gaelforce west 4th attempt!!

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hardCopy wrote: »

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.

ac/dc, rocky theme tune and u2's desire is just some of the stuff that i would be running away too!! tried running with the phone before ( can listen to radio through that) but someone always seem to ring me in the middle of the run, or when in the woods reception would be patchy!! must check if the brother has anything i could use, he's like inspector gadget with all his toys. i'm lucky to be able to turn on the computer:) thanks for the advice hardcopy,am willing to try anything!!

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7 miles 60 mins!! + 1/2 mile warm down!

met up with 1 of the lads again tonight, he was after running the dingle adventure race on sat and just wanted a handy run to loosen out the legs!! he told me although dingle was shorter than gaelforce it was tougher and will stand to him for our rematch at gaelforce in august!! will have to make up some nicknames for my rivals to keep future posts entertaining:) and have signed up for the ring of kerry in july so that should sort out some of my cycling issues!!

on another note diet is still good;
monday ; porridge, scrambled egg, pasta for dinner!
tues; porridge, chicken salad, pasta for din dins!
snack; still of chocolate sticking to bananna's+apples

KoemansCC

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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!!

Those hip raises are getting contagious, spotted 2 guys in the gym tonight doing them right (they obviously weren't watching me). They both had there knees bent slightly when raising their hips and it seemed to work better, tried it myself and it was way easier, managed to do about 10 of them correctly without rocking...one guy was knocking them out like sit-ups!!!!

KoemansCC

+1 on hardcopy's advice...stopped using an ipod altogether around April and am enjoying the runs/cycles more, mainly because of the good spring/summer weather, probably go back to using it in the winter again though...

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KoemansCC wrote: »

Those hip raises are getting contagious, spotted 2 guys in the gym tonight doing them right (they obviously weren't watching me). They both had there knees bent slightly when raising their hips and it seemed to work better, tried it myself and it was way easier, managed to do about 10 of them correctly without rocking...one guy was knocking them out like sit-ups!!!!

ya, doing them again tomorrow!! really looking forward to them!:rolleyes: will try that new way, cause at the moment they are killers!!

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KoemansCC wrote: »

+1 on hardcopy's advice...stopped using an ipod altogether around April and am enjoying the runs/cycles more, mainly because of the good spring/summer weather, probably go back to using it in the winter again though...

was fine tonight without the ipod cause i had company, but when i'm on my own i really enjoy bopping away to the music!! gaelforce banned them for gaelforce north this year so will prob have to cope with out them for the 1 up west!! only 66 days left!! could do with it being 166 days away:)

hardCopy

KoemansCC wrote: »

+1 on hardcopy's advice...stopped using an ipod altogether around April and am enjoying the runs/cycles more, mainly because of the good spring/summer weather, probably go back to using it in the winter again though...

I do like my dance/hip-hop when I'm working for speed, but find it hard to slow down on a slow run with high tempo music blasting in my ear. I'm trying to work through ITB problems at the minute so deliberately taking it slow.

We've been pretty lucky with weather the last few weeks, bar a hail storm on my cycle last Friday, pretty easy to stay motivated when it's bright til after 10.

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koemans core training again today x25 reps,
+ legs
3x12 of lunges
3x12 hungarian squats
2x12 single leg squats

went out for run then this evening different route than normal,will check the distance tomorrow, no time either but felt brilliant during it running really free and easy if that makes any sense!

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5.7 miles today very handy and enjoyable!! left watch at home today again and felt kinda free running without having to chase the clock so to speak!! really feel now that i will be able to equal/better my run time from last year (64mins)!

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another month down ( 16 may to 16 june)..,so here are the vital satistics...,

milage; 105.2miles

current weight- 79kg's(just over 12.5 stone)!
start weight (when i started training again) 14 1/4 stone!

total milage over the 2 months = 206.6miles
total weight loss '' '' =1 3/4 stone

so basically i am flying !! ha ha!! knee feels stronger all the time, fitness is improving, weight is still coming down and my diet is really improving!

next month's goals;
1) keep improving my aerobic capacity and running,
2) do some work on the bike
3) keep up core work and leg work ( even though my ass kills me for 2 days afterwards)
4) keep to the diet as best i can, and get closer to 12 stone!!
ps. decided to find out how tall i am... 5'10, also found out my 6'' tall brother is actually only 5'11a!! booom!! delighted with the last 1!! :-)

hardCopy

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another month down ( 16 may to 16 june)..,so here are the vital satistics...,

milage; 105.2miles

current weight- 79kg's(just over 12.5 stone)!
start weight (when i started training again) 14 1/4 stone!

total milage over the 2 months = 206.6miles
total weight loss '' '' =1 3/4 stone

so basically i am flying !! ha ha!! knee feels stronger all the time, fitness is improving, weight is still coming down and my diet is really improving!

next month's goals;
1) keep improving my aerobic capacity and running,
2) do some work on the bike
3) keep up core work and leg work ( even though my ass kills me for 2 days afterwards)
4) keep to the diet as best i can, and get closer to 12 stone!!
ps. decided to find out how tall i am... 5'10, also found out my 6'' tall brother is actually only 5'11a!! booom!! delighted with the last 1!! :-)

Good going, your weght loss is making me jealous!

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fri 17th core work again plus swimming lesson for 2 hours!

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met the lads at 8.30 this morning pumped the tyre's and set off on our bike for my first bike session (first time on a bike since gaelforce last year) 2 lads had racers i used one of their hybrid bikes which they used for the race last year, tough session on the bike, were going for 1hr 35 mins and we think it was round the 20 mile mark, dropped off the bikes and set off on our run, went through the normal forest at the start then branched off in to the one across the road then onto a road which brought us back to the start, no idea of milage but we were going for 1hr 10 mins, all in all a good morning's work! legs are weak enough after the cycle though, very tough!!

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went with the lads again today, 6 miles in 50 mins up in the curragh, tried something different though, kinda interval training??
basically for every uphill we went about 90-95% effort, then on the flat/downhill jogged as a recovery, found this a very good adaptation on our running, and was really feeling my legs burning on the up hills!!

did the core workout again x25reps

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little bit of fartlek training in the soccer pitch,basically 3 hard laps, followed by 1/2 lap recovery, repeated this 8 times, distance was 9.128 kilometers!!
basically trying this stuff out as it is supposed to help with pace over longer distance!

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recocery run today 7.45 miles, no time legs felt a little bit tight!!

found a handy tool on google maps to find out distance of my runs,without me having to drive a round and clock it in the car :P!! diet is still good, just have to be better behaved at wknd's!!:D

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centre back wrote: »

met the lads at 8.30 this morning pumped the tyre's and set off on our bike for my first bike session (first time on a bike since gaelforce last year) 2 lads had racers i used one of their hybrid bikes which they used for the race last year, tough session on the bike, were going for 1hr 35 mins and we think it was round the 20 mile mark, dropped off the bikes and set off on our run, went through the normal forest at the start then branched off in to the one across the road then onto a road which brought us back to the start, no idea of milage but we were going for 1hr 10 mins, all in all a good morning's work! legs are weak enough after the cycle though, very tough!!

cycle was 23.5miles
run was 5.69 miles. just love my new google map tool!!:D

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swimming this morning, finally swam a full lenght of a pool, takes it out of ya though, herself had a thesis in college today, so i drove her up, and took advantage by getting in some running in the ucc sports ground's known as the farm! 5.12 miles in 35 mins, happy with that time as i wasn't killing myself and the wind and rain was horrendous!!:( and getting changed by the side of the road was an experience, enjoyed the beeping though:cool:

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one of my buddies is taking over the 2nd team in the club this coming season, so he wanted to try out some pre season drills on some of us to see if he can get them ready for 30 or so lads when pre season starts!!

try my best to describe this session,
timed from the start to when you finish!!
first excercise was 30 push ups, then to flip an excercise bag the lenght of a soccer field and back, then 30 sit ups, then he had 14 cones laid out in a line as far as the halfway line,you start at the touchline run to the first 1 turn it over then back to touchline and so on till you had all 14 turned over! then 30 skips on a skipping rope, then repeat step 2 with the punching bag!! I know thats hard to follow but trust me it was a welcome change to the mundane running i have been doing all along, great to get the heart beat up as well!! apart from the 6 or so soccer players there my 2 gaelforce buddies were there as well, did a very respectable time for it considering they wouldn't of done any training like this before!!

top 3 times were;

me :-) 12.44
the school teacher; 12.48
the plumber; 13.55

my 2 gaelforce buddies did it in 15.35, and 16.20 which was very good, considering the advantage soccer players would have with all the quick short running

also the 3 of us did 10 laps of the field aswell, =2miles!!

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woods today did a loop which is 2.256 km's x 5, with the buddy today, did it at his pace which was fairly comfy for me,
lap1;12mins
lap2;11:50
lap3;12;10
lap4;13mins
lap5;12:30.

total time 61.30
total distance 11.28km's!/7.05miles!

enjoying running with the lads again, but the times are suffering, whats more important times/company?? suppose best would be do my recovery runs with the lads, off days then for myself and time improvement!!!

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4.6 miles up hill!!

plus core work x25reps!

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core work this morning x25! am starting to see some results from this, thanks koeman!!:)

went to woods then after, in a bit of a rush so just did 3 laps at what i think would be race pace,
1st; '' '' (10.45) 2.256km's
2nd; 21.55 (11.10) 4.512km's
3rd; 33.09 (11.16) 6.768km's!

plan is to build this up to 4--5--6laps which is roughly the same distance as stage 1 in gaelforce, but the woods are tougher so should stand to me!!

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went to woods today for some hill repeats, and it was prob the closest i've been to getting sick in a long time!!! yuucckk!!
hill is roughly 70mtrs long and fairly steep and i gave each repeat everything!
1st; 17.05 secs
2nd; 17.30 secs
3rd; 18.20 secs
4th; 19.30 secs
5th; 20.10 secs
6th; 19.79 secs
had 2 min recovery between each rep!!

warm up ran 1.4 miles at easy pace, really tough session even though it was the shortest one i have done, had nothing left afterwards!!

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core workout x 25!! still finding this very helpful and might try and up the reps to 30!!!:cool:

woods again, 2 laps today which would be 2.82miles which took me 20.37, nearly 3 miles but route is very hilly so am happy with that time as i wasn't actually flat out!

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am disgusted...!:mad: was at my friends house yesterday and had to use the toilet, saw a scales in there so hopped onto it... said 12st 10, panic set in, asked the buddy was his scale working and he confirmed my fear, turns out my own scales is broken, must of been working up till 1-2 weeks ago when it was saying i was 12 3/4, then the dramatic loss to 12 1/4 in 2 weeks should have alerted me sooner, but i guess it was wishful thinking...:(!! time to pull out the finger again but doubt i will be down to 12 stone for gaelforce now. will just have to up the training again and hopefully this wont set me back!!

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after the weighing scales debacle, went up to the lads in the soccer club and did their circuit training again x2! first go was 12.59, 2nd go was 13.30! really good blow out session

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went up to the pitch again tonight and did my conditioning drill from a few pages back, really hard workout and it is 6 km long altogether, completed it in 30 mins!
fowwoled this with the core workout and upped it to 30 reps which took me 16mins 30 secs!! those extra 5 reps were murder!!

this week was supposed to be an easy week, with just a few short, sharp stuff thrown in, and no long runs, they will start again monday!!

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6 miles in 40mins!!

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11 k, 52mins! went with one of the lads handy enough jaunt!!

LaHaine

centre back wrote: »

11 k, 52mins! went with one of the lads handy enough jaunt!!

I hate you!!