getting the last post in before the new year and running 23 miles plus 7 miles

 It's been a while since a post. I'm full of food and dessert so this will be a scrappy post. Training wise I hit 42 miles a while back but have struggled to get anyway near that since. 

I'm probably averaging 25 - 30  miles a week and just doing enough to get sketchy long runs in.

I did 10 miles last Saturday, 19 miles long the week before that, 11 miles long before that and I think 17 miles long before that. I generally tried to follow that up with a 6 - 7 mile jog the next day and maybe a another run or too on Wednesday or Thursday. 

Some weeks going better than others but the sore ankle is a issue.

I had planned to do the big long run on the Christmas Eve but I was cream crackered. It is hard to account for it but I suspect being on the Charleville - Cork road no stop since the previous Thursday week might have been a reason. I was disappointed but rest was probably the best thing for it.

Saturday (Xmas day) I ran 5 miles with another 5 miles on Sunday. By the time I finished the second 5 miler I was feeling more up for the long run.

 I set off Monday (27th December) at 8.30 am. I  had the water bottles put out at various stages and these were a great help. It meant there was no messing round by going into shops and it also gave me a target going around tougher sections of the course.

I bonked at mile 19 the last time out, at the spot coming up from Ballyhea just past the Show Field. This time I was ready for it. Once I got past that It was reasonably plain sailing. 

The funny thing is my legs stopped feeling sore past mile 20 and I was happy to keep going.

I put it down to the turkey and ham I was eating since Saturday!!!!

I finished with 23 miles in total at 8.58 average pace staying on my feet for 3hrs 25minutes. I could have kept going for another 2 miles but I had run out of road at this stage and didn't fancy another 2 miles in the opposite direction towards town.

In terms of Donadea the long run was a  good run but it's still 8 miles short of the race distance. The splits were generally even but I was down to just under 10 minute pace at the end.

I was chuffed with the run and while the recovery was initally uncomfortable I was ok after 30 minutes. A bit stiff legged but ok.

How I was going to react to this run will be interesting but I was very happy. I ran 7 miles the next day. The legs were certainly feeling it as i ran at 9.20 pace but I was under little pressure and had time on my side. I could have done another 3 miles. Maybe some other time. The legs however proceeded to stiffen up during the day.

We will see how it goes..

a easier week but not by choice

 Monday - 6.2 miles during my lunch break

Tuesday - no run

Wednesday - 6.3 miles up in Mayfield at 8.25 pace. legs were tight and even by mile 2 I felt this was going for too long.

Thursday - a real disappointment. I got caught up in work stuff which meant I missed my window of oppurtunity and accordingly no run. This was a annoyance.

Friday - not home until after 8 pm so no chance of a run

Saturday - heading up to Cork for Xmas shopping so no run either. Just too busy. There will be a lot of this between now and Xmas.

Sunday - 11 miles at 9.04 pace. A slow run. Legs were tight for first 4 miles. Probably a consequence of so little running all week. Jogged to Ballyhea and back. I felt fine running and were it not for domestic duties at home I might have tacked on another few miles.

So all in all a quiet week. You need those too. Hopefully the rest of next week proves more productive.

I should be ok for Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. Then at the weekend I hope to get a longer long run in..

23.5 miles

a good tough week is a lot better than a tough bad week

 39 miles for the week

6.2 miles on Monday in work at 8.46 pace. Legs felt ok considering the 15 miles the day before

No run Tuesday

6.2 miles on Wednesday up in Mayfield. This one I enjoyed. It was at 8.17 pace as distinct from 8.25 pace the last time. I felt smoother going up the hills and I was happy with it.

6 miles on Thursday . 1.5 mile warm up with 4 x 1 miles and a 1/2 mile jog home. The repeats were slightly flat but I was glad to get them done. 7.10 for the first one, 7.20 for the second one but I was held up by traffic on the road. 7.03 and 7.08 after that.

No run Friday.

4 miles at easy 9 minute pace on Saturday.

17 miles at 8.58 pace around Charleville. I fell into the company of North Cork AC runners which helped me through 4 miles at the end. I forgot how enjoyable company is when running. Most importantly I got the planned workout done albeit at a slow pace though the average heart rate was a worry 161.

Note : Left ankle very sore again this evening. 

November always a tricky month

 Well it's arrived the most unwelcome running month of the year - November. It was always a good month to do very little running wise as one would be taking a break from the summer training and the October marathon. This year however I have decided to make it a base running month with the target race being the Donadea 50k in February 12th or so.

Last week started off slow with me being too busy in work last Monday to do the 6 mile portion of my back to back workouts. The Blarney half was on the Sunday prior to that. I got out on the Wednesday in Charleville for a leggy enough 10k but followed that up with a faster 10k @ 7.44 pace on the Thursday. I put the good pace down to the fact I used the foam roller a bit on the Wednesday evening. Saturday I woke up feeling pretty crotchedy and cranky and left the 10 mile run until 3.40 pm. Aoiffe and Iseult popped out for a house call so I took full advantage and did a very relaxed 10 miler at around 8.35 - 8.40 pace.

Sunday morning I ran the Buttevant 4 miler. My first time doing it and I didn't really what my goal was. I did decide to do a 2.2 mile warm up with a general intention of running the 4 mile at around 7.30-ish pace. The indecision contributed to a slow first mile (7.50 pace) and I tried to make up some ground after that. Mile 2 to Mile 4 were okish enough but weren't enough to see me get under 30 minutes which to be fair should have been a easy target. It was probably my slowest 4 mile race ever but it was a good tempo workout so I was ok about it. It was a well organised event on a fast course. (28 miles for the week)

Monday this week was a 10k effort around Cork during lunch time and the legs felt pretty comfortable.

Wednesday I ran 10k up in Mayfield on the favoured Blackpool/Montenotte route. 3.1 miles fast downhill and 3.1 miles slow uphill with a 25 minute / 27 minute split.

In the old days it was always a very important workout and I was glad to get up there.

Thursday wasn't so good. Iseult had a little snuffle so as a COVID measure we had to take her out of school for the day. Aoiffe was away with work so I had to stay at home and mind her for the night which meant my window of running (3 to 4 in the evening) was gone. Aoiffe didn't get home until later and I had too much to do to get ready for work the next day - dinners, lunches, parent phonecalls.  As it was the cold cleared up that night and she was fine but it meant no more chance of running until the weekend.

Saturday was a 6mls at 8.25 pace. It should have been straightforward enough but I was a bit breathless during the run. Sunday I had planned a 2hrs30mins workout and get around 16.7 miles up on the legs. I was doing fine until mile 13 and started to struggle after that. By mile 14 I was walking up the sharp hill at Cooleens and then ambled down the hill for 15 miles. I had enough at this stage. That left me with a good 30 minute walk hone and it was SORE. Not happy at all nor was the left ankle which has been sore all day. Looking back I hadn't run a proper LSR in 4 weeks (cold, Blarney half with 15.5 miles in total, 10 miles stepback) so perhaps that accounted for the loss of pep. Disapointing. Again running th same old route doesn't help either. 34 miles for the week but the ankle is sore enough.

It's obvious my only running days are Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday which isn't too bad. It's probably all I could manage anyway. I do have a plan main out which in a ideal situation has me hitting 50 - 60 miles a week in the month of Janruary but that might be fanciful. The main thing is to get the long long runs in and a shorter second long run in the day after.. Anything else would be a bonus.

While it's too early to be even talking about getting under 5 hours  yet it will indeed prove a challenge. It was something I would managed quite easily up to 4 years ago but I was surprised at how much I struggled in the same race in 2020. Time will tell.

Blarney half marathon as a long run.

 I ran the above race today. I last ran this in 2012 and it was discontinued after 2013. This time it was ressurected as a fundraiser for the local GAA team, normally my least favourite organisation when it comes to running races but neverthless I entered it with a view to getting some races done in Autumn.

Earler in the week I felt I was recovered sufficently from my cold to run 4.5 miles on Monday. I had work stuff to do on Tuesday but the cold came back with a bang that night so I styaed off the roads until Saturday morning. I ran 4.5 miles at a very sluggish pace that morning but it did the trick of loosening up the legs for Sunday morning. The chest was a lot better.

The rain and wind hit with a vengence Saturday night and I was worried the race might be called off.

By the time I headed down Sunday morning it has cleared up a fair bit and held off pretty much until mid-day.

The plan was a simple one - get 2 miles done beforehand, run the race at a 9 minute plus pace and get another mile done afterwards. That woud give me a long run of 16 miles keeping me bang on my very rough schedule.

I parked the car outside the GAA club and ran a one mile loop around the town but had to cut the second mile short to enable me to get to the starting point in Waterloo. 

The race/training run was very lesiurely . I kept behind runners I normally would have no problem in  passing out. By mile 4 with the split working out as 9 mnute pace each I increased the speed ever so slightly . The fist 7 miles are uphill with a turnaround back down the way we came. I was fresh enough to run a small bit faster and the splits were around 8.20 pace. That said it is practically impossible to use a run as a strict training run as a) you are going to to want to pass out people, that's human nature and b) the mind is pushing you to go faster and I think this does lead to a increase  the heart rat and exhertion.. 

As a result I was picking off runners one by one and I think no runner (bar one - Paul Healy) passed me out. Nevertheless the legs were feeling heavy by mile 11 and I had two awkward hills to negiotate . 

The rain started coming down quite heavily at this stage and the local traffic was starting to make it's presence felt. I also noticed the mile markers were ever so slightly out.

I was happy to cross the finish line in a chip time of 1hr54mins20secs. It was a very comfortable run This time I didn't stop and ran on for over a mile or so back to my car. This gave me nearly 16 miles on the legs and I had enough at this stage. 

I was feeling quite tired by the time I got to the car and while I would have prefered to have been fresher I did consider it a case of mission accomplished nothing more nothing less.

As a race it was on the whole a well organised event with a few problems that need to be ironed out but these are easily remedied. For example more stewarding on mile 10 onwards, perhaps another water station at mile 5 and get the course properly measured (it was 13.04 miles on my watch). That said it was great to have a race on the calendar and the whole feel was cheery and friendly. 

As for my training hopefully I get back to the training plan over the next few weeks. 

The 50k in Donadea calls for runners to run 50k under 5 hours which on the face of it should be manageable but is surprisingly difficult. I have my doubts after 2020's effort.

On a side note this was my 30th half marathon since 2010 !!!

Miles for the week Monday 4.5 miles, Saturday 4.5 miles, Sunday 15.6 miles (maybe 16miles, including a 13.1 race at 8.46 pace)

sniffle sniffle

 Week ending 24th October

5.5 miles on Monday during my lunch break in work. Trying to build up back to backs. No running for the rest of the week. Headcold and slight wheezy chest. I have had enough of these to know it's best not to run. Did 4.5 miles (no garmin ) on the Bank Holiday Monday. Felt better today. Hope I can pick it up again for the rest of the week.

I'll probably regret writing this but....

 I have entered the Donadea 50 k race . It's scheduled for February 2022. 

4 years of mess up's, injuries and no shows after 7 years of running nirvana. I stuffed up the 50k last February. 4 weeks later Covid struck and the world was upside down.

34 miles this week. 4 miles in Cork during my working day. No chance of a run these days on Tuesday. 6.2 miles in Charleville. 5.5 miles with 5 x 800 metres intervals (all around 6.55 pace). No chance of a run on Friday. 5 miles on Saturday. 14 miles on Sunday at 8.55 pace. All slow paces but HR quite low.

All good now but I am only waiting for disaster to strike.

Best of luck to Paul Costello next week in Rotterdam