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...

Recovered??

I was still a bit wiped yesterday so I took another day off running but I'm glad to report that the trials of the weekend have now passed and it was business as usual today.

I wasn't too sure how to approach today's run. I wanted to do a bit more than an 'easy' run as I feel that I haven't really tested my current fitness ahead of Sunday's race. I probably should have taken it easy just to make sure that there were now carryover effects from the weekend but alas I didn't. Instead I choose to go for 2 mile intervals over my usual 5.5mile route at sub 7 minute pace. At least that was the plan anyway....

The first mile was steady enough at 6:56 pace (150bpm) over a combination of grass and track in Ballincollig park. On target I was feeling good so I picked up the pace over the second mile 6:36 min (162bpm). At this stage I was still feeling OK, albeit a bit heavy legged (probably from a sleepless night last night) and I thought to myself maybe I should change my original plan and keep this pace going over 5 miles instead of breaking it into intervals. And that's just what I did. The third mile was an uphill one which I covered in a relaxed 6:42min (165bpm). I was still not stressing so I increased the pace over the last 2 miles taking advantage of the downhill terrain 6:14min (173bpm) and 6:03min (177bpm). In all I passed through 5 miles in 32:29 (average 6:29min) which is respectable enough as I wasn't really trying too hard (although I must admit I did work a bit over the last mile!!) and that a couple of seasons ago I was happy with that time in a race!! After a 0.66mile recover I made it back to the office after 5.66miles in 38:02mins. A nice blow out run!!

So what did today's run tell me? Probably not much except that there don't appear to be any ill effects from last Sundays illness and I'm in reasonable shape over 5 miles. Just before this HM race last year I did the same run completing the 5 miles in 32:16 and splits of 6:57(150bpm), 6:40(163bpm), 6:37(166bpm), 6:06(174bpm) and 5:57(178bpm). I actually remember that run last year and despite what the numbers say I don't think I was working as hard today. So I think I'm probably in a similar shape to where I was at this time last year put not yet back to where I was last March.

But what I haven't been able to gauge is whether I have the endurance required to keep a sub 6:45min pace going for 13+ miles. I suppose I'll find out on Sunday!!

Today's run...

ps... I just realised that today is the anniversary of my first ever blog post. Where has that year gone and how things have changed!!

.....

Lately I've realised that I'm getting into a bit of a rut in running terms. Looking back though my diary it seems that I think I'm too regularly running about 5.5 miles at lunchtime at 6:30 to 7:10min/mile pace. This programme has served my quite well this year but I think that it's time for a change. I plan to introduce some longer 'easy' runs as well as some long intervals to compliment my regular progression 'tempo' runs and maybe some double sessions also.

So, last Tuesday I thought I'd break the cycle and extend my midday run. I've found that 8 miles is about as much as I can get in during a 'slightly' extended one hour lunch break. So that was the target. As it turned out it was 8.06miles @ 7:00min/mile (160bpm) in 56:21mins. The plan was to run at an even 'steady' pace which worked out quite well (fastest 6:43; slowest 7:09) given the terrain etc.

Surprisingly though my legs were a bit on the tired side on Wednesday so an easy 5.63 miles at 7:08 was all that I had the appetite for - rut firmly established again!! :)

On Thursday and Friday I had to take an early lunch to pick the girls up from school. So no time for running. If only I was as dedicated as some others I could mention and could get up at 5am for a run!!

On Saturday all three kids got sick so nursing duties prevented me from running. It seemed to be a 24 hour thing and by Sunday they were physically exhausted but feeling much better. I wasn't feeling great either on Sunday morning but I put that down to lack of sleep. The forecasted 'sunny day' never materialised (typical!!) so by 4pm I headed out for my long run. This week I decided to take the route around Monkstown - I thought that the run along the waters edge would help take my mind off the relentless rain!! It's a 12.5mile route and the plan was to cover the first 10 miles in 70-71mins and keep it steady to the end. But..... I was feeling good until I got to the 8 mile mark 57:02 at Passage West. Then my body gave in.... I wasn't sick but from that point onwards every step was like hell. My first thought was my lack of fitness and that if I felt like this after 8 miles at 7min pace how will I feel during next weeks half marathon where I'm hoping to run much faster. By mile 12 I was practically crawling all I wanted to do was for it to end and get home. In all I completed 12.63miles in 1:38:05. That's an overall average of 7:46 min/mile @ 158bpm (first 10 miles in 72:09min).

Once home it was clear to my that something else was happening. I'll spare you the details but suffice it to say that I spent much of the evening praying at the toilet bowl. Obviously what the children got was contagious and I didn't avoid it. Now, I'm sure that my work colleagues wouldn't appreciate getting what I got so I'm staying at home today (first sick day in 10 years I think)!! And besides I feel like a train rolled over me so concentration would be nil. As for running I think I'll take today off too!! Hopefully I'll recover before the race next weekend....

Week Total (31/08/09 to 06/09/09) - 4 runs
31.96 miles - 3:53:51 - avg 7:19min/mile - 158bpm - 75.4rpm

New School New Routine

Our two girls started school last Thursday and became mini celebrities along the way!! I suppose it helps being identical twins on the opening day of a new school.... Our mornings won't ever be the same with the school run, school lunches, uniforms etc etc. I'm sure it'll be an interesting and enjoyable journey and you never know this recession might even be over by the time they'll be looking for a job!!

After last Monday's run, as promised, I took it easy on Tuesday with a 7:20min/mile 5.6mile run. But on Wednesday I took it really easy and didn't run at all!! Looking back through my diary Wednesday is my most consistent 'day off' having run on only 6 of the 17 Wednesdays since the start of May!! The start of school for the girls meant that Thursday and Friday were no running days also!!

On Saturday I wasn't too confident (correctly as it turned out) that I'd fit in my long run on Sunday so while Joe took his morning nap I snuck out for an 11.33mile steady progression run.

The first 4 miles were uphill from Ardmore to Kiely's Cross so I took them handy enough at an average of 7:25min/mile pace. Once I reached the main road and the 7 mile 'downhill' home stretch I picked up the pace to under 7min/mile and progressed from there!! By the 10 mile mark I was at 6:30min/mile (166bpm). I had covered the first 10 miles in 70:39 minutes and at this point I thought I'd done enough so I contemplated easing off which I did for about 10 seconds before I continued to the end at a steady 6:40 pace. In all 11.33 miles 1:19:31 (7:01min/mile @ 161bpm & 77.4rpm). It was an encouraging run before the half marathon on the 13th Sept. and given that the first 6 miles of the HM are uphill I suppose Saturdays run also counts as a dress rehearsal!! With only one race all summer, in fact only one race since last March, the Half Marathon on 13th September will be a bit of a journey into the unknown...

Week Total (24/08/09 to 30/08/09) - 3 runs
22.54miles - 2:39:37 - 7:05min/mile - 158bpm - 76.6rpm

Today my legs were recovered so after I couple of easy miles (7:15-7:30 min/mile) I upped the tempo to 6:40, 6:26 and 6:08 pace. In all covering the 5.64 miles in a 'comfortable' 39:16 (6:58min/mile).

Although I'm happy with my current condition, on reflection, I don't think I'm back to where I was last March (probably roughly equivalent to mid January) but if I do decide to take the plunge and loose my virginity at the Dublin Marathon at the end of October things are probably right where they should be... I'll reassess my plans in a few weeks..

Recovery week

Last weeks 'recovery' run certainly did the trick. My legs weren't too sore on during the week. I don't think that the 20+ run was 'suicidal' as suggested by Grellan but it certainly has taken longer to recover than from a more normal 15+ mile long run.

On Tuesday with still 'heavy legs' I attempted a progression run over my usual 5.66mile route around Ballincollig. The mile splits pace ranged from 7:16 to 6:42 with a 'sprint' at 6:26min/mile pace for the last 0.66miles!! It all felt a bit too hard really. After the first mile my heartrate was in the mid 170's and I was only just breaking the 7 minute barrier. In all 5.66miles @6:58min/mile (39:24mins @ 169bpm avg).

So, on Wednesday I decided to take a proper 'recovery' and not run.

A lunchtime out of the office meeting on Thursday meant that if I wanted to run it had to be early in the morning. So I set the alarm from 5:30am but ignored it and got up at 6:15am instead!! It almost felt like a lie in!! At least the early start gave me another excuse for having heavy legs (still recovering from last Sunday). I headed into town at a steady 7:05min/mile pace reaching the turn around point in 24:58min and a low average heartrate of 144bpm. The overall 77m elevation drop may have been a factor but I was feeling good so on the return leg I decided to 'up' the pace. In general the average pace was less than 6:45min/mile and including the climb up Maryborough Hill I made it home in an average of 7:01 giving an overall of 49:24 (155bpm) for the 7.04mile early morning jaunt.

I spent the weekend in Ardmore so on Friday afternoon I ran the beach and cliff route. An overall distance of 7.47miles at an average of 7:29min/mile (160bpm) - 55:54 minutes. Interestingly, although the last couple of months have been a bit erratic in running terms they appear to be showing some dividends - when I ran this route at the start of June my average pace was 7:50+ and 164bpm.

My wife's family had a clan gathering on Saturday so time for running was out of the question - replaced by time on beach and in the pub.

Unfortunately, the rain came in during the night on Saturday so when the alarm went off I turned over. The extra couple of hours sleep helped clear the Guinness out of my system and when I eventually arose I deferred my run until the afternoon. I also changed the plan and instead of the 'easy' 13+ mile run I went for a 2x4mile progression run (Ardmore to Kiely's cross and back). The first 4 miles were 'steady' uphill at 7:11min/mile (158bpm). After a 2 minute recovery I headed back downhill starting out at 6:22 pace increasing steadily to 5:48min/mile (overall average 165bpm). Although the pace was helped by the downhill it felt good to let loose and put in some fast miles.

Week Total (17/08/09 - 23/08/09) - 5 sessions
33.96miles - 4:06:13 - 7:15min/mile - 159bpm - 77rpm

Summer is now officially over, the family is back from Ardmore and the girls start school on Thursday. So today I was back on the roads around Ballincollig for a 5.66mile run. The pace progressed from 7:10min/mile (143bpm) to 6:24min/mile (171bpm) - it was supposed to be an 'easy' run but I think I overcooked it a bit!! I blame the new running shoes...... Tomorrow will be better.....