Confessions of a never has been.....

Back in Black

Playing catch-up on the logs again. Some cracking running going on here. It's like you never had a break!!

Duanington

OOnegative wrote: »

Any fatigue or soreness over last 3-4 weeks of racing D? Just curious to see how feel body wise after that amount of hard racing in such a short space of time? I’m in bits after one hard race & I appreciate your a good step above me, but do you reckon racing regularly helps with post race fatigue/soreness as in getting the body use to the pain?

To be honest B, not as much as I had suspected. I did notice the hamstring tighten a little yesterday but it settled down before the end. I definitely feel the effects of working hard at the moment, I was creaking a little this morning but then felt good again once I was running this evening. It's a balancing act though, almost all the easy stuff is essentially recovery miles at the moment and I've no problem running at 9 minute pace if that's what the body settles at. Run the sessions and races hard, run the easy stuff very easy...so far so good on that front.

With regards getting the body used to the pain, its probably a gradual thing, I ran a good bit of mileage last year despite not racing much and the races at the moment are essentially tough sessions, I have noticed that the legs have adapted well to the increase in intensity as the weeks have gone by, no doubt about it.
I wouldn't say I feel any increase in fatique yet but I think without the odd step back week, that would deffo be an issue ( this coming week will see no racing and a lighter session for example, L is constantly asking about energy levels etc and is probably waiting, ready to throw a week like that at me)

OOnegative

Duanington wrote: »

To be honest B, not as much as I had suspected. I did notice the hamstring tighten a little yesterday but it settled down before the end. I definitely feel the effects of working hard at the moment, I was creaking a little this morning but then felt good again once I was running this evening. It's a balancing act though, almost all the easy stuff is essentially recovery miles at the moment and I've no problem running at 9 minute pace if that's what the body settles at. Run the sessions and races hard, run the easy stuff very easy...so far so good on that front.

With regards getting the body used to the pain, its probably a gradual thing, I ran a good bit of mileage last year despite not racing much and the races at the moment are essentially tough sessions, I have noticed that the legs have adapted well to the increase in intensity as the weeks have gone by, no doubt about it.
I wouldn't say I feel any increase in fatique yet but I think without the odd step back week, that would deffo be an issue ( this coming week will see no racing and a lighter session for example, L is constantly asking about energy levels etc and is probably waiting, ready to throw a week like that at me)

Hear you on the body gradually getting used to the effects and wear & tear of racing and I reckon/hope that’s what’s up with me. I was used to racing nearly every 3-4 weeks like yourself for a few periods but due to moving to Holland racing has become non existent more or less. After the goal race have a few races in quick succession that will hopefully help strengthen the body up somewhat. Thanks for the input.

AuldManKing

Nice work - I'm a tad jealous that you do so well at XC!!
I'm tempted to do a season at it next year after your exploits this year as it'll make you so much stronger on the roads.

Swashbuckler

AuldManKing wrote:

Nice work - I'm a tad jealous that you do so well at XC!! I'm tempted to do a season at it next year after your exploits this year as it'll make you so much stronger on the roads.

Was thinking the same thing. Can't wait to see what damage D does when he hits the roads.

AuldManKing

Swashbuckler wrote: »

Was thinking the same thing. Can't wait to see what damage D does when he hits the roads.

I know - I was hoping to race hime before he got 'good' again - too late now

Swashbuckler

AuldManKing wrote:

I know - I was hoping to race hime before he got 'good' again - too late now

Get him signed up for a HM. You'll get him there. Haha

Duanington

AuldManKing wrote: »

Nice work - I'm a tad jealous that you do so well at XC!!
I'm tempted to do a season at it next year after your exploits this year as it'll make you so much stronger on the roads.

You should give it a go A, obviously it remains to be seen if it pays off for me but regardless, I've enjoyed the racing aspect if nothing else, the wildly different courses and conditions - its obviously tough going at times but very satisfying after

Duanington

Swashbuckler wrote: »

Get him signed up for a HM. You'll get him there. Haha

a half is the main target for me during this cycle believe it or not P :eek: - although I suspect A is on for a very strong showing over that particular distance alright

Duanington

Back in Black wrote: »

Playing catch-up on the logs again. Some cracking running going on here. It's like you never had a break!!

Thanks J - hope all is going well at your end

Duanington

25.02.2018

Monday

Long run night, out of the traps straight after work and on towards home, dropped the bag, headed for St Anne's then on up to the coast. Decided to stay off the usual bumpier route tonight in favour of the grass in st Anne's and the tarmac on the coast.

13.3 miles @ 7.41

Tuesday

Lunchtime trot around Irishtown\Ringsend...kept the pace right down and enjoyed this one

7.1 miles easy

Wednesday

Runmute home + extras, no real memory of it though !

7.1 miles easy

Thursday

With not making the track this week because of work commitments, I swapped things around and settled on a late running of the midweek session on Thursday.

Plan was for 3x8 minutes @ 6.00 pace, 2 minutes easy between

Headed out onto the coast for this, it was cold and windy and I knew it would be quiet.

1st section was fine, got into a nice rhythm and stayed there.
5.57 pace

2nd section was back into the breeze so the effort was up a little bit but nothing too bad
5.54 pace

3rd and last section was a little less comfortable again and I probably pushed harder than required into the wind ( what's new?!)
5.50 pace

Friday

Easy peasy after work again, a little stuck for time so this was cut a tad short

6.6 miles easy

Saturday

Jogged down to st Anne's and ran the route with Ferris who was on pacing duties for the day, a job well done I believe. Left him to claim the plaudits while I snuck off to finish my run

7.1 easy

Sunday

No race this weekend so a progression run took it's place on the plan.

Instructions were for 15 minutes @ 6.45 pace, 10 minutes@ 6.30 pace and 10 minutes @ 6.20 pace


Bit of a warmup done on the coast ( or as warm as I could get in the baltic conditions) and then headed off towards Fairview to loop around the park and back up the coast.

15 minute section was fine, wind at my back though - 6.38 pace
10 minute section was back into the wind and I felt it straight away, had to up the effort levels and overcooked it as a result - 6.20 pace
2nd 10 minute section was mostly into the wind, yep..overcooked that too - 6.08 pace

Good session though, haven't ran anything like this in a while and was working well by the end

Finished off with a couple of easy miles

Nice week down, back to some harder stuff next week if the weather plays ball.

Duanington

What a week ! If nothing else, there was a huge amount of prep work for next years XC season done over the last few days!

Monday

13 miles on the button, one of those strange runs where you start out feeling like crap and gradually snap out of it, fly through the middle section and have to reel it in a little towards the end.

Ran from work to Clontarf, dumped the bag then into St Anne's before heading back out to take in the drag up the Howth Road.

13 miles @ 7.35 pace

Tuesday

Evening run with FBOT and Ferris, The Beast From the East let a bit of a roar at us heading up the coast road, pelting us with hail\sleet so we ducked into St Anne's for some cover
7.7 easy miles

Wednesday

Snow put an end to the track session today so a few of us from the running group in work headed out to Irishtown Park and SOM Park for some easy miles

Lovely running around the grass with the sureal scenery

Met up with FBOT for a 2nd run that day, couldn't resist it really - beautiful stuff around St Anne's too. Heavy going in places but this stuff doesn't come around very often

Thursday

Coach gave me the option of a xc session or a threadmill tempo given that Wednesday's session was canned - went with the xc option, packed the spikes into the backpack and headed for St Anne's. I settled on using the masters XC course to do this, the exposed field was mental, snow well up over the ankles and a biting wind but the section in the trees was much better underfoot.

Session was 12x2 minutes off 60 seconds recovery

This was tough...tough, tough, tough. The biting wind, the cold, the snow belting off my face, the heavy snow sapping the legs. I even left the backpack on to keep me warm. The spikes gave decent grip in fairness but the snow was just so thick at times that my legs felt hollow coming towards the end of the session.

Mad stuff for sure but it actually felt like a very good session afterwards. Got plenty of support\curious looks from people out braving the elements, must have been the short shorts!

8.1 miles for the lot

Friday

Out with DNS crew again for more fun and games in St Anne's, snow, slow going but good craic

6.5 miles

Saturday

Freedom run with the St Anne's PR crew

Great craic for this one, easy miles around the course, coffee afterwards, then a couple of more easy miles to finish off

7.2 easy miles all in

Sunday

A decent thaw today meant that I could get this weekend's session in on the coast road.
Session was 5x1 mile, off 120 seconds recovery ( target 5.50-5.55)

Had zero appetite to head out for this, I really had to just get the gear on and throw myself out the door. Warmup done and dusted, I got started on the reps

Mile 1 -very controlled, bit of a headwind, form felt good though
5.50

Mile 2 - as above really, pushed a tad harder into the headwind maybe
5.45

Mile 3 - Turned around for this...into a headwind , I'll never figure the breeze on the coast out, maybe its more of a crosswind in fairness at the moment. Anyway, blowing a little bit on this one
5.47

Mile 4 - Took a bit of a kick in the arse to get going again for this but did so and really just tried to stay relaxed and strong throughout, bit of a stitch coming on towards the end though
5.48

Mile 5 - Toughest one by far, pushed too hard though in hindsight, I started to fight against the stitch instead of just relaxing and letting it pass ( which it always does), working hard from halfway but never quite into the red either.

5.43

Very tired at the end of this, enjoyed the couple of easy miles afterwards to finish off.



Strangely enough, a very good week down. Lots of enjoyable easy stuff, a couple of very tough sessions, the novelty of trudging through the snow and some good core work too

AuldManKing

Great week for you.

Major kudos for getting out every day.

Duanington

Monday

Long run – straight out from work and on towards home, avoided the flat coast road for most of the rest of this. St Anne’s and Raheny providing the couple of drags that I like to get in on the long run.
Didn’t feel particularly strong on this one for the first few miles but gradually felt better, found a very nice rhythm for a good portion and just stayed there…tired at the end though.

13.3 miles @ 7.35 min\miles

Tuesday

Very, very tired on this one – 6.2 miles runmute, legs, mind and body generally tired

Wednesday

Track session time again, down with at lunch to Irishtown for this one:

5x800s with reducing recoveries ( 1.45 down to 60 seconds)
Felt awful from the start on this one, normally I relish this kind of session in company but today I was happy to just sit in behind the leaders and get around the track in one piece.
Recovered pretty well in between reps in fairness but the usual strength wasn’t there today

Reps:
2.40
2.38
2.42
2.42
2.38

Thursday
Easy miles around St Anne’s, can’t remember this one to be honest ! Loving these lunchtime easy runs though.

Friday
Easy miles after work, met FBOT for a few of these and the miles ticked by nicely around the coast\St Anne’s
Great to have some daylight to run in after work. Legs still pretty tired which is a little unusual for me at the moment

Saturday

With a busy weekend ahead, I decided to take on this weekend’s session early on Saturday morning. No alarm required, was up bright and early but still not feeling great.

Planned session was:

7x1 miles off reducing recoveries ( 120 seconds, down to 30 seconds), targeting 6.05 pace.

I decided to run this one around St Anne’s to start with and then move out to the coast road to avoid the traffic ( Parkrun warmer uppers) for the latter stages.
One of those sessions where I just did not fancy it at all from the start, effort levels felt too high and something just felt “off” ( 6.05 pace shouldn’t feel quite so difficult at this stage, given how comfortable the previous weekend’s session had been to start with). Had a bit of a talk with myself over the first rep and just decided to play this one mile by mile, first one down, onto the second one.
2nd one wasn’t any easier really, into a breeze but the breathing was just too heavy, too early for this kind of session.
More of the same for the 3rd, working hard, breathing hard….
Out onto the coast for the 4th and 5th and I actually relaxed a lot more out there, finding a good rhythm on the straight surface.
The 6th took me by Fairview park and I was really struggling by the end of this one, 30 seconds later and I was starting the 7th, really lost all form here and was plunging into the red, pulled the plug after 2 minutes or so, it wasn’t worth it as I knew something wasn’t quite right.

Mile splits: 6.04, 6.02, 6.08, 6.02, 6.01, 6.05, 6.10 (pace)

Not a great session at all, I’d have expected to complete that one with a lot more comfort and while I probably could have ground out the last rep, it was stupidly tough going at that stage and I think the risk outweighed the benefits really, confident enough that canning this one when I did was the right call.

Just over 11 miles for the lot

Sunday

Out for some very easy miles along the coast just to flush out the legs a little, started off feeling the effects of a tough week but finished up feeling refreshed thankfully

Swashbuckler

Have you noticed that since we started making gains on coach, we've all found it a bit tougher?First it was Lahinch for me. Then AMK yesterday and now your week last week. #dodgycoach #sabotage

AuldManKing

Swashbuckler wrote: »

Have you noticed that since we started making gains on coach, we've all found it a bit tougher?First it was Lahinch for me. Then AMK yesterday and now your week last week. #dodgycoach #sabotage

Are you g00gyg00 in disguise? :pac::pac:

Duanington

AuldManKing wrote: »

Are you g00gyg00 in disguise? :pac::pac:

:pac:

Swashbuckler

I think coach is him in disguise. Haha

AuldManKing

Looking at your last week - There's a lot of references to 'tiredness' and not feeling 'strong' in there.

I wonder if running in the snow/slush last week took a lot out of us, more than we thought - especially you, doing that session you did??

Hows the body this week?

Duanington

AuldManKing wrote: »

Looking at your last week - There's a lot of references to 'tiredness' and not feeling 'strong' in there.

I wonder if running in the snow/slush last week took a lot out of us, more than we thought - especially you, doing that session you did??

Hows the body this week?

I was shattered last week, no question about it, unusually so too - not the normal "I'm bleedin wrecked" after\during a session. You could well be right about that and Gosh mentioned something similar to me recently too, we're just not used to it I suppose, even if it is a bit of craic at the time.

But then I ran a very good session on the Sunday after the snow started to clear....which had me scratching my head a little when thinking back....no doubt I was wrecked though last week

Body is good this week though ( since yesterday really), just back from a tough enough session on the track and I felt strong finishing that one thankfully, I wasn't entirely sure how it was going to go if I'm honest.

OOnegative

How’s the body now D? Much improved I hope.

Duanington

OOnegative wrote: »

How’s the body now D? Much improved I hope.

Much improved alright B, will update the log when I get a chance but in short, training and energy levels improved steadily over the past couple of weeks, just about there now.

Duanington

Oops...long time no update...
Busy few weeks with lots of work\home stuff keeping me busy but I’ve been tipping away nicely, gradually feeling the energy levels climbing again.

12.03.2018

Monday

Eased back a little on this, energy levels were low over the last few days and knew it would be silly to do anything else.
13.2 miles

Tuesday

7.4 miles easy

Wednesday
Session day today, wasn’t sure how it would go having felt like crap the week before.

Session was :
3x300, 1k, 3x300, 1k, 3x300

Thankfully I’d company for most of the session and when I was given the option of ditching the last set of 300s or going for them, the fact that I was up for running them told me that things were on the mend. A tough session in horrible conditions but felt a bit better than I had the previous week.

Thursday

7.3 easy miles

Friday

7.2 easy miles

Saturday

7.8 easy miles

Sunday

Heavy snowfall overnight meant I wouldn’t get the planned session in so I settled for an easy jog around St Anne’s - 5.1 all easy

Monday 19th

13.2 bump miles, enjoyed this one

Tuesday

7.3 very easy

Wednesday

Down to the track at lunchtime again, tough session. 8x500s off 70 seconds, then 50 seconds for the second half
Ran this well, worked hard throughout

Thursday

7 miles easy

Friday

6.6 miles easy

Saturday

Session

5x4 minutes (6.10 pace), 5x3 minutes (6 min pace), 5x2 minutes (5.50 pace)
90 second recovery


Totally misjudged this one when I read it and had to grit the teeth to get through the 6.10 pace stuff when I got around to it. Ran most of that section around St Anne’s before heading out onto the coast for the rest. Tough session, overcooked most of it and felt it at the end really, good to get it done though, don’t think I’d have finished that 2 weeks previous

Sunday

Went out to St Anne’s for a run on the grass....in the dark....asking for trouble you say? Correct, went over on my ankle about 4 miles in. Stupid really, I still don’t really know what I was thinking, other than it was a nice evening and I fancied jogging around the park.....on the grass...in the dark.
Anyway, while it was sore, I’ve gone over on both ankles enough times over the years to know that it wasn’t going to be anything major...jogged home very gingerly

Monday

Off – decided against compounding my own stupidity and gave the ankle a rest day.

Tuesday

7.6 miles easy

Wednesday

Session day, pyramid Shhtylee

3x200s, 2x400s, 800, 2x400s, 3x200s – all off 75 seconds

Over to Irishtown for this to meet up with the regular lunchtime crew ( last one for a while though)

We’d a good group today which usually makes these more enjoyable.

200s were short and sharp
400s were longer and slightly less sharp
800 – instructions were to really hammer this one ( felt it over the last 100)
400s weren’t the relief I’d hoped they’d be
200s these were flying reps, one of the lads from a different group joined us for these and led us around the track, he’s a flyer, this hurt

Great session though, worked hard and felt good after

Thursday

7 easy miles

Friday

7.4 easy miles ( totally got these days mixed up, didn’t realise that I’d been given instructions to wind things down in the lead up to the K club race)

Saturday

K Club 10k – 36.22 (PB)

Having heard so much about this one over the years, this year seemed like as good a chance as any to head down to the Kclub and give it a lash to bring things on another notch. It would be my 2nd road race of the year and first since January so should provide a good tough run to bring things on another notch, while maybe providing a sneaky PB too.

Having arrived down to the Kclub with plenty of time to spare, myself and Gosh (still lurking here I think), got registered and headed off for a warmup out along the course. Nothing really of note on the route other than typical country road surfaces and a bit of a head wind on the way back in to the Kclub over the last mile or so.

After bumping into lots of familiar faces from these parts, we took our places in the starting pen – I was happy to stay back a few rows and just latch on to a good group for the first few miles.

1-2-3 and we were off, heading straight down a small, sharp decline before heading straight up again and out of the grounds onto the road outside. I wasn’t too worried about pace over the first mile, I really just wanted to find a good stride and get myself into a group to work with for the next bit.
First mile felt sharp but good and I resisted the urge to check the watch when it beeped.

Mile 1 5.41

Into the second mile and I was moving well, breathing well but I did start develop an uneasy feeling about the pace I was moving at...lingering doubts around the energy levels probably – which ultimately led to me backing off one group and settling into another. I could see one or two familiar runners up ahead so knew I was still running at a decent clip but I was starting to settle a little as opposed to kicking on, looking back now, I really should have backed myself and moved into the middle section tied up in a slightly quicker group.

Mile 2 – 5.49

The course takes you straight out of the K club grounds for about a mile, then into a 3k loop, which we were to run twice. Heading around this loop for the first time, I was sitting in a group of runners, hesitant to go out alone and actually started to check the watch quite a bit for some reason. The watch never gives me good news during a race...never! I saw 6 min pace a few times and started to resign myself to running a good tempo instead of racing hard, convinced myself the effort was too hard for the reward on the watch and stayed in the safety of the group. We were moving into a headwind now too and it seemed to make sense at the time to just stay put, running well and not pushing too hard.

Mile 3 – 5.56

Continuing around the loop, I basically stayed put for the majority of the next mile, running well but still not focusing on the task at hand – where I should have been forcing the pace myself, ignoring the watch and racing, I was focusing on every little negative sign that inevitably comes along during a race. Ironically, at the point where we moved back into the headwind, I knew that I was moving better than I allowed myself to believe. I moved to the front of the group as we turned around the loop for the last time, into the headwind and really just upped the effort levels a tad. I could hear 2 sets of footsteps come with me over the next 400m or so.

Up ahead, I could see a clubmate of mine who was probably 30-40 seconds away. I knew I wouldn’t catch him but I also knew that if I could see him then I was running pretty well.

Mile 4 – 5.55

Now it felt like racing, THIS is what hurt felt like! The field was very spread out now and I was leading our little group of 3 into this headwind, out towards the end of the loop. I knew from the start the section coming back in towards the KClub itself would probably be the slowest, its dead flat but I was running straight into the headwind ( which to be fair, wasn’t too strong but was enough to add a degree of discomfort at this stage of the race)
I hoped that one of the two lads behind me would come by and take the lead for a bit but it didn’t happen so I resigned myself to the fact that I was in for a hard fought last two miles

Mile 5 – 5.48

Out of the loop now and heading along the road to the Kclub and it was more of the same, the two lads were pretty close on my shoulder now though so I just kept up the surge . After what seemed an age, we turned into the Kclub and onto a much better surface, the three of us naturally upped the pace, sensing the finishing area, down a nice drop and I could see the start line a few hundred metres ahead. To everyone’s surprise, we were diverted right rather than steaming on towards the finish....in and around the back of a carpark, left, left and then right around the roundabout...legs getting heavy now. The two lads had stolen an inch on me so I fought back to try and reel them in.
Heading up towards the finishing area, there was no late surge in the legs, we were heading up a short but sharpish hill so I’d really left it too late to push on, the two lads were gone .

Mile 6 – 5.48

.25 miles – 5.30 pace

Over the line, stopped the watch for 36.22 – a little surprised to be honest, it felt quicker than that. I wasn’t alone in being slightly puzzled by the time, the chatter in the finishing chute was pretty much all about the questions around the course length. Nonetheless, while initially disappointed with the time, I was pretty satisfied with the effort, bar the middle section where I lost a bit of time.

Headed off on a warmdown with G and I from the club, everyone seemed pretty happy with their respective runs. Hung around long enough to sample the famous spread and catch up with some familiar faces.
I enjoyed the Kclub, I didn’t quite get why there was such hype around the event but its a flat course, well organised and even with the question marks over the course length, its a tenner...well worth it in my view.
Just over 11 miles for the day

Sunday

Recovery run up and down the coast, all nice and easy. Legs a little tender from yesterday.

7 miles very easy

OOnegative

Good man DD, well done on the PB. You have made a great comeback from your iron issues. The new horse in the stable bet you though over the weekend......

Duanington

OOnegative wrote: »

Good man DD, well done on the PB. You have made a great comeback from your iron issues. The new horse in the stable bet you though over the weekend......

He's top dog in the stable now B, no doubt about it - fantastic performance

Swashbuckler

OOnegative wrote:

Good man DD, well done on the PB. You have made a great comeback from your iron issues. The new horse in the stable bet you though over the weekend......

Duanington wrote:

He's top dog in the stable now B, no doubt about it - fantastic performance

I think you were a little screwed there with the distance to be honest D. And the opposite for me as it looks like Ennis was around 9.96k. You're still top dog although I'm not sure why there's dogs in a stable...... Aren't we horses?

Duanington

Swashbuckler wrote: »

I think you were a little screwed there with the distance to be honest D. And the opposite for me as it looks like Ennis was around 9.96k. You're still top dog although I'm not sure why there's dogs in a stable...... Aren't we horses?

Ah I wouldn't be reading too much into short\long courses P...the times stand regardless !

Re the horse v dogs thing....we're probably some form of mutant\hybrid\mongrel

Duanington

06.04.2018

The plan this week had been to ease back on mileage, run a session early in the week and freshen up for a crack at a half marathon this weekend.

Life got in the way, however - no racing this weekend... but it does present an opportunity to continue with easing off on training\racing intensity for a few days, continue with the freshening up before ramping up again next week.

I've enjoyed the last few months with all the racing and sessions, I haven't always been great allowing the body to soak up training blocks so it'll take a bit of work to keep myself from overdoing it before next week.


Monday

8 miles easy around St Anne's, nice run

Tuesday

Session:

2 miles @ 6 min pace
3x2 minutes @ 5.45 pace
4x1 minutes hard

4 minutes and 3 minutes between sets
90 seconds and 60 seconds between reps

Down to Ringsend park for this one, a loop which I hate because of how busy it can get but also because I fall into the trap of looking at the watch so much....because I know there's a lot of tree cover....and I know the watch will give me bad news ....and I know its probably wrong, stupid stuff really.

Anyway, the 2 mile section was a little heavy legged, while I found my stride pretty quickly, dodging dog walkers and taking sharp turns had me regretting the venue choice pretty quickly. Didn't enjoy this the way I normally do enjoy this pace but a bit of focus and gritting of the teeth got it done.



Into the 3x2 minutes section

MOre of the same really, dodging walkers and dogs, sharp turns, blah blah blah

Job done

Really enjoyed the 4x1 minutes though compared to the rest, even if if I did go out too hard on each one and find myself hanging on at the end !

Paces were all over the shop on the watch but they were all there or thereabouts in terms of effort.


7.5 miles for the lot


Wednesday

Jog home from work 4.2 miles

Thursday

off - busy day, late by the time I had the chance to run .....decided I had zero to gain from running and given I was no in wind down mode for a few days, I'd get more out of reading my book instead :eek:

Swashbuckler

Now that the half is off the cards what's next do you think?

Duanington

Swashbuckler wrote: »

Now that the half is off the cards what's next do you think?

More of the same really, P. I'm sure I'll be moving towards more marathon-specific training as the summer arrives but between now and then I hope to give a few 10ks\5 miles ( and maybe even a dreaded 5k) a good rattle