Getting the times down.

cwgatling

7 @ 8:14. Tired after that craic yesterday and an early shift. Nice and mild out.

cwgatling

Fri - rest. First day off in 59 days. Fairly bitter about that This is kind of a down week though. 2 big weeks ahead before all out in Craughwell.

Sat - 4.7 @ 7:20. Did a few strides in the last mile. Knee is sore. Not half as sore as it'll be this time tomorrow! Discovered a massive crunchy knot in my calf which is probably contributing to things.

cwgatling

Sun - Inter Clubs XC
What a day. Very little wind, sunny, perfect for running. I'd kind of adopted a resigned attitude to this one but on the morning I was well up for it. The course was gorgeous, lovely and grassy with only 1 up and down stretch (you couldn't call it a hill). Watched the senior womens and did a real easy mile or so warm up.
It was 7 laps and for the first one I just tucked in at the back of the field. Once I had my bearings I started picking lads off which was a good feeling. I ran the next 2 or 3 pretty full on and was feeling good and ropy by lap 5. On the last one, a guy that I'd passed pegged me back but I went with him and we drew alongside 1 more fella. When we hit that hill, the 2 lads legged it and I was a bit slow to react but luckily covered the move. In the last 800 I couldn't give any more to catch 1 guy, but finished ahead of the other. Totally f*cked at the end but really enjoyed it.

6:03
6:07
6:07
6:14
6:14
6:15
5:59

43:02 for 6.99

99/122 place and 4/4 for the team:o. Knew I was going to be at the tail end of this, some real classy runners in the field. The other lads (including our own ecoli!) ran absolutely savage races and we came out of it well as a team. Top day out. Spent the rest of the night in a daze on the couch rotating ice packs.

49 for the week.

Mon - 10.1 @ 8:10. This was crazy. I took off at lunch and headed to Irishtown Nature Reserve but kept going right out to the lighthouse on the pier. 13 years in Dublin and my first time seeing the city from that viewpoint. Great birdlife along the way (guillemots, turnstones, wigeon). Windy (very) on the way back.

Tues - 4 AM, 6.75 PM Feeling almost back to normal, except my knee is killing me. It's not getting worse though, so that's good.

cwgatling

Wed - 6 easy. Knee bad for this one. Nice day though.

Thurs - 12x 400 off 400 jog. Love this session. R pace is 78 for me. 2 79s to start, then a few 78s, then about 5 77s and a 72 to finish. 10.5 miles for the night.

9 easy planned for later and some disgusting T pace stuff tomorrow...

cwgatling

Fri - 9.1 at 7:54
Sat - 5x 2 mile off 2 mins.
On the track for this one. 40 jaysus laps. Breezy, dark and rainy. Short warm up and straight into the reps.

12:06
12:07
12:07
12:07
12:09

Delighted. It was a brutal session and I couldn't see the Garmin after the 1st rep so was running by feel. 6m/m is feeling more comfortable now and I know I'm making progress. How much remains to be seen. This time 2 weeks will tell a lot! Celebrated with about 10 cans of Polish lager.

12.6 for the night.

Sun - 9.1 at 8:00. Waterworks. Deer, sunshine, Elbow on the mp3. Great run.

68 for the week.

cwgatling

Mon - 8 @ 7:46. Seriously woozy for the first 4. Picked up the pace and felt a bit better.

Tues - 9.9 @7:25 including:

3x 1 mile off 4 mins walk/jog

5:35
5:36
5:38

3x 1km off 2 mins walk/jog

3:30
3:31
3:32

This hurt like hell! Only 30s under my T pace but the difference was massive. So windy out which did not help. Thank God for those long recoveries. Another big week this week, then I'll step it back a bit next week before the race.

tunguska

cwgatling wrote: »

Mon - 8 @ 7:46. Seriously woozy for the first 4. Picked up the pace and felt a bit better.

Tues - 9.9 @7:25 including:

3x 1 mile off 4 mins walk/jog

5:35
5:36
5:38

3x 1km off 2 mins walk/jog

3:30
3:31
3:32

This hurt like hell! Only 30s under my T pace but the difference was massive. So windy out which did not help. Thank God for those long recoveries. Another big week this week, then I'll step it back a bit next week before the race.

Man it was a quality session in very tough conditions, which we've been getting a lot of lately. Was almost knocked off the rothar afterwards the wind was so strong. Never again though, hit the treadmill in future.
How did you get on with Mark?

cwgatling

I know, it got way stronger. Lucky we had it over by lunchtime. Got an awful battering off him. He's optimistic though that this will sort it and so am I. It's the needling after this!

tunguska

Great work yesterday man, you did well. You're getting better and better as the weeks go by. Sub 60 in Mallow is definitely on.
Perfect weather today again. Went up to the waterworks and it was heaven on earth. I felt sorry for anybody stuck in an office. This is the life, couldnt think of anything else Id rather be doing.......

cwgatling

Hey cheers, I think so. I'd be a happy man with sub 60 that is for sure. Jesus yeah it was beautiful up there yesterday, not a breath of wind. Privilege to be out.

Wed - AM 4, PM 6
Thurs - 9 @ 8:02. Every step hurt
Fri - OFF
Sat - 10.25 @ 7:38. Better, last 3 miles hurt.
Sun - 14.5 including 3,2,1 miles at T pace off 3,2,1 mins rec.

17:56
12:01
5:58

Tough day. Ran out of juice on the cooldown, felt pretty spacey. Knee feeling better.

Mon - 9 @ 7:48
Tues - 9.25 @ 7:38

So yeah, the knee is still at me but it's not stopping me running and it feels grand at faster paces. I think it's bursitis. Rolling, stretching, icing and ibuprofenning like a madman. Session tomorrow and easy peasy run up to Monday. Looking forward to racing the f*ck out of it.

tunguska

cwgatling wrote: »

Hey cheers, I think so. I'd be a happy man with sub 60 that is for sure. Jesus yeah it was beautiful up there yesterday, not a breath of wind. Privilege to be out.

Wed - AM 4, PM 6
Thurs - 9 @ 8:02. Every step hurt
Fri - OFF
Sat - 10.25 @ 7:38. Better, last 3 miles hurt.
Sun - 14.5 including 3,2,1 miles at T pace off 3,2,1 mins rec.

17:56
12:01
5:58

Tough day. Ran out of juice on the cooldown, felt pretty spacey. Knee feeling better.

Mon - 9 @ 7:48
Tues - 9.25 @ 7:38

So yeah, the knee is still at me but it's not stopping me running and it feels grand at faster paces. I think it's bursitis. Rolling, stretching, icing and ibuprofenning like a madman. Session tomorrow and easy peasy run up to Monday. Looking forward to racing the f*ck out of it.

Sub 60 pacer in mallow confirmed. Its on like donkey ****ing kong now man......

cwgatling

Haha love it. Brilliant news, raring to go now...

What time suits you tomorrow for these milers?

tunguska

cwgatling wrote: »

Haha love it. Brilliant news, raring to go now...

What time suits you tomorrow for these milers?

11am ok with you?
Feeling really good, might have a crack at a couple of sub 5s.

cwgatling

Deadly, 11's grand. Sub 5s - you're on your own there See you in the morning.

cwgatling

Wed - 10.5 @ 6:46 including

5x 1 mile at I pace off 4 mins recovery:

5:32
5:37
5:38
5:38
5:38

Was all over the place for these, they felt really hard. Honestly did not see myself doing 2 more after the 3rd one but said I'd try a 4th and keep it sub-5:40 so happy enough in the end. Bit excited on the first one and that definitely make the following reps harder. What a day, perfect weather.

tunguska

cwgatling wrote: »

Wed - 10.5 @ 6:46 including

5x 1 mile at I pace off 4 mins recovery:

5:32
5:37
5:38
5:38
5:38

Was all over the place for these, they felt really hard. Honestly did not see myself doing 2 more after the 3rd one but said I'd try a 4th and keep it sub-5:40 so happy enough in the end. Bit excited on the first one and that definitely make the following reps harder. What a day, perfect weather.

Excellent work man, was very tough going after that opening rep. But that shows good determination to stay with it and not let things slip into the realms of crapness. This weather the past few days is unreal.

cwgatling

Great work yourself, you were flaking it. It was a serious effort alright. Slept for an hour after.

Thurs - 7 @ 8:13
Headed out to Vartry for this one. Have been meaning to go since I read about it in Brownian's log ages ago and today was the perfect day. Beautiful, interesting place for a run. Was just out for recovery so I didn't mind getting lost a few times.

Map

cwgatling

Fri - 6 @ 7:28
Sat - 7.5 @ 7:30 including 6x 400 off 400 jog at 79-80s.

No running now until Mallow.

cwgatling

Mallow 10 - 59:54

Great day down in Cork. Had sub-60 in mind for this and was lucky to dip under the mark.
Jogged up to the start, feeling pretty decent. Weather was lovely, a bit breezy but dry. I knew there was no start mat so stuck in right at the front. The first 2 miles were undulating enough and into the wind but I was cruising so no bother there. We turned the corner and hit a wide, downhill stretch. This was a gift. I really wanted to gun it but I knew the pain was in the post so I saved the energy, ticking along at 6:00 or so.

At mile 4, the 60 min pacer drew level with me. This lad was floating along, pulling about 4 or 5 more with him. Great encouragement from him all the way and I can certainly say that I would have run about 61:30 without him. I gratefully tucked in behind him to avoid the headwind and we passed 1 or 2 large groups. Picked up a few bodies but most dropped off pretty quickly.

Come mile 6, I'm starting to hurt. Mile 7 was tough with some uphill stretches and I lost sight of the pacer about mile 8.5-9. The last 2 miles were ugly as sin. I knew sub-60 was on the line and I just gritted the teeth, trying to hold on. Can't remember too much, the effort was serious. It felt like I was walking. I came around the last bend (thinking I had 200 to go) probably with the gait of a drunken baby giraffe. 59 on the clock, unreal. Delighted, but it was not pretty. Zero kick, eyes rolling around in my head.

6:03
6:03
5:54
5:59
6:01
5:57
5:57
5:54
5:55
5:58
4:54 pace for .03

>3 min PB over the Frank Duffy. Sick as a pike now and pretty sore. Worth it!

liamo123

Thats some running Paddy...Fecking brillant ....uve made some progress over the last couple of months... Keep it up ( already looking forward to ur next marathon report )

theboyblunder

super running, well done!

tisnotover

brilliant stuff, well done on the sub-60 !

cwgatling

Thanks a million lads, fair play

Tues - 8.8 @ 7:55. Took it easy, still very sore. Going to get 9 in later.

Edit - 9.3 @ 7:34. This knee thing is driving me nuts. I think it's been a month now

cwgatling

Thurs - 9 @ 7:35. Gorgeous weather. Feeling decent apart from the niggle.

cwgatling

Fri - 5.2 @ 7:40. Raring to go but my knee is holding me back. Will skip PM run and stretch like a madman.

cwgatling

Sat, Sun, Mon - rest. Knee was in bad shape
Tues - 6 @ 7:25. Feeling better. A little stiff after, but I've got some tricks up my sleeve to deal with this thing.

Wed - 11 including 3x 2mile at threshold pace.

11:55
12:04
12:03

These hurt a fair amount but it's another session under the belt. Got a really tasty one planned for Fri.

cwgatling

Thurs - 6 @7:30. Ouch.
Fri - 11.25 @ 6:43 including

4x 1 mile off 1 min

5:55
5:58
5:55
5:58

2x 1000m off 3 min

3:26
3:28

4x 200m off 200m jog

34
35
35
35

Loved this session. The plan is winding down now, would definitely recommend it to anyone looking to improve on 10k-10 mile times.

cwgatling

Sat - 9.1 @7:46
Sun - AM 4 @ 8:03, PM 13 @ 7:40. What a day to be out, perfect. I think that 13 is my longest run since the marathon. If I was doing this plan again, I might keep one of the days to 3 or 4 miles and tack the remaining 6 onto an easy day for a long run. Especially in the weeks with only 2 sessions.

60 for the week which is more like it after 2 poor weeks (43 and 49).

cwgatling

Mon - AM 6 @ 8:07. Legs in bits. PM 2.5 @ 6:30. Squeezed this into lunch break and I decided on 15 mins stretching instead of another 2 miles. Knee in a bad way.

Tues - 9.1 @ 7:43
Wed - OFF
Thurs - 11.5 including 4x 1 mile T pace off 1 min rec, 4x 200m R pace off 200 jog rec, 1 mile T pace.

5:56
5:58
5:55
5:56

35s for all the 200s

5:54 for the last mile. Sound, no bother here.

Fri - 4.3 @7:49. Legs dead.

Sat - 7.7 including

3x 2 miles @ 10k pace off long (400m walk) recovery

11:30
11:31
11:32

So 5:45s all the way (pretty much :P). Very happy, it was a big effort.

GIR, K club 10k and Leixlip 5k are all on the horizon. Shooting for sub 36 and as close to 17 mins as I can get.

cwgatling

Sun - 8.1 easy. Ran in to work. Had a change of clothes, towel etc in a backpack. Felt weird.

That's 49 for the week, 20% reduction from an average of just over 60 since Jan, so on track there.