Eco2Run 10 miler (@ MP)

Sunday, 29th September, 2013 – 21.1km including 10 mile Eco2Run Race (4:28/km)

Parked up in East Point Business Park in plenty of time for our race start and as luck would have it I just managed to catch the start of the 20 mile race which was running 15 mins late. Went for a couple of km warm-up run before confirming that our start time was delayed by about 20 mins also so soaked up the leaders coming through in the 20 mile race. Lead guy passed through in 28mins and was flying! On the second lap though he had to stop for a toilet break and the second place guy passed through into the lead (but he would later regain the lead and win the race!). 

It was then our turn to start. I lined up a couple of rows back and as we got to the first corner I counted that I was in 15th position of about 70-80 runners. Sticking to my MP plan though I had to hold myself back from charging away with the others. This sort of worked in that I held back somewhat but I was a bit faster than MP. Kept pretty much the same effort level on the first outward stretch and a few people passed me along here. There was a breeze against us along here and although it wasn't too strong it was still costing me about 15 secs/km as I found out on my run back to the halfway point. It was only on the way back that I realised how humid and warm it was without the cooling breeze.

I was full sure I had a beaming smile all the way to the finish...obviously not!
Photo: Action Photography

Crossed the start/finish line in 37:05 and things were still going well. The second lap seemed to pass even quicker and by the time I was on the run back I was catching a few people in my own race (There were now 5 mile and 20 mile runners also on the course) and with 3km to go  decided I'd up the effort levels a bit as I was still feeling good. Final 3km were 4:22, 4:15 and 4:10 for the final 750m. Second lap was 37:33 for an overall time of 1:14:39. Not bothered about the time considering I wasn't racing it and it was 16.75km on my Garmin.

Comparison between last week and this week -
Much better numbers this week off an easier effort too!

Very happy with the outcome and when compared to my aborted HM last weekend it's much improved speed for less HR - the way things should be! Proof if ever it was needed (again!) that going off a bit too fast/high effort kills in the longer run.
Now, at last it's Taper Time!
Eco2Run 10 mile - 1:14:39, 16th/70

Week 39 Summary:

RTW: 7 from 7 days

DTW: 90.8 km

DTY: 3,124.6 km

Chicago - 14 days (2 weeks)

St Anne's Parkrun is launched... and it's very flat!

Wednesday, 25th September, 2013 – 7.4km Recovery Run (5:46/km)

Yesterday’s run appears to have taken a lot out of me. Not sure if it was the distance (just realised it’s only my 3rd 20 miler and I have not gone any further since Belfast!) or the two progression segments in the middle but I found myself with a tight left hammy and the by-now usual abdomen strain. Thankfully this was just to be a recovery run and boy did I need it. The first few kms were coming in around the 5:50’s when I thought they were around 5:30’s. Glad to get it over in the end and did a bit of foam rolling afterwards. Planned to get to bed early too but that fell by the wayside with TV and a few chores to blame!

Thursday, 26th September, 2013 – 7.4km Recovery Run (5:16/km)

Again it was later than planned by the time I got out for this run. Legs felt a fair bit better and after a relaxed first km I upped the effort to around 5:1x/km pace. Probably slightly tougher than it should have been but close to normal.

It was during this run that I had a moment of clarity in relation to my bad runs this year. All of Rotterdam marathon, Portumna marathon, Athlone HM and Dublin HM were in warm conditions. It was probably at least 21-22 degrees for them all so I think the underlying issue is that I perform poorly in warm weather. Certainly the elevated temperatures could well be responsible for an extra 3-5bpm which would be enough to scupper a long distance run. There were probably other mitigating circumstances (like the blisters in Rotterdam and poor nutrition choices for the HMs) but the heat is the one common denominator. Even last year in Valencia in similar temps I faded in the final 10km, albeit I still got my PB there but according to my Athlone ¾ marathon a few weeks before I should have been on for 3:20 or thereabouts. Definitely something to think about for the future!

Friday, 27th September, 2013 – 7.4km Easy Run (5:00/km)

I got up early this morning to fit in an easy run before work. This went well and feel I’m almost back to normal now.

7.4km Recovery Run (5:33/km)

Got back out for another recovery paced run in the evening. Was gonna do a 12km loop but decided to just keep it to 7.4km to prevent and lag in the legs.

Saturday, 28th September, 2013 – 8.1km including 5km St. Anne’s Parkrun (4:10/km)

I ventured down to St. Anne’s Park in Raheny for their first Parkrun. It consisted of a 2 lap course on an extremely flat course with the only thing to slow you down being a couple of tight corners. After a 2km warmup I ran into Mick K. at the starting area and had a bit of a chat. Within a few minutes we were walked to the start and were away.

St Annes Parkrun - two laps, very flat!

I wasn’t exactly clear-minded about how I was going to run this. My thoughts veered between trying for a sub 20 before pushing that out of my mind and deciding to take it at 4:10/min pace instead. Without having my mind firmly made up I spent the first km taking it handy and avoiding racing too many about me. As we got to the playing pitches I started to move up a few places as some people began to fade/ease off already. There were some kids training on the corner of the football pitch where we were due to turn the corner so we had no choice but to cut the apex a little. Before long we were out on the main avenue which runs all the way to the finish on the second lap. Things were going well still and while I am pretty sure I’d have struggled with 4:00/km pace if I had gone for it, the first 2km both came in at 4:10/km and I felt I was putting in a very decent effort without redlining it too much.

As we started the second lap we went through/under a load of trees and so I wasn’t too surprised when the garmin started to suggest my pace was slipping to 4:17 for the 3rd km. I just maintained position as those ahead of me were about 50m down the road at this stage. The next 1,500m were a tad boring for me as it was simply more of the same. The final km began just as we turned back out onto the main avenue for the second time and being able to see the finish in front of you makes for a long kilometre! About 600m to go a local runner called Jim went past me but I was happy to simply maintain pace than try to enter a race with him… perhaps on another day! 

Eventually I reached the finishing chute and stopped the watch in 20:47 which I was neither happy or disappointed with. It just is what it is! Time wasn’t the target today, more a good VO2 session while holding back a little for the 10 miler tomorrow. During today’s run though I made up my mind to run that at marathon pace instead of racing for a 10 mile PB time. Therefore I’ll be aiming to carry a steady 4:40/km (Which I failed at after 8 miles last week!!) all the way to the finish and if the opportunity arises I will allow myself to race the final 2-3 km but not before that. Well, that’s the theory anyways!!

Week 39 Summary (so far):

RTW: 6 from 6 days

DTW: 69.7 km

DTY: 3,103.5 km

Chicago - 15 days (3 weeks, 1 day)

Well that weekend didn't go according to plan!

Saturday, 21st September, 2013 – 3.0km Warm Up (5:15/km) and 13.1km DCM Series HM - Aborted run (4:40/km)

Pacing crew before the run

Bit of a disaster today with the Half Marathon. Ended up having to drop out after 8 miles for reasons I’m still struggling to comprehend. 

The day started off well with an easy jog across to the gathering point where I met my fellow pacers. After a few photos and general chat myself and Johnny went off for a couple more kilometres with the main aim to expand the HM out into an overall Long Run. Before long we were back in the starting positions for the race.

Myself and Joe and Dominic were positioned at the start of Wave two where I was briefly joined by my Brother. Damien played it smart however and retreated back a few rows as we were about to start as he felt 1:40 would be too fast for him. A couple of minutes after the first wave was set off we were moved up to the starting line and a few seconds later we were off.

Almost immediately Dominic lost his flag off his pole even though Eugene had gone round to most/all pacers and duct taped them together. The first few miles went well with the run down Khyber being nice and handy way to start and the pull up to wellington being the first little challenge of the day. Before long we were out the back of the Zoo and running on the North Rd. By mile 3 we were on target but we all felt mile 2 had been a little long and mile 3 a little short so we were going to have to keep a close eye on things. Around this time a pacee almost went flying to the ground alongside me – another victim of unintentional tripping in such a close knit group.

We continued on to the Castleknock gate before doubling back and then going through Farmleigh. I had been keeping a close eye on 4:40/km on my watch and was happy that we were well on target. Around here I noticed my HR was higher than I’d have expected it to be but thought little of it. After a brief spell outside the Park we returned in through Knockmarroon Gate and almost all of a sudden I started to feel like things were getting tough. Hoping it was just a temporary blip I continued on silently in the hope things would get easier. They didn’t. It was getting progressively tougher throughout mile 7 and by the time we were on the Ordnance Survey Road I was a few metres behind the other guys. The breeze was on our backs around here but I was finding the temperatures pretty warm and the lack of cooling air to be an issue. I stuck at it though as I hoped things would get easier again when we hit Chesterfield Avenue where it opens up and hopefully the side breeze would act as a cooler. Unfortunately though about 500m along that road I was now struggling to keep within 10m of the other two guys and felt things were just getting worse. I knew that on a normal day I could just ease off and jog it home to the finish but that wasn’t an option today with the pacing responsibility. There was nothing left to do but notify the guys I was cooked and had to pull out. First though ihad to make up the 10m to tell them that which was a fair old struggle on its own! I felt like a right dick having to pull out of the pacing job, that’s just not supposed to happen! The guys were very understanding in fairness to them and they looked like they had it covered anyways so just after the 8 mile marker I pulled in to the side of the road, so annoyed with myself.

HR data for Dublin HM - I would have expected it to be around 152bpm average

In the immediate aftermath I tried to work out why this had happened. Probably a few contributing factors – Poor nutrition the day before, warm temperatures, I had two t-shirts on (to avoid chafing mostly), the backpack was giving me serious issues for the opening miles and even after that it was still a little uncomfortable, and finally the MLR on Thursday combined with the Yasso’s on Wednesday and the Athlone HM last weekend were probably just too much too soon before the race.

Sunday, 22nd September, 2013 – Rest Day.
To make a miserable weekend even worse Mayo fell to the Dubs! In fairness Dublin deserved it but can't help thinking that if COC was quicker taking the two straightforward frees or the Ref played the 30 secs he promised (the Dublin cynicism demanded another play be allowed!) then perhaps we might have been able to tag on another point and come back another day. Oh well, c'est la vie! 63 years now...!

Week 38 Summary:
RTW: 6 from 7 days
DTW: 72.0 km
DTY: 3,033.8 km
Chicago - 21 days (3 weeks, 0 days)

Monday, 23rd September, 2013 – Rest Day.
My post match funk had not yet cleared so tacked on another rest day.

Tuesday, 24th September, 2013 – 32.0km LSR with 2 x progressions (5:14/km)
I had yesterday and today off work so this afternoon I went for an LSR as my last long run before Chicago. The first 8km were done at a leisurely pace, approximately 5:25/km. As I turned on to the royal Canal however I found myself getting a little bored so decided to throw in a progression type segment whereby I ramped up the effort a little extra at the start of every new km. By the time I turned around at 12th Lock I had ran 15km so I threw in another similar progression segment on my return to Phibsboro. The remainder of the run was back down to 5:20/km pace and i managed to append an extra 2km to bring the overall distance up to 32km by the end. Pretty knackered by then and not really enjoying the abdominal wall issues...think I may have tweaked something in that region but probably actually all connected to the same niggle I've had the past few weeks with the hamstring/glute/adductor/abdomen now. Feels like the injury is just floating around the place! If it was just in a localised area I'd have gone to the physio by now but can't think how such a vague injury could be diagnosed that easily.
The progression data shows the following Max HR vs Pace graph:

I hope to build this up over a few more runs and races to see if the correlation bears resemblance to the theoretical HR ranges for speed zones. We shall see.
Week 39 Summary (so far):
RTW: 1 from 2 days
DTW: 32.0 km
DTY: 3,065.8 km
Chicago - 18 days (3 weeks, 4 days)

Anyone got a spare ticket...

Oh the Green and Red of Mayo
I can see it still
It's soft and craggy bogland
It's tall majestic hills
Where the ocean kisses Ireland
And the waves carress it's shore
Oh the feeling it came over me
To stay forever more
Forever more

Monday, 16th September, 2013 – Rest Day
Really tired all day so gave into a second successive rest day. :-(

Tuesday, 17th September, 2013 – 11.9km Easy Run (4:58/km)
Almost became a third rest day(!) but just about managed to rescue a run very late in the evening. Fairly miserable out there and I went with the gloves for the first time since Spring.

Wednesday, 18th September, 2013 – 13.1km Yasso Session 8 x 800m (3:12/split)
Decided I’d use the Yasso’s as VO2 training on the run in to the big day. They serve the purpose of speed training but also according to theory, the pace you manage to sustain over 10 x 800m 10 days out from the marathon should approximately equate to the hrs & mins you’ll run the marathon in. So, I was aiming for 3:10 per split in this session which should equate to a 3hr10min marathon.

The evening itself was very blustery, so hardly ideal for this session. I was on my usual stomping ground of the Furze Road for this becaue of it’s flatness. The first two splits were with the wind and came in at 3:15 & 3:14. Not a great start as I was sure things would only get worse. The third split was back into the wind and came in at 3:12 which was a huge surprise! This gave me confidence for the next few which were with the wind again and resulted in 3:07, 3:10 & 3:09. Very happy with these so with just two left I was confident I’d see them all out. Last two were 3:15 & 3:12. So all in all I completed the whole session (Which looked dodgy after the first split!) and averaged out at 3:12. A little outside what I was aiming at from the beginning but if I managed a 3:12 marathon in Chicago I’d be more than happy! The last couple of splits I lost focus for parts of them and that was the reason for the slightly slower times. I’m sure if I was accompanied doing these I’d have maintained pace on them but c’est la vie! A great speed session overall.

Thursday, 19th September, 2013 – 6.4km Recovery Run (5:34/km)
I sneaked in a short recovery run in this morning as I wanted to loosen out the legs in advance of a MLR this evening with Philip. Seriously miserable weather but the nice stuff is on it’s way!

Thursday, 19th September, 2013 – 17.1km Easy MLR Run (5:08/km)
Met Philip in Celbridge for this one. He let me choose the pace but once we got into our stride we ended up going about 15 secs per km faster than planned. It still worked out though and we were able to hold a chat the whole way, so nothing too strenuous. We ran along the Royal canal until 45mins before turning around. We got back in 42mins thanks to the aid of the wind!

One thing of note from the run is that my hip flexors appear to be quite sore and stiff for the first couple of kms so this damn injury seems to be floating around theplace the past few weeks. May need to get a check up by a physio soon…

Friday, 20th September, 2013 – 7.4km Recovery Run (5:36/km)
Very relaxed 6.5km in advance of pacing 1:40 in the Dublin HM tomorrow morning.

So, now that I'm up to date, how about that spare ticket??

Week 38 Summary (so far):
RTW: 5 from 5 days
DTW: 55.9 km
DTY: 3,017.7 km
Chicago - 23 days (3 weeks, 2 days)

Athlone Half Marathon - the wheels come off!

Thursday, 12th September, 2013 – 7.4km Recovery Run (MP ave: 5:33//km)

As promised nice and easy recovery run in advance of Saturday. Legs were a little stiff/tired after last night's faster stuff but nothing serious.

Friday, 13th September, 2013 – Rest Day

Had intended to do about 10km today but after chatting to Philip about the race I decided to take today as a rest day instead in order to give myself every chance in Athlone.

Saturday, 14th September, 2013 – 21.3km Recovery Run (MP ave: 4:25//km)

The plan for today was to stay with the 1:30 pacers and try and nip just below the 90 min mark. This would mean running at 4:16/km pace according to the caluclators but when you factor in the inevitable couple of hundred extra metres then the pace would need to be approx 4:13/km. I was thinking about this briefly before I set off from Dublin and a quick moment of realisation pointed out that this was faster than my training LT pace. Suddenly things became a bit too real so I decided to push that thought out of my head and just hang with the pacers as long as I could and hope for the best really. At the very least I expected to get a new PB (1:32:49), so anything better than that but not sub 90mins wasn't hugely appealing. It was an all or bust mentality and i guess that's what I got!

I arrived in plenty of time to register, meet lots of familiar faces and go for a 3.5km warm-up. This was the longest warm up I've ever done but at the same time it was nice and handy and I felt great after it. After a little more socialising i made my way to the start line and fell in with a few more familiar faces (Joe, Kate and a couple of others) in the 1:30 pace group. Before long we were off. A few twists in the first 400m and then we were out on the straight. Even by this stage Joe had moved just in front of the pacers which was a clever idea as there was a large group on a narrow road and so it was no surprise really when I heard somebody appear to take a tumble about 2km into the race. By this stage I was in the thick of the bunch and it felt a bit claustrophobic. Around here I ran into Sean who commented '1:30 will be no bother'. I muttered back something about the first km always feeling easy and they were the last words I spoke all race. I managed to keep with the pace group for the first 8km but I had been keeping track of my HR and was a bit spooked that it was in the 160's the whole time when it should be in the mid 150's. I didn't think about it too much though as I was now struggling to keep with the group and I knew if I fell off the back of it that my race was done.

The run-in to the finish

I usually like it when I'm proved correct but in this instance it was not very enjoyable! A gap of 100m opened up over the next few kms and I found myself running solo just when I needed shielding from the breeze. As the gap drifted wider I began to unintentionally ease back to an effort that I should have started off with and the pace and HR slowed a little. By the time we appeared out onto the Ballinasloe Road I was over cooked and it was now just a matter of making my way home. The HR was still in the mid 150's but the pace had slowed back to marathon pace. There was nothing to be done really as I was now paying for redlining over the opening section. I'm sure the body was struggling big time with lactic acid and I just wasn't able to get the desired output from the high effort input. I tried consoling myself with the fact that I was getting a MP session out of it anyways so it wasn't a total waste of time. As I was slowing people were passing me and that compounded my misery. On the main road though I managed to get going again at a faster pace through a combination of sharing the pacing with another guy and the better road surface. Unfortunately, as soon as we turned off the main road again my pacing partner fell away and I slowed back down again due in some part to the poorer surface. Eventually I set my focus on the last mile and as I turned the corner for the 200m run-in to the line I gave it my all but still only just managed to get a pace of 4:06/km. I had nothing left but was glad to be finished.

HR & pace data

In fairness to the organisers the event really is excellent value and a great run. I think I may have fallen into a trap though (like quite a few others I spoke to) in thinking that because the course had no hills that it was ok to go off that bit faster. A handful of people that I spoke to afterwards seemed to have a similar tale of falling away after 8km or thereabouts. It has certainly re-instilled in me the value of starting steady and settling into a race as opposed to going out gung-ho. Hopefully I just remember that lesson in Chicago! 

Speaking of Chicago, I had been debating whether to aim for either 3:10 or 3:15 over there and was going to let Athlone's result decide the matter. Unfortunately that target is now going to be sub 3:20 instead! I will keep training at approx 3:12 pace but in reality I just need to bite off less than I'd been targeting.  It's annoying really that I've been running an average of 50 miles per week this year (a decent increase on last year) and yet the marathon form has failed to improve much at all since.

Athlone Half Marathon - 1:34:16

Sunday, 15th September, 2013 – Rest Day

I continued on to Mayo after the race and it was late enough getting back to Dublin so treated myself to a Rest Day.

Week 37 Summary:

RTW: 5 from 7 days

DTW: 57.1 km

DTY: 2,961.8 km

Chicago - 28 days (4 weeks, 0 days)

Grant Thornton 5k

It was himself that brought up the word 'sack'!

Monday, 9th September, 2013 – 7.4km Recovery Run (5:30/km)

Another very easy recovery run yesterday evening after the LSR yesterday. Actually surprised how slow the first couple of kms were, but around midway I threw in 11 sets of strides to get the legs prepared for the Grant Thornton 5km race this evening in the city centre. Would like a time beginning with a ‘1’ but given the lack of any VO2 training that may have to wait another while.

Tuesday, 10th September, 2013 – 7.5km Including Grant Thornton 5k race (3:58/km)

As suspected, the 1x:xx wasn’t in the legs this evening but seeing as the GPS measured 5.12km for the race can’t help but feel I was sub 20 for 5km (going by the Garmin I passed through 5km in 19:55 but can't really lay claim to that for PB purposes!). In the end I was 20:19 and the effort was nice and consistent the whole way around so all in all very happy with the way I ran just not so much with the time I ran! The time wasn’t hugely important though as it was more a chance of a very fast training run more than anything else. The race was very well organised but given the numbers and the high speeds it would be better to avoid the Talbot Bridge so early in the run. Far better off starting at the other side of the bridge and allowing a straight 2km of road before any turns.

Steady HR.

Managed to nab an extra 2.5km between warm-up and cool down to bring the total up to 7.5km. Would have liked to have done more but was in a rush home to watch Trap activate his self-execution. Arrivederci Giovanni Manuela! Best of luck to Thomas’ Osterreich for the remainder of qualifying! (Hope that eases the pain for the Kerry comments!)

Wednesday, 11th September, 2013 – 10.0km Run with 8km @ MP (MP ave: 4:31//km)

I got caught in a bit of no-man’s land this evening where I wanted to avoid anything too taxing in advance of the HM on Saturday. In the end I decided on hitting the seafront in Clontarf for a few MP miles. An easy first kilometre was followed by 8km at an average of 4:31/km. Starting my final MP km it was becoming evident that my right heel was cut from the shoe/sock combination. This helped me decide to slow down before pushing things too far and was a blessing in disguise really. I jogged the final kilometre, at first with the intention of adding another 5km or thereabouts but as I got closer to the car sensibility won the day and I limited any heal damage before it got too bad. A nice little session squeezed in also, which should be of benefit. The run itself was reasonably tough though given it was following on from the 5km race last night.

Easy running now ‘til Saturday!

Week 37 Summary:

RTW: 3 from 3 days

DTW: 24.9 km

DTY: 2,929.6 km

Chicago - 32 days (4 weeks, 4 days)

Nice MP progress within a week

Thursday, 5th September, 2013 – 19.0km with 16km @ MP (4:36/km)

Once again I was dreading the MP session as I had failed miserably with it last time out. However one week on I was hopeful that I’d managed to improve enough and with favourable weather conditions (i.e. little or no wind!) I’d manage to up the MP segment to 15km.

My target MP is somewhere between 4:30-4:37/km. I’ll confirm the target after the Athlone HM but even if I ‘settle’ for 4:37 pace then it’ll still be a big ask. And so, I set off the same as last week with a 1.5km easy run to the start point at Ashtown Station. Today I decided to get the longer Eastern section out of the way first so that if I began to wane I’d have only the shorter, more manageable Western section to close out the session.

MP run pace and HR

Things went pretty well with me maintaining pace adequately and the HR around where it should be. The pace was a bit off with the watch in a couple of places where there were sharp turns, like when I turned around at the 12th Lock – the peak at 11km in the graph and the much faster 12th km afterwards when both were done at the same intensity!

By the time I got back to Ashtown I was almost done so seeing as I was still feeling good I threw in an extra bonus split to bring it up to 16km @ 4:36/km av pace. Much improved performance on last time out.

Friday, 6th September, 2013 – 7.4km Recovery Run (5:20/km)

Just a very relaxed recovery run after yesterday. Left hammy still not gone away!

Saturday, 7th September, 2013 – 8.6km Recovery run (5:27/km)

I intended to join a couple of others in the PP for this as an LSR but ended up going in to town to watch the Ireland match on Friday evening so had to change plans for the LSR. So, I found myself going for a run at 5:30pm with the intention of doing the LSR. The wind was blowing a little more than I’d like and the freezing rain wasn’t adding any appeal. Unsurprisingly my mood changed over the first few kms and as the run felt more miserable by the kilometre I was becoming aware of a couple of twinges. I guess sub consciously I threw in the towel and decided to jog home for 8.6km in total.

Sunday, 8th September, 2013 – 32.0km LSR (5:22/km)

After yesterday’s aborted LSR attempt this run was hanging over my head for a long time. I eventually went out around the same time as yesterday (after the Hurling final finished – what an ending!) but this time drove to the PP. The weather was ideal today and I was happy that I’d truncated yesterdays run.

I took this handy the whole way, just wanted to ensure I got the required distance in the legs. A loop of the park was followed by a retrace of the MP run from Thursday. By the time I returned to the car but had 200m to rack up for my 32km total, so it was a case of just getting the few metres in before coming to a halt. The av pace was 5:22/km (+/- 5 secs). which was pretty consistent for most of the run. Next LSR will have to be a little bit faster though as that is still almost a minute slower than MP!

Only 5 weeks to go now!

Week 36 Summary:

RTW: 6 from 7 days

DTW: 91.6 km

DTY: 2,904.7 km

Chicago - 35 days (5 weeks, 0 days)

Steady as she goes...

Monday, 2nd Spetember, 2013 – Rest Day

Really bad night's sleep last night so I was tired all day. Then settled down to watch Mesut Ozil's transfer to Arsenal break through so decided to allow myself a rest day all things considered as it was only gonna be a short recovery run anyways!

Tuesday, 3rd Spetember, 2013 – 17.2km Easy with 2 x 5km @ LT (4:23/km)

2 x 5km @ LT

Felt fresh for this run which was important as it was a very warm evening and I had "2 x 20 mins @ LT" on the menu. After a first warm-up km I started into the real stuff and thankfully it went quite well. Once more armed with my HRM I maintained consistent effort all the way but in sections the pace seemed to fall off according to the Garmin. I felt it was kept steady though so was writing it off as the tree cover affecting the readings. The first LT segment was completed in 21:45 as I decided to round it up to 5km instead.

An easy 1km recovery and I was away again for the second segment which had similar, yet more pronounced issues with the pace. Once more I stretched it out to 5km which came in at 22:05 this time, 20secs slower than first segment. Regardless, happy overall with the perceived effort and it was definitely an important run. 

Only downside was that my left hamstring which had appeared to have resolved itself, again reared it's head towards the end of the faster stuff (I stopped at Military Hill about 800m after the end of the second LT segment to stretch the leg and that seemed to help for a short while) so will need to keep an eye on this again. :-( 

LT Pace

Wednesday, 4th Spetember, 2013 – 7.4km Recovery Run (5:18/km)
One of those evenings where it was pretty late before I had a chance to go out and was beginning to feel very lazy. Somehow managed to show a bit of resolve in the end though and get 7.4km in at an easy pace that got slightly faster as the run progressed, finishing in sub 5min/km pace. Hamstring was fairly dormant tonight but I'm sure it'll announce itself again during tomorrow evening's MP session.

Week 36 Summary (So far):

RTW: 2 from 3 days

DTW: 24.6 km

DTY: 2,837.7 km
Chicago - 38 days (5 weeks, 4 days)

August Summary

Thursday, 29th August, 2013 – 16.1km MLR with 11.4km @ MP (4:36/km)

MP kms

I called to the Phoenix Park for this run on the way home from work. Plan was 20km MLR with 15km @ MP. My first few steps were a repeat of last night's limp-run so I stopped and did a few gentle stretches. Once I got going again the pain eased off pretty quickly and I ran the first 1.5km at recovery pace. I had reached the canal at Ashtown by this time so I started in to my MP kms.

Immediately I was kicking myself for having chosen an East-West route as the breeze was in my face as I headed towards Blanchardstown. I kept the head down until I got to the 12th Lock gate and found it a bit easier on the return to Ashtown. However, after about 5km I started to feel the effort. I think I might have ran this a bit too close to the LT session on Tuesday. 

My form was getting progressively worse as I got closer to Phibsboro and by the time I got there my hamstrings were getting a bit tighter. So, I decided to pause and do a few stretches before turning around into the breeze again. When I got going I tried another km at MP but the pace was 4:44 - about 10 seconds down on target - so I eased back to recovery pace and decided to jog the canal back to Ashtown. 

As I returned to the car in the Park I unintentionally upped the pace to close to MP again as I must have found the lack of a headwind allowed me to go faster. Ended up with a bonus 1.4km at MP before I reached the car after 16.1km. I debated tacking on another 4km but with my new mindset I figured these would just be junk miles as they would be no quicker than recovery pace, so instead I went home.

Even though I failed to hit target distances for the session I'm still happy enough with what I did. I'll aim to throw in a few more MP kms towards the end of my LSR on Sat morning. I'm still progressing anyways and feel myself getting stronger week by week, so staying positive in that respect!

Friday, 30th August, 2013 –  11.9km Easy Run (4:56/km)

I managed to dodge a real downpour just as I was about to go out for this evening's run and luckily I managed to dodge it for the next hour. Easy run today and I was prepared for a bit of a struggle but as things turned out I felt good the whole way and was running at that enjoyably hard but not tough pace so was very happy with it by the time I returned home. Hamstring still niggling me but not enough to affect me too much. I'd rate it at 4/10 at the moment. If it gets to 6/10 I'll visit a physio.

Saturday, 31st August, 2013 –  31.8km LSR (5:27/km)
Big step up in distance required for today's LSR. Nothing really suitable in the organised runs in the park so I decided to run a route from home to the Coast Road and then run the seafront before returning via Raheny. It's one of those routes that doesn't seem like 32km but by the end of it today it certainly felt it!

Nice gentle breeze on my back as far as the Coast but then I was facing into it as I ran towards Clontarf with a bit of respite until I got to St. Anne's Park on the way home. Most of the final 11km back was into a wind that was getting stronger by the kilometre. Luckily I was on the last 300m when it really kicked up and started raining to boot. Even happier to be home at that stage! Tough run for the last bit but glad I got it done.

Sunday, 1st Spetember, 2013 –  10.1km Recovery Run (5:31/km)
Met up with Anto for a short run this evening. Kept it short and easy paced. 

August Summary
So, August is over and the last 3 weeks saw me return to normal mileage. In total 305km and 25 runs for the month (after a slow start!). Happy to have a 20 miler under my belt by this stage and a few LT & MP runs also. I still appear to be on track for the Athlone HM on the 14th Sept. but need to keep it consistent between now and then.

August summary

Week 35 Summary:

RTW: 6 from 7 days

DTW: 91.1 km

DTY: 2,813.1 km
Chicago - 42 days (6 weeks)