This week was to be a mini taper week with the Athlone 1/2 marathon at the end of it. I was looking forward to the race and felt I was confident enough to run a PB based on recent improvements in training and the introduction of long tempo runs. Little did I know what lay ahead.
Monday 9th September - Easy Run
6.02 miles @ 9:22 pace
Just an easy run around Balbriggan. Always seem to struggle on these Monday runs a bit but another one clocked off.
Tuesday 10th September - Session
The usual club session with just under 2 miles warm up before getting down to business. The session was 4 sets of 1x800 @ 3K pace, 90 sec recovery, 1 x 400 @ mile pace, 3 mile jog recovery.
There was a lot of whinging about this one but everyone worked really well it seemed. Splits for me were (3:23, 1:34; 3:23, 1:37; 3:23, 1:34; 3:23, 1:27).
The 800's were very consistent and the 400's mainly except for the last one where I picked up the pace a bit. cool down brought the session to 6.29 miles
Thursday 12th September - Tempo
This weeks tempo was just 3 miles with the race on Saturday. Did a mile warm up towards the ring road in Balbriggan and the set about the 3 mile tempo. Was a windy evening so not ideal for a tempo run buy no problems for just 3 miles.
Completed the 3 miles in (7:45, 7:48, 7:40). some portions were easier depending on the wind. Jogged back home then for just over 5 miles for the day.
Saturday 14th September - Athlone 1/2 Marathon
The plan for this was to try and run just under 1:37 which would be less than a minute improvement on the rock & roll 1/2 marathon on a flatter course. I felt it should be possible with the way training had been going. The club were having a night out the night before and I popped along for a while for a few pints of water and was home in bed by 11. I had talked tactics with Rosemary and she gave me the re-assurances I needed I wasn't biting off more than I could chew.
Woke on Saturday morning with a sore throat but didn't put much pass on it. I also had the same the previous morning but it was a bit worse this morning. Generally I still felt ok though so I set off for Athlone. Met a few familiar faces at registration and got ready with a warm up of around a mile. The organisation was really good and the race started bang on time.
Miles 1-5 (7:23, 7:25, 7:26, 7:24, 7:35)
Started off well and settled into a nice rhythm. The roads were narrow enough but the crowd spread out pretty quickly. In the second mile I ticked in with a group from Mullingar and let them drag me along for a while. I think they might have slowed a bit as I remember pushing on from them a bit but maintaining the same pace. Mile 5 was a bit slower and it was here I started feeling some distress signals from what I remember with my legs feeling like they had run 22 miles already and not 4.
Miles 6 - 13 (7:41, 8:06, 9:16, 8:45, 9:06, 9:07, 10:00, 10:09)
The above doesn't need a lot of explaining. After 6 miles or so I felt like I had been hit by a bus. I tried slowing the pace just to get me to the finish but even running a very easy pace was a huge effort. I even tried taking the gel I had to get some energy but this didn't work. Looking at the garmin I reckon I had to stop around 15 times between then and the finish to walk for portions.
Mile 13 was the last and slowest of the race but around a minute of it was spent trying to get sick into a hedge. I did manage to run the last 800m or so and had someone alongside me trying to will me to push for a sub 1:50 finish. I told him that was 13 minutes outside my target but that didn't put him off. I finished in 1:50:14
Never was I so happy to finish a race but I just wanted to be out of there. Met Danny from the club who ran a great race. Had a quick cold shower and headed for home. The race itself was €20 to enter which included technical top, medal, water in bottles, fruit & water and a non-alcoholic beer at the finish. Exceptional value in this day and age.
I did a lot of thinking on the way home as to how the race had went and what went wrong. The only logical thing I could come up with was that I had picked up some sort of sickness or virus that I didn't know about the full extent of. When I got home I had to lie down and was absolutely wrecked. Even the next day I was not right. You would not get this feeling from going out too fast in a race if you know what I mean.
I was meant to do a long run on Sunday but I was in no condition to even attempt that.
Summary: So a disappointing week which culminated in a disappointing training week overall. I will try to get back to it this evening (Tuesday) and see how I feel. I guess I just have to try and forget about it and get back on the horse. Can't really afford any more weeks like that though if I want to be able to get around Dublin on Marathon day. I still haven't entered Dublin but I do plan to do it. If I get 2 weeks decent training in the next 2 weeks I enter then just before the deadline.
Tuesday, 17 September 2013
Wednesday, 11 September 2013
A week with no Long Run :-(
The plan for this week was another 5 days of good training with Sunday off as it was my birthday and there was a big night out planned on Saturday night.
Monday 2nd September - Easy Run
6 miles @ 8:55 pace
Did a loop around Balbriggan with Ken at a nice easy pace. Legs were tired enough from the long run the day before but we ticked off the miles and chatted the whole way round.
Tuesday 3rd September - Session
After around a 1.5 mile warm up we were into a ladder session which started with a mile and progressed downwards (1600, 1200, 800, 600, 400, 200). The first 2 were to be done at 5K pace, the next 2 at 3K pace and the last 2 at mile pace. The recovery started at 2 minutes but reduced as we went on as well.
Splits were (6:44, 5:02, 3:18, 2:26, 1:28, 38)
Was a tough session but managed to maintain the pace required consistently. Finished off with a cool down loop to bring up to 6.22 miles for the session.
Thursday 5th September - Tempo Thursday
There was a lot of fear around this run when we got our plan for the week. It was for 9 miles @ 10-15 seconds quicker than Marathon pace. The usual suspects met at 7pm and did a warm up mile before deciding on an out and back route for the 9 miles.
Headed off with Rosemary & Susan and our mail emphasis was to keep it steady at the start which we did. We were also into a bit of a headwind as well on the main road for the first mile before turning off onto the country roads. The 3 of us were spread across the road chatting a little bit and everyone seemed relaxed (compared to last week). We reached the turnaround point and the average pace was around 7:45. We were aiming for 7:45-7:50. We all seemed to be feeling strong and the pace seemed to pick up with about 3 miles to go. Back to the main road with a mile to go and in contrast to last week we chatted most of the last mile which was probably our quickest of the run.
So 9 miles with average pace of 7:42 and more importantly a good confidence boost for us all. Met up with Ken, Stuey & Brian and they all seemed to have a good run as well.
Finished off with a short cool down in the college to bring up 11 miles in total for the day.
Friday 6th September - Easy Run
7.09 miles @ 9:05 pace
I had noticed on Thursday night that my left Achilles seemed very tight after the tempo run. I was lucky enough to have gotten a ticket for the Ireland match on Friday night which meant I had to get an early run before work on Friday. I wasn't too optimistic setting out but it was fine although the legs were tired so was happy to keep it very easy.
Summary: Sadly my running for the week finished on Friday. I was due to do my long run on Saturday morning but found out on Friday evening I might be needed for work on Saturday. This turned into around 5 hours in work so my time for running had well and truly evaporated. Sunday was already a planned non running day anyway.
A bit disappointed not to get the long run done but not much I can do about it now. The rest of the weeks training went well though. I did manage to do some work on the Achilles on Saturday and it feels fine now and no pain at all so at least that is something.
Athlone 1/2 Marathon this Saturday coming. Looking forward to this race. Will train as planned but take it easy enough Thursday/Friday compared to normal.
Monday 2nd September - Easy Run
6 miles @ 8:55 pace
Did a loop around Balbriggan with Ken at a nice easy pace. Legs were tired enough from the long run the day before but we ticked off the miles and chatted the whole way round.
Tuesday 3rd September - Session
After around a 1.5 mile warm up we were into a ladder session which started with a mile and progressed downwards (1600, 1200, 800, 600, 400, 200). The first 2 were to be done at 5K pace, the next 2 at 3K pace and the last 2 at mile pace. The recovery started at 2 minutes but reduced as we went on as well.
Splits were (6:44, 5:02, 3:18, 2:26, 1:28, 38)
Was a tough session but managed to maintain the pace required consistently. Finished off with a cool down loop to bring up to 6.22 miles for the session.
Thursday 5th September - Tempo Thursday
There was a lot of fear around this run when we got our plan for the week. It was for 9 miles @ 10-15 seconds quicker than Marathon pace. The usual suspects met at 7pm and did a warm up mile before deciding on an out and back route for the 9 miles.
Headed off with Rosemary & Susan and our mail emphasis was to keep it steady at the start which we did. We were also into a bit of a headwind as well on the main road for the first mile before turning off onto the country roads. The 3 of us were spread across the road chatting a little bit and everyone seemed relaxed (compared to last week). We reached the turnaround point and the average pace was around 7:45. We were aiming for 7:45-7:50. We all seemed to be feeling strong and the pace seemed to pick up with about 3 miles to go. Back to the main road with a mile to go and in contrast to last week we chatted most of the last mile which was probably our quickest of the run.
So 9 miles with average pace of 7:42 and more importantly a good confidence boost for us all. Met up with Ken, Stuey & Brian and they all seemed to have a good run as well.
Finished off with a short cool down in the college to bring up 11 miles in total for the day.
Friday 6th September - Easy Run
7.09 miles @ 9:05 pace
I had noticed on Thursday night that my left Achilles seemed very tight after the tempo run. I was lucky enough to have gotten a ticket for the Ireland match on Friday night which meant I had to get an early run before work on Friday. I wasn't too optimistic setting out but it was fine although the legs were tired so was happy to keep it very easy.
Summary: Sadly my running for the week finished on Friday. I was due to do my long run on Saturday morning but found out on Friday evening I might be needed for work on Saturday. This turned into around 5 hours in work so my time for running had well and truly evaporated. Sunday was already a planned non running day anyway.
A bit disappointed not to get the long run done but not much I can do about it now. The rest of the weeks training went well though. I did manage to do some work on the Achilles on Saturday and it feels fine now and no pain at all so at least that is something.
Athlone 1/2 Marathon this Saturday coming. Looking forward to this race. Will train as planned but take it easy enough Thursday/Friday compared to normal.
Monday, 2 September 2013
Another decent week I hope
Monday 26th August
6.14 miles @ 9:04 pace
Easy paced run, some on grass around the pitches in Gormanston but there is only so many laps I can do so I headed in the direction of the beach and along the beach and back to the car. Not much else to report about this apart from general tiredness in body, mind and legs.
Tuesday 27th August - Session
We were unable to use the college grounds after the death of one of the college staff so this weeks session took place on the beach. After a warm up we kicked off with 20 seconds hard, 35 seconds recovery with the hard part going up by 20 seconds each time as far as 2 minutes and then back down. Managed to keep the hard bits at a good effort but wasn't really feeling the love for running on the beach. Finished off with a cool down to bring it up to 4.69 miles for the night. Not as much as normal, maybe no harm.
Thursday 29th August - Tempo Thursday
10.92 miles @ 8:16 pace
Tempo run this week was upped to 9 miles and was to be run at 5-10 secs quicker than marathon pace. Who knew 5-10 seconds could make such a difference? After a warm up of just under a mile with Stuart, Rosemary & Susan we set off into the wind from Gormanston heading towards Stamullen. Stuart set off into the distance at his pace and the rest of us all settled in around the same pace. As we turned past the school in Stamullen some nasty hills greeted us, especially at the pace we were running. I was digging in keeping effort consistent and Susan talked to us all the way up the hills (no bother to her). Bit of a recovery down into Julianstown about 1/2 way and our pace had evened out. The only thing I cared about was getting through the last 3/4 miles and keeping the pace consistent. The miles ticked off and Susan was chatting away to us. This really was easy for her. She pushed on a bit for the last couple of miles and eventually we made it back to the Huntsman and the 9 miles were done. This was difficult but not impossible. Pace for the 9 miles was 7:53 for me which I was happy with.
Finished off with about a mile slow cool down.
Saturday 31st August
6 miles @ 8:43 pace
First time running around Balbriggan for a while. First mile was a bit mssed up on the Garmin so the overall pace would have been slightly slower. Still found myself having to hold back a bit to keep to the required pace. A good sign.
Sunday 1st September - Long Run
15.5 miles @ 8:38 pace
It takes a certain amount of madness to get out for your long run at 6:30am on a Sunday morning, but if there is 4 of you does that mean we're all mad? We must be in some way.
This run followed the same route as last week as far as around 10/11 miles and then a different route back to Stamullen via Gormanston to add on a bit extra. There was plenty of chat as we ticked off the miles at the required pace with the pace even picking up towards the end. Started to feel very hungry towards the end of the run as with the early start there was no time for breakfast. Could feel my left foot at me a bit as well. This started off with a blister during tempo run last week on the sole of my foot and now I have a blood blister on the top of my big toe as well. Was quite painful after the run. Need to try and get them cleared up as soon as possible. Seems strage to only be happening on one foot?
Summary: With the session on Teusday being a bit shorter the mileage was slightly down on last week but still managed 43.25 miles and 6.25 hours training. The 3 sessions were done but missed out on an easy run. To be honest I have never run 6 days a week normally and I think I can only commit to 5 with other stuff so I am happy enough with that. Hopefully another solid week this week with Long run on Saturday before easing off a bit before the Athlone 1/2 next week.
Sunday, 25 August 2013
Making Progress/Upping the Mileage gradually
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!!!
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!!!
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.
Monday, 29 July 2013
Berlin or Dublin? Dublin or Berlin? 10 weeks or 14 weeks to go?
Not sure where to start this week so best just get to it.
Monday 22nd July
Was feeling a bit peeved off with the result from the 10K yesterday and the general why bother training for little results argument going on in my head. Also found out that the last 2 people I know that were doing Berlin had pulled out for different reasons. No longer sure I wanted to head over by myself for the weekend but decided to give it a few days and talk to a few people about it. No rash decisions. No training today just recovering from the race.
Tuesday 23rd July
The usual club session with Gary tonight. Warm up loop followed by a lap of hard straights, bends easy and then it was down to business. The session tonight was 2x1K, 2x800, 2x400. The 1k's were to be run at 5K PB pace and then for the 800's we had to run 4 seconds a lap quicker and another 4 seconds quicker again for the 400's with recoveries reducing all the time. My splits were (4:11, 4:12, 3:13, 3:12, 1:28, 1:29). Finished up with a nice cool down for approx 10.5K in total.
Really enjoyed this session although the legs were a bit tired from Sunday managed to hit the required pace for the first couple of K's and then be able to reduce it as required. Finished tired but happy.
Wednesday 24th July
Rest Day. Gary has put together a weekly plan for people to follow if interested for the marathon and he suggests a rest day on Wednesday after speed session on Tuesday and before a tempo run on Thursday. I wasn't going to argue!!!
Thursday 25th July
Tempo Run. The plan was for a 7 mile tempo run at marathon pace. This is something I haven't been doing recently i.e. a 2nd session in the week and is probably something that should bring about improvement? Did around a mile warm up and then a couple of stretches before setting off. Got a couple of nice showers to cool us down during the run which took in a couple of loops of Gormanston College as well as a loop outside it. Kept the pace fairly steady throughout and think I picked it up a bit for the last mile finishing with an average pace of around 4:55 per KM. Would have been happy with anything around 5 min pace so to be slightly quicker was nice. Tagged on another K warm down.
Would be nice to get a group together to do these if possible. It's so much better when others are running rather than trying to do it by yourself.
Friday 26th July
Plan was for 8 miles but I had to play a matchplay semi-final after work which we sadly lost on the 18th hole :-(
Saturday 27th July
9.6K Easy run. Got out in the morning when Charlie was asleep. Nothing much to report from what I can remember.
Sunday 28th July
15K Long run. With the Rock & Roll 1/2 marathon next weekend this was a mini taper where the long run was concerned. The first half was a hilly route around Stamullen, Bellewstown, Silverstream before finishing off around Gormanston.
So the week overall was a little light on mileage with a recovery day from a race and a day for Golf. Very happy with the quality of the training though. Good to get a second session done as well. This week will probably not have huge mileage either with the race next Monday. Hopefully by then I will have made my mind up on which Marathon to target!!!
Monday 22nd July
Was feeling a bit peeved off with the result from the 10K yesterday and the general why bother training for little results argument going on in my head. Also found out that the last 2 people I know that were doing Berlin had pulled out for different reasons. No longer sure I wanted to head over by myself for the weekend but decided to give it a few days and talk to a few people about it. No rash decisions. No training today just recovering from the race.
Tuesday 23rd July
The usual club session with Gary tonight. Warm up loop followed by a lap of hard straights, bends easy and then it was down to business. The session tonight was 2x1K, 2x800, 2x400. The 1k's were to be run at 5K PB pace and then for the 800's we had to run 4 seconds a lap quicker and another 4 seconds quicker again for the 400's with recoveries reducing all the time. My splits were (4:11, 4:12, 3:13, 3:12, 1:28, 1:29). Finished up with a nice cool down for approx 10.5K in total.
Really enjoyed this session although the legs were a bit tired from Sunday managed to hit the required pace for the first couple of K's and then be able to reduce it as required. Finished tired but happy.
Wednesday 24th July
Rest Day. Gary has put together a weekly plan for people to follow if interested for the marathon and he suggests a rest day on Wednesday after speed session on Tuesday and before a tempo run on Thursday. I wasn't going to argue!!!
Thursday 25th July
Tempo Run. The plan was for a 7 mile tempo run at marathon pace. This is something I haven't been doing recently i.e. a 2nd session in the week and is probably something that should bring about improvement? Did around a mile warm up and then a couple of stretches before setting off. Got a couple of nice showers to cool us down during the run which took in a couple of loops of Gormanston College as well as a loop outside it. Kept the pace fairly steady throughout and think I picked it up a bit for the last mile finishing with an average pace of around 4:55 per KM. Would have been happy with anything around 5 min pace so to be slightly quicker was nice. Tagged on another K warm down.
Would be nice to get a group together to do these if possible. It's so much better when others are running rather than trying to do it by yourself.
Friday 26th July
Plan was for 8 miles but I had to play a matchplay semi-final after work which we sadly lost on the 18th hole :-(
Saturday 27th July
9.6K Easy run. Got out in the morning when Charlie was asleep. Nothing much to report from what I can remember.
Sunday 28th July
15K Long run. With the Rock & Roll 1/2 marathon next weekend this was a mini taper where the long run was concerned. The first half was a hilly route around Stamullen, Bellewstown, Silverstream before finishing off around Gormanston.
So the week overall was a little light on mileage with a recovery day from a race and a day for Golf. Very happy with the quality of the training though. Good to get a second session done as well. This week will probably not have huge mileage either with the race next Monday. Hopefully by then I will have made my mind up on which Marathon to target!!!
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