Consistency....

is what running is all about really. A bit like cleaning your teeth or getting up out of bed at a regular time. It was something I prided myself on for many years. I wasn't fast or particularly one for high mileage but when I had a marathon plan I generally was able to stick to it. Getting out  5 days a week, getting the mileage in was always something I was good in particular in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2017. 2013 and 2016 were poor running years in many ways but there was always good running moments in there and a few (modest) PB's too.

2017 has been a complete disaster. No marathons, no PB's with very little consistent training either. I don't know why this has been the case. I picked up one flu or stomach bug after the other from Jan to March and then even getting back to running the legs would be shattered for days afterwards. The mood wasn't up to it either, there was no enthusiasm for it, entering races filled me with dread. I drifted away from Mallow Ac in particular the long runs and bypassed the Manchester marathon simply going over to watch my buddy Aidan take part.  I thought by entering the Dublin marathon in May and training for what was in theory a very simple sub 4 hour time would be easily done. I ran 17 miles in August (as part of the Tullamore half marathon race) and 15 miles a week after but then I couldn't run another step for weeks afterwards. I tried to kickstart things again in September but again I didn't get beyond 13 miles , being left behind in some training runs during my training comeback with the club. By the end of September I cut my losses and flogged the entry running two ho hum half marathons in November and December. The Waterford half in December was well documented previously. I also went back to doing long runs on my own and didn't use a Garmin from August.

But at least there was some running taking place. Not with standing another fall in October I was running around 30 miles a week but that started to drop to 25 miles a week in November to around 20 miles a week in December. Very frustrating but the energy levels both mentally and physically are dropping again.

I have resolved to try to train for the Manchester marathon in April (or failing that Connemara) and this week marks week 3 of the training plan. The first week was interrupted by a pain in the glutes. I dropped into the physio for that and recovery from that took a bit of time, around 2 days. However I was delighted to get a good solid 11 mile run in on the Sunday. Week 2 was a lot better and I hit 6 miles (with 27 minute tempo) on Tuesday and Wednesday and a good paced run on Thursday (7.55 minute per mile but these days it is all relative) and a good solid 13.5 mile long run on Sunday. This was a good week and I hoped the start of a good base of training. Week 3 (this week) was a problem again - a solid 7 miles on Tuesday but nothing on Wednesday and a dire 5.5 mile effort on Thursday. The legs were dead. By the evening I was wrecked and on Saturday I barely managed another 5 miles at around 11 minute pace. Maybe I picked up a bug from Iseult (she is a bit poorly at the mo) or maybe too much sugar in my diet,

I can't explain any of this. It isn't laziness and it isn't anything medical or physiological. It's maybe a case of me not putting running as a high priority in my life anymore or maybe I am simply got stale. We will see how it goes. Further updates next month but I dont know how it will be. Fingers crossed.

Here is Rory Gallagher - the man. He knew about consistency.

waterford half marathon - a bit blah in the land of the blah

Not a very good day out. Not good at all. This was my 4th half marathon since September - Tullamore 1.55, Charleville 1.47, Portarlington 1.48. I hadn't even tried to race those previous races as I was only finding my way back but it was still a effort to get around. That was understandable given my sporadic training, having a bit of weight on me and turning away from running in general the last 12 months. However I had targeted Waterford as a chance to run a time of sub 1.45, a modest target which for many years would have been a pleasant training run. Most of my better half marathons were (in historic terms) generally in the 1.33 to 1.36 range , a sign I was doing well.

By the time I drove down to Waterford I.T for 9 am I had a few worries, namely a head cold which limited training during the week  and that blasted pain in my left glute which was making running and driving quite uncomfortable the last few weeks. Nevertheless, all excuses aside I was hopeful I would do ok enough. I felt good during the warm up, chatting to my cousin Don Ryan,dual Ironman finisher, who was expecting a comfortable 1.28 finish. Don has come a long way in 7 years. My hamstring and glute felt relaxed and the nose was clearing up nicely.

Mile 1 to Mile 3 I was in trouble. The first mile went by in 7.30 (a pace which was now too tough for me) the rest followed in around 8.30. However by mile 8 I was ticking away nicely coming up to 63 minutes on the clock, precisely where I wanted to be. I felt reasonably ok no longer overly troubled like I was in the first few miles. My pace was around 7.50 per mile, I had no garmin but was hopeful of doing ok. By mile 9 I was walking. I had no energy left and the back of the right leg was very tight and sore, a dull pain was now getting more and more angry and mobility was getting very restricted. I tried rolling it out over the last few weeks but it had little impact and it was coming home to roost today. Mile 10 was a Connemara like hill except on the motorway and  walked up that. I walked ran the remaining 3 miles putting in a little spurt for the last mile to come in around 1.55. Mile 11 was the worst of all shifting the weight off the right leg by leaning more to my left side and stopping for stretches.

I was fair fed up coming over the line and just wanted to get away from the place as quick as possible. I chatted briefly to Don and a few clubmates, collecting my goody bag and medal and drove home stopping twice on the way home to stretch out the leg. I was in the car shifting around to get relief. Getting out of the car when I got home proved to be a struggle. Ah it was a shit day no two ways about it.

On reflection I think I would have struggled at modest 7.50 pace regardless of the tight leg thing. Maybe it's a weight thing or a age thing but the decline has been quite startling. Either way I will have to draw a line under it and drive on, it's happened before and I have bounced back from it..

Two half's (halve's) on the table

I got over the whole fall thing pretty quickly taking part in a half marathon in Portarlington on the Sunday week after. I  met very briefly with Aidan before and after. It was a beautiful day for it which was just as well as the course was pretty tough and I found it a struggle at times. The course was a mix of country roads with a fair few pulls taking us up and around Emo forest. My finishing time was another modest 1.48.25 but  was happy with the resilience I showed in some pretty tough sections. I think if training goes well over the next few months such races will stand to be. The rest of the week consisted of 3 X 1 hour runs around Charleville, Mayfield and the Mardyke opting for a 25 minute (7.15 pace) tempo run on the Sunday instead of the more usual long run. The only concern I have at the moment is the tight hamstring that is a issue since the half marathon. I am due to run another half marathon on the following Saturday in Waterford. I have to be realistic as to where I am but on the plus side I feel I am making positive strides. I just have to be patient.

Going for another tumble and fall. Jesus!!!!

In June 2016 I took a tumble, breaking my right arm and doing a serious job on my left ankle to such a degree I wasn't able to walk properly for 3 months and not being able to take up light jogging until October of that year. Full mobility in the arm took a while longer. The distraction of having a bouncing baby daughter was enough to take my mind off the worse of it. In terms of running it meant no marathons until the following year.

Anyway the curse of the Newline/Harrison place junction struck again falling again close to the spot where I tumbled the last time. This time it was a Thursday evening a little after 4pm trying to get a hour of running in before collecting Bubbins from Granny. Around 15 minutes into my mind just went blank before I hit the ground like a sack of spuds. I suspect it was simply a case of catching my foot rising onto the pavement rather than anything else. Most of the force of the fall was on my chest with some impact on my hands, left arm and the knees.  A 14 stone  middle aged man hitting the concrete creates a right thud but thankfully I knew straight away nothing was broken this time. I got up wiped away the blood on my knee, checked the left arm, walked for 5 minutes and continued the rest of the jog for the remaining 45 minutes. Probably a stupid idea but there didn't seem anything else to do so on I went. I got home , cleaned up and collected Dolly from Granny.

Running had gone well up to that point easy recovery jog walk on Monday covering 3 miles. Tuesday a 26 minute tempo (plus 20 mins warm up and 15 cooldown) in some very strong wind before I went to work and a hour run up in Mayfield on Wednesday morning before I headed into work .  Then the fall and recovery on Thursday. I couldn't go running on Friday and Saturday as Aoiffe was away and Iseult obviously needed total attention. That said by Saturday the left side of the ribs was beginning i to get sore with some discoloration becoming apparent, I had hoped to get down to Mallow on the Sunday to run with the club but sleeping proved difficult with the sore side and the throb in the right knee so i had reluctantly had to jog local instead. Truth be known I was wrecked. I jogged around 4 miles, the original plan had altered from 14 miles, to 8 miles and then to whatever I could bare. The throbbing in the knee didn't effect the running but the side of the chest was sore at times during the short jog. There's nothing seriously wrong with me or with my body and the banged up knee is easing with anti inflamm's and ice. It's the confidence that gets the biggest bruising.

In terms of upcoming races I am going to a half marathon in Portarlington on Sunday week. It won't be much more than a extended long anyway and it is a opportunity to catch with Aidan, In terms of plans next year I am following pretty much the plan of races that I hopelessly failed to follow this year , that is Dungarvan 10, Manchester marathon, Dublin marathon. In terms of club training i will try to get for the occasional Sunday long run and with a rough hope I might make another Saturday or Thursday session but that may never happen either. Who knows?

Not my knee but I couldn't be arsed uploading and transferring the real picture from my phone to the laptop. It's worse in the real picture.

onward

Nothing worth saying, 2 mile walk on Monday with the small one in tow. It's amazing how slow you can walk with a 2 year old holding your hand. I was off work for the week running 5 X 4 minutes in the town park with the obligatory warm and cool down. The whole thing lasted a hour running another hour Wednesday morning around town. I donated blood Wednesday evening which was enough to rule out running until 6.30 am Friday morning which consisted of another hour. No running Saturday with 90 minutes on Sunday (Charleville to Ballyhea and back). The whole week clocked up to 33 miles. A couple of things I noted , I really need to get the Garmin fixed and perhaps it's time to tack on another training day. Monday and Saturday look like the most likely days but I have to figure out how to pencil it in.

sticking my head above the parapet

Now that the Dublin marathon has come and gone it's time to get blogging a bit more regularly these days. I flogged the race number and it seemingly passed through 3  different sets of hands with the eventual recipient getting a time similar to what i would have got  had I trained well and raced it. But that's all bollix conjecture really as I didn't did I ? That won't be happening again. No more headblocks. By the way if anyone thinks I broke some moral code by passing on my race number, too bad. It happens all the time. Anyway I still lost money on it.

All in the past now. Time to see where I am at now. Since late September and October the running has taken on a certain pattern. 40 minute recovery jog on Monday or walk depending on my routine for that evening. Tuesday I have been getting up at 6.30 am and heading out the door at 6.45 am running either a tempo run (25minutes ) or 5 X 4 minute repeats on alternate weeks. Wednesday I head up to Mayfield after work and run what I call a a "door to door " effort . Currently on a hilly course my time stands at 51mins 50 secs. A couple of months ago it was taking 55 mins so that's something. Thursday is a run when I get home on my favoured Cooleens route covering the hour. Friday and Saturday no running for the moment but i am working to improve on that . On Sunday I with the Mallow club doing the long run on Sunday (13 to 16 miles) . Pace is modest 8.40 per mile but the running is enjoyable.

I haven't used a Garmin in a age. The strap came off it in August and rather than carrying it around in my pocket I simply left in the drawer and used a bog standard wristwatch instead. That will do for the moment. Truth be known ever since the old Forerunner 205 bit the dust in December and came apart in my hands I haven't had a good relationship with the newer model so it will stay in the drawer a while yet.

Mileage wise it is between 30 to 35 miles. Let's kick on. The marathon number stands at a rather low 13 marathons.

leaving it go but looking beyond...

....the Dublin marathon. I have simply decided to leave it go. That's two marathons I have abandoned this year - Manchester and Dublin plus a 10 mile race in Dungarvan. I reclaimed the money back on them. In 2014 I gave Sixmilebridge a miss on account of a groin strain (which took 4 weeks to sort out) and Galway Bay in 2016 (on account of breaking my arm in the summer) but these no shows were simply not down to having the heart to do it.This is simply a case of not being boovered.

What that means for future marathons I don't know but thankfully I am still back running and enjoying it. The mileage is quite low - 25 to 30 miles with no speedwork and no Garmin either. I did run the half marathon in Tullamore (August) and Charleville (September).Neither run was great and it was painful in parts but I did enjoy it running 1.56 and 1.47 respectively. Last year I was running 1.33  to 1.35 for half marathons which gives a idea how things have changed this year.

I have a couple of races to enter this year but I won't be saying too much about those for a while yet. 

Still ploughing on

The good news is that I haven't completely ruled out running the DCM, the bad news is that I am not exactly ramping up the long runs either. I am doing 40 minutes on Monday, 1 hour in Charleville on Tuesday,6mls in 52 minutes in Mayfield on Wednesday, 40 minutes on Saturday and the long run on Sunday. It's pretty poor compared to what I used to do in days of yore (2010 - 2017) but I am enjoying it.

I am happy to be back doing long runs in Mallow but the distance hasn't gone much more than 14 - 15 miles. The legs don't have it in them to do much more. It may have a lot to do with the weight (14 stone) and general lack of conditioning.

So yeah that's about it. If I make Dublin and get to the start line it will be a struggle and it could compromise my recovery over the months up to Christmas. One has to wonder then is it really worth going there at all and maybe it's better to just keep building up the base for future events. Then again it may mean another marathon medal up on the wall

Sure we will see but all good in it's own way.

we will plough on

Aug 12^th 2018

Last blog entry I left with me running a sluggish 6 mile jog. Things picked up the rest of the week running another 2 X 7 miles and a encouraging 14 miles in 2 hours on Sunday replete with new trainers and a more enjoyable running vibe. I was having a bowl of fresh soup nearly every day that week so that might have helped. I don’t know.

The running slump is a hard one to figure out but I reasoned if I can run 14 miles I probably should be ok to get enough training done to get to the start line in October 28^th. That would be a massive achievement for the moment. I am running off my original sub 4 plan I used in 2010 but it isn't inspiring me too much. 

This week was another poor one – 40 minute recovery jog on the Monday with 8 miles at 8.15 pace on Wednesday followed by 2 days of no running  with 40 minutes on Saturday and aborted 8 mile jog on Sunday turning into 4 miles around town. One of the local runners in the town asked me if I had blown a gasket. I wasn’t too sure myself. The reason for the non running days was that I had no motivation at all. Nada, zero. I was shattered on those days barely able to get around Killarney national park and Ballyheigue beach with Aoiffe and Iseult.

We will plough on

Where have you been?

July 31st 2018

It's been a while since I posted. The last post was Dublin marathon 2017. In the meantime I had planned to enter the Dungarvan 10 mile and the Manchester marathon (April 2018). Neither races happened flogging one race entry and deferring the other.

Quite simply put I fell out with running and I'm not completely sure if I am have made up with my old friend. I have entered the Dublin marathon but that was out of a sense of panic last May as it was selling out.

The period November to February saw one aborted comeback after the other. I might run 5 miles on Monday, run a dreadful 5 miles on Wednesday, 8 miles on Saturday and then do nothing for 2/3 weeks forcing me to start from scratch all over again, hating every mile I took. Eating and drinking and lounging around became a lot more attractive proposition.The other situation was that I was picking up chest infections (3 to 4 in the space of 10 weeks), numerous headcolds and some sort of nasty flu virus (that hit me like a train in March). I was probably either run down from the poor diet, wrecked from the previous years training or picking up bugs in the doctors surgery from the little one. She was there quite a lot from November to March. There was other issues, on a work level, that were taking up quite amount of time too. No point in making a big drama about the whole thing, it was a case of real life intruding on the insular runners bubble.

Currently as things stand I am still finding it hard to make inroads in the Dublin training plan. The ambition is very basic this time. Simply get the training done and get to the start line. and run a sub 4 time. After that recover and make running a more sustainable prospect over the winter and spring.

My end of July idea was to run as easy as possible and ideally get up to 3 X 7 mile runs midweek with a 4 mile recovery on Monday and a 15 mile LSR on Saturday/ Sunday.

Currently where it stands is 3 X 7 miles with a at best  a flaky 10 mile long run under my belt. I have no plans to enter any races and I haven't renewed my Mallow Ac membership (I simply couldn't get the time or find the motivation to get down there). Truth be known I was a bit embarrassed as to how unfit I had got. Hopefully I will get back down to them again.They are a great club.

At least the blog is back and the bubbins is well fed !!!!

Miles last week Monday 4 mile recovery jog, Wednesday 7.3 miles, Thursday 7 miles with 5k tempo, Saturday 9 miles in 90 minutes. Completely wrecked Sunday and Monday. 6 miles this Tuesday.