gaelforce west 4th attempt!!

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3 miles 20mins 51 secs!! so in 30 days 100 miles!! glad i went and did it now, would of been sick if i didn't get the 100 in the month!! croagh patrick im coming to get you!!:D

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booked my first swimming lessons today 70 euro for 6 week course, already having ideas of triathlons!!:rolleyes:

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6.1 miles 39mins 49 sec my best time for this since i came back!! started out fairly relaxed and made a point not to look at my watch till the end and just ran!! round mile 4/5 felt it a bit, but said feck it and put the head down and carried on the same pace, pleasantly surprised when i saw what the watch was reading!! thanks boards!! its all down to you:)

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checked out peter O'farrell race report from last year on the irish triatlon site, (he finished 2nd by 10 seconds to padraig marrey) and he left a link to his garmin data from the race very interesting and helpful info on it. am copying some of the stuff to my page to try and compare and contrast, obviously i wont have it exact but it will be close enough for time and distance, suggest anyone who wants to see it properly go on to the original website, very easy to find!!

splits-- milage-- time--

split 1:First run, 8.65 miles; 58mins 21secs
split 2;kayak,run,first cycle, 23.10 miles 1:34:16
split 3;accent cr patrick, 1.12 miles 27:35
split 4; deccent cr patrick, 1.15 miles 11:57
split 5; last cycle and run to finish, 7.21 miles 24:44

total miles 41.23 toal time 3:36:55
'' '' ks 66.35

the times are different to results on the gaelforce page, but my main reason for putting this up is for the milage of each section, hope it helps with the taining!!

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went for a long slow run today like some other posters were suggesting might help, took me 2hrs 22mins, dont know the milage will clock it tomorrow,lungs felt fine all the way round, legs ok too, got the odd twinge on the hills but happy enough,

just clocked it there 16.5 miles, probably the longest i've ever ran and had plenty left in the tank, really happy with my progess so far

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first swimming lesson today, very tough, a total different fitness, think if i can master it in the nest couple of weeks will help greatly in terms of fitness and aerobic ability

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sat nothing sunday nothing monday....nothing!!
finally got off my ass and did something today 4 miles in 36 mins, very slow run!! weekends are killing me, cant seem to fight the urge to keep on track, with the champions league this sat it doesn't look like it will be changing any time soon:(

LaHaine

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sat nothing sunday nothing monday....nothing!!
finally got off my ass and did something today 4 miles in 36 mins, very slow run!! weekends are killing me, cant seem to fight the urge to keep on track, with the champions league this sat it doesn't look like it will be changing any time soon:(

Know the feeling all too well!

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still kinda stuck in a rut from the weekend, decided that best way to get out of it was to put myself through hell!! did the same conditioning drill that was on the last page, and managed to knock 19 secs of the last time very happy, especially considering the rut that im stuck in, feels miles better now though!! 33mins 52 secs was the time

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still not in the mood, but managed to get out anyway, followed last nights mantra ie. go through hell again.. went for the 6 mile run again, practically know this run like the back of my hand at this stage,managed to do it in 39mins 13 secs, after last nights conditioning work am happy with that time as the legs were feeling tired!! after doing nothing all last weekend up to and including tues, and with champions league sat, have decided to make this week (weds thurs fri) a week to really hammer myself, with a long slow run sat morning and sun hiding under the covers hopefully next monday i can get back on track!! time is really starting to fly now will be in westport before we know i!!:)

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2nd swimming lesson this morning,what a difference a pair of goggles make!!
did the conditioning drill again tonight, took me 35'23, hell week is over!!! will do the long slow run tomorrow morning then sit back and enjoy the sport on the telly!!:D

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10k in 47 min, took it handy today just ran and listened to some tunes only checked the time when i finished, thank god the champions league is put away for another year;)

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april 16th to now;

weight 14 1/4 stone - now 13stone,

total distance ran 146 miles,

delighted, both with weight loss and milage, still need to lose a bit more to get the most out of my running, have continued eating the same as always ie, take aways 3 -4 times a week, and beer nearly every weekend with the lads! was toying with adding diet habits to this log, but not sure if im up to the ridicule:)

think i have the bones of the base work done now and am confident in my knee being able to stand the test of really pushing myself to try and better my time in the race last year (4.44), log so far has been pretty random,mainly due to the fact that i wasn't following any plan, was just trying to ease my self back in to it. will try to ad some structure to the training and DIET plans from here on in, but as i ain't no professional what seems structured to me might seem upside down to anybody looking in!!

right so i'm going to put it out there... i AM going to go under 4.30 this year at gaelforce!! if it comes down to plain hard work, well i'm up for the challenge!!:mad:

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as of yesterday's post am going to try and train a bit smarter, tempo and interval running seem to be the way forward never heard of these things till i started reading other peoples logs, basically it seems like all the 6 mile runs i have been doing are tempo's which is alright, but not every day!! interval running, like fartlek, repeats or ladders which i have done none off!!

trying to get this log in order as my training is fairly eratic and want to try and get the best out of all this training!! going to do the conditioning drill tonight, tempo tomorrow intervals fri, lsr sat! thats the plan any way hope it works out!!

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completed the conditioning drill again, i can honestly say that i'm confused 27mins 36 secs, thats 6 mins faster than my best time, it is correct cause i checked the watch after each set of 5's and first set was 7mins, 2nd set 14'12, 3rdset 20'47, and last set 27'36! dont get me wrong i am very happy, but dont understand the time difference, exact same course as always!!! ah well......... ........ yipppeee!!!!!

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tempo + hill running

90% effort 42mins

went to curragh woods in midleton and set out at 90% effort, will admit at times i found myself going a bit faster than i planned,but did my best to stay in the right zone. hard to guage it when don't have that garmin thingy!!:D!! 42mins was my best time in these woods last year so really,if did it at 90% hopefully next week i might try and knock a min or 2 off!!

this morning decided to try and work on my core, and used a plan on koemans log ""sub 5 hour gaelforce"" did all the excerises x 20! alot tougher than it looks, the hip raises were a nightmare!!:)

ps. hope koeman you dont mind me letting out your'e secret!!:p

KoemansCC

No probs..I nicked it off someother guy on here too!! Those hip raises are a killer, you're meant to do them vertically without rocking which i can't do yet, I find myself pushing down with my arms to compensate...hopefully when I have abs of steel I will be able to do them right.........

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KoemansCC wrote: »

No probs..I nicked it off someother guy on here too!! Those hip raises are a killer, you're meant to do them vertically without rocking which i can't do yet, I find myself pushing down with my arms to compensate...hopefully when I have abs of steel I will be able to do them right.........

i couldn't even try and describe how i was doing the hip raises, but it wasn't the right way:)

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swimming again this morning, 3rd lesson was very frustrating!! got out for a quick interval this morning aswell as i have a wedding + must try and sneak away from that to watch cork city vs midleton in the fai cup!

3miles interval
basically went flat out for half mile, jogg half mile flat out so on so on...... so endend up flat out running for 1.5 miles jogging in between, no time just had to get it out of the way with the day i have ahead of me!!

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lsr today 12 miles in 2hrs, first 6 1/2 were running to the hotel to collect car after wedding last night, then drove to the woods and did 6 miles there, grand and handy had a running partner today so time flew

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been away awhile, no running since sat!! repeated koemans core workout mon, and did some gym training work tues for my legs!! stiffness then yesterday:( but have decided that i have to incorporate this into my training,and it will get easier!!

going to the woods later on, but instead of driving am going to run the 1.5 miles as a warm up/down to the woods, when i get there then go hard as i have had 5 days off! also plan on wearing one of those black plastic bags to try and help weight loss??? is this madness??? one way to find out!!

Jonno80

what about the cycling, would ya get away with doind the course on a racer or would ya need a mountain bike?
and also is the run and cycle very hilly? Myself and 2 mates are doing it for the first time this year

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Jonno80 wrote: »

what about the cycling, would ya get away with doind the course on a racer or would ya need a mountain bike?
and also is the run and cycle very hilly? Myself and 2 mates are doing it for the first time this year

racer all the way,did it on mountain bike my first year and it was torture,
first run is ok bit hilly near the start, and just before where you come back on the road before the kayak, about 5k into the cycling there is a hill a mile long and is fairly tough, but once you get over that its not 2 bad,till u get to d last 5 k before cp, not a steep hill, but a long constant drag to the foot of the mountain, then there is the mountain, practice mountain climbing if you can, this is what decides if you had a good experience at gaelforce or not:) then the last 12 k cycle home, about 1.5k of that is off road and uphill the rest is downhill into westport!!

and ya regards my cycling training... i,m 1 of those fellas who just doesn't like cycling. first year at gaelforce did it on a mountain bike had no training session beforehand, took me over 2 and a bit hours, last year on a racer with 1 training session did it in 1hr33mins!! i just much prefer running and enjoy going out for runs.. never felt that way about the bike!!

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going to the woods later on, but instead of driving am going to run the 1.5 miles as a warm up/down to the woods, when i get there then go hard as i have had 5 days off! also plan on wearing one of those black plastic bags to try and help weight loss??? is this madness??? one way to find out!!

ran the 1.6miles to the woods as a warm up, no problem!! set off up the hill like a demon...lasted 6 mins, was f"£$ed!!! couldn't cope with the plastic being around me. walked back to woods entrance and was fine again so said i jog back home (still wearing the plastic), grand no problem!! took off the bag to go for a shower, by god it worked sweat pouring out off me, anyway bout 3 hours later said i go for an easy 6mile with another bag over me and see how i'd cope(as i taught it was the sprinting up the hill that was clashing with the effects of the bag) off i went anyway at a handy pace. did the 6miles in 45 mins went for a shower and weighed myself afterwards..., just under 12 1/2 stone,christ thats a 1/2 stone gone, i know it's only water weight and that i've re-hydrated myself since... but it is some loss after a total of 9.2 miles running!!
swimming now tomorrow looking forward to that, then some running.. without risk of suffocating:)

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yesterday, swimming lesson that lasted an hour, stayed on for another 30mins, shattered after it is really tough work!!

today! so far..... did koemans core training again.. it's getting harder, threw in some leg work as well for the knees that i have been neglecting since i started running again!

set was 3x12 of hungarian lunges
3x12 of normal lunges
2x12 of single leg squats!
must get back on top of these to keep my knees in shape, plan is to go for a handy run later and maybe the dreaded bike with some lads tomorrow!!:o

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since mon have been trying to keep to my new found diet and plan to get down to 12 stone as for;
1) to lessen the impact on my body/joints when running and if/when i decide to go back to soccer next season!!
2)hopefully the loss of weight will help me increase speed and endurance!
3)hopefully get under 4 1/2 hours for gaelforce!!
4) most importantly.....little bit of vanity!!:D

had the same diet mon - fri!
breakie =porridge+cup of tea,
lunch = scrambled eggs+2slices of toast,
dinner =porridge+2 apples!
snacks =bananna!
also during the day would of had 4/5 pints of water!! am missing chocolate and crisps, but will relax a little over the weekends as i will need more energy for the planned lsr's and cycles if they go ahead curent weight 80kg's!

DULLAHAN2

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since mon have been trying to keep to my new found diet and plan to get down to 12 stone as for;
1) to lessen the impact on my body/joints when running and if/when i decide to go back to soccer next season!!
2)hopefully the loss of weight will help me increase speed and endurance!
3)hopefully get under 4 1/2 hours for gaelforce!!
4) most importantly.....little bit of vanity!!:D

had the same diet mon - fri!
breakie =porridge+cup of tea,
lunch = scrambled eggs+2slices of toast,
dinner =porridge+2 apples!
snacks =bananna!
also during the day would of had 4/5 pints of water!! am missing chocolate and crisps, but will relax a little over the weekends as i will need more energy for the planned lsr's and cycles if they go ahead curent weight 80kg's!

We are pretty much the same weight and have the same weight goals, just a KG in the difference, what diet are you following that you are having porridge for breakfast and dinnear?

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so went for my planned lsr (long slow run) this evening 9miles in total, plan was to run around the 9/9.30 min mark!!
left the watch at home as to stop me checking it all the time and set of at 6 o'clock ran at what i thought was a slow pace and very comfy, no stress or extra effort at any point during the run, really enjoyed it.the last time i ran this course i was flat out and nearly crawled the last half mile home and it took me 59 mins!!

so plan was 9ish min miles which should have me home in 80-85 mins, in the end took me 68 mins:eek:, so obviously was running too fast!! can't stress enough that i was really trying to go slow and get the benifet of a slow run in for recovery!
so instead of 9ish min miles, i ran it in 7.33 min mile (if my maths is right)
+ side was comfortable all the way round and felt like i was running slow, so i am happy on that side of thing's that my general fitness is improving
- side was a terrible effort of an lsr and will have to make myself go slower

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DULLAHAN2 wrote: »

We are pretty much the same weight and have the same weight goals, just a KG in the difference, what diet are you following that you are having porridge for breakfast and dinnear?

not following a diet, just decided to try and eat healtier and cut out all the crap food, what i'm eating now ie.porridge keeps me full most of the day and keeps my energy levels up as well,and has stopped me going for those midweek take-aways which i was a demon for! obviously this is just my own idea and it seems to be working for me! on weekends i am allowing myself treats and the odd pint as i think if i went totally health freak i wouldn't last pissing time!! think the most important part is i'm not just doing it to lose weight for vanity but to get fitter and ease the load on my knees as i cannot bear the taught of being laid up for 5/6 months again cause my knees give up on me, hope that explained it!

hardCopy

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so went for my planned lsr (long slow run) this evening 9miles in total, plan was to run around the 9/9.30 min mark!!
left the watch at home as to stop me checking it all the time and set of at 6 o'clock ran at what i thought was a slow pace and very comfy, no stress or extra effort at any point during the run, really enjoyed it.the last time i ran this course i was flat out and nearly crawled the last half mile home and it took me 59 mins!!

so plan was 9ish min miles which should have me home in 80-85 mins, in the end took me 68 mins:eek:, so obviously was running too fast!! can't stress enough that i was really trying to go slow and get the benifet of a slow run in for recovery!
so instead of 9ish min miles, i ran it in 7.33 min mile (if my maths is right)
+ side was comfortable all the way round and felt like i was running slow, so i am happy on that side of thing's that my general fitness is improving
- side was a terrible effort of an lsr and will have to make myself go slower

Do you listen to music on your long runs? I found myself going way too fast on my slow runs so stopped listening to my 'motivational' playlist and now listen to chat show podcasts instead, nice way to pass the time and stops me worrying about pace.