Marathon-3 days

Monday, 2nd December, 2013 – Rest Day

I’d been sleeping really poorly both in terms of quantity & quality the past few nights so I was very tired this evening and decided if you can't take an evening off in taper a week before the big day then when can you?!

Tuesday, 3rd December, 2013 – 7.4km Recovery Run with 2km @ MP (5:10/km)

I found it difficult to motivate myself for this run as it was ‘only’ a recovery paced run but decided to throw in a couple of MP kms. This helped focus the mind and the ran passed by quickly enough in the end. The two MP kms were 4:40/km @ 140bpm and 4:31/km @149bpm so happy enough.

Wednesday, 4th December, 2013 – 7.4km Easy Run (4:41/km)

This evening I took my lead from JD’s plan for final week before a marathon. He suggests a 40-60min run at E pace. So, I started off at my E effort and hit 4:55 for the first km. I got a little indisciplined then though and sped up subconsciously to 4:50, 4:40 & 4:32 over the following kms until I realised I was going too fast. I hadn’t been looking at the watch but it’s comforting to know that I was getting faster without really noticing it a huge amount. Eased back for the next couple of kms before unintentionally going too fast over the last full km again. The final half km I threw in a few strides and this resulted in 4:04/km pace. I really hope I don't end up regretting this on Sunday but it felt like I was in great shape last night anyways!

Week 48 Summary (so far):

RTW: 2 from 3 days

DTW: 14.8 km

DTY: 3,660.4 km

10 days out LT test.

Monday, 25th November, 2013 - 7.4km Easy Run (5:03/km)

This was initially very relaxed and when I saw it hit 5:5x by the end of the first km it jumped me into action and up the effort. Second km was around 5:13/km and felt grand so I maintained it around the 5:00/km Easy pace for the rest of the run and ended up with about 4 sets of strides. I’m going to add this aspect into all easy and recovery runs in future to see if it helps with my running economy/form.

Tuesday, 26th November, 2013 – 11.9km Easy Run (5:16/km)

Met up with Anto and his mate Tom after work for this run. They were looking for an hour long run so that tied in with my 11.9km loop perfectly. Fairly handy run that went by pretty quickly due to the company. Anto seemed to speed things up towards the end but it was still grand.

All done and dusted in plenty of time to have dinner before settling down to watch the Gunners easily beat Marseille. Nice!

Wednesday, 27th November, 2013 - 7.4km Recovery Run (5:35/km)

I was seriously tempted to head to Raheny and do the inaugural race in their Winter Series – a 3 mile race of 3 x 1mile laps – but had originally planned a Tempo run on Thurs evening. So, rather than put the tempo run in jeopardy I decided to stay local and do a recovery run instead. Threw in about 7 strides at the end but kept them easy enough that I would still be fresh for tomorrow.

I used my blue Kayanos for this run and could feel little niggles throughout the gentle run so when I got home I checked the soles and sure enough they were well worn. So, straight to the ‘I may need them sometime, but not now’ pile with them. I am now left to my orange pair (with probably just 200km left on them) and a pair I got off Philip which have plenty of running left yet. Probably soon time to start looking again for a new pair when the sales start.

Thursday, 28th November, 2013 – 10.5km with 9.2km @ LT (4:20/km)
I was advised by Stephen yesterday to ignore the 3 mile race in Raheny in order to focus on this LT test. The objective was to hit 4:20/km for 40 mins. This would suggest that I was back in shape for a decent attempt next weekend. The important factor to monitor was the average HR to see if it went stratospheric like last Saturday. I was pretty confident that wouldn’t happen but I was still eager to see what the numbers were like.

I drove to the Coast Road so as to do the session along the bike/pedestrian lane which is perfect for this sort of run – dead flat, good surface, decent lighting and not too busy. I started with a 1km warm-up and before I knew it I was off doing the faster stuff. The first few kms were grand with my HR taking a little time to hit the mid 150’s which was the expected range. After 3.6km I reached the end of the path and had to turn around. I was a little faster than required to this point and the turnaround gave me a 4:13/km split which in part was due to the GPS getting confused as it always does when doing a 180 degree turn. There was now a decent breeze in my face but thankfully it wasn’t too strong. If anything it was useful to keep me at a nice cool temperature as it was an unseasonably mild evening.

Greyed section is the LT segment.

The next couple of kms were dropping closer to the late 4:2x’s, so I reckon the breeze was costing me about 5 seconds per km. Soon I was back in a bit of shelter and the pace upped again. Around this time I found myself getting lazy mentally so had to change it up a gear for the last 15mins. The final couple of kms were back again to the earlier splits and when it came to stopping the watch I was back on the goal pace of 4:20/km.

It was only when I got home that I checked the HR properly and I was very happy to see it average out at 154bpm with a max of 161bpm which was only hit for a very short period of time.

So, according to Jack Daniels I was right in at the correct pace with a HR on the very low end of the range…test passed with flying colours!

Week 47 Summary (so far):

RTW: 4 from 4 days

DTW: 37.2 km

DTY: 3,618.2 km

Gigs and easy running

Monday, 18th November, 2013 - Rest Day

My legs were suffering from a dose of DOMS after the flying mile in Stook so I took this evening off as I was also still tired from a Queens of the Stone Age gig in the O2 last night.

Tuesday, 19th November, 2013 - 7.4km Recovery Run (5:35/km)

In what is another hectic week I managed to throw in a short recovery run before once again heading off to another gig – this time it was Pixies in the Olympia. Excellent gig and the run wasn’t too bad either!

Wednesday, 20th November, 2013 - Rest Day

Weather was horrendously cold and windy tonight and even though I was otherwise busy this evening I probably could have squeezed in a quick 8km but the spirit was weak and decided against it. Feeling pretty conscious of all these rest days appearing unintentionally in my schedule and with only 2.5 weeks to Lanzarote it looks like my LSR this weekend will be the last improvement run before the big day. Will it be enough to give sub 3:20 a shot? Hmmm, I’ll have to wait and find out!

Thursday, 21st November, 2013 - 11.9km Easy/MP Run (4:49/km)

Very cold again tonight so rather than running cold for the duration I decided to run the first couple of kms at a fast pace to get the blood moving. After 3km @ 4:40/km I decided I needed to ease back with a pacing gig on Saturday so the rest of the run was more Easy pace than MP. Felt really refreshed for the first few kms which probably explains why I was going faster than intended.

Friday, 22nd November, 2013 - 7.4km Recovery Run (5:22/km)

I managed to get out early this evening for this run. Just an easy effort with the pacing job tomorrow in mind.

Week 46 Summary (so far):

RTW: 3 from 5 days

DTW: 26.7 km

DTY: 3,547.7 km

Getting back into the swing of things

Monday, 4th November, 2013 - 8.6km Recovery Run (5:30/km)

I ventured back out on the streets of the Northside for my first regular training run in almost four weeks. Back into training mode again with the new focus on the Lanzarote marathon on December 6th. I booked a holiday to the island before I knew this was on but once I realised well there was no way I could refuse the temptation really! So, 5 weeks til race day and I hope I don’t lose any of the current fitness and aim to step it up a little bit before a 2 week taper.

This being my first run back I decided to take it handy and so it was a gentle, recovery-paced run. I allowed myself the shorter loop of just 6.5km as well and thankfully all vital signs are good. A few slight niggles but I think that’s more from lying around for the past week than anything to do with running!

Tuesday, 5th November, 2013 - 11.9km MP Run (4:46/km)

Again I was intending to do nothing too fast but after my first km registered sub 5:00 I decided to push on as I was feeling good. Ended up settling into slightly less than MP pace, but my effort showed an elevated HR so I was happy enough with the output. Surprised to have hit a faster run so soon but gotta take advantage of these types of opportunities when they arise!

Wednesday, 6th November, 2013 - 7.4km Recovery Run (5:24/km)

Just another Recovery paced run this evening. The legs appreciated the relaxed effort and I kept it to the shorter 7.4km loop to ensure I maximised the recovery aspect.

Thursday, 7th November, 2013 - 7.4km Recovery Run (5:36/km)

Another recovery run as the legs were still a bit non-responsive after Tuesday. More a maintenance run with a long one to come tomorrow.

Friday, 8th November, 2013 - 31.0km LSR (5:41/km)

Seeing as I felt my lack of LSRs let me down a bit in Chicago I want to make sure I do 3 sufficiently long runs before Lanzarote (the plan is for the other two to be approx 35km with some MP thrown in). The MP miles earlier in the week though had left me reeling for longer than expected so I had no intentions of including any faster stuff in this LSR. I decided on an out & back route, with the turnaround to be approx 15-16km into the run.

The first quarter to the Clontarf seafront was relaxed yet when I got to the wind monument things got even easier again as the view over Dublin Bay made things go quicker. By the time I reached the halfway point in Sutton though things were feeling real again and when I turned around the cold breeze was in my face. This woke me up for a while but before long the legs started to sag a little.

By the time I was back at the monument I was really plodding along and for the final 7km it was a real struggle. Thankfully it never got to a case of where I considered walking but I was definitely happy to be finished this run. I could feel my calves being really tight and did a mini-stretch afterwards. However, when in the shower I was having to do a bit of a jig in order to relieve the calf soreness. First time I had this in a long time so I can only presume that its all the after effects of the past month combined with doing the MP run a little too soon.

Saturday, 9th November, 2013 - Rest Day.

My plan was to run the St. Anne’s Parkrun this morning but I was knackered so decided to have a lie-in instead. Even when getting out of bed I could feel the aches and stiffness so I gave up on the idea of running today.

Sunday, 10th November, 2013 - 8.1km Easy Run (5:11/km)

I went out for what had planned to be a 13km run to bring me over the 80km mark but after a while I knew I should really take it easy. I ran two slow kms before pushing on a little bit on the downhill past DCU. This didn’t feel too easy though so when the downhill finished at the Swords Road/Griffith Avenue junction I eased back to a plod to get home. Surprisingly though when I finished the run I noticed the pace wasn’t that bad overall.

Week 45 Summary:

RTW: 6 from 7 days

DTW: 74.4 km

DTY: 3,463.8 km

So, a decent week’s mileage on my return but if I’m honest I think I should have given myself a much easier week instead. Think I will try and be more focused in my running next week and take a couple of recovery days as rest days instead. The Stook 10 miler is on Sunday and I think I will run that at MP pace with a few kms beforehand and afterwards. So, the goal time will be 75mins.

Marine Corps Marathon, Washington DC

Wow, it's taking me bloody ages to catch back up to date on this blog! Anyways, here's another 10 days worth...

Friday, 18th October, 2013 – 8.0km SLC Recovery Run (45:57 – 5:36/km)

For most of the following week all thoughts of running were ignored. We did lots of touristy things as well as too much drinking and eating than what was good for us. In amongst all that we caught a Chicago Bulls v Detroit Pistons game at the United Centre, followed by rushing to see Bell X1 play in a local bar later the same night. But by Thursday it was time for myself and Stephen to depart Chi Town for Mormon town, or Salt Lake City as it’s properly called.

A quick visit to their Temple was not very enlightening on their belief system. In fairness the religion does seem to mean that there is little crime and the city feels anything but dangerous. On the flip side though all that clean living leads to a boring old town so we were happy enough to be out of there once Aidan arrived from Ireland.

On Saturday morning we met up with local residents Tim, Brian and Carmen and set off for Moab in the South of the State for some mountain biking. This was great craic but my limited MTB skills meant that some of the trails were simply too demanding and technical for me so I missed out on the lads trip down Porcupine Rim. Fortunately Stephen had a ‘Go Pro’ camera so he managed to catch the experience although I'm sure biking alongside 400m cliff drops was much more terrifying in reality! It did make me pine for my own MTB to be brought out of storage though!

Week 42 Summary:

RTW: 1 from 7 days

DTW: 8.0 km

DTY: 3,264.6 km

Monday, 21st October, 2013 – 15.8km SLC Easy Run (1:21:56 – 5:11/km)

Tuesday, 22nd October, 2013 – 8.0km Philly Recovery Run (45:32 – 5:26/km)

Thursday, 24th October, 2013 – 8.5km Philly Recovery Run (47:02 – 5:28/km)

Saturday, 26th October, 2013 – 7.3km Washington DC – National Mall (39:54 – 5:27/km)

Just a few easy runs to keep me fresh for the MCM/DCM double and again there’s not a lot to report about them. Lots of travel this week and also too much beer and food in the early part of the week so at least I eased back on the beer in the second half! This last run was around the National Mall in DC and things were feeling good!

Sunday, 27th October, 2013 – 43.0km Marine Corps Marathon (3:50:01 – 5:18/km)

Morning:

The alarm clock had me awake by 6am and even at that there was no time for dallying. A small breakfast of some pre-bought food and I was out the door. Fortunately, my hotel was only a 2 min walk from the metro station and then it was only 4 stops to race start. I had read that it was a good idea to purchase a day pass for $14 as the queues would be very busy post race. So, this I did as I would be getting three journeys on the train today so it almost made financial sense too. The journey itself took less than 20mins in total, and so by 7:15am I arrived at the Pentagon stop and casually made my way to the starting line. This was a 1 mile walk and it was pretty easy to skirt along the side of the crowd before reaching the 4hr pacers. While on my way to the start area I was on the lookout for portaloos but the queues were ginormous! However, just before I jumped into my corral area there was a row of toilets with zero people waiting on them - My lucky day! A quick visit and I was back to my starting position within 2 minutes. As we waited for the race to start I did notice the distinct lack of non-Americans. Perhaps the jingoistic nature of the Marine Corps turns foreigners off the event I guess. Personally I didn't really care as long as it wasn’t too ‘in my face’ and so far it wasn't (apart from the Expo with the multitude of stands dedicated to all forms of US Defence Forces, and God!).

Kms 0 - 10km:

Another US Marathon another dodgy PA system! The announcer was doing his best to get the participants going but the system failed to match his enthusiasm so in the end the only real way we knew the race was started was the fact that the slow shuffle forward had begun! There was approximately 6.5mins elapsed on the clock by the time I sauntered under it and we were away.

The first 4 miles on the course are pretty hilly with very little even ground. The good news though was that it all flattens out after that. So, my main aim was to hold a relaxed effort for this section and then get to grips with a 22 mile race when we arrived in Georgetown. This tactic was the only one available to me in reality as there was so much congestion that I wouldn't have been able to go any faster if I wanted! I also seemed to be accompanied by the most selfish runners in the World as many of them veered left and right (with headphones on!) without a care for their fellow runners who often had to brake suddenly to avoid tripping over them. This really got on my nerves so I was happy when pockets of space managed to appear about 30 mins into the race.

Surprisingly, by as early as 5.5km I needed another bathroom break. This was unexpected for me as I usually manage the whole race without a visit but here I was having to use the toilet twice in half an hour! To make matters even worse there were no portaloos around but after holding it in for a couple of kms we passed through a tree-laden section of the course and there was a bunch of other male runners using the natural facilities, and I thought I may as well avail of the opportunity too. So, after a loss of about 40 seconds I was back running the downhill again.

We passed over the bridge and into Georgetown briefly around km 8 and that was the worst of the hills behind us. Now it was just a wee jog to the finish! I decided to maintain the effort so what was a tough enough opening 5km was now transformed into a much improved pace for the next 5km thanks to the flatter profile.

0 – 5km: 30:08 (6:01/km)

5 – 10km: 27:02 (5:23/km)

Kms 10 - 20km:

There was an out and back section between 9km to 15km. This was along a river park type area and fairly pleasant but it got boring after a while. Also, the turnaround point was basically a point in the road so as we had about 10 people wide trying to take the 180 turn we inevitably slowed to a walk. Hardly ideal 12km into a marathon!

Once we were done with this section though we were back out amongst the crowds and were now heading along the North/East bank of the Potomac river. This was a very pleasant and flat part of the course and it was around here that I noticed myself speeding up, hence the 5:16/km for the fourth 5km split. Things were feeling pretty good now.

10 – 15km: 28:38 (5:43/km)

15 – 20km: 26:23 (5:16/km)

Kms 20 - 30km:

I got a little anxious that I was going too fast too soon so I reigned myself in a little bit over the next 5km as we passed through Halfway in 1:57:59 – Well up on my 4hr target and I felt I hadn’t even started running properly yet. Around this point also I passed the 4hr pacers. I didn’t bother to pause with them any longer than I needed to pass through their gaggle of runners and overtake the whole group.

Over the next 5km I got chatting to a guy also wearing the Chicago 2013 top. Turns out he was from Illinois and we chatted about Chi Town and the Marathon briefly. After about a mile he had enough and wanted to ease back to his own pace – I’m sure it had nothing to do with the sparkling conversation! This 5km split was the fastest of the day and my first sub 5min segment. I was still holding myself back for Dublin a fair bit though so I had faith in my quicker than planned pace.

We were now running around the National Mall with all the sites spread around us. It made for a really cool place to run and the time passed by in an instant so before we knew it we were facing into the final 12km stretch!

HM1: 1:57:59 (5:35/km)

20 – 25km: 26:52 (5:22/km)

25 – 30km: 24:54 (4:58/km)

Kms 30 – 42.2km:

The next few kms were somewhat boring as we passed over a very long bridge with a bit of an incline and little support. The bridge lasted the guts of a km and once back across into Virginia we had a loop of Crystal City’s boring streets to complete but at least the crowds were back out supporting in abundance once more.

Things were beginning to get tougher now though. The pace started drifting a bit slower so I was in consolidation mode now. Keep it steady til the final mile and let loose again. As we passed the Pentagon we ran by the 25 mile mark so sure enough I started to up the effort again. I figured I’d be close to 3:50 by now so made this my short term target  With about 600m to go I saw a guy 80m up ahead with an Irish flag on his back so made it my mission to catch him and say hello before we crossed the line. However, as I began to close the gap I suddenly spotted the guy slow to a walk! I couldn't just go straight past him so I gave him a shout that we were almost done - ”Less than 3mins and it'll all be over”. He got back running again as we chatted for 100m before he told me to go on ahead. Which I did! I was now at the bottom of the short incline to the finish, only 400m from the end. I gave it all I had going up the incline but there was several others who had slowed to a crawl and the course had just gone from motorway width to country lane width which led to congestion again! I did my best to dodge around a few people and in no time I was cresting the hill with just the 150m run-in to the line remaining. I kept the hammer down and as I was approaching the line I knew it was gonna be close but alas when I crossed the finish my time registered as 3:50:01! A tiny bit disappointed not to go sub 3:50 but all things considered I was very happy with the run. I negative splitted by 5:57 and managed to come home feeling relatively fine.

HM2: 1:52:02 (5:19/km)

30 – 35km: 26:54 (5:22/km)

35 – 42.2km: 39:10 (5:26/km)

Aftermath/reaction:

After the line I waited for the Irish guy and he crossed about 30 seconds later, well inside a sub 4hr run for him. He was very thankful for the help over the final km. After a short rest with the legs upside down against a fence I moved off for the Metro Station. I was in a little hurry now as I was moving slowly, however nothing can excuse me for forgetting to pick up my free after-race beer!

Once inside the metro station my wise decision to buy the day pass in advance this morning bore fruit as the place was mobbed! As it was it took me about 10mins to get through the turnstiles but if I had to buy a ticket at that time this would have been 30mins easily! Fortunately, my stop was now the next stop on the train and I was back at the hotel in time to shower and late-checkout (as agreed at check-in!) by 1:30pm. Straight back on the train to Ronald Reagan Airport this time. Thankfully this airport is only a stone’s throw away from the finish line of the MCM so I arrived in plenty of time for my 3:30pm connecting flight to Boston and so managed to at last get a quick bite to eat. Unfortunately the choices were limited so I had to settle for a ‘5 Guys’ fast food meal which included a delicious burger but an offensively over seasoned cajun chips which I couldn’t finish!

After a 70 minute flight to Logan International airport (I used to work there as a baggage handler back on my J1 in 1999) I had a layover just long enough to savour a pint of Boston’s finest - Sam Adams – in celebration of my morning’s achievements. There wasn't much time to spare afterwards before I was boarding the Dublin flight however. Once aboard I managed to nab an aisle seat by the wing so I had lots of legroom. This good luck was counter-balanced though by three children under the age of 2 years old within 2 metres of me. Such is the way though that I got no sleep on the flight with their incessant whining and by the time I reached Dublin I was pretty knackered. It was just about the last hour of the flight before they shut up properly but no sleep was forthcoming after that. We landed in Dublin airport at 5am and it was all about to start all over again!

Week 43 Summary:

RTW: 5 from 7 days

DTW: 82.6 km

DTY: 3,347.2 km

Taper boredom

I came across a few photos on Facebook of last weeks Parkrun (photos courtesy of Peter Veale/Flickr)

 

Monday, 30th September, 2013 – 11.9km Easy/MP run (4:49/km)

I was feeling remarkably fresh after yesterdays run so when I went out this evening the plan was to run at easy pace, 5:00/km +/- a few seconds. However, by the end of the first warm-up km I decided to push it on a little faster and before I knew it I was effortlessly running around 4:50/km. Very pleasantly surprised at this so maintained it for most of the remainder of the run. The legs were feeling fine and the HR averaged at 142bpm so that was very positive. Noticeably, the temperature out there felt perfect for me so no doubt that aided the relaxed HR. 

Nice to string two positive runs together after a bit of a crap few weeks. On that note, with September now completed, I ran 333.4km (207 miles) for the month. I also seem to have finally dealt with the niggly, floating injury. I was doing a bit of foam rolling on the hamstring last week when I decided to do a bit on my left calf also. It was only then I realised how tight and sore it was to roll it, something that I'd not noticed while running or walking. After a few evenings of just 5 mins work on the calves to loosen them up I seem to have become much more flexible all over! I suppose it goes to show a chain is only as strong as it's weakest link...

Tuesday, 1st October, 2013 – 7.4km Recovery run (5:21/km)
I still felt pretty fresh going out for this run so I'm beginning to get a little more optimistic about Chicago at last. The evening was nice and mild but the rain was still quite heavy through parts of the run. Nothing much more to report really apart from I got back in time to savour Arsenal's excellent win against Napoli. It's funny how £42million can be a steal, yet it's true! 
Mesut Ö-zil, Mesut Ö-zil,  olé, olé, olé!

Wednesday, 2nd October, 2013 – Rest Day
Tonight was crappy weather so decided to log this as a rest day!

Thursday, 3rd October, 2013 – Rest Day
Busy day with work and when I got home I was a bit jaded so took the guilty step of a second rest day in a row!

Friday, 4th October, 2013 – 11.9km Easy run with 10 x Strides (5:04/km)
This should probably really be described as Fartlek given I started with a recovery 2km, followed by an 'easy-to-MP' 3km before I threw in 10 sets of strides for the next few km. Finished off with 4km @ recovery pace.

Saturday, 5th October, 2013 – 18.6km MLR run with 9km @ MP (4:42/km)
I was planning on getting up for the second St. Anne's parkrun this morning but when i hit the snooze button for the fifth time in a row I gave in to the fact I was far too tired to get up so three hours later I actually got up properly! 

With my initial plans now up in smoke I decided to watch a bit of footie and then go for a MLR in the evening. The day was absolutely perfect for running and the first 5km of easy running was getting faster all the time (helped in no small part by the descending profile but really easy regardless. Once I turned on to the Royal Canal my plan was to up the pace to MP while away from road traffic. By the time I got to my turnaround point in Ashtown I had about 4.2km @ MP completed and the return was a little easier given the slight breeze was now on my back. I added a little extra on when I got back onto the Finglas Road to bring it up to 9km @ an average of 4:42/km. The effort was spot on though as my average HR ranged from 148-150bpm with it never going above 153bpm. The legs however felt a bit jaded and slightly niggly which was a little cause for concern. Hopefully the next week will leave them totally fresh.

Sunday, 6th October, 2013 – 7.4km Recovery run (5:26/km)
Just a nice short recovery run tonight on another beautiful evening. Could easily have gone bare-chested around the place it was that mild (plus in the dark my pasty white skin would be more reflective than any man made material!!). Initially contemplated doing a 12km instead but I soon realised I was in the middle of taper and that an extra 5km of slow running would do me no good now!

Week 40 Summary:

RTW: 5 from 7 days

DTW: 57.2 km

DTY: 3,182.8 km

Chicago - 6 days

So, with 1,977 miles it looks as if I'll pass through 2,000 miles for the year in or around the start of Chicago on Sunday. A PB would be a nice way of marking the occasion!

As an aside, my hopes for the end of October for 2 marathons (MCM + DCM) in 24 hours are up in smoke as I worked out this afternoon that our clocks change a week before USA's so therefore 25 hours will have passed between me starting off in DC and finishing (If I manage it!) DCM in 3h55m at 12:55pm. Oh well!

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)

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)

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)

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)