Micilín's Mucky Miles

Micilin Muc

Thursday

Run in to work. Tried the same strategy as last night, starting at 9:00min/mile. Got:

8:53
8:48
8:27
8:32 (mostly uphill)
7:50

Distance: 5 miles
Time: 42:32
Pace: 8:30min/mile
Climb: 49m
HR: 167bpm

Micilin Muc

Sunday

Cycled to Barr na Coille again and did Three Rock & Two Rock. Climbed Fairy Castle twice This'll be my longest run before the Connemarathon Half so I was glad to get a half-decent pace. I drank nearly 3 litres of water over the two hours. Debating whether to do the race with or without the platypus.

Distance: 11.5 miles
Time: 2:01:57
Pace: 10:36min/mile
Climb: 448m
HR: 162bpm

brownian

Micilin Muc wrote: »

Sunday

Cycled to Barr na Coille again and did Three Rock & Two Rock. Climbed Fairy Castle twice This'll be my longest run before the Connemarathon Half so I was glad to get a half-decent pace. I drank nearly 3 litres of water over the two hours. Debating whether to do the race with or without the platypus.

Distance: 11.5 miles
Time: 2:01:57
Pace: 10:36min/mile
Climb: 448m
HR: 162bpm

That;s some good running and climbing...you'll be well set for the half!

Bear in mind that on the race you'll have water stations...you might not need your own supply.

Micilin Muc

Thanks! I see that there will be water stations every 3 miles or so providing 250ml bottles. I think one at each station will do me, I'd rather not run with a bag and 2 litres of water on my back!

I'm finishing up a few courses at the moment so I've been up to my eyes this week tying things up. I missed my 3-mile run on Tuesday :eek: Not to worry, I'll do it tomorrow instead.

Wednesday
Run home from work. Was supposed to run 5 miles but other arrangements meant I had to stop at 4 miles before continuing 30 minutes later. I only continued for .4 mile before I gave up, my first time not finishing a distance . My joints are all sore this week, I'm blaming it on my runners in which I've ran over 450 miles!

Distance: 4.4 miles
Time: 39:15
Pace: 8:55min/mile
Climb: 45m
HR: 162bpm

Thursday
Run in to work.

Distance: 5 miles
Time: 45:12
Pace: 9:02min/mile
Climb: 52m
HR: 160bpm


Went out to Amphibian King and picked up a pair of Brooks Adrenaline GTS 11. I previously had the GTS 10 which took no breaking-in so hopefully the new ones won't need any either.

I'm going to feel really embarrassed tomorrow going running in clean runners!

brownian

Hope the new shoes work out for you - one week out is a little tight if they don't suit you.

Don't train too hard over the weekend and next week - it's taper time.

Micilin Muc

Friday

Did my Tuesday 3-miler this evening. First time in my new runners. I felt my right foot kind of numb in the third mile. I doubt the shoes were too tight. Will give them a go again on my Sunday LSR.

Distance: 3 miles
Time: 24:43
Pace: 8:14min/mile
Climb: 18m
HR: 167bpm

Micilin Muc

Sunday

Did a shorter LSR this week as part of my taper, only 9.6 miles in the Phoenix Park (delighted I can say 'only'!). Went with a running partner so it was easier for me to keep my pace under control and not to go too quick.

Hills included Kyber Road x2 and Lower Glen Road. Hardly felt like hills!

Distance: 9.6 miles
Time: 1:42:37
Pace: 10:41min/mile
Climb: 92m
HR: 146bpm

Micilin Muc

Monday

Went for a walk this evening. Off work for the next 6 weeks to concentrate on my masters - it's only the first day and I feel like cabin fever is setting in already!

Distance: 3.8 miles
Time: 1 hour and 1 second!

Micilin Muc

Tuesday

4 miles around the Fifteen Acres in the Phoenix Park including Kyber Road. I find it hard to take it easy this week, even though I know it's for the best!

Distance: 4 miles
Time: 34:56
Pace: 8:44min/mile
Climb: 44m
HR: 171bpm

Micilin Muc

Wednesday

3 miles around the Fifteen Acres. Saw the finish line frame thingy being erected on Furze Road for the Great Ireland Run. I haven't run on concrete/asphalt in a while. My joints feel a lot better for it!

Distance: 3 miles
Time: 26:35
Pace: 8:52min/mile
Climb: 21m
HR: 160bpm

Micilin Muc

Wednesday Afternoon

I inadvertently cycled about 14 miles today, thought I may as well put it in the diary!

ronanmac

Tá tú beagnach ann! Cén chaoi a n-aithríonn tú faoin lá mór? An é seo do chéad leath-mharatón?

claralara

ronanmac wrote: »

Tá tú beagnach ann! Cén chaoi a n-aithríonn tú faoin lá mór? An é seo do chéad leath-mharatón?

Iontach! Is aoibheann liom é!!

Micilin Muc

Mo chéad leath-mharatón! Tá sprioc agam é a dhéanamh taobh istigh den 120 nóiméad ach tá na cnoic úd ag bagairt orm arís agus ní dhearna mé rith ar bith ar luas tapa sna sléibhte go fóill.

An nglacfaidh tú páirt i Rás an Spidéil i ndeireadh Bhealtaine? Is oth liom thú a bheith gortaithe, tóg go réidh é!

ronanmac

Micilin Muc wrote: »

Mo chéad leath-mharatón! Tá sprioc agam é a dhéanamh taobh istigh den 120 nóiméad ach tá na cnoic úd ag bagairt orm arís agus ní dhearna mé rith ar bith ar luas tapa sna sléibhte go fóill.

An nglacfaidh tú páirt i Rás an Spidéil i ndeireadh Bhealtaine? Is oth liom thú a bheith gortaithe, tóg go réidh é!

Tá mé thar lear don rás sa Spidéal, faraor. Tá ceann i gCluain Cearbán an tseachtain ina dhiaidh sin, b'fhéidir go mbainfinn iarracht as sin.
Tá súil agam tabhairt faoi chúrsa an leath-mharatón ar mo rothar Dé Domhnaigh. Ligfidh mé béic mhór má fheicim tú!
Go n-eirí leat!

Micilin Muc

Friday

My last run - 1.89 miles around the Fifteen Acres finishing with a sprint up to the Papal Cross à la Rocky! Beautiful morning, my feet are wet from the dew on the grass

I'm still contemplating wearing my running bag on Sunday to hold a banana, mandarin and a bottle or two from each water station. I won't bother with the Platypus.

Distance: 1.89 miles
Time: 18:07
Pace: 9:33min/mile
Climb: 12m
HR: 156bpm

claralara

Best of luck on Sunday!

maria74

Best of luck, am looking forward to hearing all the reports.
will be urging you all on from the park!!:D

ronanmac

Micilin Muc wrote: »

I'm still contemplating wearing my running bag on Sunday to hold a banana, mandarin and a bottle or two from each water station. I won't bother with the Platypus.

Adh mór ar an lá mór, Micilín Muc!
I'm not sure if I'd bother with the bag... There will be plenty of water stations, and you can carry a banana and mandarin in your hands (although I find mandarins/oranges/apples pretty acidic on a run... bananas on the other hand are god's own food!).
An alternative strategy perhaps would be to bring along a gel and take it at about mile 7 or 8, having it absorbed into the system just before your biggest challenge of the day, Máimín na gCearc, aka Hell of the West!

Best of luck,
R

Micilin Muc

1:59:00 according to my Garmin :-)

ronanmac

Micilin Muc wrote: »

1:59:00 according to my Garmin :-)

wow! fair play, comhghairdeachas. Is iontach an dul chun cinn atá déanta agat thar achar ama gairid!

Micilin Muc

A 50min 27sec chunk taken off my PB for Half Marathon!

I only got 6 hours sleep because of an all-night party upstairs from where I was staying. Thankfully I got sufficient sleep on Friday night.


Over 2000 competitors in the Half Marathon and guess who was sitting next to me on the bus – fellow Boardsie theVaggabond! The buses left Galway at 9am or so and arrived in Leenane before 10am, so we spent two hours waiting around in Leenane before the race. I regret not buying a cheap jumper in Penneys!


I went out on my own and took it easy enough over the first mile. The first hill was fine and I hardly felt it at all. Miles 2-5 were quite fast in comparison with how I intended to go out and I got mile splits of under 9 minutes.


Vagga caught up with me somewhere around 5-6 miles which was a nice surpise! Unfortunately I started getting a stitch at this stage and it took 3 miles to run it off. I kept up with Vagga until the bottom of the Hell of the West and by mile 10 he was out of sight!


The Hell of the West was quite difficult as it is a very long hill (90 metres elevation gain over nearly two miles in length). I spotted Ronanmac and son(s) at the top of the hill giving support! The last 2.1 miles were hard to keep up a decent pace as the finish area was in sight but didn’t seem to get any closer!


I stopped my Garmin a few metres over the line at a time of 1:59:00 and a distance of 13.22 miles (I started the watch as I crossed the mat at the start). Unfortunately my provisional chip time is 2:00:26 so officially I didn’t make it under two hours. 26 seconds isn’t something to get annoyed over, especially over the Connemarathon route so I’m happy with my result and my training.

EDIT: Updated results say I got it in 1:58:57. I may have said that 26 seconds isn't something to get annoyed over, but I'm very happy with my new result :P


Distance: 13.1 miles
Time: 1:58:57
Pace: 9:04min/mile
Climb: 206m
HR: 176bpm
Garmin Link and Splits

Micilin Muc

Distance|Current PB|Goal PB
5km|00:24:50 (1.1.11)|00:24:00
5 miles|00:41:45 (21.11.10)|00:40:00
10km|00:54:03 (16.1.11)|00:50:00
10 miles|01:27:00 (16.1.11)|01:20:00
Half Marathon|0[FONT=verdana,geneva,lucida,'lucida grande',arial,helvetica,sans-serif]1[/FONT]:58:57 (10.04.11)|01:50:00
Marathon|06:30:51 (30.10.06)|03:50:00

rainbow kirby

Well done yesterday

(a lot of those goals look awfully familiar :pac: )

tHE vAGGABOND

Hope your ok today

I was really sorry to loose you around that second last water station, I got water and before I knew it I was on my own. The other lad from Kerry caught me for a while, but then he stopped for the call of nature, so did the last bit on my own with my legs screaming at me to stop

Really was fantastic to have met up like that, made the whole thing so much more fun

Micilin Muc

@ronanmac Ní bheidh mórán dul chun cinn á dhéanamh agam as seo go ceann tamaillín! Go raibh maith agat as an tacaíocht!

@rainbow kirby I set most of these goals after about 9 weeks of running. With more experience now I realise how difficult some of them will be, apart from the 5km time. I'd say I'll still have some of the same goals this time next year.

@Vagga No worries at all, I was glad to have company for those miles while I had a stitch! I was in Peacockes for a good while, didn't see you around! Fair play on the great time, I hope your knee is ok today!

Micilin Muc

My next goal is to reduce my half-marathon time from 1:58:57. The goal race is the Strawberry Half-Marathon on 26th June in Enniscorthy which won't be as hilly as the Connemarathon. I'm going to set a goal of 1:55:00 for this race

The race is 11 weeks away and I'll be mostly off work, working part-time or studying for my Masters during training. I haven't made my mind up about cross-training yet (I'd love to go back swimming, again!), but I'll definitely have to do more strength training and stretching!

In terms of speedwork, all I'm going to do is run quicker! My average pace for midweek runs over the last plan was about 8:47min/mile. I plan to reduce this to 8:15 - 8.30min/mile and to do my LSRs a little bit quicker. I plan to continue with my weekly run in the Dublin Mountains and maybe the odd one during the week if I'm lucky! I'll be using the last 11 weeks of the same Hal Higdon Novice plan as last time.

Race-wise, I only plan to enter the 8km Rás an Spidéil in Galway on 29th May, and of course the Strawberry Half itself.

rainbow kirby

You would probably see more of an improvement in your HM time by running higher mileage - even stepping up to the Higdon intermediate program rather than the novice one. Keep the easy runs easy and run the hard ones hard, you don't need to be doing your LSRs faster as they are all about getting the time in on your feet.

Micilin Muc

Good idea about keeping easy runs easy and hard runs hard! Unfortunately I don't have enough time to do a higher mileage but maybe I'll do the Wednesday workouts on the Intermediate plan. Thanks for the advice!

maria74

Well done, great time and run by sounds of it.:)

Micilin Muc

Tuesday

Back to the start again 3 miles around the Fifteen Acres.

Distance: 3 miles
Time: 25:58
Pace: 8:39min/mile
Climb: 20m
HR: 166bpm

tHE vAGGABOND

Jesus my legs are only starting to get back to normal from the weekend, and your back out already - a mad man

Micilin Muc

Thursday

I took (half of) rk's advice on switching to the Hal Higdon Intermediate HM plan. I don't have the time to increase my mileage in the hopes of improving my times, so I'll do one speed session a week as recommended in the intermediate plan (0.25 mile or 400m @5km race pace x 5- increasing the reps by one every two weeks).

Here's today's results:

1. 6:40min/mile
2. 6:00min/mile
3. 6:20min/mile
4. 6:16min/mile
5. 6:48min/mile

I clearly don't have a 5km race pace of anything under 7:30min/mile, never mind the times above!! I didn't set my Garmin properly, so next time I do it I'll run each .25 mile at 7:45min/mile.

Max HR: 187bpm

Micilin Muc

Sunday

11.23 miles from Greystones to Killiney with a running partner. Drove to Bray, DART to Greystones and ran back, stopping at the car for water. Fantastic day with a strange fog around the lower parts of Bray Head. It was supposed to be a slow run but my running partner isn't as slow as me!

Distance: 11.23 miles
Time: 1:42:20
Pace: 9:06min/mile
Climb: 131m
HR: 168bpm
Garmin Connect Link

Micilin Muc

Thursday

First time out since Sunday. Very busy with thesis. Haven't been drinking enough water or eating enough food. Not exactly looking after myself!

Distance: 3 miles
Time: 26:50
Pace: 8:57min/mile
Climb: 0m
HR: 170bpm

rainbow kirby

Micilin Muc wrote: »

Very busy with thesis. Haven't been drinking enough water or eating enough food. Not exactly looking after myself!

That was me last summer - it's tough to train and work on your thesis at the same time. Even if you can get out for 30 minutes at a time though it will help, it's good to get out and get some fresh air and sunshine when you're deep in thesis country.

Micilin Muc

Sunday

I've missed a good few days of training this week due to my thesis. As it's still early in the training plan, I'm going to gradually make up the days over about four or five weeks. So today's run was my Wednesday interval speed session. Thanks to RayCun, I set up my Garmin so that it will tell me my lap pace for each interval. It still took a bit of messing around during the run but I got the hang of it by the third or fourth interval.

0.25 miles in

1. 7:10min/mile
2. 7:05min/mile
3. 7:04min/mile
4. 7:25min/mile
5. 7:39min/mile

Max HR: 189bpm

Note to self: I'm almost never too busy to go for a run. It will clear my head!

Micilin Muc

Monday

3 miles up and down the Canal. I'm finding the faster pace a lot easier now thanks to the intervals!

Distance: 3 miles
Time: 25:11
Pace: 8:23min/mile
Climb: 0m
HR: 168bpm

maria74

[HTML][/HTML]

Micilin Muc wrote: »

Sunday


Note to self: I'm almost never too busy to go for a run. It will clear my head!

Know that feeling and it is hard when you are studying and so near a deadline. But rather than spend 2 hours on something, a 20 min run can mean you only have to spend 30 mins on it (as head is clearer).
Best of luck with it!

backspacer

Micilin Muc wrote: »

Sunday
Note to self: I'm almost never too busy to go for a run. It will clear my head!

This is so true, was only so so last night about heading out, but felt great when i got out and did it, clears the head in no time.

Micilin Muc

The Good News:

Have submitted my masters thesis and am currently on a two-week holiday in New York

I was also offered a new full-time job in Dún Laoghaire so I'll be running 10km to work a few times a week and cycling the other days when I start in June. I might even go swimming in the sea at lunch time if I'm lucky!


The Bad News:

So I fell off the wagon - it's been 12 days since I last ran!

I was very busy with the thesis and my accommodation for the first six nights in NY wasn't situated in the safest of areas. The first six days of my holiday have also seen a lot of hot dogs, steak, chocolate milkshakes and my first drop of alcohol since February. Actually, maybe this is Good News!

I've had to pull out of my goal race, the Enniscorthy Stawberry Half Marathon, not because of a lack of training, but because of a professional exam that was announced this week that I want to sit on the same day. Priorities :mad:

So I'm thinking up of a new plan to take me to the start of my marathon training on 27th June. I know I haven't lost a terrible lot of fitness in 12 days so I'll try doing a 3-miler on Sunday morning up here in Yonkers. Don't know how this plan will look but I'm not too bothered in doing double digit LSRs yet. I'm still running the Rás an Spidéil 8km

maria74

[HTML][/HTML]

Micilin Muc wrote: »

The Good News:
Have submitted my masters thesis and am currently on a two-week holiday in New York

I was also offered a new full-time job in Dún Laoghaire so I'll be running 10km to work a few times a week and cycling the other days when I start in June. I might even go swimming in the sea at lunch time if I'm lucky!

Congragulations and....congragulations!!

Enjoy the treats.:)

Micilin Muc

Monday
4 miles out and back from Astoria to the end of the Queensboro Bridge. Believe it or not but it was quite hilly because of the hump in the middle of the bridge. Lovely views of the Chrysler Building. I couldn't believe the length of the bridge - it's over a mile long!

Distance: 4 miles
Time: 36:45
Pace: 9:11min/mile
Climb: 89m
HR: 178bpm
Garmin Link


Saturday
Got the Subway to the bottom of Central Park with a running partner and did a short loop of the lower section of the park. Will have to come back to NY and do a big 6-mile loop of the park. Stopped for 10 minutes mid-run to talk to my friend's friends. We finished after 2.86 miles - we were wrecked from last night's late night!

Distance: 2.86 miles
Time: 33:29
Pace: 11:41min/mile
Climb: 25m
HR: 128bpm
Garmin Link

Micilin Muc

So if I fell off the wagon 3 weeks ago, it must be completely out of sight by now!

I have just over 4 weeks left until I start my marathon training. Those 4 will be spent building up my mileage again so that the first few weeks won't be too much of a shock. I'm just going to follow weeks 4-7 of HH's Novice Half-Marathon Plan starting on Monday.

Plan for the weekend
A 2-mile run this evening.
A slow 10-mile run tomorrow morning with a running partner.

Micilin Muc

Friday

2-mile run along the Grand Canal. My heart-rate needs to come down a good bit!

Distance: 2 miles
Time: 18:25
Pace: 9:07min/mile
Climb: 0m
HR: 172bpm

Micilin Muc

Saturday

Just over 9.5 miles in the Phoenix Park with my brother this afternoon, finished off with a lovely 99 ice cream My muscles will be sore tomorrow!

I was convinced last night to do a 10km with my cousins in a few weeks time, the Mid Summers 10km Run in Killruddery House and Gardens in Bray which involves a minimum of 240m elevation gain :eek:

Distance: 9.66 miles
Time: 1:31:47
Pace: 9:30min/mile
Climb: 67m
HR: 176bpm

Micilin Muc

Despite having run 9 miles yesterday, I decided last night to come down to Galway to do the Rás an Spidéil 8km! Got the first bus from Dublin at 7am and was in Spiddal in plenty of time for the 1pm start. Registered in the school and met Ronanmac heading in.

As I've lost a good bit of fitness and was very stiff from yesterday, I really didn't care about getting a good time. Myself and two friends stayed together for the first 3km and did 11 minute miles, all uphill. Two of us went on ahead then, just before the crest of the hill at 4km. Picking off target runners we gradually sped up to finish the last mile in 8:30 or so, finishing overall in 50:01.

Lovely community feel to the day with both the parish priest and local TG4 soap 'stars' in the race! Would do this race again.

backspacer

Fair play to you, not a bad time considering it was a savage first 4km, finished in 46:19 myself. Didn't spot you anywhere on my travels, but was just ploughing along to get over the hill really:D

Micilin Muc

In hindsight and with Garmin data, it actually was quite hilly: 97m elevation gain over 4km! Didn't have that in the Connemarathon!

Distance: 5 miles
Time: 49:47
Pace: 9:57min/mile
Climb: 97m
HR: 158bpm

backspacer

I was reading somewhere that the elevation was around the 101m mark, so was glad to see the top of it Crazy stuff none the less.