Ever so slighly delicate....

Week ending 25^th November

Monday evening as I am writing this. Obviously not venturing out for a jog or a recovery walk as I was out every day last week and sometimes the couch is the best place to be. I have pretty much figured out (and inadvertently  leaked) my plans for next year.  More about that in a few weeks

Started the week off with the now routine 3 mile recovery walk with my wife. On Tuesday headed up to the local soccer pitch in Mayfield. Its at the back of the mother’s house and a was a regular refuge for us young lads back in the 1980’s where many a great soccer match was played. Roughly half a mile in diameter it’s flat enough but with a nice hilly kick on the return leg. Did 2 miles warm up at around 8.45 pace and then 3 X 1 miles with 3 minute recoveries with a one mile cooldown. Splits were 7.02, 6.59 and tired 7.15. All in all very happy as I didn’t know what to expect. On Wednesday revisted Mayfield for the usual 3 mile downhill and 3 mile uphill run. Legs were feeling nice and limber but was cautious enough running the route in 8min15 pace. There is a definite improvement all the same but running a casual sub 8 pace has yet to happen.

Thursday evening met up with the Mallow lads in Clyda GAA pitch on a freezing night for a interval session. 2 mile warm up with 12 X90 seconds sprints with a 2 mile or  so cooldown. I took this very seriously and was happy with my finish on each interval staying in the top of the middle third group.

Friday  in Charleville decided to jog 6 miles walking for one minute after each mile. Pace was faster than I expected and the walk saw my pulse drop quite quickly. Saturday rounded off the running week with another hill run up in Mayfield. I was a lot faster again for this one running at a pace of 8.06 with the last hilly mile completed in 7.50 pace. Rest of the day was spent in the company of the lads watching Everton giving Liverpool a fright in a cracking 3-3 draw with the rest of the night enjoying a few social beers. Sunday involved another 3 mile walk, had hoped to wak this at pace but I was as you say feeling “delicate”.

Monday 2.5 mile walk, Tuesday 6 miles with 3 X 1 mile intervals, Wednesday 6.2 miles, Thursday 6 miles with 12 X 90 minute sprints, Friday 6 miles with one minute walking breaks, Saturday 7 mile hill run in Mayfield, Sunday ever so slightly hung over 3 miles

Pa Buckley takes a bite out of the Big Apple - New York marathon 2013

Patrick "Pa" Buckley is a marathon veteran of over a 12 marathons and is a stalwart of Mallow AC. Only recently he completed the New York marathon in a PB time of 3hr32mins. Acknowledged to be a tough course Pa ran a excellent race despite suffering with a injury in the weeks leading up to the race. Here is his story!!!!

 

 

The New York Marathon November 2013

 

The New York marathon was held on Sunday 3rd of November 2013. It was the 43rd year of the race and is one of the 6 major world marathons. It runs through the 5 boroughs of New York and is one of the largest footraces  in the world.

 

The race starts out in Staten Island at 9:40am and finishes inside in Central Park. The position of the start means you have an early start to get out to Staten Island before the bridge closes at 7am from all traffic. You will need to keep well wrapped up before the start of the race as it can be chilly and there is a bit of a wait before the start.

 

9:40am The start of the race Staten island and the first of the boroughs.  Right before the start the national anthem is sung followed by the firing of the canon's and Frank Sinatra’s New York, New York to signal the start of the race.

 

 The first mile is all up hill onto the Verrazano bridge where you will find NYPD helicopters circling all around the bridge and a boat in the water underneath spraying water up into the air like a fountain. You won’t take much notice of the hill as you will be taking in the view and be in the midst of a load of other runners. The second mile is a very fast mile as you run down the other side of the bridge and into the second borough Brooklyn.

 

The race runs along 4th avenue and as soon as you come off the bridge there are good crowds of support cheering on the runners. The race goes along 4th avenue for about 6miles which has good wide streets so no need to be pushing your way through crowds of runners and wasting energy. You may find a couple of small inclines in pieces of this section but nothing to slow you down. The crowds will keep you going anyway.

 

 After 8 miles the race comes into Williamsburgh and onto Bedford avenue. Here you will find a few hills and around the 9 or 10 mile mark will pass through the Jewish quarter of the city. Once you leave this area you will find local bands blasting out the music and songs and may help you get rid of any negative thoughts you might of had if you were starting to struggle in any way.

 

There will be a good atmosphere from here all the way to the Pulaski bridge where you will come to the half way point and also enter into the 3rd of the borough's Queen's.

 

At this stage you will have half of the race done and shortly after crossing over the Pulaski bridge you will start to see the daunting task that is the Queensboro bridge. Here you will come shortly to the 14 mile mark and it is roughly 2 miles long. This is where a lot of people will really start to get tired especially if you try to keep going at the same pace you were doing all along so maybe pull back things a small bit until you get to the other side of the bridge. Also from just before the bridge all the way to the other side there is no support or bands  to keep you going as the bridge is only opened to runners. There is a long hard climb up through the bridge so try to think positive as it can feel like it never ends. Once you get to the other side of the bridge you enter the 4th of the borough's for the first time Manhattan. Here you will be hit with a massive wall of sound from the spectators and the crowds seem to be bigger already. The race takes a left turn and onto 1st avenue. Here you have done 16.5 miles and your down to the last 10 miles.

 

 In front of you, you can see for at least 3 miles dead straight in front of you with lots of small rolling hills up and down and a massive crowd of support on both sides of the road cheering you on. At 19.5 miles the race crosses over the Willis avenve bridge and into the 5th borough the Bronx where it only stays for about 1.5 miles before it crosses over the Madison avenue bridge and back into Manhattan for the second and last time.

 

Here you will come onto 5th avenue and are starting to head towards the finish. Miles 21 to 23 aren't too bad nothing to worry about apart from tired legs but mile 23 to 24 is all up hill and is a struggle. The only thing is  that the crowds are getting bigger and bigger as you get closer to the finish and if you can get over this mile the worst of it is over.

 

Mile 24 to 25 is in through Central park  where you will find 1 or 2 hills but you will also get 1 or 2 nice down hills to help you recover. Shortly after this you will exit Central park and come onto Central park south road where you will be onto the streets for the last time before the finish where you will find the crowds cheering you on to the finish.

 

With about 200 meters before the 26 mile mark you come back into Central park and you know you are nearly done. You then see the sign for the last 400 meters to go. All you have left is one small incline and a bit of a left turn where you will see the grandstands on both sides of the finish area and of course the finish line.

 

 You will get a great feeling as you cross the finish line knowing you have just completed one of the biggest marathons in the world in a city like New York with 51,000 other runners.

 

 Mission accomplished.Time was just over 3hrs 30 minutes. A new personal best. Chuffed.

 

My thoughts on the race are very positive. Having completed a few marathons now it is very much one of the best . This is definitely a race any enthusiastic runner should consider. It may cost a bit but is well worth it. The weather was good for it was only a little chilly at the start mainly because of where the start is but the rest of the day was perfect for running. As for the course you will get a bit of  everything some hills, up some down hills, some bridge's and a lot of flat straight roads. What else could you ask for. You will also get a lovely medal and a nice goody bag after the race and a lovely warm wrap around poncho. The only thing against it is you will have a bit of a wait before the start so be sure to bring old throw away clothes to keep you warm and it takes a long time to get out of Central park after you finish  so if your meeting family make sure to give yourself plenty of time. However even after you get out of the park and walk down the street to wherever you are going you will always find locals congratulating you and make you feel good about yourself and your achievement. 

 

The rest of the evening was spent in the evening of the other Mallow runners who also ran the marathon. Well done to Paudie and Ger, a mighty day indeed.

Another solid week

Week starting 11^th November

As part of my Movember bit, i decided to repeat the experiment of last year and throw a “ronnie”. Growth has been slow enough. At this stage last year I had sprouted a lovely tache that made me look like some 1970’s Irish- American gangster from South Boston. Anyway back to the running.

Monday I ventured out for a run in Mayfield, Cork for my favoured route around the northside. I had a few things on in Cork that evening so I took advantage of the chance to jog a deliberately slow 6.3 mile jog at a pace of 8.44. Tuesday I was back in Charleville for another 2.5 walk with my wife and on Wednesday ran another slowish 6.4 mile run at 8.54 pace. No doubt about it I was feeling tired and happy to finish the run. Thursday was another speed session with the Mallow lads in the GAA complex at Mourneabbey. It’s a shame Mallow AC considering their large membership and excellent enthusiasm of their organisers and members don’t have a more permanent base like a training field and clubhouse. It’s just too expensive to even get started hence the use of the GAA facilities. Running falls very low in the list of government priorities.

Anyway the training session went well enough for me but I was struggling at the middle end and dead on my feet at the end. It was a straightforward enough session – 2 mile warm up with 20 minutes of sprints and jogs and 2 mile cooldown but I found it hard. Better start getting used to it- next week promises to be a tough one for me in terms of workout.I'm not expecting overnight miracles though I am beginning to formulate a plan as to how I want the next 12 months to go.

Day off Friday with Saturday spent gardening. Sunday was a 10 mile slow run with the lads and ladies of Mallow up around hills, road and trails. A tough route but a enjoyable run. I was comfortable enough apart from the last half mile but that may have been a case of white line fever more than anything else.Ran 10.12 miles in around 1hr30mins12seconds. Delighted to get another 10 mile run up on my legs, happy again to get around comfortably. I will enjoy it while it lasts as things promise to get tougher in the new year.Last couple of miles were run in under 8.30 pace so all good.

I haven’t wore the HR strap in a while and at the moment happy enough not to do so. Next week promises a similar mileage week but with some faster workouts.One of these will be a tempo run so here’s hoping....

Monday 6.3 mile, Tuesday 2.5 mile walk, Wednesday 6.4 mile , Thursday 5 mile, Sunday 10.11 miles. Total mileage 27.8 miles plus 2.5 mile walk

Fingers crossed

Week ending 10^th November

Racked up over 28 miles this week plus a recovery walk of 2.5 miles. Very happy with how things have gone this week and generally satisfied with the direction of my running since September. At this stage I don’t think much more will be served by concentrating solely on base building to the exclusion of speedwork. Therefore after this weeks workouts I will be adding a (modest) amount of speedwork to the workouts. I also hope by December to increase the frequency of the workouts to 6 days a week (5 running and 1 walking recovery workout). Currently  I’m running 4 days a week plus one walking recovery workout. Speedwork will increase intensity. Upping the weekly mileage will increase duration

Monday I headed out in the dark winter afternoon to do 6 miles or so in Charleville. As the street lighting here is pretty poor and the town even smaller, much of my normal day time routes (country lanes, motor way and road and park) are off limits so it means a number of loops with a bit of out and back running. The garmin was on the blink so i went out with no watch on me meaning i had no idea what distance or pace i was doing but I reckon it was roughly 6.5 miles. I threw in  six sprints using the telegraph poles as guides. I ran 7 at a time resting for the following 3. These were all out efforts and the last mile jog home was a effort.

Tuesday was my recovery walk with my wife. All very social and relaxed around 2.5 miles. Helps those achey legs freshen up. Wednesday did my 10K run up in the hillier parts of Cork City. Pace was solid enough (8.30) but the last 2 miles are v tough but again very happy with my recovery afterwards.

Thursday evening meant hooking up with the Mallow Ac training group for the first time in three and half months. This was the start of my dip into speed work. 2 mile warm up with 6X 3 minutes sprints with a 2 mile cooldown in the most appalling weather. I was down the back for the speedwork with each sprint averaging out at around 7.30 pace. I was happy enough with the way things went. It was all about getting out there and losing the fear. The workout was on grass which was of great help . 6 miles in total.

I took two days off on Friday and Saturday meeting up with the Mallow gang for a planned 10 mile long run. I use the word gang advisedly as there was only 5 of us – Kevina, Barry, Dermot, Denis and myself. I hung down the back with Kavina for the first 6 miles before pushing on for the last 4 miles. I was curious to see what pace i could manage in the last few miles. I caught and went past the lads at mile 7.5, to be fair they were only just after the Dublin marathon and were happy to take it easy. When I finished the rain was coming down pretty heavily but i was very happy. This was my first double digit workout since the power drain of last July and a good solid attempt at a MP run.My pace for the marathon pace portion felt faster than the actual times posted. A similar effort would have produced a 7.30 pace last April but I was happy with the 8.10 average. I had no Hr strap but i was delighted with how things  had gone. 10 in 88 minutes with last 4 miles at 8.10 pace. I don’t see much point in increasing the long runs to any more than 10 miles for the next 3 or 4 weeks.

Fingers crossed for the next few months and lets hope the "Ronnie" starts sprouting at a quicker pace!!!!

Give out but don't give up.....(especially if you are a Mormon)

3^rd November

Just spent most of my Sunday afternoon tracking the fortunes of Mallow club runners and my cousin who took part in the New York marathon. Well done to all.

Running wise was a quiet one for me. Bank Holiday Monday  I ran 6 miles with 5 X 1 minute sprints in the middle. This was my first attempt in a small way at speedwork since last July. Sprints went fine and the loosening of the legs help me run the last mile in a seemingly effortless pace of 7.40. Did 10k up in Mayfield the next day in my more traditional Cork city route. As any readers will know by now this involves a heavy climb for the last 3 miles from Leitrim street to Montenotte and again up to Iona Green before a sudden drop down to the local church before another steep pull up Boherboy road. Run went very well, running it in 8.25 pace.

Headed off to London for the rest of the week for a bit of R and R doing the touristy thing with my wife, Aoiffe. Good fun had by all including taking in the excellent “Book of Mormon” musical and a comedy gig in the Hammersmith Appollo. The Primal Scream gig in the Opera House in Cork on Monday night was a good start as was bumping into the band in the airport the next day. The guitarist seemed like a decent guy though I didn’t talk to Bobby Gillespie.Still though I was spending so much looking over at the man himself the wife was beginning to worry for me.

I had planned to do a couple of 4 mile runs over in London but the busy itinerary and the ominous stuffed nose forced me to rethink my plans. This wasn’t a problem as I had reckoned a cutback week was probably called for. Nevertheless when I went back running in Charleville on the Sunday the legs were feeling very sluggish. Rather than force the pace i was happy to jog at a easy 8.55 pace for 8.41 miles staying on my feet for 75 minutes. I have to say I did find the last mile quite difficult. Next week I hope to get a bit more speedwork up on my legs, ideally running at least one speed session a week between now and the new year.This will be done in the company of the Mallow runners.

Mileage for week 20.61miles