Como Una Cabra

ThebitterLemon

Diablo Verde wrote: »

Saturday 3rd – Easy

St. Anne’s and the dunes

Distance – 14.5km
Average pace: 4:53km

Sunday 4th – Long (ish) run

A change of scenery today, as I headed out towards the Pigeon House before getting lost. Then headed along the coast, cutting up towards Herbert Park, where I did 2 laps, before heading for home. Sped up for the last 2 or 3 kms.

Distance – 21.5km
Average pace: 4:48km

S&C – Isometrix and core

Total Weekly Distance – 107km

What’s Isometrix??

I’ve tried dominatrix but pulled a muscle and it wasn’t for me...:)

TbL

Diablo Verde

Itziger told me you were whipped, but I thought he meant something else

It's a strength routine from a fitness program called P90x3. 30 mins of various balance poses. I try to do this and another 30 minute yoga routine once a week.

ThebitterLemon

Diablo Verde wrote: »

Itziger told me you were whipped, but I thought he meant something else

It's a strength routine from a fitness program called P90x3. 30 mins of various balance poses. I try to do this and another 30 minute yoga routine once a week.

Thanks, but don’t mind that auld tax exile

Have you a link to any (non X rated) videos?

TbL

Diablo Verde

ThebitterLemon wrote: »

Have you a link to any (non X rated) videos?

TbL

I'm not sure where you'd get it online. I have them on DVDs.

Diablo Verde

Monday 5th April – Easy 10km

Into a mini-taper period ahead of the half TT now, so 10k felt handy as opposed to the usual 13 or 14.

Average pace: 5:06/km

S&C – The Challenge and core

Tuesday 6th April – Easy 10km

Average pace: 5:04/km

S&C – Yoga

Wednesday 7th April - Session – 6x1,600 with 400m recovery

Felt strong for all of these reps, and was getting fierce confident. Then, later in the evening I developed a pain at the front of my left shin. Limping around, I was worrying that the heavy mileage was beginning to catch up on me.

Rep 1: 05:57 @3:43/km
Rep 2: 05:57 @3:43/km
Rep 3: 05:57 @3:43/km
Rep 4: 05:57 @3:43/km
Rep 5: 05:57 @3:43/km
Rep 6: 05:54 @3:41/km

Total Distance – 17km

Thursday 8th April – 5k recovery

With the shin feeling a lot better, I decided to go out and jog these few recovery kms, and to bail out if necessary. I needn’t have worried. All good.

Average pace: 5:18/km

S&C – The Challenge

Friday 9th April – Session – 8km@Tempo

Found this about equally as tough as running 12km at the same pace a week ago. I got through it all the same, and there were no issues with the shin.

Distance – 16km
Tempo: 8km @ 3:51/km average

S&C – Legs

Saturday 10th April – Easy

St. Anne’s

Distance – 11.2km
Average pace: 5:08/km

Sunday 11th April – Easy

St. Anne’s – Dunes – St. Anne’s

Distance – 17km
Average pace: 5:07/km

S&C – Yoga and core

Total Weekly Distance – 87km

Thoughts for next week:
I’m into the final week of this training plan now so the mileage is coming down. The sore leg during the week feels like a bit of a warning, so I think I’ll probably adjust my plans slightly. I had initially planned to run a half TT next weekend. It might still happen, but I’m not against delaying it by two weeks, with one eye on the boards 5k TT the previous weekend. I guess that it’s one advantage of not having fixed race dates that you can adjust your plans if necessary.

Diablo Verde

Monday 12th April – Easy 11km

Average pace: 5:05/km

S&C – The Challenge and core

Tuesday 13th April – Easy 10km

Average pace: 5:04/km

Wednesday 14th April - Session – 6x1,600 with 400m recovery

I finally decided on a repeat of last week’s sessions, hoping that they’ll leave me reasonably rested heading into the 5k TT next week. It was quite breezy on parts of the loop so I was happy to keep a fairly steady pace. My goal time for the TT requires me to knock about 16 seconds/km off the pace of these reps. This makes me want to cry! At least I’ll only have to do 3 (and a bit) laps.

Rep 1: 05:59 @3:44/km
Rep 2: 05:57 @3:43/km
Rep 3: 05:54 @3:41/km
Rep 4: 05:56 @3:43/km
Rep 5: 05:57 @3:43/km
Rep 6: 05:55 @3:42/km

Total Distance – 17km

S&C – Isometrix and Core

Thursday 15th April – 5k recovery

Average pace: 5:18/km

S&C – Yoga

Friday 16th April – Session – 8km@Tempo

This was definitely easier than last week. Just got out there and got it done. I’m feeling fit.

Distance – 16km

Tempo: 8km @ 3:50/km average

S&C – Legs

Saturday 17th April – Easy

Dunes and St. Anne’s

Distance – 14km
Average pace: 5:00/km

S&C – The Challenge

Sunday 18th April – Long Run

Poolbeg lighthouse and back.

Distance – 21km
Average pace: 4:51/km

S&C – Yoga

Total Weekly Distance – 94.8km

Diablo Verde

Monday 19th April – Easy 10.5km

Average pace: 5:02/km

Tuesday 20th April – 3x1,200@10k, 3x600@5k, 400m recovery between all

It had been too long so I took this session out to Malahide. I also wanted to use the “cheat boots” for it, as I’ll be wearing them for the TT this weekend, and I wanted to get a feel for the pace in them again. The session went well enough but, again, I can’t imagine maintaining that 5k pace for any length of time. The 10k pace reps were too fast, and the 5k ones were slightly too slow. I’m sure there’s something to learn there.

Rep 1: 04:18 @3:35/km
Rep 2: 04:18 @3:35/km
Rep 3: 04:18 @3:35/km

Rep 4: 02:06 @3:30/km
Rep 5: 02:06 @3:30/km
Rep 6: 02:03 @3:25/km

S&C – Legs & core

Unknownability

Just a quick one on todays session, I'm reading the first set at as 3 one mile reps (1600m) in 4:18, is that correct?

Dubh Geannain

Unknownability wrote: »

Just a quick on on todays session, I'm reading the first set at as 3 one mile reps (1600m) in 4:18, is that correct?

1,200s I'd guess.

Unknownability

Dubh Geannain wrote: »

1,200s I'd guess.

That makes more sense!

Diablo Verde

Unknownability wrote: »

Just a quick one on todays session, I'm reading the first set at as 3 one mile reps (1600m) in 4:18, is that correct?

Good spot. Definitely only 1,200

Diablo Verde

Wednesday 21st April - Easy

Distance – 5km
Average Pace – 05:09/km

S&C – The Challenge

Thursday 22nd April – Easy

Distance – 10.5km
Average pace: 5:04/km

Friday 23rd April – Easy

Distance – 9km
Average Pace – 05:03/km

S&C – Isometrix

I'm actually a little bit on edge ahead of this TT tomorrow. I've been missing the auld races, and while these efforts are seriously diminished by not having people around you, they feel like the next best thing. I haven't been training specifically for 5kms, aiming instead for a half effort next week. The question is whether almost 4 months of solid training will buy me a few extra seconds. My last TT was 17:17 on the first of January.

Race strategy is to run around 3:30/km for the first 3, convince myself to keep going for the next k, and see what's left for the last. As per usual, I'll try to get as close to puking as humanly possible, without actually puking. I will then spend at least 5 minutes cursing the 5k distance and convincing myself that the half will be easier next week. I will have forgotten all the pain 5 minutes after that.

healy1835

If the HM is the main aim then tomorrow is bit of a free roll. You're flying in training and there's enough speed in some of those sessions for you to go well tomorrow. Looking forward to seeing your HM time (and tomorrow as well )

Swashbuckler

Diablo Verde wrote: »

[
Race strategy is to run around 3:30/km for the first 3, convince myself to keep going for the next k, and see what's left for the last. As per usual, I'll try to get as close to puking as humanly possible, without actually puking. I will then spend at least 5 minutes cursing the 5k distance and convincing myself that the half will be easier next week. I will have forgotten all the pain 5 minutes after that.

That pretty much sums up how I feel about 5k....:D

Diablo Verde

Saturday 24th April – 5k TT

An unusual experience here as I never really felt like giving up or slowing down. I was still praying for it to be over, but I never considered (intentionally) dropping the pace. I must say, though, that I really didn’t feel like I could have sped up any more than I did for the last km so I’m not overly disappointed to be 1 second behind my fastest time with this 17:18 effort. As well as that, My last official 5k was a 17:57, and I spent 2 years trying to burst through the 18 mins mark, so I'm really not in a position to complain.

Km 1: 3:26
Km 2: 3:29
Km 3: 3:30
Km 4: 3:31
Km 5: 3:22

Total distance – 16km

S&C – Legs

Sunday 25th April – Long Run (1,000 miles for the year)

Griffith Avenue-Griffith Park-Glasnevin-Canal-East Wall-Clontarf

Nice easy effort with MacPhisto to try and get the legs going again. The canal between Phibsborough to Drumcondra was an absolute disgrace, with cans, bottles, and general ****e strewn all over the place. Fair play to the people who were there cleaning it up, but they really shouldn’t have to. What’s wrong with people?

Distance – 18km

Average pace: 4:52/km

S&C – Yoga and core

Total Weekly Distance – 83.5

Thoughts for next week:

Time to start considering a strategy for the half TT next week. I went out slowly in Seville and motored home. That felt good, but can I do that when I don’t have people around me to overtake? I suppose I'll find out.

https://www.strava.com/activities/3044084861

Unknownability

Just looking at your half marathon in Seville, is the heart rate stats for that correct?

I don't think I've ever seen such a low heart rate for such a fast pace.

ThebitterLemon

Unknownability wrote: »

Just looking at your half marathon in Seville, is the heart rate stats for that correct?

I don't think I've ever seen such a low heart rate for such a fast pace.

He’s a heartless bastid is auld Diablo

TbL

Diablo Verde

Unknownability wrote: »

Just looking at your half marathon in Seville, is the heart rate stats for that correct?

I don't think I've ever seen such a low heart rate for such a fast pace.

Definitely not right. I'd say the readings were off the wrist sensor on my garmin which is always all over the place. I'd expect my HR to be in the low 180s for that kind of effort. I'm close to 200 at max.

Diablo Verde

ThebitterLemon wrote: »

He’s a heartless bastid is auld Diablo

TbL

I wish you were the first to say it Fair play on that TT. The roads aren't flat around those parts.

ThebitterLemon

Diablo Verde wrote: »

I wish you were the first to say it Fair play on that TT. The roads aren't flat around those parts.

Thanks.

Well done yourself, great time, maybe a bit slower than Phisto but at least you got the looks in the family

TbL

Unknownability

Diablo Verde wrote: »

Definitely not right. I'd say the readings were off the wrist sensor on my garmin which is always all over the place. I'd expect my HR to be in the low 180s for that kind of effort. I'm close to 200 at max.

Thanks, doesn't make me feel so bad.

Diablo Verde

Monday 26th April Easy

Distance – 10km
Average pace: 4:58/km

S&C – The Challenge

Tuesday 27th April – 2x2k@MP with 1km recovery

I headed down to St. Anne’s to do these on the parkrun course. They felt physically fine, but I have to admit that psychologically I was beginning to doubt my capacity to (a) keep this kind of pace up for 42.2kms at any stage, and (b) run 10 seconds/km quicker for the half at the weekend. This definitely feels like a real taper.

Rep 1: 08:00 @4:00/km
Rep 2: 08:04 @4:02/km

Wednesday 28th April Easy

Distance – 5.5km
Average Pace – 5:09/km

Thursday 29th April Easy

Distance – 11km
Average Pace – 5:17/km

S&C – Yoga

Friday 30th April Easy

Distance – 8.5km
Average Pace – 5:12/km

Saturday 1st May – Half TT in the Phoenix Park

PB – 1:20:05

https://www.strava.com/activities/5221626004

I really didn’t know what to expect from this. I’ve had a good 16 months training since my last half, but I wondered how much of the fitness gains would translate to in terms of time. I was wearing the same magic shoes on both days so I was looking forward to being able to compare like with like. In Seville, I had gone out at a fairly casual pace and sped up in the second half, especially in the final 5kms. I wanted to try to run a more steady effort here.

With that in mind, I set out to run the first three laps of this 3.5 lap course at around my PB pace, and then to allow myself to speed up. And that’s how it happened. This was a controlled effort until 16km, with my body trying to speed up, but my head keeping a lid on things. I was determined to make sure that I had something to show for all of my training and, as such, the brakes were slightly on until I felt confident that I was going to make it. I didn’t let rip for the last 5k but I just let my body do what it had wanted to do earlier, and that was to speed up to 03:45/km pace.

I was tired when I pressed the button on the watch but not exhausted. I think that on an actual raceday, I’d have more in the tank and finish faster. I also think that now that I’ve banked my reward for this block of training, I’ll be less conservative when I next race, and not as concerned about blowing up.

All in all, perfect conditions, solid training, and a cautious approach resulted in success. More than that, The Bitter Lemon has inspired me to start work on a Country & Western album, so I’ll have to get cracking on that.

Kms 1-5: 19:12 @3:50/km
Kms 6-10: 19:06 @3:49/km
Kms 11-15: 19:00 @3:48/km
Kms 16-20: 18:45 @3:45/km
Last 1.1km: 03:58 @3:36/km

Total distance – 21.1km

Sunday 2nd May – Recovery

Distance – 5.5km
Average pace: 5:18/km

Total Weekly Distance – 79.4

Thoughts for next week:

Run slowly

shotgunmcos

Saw this up on Strava. Some run and superbly executed with a fast last 5k! Great result for all the training, well done!

ThebitterLemon

Great running.

You’ll just need a Stetson to complete the look...:)

TbL

MrMacPhisto

ThebitterLemon wrote: »

Great running.

You’ll just need a Stetson to complete the look...:)

TbL

Diablo Verde

Monday 3rd May Easy

Distance – 11km
Average pace: 5:05/km

Tuesday 4th May – Easy

Distance – 11km
Average pace: 5:05/km

Wednesday 5th May Recovery

Distance – 5.5km
Average Pace – 5:13/km

S&C – Yoga

Thursday 6th May Easy

Distance – 14km
Average Pace – 5:05/km

Friday 7th May Easy

Distance – 11km
Average Pace – 5:10/km

Saturday 8th May – Easy

Distance – 13km
Average Pace – 5:15/km

Sunday 9th May – Easy

Distance – 21.5km
Average pace: 5:02/km

Total Weekly Distance – 87.2

Thoughts for next week:
The plan is to gently increase back to something closer to 100 km/week. The arm has been twisted into throwing 8 weeks at a 5k/10k-type training plan starting the following week, so hopefully the head and body will be in the right place for that by then. Also want to get the strength and conditioning going again over the next 7 days.

Diablo Verde

Monday 10th May Easy - Fairview and St. Anne’s parks

Distance – 13.5km
Average pace: 5:06/km

Tuesday 11th May Easy - Sand dunes and St. Anne’s

Distance – 14km
Average pace: 5:10/km

S&C – The Challenge

Wednesday 12th May Easy

Distance – 6km
Average Pace – 5:09/km

S&C – Yoga

Thursday 13th May Easy - Sand dunes and St. Anne’s

Distance – 14.5km
Average Pace – 5:02/km

Friday 14th May Easy - Sand dunes and St. Anne’s

Distance – 14km
Average Pace – 5:05/km

S&C – Legs and Core

Saturday 15th May – Long run to Hill of Howth and back

This was the first ‘non-easy’ run since the half TT, as well as the first time that I took on the Hill in a fair few months. I felt it. It probably wasn’t a good idea to do my leg routine the evening before this, but sure I’ll never learn. By the time we got back to St. Anne’s, I was really struggling and was grateful to be done. I was knackered for the rest of the day too so maybe I just wasn’t right.

Distance – 23km
Average Pace – 4:44/km

Sunday 16th May Easy - Fairview park, eastpoint, along the Liffey and back by Alfie Byrne.

It took a while to get the legs going again after yesterday, but felt reasonably ok by the time I got home.

Distance – 10.5km
Average pace: 4:51/km

S&C – Yoga

Total Weekly Distance – 95.9

Thoughts for next week:
Back into a structured training plan after 2 weeks of easy running.

Murph_D

That Saturday Howth group don’t hang about, do they? Not surprised it took a bit out of you.

Diablo Verde

Murph_D wrote: »

That Saturday Howth group don’t hang about, do they? Not surprised it took a bit out of you.

It was actually just myself and the brother. He seemed a lot healthier by the end of it than I did

ThebitterLemon

Diablo Verde wrote: »

It was actually just myself and the brother. He seemed a lot healthier by the end of it than I did

Jesus the amount of running ye do together ye must be closer than the Waltons

TbL