Oops I Did It Again

I used my weekend in Kerry to get a couple of nice runs in.

The first one, on Saturday, was an evaluation workout, back at the road where I used to do them before running laps in a Dublin Park. It was a very calm day - I felt a bit of headwind going both directions, so I guess it wasn't really wind. The workout was alright - getting the HR up to 160 was easier than it felt in Dublin, but that might have been because my pace was a tad slower than last time round. Basically, it felt a tad easier but it also was a tad slower. I presume I still had last week's marathon in the legs, despite the fact that the legs feel absolutely fine.

I awoke on Sunday to a gloriously sunny morning, so I ditched the usual long run and headed up into the mountains instead. It meant fewer miles but it still took close to 2 hours, and it definitely provided a new stimulus to the muscles. I was actually very pleased by how (relatively) easy the big long steep climbs felt. I did two climbs up to Windy Gap, once each from each side, and was tempted to do at least one more but decided that 2 climbs would be enough for a first outing.

Good call.

On Monday I was really surprised to feel a little bit of DOMS, but it wasn't particularly bad and I did my usual 10 miles, albeit at a slow, easy pace. However, throughout the day the aches got progressively worse and by evening I had long come round to the idea of doing an easy week. I had already planned on doing a bit of a mini-taper before Sunday's race but now I'm extending it from 3 to 5 days.

What I did was not set the alarm at all, and if I sleep in then I would ditch the run and get some much-needed sleep instead, but as it almost always happens I wake up early and go for a run after all. However, I left it at 4 miles, and very, very slow ones at that, but the pain in the quads is quite noticeable today, 2 days after the mountain run. Cassic DOMS. So now I find myself with rather achy legs, 5 days before an ultra.

Oops.

24 Mar

12 miles, 1:27:22, 7:16 pace, HR 147

   4 miles eval in 6:36, 6:39, 6:43, 6:50, 40 sec rest to 130

25 Mar

12+ miles, 1:50:05, 9:03 pace, HR 139

   Windy Gap x 2

26 Mar

10 miles, 1:25:30, 8:30 pace, HR 128

27 Mar

4+ miles, 37:17, 8:59 pace, HR 123

Numb

Remember how I mentioned at the end of my race report that there is an area on my right arm that feels kind of numb and a bit weird when I touch it? Almost one week after the race this is still the case. Someone suggested it might be frostbite. I have no idea if that's correct. There is no discolouration, it doesn't hurt and it's not affecting movement and/or use in any way so I'm not too worried, but it sure makes me glad I stopped when I did and didn't insist on running for the entire 6 hours.

Since I had been planning on doing an ultra but only ran a marathon it means I ran it well below even my easy-marathon-training-run pace. As a direct result I felt perfectly fine the next morning, my legs regarded it as just another long training run. I therefore didn't bother implementing my usual 5-mile-a-day recovery routine and just kept on training as normal. Having said that, on most days my legs felt a bit heavy for the first few miles of every run, which kept reminding me of the fact that I had just run a marathon after all, though they always, invariably, loosened up eventually and I ended up every run with a few faster miles.

I've started running into work regularly, though I still have a few thing left to figure out. In my previous 2 jobs here in Dublin I always had breakfast at work, just as most of my colleagues did as well, but nobody here seems to bring their own food into work and I'm a bit reluctant to stick out as the one guy who brings in his own porridge. I tried eating an hour before running on a couple of days this week but always felt rather uncomfortable, and I tried eating the porridge here at work but that doesn't taste the way I like it, so I'm still working on a solution.

Real life kept making things a little bit difficult at time, I managed to run home form work exactly once this week, there was something else on every other day, which actually made planning for the week really tricky. Normally I cycle into work on Monday and bring my stuff for the week but with the week being so irregular I missed out on a couple of items and ended up running carrying extra stuff for a few miles. Ah well. I'll get the hang of it eventually.

My sleep patterns are a bit weird, no matter when I go to be I always wake up at 5:30. If I go to bet ad 10 o'clock then that's fine, if I leave it later because, in theory, I don't have to get up so early, I end up with a worryingly low number of hours of sleep. Lack of discipline when it comes to going to bed at the right time is definitely an issue I have to work on.

19 Mar

10 miles, 1:20:47, 8:04 pace, HR 130

20 Mar

10 miles, 1:21:28, 8:08 pace, HR 129

21 Mar

9.56 miles, 1:16:04, 7:57 pace, HR 142

22 Mar

am:5.45 miles, 45:17, 8:18 pace, HR 135

pm:6 miles, 46:16, 7:42 pace, HR 133

23 Mar

9.56 miles, 1:16:21, 7:59 pace, HR 141

Gone With The Wind

Ah yes, the best laid plans. I had it all worked out, got a rental car Friday after work, carefully prepared all the stuff that was needed, and on Saturday very early in the morning headed up north for my first race in the East Antrim Marathon Series, something I had been looking forward to for a very long time. The race was the Paddy's Day 6-hours challenge and was going to be one of the key workouts for my goal race in June. Ah yes, the best laid plans.

I had not slept well, something that happens quite a lot before a race, but that didn't overly bother me, I'm well used to that. The weather forecast wasn't great, with temperatures plummeting back to about 0, but I can cope with that as well. One look at the wind forecast had me going "oh shi*t", but I still expected to manage. This is Ireland, I have been running in high winds on plenty of occasions.

Lap 1

As soon as I got close to Newtownabbey I did not like the look of the waves on Belfast Lough, they looked rather rough. And as soon as I got out of the car I almost got blown over. This was going to be interesting. I had to re-park my car after getting my number because apparently it would be too busy down here, which meant I barely had enough time to get ready but I made it just in time.

The course was from Loughshore Park towards Gideon's Green a tad over 2 miles further south, all along the sea front, and back again. A bit over 6 laps would be a marathon (there was a sign where you had to turn around on lap 7 for a full marathon) and my plan was for about 10 laps, making 42 miles, but to take it as it goes, this was a training run after all.

The first 2 miles were easy with the wind at our back. The next 2 were considerably more challenging, especially the last half mile back towards Loughshore Park where the wind was so strong that you kept running at big effort but barely kept moving forward. What worried me the most was the fact that the forecast had predicted steadily increasing winds. This seemed hardly possible at the time, but as it turned out, it was correct.

Lap 2 with Dino

I spent most of lap 2 chatting to Dino, which was nice, but the wind was so strong that you basically had to shout really loudly to get heard and after a while that simply was too much effort while running at the same time. I picked up a drink after lap 2 and kept going.

Lap 3. It still got worse after that

By now the wind had increased to such an extend that it kept pushing big waves right over the path. That proved to be a problem. A big one. Running on wet paths was not the problem. Getting soaked from wave after wave after wave, with the icy cold wind blowing a full tilt, was. Getting sufficient electrolytes was not an issue today. Every few minutes you were guaranteed to get a wave right in your face, with a mouthful of salt water. For once I didn't even think of taking a salt tablet today.

From as soon as lap 3 I started the internal dialog for how long I was going to endure this. I did not want to pull out lightly. I had spent plenty of money to get here in the first place, and I did not want to miss out on one of my key workouts, so I postponed the decision for a while. I kept flip-flopping on the issue. Once, just as I had decided to quit soon, the sun came out and it became significantly more tolerable, but that didn't last (though it did come out again later).

One area of the course was so exposed to the waves that everyone started running up on the grassy slope of a hill instead, which was hard going as well as slippery, with me taking one full plunge in the mud, but still better than the flooded path. Another section was re-routed through the car park. Nothing could protect us from the wind, though, and one section close to Gideons Green was still pretty bad with big waves coming over the wall all the time.

I had long started to question how save this was. After lap 4 I picked up another drink and for the first few minutes simply could not drink it, my face and lips had become totally numb and I could not sip from the spout until I had warmed up a bit once I had the wind on my back. Also, the field had thinned out considerably already, I guessed that at least half of the runners had already called it a day.

I still hadn't decided either way but resolved to make it to the marathon. Up to then I had paid no attention to the turn-around sign, having planned on keeping doing full laps until the end, but now I did start to notice it. I wasn't even tired. In fact, I was really pleased with how well the legs responded to running for several hours, even with the big effort required every lap when we had to fight the monster headwind. There was no sign of cramp either (maybe due to the constant load of unexpected electrolytes, hehe), and from that point of view it was going really well. However, when the sun disappeared again I eventually decided to end it with the full marathon. Finn seemed to sense something and told me it was warming up, but at that point my mind was finally made up and I told her I'd call it a day.

After completing 6 full loops I headed back out to the full marathon turn and back towards the finish. My watch said 26.38 miles and 3:46:50. The mileage wasn't what I had wanted but that was that. Due to this being a timed race you had an official finish after even one single lap, so this still counts as a result, not a DNF. Would I have continued if I required the full 6 hours for an official finish? I don't think so, but you never know for sure.

As soon as I stopped I actually started to feel worse, physically. I took a can of coke and could not open it, my fingers being too numb. Once a helpful angel (those organisers and marshalls REALLY deserve a medal!) had come to my help, I could barely drink it because my hand was starting to shake badly. I left very quickly, I really had to make it to my car straight away (thanks for the lift!). Once in there I was unable to get changed at first, shaking uncontrollably, and had to just sit there for several minutes with the heating on full blast before I could finally take off my wet gear.

As a race, this was a brilliant community effort with everyone being really supportive towards each other and all enduring the pain as a group. It was also the worst conditions I had ever run in. I have run marathons in over 30 degrees and I have run in rain with the wind blowing it sideways but today the combination of stormy wind and the icy cold sea water washing over us non-stop was utterly brutal. A handful of runners went on past the marathon, boys and girls you have my full respect! And congratulations to Finn for winning!

The one photo that gives you a sense of the wind

Me, I am definitely ok with my decision to pull out when I did. Even a day after finishing a large area of skin of my lower right arm feels somewhat numb and uncomfortably tingly, a bit like pins and needles, when I touch it. Slight nerve damage? I'm not sure. It felt better after a good night's sleep, so I'm sure it's only temporary but it definitely makes me glad I decided to call it a day when I did.

I'm sure I'll be back for more EAMS love sooner rather than later. I won't be expecting sunshine all day, but I sure hope the weather will be a bit more accommodating in future.

I saw on one website that the wind speed had been up to 32 knots (60+ kph). To be honest, I think it may well have been even more.

Also, there were plenty of friends at the race but I barely, or even not at all, recognised half of them because most runners were completely wrapped up, even with bandanas covering their faces. I put up a lot of photos because they are describing the conditions much better than any words could. Keep in mind that this wasn't even the worst section! Credit for all photos goes to Elma McAvoy.

15 Mar

am: 5.5 miles, 43:48, 7:57 pace, HR 139

pm: 6 miles, 45:28, 7:34 pace, HR 137

16 Mar

5 miles, 42:23, 8:28 pace, HR 128

17 Mar

EAMS 6-hrs challenge, marathon in 3:46:50, 8:37 pace, HR 134

18 Mar

am: 6.3 miles, 52:31, 8:19 pace, HR 129

pm: 3.8 miles, 32:27, 8:32 pace, HR 122

As Close To A DNF As You Can Get

I went up North for the EAMS 6-hour race but felt it was no longer safe to continue and decided to call it a day when I reached the marathon mark, in about 3:47. Due to the nature of timed races, however, this still gave me an official finish, so no DNF.

Many thanks to my fellow runners and especially the organisers for coping in utterly brutal conditions, extremely strong wind and waves keeping on washing over the running paths.

Look Up At The Stars

“Remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see and wonder about what makes the universe exist. Be curious. And however difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at.
It matters that you don't just give up.”

RIP Stephen Hawking. 

Running.

It's going really well. It just struck me the other day how I differ from most people. I started training for my race last July, almost an entire year out. Most would have dropped out at some stage, bored to death by the repetitive nature of training with the goal being so far away. I, on the other had, am really enjoying this. I am slowly getting better, first getting over the remnants of overtraining and then still keeping improving. My VDOT values have returned into the 60s, and while they are still not where they used to be 4, 5 years ago, I had been convinced I'd never see those figures again.

Sunday's 20 miler went really well. I got over those big climbs in the first 6 miles really well, my legs are definitely getting stronger even if I'm still not running as many hills as I'd like. Then I just kept going and the miles ticked by with surprising ease. I did eventually start to notice the effort around mile 16, until then I was floating along effortlessly. By then I was close enough to the finish to know I'd still be in good shape at the end.

Tuesday was a new one. There is a running group at the office and they do Tuesday lunch runs, so I joined them. We jogged to Clonmore Park, which is right where I used to live for 3 months almost a year ago, and I wondered if I'd run into my in-laws. The workout was 300 m easy / 300 m hard / 100 m walking, and we did 5 laps of that. To be honest, I'm not sure it's the best workout there is, the intervals are too short (and the recoveries too long) for a VO2max workout but too long for a neuromuscular workout, but it's a group activity and it's nice to be social for a change. Also, I was always the second guy in the intervals and it's so much easier to push yourself in an interval when you've got someone to chase / set the pace.

On Wednesday I finally started running into work, after close to 4 weeks there. It took that long for me to acquire a locker (and I still need another one downstairs at the changing facilities) and I had managed to check out the changing and shower rooms, so off I went. It was an interesting day to start running into work with heavy rain in the morning and fairly brutal conditions in the evening, but I've run in worse.  The route I took is a bit over 5 miles each way, not the most direct route but mostly away from traffic, still going through the same parks as usual. I'll see how that goes. Running 5 miles at a time is not a lot, but doing it twice a day adds up, and there are plenty of options to add a few more miles, should I feel the need.

10 Mar

10 miles, 1:16:12, 7:37 pace, HR 144

11 Mar

20 miles, 2:35:49, 7:47 pace, HR 142

12 Mar

9.2 miles, 1:14:16, 8:04 pace, HR 132

13 Mar

am: 10.25 miles, 1:20:59, 7:54 pace, HR 133

pm: 5 miles, 41:02, 8:12 pace, HR 142

   300 / 300 / 100

14 Mar

am: 5.4 miles, 44:01, 8:09 pace, HR 135

pm: 5.38 miles, 42:58, 7:59 pace, HR 135

Time Travel

I know the blog updates are starting to slip. It used to be about every 3 days, then 4, then 5, and now 6. It’s a reflection of how busy I have been the last couple of weeks. My new job is still very new and there is still a ton of stuff to learn. I’m not stressed – you don’t feel stressed if you love what you’re doing - and I’m not working crazy hours but it all just adds up. Frequent blog updates are not the highest priority right now.

Things should calm down soon enough. I managed to figure out where to park the bike and where the showers are, and I might soon have a locker for my stuff as well, so things are clicking into place. At the moment I’m running very early in the morning, before heading into work, which works reasonably well as long as I keep going to bed early enough, which I’m getting better at. I’ll start running into work soon, which would mean 90 minutes longer in bed – that’s a massive difference.

The mileage has been slightly lower ever since Donadea. I haven’t hit 80 mpw yet. That’s fine of course, with all the stuff going on I wouldn’t want to overdo things. The most important thing is that I’m feeling good and the numbers are improving, so I’m definitely doing something right.

I had arranged to meet up with Julio on Sunday to go for a run, but since he intended to run 26k I did an early 5 miles jog, both to boost my mileage for my long run (albeit split in 2) and to check out what the conditions were like. The latter was definitely a good move as the park turned out to be unusable but I managed to find some ice-free and reasonably quiet roads, so once Julio arrived we headed via Cabinteely towards Leopoardstown, with a little bit of back and forward to get some extra distance. We were still 2k short when we got back home but Julio declined the suggestion of an extra loop, which was fine by me as the legs were definitely starting to feel tired after almost 20 miles for the day and plenty of hills, with a few snow-filled bits to boot.

I then took it very easy on Monday and still pretty easy on Tuesday, by which time the park finally started to become mostly clear of snow. I expected Wednesday to suck big time with a hangover but miraculously I didn’t suffer from any headache – quite the opposite, I felt really good and the miles just flew by totally effortlessly. I love it when that happens – I’m sure it used to happen a lot more frequently (the effortless run I mean, not the potential hangover).

I followed that up with another evaluation on Thursday. The park paths were almost entirely clear by now and there was very little wind, good conditions. The thing is, the evaluation always used to be a very moderate workout, not very hard and over quite quickly. That was then. These days it sure feels like a proper workout. After one mile I considered dropping out but couldn’t come up with any valid excuses so I soldiered on. Actually, it became easier once I finally managed to tune into the effort, though I was still glad to be done once it was over. Once I saw the numbers, however, I was pretty happy:

6:29, 6:40, 6:38, 6:36; 40 seconds recovery to HR 130

Improving numbers are always a good thing! Plus, they come from my Suunto watch. I used to wear both the Garmin and the Suunto on those workouts and noticed that the Garmin always was about 5 seconds per mile faster than the Suunto. I have no way of telling which one is more accurate, but that’s not my point. The thing is, had I worn the Garmin on Thursday it would most likely have shown a faster pace once again, in which case the numbers would be right up there with the best numbers I have ever produced – I’m several years older now so I take huge encouragement from that. I might just be able to catch up with my younger self again!

4 Mar

am: 5 miles, 43:00, 8:35 pace, HR 136

pm: 14.84 miles, 2:11:19, 8:50 pace, HR 129, with Julio

5 Mar

9.2 miles, 1:15:50, 8:14 pace, HR 132

6 Mar

10.25 miles, 1:21:16, 7:55 pace, HR 133

7 Mar

10.3 miles, 1:19:50, 7:45 pace, HR 137

8 Mar

10.15 miles, 1:16:13, 7:30 pace, HR 142

   eval in 6:29, 6:40, 6:38, 6:36; 40 seconds recovery

9 Mar

8 miles, 1:04:56, 8:07 pace, HR 135

   carrying a big parcel the last 2.5 miles

Tough Week

Tullyvale

Well, it didn't start out all that tough, after a night in a 5-star hotel, though actually there were some repercussions from that as well. You see, we had dinner in their fancy restaurant. My starter was a pannacotta for a whopping 11 Euro, which in reality consisted of 2 tiny blobs the size of a finger nail. The main course was equally microscopically portioned, though they seemed to think it's ok to compensate for the minuscule portion with a gargantuan price by charging over 30 Euro - thankfully our meal was included in the package, but at that point I was distinctly unimpressed. However, that's where they made up for it. Desert was a desert buffet, and bloody gorgeous it was too. So I had some of this and this and this and this and of course a spoonful of that as well, and when I had eaten all that (remember, I was still starving after dinner) I went back and had a portion of those as well.

New neighbours

The next day I had gained 3 pounds. And they took about 5 days to come off again. I know a little bit of physiology and I understand that sugars (ok, glycogen) are stored with three times the water in the body, so I hadn't pigged out on 3 pounds of sweets, but it was still a whopper of a weight gain for one single binge.

Anyway, to the rest of the week. I'm in the second week in my new job and it was a really intensive training week. I was utterly drained every evening. And of course everyone knew about the weather system closing in from the East. Monday was fine, weather-wise, though my legs were suffering from DOMS after the steep road at the Gap of Dunloe, so I took it very, very easy. By Tuesday I was starting to wonder if the weather reports were just kidding but by Wednesday it had hit us, and the reports sure were not exaggerated. The paths were covered in 2 inches of snow, which was perfectly fine to run on and easily provided sufficient grip. It actually was great fun.

Caragh Lake

My approach in those situations is to head out for my run as usual but see what the conditions are like and make a judgement call. Be prepared to go home if it is dangerous but don't stay at home just because someone else says so - especially as here in Ireland some can get downright hysterical from even a dusting of snow at times.

The fun factor had decreased by Thursday because the snow from earlier had frozen and now the path really was treacherous. I managed to find one spot that was still somewhat runnable, though - the dirt track in Kilbogget Park, so I ploughed my way through a number of laps, until the wind started to pick up, I got cold and since I had already started to get bored with doing lap after lap I went home early.

Friday morning was in the middle of a red alert but I made the same assessment and judgement call again. With the snow about ankle deep on average, driving would have been lethal, so from that point of view the red alert was perfectly justified. However, it was perfectly fine for running. It wasn't slippery at all, and even if it had been you would have landed on a soft bed of snow. What you had to forget about was pace - running in snow basically adds a resistance element to your run, which quickly makes it feel like a proper workout even at snails pace. I ploughed my way through a few miles, having the entire Kilbogget Park to myself and tons of fun - I really enjoyed it, at least for the first half. After that the wind picked up, so much that my deep footprints got all wiped out within one single lap, but I got home just fine.

Millie's first ever proper snow

It was different again on Saturday - still plenty of snow, but even though the wind made it feel freezing cold it was clearly warming up as the snow started to turn into slush. After helping a neighbour push his car over a couple of snow drifts on the road I was on my way. The footing was fine, there was no ice, though I did have a few unsteady steps at times. The going was still slow but not quite as slow as the day before, with parts of the path being almost clear and others still halfway up the shin in snow. By the end of the run my legs were really tired, the added resistance clearly taking its toll, but happy to have gotten out all the same.

Stay at home if you think it's not safe, go running if you honestly deem it to be ok and be prepared to cut it short if it's not. Proper equipment can make all the difference, if you have things like yaktrax you can run on icy roads as if nothing had happened (unfortunately mine are in Kerry - doh! - but it turned out to be fine).

26 Feb

10.3 miles, 1:26:17, 8:23 pace, HR 133

27 Feb

10 miles, 1:19:08, 7:55 pace, HR 135

28 Feb

10.5 miles, 1:28:01, 8:23 pace, HR 137

   2 inches of snow

1 Mar

6.6 miles, 58:57, 8:56 pace, HR 134

   snow and ice

2 Mar

10.1 miles, 1:39:29, 9:51 pace, HR 135

   ankle-deep snow

3 Mar

10.75 miles, 1:43:35, 9:38 pace, HR 139

   snow and slush

Where The Magic Is

I had actually been planning on cranking up the mileage again this week but Real World stuff is still happening and it was definitely better to play it safe and hold back a little bit. I'm in the first week of a new job with some intensive learning taking me totally out of my comfort zone (make no mistake, I like it that way), which leaves only so much room for running and other things.

I haven't got a locker yet and that will take another week to sort out, so running to work is out of the question at the moment but I'll probably start cycling there next week. A few of my equally new colleagues do, though most of them got issued with  considerably lighter laptops, which sure makes a difference. Still, let's give it a go.

I didn't quite do the miles but I figured I should do something about those slow legs of mine. My heart rate figures are excellent, aerobically I'm close to the best I've ever been. But as soon as I try to run a bit faster things start falling apart quickly. Maybe it's a sign of getting older; maybe my legs have gotten used to the slow pace; maybe it's even a good thing for an ultra runner. I've never been in such a situation before but I do think a bit more pep in the legs might be beneficial.

I did an evaluation on Thursday, which confirmed the above. The pace was a little bit slower but the consistency over 4 miles was probably better than ever before. Evaluation workouts measure a few things; actual pace was actually the one variable MC was showing the least interest in, consistent pace across the workout was far more important. A short recovery afterwards would have been good as well, though I think that's the 50k still in there - not a big surprise, only about 10 days later. I'll do another evaluation in a fortnight and see if that variable is improving. If not, I might have to take a step back.

I was back in Kerry for the weekend, this time thankfully without a 4.5 hours delay on the train. On Saturday I added a couple of 2-mile pickups, mostly to test how that would go. The first one was too fast. The average HR wasn't that high but in reality it was steadily climbing, from the high 140s at the beginning to the high 160s at the end (not helped by an uphill finish) and me gasping for breath (my asthma was acting up once more). I held back a bit for the second one and that was much more sustainable, and I could have held that for longer. Interestingly, it turned out to be 6:52 pace; I guess I'm actually not that far off sub-3 marathon shape, though I'd definitely need to get the legs used to that pace first.

We got away from the kids for a night in the swanky Europe hotel, which was very nice, which made the choice for Sunday's run an easy one. I headed up the Gap of Dunloe. It's an absolutely magic place, populated by Leprechauns and the views there are the best in the world. I don't know why it's not world-famous but it's definitely better that way, mass tourism wouldn't do it any good. The wind was rather brutal, especially since the valley itself forms a funnel, and it made for a challenging few miles but it was worth every step. I ran a little bit further, down into Black Valley, once I reached the top, mostly to enjoy the view, but had to turn around soon enough. Never leave the lady waiting for too long.

Back to the grind now. That's where the real magic is happening, day after day after day.

21 Feb

10 miles, 1:20:35, 8:03 pace, HR 136

22 Feb

9.5 miles, 1:14:46, 7:52 pace, HR 141

   4 mile eval in 6:44, 6:44, 6:47, 6:43, 41 sec recovery

23 Feb

10.25 miles, 1:20:51, 7:53 pace, HR 138

24 Feb

12.65 miles, 1:34:08, 7:26 pace, HR 143

   incl 2 x 2 miles @ 6:25, 6:52

25 Feb

17 miles, 2:17:19, 8:04 pace, HR 142

Outside Influences

The last few days have been very hectic and a bit stressful, nothing due to running and all due to real life intruding once again. Ah yes, the joys of being an amateur runner.

We took the same train we usually take on Friday evening, trying to make it to Kerry as always. I cut it a bit fine, saying good bye to my colleagues because I was finishing a short-term contract, being a bit sad to leave as everyone had been really nice. I made the Kerry train by 2 minutes after the Luas had been halted by an Ambulance blocking the line. Obviously you cannot criticise the ambulance crew for that during an emergency call out but boy, did they time it badly for me. I ended up running to Heuston with a heavy backpack and only just made it.

That should have been the end of the drama, but it was only just the beginning. 10 k outside Charleville our train stopped. And waited. And waited. And nothing. Eventually we managed to get from Irish Rail's twitter feed that the train in front of us had broken down. It took them 2 hours to get a replacement engine up from Cork, another 2 hours to attach it to the train (!) and after a delay of more than 4.5 hours we were finally moving again, having long run out of food and water, arriving in Killarney close to 1 am and getting to bed closer to 2.

I felt jet lagged for the entire weekend after that ordeal, and it took another couple of days to feel fully recovered again. It didn't help that I had caught some upper respiratory tract infection after Donadea, very common after a race, probably related to the fact that it had taken close to 2 hours in the freezing cold after that race before we headed for home. Then again, as far as infections go that one was an exceptionally mild one. I had a sore throat on Wednesday, didn't feel great with a head cold on Thursday but 90% recovered already by Friday, though the last 10% took a bit longer to shift.

And then, on Monday morning, I started my new job. Exciting times indeed. I think I'm doing this job switching thingy wrong as I tend to stop one job and immediately start the new one instead of taking a week or two of extra holidays, but I'd rather get paid and anyway, I hate sitting around idly. Sadly it will apparently take 2 weeks before I get my own locker, so running to work is out of the question at the moment; the joys of being a corporate drone in a huge multi-national organisation. It means an early wake-up call for some miles before starting the commute. No big deal, I tend to wake up early anyway.

By Saturday I could no longer feel the effects of the 50k in the legs, so it looks like recovery has been going rather nicely. The added stress over the weekend meant I still had to take it a bit easy and I skipped my long run but I think I'm ready to get going again now.

16 Feb

10.3 miles, 1:21:37, 7:55 pace, HR 133

17 Feb

10 miles, 1:16:12, 7:37 pace, HR 138

18 Feb

12 miles, 1:34:25, 7:52 pace, HR 136

19 Feb

9 miles, 1:13:06, 8:06 pace, HR 132

20 Feb

10.25 miles, 1:20:09, 7:49 pace, HR 136

After The Races

Donadea was marathon/ultra number 96, so you could say I’ve been there before. My recovery protocol is pretty much the same every time, it has been thoroughly tried and tested, works very well and gets me back into shape in good time.

I don’t know when I first noticed that a few miles of very easy running leads to a faster recovery than full rest. It might be counter-intuitive and most running publications would have you believe differently but there is absolutely no doubt in my mind whatsoever that my method works better. I do at least 3 days of 5 miles each morning, very very easy. The day immediately after the race it is always a struggle to get yourself out of the door and there is always that little devil on your shoulder that will whisper into your ear to go home, you deserve a rest, but just ignore it. After a mile or two you will feel so much better and each subsequent step will show further improvement. The following days will feel easier already and will most likely be a little bit faster, though you should pay no attention to pace whatsoever, just jog at whatever effort feels really comfortable.

After 3 days you assess; if the legs are still tired you keep doing 5 mile runs, otherwise you can increase the mileage. I find that usually I can crank up the mileage without much issue, but keep the effort easy at all times. There should be no workouts in the week after the race and no races / hard workouts for at least another week. That’s it. You will soon feel recovered, and most likely in better shape than before the race.

On a side note, assuming the HRM was working correctly my HR for Monday was my lowest ever on record at 121. I know the pace was very easy, but still. However, I have noticed that a low HR / high VDOT not necessarily translates into being in race shape. My cardio-vascular system is in damn good conditions but my legs aren’t quite playing ball.

My weight also follows a set pattern. Again it might be counter-intuitive but I always put on about 3 pounds when I run a marathon or ultra. I’m think it’s fluid that was leaking from damaged muscle fibres and ends up pooling in your leg muscles, though I am no expert in physiology. That additional weight stays with me for a few days and then goes away just like that. I have just seen the exact same  pattern once more, my weight went up from 143lbs/65kg before Donadea to about 146lbs/66+kg, and on Wednesday it suddenly was back to just over 143.

I tend to eat healthily most of the time but have an undeniable sweet tooth. I guess clean eating would improve recovery but there comes the point where self-denial reaches its limits. I still eat healthily with plenty of fruits and vegetables; salads for lunch work very well in that regard. But I certainly don’t deny myself a bit of chocolate or sweet, especially since this week coincided with pancake Tuesday (always a big thing in our house) and Valentine’s Day.

Anyway, it’s now been 5 days since Donadea. I can definitely still feel the race in my legs but overall I’m happy with how recovery is going. I’ll still take it easy for a few more days and see how it goes.

Btw, it was snowing this morning during my run as well as during the cycle commute. Winter is definitely holding on for longer than usual this year.

12 Feb

5 miles, 44:32; 8:54 pace, HR 121

13 Feb

5 miles, 42:47; 8:33 pace, HR 127

14 Feb

6.3 miles, 53:01; 8:24 pace, HR 134

15 Feb

10.3 miles, 1:23:03; 8:03 pace, HR 137

Irish National 50k Championships, Donadea

Race instruction, summed up

The annual 50k in Donadea has firmly established itself as one of the fixtures in the Irish running calendar. It offers a great opportunity for marathon runners to tip their toes into the ultra world and it works as a great training run for the ones with an eye on longer goal races. More than anything though, it's a brilliantly organised event and great fun, with RD Anto managing the fine balance of combining a well organised event with taking things not too seriously (the PC brigade might want to give this one a miss).

Anyway, as always I arrived at the event not exactly in peak shape. It was a the end of yet another reasonably high mileage week and I had even skipped the usual 1-3 days mini-taper, still doing about 10 miles even on Friday, and quite possibly overcooking myself on Thursday.

Anyway, I was looking forward to it nevertheless. I had packed both road and trail runners and a quick chat with Gary Reinhardt shortly before the start convinced me to go for the trail shoes, which should help with the muddy conditions.

We set off pretty much on time, after receiving some some brief, light-hearted final instructions. It's a 5k loop, run 10 times, with all junctions signposted and marshalled. Don't litter. What else needs to be said?

Start, photo by Teresa Bradley Taaffe

I lined up well back from the start, which ensured I would not be sucked into some stupid fast early pace. Instead I eased into the effort and ran the first mile in about 8 minutes, before getting some clear road ahead and adding a tiny bit more effort. The first lap just flew by and felt oh so easy. When I saw 7:10 and 7:05 pace on the watch I initially assumed a wonky GPS signal because surely such an easy effort would yield a slower pace but eventually realised that the watch was most likely correct and dialled it back a bit. Still, one single 7:13 mile on a slight net downhill isn't too disastrous pacing.

After that I very quickly found a very comfortable rhythm just a tad faster than 7:40 pace. The field had thinned out and settled quickly and I was running on my own for a while before Tim Brownlie caught up and we chatted for a mile or two before he headed off at his own training pace, his aimed-for 100k race pace being faster than my comfortable 50k training-run pace.

Lap 4 or 5, with Brian. Photo by Des Walsh

At lap 4 another runner appeared on my shoulder, Brian Scanlan, and we chatted for the next 2 laps, which made them fly by in no time at all and before we knew it we had reached the halfway point. Brian took this as the signal to head off and went ahead, though he always remained within view. I took my time taking some caffeine and a salt tablet, and a gel to wash them down. I was still moving well at that point but was starting to feel the effort but managed to remain on pace even without putting too much into it.

Before the race I had set the target/expectation of finishing somewhere between 3:50 and 4 hours, without killing myself and without having to dig too deep. It seemed perfectly doable. Up to now I was running comfortably at a projected 3:58 time, give or take a little. I managed two more laps at that effort but as I got closer to the marathon point I was definitely starting to feel the effort and once things started to go downhill they went downhill rather quickly.

I guess the miles caught up with me. Not today's miles, the ones I had run during this and previous weeks. I was still capable of doing basic maths. For 4 hours every lap should take 24 minutes, so that's 2:48 after 7 laps, 3:12 after 8 and 3:36 after 9. Easy enough. I was about 90 seconds ahead of that after 7 laps / 35k but at that point things started to fall apart. I clearly wasn't the only one starting to feel the effort as I caught up to Brian rather quickly and a few of the other runners I passed must have been on the same lap as me (though it can be tricky to determine if you overtake or lap a runner at that point).

Having said that, others very clearly managed to make the best of the conditions. Serial 50k winner as well as reigning Irish marathon champion Gary O'Hanlon put on a great display. He had lapped me for the first time well before I had even finished my 3rd lap and a second time before lap 6 had finished. In fact, by the time he had finished he had lapped the entire field (!!!) before setting yet another new Irish record in 2:54:39. Mind-boggling! Also, Irish Olympian Caitriona Jennings lapped me at some point on the way to her own win, making it look very easy indeed. Very impressive to watch, and a definite advantage of a looped course.

Me, though, I was now in trouble. The 8th lap was definitely a hard one, and everyone in my vicinity could hear my ragged breathing. How much that was due to my exercised-induced asthma or me just having to crank up the effort to such an extend I'm not entirely sure. I also started to slow down, despite my best efforts. Going through the start/finish area I managed to snag a bottle of Lucozade ("you're a life saver!"), though it took me the entire lap to drink it in small sips. Lap 9 was slower again, tougher again, and I didn't even waste the energy to check my time at the marathon point, though it must have been around 3:21. Plenty of effort for a 3:21 - a few months ago 3:10 in Dublin had felt a lot easier. Anyway, the marathon time is utterly meaningless in a 50k and I still had 5 miles left, and that was the only thing I was focusing on.

Going through the finish once more Anto gave me a high 5 for the last lap, but I realised I had bled a lot of time and started to doubt if I would make it under 4, especially with the legs starting to cramp on the uphills, and the pace slowing as a direct consequence. Strictly speaking I should have eased off at that point and remembered that this was first and foremost a training run but that had gone completely out of my mind and all I could think of was trying to get under 4; easing up would have felt like giving up without a fight.

The last 2.5 laps I had pushed ever harder, now I started to concentrate on trying to relax instead, which seemed to work, and the effort seemed to ease without affecting the pace, and the legs stopped going into spasm. I should have tried that approach a lot earlier, I suppose. To be honest, I was pretty sure I had missed sub-4, and when John Griffin blew past me like I was standing still I guessed I must be moving a lot slower than it felt like. But I kept going, pushed up the last hill, turned the final corner and for some reason, despite being really short-sighted and not wearing my glasses, managed to read the race clock very clearly in the distance, showing 3:59:40. I better give it some wellie, I thought, and went into a sprint finish, blowing past a couple of runners, and made it by 3 seconds, which had me crossing the line laughing out loud at the exquisite timing, though the guy right behind me cut it even finer, by a mere 0.4 seconds (as long as they don't round it up, that is).

So, strictly speaking it was mission accomplished and I was happy enough. It was definitely a lot harder than I had it expected it to be, but that may be down to me not remembering the previous attempts properly (come to think of it, the last few laps were always tough). In retrospect I think wearing the heavier trail shoes was a mistake. While they provided great grip through even the muddiest parts I never saw anyone slip and I'm pretty sure I would have been a little bit faster in my lighter road shoes, maybe even comfier. The muscles felt fine, no soreness at all, just general weariness for the rest of the day as well as for my customary 5-mile recovery run the following morning (for which I had a little devil sitting on my shoulder incessantly whispering into my ear to go home instead).

I have run the Donadea 50k 4 times now, each time getting a little bit slower (older?) but still always finishing under 4 hours. One of those sequences is bound to break next time. Anyway, I can't wait for the next installment.

Special thanks must go to Don for the lift from and to Dublin and Karina for keeping us company, Olwyn, thanks for the cakes even though I wasn't a volunteer. And of course to Anto and his crew of helpers, we wouldn't have run a single step without you guys!

8 Feb

9.75 miles, 1:11:33, 7:20 pace, HR 147

9 Feb

9.65 miles, 1:17:37, 8:02 pace, HR 134

10 Feb

Donadea 50k, 3:59:57, 7:43 pace, HR 149

   Irish 50k champs, 29th place overall, 12th M40

11 Feb

5 miles, 45:42, 9:08 pace, HR 128

Kerry At Its Best

I almost always run on my own. It’s not necessarily due to me being anti-social but more due to me running at funny times. Nevertheless, I do enjoy running with company, and on the weekend I had plenty.

Julio is a friend from Paraguay via Canada and has spent a few weeks in Ireland already for work purposes. He always wanted to see Kerry and finally the weather forecast made last weekend a promising one, all previous ones had been washouts. And boy, did the weather deliver.

I took him out on my usual Caragh Lake route on Saturday and he marvelled at the scenery, enough to insist we run there again, and next time with camera. I didn’t tell him that at the time but the really good stuff was yet to come. So, on Sunday we ran a loop around the lake. It meant he had to divert from his training schedule because there was no way he would be able to run marathon or half-marathon pace on those hills but it was well worth the potential wrath of his coach. The weather was nothing short of spectacular and the views suitably impressive. He even went back that afternoon by car to take some additional pictures.

For me it meant a few hours of running a good bit slower than usual, which for an ultrarunner can’t be that bad a thing. I do often wonder what the most appropriate pace for my training runs would be; after all, 24 hours race pace is significantly slower than even an exceptionally easy training run. I have tried running lots of miles at slow pace, twice, and both times it merely resulted in me not gaining proper fitness. So I need to run faster, and I only slow down right at the end of training to get used to the slower pace, once the fitness has been built up already. However, the occasional slow long run may well be beneficial. It sure made for an easy recovery – I have never felt as fresh after well over 2 hours of running as I did on Sunday.

On Monday, now back in Dublin, we got hit by yet another cold snap. I’m sure it didn’t impress our Canadian visitors but for the residents here it was the coldest we’ve felt in a while. Again, that’s fine, I can handle it and in fact I like the cold as long as it's dry. It's freezing cold rain and wind that I hate. The slippery footpaths can be an issue but so far I have gotten away with it.

The numbers have jumped up again to a new level. I am getting into territory that I haven’t seen in years, with the VDOT above 60 at times and I think there is still room for further improvement. I’m about to start racing again, not 5ks but long races like marathons or shorter ultras, and I’ll monitor how my legs will handle the load. I think they will do very well but let’s keep an eye on it.

All photos courtesy of Julio Castillo

3 Feb

9.45 miles, 1:22:18, 8:42 pace, HR 125

4 Feb

15 miles, 2:16:44, 9:06 pace, HR 126

5 Feb

10.6 miles, 1:25:23, 8:03 pace, HR 130

6 Feb

9.65 miles, 1:17:13, 8:00 pace, HR 139

7 Feb

9.7 miles, 1:14:26, 7:40 pace, HR 137

Evaluation Time

It’s Friday yet again. Usually people are desperately looking forward to that day, and under normal circumstances I’m no exception to that. But it also means I have only two weeks left at my present job and I haven’t been here long enough to be looking forward to ending it all, it never had the chance to reach the point where I’m desperate to be getting out of here. As much as I am excited about my soon-to-be new job, I am really sorry to be leaving this one behind. I would have liked to remain a bit longer but the other opportunity was just way too good to be missed, some sort of once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Anyway, you didn’t come here to read my life story, at least not the side away from running (and if you did you will be leaving disappointed). For the most part I took it easy enough this week. I was a bit tired on Monday, partially because of Sunday’s long run but mostly because I had gotten to Dublin late on Sunday evening and simply didn’t get enough sleep, especially after that long journey. I do wonder if I would have been better off staying in bed and getting some more sleep but that’s just not the way I roll. If in doubt I always go for a run.

Having said that, I recovered soon enough. On Wednesday I did another double to and from work, which adds up to almost 20 miles for the day. I can tell that my legs are getting much stronger, those 2 runs seemed to take very little out of me when a few weeks ago the home run was always a bit of a struggle. Also, it was the last day of one of my colleagues, so they had 3 boxes of donuts for celebrations. Why is that relevant?

I am very disciplined in almost any part of life but my sweet tooth is a definite weakness that I can’t seem to shift. Leave me in a room with a box full of donuts and only one of us will emerge intact. The subsequent sugar rush fuelled my run home. Maybe that’s why I was a good bit faster than my usual pace which is when I’m running more or less on empty, though I’m sure the swirling wind was mostly on my back and helped as well.

The legs were okay the next morning but I still opted for a very, very, very easy pace, which must have helped because for Friday’s evaluation I was back in fighting form. My biggest issue was getting the HR up to 160, which was really hard work. However, once it got there it remained remarkably constant and I basically didn’t need the watch’s alarm at all. The figures came out as:

   6:37, 6:35, 6:45, 6:42 / 42 sec recovery to HR 130

which are very solid numbers and slightly better than last month. The recovery is a bit longer but it may be down entirely to a more precise measurement – I’m finally starting to get the hang of the watch again and all its buttons, even when out of breath after a sustained effort and the accompanying brain fog.

On the way home I went via the parcel motel and picked up 2 parcels and carried them home. One was much heavier than anticipated. Not sure how much that impacted on the HR or the pace but it was bound to have an effect – I sure was glad to be home from that particular run.

It’s gotten really cold again with temperatures very close to freezing point but a biting cold wind that makes it feel much colder. I don’t mind the cold at all – compared to where I grew up this doesn’t even qualify as winter but getting older sucks and my skin isn’t able to cope properly. It gets very dry and then develops little cuts, a few mm long, bleeding at times, which can be rather uncomfortable. My feet are particularly affected, they look like I had been walking on glass, barefoot. Yes, cream helps. No, as a bloke I keep forgetting to put it on.

29 Jan

10.25 miles, 1:24:27, 8:14 pace, HR 130

30 Jan

9.7 miles, 1:16:03, 7:50 pace, HR 137

31 Jan

am: 9.7 miles, 1:17:23, 7:58 pace, HR 139

pm: 9.67 miles, 1:13:15, 7:34 pace, HR 142

1 Feb

10.55 miles, 1:28:48, 8:25 pace, HR 131

2 Feb

9.75 miles, 1:16:11, 7:48 pace, HR 142

   incl. 4 miles eval @ HR 160 in 6:37, 6:35, 6:45, 6:42; 42 sec recovery to HR 130

One Year Older - Again!

The age is in the photo!

When you're 16 years old and look about 4 years younger, that really sucks. Take it from me. However, once you reach an older age, there are some benefits to that genetic disposition. I've long reached the point where I appreciate looking younger than my age, and the surprised look at people's faces when I tell people I'm almost 50 isn't getting old either, excuse the pun.

Obviously, having kids means there are some who won't let me get away so easily. My youngest, 10 herself, never misses an opportunity to let me know how ancient I am. Mind, my wife does the same and she has much less of an excuse. Never mind, being a competitive runner actually means I'm looking forward to a new age group, where bling comes a bit easier to achieve. Still a bit to go, though.

Training is going very well. I think I've given up trying to run faster and increased the mileage again, and this time I fully intend to crank thing up to serious levels. I'm in the 90s at the moment and feeling good, and with 1 or 2 additional doubles a week I'll easily go into 3 digits. I can already feel the legs getting stronger and there are other signs that the body is adapting: yesterday morning the weighing scales stopped at 142 pounds (10 stone 2, 64.4 kg) and the resting HR at 37, both the lowest values in years. I'm aware that neither number automatically means a high level of fitness but since they are coming together with feeling ready good I am reading them as meaning exactly that: I'm getting really fit.

Not that things are going smoothly all the time. On Friday I stumbled over some invisible obstacle on the Carrickmines M50 bridge in the dark and did a full body flop, scratching my right leg quite badly on the concrete. I didn't even notice at first but the stinging sensations from my right side soon became impossible to ignore.

I'm also running into troubles when running into town as part of my commute. My glasses have started rubbing against my nose, so much so that it can bleed quite a bit, definitely not a look I favour when getting into work. So I run without glasses, which means I'm running half-blind as I'm very short sighted. That's not a problem running through the parks near home but in the city centre with all those people, very uneven sidewalks and heavy traffic it can be downright dangerous. On several occasions I have almost stumbled onto the street because I did not see where the sidewalk ended, I once crossed a road just a couple of seconds before a bus because I simply had not seen it and last week I once inadvertently crossed a road on red because I mistakenly thought that green light ahead of me was meant for pedestrians. Not good. But if I survive 3 more weeks of that commute I'm good because I'm changing jobs yet again, and my new one is in Sandyford and I no longer have to head into Dublin centre.

Let's hope they'll be as tolerant of my running lifestyle as my last 2 employers!

24 Jan

9.7 miles, 1:15:03, 7:44 pace, HR 141

25 Jan

12+ miles, 1:40:08, 8:18 pace, HR 140

   incl 2+ miles of sprint the straights and jog the curves

26 Jan

10 miles, 1:22:45, 8:16 pace, HR 132

27 Jan

10 miles, 1:16:06, 7:36 pace, HR 144

28 Jan

18 miles, 2:24:29, 8:02 pace, HR 138

Must Try Harder

just imagine what I would have looked like had I tried hard enough ...

A bit of rain doesn't bother me, after living in Kerry for nearly 14 years there's nothing Dublin can throw at me that I haven't experienced to a greater extend our Wesht. So I jogged towards Cabinteely on Saturday morning through some puddles and got there in time for the parkrun, already thoroughly wet. The idea was to push myself for 5k but not race it all out, maybe 90% effort. I was in around 10th place right after the start but caught a few runners after a mile, though was caught by the female winner myself. The parkrun course is very hilly for a 5k, and you have to climb that hill no less that 3 times. I tried not to kill myself going up the hill by turning the intensity down a notch, and I also tried not to kill myself on the downhill by taking care on the slippery, extremely wet path. I was breathing pretty damn hard, and sure thought I was running pretty damn hard, but when I checked my time after finishing I did a double-take in disbelief as the watch displayed 20:39, when I had been sure I had definitely run at sub-20 effort. Not even close, how wrong can you be!

My first theory was that what few fast-twitch fibres I'd had in my legs had given up and died at some stage in the last 2 years, but when I got home and had another look at the numbers I got a second shock when the average HR for what was supposed to be almost a race came back at 160!

You gotta be kidding me! I ran a race and barely even matched the intensity of an evaluation, which is a very moderate workout to start with! I have a higher HR whenever I race a marathon!!!

So, on one level, a complete failure. I had intended to (almost) race it. I clearly didn't. I have completely forgotten how to race a 5k.

On a different level, not bad. HR 160 for 6:33 pace on a hilly course is pretty damn solid.

Poolbeg

Also, not racing on Saturday meant I didn't have to recover on Sunday. The legs were perfectly fine. I had agreed to meet a friend and run 18k with him, at his pace. The rain was supposed to stop any time soon but it was still pouring down buckets as I ran the 5 miles to Blackrock DART station, and the paths were basically flooded, so I just ran through all the puddles, there was no point whatsoever in prancing around them. I met up with Julio and we proceeded to run towards Poolbeg, chatting along. We slightly changed the planned route by running out all the way to the lighthouse, which meant 20k for him but nobody complained. At some point halfway through our run the rain finally started to ease but of course we were already soaked to the bones and the paths were still flooded. Once we were back in Blackrock we had a coffee before going our separate ways and I ran the last 5 miles home again for a total of 22.5 miles today, albeit with a break.

it stopped raining!

It was slower than usual, and the difference that made was astounding. I had been rather exhausted after my last 20 mile run; today I was what Lydiard would have called "pleasantly tired", almost ready to go out again and run some more. Interesting. Maybe I should slow down on my long runs.

Anyway, the mileage itself sure didn't tax me as I felt great on Monday's run home from work, though I suspect some tailwind had provided assistance, because I sure felt the headwind when going the other way on Tuesday morning. Still, the legs are definitely in good shape and seem to like the mileage picking up again.

20 Jan

10+ miles, 1:20:56, 7:52 pace

   incl. Cabinteely parkrun 20:39, 6:33 pace, HR 160, 7th place

21 Jan

22+ miles, 3:13:31, 8:34 pace, HR 133

22 Jan

9.75 miles, 1:15:15, 7:43 pace, HR 138

23 Jan

9.7 miles, 1:18:11, 8:03 pace, HR 140

That Time Of The Year

I've reached the point where I wish winter would just pack it in and fuck off. It's been freezing for way too bloody long and constantly running in the dark is getting old as well. We've had one storm after the other, and I'm actually perfectly aware that I'm getting away lightly here in Dublin; those weather systems are a lot worse on the Atlantic coast.

This is definitely the coldest winter since the two Big Freezes in a row several years ago. I don't think I even used my running tights last year at all, this year they are the only thing I would even consider wearing. And I did see that picture of a lot of my mates in shorts in the snow up the mountains on facebook the other day - though I merely regard it as proof, if ever one was needed, that machismo is fucking stupid.

Enough of the swearing.

My mileage, which I deliberately reduced when I introduced faster weekly workouts, is starting to creep up again but that's mostly down to the fact that I re-started running twice a day on occasions (ok, only one occasion so far, but there will be more to come). I am slowly coming to the conclusion that I seem to increase fitness much better on higher mileage than by doing a few workouts. However, I'll still try and get some faster miles into the legs and that parkrun idea for the weekend is still valid.

I did one workout so far this week, which was a new kind of workout in this training cycle, namely long hill repeats. There is that tasty little road towards Puck's Castle, about 1 km long, with the additional evil feature of getting steeper the higher you get. Running there from my apartment and doing 4 repeats would add up to exactly 10 miles, which seems far too round a number to pass up the opportunity.

Wednesday morning actually was the worst day of the week I could have picked due to the snow on Tuesday evening and the freezing temperatures the following night which made for tricky road conditions the next morning, especially on higher grounds. However, the frozen snow provided just enough traction to keep the workout a possibility and I got through it without slipping once, so I got away with that one.

The workout itself was interesting enough. I was sure the first repeat would be the slowest because for me that is usually still part of the warm up. Running the repeats I could have sworn the second and third ones were the fastest while I started to feel the effort during the fourth one and was tempted to pull the plug, but got a surprise when looking at the numbers afterwards and the fourth had actually been the fastest and the third the slowest! I'll probably do that workout again in the coming weeks, I like what hill repeats do to my legs.

15 Jan

10.65 miles, 1:25:39, 8:02 pace, HR 134

16 Jan

9.7 miles, 1:17:11, 7:57 pace, HR 136

17 Jan

10 miles, 1:23:20, 8:19 pace, HR 141

   4 x 1k hill repeat

18 Jan

am: 9.7 miles, 1:17:31, 7:59 pace, HR 139

pm: 9.75 miles, 1:17:07, 7:54 pace, HR 141

19 Jan

10.3 miles, 1:23:47, 8:08 pace, HR 135

Evaluation

I'm trying to do 2 workouts a week at the moment, covering 2 different aspects of speed. One workout is hill sprints, the other one is a more sustained effort. The second kind of workout seems to take quite some toll on my body; a few years ago I could recover relatively quickly; these days even 2 easy days seem to be insufficient at times. I do wonder if I should make changes - I don't ever want to dig myself into an overtraining hole again, and doing speed workouts that I could not recover from is exactly what caused me to fall into that hole 2/3 years ago.

For this week I decided to do another evaluation workout. This serves 2 purposes: it is a reasonably moderate workout that I should recover quickly from, better than from a set of quarter-mile repeats, and it also provides great feedback to where my form is right now (that's why it's called an evaluation workout, obviously).

It was still pitch black on Thursday morning, and I decided against the track but did it on a loop in Kilbogget Park that happens to be almost exactly 1 mile long and very flat. A few dog walkers were about but nothing that would have caused a problem with the workout. The recent rain had left a few puddles behind but again, nothing that would have interfered with the workout, apart from slightly wet feet.

Anyway, every time I run at HR 160 I find it much harder work than I can remember, and every time I feel like I will be struggling to even complete the workout, never mind trying to hold an even effort. However, every time it turns out that it's completely manageable and in fact, doesn't leave me anywhere near as tired as other speed workouts. The same happened again on Thursday morning, but I do wonder if it does indeed start getting a bit harder.

The paces for each mile were 6:36, 6:44, 6:49, 6:51, and the recovery to HR 130 took about 35 seconds. Those numbers are a bit worse than last month, for which I have 2 possible explanations. First, after some technical difficulties there is a slight questionmark over last month's numbers, though I still do believe them to be correct. Second, I am not entirely recovered from that infection I was fighting off after New Year. Also, it took me quite some time to feel recovered after last week's speed workout, so maybe recovery really is taking longer than expected, even though I'm trying hard not to overdo it.

Anyway, the numbers aren't bad, certainly better than a lot of times in the past, so I'll keep trying for a little bit longer before I make drastic changes,

I was back in Kerry for the weekend, which meant 2 more runs along/around the lake. There is just something about that route that never fails to provide a little extra spring to my legs, the lovely scenery apparently helping me along; I didn't even mind the rain and the wind, and the fact that the road was still waterlogged on Saturday and I had to run through ankle-deep puddles of almost frozen water. On Sunday the hamstrings were complaining of being overworked on every climb for the first 10 miles, until they finally gave up moaning and settled nicely in the second half of my run, I'm not sure how climbing hills can feel easier during the second half of a long run than during the first but that's exactly what happened.

Anyway, I'm back in Dublin now, and I will be here next weekend as well. I might brave another parkrun, hoping that it will work out better than my last attempt (I spent the night in hospital with chest pains). Let's see.

11 Jan

7.5 miles, 56:18, 7:27 pace, HR 148

   4 miles eval 6:36, 6:44, 6:49, 6:51, 35 sec recovery

12 Jan

10 miles, 1:20:44, 8:04 pace, HR 138

13 Jan

12 miles, 1:34:24, 7:52 pace, HR 140

14 Jan

18 miles, 2:23:45, 7:59 pace, HR 140

Seriously?

It's 10 days into January already? Did I blink and miss half of it?

They say if time flies you're obviously having fun. They also say it's a sign of getting old, and since both apply to me I should not be surprised, I guess.

My HR had been elevated for a few days after New Year's Day. My running HR was slightly elevated but my resting HR was far more affected, at least 10 beats higher than normal. I blame that on my brother-in-law who dragged himself and his family to the big family gathering at New Year's Day despite them all complaining about being sick, with the result that half the clan subsequently suffered from some nasty virus. Thanks, Michael! I strongly suspect the higher HR readings were from the time when my body was fighting off the same infection but it seems to have succeeded, I never got sick and by Sunday I noticed the resting HR gradually starting to come down again. By Wednesday morning it was back to 38, which is just about as low as it gets (I won't say "good" because a low HR isn't necessarily a sign of top fitness).

Anyway, introducing some speedwork hasn't borne fruit just yet. My normal runs have gotten significantly slower, which makes sense as the legs are bound to be tired after workouts and I automatically respond by running slower. My legs aren't used to running fast, so I'll definitely need to give them a bit of time.

I ran 20 miles on Sunday, which I expected to be just another long run but the legs had other ideas. They never felt great but were somewhat okay for the first 15 miles. However, the route I chose had some tailwind for the first half, which I didn't even notice, which meant a 10 mile fight against the wind to get back home. After 15 miles it started telling and the last few miles were a bit of a struggle. After that run I was pretty much wiped out and just vegged away on the sofa for the rest of the day. Ah the luxuries of the rest of the family being on the other end of the country!

Having to fit running into real life is bound to lead to compromises at times, and the only time I could squeeze my next workout into my schedule was on Monday, which is not ideal the day after a tiring long run. I did a few hill sprints, which doesn't tire me out as much as other workouts. The body seems to be handling those better as well, though if that translates into better running performance in general is yet to be revealed.

6 Jan

10.6 miles, 1:23:44, 7:53 pace, HR 145

7 Jan

20 miles, 2:43:46, 8:11 pace, HR 140

8 Jan

7.5 miles, 1:08:52, 9:10 pace, HR 130

   incl 9 x 10 sec hill sprints, 2 mins walk/jog recovery

9 Jan

10 miles, 1:23:19, 8:19 pace, HR 138

10 Jan

9.75 miles, 1:19:33, 8:09 pace, HR 138

Running Fast, Slowly

The new year got off to a reasonably solid if entirely unspectacular start. I've re-started the run commute, but only one way at a time. The mileage will be slightly lower the next few weeks because speed work and long miles don't mix very well, and I want to get some speed into my legs now. There won't be the opportunity to do so later in the training cycle.

I need to be careful. After years and years of injury-free running I then acquired 2 injuries, both related to workouts. Plus, too much speedwork got me into an overtrained state that took a long time to get out of, and I sure don't want to repeat the same mistakes again.

Therefore, my speed workouts will not be spectacular, neither in length nor in pace. I'll try to run faster but not go to the well, and when I feel that the workout should be over, it will be over.

Case in point, I went to our local dirt track this morning. Since a track is 400 meters long, 400s were on the cards as it just makes things simple. There's no light available but it's an almost Full Moon and the night was clear, so a moonlit workout it was. Neither the early time nor the low temperatures were in my favour but you just get on with things. Since it was so dark that I couldn't see the numbers on the watch it was a workout entirely by feel. I also lost count early on and had no idea how many repeats I had done, but at some point realised I was tired because I had inadvertently jogged past the point where the next repeat should have started without realising, and a frazzled brain seemed to indicate that the workout should end soon. I finished with one last effort, a bit faster than the other ones, and went home.

To be honest I was a bit shocked to see such slow numbers. The first and second one don't mean much as I was taking my time to ease into the effort but then I still only ran at about 6:15-6:25 pace. Come to think about it, that is probably reasonably close to my present 5k race pace, which sounds like the right effort for 400s, but I used to run them closer to 5:30 pace, so that was a bit sad to see. But let me repeat what I said earlier, I'd much rather do an easier workout than dig myself into a hole again or get injured, and I think and feel I got the effort level right.

I just need to get used to being older, that's all.

1 Jan

10 miles, 1:18:02, 7:48 pace

2 Jan

7.5 miles, 1:06:10, 8:46 pace, HR 131

   hill sprints

3 Jan

9.7 miles, 1:15:21, 7:46 pace, HR 145

4 Jan

9.75 miles, 1:19:01, 8:06 pace, HR 141

5 Jan

6.7 miles, 57:14, 8:25 pace, HR 136

   9 x 400s, 200 rest