Wednesday 28 December 2011

Overcooked Turkey !!!

Friday's plan was an easy 40minutes  after a heavy night on the beer.
I ran 30minutes up to Vinny Mulvey for a massage,Vinny did some real good work and spent over an hour working on all my tight areas.He has a great knack for finding areas that you didn't even realise where tight.Was good to catch up as I havn't chatted to him in a while.

After the massage I had planned another 30minute run but happened to bump into Sean Connolly and decided to run with him for 7miles and gave me another chance to catch up with him as I hadn't chatted with him since he was in before Dublin Marathon to get his race shoes.

Ended up running 15miles tonight at a shade outside 7minute miles.

Total miles:15
wtd:69
shoes:Brooks Glycerin
Location:roads


Sat:Half day at work today so headed out the door and warmed up running to my parents house in Tallaght.

Warm up my legs felt sluggish(due to heavy weeks training and massage yesterday)
Ran 1.5miles @ 8-8.30 pace

Stretched int he house for 15minutes and kept changing from full length tights to bicycles.Was a strong wind out today.
I was very apprehensive about todays session and after last weeks I would have been happy with similar times.


The first 2miles where alot tougher than last week and both I hit bang on 6.21 per mile.mile 3 was into a wind and I hit 6.31,mile 4 and 5 i was 6.21 for both.After 5miles I was 27 seconds quicker than last week,now to see if I could come back stronger in the second half.

I went abit nuts on the 6th mile and had to slow myself down int he second half,ended up with 5.57
Mile 7 was similar in 5.55,mile 8 5.46 and decided to try keep this pace or slightly faster,mile 9 5.45 and finished mile 10 in 5.39.An improvment of 44seconds and hit 10miles in just under 61minutes.

Cool down 23minutes.

total miles:14
wtd:83

Sunday:Christmas day and my plan was upset when I was told you can't run at 10am with the lads as I had breakfast with my family and then later had dinner with the inlaws.

So 30minutes after finishing 4 pieces of pudding,3 slices of brown bread,1 egg,4 sausages and 3 rashers I headed out for my long run.

I wasn't going to look at the garmin on this run as just wanted to get the 2hours and 10minutes done after a very hard weeks training.

Ended up with 18.25miles for 2hours 10minutes and 39seconds.
The route I ran I covered tymon park,busy park and corcagh park.Going to call them my 3parks of Christmas.


Total miles for the week:101
Review of my week:Overdid it and going to have to bring back the intensity of some of my quality runs to feel fresh again.Each day i work up my quads where heavy and was getting as much sleep as possible to recover.
shoes:brooks Glycerin(need replacing now)
surface 60% road 40% grass.

Monday:

Planned an easy 50-60 minutes today.Having a lovely sleep and my clubmate John Travers rings me to see if im doing the Stephens day club race.It's a 10mile(handicap) cross country with alot of tradition.I had ran it last year and ended up in hospital getting stitches in my foot so wanted to finish it this year.Lined up and had a plan of not racing(usualy don't stick to this)so started on 7minute miles and contined till 8miles and picked ip up a little.Finished ina round 68minutes.
My quads are like lead from the last few days training.

Miles:13
shoes:brooks glycerin
location: Phoenix park

Tuesday:
Met with Gav and Ken in The club for an easy run.They both had raced yesterday yet it was me who was struggling early on.After about 30minutes I picked up the pace and the lads turned back as they where only doing 45-50mins.
Ran for 90minutes 13miles.
Location: Phoenix park.
shoes:brooks Glycerin(need to be replaced this week)

wtd:26 Miles

Thursday 22 December 2011

Happy Christmas !!!

This week has got more tough as it progressed.

Monday:ran home from work and felt sluggish after our club x-mas party the night before.
Met up with kevin M and the miles flew by then.
Run was meant to be 50mins but ended up chatting away and finished up with 9.5miles in 65mins,the last 2miles picked up to 6.30 pace.


Tuesday:10am run; 40mins 5.5miles

12pm; massage

6pm; 7.5miles 6.55pace

Nice solid day and hopefully the rub will help with my knee and few niggles of late.

location:roads
shoes:Saucony Cortana
miles:13

wtd:22.5

Wed:9am run 32mins 4miles

6.30pm run

This was my second Fartlek session since I started my programme.Tonight I didnt feel as fresh as last week but then the mileage has increased.

My aim was to keep the average mile between 655-6.38

1mile 6.52 2mile 6.38 3mile 6.58 4mile 6.18 5mile 6.22 6mile 6.39 7mile 6.50 8mile 6.46 9mile 6.45 10mile 6.24 followed by 2.5mile cool down.Met Trev Connolly towards the end of my cool down and ran with him around the ring road.The ring road is a 2mile loop around where i grew up in Kilnamanagh and where i started to run back in the day.

Worked a little too hard in the middle section tonight and was more tired than I expected after.

Total miles today:17.5
wtd:40


Thur:First 5miles was a slog this morning.Lack of sleep and a double the day before didn't help.I also had my work backpack on so didnt feel great.

First 5miles just a shade under 8min pace.After i dropped the bag off and headed to Tymon park and hit some steady 7min miles.


Total miles today:14 time:1hour 42mins
Shoes:brooks glycerin
Location:roads first half and Tymon park second half.

wtd:54

Sunday 18 December 2011

Turning the corner :)

Friday:had planned to run 40minutes but with work and a trip to the cinema it never happened.Was finding the  volume of this week tough so a day of well deserved :)

Saturday:Couldn't get of my bed to train before work so out the door after work to do a long session.
I hit the roads around Tallaght and Walkinstown which are nice and flat.
warm up 12minutes followed by 5miles @ 6.30 pace and 5miles @ 6mins pace.Amazed it felt very easy but last 3miles I was working out of my comfort zone a little.3.5mile cool down for a toal of 14.5miles.


Sunday:Longest run of the week today.Went down to Donore clubhouse and stretched for 15minutes before hand.hip flexors tight and lower back.

Started of with the womens group and there wasn't many down.

First miles was 8.36 follwed by 7.59.Wasn't too bothered as I knew i would bring the average pace down as the run went and this would be my longest run of the year of 2hours and 3minutes.

As the run went on the pace dropped with a 7.17 and then I picked it up with one of the master runners in the club who was running 1hour 40mins and had started 10mins after me.
For the next 6 miles the pace was 7mins bang on and then I started dropping down to 6.45 pace for the remainder.


Finished up with 17.5miles in 2hours and 3minutes.
Shoes:Saucony Cortana
Location: Phoenix Park(ran 80% on grass)

Miles this week:80

Friday 16 December 2011

When does it get easy again???

With training the body adapts over a period of time,this all depends on your current level of fitness as you tackle a program.Im finding each day different (some days good and some bad)
This week as been especially tough as I have started to introduce faster runs.
I will run through my week so far in abit more detail;
Monday56 minute run this morning.Body felt tired today,was a case of slogging it out.Total miles:8
Tuesday:Met with Kevin Moriarty for a run @ 6.45am and we  ran around the phoenix park for 92minutes.
The schedule im doing involves three runs in excess of 90minutes.Total miles:12


Wednesday: my run club and ran with Finola who is new to running and has started running some 5k races.We ran at her steady pace for 32mins which was ideal for my warm up.
I headed out on the roads to do some Fartlek training.I will explain fartlek training at the end of this.I ran for 40minutes running from 30second-2mins @ 5-10k pace.felt great to open up my stride for a change.
Miles today:Morning run 4 and evening 10miles  Total:14 miles


Thursday:long steady run for 50mins and picked up the pace in the second half finishing up @ sub 7minute miles for the last 6miles.Total miles:14 


Fartlek training;  Meaning is Speed play (Swedish) is a form of interval training which puts stress on the aerobic energy system due to the continious nature of the exercise. There are many types and time or distances will vary.You can make this workout as hard or as easy as you like.The biggest mistake runners make when using Fartlek is turning the session into a speed session and not a speed play session.


RUN GROUP:
Just a note to say that our next run group session is this Sunday  in the phoenix park at the popes cross @ 9am
There will be a loop of 25minutes for beginners and 50minutes for more serious runners.

Sunday 11 December 2011

NO MORE EXCUSES !!!

Christmas time is fast approacing now and it's this time of the year that you start to find more excuses not to run.
my excuse today was our work x-mas party but i managed to drag myself out this evening and it was a lovely run in the end.My longest one of the year so far of 1hour 46minutes.

Back to my week so far on Thursday my knee was still niggling so I just ran 4miles easy from work.
I spent the evening stretching and foam rolling with my grid roller.

Friday was the same run as Thursday and knee was the same.
Saturday i ran a little further (5miles)

My total for the week was 65miles and I have done up my 18 week programme for Brighton.
I have had a couple of people commit to the run group and again if anyone wants to turn up Wed at 5.50pm at
the shop in Ballymount just mail ballymount@amphibiaking.ie

Hope you can put them excuses to the side and get out running !!!

Thursday 8 December 2011

Brighton marathon here I come....

After a morning of babysitting I headed out to the Phoenix Park to meet Gary O.He was suffering with a head cold so pace was slightly slower than normal.After 50mins in the park we headed out onto the roads.

Ran for a total of 1hour 40mins (14miles)

Felt very fresh today after a good nights sleep.
(note to myself get more sleep)

Miles today:14
Miles this week so far:27
shoes:Brooks Glycerin
Location:phoenix park
Nice easy run with Luke for the first half of the run.
Ran 9.5miles easy.

location:Tymon park
shoes:brooks glycerin
miles today:9.5
total miles this week so far:37.5



Rest day today or run after work at 8pm..........

Monday 5 December 2011

Sign up for Amphibian King running groups in the new year !!!

That time of the year when we all find it tough to get out the door.
My advise;make sure you arrange to meet u with someone as you are more inclined not to give it a miss.
After a week with the flu and about 10milEs total for the week I bounced back nicely last week with
6 days running and 60miles total for the week.
Today was an easy 5miles before work and steady 8miles avearge pace 7.14 per mile

Planning the weeks ahead is simple,just keep the runs easy/steady and keep the mile sup around 60-70miles per week.I might run 1 or two races over the x-mas period.
The streets of Wicklow 5k stephens green is one of my favs as it's still my pb on the road of 15.41
If I run 16.41 this year id take it :)

Been busy at work getting the shop in order as Amphibian King and Base2race have expanded.
It's well worth dropping in if you haven't seen the store.
Amphibian King have a lovely running track where we do the Gait analysis and and amazing range of clothing(especially high vis)
The store also has an endless pool where Eanna does the coaching(like a treadmill for swimming)
There is also a huge range of books which make a perfect x-mas present.
I will be starting a run group from the shop in the new year so if anyone would like to sign up just email ballymount@amphibianking.ie

The group is for people who are new to runnign and plan on running there first 5k or 10k.
I will have a seperate group for people running the marathon depending on numbers.