Run for your life!!!!

skyblue46

coogy wrote: »

Thanks E! I think it would be great to get this thread up and running again!!!

Just post on it and it will jump straight back to the top...up and rerunning in minutes!

coogy

skyblue46 wrote: »

Just post on it and it will jump straight back to the top...up and rerunning in minutes!

Yeah I definitely will. Might put the feelers out and see who bites.....

skyblue46

coogy wrote: »

Yeah I definitely will. Might put the feelers out and see who bites.....

I'd do some Sunday's because (back to your question about joining a club) very few in my club run slowly enough for me. I went to one Sunday morning run and I had to speed up after a mile to catch the second last runner!!!

coogy

Grads 10k-Half marathon plan - Week 12

Monday 6th May - Off
Need to get into the habit of running on Monday's more often....

Tuesday 7th May - 60 mins easy. 6.43m @ 9:30
Can't quite remember why I left this till so late. What I do remember is having the opportunity to make this an early morning run and opting for a lie-in.


Wednesday 8th May - 6 x 4 min @ CV (6:52-7:01) w/2 min rec jog (preceded by warm up and followed by cool down) - 4.53m @7.31
Another late one, having decided against another early run but didn't mind too much with the bright evenings. Honestly can't remember much about this particular session. Pacing was fine, I think.




Thursday 9th May - Off
Too much stuff happening and already looking like a week to forget running wise.


Friday 10th May - Easy run. 7.22m @9.05
Down to the Phoenix Park at lunch time for a slightly longer run than usual, knowing that the following couple of days would involve little or no running.


Saturday 11th May - Off
Should have been a 35 min tempo run. Wife was away with friends for the weekend so had to scratch this one off. At one point, contemplated doing this in the shape of around 28 laps of the green outside our house with the kids keeping themselves occupied on a picnic blanket and the remainder of their easter eggs, but that plan never saw the light of day.



Sunday 12th May- Off
Planned run was 2 hour lsr but had to strike this one off too. Very frustrating weekend, what with the weather being so good and not a single mile under my belt.
Need to just forget about it now and look forward to next week but now fretting that the missed runs will hold me back from where I should be at at this stage.
Putting things into perspective, need to remember that the OH truly deserves a weekend away with her mates so there's that too. :rolleyes:
Also, some great running today from everyone at the various races. Well done to all! Have signed up for the BHAA 5 miler in Dunboyne on 28th May so really looking forward to that.
Hugely disappointed with Liverpool's valiant-but-in-vain efforts today. Hard to believe that they played so well all season and still came up short. Even harder to believe that the last time they were league champions, I was just about to undertake my Leaving Cert....... :eek:



Miles for the week - A paltry 20.33

Miles for the year - 628


After lasts week's musings about solo running, I have bitten the bullet and decided to head out with the Esker Running Group on Tuesday evening. I already know a few of them from the local Parkrun and they're a nice bunch. Hopefully, my scheduled 60 mins easy run will go according to plan. Seems to be a wide variety of running abilities and they take their running pretty seriously too. Lets see how it pans out.

Thanks for reading!!

*Edit (13/05)
Just remembered that the pacing for the session earlier in the week was a little off at times but each time it slipped, I felt I was still able to find more when needed. That's a very satisfying feeling and something I've been getting a lot better at as this plan has progressed.

coogy

Just posting these updates while they're fresh in my head......


Monday 13th May - 60 mins easy. 7.59m @ 9:32
Woke up super early for this and was out the door by 5:35am. Plan said '20 mins recovery or OFF' but my brain said 75 mins easy. It was more a case of 'I need to do this' as opposed to chasing lost miles from the weekend.....honest! Just ran completely by feel. Loved it.


Tuesday 14th May - 60 mins easy. 6.64m @ 9:11
Glorious evening for this, made sure it wasn't too late what with the session the following morning. GPS was acting up a little bit. I was taking it very handy but the Garmin was displaying 8:30/8:50 min miles which was a bit off-putting.
The original plan was to head out with the esker Running Group but I'd found out earlier in the day that they were doing a speed session so I gave that one a miss. Will hopefully head out with them on Sunday morning.


Wednesday 15th May - 2 x 20 mins HM (7:15) w/5 mins recovery jog
Was well prepared for this. Had a change of clothes in work from the previous day. Well hydrated. Good breakfast. Took some water with me and a gel. Left right on time and off I went.
Started with a 2 mile warm up but was then faced with an uphill path for the beginning of the first of the two 20 min reps. Not ideal. Levelled out after about half a km and with the clear sky above and some heat already coming from the the sun, I could feel already that I would be doing well to reach and sustain the required pace.
After the first rep which I think went ok pace-wise, I allowed myself an extra minute of a recovery jog and once those 6 minutes were up, I upped the pace yet again for the second rep. As I made my way onto the Chapelizod Rd, I could start to feel like a much greater effort was required and I was noticing that the pace was slowing down to around 7:35/7:45. Tried again to push on but it was making little or no difference. By now, I had not much water left and this only added to my discomfort.
Even though I knew it was perhaps time to either ease up and forget about the pacing or stop completely, I kept going for another few minutes and when I looked at the watch and saw there was another 10 mins to go, I threw in the towel and knew enough was enough, just as I was approaching Islandbridge. No point going any further. Don't really know what went wrong, I just knew something didn't feel right. Not sure that's ever happened to me before but in a way, it's probably not necessarily a bad thing.

Still had to get into work so a had a Strava-free trundle up the Quays.
Was planning on racing this weekend's Parkrun but I will perhaps have a rethink. have remained injury free thus far and am certainly not going to do anything foolish now. Knowing me though, and my impulses, I will probably do it anyway. :rolleyes:

Aaaaaaaanyway..........just needed to thrash that out.

Kellygirl

As I said on Strava, I think you did the right thing and listened to your body. Also, I don’t know what it is but at the end of the 5-10km plan I’d a session as well where I couldn’t hit the paces and I’m almost sure it happened before one of my other races too recently but can’t remember which one. I don’t know what it was caused it each time but didn’t cause any bother on the day either. See how you feel about Parkrun on a Saturday and just go with it.

coogy

Kellygirl wrote: »

As I said on Strava, I think you did the right thing and listened to your body. Also, I don’t know what it is but at the end of the 5-10km plan I’d a session as well where I couldn’t hit the paces and I’m almost sure it happened before one of my other races too recently but can’t remember which one. I don’t know what it was caused it each time but didn’t cause any bother on the day either. See how you feel about Parkrun on a Saturday and just go with it.

K, I was using this as a runmute and part of me is wondering if that has anything to with it. Even though I left the house early enough, I was still keeping one eye on on the time. Might not have been as relaxed as I could have been under any other circumstances.
Probably clutching at straws but anyway, it's done now!

coogy

Grads 10k-Half marathon plan - Week 13

Thursday 16th May - Off



Friday 17th May - 45 mins easy. 5.03m @ 9.15
Headed over to the Trinity grass track for a nice easy saunter. Most people would normally use this for session work but I like these easy runs, taking in the surroundings. Lovely place to run on a warm Summer day too. This particular day was grey and drizzly but the surface was just right as always.



Saturday 18th May - Parkrun. 3.1 m @ 6.21
This had been on my mind for most of the week, mainly because I wasn't sure if I should race it or take it a bit handier.
Was still bothered about the run earlier in the week that was cut short and I wondered if any potential underlying niggles might flare up.
As I did my warm up, I finally decided to go for it and try to get at least something out of this training block, hopefully in the shape of a sub-20 if not a new PB. Weather was perfect, a little bit of cloud cover overhead and the turnout was reasonably good.
I knew that I would have to stay within 6:15-6:30 if I wanted sub-20 but the fact that it was my first Parkrun since January stopped me from feeling as confident as I probably would have liked.
We set off and instantly, there were about three or four runners who were off like a shot (one was from Lucan Harriers) and had established a comfortable enough looking lead by the opening kilometre.
I didn't even try to keep up with them but made sure to keep on top of the pacing at the same time. The eventual gap that opened up between me and the front runners and between me and the group behind may have gone against my favour. I wanted to make sure that I didn't lose too much ground on the leaders and also made sure that I didn't give anyone an opportunity to catch up so was probably putting myself under unnecessary extra pressure. Mile 1 was 6:15.
Mile 2 (6:20) was marginally slower than the first mile and it was about this stage that the effort required to maintain the pace felt like it was becoming a bit of a struggle. The pace was wavering between 6:25 - 6:35 and the feeling of wondering if I had enough in the locker stayed with me into the closing stages. I was keeping one eye on the time elapsed vs distance left to the finish line (approx 400 metres) and suddenly found myself having to really push hard towards the finish line.
The time for mile 3 was 6:30 and eventually made it over the finish line in 19:53, 30 seconds behind 6th place and 30 seconds ahead of 8th place.
I must say, I was a little dismayed at the time, given that my pb of 19:42 was achieved at a time when I was relatively new to running. Obviously I'm very happy with this time and I'd rather that I ran a slower time knowing that it was paced properly, or should I say, paced better........;)
I know it's only a Parkrun and I probably shouldn't take it so seriously but I just wanted to see where I was at, physically.



Sunday 19th May- 70 mins easy.
Really nice late evening run in the post-shower sunshine. Ran this completely by feel.



Miles for the week - 39.57

Miles for the year - 668


Recommended reading - 'This is Going to Hurt' by Adam Kay.
Recommended listening - 'I am Easy to Find' by The National

Thanks for reading!!

eyrie

coogy wrote: »

Recommended reading - 'This is Going to Hurt' by Adam Kay.
Recommended listening - 'I am Easily Found' by The National

Ooh you've just reminded me I've been meaning to have a listen to this - that's my cooking music for this evening sorted It's good so?



Re: the parkrun it's tough when you get stuck between groups and end up on your own like that. And you were still only 11 seconds off your PB so I'm sure under slightly different circumstances if you had people to work off you would certainly have reached it.

coogy

eyrie wrote: »

Ooh you've just reminded me I've been meaning to have a listen to this - that's my cooking music for this evening sorted It's good so?



Re: the parkrun it's tough when you get stuck between groups and end up on your own like that. And you were still only 11 seconds off your PB so I'm sure under slightly different circumstances if you had people to work off you would certainly have reached it.

Haha, I just realised I got the album title wrong.......it should be 'I Am Easy to Find' :rolleyes:

I've only given it a couple of listens but sounds great so far. Lots of great guest vocalists!

Yeah, I think you're right about having other runners to work off (to an extent or course). Definitely a 'thing' for me!

coogy

Grads 10k-Half marathon plan - Week 14


Monday 20th May - Off


Tuesday 21st May - 45 mins easy. 4.95m @9.22
Early start this morning and picked a slightly different route just to mix things up a little.


Wednesday 22nd May - 6 x 1min Vo2 (7:20) w/ 2 min rec jog. Warm up + cool down either side.
Did this late in the evening and as I expected, the pacing was tricky to manage given the shortness of each rep. Still felt good afterwards even though it was a relatively short stint.


Friday 24th May - 5 mile easy run. 5.05m @ 9.03
Work this week had been incredibly stressful and I desperately needed to let off some steam so in some ways I saw this as my most important run of the week.
Headed down the docks and into Ringsend Park for the first time in a while. Thought I saw some familiar faces along the way but was probably mistaken.
Upped the pace slightly for the last mile just to get it out of my system.


Saturday 25th May- Off
It was my son's communion today so obviously no running involved. :rolleyes:
Super proud and a great day was had by all. I even managed to indulge in the intake of alcohol. A rare occurrence for me.......


Sunday 26th May - Couple o' miles. 2.83m @ 7.53
"Just going to collect the dog!"
What followed can only be described as farcical.
See Strava entry for all you need to know.


Miles for the week - 18

Miles for the year - 686


And so concludes the 14-week 10k-Half marathon plan. Can't believe how quickly that all passed. Still delighted with the half marathon PB in Bohermeen (which seems like a lifetime ago now) and I have the Dunboyne 5 mile coming up tomorrow which I'm really looking forward to as it's my first 5 mile race.
I felt things unravel slightly towards the end when I started missing runs here and there as well as experiencing a couple of mental blips. Generally though, I definitely feel the benefits from the plan and have come out of it a better and stronger runner. That said, there's still lots of work to be done before I feel like I'm physically ready to take on another marathon while being 100% confident of achieving my goal. Nowhere near enough core strengthening workouts being factored in to my weekly routine so that will have to change. Apart from the physical aspect, a lot of it is in my head too. 'Back yourself' - a mantra repeated by AMK during his Rotterdam outing - is something I need to adopt, starting now.
Also looking forward to a few more races along the way between now and October.


Thanks for reading!!

Kellygirl

Have you ever used Strava Flybys? Great for checking if you did pass somebody in particular!!

coogy

Kellygirl wrote: »

Have you ever used Strava Flybys? Great for checking if you did pass somebody in particular!!

It was the first thing I did when I got back to the office!:D

Definitely not who I thought it was

Huzzah!

I checked to see if it was me as I ran down around there but your run was at lunchtime.

Have a great run tomorrow. Back yourself! Looking forward to hearing about it.

coogy

BHAA Dunboyne 5 mile.
This was my first attempt at a 5 mile race and in the days leading up to it, I was probably spending more time than is necessary figuring out some sort of pacing strategy. In other words, nerves were getting the better of me.
I knew that to achieve a comfortable sub-35, I'd need to be hitting splits of around 6:45-6:55.
Arrived in plenty of time to collect race number and met up with a work colleague and her boyfriend as we lightly jogged the half mile or so to the start line. Spent about 15 minutes on some dynamic stretching and loosening up.
It had turned into a beautiful evening and conditions were perfect.
Lots of great representation from various running clubs, notably Raheny, Dunboyne and Porterstown.

Mile 1 - 6:44
As we set off, there was a fair bit of congestion and had to take care not to be tripped or trip up anyone else. After a couple of minutes, I checked the pace on the watch and it read 6:40 which took me a little by surprise as it did not feel like I was running anywhere near that pace. Another example of how your form in a race environment can differ so much from a standard training run.
As the mile progressed, I felt ok and knowing that I would need to sustain this for the next 33 minutes or so, I decided to just go with it and see how it all panned out. The bottleneck eased off after about 5 minutes and I eventually settled into my stride.

Mile 2 - 6:43
By now I felt like I was getting used to the pace and found myself in a group of about five or six other runners and even at this early stage, I was constantly checking my watch to make sure that I stayed within my goal pace.
The group eventually split up (some upped the pace and others fell behind) and I decided to just focus on my own race, still managing to keep on top of the pacing.

Mile 3 - 6:53
As I reached the halfway point - which should have been a welcome sight - I thought of what I had done to get this far and if I had enough in the locker to keep things motoring and in my head I had started to do what I usually do when I feel like extra effort might be required:

• work out and break down how long is left and what I need to do to hang on
• ask myself if I can do this

Felt that I was just about doing what was needed to keep the momentum going.

Mile 4 - 6:58
For the first time, the pace slipped past the 7:00 mark and a feeling of dread hit me that things were beginning to slide. Told myself to stop looking at my watch, only to sneak another glance at it seconds later. My pace was now wavering between 6:50 - 7:15 and each time I felt it slip, I had to step it up a notch to keep things on track. I felt like I was struggling but I wouldn't allow myself to admit it. A general feeling of discomfort was beginning to creep up on me but I was glad that I wasn't experiencing any pain.
"Why am I doing this?" "What is the point of all this?" "Why am I training for another marathon?" were random questions that appeared out of nowhere. As usual, I had no answers, gave myself a kick up the backside and told myself to just keep it up.
Traded places back and forth with a handful of runners for most of this mile.

Mile 5 - 6:53
The last mile was a real mixed bag. On one hand, there was the relief that there was just one mile to go, or "only seven more minutes" if I played my cards right and on the flip side, I was properly struggling to banish any thoughts I had of throwing in the towel, however extreme they may have been. I thought back to my half marathon experience in Bohermeen where I finished strong for the final mile but I knew there was no comparison on this occasion.
Even with such negative thoughts, I was overtaking a fair few runners with half a mile to go, having to really dig deep to find another burst of energy from somewhere.
The final 600 meters had us running through a trail path which led up to the field where the finish line was situated. A seemingly endless lap of the field had me at my most desperate. As I came around the second last bend, I had a glance at the watch and saw 33:xx:xx and though "thank f**k, I'm home and dry. A final burst of speed saw me the over the finish line in 34:08, well ahead of the time I had predicted for myself, thanks to the earlier miles. 151st out of a field of 409. Job done.
Saw Mick Clohesy hanging around having earlier completed the race in 23:35. Unreal.
After a quick chat with the inimitable Rossi7, I made a bee-line for the refreshments tent where they had a fantastic spread of sambos, fruitcake, swiss roll, jaffa cakes, biscuits and cupcakes. Plenty of food for everyone, very well organised. Hung around for a while chatting to friends and a couple of Griffeen Parkrunners.

On reflection, I am obviously happy with my time but not sure if the struggle towards the end is as a result of setting out too fast. I don't think I did as I knew what I had to do before setting out. I like to think that the struggle towards the end was more a case of acknowledging "this wasn't meant to be easy".

As for the next block of training, I will be using this race time as a base for my training paces which is not a million miles off what I was using up till now (20:50 Parkrun).

I will definitely do this race again next year. Great experience!


Thanks for reading!

Kellygirl

Well done K. I’m smiling at the internal dialogue. I know it well.

ReeReeG

Great running!! Sounds like a real honest effort, and you backed yourself good job!

Mr. Guappa

Well done K, that's really good racing, seems like you judged the effort very well. Nice work!

ariana`

Nice one! I'm pretty sure the last mile is supposed to be tough, that's how you know you done it right! Great time and effort, well done.

Swashbuckler

If you don't have very negative thoughts towards the end, you've ran a tempo run not a race. Well done. Super time.

tbukela

Great report and time. Well done.

JMSE

Seriously well done on the race, I’m just replying to help you get over your question on your form in the latter stages - it’s simple, the 4th mile is a bit draggy and is slower for everyone. Same for me this year and last, 4th is way off the other miles. So keep it up, onwards and upwards!!

Hedgehoggy

Great race report Ken and brilliant running. Fantastic results!

Wubble Wubble

Great race and report there K, some performance for your 5 mile debut! The 4th mile is always the hardest in that race. They're the kind of questions I ask myself a lot in races like that

coogy

Kellygirl wrote: »

Well done K. I’m smiling at the internal dialogue. I know it well.

Thanks K, nice to know it's not just me!!

ReeReeG wrote: »

Great running!! Sounds like a real honest effort, and you backed yourself good job!

Cheers V! I know I mentioned nerves in there somewhere but I don't really think I was nervous. Just giddy excitement I guess!! :roll eyes:

Mr. Guappa wrote: »

Well done K, that's really good racing, seems like you judged the effort very well. Nice work!

Thanks A. Yeah, I think I managed it as well as I was physically able, didn't feel like it at the time though! It's amazing what a couple of days reflection does for the mind. If I was to write that report now, I think it would be very different!

ariana` wrote: »

Nice one! I'm pretty sure the last mile is supposed to be tough, that's how you know you done it right! Great time and effort, well done.

Thanks E! It's a great race distance to run. Looking forward to taking on some more soon!

Swashbuckler wrote: »

If you don't have very negative thoughts towards the end, you've ran a tempo run not a race. Well done. Super time.

Thanks P, appreciate that!

tbukela wrote: »

Great report and time. Well done.

Thanks a mil!

JMSE wrote: »

Seriously well done on the race, I’m just replying to help you get over your question on your form in the latter stages - it’s simple, the 4th mile is a bit draggy and is slower for everyone. Same for me this year and last, 4th is way off the other miles. So keep it up, onwards and upwards!!

Thanks! I'll remember this for next time! :cool:

Hedgehoggy wrote: »

Great race report Ken and brilliant running. Fantastic results!

Thanks a lot G, I love it when a race and race report come together!

Wubble Wubble wrote: »

Great race and report there K, some performance for your 5 mile debut! The 4th mile is always the hardest in that race. They're the kind of questions I ask myself a lot in races like that

Thanks J. Yes, plenty of questions but sometimes it's best not to have the answers to hand,mid-race.......;)

Huzzah!

Finally got a chance to read your report. Well done again. Sounds like you judged the effort perfectly.

coogy

Huzzah! wrote: »

Finally got a chance to read your report. Well done again. Sounds like you judged the effort perfectly.

Thanks E! Already looking forward to my next one, now that I know what it takes! :pac:

coogy

Wednesday 29th May - 45 mins easy. 4.95m @9.22
Just about squeezed this in, making sure I gave the legs a somewhat short but necessary workout after the previous day's efforts.

Thursday 30th May - Saturday 1st June
Coughing. Spluttering. Bleugh.

Sunday 2nd June - self-prescribed 90 minute lsr (stopped after approx 2 miles)
Wanted to finish off the week with a long run to lead me nicely into the beginning of the base plan next week.
Went to bed the night before feeling a little better than I had earlier in the week but perhaps it was just me on a high after Liverpool's SIXTH European Cup final victory.
Woke up feeling a bit meh but got up anyway, got changed and out the door at 6am. Didn't feel right from the off but thought I'd stick it out for a bit to see how things would go. Decided to ignore the route I'd planned and headed down to Griffeen in case I decided to call it a day. After about a mile and a half, I started breaking out into a sweat, the sort that tells you that you need to stop what you're doing. Headed for home knowing it was for the best. Got back to the house, fell asleep on the couch and was woken by the kids at 9:30am. :rolleyes:

So, little in the way of running this week but not too bothered as the plan had already finished last week.
Looking forward to the next 6 weeks, hoping to have another couple of races under the belt by the end of it.


Miles for the week:11.56
Miles for the year: 698
Thanks for reading!

Strawberry Swan

Great result and race report on Dunboyne. Very well paced run and you dug very deep.

I'm very impressed how consistently you train and keep up with the graduate plans. And not following it when your body decides otherwise which is very smart, probably why you haven't got injured.

How have you found the plans overall? Is there anything you would change about them? What do you really like about them? I think I need to start following plans after DCM to really structure my running and make bigger improvements.

coogy

Hi M, thanks for the kind words!!


As far as the consistency of my training goes, it's really down to one thing which is my growing love of running. That's what keeps me going. I just want to run all the time now and I know exactly what I need to do to see each plan through to its conclusion. I feel lucky enough to be able to do that without missing out on too many days, if any at all.

The plans themselves? I take great reassurance from knowing that they are by now tried and tested and have reaped huge rewards for countless other runners so I have to have the confidence in myself that it can do the same for me, once I know I am giving 100%. They have a really good variety of different types of running. The session days, which are my favourite, are definitely designed to bring the absolute best out of you.


Are you doing DCM this year?

Kellygirl

Strawberry Swan wrote: »

How have you found the plans overall? Is there anything you would change about them? What do you really like about them? I think I need to start following plans after DCM to really structure my running and make bigger improvements.

Hi M, just to agree with K, the plans are brilliant. It took me a year to start following them between one thing and another but my running has only started to improved since I started the Grads plans. I love the sessions most of all too but there is so much easy running there too that you build up the mileage while keeping the legs fresh. You might run 30-36 miles in a week and only 6 of them maybe me at some sort of fast pace. What plan will you follow for DCM?

Strawberry Swan

Thanks guys for your thoughts on the plans. I will definitely give them a serious go as I see great results with both of you and others. My mileage has never been very high and I have been very slowly building it up. I haven't gone above 20 miles per week this year yet but almost there.

I will be doing DCM but haven't decided what plan yet. Maybe the boards plan again. Any thoughts?

Kellygirl

Strawberry Swan wrote: »

Thanks guys for your thoughts on the plans. I will definitely give them a serious go as I see great results with both of you and others. My mileage has never been very high and I have been very slowly building it up. I haven't gone above 20 miles per week this year yet but almost there.

I will be doing DCM but haven't decided what plan yet. Maybe the boards plan again. Any thoughts?

I think Boards would be good M from your current base. Nice and simple and you know what you are doing.

coogy

Logging this now as I'm not sure how the remainder of the week is going will shape up....


Base plan, Week 1

Monday 3rd June - 30 mins easy. 3.28m@9:10
Nice easy run to get the plan up and motoring. Two things I want to try during the next six weeks:

• Make the easy runs a little slower
• Banish any thoughts of DCM while running :rolleyes:

Tuesday 4th June - 50 mins easy. 5.34m @9:22
Day off work today so was planning an early morning run but woke up too late and with plans already made for later in the day, I had to leave this till late.
Rained for pretty much the whole day and although it had eased off by the time I left the house at 9pm, there was still steady enough downpour. What better way to finish the day?


Wednesday 5th June - 60 min progression run. 6.98m @ 8.36
A 2 mile warm up took me down the quays and half way down Conyngham Road before beginning this progression run. Had worked out the paces the day before and although I had this run programmed into my Garmin from earlier in the year, I decided not to use it as I sometimes find the constant vibrating and beeping very off-putting.
Split the run up into 6 x 10 minute segments, starting with a very easy pace of around 9:50-10:00. The following segment was in and around 9:30 pace which I managed to stick to easily enough as the majority of it was uphill.
Moving on to a pace of around 9:00 for 3rd segment through Palmerstown where things started to level out a good bit. For the 4th segment, the pace was stitched on 8:30 for almost the whole time and I was now starting to enjoy this, although part of me wondered if there was too big a jump in pace from the previous 10 minute segment.
Next, as I made my way down the N4, I moved up a gear to an 8-8:10 min/mile pace. Again, doubted my pacing decisions but I was still feeling like I was within a comfortable enough range. With just 2 miles to go, I moved up again to a pace of around 7:45 which felt for the first time that I needed to push a little. That said, I didn't have to do too much to maintain this pace.
Finally, as I took on the final mile before reaching home, I started to feel the difference with the 7:30 pace and for the last half mile or so, I was beginning to think to myself that I'd definitely overcooked it. Made it back to the house almost on the stroke of 60 mins.
As soon as I got home, I started beating myself up (not literally) for getting it wrong but when I checked back on my pacing for the same run back in January, I think I got it pretty spot on, especially considering that I am now working off faster training paces.

This is solely for my own benefit but here are the splits from earlier this week compared to 9th January (in brackets):

Mile Pace
1 9:53 (9:49)
2 9:26 (9:28)
3 8:54 (8:54)
4 8:31 (8:23)
5 7:45 (7:43)
6 7:35 (7:43)


Thursday 6th June - 45 mins easy
Decided to head over to the Trinity track for this one and when I got there, there were a few dozen runners doing their speedwork sessions so I made sure to stay well out of their way and stuck to the perimeter of the track. Annoyingly, the Garmin froze and couldn't pick up a gps signal so after 10 minutes, I restarted the watch and went again. After about 20 minutes or so, I started to feel a little discomfort in the left knee but kept on at the easy pace as I had only another 10 minutes of running left to go. These 10 minutes seemed to last an eternity and I was now worried that something wasn't quite right. The last few minutes were spent running gingerly enough and the discomfort in the knee seemed to be getting worse.
Spent a good 20 minutes afterwards stretching and massaging the knee.

Today (Friday) there does not seem to be much improvement. and I have also noticed a bit of tenderness in the calf muscle.

I will do some more stretches this evening and see how things are tomorrow morning before I decide whether or not it's wise to do the session on the plan (40 min easy + 10x100m strides (AP with full recovery)).

The only thing I can think of is that after Wednesday's progression run, at least an hour and a half passed before I did any stretching. Probably hasn't helped.

So not a great start to the base plan. Hopefully, it's nothing serious but definitely won't do anything foolish if I need to rest.


Thanks for reading!

Kellygirl

Are you not doing DCM this year K?

coogy

Kellygirl wrote: »

Are you not doing DCM this year K?

Haha, sorry K, that comment I made about DCM was very ambigious.......:rolleyes:


Yes, I am doing DCM this year. I'm just trying to block out any thoughts of DCM for the time being so I can focus solely on the training. Once I let it get into my head and the conundrum of target times etc. I find it sometimes takes over and it becomes a bit of a monster.......

Kellygirl

coogy wrote: »

Haha, sorry K, that comment I made about DCM was very ambigious.......:rolleyes:


Yes, I am doing DCM this year. I'm just trying to block out any thoughts of DCM for the time being so I can focus solely on the training. Once I let it get into my head and the conundrum of target times etc. I find it sometimes takes over and it becomes a bit of a monster.......

Ah I get you. Yeah I know what you mean.

Mr. Guappa

I've a couple of thoughts/questions/observations, if that's ok?

Did you do a cool down after the progression run? Seeing as the run started out at an easy pace anyway, I'd have skipped or cut the warm up short and added a cooldown instead.

Do you have any more races coming up soon? Something towards the end of this base phase would give you a short term target, to keep the mind off that run in October!

Hopefully the injury is nothing serious. No harm in canning the run tomorrow if in doubt, and I'd probably keep it easy in any case, forget the session. In fact, I did wonder if a couple of weeks of no sessions, just all easy stuff would be a good shout in any case? Give the body a breather in between plans. It's something I'm considering doing before the DCM block. Don't know if it's wise or not, and I suppose the base plan is there for a reason, but I just know that I was surprised at how good I felt after injury forced me to keep everything easy back at the end of March for a few weeks.

coogy

Mr. Guappa wrote: »

I've a couple of thoughts/questions/observations, if that's ok?

Did you do a cool down after the progression run? Seeing as the run started out at an easy pace anyway, I'd have skipped or cut the warm up short and added a cooldown instead.

Do you have any more races coming up soon? Something towards the end of this base phase would give you a short term target, to keep the mind off that run in October!

Hopefully the injury is nothing serious. No harm in canning the run tomorrow if in doubt, and I'd probably keep it easy in any case, forget the session. In fact, I did wonder if a couple of weeks of no sessions, just all easy stuff would be a good shout in any case? Give the body a breather in between plans. It's something I'm considering doing before the DCM block. Don't know if it's wise or not, and I suppose the base plan is there for a reason, but I just know that I was surprised at how good I felt after injury forced me to keep everything easy back at the end of March for a few weeks.

A, I certainly leave myself wide open don't I?

I realised, about half way through, that I wouldn't have time for a cool-down as my OH was impatiently waiting keen for me to get home as she had a school meeting to go to so I was kind of against the clock there. But yeah, would have made sense doing it the other way around and had time been on my side, absolutely would have factored that in.

I might give tomorrow a miss completely, just to play it safe, (wait, did I just consciously sacrifice a run?) do some more stretching perhaps. Hopefully I'll be ok for Sunday's 90 min easy run. As for the next two weeks' sessions, there's another 60 min progression run in week 3 and a 70 min progression run in week 4. I think when doing these, I'll have to make sure that I'm not putting myself under pressure time-wise so they'll more than likely have to be late evening runs.
I'm also wondering if my shoes are starting to give way in terms of support. I know a new pair is long, long overdue, hoping to replace them next week, all being well.

coogy

Grads Intermediate plan - Week 1 (continued)


Saturday 8th June - Rest



Sunday 9th June - 90 mins easy. 10.02m @ 9.37
The previous two day's rest/stretching seemed to have the desired effect. Even by Saturday morning, the pain in my knee that I was feeling on Thursday had completely disappeared and by Sunday when I woke, was left only with the smallest sensation in my calf but I knew that I would be ok for the 90 min easy run.
Left the house about 20 mins later than planned on account of not being able to find my watch :mad: so I had to settle for the ol' phone-in-hand routine, not great if you want to keep an eye on your pacing as the reading on the Strava app provides very limited info.
This turned out to be no bad thing as it really made me err on the side of caution and slow things right down. I knew in the early miles that I was running at a much slower pace than I'm used to and hoped I was able to keep it up for the whole 90 minutes. It was a cracking morning for a run and headed up to the peaceful surroundings of St. Catherine's Park, now one of my favorite places to run.
Legs felt good throughout and was finally getting used to the slower pace.
Managed to just about squeeze in the 10 miles, thanks to a lap of our estate to make up the extra mileage and made sure to get a good bit of stretching in afterwards, mindful that I didn't repeat the mistakes made earlier in the week.
Rest day today before 45 easy tomorrow and a 45 min moderate (8:20-ish) paced run the day after. Any repeat issues and I'll get myself off to a physio.

Miles for the week - 32.44

Miles for the year - 730


Thanks for reading!!

coogy

Grads Base plan, Week 2


Monday 10th June - Off
Lots of foam rolling done during the evening to keep the niggles at bay.


Tuesday 11th June - 45 mins easy. 5.1m @ 9:21
Late evening 5 miler. Still trying to slow things down.


Wednesday 12th June - 45 mins moderate pace. 5.5m @8.24
After the mile warm up, I was *this* close to turning back for home as I wasn't sure I'd be back in time to get the school routine of wake up calls/making breakfasts/school lunches started. Also partly because I struggled to feel motivated before leaving the hous so that wasn't a great start. Anyway, thankfully I stuck with it as I knew there was no chance of getting out during the evening. Felt ok with the pacing.



Thursday 13th June - 45 mins easy. 5.09m @ 9.19
Late evening run for the second time this week, again went slightly beyond the 45 mins mark just to squeeze in the 5th mile.


Friday 14th June - Off
More rolling...... getting my money's worth


Saturday 15th June - 45 mins easy (last 5 mins @threshhold). 4.93 @9:07
Up early for this and the legs just felt like complete dead weights, really sluggish for the whole thing. I knew that this was from lack of sleep. I currently have caricature commissions coming out of my ears at the moment and with precious little drawing time to get them done, it often results in burning the candle at both ends. No wonder I felt so tired.
Went easy enough and the threshold pace was run at around 7:10 which was still manageable. Even at the early hour, preparations had begun for setting up of the Griffeen Parkrun 6 year anniversary. Professional event organisers had been drafted in to set up marquee, banners and yoga tent and I wondered if I should wander back down for an easy 5k to join in the celebrations but thought better of it.
Followed the run by a 10 min cool down.


Sunday 16th June - 90 mins easy. 10.14m @9.32
Another early start but noticed that the Garmin had only 12% battery left, despite me charging it the previous evening. Took the phone with the Strava app just in case the watch died.......which it did at mile 6. Miles 7 through 10 were run entirely by feel. As a result, the splits for these latter miles were run slower than usual.
Legs felt much better today after yesterday's leggy run.
Came home to a lovely haul of Father's Day pressies, including some brand spanking new running gear. My fellow 2018 novices will be thrilled silly to hear that I finally have some new running shorts!!! :D

Miles for the week - 33.6

Miles for the year - 764

Will be doing the Docklands 5k this Thursday - my very first taste of a 5k race so quite excited about that. Was actually looking forward to Wednesday's 60 min progression run - mostly to make amends for my previous progression run 'fail' but will have to sacrifice this given that I'll be racing in Docklands. Still, there's a 70 min progression run in the plan in a couple week's time to look forward to.
So, a couple of things need to change in the coming weeks and beyond.......
Diet- I don't necessarily have a bad diet as such and I'm not one for eating junk food, I just need to cut out late-night snacking.
Sleep - not getting anywhere near enough sleep, especially considering the amount of early runs I'm doing so something's got to give.

Current listening - The Rambling Runner podcast.
I've been a podcast fan for a few years now and up till now would have listened predominately to comedy themed podcasts but after making a recent conscious effort to expand my knowledge of running, I stumbled across this one by pure accident. It's aimed specifically at amateur runners who take their running seriously enough. The interviews are with well-known athletes in the world of running (mostly US-based) who discuss their individual running careers. Most of the discussions I've listened to so far focus on each runner's early career, their pb's and the sometimes startling progression they've made to reach their current form. Lots of discussion too about the internal dialogue us runners face from time to time. Well worth checking out. Its been going for a few years now so there's only 170 episodes to catch up with.......:rolleyes:

Thanks for reading!!

coogy

coogy wrote: »

Grads Intermediate plan - Week 1 (continued)

For some reason, it won't allow me to edit this particular post......

Just in case anyone was wondering, this is not the Grads Intermediate plan, just the Base plan.

Mr. Guappa

Best of luck tonight K! I had my first "proper" 5k in the past month as well... embrace the pain!

coogy

Mr. Guappa wrote: »

Best of luck tonight K! I had my first "proper" 5k in the past month as well... embrace the pain!

Thanks A, really looking forward to it!

ReeReeG

coogy wrote: »

Thanks A, really looking forward to it!

Weirdo :P I'm very nervous for some reason!

coogy

ReeReeG wrote: »

Weirdo :P I'm very nervous for some reason!

Who am I kidding?....... I'm bricking it!!!! :P

ariana`

coogy wrote: »

Thanks A, really looking forward to it!

Love it! Best of luck, embrace the pain, it won't last long!!

coogy

Just wanted to log this while it's still relatively fresh in the memory!!

Docklands 5k


I was experiencing a real mix of excitement and nerves in the build up to this. Even though it was my first proper attempt at a 5k event, I had allowed myself to assume that a sub-20 time was as good as in the bag, based mostly on my Parkrun experiences to date.
Arrived well ahead of time, bumped into Wubble Wubble at the bag drop before meeting up with ReeReeG for a nice, easy 5k loop around Dublin's docks which got the legs nice and limber. Earlier in the day, I had a stroll along part of the route and while taking it in, it immediately dawned on me that this particular 5k would be an altogether different beast to a regular Parkrun.

After a brief downpour about an hour before the start, the conditions were muggy/heavy and by the time I had made my way up to the 19 minute pacers (what on earth was I doing THERE??) at the start line, I was already dripping with perspiration. I hung around at the back of the 19-minute pacing group before the start and figured I'd do what I could in the early stages to keep them within easy enough reach.

Mile 1 - 6:00
Off we went, in the direction of Liberty Hall and veered right over the bridge at the Custom House/IFSC. Even as we crossed the bridge, it was still quite congested and had to watch my footing, especially with the sun in our eyes. As I eyed my pace of around 5:45. it was still too early on to tell how the next few miles were going to shape up as I was primarily focused on not letting the pacers get too far away from me but by the time we had reached the Convention Centre, it soon became evident that maintaining the effort I was putting in would be a big ask and noticed that the 19 minute pacer had begun to ever so slightly pull away. The leading pack were already making their way back up towards the City Quay bridge looking mightily controlled.

Mile 2 - 6:21
As is often the case during races, when I find myself having to start to dig deep, I am guilty of focusing too much on the distance left to run and wonder/doubt if I truly have what it takes to make it to the finish line without either slowing up considerably or even stopping altogether.
These very thoughts were impossible to ignore on this occasion as we made our way up the seemingly endless journey back up towards the IFSC. By now I had already officially lost the 19 minute pacers and a glance at the watch spelled trouble, compounded by the ever nearing shouts from the 20 minute pacers behind me. Some welcome encouragement came from Hobbyjogger and skyblue which spurred me on ever so slightly, even though I was now officially 'struggling' and with a mile to go, I already felt as if I had nothing left in the tank.

Mile 3 - 6:51, (.15m @6.04)
With the levels of effort now at a maximum and with a worryingly large number of runners passing me out, we crossed back over the bridge at City Quay and another glance at the watch showed 15:xx. I knew I would have to push even harder than I already was if I was going to get anywhere under 20 minutes and the sight of the finish line - barely visible from the beginning of the home straight - confirmed to me that it wasn't going to happen today.
The 20 minute pacers were now just ahead of me and although I found a burst of speed from somewhere in the last 300 metres, it wasn't quite enough. I crossed the line in a heap, found the nearest bench and swore like a sailor while pouring the contents of a bottle of water over my head. Nothing quite like a good old fashioned swear-fest to let it all out......:p
Chip time was 20:07

Saw WW cross the line mere seconds after me and assessed the damage with skyblue as we made our way down to the refreshments. Met up again with ReeReeG and after some much need grub and a beer, was introduced for the first time to aquinn, Murph_D and singer. Lovely to put more faces to familiar Boards names.

So, on reflection, I'm not overly disappointed, as it's still a respectable enough time. Racing strategies were poorly judged in my eyes, possibly influenced by the combined excitement and nerves on the day.
Not really sure what's next, race-wise. Might try out the Kilcock 10 from 10 at the end of July before the Ratoath Half in September.

Cheers!!

chickey2

So close! Sounds like a lot of people found it tough which suggests conditions weren't ideal for a pb. You'll get there soon.

ariana`

It'd be interesting if you could see a parallel version where you started with the 20 min pacer instead of the 19 or even somewhere in between...

It was a great effort on a tough enough evening, by all accounts it was warm out there and the course possibly a small bit long as well? Lots of lessons learnt too i'd say! Well done