A life without races is a life half logged

druss

My overall 2012 mileage was 441.94, which was alright considering that I started running on 30 July 2012. And that, for different reasons, I had to lose a lot of days in October-November.

Tale of the tape;

July - 7.29
August - 92.84
September - 62.34
October - 68.57
November - 68.75
December - 142.14

druss

Saturday 5 January - Circuit Run
Distance: 8.07 km
Time: 40:00
Avg Pace: 4:58 min/km

What is it about me and circuit runs? I wasn't feeling great before hand, but nevertheless decided to ignore the plan (slightly!) and try for a much faster 10km effort. I was supposed to aim for around 5.00 min/km pace (or just under).

Instead i pushed out at 4.10 min/km for the first lap. At this point i thought that I could probably beat my 5k and 10 k times on a training run. Sure I was obviously in great shape. Second lap time dropped to 4.20. Third lap 4.40, 5.00, another 5.00 and my calves were burning and my head was dropping. I dropped to 5.30 ish for two laps and recovered slightly on the way back home.

Felt a) a bit daft and b) discouraged. Not feeling the love for a weekend race at the moment.



Sunday 6 January - Long Run
Distance: 14.03 km
Time: 1:18:55
Avg Pace: 5:37 min/km

This long run was a fairly tame effort after last weeks half-marathon, but i was trying to learn something from the previous days debacle. One thing I hadn't learned was that I should try to give a bit more time between table and the run. Things were a bit uncomfortable out there.



Monday 6 January - Hills Run

Distance: 9.58 km
Time: 54:42
Avg Pace: 5:42 min/km

Warm up to Mt Everest base camp, Co Wexford. Up and down. Up and down. Up (and I am reminded that I should probably have warmed down a bit and then stayed on form for the descent). Gallop back to base. An interesting and challenging session. And painful.:)

RunningKing

Hope you dont mind me asking, but are you following a plan druss?

For December you have what seems to be a major jump in milage, then in Jan you have some very tough sessions?
A circuit run, a long run then a hill run in consecutive days seems like it'll take its toll on the body sooner rather than later -

are there recovery runs in there?

druss

RunningKing wrote: »

Hope you dont mind me asking, but are you following a plan druss?

For December you have what seems to be a major jump in milage, then in Jan you have some very tough sessions?
A circuit run, a long run then a hill run in consecutive days seems like it'll take its toll on the body sooner rather than later -

are there recovery runs in there?

I am following a plan, but I have deviated at times. With occassional and inevitable negative repercussions! I've been called on this a few times by my coach as well. Some of my weaker training performances were obviously linked to doing too much one day and then trying to repeat the trick the next day.

My plan does have recovery days and indeed recovery runs built in. I have occassionally been tempted into ignoring some of the recovery bits though. I think most relatively new runners can make this mistake, particularly on the long runs. It can be difficult to avoid the temptation to go at a quicker pace.

The December surge is partly due to me having to write off entire weeks in November and October on doctors orders and due to travel. It's also a bit skewed because i'm presenting monthly figures. My current plan basically started in the second half of November. The profile is less dramatic on a week by week basis!

I am hoping to do a race on Sunday, so i've moved a few of my runs to earlier in the week. I've also done less in my long run, and anticipate doing much less for the rest of the week. Nevertheless, today is a recovery day but then I had the option of playing football at lunch time and I went for it. It's been too long!:o

druss

Wednesday 9 January - Medium long run:rolleyes:

Distance: 9.49 km
Time: 49:57
Avg Pace: 5:16 min/km

Taking it a bit easier for the next few days. But i wasn't quite planning on taking it this easy!

druss

Friday 03 January - Speed Training

Distance: 8.33 km
Time: 44:46
Avg Pace: 5:16 min/km


Warm-up Distance: 2.22 km
Time: 11:55
Avg Pace: 5.22 min/km

Then strides: 8 * 100 m with 1.30 mins recovery between efforts.

The sprints: 3 * 50 m with a slow 1.30 min recovery.

Warm-down Distance: 2.40 km
Time: 11:37
Avg Pace: 4.51 min/km

Mental note .3km is not 30 meters. On my first discarded lung-burster I was wondering when the Garmin was going to beep. It helps if you actually set it properly. I eventually settled on 0.05km for the sprints.

That'll probably do me until Sunday.

upthe19th

How did you get on in ferrycarraig today?

druss

Not 100% sure yet. I made it 34.30 ish, but I did some messing around with my Garmin on the line and not sure if I stopped it initially.

Also, for a non-chip race, I ground to a halt just after going over the line and didn't continue down the chute to the guys taking the numbers. Newbie error.:pac: I was going to wait for the results tonight before doing a report. And consult with the garmin gods.

I think, from reading your account on the DCM thread, that I did completely the opposite to you. I took off like a rocket (for me!) and began to fade. Happy with the time though.

upthe19th

Thats great stuff. well done.

druss

Sunday 13 January - Ferrycarrig "5" Five Mile Road Race

Distance: 8.04 km
Time: 34:35 (TBC!)
Avg Pace: 4:18 min/km

So this is my first race of 2013, my third ever race and my first official 5 Mile effort.

This morning I had my "safe breakfast" and tried to decide which was my luckiest top.

On the basis of McMillan calculations, I thought that under 36.30 was possible.
On the basis of recent training form, I thought that sub-40 was more achievable.
On the basis of blind optimism and work done, i thought I might sneak into the 35s.

I got out in plenty of time for registration, togged out and got talking to some people I knew from footie and work. I almost forgot to do a bit of a warm up effort. Thankfully my coach, also competing, was on hand to remind me. There seems to have been a really good turnout for the event and lots of people who I recognised as being decent runners, so i'll be interested in the results when they come out.

I settled in a reasonable way back from the starting line and decided to go out at my best average race pace (around 4.30 min/km) for the first 2 kms if I could and to take it from there. However I found myself haring along, trying to overtake people pretty well straight from the gun.

First km was 4.07, second was 3.55, third 4.10, fourth 4.09, fifth 4.14. In all this phase I was passing people and I make that a comfortable 5km best.

Around the 5k mark, I was beginning to suffer though. Those mile signs just weren't rolling along fast enough for my liking. There was a fair bit of a gap between me and the pack in front of me and I was now overtaken by a few people who'd paced it a bit better than me. Sixth km was 4.29, seventh was (amazingly!) back down to 4.16. I just remember thinking "Dungarvan? Ten miles? Sure who would want to do that to themselves? Maybe I just won't turn up."

The floodlights of Ferrycarrig beaconed me on like a big beacony thing, bang on time and I tried to lift it a bit. Not that much though. Like i said above, I messed around with the Garmin a bit, so not 100% sure on my time. I did a bit of a warm down with a friendly bunch and thought about joining a club. Then went off for coffee, cake, flapjacks and home.

Overall, I was very happy with the time i think I have. I am still worried a bit about how this will play in Dungarvan though. McMillan now has changed my possible time to 1 hour 12 mins for a 10 Mile...but I really don't know if I could sustain that level of effort for the longer distance yet.

Pros: First time I went under 7 mins per mile!
Really well organised...kudos to the flapjacks.

An event i'll be very happy to do again.

Tom Joad

Great running today druss. Just started reading your log - you have similar goals to myself and are a fellow 5 a-sider. Will be following with interest.

RunningKing

Good man, well done on the race, remember, it's still only Jan!

druss

Official time is 33.52. Very happy with that extra half min!

And, having uploaded the data on Garmin, I can see that I did actually go over the line and stop and restart the watch while trying to reset it. My moving time pretty much exactly agrees with the official time.

Distance: 8.04 km
Moving Time: 33:48
Avg Moving Pace: 4:12 min/km

druss

Tuesday 15 January - Post race recovery run

Distance: 9.02 km
Time: 49:23
Avg Pace: 5:29 min/km

I didn't do anything yesterday, so today i decided to do a slow enough recovery jog to ease myself back into it. I have Dungarvan 10 next on my agenda for Sunday week, 27 January, so I can't be throwing away any more training days.

All well. Just still a bit sore and stiff post-race.

druss

Wednesday 16 January - Hills Run

Distance: 9.16 km
Time: 50:06
Avg Pace: 5:28 min/km

Much the same as last effort at the hills, but I did shorter reps, with more of a warm down between the climb and the decent.

druss

Thursday 17 January - Medium Long Run
Distance: 14.00 km
Time: 1:14:17
Avg Pace: 5:18 min/km

It's fairly pelting down today and I am cursing myself for still not buying some bodyglide or similar product. I actually bought new runners over the weekend and it just completely slipped (:P ) my mind to add something else to the bill while i was in the shop. Summary, I am sore.

The last few times I did this run I was a bit faster as I had company. I dropped back a bit in time when left to my own devices, but I did more of an uphill element this time and had to reconsider my route a bit due to roadworks.

druss

Friday 17 January - Indoor football
Distance: 2.78 km
Time: 47:54
Avg Pace: 17:12 min/km

It took a Garmin to make me realise that I am so (comparatively!) lazy in football. Ok, there is a prolonged period in goal there.


Sunday 20 January - Long Run
Distance: 17.16 km
Time: 1:34:13
Avg Pace: 5:29 min/km

I was hoping to get out on Saturday, but a variety of factors conspired to keep me indoors.

I also wanted to go out earlier on today, and that also didn't happen. Another over-10 mile logged this evening and I am still no clearer in my mind about what to go for pace-wise next Sunday.

I see there are pacers in Dungarvan too, but I am inclined to race this.

druss

Monday 21 January - Hills Run

Distance: 8.54 km
Time: 48:52
Avg Pace: 5:43 min/km

All other members of my family are coming down with colds. My first thoughts, I swear, were nice and sympathetic. But within seconds i'd moved on to wondering if this could mess me up for Dungarvan at the weekend. Thankfully, I did remember to keep this thought to myself. And admonished myself afterwards for my selfishness.

Today was another repetition of my hills circuit run. However my nice quiet hill side road was really busy. The construction boom seems to be restarting on the side of a hill in Wexford. Every time I went for my downhill run, I bumped into a couple of lorries and slowed down in the interests of self preservation.

Overall, I think I kept better form on the runs uphill though. If that counts for anything.

druss

Tuesday 22 January - Indoor football
Distance: 2.56 km
Time: 39:54
Avg Pace: 15:35 min/km

Started the clock late, but I was faster than usual by the looks of it. The Garmin chart showed some mad spikes in acceleration. Followed by prolonged periods of dawdling around the place. Think Romario circa 1994 but without the finishing ability.



Wednesday 23 January - Medium Long Run
Distance: 13.20 km
Time: 1:08:22
Avg Pace: 5:11 min/km

Plus points:
-Remembered vaseline
-Kept going after initial sense of ennui
-Decent pace mantained over a hilly enough course

Negative points:
- Calves still sore. Whether hills or footie is to blame...dunno
- Waves of self doubt over being in decent condition for a weekend race

druss

Thursday 24 January - Speed Training
Total Distance: 8.61 km
Time: 49:37
Avg Pace: 5:46 min/km

Same session again.

- Warm up lap and a bit
- 3 * 30 metre sprints with warm down
- 8 * 100 metres strides with warm down in between
- warm down lap

That felt like the right thing to do after yesterday anyway. I was moving a bit better today.

I've also just had a sneak preview of my stamina building phase.
Fun times ahead!

druss

John Treacy Dungarvan 10
Distance: 10 Miles
Time: 1:11:54
Avg Pace: 4:29 min/km

As a non driver, getting to Dungarvan involved getting up far too early on a Sunday to catch a bus. I ended up there really early, which was just as well as I hadn't a notion where I was going.

I was minorly concerned that I had some kind of a thigh strain. I haven't been running since Thursday and figured that the rest would see me right. However I felt rubbish pre-race. I tried doing some strides and felt that everything was seizing up. I stopped running and started doing some stretches..still no good. Wind was fairly whistling, so i kept on ambling around slowly to keep warm but i really thought that I could be wasting my time here. I tried to remind myself, as a work colleague did during the week, that I'd done the hard miles in training and all would be well.

It was my first experience of a race of this size (and length!). I spotted the different pacers balloons and decided to stay a bit clear and use the 75 mins balloon as a gauge. I also had never experienced the relative slowness of the start. My first km was completed in 4.34 mins. I had planned on going out at a slightly faster pace, but I genuinely think I couldn't have managed that without being really aggressive. It also stayed congested for a long time. I was a bit behind the 75 min pacers and a group of three Boards AC runners.

As we left the town and onto the main road there was a slightly dodgy moment as an elderly man was walking on the hard shoulder. One of the lads in a Boards top in front of me indicated to move out and I just managed to do so instead of crashing straight into him. Poor guy had obviously timed his walk home badly. From behind me i could hear people getting rather frustrated with him. To be fair, there was very little room for anyone at this point.

Overall, i found it to be a really nice course, always felt like there was a nice relaxing downhill stretch when I needed it. I only began to suffer a bit in the last 2km. I'd heard lots of positives about the race and the organisation...and its all true. I will be back. Still wearing my race top with pride.:D

At the start of this log, I set my target time for 10 miles in 2013 as being 1 hour and 15 mins in time for Ballycotton in March. I'm pleased to have exceeded that in January. After my 5 mile race earlier in the month however, I knew my initial target was looking a bit soft. Still, I am very happy with the result. I do think I can better 70 mins on the right day. I think I could possibly even have managed it today, if i had been a bit more focussed throughout!

druss

Wednesday 30 January - Intervals


Distance: 7.35 km
Time: 38:40
Avg Pace: 5:16 min/km

I took a few days off to recover from Dungarvan and got back to it today with an interval session.

The total average pace is obviously meaningless. I had 15 mins (approx) warm up and down. I programmed the Garmin to give me 4 * 500m sessions, separated by 3 min recoveries.

The main challenge was to find the least windy section of my track for the actual intervals. The breath was fairly punched out of me when i did the full lap on the warm up.

It would be fair to say that my intervals were wind assisted. I was fairly consistent, averaging just above 3.00 min/km pace for my 500ms. Kind of humbling to think that the serious runners can hold this pace for a whole 10k race.

Next target race for me is the Enniscorthy 10km on 10 February. Then onto Ballycotton. I need to think a bit about what my goals are for both, particularly the 2nd one.

druss

Thursday 31 January - Medium Long Run

Distance: 14.40 km
Time: 1:14:01
Avg Pace: 5:08 min/km

That was possibly just a bit too fast for a long run. I am also not loving my new Saucony runners so far.

RunningKing

whats up with the runners?

I tried on a pair today (but didn't buy) - wonder if your gripe is similar to mine?

druss

RunningKing wrote: »

whats up with the runners?

I tried on a pair today (but didn't buy) - wonder if your gripe is similar to mine?

I liked them in the shop! I had the whole gait analysis thing done for the first time ever and these were one of the recommended pairs . They worked fine on treadmill.

I just am not gelling with them on the longer road runs. I'll continue using them as a training shoe for a while and see if it picks up, but they seem heavier than what i am used to while at the same time I am more conscious of my calves.

When I started running way last August, I bought two pairs of runners online after trying them on instore. No gait analysis. One pair I loved and have used in all my races since. The other pair...meh.

Maybe first impressions really do count with runners!

The current pair are Saucony Guide, btw. My race runners are Nike Lunar Glide 4. And i can't remember off hand the name of my unloved Asics.

RunningKing

Hhmmmmm hearing a lot of love for the Nike LG racers! Might get me a pair of them!
Btw, the Sauconys I tried on, I felt had too much support, I could really feel the arch. So went with NB.

druss

RunningKing wrote: »

Hhmmmmm hearing a lot of love for the Nike LG racers! Might get me a pair of them!
Btw, the Sauconys I tried on, I felt had too much support, I could really feel the arch. So went with NB.

Yup. I was told that I needed a bit of support on my left foot so that all checks out. I am thinking I should buy myself another LG pair as an emergency back up though!

(Edit: Just read your "shopping log"! My Asics are racers. I still find them a bit tight compared to my Nikes, but maybe i should do some investigating into what distances they are appropriate for. I might drag them out again for a 5k yet!)

Oh, as we enter a new month. Mileage total is 127.38 for January. A drop from 142.14 in December, mainly due to race days and recovery days. I've only one race in February and a lot more mileage on my plan.

druss

A few days without posting as I'm still without a fully functioning laptop..and I've been slightly lazy on the running front too.

Saturday 02 February - Speed session

Firstly a 2km warm up, run at a pace slightly above comatose. (6:04 min/km!)

I was thinking about my interval session earlier on in the week during my warm-up and thought that I could hold a sub 4.00 min/km pace for 3 km. Sneak preview: I can't.:(

Errors made.
- Leaving this run too late.
- Deciding to have a takeaway at 7 in the evening
- Thinking that said takeaway would have left my system by the time i set out at 9.30.

It did almost leave my system around 2km into my run. Then I almost crashed into a walker at full pelt in darkness at 2.5km.

Afterwards, I walked home to compose myself. Smokers outside the pub looked at me like i was crazy. I kind of concurred.

Distance: 3.01 km
Time: 12:16
Avg Pace: 4:05 min/km

druss

Tuesday 05 January - Intervals

I was supposed to go for a long 2 hour run on Sunday. Stuff happened. Toddler didn't cooperate. I decided to postpone until Monday morning, then that became Monday evening. Toddler went to bed. It started snowing. I did not venture out.

Today i felt a bit embarrassed and also a bit worried about the 10k to come at the weekend.

After a mini consultation, I ditched the long run and moved onto the interval session (although still feeling guilty).

Session called for circa 15 min warm up and warm down. My intervals were to be 800m x 3, separated by a 5 min recovery.

1st 800m =2:43.2 @ 3:24 min/km pace
2nd 800m =2:38.3 @ 3:18
3rd 800m = 2:32.6 @3:11

I know that a Garmin 800m is not necessarily 800m.
I know that I was also very wind assisted.

Still, on the jog back to work, I was thinking "isn't the 800m target in the 10 round numbers thread 3 mins? I know people thought it was a relatively soft target and this isn't a proper timed event, but still not too shabby! Who would have thought that 800m would be the first of any of the round numbers that I'd hit?"

Then i got back into the office and found out that the target had been revised down to 2.30.:mad::D

Back to not being club standard again.

druss

Thursday 07 February - Medium Long Run

Distance: 14.51 km
Time: 1:17:42
Avg Pace: 5:21 min/km


Most of my medium long runs are being done at faster than the target pace. With an eye on the weekend, I decided to put this right today and to slow down to 5.40 min/km pace and to stick to around 13k instead of the scheduled 10 miles.

It was freezing cold and raining heavily by the time lunch rolled around. My course is a bit slower on the route out and normally good for a faster second half. So I went out complacently slowly. There have been some minor roadworks enroute for the last few weeks but normally this is no big thing while on foot, just dodge by a few diggers and ignore the mud.

However today I had around 7k done and was closing in on my downhill back to work when I realised the road was completely closed. I suppose those "road closed" signs could have tipped me off. A passing foreman said "we've probably added 5 miles to your run there". I gave a heroic smile and said "I could probably do with it". What I meant to say was "can I please borrow a digger to get back to the office?".

Just about made it back in time to shower off the muck before my post-lunch meeting.