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Just like starting over:The quest for a sub 18 5k
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Sunday 21st April: 5 mile easy @ 8:35 avg pace
Nice and handy one at the gaa pitch track.
Weekly total: 45 miles
Monday 22nd April: 6.5 mile with 10x400 with 70sec recovery
Still feeling a bit of the 11 miles in the legs and it was very hot at the track but got going after a few and hit the right rhythm. Target was 82-85
Splits were: 84;85;84;83;84;83;81;84;84;82;
Happy with that!!
Tuesday 23rd April: 7 mile easy @ 8:15
Very handy early morning easy run
Wednesday 24th April: 6 mile tempo @ 6:25
Strange one this as nothing went right for me. Decided to get out early as had a busy day planned. Had the breakfast and then got out the door - breakfast probably was a mistake as stomach felt ropey the whole time. I was also struggling to breath at times - didn't feel so bad later on as I met a few people struggling after the dust storm!!
Anyhow only managed 4.75 miles tempo after a 5 minute warm up. splits for tempo were 6:24;6:31;6:28;6:25; 6:38 (for last .75 miles) Another mile cool down and was done.
Putting this down to just one of those days!!!
Total 6 miles:
Thursday 25th April: 3x2 miles with 4min recovery
Not part of the plan to do back to back sessions but was heading away fro a few days so wanted to get this done before I left.
Headed down to track early and got stuck in after a quick warm-up.
Target was 6:05 miles:
Splits were: 6:04;6:05...….. 6:06;6:04...……. 6:09; 6:06
Delighted with this even though pace slipped on the last rep. Was just delighted to finish it. A real toughie!!
Total: 7.2 miles
Friday 26th: Rest
Saturday 27th April: 7 miles @ 7:43 avg pace
Late evening run around Cavan Town - kept it real nice and handy
Sunday 28th April: 6 mile incl Run With Catherina (18:21)
Happy out with this as a nice chunk of last 5k before Christmas - it's starting to come together!! Might even do a report tomorrow
Weekly Total: 39.7 mile0 -
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Monday 29th April: 8 mile easy @ 7:58 avg pace
Nice and handy run around the forest trails.
Tuesday 30th April: 9 mile easy @ 8:05 avg pace
Very easy 9 mile around town at 5:30 am
Monthly Mileage: 189.1
Wed 1st May: 7 mile tempo [EMAIL="5@ 6:25"]5@ 6:25[/EMAIL]; 2@ 6:15
This was bloody tough!! Done it on a lumpy course while young lad was at athletics training. Was finding it tough from the word go but got into it as the miles went by. Things took a turn for the worse on mile 6 when I swallowed a mouthful of midges running by the river and then was passed by a truck full of pigs heading to the factory. My dinner ended up in the river after that
:o but managed to get going again!! Was never going to pick up the pace to hit 6:15 pace but happy enough that I got the 7 mile done - not perfect but a good honest workout.
I could have done this on the track and hit the paces ok but want a more honest effort on the roads so can take not knocking these out of the park every time while I get out of my comfort zone.
Splits were:
6:29
6:22
6:30
6:29
6:22
6:35
6:25
Total: 8 miles
Thurs 2nd May: Rest
Friday 3rd May: 8x 1k @3:35 with 70sec recovery
Squeezed this in before work down at the local gaa track. Started with a few laps slow warm-up and then some stretches. First one was tough and I felt it would be a long slog of a session as I felt creaky!! Thankfully I loosened up and this turned out to be fairly enjoyable.
Splits were:
3:37
3:33
3:34
3:34
3:33
3:33
3:33
3:36
Total: 6.5 miles
Saturday 4th May: 5.7 miles @ 8:30 avg pace
7am start for this as had my running group at 8am. Done laps of the football field keeping the pace nice and handy.
3 miles @ 10:50 pace - joined my group for their long slow run
Total: 8.7 miles
Sunday 5th May: 11 mile ([EMAIL="9@7:15"]9@7:15[/EMAIL]; 2 @ 7:00)
A bit of a funny run!! Had to go early even though I was wrecked as had a busy day ahead with a christening planned.
Felt sluggish from the get go and actually stopped twice on the warm-up. Was heading back to the car when I stopped the second time until I decided to give it a few miles forgetting about the pace to see how I felt. By mile 3 I got into the zone and was in the groove. Knowing the last mile was mainly uphill upped the pace after 8 mile with the intention of slowing back down on the last. When I hit the 10 I felt strong so kept to the quicker pace
7:12
7:17
7:08
7:09
7:17
7:01
7:08
7:10
7:02
6:51
7:00
A funny old run but delighted that I stuck with it and got it done.
Weekly total: 51.2 miles0 -
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Monday 3rd June:7 x 1k with 80 secs recovery
Splits 3:32;3:26;3:30;3:32;3:32;3:33;3:32 - Total 6 miles. Another toughie but happy enough with the paces
Tuesday 4th June:6 mile @ 8:20 in a monsoon!!
Had 8 in the plan but 6 was enough after 24 laps around a half flooded track!!
Wednesday 5th June: Plan 8 mile tempo 5 @ 6:35 last 2 @ 6:15 pace
Actual - 7.6 miles; 6:23;6:36;6:27; 0.4 mile @ 6:44; 4 min rest; 6:21;6:38; 0.4 @ 6:39; 4 min rest; 0.83 @ 6:46.
Did this at 7 am in Kerry on a very hilly route after 2 hours sleep - had to go down for a funeral. Heart rate all over the place and felt crap the whole way through and never felt comfortable. Putting this down to fatigue and lack of sleep!!
Thurs 6th June: - 8 mile @ 8:25 avg pace.
A handy run around the gaa pitch track.
Friday 7th June: Rest
Saturday 8th June: 2 x 3 mile @ 6:00 pace with half mile recovery in 4:00 mins
I ended up pushing this to Saturday morning as I felt I badly needed a rest on Friday, where it was down for in the plan. Managed 2.2 mile @ 6:20 pace before pulling the plug as I felt wrecked. Took the 4 minute walking recovery and tried again. Managed 1 mile @ 6:00 pace before pulling the plug as was working way too hard and feeling awful. Total 4 mile.
Took a training session and then headed for Slane and Metallica gig. Got home at 4 am (should that be in Sunday's update!!
)
Sunday 9th June: Plan -11 miles 9 @ 7:10 last 2 @ 6:55 pace.
So after 3 hours of broken sleep I hauled my very tired self out of bed and headed off for a local half marathon - It was for a very good cause and the running group I'm training were raising money for it and I had been training them towards it for past 7 weeks (well the 10km option anyway!)
Had half a plan to do the training session with usual running buddy but he decided (sensibly) to take it easy as he had done Cork Marathon the week before. So to say I was in 2 minds before the start on how to approach this was an understatement - not helped by the fact that I didn't have time for a warm-up run either just a quick dart to the start - said hello to a few people as I knew most of the 100 runners who were lining up for the start.
I took it handy for 100mtrs and then started working my way up the field to find a nice spot and somebody to work with. I had been warned that the course was very hilly but was still surprised to be into the hills almost immediately but surprisingly didn't feel too bad on the first one. Was out on my own for the first few miles with the leaders long gone and the bulk of the field far behind. Had the first glance of the watch after 3 miles and happy with how I was feeling and the pace. (6:39;6:52;6:56)
A reasonably flat bit of the route. Thought about pulling back after this and trying to go closer to 7 min miles but caught a glimpse of a runner ahead on one of the long stretches ahead so focused on catching them and maybe working with them for a few miles. Eventually got up to him at about 5 miles but soon realised that his legs were gone so moved on. At about 6 miles on another long straight I spotted another runner ahead about 150 metres or so, so again decided to go after them. (6:40;6:39;6:36)
We were now into the second loop of the race and back to a couple of the major climbs. Caught up with the guy ahead near the top of the second hill and powered on. He caught up with on the downhill part - he knew me by name and introduced himself!!! He is normally a 1:24 min half marathon guy so was surprised to see myself near him. We chatted through a few miles which was a great distraction as I was starting to feel the pressure. Told him to push on anytime he wanted but he was happy to work with me and for the company. We ran through a monsoon for a mile and a half and got drenched - this was 1 mile after chucking water on ourselves to cool down at one of the water stops.
(6:46;6:56;6;42;6;58;6;44)
After 11 miles, he was struggling and while I had been entertaining thoughts of just finishing my 11 miles in the plan and jogging to the finish, after saying my good byes I pushed on and started dreaming of a sub 90 minutes half (something I've only achieved once before!!)
12th mile was unremarkable apart from feeling good and got a boost from seeing the watch beep for a 6:39 mile!!
Last mile was tough though as we were back into the hills - I figured a sadist designed the route to finish at the top of the hill! Ended up walking for 20 seconds up one of the hills I was so goosed but quickly got going again. Watch beeped for mile 13 soon (6:58) after and I no longer cared about time or anything only finishing the race. Was concerned that I couldn't see the finish line and was starting to climb again - again had to walk for a few seconds to the top as the body was in bits. Thankfully once I crested the hill I could see the finish line and the clock still under 1:29 so mustered a fast shuffle for the line and managed to get in at 1:28:55
Absolutely thrilled with this and totally unexpected after a day at Slane, no sleep and a really tough week!!
It was a fantastically organised race but unfortunately I couldn't stick around as I had to get out fairly sharpish to get to the Cavan match in Clones. That rounded off a pretty good weekend seeing Cavan reach our first Ulster Final in 18 years - I've had worse weekends!!:D 0 -
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