It's Official

I’m unwell. I don’t want to use the term sick, because I don’t feel that bad, but I’m certainly not in any condition to run a marathon at the moment. It’s a very good thing indeed that it’s still 9 days to go, that should leave me plenty of time to recover.

The day didn’t start too badly. It’s St. Patrick’s Day, which means I’m off work of course. Nana and Gaga are here, and provide some help with the children, leaving me with the possibility to take it easy during the day. I went for what was supposed to be a recovery run, but it didn’t work out that way. I was running way too fast. Every time I tried to put on the breaks and consciously slowed down to an acceptably low pace, the body took over once I let my mind wander again and speeded up again. I presume it’s down to me being full of energy from the taper.

However, once I got back home, I soon started to feel unwell. By lunchtime I felt really cold, and it stayed like that all day. I didn’t develop a temperature, but it sure felt like that was only a matter of time. I used the opportunity to lie in bed most day and read Run Strong, nearly from cover to cover, plus I had some peeks into Pfitzinger’s and Lydiard’s books. An hour ago I took some ibuprofen, and I feel much better now, which once again confirms this as my drug of choice (not entirely unusual for a runner, I presume). I don’ know how I’ll feel once the drugs wear off, of course. I’m hopeful a decent night’s sleep would cure me, but those are few and far between for me, thanks to my boys.

I’m very confident that I’ll be ok for the marathon, though, so don’t you all worry too much about me.

Good Luck to Rob in his insane quest.

17 Mar: 5 miles, 41:50, 8:22 pace

The last interval workout

I did my last interval training before the marathon, and it was a tough one, 3x1600 with 2 minutes in-between. The beautiful spring weather we’ve had over the last two days had me completely fooled, and I didn’t even check the weather before leaving our house.

It was drizzling slightly, and it was quite cold. I kept going, but thought that I should have worn long sleeves instead of a t-shirt. I was right. The wind and the rain got stronger, and soon I felt pretty cold. However, once the intervals started, I forgot all about that. It was really tough. In fact, I seriously contemplated bailing out and going home towards the end of the first interval. Somehow I managed to get going, hoping that the other runs would feel easier. Well, the second one did, but it was my fault. When I checked my heart rate monitor about half the way, I realized that I was running too slowly, the HR was around 170 instead of 180 where it should have been. I upped the tempo, and eventually managed to finish the workout. This time there was no extra interval though; I was knackered.

I’m not feeling 100%; Shea had a temperature earlier this week, and I might have picked up something from him. I don’t have a temperature myself, but I don’t feel entirely on top. I get this every time before a marathon, the last 2 weeks before the race I am totally paranoid about any coughs and sneezes. In fact, before Belfast last year I actually spent two days in bed, just 5 days before the race, unable to eat and hardly able to sleep (no, I wasn’t at my best for the marathon). Understandably, after all that training I don’t want to get sick at the last minute.

But I’m just paranoid here. In 10 days I’ll be there at the starting line, healthy as a fish in water. Honestly.

16 Mar: 7 miles, 56:29, 8:04 pace (including 3x1600 [approx] intervals)

Getting Ready

Only 12 days to go and I’m already in the middle of the taper. When I went to bed early last night, Niamh and I had the following dialog:

Niamh: I thought you wouldn’t do any more long runs
Me: I don’t, it’s only 12 miles, and long runs are anything over 17 miles
Niamh: *roles eyes*
Me: You should listen to some of those ultra guys, they say long runs are anything above marathon distance
Niamh:
Me: But they’re nuts
Niamh: Yeah. Like you’re not.

Don’t worry; I know she loves me.

I had a lot of troubles with my shoelaces coming undone recently (I like to think it’s down to the laces material, not my lack of tie-lacing skills). I searched on the Internet, and while most people suggested a double knot, this guy suggests a completely new knot. I liked it and decided to give it a go. It’s like learning how to tie your laces all over again, and it was a bit weird the first time I tried it, but with a little bit of practise I got there, and I think this is the way I’ll tie my running shoes from now on.

The run today was excellent; I feel full of energy, which I presume is a result of the additional rest the taper so far has provided. I was really frustrated that yesterday was a rest day. On Sunday I was very much looking forward to the next run, and was slightly shocked when I realised that this week incorporates an extra rest day, but decided to stick to the program. Today I felt really good, and despite the fact that I didn’t particularly push the pace, I came back with a sub-8 mins/mile average time, which is quite unusual. I am well able to run under 8 mins/mile, but usually I have to push the pace. Today I was just cruising along at some decent speed, and was surprised at the end that I had been so fast. Not that I’m complaining. I just feel more confident about the marathon – better be careful, I don’t want to get cocky ;-)

14 Mar: 12 miles, 1:34, 7:50 pace

Not a Racer

There was a 10k in Adare today, about 90 minutes drive from here. I was thinking about going, but decided yesterday not to bother. That’s the third race in a row I have missed voluntarily. There was a 10 miler in Mallow (90 mins drive) in January, a 5 miler near Cork (2 hrs drive) three weeks ago, and now the 10k today. I thought about this during my run today, and came to the decision that I simply don’t particularly like racing. Now that probably sounds strange, I am doing all this running and then I don’t want to race? Well, think about it that way. I ran for a good hour today, directly from home, which means that I was home again after that hour. If I had gone to the race, I would have had to drive 90 minutes each way, spend a good time there before and after the race, and with the race itself we are talking about 5 hours absence from home. That’s an additional 4 hours away from my family, and family time is very precious to me, especially on weekends. The only race I did this year was a 5k in Dublin, where we happened to be at the time, and I didn’t have to drive far. Bringing the family to the race isn’t an option as Niamh refuses to have three kids running around and with nobody to help her looking after them.

So, it looks like I won’t be doing much racing for the foreseeable future. I’m fine with that. The runs I have enjoyed the most this year so far were the two twenty milers in nice conditions, with the moon shining on the first one and the stars being so brilliant for the second one. Compare that with the race that I could have run today, a 10k after a lot of time in the car, and where I would have been lucky to finish something like 112th out of 250 racers.

Having said all that, I am still looking forward to the marathon. Marathons are different; they are the focus of my training, not some afterthought. Plus, Niamh and the kids are coming to Connemara with me and we’re making it a family weekend away.

Oh, and the run today was fine. I decided to run all the way up to the summit of the Devil’s Elbow. That’s a climb of about 200 meters and definitely counts as a tough hill workout. The last 2 minutes until the summit were not runnable, due to it being a very steep, stony and muddy trail. The view up there was breathtaking (it’s the one you can see in my header, but it looks much better in 3D), but the wind was rather cold and I didn’t stay there but turned back immediately to run back home. I felt full of energy when I rejoined the road and decided to run the last 2 miles at speed, probably close to 7 mins/mile. I don’t know how long the distance overall was, my guess would be 7.5 miles.

Finally, Good Luck to Jack, who is running his marathon as I write these words.

12 Mar: 7.5 miles (est.), 1:05, 8:40 pace (est.)

The Eye of the Storm

My, doesn’t time fly. I can’t believe today was Intervals again! Actually, they have grown on me. The main reason for this is probably the fact that they are over so quickly, thus enabling me to get some much-needed sleep.

I woke at 5:50 (after only one interruption in the night – wahey!), and the weather out there was rather wild – I could hear the wind and the rain, and thought about skipping today’s workout. Then I remembered that I had already had a rest day yesterday, and I won’t be able to make up for it because I might run a race on Sunday, and I would feel guilty, and … and before I could think any more, I got up.

I actually got very lucky. When I left home it had nearly stopped raining and the wind had calmed down considerably, and I got my workout done in decent conditions. I was planning on 5x600s, which for me means running hard for 2:30 mins, and 90 seconds of recovery. When I ran the first interval, I checked the watch – oh dear, 2:40 gone already, I have done too much. Never mind. Then I did the second interval, eventually checked my watch and – 2:50 gone. Oops. I managed to do the third one to the correct time, but believe it or not, I again overshot my target on the fourth interval. After the fifth, and supposedly final one I once again didn’t feel tired enough and added a sixth one. You could argue that maybe I didn’t run the 5 planned intervals hard enough, but my heart rate was up there at 182, which is 96% of my max HR, so I’d say I ran them pretty hard. Maybe all the training has made me stronger - well, that’s ok by me.

I got back home, and by the time I left again for work the rain and the storm were back, and it’s been a miserable day all day. I really must have managed to get the only calm hour of the day to get my workout done. This should make up for Tuesday’s atrocious timing.

9 Mar: 6.5 miles, 55:23, 8:31 pace, including 6x600 (roughly) intervals

You spoke, I listened

I took your comments to heart and decided that sleep is more important than two extra miles at this time. Unfortunately they say that only fools make the same mistake twice, and I must be the biggest fool around, because I’ve now made the same mistake so often I’ve lost count. It should be easy enough to remember: If you want to get up early, go to be early. So why did I stay up until 10:30pm? I really don’t know.

It would have been ok if I didn’t have any kids. Unfortunately, they once more impeccably timed their non-sleeping habits to maximum effect. Cian came in at about 2 o’clock, Shea at about 3, and when Lola turned up 3:50, I carried Shea back into his own bed and let Lola in. Unfortunately, she kept me from sleeping, and I eventually tried to put her back into her own bed. After I had turned on her night-light, found a suitable giraffe to cuddle and made her a hot water bottle, the little princess graciously accepted her own bed. Alas, I couldn’t sleep after that, it took me until 4:50 to fall asleep again, and the alarm went of 15 minutes later.

*sigh*

To make matters worse, it was raining again. Met Eireann had forecast a wet night with the rain drying up towards the morning, but unfortunately the drying up hadn’t happened yet by the time I left for my run. I didn’t feel well, the legs felt heavy, and I felt like I was trundling along at snails-pace. It wasn’t until I got back to our driveway after 10 miles to get some water and a gel that I realised that I was actually going at a decent pace, about 8:20. I laboured on for the second part, and at 12 miles something funny happened, all of a sudden I clicked and started to run with a proper rhythm and without troubles. It was bit like Johnny describes it in his run, except that I didn’t have to run 25 miles to feel good, just half that distance. The rest of the run went well, and I got back home after 16 miles. As I was walking up our driveway to our house, it stopped raining. I kid you not.

*sigh*

On a completely unrelated note, last Friday a work colleague asked me when I would be doing my next marathon. “In 3 weeks”. “Oh, are you training yet?”.

*sigh*

6 Mar: 5 easy miles, 45:34, 9:06 pace
7 Mar: 16 miles, 2:13, 8:18 pace

Run to the Hills

Three weeks to go until the marathon, and the taper is about to start. I’m pondering how long I should run on Tuesday. The schedule says 16 miles, but that was meant to be for a long run on Sunday, just 14 days before the marathon. As I do my long runs on Tuesdays, it means I have an extra 5 days from the workout to the race. I might therefore do 18 miles instead, but I’ll decide on Monday. Unfortunately I can’t decide during the run, because I have to know in advance how long I’m going to run, otherwise I won’t return back home in time to go to work. I guess that’s the disadvantage of running your runs in the morning, but I can take that.

The snow didn't last the day. It was still cold yesterday morning, but it meant we were left with the icy road conditions, and sans snow. Today it's warmer again.

I did a hill run today; there is a road around the peak of the Devil’s Elbow, which includes a climb from 15m to about 150m elevation in about one (brutal) mile. It is a challenge to run it all without a walking break, but I managed it today, tempted as I was to stop running at the steepest parts. The heart rate shot up to 181, which is in my VO2max zone, though I didn’t really look to have such a workout. On the road back home, at about 6.5 miles, I went up another hill, just as steep but about half as high. This one isn’t ideal, because it leads to a dead-end and I had to run down the same road again, and it’s too steep to run down comfortably.

I got caught in the rain again and got competely soaked on the last 3 miles. I felt a bit of hail as well, but that didn't last more than a minute.

I guess the whole run was just over 9 miles. The road around the Devil’s Elbow is 8.7 miles, and let’s say the second climb, including the way back down, added another half mile for a 9.2 miles workout. The exact distance doesn’t really matter, it’s the effort that counts.

3 March: 6 easy miles, 55:02, 9:10 pace
5 March: 9.2 hilly miles, 1:17, 8:22 pace

Intervals in a Winter Wonderland

Plenty of people here in Ireland insist that spring begins on 1 March. Unfortunately, nobody told the weather God, and she dumped a load of snow onto us in the last two days. Well, when I said a load, I meant enough to cover the area in white. This might not impress the majority of you, but it is a reasonably rare event in Kerry. Usually when it’s cold enough for snow the sky is clear, and when the clouds appear, it warms up enough for the would-be snow to turn into rain (and haven’t I experienced it often enough!). The kids loved the winter scene, of course, but it made for treacherous running conditions, especially this morning when I was running over a lot of icy patches. There was one short-but-steep climb, which I took three times, and each time started slipping, but never enough to knock me off balance. It was also cold enough to put on two layers, and in contrast to Tuesday today I was happy enough with that.

It was interval time again, 4x1200, which I translated into 5:10 minutes of hard running and 2 minutes recovery in-between. I could have shortened the running to 5 minutes, which would have made figuring out the breaks a tad easier, but that would have felt like cheating.

Unfortunately, my legs felt dead. This could be a result of Tuesday’s 20-miler, or of last night’s Yoga session, where I once more got a cramp in my right calf. This is happening far too often, and I don’t know why.

Whatever the cause, after finishing my fourth repetition I was close to collapsing, and could not wait to get home again. Now, a few hours later, I have a nagging feeling that I should have run them a bit faster, because my heart rate didn’t go as high as I would have expected during the first two runs.

Well, it’s too late to change now, and I can vouch for the fact that I ran hard enough to feel very tired immediately after the effort.

The weather is supposed to remain cold for a few more days. Let’s hope the roads will be less treacherous though.

2 Mar: 7.5 miles, 1:06, 8:48 pace, including 4x1200 intervals

I Feel Good

For once I actually managed to go to bed at the planned time. By 9 o’clock I had put the last of the kids to bed, by 9:15 I was in bed myself, and by 9:30 I was asleep. I woke once or twice, but each time managed to fall asleep again quickly, and when the alarm rang at 4:30 in the morning I felt totally refreshed after 7 hours of sleep. I looked out of the window and was stunned by the brilliant sky. There was no moonlight whatsoever, and the stars looked even brighter than usual. There was even a satellite going over (at least I presume it was a satellite – it was way too fast for a plane, and it wasn’t a meteorite).

I had a big breakfast, namely my usual wheat cereal, a slice of Niamh’s delicious dates-and-walnut bread, and a small banana, all washed down with lots of water. After that I felt ready for my 20-miler.

I had originally put on just a long-sleeved top, but thinking about the cold weather forecast I overruled my instinct and put on a singlet underneath. As a result I was uncomfortably hot once I had warmed up. At mile 4 I had enough and took off the singlet. Cue me trying to put the jumper back on and then the reflective sash I wear to ensure I’m being seen by any passing motorist. I don’t know why, but I really struggled putting the sash back on correctly – I must have fumbled in the dark for at least two minutes, and would have looked like a complete idiot, had anyone been awake to witness the spectacle. Of course, 5 mile is a turn-around point, and all of a sudden I realised I would be running into the wind for the next few miles, and started to feel cold. I put on the singlet again (a dark singlet over all my reflective gear – not very safety conscious) and made my way back towards our driveway. At mile 9.5 I could see the light of a lorry coming down the road, and quickly ripped off the singlet again, to ensure I’m being seen – no panic, by the time I had it off, the lorry was still half a mile away.

I left the singlet at our driveway, because the second half of the run consisted of two loops to Ard-na-Sidhe, and that’s in the wood and therefore sheltered from the wind. I also had a gel at mile 10, and another one at mile 15. By the way, can I sue Powerbar for false advertising? Their strawberry-and-banana gel tastes nothing like either strawberries or bananas.

Anyway, I couldn’t believe how well I felt. My legs started to feel a bit tired at mile 17, which is the distance of each of my last three long runs, so maybe I was starting to get used to that distance, but I still felt strong, and towards the end took the last climb to our house at good pace. I finished the 20 miles in 2:50, and could have run faster (and had at least 4 minutes break, for my clothes change and the two refuelling stops), which means my actual running pace was faster than 8:30. This gives me hope that an average pace of 8:20 might really be possible 26 days from now. I’m actually really looking forward to the marathon now, I feel ready.

27 Feb: 5 recovery miles, 47:45, 9:33 pace
28 Feb: 20 miles, 2:50, 8:30 pace if you include the breaks in the overall time

Sleeping, Running and another Photo

Thanks for all your helpful comments. I’m actually well aware of how you train your children to sleep, and we’ve been through the “bring them back into their own bed again and again and again and again” phase. That’s how we got them to sleep in their own beds in the first place. It’s just that the boys have recently developed a tendency of coming into our bed at some stage. Shea is usually better, he tends to stay in his bed once I bring him back, but Cian isn’t quite there yet. I'll take your comments onboard and try to be more stringent again. But would you believe it, last night they all slept in their own beds, and we weren’t woken until 7:20 am. Anyone who doesn’t have kids will be horrified by the fact that I call sleeping until 7:20 on a Sunday morning a rare luxury, but parents will know exactly how rare that is.

Enough of sleep, or lack of it, this is still supposed to be a running blog. I did my 10-mile tempo run this morning. Well, when I say morning, I mean I left at about 10:30. It is so much easier during the week. The alarm goes, I get up, eat something and head out of the door without thinking. On Sundays, I stay in bed, and “just 10 minutes more” become 30 minutes, then an hour, then 2, and if I don’t get up then I might miss my run completely.

Once I managed to get out, I felt really good though. The last few weeks have been very consistent between 51 and 49 miles each, and I’m probably fitter than ever before in my life. I felt very strong all the way. At some stage I overtook a couple who were gently jogging along. They wore thick hats, gloves, long pants, and several layers on top, including a fleece. Imagine the contrast to me in shorts and t-shirts. When I told Niamh she said they must have been more sensible, but I don’t think so. I wasn’t cold, and I would have felt uncomfortably hot in their attire.

The miles just flew along, and I was back home in 1:15, which is probably as fast as I have ever managed 10 miles. It also gives me just about 50 miles for the week. The marathon is four weeks from today. There is just one more week of proper training, and then the taper begins. My, hasn’t time flown.

26 Feb: 10 miles, 1:15, 7:30 pace

The one Thing missing from my training

is adequate sleep. I’d sure like to get some more, but it’s not really forthcoming for the time being. I went to bed at 10.30, which would have given me 7.5 hours of sleep. My next mistake was to open a book to “read for 5 minutes”. Of course, 5 minutes turned into 10, then 15 and by the time I finally put it down, it was 11pm. That still would have been a decent amount of sleep, but at 3am I woke up to find myself sandwiched by Cian on my left and Shea on my right. Well, if you’ve ever had the misfortune of sharing your bed with one or two little boys, you know that they don’t just sleep. They twitch, and turn, and cough and kick, non-stop. Every time I was on the verge of falling asleep, I got another kick/prod/elbow. This went on until about 4am, when Shea woke up and demanded some breakfast. Now, we have been through this dozens of time. He says he’s hungry and I tell him he can’t have any food because it’s still the middle of the night. 30 seconds later the cycle starts again, until eventually I give up, get out of bed and fix him some breakfast. He’s more insistent than I am. I have yet to win such an argument.

I made him promise to get back into his own bed once he’s finished the cereal, which he did to be fair, and I was therefore able to get another, well, 1.5 hours of sleep until the alarm clock went off. All in all that’s probably between 5.5 and 6 hours of sleep, and I can’t remember the last night when I've had significantly more than that.

Yes, I know. I have written very similar entries before. It’s just that these events are re-occurring far too regularly, and Niamh has the ability to sleep through those things and I don’t. Plus, Niamh is not a morning person while I am, and the kids know that.

I still ran 11 miles. The weather forecast had been wrong, and it was much warmer than expected. I had originally chosen long pants, but changed into shorts before I left the house. I still wore a singlet under a long sleeve shirt, and was uncomfortably hot for the first half of the run. There was a big black cloud in the sky, which I expected to drop its load onto me for most of the run, but apart from a few isolated raindrops, that never happened. At the return leg the wind picked up significantly, but I made it home before the weather took a bad turn. During the day the announced bad weather came indeed (well, sleet rather than snow), and I was glad that I had just about managed to avoid it during my run.

I’m planning to do another 10 mile tempo run on Sunday to round up the week.

24 Feb: 11 miles, 1:31, 8:16 pace

What, Yet Again?

Is it really only a week since my last interval workout? I can’t believe it, it seems like only two days ago.

The kids have been a bit more reasonable the last two nights, though there is still a lot of room for improvement. I’ve written so much about my sleepless nights, that the Google ads now advertise insomnia remedies on top of my blog. Thanks for the hint, Google, but I won’t drug my kids, tempting as it may be at 2:30 am.

I forgot to set the alarm today, but woke up anyway. It’s a bit warmer today (the cars’ wind screens were not frozen over) and the schedule called for 5x600 intervals with 90 seconds of recovery. Trackless as I am, I translated that into my by now familiar pattern of 2 minutes of hard running between the recovery intervals. I started out a little bit easier than on my previous 600s two weeks ago, because I didn’t want to run myself to the ground again during the first interval. I do notice the major drawback of my lack of a track, namely that I haven’t got any real feedback on how fast I am actually running, and I can’t gauge if I’m really doing 600s, or if it’s more or less.

Anyway, I did my 5 reps and true to recent form decided to add another one at the end. Intervals are a pain (sometimes literally), but they are over quickly, and I do get a feeling of achievement out of them.

The weather forecast predicts a “morning rain or snow shower” for tomorrow. Please, Oh Dear Weather God, let them be wrong!

23 Feb: 6.7 miles, 55:17, 8:15 pace, with 6x600 intervals

What happened when?

I’ll try and remember the sequence of last night. I went to bed at 10, but took about half an hour to fall asleep, and woke a few times between then and midnight. Then I slept soundly until 2:30am. Then it starts to get confusing. Shea came to our bed and crept in. Then Lola came, and stayed there as well. Then I carried Shea back into his bed. Then Lola started to crawl all over me and I gave out to her. Then I had to console Lola who was crying because I had given out to her. I carried her into her bed, and I made her a hot water bottle, and we made up. Then Shea came back, saying he was too cold. I carried him back again and made him a bottle as well (or were the two water bottles the other way round? Not sure). Then Cian came into our bed. Then Cian wanted some breakfast. After I had prepared some cereal, I managed to fall asleep again, at about 3:15 or so.
At 4:55 the alarm went and I got up. To my immense surprise Cian had quietly gone back to bed again after eating a bowl of cereal – that’s a first, even if he went into our bed rather then his.

Oh, yes, running. I did 17 miles again, this time at a more conservative pace than last week’s supposed marathon pace effort. My legs felt quite heavy. The lack of sleep didn’t help, I guess, and neither did the fact that I had been playing football on Monday evening. I managed all right, though I would have preferred to run a bit faster. Interestingly, two weeks ago I did exactly the same run at exactly the same pace, but then my average heart rate was 5 beats higher than today.

The weather is fine at the moment, just a little chilly in the morning (I guess it was about 26F/-3C at 5am). Still, that’s preferable to rain, and Caragh Lake mirroring the moon did look splendid, I have to say. And the kids slept right until I came back home, allowing Niamh to get some rest herself. What more can you ask for?

20 Feb: 5 recovery miles, 47:19, 9:27 pace
21 Feb: 17 miles, 2:29, 8:45 pace

Running on Empty

I had two rather contrasting runs of late. On Thursday evening, Niamh and me were admiring the incredibly clear night sky with a million stars and not a cloud in sight. When I left for my run just a few hours later, it was raining extremely heavily. So, out I got my trusty rain jacket and we headed off for a 12 miler, which went very well despite the miserable conditions. I even ran a bit longer than planned, to make it more like 12.5 miles.

Today, Sunday, was the total opposite. The weather could not have been nicer, but the run was dreadful. It was my own mistake. We had gone out to the Cinema last night, and I hadn't eaten properly. I had a slice of pizza and a packet of crisps for “dinner”, and when we got home I wolfed down a protein bar because I was ravenous. I paid for that during my run, because I felt absolutely miserable, and thought I was running on empty. I was very tempted to cut the 8 miles a bit short, but I saw it as penance for not looking after myself properly. I presume I’ve learned that lesson now, and won’t repeat the same mistake again.

It has been a good week, despite today’s run, and I covered 49 miles. I was half tempted to head out for a quick mile to make it a round 50, but decided that this would be just silly. 50 is just as random a number as 49, and a one mile run will not make me a better runner.


17 Feb: 12.5 miles, 1:40, 8:00 pace
19 Feb: 8 miles, 1:06, 8:15 pace

Intervals Again

It was that time of the week again. Intervals. I felt really stiff when I left home in the morning, and dreaded the time when the fast stuff would be starting. The weather didn’t help – very windy, and with gusts of rain from time to time. The schedule called for 3x1000 intervals with 2 minutes of jogging for recovery. As usual, I had to improvise, and ran 4:15 minutes hard with 2 minutes jogging. During the first interval I thought I was going to throw up, and the 2 minutes between the first and the second run were the shortest 2 minutes of my life. During the second run I was so concentrated that I didn’t even notice that the rain had started again – I noticed it only after I slowed down for the recovery. But strangely, I started to feel a lot better at that point. I ran the third interval, and then, on my way home, I thought what the hell, turned around, and added a fourth interval because I didn’t feel tired enough.
All in all the workout lasted about 55 minutes, and I feel fine, if a little stiff. Tomorrow I’ll do 12 miles, and an 8 miler either on Saturday or Sunday.

I also found a new picture of Caragh Lake. I liked it, and decided to turn it into my header. It’s taken from the top of the Devil’s Elbow, and you can see most of the lake. The HTML needs a little more tweaking, I’ll do it when I find a spare hour. Our house isn’t in the frame; it’s a bit further to the right. Still, it’s a nice scenery, isn’t it?

15 Feb: 5 recovery miles, 46:37, 9:19 pace
16 Feb: 6.5 miles, 56:18, 8:39 pace, with 4x1000 intervals

A Fine Run

Last night we had a really bad storm on the Irish west coast. I was quite worried about today’s long run, and, to add to my troubles, I didn’t go to bed until after 10 o’clock, and then spent another 25 minutes reading. That was stupid, but in my defence, it was Lydiard’s book “Running with Lydiard”, and I found it really difficult to put down.

Anyway, I set the alarm for 5am, but woke up on my own accord at 4:59. How is that for timing? I had a quick look out of the window, and there was a beautiful scenery with the Full Moon and a few scattered clouds. Fantastic! Unfortunately by the time I was ready to get out, a massive black cloud covered the moon and promised a wet start to the run. It caught me by mile 1, but half a mile later the moon came out again and it soon stopped raining. That set the pattern for the run, the moon was brilliant, and when it disappeared behind a cloud I knew that I was going to get wet again 10 minutes later. It never rained heavily though, and it was still an enjoyable run. The plan was to do 17 miles, 14 of which at marathon pace. As I’m still undecided on what pace I can sustain for 26 miles, I just ran a strong effort, without getting too close to my lactate threshold pace.

As it turned out, I managed an average of 8:10 for the whole duration, but I think I might have slowed down towards the end. If I try to hold an 8:20 pace for the marathon, this would give me a finishing time of 3:38, which is nearly 20 minutes off my present PR, and that sounds a bit over-optimistic. I guess I will have to decide on the day, depending on how well I feel, what time I shall be aiming for. (Having said that, I will probably start too fast and pay for it later on – as always).

14 Feb: 17 miles, 2:19, 8:10 pace

Bad Start

The kids were an absolute nightmare in the morning. Lola woke at 5:30 and demanded a hot water bottle, because she was cold. Once that was delivered, Cian woke up, and demanded a bottle. He doesn’t usually get one in the morning, but I was in no mood to argue. When he finished it off, Shea wanted breakfast. Then Cian wanted breakfast. Then they wanted to watch telly. Then they argued about what to watch. Then Lola wanted breakfast. Then they argued some more. Then they broke a lamp. Then …. I can’t remember what else, but I was up and about until 9 am, when Niamh got up, and I went back to bed for some more much needed sleep, and dozed for another 2 hours.

After such a bad start to the day, I was tempted to call it an off day, but eventually gathered enough resolve to head out of the door. I had planned a 10 miles tempo run. Initially I felt really slow, and then tried to gradually up the pace until I was at or about 8 minutes per mile. After 5 miles I felt much better, but at 6 miles I felt a sharp pain just above my left knee. I decided to keep going, but turn back home if it re-occurred, but it didn’t trouble me any further. I finished the run at some good pace, and was quite happy with it. I’m a bit sore now, which I presume is because I have been running on 4 consecutive days, which I’m no longer used to after my cut-back due to injury. I’m sure I will recover sufficiently tomorrow to have a good go at Tuesday’s 17 miles, 14 of which should be at marathon pace. I’m still unsure about what pace I might be able to sustain for a whole marathon, but I guess Tuesday’s run will give some clues.

I did 49 miles this week, which means I’m back on schedule.

12 Feb: 10 miles, 1:18, 7:48 pace

Back to Schedule

It’s only six weeks until the marathon, and, with the taper, it means there are only three more weeks of full training. I’ve decided that I’m finally fully mended – the achilles hasn’t troubled me unduly lately (it hurt towards the end of Tuesday’s long run, but not too badly) and the pain in my left quad is better as well, so I’ve decided to return to the full schedule of five runs a week rather than the four I’ve been doing for the last 4 or 5 weeks.

I did 11 miles on Friday, which went pretty well, apart from the fact that it was quite windy. I wanted to run along Caragh Lake because that route is much hillier than the alternative ones, and as the marathon will be on a very hilly road, I don’t want to lose my strength on those climbs. I didn’t have to worry, I felt very well on all sections, and completed the run without feeling tired.

Today was supposed to be a relaxed 5-mile recovery run. I ran a bit too fast for it to be a recovery run, but it was still easy pace. But despite the fact that I ran shorter, slower and over flatter course than the day before, my average heart rate was higher – go figure!

I’ve got a 10 mile tempo run planned for tomorrow, and Monday will a day off – let’s not overdo it.

10 Feb: 11 miles, 1:34, 8:32 pace
11 Feb: 5 easy miles, 44:23, 8:52 pace

Up and Running Again

I seem to have gotten over the crash - I seem to be sleeping very soundly again. So much so, that it is getting difficult to get up in the morning for the run.
Yesterday, I decided that I wouldn’t set the alarm, but if I woke up in time I’d head out for an easy recovery run, otherwise I wouldn’t have missed much. Well, I did indeed wake up at 6:30, but felt too tired to get up and just turned around to get some more sleep (which wasn’t really happening, as the kids started to wake up around the same time, too). So much for my resolve. Today, I did set the alarm, and when it went off, I got up and headed out of the door, tempted as I was to sleep in again. It just goes to show that I really have to have my mind firmly set on running; otherwise I don’t have the discipline to get up.

I did another set of 5x600 intervals, again somewhat improvised and irregular, namely running 2:30 hard (trying to get the heart rate up between 176 and 184), and 90 seconds of easy jogging in-between. I ran too hard on the first interval. The heart rate didn’t seem to get up quickly enough, so I kept pushing more and more. I paid for that in the later intervals, which were definitely slower, despite the fact that the heart rate was at least as high as on the first hard run. I guess you learn from your mistakes, and I’ll take it a bit easier at the beginning in my future workouts.

I certainly worked hard: after the last interval I felt nauseous, but managed to keep my breakfast in. The good thing about intervals is that they don’t last very long. It’s the only key workout that’s over in less than an hour, which means I can do them in the morning, and still get enough sleep without having to go to bed ridiculously early.

There is a 5-mile race near Cork, about 2 hours drive from here, on the 18th of February. Unfortunately, it looks like my car won’t be back from the mechanic by then, which means I won’t be able to make it. Damn, it would have fitted in well with my build-up.

9 Feb: 6 miles, 53:31, 8:55 avg. pace, including 5x600 (approx) intervals

Crash

I’ve re-read my last post, and I thought it sounded a bit negative towards the comments I have received. Let me assure you that I value every single comment (well, except spam of course), and even if I might disagree with someone else’s opinion, I still want to hear about it.

I’ve just found the worst possible way to start the week, namely crashing the car on the way to work on Monday morning. I was coming down a ramp towards the N70, when another car was there just around a blind corner. The road is ridiculously narrow (it is impossible for two cars to pass each other), and I hit the brakes. Unfortunately the road was also covered in gravel, and my car just seemed to slide and slither along, rather than slowing down, and I hit the other car. It wasn’t too bad an impact (my airbags didn’t inflate), and, most importantly, nobody got hurt. It was my fault, and I had no hesitation admitting it. The road is in a really bad condition, but I should have taken that into account and taken the corner that bit more slowly. My insurance is in good order, and we’ll see how much the damage is.

Oh yes, this is still a running blog. I went to bed early last night, but couldn’t sleep. I was awake at 10, at 11, at 12, at 1, and still at 2. I slept for a bit after that, though not very well, and at 5am the alarm went and I got up for this week’s long run. I was so glad to get out of the door I can’t describe it. That was the most I’ve ever needed to run, just to clear my head and try and get the scene of the crash out of my head. I can only hope I will never be involved in a serious crash, if a small one without injuries is shaking me up so badly. Anyway, the run went fine, 17 miles, 3 loops along the Devil’s Elbow and towards Ard-na-Sidhe, and my head feels all the better for it. My achilles disagrees and started hurting again after 14 miles, but not too badly, and certainly less than in the past few weeks. I might do a recovery run tomorrow, and then definitely a few intervals on Thursday.

17 miles, 2:29, 8:45 pace

I have to answer this

I think I’ll respond to some of the comments I have been getting recently. Stefano, why would I give away the address of a referee who is obviously a keen Ireland supporter ;-), though I agree, from a neutral viewpoint he made some truly atrocious decisions – all in Ireland’s favour, of course.
Secondly, Yvonne, thank you very much, but I’m definitely not some kind of super human. On the opposite, getting up early and heading straight out of the door is by far the best way to ensure I do get my run in. Every weekend it is a struggle to get out of the door, because there is always an excuse to do some other task first. Looking after three children is something you get used to (it’s not as if you have a choice, once they’re born, is it?), and as for doing a full day of work after the run: well, again, what choice do I have? That mortgage needs to be paid, and the new car is expensive, and the supermarkets expect to be paid at the checkout, too.
Lastly, what is all that about me doing ultras? Are you guys and gals trying to kill me? Half a year ago I did indeed have plans to do an ultra at some stage. The one thing that cured me was my last marathon. I was totally and utterly spent after 26 miles, and the mere idea of doing another 5, 10 or even 20 miles after that was completely out of the question. In fact, when I was at mile 18, I felt really crap, but the knowledge that it was only 8 more miles to the end kept me going. If that had been an ultra with another, say, 20 miles to go, I would have DNF’ed there and then.

Maybe I should also mention my running since the last entry. I did some slow 6 miles on Friday. I had played football on Thursday, and got a nasty kick to the inside of my right knee – which, by the way, is still painful three days later, and for which the perpetrator didn’t even apologise. Friday was therefore a rather pathetic stumble on two hurting legs – the left quad and the right knee being rather painful. It got better after two miles, but kept hurting all the way.

Today I did a 12-mile tempo run, that is 3 miles warm-up, 7 miles tempo, and 2 miles cool-down. I surprised myself on how well it went. I should have started more conservatively, taking into account the heart-rate drift, but instead did the first 3 miles a bit too fast and slowed down slightly over the last two, but I was still pleased on how well the legs felt all the way. This has been a tough week, with the 20-miler on Tuesday and two 12-milers, and I’m now moving onto the speed phase. As mentioned before, I haven’t got access to a track, so I usually calculate the amount of time I should be running hard in advance, and then do those intervals on a reasonably flat piece of road – usually the road alongside the Devil’s Elbow. This is probably not the ideal way of doing things, because I can’t really tell the pace I’m running at, but I believe the pure effort is more important than any numbers on time or pace.

3 Feb: 6 easy miles, 56:07. 9:21 pace
5 Feb: 12 miles, 1:33, 7:45 pace, 7 of those at 7:08 pace

Rest? What Rest?

I had initially toyed with the idea of doing a short recovery run yesterday to get rid of the stiffness in my legs after Tuesday’s 20 miler, but decided to sleep in instead. Considering the fact that I had only gotten about 5 hours of sleep before that long run, it was almost certainly the best way to recover.

Today, on the other hand, I was due another early morning rise, to get in 12 miles (hey, I’m just following the schedule which was written by a guy who knows a lot more about running than I do). I set the alarm for 5:45, but of course it wasn’t needed, thanks to Shea being a right pain from about 5:15 on. I eventually got up and fixed him some breakfast as well as getting ready myself. I put him back to bed before I left, but Niamh told me afterwards that he was up again the second I was out of the door, and kept her from sleeping instead.

The run went very well. The temperatures have risen significantly over the last two days; unfortunately this was accompanied by a lot of clouds bringing rain. I got lucky and it didn’t rain during my run though. It was so warm that I didn’t even notice that I had left my gloves behind until after I had arrived back home. I wore my new shoes for the second time, and this time they already felt a lot more comfortable. Maybe they will turn out to be a good choice after all.

We drove to Limerick today to have a look at a car, a 7 seater, which should make those journeys to visit Nana and Gaga in Dublin a lot more agreeable. We did indeed buy it (well, I haven’t picked it up yet), but driving there and back again meant 4 hours in the car, and my legs are stiff again. No, it’s not the 12 miles that I’m suffering from, it’s definitely the car journey!

2 Feb: 12 miles, 1:42, 8:30 pace

Long and Rewarding

To be honest, I wasn’t really looking forward to today’s run. 20 miles seems an awfully long way to run, and if you have to get up at 4:30 in the morning, it's even worse.

The original plan was to be in bed by 9. Unfortunately, I had troubles with my computer, and instead of leaving it until another day, I spent all evening fixing things. By the time I finally stopped and went to bed it as 10:30, and I had only 6 hours of sleep until I had to get up again. This is not taking into account my 2 sons who have an unerring knack of being difficult sleepers on the most inconvenient nights. Cian had fallen asleep at 7pm, and by 3:30 he was wide awake and demanding attention. Shea had got cold in his bed (no wonder, he keeps kicking off his blanket), and joined us, too. I tried a lot of things, but the unchangeable fact is that I didn’t manage a single second of sleep after that. When I got up, apart from getting ready myself, I had to get Shea some cereal, convince him to go back into his own bed, do it again 2 minutes later when he said he’d had a bad dream, make a bottle for Cian and find Lola’s teddy who had fallen out of bed.

It was well after 5am by the time I finally left. The sky was spectacular though. There was not a cloud in sight, and a million stars were visible above. It was very cold, but I could manage that – two layers at the top and running pants made for ideal running apparel. The night was totally quiet, and I really loved it. I ran slower than usual. Mindful of the niggling injuries I’m still nursing and aware of the awfully long road ahead of me, I ran at a very conservative tempo. I usually run my long runs at a slightly faster pace than recommended by most coaches. That may well be a contributing factor to my ever-growing injury list. Therefore I kept on the brakes and tried to run the entire distance at 9:00 pace. This worked a treat, my times for each 5 mile segment were 44-45-46-45, a nearly perfectly balanced pace. I had a gel after 10 miles, and another at 15, and felt fine all along. The left quad hurt a bit, but got better as the run went on, the right achilles was much better, though still not entirely recovered.

It may sound preposterous, but I really enjoyed the run. Niamh didn’t believe me (“how can anyone enjoy getting up at 4:30 and running 20 miles in the cold and dark!”), but I swear it was great. To be honest, I’m also proud of the fact that I’m capable of running 20 miles before breakfast, and still put in a normal work day afterwards.

I’ll catch up on some sleep tonight. I might do a short recovery run tomorrow, I’ll decide in the morning.

31 Jan; 20 miles, 3:00, 9:00 pace

New Shoes make Hard Work

I finally had the chance to try out my new pair of runners. At first I thought they were too big. After half a mile I thought they were too small. Then the right one seemed to fit, but the left one felt totally wrong. Then the toes on my left foot went numb (well, it was a very cold day). Then the toes on my right foot followed suit. Eventually, I felt better, but the shoes were never comfortable. I’m sure they will feel better after a while, but I guess my quest for the perfect pair of shoes has not yet come to an end.

I did 8 miles, and initially I felt I was crawling along at snail’s pace. When I reach the turnaround point and checked my time I realised that I was nearly doing 8-minute miles. Funny, I have no idea why I felt I was so slow. Maybe it was the shoes, who knows.

The achilles didn’t bother me, but I have a new pain, this time in my left quads. It’s definitely not the same problem I had a few weeks ago with my hamstring. It is a nagging pain in the front of my left upper leg, about 5 inches above the knee. It is quite painful when I start my run, but seems to get better after a while. I’ve felt some pain in that area for two weeks or so, and it seems to be getting worse rather than better. I can still feel it now, 10 hours after the run. I seem to collect running injuries at a rather alarming rate. This one is definitely not going to stop me from running. Injuries like that disappear after a while. Right? Right?

Anyway, this week I’ll have another go at 20 miles, most likely on Tuesday because the weather forecast for the second part of the week is pretty bad, and I have already covered more miles in rain than I care to even think about.

29 Jan: 8 miles, 1:05, 8:07 pace

Birthday

I’m 36 today, and what better way to celebrate your birthday than to get up at 5:15am and run 15 miles? Actually, I was woken up at 4:45 by Lola. She’d had a “bad dream” and wanted to sleep in our bed. For the next 30 minutes she was tossing and turning, kicking and hugging me, shoving Teddy into my face, telling me about the toys her friend Molly had in her room, and generally making it absolutely impossible for me to get back to sleep. I was actually relieved when the clock showed 5:15, because it meant I had a reason to get up rather than fruitlessly trying to get some more sleep. I had gone to bed at 9:15 in the evening, so I was well rested by that time anyway.

The rest of Europe is shaken by a very nasty cold snap at the moment, but in Ireland we’re getting off lightly. It is a good bit colder than usual, alright, but no worse than –3C/26F or so. Still, I was glad for the long sleeves and gloves. I was in my shorts, but long pants might have been acceptable today. When I stopped at our driveway after 10 miles for a drink and a gel, I was steaming like an old steam engine - it looked quite funny in my headlamp. Never mind, the 15 miles went by fine. I was a bit more tired than I should have been, whether I was still tired from the intervals two days ago or from the fact that I have cut down my mileage over the last two weeks, I can’t tell. The achilles tendon is not as well recovered as I had hoped, because it is quite sore again. I’m still convinced that I’m on the mend, just not as well recovered as I had thought I am. There is yet another 20 miler on next week’s schedule, which sounds a bit taunting at the moment, but I’m sure I will be fine by the time it comes by (Tuesday or Thursday, I’m not yet sure).

I’ve just realised that it is less than two months to the marathon, and I’m starting to get those butterflies in my stomach whenever I think about it. I haven’t decided what time to aim for. It is a tough course, much more demanding than the 3-country-marathon I did in October, and a PR would be a great achievement. I guess I will have to wait and see how the training goes. If I can stay relatively injury free from now until March, I should be in good shape. Otherwise, well, I’ll still run it and hope for the best.

Jan 27: 15 miles, 2:07, 8:28 pace

Healing Powers

I thought I did something very stupid on Monday. Not only did I go out for a 5 mile run in the morning, I also played soccer for an hour in the evening. I wanted to know if my Achilles would be able to withstand the twist and turns of an indoor soccer game. The answer was: yes, but it hurt! To add to the pain, I got a nasty whack on my right ankle, and now have a gash on my leg to prove it, and on Tuesday I found it impossible to tell where one pain ended and the next one started. Then, in the evening, I suddenly felt much better. Not only did the ankle feel better, my Achilles was basically pain free as well. I can’t tell what brought on that improvement: time, the strengthening exercises I found on this website, or the magical healing powers of soccer.

To celebrate my new fit state, I went out for a speed session this morning (well, it was in the schedule anyway). The plan was 5x600 intervals with 90 seconds of recovery in-between. Since I don’t have access to a track, I had to improvise. My 5k-time is 21:22, so it should take me about 2:30 mins to cover 600 meters at that pace. I ran along a reasonable flat piece of road, along the Devil’s elbow, and did 2:30 minutes of hard running interlaced with 90 seconds of jogging. The temperatures have plummeted again and it was about –3C/26F in the morning, and I stupidly left my gloves behind. Despite this, the workout went well, and my Achilles stood up to it just fine. I could feel it, but it didn’t actually hurt. More importantly, it’s still not hurting 2 hours later, because in the last two or three weeks I could usually do a workout but would feel the pain later.

I’m now convinced that I’m on the mend, but will still take it easy for a week or so. I will do my key workouts, but have a full rest day after each one, which means I’ll only do 3 or 4 days of running per week, until I feel completely healed.

23 Jan: 5 easy miles, 45:23, 9:04 pace, and an hour of soccer for my sins
25 Jan: 6 miles, 51:03, with 5x600 intervals

What to do?

I’m still struggling with my achilles tendon at the moment. It doesn’t actually hurt, but I can certainly feel that something is not quite right, and I’m really unsure on the best way to proceed. I have only run 27 miles this week, which isn’t enough as far as marathon preparation goes, but of course I don’t want to risk a ruptured tendon – that might put me out for the rest of the year, and might never heal completely. I’m icing it a lot these days, and I’m stretching after each run (then again, there are people who advice against those things), and if the pain returns, I will rest again. It is still a bit swollen.

It’s only the right achilles that’s causing me troubles. That doesn’t come as a surprise to me. When I had shin splints last year, they were on my right leg. I got some mild heel spurs (plantar fasciitis) a few months ago, on my right foot. When my legs started cramping during my first marathon, Dublin 2004, it was in the right calf. Several years ago a doctor found some imbalance in my spine, and I had some bone-crunching session with a chiropractor to deal with them. Either those problems are back, or there is something wrong with my running form, or a bit of both. A good doctor might even find a solution to my ongoing troubles, but that’s one of the problems of living in remote Kerry far away from any city centre. Such specialists are very hard to come by – I for one don’t know any, and driving to Dublin on a regular basis is not a realistic option.

This week and the next are cutback weeks in the schedule anyway, so I don’t feel I’ll miss out on much if I drop a few miles of those, as long as I can still get in my key workouts. Thursday’s run was a special one, 15 miles with 12 miles at marathon pace. I’m not sure what my marathon pace should be, and anyway, I couldn’t read the figures on my HR monitor in the dark, so I just went by effort, and tried to keep the pace steady. I was quite pleased at the end to have run the 15 miles in exactly 2 hours, and that includes a drink stop after 9 miles and three time re-tying my shoes in the first 2 miles (I should have paid more attention on how to tie your laces in kindergarten 32 years ago). The fact that I had rested for 3 days before that run probably helped my pace. I still think it’s preposterous to assume that I might be able to keep an 8:00 pace for a whole marathon though, and I still don’t know what time I should be aiming for. 3:30 is 27 minutes off my PR, and definitely looks out of my reach for the time being. Anyway, the achilles didn’t trouble me unduly during the run, but was sore for the rest of the day, which is why I took Saturday off and only ran 6 miles on Sunday.

That on-off schedule will stay with me for at least one more week, I expect.

20 Jan: 15 miles, 2:00, 8:00 pace
22 Jan: 6 miles, 48:53, 8:08 pace

Back on Track

I’ve not written a blog entry for the week because I haven’t been running. I decided to give my achilles a bit of a break, because I don’t want to aggravate it, and a ruptured tendon is just too nasty to risk.

I had three days without running. Unfortunately this didn’t translate into more sleep, as the boys were up at 6 am every single morning, and with fixing them breakfast, turning on the telly or putting on a video, changing a nappy or just generally looking after them, I didn’t get an ounce of sleep after that. Unfortunately, mummy is not a morning person, and the kids have learnt that lesson very early in their lives – they always come straight to daddy.

I iced my achilles tendon on Monday, and it seemed to swell up like a balloon – I could hardly make out my ankle any more. That said, the pain has gone away, and I decided to test the waters this morning and ran 6 miles at a relaxed tempo. It was a bit too fast to be called a recovery run, but it was at a relaxed and easy pace. The achilles was fine (I felt it, but it didn’t actually hurt), but at mile 5.5 I felt a sharp pain in my right knee. I had to stop running and walked for a minute, then it was gone and I could continue all the way back home without trouble. I don't know what it was, but I sure hope it’s not the first sign of yet another injury.

I had another Yoga class on Wednesday, and that was when I was sure my achilles was better. Last week it was very sore on some of the stretches, but yesterday I was fine all the way through. That said, I will be careful and might cut back on some of the runs if I think there’s something wrong with me.

I will also apply my usual cure for niggling injuries: a new pair of runners. My two active pairs have 260 and 360 miles on them. That’s not excessive, but it’s time for a new pair. In the past, this has usually cured any small problems I might have had with my legs.

19 Jan: 6 easy miles, 53:27, 8:54 pace

Wounded Knee

First of all, I’ll try and keep my running report short. I’ve noticed that recently I’ve been rambling on in far too much detail about my training runs.

I have been contemplating one thing since my 5k race two weeks ago. If I enter my 5k-race time into one of those race predictor calculators, my marathon time should be between 3:24 and 3:27, depending on which calculator you’re using. That is more than 30 minutes better than my actual marathon PR. I certainly cannot imagine running faster than 8:00 pace for a whole marathon. I guess I’ll have to work more on my endurance.

I had planned an 11 miler with 6 miles at LT tempo for Saturday, but on Friday evening I happened to feel both my achilles heels and noticed that the right one was much thicker than the left one. I didn’t feel any pain, but the swelling was obvious, so I decided to swap Saturday and Sunday around and do the tempo run on Sunday instead. I did follow that revised plan, and ran the 11 miles at good pace, though somehow I felt really slow at times. The strong headwind for the first 5.5 miles didn’t help – and when I had the wind in my back for the back section of the run, I started to feel really cold. I was shivering when I got home, and even a long hot shower didn’t quite revive me. I was worried about coming down with a cold, but I didn’t develop a temperature, just a headache that doesn’t want to go away.

Just to gross you out, this is a cut I received on mile 2, from some plant at the side of the road. I didn’t even notice it until I got home. Don't worry, it's only superficial.

This has been a very long week, 54 miles, which means I’ve equalled my previous highest mileage (not quite coincidentally, as I’m following the same plan as last time round). I got caught by wind and rain on every single run, which probably didn’t help.

I had planned a 6 miles recovery run for tomorrow, but as my achilles is swollen again (it hurt after the run, but gradually got better as the day wore on) and the head ache is not going away, I’ll pass and have a rest day instead. If I feel better later this week, I’ll make up for it, if I don’t, I won’t.



15 Jan: 11 miles, 1:27, 7:54 pace

Blowing in the Wind

Thanks for all your comments, folks. The majority seems to think that I’m not completely bonkers but about as sane as the rest of you. Hmm. Ok.

I keep having issues with my legs. My left hamstring seems to have finally recovered, but now my right achilles is acting up. I spent all day Tuesday and Wednesday worrying about it, because it was really sore, I could hardly walk. I didn’t know if I should have some rest, because tendonitis is just about the last thing I want to get. Luckily, when I got up this morning I immediately noticed a big improvement. Running today made it slightly worse again, but the pain is much less then yesterday, and I’m coming round to the idea that it was only a passing problem.

I’m not having much luck with the weather at the moment. Tuesday’s 20-miler was run in rather wet and windy conditions, yesterday’s rest day was a beautifully sunny day, and for today’s 12 miler the gale force winds predicted for Tuesday finally arrived. I ran most of it at the foot of a hill called the Devil’s elbow, as well as in the wood towards Ard na Sidhe, where it was somewhat sheltered, but it was still bad enough. To make things worse, the blister that I thought I had avoided on Tuesday came back with a vengeance. I already felt it after one mile, and at the end of the run it was huge. I can’t really complain too much about my feet. This is only my second blister in a year, and I have covered a lot of miles with soggy feet.

All in all, today’s run went fine, considering the conditions and the fact that I’m still a bit fatigued from Tuesday. The heart rate was a bit higher than normal, which I presume is because I’m still recovering. The calves and hamstrings felt fine.

I’ve also got another Caragh Lake photo for you. This is me with the twins in the garden of the plush Ard na Sidhe hotel. We never stayed there (couldn’t afford to), but they don’t mind us strolling around in their vast and stunningly beautiful garden along the lake. Unfortunately, it didn’t look quite as inviting today at 6am in the morning.

12 Jan: 12 miles, 1:41, 8:25 pace

Why do I do it?

It’s on days like this that I have to question my sanity. I got up at 4:30 am (that wasn’t too difficult, I went to bed shortly after 9 and therefore still managed over 7 hours of sleep). The weather forecast had predicted rain and, starting early morning, gale force winds. Luckily, they wind wasn’t quite as bad as predicted, but it didn’t exactly make for ideal conditions. My left hamstring was still a bit sore, but it is definitely getting better. As soon as I started out, my right Achilles was rather painful. I hoped it would be just one of those niggly things that go away after 10 minutes, but that turned out not to be the case.
The strong wind made the Caragh Lake road a no-go area, so I settled on four 5-mile loops to Ard na Sidhe and back. I hoped the elves might help me if I broke down on the run (Ard na Sidhe is Gaelic for “Circle of Elves”). I left out 2 gels at the end of our driveway, together with some water and an energy bar, should I need it. My feet got totally wet, especially as I managed to step right into a puddle early on. At 8 miles I thought I felt a blister developing on my right foot, so I went back home after the second loop to change into dry socks, and also put on a new t-shirt, because the other one was already soaked through, despite me wearing a wind jacket, which, by the way, made me uncomfortably hot. I took the second gel after 15 miles, and headed out again for my last loop. To be honest, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, but I sure was glad when I finally made it back home.
As I lay on the kitchen floor, Niamh went by and started “well, …” I went “don’t say it!”. “Ok”.
To recapitulate: I got up in the middle of the night; ran 20 miles in complete darkness; two days after a tempo run; five days after an 18-miler; in the rain; in the wind; feeling too hot under the wind jacket; with a dodgy hamstring; with a painful Achilles, that hurt more and more as the run went on; with what could have been a blister.

Yes, it’s on days like this that I have to question my sanity.

9 Jan: 5 miles recovery run, 46:41, 9:20 pace
10 Jan: 20 miles, 2:56, 8:42 pace

No Show

I had intended to run a 10-mile race in Mallow today. However, when I got up in the morning, all kinds of doubts came into my head. I didn’t want to abandon Niamh for half the day with three unruly children; I had run a 5k race only 7 days ago; my hamstring was still hurting and I didn’t want to aggravate it; I didn’t fancy the drive; I intended not to run all-out, but didn’t trust myself to stick to that. In short, I decided not to go, but do a proper tempo run along Caragh Lake instead.

It was quite late when I finally managed to get out of the door. First I waited until Niamh got up (and cleaned the kitchen in the meantime), then she wanted to take a long bath (I did the washing in the meantime), then the kids needed my attention … by then it was 11:30, and I knew if I wouldn’t leave right away, I wouldn’t go at all, so out I went. I ran 2 easy warm-up miles, and then did a 5-mile run at LT pace. It was hard going at first, but as always became a bit easier once I got into it. I had to push it again in the last mile, but managed to hold on. My 5 mile time was 36:30, which is almost definitely the fastest I have ever run over that distance, but as I have never raced 5 miles, I won’t call it a PR. At that stage I was 5 miles away from our house and decided to do the last 5 miles home at a more relaxed pace.

I’m glad I didn’t run the race now, because if I had tried to keep my 5 miles pace for another 5 miles, I would definitely have been extremely knackered, and seeing as I have a 54 miles week ahead of me, with a 20 miler on Tuesday, it probably is better that way.

8 Jan, 12 miles, 1:36, 8:00 pace, with 5 miles tempo run at 7:18 pace

Spark in the Dark

I did the 18 miler that I had originally scheduled for Tuesday, and it went pretty well. My hamstring felt a lot better, though I still had the odd twinge, and the feeling that “something” wasn’t 100% right was always there, but it didn’t really trouble me. I take that as confirmation that the pains I felt on Tuesday were indeed caused by sitting in the car for 5 hours on Monday.
Getting up was easy, because Shea woke me at 4:38 because he was scared in his bed. That’s the same issue at the same time of night every single morning since we have come back from Dublin.

I originally intended to run 11 miles along Caragh Lake and then a 7 mile loop towards Killorglin, but it was very windy, and to make things worse, the wind came in from the East, which means that I, on the exposed western shore of the lake, felt the full force. After struggling against the elements for 4 miles I gave up and turned back. After I passed my driveway, I did two 5-mile loops from our house to Ard na Sidhe and back, which is running through a little wood and therefore much more sheltered from the wind. It was indeed much more pleasant to run there than along the lake, but the fact that by now it had stopped raining certainly helped. It was very tranquil, apart from an animal making some sudden noises as I ran past on a few occasions, but I presume they got more of a fright than I did. It can be quite spooky to run in a forest in the middle of the night with just a little bit of light from a headlamp. It looks a bit like those scenes in a horror movie when a doomed character is running away from the monster, just before they are caught. (not that I want to scare you ;-) )

The hamstring is a little sore now, and I will take it easy over the next days. There is a 10 mile race in Mallow on Sunday, about an hours drive from here. I’ve been uncertain if I should run it, so close after the 5k last week, but I think I might do it. I will not race but will treat it as a 10 mile tempo run.

5 Jan: 18 miles, 2:33, 8:30 pace

Back Home

The most important thing first: Shea is absolutely fine. He now proudly tells everyone how he fell down the stairs, and Lola points out every time that it was she who saved him. I guess the story alone will keep them happy for a while.

As for my running, we are back in Kerry, and I’ve managed to run every day of the New Year so far – no, that’s not really impressive on 3 Jan, I know. I did 8 miles yesterday in Dublin before we left. I expected to be a bit sore from the race, but no, I didn’t feel any soreness at all. The problem started later during the day, when my left hamstring started hurting while sitting in the car. 5 people in one car make for cramped conditions, and I could feel the hamstring getting more and more uncomfortable. I had toyed with the idea of running 18 miles this morning, but decided against it. I regretted this decision early today, because the boys woke me at 4:45, the time I would have gotten up for that run, and kept me from falling asleep for the next hour (our boys are impossible to sleep beside, they constantly wriggle around), and putting them back into their own beds didn’t work either. I eventually got up at 5:50 and went for an 11-mile run, finally back alongside Caragh Lake. My hamstring hurt all the way, never enough to stop me from running, but there was a pain there for the whole way. I’m sure it’s the car journey that made it worse, and I hope it will get better over the next days and weeks again. Anyway, I was glad that I hadn’t gone for the 18-miler, because I certainly would not have fancied another 7 miles on my dodgy hamstring.

Oh, and I found a decent photo of Caragh Lake on the internet. The road you can see on the right hand side is the one I was running on this morning, though it was a lot darker at 6 am, obviously. That part is about 2.5 miles away from our house. The photo is taken from a helicopter over the northern side looking southwards, on what must have been a quite windy day.

2 Jan: 8 miles, 1:07, 8:22 pace
3 Jan: 11 miles, 1:33, 8:27 pace

Race and Accident Report

I had an eventful morning when preparing for the race. I had to stop Cian, our 2 year old, from playing with his toothpaste in the downstairs bathroom, then with the adult toothpaste upstairs, the I just about managed to stop him from raiding Nana’s jam jars, and when he nearly fell off a table, I asked Niamh to get up and help me with that unruly toddler. All that happened between 9 and 10 am, which was when I tried to eat my breakfast and gather all the things I needed for the race. As a result of this I left the house a little bit later than planned, but still in good time. I managed to find the start in Phoenix Park, which wasn’t entirely straightforward, because I am quite unfamiliar with that part of Dublin.

The conditions for the race weren’t too bad, but a bit windy. The course is nearly totally flat, and we had to run 2 laps, the second lap being a bit shorter than the first one. There was one final insult at the registration: at the obviously well advanced age of 35, I am no longer classed as a Senior, but a Veteran. Who would have thought.

I started out at what I guessed was my 5k speed, and immediately noticed that it was faster than everyone around me. I guess that means that I should have started further ahead, but it wasn’t crowded and I didn’t have to weave in and out of the crowds to overtake. At the 1-mile marker I checked my time and heart rate, 6:53 and 179 respectively. I was pleased with both. On the second mile I started to feel tired, but I tried to keep going at the same speed, and I was still overtaking quite a few of the other runners. There was an older runner, maybe in his 50s or early 60s, lets call him Pop, which I managed to pass at that stage. I definitely thought I slowed down towards the end of that mile, but when the 2-mile marker came, my time was now 13:30, or a 6:37 split for the second mile. I cannot rule out that the mile markers were a bit off, of course. At that stage, a group of 4 runners which I had passed half a mile earlier, overtook me, but I did manage to keep right behind them. I was definitely knackered by now, my heart rate was 186 which is my max HR, and I knew I had to fight to keep up the speed for a decent finish. Then, with what I thought was a quarter mile before the finish, I started a surge (Bob Glover would have been proud of me), overtook that group again, and put a fairly big gap between them and myself. I got a surprise when I checked my heart rate, 187. In all my big training efforts on the hills I never managed to go over 186, so I really must have given everything I had. I also realised that I had badly underestimated the distance to the finish when I started my surge, because it must have been at least half a mile before the end. Then I heard footsteps behind me coming closer, turned around and was surprised to see Pop coming closer and closer and actually trying to overtake me. Well, I was about to find out if I had one more push in me and accelerated again. My heart rate was now 188, which I really had not thought possible. I was breathing so loudly that some people on the side were giving me funny looks, not that I cared. I just gave it all I got and passed the finishing line in 21:22, which is a personal best by 38 seconds, but then I had never run an all-out 5k race before, so a new PR was always on the cards. When I was able to breath again, I turned to Pop and told him, “that was your fault, you made me run so fast”, to which he replied, “well, you dragged me along”, and we shook hands.

I was quite pleased with myself and my effort, I couldn’t possibly have run any faster. My average heart rate on the race was 181. I hadn’t done any real speedwork in the last few months and I had always assumed my max HR was 186, which I now know was wrong.

However, when I rang home to tell Niamh about everything, she told me that Shea, our 4-year old son, had tumbled head over heels all the way down the stairs, and had only been prevented from smacking into the wall by the fact that Lola, his twin sister, just happened to stand right there. He smashed into her instead, which broke his fall, and which may have prevented any serious injury, though Lola was extremely offended by the fact that everyone fussed over Shea and nearly ignored her.

Now, six hours later, Shea seems to be ok again. We are keeping a close eye on him, if he starts vomiting or gets dizzy, we have to bring him straight into A&E, but he is enjoying all his latest videos, had lunch, and seems to be in good form.

Thank Goodness for that, and it certainly puts the race into perspective.

29 Dec: 8 miles, very hilly
1 Jan: 6 miles, including 5k race at 21:22, 6:53 pace

I hear you

Ok, ok, guys and girls, I get the hint. You want photos. You will get photos, I promise. But I’m in Dublin at the moment, and haven’t got access to my photo albums at the moment. I’ll try and scan some as soon as I get home in the New Year. Let that be my New Year resolution.
Now, the running. I did 4 easy miles yesterday, and a long run today. Well, when I said Long Run, I really meant Medium Run. It was supposed to be 12 miles, but, to be honest, it was probably less than that, so let’s call it 11 miles, and it will make up for the fact that Monday’s 8 miler was probably more like 7.5. I don’t really care about the exact distance, because this is a recovery week anyway, and I’ll try and do the prescribed 37 miles, and if it ends up as 36 miles, that won’t kill my chances of a decent marathon in March. I’ll try and do the 5k race on Sunday, but I won’t run full steam because I have an 18 mile run planned for Tuesday, and don’t forget, we have to drive all the way back from Dublin to Kerry on Monday, and that will take about 5 hours. (It’s 4 hours if I drive on my own, 4.5 with Niamh beside me nagging me to slow down ;-), and 5 with the kids).
The run today felt much easier than Monday’s 8 miler. I seem to have these off days followed by better days a lot recently. I’m not sure why. Running last summer felt much more, well, even. The temperature has dropped again, and the sidewalks were very treacherously covered with a thin sheet of ice – very tricky to run on, but I managed to do it without losing my footing. Tomorrow is supposed to be even colder, but I guess we’ll see. I’ll do roughly 8 miles again tomorrow, and then I’ll rest for two days for the race. That should be sufficient, I won’t try and brake any records (apart from my own).

27 Dec: 4 miles recovery run
28 Dec: 11 miles, very hilly

Christmas Run

Christmas seems to be a very quiet place in blog-land. Nobody is updating their blogs, and I’m not sure how good everyone is when it comes to running.

We had a long drive to Dublin (which is made longer by 3 kids in the car), and a succession of Christmas parties – one every evening so far. I have mostly managed to withstand the temptations throws my way, and just had a glass of wine or two per party. Niamh’s family probably think I am the most boring person in history.

I finished off last week with a 5 mile recovery run on Sunday, and managed 8 miles today. A look at the map revealed a park called Cabinteely about 2.5 miles from here, maybe a little bit further. A round in the park is just over one mile, and that’s where I am going to spend my running week. The run is very hilly, there’s one bigish hill between here and the park, and the park itself as quite hilly as well. There were plenty of other runners in the park today, which is a completely new experience for me. Unfortunately it looked like most people are able to run faster than me. Either that, or I was very slow today – which is a possibility, because I felt quite sluggish.

I don’t know the exact distances of the runs here, so I am running by time only, and don’t know my pace. I’ll just try and run by time and effort for this week.

25 Dec: 5 miles recovery run
26 Dec: 8 miles

A Marathon Day

Wednesday turned out to be a bit of a marathon day, though it was the wrong kind of marathon. After getting up at 4:45 and running 17 miles, I was bound to be a bit tired for the rest of the day. What I hadn’t really factored in was that I was invited to a children’s Christmas party after work and then a card night at a friend’s house. I expected the cards to be finished by midnight (which would have been very late anyway), but for various reasons it didn’t stop until 3:30 in the morning. Well, we had to finish the game, didn’t we? I felt like going home at midnight, but didn’t want to be a spoilsport, though if I had known just how long it would take, I definitely would have left there and then. I finally got to bed at 3:45, which made it a 23 hours day.

No, I didn’t do any running yesterday morning ;-). Thursday is a rest day anyway. I went to bed early (ish) last night and as soon as the head hit the pillow, I was zonked. When the alarm went off at 6, I originally thought I had set it by mistake, until it dawned on me that I was due another 10 miler. Getting up was a challenge, but I rose to it.

The 10 miler was very pleasant though, under a slightly cloudy sky with plenty of moon light, which looked very romantic. My hamstring produced just a tiny little twinge, not really a pain, just a reminder to be careful. For once I didn’t get hit by the rain, it was just a bit windy along the exposed parts of Caragh Lake, but nothing I couldn’t handle. The temperature has climbed as well. At 9 o’clock it was 10C/50F, and it didn’t feel much colder when I did my run. Maybe winter is already over here?

We will drive to Dublin today to spend Christmas with Niamh’s family. The kids are very excited to see Nana and Gaga and all the Aunties and Uncles again. I don’t like running in Dublin, because last year all I could find was concrete sidewalks (there aren’t any parks suitable for running close enough to Stillorgan that I know about). I’ll have another look, because I’m sure the week of running on concrete substantially contributed to my shin splints, and I don’t want to get injured again, especially since my hamstring is dodgy already. Whatever, it will be a cutback week. The schedule calls for just 37 miles, with a long run of no more 12 miles. I’m sure I’ll manage that. There is also a 5k race on New Year’s Day in Phoenix Park, which sounds nice as long as I don’t celebrate New Year too enthusiastically.

23 Dec: 10 miles, 1:22, 8:12 pace

A Long Run at Long Last

According to Pete Pfitzinger, long runs are at least 17 miles. Therefore I did my first long run of the marathon training today. I had to get up at a ridiculously early hour. I set the alarm for 5am, but at 4:45 Lola cried that her bed covers had come off. That’s the third night in a row, and it’s the same issue at exactly the same time of night. I tried to tell her that at 4-and-a-half she is big enough to pull up the covers herself, but no luck so far. Anyway, against better judgment I did go back to bed, but only dozed there for 5 minutes and got up again. Mindful of the long run ahead of me, I had half a banana as well as my usual wheat cereal, and left out a gel with some water on the driveway for later on.
Last night had been very stormy, in fact the wind kept me from falling asleep for an hour (which isn’t good, when you’re only hoping for less than 7-and-a-half hours anyway), and I was worried if I would be able to do my run in those conditions. Luckily, by 5 o’clock the storm had calmed down, though it was still quite windy. I decided to do some laps in the woods, where the road is more sheltered from the elements. I planned on a 6 mile loop along a hill called the Devil’s elbow, then a 5 mile loop to Ard na Sidhe, and another 6 mile loop to make it 17 altogether. It turns out that the 5 mile loop is a tad longer than 5 miles (either that, or I ran the middle loop a good bit slower than the other two, but I don’t think so), so I called it 17.2 miles all in all. It doesn’t really matter if it’s a bit more or less – it’s only a training run.
My left hamstring started acting up at mile 6 and was hurting for 3 or 4 miles after that. I’m still not sure what it is. It’s not a cramp, and it gets better if I shorten my stride. It’s just a little bit worrying, but not enough to stop me from running. At mile 16 I got a coughing fit – not nice at all, and for the next 2 or 3 minutes after that I felt like my chest was restricted. That went away as well though, and I finished the run still feeling very strong.
All in all, I’m pleased with today’s workout.

21 Dec: 17.2 miles, 2:30, 8:43 pace

Weekend Drama

My department’s Christmas party was on Friday – the main difference to the company’s do being that there are no partners invited. In other words, it is generally a very heavy drinking session. I also had to attend out twins’ Christmas play in their school (which turned out to be much more entertaining that I had expected), so I was a bit rushed to get to the dinner in time. I didn’t feel like drinking much, and left at half past twelve – one of the first to leave. Because I was on water during dinner I was even sober – which will probably make me a pariah amongst my colleagues in days to come ;-).
Saturday was a day of drama. Cian had coughed during the night again and we struggled for 10 minutes to get a little spoon of medicine down his throat. Niamh, my wife, left the bottle on her bedside table. So what do I discover the next morning after breakfast? Only Cian with the open bottle in his hand, a big portion spilled on the floor and we have no idea how much he had himself. Niamh brought him to the hospital, where he was being seen by two nurses and three doctors in succession. None of them could find anything wrong with him, but all wanted yet another opinion. Eventually they sent them back home. Cian is absolutely fine – though, of course, he is still coughing, and by now has passed it on to me as well.
Oh yes, the running. I did 4 easy recovery miles on Sunday to conclude the week on a mileage of 42. Today I did a 9 mile tempo run, the first in ages with plenty of moon light. Unfortunately, the weather changed towards the end and I was caught by the wind, the cold and my old buddy, the rain, again. I also lost my concentration towards the last 3 or so miles because I slowed down from a tempo run to a “normal” pace run. I didn’t feel tired or unable to keep up the speed effort. I just lost my concentration and slowed down a bit. Ah well, it’s still 14 weeks until the marathon, and a slightly slower than optimal tempo run won’t have any real effect.

18 Dec: 4 miles recovery run, 36:42, 9:10 pace
19 Dec: 9 miles, 1:12m 8:00 pace

Wind, Rain and ... Tags Again

I went to bed too late and did not fall asleep until 11pm, so getting up at 6 was never that easy. To add to the troubles, Cian came into our bed around 2:30 and kept us awake with some heavy coughing. We struggled to get some medicine down his throat, and eventually succeeded, but it was probably nearly 3:30 by the time I got back to sleep.

I got up at 6:00, feeling less than refreshed. I had also played an hour of football 12 hours previously, which didn’t help my legs. It was Full Moon, and last night was fantastic with hardly any clouds, and I was looking forward to a great run in the moonlight. I felt cheated when I saw that it was totally cloudy. It was even worse when I stepped out of the house and realised that it was actually raining, with the wind blowing to compound the misery. I decided to change my route. Rather than do 10 miles along Caragh Lake, which can be wind-swept, I did 2 laps of 5 miles from our house to Ard-na-Sidhe and back. That run is through the woods, and therefore more sheltered from the wind. The run was ok-ish, but I felt a bit sluggish. I noticed that my pace increased with each 2.5 mile section though, which is good.

There is yet another game of tag going on, and Jack tagged me. There’s the rules:
”Write 5 random facts about yourself, and then list the names of 5 people whom you in turn infect. Also, leave a post to these people letting them know they have been infected”. I won’t write them any comments, because that reminds me too much of spam, if they read my blog they will know.

So, 5 facts:

1. I once spent 2 years in Vienna while my girl friend was in Dublin. We wrote each other a letter every single day. After that we knew we were meant to be together.
2. Even more astounding, we had only been together for 2 months before that. I never really expected it to last the 2 years, but it did.
3. We have been married for 8 happy years now, with 3 kids
4. The oldest two are twins, a girl called Lola and a boy called Shea.
5. I am a soccer nut; my favourite team are Manchester City. As a result of this, I hate Manchester United with a passion.

There it goes. My five victims are DGC, psbowe, Cliff, Marc and NYFlyGirl.


16 Dec: 10 miles, 1:24, 8:24 pace

Early Morning

For some perverse reason that only runners can understand, I was looking forward to today’s 15 miler. Now that my miles are slowly reaching the proper long-run stage, they somehow seem more worthwhile.

Getting up for that run was easy. I set my alarm for 5:20am, but by 5am I was up anyway, changing the baby and re-arranging the bed covers for my daughter, because “the blanket has come off the dollies and the teddy” (obviously, a grave concern!). After that there was no point in going back to bed, but I felt wide awake anyway.

Yesterday had been rather cold, -3C/26F, and the short sleeves had not been the ideal choice, so I went for the long sleeves today. Alas, today was a lot warmer, 3C/37F, and initially I felt quite overdressed and actually pulled up my long sleeves. It was very cloudy, but very tranquil initially. Then, by mile 5.5, the wind started blowing strongly, and by mile 6.5 I was running in the rain again. At that stage I was grateful for the long sleeves and pulled them down again. It finally stopped raining by mile 11, and the rest of the run was more pleasant.

I felt a sharp-ish pain in my left hamstring with half a mile to go, the same hamstring that has given my troubles before. So late in the run it was no problem to get home, and a few hundred yards on the pain seemed to have gone anyway, but I am a bit worried about this. So far I have no idea what’s causing the pain, but it is re-occurring fairly frequently.

Last week I got quite hungry around mile 11, so this time I left out a gel at our driveway, went on a 10 mile loop along Caragh Lake, came back, had the gel and some water, and then finished the run with a 5 mile loop through the wood. I had developed that routine when training for my last marathon, and it worked very well. The only drawback is a slight temptation to go home after the first loop rather than go out again, but so far I have always managed to resist.

13 Dec: 5 miles recovery run, 48:08, 9:37 pace
14 Dec: 15 miles, 2:12, 8:48 pace

Socials and Changes

I managed to get through the weekend without any mishaps. Friday’s social was ice-skating, which I enjoyed from the sidelines. Saturday’s was a mum’s outing, which meant that the daddies stayed at home baby-sitting while the mummies got drunk (how times have changed, eh) and Sunday was a trip for the kids to nearby Crag Cave to visit Santa, which they enjoyed immensely.

I got my 4 miles recovery done to conclude my 40 miles week, and decided to make some small changes to my schedule. Long runs on Monday weren’t ideal because it meant cutting short Sunday evening, one of the few evenings my wife and me get to spend together these days (times are busy), and I wasn’t sure how long I would manage to run long in the morning and then play an hour of soccer in the evening. Therefore I decided to switch the long runs to Wednesday, which should fit easier into the rest of my life. This week’s plan calls for a modest increase of the mileage to 42 miles. I started with a brisk (for me) 8 miler this morning under a starry sky and a spectacular display of the Belt of Venus towards the end of it. It got a bit chilly again, but I finally got through a run without any rain. The left hamstring was fine, and my right foot, which had some aches and pains occasionally over the last few weeks, wasn’t acting up either. Woo-hoo, my luck is changing!

11 Dec: 4 miles recovery run, 8:54 pace
12 Dec: 8 miles, 1:04, 8:00 pace

Slow Coach

After the 10 miles this morning, this week’s mileage stands at 36 – a short run on Sunday will bring it up to 40. That might not impress some of you, but the way I’ve been feeling lately I’m pleased. Something I have noted is a distinct loss of pace. Today’s run was by far the slowest run I’ve had in ages (apart from recovery runs of course). I’m not bothered about that though. It’s always better to slow down when you’re increasing your mileage. Plus, last night’s soccer was rather strenuous, and running 10 miles 12 hours later is asking for stiff legs. It’s a lot warmer now, it was about 6C/43F in the morning, and originally I hoped to go through a whole run without rain, but my hopes were drowned by mile 3.5. Ah well.

The stomach seems to be nearly back to normal, and the kids have stopped vomiting – hurray! Our youngest son, Cian (I’ve decided not to be so coy about my family’s names from now on), celebrated his second birthday yesterday, and he really enjoyed being at the centre of attention. He also adores his new tricycle. I might post some photos if we get them developed any time soon.

The weekend is going to be strenuous – there are three Christmas parties, two for the parents and one for the kids. I’ll abstain from alcohol – I think.

8 Dec: 4 miles recovery run, 36:36, 9:09 pace
9 Dec: 10 miles, 1:29, 8:54 pace

After a Good Run comes a ... yes, you guessed it

Some of you guys and gals might be getting a kick out of running in adverse weather conditions, but I can tell you I am getting thoroughly sick of the Irish winter weather. Today was probably a little bit warmer than on previous mornings, but you couldn’t really tell because it was lashing, and to compound the misery the wind was blowing really strong in places – just what you need when you’re not feeling too well anyway.

The kids all had a stomach bug over the last week. It could have been worse, because between throwing up violently they were totally chirpy. For the last two days I could feel it myself, I haven’t thrown up (yet), but there is a certain uneasy feeling around my stomach area. Additionally, due to late work commitments I didn’t get to bed until 0:40 last night. I got up at 6:20, and that’s not even nearly enough sleep. The schedule called for an 8-mile tempo run, but somehow I wasn’t quite up for it. I certainly put in the effort, but the pace wasn’t forthcoming, and I hardly ran faster than on Monday, when I seemed to glide along effortlessly. My left hamstring made itself known again as well. It’s just a little twinge at the moment, not enough to stop me from running, but enough to have me a little bit worried.

I need to rest – I’ll go to bed early tonight and hope the kids will cooperate. Tomorrow is just a 4 mile recovery run, and if I manage 2 or 3 nights of 8 hours sleep, I’ll be fine again.

7 Dec: 8 miles, 1:06, 8:15 pace, faster during the middle 4 miles, quite slow warm-up and cool-down

A Bad Night and a Good Run

Sunday was a bad day. I didn’t feel hung over, but not entirely up to it either. The fact that I hadn’t slept an awful lot didn’t help. The kids were becoming progressively worse, and by bedtime they were complete nightmares. It was well after 9 o’clock when we finally managed to put them down, and then the troubles were not over. I can’t quite remember all incidences from the night, but it involved a succession of children climbing into our bed, a nappy change on a very uncooperative baby some time around maybe 2 or 3, and never more than an hour of uninterrupted sleep. I had set my alarm for 5:30, but at 5:20 I was filling up hot water bottles for the elder two, and there was no point in going back to bed.
Considering all that, it was a miracle how well the run went. I did 14 miles, about 4 or 5 of which were in rain, the wind was blowing for some time, too, and of course it was pitch dark, with temperatures around freezing point. However, I felt fine for the whole run, except at around mile 11 when I could clearly feel my hamstring tighten on a climb. I shortened my stride, which seemed to help. I also started to feel hungry around this point, so I guess my stomach was running out of wheat cereal by then. However, I made it home without problems, and with negative splits as well. I was very surprised when I looked at my heart rate monitor at the end of the run; the average heart rate had only been 151, which was less than on my so-called recovery run the day before. I know Chelle had some funny readings from her hr monitor, and maybe mine isn’t entirely accurate either, but my readings were always believable, so I tend to think that they are correct.

5 Dec: 14 miles, 1:56, 8:17 pace

Redemption Run

One of the problems of training during the winter is the Christmas season with all its parties and office functions. Last night was my company’s do, with about 200 people in attendance and enough alcohol to drown everyone in sight.
I did reasonably well, despite not sticking to my resolve not to drink anything apart from some wine during dinner. I went home after a couple of pints of beer and a few shots of tequila in a not-entirely-sober state.
Today’s 5 mile recovery run was for both recovery and redemption. I didn’t really have a hangover, just a little queasy feeling in my stomach that eventually subsided.
There will be more temptations thrown my way over the next few week.

4 Dec: 5 miles recovery run, 43:29, 8:41 pace

Dark, Cold and Wet

The cold snap seems to have ended, the forecast for today is a balmy 7C/45F, but it’s still quite cold at 6 o’clock in the morning. Unfortunately, the clear sky has gone too and has been replaced by a blanket cover of clouds bringing heavy rain.
I got up just before 6 this morning (managing the intellectual feat of setting the alarm for the correct time for once) and, after one look out of the door, decided to ditch the long sleeves and wear a t-shirt with a rain cover on top, plus shorts rather than long tracksuit bottoms. For once I got that right, I was neither too hot nor too cold, just too wet.
I managed the 10 miles that I didn’t do 2 days ago. After 3 miles the legs were very heavy, as always after an hour of draining soccer the night before, but they felt better as the run wore on. I was a bit anxious about my headlamp because the light seemed to get dimmer and dimmer, but I think it was just the fact that the rain got heavier, because towards the end, when the rain eased a little, the lamp seemed to become brighter again.
I finally realised why there are no running clubs here in the vicinity of Killorglin, and why I always have to run on my own. I’m clearly the only idiot around who is stupid enough to do 10 miles in conditions like this at 6 o’clock in the morning.

Fair enough.

2 Dec: 10 miles, 1:23, 8:18 pace