From Couch 25k To Where Ever

The Muppet

45 minutes on the bike this evening for my cross session .

The Muppet

45 minutes on the bike this evening for my cross session .

The Muppet

45 minutes easy tonight @ 130 BPM

3.9 miles@ 11:24 pace

The Muppet

Step back week so i had a bit of a session today . 30 minutes easy with 6 x 45 seconds at 5 k pace (7:48) with 90 second recovery.

Splits were too short to run by watch so the pace was a liitle above my 5k pace' they ranged from 7.22 to 6.45 min mile. Jogged the recoveries.

3.02 miles @ 10:36 pace

.

The Muppet

Ran my 40 minutes easy at lunchtime today as I was starting my pilates class this evening.

44 minutes @ 131 bpm

4.08 miles @ 10:40 pace

Went to my pilates class this evening and it was cancelled . Disappointed with that but cest la vie.

The Muppet

My intention for the last few weeks has been to sign off my current plan with a park run today.

This morning I took myself off to St Anne's park to try out their shiny new course.

I parked at the main gate and did a 1 mile warm up on the avenue. I wasn't sure if the new course was 1 or 2 laps but the race director put me right on this in the walk to the start.

There were pacers this morning for 21, 25 minutes ,27 and 29 minutes. I decided to adopt singers 5k strategy of going out hard and trying to hang on so the plan was to stick with the 23 pacer for as long as possible and the try hang on for home.

Rookie error from the off I was too far back from my pacer so had some catching up to do . It took me half the first lap to get into the back of the 23 group but I did and was running comfortably .

I was recording the run on my watch but had made a decision I was not going to look at it as in my last parkrun looking at it led to me conciously easing off when perhaps I didn't need to.

By the hill at the end of lap 1 I had moved through the 23 group and was right in behind the pacer and still feeling comfortable.

Into lap 2 now and the pacer and a few others started to pull away a little as I expected and so I just concentrated on keeping everything right and heading for home.

Just before the hill for the second time a guy with a buggy went by me but slowed when he hit the hill and I passed him . I knew I was nearly there now so I tried to push on to hold my position someone nearly went by me on the home straight but I held on .

Queued to hand in my chip and remembered I hadn't stopped my watch. I looked at it and it read 24:18 . My pb was 24:14 so I though I may have a new pb but wasn't sure.

I thanked the pacer and the race director for their help and jogged the mile back to my car as a cool down

My thoughts on the run is I could possibly have knocked a few seconds off had I started right behind the pacer.

I love the new course but I think the hills make it little tougher than the old one . I only ran that once so perhaps that's just my perception.

That's me done with the speedy (for me) stuff until after October. I'm totally focused on marathon training from tomorrow though I do intend to volunteer to help with the Malahide and St Annes parkrun, marathon training permitting .


I was on myles splitz dcm graduate plan and made massive progression on it . Thanks again Myles.


It was quite warm this morning and I made a few Rookie errors but I really enjoyed the run and I am delighted with my new 5k pb of 24:07.

Kennyg71

Well done on PB, and if you started a bit back in a chip timed race you could
easily have another 10-15 sec, it takes about 45 sec from front to back to
pass start line, great run.

FIFA2004

Congrats on the pb!!! Well deserved! With your dedication you'll have no bother with the marathon training!

The Muppet

Thanks Fifa . Don't know about the no bother bit, it's a tough schedule. If I can stay injury free I believe I can do the training runs on the plan and that should get me to the start line in good enough shape to do the distance .

Did you get out yourself this morning?

The Muppet

Kennyg71 wrote: »

Well done on PB, and if you started a bit back in a chip timed race you could
easily have another 10-15 sec, it takes about 45 sec from front to back to
pass start line, great run.

Thanks

Perhaps but I doubt I lost 10 to 15 seconds though 8 would have been nice .

I was happy with the run the pb is what it is . I beat myself again and any day I can do that is a good day.

To beat myself by 8 or more seconds and get under 24 will be my next target but it'll have to wait until next year I'd say.

Maximus Alexander

Well done, hope you have a PB beer lined up!

Kennyg71

The Muppet wrote: »

Thanks

Perhaps but I doubt I lost 10 to 15 seconds though 8 would have been nice .

I was happy with the run the pb is what it is . I beat myself again and any day I can do that is a good day.

To beat myself by 8 or more seconds and get under 24 will be my next target but it'll have to wait until next year I'd say.

Your making great progress and a Marathon cycle will see you much stronger
on the other side and hopefully all your times will start to tumble. But the main
thing is Marthon program for now, will follow your progress:)

FIFA2004

The Muppet wrote: »

Thanks Fifa . Don't know about the no bother bit, it's a tough schedule. If I can stay injury free I believe I can do the training runs on the plan and that should get me to the start line in good enough shape to do the distance .

Did you get out yourself this morning?

No bother might be overstating it, but if anyone has what it takes its you!
Decided the most sensible thing was to avoid the temptation of chasing a pb this morning and to take the opportunity for a lie in and to get 10km in before the mini marathon next week so got that in this evening

Singer

Great stuff T, nice running! Your consistency and dedication is definitely paying off. I think you'll really enjoy marathon training! Also I noticed 1 mile and 2 mile PBs on Strava, PBs all over the place

The Muppet

Singer wrote: »

Great stuff T, nice running! Your consistency and dedication is definitely paying off. I think you'll really enjoy marathon training! Also I noticed 1 mile and 2 mile PBs on Strava, PBs all over the place

Thanks B . Yep stravas big on the achievements .


I am really looking forward to getting stuck into marathon training but i am apprehensive about it too.

I read your news today , delighted to see it doesn't appear to be as bad as you feared yesterday. Hope you have a speedy recovery but enjoy the rest too you are doing some milage and a lot of it at speed too.

The Muppet

Two hour LSR this morning. I ran from swords into Santry and back on the old airport road, I'd never ran this route before but it is actually quite nice underfoot a lot of its tarmac. Its quite hilly but mostly uphill going in and downhill on the return journey. I kept it nice and easy after yesterdays exploits.

I ran it on empty again but I did dig out my old water belt and brought it with me , i was glad of it tbh its a warm morning. I was fantasying about my post run meal of scrambled egg on a bagel during the run.

Tummy was a little upset on the run , I don't know if this was caused by wearing the waterbelt or the pizza I ate last night.

Did a myrtl session followed by a good foam rolling when I got home and turned my fantasy meal into reality.

2 hours @ 126 BPM

10.42 miles @ 11:27 pace

tailgunner

Just catching up here, congrats on the PB!

Bungy Girl

Well done on the PB! Maybe pencil Jingle Bells into your calendar post DCM all going well ?
You're very disciplined in your approach for the marathon and that is bound to stand to you. Best of luck !

Kennyg71

Nice LR this morning, not to sure it is recommend to run on empty in first
marathon cycle, as body has enough to adapt too. Maybe a question for novice
thread. There are pros and cons to running empty, and con is asking muscles
to push harder than ever before and depriving them of fuel, I would take on
food and hydrate as much as possible on LR. Just my tupance worth, and not
suggesting your approach is wrong.

Ososlo

Congrats on lovely new PB TM and nice long run this morning too. I've seen you say on a few occasions that you're a little bit worried about marathon training. I think you should feel very confident. As BG says, you're very disciplined, and your training has been very solid for a long time now. You should be brimming full of confidence imo. You're training really well so keep it up and OWN IT as the cool kids say these days

fwiw: I did loads of long runs up to 20 miles on empty for my first marathon and it didn't have any negative impact imo. Whether it had an real benefits, well I can't say, maybe it wasn't necessary for a first time marathoner. Just keep a close eye on your recovery etc...

Continue enjoying it as that's the main thing!

The Muppet

Kennyg71 wrote: »

Nice LR this morning, not to sure it is recommend to run on empty in first
marathon cycle, as body has enough to adapt too. Maybe a question for novice
thread. There are pros and cons to running empty, and con is asking muscles
to push harder than ever before and depriving them of fuel, I would take on
food and hydrate as much as possible on LR. Just my tupance worth, and not
suggesting your approach is wrong.

No probs, all constructive criticism and advice from experienced runners is always welcome and taken on board.

I am in the habit of running early on Sunday mornings to leave the rest of my day for family time, I've always just got up and gone out on a glass of water, I think it dates back to my couch to 5 k days when I did the same. I have been giving some thought to fueling and hydration on the longer runs and I will be switching my LSRs to Saturday Mornings this week in line with the plan, I leave my other half to work Saturdays at 9 so that will allow me run a little later in the mornings with time to fuel an hour or two before running and allow me do my lsrs on nicer routes around your neck of the woods actually . That's the plan anyway, I'll see how it works.

Ososlo wrote: »

Congrats on lovely new PB TM and nice long run this morning too. I've seen you say on a few occasions that you're a little bit worried about marathon training. I think you should feel very confident. As BG says, you're very disciplined, and your training has been very solid for a long time now. You should be brimming full of confidence imo. You're training really well so keep it up and OWN IT as the cool kids say these days

fwiw: I did loads of long runs up to 20 miles on empty for my first marathon and it didn't have any negative impact imo. Whether it had an real benefits, well I can't say, maybe it wasn't necessary for a first time marathoner. Just keep a close eye on your recovery etc...

Continue enjoying it as that's the main thing!

Thanks for the advice and encouragement as always ososlo , I respect the distance but I'm not really worried about the marathon training , I think I could probably manage any of the training weeks now if I wanted I am quite confident of completing the training if I can stay fit. .

My apprehension stems from my knee injury before last Xmas, That reared its head when my lsrs got over 13 miles and its in the back of my mind that it'll come back at me, That's why I always mention staying injury free when talking about my goals for the marathon.


B.T.W Good luck Today not that you need luck , and your log is too quiet, just though I'd mention that when the opportunity arose.:)

jake1970

Congrats on the 5k PB.
Best of luck with the marathon training.

The Muppet

50 minutes cross training on the bike on the back roads of north county dublin on a beautiful sunny day . What could be more enjoyable ?

The Muppet

Back to running miles rather than running by time this week to build the milage back up a little. They will be all easy runs and I'm ran by heart rate .

5.06 miles easy @136 bpm, scorcher of a day , difficult enough to keep the heart rate down in that heat.

The Muppet

End of Month milage update , Just under the 500 mile mark for the year. Happy with that.

Month|2016|2015|2014|2013
jan|94.78|46.2|8.31|0
feb|61.68|13.9|30.35|0
March|111|4.64|47.37|7
April|110.7|21.08|42.23|25.01
May|121.32|65.69|36.37|33.78
June|-|97.03|52.69|33
July|-|108.73|25.33|49.74
August|-|110.42|57.9|29.42
September|-|94.12|58.37|13.87
October|-|125.17|95.32|3.01
November|-|100.78|88.95|0
December|-|63.16|23.83|0
Totals|499.48|851.69|567.02|194.83

The Muppet

6.43 miles @ 11:25 131 bpm tonight.
Left it until it cooled down a little before heading out it was still warm but there was a bit of a breeze I'm places overall a lovely evening for a run

The Muppet

Another scorcher of a day . Went out a bit earlier than usual in this weather . Felt good though it was just an easy run.

5.06 miles @ 11:26 pace 127 bpm


Had to stop a few times to adjust heart strap as it kept slipping . Not sure if it was due to sweating or if I'm shrinking .

The Muppet

Ran my first saturday LSR today. Up at 7:30 breakfast was a bowl of granola and Blueberry Yogurt , I noticed this has too much sugar content for me really but I figured I'd run it off so I ate it anyway.

I set off at 20 to 9 to run the 4 miles to malahide with the intention of arriving there just in time for the parkrun.

3.9 miles @10:55 133 bpm

The plan the was to run the parkrun at pmp, I'm not certain what my pmp is but I picked 4 hour 30 as my planned pace which would make my pmp 10:18 . I wanted to do this as I have never ran a race without racing it and I want to teach myself discipline at sticking to my own paces when running in a group.

Over all I stuck to the pace except for the last hill when a guy went past me and the demon side of me decided I was going to make it tough for him if he wanted to finish ahead of me so I passed him right back, he came back at me again going up the hill but i just upped the pace a little, he tried to pass me again on the run to the finish but I was having none of that as I had plenty left in the tank and sprinted to the line.

my watch time is 3.1 miles @ 10:05 pace avg HR 138

Had a Glass of water and chat with a few other runners after the run,
one older gentleman who I ran beside for the first two miles he was tipping along nicely at 10:18 pace not a bother on him. He impressed me so I had to have a chat with him.

Headed for home then with a Little detour to get to my planned 11 miles for the run . 4.9 miles @ 11:57 pace 133 BPM


Its really interesting to see how the different paces relate to the heart rates for each section of my Lsr today and how my pace dropped as I tired/ ran out of fuel.

incorporating the park run effectively broke my LSR into 3 section, adding a variety of paces making it really enjoyable

11.8 miles in 2 hours 16 minutes

The Muppet

3:14 mile recovery run this morning. Woke at 6 :30 but with my LSR done yesterday I decided to have a lie in, woke again at 9:30 :eek: Most unlike me I must have been tired .

The legs are a little stiff after yesterdays run so I wasn't up to much more than a recovery run today anyway. they eased out a bit when i got moving. I found it an extremely heavy morning out here .

3.14 miles @ 121 bpm recovery 12:45 pace

That's a decent weeks running , 31.5 miles in total all easy except for the 3 @ pmp pace yesterday . Thinking about the pmp yesterday my HR running @10:05 pace was 138 just slightly higher than it is on my easy runs ,a sign to me that the HR training is working, it would definitely have been in the mid 140s previously running at that pace.

re pmp pace im working off a 4:30 marathon but I am undecided between 4:30 or 4:45 as a pmp , there's plenty of time before decided what I will go for, I really want to enjoy my first marathon and take in the atmosphere as much as that's possible while running 26.2 miles.

I hope to do similar milage for the next few weeks and then blend into one of the marathon plans at the end of the month.

The Muppet

50 minutes cycle this evening . Stuck in the car and inside all day at a family gathering it was really nice to get out on the bike. Nice evening with a light breeze here in north dublin.

The Muppet

Easy 5.1 miles this evening @132 bpm

5.1 miles @ 10:45 pace

Twas warm

The Muppet

Out at lunchtime for my run today.
6.69 miles @133 bpm @10:56 pace

The Muppet

Out at lunchtime again today . Was lovely running into the breeze , pretty warm with the breeze at my back.

5.25 miles @132 bpm 10:25 pace


Starting my pilates class this evening .

The Muppet

Just back from my pilates class . I found some of the movements tough, and breathing proprely doesn't come naturally to me but I really enjoyed it and I'm sure I will get the hang of the breathing.

I did a 5 mile run this afternoon . I'm not sure if I should run on the day I do pilates or if I am i should run after the class .

I really enjoyed the class and can feel the benefit of the exercises.

The Muppet

Just back from my pilates class . I found some of the movements tough, and breathing proprely doesn't come naturally to me but I really enjoyed it and I'm sure I will get the hang of the breathing.

I did a 5 mile run this afternoon . I'm not sure if I should run on the day I do pilates or if I am i should run after the class .

I really enjoyed the class and can feel the benefit of the exercises.

The Muppet

13.5 mile LSR today in 2 hours 26.30 minutes at 131 BPM 10:51 average pace.

I decide to experiment with my fuelling on this run. I had a bowl of porridge for breakfast at 8:30, chilled an watch a bit of tv to let it settle and then headed over to coolock for my run . Filled my running bottle with 1 liter of water and a high 5 zero tab, I took a citrus flavoured gel before heading off with 300ml of water. I found the gel a little sickly , not mad about it tbh but apart from that it was all right.

At 4 miles I took another high 5 gel , this time a raspberry one, It wasn't as sickly but I'm still not overly mad about gels but I suppose they are a necessary evil for the big day and apart from not liking them they didn't have any negative effect on me. I will go with the raspberry one on the day I think.

The run itself was grand, Felt good the whole way . My route took me from Coolock down the Malahide road to Fairview and the back out the Howth road through Clontarf to Baldoyle and back up to Coolock. I knew it was around 13 miles as I've ran it before. Running the Howth road is lovely with a nice breeze coming in off Dublin bay.

It was a warm day but there were some ominous looking clouds from the off, I was sure I was going to get a nice cooling shower but no, It started to rain five minutes after the run finished, Typical.

I upped the pace along the coast and ran from miles 7 to 12 around pmp. I felt quite good on completion , I feel I could certainly have added a few miles if I had to.

Overall a good run and a learning experience with the gels and the drink, My longest run since last year.

The Muppet

3.1 mile recovery run on grass ( the surface not a new fueling strategy).

3.1 miles @ 123 bpm 11:39 avg pace.

Warm enough though there was a nice breeze in places .

Bungy Girl

The Muppet wrote: »

Just back from my pilates class . I found some of the movements tough, and breathing proprely doesn't come naturally to me but I really enjoyed it and I'm sure I will get the hang of the breathing.

I did a 5 mile run this afternoon . I'm not sure if I should run on the day I do pilates or if I am i should run after the class .

I really enjoyed the class and can feel the benefit of the exercises.

I prefer to run after my Pilates class, I find I can focus better in the class if I'm fresh and that when I run afterwards I'm more conscious of form and better 'prepped' for running if that makes sense. Hope you find the classes beneficial.

The Muppet

Bungy Girl wrote: »

I prefer to run after my Pilates class, I find I can focus better in the class if I'm fresh and that when I run afterwards I'm more conscious of form and better 'prepped' for running if that makes sense. Hope you find the classes beneficial.

Thanks BG , It does indeed make sense.

I enjoyed the class and felt good after it, I need to strengthen my core, I'm very wobbly when I stand on 1 leg, sure it cant do me any harm.

The Muppet

Out for an hour on the bike today .

The Muppet

5.12 miles easy @134 bpm 10:54 pace. Warm .

The Muppet

Another warm easy run this evening .

7.27 miles @ 130 BPM 11.16 pace

My legs were a little sore even before I went out. No harm getting used to running on sore or tired legs I guess. Enjoyed the run so I tagged on an extra mile at the end.

The Muppet

5.25 easy miles today. Heart rate strap didn't connect to the watch for some reason and the watch acted up at the start of the run telling me I ran the first mile in 5:13 , I wish.


It settled down after that and I just ran by feel . splits from 10:56 to 9.45

I got to bed early last night and had a great nights sleep and my legs felt good today , not as sore/tired as yesterday.


5.25 miles in 53:25


Pilates class tonight , I enjoyed that again, really relaxing.

The Muppet

15.15 mile LSR Today @ 10:40 average pace 133 bpm Miles 8 9 10 and 11 @ 10:18 pmp.

Up at 8 and had a breakfast of porridge with a banana and a slice of wholemeat and pumpkin seed bread.

I Tried a new route from Coolock to Santry and then into Dublin back out to Fairview and out the Howth road and back to my staring point in Coolock. The route worked well and it opens up a lot of new routes that will easily allow me 20 mile lsrs when the time comes.

I also tried some alternatives to gels for fueling. Filled my flipbelt with those small boxes of raisins, Some cereal bars and some fruit chews. I took a box of raisins at 3 miles , two cereal bars at 6 miles and a fruit chew at 9 miles, all taken with water. All went well tummy wise and i had plenty of energy for the running. so much so I tagged on an extra 2 miles at the end to bring my planned 13 miles to 15 miles. This worked well for me , Carb intake would have been higher with the gels though and to carry all the stuff was a little bulky so I'm going to try find a gel that's more palatable than the ones i used last week and go with them on the day.

I felt really good the whole way around, I got a little tired in mile 14 but I felt I could have continued to run if I had to.

I was pleased with how the fueling worked I really enjoyed the run this morning my longest to date

tailgunner

Just casually throwing a few MP miles into your long runs, you're flying it!

The Muppet

3.56 mile recovery run this lunchtime @126 bpm 11:33 average pace.

Went to the local park for this ran on grass in light rain, Had the place all to myself and all felt good after yesterdays long run, Bliss.

The Muppet

Out for an hour on the bike today lovely day for it .

The Muppet

5.69 miles easy. One of those days, the heart strap not working properly , stopped a few times to try fix it. Legs felt heavy for the first few miles and it was very warm. Pace all over the shop . Avg 11.24 . Enough excuses there to keep me happy . Roll on tomorrow .

The Muppet

Pre match 8.2 miles easy on grass . One of my heart straps has died and Im not sure my backup is working properly either. Not great run today either.

8.2 miles @ 134 bpm 11:43 pace

The Muppet

Havn't a clue how I'm going to run today, #COYBIG