the Royal Canal from Clonsilla to Ashtown and back again.

Monday 8th April
5.09 Miles @ 8:54
6am recovery paced run on grass. Took me a few miles to wake up.

Tuesday 9th April
8.28 Miles @ 8:13
JD Phase 4, Week 1, Q3 Session
4 x (2min Interval pace, 1min jog, 1min I pace, 30sec jog, 30sec I pace, 30sec jog)

Well the wind was well and truly back for this one. No matter what direction I ran I seemed to be running against the swirling breeze so I said I wasn’t going to worry about pace and concentrated on running the hard sections hard and the recoveries easy. Probably could have done a couple more sets but decided I’d had enough after 4 so just ran a few easy miles to finish up.

Month|Miles
April|63.04
Total|673.83

RunningKing

WB & nice training.

Where'd you do the 3x2m? I done 3 x 3km recently (which is 1.86m so its close enough!) but done it on a treadmill. I'd say you'd need to find a good part of the ph park or similar and pick a route with no traffic??

I think there was a typo in your report - I think Monday 8th said 6am - obviously you meant PM

Also -Whats the surface like along the canal (& can you go further than Ashtown??)

beeduybe

RunningKing wrote: »

WB & nice training.

Where'd you do the 3x2m? I done 3 x 3km recently (which is 1.86m so its close enough!) but done it on a treadmill. I'd say you'd need to find a good part of the ph park or similar and pick a route with no traffic??

Thanks, that 3 x 2 miles was in Hartstown Park. 1 lap is just over 2 miles so is perfect for that session as I was able to start and finish in the same point without doing endless loops. Having said that, I'm sure there must be somewhere suitable in the Phoenix Park.

RunningKing wrote: »

I think there was a typo in your report - I think Monday 8th said 6am - obviously you meant PM

No typo I'm afraid :eek:

RunningKing wrote: »

Also -Whats the surface like along the canal (& can you go further than Ashtown??)

Between Clonsilla and Castleknock can be quite narrow and bumpy but it wouldn't put me off running along it. You just have to look where you are going. It's path all the way from Castleknock to Ashtown. Feels like you are running in a different world as it is so quiet except when running over the M50 which is a bit surreal in itself. I know the canal stretches a bit further towards Drumcondra but I've never gone that far.

I've ran in the opposite direction towards Maynooth before which is just as good and has a good few grass stretches. Have you seen the thread in the main forum?
Running the Royal Canal

RunningKing

cheers - thats great information.

beeduybe

Wednesday 10th April
6.21 Miles @ 8:42
Recovery run.

Thursday 11th April
Rest day.

Friday 12th April
9.17 Miles @ 7:47 including 3.97 Miles @ 6:58
Plan was a 40 minute tempo run but had to cut it short as I was in desperate need of the bathroom

Month|Miles
April|78.41
Total|689.20

beeduybe

Saturday 13th April
5.39 Miles @ 8:09

Sunday 14th April
11.22 Miles @ 7:55
Wanted to go a bit further out the canal than last week but wasn't sure distance wise how far it was so started at Coolmine and ran to Phibsboro and back. Had too much momentum starting off as I had the wind at my back so went too fast and despite my best efforts I found it hard to lower the intensity running into the strong breeze on the way back.

Monday 15th April
4.65 Miles @ 8:56
Recovery run on grass.

Tuesday 16th April
7.72 Miles @ 7:53
20 min Tempo run + 4 x 200m R pace with 200m recovery
Chose this as my last session before the 10k on Saturday as it looked like a good workout without being too taxing. 20 mins threshold run followed by 4 reps of 200m with 200m recovery. The wind was blowing a gale so concentrated on effort and not pace for the 20 mins where I covered 2.91 Miles at 6:51 pace.

After a few minutes easy running I started into the reps. I cheated a bit by running the reps with the wind at my back and the recoveries against the wind but I wanted to concentrate on my form which would have been a lot harder in a headwind. Splits were 42, 43, 41 and 41.

Month|Miles
April|107.40
Total|718.19

Tom Joad

Some great sessions there - you must be feeling confident for Saturday?

beeduybe

Tom Joad wrote: »

Some great sessions there - you must be feeling confident for Saturday?

Cheers, based on how I ran in less than ideal conditions in my last 2 races I'd very disappointed not to break 40 mins as long as the weather plays ball.

Are you still doing the K club? How are you set?

Tom Joad

beeduybe wrote: »

Cheers, based on how I ran in less than ideal conditions in my last 2 races I'd very disappointed not to break 40 mins as long as the weather plays ball.

Are you still doing the K club? How are you set?

It will be no problem to you based on your training.

Yep, I'm still doing K club - was thinking of skipping it as my beloved county are playing an under 21 semi-final in Tullamore on Saturday but with a bit of juggling around and a very understanding wife can now do both .

I know I have a sub 40 in me but it will be damn tight and take a very big effort. (PB is 41:06 in October 12) - I might not make it to sub 40 on Saturday but plan to go all out to hit sub 4min km's and hang on for as long as I can - might end in tears but worth a lash.

Hopefully with catch up with you there..:)

beeduybe

Tom Joad wrote: »

It will be no problem to you based on your training.

Yep, I'm still doing K club - was thinking of skipping it as my beloved county are playing an under 21 semi-final in Tullamore on Saturday but with a bit of juggling around and a very understanding wife can now do both .

I know I have a sub 40 in me but it will be damn tight and take a very big effort. (PB is 41:06 in October 12) - I might not make it to sub 40 on Saturday but plan to go all out to hit sub 4min km's and hang on for as long as I can - might end in tears but worth a lash.

Hopefully with catch up with you there..:)

Looks like it worked out well if you were heading down the country anyway. You can't miss the return to the glory days for Cavan football and sure the K Club is only a small detour on the way to Tullamore

Sounds like we have a similar plan for the race so will probably be running close to each other so keep an eye out for me (I look something like this) and we might be able to pace each other to a sub 40...

RunningKing

Think I'll be looking out for you. Away with work this week and with the amout I'm eating and drinking, it'll be tight to a sub 40!

Tom Joad

beeduybe wrote: »

Looks like it worked out well if you were heading down the country anyway. You can't miss the return to the glory days for Cavan football and sure the K Club is only a small detour on the way to Tullamore

Sounds like we have a similar plan for the race so will probably be running close to each other so keep an eye out for me (I look something like this) and we might be able to pace each other to a sub 40...

Its a great plan alright - and a nice trip cross country..

Will defo look out for you - might give my boards top an outing to make it easier to recognise me- would be good to work together - the king might lead us home!!:D

RunningKing

Right so I'm looking for a boards top and guy with tight haircut.
I'm the fat stodgy guy with the limp.

beeduybe

Wednesday 17th April
7.90 Miles @ 8:25
Easy run on grass.

Thursday 18th April
Rest day.

Friday 19th April
5.04 Miles @ 8:10
Just a leg loosener before the race tomorrow. Pretty uneventful except for getting shat on by a bird :mad: But that's good luck right?

Month|Miles
April|120.34
Total|731.13

Tom Joad

Good luck tomorrow - hopefully will catch up with you there..:)

belcarra

beeduybe wrote: »

Just a leg loosener before the race tomorrow. Pretty uneventful except for getting shat on by a bird :mad: But that's good luck right?

Is that steam rising from the bird sh1t on your head??:D

beeduybe

Saturday 20th April
K Club 10k
After a few encouraging race results over the last few weeks I went in to today's race pretty confident that I'd be able to have a good crack at breaking 40 mins. Arrived at the K Club with the sun shining and the wind seemed to be blowing relatively calmly (well compared to earlier in the week anyway). I noticed before the start that the finish line was about 100m or so further away to the left of where it was last year while the start line was around the same place so guessed that the rumours that the course was short last year were true and this was an attempt by the organisers to bring it up to the full 10k.

Met plenty of boardsies before the start - RunningKing, davemcmahon, career_move, Tom Joad as well as claralara and digger fresh from their exploits in Boston. Myself and Tom Joad had similar targets so the plan was to try and pace ourselves by running on or under 4 min km's. I changed my watch from miles to km's as 4 min pace was a nice number to keep my eye on.

The race was off and a lot of people teared away but I made sure not to try and go with them in the first k and run my own race as we running about 3:48 pace as it was. If the race went to plan I knew I'd be passing some of those people as the race progressed. The course was more undulating than I remembered and the wind was definitely stronger than I thought it was on the warm up. Around the 3k mark I knew I wasn't feeling as comfortable as I should have been at that point but was still on target so hoped I was just imagining it.

Hit 5k in about 19:50 and Tom Joad suddenly said to go on ahead and that he was going to stop to walk. This threw me a bit as I wasn't expecting it at all but I knew I was still on target so the plan was to try and maintain my pace and push on but my legs weren't having any of it and my pace started to drop and people started to pass me. I tried to keep with them but my legs felt dead and my pace was averaging 4:15 (6:50!) now. By 7k I knew sub 40 was gone but there was still a PB on (41:34) so kept plugging away. From here to the finish I got passed by a few others looking a lot stronger and making me feel like I wasn't even trying and eventually crawled over the line in a very disappointing time of 41:02.

Met Tom Joad again afterwards and he managed to pick it up again afterwards and finish the race.

Having had a few hours to reflect I can't really put my finger on exactly went wrong today. Preparation couldn't have gone much better and I'd felt good on the morning and had slept well in the nights before the race. Even though I knew beforehand that sub 40 wasn't guaranteed, failing to come anywhere near it wasn't even considered. I ran the second half in about 21:12, a good 20 seconds slower than my second half in Dunshauglin last June and I'd like to think I've improved a lot since then. I did notice the heat when I started to struggle but that could have just been the negative thoughts entering my head at that stage as it wasn't exactly a heatwave.

Will probably have another crack at a 10k again in the next few weeks as I know I have a much faster time in me.

For the record my splits were:
3:53, 3:56, 4:02, 3:57, 4:08, 4:16, 4:15, 4:16, 4:15, 3:59

Month|Miles
April|129.99
Total|740.78

career_move

Nice to meet you B Sorry we missed you after. We were up in the top corner of the hall.

Pity the race didn't work out for you but I think a lot of people found it tougher than expected today and the frigging wind didn't help