Ouch #2

Arrived in Manchester safe and sound. Straight back to my mates place for a BBQ and a few too many beers with my old student mates. Late to bed.

No running today. Will attempt something tomorrow.

Should have been a tempo

but wasn't. Instead I ran late and decided to notch up a longish run.

Again very slow - my cruising pace seems to have suffered a bit lately, probably just tired. A total of 16.6kms in 1:13:29 (4:26's).

The weekend training could be tricky. I'm off to Manchester on Saturday to catch up with mates from university and then to watch the Stone Roses play on Sunday. At the very least I plan to get a run in Sunday morning. We shall see. Proper training resumes next week.

Plan

I managed to get out for a slow trot to help with my "recovery". Usual 9.5km route in 41:17.

Then out in the evening with the lads to put together our training plan for the upcoming National half in September. Great food thanks to Fintan. Also thanks to Matt for taking time to put together the schedules.

Ouch #1

My best man was over from Oz on his hols and needless to say we gave the booze a massive nudge. No running as a result but great to catch up.

I though Portugal were a little unlucky against Spain...I just about remember watching the penalties...

Tuesday track

3.5km warm-up with the lads.

The session was 1km, 4 x 2km, 1km (big session) and I was to try and hang on to Gary who was running at what is probably a cruise pace for him. The recovery was only 90 seconds...

Here's how the session panned out:

3:05, 6:15, 6:23, REST, 6:12, 3:02

Yes after the second 2km effort I had blown a gasket and hit to sit out the 3rd 2km. After around 9 minutes recovery I bounced back well to finish the session. I found this really tough and don't seem to be running at all comfortable at the moment. Perhaps the easy week will see me in good stead.

Finished up with a 2km warm-down to give me 13.5kms for the day.

Monday

9.5kms in 39:35 (4:10's).

Decided I'll take an easyish week this week. Too much socialising on the horizon so proper training will be put on hold.

Penalties

I ran local and decided to run my short 9.5km loop in reverse. Seems really odd but it was like running somewhere different. During the run I decided that I'd throw in a few hill repeats on the Rock Road to get the heart rate up. These were token hills at best - I lasted 6 x 1 minute and what should have taken 1 minute were always a few seconds more (I always run point to point). Pretty pathetic. At one point as I jogged back down the hill I got asked for directions - never before have I been so grateful to take a long break and give very detailed instructions...

All up 13.0kms. That's 85.8kms for the week.

I then headed out to watch the England game. We started okay but in all honesty we were hanging on for most of the game and never deserved to win....pass me another beer please...

Almost 2 hours

I ran with Timmie and Owen starting at Roscam. Conditions were poor being very windy but at least the rain held off. We headed into town and turned at the driving range (Owen went shorter = sensible, massive headwind all the way). It was a lot easier coming back but the legs felt tired by this stage. Timmie made the call to show me an old training hill on the way back and that nearly finished me off. As we made the final turn into Roscam we had to stop at a level crossing to let a train pass. I wasn't sure I'd get going again...

All up 26.0kms in 1:55:33 (4:27's). Slow pace but the wind made it a really tough run. How the f**k did I run that marathon 8 weeks back?

Rehab Run

The legs took a real beating yesterday. I didn't stretch properly after the race and I felt very sluggish crawling around today. A total of 11.1kms in 48:45 (4:24's).

I'll take it easy over the weekend. Racing really seems to be taking it out of me at the moment. Probably a sign of old age.

Annaghdown 10km

Out to Annaghdown for a flattish 10km. The weather had been very wet all day but it cleared nicely for the race. A few puddles to avoid but it was nice and cool with very little breeze. You'd take these conditions every time.

A couple of kms warm-up then time to line up. There was a great showing with some decent guys at the pointy end. The standard in Galway at the moment is definitely on the up. Probably at least half a dozen guys capable of running sub 33 and better so you are pretty much guaranteed a good race at the moment which I'm all for. Plus John Byrne had made the trip from Co Mayo (National 50km champion) so it promised to be a good hit-out.

I immediately hit the front with John. The course is rolling ups and downs - not big hills but ones you would feel if you weren't in good shape. We took it out fairly hard and I settled in behind John. I wasn't looking at the watch at all but I knew we were moving well as we ticked off the first few kms. I tried to take the lead a few times but John would surge straight away and regain the lead. This continued until halfway and with neither of us letting up I thought it was going to go all the way.

By the time we hit 6km I had tried a few more surges but I got the feeling that the immediate response from John must have been taking it's toll. At about 6.5km we tool a left turn and I made another move on a slight uphill and managed to open up a small gap. I tried to push on but as soon as I had hit the front I felt a lot less comfortable.

I mainatained the lead but knew John was right behind me. I was really starting to work hard and I ran a couple of sloppy kms through 8 and 9, probably saving myself for a quick finish. The last km had a bit of a climb at the start but after that it was all downhill then flat into the finish line. I was running behind the 2 lead motorbikes and they had the sirens sounding as I crossed the line in a time of 32:38 for the win.

A great battle with John which sums up why I like racing. He finished 8 seconds behind in 32:46 with Conor Dolan in great form only a few seconds back in 32:57 (his first sub 33). It's a horrible feeling when you know someone is close behind you but thankfully I just had enough in reserve to get to the line.

Here are the splits:

1km 3:08
2km 3:14
3km 3:12
4km 3:16
5km 3:15 (16:05)
6km 3:15
7km 3:18
8km 3:23
9km 3:26
10km 3:12 (16:33)

Total 32:38

The only slight disappointment is the splits for the 8th and 9th kms. Had I have been able to run them under 3:20 I may have had a shout of a PB. Still not too bad - my second quickest road 10km and 3 seconds quicker than last year!

I finished up with a 3.4km warm-down to give me 15.4kms for the day.

No running or football

Did nowt today. Probably long overdue after 17 consecutive running days.

10km race tomorrow. Looking forward to it.

A couple of beers tonight but no football to watch...

6 x 800m

I've decided to run the 10km on Thursday night out at Annaghdown so in preparation for that I decided not to overdo it on the track tonight.

A quick 15 minute warm-up with Fintan and Owen of around 3.5km. The session called for 6 to 8 by 800m off 90 seconds and with lots of people racing at the moment everyone took the decision that 6 efforts was plenty.

As is the norm, the first was a bit scratchy then I settled into a nice rhythm. My usual trick of a quick first lap (around 70 seconds), then a slower one - the ideal would be to run the effort at even pace. Here are the times:

2:27/2:25/2:24/2:24/2:24/2:23

Pretty happy with that. Conditions were spot on with very little breeze and I seemed to be running relaxed and moving well.

A 7 lap warm-down to give me 11.1kms for the day. Rest tomorrow.

On the drive home I eventually found the commentary for the England game on radio 5. You can imagine what the signal is like on the west coast of Ireland but that didn't matter as Rooney had just put England 1-0 up and that's how it stayed. Plus with France slipping up we top the group to play the Italians on Sunday night. It would be no surprise now if we make the semis...and all this from an England side that are at best very average...Hodgson is either very lucky or a genius. I'll let you decide...

Triple

I wasn't planning to run today but ended up doing 3 mini-runs which totalled 9.2kms (in 41:58) - at a very sedate pace of 4:32/km.

I was invited to the launch of this year's Streets of Galway 8km road race at the Claddagh Hall. I parked up near Eyre Square and jogged down to the hall (2km). The photos called for a couple of highly tuned athletes with good physique to dress up in morph suits for some of the press photos. Imagine my surprise when I got the call up. Here's a flavour of what I'm talking about:

After the photos were done and dusted I jogged back to the car (1.5km). Upon arrival home I then decided that 3.5kms didn't constitute a run so I headed out for a further 5.7km.

Good fun all round and now waiting to see what photos make the papers later in the week...

Half Marathon (for fun)

Up early and wanted to run for around 90 minutes (local solo run). I covered 3 of my local loops and upon arrival home the Garmin showed I was just shy of 21kms so like a complete muppet I decided to carry on to get the half marathon distance up (doing a loop of the estate). Total 21.1kms in 1:29:59 (4:16's).

A family meal was planned for 2pm but I was cooking so it turned out an hour late....I used the delay to my advantage nipping down to the 5km marker of the "Great Race" to watch the leaders come through. Some great results from my training partners with Fintan running a 33:20 PB in his DEBUT 10km race for 2nd. Plus Owen running a solid 34:14 for 3rd. Well done!!

I think I'm going to have a hit-out this week in the Annaghdown 10km on Summer Solstice day. A good course where I ran a PB last year. With that in mind I plan to have a relatively easy week on the training front.

Weekly total of 100.8kms. My first triple figure week since London.

Hills

You know I'm clutching at straws when I throw in a hill session....

I ran down to the Rock Road (3.4km) then ran 12 sets of hills. I use the same start/finish point which is about 60 seconds up and 80 seconds jogging down (when feeling good). Today I wasn't far short of that blowing out a few seconds here and there. I seem to cop really bad weather when doing this session (cold and wet). Then the same run home (3.4km) to add another 13.2kms to the weekly tally.

That's my 3rd  (decent) session of the week. I think 3 sessions may be too much for me and might drop it down to 2 as the legs seem to be constantly tired. Umm.

Long run tomorrow.

Rubbish

11.1km in 46:16 (4:10's). Very blustery but had a bit of a spring in the step and felt good.

Football - Ireland were rubbish and England weren't much better. I can't believe we scored 3 goals as we didn't create anything. As soon as we meet a decent side it's going to be good night nurse...

Solo Tempo

I don't think I'm going to race on the weekend so I decided to do the same session as last week (12km tempo). Running solo today with only the Garmin for company and the nice bleep each time you knock off a km.

The session was 2.2km warm-up, 12km tempo, 4.8km warm-down (all up 19kms).

I ran the tempo in 41:19 (3:27's). That's a massive 11 second improvement on last week! In my defence I'd say it's tougher running by yourself, plus the conditions were a little windier today. Here are the km splits:

3:26/3:24/3:27/3:23/3:25/3:27/3:25/3:29/3:34/3:27/3:30/3:22

I went through 10km in 34:27. The loop itself is about 9.3km so I'm doubling up on running 2.7km of the loop (it wouldn't be the easiest part of the loop either as a lot of that section is slight uphill). The 8th and 9th kms were tough (same as last week) as you are running directly into the wind coupled with a few nasty drags. The 2nd through to 7th kms are quite friendly.

Looking forward to the footy tonight. Lets hope Ireland can pull something out of the bag as it would be great lift for the country if they could put a decent run together.

Harry

An early morning trot out. The legs felt heavy after the track session so I took it easy rolling around my 9.5km loop in 41:11 (4:20's).

Harry Redknapp has left Spurs. I can't believe it. Shocked and stunned. How we could let him go is beyond me...apparently he is to get a £3m pay-out for the remainder of his contract. After tax that works out to £3m...

4 x 2km

Out to Dangan. A warm-up of 3.7kms then found out the start of the session was to be on the grass. Threw all my toys out of the pram but decided to give it a go (3 x 6 mins with 75 secs recovery). After one lap of the grass pitches I was going nowhere (2 mins) so pulled the pin and wandered over to the track. Pathetic effort by myself.

Then bumped into Gary (a 2:17 man and I'm not talking 800m) who was doing 10 minute sets (2 km in 6:20, 1km in 3:40). Decided to jump in on the 2km efforts and we took turns leading out the first and last km. I ended up doing 4 x 2km and the times were:

6:20/6:18/6:17/6:19

It felt more comfortable than last week - especially the breathing. The thought did enter my mind that this was my dream target 10km pace (31:40) and whilst you may be able to hold out until 6-7km at the pace, the last 3-4km would be blue murder. A way to go I'd say...

Forgot to mention I had the luxury of a very big 3:40ish recovery today. I did a bit of walking and jogging (600m) whilst Gary continued on with his float.

I finished up with a 2km warm-down. That gives me 15.8km for the day once you add up all the bits and pieces.

Wheels coming off

A recovery run of 11.1kms today in 46:01 (4:09's).

In my "strange things I saw whilst running" section, today I was running up to Carnmore on the hard shoulder facing the oncoming traffic. A lorry and trailer went past on my left side and then a few seconds later a wheel went bouncing up the road behind the lorry...the wheel gradually moved across the road and a few oncoming cars had to swerve to avoid it as it crossed the other side of the road. The wheel eventually came to rest about 100m up the road in the direction I was running against a stone wall. Could have been nasty if I was that bit further up the road as it would have come up behind me with very little warning...