Still trying to figure it all out.

hot buttered scones

CCM 2017 week 2 cont.

Friday 17/2

6.1 miles@8:24. Just the local loop. Rolling course with a few small hills and drags. Only yesterday and I don't remember a hell of a lot about it! I must be getting old.

Saturday 18/2

Long Run - 16 miles@8:28.

8:41; 8:32; 8:37; 8:14; 8:27; 8:36; 8:31; 8:37; 8:30; 8:23; 8:21; 8:20; 8:25; 8:26; 8:19; 8:21

I was supposed to get up early for this and run the majority of it over the 1st 3 and last 10 or so miles of the marathon course, but the lure of the bed proved too much and didn't end up going out until nearly 12. I couldn't be doing with traffic so I went out to Blackrock castle and did a few miles of the course out there instead. I felt tired starting out - not fatigued from training, more tired from not having slept enough during the week I'd say. My lower and mid back felt quite stiff starting out, then eased off a bit, then tightened up again for the last mile or so, so I'll have to watch that. I kept telling myself that maybe I was going to fast, but after a few miles it just felt comfortable, and once I hit 10 miles it just a case of seeing if I could keep it up until the end. First 7 mile my HR was between 61% and 71% of HRmax. Miles 8-12 were 73% to 77%. Miles 13-16 were 77% to 83% - the last 2 miles felt tough enough but ok. I took no nutrition - just the usual porridge when I got up. Had 250mls water just after 5 miles and at around 10.5 miles. Overall I'm happy with this run - while it felt difficult in parts, once I got past halfway I got more confident and started to enjoy it a bit more.

Total weekly mileage: 52.6

Thats a jump of 11.8 miles from last week, which is probably too much (its 66.7 miles in the last 7 days). I didn't feel like a big week though, just a normal running week, so maybe I'm just improving on the endurance gains made from DCM 2016 training.

Next week is a step back week on the plan. The plan has 10k race, but I'm doing a 5k because I haven't done one in ages and its only down the road from me. Also the plan has this weeks workout as 10miles+strides on Wednesday if your racing, but to be honest that doesn't suit next week with the kids off school and herself working. I'm thinking of doing 10x400m@3k to 5k pace on Tuesday just to sharpen up. My weekly mileage goal for next week will be somewhere around 35-40 miles. I'll be taking it easy a day or two before the race. So no long run next week, but I'm not really worried about that. Since Jan 15 I've done 10.1 with Lt intervals; 13.1; 10 with LT intervals; 11; 10 mile race; 14; 12 with HMP intervals; 16; so a week with no long run shouldn't hurt.

Wubble Wubble

Great mileage there HBS. Just have a beady eye on it though, as like you say it's a big jump from one week to the next. Keep up the good work!

hot buttered scones

Sunday 19/2
Scheduled rest day

CCM 2017 Week 3

A step back week this week, with a 5k race on Sunday morning.

Monday 20/12

6.2 miles easy before work@8:15. Bread and butter job.

Tuesday 20/2

10x400m@3k to 5k pace.

I did this before night shifts on the road using a preprogrammed Garmin workout. I have no idea what my current 5k pace is and I've never raced a 3k. My current 5k PB is 19:58 - so I was aiming for 6:13 to 6:25 (about 1:32 - 1:35 per 400m). It was quite windy out and I had a hard time judging the pace, but the effort felt right. All the same I ended up running these a bit faster than prescribed, but it didn't feel too hard - so maybe I'm in better shape than I thought or I've made a hames of this session.

Warmup: 2 miles - 7:58; 7:49 (a bit faster than normal - I bumped into a lad from work again and ran at his pace for a bit)

Interval splits: 1:31; 1:30; 1:28; 1:26; 1:23; 1:26; 1:32; 1:32; 1:29; 1:26

For the faster splits I had the wind at my back.

Recoveries started out as a walk and then broke into light jog (1 minute)

Cool Down: 2.6 miles - 8:54; 9:03; .6@8:56

Felt good after this.

Total: 8 miles

Wednesday 21/2

5 recovery@9:31. A nice plod around before work.

Thursday 22/2

7.4 easyish@8:07. The worst of Doris had long since passed down here by the time I got out to this. The sun was shining, although it was a bit nippy out. Although I was up early after nights (to try and get the sleep pattern back to normal) I sat around on my hole for a few hours before going out and was seriously contemplating a rest day. Anyway I pushed myself out the door with no real route in mind. I hit a local park with a circular path about 500m long and just started to do a few laps. Before I knew it I was in the middle of an Ososlo style loop session. I did 13 laps (about 4.2 miles). I did run this a bit fast but to be honest after the first couple of laps I zoned out and just ran and ran and ran (and so on). I felt like I could have kept on going for another hour tbh - no distractions like traffic or hills or even thinking about the route. I was frozen by the end of it though and toddled off home to warm up. I'll have to do a few more of these.

So I think I'll just do a few miles today and about 30 minutes tomorrow before Sundays race with a few easy strides on one of the days. I'm starting to feel a lot better about my running than I did even a couple of weeks ago and I can genuinely sense an overall improvement. I hope I'm right.

tang1

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

hot buttered scones

tang1 wrote: »

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

Cheers. I haven't done a 5k since last June so I'm expecting this to hurt. A lot! It's nice flat course though and I'm looking forward to just going down and giving it a good lash.

tailgunner

Best of luck Sunday. Guessing it's the Gas Networks race at the Marina?

hot buttered scones

tailgunner wrote: »

Best of luck Sunday. Guessing it's the Gas Networks race at the Marina?

Yeah, that's the one. Moved to 9am now. I'll probably park down by the Pairc and jog down to the registration. I haven't down a BHAA race in ages, so I'm looking forward to catching with a few people I haven't seen in a while.

Singer

hot buttered scones wrote: »

Yeah, that's the one. Moved to 9am now. I'll probably park down by the Pairc and jog down to the registration. I haven't down a BHAA race in ages, so I'm looking forward to catching with a few people I haven't seen in a while.

Enjoy! Give it socks.

denis b

Best of luck HBS. No doubt that your sense of improvement will be translated into numbers that work for you. Have a good run.

Mrs Mc

Give it socks M hope it goes well.

Kennyg71

Best of luck Sunday, have a good race.

jake1970

Best of luck tomorrow, go hard or go home!!

hot buttered scones

Singer wrote: »

Enjoy! Give it socks.

denis b wrote: »

Best of luck HBS. No doubt that your sense of improvement will be translated into numbers that work for you. Have a good run.

Mrs Mc wrote: »

Give it socks M hope it goes well.

Kennyg71 wrote: »

Best of luck Sunday, have a good race.

jake1970 wrote: »

Best of luck tomorrow, go hard or go home!!

Thanks lads.

mbarr

So how did it go??

hot buttered scones

I hate it when you type out a long post and then forget to switch tabs before loading a new page.

Friday 24/2

6.3 easy with 7x15s Hill sprints (supposed to be 6 but I lost count)

Saturday 25/2

3.1 mile shakeout@8:55

Sunday 26/2

BHAA Gas Networks Ireland 5k

Time: 20:00
Mile splits: 6:14; 6:30; 6:36; and 40s for the rest @ 5:52 pace
km splits: 3:38; 3:59; 4:01; 4:06; 4:05

Another 3 seconds and I would have had a PB. I went out too fast (again) and had woken up with some slight breathing trouble and lower back tightness which caused me a bit of trouble in the second half of the race. Conditions were not ideal, I wasn't feeling 100% but I still managed to find a small bit in the tank at the end when I saw the clock ticking up towards 20. 5k's are fooking hard. The first mile was more or less into the wind, and we should have had it our backs for the last two miles, but it felt more like it was coming in sideways!!! I did try and hang to a few groups especially on the last stretch but I was bate. I'd really forgotten had fooking hard 5ks are. There's nowhere to hide and no way to make up lost time. How can you be in your right mind to go out and run like that in the beginnings of a storm, and put yourself through that level of pain? I was doing some amount of mental gymnastics to keep going and I'm pretty sure me lungs had shrivelled to the size of two walnuts for the last 400m - either that or somehow I'd been surrounded by some sort of anomalous vacuum that the world of physics hasn't discovered yet. I had planned on doing 4 or 5 miles easy afterwards but binned that in favour of coffee, biscuits, a sandwich and a catch up with a few people I haven't seen in a while. Between the jog down to registration, the warmup, the race, and the cool down jog back to the car I covered 6.4 miles for the day.

Looking forward to getting back to marathon training. This faster sh1t is is mad hard. Here's me thinking "it'll be grand - sure tis only a short race - it'll be tough but I'll be grand again by tea time" - by 7pm I was snoring on the sofa!! Still though, I think there's a faster 5k in me - Maybe after this marathon(s?) I'll do a 5k training block.

Weekly total: 42.6 miles

Edit: Did I mention how fooking hard 5ks are?

Singer

hot buttered scones wrote: »

Edit: Did I mention how fooking hard 5ks are?

Did it take you > 3 seconds to cross the line? There's a PB in the km splits... pretty good going given the conditions too. 5k races build good mental toughness alright, very useful for the business end of longer races!

hot buttered scones

Singer wrote:

Did it take you > 3 seconds to cross the line? There's a PB in the km splits... pretty good going given the conditions too. 5k races build good mental toughness alright, very useful for the business end of longer races!

Yeah - I pulled the km splits from another app - it showed a final split of 0.01km in 3 seconds. That's one corner rounded too wide, or one tangent not ran properly. Yeah, it's like the last 3 miles of a marathon without the 23 miles of fun first.

hot buttered scones

Totally forgot to say we won a team prize - 2nd in category C and a €15 voucher for John Buckley Sports. I was first to score for the team. That's the price of BHAA registration and the race entry back. Or €45 an hour. Not bad either way.

diego_b

Good job, agree on 5Ks...no easing into the race, just immediate discomfort. A few clubmates I've been trying to persuade to give 10Ks and halfs a go, I tell them they are easier!

hot buttered scones

CCM week 4

Monday 27/2
Took a rest day to coincide with work, although as the day wore on I kinda wished I'd done a 3 mile recovery at least because I just felt tired and sluggish all day.

Tuesday 28/2

6 easy@8:30 before work. Nice run on a bright cold morning before work. Average HR 140

Total mileage for February: 173.6

Wednesday 01/03

Progression run - planned -20 mins easy (MP+15%=8:34), 20 mins steady (MP+15s-30s=7:42-7:57) , 20 mins MP (7:27), 10 mins HMP (7:00?), 20 mins easy

Actual:
20 minutes@8:14 - 2.43 miles - 8:13, 8:15, 0.43@ 8:13 pace
20 minutes@7:45 - 2.58 miles - 7:47, 7:43, 0.58@ 7:49 pace
20 minutes@7:23 - 2.71 miles - 7:24, 7:23, 0.71@ 7:24 pace
10 minutes@6:51 - 1.46 miles - 6:52, 0.46@ 6:47 pace
20 minutes@ 8:22 -2.39 miles - 8:21, 8:21, 0.39@ 8:30 pace

Total miles: 11.57

After getting up and pissing and moaning about the place, I eventually gave myself a kick up the hole and headed down to the Marina for about 11:30 - and it seems like I managed to get this run in during the best weather of the day - no real wind, 9-10 deg and little to no rain. Thoroughly enjoyed this and felt like I kept having the reign in the pace so the MP and HMP sections ended up a bit fast. The route has a bit of tree cover in places and I was relying too much on the watch so I was speeding up and slowing down a bit in the beginning, but then I copped on and just tried to maintain even effort for each section once I got into my stride, although to be honest I did push it for the last 3 minutes of the HMP section to something more like 10mile-10k pace. Easy pace felt pedestrian afterwards tbh. The OHRM on my FR235 was just giving out junk results so I can't gauge the effort from that, but to me it felt ok - the 10 minutes fast were tough alright but not too bad. Love these type of sessions, and I think I always great benefit out of them.

Thursday 02/03

5 recovery@9:11

I'd done a night shift after yesterdays session (home at 8:45 am) and didn't wake up until 16:40 or so, so I had only a couple of hours to get ready for work tonight and ended up eating dinner just before heading out the door so thank god this was only a recovery run. An easy plod around the harbour before work again.

hot buttered scones

Friday 03/03

Headed out Blarney direction and did 9 miles going from just past Killeens along the Sli na Slainte and on to Tower and back. I hadn't ran the road from Blarney to Tower before, so it was a nice change of scenery. 9@8:14 - pace varied a due to the nature of the route (a few small hills and drags) but overall I felt the effort was fairly even throughout, although it was at the upper limit of easy range.

Saturday 04/03

6.2+6x100m strides - 8:12 average - 8:22; 8:28; 8:26; 8:34; 7:23 (strides); 8:06; 0.2@8:01. Nice and easy for the first 4 miles and blew out a few cobwebs with the strides. It was very windy so some of the strides were into the wind and some away from it. I think I was blown home for the last 1.2 miles

Sunday 05/03

Long run - 18 miles

I still feel a great sense of trepidation about any long run over 16 miles and today was no different. I had originally planned togged up at 7 and be on the road by 8 - I woke at 6 turned over for another hours kip and woke again at 9!! Anyway, between the jigs and the reels of it I didn't go out until around 11:30 and instead of driving somewhere I decided to just head out the front door. It's a mile downhill into town which s a nice warmup. Miles 2-5 where the first 4 miles of CCM, then I cut across town and ran the last 9 or so miles of CCM, and the home the long way which meant the last two miles were uphill, or at least a drag. And the weather - it started out mild, a bit of drizzle and a light wind. Once I got into Blackpool I had to roll up my sleeves and take my gloves off - the sun was comfortably warm. By the time I hit Turners Cross the gloves had to go back on. I got a soaking going round by the Lough and then I was almost blown backwards going down the Model Farm Road and pelted with rain and possible hail. My hands were like block of ice and I couldn't even tie my laces properly - I had T rex hands!. The sun came out as I was going down the Straight Road again and the wind pushed me back into town. The last two miles felt tough enough, but it's a bit of a climb and I was tired.

Nutrition - Porridge for breakfast and then just water. I took on about 750mls, but was wearing a Camelback so was just constantly sipping away. My longest run ever without gels. Funnily enough my HR went a bit doolally after 2 hours - now my watch can be flakey when it comes to HR, but I was just wondering if maybe this was because I was now relying on a higher percentage of fat as fuel? I never got hungry on the run, and ran it tad faster than usual too so I reckon I had just eaten well enough over the previous few days. Most of the time when I have a horrible long run I can look back and see that my nutrition and sleep in the days leading up to it were not great.

Pace - pace was a bit hot from the word go, but the effort felt right. With the wind the way it was it was hard to judge the pace tbh - I'd speed up when the wind was at my back and slow down a bit when it was in my face so I just judged it by what felt like easy effort.

Splits: 8:01 (downhill); 8:11; 8:20; 8:21; 8:07; 8:27; 8:10; 8:15; 8:06; 8:28; 8:16; 8:12; 8:14; 8:18; 8:06; 8:30; 8:27; 8:17

Total for the week: 55.8 which is my biggest week ever, and just slightly above my peak week for DCM 16. But the funny thing is that I don't feel like I'm in training for a marathon - as in I'm way below my usual levels of fatigue, although I haven't yet had a few weeks in a row at this mileage. I'll hopefully peak at around 60+ for this training cycle. Next week is going to be another lower mileage week because of Ballycotton, and then it's time to get stuck in for 12 weeks to bring me up to CCM 17.

hot buttered scones

Monday 06/03

6.2 recovery@9:16 (morning); 4.1 easy @ 8:40 (evening). I don't usually do doubles, but I had the day off and a spare half hour in the evening so I thought why not. Morning run was ok - I was still a bit tired from Sunday. I felt a bit fresher for the evening jaunt, and enjoyed it - 10.4 for the day (Strava rounding again)

Tuesday 07/03

hot buttered scones wrote: »

But the funny thing is that I don't feel like I'm in training for a marathon - as in I'm way below my usual levels of fatigue, although I haven't yet had a few weeks in a row at this mileage. .

How dare I tempt the running gods with such a bold statement - and then rub their noses in it by being cocky enough to not recover properly from a long run - I had the cheek to run twice on Monday!! After a crap nights sleep - seriously I woke at 4:30am and couldn't get back to sleep - I headed out for the usual 6 miler before work. 6 miles@8:55 and it felt like a total struggle for nearly to whole thing. I was running on fumes and looking at the data afterwards my HR was way lower than how it felt (recovery range)- it was like I couldn't get the body out of 1st gear. Lesson learned (ish). I still had a day at work to do, but I think I must have ate my own weight in food throughout the day. Got home and into bed for an early night for once.

Wednesday 08/03

I had planned on doing 10 miles easy with strides in the morning, but after Tuesday I binned that plan. I waited until the evening and did 5 miles with 6 strides after work - 8:03; 8:10; 8:04; 7:33 (strides included); 8:23. HR in the right range for easy running and I felt like a different man. Lovely evening for it too - nice and mild and a notable absence of wind for the first time in a while. One of those runs when you think " I really really love running."

Nothing done yet today - I'll probably do a few easy miles before work tonight. Then I'll rest tomorrow in between night shifts, a short shake out on Saturday , then off again to the Ballycotton 10 Sunday. Or something like that.

Mrs Mc

See ya Sunday although I've never actually met you so will just have to let FBOT keep an eye out for ya!!! Have a good race.

hot buttered scones

Mrs Mc wrote: »

See ya Sunday although I've never actually met you so will just have to let FBOT keep an eye out for ya!!! Have a good race.

I was thinking the same thing - I'll have to keep an eye out for FBOT! Best of luck yourself

denis b

All the very best for Sunday and keep the Wednesday mantra of " I really really love running" in mind.

Singer

denis b wrote: »

All the very best for Sunday and keep the Wednesday mantra of " I really really love running" in mind.

+1

Hope you have a great day! Give it socks!

hot buttered scones

denis b wrote: »

All the very best for Sunday and keep the Wednesday mantra of " I really really love running" in mind.

Singer wrote: »

+1

Hope you have a great day! Give it socks!

Cheers lads. Looking forward to it now. Can't wait to give it a good lash!

Wubble Wubble

Best of luck tomorrow!

jake1970

Best of luck tomorrow, give it a lash:)

hot buttered scones

Ah ffs. Another long list typed out and lost because of a crap Mac mouse.

Friday 10/3

Rest

Saturday 11/3

3 miles easy shakeout with a few easier than usual strides

Sunday 12/3

Ballycotton 10.

Abridged version. Got there early and did a 2 mile warmup

Race time (official chip time) 1:10:00 (watch had 1:09:58)

Splits - 6:39; 6:42; 6:50; 6:56; 7:02; 6:50; 6:54; 7:11; 7:38; 6:52 (and an extra 100m from not running the line for a "sprint" finish)

Took advantage of the downhills for the first 2 miles. Felt comfortable running at 6:50 pace for mile 3. Lost time in miles 4 and 5 due to the wind I think, and mile 5 has a bit of a drag. Out of the wind for miles 6 and 7, although I lost focus a bit in mile 7. Started mile 8 strong and was on for a possible small PB, but then got a stitch and had to walk for a few seconds. Found it mentally tough to get going again. The stitch came back during mile 9 and I had a longer walk, but talked myself out of quitting with a mile and half to go. I took on the hills and at the 9 mile marker I realised I was at least on for a sub 70 so pushed on for home. I finished fairly strongly I think.

Good day out, met a few boardsies, and a few running friends.

An improvement by 2 minutes from Dungarvan. I found the conditions tough for the first half of the race and found it mentally tough after the stitch, so I'm glad I was able to salvage a decent result. Apart from the stitch I think I had a good race overall, but still faced the same problem of the head giving up when things went wrong - although I eventually overcame it this time. It looks like I ran out of juice, but I think had plenty left to finish out the race, but the stitch took its toll. I'm not complaining - these things happen. Next up is the UCC 10k, but not before some serious marathon training. I'll still be training with a 3:15 goal in mind.