Joe Jogger Joe Blogger

 Last week of the taper in front of me. Race day is next Sunday 29th October. Training has gone ok enough but load of areas for improvement, improvements I may never take on board.

1) I had hoped to get 3 x 20 mile runs completed. In the end I settled for 2 x 22 mls

2) I had hoped to get a good few long runs completed in Cork. In the end a 18 miler with Aidan on the 2nd of September.

3) I had notions of doing speedwork once a week mile repeats and tempos. Never really happened.

4) I had hoped to get 50 miles up on the legs in September. The most was 43 miles.

5) I had hoped to get under 1hr40mins in the Charleville half. In the end I settled for a 1hr52mins.

6) I had hoped to drop the weight to under 85kg but it has remained at 87kg.

7) Rejoin a running club. Never happened.

I have  run as well as I could under the present circumstances. Weekend long runs have always occurred. I l also have generally got 3- 4 times a week. HR has also remained steady. I am a lot more comfortable getting a baseline training of 30 miles a week up on my legs. Injury wise not too bad but the ankle is still niggly. The gammy hammy/quad thing is still there on faster runs.

One week to go. Lets enjoy this one.

the last week to make a good impression

 The last week of the training cycle before the taper kicks in.....time to squeeze in that mileage....I did ok enough but not as good as last year....3 miles recovery Monday morning. I had no work that day so that was great. Spent the rest of the day cleaning, hoovering, moping and powerwashing. Tuesday was a work from home in service but it gave me a hour off to pop out for a run. Good run too 7 miles at 7.57 pace.

Wednesday was a opportunity to run up in Mayfield after work (another half day) on the old hilly route. I covered around 7 miles at 8.25 pace but it felt, well, cleansing.

Thursday no chance of a run in work and I had so much to do when I come home the whole workout slipped away.  I had run 4 days in a row and was glad to get the rest. Friday I opted for a easy 3 miler to loosen the legs.(another half day)

Saturday - the day of 3 big things - Iseult's 7th birthday party, Ire V Scotland in the Rugby World Cup and lastly and most importantly a 22 mile run in Charleville. 

The run was hanging over me all week and their was moments at mile 7 and 13 mile I was feeling the strain.  However on a positive note I did plough through. By mile 20 I was on the last legs but battled through for the last 2 miles. The same boring route but solid overall pace 8.58 to 9min pace and good HR 145. Delighted to have got it done. My second 22 mile run of the cycle. Not sure where I stand for Dublin Ithough. 42 miles for the week. Birthday party was great as was the match.

My buddy Aidan ran 23 miles. His 4th 20 plus run of his cycle. Two will do me. It will have to.

On the road (hopefully) with Iron Man

 A good running week to cap off a pretty brutal working week. Least said about the working week issue but dealing with pillocks of different types had affected the long run the week before on the Sunday. I had hoped to get a 20 mile in but the work related stressors had taken its toll as I couldn't tune correctly into the effort. I tried one visualization and concentration aid after another but no luck. The legs or the mind gave in after 17 miles and I simply walked home the last 3 miles. 

I resolved this week to focus completely on the running and to not allow intrusive thoughts into the head. This did the trick and I ran 7 miles on Tuesday,Wednesday and 7.4 on Thursday. In work we had a sports day on the Friday and I didn't do any more rigorous than the egg and spoon race. I excused myself a hour early as the tummy wasn't feeling great and I feared the worse that night. HR was elevated too around 90 beats instead of the usual 70 beats. Queasy.

Nevertheless on the Saturday morning I felt and went on my run. It was the usual route but despite one enforced pit stop in the railway road I was feeling very relaxed. Again I substituted negative thoughts for a positive one (and for some weird reason kept singing Iron Man in my head). My pace was very solid and  after 20 miles I kept chugging away for another 2 miles. The garmin died at 16.2 miles but I knew the route well enough to pretty much guess the distance left. It was my best long run since the 18 miler I did with Aidan on the 2nd of September. The 13.1 race in Charleville on the 10th September was solid affected by the high humidity.

The rest of the day was great. 22 miles in the bag, 43 for the week, up to my Mum's for a social chat, nice dinner in the evening and wins by Everton in the football and Ireland in the rugby.

I was proud to wear my running top given to me by 6th years last May. It's good to remember the positive stuff - that's what matters.

35 days to the Dublin City marathon. 

Post holiday

 It was fair hot in Las Palmas Gran Canaria. I managed to get 14 miles in on the Monday before we left but plans too do a bit of running over there just didn't happen. Too hot (35 degrees), too hilly (the apartment was outside the main centre on a series of hills) and I was enjoying my holiday too much (beers and good food every night). By the end of the week I gathered enough gumption to do a 4 mile run Sunday and the Monday. The hills , the heat and the food made movement rather slow but I got the job done. Wednesday back in blighty I managed 5.5 miles, Thursday 5 miles and Friday 5 miles in Dublin. On Sunday I ran 16 miles in the usual Charleville route but the tank was empty at mile 10. Nevertheless I was happy in that I kept tipping away and didn't fall too far over the 9 minute pace. Total run was complete in 2hrs23mins. Around 8.53 pace. That night I popped up to Cork to see Peter Hook and his band play. A good set it was too around 29 songs. Standing 3 hours for that. 35 miles for the week.

Monday 21st very easy recovery walk jog. Around 3 miles at 12 minute pace. Tuesday 5.2 miles at 9.05 pace on Treadmill. Hopefully a few more runs at the end of the week. Back to work on Thursday.

August note. The flu before we fly.

 My last post was all very triumphal and then as is the way of these things ...... bang!!!! Well more of a sound of a squeaky balloon with the air being slowly driven out of it. A kind of a farty , squeaky sound.

I had a 3 mile recovery jog on Monday last fully intending to rack up a good mileage week up to the Sunday.

Anyway it never happened. I felt quite ill on the Tuesday morning, the kind of feeling where your body feels it skin wants to peel away from it bones and your head is undergoing some sort of trepanning process. Essentially a type of flu virus. I get this every year and have done for years. Feels like a type of flu - achey bones, sweats, nausea and all that. It usually coincides when I start upping the intensity of mileage for marathon training. It was never a issue when I was only up to 35 miles as that was quite easy in the past but not so the last 5 years . For example when I got food poisoning in Malaga in 2015 I was still able to knock out 45 mile weeks despite being ill for 3 weeks after it. (It's amazing when you never realize in the moment how fit you once were)

Anyway nothing for it but keep to the bed and to the back of the living room when the family are around. 

It meant no running this week so that was another hopeful training week gone to pieces.

Sunday I felt a bit better and ran a easy slow 5 miles at 10 minute pace (HR 127). The rest of the day I was still feeling crappy but at dinner time I had a massive craving for salad, peppers, steak and beetroot!!! It seemed to do the trick and I slept well. The tummy was a lot healthy the bank holiday Monday too.

I decided to head out for a slow 1 hour jog but my mile 4 I was feeling a lot better and kept going until mile 14 and 2hrs05mins later. (HR 152 - high) Had I brought a gel or two I might have kept going up to 16 miles but i was still mindful that I was a wee bit virus ridden. The HR was high enough. Even at 14 miles I am still in a solid position with 12 weeks to DCM.

The rest of the day I felt fine packing for the holiday abroad our first in 8 years. I obviously will be bringing the running stuff but now that I got some sort of log run done the mindset is more optimistic with a few to the next 4 weeks.

Running week

 Monday 31st July 3 miles recovery

Tuesday 6th August 5 miles at 9.53 minute pace . HR 127

 Monday 7th August 14 miles at 8.56 pace. 2hrs05mins. HR 151

Summer update

 I better write something I guess. Running going well enough. I ran that Cork City half marathon and despite the gammy hammy I ambled around reasonably comfortably. I think it was under 1hr54mins. I say comfortably as compared to other runners in particular doing those doing the full I had a easy time of it. It was the hottest day of the year and runners suffered badly. The whole set up was far from ideal and the organizers didn't cover themselves in glory. I had resolved not to take part again but 8 weeks later in the middle of a another training cycle I'm sure that (like the current wet weather) might change.

After that I stuck to the physio plan for the next 6 weeks and the quad/hip/hammy or what ever it was began to slowly improve. I was very happy with my approach to the recovery process but as is the way with these things I have begun to move away from it. I suppose boredom with it plays a part.I should do better there.

Anyway I started training for the Dublin marathon a few days after the Cork half and it was a case of slowly and surely. 8 weeks in I haven't done everything perfect but for most of it I'm  doing ok enough. The goal is to get the start line fit and healthy with the training done as well as possible (in particular the long runs). In terms of frequency I am hoping to get 5 runs in a week (only getting 4 in at the moment). In terms of pace I am hoping to keep the pace easy and HR no higher than 140 (not doing badly on that score) and speed work solid (I could do with a bit more there). Mileage wise I am only hitting 30 miles now (that's ok no rush ) and long runs are up to 16 miles (I'm happy with that). I could do with running long runs in a variety of settings (currently all Charleville). The weight has stayed the same since June (87.5kgs) but I would hope to get down to under 85kgs by October weekend. It might creep up a bit over next few weeks.

My score card would read 7/10.

When I do get to the startline I would hope a sub 4 marathon wouldn't be beyond me ( maybe 3hr52mins). 

The week ended 30th June read as follows

Monday 16 miles (8.40 pace HR 150)

Tuesday rest

Wednesday 3 miles (recovery pace 10.22, Hr122)

Thursday No run . Just too tired and lacking motivation

Friday 6 miles ( tried to run 5 miles at 7.40 but came unstuck and stopped after first 3 miles at 7.45 average and jogged home). 

Saturday no run. Cutting the lawn for nearly 2.5 hours and sending the last of the emails to my A.E for the state exams

Sunday 10 miles. ( Woke up after 3 miles did 10 miles in total. Notional marathon pace run at 8.10 pace, HR 154. Soaked through but good effort. The MP pace is probably a more relastic HMP in real terms)

Total mileage for the week 35 miles

I have one more big week next week before our holidays abroad (first in 8 years)

Gammy hammy

 Ah yes.... the gammy leg....I went to the physio last week..he diagnosed a pull in the quad muscle..... Took the week off running. Tried a 4 miler on Saturday, did that very slowly. Tried a 7 miler the Sunday after that. Again very slowly. Got around. Foam rolled and stretched and iced and all that jazz afterwards. Seemed ok enough but it does sting first thing in the morning and in the evening. Rested Monday. Another 6 miles Tuesday this week and no other running for the week. That's partly down to the heat during the day and too busy in the morning to get out. Anyway I'm pretty much where I was last year - plus ca change- apprehensive and allergic. I'll turn up Sunday and take it from there.