If it’s meant to be, it’s up to me.

Baby75

Hang in there K, a few days rest wont matter in the grand scheme of things and hopefully physio fits you in quickly and has you sorted before you know it

Kellygirl

DCM Training - now 9 weeks to go

Late Sunday night I got a text from my physio to say she had a cancellation for the next morning. Quickly sorted out babysitting and said I’d be there.

It turned out to be a mammoth session. My body was probably in the worst state she’s seen it yet. My back was fairly immobile from my neck down, never mind the pain in my right quad and knee etc. I knew the little flexibility I had seemed to have disappeared as struggling to put on socks etc. She did incredible work on me which was torture and I’m still bruised from it. My right hip was in trouble and everything was pulling and the ligaments on either side of my knee too. She sorted everything and said I could walk that evening for an hour and get back to running the next night as well as do my 16 miles at the weekend. All easy miles though.

Monday: Planned 6 mile easy
Actual: 4 mile walk

Barely raised my heart rate. Luckily a friend came with me so wasn’t too boring.

Tuesday: Planned: Session
Actual: 3.5 miles easy

Physio had said I could do 6 miles but I didn’t feel ready and my body was sore so met a friend and did an easy 3.5 miles. My legs were tender but didn’t get any sorer while running which was good news.

Wednesday: Rest

Thursday: Planned: Session
Actual 6.5 miles easy - 9:57 pace

This run was my favorite run all week. Barely any pain and I honestly thought I could go on for ever. Met a friend for the middle 3 miles or so. I was so delighted afterwards about how good I felt.

Saturday: Planned 16.5 miles, 13@9:45 ; last 3.5@9:35
Actual: 16.5 miles fairly steady @ 10:09

I was debating what pace to run this at. After I felt so good on Thursday I was tempted to do it as planned but then I had the physio in my head to go easy so decided I’d pretty much run by feel and I’d be happy to do it at the pace I’d done Thursday’s run at. In all honesty I’m just not sure what to my long runs at from here on in. The plan has me doing them about 20seconds slower than mp and there is no negotiation there though obviously I can choose myself. But I signed up to this plan so should I be trying to stick to it as much as possible? P&D says long runs should be at 10-20% slower than mp which would be 10:21-11:18.

Anyway, I did the run with the P&D figures in my head, started off grandbut slightly faster. Very comfortable though. I had planned a route with loops so not too far from my car if I got into trouble. First loop was 10 miles and was fine but I started to drag after mile 8 or so and I felt hungry. I’d left over frittata for breakfast so maybe that wasn’t enough. I’d only a small bottle of water with me as it was only 10 degrees starting off and from mile 8 I was in the sun and feeling it. I had 3 miles in the shade as I started the smaller loop and that was great but when I was back in the sun again it was tough. I’d hoped to pick up the pace but it wasn’t in me and my water was gone. I was questioning myself left right and centre as to why I’m doing this, do I really want to do DCM and if I do then do I really want to go for a time that I probably won’t get and maybe I should just take a break for a while. I was hanging to finish by the shop to get some chocolate milk. They only had 1 liter bottle and I was so thirsty I downed the lot. Strolled back to the car and ate my homemade protein bar and played on my phone looking at Strava before driving home.

Disappointed with the run and the boredom I felt etc. I was listening to an audiobook which I’m not really enjoying and is in no way uplifting so maybe that was part of the problem. My legs were niggly but alright.

Sunday: Planned 8 miles easy
Actual: 6 miles easy @ 10:24

Decided to swap tomorrow’s 6 mile to tonight rather than overdoing it. Fairly sore today after yesterday. My back has tightened up again and both quads sore now. Listened to my book again as I want to know what happens but want it finished too. Body is feeling fairly stiff so did the run, didn’t get any worse while running and nothing much else to say. Was dark finishing so better wear high vis in future though with kids starting school this week I’ll be able to do some runs after school drop off.

I have physio again Tuesday week and I’m going to aim to follow the plan this week depending on how I’m feeling. There is a session planned for Wednesday and a long run on Saturday is 16 miles supposed to be at 9:30 steady pace which I’m dithering about. I’ve 17.5 miles the following week and have signed up to a 10 mile race that day. Going to do 7.5 easy beforehand and aim to run the 10 mile race at mp then and see how I do so I have to think about next Saturday.

My other priority now is to lose weight. If I don’t I’ll be nearly a stone over where I was for DCM last year and I’m afraid that will counteract training I’ve done. My meals are good but I’m terrible for rubbish outside of meals and at night. If I cut that out I should lose a pound a week whilst keeping my meals healthy.

skyblue46

I know you're struggling with settling on paces so I'll just give you my reasons for training at the paces I do. It began by simply following paces prescribed by a plan. Since then I have put a huge amount of thought into it fuelled by seeing the huge range of paces that people train at when compared to their respective race paces.

The first thing I did was to try to get some solid scientific baseline to work from. There are various methods based either on Heart Rate Reserve or Max HR to calculate what your heart rate should average on a genuinely easy run. Luckily when I put it to the test it basically confirmed my paces.

The second thing I did was look at training paces of AMK and Swashbuckler. Why you might ask....because both race well, love their training and don't get injured. To me this is the best result possible from training. Both have race times from 5k to HM that are 40 secs to just under a minute per mile faster than me. So I simply like to see my training paces within a similar range. (40-75 secs slower)

The bottom line though is that it's easier to train at paces you believe in and are happy with. Find that and go with it.

Murph_D

Sorry to see you are having difficulties. What does the coach say?

Swashbuckler

skyblue46 wrote:

The second thing I did was look at training paces of AMK and Swashbuckler. Why you might ask....because both race well, love their training and don't get injured. To me this is the best result possible from training. Both have race times from 5k to HM that are 40 secs to just under a minute per mile faster than me. So I simply like to see my training paces within a similar range. (40-75 secs slower)

Great to see my log and Strava is of use to someone!

skyblue46

Swashbuckler wrote: »

Great to see my log and Strava is of use to someone!

Haha. I do to be honest. It's a reference point just like the North Star is....not even close but an excellent guide :pac:

Swashbuckler

skyblue46 wrote: »

Haha. I do to be honest. It's a reference point just like the North Star is....not even close but an excellent guide :pac:

Luke to thank to be fair. I just throw it all up here and on Strava as a pay it forward type thing.

The three points about racing well, enjoy running and never getting injured were interesting. I had a little think about those.

I think the "racing well" comes from L's approach in terms of encouraging regular racing. I did have a lot of questions on that subject at the beginning i.e. doesnt regular racing impact your training, what about burnout etc...I've since learned from the approach that L has that the regular racing actually compliments the training. As you've noticed, there aren't really that many tapers. As for the burn-out it's my responsibility to feed that back to L. If I'm wrecked (outside of normal tiredness) I feed that back and we adjust.

I have run 12 races this year and its a constant learning process. I was fairly green on that first one on New Years Day. Its a balancing act though of racing enough and avoiding burn-out.

The "enjoy running" part comes from the coaching too. It's a lot easier to enjoy your running when you're not questioning everything you do. Aside from that I think I just fell in love with running last year. Can't explain it.

"Avoiding injury" - Again that's down to L. Thinking back to last year I'm pretty sure i was close to an injury - shooting nerve pains down my leg. Training much too aggressively. I think Luke has a low injury rate for his athletes. Few reasons for that I think. I think he's on the cautious side as opposed to aggressive. When I ran that PB in Ennis you would think the natural inclination is to go ahead and re-calculate all the training paces off that new pb. That wasnt the case. I spent months building up strength at the same 10k pace. Only in the last few months have the paces gone a little on the aggressive side. Another aspect is the way the sessions are run. You'll see I rarely do a full on tempo run (LT) of 25 or 30mins straight. Its all built over intervals week on week. 8min, 6min on off intervals with recoveries. You're getting the benefits of LT training but with recoveries - definitely helps with avoiding injury. Same for the V02 sessions.

This is all well and good when you have personal coaching. If I didnt, i'd still be making a lot of mistakes. So I count myself very lucky. It's why I get stuck in with my opinions in yer logs all the time haha. Paying it Forward!

Kellygirl

skyblue46 wrote: »

I know you're struggling with settling on paces so I'll just give you my reasons for training at the paces I do. It began by simply following paces prescribed by a plan. Since then I have put a huge amount of thought into it fuelled by seeing the huge range of paces that people train at when compared to their respective race paces.

The first thing I did was to try to get some solid scientific baseline to work from. There are various methods based either on Heart Rate Reserve or Max HR to calculate what your heart rate should average on a genuinely easy run. Luckily when I put it to the test it basically confirmed my paces.

The second thing I did was look at training paces of AMK and Swashbuckler. Why you might ask....because both race well, love their training and don't get injured. To me this is the best result possible from training. Both have race times from 5k to HM that are 40 secs to just under a minute per mile faster than me. So I simply like to see my training paces within a similar range. (40-75 secs slower)

The bottom line though is that it's easier to train at paces you believe in and are happy with. Find that and go with it.

Thanks S. Great points. I was happy following the paces for the first month of the plan and obviously I’ve ended up injured so even though I thought they were ok they must not have been. Part of me wants to throw in the towel at this stage and just do easy running and forget about a time. Being honest that’s possibly because I’m afraid I’ll do the training and not get the time I want anyway. I’m literally going to take it day by day for now and follow the plan and see how I go. I’ll aim to do some of the long runs at prescribed paces or part of some of them at least. I’m happy with that idea as if I was following a few other plans I looked at I’d be doing about 4 at mp anyway.

After Dublin I need a total change of focus though - So new distance and new plan whether that’s the grads plan or something else. I have enjoyed the speed workouts.

Murph_D wrote: »

Sorry to see you are having difficulties. What does the coach say?

Thanks Murph. Just to pull back if I’m in pain or sore and hopefully a week to 10 days of easy running would see me back on track. He said if I achieved 85% of the plan I’d have no problem hitting my time on the day. I questioned the faster paces in all the long runs and the answer was how can I expect to do the marathon at one pace if I run the long runs all at a slower pace ... the opposite to what I read here and most other plans ... and that is what has me all over the place now!

Kellygirl

Swashbuckler wrote: »

Luke to thank to be fair. I just throw it all up here and on Strava as a pay it forward type thing.

The three points about racing well, enjoy running and never getting injured were interesting. I had a little think about those.

I think the "racing well" comes from L's approach in terms of encouraging regular racing. I did have a lot of questions on that subject at the beginning i.e. doesnt regular racing impact your training, what about burnout etc...I've since learned from the approach that L has that the regular racing actually compliments the training. As you've noticed, there aren't really that many tapers. As for the burn-out it's my responsibility to feed that back to L. If I'm wrecked (outside of normal tiredness) I feed that back and we adjust.

I have run 12 races this year and its a constant learning process. I was fairly green on that first one on New Years Day. Its a balancing act though of racing enough and avoiding burn-out.

The "enjoy running" part comes from the coaching too. It's a lot easier to enjoy your running when you're not questioning everything you do. Aside from that I think I just fell in love with running last year. Can't explain it.

"Avoiding injury" - Again that's down to L. Thinking back to last year I'm pretty sure i was close to an injury - shooting nerve pains down my leg. Training much too aggressively. I think Luke has a low injury rate for his athletes. Few reasons for that I think. I think he's on the cautious side as opposed to aggressive. When I ran that PB in Ennis you would think the natural inclination is to go ahead and re-calculate all the training paces off that new pb. That wasnt the case. I spent months building up strength at the same 10k pace. Only in the last few months have the paces gone a little on the aggressive side. Another aspect is the way the sessions are run. You'll see I rarely do a full on tempo run (LT) of 25 or 30mins straight. Its all built over intervals week on week. 8min, 6min on off intervals with recoveries. You're getting the benefits of LT training but with recoveries - definitely helps with avoiding injury. Same for the V02 sessions.

This is all well and good when you have personal coaching. If I didnt, i'd still be making a lot of mistakes. So I count myself very lucky. It's why I get stuck in with my opinions in yer logs all the time haha. Paying it Forward!

Brilliant post P.

Swashbuckler

Kellygirl wrote: »

Thanks Murph. Just to pull back if I’m in pain or sore and hopefully a week to 10 days of easy running would see me back on track. He said if I achieved 85% of the plan I’d have no problem hitting my time on the day. I questioned the faster paces in all the long runs and the answer was how can I expect to do the marathon at one pace if I run the long runs all at a slower pace ... the opposite to what I read here and most other plans ... and that is what has me all over the place now!

Hmmm...Look I'm definitely not in a position to question someone of his calibre but coaching isnt a one size fits all and if an athlete is giving you feedback it needs to be taken on board. For one, I was surprised at some of your sessions lately. They were big, bulky sessions. Very impressive to see but pretty aggressive if you ask me. As for the long runs, I don't really know enough about marathon training but I've rarely seen anyone doing long runs at marathon pace (am I wrong in saying you were doing marathon paced long runs).

Kellygirl

Swashbuckler wrote: »

Hmmm...Look I'm definitely not in a position to question someone of his calibre but coaching isnt a one size fits all and if an athlete is giving you feedback it needs to be taken on board. For one, I was surprised at some of your sessions lately. They were big, bulky sessions. Very impressive to see but pretty aggressive if you ask me. As for the long runs, I don't really know enough about marathon training but I've rarely seen anyone doing long runs at marathon pace (am I wrong in saying you were doing marathon paced long runs).

Agreed.

The runs in the first month (upto 14 miles) were considered sessions and actually faster than marathon pace. I handled them fine really probably as I wasn’t in any way tired starting the training. Killarney was included in that.

Now that they have gotten longer they are to be run at 20 seconds slower than mp with some weeks at mp from what I can see. I haven’t done any of those ones - because I just did an easy pace on Saturday though strictly speaking that wasn’t easy like the runfastcoach calculator would specify either.

The sessions seem to have calmed down this month too - I’ve missed them the last two weeks but this weeks in a 2 mile tempo with 2 min jog and then 4x0.5 with 90 sec recovery. That was a 5 mile tempo last month at the start.

Swashbuckler

Ill need to choose my words carefully here coz I don't want to be seen to be questioning a man that's close to elite level running and someone who's had big success with coaching people at all levels. There's obviously method to his approach. There's a reason there is a Hansen method or a Pfitzinger method and so on. Not every plan is like the typical "run long runs x mins per mile slower than MP".

In saying that, it does seem like you're not very comfortable with the approach i.e it doesn't suit you. There's nothing wrong with that and don't be forced down a route you don't want to go. Otherwise you'll either end up frustrated, wrecked or worse case injured.

Kellygirl

DCM Training - 8 weeks to go

Monday: Planned 8 miles easy
Actual: 8 miles @ 10:26

Really enjoyed this. Met two friends, told them beforehand I was aiming for approx an 11 min mile. Couldn’t hold the, back and was just enjoying the company and the run so didn’t worry about it too much. We took a slightly different route to usual and admired some fab houses. I ran the last part on my own but didn’t slow down BP because it would look like I faded then when I didn’t. I know that is mad. The most important part though is that i enjoyed myself after a couple of rough weeks.

Wednesday: Planned 2 mile tempo @ 8:40; 2 min jog; 4x0.5mile @ 7:56 with 90sec Recovery
Actual: 5 min WU; 8:22; 8:29; 2 min jog; 8:16; 7:53; 8:01; 7:56; CD

The two kids were starting new schools today. The eldest starting primary and the youngest starting Montessori. Tears from both and got held up in the primary school for a while. Had been looking forward to my first official free day in over 5 years though had to collect from primary school again at 12 so didn’t have long. Ended up rushing into the park and feeling under pressure for my first session in a few weeks. WU was grand but probably needed longer. When the watch told me to start into the tempo I took off way too fast. I ran into a friend who turned round and started running with me. She’s much faster than me anyway so no bother to her. I was pulling back the pace but not enough. I coped with it but it didn’t feel smooth as I knew I was too fast. My friend finished her run as I finished the two miles so I started into the half miles by myself. Was under pressure to get to the loo unfortunately so left the pitches to run to the public loo and my 90 seconds Recovery was over before I got there so I had to stop the watch for a bit. Hopefully that didn’t make too much of a difference to my session. I never settled into a decent pace for any of the half miles. I was too fast and then slowing it down too much in a couple of them. Anyway, I figured too fast wasn’t a major problem even if the session then wasn’t doing whatever it was supposed to do. Maybe it’s just out of practice for a couple of weeks.

5.2 miles in total

Thursday Planned 4 miles easy
Actual 5 miles @ 10:39

Another run while kids in school. I decided to extend the run by a mile as I was nice and relaxed and listening to a book. Enjoying being free!!

Saturday Planned 16 miles @ 9:30
Actual 16 miles @ 9:40

So over the last few weeks I’ve dithered endlessly about the plan and the paces. I did all sorts of analysis this week of various plans looking at the paces in them and how they compare between different sessions. I was wondering why long runs are faster in some plans over others and also considered that the general consensus about Cork was I needed MP miles in my long runs. Also in P&D and I think Meno there are approx 4 long runs incorporating a decent amount, if not all at MP. When I compared to the Grads plan there are always runs the day before the long run to give you tired legs heading into a long run so you don’t necessarily need the mp in long runs in that plan. In my plan there is always a rest day before the long run so based on all of this I decided I was justified doing the run as planned. I felt I needed to anyway to see how I’d cope with it as confidence was fairly low and even the night before I was thinking I hadn’t a hope.

Saturday morning (after a night out though I drove) I woke and had coffee and porridge. I felt quite good. Kids got up at the same time as me though which delayed me getting out. Anyway, drove over to do the same route as last week so I could do loops and not be too far from the car if anything went wrong. It was heating up rapidly so did the route backwards to try get the sunny unshaded part out of the way earlier. Started at the faster pace and immediately felt really comfortable. Had to make sure I didn’t go faster. First two miles were 9:25 and 9:16 so pulled back after that. Did the 6 mile loop and headed for the sunny part again and really found it warm this time so was rethinking my route at that stage to try get into the shade. Decided to head down the marina and do a 10 mile loop through Douglas then instead. Got stung by a bee or something on my shoulder on the Marina. I felt it and saw something black as I swiped it away. Just mildly irritating really. I seemed to be a bit slower around there which surprises me but the path is uneven so maybe I was being more cautious.

All was going well even if pace had dropped a bit and I knew I was going to finish no problem. I’d no pain at all in my quad or knee. The sweat was dropping off me though. At 13 miles McDonalds was in front of me and I started thinking of how nice a Fanta would be and I thought that some people stop to buy water so I’d stop for a little treat. I gave myself brain freeze from it as drank too fast but it was lovely. Then of course I got a stitch two miles later! I passed my car at mile 15 as accidentally shortened my route earlier and the last mile was so tough then but I did it. Couldn’t imagine another 10 miles at that pace but sure I know it’s all different on Marathon day anyway. Pretty pleased otherwise.

Sunday: Planned 4 miles easy
Actual 2 miles @ 11:28

Back to work today and needed to be at work for 7:45. Got up at 6 and straight out the door to run en route to work. Big flaw in this plan is my legs are sore when I wake up each day and take a while to loosen up. I was way too stiff and sore this morning so turned back at 1 mile and called it a day at 2. I then had 4 hours in a therapy pool at 35 degrees which definitely helped and to be honest I think I’d have been fine going out this afternoon or tonight but decided not to. Will need to rethink my Sunday runs maybe.

Total mileage this week 36.3 miles

Total mileage for the year is 1013 miles - passed my 1000 mile mark on my long run yesterday - last year it was just before New Year so delighted with that.

ReeReeG

Super stuff K. Glad you seem to be feeling more comfortable, and enjoying the miles! Great long run, well done! And congrats on the 1000 miles

ariana`

That's a solid week K. Meet your twin-ditherer! I think Strava is to blame partly - we have too much exposure to what everyone else is doing and it can cause a mild panic at times when we start to compare

But we have to remember a few key differences between individuals that aren't immediately visible on Strava

- Base mileage coming into the cycle
- History of running at high intensity - sessions etc
- We are different ages - no point comparing with someone 20 years younger
- We all have a different injury history or some are lucky to have no injury history
- And then there's the "talent/genetics" debate also

And ultimately we also have to remember
- There are more than 1 ways to skin a cat

I think you're doing great to be able knock out 16m @ MP+10 secs on tired legs, that is amazing with 8 weeks training left. I'd be very happy with that.

Huzzah!

Great week and really great to hear your quad was niggle free on your long runs.

I'm drinking a lot more fizzies than I'm used to at the moment. I swore off them years ago, but like the podcasts, they're creeping into my routine. I'd say the Fanta was amazing.

I can also relate to the early morning stiffness. In my case, it's the Hanson Hobble; in yours, it can be the O'Hanlon Hobble

I agree with everything ariana` says, as usual. It's easy to get caught up in the comparison trap but you've a coach to do all the thinking for you. Maybe just try to go with it as best you can.

Kellygirl

ariana` wrote: »

That's a solid week K. Meet your twin-ditherer! I think Strava is to blame partly - we have too much exposure to what everyone else is doing and it can cause a mild panic at times when we start to compare

But we have to remember a few key differences between individuals that aren't immediately visible on Strava

- Base mileage coming into the cycle
- History of running at high intensity - sessions etc
- We are different ages - no point comparing with someone 20 years younger
- We all have a different injury history or some are lucky to have no injury history
- And then there's the "talent/genetics" debate also

And ultimately we also have to remember
- There are more than 1 ways to skin a cat

I think you're doing great to be able knock out 16m @ MP+10 secs on tired legs, that is amazing with 8 weeks training left. I'd be very happy with that.

Very sensible points as usual!! Totally agree. There’s definitely too much comparison at times but sitting down and actually looking at the differences in plans definitely helped.

Huzzah! wrote: »

Great week and really great to hear your quad was niggle free on your long runs.

I'm drinking a lot more fizzies than I'm used to at the moment. I swore off them years ago, but like the podcasts, they're creeping into my routine. I'd say the Fanta was amazing.

I can also relate to the early morning stiffness. In my case, it's the Hanson Hobble; in yours, it can be the O'Hanlon Hobble

I agree with everything ariana` says, as usual. It's easy to get caught up in the comparison trap but you've a coach to do all the thinking for you. Maybe just try to go with it as best you can.

Glad I’m not the only one who’s stiff in the mornings. It’s not ideal during the night when a child is screaming for attention and I’ve to shoot out of bed before they wake anybody else. Always afraid I’ll actually injure myself then!!

Funnily enough I never drink Fanta. I do drink way too much Diet Coke but I got a craving for Fanta running down the hill towards McDonalds the other day. Maybe I just needed the sugar as well as the cold drink.

coogy

Huzzah! wrote: »

Great week and really great to hear your quad was niggle free on your long runs.

I'm drinking a lot more fizzies than I'm used to at the moment. I swore off them years ago, but like the podcasts, they're creeping into my routine. I'd say the Fanta was amazing.

I can also relate to the early morning stiffness. In my case, it's the Hanson Hobble; in yours, it can be the O'Hanlon Hobble

I agree with everything ariana` says, as usual. It's easy to get caught up in the comparison trap but you've a coach to do all the thinking for you. Maybe just try to go with it as best you can.

What podcasts do you listen to? Any recommendations?

Kellygirl

coogy wrote: »

What podcasts do you listen to? Any recommendations?

The ‘West Cork’ one on Audible is brilliant. I started listening to audio books since then as I got a free credit to download one the first month and then stayed subscribed to download another. About to finish my second one. I must look up the podcast Huzzah mention in her log. Ali On The Run I think it was called but no idea whatsoever what it’s like.

Huzzah!

Kellygirl wrote: »

The ‘West Cork’ one on Audible is brilliant. I started listening to audio books since then as I got a free credit to download one the first month and then stayed subscribed to download another. About to finish my second one. I must look up the podcast Huzzah mention in her log. Ali On The Run I think it was called but no idea whatsoever what it’s like.

Ali on the Run might be a bit "female" orientated but I like her interviews, particularly those with Desi and Ryan Linden and Kara Goucher.

I used to love Marathon Talk and still give it the odd listen. They can interview some interesting people but it gets a bit samey after a while.

I used to listen to This American Life, from the makers of Serial and probably the West Cork one.

My o/h likes Blind Boy's podcast and the Don Carlin hardcore history one.

coogy

Huzzah! wrote: »

Ali on the Run might be a bit "female" orientated but I like her interviews, particularly those with Desi and Ryan Linden and Kara Goucher.

I used to love Marathon Talk and still give it the odd listen. They can interview some interesting people but it gets a bit samey after a while.

I used to listen to This American Life, from the makers of Serial and probably the West Cork one.

My o/h likes Blind Boy's podcast and the Don Carlin hardcore history one.

I love Marc Maron's WTF podcast!

eyrie

You're really getting back into your stride K, nice going. Congrats on passing the 1000 mark!
I think all the little things - the questioning plans, the stiffness, etc - are very normal and to be expected. It's trying to keep them in check and reassure yourself that you're doing just fine that can be challenging!

Kellygirl

eyrie wrote: »

You're really getting back into your stride K, nice going. Congrats on passing the 1000 mark!
I think all the little things - the questioning plans, the stiffness, etc - are very normal and to be expected. It's trying to keep them in check and reassure yourself that you're doing just fine that can be challenging!

Thanks Eyrie. Totally agree. Feeling more confident again now anyway.

Kellygirl

DCM Training - 7 weeks to go

Monday: Planned 6 miles easy
Actual 6.2 miles @ 10:23

This was a fab run. Dropped the two to school and still loving the novelty of free time. Met a friend and we went to the park as she wanted to do max 5 miles so a few loops required. The weather was lovely. Slightly cool but clear skies. Lovely chats and she finished at 5 miles and I went onto do one more. I was so tempted to do another couple as well but felt I should stick to the plan and had to get home anyway before school collection. Felt great after.

Tuesday: Planned - Physio

Off I went to my super physio again for more torture. I was in much better shape than the last time but she still gave me a good going over and I’m left with a few bruises. Feeling way more positive that I’ll get to the start line even though I’m definitely not 100% but back to her in another couple of weeks anyway.

Wednesday - Session 3 x2 miles tempo @ 8:45; 2 min Recovery
Actual: 10 min WU, splits were 8:43, 40; 40, 45; 47; 34, CD

Another great run. Lovely weather again. Kids dropped off and straight into the park to do figure of 8s round the pitches. Earphone in to listen to my book and off I went. Hit the right paces straight away. Very slightly too fast but felt good all the time. Jogged the recoveries when I used to walk! The last rep felt slightly tougher alright but not too bad. Still jogged after and jogged the cool down. Was 8.3 miles when I got back to the car and really wanted to round it up to 9 but school collection at 12 noon scuppered that.

Thursday: planned 7 miles easy
Actual 7.5 @ 10:37

Decided to wait until the evening as met two friends then and just chatted away to beat the band. Took them on a route they hadn’t been on before and we did a bit extra as a result. Very enjoyable but dumb, dumber and dumbest didn’t have a high viz between us and it got dark! Lesson learned and I’ve put it in the car now.

Saturday: Plan A 17.5 miles - 10@9:40, 7.5@9:35
Plan B: 7.5 miles easy; 10 @ 9:25 in a 10 mile race;
Actual: 7.5 miles easy; 10 @ 9:07 and pb in my race

Two weeks ago I had a rotten long run and decided to sign up to the John Buckley 10 mile and use it as part of my long run for today. Figured it would make things easier. I had initially planned on sticking to the training plan and then on discussion with my fellow grads I decided to go with Plan B.

Pouring rain and not feeling very motivated I headed off to register at 4pm and sat in the car until just after 16:35 and then I set off in the rain to do my easy 7.5. No idea why but they felt ridiculously easy. First mile was 9:57 so I consciously pulled back as I had a 10:30 pace planned to arrive at the finish line just in time for the race. I never got tired as I expected and I took a gel at 45 mins even though I didn’t feel I needed it. I just didn’t want to risk running out of steam in the race. I’d forgotten my water and was wearing my sleeveless jacket and had my eRohones but i’d Parked half a mile away from the start line so got to the car at 7 miles. Drank a small bottle of water and threw in my jacket and phone etc and ran to the startline. Reached it with 2 mins to go. I paused the watch at the car and the start line so about 4/5 mins in total I reckon.

Met a friend and lined up behind the 90 min guys though I’d no intention of staying with them. Said to my friend I was aiming for 1:35. She said she’d stick with me. Off we went nattering and getting soaked. The first mile was just not falling over anybody and finally the field thinned out a bit. Was obviously going too fast as the 8th mile beeped as 9:24 but half of that had been easy. Felt fine so kept going. With all the tree cover gps could have been all over the place. Anyway, we just ran and enjoyed the chats and pace felt good so didn’t do anything about it. We got lapped by the winner at about 2 miles or so. He’d have been on 3.5 approx.

Kept going and up the hill in Blackrock and recovered nicely on the downhill and then we were onto the path by the sea. Almost straight away we started passing people who were in our way there and discussed briefly whether to pick up the pace. We pulled back slightly as I knew from earlier the wind was going to be really strong when we went round the corner and then we seemed to naturally pick up again. Felt really good so I started picking people and aiming to pass them out. We hid behind a group for a short part where it was really windy and en powered past them when we got away from that spot. It felt great the two of us just running round groups of people or saying ‘single file’ to each other and going through groups. Got into the last two miles and really time to pick up the pace now. No more talking! I didn’t know our time as I hadn’t stopped my watch so was calculating using my friend’s time as we passed the 9 mile marker and I knew we would get in 91:xx if we got slightly faster so we pushed again. The last .6 mile was tough. I couldn’t get enough air in but we got there. Clock said 1:32 but I knew we had the 1:31 and the results were published very quickly. 1:31:12 - nice pb. Last year last 1:33:31.

I’m really really happy with that. It all felt easy and really enjoyable. I honestly could have kept going for another few miles (if I hadn’t picked up the pace at the end). I never got tired. I know it wasn’t a proper race so a soft pb but I didn’t want to race it really and risk injury - though I hated the thought of being slower than last year even if it was just supposed to be a long run.

We were like drowned rats after so just headed to the cars and went home. We skipped the spread as it was too much of a walk to the boat club and we were too cold. Bit of a shame but the hot shower was really welcome.

Total miles this week - 39.6

Not running tomorrow. Wouldn’t do me any favours to run before work as I know I’ll be a bit stiff and sore and I can’t afterwards. Will get back to it Monday morn.

All in all, it’s been a great week. Hope the next few are good too.

ReeReeG

Delighted you've had such a good week and are feeling more positive! Nice work on the PB, even better that it came out of effort that didn't feel too hard - bodes well 😀

Kellygirl

Forgot to add that I put holes in the toes of both my socks and my runners tonight! Never done that before. Weirdly, as I put on my fav Lidl socks I thought about how well they compared to my Hilly and 1000 mile ones and I wore my older runners because of the rain but they were perfect starting out ... I think. Felt a bit odd while I was running but thought it was because I was so wet and they had puddles of water in them.

MY BAD

Well done on your pb 👍

Wubble Wubble

It certainly has been a great week. 10 mile race PB as part of an LSR? Well played indeed

eyrie

Brilliant! It says it all really if you can run like that, get a 2+ min PB, and have it feel as easy and comfortable as that all after having run 7.5 miles already (!!) you’re absolutely flying it. Well done K

coogy

Lots of positivity there! Well done!!