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Running in the Real World
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Docklands postscript... one other point to note is that I started sneezing on Thursday evening and didnt stop for about 24 hours, nose running like a tap all day Friday... nothing major, think it was probably hay fever... and not looking for an excuse to explain those 4 seconds...
...then again, maybe I'm allergic to 5k's
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Week of July 10
Not enough to report this week.
Mon, Tues.... rest. Can't remember what my excuse was for Tuesday. Oh yeah, had to take the girls out to dinner as part of the week of seeing the youngest one off to NZ (she's going for a year).
Weds, 12 July: Easy
8.5K @ 6:12; 5.2 mi @ 9:59
Paraded in my sash out the seafront and checked out the Fairview parkrun loop on the way back.
Thursday, nada. Long day at work and tired after hosting a NZ goodbye get together on Weds. Skipped goodbye night 3 which was for 'the young people'
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Friday, 14... headed out in the morning before work but a dodgy tummy made me turn for home after about a km :eek:. Thought I might try again after work but still didn't feel great so another rest day
Saturday 15: 6 miles easy
9.8K @ 6:29; 6 mi @ 10:26
Volunteered at Fairview parkrun day one on Saturday morning, great to see a big crowd there and lots of support from other parkruns... I felt an irrational pride about it because it's our local park and often maligned. The park looked great, the atmosphere was good and fair play to the event director who decided to do something for the community by starting a parkrun. Delighted that it went well.
Got out in the afternoon 6 'easy' miles, warm on the way out, crossed the wooden bridge and turned back into what felt like an almighty gale force wind. Stupid of me, I should know better at this stage. turned this into a regression run, pacewise.
Finally went to the airport and put her on the plane... all emotional even after a week of goodbyes :cool:
Sunday 16: 10mi LSR. Bohernabreena tourism
16.7K @ 6:12; 10.3 mi @ 9:59
No junior parkrun this morning and no kids, gave us the option of going somewhere different for the LSR. Drove to Tallaght, parked opposite the Mill House pub and went up the road to the reservoir. I didn't like the road, especially where there was no footpath.
Once we got to Bohernabreena it was a different story, what a lovely place to run. The reservoirs, the trees, lovely paths... even a very clean portaloo. Thoroughly enjoyed it and came back down through Kiltipper park, much nicer than the road.
Didn't feel too hilly at the time but feeling my calf muscles ever since.
22.4 mi for the week and only 3 days.0 -
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Tuesday, 18th: 5 miles easy
8.2k @ 6:04; 5.1 mi @ 9:45
Nice easy run out the seafront, not much to report. Breeze was from the east for a change so nice and cool on the way out, dripping sweat on the way back. Beautiful morning.
Wednesday: 10 x 2 min @ 5k pace off 2 min recovery
9.4k @ 6:00; 5.8 mi @ 9:40
Plan had 12 x 400, but I was sluggish and didn't go out until about 7am (so late :rolleyes:) so didn't leave myself enough time for the final two... intervals were fine, target time was 2 min, target pace 5:00/km... for some reason the second one was the slowest at 5:13 (I blame the watch), all the others were below 5, happy enough with that.
But the most magical part of this run... On about the 4th rep, heading towards the wooden bridge, tide was in, sea was dead calm and I saw two dark shapes leaping gracefully out of the water in sync.... I stopped dead (yes mid-interval) to watch... if they weren't dolphins or porpoises they did a great impersonation. I've never seen anything like that around there. I've seen plenty of seals around Dollymount but they're much bigger and I've never seen seals breach like dolphins. It was a beautiful and magical sight, even if i have no proof or witnesses.... and by the time I whipped out the phone to take a photo the moment had passed.
Maybe I'm just losing the plot altogether I do love dolphins 
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Tuesday, 18th: 5 miles easy
8.2k @ 6:04; 5.1 mi @ 9:45
Nice easy run out the seafront, not much to report. Breeze was from the east for a change so nice and cool on the way out, dripping sweat on the way back. Beautiful morning.
Wednesday: 10 x 2 min @ 5k pace off 2 min recovery
9.4k @ 6:00; 5.8 mi @ 9:40
Plan had 12 x 400, but I was sluggish and didn't go out until about 7am (so late :rolleyes:) so didn't leave myself enough time for the final two... intervals were fine, target time was 2 min, target pace 5:00/km... for some reason the second one was the slowest at 5:13 (I blame the watch), all the others were below 5, happy enough with that.
But the most magical part of this run... On about the 4th rep, heading towards the wooden bridge, tide was in, sea was dead calm and I saw two dark shapes leaping gracefully out of the water in sync.... I stopped dead (yes mid-interval) to watch... if they weren't dolphins or porpoises they did a great impersonation. I've never seen anything like that around there. I've seen plenty of seals around Dollymount but they're much bigger and I've never seen seals breach like dolphins. It was a beautiful and magical sight, even if i have no proof or witnesses.... and by the time I whipped out the phone to take a photo the moment had passed.
Maybe I'm just losing the plot altogether I do love dolphins
Was probably only Tang in a wetsuit
TbL0 -
ThebitterLemon wrote: »Was probably only Tang in a wetsuit
TbL
Ewww don't spoil the moment!! and there were two of them.... 0 -
ThebitterLemon wrote: »Was probably only Tang in a wetsuit
TbL
No I prefer to leap out of the water in the nude as you well know!!!!0 -
Friday, July 21: Easy 8k
7.8 @ 6:15
Stayed inland and away from sea critters for this, incorporated a few hills. Felt mildly bothered that I stopped at 7.8k but not enough to jog up and down outside the house like an eejit.
Saturday, July 22
Volunteered at the second Fairview parkrun, lovely crowd of 89 people, would be nice if it settled down around that size. I was struck by the number of locals who were delighted to be there. Good turnout of local boardsies... Racheljev, DenisB, aquinn (flying around) and Laura...with BG also volunteering (oh and D too). The 7 year old commandeered the barcode scanner and scanned expertly.
U2 in the evening so did some sprints up the stairs to the upper level to keep the legs ticking over... that and standing for a couple of hours made for ideal race prep (oh and the social aspects too).
Sunday, July 23: Fingal 10k
Looking to banish the memories of last year's nightmare here and get closer to my 2015 PB glow... Woke up this morning feeling wrecked (blame U2), and so not in the mood for this race. Well, stay at home then says D, reasonably, thereby forcing me to go.
Arrived in Swords early of course, parked at Airside and jogged into Swords in soft cool lovely drizzle. Really hoped that would keep up.
I knew a PB wasn't on the cards (51:18 from Fingal 2015) since I can barely maintain that pace for 5k. Decided on the way up that sub-55 would be my goal, more of a workout than all out racing, given how I was feeling. Just keep the pace below 5:30/km.
Lined up in the middle of the 50min+ zone, which helped me achieve first tactic of not going off too fast. Started off very relaxed, didn't stress the pace, gained ground where I could through the congestion but didn't worry about it. 1st Km: 5:38. Not bad I thought.
Got into a rhythm on the dual carriageway, nice downhill drag. I walked through the water station to make sure I got the benefit then took off again. I love the leafy lanes part of this course, although it was very congested after the water station for a while. (What is with people, ok I admit, women, running 3 abreast, blocking the road and chatting :rolleyes:).
My watch had been tracking well with the Km markers along the way and I wasn't looking at it in between. I was very relaxed after the water station.... then the watch beeped for 5k... 27:14, bang on target I said to myself, while a guy next to me swore at himself and groaned... funny enough I had a psychological wobble when I realised I was on track, started imagining the worst, until I copped myself on and relaxed again.
Round the country roads, Km's ticking away, smell of manure.... still feeling good. 4k to go, 3k to go and a quick calc -- you can do 6 min Km's from here and still hit the target. Another water station took me by surprise, I wasn't expecting it but decided to take advantage, so slowed to walk through and drink a few gulps. I wondered if this would disrupt my pace, but got back into the rhythm without any bother. Loved the fire hose... too brief.
Starting to hurt a little as 8k approached... tried to pace myself on people around me... a guy in an orange rain jacket (some people are so over dressed), a girl in front with amazingly long hair down her back, I got a bit fixated on her hair, wondering why she didn't tie it up and did it not make her feel hot and bothered. A guy who I had first noticed breathing heavily on the dual carriageway. I don't know where any of them ended up but they helped me at different times.
Working hard now after 8k, back towards Swords village, trying to remember where the damn hill is... helped by a local shouting at someone 'go on Carl take that hill'... another spectator shouting the 9k sign is just around the corner... then the uphill drag right after that... another helpful shout... it's downhill from the traffic light... fixate on that traffic light, then that lovely downhill finish, even with the sneaky slight uphill because they moved it this year, felt strong crossing the line.
Knew I had hit the sub 55 minute target, looked at the watch, happy to see 53:46 (chip time 53:43). Found D and Singer chatting in PB corner. And met lots of happy Raheny heads after.
Reflections: the time was 2+ min off my pb, but plenty of positives from today. The target was realistic for the state of me, I had a negative split and finished well. Last year at this race I struggled most of the way and did 57:59 :eek: so it's an improvement.
So, as Ciara Mageean said after becoming 800m national champion in Santry this evening... that was this weekend's training session.
Splits: 5:37, 5:27, 5:11, 5:39*, 5:20, 5:17, 5:10,5:17, 5:14. 5:20
*water station slowdown I think
Cut toe during the race... Sunday Bloody Sunday.. 0 -
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Week of July 24
Monday - Rest
Tuesday, July 25: 6 miles easy
10k @ 6:07; 6.2 mi @ 9:50
Out before work and before breakfast, across the wooden bridge and back. Very pleasant run, got so engrossed in a podcast interview with the scientist who founded the seed bank on Svalbard that I lost track of where I was at one point. No sea creatures this morning.
Wednesday, July 26: almost 5 miles easy
4.8mi @ 9:56
Another early run, inland and more uphill this time. Mildly irritated at having to go around Marino Green (it's a park, you know) twice and still not hitting 8k. Not irritated enough to add another 200m though
Thursday, July 27: Dublin Airport Central 5k
3.1 mi @ 8:27
This was fun, heading over to ALSAA after work with colleagues who were planning to run and walk. I had no idea there were so many fields there, although BG reminded me that it's legendary in XC circles. She was envious and hoping for muck on our behalf.
I planned to do this as a replacement for one of the sessions this week... somewhere between tempo (5:25/km) and 'strength' (5:15/km) pace (per Hanson).
I had no idea of the course starting off... a half lap of the track and then we were into the fields, a marshal shouted something about 2 laps of this... ok, but of what I wasn't sure. Settled in to the pace, there was no muck but the grass was quite long.
What do I remember of it?
I didn't look at the watch, other than when it beeped the km's.
Dardistown cemetery, glimpses of graves at least twice...
In and out of fields
Coming up behind a girl in a Ryanair tshirt and encouraging her to start running again... how far is it, she gasped... we're coming up to 4K I told her
Checking myself at one point and realising I did have some pain... a bit of a minor stitch... brought on i think by eating a protein bar at about 5pm. Not smart.
Coming up to where I thought it must be nearly time to get out of the field and back onto the track, I was on my own, couldn't see anybody ahead of me, slight incline up out of the field and I could hear someone coming behind me... put on a bit of an effort but he passed me and left me in the dust. A rotund guy in a Fingal 10k shirt. A bit annoyed at myself over that.
Up on to the track and the 300m to the finish gantry felt like forever, I don't like running on tracks.
On the home straight, some Balbriggan runners shouting come on Liz to someone behind me, that spurred me on to a strong finish, she didn't catch me.
The watch beeped 5k with about 100m to go. (Others said the course was long afterwards)
Thoroughly enjoyable evening, all for a tenner, in aid of Pieta House. Included a burger and beer (non-alcoholic, so sensible) afterwards. Freddy Sittuk won the race, charming guy.
Chip time 26:55
Splits: 5:09, 5:15, 5:20, 5:28, 5:12, (4:11)
So, a decent session I think.
Saturday, 29th: St Anne's parkrun, pacer saturday.
5k @ 6:15 (and some warmup before), 3.1 mi @ 10:11
Got roped in, I mean volunteered, to be 31 min pacer at St Anne's. Tried to keep the pace at 6:12 per km, but with the tree cover and slow start that was tricky. And as we were coming down the avenue the second time, I remembered that my garmin always registers 4.85km for this run, so I probably was a horrible pacer... :eek:
Having said that, I had one woman with me the whole way who was breathing heavily and I thought might not hang in, but she finished in 30:45 ish and was delighted with herself. I tried to remember some inspirational pacer quotes from my recent pacers (FBOT and BG) but all I could come up with was.... breathe.... It was very enjoyable though and I felt like such a speed merchant cruising around at 31 mins (:pac:).
Lovely to be back at St Anne's after a bit of a break, nice to catch up with all the usual suspects. Enjoyed my first ever pacing gig.
Sunday, 30th: 14 mile LSR
22.5k @ 6:35; 13.9 mi @ 10:36
After junior parkrun, met up with Mrs Mc and Dee for about 7 miles of this, always easier to have the company. I was aiming for 15 miles, but had to get home to get to Croker for the quarter finals so happy enough to do 14 (22.5k), until D came home from his run and said he did 23k (:rolleyes:). Missed most of the torrential rain, I had tree cover on Griffith ave when it came down hard. Enjoyed this run, but sitting scrunched up in croke park for hours after a long run is not good for the legs, could hardly straighten them by 6pm.
33.1 mi for the week. 0 -
Change of Plan
In a moment of irrational exuberance (probably after one good week of training), I signed up for DCM about a week before the deadline :eek: Up to then, Charleville HM was my goal race and I've been loosely following the Hanson HM plan. Very loosely, but I've done most of the speed sessions (5k pace) and fewer of the tempo (HM pace)...
So now I'm abandoning the Hanson brothers and switching to a marathon plan. I had a look at a few and decided to go with what worked before for me... yep, the good old meno plan. I adjusted the dates for 2017 and I'm jumping into it on week DCM-13.
No idea at this point what the target will be, my most recent 5k (25:33) suggests 4:08ish... my PB is 4:08:30 from 2015 (my golden year, all my pb's are from 2015!). I'll see how i get on with Frank Duffy and adjust from there.
Week -13 has the first 18mile LSR on the plan. My longest run so far is 14, so I might adjust the 18 to 16 for this week, rather than push it too much. Trying to be sensible, or already wimping out on the plan?
The tshirt better be nice this year.... 0 -
Change of Plan
In a moment of irrational exuberance (probably after one good week of training), I signed up for DCM about a week before the deadline :eek: Up to then, Charleville HM was my goal race and I've been loosely following the Hanson HM plan. Very loosely, but I've done most of the speed sessions (5k pace) and fewer of the tempo (HM pace)...
So now I'm abandoning the Hanson brothers and switching to a marathon plan. I had a look at a few and decided to go with what worked before for me... yep, the good old meno plan. I adjusted the dates for 2017 and I'm jumping into it on week DCM-13.
No idea at this point what the target will be, my most recent 5k (25:33) suggests 4:08ish... my PB is 4:08:30 from 2015 (my golden year, all my pb's are from 2015!). I'll see how i get on with Frank Duffy and adjust from there.
Week -13 has the first 18mile LSR on the plan. My longest run so far is 14, so I might adjust the 18 to 16 for this week, rather than push it too much. Trying to be sensible, or already wimping out on the plan?
The tshirt better be nice this year....
Hi. I've been kind of stalking you a bit as some of my PBs are similar to yours
4:08:30 is a great marathon time, how many have you done or what number was that? I'd love a time sub 4:10 but don't want to take the fun out of my first marathon and realistically i know i lack endurance, sub 4:30 is probably more realistic.
You might pop you're experienced head into the novices thread occasionally if you can find the time, we'd love to see you there 0 -
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Annie get your Run wrote: »I saw that on FB I did chuckle to myself when it popped up that annapr was going to DCM
Good decision to roll back on the first long run! Enjoy the training!!!!
ha, that was a mistake, I thought I was clicking Frank Duffy! bloody Facebook....
and thanks for seconding the long run decision 0 -
Hi. I've been kind of stalking you a bit as some of my PBs are similar to yours
4:08:30 is a great marathon time, how many have you done or what number was that? I'd love a time sub 4:10 but don't want to take the fun out of my first marathon and realistically i know i lack endurance, sub 4:30 is probably more realistic.
You might pop you're experienced head into the novices thread occasionally if you can find the time, we'd love to see you there
Hi ariana!
I did notice we have some similar times, although I haven't cracked 25 min for 5k this year.... yet... she says hopefully.
All going well, this will be my third DCM (and 3rd marathon). 2014 was a disaster (unseasonably hot, not enough miles under the belt, recovering from a virus... no such thing as enjoying the first). 2014 was way more enjoyable (way more miles under the belt and better training). I was aiming for 4:10 so I'm still delighted with that result.
I'm not sure I buy into the theory of enjoying your first marathon... or doing it for fun. If you do the training, you want to do it justice, I think.
Your 5k time suggests 4:10 is achievable, but for a first marathon might be ambitious. You don't have to decide yet though, you can always train for 4:10 and adjust later depending on how your long runs and tune up races go.
As for me being experienced... :pac: :pac:
Look forward to seeing how you get on, we're all in this together 0 -
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Hi ariana!
I did notice we have some similar times, although I haven't cracked 25 min for 5k this year.... yet... she says hopefully.
All going well, this will be my third DCM (and 3rd marathon). 2014 was a disaster (unseasonably hot, not enough miles under the belt, recovering from a virus... no such thing as enjoying the first). 2014 was way more enjoyable (way more miles under the belt and better training). I was aiming for 4:10 so I'm still delighted with that result.
I'm not sure I buy into the theory of enjoying your first marathon... or doing it for fun. If you do the training, you want to do it justice, I think.
Your 5k time suggests 4:10 is achievable, but for a first marathon might be ambitious. You don't have to decide yet though, you can always train for 4:10 and adjust later depending on how your long runs and tune up races go.
As for me being experienced... :pac: :pac:
Look forward to seeing how you get on, we're all in this together
Aw thanks, lovely comment made me smile today considering I feel like an impostor in these parts most of the time
Good luck with the meno plan. I'll be stalking following with interest
:pac::pac::pac::pac:Yeah with that sort of positivity maybe don't stick your head in the novices thread0 -
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Week of July 31, part 1. DCM-13
Monday, July 31: Rest (and drove to Donegal on me holliers)
Tuesday Aug 1: Local loop, 5mi easy
8.5k@ 6:11; 5.2mi @ 9:57
Spent half the morning peering out wondering if there would be a break in the torrential rain. Normally I don't mind a bit of rain, but this was a downpour. Finally said to hell with it, I'm going for my run. The rain was lighter as I started out but ended up doing most of the run in sunshine. Go figure.
I could hear water gurgling everywhere along the way. The local stream was like that scene in Into the Wild where the river turned into a swollen impassable torrent. As I crossed the little bridge that links us to civilisation, I imagined it being washed away and me being stuck on the other side in my running gear... :pac:
Did the local hilly loop... felt really energetic and strong, hardly noticed the hills.
Wednesday, Aug 2:Local loop easy again
8.5k @ 6:14; 5.2 mi @ 10:02
The great thing about being on holidays is that there's more time to run and I don't have to go out before breakfast. The bad thing about that is... more time to procrastinate too. We had plans early afternoon, didn't leave myself enough time for the 90 min session on the plan for today so settled for 5ish miles easy with D who was doing his recovery. Enjoyable run.
Thursday, August 3: 90 min progression
14.7k @ 6:07; 9.1 mi @ 9:50/mi
After procrastinating again, saw that kennyG had just done this session, so figured I better HTFU and get on with it. I had the watch programmed with times for the intervals but knowing it was going to be a hilly route, figured that the watch would be beeping at me a lot.
20 min easy/warmup.... was just that, felt slow. (6:25/km)
20 min steady... pace felt natural and easy, except for the very end was up a bloody big hill. I worked harder for the last 5 mins of this than any other part of the run. (6:07/km... target was 5:50-6, but that hill nearly killed me, effort was way more than steady)
20 min MP*... such a relief to get to the top of the hill and turn around, way too fast at the beginning, because of the downhill but settled into it and felt fine. Although this part was net downhill, it's really up and down. On one of the bigger uphills, I reminded myself to maintain the effort, don't worry about the pace. (5:36/Km; 9:02/mi -- a little fast overall)
10 min HMP... feeling a bit more tired now but pace was fine, very sustainable until the last couple of minutes which was, you guessed it, uphill. (5:27/km; 8:47/mi -- exactly on target)
20 min CD... This was by far the toughest part of the run, it dragged on and on and I mis-timed my out and back so that i was tantalisingly close to home for most of it, running up and down like an eejit to put in the time. (6:51/km)
First meno session done, 90 minutes done.... felt like a great workout, challenging but not too tough.
*the eagle-eyed here might notice that this is approx 4hr marathon pace... I'm not getting carried away, that's just the training pace for now and will adjust later in the plan no doubt.0 -
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I could hear water gurgling everywhere along the way. The local stream was like that scene in Into the Wild where the river turned into a swollen impassable torrent. As I crossed the little bridge that links us to civilisation, I imagined it being washed away and me being stuck on the other side in my running gear... :pac:
And? Isn't that what swimming is for :pac::pac::pac::pac:
Heard there was an earthquake up there yesterday too, not sure it's the right place for holidays after all.
p.s. nice job on the progression run!0
(Post #1780 refers - I think!)Advertisement