Things will come to those who wait...

pconn062

Monday: OFF

Tuesday: 9 miles with 8x1 minute hill sprints

Spent yesterday up spectating and taking photos at DCM. Was great to see the race from the other side and to see all my friends, club mates, family and even a few boardsies have really good runs. Special mention to my 54 year old Dad, a mid-life crisis marathon runner who ran his 4th DCM yesterday and knocked a massive 40 minutes off his PB. At that rate sub 3 is only a matter of time!

Today was meant to be 10x400 but I decided to do something a bit more cross-country specific as I have the Louth senior cross country championships on Sunday. So I ran to the hill I use for my hill repeats and did 8 reps at 5k effort. Was fairly bolloxed after 8 so called it a day and jogged home. My calf is still giving me a bit of grief, didn't really bother me today when I was running but was sore walking around Dublin yesterday. Will have to see how it goes over the next few days. Going to try out the Kinvaras on a short recovery run tomorrow.

MYTD: 1630

pconn062

5.5 miles @ 7.45 pace

Few easy miles very early this morning before heading away to take pics at my brothers graduation. I really am not a morning runner, good not get the legs moving and an 8.03 first mile was a struggle. Eventually warmed up and the rest was fine. A light session tomorrow and then just a few jogs to set me up for 10 miserable kilometres cross country on Sunday. :eek:

MYTD: 1635.5

pconn062

7 miles @ 7.26 pace

Met a friend of mine at the club tonight and we intended on doing a short twenty minute tempo run but when we arrived there was no training on because of the midterm so all the lights were off and neither had a key with us. So we bailed on the session (I was kind of looking for an excuse to give it a miss anyway ) and just jogged around the track instead. Probably no harm with the race on Sunday anyway. It was take your life cold out there, chill to the bone stuff. :mad:

MYTD: 1642.5

ThePiedPiper

HTFU PCONN!!!! Had to be said

pconn062

RunForestRun wrote: »

HTFU PCONN!!!! Had to be said

Ha we deserved that, in our defense it was very dark at the track and any kind of quick running could have resulted in a bad fall or injury (at least that's my story and I'm sticking to it!).

ThePiedPiper

Dark? I'm 5 miles away from you, have a full moon and clear skies.. You'll have to invest in a warmer pair of gloves!!!

pconn062

7 miles @ 7.37 pace with 6 strides

Seven cold, wet, windy but rather enjoyable miles. Getting out the door was the hardest part as it was coming down sideways but felt good and the rest of the miles sailed by easily enough. If it rains much more it's going to make Sunday a mud bath which should just add to the fun (read misery!).

MYTD: 1649.5

pconn062

4.5 miles easy

Just a few miles this morning, I seem to have picked up a bit of a tight chest since yesterday, similar to what I had before the Dundalk 1/2 this year and this run was just a tester. To be honest I didn't feel too good and the lungs were working a bit hard for the easy pace. Not gonna do what I did last time and run anyway. I feel fine all day with no problems but still, will assess again in the morning whether I decide to run or not. I don't like missing championship events like this but I'm not going to do damage to myself again like I did the last time. A bit frustrating but will just play it by ear.

MYTD:1654

pconn062

The big one today and I'm happy to report that Dunleer's men's team are the Louth cross country champions!
Fair play to the lads, not that I had very little to do with it. It was a very hard course made even harder by the rain last night, most of the 2.5k lap was either flooded or completely dug up, definitely the hardest course I've seen (There was a photo taken of all of us at the finish, will try and find it and stick it up later so you can see the state of us!!). The chest felt fine this morning so I decided to run but after 1 lap I was working a bit hard to dropped back a bit for laps 2 and 3 before pushing on in the fourth lap. I finished a bit further down the field than I would have liked with a few lads ahead of me that I've beaten in the novice and intermediate but I really didn't want to push it to much and put myself out for a week. Had a good battle with a lad at the finish that involved a bit of pushing and shoving and resulted in me getting an elbow to the face (it's OK though I still bet him!). All and all a very enjoyable day, out seniors never get together too often so was nice race together and have the craic afterwards.
Special mention to RFR who ran a great race, just one place outside the team medals, for a fellow who doesn't like cross country he sure knows how to run on it!

MYTD: 1662

ThePiedPiper

Aren't we the fine strapping bunch!! Took me about an hour washing myself and the gear before I even put it in the wash!! I'm starting to like this cross-country business. Character-building!!! Good season for the club, 3rd in Novice, 2nd in Inters and 1st in Seniors. Hopefully I'll get to the next race, be good to get back to the shorter stuff, 10k in those conditions was cruel!

pconn062

Came across this one from yesterday, 4th time up that hill and I was like a bit of a zombie!

pconn062

Monday: Rest Day

Today: 9.5 miles

Session: 20 mins easy, 10x200m off 1 min rec, 10 mins easy, 10x200m, 10 mins easy

Set 1: 38 sec average
Set 2: 38 sec average

Monster session this, I was pretty worried about doing it, legs were still a bit heavy after the muck on Sunday. Went fine though, first ten I did one into the wind, one against the wind. But the wind picked up before I started the second set so I changed my plan and did them all the one direction as running such short repeats into a head wind seemed kind of pointless. My legs were like jelly at the end and I wobbled the last 10 minutes easy as opposed to running it! Just an easy run planned for tomorrow and another session on Thursday.

MYTD: 1671.5

pconn062

8.5 miles @ 7.41 pace with 6 strides

Easy enough run this evening in very windy conditions. Chest is still feeling a bit tight at the start of runs but it always seems to loosen as I go on, so unless it gets any work I'll just keep going. The strides were a bit pointless, the legs were fairly dead so I was finding it hard to pick up speed and my form was a bit all over the place. Session at the track tomorrow hopefully.

MYTD: 1680

pconn062

Session: 6x1k off 2 mins rest

Splits: 3.33, 3.31, 3.30, 3.31, 3.31, 3.32

Tough old session this but definitely one of my favourites. Four of us at the club doing it. The first few felt fairly controlled although we were definitely working hard to hit the times. 3 and 4 were much the same with us taking turns at the front, the track was quite crowded so we were doing a bit of dodging. After the 5th one I thought I was done but after the 2 mins recovery we just lashed into it. Very happy with the splits and how consistent they were although I'm slightly concerned with how tough they seemed, still not sure I can picture myself stringing 5 of them together but maybe with a good taper and race day adrenaline anything is possible. Going to build this up to 3x1 mile @ 5.40-45 pace in the next two weeks. Easy run planned for the morning.

MYTD: 1686

ThePiedPiper

Is Castleblayney the 5k race in mind? Hoping to get up to it this year too. What's the goal, anything under 18? I'd say by that stage, it'll be just at the edge of my abilities to hit 17:5x so we could actually be in for a good race. Darragh did well at it last year did he, or was that one of the races in Monaghan town?

pconn062

RunForestRun wrote: »

Is Castleblayney the 5k race in mind? Hoping to get up to it this year too. What's the goal, anything under 18? I'd say by that stage, it'll be just at the edge of my abilities to hit 17:5x so we could actually be in for a good race. Darragh did well at it last year did he, or was that one of the races in Monaghan town?

Yeah that race in Castleblaney is probably the next target for the road, it's a good race, nice course. Sub 18 is the target alright, you should be closer to 17.30 in my opinion, sure you ran sub 18 in that four mile time trial! It was Darragh Rennicks from Bohermeen that won that race last year.

ThePiedPiper

Aw right, I must be thinking of some other race in Monaghan where Darragh Greene had done well.

I'd be thrilled to scrape under 18 in December. I'll be lucky to keep up 1 or 2 training sessions a week over the next while, and was in or around my peak for the time trial, so sub-18 by no means a formality. I suppose the Hyperspeeds might be worth 10 seconds a mile over the Kayanos. Anyway, it'll be nip and tuck with the two of us hopefully getting under 18, and you getting the chance to elbow me in the jaw in the last 100 metres!! Between that and the Noel McGuill race, I think it's gonna get ugly with the two of us!!

pconn062

RunForestRun wrote: »

Aw right, I must be thinking of some other race in Monaghan where Darragh Greene had done well.

I'd be thrilled to scrape under 18 in December. I'll be lucky to keep up 1 or 2 training sessions a week over the next while, and was in or around my peak for the time trial, so sub-18 by no means a formality. I suppose the Hyperspeeds might be worth 10 seconds a mile over the Kayanos. Anyway, it'll be nip and tuck with the two of us hopefully getting under 18, and you getting the chance to elbow me in the jaw in the last 100 metres!! Between that and the Noel McGuill race, I think it's gonna get ugly with the two of us!!

Looking forward to it, we've learned last weekend that I can play dirty and I'll do anything to beat you! Those hyperspeeds will definitely give you a few seconds back, just don't wear them at the Noel McGuill or you'll destroy them!

Friday: 5.5 mile @ 8.28 pace

Just a handy jog this morning, took four miles for me to feel good, was plodding before that feeling like crap. Probably not surprised after that session last night.

MYTD: 1691.5

dna_leri

pconn062 wrote: »

Yeah that race in Castleblaney is probably the next target for the road, it's a good race, nice course. Sub 18 is the target alright, you should be closer to 17.30 in my opinion, sure you ran sub 18 in that four mile time trial! It was Darragh Rennicks from Bohermeen that won that race last year.

Based on the 1K session you just did at the end of a good week sub18 is a bit soft. With a few more weeks and a mini-taper you should be looking at starting out at 17:40 pace and then hanging-on or pushing-on based on how you feel.

pconn062

dna_leri wrote: »

Based on the 1K session you just did at the end of a good week sub18 is a bit soft. With a few more weeks and a mini-taper you should be looking at starting out at 17:40 pace and then hanging-on or pushing-on based on how you feel.

Thanks for the confidence boost DL, you are probably right. I will feel a bit more confident after the 3x1 mile session hopefully! I ran 19.40 in this same race last year so 17:XX looks like a big jump! (Have run 18.23 since then though).

RayCun

You're easily capable of sub-18, it's just a question of how much you go under

pconn062

RayCun wrote: »

You're easily capable of sub-18, it's just a question of how much you go under

Cheers Ray, just need a target to aim for. *Checks Ray's log*, sub 17.55 it is. :cool:


:pac:

pconn062

8.5 miles @ 7.27 pace with 6 strides

Really enjoyable run this on a lovely, cool, crisp evening, some good tunes on the mp3 player (OK, an Elliott Carter piano sonata so not exactly R n' B! :pac:), the legs felt good and I was just gliding along. Threw in a few sub 7 minute miles at the end as well. Will try and get out for a longer run tomorrow to top off a fairly decent week.

MYTD: 1700

pconn062

11 miles @ 7.45 pace

Nice run this morning with RFR, lovely cool morning. I had intended to do a few more miles but I was feeling pretty tired and RFR had to get away so we called it a day. Really want to stretch this long run out a bit over the next few weeks. A good week overall, 50 ish miles, 2 good sessions and a (sort of) long run, hope to get a few more weeks like this in in the next while.

MYTD: 1711

pconn062

Monday: Rest Day

Tuesday: 7 miles

Session: 20 mins easy, 3x1 mile T pace off 1 min rest, 10 mins easy
Splits: 6.17, 6.18, 6.22

This was meant to be 5x1 mile but the wind at the track meant I had to cut it down. Out track it situated up on a bit of a hill so it gets the full wrath of the wind, and this morning really took the biscuit. I was even struggling to get through it on the warm up and to be honest I should have postponed it for another day. First one was fine but I was really digging in to push through the wind. I was fecked after the second and I was barely running in the third, just moving forward with my head down trying to push through the wind. All in all a bit of a waste of time so I called it a day and did a cool down. A bit annoying not to get it done but not much I can do. Have a race on Sunday so will have to plan the rest of my week around that session wise, want to squeeze in a long run as well as some stage.

MYTD: 1718

pconn062

AM: 3.2 miles
PM: South O Hanlon 3k series: 10.33 (5.29 avg pace)

Headed over the this race this evening in Navan at Claremont track. The idea is simple, you chuck a few quid in a bucket for charity and then they run a 3k race, no timing, you just bring your own watch. Happy enough with the time, although due to the large number of people running (about 50 which is unheard of in a track race) we ended up running wide for a lot of it so I'd say if we could have stayed in the inside lane it would have been worth another 10 seconds. But it was a good tester for my 5k training and I managed to sustain a pace (5.29) about 10-15 seconds quicker than intended 5k race pace (5.40-45 ish) so it served its purpose. Had a nice race with my brother as well who I just managed to out sprint in the end to take 4th place, with him following in 5th. Easy running now to bring me up to the Noel McGuill x-country on Sunday.

MYTD: 1725

beeduybe

50?! :eek: I done a few of these races last year and there must have only been 20 at most. What was the standard like? Were you lapping most of the field?

pconn062

beeduybe wrote: »

50?! :eek: I done a few of these races last year and there must have only been 20 at most. What was the standard like? Were you lapping most of the field?

Yeah there was at least 45-50 there, I was surprised myself. Standard was OK, myself, my bro and about 4 others broke off at the start and there was a good gap behind us to the next group, think the winner was just under 10 minutes. But yeah, a lot of lapping going on, in fact we ran a lot of it in the 2nd lane. Good fun though, will try and get up to another one.

pconn062

9 miles @ 7.29 pace

No session at the club tonight with the race on Sunday but we met up anyway and did a few easy miles. I tacked on a few extra miles before the guys arrived as I won't get a longer run on Sunday. Feeling good at the moment so hopefully the weather stays good for a few days so we have a decent course to run on at the weekend, I've had my fill of mud baths for the year!

MYTD: 1734

pconn062

6 miles easy with 6 strides

Out early this morning for this, felt like crap for four miles then I warmed up and flew home, I will probably copy and paste this run for tomorrow as well with a mile or two shaved off.

MYTD: 1740