Recovering to Race

For once I have to say I quite enjoyed my recovery week. After my aqua jogging on Monday I did my only planned session of the week on Tuesday. When I got back to Denmark on Monday night there was a pretty thick covering of snow on the ground and as there was no real sign of the temperatures creeping above 0deg C, it was going to stick around for a few days. As a result I didn’t even attempt to make it to a running track so instead found a stretch of cycle path that had been salted. This being Denmark wasn’t difficult. Did 8x400m with 2 minutes recovery. As there was a slight gradient the uphill ones went from 82 to 80 while the downhill ones went from 77 down to 73. Total 8 miles. Followed the session up with well, a session of a different nature. After starting with a glass of water (I was at a gig) I managed to rack up a fair few pints followed by a trip to McDonalds while I waited for my train home which never showed up!

Despite my ropiness on Wednesday I managed another easy 8 miles (@7:22 HR135bpm).

I was back to full cylinders Thursday and did an AM run (8.4miles @7:05 HR136bpm). It was nice to be back running close to 7min miles. Did 5 miles on both Friday (PM) and Saturday (AM) to give myself a real rest before a race on Sunday. (5miles @7:05 HR134bpm and 5miles @7:20 HR133bpm)

Might have ran faster had I known I was being chased by a Ninja

So onto the race, which was a metric 10miler, or 15K in other numbers. Felt pretty confident and set myself a target of worst case 55 minutes and best case below 54. The snow disappeared on Saturday but unfortunately it was replaced by a biting wind. I consoled myself with the knowledge that the route changed direction quite often so we wouldn’t be running into it for too long at any one time. Did a very easy 2 mile warm up with a few strides. Once the race got started I settled into a group and felt comfortable going through the first mile in 5.42, just under my target of 5.45 (but we had a tailwind/downhill). The next few miles all felt comfortable but the wind was quite strong at times and I was expending a little more energy than planned, splits were 5:48, 5:48, 5:43, 5:46, 5:49. Unfortunately I went from pushing the pace one minute to letting the group I was in go. I lost concentration and was expecting to be going with the wind but found ourselves heading into the wind again – I shouldn’t have let it affect me but it did. Despite this the next mile was in 5:44. I was alone but there was a guy just behind me. I used him to push me on but try as I might to drop him, I couldn’t, which was actually great as he really was pushing me. We were now heading into the wind for pretty much the next two miles and had a slight drag to boot. At one stage we went through a section of dirt and the dust was blinding. My pace had dropped right off and I had a 6.00 followed by a 6:05. Finally we turned for home with about a Km to go and I just dug as deep as I could not to get caught by any fast finishers including my buddy who was still there. It was hard to judge exactly how far was left when I saw a guy up ahead going left instead of to the finish which I knew to be on the right. Oh no!! (although the words I used weren’t as polite) I thought as it dawned on me there was another little loop before the finish. It was only another 200m’s if even but still. I managed to keep the hammer down and as I rounded the ultimate bend I felt fairly confident that my 3 pursuers wouldn’t catch me. I could see the clock ticking towards 55 minutes and did my best to get under it but had to make do with 55:03 for 24^th overall. Despite not being ecstatic, it was definitely progress but still a long way short of where I want to be for Ballycotton (McMillian gave a 10 mile equivalent of 59.23). Will hopefully be able to bear this in mind for the next 3 weeks.

Ran to work this morning and felt reasonably well. A little slower than of late but still fine: 8.6miles @ 7:13 HR135bpm  

Warm weather training

So on Monday I had the luxury of heading off to Mallorca for some warm weather training. Not specifically because of the marathon (although if it is an unseasonably hot day it may help!) I had initially booked a week off work due to the 3 Danish bank holidays at Easter, but I was encouraged to take an extra & didn't need too much convincing!
Following Sunday's hard long run, the first 2 days were spent recovering, an easy hour on the treadmill monday, and 2 easy 40ish minute runs on Tuesday (one on the treadmill). On Wednesday I had a session planned. As I said in a previous post I was planning on doing 4x2mile on the road, but due to the hilliness of the area (Porto Cristo) & due to there being a track only 15 minutes away I decided to make the most of it. Rather than the tedium of 4x2 miles I said I'd give a pyramid session a go, 1-2-3-2-1 miles with 2-3-4-4 minutes recovery.
As the day was spent shopping & generally messing about I was in no real form for it and was dreading it by the time I made it to the track. Still I said I hadn't come all this way not to make the most of the weather & facilities!
Found it a bit tougher than I expected to keep the pace (5.30) on the first, but loosened out on the 2 mile and managed 10.58. Decided to decrease the effort for the 3 mile but was still on 5.30 pace after 7 laps. The pace did drop off a bit but not too badly so I ended with 16.50 (5.37 pace). I suffered on the next 2 mile and only managed 11.33 (5.47 pace) and told myself that anything under 6 minutes would be fine for the last mile. Surprised myself with a 5.33 which was very pleasing on tired legs!
Needless to say I was tired the next morning so did an hour easy, or as easy as one can go on the hilly Mallorcan roads. Did another easy 30 minutes that evening.
As I had found a 10K race for Saturday I just did 50 minutes very easy on friday. Although I had Wednesdays session (and Sundays long run) in my legs I was hoping to see how I could go in the 10K but it turned out to be a humbling experience. For some reason I was exceptionally nervous before hand. Almost as soon as we got going I knew I wasn't in the right frame of mind, and that was even before the course started going up & up & up. It was a mix of trails and road so it was very difficult to get into any kind of rhythm. I just hung in and said it's training and ended up in 8th place in just over 38minutes (I know!).
Did 30 minutes easy on Sunday Morning & actually felt better than after the session. Goes to show the effort wasn't there, but probably no harm not to kill myself just over 2 weeks to my A race. Did an easy hour Sunday Evening before treating myself to the nicest steak I've had in years and a few pints. Well it was the end of my last hard week of training & Lent was over after all!
Monday:8miles @7.30
Tuesday:AM 5miles @
PM: 5.6miles @7.30
Wednesday Session: 1-2-3-2-1 miles total :14miles
Thursday: AM 8miles
PM: 5miles
Friday: 6.8miles
Saturday: 10K Race
Sunday: AM: 4.5miles
PM: 8miles
Total for week: 77miles

Ballycotton, Ballylanders & now the World

Had a really nice breakfast, followed by my first cup of coffee since Tuesday before doing the last few bits and pieces and heading for the metro into town. Managed to get 120ml of energy gel/liquid into the Ron Hill thingie and discover I could fit this into the pocket on the back of my shorts, brilliant. As I had to do a bag drop I couldn't bring my coat so had to just put on every other layer I had. It was a perfect day for running, which meant it was a tad cool for walking around with no jacket on!
To try and get a decent starting position I did my bag drop about 2 hours before the start, thankfully they had plastic poncho's available so I put one on over my long sleeved top which I would discard - so far so good. Had no problem making my way up to the front but the next thing was trying to figure how the hell I was going to warm up. There was still over an hour to go but I decided an early warmup would be better than none at all. Made my way into a courtyard at the houses of parliament where some others were also doing some extremely small laps so I joined in. Conscious of not getting back to where I was I only did about 10 minutes and sure enough it was quite crowded when I got back but  still managed to make my way towards the front.
Ended up standing around for almost an hour, but everyone was in the same boat, well except for the elites. Heard, but didn't quite see the elite women starting and didn't find out until after that the sole Irish woman didn't manage to make to the first bend due to a pulled hamstring. My own felt ok thankfully.
Finally we were ready to go and off we went to huge cheers from the crowd. After things settled down a quick glance at my watch said I was doing 5.40 pace, perfect I thought as I was optimistically shooting for 75 minutes. After another few hundred meters though it had dropped to 5.45 and my legs  felt heavy. My HR was in the  170's and I just thought "it's going to be a long day". It felt really hot and my throat felt dry. Went through the first mile in 5.39 though and my HR was back to low 160's. I think the sensor had just dried out during the long wait for the start. With last Sunday's session in mind I decided to forget about the watch for a while and just run. And then things began to change, I felt more comfortable and my legs loosened out. Just goes to show the importance of warming up. When I eventually glanced down my pace had dropped to 5.30 but I felt really comfortable so didn't panic. My second mile split was 5.21 and my breathing was easy. Mile 3 was even quicker at 5.15 so I backed off a little. Despite the crowds I was really focused so just kept it going, can't quite remember when but I joined another runner and we started picking off little groups at a time. Pace dropped back a little which was fine. Still felt comfortable at this stage.
Went through 10K in 34.45,  which was my fastest 10K in a while and shortly after starting taking on fuel. The Ronhill jobbie was excellent, really easy to drink from but I didn't risk trying to put it back in my pocket. We were still motoring with the garmin reading between 5.27 and 5.29. It was nice that it was fluctuating as normally it only goes in one direction!Got to 10miles in a shade under 55 minutes, over 100seconds quicker than my PB! I know no race would be exactly (only) 10 miles but still it was nice. Now the real fun started. I was struggling to stay with my friend but said I'd hold on as long as I could.  I knew we were heading to Fredriksberg so I was looking forward to the turnaround point so that the psychological effect of heading for home could kick in. I was really starting to suffer now and had a bad patch coming up to 11 miles. Looking at my splits after my garmin said I had a 6.04 for  mile 11 but I didn't think I had slowed that much. I managed to pull it together a bit now though and when we turned a corner onto a large boulevard with Danish flags on either side I got another lease of life and passed some of the runners that had passed me. Assuming they were Danish, I'm surprised the flags had had a bigger effect on me. As we approached the city centre I was struggling again, I think I was considering how far it seemed we still had to go, as we were on familiar territory, on streets where I would normally be travelling at a more sedate pace.
I was on planet pain now and my pace had gone to 5.33. I didn't even attempt the mental arithmetic, I didn't care about time I just wanted to stop. I had thought the Start line was also the finish line even though we had passed the 20k marker what seemed like miles ago. When I rounded a bend and saw a clock, I was never so happy to be wrong! I just gritted my teeth.I had no kick really but could see a 13, a beautiful glorious 13. Passed the line and stopped my watch 1.13.36 (chip time 1.13.35) Yesssss boy!!!!
After catching my breath I jogged slowly back to the baggage area grinning like a Chesire cat, not before thanking my accomplice for much of the race. He hadn't broken 1.13 which surprised me a little. Looking at my 5k splits they are pretty even, I hadn't slowed as much as I had thought. I definitely have some mental work to do though, as I think it is mental - I felt really bad with the same distance to go as Ballycotton, not with the same distance covered. Overall a very good day though and to knock over 2.5 minutes off my PB was pretty satisfying.
It was n't without some price though, although my calf came through unscathed my tendon problem, though fine during was pretty sore after. Would have loved to go for a run yesterday as it was glorious but decided to stand in the icy water of the Kattegat instead. Will take some time to let it recover. It loosened out today a bit but it was still not worth the risk of running on it. Looked in shops yesterday for an aqua jogging belt for an alternative for maintaining my fitness but to no avail.

The hangover part 4

After Friday's wedding, I had a much tougher social engagement on Saturday involving meeting up with some old friends to watch Ireland give Brian O'Driscoll the send off he deserved by winning the 6 nations rugby championship in Paris. After resisting the fry up in the hotel I knew the chances of ending the day in such a fashion would be slim & sure enough once the snacks started being brought out I tucked in with gusto. After a truckload of beer (well we were celebrating!) a trip to the local fast food joint ensued, bringing my calorie count for the day to at least 6000, but hey who was counting?

Woke up nursing an almighty hangover & of course there was only one logical course of action - run a 10k road race! My calf was still sore and I was considering the idea of taking another day off but in the end I decided that I wouldn't be in the form to do anything fast on Monday & as there was a road race on in a local village I decided to give it a lash. I also knew that the chances of there being a quality field present were slim so could maybe get a sneaky win all going well.

Did a brief warm up and leg wasn't too bad. There was only a few others warming up, which was a sign of how low key it was - there were plenty of people (maybe 70-100) just not really running types. Met some lads I knew, but was fairly confident they wouldn't cause me too much trouble. 

Once the race started I moved straight into the lead but had some company. Felt comfortable & decided to be patient rather than try & kill the opposition. Went through the first mile in 5.40 & then found myself alone. Was feeling good now & thought I could put in a good time. And then the wheels started to come off -  Bigtime!

The effects of the night before (indeed the previous two days) really started to kick in & I just wanted to stop. Got through mile 2 in 5.50 but then the stupid road started to climb. My stomach was doing somersaults and I remember passing the 4K mark and thinking how in the hell was I going to keep going? Just before the 3 mile mark there was a sharp corner & I was able to see two chasers who were a fair bit back. This made me feel a tiny bit better, in my head at least if not my belly! Had 6.27 for the 3rd mile but had completed a fair amount of climbing. Thankfully what goes up must go down & managed 5.30 for the next mile. Although by now I feared being caught I was at least thinking there's no way anyone could have ran much faster than that, downhill or not. By now it was just try & dig in & survive. The road was flat at this stage, a long straight run to the line. The pain was different than than usual, it was a miserable "I want to die" pain rather than the more usual "I want to stop". Had 5.58 for both miles 5 & 6 and when I came around the corner & saw the finish I couldn't even pick up the pace. There was no point in even looking around to see if anyone was bearing down on me as there's no way I have been able to muster a sprint. Thankfully there was n't & I crossed the line in 36.45 to a rapturous applause from the assembled masses. Or rather 3 guys standing there, one of whom informed me there was tea and sandwiches in the day care centre. 

Alas as I had to attend my 1 year God daughter's birthday party (where yet again I succumbed to lure of junk food) I wasn't able to make it to the presentation, if there even was one. Leg was a bit sore so curtailed my warm down. 

Back in Denmark now after a 3.45am start. Absolutely shattered but suppose I'd better try and do something to keep ticking over. Have decided to try and stay off the booze from now until after the marathon. Not so much because of the booze itself but more-so the indiscipline that inevitably follows the day after. We'll see how that goes!

Saturday: Off

Sunday: Warmup, 10K race 1st in 36:45, Warm down

Total for week: 77.6miles

Nobody to blame but myself

Things had being going well, and as always something had to give. After an easy 65 minutes on Wednesday I was looking forward to testing myself on thursdays tempo run. Because of this I was perhaps a bit over exuberant over the first few miles. I was fairly tired during the last 3 miles but still managed to get under my target pace of 5.45. It was also a timely reminder of the need to pace myself so better happen in a tempo than with 15 laps to go in a track race! Did another easy 65minutes on friday before taking saturday off in preparation for the opening track race of the season Sunday - Leevale open Sports
Wednesday: 9miles @ 7.20 HR140
Thur: Warmup: 1.6 Tempo: 6 mile @5.44 HR 177(5.39/5.39/5.49/5.46/5.45/5.47) Cooldown:3miles
Fri: 9miles @ 7.22 HR 139
Total for week:55 miles

Driving out in the car on Sunday I was thinking to myself that there was absolutely no reason why I should n't be able to run 9.15 for the 3K race I had entered and I was pretty much right, I clocked it at 9.15 on the button while my official time said 9.16. Felt I ran pretty well. Due to the high number of entrants they split the race in two & I found myself in the 'loaded' heat. This was a good thing as I knew I'd be dragged along rather than having to set the pace. When the gun went the race went off very quickly & I found myself towards the back of the field after the first lap despite clocking 73 secs. Stayed in this position for another lap before gradually working my way through the field. Felt totally in control. I was going as hard as I could but was able to focus totally on what I was doing. Could see a guy I knew about 50metres in front of me with maybe 4 laps to go & just knew I would catch him. Got on his shoulder with about a lap and a half to go & was able to sprint away in the final 200m. Felt spent but not shattered at finished & looking at the Garmin I had negative splited for probably the first time in my life! Still only managed 12th place mind.
So onto my current crisis - it's 3 days untill the intervarsities 10k and my throat is killing me. And I know exactly why. Our race was delayed on Sunday so I warmed up and stayed in the same t-shirt for the hour or so we had to wait untill we were called to the start. This might be ok in July, but despite the nice weather it was a really stupid thing to do at the moment. Am spraying my throat with Difflam, so hopefully will be ok come friday. Did n't get out yesterday and don't think I'll get out today. Hopefully get to do something tomorrow though
Sun: Warmup: 3 Race: 3K 12th in 9.15 Warmdown: 5miles
Leevale Mens 3K heat 1

3rd is the new 8th (Hopefully)

What a week!! I love it when a plan comes together.
After saturdays recovery run I was buzzing Sunday. The sunshine certainly helped and I headed off on my longrun with Spring definitely in my step! Did a thoroughly enjoyable 90minutes and although my HR was high, felt grand. Followed this with an easyish run monday and back to the track on tuesday where I managed 12x400's in around 71-72. The last two were really tough and I can't ever remember being so shagged after the track!
Wednesday brought another easy run, as the college had organised a mile race for thursday evening. The race went ok. I went straight into second place from the start and tucked in behind the leader. We went through the 1st lap and a bit in 70seconds which was perfect. We then went through at 2.21 for the second and I was starting to suffer. At this point another lad came around me and the two of them started to get away. Didn't get my split next time around as I was too busy being in oxygen debt!! The two lads really raced the last lap so I just kept my head down and see what would happen. Crossed the line in 4.48 which is not too bad considering the session tuesday.
We headed to Lahinch on friday for a 'training' weekend with the college. As I was racing Sunday I was planning on some R+R. The weather was glorious so after an impromptu kickabout (amazingly noone got injured!) we headed to the beach for a very leisurely 5 miles, and followed this with a nice dip in the Atlantic Ocean. That night we went for one or two, but typical students ended up in a lock in at the local untill God only knows what time - not exactly ideal preparation of a 10K about 30hours later!!!
Took Saturday off understandably and was still a bit shook Sunday morning, although I did manage a good nights sleep. Felt a bit lethargic warming up but planned on going out easy so as not to die later on. My plan was to break 35minutes and hopefully then knock a minute off this on the track in two weeks time. As always as soon as the gun went the plan went out the window!! Found myself in a group of  4 chasing the leader. One of the guys in the group is the lad who I've been doing sessions so even though I know he's quicker I said I'd try and hang onto him as long as I could. After going through the first mile in 5.08 we dropped one of the lads so I thought brilliant, if I can hang on I'll get fourth. As the road started to rise my training buddy got a bit of a gap so there was two of us chasing in 3rd and 4th. As the course headed for its highest point my fellow chaser began to fade so I found myself on my own in 3rd. The course then went over a bridge and back in a long 3 mile straight all the way to the finish. I could see my mate ahead of me so I just concentrated on not letting him get too far away. I knew I wouldn't catch him but I was tiring and needed something to focus on so noone would catch me. On the way I broke my 5mile PB which was great! I had visions of being passed by 3 or 4 in the last mile and I would have been disgusted! With about half a mile to go I was seriously suffering, a friend who was spectating told me I was safe. This made it easier but I didn't slow down as I knew I was on for a good time. As the Clock came into view I sprinted as hard as I could and barely missed going sub 34 with an official time 34.03. Absolutely delighted, my best performance ever and second only to last years munster cross country in terms of satisfaction. Hopefully it's a sign of things to come...Splits were (5.08/5.32/5.34/5.37/5.31/5.33/1.05)
Sunday: 13miles @ 6.48 HR154
Mon:9miles @7.12 HR146
Tues: Warmup:1.3 +12x400 @ 71-73sec with 200recovery cooldown:5miles
Wed:6.4 @7.08
Thursday Warmup:4.75miles Race 1mile:3rd in 4.48 + 3x800's in 2.40/2.35/2.32 Cooldown:1.5
Friday:5.23miles @ 8.23 HR 132
Total for week: 55miles
Sunday: warmup:1.86miles 10K race: 3rd in 34.03 Cooldown:1mile

Ballycotton 10

Ok, so I took yet another sabbatical from blogging, but to be honest I didn't have a whole pile to blog about. In my last post I mentioned that I would decide my plan of action after the 3K race in Midleton. Well my time of 10.03 which was 30sec's slower than my last effort left my with one option: Skip the warm-down get a burger and chips and wash it down with a few beers and take that well needed break!
A day or two later I thought better of it and decided that with the indoors & intermediate xc around the corner I should struggle on, I got two sessions of physio on the achilles and tried to resume training. But my final decision was made at the track, I warmed up and planned on doing a few 400's when I bumped into a wise and more experienced friend who told me I was crazy. These were the words I needed to here so I hopped into the car and took the best part of a month off.
I resumed training about 3 weeks ago very slowly with 35 miles for the week. I managed a session of 6x75sec 400's, which were horrible! A 4mile tempo run later in the week at 6.10 pace also let me know that I was definitely not going to bounce right back which was to be expected!
Things improved slightly the following week as I managed around 45miles (more that I had planned) and 8x74sec and more encouragingly a 5mile Tempo @ 5.58. I also raced in a colleges XC race and although I was well down the field (68th) my time of 28.18 for a 4.94mile course (5.44pace) was a great confidence boost 8days before Ballycotton. So onto last week which went ok, managed 10x74sec 400's on tues and planned a tempo for thursday on the Ballycotton course. I struggled from the off though and when I got a stomach cramp after 3 miles I decided to call it a day. I guess the cramp was a blessing in disguise however as I needed more rest after a tough race and session. Took it easy for the rest of the week and only clocked up 40 miles for the week. Went for a dip in the sea on Saturday after doing some drills on the beach. Was really psyched up for Sunday especially after missing last year and now considering myself a 'local' (albeit a blowin:-)) Plus I knew breaking the hour and more importantly earning a top 100 t-shirt would be touch and go which added to the excitement!
The big day arrived with glorious Sunshine and the strong breeze that had been there for the last few days had even died down a bit. After getting down to the village and warming up I made my way to the start line with about 40minutes to go. Decided to hang back a bit further than usual as my plan was to go out handy enough so as not to burn up with 4 miles to go. The first mile is fast so it's easy get through it quickly with expending too much energy. When the gun went and the race settled down I spotted two of my club mates together so I manuevered close to them as I knew they'd both be aiming for the hour. After clocking 5.41 for the first mile I thought perfect as I felt really comfortable. Going down the only sharp hill on the course around a bend I let gravity take over and I pulled away from the group I was in. The momentum I built up carried me to the next group and ahead of me I could see a group forming with guys that if fully fit I would have liked to have been with. I passed another clubmate and said to him that we should try and get accross but he appeared to be struggling. Through mile 2 in another 5.41 and although my effort had increased slightly I didn't feel under any pressure. The group ahead started to pull away which was better off as I was going at my own pace rather than racing the people around me. I was passing people all the time though especially in places where I knew an extra burst would yield rewards from doing countless tempos on these roads. Miles 3,4 & 5 were done in 5.50/5.45/5.56 which was perfect and banked a little time for the difficult last section. I passed the clock at 5miles in just over 29 minutes which made the hour defintitely achievable. After turning the corner at Ballymaloe the wind picked up and as luck would have it I was alone. I knew it was too early to dig deep so I purposefully only maintained my effort which resulted in my pace dropping. Soon however I was around another corner onto the fastest part of the course. During my tempos this is usually where I increase the pace, but I knew today maintaining it would be plenty. The leading ladies passed me at this point in a group of 4 or 5 so I stayed with them for a while before fading back a bit. Was definitely tiring now and miles 6,7 & 8 were passed in 5.56/6.01/5.55. Again nothing wrong with that. With two miles to go the lack of training finally caught up with me and despite getting up the hill on the bend ok - started going into oxygen debt shortly afterwards. My HR was over 190 which is pretty much my max! Was passed by one or two but just focused on keeping the legs turning over and not slowing right down. I thought I heard someone shout 55th and thought to myself no way but subconciously started to ease off ever so slightly knowing that the hour and t-shirt were safe. The finish really is torturous especially with the tour de france style 1Km,800m,400m's to go signs. Managed to put in a little sprint to take a guy in the last 100m's who looked to be dead on his feet. Over the line in 59.22 (last 2 miles in 6.12 and 6.03)with a tshirt around my neck which was very satisfying to say the least. Ended up with 54th place was a nice bonus but was very surprising. Was really expecting the standard to be higher this year as the times in general have been getting better. I knew a few guys that were n't running and would normally be well up there but I thought the law of averages would mean that they would have been replaced by guys who missed other years...
Had a few beers that night which was nice, just did 5 miles yesterday to stop the body stiffening up. Will do another easy run this evening and hopefully a session tomorrow night. My main target now is to be back in shape for intervarsities 10k on the 23rd of April so time to start knuckling down!

Where are my legs???

Had a busy weekend of racing and unfortunately things seemed to go from bad to worse. Had thursday off work so decided to go to Ballyannon wood as I hadn't been there in ages & with the current dry spell I knew it would be quite nice. In hindsight it was a stupid move, with the sharp inclines and downhills reeking havoc on my achilles which had been slowly but surely improving. In fairness I took it very easy as I felt jaded but it was still a bit sore after.
Friday brought with it a cross country race in the shape of CIT v UCC on the CIT pitches. I decided from the start that I would n't be taking it too seriously as I had the more important matter of Dungarvan 10miler to look forward to on Sunday. Sure enough when the gun went one of the UCC lads who had represented Ireland the previous weekend took off I thought good luck to him rather than trying to hang in for a while. I settled into the chasing bunch & felt grand for the first 2 of 4 laps. On the 3rd lap I decided to try and stretch things out a little but I just couldn't find another gear. With about 1.5laps to go two lads overtook me & I just couldn't go with them. I spent the rest of the race resigned to my fate & ended up looking behind me rather than in front but managed to hold on for 4th. My pace was 5.56 over the 4.25mile course and considering I did a 5mile tempo run in similar conditions at Christmas at 5.50pace it left me wondering what was happening. My HR never got up to pace but my legs just felt like lead.Splits were 5.38,5.54,5.56,6.09 & 6.25pace for the last quarter - they pretty much speak for themselves!
Just did 2miles easy on Saturday hoping the rest would do me good and headed down to Dungarvan confident of running at least 57.30 seeing as I had managed 58.01 last year in very windy conditions. My plan was simple - 5.40miling for as long as I could and just hang on for the last bit. As per usual as soon as the gun went the plan went out the window with the first mile covered in 5.25. It was shortly after this that the wheels came off. I found breathing difficult and I wondered had I overtightened the chest strap on my HRM as it had become loose on friday. I struggled on but groups started to pass me and spit me out at an alarming rate. One of my regular rivals past me just before the 3mile mark & sort gave me a look to go with him but after trying for a few hundred metres I knew it was pointless. At this point I was running 6 minute miles plus and decided there and then that I was taking a break for a few weeks as soon as the race was over!! Around the first water stop another group went past me containing the leading lady who had a cyclist outrider. Vanity seemed to take hold as I managed to pick up the pace perhaps not wanting to be beaten by a girl. With the increased pace I actually started feeling a bit better and just concentrated on the bike and not on anything else. This seemed to work and suddenly I was leading the group totally focused on keeping pace with the bike and managed to bang out a few 5.50's which although was slower than my target pace was a lot better than what I had been doing only a few miles earlier. Passed through 5miles in around 29 minutes but to be honest I didn't really care anymore about time. Faded a bit once we got passed mile 8 and the lads from the group passed me and got away again. Finished out the last mile fairly well for a time of 58.43. Splits were (5.25/5.42/6.00/6.05/6.01/5.49/5.50/5.50.6.07/5.51)
My HR averaged at 166 which is well below usual, which suggests that it's my legs that are holding me back. So what to do now? Take the break I had decided on after 2miles? Just put it down to tiredness?Did an easy 6miles yesterday morning just to test the water & got through it ok although my achilles was quite sore. Feeling a bit better today so will do the 3K race in Midleton tonight. My time should be a good indicator of what I should do. If it goes ok I will train hard for the rest of the week, and start winding down next week for the IUAA indoors on the 13th & the national intermediate xc the following week. If it goes badly I might just take that break...
Last week: 67miles
Mon:6miles @ 7.24 HR138

Injuries, bad performances & excuses

Since my last post I picked up an achilles tendon injury which meant I only managed 20miles or so in the week leading up to the Munster XC. This included missing a round of the 3K series in midleton. Not ideal preperation but I thought the rest might be a help. Turned out it was n't with one of my worst performances ever which seems to be the story of my XC season. Started well which was probably a bit foolhardy & was in the top 15 for the first lap and a half. Just went back ward after this though and after one of my club mates passed me for the final team spot things went from bad to worse & I ended up in 39th place in the end.
Got back on the horse last week and managed to get 60 miles in and set a new PB for 4miles on Sunday covering the distance in 21.40. Was hoping to break 21.30 but my excuse was that I inadvertently did almost 10 miles on saturday as I got a bit lost while doing a 6 mile run! Still my splits were pertty good with my slowest mile being 5.30.
Did another 5miles Sunday evening & managed to squeeze in 10 last evening so even though my achilles is still not right, I'm getting back into routine.
Sunday:AM Warmup:2miles Race: 4miles Warmdown 3miles
PM: 5miles
Monday: 10.26miles @ 6.49 HR145

Athletes Diet??

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiQMwfNHmB0
Steak & Chips, followed by 6 jaffa cakes & a snack before bed of 2 jumbo sausage rolls. What does this lead to? Arguably my best ever race performance!Had a bad week running wise picking up some bug that had me in bed shivering at 8.30 last Sunday night. Had managed 3rd place in the Lisgoold 5K earlier in the day and decided to do another 7 miles that evening for good measure. Shortly after coming home however started feeling off so decided to try and sleep it off. Took monday off & did the 2nd midleton 3K on tuesday evening recording a time 9.45 which was 8 secs off last time despite perfect conditions. Did n't feel physically or mentally up to it, and during the warm down had some terrible stomach cramps. Took it easy for the rest of the week & found it hard to motivate myself for the IUAA road relays which were being held in Maynooth on Saturday. Decided to head to my parents place friday night to break up the journey & that's why I decided not to bother with my usual pre race meal of wholegrain pasta and chicken.
The relay consisted of legs of 1-2-3-2-1 miles of which I was doing the 3 mile. I was very nervous of not letting the side down & hoped that the stomach cramps would  n't return. Settled into a nice pace on the first lap and managed to hang on to a guy from UCC as he went past & just stuck on his shoulder. Knew he was faster than me so said I'd hang on as long as I could. Went through the first mile in 5.02 but felt  ok so carried on. Struggled a little on the 2nd lap but still managed to stay on the other guy's shoulder. Around half way around the 3rd lap I was ready to let him off but suddenly I found myself ahead and drove for home. The last few hundred metres were tough but there was great support which helped.Managed to cross the line in 15.27 which I think equates to a sub 16 5K so was absolutley chuffed with that.
Took a day off today & will go easy again this week. National Intercounties are next weekend so will do that & then start back training hard for the munster cross country champs in January. Or thats the plan at least!

East Cork Cross Country Chmpionships

No I'm not running the marathon. If I had to say this once over the weekend I had to say it 100 times. Went out for a few drinks (well Ballygowan) with some buddies on Saturday night & they were asking was it the marathon I was doing & when I said it was a 6k cross country race the inevitable 'shur I could do that' was the reply.
Anyway enough whingeing, did a brief 4 miles at the beach on saturday morning. Had planned on having a dip afterwards but the water was seriously choppy & I would have had to walk through a tonne of seaweed to get to it so I wimped out. Onto Sunday, a total of 11 men toed the line for the East Cork CC champs, we were the only club with a team (4) so we were always going to retain the trophy. This was one of the strangest races I ever did. Two of my clubmates who are undeniably much faster than me went to the front but the pace was easy enough to stay with them. We mustn't have been going too slow though as everyone else got burned off within a lap or two. By the the 3rd lap it still felt a bit easy so I took it out, don't know why - I suppose I knew I wasn't going to win so might as well get a decent workout. I dropped back again after this but the pace was still very manageable. Finally just starting out on the 6th & final lap one of the lads took off, I tried in vain to give chase. The other guy came around me with half a lap to go & even though I stayed with him for a few strides I decided that resistance was futile so let him on his way. With about 150m's to go he was however still in reach so I decided to give one last effort & as the line hurtled towards me I thought for a split second I had him but he copped me coming and put on a little burst himself. Still, was happy enough with my run & my first senior medal. A good preparation for next week.
Did a handy 8 yesterday morning - was home before 25,000 feet hit the streets of Dublin.
Last week: 53 miles total

East Cork 3K series:Race 1

After a hiatus of nearly a month from blogging, I can thankfully say I've been a bit more consistant with my training. It is now less than 2 weeks to go to the county cross country championships which is my main race of the winter. My training has gone pretty much to plan (so far) with my endurance phase leading up to the Cork half Marathon. Since then I have been trying to build stamina (using 800's,1000's & long 7 mile tempo runs).Over the last week or two I have started doing 400's & shorter faster 5 mile Tempo runs & also cut my mileage back from 70 to 55ish to enable the quality work to be done. The one thing I have lacked really is hill work but hopefully this won't count against me too much. I managed to squeeze in a XC race 10 days ago & it went well, without being spectacular.
So onto last night & the first race (of 7) in the East Cork 3K series. I love these races, they were my real introduction to racing and as it's over the same course your time really lets you know where you are. My best time from last year was 9.52 but I was confident of bettering it. I had it in my head to try and do 3.10 per lap which would give me 9.30. I felt like I was flying when I was doing my strides beforehand - better than I've ever felt before so went to the line brimming with confidence. On the first lap I found myself a few seconds down on the leading 2 after the first 600m. Then amazingly without any extra effort they started coming back to me & I actually caught them coming down the hill which ends the lap and first Kilometre. Our time was called as 3.06. As we rounded the corner I left the two lads to their own race & just concentrated on holding my pace. Even though I still felt ok I had slowed down a bit over the second half of the 2nd K & my time was 6.21 at the end of the lap, a second behind schedule. The last lap was a struggle (as it always is!) but even though I was really tiring my time was almost as fast as the second lap so I ended up with 9.37 (3rd place) which I was happy enough with. Conditions were n't ideal so hopefully the 9.30 barrier is achievable before the winter is over...

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.

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...

Back in business

My running has been almost as irregular as my posting lately so i unintentially took a few easyish weeks.I did manage to squeeze a few races in since churchtown south and not surprisingly there were no Pb's. Ran 4.47 in a track mile at CIT for second place during rising sun AC's open sports day. Managed a 16.42 for 3rd place in the Shanagarry festival 5k. Think I got myself someway back on track this weekend as I managed to do 6x1000's yesterday at the Cbs, all in around 3.23 although the first one was lunacy at 3.13 but I had a 3.29 to compensate for it. Did 14 today at the farm so am quite tired now as a result.
Saturday: 2mile 6x1000m with 400 recovery. Cooldown:3miles
Total for week:38.7miles
Sunday:14miles @ 6.56 HR147

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

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

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!!!

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

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