Follow the leader

31/12
Decided at last minute to take in today's final park run of the year,the legs felt heavy after previous 2 days efforts and motivation was minimal..it was to be my running buddy's first parkrun..
3miles easy up to park 3m@8:12
Parkrun: my pal took off fairly fast and after a half mile I let him go, the extra lead in the legs wasn't helping matters..felt ok but one paced,decided to try keep it @7min miles.. came home in 21.30 so mission achieved
3.1miles @ 6:55avg
Easy run home,
3@8:18
Today's total 9.1miles
6@8:15avg
3.1@6:55
As u can see already, no real structure to the runs, but hoping to change that in the new year..
Happy new year folks
Run hard/run smart/run happy

Cheers for the input singer, tbh the last 3 days are a mess , no structure.. I mainly run solo but I was just meeting up with pal yesterday so jumped in on his plan.. I usually do easy n longer the weekend, we were undecided on a route today so took in parkrun..as for times
My goals for the forthcoming year will be:
1) run sub 3.20 marathon, currently (3:24)
2) 1.30 half....... (1:33:50)
3) sub 70 for 10 mile (1:10:30)
4) sub 41 10k (42:20)
5) sub 19:30 5k (20:03)
I hope to run 3-4 times a week.. 1 easy 1 speed/tempo 1 long
Also recovery runs are non existent, easy runs occasional !!! And yes I will b hoping for multiple marathon s again this year berlin and Dublin..

1/1
Started off the new year on good footing by taking a rest day ,legs felt heavy after previous 3 days running!! Instead wife,myself and kids headed the park for a walk n catch some of the Tom brennan 5k,it was great to see has fast and smooth some of the leading runners do be..
2/
6miles at easy pace avg 8:02m/m

5/1
Slow run 2.75m @ 8:30 min/mile to the gym then Olympic lifting fundamental class

7/1
The wife decided she was taking the kids to parkrun so I took advantage of a free hour.
Did a progression run
1mile @8:00/7:40/7:30/7:15/6.55
Finished off with 1.5mile cool down
Today's total 6.5miles @7:40 per mile avg.. avg hr 149

Having a disappointing week so far on the running front:
9/1
Tried a yoga class for a change,hope to get a few more classes in to help aid recovery
10/1
A comfortable 4mile run with some Strides thrown in for good measure, 4 sets of Strides ranging from 30-40 secs
4 miles @7:43 avg avg hr 136
12/1
With the snow falling and wind chill I was dreading this but thankfully it wasn't as bad once I got out in it..
An easy 3.65m @8:14 avg
hr was 116, not sure how correct it was of if cold weather effects hr on watch..
Also did oly weight lifting class

14/1
Left Hamstring felt a bit tight after yesterday's exertions, opted for a little recovery 5k from blanchardstown village down to c.knock gate and back..
Nice cool morning for it
5k@ 8:45 avg

15/1
Easy Long run..
Usual route but added another mile at the end, hoping to increase this in the coming weeks..no issue with the Hamstring while running but throbing once I got home!!
11.5miles @8:10avg

I've printed off hal Hindon advanced half so going to try follow something similar in the lead up to bohermeen, I can't always get out 5 times a week..

18/1
Having changed things about this week I find myself with 2 hard runs back to back..tempo run 40mins
1mile easy 3miles hard plus cool down..got a little carried away and ran the hard miles too fast although partly downhill..
1mile @8:02 3 fast 6:44 / 6:36 /6:37 ..... .8 easy @8 mm
Plus a few sets of squats
Total 4.8 miles
19/1
I've been leaving Thursday for my easy runs as I'm stuck for time during the day plus I have the oly lifting class that evening.
3miles easy @ 8:37 avg
20/1
Rest day

23/1
Went to see a physio for a rub down on the legs,by God this was painful. Just highlighted that I should really focus more on recovery. Flexibility is crap in ankles,hips,hamstrings!! Advised not to run today
24/1
Calves still felt a bit tender from yesterday's massacre, but back to the plan and it was 8X400meters.. 1 mile warm up then down to business. Reps came in at 1.13 / 1:19/ 1:23/ 1:17 / 1:19/ 1:15/ 1:21/ 1:15.. made a mess of the first 1 by stopping a few meters short, got the distance wrong. Happy enough with session bar the 1:23....rest periods were roughly 75-80seconds
25/1
Plan was for 3 miles easy but instead i did tomorrow's 30min tempo, won't get to run tomorrow and don't wanna do a tempo too close to raheny at the weekend, not much of a warm up 1/2mile then into 3 miles fast 6.39/6.47/6.34 too fast for tempo pace but wanted to see how I'd feel as this was/is pb pace for myself,if I could dig out 2 more miles at above avg I could be a happy man on Sunday...
3.7miles @ 7:02 avg

29/1
Raheny5
I must admit I was nervous about today,maybe it's coz this was a goal race and I was hoping on having a crack at a 7 year pb. The plan was for myself and the family to head over but with the unpredictable weather I left them at home n headed over early with a pal who had to collect a race number..arrived in plenty of time not long after 2,hung about the school for a bit b4 heading out to warm up,warm up consisted of nothing major bar a few Strides n easy jogging..I did this race last year and got backed up in traffic so this year I positioned myself closer to the top.. I was determined not to get hung up in traffic n got off to a decent start ,although running on the footpath for a while.i got dragged along in the crowd and clocked 6:24 , delighted as i intended on keeping all miles under 6:40 to achieve a pb. Onto mile 2and 3 and I was relaxed and enjoying the crowd.. I happened to be surrounded by a few raheny members and the support they were getting was unreal, it helped keep me focused too with the odd glance of the watch making sure I was on target.., clocked 6:38/6:39 for these..I hate mile 4 !! Didn't enjoy it last year, the up and back drag route in st.annes.. I forgot how long it goes on for and today it seemed even longer.. I lost a bit of concentration and ground,was passed by a few people here and am disappointed to clock 6:51, once around the bend I tried to get back on track,gained on a few that had passed and passed some others.. kept steady until we came close to the square,tried to up the ante n passed some more..looked at the clock n I was well on for the pb..just before the last bend I was at 32:4#, could I really go under 33, turned on the turbo's n passed out a few more.. finishing time was 33:07, chuffed with a pb of over 20 odd seconds but disappointed to not go under 33, aim higher next time!! It's 1 pb marked off the list for the year !

3/2
Decided to get out and knockout some easy miles,
4.5miles @8:22
4/2
The plan was to run the parkrun @hm pace but unfortunately it got cancelled due to the icey conditions,I wasn't taking a risk running at speed as some of the pathway was bad in patches,instead I ran with an friend who's starting out on their running journey..it was slow n easy
3.4miles@ 10:50 mile.. good catch up Though!
5/1
Lately I've been running my long runs with a pal, i was solo for this one and when on my own I tend to run too fast..I decided to throw the heart rate monitor on and keep the hr below 145, kept it consistently about 140 mark, creeping up to 146 when I took my eye off the ball, splits ranged from 7:55-8:45
12.5miles @8:16 avg

10/1
Set off to do some steady miles as I haven't done many lately,these turned out to be horrendously difficult..for the first mile I felt like I was running straight legged,hamstrings n glutes were so stiff from Wednesdays squats..mile2 didn't get much better running uphill into a stiff headwind,I almost threw in the towel at the end of this mile,it was a struggle, weather was crap and I wasn't feeling it, felt tougher than it should and I just ran 7:52..stubbornness got the better and I ploughed on, miles 3 and 4 felt a little easier as the wind died down and I had the help of a downhill section,the final mile I felt somewhat better than the previous4!
5 Miles came in at 7:24,7.52,7.26,7.16,7.16 for an avg of 7:27 per mile..
11/1
Parkrun 20:24 only 6 seconds outside my parkrun pb and felt Comfortable all round, think I'm finally getting used to this high paced stuff.. hope to improve on that pb over the coming weeks .. we were missing some of the faster runners so I was out on my own for most.. the lead guy was nearly out of sight and I wasn't being chased down by any1..finished 2nd,onwards and upwards!!

16/2
Rest
17/2
Finished work early and headed to the phoenix park for a change of scenery and a nice tempo run.. decided on 7@7!!! The hh plan had me down for a 15k race on Sunday but I was to be working so had to shuffle things about,..what a great day for running too, no wind, peaceful park..felt good and hit my target miles pace..although 2nd last mile was tough coming up north road towards chesterfield..no warm-up and a small cooldown/walk..
7miles @7.01
Total miles 7.2 @7:16 avg..
18/2
Back to the parkrun, only this time pushing a double buggy, didn't use a watch and went by feel..last mile felt tough.
Finished in 25.00 3.1miles @8.01 avg
19/2
Long run today had to be cut short because of work
Pace wasn't too hectic and totalled 9.25miles @8:17 avg

23/2
Left it late to get out and had toyed with the taught of switching today's tempo for an easier run..it was of only after 1.25m I decided to change route/suck it it up and do the tempo...ran the next 4.5m between 7-7:05, felt good and soon forgot about the negative taughts once I picked up the pace....
6.6miles@7:25avg
24/2
3.5miles easy enough@7:48... slightly faster than planned..
25/2
Threw on the hr for today's long run to see how I'm doing...although quite blustery it was a decent morning especially with the sun in your face.. along the canal and through phoenix park,totalled 12.1m
12.1miles @ 8:13m/m .... avg hr 134
26/2
Rest

3/3
Tempo run..1 mile warm up then 5miles @7.. 1 mile cooldown..
7miles @7:26avg // hr avg 154
4/3
Parkrun... easy enough run pushing the buggy... timed@24:4×, a little wait around then another 5k after the parkrun
Total 6.2m @8.05avg...
5/3
Long run
14 miles @8:00 // hr avg 143
Felt good and comfortable but felt tired later on in the day.., few beers the night before didn't help matters..