Confessions of a never has been.....

Duanington

yaboya1 wrote: »

Only catching up on your race report now D.
Really interesting reading.
Well done again

Thanks P - well done yourself, floating around to another sub 3!

Duanington

RedRunner wrote: »

Great running in Wexford D. Nice PB and enjoyed the report.

Thanks RR - hope you get back at it soon

Duanington

04.05.2015

LR night tonight and while I had toyed with the idea of getting up early this morning to get this done, a lurking headcold put that idea to bed ( literally) and I opted for the lie in instead.
Busy day with the kids today so I was a little later than I had planned getting out this evening but I did get some core work in earlier on in the day while they stuffed their faces.
The plan for this evening was 12 miles easy. Headed off on a bit of a random route for this, down the coast towards Fairview, lap of the park, up the drag on the Malahide road towards Artane, down into Raheny and into St Anne's for a couple of laps then home.
Bumped into FBOT01 and his 4 legged running buddy out for their evening jog, had a nice chat for the length of the avenue in St Anne's till we parted ways , I went off to finish my run while he went off to catch up with his buddy :pac:

Enjoyed this run but I did feel the steady miles from last night rising to the surface towards the end, I expected that though to be honest...and thinking about it afterwards, its probably something that I'll do a little more over the summer ( i.e. run longer runs on tired legs)

Total miles: 12@7.58 min\miles

Duanington

06.05.2015

Tuesday

AM - 4.3 miles easy into work, the rain was heavy enough but with no wind it was actually quite an enjoyable run. Legs were a little stiff from the previous 2 nights and while I probably should have kept the pace down to recovery pace, I seldom manage to pull that off when running too\from work...and end up running somewhere in between recovery and easy which is probably not much use!

PM - Nice run home from work after a p*xy day at the office, I was glad to get the gear on after 6 and hit the road for home. Dropped off the backpack at home and took in some of the trails around St Anne's ...bringing the total for the day to 12

Small bit of core work and stretching at home to loosen out the body ( while watching Juve\Real )

Duanington

07.05.2015

Wednesday

AM - 4 miles easy, got drenched on this one. Wind and rain are the overriding memories of the run really. Was a little jealous of the commuters in their cars for a bit.....felt sorry for the poor souls at the bus stops though, buses seemed to rammed to capacity and flying by each stop without stopping

PM - Got the gear dried off on a hand drier in work ( and smoked out the bathroom by accident ) then headed off for home. No rain on this one and I quite enjoyed running in the little bit of sunshine that had appeared by the time I got out to the coast.
6 miles easy

10 for the day


Thursday

Got some core\stability work in before heading out for today's session at around lunchtime.

Plan was for: 6x30 second hills ( @3k effort) - 5\6 minutes easy then 8x400s ( 5k effort) ..all with active recovery

Took in a nice warmup around St Anne's before making may to the hill up into Raheny just outside the park - its not the steepest but it does just fine for these kind of sessions.
Felt good on each hill rep, no issues with keeping the effort right through the end which was pleasing and the jog back recovery seemed to be plenty - although I suspect the fact that I knew I had only 6 to get through had something to do with that!
I could feel the effort in my legs by the time I got through the 6 and started off straight away into the 6 minutes easy, making my way into the park and over to the football pitches where I planned to run the 400s.
Got started on the first and felt good until I hit a swamp and nearly lost my runner, mission aborted - the pitches were in $hite so I reverted to type and made my way to the Rose garden to get the 400s done. I would have preferred to run these on the grass given the cushioning etc but it wasn't to be.

Got started on the reps, 200m recovery for each one - first one was a killer and I could really feel the hills coming to the surface for the last 2 but I'm pretty pleased with the session overall - heat was a factor towards the end too actually. Target for each rep was between 1.22-1.24

Reps were:

1.24
1.22
1.23
1.22
1.22
1.23
1.22
1.23

Nice buzz in the park today in the sunshine, finished off with an easy mile to bring the total to 8


PM - out on the coast tonight for 3 recovery paced miles, possibly should have stayed in though as I'm feeling a little jaded...time will tell!

11 for the day

Duanington

09.05.2015

Friday

AM - run into work, dodged the rain - plenty of wind as always though and very few cars on the road. Felt it in the legs a little on this run, kept the pace right down and even gave myself a few extra minutes to get into work on time.

PM - Running home on a Friday evening is a strange thing - a thing of beauty actually. No matter what kind of running week I've had , no matter what state I leave my legs in - Friday evening runs are easy peasy..out the door and bound for home like a gazelle that has just escaped the clutches of a hungry croc !

Total for the day : 8 ( easy paced)


Saturday

Up and at it early this morning - the plan for today's session was;

2x3 miles @ tempo pace, - (6.15-6.20 min\miles) 5 mins easy between sets.

Despite a poor night's sleep, energy levels were good this morning. I was looking forward to this session and skipped out the door before the rest of the house woke ( except the dogs). Took in 1.5 miles easy on the coast road into the wind to get started.
Stopped for a minute to adjust the watch then I got started on the first section ( into the Jaysus wind again !)..headed down towards Fairview to do a lap and come back up along the coast.
Alarm bells went off fairly quickly on the first mile, where the legs had felt fine earlier, they felt almost lead-like over the first bit and it was a real struggle to get going into the wind. Miles 2 and 3 were a little better but the effort levels weren't tempo like at all - I got a bit of relief when I turned away from the wind but I knew this was going to be a rough day at the office to be honest.
The 5 minutes easy flew by and I was off again, heading up the bike track towards Howth - this time, it wasn't really a case of my breathing causing discomfort, my legs just felt like they hadn't the strength to keep going.

I got as far as mile 2 on the 2nd set and called it a day - I was flogging myself at this stage and that wasn't what I wanted at all from today's session , it was meant to be comfortably hard and there was nothing comfortable about it!

Took in a warm down in St Anne's and bumped into a few folks from these parts looking nice and chilled out before the parkrun, I stopped for a quick chat before skulking off to finish the warm down.

Almost as soon as I stopped, I cursed myself for worrying too much about the pace on this session - I really, really should have run by effort and forgot about whatever number was on the watch...a tough session on Thursday, 10 days after a tough half marathon should have reminded me of that but I'll live and learn.

It was probably a case of poor execution of a session that was planned quite poorly !

Splits:
6.24
6.18
6.10 (why?! :mad::mad:)
6.18
6.20

9 miles in total


PM - busy day in the park with the youngest and her bike then off to do some gardening while the rain stayed away. Got out fairly late this evening for 3 recovery miles which were very enjoyable, so much so that I came to the conclusion that this morning's session might actually have gone fairly ok all things considered, the splits were cr*p but this is a tough week in the plan and I have been talking long enough about testing myself on tired legs a bit more as I approach marathon training, if nothing else - today did that

Finished off with some stability\stretching

12 miles for the day

Duanington

10.05.2015

Had a fairly lazy day today which was just what the doctor ordered, nice to give the body a rest for a change - headed down to St Anne's for a stroll with the kids in the afternoon, ate quite well throughout the day but I couldn't seem to get the food into quick enough at times.
By the time I got around to running tonight, I was feeling pretty relaxed lazy and had no interest in going out into the wind and rain. Did a bit of work on the chin up bar to see if that got the blood flowing, it did the trick and I headed off out for 5 easy miles.

Took it nice and easy for the first couple of miles but I actually felt better as the run went on and finished off with a "punishment" mile for making a bags of yesterday's session.

6 miles for the day, 71 for the week ( a new high for me).

Another tough week ahead

FBOT01

Thought I was seeing things when I saw you out bouncing along the coast at 11pm last night after meeting you earlier in the day after your morning session. FairPlay to you.

You planning on a marathon in 2015 or holding out til 2016?

Duanington

FBOT01 wrote: »

Thought I was seeing things when I saw you out bouncing along the coast at 11pm last night after meeting you earlier in the day after your morning session. FairPlay to you.

You planning on a marathon in 2015 or holding out til 2016?

Howdie M - yep, that was me out for a few recovery miles alright.

I skipped DCM last year to focus on shorter stuff and now that I've done that I've no excuse to skip DCM this year ! ( I think you're planning on running it too, right?)

overpronator

You've a savage base to give marathon training a real lash D, any ideas what plan you're gonna follow?

Duanington

overpronator wrote: »

You've a savage base to give marathon training a real lash D, any ideas what plan you're gonna follow?

Howdie OP - no real idea just yet, I'll hopefully start marathon specific stuff in early July so I've a bit of research to do between now and then.

Suggestions on a postcard!

FBOT01

Duanington wrote: »

Howdie M - yep, that was me out for a few recovery miles alright.

I skipped DCM last year to focus on shorter stuff and now that I've done that I've no excuse to skip DCM this year ! ( I think you're planning on running it too, right?)

I presume you will be joining me on the 3hr bus so

For what it is worth I will probably go with 18 WK P&D 70 or a hybrid thereof. I did it twice last year and I think it worked well for me.

ThebitterLemon

FBOT01 wrote: »

I presume you will be joining me on the 3hr bus so

For what it is worth I will probably go with 18 WK P&D 70 or a hybrid thereof. I did it twice last year and I think it worked well for me.

DD, careful now. The FBOT 3hr bus terminates around junction 24 or 25 and your forced onto the 3:01 bus, you get to the same destination, just a little later

TbL

Duanington

ThebitterLemon wrote: »

DD, careful now. The FBOT 3hr bus terminates around junction 24 or 25 and your forced onto the 3:01 bus, you get to the same destination, just a little later

TbL

Ha ha - we'll see how the next couple of months pan out lads, I haven't given a target time much thought yet but I'll certainly throw myself at the training

Duanington

11.05.2015

Took the morning off this morning and got the bus into work instead ( It is officially quicker to run in than get the bus) with tonight's LSR in mind.

The usual hectic day at the office came to an end just after 6 bells so I got the gear and headed out the door ...then stood around like a dope for ages waiting for the Garmin to get a signal.

Plan for tonight was 16 miles - all easy, the longest I've ran in quite a while.

After a brisk enough run home, aided by the wind, I dropped the backpack off and ran back out the door, heading back up the coast towards Howth. I toyed with the idea of heading up into Howth but the wind was getting stronger as I got closer and I didn't fancy my chances up towards the summit to be honest - could have been good craic but it could have been dangerous too.

I headed off into Baldoyle, Donaghmede, Raheny and then into St Anne's for a couple of loops on the trails before heading for home to make up the 16 miles.

Splits:
8.20
8.07
7.50
7.50
8.06
7.52
7.53
8.05
8.00
8.00
7.53
7.56
8.00
7.55
7.51
7.58
Felt the pinch a little towards the end of the last mile

Light stretching afterwards to finish off

16 for the day

FBOT01

ThebitterLemon wrote: »

DD, careful now. The FBOT 3hr bus terminates around junction 24 or 25 and your forced onto the 3:01 bus, you get to the same destination, just a little later

TbL

You will be alright, D, I won't be driving the bus but if I was and it happened to be a fraction late sure isn't it better than never

Duanington

14.05.2015

Tuesday

AM - Run into work, nice and easy...seem to remember the weather being gank and the legs being a little tight.
I kept the pace right down and relaxed, I'm learning to give myself that extra bit of time in the mornings!

PM - Run home from work, had the wind at my back for most of this. Dropped the bag off and ran a couple of extra miles

Total for the day: 10

Wednesday

As above except the legs were in slightly better shape

Thursday

Session at lunch time and the plan was :

12x45 second hill sprints @ 5k effort\10k pace ( jog back recovery)

Ran down around St Anne's to get a good warmup for this as I always try to do for hill reps. Made my way to the hill at the back which actually isn't too steep but is actually just about right for this kind of session.

The longer than usual reps made for an interesting session as the pace was slightly slower than usual too. I really enjoyed each of these reps right up until the last 2 when I could feel the legs starting to weigh a little more. The recovery was just about enough to ensure each rep was consistent.

Finished off with a good warm down to bring the total miles to just over 7.

Stretching, corework and the first real weight session in a while afterwards ( easing back into it after hurting my wrist in work a while back).

PM - up to mammy D's for a monster feed and then out for a few very easy recovery miles. My legs were feeling the miles earlier in the week but they actually feel quite good tonight all considered.
3 miles @ 9ish min miles

Total for the day : 10

Duanington

16.05.2015

Friday

AM - 4 miles easy into work, a cracker of a morning for running and I was full of the joys getting up and at it. Running into work along the coast with the tide in, no breeze, not a single wave, sun threatening to break through the clouds. Perfect morning for it

PM - As usual, a manic Friday in work but for a change, I got out on time :-)
Didn't have to be asked twice to get the gear on and head off home, legs were tired, not sore but certainly feeling the miles a little, had company for the last mile or so which made for a pleasant change
4 miles easy

Saturday

Set the alarm for 7.30 to get my session done early, hit the snooze button a few too many times and eventually got out the door for 8.30

The plan for today was 10 miles with 8@steady pace ( 7.10ish)
Felt sluggish enough over the first few miles into the wind which I expected but while the breathing settled down nicely after a couple of miles ( again expected), I had that tired feeling in my legs for the duration of the session. I never struggled with the pace as such or the effort but running longer tempo sessions on tired legs is relatively new to me - hopefully it'll pay off over the next few months.
Finished off on teh St Anne's parkrun route and had a quick chat with race run director FBOT01 before heading off on a wardown
Splits worked out as:
8.15
7.17
7.03
7.01
6.51
7.02
7.07
7.08
6.59
8.10


PM - nobody around to keep an eye on the youngest tonight during my recovery run so she cycled while I ran...all around St Anne's - lovely evening for it and a good bit of craic too along the way.

Finished off with some core work and stretching at home

3 miles @ verrrry slow

13 for the day

Duanington

17.05.2015

Had a pretty chilled out Sunday, hung out with the family for most of the day and ate rings around myself while watching football\diamond league. Got out for 6 easy miles this evening in the rain but really enjoyed the run, the rain wasn't heavy and there was no real breeze which makes for lovely running conditions.

Threw in 6x80m strides during this to shake the legs out.

6 miles @ 7.54 min\miles to bring the weekly total to 73

Stretching and stability stuff afterwards

Duanington

19.05.2015

Monday

AM - Early morning run into work, legs felt good but I had a busy day ahead which always means I run too fast as the mind races!!

PM - Run home from work, windy evening for it ( as always it seems !) tipping along nicely through East Wall when Laura_ac3 whizzed by, still celebrating her well earned PB it would seem .
Tagged on a couple of extra miles at the end , leaving the backpack on out of sheer laziness which wasn't very clever really

10 miles for the day


Tuesday

Back to LSR night tonight, the plan was for 17 miles [EMAIL="w/3@steady"]w/3@steady[/EMAIL]

Lateish getting out of work after a mental day, I just wasn't looking forward to this one - no getting away from it but I have put together a plan that ramps up the effort levels a notch and am determined to stick with it to see where it goes.
Got the gear on and headed off towards home, fired the bag in the door and headed back up the coast towards Sutton, turning in at Baldoyle then headed down through Donaghmede, Raheny and into St Anne's to finish off .
Picked the pace up to steady after mile 14 and although I had felt tired for a bit before that stage, the transition wasn't as tough as I thought it would be.

Held a nice tempo right through this section, staying on the grass and taking in the few bumps that St Anne's has to offer ( that hill at the very end of the park near the coast is a killer with a good few miles in the legs!)

Finished up on the pitches with the 17 miles complete....1.5 miles from home

Ran the 1.5 miles home nice and easy

8.15
7.47
7.46
7.57
7.54
7.48
7.48
7.47
8.00
8.00
7.57
7.55
7.50
7.54
7.14
7.07
7.03
8.24
4.10 ( .5)

18.5 for the day

FBOT01

Nice one, D. Can't wait to see what punishment you prescribe for yourself when you ramp up to marathon training:eek:

Duanington

FBOT01 wrote: »

Nice one, D. Can't wait to see what punishment you prescribe for yourself when you ramp up to marathon training:eek:

I'm thinking of this phase as pre-hurt hurt M !

outforarun

Once again I'm catching up here, and once again I turn my back and you come up with new PBs, 5K, 10K and HM. Really enjoyed your HM report. Great running.

Duanington

20.05.2015

AM - 4 miles easy into work, my legs didn't feel quite as bad as I had feared and this run was actually quite enjoyable ( apart from the wind), stuck to the grass as much as I could.

PM - 4 miles easy home, I would usually tag on a couple of miles to this but with the extra bit at the end last night already in the legs and a couple of tough sessions coming up, I dropped them and left it at 4.

Lots of stretching and core work afterwards

laura_ac3

How do you come up with your training blocks? Am I right in thinking you put it together yourself? Maybe that's a silly question, I'm just curious how people do this especially when they're obviously working towards progression.

Duanington

laura_ac3 wrote: »

How do you come up with your training blocks? Am I right in thinking you put it together yourself? Maybe that's a silly question, I'm just curious how people do this especially when they're obviously working towards progression.

You're dead right Laura - I conjure it up as I go along :-)

I started working in 12(ish) week blocks about a year back with specific aims at the end of each block...the sessions are based on sessions that worked before for me, from online articles ( a lot from Boards) or from talking to other runners.

A lot of what I do is trial and error - I've tried different approaches during some of these blocks and if I feel it works....I build on it, add some miles, add some reps and maybe run certain runs harder...I try to keep it sensible though and run by feel a lot more than I did previously.

I try to plan out 8-12 weeks after each target race with a specific target in mind and put in sessions that I feel will help me get there, at a higher level, I would usually have an idea of where I want to be 6 months down the line and always bear that in mind when putting plans together

laura_ac3

Interesting, thanks for that. It seems to be working for you anyway. Trying to think about what I want for the rest of the year (targets, goal races, which distances) and how to go about it, so I'm intrigued by how other people plan and how they come up with targets and sessions. Good to see you the other day btw, sorry I didn't slow down to say hello properly, I wasn't entirely sure what was behind me on the road!

Duanington

21.05.2015

Lunchtime session today and after some light weights I made my way down to St Anne's to get started;

6x800m w\400m recovery - target for each rep was around 2.55-3.00

I decided to run these on the grass today to limit the impact on my feet\legs a little, I knew it would slow the pace a bit but I was more concerned with the effort than the number on the watch ( for a change!)

After a good warmup I got started on the reps, ran the first a bit too quick and eased off a little on the next 2. I have to admit to feeling the burn a little towards the end on the rest, especially the last but never so much that I was in danger of missing the target in fairness.

The grass certainly helped the legs, I used the field with Clontarf GAA club's pitches so it was just under 1 lap per rep, one side of the field was perfect for running while the other was a bit too soft and the grass a bit too long.

Delighted with the sustained effort throughout this one, I even had a sly lie down after the last one before getting warmdown done on the way home, bringing the total mileage to 8

Reps
2.51
2.55
2.56
2.55
2.57
2.57


PM

Out late tonight for 3 recovery miles, lovely evening - mild but a little windy and there is a MASSIVE cruise liner in Dublin Port at the moment which is lighting up the bay.
No idea of the pace, all easy peasy though

11 miles for the day

Duanington

22.05.2015

AM - 4 miles easy into work, I didn't sleep too well last night, possibly because I ate so much before hitting the hay?
Either way I felt great this morning, it being Friday and all that...
Kept the pace way down and gave myself plenty of time to get into work on time

PM - reverse journey home, felt VERY WARM all the way home but the legs felt good thankfully.


8 miles for the day

Duanington

24.05.2015

Saturday

AM

Up and it early as always, I had changed this around this weekend a little, deciding to run my planned tempo session a day later to give a little respite to the legs given the higher mileage of late.
All of that meant that the plan for this morning was 7 easy miles. Enjoyed this run but I did feel a little tired during the whole run, kept to the grass on the coast as much as I could, taking in a lap of Fairview park then heading back home.

7 miles @ 7.58 min\miles


PM

After a day of filling skips and breaking furniture up to fit into said skip, I headed off for 4 easy miles on the coast, throwing in 6x100 metre strides along the way - I ran these pretty quick but always controlled.

Legs felt good except for a bit of mild discomfort on my left Achilles

11 miles for the day



Sunday

Plan was to run 10 miles w\4@steady + [EMAIL="4@hmp...as"]4@hmp...as[/EMAIL] soon as I got started though, I could feel a bit of discomfort in my Achilles again, not exactly pain but I decided to can the session and take a night off rather than risk anything. I've had a good run of staying fit and healthy and I'd prefer to keep it that way!

No miles today and I'll decide tomorrow whether to run or not ( 4 miles easy).