Sunday, May 22, 2016

Waterford & Back...sort of & Night running

Seem to have gotten out of the habit lately of posting blog updates, but that of course doesn't mean I haven't been doing some running.  I'll start back with more regular updates from now on.

Callan Marathon Elevation Profile
After Vartry 50mile in March the training seemed to somewhat fall apart for a short but I'm now back doing proper long runs in preparation for Connemara 100 in August.

Last weekend for example I set off with an ambitious plan to run 58miles from Callan to Waterford City & Back, however things did not go as plan as I got little sleep the night before and in the morning I started off around 90min later then expected.

Course Route
Both of these things meant it set back my whole day and by the day I got to 40miles I had to call it a day as I would have been home far too late to get other things done that day.

On Friday after working the entire week and finishing at 7pm I opted to fit in my long run after work rather then doing it on Saturday or Sunday morning.

So I packed up my backpack and decided to run what I like to refer to as the Callan Marathon course.

This route is a nice hilly route that takes me through Windgap, Tullahought and back via Castlemorris Wood to Callan.

For the most part the roads on the route aren't busy but on Friday night it rained alot and by the time I got to Castlemorris wood the battery's in my head-torch weren't doing so well but as it wasn't busy and there was a moon out I could run with the torch off until a car would come so I'd turn it back on.

Overall it was a good hilly training run in wet conditions and it was good to get back into the practice of doing a night run while tired as I've not one of those in many months.

Now, time to get back to a more regular structured training schedule :)

Miles this Year So Far: 683miles



Monday, May 2, 2016

8 days and 2x 10km Races

Waterford City & Greenway
Its been awhile since I've updated the blog but I'm still running miles with some small rest periods due to some muscle issues in my left leg again (its getting somewhat annoying now).

The last 8 days or so have however been pretty productive with 2x local 10km races under my belt and also 2x 20mile runs.

I even managed to include the second 10km into the 20mile run. So to start my 8 days I took part in a Callan AC outing by attending the Church Hill 10k / 5k in Cuffesgrange, co Kilkenny, this race has been going for a few years now and its pretty well supported both by locals and people that travel to the race.

My plan for the race was somewhat ambitious esp given the lack of training for a 10km I've done, despite not having run a decent 10km since July 2015 I decided I'd head out with the sub40 pacer and hope for the best.  It however was not to be as I dropped off the pacer by the 2mile mark.  

I did however manage to keep a steady pace and nobody passed me after this and I even managed to catch a guy 100metres from the finish.

While perhaps not my fastest 10km with a time of 42min 10sec (PB is 40:58) it was still nice to run the course again after previously running it in 2012 just before I took part in the Portumna 50km and I still easily beat the 2012 time I set of 46min 15sec.

As for the rest of the week, I didn't do a whole lot of running outside of club training runs on Tuesday and Thursdays but I did manage 20mile LSR in Waterford as I had time to kill so I decided to check out the new Waterford Greenway. It has some lovely views of the river so far.






While still under construction I ran a section of it out and back from the city and then worked in some miles in the city to total 20miles.  Can't wait to run the entire route to Dungarvan and then Clonea once its completed.

Out/Back & Mullinahone 10km Route
My plan Sunday the 1st May was straight forward enough, I wanted to take part in the 10km race in Mullinahone as there were a number of Callan AC members taking part but I also wanted to get in a LSR.

My solution, run from my house to Mullinahone, run the race to support the club and then run home...so that's exactly what I did.

My plan went fine with the exception of foolishly choosing to wear a long sleeve top on what felt like the most humid day of 2016 so far, by the time I got to the start line of the 10km I was sweating buckets as I had two tops on as I expected it to be much much cooler out.

The race however went fine (I finished in 52:08) and it was good to support the club once again, all in all I had a good week and in the 8 days I managed a somewhat respectable 58miles.