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Not Quite Four Laps
Comments
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Sun 23.11.14
16.8 (13.5 of those intentional) @ 7.16/mi
Woke up to a beautifully crisp, sun drenched winter's morning down in Knockanevin so I was eager to get out the door. Had to wait for the 'mass crowd' heading up to Ileigh church so I checked over my intended route on MapMyRun and set off. In retrospect, I should have double checked.:eek:
Out the door and this is the view from my balcony as I take a moment before I head up in to the hills.
Its straight in to a steady climb for the good part of a mile. Its long but its not too steep so its quite manageable. This takes you up past Ileigh chuch, where the Mam and the Dad are inside doing their weekly duties. Up towards Culahill Castle, remebering stories of evil witches, throwing unsuspecting kids in to barrels full of nails and rolling them down the hill. Thankfully, she's long since gone now but every Halloween....
Past Culahill, you are really in to the wild. This is non more evident than when you come across this road, if you could even call it a road.
I'm heading towards 'The Hill' now. Last time I ran this was in training for the London marathon and I had to stop three times going up like the Lord himself. This time I was determined to go non-stop to the top. Its essentially a steady climb for half a mile and then almost vertical for the last 200m. I mean, you're looking up and its like the road is a foot in front of your face. I took it really easy, having experience of what was up ahead but even so my legs were jellifying and I hadn't even hit the vertical part yet. I turned round the corner and there it was. I could see the summit ahead but it was almost directly over my head. You could barely call it running at this stage but I wasn't walking anyway. The road started to level off and then I was at the top. I knew nobody was in a couple of square miles of this location so all humility left behind, I gave a Rockyesque leap and jumped around like an eejit. Soaked up the view, which was spectacular and then began the descent.
I wasn't the only one looking for the fastest way down the hill. This here water decided to cut a path right through our lovely country road. I thought it looked lovely but I'm guessing the locals are non too pleased.
After getting off the hills, it was a long straight stretch along some better cared for roads. Still a lovely run but after the magic in the mountains it just wasn't cutting the mustard. Maybe I mentally switched off because I took a wrong turn, crossed over the Clodagh river and I was heading up the hills again.
After a mile or two of tough climbing, I had an idea I was going the wrong way. When I reached the top and started to descend again, I swallowed my pride and turned back. The coach will have a fit when he sees that I went on a 17 mile run
. It was downhill again and I was feeling good. Back over the river and soon I was down at the Cross of Palace. Would have loved to have stopped in for a pint but I would have gathered some looks so I headed back towards Ileigh and re-joined the road I set out on in the first place. All downhill from here, so I gave it socks for the last mile and arrived back at the house tired but delighted. Definitely one of the most enjoyable runs I've ever had. For anyone down that neck of the woods, here is the route for posterity
Mon 24.11.14
4.2 @ 8.00/mi
My God, my legs were in bits today. All that downhill has left me like an old man. I creaked out the door with two of the lads for an easy one round Shanganagh. Now I remember what marathon training felt like
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AuldManKing wrote: »May have been faster if you hadn't stopped to take photos.
The man stops, the stopwatch stops!0 -
Tue 25.11.14
W/U, 2 X 2 miles w/ 2 min rec., W/D
Still very stiff after the run on Sunday so made sure to get a good long warm up in, some dynamic stretches and a few strides. We always do this before a session anyway, I guess but I weened myself in a little better this time
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First one started off a little slow but picked up after the first half mile. No watch here. After the two minute recovery, I had nicely stiffened up again so I started off a little slower but we hit a good pace and the approx. 2 miles (suspect its a little longer) was 30 seconds quicker than the first.
Wed 26.11.14
5.3 @ 7.03
Still a bit stiff, still loving the lunch runs.
Thu 27.11.14
W/U, 2 X 8 mins, W/D
Very short session. Hardly seemed worth all the effort to get there after work if I'm being honest. Got a new GPS watch that I used for the first time today (well a second hand one off viperlogic). Might start monitoring my HR on my runs for a while and posting it. My main curiosity is to see if my HR might give me a little warning for when I'm over training or coming down with something.
Fri 28.11.14
5.3 @ 6.55/mi HR: 144bpm
Weird run. Felt strong going out but a strange kind of strength. Its hard to describe but its almost like I was running unconciously and my legs were just turning over with no real effort. Then about 2 miles in, I came over all weak like the strength had been just drained from me. This lasted for about a mile or two until I slowly came back to myself. This has happened previously and I put it down to eating too soon before running. Wasn't the case this time but a very tight HR strap might have been a contributor.
My HR does drop suddenly at the point where I felt weak but I'm not completely confident that this wasn't a communication glitch. No big deal anyway because I felt fine at the end of run but a bit curious all the same. Scratch that, just realised that I went for a whizz at that time. Maybe that's the root cause.:D
Sat 29.11.14
Rest
Planned rest day ahead of the XC the day after
Sun 30.11.14
W/U, Dublin Intermediate XC 8k (29.48), W/D
I was a bit nervous in the morning ahead of this race, which is generally a good thing. If I'm not nervous before a race, if I don't feel as weak as a kitten during my warm up and if my stomach doesn't have butterflies lining up at the start, then I tend not to run well. All the boxes were ticked today.
Going in to this race, my aim was to finish as a scorer on our team. Two of our stronger runners couldn't make it today so this was made the task a lot easier but realistically the target was now to finish second scorer on the team. Met Lazarus and double Lazarus before the race (i.e. trr and ecoli) in what was essentially a race being run on their turf. Had finished a good bit behind them in the Novice so getting a little closer to the them was a secondary target too. As mentioned, I could barely muster the energy to lift my legs on a warm up lap of the track but came round a bit after some dynamic stretches and a few strides so felt a little better heading over to the start.
Went out reasonable hard on the gun and settled in a little behind a club mate and the Tallaght boys. Worked my way slowly up to the clubmate and we took the first two laps together (of a four lap course). Honestly, I thought I'd really over cooked it on the first lap (it was a lot quicker than the other four) and I wasn't feeling amazing but we were picking off a few runners here and there so I hung on in. The second lap was the toughest of the four but towards the end of the lap, I was feeling a little stronger and separated with the clubmate. Still picking off runners here and there and surprised at how good I was feeling after the struggle of the second lap. In the final lap, I was in no man's land. ecoli was about 50 yards ahead, with a similar gap behind me. I narrowed the gap slightly over the last lap but never got near a challenging position.
Managed to get the second position on the team and 19th overall so was delighted with this. Huge improvement from the Novices so things are heading in the right direction. Plus, the Novice will be the last serious XC race of the year and then I'll be able to get back to running on the hard stuff. It will be very welcome 0 -
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Mon 01.12.14
5.4 @ 7.12/mi
Lunch Run
Tue 02.12.14
1.5 W/U, 1-2-3-4-5-4-3-2-1 (w/ 1 min rec.), 1.5 W/D
Paces: 5.48, 5.44, 5.44, 5.42, 5.34, 5.33, 5.35, 5.30, 5.39
Decided to take these easy having raced just the two days earlier. It was flipping freezing though and the paced picked up a bit naturally as the session went on and I loosened up
Wed 03.12.14
5.3 @ 6,54/mi
Another lunch run down to Shanganagh
Thu 04.12.14
1.5 W/U, 2 X 8 mins, 1.5 W/D
Pace: 5.50, 5.53
Didn't try to hit any kind of pace today and myself and two other lads who were racing on Sunday just did a few laps up and down Sean Moore Park without pushing things too hard at any stage. We added in some additional strides after the session like before the Intermediates last week. Didn't work out too badly then.
Fri 05.12.14
5.3 @ 6.54/mi
Down to Shanganagh again. The coach has advised me to push the pace back a little on these runs in to the 7.15 - 7.30 range so will have to start monitoring the Garmin again.
Sat 06.12.14
Rest
Sun 07.12.14
National Novice XC 22.31 70th place
What a race!
It was a bitterly cold day with a wind that would cut right through you so I layered up big time and hit the bike out to Santry. I was there very early but there was a great atmosphere around with the last of the uneven age races taking place. Met up with some of the club and took some shelter in the stadium before finally deciding to brave the cold for a warm up. Of course, it wasn't too bad once we got going and the course was surprisingly not too bad. I'd say any amount of rain and it would have been a muddy quagmire but the relatively dry conditions left it more sticky than anything else. The course was short at just 1200m or so but it was 5 laps so it would take a bit of precaution on the first few laps.
I felt quite good on the warm up, which was worrying :P as I normally feel like sh**e in a lead up to a race. I got a few strides in and the nerves were building. There were runners everywhere and they all looked fairly on top of their game. Myself and one of the others decided to get over to the start line but everyone else was quite relaxed. I did another couple of strides by the line, partly to ease the nerves but mainly just to keep warm:D. They called us over to the line and I was looking out for the Cru colours but none in sight. Eventually I saw one but he was just as oblivious to the whereabouts of the rest. Of course, just as we're there with our toes to the line and heads down, ready to go, they come sprinting across in front of us and take their place on the line to much guffawing from the rest.
Panic over and we were off. Had managed to get stuck a few rows back so had to just go with the crowd for the first few hundred metres and take the little space where I could find it. There was a faller after just fifty metres that almost took me out but a quick step to my right and I managed to avoid him. We hadn't even hit the corner yet :eek:. It was hands out at the first few corners and try to keep out of trouble.
When it eventually did open up a bit, you could stop concentrating on staying out of trouble and finally take in the crowd. Suddenly I realised that everybody was shouting at us and it was just a cauldron of noise along the course. This spurred me on and I started to finally move up the field a bit. After one lap, I was feeling surprisingly good and I was really focused on keeping the effort up until I found a suitable group to tag along with for a few laps. After two laps I caught up with a runner from North Sligo who was going at a pace that suited me perfectly. I stuck to his heels for the next few laps and it was perfect as I really had to keep the effort up in parts when the gap opened up in any way.
This took me in to the last lap and the volume of the support from the sides was increasing steadily as we wound our way around the course. The legs weren't feeling too bad, all things considered and I was keeping with the Sligo man and we were taking a few runners over the hills on the far side of the course. Half a lap from the end and I upped the pace a little. There were so many runners and the potential to make a lot of places from here to the end was there if you had anything left in the tank. I probably left my final move a little late but turning the corner in to the final straight with about 200 to go, I opened up and made a good few places from there to the line, completely tying up in the last 10-20 metres but thankfully I think I held my place.
I was buzzing after the race and talk was already starting on how we could move further up the field next year. Can't wait.:)
Mon 08.12.14
5.7 @ 7.23/mi
Still quite tired after the race but had the day off so it was nice to get re-acquainted with the streets of Drumcondra again
Tue 09.12.14
8.2 @ 7.52/mi
Easy club run down in the Sandymount/Blackrock area. Was grand until the cycle home and nearly getting blown in to the sea coming across the East Link Bridge:eek: Christ above!
Wed 10.12.14
5.3 @ 7.20
Another lunch run. Taking these a little easier again as per coach's instructions.0 -
Thu 11.12.14
W/U, 3 X 8 mins (w/ 2 min rec.), W/D
Paces: 5.55, 5.55, 6.04
Arrived a little bit late to this and the session was already underway so I ended up running these on my ownsome
. The ground was incredibly slippy so it was tough to get any kind of rhythm going.
Fri 12.12.14
5.4 @ 7,17/mi
Lunch in Shanganagh
Sat 13.12.14
W/U, 5 X 1k (w/ 90s rec.), W/D
Times: 3.11, 3.09, 3.12, 3.07, 3.14
It sounds sort of easy but this is definitely one of the toughest sessions in the coaches repetoire. Was delighted with the times and the effort after the session but then the coach's wife informed us that we had been using the wrong markers. It was only slightly shorter than our usual course but still disappointing, as I thought this would be a good marker session to see how I'm comparing with my Spring time form. Stuck with smmoore79 and R+ for the first 2 or 3 so that was definitely promising.
Sun 14.12.14
6 @ 7.31/mi
Not quite a long run as I was a bit worse for wear from the night before. My HR was hitting a crazy 170BPM for the first mile and a half before dropping suddeny down to 150. Effort was easy all the way round so not sure what the craic was here
Mon 15.12.14
5.3 @ 7.30/mi
Lunch run down in Shanganagh. Again :P.
Tue 16.12.14
W/U, 4 X 1ish miles, No W/D
Paces : 6 min/mi
Rubbish weather and I was already saturated by the time I cycled over to the club. We switched from Sean Moore Park to Ringsend Park but the underfoot conditions were no better. Real struggle to keep your footing for about 3/4s of the loop and I wasn't enjoying it too much. Was about to call it at three but stuck on for the fourth albeit at a bit of a slower pace. Missed the drinks afterwards too because all my clothes were saturated. Was good craic last year too. Stiupid rain! 0 -
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Great training going on here, any races planned over Xmas?
Cheers pconn. I was looking at the Goal Mile but there's nothing down my neck of the woods. We have a local 10k on Stepehen's Day. Not likely to be too much competition although you'd never know. If its not windy or icy, I'll give it a good lash. Otherwise, I'll do it as a tempo run
Bar that, I sent off an entry form for Ballycotton. I'll be running Raheny of course. Almost goes without saying. We're entering teams for the indoors ao I'll put my name down for the 1500 and either run it for the team or individually if there's no place.
Are you running anything in the indoors?0 -
Wed 17.12.14
6.3 @ 7.15/mi
My usual Mon-Wed-Fri lunch run routine was thrown out of whack by a team dinnner. This was preceded by free breakfast rolls and scones in the morning and proceeded by pastries and confectionaries in the afternoon. Of course, I could just not eat everrything because its free but that's just not the way I was rared :P. Needless to say, my stomach wasn't in the best shape when I attempted to get in a quick after work run prior to heading home but we got through it.
Thu 18.12.14
1 W/U, 2 X 10mins, 1.5 W/D
Paces: 5.54, 5.41
Drinks in the evening so I shortened the coach's session from 2 X 15 down to 2 X 10 and headed down to Shanganagh Park at lunch time. Felt a lot tougher than it should have and I had the kind of lethargic feeling that usually predicts the onset of a cold. Sure enough, I woke up Friday morning with a sore throat and feeling pretty crumby.
Fri 19.12.14 - Mon 22.12.14
Took the few days off as I was feeling pretty sick and there were some retunrning exiles in the city for the holiday season. Plenty of hot whiskeys anyway
Tue 23.12.14
3 W/U, 400(60 rec.)/800(75)/1200(90)/1200(90)/800(75)/400, 2 W/D
Paces: ~6 min/mi
Thought I was just about recovered from my cold but the warm up down to the club showed me that I still needed a bit more recuperation. Decided to do the session but not push too much. It started lashing down rain as soon as we were about to start and the pitches we were training on just turned in to an ice rink. Probably should have given this session a miss but no great harm done either.
Wed 24.12.14
4.3 @ 7.08/mi
Back down in Tipp for the Christmas and the brother was heading down to the lighted running/walking track so I joined him for a few laps. Not terribly well lit now but I felt a bit better than the previous day. Almost back to normal
Christmas Day
Rest
Normally go for a run with the eldest brother and his wife but they were in Scotland so I thought a rest day wouldn't go too far astray.
Borrisoleigh 10k in 36.12
Fast becoming a Christmas tradition is the local Stephens' Day 10k. This year they were running it as an out and back along the main road to Thurles. This is flat as a pancake so I had ideas of giving this a real lash and get a good understanding of what level I am at. Haven't run anything outside of Cross Country in a long time. In the end, I just wasn't really bothered to push myself that hard so I just ran it as a good hard effort. It was lashing down rain and a bit windy in any case so a decent time might have been a struggle.
The race itself was a bit surreal. It was essentially me, running alone behind a jeep all the way out to the Ragg (for any locals reading) and then back again, with the rain pelting down the whole way. Still, happy with the time all things considered and similar to the time I ran less year with probably s reduced amount of effort.
Sat 27.12.14
Off
Sun 28.12.14
13.4 @ 8.55/mi
Hit a local hilly route with a few friends. The pace was casual but some of those hills are a good work out even when you are walking them.
Mon 29.12.14
6.3 @ 7.02/mi
Last run in Tipp before heading back up to the big smoke. Went out on my favourite route that takes you up past Culahill Castle (pictured) and then up and down some hills before a fast finish down from Ileigh Church. Will miss the hills when back up in Dublin.
Tue 30.12.14
W/U, 7 X 800 w/ 90s rec., W/D
Times: 2.38, 2.37, 2.36, 2.34, 2.37, 2.41, 2.34
Although Irishtown Stadium is closed, a special lunch time session was arranged in Sean Moore Park. The 800m was a full circuit of the Clann na nGael pitches. Three of us doing the session and we took turns leading out. Very happy with the times and a good re-introduction to the faster sessions after the Christmas excesses.
Wed 31.12.14
6 @ 6.47/mi
This was probably too fast but the likelihood of me running on New Year'd Day were slim to none so probably no harm as the next session wouldn't be until Saturday.
New Year's Day
Rest
Fri 02.01.14
5.3 @ 7.10/mi
Back in work again following the Christmas plant shutdown. The usual route around Shangangh again. Really should vary this up a bit but choices are limited without having to deal with crowds or roads without footpaths.
Sat 03.01.14
W/U, 5 X 1k (w/ 30s jog rec,), W/D
Times: 3.32, 3.19, 3.22, 3.16, 3.16
Have been very lazy post Christmas and the lie ins have become too regular. Woke up Saturday morning to the sound of rain beating against the window pane and just turned over and went back to sleep.
At least this was an opportunity to use the workout generator thingy on the Garmin. Set it up for 5 X 1k with 90 second recovery and must say it was very handy. Concentration was very poor on this session. Wasn't monitoring pace and the first rep was way too slow. Second one was okay and then on the third one, I thought I was only half way through when the watch vibrated to tell me the kilometre was up. Obviously not working hard enough. Final two were at the kind of pace I was hoping to hit so a good finish at least.
Sun 04.01.14
9.7 @ 7.16/mii
A bit of a struggle of a long run again after having a few drinks on the night previous. Things should settle back now hopefully and I can get back to some healthier living.0 -
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AuldManKing wrote: »I'm surprised by your mileage, what were the previous years and do you think it'll be higher in '15??
Well the mileage is a symptom of an inconsistent year due to injury at the start of the year and the summer break. The only consistent period was from September to the end of the year where I was averaging about 45 a week. If this was consistent over the year, I would expect maybe 2200 miles or so.
This is the first year where I consistently monitored my mileage. Still probably missed 7 or 8 runs but I guess in previous years it would have been much higher, primarily because I was training for marathons and I had no injuries that kept me out for more than a day or two. Overall, not too bothered about mileage this year as long as I can hit the times I'm aiming for in the track sessions and the Saturday sessions (and the races obviously)
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Wed 07.01.14
5.4 @ 6.58/mi
Was really feeling it after the Tuesday session where I really pushed myself very hard. I don't look at my pace on easy runs but must keep an eye on it from now on. Anything below 7 is definitely not easy for me and in retrospect, the effort on this run was much too high.
Thu 08.01.14
W/U, 2 X 15mins (2 min jog rec,), W/D
Paces: 5.52, 5.59
Legs were actually sore from the runs on Tuesday and Wednesday, which was a strange one. We've made the jump from 2 X 10 to 2 X 15 so its quite a leap and given my state of recovery, not a very welcome one. I was dragged around on the first one by a clubmate but I knew half way through that it was just too hard. I stuck with it to the end but after the recovery, I left him off and kept it a little more controlled on the second repetition. Surprised that the pace was still decent. Overall, the two tempos were a bit of a struggle but it was all my own fault for pushing it too hard after a serious session on Tuesday.
Fri 09.01.14
Rest
A rest was definitely needed but my OCD had me still bringing my gear in to work. Luckily, I didn;t get an opportunity to go out, which was a blessing in disguise.
Sat 10.01.14
W/U, 6 X Munich Hills, W/D
Paces: 6.11, 6.05, 5.59, 6.05, 6.05, 5.59
Tough session down in the Phoenix Park this morning. Its been a while since I've hit the hills but given the conditions it was probably the best of a bad lot. Trying to run anything out on the exposed Acres with these windy conditions would have been a bit of a struggle.
We started off together but two of the lads quickly made a gap. One won the Dublin Novice and the other finished 7th in the Novice so no surprise here. I ran the first two essentially on my own but then I took a slightly sorter recovery and went with one of the lads ahead for the last 4. The paces don't make great reading when compared to previous hill sessions but with the wind and the boggy conditions taken in to account, it probably compares favourably. Long 4 mile warm up to and from the park so a decent bit of mileage as well.
Things coming together nicely for Raheny and I think all the sessions this week would be ideally suited to the 5 mile distance. The 1500 on the week after might be a bit more of a shock to the system. 0 -
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KielyUnusual wrote: »The 1500 on the week after might be a bit more of a shock to the system.
AAI Games?0 -
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KielyUnusual wrote: »I'm running as an individual in 2nd Round of the National Indoor League in Athlone. I've done nothing even close to a 1500m session and we've no track so I'm not expecting anything but it will be a bit of craic anyway. Not even going to set a time goal.
Completely forgot that was on the Saturday, spoiled for choice Was gonna try and do the Sunday race myself however Saturday might actually be more preferable for racing and sit back and enjoy the Stream Sunday.
Will have to confer with the boss and see which day I have a better chance of getting off work 0 -
Completely forgot that was on the Saturday, spoiled for choice Was gonna try and do the Sunday race myself however Saturday might actually be more preferable for racing and sit back and enjoy the Stream Sunday.
Will have to confer with the boss and see which day I have a better chance of getting off work
...and it's a third of the price for the National League. Sorted :cool:0 -
Completely forgot that was on the Saturday, spoiled for choice Was gonna try and do the Sunday race myself however Saturday might actually be more preferable for racing and sit back and enjoy the Stream Sunday.
Will have to confer with the boss and see which day I have a better chance of getting off work
All the cool kids are running on the Saturday! (although if you two are an example of the general standard then I might just stay at home, or convince a few more slow lads from the club to come down to avoid coming last!). 0 -
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Wed 14.01.15
5.3 @ 7.33/mi
Didn't think I'd get this in today because the footpaths were very icy heading in to work in the morning. The good folks of Bray County Council must be very efficient because there wasn't a bit of ice on the footpaths come lunch time until I hit Shanganagh Park and there I could run on the grass, so no problems.
Wasn't feeling amazing in the middle of the run and come over all lethargic but perked up towards the end. Was tempted to let loose for the last mile (it was freezing with an awful sleety rain) but this is the new sensible me.
Thu 15.01.15
W/U, 2 X 15 mins (w/ 2 min jog rec.), W/D
Paces: 6.06, 6.09
Plan was to take it a little easier tonight in account of racing at the weekend. There was only one other victim for this session tonight so I said to him I'd play it by ear in what I was going to do. Of course, this was always going to end up as 2 X 15 but I did have the restraint to keep things controlled at least. I cut corners on the first one to go at an easier pace and give him something to chase. On the second one, he was happy enough to tip around at the same pace as me. Nice controlled session, just on the edge of working hard.
Will play it by ear whether I go for a few easy miles tomorrow or take a rest day 0 -
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KielyUnusual wrote: »Will play it by ear whether I go for a few easy miles tomorrow or take a rest day
Ive already got 64 minutes in so no pressure on ya 0
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