Things will come to those who wait...

ThePiedPiper

I'm feeling vulnerable for Sunday. You and your fecking consistent training are gonna give me an ass whipping one of these days. My only hope is freshness!!! All set for another mucky mess?

pconn062

RunForestRun wrote: »

I'm feeling vulnerable for Sunday. You and your fecking consistent training are gonna give me an ass whipping one of these days. My only hope is freshness!!! All set for another mucky mess?

I don't think you have anything to worry about on Sunday, you're still in fairly good shape. Give me a few more weeks and I'll give you a good race in Castleblaney!

pconn062

Saturday: 4 miles easy with strides

Sunday: Noel McGuill X-country

Good race this and I was feeling good going into it, had a late night last night so was hoping the lack of sleep wouldn't affect me. Conditions were good, it's a funny course, it looks like it should be fast but a few tight bends, sloping stretches and one big fecker of a hill meant it made for slower running.
First lap was fine, I pushed a bit and as it spread out I led a group of about ten. Second lap was much the same with me and another one or two guys surging a few times but it always settled back, very tactical which meant it wasn't too fast but the effort was quite high.
On the third lap we were all starting to work and one or two guys broke away, I was working hard so though it was too early to go with them. This race being organised by my own club meant the support was great so on the last lap myself and a club mate of mine broke from the group and started chasing the guys in front. Last time up the hill and we were catching them but we ran out of ground, I made a final dash to get away from my friend but couldn't close on the guys in front. If there was another 200m I think we would have caught them as they were definitely slowing. The usual dry heaving and coughing followed as I crossed the line in about 23:30.
I was very happy with the race and even happier when we found out we won 3rd team and I was 4th on the team so I came home with a few quid. I know I'm biased but the is a great race, mens race won in style by Sean Hehir with Fiona Roche taking the womens title. I had a good weeks training planned for this week and then I'll be doing a mini taper for my next race.

MYTD: 1750

pconn062

Monday: Rest Day

Tuesday: 7 miles @ 7.34 pace with strides

Had a session planned for today but I awoke to the sound of howling wind so after last weeks wind affected session I decided to postpone it until later in the week. If it was short reps I could have done it but I had planned some mile repeats so it would have been a struggle. Just did a handy run instead, started a bit slow and creaky but picked up as I went along running 7.20's. Cross country seems to be out of the legs anyway.

MYTD: 1757

pconn062

AM: 4.5 miles easy
PM: 4 miles with 1 mile time trial

Our club is trying out a new thing of holding a free 1 or 2 mile race every week on a Wednesday evening at the track. Tonight was a tester so a few of us were going to meet up and try it out so I did a few easy miles this morning to leave me fresh. About 10 of us showed up and I ran with two guys I train with regularly. Was quite windy and not the ideal evening for fast running and our track is kinda funny, it's a track around a football pitch and is about 530m in length so a mile is 3 and a bit laps. It also has a slight incline on one of the narrow sides. We stuck together for 2 laps and at the first turn on the last lap I pushed on and put five or six seconds over the lads to finish in 5.13. I was very happy with this considering the conditions and I definitely left something in the tank, I think a low 5:0X is there on a good day. Was good fun and I look forward to giving it another go with a few more people there. Have a session planned for tomorrow.

MYTD: 1765

pconn062

Session: 3x1 mile @ 5k pace off 2.30 recovery

Splits: 5.42, 5.42, 5.48

This is an important session for me, I've done it before every good 5k I've ran and I need it to well, it is also the last big session I had planned. It wasn't the best evening for it, very windy and when I stepped onto the track in the freezing cold I was questioning my sanity. Luckily I had one or two other fools to do it with, it was very windy on one half of the lap so this was going to be tough. First one went fine, I was out front and eased off into the wind before picking it up when the wind was behind me. Second one was much the same but it was getting hard and fighting the wind was starting to hurt. Still we told ourselves there was only one more to go and launched into it. The wind was really starting to affect us now but we forgot about the pace and just tried to run by effort, I knew it would be slower but I was (just about) holding it together, it really replicated that eyeballs out effort at the end of a 5k race. Very glad to get it done in those rough conditions and happy with the splits, also my legs were tired and a bit sore starting, probably due to that impromptu mile race last night. Easy run now tomorrow.

MYTD: 1771

pconn062

Friday: 5.5 miles easy

Handy recovery run first thing in the morning, had intended on doing longer but between one thing and another this is all I could squeeze in.

Saturday: 7.2 miles

Session: 5x1 mile @ T pace off 90 secs recovery
Splits: 6.18, 6.14, 6.16, 6.14, 6.13

So I decided to slot Tuesdays cancelled session into today. I made it slightly easier than first planned as I already had two hard days this week and I didn't want to overcook it. So I cut it from 6 reps down to 5 and added an extra 30 secs recovery onto JD's prescribed 1 minute. I don't know what it is but I always find threshold running really hard, some people struggle with 200/400m repeats but I love them. Anything over 1000m is where I start to struggle. The target pace was between 6.15-20 so I was fairly bang on with the splits. JD emphasises not over doing the pace on these so on several occasions I had to reel the pace in a bit. By the last repeats I was working hard though, not sure how 6 repeats with only 1 min recovery would have went but that's a problem for another day! Long run tomorrow hopefully.

MYTD: 1783.5

pconn062

12 miles @ 7.31 pace

Out nice and early for this, walked out in the glorious sunshine ready to enjoy the crisp, cold but sunny day. A mile into the run and a huge band of sea fog suddenly engulfs me and I can't see 10 feet in front of me! It's so bad I have to take a divert and call by my parents house to pick up a hi-vis to avoid getting run over! This also causes a drop in temperature by a few degrees and I'm pretty freezing for the rest of the run. Run wise it was good though, started slow but after a mile or two I was zipping along nicely and a couple of of 7:0X miles felt like jogging, why can't all days be this easy.
A good week overall, 50-ish mile with two good sessions and a half decent mile time trial, cutting the mileage back a bit this week.

MYTD: 1795.5

madon

Yeah was probably the worst fog i've seen here, fair play it looked freezing- I got caught in those downpours Sat evening couldn't face any more of the coastal freaky weather!

pconn062

madon wrote: »

Yeah was probably the worst fog i've seen here, fair play it looked freezing- I got caught in those downpours Sat evening couldn't face any more of the coastal freaky weather!

Oh God, I don't envy you running in that rain on Saturday, that was nasty! Think I got off a little easy with the fog!

pconn062

7 miles @ 7.33 pace

Few easy mile this morning, glad I got it done because I won't get out tomorrow. Don't mind a few easy days this week anyway. Crazy windy this morning, I mean really windy, running sideways just to get through it windy. Here's hoping it dies down before the weekend.

MYTD: 1802.5

pconn062

Tuesday: Off

Today: 4 mile with 1 mile time trial

Headed into the track tonight to give the 1 mile time trial another go. A few more people there tonight and I intended on taking it easy with the race at the weekend. But when I got in my coach was there and said to follow him as he was going to run about 5 minutes flat and I did what I was told. Great conditions, flat calm and nice and cold. Off we went and I chased him for a lap, felt good, he pulled away from me a little on the 2nd lap and I was starting to work, into the last lap and I was at my limit but I had my eyes on his back and was chasing like a man possessed, closed the gap a little on the last lap and finished in 5.07 for a new two second PB. My coach came in @ 4.59 (a former sub 2.20 marathoner, he jogged this tonight with a jacket, hat and a pair of kayanos! :rolleyes:). I was is bits at the end, I have never had such a bad build up of lactic acid, I hobbled around two laps but had to stop leaving me with only four miserable miles for the day.
Hope I didn't overdue it but I should be fine, happy with the result. There is a mile race at the new track in Drogheda next week so will see what I can do on a proper track. My coach thinks I should target shorter races 1500-3000m so we are thinking of aiming for some 1500 races next summer, especially the Louth T+F Championships. Anyway, that's too far away to worry about!

MYTD: 1806

dna_leri

pconn062 wrote: »

Tuesday: Off

Today: 4 mile with 1 mile time trial

Headed into the track tonight to give the 1 mile time trial another go. A few more people there tonight and I intended on taking it easy with the race at the weekend. But when I got in my coach was there and said to follow him as he was going to run about 5 minutes flat and I did what I was told. Great conditions, flat calm and nice and cold. Off we went and I chased him for a lap, felt good, he pulled away from me a little on the 2nd lap and I was starting to work, into the last lap and I was at my limit but I had my eyes on his back and was chasing like a man possessed, closed the gap a little on the last lap and finished in 5.07 for a new two second PB. My coach came in @ 4.59 (a former sub 2.20 marathoner, he jogged this tonight with a jacket, hat and a pair of kayanos! :rolleyes:). I was is bits at the end, I have never had such a bad build up of lactic acid, I hobbled around two laps but had to stop leaving me with only four miserable miles for the day.
Hope I didn't overdue it but I should be fine, happy with the result. There is a mile race at the new track in Drogheda next week so will see what I can do on a proper track. My coach thinks I should target shorter races 1500-3000m so we are thinking of aiming for some 1500 races next summer, especially the Louth T+F Championships. Anyway, that's too far away to worry about!

MYTD: 1806

In the right conditions (track, temp, company) you should have no problem knocking off a couple of secs per lap and getting under 5 mins. Recover well now and your 5K pace will seem slow.

pconn062

dna_leri wrote: »

In the right conditions (track, temp, company) you should have no problem knocking off a couple of secs per lap and getting under 5 mins. Recover well now and your 5K pace will seem slow.

Thanks DL, that's the plan, and as you say it will hopefully make running 40 seconds a mile slower feel a bit easier!

pconn062

6.5 miles @ 7.24 pace

Nice, handy run with a few of the lads at the club tonight. Good chat and company made the miles fly by. Luckily there seems to be no after effects from last nights efforts and the legs felt good, so for once my idiocy hasn't back fired on me. Will do something similar at a slower pace tomorrow.

MYTD: 1812.5

tang1

PB form for Sunday??

pconn062

tang1 wrote: »

PB form for Sunday??

Will wait and see!

Feeling good, training has been good. Need a good day as it's an out and back course so if it is windy it could affect you for half the course. How's your own training going, Raheny going to be a target race?

tang1

pconn062 wrote: »

Will wait and see!

Feeling good, training has been good. Need a good day as it's an out and back course so if it is windy it could affect you for half the course. How's your own training going, Raheny going to be a target race?

Yeah, you have been putting in some pretty impressive sessions in training alright. I've never done a 5mile race before so i'll be guaranteed a PB, hoping sub 33. I know the course like the back of my hand & the drag up Watermill at the end can take it out of the legs. You doing it?

pconn062

tang1 wrote: »

Yeah, you have been putting in some pretty impressive sessions in training alright. I've never done a 5mile race before so i'll be guaranteed a PB, hoping sub 33. I know the course like the back of my hand & the drag up Watermill at the end can take it out of the legs. You doing it?

It's a great race, definitely a PB course and plenty of people around the 32/33 minute mark so you will get in with a good group and to be honest I didn't even find the drag at mile 4 too bad. Yeah it will be my first "big" race of 2013, will be looking for 29:5x at least!

tang1

pconn062 wrote: »

will be looking for 29:5x at least!

The way your training is going you should achieve that. Best of luck Sunday.

dna_leri

pconn062 wrote: »

Thanks DL, that's the plan, and as you say it will hopefully make running 40 seconds a mile slower feel a bit easier!

17:50 for your 5K so?
Good luck.

pconn062

dna_leri wrote: »

17:50 for your 5K so?
Good luck.

17:59 would be great!! The first plan is a PB so that means 18:22 or faster. Thanks

5.5 miles easy

Just ticking over, another lovely, crisp cool flat calm morning. I love running in those conditions!

MYTD: 1818

pconn062

18.30 or so. Bad run, felt good until halfway but it is an out and back course so when we turned around to run back in the wind killed me. Held it together until 2.5 miles but blew up then and struggled home (and I mean struggled, went from 5.43 first mile to 6.50 for the last .1).
Extremely disappointed to be honest, I definitely thought I was (and still am) in sub 18 shape, just a case of finding the right course. Out and back courses can be a fecker and today we had the wind in our faces for the entire return leg but still no excuse, I ran bad. I don't know what to think, I trained really well but let myself down big time on the day, will have to think about this one for a while. Only consolation is that everyones times were down by about half a minute, even the winner today is from my club and is low 15 minute runner and he didn't break 16 today. And I finished about 12th overall out of 650 so a decent result, still gutted though.

MYTD: 1823

digdeep

Good run in those conditions, cold wind and rain in our faces on return leg killed a lot runners. Thought i'd be safely below 20 but i think i was a second over.
You'll get sub 18 no bother

tang1

pconn062 wrote: »

18.30 or so. Bad run, felt good until halfway but it is an out and back course so when we turned around to run back in the wind killed me. Held it together until 2.5 miles but blew up then and struggled home (and I mean struggled, went from 5.43 first mile to 6.50 for the last .1).
Extremely disappointed to be honest, I definitely thought I was (and still am) in sub 18 shape, just a case of finding the right course. Out and back courses can be a fecker and today we had the wind in our faces for the entire return leg but still no excuse, I ran bad. I don't know what to think, I trained really well but let myself down big time on the day, will have to think about this one for a while. Only consolation is that everyones times were down by about half a minute, even the winner today is from my club and is low 15 minute runner and he didn't break 16 today. And I finished about 12th overall out of 650 so a decent result, still gutted though.

MYTD: 1823

Unlucky man, it was a poxy day for running and not PB weather in fairness. 12th out of 650 is great going, plus i presume MQ won and he had a bad day. Next time.

pconn062

digdeep wrote: »

Good run in those conditions, cold wind and rain in our faces on return leg killed a lot runners. Thought i'd be safely below 20 but i think i was a second over.
You'll get sub 18 no bother

Thanks, hard luck on missing out on the sub 20. It was a hard aul day all round, nice event though.

pconn062

tang1 wrote: »

Unlucky man, it was a poxy day for running and not PB weather in fairness. 12th out of 650 is great going, plus i presume MQ won and he had a bad day. Next time.

Thanks tang, just checked the results there, was 14th not 12th, must have counted the runners in front of me wrong. Not Martin today but Darragh Greene, even he said it was a killer.

Seems to be something up with the chip timing as well, all the times are out by 5-10 secs. I had 18:35 on my watch but it gave me 18:45 and I started in the front row. Not that it makes any difference to me but if you ran 19:59 and they gave you 20:01 you would be annoyed!

tisnotover

hard luck today in the 5k, I'd say its just a blip tho, your training has been fierce solid here lately, good stuff.

pconn062

tisnotover wrote: »

hard luck today in the 5k, I'd say its just a blip tho, your training has been fierce solid here lately, good stuff.

Cheers, good run yesterday in the 1/2, solid run on what I heard was a tough course!

dna_leri

Tough going in the 5K, if it was anything like the weather we had here I am not surprised.
Don't take too much from it, plan another one before long.