The Windy Road to Nowhere

jfh

Rfr haven't dipped in here in a while, you're going well. Are you following a plan or coach?

ThePiedPiper

jfh wrote: »

Rfr haven't dipped in here in a while, you're going well. Are you following a plan or coach?

Cheers Jfh.. No and no on the plan and coach. I've been more or less trying to mirror some of the cycles and training that served me best for Chicago last year. Could probably do better with coaching structure, but the flexibility works better for me. What's your plans for the autumn?

pconn062

Good luck tomorrow, give me a text when your done.

yaboya1

Good luck tomorrow RFR. You're targeting 1:18/1:19 right?

RunForestRun wrote: »

I really don't know how some people can keep up 60+ miles per week year around. While I'm not feeling on the verge of getting injured, I'm definitely starting to feel the cumulative effect of hard training.

I'm feeling the same way. Looking forward to taking it easy for a while after Berlin.

menoscemo

pconn062 wrote: »

Good luck tomorrow, give me a text when your done.

Are you driving down again? Let RFR have a few pints with us in Ryans then drive him home

dukeraoul

Good luck tomorrow !

pconn062

menoscemo wrote: »

Are you driving down again? Let RFR have a few pints with us in Ryans then drive him home

Nah, I'm not heading down. Will have to wait for the Jingle Bells 5k to hit Ryan's again, RFR is driving this time though!

ThePiedPiper

yaboya1 wrote: »

Good luck tomorrow RFR. You're targeting 1:18/1:19 right?
.

Yeah, hopefully 1:18. Depends how I feel tomorrow. I'll likely need to negative split it by a fair bit as I'd be expecting the legs to take a couple of miles to get going. Anything under or close to 1:20 will do grand.

blockic

Go hard man...best of luck

ThePiedPiper

I actually got myself to the Phoenix Park this morning in time for the race, which was a change. Was there at 9:30, and deposited my bag, before having a chat with a few people. Before I knew it, it was 9:55, and I'd done only about half a mile of a warm-up. Not clever. Got myself up to the start, a bit behind the 1:30 pacers, but wasn't overly concerned about this. Off we went.

It took me about half a mile to clear the larger group around the pacers, but it was still fairly congested for the first couple of miles, really should've had myself further up. Anyway, pace for the first mile was a bit faster than planned at 6:03 despite the crowds. Got going nicely after that, and on the fast first couple of miles, felt good. Kept the pace for the first part of the race between 6:03-6:08 a mile, and felt reasonably ok, if working slightly hard on the hills strangely.

Around about 7 or 8 miles, I started getting the first indications that it wasn't going too well, breathing started labouring a bit, and a bit of tension in my legs. At 8 miles, I felt fairly uncomfortable, and despite keeping the effort steady, that mile beeped at 6:15. Got it back on track for Mile 9, but then suffered a massive stitch on what was a fairly easy, I think downhill part of the course. I'd no option but to slow it down, and try to manage it.

Mile 10 and 11 were therefore very uncomfortable as I tried to adjust breathing and gait in order to get rid of the stitch. Managed to maintain MP for those couple of miles, but by the time I got to the slopes (not even going to call them hills), I was goosed. Shuffled the last two miles at 6:4x pace for a fairly disappointing 1:22:17 finish time.

Splits: 6:03, 6:05, 6:05, 6:08, 6:06, 6:05, 6:04, 6:15, 6:06, 6:21, 6:20, 6:43, 6:47.

Wasn't particularly pleased with how it went. Went for a few mile warmdown to bring the mileage for the day up to 17, had a bit of a think about the race. Wednesday's session did nothing to help the race, I came into it on tired legs, so it would've been difficult to run 1:18 or 1:19, as I had hoped. Looking at the positives, I got a decent session in, managed to keep MP going even when I felt like $hit, and met up with a few people I hadn't seen in a bit. Chatting with AMK after who also had a cr@p day, I felt sort of happy that I'd dug the heels in, and toughed it out. Character building, as the man says!

The 2:44 marathon target is looking very aggressive, possibly insane, at this stage. I'll see what the next couple of weeks bring, but if I manage to run a 2:48/9 marathon off a 1:22 half, I reckon that would be good enough for me.

yaboya1

Saw your time earlier and assumed all hadn't gone to plan. However, if you can run 1:22 on a bad day, it says a fair bit about how fast you'll go on a good one. I think?

Toblerone1978

Good report. Appears to be simply a bad day at the office - good to have it out of the way ahead of the big day!!

ThePiedPiper

Toblerone1978 wrote: »

Good report. Appears to be simply a bad day at the office - good to have it out of the way ahead of the big day!!

Cheers Toblerone. Hopefully so. It's the third race in succession that I've been slower than expected, so hard to know what to make of it.

ThePiedPiper

Sun 21st Sept: 6.4 miles at 7:16 avg pace

Run home from the far side of Drogheda. Didn't really mean to run this fast, thought I was doing it as a sort of easy run with a bit of pain in the legs from Saturday's race, but it was much faster than I would've thought.

Mon 22nd Sept: 5 miles at 7:48 pace

This was an actual recovery run at the appropriate pace. Took it very handy on the way out the road from school. Beautiful evening for running. Legs felt fairly stiff and sore, no injuries, just soreness.

I'm up in a hoop as to what sort of shape I'm in at the minute. Training paces are good, but I've underperformed in a couple of races now. There's only one more race left before Frankfurt in order to give me any sort of meaningful indication. On the evidence of Saturday's half, and the five miler in August, 2:50 looks ambitious. I can't see any possibility of not at least trying to run sub 2:50, but the original 2:45 target needs to be shelved. For a multitude of reasons, some I understand, and some I don't, I seem to have been unable to approach 2013 levels in races, despite nailing the MP long runs.

pconn062

I'm going to throw my opinion in here, as a fellow who knows a fair bit about your training. TBH I always thought 2.45 was going to be a bit of a struggle for you in this cycle. Not because you are not capable of it (you clearly are), but I don't think you had enough of a base behind you from earlier in the year. There were a lot of 2/3 mile runs in the first half of the year and you never really got going until early summer. However, I still think you're in good shape and sub 2.50 is possible if you race it right, I would be looking to negative split. get to halfway in 1.25.30 and I think you would be in with a good shout of a faster second half as your recent training has been good and you should have good endurance. Would be interested to hear your thoughts on this.

ThePiedPiper

Cheers PConn. Yeah, the early part of the year probably has been my undoing, but the time constraints with work made it difficult to do any more than that. I still felt that if I could somehow get myself to a sub-3 in Cork that improvements should have come. I may have been closer to my marathon limit in Cork than I should have been, so that may have served to mask how inadequate the early part of the year really was. Having Cork as a target served as a good reason to get some reasonable training in, but in some ways, it may have been better to have focused on a different type of training, as in 2013, I had definitely more speed in the legs coming into summertime. Maybe though, I've just been waiting for it to happen this year instead of going out and really going after it like I did last year. Don't know

As to race day strategy in Frankfurt, I'll likely not make up my mind entirely on that until the morning of the race, as I did last year. But, I would think that I should feel fairly comfortable going through the first half in 1:24:30-1:25:30, and then try and dig in. I'm not sure I'd fancy having to nail the last 5k in order to hit the target. A cushion of a minute or so under 2:50 would be nice with about 10k to go I would think.

From a training point of view, I think I'm going to ditch the 400m repeats at the track for a while, despite their undoubted value from the perspective of shorter distance and general speed development. I'd say mile repeats would better serve me for the marathon.

Anyway, this is all very taperesque stuff, will hopefully nail the next couple of weeks and head to Frankfurt ready to rip it up.

ThePiedPiper

Tues 23rd Sept: Rest

Weds 24th Sept: 11.7 miles in 1:14 (6:24 pace) with 10 at MP

Decided on ditching the faster stuff on the track mid-week, but ran into town anyway to meet up with the club. Did a half a mile warm-up, then 4 miles on the roads. Took a few minutes rest, doing a bit of stretching and having a listen to the lads coach to see what they were up to. Ran away from them before I allowed myself to get drawn into it.

Set off then running 3 miles on the track, before taking a one lap active recovery, then 2 miles, another lap active recovery, then a final mile.

I probably got my paces close enough to correct, if slightly fast. Most of the miles were taking about 6:10-6:12, but I suppose as PConn said, got to allow for the ease of running on the track. The toughest part of this was the sheer boredom element of running 27 laps of a track.
Splits: 6:20, 6:09, 6:14, 6:17, 6:14, 6:08, 6:05, 6:14, 6:08, 6:10

Decent workout, if a little on the fast side. Feel happier with doing that sort of session midweek, will make the next few weeks very specific. Another couple of weeks heavy work, then really looking forward to tapering.

ThePiedPiper

Thurs 25th Sept: 4.7 miles in 37 minutes

Was just a run home from work. Feeling sore after the MP effort on Wednesday. Took Friday off as I was travelling west straight after school. Probably not the worst thing to take a second rest day in the week, the body starting to creak a little bit lately I think.

Sat 26th Setp: 10 miles in 1:13 (7:21 pace)

Easy paced run around the Sligo/Leitrim border. Some testy little hills around Dromohair and back towards Ballintogher. Didn't really push much out of easy effort until the last mile when I decided (thanks to a bit of incentive from a dog) to run MP for a mile. The dog was fast, but had no staying power. Burnt him out after a half a mile.

Managed to get myself a bit of a cold for my troubles. Not helped by a bunch of 7 and 8 year olds coughing and sneezing at me for most of the week. Didn't go running first thing this morning, I'll give it until the afternoon or evening, see can I feel a bit healthier before going out. Happy that today's plan is for an easy-paced long run, don't think I could push myself at MP for sustained periods today.

dukeraoul

RunForestRun wrote: »

Thurs 25th Sept: 4.7 miles in 37 minutes



Sat 26th Setp: 10 miles in 1:13 (7:21 pace)

Easy paced run around the Sligo/Leitrim border. Some testy little hills around Dromohair and back towards Ballintogher. Didn't really push much out of easy effort until the last mile when I decided (thanks to a bit of incentive from a dog) to run MP for a mile. The dog was fast, but had no staying power. Burnt him out after a half a mile.

Managed to get myself a bit of a cold for my troubles. Not helped by a bunch of 7 and 8 year olds coughing and sneezing at me for most of the week. Didn't go running first thing this morning, I'll give it until the afternoon or evening, see can I feel a bit healthier before going out. Happy that today's plan is for an easy-paced long run, don't think I could push myself at MP for sustained periods today.

You up that way a lot RFR? Thats my wife's territory shoot me a PM if you're ever there on the weekend if I'm down I'd love some company on those lonely roads!!

ThePiedPiper

My brother lives near Ballintogher, so I might be over there every 2-3 months, usually just flying visits.. Quiet, hilly countryside alright.

ThePiedPiper

Sun 28th Sept: 20 miles in 2:26 (7:19 pace)

Wasn't feeling great heading out on this, was quite warm around 2ish, but was grand once I got going. First few miles down to Termonfeckin nice and handy. Tried not to push the pace the pace too much at any stage, but did a couple of sub 7 miles around the way. On ahead towards Clogherhead, and then climbing a bit towards Grangebellew. Kept the efforts on the easy side, but throwing in a couple of fastish miles at various stages.

Down by The Valley Inn, I met a clubmate who was heading out for a few miles. We ran along together for a bit, probably a bit faster than I would've done if I was on my own, but good to throw in a bit of harder running on tired legs. This, however, resulted in a really tired and slow last couple of miles up the hills as I was pretty much out of energy. Happy enough to have done a long run on pretty much empty, throwing in a few half decent miles along the way.

ThePiedPiper

Monday 29th Sept: 6 miles in 45 minutes (7:30 pace)

Just a handy run on the treadmill in the evening time. Was by myself at work today, so wouldn't have been able to leave the car in town this morning. Bit of a cold hanging over me today, but I think this run was slow enough to try and clear it out as opposed to send it further down. Hopefully anyway.. I got a cold at this exact week last year, made it worse by racing the Novice X-country on it. I'm going to try and be more sensible this year. Hopefully that won't put the weekend race in doubt, but I'm not taking any big chances on it.

blockic

I remember the cold last year alright, I bloody got one back then too! I'm gonna go back the the exact trader joes next week and get that red dirt beer what ever it was called to celebrate the 1st anniversary when I cross the line...good times.:)

ThePiedPiper

blockic wrote: »

I remember the cold last year alright, I bloody got one back then too! I'm gonna go back the the exact trader joes next week and get that red dirt beer what ever it was called to celebrate the 1st anniversary when I cross the line...good times.:)

Are you gonna head off for a snooze for a couple of hours too?!

Not sure if I should train with this wee cold on me, was planning a mp run today. Don't know

pconn062

RunForestRun wrote: »

Are you gonna head off for a snooze for a couple of hours too?!

Not sure if I should train with this wee cold on me, was planning a mp run today. Don't know

If it's just a head cold, then I think you could still jog, (I would anyway), but I'd drop the MP session. If it's on your chest then a few days off might be needed. How bad is it?

blockic

RunForestRun wrote: »

Are you gonna head off for a snooze for a couple of hours too?!

Not sure if I should train with this wee cold on me, was planning a mp run today. Don't know

Snooze is mandatory! :cool:

ThePiedPiper

pconn062 wrote: »

If it's just a head cold, then I think you could still jog, (I would anyway), but I'd drop the MP session. If it's on your chest then a few days off might be needed. How bad is it?

Not too bad hopefully PConn. I'll throw the Exputex into me, see can I shift it. If I'm healthy by Friday, I'll run on Sunday.

ThePiedPiper

Wednesday 1st October: 11 miles in 1:14 (6:47 pace) with 8 PMP

Left school at 4.20, and decided on a scenic route home instead of track work tonight. Took it nice and handy on the first mile, then settled into MP on the way out the Boyne estuary. There was a bit of a breeze into my face for most of this run, so it was a little bit harder than comfortable. I know at this stage last year, I found these type of runs equally challenging I think, so I'm not overly concerned. I don't feel massively fresh at the moment, but in a week and a half, I'll be tapering and the body will be in good shape in a few weeks. Positive Mental Attitude and all of that.
I'd to work very hard on the last mile of this as it was entirely uphill.
Splits: 6:24, 6:21, 6:20, 6:21, 6:22, 6:19, 6:22, 6:18

ThePiedPiper

Decent month. Mileage dropped back a bit, but more quality, couple of very good long runs, one disappointing half marathon, and a few sessions at the track.

Month|Runs|Av Speed|Mileage
January|19/31|8.7|109
February|19/28|8.2|104
March|21/31|8.5|148
April|20/30|8.5|157
May|15/31|8.4|101
June|26/30|8.3|160
July|28/31|8.2|221
August|26/31|8.4|251
September|25/30|8.4|221


Year to date: 1,471

Marathon is in three and a half weeks. I'm not exactly where I want to be, but hopefully will give sub 2:50 a good rattle. Will need to nail a long run in 10 days to feel confident, but hopefully October will end with a bang in Frankfurt.

ThePiedPiper

Fri 3rd October: 5 miles in 37:xx

Run home from work in very heavy rain. Once I got over the initial couple of minutes of getting soaked, I actually really enjoyed the run. Was running into a fairly strong wind too.

Sat 4th Oct: 7.5 miles at 7:45 pace and 3 miles at 7:50 pace

Got out first thing this morning for a very handy run down by Sandpit. Cold, fresh morning, but nice and sunny. Took it handy enough on this with a view to running tomorrow. Jumped on the treadmill for a couple of very easy miles in the evening time.

I've a bit of an issue in my leg this past week or so. It seems to be a nerve issue, possibly like sciatica. Every so often, I'll get this stabbing pain in my upper right leg, right out to the side. Its gone in a couple of seconds. Only once has it happened while running, and it just knocked my stride for a couple of seconds. I know that the best way to treat this is to rest for a couple of weeks, but I'm hoping to just managed it for the next week before heading into the taper. Been a long time since I'd anything resembling an injury, hopefully this is just a little scare.

Racing 6k Novice in the morning. I'm thinking I'll run over to the far side of Drogheda where the race is on as my warmup, do the race, then run home with hopefully another couple of miles tempo on the way. I'd prefer to be doing a more normal MP run, but I'm sure there'll be benefit in the faster pace running, and I'm happy enough to leave the toughest MP run until 14 days out from marathon.

ThePiedPiper

Did a long warmup across to Meadowview this morning, 6.5 miles with 4 of these in 7:00 pace. Got there in decent enough time for me, about 5 minutes before the race was due to start. The warmup took very little out of me, and I was feeling pretty fresh for the start.

Last year, I ran too hard in the first couple of laps of this race, so had decided not to bust myself too early on. Its 8.5 laps of football fields, so very boring, not remotely like cross-country. Despite the heavy rain yesterday, the ground was dry enough to wear runners, so I jsut kept on me what I'd ran on on the roads. At the start, about 20 odd people got out fast in front of me. I decided to run my own race, and let people get ahead of me. The first mile was 5:37 and I felt good.

Got a couple of those weird nerve pains that I've been getting lately during the race, which made me check my stride a couple of times, but nothing serious (I hope). I made my way steadily through various little groups, passing people who'd obviously started too slow.

A lot of the race is a bit of a blur, as it was all the exact same. Me running pretty controlled 5:45 pace, passing by the odd person, having little battles with people for a bit, and wondering how the hell this can be classified as cross-country. Anyway, last 2 laps, I decided that I'd need to burn off a couple of D&D runners before the end of the race, as I've no kick finish. Moved hard in second last lap, but they kept me in their sights. On the last lap, despite me trying to speed up to about 5:15 pace (probably close to my max), they regrouped, worked together and got ahead of me.

Finished in about 10th-12th place in a time of 21:27. We won 2nd place team, which was nice. Crucially for my own marathon preparations, this was the first race that I've improved on from last year's leadup to Chicago. Did a bit of a warmdown with the lads before embarking on my run home. Intended to run a couple of MP miles, but the one mile I did at 6:45 left me straining a bit, so decided not to push the boat out.

18.5 miles in total for the day, and a good race. I haven't felt any nerve pains in my leg since about midday, so maybe my little injury drama was just a short-lived little nothing. If it works out as such, I'll be delighted.

ThePiedPiper

Monday 6th Oct: 8 miles in 58 mins

On the treadmill this evening. Did this as progressive, starting from 12km/h, working up to 14.4 and then back a bit. Felt pretty comfortable. This was made interesting by a fairly impressive electrical storm over the Irish Leah had a great day, thanks Cary. Like a duck to water. See you soon towards Bettystown. Miles ticked by nicely with the distraction

ThePiedPiper

Tuesday 7th oct: 4 easy in 31:30

ThePiedPiper

Weds 8th Oct: 10 miles in 66:54 with 7 at MP

Got straight out after getting home for work for this. After a miserable enough day weather wise, I got out at a decent time. Nice and cool, sunny, wet roads but no rain. Was a bit tired heading off, but legs feeling very fresh. Did an easy mile warmup, then kicked off MP miles. The first two were very easy with the benefit of gravity, but had to work on the 3rd mile, which is entirely uphill, heading over PConn's direction (not that he ever trains on the road!!). Enjoyed this mile actually, focused on running form, kept a bit further forward on the feet.
Had a nice, easy mile after the 3rd one, then a bit more up and downhill for the next couple. Enjoyed the increased effort, and delighted to report that there are no lingering issues in my leg. I was concerned there for about a week that the symptoms seemed very sciatica-like, but everything seems to have gone back to normal now, and I actually feel very fresh compared to the general state of tiredness I felt a couple of weeks back.
MP splits: 6:15, 6:15, 6:19, 6:19, 6:23, 6:27, 6:16.

I'll run easy miles tomorrow, likely on the treadmill. Not sure if I'll do anything on Friday, as I want to do a long run Saturday this weekend, and want to be freshish for it, as its likely going to be tough. I'll do my normal last pre-marathon 20 mile route with 13 miles MP. The issue now is what my MP is going to be. All of the long runs would suggest that 6:20 is a realistic MP for me, but the nagging doubts from the rubbish HM I ran in the Park would dictate that 6:20 pace is slightly out of reach. I know I'm not going to solve this equation this weekend, and likely won't solve it at all until about 18 miles into the Frankfurt marathon. There's something attractive about running a marathon at 3:59 min/km avg pace, despite the metric system. Anyway, that'll be for the race report!

yaboya1

Do you always do 20m (with 13 @ MP) two weeks out?

ThePiedPiper

yaboya1 wrote: »

Do you always do 20m (with 13 @ MP) two weeks out?

Not always, usually 3 weeks, but I always do 20 miles with a few MP a fortnight out. The way it worked out with the novice race this year, it was either 4 weeks or 2 weeks, and just felt 4 weeks out was too far out. I know 15 days might seem a bit close for comfort but I recover quickly, and will be taking it very easy for the last 2 weeks.

yaboya1

RunForestRun wrote: »

Not always, usually 3 weeks, but I always do 20 miles with a few MP a fortnight out. The way it worked out with the novice race this year, it was either 4 weeks or 2 weeks, and just felt 4 weeks out was too far out. I know 15 days might seem a bit close for comfort but I recover quickly, and will be taking it very easy for the last 2 weeks.

If it ain't broke......

ThePiedPiper

yaboya1 wrote: »

If it ain't broke......

To be fair, I felt like I was on the verge of breaking there for a couple if weeks, not sure if I could've faced or handled this weekends planned run at any other stage!

ThePiedPiper

Thurs 9th Oct: 7 miles in 51 mins

Treadmill progressive run. Nothing interesting or exciting, very comfortable.

ThePiedPiper

Saturday 11th Oct: 20 miles in 2:18 (6:55 avg pace)

This was to be the big 20 miler with 13 at MP. It didn't work out as planned unfortunately. I was undecided this morning whether I'd do it today or tomorrow, and only decided on a whim when Mrs RFR happened to be heading off with the kids that I'd go out and try and get it done. Problem was, I only had a very small breakfast (at 9 o clock) and by 1 o clock, I was actually very hungry and a bit tired after running around for 3 hours doing housework inside and out. Discussed with Mrs RFR what I should do for this run, and decided that I'd try to run the MP sections at low 6:20s to see just how realistic or unrealistic 2:45 would be. There was always going to be a bit of a risk of blowup, but felt that I needed to sort out a target once and for all.

So, underfueled and underprepared, I headed out, and really didn't manage this session very smartly. I should have conserved energy for the first few miles and saved it for the MP section. Instead, after the first mile warmup, I dropped it down to 7:0x and sub 7s straight away. Took a gel at 5 miles in, took it easy for a mile, and stupidly started the MP section on a very tough uphill drag out of Collon on the N2, about 100 feet elevation gain in that mile. 6:30 was difficult to hit given the uphill. Anyway, took a mile or two to recover from that effort, but was nice and comfortable for a few miles.

Had a bit of stomach muscle pain, or stitch for a couple of miles around Dunleer. Was finding myself working very hard now to keep pace in the mid 6:20s. Considered abandoning it, and just jogging it in at one point, but kept digging in. On the uphill drag out of Grangebellew, I could barely maintain 7:00 pace, so decided to allow that half mile be a mini-recovery. Tried mightily to get back down to sub 6:30, but the hills, the breeze and the rubbish fuelling meant I was pretty much running on empty. Kept it in the 6:40-50 range.

Felt a bit cr@p after that session to be honest. But, at least, its put any lingering thoughts of 2:45 to bed once and for all. Sub 2:50 actually looks like it could be a stretch at this stage. I've gotten used to nailing my long runs, have pretty much ran every one of them exactly as planned for about the last 4 marathon cycles, bar this session today. But, I really set myself up for a failure of a session today, and at least I can go to Frankfurt with a more realistic target in mind than what was the original stretch goal.

Splits for what its worth:
7:21, 7:03, 6:57, 6:53, 6:51, 7:33, 6:32, 6:23, 6:22, 6:27, 6:21, 6:25, 6:27, 6:33, 6:31, (3:55 half mile recovery), 6:55, 6:45, 6:39, (9:0x pace for 1.5 mile slog back up the hills).

Taper time!

AuldManKing

Any hope that on fresh legs, properly fueled and race day adrenaline your original goal may be achievable? Or are you nailing your colours to the sub 2:50 mast?

ThePiedPiper

AuldManKing wrote: »

Any hope that on fresh legs, properly fueled and race day adrenaline your original goal may be achievable? Or are you nailing your colours to the sub 2:50 mast?

Yeah, there probably might be a small chance, but I don't think I'm prepared to take that chance. I know that one or two bad sessions shouldn't dictate reducing the goal time, but I just feel that 2:45 is slightly beyond me and it could be a horrible last 6 or 7 miles if I blow up. I think I'll take my chances on running 6:25 pace, and see can I finish strong and get under 2:49.
The run in Chicago last year proved the power of the taper, good fuelling and adrenaline, but 2:45 will have to wait for another year.

ThePiedPiper

Sun 12th Oct: 3 miles in 23:20

Easy recovery run on the treadmill. Mileage just over 50 for the week again, will probably run about 25-30 miles this week and hopefully keep myself healthy.

ThePiedPiper

Tuesday 14th Oct: 4 miles in 30:20

Easy run on the treadmill. Spent these four miles wondering how I seem to have not made very impressive gains in this marathon cycle. Can't really put my finger on it other than I'm not particularly bothered whether or not I run 2:4x in this years marathon. Yes, I put a lot if work and training in and tried hard in the tough sessions, but I think I only pushed myself to the point where I was just uncomfortable, not totally busted. I'm not even going to bother making excuses, but at the end of the day, it's just running, a past time I love. I'm never going to blow the world away, nor do I want to. It probably suits my life and personality more to be a reasonably decent runner, not quite good enough to be noticed or relied upon by anyone.

This taper is messing with my head a bit, think I should go for a run!

ThePiedPiper

Thurs 16th Oct: 5 miles in 33:30 with 3.5 at MP

On the treadmill this evening for this run. Went handy enough for the first mile, just cranking it up slowly to 7:00 pace. Then, dialled up to MP (15km/h). Kept effort levels very comfortable to be honest, and the biggest issue was whether I'd run 3 or 4 miles at MP. In the end, decided on 3.5, and just did a half mile warmdown. Although distance was very short, the comfort and ease of it was encouraging.

ThePiedPiper

Sat 18th Oct: 10 miles with 8 at MP in 65 mins

Happy with this, weather was a bit tricky, I just about got the lawn mowed when it started raining, but then it stopped after a few minutes so out I went.

The wind just blew me down the hill the first couple if miles, but had to work to run 6:20 pace with the wind into my face. Nice little blowout few miles, and the last real training session of any speed or distance without any problems.

Looking forward to next weekend now, I'm not feeling overly anxious or stressed in any way, just hoping to have a good race and a shot at a good time.

ThePiedPiper

Sun 19th Oct: 3 miles in 24 mins

Just a very easy paced jaunt on the treadmill to loosen out the legs.

blockic

Nice name and relevance! But I will miss RFR!

AuldManKing

blockic wrote: »

Nice name and relevance! But I will miss RFR!

ALL the cool people change their name. :cool:

ThePiedPiper

Weds 22nd Oct: 4 miles in 30:30

Easy run on treadmill, never really got out of first gear, effort levels were veering on falling asleep if I'm honest, but just enough to get the legs outve the taper-induced stupor! That's the last run before heading for Frankfurt Friday evening. I'll probably do the breakfast run on Saturday morning to meet up with a couple of the boardsies. Looking forward to the race and the beers after