Eye of the Tiger Beer.

Singer

Murph_D wrote: »

Nice to change things up like your hellfire run. Are you planning some IMRA stuff? Seems to be a thing this year.

Yeh, I'd like to get some in this year. Last year's Bray race was loads of fun.

Annie get your Run wrote: »

It's a super idea, Anna and I will see you there :pac: Savage Helfire run B!

We'll see how Saturday night goes

Singer

Saturday night went well from one perspective I guess, so IMRA Howth didn't happen. I was with the kiddos for the day anyway as my better half was out on Sunday anyway. Not a very exciting week, ok milage after having to squeeze in a few runs here and there, but not much quality running. I was feeling the consequences of last Sunday's hill running, with a variety of aches and stiffness lingering around my legs for a few days, though nothing I'd consider to be worthy of being deemed a niggle. I managed to get down to Rivervalley parkrun on Saturday and intended to give it a good go, but the weather meant the paths were too dangerous, so the course was changed to 5 laps of two energy zapping football fields which was basically zero fun, finishing fourth in just over 21 minutes. Apart from that it was all plod, plod, plod...

I did get a new running bag for commutes this week which is very exciting for me anyway. Up until now I've been using an Ultimate Performance Peak bagback, which does the job and is a nice and cheap bag, however it's starting to get worn out. I spent a bit of time in The Great Outdoors, and ended up with a Deuter Speed Lite 20, which is over twice as expensive as my previous bag, however it feels more than twice as good a bag. It feels sturdier, can expand to carry a lot of stuff but also feels compact when carrying a lighter load. Lots of small things are nice, such as the large zip pulls (designed for when wearing gloves I guess) and the straps and support work really well for me. I'd be happy to recommend it to any serious run commuter who has to drag a laptop and clothes etc. around.

Date|Distance|Pace|Notes
9th January|6.7 miles|9:02|An hour after work before heading out for a work social event.
10th January|10 miles|8:41|Running into work feeling a little weary after said work social event - nice way to clear the head though
11th January|10 miles|8:06|Slightly faster than usual commute home
12th January|10 miles|8:34|Dashing though the snow... felt like a bit of a novelty run
13th January|5 miles|8:46|A few easy miles after work
14th January|9 miles|?|parkrun and getting there and back, as above
15th January|13.3 miles|8:11|Out to the edge of Portmarnock and back, felt a little nostalgic as I hadn't run this route in a while. Tired running into the wind on the way back and slowed down accordingly. It was late enough and I didn't feel like pushing myself.


Total: 64.2 miles
NextThis week: The paced mile in ALSAA on Wednesday looks on. A PB would be nice

laura_ac3

Good bag choice. I have the lite 10 for running, and the lite 15 for cycling and find them perfect. I used to hate running with a bag but don't actually notice this one at all, quite comfy.

Wubble Wubble

Singer wrote: »

Saturday night went well from one perspective I guess, so IMRA Howth didn't happen. I was with the kiddos for the day anyway as my better half was out on Sunday anyway. Not a very exciting week, ok milage after having to squeeze in a few runs here and there, but not much quality running. I was feeling the consequences of last Sunday's hill running, with a variety of aches and stiffness lingering around my legs for a few days, though nothing I'd consider to be worthy of being deemed a niggle. I managed to get down to Rivervalley parkrun on Saturday and intended to give it a good go, but the weather meant the paths were too dangerous, so the course was changed to 5 laps of two energy zapping football fields which was basically zero fun, finishing fourth in just over 21 minutes. Apart from that it was all plod, plod, plod...

I did get a new running bag for commutes this week which is very exciting for me anyway. Up until now I've been using an Ultimate Performance Peak bagback, which does the job and is a nice and cheap bag, however it's starting to get worn out. I spent a bit of time in The Great Outdoors, and ended up with a Deuter Speed Lite 20, which is over twice as expensive as my previous bag, however it feels more than twice as good a bag. It feels sturdier, can expand to carry a lot of stuff but also feels compact when carrying a lighter load. Lots of small things are nice, such as the large zip pulls (designed for when wearing gloves I guess) and the straps and support work really well for me. I'd be happy to recommend it to any serious run commuter who has to drag a laptop and clothes etc. around.

Date|Distance|Pace|Notes
9th January|6.7 miles|9:02|An hour after work before heading out for a work social event.
10th January|10 miles|8:41|Running into work feeling a little weary after said work social event - nice way to clear the head though
11th January|10 miles|8:06|Slightly faster than usual commute home
12th January|10 miles|8:34|Dashing though the snow... felt like a bit of a novelty run
13th January|5 miles|8:46|A few easy miles after work
14th January|9 miles|?|parkrun and getting there and back, as above
15th January|13.3 miles|8:11|Out to the edge of Portmarnock and back, felt a little nostalgic as I hadn't run this route in a while. Tired running into the wind on the way back and slowed down accordingly. It was late enough and I didn't feel like pushing myself.

Total: 64.2 miles
NextThis week: The paced mile in ALSAA on Wednesday looks on. A PB would be nice

Best of luck with that one. I won't make it tomorrow, but I'm hoping to get out in February for another go at the magical sub-6

Annie get your Run

Have you done the paced miles before B? I prob won't get there till 7.30 at the earliest, I know the runs don't start till 8 but hoping I'll still be in time to register etc - are they very strict I wonder?

Singer

Annie get your Run wrote: »

Have you done the paced miles before B? I prob won't get there till 7.30 at the earliest, I know the runs don't start till 8 but hoping I'll still be in time to register etc - are they very strict I wonder?

You should be fine showing up at 7.30 or not too longer after - they did a Q&A and group warm-up before getting everybody registered and out last year.

Annie get your Run

You're very slow with the ole race report B, one thing I'm faster than you at good to catch up earlier and well done on your fantastic time!

Singer

Here's a short race paced mile report for a short race paced mile.

As threatened I went along to the Irish Runner Paced Mile event in ALSAA this evening. The weather was excellent for a January evening, not cold at all and only a light breeze. I was wearing just racing shorts and a t-shirt once warmed up. The event was well organised once again, with registration, some short talks, group warm-up and picture taking place inside ALSAA before heading out for the main event. My wife was also along going for her first sub-8 mile, and I met AGYR and The Muppet and had a bit of a natter before doing some very brief warming up. Watching the other races was a bit of craic and good for getting into a positive frame of mind, though maybe I should have been doing a bit more warming up before the mile.

Anyway, I lined up for the 6 minute mile group. In this event last year I got around in 5:55, so I was hoping for a bit of an improvement on that. However last year I tore ahead at the start and suffered as a consequence and didn't feel like I finished strong. This year I am a far more wiser runner and decided to stick with the pacers until at least half way and then kick on if I could. Once we got going I ended up in the middle of the pack, a bit on the outside, which wasn't great. I went along with this until before the second turn on the second lap and dashed ahead a little to make sure I was running on the line. Around that time the group seemed to dissipate a bit and I ended up being kind of isolated anyway. Nothing too interesting for the 3rd lap, the pacer encouraged me to go ahead and I did a little, the support on the track was really nice though I was too busy running to acknowledge it, but I was smiling on the inside. Things were definitely getting harder by the fourth lap, but I dug in and finished in 5:50.

Splits were 0:02 (first 9 metres), 1:29, 1:30, 1:29, 1:23. I moved up from 8th on the first lap to 4th by the second, and 3rd for the last two laps.

Afterwards I did a cooldown with AGYR and TM, while admiring the graceful 5 minute milers tear around the track. Happy enough with how things went, pretty well run and it didn't feel as horrible as last year's effort. My better half cruised to a 7:53 (and entered the rest of the Paced Mile series), so a good evening of PBs in the Singer household.

tang1

Well done B, nice running.

The Muppet

Good going B you looked really comfortable out there . Congrats to tge better half too.

Singer

Annie get your Run wrote: »

You're very slow with the ole race report B, one thing I'm faster than you at good to catch up earlier and well done on your fantastic time!

Thanks! I did have to get all the way back to Swords...

Murph_D

You don't sound too happy about it, but well done anyway!

Singer

Murph_D wrote: »

You don't sound too happy about it, but well done anyway!

Yeh, it was a little underwhelming as a PB - 5 seconds isn't much progress compared to last year, and a lot of that would've been down to a much better run race. I did stay close to the pacer until the last lap or so though, and there's only so many seconds I could make up in the last lap. Also, it's not like I've done any mile specific training.

Bungy Girl

Singer wrote: »

Yeh, it was a little underwhelming as a PB - 5 seconds isn't much progress compared to last year, and a lot of that would've been down to a much better run race. I did stay close to the pacer until the last lap or so though, and there's only so many seconds I could make up in the last lap. Also, it's not like I've done any mile specific training.

Who was the pacer, Singer ? Did he/she do more or less even splits ?

BTW, I think 5 seconds quicker - in January! - is great progress without specific training.

Chartsengrafs

Singer wrote: »

Yeh, it was a little underwhelming as a PB - 5 seconds isn't much progress compared to last year

A reasonable amount over a mile though. Progress nonetheless.

annapr

Singer wrote: »

Yeh, it was a little underwhelming as a PB - 5 seconds isn't much progress compared to last year, and a lot of that would've been down to a much better run race. I did stay close to the pacer until the last lap or so though, and there's only so many seconds I could make up in the last lap. Also, it's not like I've done any mile specific training.

Well you are a far more wiser runner now so you shouldn't be underwhelmed by that PB! Well done to you and Mrs Singer!

Singer

Bungy Girl wrote: »

Who was the pacer, Singer ? Did he/she do more or less even splits ?

BTW, I think 5 seconds quicker - in January! - is great progress without specific training.

David Carrie was the pacer, he was at the top of the group and I made my way up. He was no more than a couple of seconds ahead of the pace before I pushed past him with even splits on the way, so a decent pacing job!

Wubble Wubble

Singer wrote: »

David Carrie was the pacer, he was at the top of the group and I made my way up. He was no more than a couple of seconds ahead of the pace before I pushed passed him with even splits on the way, so a decent pacing job!

He was also the pacer for my sub-6 attempt in March of last year. IIRC my mistake was trying to hang in right behind him the first two laps; going down the back straight on the third lap it all went pear shaped.

Singer

This was the first week of a trio of weeks with races, all of which I have soft-ish PBs in, so the target is 3 PBs obviously

Other than the mile race, I hit desired milage (arbitrary minimum for the week this year is 60 miles with 3 run commutes) and did an enjoyable steady run on Thursday, so not a bad week. I decided to do Sunday's longer run on the treadmill in the gym while watching sports on my phone. It seemed like a good lazy option as I was tired after a busy weekend, however it was mostly miserable and a good reminder of why I don't really like running on the treadmill. I was going way slower than the effort, and having the terrible numbers in my face all the time was bad for morale. Maybe I'll keep the treadmill for occasional recovery miles so.

Date|Distance|Pace|Notes
16th January|3.1 miles|9:06|A few easy miles in St. Stephen's Green at lunch
16th January|5.1 miles|9:15|A few more even easier miles later on
17th January|10.1 miles|8:26|Run commute. Don't remember a thing about it.
18th January|1.7 miles|?|A mile on the track with a very short warmup and a bit of cooldown.
19th January|10.3 miles|7:26|Fun steady run along the coast, felt great. Wasn't obsessing about pace and running mostly by feel.
20th January|10.1 miles|8:56|Easy run home.
21st January|6.7 miles|7:55|Loop around Malahide and Portmarnock while the older kid was in speech and drama.
22nd January|12.4 miles|10:05(!)|1% gradient treadmill long run. Totally miserable, not a long run I'll be doing again any time soon!


Total: 60 miles
Next week: Raheny! "A" goal is sub-32, "B" goal is a PB (currently 33:08, set in Raheny last year).

Singer

Raheny 5 race report!!!

Going into the race, I was mostly concerned about the lack of tang1's lack of encouragement on my training log before the race. He'd carpet-bombed most training logs with good wishes over the last day, but neglected my own. Had I done something to offend? Are my weekly updates not interesting enough? Maybe he just ran out of time?

Anyway, myself and the missus showed up to D5 a little later than I'd like (I like to show up to races, flights and meetings very early) but still with enough time to dump the bag and do a warmup of a mile or so. I threw myself into somewhere near the middle at the front, maybe about 10 people back from the start. I gave a shout out to diego_b and lined up with him just before the race started. Not too long after, the race started and we were ploughing our way through the 'burbs. Just like last year, the start was full of cars, turns and slow-coaches making things interesting.

I wasn't watch watching too much, but noticed around the time we got to the Howth Road that I was a good bit ahead of plan. The second mile was more along the lines that I'd expect but I was feeling like I was running at 5k race pace (i.e. way too fast). After the turn on to Mount Prospect I started to struggle and lost a few places. Around here I switched my Garmin from lap mode to overall mode, I didn't care about the pace and just cared about the final time. I tried to run alongside a few club runners, but to no real avail. Once into the park I tried to pick things up, but I found the turnaround a total pain, though I was doing a good job of distracting myself looking at the other runners going the other way in the park. The last mile was excruciating, I was in bits and barely able to keep myself upright. I did try to empty myself for the end, though it wasn't all out and reflected the misery of the last 2 miles. The best part of my race was in the last couple of hundred metres and I followed some runners onto the path, unfortunately with aquinn stewarding... "GET OFF THE PATH AND ONTO THE ROAD, YOU ARE ALL CHEATING, WELL DONE BRIAN!!!" (I was very studious about running the race line up until then, I thought a steward encouraged us up onto the path on a turn, however it all happened so fast so whatevs).

Result: 31:47 (6'11, 6'23, 6'22, 6'33, 6'16)

The goal was sub-32, so happy enough and a decent PB. However, it wasn't a well run race, and I paid for the quick-ish first mile in the last couple of miles. Socialising after the race was great, Raheny's setup is fantastic and it was great to meet up with loads of boards folks in the hall afterwards.

Date|Distance|Pace|Notes
23rd January|10.2 miles|8:14|Decent run home
24th January|5.2 miles|8:40|A few easy miles around D2/4
25th January|11.3 miles|9ish|A few easy miles, and a few on the treadmill watching Liverpool on treadmill (it wasn't worth the effort)
26th January|10.1 miles|8:37|****e run home from work
29th January|6.3 miles|?|A bit of warmup and a 5 mile race


Total: 43.2 miles
Next week: Hopefully a 10M PB at Trim... depending on weather etc.

Wubble Wubble

Well done B, congrats on the PB, I actually saw you in the hall but was on a very tight schedule, so sorry I didn't get to chat!

Ososlo

Great stuff, yer flying it! All the best now for next weekend! LOL at aquinn Class:D

Murph_D

Big cheater. No wonder tang dissed you. :rolleyes:

annapr

Ososlo wrote: »

Great stuff, yer flying it! All the best now for next weekend! LOL at aquinn Class:D

She wasn't even a steward... :pac:

Well done B, great time.

laura_ac3

annapr wrote: »

Ososlo wrote: »

Great stuff, yer flying it! All the best now for next weekend! LOL at aquinn Class:D

She wasn't even a steward... :pac:

Well done B, great time.

Took the words out of my mouth!

That's a great time even if you feel you didn't go about it the right way. Not every race you can get a decent pb and take away something to really improve on for next time, hopefully more gains to come with that.

hot buttered scones

Well done. 2 PBs for the year already!

Mrs Mc

Well done B good to see you yesterday

jake1970

Congrats on another PB B, a great start to the year.

Annie get your Run

annapr wrote: »

She wasn't even a steward... :pac:

Well done B, great time.

This was absolutely hilarious, when the runners started coming onto the path I moved across the road as knew from last year you're fighting a loosing battle but Aoife stood her ground You weren't alone Brian and there were plenty of club runners on the path too, even from Raheny :eek: Well done on the PB and great to catch up afterwards.

Wubble Wubble

Annie get your Run wrote: »

This was absolutely hilarious, when the runners started coming onto the path I moved across the road as knew from last year you're fighting a loosing battle but Aoife stood her ground You weren't alone Brian and there were plenty of club runners on the path too, even from Raheny :eek: Well done on the PB and great to catch up afterwards.

Pleased to say I didn't fall into that category. Although I didn't spot her, I'm still glad I didn't incur aquinn's wrath