The Early Bird

Despite the weather not being nearly as nice as last monday I still managed to struggle out of bed yesterday morning to run, I hummed and hawed a bit before deciding that the best time to decide whether or not to run was afterwards in the shower. I did the same route as last monday morning but this time even though I could hear the water down at the beach the fog was so thick that I could n't see it. It kinda reminded me of running in the dark in Winter which thankfully is still a few months away. Did 5 miles on grass in the CBS after work which went very well, was banging out 6.45 minute miles without too much effort which was nice. With the Stryker 4 mile on Wednesday, hopefully it'll translate into a good result. Just did a very easy 3 miles this morning in the slight drizzle in the field I used last week (the farmer incidentally had the sense to take in his hay before the rain came) It was nice to see a rather watery sun breaking through the clouds as it rose over Knockadoon head but that was as good as it got on a very dreary 'summers' day! Hadn't ran the day before the last two races but I'm not sure if it makes a difference either way...
Monday: AM:7.6miles @ 6.57 HR141
PM: 5miles @6.46 HR145
Tues: 3miles @ 7.33 HR134

To Race or not to Race

After thursday night I was in two minds whether or not to do the 10K on Saturday evening in west cork. On the pro side ,there aren't too many 10k's around these parts so to get one in would be nice & the numbers would probably be small so a good result would be a possibility. On the against side a 10K two days after a tough 5 miler would be difficult and would also probably impact on my 4 mile performance next wednesday. Also it would mean not getting much training done over the weekend. Either way I decided to run early on friday to allow maximum recovery either for the race or a session on saturday. The fact that I was doing a run around 10 hours after I finished my post race cooldown meant it was going to be tough, but I didn't realise how tough! I noticed a field with a gate open close to my house so I just popped in there to save the joints and meaning I could bail out (pun intended, field was full of bales) if I was knackered. Sure enough I didn't even manage 4 miles and the pace was just under 8 minute miling so I decided there and then not to race after all!
Did go ahead with a session at the Mardyke on Saturday and even though I was n't feeling the best while warming up I managed to get 12 x 400's in an average of 71sec's. Hard going but I'm glad I got through it.
Friday:3.9miles @ 7.57 HR135
Saturday: Warmup:2.5miles 12x400m in 71 with 200 recover. Cooldown:2 miles
Total:56 miles
Did a 85 minute run today in Welshtown woods, found it tough enough after yesterday:
Sun: 12 miles @ 7.07 HR145

Shanagarry 5 mile

Another Race close to home tonight - the Shanagarry 5 mile, second race in the Ballycotton Summer series. And no prizes for guessing where I finished, yip 8th again! Managed to beat a few of the guys who beat me in Ballyandreen but as the overall standings are based on cumulative time rather than finishing position I don't think I made enough time to move up too much on the leader board for the series. Race went well - the pace was quite handy for the first 2 miles which were flat so there was a big bunch of us together. Soon after the marker the leaders put down the boot a bit as we started climbing, I just kept going steady maintaining my effort and was with two other guys who like me were cast off from the leading group. We stayed together untill about 3.25 miles where the course dropped down a steep hill and were passed by two guys, one of whom was my mate who I raced shoulder to shoulder with in the 5K last week. He does a lot of hill running so descending quickly was always going to be his forte. As soon as the course went up again I managed to get onto his shoulder and I was back in a group of three having dropped one of the original posse on the descent, the other guy who had passed had kept the hammer down and got away from us. As we crested the last hill with about 3/4 of a mile to go Donie Walsh told us that we were in 8th, 9th and 10th, & at that stage I was just hanging on so was settling for 10th place. I managed to get some air into my lungs on the slight downhill into the finish and with 300m to go I manoveured myself to the side of the 2 lads and just gave it everything and just about managed to get over the line before them. Legs had felt a bit dead on the last climb and I was wondering why but it was only afterward it dawned on me that I probably was n't fully recovered after the session tuesday night so I won't worry too much about it.
Splits were n't too bad considering the hilliness of the last 3 miles (5.19/5.31/5.52/5.36/5.30). 27.49 total (PB!)
Wed: Rest
Thur: Warmup:3miles Race:5miles Cooldown:1.8miles

Double the fun

Did a double yesterday, it really was n't difficult to motivate myself to get some miles in before work as even from my bed I could tell it was a glorious morning. Ran down as far as the beach and did a little in the dunes before running home a different road purely for the sake of variety. It was brilliant having the beach to myself although a guy was just getting out to walk his dog as I was leaving. Stopped off again on the way home from work & just did 30 minutes. Am front loading a bit this week so I can rest up for the Shanagarry 5 mile on thursday.
Did "2/3's" of a session on the grass track today - or 8 x 400m. Was happy with how they went as all bar 2 were 72secs or quicker.
Mon:AM:7.6miles @ 7.09 HR140
PM:3.6miles @ 7.07 HR142
Tue: Warmup:2.5miles 8x400m Cooldown:2.8miles

Heading for the Hills.

Went down to my folks place yesterday afternoon and made arrangements to run with a neighbour of theirs who I race against regularly on the local scene. He swears by a 2 to 2.5hour run he does in the Galtee Mountains most Sunday Mornings. I had joined him once before so I knew what to expect - long,long climbs and a few fairly hairy downhills. I must say I enjoyed it, we managed to stay out for just over 1Hr 50 but it seemed a lot shorter due to the variety of the route. Usually you get some panoramic views of counties Limerick, Cork and Tipperary from the highest point but today it was so foggy you could barely see 100m ahead.Needless to say the pace was pretty slow but according to the Garmin we climbed around 2800ft in total (although I find it's not very accurate at reading altitude) Felt pretty tired at the end but not exhausted, will see how the legs are tomorrow...
Sun:14.33 @ 7.51 HR139

Tempo, Tempo

Planned on doing a session on thursday but had only 4x400's done when my stomach came at me so I decided to pack it in. I was n't exactly flying it so maybe it wasn't a great idea to push it anyway. Didn't get out at all yesterday as to be honest I had a few sherberts on Thursday night so was feeling a bit under the weather to say the least! Managed to rectify things today with a very satisfactory tempo run. The conditions were almost exactly the same as my last one so to be 5 sec's quicker per mile at the exact same HR was great. Splits were (5.40/5.46/6.12/5.52/5.53). That 3rd mile is still my downfall but as I said before it's almost all uphill and into the wind.
Thursday: Warmup:2miles 4x400 in 75secs
Friday:"rest"
Saturday: 1.6warmup 5miles tempo @ 5.52 HR171 Cooldown: 1.4
Total for week:40miles

The perfect Race

Finally I managed to race according to the plan. And thankfully it had the desired effect, a new PB by a whopping 28 seconds. The only dampener was I didn't manage to get a Top 20 t-shirt (23rd) but if someone had offered me beforehand a T-shirt or a 16:29 there was only going to be one winner! After a chaotic start got into a nice rhythm, I think the fact that the leaders took off so quick made it easier to hold back as I was never going to stay with them. Ended up running with a friend who always has the edge on me in the longer races but I seem to get the upper hand on distances of 4 miles and shorter. As we ran shoulder to shoulder we managed to pick of a few of the eager beavers who took off a bit quickly and we were gaining on some more all the way to the finish.Felt very comfortable untill the 2mile mark and pulled away in the last quarter mile and even managed to cover the last 0.1 of mile in under 25 seconds which was especially pleasing. In fairness conditions were perfect on this superflat course so I'd imagine there were PB's all round but I'm not going to let that steal my thunder! My splits were (5.17/5.23/5.23/<25) which is as close to by the book as you can get.
Just did an easy 60 minutes today, calf on right leg a little sore but nothing to worry about hopefully.
Sun:Am:5.4miles @ 7.10 HR143 (road)
PM: 5miles @ 7.20 HR141 (beach)
Mon: Rest
Tues:Warmup:3miles 5K Race Cooldown:3miles
Wed: 8.9miles @ 7.01 HR143 (woods/road)

Glanmire 5

Ran the 5 miler in Glanmire on Wednesday, was interested to see how it would go after doing the mini session just over 24 hours earlier. And it went exactly how I would have expected - 28.23 which is a bit slower than I reckon I should be running at the moment. It would have been even slower only that I was caught by a group of 4 with about 1000m to go when in 8th place and really did n't want to break my run of top 10 finishes so managed to hold them off just as they went to come by me and got away from them as soon as I saw the clock at the finish. The fact that I was able to do this meant that I probably was n't pushing hard enough to begin with!! Splits - again terrible (5.10/5.42/5.58/5.48/5.40) the first mile was slightly downhill and mile 3 had a tough but shortish climb. Nobody past me so I guess it was the nature of the course to a certain extent. Only managed 38minutes on grass on thursday, was pretty tired from getting home late from the race and a bit stiff also. Managed a session on the track (tartan not grass)on friday and it went pretty good. It was really windy so pacing was quite difficult but after the first one in 67secs I settled into low 70's before ending with mid 70's as the fatigue took it's toll. It was quite warm and I wasn't wearing racing shoes so I'll take that. Managed a very easy 11 miles today - felt quite tired and stiff but am better after it. Will take it easy now from here untill tuesday before one of my big aims for the summer the John Buckley 5K where a PB & a top 20 T-shirt would be nice...
Wednesday:warmup 3.1 Race 5miles Cooldown:1.5
Thursday: 5miles @ 7.38 HR:132bpm
Friday: warmup 2.6, 10x400m(200m recovery) 1.75 cooldown
Saturday: 11miles @ 7.40 HR:138bpm

Session, sort of...

Did an easy 40 minutes yesterday although it was quite breezy at times which made it a bit difficult at times. Today was planning a session but am also planning on doing the Glanmire 5 mile tomorrow evening so didn't want to kill myself. Decided to get there early ahead of my clubmates who do a regular session on a tuesday so's that I wouldn't be tempted to just go with the flow as my personality tends me to do.
Anyway after warmup got through 4 in roughly 75secs before they started feeling tough so just did two more so I don't know if 6x400m actually qualifies as a session (especially since some of my more illustrious clubmates would be doing 16x400 in around 67secs or therabouts!) Anyway hopefully it won't slow me down too much tomorrow although I think my SB from Ballyandreen won't be broken even though it's probably an easier course.
Mon: 5.6miles @ 7.14 HR142bpm
Tue: Warmup:2.6 6x400 Cooldown:1.5

Down on the farm

Got my longest run since I came back to Ireland in today and it felt good. Could n't decide between going to Welshtown wood which is north of Midleton or 'the Farm' out near the greyhound track. In the end I went for the farm for no particular reason. Had planned on doing 12 miles or 1.5hours, whichever came second. After the first few miles it became obvious that it was going to be the latter as the miles were flying along at sub 7min pace. It's amazing how much easier a long run is when the pace is quick at modest effort. Went through 8.7 miles in the first hour, it is a little training goal of mine to manage 9 miles in hour at a HR148 average and even though I'm still a bit off it it's nice to think I'm going in that direction hopefully.
One bad thing about today was it rained thoughout which was fine from a cooling perspective but I made the rookie mistake of not putting Vaseline on the nipples and although I didn't draw blood they're pretty red raw at the moment (TMI!)
Sunday: 13miles @ 6.54 HR148bpm

Tempo run

Finished off the week with an easy 5 and a bit yesterday, was planning on doing 8 but was still a bit tired after thursdays session and I knew I was planning a tempo run today so I decided to use the old 'listen to the body' philosophy. My calves were quite sore as well but I think this might be due to running on the bone dry grass track with XC spikes. If it's still dry next week I think I will wear my road racing shoes instead.
So onto the tempo run, I must say it went quite well, especially as I felt a bit empty during the warmup, but then again that was uphill. Had planned on doing 5 miles @ 6min miling and just about managed it clocking 5.57/mile or 29.49minutes in total. I used the same course that is used for the Churchtown South 5 miler and was only 9secs slower than last years race time. Took off a bit quickly but I knew that the third mile was going to be uphill & into the wind so I said I'd better bank a bit of time to ensure an even effort. My splits were (5.45/5.54/6.12/5.52/6.05), was pleased with the last mile as the last 400m were up the same hill and right into the headwind. Will hope to this once a week and see how it goes. Mileage for the week was quite low but with a race, a session and a tempo maybe quality and not quantity will bring the desired results...
Friday: 5.4miles @ 7.12 HR140bpm
Sat: Warmup: 1.6 Tempo: 5mile @ 5.57 HR171 Cooldown: 1.4
Total for week: 50.85miles

On the right track

Things seem to be coming back nicely - did 11 miles on wednesday, again mostly on grass albeit at a slow enough pace. Did a session today: 11x400m with 200m recovery & was very happy with how they went, especially as my legs felt quite stiff during the warmup. Started off in the mid 70's but by the end was hitting 71/72. Noticed when looking on the garmin afterward that the track is ever so slightly shorter than 400m but I guess this can be countered by the fact that it is on grass and is uneven enough in places. As I type this I can feel my legs are quite stiff now so will go for a nice leisurely run tomorrow again.
Wednesday: 11miles @ 7.32 HR
Thursday: 1.8warmup 11x400 cooldown 1.7

It's not a long way from Tipperary...

Finished off the week with a very easy 7.2miles on grass @ 7.51 pace and HR136 on Saturday. Had a wedding to go to Saturday afternoon so decided in advance that Sunday would be a rest day. Indeed it was as I balmed out on the couch for the afternoon and managed to fall asleep and miss the 2nd half of the Cork Tipp hurling match! Total for week:53miles
So onto to monday, which was supposed to be D-Day ie the date for the Cork City Marathon, once I got into the city I was immiediately pissed off that I was n't running. The buzz before a marathon is simply different than any other distance, even for a pretty low key one like Cork. The worrying thing for the runners however was that even at 8.45 it was already starting to heat up and like the previous two years the day was set to be a scorcher. I can imagine how frustrating this would be for someone aiming for a certain time, I saw some guys who I've seen run 57 minutes for 10 miles not even managing to break 3.15 so I wonder where that would have left me?
I did manage to get a race in Monday evening although it was rather shorter than the 26.2miles originally planned. There was a 5K on in Waterford village called Touraneena which allegedly was half an hour from East Cork. After driving for 70 minutes we finally arrived in the village which is pretty much just outside Clonmel, well almost. Anyway after warming up we made our way up to the start line which was worryingly about 200m up a hill and led into a blind cambered corner. As it turned out it did n't cause any problems and I got into a nice rhythm for the first 2K which were pretty much up a slight hill. Was shoulder to shoulder with a club mate when the course levelled out and we managed to reel a guy in front but I could see by his shadow that he stuck with us as we passed. Clocked my 3K time at 10.50 which I thought was very slow as I had been going through the 3K during the track races in about 10 flat. The last 2K were pretty much downhill and although the guy we passed got away I held off my Clubmate for 7th place and a new road PB of 16.57. Happy with that but would like to take another chunk off that before the summer is over... splits were(5.35/5.37/5.21/0.23)
Managed an easy 10 today in beautiful sunshine. Long may it continue!!
Monday: Warmup 2.5 Race:5K Cooldown 3.1
Tuesday: 10miles @ 7.37 pace HR138 was holding 7.10 pace for the first few miles very comfortably for the first time in a while.