Getting it all together

Week ending 6^th July

A solid week running if only I could have got out running a bit more.Monday was the end of a very busy week with a lot of driving around the country and up and down to Cork from Charleville (2 hour round trip). Last week I was up in Athlone attending the marking conference, then it was down to the Marquee for a couple of gigs (Biffy Clyro and the Pixies), a race in Ballycotton, a christening for my niece and waiting on a painter to do a bit of work in the house.  Ok ok it’s hardly hard work but still ......

It was all a bit crazy so hopefully I  can get a bit more consistency over the next few weeks. Thankfully the weather has held up and it is nice spending the time enjoying it.

Monday 4 mile recovery walk, Tuesday – no running as the painter was around the place until 7 in the evening and the corrections were getting very hectic, Wednesday – 9.5 mile medium long run at 8.20 pace, Thursday 7 miles at 8.10 pace, Friday – no running, Saturday – 10 miles with 3 miles tempo insert at 7.25 pace, Sunday – no running as I needed to get a few things done around the house. In fairess it’s hardly groundshaking stuff ,around 30 miles. I would really want to be getting 6 times a week by the end of August and up to 50 miles by the end of July. The main thing is not to panic and keep the focus. There is probably 2-3 races coming up this month and I would like to do these. I would also however to get a bit more natural pace up in the legs on my medium pace 6-7 mile runs. At the moment I am stuck on a constant 8.10 - 8.15 pace.

I have distilled my training down to a Monday recovery run, Tuesday tempo run, intervals or fast paced 7 mile run, Wednesday medium paced midweek long run, Thursday tempo, intervals or fast paced run or 5 mile race, Friday rest, Saturday relaxed 6 mile run and Sunday long slow run with some marathon paced portions thrown in. That's the ideal idea of a good running week. Hopefully I can get it all together.