Pinning colours to the mast

Week ending  16^th February

The week of the big storm. Thankfully the hurricane like conditions of last Wednesday didn’t upset my running plans too much. The first couple of days had gone well fitting in my usual Monday recovery jog (4 miles) with a 2 X 3 mile tempo session on Tuesday. The time for each session was 21.10 and 21.27 respectively. The splits for each mile were steadily slower too, going from sub 7 pace to around 7.25 pace. It wasn’t as bad as it looked really as the last 1.5 miles were running into a pretty savage headwind. That said though caution is required for any future workouts.

The big storm on Wednesday required a stay over in Mayfield so i passed the time with a routine 7 mile jog at a handy pace (8.25 pace). The legs were feeling heavy but the winds had calmed down by the evening and it actually made for a nice evening. The situation back all the way to North Cork was pretty dire with fallen trees, loose slates and power cuts a plenty.

I also realised  I haven’t attended a Mallow mid week training session in a few weeks either. The only times i can manage to go are Thursdays and they were either postponed or moved to indoors making it either impossible or un palatable to go. Not knowing if the session was going ahead this time either I ran 10 miles in Charleville running the last 3 miles in under 7.50 pace and covering the whole distance 1hr18mins20secs. A very positive run. Hopefully i will see more of these over the year.

Saturday was a easier day jogging 5 easy miles at a sub 10 minute pace, 3 miles of these were in my wife’s company. It was a good leg stretcher and certainly beats walking.

The long run on Sunday with the Mallow gang was a  smaller affair than usual. Just me and Clive covered the planned 20 miles. The first 7 miles we ran with Siobhan and the rest we ran with Tim and Barry. The latter part of the run took in Ballyclough- a nice route with a fast 4 mile downhill finish. I felt reasonably comfortable for the run pushing on a bit for the second half of the run. I finished in around 2hrs52ins (8.39 pace). In hindsight I should have ran for 3 hours and possibly at a slower pace. That will be the plan for the next long run – 21-22 miles or 3hrs10mins on my feet.

Now I that have pinned my colours to the mast and have decided I am doing the Connemara marathon in April, it would be beneficial to see my plans for the next few weeks.  Next week I hope to run the 10 k in Adare, week after that a 21-22 mile long run, Ballycotton 10 after that, 22 mile run over Patricks weekend, 10 mile pacing gig in Mallow and a two week taper. In terms of setting myself time goals for the races I don’t actually know. Ideally set PB’s in all of them but that may have to wait until later in the year- Adare and Ballycotton are tough courses. The Connemara marathon is the “A” race. It’s a very tough course but I would like at least to get under 3hrs50minutes or close to 3hrs45minutes. Some might say a modest target but it would set me up for the rest of the year. The Dublin/Amsterdam marathon in October is where I ideally would love to get under 210minutes once more. It may be my last shot at a marathon. These few months are all about getting the mileage and confidence up again.

Miles for the week 55 miles.