If this is a Mid Life Crisis Im loving it......

theboyblunder

liamo123 wrote: »

Monday 18th....9 miles....1.03.05... 7 mins avg pace...

Took it easy for 1st 4.5 miles and then picked it up a bit.....



Tuesday 19th.... 9 miles recovery ..... 1.08.05... 7.34 avg pace
Jez I've " theboyblunder syndrome ":eek:... I really should have ran these miles slower...



Wednesday 20th..... 11 miles interval... 1.18.05... 7.05 avg pace...

Basically mile easy / mile hard

Miles 2,4,6,8 and 10 ; 5.59, 5.52, 5.48, 5.45 and 5.51

Well pleased with these... Basic speed isnt a strong point 4 me but Im improving.... Fastest set of training miles Ive ever run.... I know my recovery period is alot longer that the 90 seconds or so recommended but atm I believe this format is of more benifit to me....

some super running in there liamo - huge improvement in a short period of time. great stuff.

liamo123

Thursday 21st.....6 mile recovery....47.02....7.50 avg pace....


Friday 22nd..... 9 miles.....1.08.22.... 7.35 avg pace...

This was my 1st ( and last ) early start .... Was on the road at 6.30 am as I knew I might have long work day ahead.... Im a creature of habbit and running without breakfast just doesent do it for me... Bloody slog :eek: but glad I did it as didnt get home from work til 1am....



Saturday 23rd....18 miles....2.18.35....7.45 avg pace..

As Mrs L and the girls are away visiting friends atm I was very tempted to stay in bed this morning but got up and hit the roads ..... Kept the pace down for the entire run..... No PMP miles today....

liamo123

Sunday 24th.... 9 miles....1.01.54.... 6.53 avg pace

Ran miles 3.5 through 8.5 at approx PMP ; 6.37 ish with .5 mile cooldown... Is it only me or are PMP's harder than they should b !!


Milage For Week : 71
Milage For Year : 1273.64

Good milage this week... Will ease off a tad next week as I want to b fresh from my pacing debut at the Midlands Half on 1st Aug....

menoscemo

liamo123 wrote: »

Sunday 24th.... 9 miles....1.01.54.... 6.53 avg pace

Nice to see you getting in the practise for next weeks. Just a few seconds quicker and a few miles longer and you've nailed it! :P

liamo123

Monday 25th.... 4.5 miles....34.48....7.44 avg pace


Tuesday 26th......9 miles....1.01.01....6.47 avg pace

.5 mile warmup then 8.5 miles in and around planned pace for Midlands Half Marathon ( 6.50 mpm )...Found it difficult to keep the pace constant with a few miles slower but more faster than intended.... Really warm out there this afternoon...

liamo123

Wednesday 27th....9 miles....1.08.00.....7.33 avg pace..


Thursday 28th...13.5 miles...1.38.28.... 7.18 avg pace..

This was a balls of a run....Plan was 6 easy, 7 hard and .5 cooldown... Silly mistake but ran the easy miles too fast and starting the faster stuff the legs were like lead and the feet concrete.. Packed it in after 3 miles of no very impressive stats and jogged the remaining miles...

Im getting into the bad habbit of running my slow stuff too fast and as a result this is affecting the important runs... Time for change....

theboyblunder

liamo123 wrote: »

Wednesday 27th....9 miles....1.08.00.....7.33 avg pace..


Thursday 28th...13.5 miles...1.38.28.... 7.18 avg pace..

This was a balls of a run....Plan was 6 easy, 7 hard and .5 cooldown... Silly mistake but ran the easy miles too fast and starting the faster stuff the legs were like lead and the feet concrete.. Packed it in after 3 miles of no very impressive stats and jogged the remaining miles...

Im getting into the bad habbit of running my slow stuff too fast and as a result this is affecting the important runs... Time for change....

welcome to my world liamo How fast were you going on the easy stuff?

liamo123

theboyblunder wrote: »

welcome to my world liamo How fast were you going on the easy stuff?

Plan 4 easy stuff was 7.30 pm but looking back this was closer to 7.... When I picked it up there was nothing in the tank !!!... Blessing in disguise cause I went 2 physio Friday evening and she informed me my legs were in knots but after 40mins of some ( ok im a whimp alot ) of discomfort they felt better... I suppose I dont do myself any favous cause the vast majority of my training is done on local roads/ concrete paths so legs take a pounding...




Friday 29th...6 miles approx....48.14.... avg pace 8.02..

Got off work earlier than expected and headed to PP where I ran numerous laps of the Polo grounds at slow pace... headed to above physio later that evening...




Saturday 30th.... 9 miles....1.08.55....avg pace 7.39...

Legs felt so much better after rub but took it easy....



Sunday 31th......9 miles....1.07.04.....avg pace 7.27..

Again easy run with the exception of miles 5 and 8 : 6.12 and 6.16...





Milage For Week : 60
Milage For Year : 1333.64


Not much quality in this week but milage better than expected... Looking forward 2 pacing tomorrow... nice way 2 start another weeks training on the road to Berlin....

liamo123

Monday 1st August... Midlands Half Marathon....1.29.46...avg pace 6.52..

This was my 1st pacing gig and tbh I was a little nervous at the prospect... Arrived early and it was nice to meet the other Boardie pacers...Was pacing with Theboyblunder who has already written a report on his training log saving me the task ... Overall it was a great experience and I basically followed TBB's lead... The pace band made up 4 me not having a Garmin...


Icing on the cake was the fact that a fellow Boardie ; BetterThanHoyte running his 1st HM stuck with us the whole way around and got under 1.30 finishing 9th ...


Tough course, B!tch of a hill between mile 5 and 6... I was glad to b pacing and not racing..


Nice to meet more Boardies after the race.. well done to all especially BTH, The Vaggabond ( dark horse, seemingly just back from some warm weather training :eek: ) and DigiJem who ran pb's... Actually seens that the last HM I ran was Pheonix Pk 2009 I pb'ed too !!

Tks to Meno for organising the pacing.....





Tuesday 2nd.... Rest Day.....

Am heading to Westport with Mrs L at the weekend so had a quick look on RunIreland to c if there was anything of interest in the general area running wise.... As luck would have it this is on Saturday afternoon so will give it a lash ( thats presuming Mrs L doesent put down the foot :eek: ) http://www.runireland.com/events/clewbay .... Have to regig my weeks running so will do LSR tomorrow and rest today....

liamo123

Wednesday 3rd.... 18 miles ....2.19.44.... avg pace 7.45.....

Despite the rest day the legs were still feeling the effects of the pacing job on Monday...Didnt matter cause this run was about time on the feet and not time related...


Thursday 4th.... 4.5 miles... 31.36.... avg pace 7.01...

liamo123

Friday 5th....4.5 miles.....33.47....avg pace 7.30


Saturday 6th....Hills, hills and more bloody hills!!! Clew Bay Half Marathon.... 1.24.53..... avg pace....6.28...

Was heading down with Mrs L to Westport for weekend and decided too come down a day earlier to compete in above... Arrived in the lovely village of Murrisk and after checking into B and B went to local pub for a couple of beers... However a couple soon became a few and not long after became too many :eek:..The beer along with far too many cigs meant on Saturday morning I was'nt feeling the may west.. The race didnt start until 12 midday so after a nice breakfast and loads of water I was feeling alot better...



Arrived at GAA club in Louisburgh with plenty of time to spare.. There was a great community spirit around the place with loads of volunteers getting last minute instructions... After pacing the Midland Half on Monday I was surprised how many runners we passed in the last few miles so my plan for this run was to go off nice and comfortable and c if I could speed up in the latter stages...


Overall the course was testing with so many hills to content with... Its not that they were overly tough but they just kept coming and coming... It was hard to get into a constant rythm....


Miles 1 to 5 ; 6.33, 6.48, 6.49, 6.43 and 6.42...

Started off towards the Leenane Road nice and easy with 1st mile relatively flat....( in about 21st place at this stage )...Miles 2 through 5 were hilly so eased up a bit but also passed out quite a few runners .....


Miles 6 to 10 ; 6.10, 6.11, 6.15, 6.27, 6.34.....

Turned right onto a side road where despite the hills I was able to pick up the pace for a while... There was a group of 6 lads about 100m ahead of me so I was focused on reeling them in but found it hard to make any progress...Miles 9 and 10 were a right b!tch




Miles 11, 12 and 13.1 ; 6.48, 6.10 and 6.42....

Turned right again onto Louisburgh Road and another whopper of a hill awaited us... The group ahead of me started to split up so I was able to pass 2 of them... With about .5 mile to go was bearing down on another but the fecker saw me coming and picked up the pace himself.. We had a right good battle but I just could'nt catch him and he had 2 seconds to spare at the finish line...



Overall I was happy with how this race went.. Its a proper half marathon test and altough hill running is not my strong point Im happy I gave it everything I had.... The race itself was very well organised, it was great to have a shower afterwards and the locals put on a great spread with enough sambos cakes etc to feed an army !!


My time was good enough for 11th place ( winning time 1.13.04 :pac: )




Sunday 7th..... Rest Day.... No running but the nice testing climb of Croagh Patrick was perfect for curing a hangover....



Milage For Week : 53.2
Milage For Year : 1385.84

theboyblunder

liamo123 wrote: »

My time was good enough for 11th place ( winning time 1.13.04 :pac: )

good running liamo! - sounds like a tough course and less than ideal prep. Great time

liamo123

Monday 8th.... Rest Day... Between travel and work didnt get a chance to run...


Tuesday 9th.....9 miles...1.02.11... avg pace 6.54....


Wednesday 10th....8.5 miles....1.05.19... avg pace 7.41....

Mrs L was good enough to buy me a Forerunner 405 for my recent 40th birthday and it arrived in the post... Im not the most technically minded person but after a quick read of the instructions headed off with my new toy to Fairyhouse Racecourse.... Each lap is 1.7 miles and ran 5... Took me a while to get used to the bezel and halfway through the run the poxy " running buddy " came on for some reason and annoyed the sh!te out of me until I figured out how 2 turn him off :eek:




Thursday 11th.......13.26 miles....1.42.40... avg pace 7.45.....

Headed out nice and slow on my local 4.5 loop ( where I've done the vast majority of my training for the last couple of years ) and to my horror discovered is actually 4.4 miles according to Mr 405 ( tough each lap was slightly different in length)..... Ah well it was nice when it lasted... Kept pace nice and slow with the exceptions of miles 5, 6, and 7 ; 6.15, 6.21 and 6.13


Now back to the manual :rolleyes:

theboyblunder

that takes me back - I remember way back finding out that my trusty 4.2 mile loop was 3.9 miles. Disgusted.

liamo123

Friday 12th..... 6 miles....47.39....avg pace...7.56...


Saturday 13th.....18 miles.....2.16.18....avg pace 7.34

Now that I have the 405 I took the opportunity to explore a few different routes around the local area.... Nice to get off the beaten track and really enjoyed this one...



Sunday 14th.... 9.1 miles....1.11.46.....avg pace 7.54....

Headed to the PP after work and had a nice relaxing run on the various trails... Place packed with runners which is great 2 c....



Milage For Week : 63.86
Milage For Year : 1449.70


Fair good milage but no real structure to the week.... I have to get the finger out for the next few weeks...

On a better note I havent had a cigarette since the 7th.. Promised my girls I'd give the up when I turned 40... Fking stupid habbit but I always find it soooo tough to give them... Mentally strong when it comes to slogging through a marathon but no willpower whatsoever when it comes to the cigs .... Really focused this time to finally kick the habbit 4 good... So far so good...

Macanri

Alright Liam,

Plenty of good stuff going on here - great run in the half marathon, well done.
Well wear with the Garmin. I haven't got a GPS watch myself but, the main draw to me in getting one would be the ability to then get off the beaten track and run free, instead of running the same loops as I know the distances from MapmyRun. Has your 4.5 mile route got many bends in it? Maybe this is throwing the GPS distance off a bit?

Good luck on giving up the cigs. I was only smoking for about 5 or 6 years (20 Carrolls a day), But I found that to give them up you have to 'want to' give them up, and then commit 100% to that thought. If you've tried to give them up before then you'll know it's the first few weeks is the hardest - keep up the good work.

liamo123

Monday 15th.....7.6 mile tempo...53.26....avg pace...7.02....

Miserable evening so decided to head to Fairyhouse instead of my local roads...Mile warmup then miles of 6.37,6.21,6.11, 5,46 and 7.23 with 1.6 mile cooldown... Tired after this...



Tuesday 16th....6 miles easy......46.44....avg pace 7.47.....



Wednesday 17th....11.73 miles....1.28.48.....avg pace...7.34...

Stopped in PP after work and ran the trails and also some of the 10mile route...Started off nice and easy picking it up later on with a few miles around 6.21 pace...



Thursday 18th.... Work committments ; Rest Day


Friday 19th.....7 miles....51.51....avg pace..7.25...

Nice run around local roads.........

Looking forward to 10 miler tomorrow...Its a tricky enough course.....Start could b fun with so many looking to head off on a narrow enough road... Hopefully there will b no incidents!! My plan it to head off easy enough , control the pace on the downhill between miles 2 and 3, get to mile 6 in relatively good shape and push from there... Might b easier said than done

liamo123

Macanri wrote: »

Alright Liam,

Plenty of good stuff going on here - great run in the half marathon, well done.
Well wear with the Garmin. I haven't got a GPS watch myself but, the main draw to me in getting one would be the ability to then get off the beaten track and run free, instead of running the same loops as I know the distances from MapmyRun. Has your 4.5 mile route got many bends in it? Maybe this is throwing the GPS distance off a bit?


Good luck on giving up the cigs. I was only smoking for about 5 or 6 years (20 Carrolls a day), But I found that to give them up you have to 'want to' give them up, and then commit 100% to that thought. If you've tried to give them up before then you'll know it's the first few weeks is the hardest - keep up the good work.

Tks Mick... Am getting used to the Garmin now and as u say it great to b able to run different routes and not have to worry about distance... Am looking forward to running tomorrow's 10 miler with it.. I'l b able to keep an eye on my pace at all times and hopefully run more consistant miles than I usually do!!



As regards the cigs ur dead right ... U have to really want to give them up 2 succeed.... My habbit was getting worse ( like u 20 a day but also having a fag or 2 just before and after a race ) so had to stop ...

liamo123

Saturday 20th.....13 miles inc F Duffy 10 mile.....1.01.51.....avg pace 6.10...

Nice 1.5 mile jog from where I parked the car and got into the starting pen in good time... Positioned myself near the front in a position where I was confident I would'nt b held up.. Now wrong was I :eek:....


Mile 1 : 6.30.....As we headed off I was met with a blanket of runners going far too slow for where they were located ... Did a bit of zig zagging but was really getting nowhere... No point in getting fustrated just deal with it...


Mile 2 : 6.09... space freed up and a runner with the now familar Boards top came alongside me...Asked my usual question " Hows it going, whats ur user name " and was delighted to b in the company of Opus... We chatted briefly ( nice to meet u man ) before Opus continued making progress through the field.. As this stage I was happy enough to continue at my current pace..



Miles 3, 4 and 5 : 6.03, 6.06 and 6.09... Female runner came along me who was running strong and for these miles we worked well together each of us taking the lead for portions of the downhills and uphills....Coming up to mile 6 I passed Opus....


Mile 6 : 6.19 : Quite windy going up Chesterfield Ave and at this stage my female companion eased off a bit...

Mile 7 : 6.13 : Didnt realise I ran so slow for this mile until I checked back today.... Was feeling good so a little disappointed...


Miles 8,9 and 10 : 6.08, 5.58 and 6.05.... Made great progress in these miles and passed loads of runners...Felt good , finished strong and well happy with my days work despite mile 1....



Overall well organised event and a good confidence booster 4 me as TBH I've been lacking a bit of enjoyment in my training recently... I just love race days tough and I feel they bring me on alot.... 3 min Pb from last year so good progress being made..... Nice to meet some Boardies before, during and after this!!!





Sunday 21st.... 19.07 miles...2.38.07....avg pace 8.18.....

Had to visit work briefly this morning so otw back stopped in PP and ran this entirely on the various trails.... Legs felt great for 1st 9 miles but suffered badly after that and a right slog for the last 6 or so miles ... Neglected 2 bring gel or iso drink with me and paid the price :pac:.... Anyway suffered through and Im sure running on empty will stand 2 me ( Fuc!ing hope so )


One thing I noticed was the area around the path on Chesterfield avenue was littered with loads of gel wrappers from yesterday.... As runners we really should hold onto these and dispose of them after but I still would have taught 10 mile organisators would have cleaned up after the race.....



Miles For Week : 64.40
Miles For Year : 1514.10

cwgatling

Savage going Liamo, you are in great shape. Keep it up.

theboyblunder

wow - a 19 miler the day after a sub 62 10 miler. Man of steel!

Congrats on the race - great time, especially after losing 20-30 sec on the first mile. Finished really strongly too.

I agree as well, theres nothing like a decent race to put the zing back in training....

liamo123

theboyblunder wrote: »

wow - a 19 miler the day after a sub 62 10 miler. Man of steel!

Congrats on the race - great time, especially after losing 20-30 sec on the first mile. Finished really strongly too.

I agree as well, theres nothing like a decent race to put the zing back in training....

Lol.....the man of steel felt like a man of butter finishing this run :eek:.. Tough a few pints of Guinness this evening helped me replenish my iron deficieney

opus

Nice run on Sat Liamo, wish I had the energy to follow you when you breezed past Think I finished ~50 sec behind you in the end. See you in Berlin!

Caprica

Congrats liamo on a great run and a new PB. Impressed that you could go for a 19 miler today. You are in good shape for Berlin.

liamo123

Monday 22nd.... 6.10 miles recovery...48.12....avg pace 7.54...


Tuesday 23rd....7.57 miles....54.10...avg pace 7.09....


Wednesday 24th ....16.64 miles....2.10.47... avg pace..7.51...

Right slog....


Thursday 25th and Friday 26th....Rest Days....

Was rostered for nights on week coming up to Berlin but after Conn Ultra there was no way I was doing them again coming up to a race so swapped with one of the lads... Unfortunately tough Mrs L was working long days Mon and Tue and with my babysitter away sleep was at a premium... Bad sleeper at the best of times but between Mon and Thurs mornings I only got about 8 hours proper sleep... Was rundown, weak and basically fcuked....I had enough Thursday morn so went to GP who gave me cert for rest of week and also a few tabs to help me sleep... A couple of decent nights sleep followed and felt alot better....



Saturday 27th....11.18 miles....1.22.53.....avg pace...7.25...

Back to normal tk god and enjoyable run...


Sunday 28th....20.14 miles...2.30.42....avg pace..7.29...

Didnt get out until late afternoon and really happy to end difficult week with this run.... Last 5ish miles were at PMP which was tough enough but doable.....



Milage For Week : 61.63
Milage For Year : 1575.73

theboyblunder

good stuff liamo - a few of us seemed to have a tough week.

Nice running yesterday - godd to get the PMP miles in at the end of a long one

liamo123

Monday 29th.....6.28 miles....50.10....Avg pace....7.59...


Tuesday 30th.....5.61 miles...43.34...Avg pace...7.46...


Wednesday 31st....11.08 miles....1.11.33....Avg pace...6.27...

1 mile warmup followed by 9 miles ranging from 6.10 to 6.20 pace with 1.08 mile warmdown... Nice blowout


Thursday 1st..... 7.61 miles....57.04... Avg pace.. 7.30...


Friday 2nd.... Rest Day...


Saturday 3rd...10.18 miles....1.14.49....Avg pace....7.21....


Sunday 4th.... 21.01 miles.....2.36.54....Avg pace.... 7.28....

1st 12 miles nice and easy... Plan was then 8 at approx 6.37 pmp... Went according to plan til mile 17 when I got a bit of discomfort in my left upper leg/ groin area ( never happened to me before ) so slowed down...Straight to work after this run and the pain in my groin gradually increased... No running today and if it doesent improve Tuesday I'l get it looked at... Just hope its nothing big.....



Milage For Week : 61.77
Milage For Year : 1637.50

liamo123

Monday 5th.... Rest Day....Upper leg still sore so took it handy...


Tuesday 6th....11.20 miles....1.26.04.... 7.41 avg pace..

Was a bit worried about this but no need to b tk god.... Leg was fine so happy days


Wednesday 7th...10.82 miles... 1.17.41....7.11 avg pace

Wet, windy and bloody miserable ... Didnt get out til late evening so headed to Fairyhouse and ran loops... Miles 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 ; 5.56, 5.54, 6.01, 5.58 and 6.00... Im not very " fast " but put alot of effort into these so happy with session...


Thursday 8th... Am 4.63 miles.....37.08.... 8.01 avg pace
Pm 9.76 miles....1.13.56...7.35 avg pace

Off work today so once kids were safely dispatched to school went to Tara and enjoyed a nice slow recovery run... Back to Fairyhouse in evening to get a bit more milage up...



Friday 9th....11.26 miles...1.19.42...7.05 avg pace...

Threw a few PMP miles at end of this run... TBH struggled with these... Hope im not being too ambitious with my goal time but I usually come good on marathon day and just hope Berlin will b no different.....

Was hoping to run 10k tomorrow but family committments in the morning put pay to that .....Will do 1 more LSR tomorrow afternoon and then taper time....

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Enjoy the taper all the hard work done now.

RacoonQueen

Great running Liam.

btw a guard running through my house after a tresspasser last night fell over my bike and fcuked my front wheel and front brakes. How do I get him to pay for it? :pac: