Sunday, July 26, 2015

Crap training and the Balla 10k

Here goes:

Mon - Treadmill recovery run 10kms in 36:00 (3:36's)

Tue - 2km up, 10km treadmill threshold run in 31:53 (3:11's), 2km down. All up 14kms

Wed - Treadmill recovery run 10kms in 35:53 (3:35's)

Thu - am - 2km up, 10km treadmill threshold run in 31:48 (3:11's), 1km down. All up 13kms

Thu - pm - Mayo AC easy 7.3kms

Fri - Claregalway 9.5kms easy in 44:06 (4:39's)!!!

Sat - Balla 10km 1st in 33:42. All up 14.5kms

Sun - Claregalway recovery run 11.1kms in 42:06 (3:48's)

All up 89.4kms for the week.

Another win in Balla. A very tough course and took the lead from the gun and nobody went with me so settled into threshold mode. I didn't feel great though and struggled to find any rhythm on the rolling hills. I added an extra 2km threshold at the end and then stopped as I was knackered. Not a great confidence booster with the half only a week away.

My other training was crap. Lots of treadmill running which was enforced with the kids being on summer hols. My treadmill pace is getting better with 2 sub 32 threshold runs but not proper training as it's all about getting out on the roads....

Sunday, July 19, 2015

Poor week

Very busy with testing this week so the training suffered a fair bit:

Mon - Claregalway recovery run 9.5km in 36:25 (3:50's)

Tue - 2km up, Treadmill threshold run 10km in 32:07 (3:13's), 2km down. All up 14.0kms

Wed - Claregalway recovery run 9.5km in 36:21 (3:50's)

Thu - 2km up, Treadmill threshold run 10km in 33:30 (3:21's). All up 11.0kms.

Fri - Treadmill recovery run 10km in 36:35 (3:40's)

Sat - 2km up, Treadmill threshold run 10km in 32:01 (3:12's), 2km down. All up 14.0kms

Sun - Rest day

Total for the week 68.0kms.....

Lots of lactate threshold testing so that was good fun. But the weather has been poor and I have the kids also so it was difficult to get outdoors. So on the treadmill a fair bit which is better than no run. Certainly my pace on the treadmill is getting a bit quicker so that's a good sign. But my run on Thursday I felt terrible so I pulled back on the pace and didn't bother with a warm-down. But I bounced back well on Friday and Saturday so I'd say I was just knackered.

Only 2 weeks now until the National Half so I need to find a decent week next week and then I'll pull back.

Sunday, July 12, 2015

Building volume and the Martin Egan 10km

Another week under the belt:

Mon - Claregalway recovery run 9.5kms in 38:06 (4:01's) - was feeling tired

Tue - 2km up, Treadmill threshold 10km 32:19 (3:14's), 1.6km down. All up 13.6kms

Wed - Claregalway recovery run 9.5kms in 36:06 (3:48's)

Thu - AM - 2km up, Claregalway 14km threshold 49:00 (3:30's), 0.5km down. All up 16.5kms

Thu - PM - Mayo AC easy 6.4kms

Fri - Treadmill recovery run 10.0kms in 36:47 (3:41's)

Sat - Treadmill easy run 8kms in 35:00 (4:23's)

Sun - Martin Egan 10km 1st in 33:13. All up 20.7kms

I raced on Sunday again using a local race as a threshold run. Had a good duel over the first 3km with a young lad and then he dropped off and I was back running by myself. The course was good - a few drags and bumps and the wind wasn't too bad and I felt like I was cruising. I won in 33:13 and then carried on adding an additional 8km at threshold intensity and I went through 10 miles in just over 54 minutes and 18km in 61 minutes. Happy with that as I didn't have to push the pace at all.

That's another good week - a total of 94.2kms with 3 good threshold runs. My pattern over the last 3 weeks continues and if I can keep it going for 3 more weeks I should have a strong run in Dublin.

Sunday, July 05, 2015

Another week and the Headford 8km

Mon - Claregalway recovery run 11.1kms 43:19 (3:54's)

Tue - 2km up, 10km treadmill threshold run 32:13 (3:13's), 2km down. All up 14.0kms.

Wed - Claregalway recovery run 9.5kms in 36:30 (3:51's)

Thu - 2km up, 12.0km Claregalway threshold run 42:34 (3:33'a), 2.1km down. All up 16.1kms.

Fri - Treadmill easy 9.3kms in 40:07 (4:19's)

Sat - Headford 8km first in 26:27. All up 19.5kms.

Sun - Claregalway recovery run 14.8kms in 56:25 (3:49's)

Total for week 94.3kms

I was expecting a good hit-out at Headford but after the gun had sounded I was well in control within the first 500m. So I decided to pull back and run at threshold intensity. I crossed the line for the win in 26:27 and kept going - running another lap to end up with a 15.8km threshold run at an average pace of 3:21/km. Very happy with that as conditions were wet and windy and heart rate was middle of the zone all the way. A few more runs like this as the build-up for the half marathon continues.

The guts of the training are still the threshold runs. I'm settling on 3 per week - one treadmill and two outdoors. The treadmill run is top of the zone, the race environment sees me middle of zone and the remaining outdoor run is lower zone. If I can get around 40km a week in at threshold for the next few weeks I will be in good form for the half.

Here are a few photos from Headford: