Towards DCM 2019

oinkely

Right so, starting a log here to keep me on track and focused. Stemming from my post regarding the 2019 Dublin Marathon in late October 2018 and what to be doing now I have decided to take it easy in terms of pace up to Christmas and then figure out a plan then. Thanks for all the advice there, i am taking it on board.

I’ve been running steadily for many years, but have good months and bad ones. The aim for this year will be consistency and see where that brings me to.

I’m aiming for sub 3.30 in DCM 2019. Ran a marathon in Belfast about 5 or 6 years ago with an aim of 3.30 and fell apart at half way for 3.59.
My go to pace for a lot of my runs was around 5 minutes per kilometre, so knocking that back to around 6 while building up consistent 50 km weeks.

Progress so far:

12th to 18th November: 44.61 km at an average of 10.65 km/h

Mon 5.8 km @ 10.9 km/h
Wed 10 km @ 10.7 km/h
Fri 16.27 km @ 10.6 km/h
Sun 12.53 km @ 10.4 km/h

19th to 25th November: 57.97 km at an average of 10.65 km/h

Mon 8.28 km @ 11 km/h
Tue 10.12 km @ 10.2 km/h
Wed 6.29 km @ 10.8 km/h
Thu 12.56 km @ 10.7 km/h
Sat 20.72 km @ 10.5 km/h

26th November to 02nd December: 51.86 km at an average of 10.76 km/h

Mon 6.18 km @ 10.71 km/h
Tue 12 km @ 11.29 km/h
Wed 7.26 km @ 11.23 km/h
Thu 10.31 km @ 10.4 km/h
Sun 16.08 km @ 10.2 km/h

03rd to 09th December: 51.76 km at an average of 10.38 km/h

Mon 7 km @ 10.36 km/h
Tue 12 km @ 10.9 km/h
Thu 11 km @ 10.8 km/h
Sat 8 km @ 11.3 km /h
Sun 13.64 @ 8.54 km/h

So taking the above I am happy with my efforts so far, both to achieve a consistent 50 km + per week and to keep the pace in or around 6 mins per km for the moment. Generally feeling good and enjoying the challenges of fitting in the distance consistently. I throw in a few strides in many of the runs and every now and then do a faster km just to check the legs and can pick the pace up to 4.45 per km or so with relative ease so happy with that too.

So far so good, all advice gratefully received.

OOnegative

Don’t be doing to many of those 207.72km runs, you’ll wear yourself out!! Best of luck with the log & training.

oinkely

OOnegative wrote: »

Don’t be doing to many of those 207.72km runs, you’ll wear yourself out!! Best of luck with the log & training.

Fixed that. Cheers

oinkely

10th to 16th December 56.85 km at an average of 10.6 km/h

Mon 12.1 km @ 10.56 km/h
Tue 10.38 km @ 10.19 km/h
Thu 10.4 km @ 10.84 km/h
Fri 8.93 km @ 10.65 km/h
Sun 15 km @ 10.69 km/h

Still concentrating on not going too fast and it still does take concentration as i tend to slip back towards the 12 km/h pace when i'm not watching it. The upside is that i am definitely feeling stronger, in that at the end of the 15 km on Sunday I took a notion and ran the last km in 4.40 and felt i could do a few more at that pace, felt quite easy.

Going to stick with the 50 km target for the next 4 weeks all nice and easy, with the odd set of strides or fast km thrown in as i feel like it.

I was getting a bit of pain in my left foot when i got out of bed first, but was gone in a few minutes. It's easing off but still there every so often, so will stick at it for the moment and see if it settles down fully.

Also, signed up for the Debra Wicklow mountains half in March so will aim to do the weekend longer run in the mountains whenever time allows, but will aim for most weekends for this.

oinkely

17th to 23rd December 50 km at an average of 10.4 km/h

Mon 6 km @ 10.52 km/h
Tue 10.5 km @ 10.4 km/h
Wed 9 km @ 10.96 km/h
Thu 10.5 km @ 10.65 km/h
Sat 14 @ 9.46 km/h (this one was around ticknock / three rock area on the trails)

Handy enough week, just barely hitting the 50 km mark though.

24th to 30th December 50.87 km @ at an average of 10.57 km/h

Mon 7 km @ 10.4 km/h
Thu 12.4 km @ 11.1 km/h
Fri 12 km @ 11.64 km/h
Sat 9.4 km @ 8.34 km/h (this one was a jog from Sally gap up white hill and then on to the top of Djouce)
Sun 10 km @ 11.38 km/h

Another week of easy running done, but can see that average pace picking up a bit so will need to keep an eye on this for the next week. Again, just barely made the 50 km mark but wasn't able to squeeze in a long run (over 14 km at any stage). Will be aiming for a long one this week, probably around the 20km mark at some point but still going to keep it easy. Still throwing in the odd stride and fast km every now and then too.

The trail runs are generally considerably slower than the road ones, but then the hills are a lot steeper, and I don't run them all, though happy to be out in the wilds rather than running alongside busy roads.

General observations are that I'm shedding a few pounds, don't have scales though so just going by clothes and appearance. The easy running is easy on the body, with very few aches and pains. Also easy to keep the motivation with a simple plan and simple goal! So far, so good.

oinkely

31st December to 6th January 59 km at an average of 10.5 km/h

Mon 10 km @ 10.29 km/h
Tues 11.5 km @ 10.05 km/h
Wed 8 km @ 10.61 km/h
Fri 13.5 km @ 10.74 km/h
Sun 16 km @ 10.72 km/h

Another good week with target distance achieved, which was good as I tend to find it more difficult to fit in the runs when i am off work. Was hoping to run a little longer on Sunday but only got out at 7.30 pm so didn't fancy much more than an hour and a half. Sore feet from the early weeks have eased off completely and no other aches etc to report, which is nice.

It's probably time to start thinking about adding in some speed / tempo sessions so will start reading a few of the books i have at home to get an idea what to do.

If anyone has any ideas i'm all ears.

Cheers

skyblue46

oinkely wrote: »

If anyone has any ideas i'm all ears.

Use paces rather than speed! :pac::pac:

oinkely

skyblue46 wrote: »

oinkely wrote: »

If anyone has any ideas i'm all ears.

Use paces rather than speed! :pac::pac:

Yeah, the decathlon software that the watch uploads to automatically gives speed and distance at a glance. I'll see if it can be configured to give pace.

Fwiw, I'm between 5.30 and 6 minutes per kilometre for the majority of my runs now. That is pulled back from hitting 5 mins per km pretty much all of the time.

oinkely

skyblue46 wrote: »

Use paces rather than speed! :pac::pac:

Took the extra step of loading gps files to strava so paces will be forthcoming in future reports! Couldn't find a way to get the decathlon programme to spit out paces!

oinkely

7th to 13th January 56 km

Tues 8km 44 mins 5.30 m/km
Wed 9.44km 50 mins 5.17 m/km
Thur 16.43 km 1 hr 34 mins 5.44 m/km
Fri 8.5 km 44 mins 5.13 m/km
Sun 14.14 km 1 hr 48 mins 7.43 m/km

Can’t remember all of the details but looking at the paces above I may be slipping back to running a bit too fast a lot of the time. That said I felt great all week and had no niggles or soreness.

Sunday’s run was from Crone wood car park to the top of Djouce and back in the most appalling weather, howling wind and lashing rain which explains the pace! Enjoyed every step though and will take a mountain run over a road one at any opportunity, even if is shorter in distance. Pretty sure the climbing will make up for the distance. My watch tells me it was in the region of 770 metres of climbing for the route.

Not sure on what to be doing now? Introducing faster sessions / intervals. Maybe a projected MP run once a week? Stick with what I’m at trying to keep it slow (5.30 to 6 m/km) for the next few weeks?

Either way, the consistency is paying off and I’m feeling strong. Any advice welcome!

skyblue46

Have you any recent races or flat out training runs that we could base training paces for MP on? It's best practice to train to current fitness rather than projected/ aspirational target times.

oinkely

skyblue46 wrote: »

Have you any recent races or flat out training runs that we could base training paces for MP on? It's best practice to train to current fitness rather than projected/ aspirational target times.

not really, It's been a while since i ran a race and i've been taking the training runs easy (or trying to) since i started this log.

What distance would you suggest for a hard / flat out run to measure current paces?

skyblue46

oinkely wrote: »

not really, It's been a while since i ran a race and i've been taking the training runs easy (or trying to) since i started this log.

What distance would you suggest for a hard / flat out run to measure current paces?

Even a Parkrun would be fine. Then you could use this calculator to work out easy, moderate and tempo paces.

http://www.runfastcoach.com/calc2/index.php

Edit: use the training paces tab. Don't use the paces on the race time predictor. They have too many assumptions built in to be accurate for most runners.

oinkely

skyblue46 wrote: »

Even a Parkrun would be fine. Then you could use this calculator to work out easy, moderate and tempo paces.

http://www.runfastcoach.com/calc2/index.php

Edit: use the training paces tab. Don't use the paces on the race time predictor. They have too many assumptions built in to be accurate for most runners.

Thanks Skyblue

I'll aim to do a fast 5 km between now and sunday evening, though I have lot on this particular weekend so might be early next week before i get it done. I'll post back then, along with this weeks report and see if i can get some advice on what to do for the next 6 weeks or so.

oinkely

14th to 20th January – 56 km

Mon 9km 52 min 5.45 m/km
Tues 12 km 1 hr 9 min 5.45 m/km
Thu 12 km 1 hr 2 min 5.10 m/km **
Sat 23 km 2 hr 2 min split over four sessions – details below

A) 6.6 km jog to the track in Greystones @ 5.22 m/km (probably a bit fast given the TT to follow but it was only half way through the jog that i decided to head to the track and do the TT - possibly should have planned a bit better but I figured I had the time and the weahter was nice!)
5 km TT on track – watch gave me 5.3 km for 12.5 laps in lane 3 (as lanes 1 and 2 were closed off) in 22.30 or 4.18 m/km
C) 2.2 km jog home from track @ 5.53 m/km
D) 8.8 km easy jog around an industrial estate in Naas while the car was getting new tires @ 5.39 m/km

** a note on this run: left work with the intention of jogging to Blackrock and back, maybe 8 km or so. Got to Blackrock and the tide was way out so the beach was clear to run on to Sandymount so I did that, glorious run along the beach to the railway crossing at Sandymount and back along the rock road. I was a bit under pressure to get back to work so ended up running kms 5 to 9 at 5 m/km feeling pretty comfortable. Then a guy ran past me around Blackrock on the way back and I decided to keep with him for a few hundred metres and ended up doing a hard 4.16 m/km for km 10, backed off to 5.40 m/km for the final two. Legs felt great though!

In all happy with the week, didn’t manage 5 runs due to various events but it’s the first week in a good while that I didn’t. Still hit the 50km target so happy with that. Also fitted in the TT on the track to measure where I’m at now so I’ll work out some training paces and see if I can manage to structure a few runs around that. That said, I’m still enjoying the take it easy pace and the single goal of 50 km per week.

22.30 for 5 km is a ways off what I have done in the distant past but as a marker to work from for the moment I'm happy with it. I might try a park run in a few weeks to see if I can go a bit faster with company.

If anyone wants to chip in with a rough structure for say the next 8 weeks I’m all ears.

oinkely

pac_man wrote: »

It looks like you've built up 10 weeks of approx 50k per week, now I'd look to try and build on that. Maybe gradually start increasing the length of some runs.

Maybe for the next 10 weeks, focus on peaking at 40 miles or whatever that is in km's. As always, listen to your body and don't feel obliged to hit targets if your body doesn't feel up to it.

Throw in a hill session every now and again, If you live near one. Hills are multi-purpose, great for building strength and is speedwork in disguise.
Keep doing what you are doing, you are doing very well.

Thanks for the advice. To be honest I'm not finding the simple goal of consistency boring at all. I'm really enjoying the running and not having to constantly check what session is on the menu each day. I pretty much run as I feel but keeping it to 5.30 m/km or slower most of the time. The hard part is keeping it at that pace and not increasing it. Sometimes it can't be helped given lunch time constraints etc and I have to run a bit faster to get back in time.

I'll certainly throw in a hill session every week. Have lots of hills nearby that I can use, both in work and at home.

I also aim for the weekend long runs to be in the mountains as much as possible, so lots of hills in those!

So aim for the next ten weeks or so will be to up the weekly km goal to 60 / 65 and with a hill session each week. I reckon I will have to make the long run each week at least 20km and add 2 km to each of the rest of the runs in the week to reach this. Should be doable with current schedule and outside influences on running time.

For the hill sessions can you suggest a format? Something like 400 metres up at a hard pace and jog slow back down * 10 reps?

Cheers

oinkely

21st to 27th January – 65 km

Mon 6 km - 34 mins – 5:44 m/km
Wed 17 km – 1 hr 34 mins – 5:32 m/km**
Thu 12.4 km – 1 hr 10 mins – 5:40 m/km
Fri 9.7 km – 57 mins – 5:48 m/km
Sat 20.4 km – 1 hr 57 mins – 5:44 m/km***

** a note on this one – the first 11 km were around 5.45 to 6.00 m/km pace. Had planned to run for about an hour but was feeling good so went a bit further. Towards the end it was getting a bit late so picked it up a bit with a few faster km and did 5.32, 5.18, 5.08, 4.48, 4.33 and then 4.56 to help cool down a bit for the last one. Felt good, and was very happy with the progression for the last few kilometres.

*** Didn’t have time to head for the hills this weekend so ran the closest off road route to me, along the beach from Kilcoole heading for Wicklow. Hid the watch under my sleeve and jogged at what felt like an easy pace that I could sustain for a few hours without too much bother. Turned around at an hour and jogged back home in 57 mins. The return journey was slightly faster but was with a tailwind. There are a few sections of soft sand along the route and you really have to concentrate on good form to save from ploughing through and wasting a tonne of energy.

All in all it seemed like a good week, hitting the revised target of 60+ km. The longish run on Wednesday with the few faster km felt good and was still feeling good for the longer weekend run.

Will plan for much the same this week but will aim for a hill repeat session mid-week as most of this week was flat!

oinkely

28th January to 3rd February – 61 km

Mon 7.8 km - 46 mins – 5.54 m/km
Wed 16.4 km – 1 hr 33 min – 5.41 m/km **
Thu 12 km split over two runs
5.7 km – 33 mins – 5.42 m/km
6.3 km – 38 mins – 6.02 m/km (technically this was on Friday as it was after midnight but as I hadn’t been to bed yet I’m classifying it with Thursday!)
Fri 24.22 km – 2 hr 30 mins – 6.13 m/km ***

In all a bit of a haphazard week with a few events during the week making getting the runs in a bit tricky. I still managed a respectable 60 km so happy with that. Definitely a few junk miles in there given that I ran home from the dart with a few pints on board on Thursday night / Friday morning!

** Mid-week longer run with a few hill repeats thrown in. Had planned to run harder up every hill on the route I had planned, but there weren’t that many hills. Did two approximately 500 meter uphill sections at a higher perceived work rate, but then there was only one uphill section left, so I did 4 * 400 meter repeats on that at about 85%, which took about 2 mins each, with a jog recovery back down in between.

***Long run was back up towards work to collect my car that I had left there the night before. I took the scenic route by the beach and around the cliff walk to Bray, then Shankill and on to Cabinteely. Felt pretty good for 20 km despite 4 hours sleep and way too much beer the night before. Then my stomach went flip and I had to take a break to prevent myself from vomiting. Felt pretty terrible for the final four km with plenty of nausea and slow jogging. Lesson learned: long runs after little sleep and buckets of beer are possibly not a fantastic idea!

oinkely

4th to 10th February – 79 km

Mon 11.2 km 1 hr 7 min 6 m/km
Tue 11.5 km 1 hr 6 min 5.40 m/km
Wed 10.5 km 1 hr 5.44 m/km **
Thu 1) 6.4 km 38 min 5.50 m/km
2) 13 km 1 hr 17 min 5.55 m/km
Sun 1) 20.8 km 2 hr 25 min 6.57 m/km ***
2) 6 km 40 min 6.40 m/km

In all I’m very happy with this week’s running. Target of 65 km hit and passed and it seemed to be quite easy. No aches, no pains. Splitting mileage over two runs in the same day makes life very easy as it doesnt put too much stress on my lunch time and means that I don't have to go out for two hours after the kids are in bed.

** This run included 10 * 200 meter hill repeats on the upper section of the Glenageary hill (from DL to Glenageary roundabout). Jogged slowly back down each time and ran at about 80 to 90% effort. Found it hard to maintain the effort but managed to keep it up to the end, and was delighted that they were 200 meters and not longer. Kept the output up and was very happy to hit the tenth one.

Thursday saw me run an easy short one for recovery at lunch time in work. Then when I got home in the evening and the kids were all packed off to bed I was feeling good so decided to run the beach path in the dark with my new head torch. Kept the pace slow and really enjoyed it. Really enjoy the night running off road, though might have to work up to mountains at night.

*** Mountain run with a friend. White hill and Djouce in a freezing cross wind. There was a good bit of crunchy snow under foot and it was a beautiful run. Then we headed out the Sallygap road looking for other trails afterwards. Got to the crossroads for Glendalough and turned back, having crossed the little river once and got wet feet in search of an off-road trail. Time to buy an OS map! Got home and my wife was heading out for a 6 km jog, so took advantage of her sister being around and went with her. Felt good despite the previous 20 km. The drive home from Sallygap was enough recovery to allow another little run.

Aiming for a similar week, a hill session, a long run and maybe do a progression run with a few faster kilometres thrown later in the week if the legs feel ok. Still plenty of slow km too.

oinkely

11th to 17th February – 72 km

Mon 10 km 56 min 5.39 m/km
Tue 8 km 47 min 5.56 m/km
Wed 16 km 1 hr 26 min 5.24 m/km **
Thu 6.5 km 35 min 5.20 m/km ***
Fri 11.3 km 1 hr 4 min 5.38 m/km
Sun 20.1 km 1 hr 54 min 5.45 m/km ****

Another good week in the bag, though I will have to keep an eye on the paces to ensure I am not slipping back into running everything too fast to allow quality sessions when the time comes. The single target of 60+ km per week is still appealing and I’ll tip away at it awhile yet. Build build build!

I didn’t get to the mountains this weekend and unlikely to get there next weekend either. Might be tricky to hit the target this week as its mid-term break which means slightly more chaotic schedule with the kids being off and a weekend away next weekend might interfere with long runs. I might have to target a few doubles during the week with a shorter lunch run and a medium one in the evenings or something like that. Equally I might decide that an easier week would be good all round anyway and just roll with it.
** I was going to run this longer midweek run with some hill reps built in but just didn’t fancy it, so instead ran the first 5 km at about 5.35 pace and then the next 5 km at 5.00 pace and then planned to go easy for the final 5 to 6 km. I did keep most of the last few km easy at around 5.45 pace but also took a notion and ran km 13 in 4.30. I guess I just felt like going a bit faster. Felt good and was an enjoyable run.

*** This was supposed to be slow and easy and short but new shoes got in the way. Picked up a pair of zero drop newton racing thingies from another boardsie and took them for a short trot to see how they felt. Despite me constantly checking the time I found myself running a lot harder than planned! Great shoes though, so light and fast and no issues at all with the zero drop. Experiment success.

**** Weekend long run was a bit shorter than I had planned but very happy with it just the same. Was in the zoo with the family all day so didn’t get to go out until about 7.45 in the evening. Ran a steady 5.45 pace for the duration, feeling good and threw in two faster 5.00 pace km for the last two to finish up with a two hour half marathon effort (could easily have done an extra km in sub 5.00), but without the effort! Felt good throughout though was happy to get off my feet and into bed!

oinkely

18th to 24th February – 73.6 Km

Tue 10.58 km 1 hr 03 5.40 m/km
Wed 1) 9.21 km 52 min 5.40 m/km **
2) 6.99 km 37 min 5.26 m/km ***
Thu 1) 14.79 km 1 hr 22 5.34 m/km ****
2) 16.5 km 1 hr 35 5.46 m/km ****
Sat 10.1 km 56 min 5.32 m/km
Sun 5.2 km 32 min 6.13 m/km

I’m delighted to have passed the 70 km mark this week despite my predictions at the start of the week. I was correct in that there was no long run opportunity at the weekend (self inflicted!). Overall observations were that I was a little tired this week so will monitor that and see how I am feeling for the coming week. It might be time for an easy week, but was planning that next week as I have the Debra Wicklow Mountains Half Marathon on the 10th of March. Not planning on tearing it up around the course but still would like to be fresh to give it a decent belt.

Back to last week though – Monday and Friday were days off with the mileage concentrated from Tuesday to Thursday.

**Had planned to run a few hill repeats at lunch time on Wednesday but just didn’t fancy it, got to Glenageary hill, ran up and kept on going rather than turn around and do it 9 more times! Ran easy in the late 5s to early 6 m/km range for 7 km. I then stopped as I ran into an old colleague. I was pressed for time after chatting for a while so had to pick it up to get back to work and ended up with the last 3 km at about 4.30 m/km. Based on that I probably should have done the hill repeats!

*** Wednesday evening was a quick jaunt around the streets at home in the new zero drop racing shoes to make sure there are no issues with them. I enjoyed this run in the rain! Again, 5.26 m/km despite trying to go slow. I love light fast shoes. I think it might be something to do with them being red – red is the fastest colour.

**** Thursday I had a meeting near the phoenix park for work and the kids were being looked after in Cabinteely. I decided to leave the car there and jog in. Beautiful day for a run, had stripped off the jacket and long sleeved top before Balckrock and ran the rest of the way in a t-shirt in glorious sunshine. In hindsight I ran a bit quick (5.34 m/km), especially given the weight of the back pack with a change of clothes, shoes and a laptop in it. I noticed a bit of chafing on my lower back from the bag when I was getting changed though, which didn’t bode well for the return journey. The return trip was a bit more eventful, ran past a running store to get some bodyglide for the chafing, which was getting very annoying. Felt a little tired but pressed on and by the time I got to Blackrock I was contemplating jumping on a bus. I carried on with a bit of a walk/jog strategy as far as Deansgrange where I grabbed a carton of chocolate milk in Supervalu, took 5 mins to get that in and then managed to jog the last 3 km back to the car. I was properly wrecked though so decided to take Friday off completely and only run Saturday / Sunday easy if there was time.

An easy 10 km on Saturday and a very easy 5 km on Sunday rounded out the week.

denis b

HI Oinkely,

Just saw your comment on buying OS maps for trails in Wicklow. Have a look at Eastwest Mapping. They produce very detailed trail maps and will be hard to beat for accuracy etc. Last thursday was a helluva jump in mileage. Try the 10% increase in run length each week so that your body can make the necessary adaptations and keep up the good work.

oinkely

denis b wrote: »

HI Oinkely,

Just saw your comment on buying OS maps for trails in Wicklow. Have a look at Eastwest Mapping. They produce very detailed trail maps and will be hard to beat for accuracy etc. Last thursday was a helluva jump in mileage. Try the 10% increase in run length each week so that your body can make the necessary adaptations and keep up the good work.

I'll check them out indeed. Sheet 56 and another more detailed OSI map just arrived at home. Haven't had time to re-acquaint myself with them but will be planning a few routes on them shortly.

Yes, Thursday was a bit of a jump in overall distance so will pull back from that a bit. I figured that it would be OK given that I ran the morning session at 8 am and the home one at 4 pm.

oinkely

25th Feb to 3rd March – 68 KM

Tue 11.2 km 59 min 5.12 m/km**
Wed 15 km 1 hr 28 min 5.51 m/km***
Thu 8.5 km 52 min 6.10 m/km****
Sat 6 km 37 min 6.00 m/km
Sun 27.8 km 3 hr 27 min 7.15 m/km*****

Very happy with this week’s running again, 68 km done with almost 28 km in the mountains for the long run on Sunday. Also threw in a session of squats, lunges and other such torture too.

**Tuesday was a fast enough run with 5.35 m/km average for 8 of the km with 3 faster ones in there at 4.21, 4.31 and 4.15. Felt good, and happy with the pace for the faster km.

***Wednesday was a longer run to give the new zero drop altras a good go. Took it nice and easy and found the shoes very comfortable.

****Thursday was an easy jog as my right ITB felt a little tight and I wanted to make sure it didn’t flare up into knee trouble.

Saturday was interesting – my wife has been suggesting that I should do some strength and conditioning to make sure I don’t get injured. Well, sure why not I thought and finally succumbed on Saturday morning. Cue twenty five minutes of squats, lunges, crunches and all other manner of painful and supremely tiring exercises under the direction of my wife leaving me with wobbly legs and particularly shot quads and a desire to escape the torture that she was inflicting on me. I went for a short jog in the afternoon to ease out the muscles after the earlier punishment!

*****Met up with a friend and headed to ticknock with the intention of running about 20 km in the hills. Ended up heading along the Wicklow way in a southerly direction, getting a bit lost and doing almost 28 km by the time we got back to the car. It was a tough start as my quads were in tatters from the squats and lunges the day before but they eased up nicely as the run progressed. Lovely day with rain, hail, and snow and blue skies also. Slow pace, but lots of hills.

oinkely

4th to 10th March – 60 km

Tue 7 km 42 min 6 m/km
Wed 7 km 35 min 4.58 m/km
Wed 11 km 1 hr 4 min 5.44 m/km
Thu 8 km 44 min 5.27 m/km
Sat 6 km 35 min 5.43 m/km
Sun 20.8 km 2 hr 12 min 6.07 m/km

Another good week in the bag, with the Debra Wicklow Mountains Half Marathon wrapping it up. 60 km in a week that I was tking it easy and still had great legs for the race on the Sunday.

Wednesday was split in two. Was off work with a few jobs to do in Greystones so ran there from home, had to keep it lively as I was running a bit late for my appointment. Comfortable at 5 m/km for the 7 km run there along the beach path. Ran a bit further on the way home for a total of 18 km for the day. Two separate runs always seem much easier than one covering the same distance.

Thursday was an easy enough 8 km to get out of the office at lunch time and stretch the legs. Ran a little faster than planned as wasn’t keeping a close eye on the watch.

An easy jog on Saturday with a few strides in advance of Sunday’s race.

Sunday – beautiful indeed. Was running with my brother so figured I’d be balls to the wall to keep up with him, as he would usually be a good bit quicker. However, after getting him to hold back in the first few km I noticed I was easily keeping up and was actually pushing on at times. I was flying on the descents and he was not. Clearly there is no substitute for running in the mountains when you are going to be running a mountain race! (He lives in Athlone so finding anything more than a hillock is tricky!) Ran with him to the end and really pushed him hard on the last few km as i was feeling great. Finished in 2.12, about 5 mins faster than last year and there is great potential to knock a good chunk more off that time in the future. I have to say, running in the mountains is simply fantastic. No soreness or any after effects either, could easily have knocked out another few km. Really enjoyed the run and it is a great event in fantastic surroundings for a great cause.