Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.

tang1

ThebitterLemon wrote: »

Nice splits, picking it up a bit too towards the end. Well done

TbL

+1 to that, very solid session that included in 22 miles, well done.

adrian522

Thanks, the faster splits towards the end was fairly unintentional. The HR shows I was working quite hard but can't really complain with that. I think I was tagging onto a group at that stage so just staying with them.

Firedance

+1 to all above Adrian, good for you taking the sensible option, countdown is on now

ThebitterLemon

adrian522 wrote: »

Thanks, the faster splits towards the end was fairly unintentional. The HR shows I was working quite hard but can't really complain with that. I think I was tagging onto a group at that stage so just staying with them.

Don't let it go to your head what happened with the last mile?

TbL

adrian522

ThebitterLemon wrote: »

Don't let it go to your head what happened with the last mile?

TbL

What last mile? The 0.1? I was dreaming of cold water and free bananas.

ThebitterLemon

adrian522 wrote: »

What last mile? The 0.1? I was dreaming of cold water and free bananas.

Ah fcuk, I need new glasses

TbL

annapr

Good going Adrian, very consistent. Looks like you have found your MP!

Singer

Yet more solid stuff, nicely done!

adrian522

Sunday

5.4 Miles @ 9:22 m/m

Easy recovery run on Sunday, could have taken the day off I guess but it seems a bit of a waste when you are not doing anything. Followed by a day spent mainly on the couch.

Monday

7.3 Miles @ 8:58 m/m

1 Hour easy running after work. Nice evening for it from what I remember and a very enjoyable run.

Tuesday

AM - 6.3 Miles @ 9:12 m/m

PM - 4.4 Miles @ 9:13 m/m

Double on Tuesday, I'd brought all my food and clothes into work on Monday so I didn't really have to carry anything. The run in was a whole lot of fun. The run home in the evening was a bit more of a struggle but not too bad all the same.

Wednesday

Session - 14 Miles with 10 Alternating MP -15 secs/MP +15 secs

I had initially planned for this to be either an easy, longer run or else 14 with 10 @ MP but given I didn't race the half I was in a position to do this instead. I'd already done this session but in the original plan it was in the week before the taper so I decided to go with it again.

The run went well, hit the paces I wanted and without having to work too hard for the most part. There is just one more big session to come, next week, 14 @ MP. That won't be easy but I do think these medium runs with some quality will really stand to me in the race. Pretty much a 2 hour run most weeks.

adrian522

Days Running|29/31
Sessions|5
Long Runs|5
Races|0
PB's|0

Month|2013|2014|2015|2016
January|7|0|191|73.5
February|10|53|196|104.1
March|7|111|207.9|70
April|26|154|165.2|74.9
May|69|121|219.7|128.6
June|75|93|257.4|183.2
July|67|212|151.2|236.4
August|101|233|132.7|279.7
September|85|261|31.6|
October|4|179|63.6|
November|13|28|17.5|
December|6|163|21|
Total|471.2|1606.2|1654.8|1152.3

I'm not counting races used as a session/long run, of which there were 2 this month. The rock N Roll half marathon and the Tullamore half. In fact the Tullamore half ended up being close to my PB, about a minute outside of a PB. Though I haven't properly raced a half since September 2014.

Mileage has been impressive this month (most ever!) with weeks of 62, 55, 65, 65. The taper starts next week so a welcome break from the high volume of the last month or so.

aquinn

Delighted to read how well the weekend went and how steady and well you are getting on of late. Super.

adrian522

Thursday

6.1 Miles @ 8:54

Way too fast for a recovery run, not sure what happened here. 6 Miles anyway along one of the usual routes.

Friday

7.3 Miles @ 8:54 m/m

No easing up on the mileage, 7 easy miles after work on Friday. Nie evening for it and a few strides thrown in for good measure.

Saturday

The Lakes 10K


This race wasn't initially on the plan but when I ditched the idea of racing the half I decided to put this in as I ended up doing this weeks long run/session last week in Tullamore.

Anyway, this was to be an all out effort but knowing it would be difficult given there was no taper of any description and it came at the end of the highest mileage week of the plan.

Arrived out to the start in plenty of time, too much time. The weather was awful and I wasn't overly eager to get a warmup done, but I did get it done in the end.

Lined up at the start, low enough turnout but very good organisation and good atmosphere among the runners.

Largely ignored the watch for the first part of the race, just running hard, but trying to keep it comfortable.

The third mile I flagged a bit, ended up in a group that I just dropped in behind. This was a bit of a breather but it was a bit slower.

Miles 1-3 (6:44, 6:53, 7:10)

Picked it up a little bit in the 4th mile, but nothing too crazy. Mile 5 was the uphill section. I picked it up a bit here, capitalising on the strength in my legs from marathon training.

I took the handbrake off a bit for the last bit and emptied the tank as much as possible. I got passed by a clubmate in the last mile and wasn't able to stick with him.

Miles 4-6 (7:00, 7:06, 6:42, with 6:00 pace for the last 0.2)

I ended up finishing a minute outside PB which is a good result given the circumstances.

The run was a solid 3 mins better than Dunshaughlin in June.

Officially 43:10, with a total of 8.8 Miles for the day.

My first experience of this race and I have to say I can see why everyone raves about it, excellent course, great setup, nice after race refreshments and even a great goodie bag with some sort of backup phone charger in there.

Sunday

18 Miles @ 9:08 m/m

Idea was to do 16-18 miles on tired legs following the race. I was expecting it to hurt a lot more but it was actually fine so I went with the upper end of the range.

That would be the last proper long run and the end of the highest mileage week of the plan.

I guess its a taper from here but next week still has one big session on the plan.

AuldManKing

Nice work with the race and the 18m. Solid week.

Bungy Girl

Well done today, and glad you enjoyed The Lakes - I was so sorry to miss my favourite race this year but between one thing and another it just didn't work out. Enjoy the taper madness, waaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!

Firedance

adrian522 wrote: »

I guess its a taper from here but next week still has one big session on the plan.

Best of luck with that one A, will you do it solo? Well done in Blessington, one of my favourites too

adrian522

Firedance wrote: »

Best of luck with that one A, will you do it solo? Well done in Blessington, one of my favourites too

I will, I think part of the idea of it is that if you can do 14 solo that the day of the race the atmosphere and support will get you through the other 12!

Murph_D

Nice work at the Lakes, you beat my time from last year by well over a minute. Nice LR yesterday too - I narrowly missed seeing you in the park a few times, according to the ever fascinating Strava flyby.

Singer

adrian522 wrote: »

I will, I think part of the idea of it is that if you can do 14 solo that the day of the race the atmosphere and support will get you through the other 12!

Enjoy meno's "sting in the tail". Can't wait for it myself

Murph_D

Singer wrote: »

Enjoy meno's "sting in the tail". Can't wait for it myself

It's always worked for me. No pressure.

adrian522

Indeed, I'm hoping this weather cools down a bit between now and then, though it could have its advantages if it turns out to have similar weather on the day.

Murph_D

adrian522 wrote: »

Indeed, I'm hoping this weather cools down a bit between now and then, though it could have its advantages if it turns out to have similar weather on the day.

True. I remember having to really grind out those 14 miles on a warm afternoon in 2014. Conditions in Berlin on the day were quite similar so probably really helped mentally.

adrian522

Monday

4 Miles @ 9:27


4 Mile recovery run to start the week. Kept it slow and easy.

Tuesday

6.1 Miles @ 8:57


Tuesday evening, easy run. I had thought about getting this done at lunchtime, then bailed on that. Wishing I hadn't by the time the evening came around.
Warm evening for it but better now than when doing the session!

Wednesday

14 Miles @ MP

The last big session before Berlin. If I'm honest I struggled with this a little bit. Previous MP runs felt fairly easy but I found myself having to work fairly hard on this one. I don't think the weather was too bad for this so no excuse there. Maybe not properly hydrated or maybe just one of those things.

In any case I got through the session well enough but I did have to dig it out, found myself taking sneaky rest stops and traffic lights and what not.

I had planned on running the marathon at around 7:50-7:55 pace, but I may now dial that back down further towards 8:00-8:05. I'll see what the weather is like on the day.

Splits were:

7:44/7:49/7:44/7:41/7:43/7:49/7:54/7:49/7:46/7:46/8:00/7:42/7:50/7:46

Murph_D

Very nice. What's that, an average of 7:48 or so? Trust yourself. 7:50 is a go. Weather permitting of course.

If it's a hot day, this is a useful calculator for adjustments.

adrian522

Interesting, hopefully it won't be needed, but chances are the temp will be warm enough by the time I finish.

Murph_D

adrian522 wrote: »

Interesting, hopefully it won't be needed, but chances are the temp will be warm enough by the time I finish.

It's all relative too of course - your current MP has been achieved during what felt like a pretty warm summer to me, so you're acclimatised for a warm day anyway, but worth paring back a little if it's going to be (relatively) warmer.

You have the advantage of knowing Berlin is dead flat. And you'll have the benefit of the taper. You're in great shape!

adrian522

Thanks D. Yes, I guess its the advantage of training for a autumn race rather than a spring race. When you showed up in Boston after training through the winter it would have been a much bigger shock to the system than after training through the Summer for Berlin.

Murph_D

At least Boston partly acclimatised me for Cork.

Bungy Girl

Well done on the last big session! You're in great shape for Berlin and hopefully the weather plays ball.

adrian522

Thanks. Weather doesn't look great right now but is due to cool down over the next week or so. Not that I've been checking every hour.

adrian522

Thursday

6.1 Miles @ 9:11 m/m

A bit of recovery following Wednesdays session. Strava tells me I've run this route 19 times. Maybe time to find a few new routes.

Friday

6 Miles @ 9:14 m/m

Only 9 runs on this route, which is a loop from where I work. some strides included on this one too.

Saturday

Tynon Parkrun

Parkrun in 20:47, 3rd finisher. Good hard effort, corresponds exactly on mcmillan to the 10k the previous week. Not sure its indicative of much in relation to the marathon but is a good sharpening session and nice to have to work hard in a race environment.

I haven't done many parkruns but this one was fun.

Total of 7.8 Miles when taking warmup and cooldown into account.

Sunday

14 Miles @ 8:59m/m

Nice to see the long run getting pared back and a 14 mile run that seems like it shouldn't be too much work.

The club had setup a 5 mile loop with water stops etc with the marathon group doing 4 laps for 20 miles. On the start everyone seemed to race off. Not sure what was going on but I stuck to my planned 9 minute pace but ended up running on my own for a good bit.

Anyway, no drama here and got through the 14 miles easily enough.

58 miles for the week, after 72 the week before. The taper kicks up a gear next week and will be that bit more noticeable that mileage is decreasing.