Phoenix Nights

Bit of catching up to do! I don’t know where the past two weeks have gone!

Monday 11 April
Back to it. 4 Miles easy @ 8:09
4 slow miles along the canal. Rained heavily throughout. Still not fully OK, but great to be out. Really enjoyed this.

Tuesday 12 April
Too soon to go back to the track so I went to the alternate session in the park. 10*400 on grass. Intended to do these east in 90 seconds but ultimately the majority were 87-89 seconds. 5.2 miles

Thursday 14 April 5.1 miles
Incl 4*1km. I can’t make out my Garmin splits but I certainly wasn’t going quicker than 6:10 pace for these. Felt comfortable but certainly wasn’t going to be pushing these yet.

Sat 16 April 4.5 miles
Short session but mostly continuous steep hills (from memory). Strength session. Tough.

Sun 17 April 9 Miles @ 8:17 pace
Lovely morning but started to fade. Still not 100%. Breathing fine, legs fine but I just wanted to lie on the couch by the end! Still, good to get a week in.

Tuesday 26 April 6.1 miles

Same as last week with 12*400 with 50 active recovery. I didn't suffer as much as last week but it was blowing a gale so we
eased off on pace.

Wednesday 27 April 5.4 miles

I sometimes struggle to maintain a slow pace on Wednesdays, regardless of how tired I am from Tuesday night. Happy to maintain
a 8:06 average and it felt very easy.

Thursday 27 April 6.7 miles

Main set was 25 minutes continuous tempo up and down the Khyber in the Phoenix Park. A good hill session in very cold conditions!
Worked well with a few others, enjoyable session.

Friday 28 April

I'm off to a wedding shortly and I won't be back until tomorrow. I will miss tomorrow am training as a result and don't fancy
going out in the pm with a long run Sunday morning.
Happy to get some recovery miles into tired legs from last night's hills. Hungry now!
4.2 miles @ 8:14 pace.

The virus/whatever it is that I eventually got rid of came back over the past few weeks. This has been pretty frustrating, it’s no fun feeling crap all the time! Feel a good bit better this week than last but still not 100%.

Sat 7 May 4.1 miles (1.4 miles @ 7:45 warmup, Race: 2.6 miles at 6:02 pace)
My first ever DNF. Pulled out half way through RTE 5 mile. I didn’t even feel disappointed. Didn’t really feel anything, it was odd. Felt OK starting but running fast will bring out any problems I suppose.
I was quite spaced on Friday evening, thought I was just tired after a week’s work but it was obviously more than that.

Sun 8 May 2.6 miles
This proved that Saturday wasn’t caused by mental weakness. Went for some slow miles and was out of puff after a mile! Walked/ran for 2.6 miles total, aborted the session and went home. It was a shame, it was a nice day and I was running in unfamiliar woods in Kilkenny. I just wanted to enjoy it, but it wasn’t to be


Tues 10 May 5.7 miles
I felt it would be best to skip the track, with how I was feeling so went to the session in the park.
Main set was 6*900m (ish) on grass. The rain started coming down almost horizontally. Puzzling, felt flat beforehand and after, but ran fine. Wasn’t exactly WR pace from memory but I didn’t fell sluggish.

Wed 11 May
Hoped for recovery miles and despite eating, sleeping well I was only good to lie down after work. Gah!

Thurs 12 May 4.8 miles
20 minute tempo. Felt better than Wednesday, glands still up etc though so I eased my way into it. Paces 6:28, 6:21, 6:20, 6:14 for 3.2 miles / 20 minutes.
(Doctor agrees glands are up, sent me for blood tests Friday).


Sat 14 May 6.8 miles.
Pyramid hill session. Intervals were in minutes: 1,2,3,4,4,3,2,1. This was around laps of the Garda XC course/Munich hills in the PhoenixPark. Work in a nice steady group with a few others.
Right hamstring became quite painful Saturday night however. Energy levels felt ok, up to my eyes in Ibuprofen however.

Sun 15 May 10 miles @ 7:59
Enjoyable run, absolutely flew by. Didn’t feel the need to go any further. Aware of the hamstring throughout though, so undertook icing and rolling between now and:


Tues 17 May 6.5 miles
I didn’t make the track again, but went to the session on grass in the park. This took the form of 1 minute on, 1 minute off, 20 times (40 minutes). So it made for a good session.
The first 13 or so were 5:40-5:50 sort of pace. The remainder were around 6:00-6:05 pace (but I did pick up the recovery pace). Probably should have done this for the lot. Felt OK in general, still some glandular discomfort but not as bad as last week at all.

Wed 18 May 5.3 miles @ 8:15
Enjoyable lunchtime run in Trinity with a few workmates including one who turned O45 earlier this year and seems to have won his O45 cat in everything he has entered since!

Sunday 29 May 5 miles
Included Bohermeen 5k in 18:47 (lost a few seconds by taking a wrong turn (again!) going into the carpark at the end). Still not great, struggled in the 3rd mile. Still, I was 4th scorer on the team and we were 1st overall. So that's nice. Lovely race, I'll be back next year.

Tuesday 31 May 5 miles
Short pyramid session on the track.

Wednesday 1 June 5.2 miles at 8.15
Easy grass recovery in Trinners

Thursday 2 June 6.3 miles
1st round of club 2 mile league. We're not allowed wear watches. Bit of fun. Think I clocked 11.16 which I am happy with. Pretty sure it's 80-odd metres short however. Would love another crack at 5k soon.
After the TT I did 3.8 miles at 7.30, pace increasing from 8.11 to 7.10.

Saturday 4 June 7 miles
Pyramid again, 1,2,3,4,4,3,2,1 minutes efforts with various active jogs in between. Worked well with a few others, paces were quite variable as it was a hilly course (Garda XC route / Munich Hills). Really enjoyed this.

Sunday 5 June 9 miles @ 7.50
I was at Forbidden Fruit so took a lie in and went out myself noon long before noon. This turned into a dreadful slog. I could blame a few pints yesterday or the burger van dinner, but really it was the the heat wot done it. It was very warm, daft time to be running.

Not a bad week. Hip is still at me intermittently which is a concern but training is going fine.

Wednesday 8 June 5 Miles @8.05 pace
Bit of recovery along the canal. Still finding it very warm out! Had another therapy session on my hip/hip flexors tonight and I'm starting to feel the benefit. I just need to do the maintenance work now.
More core this evening. I've done core work most days over the last 3/4 weeks so it's good to be back in the habit.

Tuesday 14 June
Short session, 8*400 with 200 recovery. Amazing the difference a longer recovery makes. First and last in 80 seconds, remainder were 81 / 82 seconds. 5.4 miles

Wednesday 15 June
Recovery in Trinity at lunchtime. 5.5 miles @ 8.14.

Thursday 16 June
Did my own thing tonight. Didn't look at the watch, felt nice and easy at 7.53 pace for 6.7 miles. That's me done until Saturday I think.

I never do race reports really but here goes nothing..

Saturday 18 June
Michael Manning Memorial Dunshaughlin 10k

By way of background, I'm from the town originally, but live in Dublin. This was my first race in 2007. I did it in 48:48 and thought I was a superstar. I haven't done it every year since, often due to exams/work, triathlon. Times have been:

2007 : 48:48
2008 : 46:19
2009 : 42:24
2012 : 40:00
2016: 38:36 (Can't believe it's been 4 years since the last go)

My aim was to run 6:15-ish miles, not to get into the red like my last few races, keep something for the hills and finish strong, and I broadly achieved that.

Mile 1: 6:08
It's a fast first mile. Kept controlled, no issues

Mile 2: 6:16
Settled into my pace. Nothing to speak of.

Mile 3: 6:15
Felt grand (See this is why I don't do race reports)

Mile 4: 6:11
Got through 5k in 19.26. I passed a guy who finished ahead of me in St Annes 10k a few weeks back. I was in bad shape coming back from a virus and felt he shouln't be ahead of me. Passed him easily here. There's a bit of a hill around this point but it felt ok.

Mile 5: 6:20
The hill wasn't as bad as I remembered. I eased off going up it, ever so slightly. Made a good few places as people suffered around me.

Mile 6: 6:04
Pushed on a bit.

0.24 mile: 5:57 pace.
Pushed on at the end for 38:36.

Total for the day 8.4 miles

This was 15 seconds slower than my PB but I'm suspicious of the course where my PB is from, (I think it was a bit short). This race certainly wasn't.
I felt OK finishing and ran a negative split. I'm pleased with the race execution, the second half was 19:10. Perhaps I ran a little too conservatively as I was comfortable for most, but if I went out 19.10 in the first half who knows what would have happened. Quite happy overall. I'll sleep well tonight.

A poor week of training unfortunately. It started well, but a bereavement in the GF's family meant a lot of travelling around the south-east and couch-surfing towards the end of the week.

Tuesday 28 June 7 miles
First session post-holidays and happy with how it went. 12*400, mostly 81-83 seconds.

Wednesday 29 June 5.8 miles @ 8.02
Didn't get out at lunch so 5.8 miles in the evening.


Sunday 3 July 11.1 miles @ 8.06
Got back this evening, struggled at times, mostly because I ate a late lunch which proved uncomfortable.

Monday 11 July 5 Miles @ 8.20
I needed some easy miles on grass after the weekend. This was messy, I was running on a green near where I live and had to go home for water after swallowing an insect for 2 miles and having a continuous coughing fit . I then headed for a trail by the canal which is now quite overgrown with good bunches of nettles so I had to double back after trying, but failing, to avoid nettles. Re-routed back out the other direction.

Tuesday 12 July 4 Miles @ 7.49
My Garmin was unexpectedly flat but I have a route that is bang on 4 miles, so I did that. It felt easy but I was still looking forward to a day off.

Thursday 14 July Docklands 5k 17.55
I decided just before holidays that I would target this a week before Fingal 10k. Last week gave me confidence after the previous poor two weeks. Consistency has been there since last November or so, so time to make use of it.
A big crowd from work were doing this and I headed down with the lads I sometimes run with at lunch. Did about 2 miles warmup, some strides etc and my 42nd pee of the afternoon/evening.
I lined up with two lads from my club who have made good gains this year (from where they were) and we've been training together a good bit over the past few months- tempo, track etc.

Mile 1 The two lads took off like hares (which I sort of expected). We had lined up maybe 4 rows from the front. A good few passed me in the first few hundred metres but I took no notice. I settled into a rhythm and started to go by a few by the first bridge. Pace was a tad above target (target 5:50 or so) but it was pancake flat and the wind was on my back. 5:45min/mile

Mile 2 This included the turnaround point. I remember thinking at about 1.4 miles that this was going well. I was working, sure, but I knew I could hold the pace. After the turnaround and into the breeze I tucked in behind two lads from Brothers Pearse. I went around them at some point I suppose as I was behind some other lad then for a good half mile. The two clubmates were in sight. 5:51min/mile

Mile 3 The lad in front of me slowed ever so slightly at the bridge back onto the South Quays, around 3.5km in. I realised I had to hold on. The final km is straight so I just maintained rhythm. At about 4 km I remember thinking I would like to go home about now. That was a good sign. The two clubmates were getting ever closer (claearly slowing down) but I had no interest in speeding up. I ultimately ended up 4 seconds behind one, 10 behind the other. 5:50min/mile

0.1 mile 5:45 pace Pretty tired, no real kick at all.

Overall a PB by 19 or so seconds so I'm happy with that. Conditions were perfect; warm, a gentle breeze and pancake flat.

Total 6 miles.