"It's what you do next that counts"

shels4ever

Woddle wrote: »

Well Shels I wish you all the best and enjoy it and take it all in and then what were you saying earlier, drinks and food in yours I'm looking forward to having a few battles with you come summer.

Going on your times I think it will be a while before i'll be in a battle with you ... But we will see.

Woddle

While I've been doing well with getting the speed sessions in, I have been neglecting the easy/recovery runs. The main reason has been laziness and I've convinced myself not to overdo it while I introduce the speed work. Starting next week I hope to change that.

Todays run was 8 miles and it went like this
2 mile warm up, 8:15 pace
2 mile tempo, 6:52 pace
1 mile recovery, 8:30 pace
1.5 mile tempo, 7:00 pace, suppose to be 2 miles
1.5 mile recovery, 8:50 pace.

Not overly happy with this session, I was hoping to hit 6:30 pace for the tempo parts but there was no way I was going to hit that today, I felt a little off, hence why I think I need to start doing the easy runs again as I havn't ran since my last hard run.

Next few races
6/5/09-graded meet, maybe 5:15
10/5/09-2 mile race, hope to break 12:00
13/5/09-tree rock, won't race this but its more about getting back into the mountain running
16/5/09-5k, hoping to get as close to 19:00 as possible

Woddle

I had my 3rd track race in as many weeks and like the others, I loved it. I was more nervous before this race than the other 2 as when I looked around I really felt out of place. There was a serious feel to it, everyone in their club singlets and everyone looked like they were built to race, unlike moi. I met Robinph before the race and then we met silverside and I know ecoli was about the place somewhere, I was hoping to find him, so I could ask him to call out splits but not to worry.
The development race went just before ours and these lads ran very quickly and they even had their own pacer. After watching this race and the womens 1500, I began to ask myself what the hell am I doing here.
Anyway I decided not to wear the HR strap in the end (even though I missed it as I love data) and not to press the lap button (sportstracks will sort me out later). The gun went which was a nice touch and there was a quick scrammble for position, I found myself in the middle. The pace didn't feel too quick but I thought it might be trying to decieve me, so I slowed down and everyone in my group passed me (there was 2 other guys behind me but they were in their own race within a race) so I had to make a decision to either speed up and stay with the group or not and in the end I sped up. 78 seconds for the first lap :rolleyes: too fast and its even faster then it suggests as there was a horrible wind coming in our faces in the home straight. So I slowed down and tried to stay somewhat comfortable, I was thankful that a few others had slowed down aswell. 84 second lap. I felt good and thought I pushed it in the 3rd lap but sportstrack has me at 86 seconds. At the bell I tried to push it, trying to catch the 2 guys in front, they must have heard me coming as they sped up. With 200 to go I tried again and I started to close in on them and with 100 to go I went mad but faded with about 30 meters to go. I never caught them, I reckon the results will have them 1 or 2 seconds ahead of me. 66 seconds for the final 300.
5:15:03 in total, beforehand Pat Hooper predicted 5:15 based on my 2:31 last week (rounded up from 2:30) so he wasn't far off. I'm quite pleased overall especially hitting that wind 4 times . Pat and Adam Jones were very welcoming of Boards AC, which was great and made my day.

So I have completed a mile, 800 and 1500 and within the next 6 weeks I'll get to race all these distances again and I hope to improve further.

Robinph and silverside had a great race, I think robinph won out by a second to finish 4th in the race in a time just under the 5 minute mark but he didn't wear a watch so we'll have to wait for the results.
It was very well organised and I would def recommend it. Boards AC got a few mentions over the sound system and it was great for the club to make their debut in the graded meets.

donothoponpop

Great report Woddle, your description of the wind at Santry stadium took me back twenty years! Glory days, freezing in a singlet waiting to run a relay, get it over with, and hope to snog someone from the girls team behind the stands...

Well done on holding the last lap!

Racing Flat

Great time, you should be delighted with that. And you can work on the 78,84,86,88,66 in the next races;)

Woddle

Racing Flat wrote: »

Great time, you should be delighted with that. And you can work on the 78,84,86,88,66 in the next races;)

Yep I'm happy with it and I did try to stick to our plan but I would have ended up running on my own and I think that decision to speed up and stay with the group possibly caused me the slip in splits. Next 1500 is on the 17/6 and I'll be looking for a better time, I felt I had more to offer but I'm finding it hard to dig in and thanks for the tips beforehand. They were much appreciated.

Racing Flat

Woddle wrote: »

Yep I'm happy with it and I did try to stick to our plan but I would have ended up running on my own and I think that decision to speed up and stay with the group possibly caused me the slip in splits. Next 1500 is on the 17/6 and I'll be looking for a better time, I felt I had more to offer but I'm finding it hard to dig in and thanks for the tips beforehand. They were much appreciated.

Dead right, you often have to throw the plan out the window and go with the flow. 85s might have been too conservative in retrospect, but perhaps you would have held 82s together to finish strong for a 5.05ish? But then maybe you would have gone 82,84,86,66.......You'll never know.....till the next time . Well done again.

BTW, sets the 5.30 target for the mile in 2 weeks up nicely. Taking 20secs off the mile pb in a month isn't bad!

shels4ever

Super running there, my guess wasnt far off either .

Can't wait to get racing again myself but will be a few weeks away.

stmochtas

Well done Woddle you are in fine shape. I hope I get to meet up with ye sometime soon and get my hands on a singlet. Probably be a while yet though because of my foot.

Seres

donothoponpop wrote: »

Great report Woddle, your description of the wind at Santry stadium took me back twenty years! Glory days, freezing in a singlet waiting to run a relay, get it over with, and hope to snog someone from the girls team behind the stands...

was that first prize or was that above situation more likely to occur on coming first ?:D

Seres

great time woddle , you really nailed the last Lap !

Nightsky

What is the Hal Hidgon programme?Im trying to get more consistent and focused about running.I have done one triathlon and two 10 k runs.

Woddle

Seres wrote: »

great time woddle , you really nailed the last Lap !

Thanks I wish it was only 300 meters long and coudn't come soon enough

Woddle

5 miles easyish in 39:58, pace 7:59
Average HR 78%

First training run I've enjoyed since Paris and it felt good, just compare the stats above with my first run since Paris(2 weeks after Paris)

5 mile run, pace was 8:40 and average HR was 79% so I'm regaining some of the fitness I lost post marathon. Really looking forward to Sundays 2 mile race.

Woddle

Another very enjoyable albeit tough session. I met up with ecoli and hope to do so again as the session flew by. The plan was 400s and to go every 2 minutes. After a mile of a warm up and a few stretches we got going. I led the first one and set of too fast but ecoli told me to slow down so they went like this

L1-78 secs(too fast)
42 second recovery
L2-82 secs
38 sec recovery
L3-84 secs
2:36 recovery ( I skipped this one and left ecoli to it)
L4-82 secs
38 second recovery
L5-86 secs
2:34 recovery ( I skipped this one and left ecoli to it)
L6-87 secs
33 second recovery
L7-88 secs
3:46 recovery ( I skipped this one and left ecoli to it)
L8-84 secs (I did this one on my own and tried out the spikes, still don't like them)

Wind was a huge factor out there today.

4 or 5 laps to cool down, I found the short recovery laps tough but delighted to get this session in and will try and improve on it for next time. We did it out in UCD and if there is anyone interested in joining us in the future out there, let me know.
Laps 5 and 7 were by far the toughest. Ecoli made it look easy he did 10x400 and went every 2 mins and he was under 80 everytime I reckon, and thats the level I would love to reach. Thanks ecoli for a very enjoyable session

Racing Flat

WTF are you doing running a hard session 2 days after a 1500m race and 2 days before a 2 mile race?:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

And a session of 400s at 1 mile pace with very short recoveries at that:eek:.

I hope the cold you're going to get next week isn't too bad:P.

Sure didn't I do the same myself 2 weeks ago...

Woddle

RF is spot on, so the 2 mile race on Sunday is out the window and I'll replace it with 8-10 miles, it's time to up the milage again anyway and the 5k next Saturday is the big race. Thanks RF, comments are always appreciated and taken on board.

shels4ever

Woddle wrote: »

RF is spot on, so the 2 mile race on Sunday is out the window and I'll replace it with 8-10 miles, it's time to up the milage again anyway and the 5k next Saturday is the big race. Thanks RF, comments are always appreciated and taken on board.

Good call there some sound advise from RF, how do you find the body holds up to running 1500m?
Are you running the sportsworld race next weekend too?

Woddle

shels4ever wrote: »

Good call there some sound advise from RF, how do you find the body holds up to running 1500m?
Are you running the sportsworld race next weekend too?

I was a bit tired and was neglecting the recovery run but this week has seen me get the energy levels back and a bit of bounce, quite enjoying trying to run fast, sportsworld is a no, I would love to do it as it's a quick course but I have my sights on a 5k the day before.

--amadeus--

Fair play for getting stuck back in so well (I've only run once since Rotterdam, I'm feeling guilty now...)

How do the track races compare to the longer races in terms of difficulty? I did a 5k once and it was torture, you're obviously enjoying the short stuff though - is it more fun / easier / harder?

Woddle

There lots of fun and a welcomed change from the marathon. What I like most about them is sth Jlang touched on aswell, you get to give the race everything as you know its going to be over in 5 mins, I think the one I enjoyed most was the 800m, you try to give it even more of a lash at the end but your legs say no and your nearly crawling over the line because of the lactic acid.
These races are a completely different kind of hard but everyone should try them and you def get the same high as you do from finishing a marathon.

Woddle

I missed the last 2 days due to painting and redecorating the house, I figured I better do it now and get it over with before the next batch of marathon training begins.

9.17 miles in 1:20, pace 8:45, decided to head up the mountain roads today as I'm a reserve on the Boards ac Wicklow way relay team so if needed runs like this will stand to me.

Woddle

5.84 miles in 45 mins, pace 7:42
Average HR 78%

I headed to marlay park to give my new sunglasses a go but not many midges around. They only fogged up at the end when I stopped running, so I'm very happy and they were comfortable too.
I don't know what happened today but this run was one of the most pleasant and easiest I've done in a long time, 7:42 for 78% hr, must be some kind of record for me.
Really looking forward to my first IMRA race in 7 years and then I have a 5k on Saturday, after that my races will be carefully selected as marathon training starts Monday

xebec

Woddle wrote: »

I headed to marlay park to give my new sunglasses a go but not many midges around. They only fogged up at the end when I stopped running, so I'm very happy and they were comfortable too.

What kind of sunglasses did you pick up? I got a new pair of Oakleys a few weeks ago with hydrophobic lenses, haven't had any problems with fogging up or drops of sweat on them so very happy...

Woddle

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/cycle/7/dhb_Triple_Lens_Sunglasses/5360021749/
I've never worn sunglasses while running before but they were very comfortable and as I said they only fogged up when I stopped, which I thought was strange. The main reason I bought them was to protect my eyes from flys, quite reasonably prices aswell

donothoponpop

Woddle wrote: »

5.84 miles in 45 mins, pace 7:42
Average HR 78%

I headed to marlay park to give my new sunglasses a go but not many midges around. They only fogged up at the end when I stopped running, so I'm very happy and they were comfortable too.
I don't know what happened today but this run was one of the most pleasant and easiest I've done in a long time, 7:42 for 78% hr, must be some kind of record for me.
Really looking forward to my first IMRA race in 7 years and then I have a 5k on Saturday, after that my races will be carefully selected as marathon training starts Monday

Best of luck tomorrow night Woddle! Just keep plugging away at the uphills, whenever you feel like quitting, think of Paris, and you'll soon get going again (I always think of Rotterdam when I'm struggling up hard hills; the anger never fails to get my ass in gear!). Remember, it's great fun finishing on a downhill!

xebec

Looks like a decent pair alright, good shape for running with. I've always worn sunglasses, particularly for watersports so I splash out a more expensive pair every now and then - it definitely helps with taking the glare of the sea...

As for the fogging up when you stopped, that's a pretty common thing. I guess it's something to do with the heat and moisture rising slowly into the lenses when you stop rather than being blown away by the wind resistance of running... But that's just my theory

Krusty_Clown

+1, enjoy the IMRA race. If you're not dry-heaving as you cross the finish line, then you weren't chasing Donothoponpop.

dna_leri

xebec wrote: »

Looks like a decent pair alright, good shape for running with. I've always worn sunglasses, particularly for watersports so I splash out a more expensive pair every now and then - it definitely helps with taking the glare of the sea...

As for the fogging up when you stopped, that's a pretty common thing. I guess it's something to do with the heat and moisture rising slowly into the lenses when you stop rather than being blown away by the wind resistance of running... But that's just my theory

There is another version of the dhb's that have "Small lens venting means that the glasses won't steam up when you finally stop" but then they don't have the interchangeable lenses.

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/cycle/7/dhb_UltraLite_Sunglasses/5360036389/

stmochtas

Good luck tonight Woddle.

I had planned plenty of IMRA action myself in Apr/May but will get there eventually. Are you in trinity tomorrow to watch the track races?