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Timber!!
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I headed to Waterford on Saturday on the back of a few weeks of decent enough mileage and a series of tempo sessions which suggested that I could go a bit better than my PB of 1.28.04. Thanks to BeepBeep67 for the guidance there.
As we lined up at the start I was very hopeful of a 1.27 and possibly a 1.26 if it went to well. I had decided to go out around 6.35 pace and hold it as long as I could but this approach was very much out the window almost immediately.
I lined up a row ahead of the 1.30 pacers and straight away we hit a large downhill section for about a third of a mile before hitting a significant drag for well over a mile. A glance at the watch at the bottom of the hill had me at 6.10 pace and feeling easy due to the gradient but this ticked back as the mile progressed into the hill. I didn't care about pace as I made my way up the drag just concentrated on keeping the effort right. At 1.5 miles the course fell away again as me made our way out past Genzyme and into the industrial estate where another drag greeted us. At this point my pace was all over the place with the undulations so I decided to ignore splits from here and go on feel
Miles 1-3 6.31, 6.42, 6.24
Once we exited the windy roads of the industrial estate the course fell away gently with some short drags as we made our way through some residential areas. The relentless up and down of it all had me a bit worried as I didn't feel great and doubted whether I could hold the effort. Around 5ish miles I fell into a small group with a Waterford A.C runner and another from a Cork Club (Green and White Hoops), we got into a solid rhythm and began reeling in others, this helped alot and I began to settle and feel better. Mile 7 began another long steep drag which lasted a full mile, I felt ok going up it and wasn't really too strained, our group had grown to 6 or 7 now and we were all moving well
Miles 4-7 6.38, 6.27, 6.22, 6.36
By mile 8 I was starting to hurt, a sharp dowhill did damage to my quads and a seemingly never ending section along country roads with really poor footing was draining me big time. The demons had started to arrive! Thankfully a gel woke me up in a massive way as we reentered civilization and smooth tarmac again. I found myself moving away from the group gradually here, the section along those small roads had bitten a good few. The Waterford AC runner was still with me but as we hit a long drag back through the housing estate from earlier I dropped him. This was by far the toughest part of the race with a strong headwind and an exposed drag to deal with. I could see a couple of vests ahead and managed to pass 3 runners along here but I was gritting the teeth at this stage. Around mile 10 I spotted Angela McCann off in the distance so she became my target to chase after. Come the end of mile 10 I was really struggling in the wind and could feel my lower legs starting to cramp on the outsides
, I even took a slight speed wobble into a hedge which was coming out onto the road and snagged my watch on it which paused it for a second, things were getting ropey:eek: Once I got back onto a more sheltered section on mile 11 I picked it up and felt better. I have to say I was delighted to see the roundabout at 12 miles after that 2 mile drag as I knew it was a fast finish
Miles 8-12 6.25, 6.33, 6.35, 6.41, 6.32
As I hit the big downhill on the final mile I was running as hard as I could and gaining on Angela McCann, passing her half a mile from home. I could see BeebBeep67 off in the distance too so he became the next person to chase although I made ground into him he was never gonna be caught and would have left me for dust anyway had I got near him.:D. One last little drag up to the finish and I passed another 2 runners before the final turn for home. I was in bits here and the legs were gone. Pushing in that final mile was painful and I couldn't believe that the clock was reading 1.24xx as I rounded the corner onto the straight. I retched and spluttered for a minute or two once I crossed but seeing 1.24.5x on the watch was such a shock in all honesty. Delighted.
Mile 13 5.56 (4.53)
Chip Time 1.24.56 position 103/1511
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/646193490
According to Strava I also ran an unofficial 10 mile PB (64.38) as well as a sub 40 10k to close it out, you gotta love lightening fast closing miles.
Afterwards I met a number of the Boards crew for a quick chat and it was great to meet Murph_D, Ecoli and TRR for the first time. Overall this is a great race, the facilities at WIT are top class and the course is very fair so another one for the calendar.
Personally, it was a nice way to round off a good running year for me, my half pb this time last year was 1.34.04 so all is good. Marathon training beckons now for the Springtime.0 -
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ThebitterLemon wrote: »Sunday 14.5 hrs 8.08 pace
Over 14 hours at 8 min pace I'm impressed
TbL
Thanks for pointing that out, never realised I was such an animal!0 -
ThebitterLemon wrote: »Sunday 14.5 hrs 8.08 pace
Over 14 hours at 8 min pace I'm impressed
TbL
see that's the danger when you're yapping away - no wonder my calves were at me near the end.0 -
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So 2015 is upon us and after a short break from the log and boards its time to gear up again but first a brief summary of 2014 if anyone is interested. I started the log around this time last year with two goals for 2014, sub 40 10k and a sub 90 half.
The year started with London marathon training where I had a pretty consistent buildup with a couple of very ropey weeks immediately after the Bohermeen half where I picked up a calf niggle that would stay with me until mid summer. I managed to run a good PB in Bohermeen 1.31.04 (despite trying for the sub 90 and not having it) down from 1.34.04, so going into London I was confident of solid PB. In the end I had a dream race, knocking nearly 11 minutes off the PB running 3.15.52 in a 90ish second negative split. The London Marathon is a staggeringly good event and the bits I can remember from the day will stay with me for a long long time.
So to the summer, I jumped back into things a bit quickly and ended up doing speedwork off low weekly mileage so got bitten with that calf complaint rearing up. I ended up jogging 20 or so miles a week for over 6 weeks in severe discomfort until multiple physio visits and eventually dry needling cleared it up, in the weeks before that injury occurred though I managed a 10kPB in the Boyne 10k (40.56) and a solid run in the Terenure 5 mile (31.52) so it certainly wasn't all bad.
I got back into things in July and managed a good run in the Fingal 10k (40.15) and then broke the magic sub 40 10k by the skin of my teeth in Dun Laoighre (39.5x). I was absolutely delighted with this it had been a big goal for mine for a while.
I continued with 10k type training up to the lakes 10k in Blessington where I ran 39.15 to shave another few seconds off. The 10k is probably my favourite distance, just the right balance of speed and pain and I intend to give it a proper Jack Daniels 18 week block in the future. I didn't race again over that distance but was very satisfied to bring the PB down from 41.00 to 39.15 over the year.
The next focus became the Dublin half marathon where I just wanted to make sure of the sub 90, I ran a solid race starting conservatively and finished strong to clock 1.28.04. Job done with both goals for the year:)
I knew at this stage that I would be doing a Spring marathon in 2015 so the focus became building up mileage and consistency in a small base phase and then racing the Waterford half at the end to keep things interesting and round off the year as much as anything. BeepBeep67 gave me some guidance on this and a block of easy running with a weekly tempo resulted in a big PB in Waterford of 1.24.56, I was genuinely amazed by that time especially considering my PB at the start of the year was 1.34.04.
Whenever I have run a PB in the past I have always immediately felt that I could go one better the next time out but that time in Waterford is the first one I'm looking at thinking it will be extremely difficult for me to top.
I saw out the year with a couple of weeks of solid mileage and then 2 weeks over Christmas of mileage in the mid 20s with some steady runs and a half arsed mince pie bloated parkrun of 19.10 thrown in.
So that was 2014, just over 1900 miles run which was up from 1400ish the year before, very enjoyable overall and it was great to finally meet and run with some people on here as another big highlight.
Next up is the London Marathon and having finally gotten my entry sorted yesterday after some sweating its all systems go with training. I'm going to attempt to follow the P&D 55-70 plan having toyed with the idea of a couple of others. The main reason is that I feel that me who has just about 2 proper years of consistent training (if you can call it that) will benefit from the aerobic development P&D offers compared to the more speed oriented stuff in the BAA plan for example, will it work out, time will tell. The main goal over the next 15 or so weeks will be to try and stay consistent and listen to the body at all times with the bigger picture in mind.
Race wise I've signed up to the new Trim 10 miler in February and then ill do Bohermeen but id say that will be it beyond maybe a 10k in late March, very early April.
Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more......
As always comments, feedback and general slagging are welcome
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Things have been mad busy over the last couple of days so here's a quick summary of what I was up to last week, Ill hopefully update the log more regularly over the coming weeks to save these block updates.
Monday 8 miles 8.07 pace
An easy run to start the week, I threw in 10 strides as per P&D and they helped to shake the legs up alot.
Tuesday 11 miles 8.24 pace
I had company for 6 of the miles in the middle of this so the pace was nice and handy which was fine by me. We did a lap of a completely pitch black phoenix park, usually there is some light from the moon or whatever in there but it was like entering the gates of hell in places.
Wednesday 5 miles 8.20 pace
An easy "recovery" run but this was far too fast to be a true recovery, Ill slow these down as the weeks go by.
Thursday 12 miles 7.36 pace
This was probably a bit too fast also. After two miles I took a look at the watch and was surprised to see I was moving steadily for not too much effort so I just went with it. It felt grand for the whole run which is encouraging.
Friday 5 miles 8.20 pace
An out and back from home to chapelizod. The out leg was straight into a very strong wind so I was trying to keep the effort very easy. Coming back the wind was so strong at my back it felt like I could have physically sat down into it like a chair and it would have carried me along! Mad conditions.
Saturday 15 miles with 8@MP
The first big session of this years marathon training and I was looking at it with trepidation all week especially as I knew it was going to be massively windy. The plan was to do 6 easy and the 8mp miles with one to cool down at the end. The first 6 were fine and I kept them honest, right on 8 minute pace. I started the MP section into the wind heading up the north road and did an outside lap of the park taking in the castleknock gate, furze road, furry glen and the s bends before cutting across the acres lap, old lamp road and finally back over to the north road heading the opposite way to finish near Garda HQ. I have no real designs on a marathon goal or goal pace at the minute but I decided id be happy if I could keep them all below 7 minute miles
Splits were:
6.59
6.47
6.55
6.46
6.43
6.54
6.51
6.43
No two ways about it, this was tough. The wind was an absolute killer in parts and I was pushing to hold pace into it, the other sections where it was at my back I was just recovering from the windy bits! At one point on the acres road lap it felt like I was in one spot just shadowboxing, pumping the arms but going nowhere. A tough session for me and glad to get it in the can. I don't think it says much about goal marathon pace or how suitable this pace might be for me because with the conditions it felt tougher than marathon effort. Not to worry, week one down and 57 miles, on we go.0 -
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Looks like a sub 3 bid is on the cards in London based off Saturday's effort
A nice thought for sure and cheers for the encouragement but its very early days yet. I won't think about targets until after Bohermeen as there is just too much running to be done in the meantime. In reality though as things stand I feel I would need the half pb to come down to 1.22 before I'd feel like I was in with a real shot, currently 1.24(very)high. I know people say 1.23 is about right to go for it but the way I cramp in marathons id need that extra bit of wiggle room I think. 0
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