Mid-Week mountain & JJ Reddy Danesfort 10K

So already I've learned that even occasionally running a mountain has its benefits, the first being that my legs no longer feel trashed the next day. Although I took Monday last week as a rest day my legs felt perfectly fine after the previous days mountain running.

I had planned on doing a nice 8mile run on country roads on Tuesday morning but 500metres into the run the roads were looking like a scene from Silent Hill.

From my experience in the mornings I find the fog tends to get worse between 6am - 8am so I abandoned my 5mile run and took a detour onto much quieter country roads.

Wednesday was a change of plan as I had decided on doing a 8mile run but instead I opted for a easy 5mile with the aim of fitting in a mid week Slievenamon trail run on Thursday evening before sunset.

So as planned I took on Slievenamon again starting at Kilcash, I managed to finish the route approx 40sec faster then on Sunday.  

However, somehow I managed to hurt my back, I've no idea how as I didn't fall or anything odd like but but I came back from the run and part of my back was really hurting anytime I moved.

Due to my back hurting me I took Friday & Saturday as rest days and decided it was well enough on Sunday to take part in the JJ Reddy Danesfort 10K.

The last time I took part in the JJ Reddy Danesfort 10K was back in 2012 when I set myself a PB of 44:22, I've seen improved this to 42:20 in May 2014 when I was aiming for a sub40. So I decided yesterday to once again aim for a sub40.

The course is tough going as its hilly in parts, but the conditions were good as it was cool starting and little or no wind. The turn out was pretty good as over 200 were running the 10km course.

I was on target for sub40 until the 5km mark but I lost some momentum during the last 3km to finish in 40:58. Not the sub40 I wanted but still very happy with the result as I'm edging ever closer to that sub40 target! :)

Last weeks runs broke-down as:

- Monday: Rest
- Tuesday: 5.22miles @ 7:49min pace
- Wednesday:5miles @ 8:17min pace
- Thursday: 5.19miles @ 11.30min pace
- Friday:Rest
- Saturday: Rest
- Sunday: 6.20miles @ 6:36min pace (warmup & warm down not included)

Weekly Total:  22 miles

Miles This Year: 1471 miles

New shoes....yes please!

So last week was my week of starting off some trail running...this time with proper trail running shoes, Monday morning came and I picked up my new trail running shoes which meant I didn't get in my usual 5mile morning run. 

My shoe choice in the end were the "Saucony PowerGrid Xodus 4.0 GORE-TEX Waterproof Trail", I've been pretty happy with my last few Saucony shoe choices and I'm finding them cheaper then Mizuno's so thats also an important factor as well.

To break in the new shoes I decided on 5miles of running on some football pitches in the evening for a change, what should have been a easy enough run but I felt good so I actually ended up upping the pace on each mile 7:53, 7:18, 7:08, 7:00 and 6:43. I then did a recovery run of 1mile at 7:52min pace. Overall I'm pretty happy and couldn't wait to get to use them on some proper trails at the weekend!

During the week i took it easy enough with a handy 5mile run on Tuesday a much faster 8mile run at 7:31min pace on Wednesday, a rest on Thursday and a handy enough run again on Friday.

Friday I meant to take it easy but I actually ended up upping the pace in parts to make sure I was out of any danger on the road due to heavy fog.

Saturdays run was a very early start again at 7am (this is early for the weekend!), and it ended up being sub 8:00 for a change which was probably no harm in the end as it forced me to push myself that little bit more.

On Sunday I planned to test out the trail shoes again by running Slievenamon, this time I started and ended the run at the village of Kilcash at the base of Slievenamon. This new starting point also meant my route was now over 5miles and I'm very happy with how it end.

Unfortunately my Garmin froze when transferring over the Slievenamon training profile and it eventually corrupted the data which was annoying, but luckily I noted the distance and time prior to uploading the data.  Luckily I've previously walked the route so the profile for the new route is below:

Kilcash to Slievenamon & back

I suppose the question is did the trail shoes help on Slievenamon?  They certainly did, the grip was far far superior to my other runners and I felt when my foot hit the ground it wasn't going to move unless I wanted it to.   I will say though when I hit the road back into Kilcash they weren't as comfortable.

My week consisted of:

- Monday:5miles @ 7:12min pace & 1mile @ 7:52min pace
- Tuesday:5miles @ 8:39min pace
- Wednesday: 8miles @ 7:31min pace @ 2miles recovery with
- Thursday:Rest
- Friday:5miles @ 7:55min pace
- Saturday:17:15miles @ 7:52min pace
- Sunday:5:22miles @ 11:32min pace

Weekend Total:  46 miles

Miles This Year: 1445 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

Adventures in trail running

So outside of running around some local woods now and then and running Mount Leinster two weeks ago that's been it for trail running and me, well I've decided to change that.

As I mentioned in my last entry I plan on making a local mountain part of my regular training ruins in order to work in hills and trail running into my training schedule. This should stand to me in a big way considering although while it is flat the Thames Path 100 in May 2015 is mostly on trail.

So with that in mind that was my plan for the weekend, to take on a local mountain called Slievenamon with a decent enough elevation :)

Slievenamon Elevation

On Saturday I did a long slow run of 15miles but on Sunday I decided to run the mountain, elevation for Slievenamon is well over 400metres and my aim was to start at the nearest local village of Kilcash at the foot of Slievenamon. 

Unfortunately there were alot of cars in Kilcash and also at the normal parking spot for walkers at the beginning of the route so I had to drive to a spot further up the road, this ruined my plans of properly measuring the route I wanted.

Half way point

So off I went and while I did manage to run the first few hundred meters I quickly found it difficult to maintain a running pace so I was reduced to run/walk most of the rest of the way.    Once I got near the summit and it leveled abit I was once again able to pick up the pace and I ran to the trig point and to the top of the cairn before beginning the decent again.

The decent was....well seriously good fun, if not a tad steep at times!

Still I managed to keep my footing and had no incidents until right near the very end where I managed to misjudge my foot placement on the path back to the road and I fell infront of some walkers who were on their way up the mountain.  I got up and other then a slightly bruised ego I mentioned something about "it was bound to happen at some stage.." and got on my way again.

I managed the ascent and decent in 52min for the route of just over 4miles, the last time I walked this route took me over 1hr 35min so I was certainly a great deal faster. 

I will of course have to run a second run starting at Kilcash as this should bring the distance to around 5.3miles and it includes steep climbs on the road from the village. The last time I walked from Kilcash it took me 1hour 50min.   This will be the route I aim to use in future as the car is safer when parked in Kilcash.

Really enjoyable run and its certainly something I want to run again :)

Weekend Total:  19 miles

Miles This Year: 1353 miles

Recovering from mountains!

uggghh my legs!
For most of this week my legs hurt after last weekends adventures on Mt Leinster, on Sunday & Monday my legs felt like it was the day after the Connemara Ultra which was really, really odd.

My legs don't hurt anymore but they still do feel abit heavy, still managed to get a few miles in during the week even if they weren't the fastest.

- Monday: 3miles @ 9:00 min mile pace & 1.71mile walk
- Tuesday: 5miles @ 8:09 min mile pace
- Wednesday: 8.07miles @ 7:53 min mile pace
- Thursday: 5miles @ 8:46 min mile pace
- Friday: 3miles @ 8:23min mile pace

For the weekend I plan on a long slow run for Saturday and I have thoughts about trying to run Slievenamon on Sunday at some point...all 721metres of it!

Weekly Total:  26 miles

Miles This Year: 1333 miles

Running Mount Leinster...

Overall the miles had slightly increased last week but still taking it easy, the week consisted of:

- Monday: 2miles @ 9:39min mile pace
- Tuesday: 5miles @ 8:58min mile pace
- Wednesday: 8miles @ 8:43min mile pace
- Thursday: 2.10miles @ 10:03min mile pace w/strides
- Friday: Rest
- Saturday: 21.29miles @ 10:58min mile pace
- Sunday: Rest

I won't lie, after the half marathon in Clonmel my legs felt pretty heavy last week and until the middle of the week I felt like I had a lack of energy in them.

Eventually after rolling them and doing some strides I must say that by Thursday they felt alot better but I was still a little apprehensive in relation to my plans on Saturday....which just happened to be a 21mile run on parts of the South Leinster way along with a climb and descent of Mt Leinster with some of the lads from Co Waterford.

I've actually been meaning to walk up Mt Leinster ever since I started hill walking back in around 2008 but I just never got around to it.  So here I was finally going to run it....well even though I was supposed to run it I still pretty much ended up walking the entire way up on Saturday but I did enjoy the trail run on the way back down.

Elevation of the run

Its a long way down....

Overall I seriously enjoyed the trail running part of the day as up until now I've done very little of it, I certainly plan on going back and doing more of it and I certainly plan on being able to run the entire way up to the top of Mt Leinster without walking!

I might also start adding some trail running on Slievenamon (as its closer) to my weekly training as it certainly can't hurt to add some challenging climbs into my training and it also can't hurt to have some fun on the way back down.

Finally, it was good being able to run with a group on this long run. Especially as I likely would have got lost on parts of the trail....though that didn't stop us getting lost anyway! :)

Weekly Total:  39 miles

Miles This Year: 1310 miles

Clonmel Half Marathon

So I had a pretty easy going week before running the Clonmel Half on Sunday, still I managed more miles then last week even before Sunday so that's a good sign that I'm feeling good and the miles are increasing.

Miles this week consisted of:

- Monday: 8miles @ 7:56min/mile pace
- Tuesday: 4miles @ 7:59min/mile pace
- Wednesday: 8miles @ 8:42min/mile pace
- Thursday: Rest
- Friday: Rest
- Saturday: Rest
- Sunday: Clonmel Half Marathon

The plan had been to run a new PB of sub 1:30 (all going well) in Clonmel however my body had other plans and as such I ended up sick from Wednesday onwards...eventually things got better but this was yet another factor that I was aware of for setting my new PB and it made me even less hopeful.

Sunday arrived and I figured I'd aim for it anyway with a secondary goal of beating my PB by 1second or more.    Off we went and I knew instantly the race was going to be a challenge as we ran against the wind and up the hill away from Clonmel.

After the initial climb out of Clonmel I settled into a nice pace for a downhill section but after a short while I found myself struggling abit after the first mile and from around 4miles on I found my legs felt awful heavy and lacked any real energy.   Although it was still early on in the race I figured at this early stage I might as well resign myself to a finish time of between 1:34-1:45 and I'd instead treat the rest of the race as a long run for the weekend.

In many respects it was nice to just take it easy for a chance during a half marathon as its the first time I've done it and I've never paced a half marathon race either. However I was still lacking energy and I alittle struggled again at mile 8 and I just decided to walk abit on mile 11 and mile 12 as I just didn't want to take any more chances.  I did however pick up the pace for the last 200metres at the finish.

Official Finish Time was: 1:42:37

Its way off my PB of 1:34:43 but I supposed considering I had given up on any PB or a decent time by mile 4 and I walked towards the end it wasn't bad overall.   Overall I think I can put the poor result down to a mixture of not having the best training of late, the though course in Clonmel and being sick just before the race....perhaps in hindsight I shouldn't have ran it I guess. :)

As always there was a good feed after the finish with plenty of cakes and sandwiches etc, also one thing I found different is they were handing out milk at the finish line which was a nice change from the much more common Red Bull muck.

The milk was Avonmore's new gimmick protein milk so it basically tastes like low fat milk which isn't great when compared to full fat milk but its still a better alternative to red bull, I think I'll stick to drinking normal milk and the occasional chocolate milk. :)

Weekly Total:  34 miles

Miles This Year: 1272 miles

Working up to the Clonmel Half Marathon

So although I'm back from holidays a few weeks and I've done two long runs (12 miles at 7:30min pace & 20miles at 8:40min pace) I've tried to properly started back into training from last Tuesday with a recovery run.

As I mentioned in my last blog post last week I entered the Clonmel Half Marathon which is on the 17th August, initially I had been planned on a sub 1:30 time for this but as I've missed out on a good bit of decent training/speed work I'm not so hopeful.

This compiled with the fact its a hilly course means it'll be a challenge to beat my 1:34min time set in Waterford in December.

I had planned on a LSR on Saturday but didn't manage to fit it in and I had a wedding to go to in the evening so the evening wasn't an option, on the plus side the wedding was good craic :)

Going to take it easy enough this week so I'm well rested for Clonmel.

Last weeks training was:
- Monday: Rest
- Tuesday: 5miles Recovery @ 8:15min/mile pace
- Wednesday:3miles @ 7:15min/mile pace & 2mile walk
- Thursday:3miles @ 8:28min/mile pace
- Friday: Rest

Weekly Total:  13 miles

Miles This Year: 1236 miles

Planning on doing my first 100 mile run!

So during the week I noticed there was alot of talk about the Thames Path 100 in the UK which is on in May 2015 and after some encouragement I decided I'd bite the bullet and I sign up.

For sometime I've wanted to do a 100miler but there's a distinct lack of them in Ireland outside of the Connemara 100 which is on this weekend in Co Galway.     Unfortunately I'm not in a position to take part in it this year due to other commitment and I also don't think I have adequate training done for it either so it wouldn't be an option until August 2015.

The downside is while Connemara is a beautiful part of the country the Connemara 100 is also a very hilly course so it certainly would be a very challenging first 100mile event to take part in hence my reason for opting for the Thames Path 100 instead.

The Thames Path is from London to Oxford in May 2015 and it follows the route of the river Thames, overall elation is no more then 900 feet so its basically flat the entire way......which should help!

Its a long way off yet but I can't wait and it should be some experience :)

On a side note I must say huge amount of respect to Aoife O'Donnell who is taking part in the Connemara 100 this weekend, last month she became the first Irish women to finish the Badwater 135 in Death Valley. Seriously impressed that so soon after she's going to run Connemara 100.   

Her race report from the Badwater 135 is available on her blog, it's well worth a read.

Running around Majorca....

The blog has been quiet the last few weeks as I've been on holidays in Majorca and also been very busy car hunting as the car broke down on the way home from the airport.     None the less Majorca was a nice bit of rest and relaxation but that still didn't stop me getting some runs in! :)

I'm not one for running in the heat, hell I'd rather run in snow and ice in the dead of winter then a warm summer day but I still gave running in Majorca a good go both by running in the evening and at sunrise in the morning (running in the morning is a very mixed bag).

For the two weeks I was staying I managed a run Port De Pollenca which is a straight enough run on a flat main road but it gets sort of boring so to shake things up abit I decided I'd mix in some hills and instead take in one of the coast roads that started near the hotel.

Boring road to Port De Pollenca

When I first started off on the coast road I could see what looked like a light house around 6-7miles off in the distance however I later found out this was inside of a military area which was restricted and I couldn't get past the gates so I never did managed to run to the light house like I had originally planned...shame.

I'm going to climb that mountain!

So instead I decided to head up one of the mountain and see what the route was like....it was very steep but it had some cracking views!

Over the two weeks I did abit of running on the coast road and also tackled the mountain a few more times, during the last run before we left I met some local runners going up the trails and they made the whole thing look so so easy as they stormed up the trails.

view from near the top of the mountain..

Mountain Elevation

Overall it was a nice break and as well as getting in some miles on the coast I also got in some miles kayaking which was great fun, nice to be back home with the cooler weather though :)

Now back into training as I have the Clonmel Half Marathon on the 17th August,

Miles This Year: 1223 miles