Go now before its too late

On the medicine so hopefully will work. cough going down
Mon 6 miles v v slow
Tues 10k a bit quicker
Low on energy though
V little sleep Mon night insomnia is back

THurs
Long warm up 3 miles stop start changing into spikes
Then 1km, 3km , 1km on cross country course we have mapped out. Heavy going. Chasing another lad who was as usual a good 100 m ahead on the 3k, level on the last lap. felt ok on first session in c 3 weeks. short w/down . As always on these sessions the mind is working as hard as the body, calculating turns, avoiding walkers and dogs, focusing on closing or maintaining the gap, looking for the best line etc, really enjoy them

Mon 5.5 miles
Tues 7 miles, with the last two at a reasonable clip 6.30-40
Wed 1 hr/barely 8 miles
All done on trails and grass, v muddy underfoot in parts. no pace in them 7.5-8 min mile more like average.
Thurs 6*850 m reps ie 2 laps of a sand track outside lane , 1 min or so off
No watch all week but did the first three with another lad at 6 min/545/538 pace on his garmin. Last three around the 5.35-40 mark I think on effort .
Bit of a flu .
Running the masters XC next week in dundalk. hard to know what i can do . if theres 200 in it i guess top one third would be good 60-70s . feel as if i am getting a bit fitter. need to add in a bit of harder running 10k run for eg steady one day .

Mon 5.5 miles last 2 fairly steady pace
Tues 9 miles slow on trails/grass
Wed sessionn 6 miles with 8*2mins with 1 min break. designed for pace. Got very tough last couple of reps legs in shock. Did on sandy trail, prob 550-600 m at end of it in distance

THurs . 6 miles with 2 at a fair clip 615 on trails
Fri 8 miles easy 8 min pace
Sat am . Coaching a session . Ended up doing a couple of reps 5 mins . Probably not a good idea. About 7 miles all up. Pm 2km jog
Sun. Long drive to Dundalk carrying three from the club. It would end up 400 mile round trip. Smooth trip up legs in bits painful getting out of car though!
Racing the masters. Very muddy in spots by the time our race got out. Bedlam in the first straight I stayed back from the shoving to my detriment a bit wary of losing the specs or getting pushed over. Not a good tactic. Prob down in the 150s early on. Got moving lap two and started taking places , strange course in parts very good running and in others you almost came to a dead halt in the muddy depths. Lap four flying along , took about 12 spots i counted including a club mate. Just missed top 100 after second results revision !.
Very disappointed with this, judging by a number of names I was ahead of Dunboyne a couple of years ago. should really be hitting top 50/60, but the start is so important in xc and i dont have it.
Great to see a Galway girl win the Intermediates now running in Dublin, she is a flyer. Mens inter was a classic race , very impressed by the winner and the little fellow from NBH who clawed his way to a medal. It was a deep mudbath at that stage awful hard work.
Great days racing
Why does AAI not video these for posterity??

Rough week so far, shattered and a bit of a cold/flu hangover from weekend race
Mon 5 mile
Tues 5+ miles easy days
Wed 50 mins , with 35 steady. cant find garmin but i reckon i was covering 6.30-40 pace on trails and muddy sections,judging by effort working at a steady clip
Thurs , the same, 30 mins steady in 50. parts below 6.30 at end last mile or two. Felt very rough in middle of this, chest not right at all
These runs really stood to me back in the day, and decent efforts post the sunday mudfest , didnt go too long as the body not quite right. trails pace worth 10-15 seconds on road i would hope given effort level

Fri 10k easy in dark
Sat am big session, 10*800m on grass and trails in cold, snow and sleet , freezing at start very slow but got going well, one lad ahead the whole time plus a few juniors at the outset. prob 14km all in. PM Slow jog 15 mins 3km
Sun. Legs tired from effort. Ran with a group but let them off . 20km at about 7.30-40 pace, just to get the long run done. Pm 2km shake out

Where do the weeks go??!

Forgot about this

Last two weeks up to the 8th and 15th no great shakes . Mid 50 miles first week.

14th I was down to run National cross country in Tuam but I double job organising races with athletics ireland, and as race director for this I couldnt run. Walked 15 miles Sat and Sun setting out course etc. Bad numbers this race needs a sea change to attract the top runners back. Galway won but a hollow victory , but the women did deserve it after a good battle. Mid 40 mile running
Week ending 22nd 51 miles with a v tough session Sat 3*6 mins + 10*150m hills . Blew up on the second 6.
Sunday on duty again Connacht indoors. 5 mile am 6 mile pm in dire weather at 6.30 am and 6pm in between was an 8 hr day on official duty

This week looks more promising . 30 miles to Wed. 5 Mon. 7 Tues. 18 yesterday. 10 miles am and V slow session yesterday pm 8*600m , on the track, not breaking 2 mins. One of the women i train with who I usually benchmark off for the speed sessions with was running them 1.55 ish on the tuesday night session which i missed. gah !

Last week an ok week 68 miles
Mon 5 mile usual
Tues 6 miles with reps of 6/7/8 minutes hard efforts into wind for back end
Wed am 1 hr , ice cold wind and rain out the prom, belting wind into the face, out with a few others early morn. Pm 4 mile easy tired
Thurs am 9 miles. Knee causing trouble had to stop a couple of times. road running keeps causing problems .
Pm 6 miles with 10*150m hills felt ok
Fri 7 miles easy
Sat am very early session 3*2km, similar to Tues but was solo and without watch so just figured long efforts on a hilly circuit as good as any. tough but enjoyable. 10k. Then off to Sligo to watch Schools and Unis, help with some coaching for college , a couple of good runs by the ladies and one of the uni guys.
Sun am 13 miles in terrible weather, no increase in temp even running still cold, wet and shivering ! Pm 20 mins. Knee again ready to break down on road run, I rarely road race anymore as just expect the knee to go, its sharp enough pain to scream out when it goes so not worth the risk, just stick to XC all winter and National 10k and maybe a couple of track races . may have to see about an op probably cartilage damaged or just keep off road.

Another good base week .
Mon away with work, 20 mins at 5 am just to get something done. UK for the day late back.
Tues 7 miles with 6*800 on grass thrown in. Way off last week, tired legs
Wed 8 miles am 9 miles pm easy
Am I running too easy probably 8/740 pace
Thurs 30 mins and 45 mins, a bit quicker pm, but v tired
Fri 8 miles am , 5 pm, with a 3k tempo with another lad. too slow and too short for me. really have to up the distances on these to get the benefit I think 5k+
Sat 20 hills of a 270 metre circuit , 130 up with three fast lads, well off them but good effort, also 2*3 min reps at end , running hard . About 7k of efforts/v active recovery. Pm 5k
Sun 13+ miles. All on road. pace good for last 3 miles 6.20 prob. Knee went on me in last mile so had to stop and walk, v annoying I reckon cartilage is damaged worn out. Just cannot road run without discomfort or expectation of having to pull up. Can even feel it now sitting down sharp pains on and off.
70+ plus miles so ok week, v v tired . Need to add in longer tempo or steady run of 5-6 miles at 4 min ks. If only XC was going summer round ! Will aim to do Nat ten k and hope the body holds up and after that a couple of 5k track runs

To finish last week
Fri 4 mile am and Pm did 8*3 mins off 1 min on grass which went well.3.25 average pace/km
Sat easy 5/5 miles calf trouble now
Sun . calf really painful. 12 miles very easy . 70 odd miles but injury has struck

Week just gone
Mon 8 miles with GT fast local guy, 39 ten k on grass with him. tough
Tues 6 miles with 20*150m hills job back .Did this solo, hard going
Wed am 8.5 miles, pm 6 miles easy
Thurs 10k pm with 5*1km reps on grass. Didnt go well 4.10 first k, 3.41 last k, could not move. this was a tester for Nat 10k sunday and not a good sign. virtually unable to turn the legs over until last 2 reps.
Fri 8.5 mile am 4.5 mile pm easy . awful weather
Sat 30 mins with a few strides
Sun . Trip to Dublin for National 10k. Wild on way up from west . Not bad once we hit the Park bar the obvious wind. 20 min warm up , some strides and ready to go. Started ok but got passed pretty quick by a lot. First three k flew by and felt oh so easy... Down the khyber and things felt a bit fast. Spotted a friend at the bottom of hill and got going again , up the S bends and not too bad but working hard and a bit gimped. Clubmate ahead and took me a long time to haul him in . 7k and struggling , and into the furry glen downhill and again pace too quick. Caught my buddy and went past him at the 8k area, curse of a hill here. Blew up then and he came past . We were both ahrdly moving last two km with the damn wind, barely 4 min ks i reckon, just passed him again last 400. Long straight run in never felt as bad. Ran 36.41 , a bit better than last year, but thought id run 36 flat. Training left me a bit flat and the reasons? Plenty of miles and stamina work and the hills felt ok, and was able to hold off a few in last km - but -not doing the leg speed/turnover work , not enough reps or tempo work/not enough running with faster guys and too slow easy runs. Lack of road races , first one since last may.
Motivation for again though, just need a race a month and get tempo work in plus some track ks/miles .
Sore today.

Wed double 8 miles am about 7.45 pace, 10 miles pm on grass and muck about 77 min
Thurs , track short session, 3 800s +3 400s off 1 min. Legs dead on first couple of reps woeful 2.59, 2.55 pace a bit quicker last 800 2.50 Ran these at 2.35-40 a few weeks back. 400s ok 78 down to 76 . Maybe its mileage or maybe just worn out but i cannot get moving on reps at all till midway thru session, not even running 10k pace body is just seized up... Did a 2mile w/up+strides maybe i need more than that or just cut the miles.

Friday 8 miles am 6 pm , easy enough with strides end second
Sat early morning session. Working so missed out on group one. Lovely morning to be out apart from guys digging a cable trench right through the college grounds ....
4*1700m off 1 minute , basically a loop of two Gaa pitches and carpark/trail section . Tough solo but got it done. No watch and will have to get one as my trusty stopwatch bust, probably 6min miling and quicker on the last one. 10k all up and a short run pm to shake out
Sun 13 miles am in beautiful sunshine. Road run with a group. Start easy 8min m, down to 6.50/7 in the prom last 3 miles/ v enjoyable.
Pm 2km to ease the pain in the legs , and stop me seizing up .
Good week c 75 miles+

Wed. 7 mile am and 10 mile pm. Too warm for me pm or maybe too many miles in the day. felt v rough last few miles of run and after. Hard to get the double days right with fuelling/rest etc. Wont get a huge amount done this weekend as working so mon - fri will be virtually all the mileage, cramming.