One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Frightened the sh!te out of me the first time! Go easy on an old fella with those beeps.

Sat 26th Mar
Park Run 3.1 m, 8:04 (pacer)

Ran as 25 min pacer bedecked in easter bonnet courtesy of Mrs Kenny G. Even finished at the correct time. Bit of a diversion from P&D plan but who cares.

Sun 27th Mar
4m. 7:53

Short run to loosen the legs before Brian Boru 10. Legs felt like sh!te.

Mon 28th Mar
Brian Boru 10m. 65.49, 6:35

This wasn’t prescribed in the program and wasn’t a goal race but it’s local and I wanted to run it. After layoff during the week wasn’t sure what to aim for. Checked McMillan Mon am using a recent parkrun full effort of 19:30 ish which gave a 10m time of 67mins. Bumped into KennyG and fit fecker Duanington on the start line. Running conditions were good but a bit windy and the low numbers meant a lot of solo running having to generate my own pace. Gave it a reasonable effort though, so much so that I thought I was gone after 3m. Stayed for the long haul, hoping for maybe a podium place in old man category but finished 4th, 1 min behind 3rdplaced guy. Reviewing the splits, I’d a couple of slow miles but I wouldn’t have managed a full min quicker. Still it’s a 10m PB for me by 31 secs. Not setting the world on fire but I’ll take it.
Kudos to aquinn, Murph_D , FBOT & Mrs Kenny G among others for super support.


Tues 29th Mar
Recovery. 6.1m .8:29

Gentle run along the grass of seafront and trails of St Annes

Wed 30th Mar
MLR 14.5m 7:48

Was stuck for time on this one and only got out at 7pm after 11hr day in work. This run was all about keeping the mind willing as the body wasn’t feeling the love. Got it done though with a reasonable pace.


Thurs 31st Mar
Recovery 6.5m Pace?

Another gentle recovery in the company of FBOT through the meadows of St Annes.

Heading to London for weekend tomorrow with family. Not sure where my 16 w/12 @mp is going to fit in but I’m hoping to pick up a parkrun, London style.

Sat 2nd Apr
5m inc Southwark Park Run 3.1 m (20:19 6:33)

Family weekend break in London, so checked out the local parkrun which was a mile away. I had a nasty bout of food poisoning (not drink related, honest) the night before so was a little fragile heading to this but was determined to do a bit of parkrun tourism. Didn’t go all out but ended up in nice joust for position with a local ( well, English) young fella who I managed to out shuffle on the last corner. Placed first in the vintage category. Had a chat with my new English friend after the run and turns out he wants to the Conn Ultra so gave him my 2 cents worth of advice.

The three lap course had loads of opportunity for corner cutting but every single person I saw stuck to the course. Well impressed.

Sun 3rd Apr
16m w/12@mp (7:11)

Stuck for time due to weekend away for this one so jumped out of the car at the Dublin airport rdbt, en route home from London and ran the long way home. After 3 days pounding the streets of London I was a bit tired and didn’t know what to expect. Warm up miles felt good though and I upped the effort to hit my first mp mile. Felt like I was trying real hard but the max pace I could generate was a paltry 7:40. Next mile was 7:32, next again 7:27. Still way off target of 7:15. Wtf. Time to revaluate my Marathon target time. Slowly though, and without any noticeable change in effort, the pace started to improve. It was weird. What was so difficult to achieve in first few mp miles became a doddle in later miles. This continued for the remainder of my run which became one of my most enjoyable runs for last few months. Could’ve done more miles easy.
MP miles:
07:40.5 07:32.2 07:27.1 07:12.2 07:12.7 06:58.9 06:58.8 07:04.2 07:07.2 07:06.0 07:00.1 06:51.8

59m week. Longest weekly mileage in a long time.

Tues 4th Apr
8m gen aerobic. 8:03

Bonnet free, and staying away from any meadows, I joined FBOT for 8m for what should have been easyish run, but legs were tired, presumably from Sunday evening’s efforts. Job done though.

Wed 5th Apr
VO2 Max: 8m w/5x800m

After 2 mile wu run from work I hit the track in Irishtown at opening time for this. Like Murph, I was a little challenged in the distance measuring (running in lane 6) but having overrun the first 800 I think I ran the others nearish to 800m. I find fast running tough at that early hour.

Target time was 3:10ish. Only checked watch after each 800. Splits were
3:28, 3:09, 3:10. 3:09, 3:04.

Tues 12th Apr
7.5m Recovery w/ 6 x strides. Ave pace 8:37

Easy run along seafront and thru St Annes with some gentle strides on the Avenue

Wed 13th Apr
11m w/7@LT

Work commitments meant I couldn’t get this done early so headed out in the evening. I was pretty tired after long day and considered not bothering but guilt got the better of me so I forced myself out. Legs were also tired. Usual route, Sutton and back along the seafront, Nasty headwind made things hard for the outward 3.5m of the 7m LT bit. Was aiming for as close to 6:50 as possible. While I didn’t quite hit the numbers, the HR recorded a reasonable LT effort.

On my cd miles, I met a calm and very chilled Murph, out for a stroll, so walked a bit with him. He was looking fit and ready for some Boston action.

LT miles 7:04, 7:00, 7:02, 7:01, 6:51, 6:52, 6:48

Thurs 14th Apr
Rest

Life got in the way so swapped around Fridays rest with today’s programmed MLR

Fri 15th Apr
12m MLR; 7:54

Only got out about 7.30 pm for this. Cool evening. Still a bit jaded. Spotted no runners and the whole world looked like they were all going out on the town. Got the job done though and pleased with myself after as wasn’t feeling the love earlier.

Sat 16th Apr
5.5mm Recovery; 8:33
Late afternoon saunter around my old loop.

Sun 17th Apr
20.2m LR; 7:57

My father in law, who’s has been sick for a month, sadly died during the night. I had no duties for the morning so, although not having much sleep, with trips to the hospice etc, I decided to head out anyway for a long run, not really sure what I could manage. Heavy legs and heavy heart made for a very strange, surreal, kind of run. Conditions were lovely though, sun shining, lots of wildlife, as I headed along the canal to Ashtown for a loop of the Phoenix Park. I was definitely very attuned to the whole shortness of life and an appreciation of nature and all that we have.

An absolute gent, who could light up a room. One of my few heroes. I’ll miss you B. Thanks. This run is for you.

Thurs 21st Apr
11m MLR. 7:48 pace ( Supposed to be 12m, walked last mile)

No running since Sunday due to family/life stuff. Got out thurs eve after work. I’ve noticed my default pace has decreased from 8:00 to 7:50ish which I can only think is a good thing. Having a nice comfortable run until mile 11 when out of the blue I got a dart of pain in lower calf (soleus, I think). It disappeared and reappeared a bit later. Been here before with this pain in similar area. Rather than risk any permanent injury I walked the last mile home.

Sunday 24th Apr
‘Long Run’ 3.5m 8:04

No running since Thurs to rest the leg. With no obvious discomfort in leg after a few days rest , I headed out to test things. Had a 17m in the programme but without committing to any distance, I headed out. Only managed 2m before discomfort started, so turned for home and booked in Physio for Monday eve.

Mon 25th Apr

Offered myself up as a voodoo doo doll to the Physio, who promptly fired pins at will into my calf.
‘It might be a bit tender’ she says ‘ I put 7 needles in’ . Damn right it was, and hobbled home after.

Good news is though, that there’s no injury, just my usual issue of over using the calfs & hamstrings to get along and not using glutes etc. Literally a lazy arse!

Got my list of exercises to do too. The same ones I was given last time, and the time before that, and the time.... Repeat 100 times...I must do my exercises..

Personally I’m putting this injury down to the fact that only last week I entered for both the half in Limerick and the full in Cork. I have poor history of injuries occurring soon after entering races!:mad:

Tues 26th Apr
Gen Aerobic 6.5m 7:54

With only some pain from the physio treatment, I headed out to test the leg. 8 was on the program but I didn’t push my luck. Not 100%, but at the same time didn’t feel like a calf tear was about to hit.

Wed 27th Apr
8m w/ 5x1k

Was going to run early morning on the track but decided to give leg a few more hours rest. Headed to St Annes after work. Decided in advance that, if the leg got sore when I pushed the pace I would can the session. Luckily managed 5 x 1ks pain free. 1k distance was measured on Map my Run in advance around the green at the end of the avenue.

Splits 3:46 3:51 3:49 3:45 3:49

As mentioned, I’ve signed for the half in limerick on Sunday. Hope I make all 13.1 miles.