"The one with the Duathlon, Half Marathon and the Adventure Race"

MarySamsonite · 14-10-2011 10:27AM

backspacer wrote: »

Its been a lazy week for me this week again, i really need to start pulling my thumb out and start putting in more mileage to keep the legs going over the next few months. I'd hate to have to start again from scratch come January.

The solution to this is to pick a target race and start training for it. If I didn't have a target after the marathon I would probably fall into the trap of not bothering to run again until after Christmas and that would be me starting from scratch again - very frustrating :mad:

[/QUOTE] I noticed that my hill running has improved a bit, i don't suffer as much as i used to and can even push on a bit going up them, always good progress in my books.[/QUOTE]

Good preparation for running with Micilín 'the king of hills himself' this weekend

backspacer · 14-10-2011 10:33AM

MarySamsonite wrote: »

Good preparation for running with Micilín 'the king of hills himself' this weekend

Ha he'll be chasing up that hill on his own so, my hill running is limited at best

Micilin Muc · 17-10-2011 09:35AM

The King of Hills, I wish! You had no bother keeping the pace over them in fairness Backspacer. A few more of those hills and you'll be looking for bigger ones!

backspacer · 17-10-2011 10:14AM

Micilin Muc wrote: »

The King of Hills, I wish! You had no bother keeping the pace over them in fairness Backspacer. A few more of those hills and you'll be looking for bigger ones!

I think my legs and knees would disagree with you on that one

backspacer · 17-10-2011 01:23PM

Took to the road again this weekend, but instead of my usual solo run I met up with fellow boardsie Micilin Muc who happened to be down my neck of the woods on the weekend. He suggested a bit of hill running, which being honest is not my strong suit, but needless to say am always keen to attempt to make an improvement.

We met up at 9 am in Spiddal and settled on heading towards Na Forbacha at a nice steady pace, the plan was to be around the 10 - 10:30 mark for pace, but found ourselves for the first part clocking about 9:45 - 9:50 (which was probably my fault, pacing my LSR is suspect at the best of times).

As we reached Forbacha, we turned left and faced into the uphill section of the course, which I won't lie I was expecting to have to stop going halfway up as my hill running is crap at best. But as we started to knock off the miles and noticed that it was relatively comfortable until about the 6 mile mark, where the climb was nearly at a 45 degree angle (if not sharper). This would normally be the point where I would go and say "sod it" but when you have good company to keep you going you force yourself on.

We reached the Moycullen Road and started out towards Spiddal again, which was relatively flat compared to what we had encountered earlier in the run, bar a few short rolling hills we finally felt it start to decline downhill and coming towards the tail end of the run (approx 9.5 - 10 miles in) and started to find a small bit of comfort even with the sore legs and knees

We landed back in Spiddal after a 11.7 mile run in a respectable 1:57:18. Needless to say was knackered, but Micilin looks set for the Marathon now

Thanks to Micilin Muc for the run stats:

Distance: 11.73 miles
Time: 1:57:18
Pace: 10min/mile
Climb: 155m
Garmin Link

backspacer · 19-10-2011 01:20PM

Part of me always enjoys the early parts of the Winter when you can sneak in a run before it gets dark. Last night was one of those nights when it was ideal for running. Cold, dry and crisp (with a possibility of hail to add some fear) was the order of the evening as I headed out for a quick run just to get the legs moving again.

I settled on going down to Tismeain beach this time for a run, the simple reason being I never ran the route as it was usually too dark to do it. But last night was ideal, so figured I would give it a go. The route itself is relatively flat, with slight inclines climbing up most the way, but nothing too taxing thank god. As you reach the beach it rolls downhill fairly quickly so always helps. The run back then would be a fair bit tougher as you are competing with the hills from the beach going back up. But was one of those nights where they didn't bother me, just was glad to get out in lovely winter weather like that.

Location: Cuileain to Tismeain Beach
Distance: 4.21 miles (6.77 km)
Pace: 9:01 p/mile
Time: 37:59

MarySamsonite · 20-10-2011 07:38AM

backspacer wrote: »

The route itself is relatively flat, with slight inclines climbing up most the way, but nothing too taxing thank god.

:eek: 'relatively flat'; 'slight inclines' I struggle coming up from Tismeain in the car

, that's one long drag of a hill. Well done on getting out, it was a lovely evening alright.

backspacer · 20-10-2011 08:33AM

MarySamsonite wrote: »

:eek: 'relatively flat'; 'slight inclines' I struggle coming up from Tismeain in the car , that's one long drag of a hill. Well done on getting out, it was a lovely evening alright.

Ah sure had to face the hills sometime, might as well be positive about it

backspacer · 23-10-2011 03:24PM

Today was the first day in a long time that I took a bike out and go for a ride. I met up with the Trisport group and was given a choice of a trip to Maam Cross or a further 5-6 miles on to Maam. I figured since this was the first day on my new bike, i erred on the side of caution and took the shorter route with one of the other club members.

The first thing pointed out to me was to increase the height of the saddle so that i could get more momentum when I was pedalling (ah the good old days when you just took out the bike and just cycled, not its all science

). That was sorted and away we went, the weather was atrocious today for any sort of cycling. But I figured if I'm waiting for good weather for a cycle I'll be waiting a long time.

It took a while to figure out the gears on the bike which didn't help matters on the cycle out to Maam Cross, but when I finally got it sorted it was a fair bit more comfortable. When we reached the turn at Maam Cross, we took on some water and headed back. Towards the end of the journey, i could start to feel some pain in my legs and was just looking forward now to get home and just hop into a hot shower. When we finally got back to Carraroe my legs were red from the cold and was just glad to stop. But all in all for a first cycle in a long time, I would have to say I was happy enough.

Location: Carraroe to Maam Cross (and back)
Distance: 52.8 km
Time: 2:26 (very slow i know)

backspacer · 25-10-2011 09:32PM

Have suffered the affliction of laziness and tiredness this week, so have decided to write this week off as a whole and start back next week. Am starting to think maybe a break is not a bad idea at the moment as I feel pretty tired a lot of the time the last few days. So hopefully this break will get me out of my funk and back into it next week.

backspacer · 02-11-2011 09:55AM

The last week or so has been pretty quiet on my part and have hit a sort of break in my training, so am just gonna have to get back into it and get out of my funk. The Leenane 5 miler is coming up on the 20th November and is just what I need to get back into it.

Time to get running!!!!

backspacer · 02-11-2011 06:43PM

Finally back on the road tonight, i figured if I'm going to get runs in I'm just going to have to go out straight after work. So I headed out while there was some daylight left and hit the road.

I figured a run around Carraroe tonight, I stuck as much as I could to the roads as there was very little street lighting.

Nothing much to say about it this evening, was just glad to get back on the road after a week of pretty much zero activity, now to get up to speed for the Leenane 5 mile.

Location: Carraroe
Distance: 5.11 km
Time: 31:54
Pace: 10:03 p/mile

Micilin Muc · 02-11-2011 09:09PM

backspacer wrote: »

Finally back on the road tonight, i figured if I'm going to get runs in I'm just going to have to go out straight after work. So I headed out while there was some daylight left and hit the road.

I figured a run around Carraroe tonight, I stuck as much as I could to the roads as there was very little street lighting.

Nothing much to say about it this evening, was just glad to get back on the road after a week of pretty much zero activity, now to get up to speed for the Leenane 5 mile.

Location: Carraroe
Distance: 5.11 km
Time: 31:54
Pace: 10:03 p/mile

Get yourself a headlamp. It'll get more difficult to head out for a run in the evenings in a few weeks. I might be heading to Leenane too. Would love to get a PB

backspacer · 02-11-2011 09:32PM

http://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/9280780/Trail/searchtext%3EHEAD+TORCH.htm

Have my eye on this, training is fairly limited for me otherwise.

Leenane will be just a chance to get the legs going again, going after a PB for me might be a stretch on those hill roads.

ronanmac · 03-11-2011 09:09AM

backspacer wrote: »

http://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/9280780/Trail/searchtext%3EHEAD+TORCH.htm

Have my eye on this, training is fairly limited for me otherwise.

Leenane will be just a chance to get the legs going again, going after a PB for me might be a stretch on those hill roads.

This is what I use. More powerful than the Argos light, will take longer to arrive by post, though.

backspacer · 03-11-2011 10:03AM

Spotted this on the Argos website, looks a bit more powerful. Should have bought one earlier in the year but of course I always said it'd be early enough.

backspacer · 03-11-2011 07:56PM

As the title suggests it may be time to invest in a head lamp as its getting particularly tricky to run the roads with very limited lighting.

Off I went again tonight and attempted to shake off the cobwebs from the last week on inactivity, even after two runs this week I still feel a bit rusty. I'm putting it down to the weather that I'm not overly motivated but will just have to get moving now again as the Leenane 5 miler will sneak up on me very quick.

Location: Carraroe
Distance: 6:15 km
Pace: 9:15 p/mile
Time: 35:23

backspacer · 06-11-2011 01:33PM

As sods law would have it, I haven't been out training since and have been laid up with the flu. Not a lot to do now but try and shake it and recover in time for Leenane, but don't see how I'll be able to make a dent into my 5 mile time with a lack of training. But not a lot i can do about that at the moment, just get back on the mend and hope for the best.

backspacer · 16-11-2011 11:01AM

Have spent the last week pretty much taking it easy as my knee has been at me when I start running, which i get the impression is it telling me that it's time to take a proper break from the running before I do some serious damage to myself. That rules out the Leenane race this weekend unfortunately but the more rest i get the better it should be in the long term.

I'd say that would be a good place to wrap up this log as well for the year, I'm planning on some new targets for next year and will probably set up a new log then. But just want to say thanks to everyone who has read this log, offered encouragement, advice and just general banter over the last 7 and bit months. So here's hoping i'll be back with some new challenges for next year

backspacer · 12-01-2012 02:15PM

Right I'm back again after 6 weeks of pretty much eating, drinking and pretty much giving my body a kicking, I've decided to come back to boards and get some help from you good people here. As the change of title suggests this year should be 3 resolutions I'd like to get done.

No. 1 Complete a duathlon, have eyed the Conamara Duathlon on the 25th February as a target - simply because it is 5 minutes down the road from me and would love to give it a crack.

No. 2 Complete my sub-2 half marathon, its a modest target I know, but am still a bit bugged about my 2:02 last year in the Galway Bay Half Marathon, and would love to just get that out of the way. I haven't settled yet on which half marathon to do though so that will have to wait and see.

No. 3 Complete an adventure race, am considering the Sea2Summit, whether its the short or long course yet, am not sure.

So that's the plan, am starting by jumping into a beginners duathlon plan at Week 2 tomorrow in hopes that i'll be ready for the 25th February. Considering my cycling experience is very limited, am not quite sure what I'm letting myself in for, so let us see what happens:D

All help, rambling, criticism, praise etc greatly appreciated again this year folks.

Backspacer.

P.S Cheers to RayCun for changing the title of the log for me, much appreciated.

backspacer · 20-01-2012 02:58PM

Between working away from home and late night before finishing my training plans have somewhat fallen by the wayside as of late so hopefully last night was the beginning of getting myself back into it.

I decided that the best to do is not worry about speed for the moment, and just settled on doing a 30 minute run to see if my fitness levels have decreased in my 6-7 weeks of inactivity. Well it didn't take long to figure out as I spluttered and gasped my way through 30 minutes of sheer torture last night.

All i can hope for is that things get better quickly:D

backspacer · 07-02-2012 02:49PM

As much as I'd like to say I'm going to do the Duathlon this month, it just won't happen without proper training, its simply an event that if it's disrespected it will make you miserable when you do it. However the plan for the moment is to get into training to do the Great Ireland Run 10k on April 15 in Dublin. I've decided that my first target this year should be to get my 10k PB time down and attempt to make some improvements on it.

For this I am going to use the Hal Higdon 10k Intermediate Plan with hopes that my speed will improve. I took to doing my first 3 mile run yesterday for this plan and have to say I found it tough, although my choice of route did not help as it consisted mainly of sharp inclines and drops, not the ideal way to begin a training plan but worked through it none the less. A nice 30 minute run to get started, not exactly blistering pace, but at least its a start.

Location: Ceantar na n-Oilean
Time: 30:20
Distance: 5.6km (3.5 miles)
Pace: 8:40 p/mile

Have hit the gym now as well to do some core work, so hopefully this will aid me on my way towards improving my times.

backspacer · 10-02-2012 03:54PM

This is something new for me, running for me was about finishing the route, not controlling my body in the process. So with my trusty Aldi HRM in hand, I set out to do a tempo run for the first time. The plan was to keep my heart rate comfortable for the first 15 minutes, push up towards my max heart rate in the middle section and bring it back down on the way home.

The heart rate monitor was fairly comfortable and forgot about it after a few minutes. I kept an eye on the heart rate for the first few minutes, keeping it at a steady 130-140 bpm as the first 10-15 minutes passed by. As I reached the 15 minutes mark I upped the pace and started to push my heart rate up, hitting the high 170 mark as I attempted to get faster. It was tricky to maintain a pace like this but felt a great degree of satisfaction keeping it going for 10-12 minutes. As the last few minutes of my tempo run came, i slowed down, with my heart rate coming back down to 140-150 bpm.

All and all a nice run, if somewhat an interesting experiment in controlling your heart rate.

Location: Carraroe
Distance: 6.2km (approx) / 3.86 miles
Pace: 9:05 p/mile
Time: 35:00

backspacer · 15-02-2012 12:33PM

I was in Salthill on Sunday and by chance I had my running gear in the car so took a jog around Salthill as the day was lovely.

Its amazing how rusty you get after a short space of time of no running, so 4.1 miles was tough at best the last day, but struggled along regardless. I always enjoy Salthill though, apart from the fact it's the spot of my greatest running moment (completing the half marathon last year), it also is very relaxing with the views of the sea. The only thing now is to get the distance back in my legs and hopefully back up into the 10+ miles as soon as possible.

Location: Salthill Promenade
Distance: 6.71 km / 4.17 miles
Pace: 9:16 p/mile
Time: 38:42

"The one with the Duathlon, Half Marathon and the Adventure Race"

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