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

Singer

Decent enough time for a "get around"! What's next?

adrian522

Ballycotton is the next major target but there could be some XC before then,

RedRunner

Jaysus if that's not sandbagging I don't know what is !;):D

Well done A. Great effort. You even had time to give me a shout out . Would love to see what you can do when you are really going for it.

Wubble Wubble

Great result Adrian! I should have known you were minding yourself in the XC races

adrian522

Wubble Wubble wrote: »

Great result Adrian! I should have known you were minding yourself in the XC races

Actually my Avg HR is Raheny was almost exactly the same as the XC race in Dunboyne so shows the effort levels about the same!

aquinn

Huh, you did very well for someone hoping to make it around.

Managed to miss you twice on the course. Apologies.

Well done Adrian.

adrian522

aquinn wrote: »

Huh, you did very well for someone hoping to make it around.

Managed to miss you twice on the course. Apologies.

Well done Adrian.

I was probably sneaking behind you on the footpath!

aquinn

adrian522 wrote: »

I was probably sneaking behind you on the footpath!

Ha, that you definitely weren't as I should have spotted you.

Wubble Wubble

adrian522 wrote: »

Actually my Avg HR is Raheny was almost exactly the same as the XC race in Dunboyne so shows the effort levels about the same!

Kind of proves what I suspected.....my effort levels were a lot less than in the XC :mad:

You giving the BHAA race a go on Saturday?

adrian522

I don't think so to be honest. Possibly the National masters on the 12th though, depending on how the body feels at that stage.

Wubble Wubble

Probably a wise move. If you're going to the Nats, you'd want to be as well rested as possible. Conditions could be very tough in PP on Saturday. I'd like to try the Nats some time, but it won't be this year as I'll be in college. Best of luck, and sure I'll catch you at another race soon enough no doubt.
J.

adrian522

Days Running|22/31
Sessions|4
Long Runs|1
Races|3
PB's|1

Month|2013|2014|2015|2016|2017
January|7|0|191|73.5|133.3
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|133.3

adrian522

Monday - Off

A bit of post race recovery while eating the goodie bag. Good times.

Tuesday - 6.1 Miles @ 8:56

Nice and easy run with the club on Tuesday night.

Wednesday - 6 Miles @ 9:09

Antoher easy run on Wednesday

Thursday - Off

I've been having a few niggle type issues over the last while so wanted to take a few days off from running and concentrate on rehab/strength/stretching etc.

Friday - Off

As above.

Saturday - 6.2 Miles @ 8:47

Just some more easy miles on Saturday.

Sunday - 12 Miles @ 8:53

Long run with the club on Sunday, it was damn cold starting out but warmed up nicely as the run went on.

Monday - Off

Tuesday - Club Session

Session is:

Warmup
3 x (1 x 0.8 Miles @ Tempo, 2 x 400m) with 90 seconds after the tempo lap and 1 min after each 400m.
Cooldown.

0.8m @ Tempo|400m|400m
6:48|6:09|5:54
6:46|6:23|5:47
6:49|6:10|5:36
Strange session but enjoyable. I certainly wasn't up for another set. Total came in at 6.8 Miles.

adrian522

Not a whole lot to report, just a good bit of easy/steady running. Wanted to get my mileage up a bit and limit the intensity somewhat.

Wednesday - 5.3 Miles @ 8:42

Easy run around one of the usual routes. Possibly a bit quick for what I'd intended to be more of a recovery run.

Thursday - Club Session

This was just a tempo run, I went at it as a slower run in the steady to MP range as I'd had some physio that morning so didn't want to push it.

Friday - 6 Miles @ 9:06 m/m

This was more like what I was expecting from an easy/recovery run!

Saturday - 6.9 Miles @ 8:33 m/m

Up around Tymon for this on Saturday. I was pushed for time to get this done but it was an enjoyable enough steady effort.

Sunday - 12 Miles @ 8:42 m/m

Long run in Kilkenny. Pretty good run. Felt strong enough, could have gone an extra few miles if needed.

42.6 Miles for the week

adrian522

Monday - Off

Tuesday - Club Session

Hills and Sprints. 8 Hills plus 8 Sprints. Good session, struggled with it a little bit in comparison to the last time I did it. Good to get through it though.

Wednesday - 6.3 Miles @ 9:11 m/m

Did this as a run home from work. Seemed to be uphill most of the way and a strong wind in my face. It was nice to run a different route for a change!

Thursday - 6.4 Miles @ 8:41

Run into work and the reverse of the Wednesday run. Still seemed all uphill and into the wind, pace was a bit quicker and was generally a good run.

Friday - 5.4 Miles @ 9:13 m/m

After 2 easier days I thought it feel a bit better on this but it was a real struggle, as much with motivation as anything. I'd hoped to get this done at lunchtime but put it off. Eventually dragged myself out the door in the evening but it wasn't really enjoyable at all. Just one of those runs.

Saturday - Club Session

Skipped the club session on Thursday in favour of this one on Saturday. It's a loop up by the Hell Fire Club, hilly and about 1.2 Miles each. We did 4 of these. It was a good session, didn't kill myself on them but it was a pretty hard effort all the same.

Paces were:

Lap|Pace|Time
1|7:21|8:59
2|7:32|9:14
3|7:37|9:14
4|7:35|9:15

Sunday - 13.1 Miles @ 8:51 m/m

I left it pretty late to get this done on Sunday. Pretty late night on Saturday and resulting hangover didn't bode well for getting any run done, and the hurling results did little to improve my mood, but finally got out around 6:30.

The run was good once I got into it though. The miles came easily and it was a good one to get done as I was very close to sitting on the couch and ordering pizza instead!

Total for the week 44.4 Miles.

adrian522

Monday - Off

Tuesday - Club Session

This session is a bit of a mouthful but anyway.

2 x (2 x 600m, 800m) + (1 x 0.8 Miles). Except I didn't do the second 0.8 Miles, I'd had enough at that stage and didn't want to flog it so ended up doing just about 7.5 miles in total with 4 600's, 4 800's and one loop of 0.8 miles.

Not sure how I felt about it, I guess it was a good enough session, paces were pretty solid and a good start to the week.

Wednesday - 5.3 Miles @ 9:05

A little bit of a recovery run on Wednesday. Strava tells me I've done this route 21 times. Which doesn't include all the times I've run it in the opposite direction!

Thursday - 7.5 Miles @ 9:06 m/m

Run home from work on Wednesday evening with the route expended to 7.5 Miles. Really windy and one of the streets had no lights to a power outage so was a bit difficult to see where I was going!

Friday - 5.6 Miles @ 8:55

Run into work on Friday morning. Took a shorter route and tried to keep the pace slow enough. Even though Wednesday's run was @ 9:06 it was a good bit tougher than that as it was into the wind for the most part. This one felt more like a recovery run.

Saturday - 6.3 Miles @ 8:42

After a few drinks on Friday night I got up on Saturday and did the route into work again to collect my bike and buy some coffee. This was an enjoyable run, it was windy, but for a change it was at my back for most of the route!

Sunday - 14 Miles @ 8:36

Long run Sunday morning and it was windy as hell. I ground in the PP was also pretty soft, all in all it made for a difficult run. I probably pushed the pace a bit too much in the middle section but all in all it was a good run and I'm glad to get it done.

Total for the week was 46.5 Miles

We are now less than 2 weeks out from Ballycotton. I'm pretty happy with the work that has been done. I've a few nice sessions in the bank and the mileage has gradually increased over the last few weeks.

I've a few long runs in the bank too so I'll be hopeful of a PB on March 12th. I think no matter what happens I can improve further over 10 miles during the summer, maybe in Mullingar as I add a bit more speed work to the schedule.

adrian522

Days Running|22/28
Sessions|5
Long Runs|4
Races|0
PB's|0

Month|2013|2014|2015|2016|2017
January|7|0|191|73.5|133.3
February|10|53|196|104.1|165.9
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|299.6

Good month really, no races but some good sessions and also some consistency into the training with a long run every weekend and mileage slowly creeping upwards!

adrian522

After weeks of 42, 44 and 46 miles, this was to be a step back week of 42 miles with just one session included.

Monday - Rest

Tuesday - 8.1 Miles @ 8:51

Just an easy run, It was very wet from what I can remember!

Wednesday - 5.7 Miles @ 8:55

Slower, recovery pace run. Added a mount Carmel loop to what the original plan was. This was windy as all hell.

Thursday - Club Session

Club Session was the Ballyboden lap, which is essentially a 5.5 Mile tempo run. I went with 1 mile easy, 1 steady, 3 tempo and 0.5 cool down. I'd intended to hit 3 miles @ 7:00 m/m or there abouts but wasn't able to maintain that for whatever reason, but in any case it was a good enough session, hitting 7:06, 7:07 and 7:14 for those 3 miles.

Friday - 6.1 Miles @ 8:56

Recovery paced run on Friday evening. Went ok.

Saturday - 6.7 Miles @ 8:39

Up around Tymon on Saturday morning. Good enough run. One or 2 pretty fast miles thrown in there.

Sunday - 10 Miles @ 8:09

Long run Sunday morning. As I was limiting this to 10 Miles I went a bit harder than usual. It was a good run, never felt like I was pushing too hard, but steady all the way. This bodes well for Ballycotton next week I think.

Total for the week is 42.3 Miles.

Bungy Girl

I'll get my good luck wishes in now while I'm on a roll . Some really great training done recently, A, so hope you get the result you deserve! Best of luck Sunday.

Murph_D

Well? Let's hear about that PB.

adrian522

I'm not sure that run was worthy of a full blown report but I'll throw up an overall update in the next few days. Currently trying to figure out plan for the next few months to hopefully take me up to Dunshaughlin in decent 10K shape.

adrian522

Monday 5.4 Miles @ 9:04 m/m

Tuesday - Club Session

This session is 1 x 0.8 Miles, 1 x 600m and 1 x 800m. I did 2 sets of this and left it at that. I think this was a bit of a bad night, but a good session none the less. Didn't want to do too much with the race at the weekend.

Wednesday - 6.3 Miles @ 9:17 m/m

Thursday - 6 Miles @ 8:59 m/m

Friday - Off

Saturday - 4 Miles @ 8:44 m/m

All of which is too say there was a while lot of easy running in the lead up to Ballycotton. One session on Tuesday and a fairly hard run on the Sunday prior but I felt good enough travelling down.

Sunday - Ballycotton 10 Mile

Pre - Race

After driving from Dublin to Thurles and back on Saturday I was pretty glad of a lift down to Ballycotton. With the race starting around lunchtime we set off around 8:30 am. No real traffic issues and we arrived down in plenty of time.

Not really much of a warmup apart from the jog from the car park to the start, weaving around people as we went.

Down to the start in plenty of time to get a good spot. Still never going to avoid the congestion but started more or less where I should have been.

Miles 1-3:

Once we got underway I'm trying my best not to weave around too much and to stay out of trouble. I'm thinking in terms of a sub 70 so really need to be going at about 6:50 for these first few downhill miles.

The first mile is around 7:08, about right considering the early congestion. Even into the second mile its hard to get into any sort of rhythm but a time of 6:48 is where I need to be.

I don't feel I'm working to hard at this stage but certainly don't feel like I'm holding anything back either. The third mile clocks in at 6:56. This is about as good as it gets. (7:08/6:48/6:56)

Miles 4-6

I spot Murph_D up ahead and work towards him, noticing that I'm working a bit too hard for the first time. We exchange a few words and I push on. Should have ran with him for a little bit. As we turn left around here we get hit with the full force of the wind and I'm very conscious of the effort levels going up. I'm glad to get past halfway and head towards home. (7:04, 7:19, 7:14)

Miles 7-10

The wheels really started to come off here. Sub 70 is really gone and I'm just hanging on as a stream of people seem to be passing me. I know I'm on for a PB so I'm not too deflated. Murph_D passes me around here but I can't stay with him for too long. I let him off but manage to stay within a few hundred meters of him for the rest of the race.

Once we hit 8.5 Miles its time for the dreaded hill. I know what I'm in for so just try my best to maintain the effort. Before long we hit 1 mile to go, and its just the bit through the village to go. I manage to get through it. The chip time is 72:09 which I think is identical to Murph_D's chip time, but he beats me on Gun time obviously. (7:15, 7:16, 7:42, 7:11)

It's a PB of just under 2 mins so hard to be disappointed, particularly when the training has been more of the base building variety. Having said that I feel that there is more to come over this distance and a good run of much closer to 70 mins will be possible in the summer.

39 Miles for the week.

adrian522

Monday - Off

Tuesday - 5.6 Miles @ 8:44

Wednesday - 7.3 Miles @ 8:43 m/m

Thursday - Club Session

Session is just a fartlek of 1 min hard/1 min steady. I didn't go too hard at this, maybe 5-10K pace on the hard bits. Legs felt ok, if not 100% recovered just yet!

Friday - 5.4 Miles @ 8:41

Saturday - Club Session

Session in Bushy Park on Saturday morning. 12 x 400m at not quite flat out pace but with just 40 seconds recovery.

I was glad to get through 12 of these. I just sat in the middle of the group and let others set the pace/do the work. There's always upside to being in a running club.

Sunday - 10.1 Miles @ 8:27 m/m

This was tough. Slightly hungover and the ground was soft as hell and impossible to get any grip. Could have done with spikes to be honest. A good run for all that though and a nice way to finish the week.

Total for the week is just short of 41 Miles.

Murph_D

Your Ballycotton is very similar to mine, only in reverse, as I struggled more with the first half than the second. Congrats on the PB all the same - that's a huge lump off.

Wubble Wubble

Well done A, I've never been there, but from reading I would take a near 2 minute PB on that course any time!

adrian522

This week has seen a whole lot of easy running. 2 reasons for that. Firstly work was pretty crazy so just had to fit in runs when I could. Secondly I'd a 10K planned on Saturday so once we got to Wednesday or Thursday I wasn't going to add in any sessions.

Monday 5.8 Miles @ 8:54 m/m

Tuesday - 6.4 Miles @ 8:33 m/m

Wednesday - 7.8 Miles @ 8:54 m/m

Thursday - Off

Friday - 5 Miles @ 8:34 m/m

Saturday - K-Club 10K

I knew I wasn't in top 10K shape, but I also knew I'd some good base wok done and following a good run in Raheny over 5 miles I was eager to see how I was set over 10K.

Always a great occasion I arrived down to Straffan around 10am an hour before the off. A few familiar faces around, the sun was shining and everyone was looking forward to it.

A slight change to the course (so that the finish could be on the straight) meant that there was a sharp left, then right down a narrow enough road right at the start.

My first mile clocked at 6:36 which was pretty fast, having averaged 6:45 in Raheny. I was feeling the pace by the time the second mile ticked by in 6:41 but I was happy enough.

I made a decision to ease off a bit knowing that I wasn't keeping this up to the end. The 3rd mile was 6:47 but I'd actually run my race at this point.

I began to slow and was really just hanging on for the next few miles. My paces went 7:19, 7:13, 7:17 in the second half. I was really just doing my best to hang in there.

My finish time was 43:06 which about 1 min off my PB. Dunshaughlin will be the target to try and take down that time but for this week happy enough with that.

Post race was the usual epic spread, this time with added sitting out in the sunshine enjoying the great food.

Well done to wubble wubble who also ran yesterday!

Sunday 10 Miles @ 9:08

Just a few easy miles around Tymon in the sunshine to close out the week before seeing Kilkenny beat Dublin!

Total for the week: 43.3 Miles

13 weeks to Dunshaughlin (I think).

tang1

Well done yesterday A, don't know how I managed to forget you were running, good marker for Dunshaughlin.

adrian522

Days Running|27/31
Sessions|5
Long Runs|3
Races|2
PB's|1

Month|2013|2014|2015|2016|2017
January|7|0|191|73.5|133.3
February|10|53|196|104.1|165.9
March|7|111|207.9|70|186.9
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|487

Well, first quarter year done. Not quite hitting the 500 miles but close enough to think 2,000 miles is doable for the first time.

PB's this year already at 5 miles and 10 Miles. Obviously a bit of work to be done to take down the 5k and 10K times.

Tomorrow marks 12 weeks to Dunshaughlin, which will be the main target for the next few months. Plan to race a fair bit in the build up though. National 10k, Tallaght 5K, Dunboyne 5 Mile and Bohermeen 5k all on the cards!

adrian522

Monday - Rest

Tuesday - 7.7 Miles @ 8:46 m/m


Went down to the club session but wasn't feeling the love for an all out 5K time trial (on the Rathfarnham 5k course) so just jogged around it. Just coming off the 10K the previous Saturday so wanted an easy day here.

Wednesday - Tempo Run

Took this from the Pfitzinger 10K plan. 10mins @ LT/8 mins @ LT/8 Mins @ LT.

Paces were 7:05/7:03/7:23.

It was a bit of a struggle truth be told. I found it difficult to maintain that pace with any degree of comfort.

Thursday - 6 Miles @ 9:01 m/m


Friday - 8.2 Miles @ 8:50 m/m


Both of these were just easy pace. On Thursday I was still feeling the effects of Wednesdays session. The Friday run was a lot more enjoyable.

Saturday - Track Session

2x400m/1x800m/2x400m/4x200m

First track session of the year. Went pretty well. Recoveries were fairly generous and it wasn't the toughest session being honest. Paces were

1:29/1:27/3:07/1:26/1:28/0:37/0:39/0:40/0:39

Sunday - 10 Miles @ 8:37 m/m

Long run to end the week.

Total for the week 44.7 Miles.

adrian522

Monday - 5.8 Miles @ 8:54 m/m

Tuesday - Club Session

4 x 1200m + 4 x 150m Strides

These were done at about 5k Pace. Paces were 6:29/6:27/6:23/6:32

Good session, happy with effort levels and the paces were pretty consistent. overall it was about 7.5 Miles.

Wednesday - 9 Miles @ 8:43 m/m

Medium Length run after work on Wednesday. Kept it slow.

Thursday - 6.4 Miles @ 8:38 m/m

Went to the club session with the intention of keeping it easy but was a bit quick in places. Overall not too bad though.

Friday - 4.2 Miles @ 9:31 m/m


Recovery on the grass pitches in UCD. Always find running here monotonous.

Saturday - 4.1 Miles @ 9:02 m/m


More recovery pace running, also with 4 x 20 second strides

Sunday - AAI National 10K

The Great Ireland run as its also called. I haven't run this race since 2013 when it was my first ever 10K. I was expecting a solid improvement on my 62 min run that day!

Started up with the rest of the club runners with the intention of keeping it relaxed for the first few miles knowing the second half of this course would be tough.

Started with miles of 6:54 and 6:45 which was pretty close to the plan. The downhill 3rd mile was 6:36 but I was still holding something back. Not sure if this strategy was sound as the uphill bits were still tough as hell.

Miles of 7:08 and 7:20 brought me to the 5 mile mark in OK shape. The last full mile was a bit of a struggle at 7:22 but that was to be expected. Solid effort, knowing a PB was never on the cards today.

The race is a good solid workout and today was actually pretty enjoyable.

Finished in 43:50 which is 45 seconds off the K-Club run a few weeks back which I'm counting as a good result.

Total for the week is 45.3 Miles