Steady As She Goes

17/03/2021 - 5K - 18:02 (3:36/km) - Streets of Portlaoise 5K (Chip Time)

5K is a bit short to give be giving a detailed race report I think. I will just say that while this wasn't the time I wanted I gave this everything I had. There are no complaints, going faster just wasn't in the legs today. I feel I performed to my best on the day, my best just isn't quite where I had hoped it was. I will admit though it is painful being so close but not breaking the 18 again.

It was a fair course and there was a bit of a wind around which unfortunately was against you when the drags/hill came into play. But we had it twice in our back, for the 1st and last km so again can't complain about this too much. The first two km all went close enough to plan for pace but once the wind hit the face I just couldn't keep the speed up to where it needed to be. I won a few little personal battle along the way which was nice and while the clubmates I wanted to beat still finished ahead of me this is the closest I've been to them so progress is being made.

Overall the quality throughout the field was outstanding and a new course PB in for both male and female categories. 61 athletes in total under 17 mins which was fantastic to see. Some really impressive junior talent too not least one young kid, who was at the most 12 but I suspect younger, and was matching me stride for stride the majority of the way finishing just a couple of seconds behind in the end. Truly impressive stuff. I also had fantastic support throughout the course which really did help.

The one downside is that I seem to have strained my ankle/foot slightly on the sprint finish. I think it is ok, just a bit sore when putting pressure through the foot in one particular direction. Hopefully nothing major and a quick bit of rest will sort it out. I had been planning to get out tomorrow for a short recovery but that might wait a day.

In terms of what's next, I obviously have a couple or more races coming up but the main focus is to just increase the volume and quality of running. I want to try get up to 80K a week by the summer but I will continue to be cautious. I've also said this many times before but I really am going to make a proper effort to add in regular strength training. I know it looks like I'm not making that much progress but the last two and a bit months is just the start, I know I can get faster and start pushing these times down.

To anyone who read this, Happy St Patrick's day and enjoy the festivities.

21/03/2022 - 18.35K - 1:33:24 (5:05/km) HR - 129

Getting back into the swing of things with an easy long run. This distance and pace is feeling more and more comfortable and honestly felt more like a really long recovery than anything else. The average heart rate is coming down on this type of run too, good signs the aerobic base is getting stronger.

23/03/2022 - 11.4K - 49:50 (4:22/km) HR - 147

This was 4 x 6 mins of threshold effort running with 2 mins jog recovery and warm up and cool down either side. I'm using the Tinman calculator for pacing and this has my threshold of approx 3:52 - 3:58 so this was the target.

Interval 1 - 1.56K (3:51/km)

Interval 2 - 1.57K (3:50/km)

Interval 3 - 1.53K (3:55/km)

Interval 4 - 1.53K (3:55/km)

Both the 3rd and 4th interval started with a decent incline which slowed things down and I had to work a bit towards the end of them to get the average pace down but managed to do it.

I'm not used to running these type of interval based on time but I can see that it will definitely be a nice way to build up the threshold efforts gradually. So the plan will be to progress to 4 x 7 min, 4 x 8 min etc, until I'm up to something like 5 x 8, maybe 5 x 9 min but that is a good bit away yet.

Unfortunately I'm still having issues with my right ankle since the race and on both the above runs wasn't fully comfortable. The last time something like this happened I was able to keep running through it and it came right but I tried to get out for a run this morning and the discomfort is just not improving. It was going to be an easy run and probably would have got through it but pulled up after a few hundred meters because I know it is just not helping. So I'll take a small break with some RICE treatment until the weekend and hopefully that will improve things. If I need to take the weekend as a break too I will but I can get out for a cycle instead. Hopefully by next week at the latest I will be fully back into the swing of things.

Another small update after my follow up appointment with the musculoskeletal clinic yesterday. The good news is that the doctor I was dealing is quite confident it is not in fact a stress fracture, certainly not of any of the metatarsals. The pain is quite an odd one but I have figured out the origin is more around the ankle with pain radiating outwards along the top of the foot if it gets bad. The bad news is that there is still varying degrees of tenderness so it is still a mystery exactly what is happening. Next stop is an MRI so currently trying to get that sorted out. Unfortunately there looks to be a minimum 4 week waiting list anywhere I look. Hopefully I might get something sooner but this one is out of my control.

In the meantime the doctor has said that I can try a tentative return to running however if there are any signs of pain or overall worsening, then stop. I've been continuing with the cycling but also in the gym a couple of times a week so tried 15 minutes on the treadmill yesterday evening. Thankfully no pain while running and it has behaved itself relatively well since. Even with this licence to run I am going to be extremely cautious. My main focus will continue to be cycling as often as I can to maintain the aerobic base, right now about 5/6 days a week. However for the rest of the week I will try a couple more runs on the treadmill increasing the time a bit. If this all goes ok I might start to venture back outside next week but flat surfaces. I'm not expecting to be back to 60K+ weeks until after getting a proper diagnosis but if I could even manage a handful of easy mid distance runs a week it would be fantastic in the meantime.

It is frustrating that I have 2 races coming up in the next few weeks with one supposed to be this weekend but I will just have to put these to the back of my mind. Focus on everything I do have control over. I am continuing with the gym work also and I have been getting my diet back into better order the past two weeks. Whenever I do get back fully I am determined to be stronger, leaner and as best prepared as possible. This year still has a lot to offer.

31/08/2022 - 10.2K - 1:09:15 (6:47/km) - HR - 118

My partner is getting into running after giving up her other contact sports due to a broken ankle earlier in the year so I've been getting out on some runs with her. This was her first time getting up to the 10K distance so took it nice and slow.

02/09/2022 - 8K - 39:25 (4:55/km) - HR - 137

06/09/2022 - 11.1K - 54:06 (4:53/km) - HR - 144

07/09/2022 - 6.8K - 41:45 (6:09/km) - HR - 124

08/09/2022 - 8K - 33:18 (4:08/km) - HR - 158

My first attempt at a bit of a longer tempo session. I was tipping along comfortably at 4:05 pace for the first 5K but then came to a hill and I just have no strength over them at the moment and no speed endurance so struggled the rest of the way home closer to 4:15 pace.

11/09/2022 - 13K - 1:01:13 (4:42/km) - HR - 145

This was sort of a progression run. In hindsight I shouldn't have done this after a tempo session.

12/09/2022 - 8.4K - 42:32 (5:04/km) - HR - 135

13/09/2022 - Turbo Trainer - 50 mins

14/09/2022 - 11/4K - 53:33 (4:42/km) - HR - 143

17/09/2022 - 6.2K - 31:24 (5:03/km) - HR - 142

18/09/2022 - Cycle - 42.7K - 1:26:37 (29.6 kph)

19/09/2022 - 8.4K - 47:30 (5:02/km) - HR - 135

21/09/2022 - 11.4K - 52:09 (4:34/km) - HR - 149

This was my first interval session of 4 x 6 mins at tempo pace with 90 secs jog recovery. I'm trying to avoid doing this on just a flat loop as I want to include the variation you get in races. The first 2 intervals I felt strong but a bit fast averaging 3:55 pace but they probably had a small bit of a slight decent on them. Just the way the loop worked out the next two had some big inclines in them and came in at 4:18 and 4:14 pace. I expected as much and it doesn't look great but with time the strength over the hills will come back.

23/09/2022 - 15K - 1:14:04 (4:56/km) - HR - 142

Longest run since getting back but pace was too quick

24/09/2022 - 5K - 19:37 (3:54/km) - HR - 158

To round off the week running wise I decided to give the local parkrun a go. I thought I might go a bit faster but the weeks running definitely had the legs a bit tired. Still not terrible.

25/09/2022 - Cycle - 106K - 4:02:45 (26.2 kph)

This was the Great Dublin Bike Ride, a friend had convinced me to do it over the summer when I was doing all my cycling. I was dreading it having not doing nearly as much cycling over the past while but I enjoyed it. Apart from a bit of a stiff back the body actually didn't feel too tired after it.

27/09/2022 - 11.4K -1:01:45 (5:26/km) - HR - 131

The body was in fact very tired after that cycle 😅. I just went out at any easy feeling pace not really paying attention to the watch. The first 3K of this was closer to 5:35 pace but I really thought I was going faster. Kept to the easy pace though and treated it as a nice recovery.

28/09/2022 - 11.6K - 58:13 (5:04/km) - HR - 135

29/09/2022 - 8K - 40:47 (5:05/km) - HR - 132

A few good weeks of running with the knee holding up. In addition to all the above I am trying to get to the gym a minimum of twice a week, mostly 3 times for S&C work. There are still some types of movements that my knee is not fully comfortable with, mostly twisting but running in a straight line is ok.

I'm happy enough to be where I am right now but would like to try push the mileage a bit. I've a trip to the physio next week and will get his opinion on it. In general I know my paces are not optimal, running my "slow" or aerobic stuff a bit too fast. I will sort this out. I'm also going to continue with the interval work I did two weeks ago and just slowly build up the overall time at tempo pace in this session, so next will be 5 x 5 mins, then 4 x 7 mins, etc. I'll also get back out onto the hills and build that strength back.

In the very short term I'm actually going to do a race tomorrow, the Simon Home Run. I signed up for this when it was initially supposed to be on earlier in the year, March I think? But completely forgot about it until I got a package in the post with my number and t-shirt. I've no real expectations doing it and it really won't suit the fact I am lacking strength over hills right now with the finish up Kyber Road. But I'll give a good go, I'm going to be ambitious and try hold 4:00/km pace and will be very happy if I manage that.

04/10/22 - 15.33K - 1:18:51 (5:09/km) - HR - 141

I wasn't quite sure about which day I would do what run on but I woke up very early in the morning and headed to the gym deciding that I would go for run in the evening. I did a bit of leg work, nothing crazy but enough that I didn't want to do any quick running in the evening so decided on the long run. I tried out a new route which involved running some nice hills on grass. The conditions of the day and underfoot made this a bit tougher than I expected and it aggravated the knee a small bit. Got home from this a bit worried but just tightness and no pain thankfully. A bit of rolling and massaging had it feeling a bit better. I think this route would actually be great for building strength in general but I have to be cautious with my knee so will stay away from it for the time being.

05/10/22 - 8.21K - 41:32 (5:05/km) - HR - 139

A straightforward easy run. My only concern was how my knee would feel but thankfully it was ok. Again I did this in the evening and the body definitely feels a bit more tired, heart rate a bit higher etc. I think I'm just used to early morning running.

06/10/22 - 11.1K - 49:59 (4:30/km) - HR - 149

The 5 x 5 min session. I had physio in the afternoon and didn't want to go out after this as I knew my body and muscles would be pretty tired. This meant an early morning run after a run the evening before, not ideal but the lesser of two evils. Again I choose a loop that would have some undulations in it. The pace for the intervals were 3:57, 3:54, 4:01, 3:59, 4:05. A bit more consistent than last time and the last interval was into a nice little headwind. I found the pace tougher than I was expecting and my legs were definitely tired. Happy to get the session in tough, I just need to be confident the strength will return.

08/10/22 - 7.82K - 34:19 (4:23/km) - HR - 155

Back to my run in the hills which I really value, two hard laps in the woods. Based on how I have felt recently over hills I was expecting or should I say would have been happy with something under 36 mins for this so I was very pleased with the time I managed. It is still 2 minutes off where I was 6 months ago but a really good first outing back here. Even better my knee held up very well with the fast downhills which can really take a toll on that area.

10/10/22 - Turbo Trainer - 28.3K - 1:00:00

Unfortunately I didn't manage to get out on Sunday and would have liked to go out today to make up for it but want to keep to my schedule of the days that I run and didn't want 6 days of running this week. As an alternative I did a bit of a spin on the turbo trainer early in the morning. I think I might try get one of these in every week if I can going forward.

The goal this week is to get the 5 days of running in with a 4 x 7 mins session and I've yet to decide between a parkrun at the weekend or the hills again. It will depend on whatever else I have going on.

Thanks AMK I appreciate it!!!

11/10/22 - 15K - 1:15:37 (5:02/km) - HR - 134

The longest run of the week. Nothing really much to comment on here other than I probably ran this a bit too fast. The heart is slowly coming down which is good though.

12/10/22 - 8.26K - 44:42 (5:25/km) - HR - 129

I set out to run this at a pace of around 5:05-5:10 but the legs felt tired so listened to the body and slowed it down further. During the run the heart rate was a bit elevated for the pace I was doing so it was definitely the right decision.

13/10/22 - 11.7K - 51:39 (4:25/km) - HR - 147

A solid session of 4 x 7 min off 90s jog. The main goal was to try keep the pace even and hopefully not let the hills impact me too much. The average pace for the 4 were 3:57, 3:59, 3:59, 3:56 with the last two containing the inclines. Thankfully I felt stronger than two weeks ago on the same route and could pick the pace up more on the downhill to counter the lost time going uphill. The easier pace the previous day definitely had the legs feeling fresher too.

Still undecided what I will do at the weekend but more than likely some hills.

03/11/22 - 15K - 1:06:46 (4:27/km) - HR - 150

A session of 4 x 8 mins with 90 sec jog recovery and w/u, c/d either side. I really wasn't looking forward to this, it was going to hurt. I didn't feel fantastic on the 2K w/u and the HR was a bit high but this can often be the case. Kicked into gear on the first rep and felt really strong at the pace I was going, had to tell myself to pull back as I knew what was coming. The 2nd and 3rd reps had some inclines in them both overall not too bad, the 4th started with a nice incline but thankfully finished downhill. I find as the length of these sessions are going up the 90 sec recovery is getting tougher but that is to be expected I guess.

The average paces for the 4 were 3:55, 3:59, 4:00, 3:59. This is right around where I would like to think my current 10K pace is. Starting the 3rd rep I really didn't think I was going to be able to keep the pace as well as I did is so very happy with this. The plan is to continue building this with 3 more sessions of 5 x 7, 4 x 9 and 5 x 8 and stay here at approx 40 mins total and then try to work on improving pace. In the future then I'll mix it up between 5 x 8, 4 x 10, 3 x 14, maybe even a 2 x 20.

05/11/22 - 7.83K - 33:35 (4:17/km) - HR - 154

Back to hills this weekend. It was a lovely morning so no rain but I was still anticipating lots of leaves on the ground which turned out to be case. This made it very soft and slippy underfoot so not expecting anything too quick. I was very pleasantly surprised then to take almost 40s off my last effort here and I felt like I probably had even a bit more left in the tank this time. The training is definitely moving in the right direction.

06/11/22 - 8.4K - 42:17 (5:02/km) - HR - 136

Rounding off the week with a shorter easy effort in my newly purchased Endorphin Speed 3's. I have been swapping between two pairs of Endorphin Speed 2's and a pair of Triumph's. Since the 3 month break though the two pair of speeds feel like they have lost stability and I'm collapsing in them a lot more than I ever noticed before. As good an excuse as ever for a new pair of runners. The Speed 3's definitely have a different feel just standing in them but just as comfortable to run in. I'm not sure they feel like they have as much pop as the Speed 2's but that is hard to say on an easy effort. I'm looking forward to using them in my next session!

Unfortunately my next two weeks are going to involve a lot of travelling for work so I might not be able to get in everything I want to but I will do my best.

15/11/22 - 18.2K - 1:36:12 (5:18/km) - HR - 128

Back to a Tuesday long run. I really wanted to keep this at an easy pace so was very conscious to not push at all, slowing down on inclines and keeping it easy on downhills. It definitely felt slow, my breathing was very controlled and the legs felt pretty good. An average HR below 130 and no HR creep towards the end which are all good signs.

16/11/22 - 10K - 49:35 (4:57/km) - HR - 132

The distance on this is a bit questionable as the GPS seems to have went a bit crazy in the middle. It has happened before in the exact same location which is very odd. The average pace for the first 8.5K or so was closer to 5:10 and I threw in 4 strides at the end of somewhere between 30 to 40 secs. I'm finding my legs feeling very sluggish with the easy efforts and I think the body sometimes needs a reminder of what running with a higher cadence is like. I think I need to throw these in at least once if not twice a week going forward.

17/11/22 - 15K - 1:07:30 (4:30/km) - HR - 145

The big session of the week, 5 x 7 mins with 90 sec recovery. The previous two days I was still suffering a bit of DOMS from some gym work at the weekend but that had mostly gone away thankfully. My groin was also feeling a bit tight on the previous easy run too so was a bit wary of that but it held up well enough. I found this really tough going to be honest and struggled to hit my goal pace of 4:00/km. The legs were just tired and didn't have the stamina needed. The average paces for each interval ended up being 3:58, 4:01, 4:08, 4:09, 4:01.

Looking back to understand why I was feeling like this I realised that including this run over the past 7 days I had actually clocked over 80K. This was just due to trying to catch up on mileage last week after travelling. But this was a big increase in mileage for a 7 day block so the fatigue does make sense in this context.

Unfortunately travelling from tomorrow until Thursday so I'm not sure exactly how much running I will be able to get in but a lower mileage week might not be a bad thing. It also coincidentally might work quite well with the timing of our Masters cross country race (my first year to be eligible) which I've just learned turns out to be on the 27th of this month. I wasn't anticipating doing this but since the timing might work out well in terms of being fresh and it is only 6K I think it will be good to get a bit of practice in before the Senior. This category is stacked in our county though so I certainly won't be expecting anything, hopefully just make our team.

A busy period of races coming up soon so, I didn't think I'd be saying that a few months ago.

29/11/22 - 19K - 1:35:33 (5:01/km) - HR 135

I wasn't sure about doing a long run the week of a race but I figured the previous week had been low enough mileage and there was still plenty of time for the legs to recover before Saturday. The first 14K of this was closer to 5:10 pace but the last few the pace picked up between some downhills and then trying to get past school traffic on the paths/roads. A nice run overall.

30/11/22 - 8K - 41:00 (5:07/km) - HR 137

The plan was for an easier shorter run with some strides to feel a bit of speed in the legs. I did 6 strides and taking those out the average pace was closer to 5:20/km but the legs felt so flat, absolutely no pop, and the HR was high too for the pace I was going. The strides were a struggle and not particularly fast. I was dreading the thought of racing at the weekend with the legs feeling as they were. Hopefully just tiredness from the long run the day before.

01/12/22 - 10.15K - 50:42 (5:00/km) - HR 136

Another easy effort on a flatter route with a short effort (600m) close to race pace towards the end. I put in the short race pace effort just again to remind the legs of what some speed felt like and to see how they were feeling. Better than the day before but still not fantastic. Thankfully a full days rest to come.

03/12/22 - 5K - 17:57 (3:35/km) - HR 155 (Jingle Bells 5K)

I was feeling very apprehensive about this because I really didn't know what sort of shape I was in and the week of running leading up to this wasn't giving me confidence. Woke up an hour before the alarm was set for but couldn't get back to sleep thinking about the race.

This did give me the chance to get there nice and early and not have to worry about parking etc. After the usual warm up I was feeling pretty good, the legs felt like they had recovered well, the weather was also pretty good, no major wind, no rain and not too chilly. My plan was to try to hold 3:40 pace as best I could and that would bring me in under 18:30 and maybe a big last 1K would get me closer to 18 flat. There was the usual bit of standing around which I really don't like but always get at this size of a race, thankfully soon enough we were all starting to get in position. I wasn't sure exactly where to start but didn't want to be too far back, a couple of rows deep I figured would be ok. I was prepared for a sudden start after the Simon Home run a few weeks ago so I was on the look out for a sudden bang.

The first kilometer was just about dodging in and out of any slower runners and getting into a decent flow. I stuck to the outside of the road to make this a bit easier, not the most efficient racing line but probably the most efficient overall. Had a look down at the watch and the pace was going between 3:40 and 3:45, a bit slower than I had wanted but still roughly in line with the plan. There was also a small bit of a drag turning onto Chesterfield Ave so to be expected. The 1st K went through in 3:43 not ideal but I was feeling strong and my HR wasn't quite as high as I thought it should be so I decided to try to keep working my way up the field going along Chesterfield Ave. This was a bit of a mixed bag as some people passed me and I passed a few others. I felt like I was working much harder than those around me so thought maybe I'm pushing a bit too hard. Looked down at the watch and the pace was going between 3:40 and 3:35, yep probably a bit too hard but to hell with it, lets keep it going.

The 2nd K ticked off in 3:36, the pace had definitely picked up and I knew from my breathing I was working hard. We were getting close to the turn for the Ordinance Survey Rd and I was trying to track a runner in a red shirt who seemed to have had a similar journey to me so far. There was a group of maybe 10 in front and we were closing on them so I fought the urge to ease off and just thought to myself, get up to them and stick in. As we caught them the 3rd K flashed up as a 3:35 and the average pace was starting to get lower. I was really struggling but it was probably at this point that I thought I might actually be in with a chance of something really unexpected here.

On the 4th K I was determined to stick with red shirt guy but he had no interested in hanging onto the group we just caught and flew by so I did the same. There was another group a few meters in front and we caught up to them quite quickly. I knew the downhill was coming soon so I was really just trying to hang on with everything I had. The 4th K went through in 3:32 and the average pace had come down to 3:36, I knew an average of 3:35 meant I would be a second or two either side of 18 flat and the downhill was starting. I tried my best to pick up the pace and really push but my legs were spent. At this stage people I had passed previously were overtaking me and red shirt guy moved on too, but I didn't care, just focus on not slowing down. The last 150 to 200m or so flattens out, maybe a small incline even. I saw an average pace of 3:35 on the watch and gave it everything I could and I stopped the watch at 17:57, a final K of 3:30. I was going to need to wait for the official results to see if I had actually broken the 18 mins.

Official chip time 17:57 and a 2 second PB. I am simply thrilled with the result, I never thought this was on the cards at all. The nature of the course obviously helped but I'm not going to let that diminish how I feel about it. Also for the first time ever negative splits on each K, 3:42, 3:36, 3:35, 3:32, 3:30.

04/12/22 - 11.1K - 56:08 (5:04/km) - HR 127

From the highs of the race to the lows of reality. I had planned to get out for a nice easy run to round off a great week and all was going well until about 8K when the pain in my left knee returned. Since getting back I've had a few little niggles in it while running but not quite the same as the one back in April however this was very similar. It wasn't as severe and I was getting a small bit of relief actually picking up the pace and running on the balls of my feet rather than midsole landing when going easy. I struggled home and hoped it was something simple that caused it and I actually believe it was. Namely the runners I used. I decided to use a pair of old Speeds 2, to give the legs an easier time, but there is something not quite right with them and my knee seems to roll inwards in these particular. They won't be seeing daylight again I think.

Thankfully the pain from my last run stopped immediately after the run, a good sign compared to April. It's been ok also walking so I'm really hoping it was a freak reoccurrence due to bad choice of footwear. I'm quite nervous to go out tomorrow for my long run but I will start off easy and any hint of the same pain stop and reassess. I've was due to have a physio appointment next week anyway so won't have to wait too long until that.

This has sort of taking the shine off the race for me but forgetting about injuries for the moment I am so pleased with how it went. I'm definitely getting stronger mentally during a race like this, the bigger tempo/threshold session I've been doing has really helped here. It's also shown me that I don't necessarily need to be doing the quicker interval/critical velocity type of work to be able to run these paces. Although I wouldn't mind throwing one of those sessions in every so often, they are just harder on the body.

In even bigger news I made quite an impulsive decision and signed up for a marathon next year. I really want to do one before it's too late so why not just go for it now. It is going to be Amsterdam next October, no particular reason for that one other than the reviews say it's fast course and I've never raced abroad before. If I'm going to do something like this I might as well go all out. It is also not a lottery. I'm reluctant to set any targets right now given my inexperience at this type of distance and my injury profile but my ego automatically says target a sub 3. I do think I have the ability for something like that but for your first marathon it's very unlikely.

Anyway I'm not going to think about it too seriously until next year other than knowing I'm committing to doing it and fully commit to the training. In the short term, I am due to run our senior cross country in two weeks time but depending on my knee this may or may not happen. Looking a bit further ahead my next target is the Streets of Portlaoise 5K in March and to build the mileage a bit more. I want to try to take a big chunk off this PB and get well down in the 17 mins if possible. That will leave me with 5 months to get into marathon shape. I'm sure anyone reading this will think I'm being a bit naive aiming for a marathon with my history of injuries, I know I would, but I'm determined to get this right too. I'll be consulting and seeing my physio regularly throughout this and I will absolutely commit to the badly needed strength training to try and remedy these issues.

Exciting times ahead!!!

Thanks Unknownability I appreciate it. From everything I've read it sounds like a great marathon. Do you have a target time in mind?

06/12/22 - 13.26K - 1:07:04 (5:04/km) - HR - 137

I was quite nervous with how my knee had been feeling so I did a route that gave me a few different exit points at various distances in case I felt like I needed to stop. I was initially planning something between 17K to 19K but decided to finish up a bit earlier as I could start to feel it a bit particularly on a long downhill. Not ideal but still decent enough. HR was a bit high throughout for the pace I was going.

07/12/22 - 9.5K - 48:12 (5:04/km) - HR - 138

Had to take an early morning trip to Naas to do some dog sitting for the day so went extra early to get this in. Just an out and back route keeping to pace even and minding the knee. It felt ok on this no pain thankfully, HR quite high again though, maybe the colder weather?

08/12/22 - 13.6K - 59:23 (4:22/km) - HR - 151

A session of 4 x 8 min - avg paces of 3:55, 3:51, 3:52, 3:49

I was quite nervous about doing this with both my knee and the weather so I decided to not increase the length of the intervals to 9 mins which would have the plan and I also decided against the usual loop and went to the park close by doing laps of that. There was less chance of slippy paths there and it also kept me max 2.5K away from home if my knee did act up. It did mean significantly less elevation changes so I could increase the pace a small bit. I was happy to be able to keep it up for the 3rd and 4th intervals and no issues with the knee. A nice mornings work.

10/12/22 - 11.3K - 51:36 (4:35/km) - HR - 148

The plan for today was supposed to be a Parkrun with my partner and to pace her for a PB attempt (sub 28 min) but her flight the night before got cancelled and nearby Parkruns were cancelled so not to be. I wasn't quite sure where would be best to attempt to run with the freezing conditions but for some reason thought the Phoenix Park would be a good spot. I wanted to try a bit a longer marathon pace effort and take an extra day off Sunday. The park however was not a good spot for this 😅, paths and roads untreated and the trails a mixture of frozen solid and muck. I did my best anyway alternating between path, road and trail depending on the conditions. From an effort point of view this felt much tougher than the pace suggests.

12/12/22 - 8.05K - 40:07 (4:59/km) - HR - 132 (Treadmill)

I just can't trust the conditions around at the moment especially in the early morning but luckily I can get to the gym to use the treadmill. Nothing really noteworthy on this.

13/12/22 - 17K - 1:22:32 (4:52/km) - HR - 132 (Treadmill)

God the treadmill is boring! I don't normally listen to anything when I run but I think I'm going to have to start for the next few days. The first 12K of this at 5:00/km pace and then a progressive 5K finishing at 4:00/km to get a bit of pace into the legs and to keep things somewhat entertaining.

The knee is feeling a small bit better thankfully but starting to get a bit of pain in my hip on the opposite side. The body just seems to be struggling a bit at the moment, thankfully I've a session with the physio tomorrow. It is looking likely that I will be running our senior cross country at the weekend, 10K of torture, especially if the weather is as forecast. We still need one more for a team and I'm hoping we can get someone. If we don't have a team I'll consider not running at all, just to minimize risk. Either way after this weekend I am going to pull back the mileage a bit for the rest of the month, maybe just do 3 runs a week, and focus a bit more on strength work. I've had some nice consistency for the last 3 months but the body is obviously sending me a few signals so I need to listen and give it a bit of a break. Hopefully then I can kick on in January, get another solid block in and try to smash my 5K PB in March.

19/12/22 - 8K - 50:24 (6:18/km) - HR - 126

The gf is back and wanted to get out for a run so obliged but the legs were definitely feeling rough after the cross country.

21/12/22 - 11.43K - 55:56 (4:54/km) - HR - 141

22/12/22 - 8.41K - 40:58 (4:52/km) - HR - 137

23/12/22 - 16.26K - 1:15:23 (4:38/km) - HR - 147

24/12/22 - 11.1K - 54:50 (4:56/km) - HR - 135

25/12/22 - 6.25K - 30:40 (4:55/km) - HR - 139

26/12/22 - 7.65K - 42:52 (5:36/km) - HR - 115

An annual Stephens Day charity run organized by our club. It is always good to catch up with a few people and nice easy post Christmas day jog.

28/12/22 - 22.32K - 1:45:12 (4:46/km) - HR - 141

I wanted to do something to round the year off but wasn't quite sure what. There was the 10K on New Years Eve in Fermoy I did last year but my legs were still feeling like rubbish after the cross country so I scratched that idea. A 5K time trial was my other idea but again similarly that wasn't happening so I decided on a longer slower effort. This started off slower, approx 5 min pace, and the pace progressed as I went on but I'll be honest I struggled a bit towards the end of it.

30/12/22 - 10.27K - 51:47 (5:03/km) - HR - 131

31/12/22 - 3.92K - 25:20 (6:28/km) - HR - 121

- 3.92K - 16:35 (4:13/km) - HR - 156

I had challenged the gf to do a lap of the woods I like to run but she had picked up Covid during Christmas so unfortunately was out of action for a few days. Fair play to her though she decided to do it as her first run back, a tough ask. She toughed it out well and no stopping. I did another lap on my own afterwards. Felt like I was going faster than the time suggested but it is probably the first run in two weeks since the cross country where I felt like my legs had any pop in them so very happy with that.

01/01/23 - 14.51K - 1:10:33 (4:52/km) - HR - 137

02/01/23 - 8.5K - 51:03 (6:01/km) - HR - 114

This obviously hasn't been the year I was hoping for, especially after like last year ended so well but I still managed just over 1000 miles of running for the year with 1640km according to Strava and about the same in cycling. Despite the 5K time a few weeks ago I still don't think I'm quite back to where I was 12 months ago in overall aerobic fitness but I'm not far off. With everything that has happened though I have continued to learn about what does and doesn't work for body. Even just the past few weeks I've been back in the gym again much more regularly and the difference it has made to my knee is huge. Going forward strength and conditioning is no longer something that is nice to do but a must do.

Moving forward I couldn't be more motivated for the year to come now that I have finally committed to a marathon. Before that and along the way I will be hoping for a few other PB's but the main goal this year will be crossing that finish line in October. I obviously have big hopes for what I would like to do timewise but I'm under no illusions about the work and training needed and I can't wait.

Best of luck to all those with their running goals for the new year!!!

03/01/23 - 11.41K - 58:07 (5:06/km) - HR - 133

04/01/23 - 9.16K - 57:40 (6:18/km) - HR - 123

05/01/23 - 13.03K - 1:06:01 (5:04/km) - HR - 132

07/01/23 - 5K - 18:51 (3:45/km) - HR - 159

The gf was heading back to the UK after the weekend but wanted to get in one more parkrun before going back but she wanted to run at her own pace and let me go off on my own. Over the past few months another guy and myself have coincidentally turned up at the same parkrun's and he has always beaten me between 10 and 30 seconds and of course he was there again. Neither of us are regulars so I was laughing about it with him beforehand. It was a very blustery day with the wind head on for the first half of this out and back loop. He took out the pace as expected and had the usual 20 sec gap but slowed down less than 1K in. I thought to myself maybe he's struggling so got up onto his shoulder and tried to push past. Rookie mistake, he latched in and used me to break the wind. I could hear from his breathing he was relatively comfortable compared to myself so was just waiting for what was to come. He picked his mark perfectly, just after a little climb at 3.5K he blew by and I couldn't do anything.

I wasn't quite all out on this but still wouldn't have got the better of him, his time will come though. I was happy enough with the pacing of the run 3:45, 3:48, 3:48, 3:43, 3:45.

10/01/23 - 13.04K - 59:24 (4:33/km) - HR - 150

Took a few days off before the gf headed back so a lighter week with only 48K but into serious training mode again. Today was a return to threshold sessions. I attempted a 4 x 8 min off 90 sec recovery with the usual warm up/cool down either side and targeting 4:00/km pace.

The actual paces were: 4:00, 4:00, 4:04, 4:10 so unfortunately slowed down considerably on the last one. To be fair a large amount of this was into a strong headwind but the legs were also pretty dead at this stage. I was probably being a bit optimistic going straight back into 32 mins of hard running.

11/01/23 - 11.08K - 56:30 (5:06/km) - HR - 138

I should also have mentioned that I did a fairly heavy gym session on the Monday (the 9th) working the hamstring and glutes hard and the DOMS really kicked in on this day. I felt like I was waddling for the first 2K but eventually loosened up. The pace was ok but heart rate a bite higher than I would like.

I had a massage from the physio later this evening which nearly killed me with the combined pain from his normal massaging and the DOMS on top of it. Felt much better afterwards though.

12/01/23 - 16.51K - 1:21:35 (4:56/km) - HR - 141

I was hoping for a run closer to 19K for my long run but left it a bit later than I should have getting out in the morning so had to make do with what I could. The pace was probably a bit quicker than I would have liked too for the same reason.

13/01/23 - 6.75K - 38:33 (5:42/km) - HR - 132

A proper recovery run, I made sure to keep the pace in check. Again the heart rate was a bit high but the effort was low and legs felt good afterwards.

14/01/23 - 12K - 53:03 (4:25/km) - HR - 151

I had wanted to get out for my hill session in the woods but could only get my run in before daylight so that was unfortunately not an option. Ended up then with a 2K w/u, 8K tempo, 2K c/d. The average pace for the 8K was about 4:08/km but started slower at 4:15 and picked up to 3:55 for the last 1K. This is probably the best I've felt on a run for a few weeks now. I was really feeling comfortable picking the pace up towards the end.

15/01/23 - 10.28K - 50:45 (4:56/km) - HR - 137

A steady 10K to round the week off bringing the total for the week to just shy of 70K.

Last week was my highest mileage week in about 2.5 years which is really saying something as it isn't that much at all. Back then during lockdown I had ramped up quite quickly and threw in a few 80K weeks and broke down quite quickly. Ever since any attempts to increase the mileage has resulted in injuries again. Thankfully my body is feeling as good as it has since March injury wise. The S&C work over the past few weeks is really paying off. I have a good structure at the moment which is working so will try to keep it up. My week at the moment looks roughly like this.

Monday - Rest

Tuesday - Threshold

Wednesday - Easy

Thursday - Long run

Friday - Recovery

Saturday - Hills/Tempo

Sunday - Easy

I am also getting in one weighted S&C session a week and a couple of other body weight sessions. In saying all this the next week or two might look a bit different as I'm considering a local 10 mile race this weekend. It's a tough one with a lot of undulation but I've wanted to race this distance for a while. I know I'm not in peak condition for it but it is still tempting me. It's 2 months out to my next race target so I guess I need to think about what benefit I will actually get from doing it vs disrupting one or two weeks of routine. It is probably not worth it and I'll hopefully get the chance to race this distance during my marathon training block. However if due to the cold conditions I'm not able to get out on the roads in the mornings that might make it a bit more appealing. I'll continue as planned for the moment and see how the week goes.