A Slow Journey to Faster Times

FBOT01

Decided to sign up for this last night so hopefully see you down there. If not good luck and enjoy!

yaboya1

FBOT01 wrote: »

Decided to sign up for this last night so hopefully see you down there. If not good luck and enjoy!

Will do hopefully. I'd offer you a lift, but I'm going golfing on the way back (unless you want to caddy :pac:)

Tom Joad

Best of luck with it tomorrow.

outforarun

Good luck today.

Pacing Mule

Good luck today P

Btw saw your before pic in the before and after thread. I've only known you as the fit and lean "after". Inspirational stuff there.

yaboya1

61:39
I'll write up a report tomorrow.
Off golfing & drinking now.

Ferris B

yaboya1 wrote: »

61:39
I'll write up a report tomorrow.
Off golfing & drinking now.

Jeez you're talented. Not only can you run very fast but you can drink while playing golf. How'd you hold the pint glass or do you use the 'hydration' backpack technique.

ThebitterLemon

Class running P.

If you've told Statler & Waldorf you'd wait for them for a pint at the finish line in Berlin, you'd better bring a sleeping bag!

TbL

FBOT01

ThebitterLemon wrote: »

Class running P.

If you've told Statler & Waldorf you'd wait for them for a pint at the finish line in Berlin, you'd better bring a sleeping bag!

TbL

You better bring 2 sleeping bag or it will get very crowded in there because I for one will definitely need an afternoon nap after running all that way;)

FBOT01

yaboya1 wrote: »

61:39
I'll write up a report tomorrow.
Off golfing & drinking now.

Well done again P. Great running. Enjoy the golf and some well deserved pints....try not lose the money today;)

tang1

Thats some serious running today. Nice to have met you.

yaboya1

This race represented another stepping stone on my long journey to Berlin. Anything sub 62 would be in line with all my other recent race times at the shorter distances and point me towards a marathon in the mid 2:50's.


Pre-race

Coming into this off the back of a hard effort in last week's Fingal 10k, I had kept the midweek miles easy but knew I wouldn't find out if the legs were fully recovered until I actually raced. I had packed most of my workouts into the early part of the week, meaning I had a mini-taper of two days but still hadn't slacked on the mileage (getting in close to 60) which I was happy with. I had a fair sleep Saturday night and got the usual pre-race breakfast in (porridge, banana, bagel, coffee) before I left for Mullingar. I convinced a friend of mine who'd taken part in the Colour Dash on Saturday to join me in the race rather than doing her long run on her own, so I had some company in the car on the way down. Registration & number collection was probably the most efficient I've ever seen and I was in and out of the National School in less than a minute with yet another running shirt (seems nice, haven't worn it yet). Did a few stretches and a little warm up jog before preparing to head down towards the start line. Bumped into FBOT01, belcarra & tang1 before the race and we had a quick chat about our targets. We lined up relatively close to the front and were off at about 11:03am.


The Race

Miles 1-4

Even though I started quite far up the field, I was still dodging slower runners for the first 400-500m, and was almost half a mile in before I hit anything close to my predicted race pace. We took a left turn onto a wider road where a cooling breeze was blowing straight into our face. It made it more difficult to go faster, but was definitely providing some relief from the warmth of yet another beautiful morning. By now I had got myself into the position I wanted to be in, drafting a group of five Tullamore singlets moving at the same pace. I decided I'd be less likely to get complacent if I overtook them though, as then if they tried to come back at me I'd be more aware of my pace and step on the gas again. So that's exactly what I did and hit the first mile in 6:06. They didn't respond and I never saw them again. Knew I already had a few seconds in hand now which allowed me to ease off slightly. Nothing eventful in Mile 2, apart from the fact that I could see the lead car about 1km ahead in the distance and wondered how anybody could be moving that fast. I felt like I was going at a reasonable clip and the leaders were almost out of sight already! Through that section in 6:10. We took a right turn early in Mile 3 and I expected the breeze to die off slightly, but we still seemed to be tackling it head on. Told myself to just dig in and hold the pace, as the same wind would be aiding me on the way home. Mile 3 in 6:16. Mile 4 was the deciding mile in the race for me. I don't know why, but I was really struggling here. Early in the mile I noticed I was only moving at 6:37 pace. The effort felt the same as it had been in the previous miles, but I had slowed significantly. I knew I only had about four seconds in hand and urged myself to get it back down to 6:20 at least, so I'd still be within reasonable range to claw it back. I think the first water station was along here. Grabbed a bottle, took a sip and sprayed the rest over my head and on my face. Felt slightly better after that and really put everything into getting back on target for the rest of the mile. Was delighted to see the watch click at 6:18 meaning I was only two seconds down, which I could easily recover. I think everyone has bad patches at some point in a race. This was mine and I'd gotten through it relatively unscathed. Going towards halfway I was right where I wanted to be.

Miles 5-8

Since I had sped up so much in the second half of Mile 4, I was now moving bang on the correct pace and felt really comfortable at that. I think coming through the make or break episode in the previous mile gave me a huge amount of confidence and I felt I was gaining strength and energy the further we went. A solid looking runner ahead of me was holding a similar pace so I was tagging onto him, realising that once I continued to do that the pre-race target would be in the bag. It was at this point I heard a patter of footsteps behind me. We were coming towards the halfway point and I was moving very strongly. Who could posssibly be going faster than me that wasn't already way ahead? Next thing Pauline Curley appeared beside me. By the time I looked to my left to see who was there, she was gone five yards ahead of me. Then she passed the guy I'd been tailing and took off into the distance like she had a rocket up her arse. I've ever experienced anything like that in a race at that stage. More victims would follow. I was very, very impressed. When I spoke to FBOT01 aftewards, he said she had run with his group at 6:40 pace for 3 miles before speeding up. That means she made up the guts of two minutes on me in less than two miles. Then sped by me as if I was stopped, even though I was going at close to 6:00min/mile pace. It was seriously impressive. Some athlete! We took a left turn just before the end of the mile. Yet again the wind was in our face (Wtf?). Split read 6:13. Halfway there . Although I was now starting to feel it, I never let the pace drop and was making sure to keep the splits around 6:12. Towards the end of Mile 6 I could see a fair hill ahead, so I sped up a bit to make sure the split was on target. This would also mean I'd get a good start to Mile 7 and wouldn't be chasing time to keep on pace like I was in Mile 4 (2 birds, 1 stone :pac:). Sprinted (well it felt like a sprint) up the two rolling hills and eased off at the top, allowing myself to be carried down the other side. Hit Mile 6 in 6:10. Having kept the pace steady going up the hill I was now down to 6:05 on the descent. At this stage I was thinking the more seconds I get in hand, the easier I can be on myself in the final 2-3 miles. I tell myself this, but I know that's never going to happen . I was starting to tire though, so I needed something to focus the mind on to stop me losing concentration. So I decided that now would be a good time to overtake the guy in the white shirt. I put on a bit of a spurt and went by him so quickly that he'd no time to respond. Another guy who'd been keeping him company after he drew alongside him was also caught unawares and neither of them attempted to go with me. Through Mile 7 in 6:06. Being the stubborn so and so that I am, I knew that I was now much less likely to slack coming in as I wouldn't be letting those guys or anyone else by me without a fight. Gradually started to pull away from the aforementioned two and picked out another target about 100m ahead in a white singlet. I vowed to pass him by the end of the mile. Took on another bottle of water early in the mile, sipping, spraying and pouring over my head, before turning the afterburners on again. Caught the white singlet and moved by him as fast as I could. I was able to sense him looking at my face and figured if I could portray a comfortable exterior, he was way less likely to respond. I could see in the expression on his face from the corner of my eye that he wasn't up for a battle. Took a left turn after this and passed the marker in 6:06.

Miles 9-10

I was really feeling the pinch now and being positioned on my own like I was would have made it easy to lose concentration and drop the pace. I needed another target. My final victim was a Mullingar Harrier. I saw the maroon singlet in the distance and knew if I kept pace with that, the pre-race target was a formality. At this stage I knew I could finish with something like two 6:20 miles and still be safe, but I find it hard not to give 100% in a race no matter what. I knew I was gaining on the guy in front and although it was really hurting at this point (probably due to the slight incline we were now encountering), I could see from the Garmin that I was holding the pace well. I reeled him in quicker than I expected and passed him before we hit the 9 mile marker. Slightly slower at 6:11 here, but still below target pace. I was now into the last mile and starting to accelerate again, despite the fact that my body was protesting. There was another Mullingar runner way ahead in the distance, but try as I might, there was no way I could make up that amount of ground in less than a mile. Put every last bit of energy I had left into this stretch as I passed over the start line and down past the National School for a second time. I could now see the finish and hear the MC. Only seconds now until it's over. I rounded the final tun and got a call out from the MC as I crossed the line. Gave a little fist pump as I saw I'd run a 5:51 mile to finish. Over the moon with that!


Garmin data: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/551474522


Post race

I doused myself in water, before getting some more down my throat along with a banana and a Mars bar which were all in plentiful supply at the finish line. FBOT01 came in soon after with a very impressive time (especially considering he had started the race at MP) and we moved over to the tent where a monster spread of sandwiches, baps, cakes, biscuits, chocolate was laid out for us. Tea & coffee were also available. While we were sitting enjoying our food/drink in the sunshine we saw tang1 come in comfortably under his target, while belcarra followed not too far behind. I checked the actual race result with the MC, and he told me Martin Fagan had run 48 minutes. I felt like I'd run the race of my life and he'd been finished before I hit Mile 8. Unreal!


Review

This was an excellent race. €20 got you an extremely well organised race that was well marshaled, supplied plenty of water stations, had mobile water stations (people on bikes offered me water on numerous ocsasions), a nice technical t-shirt, a massive spread of food afterwards and a very high standard of athlete. To be honest, I wasn't expecting any less even though it was the race's inaugural year as I only hear good things about the club and assumed it would all be first class. I was right . I can see this becoming one of the most prestigious 10 mile races in the country. It can only get better and yesterday was anything to go by that's a little frightening (in a good way). If I was to be hyper, ultra, majorly critical and you forced me to pick out negatives there are two things I would address:

1 - They need to organise a timing mat at the start line. It wasn't too bad yesterday with only 291 running, but if the race grows significantly (which I'd expect it to) it would be unfair on anyone not near the front as their time will obviously be quicker than the official results show. Myself, FBOT01, tang1 & belcarra all took at least 5-10 seconds to cross the start line yesterday, so we are all due a few seconds (significantly for FBOT01 who would have run sub 63 with a chip time). Anyone behind us would have been even worse affected.

2 - The mile markers were wrong. The race measured bang on 10 miles. No arguments there. The paint markings on the road for each mile, 5k, 10k etc were all on the button also, but the little signs on the side of the road were off. Most of them were a bit short, especially the 9 mile marker which was stuck in the ground after 8.75m! This didn't affect me as I was working off my Garmin and could also see the paint markings, so assumed they stuck the signs at the nearest point possible. However, if you were a runner just using a stopwatch or no watch at all, you may have been slightly deceived, especially in the last mile which must have felt like an eternity for anyone using the signs as a guide. Not a big issue tbh, and like I said only because I'm being super critical and trying to find fault with what I considered to be a brilliant event.


Thoughts

I am really buzzing after that. I've now set times at 5k, 5m, 10k & 10m that all point to a mid 2:50's marathon according to McMillan & Vdot tables. The fact that I've run the last two in the space of 8 days is particularly pleasing as I'd like to think I may do a little better if slightly fresher. I'm also very pleased with my pacing in those races, running negative splits of 8 seconds (Fingal 10k) & 27 seconds (Mullingar 10) respectively. I think no matter what I eventually decide to do in Berlin, I'll be pacing myself. Next up is likely to be the Longford Half-Marathon on the 24th August, although I've yet to sign up for it. Target there will be sub 1:23. After originally toying with the idea of fitting the Lakes 10k into my schedule on 6th September, I've now decided against that and will not race after Longford until Berlin. I'll give myself a few easy days now before getting stuck back in to the HADD training.

RayCun

She does that a lot, flew past me in Limerick a few miles in too.

Duanington

congrats Yaboya1 - Its a never-ending stream of result after result on this log at the moment, great to see the hard work and patience paying off

outforarun

Congrats on yet another great performance and report. I must admit I worried that after last week's 10K that you might suffer yesterday. Oh me of little faith.

RedRunner

Ya Boy Ya! (See what I did there?)

Well done.Enjoyed the report too.Sounds like a race to check out for next year alright.

Tigerandahalf

Well done. Another great result.
You mentioned the wind but for me it was more the inclines on the course. Maybe it was just me but I felt I was always running up a bit of an incline.
The race was well organised but on such a hot day maybe there should have been 3 water stops. I was sweating a lot.
Also by the time I got there there were no small tshirts left. Had to take a medium but will never use it on a run.
The quality of the field was pretty impressive, a lot of people under the hr mark. There are not many 10 mile races out there so it has the potential to become attractive.
Well done again on your run. Great progress over the last year. At the start of the year you were looking to go sub 19 at 5km and sub 40 at 10km I think, so great progress.

yaboya1

Tigerandahalf wrote: »

Well done. Another great result.
You mentioned the wind but for me it was more the inclines on the course. Maybe it was just me but I felt I was always running up a bit of an incline.
The race was well organised but on such a hot day maybe there should have been 3 water stops. I was sweating a lot.
Also by the time I got there there were no small tshirts left. Had to take a medium but will never use it on a run.
The quality of the field was pretty impressive, a lot of people under the hr mark. There are not many 10 mile races out there so it has the potential to become attractive.
Well done again on your run. Great progress over the last year. At the start of the year you were looking to go sub 19 at 5km and sub 40 at 10km I think, so great progress.

You could be right, but believe me that was a flat course compared to some of the races I've run this year!
I thought there was three water stops? If not I'm sure it's something the club would address if you gave them that feedback. They certainly weren't short of water.
Didn't have any issues with the t-shirt myself, so not sure what happened there.
It definitely has potential. As I mentioned before in this log, there seems to a dearth of 10 mile races in Leinster. This could become the main one.
Thanks for your kind words. I've surprised myself a little bit tbh. How did you do yourself yesterday?

Tigerandahalf

I wrote a small report on the DCM novice log. Maybe there were 3 stops so I will hold my hand up if I'm wrong but I thought the lady at the start said water stops at miles 3 and 7.
It was well run and the marshals did a good job. The car parking in the field was handy being so close to the start and finish. There are photos on facebook if you 'like' Mullingar 10 mile.

yaboya1

Tigerandahalf wrote: »

I wrote a small report on the DCM novice log. Maybe there were 3 stops so I will hold my hand up if I'm wrong but I thought the lady at the start said water stops at miles 3 and 7.
It was well run and the marshals did a good job. The car parking in the field was handy being so close to the start and finish. There are photos on facebook if you 'like' Mullingar 10 mile.

You're probably right about the water stops. It was just never an issue for me as I constantly had people cycling beside me offering me a bottle if I wanted one so it's not something I would have noticed. I'll have to have a look and see are there any more 'flattering' race photos of me on that page .
That's a solid time you ran. What are you aiming for in Dublin? Something between 3:00-3:30 I'd guess?

skeleton_boy

Another great outing. You must be delighted with the consistency.

Tigerandahalf

Somewhere in there but I will not worry about times until I get to the startline. Main focus is to keep the training going and enjoy the race. I will try to do a few more races in the meantime, and maybe the half at Longford.

yaboya1

skeleton_boy wrote: »

Another great outing. You must be delighted with the consistency.

Yeah, really happy with the last two weekends. Thanks.

yaboya1

Tigerandahalf wrote: »

Somewhere in there but I will not worry about times until I get to the startline. Main focus is to keep the training going and enjoy the race. I will try to do a few more races in the meantime, and maybe the half at Longford.

It's definitely half the battle getting there fit on the day. I might see you in Longford. Hoping to run that race myself.

dublin runner

I am going to throw a small spanner in the works!

Firstly, well raced. Is sub 1.23 not a bit soft though? Looking at how you race (negative splits etc), I think you are selling yourself slightly short. I think you should target 1.21:30. I think Longford is a far enough course and a month away. A more aggressive target might be in order.

10 Miles: 1.01:39=6.10p/m
HM: 1.21:30=6.13p/m

(I am fully aware it's very easy for me to give my 2 cents sitting at a keyboard!!)

yaboya1

dublin runner wrote: »

I am going to throw a small spanner in the works!

Firstly, well raced. Is sub 1.23 not a bit soft though? Looking at how you race (negative splits etc), I think you are selling yourself slightly short. I think you should target 1.21:30. I think Longford is a far enough course and a month away. A more aggressive target might be in order.

10 Miles: 1.01:39=6.10p/m
HM: 1.21:30=6.13p/m

(I am fully aware it's very easy for me to give my 2 cents sitting at a keyboard!!)

Although I've been sticking with sub 1:23 in my log here, I was actually thinking I could hit something in the 1:21's myself.

No pulling the wool over your eyes!

dublin runner

yaboya1 wrote: »

Although I've been sticking with sub 1:23 in my log here, I was actually thinking I could hit something in the 1:21's myself.

No pulling the wool over your eyes!

Well within your capabilities. By the way, no sandbagging allowed around these parts!!! Keep up the good work. Loads more to come.

Murph_D

Great stuff, P. Seriously impressed!

blockic

I'm sick of saying it, but you have been on fire this year. If you keep ticking over you are going to have all the controllables in your pocket come Berlin.

yaboya1

Tuesday 29th July - 135 minutes Easy
15.14m @ 8:55/m average (115bpm avg)

Due to my shift patterns this week and since I took a complete rest day yesterday, today was my only real opportunity to get a long run in. I decided to take it very easily, as the last thing I need to be doing at the moment is injuring myself unnecessarily. Happy enough with how it went. Will get a Steady session in on Friday and will fit in as many easy miles as I can around work on the other days.


Splits:

Mile 1 - 8:52 (113bpm)
Mile 2 - 9:08 (117bpm)
Mile 3 - 9:12 (117bpm)
Mile 4 - 8:54 (115bpm)
Mile 5 - 8:57 (116bpm)
Mile 6 - 9:20 (116bpm)
Mile 7 - 9:05 (116bpm)
Mile 8 - 8:50 (117bpm)
Mile 9 - 8:35 (109bpm)
Mile 10 - 9:01 (110bpm)
Mile 11 - 8:39 (115bpm)
Mile 12 - 8:30 (114bpm)
Mile 13 - 8:45 (120bpm)
Mile 14 - 9:00 (117bpm)
Mile 15 - 8:52 (118bpm)
0.14 - 1:21 (113bpm)

yaboya1

blockic wrote: »

I'm sick of saying it, but you have been on fire this year. If you keep ticking over you are going to have all the controllables in your pocket come Berlin.

That's the plan

Duanington

what's the threshold for LSR on your plan Yaboya1? 120 BPM?

yaboya1

Duanington wrote: »

what's the threshold for LSR on your plan Yaboya1? 120 BPM?

It's 50bpm below your HRMax or lower.

So if HRMax = 175bpm, run at 125bpm or lower. From what I read, all this running at the lower HR's helps with improving your aerobic system, while the Steady sessions get you used to running at the higher heart rates (where you're obviously moving faster). I'm not an authority on it tbh, but I'm happy to stick with it for the minute as I've been seeing decent results.

viperlogic

yaboya1 wrote: »

It's 50bpm below your HRMax or lower.

Interesting as that equates to the bottom end of the P&D guidelines of 74-84% of Max HR. Which for me, max HR of 183, equates to range of 135-154bpm. By above that would be 133 or lower.

My last LSR was progressive...
11K @ PMP+20% - 4:59 min/km (8:01 min/miles) - 137bpm - 75%
11K @ PMP+14% - 4:45 min/km (7:38 min/miles) - 140bpm - 77%
10K @ PMP+8% - 4:30 min/km (7:14 min/miles) - 148bpm - 81%

Then again, every coach/book is different, JD has the range at 65-79% of Max HR which for me would be 119-145bpm.

yaboya1, do you do any faster LSR's or some that have some section at MP?

jebuz

50bpm below max sounds about right for me, most of my easy running is between 130-140bpm. I'm now controlling the majority of my non-session runs by HR and find myself relaxing and enjoying it more as I don't need to constantly check pace or distance, I just keep an eye on the HR and let the miles tick by.

Well done on the 10 miler, absolutely cracking result and it was a long time coming, keep it up now for the half.

yaboya1

viperlogic wrote: »

Interesting as that equates to the bottom end of the P&D guidelines of 74-84% of Max HR. Which for me, max HR of 183, equates to range of 135-154bpm. By above that would be 133 or lower.

My last LSR was progressive...
11K @ PMP+20% - 4:59 min/km (8:01 min/miles) - 137bpm - 75%
11K @ PMP+14% - 4:45 min/km (7:38 min/miles) - 140bpm - 77%
10K @ PMP+8% - 4:30 min/km (7:14 min/miles) - 148bpm - 81%

Then again, every coach/book is different, JD has the range at 65-79% of Max HR which for me would be 119-145bpm.

All this stuff sounds too technical for me
As the old as saying goes: If it's not broken, don't fix it :pac:

viperlogic wrote: »

yaboya1, do you do any faster LSR's or some that have some section at MP?

I haven't been doing that so far. All my easy runs have been at the lower HR, while my Steady runs have been at whatever Steady HR I've progressed to. I've been using race results as a gauge to my progress and what MP to target. In saying that, I was thinking of throwing in a big MP session (something like 20 with 15@MP) around three or four weeks before Berlin.

viperlogic

yaboya1 wrote: »

If it's not broken, don't fix it :pac:

Very true, and it certainly isn't broken from following your progress. Fantastic stuff.

yaboya1

viperlogic wrote: »

Very true, and it certainly isn't broken from following your progress. Fantastic stuff.

You're going well yourself. You might have TbL to keep you company by the time you get to Amsterdam.

ger664

Berlin is the target not Longford. You should really be racing that in the middle of a tough Race Prep section of P&D so you may not hit 1:21. I wouldn't worry on missing that target just keep in mind the end game.

yaboya1

ger664 wrote: »

Berlin is the target not Longford. You should really be racing that in the middle of a tough Race Prep section of P&D so you may not hit 1:21. I wouldn't worry on missing that target just keep in mind the end game.

Cheers Ger. Looks like I'm going to be jumping into that part of the plan on the 11th August. There is an MP run (18 with 14@MP) due to be done on the 24th, so I was thinking of swapping that whole week around with the following week which recommends a tune-up race. I'd get the 17m Long Run done on the Monday after Longford since that race is on a Sunday rather than a Saturday. Do you see any harm in that?

ger664

I had the same issue with a Sunday race so I just dropped the recovery run on the Tuesday. I Don't see an issue in swapping the weeks but just be careful take a rest/skip a session if its going against you, but bear in mind the 18 Mile (14 PMP) is not meant to be ran on fresh legs either.
You will have to skip the tuesday 8 Mile GA Run to line everything backup again. You will be very tired after the race/17 mile long run. As regards that run its very tough after the race so be careful with it. I ran it with the intention of bailing out of it if I felt the only thing that was going to happen me was I got injured. That been said that combination race/LR was the reason that I was able to finish the job in Seville when things went south in the last 3K.

yaboya1

Wednesday 30th July - 45 minutes Easy
5.12m @ 8:48/m average (117bpm avg)

This was all I had time to fit in today. Seems to have got rid of any soreness in the legs from yesterday though.


Splits:

Mile 1 - 8:50 (120bpm)
Mile 2 - 8:41 (115bpm)
Mile 3 - 8:40 (117bpm)
Mile 4 - 9:02 (122bpm)
Mile 5 - 8:40 (115bpm)
0.12 - 1:10 (116pm)

yaboya1

Gave myself a day off today as I felt an extra hour of sleep would benefit me more than a few miles at easy pace. I think the table below shows I haven't been slacking anyway :pac:

Month|Mileage
January|229
February|151
March|166
April|201
May|160
June|230
July|235


Total Yearly Mileage to 31st July: 1,372

I'll do a Steady session tomorrow at 150bpm. If the results are as I expect them to be, I'll move up to 155bpm for the next two weeks before I jump into the Race Preparation stage of the P&D plan. I'm unlikely to get to 160bpm now before the marathon. I'm not too disappointed about this though, as it should mean there's room for more improvement after Berlin.

yaboya1

Friday 1st August - 75 minutes Steady
11m @ 7:09p/m average (150bpm avg)

I've been feeling pretty lethargic and leaden legged all week. I think it's down to my two races in quick succession, as I remember the body being in similar shape back in May when I ran three in the space of two weeks. Anyway, I knew I had to get this session done despite the fact that I wasn't 100%, so I bit the bullet around 2pm. I was expecting the splits at 150bpm to be around the 7:00min/mile mark. The HRM was showing exactly the readings I was expecting for the warm up and first 4.9 Steady miles (some pace variation due to a strong wind). At that point it started to go haywire again, jumping from 110 to 162 in a matter of seconds despite the pace/effort remaining the same. I knew then I'd have to forget about it for the remainder of the workout, so I disconnected the strap and ran by feel for the rest of the way. Again, the later mile split differences are down to the wind being with/against me.


Splits:

2 mile warm up - 9:07 (123bpm), 8:37 (128bpm)

Mile 1 - 7:04 (148bpm)
Mile 2 - 7:12 (150bpm)
Mile 3 - 7:29 (150bpm)
Mile 4 - 7:29 (151bpm)
Mile 5 - 7:15 (149bpm)
Mile 6 - 7:17 (???bpm)
Mile 7 - 7:05 (???bpm)
Mile 8 - 7:03 (???bpm)
Mile 9 - 6:55 (???bpm)
Mile 10 - 6:57 (???bpm)
Mile 11 - 6:58 (???bpm)

0.5 mile cool down - 4:03 (???bpm)

I'm happy with the session overall, but it did take more out of me than I would have expected. It definitely does seem like my recent race efforts have left a lingering effect. I don't think a couple more days of complete rest would do me any harm. The HRM has now earned the Timeform squiggle and can't be trusted anymore. Since I was only going to use it for a week or two more though, it doesn't really matter. I'm going to play it by ear over the weekend. If I feel good, I'll run. If not, I'll rest. Either way I'm going to jump into the P&D plan on Monday. Just over 8 weeks to Berlin

Tigerandahalf

My legs are also very tired after the race. I am beginning to think there is a lot for easy running or complete rest after a race for a week. I ran easy miles Mon, Tues and Wed evenings, did nothing yesterday. I went on the bike today for an hour and one of my glutes was tight afterwards. The legs just dont feel very strong. Hoping to do a decent lsr tomorrow. The races I guess do take a lot out of you. The weather was also very hot and with excess sweating would take more out of you.

ThebitterLemon

You've been doing so well lately P, that a couple of down days might actually be beneficial for you. That looks like a draining enough session to me.

TbL

yaboya1

ThebitterLemon wrote: »

You've been doing so well lately P, that a couple of down days might actually be beneficial for you. That looks like a draining enough session to me.

TbL

I was half thinking that myself, but I'm terrified of taking my foot off the pedal. I suppose if anything goes wrong I can just blame you :P

ThebitterLemon

Waldorf & Statler, wanted to put me on a retainer to try and get you to burn yourself out

In my opinion with 8 weeks to go a couple of very easy days or even a couple of extra rest days will do you the world of good before you get into the next phase.

TbL

Calvin Johnson

A couple of days off could be perfect for you.

ger664

You have a tough 5 weeks coming. Take a break for a couple of days you've earned it.