Wednesday 23 January 2013
Analysis – LT Interval
So, last night was my third LT intervals night and that threw up a chance at comparing sessions to see how I’m coming along.
Faster, longer, better.
Mon, 21st Jan – 8.0km Recovery Run
This started out as a recovery run but as the kms passed by I was feeling fresh so kept upping the pace until I hit ‘Easy pace’ for the last 1.5km. I had to hold myself back in the end as I knew the LT intervals were up tomorrow.
Tue, 22nd Jan – 27.1km LT Intervals with 5 x 2km
I was dreading this for most of the day. I had decided to up the number of reps from four to five x 2km intervals so I knew it was going to be pretty tough. After a few kms of warm-up I started into the first rep. Once again the main issue was getting the HR up to the correct range of 155bpm. These cold evenings help keep the HR lower than normal as the body doesn’t need to process as much excess heat as on a balmy summer’s evening (not that we’d ever have the problem either!).
This started out as a recovery run but as the kms passed by I was feeling fresh so kept upping the pace until I hit ‘Easy pace’ for the last 1.5km. I had to hold myself back in the end as I knew the LT intervals were up tomorrow.
Tue, 22nd Jan – 27.1km LT Intervals with 5 x 2km
I was dreading this for most of the day. I had decided to up the number of reps from four to five x 2km intervals so I knew it was going to be pretty tough. After a few kms of warm-up I started into the first rep. Once again the main issue was getting the HR up to the correct range of 155bpm. These cold evenings help keep the HR lower than normal as the body doesn’t need to process as much excess heat as on a balmy summer’s evening (not that we’d ever have the problem either!).
Sunday 20 January 2013
The return of IMRA
Sun, 20th Jan – IMRA - Howth Winter
Today marked the return of IMRA races and it all kicked off with the only Northside race which took place in Howth. My preparation wasn't exactly textbook given I'd been out last night with a gang of people from Boards and my gameplan of just one or two drinks went AWOL. All this resulted in a slightly hazy head but then the crisp cold Howth air was just the thing to sort me out.
Saturday 19 January 2013
Parklife.
Sat, 19th Jan – Malahide Parkrun 5k
The weather this morning was only a little better so when I turned up in Malahide I was expecting plenty of flooded pathways. I managed a nice easy 2.8km warm-up en-route to the race start and within a few minutes we were off for the race proper.
Friday 18 January 2013
Will it ever stop raining?
Fri, 18th Jan – 27.3km LSR Run
Plan called for a 26km LSR today but it happened to coincide with the worst day of weather in a couple of months. Parked in the usual spot and settled into it over the first couple of kms. However when I reached the Ashtown gate I decided to venture outside the park for a change. Before I knew it I was down at Ashtown train station so I decided to take a left and run along the canal path. I'd never been down here before so was pleasantly surprised to have a really good (if a little puddly) towpath all the way to Coolmine station where it transforms into a muddy, grassy trail. It was when I turned around at this point that I reallised the wind was so strong. A bitterly cold Easterly with plenty of hail abused me for the next 7km until I turned around again in Phibsborough. My transformation from pure misery to mild pleasure was immediate. No more darts of hail into my eyes!
Plan called for a 26km LSR today but it happened to coincide with the worst day of weather in a couple of months. Parked in the usual spot and settled into it over the first couple of kms. However when I reached the Ashtown gate I decided to venture outside the park for a change. Before I knew it I was down at Ashtown train station so I decided to take a left and run along the canal path. I'd never been down here before so was pleasantly surprised to have a really good (if a little puddly) towpath all the way to Coolmine station where it transforms into a muddy, grassy trail. It was when I turned around at this point that I reallised the wind was so strong. A bitterly cold Easterly with plenty of hail abused me for the next 7km until I turned around again in Phibsborough. My transformation from pure misery to mild pleasure was immediate. No more darts of hail into my eyes!
Back to the hills.
Wed, 16th Jan – 8.7km Recovery Run
A nice easy recovery run where i was limited with time. Thankfully these runs are now back to the effort expected and i no longer feel like I'm trudging around. More good news with the fact that my sore calf from last night appears fine now.
Thurs, 17th Jan – 11.4km Hill Run - Shankill to Scalp
A nice easy recovery run where i was limited with time. Thankfully these runs are now back to the effort expected and i no longer feel like I'm trudging around. More good news with the fact that my sore calf from last night appears fine now.
Thurs, 17th Jan – 11.4km Hill Run - Shankill to Scalp
Wednesday 16 January 2013
More LT intervals
Tue, 15th Jan – 21.1km LT Intervals with 4 x 2km
LT interval session #2 was due this evening and a chance to stretch the legs properly with a bit of speed. The plan was 18km with 5 w/u – 4 x 2km @ LT – 5 c/d. As the evening was bitterly cold again I went with the leggings to help keep me warm during the first 5km of a warm-up. Bit of a misnomer there really as to stay warm I ended up running quicker than I really ought to have.
LT interval session #2 was due this evening and a chance to stretch the legs properly with a bit of speed. The plan was 18km with 5 w/u – 4 x 2km @ LT – 5 c/d. As the evening was bitterly cold again I went with the leggings to help keep me warm during the first 5km of a warm-up. Bit of a misnomer there really as to stay warm I ended up running quicker than I really ought to have.
Tuesday 15 January 2013
London Calling.
Off to London for the weekend so fitting in a few runs was going to be a challenge...
Fri, 11th Jan - 8.0km Recovery Run
In between leaving work and boarding a flight to London for the weekend I managed to sneak a recovery 8km around the block. A nice easy run with nothing much exciting to report.
Sat, 12th Jan - 21.7km LSR
While my mate Ronan was managing his football team to only their second win of the season (which moved them off the bottom of their league and into safety!) I was off on a trail run along the Thames.
Fri, 11th Jan - 8.0km Recovery Run
In between leaving work and boarding a flight to London for the weekend I managed to sneak a recovery 8km around the block. A nice easy run with nothing much exciting to report.
Sat, 12th Jan - 21.7km LSR
While my mate Ronan was managing his football team to only their second win of the season (which moved them off the bottom of their league and into safety!) I was off on a trail run along the Thames.
Friday 11 January 2013
Night time hill running.
Monday, 7th January - 14km Hill run - Prince Williams Seat.*
*Unfortunately I only managed to map the return journey from the turnaround point to the car park.
The pathways of Santry and Ballymun can be pretty boring for even a novice, but for someone like me who runs 4+ nights a week along them then you always jump at the chance of doing a run somewhere else, and so it was that the informal boards.ie group (Myself, Digger, Cambo Gueno, Jeawan and his friend) met up at Johnny Fox’s pub after work on Thursday for a jaunt
*Unfortunately I only managed to map the return journey from the turnaround point to the car park.
The pathways of Santry and Ballymun can be pretty boring for even a novice, but for someone like me who runs 4+ nights a week along them then you always jump at the chance of doing a run somewhere else, and so it was that the informal boards.ie group (Myself, Digger, Cambo Gueno, Jeawan and his friend) met up at Johnny Fox’s pub after work on Thursday for a jaunt
Wednesday 9 January 2013
Regaining belief.
Monday, 7th January - 17.7km LT Intervals with 8 x 1km.
The new week began with bringing Tuesday's LT run forward a day seeing as I was feeling significantly fresher than Sunday. A couple of easy kms and then I started into the interval sessions. I had decided on 8 intervals of 1,000m as a purely arbitrary number with a similarly arbitrary 500m recovery in between.
The new week began with bringing Tuesday's LT run forward a day seeing as I was feeling significantly fresher than Sunday. A couple of easy kms and then I started into the interval sessions. I had decided on 8 intervals of 1,000m as a purely arbitrary number with a similarly arbitrary 500m recovery in between.
Monday 7 January 2013
Scraping away the rust.
Wednesday, 2nd January - 8.0km recovery run.
I failed to get out on New Year's Day due to being tired and a little hungover from the night before in Galway. So my 2013 running started back on the 2nd - still a day earlier than last year so already I'm up! Just managed a recovery paced run as I wanted to ease gently back into it. For some unknown reason the run failed to save onto the Garmin correctly...not a good omen for the new year!
I failed to get out on New Year's Day due to being tired and a little hungover from the night before in Galway. So my 2013 running started back on the 2nd - still a day earlier than last year so already I'm up! Just managed a recovery paced run as I wanted to ease gently back into it. For some unknown reason the run failed to save onto the Garmin correctly...not a good omen for the new year!
Friday 4 January 2013
And we're off...!
My big goal for 2012 was to beat the sub 3:30hr marathon time and having narrowly failed in the Cork City marathon in June I had to wait for my back-up marathon in Valencia in November before I managed to nail it, but that I did in a time of 3:26:37 which I was delighted with. The remainder of the year kinda fizzled out (apart from pacing 4:15hrs in the Clonakilty marathon on December 8th).
So, with a new year comes new targets. My first main aim is to go sub 3:15hrs in Rotterdam on April 14th. My main goal for the second half of the year will be to run the Chicago Marathon where I will be aiming for sub 3:10hrs. Both these goals though are stepping stones hopefully to a go at a sub 3hr marathon in 2014 - A time I never dreamed would be possible just over a year ago when my PB refused to budge below 4:20hrs.
So, with a new year comes new targets. My first main aim is to go sub 3:15hrs in Rotterdam on April 14th. My main goal for the second half of the year will be to run the Chicago Marathon where I will be aiming for sub 3:10hrs. Both these goals though are stepping stones hopefully to a go at a sub 3hr marathon in 2014 - A time I never dreamed would be possible just over a year ago when my PB refused to budge below 4:20hrs.
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