feeling my way around this thing

 I have pretty much left all my previous running times, PB's, behind me at this stage and have seen this as a opportunity  to restart my running. I know obviously I can't run they way I used to even 5 years ago never mind 14 years ago. That's only normal and it's foolish to expect that I will. What I do know is that I can do is run 4 times a week at the moment.  

5 days a week is beyond me so currently it is long run Sunday. Monday 3 mile walk with some core work. Tuesday 30 minute recovery run with strides and squats and lunges and stretches. Wednesday a 45 - 50 minutes medium pace run. Thursday should also be a run but I can't manage it. I am more glad to rest up. Friday a hill run or a speed session (20 minutes max on the speed with 45 minutes in total ). Saturday is a rest day and some small core work. Sunday back to the long run. That will be the plan until mid August. Hopefully I can maintain the frequency and hopefully increase the duration and speed. Ideally get a 5th run in there too. 

Sunday was a 10 mile run. 6 mls out and 4 back on the back run to Ballyhea- a hilly section. I don't think I will be running with a group anytime soon. Why ? I don't know. I am probably just a bit slow for it or maybe jaded from the old thing?

I do know in August I will have to start running the long runs in a different route and area though.

Monday was a rest day, a 3 mile walk and a core session. I will have to do better on those. Tuesday was a excellent recovery run. I felt very fresh throwing in a good 6 x 30 seconds stride session. I will get back to those in the future. Wednesday a strong 5.2 mile (50 minute run) at 8.42 pace. This is a big improvement on mid April where these runs were around 9.05 pace. Thursday no drive to go running at all. I do seem to find it hard to get the old style 4 runs in a row in a midweek  complete. But as I say finding my way around this thing. I will take 4 days a week at the moment. Ideally hit a consistent 25 miles a week for the next 6 weeks

A shock is a good jumpstart

 I tried a new elements to my running this week. Monday I started redoing the core work. I am very lucky to have a gym in the basement of the house. It's terribly underused by mine but Aoiffe makes good use of it. Anyway down I went on Monday morning creating a programme on chat GPT. 

To be honest it was hard work and I gave my hamstring a bit of a tweak. I didn't make it any easier by running a too fast run on Tuesday. It should have been a recovery run but I ended up running 4.4 miles rather than a 3 mile slow effort. I paid for this on Wednesday as the back of the legs were very tight. I instead walked it out in the morning heading up to Cork to see how my students got in the Leaving Certificate. Thursday was a lot better running 55 mins (6.2 miles) around the hillier parts of the town. Iam trying to run everything by time.

Friday was a attempt at speedwork. I haven't attempted speedwork in around 3 years and it was very laboured. The workout was 10 minutes warm up, 5 mins with 2 mins recovery repeated 4 times, 10 mins cooldown. It was around 4.9 mins in total. The speed session was at 8.30 mile pace. Not great I suppose but it's more about getting out and doing it. Hopefully I might see a improvement by October .

Monday Core, Tuesday 4.4 miles, Thursday 6.2 miles, Friday 4.9 miles

Hopefully...

 Hopefully.... I will keep the running going with a possible view to October 25th.

Hopefully ..... I will get good workouts complete. Recovery run. Medium run. Speed session. Long run.

Hopefully..... I will get some core work in there too.

Hopefully ... I will avoid injury and keep the body and mind fresh over the next 21 weeks.

This week 20 miles. A good solid base. Recovery run 30 mins on Tuesday. Medium run 36 mins - legs were like lead. Obviously a legacy from the half marathon the previous Saturday. Friday - speedwork - 11 mins warm up (9 minutes pace), 20 mins with a bit more effort (8.36 average pace), 15 mins slower (9.15 pace). Saturday nothing. Sunday 8 miles at 9.15 pace. The HR was 147. 75 minutes on the feet. Happy to leave it at that.

Hopefully...I will push on. 

Hello Stranger

 Decided to reactivate the blog for a few months. I know it is only for my own benefit but as I hope to complete my first marathon in 3 years (Dublin 2026) and to mark how I have changed as a runner (53 years in September) I thought blogging might be useful. In terms of training goals they have not changed much at all - get the training done, navigate the obstacles, celebrate the successes and get to the start line. After that we will see where to go.

Mileage wise I can only manage 20 a week with 3/4 midweek runs and a base long run of 8 -10 miles. Speedwork and speed is not existent and the routes lack variety. Obviously I will have to shake that up a bit in the next 21 weeks. Weightwise I am 92kg. 

Performance wise I have run 1.56.45 in the Limerick half this year. In Cork in the half things were a bit tougher, 2.01.35. This was my 41st half marathon my first time going over 2 hours. This is where I am. Can I get better? Can I improve for DCM and improve enough to a) get the training done? b) get to the start line c) get fitter and d) finish DCM.

We will see..The focus is better but it is early days yet.