A ok-ish long run, could be better

23^Rd June – Saturday

Was slow and reluctant enough to get up this morning. The schedule called for 15 medium but I wanted to try something different rather than a ernest plod. I decided to see how I would feel after 6 miles and try a marathon pace finish. 4/5 of these MP runs are hugely informative and help the body adjust and adapt accordingly. If I made 15 miles and was able to do 16 miles all well and good if the legs went before 15 miles well at least I knew what I had to build on. I was able in races  to run 13.1 miles at 7.15 pace but running at pace in a training run is always harder. Clocked up 5.5 miles and then started to lift the pace. I was aiming for a sub 8 pace. At mile 5.5 I was averaging slightly faster than 9 minute pace (44.45). When I hit the steep climb just before mile 6 my time was 53.09. Time to test the legs now. Mile 7, 8, 9 and 10 passed in 7.56,7.43,7.49,7.55. Came to a savage hilly part on the road out of Gerryfine and up to Rathgoggin. You wouldn’t see the like of it in Dublin that’s for sure and I have to admit i wussed it. I paused the garmin and jogged gingerly up it before racing again. Mile 11 passed in 8.02. The effort was becoming difficult but I felt it was more psychological than physical.  I was happy enough with the way things were going but I doubted if I could stretch the pace to 15 miles. Headed down the railway rd in 7.48 pace for mile 12. Was determined to eek out another mile at 7.44. That 13^th mile was probably too fast but I wasn’t strong enough to run another mile at MP. I stopped and walked jogged the last 2 miles. I was a bit disappointed in the run in that I couldn’t sustain MP effort for another 2 miles but on reflection I did ok, not great, not good, just ok. I now have a building block of MP pace (7 miles out of 13 miles) I can work on. In a few weeks I will run 16 miles with 8or 9 at MP pace and hope to be able do 15 out of 18 miles at MP pace by October. I will also have run a couple of half marathons (hopefully sub 1.35) by then so it’s a good situation for week 2 of my 20 week programme. The thing with MP runs is not to race at a 7.15 pace but rather train the body to be able to run at my goal pace over a long period of time. It’s sounds easier than the reality. It’s also obvious I am out of practice racing...

13 miles with miles 7 to 13 run at 7.50 pace. Over all time 1.48.08. Hr was 153 but over the last 6 miles was 163 which is a crazy high. Hopefully that will improve over time. It did last year so no worries there yet.

24^th June

Finished the week off with 5.5 mile recovery jog. Walked for a minute or two after every slow mile in order to keep the heart rate low. Hr was 136. Took around 55 minutes. My weeks running was ok –ish. My tempo run went well as did my 11 mile medium run but the 9 mile medium jog and aspects of my long run weren’t all they should be. Still though I have logged another 50 + plus mile week and feel ready to tackle another week. I will repeat this weeks schedule again but work will be intruding a fair bit.

Monday 18^th June – 9 miles with 4 tempo, 19^th June 11 miles medium,20^th June 5 recovery,21^st  June 9 miles medium, 22^nd  June  rest, 23^rd June 13 miles with 7 at MP, 24^th June 5.5 miles recovery.

Total mileage 52.5

Man bites dog

18^th June

Monday morning.

 Some of my mates are either injured at the mo or not actually doing / any much training. This isn’t surprising given the fact that the summer usually means you are more rather than less busy as a parent.  In case of one my friends his  injury problems are related to a suspect IT band issue. Hope it sorts itself out Aidan!!!! I have been lucky so far (touch wood) in regard to injuries but increasing mileage and doing a interval session like today does increase the risk. That said it is a chance worth taking given the potential benefits. Managed to sneak out the door at 5.30 and not wake Aoiffe. It’s amazing how good i am becoming at this!!!!

Ran 2.5 miles warm up. I went up and down Love lane , past Cavanaghs car dealership and back up the road again. Did that in around 8.27 pace. Now for the tricky bit... Running tempo’s is hard – “comfortably hard”. The schedule called for the 4 miles at half marathon pace. The point of the exercise is the push out the lactate threshold envelope, training your body to run at a fast pace but not fast enough to lead to lactate buildup. Anyone who feels soreness and stiffness in their quads after a tough game of soccer will know what lactate is. You want to run at such a pace so the body will become used to running at that pace and delay LT buildup. I ran the first mile in 7.18, second mile in 7.15 and mile 3 in 7.13. At this stage I was running quite well and close to my half marathon pace. The last mile was completed in 7.08. Not fast mile times and certainly slower than what I could do in a race but a good workout. I finished up with a easy 2.5 mile jog home in about 8.30 pace and was sitting down for breakfast at 7.15 am. Aoiffe wasn’t even out of bed. When I told her about my 5.30 run I got nothing more than a large yawn and a look that is normally saved for the simple minded and insane. The heavens opened up at 11.30 am and it bucketed down

9 miles 2.5 mile warm up, 4 miles at 7.14 pace (HR 160) and 2.5 mile cool down (HR 145)

19^th June

Took advantage of a lie in this morning and didn’t leave the house until 8.36 am. The schedule called for a 11 mile “medium” run. Seemed like a lot to me so I approached this one with caution. The book defines medium runs as “similar pace to long runs and to avoid the temptation to go out too fast”. I made that mistake last Wednesday on my ten miler. I figured a 8.30 pace should keep the heart rate under 150. Not much to report on the run itself other than that it was a nice day for it and I bumped into a former pupil I taught in St Aidans way back when. He was coaching small kids on hurling skills-nice guy. He quipped “ Are you running to get away from  St Aidans?” By mile 8 I was finding the effort a bit tough and I was longing for it to finish. Sometimes slow running can be tough. On two occasions the heart rate went to 160 so I stopped and walked  for a minute each time.  To be honest i wasn’t enjoying it and the last half mile jog up the hill by the in-laws nearly did for me. Will do another 11 miles medium next week – these medium runs  progress a mile every week up to 15 miles!!! Won’t even contemplate the defeat to Italy. Spent the afternoon glazing the patio and watched "Layer Cake" on the box - nice!!!!

11 miles – 1.32.37- 8.25 pace- Heart rate 149

20^th June

5 mile recovery jog. Jogged at 9.44 pace. 134 HRM. 48 minutes 47 seconds.

 A long recovery jog I have to admit but it will be needed when the mileage starts hitting the high 60’s.

21^st June

Maybe my body is adapting to the schedules or maybe it’s the fact I am getting soaked all the time when i am out or maybe I should have re-read “THE BOOK” when it talks about general aerobic runs (pg 141)  but did I make a right dinner out of this one. Maybe my body was a  bit tired after donating a pint of blood yesterday. (always a good cause though and to be recommended) I was supposed to run 9 miles at general aerobic pace, the point of which was to increase training load and the pace was meant  to be 15 to 25% slower than marathon race pace (MP). That equates roughly to around 8.30 to9.45 a mile. Sounded way too slow to me and I was getting worried I hadn’t  ran a good session in a good while. (Actually I did on Monday but I was thinking more than 4 miles tempo). Ran up the hilly Love Lane  in 8.23 for mile 1. Went past the school in 7.35 for mile 2. Mile 3 took me out by Smiths Rd for 7.35. After that I was banjaxed. Back down Smiths rd in 8.28. Mile 5 involved a loop of the town park in 7.51 so i was running better but feeling terrible. Mile 6 was out towards Newline and out the Cork Rd in 7.52 but again feeling brutal. I knew I couldn’t sustain it and I stopped and jogged for a minute. Mile 7 was done in 8.07 and the rest of the last miles I crawled home – wet and miserable – 8.44 and 9.00. I felt a bit despondent. Early days yet but I was thinking if i can’t sustain a sub 8 pace on a 9 mile run , what hope a marathon? Anyway rest day tomorrow. My running so far this week has been poor. Will do 15 miles on Saturday and as i am a week early on the schedule will repeat as much of it as I can next week. Given the fact I have to head up country for a couple of days next week and start correcting state exams it might be asking too much too do all of the schedule again. We'll see....

Postscript

Had a small encounter with a dog owner up Love Lane. Her  cross bred German alastian was running around the road without a lead. He looked harmless but i wasn’t comfortable with it as I was running past him and she said era take no notice he’s harmless. I told her otherwise and told her have the dog on a lead. Nothing against dogs (in fact I think they are great) but surely the shaggin owners can do something as simple as have them on a lead.  I have had enough awkward incidents with dogs while running to know what I am talking about.One area down Bakers road is a no go area as the dogs have bitten in the past.  Anyway a small incident-time to face the rain again and the music leaving cert paper.

9 miles at 8.11 pacein 1.13.39. HR way too high – 158!!!

Marathon training starts this week!!!!!

Saturday 16^th June

Just realised last night that this week marks the official beginning of my training for the Dublin marathon. The previous 11 weeks were all about building my base mileage and run a few races. Well I am now up to 52 miles and I have achieved PBs in 4 miles, 5 miles and set and reset PB’s in the half marathon. Don’t how many races I will be doing over the summer but I will probably be doing another one of the Ballycotton series and the Donoughamore 7. Might tackle the Dromcollogher 4 as well. Tempted to run the 15 mile Killarney maxi marathon but not too sure. Correcting leaving certificate papers and trying to scrape together a bit of cash for a holiday will take up both time and money. Anyway I have put together a 20 week training plan based closely on Pfitzingers training schedules. Like all plans it probably will change as I go on but I hope to stick as closely as possible to the spirit of it – namely tempo runs, strides, long medium midweek runs, long slow weekend runs and most crucially marathon pace long runs. The latter element of training is my opinion vital to running a successful marathon but the MP long run has to be done carefully and sparingly. By September I will be running a couple of half marathons with a 3 week taper in October. Hopefully my mileage will peak at 70-72 miles with most of my training in the 50 to 70 mile per week zone. This will be a big challenge for me and my body. I do have the advantage of having time to complete my workouts in the morning and do my work (namely correcting) afterwards and not worry about a long commute to the office or babysitting. I should also really be doing some core workouts on my abs, back and quads but I really don’t like it!!! Then again I could eiter get burned out or injured. Time will tell.

Anyway ran 16 miles this morning. Was up and out the door by 7.05. Ran this as a cross between a long slow run and a medium run with the last 2 miles at marathon pace. In otherwise a moderate relaxed effort with a challenging finish. Did the last 2 miles in 8.00 and 7.57 pace. It means I have done 50 miles this week with a easy recovery jog tomorrow. Have to careful not over stretch it during the long runs. I will have a 16 mile run with 10 miles at MP coming up in next couple of weeks- that will be tough.

16^th June – 16 miles in 2hrs16mins at 8.36 pace.  Average HR 148

17^th June Easy paced recovery run 3 miles – 38 minutes

Monday  9 miles, Tuesday 8 miles with 4 at 7.14 pace, Wednesday 10 miles, Friday 7 miles, Saturday 16 miles, Sunday 3 miles. Total miles – 53 miles

Early starts and a missed interval session

11^th  June

Up and out the door by 5.55 am. A bit crazy I know and definitely the earliest I have ever been out running but I knew I would be home a bit later than normal this evening.. I also wanted to get  to watch a bit of the football on the box too. Less said  about the Ireland – Croatia game the better.Anyway I was very sluggish for the first 5 miles. Not surprising given the mileage I had run the previous week and the early start. By mile 6 things had picked up and the next 3 miles I was around 7.30 pace. The last mile was great completing it in 7mins 12 seconds. Showered, brekkie and then onto work. Heart rate was low too 147 BPM.

9 miles at 7.57 average pace. 1.11.33. Average HR 147.

12^th June

Was up running at 5.50 am. Again I knew I was going to be home late and the Poland – Russia game intrigued me.(  Irish – English rivalry hasn’t  got anything on this gang). Intended to run 2 miles warm up – 4 miles temp and 2 miles cooldown. Mile 1 and 2 passed in around 8.25 and 7.37 pace. The tempo portion I intended to do close to half marathon pace. This I managed quite easily -7.12, 7.12, 7.13 and 7.06. Finished with 2 mile jog home – 8.26 and 8.30 pace. If I wanted I could have ran the last miles at sub 7.30 pace and completed the 8miles in a hour. Obviously I am very fit these days. 

8 miles in 1.01.30 with 4 miles at 7.11 pace. Average HR 154

13^th June

Things are bad when your sister law drives past you at 6.16 am in the morning with a look of horror on her face. I had at that stage done 6.5 miles of my planned ten miles. Deirdre was on her way to her long commute to Little island when she saluted me as i heading from Ballyhea back to Charleville. I was out the door at 5.30 am this time. I wanted to get the ten miles in and to get into work on time. My students were sitting Leaving Certificate History and Junior Certificate History and I had some supervision to do at 9.15 so getting up early was the only way to  fit it all in. The schedule of Pfitzinger and Douglas calls for medium runs of 10 miles. These medium runs peak of 15 miles which i have to admit is pretty savage. I gauged the pace would be somewhere between 8.00 – 8.30 or about 60-70% of my heart rate. Anyway i felt pretty good during the workout and kept to around 8.05-8.10 pace. When I came home the garmin had me down for 1.08.56 which was around 7.53 pace. I had done the last number of miles at 7.40 pace with the last mile at 7.30 pace. Thing is is that i never even noticed. Heart rate was 152 average which is probably a bit too high too. Must watch that next time and try to stick to the slower pace otherwise i will suffer during more intense workouts – like tomorrows.

13^th June 2012- 10 miles – 1.08.56- 7.54 average –HRM 152

14^th June –Suffer I did... never managed to stir myself out of bed at 5.45 am to do my run. Slept like a log until Aoiffe’s alarm went off. When I did get into work felt strangely groggy and the back of the calves were sore – always a bad sign. The heavy downpours and the prospect of missing any of the soccer tonight (Ireland playing Spain) was enough to lead me to persuade me to do the  running to-morrow on Friday –normally my running day off

Friday 15^th June – Waking up it dawned on me that Ireland really did get stuffed 4-0 last night and it wasn’t a bad dream. I also realised my 3 X 1 interval sessions were going have to be cancelled as I doubted if I would be recovered enough to do my scheduled 15 mile run on Saturday. Thursday was the day really to do it. Anyway in the face of wind and rain opted for a easy 7 miles instead- designed to freshen the legs up. Did the 7 miles in `1.05.55 – very slow but very relaxed. HR was very low too 137 HRM. Bumped into Dick Riordan. Dick runs with North Cork Ac and turns 45 next week. He’s fresh off running a sub 3.15 marathon in Limerick. The most mileage he did was 62 miles. In the space of two years he has taken 30 minutes of his marathon times. We were discussing about whether he should be targeting a sub 3 marathon now over the next year. No reason why he shouldn’t go for it. A good guy and his newsagents on the main street in Charleville is one of the best around. Hopefully I will be that guy in October ;-)

7 miles – 1.05.55-9.23 pace – Average HR 137.

Friends who run are also friends who drink beer

5^th June

Back to more mundane bread and butter stuff this week. Had a nice lie in bed.  Up and  out the door by 10 am. Did 5 miles at 10.30 pace.52 mins and something. Heart rate slightly high for a recovery effort-125. I was pondering my performance in the last 3 miles of the half marathon yesterday. It definitely cost me a minute in my time. Something to consider in the future. I won’t be doing any more half marathon races until September. I have targeted the St Finbarr’s “Blarney” Cork half marathon and of course the Charleville half marathon. Will be looking for a sub 1.35 in those and they will also be useful races in the lead up to the Dublin Marathon. A long way to go though. I did ring one my buddies just reminding him with 20 weeks to go to the Dublin marathon it might be a good time to start on a training schedule. I don’t know if he appreciated it!!!!

5 miles at 10.30 pace. Average heart rate 125 Bpm

6^th June

Went out the house at 3.00 pm. I was wearing long sleeved running shirt (my Dublin marathon 2011 shirt – no less), a yellow waterproof top and a white hat. I was anticipating heavy showers but after 1.5 miles the sweat was rolling out of me. Had to double back to the house and take off the hat and waterproofs before resuming my run. By mile 4 down the railway rd the heavens opened up but the heat was still there.I was actually enjoying the running in rain jumping over puddles and sidestepping vehicle splashes and the like. Headed down the back of the empty Campus garage and then onto a lovely quiet stretch onto Rathgoggin Lower and down towards Ballyhea GAA pitch before turning right onto Pike cross and onto the Cork Rd back up to Charleville diverting off at Newline and finishing by the pitch and putt club. That was 9 miles in total and I did it at a fair pace. The last 3 miles were all under 7.30 pace. The first 2 miles were slow 8.00 and 8.20 but things picked up after that. These “medium” runs are meant to peak at 15 miles according to the schedule and are to be done midweek. By jingo the y are tough- they will either make me or break me. What does worry me is that I am expected to be able 26.2 miles at this pace in October!!!!! Had a mile left to walk home. Walked for 3 minutes noticing the heart rate dropping to 120 BPM. Then decided to do 7 X 0.1 mile strides with 25 second walking break between each one. A satisfying workout

6^th July 2012 – 9 miles in 1.09.18. Average pace 7.42 . Average heart rate 156 BPM (a bit high). 7 X 0.1 strides

Total mileage 9.7 miles

7^th July

Was up and out the door by 6.45 am. This time I knew there was no chance of getting away without a hat and waterproof zip top. Good young Jean Byrne left the nation in no doubt as to what to expect today and she wasn’t wrong. While it was bucketing down it wasn’t too windy and so off I went. I wasn’t too sure what exactly I was supposed to be doing today. I knew I had to do 7 miles but was it one mile warm up with 3X1 interval miles followed by 3jog home or was it a 4 mile tempo run with 3 mile jog home or a 1 mile warm up with 4 miles tempo and 2 mile jog home? Problem was I didn’t know what the best thing was to do. Not deciding what you are doing before you are going out the door is a classic running error and I fell for it. I ran the first mile in 7.15 and then decided to keep going. Mile 2 6.54, Mile 3 7.28, Mile 4 7.19, Mile 5 7.32. Not bad times for me by any stretch but compared to previous speed workouts they were neither good interval times or good tempo times.A case of neither fish nor fowl. Anyway the wind had picked up considerably and the rain was making visibility difficult. The hat, ziptop, shorts and trainers were soaked through by mile 5 and the legs were turning to cement. Jogged the last  2 miles in 8.55 and 8.43 pace – glad to have it over and a valuable lesson learned. Need to have my mind more with it next time.

Total mileage 7 miles. First 5 miles in 36.28 (7.17 pace) and last two in 8.55 and 8.43 pace.

9^th June

Rested well. Headed to bed at 10.15 Friday night and was up and out the door by 7.15 am the next day. Once I woke up at 7.00 am i knew there was no point in staying in bed any further. I do like to get the long run completed by 11 in the morning. I had it in my head to do at least 10 miles and if I felt ok to see if i could make to 12 miles and then take it from there minding the fact i had raced 13.1 miles on the Monday. Picked a really boring route around Charleville which involved lots of back and forth stretches but which had the advantage of being never further than 3 miles from the house at any one time. It also involved lots of pulls and a few hills. By mile ten I was taking it pretty handy doing around 9 minutes a mile, the heart rate looked ok enough too. At the bottom of the railway road I was feeling a bit parched so I  popped into the railway station to take a quick gulp of water from the taps. What the people getting onto the train made of me I have no idea!!! Anyway this perked me up and I plodded along at a nice relaxed  pace. At mile 11 I figured why not and did another 3 miles – again at a slow leisurely pace. Met my wife on the way out she was off doing her exercise thing. A very solid effort at 14 miles. This was faster than the same distance 2 weeks ago with a lower heart rate. Mind you it was very cool today and very hot back then. Onto Cork tonight and a friends 40^th party. Might do 3 recovery to-morrow and get 50 miles up on the legs this week.

9^th June 14 miles , 2.06.09. Average pace 9.01. Heart rate 143 BPM

10^th June

Had a very good night last night at Aidan’s 40^th. It was amazzing the number of friends who have taken up running - myself, Aidan, Don, Dermot, Annette, Therese, David Hackett  have all run various races lately. Kieran Doyle and Riobard come to mind as well  as does Denis Connolly.Tim is doing the ring of Kerry cycle race next month. Another mate Jack is talking about starting up the running too while Aidan's brother James was a college runner in Texas University and is a coach with Leevale. My cousin Don Ryan is after completing his third marathon.

 Still sweating the Heineken out of my pores as I type this. Didn’t really have to go running either but wanted to rack up 50 miles for the week. Mission accomplished. 3.1 miles at around ten minutepace. Sets me up for the week.

Monday 13.1 miles, Tuesday 5 miles, Wednesday 9.7 miles, Thursday 7 miles, Friday rest, Saturday 14 miles, Sunday 3.1 miles. 51.8 miles.

Photo Finish

Myself and Aidan McGee just after the finish of the Cork half marathon.

Doing the 'Pana -Cork Half Marathon report

Cork Half Marathon Report 4^th June 2012-

Still waiting for my official result but I clocked it at 1.36.14 which it is a 60 second (ish) improvement on  the Bandon half marathon. I suppose I could grouse and have wished for a sub 1.35 and a number of runners killed me at the end but all in all still a very satisfying time. Really enjoyed the day-met loads of people, the usual gang of mates Dermot and Don and their wives but also a few old school mates as well as a few aunts and uncles and a couple of people from Charleville. I watched the marathon set off at 9.00 am and I really enjoyed it as a spectacle. I enjoyed not just watching the top runners take off but also watched the ordinary joes and the club runners go about their business too. Hats off to Don Golden’s father Paddy who was walking the marathon with his mate- walking 26.2 miles is a very tough undertaking. See Grellan’s Mc Grath’s blog if you don’t believe me. Met my buddy Aidan McGee at 9.15 and after we dropped our bags to city hall proceeded to Ringmahon. Aidan was a club runner with Leevale AC in his youth running in the same training group as Mark Carroll and his brother James McGee.I was nagging him for years to get back into it and despite a IT band issue was now at the start line with me.

I knew the route backwards having lived in Cork but also having ran the full and relay events the last two years. I was thinking a 7.12 average would get me under 1.35 but was also happy to just  improve on Bandon. After all while it was a race it was still in many ways a long run so no  point in killing myself either. Miles 1 to 7 whizzed by in 51 minutes but I was a small bit outside my target of 1.35. Unlike previous years it was very hot and while it was obvious the marathon runners were suffering especially by Glasheen the crowds were giving great gusto to the runners. I hit mile 8 in 7.10 and mile 9 in 7.10 and I was hoping I might turn things around. Negotiated the long drag at Model  Farm rd pretty easily and even got a water bottle off one my students !!! In fact the number of pupils around the place was gas and they were very helpful with shouts and cheers. Hit mile 10 under 1.13 but the effort and the heat going up the “straight” road was taking it’s toll not just on me but on other runners. Time and time again this stretch while flat is long and monotonous and reduces many runners to jogging pace. This was no different. This mile 11 was completed in 7.45 pace and I was getting worried. I managed to recover somewhat by the millrace and ran mile 12 in another flat time of 7.35. Hit the North Mall with a mile to go and when I crossed Patricks Bridge it was the best part of the race. Spotted Aidan’s family cheering me on and my Dad just by the Moderne. High fived another bloke I knew and crossed the last mile in 7.35.

I was pretty wrecked crossing the line and I was glad to get my water and banana. If I wore my heart strap god knows what my heart rate would have been measured at!!! McGee finished in 1.38 for his first half marathon and did the last mile in 6.45 which is savage running. Then onwards for tea and toasties for us in the Long Valley.In retrospect I was happy with my time but disappointed with running out of steam over the last 3 miles but probably was more to do with my lack of core fitness than anything else. Anyway rest time this evening and a few easy slow miles tomorrow

A dodgy fusebox

30^th May

9.30 miles charleville. Warm day for it. Legs felt v heavy so had to take it slow. Ran in 1.15.51(8.10 pace). Heart rate 147  bpm.

31^st May

Up and out the door by 7 am.Late start in work helped my cause. Legs were very heavy. Reflected in my first (uphill) mile 8.42 pace. After that things picked up and was finishing under 7.45 pace for the last few miles. Did 8 miles at 7.49 pace. Around 1 hr 2 mins 30 seconds. Average HRM 150.

1^st June

Long day at work. Have a job in September but not quite the conditions I hoped for.I would be lying if I said I wasn't pissed off. The situation regarding part time /pro rata teachers is a effin disgrace. Anyway regardless of all that I won’t be running the 5K in Doneraile tonight. Shame as I was hoping to do it but what with the Cork half marathon  on Monday it’s probably best to save the legs.

2^nd June

Legs were heavy again when I headed out but just wanted to keep it slow as possible. After each of the first 3 miles I walked for a minute or two. By mile 6 felt a lot better and decided to run at a fast tempo pace for a mile. Did this in 6.55 pace. Did mile 7 in jogging pace again (9.20 p) and mile 8 a little bit faster in 8.20.Went up to Cork City. Met my dad for a chat and then collected my number and Aidan’s number in the expo. Very low key as per usual. Goody bag was crap apart from the t shirt there was little of any use in it. Not even a bag of tayto!!! Called up to my mums and then back to Charleville where my lovely wife has just made a lovely soda bread  and one of her freshly made pizzas –none of that Goodfella’s rubbish either. Jamie Oliver will be always be welcome in our house!!!

3^RD June

Bucketing from the skies the last 24 hours. Normally don’t mind running in the rain but the wife wanted to run her 3 miles but didn’t fancy doing it the rain so opted for the gym instead. Haven’t used my gym membership in 2 months so I suppose why not!!!. Thinking of ending my membership as the monthly cost and my lack of use on top of escalating costs is making it too expensive. Anyway did 3 miles on the treadmill under half a hour making it a recovery run. Aoiffe tipped away as well. Having problems with the fusebox and the electrics at the mo in the house. More expense.

My weekly mileage would have been nearer 50 miles this week were it not for the Cork half marathon being on a bank hoiliday Monday. This is my long run as well as a race so the totals are skewed as a result. I hope next week to get up to 50 miles

Weekly mileage 38.4 miles. Tuesday 10 miles, Wednesday 9.3 miles, Thursday 8 miles, Saturday 8 miles, Sunday 3.1 miles