Thursday 27th December
Jogged 3 recovery miles with Aoiffe. Aoiffe took up running over the summer but
was having problems getting beyond the walk/ running method before realising
that simple consistency (3 times a week) does wonders for the body’s ability to
adapt to stress and then increase one’s mileage. This in turn is my roundabout
way to mention that at the moment I am revisiting “Jack Daniels – Running
Formula”. Chapters 5 to 10 are pure gold
dealing with marathon pace training, interval training, cruise training,
threshold training and so on. At the moment I am focusing on the interval and
threshold training and I don’t think I am doing too much wrong except perhaps
there is little point in running one mile intervals. Daniels argues a 5 minute
interval is sufficient as you are sustaining VO2 max development for the last 3
minutes. Any time longer than that will lead to rising LT threshold levels and
the quality of the workout diminishes. I
found that running 4 minute intervals with Paudie last week rather than the
normal 4 X 1 mile intervals I do produced a better quality return and quicker
recovery period. Furthermore I was chatting to a runner from Midleton after the
Cork half marathon and he said there was little point in one mile intervals for
very much the same reason. He thought you get very much the same effect from
running 1km intervals provided you allow correct time for recovery in between
sessions.
Saturday 29th December
Planned to do 10 miles with the last 5 at goal pace (7.00
minute pace). Wasn’t even close. Ended up doing 9 miles at a average 7.30 pace.
Stopped after 9 miles as the last mile saw the pace drop to 7.30 pace. Took a 3
minute recovery and jogged the last mile at a recovery pace. I wasn’t even
close to getting near my goal in the last 4 miles. Did 7.96 miles in the first
hour which isn’t bad and not too far off what i could manage when training for
Dublin (my record training pace there is 8.5 miles) but as workouts go it was
very poor and I was more than a bit pissed off getting home. Currently I would
only manage a 1.12.XX to 1.14.XX time in Dungravan. Mind you if I was training for a marathon the
7.30 training pace would be very good indeed. In fact this time last summer the
most i could manage was 7.50 training pace so perhaps I am being too tough on
myself Will keep at it..
The splits were as follows
9 mile run in 1.07.55 with mile 10 at recovery pace 8.45.Total
time 1.16.35
The splits were as follows. Mile 1 (uphill jogging) 8.26,
2)7.54, 3) 7.39, 4) 7.17, 5) 7.14, 6)7.23, 7) 7.09, 8) 7.13, 9) 7.31
Sunday 30th December
Jogged 6.5 miles at recovery to medium pace. Slight strain /
pull just above my right hip. Had hoped
to run the Bandon 5 on the 1st January but that may not be possible.
I am now wondering when to fit my midweek tempo run in. I was thinking about
Monday but Wednesday may be a better bet. It’s much easier to do these tempo
runs when in a race than on your own out on the road. Funnily enough it’s
harder to keep the pace down in a race whereas it’s harder to keep the pace up
when out on the road on your own. I ran the same race last year and I was
pretty sick doing it.
6.5 miles at 8.51 pace
Mileage for the week 34.5 miles
Monday 31st December
2.5 mile warm up- 6 X 1/2 mile repeats with 2 minute
recoveries and 1.5 mile cooldown.
Repeat 1) 3.08 2) 3.22 3) 3.15 4) 3.20 5) 3.16 6) 3.18. Ran
these at 5K pace and was very happy to keep under that pace except the 2nd
repeat where I held off. Couldn't face a tempo run today, hopefully during the
week. Clocked up 2053 miles this year, 39 average miles a week ;-)
My race highlights this year are easy to pick out. Number one
has to be achieving my goal of a sub 3.30 in the Dublin marathon and feeling
really strong and powerful while doing it. The buzz of leaving the pacers in my
dust at mile 18 and having a armchair run all the way to finish is something I
won’t forget for a long time. God knows I worked really hard for it so much so
I haven’t done a whole lot in the last 8 weeks.. Other highlights are achieving
a 13.1 PB in the Bandon, Cork and Charleville half marathons and hitting 4 PB’s
in one race (Liscarroll 10km). My biggest disappointments were the Dungarvan 10
mile and Rome marathon (great weekend though).
Meeting up in Cork to-night with a few friends for dinner bringing in the New Year. Must be showing my age, 10 years ago we would have been on the batter in Sir Henry's, Hogmanay in Edinburgh or at a house party in Dingle.
Happy New Year!!!!!