Lazy post

Too lazy to write much:

Monday nothing

Tuesday Ditched a planned interval session, did 10 miles at a pace around 8.10 pace

Wednesday 11 miles at 8.05 pace, attacked and bitten by a Jack Russell dog but no harm done, only a nip on the heel of the trainer. Still though little f%^er.

Thursday 5 mile race on a long journey to Ballycotton - first time since 2014- same time as then - 33.45. Happy enough. 1st mile 6.27 2nd mile 6.35 3rd mile (hilly) 7.05, 4th and 5th mile (hanging in there) 6.45 each. Short warm up. Long drive home. The little one cries from 12.15 to 2.30 in the morning for no apparent reason. Eeek

Friday Attended a wedding in Kerry. Hopeless company. Slipped out during the speeches for a hour kip. Good time after that. 1 pint of beer

Saturday Slow 4 mile jog, walk

Sunday 22.5 miles at 8.47 pace with Mallow ac on the Buttevent/Doneraileroute. 3 hours 15 minutes on my feet. Last 1.5 miles were tough.

Back to work tomorrow. Iseult is starting in creche on Wednesday. Hope it goes well

53 miles for week

Clonmel redemption

Week beginning 21^st August

Last Thursday was a 9 mile run up in hilly Mayfield.Tried to keep the pace steady enough coming at around 8.03 pace. Saturday was a easy 4 miler the night after having a 4 course meal out with Aoiffe.

Sunday I ran the Clonmel half marathon. I have run this race twice before usually as a means to kick start my legs into action following a 2 week holiday. It was always a struggle so it was interesting as to how I would get on with a good block of training under my belt. It’s a course that I never liked but this time (urged by the pacing efforts of Pa Daly) I surprised myself with a PB – coming in at 1.33.27. That's 7.08 pace with the first 2 miles clocking in at 7.30 pace so it was obvious I picked it up from mile 3 onwards. My last 13.1 PB was in Limerick in 2013 (1.34.16). Ok it’s not exactly massive improvement but I’ll take it. I wouldn’t have even tried it without Pa’s encouragement and I did deliberately slow down coming to the hill at mile 10 which in hindsight was uncalled for. In fact from mile 7 onwards I felt strong enough to push on ahead of Pa but not confident enough at the same time. It doesn’t matter though I’m chuffed.

Today though was a rest day. Back to the grindstone tomorrow. Ideally get some running (and maybe some racing) in on Tues, Wednesday, Thursday,  wedding Friday, rest Saturday, long run Sunday.

another midweek post

15^th August

No running on Thursday having left my running shorts in Charleville when I drove up to Mayfield. I ran a 8K race in Mitchelstown (strange distance 4.97 miles) in what was obviously a new PB for me in 33.17 (33.33 for 5 miles). The course was mostly downhill and flat so one has to be sensible in regarding this time. Still though I was delighted to have goe out and raced. It broke the cycle of running solo and had me in good form for a 21- 22 mile long run with Mallow clubmates – Aidan, Pa, Barry and Colm on Sunday. I took it pretty hand running for 3hours08minutes. It was a tough route and it was challenging but it was a excellent training run.

55 miles for the week

Monday I was pretty wrecked and went for a simple 4 mile walk around the town pondering how the runners in Connemara managed to get through 100 miles on Sunday. Tuesday was a tempo run – 2 mile warm up and ½ mile cool down with 7 miles at 7.10 pace. I had hoped to hit around 7.03-7.05 pace but it didn’t happen today, the last mile through the park (not with standing having to stop for pedestrians and buggies) was a tough 7.19 mile. Cream crackered but happy to have it out of the way before 12 mid day. The little one kept me busy enough for the rest of the day. The sleep patterns at night could be changing, hopefully I’m wrong. Busy week ahead on all fronts.

Todays run (Wednesday) was a good run. I ran 5 miles to Bally hea and 5 miles back up to Charleville. First 5 miles downhill was at 8.12 pace, the last 5 miles uphill were covered at 7.48 pace tacking a last mile and a half around the town at 7.40 pace. Very happy with that.

midweek post

Week ended 9^th August

The running has ground to a halt a bit this weekend. The reason was because of a headcold  picked up on Friday. The week started off pretty well, 2.5 jog on Monday to clear up a niggly hip and a 8 miles with a 6 mile tempo portion at 7.05 pace. Off the top of my head I think the splits were 7.09, 7.08, 7.07 , 7.06, 7.01, 6.58 or so. I was pretty happy with the run and had plenty more in the tank. It was when I double checked old tempo runs I realised it was the same pace as when I ran good tempos in the marathon training summers of 2012, 2014 and 2015 so essentially I’m get any faster at all !!!

Wednesday I ran 10 miles at a good pace of 7.40. I hadn’t planned to run that pace at all, it just sort of happened. I should have doubled back for another couple of miles but time was against me as I had a few jobs to do at home. My mistake however was not stretching or foam rolling afterwards as the legs were like lead on Thursday up in Cork. After 10k I had enough and called it quits.I was a bit annoyed with myself over it.

Friday I met up with Don, Derm and Tim with me being the designated driver. It suited me to the ground fitting in another run in Mayfield this time a better 7.5 miles at solid 8 minute pace. The headcold started to make it’s presence felt in the afternoon, so stuffed nose and stuffed head made for a no show on Sunday. I had planned a marathon pace run of around 14 miles so that was put aside for the moment. Monday things improved with another solid 8 mile run in Charleville (7.53 pace), a leg sapping interval session on Tuesday (9 mls with 8 x 800 between 3.18 to 3.20 pace) and a deliberately slow 11 miles Ballyhea run on Wednesday.

Plenty more running left in the week. 3.5 weeks training before the taper. I hardly feel as I if I have got going.