Am I Running Or Jogging?

Maximus Alexander

Plan: Recovery

Tore up the plan a bit today. I had a lot of running rage when I set out and my legs didn't feel like they'd done an LSR yesterday so there was no way I was going to be able to force a recovery effort. I wasn't setting the pace, the adrenaline was, and it went in a pyramid between marathon pace and 10k pace with splits of 5:50; 5:25; 5:15; 5:02; 5:15; 5:48.

So not a recovery at all, at least in the physical sense. Mentally it was though, I feel much better now than before.

Total: 6.1km @ 5:26/km

53.4km for the week, joint highest ever. Gotta accentuate the positives.

tailgunner

I think you're being very hard on yourself too. It's quite distressing not to hit the arbitrary mileage target on a given day, but you probably gained more fitness from 14 very tough miles yesterday than you would have from 16 relatively easy miles.

For what it's worth, I've had more "bad" long runs than good ones, and often read other people's logs wondering how they seem to breeze through their runs. Sometimes I'm absolutely hanging together by the end of mine, and in an awful way for the whole day after.

Anyway, one bad run isn't going to make or break your marathon. It's the cumulative effects of weeks and weeks of training that will prepare you. You've been very consistent so far, and there's a long way to go yet!

Maximus Alexander

I appreciate that TG, a valuable bit of perspective. The mind's a funny thing (at least mine) in the way the negatives can stand out while the positives fall by the wayside. I was reminded today on my 'recovery' run when I did a kilometer in around 5 minutes of a run I did less than a year ago. I had done a 5k progression run and the final split was 5:00 and I wanted to vomit after it but was chuffed with myself. I sure have come along way since then!

denis b

I think you did the sensible thing in the end to be honest. Very occasionally a run just does not work out. Sometimes you can figure out what went wrong and sometimes the riddle is never solved. One thing that really stands out from your own outline is "hydration". Might be worth ensuring that you are well hydrated during the week and especially so on the days leading up to your LSR in this humid weather.

annapr

You had a lot of symptoms of dehydration on that LSR, so agree with everyone else, don't be hard on yourself.. Lesson learned for the future, especially when it's hot. And you got most of it done, so not too bad at all.

Ososlo

Yep agree with everyone else. You were likely a bit dehydrated which is not fun.
I would say though, that you need to be careful with the rage runs. That's how you can end up injuring yourself. You had a high mileage week culminating a long run, so you should have taken it extra easy yesterday, but part of me however understands why you did it! Be careful!!!!

Bluesquare

You are being awfully hard on yourself. Yesterday was not a pleasant day to do a LSR- does sound like you were a bit dehydrated all right. Get your iron levels checked just in case . I just say that to everyone who has a bad run - because it's happened to me more than once and iron has been the issue.

Firedance

Maximus Alexander wrote: »

Cheers Mel. It's hard to take solace in that though since all the other novices seem to have complete their runs without too much trouble! I'll certainly be trying to set out earlier for these in future anyway.

Just catching up here, +1 to what everyone else has said Max don't be too hard on yourself.

Don't compare yourself to others either, we're all different and face different challenges on these marathon journeys. I can empathize completely with you on this one, heat and I don't get on well either. Keep your eye on the weather forecast and in the days coming up to your LSR if high humidity is forecast put a half a salt tab or dioralyite in one of your glasses of water for a few days and on the day itself be prepared to slow right down, up to 30/40 seconds a mile slower than usual. You made the right decision and you've learned valuable info on yourself, better to happen now than on race day. Your training is going so well.

Singer

I think you clearly need to get yourself off to somewhere nice and hot for a week or two of warm weather training... maybe after DCM though

Maximus Alexander

Thanks guys, it does seem like dehydration was the culprit and thanks for the Dioralyte suggestion FD, that's something that might work for me because I seem to sweat out a ton of salt!

I'm feeling the anger run in my legs this morning. Looking forward now to making less of a hames of things next Saturday on the '14 mile LSR'. (It's probably going to be 16 miles)

Singer wrote: »

I think you clearly need to get yourself off to somewhere nice and hot for a week or two of warm weather training... maybe after DCM though

It might be quicker to just shoot me now and get it over with. :pac:

Maximus Alexander

Yesterday, Plan: 4 Miles Easy

The auld body was feeling very tired for this one but it was fine and pretty uneventful.

Total: 6.4km @ 6:18/km


Today, Plan: 7 Miles With 5 PMP

Leaving work I wasn't really feeling up for this at all. On top of feeling drained I had a weird... pain isn't the right word, but something on the outside of my left knee that I've never felt before which was concerning me a bit. I got together with the body and legs and made a deal that we wouldn't put too much pressure on ourselves and that after the first mile we'd have a crack at marathon pace, but if it wasn't working out we'd revert to an easy pace. It sounded like a nice compromise and we were all agreed.

As it happened, marathon pace felt fine and I ended up inadvertently exceeding it for a few kilometers until the hills set in, at which point I just dropped back and maintained it. The weird knee thing was nowhere to be seen and everything was grand. The effort level was probably a bit too high approaching Sandyford, but I'm pretty happy with the run overall. I can really feel the mileage starting to take its toll this week though; easy day and then rest before Saturday. It'll be grand.

Total: 11.4km @ 5:44/km

Firedance

It will be grand a gentle reminder to get plenty of sleep, eat well and hydrate well. All of these things together will get you through the training and help your body recover from the demands you're putting it under. Your training really well max.

Maximus Alexander

Heh, I've got the second and third down but the first one's not gonna happen.

Maximus Alexander

Yesterday, Plan: 4 Miles Easy

This was meant to be done Thursday but I managed to bring the wrong set of keys with me to work and was locked out when I got home. By the time herself got back it was a bit late and we needed to put the dinner on so it fell to Friday. The run itself was great. Conscious of the LSR the following morning I kept it very easy and actually really enjoyed it.

Total: 6.5km @ 6:19/km


Today, Plan: 14 Mile LSR

I'm gonna be honest. After failing to do 16 miles last week I was never going to stick to 14 this week. There was a dragon that needed slaying and it had to be done.

The plan was to get out early and, in fairness, I did get out a lot earlier than last week but still not at a time that would be considered 'early' by any of the rest of you. It was well after 12. Fortunately, it was also much cooler today, overcast, and there was a nice breeze.

I took the same route as last week too, because if you're going to be slaying dragons, you might as well make it the exact same one. Where last week I had a ton of energy setting off, this time I felt much flatter. My legs felt more tired and it generally felt a bit more like work, despite the slow pace. I wasn't letting it get to me though, because I was confident I could still do the distance and it would prove that the only thing that stopped me last time was dehydration.

Sure enough, the rest of the run was refreshingly dull. The kilometers ticked by, the pace stayed fairly even, and I actually perked up over time. By about half way I felt much fresher than I had setting off. I had brought two gels for testing and I took the first one around 8k. It seemed to result in a very mild stitch for a short time, but nothing unmanageable. At 18k I stopped at a shop for more water and took the second gel, this one had no ill effects.

After that, it was up the hill past St Endas where I had died spectacularly last week, and all was good. On into Marlay for a lap and then homeward and I was actually picking up the pace a little bit. The legs were absolutely spent in the last mile, but that was ok. That's what I'd expect. The legs are what should be spent, not the rest of me like last week.

When I finally finished I was feeling pretty triumphant, it was really great to get that one off my back and to know that I could have kept going if I had to (though I wouldn't have enjoyed it).

When I got in I had a protein shake for the first time. Strawberry flavour, wasn't too bad. It will be interesting to see if that has any noticeable effect on recovery.

Total: 26.1km @ 6:26/km

Maximus Alexander

Plan: Recovery

Slow recovery with a super low heart rate (for me) brings me to a record 55.6km for the week, also passed 1000km for the year yesterday. So I'm basically Mo Farah.

Total: 5.1km @ 6:28/km

Maximus Alexander

Yesterday, Plan: 4 Miles Easy with Strides

Took it nice and easy with 5 strides in my stride field somewhere around the middle. Strides are great crack.

Total: 6.5km @ 6:06


Today, Plan: 7 Miles Easy D'Oh! 5 Miles Easy.

This was a commute. The last two weeks on this route have included PMP miles and habits are hard to break. I kept noticing my pace creeping up and having to try and pull it back. I got absolutely drenched on this run, I'd say I was carrying a few kilos of rainwater with me. :pac: Given that I'd been doing a pretty poor job of keeping the effort strictly easy, I decided not to continue up the hill towards The Beacon and peeled off to do the last 3k on my flatter local loop.

I actually don't mind running in the rain generally, it was quite refreshing overall.

Total: 11.4km @ 6:07

The Muppet

Which plan are you on Max ;-)

Maximus Alexander

The Muppet wrote: »

Which plan are you on Max ;-)

Oh my God you're joking me! I need to look at the plan every day from now on! :rolleyes:

Firedance

Maximus Alexander wrote: »

Oh my God you're joking me! I need to look at the plan every day from now on! :rolleyes:

What, you mean you don't spend hours looking at your plan for the week, calculating routes, imagining how good your PMP miles will feel, writing your boards entries in your head? Or is that just me........

mel.b

Firedance wrote: »

What, you mean you don't spend hours looking at your plan for the week, calculating routes, imagining how good your PMP miles will feel, writing your boards entries in your head? Or is that just me........

LOL, that's me too (well, except for the bit about how good the PMP will feel!)

Maximus Alexander

Hah, the last thing I'd be described as is a planner FD. I normally look at the plan and note the differences, so I'd say "No PMP this Wednesday, Rest Thursday instead of Friday". I got it badly wrong this week by forgetting that Wednesday had no PMP and was also 2 miles shorter. :pac: I write my log entries in my head while running, sure what else does the brain have to be doing?

tailgunner

Are you racing today? Best of luck if so!

Maximus Alexander

I am indeed, thanks! Looking outside I'm thinking I must be mad.

Maximus Alexander

Long one inbound, but I like to have deets for posterity. :P

Frank Duffy 10 Mile

I went to bed before midnight. Now, granted I lay awake until at least 00:40, but I tried! These races keep getting longer and I had the predictable nerves yesterday evening. It was replaced by placid calmness when I woke up this morning though. I followed the same routine as the last two races. Gear laid out the night before. Get up, pop the coffee on, pop the porridge on, stick on Boards for a browse, get the gear on, water and get out the door.

On the way down the M50 the wipers were at max speed and we still couldn't see out the window. There was a driving rain that had all the traffic slowed to a crawl. Things were looking grim, but thankfully it had eased a bit by the time we got to the park.

I'd no idea where to line up in the single giant wave so I just squeezed in somewhere and hoped for the best. I think no matter where you squeeze in though you're going to end up behind slower runners and so it was. Once we were off I kept in mind the advice to avoid weaving. I normally weave like I'm possessed to try and pass the slower runners, but I thought it was time to practice having a bit of patience.

Miles 1-4

It was seriously congested, much more so than any of my prior races and the first kilometer ticked by much more slowly than I had planned. The herd hadn't thinned much by the time the second rolled around and while the pace had improved a bit, it was still slower than I wanted. I was a good 40 seconds behind my target time already as a result. Things were looking up in km 3, gaps were opening up and we were on a downhill so I made back some of the time but I was conscious of not giving it too much welly because there was a long way to go. First water station flashed by, but I didn't bother with it.

I passed through 5km in around 26 minutes, a little slow because of the start but I was feeling great going up Military Road. The advantage of starting a bit too far back is that you're passing people all the time, some of whom are struggling already, and when you're still feeling fresh it gives you a great mental boost. Passing through 6km and onto Chesterfield I was still feeling fine. At the turn off by the zoo, pretty much on the 4 mile marker I spotted my girlfriend cheering, gave her a big wave and blew her a kiss and was generally delighted with how I was feeling. The pace was pretty much on point now.

Miles 5-8

It wasn't until I turned onto the North Road and was about to hit the 5 mile marker that I had any negative feelings at all, but even then it was minor. I noticed that the bit of spring in my step had faded and it was probably going to gradually get more sloggy now.

The North Road section is long, boring and exposed and after all the congestion earlier I had now managed to find myself quite isolated. There were scattered runners around me, but the nearest group was maybe 100m ahead so I couldn't tuck in anywhere. I had a gel in my pocket that I brought purely for marathon training purposes, because I've never tried them at this pace before, so I popped it after the 5 mile marker and it went down okay. It was a little more awkward to eat but that was about it.

The rest of this section is a blur, I was just focusing on keeping the pace consistent, looking after my breathing and trying not to let the wind trick me into expending too much energy. There was a water station somewhere along here and I took some this time to wash away the gel stickiness from my mouth. I shoulder charged another runner at the water station and yelped an apology: he was cool about it. My focus was on getting back to Chesterfield for, what I was thinking of as, the home loop.

The turn onto Chesterfield arrived, putting the wind at my back(ish), though it's funny how you scarcely feel it at your back after all the horror it has caused in your face. Still, I got to recharge and pick up the pace on this stretch and I recall passing people as we went through 7 miles and starting to feel pretty good again. As I approached the Phoenix Monument and 12km I spotted my girlfriend again, dead ahead, camera in hand. Gave her a big smile and a wave and it wasn't even forced. I'd glanced at the watch and was pretty happy with the time-vs-how-I-felt-ratio. The photos are gas. I've a big sh*t eating grin on my face and all the people behind me look like they'd prefer to just be literally dead.

Miles 9-10

There looked to be respite in the Acres Road and its lovely long downhill, but I couldn't help but think "don't lose the run of yourself, this is only a loan and you'll have to pay it back soon". Turns out I had to pay it back in spades, much sooner than expected. It was really exposed here and the wind was punishing! I had very quickly gone from "Whoopie, only 4k to go!" to "Holy sh*t, can I do another 3k?"

I managed to dig in though and hold the pace until the Upper Glen road. This was the first time in the whole race that I actually felt properly burdened. After spending a lot to hold the pace in the wind I was now faced with a literal uphill battle and things got a little sketchy for a couple of minutes, but after the road does that little kink right and then left things flatten out again and I knew I'd only a kilometer to go so I started to gradually open the throttle.

In the home straight I discovered I'd 'kicked' a little too early and with only 200m to go the pace was starting to drop again but I spotted my girlfriend for the third time and found a little extra to pick it back up for the last 100.

I was delighted to cross the line in 1:23:40 which is gloriously close to my McMillan prediction from the 10k, suggesting that my endurance is better than I had feared. But what's more, I'm pretty sure I could knock a minute, maybe more off that. I started slow and ran within myself most of the way, so I'm pretty pleased with myself this afternoon.

Total: 16.2km @ 5:09/km

chickey2

Well done! You certainly deserve to be pleased with yourself! Lol at the photos.

Ososlo

Cracking run Max! All going very well indeed! Big congrats!!!

Bluesquare

Great race (and report) in horrible conditions ! Well done

FIFA2004

Brilliant run max congratulations!!!

The Muppet

Great run max . Well done

mel.b

Great job on the time in those conditions

Singer

That's a very good race. Looks well controlled, and obviously the dire weather situation wouldn't have made things easy. Despite my caution about endurance earlier in the week, it looks like you're progressing really well. Though maybe all those smiles mean you weren't pushing hard enough :pac: Well done

tailgunner

Great running Max, well done!

tony1980

Brilliant running Max, congrats :-)

Maximus Alexander

Thanks all! I allowed myself a glass or two of wine last night and I was still feeling pleased as punch heading out for my recovery today.

Singer, without your words of caution ringing in my ears there's every chance I'd have gone out too hard and blown up in mile 8. Especially considering the congestion early on and how eager I was to be free of it, so I appreciate it.


Plan: Recovery

As recovery runs go this one was pretty poor, in the sense that it was too quick. I continue to be confounded by the things that my body is happy enough to do these days. If I'd attempted to run a 10 mile race last August, I'd have spent the following day on a drip in a hospital bed, rather than nipping out for another 4 miles.

Total: 6.4km @ 6:11/km

This weeks total amounts to a modest 40.6km (25m), which I feel oddly guilty about.

Bluesquare

Tut tut on the "fast" recovery !!

That pace is probably recovery pace for you now!! Your flying !

Maximus Alexander

Hah! I'd be happy enough to do them at that pace but unfortunately my heart rate does not agree that it's correct.

jake1970

Well done on Saturday Max, great running!

Firedance

Brilliant Max!! well done, glad you had a great race in such horrendous conditions

Maximus Alexander

Weird couple of days. I've felt fairly off my game. I suspect I'm either coming down with something or have a bug that's asymptomatic.

Yesterday, Plan: 4 Miles Easy

Felt better after the run than before it but the perceived effort was higher than normal and my legs felt vaguely niggly in a few spots. Grand all in all though.

Total: 6.4km @ 6:10


Today, Plan: 7 Miles Easy

Another commute. I didn't feel 100% in the office this afternoon. Not awful or anything, just a little off. When I was leaving the office I realised I had forgotten my Garmin and had to fall back to the phone. Turns out the GPS accuracy is pretty poor and it draws a squiggly line down the street like a child with a crayon. It also seems to automatically ignore anywhere that it considers you to have stopped, and even though I had some long waits at intersections, I don't necessarily trust its judgement of where I was stopped and for how long. So what I'm saying is, I don't have reliable data about this run.

I do know it was 7 miles because I've done and mapped the route before. And I do know that there were 71 minutes between when I set off and when I got home.

Perceived effort was high despite running at what felt like easy pace. There were parts where I felt a little weird, low energy, unsteady, like you do when you're ill. Strava app alleges that my moving pace was near PMP, but I don't trust it.

Total: 11.5km in 71 mins

Anyway, in the interests of not exaggerating, I'm not horribly sick or anything. I just feel like I'm only at 80% or something. I'll see what tomorrow brings.

Maximus Alexander

Yesterday, Plan: 4 Miles Easy

I still haven't been feeling great, there's definitely some sort of bug at play. With that in mind I took it very easy for this one and barely broke a sweat.

Total: 6.4km @ 6:39/km


Today, Plan: 17 Mile LSR

I was very dubious about taking this on. I still felt pretty off this morning and would have been just as happy to go back to bed rather than tackle my longest run to date. However, I haven't missed a run yet on the plan and this is a fairly important one, I knew that not even attempting it would only plunge me into misery. So, I made a deal that I'd go out and keep it slow, see how much I could do and be prepared to call it off if it wasn't working.

With that in mind, I had resigned myself to running laps of Marlay Park so that I'd be fairly near home if I did have to call it off, rather than being stranded in Walkinstown or something. I stuck my headphones in and thought I'd just switch off the brain and leave the body to it but the Marlay Park plan didn't last long. After one lap I had already had enough of the avalanche of feral children on scooters and the hordes of small dogs walking their humans on 3 meter ropes, so I was out the gate and on towards Knocklyon.

I hadn't brought any water with me and planned to stop at a shop when necessary, but I regretted this because it turned out to be warmer than I anticipated. At 12km I stopped at a garage and grabbed a Lucozade Sport which was gone by 14km, but the bottle continued to haunt me until 16km when I finally found a bin.

At this stage I was starting to fade. I wasn't feeling great at all and it was a bit of an effort to keep putting one foot in front of the other. At 17.4km I realised that there was only 10k to go and that, while it was going to be a miserable 10k, it was only 10k. So I pressed on. At 21km I stopped at another shop for a Powerade and also gave the legs a quick rub down as they were starting to stiffen. It was tough to get myself going again even though I was only stopped for maybe 2 mins.

By around 22km it became mentally a lot easier, even though my body hated me, because I knew I was in the home stretch. The horrible looking hill behind Nutgrove was much less fearsome than it looks, and shortly afterwards I was back in my own 'hood, pounding familiar pavements for the last couple of km.

When I got in I downed a protein shake and had a rather uncomfortable shower before sticking on the football and partially regretting my decisions. I feel much more unwell now, so it probably wasn't the brightest move. But in fairness, I'm happier to have gotten it done and feel a bit sick than I would have been with the alternative. So there.

Also I rewarded myself by ordering pizza. And chips. With garlic sauce.

Total: 27.4km @ 6:24/km

Singer

Maximus Alexander wrote: »

Also I rewarded myself by ordering pizza. And chips. With garlic sauce.

They sound well deserved! Your splits on Strava don't reflect the internal horror detailed in your log, there was I thinking that it was a good long run

Maximus Alexander

Singer wrote: »

They sound well deserved! Your splits on Strava don't reflect the internal horror detailed in your log, there was I thinking that it was a good long run

Ah it wasn't really that bad overall. I'd say 5-6 of the last 10k were fairly miserable but the rest was fine. I mostly felt crap afterwards.

Firedance

How are you feeling today Max? I think we can all understand your decision to do the run, hopefully a few recovery days will see you back on track. Well done on your longest run to date

Maximus Alexander

Feeling better this morning, thanks FD. I didn't get a great night's sleep so I'm a bit tired (might have a nap later ), but not feeling sick!

Maximus Alexander

Plan: Recovery

I don't know what kind of imbecile I am that I keep running these faster than my LSR. :rolleyes: Legs were very tired, but all good apart from that.

Total: 5km @ 6:07/km

That brings me to 57km for the week, another new record! I'm glad to have gotten through that one.

The Muppet

Maximus Alexander wrote: »

Plan: Recovery

I don't know what kind of imbecile I am that I keep running these faster than my LSR. :rolleyes: Legs were very tired, but all good apart from that.

Total: 5km @ 6:07/km

That brings me to 57km for the week, another new record! I'm glad to have gotten through that one.

Ha Ha Max, go easy on yourself , you're flying it. Well done

Maximus Alexander

Plan: 4 Miles Easy

I know it's only a short easy run, but I felt unusually good today. I was gliding along and really enjoying it. I felt like I had an inexplicable amount of energy and was so tempted to put the hammer down.

Total: 6.4km @ 6:08

Maximus Alexander

Plan: 8 Miles, 6 PMP

The good vibes from yesterday bled over into today and I ran this at too high an effort. The whole run including the warm up and cooldown miles still comes out at a touch faster than my PMP. Add to that the bag on my back and the fact that most of it was uphill and the effort was considerably higher than it ought to have been. I knew this while I was doing it but I was having a great aul time and couldn't convince myself to slow down. I was just really enjoying putting in a comfortably hard effort for a change.

A lovely run that I may well pay the price for when I head out to have a crack at 19 miles on Saturday. :eek:

Total: 12.8km @ 5:33/km

That brings August to a close with another new monthly record of 226km. I've been keeping the lads over at the Guinness book busy the last couple of weeks. :pac:

tailgunner

Great session. No harm to keep the hard days hard, and you'll be well recovered by Saturday I'd say.

Maximus Alexander

Plan: 4 Miles Easy

Not much to report. Legs a little tired. 19 miles next. :eek:

Total: 6.4km @ 6:18/km