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

18/02/2016 Thursday (contd) Sneaky extra

60 mins Pilates class in the evening to make up for the yoga class missed on Tuesday.

19/02/2016 Friday 10m @ 07:36 avg pace (LT w/4 @ HMP)

Another bitch of an LT Run. Used same route as last week but with the wind back to it normal direction the first two LT miles on the way out to Sutton were OK. As usual I couldn't feel the wind when it was with me but when I turned for home :eek::eek:

Ignored the watch and just focused on form and effort. Struggled to keep the shoulders down and almost crushed the crisp on a couple of occasion before checking myself and getting back on track. Effort level felt higher on the 2nd 2 LT miles even thought they were 20secs/mile slower. Had the beginnings of a stitch in my right side during mile 4 and right shoulder pain I often get during faster sessions was there during this mile as well.

Splits for LT miles were : 06:12/06:13/06:31/06:32

21/02/2016 Sunday 17m @ 07:45 avg pace (Long Run)

Very windy out there today. Plan was to head straight out from Howth Golf Club after a couple of hours of Cross Training. This would give me a decent downhill start and also mean the I would have to finish on the hill irrespective of what route I took. Forgot the watch so turned strava app on the phone and put it in the sbelt with my emergency tener. Would get no feedback on route but would have the details for reference later.

Made a couple attempts to talk myself into delaying this due to the windy conditions and the real potential for rain. But decided that the reality was I might as well get on with it at least I was going to be running in daylight. Headed down through Sutton and Baldoyle and on up Grange Road to Northern Cross mainly uphill and into the wind. Turned onto the Malahide Road and hit the wind head on.......had to take a small detour across the road to avoid KennyG's colony of Jack Russell's just after Clarehall. Then it was on down the Malahide Road to Fairview before turning onto the Howth Road to finally get the wind behind me. Back up through Raheny and onwards to Howth via the seafront. No watch meant no easy distance reference but reckoned in my head I was at least a mile short so did a lap of Offington before heading back up the hill. Checked the phone as I approached the golf club to see the distant click to 17 about 2 yards before the entrance. Sometime sh!t just works

Happy with the effort level today. On the section into the wind I must have been running with my shoulder up as my right shoulder and my neck felt quite stiff over the last couple of miles. It stretched down into the middle of my right side of my back and felt like I got kidney punched for a while. Settled down pretty much straight away when I stopped running. No issue just one to watch. I also need to focus on doing some of the back stretches from BG's book this week and I felt a couple of twinges through the lower back into the right leg on a couple of occasions today as well.

After a quick shower in the GC, I headed off to a 6 years old's birthday party and devoured my fair share of food and drink to refuel and rehydrate. Finished off the evening by hand feeding a two week old chick and bottle feeding a couple of week old lambs. Spring is in the air

23/02/2016 Monday Rest w/60mins Pilates Class

T -7.......these 12 week programs don't half fly through!!

It was kettle bell week in "Pilates" this week. As this is also a peak mileage week I was conscious of not shredding the legs on a rest day so took it nice and controlled

24/02/2016 Tuesday 7m @ 08:32 avg pace (AM Recovery)/3.9m @ 09:02 (PM Recovery) plus 90mins yoga class

First double day of the schedule. Had reason to be in Newbridge early doors so brought the running gear and got the first of these done on the Curragh mid-morning before returning to the big smoke. Glorious morning and great location for recovery run on grass. Did the second one in the evening over to yoga. Hip focus to the yoga class which is an area that I can do with all the focused stretching I can get.

Since d-day is getting closer I had a quick look at tickets for the Redsocks game in Fenway in April but looks like I may have left it too late for the good seats. Might need to find another option to pass the time on the Saturday night.

Bungy Girl wrote: »

Did the owner feed you the 'he's only a puppy line' ? My next campaign, after Save the Trails of course , will be to get those leads banned, or at the very least have the owners submit to a basic IQ test before being allowed to buy one.

Very nice session btw.

Cheers, G.

There was actually no lead between them which made me a little more consciuos of the bit where he was eyeing me up. Interestingly enough the owner never called him or made any attempt to stop him approaching me. Luckily I am dog friendly so it didn't bother me

27/02/2016 Saturday St Anne's parkrun (21:57) plus 1.6m wu

22min pacing done and dusted at St Anne's parkrun pacing. Skipped the cool down in favour of coffee, scone and chat.

28/02/2015 Sunday 19m @ 07:20 avg pace (LR w/12 @ MP)

Headed to PP this morning for this one. Had the company of Murph, Ferris and Yaboya for the first 5 before we split and I kicked into the MP miles with Yaboya. Plenty of ups and downs along the route including twice down the Kyber to make sure the quads where well worked.....go on B or C you know you want to:)

Finished off with a couple of cool down miles to bring the week over the 70 mark.

Having company for this turned a potential slogfest into a really good session. The perfect running conditions added to a very positive morning's work, topped off by coffee and cake....all is good in the world

MP miles avg pace was pretty spot on target at 06:45/06:46.