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!!!