Fingers crossed

Week ending 10^th November

Racked up over 28 miles this week plus a recovery walk of 2.5 miles. Very happy with how things have gone this week and generally satisfied with the direction of my running since September. At this stage I don’t think much more will be served by concentrating solely on base building to the exclusion of speedwork. Therefore after this weeks workouts I will be adding a (modest) amount of speedwork to the workouts. I also hope by December to increase the frequency of the workouts to 6 days a week (5 running and 1 walking recovery workout). Currently  I’m running 4 days a week plus one walking recovery workout. Speedwork will increase intensity. Upping the weekly mileage will increase duration

Monday I headed out in the dark winter afternoon to do 6 miles or so in Charleville. As the street lighting here is pretty poor and the town even smaller, much of my normal day time routes (country lanes, motor way and road and park) are off limits so it means a number of loops with a bit of out and back running. The garmin was on the blink so i went out with no watch on me meaning i had no idea what distance or pace i was doing but I reckon it was roughly 6.5 miles. I threw in  six sprints using the telegraph poles as guides. I ran 7 at a time resting for the following 3. These were all out efforts and the last mile jog home was a effort.

Tuesday was my recovery walk with my wife. All very social and relaxed around 2.5 miles. Helps those achey legs freshen up. Wednesday did my 10K run up in the hillier parts of Cork City. Pace was solid enough (8.30) but the last 2 miles are v tough but again very happy with my recovery afterwards.

Thursday evening meant hooking up with the Mallow Ac training group for the first time in three and half months. This was the start of my dip into speed work. 2 mile warm up with 6X 3 minutes sprints with a 2 mile cooldown in the most appalling weather. I was down the back for the speedwork with each sprint averaging out at around 7.30 pace. I was happy enough with the way things went. It was all about getting out there and losing the fear. The workout was on grass which was of great help . 6 miles in total.

I took two days off on Friday and Saturday meeting up with the Mallow gang for a planned 10 mile long run. I use the word gang advisedly as there was only 5 of us – Kevina, Barry, Dermot, Denis and myself. I hung down the back with Kavina for the first 6 miles before pushing on for the last 4 miles. I was curious to see what pace i could manage in the last few miles. I caught and went past the lads at mile 7.5, to be fair they were only just after the Dublin marathon and were happy to take it easy. When I finished the rain was coming down pretty heavily but i was very happy. This was my first double digit workout since the power drain of last July and a good solid attempt at a MP run.My pace for the marathon pace portion felt faster than the actual times posted. A similar effort would have produced a 7.30 pace last April but I was happy with the 8.10 average. I had no Hr strap but i was delighted with how things  had gone. 10 in 88 minutes with last 4 miles at 8.10 pace. I don’t see much point in increasing the long runs to any more than 10 miles for the next 3 or 4 weeks.

Fingers crossed for the next few months and lets hope the "Ronnie" starts sprouting at a quicker pace!!!!

Give out but don't give up.....(especially if you are a Mormon)

3^rd November

Just spent most of my Sunday afternoon tracking the fortunes of Mallow club runners and my cousin who took part in the New York marathon. Well done to all.

Running wise was a quiet one for me. Bank Holiday Monday  I ran 6 miles with 5 X 1 minute sprints in the middle. This was my first attempt in a small way at speedwork since last July. Sprints went fine and the loosening of the legs help me run the last mile in a seemingly effortless pace of 7.40. Did 10k up in Mayfield the next day in my more traditional Cork city route. As any readers will know by now this involves a heavy climb for the last 3 miles from Leitrim street to Montenotte and again up to Iona Green before a sudden drop down to the local church before another steep pull up Boherboy road. Run went very well, running it in 8.25 pace.

Headed off to London for the rest of the week for a bit of R and R doing the touristy thing with my wife, Aoiffe. Good fun had by all including taking in the excellent “Book of Mormon” musical and a comedy gig in the Hammersmith Appollo. The Primal Scream gig in the Opera House in Cork on Monday night was a good start as was bumping into the band in the airport the next day. The guitarist seemed like a decent guy though I didn’t talk to Bobby Gillespie.Still though I was spending so much looking over at the man himself the wife was beginning to worry for me.

I had planned to do a couple of 4 mile runs over in London but the busy itinerary and the ominous stuffed nose forced me to rethink my plans. This wasn’t a problem as I had reckoned a cutback week was probably called for. Nevertheless when I went back running in Charleville on the Sunday the legs were feeling very sluggish. Rather than force the pace i was happy to jog at a easy 8.55 pace for 8.41 miles staying on my feet for 75 minutes. I have to say I did find the last mile quite difficult. Next week I hope to get a bit more speedwork up on my legs, ideally running at least one speed session a week between now and the new year.This will be done in the company of the Mallow runners.

Mileage for week 20.61miles

 

A message to Mr. McGee

Sunday 27^th October

 On Thursday I headed out in Mayfield the second day in the row, the weather conditions were a bit hostile to say the least. However given the fact  that running is bad weather is the best mental  training possible I took my chances. Legs were heavy so i decided to run 5 miles as a recovery run. Essentially run each mile slow and walk for a minute. The idea was to loosen the legs up and lower the heart rate down to 140. Anyway fighting htrough the gales and rain splatter from cars I did the job.5 miles at 9.46 pace. Hr was 140 so happy enough.

 

That evening headed to Mallow to sit in on a very instructive talk by Steve Macklin, AAI instructor, on endurance running and  training. Excellent seminar and I was happy to get a lot of tips from it as well act as a excellent motivational tool for me. Frday evening did a 5 miler in Charleville running at 8.30 average. In fact the splits didn’t vary a lot between 8.33 and 8.27. I felt very relaxed and very happy. Even more when i saw that the HR was 144. HR on the whole is looking very positive these days but the desire to run is also very strong. As November to January is a quiet time on the road racing front I hope these months will prove a excellent base to future improvements later next year.

Saturday morning was more of the same – a relaxed 8 miler. Again I didn’t look at the garmin until after the run and I was delighted to the see pace drop from a 8.50 down to a 8.25 for the last mile. I didn’t have the HR strap on for this one but I felt very relaxed all the way through. I was amused to see a nanny goat run around the estate I was jogging through. Average pace for the run was 8.37. As a result I reckon I will be starting any future MP runs at probably 8.20 pace hoping of course to get that pace down over the next few months. Easy steps though. Sunday was rounded off with a relaxed 2.5 mile walk with Aoiffe.

It was only when I added up the mileage accumulated this week did I realise how well I had got on.30 miles running with 5 miles of recovery walking – a sizeable jump on last week. I have now increased frequency and distance. Eventually I hope to increase speed. Delighted with that but I will be careful all the same. That said I will be away for most of next week so I mightn’t get the same amount of mileage up on my legs. At the very worst next week will be a cut back week.

In regard to speed I did toy with starting with mile intervals but I could be risking injury again. Maybe 1 minute intervals for the first few weeks and then build up to a tempo workout.

Anyway all the best to everyone running the Dublin marathon. Aidan McGee you know that will be us next year!!!!!

Back to the future

21^st October 2013

Thankfully in another week the Dublin marathon will be a thing of history so at least I will be on some sort of level playing pitch as everybody else. Regarding upcoming plans for races the truth is I have no plans. I have entered the Dungarvan 10 and might enter the Ballycotton simply on the principle if you are not in you can’t take part. In regard to Connemara I am totally undecided – the half, the full or the ultra? Currently I’m not anyway near any sort of racing shape but I will weigh things up in January. I do definitely want to have a crack off the 26.2 distance next year, most likely Dublin. This may be my last chance at another PB.

For the moment the same theme is repeating itself – run, don’t worry about speed or pace and build up some base mileage. Monday was a case in point 6 miles at 8.23 pace with a HR of 147. I hadn’t expected to do 6 miles in Charleville but the route meant if I wanted to get back to my front door I had to cover the complete distance.I had no intentions of walking the last half mile. I was lucky to miss the heavy showers which erupted as I soon I stuck my sweaty head into the kitchen. Tuesday was my usual walk with Aoiffe -2.5 miles. She was keen to get out and get fresh air, I less so but after a mile or so I was getting in better form for it.

What is interesting that in terms of work and household chores I have bags more energy these days than i had for the last 3 years. Unfortunately I have no marathon excuses to get out of stuff anymore. Take the bins out? No problem!!! Dig flower beds? No problem!!! Go shopping in Cork? No problem!!! Take the 3^rd years to a excursion? No problem!!!!  Organise a  school sports project? No problemClean the windows? I’m sure you get the idea.  Sometimes it easier to say no!!!!!

Wednesday I took advantage of a gap in my working day to get the bus from Cork city centre on McCurtain St up to my Mums house in Mayfield. These Wednesday runas at 10.15 am are a real godsend. It means I am at my freshest for a workout and I still can get back to work by 12.00 am. I have a few extra  bits and pieces going on which means the working day really doesn’t finish until 7.30 pm. Missing workouts isn’t a option anymore. Anyway for this one I decided against the normal hill run around the Glen and did 6 miles of laps around the soccer pitch behind the house. Anyway 12 laps later at 8.37 pace the workout was completed and i was never any further than a 5 minute walk from my house. Grass running is great for the legs. The pace was slow for the first mile (8.55) but was down to 8.20 for the last few miles. HR was quite high 157 but I felt very comfortable all the way through. The high Hr has me perplexed, i changed the battery in the strap so I assume that it is now correct but it is way higher than Mondays effort. Perhaps the change of terrain might account for it or maybe I am doing something wrong. Time to consider speed work in a few weeks.  3 mile tempos or maybe start with something easier?

The heart of the matter

October 20^th 2013

First up to issue offer congrats to the Mallow AC runners who were running in the Amsterdam marathon. A couple of notable PB’s were achieved including another sub 3 hour run by club captain Aidan Buckley and a excellent 3hr36minute run by Darragh Wiley. This was Darragh's 3^rd marathon this year and his second marathon PB in the same period .Hard not to feel wistful all the same, especially with the Dublin marathon coming up. My wife on the other hand is quite glad I am not training for any marathons at the moment able as she is to get me to do as many jobs as possible.

My running this week was compressed into the last 5 days of the week. Not ideal for me but it was the way iit worked out. Did my usual recovery walk on Tuesday (2.5 miles) before heading up to Mayfield on Wednesday for a hilly run. This was my best run up there in a while, running 5.8 miles at 8.50 pace. The last 2 miles are pretty tough but felt strong enough to nearly tack another mile on to it. I followed this up with my fastest run in a while also. 5.5 miles at 8.04 pace. The last 4.5 miles were all sub 8 minute miles. The only annoying aspect was that the HR strap was giving daft readings – 119 HR for example.

On Friday I had a half day in work and repeated the route of my Thursday run but the Garmin died after one mile. No idea what pace I did so I will err on the conservative side and call it as a nine minute pace though I suspect it was much faster.

Saturday was a non running day preoccupied as I was with my wife’s on going gardening project. 4 hours digging out beds is enough cross training for anyone. Still though it meant I scored quite highly in the brownie points ledger.

That meant I under took my weekend run on Sunday. 7.5 miles at 8.40 pace. I was a bit tired for the last 1.5 miles and once again the Hr readings were a bit daft. Previously in August and September the readings were too  high, well into the 160’s now they are totally low less than 120. Obviously the problem lies with the strap and will need a clean and / or a new battery. Hopefully no fear of the symptom’s of Bradycardia – abnormally low heart rate. Nevertheless it does annoy me. Anyway a period of further investigation awaits me. I will update in due course.

 

Tuesday 2.5 mile walk, Wednesday 5.8 run, Thursday 5.5 run, Friday 5.5 mile, Sunday 2.5 walk followed by 7.5 mile run. Total mileage 24 miles running and 5 mile walk.

Ongoing................................

October 7^th to October 13^th

Last week marked a cycle of training which lasted about seven weeks. The point of which was simply to get back running at a reasonably acceptable slow pace and rediscover my interest in running. The first couple of weeks started v slowly. I could be barely jog out of the house and up the passage before I had to stop for a walk and run jog for 3 miles at around 10 to 11 minute pace. The Hr varied between 132 and 160 with a longstanding pain in in my groin and quad. Each period of walk running was very difficult marked by 15 minute sessions with the foam roller. These weeks were v tough wondering if i would ever recover to run at a normal pace. Running up hills or inclines was out of the question.

Never the less by the 4^th week I could see a improvement. The walking had stopped replaced by a slower paced jog. My plans for a Maffetone style approach was still proving elusive so i resolved to simply jog at a reasonably slow jog pace and evaluate the Hr later. At the end of the 4^th week I was “up” to 11 miles a week and jogging 3 times a week. Humble stuff I grant you but i was feeling happier.

On  a personal front I resolved a few issues and this also helped things along. At the end of week 6^th a definite plan was taking shape in regard to the rest of the year and this filled me with renewed hope. So far I have deliberately ignored speedwork and running with clubmates. I think at times in training for Cork marathon i overdid it on both counts so it will be still a while before I will do either. Anyway by week 6 I was running 4 times a week each run about 4 miles or so with a pace between 8.30 and 9.30. The Hr at times was still veering over 160 which tells its own story. However since that week the HR has remained under 160 as the average pace now is between 8.20 and 9.00. Slow improvements but important ones nevertheless. Injuries have cleared up but still have a niggle underneath my left foot with a slight degree of stiffness in my right hip on the odd occasion. My weight is still hefty enough probably close to 14stone so will need to take care of that too.

Anyway now that I can run 22 miles a week 4 times a week with one recovery walk, things are getting better.Nothing will change much over the next month, no speed work and no group running. Ideally i would love to get the running done in the morning and get out 5 times a week but even thinking such thoughts bodes well doesn’t it? Ongoing............................

Week ending 13^th October

Monday 3 mile walk, Tuesday 3 mile walk, Wednesday 5.3 mile at 8.27 pace Hr 160, Thursday 5.2 miles at 8.50 pace Hr 152, Friday rest, Saturday 7 miles at 8.57 pace Hr 157, Sunday 5 miles at 8.19 pace. Total miles 22 plus 5.5 mile walk.

HOK - Hands on knees but a smile on the face

September 30^th to October 6^th

More of the same really but happier each time I review my weeks running. I seem to be able to complete each of my targeted workouts at a more acceptable slower pace (between 8.30 and 9 minute pace). The Hr still remains unacceptably high in that I would prefer it to be under 150 rather than under 160 but then again at the start of September it was well into the high 160’s for nightmare jogs of 10 minute pace. Looking back on that entire period of June to September is like revisiting some sort of waking nightmare. It’s a place i am not happy to revisit ever again. Simply put i had burnt my mind and body out. I reacted very bad mentally to the disappointment of the Cork marathon and then made the mistake of not simply concentrating on rest, recovery and base building.My sub 3.30 last year  and the training involved took a lot of time and effort and I probably stupidly assumed it be easily repeated again. Anyway i won’t be in a position (for various reasons) to tackle another marathon PB attempt for 12 months so best to put it aside. All the same I am happy i have showed the guts to slowly pick myself up.

As i said I will be concentrating on building base, leg strength and a good solid base of medium slow “long runs”. I wont be doing any speed work either, at least not until after the marathon mayhem of October and November dies down. By then I hope I will be in a decent place to able to hold my own with the medium pace runners in the club.

Monday was a 2.5 recovery walk with my wife. Tuesday was a 5 mile run up the hills of Mayfield. This was done at 9 minute pace with a average pace of 9 minutes. It’s a tough run with a hefty 2 mile hilly at the finish. I repeated the same run on Wednesday. I was a bit quicker this time with a average pace of 8.47 but the effort was still high 159 Hr.Thursday was a snappier 4.3 run around Charleville. Average pace was 8.17 with the fastest mile being the last mile clocked in around 8.05 pace. No Hr reading for this one but the sweat on my t shirt and the *HOK at the finish was enough to tell me all I needed to know. Rest day on Friday and a one hour slow jog around Charleville on Saturday. I wanted to run this on the acceptable side of slow which ended up being 8.57 pace and a distance of 6.7 miles covered in the hour. Hr was 156 which is high but again in the context of the last few months is reasonable. Last year running at that pace would have produced a HR of `140.

In terms of race i don’t plan to enter any races for the foreseeable year but I did send off my entry for the Dungarvan 10 mile race on at the end of January. A long way away but it’s a race I really want to get even with after the trouble of previous years doing it.  It’s funny how runners develop a dislike of some races and a love of others. Dungarvan falls into the previous category while  say the the Mallow 10 and Midleton 5 falls into the latter.

Any readers of this blog would know I entered the Connemara marathon for April last year but deferred it because I had no proper training done for it. I don’t know if I will end up racing it but maybe that could be a plan when I set myself some new years goals later on in the year. It isn’t a PB course but it could be a different sort of challenge (second fastest marathon perhaps or maybe just get around and use it as a sort of long run). My head is also being turned by the Rotterdam marathon a week after the scheduled 2014 Connemarathon but it isn’t really practical to expect to be able to do both. All ideas just floating about in my head. I have a definite plan worked out for the period April to December 2014 but i won’t be revealing that to anyone. Lets just get some consistency  done there....

Mileage for the week 24.4 miles. Monday 2.5 mile walk, Tuesday 5 miles, Wednesday 5 miles, Thursday 4.3 miles, Saturday 6.7 miles.

*HOK – Hands on Knees