Plans for 2014

31^st December 2013

Ran my last few miles of the year today. 8 miles with 7 miles at marathon pace. I had notions of running a tempo run but was feeling rather chesty and the legs were heavy. Instead I decided to a first warm up mile (uphill) and then run 7 miles at 7.45 average pace. Not too hard but providing enough stimulus for the legs.

Mile 1 of the warm up was up Love Lane in 8mins30 seconds pace. After that I got lashed on for the entire duration. Up Smiths rd, down Smiths road, through the park, onto Newline turning left onto the Cork road, up and down the railway road and the last mile through town and back home. That was 8 miles on a flat course. Splits were as follows -7.32,7.48,7.53,7.39,7.49,7.50,7.45. That was the best I could do – 7.45 average.

Plans for next year? I have entered the Dungarvan 10 and the Ballycotton 10. The Dungarvan 10 on the 26^th January will probably be the first race I have run since the end of July.  It’s unlikely at the moment given my tempo training splits that I will be anywhere near sub 70 pace. I usually find that a few races usually helps me find my feet in that regard – adaptation. Therefore I would be happy just to improve on my last couple of poor showings there, somewhere in the 1hr13minutes to 1hr16minutes range. Hopefully i will then be able to bring a bit of form into the Spring races.

Last year was a disappointment. Things got off to a slow start in Dungarvan 10 but from then until June I hit PB’s in every race I ran. The big peaks were the Mallow 10 (1hr09mins53seconds), Limerick 13.1 (1hr34mins16secs), Midleton 5 (33mins10secs) amongst other good races in Wexford, Ballycotton and Ballintotis. Things went pear shaped during the Cork marathon , for reasons I never understood (3.59.58) which was followed by a 3 month period of general fatigue and muscle and groin pain. I ran 3 races in July (Donoughamore, Churchtown and Carrigtwohill) but lets just say I was far from my best and simply took August and early September off running. It has taken me since then to get where I am now. I even got a exhaustive number of medical checks which all showed up fine but the doctor did say I had burned by body out. I do know now as much as I hate to admit it that I will never be the sub 3 marathon runner  that we all dream to be. Instead I will play to my own strengths.

The big race in April will be the Connemara marathon. Note the marathon not the ultra marathon. A pity as I hoped to do the ultra in 2014 but the training involved (back to back long runs) would have proved too taxing on my time and other peoples time too. A friend once told me you have to be a bit selfish to be a marathon runner but I don’t think it would be fair on other people to be expected to be picking up the pieces all the time. Running can never be the number one priority.

So there you are- the Connemara marathon it is. Will I predict a time? Sub 3.30? Sub 3.45? Sub 4 hours? Lets just say for the moment I will be happy to get to the starting line and will see from there.

Below is a bit of a guilty pleasure...Dan Fogelburg "Same old Lang Syne"

The extra bit.........

Didn’t do any running Friday and Saturday. Nothing unusual in that as I usually take a day off Friday. I had planned the time off well in advance as myself and Aoiffe were due to head out for dinner in Cork with my mum. Her birthday is on Stephens Day and can sometimes get forgotten in the exchange of Xmas gifts. Anyway we had a lovely meal in the Electric in the South Mall. I was a bit concerned heading out as the stomach didn’t feel at all good but thankfully had improved by the first course. Avoided dessert this time drinking nothing stronger than mineral water. Aoiffe and Mum drank happily and ate merrily. I had planned to run the Togher 5k at 11 am Saturday morning but it didn’t seem right to leave Mum in the lurch  after spending the night there so we hung around till 1 in the afternoon. Aoiffe decided to have a “look” in the shops while she was up and at this stage my feet were feeling a bit antsy (gotta run, gotta run, gotta run). By the time we got home to Charleville after 3 the stomach was acting up again and I was afraid I had picked up the dreaded vomiting bug. I wasn’t feeling great at all and simply spent the next 3 hours asleep on the couch before sleeping a further 10 hours in bed.

Sunday morning at 8 am the ice outside the drive was pretty bad and the car couldn’t even get up the passage. It meant not heading to Mallow to take part in the club long run and spending another few hours in bed. Thankfully the stomach was a lot better (I will spare readers further details) and I headed out myself at 11 am for a planned 130 minute/15 mile jog. The plan was simply to stay on my feet as long as possible. No heroics required here. Nevertheless I was pleasantly surprised to see I had run 7 miles in a hour (8.33 pace). I felt i was jogging really slowly but the pace was better than I thought. I hoped I could run the next 7 miles in a hour as well but to be fair that wasn’t really the purpose of the run. Anyway to cut a long story short I didn’t (the next 7 miles took 62 minutes) By mile 12 the pace had dropped to 9 minute pace with the agonies really coming over me at mile 15. The last miles were completed in 9.05 pace and I was glad to be finished. 15 miles in 2hrs11minutes30 seconds (8.45 pace).

Monday 30th December was a more relaxed affair. 4 miles at a walk run pace of around 9.50 a mile.

The Christmas "run in"!!!!

Week beginning 23^rd December

The “run –in” to Christmas (bad pun). Had to awake Monday morning at 6.30 am and run once again in the lashings of rain. Getting up at 6.30am is my problem as is running in the rain however the poverty of street lighting and number of potholes certainly wasn’t. Maybe the Council and / or the ESB can get off their butts and sort it out. It can be really dicey out there and considering I was running in the town rather than country roads you would expect a lot better. Run was solid enough run at a easy pace. I spent the rest of the day up in Cork shopping with my wife doing the xmas shopping thing. All very non eventful (bar the expensive purchase in Keanes jewellers...) but I did call into Mahers sports to support and gave a few quid to Joanne Feron. She is a ultra runner of note and was on day 11 of running 12 marathons in 12 days on a treadmill. Some runner to be sure and very helpful with passing on a few words of advice to me as well. In case anyone is interested in contributing a few more euro to this great cause (neo natal ward in CUH) please do. (5.5 miles at 8.29 pace)

Xmas eve was more of the usual driving around Cork. This time I collected my Dad and we headed up to my sister’s in Watergrasshill to exchange pressies and get a sight of her new born daughter Phillippa and catch up with her older sister (by 18 months) Charlotte. I dropped Dad home and then back up to my mums for more exchange of presents and then back to Charleville to meet up with my in laws for a few xmas drinks. Before the drinks I headed out for a 7 mile run (in the pitch dark again!!!) with a 4 mile tempo portion. Splits were a improvement on the last tempo workout – 7.27, 7.27, 7.26, 7.22. I probably might have run faster but running in a totally darkened road lead me to hold back somewhat. (7 miles with 4 mile tempo at 7.25 pace)

Running on xmas day was a non event. Icey footpaths saw to that. I ended up jogging the first mile but nearly fell on my rear more than once and simply walked home. Than onto xmas dinner in the in-laws surrounded by lots of hyper kids pulling apart Christmas paper and hitting grown adults with plastic toys. To be fair it was great fun. The evening was spent with adults then behaving like children as they attempted to play Cluedo and Monopoly.  My wife being the most competitive of the lot!!! (2.5 mile walk)

St Stephens day I headed up to Caherdavin to take part in their annual 10 mile road race. I figured I would use this as a training run but was disappointed  to see it was called up because of ice on the course. Cue much grumbling on the way home. However I pulled myself together  by the time I got home  to do the 10 miles around town. I ran the first mile in 8.29 uphill but ran the rest at 7.43 pace. In a race situation I may have at most taken 2/3 minutes off my training time but it was a very satisfying run. It did require a bit of concentration for the last mile and I also noted I covered 7.70 miles in the first 60 minutes. This is far from my best form in training but is a step in the right direction. (10 miles at 7.47 pace).

We will see what awaits the rest of the week..

Monday 5.5 miles, Tuesday 7 miles with 4 miles tempo, Wednesday 2.5 fast walk, Thursday 10 miles

A long week

Week beginning 16^th December 2013

Heading into Xmas. Always a good time of year for running. Actually not entirely true, the weather is not always great. Freezing cold and snow two years running and wet weather last year, the new trend this year is windy weather and strong gusts. Possibly a consequence of global warming? I leave such debates to failed acid popping presidential candidates. Just me call me Al..

Anyway Monday I reverted back to the traditional walk. I had intended to walk for 4 miles at a reasonably faster pace. That plan went out the window when the wife starting filling me on the latest news and drama- so much so I forgot about my original plan. 2.5 miles covered, it helped the legs feel a little less achey.

Tuesday was more familiar fare. 7 miles with 6 miles at a fast though not a tempo pace.  I would hope to build these marathon pace runs up to 10/11 miles. I was happy with how it went. Mile one was the uphill run up Love lane at 8.20. Mile 2 and mile 3 the pace was still slowish enough 7.30 and 7.34- possibly down to the gust i was running into. By mile 4 I had picked it up to 7.18 pace. I ran the last 3 miles at around 7.35 pace or faster. A satisfying run with the marathon pace portion completed in 7.35 average pace. I contemplated running another fast mile to get a hour up on my legs but thought better of it. Perhaps next time.

The Wednesday  run up in Mayfield was meant to be run at a casual easy pace. As usual I didn’t look at the garmin- I just ran at a pace that felt comfortable. To my delight and surprise i saw that the first 3 miles were run in 24 minutes (took a sneaky look). It felt all very effortless. The harder 4 mile section up hill (and it is hard) was run at a slower pace but the overall time was 56minutes56seconds. I was happy with this. The last mile was tough but the effort didn’t feel as hard as the same workout last month at a slower pace. Again the weather conditions were awkward enough.

Thursday was even better. Weather was brutal, so much for a mild winter. Came home after work spending the first 40 minutes running in sleet and wind. Funnily enough i didn’t mind. My legs felt fresh running at a relaxed un planned pace. Again I didn’t look at the garmin but after doing the usual 7 mile route around town i was fresh enough to tack another 2.3 miles. Maybe I should have tacked on a bit more to get the 10 done. 9.3 miles in 1.18.30.

Friday marked the last day of school before holidays. It’s a pretty hectic time in the school- a couple hours of meetings before playing my part in the school mass, As it was i had a few jobs to do in Cork city afterwards and I was awaiting confirmation from the buddies if we were meeting up for drinkies or not. Anyway rather than hang around waiting for a phone call I headed up to Mayfield to do my planned long run. Last nights effort counted as the first half of planned sandwich. The main filling was today. I was quite apprehensive about it- 2 X 7 miles around my traditional Mayfield route. Facing into the run at 3 in the evening was bad enough but the weather had denigrated pretty badly. Rain, cold with the element i hate most of all – driving wind. I knew this wasn’t going to be a quick one butIfigured mentally it would stand to me. Running in bad weather in loops facing a lot of up and down hills was as tough as it would get. I ran the first loop (7.07 miles) in 1 hour. That was the easy part, it was the other part that was going to be hard. I walked for a few minutes swigging water before trotting off again. The weather had worsened again (think Cork marathon 2010). As I jogged past the bus shelter I was thinking the passengers were a bit crazy waiting for a bus in the rain but then again the y thought the same about me. I finished the second loop (7 miles) in 1hr03mins- a disappointing second 7 miles but still a reasonable 9 minute pace considering the course and the conditions. As it transpired the meet up with the lads was postponed until Saturday night so hopefully a good nights sleep awaits. No chance of making the 5k race in Newmarket on Sunday though.

14 miles in 2hr3mins (8mins45second pace)

Rounded off the week with a 4.2 mile recovery jog around Charleville at 9.22 pace. Total mileage for week 44 miles (2.5 walk, Tuesday 7 miles, Wednesday 7 miles, Thursday 9.3 miles, Friday 14 miles, Saturday 4.2miles)

A bit gusty...

Saturday 14th December

Friday was my day off running and by the time I got home from Cork City I was happy to rest on the couch, catch up on a few Sky plussed shows and hit the bed at 10.30 pm. I woke up at 8.30 am to the sound of a almighty blowing outside the bedroom window.

  

Ah Jesus I don't have to run in this - ah really come on!!! As Aoiffe wasn't around I had no excuses in terms of household chores so I headed to the Saturday session in Doneraile park. I normally don't do these but I was surprised to see there was only 3 other runners there. Two of them - George and Aidan are savage runners with marathon PB's of 2hr35minutes and 2hrs55mins respectively. As you can imagine I found the prospect of tagging along with these guys terrifying. In fairness they are sound blokes and were happy to go the pace of myself and Sean. George was as entertaining as ever with great tips too. We completed 7 miles in a hour running up and down some tricky hills mostly running on dirt track. The wind was pretty bad though. At one stage a couple of branches blew off and smacked me on the head. Anyway myself and Sean did a extra mile to make it eight miles in 68minutes35seconds. I contemplated another 2 miles but Brudairs café awaited for a feed of soup, sandwiches, milk and cake.

 

 

Sunday morning I had planned to meet the Mallow lads for a long run in the town but after putting up the usual notice up on facebook there didn’t seem a huge amount of willing runners. A couple of lads were planning to do 13-16 miles in Doneraile park butI didn’t fancy the idea of doing more loops there again. Therefore I stayed in bed a extra hour and trotted off for a 2 hour run around Charleville involving 2 X 6.5 mile laps. By running for time as distinct for distance I hope I wouldn't run too fast and simply get time up on the feet. I reasoned that the body responds not to mileage but in fact to effort and time spent running. I did the first loop in a hour and the second in under a hour (probably 58mins) running another 0.25 miles in 2 mins. The weather conditions were kinder too. The run while slow was necessary as I need the reinforcement of being able to jog for 2 hours and being able to cover 13 miles on my own. If I am to run longer distances then it’s all about learning to stay on my feet for a long time. Hopefully i can mix the long runs up with a bit of speedwork too.2 hour run at 9.03 pace-13.25 miles

 

A end to a very good week. I don’t need to look at my records to know this is my best week of training since May.

 8 miles on Saturday and 13.25 miles on Sunday. Total mileage 46 miles

 

Working for the man

Week starting 9^th December

Monday 9^th December. 2.5 mile warm up with 3 mile tempo in pretty gusty conditions. Splits were 7.30, 7.31, 7.31 with 1 mile cooldown at around 9 minute pace.

Tuesday 10^th December  One mile warm up at 8.16 pace with 6 miles at planned sub 8 minute pace. Went better than I expected 7.30, 7.39,7.39,7.36,7.42. Very satisfying. Ideally I would be happier to run 8.5 miles in the hour but plenty of time for that. Certainly my best medium length workout in a long time. Were I able to get the tempo runs down to a faster pace I hope this would follow on in medium length workouts.

Wednesday was something different. A couple of teachers in work were organising a 7k charity run around Blackrock for 1^st and 2^nd year students. I decided to lead the group so I used this as a ideal opportunity to get some recovery miles up on the legs. Parking the car in the grounds of Blackrock castle I jogged to the start line near Pairc Ui Choimh and lead the kids off down the old railway line. We were in fact tracing the last 3 miles of the marathon that is to say -miles 13, 12 and 11 of the Cork marathon . I’d be lying if two thoughts didn’t enter my mind. First thought was a cold shudder as it was at mile 13 where things started to go wrong for me last June (it still sours me). The second thought is that I was determined to gain revenge some time in the future . (not a necessarily a sub 3.30 just a personally satisfying time)The kids I was  jogging with were amazingly active – playing or participating in rowing, swimming, hockey, karate and/or GAA. In fact I suspected a few of them if they got into cross country or track running could be very useful indeed. They were very comfortable even jogging at 8.30 pace. Anyway I felt happy getting the thing done at a relaxed pace.In total 5 miles at around 9.30 pace. After that back working for the man.....................

Thursday

With Aoiffe working late and then going out to dinner with a friend i decided to take advantage of the “sitting around time” to head out for a interval workout. Normally (well at least in the last few weeks) I have headed out to Clyda Rovers GAA pitch to run with the gang from Mallow. However this wasn’t possible either as my normal after work resting point up in Mayfield wasn’t open to me. Mum was carrying a chest infection and was up to ninety waiting for my sister to give birth to her second child. Therefore  rather than make a long journey even longer I replicated  the scheduled workout planned by the club trainer Shane in my stomping ground of Charleville. It was a case of jogging 2.5 miles at a easy pace of 8.50 pace. I then reached the railway road and ran 10 X 2 sprints with around 60 to 90 seconds recovery. The railway road is ideal for this type of thing. Traffic is non existent and lighting is reasonably good. Each 2 minute sprint covered a distance of 0.29 to 0.31 of a mile. First mile of sprints passed in6.49 minutes with the second mile passing in 6.48. I went 33 seconds over the allotted 20 minutes to complete a third mile in 6.52 running into a strong headwind.I finished the workout with a one mile plod home in 9.24.

Congrats to my sister Niamh and her partner Paul on the birth of a new baby girl – Philippa

Monday 6.5 miles with 3 miles at 7.31 pace, Tuesday 7 miles with 6 miles at 7.34 pace, Wednesday 5 mile recovery jog, Thursday 6.5 miles with 10 X 2 minute sprints

 

The back to back 10 milers

Week beginning 2^nd December

Ah the best laid plans......... Running wise the week was for the most part a write off. I went for my customary 2.5 mile walk with my wife. By Tuesday and Wednesday I didn’t get a chance to even put the trainers on. I know some smartarse coaches say you should always find the time to run but not a hope this week given that I was busy in work not just on the regular 9-4 shift but when I came home as well. Ideally I would if I could do all my running in the morning but as that would mean a 5 am start it hardly seems practical. I was all set to go out Thursday evening but after giving blood that evening going out for a run would have been daft. I nearly fainted the last time I tried it.  I am about as precious as it gets.

I resolved to do back to back runs over the Saturday and Sunday. I had planned to do 2 hours on Saturday and 1 hour on Sunday but decided to change it to do two 90 minutes back to back.  I reasoned The legs would be properly tired for Sunday. My poor wife had to listen to me moaning all week about not running so by the time I managed to get out in the afternoon she was more relived than I was. The legs were very leaden for most of the run but I was happy to hit 7 miles in the first hour. By mile 8 the wheels were coming off slightly so I stopped and power walked for 2 minutes before cutting the workout at 10 miles and 90 minutes. Then it was off to Jimmy Carr that night – very offensive and very funny.

Sunday morning I headed to Doneraile park. The lads in Mallow were doing 8 miles of hills but having got down there a half hour early I decided to get moving myself. The reality was I didn’t know how this would go for me so I was glad not to be holding anyone up. Doneraile is a deceptively difficult course with plenty of hills and drags. There is one particularly awful ½ mile climb which offers amazing views of the areas. I did the first 3.5 miles in around 31 minutes – certainly slow but understandable when you take the route into account. The next 3.5 miles was 33 minutes. I didn’t take the dreaded hill a third time. To be honest I was shagged. At mile 8.8 the mind tuned out and I stopped and walked for a minute before headed off again. The last mile was a real struggle, 10 minute pace but I was glad to get the workout done. 10 miles in around 1hr34minutes.

This was my first time running back to back 10 milers since April and it gave me plenty to ponder.I was happy to get the time and the mileage up on my legs. I wasn’t too bothered with the slow pace but I was disappointed to have not being able to have done the 10 mile runs in a smoother fashion.

Monday 2.5 mile walk with 10 miles on Saturday and Sunday at 9 minute and 9.30 pace respectively

A tentative dip

Week starting 26^th November

Tuesday morning and Wednesday morning i was lucky enough to be able to start work late so I took advantage to get the running done in the morning in the daylight as distinct from running in the dark pathways of Charleville. Street lighting is pretty crap so happy to get my tempo  run started on Tuesday. I begin with a 2 mile warm up and launched my 3 mile roacket down the railway road. Ok, ok I am exaggerating here. At best it was a modest effort with splits working out as 7.26, 7.30 and 7.34 followed by a 1.5 mile cooldown. I was reasonably happy with the workout in so far as it was done and dusted and I hope to see a gradual improvement over the next few months.

Wednesday morning I opted for a somewhat slower but still a testing workout. 6.2 miles at sub 8 pace. Again these types of workouts were never a problem in the past but this time it was necessary to force the pace. Running on 8.20 pace is all very well but the legs have to be moved into a new notion of what was “normal”. First mile up Love Lane was slow – 8.40 but the rest of the splits worked out reasonably well – 7.57, 7.55, 7.40,7.37 (or so), 7,34 and the last bit 1.31. I normally run in the city up in Mayfield on Wednesday for a hill workout but was happy to swap it around. I have pretty much figured out Monday as  arrest or recovery day, Tuesday – tempo or marathon pace run, Wednesday – hill run at varying pace and Thursday – interval session with Mallow. The weekend will be long run territory.

Thursday’s session with Mallow went well enough. Intervals on Clyda pitch. Tried to maintain the pace but struggled in the 10^th and 12^th intervals. Started with a 2.5 mile warm up, some drills, 12 X 90 seconds intervals with 90 second recoveries and a mile or so cooldown. Job done

Saturday morning I was up in Mayfield having spent the night up in Cork. I was at a work do the night before but if anyone was expecting me to be the life and soul of the party, they were to be disappointed. Three Lucozades and I was in bed by 11.45, yeah I know pretty boring. I was glad to see the back of the moustache too it being the end of Movember. This workout marked by first tentative dip into back to back territory all be it on very low mileage. 7 miles up and down the usual hilly route was completed in around 1hr02mins16 minutes.i felt very relaxed all the way through a far cry from the way the way i was a couple of months previously when I had to walk run a 3 mile run around the estate. It was a lovely day for it too – hard cold and dry weather. Then back home to Charleville and spending the day doing the food shopping. The wife and mother  in law were off doing the xmas shopping – running 7 miles is way more preferable. Sunday was a meet up with the mallow lads for a 12 mile run around a lovely route around Dromahane. The first 6 miles were v hilly but we were flying up it. Considering this was meant to be a slow run i took it easier for the last 6 flatter miles. Total time was 1hour42minutes53seconds/8.35 pace. Next week I will probably run the long run on Saturday and rather than run by distance I will run by time. Ideally i will hope to do 2 hours with another hour on Sunday. As to where all this will take me by the New Year who knows?

A satisfying weeks running though the faster pace is not coming as readily as I hoped. Currently I reckon if I had to run the Dungarvan 10 I would probably be doing well to finish in 1hr17minutes.

Tuesday 6.5 miles with 3 miles tempo, Wednesday 6.2 miles, Thursday 6.7 miles, Saturday 7 miles, Sunday 12 miles. Total 38.4 miles