First 30mile training run...

No blog post last Monday for the week before as I had little to report running wise as it was a easy week with just 4 runs and although one of them was 25miles on Sunday most of the week was spent not running at all due far more important commitments I had to attend during the week.

However last week was alot more active running wise as it was a harder training week and I've finally run my first 30mile run of my new training season!  These weren't fast training miles by any means but they were still miles in the legs and I can definitely say that the miles get easier as they are added up.

Given the 30mile run was on Thursday and I had done a 25mile run on the Sunday previously I felt pretty good....even if the conditions for the 30mile were far from ideal with freezing fog.

Fog over the distance mountains

Running like this is sort of odd, at first I find it hard but then as the weeks go on the miles just feel easier and easier and that's especially noticeable when I do a 20 or 25mile run and the next time I do 8 or 10miles, where as before I would have needed a rest day.

Still, I'm cautious about running myself down and hence why I'm alternating easier and harder weeks like I am. I suppose two harder weeks followed by an easier week might be better and thats something I might look at as the months roll on.

One thing I'm finding kind of hard is the very early starts on my days off for the 20-30mile runs, for example my 30mile run began at 6.30am just so it wouldn't eat up my entire day off.

I did experience one problem after the 30mile run on Thursday, my left knee started to bother me. Not so much when walking but more so when sitting. So thats something I'll have to keep an eye on.

Finally, I wasn't feeling the best on Saturday and Sunday so I took them as rest days.

Last weeks runs broke-down as:
- Monday: 8miles @8:19min pace
- Tuesday: 10miles @8:16min pace
- Wednesday: 10miles @ 8:42min pace
- Thursday: 30miles @ 10.58min pace
- Friday: 5miles @ 11.13min pace
- Saturday: Rest
- Sunday: Rest

Weekly Total: 65 miles
Miles This Year: 205 miles

Midweek long runs

My aim last week was to hit between 70-80miles and then alternative between a harder week and a slightly easier week.  My way of upping the miles last week was to do 10miles each day with the exception of one 20mile run on Thursday.

These runs went fine for the most part except for Wednesday where I opted for 5miles because of the weather and because I was wary of the 20mile run the next day, on Thursday I experienced chaffing when running for the last 10miles!

I'll be honest, this wasn't pleasant and its must unusual as I rarely experience chaffing,  because I was 10miles from home with nothing to apply to stop the chaffing. Fun times!          This could have been avoided because I did actually bring my ultimate direction backpack for this run so I must throw stuff into one of the pockets to make sure this doesn't happen again in future.

On Friday I was perhaps being optimistic as I went out the door to do a 6-7mile run, however just after a mile in I decided to head back home as the chaffing had started off again and it was very uncomfortable (despite me applying lots of stuff to stop it!). All in all its very frustrating!

So after the chaffing problems I took Saturday as a rest day in the hope everything would heal up abit and on Sunday I headed out for another 20mile run to make up for the lost miles on Friday & Saturday. This time things went much better and throughout the entire run I felt just fine.

Overall I'm happy with last weeks training and looking forward to upping the miles as the weeks go on.

Last weeks runs broke-down as:
- Monday: 10miles @ 8:24min pace
- Tuesday: 10miles @ 8:44min pace
- Wednesday: 5miles @ 9:01min pace
- Thursday: 20miles @ 9.10min pace @ 2.81miles walking recovery
- Friday: 2miles @ 11:55min pace
- Saturday:Rest
- Sunday:20miles @ 9:20min pace

Weekly Total: 70 miles
Miles This Year: 90 miles

Looking back and looking forward

So it’s a new year and new plans and challenges, but before I get into what I’ve planned so far in 2015 I thought I’d just recap 2014.

Overall 2014 has been a good year, sure I didn’t get a new marathon personal best like I had planned but I managed to run 7 marathons, 2 ultra’s and one of the ultra’s was my longest ever distance and longest time on my feet at 62miles and over 12hours running!

Looking back I think the first part of the year went better then the second and this was likely down to me not properly recovering after Portumna 100km and instead going into training for the Dublin Marathon and expecting to set myself a new personal best, it was just too much, too soon.  Live and learn I guess.

Still, I did manage a nice improvement on my Half Marathon time at the Waterford Half Marathon in December so at least the year ended on a high for me.

Outside of doing races I also gave trail running a good try this year and dispite injuring myself at the start of October I must say that I really enjoy the challenges on a technical trail, alot more to think about then if your just road running.  I'll certainly be doing more trail running in 2015.

Looking forward to 2015 so far I’ve the Thames Path 100 in May and I’m doing the Vartry 50miler in Wicklow in April instead of my usual run of the Connemara Ultra Marathon. I wanted to opt for a 50miler instead of a 39miler in Connemara to ensure my last long run is of a reasonable distance.

I also plan on testing out my kit and tactics during the 50miler to make sure everything works out like I expect for the 100miler in May.

However, before either of these runs happen I'll have to run several 20 and 30mile runs in preparation as well as increase my overall weekly mileage and that's something I've already started, more on that in my next blog post.

I'm looking forward to 2015!

Total Miles for the 2014: 2,005miles