The (Not So) Flying Scotsman

Another 42 mile week.

Ended up not running on Monday; just couldn't get out between one thing and another.

Tuesday: The club session was officially cancelled due to a fallen tree and electricity lines being down at the entrance to the club. A few of us arranged and unofficial session between ourselves. Which after a 90 journey from Swords to Chapelizod I missed the warm-up and first 2 reps of!

Session ended up being 16 x 400s with a 200 recovery heading away from the club and approximately 350 heading towards the club. Splits were

87/89/84/87/80/84/80/84/81/84/79/84/79/83/79/87

A good solid session and a good bit quicker than on the track by myself the previous week. The reps towards the club are always tougher and are inevitably into the wind.

Wednesay: 6.12 miles @ 8.03 loop around Malahide after work.

Thursday: 6.14 @ 8.02 normal Thursday Park Loop with a few of the lads.

Saturday: A bit of a Donore Classic loop by all accounts. Started off just inside the Chapelizod Gate; lap was 1km up the S Bends/900m recovery to the cross roads at the bottom of the kyber/750m pick up to Chesterfield/500 recovery to the main gates/ approx 1km to Islandbridge Gate/ 500 recovery/800m/400 rec to the start. 2 laps in total.

1st km splits 3.55 for both
750 to Chesterfield: 2.53/2.55
Main Gate to Islandbridge: 3.46/3.50
800s: 3.15 for both

What should have been the easier sections out on the Chapelizod Road were actually really tough into the wind. Good consistency with the splits the only outlier was we probably went a bit fast on the first recovery. A session with good volume and pace.

Sunday: 10 miles on our normal loop @ 7.31 a decent clip this morning after the session yesterday; 4 of the miles were under 7.15. My Sunday runs are a bit lacking in miles just now so probably going into Bohermeen without the mileage in the legs.....hoping the marathon mileage will mean it is not a total suffer fest.

A good solid week; next weekend is our Club Champs XC race; looking like a strong field so there will be no repeat of last year's podium finish.

C

scotindublin wrote: »

I really need to sit down this week and come up with a plan for the next few months and start putting a bit more focus on training/races. To be honest there has been a general malaise about my running since the Marathon.

Onwards and upwards now.

C

What a difference a week mak

Been a while since the last update but like most I am just ticking along just now.

In a fairly lucky situation that there are a good few parks in the area to run around so have been mostly doing loops of Drumfinn and Glenaulin Parks.

Throwing in a bit of pace at times but very conscious of doing sessions given the times we are in.

Had a brief moment of madness when the AI entries for DCM opened during the week but held firm and didn't throw an entry in.

Otherwise coping well probably a little sheltered from whole "lockdown" as I am still in work most days.

Stay safe everyone and look after yourselves and those around you.

C

Weekly Update
38 miles over 5 days

Tuesday: Session 10 x 600s with a 300m recovery. Headed back down to the same industrial estate and loop as Saturdays KM effort. Had decided on doing 10 x 600s this evening. Splits were from 2.26 to 2.20 decent honest efforts with a nice drag on one edge of the loop; not the nicest loop or best surface to run on but it is quiet.

Warm up and cool down got it 8.3 miles for the evening.

Wendesay: 6.3 miles at 8.15. Was working from home Wednesday so got out after work loop of Liffey Valley and through Glenaulin to home. To be honest this was pretty tortuous; the sessions on Saturday and Tuesday had been run on concrete and had a pretty sedatory day working from home; legs felt in absolute tatters. I have really been neglecting the stretching and foam rolling as this was part of my lunchtime routine at work. Need to address that this week.

Thursday: Working from home again so got out after work for 7.25 miles at 7.31; was feeling much better so upped the pace for a few miles.

Saturday: A run that nearly didn't happen but talked myself into going out; a definite morning of pretty much zero motivation. Was still deliberating as I was getting ready to leave on what to do so decided on 4 x 1 mile efforts. Splits were 6.15/6.19/6.27 and 6.18.

Four different miles in the surrounds of Liffey Valley. Mile 3 an outlier there with waiting for a car at a junction and a loss of momentum on a 180 turn. Took 2 minute recoveries effort felt high enough for the splits but hard to gauge on your own.

Afternoon spent painting.....req 1 if we ever move house no ensuites with a skylight!

Sunday: A mundane loop of 8 miles at 8.08 per mile around Liffey Valley/Ballyfermot and home.

To be honest everything felt a bit of a grind this week and motivation is quite low and the loops are becoming pretty mundane...might just do an easy week this week see how it pans out.

C

A touch under 38 miles for the week. A week which started well but fell away a little at the end.

Monday: A nice easy 5 miles @ 8 per mile regular loop of Liffey Valley then home.

Tuesday: Threw in a session of 12 x 400s off a 200 recovery; most of them were ran on the road being the car dealerships at Liffey Valley; a few strange looks from the folks going into the BK Drive through! There was no keeping an eye on the watch for these just ran them by effort. Spits were all 87 or lower with the majority under 85 decent solo effort.

2.5 mile cool down to finish.

Wendesay: Just over 6 miles at 8.22 legs pretty beat after the session.

Thursday: Closed out April with just under 8 miles at 7.36. A decent month all things considered.

Had planned to get some miles on Saturday but the day just ran away from me. My only running interaction was some quality pun slagging on Laineyfecks Strava feed. BBQ and a few Brew Dogs put pay to an evening run in the end.

Sunday: Went out with no real plan and decided after the first mile to run a progression run to the end of mile 5 then a steady 5 to finish. Worked down from 7.55 to 6.56 from mile 1 to the end of 5. Miles 6 to 10 averaged in the 7.3x range. A lovely morning for a run.

Going by the announcement made on Friday I will be back to the Phoenix Park next week; taking the "as the crow flies" 5k gets me as far as the Polo Grounds. It will be nice to break the monotony; will re-assess if the park is rammed.

Also may have to look at a DIY haircut this week; the mop of hair is a disgrace just now!

C

Weekly Update: Some landmarks from this week; highest mileage week since marathon training finished (a touch under 49 miles); an at home haircut and a return to my third home (after the Costa Del West Coast of Scotland and Dublin) the Phoenix Park!

Monday: 5.1 miles @ 7.54. Finally had enough of the mop of hair annoying me and let the real gaffer lose with the clippers; I think she was more worried than me; have to say a top notch job and safe to leave the house afterwards! Normal 5 mile loop around Liffey Valley one that has more than served a purpose over the last while.

Tuesday: 9.3 miles at 7.33 and the long awaited return to the Phoeno! Sacrificed doing a session so I could get a decent run in the park so probably pushed the pace a little but nothing too crazy. The amount on cyclists in the Park was unbelievable. A nice change and a welcome return.

Wendesay: 5.6 miles @ 8.00 per mile. Nice easy run down into the Gaels Park and out through Glenaulin into Plamerstown Village to suss out a potential Mile TT route. The route would be from the Palmerstown House up the Old Lucan Road and a 180 turn at the bus turning point and back down. A couple of cons from the route would be a 0.5 mile drag to the top of the road; momentum breaking 180; potential traffic and nowhere to collapse in a heap without causing alarm at the end! Still a contender but TBD.

Thursday: 7 miles @ 7.43 down to the Park for a loop of the Acres and home. Totally blinded by the sun for the last couple of miles; probably noticed this more as I am concious of others on the footpaths......I am not sure I can force myself into running sunglasses!

Saturday: Ran down to the Phoenix Park for a Fartlek Session on the Magazine Loop. The "efforts" were mostly on the dips/hill from the Kyber Car Park to the Acres. Good solid effort and plenty of bodies around the Park. Running down and home braught this to 11.4 miles so decent volume and some session type work thrown in.

Sunday: 10 miles @ 8.23 legs tired after yesterday so a bit of a 10 mile plod taking in a loop of the Park.

A good solid week and I better throw in some 400s somewhere along the line for the mile TT.

C

Slacking a bit with the log so an update from the last couple of weeks.

Week starting 18th May. 2 sessions; the Tuesday was 12 x 400 off a 200 recovery on the Polo Ground; Saturday ended up being 6 x 400 followed by 6 x 200 on the Kyber due to the winds with the same recoveries. A 10 mile Sunday run which clocked in at nearly 2hrs due to chat breaks with some of the DH crew had Mrs scotindublin wondering what was taking me so long!
Big news of the week was outforarun finding some Asterias online (discontinued by Brooks!); always been a tough enough find. Promptly ordered and hoped to have them for the TT (didn't happen.
40 miles for the week.

Week starting 25th May
37 miles for the week a really decent shift for the Tuesday session and the 1 mile TT.

Tuesday: Polo session of 6 x 1km with a planned 2 minute recovery. 6 really solid efforts with the recoveries not quite a planned as one the the DH lads arrived just as we finished rep 1 so we held off for him before starting rep 2 and then a chat with Outforarun (doing some speed play before the TT) between reps 3 and 4. Splits were

3.47;3.43;3.39;3.39;3.35 and 3.35

Snappy enough and not a session which would have been done if the mile TT was an official race. A cool down chat with outforarun coupled with a confirmation for his (and my) mile TT.

Wendesay: 7 miles at 8.34 down from the house for a loop of the 40 Acres and home legs were like lego as the Dubs (surely I have honorary status by now) say.

Thursday had planned to run but when I got home the real gaffer was painting the garden walls (happy to report they are now not cinder block grey) so could hardly lace up and head out. Got stuck into that until about 2100 and by then it was dinner couch and rubbish tv!

Friday a leg loosener for 30 minutes while Mrs scotindublin for her couch to 5k done. Rest of the day spent looking for garden stones and painting the walls. Nice to get a day off work and away from it all to be honest. A few Hazy Janes to round it off but left it at 3!

Saturday Mile TT day; brilliantly organised by the 2 lads and a good buzz on the thread. Also decided to make it a DH one mile TT weekend aswell.

Got out nice and early and ran a warm up and a few strides from the Upper Glen Carpark to the Polo Grounds; wasn't exactly feeling sprightly but knew things would be ok once I got going.

Route was the road lap around the Polos. Starting from behind the Pavilions heading to Chesterfield Ave; swing left down Chersterfiled another left onto Lords Walk along the edge of the zoo and back to the start point. A couple of turns and a pinch point from Chesterfield onto the Lords Walk and a drag to the finish.

Gave it a good rattle but was feeling it from the turn off Chesterfield clocked 5.25 which was bettered by outforarun by a whole second about 45 minutes later; would have been interesting to have done this together to see how much more would could have gotten out of the lap; maybe a good shout for later in the summer.

Sunday 12 miles @ 7.56 and a good finish to the week.

C

So a massive 22 miles over the last 2 weeks. Session on the Polo Grounds on June 1st of 10 x 600s with an approximate 400m recovery; felt no more than a slight wobble/buckle on rep 6 or 7 but ran it off and thought nothing of it.

Sat down with the lads after the session and was in a good bit of pain getting back to the club; felt like it was in the achilles area; cue Wendesay morning and the ankle is swollen and sore to put weight on.

Saturday tried a few miles; in pain the whole time; pain is on the inside of the ankle which right down across the big bone.

Tuesday and Saturday this week I just done a few miles while helping out at the DH session; good to get some of the group back. Ankle still not great so will be nothing again until Tuesday; it is not as bad though.

Confirmed that running is great for the head because work is mental just now and I don't have my normal mental release.

Thanks E; Thanks S.

Yeah 66.46 in Trim and 66.47 in the Club Stephens Day Race; probably an indication of the consistency maintained over the various lock downs etc and staying in somewhat decent shape. 10 miles XC is not much fun for the body though!

To be honest like most I really found the running a great release from the madness of last year.

Time to bite the bullet had the Glycerines since July! Easily 700/800 miles in them I reckon.

Could also break out the Boston's I got in December but more looking for a daily runner.

Swashbuckler wrote: »

Did somebody say new runners??

I will bow to all your greater knowledge and try the Novablasts. How are Asics for sizing? Usually a fairly standard 9 1/2 in most runners.

Thanks lads!

The Novablasts are en route.....thanks for the recommendation; had to get them on Alltricks in the end.

May even brave the Bostons for the Tuesday session later.

C

Back to back 49.5 mile weeks this only slightly hurting my OCD.

6 days running with 2 sessions; Tuesday evening in the lashing rain and Saturday morning in a crisp Phoeno.

Monday 7.2 @ 8.23 per mile. Loop from home down into Chapo followed the marathon course into Ballyfermot but headed out onto the N4 to Islandbridge and back home.

Tuesday session day a rare WFH day so met one of the lads for 10 x 600s around the acres pitches; decided to give the Bostons a blast much to the consternation of some on Strava it was a failry rank evening and the paths around the pitches were pretty flooded. All reps between 2.13 and 2.07 one learning was the bike markings on the acres are 100m apart.

Solid session but drenched and had to clean the Bostons; a lovely shoe to run in.

Wednesday 7.1 @ 8.20 nothing much to report.

Thursday a repeat of Monday with the exception the Chapo/Islandbridge loop was reversed pace was 8.18

Saturday: 6 x 1ks on the Mag Loop; spikes on as the going was sloppy enough underfoot. Reps 3.52/3.57 the rest were under 3.50. Spotted Saskian a good few times on his session; he was looking fresh after his 16 minute Friday run!!

Sunday 12.6 miles @ 7.54 mostly on the trails in the Phoeno.

A good solid week. Hopefully have the Novablasts early this week so they will get their debut this week.

Will continue with Tuesday and Saturday session as I am a total creature of habit.

C