Finding my level!

Wednesday 22^nd May 2013 – 12.0km Mtn Race # 5 – Glasnamullen and lap of Djouce.

About halfway up to Djouce

Race number 5 in the Leinster League and I was feeling a bit jaded after last nights 5km PB. So, I decided to take it handy enough early on and see how I felt once I started the downhill and take it from there. We started with a lap of the car park field across the main road from the trailhead. This was intended to string out the field before hitting the trail but I’m not quite sure how effective it was as we still seemed pretty well grouped when crossing the road and I was content to sit-in somewhere around 75th place I reckoned.

Sub 20min 5k at last!

Tuesday 21st May 2013 – 10.0km Bob Heffernan 5km.

Back into the swing of things this evening with a 5km race that comes very highly recommended by anyone I know that’s ever ran it. I was a bit apprehensive about this as I hadn’t even managed a slow recovery run since the 29km of fast running on Saturday. So it was that on my warm-up I realised just how sore and tight my quads were. This really left me half thinking about should I really run or not but given that I very rarely pull muscles I figured I should be ok for this.

Killarney’s ‘Marathon of the Lakes’

Thursday 16th May 2013 – 11.8km Recovery Run

I was feeling a little tired and tender after last night’s mountain race so just took a handy pace for tonight. Did a bit of stretching afterwards in a bid to feel fresh on Sat morning but not looking particularly great at this moment in time. 

Road to Recovery

Tuesday, 14th May 2013 – 11.8km Recovery Run (5:20/km) 

I ventured out for an easy run this evening as I felt I was on the road to recovery (apart from a cough all other symptoms gone). Managed it pretty well but at the start I felt a number of twinges and niggles from a week of being coiled up and sitting on the couch too much without the usual release of a daily run to loosen them out! Felt a little jaded towards the end but that’s to be expected on the first day back as I’m probably not 100% recovered yet.

Illness strikes!

Monday, 6th May 2013 – 11.8km Recovery Run (5:25/km)

I was way more knackered from the beers after the race than the marathon itself so it was late Monday evening before I managed to go out for a relaxed recovery run. Legs were perfect after yesterday which was encouraging.

Racing and pacing!

Friday, 3rd May 2013 – 11.8km Easy Run (5:19/km)
A very easy run again today in advance of another 5km parkrun and then the Limerick marathon pacing gig on Sunday. Not much else to report. 

Saturday, 4th May 2013 – 10.0km Malahide Parkrun 
2.4km Warm Up
5.0km Malahide Parkrun 
2.6km Cool Down
Another Saturday another Parkrun!

Mtn Race #2 - Scalp

Wednesday, 1st May 2013 – 12.4km Mtn Race #2 - Scalp

3.2km Warm up
5.8km IMRA Race 2 – Scalp  
3.4km Cool down  

Race number two of the IMRA Leinster League took place just North of Enniskerry on Scalp. The route consisted of a clockwise loop of Carrickgollogan including an up and over of the summit and then a second loop of Barnaslingan, again clockwise. I had covered parts of this route last weekend but mostly in the opposite direction.

I called in to Registration before 7pm and then drove to Enniskerry village to park up. I was using an extra long jog to the start line as my warm-up and to get an extra bit of distance for today’s mileage. It was uphill almost all the way to the race start, over 2 miles away. I was well warmed by the time I reached the start line but there was still 20mins left to wait!

McMillan 10k Plan - Week 2 session

Monday, 29th April 2013 – 11.8km Recovery Run
Easy recovery run this evening as the legs were still a little jaded from Saturday.

Tuesday, 30th April 2013 – 13.8km McMillan Session #3 - 1 x 2 miles + 4 x 1 miles @ 4:02/km 
The second major session of the McMillan 10km plan was in store for me this evening. I wasn’t dreading this session like I was the first but I was wary of tired legs and how they would hold up towards the last few splits. Regardless, I parked up and did an easy jog to the Furze Road for the start of the 1 x 2 mile split.