Winging it

Laineyfrecks

I really found following a plan helped me to be consistent! Once i was a few weeks into running 6 days a week it just became 2nd nature to me. Some days are harder than others but thankfully they are far and few between! Keep going, you have been doing really well

edinrunna

I read a bit more of Daniels and I was doing something similar to the red fitness plan the last few weeks. Thought about maybe committing to one of the plans in the book but decided against it with no races. I think I'll try to spend the next few weeks trying to get a bit stronger overall. Not really interested in lifting weights for now so more like push ups pull ups and squats as well as core stuff. Not the first time I've said this but a bit more determined to follow through this time!

So in running terms I'll try to get out every day but almost exclusively easy miles, maybe something faster once a week. And the chip times runs are still happening every week, so will attempt that 10k as soon as it suits. I'd be hoping to have a good base then to get more specific training in the new year, and hopefully a race to target. Won't make for a very exciting log but I'll keep it updated anyway.

So this week has been just under 4 miles Monday, 6 miles today and yesterday, all easy between 8.00-8.30.

edinrunna

I'll give this one another go!

Did almost nothing in December, I think two runs both less than 4 miles. Still caught up on a few logs on here and felt envious but still couldn't get the motivation to get started again. Now we are in lockdown 2 here so what better time to try get the discipline/consistency/motivation or whatever it should be called back.

Took a few days into the new year to really get going all the same, 4 miles on the 2nd and then nothing till Tuesday which was 6 easy with no watch on pretty dangerous paths. Did the same 5 days this week except the ice has thankfully melted this morning so a bit safer. I did slip coming around a corner on Friday and was lucky not to hurt myself. Thankfully it was 300m from home.

Had planned on doing 6 days with a 10 mile run today, bit did a 13 mile walk yesterday so thought it best to take the day off running. Wasn't feeling too interested in a long run today so did a deal that I'd do 6 instead but made it a little swifter. Still not using the watch but I'd guess it was around the 7.45 range, the rest were probably mid 8s. Happy enough now with that week and probably for the best I didn't jump straight into a 40 mile week.

I'll try to run 7 days this week, slow down another bit on a few runs, do 1 light session and a long run Sunday. So that should bring me to around the 40 mark.

In the medium term not sure what to do, maybe keep a pattern like that for 4 or 5 weeks and do a time trial. And try to get back to doing core stuff which I actually did manage to keep up for most of December but nowhere to be seen so far in 2021.

crisco10

If you struggle for consistency, would you consider taking on a plan that has 1 or 2 rest days a week?

The reason I say this is that I feel if I had a 7 day a week plan, if I miss a day the whole plan is gone and it might lead me to throwing it out entirely.

However if you have a few rest days in there,
a) you can enjoy them when they come and
b) they give you flexibility when other things (like 13 mile walks) come up.

edinrunna

Strange as it sounds I actually feel like I find it easier to keep consistency with 7 days a week (think I remember someone else saying that on their log a few months ago too).

The main problem with consistency tends to turn up when other aspects of life get in the way. Outside of lockdowns I work pretty much full time and also full time with university. I have no problem admitting either that I like a drink, and sometimes a night out will turn into a 3 day bender. Which obviously can result in several "rest" days in a row! During lockdown I get furloughed, there's no partying so running can go much higher on the priority list. The only problem is keeping it there!

Last year I probably would have ran before or after that walk so I'm taking it as a sign of progress that I had the sense not to!

In terms of following a plan, I would really struggle to commit to anything with no race or target at the end of it and that seems out of the question for a few months. So I suppose I'll look at the next while as base building if it could be called that. Almost exclusively easy running but lots of it. This is what I did during lockdown 1 and I think I made good progress. However I would like to add in one session if nothing else so I don't forget how it feels to run faster!

Rambling a bit at this stage, but I suppose what I'm trying to say is that the running itself is rarely the problem, it's more so the external aspects. And the short/medium term goal is to try to find the right balance that's sustainable. Thanks for the input!

edinrunna

Monday and Tuesday were 6 easy with no watch. I thought I was running these around 8.30 but aftee using the watch for a session today I think I was going a bit faster. Will consciously slow these down again and maybe bring the watch a couple of times just to keep an eye on th pace.

Today was 20 x 1min on/off which turned out at 5.7 miles at 7.01 pace. The total is what I was aiming for, trying to alternate 6/8 pace but unsurprisingly the first few were too fast. Did it as an out and back so the gradient was against me for the second half but still slowed more than i would have liked. Still a good session i think and will probably repeat this once a week and see if I can increase the total distance. Might also vary the on/offs to spice things up. The ons ranged from 5.30ish to 6.30ish and the offs 7.30ish to 9ish but as I said the average is where I wanted it. 1 mile warm up and cool down for 7.7 total.

edinrunna

Seems I'm losing track of days of the week so will start noting weekly/monthly/yearly miles here as I'm hoping to do most easy runs without the watch. I thought yesterday was Wednesday! So after today's easy 6 at 8.13 pace (bit too fast maybe will slow down further) I'm at

Weekly - 31.7
Monthly - 65.7
Yearly - 65.7

edinrunna

Saturday

6 easy at 8.46. Contemplated shortening this but felt good so kept going.

Sunday

10 long run at 8.14. Usually do long runs a bit quicker but will take them easy for now and build the distance to half marathon over a few weeks.

All runs so far have been a breeze aerobically but the legs are feeling it a bit. The jump in mileage from 4 to 30 to almost 50 probably a bit risky/stupid but thanfully no ill effects so far. Won't be increasing much if at all over the next few weeks, might take a mile off one or two of the easy midweek runs to add on to the long run. Happy with how it's going!

Weekly - 47.7
Monthly - 81.7
Yearly - 81.7

Laineyfrecks

Well done getting back to it with consistency etc. I would just be a bit cautious of increasing your mileage so quickly, it is better to build it up gradually to avoid injuries etc.

Best of luck

edinrunna

Cheers, yeah very true about the increase, might even make some of the runs 4/5 miles this week and slow them down if not feeling like it's comfortable.

Laineyfrecks

edinrunna wrote: »

Cheers, yeah very true about the increase, might even make some of the runs 4/5 miles this week and slow them down if not feeling like it's comfortable.

That's a really good idea, keeping the easy runs easy will benefit you. I'm base training myself at the moment so most of my runs are easy miles & I am gradually building back up my mileage. With no races to focus on yet it seemed the best thing for me to do!

edinrunna

Monday Tuesday Wednesday all 6 miles easy, same route, same time and paces were 8.16, 8.19 and 8.15. I am bringing my watch on easy runs now but it's covered so can't see the pace. In that sense happy with how consistent they were. The legs were feeling heavy enough after Sunday's long run but feeling much fresher this week so decided against reducing the distances.

Tonight was 20 x 1min on/off again which resulted in 5.45 miles at 7.20 pace. Heavy enough snow here last night which had turned into a slushy mess by the time I ran. Lots of lethal icy patches too so had to slow down for a stretch now and then. While that explains a lot of the drop in distance completed this week, I wasn't managing the efforts very well either. Was hoping to split the paces around 6/8 again but was doing some of them too fast (both on and off sections), resulting in having to slow a lot in some of the middle reps. So need to learn to control this better. Still a decent session I feel and I'll do it once more next Thursday in hopefully better conditions. After that maybe change it to 2min on/off for a couple of weeks. Just over 1 mile warm up and cool down so I'll call it 7.5 miles total.

Weekly 25.5
Monthly 107.2
Yearly 107.2

Sad to hear about Jerry Kiernan Passing away. I wouldn't have watched much athletics growing up but he stood out as a pundit during the Olympics whenever I saw him. Wasn't really aware how good of a runner he was until today, 9th in the Olympics is some achievement. RIP

edinrunna

Friday and Saturday 6 easy at 8.13 and 8.02. Very pleasant runs, felt good Friday which confirmed my thoughts that the effort wasn't righton Thursdays session, but again conditions played a part so won't dwell on it. Keep threatening to add strides to the end of some of these, a goal for next week!

Long run today 12.5 miles at 8.04 for just over 100 minutes. Did an out and back I've done a few times before which makes for easy negative splits as it goes something like this - 2.5 miles flat, 3.75 miles gradual incline and then reversed on the way back.

The flat section is a canal tow path which is very narrow and just now pretty much covered in an inch of ice. It's also very busy with walkers, runners but thakfully very few bikes today so had to come to a complete stop a few times on the way out but kept a rhythym just about. The incline is more of a trail following a river, this was covered in even more ice. I felt I was controlling well on the way out, picking steps to avoid the worst ice made it fly by.

I wanted to speed up a good bit on the way back but after a near miss or two on the ice I kept it steady enough that I could pick my steps a but easier. Once I got back to the canal path a bit of the ice had melted so there was some nice stretches to go steady although did have to stop completely a few more times as it was busier than the way out. Just coming to the last mile is a stretch mostly in the sahde, so no ice melted. I could see the slip happening in my head before it actually did, one step onto a lump of ice that must have been 6 inches thick. Almost took a few more down with me but managed to get my hands out to save myself just in time. Hopped straight up and almost slipped straight back down, then got out of there as fast as I could! No damage thankfully except a slightly sore elbow and hip, I'd say lesson learned but that's my second fall in a couple of weeks so really I just want this ice to be gone!

Extremely enjoyable run all the same, miles flew by, pace was very comfortable even at just above 7 pace on some of the downhills and flat sections. Despite the dangers of the ice I love running in these conditions with some snow around.

That's 2 good weeks back to back with 7 days running, feeling fitter and fresher with every run. Tempting thoughts of time trials and sessions going through my head on most runs but most likely will try to keep this routine going for another 3 or 4 weeks and evaluate then.

Weekly - 50
Monthly - 131.7
Yearly - 131.7

edinrunna

So it turns out the fall on Sunday was a bit worse than I thought at the time, have a small break in my arm just at the elbow from landing on my hand, so no running for a couple of weeks unfortunately. Bad timing as I felt I was really back in the groove. Cursing the ice but it could have been worse, no cast and shouldn't be too long before I'm back in action.

Laineyfrecks

Really sorry to hear this, look after yourself & hopefully see you back running soon enough:)

shotgunmcos

ah crap, such an annoying injury when legs and lungs are firing to go. Can you strap it up to stop elbow moving and jog with one arm? Or is the impact/pounding vibrations too much of a risk? Either way mind it and hope you are back running soon!

edinrunna

At the moment the impact would be a bit too painful, hopefully in a couple of weeks I can do as you've suggested though!

Dubh Geannain

Sorry about the injury. Would you have access to a cross trainer. I'd assume they're fairly low impact. Or are all the gyms shut down over there too?

edinrunna

Yeah gyms are closed here too for the forseeable future unfortunately. Already starting to feel some improvement so might not be long till I can give Shotguns idea a go hopefully!

edinrunna

Recovery has been fairly rapid thankfully, so managed a 5 mile test run this morning which went pretty well although the arm is very tired from staying in the same position for the whole thing! Took it very easy and will continue to do so for the coming week. Absolutely delighted though, Monday morning I couldn't have been more pessimistic but every day there was improvement. It's only 6 days missed which shouldn't be a problem. They were a long 6 days without running though!

Week 5
Month 136.7
Year 136.7

Happy enough with that start to the year all things considered, raring to go for February and onwards.

edinrunna

Monday to Wednesday

6 miles easy every day, all around the 8.15 mark, just delighted to be running daily again, a week off during lockdown is fairly frustrating to say the least!

Thursday

8 miles broken into a few runs, a friend was doing a 2k TT with a sub 10 target so paced him for that. He's not too interested in running, he was doing the TT on his personal trainers request but hopefully he'll get the runnning bug! I think I did a decent job pacing, we were hitting 400m splits pretty much spot on and then ramped up the last 400 to finish in 9.48. Definitely something I'd be interested in doing again. Average pace for the 8 miles was around 8.45.

Friday

Another 6 easy with nothing particularly noteworthy, similar pace to the start of the week. It was my flatmates birthday so had a "few" drinks to celebrate. It was my first drink since New Years Eve, similar to running jumping back to the same level of drinking after a decent break is a risk!

Saturday

Unplanned day off, great result for Scotland explains it! A "few" more drinks to celebrate that as well as a big win for Hibs against Aberdeen, 3rd place is in their own hands now it seems but it wouldn't be wise to get too confident yet.

Sunday

Awful hangover today, a bit angry with myself for not running yesterday and zero interest in doing a long run. Several internal negotiations went on all morning and afternoon and eventually agreed with myself to do 4 easy so at least it would be 6 days running. Got to 4 and bargained another mile with myself, this continued every mile until I had 11 done and finally surrendered and went home. Got caught in a snow/hail storm which was actually refreshing. The watch said it was 11.42 miles but I think it slightly over measured the distance and I want to get rid of the .7 on my yearly total so I'll call it 11.3 at 8.12 pace.

Not an awful week all things considered, really enjoyed the spotlight thread! Hopefully will have someone to take over tomorrow and looking forward to that one too.

Weekly 43.3
Monthly 43.3
Yearly 148

edinrunna

Monday to Thursday all 6 miles easy in some of the most beautiful conditions I've ever run in. Absolutely picturesque with blankets of snow of various depths and density each day. The softer snow while more difficult to run in felt much safer as the chances of slipping were minimal. The more compact stuff obviously a bit more dangerous but I was being very careful. I really just love snow though. My beloved bike paths looked like something from a Christmas card. They also get gritted every morning so are clear of snow/ice unless there's snowfall during the day which there was on Tuesday and Wednesday. Paces were 8.45, 8.35, 8.40 and 8.27.

Today was 8 miles at 7.43 which consisted of 2 easy then 3 x 1 mile on/off. I had the watch covered as I just wanted to run them by feel with a vague target of 6.30s for the ons and then just normal easy for the off. Also had in my head to progress the paces slightly. Well I did it backwards and it was regressive instead, on miles were 6.14, 6.28 and 6.38 but I suppose the second 2 were both on an incline. The effort did actually feel consistent for each rep but I think it probably just shows that I'm not as fit as I thought. It would be what I would consider 10k effort I think. I knew I was going slower each rep and was getting a bit frustrated but on reflection it was still a decent session to ease back into more intense stuff and will hopefully be a lesson learned. If I do it again and the paces were in reverse order I think I'd be happy enough.

Week 32
Month 75.3
Year 180

edinrunna

Saturday

6 easy, not sure of pace as the watch died at some point but 8.30ish I's guess. Left it a bit late as I had a late night on Friday, not a single other person on the bike path however the fox count was 5. Lockdown 1 I did most runs pretty late and loved how quiet it was, might go back to doing a couple a week at this time. It was however the coldest night so far I think the "feels like" said minus 7 on my phone!

Sunday

12 miles mostly easy

And from the coldest night to the warmest in ages! Back to 7 degrees and all the snow starting to melt, makes the roads very messy and leaves some thick ice which impacted the run a bit but not too badly.

This was a combo of a 1200m TT and a long run which felt as ridiculous as it sounds. Had planned just an easy long run but was challenged to do an all out 1200. I'd never done one but 4.00 seemed a reasonable target. I hit the bike paths and after 2 or so miles decided to get it out of the way as I was at the flattest stretch. I had been doing a few very short strides during the warm up and to be honest was feeling good despite bad preparation. After an inevitable false start where I ran .3 miles at 5.07 pace I started the "real" TT and finished in 4.07 which is 5.30 pace. Bitterly disappointed not so much with the time but the effort. Gave up mentally a couple of times which is not good in such a short distance. I went straight into finishing my long run then, just under 10 more miles at 8.30ish, went along the road for a bit and the ice was so bad I had to stop and walk/shimmy along the handrail! So plenty of time to reflect on the TT...

Preparation - so only decided to do this on the day so shouldn't care too much about this. I was up late on Friday drinking, even later on Saturday to watch the UFC so sleep probably impacted. This lead to the next problem but I hadn't eaten enough at the right times throughout the day so energy wasn't as high as it could have been.

I also need to get a proper routine to do before every session/TT/race whcih will obviously help prepare my body but I think it would help even more to prepare my mind to get ready for discomfort.

Pacing - This took 2 attempts and the first one was a good bit too fast, the second one wasn't much better. Started both at sub 5 pace which clearly sends me over some sort of threshold that I shouldn't be going past. As a result I spend most of the run slowing down which I find difficult to deal with mentally. The thoughts of stopping came very early.

Realism - Literally my last post I said I'm not as fit as I thought yet I was expecting to run 1200 pretty much as fast as I ever have. Fitness will come back to where it was and hopefully improve from there but it will take time and I need to be patient.

On the flip side the cold snap seems to be over for now so I have no excuse not to add more faster running to my week. I need to get used to running fast, feeling uncomfortable etc again. Also happy to continue the long run after the TT and figure it all out in my head a bit.

No idea what the total miles came to but it was definitely more than 12 which would make it a 50 mile week so I'll go with that. This week I'll do 2 sessions, thinking something like 20 x 1 min on/off and something like 5 miles at HMP (will base this on the 1200 time).

Week 50
Month 93.3
Year 198

Treviso

Starting off at sub 5 pace, whilst not ideal, does show that you have speed in your legs. By having to slow down, you're just lacking the endurance in your legs to keep going at that pace. Easy and consistent structural running will no doubt improve your endurance. I had/have the same issue, speedwork always came easier to me than the longer tempo. 5k times did not relate to 10 mile/HM times etc. I would look at following a 10m/HM training plan to get the most benefit, no point to you doing 5k-10k plans.

I found, when doing the P&D marathon plan, that doing the longer runs at a progression pace really helped me improve. Thats not to say to run them faster, keep the same overall pace, just start slower. So if you average 9min pace for longer runs, first bit should be ran at 9.30 pace and slowly increase pace to finish at 8.30 pace

edinrunna

Cheers Treviso, really appreciate the input. I never would have considered myself as having much speed but when you put it like that it makes sense. I suppose speed means different things depending on the goal.

I was actually gonna ask on your own log, what effort do you do the off sections in your 20x 1 min on/off? In my head I think I'd really benefit by keeping the off parts fairly steady, and the on parts progressively faster. However as you could probably guess the few times I've done it I overcook a few reps at the start and by the end the off part is a slow jog.

In terms of the longer run yeah I tend to do it as you said except starting off too fast so I'm cutting down to close to 7 min pace. Mind you this was before Christmas my long runs lately have all been easy pace from start to finish. I'd like to maybe make my long runs a little bit longer so will probably have to put your method into practice.

I'm considering doing double easy days a couple of times a week which may be a terrible idea if anyone has any thoughts. With a lot of free time at the moment it would obviously help increase my mileage but not sure if it might have a detrimental effect.

Treviso

I think it's more beneficial to run 6-7 days a week instead of doing doubles, but I'm no expert when it comes to that.

For my recoveries on any session, it doesn't matter how slow I jog as all the benefit is in the "on" part. From looking at last week's 20x1' session, the off parts ranged from 8min/mile pace to 10.30. Honesty don't matter how slow the recoveries are, once the "on" parts are quick and consistent.

In terms of easy running, unless you are running a 2hr30min marathon, then they shouldn't be averaging under 8min/miles. Slower down the easy runs will allow you to put more into the sessions. 4 of my 6 runs are easy, averaging around the 8:30 mark. Some days are quicker, others are slower, but always within the 8-9min/mile mark

edinrunna

Yeah I'm doing 6/7 days a week at the moment and plan to keep that going, I really think I do best when I'm running every day. The doubles idea in my head would be something like 2 x 4 miles easy rather than the 6 I currently do. I think that would be an extra few miles a week without being any more demanding but I'm not sure that's right. Perhaps it would be better to do a single 8 mile run.

On that particular session I think the benefit I want from it I think do want to keep an eye on the off parts, simply because the reps are so short I feel I can get in a lot of quality without it being too demanding. I don't want to be fully recovered or more importantly need to fully recover for the reps.

I've finally managed to get easy pace right after a long time doing it wrong, some of the ones lately have been closer to 8 minute pace but that's mainly down to having no faster runs. When the faster runs start again (this week!) the easy days will slow even more I imagine however pace will be ignored. The main test I do now to make sure I'm running easy enough is to breath through my nose for a few breaths, if I find it uncomfortable I slow down.

Just had a look at the Daniels Half Marathon plan and it's not really any different from what I had in my head to be honest so I think your advice to gear towards that is spot on.

Seriously good training from you lately by the way I'd say that sub 60 10 mile would be straightforward looking at some of those sessions.

edinrunna

So with all this in mind and a strong desire to ignore university for the day I'm going to tentatively map out the next 6 weeks based on Daniels HM plan. As above my intentions were actually very similar to phase 2 of this plan so I'll jump straight into it counting todays 6 easy as day 1. The main difference in the plan is that the tempo sessions progress from reps to continuous runs and that seems sensible so I'll follow that. The intervals are based on distance rather than time which my fartleks would have been and they are done at R pace, so the recovories would follow Treviso's thinking - as slow as they need to be.

This weeks plan will then be 5 easy days, 1 with strides and 1 of them a long run. The sessions will be 4 x 200,200,400 at R with equal distance recoveries and then 5 x 1 mile at T with 1 min rest plus 4 x 200. This will require programming sessions in to my watch for the first time!

I will also add the same caveat AMK did on his log this morning and go one step further by saying this could change by tonight.

edinrunna

Monday 6 easy no watch.

Tuesday 20x200 with 200 recovery

My watch isn't as smart as it needs to be to programme sessions like the one above into my watch! So I'll keep them simple and do them all as either 200s or 400s for the 6 weeks. Also needed to change the watch to kms instead of miles for this. I did them on the bike path which isn't great for GPS as there's trees either side and go under a good few bridges. They were also busy this afternoon, some outrageous behaviour including a group of 10+ people standing the full width of the path, 2 cyclists stopping to talk to a dog walker again taking up the whole path, and an impatient runner that didn't want to slow down for anyone (me). Anyway onto the running.

I did a 2 mile warm up and a few stretches/activations/whatever they should be called. Reading Daniels again before I went I wanted the reps to be fast but controlled, the recovory as slow as it needed to be to be ready for the next rep. And if I could progress the pace even better. The target for the reps was 43 seconds, but again the GPS issues meant the splits probably weren't all that accurate.

The first 3 reps were all 44, most of the next 16 were either 40 or 41 and the last one was 36. I think it was a success, won't get too caught up with any of the stats but felt like I was in control at all times. The recovories slowed as it went on but were all jogs so happy enough with how that went. Over a mile cooldown for just over 8 in total. Switching between kms and miles is going to annoy me but it will be a distraction doing calculations during runs at least.

Also got the volume a bit mixed up as the original plan would have equalled 16 reps but again not too fussed about that as it will still fit into the philosophy of the plan as I understand it. Leaving out 400s on this session shouldn't be a big deal either as there are 400s next week. Looking forward to following and hopefully completing a Daniels plan.

edinrunna

Wednesday 6 easy at 8.53

Making an effort to make easy even easier, lovely night time run amongst the foxes.

Thursday 7 easy at 8.18

Seemed to forget about the "even even easier" on this, was running within an awkward distance of someone else a couple of times so pushed a little to make a gap. Still a bit too fast.

Friday

2 mile warm up, 5 x 1 mile off 1 minute rest, 5 minutes easy, 4 x 0.13 mile off 0.13 rest

Mile splits 6.50, 6.42, 6.47, 6.44, 6.40. Mile 2 was downhill and mile 5 was uphill mostly.

0.13 reps 48, 43, 42, 41. Stuck behind a bike for a few metres on first rep.

Absolutely delighted with how this went, very big focus on effort for the mile reps, staying relaxed and progressing the effort very slightly each rep. Kept the 1 minutes at an easy enough jog, it felt the perfect amount to be ready for the next rep. It was quite wet and windy so I thought effort would be hard to judge but I think the slight progression makes it easy to dial in. I couldn't be bothered changing the watch to kms so did 0.13s instead of 200s. I see a lot of people on here and elsewhere doing faster reps at the end of tempos etc and it never seemed appealing to me but I have to say I enjoyed them. Close to 9 miles all in but I'm going to round down sessions etc for keeping track so I'll call this 8.

Week 35
Month 128.3
Year 233

I sometimes go back through so older logs on here as I find it interesting to see how people's running progressed over time. I was looking at T runners log from all the way back in 2010, very interesting log and found this pdf called the updated training wisdom of John Kellog, https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/attachment.php?attachmentid=279391&d=1383916941 , really interesting and informative. Same ideas as I see on here in a lot of ways but I love the way it's explained in this. It's probably aimed at fairly high level training compared to me, but to me it looks like the same principles apply across the board for the most part.

edinrunna

Saturday

3.11 miles @ 9.53 and 3.9 miles @ 9.07

Battled a bad hangover to pace a friend for a sub 30 5k attempt and a few very easy miles after. The 5k was 30.47, bit disappointed for her as she stopped 3 times, it was a mental issue rather than physical I think. We'll try again in a few days and I'm sure she'll smash it.

Sunday

13.3 mile long run @ 8.15

Planned to be out early for this but slept in, probably needed as very little sleep the night before and I woke up for an hour in the middle of the night to catch the UFC main event (for any fans, isn't Derrick Lewis just mind blowing at times). Resulted in going out around midday and the canal and paths were just way too busy, stopped and started around 20 times, just not an enjoyable way to run. Lovely weather though and the distance felt very manageable so happy to get it done.

Week 55
Month 148.3
Year 253

Very happy with the first week of following a plan, the only thing I didn't do was the strides, so I'll try get them done early next week and make them habit. Don't think I want to increase mileage at all from here for now. I may shorten tomorrows run by a mile and add it on to Wednesday or Thursday.

edinrunna

Monday

5 miles easy @ 8.32

Felt almost like a summers day for this one, took a mile off the usual 6 and will make Thursday 8.

Tuesday

2 mile warm up, 20 x 200 with 200 recovery, 1 mile cool down

Biblical conditions outside, Edinburgh living up to it's nickname the windy city. Think it was up around 50mph at one stage. I made the genius call to wait til evening when it had started raining too. I had thought it was 400s this week but thankfully checked the book before I went although I'm sure there wouldn't be much difference. The plan was to do the same as last week, start relaxed and finish strong. My watch started to have a nightmare at some point, not sure where but all of a sudden some reps started to feel just a bit too short to be true, same with recovories, then the opposite and they seemed to be too long. I'd love to do these on a track instead and I probably wouldn't even bother with the watch. The last rep tried to kill me, I was all out from the start and the end just wouldn't come, it took 52 seconds so not sure how far it was but more than 200m anyway. One of the recovories was 42 seconds so gives an idea of how bad the GPS was acting up. Reps ranged from 31 to 52, who knows what was accurate and what wasn't, those 2 extremes weren't anyway. Anyway it was good character building in that weather!

Week 13
Month 161.3
Year 266


Nicola Sturgeon gave a vague exit from lockdown plan today, long way to go it seems but there was a sense of cautious optimism at least. I'd be pretty hopeful that there will be some form of racing by the time summer comes. It doesn't look like I'll be back to work til the end of April at the earliest so plenty of time to focus on running and college at least.

crisco10

20 x 200. Bless your patience!!

API

edinrunna wrote: »

Monday


Biblical conditions outside, Edinburgh living up to it's nickname the windy city. Think it was up around 50mph at one stage. I made the genius call to wait til evening when it had started raining too

That sounds horrendous
It was mad over here too but sounds like you had it even worse.
You did well to get out for that

edinrunna

crisco10 wrote: »

20 x 200. Bless your patience!!

Yeah it's a fairly monotonous session, the reps are so short though that I find it goes quick enough. Add in the weather and the watch issues as distractions as it flew by! I definitely prefer the tempo sessions though. Having said that, by the end of this 6 week block I should have ran around 15 miles at mile pace, so I think a TT will be in order to put these reps to use!

edinrunna

API wrote: »

That sounds horrendous
It was mad over here too but sounds like you had it even worse.
You did well to get out for that

Sometimes I wonder if there's actually much difference in the climate bewtween here and home at all, then when I consider that the 30-40mph wind today feels like a gentle breeze, there definitely is! I somewhat perversely enjoy running in wild conditions, so I'm in the right place!

edinrunna

Wednesday

6 easy @ 8.37

Legs could feel the 200s from the day before, eased into it and felt great by halfway, windy again but fine for easy running.

Thursday

8 easy @ 8.37 including 5 strides

Longest easy run for the week, finally managed to do some strides! Not sure I am doing them correctly, basically in the second last mile I accelerated to just about top speed, held for a few seconds, then wind back down until fully recovered the repeat. I think it might be close enough to the correct method. The legs did feel a bit fresher afterwards anyway. Huge improvement weather wise, did this in a t shirt and it was very comfortable!

Friday

2 mile warm up, 3 x 2 mile tempo with 2 min recovery, 5 minutes easy, 4 x 200 fast 200 recovery, 2 mile cool down

2 mile splits were 13.59 (7.00 pace), 13.38 (6.49) and 13.20 (6.40), first rep downhill, second rep flat with uphill finish, 3rd rep mostly uphill.

200 reps were 40, 39, 42, 36 but as always probably too short to be accurate.

Glorious weather this morning, sunny, dry and a fresh breeze, lovely running conditions. The plan again here was to do it by feel, progress the effort and finish strong. I wasn't sure whether to do 2 x 2 or 3 x 2, so I compromised by doing the first rep pretty comfortably. In the John Kellog pdf there is an article about doing a progression run that finishes around lactate threshold but yet feels effortless as the progression is very gentle. That's the sort of effort I was looking for today so I slowed down the warm up even more tha usual, did 3 strides and shook out the legs, then tried to find that feeling. I'll have to call it a success as the effort never felt difficult, even as the pace was increasing and the breathing was getting heavier, the steps were feeling lighter and to be honest I'm not sure I've ever enjoyed a run more.

There is a lot in that pdf about the benefit of running by feel and learning to use effort rather than pace and I think I'm a believer. Previous attempts at tempo running last year involved running as hard as I can while feeling if it was a race I could go faster which is almost certainly a bad way to do it. They also involved having my eyes glued to the watch the whole time. And while I did 5k PBs as "tempo" runs which was satisfying, I'd say the benefit was minimal. At least in terms of what the goal of a tempo run is.

This on the other hand was a pleasure, the watch almost an afterthough, I think I may finally understand what comfortably uncomfortable means. This session is repeated in 2 weeks, and I'm already looking forward to it.

The 200s felt fine too, the last one wasn't far off an all out sprint but almost felt easy high on the euphoria of the tempo miles. A very slow but satisfying 2 mile cool down and 11 miles all in.

Week

Week 38
Month 186.3
Year 291


Friday is now designated drinking night, so depending on how I feel tomorrow I might attempt the February challenge although it'll still just be an easy run, just straight uphill. If not I might climb Arthurs seat as quick as I can walking and use that. Definitely want to get something in though, I've put it off all month and now only 2 days to go. Sunday's long run is to include 4-5 miles at marathon pace, not that I have any intention of running one, and again I'll try to do it by feel, but in my head somewhere around 7.15 miles would be nice. I've increased the weekly mileage without really meaning to today so I'll maybe cap Sunday at 12 miles.

edinrunna

Saturday

4 easy @ 9.31 with 3 strides

The usual Saturday struggle, didn't get out til fairly late so scrapped the February challenge and promised myself to get up early and do it Sunday morning in place of a long run with MP miles.

Sunday

12+ miles @ various paces/some hill walking

Slept in and felt awful so decided to have some food and wait a couple of hours to give my body a chance to wake up a bit. Ran to the bottom of Arthurs seat to do the February challenge and really wasn't feeling it. I chose a fairly poor route to the top, running about a mile and then had to walk to the top. I was a bit surprised it had taken me less than 20 minutes, so went about going back down a bit and climbing again. It was very busy at the top though and I picked an even worse way down so hit stop on the watch at 25 minutes and left it at that. My poor knee did not like going down the hill anyway. In fact my legs felt terribly weak for the whole thing, so when I eventually got to the bottom I decided to go to the Meadows and do 8 miles on the grass. This is something I think I'll have to add in weekly, maybe 1 or 2 runs on grass. And run hills more. The challenge has exposed some glaring weaknesses that I was ignoring, so thanks Shotgun for organising and maybe now I'll start to address them!

Week 54
Month 202.3
Year 307

I ran 27/28 days in February, it's my highest mileage month ever, the longest streak of days running, a whole host of other mini records broke along the way too. Following a plan at last has been a big help in adding some structure. As above a few weaknesses were exposed which I should see as a good thing. The legs are fairly battered after today so I might take tomorrow as a rest day, if not it will be very short and slow.

edinrunna

Monday

4 easy @ 8.47

Felt pretty good after the day before so went ahead with a short and slow one

Tuesday

8 easy @ 8.47 with 6 on grass

Followed through with getting an easy run on grass in, everything going great until the 7th mile when my left leg started to feel all sorts of weird sensations from the knee upwards. I wouldn't even call it pain more like discomfort. Finished the run slowly and carefully and gave the leg some TLC, didn't feel great but was hopeful it wasn't anything serious.

Wednesday and Thursday

Rest! Bit of discomfort even walking when I woke up on Wednesday so gave myself a talking to and decided to take a couple of days off. Better 2 days now than 2 weeks or months down the line. A new pair of shoes (Reebok Floatride 3) arrived Wednesday eveninng to make it all the more difficult to not run.

Friday

3 easy @ 8.41

Everything feeling pretty good this morning and considered doing one of the weeks sessions but again convinced myself to be sensible somehow. The new shoes felt very good, well over due. I think I'll get another pair and rotate them, need to give footwear the respect it deserves in this sport! I'll probably take it easy enough over the weekend and jump back into the plan next week. With no goal race or anything like that I think it would be foolish not to take a conservative approach right now. It was a boring 2 days without running so I want to ensure that I stay injury and even niggle free so that they don't become a common occurence. No drinking tonight either the body should thank me for that!

Week 15
Month 15
Year 322

edinrunna

Saturday

5 miles @ 8.05

Leg was feeling pretty good, did the 4th mile a bit faster as a tester it felt fine. Up all night watching the UFC and drinking afterwards though which led to..

Sunday

"Rest". slept pretty much all day and night, every good intention to run at some point but alas it wasn't to be. A measly 20 miles for the week but hopefully the few days off have prevented an injury if nothing else!

Monday

6 easy @ 8.10

Put in a couple of strides towards the end, leg actually felt a little bit stiff but not too concerned. As long as all systems are go I'll just do the two sessions from last week this week instead.

edinrunna

Tuesday

2 mile warm up with 4 strides, 12 x 200 with 200 recovery, 2.5 mile cool down

Decided to cut back on the volume on this session as I got a bit spooked with that niggle last week and don't want to over do it. Thankful I did as I was glad to hit 12, wasn't really feeling this at all. Walked half the recovery for the last few reps. Splits all over the place down to GPS, traffic on the paths etc but ranged from 37 to 42 seconds. Happy to get it done and looking forward to the tempo effort on Friday which is supposed to be 3-4 miles per the book.

edinrunna

Wednesday

5 easy @ 8.16

Can't remember a whole lot about this one!

Thursday

6 easy @ 8.20 with 4 strides

It rained for exactly 50 minutes and 34 seconds yesterday afternoon, I know this because it started to rain when I pressed start and stopped when I pressed stop.

Friday

2 mile warm up with 4 strides, 30 minute "predator run", 10 minutes easy, 4 x 200 with 200 recovery, 2 mile cool down

Once again my watch was controlling the weather, hit start for the warm up and it started to bucket down. Felt good about the prospect of this run though. I've seen the "predadtor run" pop up a few different places, really just a progressive tempo with the aim of the last couple of minutes heading towards 5k pace. I used my usual route so the end would be uphill, so in my mind an even pace would equal a progressive effort. I changed the watch so all I could see was time as I wanted to go by feel. Between the wind, rain, puddles and drags knowing the pace probably would have been a hinderance anyway.

I started a bit too fast and sped up a bit too soon, but still had plenty to push on for the last couple of minutes. The pace didn't increase much but as it was uphill into the wind the effort definitely did. I was hands on knees at the end but if push came to shove I think I could have repeated it after a short rest so in my mind it was a big success. As I started the 10 minutes easy the rain stopped, the clouds parted and the sun was shining, in a sadistic way I loved this! I almost forgot to do the 200s and after Tuesday wasn't looking forward to them but 4 is grand to be honest.

I covered 4.54 miles in the 30 minutes, mile splits were 6.42, 6.34, 6.43, 6.31 and 6.27 pace for the .54. The 200s all over the place as usual, 35, 41, 37, 37. Very happy with the days work all in all, I think I've found my favourite session! Over 10 miles in total, have been forgetting to keep track of mileage so I'll reconcile it at the weekend.

OOnegative

Nice job on the “predator” run, can’t say I’ve ever heard of it but definitely be giving it a go now that I have.

edinrunna

This is where it comes from I believe :


Scott Simmons, coach of the American Distance Project in Colorado Springs, Colorado comments in the article, and calls them PREDATOR RUNS. “ ‘[Progression running is] how a predator will increase tempo to catch prey, especially as they get close.’ " His recommendation is to start 60 seconds slower than your current 10K pace, run each consecutive mile 10-20 seconds faster, and finish at (or faster) than the pace you hope to run your upcoming race.

Next time I do it I'll start a bit slower and hopefully feel like a cheetah sprinting after a gazelle for the last couple of minutes!

Comic Book Guy

Have you worn the Floatride 3 yet?

I had the 2 version last year after an alert about a big price drop in the bargains and codes thread on here.
Really liked them and they were very similar to my current go to general training runner the Saucony Iso Guide 2. My current pair don't have much more miles left in them and both the saucony and reebok are no longer available!

What kind of effort are you doing the 200 metre intervals at? Are they a certain % of max effort? Think I have 300 metre intervals next week so just curious!

Thanks

edinrunna

Yep wearing the Floatrides for most runs at the moment, I'm finding them pretty good but just a slight bit clumsy on slow easy runs. I'm hopeful that will go away as I get used to them. I watched a few reviews on Youtube and most seem to be saying they are pretty similar to the Floatride 2.

The 200s are supposed to be at Daniels R pace which is pretty much mile/1500 pace. I'm probably doing them a bit faster than neccesary in that regard! I wouldn't be far off sprinting the last rep most of the time! The recoveries are fairly generous though.

I have 400s in my plan next week, not really sure how many reps to go for. They are supposed to be at the same pace so I don't think I'll do crazy volume but I'll see on the day how I'm feeling.