Just for the craic

wowzer

Thursday 01st August

5.06 miles in 40.38 avg pace 8.02

Easy run at lunch time again, was afraid to go up to the club tonight in case I got caught up doing the 7 mile tempo that is planned. Massage planned for tonight followed by 2 days of no running, then maybe 4 or 5 very easy miles on Sunday so hopefully i'll be raring to go on Monday..

wowzer

Sunday 4th August

4.01 miles in 34.25 avg pace 8.36

Just an easy few miles this morning.
All systems go for the half marathon tomorrow.

wowzer

Monday 05th August 2013

Rock and Roll half marathon 13.22 miles in 1.31.30 avg pace 6.55

Previous PB from last September was 1.42.56 so I managed to knock over 11 minutes off the PB.

Delighted with this race today, started off with the 1.30 pacer but he started to drift away after 2 miles or so I just tried to maintain my pace as best i could. Struggled a bit when we came out of the park up to Chapelizod, and the legs were beginning to tie up on me. Statts came alongside me at this point and he ran with me for a few minutes but I had to tell him to push on as i was slowing him down. Once I got over that hill around mile 9 I got a second wind and cruised in from there and really felt comfortable and strong into the finish.

Overall it was a great race, the atmosphere was brilliant and the bands were a pretty good distraction, there was plenty of water, gels and iso drinks along the route and there was plenty of jellies, bars and bananas at the end. The overall organisation was pretty much spot on and I will definitely do this race again if its on next year.

blockic

Cracking performance wowzer, 11 mins off the distance in less than 12 months is phenomenal.

Looking forward to seeing what you will run in the marathon.

statss

good running man, what do you reckon now for the marathon?

FrClintPower

blockic wrote: »

Cracking performance wowzer, 11 mins off the distance in less than 12 months is phenomenal.

+1, great stuff.

wowzer

statss wrote: »

good running man, what do you reckon now for the marathon?

Cheers, I think 3.20 is my limit this year anyway.. I'll be more than happy with that for my first. McMillan has me at 3.12 after today but I cant see me doing that.

wowzer

Tuesday 06th August 2013

5.19 miles in 43.27 avg pace 8.22

Decided to stay away from the club tonight as I knew I wouldnt be able to resist the temptation of doing the session on the track so I went for recovery run at lunch time. The legs felt suprisingly good after yesterdays race.
No races planned for the next few weeks so i'm looking forward to upping the milage a bit during the weeks and getting the long runs up to the 20 mile mark.

statss

your legs feel good today?! I can barely walk


3.20 is a good target - as Blocky said on my log if you are feeling good towards the end you can push on.

wowzer

statss wrote: »

your legs feel good today?! I can barely walk


3.20 is a good target - as Blocky said on my log if you are feeling good towards the end you can push on.

The real target is to finish 1 second ahead of you regardless of the overall time haha

wowzer

Wednesday 07th August

6.08 miles in 49.07 avg pace 8.05

Another easy lunch time run. Legs still feel in good condition after the race, I was expecting them to be sore today as I dont normally get the soreness till 2 days after a tough work out.
The plantar fascitiis was beginning to act up quite a bit lately so after reading something on another log about compression type things for your feet I went and bought them last night and have been wearing them since. So far so good anyway, dont feel any sort of pain or aches in my feet at all. Usually the mornings are the worst, especially getting out of bed, and this morning there was no pain, so hopefully these things sort me out once and for all.

wowzer

Thursday 8th August

Lunchtime
4.71 miles in 40.11 avg pace 8.32

Just a general easy run.

Evening club run
8.52 miles in 62.26 avg pace 7.20

Session was a 7 mile tempo. After a 2.5 mile warm up we headed off. Got to about 3 miles when my stomach flipped and I had to slip away from the group I was in for an emergency pit stop. When finished I realised I didn't have a clue what the route was so headed back to the track to finish out the session on my own. Was getting quite boring lashing out the laps on an empty track so I finished up at 6 miles instead of 7.
So 13.23 miles done for the day with 6 tempo miles thrown in, happy days.

wowzer

Friday 9th August

8.41 miles in 73.18 avg pace 8.42

Just an easy run home from work.
Signed up for Athlone half marathon today.

happygoose

DAC on tour!!

wowzer

happygoose wrote: »

DAC on tour!!

Yourself and Antoinette convinced me to do it, looking forward to it now.

statss

I'm pretty sure you'll get 1:29 in Athlone man.

happygoose

Think we'll be flyin it at that stage particularly with the Thursdays we're doing PBs all round hopefully!

blockic

statss wrote: »

I'm pretty sure you'll get 1:29 in Athlone man.

I'm pretty sure too, now get it in here! :cool:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=85920560&postcount=44

Almac06

Great running Wowzer, your improvement is immense. Well done!! See you for the long run tomorrow, if you could fall at about 15 mile again and give us a rest i'd appreciate it.

Your on for a super marathon!!! Keep it going.

wowzer wrote: »

Monday 05th August 2013

Rock and Roll half marathon 13.22 miles in 1.31.30 avg pace 6.55

Previous PB from last September was 1.42.56 so I managed to knock over 11 minutes off the PB.

Delighted with this race today, started off with the 1.30 pacer but he started to drift away after 2 miles or so I just tried to maintain my pace as best i could. Struggled a bit when we came out of the park up to Chapelizod, and the legs were beginning to tie up on me. Statts came alongside me at this point and he ran with me for a few minutes but I had to tell him to push on as i was slowing him down. Once I got over that hill around mile 9 I got a second wind and cruised in from there and really felt comfortable and strong into the finish.

Overall it was a great race, the atmosphere was brilliant and the bands were a pretty good distraction, there was plenty of water, gels and iso drinks along the route and there was plenty of jellies, bars and bananas at the end. The overall organisation was pretty much spot on and I will definitely do this race again if its on next year.

wowzer

blockic wrote: »

I'm pretty sure too, now get it in here! :cool:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=85920560&postcount=44

Cheers, i'll definitely put my name in for the craic.
it should be a good day out.

Now I just have to figure out how to update tables, I'll be going for 1.29.58 and my pb is 1.31.30 set in the national half.

Almac06

Count me in too!!! Elfoyzer has us all hooked on this one now.

happygoose wrote: »

DAC on tour!!

wowzer

Almac06 wrote: »

Great running Wowzer, your improvement is immense. Well done!! See you for the long run tomorrow, if you could fall at about 15 mile again and give us a rest i'd appreciate it.

Your on for a super marathon!!! Keep it going.

Cheers Al, ha someone else can take a dive for the team tomorrow.

blockic

wowzer wrote: »

Cheers, i'll definitely put my name in for the craic.
it should be a good day out.

Now I just have to figure out how to update tables, I'll be going for 1.29.58 and my pb is 1.31.30 set in the national half.

I'll sort it out for ya!

wowzer

blockic wrote: »

I'll sort it out for ya!

Cheers man, I appreciate that..

RunningKing

Blockic is actually 3 people.
There's the guy who runs, the guy who constantly updates Boards and the guy who does his day job. Nice fella's, only met 1 of them, mind you.

wowzer

Sunday 11th August

18.02 miles in 2.28.34 avg pace 8.14

met a few lads from the club for this one. It felt tough right from the start today and at one point I was throwing in the towel around the 13 mile mark. A dose of suck it up and get on with it was dished out by elfoyzer and that helped big time as I defo would have stopped if I was on my own. Popped a gel around 14 miles and cruised in from there with the last 2 miles being the quickest of the day.
Longest run to date so I'm pretty happy to have gotten through it. A couple of the lads hit 20 miles, there was no way I could've gone on as I was fairly well cooked at 18.

wowzer

Monday 12th August

6.11 miles in 52.05 avg pace 8.32

A nice easy recovery run, legs a little heavy after yesterday but nothing major.

wowzer

Tuesday 13th August

Lunchtime 4.70 miles in 39.36
an easy recovery run, I wanted to try and run by feel so didn't use the Garmin, I ran a route I did last week so I knew the distance. Really enjoyed this run.

Club session 7.80 miles in 55.46 avg pace 7.08

session was 3 x 1600 @ 5k pace. Found this quite tough but hit my target times consistently, the times were 6.09, 6.10, 6.08 so happy enough with that.

12.5 miles for the day, delighted with that. Really enjoying my running these days.

wowzer

Wednesday 14th August

6.09 miles in 47.46 avg pace 7.51

Probably should have run this a bit slower but I didn't look at the watch for about 10 minutes into the run and i felt comfortable so just stayed with it. I usually run these type of runs at about 8.10-30 pace so hopefully it wont affect my MP run tomorrow.

wowzer

Thursday 15th August

7.17 miles in 50.43 avg pace 7.05

Cant make it up to the track tonight so did the planned club session on my own which was 7 miles at marathon pace.
An out an back route from the city centre through fairview and along the seafront.
I still haven't fully decided what my marathon pace should be so I decided that I'll will train at 7.20 per mile for now and see how that goes. First mile ticked along nicely at 7.01 so I siad feck it and stayed around this pace. I probably should have slowed it down a bit..

happygoose

Great run, especially solo. We're all kinda running these Thursday tempos at HMP rather than MP, its v hard to hold back when you feel you can tip along on a quality day. I think there's merit in doing them at that pace. It'll mean the weekends long run is done on tired legs which I read/hear etc is the way to do things! Onwards, yer flyin it.

wowzer

happygoose wrote: »

Great run, especially solo. We're all kinda running these Thursday tempos at HMP rather than MP, its v hard to hold back when you feel you can tip along on a quality day. I think there's merit in doing them at that pace. It'll mean the weekends long run is done on tired legs which I read/hear etc is the way to do things! Onwards, yer flyin it.

I was thinking along those lines myself, but I'm sure we are supposed to run at MP for a reason.. It's hard to get these things right as there are so many different plans and opinions.

happygoose

That's true alright...but that's if we're doing Hanson, which I am so I've no real excuse. In saying that like you I don't know what my MP is.

wowzer

Friday 16th August

8.27 miles in 72.54 avg pace 8.45

Recovery pace run to work this morning, again I found this run awful, running on empty so early in the morning with a bag on my back just doesn't suit me. But like they say if it doesn't kill you it makes you stronger so I'll keep doing at least one of these at least once a week.

wowzer

Saturday 17th August

20.09miles in 2.48.40 avg pace 8.23

First ever 20 miler today. Met with 2 lads from the club for this one, I was a bit apprehensive about it as both lads will be running sub 3 in DCM so I wasn't sure I'd last the pace but the lads took it easy today thank fook.
Felt great and felt a lot more comfortable this week than on last weeks 18 miles.
I'm sure I'll feel rough tomorrow though.

Almac06

Great running,

You were very fresh too for your first 20 miler, shows your training is steady and you are increasing mileage in appropriate increments,

Another 4 or so of these and you will be ready to smash it

Great stuff!!

wowzer

Monday 19th August

6.23 miles in 49.01 avg pace 7.52

easy run today, legs felt great after the 20 miles on Saturday, I was expecting to feel sluggish and slow but was nicely suprised by how good I was moving today.

wowzer

Tuesday 20th August

Lunchtime 4.74 miles in 39.32 avg pace 8.20
Just a general easy run with a couple of mates

Club session 6.47 miles in 47.44 avg pace 7.24
Session was 6x800, felt really good throughout out these and was completing them in 2.53 - 2.55. I did the last one in 2.46 with a sprint finish just to over take the lad who is a bit quicker than me at the moment and show him that I'll be taking his spot in the pecking order soon enough haha

So over 11miles for the day.

wowzer

Wednesday 21st August

6.08miles in 51.13 avg pace 8.26

Easy recovery pace run today. Legs felt a bit heavy starting off but loosened out towards the end of the run.
Got an entry for the Frank Duffy 10 mile on Saturday, this race was never on the radar for me but now that i'm in i'm gonna give it a good crack.

statss

good man! what will you target? hang off the back of me?!!!

wowzer

statss wrote: »

good man! what will you target? hang off the back of me?!!!

That's it exactly, hang off you and a sprint finish to get in just in front.
Seriously though not too sure, I have a 71.30 pb from march that needs a good hiding. I'm thinking just to do it at 1.30 hm pace and get the pb. Then I reckon I'll be in good shape for the half in the park next month. That 1.30 half is what I want.

wowzer

Thursday 22nd August

5.04 miles in 40.53 avg pace 8.07

An easy few miles today, the avg pace is a little quicker than how the run actually went as I ran the last mile at 6.45 pace just try and get the legs used to that pace for the race, so that's it now till Saturday. Bring it on....

FrClintPower

wowzer wrote: »

Thursday 22nd August

5.04 miles in 40.53 avg pace 8.07

An easy few miles today, the avg pace is a little quicker than how the run actually went as I ran the last mile at 6.45 pace just try and get the legs used to that pace for the race, so that's it now till Saturday. Bring it on....

Best of luck on Saturday, Heading out at 1.30 HM pace seems like a good plan with 4 weeks to go, I was thinking of doing similar myself (but at 1.35 HM pace). I won't be running it myself now but I'll be heading down to pick up my t-shirt and goodie-bag anyway! No doubt I'll be very envious of the thousands of runners all around me.

wowzer

FrClintPower wrote: »

Best of luck on Saturday, Heading out at 1.30 HM pace seems like a good plan with 4 weeks to go, I was thinking of doing similar myself (but at 1.35 HM pace). I won't be running it myself now but I'll be heading down to pick up my t-shirt and goodie-bag anyway! No doubt I'll be very envious of the thousands of runners all around me.

Thanks man, I'm looking forward to it now.

statss

wowzer wrote: »

That's it exactly, hang off you and a sprint finish to get in just in front.
Seriously though not too sure, I have a 71.30 pb from march that needs a good hiding. I'm thinking just to do it at 1.30 hm pace and get the pb. Then I reckon I'll be in good shape for the half in the park next month. That 1.30 half is what I want.

Sound. I'm setting my garmin pacer to an aggressive 6.45 pace and I'll see what happens, the hills killed me at the end of this race last year, but in a non pressure race like this I'd rather give it a good go and crash out, then wonder what if, I reckon I've been too conservative in the past.

wowzer

Saturday 24th August

Frank Duffy 10 mile race

10.02 miles in 68.58 (69.01 official time) avg pace 6.53

Not really happy with this at all so I'm not gonna say much about the race.
I learned a couple of things from the race though, I need to stop avoiding hills in my training and either I'm expecting too much from myself too quickly or else I think I'm a better runner than I actually am.
Still a 2.34min pb from march so at least I can take something positive from it.

Big Logger

wowzer wrote: »

Saturday 24th August

Frank Duffy 10 mile race

10.02 miles in 68.58 avg pace 6.53

Not really happy with this at all so I'm not gonna say much about the race.
I learned a couple of things from the race though, I need to stop avoiding hills in my training and either I'm expecting too much from myself too quickly or else I think I'm a better runner than I actually am.
Still a 2.34min pb from march so at least I can take something positive from it.

I'd say the first part about the hills if you're not doing any in training.
Its still a great performance and so much better than other runners who try just as hard.
You could say its a tough course but the half is going to be just as tough so you won't be avoiding them hills for the race series anyway.

RunningKing

wowzer wrote: »

Saturday 24th August

Frank Duffy 10 mile race

10.02 miles in 68.58 (69.01 official time) avg pace 6.53

Not really happy with this at all so I'm not gonna say much about the race.
I learned a couple of things from the race though, I need to stop avoiding hills in my training and either I'm expecting too much from myself too quickly or else I think I'm a better runner than I actually am.
Still a 2.34min pb from march so at least I can take something positive from it.

What are you not happy with? What time were You expecting?

It's a good PB, those hills are tough.
Logging the 'bad' stuff helps more than logging the good stuff!

wowzer

RunningKing wrote: »

What are you not happy with? What time were You expecting?

It's a good PB, those hills are tough.
Logging the 'bad' stuff helps more than logging the good stuff!

Cheers RK I'm over the disappointment now so I can enjoy the fact that I still PB'd.
I was hoping to run at around 6.45-50 pace to set me up for a 1.30 half attempt in a few weeks. I was going great and felt like I was flying up until I hit military hill then the wheels came off. it really knocked the stuffing out of me.

I was just disappointed as I thought I was stronger than that and watching people stream past me was demoralizing.

I'll just have to get the head down now and train for the half in a few weeks, still gonna shoot for the 1.30.

You are absolutely flying it, that was a super run yesterday.

wowzer

RunningKing wrote: »

What are you not happy with? What time were You expecting?

It's a good PB, those hills are tough.
Logging the 'bad' stuff helps more than logging the good stuff!

Cheers RK I'm over the disappointment now so I can enjoy the fact that I still PB'd.
I was hoping to run at around 6.45-50 pace to set me up for a 1.30 half attempt in a few weeks. I was going great and felt like I was flying up until I hit military hill then the wheels came off. it really knocked the stuffing out of me.

I was just disappointed as I thought I was stronger than that and watching people stream past me was demoralizing.

I'll just have to get the head down now and train for the half in a few weeks, still gonna shoot for the 1.30.

You are absolutely flying it, that was a super run yesterday.