Eye of the Tiger Beer.

Baby75 · 15-04-2019 3:03pm

well done, cracking run

Younganne · 15-04-2019 5:02pm

great report and great running B. Congrats on the PB

skyblue46 · 15-04-2019 5:16pm

Fantastic running B. Great race and a most enjoyable report. Well done.

Singer · 22-04-2019 10:07am

What if this is as good as it gets?

This week involved lots of easy miles to recover from the 10k PB last Sunday. I had a few aches and pains, so didn't bother with the club session, or anything fast all week. I did end up running to or from work every day in the end and feeling pretty good by Friday, when I set out intending to just hop on a bus half-way home but was feeling great so just ran all the way home. So... why not cash in on being in PB shape and giving parkrun a good go? I set off for Malahide wearing my 4%s, a little earlier than usual so I was able to take it easy on the way over and cool down a little before the run. I did a single stride on the way up to the start earlier, feeling great. I immediately met a club colleague, R, and Malahide regular, who I am regularly in and around the same pace at the club. He is the complete opposite of me - he runs twice a week, once at the club and once at parkrun, and has been regularly knocking out ~18:30 for the last couple of months. I made use of the extremely handy water fountain that's right beside the start of the parkrun, and lined up at the start. I got chatting to some other lad at the front, waved to HelenAnne and saw that TBO was on timing duty. So, a beautiful morning, somebody to run with, boardsies around and I'm wearing my fast runners. It was basically a race

Myself, R from the club and the other guy I was chatting to very quickly ended up together after things settled down after the start. My plan was to get to 3:43 pace or so and hold it for as long as possible. The start was a touch faster than that, the first km clicking through at 3:37, and though I was comfortable I was definitely feeling the pace. At this point I was ahead of R and just behind other guy. The uphill felt fast enough but I slowed afterwards and had to focus to catch back up to other guy before the left turn off into the trees. From here now I knew that GPS was utterly useless so I had to use the guys around me to help keep pace. Around half way I had to get some phlegm out, which then escalated and turned into a mild dry retch, though when it was over it went away and I powered back up. On the long straight in the forest I got to the top of our little group, and stayed there until mid-way through the 4th km we got back to the pitch and putt course, and things were getting pretty tough. A quick check of my watch where I think the last km starts reckons that 18:30 is in play anyway... trying to speed up, but also starting to fall apart. I attack the last hill, but by the end I'm a bit spent and there's nothing like a sprint finish left. R rockets past me at the top of the hill and I shout some encouragement. Out of nowhere some other guy also passes. Hitting the grass at the end for the last few metres felt like running through treacle. I stop my watch at 18:20, a 19 second PB(!!!). Vdot reckons it's better than the 10k performance, but the conditions and course were a good bit easier.

After taking a bit of time to recover I chat to R who got a 1 second PB. The other guy finds us and is over the moon having also PBed. On the way out of the park some kid kicked a ball in my direction and I backheeled it back to him. I go home the long way by the estuary, which was looking amazing in the sun. What if this is as good as it gets? On my slow-long-run on Sunday I was wearing my Fingal 10k 2014 t-shirt, my first ever race and it got me thinking about the last 5 years of running. There's a reasonable chance that these two PBs may never be broken, after all it's been two years since my last pair of 5k and 10k PBs. Not that I have any intention of slacking off or anything, but I could get injured or fall into a running malaise or just not ever get back into my current shape... the tyranny of having just set some good PBs

My maudlin thoughts on my long run may have been triggered by a niggle. Something on the inside of my upper left leg was sore after the 10k, but got better over the week. After the 5k it was sore again, and I was feeling it all day Sunday. When I started my run on Sunday evening it was very sore and I immediately pulled up. I was starting to walk back home and worrying about missing some runs, when I decided to see if it would just go away after a bit more running. After a couple of minutes it pretty much went away. Something to keep an eye on.

Date|Distance|Pace|Notes
15th April|9.9 miles|9:10|A commute. I got into trouble on Strava 'cos I ran 9.95 miles. In my defence my watch was still stuck on kms after the previous day's 10k race.
16th April|9.1 miles|8:38|Another commute home.
17th April|9.1 miles|9:15|Another commute, except this was into work in the morning, because I was going to the pub to watch the football later on.
18th April|9.9 miles|9:04|A commute from the Aviva stadium, where I was attending an offsite meeting.
19th April|9.1 miles|9:09|Last commute of the week.
20th April|9.7 miles|?|To and from and Malahide parkrun itself.
21st April|14.1 miles|8:55|Some evening exploration. Went along the other side of Malahide Estuary and up towards Newbridge House, but then turning back towards Swords where I ran along some lesser ran routes. Niggle was a problem at the start but went away after a couple of minutes of running.

Total: 71.2 miles
Next week: Some pilates and a mid-week session would be great.

Singer · 22-04-2019 10:10am

Murph_D wrote: »

Congrats Brian! Can't believe the wind wasn't a factor - you must be in great shape. What caused the cut, your shoe? Are the vaporflys ruined? :eek:

The reports of the death of the Vaporflys were greatly exaggerated... the socks are in the bin though. Don't run a race in socks with holes in them, even if they are running socks. Took me this long to figure this out :rolleyes: :pac:

OOnegative · 22-04-2019 11:00am

Well done B, your in a rich vein of form man, great to see.

Younganne · 22-04-2019 11:38am

Well done on another PB. Take these great days and enjoy then, but I'm sure there's plenty more PBs to come.

Huzzah! · 22-04-2019 7:47pm

Singer wrote: »

R rockets past me at the top of the hill and I shout some encouragement. Out of nowhere some other guy also passes. Hitting the grass at the end for the last few metres felt like running through treacle. I stop my watch at 18:20, a 19 second PB(!!!). Vdot reckons it's better than the 10k performance, but the conditions and course were a good bit easier.

Something tells me there's plenty more to come! Congrats on the PB - that's some going so close to the 10k race and in the midst of a 70-mile week :eek:

shotgunmcos · 22-04-2019 7:59pm

Well done, good running.
And +1 chunky pb at the end of a 70m week! Nice!

HelenAnne · 23-04-2019 9:54am

Wow! Well done! And great report!

aquinn · 23-04-2019 9:56am

Oh excellent going, good man B.

mister paul · 23-04-2019 2:33pm

Singer wrote: »

The reports of the death of the Vaporflys were greatly exaggerated... the socks are in the bin though. Don't run a race in socks with holes in them, even if they are running socks. Took me this long to figure this out :rolleyes: :pac:

I don't know about that. If they have holes in them they'll be lighter as a result. Must be worth at least a 1% improvement.

skyblue46 · 23-04-2019 9:17pm

Well done on some great racing recently B.

I'm sure that archeologists of the future will uncover your well worn steps from home to work and admire the dedication that could make an imprint on concrete!!

Singer · 23-04-2019 9:28pm

skyblue46 wrote: »

Well done on some great racing recently B.

I'm sure that archeologists of the future will uncover your well worn steps from home to work and admire the dedication that could make an imprint on concrete!!

Thanks!

There was a thread on boards a while back where somebody was asking was it possible to walk from the airport to the city centre. It was fully answered by the time I saw it, and I was gutted that I missed out on declaring myself to be the current world expert at this specific topic!

Singer · 23-04-2019 9:32pm

mister paul wrote: »

I don't know about that. If they have holes in them they'll be lighter as a result. Must be worth at least a 1% improvement.

They were a particularly minimal pair of 1000 Mile anklet socks, even without the holes. I generally have used thicker socks with the 4%s in the past, mostly to add a little bit of extra ballast against their flimsy, lightweight construction. The thicker socks will be coming back out in the run-up to marathon season anyway.

OOnegative · 05-05-2019 4:17pm

Another PB over 10km if i’m correct B, on a bitch of a route by all accounts. In a rich vein of form man.

Singer · 05-05-2019 9:06pm

2nd May|10 miles|8:53|A run home with company from C. and A. for the first few miles.
3rd May|3.7 miles|8:53|Working from home, so just did a few miles in the morning.
4th May|8.7 miles|?|Rivervalley parkrun. I was pacing 23 minutes, and came in at 22:54. Was going to do 21, but the bib went missing, so did the next fastest. Had an enthusiastic guy with me for a bit, but he ended up having a tough time on the hills. A couple of lads used me near the end, so not a total lone-fest.
5th May|13.1 miles|?|Junior parkrun, some warming up and cooling down, and a PB 10k in Drogheda

(race report to follow)

Total: 70 miles (I am totally counting the slower couple of miles with the kids, don't @ me)

April total: 258 miles. A little down due to little bit of tapering.

Next week: A trip to Brexit will eat up a lot of my week, so playing it by ear.

Singer · 05-05-2019 10:13pm

Race report!!!

Unsurprisingly I haven't been following a plan or anything recently, but a good go at a 10k was the vague plan when I registered for Drogheda back in February. Training has been consistent, and I've managed to run three good PBs (Rivervalley parkrun, 10k and 5k). I did taper for the Great Ireland Run and treated it as a PB opportunity, which worked out despite a tough enough course and a windy day. So a good run at Drogheda would be a cherry on top. I ran Drogheda 3 years ago as a non-target race and enjoyed it a lot. Nobody else I knew was running it, but it was just 30 minutes up the road and a good way to break-up the bank holiday weekend. I did the junior parkrun in the morning, and got abandoned at home as my wife took the kids to her parents for a fry-up, claiming that I was too annoying to be around before a race and that I was best left along. I played some Sonic Mania on the kids' Nintendo Switch on my own to do something with my pre-race energy. After what seemed like a million hours later, I finally got on the road to Drogheda, arriving pointlessly early as is tradition. I wandered around the shopping centre where I'd parked, then strolled over to the start area and eventually dropped off my bag and started a 20 minute warm-up. On the way back into the town I randomly bumped into one of my closest genetic relations, my mother's identical sister who lives in the town. She wished me good luck and asked was I looking forward to it... "Nope, not at all!" was my response. I hopped into the start area close enough to the front.

The start bit. (3:41, 3:53, 3:40)

My vague plan was to run between 3:45 and 3:50 kms depending on the layout, get over 5k around 19 minutes and then not lose too much time on the ridiculous hill at the 7km mark. The start was totally fine, but I went out enthusiastically fast. It was surprisingly bumpy, either we were going up or going down. I was working harder than I thought I would be.

The next bit. (3:58(!), 3:45, 3:46)

More bumps and a particularly slow km, maybe feeling the fast start. I had a disasterous run through the first water station, my mouth was dry so I picked up a cup and then rammed my cup into another cup or two being held out... spilling most of all the water in the process. I then held onto the cup for another 3k until the next water station. Once we were past the M1 the bumps stopped being bumpy and I could get into a decent rhythm, and I felt a lot better than I was feeling earlier on in the race. I went over 5k in 18:56 or so. However I was kind of aware of a minor bump in the road coming up...

WTF: (3:55, 4:16, 3:35, 3:44)

So still going good, and then the plod up Rathmullen Mountain starts. This thing should be mocked relentlessly on social media. It is a complete farce! I cannot say enough bad things about it. Anyway, along I go slowing down woefully, and a Clonliffe lad starts walking just ahead of me. I bobble on past, and somewhere near the peak of the mountain he starts catching up, and then we yo-yo for a bit and I give him a bit of encouragement. The downhill is incredible, and I try to take as much advantage as I can. Myself and Clonliffe run together for a bit, but he pulls ahead as he's clearly vastly fitter than I am. I feel good back along the Boyne again, and then when we go up another short climb Clonliffe starts walking again, and I give encouragement again. From there on it's back over the Boyne and into the best race finish ever other than DCM. Heading up the hill there's good support and a bunch of drummers at the top. Then it's 250 metres or so of straight running towards the finished surrounded by clapping crowds. The DJ was playing "Love Shack" by the B-52s as I legged it down West Street which I loved. I was a little disappointed that I wasn't closer to 38, but was just about in PB land (7 seconds).

Result: 38:18 34th / 1496 (!)

Tired enough at the end, paused for a few seconds then made my way towards the bag drop. When there I offered Clonliffe dude a cooldown but he was done with running for the day. I opened Strava and saw that I had run 66.9 miles for the week... so I did a 3.1 mile cooldown around the town. I usually ignore cooldowns, but annoyingly I felt the best I've ever felt after a race when I got home. My better half even commented that I wasn't walking like John Wayne like I usually do after a race! I guess the moral here is to not bother with tapers and run at least 70 miles in a week when you do a race, but make sure you do a cooldown.

Wubble Wubble · 05-05-2019 10:19pm

Singer wrote: »

Race report!!!

The start bit. (3:41, 3:53, 3:40)

My vague plan was to run between 3:45 and 3:50 miles depending on the layout, get over 5k around 19 minutes and then not lose too much time on the ridiculous hill at the 7km mark. The start was totally fine, but I went out enthusiastically fast. It was surprisingly bumpy, either we were going up or going down. I was working harder than I thought I would be.

The next bit. (3:58(!), 3:45, 3:46)

More bumps and a particularly slow km, maybe feeling the fast start. I had a disasterous run through the first water station, my mouth was dry so I picked up a cup and then rammed my cup into another cup or two being held out... spilling most of all the water in the process. I then held onto the cup for another 3k until the next water station. Once we were past the M1 the bumps stopped being bumpy and I could get into a decent rhythm, and I felt a lot better than I was feeling earlier on in the race. I went over 5k in 18:56 or so. However I was kind of aware of a minor bump in the road coming up...

WTF: (3:55, 4:16, 3:35, 3:44)

So still going good, and then the plod up Rathmullen Mountain starts. This thing should be mocked relentlessly on social media. It is a complete farce! I cannot say enough bad things about it. Anyway, along I go slowing down woefully, and a Clonliffe lad starts walking just ahead of me. I bobble on past, and somewhere near the peak of the mountain he starts catching up, and
Result: 38:18 34th / 1496 (!)

Tired enough at the end, paused for a few seconds then made my way towards the bag drop. When there I offered Clonliffe dude a cooldown but he was done with running for the day. I opened Strava and saw that I had run 66.9 miles for the week... so I did a 3.1 mile cooldown around the town. I usually ignore cooldowns, but annoyingly I felt the best I've ever felt after a race when I got home. My better half even commented that I wasn't walking like John Wayne like I usually do after a race! I guess the moral here is to not bother with tapers and run at least 70 miles in a week when you do a race, but make sure you do a cooldown.

Enjoyed that report, congrats on the PB. I'd expect a fast time all right if I could ever run one mile that quick, let alone three :pac: Clearly the ability to recover is improving too!

Singer · 05-05-2019 10:32pm

Wubble Wubble wrote: »

Enjoyed that report, congrats on the PB. I'd expect a fast time all right if I could ever run one mile that quick, let alone three :pac: Clearly the ability to recover is improving too!

Damnit! Corrected

My ability to bother recovering is definitely improving. If it was much more than 5k I wouldn't have bothered!

Murph_D · 05-05-2019 10:50pm

Congrats B - on the race and the cooldown.

Two observations:
1. It’s not possible to be too early to a race. Relaxing slowly into the atmosphere often leads to a good performance, I find.
2. Love Shack - who wouldn’t muster up a great finish to that tune?

Great running. Boo to that antisocial Clonliffe lad (typical).

The Black Oil · 09-05-2019 1:11pm

Pokemon is still on the go..?

Curious what you find works with your training re delivering when a race is on the horizon. Are you one for much S&C too?

aquinn · 09-05-2019 4:23pm

This is brilliant and really cheered up my afternoon!

WTF: (3:55, 4:16, 3:35, 3:44)

So still going good, and then the plod up Rathmullen Mountain starts. This thing should be mocked relentlessly on social media. It is a complete farce! I cannot say enough bad things about it. Anyway, along I go slowing down woefully, and a Clonliffe lad starts walking just ahead of me. I bobble on past, and somewhere near the peak of the mountain he starts catching up, and then we yo-yo for a bit and I give him a bit of encouragement. The downhill is incredible, and I try to take as much advantage as I can. Myself and Clonliffe run together for a bit, but he pulls ahead as he's clearly vastly fitter than I am. I feel good back along the Boyne again, and then when we go up another short climb Clonliffe starts walking again, and I give encouragement again.

Well done on the PB.

Singer · 11-05-2019 11:10pm

The Black Oil wrote: »

Pokemon is still on the go..?

Curious what you find works with your training re delivering when a race is on the horizon. Are you one for much S&C too?

Pokemon is very much on the go! There's even a movie out this week. I have tolerated a lot of kids stuff over the last few years, but I just don't get Pokemon at all.

Regarding race week, I definitely prefer to have the engines revving. Every sub-40 10k and my most marathon PB have been done the day after a fairly aggressive parkrun (like, 22 minutes or so). I generally reduce the volume too for a target race but put in a moderate amount of quality running the week of the race. This may not work for everybody, but seems to work for me!

S&C-wise, I used to do a bunch of half-a$$ed gym stuff, but gave it up many years ago. However over the last few months I've been doing a weekly pilates session, and this has coincided with a load of PBs and being able to maintain a good amount of quality training while increasing volume. A load of niggles have simply gone away and I don't believe in coincidences. Next week I'm going to add in a yoga session as well as the pilates!

Singer · 12-05-2019 7:30pm

Not a great week. As predicted being over in London impacted milage, and I missed the mid-week session due to a mix of football and travel guilt. I wasn't feeling great either by the end of the week, some sort of tummy bug was going around the house and I was a little under the weather as a result, so the weekend's running was pretty tame. I did pick up a copy of the Hanson's Marathon Method having read shotgun's report, and am considering following it for DCM, though it'll probably need to be a 12 week version.

Date|Distance|Pace|Notes
6th May|6.7 miles|8:51|Easy enough bank holiday miles, post-race and a little hungover.
7th May|9.1 miles|9:04|A run-commute. Didn't notice going over 1000 miles for the year until now.
8th May|6.2 miles|8:42|Got in a run in the middle of the day in London. Was down at the Excel, managed to find a greenway that links up the Olympic sites so ran to the stadium and back. The greenway was great, as was listening to Second Captains' post-Liverpool podcast.
9th May|2.8 miles|8:42|Flew back into Dublin in the late afternoon and just had a backpack, so jogged home instead of waiting for a bus. Intended to get back out later, but was totally knackered.
10th May|11.2 miles|8:50|Slightly longer commute home, diverted via Rivervalley.
11th May|9.9 miles|?|To and from and Rivervalley parkrun in 20:23. Ok effort given tummy woes, finished third and went for a cooldown with the other podium dwellers.
12th May|1.2 miles|10:13|Holywell junior parkrun with the 8 year old. He talked to me the whole time about the characters he'd invent in Minecraft. Just a few seconds off a PB, if only he'd shutup!
12th May|13.7 miles|8:48|The usual easy 2 hours around Malahide etc. Noticed that I was spending a lot of time thinking about food for the second half of the run, so was probably a bit under-fueled/watered. It was nice to be running in nice weather again.

Total: 61.2 miles

Next week: Back to the club. The following week will probably involve a certain Mr. Bob Heffernan!

AuldManKing · 13-05-2019 9:48am

I was wondering if 2nd Captains would follow their L'Pool episode with a similar length Spurs edition.
They did.......sort off........but also included more about L'Pool from Richie.

Might see you in Enfield so.

Singer · 13-05-2019 12:50pm

AuldManKing wrote: »

I was wondering if 2nd Captains would follow their L'Pool episode with a similar length Spurs edition.
They did.......sort off........but also included more about L'Pool from Richie.

Might see you in Enfield so.

If the Spurs game had have been on the Tuesday night it would have gotten more air time! At least Spurs got covered, the two other London teams who got through to some final or other weren't mentioned at all on Friday :pac:

eyrie · 14-05-2019 11:55am

Just read and thoroughly enjoyed your Drogheda report. Congrats on the PB! The great form continues.

Singer wrote: »

So still going good, and then the plod up Rathmullen Mountain starts. This thing should be mocked relentlessly on social media. It is a complete farce! I cannot say enough bad things about it.

Brilliant.

Singer · 19-05-2019 7:44pm

I haven't been sacrificing enough goats to the niggle gods recently, a bunch of minor woes popped up. My upper left leg was a bit sore when not running. I got a blister on one of my left toes too. And then my right calf got a bit tender, and that somehow then translated into a sore right foot that was sore to walk on first thing in the morning. None of this stopped me from running, but made me appreciate the last while of a joyous niggle-free existence.

Tuesday was back to the club, and I had a bit of a terrible session, probably due to being out of practice at intervals and some over-optimistic paces. Other than that, the only quality running was pacing 21 minutes at Malahide parkrun.

Date|Distance|Pace|Notes
13th May|10.1 miles|8:58|A commute
14th May|9.9 miles|?|Cru session - 8 x 600 off 200ish jog: 2:06, 2:07, 2:11, 2:14, 2:13, 2:15, 2:16, 2:15
15th May|9.1 miles|8:44|Another commute. A little earlier than usual as I was picking up the kids from afterschool. Exciting.
16th May|10.9 miles|8:30|Another commute, this time via Malahide.
17th May|10.2 miles|8:56|Yet another commute.
18th May|8.9 miles|?|To/from/pacing at Malahide parkrun. Did it in 20:48, which was very comfortable. Had a few folks around me until the 4th km when I seemed to burn them off, but then a few came back and we got a few other folks who were slowing down towards the end, so there was a good group around when we were finishing, all of whom managed to get ahead of me. I was the last finisher who finished under 21 minutes, so job done. I ended up with no volunteer credit, probably because I only offered my services on the morning. Definitely asking for my money back!
19th May|1.2 miles|10:34|Junior parkrun with the 8 year old. He started way too fast and suffered as a result. Today we were chatting about the game "Cuphead" and what baddies we would be if we were in the game.
19th May|13.2 miles|8:53|Easy longish run around Malahide Castle and stuff

Total: 73.9 miles

Next week: Taper time!!! As in, run less than usual on Monday, then Bob Heffernan on Tuesday! I'd be delighted with a 1 second PB. The plan will be to go out at PB pace and see what happens. Hope to see some of yiz there

skyblue46 · 19-05-2019 7:53pm

The mileage you are doing!!! That'll have to pay back in spades some day. It's very impressive. Great stuff

Eye of the Tiger Beer.

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