Rounding off last week

Last week finished off with a couple of weekend runs outlined below. After his coming week it will be 18 weeks to Berlin and the official start of Marathon training. For some reason I'm looking forward to it. I don't know why but will look more at what I have planned in next weeks update.

Saturday 17th May

8.07K
Avg Pace: 5:23
Avg HR:   135

Just an early morning run around Balbriggan. No real goal in mind other than clocking up a few K's. Legs definitely weren't really sure what was going on with the early start and the run felt a bit laboured in spots.

Sunday 18th May

17K
Avg Pace: 5:38
Avg HR:   135

There were no takers for a longish run this week with people recovering from Marathon's and some racing on the track that afternoon. I set off from Stamullen school anyway with my music for a change and headed towards Julianstown and straight through the crossroads. From there around the back roads past Mosney and turned up past Murphy's quarry back to the main road. For a fairly remote road I passed a few runners all enjoying the early morning sunshine. Once back on the main road I headed back towards Gormanston and then Stamullen. To make up the required distance I headed up to St Claire's and did a loop in there before coming back to the school.

Was my longest run for a while but just ran it easy, took the pace display off the watch and just kept an eye on the HR and distance covered. Legs also feeling a good bit better since I switched back into my Brooks Adrenaline in the middle of the week.

Just over 54K for the week. We're not there yet but we're getting there :-)

Time to catch up

Just remembered it's been a while since I posted anything so no time like the present for a catch up on recent training and events.

Tuesday 7th May - Club Session

3.12K w/u followed by stretching & drills

Session consisted of 4x(800,400) w/1 min recovery & 2.5mins between sets.

Splits were (3:23,1:33;3:18,1:30;3:21,1:31;1:27)

1.21K w/d

Wasn't looking forward to this after racing on Sunday. While the legs were tired it wasn't that bad I suppose. Happy enough with the splits. Gary must have been in a good mood as he let us off with the last 800

Thursday 9th May

14.22K
Avg Pace: 5:17
Avg Hr: 137

Midweek long run this evening. Headed out from Gormanston with Ken and showed him some of the local hills which he dragged me up and down. When we turned to head back towards Stamullen I pointed at the hill up ahead and said I had never been up there and wondered what was there thinking someday I must take it in. I didn't realise I would be seeing it again so soon.

 

 

Had a bit of a sabbatical from Thursday to Monday with some of it planned and some of it not. Had to play a golf match on Friday after work which we won. Emma was then away on Saturday till Sunday PM at a hen party so I was on duty with the little fella then. Had planned to do a long run when she came back on Sunday PM but a friend of mine was in contention in the Irish Amateur Open Golf Championships so I whisked over to Royal Dublin to watch the end of that. Robbie went on to win it in a play-off so a rather late night ensued making Monday a write-off. It was great though

Another high point of the weekend was following the progress of the 4 SOS ladies in the Prague Marathon on Sunday morning. In testing heat they all ran great. Well done Rosemary, Michelle, Melanie & Mary.


Tuesday 14th May
54 minutes of hell.
8.83K covered in total.


So the college where we normally train have their sports day on Friday so we had to keep off the track. Gary fresh from another Marathon win in Kildare whisked us out the country for some hill repeats. I knew we were in trouble when he stripped down to shorts and tee-shirt himself for this one. After he located the steepest hill around Bellewstown (there are plenty to choose from) we got going with a warm-up and eventually into 10 intervals of 75 seconds up the hill followed by 60 seconds jog back down.

It was lung busting, tough on the legs and there were lots of flies but I really enjoyed it to be honest. Any drivers going past must have thought we were all cracked. I now know what lies over the far side of that 'Other Hill'.


Wednesday 15th May

2.07K @ 5:29 pace Hr 135

5K @ 5:03 pace Hr 140

3.29K @ 5:18 pace Hr 134

Basically just over 10K tonight. Wanted to get a Garmin link of our 5K route (Star of the sea) hence the messing above. Legs a bit tired after yesterday but not too bad. Reckon the 5K is a fast enough course given that any gradual climb is early with the last 1.5K gradual downhill making it easier to maintain/pick up pace.

Link to the race route here if anyone if interested.

 

Thursday 16th May

9.86K
Avg Pace: 5:34
Avg HR: 133

Just an easy run yesterday evening. Had a crap and long day at work. Got home ready to explode and feeling crap. Out the door and back an hour or so later feeling on top of the world. The joys of running. Was great to catch up with a couple of our Marathon ladies and hear their stories.

 

 

Speaking of which there is 19 weeks on Sunday to Berlin. The thoughts of it ......

The Battle of the Boyne

Monday 29th April

6.54K @ 5:22 pace
Avg HR 139

Did a couple of loops with Ken in Gormanston at what was an easy pace I'm sure for him but took a bit more effort for me as the higher HR indicates. Sluggish legs didn't really help but glad to get it done. We passed Colin Costello a couple of times on the golf course and I couldn't help thinking I should be doing what he's doing and vice verse.

Tuesday 30th April

3.07K Warm up
4x200M intervals @ mile pace with recovery (40,42,41,39)
22 minute Tempo @ 10K pace (4:37 pace, Avg HR 149)
1.53K Warm down

10.63K total

Tuesday night was session night with Gary, usual loop of the college to warm up then some stretching & drills before the real business started. Started with 4x200m slightly slower than Friday's effort with a diagonal jog across the infield of the track as recovery.

Then it was over to the playing fields for a 22 minute tempo run @ 10K pace. Wasn't looking forward to this with my current travails but was determined t give it a go. The field is at a guess maybe around 1100 metres around the outside so we would be well spread out. Got going anyway and had the lap pace as the main display on the watch to keep an eye on. Was hoping to maintain a pace around 4:30 something if I could. Pretty soon the pace was hovering around the mid 4:30's and I just set about maintaining this. Gary was running around the inside in the opposite direction counting down the time which was a great help. Legs held out pretty OK but while you get great support from the grass you don't get the bounce you would off the road. Finished with Avg Pace of 4:37 and a pretty good sign is the HR remained constant throughout the run, only moving up or down by a couple of BPM (beats per minute).

Finished off with 3 laps of the track to cool down.

Friday 3rd May

7.9K
Avg Pace: 5:31
Avg HR: 138

Had a session with Mark on Wednesday night working on the calf which was painful in itself but felt confident he had found the problem area. He advised to to take Thursday off as well. Headed out for a few easy K's on Friday evening and although still a bit niggly it was generally OK. Weighed up the pro's & con's of doing the Boyne 10K later on and the fact I was getting through the sessions OK I decided to do it but without any great expectations.

Saturday 4th May

5.53K
Avg Pace: 5:26 
Avg HR: 137

Just another easy 30 minutes with a few strides thrown in at the end.

Sunday 5th May - Boyne 10K

10.03K in 46:13
Avg Pace: 4:37
Avg HR: 150

Splits (4:21, 4:33, 4:24, 4:45, 4:34, 4:42, 4:52, 5:12, 4:15, 4:28, 3:57 for .03)

So having spent most of the week deciding whether to do this race or not I signed up for it in the end on Saturday morning with no real expectation or goal. With that in mind and the course changes making it a more difficult challenge I was prepared to risk it slightly and see what happened. Got a decent warm up done and after a visit to the loo and a few chats with club mates we took our place behind the start line.

After a minutes silence for Boston the race was started pretty much in time by Kerry legend Jack O'Shea. I had positioned myself maybe around 20 rows back from the front to try and avoid the congestion of the narrow street for the first 500M but back far enough not to get in anyone's way. Pace was a little quick but eased off a bit when we crossed the dual carriageway. Knew there was a good hill up towards Mel in the 2nd K but had aimed to be around 4:30 pace for the first couple of K which I was.

Got a nice shout out from Rosemary at this point and Maurice came past me around here as well. I think there must have been a bit of downhill in the next K as the pace dropped here. The heat was starting to come into play and I was getting a nice stinging sensation the odd time from suncream mixed sweat dropping into my eyes. Started to get the usual thoughts or dropping out around this time and why do I bother etc etc. Wasn't really Garmin watching but trying to maintain the same effort but pace dropped considerably for the 4th K. I know this was the section under the motorway and up to the Slane road so there was a bit of an uphill and turnaround point here but still no excuse.

Was digging in as best I could and as we turned over the bridge at Oldgrange. Thoughts now started to turn to that hill but the pace had picked up a bit again as we passed over the 5K point. Took a bottle of water at the water station shortly after and poured most of it over me to try and cool down. Bit silly really as was nearly blinded with sweat and singlet was now a lot heavier.

There was a nice flat section now towards the Boyne cable bridge but I felt like I was slowing and I was as people started passing me frequently enough. After about 6.5K we reached the point where we would normally go left and run along the Boyne River back towards Drogheda but this year we went right up Rathmullen hill. This was not a time for worrying about pace but just digging in. Quads were screaming at me but I was now starting to pass some people and some had even resorted to walking. I guess the steepest part went on for around 500 metres? before taking turning left where it eased out a bit. Brian Collins was at the top of the hill in his cycling gear and took the picture below as we rounded the corner.

The next K was my slowest of the race and it was just a gradual incline that seemed to go on for ever and ever and it did. Saw another club mate Sylvia at the top of it and she told me it was downhill from here and she was nearly right. From 8 to 9K was mostly a sharp downhill bringing us back down towards Drogheda. Was still passing the odd person and at this stage just wanted to get finished. Part of the downhill was quite severe on the legs in a different kind of way and we swung left at the bottom of the hill to join the ramparts and bring us under the Boyne.

As we did this there was someone calling times at the 9K point and I know it was 41 something when I passed. Got a great bit of support from the Carolan family just before we went under the dual carriageway. There was a slight rise up onto a bridge over the Boyne that was a killer. Felt like I was treading water as we headed over to join up with West St and that last sharp climb before turning for a sprint finish.

Yeh right there wasn't going to be a sprint in these legs today. Great support along West St and took in the atmosphere while keeping an eye out for Emma & Charlie knowing I was not likely to see them with the crowds. Mustered up some sort of finish eventually and crossed the line in a heap. Hung over one of the barriers for a minute or so getting myself together and then noticed Emma asking me was I OK. I was grand but sometimes you just need a minute to get yourself together. Looked at the watch and it showed 46:13 which I was initially disappointed with.

Grabbed a banana and some water and noticed a gang from the club. Got ushered into the photograph below with Kieron who came 12th and was well rested and Maurice who had finished up a couple of minutes before me.

Looking back I don't think I can be too disappointed. I ran the race at the same pace as a flat 22 minute tempo run during the week. I was about 45 seconds quicker than last year on a more testing course and I haven't been able to do the training I would have wanted to do in recent weeks. In saying that this 10K PB needs a good seeing to sooner rather than later.




Monday 6th May

8.27K
Avg Pace: 5:51
Avg HR: 129

Recovery run this evening taking in the 5K route for the Star of the Sea 5K. Lovely to run at a nice easy pace on a lovely evening. Hopefully it refreshes the legs a bit in advance of speed session tomorrow night. Maybe Gary will take it easy on us. Not likely though ;-(

A testing couple of weeks

The last couple of weeks have been a bit of a struggle training wise with a couple of niggles and ankle problems. Had hoped to up the training and miles but haven't been able. Below are details of what I have been at:

Tuesday 16th April

5.8 miles in total which included our weekly club speed session. This consisted of 15 seconds hard running, 30 seconds jog, 30 seconds hard running, 30 seconds jog with the hard running increasing by 15 seconds each time all the way up to 2 minutes and then back down again. The aim here was to run each interval quicker than 5K pace which if I remember I think I did.

Wednesday 17th April

6.87 miles @ 8:47 pace. This was run in hurricane conditions around the Balscadden loop as we call it. Left Calf was at me towards the end and I eased up the effort towards the end to save it.

Thursday 18th April

1.92 miles. Managed a loop around Gormanston but knew needed to get Calf worked on. Would have stopped sooner if I could have.

Sunday 21st April

9.8 miles @ 9:06 pace. Having been away for the weekend the Calf got a bit of rest so knew I would manage a longish run. Ran with Mo & Kate from the college and around the hills and finished with a loop of the college. Only managed 24 miles for the week.

Monday 22nd April

3.51 miles @ 9:18 pace. Recovery run around the college before a session with Mark to get Calf worked on. Eased out a few knots and there was no pain when he stretched it different ways indicating it was just pure tightness.

Tuesday 23rd April

6.32 miles @ 9:17 pace. Just an easy run mostly on grass. Still in pain and a lot of wondering about should I be running or not. Envious of the others doing some 1K reps. Interesting that my ankle seemed to be troubling me now :-(

Thursday 25th April

3.76 miles @ 9:29 pace. Couple of recovery paced loops around Gormanston followed by another visit to physio. Lots of movement checks and no muscle issues. Pain just above ankle on inside leading Mark to believe I may have twisted my ankle without feeling it at the time. Lots of icing and he strapped it up with some Kinetica tape as well to give some support.

Friday 26th April

Speed session with Gary which turned out to be a silent killer. Sounded easy enough when he described it 3 sets of 3x200m w/45 second recovery with 600 metre recovery between each set. Really happy with how this went and times were very consistent mostly coming in at 37 seconds and one at 38 I think.

11.83K in total. Legs were swimming in lactic during the cool down.

Sunday 28th April

12.94K @ 5.39 per K pace.

Have changed to metric measurement to facilitate most of my races this year being measure in K. Headed from the house in the evening over to Barnageera & back. Pain in ankle means no run is really enjoyable now. Had wind behind me on the way there and a pretty strong headwind on the way back. Happy enough as seemed to maintain the same pace on the way back without any real extra effort.

Clocked up 29 miles for the week which I was surprised enough with so maybe not that big a disaster after all?

Summary: Had been hoping to do the Boyne 10K race next Sunday but not so sure now. No point in really racing if I can't train properly but I'll see later in the week. Main aim at the moment is to try and get running pain free again. Should have my plans for up to the Berlin Marathon finalised this week.

A not so Great Ireland Run

At the end of a tough enough week training relative to the amount of training I've been doing recently the last thing you want to be doing is running in the National 10K championships aka the Great Ireland Run but I was so it was a case of getting on with it as best we could. 

Sunday morning was damp and breezy, very breezy in fact when I headed out around 9am for a couple of easy miles as suggested by Gary on Friday night. The purpose of this was to prepare the body for running later on so the race did not come as a complete shock to the system. Even though this was only to loosen the legs and at an easy pace the legs were definitely not feeling anyway fresh and my left calf was still feeling a bit tight.

Fast forward a few hours and we were in the Park, brief warm up and I took my place at the back of the pen for AAI athletes ready for the off. The wind was gale force and the consensus seemed to be that it would be difficult to run any sort of PB time.

10.03K in 46:48
Avg Pace: 7:31 per mile
Avg HR: 146

KM Splits (4:31, 4:31, 4:40, 4:35, 4:30, 4:44, 4:42, 4:55, 5:06, 4:28, :07)

Started off the race with the aim of going no faster than 4:30 pace for the first few K and see what happened then. Kept it nice and steady up chesterfield avenue and up to the 1K point. Felt controlled but not easy. As we headed down the north road the wind seemed to be helping slightly and again kept the effort steady. Got passed along here by one of the telletubbies which was worrying but he ground to a halt further up the road.

Got through 2K on target but wasn't feeling easy and knew we would be turning shortly onto a fast part of the course but which was directly into the wind today. From 3K - 5K should have been easy and a chance to make some time with a big downhill but it was really exposed and a fight with the wind just to hang onto planned pace.

Just after 5K the first challenge came in the form of military hill followed shortly by the S bends. A few seconds but enough to put any thoughts of a PB out of my head were lost at this stage as I only really had one effort level to resort to. Sometimes if your feeling good or fresh you can kick on or dig in but not today.

At this point it was just a case of seeing the race out. Slowed a bit further through 8 & 9K both of which had further hills. Coming up to 9K I met someone I knew and had a chat for a few hundred metres before picking it up a bit for the last few hundred metres.

Summary: Relative to some of my recent races I should be able to run 44:xx for a 10K at the moment so probably about 2 minutes off where I should be on a calm day and favourable course. Not too disappointed with the performance on tired legs and the fall off in the 2nd half is not huge for that course.

Hopefully a couple more weeks good training and a bit of a taper will leave me fresher for the Boyne 10K. Surely we're due a calm day as well or maybe thats too much to ask.

Building up to Great Ireland Run

Just a normal training week this week but with the Great Ireland Run at the end of it. Normally I would let up a bit in training the week of a race but not for this race.

Monday:

5.95 Miles
Avg Pace: 9:01

Few loops around Gormanston on a windy Monday evening. Not really feeling the love for it and legs tired enough. Bit of tightness in left calf going on at the moment.

Tuesday:

10.04 Miles
Avg Pace: 8:38

Long run for the week. Headed from Gormanston through Stamullen and out for a hilly loop and back to Stamullen. Quick enough pace for the terrain but a good test for the legs. Did a loop of the college to bring up the 10 miles. Upped the pace to around 7:30 pace for the last mile and felt fine. Lovely loop and ideal for a longer midweek.

Thursday:

4.40 Miles
Avg Pace: 8:38

Got the legs worked on Tuesday night which normally leaves them tired for a couple of days. Just a few loops around the college tonight.

Friday:

2 miles warm up @ 8:39 pace
6 mins tempo @ 7:07 pace
.81 mile w/d @ 9:52 pace

3.65 miles total

This was out speed session with Gary. Those of us racing the weekend got let off with just a 6 minute tempo at around 10K pace. Felt grand and was really just a blowout to get the legs turning over. Couple of laps warm down outside the track while those not racing continued with their session.


Summary: Happy enough to get out 4 times so far. A lot going on with work at the moment so good to get out in the fresh air. Meant to be windy tomorrow for the race but the aim at the moment it not to go out too quickly. The first 1/2 of the course is quick but plenty will be needed for the second half. Hopefully will pace it right to be able to pass plenty of people in the 2nd half. Easier said than done ......

Another visit to Malahide Parkrun

Thursday 5th April

6.7 Miles
Avg Pace: 8:25

This turned out to be my longest run of the week. Usual Thursday night club run but with a bit more light we were out onto the outer loop for the first time this year and onto some grass. Turned out to be a really good progression run doing the last 2 loops with Rosemary bringing the pace down from around 8:40 on the first loop to 8:20 odd on the second loop to 8:00 even on the last loop. We hadn't planned this but noticed at one point the pace was picking up as we went on so we just continued like that.

Friday 6th April

Rest Day - Had planned to get out for a few miles but a disaster of a day at work had me working much later than planned so running had to take a back seat to family time & Libero's pizza.

Saturday 7th April

Mooted the idea to Emma on Friday night about heading to Malahide on Saturday morning, me doing the Parkrun and then heading to Avoca for breakfast. Got the thumbs up as it was a win/win situation for both of us. Charlie decided to sleep an hour longer than normal so there was a bit of chaos getting ready but got there in time without any breakfast or even a sip of water. Did a mile warm up after bumping into Ken who was also doing the race, getting down to the start and then having to dash back to use the loo.

5K in 21:14
Avg Pace: 6:49
Avg HR: 153

Plan was to run this as a second speed session for the week. Started off a bit quickly but with 400+ runners you need to get a good start. Settled into a good rhythm and tried to maintain a good even effort as the race progressed. Field was well spread out in front of me with about a mile to go but I just tried to concentrate on bridging gaps and passed a few people as I kept a fairly even effort and they were maybe slowing down a bit. Took another 2 on the last incline and put in a bit of a sprint to keep them off on the last downhill section. Pace splits for the race were (6:44, 7:06, 7:04, 5:49). Part of the course is tree lined so hard to know how accurate they are but probably not far off. A good run and as it turned out only 2 seconds outside my PB!!

Finished off with a scone in Avoca before working in the afternoon.

Sunday 7th April

4 Miles
Avg Pace: 9:17

Had an arrangement to play Golf on Sunday morning so missed out on any sort of long run. Did manage to get out around 8pm for a couple of loops of the college with Ailish though. This was one where I had to force myself to get out but as usual enjoyed it and the company.


Summary: Good week with 6 days running and weekly mileage over 30 miles again. Two good quality sessions but the absence of a longer run. Will try to get a longer one in early this week.