I wasn’t quite sure if I would really be up for this weekend’s training after Friday’s very long and rather fast long run, but I wasn’t unduly worried either. After all, Saturday’s 90 minutes run is for recovery purposes; I can just jog along at easy pace and enjoy the scenery, right? Well, wrong, as it turned out. To start with, the weather was rather changeable. I woke every hour or so because yet another big rain shower kept hammering at the window, and the wind never stopped. It looked a bit friendlier than expected at 8:30 in the morning, and the devil’s elbow loop, with its sheltered parts, seemed to be perfect for a day like this.
I got going, but for some reason didn’t really get into recovery mode. I kept pushing the pace, just a little, but noticeable. Maybe it had something to do with the discussion on Andrew’s blog a few days ago, where Mike pointed out that his Mystery Coach is very much against “too-easy” recovery runs. Hmm. This might have got stuck in my head, and maybe that’s why I kept pushing. Anyway, after completing one loop I had plenty of time left and headed towards Ard-na-Sidhe rather than home. I had heard a few “thundery” noises before but since thunderstorms are very rare around here I didn’t really believe that a storm was brewing. I changed my mind when I saw a flash of lightning in the not-too-far distance, followed by a massive thunder. All of a sudden I was worried, running in a thunderstorm is definitely something I don’t want to experience. I turned around immediately and tried to get home as fast as I could, but in the 20 minutes it took to reach our driveway the wind had already blown the storm clouds away and the sky was blue again. Since it was safe again I added two more miles to the run before I got home.
As it turned out, I had run at sub-8:00 pace, which under no circumstances whatsoever can be described as a recovery run for me. I thought I would find out the next day how much that would affect my legs.
Sunday is the day of my fast tempo run. On the Lydiard schedule that I used to come up with my own training plan, this should be on Thursday. However, I have never managed to get the legs moving fast enough on Thursday, but never had particular problems on a Sunday. I think the reason for this is that Sunday’s run is a full three days after the previous tempo effort, while the other two tempo runs are just two days after the previous one. I seem to recover quicker from long runs than tempo runs, which would explain why Sunday is the day when my legs feel at their best. Well, I put on the DS-trainers again for the pace effort, waited 10 minutes to let the next rain cloud pass by, and headed out. It was quite windy, but I think I’ve written that for just about every run this winter. It was definitely manageable, so I headed for the Caragh Lake route. The quads complained a bit after three or four miles, but came round again eventually. Last week I did push my limits on that run. Today I felt better, it certainly didn’t hurt as much on the return leg, and I felt a lot stronger. I added a bit more distance, but I’m not quite sure how much. The pace definitely felt easier than 7 days ago, but might have been just a tad slower (depending on how accurate my guesses for the distance are). I was rather pleased with this effort; today sub-7 pace felt definitely manageable, and unlike last week I felt I could have continued on for a good bit longer.
The other Mike suggested it might be time for a recovery week. Maybe I’m gung-ho at the moment, maybe I’m foolish, but for the time being I’d rather continue with my consistently high mileage. The achilles troubles of the previous weeks seem to be receding (though I won’t be counting my chickens just yet on that score), and I just don’t feel like I need to cut back. Of course, should injury strike I won’t have anyone but myself to blame.
20 Jan: 12 miles, 1:34, 7:50 pace, avg. HR 148
21 Jan: 8.8 miles, 59:43, 6:47 pace, avg. HR 164
Weekly mileage: ~84.5 miles
Sunday, January 21, 2007
Friday, January 19, 2007
Contrast
They told us the storm was coming on Wednesday, and they were right. Tuesday was indeed only a taster of what was about to hit us, and when it did hit, it hit hard. Having said that, looking at the news and seeing the trail of death and destruction that that particular storm has caused all over Europe I think we have gotten away lightly. I mean, it was pretty bad with the usual stuff, fallen tree, local flooding and electricity cuts, but considering that many parts of Europe had to withstand hurricane levels of wind speed I think we escaped the worst.
I still got a lot of funny looks every time I confirmed that I had indeed been out running Thursday morning. In order to avoid any danger from falling trees and branches I had decided to run on the western side of Caragh Lake which is out in the open. Of course it meant running straight into the wind on the outward leg. I did manage ok during the first 2.5 miles, the water witch provides some shelter, and while I clearly struggled to get into tempo-run territory, it went ok. Then the road takes a turn, and from then on it’s 2 miles straight against the wind. To make things worse, the rain had re-started by then, and it came down nearly horizontally, and straight into my face. That hurt, and I tried to shield my face with my gloved hands, but it’s impossible to run that way. When I reached the 3-mile point I could no longer remember why I kept torturing myself that way and turned around. It felt a lot easier on the way back, but I kind of forgot that this was supposed to be a tempo run. I did remember again about a mile from home, and upped the pace once more. To make up for the shortfall I added an extra section in the woods, and it was a lot better there, and I didn’t notice any real wind damage. Running there would have been the better option, I guess. The faster 2.5 or 3 miles towards the end of the run constituted a proper tempo run, but all in all I felt this was a wasted effort.
I was a bit apprehensive about today’s long run, not because of the planned 22 miles (I’ve gotten used to long runs by now) but because I was afraid of similarly bad conditions. I resolved to run 3 loops around the devil’s elbow (plus 2.5 extra miles somewhere) if the wind was too strong, but I was very pleasantly surprised at 4:15 in the morning when I woke up and couldn’t even hear the wind. I had set the alarm for 4:30, but woke from the sound of Cian crying. I managed to get him back to sleep, and despite better judgement went back to bed for 10 more minutes of sleep (which felt like about 10 seconds). Mindful of yesterday’s atrocious conditions I wore two layers on top as well as extra warm gloves, but that proved to be a mistake. Since the wind was nowhere near as bas as feared I did my extended Caragh Lake loop (17+ miles) and added an out-and-back section to Ard-na-Sidhe at the end. I usually check my time after the first 3 miles; it is always a good indicator of how I’m doing. Well, my pace continues to drop, I had averaged 8:33, and it was a sign of things to come. The road was deserted (well, duh, at this time of night) and I ran mostly with my light turned off. Despite it being New Moon I was still able to make out the road, and what more do you need to see? Well, I did have three moments when I wished I had it turned on, once when I somehow managed to step off the road (no harm done), once when I stepped right into a big, deep puddle, and once when all of a sudden several big white shapes appeared right in front of me and nearly tripped me up (a flock of sheep on the middle of the road, but they were more startled than I was). Between miles 11 and 16 I felt truly fantastic and ran at a very good clip, and I had the feeling I could keep this pace forever. This turned out to be not the case; after climbing a hill of maybe half a mile the legs felt a lot heavier, and I slowed down again. I passed our driveway to go for the out-and-back section, and I soon felt a lot worse. Around the 18.5 miles point I was truly knackered and wasn’t exactly looking forward to the rest of the run, but that was the low point and I somehow started to feel better again after that. The next crisis came at around 20.5 miles when I got rather hungry (remember, I don’t eat a thing before running), but by then I was close enough to home to ignore the pangs. I finished the run in less than 3 hours, which surprised me. I’m pretty sure that I had indeed covered 22 miles, but 8:05 pace sounds very fast. Even if I somewhere missed half a mile and only covered 21.5 miles, that would still make it around 8:15 pace, which isn’t bad either. Having said that, I do think my original calculation is accurate, and that’s what I put into the log.
There’s another bit of good news, I’ve now lost all of the extra Christmas weight and I’m back on my pre-marathon weight of 149 pounds. I didn’t diet or even watch my food intake, but I guess the high mileage took care of that automatically. Great!
And I think I did work out one thing that had been puzzling me for a few weeks. If you remember back a few weeks ago, I got completely wasted on a 15.5 miles run in Dublin just before the New Year. I couldn’t quite explain why I felt so bad, and thought I was running right at my limit. I’ve come to the conclusion that the change in diet was responsible. Niamh is a vegetarian, and subsequently a vegetarian diet is what sustains me for most of the year. Whenever I come to Dublin my mother-in-law insists on stuffing me with meat like a goose in the mistaken belief that I must be craving things like pork, beef, mutton and, over Christmas, turkey. I guess next time I just have to tell her that I prefer Niamh’s vegetarian options. I hope she can take the shock.
18 Jan: 8.25 miles, 1:00:50, 7:22 pace, avg. HR 156
19 Jan: 22 miles, 2:58, 8:05 pace, avg. HR 148
I still got a lot of funny looks every time I confirmed that I had indeed been out running Thursday morning. In order to avoid any danger from falling trees and branches I had decided to run on the western side of Caragh Lake which is out in the open. Of course it meant running straight into the wind on the outward leg. I did manage ok during the first 2.5 miles, the water witch provides some shelter, and while I clearly struggled to get into tempo-run territory, it went ok. Then the road takes a turn, and from then on it’s 2 miles straight against the wind. To make things worse, the rain had re-started by then, and it came down nearly horizontally, and straight into my face. That hurt, and I tried to shield my face with my gloved hands, but it’s impossible to run that way. When I reached the 3-mile point I could no longer remember why I kept torturing myself that way and turned around. It felt a lot easier on the way back, but I kind of forgot that this was supposed to be a tempo run. I did remember again about a mile from home, and upped the pace once more. To make up for the shortfall I added an extra section in the woods, and it was a lot better there, and I didn’t notice any real wind damage. Running there would have been the better option, I guess. The faster 2.5 or 3 miles towards the end of the run constituted a proper tempo run, but all in all I felt this was a wasted effort.
I was a bit apprehensive about today’s long run, not because of the planned 22 miles (I’ve gotten used to long runs by now) but because I was afraid of similarly bad conditions. I resolved to run 3 loops around the devil’s elbow (plus 2.5 extra miles somewhere) if the wind was too strong, but I was very pleasantly surprised at 4:15 in the morning when I woke up and couldn’t even hear the wind. I had set the alarm for 4:30, but woke from the sound of Cian crying. I managed to get him back to sleep, and despite better judgement went back to bed for 10 more minutes of sleep (which felt like about 10 seconds). Mindful of yesterday’s atrocious conditions I wore two layers on top as well as extra warm gloves, but that proved to be a mistake. Since the wind was nowhere near as bas as feared I did my extended Caragh Lake loop (17+ miles) and added an out-and-back section to Ard-na-Sidhe at the end. I usually check my time after the first 3 miles; it is always a good indicator of how I’m doing. Well, my pace continues to drop, I had averaged 8:33, and it was a sign of things to come. The road was deserted (well, duh, at this time of night) and I ran mostly with my light turned off. Despite it being New Moon I was still able to make out the road, and what more do you need to see? Well, I did have three moments when I wished I had it turned on, once when I somehow managed to step off the road (no harm done), once when I stepped right into a big, deep puddle, and once when all of a sudden several big white shapes appeared right in front of me and nearly tripped me up (a flock of sheep on the middle of the road, but they were more startled than I was). Between miles 11 and 16 I felt truly fantastic and ran at a very good clip, and I had the feeling I could keep this pace forever. This turned out to be not the case; after climbing a hill of maybe half a mile the legs felt a lot heavier, and I slowed down again. I passed our driveway to go for the out-and-back section, and I soon felt a lot worse. Around the 18.5 miles point I was truly knackered and wasn’t exactly looking forward to the rest of the run, but that was the low point and I somehow started to feel better again after that. The next crisis came at around 20.5 miles when I got rather hungry (remember, I don’t eat a thing before running), but by then I was close enough to home to ignore the pangs. I finished the run in less than 3 hours, which surprised me. I’m pretty sure that I had indeed covered 22 miles, but 8:05 pace sounds very fast. Even if I somewhere missed half a mile and only covered 21.5 miles, that would still make it around 8:15 pace, which isn’t bad either. Having said that, I do think my original calculation is accurate, and that’s what I put into the log.
There’s another bit of good news, I’ve now lost all of the extra Christmas weight and I’m back on my pre-marathon weight of 149 pounds. I didn’t diet or even watch my food intake, but I guess the high mileage took care of that automatically. Great!
And I think I did work out one thing that had been puzzling me for a few weeks. If you remember back a few weeks ago, I got completely wasted on a 15.5 miles run in Dublin just before the New Year. I couldn’t quite explain why I felt so bad, and thought I was running right at my limit. I’ve come to the conclusion that the change in diet was responsible. Niamh is a vegetarian, and subsequently a vegetarian diet is what sustains me for most of the year. Whenever I come to Dublin my mother-in-law insists on stuffing me with meat like a goose in the mistaken belief that I must be craving things like pork, beef, mutton and, over Christmas, turkey. I guess next time I just have to tell her that I prefer Niamh’s vegetarian options. I hope she can take the shock.
18 Jan: 8.25 miles, 1:00:50, 7:22 pace, avg. HR 156
19 Jan: 22 miles, 2:58, 8:05 pace, avg. HR 148
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Stars Shining Bright Above You
I was still on a high on Monday night after Sunday’s success (that’s the part about my run, not the one about Cian), but when the alarm went off Tuesday morning I was a bit apprehensive about yet another tempo run. I knew that it was a bit silly; I shouldn’t feel under pressure to repeat great workouts again and again. In fact, racing myself to run ever faster times from tempo run to tempo run would be a one-way ticket to injury and breakdown.
But as soon as I was out on the road I knew immediately that I couldn’t even try and repeat Sunday’s workout. It takes more than two days for my legs to recover from that kind of run, and I felt sluggish and found it difficult to get the legs moving at any semblance of speed. I did as best as I could, and for once I really can’t blame the weather. It was a cloudless night with very little wind and a spectacular starry sky, at least for the first half of the run, until dawn broke. On the downside it was a lot colder than on previous days (I guess somewhere around –1C/30F) and I wasn’t entirely prepared for that. I did wear gloves, but very thin ones, and my fingers got very cold and stiff. Anyway, when I got closer to the usual turnaround point I noticed that despite not feeling up to it I was still moving faster than usual, and I added some extra distance before turning back. I just about managed negative splits on the way back (despite the cold starting to bite), and hit an average pace of 7:00. The heart rate was very low for a tempo effort, but it still felt like hard work, honestly. To feel slightly sluggish and still be able run the second fastest tempo run ever will do me.
Amongst the two least favourite things to happen the night before a run are feeling some pain in your legs, and not being able to sleep until about 1 am, and I managed to experience both last night. To top it all off, the next storm front is supposed to hit tomorrow, but we got a good taste of it today. When I got ready for today’s run I couldn’t help but listen to the wind and rain outside. While I didn’t contemplate going back to bed, I did question my own sanity, and not for the first time either. But as it turns out I was actually quite lucky; I left at about 5:50am when it was still raining, but that stopped about 5 minutes later. Then the stars came out in force again, and I even saw two shooting stars over the next 2 hours. The wind kept blowing with quite some force though, and the next big dark cloud got closer and closer as I was on my home stretch. It started raining heavily with about 1 minute left, but that didn’t bother me, for once I had managed almost perfect timing.
The achilles has started hurting again, and today I definitely felt it for most of the run. If it gets any worse I’ll have to cut back for a bit, but for the time being I’m still hopeful of being able to train through it. It’s not really painful (yet), just bothersome. I’ve started doing some exercises that have helped in the past. I wish I had the discipline to keep doing those when I’m not hurting; it might have prevented the present problems entirely.
Cian had his first accident-free day yesterday. Hurray. Sadly he didn’t manage to repeat that feat today.
16 Jan: 8.5 miles, 59:30, 7:00 pace, avg. HR 154
17 Jan: 14.5 miles, 2:01, 8:20 pace, avg. HR 146
But as soon as I was out on the road I knew immediately that I couldn’t even try and repeat Sunday’s workout. It takes more than two days for my legs to recover from that kind of run, and I felt sluggish and found it difficult to get the legs moving at any semblance of speed. I did as best as I could, and for once I really can’t blame the weather. It was a cloudless night with very little wind and a spectacular starry sky, at least for the first half of the run, until dawn broke. On the downside it was a lot colder than on previous days (I guess somewhere around –1C/30F) and I wasn’t entirely prepared for that. I did wear gloves, but very thin ones, and my fingers got very cold and stiff. Anyway, when I got closer to the usual turnaround point I noticed that despite not feeling up to it I was still moving faster than usual, and I added some extra distance before turning back. I just about managed negative splits on the way back (despite the cold starting to bite), and hit an average pace of 7:00. The heart rate was very low for a tempo effort, but it still felt like hard work, honestly. To feel slightly sluggish and still be able run the second fastest tempo run ever will do me.
Amongst the two least favourite things to happen the night before a run are feeling some pain in your legs, and not being able to sleep until about 1 am, and I managed to experience both last night. To top it all off, the next storm front is supposed to hit tomorrow, but we got a good taste of it today. When I got ready for today’s run I couldn’t help but listen to the wind and rain outside. While I didn’t contemplate going back to bed, I did question my own sanity, and not for the first time either. But as it turns out I was actually quite lucky; I left at about 5:50am when it was still raining, but that stopped about 5 minutes later. Then the stars came out in force again, and I even saw two shooting stars over the next 2 hours. The wind kept blowing with quite some force though, and the next big dark cloud got closer and closer as I was on my home stretch. It started raining heavily with about 1 minute left, but that didn’t bother me, for once I had managed almost perfect timing.
The achilles has started hurting again, and today I definitely felt it for most of the run. If it gets any worse I’ll have to cut back for a bit, but for the time being I’m still hopeful of being able to train through it. It’s not really painful (yet), just bothersome. I’ve started doing some exercises that have helped in the past. I wish I had the discipline to keep doing those when I’m not hurting; it might have prevented the present problems entirely.
Cian had his first accident-free day yesterday. Hurray. Sadly he didn’t manage to repeat that feat today.
16 Jan: 8.5 miles, 59:30, 7:00 pace, avg. HR 154
17 Jan: 14.5 miles, 2:01, 8:20 pace, avg. HR 146
Monday, January 15, 2007
Smashing the Barrier
After spending Saturday afternoon with the boys (and having to deal with Cian’s, err, potty issues), I couldn’t wait for Sunday’s run. I was really looking forward to smelling fresh air rather than s**t again. (As always, I just knew you really wanted to know that).
The real reason why I was so keen to go out was the following: I just knew that this would be my first ever run under 7:00 pace. I had come close to that the week before, and since I seem to improve from week to week at the moment, I was certain that this was to be the day. I even wore my DS-trainers for the effort, which are usually reserved for races. I set off at a decent but measured pace, and when the first mile went by in just over 7:30 I knew I was in for a good ride. The weather wasn’t exactly cooperating, It was quite windy and one of the predicted scattered showers came by as well, but it didn’t really bother me. I can’t say for sure if it was the lighter shoes or the fact that I was really up for it, but for once I never lost my concentration and kept going at a higher heart rate than on any recent tempo efforts. I did start to tire by the time I reached the turnaround point, but I figured since the second half would be wind-assisted I would do ok. That wasn’t entirely true, and between miles 5 and 6 I kept thinking “f***, this hurts”. I managed to keep it going though, and over the last two or three miles I felt better again. I got home just before the hour mark, and knew that I had achieved my target. In hindsight I probably set off a bit too fast; I managed very even splits, but if you take into account that the first half was against the wind and the second one was wind-assisted, it’s a slightly different picture. Anyway, when I calculated the pace I found that I had done even better than that. At first I thought I had miscalculated, then I thought I had gotten the distance wrong, but no, I couldn’t find a fault in either. 6:43 pace it was, and I’m damned pleased about it. Outside a 5k race I’ve never run anywhere close to that pace before. I’ve improved so much in the last 6 months it’s starting to scare me.
After that run, Monday was always going to be a much slower recovery effort. The weather was still windy, despite promises to the opposite from the meteorologists. I ran the by now customary devil’s elbow loop with its steep ascent, and then added a dozen strides into the mix. Despite the strides and the climb my heart rate was the lowest in months, but my pace was also the slowest in months. It’s been some time since I’ve run slower than 9:00 pace, but after Sunday’s run a good old pedestrian recovery run was exactly what I needed.
I had some bad news as well, well, not bad, just annoying. There’s a big 10-mile race in Ballycotton every year, and it would have been perfect this year, 4 weeks before the Connemara Ultra. It’s one of the biggest events on the Irish running calendar, and as a result they get more applications than they can handle. I got my rejection letter a few days ago, which really annoyed me. I was very much looking forward to it, and the timing would have been great this year. There is a 10k in Adare, about 90 minutes drive from here, the week after that, which I might do instead. I have to think about it. I don’t know how clever it is to run a 10k just 3 weeks before an ultra.
Oh, and I did over 80 miles last week. That’s way above any previous levels, and of course it was all in singles. I’m getting there.
14 Jan: 8.75 miles, 58:53, 6:43 pace, avg. HR 165
15 Jan: 10.5 miles, 1:35, 9:08 pace, avg. HR 141
Weekly mileage: 80.5 miles
The real reason why I was so keen to go out was the following: I just knew that this would be my first ever run under 7:00 pace. I had come close to that the week before, and since I seem to improve from week to week at the moment, I was certain that this was to be the day. I even wore my DS-trainers for the effort, which are usually reserved for races. I set off at a decent but measured pace, and when the first mile went by in just over 7:30 I knew I was in for a good ride. The weather wasn’t exactly cooperating, It was quite windy and one of the predicted scattered showers came by as well, but it didn’t really bother me. I can’t say for sure if it was the lighter shoes or the fact that I was really up for it, but for once I never lost my concentration and kept going at a higher heart rate than on any recent tempo efforts. I did start to tire by the time I reached the turnaround point, but I figured since the second half would be wind-assisted I would do ok. That wasn’t entirely true, and between miles 5 and 6 I kept thinking “f***, this hurts”. I managed to keep it going though, and over the last two or three miles I felt better again. I got home just before the hour mark, and knew that I had achieved my target. In hindsight I probably set off a bit too fast; I managed very even splits, but if you take into account that the first half was against the wind and the second one was wind-assisted, it’s a slightly different picture. Anyway, when I calculated the pace I found that I had done even better than that. At first I thought I had miscalculated, then I thought I had gotten the distance wrong, but no, I couldn’t find a fault in either. 6:43 pace it was, and I’m damned pleased about it. Outside a 5k race I’ve never run anywhere close to that pace before. I’ve improved so much in the last 6 months it’s starting to scare me.
After that run, Monday was always going to be a much slower recovery effort. The weather was still windy, despite promises to the opposite from the meteorologists. I ran the by now customary devil’s elbow loop with its steep ascent, and then added a dozen strides into the mix. Despite the strides and the climb my heart rate was the lowest in months, but my pace was also the slowest in months. It’s been some time since I’ve run slower than 9:00 pace, but after Sunday’s run a good old pedestrian recovery run was exactly what I needed.
I had some bad news as well, well, not bad, just annoying. There’s a big 10-mile race in Ballycotton every year, and it would have been perfect this year, 4 weeks before the Connemara Ultra. It’s one of the biggest events on the Irish running calendar, and as a result they get more applications than they can handle. I got my rejection letter a few days ago, which really annoyed me. I was very much looking forward to it, and the timing would have been great this year. There is a 10k in Adare, about 90 minutes drive from here, the week after that, which I might do instead. I have to think about it. I don’t know how clever it is to run a 10k just 3 weeks before an ultra.
Oh, and I did over 80 miles last week. That’s way above any previous levels, and of course it was all in singles. I’m getting there.
14 Jan: 8.75 miles, 58:53, 6:43 pace, avg. HR 165
15 Jan: 10.5 miles, 1:35, 9:08 pace, avg. HR 141
Weekly mileage: 80.5 miles
Tags
I tried to ignore the latest game of tag when Eric tagged me (sorry, Eric), but now Waddler has tagged me too and I can’t snub two people at once, can I? I would feel too much of a spoil sport.
This is how it goes:1. Find the nearest book.2. Name the book & the author.3. Turn to page 123.4. Go to the fifth sentence on the page. Copy out the next three sentences and post to your blog.5. Tag three more folks.
This is how it goes:1. Find the nearest book.2. Name the book & the author.3. Turn to page 123.4. Go to the fifth sentence on the page. Copy out the next three sentences and post to your blog.5. Tag three more folks.
- I’m at work, and the nearest book is technical. Does it still count?
- “Mastering Oracle SQL” by Sanjay Mishra and Alan Beaulieu
- ok
- Obviously, you can’t use simple date arithmetic, because simple date subtraction doesn’t exclude weekend days. What you can do is use the DATE_OF_YEAR table. For Example:
SELECT COUNT(*) FROM DATES_OF_YEAR WHERE RTRIM(TO_CHAR(ONE_DAY),’DAY’)) NOT IN (‘SATURDAY’,’SUNDAY’) AND ONE_DAY BETWEEN ‘%d1’ AND ‘&d2’;
(yes, that's what I do for a living) - Three victims? Ok, I really won’t be offended if you ignore this, honestly, but I tag Pat, Hilda and Bapp.
Saturday, January 13, 2007
It's Raining, it's Pouring
For once the weather didn’t change – it stayed as bad as it was for two more mornings. Now, Saturday afternoon, it has brightened up, and tomorrow is supposed to be a nice day - with scattered showers; they obviously don’t want us to be spoilt. The next storm front is predicted for Wednesday. Is there no end to it? Michelle asked if I think the weather is related to global warming. Yes, I definitely do. I don’t buy that bullshit about cyclical weather developments, there’s nothing cyclical about the amount of greenhouse gases we’re pumping into the atmosphere.
But this is a running blog, and I’ll refrain from voicing political views. As planned, I did my 20-mile run on Friday. I initially set my alarm for 4:30, and just as I was about to fall asleep I decided it wouldn’t take me that long to run 20 miles, so I reset it to 4:40. The weather was just as bad as on Thursday, or maybe just a tick less so if you believe the weathermen. Nevertheless I felt good as I set off. Last time I ran this route I started the first 3 miles in a very pedestrian 9:20 pace, this time I still wasn’t exactly flying out of the blocks, but 8:45 was a good bit faster. But it was at that point that the road turned into the wind, and up the major climbs. I struggled against the forces of nature, and it was hard work. For the next 45 or so minutes I followed the road up and down, but with a net elevation gain of about 200 meters, and all of it right against the storm. I was mightily relieved when I finally reached the woods of Ahane, the previous 5 miles had been pure evil, but from there on it was much easier. For the next 5 miles the road was reasonably sheltered, and when I got out into the open again the wind was mainly at my back. At about the 10 miles point I suddenly started to feel rather weak, my legs turned into jelly and my stomach complained about the lack of food. I had been a bit nervous about running 20 miles on an empty stomach, but cranking up the music to maximum level distracted me sufficiently for the hunger to go away. The rest of the run went very well indeed. I’m not entirely sure about my pace for the last 8 miles, but it was definitely sub-8 pace, and I felt very good all the way home. Andrew and Mike have reported similar pace increases on their long runs, but they usually accuse each other of cranking up the effort. I have but myself to blame; but I felt really good. My achilles did start hurting after about 18.5 miles; that’s the first time it started hurting while out on the road, which is a bit worrying, but funnily enough by the time I got back home the pain had gone away, and I haven’t felt anything since.
I was mightily pleased with that effort, and surprised how easy it felt. I had expected a struggle over the last 2 or 3 miles, but the fatigue never struck. For my next long run I’ll probably go for something like 22 miles, which would take me about 3 hours. I’ll decide later in the week.
It was still wet and stormy outside this morning, which made me change my plans for today’s “recovery”. I had planned an out-and-back run along Caragh Lake, but after fighting 5 miles against the wind on Friday I didn’t fancy a repeat effort and headed for the devil’s elbow loop instead. When running counter-clockwise the trees will shelter you against the headwind on the first part, and when you leave the forest behind you the wind will be mostly at your back. The drawback of that route was that it included the steepest climb of all my usual running routes, but I was willing to accept that if it meant not having to run against the storm. For a recovery effort I probably ran a bit too fast, and my heart rate was a bit higher than I would have planned, but I blame the elements on that. On a nice day a stroll along the side of Caragh Lake would have been more of a recovery run. I also encountered the pack of dogs that had attacked me twice before, but I did notice that the biggest one wore a muzzle – that’s already better than back in August. Back then D had commented that she loudly shouts “no” when a dog charges towards her. I did follow the advice and guess what? It worked. Thanks D, you most likely saved me from another bite.
Shortly after coming back home Niamh plundered my wallet and set off towards Killarney with Lola for a girls’ day out in the shops, leaving Daddy behind to look after the boys. Which would be easier if that didn’t include a toddler who hasn’t quite got the hang of the toilet yet. I guess the challenges aren’t just confined to the road.
12 Jan: 20 miles, 2:45, 8:15 pace, avg. HR 149
13 Jan: 11 miles, 1:31, 8:16 pace, avg. HR 147
But this is a running blog, and I’ll refrain from voicing political views. As planned, I did my 20-mile run on Friday. I initially set my alarm for 4:30, and just as I was about to fall asleep I decided it wouldn’t take me that long to run 20 miles, so I reset it to 4:40. The weather was just as bad as on Thursday, or maybe just a tick less so if you believe the weathermen. Nevertheless I felt good as I set off. Last time I ran this route I started the first 3 miles in a very pedestrian 9:20 pace, this time I still wasn’t exactly flying out of the blocks, but 8:45 was a good bit faster. But it was at that point that the road turned into the wind, and up the major climbs. I struggled against the forces of nature, and it was hard work. For the next 45 or so minutes I followed the road up and down, but with a net elevation gain of about 200 meters, and all of it right against the storm. I was mightily relieved when I finally reached the woods of Ahane, the previous 5 miles had been pure evil, but from there on it was much easier. For the next 5 miles the road was reasonably sheltered, and when I got out into the open again the wind was mainly at my back. At about the 10 miles point I suddenly started to feel rather weak, my legs turned into jelly and my stomach complained about the lack of food. I had been a bit nervous about running 20 miles on an empty stomach, but cranking up the music to maximum level distracted me sufficiently for the hunger to go away. The rest of the run went very well indeed. I’m not entirely sure about my pace for the last 8 miles, but it was definitely sub-8 pace, and I felt very good all the way home. Andrew and Mike have reported similar pace increases on their long runs, but they usually accuse each other of cranking up the effort. I have but myself to blame; but I felt really good. My achilles did start hurting after about 18.5 miles; that’s the first time it started hurting while out on the road, which is a bit worrying, but funnily enough by the time I got back home the pain had gone away, and I haven’t felt anything since.
I was mightily pleased with that effort, and surprised how easy it felt. I had expected a struggle over the last 2 or 3 miles, but the fatigue never struck. For my next long run I’ll probably go for something like 22 miles, which would take me about 3 hours. I’ll decide later in the week.
It was still wet and stormy outside this morning, which made me change my plans for today’s “recovery”. I had planned an out-and-back run along Caragh Lake, but after fighting 5 miles against the wind on Friday I didn’t fancy a repeat effort and headed for the devil’s elbow loop instead. When running counter-clockwise the trees will shelter you against the headwind on the first part, and when you leave the forest behind you the wind will be mostly at your back. The drawback of that route was that it included the steepest climb of all my usual running routes, but I was willing to accept that if it meant not having to run against the storm. For a recovery effort I probably ran a bit too fast, and my heart rate was a bit higher than I would have planned, but I blame the elements on that. On a nice day a stroll along the side of Caragh Lake would have been more of a recovery run. I also encountered the pack of dogs that had attacked me twice before, but I did notice that the biggest one wore a muzzle – that’s already better than back in August. Back then D had commented that she loudly shouts “no” when a dog charges towards her. I did follow the advice and guess what? It worked. Thanks D, you most likely saved me from another bite.
Shortly after coming back home Niamh plundered my wallet and set off towards Killarney with Lola for a girls’ day out in the shops, leaving Daddy behind to look after the boys. Which would be easier if that didn’t include a toddler who hasn’t quite got the hang of the toilet yet. I guess the challenges aren’t just confined to the road.
12 Jan: 20 miles, 2:45, 8:15 pace, avg. HR 149
13 Jan: 11 miles, 1:31, 8:16 pace, avg. HR 147
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Contrasts
It’s business as usual, the weather changes from day to day, and every good day has to be paid off with a bad one. The contrast was never so stark as in Wednesday and Thursday.
I went to bed with some trepidation on Tuesday night because the storm outside was getting worse and worse. But when the alarm went off at 5:30 on Wednesday morning and I looked out of the window, I could not have been more surprised. A perfect night sky with a brilliant moon awaited me. It was like once of those runs under the moon light I enjoyed so much last year, and which I really treasure in my memory. I definitely missed those this winter, and I very much enjoyed it. Even the running effort seemed easier. I repeated the same workout I had done 7 days earlier with 2 loops around the devil’s elbow, which should be around 14 miles. I checked the map website and it came up with 14.2, but let’s not be too nerdy about the distance. I ran at an easy effort, but upped the pace a bit over the last 3 miles. It was a really enjoyable run.
But boy did I have to pay for it today. The weather had turned once more, and the weather warnings of “gale force winds and severe gale force winds” were certainly no exaggeration. Apart from severely hampering my ability to run a good workout the storms also knocked out electricity all over the country, caused plenty of local flooding and sunk a fishing boat off the Wexford coast, tragically killing all 5 crew members (those fishing accidents seem to be happening at an alarming frequency in the last 2 years. Or is that just my perception). Anyway, I tried to have a 3/4 effort tempo run, but once more didn’t quite succeed. Running against the wind and rain was as hard as running up a steep hill, and it completely killed my pace. After fighting the elements for what had seemed a very long time I turned around to have the storms blow me home, but I didn’t quite succeed in getting the effort up to the desired level. These tempo efforts are a bit hit-and-miss from me, but I do usually get one good tempo run per week, just not always on the day I had planned. When I got home I was thoroughly frustrated, not only because the weather had interfered with my running, the wind had kept blowing the earphone from my ears. This really pissed my off so much that not even swearing loudly helped to vent my frustration.
The weather forecast for tomorrow isn’t exactly great, but at least the worst of the storm is behind us. It will still be very gusty, but I’m planning to do 20 miles no matter what, and I’m looking forward to a proper long run. I haven’t run more than about 17.5 miles since the marathon, and it is high time to get into the 20s. After all, that’s just half the distance of the ultra in April. Blimey, that’s only 11-and-a-half weeks away. Better get going!
10 Jan: 14 miles, 2:02, 8:42 pace, avg. HR 144
11 Jan: 8.25 miles, 1:01, 7:23 pace, avg. HR 159
I went to bed with some trepidation on Tuesday night because the storm outside was getting worse and worse. But when the alarm went off at 5:30 on Wednesday morning and I looked out of the window, I could not have been more surprised. A perfect night sky with a brilliant moon awaited me. It was like once of those runs under the moon light I enjoyed so much last year, and which I really treasure in my memory. I definitely missed those this winter, and I very much enjoyed it. Even the running effort seemed easier. I repeated the same workout I had done 7 days earlier with 2 loops around the devil’s elbow, which should be around 14 miles. I checked the map website and it came up with 14.2, but let’s not be too nerdy about the distance. I ran at an easy effort, but upped the pace a bit over the last 3 miles. It was a really enjoyable run.
But boy did I have to pay for it today. The weather had turned once more, and the weather warnings of “gale force winds and severe gale force winds” were certainly no exaggeration. Apart from severely hampering my ability to run a good workout the storms also knocked out electricity all over the country, caused plenty of local flooding and sunk a fishing boat off the Wexford coast, tragically killing all 5 crew members (those fishing accidents seem to be happening at an alarming frequency in the last 2 years. Or is that just my perception). Anyway, I tried to have a 3/4 effort tempo run, but once more didn’t quite succeed. Running against the wind and rain was as hard as running up a steep hill, and it completely killed my pace. After fighting the elements for what had seemed a very long time I turned around to have the storms blow me home, but I didn’t quite succeed in getting the effort up to the desired level. These tempo efforts are a bit hit-and-miss from me, but I do usually get one good tempo run per week, just not always on the day I had planned. When I got home I was thoroughly frustrated, not only because the weather had interfered with my running, the wind had kept blowing the earphone from my ears. This really pissed my off so much that not even swearing loudly helped to vent my frustration.
The weather forecast for tomorrow isn’t exactly great, but at least the worst of the storm is behind us. It will still be very gusty, but I’m planning to do 20 miles no matter what, and I’m looking forward to a proper long run. I haven’t run more than about 17.5 miles since the marathon, and it is high time to get into the 20s. After all, that’s just half the distance of the ultra in April. Blimey, that’s only 11-and-a-half weeks away. Better get going!
10 Jan: 14 miles, 2:02, 8:42 pace, avg. HR 144
11 Jan: 8.25 miles, 1:01, 7:23 pace, avg. HR 159
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
Lucky
Despite all my moaning about the storms I have to run through, I have generally been fairly lucky with the weather. Maybe it’s just my perception, but it always seems worse in the evening than in the mornings. I usually drive home from work, notice the rain pouring down and the wind howling and think to myself “no way I would be running in this weather”.
My luck ran out temporarily on Monday. It didn’t seem too bad as I got ready to go out; I did hear the wind and the rain, all right, but it sounded ok. Once I was out on the roads, and especially once I left the woods behind me it became apparent that the wind was a lot stronger than anticipated. I struggled for a good 2.5 miles, then I turned a corner and had the full blast into my face, and after a minute or two I decided that I really didn’t want to fight the elements this way for another 3 miles to the turnaround point. I turned around there and then, and added my trusty loop to Ard-na-Sidhe (plus a bit extra) to make up the shortfall. In the wood the wind wasn’t nearly as bad, but once or twice I heard a tree creaking, and it was a bit scary, but I escaped unharmed. I even added a dozen strides to the run. I try to do them once a week, and Monday’s 90-minute run seems the most logical one. I can’t do them in a tempo run, and I certainly don’t want to do them during a long run. Despite all the capers with the weather and the strides my heart rate keeps getting lower. That’s definitely a good sign.
Tuesday made up for Monday’s appalling conditions, the wind was still there but much more restrained and the rain had ceased at some stage during the night. The road was still full of puddles and I had to be careful and try to run around them rather than straight through them, but it was pleasant and the moon was out bright enough to cast a shadow. My problem this time was the heart rate; I once again struggled to get it up to 160. I worked and worked and worked, checked the HRM and got dismayed by the display. The legs felt very heavy, which is probably a residue from Monday night’s hour of football, but I finally managed to get them going, and the second, wind-assisted, half of the run seemed much more manageable than the first one. This was definitely a 1/2 effort rather than a 3/4 one like Sunday’s run, but in the end I was pleased to find that I can run 7:25 pace even with heavy legs. A year ago this would have been more or less my pace for a hard tempo run, and for no more than 4 or 5 miles at that (and with a HR 10 beats higher). Now I can keep it for twice that distance on tired legs.
Less than an hour after my run the heavens opened for the worst rain yet. Believe it or not, I really was lucky this time.
My right achilles is acting up once more. As ever I don’t feel any pain while running, but it has been sore ever since, and I’m starting to get worried. Several months ago I had similar problems with my left achilles, and at one stage it developed into tendonitis and I had to cut back for a few weeks. I don’t want that to happen again. I’ve already changed into a new pair of shoes, which is my usual remedy for that kind of problem. If it gets worse, I might indeed have to cut down for a while.
Niamh forced me to throw out all my old runners. I do admit that they took up a lot of room in the shoe cabinet, but it was still heartbreaking. She just doesn’t understand the emotional bond between runner and shoe. To chuck them into the dump just like a …, well, old pair of shoes felt like a betrayal on my part. Ok, I’m exaggerating. Still. I’ll miss them.
8 Jan: 10.5 miles, 1:31, 8:40 pace, avg. HR 143
9 Jan: 8 miles, 59:23, 7:25 pace, avg. HR 155
My luck ran out temporarily on Monday. It didn’t seem too bad as I got ready to go out; I did hear the wind and the rain, all right, but it sounded ok. Once I was out on the roads, and especially once I left the woods behind me it became apparent that the wind was a lot stronger than anticipated. I struggled for a good 2.5 miles, then I turned a corner and had the full blast into my face, and after a minute or two I decided that I really didn’t want to fight the elements this way for another 3 miles to the turnaround point. I turned around there and then, and added my trusty loop to Ard-na-Sidhe (plus a bit extra) to make up the shortfall. In the wood the wind wasn’t nearly as bad, but once or twice I heard a tree creaking, and it was a bit scary, but I escaped unharmed. I even added a dozen strides to the run. I try to do them once a week, and Monday’s 90-minute run seems the most logical one. I can’t do them in a tempo run, and I certainly don’t want to do them during a long run. Despite all the capers with the weather and the strides my heart rate keeps getting lower. That’s definitely a good sign.
Tuesday made up for Monday’s appalling conditions, the wind was still there but much more restrained and the rain had ceased at some stage during the night. The road was still full of puddles and I had to be careful and try to run around them rather than straight through them, but it was pleasant and the moon was out bright enough to cast a shadow. My problem this time was the heart rate; I once again struggled to get it up to 160. I worked and worked and worked, checked the HRM and got dismayed by the display. The legs felt very heavy, which is probably a residue from Monday night’s hour of football, but I finally managed to get them going, and the second, wind-assisted, half of the run seemed much more manageable than the first one. This was definitely a 1/2 effort rather than a 3/4 one like Sunday’s run, but in the end I was pleased to find that I can run 7:25 pace even with heavy legs. A year ago this would have been more or less my pace for a hard tempo run, and for no more than 4 or 5 miles at that (and with a HR 10 beats higher). Now I can keep it for twice that distance on tired legs.
Less than an hour after my run the heavens opened for the worst rain yet. Believe it or not, I really was lucky this time.
My right achilles is acting up once more. As ever I don’t feel any pain while running, but it has been sore ever since, and I’m starting to get worried. Several months ago I had similar problems with my left achilles, and at one stage it developed into tendonitis and I had to cut back for a few weeks. I don’t want that to happen again. I’ve already changed into a new pair of shoes, which is my usual remedy for that kind of problem. If it gets worse, I might indeed have to cut down for a while.
Niamh forced me to throw out all my old runners. I do admit that they took up a lot of room in the shoe cabinet, but it was still heartbreaking. She just doesn’t understand the emotional bond between runner and shoe. To chuck them into the dump just like a …, well, old pair of shoes felt like a betrayal on my part. Ok, I’m exaggerating. Still. I’ll miss them.
8 Jan: 10.5 miles, 1:31, 8:40 pace, avg. HR 143
9 Jan: 8 miles, 59:23, 7:25 pace, avg. HR 155
Sunday, January 07, 2007
Progress
If there is one thing that’s good about the present weather then it’s the fact that no conditions I will ever encounter during a race will be new to me (apart from bright hot sunshine, maybe). Connemara in April is not exactly know for its benign and sunny spells, but I think I will be well prepared for whatever is in store.
Saturday was the closest I get to a recovery run in my schedule, but I messed that up slightly by choosing another hilly route, the loop around the water witch. I originally planned to do two loops, but my right achilles let me know that it wasn’t hundred percent ok with that, and I changed the course, and rather than running up the hill for a second time I chose a much flatter section of the road. That loop was a bit shorter, and I added a good mile out-and-back on the Caragh Lake road. In the end I called it 10.5 miles, which should be reasonably accurate. The heart rate was satisfyingly low, despite the hills early on. I felt surprisingly tired for the rest of the day, but any signs of fatigue were gone the following morning.
Despite being woken at 8 am I didn’t leave straight away. I felt too lazy to hit the road and spent some time working on the computer. The windy weather wasn’t too inviting either. I got the deserved reward for my slacking, because when I finally decided to head out, it had started raining. I delayed for another 15 minutes, but it became obvious that the rain wasn’t going to ease up, and out I went. As always, the rain wasn’t as bad as it seemed, but the wind was stronger than I would wish for. After not quite hitting the desired heart rate on Thursday I tried another tempo run, and for whatever reason today went better. It was still hard work, especially in the first half against the wind, but I was pleased to see the heart rate consistently in the 160s, and I managed to keep the effort going during the second half, despite being wind-assisted. The last half-mile was a bit of a struggle; I was definitely coming towards the end of my strength and the hamstrings made themselves known, but I got home still in decent shape, and was quite pleased with the results. I didn’t try to race and better Thursday’s time, I just tried to keep the effort at the high end of the aerobic scale. I guess the fact that I managed to keep the pace going for nearly an hour shows that I didn’t overdo it, but I was surprised to see that I had ran the same course 90 seconds faster than 3 days ago. There is definitely some progress being made, and it feels good to see the pace dropping so quickly. I probably should extend the loop for my 60 minutes runs, because recently I’ve started to come home too soon.
Talking about progress, Cian is being toilet trained again (we had to abort our last attempt, a few months back) and in the last few days the washing machine was begging for mercy. Now he finally seems to be getting the hang of it, to the relief of everyone in the house. I bet you all really wanted to know this.
6 Jan: 10.5 miles, 1:29, 8:28 pace, avg. HR 144
7 Jan: 8.25 miles, 58:23, 7:04 pace, avg. HR 163
Weekly mileage: 74
Saturday was the closest I get to a recovery run in my schedule, but I messed that up slightly by choosing another hilly route, the loop around the water witch. I originally planned to do two loops, but my right achilles let me know that it wasn’t hundred percent ok with that, and I changed the course, and rather than running up the hill for a second time I chose a much flatter section of the road. That loop was a bit shorter, and I added a good mile out-and-back on the Caragh Lake road. In the end I called it 10.5 miles, which should be reasonably accurate. The heart rate was satisfyingly low, despite the hills early on. I felt surprisingly tired for the rest of the day, but any signs of fatigue were gone the following morning.
Despite being woken at 8 am I didn’t leave straight away. I felt too lazy to hit the road and spent some time working on the computer. The windy weather wasn’t too inviting either. I got the deserved reward for my slacking, because when I finally decided to head out, it had started raining. I delayed for another 15 minutes, but it became obvious that the rain wasn’t going to ease up, and out I went. As always, the rain wasn’t as bad as it seemed, but the wind was stronger than I would wish for. After not quite hitting the desired heart rate on Thursday I tried another tempo run, and for whatever reason today went better. It was still hard work, especially in the first half against the wind, but I was pleased to see the heart rate consistently in the 160s, and I managed to keep the effort going during the second half, despite being wind-assisted. The last half-mile was a bit of a struggle; I was definitely coming towards the end of my strength and the hamstrings made themselves known, but I got home still in decent shape, and was quite pleased with the results. I didn’t try to race and better Thursday’s time, I just tried to keep the effort at the high end of the aerobic scale. I guess the fact that I managed to keep the pace going for nearly an hour shows that I didn’t overdo it, but I was surprised to see that I had ran the same course 90 seconds faster than 3 days ago. There is definitely some progress being made, and it feels good to see the pace dropping so quickly. I probably should extend the loop for my 60 minutes runs, because recently I’ve started to come home too soon.
Talking about progress, Cian is being toilet trained again (we had to abort our last attempt, a few months back) and in the last few days the washing machine was begging for mercy. Now he finally seems to be getting the hang of it, to the relief of everyone in the house. I bet you all really wanted to know this.
6 Jan: 10.5 miles, 1:29, 8:28 pace, avg. HR 144
7 Jan: 8.25 miles, 58:23, 7:04 pace, avg. HR 163
Weekly mileage: 74
Friday, January 05, 2007
Wrong Readings
I used to be pretty well tuned into the effort my body was producing. Even without checking the heart rate monitor I could tell quite accurately at any pace what my heart would be at any given moment. This has changed. What used to be a HR 160 effort now produces a heart rate somewhere in the low 150, and getting the heart rate up to 160 or 170 requires more and more effort. It’s just like Andrew predicted. The cardiovascular system has adapted, but the legs take a lot longer to follow suit. Tempo runs seem to becoming harder and harder.
Last week I felt completely wiped out after my long run. For whatever reason, today I feel much better than 7 days ago – not that I’m complaining. It would just be nice to know what’s causing the difference. I certainly didn’t hold back on Thursday for the tempo run. In fact I was afraid I might have overdone it a bit, but those fear proved to be unfounded. Before the run I was wondering what’s the best option for this run: option 1 consists of a 2 mile warm-up, 4 miles tempo and 2 miles cool-down, which is probably what most people would recommend. The second option was a one-mile warm-up and then a gradual acceleration over the next mile, and the tempo effort for the rest of the run. I opted for the second option because 4 miles didn’t feel sufficiently long for the tempo part. In fact I probably ran the warm-up mile too fast, I was already thinking ahead of the speed bits and the legs kind of took over from there. I intended to keep the heart rate over 160, but it took about 2 miles to reach that level, and then it was really hard work to keep it at there. Once or twice I slightly switched off for a few minutes and had to jolt myself back into tempo mode. In the end I didn’t quite reach the planned average heart rate, but on the other hand I’ve never run 8 miles at that pace before, so I was satisfied with that.
As mentioned in my previous entry I ran the 17miles (plus change) loop around Caragh Lake again this morning for my long run, the same workout as two weeks ago, except that I ran it counter-clockwise today rather than the other way round. There is one big difference in doing it that way, because today the big climb with an elevation gain of 200 m (650 ft) was from mile 9 to 11, rather than from mile 3 to 5. Two years ago I twice tried to do this run but never managed to actually run the entire climb, I had to walk significant bits of it. Today the running was no problem, I was well within my limits and the HR never got higher than 155 or so (no, I didn’t keep checking). I was slightly worried that I might be tempted to cut off 2 miles towards the end, but that fear was unfounded, I felt pretty good as I passed the junction in question and cutting the run short was never an option. I had a bit of a crisis around mile 8 when I got hit by hunger pangs (no food before running) but luckily they went away eventually and didn’t bother me again. Apart from that I felt good until the last two miles when I started to feel tired and my feet hurt, but by then I was already on the home stretch. The effort was in the easy category, but I did notice that I tend to get faster the longer the run goes on. The first two or three miles were run at around 8:45 pace, and towards the end I guess I was at around 8:15, but without a particular increase in effort.
The weighing scales have also relented, half of the holiday pounds have melted away allegedly, and I’m on 153 now. You know what? I think the scales are lying.
4 Jan: 8.25 miles, 59:47, 7:14 pace, avg. HR 159
5 Jan: 17.25 miles, 2:29, 8:38 pace, avg. HR 144
Last week I felt completely wiped out after my long run. For whatever reason, today I feel much better than 7 days ago – not that I’m complaining. It would just be nice to know what’s causing the difference. I certainly didn’t hold back on Thursday for the tempo run. In fact I was afraid I might have overdone it a bit, but those fear proved to be unfounded. Before the run I was wondering what’s the best option for this run: option 1 consists of a 2 mile warm-up, 4 miles tempo and 2 miles cool-down, which is probably what most people would recommend. The second option was a one-mile warm-up and then a gradual acceleration over the next mile, and the tempo effort for the rest of the run. I opted for the second option because 4 miles didn’t feel sufficiently long for the tempo part. In fact I probably ran the warm-up mile too fast, I was already thinking ahead of the speed bits and the legs kind of took over from there. I intended to keep the heart rate over 160, but it took about 2 miles to reach that level, and then it was really hard work to keep it at there. Once or twice I slightly switched off for a few minutes and had to jolt myself back into tempo mode. In the end I didn’t quite reach the planned average heart rate, but on the other hand I’ve never run 8 miles at that pace before, so I was satisfied with that.
As mentioned in my previous entry I ran the 17miles (plus change) loop around Caragh Lake again this morning for my long run, the same workout as two weeks ago, except that I ran it counter-clockwise today rather than the other way round. There is one big difference in doing it that way, because today the big climb with an elevation gain of 200 m (650 ft) was from mile 9 to 11, rather than from mile 3 to 5. Two years ago I twice tried to do this run but never managed to actually run the entire climb, I had to walk significant bits of it. Today the running was no problem, I was well within my limits and the HR never got higher than 155 or so (no, I didn’t keep checking). I was slightly worried that I might be tempted to cut off 2 miles towards the end, but that fear was unfounded, I felt pretty good as I passed the junction in question and cutting the run short was never an option. I had a bit of a crisis around mile 8 when I got hit by hunger pangs (no food before running) but luckily they went away eventually and didn’t bother me again. Apart from that I felt good until the last two miles when I started to feel tired and my feet hurt, but by then I was already on the home stretch. The effort was in the easy category, but I did notice that I tend to get faster the longer the run goes on. The first two or three miles were run at around 8:45 pace, and towards the end I guess I was at around 8:15, but without a particular increase in effort.
The weighing scales have also relented, half of the holiday pounds have melted away allegedly, and I’m on 153 now. You know what? I think the scales are lying.
4 Jan: 8.25 miles, 59:47, 7:14 pace, avg. HR 159
5 Jan: 17.25 miles, 2:29, 8:38 pace, avg. HR 144
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
Home, Sweet Home
RTE have a short report of the New Year’s Day race on their website. They describe the conditions as gale force. Listen up, you soft Dubs: I’ve run in gale force winds, and what we had two days ago was just a bit windy, not gale force. That's truly pathetic.
Anyway, I had my last run in Dublin on Tuesday. The race has slightly upset my schedule. Because Niamh and the kids were there I never managed to make up a few extra miles, which meant I only ran 40 minutes on a day that was scheduled to be 90. Since running fast two days in a row was out of the question I decided to do those 90 minutes on Tuesday instead, and regard Monday’s race as a substitute for Tuesday’s originally planned 60 minutes tempo run. While this sounds logically enough it also meant two long-and-slow days in a row for Tuesday and Wednesday, but I really didn’t want to switch any more days and just returned to my normal schedule.
I felt absolutely fine on Tuesday, there was no residue of the race in my legs, and I finally managed to take it easier on an easy day, something I haven’t been particularly good at over the holiday season. I ran the same route as on any other days in Dublin; all the alternative runs I have tried have loads of concrete, and I really want to avoid that as much as possible. I felt really good after my run, and was happy that the race hadn’t left any marks on me.
The drive home to Kerry was long and the kids got worse by the minute. I was tempted to leave Shea by the roadside and drive off because he was driving us mad. (Note to social services: I wasn’t really. It’s an exaggeration.) We came home late in the evening, and with unpacking, ironing shirts for the rest of the working week and just doing lots of bits and pieces around the house it was nearly midnight by the time I got to bed. Less than 6 hours later the alarm went and I had to get up for my midweek run. The weather is noticeably warmer in Kerry. In Dublin the temperatures were generally about 5C/40F, here it is about 10C/50F, which is positively balmy for this time of the year. The big drawback is the wind, it is much worse than on the Irish East coast, and if Monday was gale force winds, then today would have been classified as a hurricane I guess. I originally planned to run around the lake again, but that would have taken well over 2 hours at my current easy pace, so I decided to run two loops around the devil’s elbow instead. On the first loop my legs, especially my right calves, did question the wisdom of running the steepest climb in the neighbourhood, but once that obstacle was mastered it went a lot better, and on the second loop it went a lot smoother. I even managed to drop my average heart rate, despite this being the hilliest run I could find.
The one thing missing in my training is a proper long run, despite me giving out to Marc on occasions for exactly those failings. Since I had to cut last week’s long run short, I don’t want to jump straight into a 20-miler. I’ll do my extended Caragh lake loop on Friday (a bit over 17 miles), and the following week I’ll attempt 19 or 20 miles, which would finally get me into proper long-run territory. I’ll see how that leaves me regarding fatigue. At the moment I’m definitely tired, but I put that down to lack of sleep rather than running too much. I’ll work on that problem as well.
I weighed myself for the first time since Christmas. To my utter shock and horror I've gained 6 pounds, and am now on 156. I'm not sure where those pounds are hiding, I still look as scrawny as ever. I accused the weighing scales of lying, but that that's a girly thing to do, so I stopped ranting and accepted the verdict with just a few hysterical sobs instead.
According to the results on the race website, I came 6th in my age group (hurray!), but they have my official time as 19:54. Hrmpf! Don't you dare! It clearly said 19:52, and, as I've already said, that was gun time.
2 Jan: 1:32, 10.5 miles, 8:45 pace, avg. HR 149
3 Jan: 2:02, 14 miles, 8:42 pace, avg. HR 147
Anyway, I had my last run in Dublin on Tuesday. The race has slightly upset my schedule. Because Niamh and the kids were there I never managed to make up a few extra miles, which meant I only ran 40 minutes on a day that was scheduled to be 90. Since running fast two days in a row was out of the question I decided to do those 90 minutes on Tuesday instead, and regard Monday’s race as a substitute for Tuesday’s originally planned 60 minutes tempo run. While this sounds logically enough it also meant two long-and-slow days in a row for Tuesday and Wednesday, but I really didn’t want to switch any more days and just returned to my normal schedule.
I felt absolutely fine on Tuesday, there was no residue of the race in my legs, and I finally managed to take it easier on an easy day, something I haven’t been particularly good at over the holiday season. I ran the same route as on any other days in Dublin; all the alternative runs I have tried have loads of concrete, and I really want to avoid that as much as possible. I felt really good after my run, and was happy that the race hadn’t left any marks on me.
The drive home to Kerry was long and the kids got worse by the minute. I was tempted to leave Shea by the roadside and drive off because he was driving us mad. (Note to social services: I wasn’t really. It’s an exaggeration.) We came home late in the evening, and with unpacking, ironing shirts for the rest of the working week and just doing lots of bits and pieces around the house it was nearly midnight by the time I got to bed. Less than 6 hours later the alarm went and I had to get up for my midweek run. The weather is noticeably warmer in Kerry. In Dublin the temperatures were generally about 5C/40F, here it is about 10C/50F, which is positively balmy for this time of the year. The big drawback is the wind, it is much worse than on the Irish East coast, and if Monday was gale force winds, then today would have been classified as a hurricane I guess. I originally planned to run around the lake again, but that would have taken well over 2 hours at my current easy pace, so I decided to run two loops around the devil’s elbow instead. On the first loop my legs, especially my right calves, did question the wisdom of running the steepest climb in the neighbourhood, but once that obstacle was mastered it went a lot better, and on the second loop it went a lot smoother. I even managed to drop my average heart rate, despite this being the hilliest run I could find.
The one thing missing in my training is a proper long run, despite me giving out to Marc on occasions for exactly those failings. Since I had to cut last week’s long run short, I don’t want to jump straight into a 20-miler. I’ll do my extended Caragh lake loop on Friday (a bit over 17 miles), and the following week I’ll attempt 19 or 20 miles, which would finally get me into proper long-run territory. I’ll see how that leaves me regarding fatigue. At the moment I’m definitely tired, but I put that down to lack of sleep rather than running too much. I’ll work on that problem as well.
I weighed myself for the first time since Christmas. To my utter shock and horror I've gained 6 pounds, and am now on 156. I'm not sure where those pounds are hiding, I still look as scrawny as ever. I accused the weighing scales of lying, but that that's a girly thing to do, so I stopped ranting and accepted the verdict with just a few hysterical sobs instead.
According to the results on the race website, I came 6th in my age group (hurray!), but they have my official time as 19:54. Hrmpf! Don't you dare! It clearly said 19:52, and, as I've already said, that was gun time.
2 Jan: 1:32, 10.5 miles, 8:45 pace, avg. HR 149
3 Jan: 2:02, 14 miles, 8:42 pace, avg. HR 147
Monday, January 01, 2007
Tom Brennan Memorial New Year’s Day 5k
It’s only 4 weeks ago since my last 5k, and since that had been just 5 weeks after the Dublin marathon I was confident that a new PR was in store today. There’s just no better way to start the New Year than with a PR, isn’t it? Since it’s out of the question to get a childminder at New Year’s Eve it meant Niamh and I took it easy on the booze the night before, and unlike the rest of the country we awoke without a hangover.
I had done the race last year and was therefore familiar with the location and the race course. The one change from last year was the later start; it didn’t start until 1pm, which I guess was due to the organisers bowing to the demands of the New Year’s Day sufferers. It also enables me to bring the whole family for a change, Niamh and all 3 kids were there to admire Daddy. Unfortunately the weather turned nasty just 10 minutes before the start with rain and sleet coming down, and the wind picking up. It stopped soon enough, before the starting gun, but it meant my personal fans were frozen and miserable even before the race had started. In the morning I had said to Niamh how I don’t like 5ks, because they hurt a lot for the whole duration of the race, and now I was going to test that. My previous best had been 20:47, and I was hoping for 20:30. Despite this I started at a measured pace, it felt slower and more controlled than on previous 5k races. I still managed some decent pace early on, which I could tell by the fact that ever since the first few hundred meters nobody overtook me, but I kept going past other runners throughout. I got to the first mile marker in 6:18, which is a lot faster than my usual 5k pace, but I felt good enough and confident. The course is over two laps, and soon enough I passed the spot where Niamh and the kids were screaming and waving. Unfortunately this was also where the lactic acid in the lags started to be truly noticeable. I tried to push on as hard as I felt prudent, but the second mile marker did not appear until the watch said 13:51, which would make this a 6:33 mile. That is still faster than my previous PR pace, but quite a bit slower than the first mile. Having said that, a good bit of that mile had been into the wind, which explains at least some of the difference. I pressed on and kept overtaking a few more guys. I kept being afraid of anyone passing me (not sure why), and each time I heard someone behind me I just pushed harder. We soon turned the last corner, from where it is about half a mile to the finish. There was a guy about 10 meters ahead of me. I kept thinking if I started my sprint now I might catch him, no wait, maybe now, no wait, no wait, no wait, .... damn, now he’s accelerated himself. I tried to push as hard as I could, but try as you might I couldn’t close the gap. I was just about to be really annoyed with myself for delaying my final burst when I managed to glimpse the official timer as I crossed the line. Wait for it: 19:52. What? I couldn’t believe it and had to check my own watch. There it was, 19:52, and that was gun time, my net time was probably more like 19:50 or even 19:49. Wow! Even Niamh realised that this was a lot faster than I had anticipated and asked “was that really your time on that clock?”. She and the kids were frozen throughout, and while the four of them were cold and miserable despite being wrapped in scarves, gloves and hats, I was happy, ecstatic and feeling the inner warmth despite being in shorts and t-shirt. It meant I really could not ask them to wait a bit longer so that I could cool down properly; we had to march straight to the car, pack everyone in and leave. Never mind, I don’t want to put them off the experience. Lola said she wants to race with Daddy in future, but she might have to wait a few more years.
As far as I know the race distance was accurate, and it certainly was the same distance as last year. If anyone thinks it was short, don’t tell me. I really want to keep my sub-20 5k time.
Just yesterday I was thinking about (running) goals for 2007, and the thought of a sub-20 5k did cross my mind. But you only better your 5k time by a few seconds each time, so I decided it was too ambitious a target for this year, and 2008 was more realistic. Gracious me, was I wrong. What next? At the moment I don’t care, the glow is still there. Happy New Year!
1 Jan: 5 or 6 miles including 5k in 19:52 (gun time), 6:23 pace, avg. HR 179
I had done the race last year and was therefore familiar with the location and the race course. The one change from last year was the later start; it didn’t start until 1pm, which I guess was due to the organisers bowing to the demands of the New Year’s Day sufferers. It also enables me to bring the whole family for a change, Niamh and all 3 kids were there to admire Daddy. Unfortunately the weather turned nasty just 10 minutes before the start with rain and sleet coming down, and the wind picking up. It stopped soon enough, before the starting gun, but it meant my personal fans were frozen and miserable even before the race had started. In the morning I had said to Niamh how I don’t like 5ks, because they hurt a lot for the whole duration of the race, and now I was going to test that. My previous best had been 20:47, and I was hoping for 20:30. Despite this I started at a measured pace, it felt slower and more controlled than on previous 5k races. I still managed some decent pace early on, which I could tell by the fact that ever since the first few hundred meters nobody overtook me, but I kept going past other runners throughout. I got to the first mile marker in 6:18, which is a lot faster than my usual 5k pace, but I felt good enough and confident. The course is over two laps, and soon enough I passed the spot where Niamh and the kids were screaming and waving. Unfortunately this was also where the lactic acid in the lags started to be truly noticeable. I tried to push on as hard as I felt prudent, but the second mile marker did not appear until the watch said 13:51, which would make this a 6:33 mile. That is still faster than my previous PR pace, but quite a bit slower than the first mile. Having said that, a good bit of that mile had been into the wind, which explains at least some of the difference. I pressed on and kept overtaking a few more guys. I kept being afraid of anyone passing me (not sure why), and each time I heard someone behind me I just pushed harder. We soon turned the last corner, from where it is about half a mile to the finish. There was a guy about 10 meters ahead of me. I kept thinking if I started my sprint now I might catch him, no wait, maybe now, no wait, no wait, no wait, .... damn, now he’s accelerated himself. I tried to push as hard as I could, but try as you might I couldn’t close the gap. I was just about to be really annoyed with myself for delaying my final burst when I managed to glimpse the official timer as I crossed the line. Wait for it: 19:52. What? I couldn’t believe it and had to check my own watch. There it was, 19:52, and that was gun time, my net time was probably more like 19:50 or even 19:49. Wow! Even Niamh realised that this was a lot faster than I had anticipated and asked “was that really your time on that clock?”. She and the kids were frozen throughout, and while the four of them were cold and miserable despite being wrapped in scarves, gloves and hats, I was happy, ecstatic and feeling the inner warmth despite being in shorts and t-shirt. It meant I really could not ask them to wait a bit longer so that I could cool down properly; we had to march straight to the car, pack everyone in and leave. Never mind, I don’t want to put them off the experience. Lola said she wants to race with Daddy in future, but she might have to wait a few more years.
As far as I know the race distance was accurate, and it certainly was the same distance as last year. If anyone thinks it was short, don’t tell me. I really want to keep my sub-20 5k time.
Just yesterday I was thinking about (running) goals for 2007, and the thought of a sub-20 5k did cross my mind. But you only better your 5k time by a few seconds each time, so I decided it was too ambitious a target for this year, and 2008 was more realistic. Gracious me, was I wrong. What next? At the moment I don’t care, the glow is still there. Happy New Year!
1 Jan: 5 or 6 miles including 5k in 19:52 (gun time), 6:23 pace, avg. HR 179
Sunday, December 31, 2006
Last entry of 2006
The weather seems to play with us at the moment. Each day is a complete contrast to the previous one, sunshine on Saturday gave way to rain and storms on Sunday, and who knows what’s in store for Monday.
After feeling totally wiped out after Friday’s run I did question my training. I certainly don’t want to fall into the overtraining trap, but one tough run does not cause overtraining. I was slightly apprehensive for Saturday’s 90 minutes, and initially the concerns were well founded. The legs felt very heavy and I really had to drag myself along for the run. After about 4.5 miles I came across a football pitch with a dirt track around it, and on the spur of the moment decided to do a few laps. After two or three laps I suddenly seemed to shake off the fatigue and from then on I felt much better. After five laps I decided to do some straights and curves, partly because I wanted to get the legs moving a bit before Monday’s 5k, and partly because I hadn’t done any strides all week. This kind of strides workout is different to my usual one, normally I have much longer breaks between the fast bits. It went well, though my heart rate did creep upwards with every lap. I did 6 more laps of that, making it 12 strides and 12 recoveries. At least I think I did, I lost count at one stage. There was a guy cycling clockwise on the track while I was doing counter-clockwise loops. He nearly did the same pace as me, after each half lap we seemed to cross at nearly the same spot – though I did work a lot harder than he did, obviously. I still had to run the 4.5 miles home again, of course, but I was very happy with the workout.
After feeling so revitalised, I expected another good run on Sunday, but you don’t always get what you want. The weather had turned decidedly nasty again, though the winds did not quite reach the 60-70 mph that had been predicted (that might still happen later today of course). I tried to take it a little bit easier than I would have on a normal 60 minutes run to save the legs for tomorrow’s race, but I ended up doing a decent pace anyway, especially considering the conditions. The legs felt surprisingly heavy again, as if someone had attached a brick to each hamstring (I checked but couldn’t find it). Oh well. I did feel slightly better as the run wore on, and finished in reasonable shape.
I managed to pick up a spanking new pair of Asics Nimbus in a half price sale at Arnotts, which made my day. The old pair of Nimbuses had been officially retired on my last run before driving to Dublin a week ago. They had lasted for 520 miles, which is the longest I’ve ever worn a pair. I had a few twinges and tweaks in both Achilles tendons over the last 2 or 3 weeks before that, which is my usual sign of needing a new pair of runners. I’ve been feeling fine since.
Lola had a tummy bug over the last few days, with the usual unpleasantness that accompanies that kind of thing. At one stage the poor thing said to her mummy “I think I’m going to die”. Thankfully she’s better now; she seems to be fully recovered. When mummy baked a chocolate cake yesterday, she licked the mixing bowl clean, and she’s been fine ever since, which is more than you can say about the clothes she wore at the time. I hope we can remove those chocolate stains.
Happy New Year everyone! I wish you a good and successful 2007, and may all your PRs be shattered. My personal resolution: run more, run harder, and don’t get injured. I’m not asking for much, do I?
30 Dec: 11 miles, 1:33, 8:27 pace, avg. HR 150, including 12x100 strides
31 Dec: 8 miles, 1:02, 7:45 pace, avg. HR 153
Weekly mileage: 75+ (a new record and I didn’t even think about it until I added up the numbers)
December mileage: 278
2006 mileage: 2562
After feeling totally wiped out after Friday’s run I did question my training. I certainly don’t want to fall into the overtraining trap, but one tough run does not cause overtraining. I was slightly apprehensive for Saturday’s 90 minutes, and initially the concerns were well founded. The legs felt very heavy and I really had to drag myself along for the run. After about 4.5 miles I came across a football pitch with a dirt track around it, and on the spur of the moment decided to do a few laps. After two or three laps I suddenly seemed to shake off the fatigue and from then on I felt much better. After five laps I decided to do some straights and curves, partly because I wanted to get the legs moving a bit before Monday’s 5k, and partly because I hadn’t done any strides all week. This kind of strides workout is different to my usual one, normally I have much longer breaks between the fast bits. It went well, though my heart rate did creep upwards with every lap. I did 6 more laps of that, making it 12 strides and 12 recoveries. At least I think I did, I lost count at one stage. There was a guy cycling clockwise on the track while I was doing counter-clockwise loops. He nearly did the same pace as me, after each half lap we seemed to cross at nearly the same spot – though I did work a lot harder than he did, obviously. I still had to run the 4.5 miles home again, of course, but I was very happy with the workout.
After feeling so revitalised, I expected another good run on Sunday, but you don’t always get what you want. The weather had turned decidedly nasty again, though the winds did not quite reach the 60-70 mph that had been predicted (that might still happen later today of course). I tried to take it a little bit easier than I would have on a normal 60 minutes run to save the legs for tomorrow’s race, but I ended up doing a decent pace anyway, especially considering the conditions. The legs felt surprisingly heavy again, as if someone had attached a brick to each hamstring (I checked but couldn’t find it). Oh well. I did feel slightly better as the run wore on, and finished in reasonable shape.
I managed to pick up a spanking new pair of Asics Nimbus in a half price sale at Arnotts, which made my day. The old pair of Nimbuses had been officially retired on my last run before driving to Dublin a week ago. They had lasted for 520 miles, which is the longest I’ve ever worn a pair. I had a few twinges and tweaks in both Achilles tendons over the last 2 or 3 weeks before that, which is my usual sign of needing a new pair of runners. I’ve been feeling fine since.
Lola had a tummy bug over the last few days, with the usual unpleasantness that accompanies that kind of thing. At one stage the poor thing said to her mummy “I think I’m going to die”. Thankfully she’s better now; she seems to be fully recovered. When mummy baked a chocolate cake yesterday, she licked the mixing bowl clean, and she’s been fine ever since, which is more than you can say about the clothes she wore at the time. I hope we can remove those chocolate stains.
Happy New Year everyone! I wish you a good and successful 2007, and may all your PRs be shattered. My personal resolution: run more, run harder, and don’t get injured. I’m not asking for much, do I?
30 Dec: 11 miles, 1:33, 8:27 pace, avg. HR 150, including 12x100 strides
31 Dec: 8 miles, 1:02, 7:45 pace, avg. HR 153
Weekly mileage: 75+ (a new record and I didn’t even think about it until I added up the numbers)
December mileage: 278
2006 mileage: 2562
Friday, December 29, 2006
Just enough energy to type
Talk about changing weather conditions. Thursday was a beautiful morning with sunshine and warm temperatures all around. I even wore shorts and t-shirt for my run, and it was definitely the right choice for these conditions (though I did get a few funny looks from people wrapped up like on a Polar expedition). To top it all I wore sunglasses as well, and I hadn’t used them in months. I had planned another tempo run, but at slightly less intensity than on Tuesday; I don’t want to overdo things.
I tried to keep the heart rate in the low 160s, and it worked reasonably well, apart from one mile. That one was on a slight gradient, and I checked the HRM, 165. I backed off ever so slightly, checked again, 167. I backed off some more, checked again, 169. At that stage I really did slow down, and it soon got back towards 162 or so where I wanted it to be. I was quite surprised when I got back home to find that I had done the run in exactly the same time as on Tuesday, despite running at a lower HR. Funny that, not that I’m complaining. I certainly worked hard, my legs were slightly sore all day.
The weather turned foul during the evening, and we had storms, rain and gale force winds all night. It felt just like being back home in Kerry, but I had hoped to have left that kind of weather behind for some time. I woke several times during the night, each time hoping that the storms would subside soon. Well, my wish didn’t quite get fulfilled, but the worst was indeed behind us when I left at 7:30 am. It was still quite miserable, and most of the initial 5 miles were straight into the wind, with the rain coming straight into my face. The legs were still heavy from the previous day and the bike path was covered in puddles. My feet got a good soak early on, which didn’t help. It got better once I reached Ballybrack and turned slightly away from the wind. I ran up the big hill in Killiney. Right at the top is an obelisk and you can enjoy a beautiful view, though I was too tired, too cold and too short-sighted to actually enjoy it, and just kept going. I followed a slightly different route on the way back down, but was soon back on the same cycle path that is becoming quite familiar to me. The wind had subsided by now (typically, when it would have been on my back), and as I ran back towards Stillorgan I really started to feel very tired. When I got close to home I checked the time and saw that I would make it home in just over 2 hours. This wasn’t quite long enough and I added a little loop around the reservoir and the Luas station, and got back after 2:18, feeling utterly exhausted.
It was 10 minutes shorter than my long run last week, but I really felt that I couldn’t do any more. Thursday’s tempo run had taken a lot out of my legs, and all the muscle fibres were complaining. If you’ve followed the discussion with the Mystery Coach on Mike’s blog then you know that this effect is a good thing apparently, and is in fact desired. If I understand it correctly, the tempo run will exhaust your usual muscle fibres, which will force new fibres to come active on your long run. This will hurt, but will build up your stamina over the next few weeks. All well and good, but right now I’m utterly exhausted, and the discussion was aimed at guys who run their marathons an hour faster than me. I’m not sure how much of that is relevant to someone at my level, but I think it will benefit me in the long term.
28 Dec: 8.25 miles, 1:02:30, 7:34 pace, avg. HR 160
29 Dec: 15.5 miles, 2:18, 8:54 pace, avg. HR 151
I tried to keep the heart rate in the low 160s, and it worked reasonably well, apart from one mile. That one was on a slight gradient, and I checked the HRM, 165. I backed off ever so slightly, checked again, 167. I backed off some more, checked again, 169. At that stage I really did slow down, and it soon got back towards 162 or so where I wanted it to be. I was quite surprised when I got back home to find that I had done the run in exactly the same time as on Tuesday, despite running at a lower HR. Funny that, not that I’m complaining. I certainly worked hard, my legs were slightly sore all day.
The weather turned foul during the evening, and we had storms, rain and gale force winds all night. It felt just like being back home in Kerry, but I had hoped to have left that kind of weather behind for some time. I woke several times during the night, each time hoping that the storms would subside soon. Well, my wish didn’t quite get fulfilled, but the worst was indeed behind us when I left at 7:30 am. It was still quite miserable, and most of the initial 5 miles were straight into the wind, with the rain coming straight into my face. The legs were still heavy from the previous day and the bike path was covered in puddles. My feet got a good soak early on, which didn’t help. It got better once I reached Ballybrack and turned slightly away from the wind. I ran up the big hill in Killiney. Right at the top is an obelisk and you can enjoy a beautiful view, though I was too tired, too cold and too short-sighted to actually enjoy it, and just kept going. I followed a slightly different route on the way back down, but was soon back on the same cycle path that is becoming quite familiar to me. The wind had subsided by now (typically, when it would have been on my back), and as I ran back towards Stillorgan I really started to feel very tired. When I got close to home I checked the time and saw that I would make it home in just over 2 hours. This wasn’t quite long enough and I added a little loop around the reservoir and the Luas station, and got back after 2:18, feeling utterly exhausted.
It was 10 minutes shorter than my long run last week, but I really felt that I couldn’t do any more. Thursday’s tempo run had taken a lot out of my legs, and all the muscle fibres were complaining. If you’ve followed the discussion with the Mystery Coach on Mike’s blog then you know that this effect is a good thing apparently, and is in fact desired. If I understand it correctly, the tempo run will exhaust your usual muscle fibres, which will force new fibres to come active on your long run. This will hurt, but will build up your stamina over the next few weeks. All well and good, but right now I’m utterly exhausted, and the discussion was aimed at guys who run their marathons an hour faster than me. I’m not sure how much of that is relevant to someone at my level, but I think it will benefit me in the long term.
28 Dec: 8.25 miles, 1:02:30, 7:34 pace, avg. HR 160
29 Dec: 15.5 miles, 2:18, 8:54 pace, avg. HR 151
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
Christmas Running
Someone recently commented that I’ve been on the receiving end of a lot of good advice recently. That definitely was no exaggeration. Mike has helped a lot, the other Mike gave tons of good advice before the Dublin marathon, and Andrew has started to hand out advice by the bucket load recently. I hope none of you guys are charging coaching fees, because if you do I’ll owe you more than I’ve got in my account at present (or any other moment in time, come to think of it). I keep trying to implement all the advice, and I know that it will make me a better runner over time.
I didn’t get much sleep up to Christmas Day. I spent quite some time preparing the presents, including assembling a doll’s house for Lola late on Christmas Eve, and was woken at 5:30 am (!!!) by two extremely excited kids who were in no way inclined of going back to bed. They spent the next 2 hours unpacking Christmas presents and playing with their new toys, then Niamh and me tried to get some more sleep, but Shea had turned into an Antichrist by then and it took another two hours until he had screamed himself back into sleep. I got about one more hour of sleep after that, then I awoke to a very silent house and used the opportunity to sneak out for a 90 minutes run. I have switched to timed runs now rather than distance, which is very handy considering we’re in Dublin now and I wouldn’t be aware of the miles covered. The house was still quiet on my return, which saved me from the guilt trips.
After Andrew’s comment on the HR for ½ and ¾ efforts I thought I would have to increase the effort for the tempo runs, and I wasn’t exactly looking forward to that; the last tempo effort had seemed hard enough, to be honest. Well, Niamh gave me a “sports MP3 player” for Christmas (it includes a stopwatch, and you can still hear the noise around you even with the music on), and I gave it a spin on Tuesday. I had planned a ½ effort run, but not far from the house I spotted a runner ahead of me, which awoke my competitive instincts. After catching that one, I saw another one in the distance and gave chase. That’s just what I needed for a tempo run: Prey! Well, what I did end up with was a tempo run with the middle section at a HR of between 170 and 175, which definitely accounts for ¾ effort, and the realisation that Bruce Dickinson at full blast in you ears can very effectively drown out the painful screams from your calf muscles, even at higher paces.
Due to a death in the (extended) family we had to leave at 10:30 for the removal, which prompted me to get up before 7 o’clock and head out for the first of many mid-week 15 milers in this program. It was still dark outside and I considered bringing my headlamp (yes, Michelle, I do own one), but Dublin’s roads are well lit these days, or so I thought. What wasn’t too clever was forgetting to bring the gloves, but I had already closed the door behind me when I realised, and I didn’t want to wake up anyone to let me back in. To be honest, I managed fine without them. The street lightning worked well until I came to a, well, let's say less affluent part of Dublin called Ballybrack that was still covered in a blanket of darkness. Note to the council: it would make a lot of sense to light up the poorer parts of the City as well! I managed to get through and all of a sudden the driveways started to get bigger and bigger, and the houses turned into mansion, so I figured I had left Ballybrack behind me and was now in the considerably posher Killiney. There was a hill there, full with medieval walls and an old castle near the top, which made for a nice reward for the climb.
Warning: Very bad language ahead.
A big Fuck You goes out to the jerk at the garage in Ballybrack who refused an obviously distressed runner (me!) the use of his toilet. What the fuck is your problem, didn’t you get any presents from mummy or what? And next time you talk to someone, at least look at them instead of wiping the counter with a bored look on your fucking ugly face before you say no after a 10-second silence for effect. Wanker! Arsehole! Fuckwit!
End of Very bad language
Sorry for that. I feel better now. I had to deal with those issues …, err, no, I’ll spare you the details this time.
I made it back home in exactly 2 hours, and google says it was 13.65 miles. I would have thought it was more, but who am I to argue? So much for this being a 15-miler. Once more Bruce Dickinson and his mates had kept me company for the run. I used to pride myself for running without music in my ears for a long time, but I could get used to that.
25 Dec: 10.5 miles, 1:31, 8:40 pace, avg. HR 147
26 Dec: 8.25 miles, 1:02:30, 7:34 pace, avg. HR 163, middle 3.2 miles in 22:55 (7:10 pace, and HR around 172 I guess)
27 Dec: 13.65 miles, 2:00, 8:47 pace, avg. HR 145
I didn’t get much sleep up to Christmas Day. I spent quite some time preparing the presents, including assembling a doll’s house for Lola late on Christmas Eve, and was woken at 5:30 am (!!!) by two extremely excited kids who were in no way inclined of going back to bed. They spent the next 2 hours unpacking Christmas presents and playing with their new toys, then Niamh and me tried to get some more sleep, but Shea had turned into an Antichrist by then and it took another two hours until he had screamed himself back into sleep. I got about one more hour of sleep after that, then I awoke to a very silent house and used the opportunity to sneak out for a 90 minutes run. I have switched to timed runs now rather than distance, which is very handy considering we’re in Dublin now and I wouldn’t be aware of the miles covered. The house was still quiet on my return, which saved me from the guilt trips.
After Andrew’s comment on the HR for ½ and ¾ efforts I thought I would have to increase the effort for the tempo runs, and I wasn’t exactly looking forward to that; the last tempo effort had seemed hard enough, to be honest. Well, Niamh gave me a “sports MP3 player” for Christmas (it includes a stopwatch, and you can still hear the noise around you even with the music on), and I gave it a spin on Tuesday. I had planned a ½ effort run, but not far from the house I spotted a runner ahead of me, which awoke my competitive instincts. After catching that one, I saw another one in the distance and gave chase. That’s just what I needed for a tempo run: Prey! Well, what I did end up with was a tempo run with the middle section at a HR of between 170 and 175, which definitely accounts for ¾ effort, and the realisation that Bruce Dickinson at full blast in you ears can very effectively drown out the painful screams from your calf muscles, even at higher paces.
Due to a death in the (extended) family we had to leave at 10:30 for the removal, which prompted me to get up before 7 o’clock and head out for the first of many mid-week 15 milers in this program. It was still dark outside and I considered bringing my headlamp (yes, Michelle, I do own one), but Dublin’s roads are well lit these days, or so I thought. What wasn’t too clever was forgetting to bring the gloves, but I had already closed the door behind me when I realised, and I didn’t want to wake up anyone to let me back in. To be honest, I managed fine without them. The street lightning worked well until I came to a, well, let's say less affluent part of Dublin called Ballybrack that was still covered in a blanket of darkness. Note to the council: it would make a lot of sense to light up the poorer parts of the City as well! I managed to get through and all of a sudden the driveways started to get bigger and bigger, and the houses turned into mansion, so I figured I had left Ballybrack behind me and was now in the considerably posher Killiney. There was a hill there, full with medieval walls and an old castle near the top, which made for a nice reward for the climb.
Warning: Very bad language ahead.
A big Fuck You goes out to the jerk at the garage in Ballybrack who refused an obviously distressed runner (me!) the use of his toilet. What the fuck is your problem, didn’t you get any presents from mummy or what? And next time you talk to someone, at least look at them instead of wiping the counter with a bored look on your fucking ugly face before you say no after a 10-second silence for effect. Wanker! Arsehole! Fuckwit!
End of Very bad language
Sorry for that. I feel better now. I had to deal with those issues …, err, no, I’ll spare you the details this time.
I made it back home in exactly 2 hours, and google says it was 13.65 miles. I would have thought it was more, but who am I to argue? So much for this being a 15-miler. Once more Bruce Dickinson and his mates had kept me company for the run. I used to pride myself for running without music in my ears for a long time, but I could get used to that.
25 Dec: 10.5 miles, 1:31, 8:40 pace, avg. HR 147
26 Dec: 8.25 miles, 1:02:30, 7:34 pace, avg. HR 163, middle 3.2 miles in 22:55 (7:10 pace, and HR around 172 I guess)
27 Dec: 13.65 miles, 2:00, 8:47 pace, avg. HR 145
Sunday, December 24, 2006
Family Time
Shouldn’t you be celebrating Christmas with your loved ones instead of reading some stranger’s blog now? As for me, I’m taking advantage of the fact that Gaga has taken the children out for a walk. I’ve just wrapped all the presents (apart from one that I missed), and have a few minutes to write my entry.
So much to remember, let me think. I had to get up awfully early on Friday fro my long run. At 5 o’clock I was up, at 5:20 I was out on the road (and Cian had taken my place in our bed). I chose to run around Caragh Lake again, with an added loop around the Devil’s Elbow. I decided to run clockwise again. If I ran anti-clockwise I might be tempted to cut two miles off the loop by going via Ard-na-Sidhe rather than around the Devil’s elbow at the end. The clockwise loop starts with that loop, and the temptation to cut the run short is removed. I needn’t have worried, I felt good all the way. The legs were a bit heavy initially, probably a hangover from Thursday’s tempo run, and the first 3 miles were at a rather pedestrian 9:20 pace. I didn’t speed up consciously, and I didn’t have a way of measuring my pace in the middle miles, but the last 5 miles passed in about 41 minutes (roughly 8:15 pace). I’m not entirely sure how long the run was, somewhere between 17 and 17.5 miles, so I wrote down 17.25 miles in my log, which would make it 8:34 average pace, and it sounds believable enough.
I had to hurry on Saturday because we had yet to pack for our journey to Dublin, so I quickly dispatched another devil’s elbow loop, and ran home as quickly as I could, without over-exerting myself though. When Andrew stated that the heart adapts quicker than the legs, he wasn’t kidding. The average HR was 155, which until recently would have said a run at comfortable, if slightly brisk(-ish) pace. Now the HR still says the same, but the calves say “it hurts, it hurts”. Apparently it’s something I better get used to. I had another look into Lydiard, and I think it might be what he calls ½ effort, with Thursday’s 163 HR being ¾ effort, and the 144 from Friday 1/4 effort. This may or may not be correct, who knows.
The drive to Dublin was long but eventless. Niamh did question if I really had to bring along 3 pairs of running shoes, 6 running socks and fill half of my suitcase with various running apparel, but my answer was that of course it was necessary. And all that just because I apparently didn’t bring my nice outfits for the family dinner. I tried to reason that there will be 3 young children at the table, and the fancy outfits better stay elsewhere, but it didn’t cut the ice. Ah well.
I was up before any other adults today to run 7.5 miles before anyone could object. It took ages to make breakfast for the kids, settle them in front of a DVD, and try to stop the fights, but I managed to sneak out eventually. I ran by time rather than distance, but Google maps says 7.5 miles, and who am I to argue?
I don’t know if I can run tomorrow, the family pressure might be too much. I’ll see.
22 Dec: 17.25 miles, 2:28, 8:34 pace, avg. HR 144
23 Dec: 8.5 miles, 1:08, 8:00 pace, avg. HR 155
24 Dec: 7.5 miles, 1:01, 8:08 pace, avg. HR 155
Weekly mileage: 68
And Merry Christmas to Everyone!
So much to remember, let me think. I had to get up awfully early on Friday fro my long run. At 5 o’clock I was up, at 5:20 I was out on the road (and Cian had taken my place in our bed). I chose to run around Caragh Lake again, with an added loop around the Devil’s Elbow. I decided to run clockwise again. If I ran anti-clockwise I might be tempted to cut two miles off the loop by going via Ard-na-Sidhe rather than around the Devil’s elbow at the end. The clockwise loop starts with that loop, and the temptation to cut the run short is removed. I needn’t have worried, I felt good all the way. The legs were a bit heavy initially, probably a hangover from Thursday’s tempo run, and the first 3 miles were at a rather pedestrian 9:20 pace. I didn’t speed up consciously, and I didn’t have a way of measuring my pace in the middle miles, but the last 5 miles passed in about 41 minutes (roughly 8:15 pace). I’m not entirely sure how long the run was, somewhere between 17 and 17.5 miles, so I wrote down 17.25 miles in my log, which would make it 8:34 average pace, and it sounds believable enough.
I had to hurry on Saturday because we had yet to pack for our journey to Dublin, so I quickly dispatched another devil’s elbow loop, and ran home as quickly as I could, without over-exerting myself though. When Andrew stated that the heart adapts quicker than the legs, he wasn’t kidding. The average HR was 155, which until recently would have said a run at comfortable, if slightly brisk(-ish) pace. Now the HR still says the same, but the calves say “it hurts, it hurts”. Apparently it’s something I better get used to. I had another look into Lydiard, and I think it might be what he calls ½ effort, with Thursday’s 163 HR being ¾ effort, and the 144 from Friday 1/4 effort. This may or may not be correct, who knows.
The drive to Dublin was long but eventless. Niamh did question if I really had to bring along 3 pairs of running shoes, 6 running socks and fill half of my suitcase with various running apparel, but my answer was that of course it was necessary. And all that just because I apparently didn’t bring my nice outfits for the family dinner. I tried to reason that there will be 3 young children at the table, and the fancy outfits better stay elsewhere, but it didn’t cut the ice. Ah well.
I was up before any other adults today to run 7.5 miles before anyone could object. It took ages to make breakfast for the kids, settle them in front of a DVD, and try to stop the fights, but I managed to sneak out eventually. I ran by time rather than distance, but Google maps says 7.5 miles, and who am I to argue?I don’t know if I can run tomorrow, the family pressure might be too much. I’ll see.
22 Dec: 17.25 miles, 2:28, 8:34 pace, avg. HR 144
23 Dec: 8.5 miles, 1:08, 8:00 pace, avg. HR 155
24 Dec: 7.5 miles, 1:01, 8:08 pace, avg. HR 155
Weekly mileage: 68
And Merry Christmas to Everyone!
Thursday, December 21, 2006
Working on it
The kids are getting more and more excited by the day, Santa is nearly here, and all they want is for the days to pass. Christmas is a truly exciting time for young children. The one thing that they don’t really subscribe to is being good. I think they managed to work out last year that the presents will come anyway.
The alarm was supposed to wake me at 5:55 on Wednesday, but the boys managed to beat that by half an hour, and after making breakfast for Shea and trying to get Cian to be quiet it was pretty much time to get up – just as the boys were heading back to bed (mummy and daddy’s bed, that is). The weather has definitely improved a lot recently; there was no sign of rain and very little wind, but it was quite cold. For the first time this year I wore running tights, and two layers at the top, and I got it right, anything less would have been too cold. Like on Monday I tried to run relaxed and easy but still at a decent clip. It worked very well on the first half, and on the return leg I added 12x100 strides into the mix. This of course increased my average heart rate, but once again I was quite pleased with the low reading at the end of the workout. The one thing bothering me slightly was the darkness, it was still pitch dark by the time I got back home, but there’s nothing I can do about it but wait.
On Tuesday I was slightly dismayed at my low HR at what should have been a faster run, and especially after reading Andrew's comment I made sure to work harder today. I made a mistake when choosing the route. It had stopped raining for two or three days and I figured all the dirt roads should now be easily accessible and passable again. I wanted to get off the asphalt surface, but I miscalculated. It turns out that the road was still wet and muddy and uneven, and running the dirt segment in the dark wasn’t the best idea. Since this was supposed to be a tempo run I still tried to push the pace, until I very nearly twisted my ankle. On a slippery slope my foot turned one way and my leg the other, and I don’t know how I managed to get out of the situation without hurting badly. I did heed the warning and slowed down until I got back to the proper road again, which was only half a mile away at that point. I accelerated again and finished the rest of the run at a good pace. I probably overdid it a bit, because the HR was a bit higher that expected, and I must be careful not to run too hard. Still, I was happier with today’s run than Tuesday’s.
My right Achilles is bothering my a little bit. It’s not really hurting, just a slight feeling of discomfort, and I can feel it every evening and on occasions in the morning as well. The one time it doesn’t bother me at all is when I’m running, which is why I’m not too worried about it. But I will keep an eye on the situation.
I’ve got two more days in Kerry before we drive up to Dublin once again. I hope I’ll be able to keep the training going day in day out, despite the predictable objections of my mother-in-law, who seems convinced that I’m about to drop down dead from over-exertion. She’s a lovely woman, really, but her constant whining about my running can grate sometimes (and no, she doesn’t read this blog).
20 Dec: 11 miles, 1:33, 8:27 pace, avg. HR 147, including 12x100 strides
21 Dec: 7 miles, 52:41, 7:31 pace, avg. HR 163
The alarm was supposed to wake me at 5:55 on Wednesday, but the boys managed to beat that by half an hour, and after making breakfast for Shea and trying to get Cian to be quiet it was pretty much time to get up – just as the boys were heading back to bed (mummy and daddy’s bed, that is). The weather has definitely improved a lot recently; there was no sign of rain and very little wind, but it was quite cold. For the first time this year I wore running tights, and two layers at the top, and I got it right, anything less would have been too cold. Like on Monday I tried to run relaxed and easy but still at a decent clip. It worked very well on the first half, and on the return leg I added 12x100 strides into the mix. This of course increased my average heart rate, but once again I was quite pleased with the low reading at the end of the workout. The one thing bothering me slightly was the darkness, it was still pitch dark by the time I got back home, but there’s nothing I can do about it but wait.
On Tuesday I was slightly dismayed at my low HR at what should have been a faster run, and especially after reading Andrew's comment I made sure to work harder today. I made a mistake when choosing the route. It had stopped raining for two or three days and I figured all the dirt roads should now be easily accessible and passable again. I wanted to get off the asphalt surface, but I miscalculated. It turns out that the road was still wet and muddy and uneven, and running the dirt segment in the dark wasn’t the best idea. Since this was supposed to be a tempo run I still tried to push the pace, until I very nearly twisted my ankle. On a slippery slope my foot turned one way and my leg the other, and I don’t know how I managed to get out of the situation without hurting badly. I did heed the warning and slowed down until I got back to the proper road again, which was only half a mile away at that point. I accelerated again and finished the rest of the run at a good pace. I probably overdid it a bit, because the HR was a bit higher that expected, and I must be careful not to run too hard. Still, I was happier with today’s run than Tuesday’s.
My right Achilles is bothering my a little bit. It’s not really hurting, just a slight feeling of discomfort, and I can feel it every evening and on occasions in the morning as well. The one time it doesn’t bother me at all is when I’m running, which is why I’m not too worried about it. But I will keep an eye on the situation.
I’ve got two more days in Kerry before we drive up to Dublin once again. I hope I’ll be able to keep the training going day in day out, despite the predictable objections of my mother-in-law, who seems convinced that I’m about to drop down dead from over-exertion. She’s a lovely woman, really, but her constant whining about my running can grate sometimes (and no, she doesn’t read this blog).
20 Dec: 11 miles, 1:33, 8:27 pace, avg. HR 147, including 12x100 strides
21 Dec: 7 miles, 52:41, 7:31 pace, avg. HR 163
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Making progress
After crossing the finish line in Dublin I was actually in a conundrum. For at least a year I had known perfectly well that I was capable of running 3:30, and I knew that if I trained hard enough, I would reach that goal sooner or later. The problem therefore was, what next? Would I be able to continue improving? Or had I reach a plateau from where I would slowly degrade as I’m dragging my ageing body from race to race? But I’m not one to mull around, and after two weeks break I got stuck into training once more. I made a few changes, and now, 5 weeks later, I can already see some benefits.
I’m getting close to my mileage target, and this week has three runs with double-digit mileage. Thus I dragged myself out of bed excruciatingly early on Monday morning for a recovery 10 mile run. If you’ve ever followed the Pfitzinger plan you know that recovery runs are short (4-6 miles) runs that are run very slowly (9:30-ish for me). Lydiard does things differently; his recovery runs are much longer. I remember once querying Mike in disbelief about an 18-mile recovery run he had just finished. I’m not at that mileage yet, but Monday’s 10-mile recovery run was definitely by far the longest “recovery” I’ve ever attempted. I was unsure how fast I should run. I just concentrated on striding relaxed and easy. I knew that I was quite a bit faster than on the old Pfitzinger-style recovery run, but at no time did I feel that I was going faster than I should.
When I got home, I checked my HR and blurted out “bloody hell!”. A heart rate of 142 might not be very low for the likes of Andrew, but I certainly have never even come close to such a low rate for a run at faster than 9:00 pace. This is a remarkable jump (fall?) in my HR in only 5 weeks of training. I attribute it to the 7-days running week, but I’m definitely surprised at the apparently rapid progress I seem to be making.
Today was a different kind of run, faster and shorter. I opted for the water witch loop, but ran it clockwise rather than the counter-clockwise loop that I’ve done on every occasion so far. This meant that the mile-long climb was from mile 3.5 to 4.5, rather than from mile 1.5 to 2.5. It was so foggy that I initially struggled to make out the road and had to concentrate on not running off into the bog by mistake. It was also rather cold, maybe 3C/37F, but if you take the wind chill into account it felt a good bit colder than that. I should have worn pants rather than shorts, and a second layer on top, because I felt uncomfortably cold for most of the run, apart from the climb, when I really had to put in some effort. I checked my HR again when I came home, and in marked contrast to yesterday was slightly dismayed at the low reading. Only 154? I thought I worked harder than that! Running at sub-8:00 pace on such a hilly route does require some effort from me, and I would have expected a HR of around 160 for this. Maybe I’m really getting fitter, but maybe it also means I should push myself harder and harder?
Yet more to ponder.
18 Dec: 10 miles, 1:26, 8:36 pace, avg. HR 142
19 Dec: 6.75 miles, 53:29, 7:55 pace, avg. HR 154
I’m getting close to my mileage target, and this week has three runs with double-digit mileage. Thus I dragged myself out of bed excruciatingly early on Monday morning for a recovery 10 mile run. If you’ve ever followed the Pfitzinger plan you know that recovery runs are short (4-6 miles) runs that are run very slowly (9:30-ish for me). Lydiard does things differently; his recovery runs are much longer. I remember once querying Mike in disbelief about an 18-mile recovery run he had just finished. I’m not at that mileage yet, but Monday’s 10-mile recovery run was definitely by far the longest “recovery” I’ve ever attempted. I was unsure how fast I should run. I just concentrated on striding relaxed and easy. I knew that I was quite a bit faster than on the old Pfitzinger-style recovery run, but at no time did I feel that I was going faster than I should.
When I got home, I checked my HR and blurted out “bloody hell!”. A heart rate of 142 might not be very low for the likes of Andrew, but I certainly have never even come close to such a low rate for a run at faster than 9:00 pace. This is a remarkable jump (fall?) in my HR in only 5 weeks of training. I attribute it to the 7-days running week, but I’m definitely surprised at the apparently rapid progress I seem to be making.
Today was a different kind of run, faster and shorter. I opted for the water witch loop, but ran it clockwise rather than the counter-clockwise loop that I’ve done on every occasion so far. This meant that the mile-long climb was from mile 3.5 to 4.5, rather than from mile 1.5 to 2.5. It was so foggy that I initially struggled to make out the road and had to concentrate on not running off into the bog by mistake. It was also rather cold, maybe 3C/37F, but if you take the wind chill into account it felt a good bit colder than that. I should have worn pants rather than shorts, and a second layer on top, because I felt uncomfortably cold for most of the run, apart from the climb, when I really had to put in some effort. I checked my HR again when I came home, and in marked contrast to yesterday was slightly dismayed at the low reading. Only 154? I thought I worked harder than that! Running at sub-8:00 pace on such a hilly route does require some effort from me, and I would have expected a HR of around 160 for this. Maybe I’m really getting fitter, but maybe it also means I should push myself harder and harder?
Yet more to ponder.
18 Dec: 10 miles, 1:26, 8:36 pace, avg. HR 142
19 Dec: 6.75 miles, 53:29, 7:55 pace, avg. HR 154
Christmas Tags
It must be that time of the year again. Jack tagged me.
1. Egg nog or hot chocolate? Hot chocolate
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? wrap
3. Coloured lights on tree/house or white? white
4. Do you hang mistletoe? no
5. When do you put your decorations up? When Niamh tells me to
6. What is your favourite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? Niamh’s nut roast (vegetarian alternative to turkey)
7. Favourite holiday memory as a child? When the parents stopped fighting for a minute or two
8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? My evil sisters told me when I was three or four
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? No.
10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? Niamh and the kids do that these days
11. Snow! Love it or dread it? It’s pure love
12. Can you ice skate? No, and since a friend of mine got the tip of one finger sliced off, I have no inclination of ever changing that
13. Do you remember your favourite gift? My first computer (pathetic, I know)
14. What's the most important thing about the holidays for you? Family time
15. What is your favourite holiday dessert? Anything with chocolate.
16. What is your favourite holiday tradition? Spending as much time as possible with Niamh and the children
17. What tops your tree? An angel
18. Which do you prefer, giving or receiving? Giving. I’ve got three young kids.
19. What is your favourite Christmas song? “Fairytale of New York” by the Pogues
20. Candy canes? No thank you
21. Favourite Christmas movie? May I say Bad Santa?
22. What do you leave for Santa? You’re kidding, right?
I have to tag five others now, don't I? Ok then, Liam, Michelle, Jeanne, Waddler and Phil. But don't feel obliged.
1. Egg nog or hot chocolate? Hot chocolate
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? wrap
3. Coloured lights on tree/house or white? white
4. Do you hang mistletoe? no
5. When do you put your decorations up? When Niamh tells me to
6. What is your favourite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? Niamh’s nut roast (vegetarian alternative to turkey)
7. Favourite holiday memory as a child? When the parents stopped fighting for a minute or two
8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? My evil sisters told me when I was three or four
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? No.
10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? Niamh and the kids do that these days
11. Snow! Love it or dread it? It’s pure love
12. Can you ice skate? No, and since a friend of mine got the tip of one finger sliced off, I have no inclination of ever changing that
13. Do you remember your favourite gift? My first computer (pathetic, I know)
14. What's the most important thing about the holidays for you? Family time
15. What is your favourite holiday dessert? Anything with chocolate.
16. What is your favourite holiday tradition? Spending as much time as possible with Niamh and the children
17. What tops your tree? An angel
18. Which do you prefer, giving or receiving? Giving. I’ve got three young kids.
19. What is your favourite Christmas song? “Fairytale of New York” by the Pogues
20. Candy canes? No thank you
21. Favourite Christmas movie? May I say Bad Santa?
22. What do you leave for Santa? You’re kidding, right?
I have to tag five others now, don't I? Ok then, Liam, Michelle, Jeanne, Waddler and Phil. But don't feel obliged.
Sunday, December 17, 2006
Who’s Counting Calories?
The weather has definitely taken a turn for the better. There is still plenty of room for improvement, but after the storm we’ve had to endure over the last few weeks, a bit of rain with only a little bit of breeze is a massive improvement.
I slept in on both Saturday and Sunday, and left at around 9:30 for both runs. I did notice one drawback of running so late. Due to the fact that I no longer eat anything before running I ended up feeling a bit hungry out on the road. Both times the empty feeling went away after a mile or two, and I felt good for the rest of the run. So far I definitely don’t feel any bad effects from running with an empty stomach, but I haven’t attempted anything longer than 15 miles yet. I’ll see how it goes in the next few weeks, but I think I’m on to something here.
I finished the week with two shorter but faster efforts. I felt quite sluggish initially yesterday, and didn’t think I’d be under 8:00 pace. I was pleasantly surprised to find afterwards that I had actually run faster than on Thursday, which was supposed to be the fastest run of the week but hadn’t quite worked out that way. At one stage the sun even threatened to show her face, but she changed her mind and stayed behind the cloud cover. I did see a beautiful rainbow at one stage, but while being pretty it was also a harbinger of the next rain shower to come. Ah well.
I finished the week with a run around the devil’s elbow, which included that wicked climb out of Ard-na-Sidhe that I also had to endure at the beginning of Friday’s effort. In some ways today was the opposite. Back then I constantly had to remind myself that it was supposed to be a tempo run and speed up. Today I had to remind myself that this was supposed to be a moderate run and had to put the breaks on again and again. I felt really good and didn’t want to spoil the party by slowing down too much, just enough so that the legs wouldn’t wear out, which didn’t quite work. But I guess I’ll take a day like today anytime. There’s nothing wrong with feeling good.
Niamh surprised me with a veritable feast of freshly-pressed juice, scones and a chocolate cake when I came home (eat your heart out, Mike). I completely pigged out on the offerings. I bet I took in double the calories I had just burned off on the road. Ah well. I guess I’ll definitely take a day like today anytime. There’s nothing wrong with feeling good.
Something makes me think I wasn’t the only one who enjoyed the chocolate cake.
16 Dec: 6.25 miles, 48:09. 7:42 pace, avg. HR 159
17 Dec: 8.5 miles, 1:07, 7:52 pace, avg. HR 161
Weekly mileage: 61
I slept in on both Saturday and Sunday, and left at around 9:30 for both runs. I did notice one drawback of running so late. Due to the fact that I no longer eat anything before running I ended up feeling a bit hungry out on the road. Both times the empty feeling went away after a mile or two, and I felt good for the rest of the run. So far I definitely don’t feel any bad effects from running with an empty stomach, but I haven’t attempted anything longer than 15 miles yet. I’ll see how it goes in the next few weeks, but I think I’m on to something here.
I finished the week with two shorter but faster efforts. I felt quite sluggish initially yesterday, and didn’t think I’d be under 8:00 pace. I was pleasantly surprised to find afterwards that I had actually run faster than on Thursday, which was supposed to be the fastest run of the week but hadn’t quite worked out that way. At one stage the sun even threatened to show her face, but she changed her mind and stayed behind the cloud cover. I did see a beautiful rainbow at one stage, but while being pretty it was also a harbinger of the next rain shower to come. Ah well.
I finished the week with a run around the devil’s elbow, which included that wicked climb out of Ard-na-Sidhe that I also had to endure at the beginning of Friday’s effort. In some ways today was the opposite. Back then I constantly had to remind myself that it was supposed to be a tempo run and speed up. Today I had to remind myself that this was supposed to be a moderate run and had to put the breaks on again and again. I felt really good and didn’t want to spoil the party by slowing down too much, just enough so that the legs wouldn’t wear out, which didn’t quite work. But I guess I’ll take a day like today anytime. There’s nothing wrong with feeling good.
Niamh surprised me with a veritable feast of freshly-pressed juice, scones and a chocolate cake when I came home (eat your heart out, Mike). I completely pigged out on the offerings. I bet I took in double the calories I had just burned off on the road. Ah well. I guess I’ll definitely take a day like today anytime. There’s nothing wrong with feeling good.Something makes me think I wasn’t the only one who enjoyed the chocolate cake.
16 Dec: 6.25 miles, 48:09. 7:42 pace, avg. HR 159
17 Dec: 8.5 miles, 1:07, 7:52 pace, avg. HR 161
Weekly mileage: 61
Friday, December 15, 2006
That’s more like it
I know I’ve sounded like a broken record recently, constantly whining about the weather. I’ll try and put a stop to that, and if the weather remains the way it has been over the last two runs I’ll even be happy with it. Btw, is the phrase “broken record” still in use today, or is it antiquated? Do the young people today even know what a record is, never mind a broken one?
I got lucky with the weather yesterday. I left quite late, about 6:50am, and there was only a little bit of drizzle with hardly any wind. Great, the best conditions in weeks! I had planned a 7-mile tempo effort, but I kept losing focus. I pushed hard on the uphill, and again and again I’d relax on the downhill and forget to pick it up again, until I eventually remembered that this was supposed to be a tempo run. As a result the average pace wasn’t great, there is plenty of room for improvement. Mind, it’s still the fastest run I’ve attempted since the marathon, apart from the 5k race of course. Later during the day it became apparent just how lucky I had been, because we got hit by a major storm front, it really was bad. So bad that the kids’ climbing frame in the garden was blown over, and it takes a lot of force to tip over that structure. Our roof has also suffered some damage, but luckily it’s not leaking.
After last week’s stumble on the Kerry Way for my long run I had decided to run around Caragh Lake for this week’s “long“ effort (I know, I know, they’re not long runs yet). This used to be a major undertaking when I started running. In fact, for my first ever marathon, this was my longest training run. It’s only 15.5 miles, but with two demanding climbs, one of 200 meters elevation in about 2 miles, and one of 100 meters in a mile, plus several smaller hills. About a year ago I drove the circuit once with my mom to show her the stunning scenery, only to come across a bull in the middle of the road. Yes, a real life size bull, as in huge big mountain of ill-tempered testosterone laden monster with horns. This kinda put me off running on this road again, but as far as I know the bovine population is not out and about this time of the year, and the road should be reasonably safe. Weather-wise it was a mixed bag, the wind had stopped completely, but it was raining heavily. I don’t mind the rain, as long as it’s not windy, and compared to the conditions I had to endure over the last few weeks, I’ll take today’s rain any time. I know that Michelle loves the old place names, so I’ll give you the low-down of all the townlands I’ve covered.
The run starts at home in good old Tooreenasliggaun and follows the main Caragh Lake road towards Glannagilliagh where the twins go to school. There you take a sharp right turn towards Ard-na-Sidhe, and after a while the road leaves the lakeside and starts a big steep climb towards Oolagh East. Take a left turn at the T-junction, and continue in southwesterly direction to Oolagh West, and we’ve already reached the highest point of the whole circuit. I hope you like the isolation, because for about 3 or 4 miles you won’t come across any settlement, or even an isolated house. Then we get into the woods of Ahane, ever downhill, and run past an old graveyard. (As I was passing this, I heard a noise. Of course it was just a harmless animal, but it seriously spooked me out. Remember, it was raining, pitch dark, and I was the only living human being within a mile or two. I quickened the pace for a bit). We follow the road downwards to Dromdoory, and get into the beautiful Lickeen Woodland, where we eventually cross the Caragh River (on it’s way towards the lake) via the Blackstone Bridge, and we’ve already reached halfway point. Then we climb again in the townland of Drom East (townland? It’s only one house, maybe two) and crest the hill at Bunglasha. Another left turn leads us downhill again, and one mile later we’re in Lauhir and finally back at the shores of Caragh Lake. We now follow the lake on its western side, though there are a few hills on the way, first at Treangarriv and another one at Cosha. There we can already see the black shape of the water witch in front of us, which we round at Callahaniska and Commaun. Continue onwards, cross the Caragh River once more (now on the opposite side of the lake, on its short journey towards the sea), and at Quaybaun we climb for the last time and reach the main Caragh Lake road, and we end up back home in Tooreenasliggaun where a hot shower awaits us.
When I said last week that the scenery isn’t as nice as along the Kerry Way, I just showed how spoiled I was. In the mountains the scenery looks like it has been lifted straight out of “Lord of the Rings”, and the rest is through beautiful woods and then alongside Caragh Lake. It really is stunning, even in rain and darkness.
14 Dec: 7 miles, 54:12, 7:44 pace, avg. HR 159
15 Dec: 15.5 miles, 2:11, 8:27 pace, avg. HR 149
I got lucky with the weather yesterday. I left quite late, about 6:50am, and there was only a little bit of drizzle with hardly any wind. Great, the best conditions in weeks! I had planned a 7-mile tempo effort, but I kept losing focus. I pushed hard on the uphill, and again and again I’d relax on the downhill and forget to pick it up again, until I eventually remembered that this was supposed to be a tempo run. As a result the average pace wasn’t great, there is plenty of room for improvement. Mind, it’s still the fastest run I’ve attempted since the marathon, apart from the 5k race of course. Later during the day it became apparent just how lucky I had been, because we got hit by a major storm front, it really was bad. So bad that the kids’ climbing frame in the garden was blown over, and it takes a lot of force to tip over that structure. Our roof has also suffered some damage, but luckily it’s not leaking.
After last week’s stumble on the Kerry Way for my long run I had decided to run around Caragh Lake for this week’s “long“ effort (I know, I know, they’re not long runs yet). This used to be a major undertaking when I started running. In fact, for my first ever marathon, this was my longest training run. It’s only 15.5 miles, but with two demanding climbs, one of 200 meters elevation in about 2 miles, and one of 100 meters in a mile, plus several smaller hills. About a year ago I drove the circuit once with my mom to show her the stunning scenery, only to come across a bull in the middle of the road. Yes, a real life size bull, as in huge big mountain of ill-tempered testosterone laden monster with horns. This kinda put me off running on this road again, but as far as I know the bovine population is not out and about this time of the year, and the road should be reasonably safe. Weather-wise it was a mixed bag, the wind had stopped completely, but it was raining heavily. I don’t mind the rain, as long as it’s not windy, and compared to the conditions I had to endure over the last few weeks, I’ll take today’s rain any time. I know that Michelle loves the old place names, so I’ll give you the low-down of all the townlands I’ve covered.
The run starts at home in good old Tooreenasliggaun and follows the main Caragh Lake road towards Glannagilliagh where the twins go to school. There you take a sharp right turn towards Ard-na-Sidhe, and after a while the road leaves the lakeside and starts a big steep climb towards Oolagh East. Take a left turn at the T-junction, and continue in southwesterly direction to Oolagh West, and we’ve already reached the highest point of the whole circuit. I hope you like the isolation, because for about 3 or 4 miles you won’t come across any settlement, or even an isolated house. Then we get into the woods of Ahane, ever downhill, and run past an old graveyard. (As I was passing this, I heard a noise. Of course it was just a harmless animal, but it seriously spooked me out. Remember, it was raining, pitch dark, and I was the only living human being within a mile or two. I quickened the pace for a bit). We follow the road downwards to Dromdoory, and get into the beautiful Lickeen Woodland, where we eventually cross the Caragh River (on it’s way towards the lake) via the Blackstone Bridge, and we’ve already reached halfway point. Then we climb again in the townland of Drom East (townland? It’s only one house, maybe two) and crest the hill at Bunglasha. Another left turn leads us downhill again, and one mile later we’re in Lauhir and finally back at the shores of Caragh Lake. We now follow the lake on its western side, though there are a few hills on the way, first at Treangarriv and another one at Cosha. There we can already see the black shape of the water witch in front of us, which we round at Callahaniska and Commaun. Continue onwards, cross the Caragh River once more (now on the opposite side of the lake, on its short journey towards the sea), and at Quaybaun we climb for the last time and reach the main Caragh Lake road, and we end up back home in Tooreenasliggaun where a hot shower awaits us.
When I said last week that the scenery isn’t as nice as along the Kerry Way, I just showed how spoiled I was. In the mountains the scenery looks like it has been lifted straight out of “Lord of the Rings”, and the rest is through beautiful woods and then alongside Caragh Lake. It really is stunning, even in rain and darkness.
14 Dec: 7 miles, 54:12, 7:44 pace, avg. HR 159
15 Dec: 15.5 miles, 2:11, 8:27 pace, avg. HR 149
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Nooooooooooo!!!
I’ve said the weather can’t go on like this. Apparently I’m wrong. The weatherman from the Irish Times says, and I quote, “the current spell of stormy weather is likely to be of several months duration”. Several! Months!! Several Months!!! Surely Not!!!!
On Monday they had predicted that the next storm front would hit us on Wednesday. When I left the house on Tuesday morning, I thought they had been wrong, and the storm had turned up a day early. It was raining heavily and the wind was very strong, which made running up the water witch a real joy, as you can imagine. Apart from the howling winds the run was actually quite unremarkable, until I got home. As soon as I went through the door, my eyes started hurting. It got worse and worse, and then they started swelling up as well. I’m all too aware of the symptoms, it was yet another allergic reaction, but to what I don’t know. I looked really bad, and eventually took an anti-histamine tablet. Niamh didn’t want to let me go to work, but I started to feel better eventually; I got some funny looks in the office. The tablet made me drowsy, and I didn’t have the best day in the office, but the eyes felt better by the hour. One work colleague thought one farmer might have sprayed something dodgy on the fields I had passed, but there is no way of knowing. I’ve been though the whole experience before.
I still felt some residual itchiness today, but it’s mostly gone. What hasn’t gone is the storm front. It turns out the meteorologists were right after all, and Tuesday was just the prelude, today we got hit by the full force. It was really bad during the night; the kids all came into our bed one by one because they were scared. Luckily for me the rain had mostly stopped by 6:30 am, though the wind was as bad as ever. It made the first 5 miles of today’s run a challenge. Actually that’s a lie. Some parts of the Caragh Lake road were quite sheltered; it was over maybe 2 miles where I really had to fight against the wind. It got a lot easier after I turned around, now the wind was blowing me home. I added 10x100 strides into the return leg, but tried to run relaxed and slowly for the rest. It was still completely dark when I got home, we are obviously close to the shortest day of the year. I also noticed the first symptoms of a cold, sore throat, headache and light-headedness. I’ve taken Vitamin C and Echinacea and hope it will keep the actual cold at bay. It’s not just me, Niamh isn’t feeling too well either. The last few times I’ve had the early symptoms I managed to scrape by without getting sick, so I’m reasonably optimistic I might get away with it once more.
12 Dec: 6.75 miles, 56:22, 8:21 pace, avg. HR 156
13 Dec: 10 miles, 1:25, 8:30 pace, avg. HR 153
On Monday they had predicted that the next storm front would hit us on Wednesday. When I left the house on Tuesday morning, I thought they had been wrong, and the storm had turned up a day early. It was raining heavily and the wind was very strong, which made running up the water witch a real joy, as you can imagine. Apart from the howling winds the run was actually quite unremarkable, until I got home. As soon as I went through the door, my eyes started hurting. It got worse and worse, and then they started swelling up as well. I’m all too aware of the symptoms, it was yet another allergic reaction, but to what I don’t know. I looked really bad, and eventually took an anti-histamine tablet. Niamh didn’t want to let me go to work, but I started to feel better eventually; I got some funny looks in the office. The tablet made me drowsy, and I didn’t have the best day in the office, but the eyes felt better by the hour. One work colleague thought one farmer might have sprayed something dodgy on the fields I had passed, but there is no way of knowing. I’ve been though the whole experience before.
I still felt some residual itchiness today, but it’s mostly gone. What hasn’t gone is the storm front. It turns out the meteorologists were right after all, and Tuesday was just the prelude, today we got hit by the full force. It was really bad during the night; the kids all came into our bed one by one because they were scared. Luckily for me the rain had mostly stopped by 6:30 am, though the wind was as bad as ever. It made the first 5 miles of today’s run a challenge. Actually that’s a lie. Some parts of the Caragh Lake road were quite sheltered; it was over maybe 2 miles where I really had to fight against the wind. It got a lot easier after I turned around, now the wind was blowing me home. I added 10x100 strides into the return leg, but tried to run relaxed and slowly for the rest. It was still completely dark when I got home, we are obviously close to the shortest day of the year. I also noticed the first symptoms of a cold, sore throat, headache and light-headedness. I’ve taken Vitamin C and Echinacea and hope it will keep the actual cold at bay. It’s not just me, Niamh isn’t feeling too well either. The last few times I’ve had the early symptoms I managed to scrape by without getting sick, so I’m reasonably optimistic I might get away with it once more.
12 Dec: 6.75 miles, 56:22, 8:21 pace, avg. HR 156
13 Dec: 10 miles, 1:25, 8:30 pace, avg. HR 153
Monday, December 11, 2006
It can’t go on like This!
Really, it possibly can’t. The weather has been relentless. I know that Ireland, and especially the West Coast, isn’t exactly known for long hours of sunshine, but 4 weeks of storms, heavy rain and gale force winds are not the norm. After Saturday’s relative calm we had another two stormy days, and Wednesday is supposed to be really bad again. Everybody I know is moaning about the dreadful weather, even the people who don’t run several miles each morning.
Maybe I shouldn’t complain, by pure luck I managed to run in relatively benign conditions on both days, between bouts of storm. Sunday’s effort was rather late, I didn’t leave until 9:30 in the morning, just when the storm that had been ravaging all night had started to abate. It wasn’t too bad, the rain had already stopped by the time I hit the road, and even when it returned it was manageable. I finally relented and wore long sleeves, but I had chosen the wrong day for that, because I was uncomfortably warm after a few miles, and regretted my choice of apparel. I will get it right one day, surely.
The storm must have blown itself out overnight, because by the time I left for my run this morning it had stopped raining, even if it was very windy. I can’t complain too much, because once more the rain returned with a vengeance later during the day. I managed a good clip, and I think my running pace has more or less returned to the level I had before the marathon. I was especially pleased with the fact that my heart rate was quite low compared to previous days, despite running at sub-8:00 pace.
Apart from the appalling weather I’m quite happy with the way the running has been going so far. All the aches and pains that plagued me in the last few weeks before the marathon have gone away. I do feel the odd twinge in my left achilles, but never during running, only in the evening, and even that seems to have gone away lately. I have run for 29 days in a row, and don’t think I will stop that sequence anytime soon. The mileage has increased steadily, as planned, and so far I feel good. Long may it continue.
10 Dec: 8.5 miles, 1:09, 8:07 pace, avg. HR 162 (hilly)
11 Dec: 7 miles, 55:39, 7:57 pace, avg. HR 153
Weekly mileage: 55+ miles
Maybe I shouldn’t complain, by pure luck I managed to run in relatively benign conditions on both days, between bouts of storm. Sunday’s effort was rather late, I didn’t leave until 9:30 in the morning, just when the storm that had been ravaging all night had started to abate. It wasn’t too bad, the rain had already stopped by the time I hit the road, and even when it returned it was manageable. I finally relented and wore long sleeves, but I had chosen the wrong day for that, because I was uncomfortably warm after a few miles, and regretted my choice of apparel. I will get it right one day, surely.
The storm must have blown itself out overnight, because by the time I left for my run this morning it had stopped raining, even if it was very windy. I can’t complain too much, because once more the rain returned with a vengeance later during the day. I managed a good clip, and I think my running pace has more or less returned to the level I had before the marathon. I was especially pleased with the fact that my heart rate was quite low compared to previous days, despite running at sub-8:00 pace.
Apart from the appalling weather I’m quite happy with the way the running has been going so far. All the aches and pains that plagued me in the last few weeks before the marathon have gone away. I do feel the odd twinge in my left achilles, but never during running, only in the evening, and even that seems to have gone away lately. I have run for 29 days in a row, and don’t think I will stop that sequence anytime soon. The mileage has increased steadily, as planned, and so far I feel good. Long may it continue.
10 Dec: 8.5 miles, 1:09, 8:07 pace, avg. HR 162 (hilly)
11 Dec: 7 miles, 55:39, 7:57 pace, avg. HR 153
Weekly mileage: 55+ miles
Saturday, December 09, 2006
Ever so slightly hung over
For all the planning I did for this week’s schedule I didn’t even notice that I put the two highest mileages back-to-back. I guess it doesn’t really matter yet, because 9 and 12.5 miles aren’t exactly long runs, but you live and learn. I try to look at it as one of those back-to-back workouts that Mike used to do so successfully before his marathon, but I can’t quite convince myself.
I do have to admit that the legs felt rather sluggish initially on Friday, after Thursday’s 9 miles and an hour of football 12 hours previously. But they did come round eventually, and I managed to enjoy the run. The main problem was the surface. I had chosen the Kerry Way as my route, and I had initially planned to have my weekly long run along this loop, but I might have to reconsider. Four weeks of heavy rain has turned the dirt road into a slippery mess, and at 7 am in the morning the light was too dim to make out all the stones and puddles in good time. Once I did indeed stumble and fell to the floor. I managed to break the fall with my hands and avoided any real damage, but it did sting for a while. After three or so miles on this surface I finally came back onto asphalt, and managed a noticeable increase in pace. I might choose the loop around Caragh Lake for next week’s long run. It’s not quite as scenic, but it’s all on proper road surface, and since the weather is not going to improve, it is most likely the better option. I also hadn’t taken my own advice on wearing long sleeves; my uncovered arms had turned deep red by the time I got back home (have a look at the photo and notice the difference in colour between arm and hand. You can also make out the scraped knuckles from the fall). The wind and rain really make it a lot colder than you would think from just looking at the thermometer.
Cian celebrated his third birthday on Friday, and even though he certainly enjoyed the presents, he was in complete denial about being 3. I think he needs some time to get used to the idea of being a really big boy now. Mummy made an absolutely delicious cake for the occasion. We also had the office Christmas party on Friday night, but I managed to restrain myself and got home at about 1 am standing mostly upright. Still, I didn’t feel particularly good this morning. We had to drive to Limerick and Niamh had decided to leave at 10 am, forcing me out of bed at 8 to get in 6 miles. The first 2 miles were hard work, I felt dehydrated and the legs didn’t want to turn over. Eventually I persuaded them to put in some effort, which is reflected in the time. The first 3 miles took 24:58 (8:19 pace) but the return leg only 22:18 (7:26 pace), despite being into the wind (and rain). I was quite pleased with that, especially considering my less-than-perfect preparations the night before. It really is not easy to train consistently this time of the year. The storms are predicted to come back for Sunday and Monday.
8 Dec: 12.5 miles, 1:47, 8:33 pace, avg. HR 151
9 Dec: 6 miles, 47:16, 7:53 pace, avg. HR 159
I do have to admit that the legs felt rather sluggish initially on Friday, after Thursday’s 9 miles and an hour of football 12 hours previously. But they did come round eventually, and I managed to enjoy the run. The main problem was the surface. I had chosen the Kerry Way as my route, and I had initially planned to have my weekly long run along this loop, but I might have to reconsider. Four weeks of heavy rain has turned the dirt road into a slippery mess, and at 7 am in the morning the light was too dim to make out all the stones and puddles in good time. Once I did indeed stumble and fell to the floor. I managed to break the fall with my hands and avoided any real damage, but it did sting for a while. After three or so miles on this surface I finally came back onto asphalt, and managed a noticeable increase in pace. I might choose the loop around Caragh Lake for next week’s long run. It’s not quite as scenic, but it’s all on proper road surface, and since the weather is not going to improve, it is most likely the better option. I also hadn’t taken my own advice on wearing long sleeves; my uncovered arms had turned deep red by the time I got back home (have a look at the photo and notice the difference in colour between arm and hand. You can also make out the scraped knuckles from the fall). The wind and rain really make it a lot colder than you would think from just looking at the thermometer.
Cian celebrated his third birthday on Friday, and even though he certainly enjoyed the presents, he was in complete denial about being 3. I think he needs some time to get used to the idea of being a really big boy now. Mummy made an absolutely delicious cake for the occasion. We also had the office Christmas party on Friday night, but I managed to restrain myself and got home at about 1 am standing mostly upright. Still, I didn’t feel particularly good this morning. We had to drive to Limerick and Niamh had decided to leave at 10 am, forcing me out of bed at 8 to get in 6 miles. The first 2 miles were hard work, I felt dehydrated and the legs didn’t want to turn over. Eventually I persuaded them to put in some effort, which is reflected in the time. The first 3 miles took 24:58 (8:19 pace) but the return leg only 22:18 (7:26 pace), despite being into the wind (and rain). I was quite pleased with that, especially considering my less-than-perfect preparations the night before. It really is not easy to train consistently this time of the year. The storms are predicted to come back for Sunday and Monday.8 Dec: 12.5 miles, 1:47, 8:33 pace, avg. HR 151
9 Dec: 6 miles, 47:16, 7:53 pace, avg. HR 159
Thursday, December 07, 2006
Ugh
Marc asked a question about my scheduling. Well, for the time being I'm increasing my mileage by about 5 miles/week, and the long run by 2 miles/week, and each week is planned around those parameters. I will continue to do this until I'm around 75 miles, and from then on I intend to run 60-90-60-120-60-120/180-90 minutes each and every week (that's from Lydiard's book) "for as long as possible". If that seems to become too easy I might increase my mileage to pacify Mike and Andrew, but to be honest I doubt it. I might include a hill phase, but I haven't come to a decision yet. That's most of the plan. I don't think I'll be doing much speedwork, if any. I'm training for an ultra, and speed won't be on top of my agenda.
Phil, on the other hand, was more concerned about my far-North geographical location and the cold weather that goes with it. Rest easy, Phil, not only do we get mild winters because we live right beside the sea, we are also bang in the middle of where the Gulf stream hits, thus raising the average temperature to a much higher level than other areas at the same latitude. At the moment the temperatures in the morning are generally around 8C/46F, but that's not taking wind chill into account.
Yesterday the weather Gods had some mercy on us, and while it was very windy, it didn't rain at all during the whole run. I still got wet, because one of the flooded sections in the road that I had encountered the day before was still flooded, and my feet got wet and cold. At least I only had to cross it once on my way around the water witch. And while you should never compare workouts with previous runs, I couldn't resist and look at last week's logs. Yesterday I ran the whole loop 90 seconds faster than the week before, and I don't think I ran any harder. The weather was nicer, but I do think that my conditioning is on the way back up again, and my recovery from the marathon is basically complete. Sunday's race might have had a positive effect on my legs, too.
To describe today's condition, let's just quote from the weather station, shall we? "Stormy over much of the country today, with damaging gusts of 100 to 130 km/h, but not quite so windy in northern parts. Widespread showers of rain or hail, with scattered thunderstorms, and some heavy downpours. Highest temperatures of 8 C to 11 C.
Severe Wind Warning
Gale force southwest winds through Munster, much of Leinster and possibly parts of South Connaught with damaging gusts of 120 Km/h in places."
For once they were right. Kerry is part of Munster, and we took the full force. I have never run in such a heavy wind. I didn't even dare running in the wood because I was afraid of falling branches, and preferred to battle the elements out in the open. I can tell you, when the wind blows the rain into your face at such force, it hurts. On the other hand it was much easier after the turn-around point; I was practically sailing home. Then, back home and in the shower I noticed some minor damage to the skin on various parts of my body. I'll spare you the details, but next time the conditions are as bad as that, I will change two things: I will wear long sleeves, and I will wear a second set of underwear. Let's leave it at that.
6 Dec: 6.75 miles, 55:45, 8:15 pace, avg. HR 155
7 Dec: 9 miles, 1:13, 8:06 pace, avg. HR 161, included 7x100 strides
Phil, on the other hand, was more concerned about my far-North geographical location and the cold weather that goes with it. Rest easy, Phil, not only do we get mild winters because we live right beside the sea, we are also bang in the middle of where the Gulf stream hits, thus raising the average temperature to a much higher level than other areas at the same latitude. At the moment the temperatures in the morning are generally around 8C/46F, but that's not taking wind chill into account.
Yesterday the weather Gods had some mercy on us, and while it was very windy, it didn't rain at all during the whole run. I still got wet, because one of the flooded sections in the road that I had encountered the day before was still flooded, and my feet got wet and cold. At least I only had to cross it once on my way around the water witch. And while you should never compare workouts with previous runs, I couldn't resist and look at last week's logs. Yesterday I ran the whole loop 90 seconds faster than the week before, and I don't think I ran any harder. The weather was nicer, but I do think that my conditioning is on the way back up again, and my recovery from the marathon is basically complete. Sunday's race might have had a positive effect on my legs, too.
To describe today's condition, let's just quote from the weather station, shall we? "Stormy over much of the country today, with damaging gusts of 100 to 130 km/h, but not quite so windy in northern parts. Widespread showers of rain or hail, with scattered thunderstorms, and some heavy downpours. Highest temperatures of 8 C to 11 C.
Severe Wind Warning
Gale force southwest winds through Munster, much of Leinster and possibly parts of South Connaught with damaging gusts of 120 Km/h in places."
For once they were right. Kerry is part of Munster, and we took the full force. I have never run in such a heavy wind. I didn't even dare running in the wood because I was afraid of falling branches, and preferred to battle the elements out in the open. I can tell you, when the wind blows the rain into your face at such force, it hurts. On the other hand it was much easier after the turn-around point; I was practically sailing home. Then, back home and in the shower I noticed some minor damage to the skin on various parts of my body. I'll spare you the details, but next time the conditions are as bad as that, I will change two things: I will wear long sleeves, and I will wear a second set of underwear. Let's leave it at that.
6 Dec: 6.75 miles, 55:45, 8:15 pace, avg. HR 155
7 Dec: 9 miles, 1:13, 8:06 pace, avg. HR 161, included 7x100 strides
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
Home Sweet Home
We had a hectic Sunday after the race; Cian will be 3 on Friday, and guess who was all of a sudden roped in to buy presents for him from Nana and Gaga as well as some aunties? His favourite things are Lunar Jim, Cars and helicopters in general. The one toy I couldn’t find was the Cars one. You would expect the merchandise from a Disney film to be available just about everywhere, wouldn’t you? “Come on, let me waste my money on your overpriced merchandise!” I shouted to no avail. But of course he was happy anyway. In fact, he spent the last two nights cuddling his Lunar Jim toy.
Back to running. I managed 5.5 miles in Dublin on Monday before we set off on our journey back to Kerry. Like the other Dublin runs this weekend it was windy but didn’t rain. I was quite surprised how easy it felt, I expected at least some soreness from the race, but no, I seem to have absorbed that without troubles. The only problem was that I went out at around 8:30 am, which meant of course that I ran in the middle of rush hour. I usually don’t have that problem in Kerry, and I hadn’t even thought of it. It shows how much I’ve forgotten about city live since we turned back into country pumpkins three years ago.
The journey back was uneventful but tiring, and I wasn’t sure how many miles I would feel up to this morning. I eventually settled on an easy 7, and set the alarm accordingly. I didn’t need it, 5 minutes before it was time to get up I woke up hearing the wind and rain howling outside the window. That’s just great, isn’t it? Despite being tempted to snuggle back into my blanket I got up, got ready and went out, to be surprised by a calm morning with a brilliant moon shining brightly just above the horizon. It was so bright that I left the lamp behind. The nice scenery didn’t last, of course, the wind was very strong as soon as I was out of the woods, and within 2 miles the rain was back. Two sections of the road were flooded, one up to an inch and the other one ankle deep, and Good God was that water cold! Since this was an out-and-back course I had the dubious pleasure of running through both sections twice; no wonder my toes were frozen. I eventually returned home to a silent and peaceful house, even the boys were still asleep, almost unheard of at 7:45 am. It’s always nice to know that nobody missed me; I feel guilty when I come back from my run to find that Niamh had to prepare breakfast for all the kids on her own.
After some humming and hawing I came up with a schedule for this week. I moved the long run back to Friday, because that’s the day of the week that’s earmarked as the long one, just like last time. The mileage for the other days doesn’t really matter much yet. I keep increasing the weekly mileage by 5 miles, 2 of which are used to increase the duration of the long run. Eventually I want to end up at around 80 miles with one long run of 20 and another one around 15, though I should be running by time, not distance. I’ll get there in January, but I do hope the weather will be more benign by then. I don’t remember it being so bad 12 months ago.
4 Dec: ~5.5 miles, 45:30, ~8.16 pace, avg. HR 158, very windy
5 Dec: 7 miles, 58:41, 8:23 pace, avg. HR 155, very wet and windy
Back to running. I managed 5.5 miles in Dublin on Monday before we set off on our journey back to Kerry. Like the other Dublin runs this weekend it was windy but didn’t rain. I was quite surprised how easy it felt, I expected at least some soreness from the race, but no, I seem to have absorbed that without troubles. The only problem was that I went out at around 8:30 am, which meant of course that I ran in the middle of rush hour. I usually don’t have that problem in Kerry, and I hadn’t even thought of it. It shows how much I’ve forgotten about city live since we turned back into country pumpkins three years ago.
The journey back was uneventful but tiring, and I wasn’t sure how many miles I would feel up to this morning. I eventually settled on an easy 7, and set the alarm accordingly. I didn’t need it, 5 minutes before it was time to get up I woke up hearing the wind and rain howling outside the window. That’s just great, isn’t it? Despite being tempted to snuggle back into my blanket I got up, got ready and went out, to be surprised by a calm morning with a brilliant moon shining brightly just above the horizon. It was so bright that I left the lamp behind. The nice scenery didn’t last, of course, the wind was very strong as soon as I was out of the woods, and within 2 miles the rain was back. Two sections of the road were flooded, one up to an inch and the other one ankle deep, and Good God was that water cold! Since this was an out-and-back course I had the dubious pleasure of running through both sections twice; no wonder my toes were frozen. I eventually returned home to a silent and peaceful house, even the boys were still asleep, almost unheard of at 7:45 am. It’s always nice to know that nobody missed me; I feel guilty when I come back from my run to find that Niamh had to prepare breakfast for all the kids on her own.
After some humming and hawing I came up with a schedule for this week. I moved the long run back to Friday, because that’s the day of the week that’s earmarked as the long one, just like last time. The mileage for the other days doesn’t really matter much yet. I keep increasing the weekly mileage by 5 miles, 2 of which are used to increase the duration of the long run. Eventually I want to end up at around 80 miles with one long run of 20 and another one around 15, though I should be running by time, not distance. I’ll get there in January, but I do hope the weather will be more benign by then. I don’t remember it being so bad 12 months ago.
4 Dec: ~5.5 miles, 45:30, ~8.16 pace, avg. HR 158, very windy
5 Dec: 7 miles, 58:41, 8:23 pace, avg. HR 155, very wet and windy
Sunday, December 03, 2006
Jingle Bells 5k
We spent Friday afternoon driving all the way up to Dublin once more. I know the road so well by now that at one stage I looked up, saw a few lights ahead of me, and immediately knew “That’s Borris-in-Ossory”. But thankfully I managed to wriggle out of the “Sound of Music” production, because someone had to babysit Cian. Whew!
Saturday was a bit hectic with a birthday party and shopping, but I managed to squeeze in 5 miles in the morning while most other members of the household were still asleep (apart from Shea, of course). It was really windy, and the weather forecast for Sunday was really bad, which made me doubt if the race would take place at all. Niamh voiced the same concerns, but we agreed we would just have to wait and see. What I didn’t get was rain, thus ending my sequence.
I rang the organisers on Sunday morning, and they confirmed that the race would go ahead as planned. It had been really bad during the night, a few things in Nana’s garden were blown over, and it had been raining for most of it, though at least that had ceased by breakfast time. Niamh had originally intended to come with me because she had never seen me finish a race, but one look out of the window changed her mind. Lola was really disappointed “I want to see Daddy race!!!”, but I ended up going out on my own. After getting lost once more and having a hard time finding a parking space, I was caught for time, and briskly ran to the racing HQ. At least it made sure I was properly warmed up. I got to the starting line 10 minutes ahead of the start, warmed up a bit more, and took my place. I looked around me and kept thinking “they don’t look like serious runners”, but I was packed in by that time and couldn’t change my starting position. It was quite ridiculous really, the first line of runners were all kids, maybe 10 years old. I hope they didn’t get trampled over, it really should have been better organised.
Anyway, a whistle sounds and off we go. As expected I’m held back by the traffic, and it takes a good while and a lot of weaving to finally get some open space. The first km is mostly gentle uphill, and I cross the 1k mark in 4:07 (6:37 pace). It was a bit wind-assisted as well. The second km is rather flat, and the wind comes from the side as well as behind, and I’m still overtaking runner after runner. That’s quite unusual; normally I start slower than other people, and start overtaking them from about a third of the race distance. This time I overtake plenty of people during the first 2 km, pretty much hold my position for the next 2km, and then pass a few more runners towards the end. Anyway, the second km passes in about 4:00 minutes (6:26 pace), which is probably down to the fact that I’m no longer stuck in traffic. At around the half way mark things start to get ugly. Not only can I clearly feel the effect of the pace in my calves, after a left-hand turn we run straight into the wind. Ugh. I battle on, but it really is hard work. My breathing is fine, but at one stage we cross a very small hill, a really pathetic one, maybe 10 feet high, but my breathing immediately goes haywire, and I really have to push hard to keep going. The wind is noticeable in my split, the third km takes about 4:12 (6:45 pace). At some stage during the fourth km we start going downhill, which at least gives me the chance to catch my breath again for the last push. I’m hurting pretty bad by now, but I guess the others around me hurt even more, because the overtaking starts again. Despite this, this is my slowest km at 4:18 (6:55 pace). I try to switch into a higher gear for the last push, but I haven’t got much more to give, my HR is already at 190, which is nearly my max. With about 0.5 km to go we start climbing again, which is a very unwelcome surprise, and I really strain to push up that blasted hill. The last stretch is downhill again, and I run and run and run and then I cross the line in 20:47, which makes it another 4:00 km, and it’s a new PR, hurray. I didn’t know what to expect from this race, just 5 weeks after the Dublin marathon and only three weeks into my training, but a PR is a PR, and if I can run one on so little training I’m bound to improve further. It was more downhill than uphill, but that barely makes up for the congestion at the start. The next 5k is on New Year’s Day, and if I manage to go easy on the bubbly the night before I’m reasonably confident that today’s PR will be a short-lived one.
We got quite lucky with the weather, about 20 minutes after I cross the line the rain starts again, and the wind picks up to gale force once more. Not nice, but I guess I should be grateful that the race conditions were somewhat ok.
For the rest of the day I’ll try and send good vibes into Mike’s directions. If he runs anything like he’s capable of, he will run a truly amazing time in California today. You go Mike!
2 Dec: ~5 miles, 42:50, 8:34 pace, avg. HR 160
3 Dec: 5 miles, including a 5k in 20:47 (6:42 pace), avg. HR 182
Weekly mileage: 50 miles
Saturday was a bit hectic with a birthday party and shopping, but I managed to squeeze in 5 miles in the morning while most other members of the household were still asleep (apart from Shea, of course). It was really windy, and the weather forecast for Sunday was really bad, which made me doubt if the race would take place at all. Niamh voiced the same concerns, but we agreed we would just have to wait and see. What I didn’t get was rain, thus ending my sequence.
I rang the organisers on Sunday morning, and they confirmed that the race would go ahead as planned. It had been really bad during the night, a few things in Nana’s garden were blown over, and it had been raining for most of it, though at least that had ceased by breakfast time. Niamh had originally intended to come with me because she had never seen me finish a race, but one look out of the window changed her mind. Lola was really disappointed “I want to see Daddy race!!!”, but I ended up going out on my own. After getting lost once more and having a hard time finding a parking space, I was caught for time, and briskly ran to the racing HQ. At least it made sure I was properly warmed up. I got to the starting line 10 minutes ahead of the start, warmed up a bit more, and took my place. I looked around me and kept thinking “they don’t look like serious runners”, but I was packed in by that time and couldn’t change my starting position. It was quite ridiculous really, the first line of runners were all kids, maybe 10 years old. I hope they didn’t get trampled over, it really should have been better organised.
Anyway, a whistle sounds and off we go. As expected I’m held back by the traffic, and it takes a good while and a lot of weaving to finally get some open space. The first km is mostly gentle uphill, and I cross the 1k mark in 4:07 (6:37 pace). It was a bit wind-assisted as well. The second km is rather flat, and the wind comes from the side as well as behind, and I’m still overtaking runner after runner. That’s quite unusual; normally I start slower than other people, and start overtaking them from about a third of the race distance. This time I overtake plenty of people during the first 2 km, pretty much hold my position for the next 2km, and then pass a few more runners towards the end. Anyway, the second km passes in about 4:00 minutes (6:26 pace), which is probably down to the fact that I’m no longer stuck in traffic. At around the half way mark things start to get ugly. Not only can I clearly feel the effect of the pace in my calves, after a left-hand turn we run straight into the wind. Ugh. I battle on, but it really is hard work. My breathing is fine, but at one stage we cross a very small hill, a really pathetic one, maybe 10 feet high, but my breathing immediately goes haywire, and I really have to push hard to keep going. The wind is noticeable in my split, the third km takes about 4:12 (6:45 pace). At some stage during the fourth km we start going downhill, which at least gives me the chance to catch my breath again for the last push. I’m hurting pretty bad by now, but I guess the others around me hurt even more, because the overtaking starts again. Despite this, this is my slowest km at 4:18 (6:55 pace). I try to switch into a higher gear for the last push, but I haven’t got much more to give, my HR is already at 190, which is nearly my max. With about 0.5 km to go we start climbing again, which is a very unwelcome surprise, and I really strain to push up that blasted hill. The last stretch is downhill again, and I run and run and run and then I cross the line in 20:47, which makes it another 4:00 km, and it’s a new PR, hurray. I didn’t know what to expect from this race, just 5 weeks after the Dublin marathon and only three weeks into my training, but a PR is a PR, and if I can run one on so little training I’m bound to improve further. It was more downhill than uphill, but that barely makes up for the congestion at the start. The next 5k is on New Year’s Day, and if I manage to go easy on the bubbly the night before I’m reasonably confident that today’s PR will be a short-lived one.
We got quite lucky with the weather, about 20 minutes after I cross the line the rain starts again, and the wind picks up to gale force once more. Not nice, but I guess I should be grateful that the race conditions were somewhat ok.
For the rest of the day I’ll try and send good vibes into Mike’s directions. If he runs anything like he’s capable of, he will run a truly amazing time in California today. You go Mike!
2 Dec: ~5 miles, 42:50, 8:34 pace, avg. HR 160
3 Dec: 5 miles, including a 5k in 20:47 (6:42 pace), avg. HR 182
Weekly mileage: 50 miles
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)