Running Long...

Although it's probably the kiss of death my training since Mallow10 has gone reasonably well. My weekly mileage has been 62 (6 runs), 37 (5 runs), 44 (5 runs) and 51 (6 runs).  All very good (for me).

Each week I've tried to put in at least one tempo/progression session but my main workout has been the weekly long run.  This long run has increased from 11 to 13 to 18 to 20 over the last 4 weeks.  I wouldn't call these run "long slow runs" but they have been long.  I've run these based on a perceived 'easy' effort which means a pace of approx 7:30.

Today was my most successful long run ever.  Way back in August 2009 I'd attempted a 20 mile run from Ardmore to Dungarvan and back but due to a number of reasons it wasn't very successful and it gave me a new found respect to running long.  I haven't tried running 20+ miles since!  However, now that I'm older and a bit (but not much) wiser my run from Ardmore to near Midleton today went much better. 


Ardmore to Ballintotis (Midleton) Sunday 15th April 2012

I set out from Ardmore at 8am in bright sunshine with a clear blue sky and an icy NE wind.  The plan was to leave with a 2 hour head start on the rest of my family who would pick me up (hopefully alive) at some point along the road. My planned pace was a repeat of last weeks 'easy' long run and go 17 miles at 7:30 pace or better.  Mile splits were 7:28; 7:18; 7:35; 7:17; 7:20; 7:18; 7:31; 7:19; 7:34; 7:25; 7:08; 7:21; 7:17; 7:23; 7:22; 7:20; 7:18; 7:35; 7:46; 7:45.  That's 20 miles at an average of 7:25 min/mile.

My family eventually caught up with me at Ballintotis (near Midleton) and proceeded to drive past!  Apparently my wife had her own plan that no matter where she passed me she would drive to and park at the 20 mile point.  There she would wait for me to arrive (who needs a tough coach!!).  Luckily I was nearly there when she arrived!

Most of the run felt easy (7:21 pace to 17 miles) but I had to work hard on the long uphill section around Youghal (mile 9). Miles 19 & 20 were also a bit harder than the rest as I ran out of fuel & water; neither of which I carried with me.  I must start experimenting with some gels to see if there's any benefit to be had..... ???

Given that the long runs are going so well I'm also seriously considering making a Marathon debut in Cork at the start of June.  All I have to do now is to take the plunge and enter!   I also need to increase the length of these long runs.  I'd like to get a few 22+ mile runs in over the next few weeks and then taper back for the second half of May.  BTW how should someone 'taper'???  Any advice?

The rest of the today was spent supporting these two girls from team Little Panda :) at the Leevale Open Sports.....

Mallow 10 report

Near Mile 6 - in pain
& I need a haircut!

The week after Ballycotton went very well for me.  No sign of post race niggles so I took that as a sign that the 6:30min/mile pace for 10-miles was well within my range and I began thinking that 6:20min/mile or quicker could be on the cards for today's 10 mile race in Mallow.

Unfortunately, I got sick which meant a very steep and unplanned taper!  Not very sick but enough to keep me out of work last Monday and no running for the last 10 days .

I thought that the rest would do me good but based on today's big fat failed performance it obviously didn't!

Today started out on a bad note with me realising when I was on route to Mallow that I'd forgotten my watch. "That's not so bad - it will be good to run a race by feel!", I told myself beforehand.  And yes it was.  I even managed to run the first half of the race to plan and reached the 5 mile marker in 31:55. 

Shortly afterwards the wheels came off.  By mile 6, just before the course became a bit undulating, I was in trouble.  Physically I was tired but that was to be expected.  What got to me more was that I couldn't be arsed digging in a bit more and pushing on like I had done only 2 short weeks ago in Ballycotton.  I just wanted to get to the end, collect my t-shirt (2XL is what they gave me!) and get home.  Miles 7, 8 & 9 were all writeoffs with periods of 'reasonable' running followed by periods of walking.  At least I got a chance to admire to scenery!  By mile 9 even the "1 mile to go" calls from the crowd weren't enough to lift my game.  In fact, it wasn't until about 400m to go that I was able to muster a finishing kick (a good one too if I must say so myself!) but it was too little too late.

I finished in 68:11 (212th place out of 1088).  Full results can be found .... HERE


Still, another race done.  Hopefully, apart from stubbing my big toe on a short downhill section before mile 8 there will be no recovery issues and training can resume next week.

Well done to all in Mallow AC for organising a great race and making sure, by moving the date from early January to mid March, that the race wouldn't have to be cancelled this year by snow or ice.  Personally, for what it's worth, I'd prefer the date in early January as it would fit in nicely with the other 10-mile races.  Also hopefully the road works will be finished by next year which should remove the 'obstacle course' aspect to the race!

Racing as a Vet!

So my plan to complete 40 days of consecutive training ended last week on the 23rd of February.  It was an interesting 'experiment' that saw me run 254 miles at an average pace on 7:29min/mile.  The consistent training also brought my typical average 'steady' pace heart rate from the low/min 160's to the high 150's.  So I think it's fair to say that I'm now in my best shape for 2 years.  But I think that the greatest benefit was an overall increase in my endurance, something I badly needed during today's Ballycotton-10 race!

After a late night in the pub last night (probably not the best idea before a race but one that doesn't come around too often so I couldn't turn it down) and a child who decided to have a raging temperature during the night I wasn't too bright eyed when the alarm went off at 8am.  But today was Ballycotton-10 day so I soon brightened up!

I left home early at 10am so as to avoid the rush.  The sun was shining which made it look like a summers day until I got out of the car and felt the chilling wind.  Still though it was dry so the conditions were almost ideal.

After a short recci of the village and a warm-up jog I made my way to the baggage drop area and found a 'sheltered' spot to await the appointed time.  Interestingly, and probably uniquely to the Ballycotton-10, as I walked through the village the local radio station was being broadcast over the loudspeakers.  "Nothing strange about this", I hear you say, but what was being broadcast were the daily "obituary notices" so I can now tell you who died in the area over the past few days and when and where there will be requiem mass and burial..... a bit surreal .... only in Ballycotton! 

I knew if I hung around the baggage area long enough I'd meet some familiar faces and sure enough along came Thomas and a little while later Grellan.

Disregarding my 10k Thanksgiving Day race in Lowell, MA last year it's been over 2 years since my last 'proper' race.  So, not being sure of exactly how it would go, my race-plan was (a) to get to the finish; (b) hopefully to break 70 minutes; and (c) break 65 minutes if everything went well.  I tentatively thought I'd head out at 6:30-6:45 pace to give me a chance of breaking 65 (not having broken 7mins for 10 miles in over 2 years this seemed a bit ambitious).  This was also close to Grellan's starting pace so by keeping a close ear on his "flipflops" I would have a ready made experienced pacer (for the early stages at least!).

After standing at the start in the 58-65 bay for 20minutes the first couple of miles were generally on pace.  It was frustrating to have to keep adjusting my stride to avoid slower runners who thought that they were capable of running sub-60 by starting off at 9minute pace!  Despite this I passed through miles 1 & 2 in 6:36 and 6:10(downhill).  Miles 3 & 4 were 6:23 and 6:24 respectively.  By this time my left quad wasn't feeling too good (much like a dead leg) and as Grellan pointed out my breathing was getting heavy i.e. I was beginning to suffer.  To be expected during a race but what surprised me was how early this set in - obviously I need to more speed endurance.

Heading through Shanagarry (mile 4 approx) there was a small drag and this was when I decided to let Grellan run his own race solo! He didn't need me to help him keep pace anyway.  He was well able to listen to his own flipflops!

Despite the onset of fatigue I managed to keep to my plan fairly well with mile splits of 6:32, 6:31, 6:29 and 6:30.  But by mile 8 (where I blew up on my first Ballycotton-10 in 2008 and Thomas left me for dust) I was seriously contemplating walking but I think the benefit of running 40 consecutive days was finally beginning to pay off.  I dug deep and ran the hardest 9th mile in 6:44.  I could now smell the finish and my pace picked up to 6:20.  I even managed a good kick to hold off a rear guard attack at the finish! :)

My official time at the finish was 65:08 and my chip time was 64:47 - all plans met - no lifetime PB's today but job done!  Average heart rate 168bpm.

Overall Placing 244 / 2608.  O40 placing 44 / 316.

(Full results can be found here)

Also today was my first race as a Vet - so technically I did set an O40 PB today... hopefully it's a soft one!  :)

Well done to all who ran today and more importantly well done to John Walshe / Liam O'Brien and all the team at Ballycotton Running Promotions for once again, for the 35th year, hosting "A Classic Race at a Classic Distance"!

I must now go away and put together a 'plan' for the Mallow 10 in 2 weeks time!!!

Ballycotton-10 race history... 

40 day streak to 40

So its 2012 already.  And, of course, I've missed my first planned race of the year.  It wasn't entirely my fault but the end result was that I didn't make it to the startline of the Dungarvan 10 last week. So the Ballycotton 10 will now become my first race.

This is the year that I'll officially become a veteran.  Some may say 'old', others would say just 'older than last year'.  Either way 40 seems like an age that should be 'marked' in a special way.  If I was 10 years older I would have been 40 during the height of the Celtic Tiger era so I'd probably have bought a sportscar or 3 villas in the south of France.  But, alas it is not 2002 and the world is a different place.  So I decided to mark the midlife-40 in a more modest way and go for a run.  More dedicated runners manage to run their age in miles on their birthday but as I've not been that dedciated lately I thought that a more realistic, benefical and possibly difficult challenage would be to run for 40 days in a row.

In fact, I set myself 2 main targets for these 40 days:

1. To run every day for 40 days; and,
2. To run at least 40 miles per week.

There are also some secondary targets, in case the wheels fall off, but I'm not thinking about these at present....

So far, I'm on Day 20/40 and my streak is still going.  Last week there were a few time-poor days which meant that I could only fit in my runs late at night.  In general, my runs are 5-6 miles and I've been trying to put in 1 or 2 'longer' runs per week.  The nett effect is that my pace has increased and my average heartrate has come down significantly, nearly 20bpm at an easy pace, and I'm feeling a lot fitter than a month ago.  This can only be good for the future!

So, I'm half way there and in 20 days time I'll not only be officially 'old' in the eyes of the 'younger' generation but I'll also be able to evaluate how the rest of 2012 can go...

I'll summarise how it went at the end but for now all the details are on Dailymile.com

Race #2 for 2012...

So race number 2 of 2012 ... The Dungarvan 10 at the end of January. At least I'll still be 39 ... just about!! And it'll probably be my slowest race ever given my recent lack of training. So, I'm off now to contemplate me plans for the new year by testing out the wine we bought for Christmas... Just to make sure it isn't corked.... You know what I mean !!! :)

they say life begins at 40...

Thanks to an entry form landing on my desk this afternoon I posted my entry to the 2012 Ballyotton10 today.  The most noteworty point is that, assuming that my entry is accepted, it'll be the first race that I'll run as Master - being less than 2 weeks after my 40th birthday!!)

No running since last Saturday - jetlag. 

Now that I've a focus it's time to start training...

Thanksgiving in Chelmsford, MA

Once again I've been remiss in updating this blog but the simple fact is that apart from some regular running there hasn't been too much of 'special interest' to report on.  My full running diary is regularly updated on my dailymile.com but suffice it to say that most weeks I've been running regularly, typically putting in runs of 5 to 10 miles with the pace in and around 7 min/mile.  Apart from a few exceptions weekly totals have been 30-40 miles.  I've also tried to fit in a steady-tempo progression run at least once a week. My two eldest children have also recently joined an athletics club, Belgooly AC, so that has meant that I've been at the CIT track at least 1 evening a week, generally doing 800m reps.  Other than the fact that I haven't been putting in enough long runs (>10miles) - this training has been generally in accordance with 'the plan'.

BTW my girls have been really enjoying their Tuesday / Thursday sessions so hopefully the enthusiasm will continue and in 30-40 years time they too will be running regularly for the fun of it.  

I also just came from a weeks holiday near Boston with my family.  It was my first time in the US for Thanksgiving (i.e. an excuse for meeting family, eating too much, watching football (not the FAI or GAA type) and preparing for the infamous Black Friday shopping frenzy!).  A great time was had by all!!

The jetlag meant that I woke up early (5-6am) every day.  This was generally before the rest of the family woke up so I got a chance to fit in an early morning run along an old railway line in Chelmsford, MA.  Luckily the weather was unseasonably warm (apart from Thursday & Friday) so I didn't have to run in the snow.

I also took the opportunity to run in a local Thanksgiving day charity run in Lowell last Thursday morning.  The 8am race start time was early enough not to interrupt the rest of the festivities but it also meant that the air temperature was still below freezing as noted by my shivering legs on the start line.

The race was a 5km run/walk combined with a 10km run.  There were approx 270No. competitors in the 10km and 900No. competitors in the 5km.  The race was over 2 laps of approx 5km which led to an 'interesting' (chaotic) finish when there were still some runners just starting their second lap while the 10km leaders were finishing in the midst of the 5km 'walkers'.

After getting there early, as usual, I registered for the 10km for the sum of $30 and ran a lap of the course  in my new Asics Nimbus trainers to warmup, i.e. defrost.  I then 'arrogantly' toed the line in the front row.  All the 'locals' were well wrapped up for the weather wearing long sleeved t-shirts, leggings, gloves, hats etc; I on the other hand went for the light weight racing look i.e. shorts and singlet (mad!!).

Since this was my first race in over 2 years I had no real expectations.  Last time I raced 'seriously'  I was capable of a sub-38 (maybe sub-37) 10km so I hoped to at least break 40mins.  On the basis of previous results this time might even give me a top 10 finish!  My runs in the few days leading up to the race suggested that this should be 'easily' achievable.  I planned to head out at a 6:20 to 6:25 pace and hopefully finish strongly.

This seemed like a good plan.... if only I stuck to it!  When the gun went I headed out just behind with the leaders - I had forgotten that some of these would only be running 5km so I think I got pulled along too quickly over the first mile.  The cold air and slightly tired legs meant that I paid for this early pace in the second half of the 10km.  My pace splits based on the mile markers were 6:05, 6:19, 6:29, 6:23, 6:16, 6:17.  I went through the 5km in 19:51 just ahead of schedule and finished in 39:45.... almost event splits.

Overall I finished in 8th position and 3rd in the 30-39 age category.  If only I was a few months older I'd have easily won the 40-49 category!!!

This graph shows how my race went.....

The full results are on the CoolRunning.com website here

It's now time to increase the long runs and get ready for some 10-mile races after Christmas....

Entry into the Ballycotton-10 opens tomorrow!!! :)