Monday 19th August - Easy Run
7.18 miles @ 9:14 pace
Met Brian Moore and headed from Julianstown on the back road towards Laytown and onto Bettystown before swinging back the same way. Legs were feeling pretty tired & sore during this so glad the pace was very easy.
Tuesday 20th August - Club Session
To say I wasn't looking forward to this was an understatement. I trailed around pretty much at the rear of the warm-up of 2 miles hoping for some magic formula to put a bit of life into the legs. It didn't happen.
Session tonight was 9x600m @ 5K pace. These were to be done in 3 sets of 3 with 60 sec recovery between each 600 and 3 minutes jog between each set.
Splits were (2:35,2:36,2:34;2:32,2:35,2:32;2:33,2:33,2:28)
All of these were just under 5K pace and pretty consistent which is always the aim. Once we got going they weren't actually too bad but the short recovery made it tough.
Finished up with a slow recovery loop to bring up 7.61 miles for the evening.
Thursday 22nd August - Tempo Thursday
With any of the usual crew doing the 10 mile in the park this was going to be a solo effort while they had a handy 2 mile at tempo pace. My plan was 8 miles at marathon pace and I figured out a 4 mile loop which was roughly half road and the other half made up of trail, grass etc so a good test.
After a warm up of just over a mile and a few stretches I got stuck into it. It was tough going by myself with a nasty breeze and a few undulations. Developed a blister on the second loop which was painful enough especially when turning corners. Got it finished anyway with an average pace of 7:54 for the 8 miles.
Did a few laps of the track to cool down bringing it up to 10 miles for the night.
Friday 23rd August - Easy Run
7 miles @ 9:19 pace
Did this easy run with Mandy after work. Most of the afternoon was crappy but it cleared nicely in time for this. Legs were tired from the previous days effort so kept it nice and easy throughout. Really learning the importance of doing these easy runs at the right pace so you can tackle the tougher runs properly.
Sunday 25th August - Long Run
14.5 miles @ 8:37 pace
Had a nice group of 6 for this run. 5 fresh from some great runs in the 10 miler and me carb loaded on rice krispie buns and chocolate biscuit cake from Charlies birthday the day before.
Headed out from St Pats and headed towards Julianstown on towards Laytown and a back road towards Pilltown/Bettystown. Had never run on this road or knew it existed before but it was lovely to run on. As we headed back through Laytown some of the quicker lads kicked on a bit while I maintained the same pace with Rosemary. Last 3 miles were gradually uphill with a couple of nasty inclines but we managed them ok.
Summary: Another good weeks training with the mileage upping gradually again to over 46. Ran 5 days although the plan had 6. Missed Saturday due to work and son's birthday. Those extra miles might have been a bit much of a jump anyway so not to worry. Really pleased with how the 3 key sessions of the week went and the long run was a good confidence builder at the end of the week. An easy 6 miles tomorrow and then find out what Gary has planned for the rest of the week on Tuesday night!!!
Sunday 25 August 2013
Monday 19 August 2013
Time to Ctrl+Alt+Delete and re-start after the holidays
Just to give a quick update I have been off work for the last couple of weeks and spent 3 nights at the end of the first week in Adare and 3 nights at the start of the next week in Cork. A great time was had in both places. Below is a summary of what training has been done since the last update.
Wednesday 8th August
8 miles Easy
Out and back route from Balbriggan to Skerries. Mouth felt fine after having tooth out and filling the previous day. Tooth broke when he was pulling it so took a bit longer to remove. Don't you just love Dentist's.
Thursday 9th August
7 Miles Tempo (5 to 10 sec quicker than MP)
Set out to do this with Rosemary on an out and back route around Gormanston/Julianstown. This was a toughie with the 1/2 Marathon still in our legs from the Monday but we got through it ok.
9.61 miles in total including warm-up & warm down.
Sunday 11th August
8.71 Miles Easy
Ran from Adare to Croom and back. A combination of running too soon after breakfast and the previous couple of nights made this a toughie. Also not knowing where I was going didn't help. Picked up the pace a bit for the last couple of miles which resulted in me losing most of my breakfast with a mile to go :-(
Monday 12th August
7 Miles Easy
Ran from Carrigaline to Crosshaven along an old railway line that was converted into a walkway a few years ago. Lovely route with nice views. Legs were tired with the amount of trekking around we had been doing so was a bit tough mentally. Came across a bench on the route dedicated to the memory of a Balbriggan man Martin Gorman who I believe passed away suddenly a number of years ago in the area.
Thursday 15th August
8 Miles Tempo
Drove back from Cork in lashings of rain in time for Tempo Thursday. Plan was for 8 miles at Marathon pace. Watch was dead so just paced myself off Rosemary. This was a toughie after the excesses of the holiday. Poor Rosemary got stung in the lip by a wasp after 4 miles or so. I thought we might get a little break but she was having none of it ;-) I think we finished up with the pace around 7:57 for the 8 miles.
10 miles in total for the night.
Friday 16th August
6.71 Miles Easy
Run from Gormanston to Balbriggan & back with Stuart and the 2 Mo's. Wasn't really feeling the love for this one but the company helped a lot.
Saturday 17th August
12.46 Miles Long Run
Met up with some of the gang from Boards in the Phoenix park that I used to do long runs with previously. Pace was pretty sedate but I was glad of not having to push it too much. As we got back to the car Matt suggested rounding up to 13 and I said it was grand (13 was the plan). Just then Gary O'Hanlon appears and enquires how far I had done. Just under 13 was the response (hope he's not reading this). So there you have it folks don't be tempted to cut your runs short. He might just appear out of nowhere.
Sunday 18th August
4 Miles Easy
After a celebration night for Robbie Cannon on Saturday night and my nieces 3rd birthday I had hoped to get a few more miles in but it just wasn't to be. Ah well that's the holidays over and back on the straight and narrow now.
I was feeling guilty about not doing enough running when I was on holidays but when I look back now I actually managed 43.5 and 40 mile weeks so I will take that.
Berlin is now officially off the cards. Everyone I spoke to about it said it made no sense to be going over by myself. I have also informed Dublin Marathon that I will not be pacing that either. My next race will be the Athlone 1/2 Marathon on 14th September. After that who knows?
Plan for this week is just to follow the plan and tag on the long run at the end of the week at the right pace. Will probably be doing this solo as most people will be doing the 10 miler in the park.
Wednesday 8th August
8 miles Easy
Out and back route from Balbriggan to Skerries. Mouth felt fine after having tooth out and filling the previous day. Tooth broke when he was pulling it so took a bit longer to remove. Don't you just love Dentist's.
Thursday 9th August
7 Miles Tempo (5 to 10 sec quicker than MP)
Set out to do this with Rosemary on an out and back route around Gormanston/Julianstown. This was a toughie with the 1/2 Marathon still in our legs from the Monday but we got through it ok.
9.61 miles in total including warm-up & warm down.
Sunday 11th August
8.71 Miles Easy
Ran from Adare to Croom and back. A combination of running too soon after breakfast and the previous couple of nights made this a toughie. Also not knowing where I was going didn't help. Picked up the pace a bit for the last couple of miles which resulted in me losing most of my breakfast with a mile to go :-(
Monday 12th August
7 Miles Easy
Ran from Carrigaline to Crosshaven along an old railway line that was converted into a walkway a few years ago. Lovely route with nice views. Legs were tired with the amount of trekking around we had been doing so was a bit tough mentally. Came across a bench on the route dedicated to the memory of a Balbriggan man Martin Gorman who I believe passed away suddenly a number of years ago in the area.
Thursday 15th August
8 Miles Tempo
Drove back from Cork in lashings of rain in time for Tempo Thursday. Plan was for 8 miles at Marathon pace. Watch was dead so just paced myself off Rosemary. This was a toughie after the excesses of the holiday. Poor Rosemary got stung in the lip by a wasp after 4 miles or so. I thought we might get a little break but she was having none of it ;-) I think we finished up with the pace around 7:57 for the 8 miles.
10 miles in total for the night.
Friday 16th August
6.71 Miles Easy
Run from Gormanston to Balbriggan & back with Stuart and the 2 Mo's. Wasn't really feeling the love for this one but the company helped a lot.
Saturday 17th August
12.46 Miles Long Run
Met up with some of the gang from Boards in the Phoenix park that I used to do long runs with previously. Pace was pretty sedate but I was glad of not having to push it too much. As we got back to the car Matt suggested rounding up to 13 and I said it was grand (13 was the plan). Just then Gary O'Hanlon appears and enquires how far I had done. Just under 13 was the response (hope he's not reading this). So there you have it folks don't be tempted to cut your runs short. He might just appear out of nowhere.
Sunday 18th August
4 Miles Easy
After a celebration night for Robbie Cannon on Saturday night and my nieces 3rd birthday I had hoped to get a few more miles in but it just wasn't to be. Ah well that's the holidays over and back on the straight and narrow now.
I was feeling guilty about not doing enough running when I was on holidays but when I look back now I actually managed 43.5 and 40 mile weeks so I will take that.
Berlin is now officially off the cards. Everyone I spoke to about it said it made no sense to be going over by myself. I have also informed Dublin Marathon that I will not be pacing that either. My next race will be the Athlone 1/2 Marathon on 14th September. After that who knows?
Plan for this week is just to follow the plan and tag on the long run at the end of the week at the right pace. Will probably be doing this solo as most people will be doing the 10 miler in the park.
Tuesday 6 August 2013
Rock & Roll 1/2 Marathon
This week is about getting ready for the Rock & Roll 1/2 Marathon on Bank Holiday Monday which also incorporates the National 1/2 Marathon Championships. Not sure about the whole lumping together of the events into one but as there was a reduced entry for AAI members and a chance to run through the streets of Dublin I signed up for it. Training this week as a result was a bit more low key.
Monday 29th July
10.47Km - Easy Run
Met up with Colm, Maurice & Deirdre and did a nice hilly route at an easy pace. Nice to get back out on the hills. Colm informed me he had pleurisy and was antibiotics. It sounded bad but he was flying. Must get some of those tablets off him before Monday :-)
Tuesday 30th July - Club session
The usual club session tonight consisted of a lap of the college to warm up and some stretching followed by a lap of bends easy/straights hard. The session was shorter tonight due to the race so it consisted of 2x1200m @ 5K race pace and then 5x200m stride outs.
I was working off pace for the 2x1200 and ran the first one in 5:07 which equated to 4:10 pace. For the second one I ran it the same pace but this equated to 5:02. It definitely felt harder and it was. Looking back on it I ran slightly further on the first rep as I was in the outside lane and then switched to the inside for the second rep which threw the data off. Bloody Garmins.
Finished off the with the 5x200m stride outs and a short enough cool down. 7.48K in total for the session.
Visited Mark Bermingham for a rub down as well and no major niggles or anything at the moment.
Wednesday 31st July
Rest day on the plan and that's exactly what it was.
Thursday 1st August - Tempo Run
Just under a mile warm up followed by a few stretches and I headed off with Rosemary for 3 miles at half marathon pace which is roughly a lap and a half of the college circuit. The average pace for these was 7:34 min miles but we both agreed we had struggled and there was no way we could tag on another 10 miles at the same pace the way we felt (this was the pace we had run in Bohermeen in March).
Finished off with a lap cool down to bring up 5.85 miles for the night.
Friday 2nd August
The plan called for 4 miles easy but I felt a rest day to try and get some life into the legs might be better. I always seem to run better when the legs are relatively fresh for a race. I did manage 18 holes of golf though ;-)
Saturday 3rd August
Rest Day. No point in overdoing it is there? Picked up number and a quick look around the expo in The Burlington Hotel.
Sunday 4th August
3.21 miles @ 8:28 pace. This consisted of around 20 minutes easy followed by 4x100m strides and a short cool down. Was having to hold back a bit to keep the pace down which is a good sign I suppose.
Monday 5th August - Rock & Roll 1/2 Marathon
13.16 miles in 1:37:52 (chip time)
Avg Pace: 7:26 min per mile
Having what felt like a bad race a couple of weeks beforehand in the Fingal 10K I was determined to try and enjoy this one and hopefully run a time similar to the Bohermeen 1/2 in March if possible. Gary had advised us on the Tuesday night of the importance of getting the pace right for the first 4 miles and having looked at the profile of the course this would be especially important for this race. After an early start I took my place at the front of Coral 2 with Rosemary both looking anxious as to what lay ahead.
Miles 1-4 (7:30, 7:35, 7:51, 7:35)
We had agreed with the 2 mile steady rise up through the park that we would try to have out average pace somewhere between 7:35 & 7:40 after 4 miles but no quicker. This worked out a treat as we held it back nicely for the first mile and didn't get caught up in the mad dash. This brought us down past Christchurch Cathedral and onto the quays heading towards the park. As we crossed the Liffey and headed in the main gates there was a nasty little climb which the legs definitely felt. The pace was starting to creep up but we didn't panic and just kept running at what we thought was the right effort. The drag up Chesterfield avenue went on but I noticed the pace had settled down as we reached the top of it and swung onto the back roads of the park.
Miles 5-8 (7:24, 7:16, 7:24, 7:28)
Our hope for these miles was that with a few nice downhills the pace would start to come down and that is what it did. We were running within ourselves and the pace was dropping which was exactly what we wanted. We exited the park after around 7.25 miles and the pace was down to 7:30 average. As we headed up towards Chapelizod along the outside of the park I was just thinking of trying to hold this pace or close to it for as long as possible taking each mile at a time. Legs seemed to be feeling pretty ok but again not sure how things would play out.
Miles 9-13.1 (7:26, 7:41, 7:12, 7:15, 7:13, 6:43)
The average pace had now dropped below 1:30 as we headed out of Chapelizod after 9 miles. Then came that nasty incline under the N4 flyover and again there was no panic just got up it at the right effort and settled back into steady effort afterwards. I knew this part of the route from Dublin Marathon and I seemed to remember there was a nice run down towards Kilmainham. I also noticed somewhere around here that Rosemary wasn't beside me or on my shoulder after the recent water stop. I had a couple of quick glances behind but there was no sign of her. When the next mile beeped at 7:12 I got a bit of a shock. I wasn't expecting that and wondered if would I pay for it. The only thing for now was to dig in for the last couple of miles. I got a nice shout from Colin Costello around here as well which gave me a boost. While my legs were getting heavier and every incline was hurting more as I headed up the South Circular road I was just intent on passing as many as I could and thankfully the pace was holding up. I felt like I was slowing but I was in fact running at 10K pace. I knew if I held it together for the last mile and a bit I should have a PB. There was a few twists and turns in the last mile which was tough as you kept expecting to see the finish line and there was another turn. Finally I turned the corner and Maurice Hackett & Kids were there to lend support. I tried to acknowledge them and then spotted the clock ticking up towards 1:38. I reckoned allowing for a few seconds delay crossing the line at the start if I put the boot down I could get in 1:38. Gave it what I had which was not much at this stage but was delighted to finish in 1:37:52 a PB of 94 seconds on Bohermeen.
This was the first race I had seen people holding sick bags at the finish and I nearly availed of one. I turned around to look for Rosemary and saw her powering to the finish. I looked at the clock and knew she was well inside her PB as well which was great. As we slowly but surely met up with the rest of the gang it was turning out to be PB central for everyone with some great improvements.
Even Gary O'Hanlon our coach ran a PB finishing in 3rd place. A sure case of practising what you preach...
I'm still in a bit of shock as I write this as to how well the race went. If only all races were like this.
Tuesday 6th August
4 miles @ 9:38 pace
Knowing I was going to be missing training this evening to have a filling and a tooth out I headed out this morning for a very easy 4 miles. Legs were feeling a lot better than expected. Maybe the DOMS are waiting to kick in still.
Monday 29th July
10.47Km - Easy Run
Met up with Colm, Maurice & Deirdre and did a nice hilly route at an easy pace. Nice to get back out on the hills. Colm informed me he had pleurisy and was antibiotics. It sounded bad but he was flying. Must get some of those tablets off him before Monday :-)
Tuesday 30th July - Club session
The usual club session tonight consisted of a lap of the college to warm up and some stretching followed by a lap of bends easy/straights hard. The session was shorter tonight due to the race so it consisted of 2x1200m @ 5K race pace and then 5x200m stride outs.
I was working off pace for the 2x1200 and ran the first one in 5:07 which equated to 4:10 pace. For the second one I ran it the same pace but this equated to 5:02. It definitely felt harder and it was. Looking back on it I ran slightly further on the first rep as I was in the outside lane and then switched to the inside for the second rep which threw the data off. Bloody Garmins.
Finished off the with the 5x200m stride outs and a short enough cool down. 7.48K in total for the session.
Visited Mark Bermingham for a rub down as well and no major niggles or anything at the moment.
Wednesday 31st July
Rest day on the plan and that's exactly what it was.
Thursday 1st August - Tempo Run
Just under a mile warm up followed by a few stretches and I headed off with Rosemary for 3 miles at half marathon pace which is roughly a lap and a half of the college circuit. The average pace for these was 7:34 min miles but we both agreed we had struggled and there was no way we could tag on another 10 miles at the same pace the way we felt (this was the pace we had run in Bohermeen in March).
Finished off with a lap cool down to bring up 5.85 miles for the night.
Friday 2nd August
The plan called for 4 miles easy but I felt a rest day to try and get some life into the legs might be better. I always seem to run better when the legs are relatively fresh for a race. I did manage 18 holes of golf though ;-)
Saturday 3rd August
Rest Day. No point in overdoing it is there? Picked up number and a quick look around the expo in The Burlington Hotel.
Sunday 4th August
3.21 miles @ 8:28 pace. This consisted of around 20 minutes easy followed by 4x100m strides and a short cool down. Was having to hold back a bit to keep the pace down which is a good sign I suppose.
Monday 5th August - Rock & Roll 1/2 Marathon
13.16 miles in 1:37:52 (chip time)
Avg Pace: 7:26 min per mile
Having what felt like a bad race a couple of weeks beforehand in the Fingal 10K I was determined to try and enjoy this one and hopefully run a time similar to the Bohermeen 1/2 in March if possible. Gary had advised us on the Tuesday night of the importance of getting the pace right for the first 4 miles and having looked at the profile of the course this would be especially important for this race. After an early start I took my place at the front of Coral 2 with Rosemary both looking anxious as to what lay ahead.
Miles 1-4 (7:30, 7:35, 7:51, 7:35)
We had agreed with the 2 mile steady rise up through the park that we would try to have out average pace somewhere between 7:35 & 7:40 after 4 miles but no quicker. This worked out a treat as we held it back nicely for the first mile and didn't get caught up in the mad dash. This brought us down past Christchurch Cathedral and onto the quays heading towards the park. As we crossed the Liffey and headed in the main gates there was a nasty little climb which the legs definitely felt. The pace was starting to creep up but we didn't panic and just kept running at what we thought was the right effort. The drag up Chesterfield avenue went on but I noticed the pace had settled down as we reached the top of it and swung onto the back roads of the park.
Miles 5-8 (7:24, 7:16, 7:24, 7:28)
Our hope for these miles was that with a few nice downhills the pace would start to come down and that is what it did. We were running within ourselves and the pace was dropping which was exactly what we wanted. We exited the park after around 7.25 miles and the pace was down to 7:30 average. As we headed up towards Chapelizod along the outside of the park I was just thinking of trying to hold this pace or close to it for as long as possible taking each mile at a time. Legs seemed to be feeling pretty ok but again not sure how things would play out.
Miles 9-13.1 (7:26, 7:41, 7:12, 7:15, 7:13, 6:43)
The average pace had now dropped below 1:30 as we headed out of Chapelizod after 9 miles. Then came that nasty incline under the N4 flyover and again there was no panic just got up it at the right effort and settled back into steady effort afterwards. I knew this part of the route from Dublin Marathon and I seemed to remember there was a nice run down towards Kilmainham. I also noticed somewhere around here that Rosemary wasn't beside me or on my shoulder after the recent water stop. I had a couple of quick glances behind but there was no sign of her. When the next mile beeped at 7:12 I got a bit of a shock. I wasn't expecting that and wondered if would I pay for it. The only thing for now was to dig in for the last couple of miles. I got a nice shout from Colin Costello around here as well which gave me a boost. While my legs were getting heavier and every incline was hurting more as I headed up the South Circular road I was just intent on passing as many as I could and thankfully the pace was holding up. I felt like I was slowing but I was in fact running at 10K pace. I knew if I held it together for the last mile and a bit I should have a PB. There was a few twists and turns in the last mile which was tough as you kept expecting to see the finish line and there was another turn. Finally I turned the corner and Maurice Hackett & Kids were there to lend support. I tried to acknowledge them and then spotted the clock ticking up towards 1:38. I reckoned allowing for a few seconds delay crossing the line at the start if I put the boot down I could get in 1:38. Gave it what I had which was not much at this stage but was delighted to finish in 1:37:52 a PB of 94 seconds on Bohermeen.
This was the first race I had seen people holding sick bags at the finish and I nearly availed of one. I turned around to look for Rosemary and saw her powering to the finish. I looked at the clock and knew she was well inside her PB as well which was great. As we slowly but surely met up with the rest of the gang it was turning out to be PB central for everyone with some great improvements.
Even Gary O'Hanlon our coach ran a PB finishing in 3rd place. A sure case of practising what you preach...
I'm still in a bit of shock as I write this as to how well the race went. If only all races were like this.
Tuesday 6th August
4 miles @ 9:38 pace
Knowing I was going to be missing training this evening to have a filling and a tooth out I headed out this morning for a very easy 4 miles. Legs were feeling a lot better than expected. Maybe the DOMS are waiting to kick in still.
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