Lurker's Log

mbarr

After lurking for the entirety of the mentored novices thread and being consumed by envy in the run-up to DCM and on the day itself I've decided to keep a log in the hopes of getting myself uninjured to the start line of a marathon in 2016.

Background:
Started running in June this year, I had been walking 20-30km around the city every evening as a way of losing weight (went from 95 to 85kg) then started running (85-75kg) with the sole focus of running the Warriors Run. I grew up on the side of Knocknarea, it's always been in my head to get that done at some stage so I figured why not this year?
Absolutely loved running my route through Drumcondra, Glasnevin and the Royal Canal, and began to take in parts of Phoenix Park on my long runs. I knew I was addicted when I made the decision to move to Stoneybatter mainly to be closer to the park. I picked up a drinking injury during the fleadh in Sligo and ended up not making the Warriors Run, but at that stage I had signed up for the race series half marathon and had something to work towards recovering for.

Current state of affairs:
I've ran 3 races and a parkrun since taking up running;
Ransboro 10k (July): 50:06
Knocknarea 8 mile (August): 1:05:48
Race Series Half Marathon (September): 1:48:26
Sligo Parkrun (September): 21:36

Totally all over the place, and all very soft I think.

Training:
I'm currently making it up as I go along, after reading Jack Daniel Running Formula and P&D Advanced Marathoning, and I'm running just over 40 miles a week (6 runs) with a tempo run, intervals and a long run in there. Long run is currently 13 miles.

Plans:
I'm signed up for the Gingerbread half marathon and the Jingle Bells 5k, and I'm planning on running the Rotterdam Marathon in spring. I'm 90% sure I will use the P&D 33-55 miles/week plan to train for this, as I think I need the structure.

mbarr

Day one of the log: rest day. Spent 20 minutes picking at a black toenail trying unsuccessfully to convince it to come off

kit3

mbarr wrote: »

Day one of the log: rest day. Spent 20 minutes picking at a black toenail trying unsuccessfully to convince it to come off

Leave it - it'll come off in good time & there'll be a new one underneath !

mbarr

Yesterday: 8 miles easyish around phoenix park

Today: 10 miles with 6 alternating between planned HMP (7:35) and possible planned MP (7:55)

Tonight's run felt easy enough after recent tempo runs of 7:25, and the PMP sections actually felt like proper recovery which was great. Upper glen road helped with the last two miles unfortunately, I need to modify my route to remove that assistance!

Murph_D

Ya. That upper glen is a piece of piss. :pac:

mbarr

Murph_D wrote: »

Ya. That upper glen is a piece of piss. :pac:

I think I've been subconsciously avoiding running up it since the half.

mbarr

14 mile run today, 8:49 pace. Rather hungover, not the nicest long run but I got through it, arrived home and took off my shoe and discovered my foot covered in blood, absolutely no idea during the run.

Easy running from now until the Gingerbread Half next weekend

Baggirshorts

The best of luck next week Upper Glen......yeah enough said!!!!.... :-)

mbarr

8 miles easy/recovery, Phoenix Park loop, 9:20 pace. Avg HR: 139

Broke out the tights for this one for the first time. Happy enough with the avg HR, still generally sore after the long run but I guess you'll have that, last week was my highest mileage ever and had my longest long run ever. Glad of a mini-taper this week.

Baggirshorts

mbarr wrote: »

Broke out the tights for this one for the first time.

The tights? Are these the full length ones?
I have never worn them...are they comfortable and do you find any benefit from them?
Good luck....

mbarr

Baggirshorts wrote: »

The tights? Are these the full length ones?
I have never worn them...are they comfortable and do you find any benefit from them?
Good luck....

Yep the full length ones, only bought them because they were going cheap in runways closing down sale. They're grand, seem like they'll be good for cold recovery days where I won't be going fast enough to really warm up.

Baggirshorts

I might pop in there and have a look at what's left in stock. I am sure I have a voucher for spending in there......
Thanks...

mbarr

Tuesday: 9 miles, 8:00/mi, avg HR: 153
Frustration run, too fast, too long but it felt good.

mbarr

Wednesday: Rest
Thursday: 6 miles, 8:04/mi avg HR: 152
A 'stretch the legs' fartlek. No more running until the gingerbread half marathon on Sunday

Baggirshorts

mbarr wrote: »

Wednesday: Rest
Thursday: 6 miles, 8:04/mi avg HR: 152
A 'stretch the legs' fartlek. No more running until the gingerbread half marathon on Sunday

Good luck on Sunday..... :-)

I did that race last year, it was called Off the Laois then. A really lovely course, would have liked to do it again this year but Dubgal said I wasn't allowed :P

Best of luck with it

mbarr

Deleted User wrote: »

I did that race last year, it was called Off the Laois then. A really lovely course, would have liked to do it again this year but Dubgal said I wasn't allowed :P

Best of luck with it

Thanks Whoopsa! It was a lovely course, will do it next year if I'm allowed by whoever the novice mentor is

1:39:something today, totally delighted, going to go buy some beer (the medal is shaped like a bottle opener, message received loud and clear!) and then have a stab at a race report!

mbarr

So i had a vague plan for this, same plan that worked well in the race series half when I was aiming for 1:50, start slow, warm my way into the race, catch the 1:40 pacers by halfway then stick with them until the final mile and try to pull out ahead.

I settled in early behind two guys that I think were running the half, they were chatting away no bother, rather intimidating! I stuck to them and distracted myself by listening to their conversation. First mile was 8 minutes, second was an on pace 7:35. 1:40 pacers were about 200m up the road.

Around the time the 10k was turning to head back to town I realised my running buddies were probably running a relaxed tempo run preparing for some other race, so I ran by them and started to bridge the gap to the 1:40 group. I think I caught them around the 5 mile mark, a bit earlier than I had intended but I was glad to be tucked in behind a group of stronger runners. The pacers were amazing, it's mad how mentally attached to them you become! I got chatting to a fellow who had run a 30 mile race in Clare last weekend and was running a "stretch the legs" half this week. Fair play!

I had a few Dubgal phrases from the novice thread running around my head during the middle section, most prevalent was "trust the training". I was running tempo runs at 7:25 for 3/4 miles around the park a few weeks ago though, and wrecked after them, so I really wasn't sure that I could keep the pace so close to that for the entire half. Sure enough around the 8 mile mark the fatigue started to kick in. My breathing was fine, my legs and feet were grand, my heart rate was exactly where it should be, but a little part of my brain that I've not heard from very often started suggesting "slow down, just a bit. Stop here, sit down, lie down, sleep" I started dreaming of the finishing line, of sitting down, of not running. I remember thinking a few times that I wasn't sure I actually liked running at all. I had a vague notion that if I stuck with the pacers til 10 miles I would finish with them, so I focused on that and tried to ignore my brain.

10 miles came and went, the pace group was getting a bit thin at this stage. 30 mile last week guy had pushed on up the road, I was running with the pacers and another fella wearing an Edenderry Tri club tshirt that had joined us after halfway having ran the race I had planned and caught the pacers slowly. 5k to go, just a park run to go, 3 miles, 4k, 3k, 2 miles, 2k, these distances seemed like nothing when running around Phoenix Park last week, I was feeling every metre of them this time out! With about a kilometre to go I surprised myself by kicking away from the pacing group and running out on my own, this was the toughest stretch because I knew at this stage the 1:40 was safe, and I wasn't sure why I was pushing it. Delighted to turn into the GAA club where the start/finish line was (the support was amazing here, kept me going all the way to the line) and see 1:39:0x on the clock.

Finished in 1:39:18, 50th place. 9 minute PB, absolutely delighted. After the race series half I felt totally shook, but I could walk. After this race I felt completely fine, except that I was hobbling around like my legs were broken. After checking Mcmillian and Jack Daniels my time was perfectly in line with my 21:36 park run, so my endurance is improving which is great.

Easy running now till Jingle Bells 5k, then P&D 55 mile program for Rotterdam

mbarr

Mad busy week at work, only managed two days running.
Tue: 4.2 miles
Wed: 4.2 miles

I needed a stepback week after the half last weekend anyway, still a bit sore from it. Going a bit crazy in the aftermath of the race, worrying about injury, recovery, fitness, etc, I presume that's normal.

Nothing runners do is normal.

We're all a bit batsh*t crazy

mbarr

Friday: 9 miles @ 8:27
Ran this one with my flatmate's springer spaniel pup in tow for the first 6 miles, God only knows how far she ran. Might get a garmin for her! It was one of the nicest runs I've ever had, she's a total nut job, I was laughing to myself the entire way. Went a wee bit far with her, will take it easy and only take her out for short recovery runs from now on. It was all on grass in the park anyhow.

Saturday: 8 miles @ 8:27
Wasn't paying attention to pace on either Friday's run or Saturday's and they worked out exactly the same (despite Saturday's being sans pup)

Sunday: I was half thinking I'd get a long run in today but still not completely recovered from the half last Sunday, I decided to skip it. Want to get a mini session in tomorrow night to assess if I have any hope of going under 20 minutes in the jingle bells 5k next weekend and thought a rest day was the best thing for that.

I had planned 5x800m at 6:20 pace and then copped myself on. Going to run 1x1k at 6:20 and draw conclusions from that instead.

Baggirshorts

Some times the rest day can be the hardest day in the week....

mbarr

8 miles @7:47 with 2x1k @6:50

Lesson learned the easy way, I'm not going to be able to run under 20 mins for the 5k on the back of a shortened half marathon training cycle where I swapped all interval sessions for tempo runs. No speed in the legs, nowhere near managing 1k at 6:20, 5 of them at that pace this weekend isn't happening. New goal is to get under 21 mins and run a negative split.

mbarr

Tuesday: 8 miles @9:01

Another run with the dog, went off on the trails around the edge of the park and got a taste of cross country muckiness, ended up on my face in a puddle at once stage. Felt a bit niggly, might have been the twisting and turning to accommodate the dog on the lead, or the muddiness underfoot.

Today: Rest day

mbarr

Jingle Bells 5k

With storm Desmond battering the country and a fair few races cancelled (some utterly shambolically by the sounds of it) Donore Harriers did an excellent job managing to get this race completed. It will definitely be a regular fixture for me, great course, lovely mug, good atmosphere despite the conditions.

I had started to guess during the week that my 5k PB wasn't as soft as I thought, and that proved to be the case, gun time was 21:43. Overall given the conditions I'm happy enough, I don't think I'm going to get faster without 5k specific training (or at least reintroducing intervals at 5k pace).

There was a false start (or a false false start I think!) so everyone was called back, I returned to the board for where the 20 minute people were supposed to be but there were a lot of walkers, etc who had moved forward with the false start and didn't move back. I don't think the congestion at the start really affected my time, I wanted to go out a bit conservatively anyhow. 5ks really hit you almost right from the start, I was never comfortable or happy during the race. I felt terrible from pretty much the first minute, and the feeling got steadily worse as the race progressed.

Turning onto OS road was where the wind began to have some effect, and I was slightly isolated at this stage. There was what looked like a 9 year old boy running around my pace but offering very little shelter in his wake. He was wearing what looked like a school uniform, breathing heavily and a bit all over the place so I decided to kick on, see ya later kid. I did see him later, overtaking me at great speed barreling down the upper glen road. Fair play!

The upper glen road is a bit like a magic road, it feels like a mountain when forced to run up it but a barely noticeable gentle drop when running down. I had been pinning my hopes on being able to really pick up the pace on this section, and I did pick it up enough to at least run a negative split. The pain increased to almost unbearable levels and then it was all over.

I ran 3 miles warm up and 2 miles home cool down so that's 8 miles for the day, legs felt instantly fine again after finishing the race which was nice.

Afterwards I went to Ryan's where I met Whoopsa, TFGR, Singer, Dennis, AnnaPR, Aquinn, the wonderful Dubgal, and possibly others. The drinks disappeared as quickly as good intentions, it seems impossible that we were sitting talking about running for 5 hours but there you go. Aquinn seemed genuinely disgusted that I had lurked my way through the novice thread like some sort of silent stalker. And it turns out Whoopsa and I have a rake of friends in common and we basically do the same job. Nice to meet you all!

Today I'm heading out for a gentle 10 miler around the park, tomorrow is a rest day, and then Tuesday I begin training for Rotterdam marathon. Lots of food for thought from conversations with Dubgal in Ryans (the bits I remember!), I will be probably be reexamining my choice of training plan over the next day or so.

annapr

Nice to meet you yesterday M and well done again on running in those conditions! Best of luck with the Rotterdam plan, will follow with interest.

mbarr

annapr wrote: »

Nice to meet you yesterday M and well done again on running in those conditions! Best of luck with the Rotterdam plan, will follow with interest.

Thanks Anna, nice you meet you too

aquinn

10 miles today, head is obviously good. Fair play. I'm on an enforced rest day due to dehydration.

mbarr

aquinn wrote: »

10 miles today, head is obviously good. Fair play. I'm on an enforced rest day due to dehydration.

Lemon and lime nuun tablets in my after midnight G&Ts. Delicious and hydrating.

libelula

mbarr wrote: »

Lemon and lime nuun tablets in my after midnight G&Ts. Delicious and hydrating.

My god this is genius.

mbarr

First marathon training run:
Strava Link

2mi w/u @9:18
4mi threshold @7:18
3mi c/d @9:00

Still very much in two minds about P&D but I haven't found anything else I like the look of yet, so I figure I'll do the first few weeks of this and see how it goes. It looks like it doesn't really get "hard" hard until week 5 or 6. Really lovely run tonight, pace felt hard but manageable for the tempo section. Another mile and I'd have been wrecked but that's next week's problem!