May update

Week ending 25^th May

It’s been a while since I blogged and as it is nearly the end of the month it’s best to dust off the spreadsheet and see what’s going on.  Long term I hope to get in shape for the Dublin marathon on the October weekend. This will probably be my last best chance for a marathon PB but while I am building up the mileage for that I also hope to get a bit of exposure in a number of shorter races. If anything they will also double as speed/tempo workouts- some I will race hard others I won’t. Last summer I didn’t get much summer racing done.

A quick summary of how things have gone since the May weekend.

Week ending  11^th May – 35 miles in total including a 5 mile race in Kilworth and a 11 mile long run with 5 miles at marathon pace. The race consisted of 2 X 2.5 laps of a army training camp. I had no expectations as to how I would get on but after the first lap I timed myself at 17.25 minutes coming in the official results as 35 minutes exactly. My garmin gave me a 5 mile finishing time of 34.48 but of course the garmin doesn’t follow the racing line. A enjoyable race and a good night meeting up with familiar faces.  The long run on Sunday was a challenging workout 6 miles at 8 minute pace with 5 at marathon pace. In this case marathon pace was around 7.30 average. It went very well even if some of the MP miles were a bit too fast (7.17-7.27). The last mile of the MP portion was through town coming in at 7.39. The over all pace for the MP run was 7.28.

Week ending 18^th May – Again around 35.5 miles. No real significant workouts. On Tuesday I did intervals with the club in the town park. What I did learn is that whatever about the long stuff I am well off par in keeping up with some of the lads in the club on the faster stuff. Nevertheless it was a fabulous evening for it and running on grass is great for me. I probably need to work out a correct pace to run my speedwork. Jack Daniels has me down as running 6.47-6.50 for intervals and 7.15-7.20 for tempo workouts which is a good rule of thumb. I haven’t use the heart strap in a while to monitor effort, maybe more so for recovery and long running. The long run on Sunday was in the company of the club. I covered 12 miles feeling relaxed – 1hr40mins at 8.20 pace.

Week ending 25^th May- Another 35.5 mile week. Tuesday more intervals with the club. 5 X 4 minutes with the usual strides and warm up and cooldown, around 6.5 miles in total. I was trying to run at a correct interval speed but found it difficult consistency – pace varied around 6.45-7.00 minute pace. I was wrecked afterwards and I sussed that my Thursday race in Ballindreen wouldn’t be  a easy one. I ran the same race two years ago in 34.34 – a PB at the time. It’s a tough race and is part of a 4 X 5 mile race series (Shanagarry, Churchtown South, Ballycotton). I hope to complete all 4 races and hopefully get some joy in each one. Over 600 runners turned out for this one including my cousin Don Ryan. He finished in a savage time of 31.58. I however ran a average race coming in at 35.08, well behind most of my mallow clubmates. The garmin had me down as running the first 5 miles in 34.40 but tactically I cocked up by starting way down the back. That meant it took me 27 seconds to cross the start line after the gun went off and i was always up against after that. I’m not making excuses as I felt my failure to capitalise on the downhill finish in the last mile (6.49 as distinct from 6.18 in 2012) was the real difference. Lesson learned. On Sunday I ran with the Mallow lads doing 13 miles in 1hr50minutes (8.22 pace).