Off the Fence....and looking to go sub 3 hrs

FBOT01

Official result was 3:16:54, 35th overall and 6th O40.....happy with my days work. Report will follow.

FBOT01

After doing DCM in Oct 13 on the P&D <55mile 18 week program, I decided to do my first spring marathon in 2014 and give the P&D 55-70mile program a go. I started in early Dec 13 - 18 weeks before the Connemarathon. The plan was to see how the training was going and if all was going well I might skip Connemarathon in favour of a flatter Kildare course 3 weeks later. Having run the half a couple of times, I knew Connemarathon was not a PB course but Kildare could be if I was in the right shape. Kildare was cancelled so Connemara it was.

The training went very well up to week 13 and I was really loving the extra mileage and chewing up the hill of Howth at least twice a week. I started to think that maybe a PB would be an option in Connemara. In week 13, I had a hamstring problem that resulted in me being “banned” from running up hills or doing real speed sessions. I didn’t know it until the weekend but following this I lost my focus and had no real goal heading to Connemara. My floor goal was only really set on Saturday when I heard that TBL won the director's run in 3:18:xx......no way I was finishing slower than that:) but other than that anything would do.

The plan was to go out in 1:35 and keep it steady for as long as possible. With a fair wind and a bit of luck 3:12:xx (PB is 3:13:22) might be possible but a more realistic target was probably sub 3:15 given the fact that is 2013 only 2 of the top 50 finishers had a negative split and only 9 had positive splits less than 5 mins.

Clifden was the base for the weekend. Took in Munster match on way down - good start to the weekend. After registration headed to EJ Kings' for pasta and the Ulster match - red card was a tough call. In bed by 10:30 and slept like a log. Rolled out of bed about 7:15 well rested. Brought me own brekie to keep in the routine and avoid potential stomach problems later.

Jumped on the bus at 9 and headed out to the start. Met a couple of lads John and Ken on the bus and past the time chatting to them. That turned out to be the story of my day. Meeting people along the way and having a chat. Great way to pass the time but not the way to run a race....so cutting a long story short I ended up running rather than racing. Only really figured that out when I reviewed my day to write this report and could break it down by who I met at what point in the road and what we chatted about. I am not going to relive it all here as you all have better things to do than trudge through it. I would only say that I really enjoyed meeting all the people I met along the way and passing the time with them in a wonderful part of the world.

Miles 1-6 (07:19, 07:17, 07:15, 07:26, 07:25, 07:18)

Got into my rhythm quickly and settled nicely. First mile marker was at mile 3 and I passed it dead on 21:45 or 7:15 avg pace so all good. Miles 4 & 5 I started chatting to a few lads and I let the pace drop down to 7:25ish. Decided to move on and picked up the pace a little.

Miles 7-13 (7:30, 7:15, 7:17, 7:12, 7:08, 7:22, 7:18)

Mile 7 we hit the first and most straightforward of the hills for today. Slowed a little but kept thing steady. Next few miles I was back on track pace wise. I was waiting for the steep decent into Leenane to pick up the time lost on the uphill. The decent was gone before I noticed it as I had heard it was quite severe so was all the time holding for it. All of a sudden I was running at sea level and the opportunity to recoup time was gone. The mile into Leenane along harbour seemed to go on forever and I actually found this tougher than I would have liked. Maybe that was because I was running solo and had no one to chat too:). Passed half way at just over 1:36 a minute down with nothing to blame other than me enjoying the company and scenery a little bit too much. I even had time to wonder on the run into Leenane, at around 12 noon, whether AMK had managed to break 3hrs in Manchester. Talk about not being in the moment.

Miles 14-21 (7:38, 7:43, 7:06, 7:21, 7:23, 7:24, 7:23, 7:20)

I hit the hill out of Leenane, the wind and the hail all at the same time. This helped me get my head in the game temporarily and I pounded up the hill weaving between the tail end of the half that had just started. Managed to pass a couple of marathoners as I went. When I got to the top of the hill I was cruising and mile 16 was my fastest mile of the day. Next 5 miles avg pace was c 7:22 again I was losing 5s plus per mile for no reason other than lack of focus or maybe starting to think of the HOTW a little too early.

Miles 22-26.2 (7:32, 8:06, 8:29, 7:31, 7:54, 2:49) - Garmin clocked it at 26.37 miles

As I turned right across the bridge, the wind hit me like a wall. It actually felt like I was knocked backward at one point between the bridge and the water station. This was the toughest mile of the day to that point and I had to dig in. This mile took me to the base of the hill and the next couple of miles were as tough as I would have expected although I didn’t expect the gusting wind to knock me sideways on a couple of occasions. If I wasn’t running in the middle of the road I would have ended up in the ditch....race weight doesn’t help in the wind.

At mile 24 (c3hrs on the clock) I hadn’t written off sub 3:15 but when a crested the hill and got the wind in my face I knew it wasn’t happening. Got a little tug in my right hamstring in mile 25 and had no desire to test it. PB was not happening, sub 3:15 was not happening BUT I was going to finish quicker that TBL’s training run so I just sat back a toddled home with a moral victory;)

Post run pint would have gone down better with a Leinster win but I think they were a little like me and not really at the races.

Summary

As per previous post Official result was 3:16:54, 35th overall and 6th O40. Great day, course and event. Thanks to all involved. I will be back with lessons learnt.

PS....would recommend Clifden over Galway as a base for this event. A great buzz around the town and everybody is engaged in it for the weekend. EJ’s was our base for a lot of the weekend and we were very well looked after.

Gavlor

Nice report.

It's also great that you identified and area to fix although I have no doubt that the chatting etc helped you stay comfortable and relaxed throughout.

What's up next??

FBOT01

Gavlor wrote: »

Nice report.

It's also great that you identified and area to fix although I have no doubt that the chatting etc helped you stay comfortable and relaxed throughout.

What's up next??

Cheers Gavlor. I am going to have a week off and track everybody heading to London and Rotterdam this weekend. Then a couple of shorter distance race over the next few months and then back into to P&D (I think) for Berlin.

Best of luck in London. I am looking forward to hearing how it goes.

ThebitterLemon

FBOT01 wrote: »

After doing DCM in Oct 13 on the P&D <55mile 18 week program, I decided to do my first spring marathon in 2014 and give the P&D 55-70mile program a go. I started in early Dec 13 - 18 weeks before the Connemarathon. The plan was to see how the training was going and if all was going well I might skip Connemarathon in favour of a flatter Kildare course 3 weeks later. Having run the half a couple of times, I knew Connemarathon was not a PB course but Kildare could be if I was in the right shape. Kildare was cancelled so Connemara it was.

The training went very well up to week 13 and I was really loving the extra mileage and chewing up the hill of Howth at least twice a week. I started to think that maybe a PB would be an option in Connemara. In week 13, I had a hamstring problem that resulted in me being “banned” from running up hills or doing real speed sessions. I didn’t know it until the weekend but following this I lost my focus and had no real goal heading to Connemara. My floor goal was only really set on Saturday when I heard that TBL won the director's run in 3:18:xx......no way I was finishing slower than that:) but other than that anything would do.

The plan was to go out in 1:35 and keep it steady for as long as possible. With a fair wind and a bit of luck 3:12:xx (PB is 3:13:22) might be possible but a more realistic target was probably sub 3:15 given the fact that is 2013 only 2 of the top 50 finishers had a negative split and only 9 had positive splits less than 5 mins.

Clifden was the base for the weekend. Took in Munster match on way down - good start to the weekend. After registration headed to EJ Kings' for pasta and the Ulster match - red card was a tough call. In bed by 10:30 and slept like a log. Rolled out of bed about 7:15 well rested. Brought me own brekie to keep in the routine and avoid potential stomach problems later.

Jumped on the bus at 9 and headed out to the start. Met a couple of lads John and Ken on the bus and past the time chatting to them. That turned out to be the story of my day. Meeting people along the way and having a chat. Great way to pass the time but not the way to run a race....so cutting a long story short I ended up running rather than racing. Only really figured that out when I reviewed my day to write this report and could break it down by who I met at what point in the road and what we chatted about. I am not going to relive it all here as you all have better things to do than trudge through it. I would only say that I really enjoyed meeting all the people I met along the way and passing the time with them in a wonderful part of the world.

Miles 1-6 (07:19, 07:17, 07:15, 07:26, 07:25, 07:18)

Got into my rhythm quickly and settled nicely. First mile marker was at mile 3 and I passed it dead on 21:45 or 7:15 avg pace so all good. Miles 4 & 5 I started chatting to a few lads and I let the pace drop down to 7:25ish. Decided to move on and picked up the pace a little.

Miles 7-13 (7:30, 7:15, 7:17, 7:12, 7:08, 7:22, 7:18)

Mile 7 we hit the first and most straightforward of the hills for today. Slowed a little but kept thing steady. Next few miles I was back on track pace wise. I was waiting for the steep decent into Leenane to pick up the time lost on the uphill. The decent was gone before I noticed it as I had heard it was quite severe so was all the time holding for it. All of a sudden I was running at sea level and the opportunity to recoup time was gone. The mile into Leenane along harbour seemed to go on forever and I actually found this tougher than I would have liked. Maybe that was because I was running solo and had no one to chat too:). Passed half way at just over 1:36 a minute down with nothing to blame other than me enjoying the company and scenery a little bit too much. I even had time to wonder on the run into Leenane, at around 12 noon, whether AMK had managed to break 3hrs in Manchester. Talk about not being in the moment.

Miles 14-21 (7:38, 7:43, 7:06, 7:21, 7:23, 7:24, 7:23, 7:20)

I hit the hill out of Leenane, the wind and the hail all at the same time. This helped me get my head in the game temporarily and I pounded up the hill weaving between the tail end of the half that had just started. Managed to pass a couple of marathoners as I went. When I got to the top of the hill I was cruising and mile 16 was my fastest mile of the day. Next 5 miles avg pace was c 7:22 again I was losing 5s plus per mile for no reason other than lack of focus or maybe starting to think of the HOTW a little too early.

Miles 22-26.2 (7:32, 8:06, 8:29, 7:31, 7:54, 2:49) - Garmin clocked it at 26.37 miles

As I turned right across the bridge, the wind hit me like a wall. It actually felt like I was knocked backward at one point between the bridge and the water station. This was the toughest mile of the day to that point and I had to dig in. This mile took me to the base of the hill and the next couple of miles were as tough as I would have expected although I didn’t expect the gusting wind to knock me sideways on a couple of occasions. If I wasn’t running in the middle of the road I would have ended up in the ditch....race weight doesn’t help in the wind.

At mile 24 (c3hrs on the clock) I hadn’t written off sub 3:15 but when a crested the hill and got the wind in my face I knew it wasn’t happening. Got a little tug in my right hamstring in mile 25 and had no desire to test it. PB was not happening, sub 3:15 was not happening BUT I was going to finish quicker that TBL’s training run so I just sat back a toddled home with a moral victory;)

Post run pint would have gone down better with a Leinster win but I think they were a little like me and not really at the races.

Summary

As per previous post Official result was 3:16:54, 35th overall and 6th O40. Great day, course and event. Thanks to all involved. I will be back with lessons learnt.

PS....would recommend Clifden over Galway as a base for this event. A great buzz around the town and everybody is engaged in it for the weekend. EJ’s was our base for a lot of the weekend and we were very well looked after.

Well done again FBOT, and nicely paced.

When I saw a 3.20 was on last Saturday, I remembered that you had mentioned a time of 3.18 so I thought I try for that and put some pressure on , you responded well!


Want to join me in Limerick?

Well done again.

TbL

FBOT01

ThebitterLemon wrote: »

Well done again FBOT, and nicely paced.

When I saw a 3.20 was on last Saturday, I remembered that you had mentioned a time of 3.18 so I thought I try for that and put some pressure on , you responded well!


Want to join me in Limerick?

Well done again.

TbL

Cheers TBL. Thanks for the invite but the bank holiday weekend diary has been loaded by OH to ensure I catch up on all the stuff I have been ignoring in favour of running over the last few months.....although with all you manage to fit into your week maybe if I do a couple of "TBL" weeks in April I will be able to reassess my availability in a couple of weeks:)

belcarra

The downhill leading into Leenane isn't steep at all but it is long and gradual. I know I have tried to take advantage of that in the past and left the quads in a jocker!
I'll always be wary not to blast through this too fast any more, and reading your report it looks like you managed it properly!

FBOT01

belcarra wrote: »

The downhill leading into Leenane isn't steep at all but it is long and gradual. I know I have tried to take advantage of that in the past and left the quads in a jocker!
I'll always be wary not to blast through this too fast any more, and reading your report it looks like you managed it properly!

You are probably right even if it was by accident:D

FBOT01

Monday 07/04/2014
Rest Day

Travelled back from the west stuffing my face all the way.

Tuesday 08/04/2014
Rest Day

Walking the dog is as energetic as it got....still eating all around me!

Wednesday 09/04/2014
Rest Day

Thursday 10/04/2014
Rest Day

Ah The Masters....what better way to enjoy your marathon recovery than with your feet up watching The Masters. Perfect timing.....roll on the weekend:)

FBOT01

Catching up

Lost my mojo a bit after Connemara and have been struggling to find it since. Nothing to do with the time I ran but more about the shudda, cudda, wuddas. I also think because I had no short-term targets planned in for post marathon I lacked focus and motivation to drive-on. Another possibility is that the higher mileage plan took more out of me than I thought at the time. Average weekly mileage went from 44 for DCM 2013 programme to 60 during Connemara training.

Before moving on and looking forward rather than back I will summarise the last few weeks.

I had been following a P&D plan for Connemara so decided to finish the job by following their 5 week recovery plan with main change being more rest in week one. So last few weeks have looked like this:-
W/C 07/04/2014 - 5.35 miles after 6 Days off post Connemara. First time since Dec 2012 that I had more the 2 rest days in a row;
W/C 14/04/2014 - 20.6 miles split over Tues/Thurs/Sun with rest days in between. All very easy recovery miles. had to drag myself out the door each time;
W/C 21/04/2014 - 32.4 miles split over Tues/Wed/Thurs/Sat with rest days in between. All very easy recovery with exception of 8x100m strides on Thurs and a 14th place finish in 18:49 @ St Anne's parkrun on the Saturday. parkrun was a tough day at the office and the legs had very little to give. However, after the parkrun legs felt better than at any time over the previosu 3 weeks so I decided to join Ferris B for 11.46 miles later that day. Enjoyable run but probably wasn't one of my better decisions;
W/C 28/04/2014 - 34.9 miles split over Tues/Thurs/Fri/Sat/Sun. Legs continued to feel very tired;
W/C 05/05/2014 - 25.6 miles split over Tues/Wed/Fri/Sat. Nothing improved during this week and my legs, in particular my calves, remained tired and lifeless so on Saturday morning while out for an early morning recovery run finally called a halt to it. I headed home with only 2 miles done and decided that I needed to do something different. I spent the 20mins that I would have spent running stretching instead. I think I got much more benefit from that to be honest. I scrapped Sundays planned 12 miler in favour of a spin to Howth on the bike followed by more stretching;
W/C 12/05/2014 - The plan for this week is to take another rest day today and have booked a leg massage for tomorrow. I am also going to try out a reformer pilates class tomorrow evening. Then from Wed on I will run if I feel like it. I will continue with that strategy until the end of the month at which stage I am hoping to be re-energized and ready for round 2 of P&D 18 week 55-70 mile plan in preparation for Berlin.

In summary the plan for the rest of the year is:
17th June - Kilbride 10K
28th June - Irish Runner 5m
12th July - Portarlington HM
23rd Aug - Frank Duffy 10m
20th Sept - Dublin HM (run as last LSR for Berlin)
28th Sept - Berlin ("A" Race for 2014)
27th Oct - DCM (In our house anything done more than two years in a row is a tradition so DCM is a tradition now)
I am also likely to throw in a few parkrun along the way.........

ThebitterLemon

Welcome back FBOT, was wondering what happened you, thought you'd forgotten your meds or maybe that the nursing home had you in solitary:)

I'd be interested to see what times you're gonna target, for the shorter stuff and Berlin

TbL

FBOT01

ThebitterLemon wrote: »

Welcome back FBOT, was wondering what happened you, thought you'd forgotten your meds or maybe that the nursing home had you in solitary:)

I'd be interested to see what times you're gonna target, for the shorter stuff and Berlin

TbL

Cheers TbL, still taking the meds alright but might need a stronger prescription for next training block.....

Have targets/aspirations for the year as follows:
5K - 17:xx
5M - 30:2x
10K - 37:xx
10M - 63:xx
HM tbc
Berlin - 3:04:xx but if all goes well I will be making my first assault on sub 3.

Berlin is the main target for the year.

ThebitterLemon

Jazus FBOT, they're some tasty targets, I'm targeting around the same marathon time for Amsterdam but there's more chance of me being in a boy band that hitting 17 & 37 for a 5/10k.

Best of luck with it.

I'll be keeping my (good) eye on you!

TbL

FBOT01

ThebitterLemon wrote: »

Jazus FBOT, they're some tasty targets, I'm targeting around the same marathon time for Amsterdam but there's more chance of me being in a boy band that hitting 17 & 37 for a 5/10k.

Best of luck with it.

I'll be keeping my (good) eye on you!

TbL

I hear The Beatles are looking at reforming and they have a couple of slots going.....I am applying so will let you know when the auditions are;)

Gavlor

FBOT01 wrote: »

Cheers TbL, still taking the meds alright but might need a stronger prescription for next training block.....

Have targets/aspirations for the year as follows:
5K - 17:xx
5M - 30:2x
10K - 37:xx
10M - 63:xx
HM tbc
Berlin - 3:04:xx but if all goes well I will be making my first assault on sub 3.

Berlin is the main target for the year.

30:2x for 5 mile?? Surely you can run 6 seconds per mile faster?????

tang1

Mind bump into you at the Kilbride 10k, good flat course to target the 10k goal.

FBOT01

Gavlor wrote: »

30:2x for 5 mile?? Surely you can run 6 seconds per mile faster?????

Surely;)

ThebitterLemon

Where about in the country is that Tang, looking for a couple of decent 10k's myself.

Tnx,

TbL

tang1

ThebitterLemon wrote: »

Where about in the country is that Tang, looking for a couple of decent 10k's myself.

Tnx,

TbL

Its between Clonee & Rathoath, Co Meath TbL.

FBOT01

tang1 wrote: »

Mind bump into you at the Kilbride 10k, good flat course to target the 10k goal.

Hopefully see you there. My current PB was in Docklands last year so was searching out a flat course to give it a good lash. Also there were some decent times in it last year so with a sub 38 target I will have a few bodies to chase all the way to the line.

FBOT01

W/C 12/05/2014

I did exactly what I had said on the tin for this week together with upping my water intake.

Tuesday was massage and 1st Pilates Reformer Class......jury still out but will give it another couple of classes before making a call when I rocked up to the class venue. The saying "No man is an island" was never more wrong. When I inquired about the class I asked if it was women only or mixed, I got the response that "our classes are opened to both men and women" but they forgot to add that no men actually attend:)

Wednesday - 4.37m @ 09:16 avg pace (Recovery)
Wednesday morning and my calves awoke for the first time in weeks pain free. Happy Days. By lunchtime I was delighted to get out for a few recovery miles in St Anne's.

Thursday - 6.50m @ 08:32 avg pace (Easy)
Nice easy pre-breakfast run. Lovely morning. All is good in the world.

Friday - 3.95m @ 08:49 avg pace (Recovery)
Another pre-breakfast run in St Anne's. Dog joined me for this one as I was heading off golfing for Friday/Saturday so he was going to be confined to base til I got back on Sunday......another lovely day and a very pleasant game of golf in Tramore in the afternoon.

Saturday - 5.74m @ 08:09 avg pace (Easy)
In Tramore for the weekend and staying near the prom so the beach was the obvious place for this run. I could have easily skipped running today but one of the lads that I was away with was going for few miles so decided to join him. I let him set the pace as he is on a get fit kick so didn't want to upset his plan. Although when he said that he normally runs a little faster I picked it up for the last mile just to make sure he got a full work out....and to make sure I finished first. Because as we all know age is irrelevant when it comes to boys being boys:) Another pleasant game of golf in the afternoon.

Sunday - Rest Day
A couple of late nights and a "nice" quantity of food and drink consumed over the weekend left me a little sluggish on Sunday morning. A family get together in my house in the afternoon that involved far too much of the wrong food being consumed didn't leave me anymore refreshed by the end of the day. 19 weeks to Berlin so healthy eating starts back tomorrow....just hope tomorrow comes soon;)

FBOT01

Monday - 19/05/2014
4.87m @ 08:26 avg pace (Easy)

Fatigue seems to be leaving the legs at last. This was a nice easy and enjoyable run.

Tuesday - 20/05/2014
8.34m @ 08:08 avg pace (Gen Aerobic - Progression)

Approached this as a sectioned progressive run so broke this into 3 sections 4/2/2 with the plan to run them as <08:30, <08:15 and <08:00. Settled in nicely after the first couple of miles. Another enjoyable run....that's two in a row. Things are looking up.

4m @ 08:24 avg pace
2m @ 08:15 avg pace
2m @ 07:30 avg pace
0.35m cd to home

Wednesday - 21/05/2014
Rest Day

Last week of 5 day running before starting P&D and going back up to 6.

FBOT01

Thursday 22/05/2014
9.58m @ 08.12 avg pace (Gen Aerobic w/8x100m Strides)

Thursday is my pre-breakfast run day as it is normally a very busy day between work and domestic commitments. Kicked off with 7m @ 08:03 avg pace on a route that brought me to old pond in St Anne's. Did my strides up the hill here (closer to 120m than 100m) and jogged back down as rest interval. Finished off with a 1m cd @ 09:01 avg pace back home. Nice morning for run. Surprising how warm it got at that hour of the morning each time the sun broke through.

Plan is for a bit of core work later this evening after I walk the dog and take in my daughter's GAA match. By writing that down here I am hoping that it will encourage me to actually do it;)

FBOT01

Friday 23/05/2014
Rest Day

Had 6m Recovery in for today but was heading away for the weekend so pushed it back to Saturday....never did the core work last night either. My Bad!

Saturday 24/05/2014
6.16m @ 08:32 avg pace (Recovery)

Put this off a couple of times but eventually I got out about 4:30 after telling myself that I wouldn't enjoy the evening's sport on TV unless I got out to run. Nice pleasant run from Ballykisteen House into Tipp town and back. Footpath all the way was a bonus.

Sunday 25/05/2014
Rest Day

Should have finished the week with 12m MLR but decided to take it as a rest day since it was the last day before kicking off Berlin programme.

Monday 26/05/2014
9.40m @ 07:37 avg pace (LT w/4m @HMP)

And we're off............as I hadn't ran anything much faster than 8min/m for a while now, I decided to use my existing HMP of 06:47 as the pace for this one rather than target HMP of 06:30. Splits broke out as follows:
2.8m wu @ 08:18 avg pace
1m @ 06:47
1m @ 06:46
1m @ 06:52
1m @ 06:41
2.61m cd @ 08:11 avg pace

Felt pretty comfortable throughout and tried to concentrate on keeping my form. I don't know what happened with 3rd mile as I didn't feel like I had slowed down. I knew the 4th mile was a little quicker as I tend to pick up the pace when I know the end is near. Best thing was that I could have kept going.

FBOT01

Tuesday 27/05/2014
11.26m @ 07:40 avg pace (Med-long Progression)

Loved this run. Had planned to take it a little handier to kick off latest cycle but the body just wanted to go so I went with it. Pace within each segment was very pretty steady with segments run as follows:
4m @ 07:59 avg pace
4m @ 07:39 avg pace
3m @ 07:13 avg pace
0.26m cd

Wednesday 28/05/2014
4.19m @ 09:28 avg pace (Recovery)

Buster and I took to St Anne's for a nice easy recovery run. Felt to effect of Monday and Tuesday.

Thursday 29/05/2014
9m @ 08:11 avg pace (General Aerobic)

Still feeling the effect of an over enthusiastic start to the week but it is great to be back in a programme with a clear goal in mind. The brain has at last re-engaged with running which really does make things seem easier. This was pre-breakfast and pre-rain so nice to get it in.

Friday 30/05/2014
5.38m @ 09:01 avg pace (Recovery)

Joined Ferris B for another pre-breakfast run. Ferris has been out of action with a calf issue for a few weeks but seems to be on the mend......good to have a bit of company for a change. Onwards and upwards:pac:

Signed up this week for Kilbride 10k on 17th so that will give me an early indication of where I am at.

FBOT01

Saturday 31/05/2014
15.1m @ 07:31 avg pace (Med Long - Progression)

Lovely pre-breakfast run over as far as Merrion Gates and back in through a sleepy Dublin City just starting to stir. Love running through the city at the weekend when it is awakening. Back to St Anne's in time to don the HiVis Jacket and do a bit a scanning @ parkrun. Glad I got out early as it got pretty hot pretty quickly when the morning mist had burnt off. Session broke down as follows:

5m @ 07:46 avg pace
5m @ 07:35 avg pace
5m @ 07:15 avg pace

Monday 02/06/2014
9.08m @ 08:18 avg pace (Gen Aerobic w/8x100m strides)

Nice evening run. Struggled a bit to get strides going but pushed through after the first one.

Tuesday 03/06/2014
12.09m @ 07:49 avg pace (Med Long - Progression)

Ferris B joined me for a few of these. Nice evening. Good run although felt a little harder than last weeks 11 miler along much of the same route.

Wednesday 04/06/2014
5.31m @ 09:14 avg pace (Recovery)

Took in Dollymount on this one which gave my legs a rest from the tarmac and concrete I normally run on.

Thursday 05/06/2014
9m @ 08:03 avg pace (General Aerobic)

Did exactly what it said on the tin. Pretty steady pace through out.

Friday 06/06/2014
4.94m @ 09:04 avg pace (Recovery)

Saturday 07/06/2014
15.3 @ 07:46 avg pace (Long Run w/8@MP)

Program said 16m with 8 @ MP. haven't nailed down what MP is yet but decided that for the 1st MP session of this cycle I would be happy with sub 7min pace.

I was scheduled as RD @ St Anne's parkrun in the morning so decided to leave this til the afternoon and head into the PP to do it. 1st mistake of the day.

As I headed over towards PP the car was telling me that it was 23 degrees outside. Other plans didn't allow me push this back to later in the evening so I just got started. Plan was a loop of the outside of the park and then back to the car for a mouthful of water before doing another loop in the opposite direction. The last 8 miles would be the MP stuff. Mistake number 2 was kicking off too quickly...1st mile was 07:41 into the wind. Anyway got the job done on the first 8 miles @ avg pace 07:56 but it was very warm and I was starting to struggle.

Then came mistake no 3...the direction I choose for the 2nd loop brought me up Chesterfield Ave and then back down the North Road which meant that I would be running up Military Hill and the Upper Glen Road. As I ran up Military Road and on towards the Upper Glen Road my whole right side was paining me...quad, hip, lower back, chest, shoulder right through to my biceps...having a clue why. As the watch hit the 13 mile split I decided that the wheels had come off and that there was no benefit to pushing through with 16 weeks still to go. Pulled up walked for 100m and then jogged in considerable pain back to the car. I downed a litre of water and a bar of chocolate to try to bring back some energy and headed home with my tail between my legs. Was dog sitting in my sisters house so crashed on her couch undisturbed for an hour before getting some sense of normality back. Hip pain lingered longest and it was a few hours later before that subsided. Did a little bit of stretching but very little else for the rest of the evening.

Splits broke out as follows:
8m @ 07:56 avg pace
1m @ 06:57
1m @ 06:59
1m @ 07:02
1m @ 07:02
1m @ 07:16 (wheels came off)
2.3m @ 08:45

Disappointed with how this session finished out but not losing any sleep over it....Sh*t Happens....bad preparation and timing of this run were both factors in its outcome, Fail to prepare, etc.....need to make sure I hit the next one of these sessions better prepared.

Apart from the obviously it wasn't a bad week I got in the programmed miles and managed to pass the 1,000 mile year to date marker:)

yaboya1

Sounds like it wasn't an ideal training weekend for any Berlin runners :P

FBOT01

yaboya1 wrote: »

Sounds like it wasn't an ideal training weekend for any Berlin runners :P

Self inflicted in both ours cases, P. No harm getting your bad days out of the way early in the cycle

FBOT01

Sunday 08/06/2014
Rest Day

Well needed rest day.

Monday 09/06/2014 (Week 3 - P&D 18/70)
11.03m @ 07:41 avg pace (Med Long - Progression)

Legs felt surprising fresh at the start of this and with Marathon Talk for company the time flew by. Stuck to the progression model. Warm enough evening and was pumping sweat by the time I finished. Never felt under pressure at any stage though and thoroughly enjoyed this run. I think I will try to dig out the old Heart Rate Monitor again as it would be interesting to get a read on where the heart rate is on these progression runs.

Splits broke down as follows:
5m @ 08:02 avg pace
5m @ 07:40 avg pace
5.03m @ 07:14 avg pace

FBOT01

Tuesday 10/06/2014
13m @ 08:02 avg pace (Med Long)

Ferris B joined me for the first 9 of these. Nice run around DNS. A bit humid and sticky out there again this evening.

Note to Self - Small level of pain in Hips and Lower Back again in last couple of miles.

FBOT01

Wednesday 11/06/14
4.95m @ 08:56 avg pace (Recovery)

Headed up to St Anne's for nice easy recovery run on the grass/trails. Have started doing this to try to ease the impact and maximise recovery. I have to say that this felt like the hardest run so far this week.

FBOT01

Thursday 12/06/2014

Unplanned Rest Day...life got in the way so I just rolled with it.

Friday 13/06/2014
9m @ 07:26 avg pace (LT w/4 @ HMP)

After missing Thursday's run I pushed everything back by a day. I had thought this was a 9m General Aerobic run with some strides thrown but after reading Ferris B's post I checked the schedule and he was right it said 9m LT w/4 @ HMP

I zipped up the man suits and headed out not sure how things would work out. Car on the way home said temp with 20C which wasn't going to help. After a 3m wu I did the Tempo section along the coast same place as I did the same run 3 weeks ago. The plan was to try to get closer to target HMP of sub 6:30 than PB HMP which is 6:47. I decided to ignore the watch and focus on form and effort to see if I could find the right pace for the first 2 miles and then if I was way off I would revert to watch watching. To my surprise I was nicely on pace for miles 1 & 2 so just kept with that strategy for the remaining 2 miles. Any wind there was, was against me for first 2.5m and with me for last 1.5m. I was working hard for the last 1m but this was more to hold form than anything else. I could feel the body tensing up, the shoulder getting higher and the stride getting shorter. I had to correct this quite a few times so didn't know how this would effect pace.

Session broke down as follows:
| Today | 3 weeks ago
3m wu | 08:02 avg pace | 08:37 avg pace
1m | 06:27 | 06:47
1m | 06:26 | 06:46
1m | 06:20 | 06:52
1m | 06:21 | 06:41
2m cd | 08:31 avg pace | 08:11 avg pace

I was chuffed when I reviewed the stats for this run. Did exactly what I wanted and it was nice to see the improvement since day 1 of the programme 3 weeks ago. This was one of the good day that we all need to keep the show on the road and make the bad days worth it.

Saturday 14/06/2014
5m @ 09:00 avg pace (Recovery)

Mad day today so was delighted to get out for a run this evening. Lovely evening so headed up to St Anne's at teatime to run the perimeter and give the legs the benefit of running on grass. Plenty still going on. In fact more than I would normally expect at that hour of the evening. I am all for people enjoying the fresh air and the beautiful facility that is St Anne's but I was more than stunned to see a couple doing the "deed" on one of the football pitches about 20 yards from the trail I was running.....eyes front and on I went. I hope they finished before the guy walking towards me with his kids got there or he was going to have some serious explaining to do :eek:

tang1

I caught two people 'at it' in a bush in St Annes on summers evening to. Obviously being caught by the 'filth' caused panic, the female was in such a rush at putting her clothes on she put her underwear on over her bottoms and walked down the length of the avenue in St Annes with her knickers on full show, i kid you not.

Great session though(yours).

Gavlor

tang1 wrote: »

I caught two people 'at it' in a bush in St Annes on summers evening to. Obviously being caught by the 'filth' caused panic, the female was in such a rush at putting her clothes on she put her underwear on over her bottoms and walked down the length of the avenue in St Annes with her knickers on full show, i kid you not.

Great session though(yours).

Pics or GTFO

ThebitterLemon

Jezus, must get down to St Anne's park, sounds like the place to get in some "sessions"

Nicely done FBOT

TbL

yaboya1

Good luck tomorrow down in Kilbride

FBOT01

yaboya1 wrote: »

Good luck tomorrow down in Kilbride

Cheers. Have the picnic all packed for my trip to the country

FBOT01

6th place in Kilbride this evening. Official 10k time of 38:42....23sec PB. Every little bit helps Report to follow.

tang1

Well done, great running, every second counts. Sorry didn't bump into you, had the pasty shoulders on full view and everything!!

yaboya1

Excellent running.
You have me on the 10k PB for the moment :P

FBOT01

yaboya1 wrote: »

Excellent running.
You have me on the 10k PB for the moment :P

Cheers. Hopefully you don't get to run one for a long time so:D

yaboya1

FBOT01 wrote: »

Cheers. Hopefully you don't get to run one for a long time so:D

I believe there may be a smack-down on the 20th July....?

dublin runner

I believe that was you I was talking to after

Congrats on the great run

Killerz

Great result last night, FBOT. All the more reason to drink more beer and eat more fried items on your hols!

viperlogic

Great read FBOT01, I shall be following this thread as I too am on the hunt for a sub 3 (Amsterdam in October). My training log is here

FBOT01

yaboya1 wrote: »

I believe there may be a smack-down on the 20th July....?

I am afraid I am away that weekend:( Would have been nice to at least have had a chance to try and keep up with you:pac::pac:

dublin runner wrote: »

I believe that was you I was talking to after

Congrats on the great run

Thanks DR. I am presuming when you said you had a bad race that meant you didn't win but still probably managed a podium finish:D Well done. You can be very hard on yourself sometimes;) Unfortunately no I don't think I met you afterwards. After my little sit down after the finish...us auld men have to do that sometimes...I was chatting to a guy that I recognised from St Anne's parkrun before heading off back to the big smoke. Hopefully, meet you again at some event over the summer.

Killerz wrote: »

Great result last night, FBOT. All the more reason to drink more beer and eat more fried items on your hols!

Cheers J....started as I mean to go on with Beshoffs as part of my post race recovery plan:)

viperlogic wrote: »

Great read FBOT01, I shall be following this thread as I too am on the hunt for a sub 3 (Amsterdam in October). My training log is here

Cheers. Good luck yourself with the sub 3 quest. Amsterdam is supposed to be a decent fast course so if the hard work is done....;) I will keep an eye on your progress over the summer and maybe grab a few tips along the way.

Finnt

Great result FBOT01 fair play to ya, waiting on the race report now!

ThebitterLemon

FBOT01 wrote: »

6th place in Kilbride this evening. Official 10k time of 38:42....23sec PB. Every little bit helps Report to follow.

Super running FBOT, you must have made it onto the Auld Lads podium if you came 6th?

I now have a new 10k target time

TbL

FBOT01

On hols with limited wifi so report is still on the to do list but got an email from Kilbride Organiser to inform me that I won the Veteran (Auldfellas) category on Tues and that my trophy is available for collection....will be clearing the mantelpiece as soon as I get home:)

Ferris B

FBOT01 wrote: »

On hols with limited wifi so report is still on the to do list but got an email from Kilbride Organiser to inform me that I won the Veteran (Auldfellas) category on Tues and that my trophy is available for collection....will be clearing the mantelpiece as soon as I get home:)

Don't forget to bring proof of age, oap travel pass should do.:D