Be a shepard, not a sheep

OOnegative · 05-12-2019 8:10pm

Best of luck Saturday man, run well!!

Sheep1978 · 09-12-2019 4:18pm

OOnegative wrote: »

Best of luck Saturday man, run well!!

Thanks for the well wishes B - sorry only saying thanks now, ive not really been online much the last week or two

Sheep1978 · 09-12-2019 4:55pm

26/11 : 7.2m. Up to the club again for the winter 2mile league. my records say 5.42 and 5.43 for the two miles. 7 miles in total

28/11 : 7.8m . Up to the club for a pyramid session. 1 to 4 mins and back down with the same recovery. Pushed this hard enough and tried to stay close to some of the faster lads that were there on the night. pretty enjoyable

30/11 : 11.1m @ 8.10. Out Sat morning for some easy miles including the parkrun. Kept the pace easy for the whole thing

03/12 : 2 mile league again at the club, strava shows my splits as 5.26 and 5.38 but i'm not that sure about the accuracy. Resulted in joint 5th place for the winter league and a bottle of baileys. result!!! 8.2m total

07/12 : JINGLE BELLS: No need to go into details but the week had been a disaster at home with a family funeral and then numerous hospital visits to make. The post funeral drinking session from the Thurs was still hanging over me Sat morning and I made another visit to the hospital before heading to the phoenix park. The rushing about and lack of prep was to bite me in the ass later!!! Got a couple of miles warm up before lining up at start. Got up pretty much to the top having remembered last year being very crammed. Goal over the last few weeks was a first sub 18 but can't say confidence was high after a drop off in training post DCM and with the week that had just gone. We were off and I was trying to get a pace of 5.45/5.50 going. Pretty hectic early on and I was feeling the pace almost immediately. Turned on to Chesterfield and noticed AMK passing by. I hadn;t recalled what (if anything) hed said on here his target was so I just decided to at least try keep him in sight. After a couple of hundred metres on Chesterfield I noticed my bloody lace was open. Tried to ignore it but was really irritating me and just after we turned on the furze, I decided to stop to tie it. Hard to know how much time I lost (and a little 'rest' I guess meant you make some of that time back up). When I go motoring again I seen a clubmate about 30m in front and decided id try reel him in over the rest of the race (never got near him!!). Anyway, was really working to maintain pace, and the climb out of the glen pretty much broke my spirit, well temporarily at least. Seen skyblue at the top of the hill who tried to urge me on but I was shattered and muttered something back about being a spent force. Hit the downhill and didnt think my pace lifted at all. My legs felt shot. Hadnt looked at the watch in ages as I was working so hard and in my mind sub 18 was well gone. The downhill flattened out (just as id noticed my other shoelace had opened) and for some reasan I was able to lift the pace just slightly. Turned the corner and can't remember exactly but the clock read something like 17.40. How long is this stretch.? Would pace do I need to run to make it.? No time for calcualtions so head down, b*lls out (so to speak) and empty the tank. Found what felt like a really strong sprint and passed under the line with the clock bang on 18.00/18.01. Mind quickly race back to the start - just how close was I to the top of the field.? I'd have to wait and see. Had no time to wait around for chats so tied both my laces (yes the first one had opened again)and it was a 1.5m slow jog back to the car straight away. On the way home my phone beeped and I glanced at the message '18.00 for Daz'. So close. A minute later, another beep and it read 'sorry, 17.56 chip time'. Happy days.

Next up, some lesson in shoelace fasteningnand then a few weeks of trying to get some increase in mileage going with mostly easy running before kicking off a plan for Rotterdam in Jan. Good to finish off the year with another pb. 3 years on the trot Jingle bells helped me to my first sub 20, 19 and now 18.

WTD: 41.6m (2 weeks)
MTD: 110.4m
YTD : 2117.4m

Damo 2k9 · 09-12-2019 5:29pm

Lace opened about 50m in for me, I contemplated stopping but didnt. The runners I have are sock-like so they didnt really loosen thank god!!

What sort of plan are you looking at for Rotterdam?

Sheep1978 · 10-12-2019 10:10am

Damo 2k9 wrote: »

Lace opened about 50m in for me, I contemplated stopping but didnt. The runners I have are sock-like so they didnt really loosen thank god!!

What sort of plan are you looking at for Rotterdam?

Most likely just going to do a version of what I used for Dublin. P&D 55-70

ariana` · 10-12-2019 10:52am

Congrats on the Sub 18! Huge improvements since 2017.

Damo 2k9 wrote: »

Lace opened about 50m in for me, I contemplated stopping but didnt. The runners I have are sock-like so they didnt really loosen thank god!!

What sort of plan are you looking at for Rotterdam?

The pair of ye need to invest in some lock laces

Wubble Wubble · 10-12-2019 10:32pm

That's a fine result, especially with so many other things going on in the real world.

I feel your pain on the laces. I always triple knot mine before races now.

Sheep1978 · 12-01-2020 7:58pm

Ok not been on for a while for a few reasons (lazy December, xmas, home stuff and boards.ie now blocked in work!!!!!). December was **** so I'll write that off and start fresh for Jan. finished 2019 with 2161 miles.

2020:

Sat 04/01: Arranged to meet some friends as any plans I'd had by myself for a few weeks, I was cancelling last min and sitting on the couch instead. At least if I arrange a meet, I'll get my arse up I thought. 11 miles in the phoenix park at an easy pace. Still felt very very hard and knee giving me some issues from a football game I played over xmas.

Mon 06/01: Right time to get the finger out for Rotterdam. Decided to spend this week just trying to get in a habit again of getting out the door. Not focusing much on the watch etc. 4.5m @7.45

Tues 07/01: Back to the usual route into work down the cancal. 9.2m @ 8.13

Wed 08/01: Easy local miles. 6.2m @ 7.42

Thurs 09/01: More local miles with an attempt at 3m @ approx. 6.40. 3 miles came in at 6.43, 6.36, 6.30. 6.5m total

Fri 10/01: Run into work again. 9.2m @ 7.54

Sat 11/01: Plan was to up last Sat's total slightly and do 12 total with 2 sets of 3m @ 7-7.15ish. First set started on a long stretch of road near Blanch IT. Serious headwind quickly put an end to that plan. So made my way up towards Hartstown parkrun. Met Skyblue and Laineyfrecks doing some PR tourism. With the park slightly more sheltered, running with a group and a tailwind some of the time, it was easier to carry a faster pace. Finished PR in 20.45 and with a couple of miles after, finished the 12m. Was shattered the last mile which gave me an indication of there I am.

Sun 12/01: Some local recovery miles. 5.5m @ 8.16 Again the effort and tiredness for the pace I was doing showed where I am fitness wise. Work to be done!!!! 12 weeks to Rotterdam and Raheny and Trim on the horizon

MTD: 64.1m
YTD: 64.1m

Sheep1978 · 20-01-2020 12:26pm

Tues 14/01: Up to the club for a 400 session to try get some speedwork in. 12*400 @ roughly 83-85 secs with a 200m active rec. 9 miles total

Wed 15/01: Run to work. Going to try slightly change the run to work from now on to try add a couple of miles. Legs felt tired after the previous nights session but gott 11.6m @ 8.04

Thurs 16/01: Out to try get some MP miles in. 30 mins at 6.40ish. first mile felt very hard, got into then for the next couple but did feel tired toward the end. I always find faster stuff tougher on my own. 8miles total for the evening

Fri 17/01: Up early for some easy miles after the previous night tempo. 6miles @ 8.16

Sat 18/01: Unplanned day off.

Sun 19/01: Had initially planned 15-16m but after missing getting out the day before, and one of my running group out to do 18, I decided to stick with him. Kept the pace pretty consistent around 7.50-7.55. 18.2m @ 7.55

WTD: 52.8
MTD: 106.9m
YTD: 106.9m

Damo 2k9 · 20-01-2020 1:36pm

Whats the plan for the first couple of months pal? Any races you are aiming for?

Sheep1978 · 24-01-2020 10:57am

Damo 2k9 wrote: »

Whats the plan for the first couple of months pal? Any races you are aiming for?

Sorry Damo (this site being blocked in work is really annoying) - as I thnk I said to ya on whats app, I'm doing Raheny, Trim and Bohermeen

OOnegative · 25-01-2020 9:20am

Best of luck tomorrow man, run well!!

Sheep1978 · 27-01-2020 9:34pm

Tues 21/01: 8.8m. Run up into damastown and did 10 * 16-18sec hillsprints to try get the legs going for the, hopefully, faster stuff in Raheny later in the week.

Wed 22/01: Run to work. Bumped into a pal between the twelfth lock and ashtown so the rest of the easy trot in flew by. The difference a bit of company can make.!! 9.8m @ 8.12

Thurs 23/01: 6.5m @ 7.59. Nice easy lunch miles on lunch

Fri 24/01: Unplanned day off.

Sat 25/01: 5.5m @ 8.05

Sun 26/01: Raheny 5mile. Despite the last couple of months not going to plan, was looking forward to this for two reasons - to help give an indicator of where I am (Trim might be a better test) and aslo to try get last years failed attempt at sub 30 out of the system. Planned 6min even miles didn't go to plan as I got caught following my bro-n-law a bit. First 3 miles came in at 5.51, 5.54, 5.54. Was feeling the strain by now and thought of last years capitulation in mile 4 surfaced. AMK came by just as we entered St. Annes. Brief notions of trying to chase entered by head before an internal slap to the face told me to kop on. Kept the last two miles to approx. 6min pace to come in at a surprising but happy time of 29.25. 33secs off last year.

On to trim this week. Think the plan, as of now, will be to go out at 6.15s with hopefully a slightly fast last couple of miles in the system. But we'll see. Always easier typed than done, as I sit here drinking tea and eating jam tarts!!!!

WTD: 38.1m
MTD: 145m
YTD: 145m

AuldManKing · 29-01-2020 11:39am

Congrats on that time - that's some improvement in a year!

Sheep1978 · 02-02-2020 8:13pm

Tues 28/01: 7.25m. Run up into damastown again. Missed Mondays recovery run so just took an easyish pace

Wed 29/01: 11.8m @7.46 run to work. Maybe a bit faster than planned

Thurs 30/01: 6.3m @ 7.56. Nice easy early morning run before work

170miles for Jan. Meh!!

Sat 01/02: 5.2m @ 8.15ish. Leg loosener before Trim

Sun 26/01: Trim 10mile. Plan was to go at 6.15s with the hope of a faster last couple of miles to get close to 62mins. First 3 miles were 6.06, 6.09, 6.07, 6.11. Passed a particular clubmate at some stage here and knowing him, I knew I'd made a mess of pacing myself (as if the splits hadn't already told me). Race went downhill (timewise unfortunately) from here and pace slowed. Finished in a disappointing 62.55. Officially a pb but much slower than what I did for the first 10mile in rathoath half. Bit angry with myself for ruining my race early doors but c'est la vie. Not a particularly targeted race so we live and learn. 15.55miles total for the day.

Time to try up the mileage for Rotterdam now

WTD: 46.1m
MTD: 20.75m (Feb)
YTD: 191.1m

Sheep1978 · 10-02-2020 8:03pm

Mon 03/02: 6.5m @ 8.19. Nice easy miles after Sundays race

Tue 04/02: 6.3m @ 8.01. Some handy lunch time miles

Weds 05/02: 14.3m @ 8.14. Decided to take a longer than necessary route home from work. Up into the phoenix park, down by the Wellingotn, up the kyber, out to chesterfield, down the Furze and back up and out Whites gate. Think it was my forst time running in the oark in the dark. Most of it was pitch black. Even Chesterfield is very badly lit

Thurs 06/02: 7.5m at lunch. Did 5*800's at 6min pace. Slightly tougher one direction than the other due to the breeze, but not too bad. Threw in an extra 400m at the same pace roughly coming back through Fairview park

Fri 07/02: 6.2m @ 8.10. Some early pre-work miles

Sat 08/02: 4m @ 7.55. Young lad had a match on portmarnock so just got a short one in while the lads were doing their warm up

Sun 09/02: 20.1m. Met up with quick feet to do a long run with the plan being roughly 6m @ 7.05, 6m @ 7.0 and 6m @ 6.50 ( I think). Wind was very strong and so keeping pace consistent was always going to be impossible while doing loops. After one loop, I was feeling very tired already and my form was going (my left foot kept clipping / scraping my right calf). Things got gradually worse / harder and I was very very drained. Tried to coax QF to go ahead and stick to the plan but he insisted on staying with me. If he'd gone ahead I'd have definitely bailed. We finished out the 20 getting slower as we went and got a good soaking on the last mile. No doubt he'll be more pc on his own log, but I made a right mess of his planned session for him. In a bad humour and wrecked for the day then!!

WTD: 65m
MTD: 85.75m
YTD: 256.1m

Sheep1978 · 17-02-2020 7:59pm

Mon 10/02: Rest day to try recover after the previous days bad experience

Tue 11/02: Had planned to get up to the club but got delayed in work and didn't get home in time. So it was out around the Ongar road for 18*400m reps with 70sec recoveries. Reps varied between 81secs and 90secs, probably dependant on wind/ gradient/ tiredness. Happy to get through 18 reps solo. 9.6miles total

Weds 12/02: 14.2m @ 7.42. Took pretty much the same route home as last week. Prob went slightly faster than planned but think I had in my head about getting to and out of the phoenix park before the light faded.

Thurs 13/02: Again, couldn't make the club session due to a school meeting (pesky kids) so went out solo to do a 30min tempo/MP session. Miles during the 30mins came in at 6.36,6.41,6.30 and 6.36. 7.4miles total

Fri 14/02: 6.1m @ 8.05. Some easy miles

Sat 15/02: 20m @ 7.45 avg. Up and out the door for just after 7.30am. Plan in my head was 10miles easy, 4 miles at MP which would bring me to Hartstown parkrun for another 3 miles MP and 3 easy to finish. Got to the phoenix park and between the wind and unwanted need to become one with mother nature again the MP miles quickly went out the window. Got myself back to Hartstown for parkrun and did in 21.20. Serious breeze up the hilly part of the course. Few miles cooldown and pretty tired by the end.

Sun 16/02: Unplanned rest day. Wanted to do a few recovery miles but could drag myself to get out in the rain and wind.

Down to 7 weeks now for Rotterdam and feel things are going pretty poorly. Have Cheltenham week and a week in eurodisney to contend with too!!. Serious lack of motivation, desire, willpower etc. Have signed up for the Wicklow Hospice half this week, and bohermeen 2 weeks after that. Not planning on racing either but use to try get some MP stuff going.

WTD: 57.3m
MTD: 143.05m
YTD: 323.4m

AuldManKing · 18-02-2020 11:05am

you're still getting it done - great idea on the 2 halfs.

Sheep1978 · 02-03-2020 8:17pm

Couple of weeks since the last update but better late than never:

Mon 17/02: 7.1m @ 7.55. Nice and easy at lunch

Tue 18/02: Up to the club with the session being 3*1mile with approx. 400m rec. Reps were in around 5.50-5.54. 7.7miles total for the evening

Weds 19/02: 12m @ 7.51. Cant remember too much about this one but route was local

Thurs 20/02: 8.8m @ 7.32. Some more local miles at a slightly faster pace for the middle six or so

Fri 21/02: 5.4m @ 8.06. Some easy lunch time miles down by clontarf

Sat 22/02: Wicklow Hospice Half. Plan, while not knowing the course, was to try do roughly MP at 6.40. Course was hillier than expected and with the wind too made for consistent pacing very difficult so went by feel. After some initial confusion at the start about what direction the race would be be in, we were off. 2 lads headed off into the lead pretty quickly. I ran the first couple of miles with an older gent (who it was later announced is a former 2.38 marathoner) . Once we ran into the back of the 5k/10k race, I headed off solo into third and would see 02nd or 04th place competitors for the rest of the race. Finished in 03rd with an approx time of 1.25.40. Pretty happy with that after the last few weeks. 17.8m apporx for the day

58.9miles for the week

Mon 24/02: Got home from Lough Finn after a night away and decided to get the ball rolling for the week. 8m @ 7.53 locally

Tue 25/02: Up to the club with the session being 6*800m with 200m rec. Reps were in around 2.51-2.54. 8.5miles total for the evening

Weds 26/02: 14.6m. MLR home from work through the phoenix park. Did 8*20sec hill sprints on the khyber and then 8*20sec flat sprints on the way home. Collected the son from the house after about 12miles as his training had been called off and did another couple of easy miles.

Thurs 27/02: 5.1m @ 8.19. Was heading to a cheltenham preview in town after work, so before the father arrived in, just got a few easy miles in down toward Clontarf.

Fri 28/02: 7.2m @ 8.10. Easy and local loop

Sat 29/02: Out with quick feet and another clubmate for a session. After a couple of miles warm up, plan was 3 laps of a 6.5mile route starting at 7.10pace and increasing pace by 10secs per lap. The first 2 laps were pretty close to plan. By then we were down to 2 as one of the trio had pulled up sick. Wind was getting stronger as the morning went on and made some of the miles on the 3rd lap pretty difficult and as a result the 6.50 wasn;t reached on all the miles. I was pretty shattered by the end to be honest and trudged a 2 mile cool down after. Still, happy to get the session done and a total of 23.7miles for the day.

Sun 01/03: 8m @ 7.51. Some easy recovery miles. Pace on strava is off as the GPS didn;t pick up on the watch and first mile beeped early for 7.20.

Happy with that week and highest ever weekly mileage.

WTD: 75m
MTD: 268.9m (for Feb)
YTD: 457.3m

OOnegative · 02-03-2020 8:31pm

Well done on the podium man.

OOnegative · 07-03-2020 10:19am

Best of luck tomorrow man, run well!!

Sheep1978 · 10-03-2020 3:32pm

Tue 03/03: 13m @ 8.09. Run home from work and included 8*30sec sprints up the Khyber

Thurs 05/03: 30 min tempo up Clontarf at lunch. Miles paces were 6.35, 6.29, 6.29,6.28 and 6.25pace for the last .6mile. 7.8miles total

Fri 06/03: 7.9m @ 7.51. Easy and local loop

Sat 07/03: 4m @ 8.24. Squeezed in some easy mile while the son was doing his warmup for his match out in Rathcoole

Sun 08/03: Bohermeen half. Plan was to go out at 6.30 per mile pace and reassess after 10miles with a view to finishing strong. Clubmate decided to do the same so we ran together. After a couple of miles warm up, we were off. Conditions were decent enough. Mild enough and dry (for now). First lap of 6/7 miles was slightly ahead of planned pace and done at about 6.25. Clubmate had been reeling me it to avoid going faster. I'm not very disciplined. At the start of the second lap, my clubmate dropped of back to 6.30s or even slightly slower. I held the 6.25ish up until mile 10. By this stage I (all of us) was liek a drowned rat after a very heavy shower. Turned the corner onto the main road for mile 11. Was isolated here and there was a bit of a headwind so I decided against kicking on just yet. Did this mile at 6.32, my slowest of the race. Came off the main road with two miles and decided to kick on. Passing loads and the last 2 miles came in at 6.12 and 5.58. Finishing time 1.23.19 for my second fastest ever HM. Total for the day 17.1 miles. Met plenty of familiar faces afterwards and almost everyone seemed to have a good day which was good to see and hear.

WTD: 49.8m
MTD: 57.8m
YTD: 507.1m

Sheep1978 · 01-04-2020 5:55pm

Few weeks since an update. I'll do a brief summary and gonna try update every second day or so - might keep me honest during the lockdown.

Week 09/03 - 15/03: 4 days running with 1 session which consisted of 3mile/600m rec/2m/400rec/1m. All miles done at or just under 6min pace. 40.7m for the week. Rotterdam Marathon (as well as a eurodisney trip) got cancelled toward the end of this week so motivation took a knock.

Week 16/03 - 22/03: 5 days running.One small session of 4*1mile at sub 6 pace off 400m rec. Was supposed to be 6 reps but desire wasn;t there. 36.2m total for the week.

Week 23/03 - 29/03 - My mam lost her long standing battle with COPD and sadly passed on the Monday. Between being busy with funeral arrangements and, quite frankly, not being arsed, I didn't get out until the Saturday. A week since my last run but the body felt like it had been off much longer. Ran Sun too for a weekly total of 18.8m

30/03 - 4.7miles @ 7.29. Try to get some normality and consistency going again.

Total for March: 158.2m