Laying the foundations

Following on from last week I just wanted to keep it consistent this week i.e. just run and follow the plan. Monday & Wednesday involved a strength & conditioning class of 30 Min's. In the coming weeks I will be pulling this back to 1 class a week.
Tuesday 14th Jan - Session

This weeks club session was 8x2 Min's with 1 min jog recovery between each one. This was to be done at 5K pace.

Pace for these was (7:02, 7:00, 7:01, 6:59, 6:58, 6:55, 6:49, 6:43).

There was a good group of us working together for these and the pace picked up gradually as we worked our way into the session (as we were told to do). This was a toughie but happy with the outcome. 6 miles in total with w/u & c/d.

Wednesday 15th Jan - Recovery

4.5 miles @ 10 min avg

Recovery run before my class to try and flush out the legs from the day before and in preparation for the next day. While the pace might seem very sedate it's important that you do them at the pace they are intended and for the purpose that is intended.

Thursday 16th Jan - Tempo

The plan was for a 6 mile tempo, keeping within around 15/20 secs of half marathon pace. I had estimated a loop from gate to gate and back in Gormanston to be 1.5 miles, meaning 4 loops so decided to do it there. Turned out this was only 1.25 miles which meant another loop had to be added on.

Splits were (7:34, 7:42, 7:38, 7:40, 7:36, 7:33)

I think the effort was a little quicker as a bit of time was lost each time we had to turnaround so based on that I was happy. Had some company as well which helped pass the miles and keep the effort up. Legs were hurting for the last couple of miles but I guess that's to be expected for this type of run. 7 miles in total for the day.

Friday 17th Jan - Easy Run

6 miles @ 9 min avg

Met up with Ken after doing a mile in advance and did a 5 mile loop of the town.

Saturday 18th Jan - Easy Run

6 miles @ 9:07 min avg

Got out in the rain on Sat morning for another easy run doing my town loop in reverse (how exciting). Legs a bit tired as they seem to be when I switch from running in the evening during the week to morning at the weekend. Finished like a drowned rat but running in the rain doesn't bother me really.

Sunday 19th Jan - Long Run

16 miles @ 8:38 pace

The plan was for 15 miles and I did 3 miles in advance of meeting up with the rest of the Sunday morning crew at 8:30. We headed off towards Bellewstown from Stamullen and the group split just before the road up to the racecourse with Stuey & Chris heading left and myself, Danny & Brian heading right on the road that takes you out to the Duleek - Julianstown road, from here we headed into Julianstown and down by the church and around and up the Mosney Road before heading back to Stamullen. Turned out the second part of the route was just under 13 miles so we rounded it up and I finished with 16 miles.

My right Achilles/calf has been a bit tight for the past few days and was the same during this run. It's more annoying than anything else but will get it looked at anyway. Have had it before and think it's just a tight spot. Apart from that was really happy with this run as it was pretty hilly, especially early on but we kept the pace steady throughout and wasn't in a heap finishing.

Another good week with just over 45 miles and 2 sessions completed. Hoping to race Raheny next Sunday so this week coming will be a bit of a step back week probably with regard to the overall mileage before picking back up again.