If found in bar, please return to race!

Lazare

Cracking performance. Well done man. Nice to meet you too.

mister paul

Wednesday: Ouch.

Runmute home from work before heading out to dinner. Lots of stops and feeling sorry for myself. Calves very tight, but there was also a deadness in the legs, a massive lack of energy that attests to the efforts of Tuesday. Not even one bit enjoyable.

Distance: 3.25 miles @ 9:48, avg. hr: 128

Thursday: Not again.

Took the better halfs advice and searched out a tennis ball to roll under my left foot. Not fun, but hopefully helped ease things a bit. Followed that up by following SkyBlues advice and foam rolling the calves briefly. Also not fun.

Plan was to run in to work at lunch, collect the bike and cycle home. I really wasn't looking forward to it though after Wednesday evening and didn't get out the door until half one. Stopped off in the bank to lodge an assortment of coins and then continued on my merry way with a noticeably lighter load. I'd pencilled in 10k for this run, but after Wednesday would happily cut that short if I wasn't feeling it. For the first couple of miles, I was still feeling it in the legs, but by 2.5 in everything started to loosen out. Pace increased and there was more of a bounce in my step. Managed the full 10k albeit with a slightly higher than normal hr, collected the bike and went for a spin out the coast instead of the direct route, to add 11 miles to the overall total for the day. By the end of it, I was feeling tired but good.

Running: 6.32 miles @ 9:19, avg. hr: 137

Cycling: 11.33 miles @ 15.7kmh, avg. hr: 132

Friday: Rest

Saturday: Pacing 28 minutes at St Anne's Parkrun. Nice morning and a big crowd as usual. GPS was a bit off as often happens with the tree cover and came in 15 seconds under target as a result. Strava has distance as 4.96k.

Distance: 5.3 miles in total

Sunday: Long run with A. Wind was strong enough and into our faces for the first half as we battled uphill through the PP, but the last 4 miles along the canal to Phibsboro with the wind at our backs was a pleasure.

Looking back at my plan for the week, this was actually meant to be 11 miles, but happy enough with 10, as it brought me to just above my target for the week, which was 33.

Distance: 10.10 @ 9:33, avg. hr: 126

Weekly totals
Running: 34.2 miles
Cycling: 33.3 miles

YTD totals
Running: 486 miles
Cycling: 618 miles

Huzzah!

Congrats on the PB

mister paul

Plan:
Monday: Rest
Tuesday: Club session
Wednesday: 5m easy
Thursday: 6.2m easy
Friday: Rest
Saturday: Parkrun @ Tempo
Sunday: 12m LSR

Actual:

Monday: Rest

Tuesday: Met up with A and ran down to the club from the IFSC. A few laps of the grass inside the track and then dynamic warmup followed by a few strides.

The actual session was 3 sets of 4 x 400 with reducing recoveries of 45, 30 and 15 seconds, with 2 minutes between sets. Let the faster runners in our lane off and found myself for the most part leading out a small group, with a couple falling off or joining as the session progressed. Overall things went well, although my form was definitely starting to suffer by the latter stages and I needed to reprimand myself at least once. Lifting the knees was getting tougher and as a result cadence was inching up to compensate and keep the pace steady.

Splits|Time|Distance|Avg Pace|Avg HR|Max HR|Avg Run Cadence
1|01:28.1|0.25|05:47|115|127|181
3|01:27.2|0.25|05:48|121|130|178
5|01:26.8|0.25|05:53|127|131|184
7|01:27.0|0.24|05:57|125|127|186
9|01:28.0|0.25|05:57|130|150|179
11|01:26.9|0.25|05:52|147|155|184
13|01:27.8|0.25|05:51|158|166|186
15|01:30.6|0.24|06:10|165|168|180
17|01:29.1|0.25|05:50|149|165|186
19|01:25.5|0.25|05:44|157|164|186
21|01:28.0|0.25|05:48|162|168|185
23|01:26.6|0.25|05:48|168|174|190

After the session ran back to the IFSC with aquinn, Singer and crockmac to collect the bike and then cycled home with A.

Distance: 6.53 miles in total

Wednesday: Ran in to work. A fair bit of the first mile was uphill, which was tough enough, but once I got onto the flat the calves and hamstrings started to ease out. Was still a bit achy, but that's to be expected after a tough session the night before.

Distance: 5.01 miles @ 9:08, avg. hr: 132

Thursday: Surprisingly achy run out the coast and through Clontarf. Legs still tired from the session on Tuesday. What better way to enjoy a bank holiday weekend than with lots of foam rolling.

Distance: 6.22 miles @ 9:24, avg. hr: 130

mister paul

Thursday: Surprisingly achy run out the coast and through Clontarf. Legs tired from the session on Tuesday. What better way to enjoy a bank holiday weekend than with lots of foam rolling.

Distance: 6.22 miles @ 9:24, avg. hr: 130

Friday: Rest

Saturday: Up early after a few glasses of wine on Friday night and we headed down to Darndale for some Parkrun tourism. There was a great Raheny crowd up from St. Anne's and a friendly group of volunteers. No real plan here, but we found ourselves quickly around 7:30/m pace. Kept in and around that and sped up a small bit for the third mile before pushing for the finish. No warmup or cooldown, which wasn't ideal considering the pace. Coffee and a muffin in Insomnia in Meadow's and Byrne instead.

Splits|Time|Distance|Avg Pace|Avg HR|Max HR|Avg Run Cadence
1|07:33.9|1|07:34|133|147|179
2|07:26.7|1|07:27|153|158|181
3|07:18.8|1|07:19|161|164|181
4|01:10.2|0.2|05:59|166|171|186
Summary|23:30|3.2|07:21|150|171|181

Overall a good tempo-ish pace run and nice to finally add Darndale to my list of Parkruns. 49 completed in total at 26 different locations.

Parkrun|Times run
St Anne’s parkrun|16
Fairview parkrun|4
Tolka Valley parkrun|2
Corkagh parkrun|2
Tramore parkrun, Waterford|2
Poppintree parkrun|2
Poolbeg parkrun|2
Newcastle parkrun|1
Tyrrelstown parkrun|1
Castletown parkrun|1
Hartstown parkrun|1
Waterstown parkrun|1
Marlay parkrun|1
Royal Canal parkrun, Kilcock|1
Wanaka parkrun|1
Darndale parkrun|1
Taupo parkrun|1
Donabate parkrun|1
Westport parkrun|1
Malahide parkrun|1
Centennial parkrun|1
Queenstown parkrun|1
Dungloe parkrun|1
Porterstown parkrun|1
Father Collins parkrun|1
Letterkenny parkrun|1

Distance: 3.2 miles @ 7:21, avg. hr: 150

Sunday: The plan was 12 miles and I'd mapped out a route that took us along the DCM route from the North Circular and through Castleknock, before crossing the park to hit the canal at Ashtown to head home. We knocked that on the head when A mentioned that Bloom was on and decided to head towards Sandymount instead. By the time we hit Fairview, the changed tack again due to the wind and headed out along the coast to St. Anne's and found a route there for a few miles. Then back via Killester and Griffith Avenue. Longest run since Charleville last September. Legs were tired for the first few miles but as we got into the second half of the run things improved. Hips tightened up during the last few miles, but that should improve over the next while as the mileage slowly increases.

Distance: 12.01 miles @ 9:36, avg. hr: 132

Happy enough with the week and passed the 500 mark for running. My notional target at the start of the year was 1,500 miles each of running and cycling. On target with the cycling and over 100 miles behind on the running, but the more important goal is DCM and if I hit the mileage targets, so be it.

Weekly totals
Running: 33.95 miles
Cycling: 21.2 miles

YTD totals
Running: 519 miles
Cycling: 639 miles

mister paul

Plan:
Monday: Rest
Tuesday: Club session
Wednesday: 5m easy
Thursday: 6.2m easy
Friday: Rest
Saturday: Parkrun #50
Sunday: 10m LSR

Actual:

Monday: Nice leisurely spin up to Malahide along the coast with A, stopped there for a coffee before heading back the main Malahide road. Got caught in a bit of rain on the way back, but thankfully it wasn't too bad.

HR was generally below 100, but for 4/5 miles as we headed up towards Malahide it spiked and hung around 140-150 until we stopped for coffee. Looks like junk readings.

Distance: 23.03 miles @ 11.2mph

Tuesday: Club session. 4 x [800 / 75s rec, 400 / 60s rec]. Dialled the pace back a bit on last week, as felt that they were a bit hot. Session went well, but calves were really tightening up by the end.

Splits|Time|Distance|Avg Pace|Avg HR|Max HR|Avg Run Cadence
1|03:12.1|0.5|06:27|129|141|182
3|01:31.7|0.25|06:08|138|159|182
5|03:12.4|0.49|06:29|150|165|183
7|01:30.6|0.24|06:10|147|163|187
9|03:10.8|0.5|06:19|153|166|184
11|01:33.3|0.25|06:18|146|160|182
13|03:08.7|0.49|06:26|154|166|189
15|01:28.5|0.25|05:52|151|164|186

My guess is that increased cadence in the final couple of reps was as a result of the tightening calves, although I felt that the form was better than last week in general. Will be foam rolling before this evenings run.

Distance: 7.59 miles in total for the evening

mister paul

Wednesday: Achy recovery run with A around the area. New route, first half mostly uphill and the final two miles mostly downhill. Legs were tired for the first half of the run, particularly just above the knees so I struggled a bit. Shins and calves were playing up as well. Tried to foam roll them beforehand, but very sore. Everything eased after 3 miles, about half a mile before we turned back downhill. Could still feel the calves, but there was more of a pep in my step and lower quads and hamstring were grand.

HR data for the final .75 miles is junk, as Garmin decided that it was between 165 and my new "max HR" of 189. Stopped for a minute and took my HR while looking at HR on watch, about 60-70 difference at that point. Frustrating as it dropped my (estimated) VO₂ Max and makes it difficult to use Strava relative efforts to manage effort over the days and weeks.

Distance: 5.14 miles @ 9:50, avg. hr: 133 #GarminHRJunk

Thursday: Another achy run with A, along the canal this time. Uphill and into the wind for the first half and downhill mostly with the wind (and rain) on the way back. Like Wednesday, energy levels seemed to improve as the run went on.

Distance: 6.23 miles @ 9:48, avg. hr: 127

Friday: Rest (and a 10 mile cycle)

Saturday: Parkrun #50

Short warmup with A and then set off at tempo pace (7:09 - 7:20). All felt good. Miscalculated the pace required to get a St Anne's PB and ratcheted it up for the third mile when I didn't actually need to. Finished with another mile cooldown.

Splits|Time|Distance|Avg Pace|Avg HR|Avg Run Cadence
1|05:04.2|0.53|09:29|118|180
2|07:18.4|1|07:18|133|186
3|07:16.5|1|07:16|158|185
4|06:36.3|1|06:36|170|186
5|00:26.1|0.07|05:53|174|189
6|10:10|1|10:10|148|181
7|00:15.4|0.03|10:11|141|185

Distance: 4.63 miles in total

Sunday: Long run with A. Was meant to be 10 miles, but after about 4, A convinced me that we'd be better off with 12 instead. We're racing the Arthur's Way 5k next Saturday, so there won't be a long run and we'll be hitting the Meno plan in a couple of weeks. Ran up through the PP, taking in some trails and then back home via the canal, adding the extra distance by running a mile out from Ashtown towards Castleknock before turning for home. Was definitely feeling this by the end, with the combination of Saturday night's wine and the heat. Took on a lot of water as well and we had to stop in Ashtown to buy another bottle. Was also running on pretty much empty, with a couple of slices of toast and half a banana. Will need to do a better job of fuelling in future.

Distance: 12.01 @ 9:38, avg. hr: 136

Weekly totals
Running: 35.6 miles
Cycling: 53.0 miles

YTD totals
Running: 555 miles
Cycling: 692 miles

Kellygirl

Are you both doing DCM and following Meno? You’ve a great base heading into marathon training.

mister paul

Kellygirl wrote: »

Are you both doing DCM and following Meno? You’ve a great base heading into marathon training.

Thanks K.

Yeah we're both doing DCM on the Meno plan. As it's my first marathon, I'll be keeping a close eye on things and will drop back to a less advanced plan if I find I'm struggling with it.

mister paul

Plan:
Monday: Rest
Tuesday: 6.2m w/ 2x1m @ tempo
Wednesday: 5m easy
Thursday:
Friday: 3.1m v. easy + strides
Saturday: Arthur's Way 5k
Sunday: 8m LSR

The overall plan for the week is to give myself a bit of recovery time before Arthur's Way 5k on Saturday, hence no club session this evening. I've been struggling recovery-wise after the sessions for the last couple of weeks, so I feel that this gives me a bit of a step back without impacting on the 5k target.

For Sunday, I'll see how the body is feeling and might either increase of decrease the planned distance.

The Black Oil

mister paul wrote: »

Thanks K.

Yeah we're both doing DCM on the Meno plan. As it's my first marathon, I'll be keeping a close eye on things and will drop back to a less advanced plan if I find I'm struggling with it.

For anyone concerned, I reckon the Meno plan looks more tricky on paper than it is in reality. Think my first glance as a little 'feck, all the notes!'. Once you get a few weeks into it's very doable and enjoyable.

crockmac

Noob question, what’s the Meno plan? Mentored novices?

The Black Oil

Meno plan. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Iqh0HwS7Tg0CIUOs8LPvyGiPaSKI1LxP0DIV8Vuazm8/edit#gid=906928231

annapr

The Black Oil wrote: »

Meno plan. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Iqh0HwS7Tg0CIUOs8LPvyGiPaSKI1LxP0DIV8Vuazm8/edit#gid=906928231

Thanks for the link...

The later version of the plan and advice from various people who did it is not to do the 10 x 800's as the first session... make it 6 x 800 at the most.

Good luck with it P! No bother to you, especially with in-house coaching

skyblue46

annapr wrote: »

Thanks for the link...

The later version of the plan and advice from various people who did it is not to do the 10 x 800's as the first session... make it 6 x 800 at the most.

Good luck with it P! No bother to you, especially with in-house coaching

Who was the plan introduced for? Was it for a grads thread or a thread for people aiming to finish in any particular time?

Murph_D

It was for the 2012 grads training for 2013 DCM, hence built around the race series. There were no specific time targets. I used it for a 3:46 at the time, and subsequently for Berlin 2014 (3:36) and Cork 2015 (3:29).

mister paul

Plan:
Monday: Rest
Tuesday: 6.2m w / 2 x 1m tempo
Wednesday: 5m easy
Thursday:
Friday: 3.1m v. easy w/ strides
Saturday: Arthur's Way 5k
Sunday: 8m LSR

Actual:

Monday: Rest

Tuesday: I'd decided against the club session as although recent sessions have gone well, the recovery has taken a few days and I didn't want to struggle for most of the week before Arthur's Way on Saturday evening. Generally I find that cycling can help to activate my glutes and loosen calves, so can be of benefit before a run, so that's exactly what I did. 15 miles on the other hand was possibly a smidge too far although the run still went well.

Distance: 15.02 miles @ 15mph (avg. moving pace), avg. hr: 129

Thought about my route and decided against heading out the canal towards Ashtown and went instead for a run around the local area that would hopefully allow me to complete both tempo miles without hitting any major junctions. The only problem with the route was that the first tempo mile would be mostly uphill. Got through the warmup and increased the pace to tempo, which I hit easily enough. All was going well for the first quarter mile, until I turned up Grace Park Road. I'd known this would be the tough part, but the wind added extra. After half a mile, I seriously considered pulling back and changing the session with Saturday in mind, but instead stuck it out and was at the upper end of tempo turning onto Collin's Avenue. Finished up just before the Swords Road and recovered crossing towards DCU. A mile past DCU and just crossed Ballymun Road when the watch beeped and I was back on tempo pace. The second mile at tempo without the wind and marginally downhill overall was much easier than the first. The only negative was the cars parked outside houses across the footpath, blocking it completely. Was tempted to do a Starsky and Hutch on it and slide across the bonnets, but I'm not as fast as skyblue. Finished the session with a nice downhill cooldown for a total of 10k for the evening.

Splits|Time|Distance|Elev Gain|Elev Loss|Avg Pace|Avg HR|Max HR|Avg Run Cadence
1|08:58.4|1|--|18|08:58|129|140|175
2|08:54.8|1|19|12|08:55|139|145|181
3|00:27.7|0.05|--|--|10:04|139|140|180
4|07:15.2|1|86|--|07:15|160|167|186
5|09:09.7|1|28|--|09:10|143|164|180
6|07:11.3|1|32|28|07:11|152|161|185
7|08:47.3|1|--|90|08:47|139|157|180
8|01:32.9|0.19|--|--|08:20|139|142|176
Summary|52:17:00|6.23|183|173|08:23|143|167|181

Tempo target according to the tinman running calculator is 7:09 - 7:20, so happy that both miles were bang on target.

Distance: 6.23 miles in total

Wednesday: Nothing. Was feeling a bit under the weather so postponed run until Thursday.

Thursday: Easy lunchtime run out to Ringsend Park for a couple of laps before picking up a sandwich to eat at the desk on the way back. Inside of calves tight and a bit sore, so will need to keep attacking that area with the tennis ball.

Distance: 5.01 miles @ 8:59, avg. hr: 130

Friday: Ran into work and included a few strides through Fairview park. Was lacking in energy for this and running the strides felt completely alien to me. I had a bag on my back, but I've run strides with the same bag previous without any issues, so I don't think that it was the problem.

Distance: 3.5 miles @ 10:01, avg. hr: 127

Saturday: Arthur's Way 5k. The less said about this the better. Got there early, but somehow still only managed less than a mile warmup at easy pace.

Lined up close to the pointy end after a final visit to the facilities. Noticed Peter Somba just ahead on the start line. I'm definitely not used to being this close to the front-runners.

The race started with a lap of the pitch on the wet grass, then out onto the open road and over a humpback bridge, with a sharp left turn onto the canal path. By that stage, half a k in, I was well off pace and just not feeling it. Continued at a similar pace for the rest of the 5k, somewhere in no man's land between tempo and threshold to finish in a chip time of 21:42 for 36th place overall. Weather was "interesting" for mid-June, with heavy enough rain and some hailstones thrown in for good measure.

A bad day at the office in terms of result, but looking back at the last 12 months, I ran 24:03 in the same race (albeit very hungover) and followed that up with a PB of 22 on the nose in the Docklands 5k less than 2 weeks later. That I'm now disappointed despite running inside 22 shows how far I've come in 12 months and that's something I'm very proud of.

Splits|Time|Distance|Elev Gain|Elev Loss|Avg Pace|Avg HR|Max HR|Avg Run Cadence
1|04:15.3|0.62|20|9|06:51|136|160|184
2|04:17.3|0.62|--|14|06:54|155|158|183
3|04:19.9|0.62|--|--|06:58|159|162|186
4|04:24.9|0.62|--|--|07:06|161|165|184
5|04:12.4|0.62|13|--|06:46|163|168|186
6|00:14.7|0.05|--|--|05:14|169|170|192
Summary|21:44|3.15|33|23|06:54|155|170|185

Distance: 4.17 miles in total

Sunday: Laziness

Weekly totals
Running: 18.92 miles
Cycling: 41.76 miles

YTD totals
Running: 573 miles
Cycling: 734 miles

Singer

mister paul wrote: »

Sunday: Laziness

For a successful marathon runner wannabe you're not running enough miles!

(pretty sure you know this)

mister paul

Singer wrote: »

For a successful marathon runner wannabe you're not running enough miles!

(pretty sure you know this)

Haha, it's about quality, not quantity

Under 19 miles for the week is definitely not where I wanna be, but I'm still averaging just over 30 for the last 4 weeks, including 2 12 mile lsrs, so not in too bad a place at the moment.

Meno plan kicks in with a couple of 35-40 (ish) mile weeks and a 13 mile lsr. I'm usually in that weekly distance bracket recently, although longest lsr so far this year is only 12. Hopefully I'll surpass that this weekend.

mister paul

Also, just to add, I don't intend to make a habit of missing out on my long runs.

mister paul

Plan:
Monday: Rest / cycle
Tuesday: Club session
Wednesday: 5m easy
Thursday: 6.2m easy
Friday: Rest
Saturday: Parkrun
Sunday: 12-14m lsr

Actual:

Monday: Diversion on the cycle home out the Clontarf seafront before turning back towards Glasnevin via Raheny.

Distance: 11.25 miles @ 15.6mph, avg. hr: 126

Tuesday: Cru session 4 x [600, 400, 200 off 75s, 60s, 120s standing rec]

Cycled over to A in the IFSC, locked the bike and jogged over to the club with A and E. I was already feeling the heat by the time we reached the club. Laps of the track catching up with Singer and crockmac and all felt well before the standard dynamic warmup and strides.

Started the actual session in a small group including crockmac and mostly kept with the same group throughout. Paces were faster than usual, but all felt good and the heat that I'd noticed on the warmup didn't have any impact. Calves didn't complain and there were no issues at all until a slight stitch during the final 600. That didn't get any worse thankfully, although I was breathing heavily by the end as is to be expected.

Definitely my best session of the year. Recoveries were possibly more generous than they often are, particularly the 2 minutes between sets.

Splits|Time|Distance|Avg Pace|Avg HR|Max HR|Avg Run Cadence
1|02:16.9|0.38|06:04|132|146|188
3|01:25.9|0.25|05:48|132|147|184
5|00:38.5|0.12|05:25|137|139|192
7|02:11.9|0.37|05:52|132|145|185
9|01:25.9|0.25|05:50|147|158|185
11|00:37.3|0.11|05:27|146|152|184
13|02:13.7|0.38|05:54|143|154|187
15|01:27.1|0.25|05:49|150|162|189
17|00:40.3|0.12|05:37|149|160|187
19|02:11.3|0.37|05:53|155|168|191
21|01:27.3|0.25|05:50|154|161|185
23|00:36.9|0.13|04:52|154|161|196
Summary|33:35:00|3.31|10:09|143|174|171

Rounded the evening out with a run back to collect the bike from the IFSC with aquinn, Singer and crockmac. All in all, a good evening.

Distance: 7.26 miles in total

Wednesday: Recovery lunchtime miles around Poolbeg as far as Seán Moore Park with A. Calves tight after the session, but not too bad overall.

Distance: 5.01 miles @ 9:54, avg. hr: 125

Thursday: Runmute into work. Legs tired and calves a bit achy as usual (physio this afternoon to get them looked at and get an S&C plan). By the last mile though, I was flying and could have kept going right past the office.

Distance: 6.23 miles @ 9:24, avg. hr: 132

Marshalling at the Docklands 5k this evening. Best of luck to all racing it!

mister paul

Thursday PM: Jogged across to the physio, got an S&C plan and went through all of the exercises and then back to work the same way for a round trip of 2 miles.

Distance: 2 miles [9:43 ->, 9:53 <-], avg. hr: 131

Friday: Rest. I could definitely feel the aftermath of the S&C session in glutes and associated muscle groups.

Saturday: We'd been debating whether to head over to Brickfields or Bushy Park for Parkrun and in the end went for Bushy. S&C session was still in the legs, but decided to give it a bit of a lash anyway. It's a really nice parkrun with forest, lakes/ponds and a friendly crew of volunteers. Started well enough, but near the end of the third k I got a pain high on the left side of my chest and when it didn't ease after 30 seconds I eased off the pace. HR was where I'd have expected it to be, ~165 at that point. To be honest, I was kinda starting to struggle by that point anyway, possibly as a result of the s&c. Fourth k was slow but I was able to pick it up again for the final k without any issues. Happy enough with a time of 20:50. Onwards to marathon training now for the next 18 weeks. I'll still try to make Parkrun as much as possible, but won't be pushing the pace and only moving beyond an easy pace on pacer Saturdays in St Anne's, where I've signed up to pace 27 this week.

Splits|Time|Distance|Elev Gain|Elev Loss|Avg Pace|Avg HR|Max HR|Avg Run Cadence
1|03:58.7|0.62|--|18|06:24|123|157|187
2|04:16.8|0.62|34|--|06:53|151|165|191
3|04:06.8|0.62|--|36|06:37|166|170|192
4|04:34.5|0.62|29|25|07:22|163|169|179
5|03:53.5|0.58|--|--|06:40|168|173|188
Summary|20:50|3.07|63|79|06:47|154|173|187

Distance: 5.41 miles in total

Sunday: I'd mapped a route that met up with the DCM route at mile 3 and continued along it through the park and Castleknock and then back through the park until we turned for home and the DCM route left the park again somewhere between the 9 and 10 mile markers. Route was 12 miles on the button.

Woke naturally without any alarm after 9 and we got ready at an easy pace and headed out the door at about 10:30. We kept the easy pace of the morning up and meandered along the DCM route. As seems to be the case nearly every week at the moment, the park was packed, this time with runners and walkers doing the Colour Dash. We went past the finish line and nabbed some more water, as we were milling through our own supply. By the time we were climbing past Castleknock the extra water was gone. Back into the Park and it was nice to be running on still-closed roads. Legs had loosened out well and the run was feeling good. As we were running around the s-bends, I started to think about tagging on the extra 2 miles that I'd been considering as part of the plan. By the time we left the park I'd decided that I felt strong and in control and would go for it. Left A near home and continued up Mobhi Road on a local 2 mile loop around Griffith Avenue and Drumcondra. It was nice to finish that way, as I knew it so well that the extra 2 miles flew by.

That's my longest ever run by some 0.5 miles and I generally felt good throughout.

Distance: 14.01 miles @ 9:19, avg. hr: 129

Weekly totals
Running: 39.95 miles - sorry A
Cycling: 29.7 miles

YTD totals
Running: 613 miles
Cycling: 763 miles

mister paul

Plan: DCM Training - Meno Week 1
Monday: Rest
Tuesday: 6.2m easy
Wednesday: Yasso 800's - 6 x 800 / same recoveries
Thursday: 5m recovery
Friday: Rest
Saturday: Parkrun (pacing 27 minutes)
Sunday: 13m lsr

Actual:

Monday: Rest

Tuesday: Easy run into the PP and along a part of the North Road before heading back home via Cabra and Phibsboro. Possibly a bit faster than it should have been, but HR was okay throughout, only tipping 140 a couple of times. HRM was all over the place early on, so stopped and it didn't reach anything even remotely resembling accurate until I'd rebooted the watch three times...

Distance: 6.22 miles @ 8:54, avg. hr: 134

Wednesday: Yasso 800's (6 x 800)

Ran down to the club on lunch, just as DD finished up his Wednesday session. Did a few strides and then dived in. First 800 was tough. As soon as I crested the first bend, the breeze hit hard and would continue to be a factor throughout the session. I obviously made some fairly convincing arguments, as I managed to maintain the pace for the most part here. Legs were feeling sluggish and tired, but this can often be the case early on in a session.

With the 100% recoveries though, at least I had plenty of time to catch my breath, take on water and get the HR back down between reps. There was an option to either jog the recoveries or stand, so I went with the latter option. Things got a bit better after the first, but I was definitely blowing hard by the halfway point in the session. Managed to convince myself that once I got through the fourth rep, I was on the home straight, so to speak. To make things interesting, a lace came undone on the final bend onto the home straight second time around during the fourth rep. Thankfully, no harm was done and I'd a few minutes to tie them again.

As per plan, final rep should be the fastest and I just about managed it by 1 second. Managed to keep the pace up until the final 100 and then pushed it.

Laps|Time|Distance|Avg Pace|Avg HR|Max HR|Avg Run Cadence
1|02:56.5|0.5|05:54|145|163|187
3|02:57.5|0.49|05:59|145|153|190
5|02:56.7|0.5|05:54|157|169|188
7|02:58.2|0.5|05:58|154|163|190
9|02:57.2|0.5|05:56|143|161|193
11|02:54.2|0.5|05:49|148|161|194
Summary|32:29:00|3.26|09:58|143|170|172

Distance: 7.20 miles in total

Thursday: Early morning (for me) recovery run along Griffith Avenue with A. Calves tight and there was definitely lots of lactate lingering, but good to get the run out of the way.

Distance: 4.44 miles @ 9:40, avg. hr: 128

The Black Oil

Welcome to meno country!

Murph_D

mister paul wrote: »

Laps|Time|Distance|Avg Pace|Avg HR|Max HR|Avg Run Cadence
1|02:56.5|0.5|05:54|145|163|187
3|02:57.5|0.49|05:59|145|153|190
5|02:56.7|0.5|05:54|157|169|188
7|02:58.2|0.5|05:58|154|163|190
9|02:57.2|0.5|05:56|143|161|193
11|02:54.2|0.5|05:49|148|161|194
Summary|32:29:00|3.26|09:58|143|170|172

Yowsa!

Does the plan not say to do these at around 5k pace? This looks more like your mile pace. You seem to have plenty of speed anyway. Careful now, that's one tough session you just did!

mister paul

Murph_D wrote: »

Yowsa!

Does the plan not say to do these at around 5k pace? This looks more like your mile pace. You seem to have plenty of speed anyway. Careful now, that's one tough session you just did!

Just took a look now and it does indeed say 5k pace or "maybe a touch slower". Oops. Lesson learned, I'll RTFM next time...

mister paul

Friday: Rest

Saturday: Pacing 27 minutes in St Anne's. Official time 26:49.

Distance: 5.79 miles in total, including warmup and cooldown

Sunday: 13 mile long run. Used pretty much the same route as last week through the PP and Castleknock.

Distance: 13.12 miles @ 9:33, avg. hr: 127

Weekly totals
Running: 36.8 miles
Cycling: 23.2 miles

First week of the meno plan completed. Plan states that first week mileage should 35-40 miles, so happy with just under 37.

June stats
Running: 146 miles
Cycling: 148 miles

A good month overall, with my highest mileage running month since November and my second highest ever (only 0.55 mile behind November).

YTD totals
Running: 650 miles
Cycling: 787 miles

mister paul

Plan: DCM Training - Meno Week 2
Monday: S&C
Tuesday: 6.2 miles easy, with strides
Wednesday: Progression - 2m easy wu, 8 min steady, 8 min MP, 8 min HMP, 8 min "hard" (~10k pace), 2m easy cd
Thursday: 5m recovery + S&C
Friday: Rest
Saturday: Parkrun easy (5 miles in total)
Sunday: 14m lsr

Actual:

Monday: S&C

Warmup - calf stretches, hip flexor stretches, spiderman stretches w/ twist, and glute activation with resistance band; squats x 8, crab walk x 8, glute bridges x 4.
Workout (two sets) - split squat w/ 8kg kb x 4, single leg deadlift w/ 8kg kb x 4, calf drops x8, side plank leg lift x5, front plank w/ reach x 8.

Tuesday: Easy miles with A. Left hip and glute a bit tight after the S&C, but grand overall. Did some stretching after. Forgot the strides again, oops.

Distance: 6.30 miles @ 9:23, avg. hr: 123

Wednesday: We ran down to the PP for this one and ran a half lap up the North Road and back Chesterfield Avenue. Despite the heat of the evening, this went well and I hit all of the paces fairly well, although with the slightly larger step between MP and HMP it took me a bit to tune in to the effort. We probably cheated a bit in that the steady and MP sections were mostly uphill and the faster intervals mostly downhill.

Laps|Target time|Actual time|Distance|Avg Pace|Avg HR|Max HR|Avg Run Cadence
Steady|8:00 - 8:10|08:00|0.99|08:07|143|151|182
MP|7:40 - 7:50|07:42.5|1|07:42|152|158|182
||00:17.5|0.03|08:31|150|152|183
HMP|7:00 - 7:10|07:03.4|1|07:03|157|160|184
||00:56.6|0.13|07:01|159|163|187
10k|6:45 - 6:55|06:51.5|1|06:51|161|166|185
||01:08.5|0.18|06:22|165|167|191

Distance: 9 miles in total

Thursday: Easy running around the local area. First mile or so was uphill to DCU with the payoff in the last mile or so back down to Drumcondra. Really enjoyed this and the legs were grand after the session on Wednesday. Stopped after half a mile and set an alert on the watch for the HR going above 130, which it did a few times after that. For the most part though the effort was good and the miles easy. A was giving out afterwards that I'd barely broken a sweat. Job done.

Distance: 5.02 miles @ 9:17, avg. hr: 127

I was meant to do another S&C session after the run, but it slipped my mind, so I guess today won't be a proper rest day after all.

mister paul

Friday: Rest

Saturday: A bit of Parkrun tourism with A, this week in Griffeen. Nice enough park, although not the most exciting in the world. Pace was on the quicker side of easy. Did another lap to cooldown and added 5-6 strides.

Distance: 5.20 miles @ 8:58, avg. hr: 142

Sunday: A was off volunteering at junior Parkrun in St Anne's so I was solo for this one. Picked up on the DCM route where we'd left off in the park last time, through Chapelizod and followed the route as far as Crumlin Children's Hospital, before turning for home through Harold's Cross. Run went well but was starting to tire by the finish.

Distance: 14.07 miles @ 9:13, avg. hr: 133

Weekly totals
Running: 39.6 miles
Cycling: 28.9 miles

YTD totals
Running: 690 miles
Cycling: 816 miles

mister paul

Plan: DCM Training - Meno Week 3
Monday: Rest
Tuesday: 6.2 miles easy + S&C
Wednesday: 10-12 miles w/ 3 x 2m @ 10m-HMP (0.5m rec)
Thursday: 5m recovery + S&C
Friday: Rest
Saturday: 16m lsr
Sunday: 5m recovery

Actual:

Monday: Rest

Tuesday: Easy miles out through Clontarf. Looking back on Strava, it seems that my cadence was down a bit (172 average), but it all felt good.

Distance: 6.30 miles @ 9:19, avg. hr: 124

Wednesday: Tough session in the rain. We headed up to the PP after work and got going. By halfway through the first 2m, I was really feeling it and although I managed to hang on, I needed to take a short walking break after. The second rep was even worse, although the route certainly didn't help, as it started along Ordinance and then down into the Furry Glen and back up the other side. Was tempted more than once to bail, but once again I managed to hang on. I walked for the first .1 of the recovery, before trudging onwards. The final rep was a bit better, back along the North Road to the city end of the park, but I was still struggling by the end. Caught my breath and then turned back to find A along the North Road, who was doing the same session.

Laps|Distance|Avg Pace|Avg HR|Max HR|Avg Run Cadence
4|1|07:04|150|162|185
5|1|06:56|164|168|187
6|0.5|10:41|140|164|170
7|1|07:04|155|164|186
8|1|07:01|166|169|185
9|0.5|12:18|136|169|164
10|1|07:04|154|163|184
11|1|06:55|161|166|185

Distance: 12.01 miles in total

Thursday: Easy recovery run along Griffith Avenue with A.

Distance: 4.32 miles @ 9:55, avg. hr: 125

Friday: Rest

Saturday: Out "early" for Parkrun as part of our long run. Ran the 4 miles over to Brickfields, arriving as the RD was starting her talk. Took it easy and got chatting to a father and daughter. The daughter was only 6, but was running her 21st Parkrun, having also completed 84 Junior Parkruns. Some achievement. As for us, we finished in just under 30 minutes.

After that, we joined up with the DCM route to continue exploring that. Finished up as we got near Windy Arbor LUAS stop. Plan was to get the green line back as far as Phibsboro and grab some brunch somewhere there. There was a fault on the green line though, so we'd to walk as far as the 14 bus, get that into town and another bus back out to Drumcondra. If anything, I think that the walk after the run helped with recovery.

Distance: 16.01 miles @ 9:33, avg. hr: 127

Sunday: We were both tired after dinner and drinks in town with friends on Saturday night so this was a bit of a struggle. Still, good to get out and get it done.

Distance: 5.20 miles @ 9:49, avg. hr: 130

Weekly totals
Running: 43.87 miles
Cycling: 23.15 miles

YTD totals
Running: 734 miles
Cycling: 839 miles