The second coming of a runner

witnessmenow

Thanks @Kellygirl , I've ran 5k easy the last 3 mornings and have had no issues so at the very least it's definitely improving as I couldn't walk without feeling it last week.

I do, I need to use it more though! Thanks for the suggestion

Kellygirl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120689365#Comment_120689365

It really helps. My achilles were really tight last week from living in flip flops and it helped no end. Good news on the running.

witnessmenow

Week 18 - June 5th

Monday: Full time hen house builder these days

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday: Easy 5k - Decided to ease myself back into it, ran Tuesday with no issues (couldn't feel my achilles being an issue at all), decided to repeat the same on Wednesday and Thursday. Came through with no issues. Played some doubles tennis on Tuesday too.

Friday: Rest

Saturday - Hell and Back (8k): This really has nothing to do with running, but I guess there is no way I would have done this without the running!

I'm based in Ballinasloe so its about a two hour drive to hell and back. Left the house at 11, got there at 13:00, got changed and was out for the start time of 13:50.

I didn't have my watch on so I'm not sure of times exactly, but I think we were about 3 hours doing the course. I was definitely one of the slower ones in the group, but I'm not sure they were itching to go any faster either to be honest.

I didn't do a huge amount of prep for this specifically other than my running. I also did some rows (a step below a pullup) fairly regularly in between meetings and stuff at home to do some upper body work. I remember reading on boards that someone with an average level of fitness would be well able for it, my body obviously didn't get that memo! I'm not the fittest person in the world, but I would have though being able to run 10 miles would qualify me for having "average" fitness. But I am not that tall and I'm still quite heavy so the obstacles were hard work for me! I also think running fitness, while obviously better than no fitness, isn't that beneficial for it. You would be much better off training for this by finding a high wall and climbing it as many times as you can!

The last 30 minutes or so I was absolutely gassed, there is a straight with a load of wall obstacles in a row and towards the end of that I just wasn't able for it anymore! One lad had to give me a boost over the last lower one and then for the final tall one, despite getting a boost I wasn't able to get over it, just didn't have the power in my arms to pull myself up.

I also skipped the second last obstacle where you need to go up a pipe. I could just see everyone struggling with it and needing to get a lot of help, and to be honest I just felt conscious about the amount of help I was going to need to get up this thing, especially due my weight, and I was so wrecked! I'm also not super fond of tight spaces so I just decided to give it a skip.

Worst obstacles for me in terms of what I found hard, the rope ones where you were crawling over the the rope, they were ok at the time but my shins are bruised to bits! I'm also not great with heights so I was probably extra cautious with rope ones.

Worst obstacles in terms of just not really being a challenge but still sore was "Sniper alley" (where you get shot in the arse with a pellet gun) and the electric fence crawl thing, it was more of a shock than I was expecting!

I kind of have mixed feelings about my "achievement" of doing it. I didn't do all the obstacles, so definitely an asterisk around it, but I am happy that I was able for most of them. There is not a hope I would have been able to do it last year.

One mistake I made for sure was not eating enough. I had breakfast at about 10am and didn't finish til nearly 17:00. Like if I was running for nearly 3 hours I certainly would have had a gel or two! I'm not sure gels would be too practical for it as your submerged a couple of times, I'm not sure about eating a gel after it had been in that water! I had planned to bring a protein bar to eat before the start, but I forgot it. They were giving out ones there that I should have had but I didn't think of it.

Major positive for me is I came through it without injury, it was one of my biggest worries about doing it, even prior to the achilles issue.

Overall I enjoyed it, but I would be a lot more positive about it if it finished 30 minutes earlier! I could see myself doing it again if the group were doing it. I definitely would be better prepared for it if I did it again.

Sunday: Be sore all day. I guess the things that are the sorest are a good indicator of what I need to work on for next year!

Weight: 92Kg, wasn't the best with food this week. Busy with life and work. I also fairly did the dog on a dinner and desert after hell and back on Saturday.

Summary: 15K for the week. Good to be back doing some running and to get through Hell and Back. 10 miler at the end of the week so I need to get myself back into the swing of things!

• 10th of June - Hell and back
• 17th of June - Athlone 10 mile race
• 24th of June
• 1st July
• 8th July - Kilkee

witnessmenow

Week 19 - June 11h

Monday: Still very sore from Hell and back, planned to walk but decided when I got out to do an easy 6k, went ok

Tuesday: Was meant to do a speed session according to the watch, but I was still way too sore. I just decided to give it a rest.

Wednesday: Easy 7.5K, starting to get back to normal muscle soreness wise

Had physio later in the morning, although I haven't felt any issue with my achillies since the last physio session, the problem is still there. When the physio pinches my heel there is a huge difference to how it feels on my left heel (the bad one) and the right. Ultrasonic therapy on my achilles and sports massage on calf, tough!

Thursday: Meant to have stride repeats, but my calf is quite sore after the physio so i just rest.

Friday: Rest

Saturday - Athlone 10 Miler:

Pre Race:

First race to do in a year. My training/prep has not been good for a few weeks now, I haven't ran over 8k in 3 weeks and I just wasn't as confident as I could have been! Even thought this was really un-important in the grand scheme of things, I was genuinely stressed about it! Even down to when to eat for a 11 race start. There was also a lot going on at home with the rest of the family getting ready for the day that in future I probably need to separate myself from if I felt the same as I did yesterday. Good to get some practice/experience for future races though.

The race is only about 15/20 mins from where I live so I was a bit lax about leaving the house and arrived not late, but not as early as I should have.

It was pissing rain where I lived so I was expecting similar at the race, but it was actually very sunny. Thankfully had some suncream in the car so threw some on after parking the car.

Went and got my number and basically had to go straight to the start line. A buddy of mine decides she'll at least start the race running with me so we'll see how it goes.

Race :

It's absolutely roasting, I was hoping we might get rain, but it never came! This was by far the hottest weather I've run in. I normally run at 7am, so even during the nice weather it not this hot.

My strategy is to try do a ~6min pace as a practice for Kilkee. It's a much flatter course than kilkee so not great practise, but it will at least give me an indication if it's realistic

The race for me can kind of be split into 3 sections

First 5K: This goes ok, its very warm but i'm still chatting with my buddy so feeling fine. New 30s me PB for a 5k at 29:46

5K - 10K: Still going generally ok for most of it, but I decide I need to reduce the pace as I knew I wasn't going to be able to keep up the pace. Still chatting, but I know I'm running out of gas! New 10K PB for me at 1:02:30

Last 6k: Struggle, At this point my legs are talking to me. I walked a for a few hundred meters to try give them a rest with the plan of running the rest of it. I ran for another 20 mins before I needed a break again. Nearly all the muscles in my leg are tired at this point, even my oblique (I think, between abs and pelvis) is sore at this stage! I walk a few more times before running the last ~1.5Km.

Finishing Time: 1:48:28 (ish, Based on my watch, but I didnt stop my watch on the line so I'm basing this on when my pace dropped). Edit: 1:48:22 is the chip time, a solid 169th out of 186 :D

Splits:

1 5:53.6

2 5:51.2

3 5:52.6

4 5:59.8

5 6:08.4

6 6:29.4

7 6:31.0

8 6:31.9

9 6:37.5

10 6:34.4

11 7:42.8

12 7:02.7

13 6:54.1

14 7:52.5

15 9:05.2

16 6:56.9

17 (0.11km) 1:42.0 (I didn't stop my watch right at the line so I'm not sure how much extra is added on here)

Post Race:

My legs are the most tired they have ever been after a run. The cup of tea and getting out of the sun was much appreciated! Stomach was feeling a bit weird, so get a luccuzade sport and a bag of crisps on the way home and feel a good bit better.

Go for lunch with my buddy and get a 99 (my first of the year!). Spend most of the rest of the day resting

Post Race Thoughts:

I'm a bit a disappointed to have to walk some of it, I know I didn't have anything left in the tank so I don't really think I could have done anything more on the day (other than start slower).

3 weeks ago I also ran 16K as an easy run and I actually ran this slower than that. But what I feel worse about is the fact after the run 3 weeks ago, I feel like I could have tired for another 5k, while yesterday I'm not sure I could have done another 1k! I think that really illuminates where I'm at for Kilkee, that I need to adjust my goal to be focused on finishing it more than any thoughts of 2:00, it's not happening.

Sunday: Going to go for a short walk withe kids and probably go visiting the grandads. I did a bit of stretching/massaging with the gun and foam rolling yesterday and my legs are tired, but they don't feel awful.

Weight: 91.8Kg yesterday evening. still struggling with this a little, at least its not going up!

Summary: 30K for the week. I'm traveling for work this week so not exactly ideal for training, but sure we'll see how it goes. Just 3 Saturdays left...

• 10th of June - Hell and back
• 17th of June - Athlone 10 mile race
• 24th of June
• 1st July
• 8th July - Kilkee

Lumen

Obvs physio advice rules, but I found this video invaluable for sorting my Achilles issues recently.

A few weeks of this (plus avoiding hills and speed, and keeping cadence high) totally sorted me out.

https://youtu.be/PSefuPB6zkU

Kellygirl

Well done in the 10 miler. Did you take a gel or any fuel on board? With the heat and the faster pace you would have burnt a lot more energy than your long run a few weeks ago. Taking a gel at maybe 60 mins in maybe have helped?

Glad the injuries are on the mend.

witnessmenow

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120731242#Comment_120731242

Cheers for the video, the Pyhsio exercise are somewhat similar other than the ministry of silly walks :D

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120734804#Comment_120734804

Oh yeah, I took a gel around the 7.5k to 8k mark. I did plan to take a protein bar before the race, but I forgot. I had a fairly decent breakfast of porridge though so I wasn't exactly running on empty.

I have only tried two types of Gel, Powerbar Hydro and High5 gel, it was the high5 gel I used on Saturday. Although it wasn't my first time using the high5, I definitely prefer the more liquid nature of the Powerbar Hydro, it's closer to a drink than a gel. Especially in the heat I found the high5 un-pleasant to consume! I also apparently didn't quite finish it it because my phone was fairly covered in gel at the end of the race!

High5 sell a "aqua" one that I'm after getting to try out, hopefully it will be more like the powerbar Hydro one. The powerbar ones are very expensive so just testing the high5 ones.

I also bought a belt that I can take water with me as Saturday was actually my first time consuming water while running. I didn't take on too much liquid at the two water stops, but definitely some at the first . The second stop I took on very little as, maybe TMI, but I was starting to get the feeling like I needed to pee (I wasn't bursting or anything, but I definitely didn't want to take more water!). So definitely for my last two longer runs before Kilkee I'll take this with me to get the feel of it.

Kellygirl

The High 5 aqua are more liquidy so you might prefer them. The stickiness of them puts me off though. I prefer Maurten gels now or Tailwind but that needs to be mixed with water. You’ll need to practice a lot more with hydration prior to Dublin!

Murph_D

Sorry the 10 mile race was a struggle. I have not been following this closely, but probably not a great idea to do a 3 hour Hell and Back event the week before a race - that alone would explain any race difficulties, not to mention the Achilles issue. Also, if f you are chatting to other runners during a race (unless just the odd grunt), you are not racing! Chatting requires considerable extra effort and it’s best to save the energy for the second half of the race (unless you are just out to enjoy the day, in which case chat away as much as you like). 😉

If Kilkee is the goal race that you are building this log around, you really need to focus on that and training specifically for that. You’ve built up more resilience than you are probably feeling at the moment but you have to get those last few weeks right, including getting it right in the day. I don’t know the Garmin plan but hopefully it includes a good taper over the final stages. In the meantime, hydrate, eat and sleep as well as you can. And continue to practice your in-race nutrition, which needs to be nailed down really soon.

Good luck!

witnessmenow

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120743156#Comment_120743156

I definitely didn't expect hell and back to be as long/hard as it was, so something to note for the future! I think that along with being not able to train as much in the previous few weeks definitely played its part.

The "chatting" thing I said might be over stating it a bit, We weren't talking too much other than me complaining about the heat, but just that I was not going at a pace where I was struggling for breath or anything.

It's probably a terrible thing to do as I'm breaking the golden rule of "stick to the plan", but I've fired Garmin as my coach. I haven't followed the plan in 3 weeks up this point anyways, so I'm readjusting with what time I have left. To be honest I'm a bit worried to do any speed stuff at moment due to my achilles and I don't care about time, so I'm just trying to get myself in decent shape to do the distance. I'm just focusing on doing easy runs and getting my recovery right with stretches, exercises from the physio and foam rolling.

witnessmenow

Week 20 - June 19th

Pre-Week Plan: As I mentioned in the other post, I made some change to my plans given that I've missed 3 weeks of the Garmin plan, my worry/fear of speed working aggravating my Achilles and the fact I really need to get some mileage into my legs. So I decided to drop the garmin plan last weeked and spend the week focusing on easy runs and recovery.

Monday: Easy 7K. Legs still pretty tired from the 10 mile race, but take it pretty easy (avg: 6:55/km). Felt ok after it.

Tuesday: Easy 7K. Almost identical to Monday, same avg and everything. These runs feel like so long ago, I barely remember them! I did need to get up early for this (started the run at 6am) as I was going to Dublin for work

Wednesday: Easy 6K (6:40/km). Was staying in Dublin (temple bar) for work, so I headed out to the north side of the quays, down to ringsend and then back up Pearces street. Another early start (started at 6:20)

Thursday: Easy 11K (7:00/km). Still up in Dublin. I have a buddy who runs who lives near Harolds cross, so I ran out to meet him on his loop, so 3.5K out, 4K loop with him and then I had planned to just walk back, but I felt fine so I continued the run back. Another early start (6:20)

Friday: Back at home now. Rest from a run point of view, but I had a family wedding in Clare. I had to do the school run solo (which is unusual for me) so another early start! We drove down the wedding and left shortly after midnight to go home. I don't drink anyways so no issues with that, but I was absolutely exhausted by the end of the night. Got home just after 2am.

Saturday: Easy 6K (6:45/km). I haven't ran with the run group in a good few weeks at this stage between injury and the events so decided I'd go down and show my face. My original original plan was to do my long run this morning, but when I actually thought about the logistics of running a long run on 4 or 5 hours sleep, it didn't really make sense, so I decided to push my LSR to Sunday.

Sunday: Easy 18.5K (7:06/km). This is my longest run before Kilkee in two weeks as I'll be tapering next week.

My goal at the start of the week was to run between 18 and 20K, but with doing the extra 6K yesterday I said the lower end of that scale would be better. I was targeting to do 7:00/km, but it wasn't set in stone on that so not at all bothered by being a bit slower. I was happy that I felt like I could have done more.

I also picked a relatively hilly route to do the run to try match what Kilkee will be like.

Overall it was a very enjoyable run. My longest run to date.

It was a nice morning for a run this morning, not as hot as it has been other days. I felt really good after the run, my hamstrings and calves were really tired, but I felt good. My wife said I've often come in from shorter runs in much worse shape than I did today, and she's right.

I also took the opportunity to try out the new run belt with two water bottles and to also try out the high5 Aqua gels, as I didn't really enjoy the regular ones. I would say both worked well. I put high5 zero tabs mixture in the water bottles and it felt good, took a small bit every couple of KM and it seemed to work well. The packaging of the Powerbar gels I've used before are probably a bit better than the high5 ones, but the powerbar ones are basically double the price so I'll get over it :) I also ate a protein bar (nuts basically) shortly before the run. Not sure which helped the most, but overall I felt good so will stick with this.

I'm also pretty sure I've locked in what gear I'll wear in Kilkee. I was finally brave enough to wear these as my outer shorts, having only previously used them as under shorts. Under shorts are basically a non negotiable for me, but it can be a bit much to have multiple layers in this weather, so these work well. But I always just felt like they looked like I forgot to put on my actual shorts :D

Weight: Depends on when you weigh me! Somewhere between 90.1 and 91.7kg. It wasn't a great week food wise with work dinners and the wedding, but other than that I was pretty decent.

Summary: 56K for the week. A decent step up in KM from my previous max 4 weeks ago (47KM), but that included two speed sessions while this was all easy. It was a tough week to fit everything in with the traveling for work and then the wedding, but I'm really happy to get back into it. First time running 6 times in a week.

Just two weeks to go now, I feel much better about it today than I did this day last week. I am happy with my decision to drop Garmin for now at least. Running at a pace based on how I'm feeling on the day is just so much more enjoyable that having to be between x and y pace.

Strava has popped up a run from this week last year, I was 4 weeks into couch to 5K. I ran/walked a total of 3.9k. I added this to the description: "... really had to push myself at times and the final 5 minutes run finished with me jogging as slow as I could", I struggled to run a 5 minute segment (16 minutes of running in total, with walks in-between), today I ran for 131 mins. If that's not progress, I don't know what is!

I also signed up for DCM23 this week, so my running adventure is not stopping in two weeks anyways!

• 10th of June - Hell and back
• 17th of June - Athlone 10 mile race
• 24th of June
• 1st July
• 8th July - Kilkee

T-Bird

Great reading your training log and very relatable to mine. I'm actually traveling to do the Kilkee HM next weekend as well and have also signed up for Dublin.

witnessmenow

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120791247#Comment_120791247

Cheers @T-Bird! Oh cool! How's your training been going? Have you ran many half's before?

I must say in kind of a strange way, signing up for Dublin has taking a little bit away from the half next week for me. Kilkee was the goal since February, but now I kind of feel like Dublin is the new goal and kilkee is nearly a milestone along the way rather than a big achievement. I'm still looking forward to it, but I'd be lieing if I said Dublin wasn't on my mind a lot!

T-Bird

This is only my second full year running after completing c25k August 2020 after losing a bit of weight. I started halfs last year and can't remember how many I have done of the top of my head without consulting with Strava lol. But I guess you could say that I'm hooked on them lol. I finished off last year with a knee injury, probably by over doing it in my first year running, which took around 3 months or so to fully recover from. Kilkee would be my 6th HM event of the year including a virtual one. I've also ran 2 10 milers, 2 10ks and the Belfast marathon for my 55th birthday lol. I do them mainly for enjoyment and I normally finish in the second half of the finishers list.

I fully understand what you are saying re Kilkee and Dublin taking over, as Kilkee is now seen as a stepping stone. The experience itself will be valuable and you will probably feel like you have made a huge mistake signing up for Dublin 😄. But that is where your training plan will pay it's part.

Annie get your Run

Switching plans is a weakness of mine (and indeed others here!) and it's never really a great idea. Consistency is key to this running lark so pick one thing and stick to that - now, if I can take my own advice I'll be a very happy camper 😉.

Will you join the novices thread and follow one of the plans there for Dublin?

witnessmenow

Week 21 - June 26th

Pre-Week Plan: Focus on the easier runs and see how it goes!

Monday: 3k walk, legs are tired from long run the day before so I decide to take it easy and just stretch my legs

Tuesday: HM Pace 7K (avg 6:18/km). My new HM target is the 2:15 pacer , which is about a ~ 6:30/km pace, so I said I'd give that a go. Picked up the pace a bit towards the end which explains the lower average (I was kind of day dreaming to be honest)

Wednesday: Easy 9K (6:33/km). I hadn't intended to run this one at this pace, but I just went out and did what felt good and this is where I ended up. It was kind of a stressful week with work and life so probably impacts a bit too, not really sure. I guess now that I am running distances and not for time, running a bit faster gets me out of the rain quicker! I think this was my first time running in proper rain in about 2 months, I was absolutely drowned out of it!

Thursday: Easy 7K (6:31/km). Similar story to Wednesday, still a bit stressed and went out and did what felt good for me at the time.

Friday: Easy 5K (6:41/km). I don't normally run on a Friday, but I didn't run on Monday so I decide to get a short run in. I'm waking up at 5:30 with out an alarm at the moment anyways, so I got up did a couple of personal projects and still had time for a short run. Rein myself in a little with the speed.

My early mornings catch up with me today as I ended up going to bed before my kids!

Saturday: Easy 10M ( Ended up being 16.63K @ 6:50/km). I had planned to do ~14K but there was people in the run group looking to run a slow 10 mile so I decided to tag along with them as it's only a couple of K more. The 10 mile loop is a little longer than 10 miles, but I was feeling good so I just finished it out.

Felt pretty good after it, legs were a bit tired, but a decent amount better than the 18.5K run the week before.

Similar hydration, food and gel strategy as last week and again it worked well for me so I'm happy with that.

Did have a slight issue with not putting enough Vaseline on, not too bad, but not a mistake I want to be making often!

Sunday: Rest. Still waking up early but didn't do a whole lot. Spent the morning making jigsaws with the kids when they got up before heading to a friends house to watch the F1.

Weight: Haven't weighed myself. Not doing great with food at the moment but not really trying to loose weight this week or next. I can start being a bit more aggressive with the diet after next week

Summary: ~45K for the week. I stepped it down a little this week in terms of distance, although kind of accidentally stepped up the pace. I feel good though, do not regret my decision to drop Garmin, I think I would have been ok with Garmin if I didn't get injured, but once I did, still even attempting to follow the plan in some shape was stressing me out and I'm definitely enjoying the running more since.

Last update before Kilkee. As I mentioned in the other post, signing up from Dublin has taking a bit of the "end goal" feeling of Kilkee away. Prior to signing up for Dublin, everything I did was in service for next Saturday, but now with Dublin around the corner it feels more like everything is leading up to that!

I've ran 93 times this year so far, nearly 74 hours for a total distance of nearly 650Km, I'm not sure I have put as much effort into something before in my life! Thanks for the support people have given along the way, much appreciated!

I'm happy with the new goal of 2:15. I never cared about speed I did it, just wanted to do it. Kilkee is going to be hilly so not a run that well be well suited for doing great times anyways. I'd rather go for 2:15 and if it's going well increase the pace towards the end than try for 2:00 and have to struggle to the finish like I did with the 10 mile run.

• 10th of June - Hell and back
• 17th of June - Athlone 10 mile race
• 24th of June
• 1st July
• 8th July - Kilkee , lets get it done

witnessmenow

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120794695#Comment_120794695

Fair play to you, that's really impressive!

I think I'll be ok for Kilkee, I was worried about everything after the 10 mile run, but I feel back to full fitness now and I know I've put the work in, so we'll just have to see how it goes! So hopefully I won't be regretting my decision to do Dublin after (but I would be lieing if I said that wasn't a consideration before signing up!)

It's great that you were able to kick on so much after getting started. I'm really not sure what the future of my running career is. I'm enjoying the running, and I'm enjoying how much healthier I feel, I'm not randomly tired all the time, I don't suffer from random sore backs any more, im still heavy but I look much better than I did 6 months ago. But there are aspects of my life like hobbies or playing games with buddies I have just basically put on hold to focus on the running and it even sometimes eats into doing things with my kids. It's quite hard to juggle everything! Maybe there is something inbetween doing nothing and doing 5 days a week :)

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120794808#Comment_120794808

It's probably the golden rule for a reason, and maybe I'll find out why soon enough! But for now I don't regret it at all. I'm feeling really good about my running at the moment. The nice thing about doing all these distances for the first time is no matter how I finish, it will be a PB :) Future me can do plans that focus on faster times!

Yup I joined the thread and am in the Strava group! I haven't started as I'm focused on the half marathon first but I'm going to go for the HH plan, I think it best suits what I enjoy doing at the moment.

witnessmenow

Race Information

• Name: Kilkee Half Marathon
• Date: 8th of July 2023
• Time: 2:12:32

Goals

• A Sub 2:15 Yes
• B Do Not Walk Yes
• C Give it everything Yes

Splits

1. 6:20
2. 6:29
3. 6:14
4. 6:30
5. 6:26
6. 6:13
7. 6:17
8. 6:01
9. 6:00
10. 6:22
11. 6:10
12. 6:03
13. 6:09
14. 6:38
15. 6:17
16. 6:31
17. 6:30
18. 6:29
19. 6:30
20. 6:07
21. 6:03

• Avg: 6:17 /km

Week Of Training

Monday: Rest

Tuesday: 4K Easy

Wednesday: 5k Easy

Thursday: 4K Easy

Friday: 20Mins Easy (2.92K)

My first time doing a proper taper, not going to lie, it felt weird! It also felt so wasterful to be spending the same amount of time before and after getting ready and only doing small runs! The lack of running was also impacting my sleeping, I was finding it harder to sleep! I also had a fairly stressful week at work so the extra Km probably would have helped, but I stick to the plan, whatever the plan is! I was very stressed on the Friday night, I really just wanted it to be Saturday so I could get this thing going!

Pre-race

Up at ~5am, get breakfast (Eggs and toast) and then get ready. Drive to a friends house and she drives us down to Kilkee. We are there around 8:20, we grab a toilet break before the queues get too long and then do are bits to get ready. I've drank about half a zero tablet on the way down and put the other half into my bottles I'll carry. I also eat a protein nut bar thing. We went down the start line and I did my stretches down there.

Weather was bad 10 mins before the start of the race, but it cleared up just before the start.

My aim is to follow the 2:15 pacer, shes maybe 50 m ahead of me at the start line

Race

Fairly crowded at the start as to be expected. I know the first couple of KM are quite uphill so although I want to catch up with the pacer, I'm very conscious about no overdoing it on these first hills. So I decide to just survive the first few KM, stick in the pace window of ~6:30 conserve some energy and I'd catch her later.

I have to say, during the 2nd KM, I was questioning my approach to the race, cause I didn't feel like it was going great. My legs felt heavy already. I have something I say to myself, "don't listen to yourself on a up-hill, make decisions at the top". So after the pack thins out a bit, I stick on my headphones to distract up-hill me.

Each KM of the first 5 is a net-uphill so I employ a similar tactic of just conserving energy while sticking roughly in the pace window I need to. There was a pretty cool moment around the top the 2KM where you could just see all the runners winding up along the cliff roads, cool until I realized I needed to run up that too!

After 6K we have some net downhill portions and I start to relax a little more and get into the swing of things. I think its around here I start tagging along with two people, one who I was actually talking to at the Athlone 10 miler, but I didn't realize it was her til later, but I wasn't doing any talking today!

Around the 7K mark I was running along the coast, it was absolutely beautiful and for the first time I could appreciate the surroundings a bit. I've put a lot of effort to get here, lets catch this 2:15 pacer and get it done!

8 is a big downhill and 9 is also downhill, so I increase the pace for these. I know people say you should bank energy, not time, but I had kind of already used that strategy on the first 5km, I need to do a few quicker KMs to make up for it. The wind is quite strong at this point too. Pacer is a lot ahead of me still

10 is another uphill but its going pretty well at this point I feel good. I do get flashbacks of the 10miler that it was around this point that it went a bit south for me but I try remind myself that I have put in some good weeks of training since then and I'm much better rested.

I looked at my time shortly after I turned back, 1:06 and I get pretty confused, If I'm more than half way, and the time to hit for halfway would have been 1:07:30 to be on pace, how have I still not caught the pacer!? I do get worried at this point that I'm making a mistake with how I'm pacing myself. I see her in the distance and while its down hill I decide to stick the plan of slightly faster pace on the downhills to allow me to take it easier on the uphills.

Around the 13KM mark I know I have even made up more time on my pace but I still haven't caught the pacer! She's closer for sure, but still further ahead then when I started. I decide to just trust that I have been pacing myself ok and I'll try figure out whats going on later.

Was still feeling ok up to this point, but the big hills started coming back into play. 14th K was the biggest hill of the bunch and it was a struggle, really knocked the stuffing out of me. I got back on pace for 15, but another decent one at 16 took its toll on me.

I have been gelling at the ~5K marks up this point, but around this point I didn't actually feel that great in the stomach. I debated not taking my last gel but decide to stick the plan.

I'm fighting with myself at this point, I want to walk some of it, I see loads of people around me doing it, but I just keep thinking of the "Do not walk goal", I want to check that off.

I do feel a bit of a twinge in the right calf around the 17km mark, a "hey, just a warning, I'm going to cramp", so my thoughts of a super fast finish are not happening! At this point I just to finish in my goal, any thoughts of beating it significantly go out the window!

This part might sound weird, but for me to dig deep down I need to get emotional, so I keep going back to the thought that has got me through some tougher times when out training, the thoughts of seeing my kids at the finishing line cheering me on. This is what I have spent the last 5 months training for. Every early start, early going to bed, it was for this. So I go to that well a couple of times to motivate me to keep going.

I just keep thinking to myself if I can reach the top of the hill at 19KM, I'll have made it. I play whatever mind games I can to try keep myself going. My one last trick is to put on free bird, i do that around 18KM and I couldn't have timed it better, the outro solo thing happened basically just as I got to the top of the hill at 19KM.

I reached the top of the hill, see on my watch that even if I dropped to my easy pace of 7km I should still be able to beat the target. But I just go with my body at this point. I felt the twinge of the calf once or twice more (not fully sure when) but I felt comfortable enough going down the hill.

Back down at the beach, which I think is about 400m to the finish line, I still haven't caught the pacer! I've seen her turn around beckoning people a couple of times in the last KM or so. I'm still a bit worried that I haven't paced myself right so I try my best to keep up the pace to catch her and I eventually do with about 200M to go. I know I have done it at this stage, I just need to struggle back. My Wife and kids, my Mam and my run buddy are cheering my on about 100M out. I kind of wanted to stop to hug my kids like I imagined, but I said there would be time for hugs in a few minutes! I was also worried if I stopped I wouldn't be able to get going again.

I stopped my watch at 2:12:32, so I knew even if I started/stopped it at the wrong time, I had a bit of time to spare (but it was actually my chip time too). I thought the race clock said 2:18:XX when I crossed, which didn't make sense to me, but I must have read it wrong cause according to the results it was 2:13:XX

Post-race

I'm absolutely shattered! I get my medal and few snacks and make my way back to my family.

My calves and hamstrings start to remind me of how far I've ran at this point and I just spend the next few minutes trying to stretch them out! This is me cursing how sore they are! (thanks to my wife for taking my moment of pain to take such a flattering photo!)

Me and my run buddy walked out into the sea afterwards and it was actually really nice. Actually met the person from the Athlone 10 miler there too and was nice to go through the post race analysis!

We went and got food in Kilkee and then made our way home.

I had a shower and then a bath and watched some TV in bed.

I'm not sure if it hasn't sunk in yet, but I don't feel as good/proud as I feel like I should. This time last year I literally couldn't run for 10 minutes, At the start of February when I started this log, I ran 5K as fast I could with a 6:50 pace, my average yesterday over 21K was 6:17.

I don't think the race could have went better for me on the day. It was the toughest route I've ever ran, the longest distance I ever ran, at the fastest pace I've ever ran 10K or above (PB for 10k 1:02:00 and 10 mile 1:40:51). I'm definitely happy to have gone through the taper process, cause at least now I know it works!

I put in a lot of effort to get to this point, probably couldn't have done a whole lot more training wise but I guess I feel like I probably left some time on the table in terms of I really haven't lost anything significant weight wise in a few months.

Strava is doing me out of my half as well! My watch distance was 21.05KM, and thats what it sent to strava, so Strava doesnt think I have done a half! Not sure I can extend it on Strava either. Garmin allows you to ok.

I don't feel too bad today, if the weather clears up I'll probably get out for a walk to try loosen my legs up. I'll see home I'm feeling for the rest of the week to see when I start getting back into doing some short easy runs to get myself back on the horse. I've got some DCM training to get to!

Made with a new race report generator created by /u/herumph. Not sure if there is really much point using this for boards, but credit where credit is due

Annie get your Run

Congratulations! You achieved all your goals, that's a win, win win. I can totally understand you not feeling the joy though, I had a similar experience for my first half marathon (a similar finish time to yours too) but I look back now and see how far I had come at the time and it was huge achievement. Don't worry about Strava, you ran a half marathon race, you have a chip time. Definitely try to get out for a few short walks over the next few days so your legs don't cease up.

T-Bird

Great report! It kind of brings back memories to my first races last year. In fact I think most of my runs are like that, the mind is always playing tricks with your emotions. I stopped and walked about 5 times yesterday and I just watched the pacer go off into the distance at the first water station and virtually waved goodbye because I was a goner. But I managed to catchup again. You had the determination and grit to keep at it, so well done for that. There was a man probably a good 10 years on me, id say in his mid 60s wearing a Dublin Marathon top and he virtually jeffed the whole run and finished well ahead of me in the end.

Garmin / Strava are quite infuriating when it comes to distance. You will often find that they cut your runs short, Garmin has my run distance at 20.98. It also said accept new record but I don't remember what it was... I think I was close to my HMPB yesterday even with the walking, but I will never know. My current PB for HM was when I did a 3/4 last year as I had to go past hm distance to get there..

Anyway, your on the right path and I wouldn't concentrate too much on the weight, your body will adapt to it the longer you run. I'm stuck at around the high 90s since I started and am working with it now. I was passed a good few times by lads powering through and were a fair bit bigger than me.

witnessmenow

Week 23 - July 10th

Pre-Week Plan: Recover from the half marathon!

Sunday & Monday: Roughly 2k walk to stretch my legs

Tuesday: Easy 4K (7:13/km). Starting to feel more right. Met some sheep

Wednesday: Easy 7K (7:47/km). I ran this based on keeping my heart rate in the "aerobic" zone. I know my conversational pace is typically around the 6:45-7:00 kind of range so I'm not sure which metric is my true easy pace, but I don't mind doing some runs like this to see how it works out.

Thursday & Friday:  Rest. My calf and ankle feel a little tight so other than stretches I decide to give myself more of a rest

Saturday: Easy 5K (6:50/km). Out with the run group. Was envious of the marathon portion of the group going on their 10 mile run! But decided to take it easy.

Sunday: Rest & Hen house (nearly done!)

Weight: 92KG this morning, was decent enough food wise.

Summary: 16K for the week. I really want to run more!

witnessmenow

Week 24 - July 17th

Pre-Week Plan: Up the mileage and pick a plan for DCM.

Monday: Easy 5k (7:29/km). I assume I was following my heart rate for this, I don't actually remember.

Tuesday: Easy 4K (6:59/km). Was working in the office this week so was a little tight for time if I remember right

Wednesday: Rest from running. Doubles tennis, first time playing in weeks.

Thursday: Easy 10K (6:43/km). Met up with a guy from the run group to do this one. Probably a little fast but felt good after it.

Friday:  Easy 4K (7:07/km).

Saturday: Easy 18K (6:52/km). Out with the run group. In my no plan, plan I figured 16k would be a good distance, but the group were doing 18k, so I said I'd tag along. Definitely a bit fast, but there was parts of the route I did no know so I needed to stay close enough to them to know where to turn! Was tired after it but not too bad.

Sunday: Had planned to walk, but we had some issues with a unwell dog so we didn't get a lot of sleep and had to bring her to the vet. We got as good of news as we could have got at the vets so thats good, but it's quite sad how much older this dog has gotten in the last year. She used to join 20s me on a few 5ks, she wouldn't even be up to a short walk these days.

Weight: 91.5KG this morning, was decent enough food wise. Nice to see the needle move again.

Summary: 41K for the week. Getting back into it!

Regarding the plan, I've picked HH intermediate 1 to go with. I feel its similar to where I current level. I originally was going to do the HH novice 1 plan , but I wasn't happy with the amount of distance in it, so I would have wanted to add stuff on. So I think I'm better off having a plan that I don't want to stray from. HH novice 2 was an option too, its pretty similar to intermediate 1 with one less run, but I'm happy to commit to the days.

It's nice to know exactly what I'll be doing for the week ahead.

witnessmenow

Week 25 - July 23rd

Pre-Week Plan: Follow the plan! After picking HH intermediate 1, the plan was to to stick with that. It's my first week doing it, but im starting at week 5.

Monday: Easy 5k (7:33/km). Followed my heart rate

Tuesday: Easy 10K (7:31/km). Again following heart rate

Wednesday: Easy 5k (7:30/km). Again, Followed my heart rate. New runners, same again, Novablast 2 LE. The old ones are showing sign of the foam ageing (wrinkles on the side) so I'm going to alternate between the two for now.

Thursday:  Rest.

Friday: Easy 10K (7:24/km). Tried to just stick to the 7:30 pace. I slept terribly the night before so it was a bit more of a struggle than it should have been

Saturday: Easy 20K (7:13/km). Out with the run group. I originally thought I'd be going out on my own as the majority of them run too fast for me, but a couple of other people wanted to run it slower too. Was happy with how it went. Second longest run, first time doing 20K in training.

Sunday: Cross training. Went for a 50 min walk by myself and then came back and collected the kids and went for a 25 minute ramble

Weight: 90.8KG Yesterday after breakfast. Was good food wise. I have started to take protein shakes after longer runs (anything 10k+) as I can't actually seem to eat enough protein naturally!

Summary: 50K for the week. Really happy to have a plan and to stick to it. Legs are tired after yesterday, but feeling good. Was a little worried about two longish runs in a row, but it was grand. On-wards to week 2 (really week 6)!

Murph_D

Catching up - very well done on what sounds like a tough Kilkee HM route, and all the best for Dublin.

witnessmenow

Week 26 - July 31st

Pre-Week Plan: HH intermediate 1, week 6.

5k|8k|5K|Rest|10K @ MP| 14.5K | Cross

Monday: Easy 5k (7:32/km).

Tuesday: Easy 8K (7:23/km).

Wednesday: Easy 5k (7:22/km).

Thursday:  Rest.

Friday: 10K at Marathon Pace (6:14/km). First time running anything but easy since Kilkee, so I'm a bit out of practice! A little inconsistent and a little bit too fast (I'm aiming for ~6:20). Felt fine after it

Saturday: Easy 15K (6:56/km). Out with the run group. I was did the first 4K with a group that were going too fast and I couldn't settle back into a very slow pace afterwards, kept just drifting towards a 7:00 pace.

Sunday: Cross training. Went for a 65 min walk

Weight: 91.2KG Today. Was pretty decent food wise all week so not too worried about it!

Summary: 43K for the week. Step back week, its a fairly full on one next week so we'll see how it goes!

Monday session marked 6 months of training, so that was nice. Other than the 1 week I took off due to my achilles I've run 3 times a week in the last 6 months, so sticking with it!

witnessmenow

Week 27 - August 7th

Pre-Week Plan: HH intermediate 1, week 7.

6.5k|11.5k|6.5K|Rest|11.5K @ MP| 22.5K | Cross

Monday: Easy 7k (6:47/km). I met a few people who were doing a longer run and just did the first 7k with them. I left my watch at home, so harder to pace myself, it was alright though.

Tuesday: Easy 12K (7:04/km). This was the first time running by heart rate where I noticed the speed I could go increased a lot. Speed up towards the end for no good reason! Felt good after it. Weird that 12K has become a midweek run.

Wednesday: Easy 7k (7:15/km). Slept terrible the night before so it was a real slog. It was very humid. I can't remember a run I enjoyed less.

Played tennis later in the day. I signed up for a doubles league thing before the marathon and this was the last game in it. I do like the tennis, but this is only my second time to play in 2 months, its quite difficult to manage it all!

The tennis court is beside the running track and my daughter wanted to go in for a lap after, so did that, 400m at 6:49/km :)

Thursday:  Rest, much needed

Friday: 12K at Marathon Pace (6:14/km). Was not looking forward to this at all. I'm still kind of sore from the first round of runs in the week. Still quite tired but despite me not working this week I decided to try get it out of the way sooner rather than later as it was quite warm.

Being able to complete this run successfully has given me confidence in how fit I'm becoming because it felt pretty difficult right from the start but I was able for it fine. I don't normally bring water with me on a 12k, but I did on this one and I'm glad I did!

Probably need to revisit my eating strategy before this runs as I did feel a bit hungry or something during it. I only had a bannana before it, and no gels during, which is normally ok for "shorter" runs, but these race pace ones I guess are bit more of a workout.

Maybe TMI regarding chaffing:

Spoiler Warning

I had my first bloody nipple on this run! Not too bad, but it would have been if it was a longer run.

I've recently swapped to body glide from Vaseline as I could feel the Vaseline wearing off near half marathon distances and whatever way I put it on, I obviously didn't do it right! Didn't even notice it til I stopped running. I have gotten a little slimmer recently and have a singlet in XL and L and the L fits me a bit better now, but I was saving it for the long run on Saturday so I wore the XL, maybe not suitable anymore. Something I need to get sorted anyways.

Saturday: Easy 24.4K (7:02/km). Out with the run group. Went out with people looking to do a 7 min pace so was happy to stick with them as I think anything between 7 and 7:30 is good for me. I had 22.5K on my plan, which I was going to round up to 23K, and the route I was told we were going was meant to be "23 or 24k" but it was actually just over 25k. At the end of my 23k I was still feeling ok and I had the choice of either walking 2k back or continuing on. The person with me wanted to round up to 15 miles or whatever it was in miles so I just ran til she hit that and walked the rest of the way.

Longest run I've done to date. Actually felt alright after it though, I could have kept going if I needed to.

Re chaffing, no nipple issues today. Went to town using the run glide and also the L singlet seemed to do the trick. I did get a chaffing on the bottom of my back on my shorts line. They are decathlon shorts and they have a little rubber logo on the outside of the shorts that lines up pretty much exactly where the issue was. So another thing to sort!

My feet started to get a little tired towards the end, hard to know if that's just normal after running for nearly 3 hours and having ran ~60k for the week or if my first pair of novablasts 2 LE are for pasture (477KM on the clock, but im slow and heavy so I'd expect them to not last as long as others). I have been alternating between the old ones and a new pair, using the new ones for shorter runs, but this coming week I think I'll swap that up and see how it feels

Sunday: Cross training. Went for a 57 min walk

Weight: 89.9KG After my run on Friday, which is kind of cheating, but it was nice to see a "8" at the start, probably my first time seeing that in 8 years. 91Kg most other times I weigh myself

Summary: ~63K for the week. Most I've ever ran in a week. Definitely tired from the training, but happy I'm able to keep up with it. Very similar week next week, except no MP run. Lets hope the body can recover, as the week starts again first thing in the morning and I'm still feeling this week right now!

witnessmenow

Week 28 - August 14th

Pre-Week Plan: HH intermediate 1, week 8.

6.5k|11.5k|6.5K|Rest|11.5K| 24K | Cross

Monday: Easy 7k (7:05/km). Ran by heart rate and the pace was a good bit faster again.

Family trip to Dublin Zoo and Ikea. my watch reckons I did 22.5K of movement on Monday, so about 15k of walking on top of the run, tracks pretty close the steps anyways. Late enough home and to bed too.

Tuesday: Easy 12K (7:05/km). Again by heart rate and despite being tired, the pace was pretty quick for me. It was one of the first days I found it tough to get up and get out and do the run.

Got new shorts in Decathlon, I like them. Got one of the collapsable water bottles and it worked well. But I did have to turn back after a few hundred meters to get a run belt for my phone, as although they have room for my phone at the back, the weight of the phone was pulling them down!

Wednesday: Easy 7k (7:09/km). Legs were really feeling it the night before so I wasn't even fully sure I'd get out on it, but they felt a bit better in the morning so I said I'd give it a go, went fine in the end.

Thursday:  Rest day from running, Really needed it. But the end of my holidays so back to work up in the office.

Friday: Easy 12K (6:59/km). Possibly the least motivated i've been to get up and get out for a run. Still tired from everything and I needed to get up early to get the run done so I could get ready to go to the office again. Probably a smidge too fast but the average heart rate was 1 BPM over my aerobic zone so nothing crazy.

Saturday: Easy 25.3K (7:19/km). Out with the run group. We had planned to go out early but delayed it the morning of as it was still pretty wild out so we pushed it back an hour and a half and it did clear up.

Another Longest run I've done to date. I didn't find this run easy by any stretch of the imagination , much harder than last week, but the stats of it are a bit misleading, my run buddy was really struggling at a hilly section about 16K in and I didn't want to leave her behind so I jogged a few very slow KM (8:00 per KM) to give her the opportunity to walk a bit and catch her breath and keep up with me. I think this was quite hard on my legs.

When we got back into civilisation I did push on ahead again to finish my 24K and then went back to her to finish whatever she had left to do.

Chaffing: the same L singlet and Run glide combo that worked last week did not work this week. About 16k in I could feel it starting so I applied some vaseline I brought with me and that did sort it out. But I think starting on my next LSR I will try something more mechanical like nipple guards.

Feet: I didn't notice the same issues with my feet with the newer pair of novablasts 2 LE despite the extra 15 minutes on my feet so I'm guessing the first pair are dead or dying. I have a third pair that I can replace the first pair with but I was hoping to have them a little fresher for the marathon. I'll have to get the spreadsheet out and figure out what my plan is. I have roughly 640 KM including the Marathon left to do in training and these shoes seem to tap out for me around the 500KM mark, The second pair only have 100KM and the third pair are new so it should be ok whatever way i work it.

My legs were really feeling it after this run, went for a bath and that seemed to help a bit.

My wife also gave me a good session with the message gun, that definitely helps. I dont think I used the gun at all this week up to this point just because we were so busy, but I need to try focus more on things like this, it definitely helps.

Sunday: Cross training. Went for a 55 min walk

Weight: 90.5KG when I weighed myself yesterday.

Summary: ~64K for the week. Most I've ever ran in a week again, but boy was I tired this week. The run parts were ok once I got out on them, but I have been exhausted all week and it was really impacting my motivation. Other than the run on Saturday, I took it very easy this weekend so hopefully I'm bit more recovered than I was last week. I also have less things planned so I should be able to take it easier this week

It's also a reduced week on the plan to facilitate a HM race on Saturday. I didn't sign up for a race in time so I will just be doing a training session half at race pace. If I'm feeling ok I think I will aim for 6:00/km pace as a tester for the 6:20/km arbitrary goal I'm working towards for the marathon.

I definitely feel fitter than I was for Kilkee, I'm 2kg lighter and it won't be as hilly but I won't have the race adrenaline and it's not much of a taper so I'm not going to beat myself up if it doesn't work out.

witnessmenow

Race Information

• Name: The Fake Ballinasloe Half Marathon
• Date: 26th of August 2023
• Time: 2:04:28

The "Race"

On my training plan was a Half Marathon Race, I was meant to sign up for Tullamore , but I kept putting it off and then it was sold out, so I decided to just do a Half Marthon distance at HM pace locally.

Goals

• A - Less than 6:00/KM average pace - Yes
• B - PB for a half (2:12:32) - Yes (maybe technically no, do non timed runs don't count for PBs?)

Splits

1. 6:00
2. 5:56
3. 6:00
4. 5:56
5. 6:04
6. 5:45
7. 5:50
8. 6:01
9. 5:51
10. 5:50
11. 5:48
12. 5:50
13. 6:00
14. 5:53
15. 6:01
16. 5:51
17. 5:51
18. 5:41
19. 5:51
20. 5:53
21. 6:01
22. (the 0.1 of it) 5:07

• Avg: 5:54 /km

Week Of Training

Monday: 7K Easy @ 6:57 /km

Tuesday: 8K Easy @ 6:42 /km

Wednesday: 7k Easy @ 6:50 /km

Thursday: Rest

Friday: 20Mins Easy (2.96K) @ 6:45

Not much of a taper compared to Kilkee, but its whats on the plan other than Friday, which was "rest" but I feel like a easy 20 minutes to loosen out my legs seems to work for me.

Pre-race

I've been kind of nervous in some ways about this all week, I feel like this is basically the last time to decide if 4:30 is realistic as a DCM finish time or not, because nothing else in my training gives any indication of what time I might be able to finish the Marathon in. It's either Easy runs or "Marathon Pace" mid distance runs from here on in. Being able to 13K at a pace is no indication of being able to do it for 42k!

I get up earlier than I usually need to to sort of simulate a race situation a bit more. I had laid out all my gear the night before so was pretty much good to go when I got up. Had a small bit of food (protein bar and a banana) and went to the meet up spot for the run group 30 minutes early to get some walking/warm up and some standing around in to further simulate a race situation.

Some other people in the Marathon group were doing a half marathon as well and their typical pace is in and around the 6:00/km so I tag along with them

Race

I don't really have a huge amount to report on the run itself, I was able to keep up with the group and other than the odd outlier, the pace was fairly consistent the whole way around. Up to 16k or so I was finding it fairly ok but then my legs started to get tired and I was really feeling it around 18K or so, looking at the timing the group obviously sped up at this point as this is where I started to drop back even though my times were still pretty good. It kept getting harder and harder as the K ticked by, especially the last K, it was slightly up hill and not having a crowd or even a physical finish line to aim for definitely seems to have an impact!

Post-race

My legs were killing me when I stopped! I definitely didn't have much more left in me so I think that was basically all I could do. Did some stretches and went for a quick walk before grabbing a tea with the group.

Not in as bad of shape as I was after Kilkee, but I went for a bath anyways and took it easy for the day. My wife broke out the message gun again and gave me a session in the evening.

A better time than I aimed for so really happy with it. It also gives me some confidence in the possiblity of a 4:30 finish in the marathon, I still think it will be hard, even just today a friend of mine, who is a much more experienced runner than me, ran Longford and it didn't go to plan and she didn't hit that time has really reinforced that it's not going to be easy. But the dream is still alive anyways!

One thing I do think is interesting is the improvement in time between yesterdays run and Kilkee. It was a much flatter route (143M elevation gain versus 215M of Kilkee) but no significant taper and no race day atmosphere and I took 8 mins off my kilkee time. I have done nothing but easy runs since Kilkee, other than two MP pace runs. Not sure you can read too far into it because maybe I would have done even better with speed sessions etc, but I do think its interesting that, at least at my level, easy runs certainly can make you faster

What's next

Went for a 5K walk this morning and my legs are feeling ok, tired, but nothing like after Kilkee, which is good because looking at the plan for next week there is absolutely no let up, 66.5KM planned, with 13K at MP on Friday, followed by 27.K on Saturday.

I also passed 1000KM for the year on the Half Marathon, a pretty cool milestone I don't think I ever would have thought I would have reached. I've done 132 runs for a total time of 115 hours and 37 mins.

Annie get your Run

Congrats on the (non race) pb! Given it's so far off your previous time, I think you can take it 😀.

Lumen

I have done nothing but easy runs since Kilkee, other than two MP pace runs. Not sure you can read too far into it because maybe I would have done even better with speed sessions etc, but I do think its interesting that, at least at my level, easy runs certainly can make you faster

My feeling is that easy runs are like carefully building a fire, stacking the logs just right, and then faster sessions are like throwing petrol on top. There's no mad rush to add speed work, but it really helps, as long as you've done all the careful stacking first 😀

13K at MP on Friday, followed by 27.K on Saturday.

That seems a bit, eh, brave! Make sure you stretch/massage after the MP session, because my current theory about achilles issues (which have flared up for me again this week) is that it's not so much running on tired legs that causes problems, but running on tight legs.