Pot luck

That's what it feels like at the moment. If it's not raining when it's time for a run you're extremely lucky.

Nice fartlek on Monday started the week off well. Overall 5.36 miles in 34:13. That's an average of 6:23 for the run including the recoveries at 7:00 to 7:30. It felt comfortable too - that's a good sign - isn't it??

On Tuesday I planned on taking it easy. But the 5.72 miles ended up being at 6:42 min/mile (159bpm) - it didn't feel that quick!

I was brought back to ground when I stumbled across this clip staring David McCarthy at Providence College. It puts my 5 mile tempo runs in perspective - 5:00min/mile - wow - I've still some work to do!!......

Child minding...

I'm playing lone parent this weekend while my wife enjoys a break to Iceland with some girlfriends. So it looks like my running is finished for the week as it would be frowned upon to leave the 3 kids home alone so that I could fit in a run (even a quick one!!) - or would it ?? :)

This week I'll have to be content with a fartlek and a long run as being the quality sessions. Hopefully next week I'll be able to fit in the third quality session.

While the kids were at school / child minder this morning I took the opportunity to go for my long run. Since the Cork to Cobh race my long run have been a maximum of 12 miles. Today I wanted to push it out to 15+ miles.

It went well enough. It was cold - the first time since last winter that I resorted to wearing gloves but it was dry (for a change!!). I wanted to run in the 7:15 to 7:45 pace overall. The first half was typically faster than the second half. Some day I'll manage an even paced run. I think mental fatigue was beginning to creep in today as from 7 miles onwards my mind certainly drifted from the job at hand. Still though I completed the 15.60 miles in 1:55:48. That's an average pace of 7:25 min/mile and 158 bpm. My first half pace was approx. 7:15 min/mile. It was nice to put in a real long run and hopefully some more of these will stand me in good stead later in the year.

Today's run..

On the right track - hopefully!!

My plan over the next few weeks is to make sure that I get in 2 good workouts, e.g. tempo, interval or long progression runs, per week with a steady long (i.e. 10+ miles) run over the weekend with some easier recovery runs also thrown into the mix. I think that this will plan set me up well for the half marathon in early December and give a good base for the new year.

So the quick session this week was a 5+ mile fartlek. I hadn't run one of these in ages and it felt good. No pressure to hit particular mile splits and the freedom to increase/decrease the pace as I saw fit. The quicker bits of the session generally ranged from 5:50 - 6:30 min/mile pace for durations of 1 to 4 minutes. Recoveries were 7:00 to 7:30 pace. Overall, I averaged 6:44min/mile for 5.25miles and it felt easier than some of my progression runs which tend to have a similar overall average pace.

I went for my long run yesterday and I decided to repeat last weeks 11.62 mile run - just a bit quicker. This week I passed through 10 miles in 69:32min with an average of 159bpm and an average cadence of 78.6rpm. I felt pretty good and fresher than last week and I was a minute quicker! From 10 miles onwards I took it a bit easier and overall I completed the run in 1:22 (over 2 minutes quicker than last week). Hopefully that progress will continue!!

Also, recently I've been playing around with some of the "Evolution Running" techniques (thanks to an introduction by Rick) so it was nice to see the cadence during yesterday's run increase without any increased effort - maybe I'm perfecting a 'slightly' more efficient technique!!

Yesterday's run..


An easy 6.25 run today nicely rounded off the week.... 5 weeks to go to Waterford.


Have a good week everyone.

Let's start again

Unintentionally, I've been a bit more stop/start with my running of late which isn't too much of an issue as I'm only just starting a new training phase. My next targeted race will be the half marathon in Waterford on December 12 but really it's the Munster 10 mile series next spring which is the focus.

This week I started back in earnest with some easy runs and 2No. good sessions. On Wednesday I ran a nice steady/tempo progression 5.66mile lunchtime run increasing from 6:52min/mile / 142bpm (mile 1) to 6:28min/mile / 178bpm (mile 5) and 6:09/183 for the last 0.66miles to the end. My heart rate was a bit higher than normal. In fact, it has been that way since last Sunday morning's 12 mile run. Not sure of the reason so I'll have to keep an eye on it.

Today, I decided to skip the local 4-mile race in favour of a long run. I had planned on taking it 'easy', i.e. >7:15 min/mile, but over the first few miles I found my instantaneous pace being consistently less than 7 min/mile. So I revised the plan and aimed for 7:00 min pace for the first 10 miles with a 1.5 mile very easy finish. I passed through 10 miles 70:30 min (163bpm) feeling a bit tired and certainly more tired than I was a couple of weeks ago when I ran 65mins for the first 10 miles of the Cork to Cobh race. How can that be??!! Overall 11.62 miles in 85mins.

I've also developed a few niggles - tenderness at the bottom of both achilles tendons, left hamstring tightness and some lower back pain.... I must be getting old!! I can only imagine how I'd be feeling if I'd run the Dublin Marathon!! Hopefully the niggles will easy over the coming weeks and not develop into something more serious!!

Also I think I'll introduce some core strengthening exercises into the programme. I used do a lot of this type of work but in recent years I've been a bit neglectful and unfortunately I've gone a bit 'soft in the centre' just like an eclair!! :)

In between runs

I just realised that it's nearly three weeks since I updated this log but there hasn't been too much to report. I've been running (on and off) but it's mostly easy (low 7min/mile) with some progression runs thrown in for good measure but nothing too exciting. Runs have been generally in the 5 to 7 mile bracket.

Since my last post the final results of the Cork to Cobh race were published. For those who may be interested the results are uploaded here.

Since I missed my window for running the Dublin marathon this year I started to look for an alternative marathon this side of Christmas and I came across this helpful website. I thought about running the Lisbon Marathon in early December but Aer Lingus, in their wisdom, have cancelled the direct flight from Cork and I don't fancy battling Dublin Airport for a weekend away. There's a marathon in a place called Alesund in Norway on the 29th December but given that it would be an epic journey to get there and back and the official website is in Norwegian only (!!) I decided to give that one a miss too. Likewise, I don't fancy running 26miles around Luton in early December either (although the fact that the course consists of three 8+ mile laps was an interesting twist for any 'supporters' who may travel). So it looks like any marathon plans I have will have to wait until 2010.

So what now? Well there's a half marathon in Waterford City on December 12th and that may well be my next short term goal. I say 'may' because I've a ticket for the Munster v Perpignan game on the night of the 11th December which 'may' affect my ability to run a quick 13.1miles!! :) We'll see.... Otherwise it will be the 10-mile series starting with the Mallow 10 in January. I wonder how close to 60-mins I can get??

It's time to start training properly...

Good luck to all those running Dublin. I'm sure it will be a great day and PB's will tumble for all!!

Steady does it...

Since my last post I've been busy on a number of fronts but not as busy as I'd have liked on the running front. What this means is that I've not put in enough long runs to justify my attempt at my first marathon, so I won't be going to Dublin this year. On the other hand it also means that I could run today's Cork to Cobh (15-mile) race as a true race and not have to restrain myself to MP miles like many others did (well done Grellan - a very controlled run!).

Since Blarney, I managed a total of 32 miles during the week 14/09 to 20/09 and 19miles during the week 21/09 to 28/09. Only one of the runs was more than 12 miles long and the majority were in the 5 to 8 miles range at 6:30 to 7:30 pace. As I said, not enough for marathon training.

On top of that our baby Joe is teething and, just like last night, he has taken to waking at 3am and screaming the house down!! So when the alarm went off at 6:30 today (timed to give me enough time to have a breakfast and get to the start line in fine and early for the 9:30 start) I simply turned over and went back to sleep. Not a good start.... and when I eventually awoke at 7:55am all I could do was grab some toast and rush out of the house. Just enough time to get to race HQ, register, go for a 1 mile warm up and get to the start and try to relax.

The Plan....The Blarney 'blip' combined with the erratic training regime had put some doubts into my mind about my current shape. So I decided that the plan for today would be to head out at 6:45 min/mile and depending on how I felt try to push the pace towards 6:30 over the second half and hopefully finish in the low 1:40's.

The race went to plan and to be honest, despite how I look in the photo below (thanks Paudie) taken near the finish line, it was probably the first time ever that I finished a race thinking that I could have gone further!!



As I said the plan was to start out at 6:45min/mile and see how it went. Well, it went well! But, a 15 mile race is a long way to report on so here is the very much abridged version..

Mile splits were...

Mile 1 - 6:43 - 154bpm (on target)
Mile 2 -6:37 - 164bpm (settling in and feeling good)
Mile 3 - 6:33 - 165bpm (good to see Pam and the kids)
Mile 4 - 6:34 - 166bpm (yippee the water stations give bottles!!)
Mile 5 - 6:32 - 167bpm (steady goes it - concentrate on catching the group ahead)
Mile 6 - 6:29 - 169bpm (Sunday Mass brings out good roadside support!!)
Mile 7 - 6:29 - 170bpm (another 6:30 mile - going well!)
Mile 8 - 6:33 - 170bpm (time to start working here's where it went to crap in Blarney)
Mile 9 - 6:23 - 172bpm (the group ahead is getting away - push on..)
Mile 10 - 6:22 - 173bpm (keep going....much better than Blarney)
Mile 11 - 6:28 - 174bpm (here's the start of the long drag to the finish)
Mile 12 - 6:27 - 175bpm (focus of the guy in front; steep downhill & left hamstring cramps)
Mile 13 - 6:46 - 174bpm (uphill, minding hamstring fortunately can't hear anyone behind)
Mile 14 - 6:46 - 177bpm (when will this 'hill' end??)
Mile 15 - 6:22 - 178bpm (nice downhill 1/4 to the finish but didn't catch the guy in front!!)

The not-so-painful truth...

On crossing the line I stopped my watch on 1:38:11 .... a PB (although as this was my first time to race over 15 miles I suppose it doesn't really count!!). I think that I was in the top 50 finishers but a long way behind the winner (1:16+).

Yet another finish line photo of me looking at my watch...Of more note was that I passed the HM marker (feeling fresh) in 1:25:44 which is a HM PB. Pity I couldn't have done that in Blarney!! :)

This was my first Cork to Cobh run and I can see why it has become a firm fixture in the Cork road running scene. A nice course, well organised with plenty of bottled water. I understand that over 800 ran today that's a big jump from the 670 last year.

So what now... before the race today Grellan asked me if this was the end of my 'season'. Given that my 'season' never really started (only 3 races since last March) it may just be the start but I'll have to see what races come up. Maybe a pre-Christmas marathon?? or maybe just some hard training for the Munster 10-mile series in the New Year?

Time will tell....

A Blarney to forget...

Firstly, sorry but this is going to be a 'negative' post but I've been kind of frustrated all day.

Today's race in Blarney is certainly one for me to forget! It started well enough. The sun was shining, I got up early, parked near race HQ registered and went for a 3 mile warmup. All good so far....

Then the race started. My plan was to head out at 6:20 to 6:30 pace for the first half and assuming that I'd have something left in the tank push on to the finish hopefully finishing 1:24 or better. That was the plan anyway....unfortunately things didn't quite work out as I'd planned.

I was on target for the first 8 miles or so but then it all seemed to fall apart. My splits up to mile 8 were 6:12, 6:19, 6:25, 6:29, 6:45 (big uphill), 7:18 (beast of an uphill section!!), 6:33 and 6:33. All OK so far...

I don't know if it was the heat (it was very hot 20+degC); the fact that the first 6+ miles were uphill; my lack of endurance training; a hangover from last weeks virus or the lack of sleep during the past week but suddenly if there was a shortcut to the finish I'd have taken it. The rest of my 'journey to the finish' (it could no longer be called a 'race') was decidedly ugly comprising jelly legs, lack of motivation and bouts of walking. Uncharateristically, I even got frustrated (annoyed) by the suporters encouraging calls of "it's all downhill to the finish" and "only just one mile to go" etc...

I could do nothing as runner after runner seemed to cruise past. I think I must have lost 50+ places over the last 5 miles. If it hadn't been for the fact that Pamela and the kids were at the finish I'd have been quite happy to record a DNF but the thought that they might see me struggling pushed my to run most of the last mile at sub 6:10 pace. Unfortunately, the damage was done and I eventually crossed the finish line in 1:31:30 (102nd place out of 550 runners). The official results are here.

Although the time was disappointing I was more frustrated with the manner in which I gave in to the pain. But now that I've had a few hours to compose myself, rehydrate and take on some salts I think that I was 'probably' suffering from dehydration. Although I tried to take on water at each waterstop (2 mile intervals) I think that I spilt much more from the plastic water cups than I drank until I eventually I walked through the last couple of water stations (too little too late!). I also underestimated the impact of the initial uphill section - last year I was much more conservative during the initial miles and I then had reserve energy for the later miles.

I guess I'll just have to put today's 'effort' down to experience...

One last dash to the finish....

The painful truth...