The road least taken

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122099488#Comment_122099488

I see someone in the races section is looking for a Dunshaughlin entry if you havnt got a buyer yet.

marathon2022

Nothing of note this week, study , work, work, study

3 x 30-45 indoor bike sessions watching online lectures late in the evening

1 x 5k this morning, slight progression from 7.40 to 6.50/mile

Back to the study

marathon2022

I'm at a crossroads, do I start a marathon block or just keep tapping away willy nilly enjoying my running. Since last summer the hip and SI joint issue has subsided, scans show normal wear and tear and I am able to put in some work but there is pain on extended sessions and this has me a wee bit worried. So, do I set myself up for another Autumn of discontent or do I plow on and see if S&C and less miles gets me to the line in good shape. I'm chewing on tweaking the P&D 18/55 with cross training(exercise bike) instead of one recover run to extend my preferred 4 days running option right into the middle of the plan or do I just keep the milage low and have a proper pop at a 10k. Only 70 miles this month so far so I certainly dont have endurance

Will decide before the 10th June.

Running and other stuff this week

I finished my exams Wednesday and got three nice sessions in since

Wednesday - straight after last exam, pumped I put on some super shoes- 2 mile warmup - 2miles 6.30/mile - 2 miles warm down. Solid session

Thursday -eager to catch up on the down week I went out for 10 miles at 8.30/mile

Friday - 40 minutes S&C

Saturday - I found myself in Artane with 2 hours to waste as the pup had a volleyball tournament. tipped down to St Annes - 2.5 miles warmup then put on the Vaporflys - 5 x Threshold km s with floating easy jog kms

3.44, 5.29

3.55, 6.15

4.00, 5.40

3.52, 5.30

3.45, 5.35

Very decent VO2max session, I'm at my current physiological limit at 6.00 minute miles so I felt the first and last, hopefully a crack at a 19.xx parkrun in the next few weeks, Malahide or Donabate, both fast and plenty of fantastic runners to chase.

Not sure what the week ahead holds but I do plan to run a local 5k race, balbriggan Summerfest on Thursday evening, looking forward to it, not a PB course but I will give it a good lash. 20.30 would be an honest result I reckon.

marathon2022

So eventually I did a race, outside the odd Marathon I've never been one for racing but every now and then I give it a lash.

The Balbriggan Summerfest 5k was calling to me for the simple reason that I grew up in the area and love the place. The leadup was normal enough, niggles, breaks for study, some good work. No complaints.

Arrived in Balbriggan at 7pm, race at 8pm. Parking right beside the school where the number pickup was. This was easy and there were loads of local runners around to give advise on the course, lots of snacks and such. I went for a little walk with the misses and little one just to use up a bit of time.

The weather was lovely, bit breezy but nothing to complain about, shuur the sun was out. Then I put on my race shoes (vaporfly 3) and did 15 minutes pretending I knew what I was doing warmups. Apart from the amazing Balbriggan Roadrunners who organized this there were two or three big groups hanging around, Skerries AC and Lusk AC brought the gang so I knew it would be a good race.

Usual timing setup by myrunresults guys at the school gates for the finish, the start was a rushed affair, the start line was on the main road which was quickly cleared by the local Garda and off we went, only about 50 meters uphill on the road and then into a shale lane towards the local football park by the monastery and onto pedestrian footpaths for the most of the rest of the race.

Mile 1, this was fast as after the uphill start there was a long downhill drag north to south with the wind behind our backs, I was feeling good here considering I hate 5k pace. the race then turned toward the front beach path which was in public use so stayed in line. The first mile came quick, 6.15. Mad stuff, not at all what I planned.

Mile 2, not so fast, I stuck to a couple of AC runners as they looked like they knew what they were doing and the course gradually flattened out, then a little incline onto the prom, and about halfway some more downhill towards the harbor. This race is almost an out and back with a little detour up around the train station against the wind. Had one guy pass me at this point. A more reasonable 6.40 mile beeped

Mile 3, the Karma mile, all the lovely speed on the first was taken back with an uphill drag and breeze in the face, but I still felt good. The racers in front of me where pretty consistent solid pacers so I was only able to pick off 3 runners, but they were wearing AC tops so I inwardly congratulated myself. The 5k hurts a bit around this time. 6.40 mile

Last 100 meters was on a shale track and down a path to the finish, nice fast finish and I'm done in 20.18 clock time. The local AC put on a very nice spread, Pizza, goody bags and fine medal. All in all a really well organized and enjoyable race. If Im fit next year I will be back.

marathon2022

After the historic once in a blue moon 5k race I got back into it,

31st May - 4 miles easy to steady at 8.10 per mile

1st June - The high of the race was wearing of so I decided to test my current 10K level. Pretty much exactly where my training had me. 6.4 miles at 7.10 per mile. sub 45 minutes is not too shabby for my 50 year old body. My next race will probably be the fingal 10K, July 14th. I have mixed feeling about this race. I love the route of the fingal 10K and the fact its on my door step, mid July heat, 10k is perfect for a warm day but I had my first hamstring pull on the home straight in 2022!. My one and only fingal 10K so a PB of 41.05. The mission -can I drop 4 minutes between now and then, its asking a lot. Life is short

Monday - S&C

Tuesday - 10 miles at 8.30 per mile

Wednesday - rest day

Thursday - 6.5 miles at 8.00 per mile

Friday took a rest.

Saturday - Donabate parkrun - 19.54, again this is about my current VO2 max level. Very enjoyable racing here. I really cant fault Donabate apart from mile 2 with the trees effect on the GPS, it always measures 3.08 miles or thereabout on my watch. My 19.19 here in 2022 would almost certainly have been my 5k pb but short is short(on the app).

Today - 13.1 miles at 8.45 per mile, probably motivated by the European championship half I was watching this morning.

On the plan!!!

Tomorrow will be the first day of the Chicago plan, and as luck would have it, its rest day in P&D 18/55. Now for the BUT, my I'm waiting on an appointment for an MRI as the SI joint pain from last summer has been talking to me of late, hopefully in the next couple of weeks I will know if its old age or a reoccurrence. The GP said I should probably get the lower back checked as well a the hips and SI to be sure. As its early in the plan I can pivot if need be, fingers crossed.

I do love running and would be very sad to have to give it up for some lightweight sport like cycling or swimming 😝

marathon2022

I followed the first week of P&D 18/55 with not much difficulty except for the SI Joint/hip pain later in the longer runs. With only three real sessions I've been able to recover on off days but I don't think I could do two sessions in row as the hips and quads are sore the day after. Luckily I was able to get the MRI on the lower back, SI Joint and Hips, so 3-4 working days before I should find out if there is anything obvious. Hopefully its a minor issue

• Training

Monday - 2 miles, this wasn't on the plan but it suited me to do the 2 mile very easy, had an errand to run

Tuesday - 8 miles Session, 2 general - 4 LT - 2 recovery. Tough enough

Wednesday - 2 miles, same thing as Monday

Thursday - 9 mile general

Friday - junk food and movie

Saturday - 4 mile recovery

Sunday - 12 mile general

Training on HR, zones taken from Coros watch with over 3000 miles of various activities, Max HR matches most recent VO2 sessions and all out 5k efforts. I've used a HR monitor pretty much every session since January and the watch measures resting HR when I wake up in the morning automatically.

1. Resting HR is 42
2. Max HR is 178

The calculations using HR range percentages from the P&D book work out as below

VO2 max (5K pace)	166-169
Lactate threshold	146-162
Marathon Pace	146-157
Long/Medium run	134-150
General Aerobic	128-144

My Coros app looks like this

Some similarities

Shoe Rotation- my favorite topic

Super easy - Asics Novablast 3

Daily trainer - Saucony Tempus

Marathon pace inside long runs - Old Alphfly next%

LT and interval weekday sessions - Vaporfly 3/Tempus

Racedays - new(ish) Alphafly

Chances of completion 50/50

Just noticed the p&d HR data table looks awful on mobile, probably not interesting anyway 😜