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Berlin Q or Bust: Road to sub 2:45
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Sunday: 11.5k Buggy Recovery: 57:23 @4:58/km
Body felt great after the previous day's proceedings and nipped around the town with Erin Healy. Pints with running mates had been shelved the previous night due to my wife's current status so was in great from for this one
Tuesday: 10.6k Easy: 50:32 @4:44/km
Dark enough at 3pm when i got out of the school, so headed on to the windswept plains.....run was very enjoyable as I was just happy to be out.
Wednesday: Long story short, involved in a car collision with a van who had come up off the curragh plains onto my side of the road and managed to take the wing mirror clean off and do a decent bit of damage to the bodywork on the passenger side....and promptly kept driving. No reg, no nothing....car still drivable thank God and it could have been worse, but not exactly what I needed :0 running shelved in favour of visits to breakers yard to pick up a 'new' wing mirror.
Thursday: Session 8x800m off 90/secs
things just seem to be hanging together by a thread at the moment. Lack of sleep, serious time pressue, busiest week of the year in work and then all of the last weeks events to contend with.....but I'm still here, and managed to eke out an hour and shoehorn this in. Meant to be on the track, but that wasn't a runner, so did it on the tempo loop, roughly 1.2k, that i use in the camp, which just meant that the splits were going to be a little uneven....forgot my flats, so wore the Epic Reacts, not great for a speed session as it turned out. was never really happy with their grip in the damp conditions, especially at pace and into and out of corners.....terrible diet over the last couple of days, ranging from nothing at all to crap food.....so it was with a little trepadation that I decided to do this.
Plan called for 10x800 but time wouldn't allow for that session, so knocked 2 off, and figured with 8x800 I could at least get in a semblance of a warm up & cool down. Plan was for 2:40-2:30 but factoring in the lack of a track, no flats and the general frantic nature of things, i scaled it back to 2:40-2:45, and set off.....
Splits: 2:45, 2:40, 2:47, 2:41, 2:41, 2:44, 2:41, 2:50
So that was okay. Hung in there a bit for a couple of the reps that the elevation & wind worked against me, not the last rep as it happens, that was slower due to a last second about turn when the Army Sheep ranger was driving a herd of sheep in my direction! Definitely could have knocked out 2 more in or around that pace. Will see what the rest of the week brings, but will definitely get a steady LR in, and maybe another session on Saturday.....but that may not be the best idea??0 -
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Sat: 14 Miles Relaxed: 1:43:07 @4:34/km
Planned a progression run of sorts but weather conditions threw that idea out the window, so just kept it nice and relaxed and, despite the desperate weather conditions, turned out to be an enjoyable run. Longest since DCM.
Mon: 10 Miles Recovery: 1:25:12 @5:17/km
Good few pints on Saturday, plodded wearily around the plains. As always, felt great by the end.
Tue: 5k w/pooch 30ish
Wed: Session 16x400m off 60secs
Was meant to be on the track and off 45secs recovery, but was stretched for time and ended up having company from my regular training partner who didn't fancy the shorter recoveries. Of course he ended up pulling out after 6 reps leaving muggins here on his todd. The last time i did 400's on this stretch it was the week of the Frank Duffy, and spotty GPS meant that despite being in the shape if my life I was cranking out 86's and 87's.....but it was still a cracking session so if the '400''s were longer, i wasn't too worried and I had a previous session to compare today's with.
Splits: 76,79,78,81,80,82,80,83,80,81,80,83,82,80,81,83
Knew after the first couple that the pace was a little silly. So dialled it back a little, and kept the rest as close to 80 as i could. The equivalent for this level on the track would be closer to 70 than 80secs per rep. Really happy with this, especially as I was abandoned mid session
Approx 13k Inc wu and cd
Just getting in the runs is tricky at the moment, so any bit of quality is really appreciated. Friday and the holidays should see some respite. 0 -
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Thu: 10k Easy: 51:10 @5:07/km
Fri: 10 Miles Easy: 1:18:51 @4:55/km
A ramble around the town after school finished early, stopping off at a couple of different spots getting a couple of presents all while catching up on some Second Captains pods.....living the dream
Sat: 5 Mile Tempo: (29:07)
Decided to head to the track as any other route would have given me Christmas traffic to contend with. Had never done this length of a run before on the track, but 20 and a bit laps at a nice clip actually appealed to me after not getting out on to the track for a while.
The plan was for in or around 6 minute miles, judging things by effort once I got the first mile in the bag. Longer tempos are probably my favourite session and as always, my initial doubts about the targets set for me in some of these sessions quickly dispersed once I got going.
Decided I wouldn't glance at the watch until 800m in, and when in I did I was under 3mins by a couple of seconds. A little faster than planned but I felt pretty comfortable so I just tried to focus on my rhythm and turnover......and all this resulted in a 29:07 5 Mile effort. I don't know what to say really. I was working to be sure, but not at PB effort or so I thought. The track makes it easier to maintain that rhythm for sure....and I AM making progress for sure. It's just a bit mad running that sort of time in a tempo run.
Splits: 5:58, 5:55, 5:44, 5:45, 5:460 -
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I definitely think I may need to pare things back when I hit the track.......I'm not trying to blow sessions out of the water like that. But the man in charge doesn't seem too worried...'you'll have days like that, just don't go doing it every week!' It certainly puts a question in my mind of what to target for Raheny, but that's for another day
Sun: Family thing down in Tramore and a few other Christmas bits and pieces ruled out any running.
Mon: 17k Easy: 1:19:55 @4:42/km
Left something in the school so ran in and out via Gamestop and some last minute Super Mario Kart related shopping 0 -
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Swashbuckler wrote: »If I was to give you any advice for Raheny I'd say don't target anything in advance. Just run as hard as you can on the day and see where you end up. Sounds simple but just go reasonably hard in the first mile and try to judge it from there. One mile into a five miler is probably about right to judge if you are going too hard or not.
Yeah 100% P.......I do like to have a number in mind though (more to stop anything too crazy happening). But as DD has shown that's maybe not the way for these shorter races. I'm gonna go hard and, something which I have gotten better at over the last 12months, if there's a group to tag onto that's maybe going a little faster than the plan I'm gonna go with them. And seeing as it's Raheny and there will be a couple of hundred going under 30mins I reckon there will be any chance of you toeing the line there? 0 -
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Tue: 10k Buggy: 49:27 @4:57/km inc 6:30ish Goal Mile.
Took a break from Lego building and Christmas dinner cooking to head out with Erin in the buggy and even managed to take in the Goal Mile down at the club track. Great turn out, and ended up flying around with herself hooting and hollering in the buggy
Wed: 14k (8k w/pooch, rest without). No watch.
1hr15ish....
Thur: Nowt. Bit hungover and couldn't find anyone to run with. Didn't fancy going on my own......Stella Artois, who knew?
Fri: Session: 10x350m Hills Continuous. Ran out to the old cemetery hill on the Curragh. Had done this session a few weeks back before the 12k's of Christmas. All reps between 74&77 secs, which was an improvement as the last time out was between 76&79 secs. Felt like a train out there, must have been the Stella
Ended up about 19km in total!
Sat: Nothing doing again. Solo parenting and babies waking up at 4:45am put a torpedo through any chances of getting out.
Sun: 24k Relaxed: 1:47:16 @4:28/km
Spent the first couple of kms lamenting the fact I was having to do a LR in the afternoon, focusing on the fact that i hate doing LR's later in the day.....by 10k I was wondering if I should do ALL my long runs in the afternoon was cruising out there, only good vibes on this one, 1:34 Half felt effortless, something which I still struggle to get my head around....Wore the Epic Reacts for this one, Jesus they are just beautiful to run in, nothing I've worn really compares to them. Adidas Energy Boost maybe, but I've never had a pair of those.
84k for the week, which considering I missed 2 days, isn't too bad a number. If the Gods allow it I might run a local 10k on New Years Day, a little range finder before more important business at the end of January 0 -
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Mon: 6k shakeout w/strides: 30mins ish
Tue: Race: Caragh 10k
So I tipped over to Caragh this morning in maybe the worst shape I've ever been going into a race! Ok that's a tad melodramatic, but two consecutive nights of about 3 hours sleep and 4am 'Erin Healy Is Ready To Start The Day' starts had left me in a pretty iffy state. Considered pulling the plug but my ever patient wife coaxed me out the door
There was a 5k and 10k option, with the 10k covering 2laps of the 5k route which took in the hill up through Caragh village. Not something you really want to run up twice in the one race! Got a couple of miles warm up in, and headed to the start line, feeling pretty sh1t and pondering what approach to take in the race. This was only ever meant to be a blow out/range finder/post holidays waker-upper or whatever. So I said I'd go for sub 37 and if it happened it happened.
Straight away the eventual winner eased away (34:xx), and I settled into a group with 2 other guys behind him. I'd never ran a 10k that was a x2 a 5k loop so i was trying to make a few mental notes. The long climb was at the end of the first k and the start of the 2nd k. Tucked in behind my two buddies and then took it on a bit after we'd created the climb. 3:46 for the first km but I wasn't overly concerned as I knew I'd pull those seconds back on the downhill. I got gapped a little about 3k, due to day dreaming rather than anything else, so I bit down quickly and made up the 5m to rejoin the group as we went over a nasty little railway bridge with about 500m to go in the first loop. Splits for first 5k were (3:46, 3:37, 3:40, 3:38, 3:42) for a 18:23 halfway split.
I was working hard, but being in the small group kept me on pace and it was clear the guys were moving at my desired pace so I was on auto pilot a little. This suited my addled state of mind to be fair I knew that the 2nd climb up through the village would be the making or breaking of the race. I lost touch with 2nd and 3rd here and they prob put about 15 seconds on me my pace dropped right down to 4:20 looking at Strava. However once we turned and got a bit of downhill again I started to feel pretty decent. 6-8 Splits were 3:43, 3:42, 3:45. I knew that I needed a decent finish to get under the 37mins but suddenly I'm eating up road and 3rd place is coming back to me. Up over the railway bridge one last time, 400m to go and I know that 3rd place is just out of reach but I'm going to break 37mins. Finished with a 3:37 & 3:41 kms.
Crossed the line for a 36:51 PB
So delighted to knock a goal off my list on January 1st. Considering how sh1t I felt going in, and the fact it was on the back of a big hill session Friday and a fairly nippy 24k on Sunday, no to mention the Christmas period and all that entails, and a tricky enough course, I'm happy out. There's a lot more to come over 10k for me I think this year. As I said on Mellow Yellows log, you don't get better at race distances by not racing them! I raced one 10k last year and that was a tame enough affair. Raheny at the end of the month and then Enniscorthy 10k a couple of weeks after that, feeling pretty good about them.0 -
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OOnegative wrote: »36.51 after a feed of Stella over the Christmas, some do call it rocket fuel!!! Great stuff Johnny, very well done.
That 10k PB needed to go!! Might not hit the Stella for a while now 0 -
Swashbuckler wrote: »We predicted this! Haha. I think we'll be seeing more reports like this over the year. Great stuff man. we might even get a chance to race each other at some point although I think a 10 Miler or Half would be more in my interests 0
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Wed: 10k Recovery: 51:20 @5:08/km
Moseyed around the plains for a post race trot. Legs knew they'd been in a race alright
Thu: 11.5k Easy: 55:10 @4:48/km
Legs feeling much better.
Fri: 11k ish: 52mins
Was up visiting a mate in St James Hospital so stopped off in Tallaght/Citywest direction and went for a late run around. Watch had died.....possibly covered a bit more in the 52mins.
Sat: Session 10x800m off 90secs
Club was having their registration day for members so went down to fix up for the year and got a session in on the track. Plan said 2:30-2:40 range for the intervals and, despite one or two missteps in the form of taking it out too quick on the first lap, I hit the splits and felt pretty good out there.
2:35, 2:32, 2:34, 2:34, 2:33, 2:32, 2:29, 2:31, 2:29, 2:33
Looking back, I did the Yasso 800's session 4 weeks into DCM training last July. Now, this included the first 3 weeks which consisted of Easy runs, 1 session and a 10 Mile Race in Mullingar, so I wasn't in the sharpest of form, but that session came in between 2:44 - 2:36.....with equivalent recoveries. So I suppose this is a good indicator of some progression in there, with faster splits and (way) shorter recoveries
Speaking of plans, I didn't realise that last Sunday's 24k was meant to be 18k, and a good deal easier. "Eh, that run on Sunday looked a bit steadier and longer than we'd planned!?" So I've made a mental note to actually consult the plan rather than my memory of the plan before heading out on a LR or Session
Wife's boot due to come off on Thursday. It will be a relief for ALL the family, particularly my wife's sanity levels and my own energy levels, which feel worryingly low as work looms tomorrow 0 -
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