Diary of a Rubbish Marathon Runner

I wasn't even sweating yet when I finished Tuesday's very short, very easy lunchtime run, and that was that. Training is done. On We...

On Thursday lunchtime I was just about to head out of the door when Norbert crossed my path, and since running with a mate is more fun than ...

or at least the heat adaptation I'm doing right now is, unlike the outside temperatures. Heat adaption means running wrapped in 4 layers...

With two weeks to go before the Big Race, I am definitely now in my taper, even if my mind still has to grasp that fact. Still, I intended t...

I had considered running around the lake on Sunday. But with 3 weeks to go I was now in my taper, and after running 2 hours on the trail the...

I keep doing that. Every now and then I look at the calendar and go "I haven't written a blog entry in HOW LONG?" Maybe it...

It's been a while since I last paced a marathon but I was reasonably sure I would be able to remember how it works. Since I had run the ...

This is one short post-marathon recovery I'm going through at the moment, because Cork is on this weekend and I agreed to pace it. At le...

I have started marathons on already tired legs before - when doing back-to-back marathons, or several in a row. Saturday, as a single run on...

Oh my God, has it really been basically a week? I think that's the longest break I've ever had between posts. But actually there isn...

Photo by Valerie O’Sullivan I've gone through post-marathon recovery often enough by now to know what I can expect. Not that it is a...

When I checked the weekend weather forecast on Tuesday, things didn't look great. Saturday was going to be a miserable day in Kerry. I g...

In 2004, I ran the Dublin marathon. I'm not 100% why but I wanted a big challenge and I had always been fascinated by long-distance runn...

Oh my, it's the weekend already. How did that happen? And it's a bank holiday weekend, and it's nice and sunny outside! The we...

So there was something funny happening with my HR during the recovery period after Rathdrum. Initially my HR was elevated, as would be expec...

All week most of my body has felt really good and raring to go but the hamstrings were having none of it. The difference between that one mu...

Two things happened the last few days that cheered me up no end. I have been a City fan ever since watching my first football game in En...

I always knew I was cutting it a bit fine with a marathon only 13 days after a 100k but I really wanted to squeeze in 1 more marathon before...

Let's talk recovery first. After all, after running a 100k, it's rather important. Despite me and my legs feeling surprisingly goo...

Well, no shit Sherlock, after a big race comes a big recovery. If you have been reading this blog before you know my standard recovery proto...