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Micilín's Mucky Miles
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Thursday
No cycling. Tube valve broke while pumping with air last night. Need to get a box of decent tubes.
Running: 6.3km lunchtime run @ recovery pace. Calf about 90% back to normal. Half-marathon looks likely for Sunday
. Might do another 6km recovery tomorrow afternoon, or on Saturday morning. Still have to work out how I'm going to get down to Glendalough for Sunday 9am as my chauffeur is no longer coming to Dublin for the weekend.
KMs|Cycling|Running
WTD|89.66|30.87
MTD|89.66|30.87
YTD|1543.85|190.66
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Pre-race preparation wasn't great. I had two travel vaccines on the Saturday which I was told would have no effect on my performance the next day, except that I might feel a bit tired on the Sunday evening. I felt nauseous on the Saturday evening and didn't get to sleep until about midnight.
Got up at 6.30 for breakfast and felt fine. Hopped on the bike at 7.30am for the two-hour spin down to Laragh. I arrived feeling surprisingly fresh and did a few stretches before getting on the bus. Met Grahamor in the queue for the bus. Good to catch up with him and his ultra training. I tried a High-Five Zero tab for the first time, as I had already spent two hours sweating before the race!
Race start was up past the Wicklow Gap and uphill for the first two kms on forest road. My pace initially felt OK but became out of breath after about 10 minutes so had to slow down. Once I got to the downhill I was passing everyone around. I seem to have become a downhill runner recently
. At the bottom of the first downhill we joined St. Kevin's Road (all the way until near the end of the race). This first bit of trail was uphill and some of the people around me were slipping all over the place as they were in regular road shoes. Back on to the main Wicklow Gap road again to be greeted by Don.
We then had another 3km of uphill trail and I was being passed out by quite a few runners. I never get passed out on uphills! Grand, sure I'll pass them again when we get to a downhill. Nope, even more people passed me when we got to the downhill, which was 6km long (Glendasan). One section was particularly muddy and lots of runners were slipping and sliding. My trail shoes were up to the job, although I did end up knee deep in a hole :rolleyes:. The rocky downhills were fun but quite dangerous!
Arriving in Glendalough was nice and was surprised when the round tower suddenly appeared at the end of the trail Running down towards the village past the tower, all I could think of was the lovely ice creams with raspberry sauce I used to get on family trips to Glendalough. Surely enough there was a water stop here and I took a Mars bar and a Lucozade Sport. This is where the craic started. Steep uphill for 1.6km with 160 metres of climbing :mad: I walked the whole thing. Once at the top I found it hard to get going again, although the impending finish line was a bit of an incentive. I got passed out at the start of the final downhill but I managed to muster up some energy to speed up and overtake again, passing a few people with 100m to go with a semi-sprint finish.
Time: 2:27
Position: 143/203 (70%).
KMs|Cycling|Running
WTD|243.43|51.97
MTD|243.43|51.97
YTD|1697.63|211.75
The journey home was feckin tough, especially since I wanted to cycle the Military Road back to Rathfarnham. Saw parts of Wicklow I hadn't seen in years, including Glenmacnass Waterfall. Some very fast downhills, top speed of 60km/h
Since the end of that cycle I have felt pretty awful. Muscles are a bit tender which is to be expected, but my heart rate has been considerably higher, a lot of stomach issues, chills, dizziness, waking up every 15 minutes at night. I can't even look at a bike or a pair of runners in this state! Moral of the story - don't exercise excessively after travel vaccines. I have two days off to attend a funeral in Belfast so at least I can recover a little bit while passengering.
Garmin for race here
Cycle to race here
Cyce home from race here0 -
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My company is organising a fun run on April 11th. It's billed as 5km but is actually 2 laps of the racecourse here in Ballybrit (2.3km each). There aren't many runners here if the lunchtime runs are anything to go by. Let's just say I want to "do well"
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Monday
Rest
Tuesday
Yoga: 15 minutes
Cycling: 51.32km commuting. Passed a few bonfires coming into Spiddal, a local tradition whenever a local team has won a big match. This time the girls' school basketball team won the C division All-Ireland
Wednesday
Cycling: 32.96km commuting. Journey in was a breeze, literally - journey home into the headwind cut short at the availability of a lift
Running: 10km with 4 x 600m at VO2 Max. A long time since I did one of these sessions, or even ran this fast. Last time was 2012 :eek:
600m splits were:- 2:36 (4:20min/km or 6:58min/mile pace)
- 2:30 (4:10 or 6:42)
- 2:32 (4:13 or 6:47)
- 2:26 (4:03 or 6:31)
I think I'll aim for 1000m reps next time (too soon to do VO2 Max again this Friday? Physio this Friday will have me out of fast-pace action for about 4 days ...)
KMs|Cycling|Running
WTD|84.29|10
MTD|451.55|80.79
YTD|1905.74|240.57
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Thursday
Running: 10.87km commute at recovery pace. Into the wind the whole way but pace hardly suffered. Nice evening for a run otherwise. Not much else to report
KMs|Cycling|Running
WTD|109.68|20.87
MTD|476.95|91.66
YTD|1931.14|251.44
Won't have much time to log over the weekend. Plan for today is a long run after work, possibly 24km, followed by a cycle to the physio for dry needling on the other calf. I might get a recovery run in over the weekend too.0 -
Friday
Cycling: 55.63km commuting
Running: 25km Long Run. This was my only chance to squeeze in a long run over the weekend (in-law meet in-law weekend
). Ate a big breakfast, hydrated well and a decent lunch at midday. Planned an exploratory run of the Rinville area just past Oranmore, following the P&D long run guidelines of a gradual heart rate progression.
Left work at 2.45 and into the freezing rain. Natural instinct I think is to run fast to keep the body warm. After only two kms I had to stop at a chemist to get zinc oxide tape and a loan of a scissors (bleeding nips
). Back on the road again and I headed towards Oranmore on the coast road. Still signs of damage from the sea surges back in the January & February storms.
Felt quite fresh even 10km into the run and my pace was getting faster from the progression in heart rate. Logged some sub-5min/km splits here (8min/miles), well within the HR guidelines and no tailwind to aid me. A sure sign of increased fitness. At the turnaround point I was still speeding up and was expecting a slump, particularly because I brought no water with me, but it never came. Another sub-8 minute mile, into the wind
. Before long I was heading back uphill from the coast for the last few kilometres. No slump in energy but a slight decrease in pace from the incline.
Finished the 25km in just under 2 hours and 10 minutes, average pace of 5:12min/km (8:22min/mile). A bit of a milestone run as I'm beginning to reap the benefits of my cross-training
.
KMs|Cycling|Running
WTD|139.92|45.87
MTD|507.18|116.66
YTD|1961.37|276.44
Physio was grand. Dry needling can be unpleasant, but the sessions being limited to 30 minutes is a nice incentive. Cycle home was very slow. Some one-legged drills while I tried keeping my right-leg stretched to stave off the tightening of the calf muscle.0 -
Saturday
Rest and stretching of calf. No sore muscles or joints following the long run on Friday
Sunday
Running: 10km at recovery pace up the bog road. A very clear day with the mountains visible on the horizon. They were calling to me but I ignored them I really like those runs where it takes you a few kilometres until you break a sweat.
KMs|Cycling|Running
WTD|139.92|55.87
MTD|507.18|126.66
YTD|1961.37|286.44
A very good week's running. I'm upping the mileage again next week. I seem to be on a roll now.0 -
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Thursday
Cycling: 50.8km commuting. Left the house at 5:50am as I had to leave work early. What a glorious time of the morning to cycle. Only 14 cars passed me out on the 14km stretch to Kingston Road compared to the usual 70-100 cars. Pity about the journey home. Every muppet in the county was out picking up their kids from school. Lost count of the number of times I got buzzed :mad: To be fair, there are a lot of good drivers about, but it's the minority that pi$$ me off.
Running: 6.4km recovery run at lunchtime around the racecourse at Ballybrit. Pace was nice, around 5:22min/km which is a good bit faster than a few weeks ago. Felt nice and recovered
KMs|Cycling|Running
WTD|136.43|44.99
MTD|643.61|171.64
YTD|2097.80|331.43
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Micilin Muc wrote: »Running: 6.4km recovery run at lunchtime around the racecourse at Ballybrit. Pace was nice, around 5:22min/km which is a good bit faster than a few weeks ago. Felt nice and recovered
I remember back about 10-15 years ago when my Uncle used to announce with astonishment that the Galway wing back Sean Og de Paor used to do laps of Ballybrit racetrack as supplementary GAA training and thinking my God what an athlete!
Nowadays even fools like you are doing it!:rolleyes::D0 -
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No recovery run Sunday evening.
Monday
Cycling: 25.5km commute.
Running: 27.4km Long run home. Took a different route home today which was much quieter than the main Cois Fharraige (South Connemara) road. Headed out the Rahoon Road towards the new windfarm in Poilíní area and back down to the main road again after Na Forbacha. I was enjoying this so much I could have done another 20km if I had the time!
27.4km in 2hr 23mins.
Had the Bruce Springsteen Live 3 CD boxset pumping through the earphones. Love these lines here:I don't give a damn,
for the same old played out scenes,
I don't give a damn,
for just the in betweens,
I want the heart, I want the soul,
I want control right now
Talk about a dream,
try to make it real
You wake up in the night,
with a fear so real,
Spend your life waiting,
for a moment that just don't come,
Well, don't waste your time waiting.
No particular significance to me personally, just good motivating lyrics and music
KMs|Cycling|Running
WTD|25.47|27.4
MTD|758.50|199.04
YTD|2212.69|358.82
The view out in Poilíní today:
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Tuesday
Running: 6.3km @ recovery pace. Legs were very stiff, but heart rate was low and pace was decent. Felt better by the end of the run.
Cycling: 31.43km commute home via Moycullen. Nice weather so I took the long route home. It's actually a viable alternative to the main Cois Fharraige road, except that it's 6km longer. Big wide hard shoulders, tough hills and a quiet road to Spiddal from Moycullen. Felt like one big downhill from Galway "up" to Moycullen though Must have been a tailwind.
KMs|Cycling|Running
WTD|56.90|33.73
MTD|31.43|6.34
YTD|2244.12|365.16
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I'm confused about this session!
VO2Max are usually at a pace between 3km - 5km pace. However the duration of this session was 6.26km.
So, to me either the session was at least one split too long or the pace was too quick.
Do you have thoughts on this? Where is the session taken from? (I forget which plan you are following:o)
I'm not following any plan at the moment, just borrowing bits and pieces from P&D and Jack Daniels.
I just checked out Jack Daniels and it's recommended that quality running in these interval sessions shouldn't exceed more than 8% of total weekly mileage. So with my current average weekly mileage of 50km, I should have only done 4km of quality running, or somewhere between 3 and 4 reps of 1200m. So I pushed myself too hard yesterday
Thanks for pointing it out! 0 -
Micilin Muc wrote: »I'm not following any plan at the moment, just borrowing bits and pieces from P&D and Jack Daniels.
I just checked out Jack Daniels and it's recommended that quality running in these interval sessions shouldn't exceed more than 8% of total weekly mileage. So with my current average weekly mileage of 50km, I should have only done 4km of quality running, or somewhere between 3 and 4 reps of 1200m. So I pushed myself too hard yesterday Thanks for pointing it out!
As DQ says it's not a waste and should stand to you for shorter races but probably not a good idea to be going for that tough a session too often as they'll take their toll eventually, either through fatigue and missing other important runs, or even worse, injury. But sure ya know all that yourself!;)0 -
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Thursday
Cycling: 59.71km commuting. Again took the locally-named Mountain Road (Moycullen-Spiddal) home, calling into a friend on the way. Another cyclist passed me here :eek:. He was actually going faster than me
I was quite tired from Wednesday's VO2 Max session, so I opted for a rest from running and had a day of cross-training instead.
KMs|Cycling|Running
WTD|173.53|46.74
MTD|148.05|19.34
YTD|2360.74|378.16
Running plan for the weekend is a short recovery run today and a Lactate Threshold run on Sunday (just to mix it up, don't know if it's a good or bad idea).
Crosstraining-wise, I walked myself into a corner and am now going on a 130km bike spin tomorrow morning up to the Maam Valley and back. How do I end up in these situations?!0
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