Back in January I decided to take the plunge and join a running club. I debated about which would be most suitable for my needs and abilities and after considering Fingallians and Raheny Shamrocks I eventually decided on the most obvious choice – Clonliffe Harriers.
I say most obvious but there were plenty of doubts in my head as I had visions of anyone outside a sub 3 marathon not being welcome such was my view of the quality of their runners. It’s rare that I ever pass a CH runner in a race because they are all well ahead of me in the field!!
Anyways, myself and Roisin managed to make it down to our first visit on the 6th of January to check out the place and ask a few questions. Thankfully one of the first people we saw was Eugene who I’d met briefly a couple of years back when pacing the Dublin Marathon. A few basic questions and we were sold on the idea.
Thursday, Jan 8th: CH: 8 x 400m @ 90 secs
I returned on my own the following Thursday evening (Roisin was busy) and in no time we were off on our warm-up – a 4.7km run around my own estate (handy living so close!). It was then time for the session itself to commence. We were down for 10 x 400m reps but because I was a newby Eugene recommended only doing 8. I managed the first 7 but by the last couple I was beginning to fade so I sat the 8th lap out. I returned for the 9th thinking it would be easy after my rest but it was just as tough. However seeing as I had my 8 now completed I slipped off home before the cooldown run, my social awkwardness rearing it’s head! :-)
The session itself was impressive once I checked out the data afterwards. My pace was in the early 3:4x’s for the most part until the last couple slowed a little. On a more basic level I was feeling knackered when I got home so I was happy it was a decent session.
Tuesday, Jan 13th: 5.6km Fartlek
I returned with Roisin for the following Tuesday night where we were brought to the Trinity playing fields, just off Santry Avenue. Here we were split into groups and the session of the day was a fartlek run with 30 minutes duration. The tempo was pretty consistent however and almost all were in the 4:00-4:12/km range. The final one however was out to 4:22/km pace which signalled it was indeed time to go home! Because this was done on grass surface with road runners accounts for a somewhat slower pace. However, the rest of the gang were wearing spikes and this was their chosen pace so probably a bit high on effort from me.
Tuesday, Jan 20th: 8.0km Tempo: 37mins at 4:40/km
We missed the following Thursday night session and by the time the Tuesday came around again I wasn’t really fancying the pitches once more. So instead, I went down to the track and did a solo 37min Tempo run at 4:40/km pace, covering exactly 8.0km. The effort wasn’t so bad (I was running these at sub 4:20/km on the roads last year!) but there were lots of distractions from other runners which meant I was always having to watch myself that I didn’t get in the way of others doing their sessions.
Thursday, Jan 22nd: 3.3km 8 x 300m @ 60's Intervals
Back down at the track a couple of days later and this time it was to be 10 x 300m reps. However, the evening was freezing cold and there was a significant fog down. When we got onto the track one of the bends was still pretty slippery even after some salt/grit had been laid down. Thankfully our 300m sections weren’t too badly affected, apart from the first 30m which had to be carefully negotiated as we built up our speed. As the session went on however the temps seemed to drop further and by the 8th rep Eugene advised us to call it a day as things were getting too risky.
Having said all that when I look back at the data it suggests we were getting quicker all the time, coming from a 71 sec repeat into a 60 second repeat for the last few. Maybe Eugene knew this and was wary of somebody getting a muscle injury as much as having a slip! I was happy enough to finish at 8 anyways as my speed was still taking time to improve.
Thursday, Feb 5th: 10.1km CH: 8 x 300m @ 60secs
After running the Raheny 5 miler in a surprisingly fast 34:36 I was wrecked for much of the following week so I declined to go to the fast sessions. It was the following Thursday before I got back down to the track for this replica session. This time my data afterwards told me I was in or around the 60second mark for all the runs with a couple of quicker ones thrown in. Probably the first chance of measuring improvement and it was looking good so far.
Thursday, Feb 12th: 10.2km CH Session: 5x600m (2:15s) + 3x400m (1:28s)
The following week I again only managed the Thursday session. It was meant to be 8 x 600m which immediately set the alarm bells ringing! Almost 5km of flat out running in total so I knew things would be tough! Managed the first few easily enough but around the middle things were getting tougher. I was falling off the main group and my lack of speed endurance was telling. By the 4th rep I was feeling the lactic burn and after the 5th rep I knew I was beginning to slow excessively so I dropped the reps down to 400m laps. This meant I was better able to maintain speed so I finished out the session with 3 x 400m reps. Overall I felt it was still a good session as I remain very much on the comeback trail.
Thursday, Feb 19th: 6.9km CH Session: 7x500m (1:53s)
Again, I gave the fields session a miss on the Tuesday and when I arrived down for this I was none too impressed when advised of the 10 x 500m session in store! Considering last week’s issues with the speed endurance I knew once more things would be difficult.
Paces went something like: 3:42, 3:37, 3:43, 3:45, 3:41, 3:45, 3:52 and I could feel my pace slowing dramatically so much over the last couple of reps that I baled after the 7th. Happy enough with the pace but hoping the endurance will return sooner rather than later!
Tuesday, Feb 24th: 13.7km CH: 3x1min, 3x2min, 2x3min & 1x4min
I made it down for what I expected to be the usual Tuesday grass session but turned out to be on the road instead. We jogged the warmup to the old Whitehall Garda Station. From here we ran 3 x 1mins (which were grand), 3 x 2mins (a bit tougher but still manageable). The 2 x 3mins felt tough and by the 1 x 4min I was running hard. I was expecting to reverse down the pyramid reps but to my surprise we were only expected to do two more 1min reps before we jogged home. This was a big surprise to me and immediately I felt much better about the run! For all sections I was about 60% down the group, and it never felt like I was hugely suffering more than the rest!
Thursday, Feb 26th: 7.9km CH session with 400m/300m x 5
The follow up track session was to be 5 sets of 400m/rec/300m. This was something I had never heard of before but it worked a treat as somehow psychologically it sounded much easier. It wasn’t until the 4th set that I was beginning to feel the real effort and in the fifth I was beginning to fade but definitely felt like I was much improved on past weeks!
So, definitely training at higher paces than I would have on my own and I feel plenty of improvement is taking shape and pointing me towards a return to peak fitness. How long this takes though is another thing!
Summary:
Jan 1st - Mar 1st
DTY: 390.4
Summary:
Jan 1st - Mar 1st
DTY: 390.4
