Sunday – 15.5m (4m @ MP)
A pretty miserable, blustery Sunday morning but no rest for the wicked (even though I’m a relatively nice chap) so off I set. The wind kindly helped me out the old Dublin road for the first 5 miles, feeling good and relaxed at 7:15 min/mile pace, faster than anticipated but went with it. Then I had to turn back into the breeze for the next 5 miles, the pace dropping by 10-15 seconds as I headed out towards the Wexford road for some marathon pace miles, my favourite sort of miles. Not. After 10 miles I picked up the pace aiming at 6:30 min/mile but couldn’t really hold that into the wind, it was closer 6:40 pace but once I turned I knocked out 3 more miles all around 6:30 min/mile and while that pace is still feeling difficult, it’s getting that little bit easier each time. Felt good overall today, 7:13 average.
Monday AM – 8m Easy
Cracker of a morning, feeling tired and sluggish today so just ran 8m at easy pace (7:33 min/mile) and then hopped in the car off to Cork to find somewhere to live. And I did, find somewhere to live.
Monday PM – 4m V.Easy
I want to front-load some miles this week so I can work in a mini taper for the half marathon this Sunday, apparently I’m still doing it. So a couple of hours after devouring a tasty Chinese for dinner, I headed off for an easy 4 miler around the hilly hills of Cork, avg. 8:06 min/mile. The roads were dead, the night was dark, I wasn’t sure where I was going and my stomach was not feeling good…but yeah I got it done, sleep time.
Tuesday – 10 x 3 mins (12.5m)
Still down in Cork for the morning as I stayed the night and decided to avail of the excellent track at CIT just outside the city for this session. It was a sunny but blustery day and I knew I was in for a bit of a windy one from the warmup. A slow and boring warmup for about 35 mins around the campus and housing estates, didn’t have a clue where I was going. I finally made my way back onto the track and headed into the first rep. I did this exact session roughly a month ago so I expected to see some improvements and that I did, the pace roughly up by 10-15 seconds which is satisfactory. The first rep was at 5:48 min/mile pace and then I settled in and started knocking out mid 5:30’s and finished strong with a 5:26 and 5:31 pace, recovery was a cruel 60 seconds. Tough but quality session and with a strong wind to deal with at times, split are here. 15 mins cool-down and off I set back to Wexford. So I’m moving to Cork on Thursday, Bohermeen half marathon Sunday and start work on Monday, christ it’s going to be a busy week! Weights session in the evening.
Wednesday – 10m
Just a nice relaxed 10 miler today, a rather sunny crisp morning but was feeling tired from all my exploits yesterday and wanted to get this done with so I could start organising my shit. Looped out the old Dublin road and a bit of love to the Wexford road also, two very good roads. Avg. pace 7:53 min/mile.
Thursday – 7m Tempo
Getting close to the half marathon and didn’t want to push it too much this week so kept this tempo pretty short. Warmed up for 10 mins and then ran the next 20 mins around 6:15 min/mile pace which felt pretty good, cool down for 20 mins and off to the Cotton Tree for my last supper, or breakfast I should say. It was my last run in ye old towne as I soon boarded a plane (car) and made my way down to my new abode in the republic of people, or whatever they call it down there. Pretty tiring day but got moved in and boy is it hilly where I live, I guess it’s good in a way but it’s also really bad in another way.
Friday – 6m Recovery
My first jaunt around the new neighbourhood, and how silly I was not putting on my gloves, its bloody freezing here but then I heard from the mammy that it was also cold back there, you got lucky this time Cork. I headed into the city which is a steep steep downhill for 2 miles and then back up for 2 miles and my legs did not like it one bit. I then wandered up towards my new place of work and calculated a distance of 1/2 a mile from my door, isn’t that a nice coincidence! Then out into the countryside for a bit since I’m on it’s doorstep and back home, nice run but nobody welcomed me on the street so I was a bit disappointed with that.
Saturday – Rest
I toyed with the idea of getting a few easy miles in today but it would be just for the sole purpose of building weekly milage. I saw past my idealistic motivations and sense prevailed, today I rest, tomorrow I race. 63 miles this week is just fine, hitting the 70 mark isn’t going to make or break my marathon though it does mess with your mind a lot especially when I’m following logs of other similar runners and seeing them clock up more milage than me. There’s no one-size-fits-all plan really, every individual reacts differently to training and right now I feel I’m doing enough for a sub 2:50 race without pushing beyond my limits of getting injured or over-training. That could be of course me simply justifying my milage but I guess time will really tell. Tomorrow I hope to hit 82 mins and if I do I’ll be happy, if I don’t I won’t be devastated, I’m only 2 months back running seriously and there’s another good month of quality training to come. Let’s give it a lash anyway. Tune in next week.
Total weekly milage: 63