Things will come to those who wait...

blockic

Good to see you could run in the end pconn.

That result is a joke...definitely needs to be raised as it's a bit of a farce.

drquirky

Nice running PConn- you're really coming into good shape. I'd be seriously pissed if that kind of carry on w/ the team prize happened to us. Lame.

pconn062

menoscemo wrote: »

Sounds worse than Athletics Ireland :rolleyes:
I hope RFR at least got his individual gold.

drquirky wrote: »

Nice running PConn- you're really coming into good shape. I'd be seriously pissed if that kind of carry on w/ the team prize happened to us. Lame.

blockic wrote: »

Good to see you could run in the end pconn.

That result is a joke...definitely needs to be raised as it's a bit of a farce.

RunForestRun wrote: »

I wish! I was 5th place overall. They spent the entire bloody race calling out my name over the speakers. There's RFR of Dunleer, every lap, then when it comes to totting the scores, they forgot that I existed!! I know mistakes can happen, but the exact same mistake shouldn't happen two years on the trot with the same club missing out on medals both times to the host club. Leaves a bad taste..

pa4 wrote: »

Hey pconn062, thats not on at all. Similar situation happened in my county novice XC today where we were given medals when we shouldn't have been. Got a phonecall from a member of the country board looking for the medals back and they are re-doing the medal cermony in 2 weeks at the intermediate championships. You should really complain about it and get your medal, I know how much a medal can mean to somebody. Another similar situation happened in the road championships in the womens race, they ran with an unregistered athlete and ended up getting DQ'd about a week later and all the medals were giving back and passed on the next teams in line. I'd get on to the chairperson of the louth county board and get it sorted.

Well done on the race by the way! Good place and not a bad time for a cross country race!

Cheers lads, yeah a bit of a balls up alright and as RFR says, it kind of sours the day a bit. We are going to get onto the county board and get them to sort it, and to try and make sure it doesn't happen again!

Definitely feeling like I'm in good shape Dr.Q, if I can shift this bad chest and stay healthy I might be able to pull out of few good races soon.

BeepBeep67

Nice running, the history books will show the correct results and this mix up will be forgotten.

NiallG4

Results are now amended to reflect the correct team placings. You will probably get medals sometime in 2014. Well done yesterday. Easy thing to do would have been to cry off or pull out mid race. Hopefully the blow out will kick start you for the months ahead.

pconn062

NiallG4 wrote: »

Results are now amended to reflect the correct team placings. You will probably get medals sometime in 2014. Well done yesterday. Easy thing to do would have been to cry off or pull out mid race. Hopefully the blow out will kick start you for the months ahead.

Good stuff, that will save us money on the tribunal we were going to launch to get the placings amended!! Great run yourself yesterday, must be great to get a win, big pressure on you now for the home event at the weekend. The weight of Dundalk is on your shoulders! :pac:

NiallG4

pconn062 wrote: »

Good stuff, that will save us money on the tribunal we were going to launch to get the placings amended!! Great run yourself yesterday, must be great to get a win, big pressure on you now for the home event at the weekend. The weight of Dundalk is on your shoulders! :pac:

Pressure is for tyres :cool:. Only joking. Looking forward to it. I was running really bad in August after an injury lay off and knocked races on the head and did 6 weeks of quality training and then did the Star of the Sea CC for a wee blow out. Each race will bring me on and the longer race will suit me also. The DKIT course is far harder then yesterdays. It is a 2K lap with a nice hill in it. You never know who might show up this week. I do think the grading system needs to be amended. It is a joke that the boys in the first 3 of last years Novice and Intermediate can run again next year. I think there should be at least a 3 year period especially for the Novice.

pconn062

NiallG4 wrote: »

Pressure is for tyres :cool:. Only joking. Looking forward to it. I was running really bad in August after an injury lay off and knocked races on the head and did 6 weeks of quality training and then did the Star of the Sea CC for a wee blow out. Each race will bring me on and the longer race will suit me also. The DKIT course is far harder then yesterdays. It is a 2K lap with a nice hill in it. You never know who might show up this week. I do think the grading system needs to be amended. It is a joke that the boys in the first 3 of last years Novice and Intermediate can run again next year. I think there should be at least a 3 year period especially for the Novice.

Yeah I did the intermediate last year, it's a much better course than yesterdays one, a few hills make it interesting. Agree about the grading thing, I thought they were out for longer than that, 5 years I thought. So your lad who won the two races last year can run the novice and intermediate again next year? There's goes my plans on an attempt to try and win it!!

NiallG4

pconn062 wrote: »

Yeah I did the intermediate last year, it's a much better course than yesterdays one, a few hills make it interesting. Agree about the grading thing, I thought they were out for longer than that, 5 years I thought. So your lad who won the two races last year can run the novice and intermediate again next year? There's goes my plans on an attempt to try and win it!!

Not sure about the winner but the 2nd and 3rd in last years Novice and Intermediate can run next year.

pconn062

Monday: Rest

Tuesday: 8 miles @ 7.22 pace

My chest felt immediately better after the race on Sunday, and continued into Monday. My resting heart rate was down to more levels on Tuesday morning as well. However this run was just a labour, never felt good and I probably should have ran slower. No real serious problems, just a tight chest making the run feel tougher than it should.

Wednesday: 7 miles w/session

Pyramid session: 4, 3, 2, 1, 1, 2, 3, 4 (minutes hard)

Back up the doctor this morning to get the chest looked at again, as it's just not going away. He thinks it could be a recurrence of my childhood asthma, he sent me for a chest x-ray and gave me another week of steroids. Will know more when the x-ray results come back next week. He also gave me permission to keep training, except if it becomes really uncomfortable to do so. The annoying thing is I feel fine most of the time, it's just when I go to run my chest tightens up and leaves me short of breath.

So back to training, wanted to get a good session in before this race at the weekend. We had a great group for this, 8 of us so plenty of lads to share the workload. We took 1 minute rest between the different times and 2 minutes between the set. We started off the first 4 minute rep at about 5.45 pace before picking it up, averaging 5.35 for the next six reps. We blasted it then for the last 4 minute set averaging 5.25 pace. Felt really good during this, no real problems from the chest although it was freezing cold which wasn't ideal. My hands nearly fell off with the cold so was glad to be done. The plan for the rest of the week is to just run easy before seeing how I feel on Sunday before deciding if I run. We are not as stuck for guys to run this weekend so if I don't feel up to it I will give it a miss.

pconn062

Thursday: 6 miles @ 8.30 pace on grass

Late recovery run after work, felt a bit spooky running around the fields surrounded by trees in the near dark. Got a bit of a fright when I came round a corner and nearly collided with a person. Turned out it was a guy from my club so was nice to have company for a few laps.

Friday: 7 miles @ 7.37 pace on grass

Easy run before work, nothing much to report. The chest is feeling much better thankfully.

Saturday: 6 miles @ 7.34 pace

Everything was going too smoothly, felt great ticking along with no effort. Then as I went round a corner (running on grass) I felt a twinge in my calf. Thought nothing of it and it was fine for the rest of the run. Got sore throughout the rest of the day while walking around. Have a race tomorrow so tried a short run on the treadmill and it felt fine, only sore when I'm walking and sitting around. It is the exact same pain I had during the summer so hopefully it is nothing to serious, and I think I know how to manage it. I hope to race tomorrow as during the summer it was fine to run on (plus tomorrow's race is on grass so easier on the body). Just a bit frustrating, I did nothing really this week to aggravate it (and have been doing calf exercises everyday since the summer). Have physio booked for Tuesday so hopefully a good rub will sort it out. Bollox.

dna_leri

Good luck with your race. Don't push the last mile if your calf is not 100%

pconn062

dna_leri wrote: »

Good luck with your race. Don't push the last mile if your calf is not 100%

Thanks DL, calf held up, just about!

Sunday: Louth Intermediate Cross Country (5 mile), 12th, 30:00

I tentatively headed down to the race this morning, hoping that the calf felt good on the warm up. Did a lap of the course and the conditions were great, dry with mud and the calf felt OK. The course itself has a few up and downs but overall a fast course. 2k a lap, so 4 laps.
The race started fairly quick and I settled in with a group in about 20th place. Gradually a few lads fell back and it was down to me, a clubmate of mine and another guy from DDAC. We stuck together for the first lap and I felt good, nice and relaxed. Halfway through the second lap and I tried to encourage my friend to come with me but he was having none of it so I set out on my own to chase the group in front. Went through halfway in about 15:30 or so feeling really good.

For the next lap I kept chasing the guys in front of me and caught them at the end of the third lap. They stuck to me for a while and I could here people on the sidelines shouting at them to "hold on to him, it's for the team!!" I managed to lose them on a downhill when I bounded away. Set my eyes on the next two guys, with about 600m to go a guy from my club was roaring at me from the sidelines, a big rally call full of swearing and motivational phrases! :pac: I decided to go and pulled ahead of the guy in front of me. The next guy heard me coming and despite my best efforts I couldn't catch him and he crossed the line 2 seconds ahead of me.

Very happy with my run though, that's a PB for 5 mile on the grass and I would hope to lower that a lot in a road race, wish I had one more second there to get under 30 minutes. Shame we were missing a few runners for a team prize, RFR is in Chicago and another was at a stag, so I was first in for the team.

The plan now is to try and fix this calf and *hopefully* put in a good three weeks training before the senior race, have massage booked for Tuesday. 43.5 miles for the week.

pconn062

Monday: Rest

Left leg very sore first thing in the morning, the opposite one that was bothering me over the weekend. In a different place that I've ever felt pain before, on the peroneus longus, particularly painful when plantar flexing my toes. This put me in a really pissy mood for the rest of the day needless to say.

Tuesday: 8 miles @ 7.33 pace

Some people are possibly wondering why I ran today even though my leg was sore (including my physio). To be honest I wanted to see how the leg reacted, and to be honest, I've picked up some many injuries and niggles this year that I am beyond the point of caring or being cautious anymore. The leg felt pretty good, no real pain, just a few twinges when I went to quickly around a corner.

In the evening I went for a rub with my physio. He diagnosed the problem as inflammation in the peroneus muscle, we think caused by the downhills in the cross country race. There were a couple of really steep, short downhills sections and I was a little over enthusiastic on these, bounding down them to get away from different lads. Paying for it now a bit. He said however it wasn't a serious strain and just to keep an eye on it. He is also slightly baffled as to why I keep picking up so many niggles.

Wednesday: 7 mile w/session

4x1 miles off 2 mins recovery

Splits: 5.57, 5.53, 5.48, 5.44

The leg felt OK all day so decided to go out to training and warm up and see how I felt. The leg felt good on the warm up so I decided to do some of the session with the lads, they were doing the mile repeats as well as a few 400's and 200's which I decided to skip. I started very tentatively but settled in soon enough. Glad to see each rep get quicker and apart from the last 400m of the final mile I felt quite comfortable and the effort felt like comfortably hard, rather than flat out.

So I hope to be able to train for the next 2 and a half weeks until the senior championship is over. After that I am going to take an extended break to allow the body to recover if it needs it (and also to try and build strength in my lower legs, as I really pick up a silly amount of niggles). So I'm making all sort of bargains with my body, begging it to hold together for a few more weeks! The leg feels OK now so hopefully I can keep it together.

jfh

pconn062 wrote: »

Monday: Rest

So I hope to be able to train for the next 2 and a half weeks until the senior championship is over. After that I am going to take an extended break to allow the body to recover if it needs it (and also to try and build strength in my lower legs, as I really pick up a silly amount of niggles). So I'm making all sort of bargains with my body, begging it to hold together for a few more weeks! The leg feels OK now so hopefully I can keep it together.

i'd imagine the xcountry would be great for leg strength.
whats the plan after, concentrate on the 10k or move up to the marathon?

pconn062

jfh wrote: »

i'd imagine the xcountry would be great for leg strength.
whats the plan after, concentrate on the 10k or move up to the marathon?

The cross country is great for building strength alright, I think the problem is I'm lacking a bit of strength now!!

The plan for after cross country (after I've fixed the body) is to build the mileage nice and steadily and run a few road races (up to 10k) early next year. I'm kind talking to myself here but I think I could do some serious damage to my road PB's. Then I will get ready again for the track season next summer. Hopefully this time I'll be able to run a few more races. I have no plans to run a marathon anytime soon, I'm only 25 so will leave the marathons until I'm into the 30's I think (some comment about a midlife crisis!).

jfh

pconn062 wrote: »

The cross country is great for building strength alright, I think the problem is I'm lacking a bit of strength now!!

The plan for after cross country (after I've fixed the body) is to build the mileage nice and steadily and run a few road races (up to 10k) early next year. I'm kind talking to myself here but I think I could do some serious damage to my road PB's. Then I will get ready again for the track season next summer. Hopefully this time I'll be able to run a few more races. I have no plans to run a marathon anytime soon, I'm only 25 so will leave the marathons until I'm into the 30's I think (some comment about a midlife crisis!).

your only a young 'un, yeah leave the marathons for the auld fogeys like me:D
you might have another stab at the JD 10k plan

NiallG4

pconn062 wrote: »

The cross country is great for building strength alright, I think the problem is I'm lacking a bit of strength now!!

The plan for after cross country (after I've fixed the body) is to build the mileage nice and steadily and run a few road races (up to 10k) early next year. I'm kind talking to myself here but I think I could do some serious damage to my road PB's. Then I will get ready again for the track season next summer. Hopefully this time I'll be able to run a few more races. I have no plans to run a marathon anytime soon, I'm only 25 so will leave the marathons until I'm into the 30's I think (some comment about a midlife crisis!).

Are you's going to the Louth Senior CC. We are thinking of not bothering due to our lack of "quality". It appears ourselves and yourselves are merely making up the numbers this year.

pconn062

jfh wrote: »

your only a young 'un, yeah leave the marathons for the auld fogeys like me:D
you might have another stab at the JD 10k plan

Don't think I'll do the JD plan again jfh, found it a bit too tough for me to be honest and I find one session a week works better for me than 2 or 3, it's all my legs can handle!

NiallG4 wrote: »

Are you's going to the Louth Senior CC. We are thinking of not bothering due to our lack of "quality". It appears ourselves and yourselves are merely making up the numbers this year.

Ha, I thought that comment was a bit much, no need to make things so personal! Yeah we will be there alright, although I don't think we will have the team to win it, we are missing 3 of the lads who came in the top 5 last year with injuries so it will be a struggle. I hope that you guys can win it if we can't, anything to stop them getting the senior title! Maybe NER and Dunleer should combine for this one race??!!

pconn062

^^^^^^

That's no your comment I'm talking about by the way, but rather the comment a certain DDAC member made!

dna_leri

pconn062 wrote: »

Monday: Rest

So I hope to be able to train for the next 2 and a half weeks until the senior championship is over. After that I am going to take an extended break to allow the body to recover if it needs it (and also to try and build strength in my lower legs, as I really pick up a silly amount of niggles). So I'm making all sort of bargains with my body, begging it to hold together for a few more weeks! The leg feels OK now so hopefully I can keep it together.

pconn - do you do any kind of strength training? Might be a good idea to introduce (or increase) this in your next phase. I'd suggest squats esp single-leg, lunges, dead-lifts, etc. You don't need to become a meat-head, can even start with low (or no) weights and build up.

pconn062

dna_leri wrote: »

pconn - do you do any kind of strength training? Might be a good idea to introduce (or increase) this in your next phase. I'd suggest squats esp single-leg, lunges, dead-lifts, etc. You don't need to become a meat-head, can even start with low (or no) weights and build up.

Hi DL, I do a little bit of strength work everyday, mostly calf raises and some stuff to strengthen the ligaments around my knee that my physio gave me years ago. I also do a little bit of stability work (single leg balancing). It is something I will definitely increase in the next few months, I want to be as strong (and injury proof) as possible before starting the next track season.

ThePiedPiper

Still think we'll have a strong team pconn, EB, yourself and myself all at a higher level.. We might not win the individual 1st, but should have reasonable strength in depth for the team...

ThePiedPiper

Who all is injured? MQ, CK and who else? How's DG, would maybe start as favourite if fit and healthy..

pconn062

Thursday: 7 miles @ 8.30

Recovery run on grass, felt pretty awful to be honest and the legs were tired after the previous day's session.

Friday: 7 miles @ 7.20 pace

This run was like the opposite of yesterdays, felt great and was loving splashing around in the lashing rain.

Saturday: 13 miles @ 6.54 pace

Headed into the marathon group this morning for my long run and they were doing their last long run. Found myself running with the guy targeting sub 2.25 in Dublin (how did that happen??). He assured me he was only running easy but his easy pace is very different than mine! Right from the start we were running near 7 minutes a mile. We were soon joined by two other guys targeting 2.55 and we stuck together for a while. The 2.25 guy soon decided to start running and dropped to 6 minutes a mile without a word, we stuck with him for about half a mile before mercifully dropping back! The lads were doing 4 at MP (about 6.40) so I tagged with them for 3 miles before dropping back when I relaised I didn't need to kill myself. Last mile was a bit tough as I'm simply not familiar with running this fast on a long run but overall I felt good. Runs like this just confirm to me that I am not a marathon runner, this idea of doing MP miles in the middle of a run is crazy!! Still glad to get a quality long run in.

The leg has felt OK all week, no real pain but I was still a bit cautious on the downhills today, as it's a little tender. Overall I'm happy with how I feel given how sore it was on Monday.

ThePiedPiper

I was about to start a bout of HTFU on you PConn, but then realised that if you'd been in a race today, you probably would have run sub-90 for the half marathon.. You sure you don't fancy a return to longer distance? Anyone going for a jaunt tomorrow? Wouldn't mind a few miles to shake off the cobwebs..

pconn062

RunForestRun wrote: »

I was about to start a bout of HTFU on you PConn, but then realised that if you'd been in a race today, you probably would have run sub-90 for the half marathon.. You sure you don't fancy a return to longer distance? Anyone going for a jaunt tomorrow? Wouldn't mind a few miles to shake off the cobwebs..

What do you mean longer distances, sure I ran 2 10k's this year, that's really long for me!! I'm doing 7 or 8 miles tomorrow up in Jim's field in Termonfeckin if you fancy it? I want to stay off the road if I can to give the leg a break, it's not cross country of anything, the grass is really well cut. Would be good to get a full rundown of your Chicago adventure!

ThePiedPiper

With about 3 weeks worth of rain in 2 days, you want to run around a field for an hour? You need help PConn... I'm your opposite, I want to stay on the roads as much as possible, fields are strictly for racing!! Did all TC runners train this morning or anyone running on the roads tomorrow morning? Would've joined you this morning, but MrsRFR away for the day.. No chance of the roads? I'll buy you a bun...

pconn062

RunForestRun wrote: »

With about 3 weeks worth of rain in 2 days, you want to run around a field for an hour? You need help PConn... I'm your opposite, I want to stay on the roads as much as possible, fields are strictly for racing!! Did all TC runners train this morning or anyone running on the roads tomorrow morning? Would've joined you this morning, but MrsRFR away for the day.. No chance of the roads? I'll buy you a bun...

Everyone was out this morning, no one going tomorrow that I know of. I'll split the difference with you, can we start on the grass then do the road and finish back on the grass? It's nothing like Oldbridge, it's like running around a golf course, manicured grass and all! We'll do most of the run on the road, meet you up there around 10 or 11? Do you know where the field is?

ThePiedPiper

Alright, that sounds like a good compromise.. I'll get back to you in a couple of hours to see if that time suits, should be fine though.. Cheers. Runners or Spikes?