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Not only are you putting in some serious work (especially on the bike!), but you seem to really be flying. Have you any "big" races coming up or targeted in the future?? And have you given any consideration to trying a duathlon - run/bike/run? I think you'd be a natural fit.
Thanks, but I'm far from flying, the injuries knocked me back further than planned and over indulgence a little further again
. However enjoying the unstructured approach at the moment and racing for fun rather than having any great targets in mind.
I'm going to miss the Duo I was planning due to work commitments and I think that might be the end of the season, but I'll have a little look around. I'll pace the Dublin Half and then it's back to XC in Oct, so it's base miles and hills to follow.0 -
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Running Totals
WTD: 52.0 [83.7]
MTD: 151.9 [244.5]
YTD: 1,353.1 [2,177.2]
Races YTD: 13 [3 x Master's PB's]
Base Building
Solid week, built on last week's mileage through some opportunist running, which involved always having gear in the car and running home or running to meet the family somewhere.
Got in another 100k+ bike joining Abhainn on his 50 odd k commute before doing a u turn and heading back home, suffered a little on this one returning into a stiff breeze and should have stopped for something to eat but kept going instead.
With pacing duties coming up for the Dublin Half in 3 weeks, I threw in a pacing test on Saturday running for 1hr40 and coming in at 13.3 miles keeping the splits under target pace. Had hoped to hit 100k running from a symmetry perspective, but my old knee trouble is playing up so gave it a day off today, it rears it head from time to time and generally I can manage it and it rights itself within a couple of weeks, so it's Glucosamine and ice for the next week.
Diet is still playing catch up, but I'm back on the wagon tomorrow - weight surprisingly went down by 0.3 kg :eek:.0 -
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Running Totals
WTD: 53.3 [85.8]
MTD (Aug): 197.2 [317.3]
YTD: 1,406.5 [2,263.0]
Races YTD: 13 [3 x Master's PB's]
Base Building
Continued base building this week and hit my primary goal of another 50 mile week, which I needed to get through in 6 days. Would have liked to have closed out August on 200+, but I had to pull back a bit to protect the knee which is still troublesome. I'm doing all my exercises, taking Glucosamine and icing it, but it's lingering a bit too long for my liking. Had hoped to run for 1hr45 today, but I think I made a wise decision in stopping as my knee became worse. It can have a little break now as I'm traveling tomorrow and not running until Monday night at the earliest, might take a longer break if it's still niggling. Running on the treadie helps as I can just focus on form, but any camber and even in Shanganagh it starts give out. Feel great aerobically so all should be good if I can shake this.0 -
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Running Totals
WTD: 44.7 [72.0]
MTD: 52.8 [85.0]
YTD: 1,451.2 [2,335.0]
Races YTD: 13 [3 x Master's PB's]
Back in the 'Bad
Nothing much to report, due to work timings and the local environment most of the running is on the hotel treadie, which is fine occasionally, but not very motivating over a longer period.
The plan was to just get something done everyday as I'm in an inbetweeny phase at the moment, so a tick in the box there, would have liked a few more miles, but it is what it is.
Got outside yesterday morning, getting in some 1.1 mile laps close to the hotel before the Gingerbread Man dictated a quick return to the hotel, was going to finish up with a few miles on the treadie, but after 30mins of stretching and no sign of a machine freeing up I hit the pool instead. Had planned to meet a local running group early this morning (5AM :eek:), but I really wasn't feeling well yesterday with headaches and dizzy spells, went to bed early, set the alarm, felt [EMAIL="cr@p"]cr@p[/EMAIL] when I woke at 4:15, so rolled over and woke again over 5hrs later. Still feeling off, so I stayed on the treadie and was happy to bank an hour.0 -
Running Totals
WTD: 46.2 [74.3]
MTD: 99.0 [159.3]
YTD: 1,497.4 [2,409.3]
Races YTD: 14 [3 x Master's PB's]
Hanging in there!
I think that pretty much describes my week, I never fully recovered from whatever headachey thing was going on or it never fully took hold. I spent much of the week feeling pretty tired with savage headaches coming on, sometimes lasting for 2 days! Layer on top of that 20hr door to door travel, which involved being out of the scratcher from 8am local time (03:30 Irish time) on Weds until I went to bed at about 11pm Thursday night with just a few uncomfortable snoozes here and there. The result I was pretty beat up come Saturday morning and would've have loved more than anything to roll over and catch some zzz's when my 7am alarm rang, but I was really looking forward to pacing the DCM Half. A breakfast of Weetabix and Nurofen Plus and I was out the door heading for the White's Rd Gate. Got there in plenty of time so closed my eyes for a few before jogging to the start line. Spirts were high as I met up with KC and the other pacers and gave our initial comments on the backpacks.
Time flew and soon we were heading to the pens, menoscemo, liamo123 and myself making up the 1hr40 crew. Nice to be so relaxed just before a race and fielded many similar questions and concerns from eager runners asking what the plan was going to be - hopefully we put them all at ease.
Wave 1 was away and soon we were edging our way to the start line to begin 3mins behind the official start.
The first 5-6 miles were pretty relaxed with various runners popping up for a quick chat before getting back into their own space, the most common story being how they blew up in a previous race by going too fast at the start. Kept everyone informed along the way how were getting on which would get a few responses or a few nervous looks from those ahead (maybe from wave 1).
From mile 8 or so I was sticking to 1:39:30 pace to make sure we've enough in reserve over the last few hills, liamo was playing sweeper and keeping as much of the group together and meno was like a metronome with his efficiency and encouraging everyone to take the racing line - I think my garmin showed I ran an extra 0.2 miles.
We banked a few seconds coming down Chesterfield and along the main road, so when we reentered the Park with about 2.5 to go we could afford to cruise up the hills - gave back about 20 seconds here and it was all talk and encouragement until the crowd took over on the finishing straight. 1h39:41 - job done.
Now I need to add some structure to my running, PF is non-existent, knee is 90% better, did give me a little reminder towards the end of today's run, but other than that I'm reasonably healthy.0 -
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Running Totals
WTD: 58.5 [94.2]
MTD: 157.5 [253.4]
YTD: 1,555.9 [2,503.4]
Races YTD: 14 [3 x Master's PB's]
Solid!
Yeah a solid week's training last week, first time I can genuinely say that in a while and my highest mileage since before Rotterdam, it feels good to be back. It's still just base building, joined the Greystones gang for some hill work on Tuesday evening, other than that it's just easy/steady pace and jumped into double figures twice. Knee giving out from time to time but it's improving.
One week doesn't make a comeback, but it does feel good to run that volume relatively pain free.0 -
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Running Totals
WTD: 60.8 [97.8]
MTD: 218.3 [351.3]
YTD: 1,616.7 [2,601.3]
Races YTD: 14 [3 x Master's PB's]
Front loading!
I've a few county XC's coming up over the next few Sundays, so this was all about hitting the planned mileage and moving the long run to mid-week as that's they key session during this block.
Went according to plan ran the long run as a Lydiard type run with the 1st half at 7:35 pace and the 2nd half at 7:25. Had a brisk run today to check the legs, still a little dead, so will try to get the long one in on Weds this week.
Knee still playing up from time to time, but I neglected it last week, a reminder to keep the routine.0 -
Running Totals
WTD: 55.5 [89.3]
MTD: 55.5 [89.3]
YTD: 1,672.2 [2,690.6]
Races YTD: 15 [3 x Master's PB's]
Cross Country is Back!
Cross Country is back, but I'm sticking to the plan, the plan being to keep knocking solid mileage weeks together and use the XC runs as my weekly effort (there's 3 this month anyway). Previous years I would have dropped the mileage back to about 40 when racing this year I'm rolling through. Apart from no running on Weds due to a passing away in the family and a broken treadmill deck, which the kinds folks in Johnson Fitness sent out FOC, I still managed 7 days training as the turbo was dusted off. Got my long run in on Tuesday in fading light due to the known logitics around the funeral arrangements and dug the spikes back out on Friday evening for a few strides to see if I'll get another season out of them, ship shape and ready for about half a dozen more outings.
Novice XC - 6k
Normally this is a focus race for me, so it was nice to have a relaxed warm up and a chilled out start to the race. The course is a 2k lap which is broken into a of 2 halves, with some work in the 1st half and some decent running in the 2nd half, a good few tight gateway turns to navigate and apart from the grass being a little long and divoty (word?) gentle enough from an XC perspective. I won't bore you with the details, but I started handy enough and maintained effort for 2 of the 3 laps, running at about 3:50 per k on average [3:42 - 3:57 range], with a few over zealous runners coming back to me. Upped it towards the end of the 2nd lap to get over a narrow ditch clear of the group I was running with and kept that increased effort through to the end gaining another 4 places or so in the process, before running strongly to the finish in 3:30 pace for the last k which was .97 in 3:26 on the Garmin and 3:47 pace overall / AvgHr 162 / MaxHr 171. No idea of positions, except Timmay came 1st and Krusty 3rd. Disappointed that Bray didn't have a strong Novice team and I'm guessing I was back in the low teens, difficult to tell though as it was combined with the U/18's and a few guests.0 -
Just getting caught up on a few things.....
Well done on the XC - 6k (even though I haven't a clue about anything XC and spikes related!!). Sorry about the passing of your family member, but sounds like you did the deceased proud with your performance and focus. 0 -
Running Totals
WTD: 61.6 [99.1]
MTD: 117.1 [188.5]
YTD: 1,733.8 [2,789.7]
Races YTD: 16 [3 x Master's PB's]
3 is the magic number!
Three main priorities this week; 1) Frontload the mileage, 2) Get at least 60 miles for the week and 3) Run a steady XC race at the end of the week, glad to say I ticked all 3 boxes without incident, well except the dog that nearly sent me flying on Weds, but I played my get out of jail card and just about avoided an ankle strain, although it was tender for a few days.
I cut back the long run distance this week and spread the mileage over a few days, hitting double figures Mon through Thurs, before tapering back a little for today's run. Ran some steady miles at MP +30 on Weds which felt very comfortable. I felt a bit of strength coming back this week and I carried that into the XC race.
Intermediate XC - 8k
Avondale was the venue for XC day 2, a different proposition from last week, with 1 challenging climb, 1 long drag and a fair dollop of sloppiness to suck the pace out of you in a few spots.
I'm very pleased with how the race went, I ran strongly and consistently and defintley up a notch from last week. The defining moment for me came about 3/4's into the first lap, I was sitting behind a group of 3 all of whom finished ahead of me between 15 and 46 seconds last week, the group in front of them made a break and I made a spur of the moment decision to go with them. After another 1.5k or so a sectoin of the course gives you a good view of what's going on behind you and I was surprised at the gap that I had opened to the other group. For the rest of the race I traded places with that group with 4 of them finishing ahead of me and me getting 2 spots, I'm missing some raw speed at the moment, but I'm more than happy with where I'm at presently. Think I snuck into the top 10. Time: 30:23 - AvHR: 167 - MaxHR: 179, greater effort than last week, but recovered quickly.
Timmay done the Novice - Intermediate Double (replicating my feat from 16 years ago) and Pre ran well after Berlin to finish a close 2nd. 0 -
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Krusty_Clown wrote: »Was there enough for a Bray team? Didn't know you had won the novice and intermediate 16 years ago.
Sadly no -
Krusty_Clown wrote: »Didn't know you had won the novice and intermediate 16 years ago. Just how old are you?
I've a dark past - they regraded me on my return when they realised I was no longer a threat - nearly done the treble that year only to finish 2nd behind the one and only Mick Byrne in the Senior!0 -
BeepBeep67 wrote: »I'm very pleased with how the race went, I ran strongly and consistently and defintley up a notch from last week.
Great run yesterday Dom! You definitely looked very strong and a clear notch up as you say yourself. A strength sapping course for sure, but strangely rewarding! 0 -
Running Totals
WTD: 70.2 [113.0]
MTD: 187.4 [301.5]
YTD: 1,804.0 [2,902.7]
Races YTD: 16 [3 x Master's PB's]
Logistics, Logistics, Logistics!
This week was all about flexibility, I wanted to increase the mileage by 10%, but also had the added dimention of the OH being away in London for 3 days. Got the week off to a solid start and banked 3 x 10, with Weds turning into an MP session by accident rather than design as I was time bound. Thurs seen a snatched 1hr run while the kids were at kickboxing. With Friday and Saturday mornings seeing some early treadmill miles before the kids awoke. Friday was backed up with another 1hr while the kids were at athletics and Saturday pm got a mini session in after I settled the kids down in front of their trough. And finally when the OH arrived back this afternoon I snuck out for enough miles to bring up 70 for the week, my highest calendar week since I was a nipper - so just goes to show, you can squeeze it in if you want to!
After a solid 5 weeks averaging 61.3mls, next week will be a mini step back, with the Leinster XC at the end of it, before another 70 that needs to get squeezed into 6 days.0 -
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shotgunmcos wrote: »Read the last 6 months of this log, excellent reading and well done on the recent results. XC sounds cool but hard! I noticed your steady build of mileage too. What are the main things you notice physically at 60-70mpw over the last few weeks vs 40-50mpw over the summer?
Cheers on the feedback:
What am I noticing?
Weight - I can't seem to eat enough to maintain my weight presently, I use Tues mornings as my weekly check point, last week I was down to my Rotterdam weight, but by Friday I was down another 0.5kg. Need to give this more consideration, particularly on double days, it's too early to drop the weight.
Sleep - I tend to have a couple of decent nights sleep, followed by a crappy night, restless, jumpy legs, etc. I have been trying to get to bed earlier also, about 1hr earlier than previously.
Body - A few aches and pains, but the good ones, doubles are great for loosening out the body. I've added some core work and foam rolling based on my injury history.
Fitness - I can feel the strength coming back, I would have expected to be tired on this evenings run, but I was hopping off the road, had to keep holding myself back.
Mentally - Like most of us around here I've a few OCD traits
, so need to make sure I stick to the plan rather than chase numbers, have found myself thinking ahead to the next run before the current one is even finished.
So far so good, just need to keep the focus on maintenance and rest while putting some more thought into the nutrition side of things. The real test will come when the quality is added.0 -
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Hey!! With just about every Tom, Dick and Harry doing the DMC this weekend, I'm wondering if you had given it a thought? I suppose it's way too late to get an entry now (unless Kurt totally blows up and needs some assistance)....which makes me wonder, have you a target race in mind in the next 6 months??
Ha - the thought had crossed my mind after a boardie was gently trying to persuade me :rolleyes: I'll try and make it into the expo and maybe catch some of the pointy end on Monday.
I have races lined up; Leinster Masters XC this Sunday, Waterford HM, Wicklow Senior XC and the Streets of Wicklow 5k in December, Wicklow Masters XC and Durgarvan 10 in Jan, Donadea 50k in Feb. But the target race and the reason behind the base building is 'Rotterdam the Sequel, BeepBeep's Revenge' 0 -
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BeepBeep67 wrote: »Ha - the thought had crossed my mind after a boardie was gently trying to persuade me :rolleyes: I'll try and make it into the expo and maybe catch some of the pointy end on Monday.
I have races lined up; Leinster Masters XC this Sunday, Waterford HM, Wicklow Senior XC and the Streets of Wicklow 5k in December, Wicklow Masters XC and Durgarvan 10 in Jan, Donadea 50k in Feb. But the target race and the reason behind the base building is 'Rotterdam the Sequel, BeepBeep's Revenge'
I have races lined up; Leinster Masters XC this Sunday, Waterford HM, Wicklow Senior XC and the Streets of Wicklow 5k in December, Wicklow Masters XC and Durgarvan 10 in Jan, Donadea 50k in Feb. But the target race and the reason behind the base building is 'Rotterdam the Sequel, BeepBeep's Revenge'
Nice choice. Mine in green0 -
Running Totals
WTD: 53.4 [85.9]
MTD: 240.8 [387.4]
YTD: 1,857.4 [2,988.6]
Races YTD: 17 [3 x Master's PB's]
Winter has arrived!
This week saw the return of leggings, the clocks going back and muck, slop and rain in Avondale. This week was a planned 20% step back to let the body recover a little, still haven't layered in the quality, apart from quickening the end of some runs and a few strides. Fighting off a chesty cough for a few days, just about managed to keep it at bay.
Leinster Master's XC
Some hard core cross country conditions greeted everyone who made the trip to Avondale today. I was a bit tired heading up having a sleepover in town last night, with musical beds and the works. Got back to house and got organised had a honey sandwich and hit the road. It was busy down there and I think I parked in Avoca before jogging about a mile to the course. It was wet and cold and I was glad of the temporary gazebos to take shelter and organise the teams. I'm still not taking these races too seriously, so after another warm up and some strides and stretching I was ready for the coralled start. Met Asimonov on the way up had a quick chat and then toed the line. A fellow Wicklow runner asked me what wass it going to be like, I said there would be no easy places with a couple of thousand years of experience on the line!
I got a steady start on the shortened course, due to an accident with an U18 runner, this took about 100mts off each lap and shortened the steeper of the hills a little. By the top of the hill, about 600mts in I was in my stride and running well. Held my place for the first lap, before starting to target some bodies. All the way I focused on form, checking the racing line and gradually picking off places. Made use of my momentum when I could as others struggled with footing. The last lap was a little quieter until the last 500, where I took a spot in the trees and then had a good old ding dong right to the line. I slipped in behind the next runner and everytime I tried to overtake him it was if he had a sixth sense or wing mirrors, it's a narrow section and I'd move right and he'd cut me off, I'd move left and he'd move left also. As we topped the hill I made a break to the left and gained a bit traction, he responed and we were neck and neck, with the crowd cheering until the final 5mts when I found a little extra to pip him by a safety pin. That's what makes racing for your club and county worth it. No idea of results yet, the masters is complex with many age groups.0 -
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Just thought I'd swing by to mark the occassion of my highest monthly mileage ever I think. A 13.3 today brings up 280.3 for October.BeepBeep67 wrote: »As we topped the hill I made a break to the left and gained a bit traction, he responed and we were neck and neck, with the crowd cheering until the final 5mts when I found a little extra to pip him by a safety pin.
Someone captured the moment in time
Results from the masters, I finished 10th M45 which goes to show what a competitive bunch the aul lads are and 5th Wicklow master.
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