Up the Rebels.

Week ending 28^th May

The last Sunday of May. Another overdue blog update. It’s also 18 weeks to the Berlin marathon so this week marks the beginning of marathon training. I’ll ease into it but I have noticed there isn’t much time to hang around either. I have a few ideas regarding training. Monday recovery run/easy run. Tuesday solo tempo session/Mallow training session. Wednesday easy run. Thursday faster, longish, marathon pace type run. Saturday Doneraile, club session where I can fit it in. Sunday long run.  Hopefully I can get a few races in there as well.

Last Friday week I raced in Killmallock Limerick. I have been attending 1 to 2 club sessions a week and the pace and stamina has improved. My time was 33mins57 seconds. The course is a fast one but I lost a bit of time around the 4^th mile and I was disappointed to be struggling to get under the 34 minutes but the last mile was a strong one (6.45 mins). I’ll probably be running mostly local races given my new found family commitments but the quality of races in North Cork and South Limerick are very good so no fear on that score.

The week past was a good running week. I had hoped to get out 5 days a week but could only manage 4 runs this week but from a personal point of view the quality was good. Tuesday was a 8 mile run with 4 miles at a tempo pace of 7 minutes. Thursday was 9 miles at 7.27 pace. Friday was a 8 mile run up in Mayfield (rare enough these days) at 7.50 pace. Sunday was a 17.5 mile jog towards Churchtown and back at a relaxed pace of 8.23 per mile spending around 2hrs25minutes on my feet. All good stuff.

Being honest I know a lot can happen between now and September. Breaking my arm last year and getting a stomach bug in the lead up to Frankfurt in 2015 has taught me that but lets keep it positive.

Iseult thinks so. Up the Rebels !!!!

Bweeng and back

Week ending 14^th May

The first blog update in 2 weeks. Just back from a kids birthday party (Aoiffe’s niece Phoebe) so apologies for the fuzzy headed update.  I ran 45 miles this week and a 10k race last Sunday in Bweeng. I did solid enough in the race (that’s code for a slow time and a non PB) coming in around 43:32, mind you ninety second faster than Adare 10k in early March. It was a unusual course 3 miles downhill and 2 miles up hill and 1.2 miles on a flat fast section. I kept it restrained enough for the downhill section which actually paid dividends as I passed around 7/8 runners on the uphill part. I hit 5 miles in around 35.05, I would have preferred quicker but I was happy with my finish taking out 2 runners on the finish line.

The race was in my legs for Monday and Tuesday, slow 6 miles and 7 miles at around 8.30 and 8.04 pace respectively.  Wednesday was the now regular trip up to my Mums’s with Iseult (she is making strange these days – crying at strangers and the not so familiar) and on Thursday I ran 9 miles around town at 7.53 pace. I should have probably gone quicker and probably have been more focused but lesson learned. Saturday I met up in Doneraile running that ‘orrible 6 mile hilly route around the park. No idea what pace I was doing but I well down the pack. Still though it’s always a excellent workout, I’m too bothered about the pace more about the effort I expend in getting around. At the moment it’s still high.

Today was more about time on the feet than anything else. 2hrs 16mins on the feet covering a ok ish distance of 16 miles. I really need to start injecting the odd pace workout into these longruns but perhaps later in the summer. I also need to vary my route in the future. It those get boring.

Anyway around 45 miles this week and 36 miles last week. Hopefully next week will get one speed session and one race in with a cutback long run.