Hold da kæft mand!

So finding myself back in Denmark on a Monday morning for the first time in a few weeks I didn't bother with the pre dawn, pre breakfast 13 miler as per the last two weeks. Instead I did 6.5 with 5 more after work. Rather than laziness it was because I had time on my hands the previous 2 weeks. I like to stay on CET when I'm at home so getting up early isn't a problem. Plus now I was able to bring my tempo run back to today, Tuesday, as I had left it until Wednesday the last 2 weeks as I wouldn't subject myself to a tempo the day after a 13 miler especially when it's part of a double.

 So for today's tempo, I had one thing in mind - to get down to 6 minute miling. As last week I had only managed 6.04 (and had to dig deep for that ) it was by no means a certainty. 

After checking the weather I knew I'd have the wind for the first half but said I would definitely go no faster (but possibly slower) than 5.55min/mi to the turning point and rather than try and run as fast as possible for 10K I would hold 6 minute miling for as long as possible if the chance arose, and turn it from a tempo into a longer steady state run.

Sure enough like all good plans, they changed during the run with miles 1 and 2 both in 5.52 and mile 3 in 5.48 for good measure, but in my defense I felt fine and the wind was even stronger than I expected. After turning the average pace dropped to 5.54 but came back to 5.53 as I went down a gradual incline. At this point it usually gets very tough but I eased back slightly and let the pace drop after about 4.5miles At my usual stopping point of 10k I was still at 5.56 and felt reasonable so kept going. I was still heading into the wind and passed two joggers and heard one say " hold da kæft mand" or shut up man, a Danish expression for incredulity. This brought a wry (albeit slightly contorted) smile & inspired me to keep the head down but after a while I decided I had enough wind for now so turned again. Managed to keep going til 8 miles by which the time the pace had dropped to 5.59. Very satisfying and also was good to know that the tired legs had disappeared :) A good confidence builder 12 days out from Ballycotton.

Mon AM 6.6 @ 7.45 HR 129

PM 4.8 @ 7.31 HR 130 

Tues warm up 2.8 @ 7.31

8 @ 5.59 HR 168

Warmdown 3.5 @ 8.22

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

Upping the tempo

Wednesday & thursday consisted of two easy runs of 75mins and 60mins. Friday I finally got another Tempo run done. The sun was shining, the wind had died down and I was rearing to go! A friend of mine was to join me at the 3mile mark for his first ever tempo run so I was a little nervous as I find them much easier to do alone. Felt very relaxed for the first couple of miles, and even when things started to get tough around 3 miles it was still not too bad. My friend joining me did n't affect me at all but then again he was the one doing the in and out whenever a car came towards which at speed must have been a bit distracting. He left me again after two miles and I could hear his breathing was pretty laboured. Tempo's definitely take a bit of getting used to - which makes them so good I guess!
Splits were fairly even 5.55/5.56/5.52/5.49/5.57/5.50: pretty much the same pace as Ballycotton so happy enough for a 6 miler. After the Intervarsities will cut it back to 5 and hopefully can increase the pace considerably. HR was quite high but I'm putting this down to the heat and lack of sleep the previous night.
Was pretty tired today so just did 45minutes very easy on grass. Still a bit sore now, if I had the motivation I'd have an ice bath but I don't :)
Wed: 10miles @ 7.17 HR151
Thur: 8miles @7.29 HR154
Fri: Warmup:1.6 Tempo 6miles @ 5.54 HR177 Warmdown:3.4
Sat: 6miles @7.48 HR150
Total for week: 55miles

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

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...

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

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!!

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

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

Upping the Tempo

My runs for the rest of the week were:
Thurs: 7miles @7min/mile (147bpm)
Fri: am: 8.25miles @7.30 (145bpm) It was roasting!!
pm: 6.25 @7.10 (149bpm)
Onto Saturday - we debated going to Doha to watch Ireland play Wales knowing a win would give Ireland their first grand slam in 61 years, but alas we decided to stay in the camp and listen to it on the internet untill the stupid thing went down with 20minutes to go. (we won 17-15, good man RO'G!) But anyway, not going to Doha meant I could get a run in so decided to do a tempo as it had gone pretty well two weeks ago. Did a 10minute warm & 5miles at 5.54pace which I was happy with, although my splits were getting progressively slower. 5.50/5.50/5.56/5.56/5.59) which is something I need to work on. It was quite warm & by the end my HR hit 182bpm. Finished off with a 2mile warm down.
Total for week 72.5miles