Monday 7th January
3.72 recovery miles with my wife. Around 42 minutes or 10.29
pace. I would have happy to finish after 30 minutes but Aoiffe was enjoying the
run. I was just feeling hungry all the time ;-)
Tuesday 8th January and Wednesday 9th January
Couldn’t go running Tuesday. Pain in my groin was
bugging me all day. Didn’t feel any better by 5pm so decided to call it a day
and just rest and ice it. Went to bed early too , 9.15 pm and felt a lot
fresher waking up this morning at 6.30 am. Ran 7 miles this afternoon at what
was supposed to be a relaxed pace but after the first mile I couldn’t believe
that the pace was going so well. I didn’t force any sort of pace increase but
7.45-7.50 pace felt easy. Last mile was ran in 7.25. Wow!!!! I hardly felt out of breath.
7 miles in 54mins30seconds. 7.48 pace with last 2 miles at
7.35 and 7.25 pace
Thursday 10th January
Headed with Mallow Ac. 1.5 mile warm up with 25 minute tempo.
Covered 3.65 miles which is around 7 minute pace. Then completed 6 X 30 seconds
strides over a distance of 0.35 of a mile. Finished with a 1 mile cooldown. I
felt pretty strong as did a large number of my club runners. Every one is making
a real effort with a number of races coming up.
6.5 miles in total.
Saturday 12th January
The schedule called for a 8 mile run with 6 miles at goal
race pace (7mins a mile). Heading out the door this morning I wasn’t feeling up
to par for such a strenuous workout and with a race coming next week decided to
change it a bit. Decided to run a one hour time trail. I ran a few of these
when training for Dublin marathon and they were a excellent workout. If
anything such a workout today would serve as a indicator of any future marathon
pace goals. Mile 1 was a uphill effort and I was surprised and happy to see it
was completed in 8min04seconds (8.04). The legs were feeling strong and while I
wasn’t really pushing it too hard I found myself quite comfortable for the
remaining 51mins56seconds of the run. Mile 2/3/4 were all accomplished in
7.31,7.17 (2 laps of the town park-always a fast mile), 7.07. By mile 4 I had
reached 30 minutes and now it was time to see what I could do in the remaining
30 minutes. I have usually found in the last 6 months running is as much of a
mental activity as a physical one. If you think you will fail you usually will,
if you think about going faster your body will carry you. Such was the case
here. Mile 5/6/7 were all run in 6.55,7.04,7.06. During last summer I managed 8
miles in a hour in a training run for the first time ever. This had positive
implications for my half marathon and marathon finishing times. Today it now
felt I should be comfortably well under 8 miles in a hour. Mile 7 occurred
after 51.07 with the last mile (mile 8) taking me through town which slowed me
down slightly – 7mins23seconds. With 58mins30seconds up on the clock i was
determined to get another bit of distance in. When the alarm sounded after 60
minutes I had run 8.21 miles.
Very happy with the workout. Were I training for a marathon I
would be very excited with the numbers indicating as it does a possible PB at
the 13.1 and 26.2 distance. Shame I didn’t have my heart strap with me but when
I finished I didn’t feel stressed at all. In fact there was a 9th
mile in me. In regards to the Dungarvan 10 it means with a little more push I
should not be too far off my target time but it could still go either way.
8.2 miles in 60 minutes – 7.19 pace. Fastest mile 6.55 with
slowest mile 8.05. Last mile 7.23.
13th January 2013
Morning of my long run. Was thinking about 12 miles. Headed
to Mallow and met up with the rest of the group. I was feeling in poor form
when I got there probably down to the fact I ran a tough workout this week. I
also didn’t pack any hat or gloves which given the drop in temperatures was a
bad idea. The group plan was to do 13-15 miles but I was hoping to just do 12
miles. I perked up when we started but by mile 6 the legs were feeling heavy. Moreover
that groin strain which I have had since October was flaring up again and the
talk amongst the group of a planned hill was enough to see me double back early
by myself. At mile 9 I had to stop to stretch the affected area, jogged another
3 miles and finished the workout in 1.44.46. I wasn’t too worried about the
pace which was faster than I expected (8.38 pace) , just glad to get the 12
miles out of the way. Afterwards had a good chat with a few of the club members
even getting roped in by a lady to jumpstart her car battery. She was a nice
woman but I was pretty wrecked and the brain wasn’t completely thawed out
either. Anyway myself and Paudie got the job done (I haven’t had to jumpstart a
car in 8 years and to be honest I wasn’t completely sure of myself) and before
she went I noticed she had a AA sticker on her car. I asked why she didn’t ring
them and she replied “Sure they take ages to come out and isn’t it great having
two strong lads to help me out!!!”. One of the club runners laughing his face
off asked me if she gave me a kiss in gratitude. I had to laugh myself. Hope the lady in question managed to find a home for that rescue dog in her front seat.
Anyway finally got home and tucked into a bowl of soup. Much better....
Must get that groin seen to pretty soon though.
12 miles in 1hr44 to 1hr45 minutes, 8.38 pace.
Mileage for the week 37.42 miles
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