A Slow Journey to Faster Times

Firedance

yaboya1 wrote: »

Saturday 19th December (A.M.) - St Anne's parkrun pacing (21mins)
5k in 20:55 @ 155bpm avg

Gave FBOT01 some back up with the pacing gig this morning. We were steady throughout and can't be blamed for failing to get anyone over the line. You'll just have to train harder next time!

okey dokey....

but more importantly, have you booked your flights for Boston yet?..... :pac:

annapr

Firedance wrote: »

okey dokey....

but more importantly, have you booked your flights for Boston yet?..... :pac:

Oh are you going to Boston, P?



*runs for cover

yaboya1

Sunday 20th December - 40 minutes Recovery
40 minutes @ 111bpm avg

Very rough night last night and work all day today meant I wasn't really up for this by the time I could get out. Trudged around very slowly to ensure I hit my weekly mileage target.

The next two weeks will be difficult, but I think I've come up with a practical plan to ensure I don't miss any miles/sessions. I may need to take two rest days in each week for the next fortnight, but a few double days should ensure I get the training in.

yaboya1

Monday 21st December (A.M.) - 60 minutes Easy
60 minutes @ 124bpm avg

Another pre-6am trot into work at 8:24p/m pace. I'm hoping to get my 2 hour long run in later this evening. This week will be heavily front-loaded with miles as I'm planning to take Xmas & Stephen's Day off.

yaboya1

Monday 21st December (P.M.) - JD Q1 Workout
130 minutes @ 128bpm avg

15 miles at 8:45p/m average pace. It was supposed to be the lesser of 2hrs/25% of the weekly mileage, but I messed up my route and left myself a mile from home. So I continued running for another ten minutes. No harm done. More than 22m for the day and a good start to the week.

Notwork Error

How's the body feeling so far with the new approach? I'd be careful of trying to squeeze the miles in like that as well, 22 miles in a day and heavily frontloading is a lot for the body to handle this early in training.

yaboya1

Notwork Error wrote: »

How's the body feeling so far with the new approach? I'd be careful of trying to squeeze the miles in like that as well, 22 miles in a day and heavily frontloading is a lot for the body to handle this early in training.

Most days are fine, but today and last week when I did similar I was a bit sore. It's the only way I can fit the miles in at the moment though, so I'm ensuring to keep the effort easy. Hopefully when all the Xmas madness is over I can avoid doing my long runs on double days. I've read before that JD plans either make you or break you. I'm determined to fall into the former category

yaboya1

Tuesday 22nd December (A.M.) - 45 minutes Easy
45 minutes @ 123bpm avg

Another few miles ticked off for the week. Same again this evening.

yaboya1

Tuesday 22nd December (P.M.) - 45 minutes Easy
45 minutes @ 123bpm avg

Same as this morning in reverse. More than 50% of this week's mileage out of the way. Lovely jublee

yaboya1

Wednesday 23rd December - JD Q2 Workout
8 x 4 minutes @ 5k pace

Perfect morning for a run. Pretty comparable to the same session last week, except it felt slightly easier (probably due to the more favourable conditions).

I managed to jog the recoveries today, which saw me run an extra kilometre in total. Shows you the difference between a slow jog and a walk!

Warm up (2 miles) - 17:14 (8:37p/m avg)

Rep 1 - 0.65m (6:09p/m pace)
Rep 2 - 0.65m (6:09p/m pace)
Rep 3 - 0.65m (6:09p/m pace)
Rep 4 - 0.65m (6:09p/m pace)
Rep 5 - 0.65m (6:09p/m pace)
Rep 6 - 0.65m (6:09p/m pace)
Rep 7 - 0.65m (6:09p/m pace)
Rep 8 - 0.65m (6:09p/m pace)

Cool down (2 miles) - 17:43 (8:52p/m avg)

Total miles (including recoveries): 11.67

So that's just over 44m of the 60m required for the week in the first three days. I can look forward to relaxing over Xmas now after a few recovery miles tomorrow.

One problem though. I looked at my plan wrong. Although today's session was indeed one of this week's quality workouts, Monday's was not. I need to fit in a 20 minute tempo session to complete the week on target. I'll do it on Sunday evening

Duanington

How are you finding the adapted plan P? You seem to be enjoying the variety that those faster sessions give you...

yaboya1

Thursday 24th December - 60 minutes Recovery
60 minutes @ 107bpm avg

Nice little jog down in rural Cork. Good to loosen the legs out after the previous few days. Looking forward to my rest days

yaboya1

Duanington wrote: »

How are you finding the adapted plan P? You seem to be enjoying the variety that those faster sessions give you...

I find it much easier to follow a structured plan, as I never doubt if I'm doing enough/running hard enough. I always feel a great sense of satisfaction hitting the targets in the more difficult sessions.

yaboya1

Before I forget.....

Happy Christmas All!

Won't be on here tomorrow

yaboya1

Sunday 27th December - JD Q1 Workout
20 minutes E + 20 minutes T + 20 minutes E

Not my best workout. I've been working, travelling and over-indulging for the past few days and wasn't really prepared for this. Absolutely exhausted getting up for work this morning and almost decided to can this altogether when I got home. But stubbornness got the better of me and I hit the road just after 6:30pm. The session gives you the option of running anything between 20-40 minutes of T miles as long as you adjust the pace to allow for the extra distance. I decided to split the difference and go with 30. I really should be hitting something below 6:30 for these, but given how the body felt I allowed that to dictate how fast I should run these. Pretty decent effort in the first mile and was shocked to see the split at the end of it. I suppose that's what lack of sleep & water does to you. Struggled to keep consistent splits for the rest of the session, especially the last mile which was slightly uphill and into a headwind. Added 10 minutes extra to the easy miles at the end to ensure I hit the weekly target, before continuing untimed for another 0.19m at the end to satisfy my OCD :P


20 minutes E: 2.25m @ 8:52p/m avg

30 minutes T: 4.35m @ 6:52p/m avg (6:56, 6:54, 6:49, 6:55, 6:57pace)

30 minutes E: 3.21m @ 9:21p/m avg


The HR hit 172bpm during this workout, yet the fastest I covered 5k in was more than 22 minutes. I maxed at 166bpm when pacing the 21 minute hopefuls in St Anne's a week ago (20:55). Further proof (if needed) that fatigue & dehydration are the cause of tonight's problems. Sleep & water. Not to be underestimated!

yaboya1

Monday 28th December - Nothing

Excess eating, drinking & gambling. No running, but it wouldn't be accurate to call this a rest day.


Tuesday 29th December - 80 minutes Easy
80 minutes @ 128bpm avg

This was more by necessity than design. Due to terrible car trouble, I had to drive to Clondalkin and make my own way home. What better way to do that than run? I probably wouldn't have done any miles otherwise. Pretty horrible out there. Heard the jingle of an ice-cream van passing through Neilstown in the dark, with the wind howling & rain hammering down. Fair play to the ice-cream man for shifting his 99s in those conditions. What do you mean he's not selling ice-creams??? :O

Murph_D

Passed an ice-cream van in Irishtown a couple of weeks ago, but he was definitely selling 99s. Sure it's always good weather for ice cream!

yaboya1

Wednesday 30th December - 90 minutes Easy
90 minutes @ 127bpm avg

What a difference a day makes! And I'm not talking about the weather. Was sweating like a paedophile in a playground on Sunday, busting a gut to run a few sub 7 minute miles, while I just felt awful within myself the last two days. Tonight was the opposite. I ran for ninety minutes without breaking sweat. The average HR is lower than yesterday and the pace is thirty seconds per mile faster. I've only to run 70% of my peak mileage this week and that's nearly half of it completed. The only problem is that I need to hit the rest of it (including 2 x quality sessions) in the next four days and I'm really going to struggle to fit them in. I'll try my best though, and will be extremely proud of myself if I get through this week on target.

yaboya1

Thursday 31st December - Rest

As expected, I didn't get out today. I was working a long shift and heading straight out for dinner afterwards, before continuing on to the Point for the NYE concert. Would have had to go out the door at 5am if I wanted to fit any miles in. I did set the alarm and wake up, but my legs were telling me they didn't fancy it. The last time they did that was in June 2013 when I ignored them and ended up tearing a calf muscle.

Friday 1st January - 45 minutes Easy
45 minutes @ 126bpm avg

Thought this would be pretty slow as I was expecting my HR to rise pretty easily after less than four hours sleep and a heavy night on the beer with virtually no water. Surprisingly though, it was actually a really pleasant run and the 8:35p/m average pace was much quicker than I would have predicted beforehand for the relatively low HR.

Originally hoped to fit in a double, but got delayed in work and wasn't home until 8:30pm. With a 7:30am start to come and sleep to catch up on, I knocked that idea on the head and went to bed early.

yaboya1

Saturday 2nd January - JD Q1 Workout
2m E + 5x5min T (with 1min recoveries) + 1 hour E

Out after work for this:

2 miles E - 17:40 (8:50p/m avg)

Rep 1 - 0.8m (6:15p/m pace)
Rep 2 - 0.79m (6:20p/m pace)
Rep 3 - 0.79m (6:20p/m pace)
Rep 4 - 0.79m (6:20p/m pace)
Rep 5 - 0.79m (6:20p/m pace)

1 hour E - 7:04m (9:14p/m avg)

Total miles (including recoveries): 13.51

Felt the effort was just right tonight. It was hard but manageable. HR apparently hit 191bpm during the workout which is higher than I thought my max was. I'm not convinced though. My watch was a bit loose and I could feel it moving during the session. It was showing 187bpm during the cool-down which definitely wasn't right at the time. I'll ensure it's on right next time to make sure. Added 5 minutes to the cool-down as I was more than half a mile from home after an hour and 6.54m.

I've got 13.61m to run tomorrow if I want to hit my weekly target. With a bit of luck I'll still do it. Also need to do the Q2 session. Feel fine tonight so might give it a go tomorrow evening. Will see how I feel in the morning.

Itziger

Nice session there. What's the Q2 supposed to be? I'd be very surprised if JD would have any of his own runners doing Q1 and Q2 on consecutive days. I understand you're probably doing it that way because of other commitments and all.

yaboya1

Itziger wrote: »

Nice session there. What's the Q2 supposed to be? I'd be very surprised if JD would have any of his own runners doing Q1 and Q2 on consecutive days. I understand you're probably doing it that way because of other commitments and all.

Q2 is similar to a P&D VO2 Max session (5 x 1k). It definitely wouldn't be recommended to do the sessions on consecutive days and it was never my intention, but circumstances rule as they say.

Myles Splitz

yaboya1 wrote: »

Q2 is similar to a P&D VO2 Max session (5 x 1k). It definitely wouldn't be recommended to do the sessions on consecutive days and it was never my intention, but circumstances rule as they say.

Why do they have to fit the confines of this week? push into next week, with two sessions a week there is a bit of room for flexibility.

IMO ditching the session would even be the better option than back to back, very little to gain and a hell of alot to lose.

yaboya1

Myles Splitz wrote: »

Why do they have to fit the confines of this week? push into next week, with two sessions a week there is a bit of room for flexibility.

IMO ditching the session would even be the better option than back to back, very little to gain and a hell of alot to lose.

They probably don't. Maybe I could fit three into next week (Mon/Tues, Thurs, Sun)? I kind of expected this feedback and I was already aware that it may not be the wisest thing to do. Both of your sceptical responses confirm this. Might just go for an easy 13.61m run instead

Myles Splitz

yaboya1 wrote: »

They probably don't. Maybe I could fit three into next week (Mon/Tues, Thurs, Sun)? I kind of expected this feedback and I was already aware that it may not be the wisest thing to do. Both of your sceptical responses conform this. Might just go for an easy 13.61m run instead

If you keep today easy Monday, Thursday, Sunday is a perfectly acceptable time frame and adequate recovery between the sessions.

Don't get bogged down on the week by week mileage but rather cycling your training over two weeks takes a bit of pressure off you mentally (Happens all the time when people panic about races interfering with Sunday long runs and feel somehow they can't do it on a Monday instead)

Murph_D

Long run on Monday? But it messes up the weekly mileage! Can't have that. :pac:

yaboya1

Sunday 3rd January - 120 minutes Easy
120 minutes @ 133bpm avg

Done. Another weekly mileage target hit, although disappointing that I didn't get both quality sessions done. Next week's Q2 is exactly the same as this week's, so I'll do those tomorrow and next Sunday with Q1 (long run) on Wednesday or Thursday. Today was another example of how much of an effect fatigue has on the body. On Wednesday night I ran 8:16p/m pace @ 127bpm. The pace this afternoon was nearly 30 seconds per mile slower at an average 6bpm higher. And that was after a much needed lie-in!

yaboya1

Monday 4th January - JD Q2 Workout
5 x 1k I (with 3min recoveries)

Felt terrible today with a rotten sore throat and a bit of a fever. Being in work at 7:30am didn't help matters either, while my quads were also a bit sore. However, I couldn't put this off any longer. Target was sub 6:10 pace, same as last two interval sessions I've done.

4k w/u - 21:42 (8:43p/m avg)

Rep 1 - 3:48 (6:09p/m pace)
Rep 2 - 3:48 (6:09p/m pace)
Rep 3 - 3:49 (6:09p/m pace)
Rep 4 - 3:49 (6:09p/m pace)
Rep 5 - 3:47 (6:07p/m pace)

6k c/d - 33:26 (8:58p/m avg)

Total miles (including recoveries): 10.95

I'm not going to lie, I found this easy. Next time I'll aim for sub 6:00 pace or take the option of stretching the intervals out to either 1200m or 1m. Watch was on above the wrist nice & tight tonight and 168bpm was the highest I hit, which makes Saturday's 191bpm look inaccurate as suspected.

A good start to the week

ger664

You just put 3 quality sessions in 3 days. Even if Sunday was easy it still was 2 hours on your feet. Given the elevated HR on Sunday and how you felt this morning you really should have canned the workout. Glad it felt easy for you and I hope it doesn't come back to bite you in the form of an injury/layoff.

yaboya1

ger664 wrote: »

You just put 3 quality sessions in 3 days. Even if Sunday was easy it still was 2 hours on your feet. Given the elevated HR on Sunday and how you felt this morning you really should have canned the workout. Glad it felt easy for you and I hope it doesn't come back to bite you in the form of an injury/layoff.

You're probably right Ger. I just don't want to be making excuses not to do workouts.

Itziger

yaboya1 wrote: »

Monday 4th January - JD Q2 Workout
5 x 1k I (with 3min recoveries)

Felt terrible today with a rotten sore throat and a bit of a fever. Being in work at 7:30am didn't help matters either, while my quads were also a bit sore. However, I couldn't put this off any longer. Target was sub 6:10 pace, same as last two interval sessions I've done.

4k w/u - 21:42 (8:43p/m avg)

Rep 1 - 3:48 (6:09p/m pace)
Rep 2 - 3:48 (6:09p/m pace)
Rep 3 - 3:49 (6:09p/m pace)
Rep 4 - 3:49 (6:09p/m pace)
Rep 5 - 3:47 (6:07p/m pace)

6k c/d - 33:26 (8:58p/m avg)

Total miles (including recoveries): 10.95

I'm not going to lie, I found this easy. Next time I'll aim for sub 6:00 pace or take the option of stretching the intervals out to either 1200m or 1m. Watch was on above the wrist nice & tight tonight and 168bpm was the highest I hit, which makes Saturday's 191bpm look inaccurate as suspected.

A good start to the week

If we forget for a minute that it was Q3 in a row...... I would expect you to find the pace relatively easy for 1k reps. If you stretch it out to 1 mile though, then you're not doing the session, you're doing a different session! Depends on what you feel you need more or, pace or distance. Try the session at 6 mins flat and another day try same pace as above (6.09) but at mile reps. Only other thing to look at is the rec time. Maybe 3 mins made it a little easy. Not sure we should feel absolutely shagged after every Q session. Easy is good too from time to time.

yaboya1

Tuesday 5th January (A.M.) - 45 minutes Easy
45 minutes @ 129bpm avg

Handy run into work in horrible weather.

Tuesday 5th January (P.M.) - 50 minutes Easy
50 minutes @ 127bpm avg

Pretty much the same in reverse. Weather still brutal. 11.24m total for the day.

yaboya1

Itziger wrote: »

If you stretch it out to 1 mile though, then you're not doing the session, you're doing a different session!

Ah but I am! I knew someone would say that btw

I should have explained. The Q2 gives you the option of either 1k,1200m or 1m reps......

Itziger wrote: »

Only other thing to look at is the rec time. Maybe 3 mins made it a little easy. Not sure we should feel absolutely shagged after every Q session. Easy is good too from time to time.

....with recoveries of 3 mins, 4 mins or 5 mins respectively. I think I'll give one of the longer ones a go on Sunday. I'll stick at the same pace for now. You're right, it's nice not to feel like you're about to die every time we do a session

Gavlor

Sore throat and fever and you run a decent session plus a double in the rain?

Good idea/bad idea?

yaboya1

Gavlor wrote: »

Sore throat and fever and you run a decent session plus a double in the rain?

Good idea/bad idea?

Probably the latter.
Don't try this at home........

yaboya1

Wednesday 6th January - JD Q1 Workout
17m @ 132bpm avg

This workout was to be the lesser of 2.5 hours Easy or 25% of the week's mileage. Since the pace was 8:33p/m, I hit 17m first.

I hadn't intended doing this until tomorrow, but everything felt good once I got going and it seemed I'd be wasting a perfect cool, crisp morning if i didn't stay out longer than my original plan of 45 minutes. Did witness something I rather wish I hadn't though. Running on the south side of the park, I saw a few signs "No Entry, Deer Cull In Progress". Sure enough, as I looked to my left I saw a bloke striding out into the field with a gun. He crouched down, set the gun on some sort of tripod and took aim. BANG! Deer down. The rest scarpered while the stricken stag tried in vain to return to his feet. You could just see the antlers move amongst the long grass. Gradually the others sidled back to help their friend, before the same thing happened again and another one hit the deck. That's all I saw, but I did hear more shots as I made my way down past the Chapelizod Gate. I came across more deer in the trees along Military Road. Not sure how good their English is, but I warned them to stay where they were :P.

Less than 30m to cover now for the rest of the week, 2x45mins tomorrow & Friday, rest day on Saturday and Q2 session on Sunday. Delighted with that, especially considering I've to hit 90% of peak mileage this week. Thought I'd struggle a bit more to do it tbh.

yaboya1

Wednesday 6th January (P.M.) - 45 minutes Recovery
45 minutes @ ???bpm avg

Signed myself and the g/f up for Raheny yesterday. That motivated her to go out for a run after work, so I joined her for 4 recovery paced miles. No HR for this one, but it definitely wasn't too high.

Thursday 7th January - 45 minutes Easy
45 minutes @ 124bpm avg

Similar morning to yesterday, except there's a biting cold wind out there. Yesterday's recovery miles mean I don't need to go out again today. Legs feeling good.

Itziger

Inspired by your good self, and wishing to see how 'easy' a 6x1k session felt like, I did one today.

5k Warmup, then 3.48, 3.45, 3.38, 3.44, 3.46 and 3.39. 3 min recs and about 2.5 k cool down. Total 15k

Just one little ingredient missing. The 'easy' bit. Better get my a$$ in shape if I want to do a few 10k races this Spring.

yaboya1

Itziger wrote: »

Inspired by your good self, and wishing to see how 'easy' a 6x1k session felt like, I did one today.

5k Warmup, then 3.48, 3.45, 3.38, 3.44, 3.46 and 3.39. 3 min recs and about 2.5 k cool down. Total 15k

Just one little ingredient missing. The 'easy' bit. Better get my a$$ in shape if I want to do a few 10k races this Spring.

Yeah, but you did six reps at sub 6min/mile average pace, while I only did five just below 6:10

Itziger

yaboya1 wrote: »

Yeah, but you did six reps at sub 6min/mile average pace, while I only did five just below 6:10

I thought you'd done 6! Some of mine were not so sub I'm afraid.

yaboya1

Friday 8th January (A.M.) - 45 minutes Easy
45 minutes @ 127bpm avg

Friday 8th January (P.M.) - 45 minutes Easy
45 minutes @ 128bpm avg

Uneventful runs in and out of work. 5.35m @ 8:25p/m both times with 1bpm in the difference. Suppose I should be pleased about that consistency.

yaboya1

Sunday 10th January - JD Q2 Workout
5 x 1m I (with 5min recoveries)

Was in two minds whether to up the distance or up the pace for this workout. In the end I compromised and did both. 1m intervals @ 6:05p/m pace. Was hovering around 6:00 for the first one, so decided to try and hit that pace for the rest. Just about managed it. Miles 3 & 4 were a bitch into the wind on a slight incline. Had to walk some of the recovery on those. The others were easy in comparison.

1m w/u - 8:38

Rep 1 - 6:02
Rep 2 - 5:57
Rep 3 - 5:58
Rep 4 - 5:58
Rep 5 - 5:50

1m c/d - 9:06

Total miles (including recoveries): 9.45

Still don't feel fit, but I'm definitely getting fitter and a pb isn't out of the question in Raheny on the 31st once I continue in my current vein. Another 90% week coming up. Bring it on!

Duanington

that's a big session there P - well done

yaboya1

Monday 11th January (A.M.) - 35 minutes Easy
35 minutes @ 123bpm avg

Took this very easy due to the icy underfoot conditions and a little bit of stiffness from yesterday. The temperature gauge read -1C at 9:30 and I was out for this at 7am in shorts. Madness!

Monday 11th January (P.M.) - 60 minutes Easy
60 minutes @ 124bpm avg

Had been pushed for time this morning, so extended this evening's run to hit the usual mileage for my average double. Something similar again tomorrow.

yaboya1

Tuesday 12th January (A.M.) - 45 minutes Easy
45 minutes @ 122bpm avg

Tuesday 12th January (P.M.) - 45 minutes Easy
45 minutes @ 125bpm avg

Normal service resumed. Cold out there, but not as bad as yesterday.

yaboya1

Wednesday 13th January (A.M.) - JD Q1 Workout
2m E + 2x12min T (with 2min recovery) + 1 hour E

Another JD session that looks far easier on paper than it is in reality. Kept the T pace at 6:20p/m for this, assuming it would be fairly straightforward having hit five individual miles averaging below six minute pace on Sunday. I was very badly wrong. I actually found this more difficult.

2 miles E - 17:00 (8:30p/m avg)

Rep 1 - 1.91m (6:17p/m pace)
Rep 2 - 1.90m (6:20p/m pace)

1 hour E - 7m (8:30p/m avg)

Total miles (including recoveries): 13.19


Tough few days, but I've more than 50% of the week's mileage complete now and am looking forward to a few easy days. Might get out for some recovery miles after work this evening.

aero2k

Nice work P. That JD stuff was too hard for me - nearly killed me in 2014.

BTW can you have another word with the deer - I rarely drive to work but last Friday I just missed a huge stag opposite the Ordinance survey offices. For one terrible but thankfully brief moment I thought we'd all be having venison for dinner:).

yaboya1

Wednesday 13th January (P.M.) - 45 minutes Recovery
45 minutes @ 123bpm avg

Nice & easy in the cold horrible wet weather.

yaboya1

Thursday 14th January (A.M.) - 45 minutes Easy
45 minutes @ 124bpm avg

Thursday 14th January (P.M.) - 45 minutes Easy
45 minutes @ 112?bpm avg

Two very similar runs effort wise. The pace of the first one was almost 30 seconds quicker, probably due to the downhill. Getting funny HR readings at some points during the second run. Not sure why as it's usually spot on, but there's no way 112bpm is correct.

yaboya1

Friday 15th January (A.M.) - 45 minutes Easy
45 minutes @ 117bpm avg

Out just after 6am for this. Very dangerous on the roads/paths and pretty happy I didn't have to go any faster. Just the Q2 session left this week. If I feel up to it, I might get it out of the way tonight and give myself the weekend off as I'm heading away. Otherwise I'll do it on Sunday evening.