Shotgun 2020

OOnegative

Solid run in miserable weather, not to jinx you but you’re looking good!!

kerrylad1

As b said above.You have some amount of work done,enjoy the taper.I did 10miles slow in that myself this morning,miserable as hell.That is a great run,after another tough week.

shotgunmcos

Cheers lads

The Hansons plan barely has a taper. Next 2 weeks are over 50m and both have an interval session and 10m Tempos. The LR is dropped to take the edge off the cumulative fatigue. The "taper" is 9 days of easy running to recover from the fatigue. Ideally feel fresh on the day.

MP tbh is still a range. I'll probably find myself well back from the 3hr pacers but in front of 3:15 band. Hopefully some little groups in between so it's not entirely a solo run

shotgunmcos

Monday 14 April
Plan: Easy 6m
Actual: Easy 6.6m @8:50, HR 131

A little light rain and wind at the end of daylight. The atrocious weather from earlier has headed north east and I look forward to the next few mild days. Slow miles but the body was tired and the legs tender. Hopefully they recover enough to get through the strength intervals tomorrow. Then its a much needed day off on Wednesday. Some kiddie coughing and sneezing in the house and my hands are dry from washing so much. Starting to think about the approach when the mind wanders. It will be good to post the first race report of this log, if nothing else but to break up the training updates...

shotgunmcos

Tuesday 16 April
Plan: 3×2mile Strength Intervals
Actual: 3×2mile Strength+ Intervals (12.92m total)

Poor control on this one. I ran a 3m warmup down to the local park in Mungret. I looked up the Parkrun and the Mungret one is as if not busier than the Limerick one in UL. I'll give it a go once recovered from the marathon. It's loops of the park that includes a long hill. I opted to do the reps here for a change to avoid the sound of traffic.

I got stuck in straight away, navigating invisible dog leads with owners on their phone, kid's racing bikes down the hill, other runners and the usual sunny evening park activities. Great to see such life about but I hadn't factored sidestepping and hurdling into these reps!

The first 2m rep started ok with 6:33 but then a 6:15?! Oops. I got a bit carried away running back down the hill with the wind. The trend continued with it getting ever harder to push up the hill into the wind. The last rep started with 6:38 more sensible, but then I gave the hill it's 8th and final effort before burning the legs back down hill to a 6:12. The cool down was a plod.

Overall I feel wrecked. My neck and shoulders are tired from driving my arms up the hill 8 times. My legs are generally fatigued but now aching and right on the line to overreaching. Tomorrow is a day off and much needed. I'll push the tempo to Friday and run easy Thursday. The final strength session is next week and I'll take more care to stick to the target. Tonight was way too hard.

3x2mile Strength Tempo
Target 13:20/pace 6:40
rep distance|rep time|avg pace|avg HR
2 miles|12:48|6:24|160
2 miles|12:47|6:24|163
2 miles|12:50|6:25|167

shotgunmcos

Wednesday 17 April
Plan: Day Off
Actual: Day Off - except for 7 minute core busting core routine

The core routine I got from Runners World. I've tried god knows how many of these over the years but this targets the spare tyre area for real and its very simple and very quick and my 4yr old, Zoe does it with me!

7 minutes as 50 secs on 10 secs rest. Basically 4 minutes of plank and 3 minutes of sit ups in different forms. Enough for a short burn

1. Hip Dips
2. Knee Drive
3. Butterfly sit ups
4. Plank side reach
5. Oblique sit ups left
6. Oblique sit ups right
7. Plank spiders

Who here dreams of running? I've had a couple of dreams but with the Marathon looming I had a full on strategy one last night. The planets would have to align perfectly to execute it though.

healy1835

shotgunmcos wrote: »

Who here dreams of running? I've had a couple of dreams but with the Marathon looming I had a full on strategy one last night. The planets would have to align perfectly to execute it though.

Only nightmares! Usually I'm late for the race....many iterations of that one. I once went to the cinema during the race, I did however pause my watch on the way in and finished the race afterwards. Claiming my watch time of course.....

OOnegative

shotgunmcos wrote: »

Who here dreams of running? I've had a couple of dreams but with the Marathon looming I had a full on strategy one last night. The planets would have to align perfectly to execute it though.

Regularly, but thankfully unlike J, most of mine finish well. Alas unlike my dreams, in real life that sub 3 is along way off yet!!

shotgunmcos

healy1835 wrote: »

Only nightmares! Usually I'm late for the race....many iterations of that one. I once went to the cinema during the race, I did however pause my watch on the way in and finished the race afterwards. Claiming my watch time of course.....

Actually I think it was a combination of reading your Limerick race report and the negative split and one from Diablo Verde at Valencia about chasing down and pushing past 3hr pacers that put the idea in my head! 2 reports I have read a half dozen times each. Perhaps the first sign of taper madness...

shotgunmcos

Thursday 18 April
Plan: Easy 6m
Actual: Easy 6.89m @8:00, HR 140

What a gorgeous spring day. Hazy sunshine, cool enough in the shade to notice the difference and a cool south easterly wind. The legs felt ooookaaay, not exactly fresh but better than Tuesday. I headed out on the lumpy countryside lunchtime route. Since the kids are off school, there was a serenity about the place. You could hear the trees rustling in the wind and the birds tweeting. Small things that take you away from the office and city life for a moment. The obliques and abs were stiff from the core crushing the last few nights. A bit late to start that stuff but I join Caz for it after her bootcamp and she joins me for it after an evening run. No phantom taper pains or niggles, just fatigue. The tempo tomorrow will be tough.

shotgunmcos

Good Friday 19 April
Plan: 10m MP Tempo
Actual: 10m MP Tempo, 14.88m total, hr 160+, time 1:46:55

I had a load of self doubt going on this morning and thus dreading this. You are past it, too heavy, not fit, going to cramp, won't last the distance, Achilles is tight etc... Not that its taper madness, this run today made it feel like mid program, not 15 days from the Marathon! Perhaps it was just having the day off and the morning to myself. I'd normally be too busy to even think about stuff.

It was a 20 degree afternoon with hazy sunshine so I took a kiddie 250ml water bottle with me and had to ration it over the tempo section. Why would I be dreading this? Its just 10m marathon pace, you have to do 26.2 in a couple of weeks, this is not even half of it! I took in miles 13-22 of the route during the tempo to keep it honest. It factors in all but the last hill of the 2nd half of the route. It was warm and I knew my heart rate would be higher than previous tempos. The first 2 miles were also into the wind. I was hitting sub 7min miles but working for them. I was baking by mile 5. Every once in a while I'd settle into a good rhythm and hold it steady but the wind, hills, cars and crossing roads made it challenging to hold it for long. Hills took it out of me but overall I felt stronger than my inner demon tried to convince me. It was a tired cool down back up town but now there are just 2 workouts to go...

Now for some positive self talk. You nailed another tough session Mike. The pace was good and felt good. The work is almost done. You have banked more running than you have in years. It will be earlier and cooler. You will feel rested and the legs will be fresh. The first 10m will feel much more comfortable than this. You will have water on the course. You won't be alone, there will be targets to catch, gels to keep the energy topped up and a cold beer at the finish...

MP Tempo miles - average 6:52
6:47, 6:55, 6:52, 6:54, 6:46, 6:50, 6:51, 6:57, 6:43, 6:54

shotgunmcos

Saturday 20 April
Plan: Easy 10m
Actual: Easy 10.43m @8:02, HR 133

Completed this in the calm fog blanketing Limerick City by 9am to hold a promise of pancakes for the kids. The first mile felt awful which now convinces me to wake the legs up before the Marathon. Plenty of other luminous clothed runners out getting early miles done. Most actually in groups of 2-4 including the sub3 pacer with 3 others emerging from the fog in a line on Hyde Road on a workout. Looked cool.

The legs were a bit fatigued and tight, unsurprisingly but I felt great aerobically. Heart rate 133 for 8-8:10 pace is fit enough for me. I pushed on to MP tempo for the last 5 minutes to finish strong.

Thats the first half of the 10m back to back this weekend. It may only be 14 days to the marathon but the Hanson plan trucks on!

healy1835

shotgunmcos wrote: »

Saturday 20 April
Plan: Easy 10m
Actual: Easy 10.43m @8:02, HR 133

Completed this in the calm fog blanketing Limerick City by 9am to hold a promise of pancakes for the kids. The first mile felt awful which now convinces me to wake the legs up before the Marathon. Plenty of other luminous clothed runners out getting early miles done. Most actually in groups of 2-4 including the sub3 pacer with 3 others emerging from the fog in a line on Hyde Road on a workout. Looked cool.

The legs were a bit fatigued and tight, unsurprisingly but I felt great aerobically. Heart rate 133 for 8-8:10 pace is fit enough for me. I pushed on to MP tempo for the last 5 minutes to finish strong.

Thats the first half of the 10m back to back this weekend. It may only be 14 days to the marathon but the Hanson plan trucks on!

Do you know if that's the same sub 3 pacer as last year?

Murph_D

Best of luck over the final two weeks. When I used this plan last year, in retrospect, I pushed a couple of the final runs a bit too much, trying to hit the guide pace in windy or uphill conditions. Felt great at the time but - if it’s any use to you - something I’ve noted to be more conservative about next time. Looks like you’re in great shape.

shotgunmcos

healy1835 wrote: »

Do you know if that's the same sub 3 pacer as last year?

No it was Dermot Kearns who I believe paced the 3hr group a few times over previous years.

Murph_D wrote: »

Best of luck over the final two weeks. When I used this plan last year, in retrospect, I pushed a couple of the final runs a bit too much, trying to hit the guide pace in windy or uphill conditions. Felt great at the time but - if it’s any use to you - something I’ve noted to be more conservative about next time. Looks like you’re in great shape.

Thanks Murph_D I had to go back for a read. Glad I did, it was a treat to read your NY report and interesting that you were in a similar position. Having pushed your 2nd last 10m MP to the Friday before the 10m back to backs. I opted out of doing reps and tempos on flat loops a while back so I've had that challenge of hitting the pace into wind or hills for weeks. There is no doubt about the cumulative fatigue and I heed your words of care for the remaining 2 weeks! Curious, do you think it was down to the final approach or jumping on to the plan at 10 weeks? I've found the Hanson plan to be progressive from week 2 and the cumulative fatigue builds. I feel as though I've been treading the line between fatigue and overreaching for a while. One of my genuine concerns is getting through this last week with the 6x1m and 10m Tempo and the legs recovering with another 49 easy miles over the last 9 days before the marathon!

Murph_D

Had to check back myself! In my case, I don't think that Fri MP 10-miler was too much of a change because the back-to-back 10s over the weekend were both easy runs. It was the midweek 10m tempo 10 days out that in retrospect I felt I’d overdone - it was a very tough run and the tiredness from it crept into the final week, I think. But you’re right - my curtailed version of the plan is not a good example anyway. I felt I might get away with it coming straight off a pretty intense few months of track training, with plenty of quality and plenty of miles. And I had the Hanson experience anyway from the previous year.

But hold on - this is not about me!

I only drew attention to that 10-days-out run because it’s the last little test, and at this stage I think it’s (maybe) better to treat it as a rehearsal rather than an overly-sapping pig-headed pace test, which is what I did, unwittingly at the time. Your point about your chosen MP courses is well taken - the amount of MP running you’ve managed to do on the actual course can only help. I’ve really enjoyed discovering your log and I’m looking forward to seeing the results of your training.

kerrylad1

healy1835 wrote: »

Do you know if that's the same sub 3 pacer as last year?

Dermot took a break from the sub 3 gig last year,went on to run 2:44.I think he is 50/51 now.Pretty impressive.

kerrylad1

Shotgun.Is dermot doing the sub 3 pacing this year?

shotgunmcos

kerrylad1 wrote: »

Shotgun.Is dermot doing the sub 3 pacing this year?

I don't know lad, not sure whether he was on his own workout group yesterday morning or pacing a few sub3 lads. I'm not involved with Dooneen AC (I'd love to be, just can't make any of the sessions).

shotgunmcos

Easter Sunday 21 April - Happy Easter Folks!
Plan: Easy 10m
Actual: Easy 10.42m @7:47, HR 135

The exact same run as yesterday but over 2 minutes faster for a similar effort. Perfect morning for running. 11 degrees, crisp, calm and a light cloud covering. Hardly a car on the road. I felt good, the legs felt a bit better and I nudged it ever so slightly on from yesterday. It was comfortable enough to sing along with a good song, salute everyone and shout to the oarsmen getting ready at the boatclub. Some swans still slumbered on the glass like high tide. It was 9am but felt more like 6am.

I didn't come across another runner until I reached the 22m marker on the North Circular Road. 3 lads in a line, their collective breath as one cloud in the cool air. They were approximately a minute ahead of me but running just a touch slower. Visualization time. I hoped they were running the route and sure enough they turned left through a short alley to vanish onto the Ennis Road. I followed suit and had them in my sight again, but all of a sudden it felt as though it was the marathon. Lots of runners running up and down the quiet main road by the Gaelic Grounds. I passed the 3 lads and we cheerily greeted each other "2 weeks to go!". "No!", I said, "2 miles to Go!". Maybe I was too much in the zone. As yesterday I pushed the last 5 minutes to MP tempo to finish strong, feeling good for the end of a 62m week.

Solid week. 8 hours running plus some core and the body feels good. I was on the scale at 77.9kg, a little over where I wanted to be but still 4kg down on the start of the plan.

Under 2 weeks to go. This week sees 55m, a 6x1m interval session and a 10m Tempo! Way to taper, Mssrs Hanson :eek: The 9 day, yes 9 DAY taper starts on Friday and will still involve 49 easy miles before the marathon day! Gives me the heebee jeebees if I'm honest but trust in the plan, I will.

Mileage summary: Actual (Plan)
Week 16: 62 (56)
Total program : 797 (812)

shotgunmcos

Monday 22 April
Plan: Easy 8m
Actual: Easy 8.54m @8:20, HR 130

Got up on the wrong side of bed this morning after a poor nights sleep. Add a few hours of walking around a crowded Bunratty Castle Easter thingy with the kids and I was in no mood for this. To make it feel worse I took a nap and then hit the road. The first 2 miles felt so heavy and sluggish I almost bailed. It was a pleasant evening so I tried to pick up the cadence and shook out the arms. The rest of the run was slightly improving laboured plod around suburbia. I feel better for having it done. Great to read such positive updates in other logs though. There must be balance to the force!

shotgunmcos

Tuesday 23 April
Plan: Intervals 6x1m strength w/400m recovery
Actual: Intervals 6x1m (13.11m total), HR 157-172, 1:36:32

Penultimate SOS of the plan. The last warm sunny evening for a while too. This felt like a long haul without water. I knew this would be tough, the legs were sluggish on the warm up. I headed to the local park again for these, which was teeming with life. The path was almost congested at points but I was lapping anticlockwise initially against the flow. The first hill on the first rep into the wind was a slog. I tried not to push too hard if the pace crept up. Rep 1, 6:42 was ok but felt like a poor return for the effort.

Rep 2 started just before the hill so I did it twice, which sucked. Same pattern for the next 2. All in, 6 hills over the first 4 reps. Curiously almost every other runner was running clockwise so I decided to change for the last 2 reps. After 1 lap I realised why. I had been running up the hill into the open side of the park where the wind was strongest. On the clockwise laps this turned to a tailwind and lower half of the park that should have had the headwind was largely sheltered by trees, thus lower overall effort. Aha! I still had to climb the hill in the last 2 reps but a longer easier gradient and less wind. If only my legs were not already knackered before I figured that out :rolleyes:

Interestingly, I did feel good aerobically. This is a repeat of the first strength interval session a month or so ago. The average heart rate per rep was about 5 bpm lower than the previous session with similar max values.

Anyway another half marathon and 40 minutes of work in the tank which feels like a hard session with the marathon around the corner. Feeling it. The day off tomorrow is needed more than any other Wednesday off in the plan. 1 session to go...

6x1mile Strength w/400m recovery
Target pace 6:40
rep distance|rep time|Avg HR
1 mile|6:42|152
1 mile|6:39|159
1 mile|6:37|160
1 mile|6:41|160
1 mile|6:40|158
1 mile|6:32|158

shotgunmcos

Wednesday 24 April
Plan: No Running
Actual: Yoga

I thought about going for a swim but I was so wrecked after last nights run that I forgot to stretch, I just stopped short of eating everything in sight. Plus I don't want to risk lower leg cramp in the pool with kicking sets or kicking off the wall. 30 minutes easy Yoga and 10 minutes harder core before breakfast was more what I needed. The yoga was terrible, my expensive Manduka mat used more by my bendy kids than myself recently.

Yoga should have been an integral part of the plan. It was when I set my marathon PB (along with a general conditioning approach) so I need to bring it back to play for Dublin and life. The body is tired today and the legs tender. I look forward to getting the last tempo session done tomorrow so the taper/recovery can start.

shotgunmcos

Taper time baby!!

Thursday 25 April
Plan: 10m MP Tempo
Actual: 10m MP Tempo+ (14.74m total), HR 154/170, 1:44:52

Looking at the weather forecast for later today and the next 2 days I feel lucky to get the last session done in the early calm sunshine this morning. The work is now done and about bloody time to think about taper and recovering for the marathon.

I procrastinated a lot this morning. It was still dark and my mood was dark waiting for the body to wake up and do its thing. By the time I got out the door the last of the nights rain eased off and the dawn sun broke through the clouds, yay Again I don't know why I was dreading this. The tempo runs on the program are tough on tired legs but maybe more to do with fact that they are mid week and I have to do them at silly o clock before breakfast. I generally feel ragged. Today was no different. The legs need the full 2 mile warm up and the first couple of tempo miles felt awful, like I was forcing things, especially up the hill at Old Crescent Rugby Club. I was breathless after it.

Don't push it Mike! Relax the shoulders, straighten up, pick up the cadence...

Into Dooradoyle and I'm sure there is rubber from my shoes permanently scratched onto the paths here. I relaxed and the next 2 miles felt good and were sub 6:50s. My hamstring was a bit tight though so I stretched it out before tackling the hill back out to the Rosbrien Road. Once you get under the bridge at mile 19 you see most of the next mile in front of you. I'll use this stretch to take a few deep breaths, shake the arms out and consider the approach for the last 10k.

I ate a gel running downtown as there were bins I could throw the sticky wrapper in. The city was waking up and there were some stops at lights which makes it harder to keep a hold of a rhythm. I hit mile 9 after O'Callaghan Strand and smiled knowing the last mile on the North Circular would be the last "work" mile of the program. The legs were tired running over the 22m marker but if you had asked me to push on for another 4 miles at the pace, even without breakfast, I'd probably have managed it with a concentrated effort, just. There was a good feeling about that. The legs have definitely become stronger over this plan.

Running back into town, as the watch ticked over 13 miles I considered that this was the 5th time I'd seen a half marathon on the watch in 11 days! And that's the Hanson plan. The midweek sessions, enveloped with warm up and cool down miles are practically long runs themselves. Great if you have a flexible schedule to absorb 90+minutes running twice a week midweek. I have an office job so this has been a tough plan to execute as so many of the hardest miles were done unfueled and early morning.

MP Tempo Miles - Average 6:50
6:58, 6:50, 6:52, 6:45, 6:45, 6:51, 6:46, 6:55, 6:49, 6:45

Overall the run was as tough as the last 2 10m tempos. I don't know why I hoped it would feel fresher with the accumulated fatigue even heavier! The pace itself is a little faster than I plan to run on the day. My single goal for the marathon is to finish it feeling good about it. Ideally feel strong at the end and run steady the whole way. Its been years since I've done a marathon and the purpose of this one is to get the mojo back. Last thing I want is to go too hard and crash and burn, dragging myself over the line dejected and not in the mood to enjoy the festival atmosphere in Limerick.

In saying that, I have to target something between now and then.

aquinn

Yahoo, taper time!

shotgunmcos

Friday 26 April
Plan: Easy 7m
Actual: Easy 7.12m @8:17, HR 133

Its fresh out there! Better to get this done before Storm Hannah rolls into the Southwest later this afternoon. Plus no chance later between a doc visit, picking up the kids, giving them a snack and baths, make dinner for the babysitter and scoot across town to see Avengers Endgame

Straight easy miles out and back the countryside keeping a lid on any effort. Uneventful except for some idiots throwing rubbish out a car window on a quiet country road. Muppets. The legs felt ok, in need of a good rolling and stretch. The fatigue was there on hills. Hopefully that will slowly recover over the coming days.

shotgunmcos

Saturday 27 April
Plan: 8m Easy
Actual: 8.12m Easy @ 7:37, HR 152

More of steady effort into a cold stiff wind. I wasn't feeling great. More than likely down to all the crap I ate at the cinema. Endgame was Epic but a late night eating rubbish. Just more miles on the pile

Sunday 28 April
Plan: 8m Easy
Actual: 8.87m Easy-Steady @7:24 including 1m MP Tempo, HR 145

First run in ages that I felt a spring in my step for a few miles. The first mile actually felt horrible. Every pain and niggle in the knees, ankles, right calf and right quad. It all came right on mile 2. More easy miles but a couple of steady ones and one at MP effort on the last mile of the route. I got lost visualising on the last 10k of the route and didn't pay attention to pace. I had heart rate only on the watch face. Felt better and was faster that yesterday, for a lower heart rate too.

Last week done and another 60m in the tank. Onto Race week now. 26 easy miles over the next few days and making sure I eat, drink and sleep.

Been chatting with a mate today who was training at sub3 paces but lost a couple of weeks and had to dial it back. He is aiming for 3:05 for a pb. Might be a good guy to run the first half to not get too excited. 3:05 would be a fair return for the work done and I'd be very pleased to hit that if I could hang on.

Mileage summary: Actual (Plan)
Week 17: 60 (55)
Total program : 858 (867)

career move

Fingers crossed your last week goes smoothly. Don't walk under any ladders. Ditto for the black cats. It's been great seeing you back training consistently. Hopefully you'll have a super marathon

shotgunmcos

Thanks Kate! Tasty goal for you and Sean in September! Glad my normal A type response didn't kick in automatically

Monday 29 April
Plan: Easy 6m
Actual: Easy 6.2m @8:06, HR 130

A marathon hypochondriac got out of bed this morning :rolleyes: Been feeling just a little off this weekend. Been necking pints of fluid but throat and lips dry! Typical marathon taper week stuff. Still going to throw stuff at it. The slight tingle in the upper teeth tells me its sinus. Sinus is bad news for me if it develops because it brings on other stuff. Such a cliché to be writing something like that on marathon week!

That aside, this was a nice easy run out in the wind, which I hope calms down before Sunday. Run 3 miles through town and out to the pier on the Condell Road, turnaround and run back. Just HR on the watch and I kept it easy. Some ould lad on Hyde Road hanging outside a pillar did ask with a grin, if I was still running since yesterday?! LOL he must have seen me pass his house yesterday afternoon too. Apart form that the lowlight was running behind the Bin Truck. A lad smoking on the back step. Jumps off to grab 2 bins and do his job, then chucks the cigarette butt on the road. Little boils my blood more than this particular disgusting human habit.

I felt good. Even though it was a short easy run, I was sweating a lot afterwards. The wind kept it cool but its quite muggy out. A if I need a reminder to stay hydrated.

Lastly, I subscribed to my local running club again. I was tidying my training gear drawers at the weekend and came across a Dooneen vest that I last wore for cross country years ago. Now that I'm back running it would be fun to do some of that this winter. Plus I find when you have club colours on for any race you get an extra 0.5% from it.

Swashbuckler

I'm annoyed at myself for not following this log sooner. All the same routes I run too. We must have passed each other numerous times.