Monday 27 July 2009

Churchtown South

Haven't posted for a while so will give a quick summary:
Mon: AM:7.6 @ 7.16 HR137
PM:4 @ 7.03 HR139
Tues: Warmup: 2 6x400 in 73/74 with 200 recovery. Warmdown:2
Wed: Rest
Thursday: Churchtown South 5mile, Didn't go great - race started very slowly with first 0.5mile in around 2.50. Pace really picked up then & I made the mistake of staying in the lead pack, covering the next mile and a half at roughly 5.10 pace. Paid the price as I really slowed down after this & only got back on track in the last half mile as I managed to hang on to a guy who went past me. Splits were (5.22/5.13/5.50/5.43/5.28) giving me 27.42 & 8th place (again!) Very dissappointed as I was reasonably confident going into the race of running 27.15 or better.
Fri:8.15 @ 7.16 HR139
Sat: Did some hills down in my home place, and by God were they brutal! 1200m with around 100m of climbing, maybe the Tour finishing at the summit of Mount Ventoux inspired me!
Warmup 2mile: 4x1200hills (5.02/5.06/5.15/5.17) warmdown:2miles
Total for week: 53miles
Sunday: Rest
Monday:6.8 @ 7.18 HR138

Sunday 19 July 2009

Banteer 5K

Had a sort of mixed end to last week. Did a double on Wednesday with 50 minutes in the morning & 40 in the evening. As a result of this I was going into my tempo run on thursday with legs more tired than usual. And as a result my pace suffered. Managed to hold 5.56 avg pace which was 8 secs a mile slower than last week, but at the same time was still quicker than my first tempo run around a month ago. Had a wedding on friday so got up early to get some miles in but as soon as I started I felt a few niggles so decided to turn right around. Getting soft or getting sense - I haven't decided yet. Was in no state to run on Saturday so decided to head to Banteer for a 5K race on Sunday so that my two days of rest would n't go to waste. Was still not feeling the best after the wedding and was even drifting off in the car on the way down( thankfully I was a passenger). Still though I knew my rested legs would lead to a respectable time but as it panned out they led to a PB. Went through the first mile in 5.09 and felt comfortable - was leading a group with 3 guys in front of us. On one of the sharp turns on the course I lost a bit of concentration and allowed a few lads to get away from me. From here on I was pretty much on my own but managed to reel in one guy in the last 1000m or so. My splits were (5.09/5.13/5.22 & 35secs) giving me a time of 16.19 & 5th place.

Weds: AM:6.8miles @ 7.18 HR137
PM:5.2miles @ 7.52 HR131
Thurs: Warmup: 1.6 5miles tempo @ 5.56 HR166 Cooldown:2.5
Fri: 0.4miles
Total for week:52miles
Sunday: Warmup:2miles 5K Race. Cooldown:1.75

Tuesday 14 July 2009

Speed Thrills

The ice bath and pretty good nights sleep must have done the trick as I managed to get around the mile in 4.45 which I was delighted with. I had been hoping for 4.50 or quicker so to get to 4.45 was a nice bonus. Not sure where I came but the winner ran 4.26 which is 5 seconds a lap quicker than me but not to worry. Ran fairly smoothly, covering the first lap in about 68 seconds. Settled into a nice pace and started making ground on two lads in front of me. Caught them at the start of the 3rd lap and overtook them after another 100 metres. Had no idea what my splits were at this stage but I'd say I covered the final 400 in just under 70 seconds.
After a short jog we did a session of 8x400's with 400 recovery. I'm not sure if it was the extra 200 recovery or possibly the leftover adrenaline after the race but the first 4 at a shade under 69secs felt very comfortable. I led out the 5th and unintentially registered 66secs. This set the tone for the final 3 which were 65,67 & 65. The last two were pretty difficult but all in all a very satisfying night.
Warmup:2.5 miles Race 1 mile. Jog 1mile 8x400 in 65-68 with 400 recovery Cooldown:1.8

In other news booked my flights to Deutschland for the World Athletic championships next Month - Can't wait!!!

Monday 13 July 2009

Tired legs

Did the now almost routine 12mile long run in Welshtown woods Sunday morning. I had planned on going to 'the farm' as my body was pretty sore after last Sunday's effort in Welshtown but after the amount of rain that fell on Saturday the farm would have been sodden to say the least. We generally do 3 laps which comes to just under 12 miles & the first one was done very slowly with more energy expended in discussing the (athletic) issues of the week than actually running. About half way through the second lap the pace picked up and it continued increasing untill the finish. I felt comfortably tired & did a few strides at the end to bring me over the 12 mile mark. After the race in Churchtown South thursday week I plan to start making these runs longer as base training for the cross country season. I haven't decided whether or not to take a break first but I'm leaning towards not seeing as I only really started back in serious training at the end of May.
I went out before work this morning to save having to run this evening with the track race tomorrow night and I didn't feel great at all. The pace of the finish of yesterdays run must have taken its toll, with my legs feeling very tired. As soon as I've published this post I'm going to have an ice bath & hopefully a good nights sleep & dreams of 72seconds (or quicker) laps...
Sun: 12.1miles @ 7.16 HR141
Mon: 8.2miles @ 7.09 HR141

Saturday 11 July 2009

Change of Plan

Was planning on doing another tempo run saturday morning so dragged myself out of bed friday morning to ensure enough recovery time. Managed to get 5 very slow miles done & was definitely feeling the effect of thursday nights exertions. The one good thing was that the weather was nice as the rest of the day turned out to be pure misery with non stop drizzle.
Decided later in the day that I would n't do a tempo run, as I am doing an unofficial 1 mile track race on Tuesday so thought I would be better off with some 400's and do a tempo next thursday instead.
Just as I was getting ready to go I got a text from one of the lads saying that there was a few of them going to the CBS & one of them was planning on doing 1000's. I thought I might give a few of them a lash & end the session with 400's just to get a bit of speed into the legs. In the end I ended up doing 5x1000m and no 400's. We started off at 3.30 & brought them down to 3.23 for the last two. The McMillian Calculator suggests I should be doing them at 3.15 to 3.23, we did them on a pretty rough surface with a few little hills but I guess I could have pushed it a bit more.
Friday: 5Miles @ 7.48 HR132
Sat: Warmup- 2.75 5x1000 with 400recovery Cooldown:1.5miles
Total for week:48miles

Thursday 9 July 2009

Corkbeg 5 mile

After my reluctant easy week, I expected to be rearing to go for tonights race in east Cork. But to be honest I was n't looking forward to it all. After warming up I was kinda of half hoping I had forgotton my racing shoes so I could cop out. I took solace from the fact that I sometimes get this feeling before my best performances and that it's just down to nerves.
Sure enough as soon as the gun went off I felt grand and got into a nice rhythm and was in the lead group of 9 or 10. As the first mile was pretty much downhill I was n't surprised when my split time was 5.11. At this point I got dropped from the group & was out on my own although there was no wind so this was no problem. after about 1.5 miles the course took off up a steepish hill but I felt fine so I started making inroads on the guy in front who had also lost touch with the breakaway group (sorry Le Tour is on at the moment!) After a sharp down hill we were back on the flat heading back to meet the road we had ran out on. I was making steady ground on the guy in front and passed him at the 4 mile mark. I put a bit of road between us but I could sense him coming back so really had to dig deep up the hill we had ran down at the start up to the finish. In the end he died off so another 8th place. Thought I had done enough to break 27.30 as my pace read 5.28/mile but had to settle for 27.34 as I clocked the distance at 5.04 miles. Still a PB by 15secs so I can't complain!
Splits were 5.11/5.40/5.27/5.34/5.30 & 10secs for not apexing the corners.
Thursday: Warmup:3 Race 5 miles Warmdown 2miles

Easy week

Planned another Tempo run for saturday morning so to ensure I was fresh I did my friday run in the morning. Only did a little more than 30 minutes seeing as I did a little extra on my 'commute' on friday. Tempo run went well although I find I'm trying to beat my previous time which is n't the idea but I guess I would n't be at this lark if I did n't have a competitive streak! I was quicker incidentally & my splits were 5.46/5.40/6.00/5.55/5.43 - around 4 sec's quicker per mile than last time out.
Fri: 4.5 @ 7.24 HR135
Sat: Warmup: 1.6miles 5 miles Tempo @ 5.48 HR172 Cooldown:1.45
Total for week: 60 miles
Did a 12 mile run in the woods with the club on Sunday. Was going to do a session monday with a race on thursday in mind but then decided that I needed an easy week so I just did 40 minutes and another easy 50 minutes on tuesday. I then realised that I actually hate easy weeks! Why? cos the name is deceiving. Sitting down on the couch with a cup of coffee & a snickers is easy. Going out for a run is not. I haven't quite copped this untill now. I always expect that an easy week is going to be great fun but then find it really difficult to motivate myself to get out at all. At least when you're on a normal week the runs all have a specific purpose eg. the day before a session is nice an easy in preparation for the session. Then the session with it's own objectives. The day after is a recovery run and so on. Easy week, it's just running so yeah you've guessed it - I took Wednesday off!!

Thursday 2 July 2009

A happy Anniversary

On the 5th of July 2006 I entered my first ever road race, the Stryker 4 mile in Carrigtohill. I was training for the Dublin Marathon and as the race was on my doorstep I decided to give it a lash. My aim was to break 30 minutes and with a late surge I managed to run 29.39 which was good enough for 152nd place. Little did I know at the time that this whim was going to become an addiction of sorts!!
So back to the present - conditions were pretty muggy but it still was n't too bad a night for a race. They changed the start and finish slightly, for the better as it turned out. A lot of the usual speed merchants were missing so before the start I was reasonably confident that I could maintain my run of top tens (John Buckley 5K excluded). Was right in the mix for the first mile which was slightly uphill but when we got to the first real hill 3 guys got away so I stayed on the shoulder of the guy in fourth and was happy to let him lead the way. Then for some reason I found myself at the front of a group, not sure of how many but four or five from the cacophony of footfalls. I managed to get away a bit on the next downhill section but as the road rose again I could feel someone right on my shoulder. I pushed on as I could see my pace was at 5.29/mile and I was determined to break 22 minutes for the first time. As we entered the last mile my accomplice was still by my side and I was sure that he was going to come round me in the sprint so with 300 metres to go I gave it everything and a clubmate spectating told me I had 5 yards. I kept the head down as I could see by the clock I was on for a good time and in the end managed 21.48 and 4th place, another new PB & my best ever finish in a BHAA race.Was happy again with the splits (5.20/5.33/5.33/5.22) on what is a fairly hilly course.
Did a 10.6 mile point to point run today as my car is sick and I got a lift from work as far as Midleton. As luck would have it the wind was in my face but at least it was n't too strong I suppose. Was a bit tired after yesterday but not too bad...
Wed:Warmup:3.5 Race 4mile Cooldown:2miles
Thurs: 10.6 miles @ 7.01 HR144