Confessions of a never has been.....

Duanington

overpronator wrote: »

Great stuff D and well done on the podium.

Thanks S - another man who nailed a smashing 10k time the other night, well done

Duanington

annapr wrote: »

Brilliant D! Congrats on the podium!

Clearly you need to do more training on 'roads' with grass in the middle, that's what cost you first place!

Thanks A - ha ha, I dunno, Ennis AC had to run that stretch too, he probably played it all a bit smarter than I did though!

Duanington

laura_ac3 wrote: »

Well done D, another good performance from you. Have you had experience from before of leading a race? Brings about a different mental approach on the day I'd imagine.

Thanks Laura - No, not since I was a nipper and pretty handy at the egg and spoon race ( or potato and spoon as we did in our school, get the right shaped potato and you're laughing), it definitely brings a different dimension to it alright, coupled with the unfamiliar surroundings etc...

There was a bit of fear there, a lot of uncertainty, a pinch of anticipation and a whole load of adrenaline when things heated up towards the end.

I don't imagine it will happen again any time soon so it's definitely one I'll take a lot from

Duanington

21.06.2016

Another good week under the belt and another begins, Berlin seems to be closing in pretty quickly now and whereas last year, I raced only the once ( FD 10) in the lead up to DCM, this year I'll do a few tune up races.

Next up is the Achill half on Sat week - although in truth, that will be a session of some description, not an all out assault on a course that would probably leave me battered and bruised anyway. I'm looking forward to giving whatever session lies in store a good rattle, if I can nail sessions over rough terrain then the future is indeed bright.

And the beat goes on...

Monday

5 miles easy...very easy. Usual run home from work, extra bit at St Anne's - blah blah blah

Pressups, stretching and lots of eating after

Tuesday

Long run night tonight and after a poor night's sleep last night, a crazy day at work - I could honestly have crawled into the stationary cupboard for a long nap in the office at closing time

BUT

Marathons don't run themselves, so I reminded myself that I'm a great man for telling people that its mind over matter most of the time, got the gear on and headed off to get started.

Dropped the backpack off at home, carried on into St Anne's for my couple of loops and then into Raheny again.

Very tired for just about all of this, the smells from some of the restaurants and chippers were killing me as I ran by, I promised myself a dozen snack boxes after Achill and carried on. A good night's sleep is on the cards tonight, that one was tougher than it should have been, my legs were tight too and I got the distinct sense that there was a lack of recovery there - putting that down to not enough kip the last 2 nights.

Another 18 mile run in the bag though and looking back to where I was this far out from DCM last year, things are looking promising.

Glad to get that one done

18.2 miles@ 7.40 ( a tad quick at times, have to watch that)

stretching\core after

adrian522

stretching\core after

This is what I find most impressive.

What are your plans for tune up races ?

Duanington

adrian522 wrote: »

This is what I find most impressive.

What are your plans for tune up races ?

Howdie A - Mullingar 10 mile in a few weeks and the Clonmel ( Boston Scientific) half in August

I think I read you were looking at Mullingar too did I?

adrian522

Duanington wrote: »

Howdie A - Mullingar 10 mile in a few weeks and the Clonmel ( Boston Scientific) half in August

I think I read you were looking at Mullingar too did I?

Yeah that's the plan alright. Plus a half in August too. Not sure which yet, maybe Tullamore.

Bungy Girl

Don't know whether I'm more impressed with the podium place or the ability to bring a tear to the eyes of two grown men :pac::pac::pac: Well done on both counts.

Duanington

Bungy Girl wrote: »

Don't know whether I'm more impressed with the podium place or the ability to bring a tear to the eyes of two grown men :pac::pac::pac: Well done on both counts.

ha ha - thanks BG !

Mrs Mc

Only catching up now congrats on the podium finish great report

Duanington

Mrs Mc wrote: »

Only catching up now congrats on the podium finish great report

Many thanks A :-)

Duanington

23.06.2016

Wednesday

AM - early morning start for work and I took the pace very easy to start with on this one. Legs were heavy and lifeless to start with but they behaved themselves more and more as the run went on.

6 miles @ 8ish

PM - another busy day at work and with the match on later in the evening, I managed to get out a little earlier than expected - it was warm though, warm and very humid by the time I got to St Anne's park and turned back for home
Similar story to earlier, legs were pretty heavy and tired to start with but felt better by the end
I was drenched in sweat though

Pressups and stretching after

Hoolahan crosses.....and Brady's done it, its in the net ( mayhem ensues) - what a game

I've fallen out of love with the "beautiful" game a little over the past few years - not hard when your a manyoo fan I suppose ( although to be fair, they were still winning stuff when I started to drift) - but the mental approach on Wednesday night was something to admire in my book, there was a collective will to chase things down, squeeze out any advantage and to push the body as far as it was willing to go. Great to see it, in any sport.

12 miles for the day

Thursday

Nipped out at lunchtime between meetings to get the first of my two runs in today. Down to St Anne's for some easy miles with 6x8 second hill bursts ( full recovery)

Took in a few easy miles, making my way to THAT hill on the new parkrun course to do the bursts. Instructions were to make sure I got a steep hill and got in a full recovery between bursts.

Interesting little session, first two felt like a doddle, felt the 3rd, 4th and then by the last 2 my legs were well aware that they were out of their comfort zone.

Gave each burst a really good effort too so pretty happy with this.

Finished off with another few easy miles


PM - weights, core, stretching and then some easy miles around St Anne's and the coast road. Quads were feeling it from earlier, not typical tiredness, more a case of my legs asking what in the name of God was that I put them through earlier!

12.6 for the day

Duanington

26.06.2016

Friday

AM - early start again to get the extra couple of miles in on the way to work. Legs felt good on this and I kept the pace nice and easy.

6 miles @ 8ish

PM - Nice run again, legs felt a little tight but enjoyed the run, extra miles around St anne's

6 miles @ 8ish

pressups and stretching after

Saturday


Slept a little later than normal on Saturday morning , had a great sleep actually but I was feeling a little under the weather heading out to do my Saturday session. Energy levels were down and my heart rate felt a little elevated for some reason.

Anyway, planned session was :
4 miles easy, 5x6 minutes@6.30(1), 6.20(2), 6.10 (2), 2 min recovery, 4 miles easy

Instructions were to run this on the flat to keep the effort levels even - the coast road was out because of the strong wind, the loop I had in mind in St Anne's would be in use with the parkrun ( my bad for sleeping late) so I said I'd use the avenue - there's a drag there but its not steep, the climb is spread out over the course of a mile or so.

I thought about pushing this one back a day so decided to head out for my warmup and if I didn't feel any better, I'd do just that. Got the 4 miles easy done and felt a little better, not great though - decided to try the first rep and see how I went, I'd then just take each one as it came:

rep 1 (6.30 pace) - not great, up the avenue in St Anne's, passing Laura_ac3 on her way to the parkrun and the effort levels felt too high for the pace

2 minutes easy then said I'd try another

rep 2 (6.20 pace) - tough but back down the avenue, found a good stride but the effort was still up

rep3 (6.20 pace) - back up the avenue and I was blowing hard at the end of this one, thought about packing it in but said I'd call it after the recovery...then decided to go again

rep 4 (6.10 pace) - down the avenue, around a loop with the parkrun guys and back up the avenue. same as above

rep 5 (6.10 pace) - lasted 90 seconds, turned into the wind and packed it in. I was flogging it at this stage and something wasn't right, I was just zapped and my legs felt hollow.

Actual paces:
rep1: 6.23
rep2: 6.14
rep3: 6.17
rep4: 6.07
rep5 (90sec): 6.12

Ran the few easy miles after, still not feeling great and a little disappointed not to complete the session - ate my weight in food afterwards and had a lie down for a bit.

Filled a skip in the afternoon so I'm calling that weights and core :cool:

13.1 miles for the day

Sunday

Out last night at a family thing and had a few drinks, not much but enough to leave me a little groggy today ( which doesn't take a lot these days), got out around 5 for some easy miles, a couple of loops of St Anne's park. Felt a lot better despite the grogginess !

10 miles @ 8.01 min\miles

Just shy of 83 miles for the week, it would have been great to nail yesterday's session fully but it's still been another good week

Duanington

Monday

Usual run home from work, mental week ahead so I thought better of doing anything extra running wise, no watch so not sure of the pace – probably around 8 min\miles

Tuesday

Reduced long run tonight with the plan this week to run the Achill half 4 days later. Nice run, kept the pace in and around 7.45 for most of this as is the target these days. Felt a little sluggish towards the end but I’m putting that down to a mental week at work more than anything.
12 miles @ 7.45

Wednesday

AM – Easy run into work, legs felt good – early start. Can’t remember much

4.1 @ 8ish

PM – Run home from work with a few extra miles around St Anne’s, don’t remember a whole lot about this either
7 miles @ 8ish
11.1 for the day


Thursday

Session day today and the plan was for:
3 miles easy, 12x(400@6.20, 400 easy), 3 miles easy
The idea for this session was to run 400 @ pace then 400 easy, 400@pace then 400 easy – and so on…easy being my normal easy pace and not recovery pace like I would normally do during sessions like this.

Ran my warmup around St Anne’s then went straight into the faster stuff, heading out onto the coast to keep the effort levels even. First half was fine, pretty straightforward but then I turned back into a nasty breeze that meant a bit more work was required ( so much for the even effort levels!). The easy sections after the 400s@pace got less and less easy as the session went on !

One of those that looks like an easy session on paper but in reality it’s a tougher session – although more on the legs than the lungs. Got through it fine in the end, felt like a good workout. My maths had each 6.20 section at around 1.35 for the 400 – anything around that would be fine.
Paces for the 400s
6.38
6.13
6.00
6.05
6.13
6.19
6.12
6.22
6.24
6.11
6.19
6.20

12.9 miles for the lot

Friday

AM – slightly longer than normal run on the way to work – 5 miles easy, all good. Kept the pace down and enjoyed this
5 miles easy
PM – as above except away from work !
6 miles easy

11 miles for the day

Saturday

Work and real life threw a rather large spanner in the Achill works on Friday, my plan to head down on Friday evening, get up early and run the Achill half @ 6.50 was in tatters. I still planned to get my bit of work done and head on down to Achill but timing meant I wouldn’t make the race, nothing else for it to get up early and run my own half…using Howth as a substitute for Achill.

Alarm went off far too early, didn’t give myself a chance to question my sanity, got up, dressed, few sips of coffee and headed out the door to get started.
I ran an easy mile around St Anne’s before getting started on the 6.50 paced section, heading up the coast, into the warming sun towards Howth.
The pace took a little work to hold over the first couple of miles to be honest bit then I got into a nice stride and held it without too much hassle, reached the start of the climb up into Howth at around the 6 mile mark and the effort levels increased bit by bit. I wasn’t too bothered by the pace for the next couple of miles but I did make sure that I was keeping things well away from the easy zone and as close to 7 as possible – it wasn’t possible to go any quicker really without shredding my legs and making the return leg a nightmare.
I turned around at the 8 mile mark, realising that going any further would mean overshooting the mark a bit - I had initially planned on going over Howth head and running down through the village but that would have meant zero drags on the way back down and an additional mile or two that I didn’t need.

Turned around and made for home – the climb on the way up isn’t one long consistent climb, there are a few drops and dips that are heaven sent at the time…these were now nasty little drags on the way down of course but would serve their purpose perfectly well.
Back out onto the coast for the last 3 miles or so and the wind was pretty nasty…or maybe I was tiring…maybe both, either way, it was hard work along this stretch. The wind died down a little as I got closer to the city and further from Howth and the pace came down accordingly.

Ran a bit of a warmdown towards the house, had breakfast, got changed, got work out of the way and headed to Achill 

Splits
8.24
6.49
6.49
6.44
6.47
6.44
7.34
7.09
7.00
6.53
6.46
7.03
7.02
6.41
6.31 ( last bit - .1 mile)
1.3 miles @ 8.19 to finish off

15.4 for the day


Sunday

Great weekend in Achill, celebrated with the folks who did make the run, had a bit of craic out on the beach with the kids, saw some sites, ate some food, met some lovely people then hopped in the car for home. Finished off a crazy week with 8.4 easy miles around St Anne’s, lovely run – legs felt good, despite the hectic pace of life over the past few days, this was one of the more enjoyable runs I’ve had in a while
8.4 miles @ 7.53 min\miles

Slightly less volume than normal this week but another good week down. This week is going to be hectic too so I’m going to have to get creative to get everything done

Firedance

Ah, couldn't quite figure out what you meant on strava, fair play to you for getting up and doing that!!

Duanington

05.07.2016


Monday

With a very good session in the legs and a rough looking session on the way this week, I kept the pace way down on my run home from work - a very enjoyable 4.1 miles, very easy.

Weights, little bit of core (inc squats) and stretching after

Tuesday

Had the first of a few crazy days at work today but got in early to get most of it out of the way before lunch - although I also wasted a lot of nervous energy looking at this session over and over again on the plan :-(

18 mile progression:
6@7.45
6@7.10
6@6.30

Got out just before 6 ( which I was not expecting at all) and got started on the 7.45 stuff...heading for home to dump the backpack and head off into St Anne's.
Upped the effort a little on the last 7.45 mile and moved onto the 7.10 section, not really paying too much attention to the watch, relying more on the effort.
The 7.10 section felt...well, steady....enough effort to keep you honest but not enough to generate any real discomfort. Some of the grass around St Anne's was pretty soggy which possibly slowed things down a little at times.

Upped the effort again over the last mile on the 7.10 section then moved into the 6.30 section and decided to get out onto the roads to run this bit. I worked hard, took in some good climbs and drops around Raheny before landing back out on the coast, turned into an unmerciful breeze ( it probably wasn't that bad at all!) which really dampened my spirits and had me working harder than I would have liked to hang on to the tail end of the pace.
Thoughts of packing it in were coming thick and fast, which I countered with the aul "1 more mile" trick - 1 more mile would give me 2 to go, no way would I pack it in then....
Dug in for the last 2 miles, really blowing hard over the last mile, this was genuinely hard work but I knew I'd get through it now - f*ck the pace, I wouldn't argue over a few seconds either.
Had to stop for a second to check on fellow runner who fell in the park, she said she was fine so I ploughed on, turning back on myself .5 mile later to come back down the route alongside where she fell so I could be sure and she was gone....and I was nearly finished
Pumped the arms for the last bit, form and breathing was all over the place at this stage and the watch beeped for the end....thank you running Gods

Had a lie down in the grass for a few minutes before running a .5 mile warm down at recovery pace just to wind things down properly.

Tough bastid of a session and I've a feeling I'll be saying that again soon

Stretching and core after

18.5 for the day

7.43
7.38
7.40
7.40
7.46
7.28
7.15
7.17
7.04
6.57
7.01
6.54
6.30
6.31
6.31
6.40
6.35
6.31

tang1

Nice session that D.

Mrs Mc

Fair play D that's some session I'm tired reading it.

adrian522

Epic session, how do those paces compare to your race paces?

FBOT01

That a great session, D. There some splits if you were running on effort rather than by the watch. And time to help a damsel in distress too. FairPlay. Some man for one man!!

ThebitterLemon

Great to have a session like that banked so early in your cycle DD, nice one

TbL

Duanington

adrian522 wrote: »

Epic session, how do those paces compare to your race paces?

Thanks A - Well the 7.45 is my typical long run pace, 7.10 is around steady and then 6.30 would be somewhere between current MP and current HMP

Duanington

FBOT01 wrote: »

That a great session, D. There some splits if you were running on effort rather than by the watch. And time to help a damsel in distress too. FairPlay. Some man for one man!!

The running by effort was more over the steady paced section to be fair M - there was a fair few despairing looks at the watch over the 2nd half of the 6.30 stuff!

FBOT01

Duanington wrote: »

The running by effort was more over the steady paced section to be fair M - there was a fair few despairing looks at the watch over the 2nd half of the 6.30 stuff!

Grand....I feel better knowing that

Duanington

10.07.2016

Wednesday

AM - Tired run, not the legs though strangely, more just a general tiredness - like I could have done with another few hours sleep but I'd a mental ( and very long) day at work ahead so had to get up early and get this one out of the way.

7 miles easy

Stretching, pressups and core around lunchtime

PM - nipped out during a break in an all day meeting to run this around Ringsend, taking in the nature reserve for the first time which was nice.

5 miles easy, 12 for the day

Thursday

AM - Late getting home last night after a work dinner\meeting and another mental day ahead meant that I knew I had to get this done early, felt the weight of the backpack for all of this one, kept the pace nice and easy.

6 miles easy

PM - Late getting out for this but really enjoyed the backpackless run, wandered in and around St Anne's for this.

6 miles@ 8.07 min\miles

12 for the day

Friday

AM - Good night's sleep last night and I felt the effects this morning, 5 easy miles on the way to work and every one was enjoyable.

5 miles easy

PM - Another easy run and having ate\hydrated well during the day, I was feeling good for all of this.
7 miles easy, weights\stretching after

12 for the day

Saturday

Could not sleep at all the previous night for some reason and I ended up getting 2, maybe 3 hours sleep so decided to put the planned session back by a day and just run easy miles. I knew something would have to give this week and I'd done well so far.
9.4 sleepy miles around St Anne's, legs felt ok but I could have lay down and slept at any given moment...

Sunday

Session: 4 easy, 4x8 mins@ pace ( 3 mins easy recovery), 4 easy.

Target paces:
First 8 min section: 6.35
Second 8 min section: 6.25
Third section: 6.10-6.20
Fourth Section: 6.10-6.20

Got the 4 easy miles in and got started on the first section into the wind on the coast. Felt very good for this one and strangely enough, the wind didn't bother me for once!
1st 8 min section: pace 6.28

Recovery run was nice and got stuck into the 2nd section, using the outside of Fairview park as a loop, give that it was reasonably flat and I knew there would very little traffic there. Again, felt good and strong for this section.
2nd 8 min section: pace 6.15

Another nice recovery then into the 3rd 8 minute section, felt the pinch of the slightly higher effort into the wind at times but stayed focused and worked to stay on top of the pace\effort.
3rd 8 min section: pace 6.09

Last recovery run was lovely and I headed back up the coast for the last section to get a long straight in and see how I felt. The wind was a bit of a pest at times, whipping across my face but again, stayed focused, felt strong, worked hard and got it done.
4th 8 min section: pace 6.08

4 miles easy to finish off ( heading out the wooden bridge for the first time in ages) to bring the total to 14.2 miles

Stretching and core afterwards to close out a good week, I had to chop and change a little which is never ideal but I knew I'd have to do that to some extent this week.

82.2 miles for the week

ThebitterLemon

Duanington wrote: »

10.07.2016

Wednesday

AM - Tired run, not the legs though strangely, more just a general tiredness - like I could have done with another few hours sleep but I'd a mental ( and very long) day at work ahead so had to get up early and get this one out of the way.

7 miles easy

Stretching, pressups and core around lunchtime

PM - nipped out during a break in an all day meeting to run this around Ringsend, taking in the nature reserve for the first time which was nice.

5 miles easy, 12 for the day

Thursday

AM - Late getting home last night after a work dinner\meeting and another mental day ahead meant that I knew I had to get this done early, felt the weight of the backpack for all of this one, kept the pace nice and easy.

6 miles easy

PM - Late getting out for this but really enjoyed the backpackless run, wandered in and around St Anne's for this.

6 miles@ 8.07 min\miles

12 for the day

Friday

AM - Good night's sleep last night and I felt the effects this morning, 5 easy miles on the way to work and every one was enjoyable.

5 miles easy

PM - Another easy run and having ate\hydrated well during the day, I was feeling good for all of this.
7 miles easy, weights\stretching after

12 for the day

Saturday

Could not sleep at all the previous night for some reason and I ended up getting 2, maybe 3 hours sleep so decided to put the planned session back by a day and just run easy miles. I knew something would have to give this week and I'd done well so far.
9.4 sleepy miles around St Anne's, legs felt ok but I could have lay down and slept at any given moment...

Sunday

Session: 4 easy, 4x8 mins@ pace ( 3 mins easy recovery), 4 easy.

Target paces:
First 8 min section: 6.35
Second 8 min section: 6.25
Third section: 6.10-6.20
Fourth Section: 6.10-6.20

Got the 4 easy miles in and got started on the first section into the wind on the coast. Felt very good for this one and strangely enough, the wind didn't bother me for once!
1st 8 min section: pace 6.28

Recovery run was nice and got stuck into the 2nd section, using the outside of Fairview park as a loop, give that it was reasonably flat and I knew there would very little traffic there. Again, felt good and strong for this section.
2nd 8 min section: pace 6.15

Another nice recovery then into the 3rd 8 minute section, felt the pinch of the slightly higher effort into the wind at times but stayed focused and worked to stay on top of the pace\effort.
3rd 8 min section: pace 6.09

Last recovery run was lovely and I headed back up the coast for the last section to get a long straight in and see how I felt. The wind was a bit of a pest at times, whipping across my face but again, stayed focused, felt strong, worked hard and got it done.
4th 8 min section: pace 6.08

4 miles easy to finish off ( heading out the wooden bridge for the first time in ages) to bring the total to 14.2 miles

Stretching and core afterwards to close out a good week, I had to chop and change a little which is never ideal but I knew I'd have to do that to some extent this week.

82.2 miles for the week

Nice session and week in general Double D, but careful with those paces or you'll have the pace dictator AULDBOT on to you soon

TbL

Duanington

ThebitterLemon wrote: »

Nice session and week in general Double D, but careful with those paces or you'll have the pace dictator AULDBOT on to you soon

TbL

I'm waiting for the yellow card from him C ! ( rightly so though in fairness, I did get carried away on at least one of those sections)

FBOT01

ThebitterLemon wrote: »

Nice session and week in general Double D, but careful with those paces or you'll have the pace dictator moderator AULDBOT on to you soon

TbL

FYP:P

Duanington wrote: »

I'm waiting for the yellow card from him C ! ( rightly so though in fairness, I did get carried away on at least one of those sections)

Name is in the book alright as a repeat offender.......nothing that merits a yellow just yet but you are certainly walking the line

Duanington

13.07.216

Monday

Run home from work, nice and easy, 4.1 miles. Kept things nice and easy with the session less than 24 hours previous and another on the way in under 24 hours!

Weights and core after

Tuesday

Long session on the cards tonight:

3 miles easy, 10x (1k@6.15 pace, 1k easy - 20k total), 3 miles easy - just shy of 19 miles in total

The first problem with this session was how to time the first 1k rep to start when I had ditched my backpack ( running home from work)....home being just over 4 miles from work...decided to just run a slightly longer easy section and take a little off at the other end. Bumped into FBOT who was locked and loaded with a backpack too, looking fit and lean after his excursions up north last week.

Dumped the backpack at home and got started straight away into the faster stuff. Running towards St Anne's with a plan in my head to do a loop or two there then head off up the coast. I had a target of 3.50-3.55 per km for the 6.15 pace and would try to keep the easy paced km to the same pace as my normal long run pace ( 7.45ish). First few reps went fine, pace wasn't an issue - if anything I had to dial it back a little but I knew that level of comfort would fade as the session went on.

Spotted MrsMac out doing her session on the Avenue and the park was pretty busy in general which I sometimes find helps with longer sessions. Got through another couple of reps ok before an emergency pit stop and could feel the effort levels gradually increasing.

I decided to stick to the park for the rest of the session, long slow runs can be boring running around a park but the fast\easy nature of this session was really breaking things up nicely. The last 2 maybe 3 reps were really hard work and I could feel my legs resisting each time I had to fire them up for a new rep but I always felt like there was enough there to get it done.

Finished off with a couple of easy miles to bring the total to 18.8 miles. Have to admit that my legs were pretty lifeless at the end of this one.

Rep Pace ( 7.45ish pace per km in between)
1 6.15
2 6.15
3 6.02
4 6.09
5 6.09
6 6.10
7 6.20
8 6.20
9 6.05
10 6.04


Wednesday

AM - 5 miles easy before work, enjoyed this despite the tired legs. Kept the pace down and just got it done really

PM - 6 miles easy runmute home from work, a little bit tired for this which I expected , kept the pace down again and was enjoying the run by the end.

11 easy for the day

Pressups and stretching later

tang1

You still heading for Mullingar Sunday D?