We're on the road again ......... to who knows where.

RonanP77

Myles Splitz wrote: »

Apologies if I am coming across as negative I just think you could enjoy your running more and improve more long term by taking a more sensible approach to training. You tend to hear about those who make it to the taper of a marathon plan but that number is a fraction of those who start out on week one that no one ever hears about.

You're not really being negative, just giving honest advice, it's advice I know I should be listening to.

If I think it's becoming too much for me at any time I'll pull back and put it off until next year. The last thing I want is to miss another big chunk of time.

RonanP77

Not a great week for me in terms of sleep and diet, mileage was about 5k lower than planned too, all due to two late flights.

Monday 08/06

Run - 2.7k @ 7:00/km
A short recovery run, all went well enough, I struggle a little on recovery runs though, it's hard to run so slowly.


Tuesday 09/06

Run - 2.5k @ 6:20/km
Probably shouldn't have run at all, we got to the hotel late and it was 10:30 by the time dinner was finished, I didn't want to go drinking with the others so went for a walk and ended up doing an easy run instead.


Wednesday 10/06

Swim - 200m
I got up at 7 to go to hotel pool before breakfast, it was only a 10m pool but it did the job, I got in enough lengths to pull up for missing my lesson.


Thursday 11/06

Cycle - 6km @ 18.5 kmph
A short spin around the castle lake on the hybrid.


Friday 12/06

Run - 7.2km @ 6:20/km
I ran this one easy, did a fast mile (well it was fast for me - 5:59/6:00) in the middle and finished off easy, full report of the mile is in an earlier post.


Saturday 13/06

Strength and core.
I got my mulit-gym put together so my gym is complete now. I did some weights and floor work but need to put a structured workout in place, I only want to be doing about 30 minute sessions or thereabouts.


Sunday 14/06

Run - 12.5km @ 6:30/km (LSR)
Last weeks LSR was over 10 mile but that was a one off, I dropped back to where I would have been if I stuck to my schedule and I'll continue to build from here. It has me about the right distance for the start of the Boards 2015 Marathon plan. I found it hard to maintain a steady pace so went from 6:02 - 6:43, I tend to automatically speed up a little when I meet people and there were a lot of people about today. I felt pretty good on this, no aches, breathing was good and I finished up with plenty still in the tank.

Walk - 6k @ 9:07/km
My regular Sunday stroll with my sister.


I'm in good enough shape but can feel my legs getting stiff when I sit down for a while, they free up after a few steps though. It's my lower calves/achilles on both legs. A go on the foam roller and a bath will sort it out, a few nights with plenty of sleep should help too.

RonanP77

I had a 9k run today that I wasn't looking forward to at all, I knew the area but not the exact route and it's all hills around there, it's 10 months ago since I ran on the roads and the same length of time since I was in a race so not really feeling too keen. I figured I'd do a km or two to warm up then do it at LSR pace, I'd most likely finish last but I wasn't that bothered.

I got there and the atmosphere was pretty good, the organiser thanked me for coming and I met in with a guy I used to work with about 10 years ago, my cousins wife was running and one of the marshals was a work mate so I knew enough people to help me relax. It was due to be 9k but the start line moved a bit so they said it was about 9.2k. I did about 1.2k s a warmup then waited at the start line, people were still arriving so we were a little late kicking off. I lined up in the second row, I figured I didn't want to get in anyones way but at the same time there were walkers there for the shorter run and I didn't want to get stuck behind them.

The race started without us really knowing it, the lad just said "go" in a normal tone and we didn't really hear him, one lad took off though so we all followed. An older fella I know to see went out fairly fast, he does a lot of 5k runs and I knew by his number that he was doing the shorter run. My former work buddy took off with him, he seemed to be the favourite for the 9k, he's a very fit lad. I held back and took it handy enough, keeping pace with my cousins wife and her mate. The 1st km was all down hill but even so, about 10 of us had seperated out from the herd, the first two lads already about 50-100m ahead of us.

Bang on 1k we hit the first hill, it was nothing serious, I'd deal with a bigger hill at the Castle lake on about 90% of my runs. It was enough to slow one other 9k fellow down enough for us (me and the two girls were in a little group) to pass him. One of the girls stopped near the top of the hill and walked the rest, we slowed enough for her to catch us and off we went again. The rest of that 2nd km was flat enough and we settled into a nice, handy pace, the two lads out front had about doubled their lead.

km 3 & km 4 were flat enough and on the main road, we could see the two lads ahead and the older guy turned off for the short loop, leaving my buddy up front on his own, he was about 400m ahead and going strong, the girls started to slow slightly, I maintained my pace and moved off ahead of them, I glanced back and there was a good distance to the next group. It was about then that I started thinking of it as a race, rather than a relaxed run, I was in 2nd, feeling good, and it didn't look like anyone was going to catch me.

km 5 and km 6 weren't too bad, the distance between me and 1st place was closing in slowly as I had decided to up the pace a bit, it had crept into my head that if I could catch him at the 7km mark I'd be able to stay with him until the finish line, I know I'm strong on hills compared to a lot of people and the last 2km was supposed to be all hills. We got to the water station at 5k and there was nobody there, we had to keep running (they showed up at it about a minute after we passed) it was a hot morning so that wasn't great.

At 7km there was another water station, he had stopped for a drink but took off once he saw me, I had closed the distance to about 10sec at that stage, I had a quick sip and dumped the rest over my head, I caught him half way up the next hill. This is where the course got tougher but we knew we were 1st and 2nd so we both slowed it back a bit and had a chat.

After 8km a van stopped with us and gave us another drink, again I drank a little and dumped the rest on my head, it was getting very warm. My buddy told me he always does a sprint finish so I told him to work away when the time came, that I was happy enough if I ened up 2nd, he did sprinting in his younger days so there wasn't much hope of me beating him if it came to that.

Coming to the top of the last hill I said we'd push on and upped the pace but he didn't come with me, I slowed back a little and he kept with me, about 20m later, he made a move, I told him I'd see him at the finish line and off he went, I decided to stretch my legs a bit too and kept right with him, I eased past him and really opened up, I heard him saying "maybe not" and I started to pull away over the last 100m or so. I crossed the finish line in first place at a sprint (maybe a generous term but it was my best version of one after those hills) and got a big cheer, it was only a little local run but it felt great. I got a bottle of wine for my troubles and as the 18 week plan for DCM hasn't started yet, I'm going to share it with my wide tonight. My buddy came over the line about 12 sec brhind me, I don't think either of us could believe I'd beaten him.

My strava messed up because I had it on for the warmup and just aused it and restarted for the race, rather than resetting it, sorting through it my time was tough to figure out, it has km2 at 26mins. I was timed at 44:50ish by my buddy for the 9.2k, a very very poor winning time but considering the heat and the hills, I figure it was a good enough time for me.

I took a few things from it;

Road running and hills aren't too bad after all,

My 52:13 PB for 10k is very poor, I could knock 3 minutes off that easily now and If DCM doesn't work out, sub 50 is a secondary goal for the year.

I'm a lot fitter than I was last summer, the injury over the winter means I'm way behind where I should be but between swimming, walking and cycling, my fitness levels didn't drop that much. The last 8 weeks or so have pushed me way beyond last years fitness levels.

Back to slow, easy runs from tomorrow now, it was great to get that run under my belt, with a few fairly fast km in the middle, that's out of the system now and distance is the focus from here on in.

annapr

Well done Ronan, that's an epic report... You make it sound like an accidental win but you had plenty of competitive spirit at the end there!

RonanP77

Not a bad week regarding training, struggling with sleep though, I've only been getting 5hrs a night.

Monday 15/06

Run - 4.4k
A very easy, short recovery run, I didn't enjoy it at all, I don't like these recovery runs.


Tuesday 16/06

Rest


Wednesday 17/06

Swimming lesson.
I was late getting there because I was working on my training plan. My endurance is slightly improved but my technique is the same as it was a few months ago, I never get told to correct anything in the front crawl. Either I'm doing it right or the instructor is getting lazy.


Thursday 18/06

Run - 7.7k @ 6:24
I could feel the benefit of taking a rest day on Tuesday.


Friday 19/06

Run - 3.8k @ 6:48
This was an odd one, I went on a path I haven't been on in over a year, it's all overgrown now and I ended up running in through bushes and young trees so I turned back.


Saturday 20/06

Run 9.2k @ 4:53ish - 1.1k warmup.
My 1st ever race win, the full report is above.


Sunday 21/06

Run - 6.3k @ 6:38
An easy run to get the miles up, no LSR this week because of the race yesterday.

Walk/jog - 5.6k
A walk with my sister, 200m at an easy pace after every km.

Strength
A few minutes doing upper body work, I think my legs got enough work already.


My legs are tired and a little sore this evening, both thighs as well as my right hamstring and achilles are the worst offenders. I'll hop on the foam roller before bed, I'm expecting it to be a fairly unpleasant experience.

Tomorrow is the start of my new plan;

Monday - rest
Tuesday - 7.5k easy
Wednesday - swim
Thursday - 4.9k easy + splits
Friday - 4.9k easy
Saturday - Strength and core
Sunday - 13.3k LSR

It stays like that for 4 weeks with only the LSR increasing.

Murph_D

Nice win in the 9.2k. You didn't let the sprint finish trash talk get to you!

RonanP77

I did my first ever pre-work run this morning, I keep waking up around 5:30 so this morning I figured there was no point staying in bed as I rarely get back to sleep. I was out the door at 6, did some stretching and warmup and off I went.

It was my most consistent run ever in terms of pace. I did the first km very slow as a good warmup then settled in around 6:30 and didn't stray more than about 5 sec from it. It was on the road so a much harder surface than I'm used to, more hills than usual too, although none of them are too bad.

I can feel my right achilles or lower calf is very tight on even gradual hills, there's no pain but it's something I need to keep an eye on. The lower calf is very sore on the foam roller but foam rolling is kind of like self torture anyway.

7.87k @ 6:35

RonanP77

This evenings run wasn't great, I got chased by 5 dogs, they all came out if the same house. I ignored them and kept going but on tye way back one of them got very close to my ankle and was snarling rather than barking. I had to turn on him and let a few shouts, he went to come again as soon as I turned my back so I picked up a stone, did some more shouting and he backed off. This is one of the reasons I don't run on roads, along with traffic and it being harder on the joints.

My lower calf was bugging me again, I'd say it's progressed to a niggle now. It's fine when I'm not running and it's grand for a while if I stop and stretch it but it came back on every incline. I had a good go at it there with the foam roller, a tennis ball and then a very hard massage with a massage balm with calendula. I'll do the same tomorrow and then see how it is for my LSR on Sunday. If it's still at me I'll go to the physio. It's not all that sore and I'm confident it's nothing serious but I'd rather err on the side of caution. I did have a slight tear in the same area last year but that felt a lot worse than this.

5.28k easy @ 6:10

RonanP77

My 1st official week of my DCM training plan is over, it didn't go too badly.

Monday 22/06

Rest.


Tuesday 23/06

Run - 7.87k Easy @ 6:35
I did up a short report on this already, the only thing worth mentioning is a tightness in my right lower calf or achilles.


Wednesday 24/06

Swimming lesson.
Concentrated more on technique this week and that will be the focus for the next 4 weeks. I'm treating it like running, I need to become more efficient so I can do more lengths than now but only need to put in the same effort I'm doing now - 10 lengths for the effort of 7 kind of thing.


Thursday 25/06

Run - 5.11k Easy @ 6;20 + 4 x 100m strides.
This went well, I did a very slow warm-up 1km then settled into an even pace, the strides went fairly well. This was my 2nd early morning run of the week, I really like getting a run in before work.


Friday 26/06

Run - 5.28k easy @ 6:10
I covered this above so no point going into detail again, it was my 4th run on the road in a week I intend switching Friday runs back to the woods from next week. One or two runs on the road per week is enough for me for now, those will be my early morning runs on Tuesday and Thursday. My calf/achilles was at me again, I had to stop a few times to stretch it.


Saturday 27/06

Cycle - 10.1 k @ 21.3 km/h
I woke up early again and was out the door around 6, I wanted to check a route for when my Tuesday run goes up to 10k in a few weeks, this one seems alright but I'll have a good few hills to deal with, it might be a bit slow of a route for early morning running, I'll try it once and see.

Strength and core - 30 mins.
Some weights, leg lifts, planking, squats, stretching and a few minutes on the heavy bag. I need to have a chat with someone that actually goes to the gym so I can put some structure into this, hopefully by next week.


Sunday 28/06

Run - 14.07 km LSR
Started out with a slow km as always then settled at about 6:20ish but my pace went all over the place, km 4, 7 & 13 were all slightly above the upper limit of my LSR pace, km 8, 9, 10 & 11 were all about 30 sec above it. It kept consciously slowing myself down but then sped up without noticing. My calf felt fine through the whole run so that was good, it felt fairly tight in the stretches afterwards though. I tried some jelly babies and jelly beans at a few stages throughout this run, not that I'd need them on such short runs, more to get used to them. They didn't effect my breathing at all but the first few were after 7k and my pace was very unsettled from then on, so maybe the small bit of chewing was enough to distract me and that's why I sped up. I'll keep an eye on this.
Fitness wise I could've kept going all day, my legs were getting a little tired though and only had a few more km in them. It was a week with very little sleep and then heading out early this morning, without eating, left me a little drained. I'll push my Sunday LSR to slightly later in the day from next week on, that way I can eat before it and I can try out what foods suit me best for long runs and I figure that's something I'll definitely need to know on the big day.

Walk - 1.13 km
Just did a little walk to cool down. I felt a small niggle in my calf/achilles once or twice on this and stretched again afterwards.

I was straight on the foam roller when I got home and it was quite sore in that one particular spot, I put ice on it and I'll ring the physio tomorrow to book an appointment just as a precaution, a massage of both legs is probably needed anyway. It'll be a week before I get to see her so I'll stick to the plan for next week but leave out the strides. I'll do Tuesday and Thursday on the roads with Friday and Sunday in the woods.

RonanP77

So that's week 2 over and it went alright, nothing major to report.

Tuesday 30/06

Run - 7.6k @ 6:34/km
Another early morning run on the back roads beside the house, all went well.


Wednesday 01/07

Swimming lesson - more work on technique, it's going well.


Thursday 02/07

Run - 5.1k @ 6:35/km
Out on the roads early again, sleep has been really poor for a few weeks so it's good to be taking something positive from that.


Friday 03/07

Run - 5.2k @ 6:34/km
I stuck to the lower, flat end of the lake and then doubled back, I actually felt really sluggish on this one and couldn't wait for it to end, it was another early morning run after yet another poor nights sleep.


Saturday 04/07

Strength and core work, I had a noisy 3 year old "helping" me so kept losing count and forgetting what I was meant to be at. I got a bit done but had to give up.


Sunday 05/07

Run - 16.2k-17k @ 6:34
I'm not entirely sure of the distance or times on today's LSR, my Garmin says 16.3km but Strava and Runkeeper would both have measured it at 17. My pace was steady enough, although it was around the upper limit of my planned pace for a good few km's. Garmin has it all over the place but I think its all down to tree cover. I was in Deerpark forest Virginia and the canopy completely covers the path most of the way around. I felt good but the legs were getting a little tired at the end. That was only my 2nd time crossing 10 mile so that was to be expected. No problems other than that though and things are progressing nicely.

Edit; I've just had another look at the run and the same section is being marked down as too fast every time I went around, I know I didn't run it anything like the pace it's saying so I figure it was measuring that particular stretch short each time. That would explain being short a few hundred meters each time and those faster stretches.


So now that I'm putting it all down, I see it was kind of a mixed week for me. Poor sleep is becoming a bit of a worry, I do suffer from a mild case of insomnia but I had been sleeping well for the past 12 months or more, it's only since I upped the miles that I've been getting a little less sleep. I'm still getting 5 - 6 hours a night (I went for 7 or 8 years on 3hrs a night and ended up sick because of it) so it's not terrible. My calf/achilles seems to have sorted itself out now so that's good.

hillsiderunner

Hi Ronan, commenting here rather than on the Novices thread.
Might be better to do just one half-marathon rather than 3 ... the half is still a significant distance and a race always puts more stress on your body. I agree with DG about your speed over short distances ... I've have been running for years and a sub-22 is my *goal* for the 5k.

Anyway you are very wise, a shining example! I hope the injuries stay quiet throughout the training.

Ososlo

Really respect you for making that call. I 100% think you're doing the right thing.
Slowly build a strong solid base and take it from there. You'll do a great first marathon when the time is right and enjoy it so much more than slogging the first being under prepared and with injury worries which could set you back months.
There is no rush!
Best of luck with your training.

RonanP77

hillsiderunner wrote:

Hi Ronan, commenting here rather than on the Novices thread. Might be better to do just one half-marathon rather than 3 ... the half is still a significant distance and a race always puts more stress on your body. I agree with DG about your speed over short distances ... I've have been running for years and a sub-22 is my *goal* for the 5k.

I have a charity HM in three weeks that I'll do slightly above LSR pace, a 10 mile in Monaghan a while after that and then I was going to pick a HM a month or so after the 10 mile, I'll focus on shorter distances after that. I'll keep the miles up and look at a HM then next Spring, I'd hope to be ready at that stage to really take it on, instead of doing it just for fun.

I decided this morning to do the local Parkrun, it's a tough enough course and I said before that it's not suited for a PB but I cut about 3 minutes off my course time and set a new unofficial 5k PB of 21:27. The official results should be up in the next day or two.

My Garmin doesn't seem to handle trees well, it measured the course short (did the same on an LSR a few weeks back) I've run it before so I know it's 5k.

Ososlo

^^^^ Fantastic!!! Congrats Ronan! Only the beginning of great things for you!!!

hillsiderunner

RonanP77 wrote: »

I have a charity HM in three weeks that I'll do slightly above LSR pace, a 10 mile in Monaghan a while after that and then I was going to pick a HM a month or so after the 10 mile, I'll focus on shorter distances after that. I'll keep the miles up and look at a HM then next Spring, I'd hope to be ready at that stage to really take it on, instead of doing it just for fun.

I think if you're able to be disciplined with the races that is grand. I always push in a race setting no matter what. Even the parkruns ...

RonanP77 wrote: »

I decided this morning to do the local Parkrun, it's a tough enough course and I said before that it's not suited for a PB but I cut about 3 minutes off my course time and set a new unofficial 5k PB of 21:27. The official results should be up in the next day or two.

My Garmin doesn't seem to handle trees well, it measured the course short (did the same on an LSR a few weeks back) I've run it before so I know it's 5k.

All Garmins measure short when there is tree cover with turns ... there are gaps in the GPS signal in spaces where there is lots of tree cover, then the Garmin takes the straight line between the points it does have (which will decrease the distance if there was a turn under the trees). I had the same thing happen at St Annes a few weeks ago.

Well done on the time , that's very impressive given the amount of time you've been running (impressive never mind the time you've been running as far as I'm concerned!).

menoscemo

Good man Ronan, lots to come off that 5k time. Keep it consistent and you'll be under 20 before the end of the year.

Good decision on the marathon too, leave it off until next year and you'll be going for sub 3:30 or better.

RonanP77

menoscemo wrote: »

Good man Ronan, lots to come off that 5k time. Keep it consistent and you'll be under 20 before the end of the year.

Good decision on the marathon too, leave it off until next year and you'll be going for sub 3:30 or better.

That may be a bit ambitious :eek: but I think with a good solid fitness base I should be fit for sub 4:00

laura_ac3

Well done on the pb. Tough call on the marathon but seems like it's the sensible choice and you'll see the benefits in the long term. Good luck with the new goals

menoscemo

RonanP77 wrote: »

That may be a bit ambitious :eek: but I think with a good solid fitness base I should be fit for sub 4:00

Not really, things happen quick and you are on an improvement curve.
your current 5k time suggests a 3:30ish marathon is already feasible and your current mile time suggests a sub 20 5k is too. Lots of slow steady miles to build up endurance and you'll be surprised at how quickly the unthinkable becomes realistic.

Good luck with it.

RonanP77

I'm drawing up my plan now for the rest of the year, initially basing it roughly on Hal Higdon HM Novice 2, while on the marathon plan I was going to do the days with pace at my planned marathon pace, now that that's gone, what pace do I do them at?

I've googled training pace calculators so I can probably figure out what the training pace should be for each distance but do I switch it up depending on what type of event I have coming up? They're giving me a speed to do for tempo, do I count that the same, or maybe substitute it for pace?

Do I do them at planned HM pace now for the next while, due to having a HM and 10 mile coming up? (6:07/km for a 2:15 target HM time in 3 weeks (I told you I'm doing it nice and easy), 5:55/km for a 2:10 target (still nice and handy but a bit more ambitious) in 10 weeks) I'd be looking to go sub 2:00 next spring.

After that I'd like to work on my 10k time, so do I spend the weeks leading up to a 10k doing my "pace" days at 10k tempo pace? (5:04/km if I'm going sub 50)

Parkrun is all I'll have from mid October on so I'll be chipping away at that 5k time, do I start doing one day a week at near the relevant pace for that? (4:33/km tempo for my current PB time)

One more thing I'm unsure of, for the HM plan, the second longest run of the week (Tuesdays for me) are the pace days, now when I switch my focus back to 5k, surely I'll be doing my shortest run of the week (Fridays) as my pace day?


I have the rest of my training covered, all at easy pace with a LSR every Sunday (unless there's an event) averaging about 18km but only 10k if I've done a 5k on the Saturday. I'll be keeping the mileage around 20 mile per week, other than the occasional shorter or longer one, so that should help build up stamina nicely.

The official Parkrun times are in and it's 21:26, so I'm a whole second faster than I thought I was 11th out of 41 people, the winning time was 18:30, course record is about 17:00.

Myles Splitz

Sensible decision on the marathon.

My two cents on how to approach the rest of the year, I reckon if you use the time wisely there is no reason why you couldn't set yourself up to run sub 18 5k/ 37 10 km/ 3 hour marathon.(arbitrary times just using to make the point).

There will be many who say focus in building the easy miles to the point where you can handle the marathon training sufficiently but I reckon you could go one further and focus on a more rounded approach. Many people will build the miles slowly and develop themselves aerobically but still approach the 5km to HM with the same mentality and while they will see improvement they get caught in a bit of a cycle.

Most club coaches try to incorporate a Long Term Athlete development plan for kids but I think it is something missing in Adults turning to the sport later in life.

My advice would be as follows:

Mileage
Stick with the 20 miles in a well rounded week and let the mileage build naturally. Aim to increase from maybe 5 miles a month. Aerobic development is a key element but this will come by approaching it in a consistent nature, day after day, week after week, month after month.

Workouts:

Stick to one quality session a week for the first 3 months. Rotate a paced run with hill reps in the early phase:

Week 1 : 20 min @ pace
Week 2 : 6x1 min hills with recovery ratio of 1:2/3

Aim to add 2 min for paced runs and 1 rep per hill every two weeks. You can change things up each month maybe changing the hills to 1 min reps with a recovery ratio of 1:1. These type of sessions will be aimed at developing your lactate threshold and vO2max efforts which having an aerobic element will boost your aerobic fitness more than just the miles.

After the 3 months you will get adding a second session may help for further progression but only if it is proportional to overall Hard:Easy composition of the training week.

Long Run

Once a week progression from 80 min -120 min max. It is not a case of longer runs will boost aerobic capacity further you will get benefits will from this length without compromising recovery during the week for other sessions. It will boost the aerobic capacity without it being the primary focus of the week.

Easy Runs
Twice a week starting with 40-45 min progressing every 4-6 weeks by no more than 5 minutes.

Non aerobic development work
Normally called supplementary work however I wanted to avoid that terms as it implies that it is "extra stuff" that tends to be ignored. Personally I would add a 5th day a week that is not running yet will in my opinion be the key determining factor long term in going from a 20 min/42 min/3.30 marathon runner to 16.xx/sub 37/ sub 2.50 runner.

Again rotate this on a 4 week cycle

Week 1) 30 min circuit* + 30 min running drills
Week 2) Olympic Lifts
Week 1) 30 min circuit* + 30 min running drills
Week 4) Low Intensity Plyometrics

*When I say circuit here I am not talking about a random collection of exercises but rather exercises working on hip stability, lateral (side to side) movements and posterior chain exercises which would focus more on sport specific movements of running while still containing an aerobic element due to short recoveries associated with circuit training.

Running Economy
Once a week after runs alternate either at 6 sec hill blasts (97-100% effort) with full recovery (2-3 minutes) or 8 x 60-80m strides with walk back recovery (around 5k effort)

Add these elements and spend 6-8 months in non specific approach (you can still race during this period and will see you times improve but it is a long term approach) and I can assure you that come next summer you will be smashing times you never thought possible once you get into specific training.

Many people tend to view event preparedness as simply having the aerobic capacity and muscular tolerance to handle the training but ultimately falter with training because you have to look at all the elements that make a fast/efficient/strong runner.

RonanP77

I can't attach this any better (is it called embedding) but it's my plan for the rest of the year, including my targets for each event and the paces I'll be doing different workouts at.

macinalli

RonanP77 wrote: »

I can't attach this any better (is it called embedding) but it's my plan for the rest of the year, including my targets for each event and the paces I'll be doing different workouts at.

I haven't been really following this thread, but you've pulled out of DCM as you're coming back from a long injury and want to develop a better base before tackling the marathon? That makes a lot of sense, but I don't see the logic then in this plan. I know you plan on going easier in some of them, but you still have 10 races in 5 months. IMHO that seems an awful lot, and a recipe for injury. My 2 cents is that you'd be better cherry-picking about 3 races over the rest of the year, and spend the rest on easy running and building that base....

RonanP77

Parkrun is only 5k so I wasn't thinking of them as being any big deal, I can certainly drop one of those.

You can see from the target times that I'm not pushing myself really on any of the longer runs other than Waterford. I guess I could drop Monaghan but I've been looking forward to them all. The two 10k runs shouldn't be massively difficult either, depending on how flat they are I should already be capable of those times.

It's all about getting the miles in, mainly nice and slow, the events are there as little goals for me, something to break thinks up and make it all more enjoyable.

Edit; Ok, I've had a look and I'm dropping the Monaghan 10 mile, that leaves a nicer gap between events. The last Parkrun is gone too, so it's 7 events now in over 5 months.

RonanP77

Today is the big day, my HM (Breffni 3 Province Challenge) is in 4 hours. I've had fairly poor preparation for it, I ran 21.2k in training a few weeks ago (too fast and too many hills) and I've only run twice since. It left me very stiff and sore for almost a full week, after two short runs then my ankle is annoying me, it's only occasionally bit it's very sharp shooting pains on both sides, thankfully its alright yesterday and today.

I haven't slept right now in a few days (although I did get about 6 hours last night) and I ate out too many times (on holidays from work and we've been out and about every day).

I did make sure to hydrate big time yesterday and I'll take on a bit more this morning, I had a big breakfast and I'll have something small now soon (about 3 hours before the run) I'll make sure to do plenty of trips to the toilet before leaving so I dont need to worry about that. I'm just about to run a hot bath with plenty of radox to work out any muscle tension and I got a running belt in Lidl that I have to stock with jelly babies.

I'm bringing Lucozade with me and I'll get water at the stations. I don't know if there'll be any pacers but I'm hoping to do it in 2:10, the plan is to run at 6 min/km which will allow me just over 3 mins for water stops (i'll walk while drinking) or if anything happens along the way to delay me and I'd still make 2:10. I'm confident I'd be capable of doing it faster but dont see the point in pushing my luck. Ive heard there are a few long pulls on the route but its not too hilly so I should be fine. Fingers crossed now that the rain stays away and the wind eases off.

I wont have another HM for at least a few months but this will give me a good idea of what to expect and I'll make sure to prepare better in the week or two before hand, I'd hope to go sub 2 for it.

Bungy Girl

Best of luck!

RonanP77

Well that's my first official HM in the bag and I loved it, bleeding nipple and all :eek:

The people on facebook lied to me when they said there was two hills, there might have been two flat sections, the rest was all hills, it was very tough going.

Start;

I lined up at the back because I intended going out very slow, there was no point getting in anyones way. It was a little crowded going over the precision timing thingy at the start line but thinned out fairly quickly as even the slower runners took off fairly fast.

1k - 9k

500m out and there were only two people behind me, I maintained a pace a little quicker than planned, averaging about 5:50/km. It wasn't long before I started picking people off, I knew at the beginning that a few of them were going out far too fast and they'd slow up before long. It started to lash rain fairly early on and my top was stuck to me, it go sunny after a few km but I never dried out.
At the 8k mark I looked down and noticed a red patch on my nice white top, my nipple was bleeding. The first thing that popped into my head was being told to smile while running on the DCM novices thread, I thought " how the hell am I supposed to smile when I have 13km to go with a bleeding nipple". I actually started laughing at that and went on with a big stupid grin on my face.

10k - 15k

I stopped at a marshal on the 10k mark and asked for a plaster, he said he had one and took out a first aid kit to search. 5 people passed me as I was waiting (I thought it was a good 2 minutes but Garmin says 39 seconds) only for him to tell me he didn't seem to have any.
I ventured on and that short stop seemed to give me a new lease of life, I felt great and decided to up the pace a little, the next 5k were done at an average of about 5:08 and I felt really strong. I passed about 10 people on that stretch.

16k - 20k

I met in with a guy and got chatting, I slowed it down a bit and he picked it up a bit and we stayed together at a 5:35/km average. The hills were taking their toll on me at that stage so I didn't mind dropping off a bit anyway.

21k

We upped it a gear about half way through this one as we were on the last stretch before town, I didn't think I had it left in me to actually up the pace but I felt alright.

21.1k

I managed to come up with a bit of a sprint finish and passed 3 people over the last 100m or so, crossed the line feeling happy and relieved in an unofficial time of 1:58:07, I missed the exact official time but it was a few sec either side of 1:58. I collected my medal and went in search of a bottle of a bottle of water.

After:

I struggled to walk, which was a big surprise as I'd been fine a few seconds earlier. I was stiff and sore and couldn't even manage to stretch, I went for a slow hobbling walk instead so I didn't seize up. I was fit for more in regards to cardio but the body wasn't having any of it. There was a BBQ as well as biscuits, sandwiches, tea, coffee, water and MiWadi. I got a few glasses of tat, grabbed a burger and wandered about a little more before collecting a bottle of water, some chocolate bars and heading for the car. I did manage a few minutes of stretching there, put a plaster on my nipple and headed for home.

I was fairly impressed with the whole thing, there were about 6 water stations on the route, they all had bananas and chocolate at them, even orange wedges at one. It was well signposted, there were a good few marshals and a decent atmosphere. I said a few weeks back that I'd skip the Monaghan 10 mile which is two weeks away, I'm definitely sticking to that. I'll see how I feel over the next few days, if there are any niggles (possibly my left hip or ankle) I may go see the physio. The next planned race is a 10k in about 4 weeks, I'll take it handy for a week now, some walking and cycling but little to no running.

I did figure one thing out, I'm incapable of doing a race as an LSR, I stuck to my plan for 10k but after that it was out the window

nop98

Well done Ronan good stuff. Great time for a first HM, especially as you didn't "race" it as such.

For the man-problem, I've a few tops that have the same effect on my chest. Total p.i.t.a. especially since they're great tops which I like wearing otherwise. One of the lads on the Novices thread recommended using a bit of kinesiology tape. I've been using that since and it's fine, you don't even notice it (until you take it off :eek:).

Good luck with the 10k!

Dubgal72

Great stuff Ronan! I really enjoyed reading that report, especially the bit about smiling I hope the body plays ball, be nice to it and recover well this week
Absolutely no harm to see a physio for preventative checks now and then, especially if you have injury history.
Well done on the PB, plenty more where that came from, all in good time. As a lsr, like you said yourself, it was pants but as a race, that was a damn good strategy
Will you make it to the Phoenix Park next week?

RonanP77

I'm visiting tennants Saturday morning and then staying over in my sisters so the whole weekend is booked up I'm afraid.

Looking back over yesterday, I love the HM distance so now I need to decide whether to do the 10k in 4 weeks or put all my effort into another HM in 8 weeks and try to chip away at my time. If the one in Dublin is flat I should easily manage 1:55.