Often becomes easy when the easy is often..

Lazare

Tue April 30:

6:30am - 8 miles aerobic with 5x 100m strides. Average 5:42km

Wed May 1:

6:30am - 9 miles endurance. 5:53 - 5:05. Have I mentioned how much I love these runs?

No S&C this week.

Friday May 3:

5:50am - Vo2Max session. 2x sets 1200, 800, 800 with WU/CD, 9 miles total.

Had to be in work an hour earlier than normal, so it was get up earlier or risk missing the session as evening time is close on impossible for me. Felt I struggled a bit with these. Struggled to hit the pace range. Read a comment on Swash's log mentioning early morning sessions are a bitch that rested my mind a little. I 'should' be able to do these at goal pace with ease and I couldn't.

Paces were 4:13km, 4:08, 4:12, 4:22, 4:23, 4:08, slight drag on the second set but not enough to blame.

Effort felt right though, have to keep reminding myself that's all that matters.

Saturday May 4:

Corkagh parkrun with the buggy plus a mile or so. Supposed to be recovery but again I got carried away with myself. Definitely a leak I need to plug.

Felt relaxed though. I titled my Strava 'Recovery' and only later copped the splits.

Sunday May 5:

2:20pm - 10 mile endurance. 5:53 - 5:06. Took advantage of the quiet roads and ran from my house to the canal at Lyons estate and up the canal for a few miles. Gorgeous run, wish I could do it every morning but the roads are too dangerous. Downhill to the canal during for the easy quarter and uphill for the fast last quarter made it a great workout. Felt really strong for the last few k.

Total mileage: 40.42


Have had to tweak the plan a little given the target is a Tuesday. Plan would have ended the following Saturday.

I'll run this week fully to plan, including another tune up next Sat at Corkagh. Then I'll need to skip a Vo2 session to bring the taper forward. That session would have been 9 days out but is 5 days out for me. Open to suggestions though as to whether to include it. It's 8 miles with 4x 800 and 2x 600.

Kellygirl

Maybe have a look at the Grads plan - the session included in raceweek is 6x1min @ VO2.

Swashbuckler

Lazare wrote:

Had to be in work an hour earlier than normal, so it was get up earlier or risk missing the session as evening time is close on impossible for me. Felt I struggled a bit with these. Struggled to hit the pace range. Read a comment on Swash's log mentioning early morning sessions are a bitch that rested my mind a little. I 'should' be able to do these at goal pace with ease and I couldn't.

I'm always the same with morning sessions. And I've seen others on her (people I'd consider session monsters) say the same from time to time. Nothing to worry about. Fair play for getting it done

Baby75

I felt the same on my long run on Sunday early mornings really do make it harder sometimes.

is Lyons Road really busy during the week now, it used to be my go-to up along the canal banks and come around up through Ardlclogh and down Athgoe hill.

Lazare

Baby75 wrote: »

I felt the same on my long run on Sunday early mornings really do make it harder sometimes.

is Lyons Road really busy during the week now, it used to be my go-to up along the canal banks and come around up through Ardlclogh and down Athgoe hill.

It wouldn't be crazy busy with traffic, just that early morning midweek traffic would be a little bit more aggressive than a Sunday afternoon.

Baby75

Lazare wrote: »

It wouldn't be crazy busy with traffic, just that early morning midweek traffic would be a little bit more aggressive than a Sunday afternoon.

I know what you mean, with some of the bends at the top of the road you nearly have to cross the road on to the wrong side so cars will see you.

I used to run across the fields and come out just past Holly Grove Stud and back that way home

Lazare

Been busy looking ahead at the Summer and picked out a few races.

It's made me realise how much I love this shorter stuff. I feel zero pressure right now. A marathon block is such a different ball game. So much pressure.

I've actually put more time into this, twenty weeks getting race ready, 18 with DCM.

The big difference here though is I'm not under massive pressure for the stars to align. It's not just one shot. I can hit/miss rinse repeat all Summer long. Quick recovery, go again. The payoff when a marathon goes right is something else, a la AMK's Rotterdam, and shotgunmcos' Limerick, it's what we chase but it's massive risk stuff imo. Massive risk massive reward.

I'm liking this low risk high reward stuff.

Schedule so far is looking like this..

May 11th - Corkagh parkrun raced (tune-up)

May 21st - Bob Heffernan - Target

June 1st - parkrun raced

June 15th - Hell & Back (agreed to sign up to this with friends, gonna take it easy at it and have fun, hope don't break nuffin)

June 20th - Dub Docklands 5k - tune up

June 28th - St Cocas 5k - Target

July 14th - Day of Irish pbs - Target

July 21st - South Dub 10k

skyblue46

Out of curiosity what will you do different for a tune-up race compared to a target race?

Lazare

skyblue46 wrote: »

Out of curiosity what will you do different for a tune-up race compared to a target race?

Less taper.

Can't afford to full taper too often. I'll have a crack at Docklands for sure, but I'll be having a decent enough week leading up to it.

Swashbuckler

Plenty of 5k practice there. You'll be tuned into 5k racing in no time. Good stuff.

skyblue46

Lazare wrote: »

Less taper.

Can't afford to full taper too often. I'll have a crack at Docklands for sure, but I'll be having a decent enough week leading up to it.

Yeah have a full 100% crack at each race. Last year I was targeting Bob Heffernan for the sub 20 and it happened at a race before it without a taper. Give yourself a shot at it every time.

ReeReeG

The Pfitzinger 5k - HM book goes into that quite a bit right? About training between multiple races etc

Lazare

skyblue46 wrote: »

Yeah have a full 100% crack at each race. Last year I was targeting Bob Heffernan for the sub 20 and it happened at a race before it without a taper. Give yourself a shot at it every time.

I remember it well, you and Damo storming it. Absolutely Sean, will be attacking each one.

ReeReeG wrote: »

The Pfitzinger 5k - HM book goes into that quite a bit right? About training between multiple races etc

Yes V, they advise against tapering too often too close together. Makes tons of sense. Full taper is a lower mileage week mostly at recovery effort. I'll reserve that for the three target races and keep up the likes of the endurance runs throughout the rest.

Swashbuckler

Lazare wrote:

Yes V, they advise against tapering too often too close together. Makes tons of sense. Full taper is a lower mileage week mostly at recovery effort. I'll reserve that for the three target races and keep up the likes of the endurance runs throughout the rest.

Even with the target races I presume you'll have a midweek session? Are you following any particular plan or did I miss that detail?

skyblue46

Swashbuckler wrote: »

Even with the target races I presume you'll have a midweek session? Are you following any particular plan or did I miss that detail?

That caught my attention too. It sounded like no midweek session.

Lazare

Was actually going to seek advice on that as soon as BH was done.

Working back from BH this is what the week looks like.

Tue - Race
Mon- 3m rec
Sun - rest
Sat- 4m rec
Fri- 3m rec
Thurs- 6m, 4x 100m strides, 800m at race pace
Wed- 7m easy

With Cocas I'll have Docklands the day before that 7 mile, which is effectively a Vo2max session.

Was planning on similar in the lead up to Day of pbs.

Was just going to carry on as I am during the season, no plan as such, just re running some of the weeks I'm currently doing.

ariana`

Great work going on here C. And i agree there is so much pressure with the marathon that everything is magnified. You have a great line up for the Summer - you've been very disciplined holding off on racing, you'll have a ball once you get going

Swashbuckler wrote: »

Even with the target races I presume you'll have a midweek session? Are you following any particular plan or did I miss that detail?

Sorry for the hijack C but this touches on something i found myself wondering about lately! All the out of the box training plans i've looked at over the years work around races being at the weekend, how does one adjust for mid-week races?

Typically on race week i'd do a mid-week short sharp session and then race at the weekend and there'd be no LSR that week. But if the race is on Tuesday/Wednesday would i be right to do race + LSR (maybe a slightly reduced one) at the weekend and no mid-week session? There'd be other easy/recovery runs cushioned around those but they would be the two 'hard' days per se.

skyblue46

ariana` wrote: »

Great work going on here C. And i agree there is so much pressure with the marathon that everything is magnified. You have a great line up for the Summer - you've been very disciplined holding off on racing, you'll have a ball once you get going



Sorry for the hijack C but this touches on something i found myself wondering about lately! All the out of the box training plans i've looked at over the years work around races being at the weekend, how does one adjust for mid-week races?

Typically on race week i'd do a mid-week short sharp session and then race at the weekend and there'd be no LSR that week. But if the race is on Tuesday/Wednesday would i be right to do race + LSR (maybe a slightly reduced one) at the weekend and no mid-week session? There'd be other easy/recovery runs cushioned around those but they would be the two 'hard' days per se.

I know it wasn't aimed at me but I'll jump in anyway! :pac: I think there can be two different approaches depending on how 'goal' the race is. Just to use C's example of the Bob Heffernan which is on a Tuesday night. It is not a goal race for me so I will only slightly tweak my normal routine by bringing session and long run forward to the Friday and Saturday rather than the usual Sat/ Sunday. The race will then be my midweek session and the week will resume as normal after that.

If it was a goal race I would probably do a session the Thursday before, a few easy miles on the Friday and Saturday, rest Sunday and a couple of easy miles and a few strides on the Monday.

ariana`

skyblue46 wrote: »

I know it wasn't aimed at me but I'll jump in anyway! :pac: I think there can be two different approaches depending on how 'goal' the race is. Just to use C's example of the Bob Heffernan which is on a Tuesday night. It is not a goal race for me so I will only slightly tweak my normal routine by bringing session and long run forward to the Friday and Saturday rather than the usual Sat/ Sunday. The race will then be my midweek session and the week will resume as normal after that.

If it was a goal race I would probably do a session the Thursday before, a few easy miles on the Friday and Saturday, rest Sunday and a couple of easy miles and a few strides on the Monday.

That answers my question perfectly. I have a couple of midweek races coming up but none are goal races, just racing to train at this stage so i'll adopt the BH strategy above.

And i never mind you jumping in or anyone else either for that matter, I appreciate anyone who takes the time! Thanks S

Swashbuckler

This looks good to me. A session approx 4 days out from a race is about right.





If I have a midweek race like a Tuesday or Wednesday that will become a session for me that week. If it's a Tuesday I'll do another session again on Friday and an lsr on Saturday. (all my long runs are Saturday). If the race is a Wednesday I would consider not doing another session on the Friday but would still do the long run as normal.

If the midweek race is a big target race I would be dropping my long run the previous weekend in favor of a taper.
If it's not a target race I'd still be doing some bit of a reduced long run/session.

This approach for me changes if the midweek race is a 10k or longer.

ariana`

Swashbuckler wrote: »

This looks good to me. A session approx 4 days out from a race is about right.





If I have a midweek race like a Tuesday or Wednesday that will become a session for me that week. If it's a Tuesday I'll do another session again on Friday and an lsr on Saturday. (all my long runs are Saturday). If the race is a Wednesday I would consider not doing another session on the Friday but would still do the long run as normal.

If the midweek race is a big target race I would be dropping my long run the previous weekend in favor of a taper.
If it's not a target race I'd still be doing some bit of a reduced long run/session.

This approach for me changes if the midweek race is a 10k or longer.

The midweek races i'm thinking of at the moment are 5ks and my session/LR are Fri/Sat normally as well so that all fits nicely together. Great advice, cheers.

Lazare

Doesn't look like there's a 20 min pacer this morning.

I suppose, a tune up is supposed to be practise, ain't no pacers at BH.

skyblue46

Best of luck with it. I'll be watching Strava!!

Lazare

20:27

Am happy with that, it's where I thought I should have been at Griffeen 2 weeks ago when I ran 20:55 with the gales.

Good bit to shave though for BH, gonna be a challenge. I'll get it though at some point over the summer if I don't do it Tue week.

Training is working though, I ran 21:39 with my guts out back in Jan on the same course, three days before starting it. So that's good.

Kellygirl

Well done C. It’s great to see progress happening.

Lazare

Thanks K, it's great feeling it.

Baby75

well done C great progress:)

Lazare

Tue May 7th:

6:40am - 8 miles aerobic with 2x sets 4x150 strides. Enjoyed this. Found a great spot for the strides in Greenogue industrial estate, a carpark in between business' that probably only works out early morn. Perfectly flat, perfect distance.

Wed May 8th:

6:50am - 7 miles aerobic. Horrible weather, wore the raincoat. I normally wear the watch on the outside of it but decided to run by feel. Ran slightly slower than normal. Not sure what that means.

Friday May 10th:

7am - 3m @ recovery

Sat May 11th:

Tune up at Corkagh parkrun. Found out that morning that there was no 20 min pacer. Disappointed at first but then realised it would probably be better for me that there wasn't given I need to pace myself at BH.

Weather was perfect, calm and cool. Warmed up for a couple of miles, finishing it with a couple of strides.

'Gun' went and I took off...in front :eek: Took a while for the watch to register the pace. Was leading the pack for about 250m before I copped I was running at sub 18 pace. Whoaahh. Dialled it back. Ran the first k a little over pace at 4:03, happy though as it's the draggiest part of the course.
4:13 for the second km gave me doubts. Back on track km 3, 4:00.
4:12 for 4, always a slow km but doubts again.

Had overtaken a guy on the 3rd km who now was breathing down my neck. We were stride for stride until about 800 to go where I decided to try drop him.

About 50m later he was back on my neck. Thought I'd kicked too early but found another at about 600 to go, again he caught up. We were battling each other almost side by side. I dug deep and found another kick at about 150 out, he found one too and we battled all the way and I just pipped him by 1 second. Was exhilarating. 3:53 for km 5.
20:26. A new parkrun pb, a new 5k pb and a rare proper race experience. It was a perfect tune up.

Mile and a bit cool down afterwards then buzzed for the rest of the day.


Sunday May 12th:

Plan had an 8 mile endurance run on it but it just didn't feel right for me. Had gone out the night before to a gig, wasn't bad hungover or anything but was tired, and legs felt broken up. Ran a little over 3 miles recovery instead.


Total mileage for week 10: 28.14


Week 11 - Taper - Race week

Tuesday May 14th:

7:30am - 4m @ recovery. Didn't have to leave for work until 8:45 so had a rare lie in. Nice gentle run, 4m used to be my go to distance for a pre work run, mad how short it feels now.

Wednesday May 15th:

6:50am - 5m aerobic. Plan had 7 miles but was one of those life gets in the way days. Was my wife's 40th birthday, was up at 6am blowing up balloons and tying banners. Needed to get back before she or the kids woke so I could mastermind a breakfast birthday party. If I run 20:01 it's their fault.

Thursday May 16th:

6:45am - 6 miles aerobic with 4x 100m strides and 800m at race pace.

Ran the 800 at 4:04. Am happy with that though as I felt sluggish since leaving the house.

Friday May 17th:

6:55am - 3m @ recovery. Grand.


Have 4 miles at recovery to do tomorrow, rest Sunday then 3m at recovery on Monday.

Took Tue off work. Really excited about it now. Sleeping needs work, gonna start on that in about 20 mins time and do the same over the next few nights.

Race number arrived yesterday. Was funking hard for it to be 1959.

Should beat it though, it's 3133.

Kellygirl

That was a great Parkrun C. I can see why your were buzzing after.

Lazare

Kellygirl wrote: »

That was a great Parkrun C. I can see why your were buzzing after.

Thanks K. Yeah, it was great. Felt like a proper race for the last km, I've only had that experience a couple of times, it's so good.