Catweazles Half-Ironman or Chicken challenge

Saturday turned out to be a great run. My wife is laughing with me as I keep checking mapmyrun to make sure of the distance. My plan was to run the Galway Bay Half marathon and then go back up the prom again, up threadneedle road and then down through Taylors Hills one more loop of South Park would then give me 20 miles. I forgot about the parking charges and when I got there decided to go to the prom and park there. I think this is where i went wrong and instead of finishing the half marathon there I ran out the south park loop and back before I decided i had done the half marathon. So in the end of it all it looks like i did just over 22 miles....in less time than I did the 20 miles the previous time. So I am well happy with that especially as I ran flat out the final mile and felt good.

I certainly think the run on saturday helped, the plan is designed to make me go out slightly tired on sunday to replicate the marathon so i had a rest day on friday beforehand this time. I think the gels must have helped too had one on mile 12 and one at 17, all in all I am delighted as it looks like progress is being made.

Didnt do much today, went down to the Predator Duathlon, met Ronanmac looks very fit, think he might have been close to a top 10 finish. Its almost like a dating service first time i have ever met someone I know on-line in the flesh. :P Did 10k today on the bike more testing out the tri bars!

I have a secret time in mind of course Dusty but I dont have the confidence or knowledge yet to call it. I have one more 20 mile run to do and the plan calls me to do it within 45 seconds of my pmp, if I can run that fairly comfortably.......... You might squeeze a time out of me then, although with all the hills in Connemara and having never raced it I might be leaving myself a little hostage to fortune.

I know a good few people who were at the 4.15/4.30 mark at their attempts which I was surprised at as they are better runners than me so I have a healthy respect for the marathon at this stage

But yes I am much happier with the running than a few weeks ago

8.4k at lunch today in 44 minutes, went outside again, I have still yet to get caught in the rain this year yet. Who would have thought that starting out??

20k on the thursday turbo session, vo2 max sessions followed by a session of low gears at cadence 120 or above, dont have the technique to stay consistently at that cadence. About 115 was all i could muster steadily, my pedaling was terrible although the rest of the crew were struggling too.

Might have scored an entry into Craughwell this weekend but I mightnt be able to go, some family stuff may be called for over this weekend

Good to hear, theres not too much around Galway after this weekend until Connemara, I am dodgy for Craughwell now myself, heading to Dublin later today but I hope to have the green light to leave early sunday to get down for it. You should be aiming for around the 70 minutes judging from your run in Tuam if your many injuries keep away. I will be happy enough to break 80, I should do that although the legs have been very heavy all week so maybe not

Hal Higdons Intermediate 2, its an 18 week plan, I mainly did it because the few guys I know who ran Dublin last year said they were sorry they didnt run more 20 milers.

The cross train instead of a rest day on monday appealed as well above the novice program seeing as my main focus for the year are the triathlons.

It wasnt too bad week 4-8 were the hardest as I wasnt used to it but all in all I was glad I stuck with it and didnt go down to novice

Friday was rest day so went for 1000m swim easy pace

Up to Dublin for the weekend but was well behaved all weekend so got the all clear for Craughwell 10 mile this morning. Went out for dinner saturday night but thought I was chancing it refusing drink as race approval on sunday wasnt discussed at that stage. So a good few pints down, enjoyed that.

Flew down on sunday morning the new road is great, I might consider some Dublin tris this year as it is so easy to get there.

Arrived in Craughwell early as I was bumming an entry off a drop out, a great set up, got a pre race massage to get the stiffness out of the legs. The target was sub 80 minutes which to be honest I felt wasnt too testing. But I am in sales and we dont like setting too testing a target

No garmin or watch so spotted a lad who finished just ahead of me in Tuam 8k and decided I would stick to him. He runs with the local club. Nice fella asked him was he targeting sub 80 and he said he was so off we went. I felt we were going at a serious pace so first thing I asked him after mile 3 was the pace off his garmin...he wouldnt tell me just said we were doing fine.

Was wrecked after 5 and there was a timer there, 36.15, at this stage I was really struggling and the pace was 1.30 quicker than I did the Tuam 8k. Said goodbye to my partner up a nasty hill at 6 (flat my arse) and just dug in for the rest of the run. Finished in just over 75 minutes.There was a 10k marker also and I beat my best 10k by almost two minutes as well

I will be more careful about my strategy in Connemara, to be honest I have had more enjoyable races, I was grinding from mile 5 on. Start slower and finish stronger is much better for the head. Its funny since xmas it is my legs that have ran out of steam, this race it clearly was the top half that was the problem, blowing really hard near the end

I think this run will grow from here, fairly flat, reasonable price and great refreshments and food after the race. Got another massage for my troubles as well after. He was encouraging said my legs were in great shape after the race. A good day out.

Met Ronanmac and Pgibbo after two seriously quick times there

How could you have missed me littlebug?? Heres me on the left, RonanMac and Pgibbo (hunk in the shirt) discussing the race after, not sure who the guy in the hat is though

Macanri my pints intake has gone down a lot, a nice few pints would have been 8-10 a few years back, 4 the last day had me well merry! Well done on your own race thats a very high placing for your first event, its looking like you will have a very good year.

Yer man giving me the massage Dusty was an ex pro cyclist, he was telling me that he would expect to do 20k in around 24-25 minutes :eek:

If the jogger was wearing a silly white golf hat It was indeed, did you notice the injection of pace as i was coming near the house!!

Had to go out this morning or not at all as I was up in Donegal for work today, enjoyed it, I think I will start doing that more often once the marathon is out of the way. Its lovely in weather like this anyways.

Yesterday the legs were stiff as boards so packed up the swim after 500m for stretching and a jacussi session. Legs were still stiff this morning but loosened up after a while. 5 miles in 44 minutes.

I might do that bus trip if Mrs C is interested, a part of me though is thinking what I dont know wont hurt me. That will set me thinking tonight, to know the course is it an advantage or a disadvantage!

Thursday Lunchtime Run - Nothing special here 8k in 43 minutes, this new watch seems to spike more than my old one, started off around 238, settled down to 120's after a few minutes but back well over the 200's near the end. Ended up with an average of 145.

Thursday Evening - Turbo session with class, I can see spikes again but we were doing 3 minutes vo2 max sessions so these might be right. Had a max of 198 on the first one, probably a spike I wasnt that shagged, the last one was 178 which is probably right, highest I have ever got my heart rate on the turbo.

Friday - Rest day but decided to go for easy lunch swim, never happened as I forgot my togs, wasnt too worried, had a shave and headed back, a complete rest day would do me no harm

Saturday - Plan called for 10 miles pace, I was wary about being called up to Dublin so I went out early straight after breakfast and stayed close to home with an 8 mile route. Struggled for the first few miles as I eat big breakfasts, averaged 9 min miles AHR = 145

Sunday - A bit of a messy lsr run, I wasnt sure what I was trying to do, plan called for 45 seconds over PMP but then Hal ruins it be saying run what you like as there are too many variables. I started out at 9.30 pace for the first 6 then decided to increase to 9.15 then I went down to 8.30 for a few miles. I ended up hitting a half marathon bang on 2 hours. The next seven were between 9.30 ish and 8.30 ish no real consistency.

I then realised getting closer to the finish that it wasnt going to be the 22 miles like mapmyrun said. It Garmin tells me 20.3 miles. I was quicker than my previous 20 milers at this though, first one was 3.27, 2nd was 3.15 and this one came in at 3.05.

There are some decent hills on this Galway Half marathon route so that will stand me well for Connemara but I wouldnt have fancied another 6 miles today especially with nasty hills. I couldnt get my hands on any SIS so I tried high Five Isogels, while they were much easier to drink i dont know did i get as much benefit from them. Ah i am thinking too much i was over ten minutes faster than the last time so that will have an effect too no doubt

Taper has now started officially for catweazle and I hope I get the benefit from it. I really know very little about it being honest but I will enjoy the break from all the long runs