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Insect Overlord

Chip time: 51:57. A new PB after all.

FutureGuy

Insect Overlord wrote: »

Chip time: 51:57. A new PB after all.

Congratulations! Sorry for the late salute, was trying to finalise my fantasy football team in my head on the way back to the car and was in my own little world. :-)

Great time, I’m going to get out to the Park Run next weekend!

Insect Overlord

I posted this update shortly after the 2017 Run Clare series came to an end. The last race was the Killinaboy 10 Miles on the 9th of April 2017.

Insect Overlord wrote: »

I'd set a target of 55 minutes for the 10k race, and 85-90 minutes for the 10 miles. Then I got sick. I thought it was just a bit of a cold, but it got worse and worse. I had no training for 2 weeks in the build up to the Eamon Moloney 10K in Ennis, and struggled to finish it under 1:02:00.

I shouldn't have run at all that day because it just exacerbated my cold/flu and pushed it into full blown chest infection territory. I was coughing up all kinds of horrible colours and textures. It meant another two weeks without running. I revised my goal for the 10 mile race to 1:40:00. minutes. That was too optimistic. I dragged myself, walking, through the last 3km after a decent start, and finished it in 1:55:00.

I still haven't hit my 85 minute target for 10 miles, but today in Tuamgraney/Scarriff I did manage to get around a monster of a course in 1:32:29.

I've run the two half marathon routes on Achill Island, and the Dingle half a few times, but I've never seen hills like these! An awesome course, but never one for a PB.

It took me 65 minutes to hit 11km. I needed to be doing that in 58 minutes to have any chance. I took a short walk after the 7 mile marker and finished the last 5k at a very decent pace.

Knocked 00:22:30 off my time from last year all the same! Bring on the Great Limerick Run.

Edit: Just looked back at my HM time from last year. 2:10:18 after setting myself a target of 2:10. My 10k PB at that stage was over 58 minutes. I can do that in under 52 minutes now. Should absolutely be aiming to break two hours this year, and even looking at sticking with the 1:55 pacers.

Insect Overlord

Busy week this week, but with very little running.

Did a light session of soccer training on Tuesday evening, mostly just standing in goals for the lads to take shots. Played 90 minutes of a league match on Thursday on the astro-turf in UL and won 3-2. Didn't have much to do there either, as our opponents only had about 5 attempts on goal in the whole game.

Did parkrun on Saturday morning in 26:33. A good time, but not a great time. Had the first two km done in 10 minutes but had to walk for a while after that. Shin splints in one leg, a nasty knot in the calf of my other leg. Still managed to recover and run the last two km in 10:05.

Played another match in the evening, this time in the Divisional Cup. 2-2 after 90 minutes. Still 2-2 after extra time. Faced 10 penalties altogether after they went to sudden death. Tore the knees off myself diving on the astro, but managed to save 2 penalties and score our 10th one to book us a spot in the semi final.

I still want to do a 30 minute session today to try and work some speed back into my legs.

Insect Overlord

Insect Overlord wrote: »

I still want to do a 30 minute session today to try and work some speed back into my legs.

Finally got around to doing this workout today. My body needed the extra recovery time. The last time I attempted these surges was on the 22nd of February.

Targets:
5 minute warm-up @ 7:30/km
8 x 30 seconds @ 4:50/km pace
8 x 2 minutes @ 5:50/km pace
5 minute cool-down @ 7:30/km

Speeds achieved:
Warm-up: 5:59
Cool-down: 6:16
Sprints: 3:27, 3:47, 4:05, 4:10, 3:55, 4:06, 4:11, 3:55.
Recoveries: 5:25, 5:35, 5:38, 5:43, 5:50, 5:50, 5:49, 5:43.

Total distance & time: 5.5km in 30:13.

I found that tough. The pace for the recovery runs was faster than before. Delighted to have it done now. Moving onto a short fartlek session again tomorrow evening.

Insect Overlord

Short Fartlek session today. I ran this one on the trail around the new astro-turf pitches in UL and went straight into a soccer training session afterwards.

Interval targets | Actual Pace
5:00 @ 7:20 | 5:28
5:00 @ 6:00 | 5:17
1:00 @ 4:40 | 4:20
1:00 @ 7:00 | 6:25
1:00 @ 4:40 | 4:27
1:00 @ 7:00 | 6:40
2:00 @ 4:40 | 4:35
2:00 @ 7:00 | 6:31
1:00 @ 4:40 | 4:34
1:00 @ 7:00 | 6:48
1:00 @ 4:40 | 4:44
1:00 @ 7:00 | 7:02
2:00 @ 4:40 | 4:35
6:00 @ 7:20 | 6:03

Started strong and finished strong, comfortably hitting paces well within my targets for those 16 minutes. Nailed most of the fast runs, only missing one target by 4 seconds per km. Similar problem with that recovery run, coming in 2 seconds off target pace. I'm happy that the faster sets more than make up for those.

Soccer training was handy enough. I did plenty of stretching and mobility work on my own. I think my body has been missing that kind of thing over the last few weeks.

Next workout tomorrow is the Progression Session. 10 minutes at 7:00, 10 minutes at 5:20, 10 minutes at 4:40. I did a total of 8 minutes tonight at 4:40/km or faster, with recoveries between surges. It'll be a massive challenge to hold that pace for 10 minutes at the end of the run tomorrow. I'm looking forward to giving it a go all the same.

skyblue46

Hi there. Just wondering do you do any long slow runs at all? You'll see your fitness improve if you start adding them in.

Insect Overlord

skyblue46 wrote: »

Hi there. Just wondering do you do any long slow runs at all? You'll see your fitness improve if you start adding them in.

Short answer, no.

Longer answer, I'll be getting back into them soon. I have a few good routes of between 8km and 13.5 km that I used a lot at the end of last summer. They'd all have a good mixture of flat sections and hills too.

The reason I haven't been doing longer runs is because I got back into GAA and soccer since the New Year. I'm playing Senior football with my local club and have to be careful to balance my running to suit matches and team training sessions. I can manage 2 intense runs (approximately 5km to 6.5 km) and a parkrun per week on top of GAA sessions (sometimes doubling up on the same day) but have to leave recovery days in between.

There's nearly 12 weeks of a wait until our next championship match now, so once the Great Limerick Run is out of the way I'll be able to change up my whole approach again.

Insect Overlord

Insect Overlord wrote: »

Sunday 4th March
Went into a "progression run" after that. Targets were 10 minutes at 7:10/km pace, 10 minutes at 5:30, 10 minutes at 4:50, 5 minutes walking.

Actual pace: 6:49, 5:25, 4:53.

The good news: I'm doing a whole lot better than I was at the start of March! The bad news: I didn't hit my fast target today.

Targets: 10 minutes at 7:00/km, 10 minutes at 5:20/km, 10 minutes at 4:40/km.

Actual pace: 5:51, 5:20, 4:48

I seem to have a hard time making myself stay slow in my warm-ups. :pac: Started way ahead of target, and so tried to discipline myself for the second 10 minute leg. I knew I just had to bring my overall average pace back down to 5:35 by the 20 minute mark and that target worked out nicely. My target for the final 10 minutes was to run approximately 2.14 km. I think I missed out on that by about 90 metres in the end, but I can't be upset at all.

Rest day tomorrow, parkrun Saturday morning, soccer match Sunday morning.

skyblue46

Ah right. I'd expect you to seriously drop that half marathon time once you have running as your main training activity. Good luck in Limerick!

Insect Overlord

2:02:36 today. A massive improvement on last year's time of 2:10:18. Just didn't have the strength in the legs to kick on at the end.

An unbelievably beautiful day here in Limerick. The atmosphere around the city really makes a special occasion out of a fairly boring route.

Insect Overlord

I got very lazy for about a month there!

I did parkrun on Saturday the 12th of May in 25:48. I got out of bed late and missed the starting gun, so I joined in with my uncle after the first loop and did an extra one on my own after he finished. My official time was 32:27 but I timed myself with RunKeeper as well.

After that I took a break from running. I went on a stag weekend in the middle of May and had various other excuses/family reasons for missing the other parkruns since. I checked my weight last Saturday after I got home from a funeral and realised it was time to start putting things right again.

Sunday 10 June
I left my car at a hotel on the other side of the city on Saturday so the best way to get it back was to run! I set out a 10km route and hit the road so that I'd miss the worst of the GAA traffic around Limerick on my way home. It was my first decent run in a month but I started quickly anyway, only to slow down after a mile when the effects of my hangover kicked back in. Awful humidity that day too. :pac: Managed to do 10.1km in 1:00:30.

Monday 11 June
Cratloe Woods, 5 miles, with a brief water break at the half way point. It took 23 minutes to get through the first 4km. I started the return journey at pace and kind of burned myself out after the kilometer of climbing. Didn't make the most of the downhill section after that, but still had a faster time for the second leg. Total time: 45:36.

Tuesday 12 June
Old Cratloe Road/Woodcock Hill Road/Meelick route for 5 miles again. No place to stop and stand, but did slow to a walk after 35 minutes. I struggled to make 6km in that time, but had some water and dragged myself to 8.07km in 48:00.

Wednesday 13 June
Na Piarsaigh to Treaty Stone to Shannon Bridge to Coonagh Roundabout and back to Na Piarsaigh GAA Club. 8.31km in 48:30. Much flatter course than the previous runs, apart from the climbs towards LIT and just beyond Hassett's Cross. Should have broken 48 minutes. Lost a few seconds at traffic lights and a few more letting pedestrians pass me on a narrow stretch on the Condell Road.

Thursday 14 June
Back out to Cratloe Woods. Motivated to do it faster than Monday. Hit 3.59km in 20 minutes and got to the halfway point bang on 22 minutes. Paused for water and took off quickly again. Finished the route in 43:45.

I think I'm correct in saying it's the most running I've ever done in a single week. It's the equivalent of a marathon over the space of 5 days anyway. I had GAA training on Monday and Wednesday as well. All put together it was a very productive shock to the system. My legs felt great after a few days. I think the stretching at GAA training helped to get over the longer runs. It felt good to hit my fastest average pace in the final run too, instead of getting slower.

I want to take a rest day tomorrow and do the woods again on Saturday to bring my total for the week up over 50km. Sunday will be another rest day. My goal for next week is to get back into my 5k workouts and start building up some speed again. I'll work a long run into the mix at some stage when I get a clearer picture of the local GAA fixtures for the weekend.

Insect Overlord

TL;DR version: went out for a training run, set a new 5 mile PB at 41:10.

Insect Overlord wrote: »

Wednesday 13 June
Na Piarsaigh to Treaty Stone to Shannon Bridge to Coonagh Roundabout and back to Na Piarsaigh GAA Club. 8.31km in 48:30. Much flatter course than the previous runs, apart from the climbs towards LIT and just beyond Hassett's Cross. Should have broken 48 minutes. Lost a few seconds at traffic lights and a few more letting pedestrians pass me on a narrow stretch on the Condell Road.

Some major progress at last! I repeated the 8.3km run from Tuesday tonight and knocked my time down to 42:55.

I did the last 250 metres handy because I managed a new PB for 8km, hitting the distance in 41:10. My previous PB over that distance was 41:32, but that was set as part of a 10k run so I never really counted it. I'm delighted. I managed the first 5k in 25:35.

I'm still 10 lbs heavier than I'd like to be, but I'm getting back to a more acceptable level of fitness anyway. I'll have to start imagining what kind of speeds and times would be possible if I was closer to peak fitness, and use that as motivation to make it a reality.

Edited to add: tonight's run brought my total for the week to 50.9 km (Sunday lunchtime to Saturday night). That's another personal record to think about. Probably not to be easily broken. Maybe whenever I get around to running my first marathon.

Insect Overlord

Saturday 23rd June

Limerick parkrun at UL. 5.03km in 25:28. Started and finished at great pace (4:55 and 4:57) but all of the middle Kms were a bit slower. Still one of my fastest 5 parkruns, all the same.

Monday 25th June

Ivan's to the Treaty Stone to Shannon Bridge to the Greenhills 5 mile loop. Might just refer to this as my Treaty Stone 5 miles from now on. Set out intending to do it in 44 minutes. Really struggled with the heat for the Condell Road stretch of the run (basically the last 4km) and dragged myself home with a lot of walking in 48:30.

I'll try it again tomorrow and see can I improve on that. Never really experienced warm weather training like this before.

Insect Overlord

Same route but in the opposite direction. Was averaging 5:30/Kms for the first twenty minutes until a phonecall interrupted my rhythm. I did a lot of walking after that. Had a pair of 7:30/Kms before the end. Incredible weather again.

Thought I was doing superhuman work until a buddy in Abu Dhabi sent a Snapchat bragging about running in 39 degrees. :pac:

Insect Overlord

Saturday 30th June

Limerick parkrun. 26:00. Very hot morning, from what I can recall.

Saturday 14th July

Limerick parkrun. 25:01 on the official clock. I thought it was exactly 25:00 myself. :pac:

Loads of cycling in the two weeks in between. Feeling good and fit. Great to get back down to 5 minutes per km in this heat and humidity.

Insect Overlord

Back in business, baby! Just ran 5 miles in 41:47. Did the first 5k in 25:25. Very well organized by the Run Clare team and the people of Barefield.

Insect Overlord

2:05:05 today in Limerick. I'm rounding it down to 2:05 because of the congestion at the starting line. :P Ran within myself to save energy for some other sporting events over the next week.

Another beautiful day here in Limerick City. Buzzing from the crowds, even at this stage of the night.

Insect Overlord

2:12 in Lisdoonvarna yesterday for the Run Clare half-marathon. It was a challenging course, with two very tough hills and two reasonably tough hills along the 10.5k loop. Of course, what goes up must go down, so there were some lovely downhill stretches to make up for the climbs in each lap.

I probably shouldn't have played soccer the night before though! Local cup final went to extra time and penalties on Friday night, and I banjaxed my hand trying to save the penalties. We didn't even win. -_- Super weekend over all though.

Insect Overlord

I've missed running regularly. Apart from the 5-10 series I was only doing GAA training for the spring, and I knew going into the half marathons that I'd regressed a bit since the same time last year.

The wrist injury was a great excuse to skip a few GAA sessions and get back to my own kind of training, so I've had a productive week and a half since my last update. Got 4 good training runs in since last Wednesday evening. I'm back following the series of work-outs I got from the RunKeeper app.

Workout 1 - Wednesday 15th: "Surges"

Targets:
5 minute warm-up jog at 7:30/km.
30 seconds @4:50/km pace, 2 minutes @5:50/km (x8)
5 minute cool-down jog at 7:30 per km.

Actual times:
5 minute warm-up jog at 5:15/km :eek:
30 seconds @3:54/km, 2 minutes @6:08/km
5 minute cool-down jog at 5:38 per km

Average pace: 5:29/km
Total distance: 5.53 km
Total time: 30:21

Absolutely smashed the target for the short bursts but paid for that by running the recovery runs too slowly. This run was done in runners on grass around my local GAA pitch. Not sure if that made much of a difference with the ground being quite firm at the moment.

Workout 2 - Friday 17th: "Short Fartlek"

Interval | Target Pace | Actual Pace
5:00 | 7:30/km | 5:23/km
5:00 | 5:50/km | 5:21/km
1:00 | 4:50/km | 4:26/km
1:00 | 7:00/km | 6:06/km
1:00 | 4:50/km | 4:33/km
1:00 | 7:00/km | 6:37/km
2:00 | 4:50/km | 4:32/km
2:00 | 7:00/km | 6:33/km
1:00 | 4:50/km | 4:26/km
1:00 | 7:00/km | 6:35/km
1:00 | 4:50/km | 4:29/km
1:00 | 7:00/km | 4:39/km
2:00 | 4:50/km | 4:25/km
6:00 | 7:30/km | 5:46/km


Average pace: 5:23/km
Total distance: 5.65 km
Total time: 30:23

Way ahead of targets again. Started to realise that I may have set my goals a little low when I input my goal into the app! Did this one at the soccer pitch out the road on their 650m walking loop. Looked like the gravel had been recently topped up so I was worried it would be slippy underfoot, but it all held fairly steady.

Workout 3 - Monday 20th: "Progression Run"

Targets:
10 minute warm-up jog at 7:00/km.
10 minute steady run at 5:20/km.
10 minute hard run at 4:50/km.
5 minute cool-down walk at 12:30/km

Actual times:
10 minute warm-up jog at 6:25/km.
10 minute steady run at 5:18/km.
10 minute hard run at 4:55/km.
5 minute cool-down walk at 9:11/km

Average pace: 5:32/km (after 30 minutes - 5:51/km after 35 minutes)
Total distance: 6.04 km
Total time: 35:20

Did this at 16:00 in the day in 20°C heat and blinding sunshine. Reckon I may have managed the bit better in cooler conditions, but I'll just have to prove that some other day! :P

Workout 4 - Tuesday 21st: "400 metre Repeats"

Targets:
800m minute warm-up jog at 7:30/km.
6x400m at 4:50 pace, 6x400m at 7:00 (x8)
800m minute cool-down jog at 7:00/km.

Actual times:
800m minute warm-up jog at 6:07/km.
6x400m at 4:26 pace, 6x400m at 6:37 (x8)
800m minute cool-down jog at 6:14/km.

Average pace: 5:42/km
Total distance: 6.47 km
Total time: 36:51 (ahead of an allowed time of 40:24)

Felt great doing this run this evening. Felt a little worried after the second fast 400 metres that I might have been trying too much too soon after yesterday's run, but had nothing to worry about really. Hydrated well before and after to offset the effects of the good weather. GAA training tomorrow evening, and another Fartlek session on Thursday to set me up for a great parkrun on Saturday morning.

Insect Overlord

Workout 5 - Thursday 23rd: "Ladder Fartlek"

Interval | Target Pace | Actual Pace
6:00 | 7:30/km | 5:43/km
6:00 | 5:10/km | 4:44/km
3:00 | 7:00/km | 6:26/km
4:00 | 5:03/km | 4:40/km
2:00 | 7:00/km | 6:26/km
2:00 | 4:57/km | 4:36/km
1:00 | 7:00/km | 6:43/km
1:00 | 4:50/km | 4:12/km
5:00 | 7:30/km | 6:21/km


Average pace: 5:24/km
Total distance: 5.66 km
Total time: 30:33

Fastest km: #2 (4:48)
Slowest km: #1 (5:43 - warm-up)

Pretty happy with that after a long day. Made good use of my recovery time between each fast run, and smashed every target for the fast bits. Hoping to break 25:30 at parkrun on Saturday morning, assuming I can drag myself out of bed.

Edit:

Compare/Contrast with the same workout in March 2018:

Interval | Target Pace | Actual Pace
6:00 | 7:40/km | 5:44/km
6:00 | 5:10/km | 4:48/km
3:00 | 7:10/km | 6:17/km
4:00 | 5:03/km | 4:52/km
2:00 | 7:10/km | 6:16/km
2:00 | 4:57/km | 4:40/km
1:00 | 7:10/km | 6:40/km
1:00 | 4:50/km | 4:19/km
5:00 | 7:40/km | 6:17/km


Average pace: 5:27/km
Total distance: 5.60 km
Total time: 30:30

Fastest km: #2 (4:47)
Slowest km: #1 (5:43 - warm-up)

It looks like I've got faster for the fast bits, but last year I was pushing harder during the recovery phases. That was a week after I set a new PB of 24:34 at parkrun Limerick. Might be on to break that sooner than I thought!

skyblue46

Just a couple of questions....where are the target paces coming from? Are you doing any easy running. It seems to be workout after workout.

Insect Overlord

skyblue46 wrote: »

Just a couple of questions....where are the target paces coming from? Are you doing any easy running. It seems to be workout after workout.

I've been using a running app to keep track of my times and distances for the last few years. I got access to a training plan (it used to be called "Pace Academy") about a year and a half ago. The idea is to input your most recent 5k time and your target time, and it gives you a series of 5 workouts to help you hit that target. You need to do each one to unlock the next.

I think I put in 27:30 -> 25:30 back in the spring, but didn't have the free time or the energy to do the actual training. The local soccer season ended a fortnight ago so I've been trying to push myself a bit harder since then. Hence the 5 workouts over the last 8 days. I'd done very little regular running throughout the spring because of GAA and soccer training.

I got to one parkrun at the start of April, ran 10 miles around Lahinch on April 7th, and did 2 back-to-back 5 mile jogs on April 21st. This month I completed the half-marathon at the Great Limerick Run on May 5th and the Run Clare half-marathon in Lisdoonvarna on May 12th, but ran them both at very handy paces. So I've plenty of miles in the legs, but no consistency at all.

Insect Overlord

Insect Overlord wrote: »

I think I put in 27:30 -> 25:30 back in the spring, but didn't have the free time or the energy to do the actual training.

Did some thinking about this since last night. I actually put in 25:30 as my baseline and 24:30 as my target. Would have been just after the Barefield 5 miles, where I did the first 5k in 25:30 (albeit on a mostly down-hill section of the course). That was back on the 17th of February. Tomorrow morning should be an interesting experiment anyway.

skyblue46

Insect Overlord wrote: »

I've been using a running app to keep track of my times and distances for the last few years. I got access to a training plan (it used to be called "Pace Academy") about a year and a half ago. The idea is to input your most recent 5k time and your target time, and it gives you a series of 5 workouts to help you hit that target. You need to do each one to unlock the next.

I think I put in 27:30 -> 25:30 back in the spring, but didn't have the free time or the energy to do the actual training. The local soccer season ended a fortnight ago so I've been trying to push myself a bit harder since then. Hence the 5 workouts over the last 8 days. I'd done very little regular running throughout the spring because of GAA and soccer training.

I got to one parkrun at the start of April, ran 10 miles around Lahinch on April 7th, and did 2 back-to-back 5 mile jogs on April 21st. This month I completed the half-marathon at the Great Limerick Run on May 5th and the Run Clare half-marathon in Lisdoonvarna on May 12th, but ran them both at very handy paces. So I've plenty of miles in the legs, but no consistency at all.

Firstly I wouldn't do any more than 2 workouts a week. It seriously increases injury risk to overdo things.

Secondly, (and please bear in mind I have no knowledge of the plan you are following) all plans are designed with a purpose. Rest days and easy days are every bit as important as the workouts. Slow running is hugely important too. I see that you play football. If your coach prescribed that you practice kick outs to the 21 and 45, both to the left wing and right you would do that. You wouldn't just belt the longest kick out up the middle of the pitch. If you were trying the crossbar challenge you wouldn't take a huge kick which sailed miles over the bar and consider it a success. Target paces in a workout are the same. The plan is working on different things you need to improve your running. Try to hit the paces the same way you would try to hit the crossbar.

Insect Overlord

25:32 at parkrun this morning. Started too fast and overheated after two kilometres. Finished fairly strong but still have some way to go before I'm back at my best.