ON/OFF Runner time to take it serious!

king size mars bar

Good luck on Sunday, I hope it goes well. Enjoy!

beertons

Best of luck tomorrow man.

king size mars bar

Great day for it ,have a good safe race!

irish_bhoy82

Thanks guys ...well the race started off well for me first 1km done in 4:36, I steadied up then and was at the 3km mark at 15:01, I started to slow down then and found it very tough I decided to not look at the watch from the 4k mark until the end..at the 5k mark I just felt like I just wanted to finish it. I got a couple of second winds but the last km was tough all up hill. I done it in 54:32 a full minute slower than last year. I cant say im not disappointed as I am especially as it was a great day for it. Just need to keep running and focus on my next 10k next month.

king size mars bar

Think your been a bit harsh on yourself considering you're only getting back right after your injury. To only be a minute slower just back from injury is pretty good going in my book. Next time out you,ll be flying fit and better placed to have a crack at a pb!

irish_bhoy82

Sorry Lads its been a while... Race wise I havent been up to much but training wise I have kept my self ticking over. I have been very busy work wise and there has been some changes so the Running had to take a back seat.

In summary in the past 3 weeks I started back running and cycling again. Doing roughly 5km every second evening or so and the odd day doing a bit of a cycle 20k or so.

Anyway fast forward to today and during the week I decided to do a Parkrun 5km this morning. I set my goal to be under 25 minutes and I achieved it 24.47. The race felt great I started out quite fast first 2 kms were a good pace then i tired a bit and slowed down for the last 3km. but going by my Garmin my times for the Last 3kms were not as slow as I thought 5.10,5.03 not sure of the other one.

The Parkrun is a Weekly free event so I think I will do a few more of these. Try to improve my time. I am out tonight and tomorrow but after that I will be back training. Would like to get on the track some night this week to do some intervals shuttle runs to improve my speed and stamina before next saturday.

irish_bhoy82

6km recovery today
rest day tomorrow and back at it tuesday...possibly comsidering a alcohol ban.

king size mars bar

Welcome back!

irish_bhoy82

Ok 31km cycle this morning, 1hour 17 mins...had to stop for 4 minutes or so as had a light rain jacket on and the sun came out and I had to take it off...happy with it tho..

irish_bhoy82

Well guys I had big plans for today last night. I think I felt fitter than I actually am. A couple of runs and cycles and it all went to my head. I planned a long run today 12 or 14 kms. I started off and felt ok the first 2kms but then by the third km I realised this wasnt going to be a 12 or 14km run or a fast 5kms either(one eye on a race on saturday). I slowed up a little then I got to 5km mark and then I stopped for a few minutes and took a drink out of a bottle I brought with me. I set off again having decided my aim now was to just complete 10k. I finished out the run with a slower last 5km with a finish time of 56.59. My legs were tired my calves were cramping I felt like I had pushed my body enough. For about 3 hours after I was still sweating and felt like I was still running.
here are the splits

1. 5:06
2. 4:49
3. 5:18
4. 5:20
5. 5:33
6: 7:29
7: 5:37
8: 5:44
9: 5:49
10:6:07

I plan to do a short run/cycle tomorrow then I will try and get a pb in the 5km parkrun on saturday morning fingers crossed.

irish_bhoy82

right decided to go for a cycle today instead of a run, my right calf was tight this morning and I fancied a cycle to be honest.

So I set off, again my legs felt heavy for the first 5 km but go into it then and quite enjoyed it. completed 40km in 1:38:45. to be honest feel great after it i think it may have helped the calf. rest day tomorrow then 5km saturday morning.

irish_bhoy82

This morning went for the 5k Parkrun. I wasnt feeling to good, i had a cup of coffee and a yogurt bar at least an hour before but on my way to the even my stomach felt a bit upset, anyway i tried to put it to the back of my mind and by the time I got to the race it had gone.

There was a bigger crowd than the week before at the run this week. So the race started and I set off at a fast pace like the week before and I found my legs were heavy but I struggled through it hoping they would loosen up, any way in short I done the first 2 km at a very good pace both under the 5minute mark and then for the last 3km I hovered either side of it. I will post the splits below. Now when I was finishing the race my garmin recorded that I hit the 5km mark a good bit before the official finishing line so my garmin 5k time and the official time dont match so I will take the official race time either way.

Here are the splits:
1km:4.15.8
2km:4.49.1
3km:4:57.2
4km:5:01.6
5km:4:59.1

So my garmin recorded approx 24:01 but the official race time 24:15. Either way it was a pb nevertheless.

so celebrate tonight and back to it tomorrow

Pawwed Rig

My garmin varies on the parkrun from about 4.96 - 5.02 km doing the same parkrun every week. They are not always completely accurate but tend to be close enough for my purposes.

Wish I could hit your times. Haven't been at that level for 4-5 years.

irish_bhoy82

Do you always run 5ks pawwedrigg or do you vary like do you do 10k and upwards?

I will be honest with you after the second km I really worked for it, I;d say i sounded like a horse panting. doesnt seem to matter what the distance is, they are all tough!

Pawwed Rig

Normally 5k but have pushed it to 5 mile, 10K and one 10 mile recently. Have been plagued by injuries this year (broken big toe, knee issue and bronchitis) so keep getting knock backs. My goal for June was 5K is 25 mins which I used to get to comfortably enough but missed that. My best this year is 26 flat. I used to do 5min kms very comfortably so Maybe age is a factor too (38).

irish_bhoy82

I wouldnt rule it out yet pawwedrig dont put it down to age. Im in my early 30's and the number of lads and some ladies over 40 that beat me comfortably each week is a large number. I dunno they seem to be naturally fit. I had bad injury too back in march thats why there has been nothing in my blog since then. But thankfully its not bothering me now (heal spur,faschia something).
Celebrated last night with 4 drinks, its a cut back feom previous weeks and months I can tell ya. Hope to get a short slow run in later.a recovery run.

irish_bhoy82

no cooldown run yesterday...i slipped up

went out tonight with the dog and ran a steady 5km 28.13

nothing tomorrow away for most of the day so hopefully get out again on wednesday

irish_bhoy82

Ok Last week after monday I done No running due to work. I had a wedding on Saturday so side stepped the 5k Park run. Had a good scoop at the wedding as well to add further to the week of no running.

Ok back to this week

Monday 4km 22:30 with dog

Wednesday 6.5km 40:43 with dog

I would honestly be faster with out the dog but they are mans best friend after all.

irish_bhoy82

Happy Saturday folks..
Thurs 5.5km run with dog not sure of time over 30mins.

Today done the 5k park run and got another pb 23:42 . I am delighted with it.really worked hard for it.

irish_bhoy82

Went to do a kind of recovery run Sunday afternoon, planned to just run 3-4k very slow, got to 2k and was enjoying it so decided lets keep going for another bit, in the end i ended up running 8.25km slow pace 49 minutes. I could have kept going but wanted to be back for the match.

Rest day monday.

Thinking of going open water swimming tomorrow evening.there is a challenge coming up at the end of september and they are organising a training swim for it tomorrow, so i might mix my training up a bit with this, what people think? will it benefit me to do this or do people think it wont?

king size mars bar

I'd say go for it, something different and will give the joints a break from pounding the roads. You've done the running and cycling and now a bit of swimming , maybe you should consider training for a tri next year?

irish_bhoy82

king size mars bar wrote: »

I'd say go for it, something different and will give the joints a break from pounding the roads. You've done the running and cycling and now a bit of swimming , maybe you should consider training for a tri next year?

Ya its a possibilty Ksmb. Ive always wanted to do one. We will wait and see how this year pans out.

irish_bhoy82

Ok tonight went to the open water swim training for a nice change, try and mix up my training, so landed down to the lake with a surf wetsuit(the only one i had). swam 800 metres and i enjoyed it, but the wetsuit was a killer. The other swimmers pointed it out a few times that it was too bouyant and i was working twice as hard that i should be. Nice work out either way, I might look at getting a more suitable wetsuit.

Pawwed Rig

irish_bhoy82 wrote: »

I wouldnt rule it out yet pawwedrig dont put it down to age. Im in my early 30's and the number of lads and some ladies over 40 that beat me comfortably each week is a large number.

Ah yeah I know that people my age and older can go faster than me. The point is at my best 4 years ago I was alot quicker at my best now.
Funnily enough my parkrun goal is to beat a 70 year old man who saunters by me at the end of the second kilometer every week. When I hit 25 minutes I will have him. I am still a long way from that though doing a 27:13 last week. Best this year is still 26:00.

irish_bhoy82

Back on dryland tonight. started off not too promising had dinner and then had to go for the run shortly after approx 30 minutes, dinner was light in fairness.

started out and in the west of ireland tonight the weather at about half 8 was not good, rain and wind blowing into my face as i started out on my first km and voices were talking in my head saying "are you mentally well??, you must be the only mad man out running in this weather tonight"

shortly after i began to enjoy it, my legs seem to be pushing me on, like a eager horse mad to gallop, i reigned my self in as much as possible. I initially targeted 5km tonight. But my run was very random I didnt go my normal route started turning off here and there i felt so good at one stage i was thinking of knocking out a 10km..Anyway I got to about 5 and I was about 2km from home so i decided then to knock out another 3km and settle for that as I had stuff to get done at home. It was a strange run as I got to the last 500m I was almost going at 3/4 pace/sprint pace to the finish. My legs just felt great.

lets put this into perspective altho I felt great my run in general wasnt very fast, but it was very enjoyable, and my legs are feeling it now

8.2km 47.44

irish_bhoy82

Well guys..Thursday I went out and ran 5k in 29 minutes.

So yesterday was the 5k Parkrun..started off with a bit of technical difficulty, after 2:30 I checked my garmin to my surprise it had recorded that i had covered 0.95 of a km, I looked up in shock, looked around me seen the leader in my sights and thought maybe but after some quick calculations I realised I wasnt on track for Rio. So I carried on, I picked out a runner from the week before that I ran with but pulled away in the last 2ks and finished 40 sec ahead of me. This week I said im gonna stick with this runner as long as I can. After 3 fairly fast ks the legs and lungs were under pressure still on the shoulder of the other runner I dug for every last effort. Voices were battling in my head. "You are not up to this/ dont stop now you have done so much training to just stop" .I stayed with the runner up to the last km then I eased up a bit and let them pull away. With about 500m to go I pushed again and I focused on another runner who had started to drop back..I pushed and ran the last 100m uphill almost sprinting,he looked over his shoulder, he pushed on we crossed the line together.completely forgot that its a no no in park runs but no one said anything. My time was 23:21 another pb
Had some drinks last night to drown my mayo sorrows. So considering a rest day today altho I should really be doing a LSR. Maybe do a 10k race next week.

irish_bhoy82

Back running tonight after a gutsy(alcohol) weekend ... I ran 9km with my 4 legged friend at a slow pace 54:06

I am coming down with something I think, developing a cough and flu like symptoms, also quads and calves were aching while running altho they have been well rested since saturday.

Anyway I kept running as I am considering a 10k race on saturday, relatively flat course and just 30 mins from the house. I felt i need to get km's in the legs for the 10k,cause I havent ran too many big distances. but I didnt have too much time to keep going any further tonight.

I hope this cold holds off for saturday. I hope to go swimming tomorrow evening for a bit of different exercise.

irish_bhoy82

Woke up this morning with these cold/flu symptoms getting worse, aching muscles(not just from running), headache, runny nose ..you get it. I weighed myself and to my delight i weighed 161lbs this means I have lost half a stone since june.

I am currently in between jobs, I left my last job back in june due to alot of traveling and weeks away from home, so I have been looking for a permanent job now for a while. The support from my close family and the pleasure I get from running(destress) has been great.

I was helping out a friend this afternoon doing some very heavy work, and I was sweating alot(due to the cold/flu) also I didnt yet get delivery of my new swimming wetsuit,so i got home at 6 and was supposed to be swimming at 7, with no food since 12 and feeling like crap I opted out of the swim, also the thought of overheating with the sweat in my surf wetsuit that would make you feel cosy in antartica.

So no swim tonight, my partner reassured me not to worry I will feel better next week and I will definately have my new wetsuit. But in the back of my mind is the thought of missing out on the 10k race this saturday. This would only be my second 10k race of the year and my last one was in March and it wasnt very successful. So at 9 this evening I headed out with the dog for a very slow 5km run done in 32 minutes, the guilt got to me. Thinking that I might be ok come saturday but you wont have put the work in...

Anyway I survived the run, again alot of sweat, I threw on a wooly hat to try and sweat the cold out of me. so we will see how things go, I have tomorrow penciled in for a rest day so I guess Thursday will tell a lot.

irish_bhoy82

Ok this man flu is holding on but thankfully not getting any worse, id say its doing the rounds and im sure im not the only one with it. My new orca wetsuit arrived today, so excited i tried it on to make sure it fits. the swimming training has upped to twice a week now, with tomorrow evening being the extra session, im not going to go until tuesday tho as I dont want to be knackered for my 10k race on Saturday.

TONIGHT: hit the streets at 9pm and clocked up 10k in 1 hour. It was a very slow pace I do admit, I could feel the flu as well with the hot sweats and even now I have a headache. But Im glad I done it, day off tomorrow now before the race. hopefully the manflu will ease up before saturday and I can have a good crack at this.

irish_bhoy82

Ok so race day, felt reasonably ok man flu wise, had tea and toast at half 9 and headed for the race at 10:15. registration was from 9:30 to 11:00. got there at 10:45 and got my bits. Done a brief warm up and stretch and headed for the start line. Only to decide on going for a last minute piss dash in the shop across the road, there was 3 in front of me in the queue with 2 mins to start off, by the time i got out and pressed the satelite search button within 5 seconds the race had started and my watch was still looking for the satelites. Anyway I plodded in and got into a rhythm, got into some open space and ran my own race,my watch zoned in after about .25 of a km. My first km(on my watch) was faster than expected, on my watch 4.38, second km 4.48 and 3rd km 4.58. I started to feel the burn of the early pace at this stage and my 4th km was 5:04, going over the 5min mark spurred me into recovery mode on the 5th km where i recorded 4.59, But I think in hindsight this was the toughest part of the race for me and I was struggling a little, doubts were going through my head and so on the 6th km was 5:06 and 7th was a little faster at 5.00. But out of some where after this point I started to enjoy myself and my body started to respond, the course was quite flat in fairness and maybe I had just been through the toughest part of it but my 8th km was 4.43, I was running up to this point swapping places with 2 very good lady runners but I shook them off at this point doing my 9th km in 4.41. My last km Im not sure of the exact time but I kept the pace up and even snook up on a young lad with 150m to go, but in fiarness to him he looked over his shoulder and left me for dead. My finish time was 48.43

A seasons best and a Personal best absolutely delighted with it..