The Running Master

TRR

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

That doesn't sound like a prank. If not valid, it sounds like a bit of a dickhead thing to do. But you have his Skype details, right? Can't you just get in touch with him again?

+1

wow, that is bizare all right. Have you had any follow up from the muppet or has he threatened to do anything with the interview?

Stazza

TRR wrote: »

+1

wow, that is bizare all right. Have you had any follow up from the muppet or has he threatened to do anything with the interview?

You beat me to it. I was just in the process of typing up what’s happened.

I received a full apology/explanation on Sunday, which was more than I expected. Although the ‘prankster’ stated that it was initiated by somebody on here, it transpired that it had nothing to do with anybody on here. And with the benefit of hindsight, I should have spotted it, especially given that they had my email address.

In the grand scheme of things and given the details, it is kinda funny – it was a revenge prank and no real harm was intended/done, although they did have me good and proper.

thewolf_ie

What happened to your stories like Linford etc?

Stazza

thewolf_ie wrote: »

What happened to your stories like Linford etc?

''Just when I thought I was out... they pull me back in.''

TFBubendorfer

Stazza wrote: »

Tuesday 6th May
a.m. 6 miles ez
p.m. 6 miles steady.

You chickened out didn't go to the Farranfore mile dash then?

Stazza

TFBubendorfer wrote: »

You chickened out didn't go to the Farranfore mile dash then?

Haha! You got me. Looking at the times, I should've run. Mind you, I suspect the wind was in their faces.

After my ear wax/brain hemorrhage incident I lost a good bit of training time - so I chickened out.

Will I chicken out on Sunday? I'm scheduled to do a 5k session on the weekend so I might just get stuck in and have my first race of the year but then, is there any benefit in going and running a slow time when I could do a session? We'll see.

Congrats on a great run and great report on the weekend - I don't know how you manage to do all those marathons and other races, train, work, do the parenting stuff, be a mod, and still find time to keep an eye on me. You must have read the The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

Stazza

Thursday 8th May
a.m. 7.5 miles ez with Paddy the Kenyan (RIP)
p.m. 5.5 miles ez

(13)

Friday 9th May
a.m. 6 miles ez
p.m. 4 miles incl 4x 30 sec strides

(10)

Saturday 10th May
a.m. 6 miles ez.

(6)

Tomorrow, on the streets of Castleisland, in the wind and the rain and the hail, the Devil Himself will claim the soul of Paddy the Kenyan.

Sleep well son - you will need every ounce of your Being.

pa4

Do you incorporate those 4x30 second strides in the middle of your run or do you just do them at the end?

Stazza

pa4 wrote: »

Do you incorporate those 4x30 second strides in the middle of your run or do you just do them at the end?

In the run but towards the end - they're great for getting the pep in legs.

pa4

I find strides great too especially the days leading up to a race or session since they give a good bounce to the legs. I usually do them after most runs although the last few weeks I've been neglecting them!

drquirky

Stazza wrote: »

Thursday 8th May
a.m. 7.5 miles ez with Paddy the Kenyan (RIP)
p.m. 5.5 miles ez

(13)

Friday 9th May
a.m. 6 miles ez
p.m. 4 miles incl 4x 30 sec strides

(10)

Saturday 10th May
a.m. 6 miles ez.

(6)

Tomorrow, on the streets of Castleisland, in the wind and the rain and the hail, the Devil Himself will claim the soul of Paddy the Kenyan.

Sleep well son - you will need every ounce of your Being.

I'd bet my house/ farm/ anything else I've got on P the K - is there a live tracker so we can follow the race?

Stazza

pa4 wrote: »

I find strides great too especially the days leading up to a race or session since they give a good bounce to the legs. I usually do them after most runs although the last few weeks I've been neglecting them!

If you can find the time, you should reintroduce them - even if it's only once or twice a week.

Hope the training's going well and that the Old Toad (work) isn't hindering your progress.

pa4

Stazza wrote: »

If you can find the time, you should reintroduce them - even if it's only once or twice a week.

Hope the training's going well and that the Old Toad (work) isn't hindering your progress.

I'm definitely going to start reintroducing them, I did them twice this week and felt good the during my runs the following days.

All going well anyway training wise. I think my body has adjusted to the early starts, I'm lucky that I'm not working to far away and I'm home at 5 everyday (except Friday when I finish at 3 ). I was up at half 5 yesterday morning because I had to go to Dublin for work but still managed to hit the times for my session although it was a bit of a struggle!

Any races planned yourself?

Stazza

pa4 wrote: »

I'm definitely going to start reintroducing them, I did them twice this week and felt good the during my runs the following days.

All going well anyway training wise. I think my body has adjusted to the early starts, I'm lucky that I'm not working to far away and I'm home at 5 everyday (except Friday when I finish at 3 ). I was up at half 5 yesterday morning because I had to go to Dublin for work but still managed to hit the times for my session although it was a bit of a struggle!

Any races planned yourself?

Great that work isn't getting in the way of running.

I'm racing tomorrow - more to blow out the cobwebs than anything. The weather forecast for tomorrow is awful, so I think it might be more of a tactical affair.

I'm planning on doing a 10k next month (same course that Krusty and Paddy the Kenyan ran last week) where I'm hoping to run 33:XX. From there it'll be all about 6 weeks solid training and then I'll be racing more regularly.

What about yourself, are you doing any of the Ballyhoura race series? My wife's from your neck of the woods, so I might take a jaunt up and give one of the races a blast.

pa4

Stazza wrote: »

Great that work isn't getting in the way of running.

I'm racing tomorrow - more to blow out the cobwebs than anything. The weather forecast for tomorrow is awful, so I think it might be more of a tactical affair.

I'm planning on doing a 10k next month (same course that Krusty and Paddy the Kenyan ran last week) where I'm hoping to run 33:XX. From there it'll be all about 6 weeks solid training and then I'll be racing more regularly.

What about yourself, are you doing any of the Ballyhoura race series? My wife's from your neck of the woods, so I might take a jaunt up and give one of the races a blast.

What distance is that? Best of luck anyway

I'm half thinking of doing the 5 mile one next Friday which wouldn't be too far out of the way for me and there's a 10k in June I wouldn't mind giving a lash. I don't really have any races planned from now until the Munster senior track in mid June but I want to get in a road race. There's a good few around Tipperary so I'll probably decided next week what one I'll do. Other than that it'll be just getting in a few weeks of uninterrupted training.

Stazza

pa4 wrote: »

What distance is that? Best of luck anyway

I'm half thinking of doing the 5 mile one next Friday which wouldn't be too far out of the way for me and there's a 10k in June I wouldn't mind giving a lash. I don't really have any races planned from now until the Munster senior track in mid June but I want to get in a road race. There's a good few around Tipperary so I'll probably decided next week what one I'll do. Other than that it'll be just getting in a few weeks of uninterrupted training.

Thanks for the good wishes:)
Haven't made my mind up yet. There's a 10 miler and a 5k. I'll see how I feel in the morning...

Itziger

I'd say there'll be more than one or two visitors to this page this evening! Am I right?

thewolf_ie

May speed be with you!

Krusty_Clown

Long live Ptk! Rough/long course based on those times I'd imagine.

Itziger

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Long live Ptk! Rough/long course based on those times I'd imagine.

Where d'ya get the results so quickly?

PaddytheKenyan win, did he? Did Stazza run? (64,000$ question)

ecoli

Itziger wrote: »

Where d'ya get the results so quickly?

PaddytheKenyan win, did he? Did Stazza run? (64,000$ question)

Stazza was in full force alright.

Solid run, not a bad marker to put down given the break from racing the last while normally takes a few races to get into full swing of things

pa4

Is Paddy the Kenyan really a Kenyan names Paddy?

Stazza

Castleisland 5k

Arrived nice and early, registered, did the old AIS and then went off for a 4km warm up. During the warm up I thought over how I was going to approach the race and decided, even though it was windy, to stick to my original plan. The idea was to go out hard, so that when Paddy the Kenyan looked at his watch (as all the kids do these days) he’d panic and slow down. Then the plan was to run the second mile at a good clip and hang on into the wind and up the hill. If there was anybody else about, then the plan was to get stuck in and race. But under no circumstances was Paddy the Kenyan going to beat me…

Got back to the start and saw some of the well known local lads and realised that it was going to be a tough race. I’d emailed Jake and said that I thought I was in 16:30 shape. But given the wind and then the hill in the final kilometer, I thought 16:50-17:00 was more likely, although I did hope that I might run faster.

Met up with PtK minutes before the start. Had a bit of chit-chat. Wished each other luck and I told him to hang-in when it started hurting – this was his first ever 5k and my first real race since 2000. (Went the wrong way twice in Puck Warriors 10k.)

We went off bang on time and I settled into second place with DC. Within 600m we overtook the guy in the lead and never saw him again. The wind was straight in our faces for the first half mile or so before we turned off the high street and headed out past the turn off point where the 10 mile route split off.

Once we hit the 1km mark we turned and headed out into the countryside, I checked what company we had: 5 of us, including local legend AF, the national M45 5000m champion JB, DC, myself, and PtK. AF and JB were chatting about the wind, so I decided to pick it up a bit and soon enough JB dropped off the pace – he’s clearly not in shape at the moment as he would normally run in and around 16 for 5k.

We hit a small, gradual incline and AF came alongside DC and myself. AF seemed to be blowing hard already but he pushed on. I felt very easy and DC looked well in control too. PtK was hovering there, like a pesky mosquito that you can’t get rid of.

We turned again and now we were running into the wind. DC and AF took up the running and I slotted in behind them. I felt very comfortable but didn’t want to make a break as I thought I’d blow up in the wind – I also knew about the hill at 4k. The effort actually felt about the same as my LT runs.

I checked on PtK and he seemed to be drifting off us so I waved my hand to usher him back to the group. He made up the ground but kept to the right of the group so that he wouldn’t be drafting. We moved along to the 4k mark and this is where the real racing started. As we approached the 4k mark I felt great. AF and PtK were blowing hard. DC seemed relaxed and in control. I knew I wouldn’t take DC in a sprint finish (age and all that) so I resolved to make a move on the hill and break away.

But that never happened. Instead, DC and AF pushed up the hill and I couldn’t respond. I wasn’t in any discomfort, my breathing was fine, and so were my legs, I just couldn’t go with them. So off they went up the hill. I told PtK to dig in and get after them. He pushed on a bit but they already had too much ground on him.

When I got to the top of the hill I tried to push on a bit and make an effort to catch PtK but it just wasn’t there so I jogged in for 4th place.

DC won in 16:49 and AF finished second in 16:56. PtK came third in 17:02 and I was fourth in 17:12. I didn’t wear a watch but PtK had the splits at 5:14 – 5:28 – 5:42.

After the race we waited around for the prize giving, which was extensive. I got 30 quid for 4th, which I wasn’t expecting – I thought I’d won a coffee machine for being first over 40. Also, there was nice kit bag and medal. The spread was great and plentiful.

Thoughts about the race.

Although there’s a hill at 4km, it’s a good, honest course. The hill at 4k is a great test and apparently, that’s where races on this course are normally sorted. The wind, however, definitely impacted on the times and the race.

From start to finish, I felt in control. Never in any discomfort. I think I’m just a bit ring rusty.

PtK – great to see him improving so much and he’s going to improve a lot more this summer: he’s only done one workout since the Tralee Marathon. He starts training next week.

Me – good to finally get a race in without getting injured and lost. I think it’s going to take a few races for my race fitness to catch up with my training but I knew that already. I’m pleased with how things are progressing and given that I was in the mix with two sub 16 guys until the race for home, for now, I’ll take that. PtK must have put some sort of soporific spell on me.

PtK 1: 0 Stazza.

Round Two:
June 21st.

(7)

ThebitterLemon

Not bad for an auld lad on day release from the nursing home

TbL

drquirky

Great running!

thewolf_ie

Good stuff bud!

jakek

Well done! You were right in the mix and made a race of it.

AuldManKing

Great running, looking fwd to seeing what you can do when the rustyness disappears.

Stazza

Sunday 11th- Saturday 17th May

70 miles for the week with 4 doubles. Left hammies, adductors, priformis, and gluteals were troublesome all week but finally managed to release everything today, using a variety of techniques: positional release, improvised Pulsed Muscle Energy Technique, AIS, and general poking and prodding and tennis balling. All runs were done at an easy pace with the odd surge here and there. No workouts.

ThebitterLemon

You're alive, I thought after last weekends exertions that you might have transited from the nursing home to the cemetery

TbL