Good running and a 10k race

Week starting 17^th February

In terms of mileage this was a lower mileage week than the previous week. 40 miles instead of 55 miles. However the workouts were intense and on the whole successful. Monday was nothing special – the usual 4 mile recovery jog. On Tuesday I met up with my friend Don Golden. He drove out from Donoughmore to go for a run around the Ballyhoura mountains. It’s only 5 miles from my house but i have never ran up there. A shame really so this was a chance to put the record straight and to ctach up with Don. We ran around 10 miles at a handy enough easy recovery pace – around 1hr34minutes. It was slow enough but the route at times was quite challenging. We both enjoyed it.

Wednesday was a different affair. Time for the dreaded tempo run. As I was off school for the week I was able to get a lie in bed and still get my workout completed in the daylight. I ran my favourite 9 mile loop from my house down to Pikes Cross and up Cooleens back to the house. I ran 2 mile warm up with 6 miles at 7.10 pace and a 1.4 mile cooldown. The splits were very positive -1) 7.13 2) 7.10 3) 7.09 4) 7.12 5) 7.09 6) 7.04 – encountering two hills at mile 3 and mile 4. My best tempo since last year.

Thursday I ran up in Mayfield. I was out for a few hours the night before with Derm and Tim watching the Arsenal game against Bayern Munich. I haven’t seen the lads in a while and it was a chance to go out and have a few beers but I was conscious of the workout and a few longstanding appointments i had planned for the day after. Ah well...... Anyway I ran 9 miles in 1hr10mins18mins. This was the fastest run I have run up in Mayfield on what is a hilly course. Things are looking up.

This brings to me to the 10k race in Adare. I took 2 days off running and I was feeling fresh if a little apprehensive. The course was supposed to be hilly and so it was. One hill was followed by another and another and another. I didn’t have a watch with me so I simply ran as i felt. By the time I finished I ran the distance in 43.42- not a PB but a good workout at around 7 minute pace. It was probably the toughest route i have run in a while and hopefully it will stand me in good stead.

Miles for the week 40 miles

Pinning colours to the mast

Week ending  16^th February

The week of the big storm. Thankfully the hurricane like conditions of last Wednesday didn’t upset my running plans too much. The first couple of days had gone well fitting in my usual Monday recovery jog (4 miles) with a 2 X 3 mile tempo session on Tuesday. The time for each session was 21.10 and 21.27 respectively. The splits for each mile were steadily slower too, going from sub 7 pace to around 7.25 pace. It wasn’t as bad as it looked really as the last 1.5 miles were running into a pretty savage headwind. That said though caution is required for any future workouts.

The big storm on Wednesday required a stay over in Mayfield so i passed the time with a routine 7 mile jog at a handy pace (8.25 pace). The legs were feeling heavy but the winds had calmed down by the evening and it actually made for a nice evening. The situation back all the way to North Cork was pretty dire with fallen trees, loose slates and power cuts a plenty.

I also realised  I haven’t attended a Mallow mid week training session in a few weeks either. The only times i can manage to go are Thursdays and they were either postponed or moved to indoors making it either impossible or un palatable to go. Not knowing if the session was going ahead this time either I ran 10 miles in Charleville running the last 3 miles in under 7.50 pace and covering the whole distance 1hr18mins20secs. A very positive run. Hopefully i will see more of these over the year.

Saturday was a easier day jogging 5 easy miles at a sub 10 minute pace, 3 miles of these were in my wife’s company. It was a good leg stretcher and certainly beats walking.

The long run on Sunday with the Mallow gang was a  smaller affair than usual. Just me and Clive covered the planned 20 miles. The first 7 miles we ran with Siobhan and the rest we ran with Tim and Barry. The latter part of the run took in Ballyclough- a nice route with a fast 4 mile downhill finish. I felt reasonably comfortable for the run pushing on a bit for the second half of the run. I finished in around 2hrs52ins (8.39 pace). In hindsight I should have ran for 3 hours and possibly at a slower pace. That will be the plan for the next long run – 21-22 miles or 3hrs10mins on my feet.

Now I that have pinned my colours to the mast and have decided I am doing the Connemara marathon in April, it would be beneficial to see my plans for the next few weeks.  Next week I hope to run the 10 k in Adare, week after that a 21-22 mile long run, Ballycotton 10 after that, 22 mile run over Patricks weekend, 10 mile pacing gig in Mallow and a two week taper. In terms of setting myself time goals for the races I don’t actually know. Ideally set PB’s in all of them but that may have to wait until later in the year- Adare and Ballycotton are tough courses. The Connemara marathon is the “A” race. It’s a very tough course but I would like at least to get under 3hrs50minutes or close to 3hrs45minutes. Some might say a modest target but it would set me up for the rest of the year. The Dublin/Amsterdam marathon in October is where I ideally would love to get under 210minutes once more. It may be my last shot at a marathon. These few months are all about getting the mileage and confidence up again.

Miles for the week 55 miles.

Catching up

Week starting 27th January

Monday was a 4 mile recovery effort – 12 minute pace type of thing. I jogged 2 miles with my wife doing the other two under my own steam. Tuesday was 9 miles around Charleville at 8.16 pace, nothing extraordinary. A faster 8.2 mile effort in Mayfield on Wednesday on the hillier route at a good pace-8 minutes.  Thursday was 2 miles warm up with a planned 5 mile tempo and a one mile cooldown. The two mile warm up ended up being fast with a faster 5 mile tempo (7.10,7.06, 7.10, 7.14, 7.13) at 7.11 pace. I was feeling good at that stage and ran the warm up in 7.30 running 8.25 miles in total in a hour.  Saturday morning i jogged 2.5 miles with my wife and did 20 miles with the Mallow gang. I ran the 20 miles in 2hr54minutes @ 8.42 pace. Apart from the first 6 miles I was comfortable enough in that long run plodding kind of way. I would hope to cover the long runs at a faster pace in future.

Total mileage for the week – 52 miles

 

Week starting 3^rd February

Same as every other Monday, that is the usual 4 mile recovery jog in the company of my wife. Tuesday was a no show as the weather was pretty brutal – high gales and lashing rain. Wednesday I did 9 miles up in Mayfield at a solid enough pace – 8.17 per mile. Thursday was a pretty brutal/tough workout – 2 mile warm up with 5 X 1 miles repeats. Splits as follows were 6.38, 6.40, 6.41. By the 4^th mile the effort was beginning to tell with the split covered in 6.50. I should have quit at that stage but decided to do a 5^th repeat. The legs were very heavy and I ambled home in 6.58 per mile. I finished up with 5 X 0.20 mile sprints completed the mile total in 6.50. I finished off with a easy jog home. I probably should have run the tempos at 6.50 pace- next time.

Took the usual Friday off and had hoped to get a few easy miles up on the legs on Saturday but real life events made it impossible. At least by Sunday I had fresh enough legs for the long run with the club. The by now familiar storms had their presence felt along the route- flooded roads, lakes where fields once stood. I had it my head to run 13-15 miles at a marathon pace ideally sub 8 minute average. Started off well enough covering miles 1 to 11 in 1hr 29mins, not bad considering the first few miles were run in 8.10 pace. By mile 13 the legs were feeling the effort and I was happy to cut it short at 13.1 miles, a good half marathon workout. It was a good meeting with the lads. I covered the route in1hr.47mins or 8.10 pace. I walked the last mile to the car. It probably means in terms of a marathon running at a pace of around 8.30 per mile would be more sensible than running at a faster pace.

Mileage for the week 35 miles. Lower than last week but I missed a possible 9 mile workout because of the weather. That said Thursday’s and Saturday’s workout were very beneficial.

 

Dungarvan 10 mile race 2014

Dungarvan 10 mile 2014. Week ending 26^th January

 

I will come to the above later but the running was going well. Monday was the usual 4 mile recovery jog thankfully showing no reaction to the 17 mile run the day before. Tuesday was a planned 8 mile run with 7 miles at a fast pace. Very happy with how this went running 8 miles in 59.50 minute. My first run in this range since last May. I felt i was finally turning a corner and this was confirmed on Wednesday running 8 miles at what was meant to be a relaxed pace. I was happy to see I ran the 8 miles in 1hr05mins24mins. Hr was 148, again all very positive. Work commitments meant a day off on Thursday and Friday from the running and I used Saturday to get that stiffness out of my legs.

Headed down to Dungarvan via Mallow. I offered my club mate Tony a lift. He told me later had I not offered him a lift he wouldn’t have ran the race.I was glad of the company.

Down at the race start line I bumped into the usual familiar faces. I had hoped to get in under 75 minutes, perhaps at a push get under 73 minutes. This was my first race since last July and while training was going solidly enough I knew racing was the best way to improve my running.

The heavens opened up the first 2 miles and I was a bit dismayed to find myself stuck behind the 80 minute pacers. However by mile 3 the field had separated out and I was glad to get moving. The 75 minute pacers were in front of me at this point and I was feeling very strong. The splits for the first 4 miles were 7.57,7.45,7.20, 7.03. I was wondering if I had started closer up the field maybe i would have been in a better place timewise. Anyway it couldn’t be helped now.

Tony was over my shoulder all the time and we hit mile 5 in 7.13. At this stage we were level with the 75 minute pacers and it was time to push on. Mile 6 was 6.57 and I was feeling hopeful of getting close to 72 minutes. Tony overtook me at mile 7 and was flying ,all the more impressive when you consider he only ran his first 10 miles in training last week.

 After a nice stretch of the course in mile 7 and mile 8 I was recalling how crappy I felt this time last year. At the very worst I was going to get a course PB. I didn’t feel in the least bit under pressure, were this a half marathon I would have been doing well but 10 milers are harder faster affairs. It was time to press on hitting mile 8 and mile 9 in 7.00 and 7.14. The breeze had knocked me back a bit at this stage and I think my lack of race time cost me here.

 By mile 10 I crossed the line in a clock time of 1.12.53 which meant a second half split of 35.23. I was happy enough crossing the line. I state happy rather then chuffed, after all I didn’t come close to PB’ing (1hr09mins53secs) but it was a good solid time. Still though lots of work to be done.

A lot of the guys from the club did very well but hats off to my cousin, Don Ryan, who took 4 or 5 minutes of his PB time to finish in 1hr07mins24seconds. Serious running. Amazing what a good diet can do ;-)

What now? Forget about races for a while and get back to the marathon slog...............

35 miles this week, a cutback week. Monday 4 miles, Tuesday 8 miles, Wednesday 8 miles, Saturday 4 miles, Sunday 10 mile race with 1 mile warm up.

is that for real?

Week ending 19^th January

Monday was a mundane start to the week. No running as such but a nice brisk 3 mile walk with my wife in the evening around Charleville. Served as a nice recovery  walk and a good way to catch up on the days events. Tuesday was a different story. 8 mile with the middle 5 at tempo pace. As always a tough workout. Did the usual 2 mile warmup running the middle 5 at 7.14 average followed by a 1.5 mile cooldown. This was the fastest tempo I have run since the start of this training cycle. Splits were 7.11, 7.16, 7.22, 7.09, 7.11. I was glad to be able to pick it up after the drop in mile 3. This meant Wednesday in Mayfield was a more relaxed affair- 8 miles at 8.25 pace. Hr was encouraging too -148 in a hilly route.

Nevertheless by Thursday I was feeling tired when I met up with Mallow Ac for a training session. I don’t think this had anything to do with the running but more to do with events in the last few evenings – club Agm and work based activities. The workout was the usual 2 mile warm up with 6 X 3 minute hard efforts. I was in good form for the first 3 workouts hitting close to half a mile each time in around 6.15 pace. By the last 3 though I was cooked and thought better of pushing it too hard running a 6.25 pace covering 2.85 miles in 18 minutes. I finished off with a 1.2 mile cooldown.

Rest day Friday running 4 easy miles on Saturday. Sunday i was up and out the door by 8 am. Plan was a long slow run covering 2hrs30minutes in a low aerobic zone. I walked for the first 3 minutes just to make the heart rate wouldn’t spike too high and to also put a break on a fast run. After mile 1 the pace started to pick up too quickly for my liking so I walked for another 2 minutes. After that things progressed along nicely. The route i picked in Charleville was a couple of loops of the town- boring with lots of back and forths but a few nice hills too. I ran the first 8 miles in 74 minutes or so. The pace was increasing nicely in a steady sort of way and by the time I came back into town I had ran the second 8 miles in 71 minutes.I felt happy enough to run another mile in around 8.40 pace finishing with 17 miles in 2hr33mins18seconds/9.01minute pace. When i got home i couldn’t believe the Hr reading 127!!!  Is that for real? I presume it is as I have being  getting encouraging readings in the last few weeks. Happy days indeed. Now I wonder if I ran at a faster pace what would the outcome be?  Therefore I will start planning a few more faster marathon paced runs over the next few weeks.

Monday 3 miles, Tuesday 8.5 miles, Wednesday 8 miles, Thursday 6.2 miles, Saturday 4 miles, Sunday 17 miles.

Total mileage for the week 46 miles

Pre season

Week ending Sunday 12^th January

From what I can see in the racing calendar the road racing season is making a furtive re-appearance. There isn’t really a off season as such such is the number and variety of races out there but there is a definite quiet season all the season all the same. I usually count November to the end of January as my off season. The busy season is probably April to the end of November, in effect the period where people are training for the Autumn marathon using all those 4/5/10km and 13.1 mile races as tune up/ warm up races. My first race of the year and my first since last July will be the Dungarvan 10 mile race. While my main focus will be the Connemara 26.2 in April I would be lying if I said the 10 mile race wasn’t praying on my mind.

The first 3 days of the week were devoted to the art of easy running- running at a natural relaxed pace. Monday was more of a 2 mile walk with my wife but on Tuesday and Wednesday I ran 8 miles each time. Tuesday was run in Charleville – 8.45 pace with a HR of 144 with 8 mile Mayfield Wednesday completed at 8.25 pace with a HR of 150. I was happy enough with the two workouts completed in a relaxed pace and a solid HR. Thursday was a tougher workout. I ran with the Mallow AC gang covering  5.5 miles with 2 X 10 minute runs. Each tempo workout saw me covering 1.5 miles each time, 3 miles at 6.40 pace.

I headed up to Mayfield on Saturday for the long run. I wanted to run this solo primarily to avoid the expected bad weather on Sunday and to do a marathon paced workout in a hilly terrain. I did a 4 mile warm up at 8.50 pace running the next 10 miles at 8.12 to 8.15 pace. At 14 miles I was shagged and was happy enough to leave it at 14 miles. I power walked home for the last mile in 15 minutes for a nice cooldown. The HR for the 14 mile workout was ok enough – 153.  It wasn't a sub 8 minute run and ideally I would have liked to do 15 to 17  miles but that was fine. No point in pushing too hard too soon.Overall pace was 8.30 per mile. I hope to do something longer and slower next week.

Sunday afternoon saw me end the week with a slow 4 mile recovery jog (9.51 pace) and a very low HR of 128.

A solid week.42 miles. Monday 2 mile walk, Tuesday 8 miles,Wednesday 8 miles, Thursday 5.5 miles, Saturday 14 miles, Sunday 4 miles. Total 42 miles

Breakfast at the Roundabout

Week ending 5^th January

Not much to report here. Wednesday and Thursday were enforced days off due to a chest cold- hacking up phlegm, coughing, snotty nose – you get the idea. By Friday I was itching to get out for a run. It felt like it was a week since I went for a run but all those lemsip’s and cough mixture induced lie-ins had made me  into a dozy sloth. 8 miles on Friday were deliberately slow, around 9.05 average pace. It was the first time I used the heart strap monitor in a while- the Hr was 146 on a flat surface. Saturday called for a 4 mile tempo effort preceded with a 2 mile warm up and a one mile cooldown. The first mile of the warmup went well – 8.15 pace, the second mile went faster than I realised 7.22. The rest of the tempo run was a odd affair indeed – 7.05, 7.15,7.20 and 7.24. All this made for a tempo average of 7.15 pace, my fastest in some time but the problem was obvious, decreasing pace on each mile. The last mile saw me running headfirst into a nasty hailstorm. When i was finished I was feeling the effects of my effort reflected in the 4 minute walk and the 9.12 mile pace jog home. I wore the HR strap but the readings made little sense (the HR readings went very low and blank) but the splits and the effort in the last mile indicated the effort was way faster than it should have been. Maybe next time a longer tempo effort but a more even pace.

Sunday morning- in spite of howling gales and driving rain a large group of us met at Mallow for a 11 mile run. I ran mid pack but at a average pace of 8.55 on a hilly course. The effort was meant to be relaxed but the conditions made things tough going. Anyway 11.5 miles completed with a lovely social meeting afterwards with the club members for a spot of breakfast. (Picture courtesy of John Holland)

The Hr for the run was 150 at 8.55 pace. Running at 8.45 pace seems to be producing a 155 Hr while a 9.05 pace produces a 145/146 Hr. Since it is argued that a correct Hr reading for a a long run should be in the 130-150 range this is very useful information for me indeed. I’d be happier with a Hr reading of 145 and a matching pace of 8.30 to 8.45 (as were the case in previous years) but at least I know where I am at. I hope that continued patient running during recovery runs/ midweek runs  and long runs brings about the desired result and that the  fast and mid tempo runs and interval sessions helps the feet move faster. It may noy happen immediately but hopefully I will reap the benefits during the summer.

I also note the drop in mileage the last few weeks , nothing too dramatic, 46 miles, 44 miles,40 miles, 39.8 miles. Hopefully this month will see a upward trend but again nothing too dramatic.

Monday 4 miles, Tuesday 8 miles, Friday 8 miles, Saturday 7 miles with 4 mile tempo, Sunday  11 miles. 39.8 miles