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

Getting back into the groove!

Starting to feel like I have my mojo back when it comes to running, I'm back to running 10miles at sub 7:30min/mile pace again and it feels great!  Still have some weight to shift which I gained over Oct-Jan but that will come as the miles increase over time.

I started last week with a really enjoyable loop of Slievenamon where I ran with a group from the South Leinster Trail Runners, certainly more enjoyable to run this type of trail with a group and it makes the time go a bit faster.  I also didn't suffer anywhere near as bad compared to when I ran the same loop two weeks previously.

After that I took it "relatively" easy during the week between rest days and a 10mile and 4.5mile run to finish with a faster 10mile run on Friday.   Next week however is going to see a big increase will mileage.

Last week consisted of:
- Sunday: 12.46miles @ 14:11min/mile pace
- Monday: Rest
- Tuesday: 10miles @ 7:36min/mile pace & 1mile @ 9:41min/mile pace recovery
- Wednesday: 4.57miles @ 8:16min/mile pace
- Thursday: Rest
- Friday: 10miles @ 7:25min/mile pace
- Saturday: Rest

Miles This week: 38.08 miles

STOP! Taper time!

So I'm officially tapering for the Dublin Marathon on the 26th October!

Training hasn't been very consistent since after the JJ Reddy Half-Marathon but I'm not overly worried as I don't think I've lost much fitness overall, so with that I'm putting my money on the counter and finally committing to a sub 3:20 marathon time.

For the last while I've been debating between aiming for 3.15 or 3.20 but after noticing Dublin doesn't actually have any 3.15 pacers I'm going to play it safe and aim for 3.20 and the 7:26min/avg pace required. I'm reasonably confident I can pull this off and hold the pace together on the day.

On a side note, for the last few weeks I've been enjoying some night trail running by taking part in group trail runs organised by the South Leinster Trail Runners, its early days but numbers are promising with the most recent runs having 16 and 14 participants respectively.

The runs so far have taken part in the Co Kilkenny area so far but here's coping it goes from strength to strength as its seriously good fun.

For anyone interested in coming along and you're curious about the types of routes, you can see Garmin profiles for the three trail runs so far below:
- Jenkinstown Wood
- Castlemorris Wood
- Knockdrinna Wood

1000miles and its now time for some training...

I've finally committed to the Dublin Marathon 2015 and I've officially signed up to run the event and with that in mind I've also officially started training for the marathon as of the 1st July, up until now I've been taken it relatively easy with a few runs now and then and varying distance of between 3-10miles.

Kilcash Woods Elevation

My pace on my runs is slowly increasing and I'm now starting to run my 8-10mile runs at between 7:20-7:40min pace once more, it feels like finally things are returning to normal after the Thames Path 100.

Course Route, Kilcash Woods

Last week I got back on the trails and headed to Kilcash Wood at the base of Slievenamon and put in 8 miles. It was also a opportunity to test out my new Montrail trail shoes.   I must say it was seriously enjoyable and some cracking views of the mountain and parts of the wood, its certainly a trail I'll be running again in the future!

Overall the course was a simple out and back route (Garmin Link) but it could easily be converted into a nice 8-10mile loop through the Forrest and then back via the road to Kilcash, anyone living in Kilcash is lucky to have such a nice area for walking/running.

On another note I finally hit 1000miles run since 1st January, I'm behind last year as last year I hit 1000miles during the Portumna 100km in the middle of July. This year I didn't hit it until the first week in July.   Being sick in both Feb & May has really thrown off my target for 2015 of 3000miles, oh well...

Miles This Year: 1020 miles

all abit meh...

Not much going on last week, I took it easy starting off and got a nice trail run in at the end of the week.

I did however confirm that I have the day off work the day of the Waterford Half Marathon so I will be able to run it (which is good as I had already paid!).

The course isn't as hilly as Stook 10mile by a long shot so my plan is go out with the 1:30 pacers and run the course as hard as I can to see if I can finally get that sub 1:30 I've been hoping for since last years Waterford Half marathon,

My I did my trail run on Sunday  I decided to do 15miles in Castlemorris Wood but my aim was to keep my heart rate around the 150 mark throughout instead of running a set pace.

This worked well enough and I was surprised how much I had to pick up the pace on downhills in order to hit 150 bpm,  overall I felt pretty good.

The day in the wood started lovely with a nice bit of sunshine...so much so in fact I put on my sun glasses at the start. However once I was 7miles in the fog descended in a big way and by the end I couldn't see more then 100metres on parts of the route.

I got to say I'm looking forward to getting back to Slievenamon trails once the Waterford half marathon is over.

Last weeks runs broke-down as:
- Monday: 9miles @ 7:46min pace
- Tuesday: Rest
- Wednesday: 4miles @ 8:36min pace
- Thursday: Rest
- Friday: 3miles @ 8:46min pace
- Saturday: 2.5miles
- Sunday: 15.08miles @ 9:40min pace

Weekly Total: 41 miles
Miles This Year: 1,854 miles

Welcome back dark mornings

So my legs on Monday morning after running Slievenamon weren't actually too bad but I still decided to take a rest day. 

On Tuesday the legs felt heavy and while initially when I started my run it was at a 8:50min pace I eventually dropped this down to a 8:07min avg pace for the 5mile run.  Wednesday was a far better run as I upped the pace for the entire run.

Wednesday was also the first morning since before the summer where I had to use my head torch as it was still dark out when I headed out the door, I've decided I'm going to work in some routes that last year I just wouldn't have gone near in the dark because I'm getting bored of the usual routes.

I've also found that actually at 6/7am in the morning I only meet a hand full of cars on these newer routes so I feel relatively safe as I'm lit up like a Christmas tree, all the lights tend to get cars to slow down pretty quick as they're not sure whats on the road infront of them.

The week consisted of:

- Monday: Rest
- Tuesday: 5.19miles @ 8:07min pace
- Wednesday: 8.09miles @ 7:37min pace
- Thursday: 5miles @ 8:39min pace
- Friday: 3miles @ 8:14min pace
- Saturday: 20miles @ 8:11min pace
- Sunday:5miles @ 22min pace

Towards the end of the week I took it far easier after my faster 8miles run on Thursday as I was mindful of doing a 20mile LSR on Saturday, as it turned out the run started at 7am so I didn't get any sort of a sleep in.  I will admit this meant I was awful tired for the rest of Saturday.

Sunday consisted of a nice leisurely walk with my lovely wife in Castlemorris Wood doing the Pheasant Route which is a lovely peaceful 7km route with some hills.

 

Weekend Total:  46 miles

Miles This Year: 1399 miles