Take me home, country roads

Thanks folks


Managed to get out tonight and blow the cobwebs off a little bit. I was a little sore over the last day or so, so just did a short run to loosen things out.

4k in total and it felt pretty good.

I reckon that the gps was a little off for the first 500m's or so, as there is just no way I started that fast Still, the timings are right for the remainder of the run, in or around 5mins per km. I planned to run a lot slower than that, but I just seemed to hit that pace and stick with it.


I'm due to start my half marathon plan next Monday, so just trying to fill in the time until then. I'll probably go swimming tomorrow, i really find that help in-between my running efforts.

Ok, so in anticipation of the start of my training regime, here is what I have planned for next week. (HH novice half marathon)

Week 1 of 12 :

Monday : 5km Run
Tuesday : 3.5km Run
Wednesday : 5km Run and Strength
Thursday : Rest (I also go on holidays YAY!!)
Friday : 30 mins Cross Training
Saturday : 6.5km Run
Sunday : Stretch and Strength


Even though I am going on holidays on Thursday, I'll be bringing all my gear with me. Should be interesting training in the heat of the Italian sun, but hey, at least it should help my tan

Can someone recommend a pace that I should run for each session ?

I don't want to overdo it and risk injury, but at the same time I want to feel like I have put some effort in.

Can't wait to get this started.

Thanks Ray,

Easy runs it is. I think that I will have to battle with myself to keep the pace down, I'm terrible for pushing myself too hard, which is probably why I have not run as often as I would have liked.

Still, eyes on the prize, half marathon in 12 weeks. Then I can run like a demon

Started my 12 week training tonight with a steady 3.6km opener. Came on here feeling good, and looking to update my log, only to discover that I was supposed to be running 5k tonight :eek:

Ah, I'll just have to swap today and tomorrow around and run the 5k then. I should really be paying a bit more attention

Even though it was a short run, it's not the flattest, and so can be a little work in places.

Good to get the first one out of the way.

http://runkeeper.com/user/jprender/activity/41012024

2 weeks down, 10 to go...

Here is what is ahead of me this week :-


Week 3 of 12 :

Monday : 5.5km Run
Tuesday : 3.5km Run
Wednesday : 5.5km Run and Strength
Thursday : Rest
Friday : 40 mins Cross Training
Saturday : 8km Run
Sunday : Stretch and Strength

Week 3, Day 4, and that means it's a rest day. I could do with it too to be honest. Legs are a little stiff and they need a break.

3.5km on Tuesday


5.5km on Wednesday


It was yesterday's run that has knocked the stuffing out of me.
A really, really long day at work, (5am to 7.30pm), in which I must have walked at least 4 or 5 miles did not set me up well for this run.
I also ran it on grass thinking that would be easier, but honestly, the fact that the ground was uneven really made it difficult. I was constantly trying to avoid bumps and burrows, and I nearly went arse-over-tit a few times by stepping on small holes in the ground. My ankles and Achilles are sore as hell.

A bit of cross-training in the gym for me tomorrow, which will give my legs a second day to recover should set me right.

Finished off the weeks running last night with an 8k as per the plan.

It rained half way through the run which was absolutely gorgeous. I officially love running in the rain now

8.3km on Saturday

5.5km done


Average of 5:38 per km.

Finished off week 4 with a strength and stretch session as planned. That means that I completed the week 4 plan to the letter, absolutely everything done. Time to move on :-


WEEK 5 :


Day 1 : 6.5km run
Day 2 : 3.2 km run
Day 3 : 6.5 km run + strength
Day 4 : rest
Day 5 : 40 mins cross train
Day 6 : 10km run
Day 7 : stretch and strength

So, week 5 sees the distances increased slightly again.


Just finished the run for day 1, total of 6.78 kms in a time of 39.49, that's an average of 5.53 per km.

6.78km on Day 1


This is much slower than I have been doing my runs to date, but that is exactly what wanted.
After reading a comment on another thread by Raycun, where he explained the importance of "time on your feet", I have decided that I need to slow my runs down and spend more time on the road. Also, I have just read a very good explanation of the difference between Stamina and Endurance, and so slowing the runs down is the plan for this week.
I am going to try and finish all my runs with an average of 5.40 - 6.00 per km.

It's not as easy as you may think !

It's day 4 of week 5, and that means a rest day. I love my rest

So yesterday was an interesting day for me. I was scheduled to do 6.5km running and some strength training. I was off work, so I decided that I would split the sessions rather than trying to lift weights after my run.

I headed out on the run at 10am before I had anything to eat. I think that I remember reading somewhere that this could be more beneficial to weight loss as you do not have any current stores of energy to utilise and so it helped with burning more body fat. I hope I didn't just make that up
I was pretty hungry heading out but I figured that after the run I would have a really great appetite on me. Not the case though, once I got home, I found that I could not even look at food, and just wanted some water. Pretty strange I thought considering that I felt hungry before the run.

Anyway, 6.5 kms done and at my targetted pace too.

6.51km on Day 3, average of 5.45 per km

One other thing that I learned on this run, is not to wear black when the sun is cracking the stones. I was really feeling the heat !


Strength training yesterday evening was great. I was much more in the mood for lifting than I would have been if I had combined the two sessions.

I never thought that I would get to a stage that I would be training twice in the same day. Yesterday was the 27th of July, and I have been out on the roads for 15 of those days. I think that I have lost the plot

WEEK 6 :


Day 1 : 6.5km run + strength
Day 2 : 3.2 km run
Day 3 : 6.5 km run + strength
Day 4 : rest
Day 5 : rest
Day 6 : 10km race (Annagassan)
Day 7 : stretch and strength

Almost a carbon copy of week 5 apart from the fact that I am resting for Day 5 also, as I have a 10k race on Saturday morning.


Day 1 running completed :-

6.51km on Day 1


I really felt sluggish and lacking in energy for his run. I was out and about all day with the kids and so did not pay attention to what I was eating or the volume of water that I was taking in. In short, I did not take enough of either onboard, and I paid for it.

On another note, I've decided that there is no way that I can wait until October of 2012 to do my first marathon and so I have signed up for Connemara. I know there are a lot of big hills to encounter, and I surely could have chosen an easier event, but I fancy the challenge :cool:
Me vs the West on April Fool's Day next year. :P

WEEK 7 :


Day 1 : 7.5km run
Day 2 : 5.0 km run
Day 3 : 7.5 km run + strength
Day 4 : rest
Day 5 : 50 mins cross train
Day 6 : 11km run
Day 7 : stretch and strength

As I already mentioned then, week 6 increases the km's again. Total of 31`kms planned for this week.


I'm just in from the Day 1 run,

8.09km on Day 1, ave 5.22 per km


Left calf is a little stiff tonight, but I put that down to the exertions last Saturday. I'll put a bit of freeze on it later tonight.
I'm not sure what was with the dogs tonight, but a lot of them wanted to have a piece of me as I ran. I had to stop a couple of times to ensure my ankles weren't chomped. Hopefully this wont become a regular occurance, because I quite like this route that I took tonight.

It's the end of week 8, and I haven't updated this in what seems like ages.

Week 7 went well, here is a summary :-


8.09km on Day 1, ave 5.22 per km

5.37km on Day 2, ave 5.39 per km

Couldn't do my run on Day 3 so postponed it to the following day instead,

8.07km on Day 4, ave 5.14 per km

11.31km on Day 6, ave 5.41 per km

So, I managed the 4 planned runs for week 7, although once again, I just can not seem to get enthused about doing the cross-training.


Week 8 has been a bit messy to say the least.
The planned runs were
7.5km's on day 1,
5 on day 2,
7,5 on day 3, and ,
13 on day 6

Day 1 went according to plan

8.03km on Day 1, ave 5.06 per km

Then, work got in the way

No runs for the next 3 days, so it was day 5 when I managed to get back out on the road. The 3 days rest seemed to do me the world of good as I had loads of energy and moved pretty well

8.01km on Day 5, ave 5.00 per km

I felt a little sore in the groin area after this run, but didn't think much of it. I stretched after the run, and put some biofreeze on the area also.

Into day 6 (yesterday) , and time for my long run

13.66km on Day 6, ave 5.34 per km

That was the longest run I have ever done in the 38 and a bit years that I have been on this planet 1hr, 16mins, and 05secs on my feet.

Groin was sore again. Later on that night, groin was really sore, and I found it uncomfortable to walk / bend etc etc
I was hoping that it might improve over night, but here I am today and I know something is wrong.
Now I have strained/pulled many a muscle throughout my sporting life, but never this one. And what feels quite odd is that it is actually sore when I am not even moving, really deep in the muscle. I'm sitting at my desk, all his rosey, and then suddenly I'll get a darting pain just to remind me that it is there.
At this stage, I am really hoping that it is "only" a strained groin muscle, and nothing more serious like a damned hernia.
I really wanted to get 5km in tonight to keep up my weekly mileage, but I think I am better off resting.
Things were just going too well for me I suppose. I have 4 weeks to go until the Dublin half-marathon, and I'll tell you right now, If I can't run this race, I'll be devestated

So, I have a question.

Is it better to go and see the Doctor, or go to a Physio ?

Or should I just leave it alone and go running again next week after a few days rest ?

The day after the Lottery Half Marathon, and I am damn sore ! I'm walking like a 90 year old :pac:

The week was pretty slow, I did the 6.5km on Monday as planned, albeit on a treadmill due to the stormy weather.

On Tuesday I went to the physio, and after that session of painful poking and prodding, I was in no shape to do any running so decided to rest until the half marathon on Saturday.

So, roll on Saturday. I had a decent nights sleep and felt pretty good that morning. A little bit of fruit for breakfast and I was on my way. Decided to go into the park and try and get some parking, managed to drop the car at the Zoo end of North Road no bother.

Made my way to the start area, did a little bit of a warm-up and then slotted in about 50 yards behind the 1.50 pacers which was my target time for the day.

It was pretty congested at the start as seems to be the norm with big races, and I really had to do a good bit of weaving to keep pace with the lads and their 1.50 balloons. After two km's, I had caught up to them and settled in. Another km further on and I felt really pretty good in myself so decided to move ahead of the pacers.

I got into a groove and was averaging about 4.53 / 4.54 per km on my way around. Enjoyed the way up and back on Chesterfield, was a real challenge and I just dug-in.

The run up the North Road seemed to go on forever though. I kept imagining the map in my mind, and I knew that once I got to the top of North Road, and did that little spur at the top of Chesterfield, it was mostly down-hill from there. I just didn't realise that I had several km's to do until I got to that point !
Anyway, there were a couple of runners around me that were doing a decent clip and tried to stay with them. I can honestly say that setting myself that challenge got me up that drag. (They soon burned me off once we got to the top of the climb).

17kms done and we are now running down Ordinance Road. All down hill from here yeah ?

Just before the 18km mark, my left calf gives me a jolt. Couldn't believe it ! I had never run further than 18km before, and I was just thinking that very thought, when my calf kicked me. So I purposely ease off a little bit for the 19th km, hoping that the pain would just ease up to get me home, and thankfully it did.

I found that for the first time in the race, I was starting to get passed by more and more runners that obviously had a lot more in the tank than I had left. I tried to pick up the pace and managed to do the 20th km in 4.37 (very happy with that for this stage of the race).

I then turned the corner on to Acres Road, and I have to admit, I laughed.
Before the race I thought that the hill at the finish did not look tough at all. Put 20km's in my legs and it's a different story though ! Jesus it was a tough finish. That 21st km was my slowest of the day (5.21), but I did manage to "sprint" the last couple of hundred metres or so. It felt like I was trying to run through treacle at that stage though. I'd say I looked hilarious

Anyways, long and short of it is that I got around in 1:44:28 (official chip time).
I'm delighted with that so I am. Adreneline is great


Half Marathon, average of 4.55 per km


So, I'm back to the Physio on Tuesday to get fixed properly. Hopefully it wont have me off the road for more than a couple of weeks.
Then it's marathon training over the Winter ! Can't wait :cool:


Races performed this year :

Docklands 8km Run, average of 5.06 per km

Annagassan 10km, average of 4.42 per km

Half Marathon, average of 4.55 per km


Not bad for an old guy that had to stop twice on his maiden 3km run back in March :pac:

belcarra wrote: »

Well done man, some progress since March!
Keep it up and imagine what time you could do next year!!

Thanks for the comment belcarra, It's always nice to get a pat on the back.


Now, I'm not one for self-praise normally, but I really am happy with myself for sticking with this running malarky. As I said, my first time out was on March 1st, just tried running 3.5km's, and had to stop twice to "stretch" (truth is I was completely knackered). I didn't run again until the 14th (two weeks later) because of that experience.

I found that the best thing I did was to commit to a race. I signed up for the docklands 8km and that really helped me keep motivated. I'd advise anyone starting out to make a commitment to a race and work towards it.

That race was 12 weeks ago.

I've gone from 196lbs then, to 174 this morning. I was hoping to reach 170, but hey, I got a little careless in the last couple of weeks. (Back in March, I was 206lbs - so total loss of 32 lbs in just over 6 months)
What really pleases me though above anything else, is that I've also lost 10% body fat in the last 12 weeks, from 28% down to 18%.
It's cost me a fortune buying new (smaller) clothes to fit me however

I know that I can run faster as long as these numbers keep dropping.
To think that 12 weeks ago, I was in effect carrying the equivalent of a small child with me on my runs :rolleyes:


So, the plan now is to get my body back to 100%, and then train hard over the Winter. A spring marathon will be done. I've already signed up for the Connemarathon, but might be tempted by Seville or Barcelona, especially if there are a decent number of boardsies going to do one of them.

I think the Hal Higden novice marathon plans are for 18 weeks, so I'll just have to work backwards from my intended race and design my program for the Winter. I've already bough my winter woolies

I should have started running years ago :rolleyes:

One full month out due to a groin injury, but I made it back onto the roads this morning. (Yay for me!!)

Only a very short run, just to loosen myself out again after the layoff.

3.8km at 5:23 pace per km

Pretty windy out there today, but it helped running against it on my way out so it felt as if I was being blown home on the way back.


It feels good to be back on my feet again, although I am doubtful as to whether my groin has recovered to 100%. It felt better once I had a km of running done, and it was a short run, taken at a very easy pace.

I've managed to control my weight pretty well while I've been injured. I finally managed to get below 170lbs this morning. 169.5lbs to be exact, with a bf of 17%. Happy with that considering I've only been doing a bit of swimming for the last month (3 times per week).

So, a spring marathon is the new target. Either Barcelona or Connemara. The plan is to just get the legs turning over until I start full-on marathon training towards the end of November. I am going to follow the HH Novice 2 program, which has me running at marathon pace mid-week. I'm really hoping that I can get through the Winter completely injury free and give my 1st marathon a good shot.

Swimming planned for tomorrow and Wednesday this week.

Then back running on Thurs / Friday / Saturday. (4k / 5k / 4k)

Nice and easy to get myself back into the swing of things

So, run training for the next week planned as follows :-


Date|Planned Distance|Planned Pace|Actual Session|Comments

07 Nov|8km|5:30|||
10 Nov|5km|5:30|||
11 Nov|6km|4:58|||
12 Nov|5km|5:30|||
WEEK TOTAL|24km||||




Due to work schedule, I will end up doing my LSR's on a Monday. It will look like I am starting each week of the program off with a LSR, but I'm not really as my weekly training program will run from Wednesday to Tuesday if ya get me !

Date|Planned Distance|Planned Pace|Actual Session|Comments

07 Nov|8km|5:30|8.66k at 5:31 pace|felt great !|
10 Nov|5km|5:30|5.70k at 5:18 pace|Nice and early|
11 Nov|6km|4:58|||
12 Nov|5km|5:30|||
WEEK TOTAL|24km||14.36km||




Up early this morning to get my run done before the day starts.
Forgot my (1) hi-viz (2) arm-strap for phone (3) head phones.

At least I had some lights to wear so I wasn't invisible to the drivers out this morning :rolleyes: It's all paths that I run on anyway so was very safe, but still, I'll have to get my stuff ready the night before I think.

I had to carry my phone in my pocket and so had no idea of my pace. No music/podcast either which was nice, but glad it wasn't a long run !

Date|Planned Distance|Planned Pace|Actual Session|Comments

14 Nov|14km|5:30|14.28k at 5:06 pace|tough head wind for 1st 7km|
17 Nov|8km|5:30|8.63k at 5:21 pace|This wind does not agree with me!|
18 Nov|6km|4:58|||
19 Nov|8km|5:30|||
WEEK TOTAL|36km||22.91km||




I was fairly late getting home from work last night, and so it was 9.30 by the time I got out. It was a tough enough run, wind was really strong making it hard going. I suppose that is what running in the Winter is all about, trying to overcome the weather aswell as the distance :rolleyes:

If there is a similar wind tonight, I don't know how I'm gonna run sub 5min km's

Brianderunner wrote: »

Great game it was alright. Used my Northampton membership to get tickets for all my family members back home. Going to the away game in Milton keynes, wouldnt be too optimistic for our chances this season. Tough game for us tomorrow vs Castres.

Ah, it was a great game for sure. I'd say Northampton still can't believe it. They are one team that have taken some seriously heart-breaking defeats over the last few seasons.
Castres, like all French teams at home, will be a difficult one for sure.
I've already sorted my tickets for the home game on the 18th of December against the Scarlets.

Brianderunner wrote: »

Barca would be my spring marathon option if I were you, it's a cracker.

Yep, signed up for Barca this week, and booked flights for myself and Mrs Prender. Getting in on the Friday night, and coming home on Monday morning.
It's my first marathon, but I'm going to try and train to a 3:30 pace, and then make a judgement call closer to the event.
My brother is going to make the trip from the States (Atlanta) and run it also, so we should have a bit of fun if nothing else

Brianderunner wrote: »

If you live anywhere near Limerick, the stephens day 10 miler is a good one.

Unfortunately, I'm living up near Dundalk these days, so I'll try and do a Christmas/New Year race between here and Dublin.

So, finished off the week yesterday as I was out Saturday night.

It's still pretty warm for November so dressed more appropriately for the temp and felt a lot better. Shorts and T-shirt at 10pm in November does feel a bit odd however :rolleyes:


Date|Planned Distance|Planned Pace|Actual Session|Comments

14 Nov|14km|5:30|14.28k at 5:06 pace|tough head wind for 1st 7km|
17 Nov|8km|5:30|8.63k at 5:21 pace|This wind does not agree with me!|
18 Nov|6km|4:58|6.01k at 4:35 pace|Now that hurt|
19 Nov|8km|5:30|10.19k at 5:14 pace|Done on 20 Nov|
WEEK TOTAL|36km||39.11km||




18 weeks until the Barcelona marathon, so officially, my marathon training starts today. HH Novice 2 program is going to get me over the finish line.

Plan for the week :


Date|Planned Distance|Planned Pace|Actual Session|Comments

21 Nov|15km|5:30|||
24 Nov|10km|5:30|||
25 Nov|8km|5:30|||
26 Nov|10km|5:30|||
WEEK TOTAL|43km||||




15km to get through today, I can't think of a better way to spend my birthday
A bit of cake later with my young lads, and then it is time to get serious about what I put in my gob. Weighed in at 169lbs this morning with 16% BF. I would like to get my weight down by about 10-14lbs over the duration of this training program, BF in or around the 12% mark would suit just fine too.

39 today, and honestly, I'm fitter now than I was when I was in my mid-twenties..