Dublin Mountains Way

Saturday, 27th April 2013 – 43.4km Dublin Mountains Way 
I’d been looking forward to this Saturday all week as it was the only weekend for the next month that I didn’t have some kind of race to pace or run so effectively it was a free weekend where I could do what I liked. Of course most normal people would probably take it as a chance to ease back and chill out but I was about to take the other path…

McMillan 10k Plan - Week 2 session

Thursday, 25th April 2013 – 12.3km Recovery Run (5:23/km)
Despite intending to take it easy last night on the IMRA run I still pushed it hard enough to have sore quads today! So, a nice easy recovery run was called for. I ran the usual block but towards home I detoured through the park. Due to ill timing though I had to double-back on my tracks to find an exit gate that was still open so managed to add an extra 500m to the run. Nothing much else to report!

Return of Mountain Running

Monday, 22nd April 2013 – 11.8km Recovery Run (5:14/km)
Just a handy recovery run tonight. Took it so easy the av HR was 129bpm but the pace was still quite decent at an av 5:14/km so I’m taking this as a sign of training going well!

Pacing Wexford Half Marathon

Thursday, 18th April - 21.6km Easy Run with 6 x 1mile @ 10km pace
My endurance fitness is pretty good at this moment in time and should tick along nicely as during May I have two marathons to pace (4:30 in Limerick & 4:15 in Kildare) and one to run freely (Killarney, but not a goal race!) so that should continue to take care of itself.

Moving on...

Monday, 15th April & Tuesday, 16th April - Rest Days
I had no real choice but to take a couple of rest days due to the blistering. Rest of body was feeling good with just a little DOMS on my upper quads/hip flexors.

Wednesday, 17th April - 9.4km MP Run

After buying a couple of pairs of 1,000 mile socks yesterday evening I threw them on today for my first run since Sunday. Kept it to the local park and once I knew my feet were fine I threw in a few miles at MP just to see how the body would react. The answer was pretty good. The quads were still a little tight but not bad enough to prevent MP pace. Strong Southerly wind out there as well so happy enough with 8.5km at an average pace of 4:33/km. The HR averaged out at 151bpm which was about right. 

So, good to be back and I'm out of my post-Rotterdam funk. I now have an 8-week plan in place with it culminating in Portumna on June 15th. Let's hope it's sufficient to bring the marathon pace down to below 4:30/km!

Week 16 Summary (so far):
RTW: 1 from 3 days
DTW: 9.4km
DTY: 1254.0km

Perspective

I was tapped-in to the Boston Marathon tracker all Monday evening watching out for everyone I knew running. It was almost like being a race-side spectator as we received the 5km splits every 20-25 mins. Some friends hit their targets, others had an off-day but when all were across the finish line I turned off the computer and watched TV for a few hours. So, it was a pretty unbelievable experience when the news started breaking about the events which later transpired. Thankfully, with the help of Facebook and Boards.ie everyone I knew in the city were safely accounted for before we had even time to panic this side of the World.

As I'm writing up this post it appears the authorities in the US have arrested a suspect in connection with the events. Hopefully it's the right person and due process can begin without delay so that they get whatever's coming to them. 

On a personal level the 2014 edition of the Boston Marathon has been my major goal for the past 6 months and I know that if I manage to qualify then I fully intend to take part and help honour those that lost their lives as well as the 170+ casualties who were made suffer such shocking injuries.

Rotten Rotterdam

Saturday, 13th April – 4.8km Easy Fartlek Run Arrived into Schiphol airport and got the train to Rotterdam which took only  25mins - great service. Dropped off our bags in the hotel and then called into the expo to collect our numbers. There wasn’t a whole lot else to see there so headed back to the hotel again for a lie-down before myself, Philip and a few Celbridge AC lads (who were travelling with Philip) all went for a run in the park beside the hotel. Nothing too strenuous, just shy of 5km with a few faster segments thrown in. A good leg loosener.

The Final Countdown

Monday, 8th April – 8.9km Recovery Run (Overall: 4:35/km) Took it nice and handy for tonights run and just as well as the legs were a little tired after the MP run yesterday. I was very surprised by this as they felt great when just walking around. Threw in 1km @ MP which was just to keep the mind aware of the pace required! 

Tuesday, 8th April – Rest Day

Wednesday, 9th April – 8.9km Easy Run (Overall: 4:58/km) This was just intended to be a nice handy jog but I kept thinking about Sunday and all the excitement meant any time I looked at the pace I was in around 5:00/km. Tried slowing down a few times but kept speeding up again. Just want to get to the starting line now! 

Thursday, 10th April – Rest Day

Friday, 11th April – 7.3km Easy Run with 2km @ MP Final run before the race. An easy loop with a couple of km at slightly faster than MP just to remind the legs what’s expected of them. Thankfully, nothing negative to report.

So, just perhaps a short few kms tomorrow to loosen the legs and then on to the race on Sunday. Everything has pretty much went to plan and I’ve no niggles to report so I should be able to run to my full potential on Sunday. 

Whether or not that potential will equate to sub 3:15 or not we’ll have to wait to find out!

Week 15 Summary (so far):
RTW: 3 from 5 days
DTW: 25.81 km
DTY: 1,210.1 km

Time-trial confidence booster

Sunday, 7th April – 14.0km MP Run (Overall: 4:35/km) 
Part 1     Part 2
My last session before Rotterdam – I chose a 14km run with 10km @ MP. Drove to Clontarf for this and was feeling well recovered from the 5km yesterday. The plan was initially to be 16km with a 3km w/u and another 3km c/d either end of the 10km @ MP but it was pretty windy so I chopped 1km off both ends as there was no need for that much slower running. 

Trudging through taper

Monday, 1st April – 26.7km LSR
I took a rest day on Sunday, partly as a recovery from the 10km but mostly because of a busy Sunday afternoon (and partly because of pub Sat night!). So on Monday I drove to Newport to go for a run on the Greenway. I’d cycled this section twice before (Newport to Mulranny and back again) and knew it was good terrain but also that it can get a bit exposed to the wind. Usually we’d have to deal with a Westerly wind but the persistent cold Easterlys were still in force today.

Final tune-up race - Kilmovee 10km

Saturday, 30th March – Kilmovee 10km Race (4:13/km) with 1.0km w/u & 8.0km recovery run (4:59/km)

Seeing as I was heading West for the weekend I'd planned that I’d stop off in East Mayo for this local GAA Club 10km race. I didn’t know much about it though so after a quick look-up on Garmin Connect I came to the conclusion that there was a few small hills throughout the course and a pretty decent hill in the last km. Also, the distance appeared to be consistently just a few metres longer than 10km which meant a very accurately measured course was in store.