Anyone can run 20 miles. It's the next six that count.
- Barry Magee

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Lets get the party started. Not.


A yes January here we come.   Working of the excess pounds put on over the Christmas, get the running back to somewhere near normal.  All sounds easy.  Boy I wish.   
Week 1:
I may as well be pulling a stone block for every run.     As soon as a run was done I would just feel like collapsing with the words “It was never as hard as this before”   Well that’s the pay back for an easy December.   Week 1 of December.   Not too bad.  I have started including my favorite run from a few years back.   6 mile Saturday morning hilly loop in Doneraile park.  Great session.   First time back and completed the 6 mile in 47:52.   Few years back I was sub 44 on this route so target set. 
Week total 42

Week 2.  
One thing I like about being back in Ireland is the Sunday morning runs.   There is nothing like a group of runners just chatting away on a long run.  Times flies and you end up forgetting about the miles you are clocking up.    Week No2 long run had us on a different route to our normal one.   I’ll call it the longueville route.  Beautiful countryside and plenty of up and down hills. 15 miles total in that run.   Bit of an odd week really.  Seem to run out of steam altogether mid week.  Ended up stopping in one of the mid week speed sessions.  Seldom I would stop regardless how I feel.   Anyway ended the week with Doneraile park 6 mile route.  46:03.  Happy with that.  Improving.  
Week total 41.

Week 3. 
Looking at the week ahead I wanted to start getting in some short races.  I think its last August since I ran a short race.  Not good as the short races should be standard for people doing regular training.  It gives you an idea if your training is hitting the spot.   Also the coach in the club would always advise us to do short races when possible.   Keeps the body pushing I suppose.  
So week starting with a long run.  18.5 mile on a route I haven’t done before with the club.   Lets call this one the Caherduggan route and yes it had a hill you could die for.  Or should that be die from.   A monster is all I could call this but enjoyable coming down the far side.  A good few miles of relaxed running.   
With the BHAA Little Island race coming up at the end of the week I was going to make sure I was rested.  Monday Wednesday and Friday off.   To be honest I had other things on so it was more of a case of not being able to get out those nights.  Tuesday and Thursday are session nights with the club.  These will either kill you or cure you.  The coach is a good man to test you.  Got to love the way he will tell you relax the shoulders just at the point you are near death.  It works but never have the energy to say “cheers for the advice”    The Tuesday night session was a 25 minute tempo run session.    Truth be told I wanted to push myself a bit to see what kind of run I should do on Sunday.   I did the 25 minutes at an average pace of 6:45 per mile.  I kinda put a target in my head of 26 minutes for Sunday’s 4 mile but would have been happy with anything under 27. 
Week total 37 miles.  


FMC 4 mile race.  
8lb lighter then the 1st of January and 120 miles later.   What the hell was this going to be like?  So long since I did a short race but my mind is already thinking “fool should of stayed at home and done a nice easy Sunday long run” Anyway here now so lets get on with it.    Usual get together at the start.  Usual talk, “What’s your plan”   Same thing that happens at every race.  
Gun off.  Plan is to stay as close to 6:30 per mile as possible.   If I suffer in the last 2 miles at least I’ll have a bit of a buffer built and will still make it under the 27.   Something I had forgot about this race is that there are plenty of drags in the first few miles.   Nothing major but you would feel them.    By 2 miles I really thought I had gone out too fast but was still holding my own.  Splits still holding strong.    Last 2 miles were a bit of a battle but in fairness mile 3 came down to 6:20.  I think this is really because a faster runner was beside me so it pushed me on to keep up.  Last mile feels like it was never going to end.   You run past the hall where you register and think I am nearly there.   “Half a mile to go” nearly there.  Grand in a jog but when all you want to do is puke it’s a long nearly there.  The sight of the clock is a welcome one but it’s a bit like a mirage.   Its there in the distance and the more you push the farther it gets.  Clock counting down and looking up to see what kind of time I can expect.   I see 25:4X.   by the time I make it to the clock it has just passed the 26min mark.   26:02 is my time and well pleased with it.   Pacing was good and steady throughout.   My watch had me running 6:25 and covering 4.05 but always get this with the Garmin’s.  They seldom match the course.  In fact if they did match the Garmin I would say the course was wrong.  I don’t take the shortest route so always expect a bit extra at the end.     So well pleased.  
Where does this leave me.?  Well I am hoping to do Dungarvan in under 70.   Based on this time and comparing it to last year I should be ok.   I ran a 4 mile last March around 26 something and came under 70 in the Mallow 10 miler.   Dungarvan is a nice course so I will give it a go anyway.    So head down this week and see what happens.   
Splits for BHAA  4 miler
Mile 1:  6:28
Mile 2:  6:29
Mile 3:  6:20
Mile 4:  6:28
276 ft:  0:16
Total time 26:02.   ;-) 

Till next time
Paudie

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Post 1 Jan 2013. Time to get back into the swing of it


New year so new years resolutions.   

1.              Get training.  Pick races.
a.      Dungarvan 10
b.     Ballycoton 10
c.      Mallow 10
d.      Rotterdam marathon.   

2.              Set times. 
Times at this stage are not a priority.   For now it’s just a case of getting back to running properly.   Lack of motivation mixed with injury’s means that for now the goal is consistent training and we will see about times later in the month. 

3.              Update blog.    Keep it simple and maybe once or twice a month.  

4.              For 2013.   Hmmm.   Nice to get a PB at some race.   Lets see.   


Ok off we go.  365 days.  7 miles done.   Dead on the feet.    Once hell of a hard month ahead.   Talk soon.