Tuesday 21 April 2009

Farewell Qatar!

Well last run in Qatar this evening, my flight got sorted for tomorrow, or so I'm told as I still haven't received a ticket. It's going to quite a trek though: Doha-Dubai-Amsterdam-Cork, I don't mind though as long as it gets me there! Found out today that the East Cork Road Championships are on thursday night - around 9 hours after I am scheduled to get in, but I will probably give it a go & skip the 10k on the track & do the 5k on saturday instead. Sounds good in theory but the logistics of doing it might be a bit more complicated as my car tax is out but sher we'll see. Anyway back to the running - Hip was very sorry after yesterday so considered taking today off. Thankfully decided to go out for half an hour on grass but hip was fine so ended up doing an hour. Was joined for a few laps by some Nepalese lads which made it pass quickly as they never stopped laughing and messing!
Mon:8.38miles 7.24@ 152bpm
Tue: 8.17miles 7.22@ 152bpm

Sunday 19 April 2009

Trying to get back on the horse...

Managed my first 10 miler in what seems like an age this evening and it felt good. My HR was through the roof, but in my defence it was really warm when the run started so that probably played a part in it. More importantly my hip which has been driving me crazy for the last week and a bit didn't come at me. I decided to run along the middle of the road as much as possible to avoid the camber and it seemed to do the trick. Up in the air about when I'm out the gap. Was hoping to go wednesday night but apparently there was no seat on the plane & the next available flight is the 27th. My visa expires on the 26th so they're gonna have to get me home somehow! Hope to be home by thursday as the irish intervarsities (http://www.iuaa.org/) T&F champs are on friday & saturday & I'd love a crack off the 10k as I've never raced on the track before. I qualify to run as I'm doing a part time course although I haven't done anything this semester for obvious reasons!)
Summary of past week (pitiful, I know...)
Tue:6mile 7.20 @ 148bpm
Fri:8mile 7.14 @ 154bpm
Sun: 10.3 7.03 @ 159bpm

Friday 10 April 2009

Running on empty

Did n't bother rounding off to 80, ended up going to Doha to get a new Garmin but the shop was closed D'oh(a)! Ended up going down again on Sunday which meant I didn't get a run in again. Expected to be full of beans on Monday but I wasn't. Had debated not using this week as an easy week but decided after todays going that it HAD to be an easy week. Just had no energy. The weather wasn't helping as it has got decidedly hot & sticky since Sunday - I'd say the days of mid teens temperatures are finished unfortunately. My hip has been at me as well so I ran tuesday & wednesday on grass - much easier on the body but it's like running on a mattress so it's tough going. Overall a very bad week, hopefully next week will be better...
Mon:6mile 7.11/mi @ 141bpm
Tue:6.7mile 7.26/mi @ 140bpm
Wed:7mile 7.21/mi @ 145bpm

Friday 3 April 2009

miles & miles

A pretty uneventful week really, was planning on doing some speedwork on tuesday or wednesday but it was really dust so I didn't bother. Was going to find it tough to motivate myself to run fast anyway as I still have no Garmin or any other means of measuring time accurately. Just ended up doing fairly high mileage instead: Sunday: 14 miles Monday:10miles Tuesday:13.2miles Wednesday:13.2miles Thursday:6.8miles Friday:19.6miles. Decided to do my long run friday morning, the weather forecast was for rain & a high of 20degC so I said why not get it out of the way? I also took the decision to forego food beforehand to maximise my dependence on fats as my energy source as advised by Greg McMillian in this article. Big mistake: I normally don't eat anything during my long runs but starting hungry was a bridge too far. By mile ten I was already feeling a bit woozy but still managed to get three laps of the camp which came to 19.6miles. There was no way I could do the extra 0.4 for 20 I was so wrecked. Maybe this is the purpose of the run but even now, almost 12hours later I'm still shagged!! My hip is a little sore aswell so hopefully it's not a case of history repeating. Debating runnimg 3.2miles tomorrow to break 80miles...