Training again

Glad to be able to get a decent week's training in this week. For those of you thinking about Dublin this year there's 20 weeks to go now so make sure your getting a good base level of fitness in before starting into your Marathon plan.


Tuesday 3rd June

The session this week was 4 set's of:

5 mins @ 10K pace,
1 min jog recovery,
2 mins @ 5K pace,
3 mins recovery.

Numbers were pretty low this week with people recovering from various races and ailments meaning I had nobody really to pace off this week. Conditions were a bit dreary as well but fine once we got going.

Paces were (6:58, 6:45; 6:55, 6:47; 6:55, 6:42; 6:53, 6:40)

Happy enough to keep them consistent and a good workout was had.

Just over 6 miles in total for the night.


Wednesday 4th June

S&C Class + 5.45 miles easy (9:16 pace)

Trying to combine everything can be difficult but I have managed to get a few easy miles in the last couple of times after my Strength & Conditioning class. Given that I'm not to wag after it sometimes it is an achievement to get going a couple of hours later for an easy run.

The body normally comes around though when it gets going. Did the Silverstream loop with Rosemary. This in itself poses it's own challenges with plenty of climbing early on, but the effort levels were kept easy throughout.


Thursday 5th June

2 miles warm up

2x2 miles @ 10K pace (7:10, 7:04; 7:06, 7:05)

1.5 miles cool down

The actual plan was slightly different (1 x 3 miles + 1 x 2.5 miles) but we made an executive decision to change it slightly. That suited me as these have been building over the last few weeks and it probably would have killed me to jump in at this point. There was also a lot of tiredness and some DOM's from the previous day setting into the legs.
We did this on the track so it worked as 8 laps and I tried to just get into a rhythm with the others and the pace gradually came down to 10K pace. With the first one out of the way we did a lap recovery before taking off again. It was just a case of keeping going and counting the laps off one by one.

This was a real toughie and I don't think there was anyway I would have managed the longer session. Something to build on though over the coming weeks. A rest day was planned for Friday and needed.


Saturday 7th June

Bohermeen 5K in 21:41 (6:49, 6:57, 7:21, 6:34*)

For some reason I felt the need to do another race this week. It's a nice location and not too far away and a good few from the club were doing it so why not. The route changed at the last minute due to a local funeral so it turned out I had no real idea of the route.

After registration we did a couple of laps of the track before making our way down to the start. It was a lovely warm evening and to be honest the legs were feeling very heavy as expected.

Got going ok and kept the pace honest. There seemed to be a bit of an incline early on but the pace should have been ok. As we progressed though the warning signs were gradually coming. Felt like I was plodding along and I probably was. Started to get passed by a few people coming up to 2 miles and didn't really have the desire to dig in too hard. There was just nothing left in the legs. It was just a case of seeing it out from here which I did.

This was just a race too far at the moment but no harm was done.


Sunday 8th June

8.75 miles @ 9:14

The instructions were for a very easy run and that's exactly what is was. Wouldn't have been able for much more anyway. Was great to have company as I'm sure it would have been a whole lot tougher without and Karen treated me to a flora & fauna lesson on the way round. It's amazing what you can see out running when you open your eyes and look around you.


Monday 9th June

S&C class & 5.5 miles easy (9:29)

Another class and another Silverstream loop. Have figured out that it's 3 miles to the highest point so you feel like once you reach that point you can coast home a bit from there. All about building strength in the legs again and getting the aerobic fitness back. Hopefully in a few weeks it will get easier.


Summary: Hope to be able to knock out a few more consistent weeks training like this over the coming weeks. Not sure about a target race at the moment but the date of the Fingal 10K fits in nicely with giving a few weeks to get decent training done and is the day before my holidays. Who knows though I might change my mind, it wouldn't be unlike me.