Heading for the Hills.

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

Tempo, Tempo

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

The perfect Race

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

Glanmire 5

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

Session, sort of...

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

Down on the farm

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

Tempo run

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

On the right track

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

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

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

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...