Running Under the Influence of Jack Daniels

Younganne

Good Luck tomorrow, Barry. Hope you get your Sub 20:D

beeduybe

Tuesday 22nd May
Na Fianna 5k in 19:47. Will post some sort of race report when I get a chance.

beeduybe

Made my way down to Johnstown Bridge with the hope of going sub 20 for 5k for the first time. Got there early so no queuing to collect my number so headed out for a warm up. Ran from the finish back to the 4k marker and back so knew exactly what to expect in the closing stages. After a few stretches I jogged down to the start line which was well over a mile away from registration so was well warmed up before the start. The plan was to go out hard in the first mile but not quite at full tilt like I had done in the Navan race, try and maintain that intensity in the second mile and hope I had enough in me for a strong third mile and finish.

The line up just before the start was a bit chaotic with everyone bunched onto one side of quite a narrow road as traffic was being directed down the other side. When the race began it was quite congested for the first 500m but this suited my don’t go out too fast approach. Passed the 1k marker in about 3:44 so well on course so far. Someone who I knew was a bit faster than me passed me just before this point so I decided to try and stay with him and see how I got on. I kept with him until about the stage where I hit the 1 mile mark on my Garmin (6:09) but I was starting to slow at this stage so I let him go. From here to the 4k mark is a bit of a blur. I remember thinking my legs were starting to feel really heavy and I had a sudden urge that I needed to go to the toilet. Maybe my mind was trying to give me excuses to slow down or stop as I was really struggling to hang in at this stage but just kept plugging away.

A look at the watch at the 4k mark showed a time of about 15:46. Despite being well on course for my target time I thought to myself that sub 20 was probably slipping away as it felt like I was running so slow and couldn‘t see how I‘d muster the energy to pick up any pace over the last k. Fortunately a group of 3 people passed me so I told myself to HTFU and tried and dig in and stick with the group. The small incline about 300m from the finish seemed to knock the stuffing out of one of my rivals and I managed to pass him on the brow of the hill giving me some momentum. Having ran the final stretch in the warm up I knew that I wasn’t too far from home so I targeted one of the group just ahead of me and put the foot down. I gradually started to get closer to him as we turned the final bend into the hotel car park towards the finish line. I expected to see 20:xx on the finishing clock but to my surprise it was 19:4x. This was a huge psychological boost and I sprinted for the line, crossing at the same time as my target man. A look at the watch revealed a time of 19:47*. I was absolutely exhausted at the finish but I had achieved my target and knocked over 90 seconds off my PB in December and a 3 minute improvement since July last year so all in all a good nights work :cool:

*Official result appears to be 19:51 but since everyone I spoke to seemed to have a chip time 3 or 4 seconds slower than their watch time I'm claiming the watch time.

3.07 Miles in 19:47. Average Pace 6:26.

Distance | 1 Mile | 3k | 5k | 4 Miles | 6k | 5 Miles | 10k | 10 Miles | Half Marathon | Marathon |
Pre Log PB | 6:41 | 12:57 | 22:52 | 28:44 | 28:53 | 37:32 | 48:31 | 1:21:35 | 1:46:03 | 4:10:01 |
Current PB | 6:10 | 11:58 | 19:47 | 26:14 | 24:20 | 33:23 | 41:56 | 1:21:35 | 1:41:48 | 4:10:01 |

beeduybe

Wednesday 23rd May
Went up to the track for the club session but while most people took to the track for intervals after the warm up, myself and a few others who had raced last night went for a nice slow recovery run.
4.31 Miles in 39:46. Average Pace 9:14.

Month|Miles
January|152.95
February|125.45
March|168.66
April|161.43
May|83.97
Total|692.46

beeduybe

Thursday 24th May
Weather was too nice to say no to a lunchtime run. Probably should have planned out a better route though as my favourite one out to Sandymount and back didn't exactly offer much in the way of shade and I felt the heat in the last couple of miles.
8.13 Miles in 1:13:03. Average Pace 8:59.

Friday 25th May
Felt pretty tired so decided to have a rest day.

Saturday 26th May
Was staying in Dublin and had an hour to spare so went exploring some of the local area.
6.46 Miles in 58:37. Average Pace 9:04.

Sunday 27th May
The sun was shining yet again this morning so I tried to pick out a route that offered some shade i.e. lots of trees. The route covered some of the Meath Half route but went in the opposite direction. Didn't notice the heat at all really so must be acclimatising to this warm weather training :pac:
11.19 Miles in 1:44:20. Average Pace 9:20.

Month|Miles
January|152.95
February|125.45
March|168.66
April|161.43
May|109.75
Total|718.24

irfrm

Great result in the 5k, nothing like getting PB's, looking at your other times you have big PB's in you for 10 mile and marathon, go get them!!

beeduybe

irfrm wrote: »

Great result in the 5k, nothing like getting PB's, looking at your other times you have big PB's in you for 10 mile and marathon, go get them!!

Thanks. Yeah I'm definitely improving at a much faster rate than I would have expected 6 months ago. Both those times are very soft alright compared to the others so should knock a good bit of time off both. Dublin Marathon is the big goal for the rest of the year so training will start focusing towards that soon.

You seem to be running well lately too. You all set for Cork? What time are you aiming for?

irfrm

Going well, can't wait for big day, going with 3:30 pacers so hopefully come home OK.

beeduybe

A few others from work were doing this so said I'd go up and make up a team. Didn't really have a target or a plan in mind on the start line and it wasn't a goal race so planned just to go out and run by how I felt.

Took it relatively easy for the first couple of miles and stuck with a couple of others who I knew were around the same standard as me and despite slowing as the race progressed I felt comfortable and was happy with my splits for the first 4 miles - 6:37, 6:41, 6:49 and 7:00. I only really upped my intensity in the final mile as I targeted a group up ahead and focused my efforts on trying to catch them so started to pull away from those I was running with. I passed a couple on the lap of the track in the lead up to the finish and completed the final mile in a time of 6:31 to finish in a time of 33:40. Not quite a PB but was happy with the workout all the same.

4.99 Miles in 33:40. Average Pace 6:45.

Also done a 2 mile warm up and 3 mile cool down to total just over 10 miles altogether.

Month|Miles
January|152.95
February|125.45
March|168.66
April|161.43
May|119.79
Total|728.28

beeduybe

Monday 28th May
Rest day from running so went for a 30 minute cycle.

Tuesday 29th May
BHAA 5 mile race in Dunboyne. 2 mile warm up and 3 mile cool down making it 10 miles of running altogether.

Wednesday 30th May
Legs were a bit sore after race so skipped MRG training and went for a 20k cycle instead.

Thursday 31st May
Doubts about how heavy it was going to rain saw me head inside for a 5 mile recovery run on the treadmill.

Friday 1st June
Have decided to follow P&D's 18 week 55 mile training plan for DCM. One of the sessions in the plan is a Lactate Threshold run consisting of x amount of miles with y number of miles at 15k to HM pace (approx 7:00 to 7:15). The first week of the plan calls for 8 miles with 4 @ LT pace so decided to do a little bit of a trial run and done 8 miles with 3 @ LT pace.

Had done a few tempo intervals in the past but never a continuous tempo run so wasn't really sure what to expect especially as I doing it on my own.
Done a easy 2 mile warm up before upping the speed to LT pace. Found it quite tough, especially near the end but was happy with the pace I maintained and had three 1 mile splits of 7:04, 7:10 and 7:08. Was feeling pretty wrecked after this so just took it easy for the last 3 miles and tried to get the heart rate down.

Was happy with how the session went overall as I wasn't sure how easy I would find it to run at LT pace so despite finding it tough (the heat didn't help) I was able to maintain my desired pace pretty comfortably.

8.18 Miles in 1:07:02 with 3 Miles in 21:22. Average LT pace 7:07.

Month|Miles
January|152.95
February|125.45
March|168.66
April|161.43
May|124.79
June|8.18
Total|741.46

Younganne

Well done Barry on the LT run, I'm thinking of trying out the LT run too, i set it up in the Garmin last week so I might try it out on Tuesday, but with Bohermeen 5k on Saturday, if i don't do it Tue, i won't do it until next week!!
Im thinking of doing week 1 x 2, week 2 x 2 and then into the plan at week 3

Younganne

Barry have you thought about how to work the Wednesday evening intervals into the P&D plan yet?
I think i will have to get the experts to advise which run to drop from the plan or what is likey to be more beneficial for the overall plan??

Any thoughts or have you this worked out already??

beeduybe

Younganne wrote: »

Barry have you thought about how to work the Wednesday evening intervals into the P&D plan yet?
I think i will have to get the experts to advise which run to drop from the plan or what is likey to be more beneficial for the overall plan??

Any thoughts or have you this worked out already??

I got the calendar out the other night and was trying to figure out when I could do each session and when I would have to jig a few things. I'm going away to Lanzarote for a week at the end of August but will be bringing my running gear with me. Luckily the week I'm away is a recovery week in the plan so while I might not do exactly as the plan says I don't think I'll miss anything major.

The first six weeks of the plan or Mesocycle 1 call for 9 or 10 mile general aerobic runs in midweek so was thinking that I could include the interval work in the middle of these runs i.e. get to the track early and do 3 or 4 easy miles, then do the intervals and then afterwards do whatever amount of miles is left to make up the distance in the plan. Still getting in the mileage but slightly modifying the session in the plan. The next two days are a rest day and a recovery run so should have enough time to recover before the long run on Saturday.

When the mileage starts increasing in Mesocycle 2 I think I'm gonna have to give the track work a miss as there is not really a place to fit it amongst the other runs but in Mesocycle 3 and 4 there is a weekly VO2max session which should be similar enough to what we would be doing on the track at that stage so will probably go back then.

So I have a pretty good idea of how I want the preparation to go even if August and September look a little scary :eek:

beeduybe

Saturday 2nd June
Met up with some members of the MRG for the usual Saturday morning run. After the relative flatness of the ramparts for the first 4 miles it became quite hilly from then on but was quite a nice route all the same on country roads around Hayestown and back towards Johnstown.

11.77 Miles in 1:45:31. Average Pace 8:58.

Month|Miles
January|152.95
February|125.45
March|168.66
April|161.43
May|124.79
June|19.94
Total|753.22

beeduybe

Sunday 3rd June
Recovery Run: 2.99 Miles in 27:45. Average Pace 9:17.

Monday 4th June
Rest day. Went up to Dublin and caught some of the mini marathon.

Tuesday 5th June
General Aerobic Run: 9.37 Miles in 1:22:29. Average Pace 8:48.

Month|Miles
January|152.95
February|125.45
March|168.66
April|161.43
May|124.79
June|32.30
Total|765.58

Younganne

beeduybe wrote: »

I got the calendar out the other night and was trying to figure out when I could do each session and when I would have to jig a few things. I'm going away to Lanzarote for a week at the end of August but will be bringing my running gear with me. Luckily the week I'm away is a recovery week in the plan so while I might not do exactly as the plan says I don't think I'll miss anything major.

The first six weeks of the plan or Mesocycle 1 call for 9 or 10 mile general aerobic runs in midweek so was thinking that I could include the interval work in the middle of these runs i.e. get to the track early and do 3 or 4 easy miles, then do the intervals and then afterwards do whatever amount of miles is left to make up the distance in the plan. Still getting in the mileage but slightly modifying the session in the plan. The next two days are a rest day and a recovery run so should have enough time to recover before the long run on Saturday.

When the mileage starts increasing in Mesocycle 2 I think I'm gonna have to give the track work a miss as there is not really a place to fit it amongst the other runs but in Mesocycle 3 and 4 there is a weekly VO2max session which should be similar enough to what we would be doing on the track at that stage so will probably go back then.

So I have a pretty good idea of how I want the preparation to go even if August and September look a little scary :eek:

Hey Barrry, thats along the lines i was thinking too... i'll have to update my plan and swap the days around and i might continue the track throughout and shorten some of the other runs..all plans can be tweaked;)

Are you looking forward to tonight?? pressure is on for 30secs per rep, but i think mine is nearer 38, you'll have to make up my deficits!!!!:D

beeduybe

Younganne wrote: »

Are you looking forward to tonight?? pressure is on for 30secs per rep, but i think mine is nearer 38, you'll have to make up my deficits!!!!:D

30 secs?! I thought it was 35? Not sure what to expect as I've never ran 200m before but based on my 5k time mc millan says its the equivalent of 33.7 secs for 200 so we will see.

Younganne

beeduybe wrote: »

30 secs?! I thought it was 35? Not sure what to expect as I've never ran 200m before but based on my 5k time mc millan says its the equivalent of 33.7 secs for 200 so we will see.

Sorry Barry, you're right..just checked the email again and its 36 sec, so pheeeewww, i should get at least one on target:eek:
Just don't drop the Baton!!!;)(i'll probably drop it)

beeduybe

Between this that and t'other I haven't had a chance to update my log so here goes:

Wednesday 6th June
Marathon relay challenge. 26.2 Miles. 105.5 laps of the track. 21 runners doing 10 sets of 200m in numerical order me being number 19. The aim was to do it in a time quicker than John Treacy's Irish marathon record of 2:09 which we did quite comfortably in the end with a time of 2:04:43. Not exactly sure of the times I was doing the 200m in but I'd imagine it was in and around 35 seconds. The recovery times between reps was about 11 minutes which is a nice long rest but probably too long as it was hard to go straight into a flat out 200m and really felt it in the legs in the last few reps. I knew I was going to fell sore the following day when I could feel stiffness in the legs on my cool down.

Thursday 7th June
Calves, quads and hamstrings were really feeling the effects of the unusual interval session the night before so went for a 3 mile recovery run followed by lots of stretching but my legs didn't fell much better afterwards.

Friday 8th June
Still quite sore so gave my running muscles a rest and went for a 30 minute cycle.

Saturday 9th June
Bohermeen 5k
Having had a 4 hour walk around a golf course on the morning of the race coupled with still having some stiffness in my legs from Wednesday I wasn't treating this as a goal race or anticipating a fast time. After a bizarre false start the race got underway and to cut a long story short when it came to the time in the race where I'd generally have to up the my intensity the legs said no so I just tried to keep with a few people in front of me and stuttered over the finish line in a time of 20:42. Slower than the Enfield 5k but it showed how much I have improved considering it was over 2 minutes faster than the time I ran in the same race last year when I killed myself as opposed to this years half arsed effort.
3.14 Miles in 20:42. Average Pace 6:36.

Sunday 10th June
Rest day.

Monday 11th June
Legs felt much better so headed out to Sandymount at lunchtime.
8.01 Miles in 1:10:08. Average Pace 8:45.

Tuesday 12th June
Recovery jog around the great grass surface on the outside of the Trinity cricket pitch. Legs felt great so ran a bit longer than originally planned.
5.05 Miles in 47:08. Average Pace 9:20.

Month|Miles
January|152.95
February|125.45
March|168.66
April|161.43
May|124.79
June|57.07
Total|790.35

beeduybe

Wednesday 13th June
Interval training with the MRG. Pyramid session. Didn't go full tilt here as legs were still not feeling 100% and I was planning on running the Braveheart 5k on Friday night.

Time|Distance
1:30|470m
2:00|590m
2:30|670m
2:00|520m
1:30|420m


1.66 Miles in 9:30. Average Pace 5:43.

Thursday 14th June
40 minute cycle followed by some stretching.

beeduybe

Heavy rain for a few days beforehand meant conditions were far from ideal for this race as most of the race is ran on grass. Wouldn't have been such a problem as I would have worn my XC spikes only for the fact part of the race also went along a path so had to go with my normal runners.

The race started on the bottom of the hill and by the time I reached the top of the hill my legs were covered in muck as it was flying off the back of the runners in front. The garmin showed my first mile split as 6:39 which I was pretty happy with given the conditions. Around the half way point the race took us onto the path and I took this as my chance to increase my intensity and try and catch a few people up ahead. The second mile beeped at 6:50 just before we went under the bridge and the final mile was quite hilly and boggy. I seen a runner from Skerries just ahead so I tried to keep with him for a while on the next up and down part. He seemed to be struggling so I passed him and started to target a few people up ahead and passed 2 or 3 others on the way to the finish crossing the line in a time of 21:30.

A tough but enjoyable race. Despite being much slower than the Bohermeen 5k time I felt I ran better here. The course conditions probably added at least a minute on to most peoples times.

3.16 Miles in 21:30. Average Pace 6:48.

Month|Miles
January|152.95
February|125.45
March|168.66
April|161.43
May|124.79
June|68.40
Total|801.68

beeduybe

Sunday 17th June
As prescribed by P&D for long runs I tried to keep my HRR reserve between 65% and 78% starting off at the slow end of the range and gradually picking up the pace.
11.70 Miles in 1:41:13. Average Pace 8:39.

beeduybe

Monday 18th June
18k cycle in 40 mins on gym bike followed by some stretching and core work. Will try and do some cycling on my rest days from running during the P&D plan to maintain fitness and not feel like I'm getting lazy

Tuesday 19th June
Headed out to Trinity for an easy recovery run on the grass. Going to take it easy and do a bit of a taper before Dunshaughlin 10k on Saturday as I'll be gunning for a PB before starting the 18 week marathon training plan on Monday.
4.82 Miles in 44:08. Average Pace 9:09.

Month|Miles
January|152.95
February|125.45
March|168.66
April|161.43
May|124.79
June|84.91
Total|818.19

beeduybe

Wednesday 20th June
Interval training with the MRG. 2 sets of 2 minutes followed by 2 sets of 3 mins.
Covered about 550m in both 2 min intervals and around 800m for both 3 min intervals. Tried to this around 5k pace but ended up doing them a little quicker than that.

Thursday 21st June
40 minute cycle followed by some stretching.

Friday 22nd June
Very slow 5 mile run around the cricket pitch in Trinity to keep the legs ticking over before the Dunshaughlin 10k tomorrow.

Month|Miles
June|93.88
Total|827.17

pconn062

Will you have a crack at sub 40 tomorrow beeduybe?

beeduybe

pconn062 wrote: »

Will you have a crack at sub 40 tomorrow beeduybe?

I'll be aiming to better my PB of 41:56 from the K Club. Have been building a base before starting marathon training so haven't done any specific 10k work the last few months so no hope of me breaking 40.

Have you made a decision on Dunshaughlin yet?

pconn062

beeduybe wrote: »

I'll be aiming to better my PB of 41:56 from the K Club. Have been building a base before starting marathon training so haven't done any specific 10k work the last few months so no hope of me breaking 40.

Have you made a decision on Dunshaughlin yet?

No not yet, I'm waiting to see if a few from the club are heading up, will be very last minute at this stage! Good luck with the race, should crack your PB no problem.

beeduybe

My only previous 10k this year resulted in a big PB of 41:56 in the K Club in April (although I think the course may have been a little short of the 10k) but looking back afterwards I felt I probably didn't run as well as I could have done and left a few seconds out on the course so promised myself I wouldn't leave anything behind this time. I reckoned I was in about 41:45 shape so this meant an average mile pace of 6:42.

Despite the wide road the race started on and the fact I thought I had positioned myself pretty well near the front I still found myself getting stuck behind and dodging slower runners for most of the first k of the race although one advantage of this was that it didn't allow me to go too fast in the early stages of the race.

Settled into the race and went through the first 2 mile markers in 6:27 and 6:35. Got a little too comfortable in a group in mile 3 and this resulted in a slower mile split of 6:53. I realised it was time to get out of my comfort zone and started to up my intensity just as the half way gantry came into sight. I passed halfway around 20:4x and pushed on well for the rest of the fourth mile passing quite a few people on the way to a split of 6:40. I knew there was a couple of inclines coming in the second half so tried to make the most of the downhill stretch just before the turn back towards Dunshaughlin.

Despite being my slowest mile (6:56) the fifth mile was probably one of my strongest as it included the toughest part of the course and I passed quite a considerable number of people using a tactic of targeting someone just ahead, trying to catch them and then pass them which worked quite well for me as there was plenty of people in front struggling on the hills and slowing.

I was really starting to feel the pain around 8k but fortunately this was when we hit a downhill straight so my pace improved despite struggling to maintain my intensity. Around 9k I started to feel like I was about to get sick so I just tried to keep with a group of 4 or 5 around me and hoped I wouldn't have to leave my mark around the roads of Dunshaughlin :eek: It seemed like an eternity for the finish line to come into sight but I knew it wasn't too far away as I started to see a few supporters on the side of the road. I put in one last effort and broke away from a couple of people I was running with and sprinted around the final bend and over the finish line in a garmin time of 41:46 and chip time of 41:45 A spookily accurate prediction :cool:

Anyway as soon as I finished exhaustion hit and now I really felt like I was gonna puke so waddled of to a corner and tried to get my breath back and not vomit on any incoming runners :eek: so had to refuse the strawberries and cream as I felt it was quite likely that they might come back up again

I don't think the race could have gone any better so I'm delighted to have another PB in the bag

6.23 Miles in 41:46. Average Pace 6:42.

Distance | 1 Mile | 3k | 5k | 4 Miles | 6k | 5 Miles | 10k | 10 Miles | Half Marathon | Marathon |
Pre Log PB | 6:41 | 12:57 | 22:52 | 28:44 | 28:53 | 37:32 | 48:31 | 1:21:35 | 1:46:03 | 4:10:01 |
Current PB | 6:10 | 11:58 | 19:47 | 26:13 | 24:20 | 33:23 | 41:45 | 1:21:35 | 1:41:48 | 4:10:01 |

beeduybe

Sunday 24th June
3 mile recovery run to try and loosen out the legs after the race.

beeduybe

Monday 25th June
First session of P&D 18 week marathon training plan. 8 miles with 4 @ LT pace. 2 mile warm up, 4 miles at 7:00 to 7:15 pace and 2 mile cool down.

Splits for the 4 miles at LT pace were 7:14, 7:19, 7:11 and 7:03. Running into a strong wind for the first 2 miles as well as tired legs from Saturday made this session harder than it could have been. Felt like I raced the last mile as by that stage I just wanted to get it over with.

8.04 Miles in 1:05:31. Average LT Pace 7:12.

Plan for Week 1 is:

Monday |Tuesday |Wednesday |Thursday |Friday |Saturday |Sunday
8 Miles with 4 @ LT Pace |Recovery Run| 9 Miles including Interval Training | Cross Training | Recovery Run| 13 Miles with 8 @ PMP | Rest or Recovery Run

Week 1 and I'm already altering the schedule. The plan called for 4 days of running but as I'm already doing 5 days running most weeks and the plan moves to 5 by the third week there is no point taking a step back so I'm going to include a recovery run on Tuesday of 4 or 5 miles.

Also I'm going to incorporate the club interval training into the 9 mile general aerobic run on Wednesday so I get the miles in and some fast running too.

On Saturday I'll be doing a MP run a week earlier than the schedule prescribes too as I'm going to a wedding in Wexford the following weekend so may not get a chance to do what I see as an important run in the early stages of the plan.

Month|Miles
June|113.33
Total|846.61