What??? You're running ANOTHER marathon!!!

ncmc

5 miles @ 9:00

Didn't get out til after 9pm, was thinking of skipping it but began to feel guilty. Got a bit of a stitch as I'd eaten too much. I can confirm that multiple slices of buttery toast, a snickers and half a yellow Snack are not conducive to successful running!

Dilbert75

Hey NCMC - you're gone awful quiet...

ncmc

LOL Dilbert, I know, I’ve been very lax about keeping my own log up, but I haven’t been skiving I promise!

My 18 P&D plan starts this week, so I will try and be a bit more diligent about logging. The plan this week:

Mon – Rest
Tues – Lactate threshold 8 mile with 4 miles @ ½ marathon pace
Wed – Rest
Thurs – General aerobic 9 miles
Fri – Rest
Sat – Medium long run 12 miles
Sun – Recovery 4 miles

Total – 33 miles

First week looks doable enough, the mid week longer runs are slightly inconvenient as I don’t get home from work til 6:30 so by the time I’m changed and organised it’s 7pm by the time I get out so it results in a lot of late dinners! Hopefully it won’t be as hard as the weather improves a bit.

P&D is a bit daunting when you look at it in it’s entirety, so I am not looking ahead and just taking each day as it comes. I’ve forgotten what lactate threshold runs are and what pace I should be doing my longer runs, so I’ll have to re-read that part of the book again!

ncmc

P&D Week 1 - session 1
8 miles with 3 miles warm up, 4 miles hmp, 1 mile cool down.

Since I haven't done a half marathon since August, I decided to aim for my planned 10 mile pace which is 7:30. Laps were as follows:
Mile 1 - 9:14
Mile 2 - 9:02
Mile 3 - 10:18 (stopped in home to change jacket and leave dog off)
Mile 4 - 7:23
Mile 5 - 7:27
Mile 6 - 7:18
Mile 7 - 7:25
Mile 8 - 8:53

Mile 6 was a bit of a cheat because I had to nip into a local pub to use their loo and I stopped my watch. I am counting it though cos a) I carried on despite having a dodgy tummy and b) I had to ask to use the loo which I hate doing at the best of times, least of all when I'm sweating and panting like some kind of perv!

Tough run I have to say, hopefully these sessions will get easier as time goes on.

career_move

That's a great start to the week and to the Cork training. Well done :D

ncmc

P&D Week 1 - session 2 - 9 miles general aerobic.

9.25 miles @ 8:33

Another rest day tomorrow, feels strange going into Saturday with only 2 runs done but I'm following P&D to the letter and I suppose there'll be enough tough weeks, so I may as well enjoy the easier weeks!

112 miles done in January, took me over two months to run that much last year!

blockic

ncmc wrote: »

feels strange going into Saturday with only 2 runs done but I'm following P&D to the letter and I suppose there'll be enough tough weeks, so I may as well enjoy the easier weeks!

haha, take as many of those rest days as you can because the going sure does get tough!! Will be worth it in the long run though!! (unintentional but brilliant pun!!:D)

ncmc

P&D Week 1 - session 3 - 12 mile MLR

12.35 miles @ 9:07 pace

Smashing day for a run today. Legs felt very sluggish at some stages, don't know why as I haven't had a particularly tough week, had eaten a few hours before I went out so not sure what happened. There were a couple I'd pretty tight hills and overall the run was grand so not going to worry about it.

Isn't it so much easier to motivate yourself to go running when the sun is shining!

ncmc

P&D Week 1 - session 4 - 4 miles recovery.

4 miles done @ 9:40

Week 1 done and dusted with no problems!

ncmc

The plan for this week – P&D Week 2

Mon – Rest
Tues – General aerobic & speed – 8 miles with 10x100m strides
Wed – Rest
Thurs – General aerobic – 10 miles
Fri – Rest
Sat – Marathon pace run – 13 miles with 8 @ PMP
Sun – Recovery – 5 miles

Total – 36

Just a quick question, how should I run these strides tonight? Just speed up and run like bejaysus for 10-15 seconds? Not sure it’s going to be really feasible to accurately measure 100 metres.

menoscemo

ncmc wrote: »

Just a quick question, how should I run these strides tonight? Just speed up and run like bejaysus for 10-15 seconds? Not sure it’s going to be really feasible to accurately measure 100 metres.

Just pick up the pace for 15 seconds.
It's all described in the book but they should not be flat out, rather a controlled pick up of pace. Accelerate for 10 seconds than 'float over the last 5 seconds.

It doesn't matter that they are exactly 100m.

Strides should not wreck you rather they should be a refreshing way to end an easy run (P&D have them at the end on recovery runs too). So try not to worry about them and don't think about sprinting flat out- you should be ready to do another one about 20 seconds later.

ncmc

P&D Week 2 - session 1 - 8 miles general aerobic with 10x100m strides.

Really didn't feel like running this evening, it was bucketing down all day and I was refusing to go out in that weather but it had cleared up a bit by the time I got home so I took that as a sign that I was meant to go out! Was dry for the first couple of miles, but got drenched and spent a good deal of the run facing into a stiff wind. Wasn't particularly pleasant but hey ho.

Actually did about 15 strides of 15 seconds each. Really enjoyed them, they broke the monotony of the run and left my legs a lot fresher than usual.

8 miles done @ 8:51

ncmc

P&D Week 2 - session 2 - 10 miles general aerobic

10 miles done @ 9:00

I feel I could just copy and paste the run details, wet, cold, windy, boring! Think I need to mix things up a bit and find new places to jog to add a bit of variety.

Dilbert75

Good on ya - I wussed out and deferred my run till tomorrow. At least that should let me get outing daylight and run somewhere different than usual, which will be a relief.

Gavlor

ncmc wrote: »

P&D Week 2 - session 2 - 10 miles general aerobic

10 miles done @ 9:00

I feel I could just copy and paste the run details, wet, cold, windy, boring! Think I need to mix things up a bit and find new places to jog to add a bit of variety.

I hear ya, bring on the longer evenings

ncmc

Feeling a bit deflated after this mornings lsr. It was supposed to be 13 miles with 8 @ pmp, but my legs felt tired and heavy from the get go so I knew the pmp wasn't going to happen today. I did try a few faster miles in the middle, but a combination of a hilly run and tired legs meant the faster miles really took it out of me and I slowed down massively for the last few miles and had to stop for a breather a few times.

Managed the 13 miles @ 8:59, but feel wrecked to be honest.

Worried that it's only week 2 of P&D and already struggling. My faster miles today were nowhere near pmp and I'm still wrecked. I just don't remember the training been this tough last time round!

My husband is convinced I'm not at 100% health at the moment, I did have a bit of a cough and a sore throat last week so maybe that had something to do with it. My legs feel sore and heavy, so think I'll go for a sports massage on Monday and see if that helps.

Overall, a bit disappointed. I seem to have had a few tough runs lately, which is a bit discouraging. Feel like I'm a long, long way from my target at the moment.

career_move

Keep the chin up Niamh. Its surprising how even mild illness that you wouldn't normally take any notice of, can take a lot out of you when you're exercising hard

Dilbert75

What CM said. And make sure you're getting plenty of rest. You'll be grand.;)

Gavlor

Your husband has spiked your food to ensure that your energy levels are reduced sufficiently enough to hammer your morale and thus no more marathons, you'll decide to quit running for ever and he can have his normal life back.

Or else you're just 2 weeks into a 12-14 weeks programme and it's not meant to be easy at this stage

Edit: we all make the mistake of using our fitness level back in October as a benchmark. That was at the end of 12-14 week programme. To see how far advanced you really are, compare yourself to last February... I'd wager on it being a huge improvement

ncmc

Thanks guys, I appreciate the support, lol Gavlor, you could be right, his face when he saw the P&D plan was priceless.

That's a good point about comparing fitness levels with October, it's not really realistic. As for comparing to last February, I could barely run 5 miles then!

I'm not going to let it get to me. I think a massage will help, my legs have been feeling very tight and sore. I've been putting it off for weeks.

Will come back next week with a positive mental attitude and kick the arse off next weeks lsr!

blockic

I was the exact same ncmc on week 2. I felt like I would never manage the plan for 15 more weeks or whatever! But I just take it one run at a time and now I find it fairly managable!

Stick with it!! You racing tomorrow?

ncmc

blockic wrote: »

I was the exact same ncmc on week 2. I felt like I would never manage the plan for 15 more weeks or whatever! But I just take it one run at a time and now I find it fairly managable!

Stick with it!! You racing tomorrow?

That's good to know Blockic, it could be the longer mid week runs are leaving me a bit tired. Not racing tomorrow, there's a 5 mile race in Carrigaline next Sunday so might do that if I can figure out how to fit it into the plan.

blockic

ncmc wrote: »

there's a 5 mile race in Carrigaline next Sunday so might do that if I can figure out how to fit it into the plan.

Is there?! I'm from Carrigaline and heard nothing about it! Probably wont be down here next weekend though.

ncmc

blockic wrote: »

Is there?! I'm from Carrigaline and heard nothing about it! Probably wont be down here next weekend though.

Sure is

http://corkrunning.blogspot.ie/2013/01/race-noticecarrigaline-5-mile-road-race.html?m=1

There's also a BHAA 4 mile road race in Little Island tomorrow

docjewel

+1 to what everyone had said here.
If you look at other logs that are are & have used P&D for the first time you will see that for the vast majority it does take a lot out of everyone.
But P&D does have the stepback weeks for a reason & also it reccomends that rest/sleep are as important as getting the miles done(not always possible:D).
As other have hinted,do not keep looking too far ahead at the program,take each day/week as it comes.
The next few weeks will fly by & before you know it you will be doing a 50mile week & it won't even bother you.You will end up questioning yourself "What was all the fuss about running 50 odd miles a week?"

For most of us it is a lot easier to pass on motivation to others but we fail in being positive ourselves,todays run is done & dusted,nothing you or anyone can do about it now,Tomorrow's(or the next day you go running) run is the one to focus on now.

menoscemo

If you find that running 8 min/mile is too fast for you at PMP at the moment, then don't be afraid to go a little slower for PMP sections. As your fitness improves the PMP miles will get naturally faster, so think of running them at 'marathon effort today' rather than where you want your fitness to be in 3 months.

If you give them a bash next time starting at 8:30/mile you'll probably find it much more comfortable and be able to speed up by the end.

ncmc

Thanks Doc, you're right of course, I'd be the first to tell someone else that a bad run is no big deal, but it's not so easy to take that advice! Hopefully I'll get used to the increased mileage over the next few weeks, I never look more than a week ahead of the plan, find it less daunting that way!

Thanks Meno, that's a good point about the pmp, I can build it up over the next few weeks. It's still 16 weeks til Cork, so I've plenty of time to build that speed up.

ncmc

5 miles recovery @ 9:54

Week 2 P&D done for better or worse!

upthe19th

You're gonna be in great shape by june ncmc. Think of the drinks afterwards....Lucozade/Powerade of course;).

Dilbert75

^^^^What he said! You're flying.