Keep on moving ...............

Speedy44

Well, I think I am going to have to write this week off

After the way I felt after Sundays run, I figured I had better take Monday off.
Tuesday was the County 5000m, I was hoping to run sub 17:30 here but between the antibiotics and the heat, the legs weren't there. I went through 1K in 3:23, 2K in 6:51 (3:28) and 3K in 10:37 (3:46 :eek:), so that was enough of that!
I was cutting the grass on Wednesday and managed to get bit all over the ankle which caused my foot to swell up leaving it look like I was a pregnant women! I am taking antihistamines, icing it and applying cream to it, I think it is slowly coming down, the last think I want to do is to go back on more antibiotics.

With the National Masters 5 weeks tomorrow, I was hoping to be getting stuck into speedwork now. I will instead probably have to do some easy running next week, with maybe a tempo thrown in, and then have only 3 weeks left or speedwork. I have the County 800m on the 23rd, will see how it goes and take it from there.

Speedy44

Foot wasn't too bad today and most of the swelling appears to have gone down, so went for an easy 4ml run. Felt good, love running in this heat, kept it comfortable, 7:26/ml pace.
Will try 6-8mls tomorrow if its ok when I wake up in the morning.

Speedy44

Sunday
8.5mls easy, felt good.

Monday
8.25mls easy

Tuesday
Had a few glasses of wine last night so thought about skipping this, but been that it was the club track session, I figured I better give it a go.
Plan was a 400 - 1K - 400 pyramid, my plan was to go with the faster group and just do the 4's, and take generous recoveries.
Ended up with 69, 68, 70, 72, 70 & 73. Was going to stop after 4 of them due to the heat.

Wednesday
6.5mls easy

Thursday
8.25mls easy. I say easy but could really feel the heat getting to me on the last couple of miles. Was averaging 7:25's without pushing it at all, kept 'trying' to slow down but didn't happen!

Friday
Very busy day with work so the only time I was able to get to the track was in the heat of the day at 4pm.
Was going to do 2 x 600, 3 x 400, 4 x 300 & 5 x 200 with equal recoveries.

First 2 6's were 1:50 & 1:51, right on target.
First 400 was 70, a couple of seconds too fast. Paid for it on the next one and struggled to hit 76. At this point I was really feeling the heat and decided to be sensible and cut it short.
Opted just to do 2 x 200m, which I did in 30 & 29.

Only 4 weeks to go until the Nationals, like to be a bit further along, but happy enough with this shortened session. Reminded myself that it was all about the effort.

I'll do the county 800m on Monday and see how that goes.

Speedy44

Saturday
Decided a rest day was in order as have had a tough enough week.

Sunday
Was going to do the club long run but was convinced that it would be too long with a race tomorrow, so just did 8.25mls nice and easy. Have to say it was the slowest I've ran in a long time, first mile was 9mins :eek:. Averaged 8:10-15 for the lot, but didn't care cause just wanted to go easy and enjoy it.

Monday
County 800m.
Was hoping for 2:15-16 (well, was actually secretly hoping for 2:12 :rolleyes:).
Got 2:18 :mad:
Wanted to go out in about 66 and then see how it went from there. Wasn't expecting any company after 200m or so, normally not too much depth in the Masters division. Was surprised when I went through 400m in 67/68 (32 at 200m) and there was still someone on my tail.
Pushed it from about 350m and again at 250m to try and shake whoever was there.
Think I was 1:41 at 600m, and still hadn't got rid of the guy. Finally with around 150m to go I couldn't here him any more. When I hit the homestretch I remember looking up at the finish and making a rookie mistake, letting myself think that I only have to hang on for 100m, rather than focusing on the task at hand and driving on. Think I took my foot off the pedal slightly as I was hurting now, and then someone went by me with about 30m left and I couldn't respond.

Lesson learned, better now than at the nationals.

Tuesday
Decided to hit the track again as I didn't want to miss the club session.
Fast lads were doing 12 x 400m off 1min, I was going to skip rep 4 & 8 and do 3 sets of 3.
Managed 2 sets, did 3 x 400m off 1min all in 70secs, then too 3:10 recovery and did 3 more in 70, 71 & 75. Legs buckling on the last one.

dna_leri

Tough going running an 800 from the front.
See you were still the first Galway man home so well done.
More to come.

Speedy44

dna_leri wrote: »

Tough going running an 800 from the front.
See you were still the first Galway man home so well done.
More to come.

cheers dna.
I think I am a wee bit stronger than last year, more able to handle a 72/73 pace and hold it, but I don't have the speedwork done to be able to run off a 66/67 lap. At least this is what I am telling myself :rolleyes:

You would have had a good run out in the senior race, wasn't a good turn out but Peter O'Sullivan won it in 2:01 (not sure if he's V35 or V40 now) and 2nd place was 2:03.

Best of luck this evening.

Speedy44

Wednesday
Just an easy 6.5mls to recover from last 2 days.

Thursday
8mls through Salthill and along the prom. Felt ok, but not great, just a bit flat.

Friday
2 x (800, 800 rec, 2 x 400, 400 rec, 4 x 200, 200 rec) at 1500m pace

Times were
2:26, 72, 71, 36, 36, 36, 35
2:27, 74, 71, 36, 36, 36, 34

Happy with this session. Did it solo and in blazing sunshine.
I did the 8's a few weeks ago and they were 2:34 & 2:38, this is where I am most concerned, been able to hold the pace, so happy to nail it for a change.

Speedy44

Saturday
Heavy enough week so went with a rest day. The fact that we had relatives visiting from abroad last night also had a say in the matter

Sunday
Headed off for the long run with the club. Morning was warm but not crazy as in recent weeks. Pace started off gentle enough but soon we were down to 7:20's. After around 4mls I started to feel a bit sluggish, tried to think positive and just run through it. It worked, for a few miles. Once we hit the Salthill prom, a few of us stopped for water so mini-groups started to form, which put me at the back and running 6:40's to play catch up.They weren't too far ahead but I could feel the increase in pace all the same. Thought about backing off but before I knew it I had caught them again.
At this point, I was really starting to feel it the heat so this time I did back off. In saying that, mile 11 was still 7:43. Once I hit NUIG and some shade from the tree's, I decided to walk. Walked for 10mins as far as Kingfisher Club, got some water, and jogged the last mile.

I know why I was feeling like this. Although I didn't have too many beers on Friday, I did manage to get only 4 hours sleep, and that was on a couch. I hardly ate anything on Saturday, and on top of all this, when I went to make my porridge on Sunday morning, I discovered I just had enough milk for the coffee (I can't abide porridge with water :rolleyes:).
So between been tired and having almost no carbs in my body, its no wonder I felt like that!

Monday
A nice, gentle 6.5mls.
Took me a while to get into it but felt good by the end.

Speedy44

Was looking forward to tonight's track session all day.
3 x 800m off 4mins and 2 x (250, 200, 150 off 90secs) with 400m jog between sets.
Had to take 5mins between 2nd & 3rd 800m, but apart from that, was very happy with the session.
Times were 2:27, 2:27, 2:32 - 39, 31, 22 - 41, 32, 23.

Knew it was a tough session as could feel the lactic and also my head was pounding. First time doing shorter stuff and it felt good.

Still debating whether to do 1 or 2 more track sessions this week.

Speedy44

Ended up taking Wednesday & Thursday off, unplanned :mad:

Friday
Just did 8.25mls nice 'n easy. Felt good, very relaxed.

Saturday.
Supposed to be doing a club session but with the National 1/2 on Monday, there was a bad turnout. Thankfully on of the young lads showed up so I decided to jump in with him. Was undecided what to do as it was, thought about 10 x 400m off 1min, but figured that would be hard to do by myself, especially so early in the morning, where I traditionally am not at my best.

We ended up doing 2 x (6 x 300m off 60secs) with 400m jog in between.
Times were:
51, 53, 52, 52, 52, 52
55, 55, 55, 56, 56, 54

Happy enough with it, was feeling it by the end of the first set. Had to do the 2nd set solo as the kid was doing them in 51-52 still. Glad to keep them consistent though.

Speedy44

Sunday
Sign of the times when my long run is 11mls :rolleyes:

Glad it wasn't much more though as I was feeling tired again towards the end. This seems to be happening a lot to me over the past few weeks, anything over 10mls and I start to feel like I am running out of gas.
I'm sure I was tired after yesterdays track session as well though, but at the same time, don't like the fact that I am cramping a lot more than usual. Think I will have to look at my salt content or something.

Speedy44

Monday
Just an easy 6.5mls, felt good as well, which hasn't been the case recently on my easy runs!

Tuesday
Track session with the club, although I still ended up running solo
I planned 10 x 400m, but I am the only one left targeting a track race, so the rest of them were doing K's & 4's.

This was going to be my last hard track session before the nationals so I had hoped to do them in 72/73, which I did, for the first 4 :mad:
They went like this:
72, 73, 73, 72, 74, 74, 76, 75, 79 ............... and that was it, didn't have the legs for the 10th rep.

Didn't feel great in the warm up, tough day at the office too, so I'll just put it down to one of those days.

Will do 2 more track sessions this week but not as hard.

Speedy44

Wednesday
Just an easy 6.5mls, but I have to say, I felt very tired during it.

Thursday
Opted for a day off.

Friday
6.25mls around the fields, actually felt good, and better as I went along. I started dreaming of the xc season, and the track season isn't even over yet :rolleyes:

Saturday
Well, decided during the day to run the Streets of Galway 8k.
I entered it months ago on the off chance that I would do it, but then decided that since the training for the National 1500m was going ok, I wouldn't risk it.
Then today I found out that I may not have got entered into the Nationals by the club. I emailed AAI yesterday but heard no reply. So after watching Mo win the 10000m, I figured I didn't want all my training (even though it was track training for a 1500!) go to waste, so I said I'd give it a shot.

Had no idea really how I would do as I have no tempo's or long reps done. Figured I'd be happy with anything under 30mins.

Here are my splits:
3:34, 3:29, 3:37, 3:40, 3:43, 3:41, 3:44, 3:42 (29:14), the last .13k took me 22secs to give me a finishing time of 29:37.

The course had a few changes this year due to traffic islands at the old start. This made the hill from 4k-5k longer, but at least I held it together.
Felt good most of the way, took it nice 'n easy at the start and then picked it up a bit on the 2nd k when I realized a gap was opening to the group ahead and I was in no mans land. Stuck with this group then for most of the rest of the race, which helped a lot. Was happy with the splits. 14:20 at 4k and 18:03 at 5K.
I was starting to hurt now though and just trying to gut it out from one k to the next. Had passed a club mate of mine who I had never beaten before at about 3k and I was expecting him to come by me. Held my place though and even managed a kick at the end to hold off any challenge from behind.
As an added bonus I managed to finish 2nd in my category, and my nephew won the Junior category in 27:10, while not racing it as he is coming back from injury and is just building his base back up again, not too bad for a 16yr old!

I'm away now for a couple of days with the family. I will follow up with AAI and the club and hopefully I am in for next Saturday. I will just take it easy this week and do some strides on Tuesday and Thursday.

dna_leri

Hope to see you Saturday

Speedy44

Well, just got clarification from my club that they did not enter me for the National Masters 1500m, despite me reminding them a week before the deadline, so I will not have the chance to defend my title :mad:

dna_leri

Speedy44 wrote: »

Well, just got clarification from my club that they did not enter me for the National Masters 1500m, despite me reminding them a week before the deadline, so I will not have the chance to defend my title :mad:

Have you tried contacting AAI directly? I know they have made exceptions to the " no entries on the day" rule in the past.

It would be a pity to miss it.

Speedy44

dna_leri wrote: »

Have you tried contacting AAI directly? I know they have made exceptions to the " no entries on the day" rule in the past.

It would be a pity to miss it.

cheers DNA, will give them a shout.

Speedy44

After not getting the opportunity to defend my National title, I took a little break. Before that though I managed to run the Streets of Galway 8k (29:37) & a local 5K (17:55).
My break coincided with the new term of clients I have for my work, which is built around running, so I ended up doing mini fartlecs between the groups :rolleyes:, thankfully have it sorted out more or less now so I can ease back into training.

Got my entry for the Boston Marathon, my 24 week program (Daniels) doesn't start until Nov. 4th but in the meantime I am just trying to build up my base again slowly.
Did 34mls last week including a long run of 11mls, the week before that I think I did about 20, but 2 of the runs I opened it up a bit that included 4mls @ 6:25/ml pace and 3mls @ 6:10 pace.

Here is this week's plan:
Monday - rest
Tuesday - 8.5mls easy
Wednesday - am -4mls, pm - 7.5mls
Thursday - rest
Friday - 8mls
Saturday - 6mls
Sunday - 11mls
Total = 45mls

Speedy44

Well, had planned to take today off but was feeling a bit pissed off at work and in need of a blow out so after a 2ml warm up did a 2ml tempo in 11:51 (6:00 - 5:51). Another 1.25mls warm down.

Mission accomplished, felt a lot better

Speedy44

Friday - Just a bit of a jog with work, although I did throw in a 73sec 400m :rolleyes:

Saturday - 8.25mls easy. First couple of miles were ok, next couple my head wasn't into it. Managed to shake myself out of it and enjoyed last half of the run. Average about 7:20.

Sunday - Normally head out at 9am for the club run but wasn't expecting too many as Loughrea 10K was on. Then got held up watching the Berlin Marathon, was worth the wait.
Finally got out at 10am and did a nice easy 12mls. Felt good, after an easy first couple of miles, I averaged about 7:19 for last 10.

Week Distance = 45.5mls

Speedy44

Another 45ml week last week which, finishing up with the County xc.
Tough going out there, the conditions were great, only 6k, 4 laps. Thought I had a good race in me, but had heavy legs from the start.
Probably started off too fast and after 2 of the 4 laps found myself thinking about pulling out. Instead I slowed down and managed to regroup and even finished strong. Bet all of the guys I wanted too, but none of the guys I was hoping too :rolleyes:
Spent the whole morning help out a crew doing their last long run before the DCM, jumping in & out of the car every 3mls with water & gels.

This week I took Monday off, got out twice on Tuesday for a total of 12mls, just did an easy 4mls and a swim in Wednesday, and yesterday did 8mls with 6mls steady on a very hilly course. Averaged 6:44/ml for the 6 so was pleased with that.

More of the same for the next month, increasing the mileage with some tempo runs thrown over hills in the mix.

Speedy44

Last Friday I did another 8mls easy.

Saturday I paced some folks doing their first ever 8k, then later that day I did 5.5mls by myself, for a total of 11mls for the day.

Decided I needed a lie in on Sunday (10.30am :rolleyes:) with the intention of getting out later that day. Of course with the sun shining I ended up cutting the grass!

Did the long run on Monday instead, 11.5mls. Running 'blind' as garmin decided not to work. Felt pretty good, didn't push it but tried to keep it steadyish with over doing it.

Tuesday I did about 8.5mls on grass. This was 4 laps around all the football pitches. Went from feeling ok to not ok to ok again, but then at the start of the last lap met up with a buddy of mine going the opposite way who thought I was doing a steady run! He ran with me when I said I was going easy, and I felt great on last lap. Definitely helps having some company.

Speedy44

Well, after finally getting over the flu (I hope), and missing 2 weeks training, it is now time to stark to knuckle down to getting ready for Boston.

Am going to follow Daniels 24 week program that I did for Rotterdam 2011, first 6 weeks will be just building my base up to 75-80mls/wk.
Hopefully this time it'll get me my sub 3 :rolleyes:
Four of us from the club have qualified so could even have a team heading over.

Monday
Did 4.5mls jog (11min mile pace) with the group I train. Should I include that
Also did 5mls easy by myself. Felt ok at the start but very tired towards the end. Did 6.5mls yesterday at a decent clip which was probably a bit too much too soon after the break.

Tuesday
Was going to take this as my rest day but decided I needed to get out. Felt good and just ran freely, 5.25mls at about 7.05 pace.

Speedy44

Wednesday
Will call the a day off, but still did 4 x 400m in 90secs off about 4mins rec with one of my clients. Also did another couple of miles very easy.

Thursday
5.5mls at about 7:15 pace and then 2.5mls very slow.

Friday
8.28mls at 7:31 pace

Speedy44

Decided to take yesterday off, today I did 11mls easy with the club. Good bunch out, 10-12. Left watch at home but think pace was probably about 7:20-30 judging by the time it took us (82mins approx).
Felt really good as well.
Did almost 40mls this week, first week back after the 2 week absence due to the flu, will get up to 50 or so next week.

Speedy44

Monday
Headed off to do 8mls but after a mile remembered that I had a meeting in an hour :eek:
Turned it into 4mls instead.

Tuesday
After a hard day at work, was looking forward to getting out today. Did the 8mls I was going to do yesterday, averaged 7:14 pace. Went to the track after and did 4 x 200m off 200m jog, just to stretch out the legs a bit. Times were 36, 36, 36 & 35, didn't force it at all, just concentrated on form. Finished at the right time as night was coming in and the track was starting to get a bit icy!

Speedy44

Wednesday
Rest day

Thursday
Started off with the intention of just doing an easy run. After a 1st mile of 8mins, the rest of them were 7:17, 6:57, 6:41, 6:47, 6:43, 6:45, 6:44.
Didn't force it at all though, just ran as I felt. Ended up with 8.4mls.

Friday
Got 4mls in at 7.45am, had intended to get out again later but life got in the way :mad:

Saturday
8.25mls easy

Sunday
14ml run with the club. Only4 of us out as a few of them were doing the Inter Counties, and the rest must just be 'fair weather runners' who are afraid of a bit of mist
Felt good, going a bit slower than usual, 7:45's, but that's not a bad thing.

Week Distance = 47mls + 9mls very slow with clients

Speedy44

Monday
Meant to get out but ran out of time. One of the drawbacks of living in the country is that your window to run is very narrow in the winter. Tried to put new batteries into my headlight but no joy.

Tuesday
Did my usual 8ml loop through Salthill. Decided to do like last week and not push it but not hold back either. First few miles were 8:01, 7:11, 6:57 & 6:53. Started feeling tired then though so backed off. Eventually finished averaging about 7:30's.

Wednesday
Going to race this Sunday so wanted to get my long run in midweek.
Did 11.75mls easy, when I say easy I mean slow, 8:03 pace. Felt like crap most of the way, but at least I kept the pace consistent. Tough work day which I'm sure didn't help.

Speedy44

Thursday
Just managed a very tired 4mls by myself at 8:30 pace, felt exhausted
Threw in a 400m in 85secs on a nearly dark track at the end, not exactly sure why !
Ended up having to do another 3.5-4mls afterwards with clients, actually felt a bit better in doing this.

Friday
After yesterday, figured a day off was called for.

Saturday
Strange training session. Having a documentary done on me so had a film crew at the house at 7.30am where they proceeded to follow me around for the next few hours while I ran here, there and everywhere :rolleyes:
Got to stretch the legs out a bit in the process, without hopefully wearing myself out too much for tomorrows 10K.

Sunday
Hadn't planned to do this race, but the brother arrived back from the states yesterday so thought this may be my chance to finally beat him
Wasn't to be, I hung with him for 4k then had to let him off. He got me by 23 secs in the end, even with jetlag
Happy enough with my own run as haven't really been doing any sessions as such. Splits were:
3:38, 3:44, 3:48, 3:47, 4:00 (18:57)
3:48, 4:01, 3:58, 3:49, 3:31
My last k tells me that I may have left a bit out there! Helf off a lad that had been on my shoulder for a few k and caught another couple of lads. Didn't have to kick at the end but felt it was there if needed.

Speedy44

Not the best of weeks

Ended up having to take Monday & Tuesday off as between work and trying to finish an essay, just didn't have the time.

Wednesday
4mls easy at 10am and another 6.5mls at 4pm.
Didn't feel great during either, and in the afternoon run I ended up throwing in 4 x 1min or so efforts just to try and get the legs moving.

Thursday
8mls easy, no watch, felt ok

Brother was still in town so between socializing and other stuff, didn't make it out on Fri or Sat. Almost made it out on Friday though, actually had the gear on but made the mistake of checking my phone before I set off, another fire needed putting out :rolleyes:

Sunday
Didn't get to bed until 1.30am Sat night, but wanted to do the run with the club. Woke feeling surprisingly refreshed. Lovely morning for it too.
Ended up doing 12mls with about 8 of them at 6.50 pace. 4 of us just ran comfortably having a chat, couldn't believe the pace, it felt good though. It never ceases to amaze me how you can run by yourself and feel like crap, but go with a group or even one other person and end up running a min or more per mile faster, and feel better!

Booked the flights for Boston yesterday, 21 weeks left, time to get serious