After the good run on Tuesday, which was on relatively fresh legs, I was looking forward to a solid weeks training ahead, trying to make up for the lack of mileage in the previous week.
Unfortunately, an early start and an overnight out of the country meant no run Wednesday.
Thursday saw me back on n the Irish soil, and after another long day, I eventually got out for a run that evening. The weather was good, and I headed to the track for some harder running.
The usual two mile warmup, and then in to a planned 4x1 mile repeats session.
I wanted to test my 5k pace somewhat, and I also wanted to try and get out of my 1 mile comfort zone pace of 5:50, so I make a concious effort to push the pace on the repeats.
5:41, 5:42, 5:42. Fairly consistent, with the virtual partner on the watch set to 5:45, so all just slightly faster than target. However, the effort was telling, and I knew I needed to save something for the runs ahead in the week, so I split the last mile into 2x800, same pace, which ended up as a 5:36 for the combined mile distance. Two miles to home, and again, happy with the run.
Friday was a bright, but fresher day, and as I had only done two sessions for the week, I decided to do my long run Friday evening, another factor in this decision being that the weather forecast for Saturday was for heavy rain early on.
As I stood outside swinging my legs to get the blood flowing, as I do, they felt quite sore, particularly the quads, the effort of the previous evening very evident. I was not unduly concerned, it usually disappears after 4 or 5 miles. I set out at marathon training pace, 7:20 with 15 miles the target.
In the early miles, the soreness did not dissipate, and the internal soreness I have often experienced after a very hard session was there, but although Thursday's session was hard, I didn't consider it 'very' hard. I pushed on, the pace being really hard work,moping that I would soon find my rhythm. It was an out an back run, so every mile out, added one to the way home. Just after 6 miles, when I hit a particularly long drag uphill, I knew I was in trouble. I turned at that point, consoling myself somewhat that at least I would get 12 in. The next few miles got progressively harder to maintain the pace, and at 10 miles, as the watch beeped, I let it go and slowed to whatever pace I could manage.
That turned out to be just under 8 minute mile pace, but felt a lot slower, and the effort was like a tempo. I would have taken a lift home if I could have gotten one!
I felt physically sick after the run for about an hour, and I can't remember feeling like that after a run in a long time.
Saturday was definitely going to be a rest day, and I made my way to Slane to watch guns and roses play. I enjoyed the gig immensely, almost as good as the first one, although I didn't have to queue for 30 minutes to get a beer at the first one!
Second bad decision. As we had left it late to plan out escape from Slane, we ingeniously decided we would cycle home if all else failed. We stashed the bikes earlier in the day in a nearby field, and after the concert, we went and collected them. We got a lot of cheers from many bemused onlookers as we donned our hi-viz and headlights, and mounted our mountain bikes. The fact that we had enjoyed the services of the beer tent for the evening was irrelevant. Brian is a very accomplished cyclist, me not so. But it was only 15 miles home, sure we would be grand, in our best Irish optimism.
It took just over an hour to get home, and we actually made it back almost an hour before the local bus did (I know this as it emptied its passengers almost directly outside my front door at 2 am).
Sunday evening, I headed out for 8 easy miles, hoping to at least make 40 for the week, but very quickly I realised it was not to be. Whether it was still the Thursday/Friday runs, or the 15 mile cycle, my legs were like blocks of lead, and only struggled to push out 6 easy miles so as not to totally write off the day.
This evening, as I had a rare day off on a Monday, I again ventured out in the evening.
Two easy to start. Our club 5k is tomorrow, so I didn't want to do many miles, or anything particularly taxing, but I did want to asses the state of the legs, so I pushed out 1 hard mile on the track as a little tester. I set the watch for 6:00 pace, and was happy to see 5:53 at a reasonable effort pace, with a bit left. The only worry was that the breathing was quite laboured. I only did 5 miles in total, I am hoping that the legs will have recovered sufficiently to put in a descent effort tomorrow night.
Monday 29 May 2017
Tuesday 23 May 2017
Holiday Taper
Off on some well earned holidays this week, which disrupted the training schedule.
I know the hard core runners don't allow such things get in the way of a disciplined approach, but for two reasons I did allow such a thing. 1. The family made me, and 2. The family made me!
Monday last was a rest day after Sunday's 15 miles.
Tuesday was again tempo Tuesday. Initially the plan was for 8 tempo, with some warm up and cool down miles, but a short notice work change put paid to that.
I got the 1 mile warmup done, and then was resigned to a six mile tempo. At the off, I struggled at the faster pace, which seems to be happening a lot at around the 6:20 pace. After mile 1, 6:17, I had the idea to make it two sets of three, but it occurred to me that I had been doing that a lot lately, and that was to the detriment of a consistent longer mileage effort, so I pushed on for a 4 mile block at exactly the 6:20 average. 2 minute break, and a 2 mile rep, 6:19 average, with two easy miles to home.
No run Wednesday as I had a work commitment which meant I was gone from early until late.
Thursday was to be a speed session. Two miles warmup, and 2x2 at 6:10 pace. This was a bit of a cop out really. It was not really a speed session, nor was it a tempo session, but somewhere in the middle. I consoled myself with the theory that it would hopefully help towards the problem with the longer tempos. 8 miles for the session.
Off on the holidays on Friday to a nice warm Spanish destination. No run, I dare not ask!
Saturday was a glorious day of 24 degrees, and I found an hour to escape for a run. I had forgotten my garmin, so I set off for 30 minutes out, and the reciprocal 30 minutes back, at an easy enough pace, which I figured would be 8 miles. Running in the heat was actually not a problem, although I did sweat more than usual and I could notice it later in my thirst levels.
No run Sunday, and I was forbidden on Monday when I mentioned it, too much to do apparently, and the whole 'can you not just take a break for a few days' bit.
Home today, and after some unpacking, I ventured out, the wife glad to get me out of the way (I think). Plan was 12 easy miles, to try and get some miles on the legs, not to mention start to burn some calories! Easy pace was around 7:30 to 7:40, but strangely, the legs felt very strong. He first few hilly miles, and I glided up with little notice, and had difficulty trying to slow down the leg spin on the way down. After 8 miles, with a 7:30 average showing, I decided to let the pace flow, and it went 7:09, 6:53, 6:45, with a concious pull back on mile 12 to 7:12. I was well impressed at how easy it felt. Thinking about it, I all but tapered as I would for a marathon over the last two weeks. A high 50 miles, followed by alternate days of fast running, and then none for two, put me in good shape.
Back to normal now, the only blip on this weeks horizon is a meeting with Axel, Slash and co at an intimate venue called Slane castle this Saturday. 15 miles planned before hand, Sunday might be dubious though.
I know the hard core runners don't allow such things get in the way of a disciplined approach, but for two reasons I did allow such a thing. 1. The family made me, and 2. The family made me!
Monday last was a rest day after Sunday's 15 miles.
Tuesday was again tempo Tuesday. Initially the plan was for 8 tempo, with some warm up and cool down miles, but a short notice work change put paid to that.
I got the 1 mile warmup done, and then was resigned to a six mile tempo. At the off, I struggled at the faster pace, which seems to be happening a lot at around the 6:20 pace. After mile 1, 6:17, I had the idea to make it two sets of three, but it occurred to me that I had been doing that a lot lately, and that was to the detriment of a consistent longer mileage effort, so I pushed on for a 4 mile block at exactly the 6:20 average. 2 minute break, and a 2 mile rep, 6:19 average, with two easy miles to home.
No run Wednesday as I had a work commitment which meant I was gone from early until late.
Thursday was to be a speed session. Two miles warmup, and 2x2 at 6:10 pace. This was a bit of a cop out really. It was not really a speed session, nor was it a tempo session, but somewhere in the middle. I consoled myself with the theory that it would hopefully help towards the problem with the longer tempos. 8 miles for the session.
Off on the holidays on Friday to a nice warm Spanish destination. No run, I dare not ask!
Saturday was a glorious day of 24 degrees, and I found an hour to escape for a run. I had forgotten my garmin, so I set off for 30 minutes out, and the reciprocal 30 minutes back, at an easy enough pace, which I figured would be 8 miles. Running in the heat was actually not a problem, although I did sweat more than usual and I could notice it later in my thirst levels.
No run Sunday, and I was forbidden on Monday when I mentioned it, too much to do apparently, and the whole 'can you not just take a break for a few days' bit.
Home today, and after some unpacking, I ventured out, the wife glad to get me out of the way (I think). Plan was 12 easy miles, to try and get some miles on the legs, not to mention start to burn some calories! Easy pace was around 7:30 to 7:40, but strangely, the legs felt very strong. He first few hilly miles, and I glided up with little notice, and had difficulty trying to slow down the leg spin on the way down. After 8 miles, with a 7:30 average showing, I decided to let the pace flow, and it went 7:09, 6:53, 6:45, with a concious pull back on mile 12 to 7:12. I was well impressed at how easy it felt. Thinking about it, I all but tapered as I would for a marathon over the last two weeks. A high 50 miles, followed by alternate days of fast running, and then none for two, put me in good shape.
Back to normal now, the only blip on this weeks horizon is a meeting with Axel, Slash and co at an intimate venue called Slane castle this Saturday. 15 miles planned before hand, Sunday might be dubious though.
Sunday 14 May 2017
I'm in the Money!
The plan for this week was a bit undecided, but I knew the minimum amount of miles acceptable, and I also knew what the key sessions should be.
Monday I took as my rest day, and going forward, that will be the plan, as I intend to do the bulk of the long mile sessions on Saturday and Sunday.
Tuesday was a really nice day, and I went out with a 9 mile tempo in mind, just like last week (which didn't happen). Turns out, it didn't happen this week either!
As I was setting out for my tempo loop course, I passed by the local track adjacent to the secondary school. The sports campus has now been separated from the school, and so I enquirys from a grounds man if I could use the track. Sure no bother he said, so I changed up to a speed session.
I did 1 5k run, with the pace set at 5:50 on the watch. I finished it easily enough, 18:04 on the watch. I was really pleased with that, given a previous PB of 17:59, but running on the track which is pancake flat and smooth is very different than running on the road.
3 minute rest, and off for another 5k, this time at 6:05 on the watch, and finishing in 19:02. Again, pleased with that. After that a few easy miles to make 10 for the session.
Wednesday I could feel the effort of the speed session in the legs. 8 easy miles, we're just that for pace, but not for effort. There was a kind of inner soreness, like after a marathon, and the 8 miles were hard won.
Thursday was another rest day, for two reasons. 1, work, 2, there was a local 6k on in Navan on Friday night, and I wanted to keep my options open. It was not certain right up until Friday evening whether or not I could run it, but it turned out I could, so I drove over.
It was a wet evening, but otherwise, good. No wind, and a flat course. The start was heavily congested, and even tough I was only about four rows back, because it was a very wide line, when the gun went, I found myself having to try and get around a lot of overly enthusiastic runners who might have been more suited to a more conservative starting position.
I had the watch set to a 5:50 pace, and the first mile was 5:51, although it felt harder trying to negotiate the obstacle course of runners.
The pace felt comfortable, as well it might as I have been doing that pace so much. Mile 2 was a bit of a shock at 5:56. I hadn't realised I had slowed off the pace, however, it did strike me that the effort felt more like a 10k effort than a 6k effort. The upside was that I hoped it would stand to me in the closing stages.
Mile 3 was a battle, literally. I closed up behind a runner who appeared to be likely to be in my age category. As he glanced at me pulling along side, the same thought obviously struck him.
He 'sportingly' decided to make it difficult for me to pass by pulling out in front of me every time I tried. This got very frustrating, and energy sapping. Eventually, I had to push the effort harder, and I passed him. 5:56.
A nice finish on a track, to come in 22:16, 21st out of 804 runners, and fourth in category.
Fourth, again! Just like Boyne 10k two weeks ago. Well, turns out not. A nice surprise today to receive a nice cheque from Boyne 10k race for third place M40. Turns out some runner was counted in the incorrect category which bumped me up to third. I was well pleased with my winnings, only the second time ever to get some money back.
Saturday was a very hilly 12 mile run, which actually went very well. There was no tiredness in the legs noticeable from the 6k the previous evening, and the pace was an average of 7:30.
Today was to be a high mileage day, although the legs were very tired after the hills yesterday.
I set off with 15 miles planned, and a small bottle of water. As anticipated, the first few miles were tough, but on target of 7:20. As the legs warmed up, the pace flowed easier, and the pace quickened all by itself. The route was certainly not flat, with quite a few drags, but a good surface.
Up to 10 miles felt easy enough, but miles 11 to 15 were a harder effort, however I did finish the 15 at 7:13 average pace. So 50 miles exactly for the week, which was the minimum target.
Monday I took as my rest day, and going forward, that will be the plan, as I intend to do the bulk of the long mile sessions on Saturday and Sunday.
Tuesday was a really nice day, and I went out with a 9 mile tempo in mind, just like last week (which didn't happen). Turns out, it didn't happen this week either!
As I was setting out for my tempo loop course, I passed by the local track adjacent to the secondary school. The sports campus has now been separated from the school, and so I enquirys from a grounds man if I could use the track. Sure no bother he said, so I changed up to a speed session.
I did 1 5k run, with the pace set at 5:50 on the watch. I finished it easily enough, 18:04 on the watch. I was really pleased with that, given a previous PB of 17:59, but running on the track which is pancake flat and smooth is very different than running on the road.
3 minute rest, and off for another 5k, this time at 6:05 on the watch, and finishing in 19:02. Again, pleased with that. After that a few easy miles to make 10 for the session.
Wednesday I could feel the effort of the speed session in the legs. 8 easy miles, we're just that for pace, but not for effort. There was a kind of inner soreness, like after a marathon, and the 8 miles were hard won.
Thursday was another rest day, for two reasons. 1, work, 2, there was a local 6k on in Navan on Friday night, and I wanted to keep my options open. It was not certain right up until Friday evening whether or not I could run it, but it turned out I could, so I drove over.
It was a wet evening, but otherwise, good. No wind, and a flat course. The start was heavily congested, and even tough I was only about four rows back, because it was a very wide line, when the gun went, I found myself having to try and get around a lot of overly enthusiastic runners who might have been more suited to a more conservative starting position.
I had the watch set to a 5:50 pace, and the first mile was 5:51, although it felt harder trying to negotiate the obstacle course of runners.
The pace felt comfortable, as well it might as I have been doing that pace so much. Mile 2 was a bit of a shock at 5:56. I hadn't realised I had slowed off the pace, however, it did strike me that the effort felt more like a 10k effort than a 6k effort. The upside was that I hoped it would stand to me in the closing stages.
Mile 3 was a battle, literally. I closed up behind a runner who appeared to be likely to be in my age category. As he glanced at me pulling along side, the same thought obviously struck him.
He 'sportingly' decided to make it difficult for me to pass by pulling out in front of me every time I tried. This got very frustrating, and energy sapping. Eventually, I had to push the effort harder, and I passed him. 5:56.
A nice finish on a track, to come in 22:16, 21st out of 804 runners, and fourth in category.
Fourth, again! Just like Boyne 10k two weeks ago. Well, turns out not. A nice surprise today to receive a nice cheque from Boyne 10k race for third place M40. Turns out some runner was counted in the incorrect category which bumped me up to third. I was well pleased with my winnings, only the second time ever to get some money back.
Saturday was a very hilly 12 mile run, which actually went very well. There was no tiredness in the legs noticeable from the 6k the previous evening, and the pace was an average of 7:30.
Today was to be a high mileage day, although the legs were very tired after the hills yesterday.
I set off with 15 miles planned, and a small bottle of water. As anticipated, the first few miles were tough, but on target of 7:20. As the legs warmed up, the pace flowed easier, and the pace quickened all by itself. The route was certainly not flat, with quite a few drags, but a good surface.
Up to 10 miles felt easy enough, but miles 11 to 15 were a harder effort, however I did finish the 15 at 7:13 average pace. So 50 miles exactly for the week, which was the minimum target.
Monday 8 May 2017
Back to Bad Decisions
As I had tapered somewhat for the week of the Boyne 10k, I wanted to put in a high mileage week this week.
Normally after the hard sessions, of which Boyne most definitely was one, I would normally take the next day as a rest day. I have been finding that it works best for me that way, the easy recovery run concept does not work well in my particular case.
However, as Monday was a nice day, and I had a late start that morning at work, I ventured out.
The first few miles were tough, but as normal, after 4 miles I was warmed up and running pretty easily, so I extended the planned 6 miles to 9.
Tuesday is normally 'tempo Tuesday', and this week,min keeping with the higher mileage concept, the tempo section was to be 9 miles, undecided at the outset between 6:20 or 6:25 pace.
On the warmup mile, it was obvious it was going to be 6:25, I was really feeling the effort.
I set off at the 6:25 pace, and while mile 1 was 6:19, the effort felt like 6:00 minute pace, and I knew this would not be going to plan. Mile 2 6:21. There was no way I was going to push out 9 miles of this effort, so I adjusted the plan. 3x3 miles was the fallback, and so i finished the set on the next mile, with 6:21 average for the 3 miles.
3 minute rest, then off again. The first two miles actually felt good, and at 6:17 and 6:19 I was ahead, but mile 3 again was tough at 6:20 with a loss of form again starting to show itself towards the end of the rep. The object was to try to maintain form, so I broke the next three miles down further to a 1x2 mile, and just a 1 mile to finish. The two mile set went well, and the 1 mile I pushed hard, particularly towards the last 200m, with a 6:11 mile.
Well I was spent! Two miles home again were very hard to slog out, but with 12 miles for the session, it was a really good workout.
I did take Wednesday off!
Thursday is speed day. There is the club 5k coming along shortly, so two miles to warmup, and then 5x1k on the track, with a jog recovery for 200m between each k. The pace was supposed to be my planned 5k pace, but as I haven't run a 5k in a very long time, I set the watch to what I now consider a reasonable 1 mile effort at 5:50. Even tough I was running in kilometres, measured by track distance, the watch was still sounding out at each mile. 5:28, 5:36, 5:42. I finished the session with a 1 mile loop at 5:51, and two easy miles to home, for just under 9 miles in total.
So ordinarily, I would have taken Friday as a rest day after the speed session, but in order to build mileage, I ran Friday. 6 miles, and they felt really difficult. I struggled through every step, and I knew after two miles that it had been a mistake to go out, particularly as I had been up before 5 am to work that day.
Normally, Saturday has been a 9 or 12 mile very hilly run, but this Saturday, after the disastrous run the day before, I struggled with a 9 mile run on a flat course, again feeling very low on energy, and dragging myself around.
Sunday was not much better. I had planned for 13 miles at 7:20 pace. For some reason, my garmin decided not to co-operate, and try as I might, it would not lock on to a signal, so I just left it behind.
Again, I was feeling a bit drained of energy, so I just ran to fell at an easy pace, and I have no idea what it was. I do know I covered 12.5 miles, as it was a course I have run many times.
So in a way the objective was achieved. I did two pretty good sessions, but the weekend was a writeoff, and I did 58 miles or so, so again I achieved the high mileage objective. However, the Friday 6 miles was a mistake, and I will learn from it, and go back to what is working for me.
Normally after the hard sessions, of which Boyne most definitely was one, I would normally take the next day as a rest day. I have been finding that it works best for me that way, the easy recovery run concept does not work well in my particular case.
However, as Monday was a nice day, and I had a late start that morning at work, I ventured out.
The first few miles were tough, but as normal, after 4 miles I was warmed up and running pretty easily, so I extended the planned 6 miles to 9.
Tuesday is normally 'tempo Tuesday', and this week,min keeping with the higher mileage concept, the tempo section was to be 9 miles, undecided at the outset between 6:20 or 6:25 pace.
On the warmup mile, it was obvious it was going to be 6:25, I was really feeling the effort.
I set off at the 6:25 pace, and while mile 1 was 6:19, the effort felt like 6:00 minute pace, and I knew this would not be going to plan. Mile 2 6:21. There was no way I was going to push out 9 miles of this effort, so I adjusted the plan. 3x3 miles was the fallback, and so i finished the set on the next mile, with 6:21 average for the 3 miles.
3 minute rest, then off again. The first two miles actually felt good, and at 6:17 and 6:19 I was ahead, but mile 3 again was tough at 6:20 with a loss of form again starting to show itself towards the end of the rep. The object was to try to maintain form, so I broke the next three miles down further to a 1x2 mile, and just a 1 mile to finish. The two mile set went well, and the 1 mile I pushed hard, particularly towards the last 200m, with a 6:11 mile.
Well I was spent! Two miles home again were very hard to slog out, but with 12 miles for the session, it was a really good workout.
I did take Wednesday off!
Thursday is speed day. There is the club 5k coming along shortly, so two miles to warmup, and then 5x1k on the track, with a jog recovery for 200m between each k. The pace was supposed to be my planned 5k pace, but as I haven't run a 5k in a very long time, I set the watch to what I now consider a reasonable 1 mile effort at 5:50. Even tough I was running in kilometres, measured by track distance, the watch was still sounding out at each mile. 5:28, 5:36, 5:42. I finished the session with a 1 mile loop at 5:51, and two easy miles to home, for just under 9 miles in total.
So ordinarily, I would have taken Friday as a rest day after the speed session, but in order to build mileage, I ran Friday. 6 miles, and they felt really difficult. I struggled through every step, and I knew after two miles that it had been a mistake to go out, particularly as I had been up before 5 am to work that day.
Normally, Saturday has been a 9 or 12 mile very hilly run, but this Saturday, after the disastrous run the day before, I struggled with a 9 mile run on a flat course, again feeling very low on energy, and dragging myself around.
Sunday was not much better. I had planned for 13 miles at 7:20 pace. For some reason, my garmin decided not to co-operate, and try as I might, it would not lock on to a signal, so I just left it behind.
Again, I was feeling a bit drained of energy, so I just ran to fell at an easy pace, and I have no idea what it was. I do know I covered 12.5 miles, as it was a course I have run many times.
So in a way the objective was achieved. I did two pretty good sessions, but the weekend was a writeoff, and I did 58 miles or so, so again I achieved the high mileage objective. However, the Friday 6 miles was a mistake, and I will learn from it, and go back to what is working for me.
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