Sharpening up

Monday, 25th March – 8.9km Easy Run (4:49/km)
Started off the week with a bit of a fartlek run, but this was too undisciplined to be even termed a proper fartlek!! A few MP kms and some slightly slower, faster-easy stuff! See, I can’t even properly describe the run so I think it’s best to simply say it was a good honest effort and move on!

A Cunning Plan...

Tuesday, 19th March – 11.8km Easy Run (5:15/km)

Went out this evening for an easy run to give the legs a chance to catch up. Pretty decent evening for running, although I did have 4 layers! Nothing much else to report, legs remained good but got a little tired from 8km til home. Nothing major though.

Mallow 10 miler

Monday, 18^th March – 16.2km Mallow 10 Miler (4:25/km)

After going against plan and enjoying my Paddy’s Day in the pubs of Killarney I still managed to wake early Monday morning in lots of time for getting to Mallow. Thankfully the legs were still good so it looked like recovery was top notch from both the marathon as well as the drinking!

Tralee International Marathon

Saturday, 16^th March – 42.5kmTralee International Marathon (4:55/km)

I got down to Kerry around 6pm on Fri evening and picked up my number in the mount Brandon hotel. After a brief chat with Eamonn (4:30 pacer) I was off to my digs for the weekend (Ailbe & Margaret) halfway between Tralee & Killarney. My hosts had a great dinner prepared and after a bit of TV I hit the sack a bit too late at around 12:30am.

Prelude to Tralee

Thursday, 14th March – 11.8km Recovery Run (5:29/km)
Went for my last run before Saturday’s marathon on a cool, dry evening. I was over-clothed though so the weather must be getting a bit warmer less cold! Took it nice and easy and whenever I noticed myself moving a bit too quickly I made sure to put on the brakes immediately.

5mins closer to Boston

Monday, 11th March – 8.5km Easy Run
A pretty horrible windy and bitterly cold day during work today so I was dreading going out tonight. However as part of my drive for quality within quantity I decided I’d do a quick 8.5km loop which would keep me out for minimal time yet also get the blood circulating with the effort required. This worked well and before I knew it I was home again without ever getting too cold. Thankfully the paths were dry and ice-free so the only thing that I had to contend with was a fierce Northerly wind that I managed to avoid for the most part.

Going longer, faster

Friday, 8^th March – 17.5km with 14km @ MP (4:39)

Called over to Clontarf this evening for a run along the prom to Sutton and back. I decided to throw in a significant amount of MP during this run as I wasn’t sure what tomorrow’s long group run would offer. Plus, I felt running a decent session tonight would make the miles tomorrow tougher and feel more like the end of a marathon which would offer good training.

Back to the grind

Monday, 4^th March – 14.5km Easy Run

The legs were a bit DOMSy for this one with the quads in particular being regretful of the faster stuff yesterday! Nothing too bad though and managed to get a good distance run in this evening.

Managed to get a hold of a few pics from the HM yesterday:

Bohermeen Half Marathon

Sunday, 3rd March – 21.1km HM Race with 2km w/u
Last night I was in Croker to watch a pretty good game as the Dubs (boo!) beat Mayo. During the course of the evening I was prepared to allow myself 2-3 drinks but as is the way on these occasions this eventually stretched out to 5 pints of Guinness. However, seeing that I was home by just a little after 10pm I was ok with my excesses as I was still 14 hours from race start.

More of the same

Thursday, 28th February – 11.8km Easy Run
I was home early from work which allowed me to get out a bit earlier for this run. I was surprisingly refreshed after last night's tough session and even managed to complete the run before darkness fully descended and with the onset of March this really felt like the dark Winter has been put behind us at last.