Be a shepard, not a sheep

Sheep1978

Marathon log, Week 12 of 17 :

Was away on holidays for the week (and was still injured anyway) so no running at all

Week 13 of 17 :

Monday - Arrived back from Vegas in the afternoon so decided to try a run and test the back. 5.3m @ 8 min/ml. Back feels better running than it does when sitting. Can't say much for the rest of the body after a weeks boozing!!

Tuesday - 6.86m @ 7.35. Again testing the body with some MP miles thrown in. Not feeling too bad at all

Wednesday - 5.83m total. Warm up and then 3*1m @ HMP with .5mile rec's. 3 reps were 6.42, 6.37, 6.44

Thursday - 16m @ 8.30. Took a half day from work to try get a LSR in. First 8 miles were fine (took a gel around mile 7). That took me to the bottom of the Khyber. Eased off going up and still felt ok at the top where I took a left run. For whatever over reason, over the next mile, my energy completely drained to the point where I felt I was going to collapse. No money on me for a taxi!!. Trudged my way to castleknock village where the change I had in my pocket was enough for a bottle of spar isotonic drink and some sweets. Sat outside the shop for about 15mins and felt a bit better. When I tried to start running again, legs (amstrings in particular) felt really really tight. Walked / jogged my way home feeling very sorry for myself. Cause.??? Weeks exertions in vegas, too much too soon after two weeks out, just one of them things.?? I don't know Next LSR better go more smoothly or I'm in trouble for DCM

Friday - 4.5m @ 8.0. Few recovery miles before heading to the brothers wedding for another 2 days eating and drinking!!

Sunday - 7.19m @ 7.53. Nice loop around the local are to hopefully start a good week ahead.

Weekly total - 45.68m
Plan total - 487.13m

Sheep1978

Marathon log, Week 14 of 17 :

Monday - 5.3m @ 7.52. Few local miles before Tues scheduled LSR

Tuesday - 20m @ 8.12. Glad to get this under the belt. Stayed local enough after the episode in the phoenix park the week before. Felt pretty tired from about 14m on but I had prepared better and was able to see it through. After the previous weeks disaster, was delighted to be able to see this one out

Wednesday - 5.3m @8.12. Few easy recovery miles after Tues.

Thursday - rest

Friday - 6.35m. Went up toward Clontarf on my lunch break. 2m w/u, 2m @ CV and 2m c/d. Nice to have it done and relax Fri evening

Saturday - 8.2m total. My longstanding local parkrun pb was 20.35 since Jan 2017 so decided I'd try better that and stretch the legs for the first time in a while. after a few warm up miles, lined up and aimed for 20mins. Set off a little too fast and gradually did tire over the course but came in with an official time 19.21. Maybe next year an 18.xx is possible!!!! Little cool down and a day on the couch watching sport.

Sunday - 6.8m @ 8.07. Just some local miles to keep the legs moving.

Happy with that week and the back is gradually feeling stronger and stronger - actually feels best while running. another 2/3 days before officially starting to taper

Weekly total - 52m
Plan total - 539.13m

Sheep1978

Marathon log, Week 15 of 17 :

Monday - 2.5m @ 7.20. Short fast local loop

Tuesday - 21m @ 8.08. 18m easy with last 3 at MP. Last real long run. Took in some of the DCM route from Myos pub to Kilmainham and then the quays back up to Myos. Stopped around mile 13/14 for some water and my left hip, groin and hamstring were all very tight (the side where my back was mainly hurt). Think I;m compensating somewhere for my back and possible causing issues. After a stretch was ok to go again but when I finished the same.

Wednesday - Rest. Had planned some rec miles but decided to do nothing and rest the back and legs.

Thursday - 5.3m @ 7.30. 1m wu, 3m @ CV and 1m cd

Friday - 5.3m @ 8.17 easy

Saturday - Rest. Though had a family event I had to attend Sat evening. Had an Indian but stayed off the booze. Still nearly 4 hitting the bed

Sunday - 13.2m. This consisted of 4*2m @ MP with reducing recoveries. Saturdays Indian caused some issues here and resulted in an emergency loop back to the house around mile 10. I did go back out to finish the run but there was a 10 min 'rest' here.
1m wu followed by first two MP's both at 7.25, 1mile rec, 2m @ 7.30 and 7.26, .75 mile rec, 2m @ 7.18 and 7.27, .5m rec, 2m @ 7.23 and 7.31. that should have been it but with the enforced stop, I did another .5m rec, 1m @ 7.05 and .5m c/d.



Weekly total - 47.3m
Plan total - 586.45m

Couple of days rest now including a sports massage booked for Tues. Plan is roughly 25-28m this week with a few of them at MP but at least 3 days rest, maybe 4. Any thoughts.?

Sheep1978

Marathon log week 16 of 17:

Monday: rest

Tuesday: went for a massage for the first time. Enjoyed it and felt like it helped loosen me up a bit

Wednesday: 5.2m. 1m wu, 3m @ MP, 1m cd

Thursday : 9.1m @ 7.59. Usual run into work that I hadn’t done for a few weeks. Tried to keep it steady.

Friday: rest

Saturday: 9.4m @ 7.47

Sunday: rest

Weekly total: 23.8m
Plan total : 610m

Sheep1978

Marathon log: week 17 of 17

Mon - sat: total of 12.5 miles with just two of this at planned MP

Sunday, Race day:
Pre-race- up early, porridge and toast and off we went, dropped in by my wife. Took a stroll up to Stephens green to meet some of the 2017 novices crew and say our hellos and best wishes . Walked up to the baggage are with Damo, used the loo, and off into the starting pens. Slightly nervous but nothing too serious. Plan very briefly was first half of 7.30’s, 2nd half of 7.20’s with some adjustments for the major up and downhill parts. 3.14.59 target:

Miles 1-4 (7.28, 7.00, 7.17, 7.11)
First mile went to plan with room at a minimum and some jostling for position. Mile two I felt I was going a little fast, particularly down Christchurch and was shocked to see the watch beep at 7.00 exactly. Next mile is up manor st so I’ll defo slow down I thought to the planned 7.40 for that mile. Nope, 7.17 . Next mile nearly 20 secs ahead of planned too.

Miles 5-7 (7.15, 7.17, 7.16)
Up chesterfield and still caught up in the adrenaline of the day. Getting annoyed with myself. Took my first gel and half electrolyte here. Lots of people I knew in castleknock including a surprise supporter in my godfather. Wife had a banana waiting for me. Quick hello to her and the kids and off we went down tower road.

Miles 8-13 ( 6.56, 7.10, 7.00, 7.21, 7.19,7.15)
Had planned 7.15s for the 3 downhill miles but couldn’t even hold to that. Crumbling road was long and monotonous but that was expected. At some stage here I asked felt something hit my leg and thought for a sec someone had thrown something or I’d left coin in my pocket. Half a mile later I realised the chain and st.christopher medal my Mam had bought for my 21st ,19 years ago,was gone. Had somehow fallen off. Freaked. Have since asked @dublinmarathon to retweet on the slim chance someone found it but they’ve ignored my requests. Maybe they get loads of similar ones.
Anyway through halfway in 1.35.28. 2 and a half mins ahead of planned. I knew at this stage, trouble was a comin!!!

Miles 14-20 (7.23,7.17,7.14, 7.17, 7.10, 7.16, 7.15)
Each mile was gradually getting tougher to hold pace. Anywhere with a bit of crowd noise would give a boost for a minute or two but that would wear off. Sat in behind a guy getting loads of shouts of ‘sportsworld’ and just tried to dig in.

Miles 21-24 (7.28, 7.55, 7.42, 7.53)
Pace starting to drop and know the climb up Roebuck is coming. Incredible the difference that mile can seem depending on your condition. Seemed huge but kept telling myself when you got over it, you were down Fosters Ave and no more hills. Even the downhill on Fosters seemed hard. Lots and lots of people streaming past me and also lots stopped with cramp. Trying to boost myself still with any crowds or music stations

Miles 25-26.35 ( 8.28, 8.06 and 7.20 for the .35)
Mile 25 was torture and without doubt the worst I’ve ever felt during exercise. Knew I had about 19 to 19.5 mins to cover the 2 and a bit miles to hit target. Watch pace was dropping to 9.0 and 9.10, I’d try push on for 20 metres but would fall off again. Shouted a few expletives out loud at myself here so apologies to any runners or supporters around me who would have heard. Won’t repeat it or I’ll get a forum ban. Shoutout from a couple I used to work with somewhere along here was a massive boost. Contemplated stopping to walk for a few secs but genuinely didn’t think I’d get going again and judging by post race walk, I think I was right. When the watch beeped for 26m I knew I had a bout 2 and a half mins left . Head down and grind away. Go go go. Felt like my form and everything was all over the place but my wife and some others who seen me over the final stretch said I looked fresh and good. Can’t say I felt the same. Wasn’t until I hit the blue carpet that I realised I was making it on target. Chip time of 3.14.47.

Post race was a death march half way around Dublin just to try get back to the wife and kids. Such a struggle to walk. Not been great since either. Target was hit but I know I ran a terrible race and nearly paid the price. I’m brutal
At pacing if I’m not following a specific pace group and have a terrible habit of chasing people who pass me. Great if it’s the last couple of miles but not in the first half. A positive split of about 3 and a half mins tells it’s own story. I guess a target hit is a target hit but it’s left a little bit of deflation there for want of a better word

(Tried to do the report on my phone so no doubt lots of spelling mistakes and bits left out so apologies in advance)

skyblue46

Jaysus D that was a proper ballsy effort. Huge well done to you. You gave it your all and hit your target. Delighted for you. Sorry to hear you got no word back on the medal.

Wubble Wubble

Some job hitting the target despite a tough grind through the second half. Sorry about the medal.

scotindublin

Great effort and time; there is a sub three in there!

Sheep1978

scotindublin wrote: »

Great effort and time; there is a sub three in there!

Haha not sure about that one!!

Sheep1978

Post DCM update:

Week Oct 29th - Nov 04th - did zero running. was extremely sore and stiff Monday and Tuesday, as expected. Had hoped to run the Sean Cox fundraiser in Dunboyne on the Monday but could just about muster a walk around it. Improved as the week went on.

Nov 05th - 11th:
Monday: 5.3m easy @ 8.35. Time to get back on the horse. Nice easy miles around the local roads. Back of the knee / bottom of the hamstring was tight and sore so decided to do nothing Tues and Wed and continue recovery.

Thurs: 5.3m easy @ 8.25. Same as the previous run but the leg felt a bit better. Getting there!!!

Sat: 7.1m total including the local parkrun. didn't go flat out but stretched the legs and upped the pace as the run went on. PR time 20.47

WTD: 18.7m
MTD: 18.7m
YTD (approx): 898.7m

Thikn I'll just stick to the easy miles this week too before maybe looking at a little bit of faster sharper stuff before jingle bells

Sheep1978

Weekly update:

Monday 12/11: 8.3m easy @ 8.10. Longest run since DCM. Nice to get something slightly longer in

Weds 13/11: 5m approx @ 8.10 approx!!!. Lunch time run through fariview park and up towards clontarf. Forgot to bring the watch to work so its a rough estimate at distance and pace.

Thurs 14/11: Started a 6 week 'prehab' / S&C course. Enjoyed the class and will hopefully help reduce injuries etc going forward. Glutes were tender the next day!!

Fri 15/11: 5.3m @ 7.43. Hadn't planned a run but woke at 5.20am, lay there till 6.30 fighting to get back to sleep and eventually gave up and went for a few miles. Was supposed to be all slow but ended up as a progression run when mother nature came calling. (-: Miles were 8.37, 8.05, 7.42, 7.30 and 6.57

Sat 16/11: 6.9m easy @ 8.05
Sun 17/11: 9.1m easy @ 8.02. Nothing out of the ordinary on Sat or Sun. Just some nice easy miles around the local area.

WTD: 34.6m
MTD: 52.3m
YTD (approx): 933.3m

Going to try a small bit of faster stuff this week.

skyblue46

Good week....I can't wait to see how fast you can go when you give it your attention for 12 months without the football season. You'll be flying!

Sheep1978

Weekly update:

Monday 19/11: 6.47m. 3*1k with 3 min rec's - paces 6.22,6.07,6.01. wu and cd brought total to 6.5m. First attempt at some fast reps. First one felt tough but upped the pace again for last 25 and felt ok.

Thurs 22/11: 9.1m @ 7.44 - route into work along the canal.
Prehab / S&C class in the evening too which was good again.

Fri 23/11: 7m total. 5*3mins on with 2min rec - paces were 6.01,6.05,6.04,5.57,5.58

Sat 24/11: 7.5m total. Nice easy miles including the local PR with my son

Sun 25/11: 7m mod pace @ 7.33.

WTD: 37.07m
MTD: 89.37m
YTD (approx): 970m

skyblue46

Is there a number in your head for Saturday D?

Sheep1978

Docklands 5k a few months ago was 19.35. Going to try better that. Parkrun PR is 19.21 so might even try better that. No better opportunity than Saturdays course.

Good luck in the physio today pal

skyblue46

Sheep1978 wrote: »

Docklands 5k a few months ago was 19.35. Going to try better that. Parkrun PR is 19.21 so might even try better that. No better opportunity than Saturdays course.

Good luck in the physio today pal

Cheers! Ah I see a number 18 in you...for sure!

scotindublin

I'm with Sean on this one.....definite potential for an 18 in there.

A nice calm morning hopefully. Get through the section on the Avnenue then bomb it from the Ordnance Survey Road to the end. Commit to it from the off; there will be plenty of sub 19s to run with.

Sheep1978

scotindublin wrote: »

I'm with Sean on this one.....definite potential for an 18 in there.

A nice calm morning hopefully. Get through the section on the Avnenue then bomb it from the Ordnance Survey Road to the end. Commit to it from the off; there will be plenty of sub 19s to run with.

sure we'll see how things go on the morning C. You running it or working it.?

scotindublin

Stewarding again this year D; doing my bit for the club.

Hopefully get to run it again at some point

Sheep1978 wrote: »

sure we'll see how things go on the morning C. You running it or working it.?

Sheep1978

Weekly update:

Monday 26/11: 5.8m total. 5*400m with 600m rec. 400m done in 1.28,1.23,1.23,1.24,1.25

Weds 28/11: 9.15m easy. Usual cancal route into work

Thurs 29/11: S&C week 3 of 6. Little tougher than the first two weeks but very enjoyable. If I can just get into some sort of routine and habit of doing some of it at home too!!!

Sat 01/12: 7m total. Down to the park to do Jungle bells on what turned out to be a lovely Dec morning. Met Skyblue and Lazare before hand and finally put a face to the name too when bumped into scotinDublin in his little elf costume!!! Lots of runners from the local parkrun in Hartstown too. which was good to see. Did a warm up and got into the sub 20 area. Race seemed to start out of nowhere and wasn't 100% sure if we were off or not as it was still a couple of mins to 11. I know its inevitable and not too much you can do about it but seemed to be an awful lot of people well out of what should have been their appropriate starting area. Walkers, buggies etc. Really bugs me but what can you do. Anyway, after spending the first half km or so ducking and weaving, got the speed up to planned pace. Chesterfield felt like a decent enough headwind and I was already feeling tired by about 2k. Plugged on knowing the downhill would help me get home. Crossed the finish line in 18.33 , first time going under 19 so delighted with that. Will have to try repeat it at the local PR before xmas.

Had planned some recovery miles on the Sunday but Santa, Ice skating, the cinema and the Merseyside derby all put a halt to that!!

WTD: 22m
MTD: 111.37m
YTD (approx): 977.3m

Wubble Wubble

Massive PB there D, well done. I'd say you've a great chance of bettering that time in Hartstown if you've a few to push you.

ariana`

Sheep1978 wrote: »

Had planned some recovery miles on the Sunday but Santa, Ice skating, the cinema and the Merseyside derby all put a halt to that!!

WTD: 22m
MTD: 111.37m
YTD (approx): 977.3m

What a massive PB, well done!!! It sounds like it might have been Monday you needed the recovery miles from all that :P

coogy

Great PB, well done!!! Your previous PB was pretty much identical to mine, hoping to get under the 19 eventually!!!

Sheep1978

Weekly update:

Monday 03/12: 5.3m @ 8.19.

Tues 04/12: 8.1 easy at 8.02 Passed 1000 miles for the year here I reckon

Weds 05/12: 5m @ 8.05

Thurs 06/12: S&C week 4 of 6.

Fri - sun start of the xmas festivities with work parties etc so no running. (this week not started great either for various reasons but not stressing about anything until Jan 01st when I 'll start a HM plan)

WTD: 18.4m
MTD: 25.4m
YTD (approx): 1009.3m

quickbeam

Congrats on making it to 1000 miles!

Sheep1978

Weekly update:

Weds 12/12: 9.15m @ 7.38. Usual run to work along the canal. First time in the dark but it wasn't too bad for most of the route

Thurs 13/12: 5.3m @ 7.48 and S&C week 5 of 6.

Fri 14/12 : 5.4m @ 7.54. Very tight from Thur's S&C, particularly in the hamstrings but loosened up a bit by the end of the run.

Sat 15/12: 6.3m total incl local Hartstown parkrun in 19.31. All of the regular front runners must have ben enjoying the xmas festivities too much and stayed away allowing me to grab my first ever PR 1st place!!! Though I wasn't involved, there was also a time trial type run done by many of the regulars which created a lot of buzz on the morning. Was good to see.

WTD: 26.2m
MTD: 51.6m
YTD (approx): 1035.5m

Wubble Wubble

Sheep1978 wrote: »

Weekly update:

Weds 12/12: 9.15m @ 7.38. Usual run to work along the canal. First time in the dark but it wasn't too bad for most of the route

Thurs 13/12: 5.3m @ 7.48 and S&C week 5 of 6.

Fri 14/12 : 5.4m @ 7.54. Very tight from Thur's S&C, particularly in the hamstrings but loosened up a bit by the end of the run.

Sat 15/12: 6.3m total incl local Hartstown parkrun in 19.31. All of the regular front runners must have ben enjoying the xmas festivities too much and stayed away allowing me to grab my first ever PR 1st place!!! Though I wasn't involved, there was also a time trial type run done by many of the regulars which created a lot of buzz on the morning. Was good to see.

WTD: 26.2m
MTD: 51.6m
YTD (approx): 1035.5m

Well done on your first 1st (but probably not the last). I'd a similar experience in Porterstown, three years ago almost to the day. Your time was a lot faster though!

Sheep1978

Weekly update:

Mon 17/12: 10.5m @ 7.53. Nice loop down to the phoenix park and back through castleknock

Tues 18/12: 8.9m total. Went down to Dunboyne AC to do a session with a view towards joining in January. after a warm up, the session was 14*400m with 200m rec's. Our group set to do 95sec per rep but the first 13 all came in 85-89 with the last at 81secs. Benefit of running with a group certainly helped as after about 5 I was thinking 'won't be able for 14 of these' but you keep up as there's others there. If I was on my own trying to do that session, I might well have came up with an easy out and cut the session short. I'll almost definitely sign up in Jan.

Thurs 20/12: 3.3m @ 8.32 followed by the last of this series of S&C classes. Enjoyed the 6 classes and hopefully something that will be re-run in the new year.

Fri 21/12: 9.15m @ 7.29. Usual run to work along the canal.

Sat 22/12: 6.9m total incl the local parkrun with the young lad. Big crowd there as there was a couple of regulars running their 100th PR

Sun 23/12 : 7m. With little running planned over the next week, I decided to open the legs a little. First 6 miles in 8.08,7.04,7.02,7.01,6.45,6.21. Eased off for the last one.

Easily the best week I've had since DCM. Onwards and upwards for next year hopefully!!!


WTD: 45.7m
MTD: 97.3m
YTD (approx): 1081.2m

scotindublin

Great week Darren and glad to hear you enjoyed the session with Dunboyne. You will be flying after a couple of weeks with them.

You will be upping the ante with the other lads in work!

Sheep1978

Bit of a way to go to catch those lads C but sure we'll try!!!!