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

OOnegative

Well done today, not the result you were hoping for I know.

adrian522

OOnegative wrote: »

Well done today, not the result you were hoping for I know.

Indeed. Pretty obvious from early on that a 90 minute time wasn't really on but so hard to readjust mid-race.

Similar time to Charlevile in September but instead of even spits I'd 5 or 6 miles at 6:44/6:50 then dropped to around 7:20 and kept that to the end.

Not overly disappointed but still goes down as a poor race from a pacing point of view, though I did what I could from an effort perspective.

I'll go to Madrid in April with less lofty goals and go out at a more conservative pace and see if I can at least take a bit off the PB.

adrian522

Day|Time|Dist/Pace|Comment
Monday|PM|5 Miles @ 8:54|Recovery
Tuesday|AM|3.2 miles @ 8:35|Commute
Tuesday|PM|Club Session|4 x (600m/800m)
Wednesday|PM|7.1 @ 8:43 m/m|Easy run home from work
Thursday|AM|7.1 Miles @ 8:18 m/m|The reverse of Wednesdays run.
Friday|PM|5.1 Miles @ 8:48 m/m|Treadmill. Bought a fancy new footpod, only to find its not compatible with my watch. It has its own app anyway so not all bad.
Saturday|AM|4.2 Miles @ 8:29 m/m|Went to the Club Session and did a few laps of Bushy Park with some strides. Gatecrashed the parkrun birthday run in certain sections!
Sunday|AM|Bohermeen Half Marathon|1:32:42 - 20 seconds slower than Charleville last September

Well, this week all about the race. Not really a goal race but one I'd like to do well in. Given the interrupted training due to snow I felt a bit sluggish down at the club session on Tuesday. Gave it a good go and really pushed the pace as much as I could. Looking back the paces seemed to be like 5-10K pace. It's always good to get a good session in after you've not done one in a while.

All easy running after that until Sunday. I'd decided I'd go for the sub 90. After the performance in Dungarvan I think this should have been a realistic goal. Should have been.

I lined up just in front of the 90 min pacers. The start was ok, I was feeling ok but if I dropped the pace at all I got sucked into the large group. I got boxed in with legs getting clipped a few times so I tried to stay a few meters in front but it soon became apparent that I was working too hard and it was going to be a tough ask to maintain this for another 10 miles.

I struggled on like this for another few miles but eventually dropped back from the 90 minute group.

Splits for the first 5 Miles: 6:45/6:49/6:49/6:48/6:55

I started to go backwards at this point. I was surprised by how isolated I found myself, also found myself getting passed by a fair few runners, trying to keep the pace honest but really struggling at this point.

As we came around for the second lap I knew the game was up. I did have thoughts of dropping out but put those thoughts out of my head but at this point I found the wind to be an issue and was just trying to get through it.

7:08/7:05/7:10/7:16/7:24

Still getting passed by runners and still trying to think I can PB if I can just dig in a bit more but really finding it tough to pick up the pace at all. I am passed by a clubmate with around 3 miles to go.

Try as I might I just can't get anything going. Delighted to finally turn right onto the last stretch, check the watch, is PB on? 3 mins to run 800m to grab a PB. No chance but I still finish out as strong as I can.

7:25/7:11/7:09/(5:53).

Overall disappointed. I thought I'd do better. The pace really dropped off a cliff after 5 miles and it was just impossible to get going. Pretty demoralizing from there.

In hindsight I'd have say it's good to almost PB on a tougher course with no real taper but I'd have hoped to go a bit better based off Raheny and Dungarvan. I won't dwell on it but probably didn't give the race the respect it deserved in terms of preparation.

I've another half in April, where I will try to run close to 7 min miles from the start and see where that leads. Kudos to Bohermeen on the race, its a nice route and there is a great atmosphere around the place. I'll hopefully be back again.

Weekly Mileage 55.1

RayCun

Why did you start in front of the pacers?

adrian522

RayCun wrote: »

Why did you start in front of the pacers?

It wasn't intentional it was just where I ended up in the first mile. I hadn't intended on running with them, I just wanted to go out and run by feel more or less. But once I found myself just in front of that group I tried to stay there, and probably ended up going a bit quicker than I would have liked in all honesty.

adrian522

Day|Time|Dist/Pace|Comment
Monday|PM|Off|Recovery
Tuesday|PM|3.4 miles @ 8:38|Commute
Tuesday|PM|5.4 Miles @ 8:17 m/m|Easy/Steady
Wednesday|AM|3.2 Miles @ 8:37 m/m|Commute
Wednesday|PM|5.3 @ 8:39 m/m|Treadmill
Thursday|AM|3.2 Miles @ 8:49 m/m|Commute
Thursday|PM|Club Session|Progressive Tempo Run
Friday|AM|4.8 Miles @ 8:42 m/m|Commute
Saturday|AM|10K Pace Session|1 x 2 Miles, 4 x 1 Mile
Sunday|AM|3.5 Miles @ 9:20 m/m|Abandoned Long Run

After the half I took the day off on Monday, then went back with some easy running on Tuesday and Wednesday.

I was going to do the same on Thursday, but then decided to start the tempo slowly and gradually pick it up if I felt ok. My miles went:

8:36/7:53/7:33/7:26/7:05 so went from Easy=>Steady=>MP => HM Pace.

I felt ok during this and only really was working hard towards the end.

On Saturday I decided to dig out one of the McMillan 10K workouts. I'd done the first one on a treadmill a few weeks back so went with number 2. The day was windy as hell and Tymon has its ups and downs.

The first 2 mile was pretty much a full circuit so you get a bit of up and a bit of down.

All the 1 mile sections were either up or down. The wind made it a session that you just have to judge by effort. In all the session felt tough but manageable. The uphill sections were certainly harder and the path was blocked by a big puddle in one place that really didn't help.

I could feel the calf a bit during the last one but wasn't concerned by it. Including Strava's Gradient adjusted pace here for context.

Distance|Pace|GAP
2 Miles|6:40|6:27
1 Mile|7:02|6:27
1 Mile|6:33|6:30
1 Mile|7:09|6:46
1 Mile|7:05|7:03

I guess there is no sugarcoating the last 2

Sunday I'd planned a long run, early before heading down to Kilkenny. The snow was unwelcome but nothing for it but to get it over with. I was heading towards the Phoenix Park. It was cold but just as I was warming up the calf started to bother me more and more.

Given the weather I really didn't want to end up 10 miles away and being unable to get home so I called it fairly early on and headed for home.

Hopefully nothing too serious but better to can this run then to force it I think.

44.4 Miles for the week.

Murph_D

44 miles sounds good to me for a recovery week. Can’t believe you didn’t plough through that puddle though!

adrian522

Murph_D wrote: »

44 miles sounds good to me for a recovery week. Can’t believe you didn’t plough through that puddle though!

Well I hadn't planned on reducing the mileage this week, perhaps I should have dialed it back a bit more after the race, though the week was mainly made up of lots of short runs.

That puddle was menacing, making the path unpassable for people! I see RayCun made mention of it too....

Murph_D

adrian522 wrote: »

That puddle was menacing, making the path unpassable for people! I see RayCun made mention of it too....

We will have to have a NS vs SS puddle-off.

adrian522

Day|Time|Dist/Pace|Comment
Monday|PM|Off|Injury/Hangover/Sports Massage
Tuesday|PM|4.1 miles @ 9:13|Tester run, ok, not great
Wednesday|PM|6 Miles @ 8:13 m/m|Treadmill, went well, also did some weights
Thursday|PM|6.2 Miles @ 8:27 m/m|Easy Run at the club session
Friday|PM|Off|Part being careful, part being lazy
Saturday|AM|7 Miles @ 8:17 m/m|Getting back to normal
Sunday|AM|14.98 Miles @ 8:24 m/m|First Long one in the PP sine November, all good with the leg

Tuesday the calf still felt very tight. Cut the run a bit short. Wednesday hit the gym figuring if I need to cut it short I won't have a long walk home.

Thursday went down to club session, did an easy 6 miles. A bit tight but not too bad. Friday off and a good run on Saturday morning.

Sundays long run went well, good pace and didn't have any issues with the calf, also met Catherina McKiernan so good day all round.

Total for the week was 38.4 Miles, lowest since October

OOnegative

Best of luck in the K-club A, run well!!

adrian522

Thanks, Not sure what to expect from it, only decided to run it this morning!

OOnegative

adrian522 wrote: »

Thanks, Not sure what to expect from it, only decided to run it this morning!

I seen you were only going for the post race feed alright!!

adrian522

I'd entered a 5K in Kilkenny on Thursday but never made it down so jumping into this instead. Not really had a desire for racing since Bohermeen but with so many racing this weekend there won't be many takers for a session tomorrow morning so 10K it is. This at least gives me the chance of a long run tomorrow.

The other option was the 10 Miler on Monday but I'll give that a miss.

I plan to run the national 10K on April 15th followed by the Madrid half marathon on April 22nd. So this one will just be an all out effort without too much expectation.

Calvin Johnson

I saw you on Sunday by the Zoo.

adrian522

Calvin Johnson wrote: »

I saw you on Sunday by the Zoo.

Cool, didn't see you. Are you doing much running these days?

Calvin Johnson

625 miles this year so far. Heading over to Manchester next weekend to see what shape I'm in.

adrian522

Calvin Johnson wrote: »

625 miles this year so far. Heading over to Manchester next weekend to see what shape I'm in.

That's good mileage, best of luck in Manchester!

Calvin Johnson

Thanks, what's your long term plan?

adrian522

Calvin Johnson wrote: »

Thanks, what's your long term plan?

Berlin in September is the main goal, hopefully tageting 3:15 or so.

adrian522

Day|Time|Dist/Pace|Comment
Monday|PM|5.8 Miles @ 8:19 m/m|Late evening run around Bratislava.
Tuesday|AM|10K Pace Session|2 x 2 Miles, 2 x 1 Mile
Wednesday|PM|4.9 Miles @ 8:39 m/m|A final Bratislava run, only had 45 mins to spare and was regretting the amount of food consumed at lunch.
Thursday|PM|8 Miles @ 8:33 m/m|Down the club but in no mood for a session
Friday|AM|4 Miles @ 8:18|Last minute decision to do the K-Club, this counts as a taper.
Saturday|AM|K-Club 10K|42:06 by the watch.
Sunday|AM|10 Miles @ 8:31 m/m|Mucky as hell and still stiff from yesterday.

I was away with work this week so I knew I'd struggle to fit run in. Went out for a run on Monday shortly after getting to the hotel. Nice city and nice route down by the Danube.

The next morning I wanted to get in a session. I had to leave the hotel at 8:30, so working backwards I figured I'd need to get started by 6am. Not my best decision as 6am here was 5am back home. And prior to the daylight savings that would have been 4am. My body clock was all over the place. Headed out into the darkness planning to use the trail down by the river.

2 Miles @ 6:46
2 Miles @ 6:41
1 Mile @ 6:43
1 Mile @ 6:49

Not great, not terrible. 10 Miles in total before 7:30 though.

Wednesday I got in a last run, before another early start, this time to catch a flight. Struggled down to the club on Thursday and went through the motions for an easy run.

Friday I woke up feeling a bit better after a good nights sleep so decided to go for the 10K race on Saturday. 4 Miles plus strides got done in preparation.

K-Club Race report to follow.

Sunday I had thoughts of getting up early to get some miles in before the club 10 miler but common sense prevailed. 10 Easy miles thorough a fairly mucky PP.

Gives a total of 51.3 Miles for the week.

adrian522

K-Club 10K:

One of my favourite races on the calendar, but hadn't planned on running it. I decided at the last minute to give it a go. Preparation hadn't been great but the atmosphere pre race was good and so many familiar faces. A quick 2 mile warmup with Singer and Murph_D and I was feeling OK.

The start was pretty congested and it was hard to find a rhythm, I tried to hang onto Singer for a while but he pushed on before too long.

I was moving fairly well and kept picking off people who had obviously started too fast. The first few miles were at a good pace but I wasn't sure I could keep this up.

I wasn't monitoring the watch too closely but did check at 5K and it showed 20:33. A quick mental calculation told me that would be close to 41 mins.

I tried to keep up this pace but obviously didn't manage it. I found myself isolated in parts and the wind was a factor on certain sections.

Once we came back up the road for home I was hanging on a bit. Turning left back into the estate I picked it up figuring I'd empty the tank for the last bit.

Then we are diverted left on a surprising and unwelcome detour. Wasn't expecting that and it really was tough to finish it out. This wasn't part of the course in previous years so it caught me by surprise.

I stopped the watch at 42:06, which isn't a great result but not terrible either all things considered. Some great performances from others on Saturday though, so congrats for all the PB's.

Great race as ever and one I'll always try to fit into my training.

Splits: 6:37/6:35/6:33/6:48/6:49/6:50/(6:24)

Obviously slowed a lot more than I thought on that second loop.

adrian522

|Month|YTD
Days Running|27/31|80/90
Sessions|4|12
Long Runs|2|5
Commutes|8|31
Doubles|2|15
Races|2|10
PB's|0|5

Month|2013|2014|2015|2016|2017|2018
January|7|0|191|73.5|133.3|216.3
February|10|53|196|104.1|165.9|194.7
March|7|111|207.9|70|186.9|211.4
April|26|154|165.2|74.9|203.2
May|69|121|219.7|128.6|193
June|75|93|257.4|183.2|179.3
July|67|212|151.2|236.4|242.1
August|101|233|132.7|279.7|255.7
September|85|261|31.6|191.2|151.1
October|4|179|63.6|106.6|167.4
November|13|28|17.5|154.9|223.3
December|6|163|21|151.3|213.7
Total|471.2|1606.2|1654.8|1757.3|2318.6|622.4


Distance|PB - Dec 2017|Current PB|2018 Target
Marathon| 3:26:56|3:26:56|3:15:00
10K|41:20|41:20|41:00
10 Miles|71:10|67:03|69:00
Half|1:32:23|1:32:23|1:31:00
5 Miles|32:53|32:13|32:00
5K|19:32|19:32|19:00

Not much brilliant happened in March, I had a good few weeks leading into Bohermeen but didn't have a great race.

The following week I probably didn't allow enough recovery and had to abandon a long run due to a calf niggle. No major damage done but enough of a warning to give me second thoughts. I took it really easy the next week, before getting back on track with a good long run.

So this week I jumped in the K-Club but not really having much training done since the half. Not a bad result all in all.

Mileage is high enough considering the above. The plan for April will be to race the National 10K and Madrid half and hopefully add a good few sessions to bring on the fitness.

I'm hoping to hit my yearly targets for 5K, 10K and 5 Mile in May and June.

Anyway for now just trying to keep it going as all in all its going quite well.

OOnegative

10 mile PB 67.03, target 69? Surely should read 66?

adrian522

OOnegative wrote: »

10 mile PB 67.03, target 69? Surely should read 66?

The target at the start of the year was 69. I ran 67 in Feb. You are right I should probably set a new target as I'll probably run a 10 mile in the build up to Berlin given there are around 7 million 10 Mile races on over the summer!

OOnegative

adrian522 wrote: »

The target at the start of the year was 69. I ran 67 in March. You are right I should probably set a new target as I'll probably run a 10 mile in the build up to Berlin given there are around 7 million 10 Mile races on over the summer!

Yeah way your going A 66mins is more than achievable before Berlin.

adrian522

OOnegative wrote: »

Yeah way your going A 66mins is more than achievable before Berlin.

I'd like to see that sort of time reflected in my 10K and half times also :pac:

adrian522

Day|Time|Dist/Pace|Comment
Monday|PM|5.8 Miles @ 8:51 m/m|Treadmill Run on Easter Monday after a gym session
Tuesday|PM|5.3 Miles @ 9:17 m/m|Recovery Pace down at the club
Wednesday|PM|7.3 Miles @ 8:34 m/m|Easy Run home after work
Thursday|AM|3.2 Miles @ 8:24 m/m|The legs finally coming around after the race at the weekend.
Thursday|PM|Club Session|2 x Fartlek Laps
Friday|AM|Off|Rest Day
Saturday|AM|Track Session|3 x (400/300/200)
Sunday|AM|15.1 Miles @ 8:35 m/m|Tough slog around the Phoenix Park, swamp like conditions.

Started off the week with a heavy Gym Session and a few miles on the treadmill. Legs still feeling the effects of the race on Tuesday and even on Wednesday.

Session on Thursday was the Fartlek Lap, good hard session, didn't go too hard on it though.

Saturday, first track session of the year. A fairly gentle introduction but you really do forget how long 400m can be.

After spending the day doing some charity bag packing in Tesco I was pretty tired for the long run on Sunday and it was fairly heavy going in the PP. Got through it but it wasn't really enjoyable.

Nice to hit the road to Kilkenny afterwards though to see the Hurling final. Serious kudos to those lads for winning the league after the start they had.

Next up its the national 10K on Sunday followed by a trip to Madrid for a half marathon weekend!

OOnegative

Well done on the PB A, enjoy the no doubt sunny beers man.

adrian522

Day|Time|Dist/Pace|Comment
Monday|PM|Rest|Off
Tuesday|PM|Club Session|4 x (600m/400m)
Wednesday|AM|4.6 Miles @ 8:43 m/m|Recovery
Thursday|PM|Club Session|1 x Fartlek Lap
Friday|AM|3.2 Miles @ 8:14|Commute
Friday|PM|4.7 Miles @ 8:45|Commute, again.
Saturday|AM|4 Miles @ 8:41|Easy with Strides
Sunday|AM|6.2 Miles @ 6:55 m/m|National 10K, 43:23

Good hard session on Tuesday, very light session on Thursday and a tough run in the national 10K in poor conditions.

I'd been up all night on the Friday and just struggled to get anything going on the Sunday. It goes down as a good hard effort and actually faster than the same race last year but I really had a poor race and went backwards a lot in the second half. Not a whole lot more to say.