Once in a Lifetime....for now

Huzzah!

Murph_D wrote: »

Oh, and I love the bit about forgetting the shoes. I always use the away marathon tip - wear race shoes so you don't lose or forget them. Lucky escape!

And put your watch in your shoes the night before so you don't forget it.

No doubt that's a run that will stand to you. Well done.

eyrie

A very strong and solid run that will stand to you hugely I would think S. You've been in the process of a big change in your training the last little while, and I reckon it's going to pay big dividends for you soon.

OOnegative

Well done Sunday Sean, your a work in progress again since your woes over December/January but no doubt you’ll be back challenging PB’s again soon.

I put my hand up to the “sandbagging” remarks, it was only meant as a bit of fun and in no way was I accusing you of taking it handy. Won’t happen again.

skyblue46

Murph_D wrote: »

Enjoyed reading that. Congrats on a fine Shamrock debut! Imm familiar with the post race 'meh!' feeling and I understand where you're coming from - but like you say, little specific training, so a solid enough result.

One thing puzzles me though - the early race chit chat. Maybe you are exaggerating it. but any talk at all during a race ups the effort levels if you ask me. (I almost fell out with a former clubmate after asking him to stop talking to me during a race.) Might this have contributed a little to later difficulties - as well as the weather, of course?

Must have been interesting to come across the info about your dad too. A decent day, all told.

Yes, I'm more than happy with it now. The meh is gone! Hindsight is a wonderful thing. Straight afterwards I put too much into the fact that I was faster a year ago and finished stronger. Truth is I knew I hadn't HM training done and tried to ignore that fact.

No exaggeration at all regarding chit chat. Chatted with Coogy for the best part of a mile, Michael C for a couple of minutes and the few words with R. Might it have been a contributory factor? To be honest I doubt it but it is possible.

I got a bit of a surprise when I was standing collecting a banana and bottle of water after the race and saw his name on a plaque on the wall. He remembers the day well. Bohermeen had a really vibrant cycling club back then and the aul fella was a bit of a poster boy for the N part of NACA back in the day :pac:

Murph_D wrote: »

Oh, and I love the bit about forgetting the shoes. I always use the away marathon tip - wear race shoes so you don't lose or forget them. Lucky escape!

That was the plan but I decided to wear an old pair for the drive at the last minute. I was near Dunshaughlin when it flashed into my mind that I had left them at the hall door. Lesson learned!

Huzzah! wrote: »

And put your watch in your shoes the night before so you don't forget it.

No doubt that's a run that will stand to you. Well done.

In this case that advice would left me with no watch and no shoes! :eek: I could survive without shoes but no watch....a fate worse than death!

eyrie wrote: »

A very strong and solid run that will stand to you hugely I would think S. You've been in the process of a big change in your training the last little while, and I reckon it's going to pay big dividends for you soon.

Soon might be wishful thinking but yes there has been, and continues to be, a big change. It will come good for sure.

OOnegative wrote: »

Well done Sunday Sean, your a work in progress again since your woes over December/January but no doubt you’ll be back challenging PB’s again soon.

I put my hand up to the “sandbagging” remarks, it was only meant as a bit of fun and in no way was I accusing you of taking it handy. Won’t happen again.

Ah B it was taken as a bit of fun. You're one of the best lads on here and I'd never take offence to any bit of ribbing from you. It better happen again or I would be disappointed!

OOnegative

Best of luck tomorrow S, give it socks, run well!!

skyblue46

11th-18th March

Monday 11th: Planned rest day

Tuesday 12th: A nice easy 6 miles around Marlay Park and St Endas Park. The couple of laps in St Endas are a lovely undulating circuit. Really enjoyed this one. 6 miles @ 9:12 HR 129

Wednesday 13th: 6.4 miles @ 9:00 HR 130. The regular local loop. Nothing out of the ordinary

Thursday 14th: Session. 3*4*90secs @ 6:20, reducing recoveries. 90,60,45 secs. Coach said this would be an easy week. This didn't feel easy! :pac: Paces were pretty much spot on except for the first one which I tried to run by feel....which resulted in a 6:42 pace! :rolleyes: Warmup and cooldown brought it up to 8.3 miles.

Friday 15th: Planned rest day

Saturday 16th: Plan was for 6 easy miles and that was what I intended to do. Then the heavens opened after a mile or so and it felt somewhat mild. Whatever it was I loved it so I added a mile to the run. 7.1 miles @ 8:59 HR 131

Sunday 17th: A quick 3 mile shakedown with a few strides. After that a long day going down to and back from Cork to see J's mother who hasn't been well. Back was in a hoop after it so had a few beers to ease the pain! :pac:

Monday 18th: MSB 5k. This was just a race I wanted to run. It didn't fit in any plan and was following only 8 days after the half in Bohermeen. I've been feeling a bit sorry for myself recently but had a good chat with myself this morning after a few encouraging words from P last night. The time had come to set a tough target for myself considering my current level. I decided on an aggressive 20 minute target but would be still satisfied if I couldn't hold the pace and slipped to 20:15/20:20. In my own mind I had decided that anything over 20:30 wasn't good enough.

I got in early enough and I have to say the set up in the Mansion House was very impressive. The organisation and set up in our first Dail was miles ahead of that witnessed in the Commons this past few weeks! Everything was clearly signed and there was a good big bag drop area.

I did a couple of miles warmup and a few strides around Baggot Street and Fitzwilliam Square and said hello to the esteemed MSB mens captain as he took his position for marshalling duties. Got back down to the start area on Stephens Green and bumped into MisterPaul and aquinn as they did their last few strides.

I took my position at the start, too far back as usual. I really have to sort this out. After the Lord Mayor set us all on our way I gradually eased my way into my planned 6:24 pace. I went through the first mile in 6:29 but was feeling good. I spotted aquinn along here and also said a quick hello the HelenAnne (no big chats this week D!) Mile 2 was steady but starting to hurt especially when we turned onto the canal and faced the headwind. It clocked in at 6:19 so I was bang on target. Now it got really hard. Legs were feeling heavy and once again I was isolated and running alone. It's one of the problems with conservative starts, or even paced running that I'm catching and passing people so can't really sit in for cover. Got a big shout from WW with half a mile to go and it spurred me on to dig in. Mile 3 was a 6:22. The last .15 (lots of runners had it measuring over) was at 5:26 pace but I don't know how! I was glued to the road. Watch said 19:59 but I knew I started it a couple of seconds early. Got given a chip time of 19:47 but I really think it's 8/9 seconds wrong.

Did a 2 mile cooldown and back in to get changed and have a cuppa. Met aquinn and MisterPaul again. I think it's fair to say that we were all very happy with our runs all things considered...better times ahead but good solid results on the day. Got a brief hello with Huzzah and her D as well. She ran well as she continues to hate 5k running :pac:

All in all a great day, nothing near a PB but a big step towards feeling stronger again.

OOnegative

Well done Sean, big step forward there, great to see.

skyblue46

OOnegative wrote: »

Well done Sean, big step forward there, great to see.

Thanks B. I was delighted to tough it out when it got hard. It was last May that I previously raced a 5k so it was a bit of a shock!

Lazare

You looked in great shape today Sean. Hopefully that performance puts some doubts to bed. Well done.

skyblue46

Lazare wrote: »

You looked in great shape today Sean. Hopefully that performance puts some doubts to bed. Well done.

Ah bugger...how did I leave you and Choons out of my report? I'll blame the bank holiday pints! Thanks for the shout today, really appreciated.

Swashbuckler

Great stuff today S. Trust the process. Running is a patient man's game. You'll really start to feel the strength over the next few months. Great run.

Murph_D

Good stuff S, nice running, and take the time you’re given! Winter League Weds?

skyblue46

Murph_D wrote: »

Good stuff S, nice running, and take the time you’re given! Winter League Weds?

Thanks D. It's in my plan so I'm hoping so. It's the last one before the 1 mile races start?

skyblue46

Swashbuckler wrote: »

Great stuff today S. Trust the process. Running is a patient man's game. You'll really start to feel the strength over the next few months. Great run.

Oh I trust it implicitly. I have only followed his plans, novice and grads, since I started running. It has done the job beyond expectations so far!

Kellygirl

Well done again Sean. Great to see you back enjoying it.

scotindublin

Great effort so close to Bohermeen; 5ks are a different beast altogether; good to get one in at this time of year to remind the brain of the pleasure of them!!

skyblue46

scotindublin wrote: »

Great effort so close to Bohermeen; 5ks are a different beast altogether; good to get one in at this time of year to remind the brain of the pleasure of them!!

Oh the pleasure was all mine....Not!! :pac: Ah you'd never know what races I'll run over the next few months. I've already done 2 and 3 milers. Looking forward to adding to the variety.

Huzzah!

Oh, it's a new found dislike! Good to see you yesterday and delighted to read you'd a confidence boosting run.

ariana`

That was a great time. It's good to see things coming back together for you S. There's still a long year ahead and it sounds like it'll be an interesting one for you with lots of variety and no doubt many great performances, results and hopefully a few good sandwiches along the way as well.

I haven't run a 5k since May either, i dread the thought of the first one again, oh the pain :eek:

eyrie

Delighted to read this! A super run from you and it's nice to see you are (deservedly) feeling good again.

skyblue46 wrote: »

I took my position at the start, too far back as usual. I really have to sort this out.

Ahh yes, I can back this up. I was waiting at the start beside my OH who ran it too and we spotted you (he spotted you first actually) across the other side of the sea of people but only a fraction ahead of us. So I instantly realised we were in trouble (i.e. much too far forward), and lo and behold my first mile was waaaay too quick as a result!


A great run to set you up for the next few weeks and months of more fun anyway :pac:

skyblue46

I had my spidey senses tingled by a comment made by Swashbuckler about the amount of easy/ very easy running we do compared to "stuff". So much so that I have decided to record mine. What I call session is anything in training that is not in the easy range or slower. Easy is generally 80/120 seconds slower than MP. It only includes the time actually running harder than easy. For example I will record a 5 X 2 mins hard with 2 min jog recoveries as 10 mins of session. I looked back 9 weeks as a starting point. It's just for myself really :pac:

Week|Total Mins|Easy Mins|Easy as %|Session| Session %|Racing Mins|Racing%
1|332|293|88.3%|39|11.7%
2|327|290|88.8%|24|7.3%|13|3.9%
3|357|320|89.6%|37|10.4%
4|355|311|87.8%|24|6.6%|20|5.6%
5|361|342|94.7%|19|5.3%
6|329|311|94.4%|6|1.8%|12|3.8%
7|350|310|88.6%|40|11.4%
8|291|182|72.5%|14|4.8%|95|32.7%
9|295|277|93.5%|18|6.5%

OOnegative

https://youtu.be/c_GFzFqyaRc

This came to mind!!!

skyblue46

OOnegative wrote: »

https://youtu.be/c_GFzFqyaRc

This came to mind!!!

Hahahaha....there will be no denial from me!

coogy

skyblue46 wrote: »

I had my spidey senses tingled by a comment made by Swashbuckler about the amount of easy/ very easy running we do compared to "stuff". So much so that I have decided to record mine. What I call session is anything in training that is not in the easy range or slower. Easy is generally 80/120 seconds slower than MP. It only includes the time actually running harder than easy. For example I will record a 5 X 2 mins hard with 2 min jog recoveries as 10 mins of session. I looked back 9 weeks as a starting point. It's just for myself really :pac:

Week|Total Mins|Easy Mins|Easy as %|Session| Session %|Racing Mins|Racing%|
1|332|293|88.3%|39|11.7%|
2|327|290|88.8%|24|7.3%|13|3.9%|
3|357|320|89.6%|37|10.4%|
4|355|311|87.8%|24|6.6%|20|5.6%|
5|361|342|94.7%|19|5.3%|
6|329|311|94.4%|6|1.8%|12|3.8%|
7|350|310|88.6%|40|11.4%|
8|291|182|72.5%|14|4.8%|95|32.7%|
9|295|277|93.5%|18|6.5%|

S, all joking aside (I honestly don't know where to begin), I can see obvious patterns.
Is it looking as you'd have hoped?

skyblue46

coogy wrote: »

S, all joking aside (I honestly don't know where to begin), I can see obvious patterns.
Is it looking as you'd have hoped?

I hadn't hoped for anything K. It's just a record really. :pac: A nerdy, good for nothing table of irrelevant numbers

Swashbuckler

Will be interesting to see how those percentages look under coaching. You were coming back from injury for a bunch of those weeks above yeah?

skyblue46

Swashbuckler wrote: »

Will be interesting to see how those percentages look under coaching. You were coming back from injury for a bunch of those weeks above yeah?

All those weeks were under coaching...but I still consider myself to be only getting things back. Certainly the early weeks were a gentle introduction.

Swashbuckler

skyblue46 wrote:

All those weeks were under coaching...but I still consider myself to be only getting things back. Certainly the early weeks were a gentle introduction.

Yeah I should've phrased that better. Under coaching at full fitness

skyblue46

Swashbuckler wrote: »

Yeah I should've phrased that better. Under coaching at full fitness

I get ya. I think I read somewhere that easy running should be about 85% of total volume. Bearing that in mind I perhaps don't expect the volume of easy running to change much. Possibly the difference will be the quality of the "stuff".

coogy

skyblue46 wrote: »

I hadn't hoped for anything K. It's just a record really. :pac: A nerdy, good for nothing table of irrelevant numbers

I'm a sucker for stuff like this. Numbers wouldn't exactly be my forte but Im a total stats nerd!!