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.

Another Race, Another 8th Place

Very happy with the way last night's race went, 8th place in 28.18 which funnily enough is exactly what the mcmillan predictor gave me when I put in my Fota time of 22.20 ( I only did this afterwards so it was n't a psychological thing). The race started fairly slowly so was right in the mix for the first half mile or so but when the pace picked up I consciously decided to let them off so's not too repeat the fading off of the last few races. Very quickly there was two groups of four ahead of me and I was exchanging places with a rising sun runner for 9th & 10th. Things stayed like this, with my companion putting in little surges until just after 3 mile when we came to the first real hill. I could see a guy in front fading and decided to up the pace so when we past him he wouldn't latch on. This also had the effect of shaking off the fella who was with me. After the brow of the hill I relaxed a little and could here someone closing on me but they didn't pass. Not taking any chances as soon as we hit 'the beast of Ballyandreen' I upped the pace again to burn them off. After the hill leveled off a spectator told me I had about 20metres, this was with about 3/4 mile to go. The rest of the race was pretty much downhill, I could see 2 guys in front of me but even though I was pretty sure I couldn't catch then I felt if I could close the gap a little it would mean there was less chance of anyone catching me. Whoever said running down hill was easy!! the last half mile was agony, trying to keep the legs turning over quickly but it was worth it as always. 20 seconds slower than my PB but on a much more difficult course so can't complain. My Splits were ( 5.35/5.24/5.43/6.18/5.15)
Felt tired when I ran this morning, knee was a little sore at the beginning but loosened out a bit as I went on.
Thursday: Warmup 2.4 Race Cooldown 2.2
Friday: 7.3miles @ 7.34 HR143

Build up to Ballyandreen

My 'home' Race takes place tomorrow night so even though getting into top shape is my number one priority I still want to put up a reasonable performance, not exactly for a crowd that will be roaring me on (there won't be) but just because I suppose if a race passes your front door (twice) one should at least put in a little extra effort. So for this reason the week so far has n't been as tough as I could have made it which is possibly a good thing rather than building back up the miles too quickly. Did an easy run on Monday on grass made more difficult by the gallon of Heineken I had on Sunday night (belated birthday party, kind of), followed by a session last night. Did 300's again and even though they were faster than last week, I could definitely feel Sundays 10K still in the legs so only managed eight in an average of 48secs. Did a very pedestrian 5 miles this morning at the beach followed by 5 minutes up to my waist in the sea afterwards - bracing to say the least. That'll be it now untill tomorrow night, just a bit of stretching to stay loose. Knee seems to be on the mend which is a good thing considering the up and down nature of the course.
Monday: 7.5miles @ 7.29 HR147
Tues: 1.4 warmup 8x300 2 cooldown
Wed: 5miles @ 7.37 HR145

Youghal 10K

Finished off the week with an easy 8 on grass of friday evening. Took Saturday of as I spent the day rotavating the back 'garden' so that was training in itself. Also had the Emer Casey 10K on Sunday so it was no harm to take the day off.
So onto the race: Had hoped to at least break 35.30 due to my performance thursday night on what I had heard was a fast course. Turned out I got 35.45 (8th) which was exactly a minute off my previous best. Again my splits were shocking (5.23/5.13/5.42/5.51/6.03/6.13/1.19) Didn't think I took off too fast but the second mile was downhill mostly so I made the best of it and caught a group of four in front of me. As soon as we hit level ground I left them go as I knew I'd blow up if I tried to stick with them. Was joined by two other runners but they quickly burned me off aswell. Managed to maintain the distance to these guys and didn't see anyone else for the remainder of the race. This seems strage seeing as I was so slow over miles 5 & 6. There was only a slight hill so I don't know what the explanation is for slowing down so much. I guess I'm used to racing up to 5 miles so this may have something to do with it.
Olympic silver medalist Sonia O'Sullivan also ran today, it was cool to toe the line with one of Ireland's greatest ever sportspeople.
Friday:8miles @7.29 HR145 Total for week: 39
Sunday:2.6warmup 10k race 2 warmdown

No PB but Close Enough...

So did the 'Cheetah Run' Last night and I must admit I was reasonably happy but not delighted with my Performance. Managed an official time of 22:20 although I clocked it as 22:18 which was good enough for 10th place. What a crowd though - 650 runners in total so the start was pretty much pandemonium. Was on the second row of the grid and nearly came a cropper a few times in the first few hundred metres, but once the crowd spread out it was actually really nice racing on closed narrow roads. My race plan beforehand was not to go out too hard as I had done in the track races and was adamant that I would hit the first mile marker in around 5.30. Looked at the Garmin after around half a mile and was right on target but the next half mile was downhill quite a bit so ended up going through in 5.15. I also had speeded up a bit to get into a group with four others and stayed with them for the next half mile or so. At this point two of them got away and we dropped another so I was on my own with a guy from leevale who finished a bit behind me in the county 5K two weeks ago so I felt if I stuck with him he would fade in the end as I was going almost flat out at this stage. I seemed to be getting ahead on the hills which were numerous in the second half but all were quite short but as soon as we were back on the flat he was overtaking each time. Alas with about 3/4 of a mile to go he got away - I thought I might of caught him on the last and steepest hill but he had too much time on me at this stage. Instead I had the familiar sight of being past by a certain runner from Youghal AC who always seems to pass me in the last mile of races. Managed to keep a decent enough clip over the last few hundred metres though as I felt there was a few more guys bearing down on me and of course I knew I was on for a pretty decent time. Overall not bad considering the lack of training recently, hopefully if I can knuckle down to some decent injury free weeks of training the PB's will follow...
Splits as always don't make for pretty reading, although in my defence all the hills were in the second half (5.15/5.26/5.43/5.46 and 8secs for the last bit)
Incidentally during the warm down got similar stomach cramps as after the session on tuesday so it mustn't have been the cake after all. Started taking a multivitamin with iron in it so maybe thats the cause, next time out I'll try not taking the tablet untill after any high intensity work.
Warmup: 2miles @8.08
Race: 4miles
Warmdown:1.8miles @8.20

Session on

Finally managed to get broadband down in the depths of Ballycotton so no excuse for not posting regularly from now on, we'll see how long it lasts!
Have started back regular training now even though my knee is still giving me trouble. It's not sore enough to not run on it so hopefully if I keep doing the exercises given by the physio it'll sort itself out. Did 6 miles on monday at probably too fast a pace, due to seeing my pic in the 'Echo' (Cork rag) and got a bit excited, ah the vanity! Don't know exactly what pace I was doing though as the Garmin was misbehaving due to heavy tree cover in the woods I was in.
Did a session on tuesday on a grass track in Midleton with a few from the club. Did 12x300m in about 50sec avg. which is nothing to write home about but it was always going to be slower than the track. Had two slices of Cake (it was my birthday, only 3 years to go to Masters!!) at lunchtime and cramped really badly at end and was n't able to do a proper warm down.
What I must say though is there was a 14 year old girl doing 250's with us & she was keeping pace with the best guys there (one of whom broke 15mins for 5K on Sunday) Is this the next Sonia O'Sullivan I wonder...
Was very stiff yesterday so just did 3.9miles at probably the slowest pace I've run in 2 years. Doing the Eagle AC Cheetah run this evening so it was probably no harm in taking it easy...
Interesting to see how it goes, I won't even bother making a prediction but I'd say my PB of 22:04 is pretty safe!
Mon: 6miles @7.19(wrong!) 153bpm
Tue: 12x300m with 150 recovery. 7miles total
Wed:3.9miles @8.04 133bpm

Have a break...

Ran the County 5K last Sunday & managed to shave 2 seconds off the previous weeks time giving me 16.57. My 1mile splits were shockingly inconsistant though (5.13/5.24/5.44), although I kinda have an excuse as the masters 3k was run in conjunction with our race so I went with a group of them for shelter but as soon as they finished I died a death. Really had to push it at the end but glad I did as I suppose there won't be another track race untill next year. Came 5th out of 8.
During the warm down my left knee which has been at me pretty much since I came home got really sore, so much so that I had to slow to a walk going up some steps. Went for physio on Monday & she did some work on it & strapped it and gave me some exercises. I told her about my ongoing IT band problems & she suggested that my Glutes were weak so gave me some exercises to strenghten them as well. She also said to take some time off so I didn't do anything untill today.
I guess I should have taken it easy today & gone for a light jog but there was a 1 mile race in Ballinhassig so it was too tempting an opportunity for a PB to pass up. Sure enough I managed to knock 16 seconds off (5.13 set on the track) with a 4.57 getting second place into the bargain. Really had to push it to hold off the 3rd place guy and I'd say another 50metres and he'd have had me. The course was downhill in places but we had a stiff headwind to deal with.
Will hopefully start back proper training tomorrow. Marathon dreams are well shattered at this stage, starting to think it's not worth it if it i keep getting injured...

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...

Farewell Qatar!

Well last run in Qatar this evening, my flight got sorted for tomorrow, or so I'm told as I still haven't received a ticket. It's going to quite a trek though: Doha-Dubai-Amsterdam-Cork, I don't mind though as long as it gets me there! Found out today that the East Cork Road Championships are on thursday night - around 9 hours after I am scheduled to get in, but I will probably give it a go & skip the 10k on the track & do the 5k on saturday instead. Sounds good in theory but the logistics of doing it might be a bit more complicated as my car tax is out but sher we'll see. Anyway back to the running - Hip was very sorry after yesterday so considered taking today off. Thankfully decided to go out for half an hour on grass but hip was fine so ended up doing an hour. Was joined for a few laps by some Nepalese lads which made it pass quickly as they never stopped laughing and messing!
Mon:8.38miles 7.24@ 152bpm
Tue: 8.17miles 7.22@ 152bpm

Trying to get back on the horse...

Managed my first 10 miler in what seems like an age this evening and it felt good. My HR was through the roof, but in my defence it was really warm when the run started so that probably played a part in it. More importantly my hip which has been driving me crazy for the last week and a bit didn't come at me. I decided to run along the middle of the road as much as possible to avoid the camber and it seemed to do the trick. Up in the air about when I'm out the gap. Was hoping to go wednesday night but apparently there was no seat on the plane & the next available flight is the 27th. My visa expires on the 26th so they're gonna have to get me home somehow! Hope to be home by thursday as the irish intervarsities (http://www.iuaa.org/) T&F champs are on friday & saturday & I'd love a crack off the 10k as I've never raced on the track before. I qualify to run as I'm doing a part time course although I haven't done anything this semester for obvious reasons!)
Summary of past week (pitiful, I know...)
Tue:6mile 7.20 @ 148bpm
Fri:8mile 7.14 @ 154bpm
Sun: 10.3 7.03 @ 159bpm

Running on empty

Did n't bother rounding off to 80, ended up going to Doha to get a new Garmin but the shop was closed D'oh(a)! Ended up going down again on Sunday which meant I didn't get a run in again. Expected to be full of beans on Monday but I wasn't. Had debated not using this week as an easy week but decided after todays going that it HAD to be an easy week. Just had no energy. The weather wasn't helping as it has got decidedly hot & sticky since Sunday - I'd say the days of mid teens temperatures are finished unfortunately. My hip has been at me as well so I ran tuesday & wednesday on grass - much easier on the body but it's like running on a mattress so it's tough going. Overall a very bad week, hopefully next week will be better...
Mon:6mile 7.11/mi @ 141bpm
Tue:6.7mile 7.26/mi @ 140bpm
Wed:7mile 7.21/mi @ 145bpm

miles & miles

A pretty uneventful week really, was planning on doing some speedwork on tuesday or wednesday but it was really dust so I didn't bother. Was going to find it tough to motivate myself to run fast anyway as I still have no Garmin or any other means of measuring time accurately. Just ended up doing fairly high mileage instead: Sunday: 14 miles Monday:10miles Tuesday:13.2miles Wednesday:13.2miles Thursday:6.8miles Friday:19.6miles. Decided to do my long run friday morning, the weather forecast was for rain & a high of 20degC so I said why not get it out of the way? I also took the decision to forego food beforehand to maximise my dependence on fats as my energy source as advised by Greg McMillian in this article. Big mistake: I normally don't eat anything during my long runs but starting hungry was a bridge too far. By mile ten I was already feeling a bit woozy but still managed to get three laps of the camp which came to 19.6miles. There was no way I could do the extra 0.4 for 20 I was so wrecked. Maybe this is the purpose of the run but even now, almost 12hours later I'm still shagged!! My hip is a little sore aswell so hopefully it's not a case of history repeating. Debating runnimg 3.2miles tomorrow to break 80miles...

Back to normality

Just a plain ould boring 10 mile run this evening. It was n't too warm but the humidity was unreal. I was taking it fairly handy but I was still absolutely saturated after 5 miles. In other news I rang the local Garmin dealer about getting a new Forerunner. They had them in stock for 950Riyals (aorund 200euro). I can probably get one from the states for about 135euro but will have to wait about a month for it so will probably bite the bullet as I feel lost without it (how sad am I?!) 10 miles @7.15min/miles (Approx)
Total for week: 67miles

15 minutes of fame!

Got my first win under my belt today in The Ras Laffan Pearl Village Half Marathon. But I must admit I didn't beat too much. My time of 79.09 (for 21k, which I think is just under 100m short of official distance) was ok. Was on for 78 minutes untill the last 3 or 4 K where I faded a good bit which was to be expected as I hadn't eaten much (2 bananas!) beforehand and only took on water during. The next competitor was 10-15 minutes behind so it was pretty much a race against the clock. I must say it was a very enjoyable experience. I can remember getting the usual race feeling of 'I can't wait untill this is over' but then I thought hey when am I ever going to be leading a race again so I just savoured it. The crowds were great as it was around the camp so there was plenty of support. Was a bit aprehensive before hand, more nervous than I've ever been as all my colleagues were saying I'd run (literally) away with it but there's always the fear that there's someone better around. At the gun 5 guys took off fairly quickly, but there was only one that looked dangerous as he appeared to be doing 5min/mile pace. I need n't have worried as after about 600m he slowed considerably & I passed him before the 1K mark. Before the 2K mark the photographer in the lead car told me I had a 7 lampost lead (about 100m) and it was at that point I was fairly confident it was in the bag. The photographer obviously felt likewise as he got out of the car!! Kept the pace up as it felt comfortable and just concentrated on picking off the K's after that. Felt like a mini celebrity at the end as loads of guys were asking for their photo's to be taken, although when I went for a run in the evening only one or two guy's waved so I don't think I'm gonna be hounded for autograph's or anything.

Anyway Tuesday: 6.5miles easy
Wednesday: 6.5miles easy
Friday: am 14.5 miles (0.75warmup 13mile Race 0.75warmdown)
pm: 6.5miles easy

Custer's last Stand!

I'm pissed off. I homesick, tired and have an insect or arachnid bite on the side of my leg that swelled up to the diameter of a fried egg. Added to that my Garmin stopped working yesterday. Sunday was long run day but I decided to 'only' do 14 as there's a half marathon here on friday next. Managed the 14 alright but it has to go down as one of my must unenjoyable runs ever. Just couldn't get into a rhythm. This was partly due to the fact that the roads around the camp are literally overrun with 'newbies' with the race coming up (there's a 3k and 6k on aswell). Now this is great as the more people running in the world the better, but some of the guys from India have an annoying habit of 'latching on' when you pass them. They spend the next half mile or so panting like maniacs and pretty much in your back pocket. This causes me to subconciously speed up untill I drop them but there always seems to be a replacement around the next corner. Hopefully after friday they'll sink back into retirement!! A buddy of mine suggested to use it as a Fartlek session but the name of that particular training method gave me an even better idea!!
Sunday: 14miles @7.17min/miles
Monday: 9miles (approx)

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

Session

So I was a bit apprehensive about doing a session yesterday, afterall I had 7 or 8 bottles of Corona (that's a lot for me!) Paddy's night & didn't get to bed untill 1.30am or so, but I needn't have worried. The evening was nice and cool so I said there was no point in putting it off.
Managed to do 4x1mile in 5.14/5.27/5.27/5.31 . I really pushed to get under 5.30 for the last but there was nothing left in the tank. I have to admit I had a tailwind for the 1st one and for more than half of the rest of them, but the way I see it is that speedwork is hard enough so there's no point in doing it into a headwind.
My times did get slower which is not ideal, but pacing on the road is a lot tougher than on the track (especially when you're on your own) so I can live with that. Overall a very satisfactory session. (12 miles total)

Hot n' Steamy

No I haven't decided to make the blog more 'adult themed', it's merely a comment on the weather these last few days, since sunday the temperatures have been hitting the mid 30's during the day and the humidity is quite high also. Humidity is the last thing I would have expected in the desert but I guess we are on a small peninsula sticking into a rather large gulf so maybe that explains it. So onto the running, finished off the easy week last week with 8.5,8 & 5.5. Decided not to do 8 on saturday as I felt tired on friday and thats not what easy weeks are about. Total for the week 47.3miles.

Started this week with my first 20 miler on Sunday and was reasonably pleased with the way it went. Started off at 7.15 pace and gradually brought it down to the low 7's and my last mile was 6.57. My Heart Rate was quite high however - it was into the high 150's by the end but I guess this may have been due to the heat & humidity. I took on water ever 4 miles or so but I guess the heat is still going to have an affect.

Managed 10 on Monday at 7.10 pace @ 147bpm on an even stickier evening so was glad to just get through it. Took yesterday off to celebrate St. Patricks day (see photo, I'm the guy with the beard!) and thankfully today is a bit cooler so should get a decent run in hopefully this evening...

Down to Business

Ok s'pose I'll start with a summary of last weeks training:
Sunday 18miles -7min/mile Avg HR 147bpm
Monday 9miles - 7min/mile 149bpm
Tuesday: Session 11.2miles incl: 3xmiles (5.20/5.29/5.28) with 1/2mile recovery. Tough going!
Wednesday 7.2miles - 7min/mile 146bpm
Thursday 8.8miles - 7min/mile 147bpm
Friday 9.25miles - 7.09min/mile 147bpm
Saturday: Tempo run 4miles @ 5.54min/mile with 0.6mile cool down. Reason for this lunacy (ie no warm up & pretty much no cool down) was I was caught for time.
So a good enough week. My pace was a little slower than I would have liked as I had been knocking out 6.45min/miles without much difficulty in recent times. I guess it could be a combination of things. The food here is n't the most nutritious, not sleeping the best or maybe it's just the increase in mileage. Anyway there's nothing wrong with 7 minute miling OK!!!

This week (recovery week!!)
Sunday: Rest (went for Burgers off site)
Monday 8.36 miles - 7min/mile 144bpm
Tuesday 8.11 miles -6.58min/mile 147bpm
Wednesday 8.7miles - 6.58min/mile 147bpm

Ok stat's out of the way - next post will show a little more imagination...

What's another year?

As Johnny Logan said! Yes it's almost exactly a year since I had an entry to this blog, shame on me. My excuse? Well they are numerous: 1. I was pissed off 'cos I did n't break the hour in BallyC. 2. Shortly after my last post I got injured (IT band syndrome) and was unable to train and race the marathon which was the whole point of the blog & 3. I moved back home and did n't have as much free time on my hands. Anyway enough of the excuses, onwards and upwards: A quick summary of the past 12 months:

March - got injured, struggled to get back

June/July - Finally got over my injury and started getting the mileage up

August - starting to get back in shape, managed a new PB for the half marathon

Sep-Dec - Form started to come good, then went, then came good again.

Jan- Unemployed so started training full time, paid off with a team gold at the Munster Senior X-country championships (needless to say I was last scorer)

Feb- Got Job - in Qatar so away from the wind and rain for a while!!

So I pretty much find myself in exactly the same position as last year - away from home and training for a marathon. I think I'm a little stronger than this time last year, but my most important mission is to stay injury free. Longest run has been 18 miles so far. On an easy week this week so that means a handy 8 miles each night with one day off (already taken on Sunday)