Friday 18 September 2009

Slowly does it...

Did an easy 65minutes on Wednesday, mostly on grass. On the advice of a clubmate I decided not to a session yesterday on the basis that I would still not be recovered after Sunday's efforts. I ended up doing 6miles fairly easy in Ballyannon wood, was going to do a few more but my knee became a little sore so I'm definitely glad I did n't do a session. Did 4 miles very easy this morning & will hopefully get another few in this afternoon.

Sunday 13 September 2009

Cork Half Marathon Championships


I had made a rough raceplan after seeing the course in my attempt to break 77minutes, which I felt was an ambitious but achievable target. This plan entailed getting to 6 miles in 36minutes (6min/mile pace)and running 5.45's for the the remaining 7 & a bit miles. In the back of my mind the 5.45's were a bit worrying so I was thinking maybe a tad under 36minutes would be needed.
The first few miles were fairly undulating and I felt reasonably comfortable doing 5.45s. I was in a group of 5 or 6 and we shared the lead with about 12 runners in a line ahead of us. This group was whittled down to 4 by the start of the hill & at this point I let the other guys go as I wanted to go up the hill at my own pace. By the top two of the lads came back to me and we caught another guy on the downhill. The downhill was murder on the quads but I was relieved to see a split time of 5.40 at the 7 mile mark. From here on for the next few miles was a gradual down hill and I was delighted to see my splits were hitting 5.30's. At this stage I knew I was on for a pretty good time as long as I could hold it together. I managed to do just that and even passed 3 or 4 people who had obviously put in too much effort over the hill. I took on some energy drink at around mile 10 & forced down half a cereal bar (and I really mean forced - it took me three full miles to eat it - sustained energy release or what!) I didn't want to repeat the fading off that had occured in Qatar.
I crossed the line in 76.10 knackered but delighted!!

Warmup:1.78 Race13.1miles 10th 76.10(5.40,5.43,5.44,5.46,6.06,6.24,5.40,5.30,5.35,5.39,5.45,5.45,5.43,1.06)Warmdown:1mile

Knee was a bit sore on monday so just did 50 minutes easy. Had planned on doing a session of 1000's yesterday but after the first one taking 3.32 I had to admit to myself that Sunday had taken more out of me so only did 3.
Will take it easy again this evening and try and do some quality work tomorrow.

Friday 11 September 2009

Build up to Cork Half Marathon

As I mentioned Sunday is the Cork (and Munster) Half marathon championships so I have eased back a bit for the remainder of the week. Did easy hour on Wednesday & 4x800 yesterday evening. Decided to get to do todays run early just to maximise recovery time so did just under an hour as the sun rose, which was nice.Took a spin out to Blarney at lunchtime to check out the course and it looks pretty tough. The first half is around 70% uphill (as in the quantity not the gradient!) and a lot of this gain is lost in a sharp quad busting downhill. It's the same for everyone though so I won't complain.
Wed: 8miles 7.18 HR143
Thur: Warmup:2.5 4x800(2.29/2.31/2.32/2.33)with 400 recovery Warmdown:1.9
Fri:7miles 7.46 HR136
Total:52miles

Wednesday 9 September 2009

Fun in the Mud

Did a 'half' session yesterday or 4x1000's. Had planned on doing 6 but a stomach cramp put paid to that idea. They ranged from 3.27 to 3.23 but as it was quite muddy I won't more too much. Running the Cork half Marathon on Sunday so maybe it's not a bad idea to have take it a bit easier.
Warmup:2miles 4x1000 with 2min recovery, warmdown 2miles

Monday 7 September 2009

That 70's Show

Finished off the week with an easy 9miles on friday & Tempo run on Saturday. Struggled through the first few miles on Friday but was grand by the end. This still left me a little apprehensive about doing the tempo as I was planning on doing 7 miles which is longer then I had ever done before. After warming up I got into a nice rhythm, the wind was n't as strong as last week (although it was in the same direction). I felt comfortable untill the 6 mile mark and had to push myself through the last mile, both physically and mentally. No mile was slower than 5.58 which was very satisfying with an avg. pace of 5.56/mile. Was tired afterwards and could only manage 9min/mile pace on trip home albeit up hill. Was a nice way to break 70 miles for the first time in around 6 months.
Only managed an hour yesterday, had planned 1.45hours but decided to listen to the body, knee and hip were quite sore and just felt flat so called it a day. Did lots of icing and stretching for the rest of the day so hopefully that'll sort it. Weather was absolutely horrendous aswell so it was an easy decision to make!
Did an hour this morning in glorious sunshine with only very slight discomfort so hopefully on the mend.
Friday:9miles @7.18HR140
Saturday: 1.6warmup 7miles @5.56/mile HR169 Cooldown 1.8
Total for week:70.8miles
Sunday:8.2miles @ 7.31HR137
MondayAM:8miles @ 7.17HR137
PM:5.5miles 7.26HR142

Friday 4 September 2009

1000's

Managed another session last night - 1000's and they felt a lot easier than the 800's of tuesday evening and for good reason. Even though it's only an extra 200m they were taking an extra 50seconds or so, partly due to hillier and rougher surface than the track but also due to less intensity of effort. Did six ranging from 3.27 down to 3.21 by the end and felt reasonably comfortable throughout. This is fine for the moment but in a few weeks I will up the intensity for the XC season.
Thursday: 10.7miles incl 6x1000m with 2.30minutes recovery.

Thursday 3 September 2009

Stupid Computer


Haven't been able to post lately as my laptop keyboard has decided to give up the ghost with a lot of the keys after dying. I'm typing this from work so hopefully my boss doesn't stumble accross it although in fairness he's not the sharpest knife in the drawer so I'm safe enough!

Anyway since last post I spent a wonderful week in Berlin seeing the best in the world strut their stuff and seeing some brilliant (and some not so brilliant) irish performances to boot, including Olive Loughnane's (pictured) superb silver medal in the 20k walk. Managed about 30 odd miles over, all at easy pace.
On my return I knuckled down and managed 67miles last week including a 15mile long run,a 7x600's session, a 5mile race (8th in 27.41) and a 6mile tempo run (5.57pace).
This week has involved another 15miler, and did 5x800's on tuesday in between 2.31 & 2.36. My knee has been sore since sunday but hopefully it won't develope into anything nasty...