The Windy Road to Nowhere

17 Feb: 7.5 miles in 55:17 (7:22)
Standard run around drogheda.

Weds 19th: 4.75 miles in 7:26
Runmute

Mon 24th Feb: 7.5 miles in 53:37 (7:09)
I’d a bit of a cold for a couple of weeks, so eased back to let it pass.

Fri 28th: 3 miles in 23:10 (7:44)

Sun 1st March: 8 miles in 54:47 (6:50)
Speedy one around Dunleer

Mon 2nd : 7.5 miles in 52:17 (6:58)
Feeling better, running nicely

Tuesday -Friday 4.75 miles runmute each day

Sunday 8th : 15.5 miles in 1:51 (7:12)
Very windy and challenging long run out by Dunleer, Clogherhead, Port beach and Togher. Did 5 miles at PMP.

Friday 13th, Sat 14th, Monday 16th: 4.1 miles in 29-30 each.

Connemarathon postponed until September. Everything seems to be going to bits all around us. Communication with my parents by WhatsApp only, no school, but absolutely no joy in that. I’ll keep running, building up strength, and keeping sane for as long as this goes on for. Hope everyone out there is keeping well.

AuldManKing wrote: »

Hope all is well A - keep it lit and keep well.

I'm impressed that your parents use WhatsApp

Thanks A, we’re doing well with social distancing, big advantage in being out in the countryside and having 4 children, everyone keeping themselves entertained. My parents worried enough to keep themselves to the house, which is great. How’s things with yourself?

Thursday 26 March: 4.1 miles in 28:25 (6:56)
Friday 27: 4.1 miles in 29:18 (7:09)
Sat 28: 4.1 miles in 29:10 (7:07)
Sunday 29: 8.4 miles in 59:24 (7:04)
Mon 30: 4.1 miles in 29:59 (7:19)
Tuesday 31: 4.1 miles in 29:40 (7:14)
Weds 1st April: 4.1 miles in 29:56 (7:18) and 1.4km in 5:32 (6:19)

The same route every day, apart from Sunday. At the furthest point, maybe 2.5km away, so I’ll keep to these local roads for as long as I must. 1.4km yesterday was with the kids, doing a virtual schools race.

Monday 20th April: 6 miles in 43:35 (7:16)
Tuesday 21st: 6 miles in 45:58 (7:38)
Weds 22nd: 8.5 miles in 61:43 (7:16)
Thursday 23rd: 6 miles in 41:13 (6:52)
Friday 24th: 14.5 miles in 1:46 (7:22)
Sat 25th: 6 miles in 43:38 (7:16)

Nearly all the same. Friday long run entailed joining 3 local routes together, passing within 1/4 miles of home about four times, but if anything, I had to stop myself tagging on another 4 miles at the end as opposed to getting bored or tired.
Thursday was a bit of a tempo effort. The hills are very nasty around here, so any run with average pace of 6:xx is a good effort.
I’m really enjoying this base building. It’s been a long time since I’ve had so much time on my hands to dedicate to running, particularly at this time of year.

Monday 4th May: 10 mile in 73:10 (7:19)
Tuesday 5th: 6 miles in 44:50 (7:28)
Weds 6th: 9.5 miles in 70:40 (7:26)
Thurs 7th: 6 miles in 45:50 (7:39)
Friday 8th: 12.25 miles in 93:10 (7:37)
Sat 9th: 6 miles in 43:58 (7:20)
Sun 10th: 7.5 miles in 56 (7:28)

Nothing much to report about any of this, just feeling good. Body is standing up well to the mileage. Feel like fitness is improving steadily. Could do with throwing in a long run every week, but no panic. From past experience, solid 50+ miles per week will bear fruit.

Thursday 14th May: 6 miles in 45:25 (7:34)
Easy pace
Friday 15th: 6 miles in 41:07 (6:51)
One mile easy, then 6:48, 6:38, 6:25, 6:25. Tough on the hills

Saturday 16th: 6 miles in 43:20 (7:13)
Steady

Sunday 17th: 13.25 miles in 1:33 (7:05)
First 4 miles were with the two older kids on their bikes, me running. Then hammered on a small bit.

Monday 18th: 6 miles in 45:45 (7:38)
Easy on tired legs.

Tuesday 19th: 10.25 miles in 76:40 (7:29)
Nice and steady.

Weds 20th: 6 miles in 42:54 (7:09)
One mile very easy, then 6:39, 6:48, 6:43, 6:46

Sat 30th May: 6 miles in 46:10 (7:42)
Easy run on tired legs.

Sunday 31st: 9.5 miles in 70:34 (7:26)
Steady pace. This brought me to 250 miles for the month of May, by far and away the highest mileage I’ve done in at least 4 years.

Monday 1st June: 7.5 miles in 57:58 (7:44)
Easy run.

Tuesday 2nd am: 3 miles in 23:34 (7:51)
9:20 am on the mountains after driving 250km, slightly above government restrictions, but I’d excuses ready. Worked on the bog cutting a decent bank of turf all day.
Pm: 4 miles in 29:36 (7:23)
Very sore at the start of this run , but loosened up nicely as I went.

Weds 3rd: 6 miles in 41:30 (6:56)
Did another few hours in the bog between 7 and 10, and headed back east. This run was meant to just loosen the legs out, but felt good after a mile and motored. Middle four miles were 6:50, 6:54, 6:17, 6:44

Thursday 4th: 8 miles in 59:50 (7:29)
Steady

Friday 5th: 10 miles in 72:27 (7:14)
Ran quite hard this morning. Felt good. Considered doing a run in the afternoon too but shelved it.

Tues 9th: 6 miles in 45:25 (7:34)
Weds 10th: 10.5 miles in 76:34 (7:18)
Thurs 11th: 6 miles in 42:58 (7:10)
Fri 12th: 10 miles in 74:09 (7:24)
Sat 13th: 6 miles in 44:30 (7:26)
Sun 14th: 17.5 miles in 2:09 (7:25)
Mon 15th: 8 miles in 60:13 (7:32)
Tues 16th: 6 miles in 44:04 (7:21)
Weds 17th: 2 miles in 15:12 (7:36)
Thurs 18th: 10.25 miles in 71:34 (6:59)
Fri 19th: 6 miles in 44:59 (7:28)
Sat 20th: 6 miles in 43:29 (7:13)

Sort of unfocused over the last week or so, doing a lot of physical work in the field, garden and the bog, so the body hurting due to that. Hip was sore earlier in the week, due to a few days of clearing the horses field. Just about squeezed in couple of miles on Wednesday as I’m on a decent streak. Probably won’t do a long run tomorrow, so this week will be a bit of a step back, but that’s fine.

Friday 26th: 10.2 miles in 1:17
Saturday 27th: 6 miles in 43:44
Sunday 28th: 3.4 miles in 30:46
Monday 29th: 6.2 miles in 42:56
Tuesday 30th: 2 miles in 18:10
Weds 1st: 4 miles in 32:17
Thursday 2nd: 4 miles in 36:11
Friday 3rd: 4 miles in 29:45
Sat 4th: 2 miles in 20:22
Sun 5th: 4 miles in 30 minutes
Mon 6th: 2 miles in 17

On holidays this past week, been running with the wife a fair bit. Watch battery out and no charger with me so I’ll be estimating distance from now until we go home

Thursday 9th: 4 miles I think
Saturday 11th: 2 miles
Sunday 11th: 4 miles

Can’t remember the days I ran or the distances, but it wasn’t much. I did a huge amount of work on the bog, two full days cutting and taking home the first load that was supposed to be dry. Another day or two spent cutting trees, a couple of days building dry stone walls also. Lovely couple of weeks with not a lot of running, but massive amount of strength and core conditioning. Still a lot to get done when I get back to Connemara in a few weeks.

Monday 13th: 6 miles in 41:50 (6:58)
Back on home ground yesterday, couple of hours to get the lawn cut and got out on the road in the evening. Felt good, motored along nicely.

Sat 1st August: 6 miles in 45:27 (7:35)
I gave myself a week and a half off running. Toe was very sore, found it difficult to walk for a week, and I’m still having some pain if I put any lateral pressure on.
The first run out I took it fairly easy, was sort of running on the side of my foot to keep pressure off the toe, but downhills were still problematic.

Monday 3rd August: 6 miles in 43:51 (7:19)
More comfortable, but still some discomfort, particularly on sharp downhills.

Wednesday 5th: 6 miles in 40:33 (6:46)
Much better, I realized that running a bit faster, striking the mid foot meant I wasn’t putting the same pressure on my toe. However, hurt it again just using it as planted foot kicking about with the kids. Sore again for the evening.

Friday 7th: 6 miles in 43:26 (7:14)
Took it a bit easier on this one, just concentrating on keeping it relaxed, no pain.

Sunday 9th: 10 miles in 69:50 (6:59)
Chose 8 mile route with option of extra loop for 10. Toe felt pain-free, and speed was good. Just got one jolt of pain after 9 miles, going over a footpath, so relaxed the foot strike completely for the last mile. This was good though, for long stretches, I’d forgotten about the injury.

After being despondent enough for a couple of weeks, I’m happy enough that I didn’t lose much conditioning. I still need to be cautious as this hasn’t healed yet, but it’s great to be back on the road.

Sun 13: 16 miles in 1:56 (7:13) and 2 mile easy with wife and son.

Young fella woke me up at 7, so decided to throw the runners on and get going before it got too warm. Windy morning, but felt really good.
The last two miles were a bonus to bring it up to 18. Having not done a long run for months, that was a very good workout.

Sun 20th Sept: 20 miles in 2:26 (7:18)
Out by 7:30am, nice enough weather for it, just a bit of wind by the coast in Clogherhead. Kept effort and pace fairly steady. Good effort on empty.

Tues 22nd: 7.5 miles in 50:09 (6:41)
Hard effort on hilly route down to Sandpit and back up. Really huffing and puffing on the last of the hills.

Weds 23rd: 4.1 miles in 29:20 (7:10)

Thursday 24th: 4.75 miles in 36:10 (7:37)
Steady Wednesday and windy slow runmute Thursday.

Friday afternoon: 1.55 miles in 8:04 (5:15)
Track session with my class. Something like 400-300-200-100-200-300-400 with first group, then 400-200-100-300 with second group. The faster stuff wrecks my legs, but the school kids prefer that to longer slower stuff. Good for them, good for me.
Pm: 4.75 miles in 36:38 (7:43)
Dragging myself home from school on tired legs running uphill into a strong wind. Not really fun.

Tuesday 6th Oct: 6 miles in 42:50 (7:08)

Thurs 8th: 4.8 miles in 34:55 (7:16)

Fri 9th: 4.8 miles in 37:25 (7:48)
Handy run around local roads Tuesday and running home from school Thursday and Friday.

Sunday 11th: 21.5 miles in 2:38 (7:22)

Big, tough session Sunday. Started off in Annagassan, couple of easy miles, then launched into 14 miles at PMP. I got lost a couple of times, and inadvertently ended up running on the beach for about half a mile! Not ideal. It was really tough holding pace for the last mile or two, and I was fairly wrecked with the last 5 slower miles to go. However, that’s the first time in a number of years I’ve done such a long PMP run on empty with no fueling, so very pleasing.
Fast miles as follows:
6:45, 6:51, 6:47, 6:45, 6:47, 6:52, 6:42, 6:43, 6:41, 6:42, 6:45, 6:44, 6:49, 6:50

Itziger wrote: »

Jaysis, lad, that's a monster session. Doing a virtual Dublin, are ya?

Cheers Itziger, it’s as hardy a session as I’ve done in 6 years, glad to get through it. Yeah, I’m going to do a virtual Dublin. I’ll throw on a fast pair of runners, fuel up, taper and give it a lash in a couple of weeks. How’s life with you?

Itziger wrote: »

I was down for Metz Marathon on Sunday but I tested fuppin positive for the Corona the other day. Went for the test on Friday afternoon - purely precautionary. They test A LOT here. That was my 4th - went for a 26k run on Saturday evening, a light jog on Sunday morn and got the positive result. on Sunday night/early Monday morning. 10 bloody days of isolation. Still working virtually, but can't get out of the house and can't run.

So, the Dublin run. Will you have any company? 26 miles is an awful long way on your own.

Hope your health recovers, that’s more important than any run!

I’ll have a few family and friends supporting me on the roads, I might try to see is anyone around aiming for a similar time to me, but I’m prepared to do it solo.

Look after yourself D

Dublin Virtual Marathon: 2:56:40

My first sub3 in 6 years. Weather not perfect, but I slept well, prepared well yesterday, and felt good this morning. Got going at 10. Settled into pace nicely, heading down to Tullyallen. Heart rate was high, around 180, for the first 7-8 miles. I was slightly concerned about this, but breathing was comfortable. Maybe adrenaline and running into the wind had heart pumping.
6:43, 6:47, 6:46, 6:50, 6:50, 6:48, 6:45, 6:46

Family were meeting me every 25-30 minutes, which was fantastic. I took a gel at each of these intervals so I wouldn’t have to carry drinks. Running out of Drogheda, along the Boyne estuary, heart dropped back to mid 160s. I was much happier with this. Pace felt fine. Light breeze was on my back for this section. The kids gave me great encouragement and really broke the race up for me. Passed halfway in about 1:28:40, feeling strong.
6:48, 6:45, 6:45, 6:47, 6:49

The section between Baltray and Clogherhead had a few little rises, but pace was still steady. Conditions were ideal, the Vaporfly felt great, everything going to plan. I tried not to run any miles faster than 6:45, as I felt that anything too aggressive would have negative consequences later, and with nobody to work off, really didn’t want to be in a bad place with a few miles to go. However, quads were starting to complain a little as I took on a couple of hilly sections around Clogherhead.
6:50, 6:43, 6:41, 6:44, 6:51, 6:41, 6:43

10k to go, I was down the coast by Port beach. Good running along those couple of miles, I knew I had time on my hands, but wasn’t taking anything for granted. As I turned east, up a couple of little rises, into the wind, I was getting a bit ragged. Up through Togher, the family were driving behind me on the quiet roads, encouraging me all the way. No way was I going to let it slip at this stage. Some young fella emerged from his house to go for a run right in front of me, and I used him as a target for a mile, until he decided to call it a day. I appreciated his efforts all the same. Top of the last hill, mile and a half to go. Last stretch, back down to the beach in Salterstown. Car full of support behind me, a random Garda traffic corps car the only car we met on the road, I got really pumped up, and went for broke with a mile to go. Took the phone out of my pocket to make sure the app wasn’t measuring less than the garmin. Only a 50m discrepancy. Charging down the road, sprinting for an imaginary line. Phone app said I was finished, garmin needed another bit. Kept pounding and crossed the second imaginary finish line.
6:42, 6:47, 6:49, 6:41, 6:45, 6:18, 6:13(pace)

6 years of near misses, hypothermia induced indifference, resurgence, more near misses, long courses, two more children, doubts and finally, a pandemic inspired base building, and I’ve run sub3 in unusual, but special circumstances. It wasn’t a race, but I’m counting that as a marathon. 2:56:35 according to the app, my 3rd fastest marathon. Immensely proud of that.

Peckham wrote: »

Great stuff. Enjoyed reading that. Congrats!

Thanks K, hope you’re all doing well. I’m delighted with Saturday, really savouring it.

Itziger wrote: »

Smashing run that. Fine report too!

Sounds like you had it under control the whole way. Impressive.

Did you treat yourself to a couple of pints afterwards?

Cheers D, yeah, it felt like I had it under control the whole time. Even with the couple of rocky miles, I wasn’t really suffering too badly. I had a couple of afternoon pints of Guinness at home, watching the rugby.
How you keeping, now you’re back on the road? Any ill effects?

jamule wrote: »

Great stuff lad, I heard rumours of your time from one of your students!

Ha, that’s gas... great bunch I have this year, they’re all becoming more dedicated athletes under my watch!

AuldManKing wrote: »

Fantastic performance - delighted to see this.

Thanks A, I hope you’re keeping well.

Sun 1st Nov: 6 miles in 41:02 (6:50)
Weds 4th, 4.8 miles in 34:50 (7:15)
Thurs 5th: 5.4 miles in 39:50 (7:23)
Fri 6th: 5k in 25:28 (8:04), 2 miles in 21:30 (10:45) pacing school kids at the track
Fri 6: 4.8 miles in 35:20 (7:22)
Sun 8th: 7.5 miles in 55:15 (7:22)
Weds 11th: 4.8 miles in 34:12 (7:08)
Thursday 12th: 4.7 miles in 33:20 (7:06)
Friday 13th: track with class 800, 800, 400, 400, 100x3, 400, 400, 800, 800
Then run home, 4.8 miles in 36:39 (7:38)
Sunday 15th: 7.5 miles in 55:58 (7:28)

Ticking over nicely this past couple of weeks, running home from school 3 days a week proving a great way to keep a decent level up with no time demands.

Long term, I’ve got Connemarathon to look forward to next April. Hopefully that will go ahead after two postponements. I’ve also booked flights to and registered for Cologne next October. It coincides with the tail end of Oktoberfest, so seems like a good idea!