Grant Thornton 5k

It was himself that brought up the word 'sack'!

Monday, 9th September, 2013 – 7.4km Recovery Run (5:30/km)

Another very easy recovery run yesterday evening after the LSR yesterday. Actually surprised how slow the first couple of kms were, but around midway I threw in 11 sets of strides to get the legs prepared for the Grant Thornton 5km race this evening in the city centre. Would like a time beginning with a ‘1’ but given the lack of any VO2 training that may have to wait another while.

Tuesday, 10th September, 2013 – 7.5km Including Grant Thornton 5k race (3:58/km)

As suspected, the 1x:xx wasn’t in the legs this evening but seeing as the GPS measured 5.12km for the race can’t help but feel I was sub 20 for 5km (going by the Garmin I passed through 5km in 19:55 but can't really lay claim to that for PB purposes!). In the end I was 20:19 and the effort was nice and consistent the whole way around so all in all very happy with the way I ran just not so much with the time I ran! The time wasn’t hugely important though as it was more a chance of a very fast training run more than anything else. The race was very well organised but given the numbers and the high speeds it would be better to avoid the Talbot Bridge so early in the run. Far better off starting at the other side of the bridge and allowing a straight 2km of road before any turns.

Steady HR.

Managed to nab an extra 2.5km between warm-up and cool down to bring the total up to 7.5km. Would have liked to have done more but was in a rush home to watch Trap activate his self-execution. Arrivederci Giovanni Manuela! Best of luck to Thomas’ Osterreich for the remainder of qualifying! (Hope that eases the pain for the Kerry comments!)

Wednesday, 11th September, 2013 – 10.0km Run with 8km @ MP (MP ave: 4:31//km)

I got caught in a bit of no-man’s land this evening where I wanted to avoid anything too taxing in advance of the HM on Saturday. In the end I decided on hitting the seafront in Clontarf for a few MP miles. An easy first kilometre was followed by 8km at an average of 4:31/km. Starting my final MP km it was becoming evident that my right heel was cut from the shoe/sock combination. This helped me decide to slow down before pushing things too far and was a blessing in disguise really. I jogged the final kilometre, at first with the intention of adding another 5km or thereabouts but as I got closer to the car sensibility won the day and I limited any heal damage before it got too bad. A nice little session squeezed in also, which should be of benefit. The run itself was reasonably tough though given it was following on from the 5km race last night.

Easy running now ‘til Saturday!

Week 37 Summary:

RTW: 3 from 3 days

DTW: 24.9 km

DTY: 2,929.6 km

Chicago - 32 days (4 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)

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)

Better than expected LT session

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

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

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

LT summary for the year.

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

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

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

Week 35 Summary (so far):

RTW: 2 from 3 days

DTW: 21.2km

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

Game 5 of 6...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Week 34 Summary:

RTW: 7 from 7 days

DTW: 91.0km

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

Battling the breeze...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Week 34 Summary (So far):

RTW: 3 from 3 days

DTW: 37.9km

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