Session on

So after Friday’s bad hippy experience and Saturday’s day off, I was a little tentative about my planned track session today. Although the calf was still at me, the pain in my hip had been quite severe so it was this that scared me. I had visions of not making the start in Limerick as a result of it so I was looking forward to getting the verdict on the track. I spoke with a friend as well who is running the Rotterdam marathon in 3 weeks time. The poor lad is suffering from shin splints and so was in a pretty unhappy state. I tried consoling him by saying he has the work done, and just consider a fairly dramatic taper, but also mentioned maybe do it via aqua jogging as I had used this fairly successfully in the run up to Ballycotton in 2012 when my achilles was making regular running all but impossible.
Was running a little tight for time as I was flying at 21.55 I parked up on the Western and jogged down to the Mardyke so I could make a quick getaway after. Calf was quite tight but the hip was thankfully pain free. God bless you boule! Had it in mind again to shoot for 5.30’s (for mile repeats) after my easy 2 days and also had it in my mind if at all possible to do 8 reps. After the first lap I was at 5.22 pace but I can’t say it felt easy. Pace dropped to 5.29 before settling down and finishing in 5.26. Jogged the lap in just over 2 minutes and started to suffer on the second. Just about managed to break 5.30 so decided on the recovery lap to take it a little easier to ensure I got through the session. Put it down to Thursday’s long run, or maybe I’m just delusional:)Did the 3rd in 5.36 but half considered calling it a day. After a brief bathroom break something brilliant happened - it got dark! So instead of looking at my watch I just went on feel. I took a sneaky peak around 2.5laps in on the 4th rep as I passed a light and it said 5.32pace. Happy days and ended finishing up with 5.27. Ran the  5th and 6th without glancing at the watch at all, just focused on staying smooth  and keeping my form. I looked at my silhouette whenever it appeared and things looked ok. Knocked out a 5.31 & a 5.32 which was grand considering how I felt after the 3rd rep.
At this point I had to decide what to do next. I was OK for time so said I’d definitely do 1more and see after that. It went ok, legs were starting to feel heavy and tight but just kept the focus. 5.36, grand. So on the last recovery lap I said I’d have one last shot.I mightn’t get near a decent track till who knows when and it is a marathon I’m training for, not a 10K! Also said not to try and kill it though, save something for next Saturday but laughed as I was about to start in case I ended up in a heap after 200m. Got through the first lap, felt smooth, 2nd 3rd,started to suffer. 600 to go, really starting to suffer but managed to hold it together and finished in 5.34. Happy days. Legs were in bits so warm down was extra slow. Even had a twinge in my “good” leg.
The cramped ryanair flight isn’t helping but at least I’m staying in a hotel at Stansted tonight so should get a reasonable rest before heading on in the morning. Hopefully no new or worsening injuries to report tomorrow.
Sunday:warmup 8x1mile (5.26/2.04,5.29/2.04,5.36/3:30,5.27/3.30,5.31/3.25,5.32/2.36,5.36/2.36,5.34)
cooldown. 14.6miles
Total for week:67.7miles
Edit, only getting to bed now :( 1am

What a difference a week makes.

After last weeks performance in the Road Relays I was given  a dose of reality in the Intercounty cross country championships where I finished an abysmal 91st. In hindsight it's no less than I deserved, having had a pretty bad week in terms of commitment (sleep,diet,strectching etc.) On the day my only excuse, although possibly a valid one was my hydration level. I drank a bottle of water on the bus up but was finished it by 11:30. With my race at 15:15 I went through the rest of the time including warm up without drinking anything which was foolish & I knew it.
When the gun I went I knew after a hundred metres I was in for a bad day, with my hamstrings already feeling like they were after doing a hill session. I struggled around the course & just could n't get the legs going, and could n't suffer as much as usual either. All in all a big dissappointment but not a waste of time as the experience of racing against such a large (and talented) field will not doubt stand to me down the road (or field!)
Got back on the horse on monday by doing 85 minutes as the weather was pretty good for a change. Did 50 minutes on tuesday in the pouring rain followed by a talk given by a dietician. She emphasised the importantance of hydration (why couldn't it have been a week earlier?) but surprised me in saying that water is n't really enough when training really hard. She also reiterated the importance of timing and especially the first 20 minutes post exercise so I will try and make a concious effort now to make sure I've food/drink in the kit bag for after training. A final point of note she made was the importance of protein with each meal & highlighted that it's usually missing from brekkie so I've substituted the marmalade with peanut butter. We'll see how it goes!
Onto yesterday and it was time to see how the legs were in a session. The weather was awful but thankfully I had two lads with me to make things easier. Did 8x400's in 71 (last 2 were 72) and then managed 4x800's on my own in 2.30,2.32/2.34 & 2.31. Very pleased with how it went as it was definitely my hardest track session ever. In the back of my mind it helped to know that it was 10 days out from the National novice cross country. The last hard sesssion I did (14x400's) was 10 days before the intervarsities so hopefully there's something in that...
Sunday: Warmup: 3miles Race:5.6miles Warmdown:2miles
Monday: 12 miles @ 7.07 HR 142
Tuesday: 7.6miles @ 7.15 HR 145
Wednesday: Warmup: 1.5miles + 8x400 in 71-72/ 4x800 in 2.30-2.34 Warmdown: 1.5miles
 

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

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

Munster 5K track championships

Finished 11th (last!) in the Munster 5000m track championships this afternoon. To be honest though I was quite pleased with my performance as I managed to break 17minutes (16.59.75!) for the first time. Was my 2nd track 5k since I came home & managed to knock 17 seconds since the IUAA championships last weekend. Have been running very badly since I came home so hopefully I'm heading in the right direction. The county 5k is on next Sunday so hopefully can shave another few seconds off...