Turning the focus to LSRs

Thursday, 30th January 2014 – 17.3km with 7 x 1km Intervals (4:08/km)

Wrecked tired when I got home this evening so I went to bed for an hour. A little better when I woke up I then went off to Clontarf once more to do an interval session which consisted of 7 x 1km @ 10k pace. A gradual buildup during the warm-up and before I knew it I was finished my first km in 4:07. The second split however was 3:59 and considering 4:15 was my target pace I was both happy and a little disappointed at this pace.

The plan said 2 mins of a recovery in between but I opted to go for 350m which I roughly calculated as approximately 2 minutes. Eerily it worked out so close to 2 mins for each recover that I probably would have been no more accurate had I the time actually on display.

The third km passed in 4:07 again so I was a bit closer to my target now. I was slightly benefiting from the wind so was happy to be up a few seconds. The fourth was just before my turnaround point on the coastal path and the last bit had me into the breeze which slowed me down to 4:13. The remaining three splits were on the way home and were completed in 4:06, 4:12 and 4:12. Even though the final two were into a slight breeze (mainly a cross wind) I was plainly getting tired at the same time. Overall very happy with the session as I felt controlled throughout it all and at an average pace of 4:08/km I’m glad it was well inside target.

Friday, 31st January 2014 – 6.5km Distance (5:29/km)

I was kinda rushed for this run so just had enough time for a bare minimum 6.5km run. Kept things nice and easy as have the LSR tomorrow.

Saturday, 1st February 2014 – 33.0km LSR with 4.7km @ MTP (5:17/km)

Met up with a few others (Olwyn & Joe, Niall, Paul and Mike) for this group long run. We began near Dun Laoghaire before making our way through Dalkey, up Killiney Hill (with us passing Bono’s house) and out to Shakill. Here we turned inland for the mountains and all the way up to Kiltiernan where we stopped for a mini drinks break. Up til this point we had been dealing with uphill inclines and strong wind but thankfully most of this was over at this stage. We added on about 5km by doing a loop down through Stepaside and past Belarmine before returning back to the shop for a final refill.

The general plan for the remaining 10km home was to take it at MTP pace. I had already done 10.7km of MTP during last Tuesday’s run so wasn’t too bothered about how much I fitted in this afternoon but went with it from the start regardless. I kept it going for the easy, downhill and downwind 4.7km until we got back to Shankill and had to stop to make a decision regarding directions. At this stage I just trotted back to the finish with Mike who was taking things a bit slower. In hindsight it was a good idea to limit the fast stuff because I was beginning to get new blisters on my ankles from the shoes and also the thrashing my legs took on that section led to sore thighs for me over the next couple of days. All in all a great bit of training (the av pace of 5:17/km is worth so much more considering the relentless wind and the hilly nature of the route).

Sunday, 2nd February 2014 – Rest Day

After the LSR yesterday and with real life taking priority I decided to make the prudent decision to take a rest day. Knackered all day so had no choice really!

So, a week of 89km - a little short of my intended 100km but not enough to be too worried about. Will try and get North of 100km per week once more. Will probably have to start doing doubles for this. Been struggling with energy levels recently so will drop a session next week to try and rectify the situation.

Week 4 Summary:

RTW: 6 from 7 days

DTW: 88.9 km

DTY: 460.5km

Raheny 2 miler and 5 miler races

Monday, 20th January 2014 – 25.6km with (20+10) mins @ MTP (4:31/km)

Met up with Anto for this run again. He was interested in a bit of faster running and this was in my plan so we headed off together. Intended to do just relaxing 5:30 kms all the way to Clontarf but in general these came in around 5:15/km (or quicker) instead. Just before we began the faster stuff we met Jamie (Fellow 1:40 pacer from Clontarf HM in November) at a set of traffic lights. I thought the fast pace might suit him but he declined and we parted company again.

The first 20mins of MTP were from the wind monument to the main entrance to Bull Island. Pace for the first km was 4:35/km but Anto started to push it a little around here and the rest of the kms came in around 4:30/km. Towards the last km Anto began to find it tougher maintaining pace so I took over the lead from here til the end of our 20 mins. A very easy jog to recover before we gradually got back to easy pace. The recovery allowed us 7 mins but we simply took off when the 1km was up (more like 6:10 recovery).

The second fast section of 10mins was feeling easy-ish for the first 5 mins but I think the GPS may have been slightly in error/too quick. The last 5 mins were a bit tougher but still managed to see it out easily enough. Another recovery period and we were jogging back up the Tonlegee Road towards home. Still felt grand along here and after realising I had been responsible for Anto running twice as far as he’d planned I felt it my duty to jog back to Ballymun with him. Plus, this conveniently pushed me across the threshold of a long run, finishing with 25.6km.

Very happy with this as I got the long aspect as well as the MTP aspect out of the way in this run, after misfiring at the end of last week! Great to have the distance on the clock too with it only being Monday.

Tuesday, 21st January 2014 – Rest Day

Felt a bit tired this evening and after doing a few jobs around the house I decided to take my first Rest Day in about 23 days.

Wednesday, 22nd January 2014 – 7.7km with Raheny 2 miler Race (3:57/km)

Raheny Winter League resumed with a 2 miler this evening on a perfect night for running. Did the usual lap warm-up before toeing the line. The start ended up being about 10 minutes late which seems to be a trend this Winter.

Unfortunately about 50m into the race I realised I’d never reset my watch and so the race was just being lobbed onto the warm-up. As I tried to figure out should I reset it or not I found myself getting caught up with faster runner’s pace so that by 400m into the race I was running much too fast and decided to ease off. I ran the remainder of the km on the watch independent of its data and it was only when it reset itself for the new km split that I started to believe the information. By now there was one or two going past me including the lady winner from the previous race. I think next time I’ll have to try and start with her and ease myself into the race gently like she does.

As I came around for the halfway mark my time of 6:25 for the first mile was shouted out to me by a marshall so I knew I was on target for sub 13mins. I just had to keep it together for the second lap but that was easier said than done. I started to feel Sunday’s effort in the final 1km and as I turned for home with 400m to go a young lad shot past me like as if it was a 100m sprint! There was simply no stopping him so I kept it honest all the way to the finish line to record a 12:56 which I was happy with. Still 8 seconds outside my PB but I’d be pretty positive that will fall in a month’s time when the 2 miler is held again.

Ran into Jamie/Killerz after the race and did another lap cool down with him before heading home.

Thursday, 23rd January 2014 – 11.9km Distance (5:28/km)

Felt a little tired after last night but no niggles whatsoever so did the usual loop at a very relaxed pace. Couldn't help thinking that these type of runs are quickly becoming my least favourite simply because they are so boring. Shows how much I am enjoying all the sessions and races where there’s a bit to think about in each run.

Friday, 24th January 2014 – 24.0km LSR (5:22/km)

Stopped off into the Phoenix Park this afternoon for an LSR. With yet another race on Sunday coming up the plan was to do the lower end of the range at a very easy pace which is what I did! Weather turned a bit crappy towards the end but it was another boring run for much the same reasons as last night. I did spot Alan/AMK but it was only after I passed him that I thought I should have ran with him for a few miles to ease the boredom. Next time!

Saturday, 25th January 2014 – 7.4km Distance (5:28/km)

It was evening time before I got out for this run and it was a real ‘tick the box’ type run. Short and slow in advance of tomorrow. Nothing else to report.

Sunday, 26th January 2014 – 17.6km with Raheny 5 Miler Race (4:08/km)

This was my first time doing the Raheny 5 miler – a race I’d heard about for many years (Even as far back as the time before I ran!) so was happy to use it as a bit of a bookend for my shorter focussed training in December and January. As it turns out I really am enjoying the faster stuff so will probably do a few more races over the next few weeks.

Did 2km of a warm-up before the race and lined up where I thought I should be. Unfortunately there were still plenty to join the crowd and by the time I saw the Sub 35min marker about 20m further up the road it was too late to change position! So, I started the race back with those looking to break 42mins or thereabouts which was far from ideal.

I used this hindrance to keep me relatively slow for the first few kms but in reality I ended up veering around slow runners and parked cars so much I would have used just as much energy regardless! By the time we got out onto the Howth Road things had settled down somewhat and now we were facing into a stiff cold breeze. I tried to shelter where possible but it was an awkward direction and it never really benefited me.

Early days...

Soon though we were turning left and down Sybil Hill Rd. Immediately things felt so much better with no wind to consider. Kept effort consistent through here and around the 2.5 mile mark I ditched my gloves as I was beginning to get too hot. Just before 3 miles I got a shout out from Niall/Meno which was a nice boost and then we were down onto the Coast Road. I just noticed Kate/CM at this point, about 100m ahead and on the Coast Rd as opposed to me just dropping down the hill to it. I had passed Helen/HA (who’d come in about 5 seconds after me in Wednesday night’s run) a little while back but she was now passing me again with just over a mile to go.

Race splits - Split 7 included most of the hill.

We turned left onto Watermill Road and there it was - the hill! It’s nothing when out for a jog but when you are beginning to redline it’s the last thing in the World you need! Helen started pulling away from me going up this hill and I just dug in trying to do my best. Eventually the incline levelled off and there was half a mile remaining. When we took the left hand turn I noticed Kate a little ahead at this stage and over the course of the next 100m I managed to drift past her. I offered the quick line about being ‘almost there now’ but in those circumstances I don’t know if it lends one iota of help! Another few turns and at last we were in the finishing straight where I tried to nail a few more places but there wasn't a whole pile left in the legs. Eventually I crossed the line for a 33:49 time and pretty much on a par with last weekend’s 8k race in Tuam. Reasonably happy with this as it’s a 5 mile PB by a minute. No doubt there was a bit of lag in the legs from a week of lots of speed so hopefully there is a lot more to come off that time over the course of the year.

Finish line (in orange).

Afterwards I met up with the Dunnes, Niall, Kate, MK, POM, Helen and a bunch of others for a very sociable after race experience. A group of us ran the course in reverse for a warm down before grabbing a cup of tea and several chocolate bars! Then it was off home to lounge for the evening!!

Week 3 Summary:

RTW: 6 from 7 days

DTW: 94.2km

DTY: 371.6km

St. Anne's Parkrun

Thursday, 9th January 2014 – 7.4km Distance (5:45/km)

This was just a short distance run as the past couple of evenings were pretty intense so glad of the chance to take it easy tonight. It probably helped that the Garmin was very low on battery (stupid thing switched on while it was meant to be charging and then instead of charging properly it actually drained the battery instead!) and so I ran with it as simply a stopwatch. ‘Lapped’ splits at known points but never really bothered with the pace, hence nice and relaxed 5:45/km!

Friday, 10th January 2014 – 14.5km Distance (5:30/km)

Only got out in the evening for this and wasn’t particularly in the mood for it! After yesterdays shorter than recommended run I decided to add a couple of extra kms to todays run. Could feel a little more life in the legs but still kept it easy for tomorrows run…

Saturday, 11th January 2014 – 10.2km St. Anne’s Parkrun (4:04/km) with WU & CD

A long threatening comes at last and after wanting to get a Parkrun in for nearly every of the past 4 weekends I eventually managed to get down for the St. Anne’s run this morning. A short warm-up found me at the starting line area with 5 mins to spare. The run itself was probably about 5 mins late getting started though. I lined up about 25-30 people from the front and in no time we were away!

I settled into a 3:55/km pace as I wasn’t quite so fresh as Wed night. The first lap went smoothly and there was little passing happening. I may have been passed by a couple of people but then passed a couple of others to maintain position. Kept it strong for the 900m avenue run before starting into the second lap. At this point I discarded my cap as I was beginning to overheat by now. The second lap was quite similar with the pace now closer to 4:10/km so things were slowing a bit but I was passing a few people now who were obviously suffering with maintaining to keep the speed til the line. The run-in saw me pass a couple of more people but with about 20m remaining some guy came thundering through to pass about 10 of us – not sure where he came out of but you’d have to think he was taking it handy for the remainder of the race!

Ended up with 20:35 – a course PB – and 27th position out of almost 320 runners/walkers. I reckon I’m not far off a sub 20 performance by now if I ran relatively fresh. Finished things off by going for a recovery run around the park. Even though the plan had included a set of Intervals for the week I replaced it with this race and the 3 mile race on Wed night. I think that was enough 5k paced stuff for the week!

Sunday, 12th January 2014 – 30.8km LSR (5:13/km)

Today called for a LSR of between 31-35km with the final 6km @ MTP (4:36/km). However, after a late night last night I was skeptical about the fast 6km to say the least. The nature of my route meant the final 10km would be into the breeze and net uphill most of the way. This allied with me being tired before I ever set off meant I’d already pretty much scrapped the faster section in my head.

The first 10km were net downhill and into the breeze, so I was relatively pleased to manage to keep the average pace close to 5:00/km around here. The middle 10km came along the coast road and the breeze was now on my back and the route flat. Early in this section I maintained my sub 5min pace but about halfway along here my energy levels were clearly beginning to suffer and the average lap pace was dropping by a few seconds, yet nothing dramatic.

Finally I was heading for home but this helped me nothing! Once I hit the Kilbarrack Road the effort required became so much tougher! The final 10km was like a death march. When I got to Coolock at 25km I had to do the unthinkable and pause for about a minute. My HR was remaining low but my breathing had become very shallow so a few deep breaths and stretches got me back on track a little bit but I was really running off fumes by now! Eventually I made it back to home having covered almost 31km which I was very accepting of, all things considered!

Pretty sure it was mainly down to very poor nutrition throughout the day – I was intending to go ‘any minute now’ for several hours so never planned/managed to eat a sufficient meal. A good reminder to prepare properly for all future LSRs!

Week 1 Summary:

RTW: 7 from 7 days

DTW: 97.9km

DTY: 180.7km

Year 2...

OK, I think that's enough of the New Year's references!!

Wednesday, 1st January 2014 – 13.0km Distance run (5:25/km)

I awoke to a raw throat and sniffly head this morning and when I looked out the window it was a pretty rotten morning so I debated the merits of running the 5k race. There was no way I would PB today (most likely would be about 40 seconds off PB if I was feeling 100%) and the fact that I had not pre-entered the race (meaning I would have to fork out €25 for the misery!) all resulted in me going for a recovery style Distance run in the park instead.

I was still unsure if I’d enter the race or not even while doing the first couple of kms (I had the entry fee in my pocket just in case!) but running South along Chesterfield Avenue cleared my mind and the strong wind present once and for all made my decision for me. As it was I ran by the start area and had a look out for familiar faces but could see none just yet. So I continued on for a lap of the US Ambassador’s residence/Papal Cross fields. I took this pretty handy as I had been made aware that the 5:00/km Distance pace I’d been targetting on my first few runs was unnecessarily quick. Something got lost in translation and I’d zoned in on hitting a target pace. Instead the plan actually calls for a flexible pace, one that the body is capable of on the day with the main focus being on recovery from tough sessions. So then, pretty much a recovery run as per P&D? Well yes, but with the flexibility to go as fast or as slow as you feel like whereas P&D was a bit more prescriptive about staying pretty slow.

I had returned to the race start area with about 5 mins remaining to the start. Again I failed to spot many people apat from Kate with whom I briefly chatted. I waited fro the field to start their race before continuing on my way for a few more kms. Before long I was back towards the Finish area and managed to catch the lead guys finishing in a great 2 man battle. This is something I rarely get to see as I’m usually further back in the race field istelf so it was entertaining. Afterwards I met Philip and a few of his Celbridge AC teammates who I met in Rotterdam. Also chatted with Medbh briefly before I took off for the closing 2km of my run. When I arrived back at my car I had managed to rack up 13km but it felt like nothing due to all the distractions of the race. Great to get it out of the way so early. As for the race itself, I think I definitely made the correct decision even if the weather got significantly more placid for the runners while they were on course.

Thursday, 2nd January 2014 - 21.4km MLR run (4:58/km)

The plan called for a MLR between 16km - 21km. The worrying part though was the pace required (4:50/km) as it would mean a tough run in what were tough conditions out there this evening. My thinking at the beginning was to warm-up with a few km at 5:00/km and then ramp it up til I hit 4:50 average pace. The reality though was that after 2km I turned Eastwards into the seabreeze and rain and this would continue in my face for the next 8km or so. By then I was happy to allow the conditions to claim 10secs/km so I maintained the pace in around 5:00/km for the duration of the run. Things felt good until the final 5km where I began to feel somewhat tired and it felt like a little extra work was required. But then I guess this is the part that improves us as runners! I upped the pace over the final 2.5km enough to result in an overall average moving pace of 4:58/km which I was very happy with as I went 400m over the upper end of the distance range. So, a very useful MLR which leads me into my LSR this Sunday. With a tempo to come on Saturday I feel like Monday’s Rest Day will not be messed with!

Friday, 3rd January 2014 - 11.9km Distance (5:28/km)

Just an easy 11.9km loop this evening to keep things ticking over. Kept the pace nice and relaxed with a mind to the tough two days to follow.

Saturday, 4th January 2014 - 11.9km MTP with 9km @ 4:34/km

This week asks for a MP run the day before the LSR. I presume this is as an introduction of what is to come next week when we combine the MTP kms into the LSR - Not looking forward to that!! Anyways, I went for the usual 'figure of 8' loop so the Southerly wind and the hills were always set against each other. The first few kms went well but by halfway I was beginning to feel it. Thankfully though I managed to maintain it all the way to the end of 9km, which was actually a little more than the upper limit of 40mins, so that's a good sign!

After the run I lay on the couch smugly watching the Gunners knock the stuffing out of a very poor Spurs team...what a day!

Sunday, 5th January 2014 - 24.6km LSR run (5:07/km)

Met up with Colm from Boards for this run in the Phoenix Park. We started off towards the canal but as we were about to turn left towards Blanch we saw that section was closed off, presumably from the recent wild weather. Instead we turned right, towards Phibsborough before turning around at the Des Kelly shop. We retraced our route for the most part back to the cars where we paused for a drink of water and to ditch our jackets. The day had started off poor enough but we were now pretty warm even if there was still quite a breeze in places.

We went back out tothrow in a large lap of the park and before long we were back at the cars again. I was done with my 24.5km but Colm went out for another loop. With the MTP run yeterday I was quite tired throughout today's run so was glad of the company. If left to my own devices I would surely have gone a bit slower out of mental laziness! As it was it rounded off a big week of training with almost 109km for the week with quite a lot of quality thrown in there too. 

Week 52 Summary (so far):

RTW: 7 from 7 days

DTW: 108.7km

DTY: 82.8km

Clontarf Half Marathon - Winter edition!

Saturday, 23rd November, 2013 - Clontarf Half Marathon.

Today was to be my last long run before Lanzarote in two weeks time so I combined the Clontarf HM with some miles before and afterwards to meet this goal.

Warm-up:

I arrived to Clontarf around 9am and jogged to the reg tent where I picked up my number before returning to the car to pin on the number and properly prepare for my warm-up. From there I ran at an easy pace along the start of the course before turning back near the wooden bridge. By the time I had returned to the start I had completed 6km and there was 20mins to race start.

Race:

I met Jamie (pacing partner) and several other familiar faces as we sorted out the balloons. In no time we were in position awaiting the first wave to set sail. A gap of 90 seconds was allowed for the start of the second wave of which we were at the front. A large gang ran with us for the first 5km including Peter who was in Chicago with us. There was plenty of chat for the first few km but that slowly died off after the first beach segment when we had to put the head down and work as we ran into the wind rolling down from Raheny. Thankfully as we turned for Sutton it eased off again and the next few km were more comfortable running.

Jamie on the far left and myself in the black top.

By this stage the group had thinned out somewhat but there was still about 20 runners or so with us. The race director had laid on a 10km pacing mat which was a novel idea (designed so that if there was a particularly strong wind you could at least get a good 10km time - if it was a South Westerly!). I had been running at steady 4:40/km pace but the sand sapped a little time from that so I was keen to check if I was on for my 46:40 split. However, we went through in 47:08 instead and this showed us to be running at 4:43/km which was quite close to the bone. I therefore decided to push it a little bit more to gain a factor of safety as we would likely lose more time through the sand on the return.

We turned for home 600m later and were up by 15 seconds so it was now where we wanted to be. After the turn though a gap of about 50m appeared between myself and Jamie with most of the crew sticking with Jamie. I was a bit apprehensive about the time so I maintained my pace til the beach where as expected things slowed down a bit again. This time on the beach the wind was blowing straight into our faces and it was a bit off putting being so cold if not particularly strong. By half way along the beach Jamie and the gang had caught up again and around here I started flagging a little. 

As we turned right at the end of the beach we had about 200m of rough sand to cross and combined with the wind this was a tough section. Much of my reserve strength was sapped along here and when we got back onto the road again, with just 3.5km to go, I was having to tuck in behind Jamie for a bit of drafting. Unfortunately around this spot Jamie mentioned that he was getting a little worried about the pace dropping slightly and began to kick on. I was now in the awkward position of waning and yet most of the pacees stayed with me! I was seriously considering giving Jamie a shout to drop back the 5-10m again and bring the group with him. Bad memories of pacing the same time in the Phoenix Park in September came flooding back! I couldn't fail at this a second time!

As we got back onto the main seafront promenade the pacees filtered into the space between myself and Jamie and we were now directing matters as an aggressive 1:40 (Jamie) and a conservative 1:40 (me). This actually worked well and with everyone in between on target for the goal time. As we covered the final couple of kms we struck upon a few that were struggling mentally and when they saw us they managed to up their game by joining us all the way to the finish. The last km was pretty tough for me and by the time I crossed the line there was a decent gap to the next runner so I feel we brought everyone in under their time, so job done! 

After the line I had to take a few moments to get myself together again. This had been a tough run but I factored in a few things afterwards, specifically:

• 1:40 pacing off a 1:32:41 PB is too tight!
• The Stook 10 miler was still in my legs.
• The wind (and baloon resistance) sapped a little into my factor of safety.
• The 6km warm-up was denying the pacing job the respect it deserved.
• I didn't eat enough of a breakfast for the job in hand (one buttered scone and a cup of tea).

After another close call today I think I'll give the pacing gigs a miss for the next while until they are not forming part of a training cycle and I really am doing them at an easy pace and for the craic.

Recovery run:

Afterwards I enjoyed a bit of chat with Olwyn, Joe (x2), Jamie, Niall and Peter. Before too long I was getting cold(er) and we decided to head down to Howth to support the Filipino fundraising EOI marathon. The guys had a great spread laid on outside the OCI offices and with a great turnout they managed to raise approximately €1,700 which will all go towards the Red Cross relief effort. Nice when people come together like this.

Unfortunately though my business was not finished for the day. I still had to tack on a few miles to get the distance up. So I hopped in my car, returned home, changed my clothes and did some stretchng before heading out for a local 5km run. I still hadn't eaten more than a morsel of food so halfway through the 5km I was a broken man! I had run out of energy and was working on fumes. Eventually I made it home after 6km bringing the distance for the day to over 33km so not bad at all when 21km was at marathon pace. When I look at the HM data though it is clear that it was continuously rising over the final few kms and going by my new Daniels training regime it would suggest I was running at 10km effort for the last 20mins or more. I think this was where a lack of fuel was to blame and therefore not surprising I struggled so much on the 6km loop later.

Anyways, that's a good days work in the bank now so just try and keep ticking over for the next couple of weeks before my deserved xmas break!

Sunday, 24th November, 2013 - 7.4km Recovery Run (5:48/km)

Got out this evening for a gentle recovery run. Slow pace but probably about right considering yesterday. Felt pretty decent all things considered. Nice evening out there again.

Week 46 Summary:

RTW: 4 from 6 days

DTW: 60.0 km

DTY: 3,581.0 km

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)