Off the Fence....and looking to go sub 3 hrs

Monday 01/02/2016 Rest Day plus 60mins Pilates

Had the option of a rest day so took it after race effort from previous day.

Tuesday 02/02.2016 10m @ 08:08 avg pace (General Aerobic) plus 90mins Yoga

This should have been 9 with strides. Route miscalculation meant no strides and a couple of fast miles to finish to avoid being late for yoga.

Wednesday 03/02/2016 15m @ 07:56 avg pace (MLR including the Hill of Howth)

Decent run with a progressive effort and a strong finish.

Thursday 04/02/2016 5m @ 09:07 avg pace (Recovery)

A bit of an early morning slog into the physio for some preventative maintenance. Dry needling was the order of the day and got about a dozen needles between the left Glute and Hamstring. Felt like I had been kicked in the a$$ for the next 24/36 hours.

Friday 05/02/2016 12m @ 08:09 avg pace (MLR)

Slow starting but worked my way into it. Rightly or wrongly I am running a lot of these by effort rather than by the watch. This has resulted in them being slower than in previous cycles but happy to just go with the flow at this stage of the plan.

Saturday 06/02/2016 5.4m @ 08:37 avg pace (Recovery)

Just over 5 miles out to the golf course for a spot of cross training.

Sunday 07/02/2016 17m (LR including 10m MP @ Trim 10)

Had a 17m long run with 10 at MP to do today. I knew Tang had a plan of running the Trim 10 @ 06:45 pace or thereabouts today which is my planned MP for Boston. Wasn't feeling the love so decided on a late entry to Trim to do my MP miles in company rather than solo. Tang was true to his word and ran a great race delivering a strong PB performance. Well done B and thanks for the company. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

Avg pace for MP miles was 06:39 with splits as follows: 06:41/06:48/06:38/06:37/06:43/06:39/06:43/06:42/06:35/06:25

Got 6 miles in before and 1 mile after to make up my planned mileage.

Some great performances from the Boards Rotterdam crew. Great to catch up with them afterwards. Also nice to meet neilc in advance of our upcoming Boston Adventure.

Well run event with an absolutely monster spread afterwards. Got my value for money in the cakes alone Thanks to all involved.

All in all a good week and delighted to have gotten a good MP session in today to close it out.

Murph_D wrote: »

According your splits there needs to be a steward's enquiry on your Raheny result.

Good call on today's Trim. MP - would have been a nightmare trying to hit the pace on the coast.

Nice week.

Lost in translation between Garmin and Strava....used the Strava ones as Garmin was acting the b*llox when I was trying to access it yesterday:)

Monday 08/02/2015 - Rest with 60 mins Pilates Class

The auld creaking body was glad of the rest.

Tuesday 09/02/2015 - 12m @ 08:00 avg pace (MLR) plus 90mins Yoga

Long way round to yoga again tonight. Time restrictions meant cutting the planned 13m to 12m and the miserable weather encouraged me to throw in a few quicker miles at the end to get it over with. Right hip/glute/lower back area a little tight during and after this so a bit of rolling and/or stretching required before next run. Kinda expected some of this when the mileage went up again so just need to do the basics right and avoid mistakes of the past.

Thursday 11/02/2015 - 4.7m @ 08:48 avg pace (Recovery)

Nice pleasant lunchtime recovery along the coast and then up through St Anne's sticking to the grass and "Bungy" trails to keep the impact low on the legs.

14/02/2015 Sunday 19m @ 07:29 avg pace (LR w/2xHill of Howth)

After spending sometime on cheerleading duty in Donadea the previous day I was regretting not having jumped in to do my long run in company down there. But inspired by witnessing some great performance from among others GOH, theboyblunder, killerz and Marthastew, I eventually dragged my a$$ out the door at lunchtime. One of the advantages of looking for excuses to delay my exit was I missed some really sh!ty early morning weather and did a full set of AIS warm-up stretches before leaving the house.

Felt the benefit of the stretches from the minute I started running although I as looked and ran Northwards along the coast towards Howth the sky looked far from inviting and the wind was pretty full on. Just as I started mile 2 the hail arrived. Glad I taped up but wasn't sure the choice of a t-shirt with no under-layer was the wise one. Had to don the buff and run sections of this mile with my left hand to my forehead as a visor to protect my eyes from the pellets being fired at me. I could see the smug grins on the faces of the cyclists and runners coming towards me with their backs to the wind and hail. It all blew over within a mile and that was the last I saw of winter for the rest of the run.

Ignored the watch until it beeped for mile 4 when I had a quick pace check lap pace was 07:42 and avg pace was about the same. Happy if not a little surprised and the effort was pretty easy/comfortable. Headed up Howth on the Sutton side and again focused on effort with no reference to the watch until it beeped for mile 8 after the turn at the top. Lap pace 07:33 and avg pace still around 07:45. All was good and I was really starting to enjoy the run. Sun was now beaming down and it was quite warm when sheltered from the wind. Headed down via the corkscrew and consider whether to go again or head inland. I can be a stubborn git sometimes and not going again would have been a little bit of a cop out as I had it in my head from earlier in the week to go up twice.

So ascent no 2 began heading up the same route via the Sutton side. Just as I approached the start of the long drag passed the graveyard. I passed a cyclist just finishing a phonecall. As I passed she took off up the hill. This section can be tough climb on a bike and I have been known in the past to take pleasure in passing them when I can here When the climb got a little steeper I was starting to gain quickly on the struggling cyclist and as I came alongside her she laughed and said something along the line of "ah hear I have to stay ahead of you" before upping her effort levels. As we reached the golf club I could see that she thought she had lost me and had backed off so I picked up the pace a little and came alongside her again, smiled and said "you're not on the downhill yet!!". She laughed and declined to push on again but instead kept pace with me and chatted until she crested the hill and took advantage of the downhill. This little bit of banter took my mind off what could have been a tough section and also meant that mile 12 split turned out to 07:04 :eek:

Unfortunately when I reached the next uphill I came across the same cyclist dismounted from her bike. I stopped but nothing I could do for the lady in distress as she had broken the rear derailer on her bike beyond repair. She turned and freewheeled back down the hill while I headed on up to the Summit. On the second descent I headed down the old tram line trail/path to the village before turning back toward home along the coast. For a change, I had the wind supporting me on this stretch and this led to 4 speedy miles to finish. When I checked later I was delighted to see them read 07:08/07:01/07:06/07:07 as I wasn't killing myself but just running comfortably strong finish.

This was originally to be an 18 mile run but the route I took meant it was going to be an extra 2 to get home. In the past I would have just pushed on and made it a 20miler but I just didn't want to push my luck as it was on the longer run the last time around that I did the damage to me back. I considered pulling up after 18 and ring home to get picked up but compromised instead by running one extra mile to bring the total for the day to 19 before stopping the watch and walking for a half mile in the sunshine before run/walking on home.

Turned out to be a very pleasant afternoon's work on a day when I had no desire to even put on the gear.......love it when a great to be alive run appears out of the blue

Ferris B wrote: »

So you overtook a girl with a broken bike. Well done

No I only caught her...then I broke the bike and overtook her:P

17/02/2016 15m @ 08:07 avg pace (MLR)

Nice jaunt around DNS on a very chilly evening. Decided to try going up the corkscrew from the Sutton side rather than down it for a change. Fook the last bit is steep. Strava says I hit 10min pace at one stage :eek:

Another enjoyable run just going with the flow and not worrying about the watch. All done and dusted before the frost started to settle.

18/02/2016 4.8m @ 08:53 avg pace (Recovery)

Lunchtime recovery along the grass on the seafront and up through St Anne's along the Bungy Trails again.

Firedance wrote: »

The absolute shame

I dread to see what my pace would be on that stretch!!!! You're doing great work on the hills.

Had my first look at the Boston course during the week.......plenty more downhill work needed, me thinks