Turning a mule into a race horse.

ThebitterLemon

You owe me for a can of Scrumpy Jack!!

TbL

The Muppet

Pacing Mule wrote: »

Ha. Was a bit stupid in hindsight ! Fcuked up my own run and could have gotten battered.

True but sure you only live once. I'm still laughing here .

Duanington

Read this last night and I'm still laughing at it, well done PM!

Hannibelle Smeeeth

Pacing Mule wrote: »

Ha. Was a bit stupid in hindsight ! Fcuked up my own run and could have gotten battered.

Hindsight can be a right party pooper. Its a great story. So you missed out on a couple of miles, that little snigger to yourself as he dropped the can must be priceless!! :pac:

RedRunner

Ha ha ha.....Car W@nk3rs!

Nice one P. Maybe change your route for next couple of weeks too. :-)

Pacing Mule

Yeah for sure R. Will be paranoid now for a while :rolleyes:

Pacing Mule

So fooking Meh at the moment but will hopefully get some positivity back logging what was a decent weeks running.

Monday 9th

5.2 easy including one mile of strides at mile 4.

8:46, 9:01, 9:04, 7:55, 9:18

Wednesday 11th

Session: Progression 2 easy, 8 minutes each steady, MP, HMP and 10k, easy 1.5 cool down. 7.7 miles in total.

Steady was set at MP + 4%, HMP set via McMillan equivalent of HMP versus MP target. 10k effectively a how fast can you hold it after the previous 24 minutes of stepping up.

8:47, 8:33, 8:13, 7:57, 7:30, 7:11, 9:03, 9:33

Thursday 12th

Much needed blissful 4 mile recovery at 9:59 avg pace. Slow enough to be messing about on the phone during it.

Saturday 14th

5.2 miles including 2 at 5k effort

9:13, 9:10, 8:12, 6:42, 7:50
2 mile at 5k effort straddles miles 3 to 5.
2 mile @ 5k landed at 13:19 (6:43 and 6:36) fastest ever 2 miles. Wasn't flat out maybe 95% 5k effort. Encouraging towards the next goal of sub 20 5k.

The particular 2 mile stretch that I ran the fast miles is a climb for a mile and descend back down out and back which I have periodically tested myself on. There is a 3k strava segment included here.

Today was 12:24 @ 95%
May 2015 13:09 flat out as were all the rest below
December 2014 14:52
March 2014 15:49
October 2013 16:40

Kind of cool to see the progress made.

Sunday 15th

13.2 LSR @ 8:58 avg pace

Up and out this morning and feeling yesterday evenings efforts in the legs. That said the effort level wasn't huge and this was quite easy.

3rd fastest ever half marathon time of 1:57:20

Realised during this run that I am now running comfortably easy at what was (or under) my MP for last Octobers DCM. More Progress.

Total miles for the week 35.5

All in all a good weeks running. A sh1te weeks football. Spurs break my heart.

Pacing Mule

Monday 16th

When you read through last weekends running you don't need a crystal ball to predict what happened next. :pac:

4 miles @ 9:19 pace

Had an injury / new niggle pop up here. I'm in constant pain running. Heels the worst normally. That's a sharp pain like stepping on a thumb tack and at same time getting an injection into the back of the heel but not painful enough to completely stop. Usually settles down after a while warmed up etc. Can be quite sore after and the heel spur I have in particular hurts. But I've always been ok to run through. Last couple of weeks as intensity increased I've been comfortably sore all over. 1 to 2 out of 10 but just the standard muscles are tender.

But Mon night my shin started to hurt within half a mile. Not the bone. Muscle to the outside of the shin. Ran through it expecting it to settle. It didn't ! Lol. Every step that caused any kind of a flex on the muscle was like being constantly punched. Pain started resonating up into the hip as well all the way up so I said **** it this isn't a run through pain and canned it early before making it worse.

Tuesday / Wednesday

Was due off on Tuesday but completely sat out the Wednesday session as a precaution.

Thursday 19th

5 miles easy @ 9:12

No sign of the niggle but again sat out Friday as a precaution.

Saturday 21st

5.5 miles @ 8:59 legs felt great so was happy to go ahead with long run today

Sunday 22nd

15.5 miles @ 9:23

I'd been up at 4:45 this morning with the young lad who didn't go back to sleep so this may have been a factor in the run later in the day being relatively harder than last week. Tougher route too dropping down into the middle of the phoenix park and back up. Splits tell the story.

9:12, 8:58, 8:51, 9:11, 9:05, 8:58, 9:16, 9:20, 10:02, 9:34, 9:47, 9:33, 9:34, 9:19, 9:23

Stopped for a couple of minutes after 10.5 miles for a bottle of Lucozade and a Snickers. Felt very drained and wanted to get some energy in.

Other stuff

Few things learned this week and some adjustments to plans made.

Stepping up mileage and also putting sessions in midweek is not a good idea. Adding extra in on top of that again (2 miles at 5k pace) even worse idea. :rolleyes: A discussion amongst some peers including two former posters here Dr Q and Meno in particular about this led to the following.

Shooting for sub 3:30 as the next target isn't overly viable given the lack of solid base. Well to be more accurate not viable for a quick attempt time frame wise. Dr Q has made a very generous bet which I can only win from that says increasing mileage to certain targets and dropping the sessions for the moment would put 3:45 in range just from the mileage increase benefits alone. So we're looking at targeting 3:45 (probably in Longford at the end of August) and then evaluate a 3:30 later in the year or early next year off a stronger base. The deal is if I don't break 3:45 (assuming the easy mileage targets are hit along the way) Dr Q will buy me beer for the night. And if I do hit it he will still buy me a beer and a burger too. So depending on if I'm hungry or not I might end up with a 3:45:01 :pac:

The sub 20 5k I will still be giving a go. The endurance benefits from the increased mileage will hopefully still get me over the line at the end of next month but if not will flip it around and go again in September off the back of the current cycle. Also an option to do the docklands 5k in July as well - scene of my old PB last year.

Might need to think about gels on long runs now as the energy levels today were very poor.

Total miles 30 due to missing the medium run midweek but it was the smart decision I feel.

Younganne

Pacing Mule wrote: »

Might need to think about gels on long runs now as the energy levels today were very poor.

How was your nutrition and hydration for the previous day or two, maybe this needs to be looked at in conjunction with adding in the gels.

Pacing Mule

Younganne wrote: »

How was your nutrition and hydration for the previous day or two, maybe this needs to be looked at in conjunction with adding in the gels.

Does beer count as nutrition / hydration ?

In all seriousness though was no different than the previous weekend on that front. Mrs Mule was out with the girls on Saturday night so I was looking after the kids overnight and up very early with the youngest. I try to get long runs done in the morning but this was into the afternoon having already been up for 8 hours. I think that's what had me tiring quicker.

Pacing Mule

Finishing the month off in very little style I'm afraid. Last week was a very bad week for running. Some of it out of my control. Some of it my own fault for getting too lamped drunk on Saturday and being unfit for any run on Sunday let alone a long one.

Monday 23rd

5k recovery @ 9:42 avg pace

Thursday 26th

5 miles @ 8:43 avg pace - 4 easy and 1 with strides

Friday 27th

5 easy @ 9:02 avg pace

Weekend a total write off so got out today and done some extra miles than I would have normally done on a Monday. Logging them in this post as it rounds off the month.

Monday 30th

10 miles with 10k steady within 8:30 avg pace

Didn't look at the watch at all during the steady part. Was experimenting to see if I would hold a pace naturally. I didn't but held a constant acceleration instead :pac:

8:56, 8:30, 8:28, 8:03, 7:50, 7:35, 8:12, 9:04, 9:09, 9:00

Won't be running tomorrow.

Monthly Mileage

Jan 80
Feb 33
Mar 80
April 82
May 128

Pacing Mule

Might be of interest to anyone who regularly reads this log - I'm currently in the hotseat for A/Rtist in the spotlight. Now's your chance to ask me anything and not have it look weird

Pacing Mule

Interesting week all round. Managed to end it with most of the forum still talking to me despite one or two controversial answers so that's a good result out of the A/Rtist spot. Quite a lot of food for thought taken out of it too.

Monday

10 miles already logged

Wednesday 1st

5 miles @ 8:34 avg pace

I'm tempted to label this easy even though I know it wasn't at easy pace. Will label it enjoyable though. Didn't care about the pace. Was just running for fun along the canal near Clonsilla.

Friday 3rd

5 @ 8:41 avg with 1 @ 5k effort included. 5k effort in terms of pace hasn't improved as much as I'd have liked. Landed in at 6:45 (not checking watch during the run) which is the same as it was for current PB and well off the goal sub 20. First attempt at that is coming up in a few weeks. First attempt sounds very negative though so fingers crossed it's the first and only one needed

Saturday 4th

18.1 miles @ 9:07 avg

Solid long run done running from current home across Dublin to family home. This means a descent into the city centre for the first half. Quads were wrecked from it ! 5 minute break taken at 13.5 miles. Stopped for a Lucozade at the garage near Merrion Gates. Beyond that no other drinks / gels / sweets etc taken onboard. Felt quite strong even at 18 miles but to be fair from 15/16 miles on I could feel the joints starting to fatigue and pain particularly in the base of the feet. Elected then at 16 to stop running at 18 and walk the rest of the way (less than a mile but a good cooldown) Slowed down a little bit for mile 16 and 17 but was able to pick up the pace a bit for 18 once I knew I was near the end and not risking aggravating things. Mile 18 in at 8:48. That's 18 at last years goal MP as it turned out. Happy with that.

Weekly total 38.1 miles

In other news that Tang1 will be happy with UM1 has donated a new blue medium donadea 50k shirt towards the campaign of getting me out of the usual green ones I wear. Will have to run it now next time round to earn it.

tang1

How goes it P?

Pacing Mule

tang1 wrote: »

How goes it P?

Hey B. Going ok. Just needed some time out.

davedanon

Gavlor wrote: »

I'm surprised Trr didn't recognise you

Hahahaha.

kit3

Great pacing on Sunday P - rock solid all the way. You're a natural

Pacing Mule

Right. I think it's time to come out of hibernation. :pac:

My running over the last few months hasn't quite been to the original plan nor to the goals and ambitions I was throwing out there months ago. A bit of a career change and the training involved and launching of that etc squeezed into my running time. I know it's easy to say hey P you can always make time for a run, and I did to a point, but just not enough time carved out for quality training / long runs etc towards the Longford marathon. Time goals were going backwards and ultimately decided I wasn't going to be anywhere near properly race fit or prepared and there was little point in proceeding.

I was offered the chance to pace the race series Dublin half marathon and this years DCM and despite a customary injury scare starting few weeks before the half that's what I did. Pacing Mule Pacing Was nice to train to ticking over as such for a while.

Did the 2:00 slot for the half with Marthastew and thoroughly enjoyed it. Had some reservations to be fair about running the 4:50 for the full but had knocked out a couple of 3 hour runs at that pace in the weeks leading up to it. All went very well. Really enjoyed it. Had banter with the crowd all the way round. Made some great friends. Finished surprisingly fresh and honestly could have kept going a lot longer. Most importantly actually hit a marathon target We came in 40 seconds under after a consistent effort / run all round despite some hiccups with mile markers along the way.

So what's next? Not 100% sure. A proper training base onto a marathon cycle for definite. Possibly London (might have a charity route into that but won't know for a couple of weeks) Donadea 50k is looking very appealing right now. Not fully trained I can last 5 hours and have loads in the tank. Just a case of increasing the pace a bit to cover 50k in the cut off time. Heel spur etc is there still but again I know I can run the time on it so it's not a critical issue for the moment. Just looking forward to getting some solid weeks in.

Pacing Mule

kit3 wrote: »

Great pacing on Sunday P - rock solid all the way. You're a natural

Hey kit - Thanks.

Yeah I have to say I'm very comfortable pacing. Really enjoyed the step up to pacing in the bigger races.

tang1

Pacing Mule wrote: »

Hey kit - Thanks.

Yeah I have to say I'm very comfortable pacing. Really enjoyed the step up to pacing in the bigger races.

And looking super trim to from a photo I seen, fair play P.

HS3

That must have been some dinner :pac:

Pacing Mule

Just shy of 10 miles done with UM1 and a few others yesterday morning averaging 9:20 pace. 3 sub 9 miles in there little bit harder than usual effort wise. Hangover from getting used to 11:00 miles for DCM.

Have entered the Donadea 50k next Feb so I will be working towards that over next couple of months.

Pacing Mule

Howdy strangers :pac: Long time no post from me here but I've been lurking.

This time last year ......

Pacing Mule wrote: »

There certainly is.

At the start of the year I set a 20:30 5k target for the end of the year. Based on that race on Sunday people more knowledgeable than me are saying next race out should see sub 20 and sub 19 in reach by the end of the year after a proper marathon cycle (looking at a customised super meno plan) Marathon goal also being cut as 3:49 is a bit soft.

So the main goals now are:

Sub 20 5k by End June - St Cocas 5k a likely race for this.
Sub 3:30 at DCM (scares me a bit lot but what the hell :pac:)
Build on the endurance from a solid marathon cycle and have a crack at sub 19 then.
Some other tune up races along the way but the main goal / mantra for the year is Sub 20-Sub 3:30-Sub 19

About a year ago I set what turned out to be pie in the sky targets :pac: and as it turned out didn't actually "race" again at all until last Sunday. Life has been really really busy and running was just there as a hobby and stress relief rather than something to be really working at. Turned up to the Donadea 50k with a sure see what happens attitude not expecting to finish as I'd feck all long runs done. Ended up running marathon distance before dropping out and got an unofficial marathon PB during it. Tells you how soft my official PB is.

A few weeks ago I decided I needed to get myself back into racing shape so I set off on a little challenge to aim to run at least 5k every day for a while. Something the right honourable Myles Splitz (sad to see his recent departure from the forum) said to me years ago was in the back of my mind. Something along the lines of I get it that someone can have a busy life and doesn't have time to train but if you can tell me the latest updates on your favourite tv programme then don't tell me you didn't have time to run. So began a streak as such which needed runs at 5am or during a 30 minute work break (to change run 5k and change back) etc. I'd aimed to get back into sub 22 min shape for this years jog for a dog. PB of 20:51 set there last year. I'd done a test 5k and came in at 24 minutes before starting out. Not all out but reckoned I was in 23:30 shape so 22:00 was a fair target to aim for in 5 weeks.

Got it done and actually enjoyed the focus of the challenge. The benefits of the consistent running were much better than expected and I ended up running a 27 second PB with a 20:24 - sub 20 missed mainly due to a lack of endurance training. It wasn't a pretty finish at all (it was downright ugly and probably the ugliest ever - race photos caught me looking a bit rough on the home straight) but it shows you just how much fitness can be brought back into things with consistent training.

At this stage it's about getting some endurance into me and hopefully build on that consistence. Life is still mega busy but I think I can squeeze things in a bit better than I have done before. Main target for the year will be the Mondello Racetrack Marathon in September with a sub 20 5k somewhere along the way. Most likely a crack at that at the Cocas 5k. Only snag is that I'm most likely looking at surgery to remove what is now 2 heel spurs and that might change things depending on the timing. But for the moment it's full steam ahead.

tang1

Nice to see you back about the place, well done on the 5k PB & those photos were grim!!!

Pacing Mule

tang1 wrote: »

Nice to see you back about the place, well done on the 5k PB & those photos were grim!!!

Never really left

Did you manage to sign up to Facebook or did you spot a photo elsewhere ?

tang1

Pacing Mule wrote: »

Never really left

Did you manage to sign up to Facebook or did you spot a photo elsewhere ?

No on Facetube now!!! Certainly didn't see them on page 3 of The Sun!!

Pacing Mule

Lost the man boobies a while ago

Pacing Mule

Call me paranoid but I get back and Tang1 leaves.

In all seriousness though if you're reading this B take care mate and hope to see you back soon.