Maybe the Luddites weren't totally wrong.....

28^th April 2012

Woke up at 6am. Hoped to get out the door within 20 minutes with the usual plan of skipping breakfast until later. Attempted to turn on the garmin but damn thing wasn’t working. It charged fine last night. Shades of Rome all over again!!!! Attempted to to toggle it but still no budge. Meant I had to use my regular stopwatch and use a route  where I knew where the mile markers where. In this case this meant running down as far the GAA club, down the railway rd, back up again and down to Ballyhea. This was 6 miles and repeating it meant 12 miles.  Was nervous about the run that was ahead of me as I hoped to do 8 miles at marathon pace (sub 8 pace). Pete Pfitzinger’s  book calls for these types of long runs. Long runs are meant to be run at a slow pace but sometimes a slow start with a strong MP (Marathon pace) finish is called for in the schedules. The benefits are both physical and psychological  but these runs are meant to be run sparingly. When running Dublin last year I ran a number of these and they were a massive boost to me taking 14 minutes off my PB Did first 4 miles at 9 minute plus pace. Ran the last 8 in 1.01.19. Was feeling really strong and I suspect I might have ran 8.2 miles but without the garmin I can’t say for sure. Very happy and has put me in the right frame of mind for next weeks work. When I came home spent rest of the day planting a few trees and setting up our new plastic green house. Rounded off the afternoon having tea, cake and a sandwich with Aoiffe. Yum yum.

p.s

 Garmin now works like a treat. Unreal !!!!

29^th April 2012-04

Rounded off the week with 3 easy recovery miles in Doneraile Park

28^th April 2012 -12 miles (miles 1-4 at 9minute plus pace, miles 5 -12 at 7.40 pace)

29^th April 2012 3 recovery miles (30 minutes)

Total mileage for the week 40 miles

Base Building

23^rd April

Base training continues .It was  lashing out of the skies on Monday. Don’t mind the rain too much. It’s the getting wet I hate ;-). Left the house at 5.45 pm replete with hat and windbreaker. Jogged  a easy 1.2 miles to railway road. Ran ½ intervals with 1.45 minute recoveries. Jogged a easy two mile home for a approx total of six miles. Enjoyed the interval workouts.  Definite improvement from two weeks ago.

24^th April

Left the house this morning at 6.00 am. Had a parent teacher meeting which meant i wouldn’t be home until 8.00 pm. Beside Barca v Chelsea was on the box at that time too. Barca are on top but just conceded a daft goal!!! Anyway ran this as recovery run. 6.2 miles at 8.30 pace. During the day felt a ache in either groin and back of my left heel. Iced and stretched all effected parts so hopefully that will sort it out. Just wondering if I should limit the interval work to every two weeks at the moment. I live in dread of getting a injury. Next week I will give the Midleton 5 mile a shot so I will use that as my speed session.

25^th April. Went out thinking about doing a slow 4 miler. The pace was 8.50, 8.50, 8.53, 8.48 for the first 4. Despite the heavy rain and the heavy legs decided to do another 2.2 miles. Happy enough to get the miles up in my legs. Shouldn’t be too concerned with pace now but eventually want to be able to do a 7.30 pace per mile.

26^th April – Had planned to go to Doneraile Park but the heavy showers and the prospect of getting sopping wet followed by another 15 minute drive home persuaded me otherwise. Sometimes the best plan is to get home and run door to door. Wanted to experiment a bit this time after the last two dull plods. Ran first mile at 7.54 pace, mile 2 at 6.35, 104 second jog, mile 3 at 6.50, mile 4 at 8.34, mile 5 at 8.05, mile 6 at 7.47 with a 107 second cool down.  In otherwise with mile 2 and mile 3 I was trying a tempo run and seeing if i could sustain that run. Results were mixed. After the warm up I could hit a sub 6.45 pace on two occasions but i had to take a 104 second breather. The remaining 4 miles I barely had enough gas to get home. Will try it again on Monday but might aim for a 7.00 minute pace on miles 2, 3 and hopefully 4.

Saturday is a 12 mile run.

23^rd April Interval pace 1) 6.20 2) 6.34 3) 6.22 4)6.18 5) 6.24 with 1.2mile warm up and 2 mile cool down. Recovery 105 seconds. Total mileage 6 miles.

24^th April 6.2 mile recovery run.  (8.30 pace)

25^th April 6.2 mile run (8.42 pace – heavy  legs- was intending to do slow 4 but did a solid 6.2)

26^th April 6.2 mile run with 2 miles at sub 6.45 pace

Fun runners my eye.......

21^st April. Up and out the door by 6.55 am. Ran Colmanswell/Garryfine/Rathgoggin and one loop of Charleville town. Came to 12 miles in total. Ran this one slow. Legs were a bit heavy and I wanted to see how long I could push this one out.  Not a car on the road and lovely part of the world. Steep hill at mile 9.5 –mile 10 proved a challenge. Plain sailing after that. Home by 8.40 am. Stretches, sleep, breakfast and shopping in the local shops in Charleville. Then tea and sandwich’s in Brudairs cafe, the favourite part of a Saturday. A job well done. Might do 12 miles again next week but try a portion at half marathon pace.

22^nd April – Normally don’t run  Sunday but will be working late on Tuesday so have to swap things around a bit. Sky plussed the London marathon. Love watching it though I do find the constant reference to ordinary runners as “fun runners” more than a bit grating. Do they realise the time and effort these people put in –  holding down a job, in some cases not having a job, running before after or during work,, organising family time etc etc.  Quibbles aside - coverage by the BBC is as usual excellent. Hopefully RTE despite having a smaller budget will take note when covering the Dublin Marathon 2013. A mum of one the kids I teach  is running in it so I want to wish  Jackie Cavanagh all the best. She is running on behalf of the sick kids in Crumlin hospital. A mighty woman.  Did 4 miles recovery with Aoiffe in the town park. She’s mighty too.

21^st April – 12 miles – 1hr 44 min – 8.45 pace

22^nd April – 4 miles – 10 minute pace

Total mileage for week – 30 miles

Ballintotis 4 mile

Ballintotis 4 mile race.

Headed to Ballintotis with the two dudes – Dermot and Don. Known these guys for 20 years  and at the moment we are making the transition from going on the beer to going to races. Don has run 4 marathons and loads of half marathons, 10 milers etc.I reckon chasing after his 3 kids keeps him in shape. We ran two Dublin’s and a Rome together so you could say we have done our fair share of miles together. Derm took to the roads last year having run a number of half marathons. His approach is more relaxed than say mine but is always game for a challenge!!!!

750 people took to the start line for this one on a country road so narrow you could lie your head on one side and your ankles on the other. Has hoping for a PB at this distance and ideally for a sub 28 minutes. My previous best was 28.18 (ish) in Belgooly. Started the watch as soon as the gun/crowd started moving and it probably was 8 seconds before I crossed the line. Chip timing has major advantages!!!! Mile one was called out in 7.26 – way too slow and I was beginning to experience that old sinking feeling. Then I decided to run around the side of the crowd rather than through it and spent  a good two minutes running on the grassy verge. A risky strategy as it was either potholed or very slippery. Plenty of others followed and at mile 2 I was feeling happier.

 Hit mile2 at 6.45 and feeling a lot happier. Previously when this motoring at this sort of pace I tended to slow down to 7.10 per mile but this time I was feeling strong. The course was starting to hit a downhill section and I was beginning to wonder if i would do a sub 28 minute after all. My brief stint of speedwork was certainly paying off and mile 3 was completed in 6.53. At this stage I reckoned a 6.50 finish would see me through. I was pretty confident of getting a PB at the very worse. I was also happy I was managing to keep the garmin pace just under the 7 minute mark. The last ½ mile stretch on the Cork rd to the finish saw me over take a few familiar faces until a guy crossed my path pushing me off course into the grass verge. It was only a few seconds but it was to prove significant.

100 metres to go i could see the clock counting at 27.3x. Crossed the line with a garmin time of bang on 28.00 minutes and I reckoned a clock time of 28.02. Mile 4 was around 6.55 and I measured the course at 4.05 miles.  Happy to get a PB but a bit peeved not to have got under a sub 28 minutes. The results gave my official time as 28.03 but I figured if chipped I would have made it in 27.55. That said the handicap of the crowded start was a problem for everyone so them’s the break. Enjoyed the race. Lovely spot and great to see people and families of all ages out for a run. At least it takes our mind off more weighty economic matters. The two lads also set PB’s and the usual mickey taking  out of each other.  Left Ballintotis at 9.00, home by 10.30 pm. Up again at 6.30 am next day and back into work at 8.20 am. Spent the day between classes pondering what route to do Saturday morning..........

Official Time -28.03 (Mile 1- 7.26, Mile 2 6.41-645, Mile 3 651-6.53, Mile 4 6.53-6.55). My time 28.00. I recorded the course as 4.05 miles. The extra 0.5 miles was a extra 17 seconds.As a tempo run a useful exercise

In the game of thrones you win or you die....

Did 3 miles recovery in the town park in Charleville. Did a mixture of slow walking and jogging and was conscious of the need  not to speed it up and to run it as a true recovery run. Took around 30 minutes.  6 and half laps around a park isn’t exactly exciting stuff. Tuesday , 17^th April. Had planned to do 6 miles with 5 X ½ mile repeats but the legs were like rocks all day and was practically nodding off at times in work. I thought my humour would improve once I got home but if anything i was less inclined to go out. Any in my schedule I designated this week as a cut back week (25 miles) and since I have signed for a 4 mile race on Thursday in Ballintotis I have decided to use that as my speed session. On the way home from work I called into Doneraile park and ran two laps of the park (6.2 miles in total). I do like running there but it ain’t a fast route and the half mile uphill is a real killer. At times my pace dropped to 10 mins a mile crawling up the hill. After the run (done at 8.20 pace) I did a 2 minute recovery and ran 6 sprints (0.1 mile) with 20 second recoveries. Enjoyed the session and I was happy to see the heavy legs and heavy mind lift. Came home to see my wife go out for her Wednesday exercise fix. Anyway to-morrow I have a 4 mile race in Ballintotis to enjoy. Will run this a tempo run and see how it goes. Back to watching Game of Thrones boxset tonight. Can you believe what happens in episode 8 series 1!!!!!

16^th April 3 miles recovery (10 minute pace)

17^th April rest day- heavy legs

18^th  April 3X2 (6.2 miles) laps of Doneraile park (8.20 pace) with 2 minute recovery and 6 X 0.1 mile sprints with 20 second recoveries.)

Beware of the Icebergs...

Beware of the Icebergs...

at mile 4 and mile 6, as some wag said at the start of the race. A group of us laughed, a couple of people gave some disapproving looks.. Anyway off we went. I had spent the previous night having a 4 course meal in a Cork hotel washed down with a couple of bottles of Bulmers. The mother in law couldn't understand why I "wasn't any thinner all the running I do". Now we know why !!! Finding a parking spot in Cobh  was tricky endeavour  what with all those hills but got there in plenty of time. Annette, a friend did note i looked a bit green around the gills but once we got motoring I was o.k. My original plan was to run the 10 miles as a long slow run -8.30 to 9.00 pace but that morning I resolved to run the 4 miles at this slower pace and run the last 6 miles at a all out pace or as close to a half marathon pace (7.30 pace). I knew I wasn’t fit or strong enough to race the entire ten miles at pace so I figured it would be better to run the race as a constructive long training run. A PB was out of the question. Dungarvan, Ballycotton or Mallow are the races for that.

Miles 1-4

Plodded off.It was nice running down the back and it was interesting how to see how people were getting on. Everyone looked very comfortable but when we hit the hills at mile 2 and mile 4 the effort was clearly too much even for those doing at such a slow pace. I was getting ansty at this stage and was looking forward to testing my legs. At mile 2 I was diverted by a lady spectator and her 3 rather large St. Bernard dogs. Glad they were under  a lesh but they looked too slobbery to be dangerous.

Mile 4 -10

Coming down the crest of the hill it was time to get some running done. I wanted to keep the pace between 7.15-7.30 as I was fearful the recovery would inhibit my running for the rest of the week. The local support was excellent and the course was very pretty with lots of green trees and country roads. Nice to hear the birds chirping, It definitely felt like Spring. The effort wasn’t too difficult and by mile 7 I was really enjoying myself. No one was passing me out and I was going past people by the cartload. I decided to run by feel and see what time I could end up with. At mile 7 a old lady pulled out right in front of us in a Astra but I even managed to run past that. (Ok it was hardly in first gear but it counts....). At mile 8 at a bend I managed to cut the corner nice and tight and took 3 club runners out of it. Something about a St Finbarrs singlet be it in or hurling or running that inspires a Northsider!!!! Things were getting a bit more difficult after this point and I think at this stage we were running the same route as the Cork to Cobh 15 mile race. This pushed me even further- scene of my best ever race -as the legs started to buckle. By Mile 9 as we turned into the town there were 4 of us running together . One guy with a beard in his 50’s was in trouble as he veered away from the racing line. I picked him off. Another guy running on the pavement looked surprised as I went past him. With ½ a mile to go the pavement  guy  sped up past me and onto the finish. The other guy with the shades was level with me and said something to me when he went past me. Couldn’t pick it up either in terms of what he said or the pace. These were the only two to pass me from mile 4 onwards. Crossing the line I was satisfied with a job well done. My time was modest (1.17.13). In fact it was my second slowest 10 mile ever but it was probably the first race this year I actually enjoyed. As a long run it was very useful.  

Then I had the long uphill walk to the community centre . Chatted to TJ Buckley on the way up. He ran 1.15 but was happy enough  with his efforts. TJ usually can pull a sub 3.30 in marathons even at the age of 60 – a mighty runner.

Was home to Charleville by 2.00 pm. Back to work tomorrow. A very well organised race. Will be back next year

Mile splits 8.16, 8.20, 8.45, 8.26, 7.19, 7.18, 7.00, 7.10, 7.22, 7.15. Miles 5 to 10 run at average pace of 7.14.

Total miles for week 36 miles

Was it as good for you as it was for me?....intervals!!!

Running intervals and calculating HRM (A beginners guide!!!)

April 10^th – Hope to do 1 mile warmup and then ½ mile at 3.25 pace. 2 minute recovery and then repeat ½ mile run again. Might do 3 in total (if I can manage it!!!). 2 mile jog home. I need to replace my heart monitor as the last one i dropped while doing the Rome marathon. (It was that kind of day!!) I am probably running my runs in the incorrect pace zones especially recovery  and long runs. From what I gather the idea is that running at the correct pace will eventually lead to your heart rate dropping and your heart becoming more efficient. Also running long runs at correct pace aids recovery which in turns allows you to go running more often etc etc. See below table from Pfitz

Recovery Runs @70%	Hr less than 142 HRM	Max HR 182	Run long runs 9.36  with  2nd half up to 8.48
Long runs	135 to 153	Resting HR 50
Lactate Threshold	150 to 167

April 11^th- Running intervals

Wednesday morning-Still off work. Left house at 8.00 am. Rang 1.2 miles to the Railway road at approx 8.00 pace. Ran ½ mile with 2 minute recovery. Conscious to keep the effort all the way through. Ran another ½ mile with 2 minute recovery. Did 3 more of these. The last one was the toughest as at that stage I was facing a small pull on the Cork road hard shoulder. Jogged the last 2 miles back home at 8.30-9.00 pace. Feel quite fresh afterwards. I was quite happy with how my workout went. I was apprehensive as how it would go and I was happy to see i could complete a set of 5 with reasonably even splits. Will do another set of 5 next week. I might keep at 5 for a few weeks. Not too sure how I while progress after that. The idea is that within 4 weeks i should my speed increase and my recovery improve. In otherwords my aerobic capacity improves as my heart, lungs and muscles are able to adapt.

Around mid-day the left ankle was feeling a bit tender but nothing serious. Spent a couple of hours driving that day and walking around Mahon Point and that didn’t help matters.

Around 5pm I jogged a recovery 3 miles around the park. A “friend” of mine is interested in starting running so I am trying to help them get started on a 5K plan.It suits me to use it as a recovery session. (Total miles for the day 9.2) Splits for ½ mile were as follows (6.40 pace,  6.34 pace, 6.30 pace, 6.38 pace, 6.50 pace)

April 12^th

Got up and out the door at 8.15 am. Hummed and hawed as I tend to do about weather to go out of not. Of course I ended up going out!! I tend to under go this type of struggle a lot - usually if running 3-4 days in a row or after a long day at work. More often than not I end up running . I am sure this struggle is part of all training cycles for runners of all abilities. Did 7 miles. Legs were heavy for the first 4 miles but felt strong for the last 3 miles. Ran at 7.51 pace. Ran up Love Lane and back down (1.7 miles). Did 2 ½ laps of town park  (under 1.5 miles). Then ran up and down to railway rd and back home (4 miles). Felt v fresh again but probably a mile too long and slighty too fast. (total miles for the day 7)

The mission should you choose to accept it....

is to run 3.29 in Dublin Marathon

Monday April 9^th-On Easter holidays. 29 weeks to Dublin. Seems like a very long build up but have decided to follow Pfitzinger’s 18week/ 70 mile plan. Will need 9-11 weeks to build base up to starting point of 45-51 miles. My goal is to achieve a sub 3.30 goal in Dublin marathon on 29^th October. A tough but a achievable task. This will be my 5^th marathon. I did Dublin 2010 in my target goal of a sub 4 (3.58.30). In retrospect I could have shaved 5 minutes of my time but I was very happy with my time. My second marathon was Cork in June 2011. I followed the same plan as before and aimed for a 3.50 but fell somewhat short at 3.53.04. I was happy in completing my second marathon in so far as I knew I could complete the distance,  running a max of 40 miles (20 and 22 mile runs) and doing no speedwork. I was disappointed in that I had no second gear just a ernest plod of 8.50 pace.

I knew I needed to work on different aspects of my marathon training and in the summer of 2011 purchased Pfitzinger’s Advanced Marathoning. The book arrived just before I started training for Dublin 2011 (marathon number 3). I wasn’t too sure about being able to do some of LT and VO2 max workouts partly out of fear and partly out of laziness. The schedules look intimidating first time out. I did however lock into the marathon pace running. That proved a massive boost to my running. In warm up races I hit 1.44 In Dingle half marathon (a 13 minute improvement), 1.39 in Charleville HM and a very satisfying 1.58 in 15 mile Cork to Cobh (the last 5 miles were at 7.30 pace). In Dublin i hit my best marathon time ever (3.40.51). The effort proved very taxing though and at miles 16 -18 and 23-25 I didn’t think I would make it. 6 weeks later with very little training I ran 1.41 in a very tough Clonakilty half marathon.

Next shot was Rome marathon on 18^th March 2012. Took it very easy in training building up base slowly. Whatever it was I didn’t have the heart to follow Pfitz’s book.In mind and body Dublin 2011 took a lot of me and I targeted Rome as a sub 4, certainly not a PB. My form in road races (belgooly 4, bandon 5 and most awful of all Dungarvan 10) wasn’t improving (none under sub 7 average) and the fog wasn’t lifting from my head. However in the last 7 weeks to the race  I hit a serious golden patch (3 weeks of 50 plus miles peaking at a 57 mile week- a record). In training i ran 20 miles in 2.45 and 23 miles in 3.10. I revised my target and decided to give the 3.30 a shot. In retrospect I knew this was daft as on the day a combination of factors killed me. There was stuff I had no control over (cobblestones and heat) but the stuff I had control over I didn’t do well at all (flat garmin, no hat, getting there late). This was my worse prepared race ever and my worse performance in terms of running (walking the last 3 K). I finished in 3.52.XX but should have had a 3.45.

Anyway have decided to follow Pfitz’s schedule as best as I can. I was also interested by Thomas Bubendorfer’s successful use of the book when getting a sub 3.30 in 2006 after falling short 4 other times. His blog and others are worth reading. If anything their race reports are well worth a read. Mine won’t be as dramatic.

April 10th

Base 11 I did 19.7 miles in a week. Took it very easy. Base 10 was 33 miles in that week. My long run was 11 miles in new route (Colmanswell). I was out of shape but was happy with getting the miles up on my legs. Base 9 did 3 miles in  town park on Monday.  On Tuesday I ran 2 laps of Doneraile park (10km) in a modest pace (8.31).  I am conscious of the need to explore new routes. I was stuck on the same old run in Charleville town and Mayfield so will run some routes around Fortlands, Bally hea, Doneraile park, Colmans well. Might even go up the ballyhoura mountains sometime.Also need to use my gym membership more- treadmill and pool useful for recovery runs and cross training.