Turning a 1974 Lada Into a 2015 Lamborghini

Laois_Man

hillsiderunner wrote: »

Sounds *lovely*. Wouldn't be convinced though on my side, sub-45mins is a big deal and I don't have a lot of speed. But would be nice to get below 47:30

I can in no way be considered speedy either. Was always nearly last at school sports day - The physiological scars are still there . Get yourself to 47:30 anyways. Baby steps. You definitely have a sub 45 in you after that I think

Laois_Man

Tuesday March 17th

4.25 miles easy at 9:45 pace

I really must have pushed myself hard at Saturdays race coz my legs were in ribbons when I got up on Sunday morning. I had actually had notions of taking on the Streets of Portlaoise 5K today but no way given how the legs have felt. Kinda feel normal again now - tiny bit stiff still. Nice easy run to make sure everything is in nice working order before tomorrow night's session.

Laois_Man

Wednesday March 18th

Club session of 5 x 1,000m :eek:

Warm up

600m warm up with strides

Km1: 4:20,
Km2: 4:22,
Km3: 4:26,
Km4: 4:30,
Km5: 4:20.

Cool down

I'm not really happy with this. I was further back the field than I usually would be and I should have done each of these reps at least 10 seconds faster. The strength and pace just wasn't there tonight. I think the legs might still be a bit tired from Saturdays race but it might have more to do with the poor diet on St. Patrick's Day yesterday and again today when work ordered in Domino's pizza at lunch time. I only had 3 slices - but I knew I shouldn't have at all! And maybe that can of diet coke was worse than the pizza! There is always a very obvious direct correlation between my running form my diet.

For the rest of the week; easy run tomorrow night, exercise bike on Friday and an LSR of around 11 miles on Saturday morning.

I found a small 5K race happening near where I'll be in the US in early May - but it's at 8:00am the morning after I land and it's not properly chip timed. Might give it a go for the craic all the same. If I am awake and bored (seeing as it'll be 2:00pm by my body clock). Will keep looking for something better.

Laois_Man

Thursday March 19th

5.3 miles "easy" at 10:07 pace

Still not feeling very strong. This felt a lot harder than 10:07 pace should have felt. I seem to me taking an age to recover from Saturday's race. Then again, last nights session was fairly tough too.

Complete rest tomorrow is needed I think.

Laois_Man

Saturday March 21st

13.11 miles in 1:54:14 (8:43 pace)

I FINALLY feel like I am recovered from last weekend's race!

I went out with the intention of doing about 11½ miles but I found myself in a group that were doing the half-marathon distance. I felt good so decided to stay with them.

5 weeks to go to Wexford HM so it's great to get the distance into the head. It's an unofficial HM PB for me too. But then again, the one and only HM race I have ever done was such a mess, I don't really consider myself to have done a HM yet at all.

Lovely weather for a long run too. 10° or so is a lovely temp. But the head on breeze for the last 4 miles or so this morning was deceptively stiff.

Loved it!

Laois_Man

Monday March 23rd

5.26 Miles at 9:04 pace

This was supposed to be a very easy run, and it was for the first mile. Then I got swallowed up by a group of my clubmates who were out on a tempo run....and shur I put the foot down and stayed with them for nearly 3 miles at sub 8 minute pace until we got to the clubhouse - then I slowed it down again as I continued on home.

I don't normally have time to get to the clubhouse for that run on a Monday evening but I was home early this evening. I think maybe the running Gods are trying to tell me I should be working harder on my Monday night runs.

Laois_Man

Wednesday March 25th

Club Session: 4x(300m + 400m) with 90 seconds recovery

In the very cold wind and rain, this was a right misery fest. Not mainly because of the weather, but mainly because I had to bail just after half way after I felt a pull in my right groin

The repeats I lasted for:

First 300m: 1:05,
First 400m: 1:30,

Second 300m: 1:02,
Second 400m: 1:32 (the last 100m or so of this was when I started to feel something go wrong and slowed down a lot)

Third 300m: Bailed after about 50m to avoid further damage.

Got home, iced the area, but I am feeling it a bit. I am hoping it will be OK tomorrow evening - hoping to test it out on a very easy run. Never had a pain there before so this is a new one for me!

I've also been thinking a good bit about DCM 2015 the last couple of weeks. I am undecided on whether to go for it or not but at the moment, I am leaning towards not! I would really like to knock out some very good PBs on 5K, 10K, FD10 and HM this year. But I am not going to decide for a while. Plans don't start for another 3 months and even at that, I'd hope to be advanced enough to slot into a decent plan if I decided well into the Summer to have a shot at DCM! I am certainly not going to devote a huge chunk of the year all to one race like I did last year - it's too gut-wrenching when you drop the basket that you've put all your eggs in to.

Anyway, for now, the only thing I am worried about is this groin.

Laois_Man

Saturday March 28th

6.6 Miles at 9:39 Pace

I had intended to run about 14 miles this morning but had to cut it short.

After having to bail in Wednesday nights speed session, I rested since and this morning I felt OK and decided to go for the long run and see what happened. I was OK for the first 2-3 miles and then I felt it again. Slowed down (was doing 8:34 pace at that time) and took a shortest route back to the clubhouse at 10:00 minute pace and then 11:00 minute pace.

There was a student physio getting some work experience in the clubhouse when I got back and I had him look at it. He was pretty good - worked on me for a good while, taped me up a bit and showed me some stretches. Anyway, it's a strain of the right adductor major. Rest needed for now but he reckons I'll feel a big difference in 24 hours. I'm not too concerned - but I do have to approach the coming week with care and swerve speed work.

Laois_Man

Thursday April 2nd

3 Miles

Having attempted to come back from my groin strain last Saturday after only 2½ days rest, I figured I needed double that time this time. So tonight was the test run.

I started with a warm up mile of 10:08.
Then the main test of a fairly fast mile of 7:48.
Then slowed down to at 9:36.

I was very tempted to stay going but resisted the urge for fear I might feel something when I stopped.

So far so good though.

I am going to count the last week as a small blip – And I had a bad cough anyway so maybe it’s just as well I wasn’t trying to run.

Ososlo

Sensible going to ease up LM. Take it handy for a while.

Laois_Man

Ososlo wrote: »

Sensible going to ease up LM. Take it handy for a while.

Yeah I'd really love to get back to the 14 mile long runs on Saturday - especially since I won't be able to do one the following Saturday with the club. And also with Wexford HM only 3 weeks away.

But something is telling me not to.

I've never been totally keen on Wexford anyway and there'll be loads of other HMs.

Just spotted a local 5K/10K race on Saturday morning which is a compromise to think about. I haven't run a 5K race in yonks.

Probably wouldn't do myself justice given the rustiness caused by the last week tho.

Might still do Wexford.

Laois_Man

Saturday April 4th

14 Miles at 8:44 pace

So much for taking it easy. :rolleyes:

I enjoyed this run but it was the first one in a good 6 months where I had absolutely nothing left at the end. The average pace was around 8:31 until mile 13 which went over 9 minutes and then mile 14 almost hit 10:30. Well and truly feckin knackered.

Today’s route meant I encountered that hill I gave out about 3 weeks ago, but this time after about 10½ miles. It's a pure bastard, I didn't walk any of it but it absolutely killed me and I never got going again after it. My strength on hills big does need improvement.

I really enjoyed most of this but I am a bit disappointed with how it ended – partly blaming that big Easter egg I ate between Thursday night and yesterday. :mad:

For various reasons, the LSR 2 weeks from today is the only LSR I can do for the next 7 weeks on a Saturday morning. So I might me back to doing these slogs on a Friday night my own for a while. Not looking forward to that!

beertons

Well done, that's a great run.

Ososlo

beertons wrote: »

Well done, that's a great run.

Plus one. You're flying it Laois Man!!! All coming together nicely for you this year!

Laois_Man

beertons wrote: »

Well done, that's a great run.

Yeah I suppose, bigger picture, I am doing alright. I was able to finish the 13.1 miles I did 2 weeks ago alot stronger than this (without that hill) so I'm not hugely concerned in terms of the upcoming HM and breaking 1:50 - I even have wild notions of MAYBE staying with the 1:45 pacers all the way - I'd be a bit more confident if I was doing Limerick instead of Wexford but I can't. But I am a million miles away from being able to hold 8:30 pace for a full marathom though. Mightn't attempt one this year anyway

Ososlo wrote: »

Plus one. You're flying it Laois Man!!! All coming together nicely for you this year!

Shhhhhh. Say nothin'

Laois_Man

Monday April 6th

5 miles at 8:51 pace

Nice and slow starting off. Gradually worked up to 8:30 pace, held it for 15 minutes, and then gradually slowed back down again.

How hot is it out there? about 14 degrees? It's several months since I ran in that kind of temperature and I don't really enjoy it - gimme a good hard frost any day for running. How the heck am I gonna manage when my running for the first half of May is gonna be in about 30 degrees in Florida? That's a horrible dirty job but somebody's got to do it!

hillsiderunner

Laois_Man wrote: »

Monday April 6th
How hot is it out there? about 14 degrees? It's several months since I ran in that kind of temperature and I don't really enjoy it - gimme a good hard frost any day for running. How the heck am I gonna manage when my running for the first half of May is gonna be in about 30 degrees in Florida? That's a horrible dirty job but somebody's got to do it!

Great warm-weather training coming your way then... I felt the heat this morning myself. Not hot in any real sense of the world, but compared to training temperatures these past months it was a bit warm!

Laois_Man

hillsiderunner wrote: »

Great warm-weather training coming your way then... I felt the heat this morning myself. Not hot in any real sense of the world, but compared to training temperatures these past months it was a bit warm!

Yeah I've been following your log and I read your race report from today. Very well done. Sounds like you would've managed a sub 85 minute on another day.

Hoping I'll be able to get some quality training done in Florida alright. But the sudden increase in temps could be a big issue. Plus I am actually there for work for the first few days and those will be very long work days so not sure how it'll work out time wise. Short runs frequently might be a strategy to go with at least in the beginning to acclimatise.

Any thoughts on doing the big 'M' anywhere?

hillsiderunner

Laois_Man wrote: »

Yeah I've been following your log and I read your race report from today. Very well done. Sounds like you would've managed a sub 85 minute on another day.

Thanks ... I honestly think I would have as heat is always a factor for me. Even the sub-85 is a bit off last summer's fitness but I'll get there.

Laois_Man wrote: »

Hoping I'll be able to get some quality training done in Florida alright. But the sudden increase in temps could be a big issue. Plus I am actually there for work for the first few days and those will be very long work days so not sure how it'll work out time wise.

Any thoughts on doing the big 'M' anywhere?

Dammit (on the work hours) .

On the "M" - oh yes! I am determined to do DCM 2015 and the aim is to keep weekly mileage up around 30-35miles for the next two-and-half months before starting an 18-week plan. And to "listen to my body" like an obsessive so there are no injury tales on the way to the start line ....

Laois_Man

hillsiderunner wrote: »

On the "M" - oh yes! I am determined to do DCM 2015 and the aim is to keep weekly mileage up around 30-35miles for the next two-and-half months before starting an 18-week plan. And to "listen to my body" like an obsessive so there are no injury tales on the way to the start line ....

I remembered you mentioning Paris but assumed that was out at this stage alright!

Trouble is, when you listen to the bod, and the bod suddenly tells ya that you need to rest it for 3 weeks, but it's August, when a 3 week rest would ruin your whole plan, meaning you end up just tellin the bod to shuddup naggin ya, and you struggle on, and get worse, and on Marathon day you get home in nearly 5 hours! :mad:

I've lived it!

But shur...you'll be grand tho!

hillsiderunner

Laois_Man wrote: »

I remembered you mentioning Paris but assumed that was out at this stage alright!

Trouble is, when you listen to the bod, and the bod suddenly tells ya that you need to rest it for 3 weeks, but it's August, when a 3 week rest would ruin your whole plan, meaning you end up just tellin the bod to shuddup naggin ya, and you struggle on, and get worse, and on Marathon day you get home in nearly 5 hours! :mad:

I've lived it!

But shur...you'll be grand tho!

... I know what you mean - I did my 22.5miler on a sore leg because it was the last long run before DCM 2014 ... and look what happened.

Will start early - going to bring up the long run to 15 miles before I even start the 18-week plan.... But I take your point! Hope I've learnt my lesson now.

Laois_Man

Wednesday April 8th

5 miles at 8:56 pace

My speed session with the club fell through tonight. Went out and did this on my own. Miles 2 and 4 at sub 8 minute pace, the others easy. Felt a bit of a slog.

Had intended to run 7 miles but the top of my foot is a bit sore so cut it shorter - uncomfortable sore. Not for any good reason. Just out of nowhere. :rolleyes:

Laois_Man

Friday April 10th

15 Miles at 8:44 pace

I can't do the long run with the club in the morning so I went out and did it on my own tonight. I was apprehensive because it's so much more difficult to do these long runs alone and keep the pace up. So I went out determined to prove to myself that I can do that pace by myself. And low and behold, I ended up with the exact same average pace as I did on last Saturday morning's 14 miles with the club. I was probably a little too determined starting off though cos I did the first 4 miles or so well below 8:30 pace and was suffering a bit over the last 2 miles at 9:30 pace, probably because of the over enthusiastic start. But still felt better at the end of 15 miles tonight than I did at the end of 14 miles last weekend. Not running up 4u(ker hill might have had something to do with that (note to self - will have to do some midweek training runs up and down that hill )

Happy to have done that run....it was so so tough though!

Not sure if I can do the Wexford HM now. Work has me traveling to Florida on May 2nd but on Wednesday I found out I might have to go to Portland a week before that - which fecks up my Wexford HM if it happens. I don't mind too much though. Not that pushed about Wexford and the only reason I am doing it is coz there's no other choice around then.

foot is still a little sore. A sort of sensation as if I dropped something heavy on it....weird!

Laois_Man

Monday April 13th

5 miles easy at 9:17 pace

Meant to do this run yesterday but didn't get the time to. Bit of a slog - I still seem to need more time than most to recover from Long runs. Gonna stick with 15 mile long runs most weeks for at least the next 2 months or so before considering going any longer.

Had an awful weekend sleep wise so I know how some other loggers around here feel.

Laois_Man

Wednesday April 15th

Total: 5.18 miles

Club speed session

Warm up

1,400m in 6:35 (7:43 pace)
1,200m in 6:23 (8:34 pace)
1,400m in 6:40 (7:40 pace)
600m in 3:07 (8:22 pace)

Warm down

This evening's run was laps of a wooded area for something different

Terrible run.

Hated it.

Pace was all over the place

Got a stitch which I never get

Didn't like the running surface or the little obstacles that take the pace out of ya


The fact that it was my first proper speed session with the club in 4 weeks didn't help!

And the foot is quite sore now

Been thinking about what could have caused my foot pain and the only thing I can fathom is that I twisted it a bit or something with the rope when I was doing AIS over Easter weekend (Yeah I still do AIS even though I rarely ever mention it). It seems to feel worse after AIS so maybe I'll stop it for a while on that side at least.

Laois_Man

Thursday April 16th

Assortment of training

Brilliant days training today in a whole array of athletics disciplines.

Race practice
Long jump
Shot Putt
High jump
Sprint work
Hurdles
Discus
Pole vault
And my favorite....Javelin

I even made a video of it all...

hillsiderunner

Laois_Man wrote: »

Thursday April 16th

Assortment of training

Brilliant days training today in a whole array of athletics disciplines.

Race practice
Long jump
Shot Putt
High jump
Sprint work
Hurdles
Discus
Pole vault
And my favorite....Javelin

I even made a video of it all...

Did you go early to Florida then? ... seem to be doing some interesting sessions over there





Hope you're not sitting in front of the computer with your foot raised surfing youtube - is it feeling ok?

Laois_Man

hillsiderunner wrote: »

Did you go early to Florida then? ... seem to be doing some interesting sessions over there

Hope you're not sitting in front of the computer with your foot raised surfing youtube - is it feeling ok?

Who needs Florida, I'm in Monte Carlow! :rolleyes:

Foot is still the same, thanks for asking. It was actually sorer than usual last night coz I was gardening at home and doin a lot of getting up and down on the hunkers which seemed to annoy it. But today it's back to how it was before

I'll try a long run in the morning and see how it feels on Sunday and then decide whether or not to sign up for the Wexford half. Might need to rest coz I do want to do a good bit of running in Florida if I can. There's another HM in Enniscorty on June 7th which happens to be the anniversary of when I got executed....I mean married there ...and another in Kildare town on June 21st so I have my eye on one of those as a replacement.....but I have my eye on Dunshaughlin 10K on June 20th as well.....decisions decisions.

Mind the cough!

hillsiderunner

Well glad to know that for once the niggle seems just to be a niggle.

Maybe an anniversary getaway in Enniscorthy? (that's a lovely/cruel half-marathon btw, have done it a few times in the past but will be at a hen party this year instead!).

Hope that Laois_Running_Widow is not in the habit of musing through A/R whenever she has a moment ...

Laois_Man

hillsiderunner wrote: »

Well glad to know that for once the niggle seems just to be a niggle.

Maybe an anniversary getaway in Enniscorthy? (that's a lovely/cruel half-marathon btw, have done it a few times in the past but will be at a hen party this year instead!).

Hope that Laois_Running_Widow is not in the habit of musing through A/R whenever she has a moment ...

Yeah it may be just a niggle but it's still an interference and I am still worried about it getting bad and maybe I need to bite the bullet and rest a bit. I already find myself running less than I want to be because of it. I'll see how tomorrow goes!

The strawberry HM - never done it but I know the routes around Enniscorthy are tough

So I'm definitely leaning towards the Kildare Thoroughbred HM - unless I end up doing Wexford in which case I'll probably do the Dunshaughlin 10K the day before Kildare instead.

I've had little luck too in finding a decent race in Orlando while I'm there. :mad: I might have better luck of finding one in Portland when I know the dates I'll be there!

Mrs. Laois Man has been known to snoop in for a nose.....hi dear! Enniscorthy definitely wouldn't be considered a getaway in our house, would it dear !