Tuesday, 23rd December 2014 – Rest day
Met up with Kieran for this over in St Anne's Park. Had to keep telling him to slow down initially but by half way he was beginning to see why and with two km to go he was pretty goosed! Enjoyable run for me though!
Christmas Day so myself and Damien went into the Castlebar Goal Mile which was started by our esteemed(??) Taoiseach himself! I went out a bit too fast and by 400m was beginning to turn a bit jelly-legged! Kept it going though and came in about 5th of 25-30 or so runners. The lap of Lough Lannagh turned out to be just over a mile in the end. Enjoyable tun. Added another lap as cool down.
Friday, 26th December 2014 – 8.7km Manulla 4 miler (28:14)
The annual Stephen's Day Race in my local Soccer Club, the Manulla 4 miler! I wasn't feeling particularly quick but was always still going to go for as fast as possible! Did a bit of a warm up before being called to the startline. Took it sensible from the beginning as you are straight into the hills making this a difficult race to pace. Passed several people over the course of the first miles and a half. Discarded the gloves at McEllin's shop. The wind on the Castlebar Road wasn't as bad as most years so things continued to tick nicely. The turn at the school with the hill meant I began to start redlining before plateauing out again back down to the crossroads. The next km was tough with more hills and then it was the long straight where I passed and got passed by a couple of people. Once over the final hill it was time to push to the finish so when I got in sight of the clock and it was just turning 28mins with about 50m to go I was happy enough. Crossed in 28:14 which was 16 secs inside my arbitrary goal of 28:30. Did a short cool down afterwards. Nice way to close out the year!
Saturday, 27th December 2014 – Rest day
Sunday, 28th December 2014 – Rest day
Week 51 Summary:
RTW: 3 from 7 days
DTW: 19.8km
DTY: 2,489.9km
RTW: 3 from 7 days
DTW: 19.8km
DTY: 2,489.9km
Monday, 29th December 2014 – Rest day
Tuesday, 30th December 2014 – Rest day
Up in Tyrone for a few days and managed to get to the much talked about Knockmany mountain for a hill run. Very nice amenity and one I'll be doing many times in the future! A couple of tough steep sections will be useful to get the legs strengthened.
Thursday, 1st January 2015 – Rest day
Friday, 2nd January 2015 – 6.5km Easy (5:21/km)
Easy run in Santry. Nothing much to note, apart from it being the first run of 2015!
Saturday, 3rd January 2015 – 5.8km Poppintree Parkrun (22:14)
Went to this with just the intention of taking it handy but once into the first half km I was back up to near racing pace. I got mentally weak in km 4 where I lost focus and thought about jogging it to the line but kept on it and ended up with a reasonable time all things considered. I definitely lost fitness over Christmas so at least now I was back into the swing of things!
Sunday, 4th January 2015 – 8.0km Recovery Run (5:50/km)
An easy recovery run to keep the legs turning over.
Week 52 Summary:
RTW: 4 from 7 days
DTW: 26.6km
DTY: 2,496.2km
RTW: 4 from 7 days
DTW: 26.6km
DTY: 2,496.2km
Monday, 5th January 2015 – 7.4km Tempo Run (5.9km @ 4:40/km)
Ran with Anto for this tempo run. Broke it in the middle to let Anto catch a breath as he'd not done any faster stuff for a while. Finished off with a fast mile at the end.
Tuesday, 6th January 2015 – 2.4km Recovery Run
Myself and Roisin jogged to Clonliffe Harriers training in Morton stadium with a view to joining them. Spoke to Eugene who gave us the lowdown. Went jogging home but R was feeling a bad stitch so walked it instead.
Wednesday, 7th January 2015 – Rest day
First session in Clonliffe (CH). It was to be a 12 x 400m @ 90 secs session but newbys and those racing at the weekend were only required to do 8. I was in both camps so after 7 laps I skipped the 8th as I was beginning to struggle so I thought the break might be useful. When I rejoined on the 9th lap it was almost tougher so I reckoned the 8 laps were enough for me and as to confirm Eugene advised the same when I finished the lap.
Great to be part of the session and it's looking very likely that I'll join up. Roisin was unable to make it this evening but is chomping at the bit for next Tuesday!
Great to be part of the session and it's looking very likely that I'll join up. Roisin was unable to make it this evening but is chomping at the bit for next Tuesday!
Friday, 9th January 2015 – Rest day
Saturday, 10th January 2015 – 5.0km Hartstown Parkrun (21:54)
Arranged to meet with Gary for this and after a short chat I tucked into 20th position into the first corner after 300m. I slowly upped the pace and started passing out others so that by the time I was halfway around I was in approx 6th from what I could make out. I caught and passed a couple more before the end but when I got my token after finishing in 21:54 I noticed I was 8th finisher! Surprised but not too bothered!
Sunday, 11th January 2015 – 7.4km Recovery Run (5:49/km)
An easy run once more. Think I'm certainly doing these recovery runs closer to the proper range than I was last year!
Week 1 Summary:
RTW: 5 from 7 days
DTW: 30.1km
DTY: 50.4km
RTW: 5 from 7 days
DTW: 30.1km
DTY: 50.4km
