Roads? Where we're going, we don't need roads

Huzzah!

Well done! Sounds like a well-executed run.

Pomplamousse wrote: »

Well done! :D Sounds like a great experience. Would like to do it someday, or even just the half, but think I'd definitely take your approach and not aim for a specific time.

Wubble Wubble wrote: »

Well done B, great to have that one in the bag. It got me thinking about next year a bit more!

The Connemarathon should give you an appearance fee. You have us all wanting to do it now after reading your report.

eyrie

Really enjoyed reading your report. You have a way with them
Well done on the achievement! It's a stunning part of the world

Baby75

Well done and what a great report and you have me hooked one I must add Connemarathon to my never-ending list of run's I want to do

The Black Oil

Thanks for the comments. Very much recommend Connemara!

May 3rd - 2.27 miles at 12:45
May 6th - 6.46 miles at 11:45

Grads base plan week 1, May 7th-13th: 36.01 miles.

Back running now, felt a little odd to be back at it after work. Not sure why. Tues was good, weather too! Weds was mentally meh. This morning was beautiful. Have been volunteering at parkrun a few times recently. It was cricket time at Malahide yesterday, so that meant an altered course. No worries to a visitor from the UK who came in first - part of a group of 15 or so that travelled over. Going by feedback they had a great experience coming over which is what it's about. Attendance down by 100 or so, probably due to Darkness into Light. I went to do 40 min easy + 10x100m strides (AP with full recovery) afterwards, overcooked the strides a bit. :rolleyes:

This coming week - week 2 and a little add on at the end. Will probably be fairly congested. I'll be in one of the slower waves and with the starts more so towards midday/early afternoon, and if there's good weather it could be interesting. Anyway, it'll be an adventure.

Dear TBO

Congratulations! You are now registered to take part in the Simplyhealth Great Manchester Run 10k 2018 on Sunday 20 May 2018.

Course profile - link.
Event guide - link.

Baby75

Good luck tomorrow looks like it is to be another nice day

The Black Oil

Thanks. Collected my race pack, am in the blue wave, starts at 2pm. Quite warm today. Strong police presence in the city.

Baby75

The Black Oil wrote: »

Thanks. Collected my race pack, am in the blue wave, starts at 2pm. Quite warm today. Strong police presence in the city.

Exciting, have fun and I hope it does not get too hot later on

The Black Oil

53:39, official. Happy with that, not fussed about the time. Got more into the atmosphere of it as the kms passed. Small improvement on 2017 10k, Inishbofin.

Minute's silence before the start was sobering. Decent workout in warm conditions, mother nature brought the sun. Hydrated well yesterday and today, so no headache lurking. Very much an urban race, and final 3k are doubling back, pretty much. A few people getting medical help on the course. Passed Old Trafford, guess that's pleasant or painful depending on your feelings towards the team. Tonnes of people grabbed the shade the stadium wall offered.

Back to base building next week. But first, some gelato before departing Manchester...

Baby75

The Black Oil wrote: »

53:39, official. Happy with that, not fussed about the time. Got more into the atmosphere of it as the kms passed. Small improvement on 2017 10k, Inishbofin.

Minute's silence before the start was sobering. Decent workout in warm conditions, mother nature brought the sun. Hydrated well yesterday and today, so no headache lurking. Very much an urban race, and final 3k are doubling back, pretty much. A few people getting medical help on the course. Passed Old Trafford, guess that's pleasant or painful depending on your feelings towards the team. Tonnes of people grabbed the shade the stadium wall offered.

Back to base building next week. But first, some gelato before departing Manchester...

Well done that is a great time

The Black Oil

Base plan week 2: 34.06 miles.

Juggled the days to run Mon-Fri rather than the usual Tues/Weds/Thurs/Sat/Sun

Sat 19th May

Flew to Manchester on a prop plane, all good. Picked up my pack at Albert Square and wandered about a bit. Only copped on that evening that I had bought the wrong train ticket - day return as opposed to any time. Got everything ready for Sunday.

Sun 20th May

Breakfast, then just took it easy as I didn't have any early start. Headed across to the area before 1pm. Shortly thereafter was the minute's silence for last year's bombing. Not long afterwards a novice asked me whether we had to do anything more to register at this stage. Spotted someone in a Connemara 2018 shirt, guess I could have said hi. Time getting on and I moved behind the cordon. The sun was a little out of sight here and we also had a gentle breeze. We shuffle on a few times, maybe every 6-8 minutes or so. The warm up is fun and by this stage the sun is back in action. Then the minute's silence again, not entirely respected by all.

Slightly after 14:00 on the official clock and the gun goes off with a fair bang. Into the streets we go and that first half a click is fairly congested. I hope to hit ~ 8:28 min/mi which doesn't quite happen owing to the crowds. Doable to move ahead, but probably not worth barging through. Ah yeah, this city tarmac thing - haven't done that in a while...

I remember the 1k and 3k signs, not the 2. Soon we're parallel to the earlier wave and I spot the 45 minute pacer. We'll be looping back there later, grand. As above, we passed Old Trafford then did a bit in a car park with some tunes and back out again to where most folks wanted shade. I think after here was where the scouts were handing out sweets, loads of them flattened into the ground. The sweets, not the scouts. Onwards towards 6k was more industrial estate ish and quieter on the crowd front. We did have the benefit of a tunnel/tent thing with water spraying as you passed through. iirc, around 6 is where the cheeks felt a bit flushed. :pac: They had the tunnel thing later as well, I went through both - was really about timing and whether it would be busy. Approaching 7k and there's a little bit of a rise to deal with. Crowds again here. After this stretch and a few medical situations appear. More so towards 8 and 9 and the 60 minute pacer's about. When is it safe to make more effort - something I'm never great at judging. Red-shirt bloke surges forward, then fades. Shortly after we have the 400 metres sign, then 200. Ahh finish line, how are ye?

Heat seemed OK for me, tried to remember the breath through the nose thing - theory vs. practice. Fuel - some water. Well organised. Atmosphere - not entirely sure how to judge this, tbh. Loads of University of Manchester students and an NHS crew running it. Probably a very personal race for some in light of last year's attack.

Garmin: 6.35 miles, 53:43 at 8:28. 72 Fahrenheit or 22C.

Mile|Pace
1|8:48
2|8:48
3|8:40
4|8:24
5|8:21
6|8:13
0.35|7:05



Official:
3k: 16:58
5k: 27:54
8k: 43:46
Finish: 53:39

Faster is doable (end of June 10k?!). Official photos not too bad. Precision of the above report is a bit scattered (memory), but that's the gist of it.

Have commenced week 3. Legs OK.

Neady83

Nicely done TBO

The Black Oil

Thanks Neady.

Have been busy with real life duties. Heading a committee means I am responsible for everything, but there is a little freedom to delegate. Parkrun’s been good with a few visitors. Overall, numbers dropping a little with the summer.

I did the DCU RISC study recently (thread here). We try to get the word out about research projects in work, so I enjoyed being on the other side and participating for once. Very professional and easy to talk to them. They seemed to think I should be doing mountain running, triathlons and that and asked whether I had a background in basketball (nope). Are they mad? :pac: Oh yeah, ‘supple’ was referenced, and not by me. :P Anyway, time on the treadmill is fairly minimal, the rest is strength, flexibility, etc. Recommend doing it if you get a chance, it’s fun and you get to see how the cameras see you.

Base plan (incl. warm up/cool down)

May 21st/27th, week 3: - 39.17 miles
May 28th/June 3rd, week 4: 39.37 miles
June 4th/10th, week 5: 40.55 miles

Sunday June 10th was the most enjoyable 2 hour easy run I’ve done in a while. Felt very natural. I have been doing the odd morning without breakfast in advance and finding it comfortable. Haven’t tried any food on those runs yet. Yeah, Sunday was good apart from chaffing, first time for everything. Back out the Man O War. I still seem to be frightening the cows. They were all sitting down on Sunday morning, maybe resting before the heat?! Then scarpered as I moved past. Between now and DCM we need to develop a common language…

The sub-4 thread is starting to ramp up a little more now. Again, it’s that balance of not getting too caught up on time this far out, but…

July 2nd is when the Meno plan kicks in. I reckon something like this should work.

Meno prescribed stuff: Weds, Thurs (recovery), Sunday long, easy
DIY: Tues – 5-7 easy, Sat, 5-7 easy.

Oh, did I mention I was looking at marathons in Iceland? Seems there’s a Spring/Autumn one in Reykjavik April/Oct. Course info suggest it’s mostly flat. So that could do for April 2019, though this would rule out Conn: The Sequel! The Mt. Esja one sounds fun. :P Will send a postcard if I go there. :pac:

eyrie

The Black Oil wrote: »

Oh, did I mention I was looking at marathons in Iceland? Seems there’s a Spring one in Reykjavik April/Oct Course info suggest it’s mostly flat. So that could do for April 2019, though this would rule out Conn: The Sequel! The Mt. Esja one sounds fun. :P Will send a postcard if I go there. :pac:

I'm just back from a trip to Iceland and went for a few easy runs around and couldn't stop thinking that it would be an amazing place to try a marathon. The scenery is something else

The Black Oil

Have been on holidays and away from the computer and work too, hooray.

Recent Irish runs – had to swap some days around to due travel. Did the long run on Thursday as I knew I'd be on two wheels from Sunday.

June 11th-14th.

Rest

7.2 miles, 60 minutes very easy at 12:46, (incl. w/u, c/d)

7.71 miles, 60 minutes moderate at 10:53, (incl. w/u, c/d)

10.32 miles - 2 hours easy, at 11:44

June 15th – hello Italy. 6.55 miles (incl. warm up/cool down), very easy at 12:44

June 16th - 45 minutes easy 3.89 miles at 11:47, plus 5 minutes at tempo 0.60 mile at 9:19. An early run, again down by the boat yard and also a few loops of Ikea (not inside the store, obviously). The extension car park was rather overgrown and neglected and sad looking. Plenty of slots to loop in and out of. I liked the boat yard too.

Week 6 total: 38.23 miles.
Total base plan: 227.39 miles.

Tuscany As you'll see here, it is rather beautiful.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ybdXfuJv2Po/WzaVQ239mwI/AAAAAAAACkk/_u6aH86FsLkoP3Ktd3pAbhW3GAH-Y-5CACK4BGAYYCw/s1600/20180618_071416.jpg

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-y0LX8s8BNhE/WzaVQWivuEI/AAAAAAAACkc/l-QwqxffBlYg5mZAToTHtAqYal2jOmf7gCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/20180618_201720_HDR.jpg

June 17th

San Quirico D'Orcia. Basically, a loop out to Montepuliciano and Montichello, etc. Approx 53km cycle, beautiful.

18th with Garmin issues

From San Quirico D'Orcia to Siena. Mileage bit of a mystery, but guide said the plan was for ~72km and that's what others have.

19th

Rest day. Got to learn about Siena, including the horse race which sounds great, if a bit nuts.

Evening run 38:59 minutes, 3.19 miles at 12:12...Garmin reckons it was about 32C just before 6pm. Dunno. Out the hotel door and took a right. Didn't want to get into the main streets, too many pedestrians. tbh.

20th with Garmin issues

Cycle 53km from Siena to Castellina in Chianti.

Run. 1:04:30. 5.53 miles at 11:40 in Castellina in Chianti. I got a few looks for wanting to run after cycling. :P Had I had more time I would have done a little more. I had intended to run at moderate, but unfamiliarity with the town and an initial daft route with proximity to fields quickly put a stop to that. Once I got out to the back roads I settled and kept things easy. No swimming pool that night, didn’t have time.

21st

Another spin around Castellina in Chianti and its surroundings. Approx 70km on the bike. Swimming pool was well-earned here.

22nd

Departed Castellina in Chianti and finished up in Florence, with a rather magnificent view from above the city, ~ 52km.

From back-to-back days of drinking water with electrolytes, combined with the sun hitting the water bottle, I now know why people complain about the icky flavour. I think the final 7km climb on June 21st was the one we found the toughest. 6 of us finished first as a group, for morale. Safe to say we were frustrated that the gelato shop was closed. 70km might be my limit for cycling as I didn't want to stand up towards the end...sore. I had no cycling practice before hand, we had one 25% incline ~ 300m and a 15% 1km in the full glare of the heat. Dirt roads one to watch for re control, weight distribution, pedal positions, braking and not doing anything daft. Tuscany has some decent hills. :pac: Stunning weather whilst there, the spin to Florence was lowest in temperature, iirc. On my Italian trip last year I'd have said the stereotype about Italian drivers was a bit unfair, er...not so this time around. Crazy on corners, crazy!

Garmin's been throwing me badges for some reason lately. Either I clicked a setting or they're doing it. I got one for Conn, about 6 weeks after the fact. I made a bit of a mess of the watch once I changed it into cycling mode, pressing start and misusing the auto pause feature. Classic user error, so some data wasn't recorded correctly. Frustrating as I really wanted to see more details including a few long descents and the speeds there. :cool: Two of the mileage figures above are what I've gleaned from others. Also, I did change things to km for the cycling, but the GarminConnect app just shows stuff in miles. Used the Forerunner 305 for the cycling and 25 for running. The 305's charging cradle has been a bit dodgy lately.

June 23rd, flew home. About an hour delay due to the French ATC issues. Rested and caught up on sleep, didn't sleep very well whilst away.

June 24th. Did some cardio reps.

June 25th. Cardio again.

June 26th

Back into Irish runs. Glistening. :pac:

1 miles warm up
1:04:18 at 10:38 - 6.05 miles
0.69 mile cool down.

June 27th
Warm in the office...

1 mile warm up
1:10:25 at 12:24 - 5.68 miles
0.69 mile cool down.

June 28th

Docklands 5k. Great organisation and race. Fine evening out there. I started a bit back from the 20 minutes balloons and knew that was unrealistic. I was passed by a lot of people at the start, possibly set off a little quickly. My aim was to be relaxed in style and tried to hold that throughout. One thing that worked well was warming up before hand which meant none of that lead/concrete in the leg feeling which I've felt in the past. Someone mentioned tiger balm working well too. Took the first corner, across the bridge and then loop down towards the Point, back up and over the bridge again. Scope for pushing harder in the final km, methinks. My right shin sometimes feels sore throughout the day and it did a little whilst walking around the city and en route to the collection desk yesterday. Fortunately it didn't flare up during the race.

3.13 miles at 7:25

Mile 1: 7:08
Mile 2: 7:45
Mile 3: 7:29

Net 23:06

Compares favourbly to 25:43, Jingle Bells 2017 and Malahide park run 23:12, March 2016.

June 29th

Rest

Recently picked up a new pair of shoes, Asics GT 2000 6. My oldest pair had a fair few symptoms of wear and tear. I spent a good bit of time on Youtube re when to replace and really noticed on the road (before Italy) how knackered they were, may as well have been running barefoot on the tarmac, didn’t feel good. Not great as these having been with me on the Man O War runs. Fortunate not to pick up a niggle, or worse. The other old pair (Asics GT 1000s) are what I used for Conn, still have some miles left in them, so I’ll be rotating between the 1000s and 2000s.

Almost meno time. I've turned it the plan into a PDF and put this on my phone as a back up. Probably won't use it much as I'm more of a pen/paper guy. I've already learned a bit from Pompla's take on week 1. The reminder of this week will be ~10k tomorrow and 2 hours on Sunday, hopefully. Nutrition side of things could be cleaned up re snacking. :rolleyes:

And to figure out why my tailbone is sore. :o

Pomplamousse

So that's a 5km PB?
Well done:D

The holiday sounds great. Good luck starting meno!

Neady83

Cracking active holiday, love that part of Italy and the food

Well done on the 5km too

eyrie

Beautiful photos from the trip!
Nice going on the 5k, particularly in the heat of that evening. Hope you enjoy the new plan

ariana`

Well done on the activity during the hols! And on the 5k pb, nice time that, sub 23 not too far off now

hillsiderunner

Congratulations on the PB, TBO, you have to revise those training paces now. Good luck with the Meno plan.

The Black Oil

Thanks, Tuscany is worth visiting. And I can't sit on a beach for a week, nope.

Sat June 30th
Park run volunteering. Arrived before 9 and it’s lovely to see how quiet the park is in general, particularly the open spaces. Still not fully used to the buttons on the Garmin 25, so accidentally hit the lap button when I meant to go for the menu one.

w/u 0.95 mi
1:04:04, 4.87 miles, very easy at 12:33
c/d 1.52 mi

Cardio at home.

Sun July 1st

2 hours easy, 10.23 miles at 11:47. No breakfast, well, half a rice cake. One field that normally has cows has changed to sheep. They've been resurfacing some of the road up around the Man O War. Another bloke out the back roads too.

Cardio afterwards

Non-plan week: 35.81 miles.

Road to DCM - Meno plan week 1 (part a)

July 2nd

1:16:11, 6.46 miles easy at 11:47
HRM - avg 118, max 156

Got ready and hesitated slightly at the car boot as I had to remember I was on new plan, doing what?! Right leg stiff ish in the lower back side, towards the ankles area...hmm. Foam rolled when I got home.

July 3rd

Foam rolled before work, legs still not great. Felt OK when I parked up in the morning after the M50, less OK after 5pm evening…drat. Started later than usual - after 6pm, too many emails and doodling.

Overall: 10.44 miles at 10.24
Warm up 1.47 miles

6-10 x 800m, (3-5 min jog recovery) Meno's notes:

Wednesday's session is a bit of a fitness test. The pace for the 800m's is in and around your 5k pace (maybe a touch slower) but the idea is to teach you good pacing. I want the time of the 800s to be consistent and the last rep to be your quickest so don't go off haring through the first few and die a death at then end!!

Recent calculator paces based on 10k - 8.17 (May 2018), 5k (June 2018) - 7:26. Following thoughts in the Random Questions thread, I tried to aim for something in between ish.

Rep|Time|Pace min/mi|Distance mi|Recovery spin
1|4.24|8.17|0.53|4.20
2|4.45|8.25|0.57|5.32
3|4.10|8.14|0.51|4.16
4|4.15|8.21|0.51|4.35
5|4.24|8.14|0.54|4.45
6|4.18|8.30|0.51|4.44
7|4.04|8.17|0.49|4.12
8|4.15|8.21|0.51|4.08
9|4.08|8.22|0.49|4.14
10|4.05|8.13|0.49|-
Cool down 0.55 mile

Verdict – glad to have done it.
Sweat level – decent :pac:
Breathing – fine
Fatigue – not a concern, really. Maybe rep 9.
Pace - hitting under 8 min/mi at times and 6:46 early in one. Cluster above I'm happy enough with, didn't want to overly slog it given meno's note about not blitzing it.
Recoveries - sloppy sometimes. I switched off on those, generally.
Intended to celebrate on the last one, this slipped my mind. Rep 3, ah sure, only 7 more to go. And a few 'come on, ffs' were said through the evening.
HR data – alas, it did not record – battery, methinks.
Route – decided to use a loop. A lot of where I normally go is either up or down, or you're dealing with wheelie bins, bus passengers, lights, junctions, etc, etc. Thought it would be too messy. Anyway, a chunk of the route is a cycle lane, one way, but can contain pedestrians, buggies, cyclists were fine. A little of the cycle lane is where the utterances above were most common.
Water bottle - carried on the belt, found it a bit of nuisance, tbh - normally it's fine. I wasn't really gasping for water, touch of shade on the route.
Legs a bit sore at home, including stairs…I wondered if the lack of rest (well, one day) after the Docklands 5k was a bit silly.

And that's enough spiel.

July 4th
Rest. Legs less stiff, phew.

July 5th
Recovery 58:01
5.02 miles easy at 11:34*
Cardio (Youtube)
*Need to check this is OK given the notes.

The Black Oil

Meno plan week 1 (part b)

Sat July 7th

Sorted out the HRM, it was the battery. Those CR2032 yolks are in everything. Outside of the base plan, this was the longest run since early April, before Conn. Out the usual Man O War route. Skerries section not closed even though they were getting ready for the bike races. Sad news filtered through later in the day with the death of William Dunlop. Down towards Blakes Cross ish in the later stages, the amount of verge trimming crap on the path. Coming towards the end some time around 10-10:30am, temperature had picked around then. Legs OK. Worth considering starting earlier again as these long runs increase, if the heat sticks around. Cardio HIIT at home.

2:31:32, 13 miles easy at 11:39
In troubleshooting the HRM I had reset the watch completely. Auto lap must be enabled by default as didn’t intend to record splits here.
11:51, 11:36. 11:30, 11:38, 11:37, 11:41, 11:38, 11:36, 11:43, 11:42, 11:44, 11:34, 11:41.
HR 130 avg, 170 max

Sun July 8th

54:20, 4.65 miles easy at 11:41
Had it in my head that I’d come in at ~ 3 miles with the normal loop, only to check and see I was already at 3.91. Wrapped it up shortly after. Cardio HIIT.

Week 1 total: 39.57 miles.
Target: 35-40 miles.

Meno week 2

July 9th

Between the jigs and the reels I wanted to get out early in case of evening hours, so the watch was started at 5:04am. Saw a rabit scarper across the road, don't usually see them about.

1:03:01, 5.39 miles easy at 11:41
Headed out again in the pm, just to top up the morning mileage, out and back.
21:15, 1.87 miles at 11:23
Overall 7.26 miles

July 10th

Body clock on autopilot from the night before, I was awake before 5. Forgot to pack the HRM, a pity as I wanted to see how it catches stats with on non-easy stuff. Drove home and there was a Garda escort on t'other side of the M50, presumably for a visiting couple.

Progression run

2 miles easy warm up followed by 8 minutes steady (MP + 3-4%); 8 minutes @ MP; 8 Minutes @ HMP; 8 Minutes Hard (approx 10kpace); 2 miles c/d at the end. The run should be all continuous. Try not to overestimate the 'steady', and MP sections or it will get very difficult at the end. For the last 8 minute section pretty much go as fast as you can while retaining a constant pace. It will likely come in and around your 10k pace.

1:27:39, 8.29 miles at 10:34
Warm up 2.09 miles at 11:42

Rep|Time|Distance|Paced - aimed for (min/mi)|Actual
1|8.13|0.87|9:40|9:28
2|8:05|0.86|9:27|9:27
3|8:11|0:89|9:04|9:10
-|0:14|0.03|9:48|:rolleyes: user error
4|8:48|1.03|8:38|8:34

Cool down 2.53 miles at 11:44

Threw on some sun cream and tried to write the paces on my hand, er no! Permanent marker worked a little better (stinks like something else), had a sticky note with paces in my pocket just in case, didn't need it. I used my 10k calculator paces for this. I was a little disappointed not to cover more ground, but knew from how quickly it went by that I wasn't clocking up much. Watch issue - I accidentally hit two buttons almost at the same time, then it said resume and I wasn't sure if had paused or I had lost the lap, etc. Truth be told, settling into 'steady' did take a moment or two, almost always launch too fast after warm up. As for the last one, didn't want to go too much with 'fast as you can' thing in case I made a mess of it.

'The run should be all continuous.' Hah, yes, so easy to forget this and almost dropped into recovery mode shortly after lap 3, arms changed, then brain kicked in - continuous. Overall, not tiring in general, the routine itself, or that evening. Some change to come.

July 11th

Rest

July 12th

Recovery
58:09, 5 miles easy at 11:38
HR 125 avg, 156 max
Cardio HIIT

July 13th

57.50
5.42 miles easy at 10:41
HR 134 avg, 150 max
Picked up the pace on the easy side, and will go ahead with that from now on.
A little stiffness in the legs starting out. Lovely morning in Malahide, numbers have picked up again at parkrun. We've 300 birthday coming up and a man close to 250. Spotted someone I know in work, so used to seeing him a suit and didn't know he runs.
Cardio HIIT

July 14th

2:31:01
14.08 miles at easy at 10:43
11:00, 10:42, 10:41, 10:38, 10:39, 10:39, 10:43, 10:45, 10:40, 10:39, 10:43, 10:45, 10:52, 10:40 (and 0.08 mile at 11:00). Went slightly over as I didn't hear the lap beep on the last two miles.
HR 114 avg, 200 max

8am spin with mild drizzle starting out. Did some additional warm up stretches, etc, this time which worked well. No other runners, only cyclists and nature. Took a little while to get used to going up Man O War more quickly than I have done in the past, just that early piece. Down to Loughshinny harbour, tide was out. Started to feel a little tired on the return, between miles 8-9, then again around 11 back towards home. Was awake around 3am last night. Overall, we have some fatigue (in the second half). Might be the uptick in pace along with the longest run, to date. No harm.

Week 2 total: 40.05 miles.
Target: 36-42 miles.

Have a busy few months ahead now - meetings, planning, drafts and submissions (deadline is around the halfway mark in the plan). Will be great when it’s all completed – emails will calm down. Week after next I might finally get to run Tues/Weds/Thurs in a row and see what that feels like.

Huzzah!

Can I ask why the Cardio HIIT? Is it something you've always done?

The Black Oil

Huzzah! wrote: »

Can I ask why the Cardio HIIT? Is it something you've always done?

Fun. To see if it makes any difference over the months. To throw the kitchen sink at going sub 4. And because I don't like gyms.

Booked a place for the FD10 in Sept.

The Black Oil

Meno plan week 3

July 16th

1:15:44
7.13 miles easy at 10:38
HR 132 avg, 155 max

Right leg was a little sore early on. Wondered about running after the Sunday long run.

July 17th

Rest. Lost my diary which had a print out of the meno plan and notes/scribbles on it.

July 18th

Tempo run.

There are many definitions of tempo run or tempo pace. For this session I would expect you to complete the hard miles somewhere between 10m and HM pace or 85-90% Max HR. Don't worry if the course is a bit hilly and you don't hit exactly even paces each mile- just make sure the effort remains about the same.The session is 3 x 2 miles with half mile/5 minute jog recoveries Make sure to have a nice warm up and cool down meaning you should cover 10-12 miles in total.

1:45:09
11.11 miles at 9:28
HR 154 avg, 212 max

w/u 21:34, 2 miles at 10:47

Rep|Time|Distance|Pace min/mi
1|16:25|2 miles|8:13
Recovery|5:18|0.47 miles|11:18
2|17:25|2.13 miles|8.11
Recovery|4:29|0.40 miles|11:12
3|16:43|2.02 miles|8:17

c/d 23:11, 2.09 miles at 11:05

Generally tried to hit between 7:59-8:08. Did that a few times alright. Thought for proximity purposes I'd be half way up 0.5 mile hill before starting the 3x2. Not so. Excuses! Couple of mental doubts e.g. 'why are we out here for months on end doing this stuff?' Rep 3 a little more effort needed on the drag. Once I had finished everything I had almost remember how to walk again. :pac: Legs tired that evening. Had some Garmin arseology trying to sync. Only steps showed up, not the run. Repaired the .fit file and then it picked up everything.

July 19th

Recovery
52.44, 4.69 miles at 11:14
HR 121 avg, 157 max
This time Garmin showed the run, not steps.

July 20th

Rest. Got my diary back.

July 21st

Parkrun volunteering at Malahide. First time timekeeping and a new course record! 14.57. There's a bench that someone said's about a mile and the lead man was just over 5 minutes at that. We headed back early as he was pushing on, to say the least. He finished 2 minutes ahead of the second place guy. Headed out myself afterwards. 55:49, 5.28 miles easy at 10:34. Cardio HIIT at home.

July 22nd

2:48:52
16 miles easy at 10:33.
10:37, 10:26, 10:33, 10:37, 10:37, 10:36, 10:36, 10:39, 10:32, 10:33, 10:37, 10:29, 10:25, 10:27, 10:27, 10:33

Headed out early. Had done the porridge the night before and morning of thing as mentioned in the main forum lately. Stopped after about 5 miles as I could feel my sock had moved and the back of the shoe was digging into me. Down to Loughshinny, spin back was fine this week. Temperature picked up a good bit around mile 10. Not many cyclists, but a few runners out. Tried one gel. I'm wary of trying bars until very near the end in case of needing the loo. It's not been an issue in the past.

HR 173 avg, 248 max. No idea if this is accurate. Tried to wear the HRM on rather than under my shirt as it often falls down. Thought this would work, er no. I gave up trying to put it back in place constantly after about 8 and a half miles. Maybe it was the sweat. It was around my stomach/waist for the rest of the spin. May use a safety pin or two the next time. Legs did feel the impact a little more on the back roads that are in poorer shape.

Total: 44.21 miles.
Target: 40-46 miles.

Doing well with staying away from sweets and biscuits, etc. Step back week inbound.

Week 4, run 1/5

July 23rd

1:11:46
6.85 miles easy at 10:28
10:32, 10:26, 10:26, 10:30, 10:26, 10:24, 10:34
HR 100 avg, 145 max

The Black Oil

Meno plan week 4

July 23rd

1:11:46. 6.85 miles easy at 10:28
Splits: 10:32, 10:26, 10:26, 10:30, 10:26, 10:24, 10:34
HR 100 avg, 145 max

July 24th

Rest.

July 25th

The session is a standard 10 x 400m. Take 60 seconds recovery between intervals. The pace should be a touch faster that your 5k pace- something like your 3k or 2mile pace.

1:17:36. 7.96 miles at 9:45.

w/u 2 miles at 10:42, 10:32

Rep|Time|Distance|Pace
1|1:50|0.26|7:09
2|1:53|0.26|7:19
3|2:48|0.37|7:37
4|1:51|0.26|7:18
5|2:01|0.26|7:49
6|1:58|0.27|7:24
7|1:59|0.25|7:57
8|1:54|0.25|7:31
9|2:20|0.30|7:41
10|1:59|0.26|7:31

c/d 2.32 miles at 10:44, 10:47.

Mostly grand. The HRM kept slipping as usual, even though I tried to tightened, think it was just the sweat. I gave up on it after rep 5. Some a little long there and pace a bit inconsistent too. Had it been on the flat it may have been more even. Housing estates are fun... Recoveries were fine, some a touch longer than 60 secs. HR FWIW: 143 avg, 238 max.

July 26th

48:14, recovery. 4.62 miles at 10:24

Cardio

July 27th

Rest.

July 28th

31:34. 3.00 miles at 10:31. Small bit of rain.

Cardio

July 29th

10 miles with 6 @ MP. Sunday’s Long run is a step back in terms of distance but the addition of MP miles should make it interesting. Again do the 6 miles continuous (2 mile warm up, 6 @MP and 2 mile cool down

1:35:38. 10 miles at 9:34.

w/u 2 miles at 10:27, 10:21
6 miles at 8:56, 8:59, 8:56, 8:58, 8:58, 9:00
c/d 2 miles at 10:31, 10:31

Awake before 5am, not by choice. Didn't get much sleep after that. Had porridge and half a banana. Headed out at 8:30am. Piddled rain for most of the run, reminded me of Conn. Bit of brightness in the sky kicked in towards. the end of the cool down. MP was comfortable, bar a sluggish second or two coming up to mile 3. Headed out the Man O War and wasn't sure whether to see about turning back around the 4.5 miles or so in case what I had in my head was too long. I had been looking forward to this run all week. Once I was moving towards the Skerries road I knew the route would be grand, crossed over, then the usual turn. Loved this run with the rain and everything. Visibility on the scenery side - nada. Pretty uneventful week overall. Still disgusted with the illegal dumping that goes on out the back roads. Back on the homemade granola as it's been ages since I made it. Mileage picks up next week, progression and an 18 miler.

Total: 32.45 miles.
Target: 30-33 miles.

The Black Oil

Meno plan week 5

July 30th

Rest

July 31st

1.20:04. 7.59 miles easy at 10:33.
10:33, 10:43, 10:36, 10:28, 10:33, 10:31, 10:30, 10:25.

Overcast, but clammy. Seemed to be more runners out this week, around work, anyway. Read Skyblue's post cursing fig rolls. :pac:

Aug 1st

Progression run: 20 minutes easy (+/- MP +15%); 20 minutes steady (MP +15 to 30 seconds/mile); 20minutes @ MP; 10 minutes @ HMP; 20 minutes easy/recovery pace cool down.

Studied the blurb repeatedly after changing, had been looking at it earlier in the week too. Scribbled a few paces on my hand before, then reconfigured them a bit in my head. Run itself - only tough bit was catching the crest of a hill at MP, iirc. Other than that, seemed to glide through the paces without any 'ugh' factor which I was happy about. Latest I've started the car after finishing, about 7:55pm. Home, showered and had some food. Most tired I've been, didn't even bother with the computer or emails. Thought I'd sleep well, didn't at all.

1:54:42. 12.03 miles at 9:32.

w/u 2 miles at 10:31, 10:23

Thingy|Time|Distance|Pace
1|20:23|2.12 mi|9:37
2|20:25|2.23 mi|9:09
Watch oops|0.03|0.01|8:41
3|22:36|2.53 mi|8:56
4|10:18|1.25 mi|8:14

c/d 19.58, 1.88 mi at 10:37.

Aug 2nd

Recovery
50:07. 4.75 miles at 10:33
10:32, 10:37, 10:36, 10:30, 10:31
HIIT

Aug 3rd

Rest

Aug 4th

Park run volunteering. We had a 50, 100 and 250 birthdays. Sun went into hiding after a bright ish start. Next week is event #300 at Malahide. :cool:

58:43. 5.64 miles easy at 10:25.
10:30, 10:34, 10:19, 10:29, 10:28, 10:02.
Think the pace reading on the watch tends to go haywire under tree cover, or else I'm imagining it...

HIIT

Aug 5th

3:07:58. 18 miles easy at 10:26.
10:49, 10:23, 10:27, 10:29, 10:26, 10:27, 10:23, 10:27, 10:29, 10:21, 10:26, 10:26, 10:26, 10:25, 10:23, 10:25, 10:24, 10:21.

Haven't run 18 miles before, only 16 or 20 in past plans.

Forecast was cloudy. Sun popped up a few times, first around mile 5-6. Did wonder about the wisdom of not having put on any P20. Couple of riders out on horse back, over took them and that lasted about 1/4 mile or so. More horses on Loughshinny beach, probably fond of the sand. Have this route pretty figured out now. After Loughshinny and back I hit the turn (Baldungan) at around 10.5 miles. It's approx 2 miles from there and I can use more local stuff to wrap up. Went out on some fresh concrete now that path's been completed. Tried two bars and gel, all fine.

Productive week, finally one with Tues/Weds/Thurs back-to-back. Not so next week. Still off the sweets. Been Googling sports psychology podcasts today. My head's fine, honest.

Total: 48.01 miles. Highest mileage week of any plan I've done, afaik.
Target: 44-50 miles.

The Muppet

Hi B you're going well. Is sub 4 hours the target?.

The Black Oil

The Muppet wrote: »

Hi B you're going well. Is sub 4 hours the target?.

Yep, hoping to go sub 4. There's a few of us in the main forum hoping to do it this year. https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057865918

Working on anything yourself?

The Muppet

Good luck with it.


Nothing planned myself I've not been running much for a few months so just trying to get back into it really. Doing 20 mile weeks at the moment see what happens. I will revisit my log when I get some consistancy .

ariana`

Well done TBO, another great week.

Out of interest how are finding the move from Grads to Meno, is it significantly tougher or just a nice step-up in miles/intensity?