The Windy Road to Nowhere

Friday 5th July: 5.5 miles in 38:25 (6:59)
Streets of Boca very quiet yesterday morning, I think a lot of people took an extra day off for the long weekend. I got lucky with the weather, 5 minutes after I came in, the skies opened. Huge deluges of rain every couple of days here, and we’d our first proper thunderstorm. Temperature hit over 100F yesterday, about 37 Celsius.

Saturday 6th: 6 miles in 44:50 (7:28)
A few degrees cooler this morning, looked like a thunderstorm coming in over the Everglades but it just missed us. Another couple of days in Boca before a road trip south to the Keys and west to the Gulf.

Saturday 13th July: 6.25 miles in 46:44 (7:29)
Early morning run on the sand at Fort Myers Beach. Beautiful white sand, absolutely perfect for running. Busy spot for tourism, highlighted by the sea turtle washed up on the beach, slashed by the propeller of a boat.

Sunday 14th: 8.25 miles in 61:40 (7:29)
Back in Boca Raton, and not out running until 10:15. Temperature was over 35 by this stage, hard work.

Monday 15th: 8.25 miles in 61:07 (7:24)
Out at 7, nice to get the few miles in early before hitting the road to Orlando.

Tuesday and Wednesday: 14 miles walking each day in Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom. We were in the parks both mornings for rope drop. Brilliant couple of days, Avatar Flight of Passage the highlight.

Thursday 18th: 8 miles in 59:47 (7:28)
Took me a couple of miles to find a road I was happy to run on in Orlando, but eventually found a quiet road with a footpath. Lots of people out running st 6:40am. Big lightning storm after we left which would have been a downer had we been in the parks. Nice couple of days.

Friday 19th: 8.5 miles in 63:50 (7:30)
Took a bit of a detour to see if my cousin was going to do a couple of miles with me, but he canceled. Was struggling a bit in the heat yesterday, so a drink halfway around was a good help.

Saturday 20th: 8.25 miles in 61:37 (7:28)
A lot of thunder this morning, but no lightning strikes, so I was happy enough. Weather was a little cooler.

Sat 26th: 10 miles in 78:46 (7:53)
Tried in vain to keep the pace at 7:45 for 10 miles, but couldn’t, despite it being just 7am. Good to do a longer run though.

Sat evening: 3k in 17 with the young lad
He wanted to run in Florida, did well.

Sunday 27th: 9 miles in 63:20 (8:09)
10am when I got out, 35 Celsius! Didn’t attempt to run fast at all, just tipped around.

Monday 29th: 8.25 in 64 (7:46)
Tuesday 30: 8.25 miles in 63:30 (7:42)
Wednesday 31st: 7.55 in 59:20 (7:51)

Rounded off to an even 200 miles for the month of July, finishing off the holidays. Delighted I ran so much, but it was so difficult to run at any sort of pace, I probably didn’t make a lot of gains. Certainly better than not running. Long trip home Wednesday and Thursday.

Sun 4th August: 7.5 miles in 54 (7:12)
I took a couple of days off after the 5 mile race, legs were fairly tight. This was good, couple of faster miles in the middle. I found the hills tougher than normal, having had 5 weeks with not a hill in sight.

Monday 5th: 4.1 miles in 30:57 (7:33)
Nice to be running at 9:30 in the evening, little bit of drizzle, beats mosquitoes and dead heat.

Tuesday 6th: 6 miles in 44:25 (7:24)
Out in the evening again. Bright til about 10 still.

Thursday: 10 miles on bicycle (1:20)
Towing the two smaller ones in a trailer, we all had a lovely day in Lough Boora in Offaly. Then, spent 3 hours taking in the turf in Connemara. Shoulders and legs in a hoop.

Friday 9th: 3.65 miles in 25:45(7:04)
Short run from the Wind Park back to the house through the mountains. Lots of hills.

Sunday 11th: 16 miles including half marathon

Poor few weeks training, picked up a cold that was developing into chest infection, so eased back on running to keep healthy.
12 Aug: 4.1 in 30:30
13 Aug/ 4.1 in 31:35
14 Aug: 4.1 in 31:10
15 Aug: 4.1 in 31:50
16 Aug: 4.1 in 30:40
17 Aug: 6.4 in 47:45
18 Aug: 4.1 in 30:20
20 Aug: 4.1 in 29:40
23 Aug: 4.1 in 32:30
24 Aug : 4.1 in 32:06
25 Aug: 5.1 in 39:25
27 Aug: 4.1 in 31:35
28 Aug: 7 in 52:05
29 Aug: 4.1 in 32:14
30 Aug: 4.1 in 32:30
8 Sept: 6 in 44:23
9 Sept: 4.1 in 31:15
10 Sept: 4.1 in 30:59
12 Sept: 4.1 in 31:47
13 Sept: 4.1 in 31:25
15 Sept 17.5 in 2:13 (7:36) - tester to see if I was capable of running long distance. Passed test
17 Sept: 4.1 in 32:10
18 Sept: 5.2 in 40:20
19 Sept: 4.1 in 31:10
21 Sept: 10 in 1:12
23 Sept: 4.1 in 30:07
24 Sept: 6.7 in 50:45
29 Sept: 26.2 in 3:18:45

Sat 5th October: 20 miles in 2:32 (7:38)

Slightly unorthodox first run out after a marathon, but I happened to have 3 hours to play with over in Nobber so figured I’d use it productively. Legs felt fairly good my mid-week, and once I got on the road, felt grand.
I chose a route from Nobber to Drumconrath, Kingscourt and back to Nobber. The first 10-12 miles were lovely, some hills, cool enough dry weather, and not much traffic. However, the drag up into Kingscourt was very long and steep, rain started falling, and generally, this wasn’t as enjoyable as it had been. No matter, motored on, and felt good to get a decent run done.

Sunday 6th: 2 miles in 15:30 (7:45)
Beers at a 50th birthday party Saturday, ran down to get car back Sunday morning.

Monday 7th: 2.25 miles in 16:20 (7:13)
I thought I’d have at least an hour to play with at soccer training with kids, but ended up coaching, so only a few minutes to run.

Wednesday 9th: 7 miles in 49:23 (7:03)
I reckoned it’d be a waste of time trying to run with the group at the track, having done no proper speed work in months, so tipped about by myself. 4miles in the middle at 6:25-35 pace, which I considered would be approximately 8k pace for x-country.

Thursday 10th: 4.1 miles in 30:24 (7:25)
Run around the block in the evening

Saturday 12th: 7.4 miles in 1:01 (8:16)
Handy 6 miles around the block, then another bit with the Mrs around the house.

Louth Intermediate Cross country

Rotten, miserable, windy, waterlogged fields, driving rain! My first cross country race of the season. The ground was bad before we started running, I briefly considered wearing hiking boots for the race. With no expectations, I headed off on first of 5 laps of Termonfeckin football fields. I spent most of the first lap trying in vain to find the most solid pieces of ground, but resigned myself to running straight through a lot of puddles and mud.
I was in a fairly large group with about 5 from our own club and a few from a rival club. After some mental calculations during the 2nd and 3rd lap, I knew I was racing for nothing, but wanted to work hard nonetheless. A couple of the lads from my club were moving ahead, but didn’t feel like I’d it in me to keep with them, so set my targets as the red vests. Kept the pace fairly even in the middle part of the race, and increased on last lap. I think I finished 17th or 18th or something, don’t really know. 33:54 for the 8k (6:32, 6:41, 6:48, 6:47, 6:43).

My young fella ran a very good tactical race for 2nd in U9, and daughter just ran out of 3rd in the last 20m for 4th place. Good day.

Monday 14th Oct: am 4.1 miles in 31:30 (7:42)
Happened to wake up before 7 and threw the gear on for easy run around the block.
Pm: 10 miles in 1:18 (7:48)
Two eldest had soccer training, but plenty of other coaches about, so I used the 90 minutes productively. The route around the circumference of the pitches is about 1km, but when it got too dark, I kept to the two lit up fields. First double day in a long time.

Tuesday 15th: 4.75 miles in 36:50 (7:46)
Run home from school. This might start being a possibility every so often this year, so jumped at the opportunity. Slog of a 550ft climb the whole way home. Lovely.

Sunday 20th October: 16 miles in 1:58 (7:22)
Out by 8 this morning, cool and fresh weather, perfect for this run. Kept the effort low enough for the first 6 miles into and through Drogheda, then ramped it up along the Boyne estuary and through Baltray and Termonfeckin. Original plan was for 5 miles at 6:50, but after taking a couple hundred meters breather after the 5th of them, decided to add a 6th 6:50 mile. Took a bit of huffing and puffing, but managed alright. Ran at 8:xx pace the last couple of miles up the hill. Good session to finish off the week.

Friday 25th October: 7.5 miles in 56:43 (7:34)
Early morning before school. Can’t remember why I was up at 6:30, but took the opportunity to get a few miles in. Down to Sandpit and back.

Saturday 26th: 6 miles in 46:20 (7:44)
Out and about early Saturday morning for a couple of miles. Nothing interesting.
Took the kids down to Kilkenny for Leinster cross country. Both running out of their ages, but ran well. Didn’t hang around to run myself as I had to get back for a soccer semi final.

Sunday 27th: 10 miles in 1:07 (6:44)
Down in Connemara for a few days. Forgot my watch so downloaded MapMyRun which worked well enough. Tough mountain terrain, but I put a big effort in, some very fast miles downhill and some seriously tough uphill. 914 feet elevation gain and loss over 10 miles tells a story.

Tuesday 29th: 12.25 miles in 1:32 (7:34)
This was a savage tough session. There was a strong head wind the whole way from An Ceathru Rua to Seanfheistin, 750 feet elevation gain, but tough as they get.
Afternoon: 2 miles in 17:37 (8:48)
The two older kids wanted to do a bit of a run on the mountain. Good shake out for the legs.

Friday 1st November: 20 miles in 2:29 (7:28)
We were on the road yesterday morning home from the west, kids were keen to go trick or treating, so yesterday was written off. Got up at 7:30 this morning, unimpressed with the weather, but got myself together and out on the road before I had time to really think about it.
Took it nice and easy the first 9 miles, running 7::15-7:55 range depending on the road. Coming towards Collon, dropped the pace down to 6:50s. Mile 10 really isn’t the best place to start running harder as it’s mostly uphill, but I suppose it shouldn’t be too easy. Not overly difficult at any point keeping the pace where I wanted, took my eye off the ball near Tullyallen for one of the miles as a dog chased me and started trying to bite my ankles. Little $£|t, got himself a kick in the face for his troubles. The last of the MP miles on the Drogheda link road was tough, legs were tired and I was running on complete empty at this stage. Anyway, kept it together. Good effort with no breakfast or fuel.
Fast miles as follows: 6:54, 6:50, 6:50, 6:54, 6:52, 6:46, 6:45, 6:50

I’ll hopefully run a couple of easy miles tomorrow and the Louth Senior race Sunday. There won’t be much pressure on me, I might run a bit of interference.

Louth Senior Cross Country 2019

First thing this morning, message came through that the kids relay races were canceled due to a very wet course. When I got there with 20 minutes before the start, it didn’t look too awful, certainly wet but nothing like the intermediate a few weeks back. Ran a mile trying to loosen the legs out, but was still feeling the effects of Friday by the time we lined up. Pre-race instructions included a request to go easy on the course and not cut it up!

The gun went and I settled in well near the back. After about a quarter mile, felt like my legs were feeling ok, so caught up with a little group including a few lads from the club. Felt like I could run myself into the race and probably pick places up later, so settled into the pace of the group. First mile: 6:20

During the second lap, I felt like a few people were already slowing, so I pushed on to the front of the group I was in, not particularly wanting to, but felt like the pace was easing too much. A couple of lads hung on, and we made some good ground. With each lap being approximately a mile, it was handy for keeping an eye on gaps.

After about four miles, I was keeping the pace fairly honest, about 6:30, with the wet heavy ground probably an advantage to me. I picked 2 more targets, both from the same club as me, and dug in fairly hard. Passed one of them and set about making up the 30 meters or so in the last half mile. When I got close and with an uphill with a couple hundred meters to go, I put the foot down and drove hard up the hill, finishing as strong as I had in a long time in the muck. Time was 41:14, don’t know the position, but it was a much stronger performance than the intermediate.

We had a 1st and 2nd place, and took 2nd team. I didn’t get on the team, but as a stepping stone, I was pleased with it. Unlikely to have any more races before the marathon, so just long runs and some sharpening sessions on the track over the next few weeks.

OOnegative wrote: »

Young Lavery running?

How young? Daddy Lavery was running alright, don’t think any young Lavery was, but I’m a bit clueless with names sometimes

OOnegative wrote: »

Oh Daddy was the one!

He’s a good guy. Our young fellas are on the same team usually, not today unfortunately

Wednesday 6th November am: 4.1 miles in 31:50 (7:46)
Up good and early this morning, and out on the road shortly after 7. My youngest kid is finally hitting the sweet spot whereby he’s happy enough for one of the others to give him some breakfast, meaning I can nip off in the mornings. Lovely morning for running, cool but dry.

Pm: 8.25 miles in 56:35 (6:52) including Yasso 800s at 2:58 goal
At the track this evening, and despite feeling a little lethargic on the half mile warmup, I settled into the session very nicely. I’d no major problems hitting the targets, so pushed on a little for the last couple. Definitely felt stronger doing this session than pre-Belfast. Good sign.
Splits: 2:58, 2:59, 2:59, 2:59, 2:59, 2:58, 2:56, 2:55, 2:54, 2:50

Monday 11th Nov: 7.1 miles in 57:20 (8:06)
Very wet fields, and legs a bit dead.

Took a couple of days off during the week, as I thought a little cold was threatening me, the weather was miserable, and I was just a bit busy. No harm.

Friday 15th: 6 miles in 47:29 (7:55)
Out at 6:45 on very icy roads. Slipping around a lot, especially higher on the hills near my house, better a couple miles down the road. Beautiful morning all the same, just impossible to run at any speed.

Sunday 17th: 20 miles in 2:24 (7:13)
Busy couple of days with driving to Dublin Friday evening, then Monaghan after that, and back home Saturday evening. Icy cold weather Saturday in Monaghan so didn’t bother going out for another ice skating session.

Up at 7 this morning, decided this would be the day for the last big PMP session. Took a glass of water and ran off. Cold start again, but no ice, no wind or rain, perfect weather weather really. After two miles waking myself up, I dropped down to 6:50 pace. First 2 miles handy, then 4 undulating, mostly uphill. But, 6 PMP done fairly comfortable. Took a mile off the pace again on the very steep section at Whiteriver before coming out on the N2

Ran strongly the whole next 8, mostly mid 6:40s. Legs getting sore and tired, but never struggling at the pace in any way. Finished the planned 14 PMP very happy, trundled on home.
PMP: 6:51, 6:50, 6:49, 6:49, 6:50, 6:47, 6:52, 6:49, 6:47, 6:50, 6:46, 6:44, 6:39, 6:47

Race in 20 days. I’m planning a decent amount of running this week, with maybe 16-18 mile long run next weekend, ease back a bit the following week with maybe 10 mile long run. Lanzarote will be likely hot, windy and hilly, not the ideal setup for fast marathon, but I’m happy to have put in a very decent couple of months.

3:06 for 18th place. Tough, tough race. Temperature 20 by halfway, stiff breeze made the last hour a bit of a death march. Goal was top 20, delighted.

AuldManKing wrote: »

Some man - great result.

Was it busy in that time bracket??

Cheers. Pretty much no company for last 13 miles, passed couple of people out and fought with the wind and heat. Great weekend.

Itziger wrote: »

Epic race report there, fella. Was this Lanzarote or one of those other canine islands?

Yeah, Lanzarote alright. Costa Teguise to Port del Carmen and back again. Must do a slightly better race report!!

Lanzarote marathon race report

This was always more about the holiday and having a good weekend, but I managed to put in a very respectable couple of months training. Long runs were all based on a 2:58 marathon goal time, and nailed on all the sessions. In that respect, I’d a much better buildup for this than Belfast early in the summer, and probably since about 2015.

I had hoped the 4% Vaporfly I ordered would arrive in time and give me a shout for a sub3, but they arrived about 3 hours after I left Ireland. The weather was mixed on Thursday when we went over, so ended up having a few beers. Friday was really miserable, but we were all having a good laugh, and by afternoon I was feeling good and looking forward to the race.

Saturday was forecast to be hot, 18-21 degrees over the 3 hours of the race with a headwind to contend with in the second half. I was not overly optimistic of sub3, but second goal was top 20. I was fairly nervous on start line, weather heating up, I knew I was in for a slog, but rating to go. About 700 running in full and off we went at 8am.

First couple of miles through Costa Teguise had a few hills and twisty sections, but settled in nicely down on the promenade. Made a guess that I was about 30th as I passed my wife and friends at 3km, then headed off south for Peurto Del Carmen. Running along the promenade by the sea was beautiful, but every few miles, we’d detour off onto city streets in Arrecife, a couple of out and back sections up and down hilly streets, flyovers and poor road surfaces. By 9am, it was very warm, and having made a few places and kept the pace honest, felt reasonably ok. I took to dumping bottles of water all over myself to stay cool which worked well enough.

About 10 miles in, we had run about 1km south, before turning back north around a cone and switching back again. Slightly soul destroying feeling the wind that was going to be a challenge later on. However, decided I’d keep with the plan, stick it out at sub3 pace for as long as possible. Headed on towards halfway and the airport.
6:47, 6:41, 6:49, 6:48, 6:48, 6:41, 6:47, 6:49, 6:51, 6:44, 6:52, 6:50, 6:46, 6:48

As soon as I negotiated the very messy turnaround at Peurto Del Carmen and started running north again, I knew it was going to be tough. People in and around me seemed to slow a lot. I made up a couple of more places, but the people I was catching had nothing to give so no group to run in. Decided not to chase 6:50 pace too aggressively as there was still a distance to go. By my own reckoning I was in 21st, so motored on looking for next targets.

In miles 15-19, I kept pace between 6:55-7:10, and overtook another person for 20th. Then, the up and down hill at 20 knocked the stuffing out of me, got passed by the second lady, an Irish runner looking great. We were both closing in on another runner, so spent the next couple of miles through Arrecife tracking him down. Heart rate over 180 with still 7km to go, really feeling it. Passed him for 20th again, and pushed as much as my wrecked legs would allow.

In the long run in to Teguise, I retook the place I had lost earlier, and tried to hold it all together. First signs of cramping I’ve had in a marathon in years told me I was on the edge. Pace gone to the dogs, but all all about survival now. 1km to go, hilly streets, struggling massively, but loads of encouragement. My friend appeared at the side of the road and started running with me at close to 42km. Got the legs pumping away again, felt completely satisfied crossing the line in 3:06:03 for 19th place.
6:55, 6:55, 7:02, 7:10, 7:43, 7:46, 7:27, 7:36, 7:41, 7:54, 7:49, 6:47 (pace)

Very sore for a while afterwards, but felt really pleased with how I ran the race. Everyone I spoke to had big struggles in the second half, I made plenty of places and lost none. I know, for absolute certain, that on a cooler day, on a fast course with a group to run in, I’d have run a good time. Sub3 was always going to have been a big stretch, so not concerned about it. We had an absolutely belting weekend, surpassing any holiday marathon I’ve ever done.

Looking forward now, I know I should probably pick out a fast spring marathon, and get a good time under my belt, but honestly, not all that bothered about it. Connemara is the most likely spring marathon, I’ve unfinished business there from 2007 and 2016 in particular. Back in 2007, in my youthful naivety, I stormed through the first half in 1:29, only to fall apart. 2016 was my only DNF ever, getting hypothermia in the ultra. I fancy getting a good race in, and maybe, just maybe, well, we’ll leave that for another day.

Saturday 4th Jan: 4.1 miles in 28:13 (6:53)
Home from the west, out early on my standard loop. Two miles in 6:3x range in the middle.

Sunday 5th: 6 miles in 43:10 (7:11)
New year, new focus. I’ve been getting weaker on what used to be a strength for me, hills, so in trying to address this, worked very hard on this one.
7:24, 6:54, 6:58, 6:36, 6:54, 8:20

Monday 6th: 7 miles in 50:50 (7:15)
Back on old route around Drogheda when kids are at gymnastics. Handy pace, felt really comfortable. Charging up the hills.

Wednesday 8th: 10k in 39:06 (6:18)
10 minutes hard x 3. First half of first rep felt a bit comfortable, so pushed on a bit. Ran very hard on shoulder of a club mate for the second two, just falling off a bit near the end. Fastest I’ve run in a good while.

Friday 17th Jan: 4.1 miles in 29:50 (7:17)
Running around in Dunleer for a bit in the dark.

Sunday 19th: 9.25 miles in 60:17 (6:31)
I’d an hour to play with with kids at music, so headed around Philipstown and Dromin. Hills and speed were the order of the day. Good session, really enjoyed it
7:27, 6:53, 6:46, 6:40, 6:24, 6:24, 5:59, 5:47, 6:14

Monday 20th: 7.5 miles in 54:15 (7:14)
Standard steady run around Drogheda.

Weds 22nd: 6 miles in 41:48 (6:57)
Two slow miles, then 5k in 19:xx. Not difficult.

Sunday 26th: 5 miles in 37:30 (7:30)
Running up and down our lane, couldn’t leave the kids all by themselves, so this works.

Monday 27th: 7.25 miles in 50:50 (7:00)
After a few easy days, this felt good to move on a little. Started easy, then moved on a bit
7:15, 6:49, 6:57, 6:47, 6:32, 6:52, 7:39

Wednesday 29th: 4.8 miles in 35:27 (7:22)
Run home from school up the hill into a stiff wind. Happy to push on the hills, as thought correctly we’d give the track a miss tonight.

No major training happening, but no risks either. I’ve been fairly healthy and want to keep it that way, so I’ll keep it steady between the ditches for a few weeks yet.