From 20 a day to 3:30...

2016 Races

January Dungarvan 10 73 flat
March Croom 10k Sub 43
October. DCM 4:42:xx

I am now 9 days nicotine free for the first time in six years #honestymoment

May have more good running related news to share soon. Might take a few months....

6.5 weeks tobacco/ nicotine free.... Some frequent running happening too! Might throw some of it up here soon...

I don't even know where to start with writing about running again. I guess the only way is to start putting some words down and see where it goes. I'm in that space at the moment where I want to start putting a shape and structure to what I'm doing. Over the last couple of months I've been building the mileage and racing away in a fairly unstructured way. Having fun basically! The overall aim was running more miles week by week, and minding the body while doing so, so it was just a case of assessing each day how the body and mind felt and pulling back if necessary, and doing more if I felt like it!

I'm five weeks out from Limerick Half. Given recent race times, I should be able to take a nice lump off a soft enough PB as reward for the last few months. I'll probably try and jump into the last 5 weeks of some plan from Monday onwards just to get some specific work into the legs. I've raced both Ballycotton and Mallow recently so in a decent enough place in terms of race preparation.

I'm also going for a consultation in the gym later this morning with a view to building some S&C work into my training. As the mileage increases again, I'm seeing the need to pay attention to this. I may finally be getting old and sensible! I also have in mind giving either Yoga or Pilates a go shortly, but research is ongoing at present... I'm not sure my masculinity can handle it :-D

As I know from before, my major problem is going to be minding the body and self in respect of all the little components of running such as hydration, nutrition, stretching and most importantly, recovery. These are all issues I have had in the past which affected my running, apart from the obvious main one. I'm going to make another concerted effort to address most, if not all, of those. Maybe not all at the same time, but soon.

So the last two months have looked something like this:-

F@ck that!!! Cant do a table... see below Excel attachment!! Need lessons obviously...


The PB for the half is 1:38:xx so I reckon its very doable as things stand. I'll go after that in Limerick Citaay on April 30th, as you do when you live in this part of the world! After that I'd like to look at the shorter stuff for May, June and July. I got reminded in Mallow last Sunday that warmer temperatures and running hard do not agree with me, so nothing longer than 10k over the Summer months. So a few weeks easy running after Limerick, find a July 10k, and jump into an 8 week plan.

I just have to find a structure for the next month. I have the Hanson half marathon book downloaded, but I see the plan in action on Strava, and I'm not sure it's the kind of plan that you can just jump into. Working nights tonight so I'll do some reading. Any thoughts welcome!!

It's nice having my lungs back, and I'm enjoying myself again. I have an October goal this this year. Nothing else matters really.

Forgot to put up last weeks running with all the talk about future plans. 'Twas a planned easy mileage week as the last three had seen increasing mileage with races at the end so it was needed.

I have set up a standing arrangement with a buddy from the club for Monday evenings when we are both free. A beautiful sunny Mondays evening saw us heading out the canal and river out towards UL. The sunshine seemed to draw everyone out that evening and it was like one of those atmospheres you get on an unexpected Summers days at the wrong time of the year when you don't really know for sure how to dress or behave. The plan for 5 miles turned into 10k and ended up being rounded off to the full hour at 9mm pace. Legs loosened out nicely after yesterday's effort. Peaceful easy feeling.

Took off Tuesday evening immediately on my return home from work on my 10k loop. The disappointment about what Sundays race could have been got translated into an unplanned progression run. Not wise really I but it was only the last mile where the HR went unacceptably high.

Our club run moved back to its lumpy summer route this week, and I agreed to add on a few extra with one of the lads, and a couple more joined us. 8ish miles total with a few climbs at about 8:15 pace. All is good.

Dropped the lads to school and hit the local parkrun route for a 30 minute freedom run.

Working night shift on Friday night which I really really really don't like so planned to run early and try and get back to bed for the afternoon. Woke unexpectedly around 4am so got up, drank the coffee, and sent a few emails. Hit the road then around 6am. First two miles felt very sluggish, as they always do at that hour, and the next four settled into a more relaxed feeling. 6 mile total at an average of 8:40.

Was supposed to pace a buddy to 26 minutes in UL parkrun on Saturday morning. Would probably have bailed on this because of the night shift but felt I couldn't due to pacing duties. 9am came and went and still no contact from him. Could still have bailed, but had the warmup done and the gear on so went along. Took the first mile easy, and the second the same after bumping into a few lads for chats, got kinda bored and just wanted to be done so just took off for the last kilometre or so to finish under the 24 minute mark. Off home to bed after having lost a friend :-) I foam rolled!!

Sunday was a planned rest day. I got itchy a few times to go for a run but just about reined it in. I can just about manage when I can't get a run in due to other factors, but when I have time and am supposed to rest I find it difficult. I did foam roll though!!

Total miles for the week - 35.1

Saturday turned into an unexpected family parkrun day. So I arrive home from my night shift with herself and the two lads (15 & 12) kitted out and ready to go. There was an added subplot as a few teachers from the 12yo's school were regular parkrunners and he had started the smacktalk at school a couple of weeks back after volunteering with me and spotting his teachers. So off we went at 9.30 and off he heads draughting Mr S like an expert. I half heartedly give chase, legs still burning after last night, expecting him to come back to me any minute now. Not likely... he led Mr S out for the second lap and half the third lap before finally succumbing to the extreme fatigue. Despite his tiredness, he still could not find it within his young heart to let me pass and crossed the line in around 25 minutes and thus earn bragging rights in the house for the week. Older child ambled home a few minutes later, not too bothered about putting any more effort than necessary. The other family member ended up as the second timekeeper, happy out she was..

Sunday involved no running. Unlike last week, the last thing I wanted to see today was running shoes.

So I made big improvements this week on the strength and conditioning front. I definitely foam rolled three times, but I think four.

I went to the gym three times to do day one (twice) and day two (once) of the weight training element of the programme. These include squats, bench press, bent over row, row, dead lift and push press on day 1. Day two includes Bulgarian squats, lunges, incline press, decline press, barbell fly and one other that I can't recall. The set takes about 45 minutes to do. It's also supposed to include another 30 minutes of core work. So next week I need to do some time planning to include this!

I also went through the full stretching routine on three occasions, again about 30 minutes in total. I had some rooting to do around the attic to find the mat and the resistance band, slightly buried but I found them :-)

So 43 odd miles, a speed workout, a near PB on a non PB course and a serious effort at the S&C program... I'm thinking it's all good!

Gave that 5 mile race a good rattle on Friday night. Some quad issues again going up the hill at speed and the last mile was nothing to write home about. The head refused to carry the body along. Had a decent warmup of 3 and a bit miles done as well so thought i might avoid muscular issues. Unfortunately not... Clock read 34:30 passing under it, 20 seconds slower than last week despite pacing it a little better early doors. Foam rolled when I got home.

Handy parkrun Saturday morning then at 9mm pace. Gym session and a bit of paddling in the pool later in the day.

Worked all day Sunday. Brought the foam roller with me and had good intentions of a lunch hour well spent. Didn't happen.

47 miles for the week including a good 13.1 mile HMP session, a decent 5 mile race effort and 3 visits to the gym so another week I'm happy with. I do need to target core and stretching more than the gym next week though.

Was very lethargic all day Monday and kept putting off the run. Made a very basic error today, brought the lads swimming and hit the gym for a while. The programme I'm on includes some heavy enough (by my standards) leg work each day and I did it without thinking. Got home and headed off on the run about an hour later. Had a serious dose of the wobbles for the first couple of miles, legs felt very weak and it took a fair amount of effort to coax them to keep going. 7.5 miles done in 60 odd minutes, last 3 at 8mm pace which wasn't intended. Will be doing my run before I head to the gym anymore.

Day off today in lieu of working last Sunday so took off early for my last HMP session (of two :-D). Plan was 3 X 2 @ HMP (7:10/ 7:15ish) off 0.5m recovery. 2.5 mile warmup went well followed by the first HMP interval. That went well also as it was slightly downhill. I really had to work then for the second interval, was holding pace alright but working harder than HMP effort to hold it, plus the quad was annoying me again. Decided when the interval was over to walk the first minute of the recovery and do a few dynamic stretches to free up the quad as I didn't want to bin the workout if at all possible. That seemed to do the trick so took a more practical approach of easing into the last interval and making up time loss towards the end. Worked a treat and I trotted the remaining 3 miles home easy enough for a total of 12 and a bit miles. Paces for the interval bits were 7:07, 7:09, 7:06 which is a tiny little bit quicker than planned HMP, but not much at all. Hopefully will make the earlier miles feel that bit easier on the day. A nod of gratitude to Kennyg as well as I think 4 X 2 miles would not have had the desired effect at all. 3 X 2 was enough! Hit the gym in the early afternoon but kept it all to upper body work today. A bit of paddling, sauna and steam room after felt good.

Nothing major planned between here and race day now. I think I'll try and avoid the 5 miler on Friday night. Plenty of easy miles for the remainder of the week and then on Saturday its the first birthday of the local parkrun so I might try and take a nice lump off that particular PB to celebrate... I reckon there is at least a minute there for the taking. Still a bit unsure what to do next week but it will be low mileage with a few speedy bits thrown in to keep the legs moving well for sure.

Might as well get the lead in week to the race out of the way first. I was fairly preoccupied with injury management so preparation was mostly done with that in mind.

A handy 55 minutes out around the banks of UL with one of the lads on Monday, not much of note only some sun and some hailstones. Escaped from work on Tuesday for an easy 50 minute run. Wednesdays club run happened earlier than normal as one lad text for company for an earlier run and everyone seemed to avail of the that option. Good chats going round, although the effort at easy pace seemed higher than it should have. Took Thursday off then as it was a long busy day at work and trying to get out would have been stressful. Got out very early Friday for 45 minutes around the park. All this week, there had been a dull ache in the quad even at easy pace, so the form and the mindset was not good. Friday was the same, but I decided to try a few strides to see what kind of effect it would have. The result was surprising, in that it felt no worse than running at easy pace. Normally, there is a noticeable increase in the intensity of pain as pace increases. Hmm, what to do.... one of the lads texted on Friday then, angling to pair up for the race. If all was going well, our realistic targets would have been about 5 minutes apart, but in these new circumstances we agreed to split the difference between our paces. This would help to ensure I did hold pace early doors, and still leave me with a long shot of doing it if everything went right.

Anyway, time for stupid brain to start kicking in. The plan for parkrun on Saturday was 2 easy laps and push on for the last lap, again to gauge the injury, so that race strategy could be adjusted to suit. Despite trying to take it easy, somehow I managed to fall into close enough to planned HMP after the first 800m or so, and the decision became to hold the pace and see how it felt, a calculated risk if you like (make it sound like there was some logic to it anyway) :-) Anyway, it held fine at 7:30 pace with no major discomfort that was unmanageable, so I guess I finally accepted that I was starting at 7:25/7:30 pace and seeing how that went. I'm guessing doing a moderate paced parkrun the day before a HM mightn't be the best prep, but it helped to settle the mind that at least I should be ok at a reduced pace and would still give myself a shot of a PB. Not the A target, but still something!

Race day!

Had to give quite a bit of thought to the shoes and the singlet vs tshirt choice this time around. Was fairly confident the weather was going to be ****e so pinned the number on the tshirt the night before. Chose the shoes that were nice for racing in, but possibly close to the end of life (judging by the state of my toes and feet today, they were probably only suitable for short distances with the last while). Lucky their replacements have been ordered!!

Headed in nice and early to get parked up, got the coffee and banana into me and met one of the lads at the three mile mark to cheer on a few of our club mates and a few other familiar faces. Good numbers in the marathon, although we did think that was probably down to an increase in the relay entries this year. Headed to the new bag drop at 10am, which was a largely positive development (unless you wanted to collect your bag when the 6 mile was due to start :-) ). Settled between the 1:30 and 1:40 pacer after chats with the clubmates and went off pretty much on time. One negative here was that the organisers seemed to decide to do a wave start without telling anyone. They cut off the 1:40 pacers and everyone behind them, and held them for two minutes. That's fine if you know about it, but very frustrating if you don't I'd imagine.

Off we went anyway and settled into 7:25ish pace immediately enough, merging with the 3 hour or so marathoners without any major difficulty. It was quite noticeable in the first three miles or so how blustery it was, plus the field was stretched out at our pace already, so no great cover available. Others have said they didn't like this out and back section, but I didn't mind it as it was a welcome distraction looking out for people we knew. I did notice my buddy was blowing harder than me to maintain the pace so asked if he wanted to ease up, which he declined. Few drags and pulls along here into the wind which increased the effort. Did the loop in the estate and headed back in towards town with the wind at our backs and a little decline. Still maintaining pace and only a dull ache in the quad so was straining at the leash a bit to be given the nod to go by my buddy, as he was dropping off the pace and working too hard 5 miles in to be able to sustain it all the way. We got back to LIDL and the foot of a moderate climb and we shook hands and on I went. Crested that climb and I knew the road fell all the way the town, wind at the back, plus a good few shout outs from club members and people in all led to me getting a bit carried away pace wise. Think this mile clocked in at 6:44!!!

Having kept a very controlled steady pace early on, I now found myself being unable to gauge the effort, and the paces were all over the place. Anytime I glanced at the watch the pace was high, the effort did feel high as well, and I was consciously having to back off to reset the internal pace calculator (or whatever the thing inside us that does that is!!). I took two mini walks through water stops to try help with this. I will admit, I have said it's not a hilly course and I'll stick by that, but those two climbs at the back and at the front of the Gaelic Grounds are a decent challenge for anyone racing. I was empty coming in the Ennis Road. A PB was in the bag, the 1:35 had long vanished. It had pretty much been a pipe dream anyway with how the injury had gone. So all I had to do was tough out the last mile. When you catch sight of Sarsfield Bridge at the end of a race, it's a nice feeling, and you get a hefty boot up the @rse to sprint for home, which I did, crossing the line in about 1:36:50 with about 20 seconds to come off for chip time. Found myself a quiet spot and tried my best to combat the heaves and my bodies efforts to purge its contents. Mission successful!

Splits were 7:32, 7:31, 7:30, 7:32, 7:27, 7:46, 7:09, 6:44, 7:08, 7:41, 6:59, 7:44 and 7:16.

I guess I'm happy enough with the outcome. It's about as good as could have been achieved without having full confidence in my body and all is parts. I'm probably disappointed with the execution of the second half of the race. The time may have been the same but I should have been able to lock in to a new pace and keep it steady. On reviewing the race over pints, we all feel it's a tough course that doesn't give you anything easy. Any time got in Limerick is well earned. No monster climbs like other races, but enough testers in the wrong locations. It's a PB of 1 minute 45 seconds or so. It was my first time training specifically with a half in mind, so maybe I would have liked to have knocked a bigger chunk off. I know I over raced. The logic was to get myself back in shape quicker. All I managed to do was fatigue myself even more, and give myself an injury. One of the lads even said to me that Ballycotton was a great performance, and that should have been enough to boost the confidence, back off the racing and prepare away for Limerick. Wise words. Maybe not the way I'm hard wired though. Might have to get reprogrammed...

I think that's it in a nutshell. I've always had poor impulse control. Once I like the idea of something, it's very hard to dissuade me from doing it, unless a newer better idea comes along.

That leads me on to what next. The big target this year is an October marathon. Training doesn't start for that until July sometime. I'm thinking 8 weeks of mostly easy running and a few physio trips would do me the world of good before jumping into that. The confidence is back that I'm in the ballpark of solid PB's again. Obviously I'd like to have a cut off them, but I do know this quad issue needs resolution first. I'll keep the mileage reasonably high and hit the parkrun once a week and run it as the mood or the body takes me. Might start throwing in a few chunks of MP miles and see how they feel....

I've been behaving myself as best I can post GLR. I took the Monday completely off, partly down to a mild hangover and mostly down to not having very much time as I was focussed on stuffing my face with sugar based products. I had Tuesday off work as well so decided to head off on the bike in the afternoon. I managed to take a wrong junction early in the cycle which resulted in me having to tackle a fairly hefty climb, category 4 according to Strava. Needless to say, I didn't make it to the top without having to get off the bike. I just didn't have the power in the legs or the know how. Could have turned back I suppose and gone the intended route but was looking forward to the corresponding descent too much. Having got over the bad start, had a very enjoyable wander through some of West Limericks finest backroads. Went for a 40 minute trot around the pitches in the evening which the Garmin lost, never happened before and hopefully won't again. I know I did the run but Strava won't give me the miles towards my annual total :-(

Up early Wednesday and a 45 minute handy paced trot around the town. Cycled to work then on Wednesday mid morning. Roughly 26/27 miles door to door depending on route choice. Regretted it after a few miles as the wind was coming from a southeasterly direction, which rarely happens. This meant that it was into my face all the time, making the effort much harder than normal. I presume it might have been a little easier if I hadn't ran earlier in the morning. C'est la vie...

Two busy days of activity meant I felt fairly shagged on Thursday, even though it was all easy effort stuff. Had intended to run from work but kept putting it off and off. Eventually got out from home in the evening for 45 minutes easy pace. Similar feelings on Friday then as well, but headed off while the young lad was soccer training. Nice easy effort for 60 minutes or so, partly on trail so the legs got some respite.

No running on Saturday then as I got caught for a 12 hour shift. Hummed and hawed all day about committing to the hilly club run on Sunday morning. Said I'd sleep on it.... woke up Sunday morning and felt up for it so hit the road. A posse of 5 of us headed for the hills. 10 miles passed very quickly on a beautiful morning, way too quickly actually. A lazy day followed of sunshine, beer and good music.

I've entered a half marathon up near Kilnaboy in a couple of weeks. I had it entered from a while back when I thought there was a few more doing it from the club. I'm the only one that actually paid up, so I'll go ahead and do it and do a decent job on it, but it's not a goal race by any means. I like the rest of my plan of increasing volume as much as I can over the next little while. Time to start researching various plans I guess. July won't be long coming :-)

Decent week of 30 easy miles and two 90 odd minute cycles. Possibly did a little too much early in the week. All easy next week too so should rectify any damage done hopefully. Haven't rang the physio yet, but I will!

Legs felt fine and fresh on Monday but still felt a spin on grass might be advised with mileage picking up again and a mini session planned for tomorrow morning. Headed to the local rugby club and trotted out some mind numbing laps (about 500m each) for 30 odd minutes. A total of 5 miles in 45 minutes including the run there and back. It might be time to set up podcasts if I'm going to be doing this more often.

I had the morning off on Tuesday so headed off on my interval route (8miles approx) after the school run. The plan was a 3.5 mile warmup followed by 4 X 1k @ HMP intervals. The main purpose of the session was to wake the legs up and get them used of HMP pace again, with nothing pacy done since GLR. managed to wake them up just fine and while I felt the effort levels were spot on, the recorded pace was too quick, clocking 7:00 pace for the intervals versus the targeted 7:15. fairly happy with the session in terms of just getting the mind somewhat dialled in to the run on Saturday. Total of 8.5 miles at 7:56mm average

Working the night shift on Wednesday night then so headed out mid afternoon for a planned hour on the usual 10k route. Effort was fine, even if the HR read 5/6 bpm too high when looking at the stats afterwards. 7.3 miles at 8:13 pace

Stayed awake until Thursday lunchtime after night shift feeling grumpy as fcuk. Logic said a run would cheer me up, and it did! Out, loop of the park, and home. I miss parkrun :-( 4.3 miles at 9:15 pace

35 minutes at very easy pace on Friday then after school run around the park. 3.5 miles at 9:50 pace

Did a now customary (second time doing it) shake out early Saturday morning before hitting for the Burren. Everything appears in working order. Have had a few whinges and twinges from the quad post Limerick, but have been managing it reasonably well. I still haven't gone to the physio yet... I think I'm still afraid of being told to stop running. I'm too fat to stop. I can't not eat!!!

Arrived in Kilnaboy in good time to pick up the number for the Half thru the Heart half marathon. Met a few familiar faces and the consensus seemed to be that we were in for a tough day. The elevation profile sure did look rough, generally lumpy with a killer climb around the 10k mark. Somehow I had managed to analyse all the information and convinced myself that it 'wasn't too bad'. Given the nature of the task at hand I hadn't any hard target in mind other than head out at 1:35 pace and hang on for as long as I could. After a chilled out mile walk to a fairly rural start line, a crowd of 250 gathered. After a little delay, a run director appeared from nowhere, said a few muffled words, ready steady go and gone. After a mile I found myself in the unusual position of being in fourth position.

I must admit, I had not prepared myself for finding myself in this scenario. I'm well used of it in the local parkrun maybe, but not in an actual real live race. It really does mess with your mind in a race setting. I knew I was travelling a bit quicker than planned, but was also conscious of taking advantage of the somewhat level roads in the early stages so was finding it hard to rein in the pace, even though it was apparent the heat would become a factor before long. Of the three people ahead, only one person appeared like they belonged there. A quick check behind also showed only one person who appeared in control and at ease with a top ten position. Right on the mark of the first biter of a climb at the 5 mile mark, I found myself overtaking the guy in third and batting on up the hill. About a mile later this boost in effort was to prove my undoing, as I sharply and suddenly felt I had given most of what I had to give to the race by the half way mark, before the first proper hill had appeared. The second half of the race consisted of one major hill, lots of little hills, persons passing me, 4/5 walking breaks of 20 seconds or so, and lots of bursts trying to get back on track, some sustained for a mile or two, some not. All very erratic and a real mental and physical drain.

I vaguely remember passing Fr. Teds house at about the 9 mile mark. I do recall two guys strolling past as if they were out for a Sunday easy run right about here. I did get my sh!t together for the last mile and managed to boot along, getting one place back before the finish line. I crossed the finish line with 1:35:45 on the Garmin. Hung about on the finish line to meet people I knew coming in and the consensus seemed to be 'thank feck that's over'. Heat, hills and wind on the homeward miles seemed to ensure every last drop was got out of runners today.

I'm pretty sure the course was measured poorly. The first 12 mile markers were all about 20/25 meters out which was perfectly fine. After running about half mile or a kilometre past the 12 mile marker, the 13 mile marker appeared out of nowhere. It was like they had already decided where the finish line was, then found out the 13 mile marker was the wrong side of it, so they moved it 150 meters the far side of the finish line. There is about 20 results on Strava, all reading 12.9 or thereabouts. I'm around long enough to know Garmin can be dodgy for all sorts of reasons, but not too many trees in the Burren, or tall buildings, so I can't explain GPS interference. Anyway, I'm not going to dwell on it as I hadn't too much invested in the race, but something just doesn't seem right. The route map took ages to be released by the organisers, despite persistent requests on Facebook from plenty different people. It's a nice route, challenging yes, but plenty to offer, and with a little bit of effort from the organisers could be one that I'd come back to. The tshirt was perfect! And it's not often I'm 100% happy with those....

I'm happy with the time. I'm happy with a top 10. I'm not happy with the execution of it. Walking breaks are never good. In saying that, I do know that if you want to run at a particular pace for 13 miles or so, you do need to practice running at that pace for a few miles, on a few occasions. I didn't do this.... but I will for Charleville... Anyway, 12.9 Garmin miles, 1:35:45, 9th place overall (highest ever non-parkrun finishing position) and a 45 second PB (but only if the course was accurate so I'm not claiming it!). A real mixed bag.

Did a silly thing Sunday. Worked a night shift Saturday night, was a bit wired after the shift so decided to do a shorter version of the club run with the lads. Met them about 2.5 miles into their run and finished about 2 miles from home. 6.2 miles total in 53 minutes and change.

Total of 50 miles for the week. Another half marathon under the belt. Staying away from the bike for a while as I think it aggravated the quad a little bit last week. Easy miles the coming week, but I'll try and keep the miles high enough, maybe target 50 again. I really want to build a good base where 50 mpw feels normal.