Keep on rururunning!

Rururun

Hi,
I'm looking for advice and support to keep me motivated and doing my best!
I've previously completed a half marathon - 2 hrs 4 mins and a PB 10km of 53.45
That was before I had three babies though! My eldest is 4 and youngest is 9 months
Since my last baby I've found running very therapeutic and can only manage to fit in about 20km per week I generally do a long run of 8-10km at about 6 min/km and one easy run of 5/6 km at 6-6.30km and then one faster 5 km at about 5.30-5.45min/Jr. .
I did a 10 Km in April with no training and it felt awful and finished at 1 hr 12. Vowed to get back to my former self and hopefully a PB
I did a 5km a few weeks ago - 27.40 and mini marathon 10km there this weekend in 60.20
I can see big improvement but really want to use my next six weeks to get as fast a time as I can in the fingal 10km and then the Galway one in October. Max I can fit in a 3 runs per week but I do cycle a little also in addition - twice per week but only to and from work.
I need to strengthen core so going to try Pilates.
But would love advice on how best to use my time over the next six weeks and would love to log my training here so I can keep track
Thanks so much in advance - any and all help hugely appreciated!

Rururun

Decided to log as I go to keep the motivation up
Took advice from a kind boardsie and now have a loose plan on how to shape my three runs.

So target 10k pace for 6 weeks time is 5.30
So today's aim was to stick to 6.15 to 6.30

So 5km run in 32 mins which is 6.23 so that's grand.
Wasn't difficult but wasn't a total breeze as I took in a hill, and still don't feel back to myself after Monday's 10k race. Was stiff in the legs a little. Heart rate 165. So not sure if that's bad or OK. It was very hot and stuffy this eve!

Anyway - it felt nice to be slowing myself down instead of speeding up - a new concept for me!

chickey2

Good luck with the log, I find it very useful.

You mentioned your heart rate, but do you know your resting and max heart rate, as the numbers don't mean much til you know these? I'm on my phone now so can't post the link but there's a post in the novices marathon thread about heart rate training which is worth reading.

Rururun

chickey2 wrote: »

Good luck with the log, I find it very useful.

You mentioned your heart rate, but do you know your resting and max heart rate, as the numbers don't mean much til you know these? I'm on my phone now so can't post the link but there's a post in the novices marathon thread about heart rate training which is worth reading.

Thanks so much - no I've no idea what they are or how to figure them out lol
Honestly I've no clue what I'm at 😂 I'll check out that thread if I can find it and hopefully get an understanding of what I should be doing for most productive training! I really enjoyed today's run though - felt like I had a lot less pressure on myself than in recent weeks where I was always trying to beat myself!

Rururun

Well 5.5km and my first attempt at intervals! Following boardsie advice I went out and did the following
500m warm up - approx 6.45min/km
1km - 5.20 (fast for me I'm normally a 5.45-6.00 girl during a race)
500m slow jog - approx 6.45min/km
1km - 5.15
600m walk up a hill and small jog
500m - too fast - watch played up - lost my pace and so ran too fast - prob about 5min/km and couldn't keep going
I was annoyed at this point because I had been feeling great at 5.20 - pushed but lovin it. Was frustrated I had messed up pace and stopped so did another
500m at 5.18 and felt great.
Warm down

Loved trying intervals as before I would have just always gone out at about 5.45ish and gotten on differently every time. This had structure, felt very doable and I liked going a bit faster as I liked the stretch in stride etc and felt a little like wonder woman !! Now I just can't read other logs as my great sense of Olympic speed at 5.20 feels great and I'm very happy with this delusion!

Felt with my runs this week there has been a structure for the first time ever and hopefully that means I will improve!!

Have lingering ankle I just from going over on it at the Terenure 5mile which felt fine during the run but sore now so icing it and then going back to ignoring it because I refuse to stop now - looking forward to the fingal 10k at end of July too much.
P.s is fingal 10km hilly? Hate hills so hope not!

annapr

Rururun wrote: »

Well 5.5km and my first attempt at intervals! Following boardsie advice I went out and did the following
500m warm up - approx 6.45min/km
1km - 5.20 (fast for me I'm normally a 5.45-6.00 girl during a race)
500m slow jog - approx 6.45min/km
1km - 5.15
600m walk up a hill and small jog
500m - too fast - watch played up - lost my pace and so ran too fast - prob about 5min/km and couldn't keep going
I was annoyed at this point because I had been feeling great at 5.20 - pushed but lovin it. Was frustrated I had messed up pace and stopped so did another
500m at 5.18 and felt great.
Warm down

Loved trying intervals as before I would have just always gone out at about 5.45ish and gotten on differently every time. This had structure, felt very doable and I liked going a bit faster as I liked the stretch in stride etc and felt a little like wonder woman !! Now I just can't read other logs as my great sense of Olympic speed at 5.20 feels great and I'm very happy with this delusion!

Felt with my runs this week there has been a structure for the first time ever and hopefully that means I will improve!!

Have lingering ankle I just from going over on it at the Terenure 5mile which felt fine during the run but sore now so icing it and then going back to ignoring it because I refuse to stop now - looking forward to the fingal 10k at end of July too much.
P.s is fingal 10km hilly? Hate hills so hope not!

Well done on the intervals, they will bring you on loads. The Fingal 10k is mostly nice and flat but with a sneaky little hill towards the end... Nothing to worry about though. Best of luck with the training.

chickey2

http://touch.boards.ie/thread/2057592756/66/#post99900340
Here's that HR link (thanks to nop98 for reposting it and Firedance for writing it!)

Rururun

Long slow run - 10km in 67.30
Really tried to run at 7min but kept sneaking back to 6.30 so was a great exercise in learning how to run differently - before I've always just tried to beat myself whereas here I was trying to slow down to better myself. It was really enjoyable - no mad breathing - just a nice long slow run!

Rururun

Well - had almost a week off - purely as life as a working mum got in the way - had to work 11 hour days and didn't have a minute where I wasn't completely drained or on my own with the babies. However moan over - was not at all in the mood but got the runners on and went for my "tempo" or easy run and did it at a pace of 6.01 mins per km and hated it - it felt awful all the way - think it was all on a slow incline from 1.5km.... Have to chant to myself 'I love hills, hills are my friend'.....! Anyway whatever was or is wrong - exhaustion perhaps certainly took its toll. Looking back I should have been aiming for 6.15-6.30 anyway - doh. Although to be fair if that was a 5k race I wouldn't have gone much faster today which is mad considering I was so much quicker 5 weeks ago at my 5km race!
Still better to have had a bad run than no run. Onwards and upwards will do my intervals again in a day or two and actually looking forward to that.
Have no childcare at the mo for the fingal so have to sort that asap or I'll be disappointed.
Diet wise I was so good until three days ago when I fell spectacularly off the wagon.... I'm still on the ground... Tomorrow is another day!

HigginsJ

Rururun wrote: »

Well - had almost a week off - purely as life as a working mum got in the way - had to work 11 hour days and didn't have a minute where I wasn't completely drained or on my own with the babies. However moan over - was not at all in the mood but got the runners on and went for my "tempo" or easy run and did it at a pace of 6.01 mins per km and hated it - it felt awful all the way - think it was all on a slow incline from 1.5km.... Have to chant to myself 'I love hills, hills are my friend'.....! Anyway whatever was or is wrong - exhaustion perhaps certainly took its toll. Looking back I should have been aiming for 6.15-6.30 anyway - doh. Although to be fair if that was a 5k race I wouldn't have gone much faster today which is mad considering I was so much quicker 5 weeks ago at my 5km race!
Still better to have had a bad run than no run. Onwards and upwards will do my intervals again in a day or two and actually looking forward to that.
Have no childcare at the mo for the fingal so have to sort that asap or I'll be disappointed.
Diet wise I was so good until three days ago when I fell spectacularly off the wagon.... I'm still on the ground... Tomorrow is another day!

Agree a bad run is better than no run, hope you get child care sorted for the race & stick at the running

Rururun

10.4km in 71 minutes long slow run
Didn't feel very easy though! I took a hilly route as its always the hills that kill me in a race so I've decided to face them head on! Felt like I was plodding! Really not sure how hard the long slow run is meant to be - I felt well towards the end though as was back on a down hill - enjoyed a good sprint finish - just about 200m - clocked about 4.45m/km and then stopped trying.
My ankle is still niggling but hopefully I'm not doing it any harm by running on it.
Decided to do my long run today cos I had more time and will be working all weekend. But really really need to fit in an intervals session before the end of the weekend - I found it hard to imagine running at even 6mins/km never mind the 5.45 I'm aiming for in July! Don't know how I did the mini marathon in 60.25 right now. But hopefully it'll all come together!

Rururun

Intervals tonight. Caught a nice spell of weather for it.
Had been feeling rubbish and was half thinking I wouldn't go - fell asleep on the chair putting the baby to bed and felt like have sore throat and temp coming on all day - took a couple of paracetamol and pulled myself together.
1km warm up - approx 6.45/km
500m uphill @ 5.05 - was meant to be 1km but uphill and too fast
500m walk - jog
1km @ 5.07
500m walk jog
1km @ 5.10
500m walk jog
1km @5.20

Lost the speed at the end but overall I was so delighted with my pace.

Felt great and was so happy to have a good run after feeling like I had lost my mojo!

Got home feeling like a superhero... And within half an hour the viral symptoms have returned.. Not sure if running was a good idea or not but it sure was a big boost to me

Rururun

28/6 - 6 km
Splits - 6.15, 5.45, 5.42, 5.37, 5.43, 6.32

No idea what classification that would come under but it felt hard but good!

Rururun

Long slow run - 10.5km - average pace 6.30mins/km

I know I should be doing these slower but I find it hard as I don't understand how going soooo much slower will help me run faster on the day... As in I'm terrified of trying to run a 5.30/km pace on race day for 10km if I've only done that distance in 7/km..... I've read a thousand times it should be slow. I blame Spotify also - only discovered it today (what rock was I living under) and I enjoyed today's run so much because of the random brilliant music that I just got into it! At 9.75km I had energy and threw caution to the wind and pegged it and went at a pace of 4.50/km for 250meters - it felt so liberating and amazing and I was delighted as I could still go back to jog after without need for walk recovery etc. It's not fast for many but today I just felt great, fit even, for the first time since having the babies! It was a day that reminded me why I love to run! It's just occurred to me that there's only three weeks til the fingal - I have finally childcare organised but now I need some sort of training plan in place - at the mo I'm doing about 3 runs per week - one intervals, one I don't know what kinda fast 5km, and one slow long10km!
Suggestions welcome - I might even try find some 10km plan and jump into three weeks to go.

ariana`

Hi rururun i just want to wish you well with your goals. I'm in a similar boat, a working mum with 3 smallies, trying to fit in running mostly for my sanity. Another boardsie pointed me in the direction of Myasics.com for a very simple plan, i only started it last week but so far i find it very easy to follow and flexible, you can move runs around to suit, there's a free app as well and you get reminders of planned runs etc. Best of luck in fingal.

HigginsJ

Rururun wrote: »

I know I should be doing these slower but I find it hard as I don't understand how going soooo much slower will help me run faster on the day... As in I'm terrified of trying to run a 5.30/km pace on race day for 10km if I've only done that distance in 7/km..... I've read a thousand times it should be slow. .

To a degree it baffles me as well but I do get the idea that there is no way you could train at your race pace as you would burn out and get injured (there are a million more experiened people than me who can explain this in more detail)

Don't have any training plans myself as yet (6 weeks out from my target 10Km race so looking around at the moment).

Singer

Here are some great posts about slowing down long runs:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=95875158&postcount=724

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=96220748&postcount=1789

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=90266028&postcount=2

Rururun

Thank you so much -
Ariana - it's so helpful for the sanity isn't it close the door behind u and get half an hour to an hours peace!! Anyway it's no harm for the kids to grow up around exercising parents so I like to think I'm doing it for them too I'll def check out that app thanks a mil - a flexible plan is what I need - I have an awful tendency to just go with what I feel like rather than what would be most productive and I really want to improve my times!

Singer thanks for those LSR posts - that's gonna be my evenings work as I really need to get my head around it now before I get too far on with my training! Ta for the links ðŸ‘ðŸ»

I'll let you know if I find a good plan jhiggins!! And if I manage to stick to it!

Two runs to log today
Yesterday - 3/7/16 - 7.75km - 46.48
This was a stupid run - went out without a plan and after a warm up I decided to go a bit faster but what ever I was doing I kept going too fast or too slow and ended up not getting into it at all. Splits are all over the place!
6.22
5.55
5.45
6.01
5.50
6.10
6.24
5.44
However at the end I decided to try to get some good out of it and I threw in 6 sets of strides. This was my first attempt at this and it felt great at the end of my run - was well able to jog inbetween and felt I got quick enough during them (by my standards) I think it was just sub the 5min pace but I use my Apple Watch to record which is fairly useless at this kind of thing!

Next was his evenings run - 5.1km 29.24
This was unplanned but when I realised I'm working two very long days the next two days I figured I prob won't get out so wanted to have one in the bag! I didn't really have a plan but was nervous because of yesterday's disaster at speeding up at all but decided to do a tempo type run - no idea if that's what I did - but warned up and increased speed and then slowed. Felt I was prob actually going in or around race pace and not sure yet if I'll be able keep it up over 19km... Only time will tell I guess! I'm def changing from target 5.30 to 5.45. My splits looked like this
6.13
5.57
5.38
5.39
5.50
This was a very enjoyable run - just what I needed to keep my spirits up! Two days rest ahead - I've been slack at the cycling to work so I might try to do that one of the days.

Rururun

Singer - Brilliant reads - so glad u shared those links - I inderstand so much better now as had never thought about the use of glycogen and fat and how we need to teach our bodies to use these more effectively. I'll def slow down - must get a good slow run music mix to ensure I don't get too enthusiastic! Great info also about hill sprints etc. Found the strides great yesterday!
Thanks again - great reading!

Rururun

To reflect a bad week I decided to combine my long slow run with some speed work... Bad idea I know!
Defeats the purpose... I know... But I really wanted to try my first park run and also really wanted to do my long run so was a bit torn!
So...
Ran 3 km slow to the park run
Ran the 5km park run in 28.14 - disappointed slightly with that recorded time as was sure I had beaten my 5km of 27.40 but clearly not - but I felt I had a good run anyway and really enjoyed it! Definitely will keep doing this when I can as I really had fun!
Then I jogged 3km home.
Now I'm assuming I can't use this as my LSR as it contained 5km flat out! However it surely had to do some good?!
Great to get out anyway! The jog home was tiring with slow legs!

Rururun

Yesterday - Decided to do an extra LSR as not sure how good an idea combining it with a parkrun was on Saturday!
11km @6.47 average pace. Lovely run - prob got out of breath on hills but other than that felt good. Happy to have gotten a proper long run in!

gypsylee

Really enjoyed reading your log Rururun. I am new to this running lark, have done a few 5km races and aiming to do the 10km Breast Cancer run in late August. Have a lot of work to do in the next few weeks to be able to manage to run it. Currently at 7km without stopping!! Got good advice from a boardsie last week so following that advice. I'm also going to read those links that Singer posted cos I need to get my head around the long slow run idea.

Best of luck with Fingal.

Rururun

gypsylee wrote: »

Really enjoyed reading your log Rururun. I am new to this running lark, have done a few 5km races and aiming to do the 10km Breast Cancer run in late August. Have a lot of work to do in the next few weeks to be able to manage to run it. Currently at 7km without stopping!! Got good advice from a boardsie last week so following that advice. I'm also going to read those links that Singer posted cos I need to get my head around the long slow run idea.

Best of luck with Fingal.

Thanks Yes it's been very tricky to slow myself down as I always want to 'do my best' but actually it seems to me after reading those thread that's if you run medium or fast you are using glycogen - if you run rally slow your body uses fat as the energy supply. The aim is to get your body to practice using fat so that you are not relying on just glycogen during a race! So the goal would be to draw your energy from the quick release glycogen mixed with slow release fat!

It's easy to enjoy that pace after the initial few km so I'm trying to embrace it!

The speed work is new to me too - intervals etc - I hope they are helping!

Good luck with your training!

Rururun

Went out late - not sure what I had planned really other than it would be 5 or 6 km - started off at pace of 5.55 for the first km and then did 4 more all out at a pace of 5.24 which left me with an average over the 5km of 5.33.... I have to say I was pretty flat out!!! And only managed to keep it up for the last km because I knew it was ending soon haha!
So I can manage 5km at 5.25-5.30 now.... My last 10km was at start June and was 60.24... Been doing consistent and productive training since - so just not sure what to be aiming for on the 24th for the Fingal - not sure what pace to hit out at! Certainly not 5.25!!! Thinking maybe 5.45ish? Wondering will I be able sustain that - hope so!

Rururun

LSR
Last one before fingal. 9km @ 7min/km
Was glad of the excuse to run slow - not used to this 26 degree heat! Was happy to be outdoors - but god if you listen to the wrong playlist it can really affect u ! Zzzzzz

Rururun

Sigh demoralising effort!
Tried to do one last "speed" session before fingal on Sunday. Did 5km but with intervals. Did a 250m sprint type interval when got to each 750m recovered into a good 10km pace after the first two but after the third I was crippled to a walk with a stitch - all across upper abdomen. Tried to get back jogging for the 750 even slow but was too sore. Got irritated and just went straight back into a 250 sprint which was weirdly more comfortable than trying to jog! And pretty much did that for the last km too.

Not sure if it was just cos my intervals were too fast and my recovery too fast and I hadn't eaten a lot so was prob a combination. Hope I don't get that on Sunday. Don't want to have to be too cautious with pace either tho as really want to achieve my goal!

HigginsJ

Rururun wrote: »

Sigh demoralising effort!
Tried to do one last "speed" session before fingal on Sunday. Did 5km but with intervals. Did a 250m sprint type interval when got to each 750m recovered into a good 10km pace after the first two but after the third I was crippled to a walk with a stitch - all across upper abdomen. Tried to get back jogging for the 750 even slow but was too sore. Got irritated and just went straight back into a 250 sprint which was weirdly more comfortable than trying to jog! And pretty much did that for the last km too.

Not sure if it was just cos my intervals were too fast and my recovery too fast and I hadn't eaten a lot so was prob a combination. Hope I don't get that on Sunday. Don't want to have to be too cautious with pace either tho as really want to achieve my goal!

Far from expert here but just make sure you are warming up fully before getting into these sprint work. If you do develop a stitch then you should slow down and focus on exhaling to relieve it.

Best if luck with the race Sunday, enjoy it

Rururun

HigginsJ wrote: »

Far from expert here but just make sure you are warming up fully before getting into these sprint work. If you do develop a stitch then you should slow down and focus on exhaling to relieve it.

Best if luck with the race Sunday, enjoy it

Thanks! I'm looking forward to hopefully seeing some even small improvement! I have to beat 60.20 to beat my post baby PB, I'll be nowhere near my PB of 53.40 but would be really delighted to be around the 58min mark!
Will try do a small gentle jog in be morn just to enjoy!
I do love a race - I love the distraction of it and the sense of achievement on the day!

gypsylee

Best of luck on Sunday.

Rururun

Yesterday - gentle 4km with 1km race pace in middle just to see. Legs were tired so didn't push it! Hopefully the two days rest will be enough and I'll be ready on Sunday! Looking forward to it regardless!

HigginsJ

Rururun wrote: »

Yesterday - gentle 4km with 1km race pace in middle just to see. Legs were tired so didn't push it! Hopefully the two days rest will be enough and I'll be ready on Sunday! Looking forward to it regardless!

Best of luck