This is getting addictive

HigginsJ

ariana` wrote: »

I did my first/only half in Oct and i printed a pace band which i wore around my wrist. I found i had to really hold back for the first half but the 2nd half then i had to work much harder to stay at pace and by the last couple of kms it was tough going. Overall without the pace band (and a conservative target time) i think i could have had a miserable experience going out too fast and hitting a major wall halfway through. Definitely recommend the pace band.

http://www.marathonguide.com/fitnesscalcs/PaceBandCreator.cfm

That is a cool little thing, I'll print it off and decide Sunday whether to bring it along.

HigginsJ

2nd of December

6.94km in 44 minutes 6 seconds (6:21 average)

A day late but took it very handy. Need to get my jelly beans in Tesco tomorrow & that aside cant wait for Sunday.

1 hour 50 minutes is the goal. I'm varying between thoughts of being confident & no hope depending on the minute of the day.

Work night out tonight, nice dinner but no alcohol. Will do the race write up Sunday evening/Monday morning

The Muppet

HigginsJ wrote: »

2nd of December

6.94km in 44 minutes 6 seconds (6:21 average)

A day late but took it very handy. Need to get my jelly beans in Tesco tomorrow & that aside cant wait for Sunday.

1 hour 50 minutes is the goal. I'm varying between thoughts of being confident & no hope depending on the minute of the day.

Work night out tonight, nice dinner but no alcohol. Will do the race write up Sunday evening/Monday morning

The best of luck for Sunday

Maximus Alexander

How'd you get on? All good I hope.

HigginsJ

Birdhill Turkey Run Half Marathon

Had a good nights sleep Saturday night, feel like I tweaked my calf on my run Friday evening, stretched it out on Saturday and some foam rolling. Was still a little bit tender Sunday morning but a few more stretches and it felt OK.

Had toast, sausages and scrambled eggs about half 8 on Sunday morning. Arrived out in Birdhill about 20 past 10 and collected my number. It was really fecking cold, alot colder than the 4 degrees it was meant to be.

About 20 past 11 had a bathroom break and did 2.27km in 15 minutes 33 seconds for warm up, teeth were chattering with the cold for the 1st KM so my hat and gloves were staying on for the race.

The race got going at 12:08pm so I lined up towards the back of the half marathon starters. I tried to take things handy for the 1st 5km as planned, I was just off the back of a group of about 20 runners that felt as though they were going a decent pace. After about 2-3 KM they seemed to be picking up the pace a bit more so I started to leave them off, picked off one of two who tried to keep the pace around the 5km mark. I was feeling great at this point, really comfortable. 5km in 24 minutes 50 seconds


I was pretty much on my own at about 6km but was joined by a lady at this point and she was hoping to come in under 1 hour and 50 minutes. We were together for about 2km but I started to pull away again. As we will see later and in hindsight I should have hung with her and paced with her for alot longer than I did. About 9km I fumbled with my gloves and got out my jelly beans. I could see a water station on the other side of the road about 1.5km away on the loop back so started to chew away and would wash them down on the other side. 5km in 25 minutes 27 seconds


The next 5km-7km was really tough, there were a number of hard climbs that I reall dug in and fought through. Again hindsight I should probably have gone a fair bit easier through these climbs as I think I put too much effort into this part of the race and was left with very little in the tank for the last few KM. 5km in 25 minutes 40 seconds


In my mind once you hit 18km there were a couple of gentle downhill KM's which I felt I would cruise through but my quads were not obliging me, even the downhill parts were a huge effort and the time was dropping right off. A guy passed me just after the 15km point and he was gliding, it was the most disheartening experience I have ever felt. Considering it is a fairly straight piece of road I lost sight of the guy in about 2km 5km in 27 minutes 29 seconds


The lady I mentioned earlier joined me again with about 2.5km to go, she was very encouraging and she just got away from me, I couldn't quiet keep her pace which would have helped me get in just under the goal time. I tried a couple of times to even do a few strides to pick up the needed time but my quads were crying enough. About 30 metres from the finish line I could see the clock ticking up to 1 hour 50 minutes and I crossed in a time of 1 hour 50 minutes and 6 seconds. So close but yet so far.

Overall fairly pleased but plenty of lessons to take out from it, I definitely feel if I had taken the 1st 5km in the target pace I might have had enough in the tank but I lack the confidence I feel at this point to adopt that approach. I also feel Kennyg was spot on that the lack of mileage in training prevented me from hitting the goal, but that is life. Overall not too disappointed to just miss out but not the best paced race. The 10-15km section could have been taken 30 seconds slower and I would have been better able to take advantage of the downhill sections.

I need to learn to pace myself better and thinking that I would love another go at a half sometime early next year before I run the full marathon in Limerick.

gramar

Great run none the less....6 seconds out on a 1hr 50min target is a fine run.
Maybe your mileage was light but seeing as you got so close on the day that wasn't why you were just on the wrong side of your target. I think it was going too hard on the hills just caught up with you towards the end.
Excellent performance regardless of the time.

tailgunner

That's a really great result for your first half, and you'll learn a lot from the experience.

If you increase your mid-week mileage a bit, and get the long runs in consistently each week, I reckon you'll take a big chunk out of that time in the new year without having to do much else.

HigginsJ

gramar wrote: »

Great run none the less....6 seconds out on a 1hr 50min target is a fine run.
Maybe your mileage was light but seeing as you got so close on the day that wasn't why you were just on the wrong side of your target. I think it was going too hard on the hills just caught up with you towards the end.
Excellent performance regardless of the time.

Thanks G, yea think you are spot on here.

tailgunner wrote: »

That's a really great result for your first half, and you'll learn a lot from the experience.

If you increase your mid-week mileage a bit, and get the long runs in consistently each week, I reckon you'll take a big chunk out of that time in the new year without having to do much else.

Thanks tailgunner, yea I think the mid week runs need to up in distance, now that is part of the marathon plan anyway so will definitely make a big difference OK.

ariana`

Well done, brilliant time for a 1st half, so close to your goal time too.

You will go under 1:50 in the Spring no doubt about it, Kinvara 'Rock and Road' might suit on March 4th

Maximus Alexander

Well done. Your target is an arbitrary number at the end of the day, and that's a great result for your first half.

HigginsJ

ariana` wrote: »

Well done, brilliant time for a 1st half, so close to your goal time too.

You will go under 1:50 in the Sprint no doubt about it, Kinvara 'Rock and Road' might suit on March 4th

Thanks ariana. That would be a good date for a race ok as the marathon is April 30th.

HigginsJ

Maximus Alexander wrote: »

Well done. Your target is an arbitrary number at the end of the day, and that's a great result for your first half.

Thank you

Kennyg71

Well done, good market for next one. Best luck with training for Limerick, what plan are you using.

HigginsJ

Kennyg71 wrote: »

Well done, good market for next one. Best luck with training for Limerick.

Thank you

HigginsJ

So not been a fun two weeks since the half marathon. Was fairly stiff up to about the Thursday after the race and was then smothered with a cold for a few days. Wasn't too pushed and thought 1 week off would be fine and I would get out for a few runs last week. However came down with a bad dose of gastro at the start of last week and was completely drawn by the end of the week. Back to as close as possible to full health now though so hope will get out later on this week for about 8km.

HigginsJ

28th of December


3.78 miles in 38 minutes 58 seconds (10:18 average mile)

Laziness, stiffness & illness has made this my 1st run since the Half Marathon, poor I know.

Got the Polar m400 for christmas so going to log in miles going forward. I took it very handy today, the polar flow app looks very good as well, loaded with info.

I got a few vouchers for JD sports as well so going to look to pick up a good deal on a new pair of runners for marathon training..

gramar

HigginsJ wrote: »

28th of December


3.78 miles in 38 minutes 58 seconds (10:18 average mile)

Laziness, stiffness & illness has made this my 1st run since the Half Marathon, poor I know.

Got the Polar m400 for christmas so going to log in miles going forward. I took it very handy today, the polar flow app looks very good as well, loaded with info.

I got a few vouchers for JD sports as well so going to look to pick up a good deal on a new pair of runners for marathon training..

You're back in the saddle J that's the main thing. I have the same watch and it's easy to use and it's easy to keep track of things on the app.

On the runners, I left my pair in the parents house in the summer for when I'm over and got a new pair that cost twice as much but are only half as good. On the runs over Christmas I realised how much better they were and I think I'll go out and get the same ones again and relegate the 'good' pair to occasional use.

HigginsJ

gramar wrote: »

You're back in the saddle J that's the main thing. I have the same watch and it's easy to use and it's easy to keep track of things on the app.

On the runners, I left my pair in the parents house in the summer for when I'm over and got a new pair that cost twice as much but are only half as good. On the runs over Christmas I realised how much better they were and I think I'll go out and get the same ones again and relegate the 'good' pair to occasional use.

Went in today & neither of the stores in Limerick stock "running shoes". Can't use the vouchers online so I'm a bit miffed 😑 They had an adidas energy cloud which is a running shoe but only a fairly basic one.

HigginsJ

2 runs to log here.

Friday 30th of December

3.48 miles in 32 minutes 57 seconds (9:28 average)

Monday 2nd of January

6.41 miles in 58 minutes 56 seconds (9:12 average)

Good to start getting back into a bit of rhythm before the marathon plan kicks in next week. Picked up a pair of Adidas Energy Cloud runners at the weekend and tried them out on the run yesterday. Really like the polar flow app that comes with the M400, especially the Heart Rate zones and the run report that shows the benefit of the runs.

HigginsJ

4th January

3.48 miles in 28 minutes 38 seconds (8:13 average)

The marathon training plan isn't kicking in till next week so just trying a few things out this week. Went for a run at lunch time just to trial if I could do 2 runs a day.

Really loving the polar flow app and desktop site.

I know you are using it Grammar so what notice do you pay to the "Training Benefit" section?

gramar

HigginsJ wrote: »

4th January

3.48 miles in 28 minutes 38 seconds (8:13 average)

The marathon training plan isn't kicking in till next week so just trying a few things out this week. Went for a run at lunch time just to trial if I could do 2 runs a day.

Really loving the polar flow app and desktop site.

I know you are using it Grammar so what notice do you pay to the "Training Benefit" section?

No notice at all!

I just use it to keep track of the runs. I look at the distance, splits, weekly totals etc I've used the heart monitor a few times but more out of curiosity than anything else. Like most gadgets I have I'm sure there is a lot more I could get out of them but tend to stick to the basics.

HigginsJ

gramar wrote: »

No notice at all!

I just use it to keep track of the runs. I look at the distance, splits, weekly totals etc I've used the heart monitor a few times but more out of curiosity than anything else. Like most gadgets I have I'm sure there is a lot more I could get out of them but tend to stick to the basics.

Thanks for nothing :P

HigginsJ

8th of January

9.44 miles in 1 hour 30 minutes 3 seconds (9:32 average)

My 1 mile splits were as follows

1. 10:44
2. 9:51
3. 9:45
4. 9:45
5. 10:01
6. 8:38
7. 8:41
8. 9:26
9. 9:16
.44 - @ 8:52 pace

Officially marathon training starts tomorrow. I am using a plan from a friend in work who did the DCM last year. That was her 1st marathon and she found it good, finishing in 4 hours 51 minutes. She had been running just under a yea & the plan is about 500 miles in total which seems like a decent amount for my 1st marathon.

The plan calls for 4 runs a week (Mon, Wed, Fri & Sun, it was Sat but I find it easier to do the long runs on Sunday)

Part of my plan for the longer runs in to do these in negative splits. In my 2 10k's and the HM my half way split has blown the 2nd half out of the water. Is it a good idea to focus on something like this during the training or should I just take it slow and not put any emphasis on this side of things.

HigginsJ

9th of January

6.07 miles in 1 hour 2 minutes 10 seconds (10:14 average)

2 of the girls from work were going running after work so I joined them as one of them will be following a similar marathon plan to me. Let them dictate the pace so it was ideal.

My work place is putting on Yoga classes once a week from now till March so going to give it a go today to see how I find it.

HigginsJ

Struggled with some balance and stretching in the yoga but good overall. Think it will be of benefit as I go through the training. Must look to get back to doing the core routine the physio gave me last year. Think I will target to do that Thursday evenings.

ariana`

HigginsJ wrote: »

Part of my plan for the longer runs in to do these in negative splits. In my 2 10k's and the HM my half way split has blown the 2nd half out of the water. Is it a good idea to focus on something like this during the training or should I just take it slow and not put any emphasis on this side of things.

I'm no more experienced than your good self but I don't think i'd get bogged down in negative splits at this stage but just make a conscious effort not to start off too fast. Are there any Progression runs on your marathon training plan? These would give you a feel for building pace throughout a run. I think your splits over the shorter distances will level out as you build stamina which marathon training will do. Best of luck with the plan

HigginsJ

ariana` wrote: »

I'm no more experienced than your good self but I don't think i'd get bogged down in negative splits at this stage but just make a conscious effort not to start off too fast. Are there any Progression runs on your marathon training plan? These would give you a feel for building pace throughout a run. I think your splits over the shorter distances will level out as you build stamina which marathon training will do. Best of luck with the plan

Thanks ariana, no there is nothing like progression runs etc. although it is something that I intend to do with some of the midweek ones.

HigginsJ

11th of January

4.77 miles in 43 minutes 5 seconds (9:02 average)

Spent 20 minutes in the yellow heart rate zone according to Polar Flow. I'm not surprised as it felt tough enough at times even though the pace was nothing to write home about. Aiming to do about 6 mile on Friday before a 10 miler on Sunday.

HigginsJ

15th of January

11.06 miles in 1 hour 46 minutes 33 seconds (9:38 average)

Missed my planned 6 miler on Friday due to a sick wife and 2 sick smallies (Ran off my feet for the day if that counts!!) The plan for Sunday was 10 miles but just threw in an extra bit for the missed run Friday. Found it tough going as didn't bring any fuel or drink with me on the run.

HigginsJ

Finally managed to figure out how to embed my running from last year. The tail off in December aside, I am delighted with how my 1st 9 months as a runner went.

The step up in mileage from my peak month of July last year to the 1st 4 months of this year is a bit daunting but as they say, if it was easy everyone would do it.

HigginsJ

17th January

6.08 miles in 51 minutes 53 seconds (8:31 average)

Upped the pace on this morning's run and threw in about 6 sets of strides. The mile splits were

1 - 8:37
2 - 8:03
3 - 8:32
4 - 8:21
5 - 8:28
6 - 9:05 (A couple of sets of traffic lights slowed this mile)

HigginsJ

2nd yoga class done, she definitely stepped it up this week, was a fair deal tougher which is great and awful at the same time.

adrian522

Hi,

Your plan has you running a long run on Sunday and then another run on Monday? What is the Monday run typically? You might be better having Monday as a rest day and putting in back to back days somewhere else on the plan?

HigginsJ

adrian522 wrote: »

Hi,

Your plan has you running a long run on Sunday and then another run on Monday? What is the Monday run typically? You might be better having Monday as a rest day and putting in back to back days somewhere else on the plan?

Hi Adrian, one step ahead of you on this one. Mondays were a 6 miler so I am putting that to Tuesday now with the long run still on Sundays.

So the plan will be Sunday Long Run, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday then will be 6,6,4 going up to 6,9,5 at some point.

adrian522

Sounds good!

HigginsJ

18th of January

4.04 miles in 39 minutes 10 seconds (9:42 average)

Took it fairly steady as was feeling a bit tired after the last few days.

20th of January

5.75 miles in 51 minutes 11 seconds (8:54 average)

Threw in 7 sets of strides to make this a little bit of a tempo run. LSR tomorrow of 11 miles.

HigginsJ

22nd of January

9.01 miles in 1 hour 24 minutes 55 seconds (9:27 average)

24th of January
45 minute yoga class

25th of January
9.42 miles in 1 hour 25 minutes 32 seconds (9:05 average)

Was short of time Sunday so didn't get in the full planned distance, and was not able to get out for the 4 mile run on Tuesday.

Good news is that I had day off and free yesterday (Birthday) so I put in a longer than prescribed midweek run. Going to be working away from home a few days next week so will probably do some miles on a treadmill which should be fun.

I have ran 75.53 mile so far this month so just .18 of a mile away from setting a new record for myself for most miles in a month. This should likely be a new record every month for the 1st 3 months of this year assuming training goes well.

I am finding running 4 days is tough, from a physical & mental standpoint of just getting out there and doing it. Really think I am going to have to find a race between now and April 30th as another 3 months of just training could wear me down a bit to be honest.

tailgunner

It might sound counter-intuitive, but you might find it easier to spread the mileage over five days. It's much easier on the body to run 5 miles one day and 4 miles the next, rather than run 9 miles in one go. And personally, I find it much easier to motivate myself for shorter runs during the week.

And yeah, definitely pick out a few shorter races and/or parkruns between now and the end of April.

ariana`

HigginsJ wrote: »

22nd of January

9.01 miles in 1 hour 24 minutes 55 seconds (9:27 average)

24th of January
45 minute yoga class

25th of January
9.42 miles in 1 hour 25 minutes 32 seconds (9:05 average)

Was short of time Sunday so didn't get in the full planned distance, and was not able to get out for the 4 mile run on Tuesday.

Good news is that I had day off and free yesterday (Birthday) so I put in a longer than prescribed midweek run. Going to be working away from home a few days next week so will probably do some miles on a treadmill which should be fun.

I have ran 75.53 mile so far this month so just .18 of a mile away from setting a new record for myself for most miles in a month. This should likely be a new record every month for the 1st 3 months of this year assuming training goes well.

I am finding running 4 days is tough, from a physical & mental standpoint of just getting out there and doing it. Really think I am going to have to find a race between now and April 30th as another 3 months of just training could wear me down a bit to be honest.

I hope you had a serious piece of cake after that run :P Belated birthday wishes

HigginsJ

ariana` wrote: »

I hope you had a serious piece of cake after that run :P Belated birthday wishes

I had more than one piece to be honest

ariana`

HigginsJ wrote: »

I had more than one piece to be honest

Good job it's important to refuel after a big run

HigginsJ

Things have been a bit up in the air of late, my wifes grandmother passed away just over a week ago so have been a bit intermittent with running in the past week and a half.

29th of January

6.84 miles in 1 hour 4 minutes 2 seconds (9:21 average)

2nd of February

3 miles in 32 minutes (10:40 average)

This was on a treadmill in hotel in Dublin as I was working away for a night. Was a torturous experience, really struggled at that pace, was sweating like no ones business so binned it once I hit 3 mile :mad:

5th of February

11.80 miles in 1 hour 47 minutes 58 seconds (9:08 average)

This would pretty much be bang on marathon pace if I want to get in under 4 hours, was pretty comfortable, threw in a set of strides at each of the 10, 11, 12, 13 & 14 km marks. Need to get something for a drinks bottle as will have to start drinking a bit of something on these long runs, also dropped my glove while trying to get jelly beans out of a pack so had to go back a few metres to pick it up.

Need to get back into the 4 days this week as can't afford too many down weeks if I want to hit my marathon goal.

gramar

HigginsJ wrote: »

This was on a treadmill in hotel in Dublin as I was working away for a night. Was a torturous experience, really struggled at that pace, was sweating like no ones business so binned it once I hit 3 mile :mad:

I tried one myself last year. They are horrible, horrible things.

HigginsJ

7th of February

6.04 miles in 52 minutes and 29 seconds (8:41 average)

45 minutes of yoga

Yoga is tough going, this week she was giving us stability exercises to go through, I sucked so badly!!

Month To Date - 20.84 miles
Year To Date - 103.21 miles

HigginsJ

9th of February

6.1 miles in 55 minutes 28 seconds (9:05 average)

10th of February

3.69 miles in 31 minutes 52 seconds (8:37 average)

The run this morning was a bit shorter than was in the plan, thought the route I had picked was 4 miles but came up a little short, although I forgot my gloves so was sitting in my car seriously considering not getting out

MTD: 30.63 miles
YTD: 113 miles

ariana`

HigginsJ wrote: »

9th of February

6.1 miles in 55 minutes 28 seconds (9:05 average)

10th of February

3.69 miles in 31 minutes 52 seconds (8:37 average)

The run this morning was a bit shorter than was in the plan, thought the route I had picked was 4 miles but came up a little short, although I forgot my gloves so was sitting in my car seriously considering not getting out

MTD: 30.63 miles
YTD: 113 miles

And you mean you didn't run laps around the car when you got back to bring it up to 4.0 :P :P

HigginsJ

ariana` wrote: »

And you mean you didn't run laps around the car when you got back to bring it up to 4.0 :P :P

Ssshhhhh!!

HigginsJ

12th of February

14.03 miles in 2 hours 17 minutes 32 seconds (9:48 average)

Today was tough, very tough, some of which was my own making.

In a positive note to start it is longest distance I have run & 1st time over 2 hours.

Now for what went wrong. My daughter has had a bad cold/chesty cough the lasy few days & if my wife & I managed 2 hours sleep last night that would be the max. For some unknown reason I took no drink or jelly beans (or any fuel) with me on the run today (lets blame tiredness) & I really struggled the last couple of miles (exhausted to be honest, legs felt like jelly). Finally got blisters on the inside of both feet (half way between toe & arch).

MTD : 44.66 miles
YTD : 127.03 miles

ariana`

HigginsJ wrote: »

12th of February

14.03 miles in 2 hours 17 minutes 32 seconds (9:48 average)

Today was tough, very tough, some of which was my own making.

In a positive note to start it is longest distance I have run & 1st time over 2 hours.

Now for what went wrong. My daughter has had a bad cold/chesty cough the lasy few days & if my wife & I managed 2 hours sleep last night that would be the max. For some unknown reason I took no drink or jelly beans (or any fuel) with me on the run today (lets blame tiredness) & I really struggled the last couple of miles (exhausted to be honest, legs felt like jelly). Finally got blisters on the inside of both feet (half way between toe & arch).

MTD : 44.66 miles
YTD : 127.03 miles

Well done on surviving a tough run and some valuable lessons learnt too

Hope your little girl is better soon. Similar going on in my house for the past week, 4 yr wakes up coughing at 2am and stays awake for about 2 hrs then sleeps again (with his arms wrapped around my neck :eek:) and then the baby wakes :rolleyes:

HigginsJ

ariana` wrote: »

Well done on surviving a tough run and some valuable lessons learnt too

Hope your little girl is better soon. Similar going on in my house for the past week, 4 yr wakes up coughing at 2am and stays awake for about 2 hrs then sleeps again (with his arms wrapped around my neck :eek:) and then the baby wakes :rolleyes:

Oh the joys of it, we have a boy who will be 3 next month and my little lady is 18 months, they are both suffering with it at the moment but he is sleeping OK, the little lady is not having a good time, not that you'd know during the day, full of beans!!