17 Weeks to Berlin

Monday 3rd June - Week 2 Day 1

Plan:   Rest Day
Actual: Rest Day


Tuesday 4th June - Week 2 Day 2

Plan:   13K w/10x100M strides
Actual: Club Session

There was no speed specific session plan midweek this week with the Marathon pace run on Sunday. This run had a few strides but as planned this was ditched in favour of the Club session.

Session consisted of just under 3K warm up loop followed by stretching, drills & a few strides. Those of us lucky enough to have missed the Mini Marathon then had to do 5x800M w/75 second recovery while the ladies had a slightly easier session ;-(

Splits for the 800's were (3:13,3:12,3:15,3:17,3:19).

Made a bit of a mess of these. They were meant to be done at 5K race pace. The first 2 were too quick and the legs were feeling it by the 3rd one ans swimming in lactic. Felt like I was threading water for the last 2 and surprised they were not slower. Was also pretty warm which I'm sure made it a bit more difficult. Lesson learnt anyway about pacing better at the start of a session.

Another loop to cool down bringing it up to 10.3K for the session. Slightly less than what is in the plan but sometimes quality is better than quantity.


Wednesday 5th June - Week 2 Day 3

Plan:   Rest
Actual: Rest


Thursday 6th June - Week 2 Day 4

Plan:   16K General Aerobic
Actual: 16.01K

Avg Pace: 5:30
Avg HR: 136

Another lovely evening to be out running. Headed down to Gormanston early and did a loop outside the college grounds before meeting up with the Club gang. After a lap around the grounds Rosemary suggested doing the Balscadden loop which although hilly would bring up the distance for me so was thrilled not to have to do laps of the college. Around 8 of us headed off and the pace upped a bit but this was fine. The group eventually split into two and as we got back to Gormanston I only had a K left to make up which was great. Hopefully we can do this more often on our club run night ;-)


Friday 7th June - Week 2 Day 5

Plan:   Rest
Actual: Rest


Saturday 8th June - Week 2 Day 6

Plan:   21K w/13K @ Marathon Pace
Actual: 21K w/13K @ Marathon Pace

8K

Avg Pace: 5:36
Avg HR: 134

13K

Avg Pace: 5:01
Avg HR: 141

Was down in Kildare at the weekend for my Sis-In-Laws 30th birthday party so had to get this run done early Saturday morning. Got started just before 9 and most of the early K's were fine although spent most of the time wondering how I was going to maintain Marathon pace in the increasing heat and the usual negative thoughts. Passed by the in-laws after around 6K and picked up my water belt and a couple of gels and set off upping the pace slightly as I reached the 8K point. Stopped here and took a drink and reset the watch.

The next question was what is Marathon pace and how would you know in the 2nd week of the plan. I decided to run at a pace that should feel like I was working a good bit at the end of a weeks training and on tired legs and hopefully this would be between 5 min pace per K & 5:20 at the outset.

The splits for the 13K turned out to be (5:00,4:56,5:00,5:00,4:56,4:59,5:10,5:01,5:16,4:55,5:19,4:48,4:48)

Had a bit of downhill to begin with so it was a case of easing into it and not going too fast. From around 2-7K was along a road connecting Athy to the M9 motorway so was a bit tough mentally just seeing this road in the distance and also being completely exposed to the heat. Towards the end of this road seemed to be into a bit of a breeze which made it a bit more difficult to maintain the pace for the same effort. When I turned off this road I still had another long straight road of around 4K to manage before getting back on country roads. Took a walking drink break after 6K to simulate what it actually felt like and although I lost a small bit of time doing this it helps get the fluids on properly and I was back on pace pretty quickly after it. Was suffering a bit mentally and slowed a bit so I popped a gel after around 8/9K. This seemed to have the desired effect and after negotiating the hills coming off the main road I picked up a bit for the last 2K and finished strong including a significant hill up to my In-laws house.

In the circumstances doing this by myself and in serious heat I was happy enough with how it went. Think the next Marathon pace run is in 3 weeks so will be interesting to see how that goes and compare.


Sunday 9th June - Week 2 Day 7

Plan:   8K Recovery Run
Actual: 8.03K

Avg Pace: 5:52
Avg HR: 131

Back in Balbriggan and feeling wonderful after the party the night before I set out for this run. Legs a bit tender for the first couple of K's but fine after that. Nothing much else to report other than the amount of Seagulls around the place. None swooping at runners yet but I'm sure that will start soon when they are protecting their nests.


So this brought the week to an end with 4 runs and 55.35K covered. Club session and first Marathon pace run out of the way. Up to 5 days running now this week with another recovery run added. Speed session in the plan is set for Thursday but I presume I'll do the Club session on Tuesday.