Not according to plan

A very mixed bag the last few weeks, training has not being going as well as I would have liked as there's been a distinct lack of good quality back2back long runs and also runs of 30miles or more and this concerns me alot.

The last few weeks I've had problems again with muscle pain in my left leg and because this has affected my gait I know have a blister that just won't heal on my left foot also.   At present I'm having good days and bad with both of these issues.

Whats slightly worrying is less then two weeks from now I have the Vartry 50mile race to do and I'll be honest, I don't feel like I've had adequate training for it which is pretty concerning.  Between being sick at the start of Feb and the muscle pain I've experienced its not making the training easy.
Given the mix of running the last few weeks I'm not going to list each run, instead here's the total miles so far.

Miles This Year: 500 miles

Copper Coast Running

Courtesy Ray Lanigan

What a productive week mileage wise!
Well, ok I didn’t run every day but I did some good long runs of 20 and 35miles and I felt great the day after each of these runs.

My quad muscle in my left leg also held up pretty well during the entire week, although I could feel it on the hill climbs during the 35mile run that I went on in Co Waterford around the coast.

The more regular stretching is giving results it seems....although I really need to stretch more!

I used the 35mile run on Saturday as a test for roughly what I was expecting to carry for the Thames path 100 in May, while the pack appeared to be heavy enough it was certainly manageable.

It was a nice change to head out for a long run part of a group instead of on my own as by far the vast majority of my runs are on my own so it certainly makes the day pass faster.  It was also good to meet some of the people I'll be heading over to the UK with in May.

Last weeks runs broke-down as:
- Monday: Rest
- Tuesday: 20miles @ 9:35min/pace
- Wednesday: 10miles @ 8:08min/pace & 2miles
- Thursday: Rest
- Friday: 2miles @ 9:11min/pace
- Saturday: 35miles @ 11:46min/pace
- Sunday: 5miles @ 7:26min/pace

Weekly Total: 74 miles
Miles This Year: 356 miles

Visit to sports injury clinic and some cross country

Last week I paid my first ever visit to a sports injury clinic (Bodymend.ie) and I have to say it was worth it, one visit won't solve issues...far from it but it certainly did help and give alot of relief and I have a rough plan on how I hope to get things back on track.

The week was less productive then the week before (36miles versus 31miles) but still far from the target miles I should be hitting at this stage and also the types of runs I want to be doing at this stage.

I did however take part in my first ever cross country run last Sunday.....was this a good idea?, well, perhaps not. But the team was short a man and I didn't want to chance doing a 20mile run yet so it was a good alternative I suppose.

Soon after I arrived at the race I discovered that when I previously ran the Stook 10mile in November the team I was running for placed so I got a medal for that, that was an unexpected surprise which I never knew anything about.

After a quick warm up I headed out for the 8km Intermediate and watched as most of the runners went off far ahead of me, I'll be honest I didn't expect this as I thought I'd be able to keep something even resembling a reasonable pace but the best I managed was a 7min/mile pace for one of the miles.

My average pace overall was 7:33min/pace, but the affort felt like I was running a 6:40min/pace which was pretty demoralising considering I've been able to maintain a avg 7min/pace for 13miles but yet here I was struggling to maintain even 7:33min/pace for just 5miles!

In the end I was a good 300metres off catching the next runner and when I finished there was two other guys behind me, it felt like a disappointing experience for me but the team still placed silver so its not all bad I guess.

Last weeks runs broke-down as:
- Monday: 10.92miles @ 7:57min pace
- Tuesday: Rest
- Wednesday: 11.10miles @ 8:38min pace (Sports Injury Visit)
- Thursday: 3.03miles @ 9:41min pace
- Friday:Rest
- Saturday: Rest
- Sunday: 5.03miles @ 7:33min pace (Cross Country)

Weekly Total: 31 miles
Miles This Year: 282 miles

Back on the roads....if abit slow

After almost two weeks off running due to being sick and having joint pain I'm now back on the roads, things aren't 100% yet but certainly a vast improvement.

Last week was a week of if's....as in if I run will I make things worse, if I run anyway faster will it make things worse and so on.   So on that basis I've been taking it pretty easy with some very handy runs during the week and also some rest days with just some walking.

Things are improving thankfully and my left quad isn't as sensitive as it was and overall my joints are feeling better day by day. However I'll need to keep a close eye on things and I can still feel my quad on every run and also this is changing my running style abit which in turn is affecting my right left.

Last weeks runs broke-down as:
- Monday: 4miles @ 9:16min pace
- Tuesday: 3mile walk
- Wednesday: 12miles @ 9.06min pace
- Thursday:5.06miles @ 9.27min pace
- Friday: 5miles @ 9.11min pace
- Saturday:3.12miles @ 10.48min pace
- Sunday:3.69 @ 25.17min pace

Weekly Total: 36 miles
Miles This Year: 254 miles

Sick

Not much to report for the past two weeks as I've been sick. Seems to be some sort of viral thing and its affecting some of my joints making them pretty painful at times I'm also pretty tired.

I've been off work trying to recover, not much I can do other then that. Pretty frustrating as missing out on alot of training.

Weekly Total: 0 miles
Miles This Year: 215 miles

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

Almost there!

I'm just short of my 2,000miles target after last weeks runs, but by tomorrow the 30th December I'll have completed a 15mile run to bring me over the 2,000miles target, it's a little bit behind when I wanted to but its still a nice improvement over last year.

By comparison my previous years miles were:
2013: 1,651miles
2012: 1,512miles
2011: 956miles

Year on year I've upped my miles so its nice to see progress each year, I'm aiming for a big enough increase in 2015 especially with the 100mile event on the cards.

On Christmas day before the days events got underway I got out the door first thing in the morning for 8miles, it was nice and cool in comparisons to last weeks frankly mild mornings which I found too warm.

I got one or two odd looks from people as I ran by houses around 8am out in the middle of the countryside, including one kid who was out playing with his Christmas present as I ran by his house. Sure what else am I going to be doing on Christmas morning before all the events kick off? :)

I had hoped to do more miles between Friday - Saturday but between work and later nights I couldn't drag myself out of the bed in the morning any earlier then I did.

Last weeks runs broke-down as:
- Monday: 8miles @ 7:35min pace
- Tuesday: 1.41miles @ 17:36min pace
- Wednesday: 4miles @ 8:00min pace
- Thursday: 8miles @ 7:18min pace
- Friday:5miles @ 8:37min pace
- Saturday: 4.39miles @ 24:56min pace (walking)
- Sunday: 3miles @ 8:33min pace

Weekly Total: 34 miles
Miles This Year: 1,989 miles

Upping the mileage

Last week I decided it was time to up the miles again with the aim of getting closer to mid to late 40's instead of once again having under 30miles done in the week. I'm wary of the drop in weekly miles as I need to start heading into training for the Thames Path 100 in May so more miles are badly needed.

On Tuesday I headed back to Slievenamon for my first 20mile trail run (Garmin link of route) on the mountain, this time I ran 10miles out and 10miles back along the loop rather then finishing the entire loop which is around the 17mile mark.

Very low cloud cover throughout most of the run and I must say I found the last 5miles hard going, without a doubt 20miles of trail where I need to leap from one rock to another or over boggy ground is far far harder then 20miles of road!

When I was at mile 19 I found the entrance to Kilcash wood which I never knew existed before, from what I can make out on Google maps this wood must have at least 7-8miles of trails in it. So that's something I plan to explore in future.

A quick search on the net however does bring some bad news about Kilcash woods, Coillte plan to clear the entire wood by 2016 and from what I observed on Tuesday they may have already started this as they were doing an awful lot of logging at the furthest end from Kilcash.

On Wednesday morning my legs felt awful heavy...but then I guess 20miles of leaping from rock to rock and over streams will do that, I still headed off for a very easy 5mile run.  After the run though I found my right ankle was bothering me and it hurt a bit.

As my ankle wasn't feeling any better on Thursday I decided on a rest day as I didn't want to chance making it worse by doing another run.  Come Friday I decided on a very easy 10mile run which started at 9:30min pace but I gradually upped the pace as the miles went on and the ankle wasn't bothering me, I finished the run with the last mile at 7:00min pace.

Overall its not been a bad week, but abit annoyed that I fecked my ankle abit on the Slievenamon run. But I suppose that's part and parcel of trail running and running on such rough terrain, it was just bound to happen at some stage.

Less then 40miles to go to 2,000miles this year.

Last weeks runs broke-down as:
- Monday: 3miles @ 8:54min pace
- Tuesday: 20miles @ 11:54min pace
- Wednesday: 5miles @ 9:33min pace
- Thursday: Rest
- Friday: 10miles @ 8:14min pace
- Saturday:Rest
- Sunday:7miles @ 7:56min pace

Weekly Total: 46 miles
Miles This Year: 1,963 miles