From Couch 25k To Where Ever

The Muppet

Annie get your Run wrote: »

The Muppet wrote: »

Thanks AM , No I didn't say , I've only ran one half, last years DHM in 2:12 so anything under that will do .

You're not getting away with that my PB is 1:56:xx and you're faster than me now - just sayin :pac:. Joking aside (although you are faster!), soak up the atmosphere and have a great run, you'll undoubtedly PB with all the work you've put in.

Not at all sure about now (being faster ) I seem to remember coming in well after You in Jingle bells last year.

I'll give it my best as always and I know that should mean improving on last year but if not it, ll be back to the drawing board.

P.s. I'll race u in next year's DCM to put this faster nonsense to rest. I did read you are planning on running it didn't, I . Good to see that.

The Muppet

Singer wrote: »

Wow, I didn't realise it was so big. Enjoy the whole thing T, really hoping the race goes well but more importantly you get to soak it all up. I know this is important to you, so take it all in and enjoy it!

Thanks B

Driving in from the airport this morning it's all they were talking about on the radio. Spoke to some locals who run it every year with little or no training . One told me he applied three years in a row before he got a place .

If it's as they say it's going to be really good , it will have some going to outdo the atmosphere in Castleknock for DCM 2016 all the same.

OOnegative

Best of luck Sunday TM, hope it goes well for you.

Annie get your Run

The Muppet wrote: »

Not at all sure about now (being faster ) I seem to remember coming in well after You in Jingle bells last year.

I'll give it my best as always and I know that should mean improving on last year but if not it, ll be back to the drawing board.

P.s. I'll race u in next year's DCM to put this faster nonsense to rest. I did read you are planning on running it didn't, I . Good to see that.

SUSSSSSSH! We'll see, they're holding it on my birthday (very nice of them!) so if I can, I will but I'm not pinning any hopes on it (much....!).

The Muppet

That's nice of them w. Will it be the 2018 AGYR dublin city marathon then ? Fingers crossed things remain good for you and you get there . I think ill probably do it myself all being well of course .

jake1970

Best of luck tomorrow, have a great race and enjoy!

diego_b

Best of luck, "Great" race to be doing...always catches the eye.

The Muppet

Well that's that off the bucket list . Finished in 2.10.33 , not what I planned but the route was congested from start to finish. people the whole way so just could not maintain the paces I planned with the crowds. Had a great run none the less , loved every minute of it , a slight pb . I'll post a race report when I'm home

The Muppet

Wow what an experience that was , its difficult to gauge the enormity of the Great North Run until you run it. 57 000 entries 43 000 finishers . its just a sea of people from start to finish.

Up early breakfast of Porridge and a banana and then drove out to South Shields to the finish line for 8, My wife was with me so I though this was the best plan. I had done a recce the day before and got my bearings for parking and bust stop for the journey back to the start . I though traffic would be bedlam but it was fine. I was back at the start just after 9. At 9.40 I decided to for the loo, 10.30 still in the queue, I decide it'll have to wait and head for my starting pen , Discarded my warm clothes and Jogged up to the pen gate , I couldn t get over the amount of people , saw some lifting up barriers for others to crawl under to get into pens, madness. My own pen was jammed when I got there and there was a lot of people starting form outside the pen, I fell in behind them. It was now nearly 10.40 , start time I was only there a minute or so and the race started.

It starts on a 3 lane motorway using both sides , 6 lanes. There are no waves , us mortal runners start with the elites except we are walking toward the start line from our pen position , I was in White G , crossed the start line 25 minutes after the official start, Mo was nearly at the halfway point by then.

My strategy was to run around 9 minute miles and pick it up if I felt ok later on. I high 5'ed Brendan Foster the offical starter and I was off,The first 2 miles are handy enough Pace was spot on and I was felling really good . It was busy but there was room to run on the motorway ,The motor way funnelled down to the Tyne Bridge, this was really the first place I realised the congestion wasn't good but I though it would thin out a swe progess as it usually does in races.

The next 2 miles are uphill, I was passing people but pace is slower than I want, we are back on a dual carriage way and the other side looks clearer so I made my way across and get back up to pace , We come to an overpass, incline and pace just drops off , there is nowhere to go but run at the same pace as those in front, Runners and walkers.

Around 4 miles I took a pitstop which only took a minute or two , The next four miles were the same getting a bit of pace and then trying to pass people with little room to do so, I noticed another runner doing like wise and I fell in behind him , we are running the right side of the left carriage way and jumping up on the central reservation and back down to pass people , I did think to myself I shouldn't be doing this I'm going to injury myself as the ground was uneven or tapered and I was up and down of the kerb. I dont know if the other guy had the same idea but he just stopped running, i went by him and continued on.

8 miles in we came to a roundabout and just after that there was a shower to cool us off but it was single lane, loads just funnelled in to take the shower and we came to a complete halt. It was at this stage that I decided to just finish out the race and forget about pace.

The next thee miles I'm just running with the pack around 10 min miles, it hasn't thinned out at all, its like running at the start of a normal race.

Mile 12 is uphill and the pack slows even more , feels like we are crawling along, legs are tired but I'm not breathing heavily at all actually i feel good., Steep down hill then and into the last mile along the seafront, I know my wife is on the right hand side 400 meters from finish as we'd prearranged so I move to that side and there is a little more room, I pick up the pace again and actually get to run at 8.30 for a little while but theres little point after a few hunderd meters I'm back into traffic, I do pick my way though a few. I cross the line and thats it I have just ran a race I used to watch in awe on tv.

I dont even check my watch, in fact I wore 2, I stopped the garmin all right but the other one has a mind of its own , I will have to edit the rest of the days driving out of that. I made my way through the Medal presentation and individual presentation for each runner which was nice , picked up up my goodie bag , posed for my offical photo and headed out to meet my wife.

She was tracking me on the app , she said she saw I had started at 11.07am and they had given an estimated finish time of 1 .27pm , when she checked again they had changed my estimated finish time to 1.15 pm , I came in at 1.17pm , 2 hours 10 minutes and 33 seconds a new pb by 2 minutes over my only other half dublin 2016.

My thoughs on the day : The atmposphere was good but nothing like I remember DCM to be, The whole route was lined with spectators but they were not as vocal in their support as the DCM crowd. Initally I did feel dissapointed with my time as I did think somewhere around the 2 hour mark was achievable. Looking back on my race data I can see all the variations in pace , I'm not one for making excuses but I do feel with a clearer run I would have been quicker. I was on the race facebook page this morning and there are numerous people making the same obsevations about congestion and a lot mentioning they were running from the white pen.

The event itself is brilliant , it's so well organised from a logistical viewpoint, I wouldnt blame the organisers for the congestion, If the entrants were honest about ability it wouldnt have been half as bad, but to see people walking in the first mile which is downhill shows what they are up against. A lot of the locals seem to run it with little or no training and are econimical with the truth about their ability when applying in order to get a place.

That's my Great North Run experience, I really enjoyed the run , I feel I had a good run which is all i aspire to do with my running, I ran every step apart from pit stop and coming to a halt at the shower and I did run a 2 minute PB.

mile splits

9.14,8.55,9.23,9.40,10.25 (pitstop) 9.27,9.15,9.25,10.43,9.43,10.18,10.22,9.29

Annie get your Run

Sounds like it's more an event to enjoy than race T but a PB is PB!! Congrats on that, and great you got to take part in something you've been watching for years too No doubt you can take a lot more off that time though, any plans to do Dublin Half? Although that's probably too close?

Singer

Great stuff T, nice report and delighted you enjoyed it. A PB in those circumstances is very much well deserved.

diego_b

Well done on the pb! Good report and it certainly sounds like a challenging event but pb'ing was excellent going.

Kennyg71

Well done on pb T, have to say have looked at this race on TV a few times myself and definitely looks like a difficult one to get momentum in, sounds like you enjoyed it anyway and an iconic race completed.

Wubble Wubble

Brilliant report T. I was watching the coverage on BBC. That downhill near the end looked really steep on the telly all right. Oh and congrats on the PB

The Muppet

Annie get your Run wrote: »

Sounds like it's more an event to enjoy than race T but a PB is PB!! Congrats on that, and great you got to take part in something you've been watching for years too No doubt you can take a lot more off that time though, any plans to do Dublin Half? Although that's probably too close?

Thanks AM, I am happy with the PB and I enjoyed the run. It's definitely an event to start from the correct position , I think I used my marathon time on the entry form as I applied the day after DCM . I'm pretty sure I am fitter now than I was then but how were they to know that . I never envisage it being as busy on the road as it was , I have never experience that in a race up to now.

I did consider the Dublin Half but though it would be too soon especially considering the new course, that first half will be tough going.

I'll definitely be working to improve my running over the winter, hopefully with the correct training I can take more time off all my PBs . I know i'm not the most competitive of runners but I do have personal targets which I would like to achieve in all distances.

Just chilling this week, I havn't felt like going back out yet.

The Muppet

Singer wrote: »

Great stuff T, nice report and delighted you enjoyed it. A PB in those circumstances is very much well deserved.

Thanks B ,

diego_b wrote: »

Well done on the pb! Good report and it certainly sounds like a challenging event but pb'ing was excellent going.

Thanks D , definitley a challenge but the route itself would be a quick one , its net down hill and there are long gradual declines which would be easy enough to maintain a pace on with a clear road.

Kennyg71 wrote: »

Well done on pb T, have to say have looked at this race on TV a few times myself and definitely looks like a difficult one to get momentum in, sounds like you enjoyed it anyway and an iconic race completed.

I did enjoy it G , I am delighted to think I ran it, I have the medal, if anyone had told me I would do that a few years ago I'd have laughed at them.

Wubble Wubble wrote: »

Brilliant report T. I was watching the coverage on BBC. That downhill near the end looked really steep on the telly all right. Oh and congrats on the PB

Thanks J, Yeah that hill is really steep , not good for the quads and the mile before it is steep uphill. I had driven the route the day before so I was aware of it. You could also assume the finish it at the bottom of that hill when you see tetheh sea but there's a further mile to go from the bottom.

Good to see you back , hope the warm weather training recovery went well, your novices seem to be doing really well, they are a great bunch.

The Black Oil

Interesting one re the congestion alright, congrats on taking on an international run (and the PB), the motorway and all that. Hope you have not returned with a funny accent.

The Muppet

The Black Oil wrote: »

Interesting one re the congestion alright, congrats on taking on an international run (and the PB), the motorway and all that. Hope you hav saturdaye not returned with a funny accent.

Thanks B , No funny accent, My wife picked up an entry form (for me)for the Seville full at the expo last saturday so if she has her way i will be doing some more international runs. She says I could do with some sun. Not a hope I'm going though. Dublin in Ocober will be warm enough for me.

The Muppet

The Muppet wrote: »

Was in the diabetic clinic today for my annual review.

Great news all around . All levels were normal. I had my meds cut again , that's the second time they have been cut since i took up running. I am on very little now and my goal is to get off meds completely.

They don't want to see me for 2 years now which is great . At one point I was in every few weeks.

It was really busy in there today .I half joked with the doctor to prescribe running to lessen her workload.

Just putting this here for anyone else who may find themselves in a similar position to where I was a few years ago.

Taking up running from a zero fitness level is not easy but its definitely worth the hard work

Those two years flew: I was back in the Diabetic Clinic for my checkup yesterday .

I have been taken off all diabetic medication and discharged, I'm done with the diabetic clinic. . The Doctor actully told me I had cured my own Diabetes.

I know you can't really cure it or at least that's what your told when first diagnosed and I need to continue doing what I am but sure that's no bother I was planning on doing that anyway .

Running has had such a positive effect on my life .

I'm posting this here for anyone with diabetes just to show that massive improvements can be made by lifestyle change.

That's another goal met, running out of them now, I will have to get my thinking hat on.

Annie get your Run

That's really fantastic news T, congratulations, your journey is an inspiration to anyone whether battling with an illness or not. Delighted for you

ariana`

Wow what an amazing journey, you're an inspiration. Congratulations.

Kennyg71

Great achievement T, delighted to hear that.

denis b

Congrats T. That was an eventful week. Such positivity, balance and willpower.

Wubble Wubble

Great news T, that's magic. What a week, indeed!

The Muppet

Thanks everyone , had a great week for sure , I turned 53 on Tuesday too so lots of reasons to celebrate .

Starting to think about the road ahead with my running. I plan to work on enduarance and strength, think I'm lacking in both , any suggestion's greatly appreciated .

I was up to 40 miles a week recently so planning to add another 10 to that somehow to try get to 50 weekly. Looking at implementing some light weight training too to supplememnt the pilates classs.

Diet is another area I will be changing . I have made huge improvememnt in this area over the last few months so its not really about dropping weight but there is still the odd choclate biscuit to replace with something a little more nuitricious.

D.C.M 2018 is now the main thing (i think) I'm starting to trian for that from this week , havn't a clue how to go about that this far out but i'll start from the changes above and see how it goes. Thats the plan anyway again any suggestions pointers etc appreciated.

No running this last week but I did my pilates class.

annapr

T, really delighted for you on the diabetes news... such a testament to your dedication and determination. Brilliant. And the Great North Run too...

maybe you should sign up for another HM soon, you've done great training and you need a proper race... maybe Waterford in early december if Dublin Half is too soon?

willmunny1990

The Muppet wrote: »

Thanks everyone , had a great week for sure , I turned 53 on Tuesday too so lots of reasons to celebrate .

Starting to think about the road ahead with my running. I plan to work on enduarance and strength, think I'm lacking in both , any suggestion's greatly appreciated .

I was up to 40 miles a week recently so planning to add another 10 to that somehow to try get to 50 weekly. Looking at implementing some light weight training too to supplememnt the pilates classs.

Diet is another area I will be changing . I have made huge improvememnt in this area over the last few months so its not really about dropping weight but there is still the odd choclate biscuit to replace with something a little more nuitricious.

D.C.M 2018 is now the main thing (i think) I'm starting to trian for that from this week , havn't a clue how to go about that this far out but i'll start from the changes above and see how it goes. Thats the plan anyway again any suggestions pointers etc appreciated.

No running this last week but I did my pilates class.

Its amazing you got off all meds, well done. I know countless people who suffer and struggle to control their diabetes.

If you don't mind me asking what is your diet? Do you follow any particular diet or anything like that?

The Muppet

willmunny1990 wrote: »

The Muppet wrote: »

Thanks everyone , had a great week for sure , I turned 53 on Tuesday too so lots of reasons to celebrate .

Starting to think about the road ahead with my running. I plan to work on enduarance and strength, think I'm lacking in both , any suggestion's greatly appreciated .

I was up to 40 miles a week recently so planning to add another 10 to that somehow to try get to 50 weekly. Looking at implementing some light weight training too to supplememnt the pilates classs.

Diet is another area I will be changing . I have made huge improvememnt in this area over the last few months so its not really about dropping weight but there is still the odd choclate biscuit to replace with something a little more nuitricious.

D.C.M 2018 is now the main thing (i think) I'm starting to trian for that from this week , havn't a clue how to go about that this far out but i'll start from the changes above and see how it goes. Thats the plan anyway again any suggestions pointers etc appreciated.

No running this last week but I did my pilates class.

Its amazing you got off all meds, well done. I know countless people who suffer and struggle to control their diabetes.

If you don't mind me asking what is your diet? Do you follow any particular diet or anything like that?

I'm amazed myself that I got off all meds . 5 years ago they wanted to put me on insulin, I asked for some time to change and I got 3 months . Took up running in that time and my diabetes has been improving every check up since.

My current diet is always porridge for breakfast. Lunch is usually a toasted bagel with ham cheese or tomato something like that or a Pasta Salad (lidl) . Dinner is rice / pasta and occasionally potatoes . Chicken , fish and occasionally red meat . Try not to snack and have replace the choccy biscuits with fruit this past week . Don't eat a lot of bread , non drinker , love water , tea otherwise with the odd coffee. Basically that's it . I don't have a sweet tooth so lucky in that respect but I do love the odd square or two of cadbury chocolate and can't refuse apple tart if offered .

Suppliments . Not very regimented about them or to be precise I tend to forget to take them . when I remember I take iron, calcium, vitamin d' , cod liver oil and vitamin C .

I was over 18 stone weight when diagnosed (2007). I'm just over 12 now 6.1 height

The Muppet

annapr wrote: »

T, really delighted for you on the diabetes news... such a testament to your dedication and determination. Brilliant. And the Great North Run too...

maybe you should sign up for another HM soon, you've done great training and you need a proper race... maybe Waterford in early december if Dublin Half is too soon?

Never dawned on me to do that A and I like waterford. will look into that .

statina

Well done, fantastic work to get off all the meds

The Muppet

Back to it last week after taking the week before out . I'm not running to any specific plan for now, the goal is to up the mileage and improve strength and diet. I'm reading Jack Daniels running formula book at the moment and finding it all very interesting. I have my Vdot from my last race so I will be running all my long runs and most of my shorter ones by that.

With the goal at upping mileage I tried a few variations of routes during the week as I need longer ones, I think I have nice local routes up to 9 miles anyway which will suffice for all but my LSR. Diet was excellent for the last week , gold star to me and I purchased some weights for the strength, they're still in the box but the intention to go at them later today is there. Not sure of a routine yet but I guess I'll find something on the net to suffice.

Monday 18th

Intention 1 hr easy : Having not run for a whole week I felt surprisingly stiff for this one , Ran my usual 1 hr easy route but in reverse , with the longer incline , will be doing most of my runs this way now as its time to embrace hills. I ran it a little quicker that planned.

5.2 miles @10.02 forgot to put on Heart Rate Monitor

Tuesday 19th
Intention Same Again : Legs still feeling stiff . A little quick, HR raised on climb.
5.4 miles @ 10:11 HR 133/163

Wednesday 20th

Intention Longish Slow Run, this is the plan for Wednesdays for now . Headed to clontarf fro this one , It was quite wet , nice run , still stiffness in the legs. Ran it too quick as well.
8.8 miles @10.23 HR 132/151

Thursday 21st

Intention 1 hr easy. Coolock the venue today, I ran to Fr Collins Park , one lap of the parkrun course there and back to Coolock. Legs a little sore but feeling good . Got a massage after this one . Stopped watch to cross road and it didn't restart (only happenend once this week so improving) so the run was a little longer than recorded.

5.1 miles @ 10:14 HR not recorded

Evening time Pilates class, Really enjoyed this , got some serious stretching done and legs felt amazing after it.


Friday 22nd

Intention rest day , Not sure I will/can continue to keep a rest day in the schedule with my goals but I will for now .

Saturday 23rd
Intention 2 hour LSR by the book VDot pace 11.07 to 12 :17.

I always aim for the quicker end of the range. Clontarf the venue again but a longer loop than wednesdays, taking in Baldoyle. I concentrated on keeping the pace right and I really enjoyed this run , legs felt good. Windy along the coast but side on thankfully , nice to look out to sea and get a refreshing blast of cool air when required. Pace raised slightly in the last few miles but the effort felt really easy, had a little sprint near the end , 100 meter's or so just to liven things up.

11.5 miles @10.56 HR125/166



Sunday 23rd

Intention 1 hr easy; Was travelling all day so didn't get out until the evening but what a beautiful evening it was . Tried a new variation of my route, though it would be around six miles , turned out to be 7 but really nice with some hills. I felt great during this run,it was one of those runs when you feel you could run forever.

7 miles @ 10:12 HR 129/156

Total. 44 miles for the week . I can feel the increase in milage in my legs , I hadn't really felt that since marathon training last year , a nice kind of soreness and the energy levels are really good the last few days. More of the same for the week ahead I hope.

No specific race goals for now , The Waterford Half doesn't fit in with family stuff so we'll see if something more suitable comes up.

Huzzah!

First of all, I meant to congratulate you sooner on your success with coming off your medication. That is truly inspirational!

In terms of your plans for the winter, are you going to follow some sort of a base-building plan or just playing it by ear?

eyrie

That's impressive mileage, well done!
How does basing your training about vdot work? Does the book give you training paces based on your vdot? Sounds interesting!
Good luck with the base building. I'm working on a similar plan myself at the moment, albeit with much lower mileage! I'd love to get up to where you are now eventually but it's hard to see how it'll ever happen without devoting all my waking time to running! So fair play to you, will be following along with interest

The Muppet

Huzzah! wrote: »

First of all, I meant to congratulate you sooner on your success with coming off your medication. That is truly inspirational!

In terms of your plans for the winter, are you going to follow some sort of a base-building plan or just playing it by ear?

Thanks Huzzah, hopefully my logging will help anyone following in my footsteps.

Plan for the winter is to get stronger and build endurance , I think miles in the legs is the best way to do that so . The plan at the moment is easy running and building milage by winging it, If I come across a plan that interests me I may well take it on . I have been running to one plan or another for the last 18 months so for now I'm happy to just run and enjoy it while building milage.

eyrie wrote: »

That's impressive mileage, well done!
How does basing your training about vdot work? Does the book give you training paces based on your vdot? Sounds interesting!
Good luck with the base building. I'm working on a similar plan myself at the moment, albeit with much lower mileage! I'd love to get up to where you are now eventually but it's hard to see how it'll ever happen without devoting all my waking time to running! So fair play to you, will be following along with interest

cheers but not sure about impressive, I was just looking at the milage by this years DCM novices on their strava Group, some of those are really impressive.

Vdot just gives me paces for the various runs , the paces are in the book plus explanations of what each workout is intended to achieve, I find that really interesting as up to now I've just followed various plans without really understanding why i was running a specific session and what it was intended to achieve. There are plans in the book based on your weekly mileage and target races. I have only glanced over those so far.


I'm lucky in that my family are reared and have a very supportive wife so mostly I have the time to run when I want. When life does get in the way I try to work around that and reschedule a run rather than miss it, I usually run Sunday Morning but was busy with family stuff yesterday so it was near 7 in the evening when I got out.

The time side of running is really tough for anyone with young Children or a demanding career but those things change as you get older.

Your'e doing really well, all you can do is fit in what you can keep plugging away at that. I will be following your progress with interest too, we may pick up a few tips from each other.

The Muppet

Monday: 25th

Intended 1 hour easy, A new variation of my route , out and back first half all up hill. I was a little sore today staring out but freed out nicely. Glorious day . A little too quick for easy but the effort felt fine.

Did some Strength Training after , just some light weights and some body weight stuff planks, squats , push ups etc .

6.4 miles @ 10.21 pace Heart Rate 125/132

Tuesday: 26th
Intended: 1 hour easy
Same as yesterday minus the strength training. Another Beautiful Day 6.4 miles @ 10.25 Heart Rate 136/144, (higher spikes at start)

Wednesday: 27th
Intended: Longish Run.

What a difference a day makes , wet and windy for this one. Was runnning along the coast at sutton and was blown all over the place. Not a day to be hanging around so ran it a little quicker than I should'

8.85 miles @ 10.17 Heart Rate 136/162

Thursday: 28th
Intended:1 hour easy.

Coolock the venue for this one incorporating 2 laps of Father Collins park , I like it there, Another very windy day.

6.1 miles @10.39 , Heart Monitor didn't register.

Pilates Class in the Evening.

Friday: 29th
Intended :see how it goes easy run

Usually a rest day but not this week as I could not get a long run in saturday morning so decided to run a longish run today. Coolock again , This was my 7th consecutive day running , not being used to that I wasn't sure how I would feel on this one so I set out my usual 8 miles route and played it by ear knowing I could cut it short if I want feeling the love or add a few miles in Father Collins park near the end if I was up to it . It went well and added a couple of laps in the park.

10.7 miles @ 10.25 Heart rate 132 /149

Saturday: 30th:
Intended park run

I had committed to run the first Darndale parkrun today and intended to do that and then head off on a 8 miles run for my lsr but my plans had been changed for me and I only had time for the parkrun this morning. That was nice , its a flat course but a little windy , , quite easy to cut the course short too if that was your bag, Ran it comfortably hard , pace is gone again with all the slow running or perhaps it is tiredness , not too bothered about that anyway as I know know that to be expected with how I'm running and it doesn't take very much to get it back. I came 4th in my age category.

I did intend to run a double today to hit my weekly milage target to allow a rest day on Sunday but that didn't work out either , I'm not sure of the science behind doubles anyway so perhaps that was for the best.

3.1 miles @8:56 plus .6 of a mile warm up and cool down

3.7 miles Total heart rate 140/145

Sunday: 1st October
Intended Easy miles

I woke early , feeling ok so decided to head out for a few miles before anyone else arouse to bring me up to target. Nice morning , Ran my usual 7 mile route really enjoyed it , Some tough hills on this route. Had nothing much on for the rest of day so had a lazy day on the sofa watching tv.

7.1 miles @9:56 Heart Rate 136/162


49.25 miles total for the week. I ran every day, that's new to me ,I'm feeling ok on that, resting heart rate is fine every morning so far , diet was good again this week. 2 strenghth sessions completed so overall a good week dispite having to shift things around a little . More of the same this week I hope, perhaps slowing things down a little and sticking to my prescribed pace.



Into October all ready :eek:, 138 miles for September which included a taper for the Great North Run and a week with no running after the race.

Monthly Mileage update
Month|2017|2016|2015|2014|2013
jan|70.80|94.78|46.2|8.31|0
feb|89.94|61.68|13.9|30.35|0
March|72.40|111|4.64|47.37|7
April|97.00|110.7|21.08|42.23|25.01
May|107.46|121.32|65.69|36.37|33.78
June|68.30|154.31|97.03|52.69|33
July|171.40|148.97|108.73|25.33|49.74
August|167.70|124.57|110.42|57.9|29.42
September|140.2|138.17|94.12|58.37|13.87
October||151.18|125.17|95.32|3.01
November||49.11|100.78|88.95|0
December||45.12|63.16|23.83|0
Totals|985.20|1310.91|851.69|567.02|194.83

denis b

Just noticed your mileage T. Is it your intention to run around 50 miles each week for your current marathon base building ? Are you working to any particular regime with regard to strength training? Just curious as strength training is something I will be working on after Oct end. I have neglected this area and you have set the bar too high for weight management for me already . I will have to cherry pick (you see....more food).

The Muppet

Tbh I'm not sure what I'm doing myself D apart from running and enjoying it. I have set a target of 50 miles a week. Not sure why but its a nice round number and once I set my mind on something I tend to stick with it. Definite running a Marathon next year . DCM most likely but I've been reading up on others and New York would be something i'd like to do someday .

It's mostly easy running and I'm noticing the positive effect of the increased milage all ready in my legs and I'm not finding it too taxing . Weight wise . That has edged up a little since early summer , I do want to get back under 12 stone . 12 .4 at the moment . My diet has been very good the last three weeks . I find if I can resist the nice stuff for a few days I'm grand until I fall off the wagon again .

Strength pilates is brilliant . I do that once a week . I couldn't do a press up when I strated . Can manage 20 now . . I do my own routine with weights and body weight once a week too . Monday nights squats with weights . Lunges with weights . Planks all 3 . Pushup and some weights for arms and shoulders. The whole routine takes about half an hour.

Apart from that I don't really have a plan . I am reading jack Daniels running book and I got the faster road racing one today to read and I'll more than likely do something more structured from them down the line but for now it's all about getting out and enjoying my running.

Cherrys yum yum especially in Black Forest Gateaux ..



Edit: just noticed I hit the 1000 mile mark for 2017 during yesterday's run . A few weeks later than last year but I missed a few weeks for various reason .

denis b

Thanks for that T. I am going to look into some form of pilates, post DCM '17, to provide some direction and structure to my own efforts. Like yourself I have a small setup at home that will allow for some weights and bodyweight exercises. Having got aerobically fit I think the rest of the "ould bod" needs some attention .

+1 to your measured increase in mileage by the way. I was probably only getting around 30 miles per week before I launched on marathon training. It is something I will change next time.

The Muppet

denis b wrote: »

Thanks for that T. I am going to look into some form of pilates, post DCM '17, to provide some direction and structure to my own efforts. Like yourself I have a small setup at home that will allow for some weights and bodyweight exercises. Having got aerobically fit I think the rest of the "ould bod" needs some attention .

+1 to your measured increase in mileage by the way. I was probably only getting around 30 miles per week before I launched on marathon training. It is something I will change next time.

Pilates is great I wouldn't have though it would be for me before I started it but I wouldn't miss it now .

Anything I've read points to mileage being the best way of improving , not sure I'm doing it right if there is a right way to do it with the two longer runs Wednesday and Saturday but il see how it goes I will probably lengthen one of them as I progress.

God luck with DCM , have you a time in sight.?

denis b

I can certainly vouch for the benefits of the longer midweek and weekend run. The combination works well for me and I will carry it forward. Longer distances are far less daunting these days.

I want to pb (<3:54 hrs) but it is my (C) target and I am close to calling my (A) target at 3:39 or less. Conservative enough but;
a) I want to finish,
b) I want to pb and
c) I want this to be a confirming experience.

Major goal this year was to stay running and pb at all distances.

The Muppet

denis b wrote: »

I can certainly vouch for the benefits of the longer midweek and weekend run. The combination works well for me and I will carry it forward. Longer distances are far less daunting these days.

I want to pb (<3:54 hrs) but it is my (C) target and I am close to calling my (A) target at 3:39 or less. Conservative enough but;
a) I want to finish,
b) I want to pb and
c) I want this to be a confirming experience.

Major goal this year was to stay running and pb at all distances.

Sub 3.40 is an impressive target but you have put the miles in so no doubt you will make it, The best of luck, hopefully conditions will be good on the day. I will definitely be tracking you on the day.

Thanks for the reassurance re the 2 long runs , I'm still learning about this running lark.

The Muppet

Monday 2nd

My usual Monday run 6.3 miles easy to start the week, Lovely day , I had a few sniffles , the start of a cold I suspect but feeling good apart form that .

6.3 miles @ 10:58 pace , didn't wear heart monitor

Evening my strength training same as last week but with heavier weights.

Tuesday 3rd

Same as Yesterday, My watch recorded my first mile as 6.38 , (it's on it's last chance),First 3 were easy, the last 3 miles were quicker .9:52, 9:06, 8:56 making it a bit of a progression run. Still a few sniffles but no worse than yesterday.

Wednesday 4th
first of my long runs, I decided to raise the millage on this one from previous weeks as I wanted to leave myself the option of a rest day while still getting close to my 50 miles weekly target.

Wet and windy day but a lovely run none the less. Pace was quicker than planned .

10.9 miles@10.07 HR 134 /167 Spike

Thursday 5th

My usual Thursday run To Fr Collins Park and a few laps and back to base, Legs were a little tired today .Sniffles appear to have cleared up

6.1 miles @10:25 pace no heart monitor.


Evening Pilates Class . Some calf cramping on one of the positions , tired legs I think, but I felt really good after class.

Friday 6th

Same run as yesterday but a little quicker , pilates working its magic. SOme faster running in the last 3 miles, Hr a bit high

6.1 miles @ 9.56 HR 137/172

Saturday 7th

My second long run of the week. Unusually I was home today so could run early morning, I deliberately chose hilly route to make it a little tougher , 787 feet elevation . I'd never ran the exact route before but calculated it would be around 13 miles . Just as I reached home I was at 12.9 miles so had to run up and down the road to make it a half distance. Quite surprise that my avg HR was as high on this one, felt easy enough but I was quite tired for most of the day after so perhaps the climbing was harder than I thought when running.

13.1 miles@10:58 hr 151/170

Sunday 8th

Having got close enough to my weekly milage target yesterday I had the the option of a rest day today but I headed out for 20 minutes recovery run in the local park just to get the legs moving.

1.9 miles @11.02 pace HR 121/158

Thoughts , I'm enjoying the increased mileage and am holding up well so far on it, Some soreness on the soles of my feet , left one in particular after the long runs but nothing major I hope (fx), have a golf ball under my desk in work today, , everything else is good . I will have to pay more attention to heart rate on the long runs as I really want to be running those properly.

Just finished reading Daniels Book, heavy stuff will have to read parts of it again for it all to fully register but I think I have learned from it.



Weekly Milage 50.8 Miles @ 10.19 pace (avg) 8 hrs 36 running , 2975 ft elevation


More of the same this week all going well.

The Muppet

Monday October 9th

Usual Monday 7 mile easy, I really wasn't felling the love today for the first couple of Miles, I met an old friend 2 miles in and stopped to have a chat . when I set off again I felt really good and just ran by feel, a run of two parts for sure .

7 miles @10.01 HR 147/162

No weights session tonight , watched the Ireland Wales Game Instead.

Tuesday 10th

7.2 miles easy Legs tired, headout out lunchtime and listened to the Budget on my run and then tried to figure out what I'd spend my extra fiver a week on. I could not get my watch to sync after this, the last straw, its back to my Garmin.

7.2 miles @10.37 HR 144/156

Didi yesterdays missed s and c session usual half and hour

Wednesday 11th
Long run Usual run from Coolock down to Fairview back along the coast and up Kilbarrack road to Coolock. Nice run , a little windy in places pushing the HR up . Took it handy today.

10.8 miles @10.39 HR 129/158


Thursday 12th

7 easy , my usual 7 route, first half uphill, 2nd down.

7 .0 @ 10.01 Hr 130/160

Evening Pilates Class

Friday 13th

7.3 easy including a few laps of Fr collins park, love it in there now , very easy to run in, laps are just under a mile and quite flat.

7.3 miles @ 10 25 Hr128/156

Saturday 13th

LSR 11.3 miles same rout as Wednesday but a pitstop in St annes added a little distance. Felt good on this one and had to persuade myself not to do more as I was over 50 miles for the week and didnt want to tempt fate.

11.3 Miles @10.54 heart monitor didnt register

Sunday 14th

Contemplated a recovery run to keep my 24 day run going but not really wanting to get caught up on keeping a run going and having hit my weekly target I took a rest day.

weekly total 50.8 miles 10.29 avg pace 2089ft elevation, embracing those hills

Younganne

that's great mileage you're clocking up T. It will really stand to you when you launch into your next plan.
What's next on the cards for you?

The Muppet

Thanks A . The immediate plan is to get used to the extra miles and the move onto a plan that incorporates the milage for whatever I decide to do.

Afraid I may be one of those people who enjoys the training more than the racing , DCM 2018 is the longer term plan and the race series in the run to that .

Good luck with your pacing gig.

The Black Oil

I haven't quite hit the 50s, close enough with 48 and a bit a few weeks ago. I did enjoy getting to that stage of the (graduates) plan and wouldn't mind doing a few long weeks again in the future or regularly. How are you finding fatigue, is it an issue?

The Muppet

Hi B . I had fatigue the first few weeks but it disappeared during the runs. This last week has been my best no fatigue . Some soreness all right paticularly in my calf muscles ' left on was really sore last night to the extent I had doubts about today's run but I did get out and had a great run by my standards . They are still sore . I think its Doms .looking up how to treat that .

Really beginning to feel the positive effect of the longer runs . Running 7 Miles 4 Days And 11 for 2 . The 7 miles ones feel pretty routine now . And this week's 11s were handy too . If the next week feels the same I will drop back one of the 7 mile ones and add those miles to one of the 11 mile runs but keeping the weekly mileage at 50 all being well.


Good luck with DCM , what time at you targeting ?

The Black Oil

Thanks, 4:10. I know what you mean about ones feeling routine.

Huzzah!

The Muppet wrote: »

Really beginning to feel the positive effect of the longer runs . Running 7 Miles 4 Days And 11 for 2 . The 7 miles ones feel pretty routine now . And this week's 11s were handy too . If the next week feels the same I will drop back one of the 7 mile ones and add those miles to one of the 11 mile runs but keeping the weekly mileage at 50 all being well.

I know you're keeping all the runs easy, but it might be no harm to have the odd step-back week? I'm no expert, though!

The Muppet

Thanks Huzzah . Good advice . I took 2 days out this past week Sunday and Monday . Not really a step back week though as I'm on 43 miles since and will do 7 tomorrow if weather permits .

I'm quite good at listening to my body and will definitely step it back when I feel the need.