Micilín's Mucky Miles

Tuesday
Running: 4.37km lunchtime run @ recovery pace. Spent most of the run talking on the phone, too busy to leave it behind and didn't want to skip the run!

Cycling: 56.35km commuting. Great evening for it.

Tuesday night I was still stiff, probably from Sunday's run. Maybe the jump in mileage last week was too much - 34%. No harm done as long as I ease off (which suits me fine!).

KMs|Cycling|Running
WTD|110.57|10.89
MTD|591.62|99.54
YTD|2804.31|458.37

Thursday
Running: 6.5km recovery at lunchtime. Low heartrate, good pace.

Cycling: 61.61km commuting via coast road. Last time I'm taking that road home unless it's in the dead of night.

KMs|Cycling|Running
WTD|235.35|17.39
MTD|716.40|106.04
YTD|2929.09|465.87


Last weekend before the big one. The chances of a decent long run are low unless I get up very early on Saturday. I don't want to do that!

PaulieC wrote: »

I missed something. What's the big one ? Is it wedding bells ?

Yep. And a two-week break from runners and cycling helmets It's part of my taper for the Wicklow Way Relay

PaulieC wrote: »

7 at the moment. Looking for one more...

I'm not sure we need the full 8. Here's from the IMRA site:

Teams consisting of between 2 and 8 runners will run the Wicklow Way in Relay.

I don't mind doing two consecutive legs that don't add up to more than 35km max ... I'm travelling a long way for it so would like to make the most of it!

EDIT: If we're hoping for a fast time, might be best looking for the 8th. Waht kind of level are the rest? I have a top-20 runner in mind, let me get back to you.

PaulieC wrote: »

Strictly mid-packers. If you get a top 20, make sure he knows that 😃

He's OK with the mediocrity of the team , just has to check his calendar. Will let you know ASAP.

Saturday
Rest

Sunday
Rest

Monday
Rest

Tuesday
Running: 7.8km recovery run commute. Ran a bit too fast. No harm as it was all downhill anyway.

Cycling: 31.5km commute. Nice and handy.

Wednesday AM
Running: 25.05km Long run commute to work. Had to stop a few times at the start to fix my playlist which threw off my rhythm. Was quite tired 10km in, but not enough to encourage me to hop on a bus. Took a walking break going up Shop Street so I could have some Lucozade and a Rice Krispie Square. The sugar hit me straight away which made the last few uphill miles easier. Ran past the same city bus about 4 times Glad to have gotten this run in before my break.

KMs|Cycling|Running
WTD|31.49|32.85
MTD|868.01|138.89
YTD|3080.70|497.71

Thanks lads, you're very kind

AuldManKing wrote: »

The photos look great, just wondering if you considered running on the day..........

Yes, I did consider it and had planned to do a 10km that morning, just so I could have a few last minutes of peace Unfortunately some last-minute bits and pieces cropped up so I guess I had to prioritise.

Thursday
No running or cycling.

Friday

Cycling: 65km at about 28km/h. My brother was in town so we went for a spin on my commuting routes. He's a decent cyclist and triathlete so the average speed was quite fast. Unfortunately I didn't have my Garmin with me.

26th April to May 11th was my two-week break from running and cycling. It just so happened to coincide with my honeymoon to Bali I didn't pack any runners with me as I didn't want to be tempted. I ate well every day, having had a butler to cook a fry every morning, and then eating in restaurants every lunch and dinner. I didn't drink any beer or cider because of the heat (28 degrees average), but had coconut water, cocktails and alcoholic milkshakes instead.

I gave in to temptation on the 12th day and did a run down the beach to the main resort town of Kuta and back again, 10.5km. I ran barefoot (definitely not a good idea judging by the stiff feet ever since), and wore my Penney's Finest Bermuda shorts, still more comfortable than some of my Skins and Nike shorts.

On the long flight two weeks ago from London to Kuala Lumpur my feet swelled up to the size of those of a small elephant despite doing a few exercises and wearing flight socks. With my family being prone to Deep Vein Thrombosis I was a bit more careful on the flight home and did leg-stretching exercises every hour. The result was a lot better this time.

Wednesday
Running: 6km recovery up the local bog road. I actually didn't break a sweat thanks to the reduced temperature

My plan for the next week and bit is to lose what I can of the holiday weight and to be ready for the IMRA Wicklow Way Relay on Saturday 24th. I'm on a team of midpackers including PaulieC and my cousin so there's a little bit of pressure not to mess up. My leg is the longest, at 20km+.

Long-term it looks like I'll be on an 18-week marathon training plan for DCM from the end of June, aiming for 3:0x

Thanks a lot for that Statss. I'm a good bit off 56 miles p/w at the moment. Before my break I was averaging 35-mile weeks. I'm a bit wary of making such a jump in weekly mileage.

Is that from the new JD book? If there's a lower mileage plan I'll download it and have a look!

That's me sold on a JD plan, a lot more flexibility than with P&D. The 41-55 plan would suit me best as realistically I'll be doing a lot of bike commuting. If it all goes wrong I can blame you

Thursday
No run, forgot to bring runners to work.

Cyclng: 62.6km commuting. Cycle in was quite fast despite feeling like crap. Cycle home was slow, as a result of feeling crap.

KMs|Cycling|Running
WTD|62.6|16.08
MTD|62.6|16.08
YTD|3234.43|513.08


Today is a day of rest, with maybe a pint or two tonight. Will do a medium-long run in the morning, probably around 21km or so.

belcarra wrote: »

Eh, what happened to our Parkrun date tomorrow morning in Knocknacarra??:rolleyes:

Any jobs going in Bali for Gaeilge translators...?
Also, what's the idea of flashing your groin at us in those photos??:eek:

Totally forgot about Parkrun! 9.30am is it? Fancy a 15km cooldown afterwards?

How's the hamstring?

Friday
Rest

Saturday - Parkrun debut - Knocknacarra
As can be seen above in my log, I was very unprepared - no 5km-pace running in my legs for the previous 5 weeks. I wasn't expecting much. Having arrived 60 minutes before the race I would have expected to have done a warm-up of a few kms and/or strides, but I met some neighbours and other members from the triathlon club and just got distracted. I think I met martyboy48 from these parts. Belcarra was down with his Parkrun visa too who informed me I should be in the top 5 finishers based on last week's results

I lined myself up in the front row (I get the impression that Parkrun isn't formal enough for the usual etiquette of lining up) and was top 3 for the first few hundred metres. As usual I went out too fast and tried slowing down as soon as I could. My Garmin HRM was falling down to my waist for some reason (I definitely put on weight on holiday ) so I took it off and threw it where I had left my bag. By the start of the 2nd km I was down to 6th place which was fine with me. Nobody was passing me and I wasn't catching up either. After a while I couldn't hear anyone behind me.

Kms #3 and 4 were quite lonely too and my pace had been dropping considerably, but still couldn't hear anyone. By the start of the 5th km I could hear some footsteps behind me so I tried upping the pace but there wasn't much there. With about 500m to go I was overtaken by two runners (one of them a tri-clubmate) and dropped to position number 8. They got away from me briefly but I had a little bit of a kick left that would last about 100m. Not knowing where the finish line was I totally mis-timed it and blew my chances at regaining the two places and finished in 8th out of 136, in 21 mins and 13 secs.

It was good fun being part of the front of the race and it has me hungry to do better next time The course is quite nice too, and despite having a few turns (about 20 corners and turns within the first full lap) and a few steep 'embankments' to climb, I don't think it's excessively slow and makes the race interesting.

Placing: 8/136 (top 5%)
Time: 21:13
Average pace: 4:16min/km (6:51min/mile)

I went up to the community centre for coffee and a chat and then headed back home for a sort of a 13km cooldown. Pretty soon I knew the run would be difficult so I just took it handy. Average pace for the cooldown was 6:11min/km. Last night I was in bits and in the morning I was stiffer than I was after a few of my previous marathons.

KMs|Cycling|Running
WTD|62.77|34.15
MTD|62.77|34.15
YTD|3234.60|531.86


Sunday
Rest and yoga.

Plan for this week is to do as little cycling as possible, and start off the week tomorrow with a long run of about 20km at the most, tapering off from there until the WWR on Saturday.

Monday
Yoga: 30 minutes @ 6am.

Cycling: 31.5km commuting.

Running: 8km recovery run commute. I had everything organised so I could run all the way home from town (believe me, there are a lot of logistics involved with run-bike-lift-bus commuting a 25km journey), but I was still very tight from Saturday so a recovery run was all I was able for.

My range of movement was very reduced for the first few kms, but after a while the muscles started cooperating and towards the end I was feeling better than I was when I started. Guess that's why they call it a recovery run.

KMs|Cycling|Running
WTD|31.50|8.21
MTD|94.27|42.36
YTD|3266.10|540.07


I'm debating what distance I'll run tomorrow morning to work. The minimum I can do is 13km due to the bus timetable, but a 19km run would be a good psychological boost before the race on Saturday. Decisions, decisions.

It appears as a line on the screen, with a little arrow showing you where you are and which direction you're going. You can zoom in or out for better detail. It's great for exploring new trails that are more obvious on maps and satellite images.

There's a Garmin Connect tool for creating courses, but it's primitive (doesn't let you edit points once you clicked the next point). Go to Plan > Courses > Create course.