DCM 2014 graduates - the next step onwards

laura_ac3

chickey2 wrote: »

Best of in Enniscorthy Adrian.

I did the Tymon parkrun today for the first time I much preferred it to Marley. Its much smaller so less crowded and you don't have to queue for the scanners. I did it in 24:35 which is a pb so I was delighted. I was the seventh woman and first in my age category (although four of the six that beat me were older than me!)

Well done Chickey. Now go get yourself up on the graduate round numbers table on the tracker

chickey2

laura_ac3 wrote: »

Well done Chickey. Now go get yourself up on the graduate round numbers table on the tracker

I forgot that was sub 25! Will do it now. :-)

Dubgal72

chickey2 wrote: »

I forgot that was sub 25! Will do it now. :-)

Fantastic, well done missus!

Firedance

chickey2 wrote: »

I forgot that was sub 25! Will do it now. :-)

Brilliant! well done indeed :-)

chickey2

I was all set to go to my first ever club training session this evening until I got a call from OH saying the luas had stopped and he'd be late home. Was too late by the time he got home. I can't wait til the kids are old enough to mind themselves! Anyway, I got out as soon as he got home and did the 72 mins with 24 at tempo. I really like the tempo runs. I felt a lot better when I got back.

I had some time to kill in ballsbridge on Sunday so did a nice gentle run around. I relived some of the marathon on the merrion road! Its funny how memories come back to you as you're running! I ran past the British embassy and remembered during the marathon I thought it was a prison (because of the gates and security) and was thinking it was a weird place to have a prison!

laura_ac3

I hear you....I've been out in clonskeagh area recently and even Milltown this evening - oh the memories!

smashiner

laura_ac3 wrote: »

I hear you....I've been out in clonskeagh area recently and even Milltown this evening - oh the memories!

Strange.....all I can remember around Clonskeagh and Milltown was searing heat, a big hill and lots of pain........:D

On a more positive note I have gone a bit mad and bought a Tri Wetsuit (€60 Bargain in Fit Ireland shop in Stillorgan) as I am going to attempt a Triathlon or two earlier in the year as part of my prepp for the DCM. I have also entered the Naas 'Butchers Block' Duathlon, 3.5K Run, 20K Cycle 3.5K Run in 11 days time...gulp!
I did two of these last year and really enjoyed them, the cross training on the bike definitely improves my running too....so it is all good.
Going to target a HM soon too, probably Wicklow Gaol break in March with a friend that wants to do his first HM.

Anyone else planning a Duathlon or Triathlon or any other cross training to help with their running?

Dub13

On the marathon, now with a good bit of time having past and maybe with eyes looking to DCM15 is there anything you will do different this year if going again..?

I may do slightly less miles as I could have been training to much, another thing would be more MPM. I think I did something like 6 20/22 mile runs, I would may look to doing at least one of them very early on @ MP.

Pacing Mule

Dub13 wrote: »

On the marathon, now with a good bit of time having past and maybe with eyes looking to DCM15 is there anything you will do different this year if going again..?

I may do slightly less miles as I could have been training to much, another thing would be more MPM. I think I did something like 6 20/22 mile runs, I would may look to doing at least one of them very early on @ MP.

My two main learnings from last year:

1) Not to be too fixated on set goal times and to adjust to the weather / circumstances if necessary. The humidity last year creased a lot of people.

2) Run harder and faster on more steep downhills in training. The section from Castleknock down to Chapleizod was steep and shredded my quads completely. Considering that was my first time hitting a hill like that at race pace it was no great surprise it did damage.

Bungy Girl

Hi,
I'm not a DCM 2014 graduate (a DCM 2007 'survivor' but that's another story ), but I've been reading this thread with interest (almost caught up now!) and some of the real graduates suggested Clearlier might be able to offer me some advice in relation to going 'off plan' for races. I started the 5K Puzzle schedule recently after seeing some discussion about it on another thread. I'm on Week 2, doing 6 runs a week.

I started a log a couple of months ago here My background is couch potato (although very sporty up to about age 13/14). Lost a fair bit of weight in my early thirties (now the wrong side of 40 :rolleyes:) and took up running about 10 years ago, and also dabbled in triathlon for a few years. Had my daughter and since then have focussed on running (don't have time for anything else :rolleyes:). Oddly enough I've made more progress in the last couple of years than in all the years before. My week now looks like this:

Mon - Rest
Tues - 5K effort intervals
Weds - Strength & Conditioning (pilates, gym, Body Balance) + recovery run
Thurs - Short Hill sprints
Fri - Medium Run or Long Run (which one depends on if racing at the weekend) + Pilates, Body Balance
Sat - Medium Run or Race
Sun - Long Run

Total weekly miles currently 28 with a long run of 8-9 miles

PB's are 1 mile 6:18 (Apr. 14),Raheny, 5K 21:05 (Dec.14 Jingle Bells), 5 miles 35:06 (Raheny Jan. 15) 10K 44:43 (Jun.14 Dunshaughlin), 10 mile (Sept. 12 1:19 Eco2 run), Half M 1:57 (Jun.12 Strawberry Half), Marathon (let's just say I finshed it ).

Longer distances are not my forte and I have been avoiding them but I'm hoping to improve on that this year with an attempt at a half around November. Before then my goal races will be Tallaght AC 5K in May, Sportsworld 5, Dunshaughlin 10K, The Lakes 10K and hopefully Off the Laois Half in November.

Gosh that was a ramble, sorry if too much information for my question. I wanted to know where races should figure in the 5K puzzle (or any) training schedule. I love racing and during the winter would race almost every week over 2 miles XC or a parkrun. I know that's not something to be recommended but racing is one of the main reasons I love to run . I would usually replace a session with a race and wouldn't taper unless it's a key race. I really want to do a mile race on the track next Tuesday and was going to do that instead of the 5K effort session. Is this a good/bad/indifferent idea ? One of my goals for 2015 is to make it on to the Ten Round numbers table so I'd like to see where I am at the moment for the mile without any specific training. Also I have negotiated the evening off (a rare and wonderful thing) so don't want to waste it on a session if that makes sense ?

annapr

Dub13 wrote: »

On the marathon, now with a good bit of time having past and maybe with eyes looking to DCM15 is there anything you will do different this year if going again..?

I may do slightly less miles as I could have been training to much, another thing would be more MPM. I think I did something like 6 20/22 mile runs, I would may look to doing at least one of them very early on @ MP.

good question... for me, more longer runs (my basic Hal Higdon only had one 20 miler), speedwork/sessions, more mileage overall, slower slow runs and most important either send the kids to boarding school in september or live in a bubble to avoid all the back-to-school bugs....

adrian522

Dub13 wrote: »

On the marathon, now with a good bit of time having past and maybe with eyes looking to DCM15 is there anything you will do different this year if going again..?

I may do slightly less miles as I could have been training to much, another thing would be more MPM. I think I did something like 6 20/22 mile runs, I would may look to doing at least one of them very early on @ MP.

You wouldn't seriously do 20/22 miles at Marathon pace would you? Seems like it would take far too long to recover from to be effective in training.

For 2015 I'm looking onto P&D plans. Probably the 18 Week 55-70 Mile plan. It looks pretty good and I'm currently reading the book.

In what sense did you feel you did too much? Did you find you were tired all the time?

adrian522

Bungy Girl wrote: »

PB's are 1 mile 6:18 (Apr. 14),Raheny, 5K 21:05 (Dec.14 Jingle Bells), 5 miles 35:06 (Raheny Jan. 15) 10K 44:43 (Jun.14 Dunshaughlin), 10 mile (Sept. 12 1:19 Eco2 run), Half M 1:57 (Jun.12 Strawberry Half), Marathon (let's just say I finshed it ).

Youre PB's are errily similar to mine. From 5k up to 10 mile are all within 1 min of mine!

Bungy Girl wrote: »

I wanted to know where races should figure in the 5K puzzle (or any) training schedule.

Personally I like to race about once a month, it keeps me interested and doesn't interfere too much in ongoing training. If I'm racing more than this I feel I'm not getting the long runs in and I'm missing sessions when recovering from races.

Bungy Girl wrote: »

I really want to do a mile race on the track next Tuesday and was going to do that instead of the 5K effort session. Is this a good/bad/indifferent idea ?
One of my goals for 2015 is to make it on to the Ten Round numbers table so I'd like to see where I am at the moment for the mile without any specific training. Also I have negotiated the evening off (a rare and wonderful thing) so don't want to waste it on a session if that makes sense ?

Sounds fine to me, though obviously I'm pretty far from being an expert. I certainly wouldn't race and then do the session the next day but I'd assume a 1 mile race would take less recovery time than longer races.

Clearlier

Bungy Girl wrote: »

Hi,
I'm not a DCM 2014 graduate (a DCM 2007 'survivor' but that's another story ), but I've been reading this thread with interest (almost caught up now!) and some of the real graduates suggested Clearlier might be able to offer me some advice in relation to going 'off plan' for races. I started the 5K Puzzle schedule recently after seeing some discussion about it on another thread. I'm on Week 2, doing 6 runs a week.

I started a log a couple of months ago here My background is couch potato (although very sporty up to about age 13/14). Lost a fair bit of weight in my early thirties (now the wrong side of 40 :rolleyes:) and took up running about 10 years ago, and also dabbled in triathlon for a few years. Had my daughter and since then have focussed on running (don't have time for anything else :rolleyes:). Oddly enough I've made more progress in the last couple of years than in all the years before. My week now looks like this:

Mon - Rest
Tues - 5K effort intervals
Weds - Strength & Conditioning (pilates, gym, Body Balance) + recovery run
Thurs - Short Hill sprints
Fri - Medium Run or Long Run (which one depends on if racing at the weekend) + Pilates, Body Balance
Sat - Medium Run or Race
Sun - Long Run

Total weekly miles currently 28 with a long run of 8-9 miles

PB's are 1 mile 6:18 (Apr. 14),Raheny, 5K 21:05 (Dec.14 Jingle Bells), 5 miles 35:06 (Raheny Jan. 15) 10K 44:43 (Jun.14 Dunshaughlin), 10 mile (Sept. 12 1:19 Eco2 run), Half M 1:57 (Jun.12 Strawberry Half), Marathon (let's just say I finshed it ).

Longer distances are not my forte and I have been avoiding them but I'm hoping to improve on that this year with an attempt at a half around November. Before then my goal races will be Tallaght AC 5K in May, Sportsworld 5, Dunshaughlin 10K, The Lakes 10K and hopefully Off the Laois Half in November.

Gosh that was a ramble, sorry if too much information for my question. I wanted to know where races should figure in the 5K puzzle (or any) training schedule. I love racing and during the winter would race almost every week over 2 miles XC or a parkrun. I know that's not something to be recommended but racing is one of the main reasons I love to run . I would usually replace a session with a race and wouldn't taper unless it's a key race. I really want to do a mile race on the track next Tuesday and was going to do that instead of the 5K effort session. Is this a good/bad/indifferent idea ? One of my goals for 2015 is to make it on to the Ten Round numbers table so I'd like to see where I am at the moment for the mile without any specific training. Also I have negotiated the evening off (a rare and wonderful thing) so don't want to waste it on a session if that makes sense ?

Hi Bungy,

Everyone is welcome. You don't have to be a DCM 2014 graduate! The only caveat I'd make is that the plan that I posted earlier in the thread is oriented towards someone who has recently trained for and completed a marathon and is relatively lacking in speed. I would adjust it quite a bit for someone who has been doing lots of racing.

I'm not familiar with your training plan. Any chance that you could post a link? In respect of adapting plans to do races a common rule of thumb is not to do any hard sessions for as many days after a race as miles you ran e.g. just easy running for the 10 days after a 10 mile race. A race can be a substitute for a session although it's not always a very good substitute!

After an initial period when you get better just by doing any kind of running it's very difficult to race all the time and progress as a runner. You plateau at a certain level and if you want to get to the next level then you really need to take a period where you just focus on training and leave races to one side. A compromise can be to incorporate races into your training e.g. a 10k can be an ideal tempo run or a ten mile race with 2 easy miles and 8 miles at marathon pace. You have to look at what you want out of running and weigh up the pros and cons of each approach.

I'll take a look at the plan and post some broader thoughts on training probably early next week.

Firedance

I'm hoping to (finally) get started on the graduates plan from Monday, I'm planning to do 3 days of the easy runs, the Tuesday sessions and the Friday drill & hills. Looking forward to giving it a go now and working off a proper plan.

Clearlier I needed to move some of the days around due to commitments so I'm hoping I haven't messed to much with your plan. Here's what my week will look like, do you think this will be ok/enough?
Mondays easy (this will be 30 mins easy instead of 45-50 mins, as I'll have to do it during lunch hour)
Tuesday session as posted
Wednesday rest
Thursday 45-50 mins easy
Friday drills & hill sprints - my plan for this is: 1.7 mile warm up 'village loop', back home, drills & hills using my hallway & stairs, back out and do 1.7 mile village loop warm down (no hills close to me that aren't busy with walkers & joggers in the evenings)
SAT OR SUN 90-100 mins easy, depending on what else I need to do I will swim one day and do LSR the other but wont be running both Sat & Sun.

Bungy Girl

adrian522 wrote: »

Youre PB's are errily similar to mine. From 5k up to 10 mile are all within 1 min of mine!

I'm guessing your half and full marathon PBs are a whole lot better ! Just out of curiousity (and not because I'd be planning on using you as a pacer or anything like that at all) what time are you hoping to do in the K-Club ?

adrian522 wrote: »

Personally I like to race about once a month, it keeps me interested and doesn't interfere too much in ongoing training. If I'm racing more than this I feel I'm not getting the long runs in and I'm missing sessions when recovering from races.

That sounds sensible. I need to get me some sense.

adrian522 wrote: »

Sounds fine to me, though obviously I'm pretty far from being an expert. I certainly wouldn't race and then do the session the next day but I'd assume a 1 mile race would take less recovery time than longer races.

The plan would be a recovery run + strength & conditioning the following evening (Weds) and then depending on how I feel, probably drop the hill sprints on the Thursday in favour of an easy run.

Bungy Girl

Clearlier wrote: »

Hi Bungy,

Everyone is welcome. You don't have to be a DCM 2014 graduate! The only caveat I'd make is that the plan that I posted earlier in the thread is oriented towards someone who has recently trained for and completed a marathon and is relatively lacking in speed. I would adjust it quite a bit for someone who has been doing lots of racing.

I'm not familiar with your training plan. Any chance that you could post a link? In respect of adapting plans to do races a common rule of thumb is not to do any hard sessions for as many days after a race as miles you ran e.g. just easy running for the 10 days after a 10 mile race. A race can be a substitute for a session although it's not always a very good substitute!

After an initial period when you get better just by doing any kind of running it's very difficult to race all the time and progress as a runner. You plateau at a certain level and if you want to get to the next level then you really need to take a period where you just focus on training and leave races to one side. A compromise can be to incorporate races into your training e.g. a 10k can be an ideal tempo run or a ten mile race with 2 easy miles and 8 miles at marathon pace. You have to look at what you want out of running and weigh up the pros and cons of each approach.

I'll take a look at the plan and post some broader thoughts on training probably early next week.

Thanks a million Clearlier, that's great advice. Much appreciated. This is a link to the plan I'm following. The actual plan is at the end of the 2nd page.

I find I recover fairly quickly from any races up to about 5K but I know it's not a very sensible approach to be racing every weekend if I want to continue improving

Thanks again.

adrian522

Bungy Girl wrote: »

I'm guessing your half and full marathon PBs are a whole lot better ! Just out of curiousity (and not because I'd be planning on using you as a pacer or anything like that at all) what time are you hoping to do in the K-Club ?




That sounds sensible. I need to get me some sense.



The plan would be a recovery run + strength & conditioning the following evening (Weds) and then depending on how I feel, probably drop the hill sprints on the Thursday in favour of an easy run.

My PB's at half and full are 1:42 and 3:49.

For the K-Club I'll be hoping for 42:xx but if it's low 43 I'll be happy enough.

Bungy Girl

adrian522 wrote: »

My PB's at half and full are 1:42 and 3:49.

Nice times!

adrian522 wrote: »

For the K-Club I'll be hoping for 42:xx but if it's low 43 I'll be happy enough.

I'll be eating your dust so. Would be delighted with sub 44.

Dub13

adrian522 wrote: »

You wouldn't seriously do 20/22 miles at Marathon pace would you? Seems like it would take far too long to recover from to be effective in training.

Not a fully 20 mile MP but longer than the chunks in the middle most plans have. Also it would be before starting my plan for DCM15, I am thinking just before I go to Spain for a coupe of weeks so I can recover in the heat. I a not 100% on this just thinking of it.

adrian522 wrote: »

In what sense did you feel you did too much? Did you find you were tired all the time?

No I was not tired at all, I was probably a bit of a slave to the plan last year and would maybe just tone it down a little and stick in more rest days.

aquinn

I'm finally in!
First St Anne's Parkrun and HR test done.
That was hard, not helped by late arrival so panic and run down to the others. Would have given up if it wasn't for Annapr my own personal supporter. If she wasn't there I would have thrown myself into a bush and limped off home.
First mile slow as no warm up so legs sleepy. Here is what it looked like, also first race since DCM and back running 2 weeks.
1 9:07.2 1.00 9:07
2 7:54.4 1.00 7:54
3 7:43.1 1.00 7:43
4 :22.3 0.06 6:39


Avg HR: 171 bpm
Max HR: 198 bpm
Training Effect : .3

So grateful for all the marshal's and their hi-vis as if I didn't see them I would have also quit. It's done though.
What do I do now about HR?
Thanks for help.
OFFICIAL TIME: 24.23 DELIGHTED!

laura_ac3

aquinn wrote: »

I'm finally in!
First St Anne's Parkrun and HR test done.
That was hard, not helped by late arrival so panic and run down to the others. Would have given up if it wasn't for Annapr my own personal supporter. If she wasn't there I would have thrown myself into a bush and limped off home.
First mile slow as no warm up so legs sleepy. Here is what it looked like, also first race since DCM and back running 2 weeks.
1 9:07.2 1.00 9:07
2 7:54.4 1.00 7:54
3 7:43.1 1.00 7:43
4 :22.3 0.06 6:39


Avg HR: 171 bpm
Max HR: 198 bpm
Training Effect : .3

So grateful for all the marshal's and their hi-vis as if I didn't see them I would have also quit. It's done though.
What do I do now about HR?
Thanks for help.

I think Clearlier put up some helpful posts about the heart rate tests a few pages into the thread. On the phone so can't check details for you but basically if you're happy that number is your max to work with - ie not a random spike but came at the end of the race when you were pushing yourself for the finish - take a look at the tracker sheet linked to in my first post. There's a HR calculation page that works out your range for different runs based on the number you put in. if I recall correctly the bottom one is if you have a high (or low?) resting heart rate too. There was a post that explained that.

Clearlier

Firedance wrote: »

I'm hoping to (finally) get started on the graduates plan from Monday, I'm planning to do 3 days of the easy runs, the Tuesday sessions and the Friday drill & hills. Looking forward to giving it a go now and working off a proper plan.

Clearlier I needed to move some of the days around due to commitments so I'm hoping I haven't messed to much with your plan. Here's what my week will look like, do you think this will be ok/enough?
Mondays easy (this will be 30 mins easy instead of 45-50 mins, as I'll have to do it during lunch hour)
Tuesday session as posted
Wednesday rest
Thursday 45-50 mins easy
Friday drills & hill sprints - my plan for this is: 1.7 mile warm up 'village loop', back home, drills & hills using my hallway & stairs, back out and do 1.7 mile village loop warm down (no hills close to me that aren't busy with walkers & joggers in the evenings)
SAT OR SUN 90-100 mins easy, depending on what else I need to do I will swim one day and do LSR the other but wont be running both Sat & Sun.

That looks good as a structure Firedance but if I'm not mistaken you're just coming back from a layoff due to injury. Before jumping into the plan I'd advise taking it really easy the first week, just short runs and only at an easy effort. Gradually ramp up the volume over three weeks and then give the plan a shot.

BTW - you don't need to be doing the easy runs for the 45-50 mins I put in. Start out wherever you're comfortable and then increase in small increments. Given that you're coming back from an injury it's best to err on the side of caution.

Clearlier

Bungy Girl wrote: »

Thanks a million Clearlier, that's great advice. Much appreciated. This is a link to the plan I'm following. The actual plan is at the end of the 2nd page.

I find I recover fairly quickly from any races up to about 5K but I know it's not a very sensible approach to be racing every weekend if I want to continue improving

Thanks again.

Actually it turns out that I do know that schedule and funnily enough it's what the plan I wrote for this thread is based on! It's a pretty good plan although I am wary of the 5k pace running in it. Perhaps the most useful advice I could give is to suggest that you block off a period of 9 weeks at some point during which you take a break from racing. For the first three weeks just do easy running, then 6 weeks of focused base building where you're running at threshold pace or below (you can use a heart rate monitor to measure this - happy to give some guidance if you would like). Modified hill sprints could be incorporated into one of the easy runs.

You use this period of training to build a bigger base to your training pyramid so you'll be looking to increase the time that you spend running and if you wanted to increase the frequency of your runs this is the ideal point to do it.

Hope this helps a little. Don't hesitate to ask me any questions and if you would like a specific plan could I ask you to summarise the previous 4 - 6 weeks of training into a spreadsheet please to include time, distance and effort plus anything else you think relevant.

Firedance

Clearlier wrote: »

That looks good as a structure Firedance but if I'm not mistaken you're just coming back from a layoff due to injury. Before jumping into the plan I'd advise taking it really easy the first week, just short runs and only at an easy effort. Gradually ramp up the volume over three weeks and then give the plan a shot.

BTW - you don't need to be doing the easy runs for the 45-50 mins I put in. Start out wherever you're comfortable and then increase in small increments. Given that you're coming back from an injury it's best to err on the side of caution.

yes I am coming back from injury and have two weeks very easy running behind me now, fingers crossed all is going well. Great advice there on the times, I would be happier to keep them at the lower end of 40-45 and work up to the longer runs in the coming weeks. Likewise will try to keep them at the lower end of HR too.
Thanks a mil :-)

Bungy Girl

Clearlier wrote: »

Actually it turns out that I do know that schedule and funnily enough it's what the plan I wrote for this thread is based on! It's a pretty good plan although I am wary of the 5k pace running in it. Perhaps the most useful advice I could give is to suggest that you block off a period of 9 weeks at some point during which you take a break from racing. For the first three weeks just do easy running, then 6 weeks of focused base building where you're running at threshold pace or below (you can use a heart rate monitor to measure this - happy to give some guidance if you would like). Modified hill sprints could be incorporated into one of the easy runs.

You use this period of training to build a bigger base to your training pyramid so you'll be looking to increase the time that you spend running and if you wanted to increase the frequency of your runs this is the ideal point to do it.

Hope this helps a little. Don't hesitate to ask me any questions and if you would like a specific plan could I ask you to summarise the previous 4 - 6 weeks of training into a spreadsheet please to include time, distance and effort plus anything else you think relevant.

Thanks so much Clearlier, that's a very kind offer. I have to say the idea of not racing for 9 weeks fills me with :eek::eek: but I know I need to do things differently, and more sensibly!, to improve. I think the summer would be a good time for me to do this so I could come back to you then ?
Can I ask why you're a bit wary of the 5K pace stuff in the plan ? I'm doing the intervals by effort/feel based on what I think is my current (not goal) pace (no Garmin) and just curious as to why they may not be such a good idea. Cheers for all the info, I could keep you in here all day with questions so feel free to ignore me

Clearlier

Bungy Girl wrote: »

Thanks so much Clearlier, that's a very kind offer. I have to say the idea of not racing for 9 weeks fills me with :eek::eek: but I know I need to do things differently, and more sensibly!, to improve. I think the summer would be a good time for me to do this so I could come back to you then ?
Can I ask why you're a bit wary of the 5K pace stuff in the plan ? I'm doing the intervals by effort/feel based on what I think is my current (not goal) pace (no Garmin) and just curious as to why they may not be such a good idea. Cheers for all the info, I could keep you in here all day with questions so feel free to ignore me

You're welcome Bungy. Notwithstanding what I said above if racing is the reason that you do the sport and the cost of not racing is greater than the benefit of performing at a higher level then it would be entirely rational for you to just keep racing. My thoughts are largely driven by thoughts on what improves performance - there's no reason that you have to be thinking that way too!

There is one halfway house option for racing during the 6 week period but it requires a lot of discipline and it's to run races as part of your training e.g. if you have a 5 mile tempo due in your plan you could enter a 10k, run the first mile or so at an easy effort and run the last 5 miles at tempo effort. If you go down this route I strongly recommend using a heart rate monitor to gauge effort. It can be hard to let people go in a race when you know that you're capable of keeping with them - the heart rate monitor provides a degree of objectivity not available when racing by feel.

Bungy Girl

Clearlier wrote: »

You're welcome Bungy. Notwithstanding what I said above if racing is the reason that you do the sport and the cost of not racing is greater than the benefit of performing at a higher level then it would be entirely rational for you to just keep racing. My thoughts are largely driven by thoughts on what improves performance - there's no reason that you have to be thinking that way too!

Not at all. Definitely want to improve and I realise I need a different approach. Just a head vs. heart thing.

Clearlier wrote: »

There is one halfway house option for racing during the 6 week period but it requires a lot of discipline and it's to run races as part of your training e.g. if you have a 5 mile tempo due in your plan you could enter a 10k, run the first mile or so at an easy effort and run the last 5 miles at tempo effort. If you go down this route I strongly recommend using a heart rate monitor to gauge effort. It can be hard to let people go in a race when you know that you're capable of keeping with them - the heart rate monitor provides a degree of objectivity not available when racing by feel.

No, that would drive me crazy :pac::pac: I'd need to stay away from races - all or nothing! Jeez I sound like a junkie :rolleyes:

I must dig out and dust off my HRM. I stopped using it a couple of years ago because it used to drive me crazy with ludicrous readings.

annapr

I'm finally getting back to the Clearlier plan... signed up for the Cork HM on June 1st, so thinking of trying the Hal Higdon Intermediate 12-week HM plan. That would start in a couple of weeks so in the meantime I'm going to do a few weeks of the Clearlier plan to set the base.

If anyone has better suggestions to get me to June 1st, I'm all ears!

Did the first Tuesday session today... 5*2min @5k pace, with 3 min recovery -- on a hilly 8k loop in Donegal, it felt tough but very enjoyable.

Firedance

annapr wrote: »

I'm finally getting back to the Clearlier plan... signed up for the Cork HM on June 1st, so thinking of trying the Hal Higdon Intermediate 12-week HM plan. That would start in a couple of weeks so in the meantime I'm going to do a few weeks of the Clearlier plan to set the base.

If anyone has better suggestions to get me to June 1st, I'm all ears!

Did the first Tuesday session today... 5*2min @5k pace, with 3 min recovery -- on a hilly 8k loop in Donegal, it felt tough but very enjoyable.

snap! I think aquinn was starting this week too, likewise I loved that 5*2min @5k pace, hard going but exhilarating!