[Marthastew]

Another new person to start a log in January....

Spurred on by the 1000mile challenge and the fact that I have a busy marathon calander this year I've decided to start a log.
The first week of 2012 was possibly the highest mileage I have run in one week so anyone reading this might be misled as to my level of fitness.

Jan 2nd
Here is where the title for my log comes from... kids still off school, visitors staying with us and more vistors on the way meant that in order to get a run in I was up bright and early running at 7.30am. The sound of the birds cheered me up somewhat but it was freezing and I never really warmed up.
Character building

15.11 miles ang pace 9.06min/mile

Jan 4th
The visitors kindly looked after the kids so I could head out on a run. My legs were tired, the overeating of Christmas catching up with me so I was delighted when I bumped into a running pal on Vico Road, he was happy to have company on the hills and I upped the pace.

10.12miles avg pace 8.33min/mile

Jan 6th
In bad need of some LSR endorphins I booked a babysitter for the kids and headed out.
The wind and the hills were VERY tough going (I should never have opened another tin of quality street) this coupled with the fact that I had forgotten to charge my iPod (I usually download a marathontalk podcast to help the time pass) meant that this was another Characterbuilding run. All the time I was reminding myself that Connemara won't exactly be a walk in the park so I finished happy enough.

20.03miles avg pace 9.04min/mile

Jan 7th
Hadn't charged my Garmin and I usually use this as an excuse to skip a run but I needed to do medium long run on top of my LSR as part of my Ultra training so out the door I went. I'm not at all used to running without the Garmin but I felt strong and it was enjoyable. I had a rough idea of the distance and I checked it afterwards on mapmyrun.

15miles in 1 hour 55 minutes.

Jan 8th
Boys back to rugby training so I used the time to do my recovery run, tough going and I really felt the high mileage in my legs, by the end of it I felt better though, I guess that's why they call it a recovery run
6.00 9.02min/miles

I topped the week off with a family trip up the Sugar Loaf in the afternoon, the boys insisted we go straight up the middle, great fun but I was a little out of breath, how can that be? I think I'm quite fit, obviously not.
How do people run up and down the Sugar Loaf????


WEEKLY MILES 66.35

Monday January 9th

Joy of joys, the kids are back to school....
I started the day with a reviving dip in the Irish Sea at 40Foot about 7degrees celsius at the moment. Then I headed to the gym to do the stretching I should have been doing over Christmas.
Body Sculpt class nearly killed me, I haven't been in three weeks.

Short run with some intervals
3.7miles avg pace 8.24min/mile

[menoscemo]

Great to see you've got a log.

Lot's of great long runs there, they'll all stand to you come Connemara. You're ahead of me on the back to back long runs.

[Marthastew]

Originally Posted by menoscemo

Great to see you've got a log.

Lot's of great long runs there, they'll all stand to you come Connemara. You're ahead of me on the back to back long runs.

Yes, but you have a lot more miles and a lot more marathons in your legs
You seem to be flying with your training, keep up the hard work.

I'm actually quite surprised how I'm adapting to the back to back long runs, I usually took a rest day after my long runs in my previuos training, I guess I was just being lazy!

[brownian]

Welcome to log-land! Those are some savage runs for the middle of winter - I'm proud if I get ten miles in, never mind 15 or 20! Keep injury free and that'll set you up for some pretty good race results.

Rock on!

[Brianderunner]

Welcome to the logs, you had to start one eventually

All those hills will set you up perfectly for those last few hilly miles in Central Park

[Marthastew]

Originally Posted by Brianderunner

Welcome to the logs, you had to start one eventually

All those hills will set you up perfectly for those last few hilly miles in Central Park

I wish those New Yorkers would hurry up and let us know we are in!
Mr Stew is talking about where we might go on our family Summer holiday this year, I'm not so sure we can afford one

[Marthastew]

Jan 10th

Crosstraining day for me;
Quick dip in the sea first thing followed by 45 minute lower body workout class and then 45 minutes much needed Pilates class. I felt about two inches taller on the way out of the gym.

I was seriuosly tempted to head out for a run this evening when I saw the full moon while collecting my 10 year old from GAA training earlier, a beautiful evening for a run, common sense prevailed and I'm home having a cuppa

[Marthastew]

january 11th

Lactate treshold run total 12.06 miles

Miles 1 to 5 a 9min/mile pace
Miles 6 through 12 at just over 8min/mile.

Really enjoyable run along the coast into Sean Moore Park and back out to Dun Laoighaire. Finished it off with a half hour spin class and a fifteen minute Abs class.

[Oisin11178]

Originally Posted by Marthastew

january 11th

Lactate treshold run total 12.06 miles

Miles 1 to 5 a 9min/mile pace
Miles 6 through 12 at just over 8min/mile.

Really enjoyable run along the coast into Sean Moore Park and back out to Dun Laoighaire. Finished it off with a half hour spin class and a fifteen minute Abs class.

Whats your lt pace there bud?
I read it as just over 8 min miles for the last 6 but you have a run logged futher up 15 miles in 1h55m,thats well under 8 min miles fot 15 miles so im think im getting the wrong end of the stick somewhere.

[Marthastew]

Originally Posted by Oisin11178

Whats your lt pace there bud?
I read it as just over 8 min miles for the last 6 but you have a run logged futher up 15 miles in 1h55m,thats well under 8 min miles fot 15 miles so im think im getting the wrong end of the stick somewhere.

Actually you're not getting wrong end of the stick; the 15 mile run was done without my Garmin so I had no way of keeping an eye on pace at all. Also I was in a hurry to get home and was obviously having a good day because it felt fine as I ran it. I was very tired during the recovery run next day.
Today I planned on running 5 miles to warm up and then the next 7 miles at 7.30-8 min mile pace (I'm using a half Marathon time as my LT pace, is this correct?) but I was obviously tired today, only got under 8 min miles for the final mile

[Oisin11178]

Originally Posted by Marthastew

Actually you're not getting wrong end of the stick; the 15 mile run was done without my Garmin so I had no way of keeping an eye on pace at all. Also I was in a hurry to get home and was obviously having a good day because it felt fine as I ran it. I was very tired during the recovery run next day.
Today I planned on running 5 miles to warm up and then the next 7 miles at 7.30-8 min mile pace (I'm using a half Marathon time as my LT pace, is this correct?) but I was obviously tired today, only got under 8 min miles for the final mile

Im not really into the faster stuff these days but yeah that sounds about right, somewhere between your 10 mile pace and half pace is my understanding of lt pace. I might be wrong and im someone will say so if i am.
Thats some solid training your doing there, welcome to the logs.

[Marthastew]

January 12th

Quick dip in Sea, trip to Lidl (what a glamorous life I lead) then down to gym for foam rolling, as the miles get higher I really start to feel my age.

I had planneda short run but wasn't sure what pace I'd be up for so I took the easy option and headed into Blackrock park. I felt good so this became a general aerobic 6.03 miles, 8.23 min/mile; fabulous day for it.
I arrived back to the gym in time for a half hour spin class, I took it easy enough, treated it as a cool down.

LSR tomorrow and the next day, I've booked a sport's massage for Monday

[Marthastew]

friday 13th ()

So far so good for me today, not unlucky, in fact very lucky.

LSR for me and my goals were; 21 miles and an avg pace of 9.15-9.30 min mile.
A cold but glorious morning, perfect running conditions.
My past few LSRs have been hills first, then flat in the second half so today I turned it round. However I didnt really hit the hills until about the 17th mile so i'll have to make sure I get more hills in on my next long run.
I usually never stop on my long runs but I'm off chocolate for the forseeable future since I overindulged so much at Christmas EXCEPT for on my long runs so today I stopped the timer and flew into a garage for a bottle of coke and a bar of chocolate (Malteser bunny, YUM)
During the run I also had two gels and a bottle of Lucosade sport so I was well fed and hydrated.
I really enjoyed this run, struggled a bit on the hills but I resisted the urge to stop and walk. My quads were sore on the downhills from mile 19 but it was lovely to be speeding up at that stage. Finished it off with a dip in the 40 Foot at almost full tide with warm sunshine, all in all a great way to spend the morning.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/141278400

21.71 miles avg pace 9.13min/mile.

The first part of my run was the same route I took last Saturday when my Garmin was out of battery, I was horrified to learn that my mapmyrun 15 miles was indeed 14.45 miles, I will be deducting the .55 mile from my total update today

[Marthastew]

Saturday January 14th

Second of my LSRs and for this one I was up running with the birds, Saturday is always busy in our house with Mr Stew's golf, rugby and GAA for my boys so my alarm was set for 6am. I had wisely made an arrangement to meet a pal for this run, otherwise I would have rolled over for a few more zzzzs...

My goals for this run were 14/15 miles and nice easy pace. I most definitely felt yesterday's run in my legs as I headed out the door. My pal lives half mile away so I walked down and did a dynamic warm up on the way, nobody around this early to laugh at me as I did my kick butts and my John Cleese ministry of silly walks routine.
We headed off and the first few miles passed by easily. I was surprised how good my legs felt. She's just back from Oz so she found it a little cold, it was actually quite mild. With 7 miles down we were rewarded with a magnificent sunrise as we left hilly Killiney and headed towards Sandymount. At about 9 miles she started to get really tired and we slowed considerably, jet lag was setting in. I was happy it wasn't me who was slowing us down. However I was starting to get hungry. I normally never need food on an early morning run under 17/18 miles and I had eaten lots yesterday but all I could think about was breakfast! I left my friend at 14 miles so I added an extra lap to bring my total up

15.02 miles 9.27 min/mile.
I rewarded myself with a huge bowl of porridge, maple syrup, cream, bananas and walnuts, YUM!
I'm thrilled with my two LSRs, a total of 36.73 miles completed within 24 hours (a sneaky night's sleep in the middle of it though), although still not the full ultra distance!
8 weeks to taper so I've a long, lobg way to go yet but I finally feel I'm well on the road to Connemara

[Marthastew]

Sunday 15th Jan
A very well deserved rest day. I managed a two mile recovery walk home from the rugby pitch and then I took it easy for the day.

Total weekly miles 58.52