Confessions of a never has been.....

Swashbuckler

Duanington wrote:

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

Ah yeah I vaguely remember you mentioning Berlin in Sept I think? Maybe we could tempt you to have a crack at some 10k down the country haha. I think we could push each other to sub 36 maybe even AMK could don his cape and give it a crack.

AuldManKing

Swashbuckler wrote: »

Ah yeah I vaguely remember you mentioning Berlin in Sept I think? Maybe we could tempt you to have a crack at some 10k down the country haha. I think we could push each other to sub 36 maybe even AMK could don his cape and give it a crack.

If its a downhill like your PB P, then its a goer

Swashbuckler

AuldManKing wrote:

If its a downhill like your PB P, then its a goer

And 40m short don't forget

Duanington

Swashbuckler wrote: »

Ah yeah I vaguely remember you mentioning Berlin in Sept I think? Maybe we could tempt you to have a crack at some 10k down the country haha. I think we could push each other to sub 36 maybe even AMK could don his cape and give it a crack.

Yep - would love that actually, P - I usually get a race or two in around the Galway region throughout the course of the year so if you come across anything in The Clare\Galways region, I'd be up for that.

If they can afford AMK's appearance fee then even better

Duanington

16.04.2018


Crazy week last week with various DIY projects and work commitments threatening to derail training....somehow managed to sneak out a good week though. Sleep and nutrition weren't exactly top notch on account of some nights out with work but sometimes that just can't be helped.

Friday 6th

4.2 easy miles

Saturday 7th

Up and out early to meet FBOT for a "lightish" session to keep things ticking over during the last few days of my down week.

Settled on a 4x3,2,1 min style session, working the pace down from 6.30 ( for 3 minutes) to hard ( 1 minute)

Ran this out on the coast and felt pretty good as the session went on, probably ran a little quicker than planned but no harm done as recoveries were all good.

Great to have company too.

9.9 miles for the lot


Sunday 8th

A very easy 4 mile jog to finish off the week.


Monday

13.1 miles, good long run - felt good for the most
part but did tire a little towards the end. I think I've yet to run anything over 10 miles and feel great from start to finish, never, ever happens.


Tuesday

Early start to cram this in, stuck for time so had to shorten the planned run from 7 to 5.3

Wednesday

Session day - 7x800s with reducing recoveries ( 90, down to 60)

Legged it down to the track on lunch for this, couldn't face the crowded park so opted to pay the 6 euro for the sake of some space to run in .

Very good session, didn't force the effort into the breeze, focused on turnover and form\control instead.

Paces were all between 5.40-5.45


7.5 miles all in


Thursday


7 easy miles at lunch, looped around the various green areas in Ringsend\Irishtown. Nice run legs a little tight from yesterday though

Friday

AM - Another early start for this one, 8.3 miles with good company ( which always helps at that hour), done and dusted by just after 8 am.

PM - 4 easy miles, enjoyed this one


Saturday

Early start for another big looking session

2k, 3x400, 1 mile, 4x300, 1200

Paces, 5.50 for the longer stuff and 5.45 for the shorter stuff.

60 seconds recovery between short reps, 3 minutes after long reps

Headed out to the coast for this, no time to overthink it given how crazy the week was panning out ( which is a gift sometimes). Knew the breeze would give me some grief out on the coast but I also wasn't going to get too worried about paces etc...

2k section - 5.48 pace
400s - 5.31, 5.35, 5.31
1 mile - 5.48
300s - 5.41, 5.32, 5.44
1200 - 5.40


Very good session - the wind was pesky rather than poxy at times and I did start to feel the pinch towards the end of the 300s but pretty happy with how I ran\felt

8.5 all in

Sunday

6 miles, nice and easy - St Anne's...wou;d not have fancied my chances racing in that wind so well done to anyone racing yesterday

Swashbuckler

Duanington wrote: »

16.04.2018

Up and out early to meet FBOT for a "lightish" session to keep things ticking over during the last few days of my down week.

Settled on a 4x3,2,1 min style session, working the pace down from 6.30 ( for 3 minutes) to hard ( 1 minute)

Is this like a treat we get from coach every now and then on the downweek you get to pick your own session

Duanington

23.04.2018

And the beat goes on.....


Monday

Long run – I tend to find these a little mentally draining, probably due to the fact that its after work on one of the busier days each week. Soooo, I changed it up a little this week and decided to run a slightly longer route home – by the time I got home and dropped off the backpack, I’d have 7.5 miles to go as opposed to the usual 9\10. Doesn’t sound like a huge difference but it broke the run up nicely, in my head anyway. Popped into St Anne’s for a couple of loops around the grass to finish off the 14.
Good run.

Tuesday

Met up with a couple of DNS boardsies ( or former boardsies, not sure if they still post\lurk) for some easy stuff. Very enjoyable chatter all the way. Coast road, into St Anne’s, then home.
7 miles all easy

Wednesday

Session day today, 16x300s on the cards ( off 60 seconds)

Put out the feelers in work to see if anyone fancied running this on lunch, two of the speed merchants in the office were up for it….which had me half regretting asking in the first place !
Settled on a straight in Ringsend Park for the session ( after chancing our arm at the track…booked out) and off we went.
The stretch we used was probably a little over the 300 mark but having the two lads to work off really makes these sessions a little spicier - One is much faster over short stuff than me( but would lack the endurance background), the other is faster in general than me and is also an endurance monster so its never the light, zippy session it might look on paper.
Paces were all in and around 5 min pace, thankfully I wasn’t the only one wrecked at the end.

Thursday

Down to St Anne’s between meetings for this, lovely morning, hogged the grass for recovery.
Enjoyable 7 miles

Friday
Another double day rolls around

AM - Had to get the first one out of the way pretty early so was out the door before 7, super morning for running again but I was a little sleepy on this one, plodded around St Anne’s again for just over 4 miles

PM – Run home from work, beautiful evening for it, took the long route home and the legs felt great ( probably aided by that sunshine feeling)
6.5 miles nice and easy

Just under 11 for the day


Saturday

Session day again:

400, 800, 1200, 1600, 1200, 800, 400 – target pace: 5.45-5.50, rec 90 seconds

Up earlyish for this and headed out to the coast road again to use the long straights there. Its tree cover or wind on the coast and I just find the tree cover messes with the splits too much to avoid overcooking everything so settled on the wind option ( which wasn’t too bad to be fair).
Ran all of this very well but had to start to dig in from the first 1200 onwards, focused on control, form, breathing etc and didn’t fall into my old habit of flapping the arms around towards the end of longer reps.
Tough going at times but I finished this one feeling very strong which is a good sign.
Paces were:

400 – 5.36
800 – 5.45
1200 – 5.42
1600 – 5.44
1200 – 5.44
800 – 5.39
400 – 5.39

Finished off with some easy stuff to bring the total to 8.6 miles

Sunday

Met my sister for an easy run around the trails in the Phoenix Park, windy enough to be honest but we stuck to the trails which soon brought us some nice shelter

6 miles all easy.

Good week down, I feel like I’m in good shape now so looking forward to racing a bit more in May\June

Duanington

24.04.2018

Monday

Long run day again. Tired by the time I got out of work so decided to take a detour on last week's detour to break the run up even more.
Headed up through the nature reserve and Ringsend and back in through the foul smelling treatment plant there, into the wind and over to East Point\Clontarf.

Dropped the bag off at the house and headed into St Anne's to finish up, picked up the pace just a little over the last couple of miles.

14.2 miles @7.41



Tuesday

Met up with a couple of DNS larries for some recovery miles, good chat, good company, legs felt good

7.2 miles all easy

AuldManKing

Any truth in the rumour that L is calling his 1st born 'Davey' - even if its a girl?

Testosterscone

AuldManKing wrote: »

Any truth in the rumour that L is calling his 1st born 'Davey' - even if its a girl?

There goes the big reveal 😛

Duanington

Testosterscone wrote: »

There goes the big reveal ��

I knew I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up

Duanington

30.04.2018

Wednesday

First day back on the track with the work crew, we're building a good couple of groups here with some pretty speedy lads (and me) making up the faster group.

Session for today was

5x600s off 90 seconds and 4x300s off 60 seconds.

Some light jogging, dynamic stuff and strides to warmup with the group then straight into the session.

As always on these, the focus is on good turnover, concentration and form - instructions from the sideline ( is that a thing in running?) is consistently to focus on good running form, the pace seems to take care of itself when we do that.

First 600 was a little quick for me but we settled into a good clip for the rest really ( after I paced a couple from the front :pac:)

Reps were all between 5.14 and 5.25 pace, the 90 seconds looked generous on paper but by the last one, it seemed pretty brief.

Into the 300s and the quickest of the 3 of us headed out at the front of the group, taking us around at a good clip.

Nothing for it but to hang on and get them done.

reps ranged from 5.00 pace down to 4.40 pace

Really good session, loved being back on the track and not doing 800s !

Jogged back to the office to warm down



PM - very light jog home from the office, 4.2 miles nice n easy



Thursday


Late morning run, out from the office into Irishtown and Ringsend, hogging the grass where I could.

6.8 miles all easy


Friday

AM - Run into work, 4.2 miles

PM - Run home from work, longer route, 6.5 miles easy


Saturday

Session 5x1200 off 2 minutes rec, target pace was 5.45-5.50

Woke up early after a broken night's sleep ( teenagers running amok in the gaff)

Didn't feel great heading out for this but put it down to the lack of sleep the previous night, got a small coffee into me and went towards St Anne's to warm up, heading out to the coast for the actual session.

First rep was blowy but fine, went out far too quick over the first 400m and reigned it in a little as the rep went on

2nd one was the same really, out too fast, reigned it in from halfway, the coastal breeze was enough to cause a bit of a distraction but not really strong enough cause any resistance, messed up the distance calculation here though and ran too far on the rep.

Turned around for the 3rd one ( to be somehow met with a slightly stronger coastal breeze than the one I'd just been running into ), was really feeling it by the end of this one, messed up the distance again here and ran slightly under

Into the last one and it was a case of digging in against what felt like a strengthening wind ( I doubt it was), effort levels were very high by the end and I was glad when it was over ( albeit slightly short again :mad:)

Reps were all between 5.40 and 5.45 pace so while it looks pretty good, the effort levels were higher than I would have thought they'd be over the last 2 reps

A few easy miles to finish off and I was very tired for the rest of the day, a scratchy throat and a 10 hour sleep that night probably confirms that I was fighting off something or other.

Sunday

Off to the Phoenix Park to meet my sister for some easy miles, perfect evening for it. just over 6 miles all easy.

Swashbuckler

That Wednesday session was a belter. You're definitely coaches favorite getting away with those paces . You're lucky he's distracted.

Testosterscone

Swashbuckler wrote: »

That Wednesday session was a belter. You're definitely coaches favorite getting away with those paces . You're lucky he's distracted.

The assistant coach who oversaw is a big softie haha

OOnegative

Some time that this morning DD.

Swashbuckler

OOnegative wrote:

Some time that this morning DD.

Couldn't just let me have my big day could he. I even went off the tracker to build suspense.

AuldManKing

OOnegative wrote: »

Some time that this morning DD.

I heard it was short

Duanington

07.05.2018

Monday

Long run night, 14 miles with the last 2 @ steady effort

Ran the long way home from work agan for this one, around my poolbeg and back over the East Link
Dropped off the bag at the house and headed up into St Anne's. Struggled a little at the start on this but really grew into the run, I usually find the long runs with "stuff" at the end a little easier to deal with mentally.
Got into a good stride and kicked on out of the park along the coast for the steady stuff, very enjoyable and feeling strong.

14.4 miles @ 7.32 for the lot

Tuesday

Nipped out on lunch for this one, up into Irishtown and SOM parks, stopped for a bit of stretching at Irishtown towards the end.

6.8 all easy

Wednesday

Down to the track with the work group at lunch for this, tried not to fall over when we were hit with the news that we'd be doing 5x1k with reducing recoveries, played it cool and nodded away as we discussed the session :eek:

While we settled on running 10k pace for these, I knew they'd be quicker than my current 10k pace but these sessions are in there to push the boundaries a bit so I would just have to get on with it and dig it out

First few weren't actually too bad but as the recoveries reduced, the effort got tougher, I was digging in big time on the last one but digging in to push on and finish strong which is pleasing.

Recoveries went from 2.30 down to 60 seconds

Reps
3.22
3.21
3.25
3.24
3.21

Fairly wrecked at the end but good wrecked

Bit of a light jog back to the office to finish off.

PM - light jog home ( in the racing flats...doh!), 4.2 very easy

10.3 for the day

Thursday

Into St Anne's for some easy stuff, legs felt good, enjoyed this run

7.1 miles easy

Friday

Ran home from work and popped in a few strides towards the end, lovely evening for it and the legs felt a little cranky to begin with but chilled out by the end
Just over 5 for the lot

Saturday

Into St Anne's for a bit of a shake out, never feel great on these and this was no exception, a little groggy or something and by the time I started to snap out of it, I was finishing up

2.5 easy miles - followed by a day of core work (gardening :pac:)

Sunday

Tallaght AC 5k



Woke up to the most glorious morning in ages with the fog starting to lift off the coast. I knew it was going to be warm today and traditionally I have raced very poorly in any kind of warm conditions. Ah well, that was just excuse number 1 bagged nice and early !

Got the breakfast in early doors and got myself over to Race HQ with plenty of time to spare, bumped into quite a few familiar faces which is always nice, got myself ready and hung around in the warm sunshine for a while.

I really wasn't feeling this one at all, right through the warmup ( which I cut short because I was starting to get a little too warm for comfort) and up to a few minutes beforehand, I just didn't fancy it - it was too warm, there was constant talk of "that bastard of a drag over the last mile" among the crowd and it was too warm....:rolleyes:

One of the faster lads from the club told me he was just going to reel in his expectations of a quick time and go with the flow. I knew I was in good shape, knwe my 5k PB is probably a little soft so decided that if I could get close to it today, given the heat and given the drag that everyone was talking about then it would be a reasonable day's work.

BUT - I wasn't going to rely on the watch at all during this one to dictate the race, I was going out hard and keeping it going for as long as I could, coach had mentioned to me before this race that he felt I'd handle the 3rd mile pretty well and I believed that, so going out hard, hanging for as long as I can was the wat to go - if I lose a bit of time on that drag, I'll surely make at least some of it up in the last 500m or so ( the race finishes on the fantastic track at the clubhouse). I couldn't control the heat but to be fair, I would hope to be finished racing by the time it became too much of an issue.

Down to the starting area on the Greenhills road, I lined up a little too far back and remedied that just before the gun by nipping out of the crowd, skipping up a few rows and getting back in. 2 rows back, grand.

There was a strong enough looking field so I was happy enough that I'd find plenty of people to work off.
5-4-3-2-1 and we were off, zipping up the Greenhills road, by the clubhouse, turning left into but away from Tallaght village. I knew this route pretty well even though I'd never run the race and knew the first mile should be quick, I did have a quicj glance at the watch to make sure I was pushing hard enough pace wise, satisfied that I was, I kicked on.
The sun was really beaming down on us leaving the village and I was glad of the shades but I was also aware of my breathing sounding like it was A LOT louder than anyone else's around me, f*ck it D - they're just not woking hard enough - I kicked on a bit and found myself leading a small group going through the first mile

Mile 1 - 5.24 (glad I didn't check the watch when it beeped for that!)

A sharp turn left brought us down by Tymon North, again, this was nice and straight with a slight decent overall, some good support too. I was working my way up to the group ahead of me now, reminding myself to keep pushing and refusing to allow myself to settle. Around the halfway mark I did get thoughts of easing up though, the effort was hard, really hard and I wasn't sure I could hold on for much longer. I focused on the stride and the road in front of me, turnover and form, turnover and form....but it was hurting damn it.

I could see the leaders snaking away in the distance going by the basketball arena and wondered for a second at how much they were hurting. The heat was making itself known now too, I could feel the core temperature rising but I was determined to keep pushing down to the end of this stretch, we'd be onto the drag then and sure we'd have less than a mile to go then.

Mile 2 - 5.30

Left turn onto the Geenhills Road and the road was indeed rising up before us. Runners were coming back to me now, I just focused on form and turnover, getting good forward purchase off each stride and fueling the lungs without gasping too much. I was grateful of the bit of shade we had here now and I was also getting a boost from passing runners that were slowing on the drag.

Another poxy mile of this, I can't even...I just can't....but beneath the terror, I knew that the risk of blowing up or imploding was gone, I ran Bob Heffernan last year in what I thought was the shape of my life but I was anemic at the time and had a nightmare from about 800m in, thoughts of banishing those particular demons were beginning to win out over the negative thoughts that had gathered.
The road steadied out ahead after about .5 mile or so, I focused on the ground ahead again, trying to avoid looking up for the entrance to the track. I knew I was moving well, I knew this could be pretty good if I could get a bit of a squeeze on, so I did just that, I stepped it up a little more and tried to catch the lad ahead.

Arriving at the entrance, I was keen not to let anything slow so I accellerated around the corner and kept the focus up, I knew there was someone close behind too from the shouts in the crowd but I didn't care, he wasn't catching me once I got onto this track.
Down onto the track, and 300m to go, this was cross country type of hurt now, I was pushing hard, trying to relentlessly squeeze everytying I could from the race. I wasn't catching the lad ahead but I knew I was pulling away from the guy behind.
Around the bend, onto the home straight and I chanced a look up at the clock...WTF?! 16.48, 49, 50.....

I couldn't believe my eyes but I didn't hang around, I gave it everything for the last bit, legs and lungs aching as one, the heat, the jaysus heat!....I wasn't letting a sub17 5k slip away from me though......

Mile 3 - 5.30
.1 - 4.38 pace

Crossed the line for 16.57 chip time, a big PB ( down from 17.32)


Hands over the head, straight for the water and almost choked myself gulping it down - I was spent but over the moon.
I honestly thought heading into the track for the finish that I'd be looking at mid-high 17 on the clock.

Hung around a bit at the end to cool down on the grass and to catch up with a few folks from here, chatted to a few clubmates for a bit, ran a warmdown with one and then hit the road.

Hats of to Tallaght AC for a great race, really well put together and a great spread afterwards. The route probably suits a diesel engined tractor like me as opposed to the speedsters with that drag on the last mile but I liked it, you can't beat a track finish for drama either.

Duanington

Swashbuckler wrote: »

Couldn't just let me have my big day could he. I even went off the tracker to build suspense.

lol - nothing like the bit of drama to try and steal the limelight P!

Swashbuckler

I've been waiting patiently for that report. Single handedly the ballsiest race of the year I reckon. That is a run and a half. Fantastic. Dunno what else to say. To have the balls to go flat out from the start.. Just deadly running.

AuldManKing

That's a super run DD. That last mile.........just amazing that you held the pace.Many congrats.

Younganne

congrats on great racing DD. That huge PB was well deserved

laura_ac3

Congrats. Not just the time and race but to take such a chunk off the pb at that level is impressive. Well done.

One question for you though - why no club vest?

Duanington

Swashbuckler wrote: »

I've been waiting patiently for that report. Single handedly the ballsiest race of the year I reckon. That is a run and a half. Fantastic. Dunno what else to say. To have the balls to go flat out from the start.. Just deadly running.

Ah you're too kind, P - I'll take it for now though :pac:

Duanington

AuldManKing wrote: »

That's a super run DD. That last mile.........just amazing that you held the pace.Many congrats.

Thanks A - tough going but it was just blind racing really, I probably made up some time coming off the top of the climb

Duanington

OOnegative wrote: »

Some time that this morning DD.

Cheers B - surprised myself a little to be honest!

Duanington

Younganne wrote: »

congrats on great racing DD. That huge PB was well deserved

Thanks A - hope to see you back at it soon

Duanington

laura_ac3 wrote: »

Congrats. Not just the time and race but to take such a chunk off the pb at that level is impressive. Well done.

One question for you though - why no club vest?

Many thanks L - I actually couldn't find the damn thing before the race, Pat H was at the finish line and gave me a bit of a telling off too, won't make that mistake again

laura_ac3

Duanington wrote: »

Many thanks L - I actually couldn't find the damn thing before the race, Pat H was at the finish line and gave me a bit of a telling off too, won't make that mistake again

Haha, I can imagine!! I wasn't telling off - just curious

Swashbuckler

I'm curious. How much of that time do you think was just deciding to go balls to the wall and how much was the shape you're in do you think? In other words is it possible to run beyond where we think our current level of fitness is? I presume you thought you were maybe in 17.20ish shape? Or am I way off?