Better than expected LT session

Monday, 25th August, 2013 – Rest Day
I got home from work this evening but felt really tired after spending too long in the pub yesterday celebrating the win! Somehow managed to get through work but I was good for nothing by evening time. I'll try and regain an extra easy run later in the week.

Tuesday, 26th August, 2013 – 13.2km LT Run (8km @ 4:20/km)

I still felt tired after work but knew that I had to get a session done this evening regardless. The plan called for 2 x 15min LT segments in a 13km run. I used the first km to loosen out and didn't actually feel too bad once I got going. Started into the first LT segment and decided to do 3km rather than 15 mins. This went pretty well. I used the recovery period to cross a couple of junctions and after 0.86km I started the next LT segment. However, due to crappy footpaths, busy roads and undulating terrain I was too easily distracted and ended up doing a 4:08 km which was 12 secs too fast. I felt like I was putting too much effort into it also so decided to ease back at the end of that km, let the lactic acid wash away and restart on a quieter, more suitable road. Thankfully this worked and I threw another 3kms around Artane and Kilmore but parts of these were into a Northerly breeze and this slowed the av pace. Still though, I was happy that the effort was at the required level. Then, halfway home I decided to throw in one final km to round it off at 8km in total for a good end to a session I nearly backed out of. Definitely a positive run, although I did feel a tweak in my left glute which needs watching.

LT summary for the year.

Wednesday, 27th August, 2013 – 8.0km Recovery Run (5:19/km)

Another slow recovery run in store this evening but even as I took my first steps the tweaked glute was causing me to limp-run for the first 500m. Slowly it began too loosen out and by halfway things appeared much better. I ended up adding on a little extra towards the end as I finished feeling looser and the evening was perfect for a run. Hope the tweak doesn't return to affect tomorrows MLR with MP session...

In other news, I recently bought a new HRM from Garmin. It failed to pair with my 310xt though so when I emailed Garmin.com for advice they ended up sending me out another new HRM and said I could keep the first one. After some more issues with the new HRM I eventually managed to get it paired and it worked fine for this evening's run. Afterwards I checked out the original HRM and hey presto - it too works! Happy days!

Week 35 Summary (so far):

RTW: 2 from 3 days

DTW: 21.2km

DTY: 2,743.2km
New, functioning HRM monitors: 2
Chicago - 46 days (6wks, 4days)

Game 5 of 6...

Thursday, 22nd August, 2013 – 12.1km Mountain Run - Slieve Foye, Carlingford

Met Felim after work in Malahide and droveonwards to Carlingford for a go at Slieve foye - Co. Louth's highest peak. No huge reason we choase this apart from getting a peak that wasn't in the usual Wicklow Mountains. En route the weather was perfect but when we got to Dundalk we could see low cloud over our mountain. By the time we got to Carlingford 10 mins later the cloud was almost on the floor!

Regardless, we decided to forge onwards. Felim had an idea of the route and after a couple of wee misdirections by us we were on the trail heading up the mountain. A brief moment of clear views allowed us a glimpse of Carlingford Lough and some of the Mourne Mountains across the way.

As we got closer to the top the cloud had really gathered in so we had a quick double-check off the map and compass and 300m later we were at the peak. There were brief views of the countryside but mainly we were looking down on a blanket of cloud for miles around us. I'm pretty sure this would be a great viewpoint on a clear day so I'm sure I'll be back but this evening failed to deliver on the vistas!

Trig point atop Slieve Foye (Highest point in Co. Louth).
(Try not to think of "I'm a little teapot"!!)

We continued on after a while and after we noticed the dark evening was beginning to close in we dropped down along the gully from Eagle's Rock to the former forest. A dodgy fence crossing eventually got us out onto the trail proper and an easy 3km run back down to the village under the guidance of my head torch. All done it was 12km but a bit stop-start and really shouldn't have taken the almost 2hrs we racked up! Enjoyable evening out and the plan is Slieve Gullion in Armagh next up.

Friday, 23rd August, 2013 – 7.4km Recovery Run (5:40/km)

I was a little bit stiff after the trail run last night so just a slow recovery run this evening. Still looking to keep the recovery days very relaxed.

Saturday, 23rd August, 2013 – 26.5km LSR (5:07/km)

I met up with Philip in the Phoenix Park at 8:30am for this run. Plan was to get a decent run in before Philip called over to the start of the Frank Duffy 10 miler on Chesterfield Avenue. This portion of the run lasted 10 miles and was done at approx 5:00/km which was a good decent pace for me but a very easy pace for Philip!

After catching the start of the race I continued on my way for a few more miles. I stopped off for a few minutes to catch the race leaders pass through mile 8 and then ran to the finish line to catch the rest of the crowd coming home. All done it amounted to 26.5km. I was hoping to rattle a few more off to get to 30km but the rigor mortis had kicked in by the time I restarted so I just jogged it back to the car. Pretty confident about this weekends LSR though where I'll be aiming for 30-32km @ 5:00/km.

Sunday, 24th August, 2013 – 7.1km Recovery Run (5:23/km)

This was just a short run to get the legs moving as I had to be in Croker in time to watch the Mayo Minors beat Monaghan. The day was completed with the Seniors beating Tyrone so onwards to 'Game 6'! Big loss with Co'C dislocating his shoulder again but Freeman stood up to the mark in his absence. Over to you Dublin to set up the match everyone's been waiting for!

The Eircom 'Were you there?' app question answered!

Week 34 Summary:

RTW: 7 from 7 days

DTW: 91.0km

DTY: 2,722.0km
Chicago - 49 days (7wks, 0days)

Battling the breeze...

Monday, 19th August, 2013 – 8.8km LT Run (4:24/km)

I called over to Raheny to watch my footie team play a game this evening. Headed off at half time to go for a run along the seafront towards Howth. Today called for gentle running but after yesterdays easy/recovery run I felt I was feeling up to tomorrow's planned LT run. 

So, after only 400m of a warm-up I upped the pace to 4:20/km. I'm still living in a HRM-less world so I was working off pace and effort. This was feeling pretty decent for most of the way until I realised there was probably a good breeze on my back. And so it was proven when I turned around at the Sutton end of the seafront and straight into what was actually quite a strong breeze. I knew this was gonna mess up my average pace but that was OK as I was maintaining the effort. The return journey had a much higher average pace but once I got to my final km I reached a bit of shelter and the pace dropped to 4:14/km which proved that I had kept to a steady effort the whole way.

Very happy with this run as I felt good for all 8km @ LT effort. If I can get to a level of 12km @ LT before the Athlone HM then I'll be relatively pleased. Got back to the match in time for the last 10 mins of the game, just after our keeper got his 2nd yellow. Game ended up 3-3 and 10 v 9 players!

Tuesday, 20th August, 2013 – 11.9km Recovery Run (5:25/km)

Still a little tired after the LT session last night so lucky that the schedule called for a no brainer recovery run. I had contemplated just doing a 7km version but figured I'd get the extra 5km as per plan. However, I think these 11.9km recovery runs are in junk mile territory. I don't think they benefited me much/at all for the first half of the year. In fact the extra 5km probably only leaves me a bit tired again for the next session thereby undoing all the good work! So, I think in future I'll keep recover runs to no longer than my 7.4km loop and keep the recovery days very easy. For my easy runs I will still run the 11.9km loops though as they are proper training rather than recovery sessions.

Wednesday, 21st August, 2013 – 17.2km MLR Run with 9km @ MP (MP Pace: 4:34/km)

I was off work today so for this run I went to Clontarf seafront. I was a bit wary of the strong breeze at the beginning, combined with the fact I still felt a bit stiff from Monday evening. After a 1km warm up I started into the MP kms. I tried to maintain it between 4:30-4:35 and was pretty successful all the way to the Sutton end of the seafront. However, as expected (and like Monday night, only worse!) the wind was very stiff when I changed direction. I finished out the km I was on before easing back to recovery pace. I tried another km @ MP later but that was at a higher intensity and only 4:46/km pace so I just jogged back to the car, which in itself was crappy enough! The weather was very warm too with the car thermo reading 22deg before and after the run and my sweaty t-shirt verified this!

All said though I was reasonably happy with the 9km I managed to get in. Building blocks and all that! Plus, I managed to get in for pacing the Dublin HM for 1:40 on September 23rd. I was gonna be running it at MP anyways (Late 1:30's) so getting the 1:40 pacer job is pretty much perfect for me.

Week 34 Summary (So far):

RTW: 3 from 3 days

DTW: 37.9km

DTY: 2,668.9km
Chicago - 53 days (7wks, 4days)

Only 8 weeks to go!

Thursday, 15th August, 2013 – Rest Day.

A recovery run was on the plan for this evening but I had some household shopping to do first, so by the time I was home and ready to go it was 10 mins into a 60 min tropical downpour! On the way back from the shops I had noticed a few runners battling the elements but they looked thoroughly miserable so when it hadn't gotten any better by 8:30pm I decided to call it quits on the run for this evening. By way of a compromise I decided I'd double up tomorrow and then settled into a guilt free evening in front of the TV!

Friday, 16th August, 2013 – AM: 12.8km Easy Run with 2 x 3km @ LT (4:17/km)

I bizarrely woke at 5:30am and as I was about to turn over for the rest of my sleep I asked myself why not get up now and do the session for the day as opposed to the recovery run later? So, after messing around on the web for half an hour til I was fully awake(!) I got myself outta bed and went for this run. Started with a gentle first km before starting into my first 3km @ LT segment. This went ok and I took a 1km recovery break before starting into my second 3km @ LT segment which initially felt a lot more difficult. Eventually I settled into this pace too and before I knew it the faster stuff was finished so I returned the 4km home at a recovery pace. Happy this is over now but I'll still go out for a 7km recovery run later in the afternoon.

PM: 8.5km Recovery Run (5:29/km)

After getting up so early I was pretty tired by the time this came round so I just decided to take it nice and handy. First km was a little stiff and tight but loosened out after that and nothing much else to report.

Saturday, 17th August, 2013 – 21.6km LSR Run (5:36/km)

I'd a loose arrangement to meet a gang of boardsies in the Park this morning but I ended up being late and when I arrived at 9:10am they were gone from the Papal Cross and nowhere to be found. I started out on a route that I thought had a good chance of catching them but no use. After a loop of the South-West quadrant I returned to my car to drop off my jacket. Another loop and I thought I spotted them but when I got closer it was a different group. Eventually, my head was wrecked from various things, my legs were getting tired and I was mentally weak so I decided to return to the car park with only 10 miles on the clock. However, with just 400m to go I 'ran' into Matt, Peter and Joe so I turned around and ran with them for a mile or two. The change was immediate. Suddenly with others to chat to I was running far more easily. Unfortunately the guys were on their way back to their cars/home so I was solo again. This time though I had an extra 5km in the bag before I got to the car in the end. A nice compromise all things considered. At last a decent week of mileage and one more day to go so at last I feel like I'm back in the swing of things, albeit still behind schedule!

Sunday, 18th August, 2013 – 10.0km Easy Run (5:05/km)

Today was to be a recovery day according to my plan but after yesterday's truncated LSR I felt a recovery run wasn't really justified so I went with an easy pace for most of it. The route was out and back along the Clontarf seafront and for the return leg there was a bit of a headwind so when I got to 2km from the car I eased back to recovery pace so as to leave myself fresh for a crack at another LT session tomorrow.

Week 33 Summary:

RTW: 7 from 7 days

DTW: 84.4km

DTY: 2,631.0km
Chicago - 56 days (8wks, 0days)

Damn you reality!

Monday, 12th August, 2013 – 7.4km Recovery Run (5:22/km)

Knackered from the cycle I just wanted to get out and get the legs moving. As it turned out after the first km they improved better than expected. Still quite a trudge but could feel them getting fresher by the time I was done.

Tuesday, 13th August, 2013 – 11.5km Easy Run (4:55/km)

After a slow first kilometre the remainder of the run was in the 4:50-5:00 range. Probably not quite as comfortable as I'd like but put in a little extra effort to ensure the pace stayed consistent.

Wednesday, 14th August, 2013 – 12.6km Easy Run with 7km @ MP (4:34/km)

I wasn't really up for this tonight from the first steps of this run. Everything seemed off probably as a result of going a little too fast last night for my easy run, the high humidity this evening and having a sandwich only 30 mins before the run. No doubt there was still some tiredness from the mammoth cycle too. 

Plan was 5km easy before 9km @ MP and 4km easy to finish things off. I managed the 5km easy but wasn't too hopeful starting into the MP kms. Somehow managed to get the first km in 4:28/km. Kept it going for 7km but the average pace was slipping so I decided to be sensible and finish it there. Jogged back to the car from there and when I changed my top at the car I realised just how humid it was as the t-shirt was saturated. I know these runs will come easier to me soon but just have to continue to eke it out yet...

Week 33 Summary (so far):

RTW: 3 from 3 days

DTW: 31.5km

DTY: 2,578.1km
Chicago - 60 days (8wks, 4days)

Coast 2 Coast Cycle

Friday, 9th August, 2013 – 11.9km Easy Run (4:55/km)

Caught in two minds during this run. I wanted to go a bit faster to test out the legs but was wary of the long cycle coming up tomorrow so in the end I settled on just under 5:00/km pace. 

Saturday, 10th August, 2013 – 221.6km Coast to Coast cycle (Clontarf to Strandhill)

As I’ve mentioned previously, two mates and myself had arranged to cycle across the country as a challenge to ourselves today. It seemed like a good idea in the pub at the time and the island of Ireland doesn’t appear too large really on a smartphone screen! My previous longest cycle was 80km about 4 weeks ago so for this cycle I was going to have to go almost 3 times as far – a similar proposition to the 24hr race in Belfast.

The day started off with myself, Niall and Billy meeting up in Clontarf at 8am. A few photos and we were away. We basically followed the N4 all the way to Sligo as it seems the flattest route. Traffic was bearable until we rejoined the dual carriageway between Kinnegad and Mullingar where there were lots of cars whizzing by. Thankfully there was a really decent hard shoulder for most of the journey too so we were allowed degree of space from the vehicles.

We stopped off in Mullingar for lunch and Carrick on Shannon for dinner. Then, mixed in between these were brief stop-offs in Maynooth, Enfield, Kinnegad, Longford and Castlebaldwin, all taking between 6 and 15mins with Longford taking almost half an hour to avoid a rain shower. The meal breaks took about 80mins in total, so we were by no means racing this! However, when departing from Carrick we did a little calculation which meant we would have to cycle non-stop to Strandhill in order to avoid darkness falling on us. Thankfully, even though we pulled in to Castlebaldwin for a few minutes we were down at the seafront in Strandhill just as it was getting dark – Job done.

It ended up being pretty tough by the end and my knees were in quite a jock. After a quick shower and change we ended up in the pub across the road for some tasty pints to reminisce about the day. We were all totally knackered but that didn’t stop us from waiting too long in the bar! Up at 9am then for another 8km cycle to Sligo train station before jumping on the train back to Dublin. Great to have it done but I reckon much more training would be required I I ever do anything like that again!

Sunday, 11th August, 2013 – Rest Day

I wasn’t in any kind of state to go for a run today as the body was on a ‘go-slow’ all day! 

Week 32 Summary:

RTW: 4 from 7 days

DTW: 35.2km

DTY: 2546.6km
Chicago - 63 days (9wks, 0days)

Optimism returns

Monday, 5th August - Rest Day.
This was a day for a hangover if ever there was. God knows what I'll do if we win the bloody thing!!

Tuesday, 6th August - 11.0km with 8.0km @ MP (4:40/km).
Decided I'd run the first 1km warm up and then decide how this was going to go from there. Thankfully the legs were feeling good and so I decided to push for a few MP kms. I did 6.5km of MP last week so I was happy to push it out to 8km this evening. Things are beginning to get easier now for sure so the optimism is returning!

Wednesday, 7th August - 7.3km Easy Run (4:51/km).
Another easy run remarkably similar to last Saturday. Probably put in a bit too much effort for the second half of the run but I was feeling good and it felt natural to push a bit extra (I was maintaining pace while going uphill).

Thursday, 8th August - 5.0km Recovery Run (5:34/km).
Have a race night in Leopardstown this evening with work crew so had to get up early and get this recovery run in before work. Took it nice and handy after a couple of faster days and back in the apartment before I knew it!

Feeling kinda guilty now about the low mileage appearing but as long as the quality is there then I won't get too bothered about the quantity yet! I have been thinking recently that perhaps I was tagging on a few too many slow kms at the end of recovery runs rather than hitting enough sub 5min easy runs and faster...

Week 32 Summary (So far): 

RTW: 3 from 4 days

DTW: 23.3km

DTY: 2534.8km
Chicago - 66 days (9wks, 3days)

What a performance...but nothing to do with running!

Friday, 2nd August - Rest Day.

Feeling a little tired today and just as lazy so decided to take a rest day.

Saturday, 3rd August - 7.3km Easy Run (4:51/km).
My old soccer team were short on players today so I helped them out by playing about 70mins at left back. First game in a year. I am probably the best part of 10lbs lighter than my last game so it took a while before I managed to stand my ground in tackles. I wasn't too quick on the turn (never was!) but as the others were fading in the second half I was still grand. A mixture of my fitness and the fact I was playing LB I suppose.

A few hours later I felt a bit guilty about not running yesterday or today so I ventured out for an easy run. Felt surprisingly good so kept the average pace around the 4:50/km rate. I can feel myself getting the life back in my legs at last!

Sunday, 4th August - Rest Day.
I'd planned to go for a recovery run this morning but just before I left the apartment I got a call from a friend who was in Town for only a few hours so had to call off the run. Would have gone later instead had it not been for the Mayo v Donegal match and in fairness there was no way I couldn't go out and party after that Mayo show!! Nothing won yet but I'd more than settle for two more performances like that!

So I appear to be getting back to some sort of decent training at last. Hopefully I still have enough time left to get a good run in Chicago in what is now less than 10 weeks time!

Week 31 Summary: 

RTW: 6 from 7 days

DTW: 48.8km

DTY: 2511.5km
Chicago - 67 days (9wks, 4days)

Gently does it...

Monday, 29th July - 7.3km Recovery Run.

Start of the week and back into the rhythm for the training. As with every good training plan I eased myself gently into things with a recovery run. Still stiff after the race.

Tuesday, 30th July - 10.0km Easy Run (4:59/km).

I was in the Phoenix Park for this and initially the idea was to run a few kms at HM pace. However when I started into it my pace seemed to be a struggle and the HRM was all over the place so after a couple of kms I eased back. Another thing that was bothering me was my quads were a bit sore still from Saturday's race. Gave them a good stretching during and after the run and seemed to do some good.

Wednesday, 31st July - 6.4km Recovery Run (5:34/km) & 11.3km Easy Run with 6.5km @ MP.

I had a late morning with work so managed to squeeze in a recovery run beforehand. Quite stiff at the start but eased out a bit by the finish.
Then after work went for a second run of the day. Felling quite a bit fresher now so after the first km I threw in a few at MP to see how it feels. Managed 6.5km but was getting tired after that so eased back to easy running. This performance though has made me decide to knock the HM on Moonday on the head as I'd never get anywhere near a good time. Managed to pass my number onto a work colleague instead and so I can now put in fewer miles at LT/HM/MP pace over the weekend depending on how I feel. Hopefully I'll be feeling back to normal next week!

Thursday, 1st August - 6.4km Recovery Run (5:29/km).

Another gentle recovery run. Not really feeling up to much else.

So, July is over and the main highlight was the 24hr race in Belfast. I knew I'd be tired after it (obviously!) but probably underestimated how much. Hopefully with the beginning of a new month and the focus on Chicago I can manage to kick on now, two weeks after the 100 miler.

Week 31 Summary (so far): 

RTW: 5 from 4 days

DTW: 41.5km

DTY: 2504.2km

Recovery and Balla 10k race

Monday, 22nd July - Friday, 26th July - Rest days.

The 24hr race took a lot more out of me than I had predicted and for the first few days of the week I was pretty stiff. I was also hugely fatigued, not only from running 100 miles but also from the 40hrs without sleep. Of course what I should have done was to get to bed early those first few evenings but what I actually did was stay up to my regular late time of midnight or later! As a result I was playing catchup all week and it was no real surprise that I failed to get out for a run. I did manage to join my work colleagues for the weekly game of 5 a side on Wednesday evening where I was grand for the first half hour but faded badly towards the end.

Saturday, 27th July, 2013 – 12.1km Balla 10kRace

I travelled down home on Saturday with the main goal of running the Balla 10k race. I really hadn’t a clue how I was going to perform as it was the first bit of running since Belfast. An easy 1km warm-up beforehand and a short wait before the race began. I just ran by feel and the first couple of kms were grand (4:09/4:16). There was a bit of a hill in the second km and I made sure not to push it too much. The next 2 km had a couple of tougher hills (4:21/4:24) and by now I was beginning to feel the effort in the legs. Also, a slight niggle was developing behind my left knee. 

By the halfway point my pace was dropping (4:27) so I just kept plugging away with the idea of possibly nabbing a sub 44 but definitely a sub 45. The niggle was getting more pronounced now though so I had to slightly adjust my stride to ease the pain. The next couple of kms also contained hills so 4:35/4:37 was fair enough. There was now 3km to go with it slightly downhill overall. I managed to finish off with 4:27/4:22 & 4:16 before 100m of 3:40/km to the finish line. Final result was 44:16 which was a course record for me by about 2.5 mins. The race was won in a record time by Freddie Kearon Sittuk who I got chatting to later on that night over a few pints in the local. Really nice guy and he'll be going all out in Athlone in September so the best of luck to him there!

Myself, Freddie and Damien.

Sunday, 28th July - Rest day.

Took a rest day due to the impact of the race yesterday.

Week 30 Summary: 

RTW: 1 from 7 days

DTW: 12.1km

DTY: 2462.7km