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

December update

 Blog update.....running pretty well since the virtual marathon..doing roughly 20 miles a week...3 to 4 runs a week but mostly 3..monday rest , tuesday 4 miles recovery, thursday 5 milles , saturday 5 miles, sunday 10-11 miles long run. I have started doing some speed work and I'm enjoying it to be fair. a few 3 x 1 mile repeats at around 7.10 per mile and a couple 4 mile tempos at around 7.27 pace. Not massively speedy but enough to wish I could train for a few 10 mile or 10k races, which obviously aren't going to go ahead. I do think if the usual Dungarvan 10 mile race and Adare 10k were going ahead I could build up a pretty good head of steam. 

I'm not going to be doing more than 10 mile to 13 miles on the long runs as there really isn't any point and I will capping the weekly mileage at 25 - 30 miles a week, At least that's the plan.Donadea 50k isn't going happen in February either (I reckon) but I am hopeful that we will see some resumpation of racing and races later in 2021.

this week was a 4 mile run and 6 miles with a 4 mile tempo (7.36, 7.23, 7.17, 7.31). HR peaked at 176 which is pretty good. I only got 2 done as I am caught up with corrections, tests and other school work not to mention the Christmas house decorations!!!!

not this time but always next time

 short story....did 2 miles out and back out Smiths rd and then 2 X 8 mile loops for a total of 18. I had one more loop of 8 miles to go and I was done for the virtual marathon. The offical  app was around a mile out compared to my Garmin. However while the groin was fine, the legs were getting heavier and the head started to go a bit. I had resorted to walking at this stage (it had started at mile 16 when the left leg started to go numb and i needed to walk/run on it) and the thoughts of another 2 mile walk down the Railway Road did me in. I walked home and my wife suggested I simply change my clothes , eat some food and walk the remaining 6 miles. I probably should have but I had enough and pressed stop on the app. Game over, DNF. Disappointed but I was over it after a hour.  My 3 year decline is complete and currently without any seeming chance of recovery. 

Now a week later I am not sure. Ok perhaps I won't be getting close to PB times and perhaps even a sub 4 marathon mght be a struggle but I am know I am good enough to get over this. I suppose the failure to make the starting line of 4 marathons in 2 years (Manchester 2017, Dublin 2018, Connemara 2019 and Dublin 2019) all have their own reasons. The first two were releated to burnout plain and simple and what was in mental health terms a difficult time for me. Connemara I didn't have the courage to give it a shot and run badly (I suspect I may have been out for around 4hr30mins) and Dublin 2019 is my bigest regret where I alowed myself to be talked out of it on.. I did run a solo marathon in Jan 2020 and did finish the Donadea 50km where many others dropped out (in a poor time though). The virtual marathon DNF was down to poor conditioning and a preoccupation and worry with the groin and hamstring issue. I should have walked it out but I suspect with the groin and hamstring being quite sore this week maybe that would have been foolish.

Therefore in conclusion my biggest enemy the last two years has been myself and my mental state. I always prided myself on being strong in that area but it's taken a battering these 2 years. I am talking myself out of races and challenges before anyone else does. I do accept that I might be a bit slower and not as able to churn out 60 mile a weeks as before and run those 7 mile tempos at my old pace but let's put that in the past and define new goals for myself. 

In the COVID world marathons and races might be on halt but that doesn't mean I can't create new areas to explore. 

I do need from a athletic point of view to work on a few things - namely my conditioning. I have lost something there in a aerobic sense so it's something worth investigating. I also need more variety in my running

So yeah I flunked a virtual marathon lets move on...

groin, groans and grimace

 The groin was giving me gip for the last couple of weeks. I spent a lot of the last couple of weeks icing, streching and trying to rest. That said the pain which started as itch, evolved in a nagging pain and escalated into a sharp pain to the point that even walking into work (15 minutes from where I parked the car) was becoming a problem. I popped into a local physio in Cork at lunchtime and he said I was close to tearing it and under no cirumstances not to run "as something as stupid as a virtual marathon". So accordingly I had pretty much ruled out the virtual marathon by last week. However this week I felt a gradual improvement and noticed the walk into work was becoming less of a problem and the awkwardness from getting up from the workdesk wasn't too bad. This encouraged me to go for a 6 mile jog on Wednesday and I felt fine afterwards. A couple of days afterwards the leg started to get sore again as did the back of my hamstrings. Cue another rest day this Saturday. Sunday (today) I felt a lot better again  and jogged 2 X 7.5 miles around town (8.57 pace). I felt good running around town and in fact found the whole running quite mediatative - very zen. I felt 15 miles was plenty as with a week to go running more mileage would make little difference.

Anyway that's the story. I still hope to get the virtual marathon done next week but that depends on how I feel on the day. In terms of upcoming COVID restrictions it will probably have to be a solo effort (I hope  though I can run with a few friends) and in terms of time I have no expectations of anything under 4 hours. I just want to get to the (imagined start line) and get in finished without undue pressure. We are a nation and a world under pressure so I plan this to be my own little bolthole from a increasingly sad and difficult situation.