Tuam 8k Race...and the PBs continue to tumble!

Friday, 17th January 2014 – 12.6km Distance (5:38/km)

Today was intended to be my LSR but after doing a few jobs around the apartment it was 4pm before I managed to start my run in the PP. I ran til it got dark and that allowed me half my distance so when I drove home my intention was to do another 12km loop to bring up the total to about 24km. However, once I got out of the car at home I just made up my mind that I was done for the evening (Even fitting in the remaining 12km would have left me tight with time for something else that evening) so I called it quits at that.

Probably a wise decision anyways as I was trudging a fair bit in the PP and the legs were still heavy from last night’s MLR. Not sure would there have been a huge benefit in persisting with the extra distance as it would no doubt slow me down for the 8k race on Sunday.

Saturday, 18th January 2014 – 9.9km Distance (5:18/km)

I drove home to the West this morning and when I arrived I rushed out for a relaxed 10k. Lovely evening for a run with barely a hint of wind and dry all the way around. The final 2km presented a glowing orange sunset encapsulating Croagh Patrick’s summit in the distance. There was also a strong dew falling in the fields which all made for a very pleasant end to the run. Much better than eyeballing scobes on Dublin’s Northside!!

Sunday, 19th January 2014 – 8.1km Tuam 8k Race – 33:30 (4:09/km) with 3.8km W/U (5:09/km) and 7.0km C/D (5:21/km)

Today’s race was like a mini test for the Raheny 5 miler next Sunday, which will mark the end of my 6 week focus on trying to get quicker at shorter stuff. The plan was to get familiar with the feel of 8km pace today and then fine tune that next week. I ran this race 2 years ago and although I took it handy for the first 2km I ended up just shy of 36 minutes so I knew all going well I should be much quicker today. My 8k PB is from my local village race (Belcarra 8k – 34:00) and so the aim today was to beat that at least.

I met Philip and his wife Edel beforehand and we went on a bit of a warm-up. 3.8km in total (That felt like nothing!) with a few strides thrown in for good measure. We were chatting about how conditions were near perfect for a fast time and that we really would have no excuses if PBs failed to fall today! A few minutes later we were lining up for the start and after a delay of about 5 mins we were set away.

I had ended up about 3 rows back from the front so I was across the line in no time. However, for the first km there was a steady stream of people passing me which I found a little strange. I guess I was further to the front than I should have been but at least it had thinned out pretty quickly so I wasn't a hindrance to anyone. Things settled down after the first km though and my efforts at holding back weren't working that well when I went through the first km in 3:43! The course is a pretty flat route with just a few drags none of which are too severe. Probably the toughest sections are going over the railway bridge in the 2nd km and then again with 800m to go.

By midway I was well settled in to the race and maintaining the effort around 4:10/km. I had passed a guy after 3km who was wearing tracksuit bottoms an old pair of dodgy runners and a COAT! Not a simple running jacket but an actual thick, heavy coat!! He was moving pretty steadily so I can just imagine he’d be a pretty decent runner if he just managed to sort out his race day attire!!

Shortly after this I caught up to a guy who I intended passing immediately but once he noticed me he seemed to up the effort and stuck with me for the next 1,500m. I ended up falling into is pace because anytime I tried pushing a little to move away he matched my effort. This was getting annoying as it became clear we were racing for god knows what position with 3km to go! Eventually I put in a sustained spurt of effort and made a little distance on him. Thankfully that broke the link and I was free once more.

Photo courtesy of Tri Lakes Triathlon Club

The final 3km are a straight road back into town and just before I took the turn onto that road I ditched my gloves at a house. As expected I felt a little fresher immediately but unfortunately that only lasted a few hundred metres. My effort and pace was remaining steady so I was reasonably pleased so far. I got passed by another GCH guy over the closing 2km but eventually we passed over the final railway bridge and tried legging it for the 800m run-in to the finish. This section is slightly uphill – just enough to make you work – so the pace failed to pick up too quickly and with the final bridge actually shows up as my slowest km of the day. The reality was the effort was there though. At last I turned the corner and saw the clock ticking away towards 33:30 so a last dash effort got me there with bang on 33:30 on my watch, making for a 30 second PB and 2:23 course best for me.

Afterwards, pleased with my time and performance I went for a warm-down jog back out to collect my gloves. Unfortunately though the rain came while I was at the turnaround point so for the second half of my 7km cool-down I got saturated wet. Still though, almost 19km for the day and I still felt relatively fresh after it all so, as I have been thinking all along, this training programme seems to be really working for me. Pity I'm still unsure of what marathon to actually strike for in order to get the pay-off!

Week 2 Summary:

RTW: 7 from 7 days

DTW: 96.7km

DTY: 277.4km

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)

Steady as she goes...

Monday, 2nd Spetember, 2013 – Rest Day

Really bad night's sleep last night so I was tired all day. Then settled down to watch Mesut Ozil's transfer to Arsenal break through so decided to allow myself a rest day all things considered as it was only gonna be a short recovery run anyways!

Tuesday, 3rd Spetember, 2013 – 17.2km Easy with 2 x 5km @ LT (4:23/km)

2 x 5km @ LT

Felt fresh for this run which was important as it was a very warm evening and I had "2 x 20 mins @ LT" on the menu. After a first warm-up km I started into the real stuff and thankfully it went quite well. Once more armed with my HRM I maintained consistent effort all the way but in sections the pace seemed to fall off according to the Garmin. I felt it was kept steady though so was writing it off as the tree cover affecting the readings. The first LT segment was completed in 21:45 as I decided to round it up to 5km instead.

An easy 1km recovery and I was away again for the second segment which had similar, yet more pronounced issues with the pace. Once more I stretched it out to 5km which came in at 22:05 this time, 20secs slower than first segment. Regardless, happy overall with the perceived effort and it was definitely an important run. 

Only downside was that my left hamstring which had appeared to have resolved itself, again reared it's head towards the end of the faster stuff (I stopped at Military Hill about 800m after the end of the second LT segment to stretch the leg and that seemed to help for a short while) so will need to keep an eye on this again. :-( 

LT Pace

Wednesday, 4th Spetember, 2013 – 7.4km Recovery Run (5:18/km)
One of those evenings where it was pretty late before I had a chance to go out and was beginning to feel very lazy. Somehow managed to show a bit of resolve in the end though and get 7.4km in at an easy pace that got slightly faster as the run progressed, finishing in sub 5min/km pace. Hamstring was fairly dormant tonight but I'm sure it'll announce itself again during tomorrow evening's MP session.

Week 36 Summary (So far):

RTW: 2 from 3 days

DTW: 24.6 km

DTY: 2,837.7 km
Chicago - 38 days (5 weeks, 4 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)

Gently does it...

Monday, 29th July - 7.3km Recovery Run.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Week 31 Summary (so far): 

RTW: 5 from 4 days

DTW: 41.5km

DTY: 2504.2km

Keeping it 'Easy'!

Monday 27th May 2013 – 11.8km Easy Run (5:10/km)
Another 'run of the mill' easy run on the regular figure of 8 route. Began to wane in the last few kms due to effects of the race yesterday.

Tuesday 28th May 2013 – 15.6km Easy Run (5:11/km)Lovely weather for being outside at long last! A little bit tired after Mondays run but nothing too bad. Today I woke before 6am and for some bizarre reason decided to get up and make the most of the nice morning by going for almost 10 miles! Very enjoyable and was surprised to see the roads evolve from being empty at the start to traffic queues by the end! Think I really should try and get out for more of these types of morning runs. 

Wednesday 29th May 2013 – 10.1km incl. 1x2 Miles + 1x1 Mile @ 4:05/kmOn the way home from work the car thermostat registered 20 degrees for the first time this year. Happy days although my plan for this evening was not exactly conducive to hot weather.

The aim for this run was the 3rd McMillan session of 2x2 miles followed by 2x1 miles @ 4:02/km. Kept to my local park for this but a number of things conspired against me this evening including the high temperatures, the strong breeze and all the people walking their dogs and kids in the park, all topped off with the few inclines that you really feel when running near max effort! All this meant that by the end of the first 2 mile split I was just about in touch with the target pace (4:05/km) but halfway through the second 2 mile split I was done. The clammy conditions and tired legs led to me quitting with a 4:08/km paced mile. I knew things were already on the downward slope and that it simply wasn't going to happen tonight. On the jog home I reckoned that the fast running from last week and then the big effort in Enniscorthy were probably still in my system. I will give this session another try in a weeks time to see if I fare any better.

Thursday 30th May 2013 – 11.8km Easy Run (4:55/km)
Another very warm and sunny evening. Legs were a bit dead after yesterday but still managed to maintain sub 5:00/km pace.

Friday 31st May 2013 – 20.0km Easy MLR (5:19/km)
Called to the Park after work for a Medium Long run. Parked up beside the Papal Cross and ran towards Ashtown and onto the banks of the Royal Canal. Turned at Castleknock rail station (Path changes from tarred to trail here) and went Eastwards to Phibsbrough before once again turning and returned to the car for a 20km run. Pace was kept at very easy which was a good thing as not sure I had the energy to go much faster!

Saturday 1st June 2013 – 16.0km Easy MLR (5:07/km) 
Met my Brother for a MLR in the Park this morning. Similar type route as yesterday but with pace a little quicker. Cooler this morning and I seemed to have a little more energy than the past few warm days. Didn't push it too hard though with one eye on pacing 1:40 in Cork HM on Monday.

Week 21 Summary (so far):
RTW: 6 from 6 days
DTW: 85.3km
DTY: 1,790.5km

Finding my level!

Wednesday 22^nd May 2013 – 12.0km Mtn Race # 5 – Glasnamullen and lap of Djouce.

About halfway up to Djouce

Race number 5 in the Leinster League and I was feeling a bit jaded after last nights 5km PB. So, I decided to take it handy enough early on and see how I felt once I started the downhill and take it from there. We started with a lap of the car park field across the main road from the trailhead. This was intended to string out the field before hitting the trail but I’m not quite sure how effective it was as we still seemed pretty well grouped when crossing the road and I was content to sit-in somewhere around 75th place I reckoned.

A Cunning Plan...

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

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

Back to the grind

Monday, 4^th March – 14.5km Easy Run

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

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

Will it ever stop raining?

Fri, 18th Jan – 27.3km LSR Run 

Plan called for a 26km LSR today but it happened to coincide with the worst day of weather in a couple of months. Parked in the usual spot and settled into it over the first couple of kms. However when I reached the Ashtown gate I decided to venture outside the park for a change. Before I knew it I was down at Ashtown train station so I decided to take a left and run along the canal path. I'd never been down here before so was pleasantly surprised to have a really good (if a little puddly) towpath all the way to Coolmine station where it transforms into a muddy, grassy trail. It was when I turned around at this point that I reallised the wind was so strong. A bitterly cold Easterly with plenty of hail abused me for the next 7km until I turned around again in Phibsborough. My transformation from pure misery to mild pleasure was immediate. No more darts of hail into my eyes!