Are those my feet?

13th - 19th February

Monday - Rest

Tuesday - 7.58 miles with 16 mins LT, 4 mins off, 12 mins LT. Seeing as I was jumping in at week 2, I just split the difference between the week 1 (14/4/12) and week 2 (18/4/12) LT runs on the plan. I got a shock when I looked up the prescribed paces based on my Dungarvan time - would be 6:56-7:06 for these. That felt like a massive leap from the paces I'd been doing them at last year, and this was going to be a lumpy route with plenty wind about, so I dialled back my expectations a few notches and tried to run at a consistent effort. This was tough enough going, but manageable. I'll try get out on a fairer route for this weeks LT session. Paces came in at 7:37, 6:58, 6:37 (0.21mi), 7:12 and 7:27 (0.64mi). The wild pace variations reflect the hilly route and changing wind, but I felt the effort was pretty even for the most part.

Wednesday - 4.35 miles recovery @ 10:27. A shuffle around UL, keeping it flat and running on grass here and there. Soggy in parts so mainly on the gravel paths.

Thursday - 5.6 miles easy @ 9:39. A nice lunch time out-and-back. I do like an easy hour or so at lunchtime - no thinking or planning involved, just head out the door and run.

Friday - 11.13 miles endurance (8:54 avg). I wasn't sure I'd have much of a window for a LR over the weekend, so got it done early on Friday morning. Similar to the LT paces, I got a surprise when I checked the new endurance paces. I had been running these at 9:50 -> 8:50 before Waterford, and now they would be 9:20 -> 8:20. The plan was 4 miles at 9:20, 4 at 8:50 and 3 at 8:20. This was a struggle, and the last 3 miles were horrible. I've recently come to the conclusion that I really don't like rolling out of bed and getting straight into anything more than easy effort - maybe I could get up earlier, but that's not too enticing an option tbh. The second main problem with this run was that the middle 4 miles were all gradual uphill - this definitely took a toll come the final 3 miles, which were flatter and downhill but the legs were heavy. To be fair I hit the paces all the way through, but it was just a slog. I should have eased off a touch in those middle miles. Next weeks LR is a Progression with the final 3 at LT, but I'm just going to do a normal endurance instead and see if I can get a handle on those first.

Saturday - Rest

Sunday - 5.51 miles easy @ 9:54. We'd travelled over to London on the Saturday for the Spurs match on Sunday afternoon. I'd wondered where I'd go for my run, but it turned out that Finsbury park was right across the road from the hotel, so that decision was made easy. It was a perfect park for running, with a 1.5 mile main inner looop and loads of paths off that. Plenty runners about, as well as American Football training, tennis, baseball, and I even spotted an athletics track just as I was finishing up. Cracking day afterwards at the new Spurs stadium - it's such an impressive venue.

34.1 miles for the week, and a fair bit of walking on top of that over the weekend. Interesting to see how I get on with the LT and LR now this week.

Thank you both for the inputs, much appreciated. Yeah D, the endurance runs start off at the easier end of easy in the earlier miles, and progress towards steady/moderate for the closing miles. I'm sure you're right to say they are crucial runs, and are in the plan for a reason. I'll hopefully squeeze in the odd one as the weeks go by, but it definitely won't be every week. In addition to them not fitting into a convenient window, there's probably a reluctance on my part to be adding too much work - I've got to this point by building gradually so I tend to veer towards (or create) the conservative path.

6th March - 12th March

Monday - Rest

Tuesday - 5.11 miles easy (9:46/mi). As I mentioned last week, I had a bit of a cold and the quad was giving out, so kept things short and easy to start this week. Kept this run as flat as I could as well.

Wednesday - 4.07 miles recovery (10:08/mi). In the office so some nice, flat lunchtime miles around UL. The bottom gate to the UL track was open so I wandered in for a few laps before continuing on. Mostly on grass after that. There were markings around the field which I suspected were from an XC race, and a google afterwards confirmed the University XC had been held there over the previous weekend. They'd thrown a few banks into the lap, but you'd be hard pressed to find a flatter and non-muddy XC course I'd say.

Thursday - 6.04 miles easy (9:27/mi). The closest I've come to dodging a run in forever. It was absolutely miserable out - driving wind, rain, and cold. Setting out I wasn't even sure what I'd do, but eventually settled on the same undulating loop as last Tuesday. Happy to have done that much.

Friday - 8.16 miles endurance (8:53/mi avg). The quad and the cold were 90% better, so decided it was time to re-introducce some effort. Could have done an LT run here and standard endurance LR on Sunday, but instead did an MLR here and Progression on Sunday, as I'd not done one of those to date. This was a hilly enough loop, so tried to run to the correct effort rather than be a slave to the paces. Did a decent (but nowhere near perfect) job of that.

Saturday - 3.78 miles recovery (9:45/mi). My Strava feed didn't give me any 'your activity from x year(s) ago' - turns out this was my first ever run on March 11th. Mindblowing, I know.

Sunday - 13.20 miles progression (8:17/mi avg). I dusted off the Endorphin Speed 2's for this - hadn't worn them in a while and they felt great. My plan was 3 miles at 9:20, 2 at 8:50, 3 at 8:20, 3 at 7:40, last 2 at LT (7:00). The early miles were into the wind - this should have meant I'd have some help later, but the wind died down as the run went on. Despite the wind, and the uphill nature of the opening miles I was cantering along. In fact, the first 8 miles of this were bliss - I was motoring along, ticking off the miles, happy out, thinking this was a breeze and life was great. It only occurred to me around the 7th mile, that I was barely over half way and I'd be needing to pick up the pace again (and again) in the next 6 miles. I'd also overdressed - it was miserable and threatening looking as I started out, but I finished up with gloves and a neck buff in my pockets and a rain jacket around my waist. The 9th, 10th, 11th miles were at 7:40 - definitely felt the increased effort here, but still felt pretty good. Into the last 2 miles then and upped the pace again - the wind which should have been helping had turned into a crosswind, but these miles were thankfully a small net downhill. Had to really push in the last mile and I was so glad when the watch beeped for 13. Pace was 7:06 for both LT miles, which was spot on. The whole run was spot on really - felt I judged the effort pretty well, and was able to lift the pace each time when called for. There's another one of these in a few weeks time, so will be interesting to see how that goes, when I won't be as fresh.

40.3 miles for the week. Most of the miles were in the latter part of the week, which is not ideal, but the quad feels good now so hopefully the few extra light days did the trick. This week has the first VO2 max session, although I might swap it for an LT session that I missed last week - there's not much more LT stuff left in the plan, and I'd like to get that one in - where as there are a good few VO2 max sessions (and races) in the coming weeks.

20th - 26th March

Monday - 4.37 miles recovery (9:56/mi). Pretty windy for this one if I recall correctly. Seemed like the wind was present all week long. Always like when I get in Monday miles - feel like I'm ahead for the week then and have a buffer should anything pop up.

Tuesday - 9.33 miles with 38 mins LT.  I volunteered for some work on Monday night, which meant I'd have a few hours off Tuesday morning to get this in. Wore the Endorphin Speeds after last weeks struggle in the Gliderides. Picked a simple route, out and back the N8. I always under-estimate the drags on this road until I'm running it. Couple of miles warm-up, with a few strides before it was time for the work. I had a headwind to contend with for the first half, and it was very strong at times. The worst of the climbing was in the first half too, so I was really digging in for the first 2+ miles until I got to the turn around point. Felt like I was going nowhere at times and I debated changing up the route and diverting off onto one of the side roads to get away from the wind, but I persevered. Mercifully I made it to the turnaround point and things eased a touch then. The wind suddenly felt like a gentle tickle compared to the howling gale it seemed to be just minutes earlier - why does it always seem like this? Had to dig in to get over one last drag and then made sure not to ease off the effort once the gradient was more favourable. 5.32 miles LT in the end, with the paces being 7:20, 7:24, 7:13, 7:05, 6:44 and 6:57 for the bit, which averaged out at 7:09. Just outside the prescribed range, but given the wind I won't worry about that. Couple of miles of a cooldown shuffle to round off a tough, but decent mornings work.

Wednesday - Rest.

Thursday - 5.71 miles easy (9:41/mi). It poured rain for most of this, but the rain itself actually kind of nice for the most part, except the sheer volume meant that streams of water were running down the road and you'd look like an absolute lunatic being out in those conditions. I was five minutes from home when hailstones joined the party. At least it wasn't too windy.

Friday - 8.23 miles easy (9:33/mi).  I had this pencilled in for the afternoon, but I was up early and when the weather was favourable I moved things forward. Right decision too, as it was hit and miss later in the day. Right quad was a bit tight, so swerved the planned strides (again). A very nice run, at a nice easy clip.

Saturday - 4.39 miles recovery (10:12/mi). Had a tight enough window for this, so kept it local and doubled back on myself a couple of times to avoid the worst hills.

Sunday - 13.20 miles progression (8:17/mi avg). This was a slight step-up on a similar LR from two weeks ago - the last 3 miles would be at LT this time, compared to last 2 miles on the previous occasion. Having worn the Endorphin Speed 2's last time, I wore the Magic Speed 2's this time, and ran the exact same route to make it easy to compare. I also dressed more sensibly this time, without excessive layers. I was a bit ropey starting out, having had a nice feed of pints the day before, but luckily not in the absolute horrors. The whole run felt pretty good, some wind in the early going which then eased for an hour. The effort felt surprisingly under control for the first half, and even when I dipped into the 7:xx for miles 9 and 10 thing still felt reasonably comfortable. The wind reappeared around now, which was not ideal. Mile 11 was the first of the LT miles, and was the toughest of the run - bit of a head/cross wind and a decent drag in the second half of the mile. I probably pushed a bit too hard in this mile but soldiered on, knowing that the gradient would be more in my favour for the last 2 miles. The last 2 miles were not bad at all - hit the paces without blowing a gasket and I wasn't hanging on for a finish, which was the case last time. The LT miles came in at 7:05, 6:58 and 7:01. Looking at the average HR stats, and I was 5-7 beats lower each mile compared to 2 weeks ago. I'd put some of that down to dressing more sensibly, but the Magic Speeds definitely offer a bit more assistance too. The strongest of my midweek LT sessions came in those shoes too. Anyway, very happy with this run.

A very satisfactory 45.2 miles for the week, with another 30+ mins S&C on Sunday evening. The coming week sees the first of the tune-up races. Nothing nailed down yet as some family activities have to be confirmed, but the options, in order of likelihood are 1) Ennis 10km on Sunday, 2) no race and do a VO2 Max session, 3) Parkrun. So we will see what happens with that - hopefully I get to do the race. A 10km PB should be a near formality if I do, but I haven't raced a 10k in almost 4 years and in my head it's the most intimidating distance - all the hurt of a 5k but for twice as long!

They create a bit of a racket alright. Mind you, that's not necessarily always a bad thing when you run on quiet country roads and have a knack for catching unsuspecting walkers unawares and frightening the bejaysus out of them as you overtake, despite plenty of warning coughs, grunts and stone kicking on approach.

Ennis 10km report - 42:54 (PB of 1:54)

After a few miles shakeout on the Saturday, I was all set for the trip to Ennis. Had a brutal night's sleep, but at least that meant I was up early. Hit the road way too early as it turned out, and got to Ennis just after 9 for the 11 o'clock start. Race HQ and start were at the Lees Road sports complex - a hugely impressive setup with a running track, 4G/astro pitches, multiple grass pitches, a playground and skatepark, plus perimieter walking path and trails into the forest. The place was a hive of activity all morning, with rugby, soccer and GAA matches and training all taking place, in addition to the race. There was a 2k kids race at 9:30 so I watched the start of that, then registered for the 10k. Mooched around while before getting in a couple of miles warm-up.

Pretty sure this was the sunniest day I've ran on this year, although at 10 o'clock it had the look of a right scorcher - thankfully that didn't come to pass. I'd looked up the route on Friday - seemed to be a lumpy enough course with a downhill start out of the complex and a notable hill around the 3 mile mark. A few conversations in the starting area confirmed this - general consensus was to save something for the hill at halfway, then the course was helping on the way home. No chip timing here and with a field of around 300 I wasn't positioned too far back anyway.

Once we were off I was determined to take advantage of the first mile, which was largely downhill as we headed out of the complex. Not too much congestion and plenty lanes opened up to get through where necessary. It wasn't exactly a complete downhill, with a couple of little crests to navigate. Things flattened out once we left the complex - I wasn't too far from the 40 minute pacers after my fast start, but now settled into the pace and one or two started to pass by - this was fine as I was trying to manage the effort a bit until the hill at halfway. First 2 miles came in at 6:41 and 7:03. Wondered after if I should have pushed a bit more in that 2nd mile, but who knows how things would have played out if I did.

Spent most of the 3rd mile tucked behind or alongside an impressive masters runner - he was running strongly, although his elbows were a bit erratic so I gave him a little extra room. 3rd mile ticked by in 6:59 as we turned left and hit the main climb of the route. It was a sharp, reasonably short climb and I ran it up pretty strongly. From here on in I tried to left the pace, and did to a limited extent. The course was more helpful now, but there was still plenty of undulations - just when you thought it might flatten out now, another sly little uphill would appear. 4th mile was a 6:46.

As we turned left and headed back towards the finish the wind became a factor, and the little stone walls lining the roads offered no shelter. I was pretty isolated too at this stage - some footsteps behind, and I picked off the odd runner coming back towards me, but the field had spread out. 5th mile was a 6:58. I kept trying to increase the pace and push on, but the legs just wouldn't obey. The wind wasn't helpful at all. As we passed the 8k mark, the owner of the footsteps from behind passed me by, I tried to go with him but just couldn't. He went off into the distance and my focus for the last mile was on another runner about 100m ahead - this guy looked like he was in trouble and kept looking over his shoulder - I'm not sure if he was concerned about me and our "battle" for what turned out to be 52nd place, or maybe he had a rival further behind - either way his nervousness should have given me the encouragement to catch him but I just couldn't close the gap. The 6th mile came in at 6:55 and even for the last bit I couldn't force much of a kick (6:43). I stopped the watch at 42:52, but the results give me 42:54 so that's the new PB figure.

I think @ReeReeG summed up my feelings on this one best with her strava comment - solid. Not a wildly impressive showing, but by no means a disgrace, and most definitely more progress. I was a bit annoyed not to hit the target of a 2 minute PB, but a 1:54 PB is nothing to be sniffed at so I would feel a bit greedy if I complained too much. I'm not too worried about the lack of freshness in the legs - presumably that's to be expected mid-block with no real taper, and this was only a tune-up race, so job very much done I guess.

After a feed of buns and sandwiches, plus a few chats with locals, I did a few miles cooldown to take me over 10 miles for the day, and 38 for the week. Legs feel fine today, which is good as the plan is for 10 miles later this evening.

Haha, nope, too late. Offence has been taken and a giant chip is firmly in place on my shoulder now.