Keep Improving

Tuesday 12/11/13

8.00 - 1.06.56 - Easy/MP

Ran on Ring Road last night. Plan was same as last Tuesday to run this as a 2 mile easy, 4 mile at MP, 2 mile easy.

2M - 8.49 (Pace)

4M - 8.03 (MP)

2M - 8.33

Legs felt ok, not as fresh as last couple of run's. However, held paces comfortably.

Saturday 16/11/13

Distance = 6.50 Miles

Plan was to run 1m easy, followed by 12 X 400M @5k pace (with 200m jog in between reps), 1m easy.
Couldn't use the track so ran on the ring road. Bit more difficult as i had to use the garmin. Calculated .25mile was 400m and .12m was 200m jog. Hope this is right. 5K pace target between 6.20 - 6.25.

1m - 9.48

12 X .25 reps - (6.11 - 6.27 pace)

1m - 9.09

Found it hard to do these on the road, constantly looking at the watch to keep the distance/time of reps correct. Ran most of these .25m reps a little fast.

Sunday 17/11/13

Stook 10 Mile

This is a local enough race for me, so decided to enter this on the day. Plan was to run with the wife and her friend. Her friend hadn't completed 10 mile distance before. I said i would pace them a little, make sure they didn't take off too fast. Plan was to run at about 9.10 pace and finish close to 1.35 mark.
Have to say, this is a very tough course and i was really glad i wasn't looking for a time on this. We were on about 9.06 average pace up to the stook hill at mile 6. After this the girls particular my wife's friend started to struggle. Our pace slipped to 9.40 by the time we hit the fast mile. Over the last two miles the girls gave it everything, average came back to approx 9.30 and we finished in 1.35.08 time.

Great organisation for this race, well done Gowran AC. Great spread afterwards. Knew lots of people around Kilkenny area completing this race and atmosphere was great. Will probably do this race every year i can. Don't think i'd ever bother racing it though... too tough - i'll just enjoy the scenery.

Tuesday 19/11/13

8.00 - 1.06.56 - Easy/MP

Plan was to run this as a 2 mile easy, 4 mile at MP, 2 mile easy.
Legs felt good. Biggest problem i had was keeping the MP between 8.10 - 8.15. As usual ran this too fast even though times for last 3 miles were consistent.

2M - 8.49 (Pace)

4M - 8.00 (MP)

2M - 8.39

Saturday 23/11/13

8.00 - 59.13

Another week on the Mcmillan 10k workouts. Plan was 1 mile warm up, 1 X 2 Mile & 4 X 1 Mile Intervals (10k pace) with 4 minutes recovery between reps, 1 mile cool down. Planned to run intervals at 6.45 - 6.50 pace.
Ran these at home on local roads for a change.

Ran first mile WM 9.39 pace.

Then started intervals

Mile 1 & 2 - 6.44 - Was a little apprehensive about running two miles at this pace. But wasn't too bad, hard but always felt i was going to hit pace.

Mile 3 - 6.44 -

Mile 4 - 6.45

Mile 5 - 6.45 -

Mile 6 - 6.48 -

Ran 1 mile cool down at 9.04 pace.

Overall, whilst found them hard enough, i always felt i was going to hit pace. Last two were probably most difficult as slightly uphill.

Sunday 24/11/13

12.00 - 1.47.45 (8.58) LSR

Legs felt very tired after exertions on Saturday. After two miles caught up on the wife who had started her run before me. Ran together for about 1.5 mile and then went our separate ways. My pace had slowed whilst running with her, but managed to pull back to below 9.00 pace before the end.

Tuesday 26/11/13

8.00 - 1.06.36 - Easy/MP

Plan was to run this as a 2 mile easy, 4 mile at MP, 2 mile easy.
Legs a little tired due to up at 5am for work and working long days so far this week. Biggest problem i had was keeping the MP between 8.10 - 8.15. As usual ran this too fast even though times the miles were consistent (7.59, 7.57, 7.55, 7.53).

2M - 8.52 (Pace)

4M - 7.56 (MP)

2M - 8.34

Haven't updated in a while.

Friday 29/11/13

Total = 6.6 miles

Ran this as a 1.5 mile WM, 5 X 1K (0.62mile) Intervals at 5k pace, 1.5 mile CD. Found the 1k intervals very tough. Tried to run them at 6.20 - 6.25 pace with 2minutes recovery in between reps. Nearly died on the fourth rep and had to take 4 minute walk to recover (it was uphill).

1.5 mile - 9.25 pace

5 X 1K Intervals (6.15, 6.17, 6.22, 6.25, 6.16)

1.5 mile - 8.57.

Sunday 01/12/13

14.00 -2.03.31 - (8.49)

Found lacking in motivation for this long run as am not training for any run in particular. However, found it comfortable enough.
Heavy beer session on Sunday night into early hours of Monday, knocked me for six and took me couple of days to recover.

Wednesday 04/12/13

Total Distance = 8 miles

Plan was to run 2 mile easy, 4 mile MP, 2 mile easy.

Ran this too fast, but found it comfortable enough.

2m - 8.47 (pace)

4m - 7.54

2m - 8.37

Thursday 05/12/13

4.00 - 35.49 - (8.57)

Nice an easy run to stretch the legs. Felt a little tired from Wednesday's run.

Saturday 07/12/13

Total Distance = 8 miles

Plan was 1m wm, 2 x 2mile intervals & 2 x 1mile intervals @10k pace (6.45 - 6.50), 1m cd. Ran the WM & CD miles with the wife. Found the intervals very tough today, hit all the required times but definitely the hardest so far.

1m - 10.26 (pace)

2M - 6.46 (5 mins recovery)

2M - 6.46 (5 mins recovery)

1M - 6.45 (4 mins recovery)

1M - 6.49 (4 mins recovery)

1M - 9.56.

Failed in my attempt to get into Ballycotton again. My laptop broke the day before and didn't get the chance to enter. Maybe next year.

Tuesday 10/12/13

8.00 - 1.07.14 - Easy/MP

Plan was to run this as a 2 mile easy, 4 mile at MP, 2 mile easy.
Legs very tired due to up at 5am for work and will be working long days this week including weekend. Found it very tough going, legs not feeling the best. Also Garmin kept powering off for some reason during the run.

2M - 8.55 (Pace)

4M - 8.04 (MP)

2M - 8.34

Saturday 14/12/13

Plan was 1 mile Warm up, 24 X 200m reps @5k pace (200m jog in between), 1 mile cool down. Planned to run 200m reps between 6.20 - 6.25 pace. Working Saturday at 5am start, finished at 3pm, drove to track and done this session.
Miserable, blustery wind, and was a little embarrassed to be the only eejit out on the track in this weather.
Stiff breeze behind me made these reps a little fast (6.00 - 6.15 pace). Can't say i really enjoyed it, but job done.

1m - (8.52)

24 X 200m reps (6.00 - 6.15 pace), 200m jog in between.

1m - (8.41)


Sunday 15/12/13

14.00 - 2.04.36 (8.54) LSR

Found the first few miles tough as legs were very tired. Combination of previous days track session, long & hard working week and also broken night's sleep. Had to get up at 2am to drive 35 mile round trip to collect our Au Pair from her night on the tiles. Dragged myself out of bed then at 8am to run this.
Even though first few miles were tough, actually enjoyed this run. Legs tired today though.

Wednesday 18/12/13

8.00 - 1.06.46 - Easy/MP

Plan was to run this as a 2 mile easy, 4 mile at MP, 2 mile easy.
Legs feeling a little heavy last few days. Possibly due to weekend runs. Also only hitting the sack at 3am last couple of nights due to working late.
Ran MP miles too fast as usual. However, happy enough with the run.

2M - 8.49 (Pace)

4M - 7.57 (MP)

2M - 8.42

Monday 02/01/14

4.00 - 38.39 - Recovery

Back in work tonight after the break, so on treadmill. Sweated a fair amount which isn't normally like me at this pace on the treadmill.
Also i've gained at least 7 pounds if not more over the xmas.
Will weigh myself tomorrow and see exactly. Time to start losing some of this weight i think.

Monday 06/01/14

4.00 - 38.38 - Recovery

On treadmill in work. Legs a little sore/stiff from the day before. Loosened out quickly enough and felt good.

Friday 10/01/14

4.00 - 38.39 - Recovery

On treadmill in work.

Monday 13/01/14

4.00 - 38.38 - Recovery

On treadmill in work. Legs a little tired. Couldn't wait to get this over with.

Thursday 16/01/14

4.00 - 38.39 - Recovery

On treadmill in work. Legs felt ok and time passed fairly quickly for once.