Tuesday, September 9, 2008

In the beginning....

So, today (9th September 2008) I'm finally entering the world of blogging. My wife, Pamela, has been saying to me for some time now that I should start a blog (I think that this was just so that I'd have another outlet for my fanatical ramblings rather than her having to listen to me!!!). So I here I go...

I'm a 36 year old 'would-be' runner. I used to run a bit when I was in school and college mostly track and some cross country / road. But life during 'Celtic Tiger' Ireland of the late 1990's early 2000's got a bit too busy and between one thing and another I drifted from my running dreams.

In 2005/2006, with my hopes of ever running in the Olympics gone, I decided that if I didn't start doing some form of exercise before I was 40 I never would again. Running is what I knew so run is what I did! Mostly at lunchtime, not very far (max 3 miles) and not very often (1-2 times per week). Hence it never got any easier and I never got much return from my limited effort.

In January 2007 I decided it was time to s**t or get off the pot! I entered a lottery for a place in the Great North Run (half marathon Newcastle to South Shields UK) the following September. I've wanted to run in this mass participation event since the early 1990's. If I was accepted I would have a serious goal that was realistically far enough in the future to be achievable.

I was accepted and my training began. From 0miles per week to 20-30 miles. Totally ignoring the 10% rule with the result that I suffered a string of calf injuries and invested alot of money with the local sports physio. Eventually my training proper started in April / May 2007 with regular base mileage. Still plenty of time.

Training went well, ran a few local 5k (~19:30) / 5mile (~33mins) road races during the summer and saw some improvement in times. The important thing was that I was getting out regularly and getting into a good routine of consistent running 3 - 4 days per week.

The GNR came and went. Starting well back in the field with about 20,000+ runners ahead of me I resigned myself to running through a lot of traffic and settled into a steady 7min - 7:15/ mile pace and content with just enjoying the experience - which I did. My time was respectable (for me) 1:34:51 which placed me about 1200 out of 36,000+ runners. Some might say - not bad. The important thing for me though was that I was back running far and regularly and I even lost some weight (approx 13kg)

Since then I've kept with it (in between various calf injuries) and in 2008 my training has been more consistent that ever. A 66min 10miler in March, a sub-18:30 in May and a sub-32min 5mile in June. In fact, I'm running more miles now (up to 50+ per week), more quality miles (2 interval sessions per week) and longer long runs (regularly 13miles +) than ever before. I got the bug!! And yes I entered the GNR again this year with a new target. This year I want to run sub 1:30. Here's hoping.....

So on to my running diary.....

Although a strange pain in my left hip appeared last night today's session consisted of a lunchtime steady 6mile run at 7:00min/mile pace (avg). The run went well and I felt good afterwards particularly considering I had taken a 4 day break since last Thursday. No ill effects on the hip after the run. Average heart rate 161bpm.

The plan for this week is a 9mile easy/steady run tomorrow, 6mile fartlek Thursday, 6mile easy Friday, 5mile recovery Saturday and 13.1mile race Sunday. Let's see how it transpires.....

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