It just got harder

What a difference a week makes. Before the 10K I was getting through trough sessions and hard workouts. However after completing the 10K last Friday night I felt really fresh so I decided that a 2 hour long run with alternate miles between Marathon Pace and Recovery/Steady pace could be done. Had planned on doing 6 such repeats with 3 miles as per normal combined warm up and cool down. Having done this type of session (post race) before, I again did it on a 3 mile loop so I could bail. After the 4th repeat I could not hold 8 minute pace any longer. With that in mind I pulled the plug and did 2 miles cool down to get home. No point in beating the body up.

Following Wednesday was a 4 * 3K 6:50 pace (HMP) with 1K @ steady 8:00 pace. Done this in the fair green track as normally would mean running the section on the road. Last weeks session just was too hard with traffic. Got to the last repeat but just could not hold the pace from the get go. To be honest the steady Km prior was probably harder then it should have been. Another incomplete session starting to get worried

Next Sunday called for 16-17 miles with 12 at 7:20 pace. Unfortunately I didn't get this done in the morning so with dinner been in My sister in laws house in Lissycasey the route was far from flat and conducive to trying to run at a certain pace.  so I wore the HRM and tried to run by effort rather then pace. Gut feeling is that is not the objective of this type of training. Anyway after 8 tough miles in hills I didn't have the will to continue with another 4 miles and just ran them at an easy pace.

So three half baked session got followed by waking up on Tuesday with my right knee badly swollen and unable to flex it. One bright note was no pain. Took the day off and canned next days session. Rang Leon and set up an appointment for next Monday. By Thursday had totally cleared up so easy runs on Thursday and Friday left me still felling confident of 1:30 in Tullamore on Saturday.

Blowing off Steam

Under the circumstances training was all over the place but still getting down to some degree, all prescribed sessions getting done. Recovery times tough where starting to drop off the required pace. Having read various accounts of this type of training it is more critical to keep an eye on the pace of the recovery as once you cannot hold it you only really are flogging a dead horse. Thus far it had not happened but each session was adding extra accumulated fatigue that I was beginning to question if I need to add extra recovery days/runs into the program.

I had my first race of this part on Friday 11th. Had planned a 10 Miler in Monaghan but was in no mood to drive that far for a tune up type race. Found a local 10K in Shannon so did that instead. I rarely use a GPS watch when racing which allows me to concentrate more on my pace/form. so when I checked the split at the first K of 3:55 I reigned in the pace. Second Km came at 7:50 still too quick, eased off again, passed the 3K with 15:45 on the watch, this felt doable, sub 40 on the cards then I hear some triathletes Garmin beep 16:30, feck course is short. This puts me slower then what I should be so I up the effort again. Up ahead was John Clune from Ennis Track so I concentrate on keeping the gap to him. For the most part I was gradually closing it. All markers had me sub 40, passing the 9K in just under 36 minutes. At this point I am resigned to a short course and John is starting to open up the gap again. I go as hard as I can for the last Km funny enough the course is the right length because I cross the line in 41:11. Spoke with a few afterwards who confirmed that the course was over the 10K on watches but all the markers came up short.

Don't know if easing back in the first 3K made a difference to my race time, but its in line with where I wanted to be. Sub 41 would have been the icing on the cake but a 30 sec PB from spring is good result

Holiday Time

While most people tend to struggle to get runs in over the holiday period, I am the opposite. The time that the Donohue clan don't hit the Algarve means a stay at home vacation. This normally involves at some point me running a marathon. I had managed to convince the clan this year to head for West Cork namely Clonakility and by chance it coincided with the Keith Whyte Ultra. The cat was let out of the bag about four days before hand when one of the offspring came across one of the many Team Hoyt posts on Facebook. Anyway a beautiful day, in a beautiful location surrounded by beautiful people. Marathon number 36 in 3:50 with two miles cool down one pushing a chair.

It was great to see Fozzy win the 100K much deserved and his club mate David had a great race coming back from a close DNF to get second. Loads of Marathon club Members got their medals and the highlight been Leo on his 100th as well as the Cake.

Afterwards while waiting 20 minutes for a plate of chips after the race in the Courtmacsherry Hotel, I noticed Team Hoyt in a side room out of the glare of the media. Dick was changing, feeding and generally looking after Rick. Personally I think Eimear Hurley summed this up correctly when she called him a remarkable Father.

Next phase

I have been loosely following a program form Italian coach Renato Canova. There is really no set program like HH or P&D and most of his online posts on sessions relate to elite runners with not very good English. So looking at various internet resources I have based them against time. A Two hour session for an elite is a Two hour session for me, mileage and paces will vary. My recent 5K time puts me able to at least train at sub 3:10 pace for an Autumn Marathon. Hopefully the gods will shine on me and that will be the result but I won't say no to a sub 3:15 if that's what pans out. So I downloaded an excel spread sheet courtesy  of T_Runner on Boards or whatever he is called now. My aim for the next Six weeks is to do a mix of shorter faster session midweek with the longer slower ones on the weekend. In between will be 5 mile or 4 & 7 Mile recovery days.

First up in Clon on the Wednesday was 7* 1K @ 6:35 pace with 1K recovery @ 8 minute pace. All Recovery intervals in this phase will be ran at 8 minute pace. On paper this looked hard but I nailed it and was really pleased that this was done given the race on Saturday. The following Saturday I did 3 * 5K @ 21:49 with 1K recovery again at 8 minute pace. Horrible wet and windy day but nailed it again. These 2 sessions really gave me confidence about the remaining sessions in the coming weeks. 22:00 was my 5K PB only 3 years ago now I was stringing 3 of them together in a session. Tougher ones to come but I feel I have step up to the plate and will get through them.