You only get what you give

Good stuff sure he might fancy a trip to Tralee! You should negotiate a discount on the race from your coach ;-) It's for a good cause in fairness so nice to support if possible. Yeah I have been coaching juvenile athlete for 6-7 years now, usually a few sessions a week from 6 to 17 year olds so a broad range! I enjoy it and my daughter takes part so when I joined my athletic club I was asked by the head coach at the time would I like to help out/do assistant coaching. I knew my daughter would be joining the club in a few years thought it nice to get involved and learn the ropes. Plus when you work from home as I have been doing since 2015 it's a good way to get out and meet people. It's through running and athletics is how I know pretty much anyone I know in Kerry.

Kids have some range of activities to chose from, in your case there I'd always say to the child and the parent if I saw them around the area that you're always welcome to come back. We've had a few athletes who were with the club at a young age, went off to other sports or no sports for a few years but have came back now so good to let them know the option is there.

Thanks K, well done on your great year of PBs and hopefully you get over your recent injury soon. There is a bit to it alright but in fairness you do get thanked here and there.

Thanks D, thankfully seem to be motoring well enough now. Have to be careful not to overdo it so will be an easy week this week and hopefully try for sub 40 at the race. Great stuff, will see you there no doubt.

Mon 9th Jan

Easy paced club run in Tralee with a mix of my AC and Tralee Triathlon Club. A shade over 5K pace at very easy pace, much easier than I'd normally run on my own but I keep with the group pace on their recovery run. A few of my club's juniors joined for this run too so I spent a bit of the run "encouraging" them to give the club's 8K race a go at the upcoming weekend. 5.4K in 38:13 @ 7:13min/km.

Tues 10th Jan

Rest day from running but did some practice with shot putt, weight for distance (I use a 10K kettlebell for throwing at home) and discus and worked a bit with my daughter on her turbo jav and shot put. Then when planning the S&C portion of training for tomorrow evening's training I did two rounds of it with my daughter. Nothing crazy but lunges, squats, various planks, russian twists were completed.

Wed 11th Jan

Lunchtime run, 6.5K easy incl strides. With the planned race coming up at the weekend I wanted to add some strides into this easy run. Just did 4x15secs, just focusing on getting up to a good pace and watching form. Unfortunately due to horrendous wind and rain club training had to be cancelled this evening.

Thurs 12th Jan

10K easy in 63mins @ 6:17min/km, very windy run this and for the first half I was being blown along the road. In the last 2K I could feel a small bit of tightness in my right calf but just kept running. Ordered myself an olympic bar and a few 5K bumper plates as a new toy for home to work on a bit of strength work.

Fri 13th Jan

Rest day and unfortunately could feel might right calf a little bit so was a bit concerned with the club's 8K race coming up on Sunday.

Sat 14th Jan

Ahead of the race I had signed up for tailwalking at parkrun this weekend with my daughter. It's one of the volunteer roles I have not done to date so wanted to check it off the list. It was grand to do now, little bit boring on the 3rd/last lap as most of the runners have finished at that stage so it gets quiet with only a few walkers ahead of you. Home then to see United beat city, delighted with the result and finally we appear to have a manager. Also I no longer understand offside. Later that evening I assisted at number collection for the race in Ardfert. When I got home I said I may check the calf to see if any hope of doing the race tomorrow, I could feel it slightly on the walk but not much. I did around 800m on the treadmill and knew I wouldn't be running. Still there was plenty of work for the club tomorrow so could slot in where needed.

Sun 15th Jan

Arrived in Ardfert with my wife and daughter at 7:45 to facilitate number collection. A busy time in fits and bursts but got to meet many of those planning to run or walk in the race...@DeepBlue of these parts was looking forward to it. We were packing up to leave the community centre and had a few last minute people for entry and collection but just got the stuff into the car on time and got up to see the start of the race take off. The weather looked like it was going to play ball for the timeslot of the race thankfully, we only need around an hour of a window for it really. Once the race started I headed over to finish line to assist my wife with number recording and results processing. Small bit of a challenge to process manual results of a live race and work out the various age category prizes which were aiming to present if possible. Originally I planned to do this at the finish line whilst watching the runners come in but after the first 10mins of finishers (26min-36min approx) the weather changed so I had to scarper to the car with the sheet of results to work on. Horror of horror then somewhere in the middle of it all the first sheet of the results went missing on me and I could not find it for love or money. I felt proper sick and what would I do, I searching high and low in and around the car but no luck. Before going to make my confession of horror to the race directors with one final look I went around the corner of the school and about 10 meters up the footpath I spotted an A4 sheet of paper lying facedown in a puddle of water...I was like oh sweet f, first please be the sheet and secondly I was so worried when I turned it around what would it look like (having been freshly written on) and then being in a puddle of water for a good 5-10mins (or moreso what felt like an eternity until I found it) but when I picked it up carefully and turned it around my prayers were answered that it was the sheet I was missing and it looked okay with nothing missing. I quickly and carefully brought it back to my car and took a picture of it (and the subsequent sheets that came my way) to begin processing. Never again will I do results processing!!

Weekly total: 21.9K

Year to date: 63.5K

Seem to have got over the calf niggle now so time for a catchup

Mon 16th Jan

5.2K in 38:43 @ 7:25mim/km. Very club run in Tralee. Calf felt fine enough here.

Tue 17th Jan

5K in 31:35 @ 6:17min/km. Things do not feel so good here so decided a break from running for a bit was needed and to try rehab the calf....have had a few of these over the years around marathon training so didn't feel the need for a physio visit as pretty confident I could get it sorted in a few weeks with some rest and strength work.

Sat 21st Jan

With the National indoor masters coming up in two weeks I have been working on my throws every 2nd/3rd day. Being unable to do my regular running meant I had more time and motivation to spend time on throws. Spent around an hour at the club's training field training on my own covering shot putt, weight for distance, discus and javelin. I also threw a hammer for the first time...bit of (dangerous) fun that one. I record myself taking the throws then watch them back and try use an impartial coaches eye on corrections I need to make. Shot Put is my main focus at the moment and the big thing I have to work on is my speed and footwork going from the back to the front of the circle. For those anyway familiar with the event I use a glide movement (same as what you see most multi eventers using) but experimenting a little bit with rotation....what you'll normally see watching international throwers. Rotation takes a lot of work (years) to get the balance right but it's easier on the body and it allows more throws in training the force required (plus the way you hold the shot) is different. Happy with this session as I was within striking distance of my pbs in Shot & WFD and aiming to break them at the nationals.

Sun 22nd Jan

Hike with some running mates who I haven't actually managed to run with in ages, this was in Tonevane which is an area going out the Dingle peinsula starting a little bit out the road and up the hills from Blenerville. Nice area for some trial running which I've done a few times over the years and you can go all the way along this route (known as the Kerry Camino) to Dingle. In this case it was a walk/hike of 11K that took around 2.5 hours.

Thurs 26th Jan

First attempt at a run. Just used a local 5K loop that is pretty flat. Could feel my calf after just over 3K so just stopped and walked the rest of the loop. Disappointed but realistic this will take a bit more time. 3.7K in 22:21 @ 6min/km.

Sat 28th Jan

Tralee parkrun's 8th birthday so didn't want to miss it, my daughter got a nice award for being a junior volunteer this year. We walked it together and took us 53:14.

Sun 29th Jan

Some early morning coaching at An Riocht assisting our hurdles coach with two of our juvenile athletes who will be competing in hurldes at the upcoming Munster indoors. After their session ended I used the shot put circle for around 45mins to work on my throws...forgot my measuring tape unfortunately so had to guestimate my distances by stepping it out and also using an app on my phone and happy with how it went. Again set up my phone/tripod for videoing/self coaching and finding that working well. Just as a I was finishing up a coach who was arriving with his athlete to coach gave me some tips on things he'd noticed in my throws so that was good as well for a big of reenforcment to what I see myself.

Tues 31st Jan

Time for another test run, just running from home after work I said I'd be conservative and not try for 5K (which I usually consider the shortest run I would do training), so tentative steps out and did 3.5K in 21:29 @ 6:03min/km. Felt okay, fitness not good at all but expect that as it drops off so fast unfortunately I find.

Thurs 2nd Feb

Okay a 5K test this time, my college course ends at 6pm on a Thursday so would be running in the dark but just took it nice and easy and ran to Causeway and back home again. 30:17 @ 6:02min/km. I joked on Strava about this that my calf muscle transplant has been completed and building up again so chalked off the niggle then to focus more on building up again.

Fri 3rd Feb

Some shot put and weight for distance training at home at lunchtime and feeling good for the national masters on Sunday. That evening my club held a training session for the Ukrainian children staying at Banna resort. It was pretty special to be honest and fun which was the main aim of the session. As head coach I'd set the plan for the session and it was great seeing it come together and the kids enjoy it. It was a challenge to coach young kids when we don't speak each other's language it's amazing how you find a way and it just worked. We'll be doing a few of these in the coming weeks and our own members are invited to attend as it's a club training session.

Sun 4th Feb

National Masters Indoors

First time competing at this event in Athlone as I have always shied away from it but given I'd put a good stint of throws training in particularly in the last month I was looking forward to it. Having researched those entered in my age category...there was four of us in the o40s on the day (same 4 in shot and wfd) I knew I was unlikely to be getting some medals but that's fine. Over the last few years I've accumumlated a full set of gold/silver/bronze in county, provencial and national level masters and in some cases it's because there is only a few competing in your age category so just turning up means a medal. So with those on the medal my target was to break my pbs in Shot (5.99m from the outdoor National Masters last Aug) and WFD (3.05m from the same event).

Clubmates were competing across a range of events before me so I watched them compete in High Jump, Long Jump and Racewalk before my event. For the warmup throws I deliberately threw a lighter shot (6kg) in warmup as I've messed up in warmup previously with throwing my weight (7.26kg shot) and due to lack of training probably wasted my best throw. In this case I have built up more endurance through volume work so was curious to see could I improve through the rounds instead of my best throwing being my first and then dropping off. The results for the shot throws were as follows, 6.41, 6.52, foul on the third, 6.58. Absolutely delighed with that series of throws, probably my best ever set in any throws event and a great way to finally crack 6 meters. For the foul on the third through my arm had just dropped away so it was called foul but I had got it out to over 6 again. 3 clean throws and each one further than the previous was a great buzz for me and reward for work done.

After a few hours wait I took part in the weight for distance event with the same set of competitors, the 56lbs (25kg) weight is a beast of a thing but like the 7.26kg in the shot that's weight I'll throw until I hit 50 (in 9 years). Again it would be 4 throws and the series went as follows, 3.25, 3.32, 3.23, 3.55. Again delighted with those throws and to manage to get it out further again with my final throw was a great buzz.

In both competitions I finished 4th out of the 4 competitors but I didn't think it could have went any better as I broke my pbs in both events by half a meter which is massive in these types of events, I am coming from a low enough level to be able to do that but it was great to see progress. I love these events and would recommend anyone who is a member of an athletics club to get involved with the track and field side also, as road runners we often shy away from track and field but like shying away from cross country you are missing a massive aspect to our sport and the masters competitions are very accessible whatever your age or background. In fact the people I get to meet at these events from clubs from around the county are without doubt the nicest and more supportive people you could ever meet.

Mon 6th Feb

Up home in Laois, 6.5K easy in 37:28 @ 5:45min/km. Used a regular loop for this which takes me through my home village of Borris-in-Ossory. Glad to hear recently that a ghost estate that was left idle for over 10 years now is being taken over by the council and will be completed. The village looks very tired in some areas these days in many of the older building such as the local hotel (where the buses used to stop) and a few pubs & shops that have closed for a number of years and in some cases gone to ruin. The population has grown in the village but I do wonder what will become of it all at times as services just don't seem to be in place that used to be there. It does give me hope when I hear of regeneration projects in social or business scenarios and they are coming. Work on playground for the village is progressing well and will be a great addition.

Tues 7th Feb

Some shot put and weight for distance training at home.

Wed 8th Feb

Lunchtime run and feels like normalilty of running has returned. 6.5K easy in 36:47 @ 5:38min/km. Very windy day down here so blown out of it a bit. Absolute soaking at training in the evening time, in my case I was assisting with race walking and hurdles for the young age group and then coaching sprints, shot put, relay and some s&c work with the older age group. A busy two hours but good fun.

Year to date: 93.9K

Thurs 9th Feb

23K approx cycle after work in 56mins. First cycle in ages and was only so so with a few loose dogs on the route spooking me a small bit.

Sat 11th Feb

Tralee 10mile/5K for Kerry Hospice.

Bit of an funny one around this race with two 10 milers taking place in Tralee in little over a week of each other. Like waiting for a bus and two come along at the same time. In my case I'm not ready to go anywhere near the 10mile distance yet so wasn't going to be able to do either race but as the first one had the option of the 5K I went with that. It suited where I am at the moment and it was for a good cause too.

I ran this one about as hard as I can at the moment, checking the HRM at a few stages for the most confirmed I was in the max zone so had no more to give. The route is flat and the wind was favourably in bit quite a calm morning. I did slow in the final K of the race a little bit but having gone out hard that was to be expected. So a good test of where fitness at this distance is at the moment. I crossed the finish line in 23:30 and no ill effects to the recently injured calf which was great.

Hung around for a good while afterwards to watch the 10mile race, winning time was super sub 52min run from Oisin Spillane....smashing the course record which was held by the second place finisher Derek Griffin.

Sun 12th Feb

Munster Masters Indoors

Competing in the indoors in Nenagh this time around, I arrived early around 10am to watch the racewalkers from the club competing and putting in serious efforts throughout. I didn't realise that David Kenny and Brendan Boyce were doing a 5K race before that so missed that but Kate Veale was taking part in the women's race and set a new CBP. Some speed those top walkers can move at.

First event for me wasn't until around lunchtime and I was competing in the shot put again, I was delighted with the previous weekends effort where I got a new pb of 6.58m so figure probably not much more to come at the moment but it was another good day. Four throws again, 6.49, 6.73, 6.89, 6.68. Again I was thrilled to be improving through the rounds and for the last one I gave it my best in the hope of maybe cracking 7m but it came off my hand a bit awkward (thought I had fouled the throw) but all the same came away with a gold medal in the o40s (only one in my age category) but nice to get it and a new pb of 6.89. Speaking with a coach in another club afterwards who I have a lot of time for he reckons I can get to 8m so have a target that will take a bit of work!

Second event for me was the weight for distance, not as good a series of throws this time, 3.20, 3.38, 3.39, 3.45. Having got a new pb of 3.55 in the wfd the previous weekend and the shot having gone so well I was getting selfish thinking I'd see improvements here but no such luck. Anyways, another gold medal in the o40s. I was a little bit distracted during the rounds here as my daughter was in my vicinity so my focus was not right so something to work on for next time.

My wife also competed on the day, in the women's weight for distance and also got a shiny gold medal for her troubles. My Da was also competing in shot (o70) and wfd (o70) and took home some medals too so a good day all around.

Mon 13th Feb

Club run in Tralee, 5.4K in 36min @ 6:39min/km.

Tue 14th Feb

Bit of S&C work. Heel raises, lunges and squats are what I am generally doing at the moment.

Wed 15th Feb

Lunchtime run, 7K steady in 40min @ 5:42min/km.

Fri 17th Feb

Lunchtime run, 6K easy in 36min @ 6min/km

Sat 18th Feb

Tralee parkrun with my daughter, 5K in 41:40.

Spent a lot of the afternoon watching the National Senior Indoor Championshipson the youtube stream. Some great action, the live stream works well for running events but field events suffer big time not having a proper upclose camera on them.

Sun 19th Feb

Tralee Triathlon Club come & try duathlon

These events by the local tri club have been on my radar for a long time but have often clashed with athletics events but nicely this one didn't so said I'd give it a go.

Last time I did a multi sport event was the Dingle Adventure Race back in 2017 and I have no memory of doing a "brick" (bike and cycle) session in many years, and with one cycle so far this year I was ideally prepared for this. Anyways something different, so arrived to Ballyseedy an hour before the event and racked my bike. Laid out my cycle shoes to change into after the run, little towel to stand one to not bring stones into my shoe.

After a briefing the race kicked off at 10am, first part of the race was an out and back run. I decided not to go out too hard here as with the unknown of it all. Of the 25 participants I think I was in around 7th or 8th place after the first run.

3.3K run in 15:56 @ 4:46min/km

Just over a minute in transition, onto the bike. On the cycle I managed to pass two people and was passed by two also so no net gain in position. Figured the cycling would be my weaker aspect to such an event. One of the guys that passed me on his bike passed me at a rate of knots with around 2K to go to transition but said I'd try keep him in sight and catch him on the run.

14.1K cycle in 30:20 @ 28kph

Final part of the event was back to running, this was the part that concerned me most was going from the run to the bike as your legs feel very odd here. Bit of downhill to the start of the out and back course probably didn't help but after a K the legs started to feel a bit more normal. Plenty of fatigue in the system now but I focused on catching the two up ahead of me who passed me on the bike. I caught one guys after 1.5K and the other guy (young chap) I passed around 2K. Keep the effort up as didn't want to get passed by anyone.

3.3K run in 15:45 @ 4:43min/km

In the end finished maybe 7th or 8th overall, no results for this as just an introductory event but it was good fun for something different.

Home then to watch United keep up the momentum which is making me happy these days and then catching up the National Senior Indoor Championships on the youtube stream.

Year to date: 125.90K

Thanks D.

Certainly that one is as they've done it a few times previously that I have seen, they advertise their events on the Tralee Triathlon Club fb page so keep an eye on that. They hold a Spring and Summer series of different things. They have a trail version coming up soon that involves trial running and trail cycling but whilst the former would be fine, the trail cycle really would not be at all plus I don't have a bike for it. I signed up for this though -> https://hardman.ie/races/hardman-duathlon-killarney/

Doing a few different things in the first half of this year, my plan is a shorter marathon cycle for Dublin and hopefully make it this time!

Mon 27th Feb

Up in Dublin for work so first run in the Phoenix Park in around 6 months, just a 6K out and back up Chesterfield Ave. 6K in 37min @ 6:10min/km.

Wed 29th Feb

Lunchtime run, 7.5K steady in 38:24min @ 5:28min/km.

Thur 1st Mar

S&C work for my calves.

Fri 2nd Mar

Post work run, 8K easy in 47:50min @ 5:58min/km. Off to see Kerry FC play Treaty United then in the evening with my daughter. Bit of a novelty having a League of Ireland team so near to where I live now so guess I can support my local team now as well. They drew 1-1 which is the first league points they have ever won.

Sat 3rd Mar

Nenagh indoors with our young relay teams, 3x teams on the day and they did great. It's a good way for them to experience competing at that level and getting used to the facility. Back again to Nenagh for the final time on Sunday coming. It'll be the 5th trip to indoors there since mid Feb.

Sun 4th Mar

Brick session, Run, Cycle, Run

I have a duathlon coming up on 1st April so that's the focus for now. That event will be 10K run, 40K cycle, 5K run so I wanted to get some practice in and get my distances up a bit. Prescribed myself a 6K run, 30K approx cycle (distances are a bit more approx in cycling), 5K run...and with transition practice too.

6K in 32mins @ 5:20min/km (kept this at steady pace and would plan to do the same on race day, I'm not going to win the thing and it's outside my comfort zone)

2min transition (unlock the house, change of footwear, helmut on, lights turned on on bike, cycling jacket on, bring bike outside, lock the house, gloves on, watch started, go)

28.99K cycle in 65mins @ 26.7kph (found this tough going over the last 5-10K, effort was high)

1:56min transition (gloves off, unlock the house, put the bike inside, change of footwear, jacket off, helmut off, lock the house, watch started, go)

5K in 24:15mins @ 4:51min/km, last two Ks here with 4:34 and 4:27 so around my best 10K pace so was very happy with that.

With the duathlon I did a few weeks back in a race I can get through transition from running to bike in 1-1.5 minutes and around the same from bike to running (doesn't involve unlocking and locking the front door of the house!). I think the average time is around 2.5 minutes so not doing too bad with that stuff. My wife and daughter think I am nuts as they watched me each time but it's fun.

Will be easy running this week mainly but I might try give the parkrun a blast on Saturday. Missing the county road race on Sunday which is a big disappointment but with 25 young athletes due to compete in Munster indoors the same day that's the priority.

Watched as much of the European Indoors as I could over the weekend, either live or after recording it. Bit of a disappointment for Ireland really, missing English, Mageean and Adeleke meant the medal contenders were out but still I don't think it was a great competition with the performances of many below what they would have expected. Darragh McElhinney was so close to nicking a medal you have to wonder if he had gone a little bit earlier but the drop off of the 3rd place runner in that race was exceptional and given Darragh got a pb I don't think he could have done anymore. So close though.

Year to date: 186.4K

Mon 13th Mar

Club run in Tralee, 8K in 55mins @ 6:52min/km. First 5K of this was with the tri club and then the last 3K was on my own. Avg pace for the first 5K was around 7:10min/km, last 3K was around 6:20min/km.

Tues 14th Feb

Cycle after work, 24.2K in 58min @ 25.2kph.

Wed 15th Mar

Due to the yellow weather rainfall warning training from 6-7pm for the U8-U12s was cancelled so meant I had an extra half an hour after work so did my Wed run then before heading over for the 6:30pm session with the U13+. 5.2K in 29:54 @ 5:45min/km. Ran the reverse of a regular loop I use near home, can't recall the last time I ran it backwards so was quite strange to me given how familiar I am with running it the clockwise direction.

Thurs 16th Mar

My parents were down for the weekend and with my ac running it's C25K session in Tralee this evening I said I'd go in and run with my wife on her run. My father who's also a member of club came too....given he lives in Laois it's rare he gets to attend a club training run so it was good that he around to be able to. 5K in 38:38 @ 7:42min/km (with approx 5mins walking as part of that).

Fri 17th Mar

Was planning to do another cycle here but ended up not happening, so said I'll give the parkrun a good push the next day.

Sat 18th Mar

Tralee parkrun in 23:18, this felt pretty tough....avg heart rate 186bpm. Now wrist based hrm can be questionable at times but I knew I was at max effort and could not run any faster. Going on the second of the three laps a club mate of mine came right up behind me and then stayed behind for half a lap before passing me and then beckoning me to stay with him for the rest of the run. I hadn't told anyone of my plan to run it hard but guess he spotted that I was running faster than recently so was assisting....tbh I doubt I would have got the time without him but still at least once when he was a bit ahead of me I was tempted to walk to try get rid of him. It's my fastest parkrun since around this time last year when I recorded 22:49. It would be nice to get down into the 22s again over the next few months.

Warmup before this was very short, less than a K (the challenges of trying to get people out of the house in the morning) and did a 1K cool down afterwards.

Sun 19th Mar

Another club run, this time in Ballyheigue using the local 10K race route there. One of the coaches in the club due to attend was sick so asked would I do VI guide with a VI runner in our club. It's been a while since I did it but I was happy to do it as very familiar with the route we'd be running. My guidee is a faster runner than me so said I'd like to try keep it to around 6min/km if possible as I'd ran the parkrun hard (for me) the previous day...he was grand with that but as we ran we chatted away and then it was lashing raining at times so ended up being 10.4K in 57:26 @ 5:31min/km on what is a hilly course.

Club training this evening then between 6-8pm for our U9-U12s ahead of the county development games next weekend.

For the week ahead there is a charity cycle on Saturday morning that I might do with some friends. Sunday will be a busy day with our young athletes competing again so will have to work around that to get a run in. Planning to keep things easy for the week ahead after Saturday and Sunday's effort. Been thinking more about the rest of the year so thinking of doing the graduates 5-10K plan after I have the duathlon completed in two weeks. Including the base phase before hand that would take me to August and all being well I would commence marathon training with a 12 week plan then. I am looking at revisiting the training plan I last used back in 2018 which I ran 3:51 with in Dublin back then. After two failed attempts with Hanson Marathon Method's I won't be using it this time, it's not you it's me Hanson Marathon Method.

Weekly total: 35.3K, highest total so far this year.

Year to date: 242.8K

An overdue catchup, been a very busy time on the athletics front for quite a number of months now but it's on a summer break for the next few weeks so best to get up to date and get the log going again.

On the coaching side my club met our target this year when increased our points total in the juvenile county track and field championship and maintained our 3rd place overall. It's our highest points total since 2012, we've been on an upward trajectory post covid so great to maintain that. We also managed to win more Munster medals and qualified a relay team through to Nationals for the first time in over 15 years. That added to more athletes individually qualifying to Nationals this year for many years was great. A break for a few weeks now and the coaches will meet up again to plan for next year. The first cross county events of the new season will take place towards the end of Sept so not long before back on the merry go round again for another 11 months!

In my own field events I competed in shot put, javelin and weight for distance at counties....managed to get a big pb in the weight for distance where I threw 4.44m. At county level a medal is pretty much a guarantee in these events at the different masters age groups as rarely 3 competitors so got a gold medal in each of those events. Going into Munster there was a change this year where some of the masters and seniors event were spread over two days so there was an option to compete as a Senior on one day and a Master on another day. For info, in the throws events the implement weights as the same as the seniors up to the age of 50 so no concerns with throwing something heavier. I competed in the o40 shot and weight for distance at Munster and got silver medals (only 3 in my age category including a new team mate who will soon be throwing further than me I think) but I didn't get the pbs I was looking for. I decided to go back to Templemore again for the Seniors day and competed (my first time as a Senior in a throws event). Shot put went even worse that day but I had my best even day at the weight for distance when I won a Senior bronze medal with a throw of 4.43m (just one cm off my pb), there was only 4 competitors on the day as 2/3 didn't show up so of course an element of luck but it was a nice thing to win and quite proud of it as my first ever Senior medal.

I will be giving the National Seniors a go on Sunday in the weight for distance. There are 9 competitors entered in for the event and based off the research I have done I know at least 6 can throw further than me but looking forward to it even if I come last I am aiming for a pb. I figured that having won the senior medal at Munster I am entitled to give it a go this year...I must have notions!

Running has been going well for the last 6-8 weeks and I have started off training for Dublin marathon. I'm using a training plan (Running Shoe Guru's Intermediate plan) that I used for my 2nd marathon onwards. I tried Hanson's the last two marathons and didn't make the start line unfortunately...I would like to revisit Hanson's at some point but I'd like to try get a safer plan (for me) under my belt and another marathon done first. I don't have any real expectations around times and having not raced anything other than a few 5Ks earlier this season I'm just training away using 4hrs as a guide. The massage gun was a great buy I think and using it a few times a week on my calves seems to have helped things, I've also started using compression socks if I am feeling anything anyway off and seem to be helping. I also believe in the placebo effect with such things but whatever works works.

Dublin Marathon - Running Shoe Guru Wk3

Sun 23rd Jul

10.5K easy in 65min @ 6:15min/km. Back home after a day in Tullamore on Saturday I took a lie so didn't get out until near 10:30. I ran a slightly different loop from home which was nice....very up and down which made in more interesting that the loop I was going to run. Unfortunately had some hassles with some dogs coming towards the end of the run, had just said hello to their elderly owner as I ran past him on the road but the three dogs he had with him weren't so keen on me with one of them having a bit of a go....took a minute (or can seem an eternity with these things) for him to back off but he did. I'll know next time to avoid that situation as clearly they were just being overprotective....and I'll have to add on around 4K to my loop to double back and run a different road.

Mon 24th Jul

Some throws training, 3x with the 28lbs to warm up and then 6x with the 56lbs. Managed to get a 4.33m which is my best throw of the weight in training. Will train again a few more times this week ahead of the competition on Sunday.

Tue 25th Jul

Fartlek

20min warm up, 8x30 sec fast with 90 sec recovery, 10min cool down.

Put on my Endorphin speeds for the first time in months for this and within 15min I could feel a blister forming on my heel so I finished off the warm up and called my wife to see could she collect me. Back home then and changed into Brooks hyperions I picked up in the last few months (really like them) and completed the rest of the run with them. For the fast bits I ran these around 5-10K effort...it's only for 30 seconds but Strava picks them up varying between 4:14-4:30 pace.

7.5K in total for the run.

Year to date: 551.5K

Dublin Marathon - Running Shoe Guru Wk4

My log is a gone a bit screwy as my marathon plan has the week starting on a Sunday, having listened to Shona Heaslip on the runner's diary podcast recently I am in good company as that's what she follows usually. Anyways Sunday 30th July covered in the previous entry so...

Mon 31st Jul

70 min easy run completed up at my parents place in Laois before heading down home for Kerry. 11.6K in 70mins @ 6:03min/km. Pace a little bit quick on this so something I need to be more conscious of as ever. Shona Heaslip's interview on the Runner's Diary podcast was what I listened to for this run. As a local athlete down here have been tracking her career a number of years so great to see her make her recent comeback

Tues 1st Aug

The plan had "Easy 20min Warm-Up, Fartlek Strides: 10x 30sec ‘Fast’, 90sec ‘Easy’, Easy 10min Warm-Down" so that was done after work and before I was going cross country coaching. The route I used for this has a few hills so not ideal and could feel a small bit of soreness in my right calf afterwards.

Wed 2nd Aug

Small bit of calf soreness persisting so took a rest day, working the calf muscle with tiger balm and got the thumbs in there...not sure whether that helped or not.

Thurs 3rd Aug

Whilst my daughter was at football training, I did the 35min easy run that was planned for yesterday, 5.5K in 35min @ 6:22min/km. I ran out the road for 10mins and stopped to check how things felt and felt okay so said I'd continue with the run, another check after 25mins and felt the same so finished it out.

Fri 4th Aug

Plan has 45min easy, 6x12 short hill sprint and 5min easy cool down. Decided that seeing as yesterday's run went well that I'd leave it off as was still feeling my calf slightly, not much but something there. Some throws practice at lunchtime and headed up the country after work again to my parents place as was due to compete in the Templemore Throws festival the next day.

Sat 5th Aug

I was considering doing the Templemore parkrun in the morning but figured the day would be long enough at the throws festival and I had noted some brusing finally came up on the calf that had me concerned during the week....I guess it was a minor tear but all seems fine now but said I'd stick to the throwing and back on the plan for next week all going well. On the day my shot putt didn't go great at all, a best throw of 6.4m with the 7.26kg shot....back a bit since the start of the outdoor season but got a few tips so at least something to work on ahead of the National masters next weekend. I am lacking practice at the event as really focused more on the weight for distance in the last number of weeks. On the wfd side of things, I had four throws in my competition...all got above the 4m mark which I was happy with but felt only one of my throws (3rd throw) got out properly with the other ones I had pulled a bit too early. Nicely enough the one I got out well was a new pb of 4.57m (up from 4.5m last weekend at Nationals). Be nice to get another pb next weekend in the event if possible and give myself a chance at the podium at the National masters.

Weekly total: 25.4K

Year to date: 591.6K

It does alright and I think the American origins of it is the probably the only explanation for it as can't find a reason for it. I actually quite like it as it means I can check off the long run at the start of the weekly plan and the rest follow that. In non running life, the week starts on a Monday of course.

Dublin Marathon - Running Shoe Guru Wk6

Sun 13th Aug

Plan had 20min easy, 40min marathon tempo pace, 20min easy. We were due to be heading back up the country as as going up the North for a few days but with a pitstop for a night at my parents place in Laois. The previous night had been late enough so took a little lie in so it was almost 10am before starting out. Run brokedown as 3.15K in 20min @ 6:17min/km, 7.1K in 40min @ 5:38min/km, 3.25K in 20min @ 6:08min/km.

Mon 14th Aug

Rest day, drove up to Belfast as we'd be staying there for a few nights at the start of the holidays. Highly recommend the Titanic Belfast. Spent around 5 hours there as found it very interesting and well done.

Tues 15th Aug

40min easy running, 6.3K in 40min @ 6:34min/km. Got out just after 8am as the city is getting going for the day. First two K was a small loop of the city centre to get my bearings a little (only been in Belfast once before briefly so no clue of it at all) before heading across the river back down the Titanic Quarter. I had noted quite a few people running around that area the previous area so thought it would be a good option and worked out well.

Hop on/off tour of Belfast in the afternoon and an availed of a visit to the City Hall (free) to see the free exhibition of the city history there. Excellent.

Wed 16th Aug

Aerobic Power Intervals,

20min Warm-Up, 3x 1600m (one mile) @ 105-110% of Goal Marathon Pace w/ 90sec Recovery Jogging Between Each, Easy 10min Warm-Down

Out again for 8am and with a similar route to yesterday, with the 20min warmup bringing over to the Titanic Quarter again. Used the paths beside the Titanic Studios (where Game of Thrones was filmed) for the first rep and that brought me down to Thompson Graving Dock where Titanic was fitted out when it's hull had been completed. The size of the dock gives a good perspective on the size of the ship. The next two reps I did along the riverwalk going back towards the city centre direction and included a lap of the outside of the Odyssey Arena. 10min jog back to hotel then.

Session broke down as 2.9K in 20min @ 6:50min/K, 1600m in 8:38@ 5:22min/km, 90 sec walking recovery, 1600m in 9min @ 5:35min/km , 90 sec walking recovery, 1600m in 8:58 @ 5:35min/km, 90 sec walking recovery, 1.5K in 10:38 @ 7:20min/km

9.5K in total

Checked out from the hotel around 11 and headed off on the Causeway Coastal Drive an on to Giants Causeway over much of the rest of the day with a few stops enroute. Carrickfergus Castle was one we preplanned and thought it was excellent. Very impressed in general with Antrim as a county, lovely scenery, people very friendly and plenty to see. Walked down to the Giants Causeway from the nearby hotel we stayed in that evening and closed off the day with a Chinese takeaway.

Thurs 17th Aug

Rest day but with an early start as we were out to Carrick-a-Rede ropebridge for a 9am booking (my wife meant to book it for 11am). The bridge and the area was lovely but more unnerving going across it than I thought it would. After that we drove over to the Dark Hedges as seen in Game of Thrones. After that we completed the rest of the Causeway Coastal Drive for the next few hours, passing through Portrush and Portstewart and then stopping in Derry for the night. We walked around the city walls in the evening time which was the main thing I wanted to do there.

Fri 18th Aug

Easy 45min, 8x 12sec Short Hill Sprints (full recovery between each), Easy 10min Jogging Warm-Down on the plan but was looking to do parkrun in the morning so decided not to take an extra rest day.

We traveled from Derry to Sligo today, spent a few hours on various stops in Letterkenny, Ballybofey and Bundoran enroute. My parents tell me I was in Donegal as a child but have no memory of it but we plan to go up there another time for sure as.

Sat 19th Aug

Sligo parkrun, 24:58.

First parkrun since early June and it felt pretty horrible thoughout. 1K warmup with a few drills and figured I'd try run it around 25mins. The first K was fast but seemed manageable I thought so stuck with it. After 2K I really wasn't enjoying it that much and with a second lap of the park to do I was regretting doing the parkrun at all and should have taken a lie in. I always like to try get in new ones wherever I can and been looking forward to it. Effort wise for running around 5min/km it just felt too much, heart rate was fine enough but between all the going of the week was feeling fairly tired so I just stopped for a walk break for a minute around 2.8K into the run. Once I got going again then I felt better and finished strong enough with my last K in 4:44 pace.

Just half a K cooldown taking in a small loop back to the car. Was under small bit of pressure to get back to the hotel and get breakfast before checking out and continuing our journey through Galway for the day.

Weekly total: 35.8K

Year to date: 660.7K

Dublin Marathon - Running Shoe Guru Wk8

Sun 27th Aug

80min easy on the plan for today, my daughter was attending a music & drama class in Tralee so I got a lift in with my wife and ran a bit of a made up loop to meet them 80mins later in Dunnes carpark. I ran down to the canal that leads out towards Blennerville then out to the Cockleshell Road and on towards Spa. When the greenway type surface ended it was onto trails and through fields over to Spa. Strava's heatmap tells it's a reasonably well used route but I'd expect by walkers than runners going by the underfoot surface but there is talks to put a proper path in place sometime. Once in Spa I had to figure a way to get onto the new greenway, it wasn't too easy as had to climb over a wall near one of the old stone roadbridges that cross the greenway and shimmy down a bank onto the greenway itself....from there it was just back towards Tralee. Enjoyable run with a bit of exploring.

Mon 28th Aug

Rest day

Tues 29th Aug

45min easy running on the plan but was awake coughing and spluttering much of the night so no running.

Wed 30th Aug

Fartlek session for today but wasn't feeling great at all and after a second night keeping myself awake coughing I called in sick to work and got a GP visit in the morning. Thankfully only a head cold (had done a covid test) but chest sore from coughing. Back home then and tried up on sleep for the afternoon.

Thurs 31st Aug

Feeling better today and with the Dingle Half marathon supposed to be on the cards for Saturday I decided to get a short run in. 6.6K in 40min @ 6:03min/km. Run felt fine and figured should be even better for Saturday.

Fri 1st Sept

Easy 45min, 6x 12sec Short Hill Sprints (full recovery between each), Easy 10min Jogging Warm-Down on the plan. Took a rest day here ahead of the race in the morning.

Sun 2nd Sept

Dingle Half marathon, 2:14:46.

Not sure how much I want to write on this but here goes, arrived to Dingle for 8am on the morning. Time enough to avail to use local knowledge to avail of parking a few hundred meters from the startline. The half and full start both at the marina in Dingle and then you head off around the Slea Head. The half marathon finishes at Dunquin where you are bused back to the startline with the full marathon coming all the way back to the start at the marina in Dingle. This race gets around 2000 runners each year so the town is very busy! It's an expensive race as races go for a half marathon with the entry fee costing 73 euro but it sells out almost as soon as it goes on sale, typically 10/11 months in advance. It's a very enjoyable race and one I've done every year since 2015 so back again for 2023 edition. I've ran various times on the course with my best time of 1:46:48 set back in 2017 and last year I ran it in 1:54. This year I was planning for a marathon paced run and aiming to do it under 2 hours...5:35-5:40min/km approx.

Dropped my bag off around 8:15 to the drop van that would bring it to Dunquin, back to my car then and then a 1K warm up in 6:34min.

Met a few club mates then around the start area and got into position with them around 8:50 with a 9am start. It was pretty warm already at that stage, I think I noted 16 degrees in the car before I started...not my kind of weather for running. Anyways back to the start I ended up being positioned around 8-10 rows back from the front so pretty much right at the front (maybe 50 people in front of us). I planned to pace the race myself so didn't mind being ahead of the pace groups.

Once the race started I was holding myself back for the first KM (5:21). First climb comes in the 2nd K (5:28) with a fastest section immediately afterwards so try to keep the pace where it should be. Then steady climbing over the next 4-5K (5:39, 5:35, 5:32, 5:31, 5:19) to Ventry. Things were feeling pretty good here for the most part, little bit strange as always seemed to be someone going passed me, every so often I'd see a pace group for either the full or the half as they motored by. I can recall 1:30, 1:45 hm pace groups going by me before Ventry. Over the K, the 8th K (5:37) I started not feeling to great, couldn't put my finger on it but I decided to ease back in the 9K (5:55) as I figured I'd like to just get this to feel a bit more comfortable. Just going by the next water station outside Ventry I stopped to walk as I took on some water. I could feel my left hamstring a bit here, like the start of a cramp or something but took a minute and got going again. Not happy at all here now and quickly stopped to walk again before the 10K marker (6:33 for the 10th K). I knew I was in trouble here but just kept walking.....

The 2hr pace group went past me here then so that was that for that sort of time, now it was figuring out could I finish the race or not and if not how do you get back to the start or (Dunquin) so just kept moving. 11th K (8:15), 12th K (9:56), somewhere along here I ran my wife for a chat as was not happy at all with the thoughts of how far I had to go to get to finish. She was telling me she was concerned with me doing it after having been sick during the week and sure here I was a bit fecked...I was just feeling sorry for myself and saying maybe I am not able for this sort of stuff anymore. I walked and jogged a little for much of the next two K splits of 13th K (7:30), 14th K (7:08). Into the 15th K (5:53) I managed to run much of this but then back to walking in the 16th K (6:49). I really like this section of the course as it's simply stunning as it was on a clear (albeit way too warm day) and managed to get back running again, 17th K (5:42) and 18th K (5:39). I was thinking I'm back in business now and my leg felt the same walking or running so will try keep it going over the last few K. But with the toughest climb of the HM course in the 19th K I was back to walking for much of it (8:09). Last two K and the sounds of the finish line in the distance, couldn't wait for the race to be done. Meet a Kerry runner here who I was chatting with a recent juvenile training session, she was having a bad day as well so said we'd just finish it out together. 20th K (6:09), into the last K now and my colleague said she was stopping to walk and beckoned me to keep going, a few hundred meters and I stopped to walk as well myself, such a bloody slog and with just 500m to go and needing another walk, feck sake. Anyways going now and looking at the watch I could see I was going to get in under 2hr 15mins. 21st K (5:34). Race over and met a few running mates to compare notes with on their experiences of the day, all found it very warm and were a bit slower than they hoped. I changed out of my running gear completely and got the bus back to Dingle watching all the full runners we passed on the second half of the course, I was keeping an eye out for one runner I know who would be around 4 hours and when we passed here she had less than 2K to go and looked very strong. Her finishing time was 3:52 which was a great time on that course.

Once I got back to Dingle I didn't head down to the finish area of the full marathon as usually would do. I just headed for my car and hit the road for home with many thoughts of what used to be and what is now in relation to my running ability, what can I do about it in the short term and long term wise how can I get back to fitness I used to have....and what can I do about the Dublin marathon to avoid a repeat performance of today.

Weekly total: 41.95K

Year to date: 741.55K

Thanks AM, for sure there are a few external factors that wouldn't have helped but there's a few things I need to work on myself. Suppose naively I figured with some training I could just get back on the long distance running train where I got off. In regards being busy, it feels like that alright at times as not much downtime really.

Originally I was hoping and training towards the 4 hour mark in Dublin but that is surely a bridge too far and possibly need to be look more at 4hr 30mins. It's been 5 years ago since I last ran the marathon at my own race pace and did 3:51 back in 2018 but my times then across the other race distances from 5K up were a lot faster than they are at the moment.

Thanks E, the funny thing with it is that I have done very few races this year as it has worked out. I missed my club's 8K race in Jan due to injury, missed a duathlon earlier in April due to injury and was away for another local HM I had signed up for so was looking forward to it and that probably compounded my feelings of disappointment really instead where in a regular year I'd have a good few races done and a be a bit more hardened to it all! At the moment I don't have anymore races between now and Dublin, I did consider Charleville this weekend but I feel it's too soon and I still have a touch of that cold hanging around so not sure the point. There are a few 10Ks on that might be an option to work into a long run but would like to get back up on the horse to boost the confidence a bit even if the time is not what I'd like that I can manage the race better.

Thanks D, I probably should have just have taken that more into consideration and been more conservative at the start and forgot about times, worked my way into the race and then if things were well got down to marathon pace over the second half of the race. I look forward to racing again and hopefully a good day!

Thanks E, indeed I have put it behind me now and being honest I haven't actually thought much about the race after my post on Sunday evening so feel like I have at least got it out of my system. Nice quote that, I do wonder when he came up with those if he could predict how much many of his quotes would resonate through time and applicable to many things and simply help people!

Thanks for the comments all, I really do appreciate them all and helped my form post race to get back to a more regular disposition than moping about too much about it. For sure I might just have to reset some goals but I can recall last year at one stage when trying to make the start line and talking about race times one of the coaches in my club...in his delightfully frank way (English is his second language) and said to me "David, you are not going to win the race". This wasn't meant an insult but more to relax about things and do what you can.

Also I thought Sonia was outstanding on the Irishman Running Abroad podcast this week in relation to marathon training and the time between now and then where sometimes you just may have to readjust your training and goal and simply do the work you can to meet the goal you have set....and as above I know I won't win the Dublin marathon this year! I have to say I was a big fan of Sonia as an athlete through her career but another brilliant achievement of her's is what she has done in the last number of years in regards how accessible she is and particularly through the podcast we get to hear from her every week. Jarlath has created something very special there giving a platform to Sonia to share with the public her thoughts, opinions and experiences through her pro career and recreational career for me only elevates her greatness and I always enjoy her wit too.