Can I really do this?

Huzzah!

Nice running, Gypsy!

gypsylee

Tuesday 30th January

I haven't been out for an evening run since the 8th of January. My legs felt like they needed one this evening. Different route which was nice for a change, slept like a log after it even if it was just a short run. Was quicker than it felt too which i was happy with.

Distance: 5 km. Time; 30.42.

Splits: 5.50, 6.09, 6.07, 6.13, 6.06.

I didn't make my goal of 100 km for the month due to being sick last week. Looking forward to February's runs and the start of my half marathon plan.

MTD 79 km
YTD 79km

eyrie

Congrats on the race performance! 5 mins quicker than you had planned, especially when you weren't feeling great, is super!

gypsylee

Thursday 1st February

Lovely evening for a run, took it easy, enjoyed this one.

Distance: 5 km. Time: 33 minutes

Splits: 6.38, 6.27,6.26, 6.47, 6.56.

Sunday 4th February

Perfect morning for an LSR though I ended up running faster than I had planned. The pace felt slow so surprised to see all the 6s.

Distance: 8.5 km. Time: 56 minutes

Splits: 6.16, 6.13, 6.38, 6.45, 6.58, 6.44, 6.56, 6.49, 6.25.

Tuesday 6th February

And so it begins. First week, first day of the Half Marathon Plan. Love having to follow a structured plan. 3 miles easy. Very cold.

Distance: 5 km. Time: 33.59.

Splits: 6.28, 6.31, 6.45, 6.49, 6.45.

Wednesday 7th February

3 miles easy. Lovely night for a run.

Distance: 5 km. Time: 33.54.

Splits: 6.39, 6.30, 6.40, 6.45, 6.54.

Thursday 8th February

3 miles easy. Cold and wet but enjoyable. Legs felt tired.

Distance: 5 km. Time: 33.30

Splits: 6.43, 6.33, 6.28, 6.39, 6.41.

I am delighted to see that the pace for the first three runs on the plan are all the same.

Rest days on Fridays and Mondays. Short LSR tomorrow and one hour cross on Sunday. That's my running sorted for the next twelve weeks.

ariana`

Great start, good luck with the plan, the structure will serve you well no doubt.

eyrie

Always fun starting a new plan! Hope it goes well for you

Sunny Dayz

Best of luck with your training plan, you've gotten off to a good start.

gypsylee

Half Marathon Plan - Week 1

Saturday 10th February

The plan called for a LSR of 4 miles.

Early morning run - 6.5 km @ 7.09 km pace.

Half Marathon Plan - Week 2

Tuesday 13th February

3 miles easy. 5.1 km @ 6.14 km pace.

And that was the total of my running in week 2! My 50th birthday was on Friday so I went into celebratory mode early and continued until yesterday!

I was dying to get back on track after eating and drinking too much so I got out for a 5 km run this morning as per the half marathon plan week 3.

Baby75

Happy Birthday

gypsylee

Oops I forgot to mention that one of my birthday presents from my son and daughter was entry to the Dublin Marathon! They have a lot more faith in me than I have. Ah sure, I can always walk it can't I?

Huzzah!

gypsylee wrote: »

Oops I forgot to mention that one of my birthday presents from my son and daughter was entry to the Dublin Marathon! They have a lot more faith in me than I have. Ah sure, I can always walk it can't I?

Nice! I've every faith in you that you can run it

Happy birthday

Baby75

gypsylee wrote: »

Oops I forgot to mention that one of my birthday presents from my son and daughter was entry to the Dublin Marathon! They have a lot more faith in me than I have. Ah sure, I can always walk it can't I?

Excellent it will be no bother to you! you will have a great base after the HM Plan and then join in the boards DCM novices group you will have an amazing journey something so special running your first marathon

Sunny Dayz

Happy 50th birthday! And what a lovely present to get!

juke

Ahh, Happy Birthday. Maybe their confidence is grounded in them knowing you!

Younganne

Happy 50th Birthday, great present and one to keep you focused for the next 8 months!!
You'll have no bother, great base building as we speak..

eyrie

Happy birthday!!
And that's a great present - very thoughtful!

ariana`

gypsylee wrote: »

Oops I forgot to mention that one of my birthday presents from my son and daughter was entry to the Dublin Marathon! They have a lot more faith in me than I have. Ah sure, I can always walk it can't I?

Happy birthday. Super present

chickey2

Happy birthday, what a great present!

gypsylee

Half Marathon Plan - Week 3

Monday 19th February -

3 miles easy. 5 km @ 6.19 pace.

I enjoyed this early morning run having eaten and drinking all weekend. Felt good to get out for this one.

Tuesday 20th February

4 miles easy. 6.5 km @ 6.40 pace.

Took this one very easy, lovely evening for it. Enjoyable.

Thursday 22nd February

3 miles easy. 5 km @ 6.25 pace.

Early morning run, beautiful morning for this run.

Saturday 24th February

6 mile LSR. 10km @ 6.58 pace.

It was bitterly cold for this morning run. The head wind on the Curragh was bitter but I had great music playing, quiet roads and I really enjoyed this one.

The pace was too quick though as I wanted to run nearer to 8 minute kilometres. Found it hard to go any slower though which is something I never thought I would say!

Splits: 6.28, 6.56, 6.49, 7.01, 6.59, 6.43, 7.05, 7.00, 7.14, 7.24.

I have been planning on running the Half Marathon at a 7 minute km so that I will hopefully finish in 2 hour 30 minutes. The plan calls for some runs to be done at race pace which at 7 minute km will be slower than my easy pace! Am I being conservative in planning to do the half at 7 minute km? I don't want to hit a wall around the 15km mark like I did during my last half. Maybe I am overthinking it and should just see how I feel on the day.

skyblue46

gypsylee wrote: »

I have been planning on running the Half Marathon at a 7 minute km so that I will hopefully finish in 2 hour 30 minutes. The plan calls for some runs to be done at race pace which at 7 minute km will be slower than my easy pace! Am I being conservative in planning to do the half at 7 minute km? I don't want to hit a wall around the 15km mark like I did during my last half. Maybe I am overthinking it and should just see how I feel on the day.

My tuppence worth....your easy runs are faster than your planned HMP as they seem not to be easy enough. Those who know me know that I bang on about this forever and a day. :pac: Just a quick glance at your Raheny splits which were mostly in the 6.xx range and your easy paces which are only fractionally slower makes me think you could ease up a little on easy days.

gypsylee

skyblue46 wrote: »

My tuppence worth....your easy runs are faster than your planned HMP as they seem not to be easy enough. Those who know me know that I bang on about this forever and a day. :pac: Just a quick glance at your Raheny splits which were mostly in the 6.xx range and your easy paces which are only fractionally slower makes me think you could ease up a little on easy days.

Thanks for the advice. Will try a few slower runs and see how it goes.

gypsylee

Half Marathon Plan Week 4

Monday 26th February

3 mile easy. 5.5 km @ 6.16 pace. 34 minutes. Lovely evening for a run and still bright at 6 o'clock. Roll on the long bright evenings.

And then the snow came.....

Half Marathon Plan Week 5

Monday 5th March

I was dying to get out for a run.

3 mile very easy. 5 km @ 6.52 pace. 34 minutes. Great to get back out.

Wednesday 7th March

This was an early morning run and I hoped to do 4 miles. It was very cold. Felt fine until around 4 km and then got very breathless which has not happened me before on a run so had to cut it short. Hoping it was just the cold morning air.

5.6 km @ 6.20 pace. 35 minutes.

I have a local 10km Run on Sunday. I know the roads well and I don't like running on a lot of them! Anyway not going to race it as I should be doing a 6 mile LSR as part of the Half Marathon plan. Will be happy to finish in around 65 minutes.

The Wexford Half Marathon is in seven weeks so I need to really focus on getting the training runs done.

Huzzah!

gypsylee wrote: »

Half Marathon Plan Week 4

Monday 26th February

3 mile easy. 5.5 km @ 6.16 pace. 34 minutes. Lovely evening for a run and still bright at 6 o'clock. Roll on the long bright evenings.

And then the snow came.....

Half Marathon Plan Week 5

Monday 5th March

I was dying to get out for a run.

3 mile very easy. 5 km @ 6.52 pace. 34 minutes. Great to get back out.

Wednesday 7th March

This was an early morning run and I hoped to do 4 miles. It was very cold. Felt fine until around 4 km and then got very breathless which has not happened me before on a run so had to cut it short. Hoping it was just the cold morning air.

5.6 km @ 6.20 pace. 35 minutes.

I have a local 10km Run on Sunday. I know the roads well and I don't like running on a lot of them! Anyway not going to race it as I should be doing a 6 mile LSR as part of the Half Marathon plan. Will be happy to finish in around 65 minutes.

The Wexford Half Marathon is in seven weeks so I need to really focus on getting the training runs done.

What plan are you following, Gypsy? I know it's been mentioned but there would be no harm in slowing the runs down a little. It's good to get time on your feet for one thing. I personally would know all about it if I ran 5.5k@6.16 pace. I ran 8k last night at my planned half pace of 6:10 per km and I can feel it today.

Just by way of comparison, unless I'm doing a session, my easy runs should all be in the 7.20 to 8min/km pace. I'm not suggesting you slow your runs down by that amount, but it might be worth trying to get the kms in the 7s.

Feel free to ignore, of course!

ariana`

Huzzah! wrote: »

What plan are you following, Gypsy? I know it's been mentioned but there would be no harm in slowing the runs down a little. It's good to get time on your feet for one thing. I personally would know all about it if I ran 5.5k@6.16 pace. I ran 8k last night at my planned half pace of 6:10 per km and I can feel it today.

Just by way of comparison, unless I'm doing a session, my easy runs should all be in the 7.20 to 8min/km pace. I'm not suggesting you slow your runs down by that amount, but it might be worth trying to get the kms in the 7s.

Feel free to ignore, of course!

This is really good advice. Also by way of comparison my 5k race pace is about 4:55-5:10 min/km. And the majority of my runs fall in the range 6:25-6:45 min/km. This is a comfortable running pace where i can chat away quite relaxed.

I wonder if you're getting breathless on Wednesday was the cold? I ran Wed evening and it was bitterly cold, much colder than the same time on Tuesday evening had been.

gypsylee

Huzzah! wrote: »

What plan are you following, Gypsy? I know it's been mentioned but there would be no harm in slowing the runs down a little. It's good to get time on your feet for one thing. I personally would know all about it if I ran 5.5k@6.16 pace. I ran 8k last night at my planned half pace of 6:10 per km and I can feel it today.

Just by way of comparison, unless I'm doing a session, my easy runs should all be in the 7.20 to 8min/km pace. I'm not suggesting you slow your runs down by that amount, but it might be worth trying to get the kms in the 7s.

Feel free to ignore, of course!

Thanks for the advice Huzzah. I have been following the Hal Higdon Novice 2 Plan. Going to change to the Novice 1 Plan which I used for my first Half last August. I will take the advice given by both you and Skyblue and slow right down on the easy runs. Thanks.

gypsylee

ariana` wrote: »

This is really good advice. Also by way of comparison my 5k race pace is about 4:55-5:10 min/km. And the majority of my runs fall in the range 6:25-6:45 min/km. This is a comfortable running pace where i can chat away quite relaxed.

I wonder if you're getting breathless on Wednesday was the cold? I ran Wed evening and it was bitterly cold, much colder than the same time on Tuesday evening had been.

Thanks Ariana. Going to slow most of the runs right down.

I think the cold was the issue. Will find out on Sunday's run as it is supposed to be a lot milder.

Huzzah!

gypsylee wrote: »

Thanks for the advice Huzzah. I have been following the Hal Higdon Novice 2 Plan. Going to change to the Novice 1 Plan which I used for my first Half last August. I will take the advice given by both you and Skyblue and slow right down on the easy runs. Thanks.

No problem. FWIW, I think you're capable of whichever plan you choose to follow. I also found learning to slow down my runs almost as difficult as trying to get faster!

Good luck with it

gypsylee

Sunday 11th March

I did a local 10km run. Wine on the Line. I did not push myself at all and completed it in 65 minutes. Stava fail so no splits. I found it tough going. I find I have better runs in other places where I do not know the route. Familiarity breeds contempt!

Anyway I have been faffing about for the last couple of weeks. I can blame the weather, lack of time whatever but it stops here. Half Marathon day is coming around quick and I feel I am way behind where I should be fitness wise. A 4 mile run is on the plan for this evening, going to slow right down as per the advice given by you here, thank you. Here's to a good week's running.

gypsylee

Thanks for all the advice about slowing down on my 'easy' runs. I got out for two 4 mile runs this week and really enjoyed them.

Half Marathon Plan - Week 6

Tuesday 13th March - 4 miles easy

I did a 3km loop twice, and a little bit, for this run. Really enjoyed it.

KM Splits: 7.01, 7.08, 7.21, 7.13, 7.03, 7.31, 7.30 (0.6).

Thursday 15th March - 4 miles easy

A wee bit windy in places but enjoyed running at a slower pace.

KM Splits: 7.03, 7.00, 7.31, 7.06, 6.35, 6.42, 6.59 (0.5)

I am doing the 5km run in Portlaoise tomorrow. Going to aim for a sub-30 weather permitting.

Planning a LSR for Monday morning and looking forward to it.

Huzzah!

Nice work and good luck tomorrow