Things will come to those who wait...

pconn062

Monday: Rest/massage

Tuesday: 8 miles @ 7.39 pace

I seemed to have picked up some sort of head cold over the weekend, probably caused by doing my long run in the miserable weather on Saturday morning, and it moved down to my chest on Monday. It's not a bad dose or anything and I felt mostly fine during this run, but it just a little tougher than it should have been. My shin gave me the odd warning sign but it felt much better after the rub I got on Monday. Just a case of keeping an eye on it.

Wednesday

AM: 2.5 miles easy
PM: 7 miles w/20 minute tempo/3 mins rest/10 mins tempo

Just a very short jaunt on the treadmill before work to get the legs moving. Headed into the track this evening for the last big tempo session. The lads weren't too happy when they heard the plan, 2x20 minutes tempo! My chest still is not 100% so I said I was only going to do the first 20 minutes. We had a good group of 5 lads and we all took turns, the first set flew by and we averaged 6.17 pace after a slow start. I actually felt pretty good during the recovery and said I would give another 10 minutes a go. The lads were picking up the pace a bit for the second set and I was labouring a bit after 8 minutes so was glad to call it a day after 10 minutes, averaging 6.16. Pretty happy getting as much as done as I did, wasn't overly optimistic on the way out. Next week the session will be more along the lines of mile reps or something, will be nice to do something other than tempo work! Just a case of churning out the miles for the rest of the week, might try and squeeze in a short hill session as well.

dna_leri

pconn062 wrote: »

I seemed to have picked up some sort of head cold over the weekend, probably caused by doing my long run in the miserable weather on Saturday morning, and it moved down to my chest on Monday. It's not a bad dose or anything and I felt mostly fine during this run, but it just a little tougher than it should have been. My shin gave me the odd warning sign but it felt much better after the rub I got on Monday. Just a case of keeping an eye on it.

.

Be careful with that head/chest cold. No point in overdoing it at this time of the season.

Signed
Irish Mammies Institute

pconn062

dna_leri wrote: »

Be careful with that head/chest cold. No point in overdoing it at this time of the season.

Signed
Irish Mammies Institute

Ha, thanks Mammy!

Seriously though, it's good advice, backed off my run today and I'm feeling better today.

pconn062

Might as well stick today's run in while I'm here.

5 miles @ 8.20 pace

Had an absolute nightmare of a day at work. Started at 8am and things dragged on and on meaning I didn't get home until 9pm. Without thinking I jumped straight on the treadmill and did a 5 mile recovery run. I had planned on getting 9 or so done but work put a dampner on that. Probably not a bad thing to have an easy day with this head cold, feeling much better today. Chest is a little caught up so if it's the same in the morning I'm going to go to the doctor and get something rather than let it linger.

pconn062

Friday

AM: 7 miles @ 7.39 pace
PM: 4 miles @ 8.20 pace

Couple of easy runs, felt really good on the first on the grass and had to hold myself back as I knew I had more miles to do in the evening.

Saturday: 8 miles w/hill session

7x300m, 5x100m uphill

Had hoped to do my long run with the group in the morning but again worked screwed up my plans and I got a call to go in in the morning. Didn't get home until early evening so did a hill session instead. The stomach was dead dodgy on the warm up and I thought I was going to have to abandon ship but thankfully it settled down. Did this in the hill field, same session as I've done a couple of times now, just added an extra rep to each set. Recovery was a jog back down the hill. Felt good!

Sunday: 9 miles @ 7.45 pace

Had agreed to meet my brother for a run @ 10 but one look out the window when I woke up at the trees bending sideways and rain pounding the windows was enough to put my off and I rang him and we mutually cancelled, nothing to be gained from running in those conditions. And, to be honest I was feeling tired, the dose I have which I thought was gone was still lingering and I was feeling a bit lethargic. The weather picked up a bit so headed out and decided to cut the long run from the planned 15-16 to 9 mile. The wind was shocking, I was forced to walk a couple of times, after 5.5 miles I came back to the house and I wussed out and jumped on the treadmill for the last bit.

So a few problems this week, mostly work related. I got 50 miles in, 10 less than what I hoped to hit but after Thursdays long day at work I had it in mind to treat this like a bit of a step back week. Starting back into proper sessions this week, have a good one lined up for Wednesday. Firstly I am going to go in the doctor in the morning and get something for this dose, am meant to be racing Star of the Sea next week but will see how the week goes before deciding.

pconn062

Monday: OFF

Tuesday: 8 miles @ 7.24 pace

Out into the misty rain for this, felt good overall apart from the fact that the tablets I'm taking for my chest are killing me with the heartburn! Not nice.

Wednesday: 7.5 miles w/6x1k off 90 secs recovery on grass

The thoughts that went through my head during this session:

Split 1: 3.40 (hmmm, that was a bit slower than I wanted, and it felt tough as well)
Split 2: 3.35 (the pace is better but man this feels fast)
Split 3: 3.36 (yup, 5 reps will definitely be enough)
Split 4: 3.37 (why the hell is this so hard???)
Split 5: 3.38 (crap, I'm gonna puke, I don't want to see my lunch again)
Split 6: 3.40 (Just finish it, finish it, where's the damn finish!!)

This was a very tough session, felt much tougher than it should have. Had to do it on my own as I was Dublin bound this evening so would miss training at the track. Decided to do it on the grass for some x-country practice and I dusted off the spikes. My chest which has been feeling better was at me a little during the warm up and I was slightly nervous starting. Found it tough to find the pace at the start, was way too slow and this pace felt fast. From then on it just got harder and harder and I was really clinging on at the end. I checked the watch halfway through the last rep and I was only running 6.30 pace! :eek: Put in a big push to drag it down to something more respectable.
Sick as a dog at the end and I had to drag myself around for a cool down.

I was a little disappointed at the end that it felt so tough but looking back now I think it's a good session. It was very windy, and I had a strong wind in my face for 400m of each lap. Also my chest obviously still isn't fully right and this had an affect. And simply it's harder to do a session like this on your own.
Also I'm sure that running on the grass would leave the reps a bit slower??

Anyway, glad to get it done and dusted. Going to just run easy for the next few days and wait until the weekend before deciding if I run Star of the Sea.

RayCun

yeah, running on grass is always slower, that's a good session

pconn062

Thursday

AM: 6 miles @ 8.20 pace
PM: 4 miles @ 7.50 pace

Very easy recovery run in the morning to recover from the previous days session. Four miles easy then on the treadmill when I got home.

Friday

AM: 7 miles @ 7.26 pace
PM: 3 miles @ 7.47 pace

Another double day, first one on grass and second one on treadmill.

Saturday: 5 miles @ 7.54 pace

Absolute killer of a day at work, spent 11 hours straight standing up, legs were hanging off me at the end. Came home and went out without thinking about it, beautiful evening for a running and really enjoyed this.

Sunday: 6.5 miles w/Star of the Sea 6k cross country

Hard to believe that the cross country season is back, it does not feel like a year since we were here last year. This is a very tough race, tough, hilly course and as my friend said "even on the downhills, you're running uphill"! It wasn't helped by the fact that we had a mini heatwave and after a short warm up the sweat was running of us. My plan was to run steady and try and keep the same effort throughout.

About 55 in the field and we were off. Found myself about halfway up the field after 400m running with my clubmate. Between the two us we made our way around the first lap and I felt fairly comfortable. At the start of the second lap I pulled away from my clubmate, this was a surprise to me as he is usually a much better x-coutry runner than me. Kept the pace steady on the second lap, picking off different runners who were struggling. Halfway through the second lap the damn lace on my spike opened, I couldn't stop so, cursing the situation, I ploughed on.

In the middle of the third lap I closed in on a group and stuck with him, was starting to hurt here now and the effort was increasing, the heat was starting to become an issue. Down the hill and into the last lap it was a case of holding on. I stuck to the group and as two of the guys dropped back. Up the second last hill and and the lactic is building and the breathing is going crazy. Up the last hill and I''m struggling, one guy pulls away and I battle it out with another. At the top of the hill before I lift my head the guy is gone before I even see. No one behind me so I fly down the last hill, glad to be done.

Finished in 23:43, a minute and 10 seconds quicker than last year and in 30th place out of 55. was bolloxed at the end, bumped into Lock who posted here before and finished in a great 4th place. Managed to put 25 seconds over my club mate as well which I was delighted with. Happy with the days work and I enjoyed it strangely, there's no racing like cross country racing.

So 46.5 miles for the week, and step back week mileage wise. After talking to the coach I think I might have to give Rathfarnham a miss. The novice and the intermediate are on the two following weeks so don't want to overcook it. The cross country is the main thing so don't want to do anything to damage that. So I am going to try and out in a decent mileage week this week, 60 hopefully. I am starting a new job tomorrow and even though it's only part time I will be keeping my old job, will have to try and squeeze the miles in around work.

BeepBeep67

Nice going - seems strange to be discussing cross county in 20 degree temperatures!

pconn062

BeepBeep67 wrote: »

Nice going - seems strange to be discussing cross county in 20 degree temperatures!

I know, it's not often I'm hoping for a bit of cloud cover and a spot of drizzle but getting sunburned while running cross country is unnatural!

ThePiedPiper

Nice work PConn. Looking forward to a bit of mucky racing in a few weeks.. I'd rate myself as 50/50 for the Novice, not really sure I should be risking running on uneven ground the week before a marathon..

pconn062

RunForestRun wrote: »

Nice work PConn. Looking forward to a bit of mucky racing in a few weeks.. I'd rate myself as 50/50 for the Novice, not really sure I should be risking running on uneven ground the week before a marathon..

Thanks RFR. Now I'm not trying to sway you because we really need you for the team (would I ever do that ) but if it helps the novice is on completely flat, level ground. I fact it's run around the outside of some football pitches so it's not real cross country at all, 800m a lap so 7 and a half laps. It's nothing like the intermediate or senior last year. In fact it's like a road race!

ThePiedPiper

60/40... If I'm feeling fresh and not a nervous wreck, I'll probably do it. Won't commit to it until a couple of days beforehand though, but the body's feeling fairly good now, so hopefully there'll be no issues over the next fortnight.

pconn062

Monday: Off

Tuesday: 9 miles @ 7.21

This was one of the most enjoyable runs I've ever done, started nice and slow and just cranked it up. Did it all on grass starting in one of the flat fields before I got bored and noticed the two silage fields next door were recently mowed so I jumped in there for a few laps before finishing off in the hill field. Great run.

Wednesday: 8.5 miles w/session

Session: 2x1 mile, 1x400m, 2x1 mile, 2x200m

Splits: 5.58, 5.50, 75, 5.46, 5.41, 36, 36

Bit of a longer session tonight, intended to give a bit of strength before the novice cross country in 11 days. The plan was to start easy and wind it up as we went on. There was 5 of us in total doing this which was great, meant we could share the work during the miles. I felt pretty good going this, especially during the miles, nice and controlled without ever really going into the red. The 400m was the hardest part and it was actually nice to get back to the miles! The 200's at the end were simply to get the legs turning over a bit while really concentrating on running with good form.

A good evenings work, tired now so an early night is in store. The plan for the rest of the week is all about getting the miles in whenever I can, hoping to get near 60 miles. Might do some hill work on Saturday if I'm feeling good.

pconn062

pac_man wrote: »

Savage session pconn, I might plagiarise that one. What recoveries are you doing between the reps.

Hi pac_man, yeah it's a good session alright. We took 2 minutes active recovery (walking and jogging) between each of the different reps. If we were going to repeat it we would shorten the recovery slightly every time (but we probably won't get a chance to do it again with all the races coming up).

pconn062

Thursday

AM: 6 miles @ 8.27 pace
PM: 4 miles @ 8.30 pace

Two easy recovery runs to try and loosen the legs out after the previous nights session.

Friday

AM: 7 miles @ 7.26 pace
PM: 3 miles : 7.41 pace

First one on grass, didn't feel that great, quite tired but the pace ticked along nicely. Second one was done on the treadie quite late when I got home from work.

Saturday: 6.5 miles at 7.36 pace

Nice handy run on the grass on a wintry feeling evening.

Two double days back to back is not ideal but it's just the way the week panned out. Long run planned for the morning with a few of the lads, not sure how long yet but depending on how I feel it will between 12-16 miles. My right shin is niggling me a little bit, didn't bother me on the run today but felt something on it last night and a bit today. I just need my body to hold up for about another month and then I'm taking a break so will hopefully be a case of just managing it! I won't worry to much unless it gets sore when I run.

pconn062

Sunday: 16.5 miles @ 7.36 pace

Finally a long run to rival the marathon runners! I don't think I will ever make it as a marathon runner, I just do not like doing these long runs. While I felt pretty good the whole way round I was bored to tears after 13 miles and just couldn't wait to finish. Started slow (too slow for RFR who dropped us after a mile!) and three of us kept it around 7.50 pace until 7 miles before upping it to 7.20 pace or so for the rest of the run. One of the guys was doing twenty so he left us at around 14 mile and myself and the brother kept going, he really struggled towards the end as he's only back training and was happier to be finishing that me!

So that's the week done and I hit my target getting 60.5 miles done, my highest weekly mileage ever (again!). The body feels good mostly, quite tired now but no problems today from the shin thankfully. It's racing time now and I have 4 races planned in the next 5 weeks, starting with the Louth novice next Sunday, can't wait for it! The plan is to drop the mileage to about 40 miles (or whatever depending on how I feel) but keep up a not too strenuous session in the midweek to keep some quality work. Looking forward to some (not so) friendly rivalries over the next few weeks, this is when being a club runner is fun and any rival club become the enemies!

pconn062

Spoke too soon on Sunday evening when I said how good I was feeling. Chest infection #4 of the year is setting in, only 10 days after I started feeling good after the last one. On steroids now, hopefully it will lift before the weekend. This novice race is like my marathon for the year, I've trained hard for the last 11 weeks for it so it would suck to miss it.

Edit: Tuesday 7 miles @ 7.30 pace

ThePiedPiper

Ah no, that's bad news P.. Hopefully you'll clear it up by Sunday.. That's a ridiculous amount of chest infections, terrible luck..

pconn062

RunForestRun wrote: »

Ah no, that's bad news P.. Hopefully you'll clear it up by Sunday.. That's a ridiculous amount of chest infections, terrible luck..

Yeah hope it clears up A, really wanna race this weekend.

ThePiedPiper

Well, how ya feeling P? Sniffling away here all day myself, nothing major, but not goin to bother doin any training today. Changing weather and kids coughing on you all day isn't the best combo, but hopefully we'll all be ready and racing at the weekend.

pconn062

RunForestRun wrote: »

Well, how ya feeling P? Sniffling away here all day myself, nothing major, but not goin to bother doin any training today. Changing weather and kids coughing on you all day isn't the best combo, but hopefully we'll all be ready and racing at the weekend.

Cheers A, feeling just OK. Did a light session with the lads tonight, no real cough but the chest is just feeling a bit tight. Won't decide anything until Saturday but I hope to be able to race. Won't do it if I'm not 90% OK. I'd say taper madness is setting in with you?! All those germ carrying kids sneezing on you all day, you may start wearing a mask to school!

Gavlor

pconn062 wrote: »

Spoke too soon on Sunday evening when I said how good I was feeling. Chest infection #4 of the year is setting in, only 10 days after I started feeling good after the last one. On steroids now, hopefully it will lift before the weekend. This novice race is like my marathon for the year, I've trained hard for the last 11 weeks for it so it would suck to miss it.

Edit: Tuesday 7 miles @ 7.30 pace

It's an important race but steroids?!! Is that you Ben?!

Hopefully it'll clear up. This damp weather aint helping though.

pconn062

Gavlor wrote: »

It's an important race but steroids?!! Is that you Ben?!

Hopefully it'll clear up. This damp weather aint helping though.

I wish it was the good type of steroids, might make the race feel easier!! Everyone is dosed these days, wish I had shares in lemsip and vitamin C!

KielyUnusual

Hope you're back to yourself come Sunday P. I've been sort of focusing on this race too for the last while as the big race before the end of the year so I can understand your eagerness to be in top shape. You've a bit of time to recover before Sunday anyway. The rest might end up doing you the world of good, in retrospect.

pconn062

KielyUnusual wrote: »

Hope you're back to yourself come Sunday P. I've been sort of focusing on this race too for the last while as the big race before the end of the year so I can understand your eagerness to be in top shape. You've a bit of time to recover before Sunday anyway. The rest might end up doing you the world of good, in retrospect.

Here's hoping KU, it's silly really how much work and focus we put into one race, I imagine it's what the last week before a marathon is like! You're in some shape, I don't know what the standard in the Dublin novice is like but if you were running in the Louth novice you would win it with time to spare!!

pconn062

Frustrating week, just trying to manage this chest thing as best I could.

Wednesday: 7 miles w/session

8x600m with 200m jog recovery
Splits: 2:09-2:01

Felt OK during the day, the chest just felt a little tight. Good session, was labouring a little more than I should be put could pick up the pace when needed and covered the last one @ about 5.15 pace. Bit of a sore hip after this session.

Thursday: 6 miles @ 8.30 pace

Easy, easy recovery run on the treadmill after work, was lashing outside and just could not face running in the rain with a dodgy chest. Hip was quite sore for the last few mile, I used doctor google and narrowed it down to hip bursitis. Stretched out the IT band and did a bit of running.

Friday: OFF

Decided to take a rest day and see if it helped the chest/hip.

Saturday: 5.5 miles @ 7.20 pace

Wanted to try a run and see if I could run the novice the next day. During Friday I started getting a bit of a dry cough and this is the only thing that bothered me during the run. Apart from that I felt great, legs felt good and I had to slow myself down. Wasn't sure how I'd feel picking up the pace though. Rang the coach for advice and he asked about my resting HR which he has me record every day. I said it was up 3-4 beats than normal all week and he thought I should be fine, but be cautious and pull out if necessary.

Sunday: Louth novice x-country 6.something k, 22:16, 10th overall

I woke up still unsure whether I should run, I felt good apart from a slightly increased RHR and a tickly throat. Decided to go out and warm up and see how I felt. I wanted to run as we only have a small novice team and wanted to support the lads. Felt good on the warm and said feck it, I'll start and see how I get on. The course is pretty awful, 8 and half laps around some football pitches, totally flat and really boring. Started off nice and handy, sitting at the front of the second group, in about 12th place. Ticked the laps off for the first while with 2 clubmates pulling ahead of me. I didn't panic and at about halfway I pushed past them and set my eyes on two guys ahead of me. The effort levels were higher than they should be but I knew I would finish. It took me until the end of the second last lap to catch the guys. One fell back right away while the other guy tucked in behind me as we ran into the wind. No chance!! I danced out wide and made sure he couldn't draft. Neither of us wanted to push on into the wind so we stuck together until about 300m to go when he kicked and got away, I just didn't have the lungs for a sprint finish as I was already redlining! Came in 10th position, 3rd scorer on the team.

The club team prizes were a fiasco, we had four guys in the top 11 so knew we should get at least second team but for the second year the officials counted the results wrong (ignoring our first finisher RFR completely), and gave our county medals to another club. We were really disappointed and asked for them to be checked as we knew they were wrong (how could we not get a top 3 team if 4 of our guys finished in the top 11??). They admitted they got the results wrong and that we were second team but it was too late as the prize giving ceremony was over and they gave away our medals. This really ruined the day for us, it might seem like a silly thing to get worked up about but this is the second time this has happened, and club team prizes are important in club running circles. The exact same thing happened last year, they counted wrong, gave our medals to another group of guys which we never got back.

Apart from that I'm happy with how I ran, Id say the chest cost me about 20 seconds, I would have got under 22 minutes with full health I think. The plan now is to try and get the chest right and do it all again at the intermediate next weekend!

Only 31 measly miles for the week!

menoscemo

Sounds worse than Athletics Ireland :rolleyes:
I hope RFR at least got his individual gold.

pa4

Hey pconn062, thats not on at all. Similar situation happened in my county novice XC today where we were given medals when we shouldn't have been. Got a phonecall from a member of the country board looking for the medals back and they are re-doing the medal cermony in 2 weeks at the intermediate championships. You should really complain about it and get your medal, I know how much a medal can mean to somebody. Another similar situation happened in the road championships in the womens race, they ran with an unregistered athlete and ended up getting DQ'd about a week later and all the medals were giving back and passed on the next teams in line. I'd get on to the chairperson of the louth county board and get it sorted.

Well done on the race by the way! Good place and not a bad time for a cross country race!

ThePiedPiper

menoscemo wrote: »

Sounds worse than Athletics Ireland :rolleyes:
I hope RFR at least got his individual gold.

I wish! I was 5th place overall. They spent the entire bloody race calling out my name over the speakers. There's RFR of Dunleer, every lap, then when it comes to totting the scores, they forgot that I existed!! I know mistakes can happen, but the exact same mistake shouldn't happen two years on the trot with the same club missing out on medals both times to the host club. Leaves a bad taste..