Better than the last few weeks in that I managed to get out 4 times this week. 4 mile recovery run on Tuesday during work time. No garmin just a stopwatch but the pace was certainly slow enough to justify it being called a recovery run (9.30 pace). Wednesday my wife was off sick from work and was at home so it was chance to have the chat before I popped out - 6 miles in around 50 minutes. Again just a stopwatch. I had a good 2 miles with a traveller lad of around 9 years old. Pacy fella too, boxing was his game though. Nice lad.
Thursday I was a bit wrecked and not happy coming out of work. Anyway I managed a another good 6 miles when I came home before I collected Iseult from Grannies. The pace was somewhere in the region of 8.10 per mile so very happy to get 3 runs (limited as they were) in consecutive days. The last run of the week was today. I aimed to run a cutback long run at marathon pace at 8.30 per mile. A couple of years ago this pace would have been 7.30 but it is what it is so we will work with what I have. I found it a struggle for the first 5 miles to manage 8.30 pace but I was comfortable for the last two miles coming in at 8.15 and 8.05 pace. The rest of the day was spent cutting the grass, making the diners and reading the hand wringing rubbish about the Irish rugby team.
By the way you may noticed ( who reads this - no one) I mentioned marathon pace. I am in the middle if thinking about the possibility of doing one but I have been in that place a lot over the last two years so best to take no notice.
Sunday, 20 October 2019
Sunday, 13 October 2019
Thursday, 10 October 2019
running log 10/10
Very little last two weeks down to thefact that the running slots were taken up with other stuff. Last Tuesday week no running, Wednesday 6 miles and nothing else until 11 solo miles on Sunday (8.50 pace) around Charleville.
This week just a 5.5 miles 9.10 effort on Tuesday. Wednesday visit my sister in Watergrasshill and Thursday instead of leaving work at 2.10 and going for a run before collecting Iseult from Nana was replaced with a meet and greet with parents.
The days of me running after Aoiffe comes home from work are gone now. I like to spend time with Iseult and Aoiffe in the evening.
Iseult's birthday party on Saturday
This week just a 5.5 miles 9.10 effort on Tuesday. Wednesday visit my sister in Watergrasshill and Thursday instead of leaving work at 2.10 and going for a run before collecting Iseult from Nana was replaced with a meet and greet with parents.
The days of me running after Aoiffe comes home from work are gone now. I like to spend time with Iseult and Aoiffe in the evening.
Iseult's birthday party on Saturday
Monday, 30 September 2019
Running log 29th September
A good week. Rest Monday. Tuesday 5 miles in Cork during a free class. I got a bit of a wetting at the end and having no showers in our school plus not having a proper towel was not a good idea. That said I was delighted to get the run done.Wednesday 6 miles back home after work on my fast route. 8.05 pace on average with a tough pull on the last mile. Thursday a hill run up in Mayfield Cork City. Another soaking on the last two miles. Some tough climbs. 8.30 pace overall. Nothing on Friday- too much on, in work until 7. Too tired to do anything on Saturday and besides I had to put the small one's new bed together (flatpack !!!!). Sunday drag my sorry self out of bed for a laboured 90 minute run. Probably covered 10 miles maybe more. I suspect 10.4 as the pace felt solid. No Garmin for that one either.
Monday 30th September. Hanging tired and fair grouchy. In work until 8 tonight so that means not home until after 9 pm. We will see what the rest of the week holds.
Monday 30th September. Hanging tired and fair grouchy. In work until 8 tonight so that means not home until after 9 pm. We will see what the rest of the week holds.
Saturday, 20 April 2019
Connemara half marathon and Club 4 mile race
2 races this week. In fact my first 2 races of the year. The Connemara was run in atrocious weather conditions even by normal standards- wind, rain, cold and windy. I was glad I was doing the half and not the full or the ultra. I had planned to run it a relaxed steady pace and despite the first mile (uphill on the Devils Mother) taking 9.30 I settled into a steady 8.15 to 8.20 pace. As expected the tricky parts at mile 10 and 11 were always going to slow me down but I didn't falter and that pleased me . The last mile did go on for ever but crossed the line in reasonable shape for a modest 1.51.30. Job well done and a good weekend meet up with my buddy Aidan McGee. He ran the full and was glad to get around. Later on reflection I actually enjoyed the weekend away doing the half. If you are doing Connemara you get more bang for your buck doing the full or the ultra but the whole thing gave me a source of internal satisfaction despite my time being slower than 2011 (1.44.37)
I rested on Monday (Easter holidays) and ran a 4.5 mile run on Tuesday afternoon at a relaxed effort.
Rest day Wednesday and a club 4 mile race on Thursday in Doneraile park. This would have been my first short race since August 2017 but it was about time I started to face up to proper racing again. This was a unusual event as it was hosted by Mallow Ac runners for Mallow Ac runners and considering it was free to club members it would have been a shame not to take part. The course is tough and while coming slightly shorter than 4 miles (3.93 miles) I was hopeful of coming in around 30 minutes. This was a challenging goal for me at the moment and considering the field of runners that were taking part I was content to do "my best". The first mile is a fast one (7.15) and I knew I was out of practice when I was struggling for breath at mile two. I pushed on past a good few runners but by mile 2.5 I was toasted. Denis, Steve and Neil zipped past me and Rachel was persistently un catchable. The last mile took us down the opposite of Garlic Hill and then a lung breaking run up the hill behind the Big House and a downhill run for the finish. I clocked in at 29.40 but when adjusted for 4 miles it was probably closer to 30 minutes. My splits for the mile 2 to mile 4 was around 7.30 to 7.35.
I sat down on the grass with the other club members having a good natter with the rest of the crew. My time wasn't very good but as a exercise in getting out there and getting racing again I was delighted. I really enjoyed myself this week and it felt nice to be racing. Hope fully the bug will start biting again. Progress will take time but maybe just maybe.......
P.s I ran a very stiff 10k around Charleville on Saturday.
I rested on Monday (Easter holidays) and ran a 4.5 mile run on Tuesday afternoon at a relaxed effort.
Rest day Wednesday and a club 4 mile race on Thursday in Doneraile park. This would have been my first short race since August 2017 but it was about time I started to face up to proper racing again. This was a unusual event as it was hosted by Mallow Ac runners for Mallow Ac runners and considering it was free to club members it would have been a shame not to take part. The course is tough and while coming slightly shorter than 4 miles (3.93 miles) I was hopeful of coming in around 30 minutes. This was a challenging goal for me at the moment and considering the field of runners that were taking part I was content to do "my best". The first mile is a fast one (7.15) and I knew I was out of practice when I was struggling for breath at mile two. I pushed on past a good few runners but by mile 2.5 I was toasted. Denis, Steve and Neil zipped past me and Rachel was persistently un catchable. The last mile took us down the opposite of Garlic Hill and then a lung breaking run up the hill behind the Big House and a downhill run for the finish. I clocked in at 29.40 but when adjusted for 4 miles it was probably closer to 30 minutes. My splits for the mile 2 to mile 4 was around 7.30 to 7.35.
I sat down on the grass with the other club members having a good natter with the rest of the crew. My time wasn't very good but as a exercise in getting out there and getting racing again I was delighted. I really enjoyed myself this week and it felt nice to be racing. Hope fully the bug will start biting again. Progress will take time but maybe just maybe.......
P.s I ran a very stiff 10k around Charleville on Saturday.
Monday, 1 April 2019
a hour forward
It's the end of March so that means the clocks go forward and it marks brighter evenings and the beginning of summer sport in this country - GAA cycling soccer and road running.
I had a lot of early running starts this morning. Tuesday up at 6.30 am for a 4 mile easy jog. Wednesday at 6.20 am for a 6 mile run with a 3 mle tempo portion in the middle. The tempo wasn't very good but that was to be expected but job done (7.23, 7.35 and 7.45). Thursday I was up at a ridiculous time of 6 am (parent teacher meeting that evening) for a 1 hour jog on my favoured cooleens route. It's a fast route but the early start didn't suit the legs too much but the run was solid enough - 7.3 miles/ 8.13 pace.
Friday and Saturday made running impossible as Aoiffe was away up in Dublin on a course so the long run was on Sunday. I still don't know where I am going with these but did 13.2 miles at a good solid pace - 8.25 with 1 hour 51 minutes on the clock. I spotted club colleague Paudie runnng 20 miles at a wicked 7.30 pace. Monday (today) was a 45 minute walk to stretch out the legs around 3 miles of so in the company of a work colleague.
Around 33 miles for the week. I enjoyed the running week. I am running Connemara 13.1 in a few weeks. Looking forward to it. I will treat it as a meet up with a friend.
I had a lot of early running starts this morning. Tuesday up at 6.30 am for a 4 mile easy jog. Wednesday at 6.20 am for a 6 mile run with a 3 mle tempo portion in the middle. The tempo wasn't very good but that was to be expected but job done (7.23, 7.35 and 7.45). Thursday I was up at a ridiculous time of 6 am (parent teacher meeting that evening) for a 1 hour jog on my favoured cooleens route. It's a fast route but the early start didn't suit the legs too much but the run was solid enough - 7.3 miles/ 8.13 pace.
Friday and Saturday made running impossible as Aoiffe was away up in Dublin on a course so the long run was on Sunday. I still don't know where I am going with these but did 13.2 miles at a good solid pace - 8.25 with 1 hour 51 minutes on the clock. I spotted club colleague Paudie runnng 20 miles at a wicked 7.30 pace. Monday (today) was a 45 minute walk to stretch out the legs around 3 miles of so in the company of a work colleague.
Around 33 miles for the week. I enjoyed the running week. I am running Connemara 13.1 in a few weeks. Looking forward to it. I will treat it as a meet up with a friend.
Sunday, 24 March 2019
on it drags
I ran 7.5 miles at around 8 minute pace on the Thursday evening and it was pretty good. The breathing wasn't too bad but I was paying for it that night and most of Friday. The tightness in the chest wasn't too bad but i was pretty nackered by Friday. I knew realistically there was little point in resting another day and it was better to give the long run a shot and see how I got on. A case of Tokyo or bust. I decided to jog around Charleville in what is probably the most boring long route in the history of long routes. I had planned to do a number of 6 mile loops and see could I make it up to 3 X 6 mile loops and throw in a few miles at the end.. If I had to pull the plug , at least i would only be a few miles from the house. The other advantage was that I was always in range of a water stop and there was number of hills to make it a bit testing.
Anyway Iwas feeling pretty good by mile 12 but at around 13.5 miles of two hours the legs began to buckle and the stiffness started to kick in. I stopped and stretched at mile 14 but by mile 15 the splits began to slip to over 9 minute despite the increasing effort. By mile 16 I had done enough. I was a mile from home and tried jogging it home but that proved beyond me. The sweat was running out of me (even more than normal) and I felt a bit ill. Lots of coughing and phlegm sort of thing.
I was paying the price for missing on long runs two weeks in a run and that's not something you can skip on. Chest infection or not you can't skimp on the basics of training. I have often completed marathons battling one thing or another.
I had given the training the best shot I had in me but for the 3rd time in a year I failed to get the to the start line. That is something I would have found unthinkable a number of years ago but it just isn't there in me and no amount of rest, core work or self cajoling won't change anything until I get the head game right.
In contrast my friend Aidan ran 24 miles in training today. Now that is crazy (in a completely admirable way
I deferred to run the half marathon in Connemara instead.Let's see what happens.
Best of luck to all those involved in the Mallow 10 today.
I made a list of all the marathons I have entered but have failed to make.
Sixmilebridge 2014 (puled quad muscle, wrecked after Amsterdam 2014)
Galway Bay marathon 2016 (broken arm, twisted ankle)
Manchester 2018 (completely fed up with running post Dublin 2017, work and family issues)
Dublin marathon 2018 ( personal burn out and fed up with running)
Connemara 2019 ( appetite a lot better for running but skipped a number of long runs, chest infection)
Postscript - Dublin 2019 ( PF and ankle issues but I paid too much notice to the Physio. I should have listened to myself and got to the start line and have just completed it)
Anyway Iwas feeling pretty good by mile 12 but at around 13.5 miles of two hours the legs began to buckle and the stiffness started to kick in. I stopped and stretched at mile 14 but by mile 15 the splits began to slip to over 9 minute despite the increasing effort. By mile 16 I had done enough. I was a mile from home and tried jogging it home but that proved beyond me. The sweat was running out of me (even more than normal) and I felt a bit ill. Lots of coughing and phlegm sort of thing.
I was paying the price for missing on long runs two weeks in a run and that's not something you can skip on. Chest infection or not you can't skimp on the basics of training. I have often completed marathons battling one thing or another.
I had given the training the best shot I had in me but for the 3rd time in a year I failed to get the to the start line. That is something I would have found unthinkable a number of years ago but it just isn't there in me and no amount of rest, core work or self cajoling won't change anything until I get the head game right.
In contrast my friend Aidan ran 24 miles in training today. Now that is crazy (in a completely admirable way
I deferred to run the half marathon in Connemara instead.Let's see what happens.
Best of luck to all those involved in the Mallow 10 today.
I made a list of all the marathons I have entered but have failed to make.
Sixmilebridge 2014 (puled quad muscle, wrecked after Amsterdam 2014)
Galway Bay marathon 2016 (broken arm, twisted ankle)
Manchester 2018 (completely fed up with running post Dublin 2017, work and family issues)
Dublin marathon 2018 ( personal burn out and fed up with running)
Connemara 2019 ( appetite a lot better for running but skipped a number of long runs, chest infection)
Postscript - Dublin 2019 ( PF and ankle issues but I paid too much notice to the Physio. I should have listened to myself and got to the start line and have just completed it)
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