Back to the Future

RedRunner

4/4- Easy run 6.84miles in 65:48

5/4 - Rested.

6/4 - Ran home from work. Nice following wind so took advantage and made this a progression run of sorts progress from easy to steady to verging on tempo. Went for this in favour of the club race tonight which was a 2.8 mile loop in Raheny. Saving the legs for GIR 10km on Sunday.

7.08 miles in 60:23

Wednesday Weigh-in

Starting Weight : 16 St 0lbs

Week 7 Weight : 15st 2lbs

Weight Loss this week : 1lb
Total weight Loss : 12lbs

7/4 - Plan is for Core and Strength work tonight.

Plan for rest of week in easy run to work tomorrow with cycle home, rest Saturday and GIR 10km run on Sunday.

I'm thinking based on recent BHAA 4 mile time a good target is sub 47 mins. Is that too soft or about right? Welcome any opinions on this based on recent training and performances.

In other news I've signed up again for lunchtime pilates for next 6 weeks once a week from next week.

Bungy Girl

Thumbs up on the Pilates !

I'd say 47 mins might be a little soft based on the 4 miler but then again the GIR is a tough enough course. Probably sensible to start at 47 pace and push on at half way if you're feeling good. Best of luck with it!

RedRunner

Bungy Girl wrote: »

Thumbs up on the Pilates !

I'd say 47 mins might be a little soft based on the 4 miler but then again the GIR is a tough enough course. Probably sensible to start at 47 pace and push on at half way if you're feeling good. Best of luck with it!

Thanks. Yes I was taking into consideration the hilly second half and not really knowing if I can maintain pace for 10k on current fitness levels.

Kennyg71

Best luck with race Sunday R, will be good tester on tough enough course.

RedRunner

Kennyg71 wrote: »

Best luck with race Sunday R, will be good tester on tough enough course.

Thanks G. Que sera sera but I'm looking forward to it.

FBOT01

RedRunner wrote: »

Thanks. Yes I was taking into consideration the hilly second half and not really knowing if I can maintain pace for 10k on current fitness levels.

You won't know til you try....sub 45 it is so

Have a good one, R. ENJOY!!!

RedRunner

46:12 unofficial time today...tough going but I hit my target so happy with that.

Ososlo

RedRunner wrote: »

46:12 unofficial time today...tough going but I hit my target so happy with that.

Brilliant

Kennyg71

Well done R, great result today, well inside target, some wind out today as well.

Bungy Girl

RedRunner wrote: »

46:12 unofficial time today...tough going but I hit my target so happy with that.

Nicely done. Heard the last mile was horrendous with the hills and wind.

FBOT01

Well done, R.

Pacing Mule

Great time on a tough course R.

annapr

Well done, R, you are really back in form!

RedRunner

Ososlo wrote: »

Brilliant

Thanks A. Get well soon !

Kennyg71 wrote: »

Well done R, great result today, well inside target, some wind out today as well.

Happy out G. Progress.

Bungy Girl wrote: »

Nicely done. Heard the last mile was horrendous with the hills and wind.

It was killer. Even the last km was full into a headwind so that was tough.

FBOT01 wrote: »

Well done, R.

Thanks M. no sandbagging here!:)

Pacing Mule wrote: »

Great time on a tough course R.

Cheers P. Note to self...catch up on your log.

annapr wrote: »

Well done, R, you are really back in form!

Thanks Anna. I'm not where I want to be but happy with the progress. Al lot done , more to do, you could say.

Will try and cobble some kind of report later . Official time was 46:11.

RedRunner

8/4 - As planned. Easy run to work 6.55 miles in 58:46. Nothing to report.

9/4 - Rested

10/4 - Great Ireland Run 10km - 46:11 Chip Time

The target going into this was sub 47 mins. I based that on my performance at BHAA 4 mile, recognition of a toughish second half of course, and acceptance of my training completed thus far this year. I thought 47 was a fair but challenging target for me at this stage so was pretty happy with the end result.

My mile splits tell the tale in terms of my endurance capability at the moment;

6:58,7:13,7:05,7:22,7:50,8:01,(6:46)

I had organised a number of people from work to do this and we entered the inaugural business challenge for a bit of extra spice to see how we'd do. As it turned out , not too bad at all.

Anyway, the race started and I was conscious of not going off too fast and soon found a comfortable rhythm but my pace was too hot for my liking so I dialled it back a bit between mile 1 and mile 2 and got in with a group of lads of my age bracket or older from a club that was Blue/White vested. not sure which club, may have been Waterford lads. They seem to be going at a pace I could handle and we swapped work loads at the front for a few miles after this. They eventually went ahead of me towards the end as their endurance levels were better but they were a useful group to me in the early part of the race.

The wind was factor in the first half as we came off chesterfield and headed for North road. It's not easy for me to find someone to tuck in behind because of my height so just had to use the group as best as possible to shelter behind. I was feeling pretty comfortable all the way down to bottom of Khyber and took a little drink at the water station there before tackling the hill then at the magazine fort. It wasn't too bad but it took a bit out of me . used the down slopes of S bends then to recover but from 7k onwards I was beginning to tire and at one point I was just telling myself to try and stay under 8min pace which tells you where my head was at. I just wanted it to be over and wasn't particularly enjoying it at that juncture. The long drag upwards from 8km then was tough and I was happy to see the 9km marker but that happiness was soon shattered when I discovered the wall of wind we had to battle against to the finish. The finishing gantry was a long way down too so just kept telling myself that every step I took was a step closer to the finish, obvious I know but you tell yourself anything at that stage in a race if it helps. I managed to maintain a decent pace and finish reasonably strong, not as strong as I normally would but delighted to get in under my target time in the end.

Between w/u and c/d 9.65miles for the day bring weekly total to 30 miles


Two other pieces of great news from the day;

1. The XL t-shirt actually feels big on me
2. I was part of mens team that won the Business Challenge. yes that's right First place, Championes, Top of pile, numero uno, the Winners!:D:D. Thrilled with that. And one of other teams finished third in the Mixed team category. Woohoo.

adrian522

Well done on toughing it out to hit your target!

HelenAnne

Well done in GIR and well done last night!

Kennyg71

Congrats on team win, and your good run on what sounds like tough day
for running, don't much fancy that course at best of times.

RedRunner

11/4- Rest day from running. Cycle commute both ways. I'm finding the cycling to/from work a great means for active recovery these days.

12/4 - Cycle commute again. The hamstring was a little niggly and tight from Sunday so erred on side of caution and didn't run. A friend then told me that she saw in local newsletter that I was in contention for podium place in my division of club road race league, the last leg of which was on the next day so I was in a bit of a conundrum. I was concerned if I ran , my hamstring might not hold up to the stress and also I had to run to reached the quota of races for my scores to count. (You need to run 8/11 to count for league). So I iced and stretch all night to try and get it right for next day.

13/4 - Raheny Shamrock Open Mile

Hamstring felt much better this morning so felt a little more comfortable about racing tonight and promised myself if I got through tonight I'd give myself an easy rest of week to give the body ample time to recover.

Had a light enough lunch as I did my first of 6 Pilates classes today. Good work out. Back was a little sore after but that is to be expected and hopefully will improve over next while. Didn't eat again until I got home and two hours before race had a banana and two slices of toast.

There were a lot more out for this race as its the Open mile and last chance for some club athletes to stake a claim for a place on the road relay team for the National Road Relay on Sunday. I got a decent warm up in and was feeling ok at the start, just praying my hamstring would hold up. I knew who I had to beat for league honours and was happy that I could do it as my shorter distance speed is better. We set off and I just did my usual thing of not panicking in the first straight and gradually pick up momentum and start passing those who went off too quick just before turning for the second long stretch. I like this stretch because it is slightly downhill and I just tend to let my long stride do the work and I find myself always catching up on people here. Starting picking off a few people and I knew I was in good shape .It was just a case of when I kick for home. I followed my usual plan and just held it steady until the corner and then started to ramp it up. Its a long run in to finish and at this stage it's eyeballs out, vision is blurred and you are just concentrating on keeping the effort levels to a max as you edge closer to the finish line. Spotted HelenAnne ahead of me so this was a great target for me to chase and was getting closer to her as I got closer to the finish. Kept it going to the line and nobody got by me, including the young buck in the Raheny vest that I passed just before the last corner.(I was quite pleased about that, being more mature in years now).

Crossed the line in 6:04 to equal my PB and three seconds faster than the previous mile race a couple of weeks ago. The elusive 6 minute barrier looms ever closer. I'm nearly sorry the league is over now as I might not get another opportunity for another while to try break 6 minutes.

As it turned out the last three mile race performances stood to me in the league and a late charge catapulted me to the top of division 3 to take the honours. Woohoo, my first ever club prize and first time I've actually won anything sport wise on my own in a long long time.

It's been a great few days!

So I'll take it easy now for rest of week and next week it's time to take things to the next level. I feel I've had a nice block of consistent running with edging up my weekly mileage gradually. Time now to put a plan together and start setting out some serious targets.

HelenAnne

Well done in GIR and well done last night!

RedRunner

adrian522 wrote: »

Well done on toughing it out to hit your target!

Thanks Adrian. Hope you get back to your best soon.

HelenAnne wrote: »

Well done in GIR and well done last night!

Thanks H. Well done you too and congrats for Sunday. I'm sure you'll do yourself and the Club proud!

Kennyg71 wrote: »

Congrats on team win, and your good run on what sounds like tough day
for running, don't much fancy that course at best of times.

Cheers G. You're doing some good work yourself.

Dubgal72

HelenAnne wrote: »

Well done in GIR and well done last night!

Yes, well done R, winning, winning, winning :cool: Do be careful tho and listen to the bod.

And flying yourself Helen! The enforced rest has done you absolutely no harm. Running Sunday?

RedRunner

Forgot to add this update...


Wednesday Weigh-in

Starting Weight : 16 St 0lbs

Week 8 Weight : 15st 1lbs

Weight Loss this week : 1lb
Total weight Loss : 13lbs

HelenAnne

Dubgal72 wrote: »

Yes, well done R, winning, winning, winning :cool: Do be careful tho and listen to the bod.

And flying yourself Helen! The enforced rest has done you absolutely no harm. Running Sunday?

To my surprise, I am running Sunday! 3rd leg. I know you are. Do you know which leg?

And thanks for the congratulations, RR.

HelenAnne

RedRunner wrote: »

Thanks Adrian. Hope you get back to your best soon.



Thanks H. Well done you too and congrats for Sunday. I'm sure you'll do yourself and the Club proud!



Cheers G. You're doing some good work yourself.

I can only try! Thanks!

Bungy Girl

Wow, super stuff. The sub 6 is tantalisingly close. The Irish Runner are planning a series of paced miles during the summer in the Phoenix Park so as soon as they fix the dates I'll post them up. Otherwise BHAA may include a mile on the grass track in June. Can't think of any other opportunities coming up but the guys at Alsaa may do something during the summer months too.

RedRunner

Bungy Girl wrote: »

Wow, super stuff. The sub 6 is tantalisingly close. The Irish Runner are planning a series of paced miles during the summer in the Phoenix Park so as soon as they fix the dates I'll post them up. Otherwise BHAA may include a mile on the grass track in June. Can't think of any other opportunities coming up but the guys at Alsaa may do something during the summer months too.

Thanks BG. Will keep an eye out for those.

Wubble Wubble

Great work R. Only a matter of time before you get the sub 6. I have my eye on those mile races as well.

RedRunner

Wubble Wubble wrote: »

Great work R. Only a matter of time before you get the sub 6. I have my eye on those mile races as well.

Thanks. How did you get on in your HM?

Wubble Wubble

Extremely tough going in gale force winds, rain and hailstones, to add to the many climbs to be negotiated on a net uphill course. 1:40:40 was as good as I could have hoped for on the day. I've a far more detailed account in the Race Reports if you're interested and/or have considerable time to spare. Back to the bread and butter of Porterstown Parkrun tomorrow!