[belcarra]

Back training about 2 weeks after the end of the football season (Which saw our team go unbeaten in all 22 league matches...yay us!).

I've already managed to complete the Sportsworld 5miler on Sunday in a time of just under 39mins. So that has set down the marker for where I am and to be honest I'm happy enough with that.

I'm banking on getting a bit quicker over the next 6-8 weeks in which time I will be doing the Donore 5k and Dunshaughlin 10k. A week later I'm planning on doing the Achill Half Marathon but will probably not go flat out in that given the shorter distances I'll be used to and the effort I intend to give to Dunshaughlin.

I know there's plenty on here doing both Donore and Dunshaughlin so feel free to pass on any comments & tips you see fit!

[belcarra]

I've been reading lots about McMillan's 10k ultimate prep guide so I thought I might attempt the 6 x 1 mile sessions tonight as a way of measuring what kind of state I'm in. The planned pace was 7:14 per mile which would ultimately give a 10k time of 45mins...a target for this Summer. (Current pb is approx 47:xx).

The session didn't exactly go as planned though! I followed a lap route which I had previously measured as 1 mile so when I got to the end of the lap I took the time as being the pace per mile. The first couple were poor and after another slow recovery lap I did manage a third quickish lap but reasoned a few factors were against me tonight, not least my lack of training so far and decided to call it quits. I still managed a distance of just under 6 miles in less than 47mins.

However, when I got home and started thinking clearly again I realised the lap was 0.03 miles long, which sounds so little but is actually almost 50metres. When I played around with the data on the Garmin I discovered the 3 quickish laps actually turned out to be:
Lap 1 - 7:15
Lap 2 - 7:17
Lap 3 - 7:13
When I saw this I was both happy and pissed off! Happy that the target time was achievable (even if I need a bit more training to get the 6 laps in!) but pissed off because if I'd realised when still out there I could have tried at least another decent lap!

Still though, to take the positives away, next time I know I can do the pace for at least 3 laps and also to make sure to have the average lap pace on my display!!
I also felt that the legs were still a little heavy after the race on Sunday so the real litmus test will be next Sunday/Monday when I try this again...

[belcarra]

I'm just not very photogenic...

[Woddle]

Good going giving that you only raced on Sunday, I bet if you had of ran easy and had a go on Thursday you would of squeezed out another couple of reps. There'll be a big difference next week.

[belcarra]

So, not been on here for the past week so this is a quick summary of what I've done:

Tuesday 17th - 5.55 Mile total incl 3 x 1miles @ 7:15, 7:17, 7:13.
I was at UEFA Final on Wed so didn't run and then another big night on Thursday for the Football Team's table quiz so it was Saturday before I got back out.

Saturday 21st - 7.8 Miles @ 8:38 pace.
This is the furthest I've run since I came back so I took it handy to be sure I'd get a reasonable distance. Will need to get this run to 10miles+ over the next couple of weeks.

Sunday 22nd - 4.5 Miles @ 8:30 pace.
This was a run to catch a lift for 5 a side so again I kept plodding along at a comfortable pace. I was pretty knackered for the 5 a side though but I think that was as a result of celebrating Leinster's win more than the run!!

Tuesday 24th - 6.25 Mile total incl 4 x 1miles @ 7:01, 7:14, 7:12, 7:14.
I managed an extra mile lap this week but still 2 short of the planned 6 laps. Realised that it is a case of too much too soon so will continue on next week to at least 5 x 1mile laps at 7:14 pace. This means I will probably be closer to 47:xx in Dunshaughlin than 45:00, but I then have another 4 weeks for my target 10k race so hope to take a wedge out of that for Balla.

3 big nights on the beer last week meant progress was limited. These kind of weeks are rare though so hope to see performance increase, beginning with a target of 22:30 in Donore 5k on Saturday. Is feidir liom!

[belcarra]

Not much to report on over the past couple of days apart from loads of 5 a side football! I had my regular game after work on Wednesday but then got dragged into another game for 2hrs of football in total. I was still a little tired after the Tuesday night session so was well knackered when I got home Wednesday evening.

I had another game of 5 a side last night which was just as well really 'cos it would have been easy to stay in given the windy weather. However, I realised afterwards that all this 5 a side will be detrimental to me, both through lack of running-specific training and higher chances of injury, so I'm intent on keeping it to a max of 2 games a week from now on (I usually play 1 or 2 games at the weekends as well!).

Rested as planned today which will hopefully set me up nicely for the 5k tomorrow. Hoping the wind blows over or my target time could be out the window!!

[belcarra]

Target time for today was to be 22:30 but as the day got closer and the winds refused to subside I parked this target and was just looking to beat my PB which was something like 24:xx.
Started half-way down the pack so as to keep warm while waiting for the race to get underway. The first stretch was easy enough with splits of 4:32 & 4:34 for the first 2km. Woddle (Who I met briefly after the race) passed me after about 500m but I decided to let him off. I was passing loads myself at this stage and was happy with my pace.
Km3 began as we turned off Chesterfield Ave for the Khyber Road. This was probably the easiest km as it was mainly downhill, although the initial turn meant running into a stiff wind for about 90secs. This was a preview of what was expected for the last mile or so, and it wasn't pretty!
Towards the bottom of the KR I started to slow myself a little in preparation for the turn uphill on Milllitary Road. It was a severe change in environment with the hill to add to the strong winds. I put my head down, tucked in my arms and tried to avoid running too strongly for the length of the hill, knowing that once on top it would all be downhill to the finish. This served me pretty well, so although we still had to contend with the headwind I managed to up the pace all the way home. I tried outsprinting a woman with about 400m to go but she had more in the tank than I'd assumed so it was a good battle all the way to the line with me holding on at the line, but only just!
The finish time according to my garmin was 23:24 which was easily a new PB. Happy with the time (Although fingers crossed the chip time may be a few seconds quicker again) and very happy with my performance today in general. However, I still aim to beat 23:30 for 5k soon, so will be keeping an eye out for more races over the next few weeks!
2km warm down back to the car also in a very leisurely 12mins.
Garmin link.
Splits:
Km 1: 4:32
Km 2: 4:34
Km 3: 4:40
Km 4: 5:02
Km 5: 4:34

[Woddle]

Nice meeting you today and congrats on the PB especially with that wind.
I'm thinking of heading up to Meath for a 5km on the 11th of June for this
http://www.runningcalendar.eu/simple....php?show,8833
if you've any interest.

[opinion guy]

Originally Posted by belcarra

I'm just not very photogenic...

You've aged horribly between the first and second picture - clearly you are doing too much

[belcarra]

Originally Posted by opinion guy

You've aged horribly between the first and second picture - clearly you are doing too much

No, I'm not the old guy, I'm the other one...Post-op!

[belcarra]

Originally Posted by Woddle

Nice meeting you today and congrats on the PB especially with that wind.
I'm thinking of heading up to Meath for a 5km on the 11th of June for this
http://www.runningcalendar.eu/simple....php?show,8833
if you've any interest.

Cheers for that Woddle!
That race looks enticing alright...I have a work thing the night before where we are going to Harold's Cross dogs so that might scupper a top performance the next day...but it is on at 7pm, so it could be doable!
Not sure yet, but with Dunshaughlin 2 weeks later it may all be too much Meath for me!!

[belcarra]

Went for rather a lot of pints last night to watch the Rugby and Soccer finals so with that on top of the race yesterday I was feeling well tired today. I managed to get myself out for 5 slow recovery miles en route to collecting my car (I have developed a habit of driving into Town and then using that as an excuse to run in to collect it the next day. Only way I'd ever run hungover!!). I purposely held myself back to 5:3x kms and that seemed to work. Mind you I'm really knackered again now!
5 miles
Splits:
Mile 1 - 5:29min/km
Mile 2 - 5:33min/km
Mile 3 - 5:38min/km
Mile 4 - 5:43min/km
Mile 5 - 5:39min/km

At last a half presentable photo of me from a race!!

[belcarra]

I went for an easy 8.5k run to a friend's house to reclaim my bike that I lent him a month ago! Nice and slow run and still felt pretty good by the end of it.
I cycled the reverse route home into the wind but by now the evening was much cooler and I was in a cold sweat from the run so the journey home wasn't nearly as pleasant! Still though, managed to get in the door just as the rain started!

Think I'm gonna start logging the runs into the 1000 mile challenge to see if I get near breaking the mark for the remainder of the year...

Run - 8.64km
Pace - 5:17m/km
Av HR - 143bpm

Cycle - 8.64km
Pace - 3:11m/km
Av HR - 123bpm

[belcarra]

Had a rest day yesterday to save myself for this weeks attempts at the mile sessions. Shouldn't have bothered! I managed the first couple of laps @ 7:06 and 7:17 but a blister from Saturday managed to ripen today so the third lap was done @ 7:24 as I struggled around. With that I decided to cut the session short. Just one of those days when things don't go to plan. Will hopefully retry this on Fri if blister situation improves. But will have to start at closer to 7:30 and try to improve on the last couple of laps (if I get that far).
Likely to be a cycle for me tomorrow as a result.

[belcarra]

Month	Miles
February	15
March	0
April	12
May	58
Total	85

Let's see how close I can get to 1,000 miles for the rest of the year...