Not much, but some.

While December is officially my 'off running' month, obviously I am doing some running.

Not much admittedly, but up to last week it was between 20 and 30 miles per week.
Last week I only ran twice, a total of 10 miles. One of those days was my ritual of the Christmas Day run. The weather wasn't great, but perfectly acceptable.

The longest run was the week previously, where a little tempo experiment saw a mile warmup, 6 miles at 6:45 and a mile cool down. It went quite well, although around this time post marathon, I always wonder how I managed that sort of pace for almost 26 miles.

Overall, no hard running, but sustaining a standard which should allow me to ramp up fairly easily. 27 miles over the last 4 days, all easy pace runs while the weather has been nice. It's important to make miles while the sun shines!

On before Off

Currently, I am pretty much off. Off running.
I have been doing a bit, but not much. Last week was 32 miles, but that was over 5 days.

Before I reduced the mileage, I had a little attempt at a local 10k which I run each year, but which is normally during the summer. It was moved this year to two weeks after the Dublin marathon.
I went up, not expecting much of a performance.

A funny thing about the few speed sessions I have done over the last few weeks, the mile repeats are particularly fast, easy feel is 5:55, pushing it is 5:45., but it only lasts for the first three, then I am bushed.
Anyway, off I set on my 10k, seemingly unable to pace myself, or being stupid enough to believe these fast miles would carry me around. Sub 6 minutes for the first two, 6:15 and 6:25 respectively for the next two, and back to something resembling a steady pace for the last two, to finish in 39:00 flat on the chip time. 15th overall, and fourth in category, although to be fair, it doesn't attract the top runners. I was very pleased with that, two weeks to the day after a marathon.

Of course, I need to celebrate such achievements, and I have been doing so with food and drink.
Over the last few weeks since, I have been indulging my naturally ferocious appetite. More food and less miles will lead to the inevitable weight gain. But psychologically I think the break does me good. I see the next few weeks, until the new year, as my cheat 'month', where I will just eat what I want, have that glass of wine extra, and if it's raining, sit on the couch and enjoy the warmth and maybe some television. Others have taken up the cross country running, but not for me, this year anyway.

On a sad note, I had applied for Berlin marathon for next year on the basis that while I had said no marathons next year (but nobody really believed me), if I got it then it was some kind of karma telling me it was the right thing. But then as I waited for the results date, I got really hopeful, researching hotels and the course and everything. Now I didn't get it I am disappointed, but decision made for me.

Recovery and Mince Pies

Usually I give it four days after a marathon before I attempt another run, and this time was no different.

Monday was the usual post marathon pain, upstairs not so bad, coming down a tad more difficult, the feeling of 'dehydration' after a few drinks Sunday night didn't help.

Tuesday was much better, and I was out and about as normal with just some tenderness at some points.
Wednesday back at work, and no discomfort whatsoever.

Thursday after work,mi was eager to get back out for a run. I know enough to know how the first run usually goes, slow easy pace, and for me usually no more than 5 miles. I went to the local track, and launched into some very easy laps. The pace was around 8 minutes, dropping to 7:30 as I warmed up.
While there was no discomfort, after 2 miles I started to sweat badly, and the legs got uncomfortably tired very quickly, so I finished at three miles, and was happy with that.

No running Friday, it's always best to ease into recovery.
Saturday was a beautiful day, so I headed out intending for 6 easy miles. I ended up doing 8.5 miles, pace varying from 8:15 to 7:25, but at no point was I watching it really, just running to feel.
 Two of the miles were also on grass, which I find also very beneficial during recovery period.

Today was a beautiful day, but I resisted the urge to go out for a run. After over 8 yesterday, it would not have been wise to push it today. I think part of the reason I tend to avoid injury so well, is that I listen to my body, rest when I need to, and don't push things when I feel a niggle.

The other common trait after running a marathon, is wanting to run every marathon within the next 12 months. If I've done well, I'm out to try and capitalise on a good result, when I do badly, I look for the revenge race.  I expect to do no racing until well into next year. While I will not stop running by any means, I will take an 'off season' between now and January as I always do. I am already tucking into the mince pies, Christmas cake, ice cream and chocolate biscuits, and I do not feel one bit guilty.
I hope that my fewer runs will retain a bit of quality, and I hope to do some strength work over the next few weeks too. Inevitably I will gain some junk pounds, but life is for living, and if I deprive my inner fat man all year, it makes the rest of the year all that much harder.

Dublin Marathon Part Deux

ipads don't make great typewriters, so the saga continues!

Anyway, back to work I went. Mile 22, 7:00. I knew that shortly I would be coming across the marvellous Hacket support group, and mentally, that's where I knew I could draw my strength from.
On reaching that point, I was almost there, in my head anyway, and I knew that if I could reach that point strong, head held high, it was a straight run home.
And so it transpired, I met the fabulous support, and to be honest at that point, it almost brought me to tears. Whatever happened in the last last few miles, I could suck it up.
Mile 23, 7:00. Going through 30k, I was position 763.
Mile 24, 7:00, steady, steady, steady. This was tough, but do- able. I was passing runners at an extra ordinary rate, and this was giving me some extra strenght.
Mile 24, 6:47. Push it if you can, but not too much, those two mile might as well be 6 in a a marathon. The temptation was also to not take a drink, but I stuck to the rule, and took water even at the very last station, which was very welcome.
Mile 25, 6:50, still going strong, but at this point, the finish could not come soon enough. It always surprises me, that in the early stages, you can run a 7 minute mile, and it will pass quite quickly, but 20 miles later a 6:50 mile feels like an eternity!
Mile 26. The finish line is almost here,nut the job is not done, those pesky .2 of a mile still have to be conquered. The noise from the crowd is amazing, the shouts of my name from the sidelines from the few faces I recongise. I can see the finish, I can hear the crowd, I am in the olymics, I am winning the gold, and all the other emotions as you approach the finish gantry and the carpet, the deafening roars of encouragement that surely must be just for me! 6:48.
Over the line in 3:02:06 chip time. Arms stretched up in victory. I didn't care about the 2:07 seconds that on another day will be important to me, today I cared about finishing strong and ahead of my target, and.  a new PB by 3:11 minutes.

At the finish, I met another club mate, an amazing lady who is one of the most talented runners in the country. She had left it all out there seeking the elusive sub3, and was suffering the effects, as many other runners did on the day. Thankfully she bounced back quickly, as she always does, and victory will be hers another day.

As I collected my tree shirt and medal, I became quite emotional, as I tend to do on these occasions. I have met many a grown man in tears, and I am not ashamed to say I had many a tear in my eye on this occasion.
This is where I get a bit deep, but the tears of joy were for a personal victory against the wall, for the health to be able to run, for the beautiful day we had, for the support from the crowd and club supports on the route, for the volunteers, for my family, and for life. Mostly, for life.

Gerry Duffy says it best, 'we get to'. Some people don't. So whether we have a good time, which is great, or we don't, we are there, we 'get to' be there.

And so as I said before this marathon, there will be no marathons for me next year.
Although, I did qualify for Boston again, and me and Boston have some unfinished business. And registration for Dublin 2017 opens next week. Just sayin.

Dublin Marathon 2016

What a difference a day makes as the song goes, in this case, what a difference a year makes.

As someone remarked, if carslberg did weather for a marathon, then Sunday's weather on the day of the Dublin city marathon was it.
Since I didn't hit my target in the half marathon in the park, I was going into this race with very little in the way of expectations. My last two marathons, both Boston earlier this year, and Dublin last year, had from my point of view, been disasters, hitting the wall on both occasions. While running a 3:28 and 3:19 respectively, I had started both events with better times in mind.
So this year for Dublin, I had decided early there would be no sub 3 attempt for me. However, I was still aiming for sub 3:10, so hard work was still required, and all training was targeted and paced around a sub3 goal.

A huge improvement this year, was the decision to hold the event on the Sunday instead of the bank holiday Monday, and with the clocks going back on Saturday night, even the nervous participants had the chance to get an extra bit of sleep.
I normally don't have an issue with sleep, but this year due to the hour change, I was dreading getting the alarm wrong, and I woke about 5 times checking the time. That, combined with two toilet stops during the night due to over-hydrating, gave me a less than perfect nights sleep, but that was ok.

The bus was for 7 o'clock pretty much right outside my house. We all met, 30 or so participants, in beautiful morning crisp air. Driving in on the bus, I thought of the mix of experience on board, and it reminded me somewhat of a troop carrier full of soldiers destined for a far off war zone somewhere.
You had the new recruits, going to the battle field for the first time, excited and nervous of what was to lie ahead, the not knowing of what the experience of running 26 miles would be like, and not sure if their training would carry them to their target.
There were the veterans, who bore all the scars of previous battles, and failures, who knew what to expect. And though they knew the pain of the fight, they relished it, and had their own personal wars to fight.
And lastly, you had the lucky ones, nothing to prove, nothing to lose. Go, enjoy, and maybe come back, maybe not. They were the ones I envied, where I should have been after my second marathon, but most certainly was not as I approached number 9.

Surprisingly, even though there was a record entry for this year of over 19,000, with an estimated 16500 or so actually running, the bag drop and route to the start went very smoothly, maybe even more so than other years. I think the wave starts definitely helped with this.
Myself and Brian made our way to the start line together. Having discussed tactics previously, and having set my mind at a 7:05 pace, I was now again starting to have doubts. This was mainly due to the weather. No wind was the perfect opportunity to give the sub3 a shot. But to be honest, I was scared. Scared of falling apart at 20 miles, again, and scared of walking the last 6 miles, and scared of the disappointment that would inevitably bring. So I stuck with the plan, and lined up beside the 3:10 pacers with Brian.

The gun was off, and so were we. The chaos of a mass start, with an early sharp right turn, and runniners up the front way out of their depth, meant we had the usual Dublin slow start, with some of the mile nearly at walking pace.
Brian stuck with me for mile one, and we also picked up Eamon along the way. It was great for the three of us to chat for a while, with neither of the lads committing to a time, even as we were running the race! Our club is full of runners who would make great poker players!
Anyway, mile one 7:16, slow due to the congestion, but that was perfectly fine. A slow start is better than a too fast start. As things started to free out on mile two, I started to gather a bit of pace, conscious of having to recoup some time lost in mile one, 6:47. Ouch, a bit too fast too soon, keep it steady I thought to myself. Mile 3, 7:00, better, recouping the lost time now, get back on pace. I had lost the other two guys at this stage, although I was quite sure they were not too far behind.
First water station, take a drink. Very important, drink from the first, and every station, if if its just a sip.
Mile 4, 6:49, that scared me a bit, it felt very easy, but was quite a bit faster than planned,min hash to try to steady the ship. Mile 5, 6:53. Again, faster, but there were some downhills which I just allowed myself to free wheel without increasing the effort at all. Mile 6, 6:58. While I knew this was faster than planned. I was acutely aware of the fact I still had 20 miles left, and this is where many runners have come a cropper. Feeling good, the temptation is to push, but I had to resist!
Mile 7, 6;54, mile 8 6:44, a big downhill in the park here, and I was actually getting passed out by many runners. Interestingly, going through 10k, I was placed 941.
Mile 9, 6:48, mile 10,6:45. Now I was getting worried. I still felt very very comfortable, but was well ahead of my target pace. I had hoped the damage had not been done already!
Mile 11, 7:05, mile 12 6:55, mile 13 6:51. Going through the half marathon point in 1:31:36, position 909, although I had no way of knowing that then.
For me, there are two key points on a marathon course, half way, and 20 miles, at which to really evaluate how things were going. At this point, I was very comfortable, more than on any marathon I had ever done, so although I was faster than planned, it gave me some comfort.
I was actually able to enjoy the fantastic support from the crowds, and the only thing than anyone needs to be careful of, is that you don't get too much of a lift, and start upping the pace. The adrenaline rush can really do that to me anyway.
Mile 14, 6:59, 15, 6:53, 16 6:52, 17, 6:50, 18, 6:54. Along all these miles, I rarely glanced at the watch, and then only when the mile beep sounded and it gave me the split for the mile. They were all faster than planned, but at this stage it was too late. I felt comfortable, strong, and I was loving it! If I crash then I crash, but I believed it would not happen, and you really need to believe in yourself, so I did!
Mile 19, 6:47, mile 20 6:48, mile 216:51. I won't lie,Mathis is where the work started. I was stillmstrong, and I knew there would be no wall today, however, it was now down to business. Comfortable is not a word I would use at this point, but focuses and determined replaced it.

Park Half 2016

September has been a mixed bag when it comes to consistency.

Holidays in the first week, followed by a nasty cold, meant training was not on an even keel.
Before the holidays, I had felt things were going pretty well.
One thing that has been missing this season from my schedule, is the long tempo runs. I hadn't managed anything over 8 miles. I did do two back to backs last Monday, 6 miles at 6:25, and the next day 7 miles at the same pace. My theory was that they would be as good as a 10 mile run, but evidently, they were not.

After Tuesday, I didn't run Wednesday, Thursday or Friday. Not intentionally, I had planned runs for both Wednesday and Thursday, but life took over and The schedule went out the window. The darker evenings are not helping, the window of opportunity greatly reduced, or the risk of a belt of a car greatly increased!

Saturday was a dreadful day. Wind, and while the rain held off well enough for the morning, it started to come down hard just before the start of the half marathon. I had the start position better judged this time, just ahead of the 1:30 pacers. I was about 200 from the front, with a starting number of runners at 9000. At the off, the pace, as always, felt easy, and mile one was 6:16. Everyone was pretty static in the order, no great passing, and mile two was also exactly 6:16. I had set the watch to a 'conservative ' 6:30 pace, hoping for 6:25 average. A lot of the course was fairly sheltered, particularly in the early miles, however, it was quite hilly.
The first test came at four miles. I had the pace back more towards the 6:25, and maintaining well. At four miles however, after a gradual, but long climb, the legs started to feel a bit tired. This took me by surprise, as I hadn't expected this so early. I had to up the effort considerably to maintain the pace, and this worried me.
The next two miles were quite flat, and the effort eased somewhat. Mile 3, 6:29, mile 4 6:32, mile 5 6:28, mile 6, 6:28. All good so far,moment time banked, and a consistent pace. Mile 7, 6:30.
This is where I met some trouble. I wouldn't normally on a half marathon, but on this race I decided to take a gel at half way. Eating it, and washing it down broke my stride badly, and getting back to a nice flow took a lot of energy. Very quickly I developed a stitch. This had the potential to be bad, very bad. Nasty stitches have forced me to stop and walk before, even on 10k's. I slowed the pace slightly to try and regain my form and reduce the effort. Mile 8, 6:37. It seemed to work somewhat, and I went from nearly stopping, to a comfortable feeling again, although the next problem hit at pretty much the same time.
It was at this point evident that the lack of longer tempo than 8 miles was going to cause problems. My legs were getting very tired. I knew that it would only get worse, and hoped I would last the distance, albeit a bit slower. Mile 9, 6:33, mile 10 6:35. Pushing really hard at this point, it was slipping away gradually. I just needed to hang on, but I knew the dreaded hill was to come.
Mile 11, 6:37, mile 12, 6:36. Ok, not too bad, just keep going almost there! And then, the hill. As I started the climb, a realisation that I had absolutely nothing left in the legs, and the pace collapsed.
At the top, with about 800 meters to go, I just managed to keep a steady stride, no sprint.
I could see the clock, and unbelievably, it read 1:25:06 and counting. It was unbelievable, I had no glasses on, it was 1:26:06 and counting. Crossing the line for 1:26:20.

So not a great result, but what I deserved. I have a descent level of short distance fitness, but anything over 10 miles at pace will be a challenge.
Sunday was a rest day, and Monday I went out for some easy miles. They ended up being 15 easy miles in just over 2 hours. No gels etc, just a small water bottle which I sipped on. I was quite please with that one, with no soreness afterwards.

Not long left now, 21 planned this week will probably be the toughest training run.

Ocean Running

Last week we went on holidays. On a boat.

A bit more than a boat to be fair, it was the Disney Magic ship, a beautiful ship. As we were catching a late flight on Friday to Barcelona, I had hoped to get my long run in Friday morning, but hair appointments (not mine!) and getting ready meant time was limited, so I cut it short to 13 miles.

I didn't run Saturday, we spent the day getting settled in, and there was so much going on I couldn't leave the kids. Sunday was a full day sailing at sea, and I hit the gym. It is always packed on this day as you can't get off the ship, and funnily enough, it is the only day the gym is packed.
Anyway, I did 6 miles on the treadmill which was really tough going. The temperature was 28 Celsius and I don't think the gym is air conditioned. I have always hated running on treadmills, your stride is more restricted I feel than natural running. I did however avail of the excellent weights section, and enjoyed that.
Monday I did 7 miles, two warmup, then increasing to 6:50, 6:40, 6:30, 6:20, and a mile cool down, again with a weights session. Tuesday was 6 miles, although a bit more consistent around 6:50 pace.
A funny thing happened on Wednesday.I had made it a policy of not using the elevators, opting instead for stairs for that extra bit of exercise. As I was descending some stairs, I got a very sharp shooting pain in my left foot and I placed it down. The next few steps were fine, and then the pain again. It seemed to be transient so I was not too worried. I headed to the gym shortly after, and as soon as I had run just a few steps, the shooting pain returned, so much so, that I nearly came off the treadmill. I tried again, unsuccessfully, each time the pain getting sharper.
I had an idea that the sudden change from road to consistent treadmill mileage was not liked by my foot. There was however a backup plan. There was a running deck, and three miles and the more firm surface passed relatively trouble free. The foot however continued to give me problems for the next few days, so I decided to rest it entirely.

We got back on Saturday after an early flight, and I managed to get a sneaky 6 mile run in that evening. The first mile, my foot was sore, however, as the miles went on, the pain eased, so that by the last mile it was all but gone. As I ran on the hard road, I could almost feel my body realign its self  with each footstep.
Sunday was long run, plan was 18 at 30 seconds slower than target marathon pace. The previous weeks had gone well at 7:20 target, always coming in around 7:15 average, however with the break in running I was doubting myself, so I set the watch to 7:30. The pace actually felt easy enough for most of the run, it was quite breezy, but nothing too drastic. I finished the 18 miles with a 7:19 average, and I was pretty happy about it, particularly as the previous evenings 6 miles had been only 16 hours earlier it meant I did 24 miles in less than 24 hours.
Monday was a rest day, and wouldn't you know it, I started to get a cold. It was inevitable really, my wife got sick towards the end of the cruise, and both kids followed suit.
I really didn't feel like running today, my throat felt like sandpaper and my head was really hurting, but I decided I would try an easy few miles anyway. The first mile all I wanted to do was turn back. I planned 9 miles, but decided to shorten the course to 6. Funnily, after the third mile, I started to feel much better, and had gotten into a nice stride, so I changed the plan again. I did 4 easy miles, and then a 6:50, 6:40, 6:30, and 6:20 mile. The 6:20 mile felt easier than the 6:50 mile for some reason. I did a further two easy mile to cool down for 10 in total. As soon as I got in the door, I started feeling pretty miserable again though, and even had to lie down for a while, with some disapproving looks from the wife and gentle questioning as whether I was sure it was a good idea!
With the Dublin half marathon less than two weeks away, i need to keep training sick or not. Already I can feel my fitness going down from where it was three weeks ago. But at least if I am ill now, it is unlikely I will be ill again before the actual marathon like last year.

In the park with Frank, 2016

The almost annual post of the 10 mile in the race series.

After a decent result at the recent 10k, I was happy enough about my fitness levels and prospects for the upcoming run. With a previous PB of 1:04:44 for 10 miles, I had hoped I could beat that.
I didn't over do the taper, the marathon training still has to go on, so really I just didn't run on Friday.
Thursday was just the easy 9 as previous post, with very little energy on that day.
The next day, Friday, I was just as lethargic, and I went to bed at 10pm, which is very early for me, and got a pretty good night sleep.
The weather forecast for Saturday was for wind and rain, but ever the optimist, I figured it would probably actually be quite good, hopefully. Well how wrong I was, it was absolutely bucketing down with rain, and gale force winds. When I woke and looked out the window, I nearly didn't go at all.
But I figured it might clear up by the time I got there.

No such luck, it didn't ease a bit. After two minutes out of the car,my was cold and getting wet. I had put a black bin bag under my jacket and over my t shirt, and that kept me pretty dry, that and large groups of runners sheltering under trees, looking like groups of penguins in the artic huddling for shelter.
Eventually I has to do somewhat of a warmup, but it was a pretty poor one at that.bwith the poor conditions, everyone kind of left it until very close to start time to get into position. When I went to get in line, I couldn't see the time zones. I did see the sub 80 minutes sign, so I jumped in at that point. Looking around, I had an idea I was probably a bit far back, but I consoled myself with the fact it was chip start and finish.
At the start gun....... Nothing happened. I was so far back, it took me 27 seconds to get across the start line. I spent the first frustrating mile trying to pass multitudes of runners. Eventually, after two difficult miles trying to get past slower runners, the way freed up, and I reckoned I was where I probably should be, and I settled into a better rhythm.
The wind was ridiculous in parts, with very little shelter. At around 4 miles I came up behind two runners from the Dunboyne club, and I decided to cheekily tuck in behind them for some shelter. This proved to be an inspired move, as after a while it was evident that they were running the exact same target pace as me, at 6:20 per mile.
I stuck with them for pretty much the rest of the race. We took it in turns to lead our little group, which soon became four, and then five runners, running to the front to shelter the runners behind.
At just after 8 miles we hit the hill, and after that at mile 9 they pulled away slightly. I had to let them go with about 600 meters to run, and they crossed just ahead of me with one other from the group of our five. Crossing the line, I was fairly spent, the clock showed 1:04:27. I didn't know at that point what the exact time was, as I didn't know how long it took me to get over the line. Turns out, it was 1:04:00. A new PB, and actually 15 seconds quicker than my Dunboyne runners on chip time.

Pretty happy with that. I would have been fairly confident that in better conditions I would have knocked another 20 or 30 seconds, but that will be for next years plan. Off to the car fairly sharpish to dry off and change.
Sunday was an easy 2 hours, half of which I did on grass, and it was 14.5 miles.
Rest day Monday. Today, a mile warm-up, with 3x2 miles at 6:20 pace. A bit of a tough one, average was a few seconds quicker but not much, the weekend still very much in the legs.
Next target the Dublin half marathon, a well needed holiday in a week will interrupt the training slightly, but there is a good gym on then ship, it's the motivation that might be lacking!

Just another one so.

Progress is fairly steady.

Since the last 10k race I have been training fairly consistently. Again, the only thing getting slightly neglected are the tempo runs.
For two weekends in a row, the plan was 16 miles, target pace 30 seconds slower than marathon pace.
Both times, I did 17, and at a 7:15 pace, which was slightly faster than prescribed. However, the pace and distance both felt very comfortable. I have been taking an energy chew at 11 miles each time, and  it really gives me a kick by 13 miles. I can't help feeling I am cheating though. I intend to push the distance out at which I take the chew, but as I intend to use them during the marathon, I need to practice using them.
Weekly mileage is around 50. The one thing that is going well are the speed sessions.
I went to run the Duleek 10k last Sunday. Conditions were good, but Duleek is kind of my nemesis. Last year I didn't break 40 minutes, and the previous year I got an almighty stitch in my side and had to pull up and walk the last mile. It is not an easy course, with a particularly long energy sapping drag on the back straight. I went out with the watch set at 6:10. It all went pretty well, but I finished at 38:26. On the plus side, that's two 10k's within three weeks fairly consistent times around the 38:20.
Again, after I drove home, I went out for a 9 mile run, which gave me 17 for the day.
On Monday I felt a lot better than I had after the previous similar session, and I went out for an easy 9.
Tuesday was a speed session, two miles warmup, 10x400 at 5:40 pace, and two miles cool down.
Wednesday was a rest day, primarily because it rained heavily all day.
Today was an easy 9 miles again. The only thing is that today I felt like someone had plugged me out. I had no energy, and the legs felt really heavy, which was surprising given I had a rest day the day before.
Another rest day tomorrow as I have the Frank Duffy 10 mile on Saturday. Not sure how that will go. I would hope to run well, but that depends on whether my energy levels come back up.

Going...going..

And still going.

Training has actually been going pretty well. 

I have not been running six or seven days a week, mostly is just five, and sometimes even a four, but that seems to be suiting me.

Still with the keeping the long run at the weekend, and starting to push the speed sessions a little harder. When I was getting some consistent training in with Gary a few years ago, I remember how tough the speed sessions were, but not very long duration, I have gone back to that. 

I have been pushing the mile repeats to 6:00 minute miles, and everything else between 5:30 and 5:50, from 400's to 800 repeats. The only problem is that I have not been getting my tempo runs in.

I ran the recent Dunleer 4 mile race. It was a tough day, with quite a stiff wind on the back straight for over a mile. I finished in 24:22, which was well off a hoped for 24:00 result, but when I compared myself against my peers whom I would place myself against at other races, I did well, finishing 17th out of a field of over 300.

Last Sunday was the Fingal 10k. The weather was actually quite nice, and the race was early in the morning. I set a 6:10 pace on the watch, but had hoped to bank a few seconds per mile to finish at 38:00, or a few seconds below. 6:03, 6:00, 6:09, 6:14, 6:08, 6:12 and a bit to finish. The problem was the watch measured 6:29 miles, and when I rounded the last corner I had nothing left to sprint it out, finishing on a chip time of 38:16. On the plus side, that is only 18 seconds of my PB, but while I was running the race, the pace felt comfortable enough. But being such a slave to the watch, I am usually maxed out just at the right time, the end, when the pace is set right.

After the race, I drove the 20 minutes home, and headed out for some more, easy, miles. I did another 10, and with the warmup a etc, I had 17 miles for the day.

I did however take the Monday off for a rest day. On Tuesday I was still quite tender as I headed out, and I was also breaking in some new trainers. 10.5 easy miles.

Yesterday I was a bit unsure as to what the plan would be. As I had done some extra speed workouts the week before, I want to get a higher mileage week this week, so another 10 miles easy was done. I also wore a heart rate monitor, and kept the HR below 150, avg 146. It felt really slow, and I find it almost harder to run so slow than it is to run faster.

I will stick with it for the longer runs. This is a fairly good spell of training, and hopefully I can manage to build on it.

Next is another 10 in two weeks, which will be used as a tempo run for the Frank Duffy 10 mile in the park.

Catch up

It has been quite a few weeks since I have made an entry, for various reasons.

The main one is that nothing much has been happening, but I know next year I will want to know what I did this time this year, if that even makes any sense.

One recent thought which I had, was remarking on how fortunate I was. In the space of two weeks, I had run along the west coast of America, beautiful Seattle, the following week along the beach in beautiful Ireland, and in the same week, the south coast of Spain. I was away on the holidays in Spain, and I got up at 5am, something I would never do at home, and primarily because I was a 5 course meal for a few mosquitos which I could not kill. Out along the sea front promenade, I had forgotten my garmin, and my watch, so not only was I just running to feel, I had no idea how long I was running for. What a beautiful sunrise it was, and it was really one of the nicest runs I have had in along time.

When I got back to reality, I ran a local 10k, and on a flat course did 38:24. I was happy and disappointed at the same time.
Mile 1 was 5:55, and although I knew it was too fast, it felt easy enough. I pulled back to the watch, 6:11, 6:20, knowing from experience that it can all go horribly wrong in the last two miles. The horribly wrong never arrived, and at mile 5 I knew I had been too conservative. Mile 6 was 5:58, and I finished strongly. So while I was happy with the time, I should have pushed it in the middle.

I am still trying to get the long runs in at the weekend, and they are varying from 12 to 16 miles. The 12 mile day was preceded by a 9 mile, and average weekly mileage is between 45 and 50, although last week was a bad week at only 35, but I got some really quality hill runs and a hard hill session in, so I didn't feel too bad.

There are a few races coming up over a short period shortly. Dunleer 4 mile this Sunday, the fingal 10k later, Duleek 10k in early August and then the marathon race series 10 mile.
Marathon training will start in earnest in Early August, but with descent mirage maintained at the moment, it shouldn't be too much of a push to get up  to higher distances easily enough.

Short Note

So, for next year when I look back.

50 miles this week.

Long runs at weekends, two hours is the target, distance is between 14 and 16 miles, depending on topography mostly. Running nice and easy. A combination of hills, and this week the beach too.

Interestingly, the speed session this week went well. 1x2 miles at 6:20. 1 x1 at 6:10(5:59 actual) and 2x800 at 6:00(5:55) for both combined. 8 miles in total. Felt pretty comfortable, but the first two mile session it felt difficult to get the legs to stretch out.

Much more hill work than in recent times, the weather is great, warm but no rain.

A 10k race coming up shortly will be a bit of a target race, hoping for (jinxing it already) sub 39.

Status

After some solid training before the US trip, it all took a bit of a turn for the worse.

The few days before went well, and the trip was only supposed to be the standard out and back, 3 days all in total. As Thursday was a long day getting there, there would be no running, but a run planned for Friday.
As it turns out, there was an unexpected issue with the aircraft, which meant going nowhere fast until Monday night! At least I got my planned run in on Friday, a beautiful easy 9 miles along the Seattle coastline.
After a nice surprise trip to a Billy Joel concert on Friday night, and a few complimentary beverages, I wasn't in much shape for a run Saturday. Sunday I set aside the afternoon, and again a slightly shorter 6 miles easy, a 30 minute gym session on some light weights, followed by two fast miles on the treadmill.
As I was not going to make the virgin night run, I hoped for the local club 5k on Tuesday night.

I flew back to Ireland on Monday night into Tuesday, landing back in a sunny Dublin just after 4pm.
When I got home I had hoped for some time to sleep, and I got a little cat nap of about 40 minutes and went and signed up for the 5k. Unfortunately, as I strolled over to sign up, I realised I had gotten the start time wrong by 30 minutes, and it was a quick dash to get changed and make it to the start line.
This was the first short race I had done in a very long time, and I was a bit unsure how I would fair out. I looked around for some familiar faces, trying to position myself with those whom I had previously compared well with.
At the off, I set the watch for a 6:10 mile pace, and mile one was 6 minutes flat. This felt pretty comfortable, and I had forgotten how much the adrenalin of a race helps your performance. The route is a particularly rolling route, with practically no flat segments, and a net uphill gradient.
At mile two, I was still going well, and the hard segment never arrived. I finished at 18:39,  2nd M40,  28th out of a field of 315. While nothing great, I was pleasantly surprised.
The effort was constant throughout, and I managed a pretty solid sprint finish.

A 6 mile easy recovery on Wednesday, wife's turn to get out after work on Thursday. Friday, 1 mile warmup, 10k at 39:37 and I was quite pleased with that too, two miles easy to finish.
Saturday, a 9 mile at 7:20 and then a 9 mile bike ride. Why? I ran out to a friends house and cycled home!
My planned long run Sunday didn't happen as I got a short notice call to go to work which scuppered the rest of the evening.
Today no run either as I had a very eRly start and a long day in the UK. I am consoling myself that the routine should stabilise now, and the weather is forecast good for the rest of the week, so plenty of long runs for a high mileage week in the last 5 days is on the cards.

Not Marathon Training

As recovery continues, it seems I am finding it difficult to come out of marathon mode.
I know I should start to focus a bit more on some faster pace stuff, but when the weather is so good as it has been this week, I just want to go out and take advantage of it. This, combined with the habit now of high mileage (relatively speaking compared to some), saw me clocking up 60 miles this week.

Monday was an easy 10k recovery after Sundays 16 miler.
Tuesday I decided to try and up some tempo speed. I started off with an easy 3 mile warmup, and then set off at a 6:30 pace hoping for 6 miles. The first mile was very tough, as I checked the watch, I couldn't believe how hard I perceived the effort to be to keep just on pace. It felt like I was running closer to 6 minute pace. Mile two I was starting to re-evaluate how long I was going to be able to maintain the pace, and was beginning to consider breaking it into 3x2. I pushed on for three miles, and the effort got a lot less as I settled into the pace, and my breathing rhythm adjusted. By mile 5 I was cruising along, and upped the pace a bit. On mile 6 I decided to try for a sub 40 10k, and I just tipped in at 39:57 on the watch. I was very happy with that, it had been a while since I was able for a sub 40. The funny thing was, at 6:30, I knew I could have comfortably kept going much further.

Wednesday another easy 10k.
Thursday I went out for some hill repeats. It was a hilly 4 miles to the hill in question, 8 reps was about 1.5 miles. My mistake was forgetting I had to make it home! It was a fairly painful run home with 9 miles for the session.
Friday again an easy recovery, Saturday 9 easy miles, and Sunday two hours at an easy pace, which incorporated a beach segment and some hills. I only did 15 miles in the two hours compared with 16 last week.

I am away to the US this week, so mileage will definitely be less. I have signed up for the Virgin media 10k next Sunday, my first short run in quite some time.

Further Recovery

Recovery workouts continue.
Wednesday was a rest day. Thursday I decided to test the legs again.
With one mile warmup, I started into a planned 8 miles, at roughly a tempo pace ( for my current state) which was to be 6:50. It all started easy enough and I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it felt. This surprise did not last very long. After 3 tempo miles, the pace became a lot tougher.
By the time I hit 6 miles, the effort was more of a 10k effort pace, and I almost finished there. However, I was determined to push it out, and while the last mile was a struggle to stay on pace, I finished the full 8 at the planned pace, for a small cool down with just about 9.5 miles.
I was pleased that I managed to finish, but disappointed at how hard the effort was towards the end.
On Friday, I went out for an easy 6 miles. Within the first mile I started to get a sharp pain in my knee, which quickly spread to my hamstring.
I could have turned around, but I was curious to see how it would develop, or disappear. After 3 miles, while the pain had subsided, it was definitely much better. At the end, it was still there and I was glad to finish. I spent a good while stretching out the hamstring trying to work out the pain.
I also self massaged the leg over the next day, and didn't run on Saturday. I think it may be my legs telling me that I was trying to run too hard too fast.
Today was long run day. I have been doing a little bit of reading lately, and I am going to try and mix it up a bit with these. As I was still in recovery mode, I just ran easy, no faster than 7:37, and many towards the 8 minute mile pace. The route was also quite hilly. Another addition, is that I am going to start experimenting with using energy gels. Today I used cliff shots, one at every 4 miles with some water, and they had no adverse effect. I probably didn't push myself hard enough to see any benefit from them, and i finished 16 miles at 2:05, quite an easy pace. But I didn't feel in the least bit nauseous afterwards, which is the very first time I haven't. It will be interesting to see when I get back to the 20 mile runs if I can utilise them and see any benefits.
Every week will have at least one 2 hour run from now on (hopefully).
The legs were quite tired at the end of the run, if I had a flat road ahead I could have kept going, but I couldn't face any more hills at that point.
49 miles for the week was a pretty good result I think, three weeks tomorrow after Boston.
That's by far the most miles I have run so soon after a marathon, and I hope puts me in good shape to start pushing a bit harder soon enough.

Post Boston Recovery

For the week after Boston, things were fairly predictable. Very sore legs on Tuesday which was mostly spent resting, and on Wednesday I was back at work. I got a few strange looks from some of the people at the meetings where they did not know I had run a marathon two days earlier.
By Thursday I was much improved, almost back to normal walking, and by Friday I was fine. Fine being a relative term, I was still very conscious of the marathon on the legs, but nobody would have noticed.
Saturday was the first day I ventured out for a very short easy two mile run on grass. I probably could have done more, but I had the kids with me and they got bored.
I didn't run Sunday, and Monday was another easy two miles.
On Tuesday, I ventured a little further, with an easy 6 miles, average around 8 minute miles. The same on Wednesday, a little faster but at the same effort left if around 7:50 average. Thursday the same, and on Friday I decided a little test of recovery was in order. After an easy four mile warmup at almost 8 minute miles, I ran 3 miles at 7:10, 6:55, and 6:45. It felt fine, and I did 3 easy miles home to finish at 10.
I took a break Saturday, I know Friday wasn't particularly far or fast, but I wanted to ease back into it and not risk injury. Sunday I did a very hilly 9 miles, which I hope to insert more of in my programme.
Monday was back to easy 6, and on Tuesday I decided on a further test of recovery. An easy 1 mile warmup, and I started into 4 miles tempo at planned 6:30 pace. 6:20, 6:23, 6:24 and 6:19 to finish.
My legs felt fine, it was my fitness at speed I struggled with, I suppose it has been a while since I strung a few fast miles together. Two miles easy to finish was 7 in total. I believe that while obviously I am not fully over the marathon, I am almost to the point where I can start some harder training again.

I haven't dwelt too much on My Boston performance, only too say I am still scratching my head a little. While it was a hot day, and all the other things I mentioned, I was fairly sure of where I was before I started. I believe I have a good idea of where I am most times when it comes to likely performance, and while trying for a sub 3 at Dublin last year was always a risky gamble, I honestly believed I was in better shape than then where I ran 10 minutes faster.
No point in dwelling on it, but I would be keen to test myself over a distance sooner rather than later. If I have a fitness there associated with the training, I would like to maintain it and try again sooner rather than later. I suppose it's finding the balance between getting the last marathon out of the legs somewhat, and not losing fitness. Even a 3:15 to 3:20 would almost vindicate my thoughts.

Time to start looking at close in options.

Boston Race Report

Saturday finally came around, as it inevitably would, and it was time to head off for Boston at last. On my own, no family, no club mates.

For anyone who has not been, Boston is a really beautiful city. My hotel was very centrally located, right at Boston commons and garden. The day I arrived the weather was lovely, cloudless skies, and the park was full of people, walking, jogging, lying on the grass, playing tennis, and just enjoying the atmosphere.

I spent the day getting my bearings, and having a good look around. I struggled to find somewhere for dinner, just because I probably wasn't looking in the right places, and ended up with Pizza and chips. Hydration is important in the days leading up to a marathon, not just on the day, so I was drinking plenty of water.

On Sunday, I had planned to go to the expo. Unfortunately, I was faced with a bit of a mini drama with the hotel. When I booked through booking.com, I requested a late checkout as I was planning on flying home on the day of the marathon, and I needed somewhere to shower and change afterwards.
The hotel however, could not give me a late checkout, and I was faced with nowhere to freshen up after, and as the airport didn't have showers either, I was getting a bit worried. So I checked the website again, and there were lots of hotels in the area with late availability. (Not worth the risk, but they were significantly cheaper than advertised months earlier).
I found a hotel, just as convenient to the finish line, which could do the late checkout, but I had to walk to it to find out the details. Then back to my own hotel, which then decided they could do the late checkout, then I went to the expo. Long story short, a lot of walking on Sunday.

Up at 5 am on marathon Monday, and a hearty enough breakfast. The system for start/finish at Boston is as follows: Bring your kit bag to the finish line early in the morning. Then get a bus, which takes about 45 minutes to the start line. Athletes village is fairly impressive. There was lots of free tea and coffee, fruit, water and energy bars. Importantly, there were lots of portaloo's!

I had turned my garmin on in the hotel the day before so it could orientate itself, then turned it off again. When I got to athletes village, I again turned it on, and nothing, just an info page. Not to worry, off and on again. Nothing. Off and on again, and so forth. Panic starting. No pacers, its Boston. I spotted a couple sitting on the grass with the same model garmin, and I asked them if they had seen the problem before, and they had. They advised a reset should do the trick, but try as they might, they could not remember the sequence. A lady was walking by with a phone, and I asked her if she could google the reset procedure, and within a short space of time, I had a whole rescue squad working on trying to get the watch working. After a few minutes, success! panic over, we had a watch.

Wave 1, corral 7, was my start position. Some advice, leave the athletes village at the earliest opportunity to get to the start line. Its about a 10 minute walk, and the last chance for loo break. The loo's here had long lines. There is not much chance for warming up pre-race either.
The weather forecast had varied over the previous few days, with temperatures ranging from 14 to 22 degrees Celsius. as it turned out, it was hot, very hot. The paddy had no sunscreen, and a more well prepared guy than me offered me some of his. One thing I will say, runners are always a friendly bunch, but the friendliness at Boston is outstanding.

Approaching 10am and the anticipation was building. Another thing, there is no skipping corals at Boston. Security was very tight, there were snipers and soldiers on roof tops, police everywhere, and even two black hawk helicopters, along with multiple police helicopters.

As we waited, I could already feel the sun starting to burn, it was hot! At the gun, it took about 6 minutes for us to make our way across the start line. and we were off. Exciting stuff, and I felt very proud to be a part of it. Not long in, a runner came along side and said 'howya Stamullen'. it was an Irish guy who had known I was there, we chatted briefly and off he went aiming for a sub 3. I found out later he did 3:01, and I subsequently apologised for delaying him chatting to me!
The first mile is downhill, and the corral system worked brilliantly, everyone pretty much on the same pace. My target was 3:10 to 3:15 so I set a 7:10 pace on the watch. Mile two came and the shelter of the trees was less. I knew I would have to stay hydrated on a day like this, so I elected to take on fluids early. Normally in training I would take no water until at least 6 miles, but that was in temperatures of around 8 degrees. Everyone had the same idea, and there were water and Gatorade at every mile. Unfortunately, the biggest flaw in the Boston system was about to reveal itself. Cups! Cups of water, and Gatorade. 30,000 runners, all grabbing for cups. Half full cups. and the result? Chaos at the water stations. a nice steady 7:10 pace, screwed up every mile, whether you wanted water or not, people slowing to grab cups, crossing each other etc, those of you who have run a marathon know what its like. The temperature for the first seven miles was 25 degrees (I found out after), so you had to hydrate. Losing 10 to 15 seconds at water stations, meant having to run 6:50 to 6:55 for the rest of the mile, but the worst part was the break in the rhythm. Well, I say worst part, closely followed by trying to drink from a cup while running, and more going over your face and up your nose than actually in your mouth! The amount you take in each time is less than a mouthful, but you can't try to grab a second cup for fear of a pile up!

7:07, 7:06, 7:04, 7:04, 7:09, 7:02, 7:03, 7:10, 7:07, 7:10.
After 10 miles, the heat was taking it's toll. At 11 miles, I came across something I have never seen at another marathon, runners walking. That would not usually happen so early, and these guys started ahead of me.

7:15, 7:06, 7:10. Temperature drops to 22 degrees.
The half way point. Time to assess, as I always do at this point. Again, like Dublin last year, I was fine with the pace, but knew that at 10 miles later, I would not be. I decided to keep it going for the moment, and ease back shortly to conserve energy. The water stations were still pissing me off though!! It was making tough work even tougher.
7:10, 7:19 (the hills are starting) 7:08 (push hard into the hills) 8:00 (the hills win!!).
8:36, 8:32. I decided to ease up the pace over these miles to conserve some energy, if I can make it to 21, the hills will be over.
8:50. The hills are not over yet, I resort to walking through the water stations, this gives me a break and ensures I get an adequate amount of fluid in.
10:02, heartbreak hill. Its not overly steep, it does drag on tough, and I just had to get over it, so I walked a bit. At this point, I swear, there were more walkers than runners.
Unfortunately, the medical tents at each mile, all had people in them, most I suspect suffering from the heat and dehydration. I later found out that the medical tent at the finish treated 1400 people.
8:45, 9:05, walking through the water stations and a slow steady run for the rest of the mile. While it was slow, and the legs were tired, my head was up, and I didn't feel like shite! I just knew I didn't want to kill myself, I had undertaken at the outset to try and enjoy the experience, and not curse it.
9:38, 10:31 (some walking I'm afraid), 8:51 for mile 26 to finish.

Around the corner onto Boylston street, with the finish line in sight, a very emotional experience.
The year of the bombings, I was so angry that sport, and particularly running, had been attacked, and so many innocent people had been killed and injured.
You could feel the sense of defiance and determination from both runners and spectators alike, beyond the act of just finishing the marathon, it was a statement from all present to the scum who kill and maim the innocent. I have enjoyed every finish, but this was something special, and the time was irrelevant,(luckily)! At the finish, the temperature was only 18.5 degrees, practically chilly.

Back to the hotel, shower, and a well earned pint in the local Irish bar, then off to the airport for the flight home, back at the house 13 hours after finishing.

On balance, again, I obviously didn't have the training done that I thought I did. Pre-race, I was actually pretty confident of my target, but again, I need to adjust my expectations I think until I start making the time for more miles. Having said that, I made up my mind last year that I would never again be disappointed with a 'bad' time. I was delighted to finish, and loved the experience. Boston, and its people, are brilliant.

Comparing London and Boston, for me, London wins by a whisker. The expo at London was brilliant, Boston not so much. The start and finish logistics for London are a bit more runner friendly. The hydration strategy at London, bottles, is far superior. Support from both crowds is brilliant, although the Americans are a bit more whacky with their ideas!

Hi Ho, Hi Ho.

It's off to Boston I go!

Flight in the morning, bag almost packed.
The last two weeks have been a bit of a disappointment in running terms. I had hoped to keep the mileage going at around 50 last week, but it didn't happen. I had a plan for a tempo and a long run, and ended up doing a hybrid of both.
So last Saturday was 9 days out from Marathon day, Gary's advice is to run your last hard run about 10 days out from the target race. So I did one mile warmup at 7:20, and then into a planned 10 mile at 6:55. The reason it was 6:55 was that I wanted to run about 20 seconds faster per mile than target.
I wasn't sure how the 10 miles would work out. It went quite well, the pace feeling quite easy, and banking a few seconds each mile unintentionally. At the 10 miles I stopped and clocked in at 6:49 average for the session, with almost 2 miles home that gave me just short of 13 miles.
Rest on Sunday and Monday, 5 miles easy at 7:35 Tuesday.
Wednesday I went to the track. After 1 mile warmup, I planned 3x1 mile at 6:40 with 1 minute recovery. The paces were 6:16, 6:29 and 6:27. They just felt so easy, I struggled to slow them down. I think it's a combination of two things. The taper is leaving me with fresh legs so they are strong, which is a good sign, and when I run on the track my brain thinks I should be running hard.

Today was a 1 mile warmup, 3 miles at planned 6:50, which ended at 6:42 average, and a 1 mile cool down, and that's it!

Weather forecast is 22 degrees Celsius for the marathon day, which does not bode well. The website already talks of the dangers of heat stroke, and recommends running slower than planned pace, which makes me wonder do they know their audience!

I will play it by ear on the day and assess the conditions. No pressure of a sub 3 attempt, it was never on the cards. I would like to finish this one at a consistent pace after the crash at Dublin, just to get my confidence back. If I can pull it back towards a 3:10 time I would be delighted, but once I beat my Dublin time then it's a win.

A Gap in the Market

So as previously mentioned, not a lot of miles this week.
Due to many variables, I didn't get out on Friday or Saturday which was very disappointing.
Today was the last planned 20 miler, with 15 days to go. Gary has no difficulty advocating high mileage right up to the week previous to the marathon, and then the mileage drops off a cliff for the week before.
The weather was forecast for rain, clearing towards afternoon. I tried to leave it as late as possible, but at 1pm I just had to get going or the rest of the day would be gone.
It was still spilling as I headed out. Boston are using Gatorade endurance formula as their sports drink. As I have never had it before, last week when I was in the US I picked up a six pack of Gatorade in the same flavour. It was not endurance formula, but thirst quencher, which is a less strong  formula, but I figured it would give me a good idea if I could stomach it or not. Last thing you want to do on a marathon is taste a new drink for the first time.
So as I went out I was carrying two bottles, one of water, and a Gatorade. I hate carrying drinks!
After a few miles I was thoroughly soaked. I had set the garmin for a 7:25 pace, but for some reason it measured the first mile way too fast at 6:55, which it was not. I reset it, and kept going into the rain.

A thought struck me as I was trodding along. Athletes go to the likes of Sevelle for warm weather training, Madrid and Portugal for altitude training, why don't we market Ireland as a wet weather training destination! There is no shortage of the stuff, and if the rain is not around, it will surely be windy! Genius, no?

Anyway, back to the run, 7:25 was proving a very easy pace, likely as I hadn't run the previous two days and the legs were fresh. The Gatorade was no problem on the stomach at mile 11, and I drank it over the next three miles. Mile 17 and 18 were the fastest at sub 7:10 each, and I finished quite strongly at an average of 7:19 for 20 miles.

Being critical, two things. I had only 18 miles on the legs for the preceding 6 days, and i only ran for less than 2:30hrs. The second point is crucial. I know that the real test comes passing that 2:30 point, on the day I will still have plenty of minutes left to do, and that is what the longer slower runs are designed to simulate.

Shorter faster stuff for this week, and then the taper.

Getting Closer

Off on my travels last week so not much updated.
After the last reported 20 miler, Monday was rest day. The rest of that week was fairly standard.
Tuesday was an easy 6 miles, Wednesday easy 10, Thursday 8 miles with 4x1 mile repeats at 6:15 pace. Friday 8 miles easy, and Saturday was a rest day due family and weather.
Sunday was forecast to be sunshine and showers, and the morning was lovely, but I didn't get out until later towards the afternoon, and the skies were getting ominously darker in places.
Out I went for 20 miles anyway, and the first 12 miles went well. The plan was a steady pace 7:30.
At 13 miles the heavens opened. It wasn't just rain, it was hailstones associated with a thunderstorm, and I was forced to take shelter. I remember the very same thing happening this time last year before London. I was stopped for around 10 minutes, and I began to get very cold. I started to run from tree to tree, taking shelter as I went. It was only when the worst of the rain had passed that I began running steadily again, and it was a bit hard to get the rhythm going.
From 14 to 20 miles went well enough, although I felt a bit cheated that I had to stop, as it didn't really give me the big picture of 20 consistent miles.
What did surprise me though, was that after I had showered, it was as if I hadn't run at all.

I was off to USA on Monday, so a rest day on the trip over, and again, not much sign of 20 miles on the legs walking around. I did 10k on the treadmill on Tuesday which as always, felt like a real struggle.
Flying home Wednesday ruled out a run again.
Yesterday was a lovely day so I was hoping for a solid tempo run. One mile warmup, and I set off at a planned 6:50 pace, the distance uncertain, but it was hoping for a minimum of 10, ideally 12 at the pace. Not long in, at around 6 miles, it was evident that things would not go to plan.
I struggled badly, and ended the pace run at 8 miles, with 3 at 7:10 to finish on 12 in total.
I have to put it down to jet lag and the 20 miles in the legs still lingering behind the scenes. I will try that one again next week for the last time, and this weekend will be the last 20 miler.

On Target

After Thursday's pacing gig for the half marathon, Friday was an easy 6 and Saturday an easy 7.

Today was planned to be 20 miles, and with a nice day forecast, there were no excuses.
The plan was 7:30 for the first 10 miles, with 7:20 for the second 10 miles, so perfectly doable.
I had toyed with the idea of  a slightly faster second 10 miles towards 7:10, but as this was my first real 20 miles in quite some time, I wanted to err on the conservative side.
I took two small 300ml bottles with me, one of water, and another of water and Ribena. I hate carrying water as it is the same as carrying hand weights. I placed the cordial bottle at four miles out, which would be about 11 on the way back, and consumed the other water over the first 6 miles.

The initial pace seemed easy enough, and I had to try and hold back a little. At the end of the first 10 miles I was 40 seconds up, so average of  7:26. I upped the pace then, and at 11 miles I picked up my cordial, which thankfully had no been stolen like the last time!
Pushing the pace up actually felt easier than trying to do the slower pace. While the pace was good, the legs started to hurt at 16 miles which I am guessing was due to lack of any meaningful long runs over 13 miles.
I pushed on fairly alright, although at exactly 20 miles I was happy it was over. The pace was still ok, but the legs hurt. I always ask myself could I have pushed on for more, yes I could, not easily though.
At the end, the average for the 20 was 7:23 with a current 'target' pace of 7:20 for the marathon.

62 miles for the week was a good result with a rest day included, and the 20 mile run was good to get in. Two more of those should be doable before the big day, and depending on how those go and the mileage for those weeks, maybe the 'target' might shift slightly.

First Pacing Gig

After Sundays half, Monday was an easy 7 miles at around 8 minute pace. The legs felt tired but not sore.
Tuesday was better, 9 miles back towards 7:30 pace, and the legs felt pretty much recovered. My cough was all but gone too which made me feel a lot stronger than the last two weeks.
On Wednesday I was due to head out after work and the wife's Pilates class, plan for an easy six.
However, today there was a local half on for a cancer charity, and our club had been asked to supply pacers. A late shout out came as they were short, so I decided to offer my services for a 1:40 pacer.
When I asked how many were planned to pace the 1:40, I got a bit nervous when it was just me.
On top of that, 1:40 was to be the fastest pacer for the half, there was also a 10k distance.
So no pressure then. So the pace calculator said 7:37 for a 1:39:30. Given that the garmin usually reads long, I decided to err on the side of caution, and set 7:34 on the watch.

The day was beautiful. I had run this course two years ago, and it is very hilly, a lot more so than Sundays race. There was a large field for the 10k, but disappointingly there were just over 80 runners for the half. I got my balloon, and took my place quite close to the start.
Off we went in glorious sunshine. Initially I felt it difficult to hold the pace back. My natural instinct at the start of a race is to race. I banked about 10 seconds on the first mile, and then settled in to pretty much the exact pace.
For the first two miles I was pretty much on my own, runners either ahead or behind. But not long after, we became a merry little group of 5 runners.
I was trying to assess who would struggle later on. At about 8 miles we lost our first, and I slowed the pace a bit to try and keep him, but we were in danger of losing it, so eventually I had to drop him.
10 miles was the next casualty, same story.
So three of us left. The remaining two were guys of a similar age to myself. Earlier, I has established that one had a PB of 1:45, and the other 1:55. They were still strong enough, and I spent the last three miles talking them through every hill, trying to keep them going.
On the last mile I looked behind, and there was no one even close, so I decided to push my two guys on, and they responded excellently. I was a bit worried I would miss the time, but we finished at 1:38:45. The two guys were over the moon, and they hugged me, more than once! Thanking me for pushing them on to great PB's. It was a great feeling to have helped them and I really enjoyed the run.
The down side was that I felt really guilty for finishing over a minute fast. I stood at the line, waiting to see the next runner in, who finished in 1:40:45. Could I have slowed and gotten him in under the 1:40? But then the two guys who had worked so hard to stay with me so long would not have achieved what they did.
This pacing thing is not easy on the mind! When I pushed on, there was nobody in sight behind, so I think I did the right thing, but if I get another go, I think I will be more accurate. But I really enjoyed the day, and it was a nice little training run.

Bohermeen 2016

I signed up anyway, being very unsure as to whether or not I would even run it.

On Tuesday I did 3 slow miles, struggled for breath and sweated profusely. I was not running on Sunday.

On Wednesday I did 5 easy miles, struggled for breath, but didn't sweat so much, and I was still not running on Sunday.

On Thursday, I felt a lot better. The restriction to my breathing was not as bad, and I coughed a lot less. I went out for a run, aiming for a short evaluation of sorts. I did tow miles warmup to the track, and then set off at 6:40 pace to see how I would fair out, aiming for 5 miles. 6:29, 6:27, 6:31, 6:28. And I finished at 4 miles. If I was to run on Sunday I didn't want to push too hard. It wasn't easy, but I figured it was doable, particularly if I was sensible and paced it right.

I knew I was well away from. PB territory, and could forget about a 1:25, but I figured I could use it as a training run of sorts. 13.1 miles at 6:40 had to be similar to 20 at 7:30, right?

Anyway, the weather forecast was good,Mao I decided to sign up.

The weather was pretty perfect as advertised, slack winds, 12 degrees, overcast.

There were over 900 signed up. I drove over with Karen L, who is absolutely flying at the moment.

We got there in good time, and the race was 15 minutes late starting, which was a bit of a pain when you had timed your warmup for an on time start. 

At the off, as always, I got sucked into a bit of a fast mile at 6:20. As we settled in, I was pretty consistent at about 6:36, and it felt pretty comfortable. The course is flattish, but some long very gradual drags did test the pace at times. When I hit a small drag, I would offer up some seconds rather than try to up the effort to maintain the pace.

Karen had well gone by 5 miles, and on another day I would have chased her, but I knew where I was  was the correct pace. It all went well until 10 miles. 

It wasn't the fitness that started to wain, it was the strength in the legs. I just couldn't keep the stretch out to keep the pace going, and the pace shortened. At 12 I kind of was just hanging on, strength sapped, plodding along towards the finish. I just made it in under the 1:28 at 1:27:59. 

I am reasonably happy with that in the context of I knew that is where I was. I didn't fool myself into thinking a 1:25 was a consideration. I think I am getting good at judging my fitness levels.

A few weeks left now to focus on some big miles. The stretch in the evenings should help. Today's result confirms where I would hope to be for Boston, all else going well.

The Summer Exams

I have not done any running since my last entry. I am thankfully on the mend, I was able to get out of bed today and interact with the kids and even managed the short walk to the shop in the beautiful morning sunshine to get a newspaper.

The last few days weather have been pretty good. Even though Friday started off with snow and then rain, later it cleared up, and Saturday was a glorious day. As I looked out at the practically still wind conditions, lovely Spring temperatures, I thought about how perfect the conditions were had I been alble to undertake my planned 20 mile run.
This morning also, a chilly, but beautiful morning. And I was reminded of the year of my final summer exams at school, which was quite a time ago! The weather up to the week before the exams had been pretty poor, rain and wind, standard type Irish stuff. The week before the exams however, when we were all in cramming, it got really nice. And on the week of the exams, it was beautiful. There we were, sitting in exam halls, looking out at the glorious weather, looking forward to the day of the final exam, when the summer holidays could begin in earnest.

On the last day of my exams the weather was great, and the feeling of freedom matched it.
The next day, it rained, and continued to rain for pretty much the next two months.
Ce la vie !

Good and Bad Part Deux!

Monday was an enforced rest day due work and family, but I didn't mind too much as I had a good run Sunday, and I wanted to do a tempo on Tuesday.

I finished work early for a change, and was home in the afternoon. The weather wasn't great, gale force winds, but it was mild enough. I got changed, and procrastinated for about an hour before dragging myself out the door. I had a nice sheltered route planned which hopefully would defend me from the worst of the wind.

One mile warmup, and I was off, into a planned 9 mile tempo at 6:40.
It started well, and the pace felt quite doable. Once I settled in, and got my breathing right, I was cruising along nicely. I was running a one mile loop, fairly flat, but obviously some of it was directly into wind, and some on my back, so I considered the effect neutral.
The first two miles were 6:34, and I tried to pull it back a bit, but I went all the way to 8 miles at pace between 6:38 - 6:34 fairly easily. I still felt very fresh at 8, so I pushed on for a total of 10 full miles at an average of 6:36, with what felt like plenty left in the tank. I could have continued for a few more miles at that pace, but I was losing the light, and I know that once I hit the 90 minute mark, performance would likely deteriorate rapidly due to lack of hydration and glycogen depletion.One final mile to cool down, was 12 miles for a very good session.
That was the good.

The bad, is that my little 5 year old girl is very sick at the moment with a nasty flu type thing. She is feeling very delicate, and cuddles from Dad seem to work wonders. Unfortunately, and probably inevitably, I caught the dose after many sneezes and coughs to the face.
It hit me rapidly today as I rushed from one meeting to the next, and when I got in the door, the couch  was all I could manage, which is from where I am writing this.
I am hoping against hope that I can fight it quickly, I am eager to try to build on my good results of late, and I would like to get a few more quality runs in before the Bohermeen half on the 13th.
This is the second illness I have had in the last number of weeks, which may be not necessarily a sign of over training, but of my work, training and life schedule in total.
I will have to watch for that.

Good bad

The last 5 days I ran 48 miles. That's not a lot,miso that's in a way, bad.
However, I think the quality of the miles was good.
Wednesday was a tempo which I had noted previously. Thursday was 2 miles warmup, two miles at around 6:50 minute mile pace, and two mile cool down at 7:30.
Friday was 10 miles, the first 6 at easy pace, 7:30, the next three at tempo pace, 6:35, and a mile cool down at 7:30. I felt really strong finishing this session and could easily gone longer, but I was keeping the weekend run in mind.
Saturday was 8 miles in total all at easy pace to not tire myself out for Sunday.
On Sunday, we had a local charity race in aid of the brother of a close friend of mine, he himself an avid runner. At 44 years old, and with three children, he is seriously ill with cancer. I was tempted to run this four mile race, but I volunteered to Marshall instead, but signed up anyway. The weather was great, and there were 636 entrants. A great day had by all, with all ages and abilities represented, mothers and buggies, couch to 5k, and the winner in around 20:40.

After it was all done, I headed out in the glorious sunshine for my planned 18 miles.
The objective was negative splits, first 10 at 7:40, next four at 7:30, next four at 7:20. However, as I was late heading out, and had to be back for 5pm for family time, it was likely it would have to be cut short to 16.
All started well, and I found it difficult to hold the perceived slow pace of 7:40, with the first 10 at 7:34 average, so upping the pace was easy enough. On the out leg, I had placed a bottle of water with some cordial in it, so that I would pick it up again at 11 miles. When I got to 11 miles, it was gone! I was devastated, and very miffed that someone would steal my drink, finding it hard not to believe that they would not know what it was for.
Anyway, in pushed on not even stopping to look around for it. The last 6 miles were at 7:25 average.
Finishing up, I still felt I had plenty left, and wondered how much better the water and sugar hit might have left me. So while I didn't get the desired miles, I took a positive from the session.

I suppose every session should be a key session from here on in. Again, looking back at last years sessions, I never ran huge mileage, quality over quantity from here on in. That is not to say I am happy with only running 48 miles for a week, but over 7 days that is likely to be closer to 70, which is probably where I would be happy to be.

Too little, too soon.

Last week is better forgotten.

After a very good week previous to it, I started to get a nasty cold on Monday. An early start at work meant I was happy to take it as a rest day and hopefully allow the body to fight the cold.
It didn't really work, and Tuesday I felt worse, and slept very little Monday night.
The weather was pretty miserable, and I skipped Tuesday as well, planning on the big comeback on Wednesday. The big comeback didn't happen Wednesday either, as with little sleep over the previous two days, still swallowing plenty of mucus, and a long late day in the office, I could just not muster the energy to face the cold night.
On Thursday I headed out in the morning before work. Three days off had me feeling like the mitchelan Man. The plan was a descent tempo, the weather had much improved. One mile warmup, and into a planned 9 miles at 6:40 pace.
The first two were ok, but from 3 on I struggled big time. The energy just was not there, it was as if my battery was flat and I knew I was in trouble. Obviously I had not recovered from the cold fully, and I could not do any more than 6 miles tempo, just inside the 6:40 avg pace. Even the cool down mile was a struggle home with 8.5 in total.
Friday was an easy 6 miles, and even though it was easy, I did feel a bit stronger than the day before.

Saturday was off to the states, with a 5am start at the airport, 18 hours of travel, and no run.
This was a bit of an extended trip with an extra day, so i brought plenty of running gear with me.
On Sunday morning, 5am I hit the gym. 7 miles at 7:30 pace, and I had to stop, a soaked top and boredom of a treadmill. However, I tried again later that afternoon at 5 pm, with 5 additional miles and a nice weights session for 12 miles in total.

So a fairly pathetic 26 miles for the week which was pretty disappointing.
Monday I had hoped to get a session in before I departed for home, but it didn't happen. In any event, for some reason my calls were very stiff after the treadmill miles.
Landing on Tuesday afternoon, my priority for the evening was time with family, so no run again.

Today was a bit of a test. A tempo planned before work. The usual one mile warmup, and off at 6:40 pace. Only 6 planned due time constraints, and they went very well. I felt much stronger than last week, and finished at 6:36 average at a fairly steady pace throughout, with a mile cool down.
With the Bohermeen half marathon just a couple of weeks away, I will have to change the plan around a bit to try and increase the distance over the tempo pace. I will have to combine it with some slower miles, but either way the mileage needs to drastically improve in time for Boston.

Sensitive times

After not taking any rest days for the previous 9, I took Monday as a rest day. I could have gone out for an easy 6 or so, but I wanted to do a hard tempo on Tuesday, and I was interested to see how the rest day would effect my effort.
Tuesday was one mile warmup, 8 miles tempo at 6:40, and one cool down. The plan went well, and when I went out the door for the warmup, my legs felt light and strong. The 8 miles finished at 6:38 avg. I felt pretty good after the session, while I definitely felt the effort, it was do-able, and I was pleased with the result, having doubted I would be able to maintain the pace. Oh, and it rained on me.

Wednesday was an evening run after work in the dark, and it was 6 miles easy. And it rained on me.
At this point, a very delicate area of my chest, my nipples, we're getting a bit fed up of the friction of wet tops, and blood ensued.

Thursday, as I was off work, I went out for a hilly planned 7 miles, which ended up being 9 miles of the hilliest run I have ever done, owing to a slight change of planned route which proved very challenging. So much so, that on Friday, my gluteus were very tender. And it rained on me, and my nipples, which bled again.

Friday was a nice day for a change, and 10 easy. I got clever, and plastered my chest!

Saturday, again a nice but chilly day (I went out before it rained), was a bit undecided before heading out, 8 to 10. I ended up doing 9, not because I couldn't do more, but because I was conscious of my planned long run the next day, and my target weekly mileage.

Today's long run went well. The target was 16 miles, which was achieved. It was the first week I decided to target a specific pace for a long run. I set out for 7:40 pace, Gary usually advises about 35 seconds slower than target pace at this stage. I finished at 7:38 average for the distance. The last two were a bit of a struggle, I guess the weekly mileage had caught up with me at that point.
So 60 solid miles for the week, the only thing missing was a speed session, but the tempo run sort of made up for that.
Away to the USA again onSaturday for a slightly longer trip. Treadmill miles will likely be the order of the day of a few days, mileage uncertain.

Building slowly and slowly Building

This week was a better week mileage wise, but I worry that there are too many non quality sessions.

Monday was 10 easy miles.

Tuesday was 7.5 on the (very) hilly route, again at an easy pace.
Wednesday evening after work, two easy mile warmup, followed by 2x1 at 6:05. I wore the heart rate monitor for this session, and the numbers were not as bad as I had previously reported.
The easy miles were at 150, and the max on the 6:05 miles was 181, with an average of 176. I know they might not seem like great numbers, but certainly nowhere near the 190 and 220 numbers I quoted previously. With two miles cool down it was 6. Thursday was intended to be an easy six, but I was feeling good to start, and after the first easy two, decided to have a go at the same session as the previous night. I did the two fast miles again, and started number 3 at 6:10, but I knew I was pushing too hard, eased off and went for home.
Friday I hit the gym due weather, with 6 miles at 7:30.

Saturday I did 9 easy miles. About two miles in, the heavens opened, and I got absolutely soaked through. The last 6 we're not pleasant, and in was breaking in a new pair of trainers too. It was a real struggle on the last mile, but at 6 when I was thinking of heading for home, I thought, well I am soaked anyway so I might as well keep going.

Today was supposed to be 15 miles. From the off, I struggled a bit. At 6 I got a bit of a second wind, but at 10 the legs felt really sore and heavy. It got me to thinking, this was my ninth straight day of running without a rest day, which might have contributed towards the heavy legs. I cut it a bit short, and finish with 13, and 57 miles for the week.

I was a bit disappointed that I didn't get a decent tempo run in this week, but the work schedule is lighter this forthcoming week, and I think some quality sessions are the order of the day.
On the down side, I think the soaking on Saturday has brought on a cold, I am sneezing and headache etc, which might also explain the lack go motivation on the long run today.
I will take a rest day tomorrow to give my body a chance to fight any pending infection, and give the legs a break.

Step Back

So last week, being in the USA screwed me up, even though I had hoped it wouldn't.

Monday while there, as I was up at 4:30am anyway, I did six miles on the treadmill, which was hard work. Interestingly, there was a heart rate monitor, and a scale to compare to. Running at a 7:30 pace had me at 160 on the heart ratel this was a bit worrying, because that was the heart rate of I think someone about 20, and I am 42!

Every time I go for my annual medical, the nurse always looks a bit concerned while doing the ECG. The first time, she asked if I was experiencing chest pain at the time. 

It turns out I have a high ST reading. The doctor has determined that it is just because I am fit. 

I recently went for a run with a heart rate monitor attached to my garmin, and I was regularly getting readings towards 190, with 210 being the highest uphill. I don't really know what to make of all this, so I am considering a trip to the sports clinic in santry, where I believe they do treadmill tests etc.

Anyway, flying across the Atlantic at night, getting back to Dublin at 3pm and home at 5, I was in no fit state for a run, and I just went to bed. Wednesday, as I was off, I did a really nice 11 miles. It was nice because the weather was good, I was rested, and there was no time pressure to get home for anything specific.

Thursday was the usual late run, 2 warmup, 3x1 at 6:15 and 1 to cool down.

Friday after a long day which started a 5am, and with the weather pretty miserable outside, I deferred, promising to do some high mileage over the weekend. This didn't really materialise.

Saturday was a hilly 7 miles, and Sunday, with crap weather yet again, I hit the gym, and pushed out 10 miles at 7:00 average. This was pretty tough, I seem to have sweat far more than if I was outside.

So 40 miles in total, a bad result overall, but at least one or two good quality runs.

This week has started better. 8 very hilly miles yesterday, with a good session tonight. 2 warmup, 2x2 at 6:25, and two miles to cool down. Even a small break in the weather would be a welcome relief at this point.

On Target

This weeks entry comes from the lovely city of Seattle.

Important for me to note that fact this year, so I can review it next year.

The weather was kind this week, and a got a good solid week of training in. 

After the previous Sundays run, Monday was 6 miles easy effort on a hilly loop. Tuesday I had a slightly later start to work, so I made it tempo Tuesday. I did one mile warmup, and planned to do 7 miles at 6:50. This turned out to be a bit easy so I pushed on for 8 miles, at an average 6:44, with one mile cool down. I was very pleased with this session. It was the first time I had pushed a bit over a solid distance. 

The medium term target is the Bohermeen half marathon on March 13th. While I don't anticipate a 1:25 as per last year, if I can hit somewhere around 1:28 I would be satisfied with that. Note 'satisfied', not pleased or happy. I am coming from a pretty slow base at the moment, although I am hoping that the body will remember that it used to be able to put in a decent effort over that distance, and respond accordingly!

Wednesday was a slow (7:45) six miles over the holy loop again, and Thursday I did my speed session of sorts. Again this was two miles warmup, with 3x1 mile repeats, 6:10 pace, with 90 seconds recovery. Two miles to cool down on the way home. I really need to start adding in mile 4 and 5 to the repeats, ideally to reach 3x2 over the next 4 weeks, but again, pleased with the session.

On Friday I went out for Nine mile recovery, but the legs were a bit slow from Thursdays session. What doesn't help is that on Thursday, due to family time, my run is always after 8pm, and Fridays run was at 12pm, so the recovery time is only 15 hours. Personally, I find I suffer a bit if I don't get a 24 hour recovery. As a result, this only ended in 8 miles.

I had to do my long run Saturday as I was travelling on Sunday. 14 miles at 7:55 average. Again, as I build up the distance on the long runs, I will need to start putting a little more effort into the pace also. However, this is the first time in a very long time, that I have run seven days straight. The mileage for the week was 50, which was bang on target, but over the seven days was 63.

I am encouraged by the weeks running. As I write this, it is 5am, and I am about to hit the hotel gym treadmill. Previously, I might have just written off the day. 

I also looked back at the mileage for this time last year when training for London, and the miles were actually less on the plan for the week.

Here's hoping I can build on this good week going forward.

Coming up short

So last week I had hoped for 45 miles this week, but I only managed 40.

The four 'w's are the biggest impediment to any runners training plans.

Work, Weather, Willpower, and Wife!

Work is just very busy, and always is. I can't run early in the mornings, as I often fly quite late, and it would be irresponsible of me getting up at 6 am and then trying to land an aircraft in bad weather 17 or 18 hours later.
The weather lately has been mixed, but joining the gym has mitigated against that somewhat as I should be able to do even six miles on the treadmill if it gets particularly bad out doors.
Willpower has been lacking slightly, but after this week I feel that I am getting back into it. It is a self perpetuating cycle, if you are running well, you are motivated and will be encouraged. When you are not running so well, you tend to get a bit disheartened. I find about three weeks of good quality training breaks the cycle.
As any runner will probably testify, an understanding wife is vital when training for multiple marathons. But balance is important, and there are times when I have to accept that family comes first, running is just a hobby (I have to say that).
My theory holds that the more control you have over the four 'w's, the better you will get.

This week, Monday was six easy, Tuesday the same. Wednesday was the day I had planned but had to skip due to one of the 'w's.
Thursday was a speed session, although shorter than I would have liked due to the late hour. One warmup, 3x1 mile at 6:10, with one cool down.
Friday was always to be my rest day, 13 easy miles Sarurday, with 10 easy today.
So 40 miles as opposed to 45, but feeling positive this week. Trying to push towards 50 miles this week will be hard, the next report will be written from the USA as I head off on Sunday.
On the plus side, after next week, I have plenty of time off due holidays, so I should be able to ramp up the miles at that point.

Pause

This week started out well, Monday was 6 easy miles before work at an easy pace.
Tuesday didn't go to plan, I didn't get to get out at all due to short notice work commitments.
Wednesday was the same, but I consoled myself by figuring that the days served as pre-emptive rest days. Also, I reviewed my London (3:05) marathon plan from last year. I had started building the mileage gradually at this point, with plenty of rest days. However, I was at around 45 miles at this point.
Thursday evening I went out quite late. 2 miles warm up at easy pace on the way to the track. It was a chilly but beautiful evening. The track session was 2x1 mile at 6:10, with 90 seconds between.
The third mile was jog the bends, sprint the straights. That was a tough mile, and another two miles to cool down on the way home, and I felt it was a good session.
Friday I headed out in the afternoon, which was 18 hours after the previous session. The plan was was 13 miles easy. As soon as I broke into a run I knew something was not right. My left knee was very sore, which was strange as it was fine when I was walking on it.
I pushed on regardless, albeit at a slow pace, hoping that it would warm itself out after a few miles. No such luck, and the run was very difficult. I had to cut it short due to the pain in my knee, and ended up only doing 6 miles.
On Saturday, I was forced to take the day off to rest the knee, and today, Sunday the same.
I figure if I went out on it the way it is, I risk doing more damage and screwing up weeks of training instead of a few days. The knee is feeling better today, but I wouldn't risk it.
Booked my flights and accommodation for Boston this week. I'm going on my own, no family or friends. I do know some other Irish going doing it so I hope to meet up with them while I'm there.
So, hopefully next week I will have at least 45 quality miles to report.

Early New Year

Having a week off over Christmas was a bit of a shock to the system.
At home, no plans, except to enjoy my time off.
One thing I did plan, was to try and get back into some regular training, which has more or less been achieved.
I ran my usual Christmas Day run at 10 am, and got thoroughly soaked! But as always, I really enjoyed the run, it kind of makes me feel less guilty about the food intake for the rest of the day, which to be fair, was not all that much more than any other day. My one (well almost one) weakness is cake, Christmas cake in particular.
Stephens day was the goal mile, and myself and my super speedy 5 year old daughter ran it together.
On Sunday I went out for 13 miles at a comfortable easy pace. I have done at least one of these every week, sometimes twice, and I think the benefits are starting to show. I think of it as a kind of Maff training, easy build up.
Monday was again an easy 10k loop, and Tuesday I hit the gym. I did a 42minute 10k on the treadmill, with 12 k total, and some weights after.
Wednesday was the gym again, an hour of easier pace on the treadmill, and again some weights, with some focus on the core.
Thursday, two mile warmup, and 3x1 mile on the track, at 6:03, 6:10, 6:12, 90 second recovery, two mile cool down. This was a good session, and while the mile paces were still half decent for not having done any fast running in quite a while, the effort was tough to push them out.
While I have gotten some good sessions in this week, for the first time in over 3 years I hit 11:00 stones on the scales yesterday. Besides cake, another weakness this week is a glass or two of wine each evening in front of the TV, and maybe the odd quality street or two as an accompaniment.
But I am on holidays, and while the training schedule will stay, when I go back to work, evenings with glasses of wine will not.
Boston training in earnest will begin on Monday. I had quite a few holidays left to avail of before 1st April 2016, so I have spread them out to give me 3 days off together as often as possible between now and then to optimise the training.
And now that we are past 21st December, sure the evenings will be getting brighter.
It just a pity we can't do anything about these storms, but that is where the gym will come in.