The last week in January started with a long run with a couple of tempo portions resulting in 17.5 miles being covered in around 2 hours 25 mins. The tempo pieces especially the second one coming after 2 hours of running was really tough but I got it done in the end. The rest of the week was a bit of a step back with the Trim race coming up on the Sunday but it still came in as 45 miles.
January was a very good month training wise running approx 210 miles for the month and running 28 days out of 31. This brought me up to the Trim 10 mile race last Sunday 1st Feb. I wasn't really sure how this was going to go but the weather was fine for the time of year when we got there, the plan was to start out conservatively as it was my first proper race since last September and see how it went from there.
Miles 1-4 (7:13, 7:18, 7:11, 7:18)
The aim was to go out around 7:30 pace for the first few miles. The first mile or so seemed to have the wind helping and a bit of downhill so the effort seemed a lot slowed that the pace suggests. I was conscious of not blowing up but at the same time the effort level was feeling about right so I just went with it. As we came into Dunderry we turned left and soon after passed the 4 mile marker.
Miles 5-8 (7:39, 7:18, 7:17, 7:13)
Between miles 4-5 I felt like I went to pieces and that my race was run, that feeling you get when you just want to stop. Runners around me were pulling away gradually and I felt like my race was run when the mile registered at 7:39. It turns out this mile was pretty much a gradual uphill and into the wind. When we turned out of it between 5&6 miles my legs seemed to come back to me and I got a bit of a second wind. At this point I was trying to take it mile by mile and tick off each mile as best could. Although the field was well spread out by now I was starting to pick people off and go away from them. I like to try and trick myself that there is a mile less to go than there actually is as you will always find someway of getting through the last mile. I was working very hard though now with 2 miles to go and happy to see the paces dropping gradually.
Miles 9-10 (7:03, 7:01)
There was one of the Balbriggan Roadrunners ahead of me by a few metres for most of the race and as my pace was improving his seemed to be as well. While I was pushing it as best I could he also seemed to be doing a good job of dragging me along with him (thanks Brian). I was surprised do be able to drop in a 7:03 mile after 8 miles of racing and now the main focus was on getting to the finish. At this stage it was just a case of putting one foot in front of another, not before a final hurdle. When we turned with around 400m to go to the finish we were greeted with a nice wind tunnel to run into. While trying to pick it up mentally it felt like everything was slowing and going in slow motion. Eventually got to the line glad to be finished.
Chip time was recorded as 1:13:00 which is a 4 min 17 sec PB from my last 10 mile race in 2012. More importantly I was happy with how I ran the race, especially the second half of the race finishing strong in the last couple of miles.
Now it is time to get back training.
Friday 6 February 2015
Thursday 22 January 2015
Training Update
Here we go again as we set off on another journey to try and make the start line of the London Marathon in one piece. It feels like the last 3 months of 2014 have left me in a good starting place but anyone who has undertaken Marathon training will know it is generally a road with a lot of twists and turns along the way. The only hope is that we don't reach a dead end :-)
Training hasn't changed a huge amount other than it is now a weekly plan with the long run on Sunday and a session on the Wednesday. The day after these sessions become recovery runs, run at a very easy pace to allow the body to recover. The other days are maintenance runs anywhere between 35 mins & 1 hour at the moment depending on how I feel or time available. Typically these will be 5/6 miles again at an easy pace. Easy days easy, hard days hard is the motto.
What has changed though is the make up of the long runs. Typically these would have been long easy runs as well but now they include an easy portion at the start, them maybe some strides and a couple of segments at tempo pace broken up by easy running or as was the case last week an easy portion followed by a 50 minute progression run and a cool down. These have been a shock to the system and a different way of clocking up 15/16 miles which will increase obviously as the weeks go on.
The Wednesday session when the warm up and cool down are factored in are also a long session of 13/14 miles. These have been strides + tempo portion or like last night 6x1 mile reps with .5 mile recovery in between, but the recovery to be run around 8:30 pace. I'm not sure if I've ever done a harder session but the last mile was the quickest so not a bad sign.
Mileage was around 55 miles last week and should be 50 this week as I have a rest day (2nd this year) on the plan tomorrow. It will probably remain around this level for the next couple of weeks as I ease up a bit towards the end of next week for the Trim 10 mile race and recover a bit the week after.
I nearly forgot to mention the weather. There has been everything the last few weeks with wind, rain and ice. I really hate running in icy conditions but have managed to avoid it mostly. While the weather is bad it can be easy to put the feet up and do nothing, but it helps to have various groups or people to call on especially for easy or recovery runs to make it less of a chore. It rarely is as bad as it seems once your out the door.
Talk to you again in a couple of weeks. Happy running.
Training hasn't changed a huge amount other than it is now a weekly plan with the long run on Sunday and a session on the Wednesday. The day after these sessions become recovery runs, run at a very easy pace to allow the body to recover. The other days are maintenance runs anywhere between 35 mins & 1 hour at the moment depending on how I feel or time available. Typically these will be 5/6 miles again at an easy pace. Easy days easy, hard days hard is the motto.
What has changed though is the make up of the long runs. Typically these would have been long easy runs as well but now they include an easy portion at the start, them maybe some strides and a couple of segments at tempo pace broken up by easy running or as was the case last week an easy portion followed by a 50 minute progression run and a cool down. These have been a shock to the system and a different way of clocking up 15/16 miles which will increase obviously as the weeks go on.
The Wednesday session when the warm up and cool down are factored in are also a long session of 13/14 miles. These have been strides + tempo portion or like last night 6x1 mile reps with .5 mile recovery in between, but the recovery to be run around 8:30 pace. I'm not sure if I've ever done a harder session but the last mile was the quickest so not a bad sign.
Mileage was around 55 miles last week and should be 50 this week as I have a rest day (2nd this year) on the plan tomorrow. It will probably remain around this level for the next couple of weeks as I ease up a bit towards the end of next week for the Trim 10 mile race and recover a bit the week after.
I nearly forgot to mention the weather. There has been everything the last few weeks with wind, rain and ice. I really hate running in icy conditions but have managed to avoid it mostly. While the weather is bad it can be easy to put the feet up and do nothing, but it helps to have various groups or people to call on especially for easy or recovery runs to make it less of a chore. It rarely is as bad as it seems once your out the door.
Talk to you again in a couple of weeks. Happy running.
Friday 9 January 2015
A New Year
Happy New Year everyone. Hope you had a great Christmas and are ready to go again. From my point of view training eased off slightly but I still managed to run 24 days in December clocking up around 150 miles in total.
I did what is now an annual race on St Stephens day in Tinryland, Carlow. This is an annual 4 mile race that I did last year and headed along again at it's close enough to my in-laws. It was a cold, wet & windy morning and it didn't look too appealing when I got there but sure when your there you might as well get on with it. I ran this on effort and didn't look at the watch during the race. It was pretty strung out after the start but I did manage to pass a few people along the way. Obviously with the previous few days you wouldn't be at your fittest but I was happy to finish in 16th place in 28:44 which is around 10 seconds off a PB for the same distance. It felt good to be back racing and hurting again. Really happy with the effort after the few days that went before it, not ideal preparation to say the least.
I am just about finished my latest cycle of training and my long run is now up to 2 hours, with a few strides thrown in for good measure ;-) Most of these have been done over hilly terrain with a few other sadists, making them tougher on the legs. I've gone from running 35 mins a day getting back into things to the point where this weeks mileage will be over 40.
With that in mind Marathon training begins on Sunday and things move back to weekly training plans. Long run on a Sunday and speed session on Wednesday with easy or recovery days in between. Looks to be a challenging run straight away this Sunday, not helped by being in college for the weekend so it will be done on Sunday evening. I'll let you know how it goes.
I just signed up for the Trim 10 mile race on February 1st as well so hopefully make it to that fresh and well.So that's all for now folks. Back to the wind and the rain. The joys of winter running.
I did what is now an annual race on St Stephens day in Tinryland, Carlow. This is an annual 4 mile race that I did last year and headed along again at it's close enough to my in-laws. It was a cold, wet & windy morning and it didn't look too appealing when I got there but sure when your there you might as well get on with it. I ran this on effort and didn't look at the watch during the race. It was pretty strung out after the start but I did manage to pass a few people along the way. Obviously with the previous few days you wouldn't be at your fittest but I was happy to finish in 16th place in 28:44 which is around 10 seconds off a PB for the same distance. It felt good to be back racing and hurting again. Really happy with the effort after the few days that went before it, not ideal preparation to say the least.
I am just about finished my latest cycle of training and my long run is now up to 2 hours, with a few strides thrown in for good measure ;-) Most of these have been done over hilly terrain with a few other sadists, making them tougher on the legs. I've gone from running 35 mins a day getting back into things to the point where this weeks mileage will be over 40.
With that in mind Marathon training begins on Sunday and things move back to weekly training plans. Long run on a Sunday and speed session on Wednesday with easy or recovery days in between. Looks to be a challenging run straight away this Sunday, not helped by being in college for the weekend so it will be done on Sunday evening. I'll let you know how it goes.
I just signed up for the Trim 10 mile race on February 1st as well so hopefully make it to that fresh and well.So that's all for now folks. Back to the wind and the rain. The joys of winter running.
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