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

adrian522

Wednesday

Fartlek session

I took this one off of competitor.com.

The session is 1-2-3-2-1-2-3-2-1

Where the 1 min is @ 5k Pace, the 2 mins @ 10K Pace and the 3 Mins @ HM Pace. The recovery is the same as the interval. The general idea being not to run them all at around the same pace!

This wasn't as tough as I thought it was going to be, the recoveries are very generous.

Time|Target|Actual
1 min|6:20|6:25
2 Min|6:40|6:43
3 Min|7:05|6:51
2 Min|6:40|6:32
1 Min|6:20|6:43
2 Min|6:40|6:41
3 Min|7:05|6:57
2 Min|6:40|7:04
1 Min|6:20|6:32

With Warm up and cool down it comes to 7 Miles.

adrian522

Thursday

5 Miles @ 9:29

This one was a real struggle, legs were feeling the effects of previous days session. Classic recovery run.

Friday

6.1 Miles @ 9:14

A night of craft beer and "finger food" didn't help here, I was pretty tired and was going to give it a miss but glad I got it done in the end.

Saturday

Kilkenny Parkrun

Parkrun in Kilkenny to close out the year. The course is still fairly tough and while I was hoping for a better run, given the weeks training and a tough course have to be happy enough with what was more or less the same time as Tymon last week. 3.1 Miles in 21:31. 6.3 Miles for the day.

adrian522

Days Running|23/31
Sessions|6
Long Runs|2
Races|3
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|191.2
October|4|179|63.6|106.6
November|13|28|17.5|154.9
December|6|163|21|151.3
Total|471.2|1606.2|1654.8|1757.3

Good month. The base building continues. The "races" mentioned were 2 parkruns and one 400m relay, so nothing too serious. A few good sessions thrown in and all in all in pretty good shape heading into 2017.

All the best for 2017 everyone!

Chartsengrafs

That's a good run in Kilkenny Parkrun, I run in that park maybe 4/5 times a year (ran it a few times last week) and there are plenty of little digs in it, it's far from fast. It used to be part of Kilkenny Tri also, never a fast run split!

adrian522

Sunday - 9 Miles @ 9:07 m/m

Easy Miles on New Years Day. I wasn't in the form for this in the morning so put it off to the evening. Not helped by a big dinner and a load of wine, but eventually got it done. The Kenyans don't have these problems do they?

38.7 Miles for the week. Exactly the same as the previous week.

Monday - Rest

Tuesday - Club Session

Hills and Sprints again, eight reps again. Good session, I was glads to get it done as I was very tempted to give it a miss. In the end it wasn't too bad. I think this is a good session for the base building and I've done it 4 times this winter now.

adrian522

The rest of the week was a bit of a write off to be honest. I was sick with a sore throat and a bad enough cough, probably should have seen a doctor but not really my style.

Wednesday - No Run

Thursday - No Run

Friday - 3.3 Miles @ 8:54 m/m

Still wasn't feeling great but decided to give it a go. Didn't go well and I cut it short after 3 miles or so.

Saturday - No run

Sunday - Dublin Master XC

Rocked up to this knowing I wasn't 100% but wanted to salvage something from the week, felt ok in the warmup.

I lined up at the back and tried to not push too hard. I got around running ok but as the laps went by I found it more and more difficult. Don't know if this was mental thing or not really having the strength to push on.

Glad to get through it in any case but certainly nothing worth writing home about.

Thanks for all the shout outs on the course, always appreciated!

EDIT: Position 227 of 261 runners.

Total 3.6 Miles @ 7:58

15.1 Miles for the week.

annapr

Managed to miss you completely today on all 4 laps Adrian! It looked tough for everyone.

adrian522

Monday - 6.1 Miles @ 8:56

Just some easy miles to start the week. Legs a bit sore from the race the previous day, still not 100% recovered from illness the previous week either. I never said I'd follow my own advice!

Tuesday - 6.2 Miles @ 8:42 m/m

Club sesssion was on but I didn't do it, just did the warmup and a few steady miles(8:23, 8:00, 8:27) and then cool down, nice run.

Wednesday - Off/Rest Day

Thursday - Club Session

Light enough club session. Terenure lap @ Tempo pace. This is about 2.5 miles and the pace for this bit was 7:17 m/m. Did a shorter version of the lap as a cooldown. Total of 4.8 Miles for the session.

Friday - 5.4 Miles @ 8:59 m/m

Just some easy miles with a few strides at the end. Some lunatic in a car decided it would be a good idea to use his horn rather than his brake as I was crossing a road. Second time that day something like that happened. First time I was on the bike and nearly run off the road, which given the ice wasn't pleasant. Friday the 13th for you.

Saturday - 4 Miles @ 8:29m/m

More Easy Miles. More Strides. Race tomorrow which will mean another week of reduced mileage. Given Raheny is still to come it's looking like I'll get at most 1 long run in this month. Base building eh? Again I never said I'd follow my own advice!

Annie get your Run

Best of luck tomorrow

adrian522

Sunday

Leinster Masters XC

Another week another Cross Country race. Dunboyne were hosting the Leinster Intermediate and Masters XC and the club had full teams in all 4 races.

Not sure why but it was decided we were leaving Terenure at 11am which turns out was very early. Got down in time to see the Womens Masters race while getting the warmup done.

My own race was up next, 3 x 2k laps. The ground was soft enough but I thought overall the surface was ok. It was fairly windy in parts and as a result it was pretty tough going for the most part. There was supposedly 244 entries for this race but there certainly wasn't that many runners on the start line.

I bumped into Wubble Wubble before the start, both of us starting near the back. I wasn't feeling particularly good early on so just settled into the pace early. After the first 500m I was pretty much where I'd be for the majority of the race with little enough in the way of overtaking or being overtaken. The lap seemed incredibly long and it was a real struggle for me after the first half lap.

The plan was just for a good hard effort possibly picking up in the final lap, but there was no picking it up later on as I'd given all I had from the start. In the end I finished position 144 out of 159, and I was pretty glad when it was all over. Nice to catch up with Duanington and Annie get your gun afterwards.

A good day for the club also with the ladies Intermediate team winning gold (along with first and second place finishes). They've now won gold at Novice (Dublin, Leinster and National) and Intermediate (Dublin and Leinster) so will look to complete the set next week at the National Intermediate.

Wubble Wubble

adrian522 wrote: »

Sunday

Leinster Masters XC

Another week another Cross Country race. Dunboyne were hosting the Leinster Intermediate and Masters XC and the club had full teams in all 4 races.

Not sure why but it was decided we were leaving Terenure at 11am which turns out was very early. Got down in time to see the Womens Masters race while getting the warmup done.

My own race was up next, 3 x 2k laps. The ground was soft enough but I thought overall the surface was ok. It was fairly windy in parts and as a result it was pretty tough going for the most part. There was supposedly 244 entries for this race but there certainly wasn't that many runners on the start line.

I bumped into Wubble Wubble before the start, both of us starting near the back. I wasn't feeling particularly good early on so just settled into the pace early. After the first 500m I was pretty much where I'd be for the majority of the race with little enough in the way of overtaking or being overtaken. The lap seemed incredibly long and it was a real struggle for me after the first half lap.

The plan was just for a good hard effort possibly picking up in the final lap, but there was no picking it up later on as I'd given all I had from the start. In the end I finished position 144 out of 159, and I was pretty glad when it was all over. Nice to catch up with Duanington and Annie get your gun afterwards.

A good day for the club also with the ladies Intermediate team winning gold (along with first and second place finishes). They've now won gold at Novice (Dublin, Leinster and National) and Intermediate (Dublin and Leinster) so will look to complete the set next week at the National Intermediate.

Nice to meet you beforehand Adrian. Sorry you found it tough going; any time I saw you on the second and third laps, you seemed to be fighting against the elements on your own. Better times ahead no doubt!

J.

adrian522

Yeah I was on my own for a good bit of it alright!

tang1

A Steelers/Packers Super Bowl? Big Ben and the Steelers to march into Foxboro and put manners on Tom Terrific and Bill and Aaron Rodgers and the Packers to keep Julio and Matty Ice quite for a whole game, or am I being delusional?

adrian522

Ah it could happen. Both of those games will be very close but I'd favour the home team in both, so Atlanta/NE.

The Over/Under for the Atlanta game is 61 points or something crazy like that so expect a shoot out in that one!

adrian522

tang1 wrote: »

A Steelers/Packers Super Bowl? Big Ben and the Steelers to march into Foxboro and put manners on Tom Terrific and Bill and Aaron Rodgers and the Packers to keep Julio and Matty Ice quite for a whole game, or am I being delusional?

adrian522 wrote: »

Ah it could happen. Both of those games will be very close but I'd favour the home team in both, so Atlanta/NE.

The Over/Under for the Atlanta game is 61 points or something crazy like that so expect a shoot out in that one!

So no Steelers/Packers Superbowl then!

Monday - Rest

Laziness/Needing to get stuff Done/Recover from the race. In that order were the reasons for no run on Monday. All valid excuses, I only need one!

Tuesday - 5.9 Miles @ 9:13 m/m

Went down to the club session but similar to the previous week kept it easy with an easy run instead of the session.

Wednesday - 6 Miles @ 8:55 m/m

Another easy run on Wednesday. Finding the motivation difficult these nights!

Thursday - Club Session

Only session of the week. The old reliable 1 min on 1 min off. Good session but I found it tough going. Legs feeling fairly sore still, a combination of racing 4 weeks on the bounce (including parkruns) and a lot of running on concrete.

Friday - 5 Miles @ 8:59m/m

Recovery run at lunchtime, glad to get it over with as I was heading out on Friday night.

Saturday - 7.2 Miles @ 8:37 m/m

Skipped the Club session and also skipped the BHAA race. Instead had a really enjoyable 7 miles around Tymon on Saturday, it was cold but really very good running weather.

Sunday 12 Miles @ 8:33 m/m

Long run in the Phoenix Park, first one since Christmas. Good to get it done, kept up a decent pace for it, but still found myself dropping off the group I was with. Not to worry, don't want to do these too fast anyway. Nice Soup/Brown Bread and Hot chocolate in the visitor's centre afterwards. (Of course I want marshmallows!)

42.4 Miles for the week.

tang1

A man would have been even more stupid to put money on the Steelers & Packers to win, ah well!!!!

adrian522

tang1 wrote: »

A man would have been even more stupid to put money on the Steelers & Packers to win, ah well!!!!

Despite what I wrote above I actually backed both the Packers +6 and the Steeelers +6 so didn't have a great night myself.

Saw this on Twitter

If Kyle Shanahan can do this with Matt Ryan and Julio Jones, just think what he can manage with Blaine Gabbert and Quinton Patton

We live in hope.

tang1

Strong rumours of Kirk Cousins going to 49ers, that would be a huge upgrade at QB for ye if it happens.

adrian522

Yeah, I suspect he's trying to drive up his price by creating a market for himself. I'd say he'll get himself a nice payday to stay in DC.

tang1

Hope it goes to plan Sunday A, run well.

adrian522

Thanks B, time will tell I guess but I wouldn't be overly confident at the moment!

Annie get your Run

adrian522 wrote: »

Thanks B, time will tell I guess but I wouldn't be overly confident at the moment!

Pma Adrian!! Best of luck

Wubble Wubble

Best of luck Adrian. Skipping that XC last week should definitely be to your advantage. Good news to read here later hopefully!

adrian522

Monday - Rest/Off

Tuesday - Club Session

This is one of my favourite sessions. It's a nice loop, maybe 0.75 miles, maybe a bit less. Starts with a stiff climb, then flat, downhill, flat again. 90 seconds recovery and go again.

Anyway, plan was to do four but ended up getting pressured into doing 5. I thought I was going pretty hard at these but the paces were not as impressive as I thought they'd be. Not sure what it means for the 5 mile at the weekend but it's a good session nonetheless.

Paces: 6:36/6:36/6:45/6:56/6:57

Wednesday - 5.3 Miles @ 8:50 m/m

Being honest here, I've been struggling a little bit with various niggles over the last while. Especially after sessions, but tended to go away after that. This was one of those runs that felt a bit tough as the aches were there. I should have been doing something about it rather than hoping it would just go away though.

Thursday - 5.5 Miles @ 8:15 m/m

Down to the club for this. Windy as hell, it was supposed to be a tempo but I was determined to take it easy (or steady at worst). The legs were still complaining and it was here I first thought we have a problem for the race on the weekend. Started to take the foam rolling, stretching and strength exercises a bit more seriously, as in actually doing them!

Friday - 4 Miles @ 9:04 m/m

Serious issue here, I'd to cut this short as while not in pain it was seriously uncomfortable. I knew something had to give and the mart thing to do was to miss the race on Sunday and take a few days off. Persisted with the rolling and stretching. Didn't do much strength though.

Saturday - Off

Took the day off to try and rejuvunate my legs. Seemed to work ok.

Sunday - Raheny 5 Mile

I decided to line up but little to no confidence in the endevour. I'd surely get through the 5 miles (The legs felt fine on the warm-up). Met Aquinn and Singer beforehand and I wasn't joking when I said the plan was to get around.

Anyway once we got going I raced as well as I could (given a bottle of wine the previous evening). Conscious of not wanting to go off too fast the congestion helped a bit in this. Not really sure of the route but happy enough with how things were going.

Made a conscious effort to ignore the watch for the first while and just run off feel and try to stay relaxed. The bit on Howth road was a bit messy, too narrow and people running both sides of the cones which ended up just being in the way of us.

Anyway, tried to focus on the pace and staying relaxed. Didn't feel I was working too hard. I had a feeling the bit in the park would be a bit of a slog but I enjoyed myself giving shout outs to friendly faces who were running the opposite direction. I was working hard at this stage but not going flat out.

Once we turned around I knew we were nearly there so tried to just dig in and get through it at that point. A lot of supporters shouting out "only 400m to go" or whatever. I knew there was much more than this and the loop of the park still to go. Anyway managed to find a bit of a spurt from somewhere and got over the line without too much in the way of complaining from the legs during the race (though they are in bits now).

Chip time is 33:45, so a 2 min improvement on my PB which is from this race 2 years ago.

Splits from the watch are

6:52/6:42/6:45/6:50/6:34

Time to get serious on the whole strength and stretching side of things as I've been far too lazy with that recently.

Annie get your Run

adrian522 wrote: »

A lot of supporters shouting out "only 400m to go" or whatever. I knew there was much more than this and the loop of the park still to go. Anyway managed to find a bit of a spurt from somewhere and got over the line without too much in the way of complaining from the legs during the race (though they are in bits Chip time is 33:45, so a 2 min improvement on my PB which is from this race 2 years ago.

Splits from the watch are

6:52/6:42/6:45/6:50/6:34

Time to get serious on the whole strength and stretching side of things as I've been far too lazy with that recently.now).

That definitely wasn't us our line was 'only two more turns' cause we weren't sure of the distance left & there's nothing worse....Sorry we missed you at both points but well done on the PB!

tang1

Very well done on the PB A.

Bungy Girl

So now you know to break open the vino the night before every race! That's a great result, especially as you were just planning on getting around.

adrian522

Bungy Girl wrote: »

So now you know to break open the vino the night before every race! That's a great result, especially as you were just planning on getting around.

Possibly because of that so there was no pressure.

chickey2

I only had a half bottle of wine the night before and didn't get a pb. Next time I'll drink the full bottle!
Well done on the pb!

adrian522

Yeah, that was a rookie mistake !