Looking ahead

Thursday 12th June.


Since the Cork half marathon I haven't got as much running completed as I like. Last week consisted of a 5 mile recovery jog, a 60 minute mid week run and a 5 k race in Ballincollig. The race in Ballincollig was a GAA organised event. Generally not a fan of races organised by the GAA as it is essentially a easy fun raiser for a organisation that was plenty to go around. I headed down with Dermot and while I didn't get much of a warm up done I enjoyed the race which to be fair was well marshalled and stewarded. I think the course was probably a little short as it read 3.1 miles on the garmin. Normally it should be 3.15. Anyway my official time was 20.37 which was solid enough. I don't know if I will be doing many more 5k races over the summer so hopefully it will help improve my (shabby)  5 mile times of late.


That was pretty much it for the rest of the week. DIY activities took  over the rest of the weekend. New shelves had to be put up in the garden shed so what with ordering lumber, getting a loan of a circular saw, measuring up, drilling and nailing and so on there was little time for running. We also managed to fit a quick break in the Mustard seed restaurant in Ballingarry. Most times there's more to life than running and it was a very satisfying weekend without it.


Monday I was back to the recovery jog. I started wearing the heart rate strap for the first time in 6 months.The readings are mixed to say the least but hopefully I will see a improvement by the Autumn. No chance of a run on Tuesday evening (it's been that sort of month) and I headed out for a 6.5 mile run on Wednesday. Again the HR results indicate a bit of work is required if I want to compete to my satisfaction. Ideally that would mean more consistent running at the correct pace and possibly a look at my weight. Currently I weigh in at 13stone 8 pounds which means I am carrying 8 pounds more than I need to. Weight is to running as height is to basketball players, it all helps. I will try to work on that too. Easier said that done though.
Thursday I went for my hopefully regular long slow medium run. The idea borrowed from Pfitzinger and Douglas is that I run a medium length run once a week at a pace or HR similar to my long weekend runs. I ran these in training for Connemara and they definitely gave me extra strength over a hilly course. For the moment this will be run by time not distance as I don't want to be running these too fast yet. Anyway the legs were heavy for this one so I covered 65 minutes at 8.58 pace. It worked out as 7.26 miles. These runs are all completed around home. I will be happy to take a break from training in the city until September.
My other dilemma is upcoming races. I have my eye on 3 races coming up over the next 3 weeks. I will definitely enter one and possibly a second one but it may be asking a bit much combining tempo workouts , intervals, long runs and races in any one week. The priority is of course the Dublin marathon so maybe we will review what and how many races I enter. A training session can sometimes tell you a lot more than a race.


Tuesday 3rd June- 5 miles, Wednesday -  60 minute run at 8.20 pace (7.20 miles), Thursday 5k race.


Monday 9th June - 4 miles, Wednesday 6.5 miles, Thursday 65minute run at 8.58 pace (7.26 miles)