The Comeback Trail

drquirky

Back at it after the race....was out on the beer Sunday night so forced myself out for a 7 mile recovery run the next day. I'm trying to include more hills in my training and attacking each hill even if I'm running easy. I went up Knockmaroon Hill in this run and looped back up to my house in Kilmainham via the Inchicore Hill from DCM- knocked the hangover out of me anyways...

Headed out today for 11- have grabbed myself a new pair of shoes- I got advise from a Sports Med guy that I saw before DCM to try wearing minimalist shoes with a low heel that push me more towards a midfoot strike. Went to Amphibian King and grabbed a pair of Brooks T7 Racers- felt great! Flats have always been the most comfortable shoe for me as I'm fairly light (65 kg). Did the 11 miles in these and felt way better than I often do in the Pegasus- we'll see but I think the good doctor may have been on to something.

Hopefully I can keep up my training over X_mas.... I've settled on doing the Cavan Town race of Stephen's day so looking forward to that! I'd like to go sub 17:30 in this one though I have no idea of the course...

drquirky

Headed out for some hill repeats today. Had a hard time coming up with a good hill for this one- shortest day of the year sucks! Finally settled on the hill that goes from Chapelizod to Ballyfermot. 3 reasons for this choice- 1) The hill is wicked steep and about 300 or 350 meters long- perfect for repeats 2) The Evening Herald is really pumping up a Ballyfermot gangland feud and I wanted to have a look in and 3) It's pretty close to my house.


Jogged the 2 miles or so down in an easy 8:15 pace, did a few strides and started popping out the repeats. Time tells pretty much nothing if you don't know the hill but ran 1:25, 1:29, 1:27, 1:28, 1:29, 1:29, 1:30 - the most important thing is that I was wrecked at the end. Hills are tough and I really neglected them in my last training cycle so f it- I'm focusing on them now... Good few days of training this week- happy as a clam

brownian

You're going well, Dr Q. Am most envious - it's going to take me months to get anywhere near the sort of speed you're doing these days - nice going, dude.
Think I'll start doing more hill/trail/longer runs, just so I can not compete

drquirky

Busy few days:

Ripped out a nice session on Christmas Eve. Ladder workout w/ jogs around the Phoenix Park on my usual loop. Went 1 min on 1 min off 1.5 mins on 1 min off 2 min on 1.5 mins off 2.5 mins on 2 mins off 3 mins on 2.5 mins off then back down the ladder, finishing w/ 3 or 4 real fast minute repeats. Ran most of this at 5k pace or just quicker...

I spent the Christmas down in lovely North Leitrim- got out for an easy 6 miles on X-Mas day. Nice to have a change of scenery! Christmas dinner was delicious- stayed up till half 1 or so drinking and playing poker lol....

Stephen's Day my OH and I hopped in the car and headed for Cavan Town and the Cavan Christmas Dash. The drive from Dromahair to Cavan involves passing through some of the most dramatic and isolated areas I've seen in Ireland. We climbed over the mountain pass somewhere around Dowra- the wind was really howling and we were stopped by 2 downed trees in the road- very dramatic! Finally made it to Cavan Town and registered for this 5k w/ half an hour to spare. Biggish field of 600 or so. I positioned myself near the front. Took off and tucked in with the two lead females. Glanced over and realized one of them was Catherina McKiernan!!!! Had a bit of a chuckle at that one... Went through the mile at 5:29 and then the 2 at 11:12 - was still with the former European XC champ at this point and was in a good spot in the field at 7th. Catherina dug in and put a burst in at 2 and a half and I couldn't hang on, was really feeling the late night at this stage and the wind was definitely a factor. Ended up running the last half mile on my own and the pace suffered. Crossed the line in 17:39. Good enough for 7th overall (5th male) and 20 secs behind the former London Marathon winner. Happy enough with this- had a seriously fun time running w/ such a legend... good race.

Yesterday was in the book for a long run so ran the Dromahair- Manorhamilton road and was delighted with the rolling hills and scenery- best long run I've had in a while as it was so different for me...good few days of training this X-Mas I must say!

drquirky

Funny experience with the wind today-

Down to Phoenix Park for a session, 10 x 400. Half of them were into the wind and the other half with it. The 5 400's that were into the wind averaged anywhere from 79-82. The 5 400's with the wind went from 73- 77. Interesting display of the helpful/ unhelpful effects of a stiff breeze. Good workout nonetheless- 2.5 mile jog home

Think I'll run the New Year's Day 5k in the park- maybe shoot for sub 17:20

drquirky

30/12- 8.5 miles @ 8 min pace

31/12 5 miles @ 8 min pace w/ strides

1/1 Tom Brennan 5k- After 6 beers the night before I lined up for this one feeling not so hot. Pushed through it though and had a fun day out- was cool to run in the same race as the reigning Euro XC Champ and their were some other pretty hot sh&t runners in the field. Ran a decent, slightly hungover 17:48- I think I'm in about 20-25 sec better shaped than this so should see some improvement soon. Good start to the year though

drquirky

Ok - Gonna copy some posters here and put down my goals for 2012...

5000- sub 16:45

10000- sub 35:30

10 mile - sub 60

HM sub 78

Marathon- Crack the sub 3 w/ a 2:55 or so...

Hopefully these are within reach- I have a baby on the way in Feb so that could throw a wrench in for a while but really enjoying my running right now so hopefully I'll find a way to keep up the training! Happy New year everyone!

drquirky

Monday- 13 miles easy

Tuesday 2 miles

Wednesday- If I end up running any decent times over the next couple of months this session is gonna remind me of the reason. Probably the worst weather I've run in all year- as I was passing a house in Kilmainham noticed a tree had fallen on it! Turned around twice in the early stages of this run but managed to HTFU and get on with it.

Went to my favorite hill spot which I think is one of the best in Dublin (its in between Chapelizoid and Ballyfermot). I banged out 8 hill repeats at full effort w/ jogging the downhill as the rest. It was even tougher than usual today- every time I crested the hill I was hit by a massive gust of wind! I was working really hard and am glad I got this one done. 7 miles for the day w/ the w/u and cool down but felt much harder....

drquirky

Took the day off Thursday- work was too crazy.

Friday- Easy 5 miles - again very hectic day and this was pretty much all I could manage though really glad I got out!

Saturday- 9 miles total w/ 5 miles off mile repeats off a 3 min active recovery (8:30 pace) miles were- 5:55, 6:00, 5:53, 5:47, 5:42. Had some trouble getting going in this one- was a little windy and was in the PP so gradual inclines kinda got to me... happy with the way my body responded though- good to get stronger as the workout went on. Pretty shattered though now....

menoscemo

drquirky wrote: »

Went to my favorite hill spot which I think is one of the best in Dublin (its in between Chapelizoid and Ballyfermot).

I'm guessing that's the chapelizod hill rd. It's so steep it's hard to just jog back down .

drquirky

menoscemo wrote: »

I'm guessing that's the chapelizod hill rd. It's so steep it's hard to just jog back down .

Thats the one- its a bear eh?

drquirky

Sunday- Working all day and no time to run- too many days off lately!

Monday- 13 miles easy (8:00 pace)

Tuesday- Session. 10 x 400 meters w/ 1:00 min recovery. Windy again down at the playing fields in the PP. Hit anywhere from 75- 80 on this one- the 75s- 77s were with the wind and the 78-80's were against it- go figure.... Kinda comical end to the session as my stomach decided to flip out on me as I started my cool down- I ended up behind a tree on Kypher having an al fresco bowel clearance- dignity= gone....

Gonna do 8,5 easy tomorrow hopefully hills on Thursday...kinda want the milage around 45 for the week....

drquirky

8.5 miles easy in the PP today w/ strides at the end...thankfully no toilet breaks today lol...

drquirky

Tempo run- hadn't done on in a while so reckoned it was time. 1.5 mile warm up 5 miles in 30:59 (6:12 miles) got faster as I went on 2 mile cool down. Happy enough with this run - I had a pretty crap training week last week but this one is shaping up nicely....

brownian

Savage running, boy. You're really getting the speed going here... planning any 10-milers in the near future?

drquirky

Brownian- I'm doing my "long runs" on Mondays due to work commitments- I was thinking of running the IMRA race in two weeks time up in Ticknock- you ever done any of those? Looks fun.

drquirky

Wrapped up a kick ass training week with a solid hill workout today. 9x my favorite (ok not really favorite) hill between Chapelizod and Ballyer. Ran 1:20s on these though time is pretty moot on these. Good workout- felt strong.

Great week- three sessions and 44 miles. I'm psyched because the week before it was crap. I'm gonna run that BHAA XC on next Sat and then the IMRA race- looking forward to both...

brownian

drquirky wrote: »

Brownian- I'm doing my "long runs" on Mondays due to work commitments- I was thinking of running the IMRA race in two weeks time up in Ticknock- you ever done any of those? Looks fun.

Only ever run one. Great fun. Recommended. Dunno why I don't do more actually!!

drquirky

brownian wrote: »

Only ever run one. Great fun. Recommended. Dunno why I don't do more actually!!

How bout Ticknock in two weeks?

drquirky

Massage from Vinny then 8 miles steady. Ended up running this one pretty quick- 53:45 or 6:43 per mile... No worries felt really good and really strong. Good to get the rub as well-legs needed it.

ecoli

drquirky wrote: »

Massage from Vinny then 8 miles steady. Ended up running this one pretty quick- 53:45 or 6:43 per mile... No worries felt really good and really strong. Good to get the rub as well-legs needed it.

How do you find running after a massage from him. Up until recently I opted to run recovery run before and not after but now will still do a recovery run after though try avoid anything faster than recovery pace if i can.

drquirky

ecoli wrote: »

How do you find running after a massage from him. Up until recently I opted to run recovery run before and not after but now will still do a recovery run after though try avoid anything faster than recovery pace if i can.

I know its not ideal but tbh I actually always feel really good the day of a massage- I was gonna run really slow and fairly long today but circumstances intervened and I ended up not having much time and wanted to get in a decent amount of miles...I'll go really easy tomorrow though. Still find him very good - was great rec by you Ecoli!

drquirky

Anyone got an idea for a nice and quick speed session I could do on a track in the next hour or so? I want something quick and sharp as I'm racing on Saturday- I was thinking a 200, 400, 600 ladder and back down or similar- also what kind of rests should I use?


BTW is Tallaght track open to the public or do I have to pay? Thanks all!

ecoli

drquirky wrote: »

Anyone got an idea for a nice and quick speed session I could do on a track in the next hour or so? I want something quick and sharp as I'm racing on Saturday- I was thinking a 200, 400, 600 ladder and back down or similar- also what kind of rests should I use?


BTW is Tallaght track open to the public or do I have to pay? Thanks all!

One of my favourite sessioins pre race is 4x200, 2x400, 800, 2x400, 4x200

The 200s and 400s should be quite controlled (ie 3k-5k pace) and really push the 800. All off 2 min rec.

In terms of the track as far as i know strictly speaking its not open to the public however if you go down and explain you looking to use it (even considering joining) and they should have no problem with you using it

drquirky

Thanks Ecoli-

I'm gonna head out and do that workout now- great suggestion. I reckon I'll just go to Irishtown then as I know I can get on that for sure...cheers for the info man.

ecoli

drquirky wrote: »

Thanks Ecoli-

I'm gonna head out and do that workout now- great suggestion. I reckon I'll just go to Irishtown then as I know I can get on that for sure...cheers for the info man.

Let me know next time you are looking to do a session out that direction if I am off I will try fit mine at same time that way they wont say anything to you as I am a member.

drquirky

Thanks a million- will do!

drquirky

Many thanks to Ecoli for a great workout suggestion. Headed down to Irishtown for this one- 2 mile warm up, couple of stride and then straight into it.

Pretty sure I ran it too fast but that is unfortunately a recurring problem with me. Also- this was the first time I'd been on a track in a while so I was psyched.

4 x200 37, 38,37,37

2x 400 77, 76

1 x800 2:30

2 x400 76, 76

4x 200 34 (eek) 37, 37, 35

As you can see a good bit below my 5000 meter pace- that being said I feel like I might be coming into some good shape. Ran a good bit of this workout at 5 min- 5:10 pace so feel like maybe 5:25, 5:30 pace for 5k could be reasonable? Anyway- felt good after this.

2 mile cool down then drove back and stopped for what I believe to be the perfect recovery food- a Chicken Burrito. Chicken, rice, black beans, guacamole and cheese- what more can you want and its not far of the Kenyan diet of rice and beans lol....

Easy days tomorrow and Friday for the BHAA race on Saturday-

drquirky

Saturday 21/1 BHAA Eircom XC- Not happy with this race at all. Very windy- went out strong but totally lost focus on the 4th mile- I was on the back straight directly into the wind and dropped the pace all the way down to 6:55 pace wtf? Recovered on the final mile to run 29:57 but I am positive I'm in better shape than that... oh well - gonna race a 10k on the 28th and that'll be on roads so hopefully will get a better idea of my fitnness.

Sunday- off

Monday 5 easy

Tuesday 14 @ 7:55 pace- good run nice to get a long one in as I missed one last week.

Wednesday (today) - session - so fricking windy only session I could think of was 3 x 1 mile off a 2:30 rest. Braved the wind in the PP and race 5:38, 5:32, 5:32. Happy enough with this as it was cold, wet and windy glad that I could still run decent mile times....Hopefully Saturday goes well in Athy- I'd love to run sub 37 and think I'm probably in the shape to do it...

brownian

Good luck in Athy, my man.