Stinger

Tried to do a short 6.7km loop tonight after work, but had to stop running midway as my soleus no no, my achillies  (whoops!) was really playing up.

Its been at me all week (when I run) (started on mondays run) but as I was on my feet all day with work, & then the run, that may have made it more likely to flare up perhaps....

I took it out easy (frankly as I couldn't bring myself to go any faster!) but I needed the run today, so I headed out. 3:20 in my 1st time check (that's normally 3 mins flat in general - so I really backed off the pace!), was 7:30 at mile 1, but then picked it up & was 12:06 at joyces...

At the small roundabout in 19:09 & feeling great, totally recovered & prepared to dig deep with a low 27 in mind (would've happened too) but I stopped for precationary reasons as my achillies stabbing pain on my right leg was quite acute, last thing I want is to pull that, so I made the sensible decision to stop & stretch it out.

I then tried to run again, & that was fine for a minute or so then it tightened up again so I stopped 7 stretched agan, I then walked some more, then tried again to run & it was perfect, no problem at all really, It was a bit touch & go naturally, so I did some slow 9 min mile pace jogging, but was able to speed up (& good 1 mins after my seconds stop...) & even sprint home for 200-300m (a bit of a stupid I know but...)...

I just annoyed it tonight, nothing more, hopefully I can run on wednesday now, we'll wait & see...

Cruise Control

10km in 44:18.

Nice time tonight in not so favorable conditions, wasn't lasing rain but the wind didn't help. I must invest in some contact lenses...

Felt great tonight overall though, the run on monday really helped when I got to Joyce's & beyond. This is where I reguarly slow down, instead I was able to keep my pace constant, not gaining much time overall 38:18 at the turn, but I didn't rush once toight & was barely out of breath when I got done.

I even stopped twice to check if my keys (attached to my showlaces) were intact (I couldn't notice them & got worried).

again, I have the fitness for sub 43 but no motivation, over the next few weeks I'll work on that.

Definitely will be looking for sub 40 come boxing day...

I'm ready to run with a club again now, I reached that level of fitness I feel that i could go back, so that's great. Once I find an engineering job & I know where I'll be living permenantly then I'll decide which athletic club to join.

I'll do a nice 4 mile loop on friday for speedwork & so as not to overdo the milage. Same again for next week though I feel...

Figure 8

8 Mile - 59:20 (minus another 10 seconds for cars etc)

a good run (monday evening) took a good 20-25 mins to feel right though... only after 40 mins though did I really come alive however, which indicates to me once again that I've always been a long distance runner, (takes me a while to get that V8 diesel engine whistling!)

Felt good coming through the figure 4 loop in 25 mins & out to the furthest point at 40 mins flat where I really came alive.

A good run but running with others would help. Great to be able to keep in touch with the longer stuff though.

When I was done I wasn't even out of breath, but my calves were screaming though coming up past mc donalds (a good 13 mins from home) Great to be able. Perhaps a 10km on wednesday, we'll see...

Undertow

10km 44:40, done last night (tuesday)

Not much to say about it, only that I felt quite tired on monday & last night. I went for a short 2-3km warm up loop aroun devon park before I went out, as I hadn't left the house all day in attempt to be ready for a hard 10km from the get go.

I must've jinxed it because I wasn't finding it as easy as I'd hoped. Still time checks were decent, 7:05 at the turn at the 1 mile mark, 11:45 at salthill turn & 16:37 at time check (TC) 3, then 17:49 at the turn TC4. 20:55 TC5 25:03 TC6 & 30:43 TC8 (can't recall TC 7) TC9  36:27 TC10 38:something...

between TC5 & TC 8 (& a good bit after that, the pace certainly slipped... what's new here...), but even in some of the faster sections I found it tough going, legs were heavy, chest was working hard etc... just not my night for being in top form.

Still though the time was decent & although it was nothing scecial I'm only a minute or so off my best for this route, but its about time.

The fact that I found that painfully slow when this is one of my better times for this route is a good sign, soon I'll crack 43 & then go from there.

cruising along dr mannix as usual, but s ever, slowe down midway through the run & can never quite make up ground once the damage is done.

Solution will always be the same;

• more weekly milage (runs more frequently), as well as;
• more speedwork (track sprints, 400, km & mile repeats)
• more long runs (8,10 & 12 milers)
• better diet (less refined sugar, eat less but what you put into your system is essential etc)
• more sleep (& at right times!)
• more cross training, more cycling (+ run on grass)
• run with people (join Harriers)
• race more (can't do much here for the immediate future, I work w/ends when all races are on so find a full time job!)
• more stretching & other strength & conditioning (core etc) exercises (discipline - prevention is better than cure)

I'm improving all the time really, looking forward to the next few months where I'm gonna try & focus on running more now (as well as working more part time & on the hunt for full time work)

Run either this thurs or friday...

From the get go

6.7km loop, 27:50. Not bad.

Not a pb I believe I've done 27'40's for this route before if I'm not mistaken, but there or there abouts for a pb on this route, so that's great.

I took it out hard tonight, not even going that fast, but relative to how I usually run this route, it felt fast (I wasn't even that aggressive I just decided to let it rip tonight) barely was under 3 minutes at the 1st time check, but I felt so strong, 6:40 at the mile mark, 11:40 passing joyces then 14:20 coming up to the 1st petrol ststion, & 18:50 at the 4.5km mark feeling quite good, still going fairly conservatively all the time, at the 3.5km mark after the turn for home at kingston is where the wheels come off, that's not really lack of fitness, but if I'd someone to run with, I'm confident I'd keep up the pace.

Running is very mental, but I felt really tough tonight & up for a challenge, so I had some fun, a bit of asthma related wheezing though upon me being out of breath down kingston road, but I just relaxed the shoulders & inhaled deeply (implying that I was nowhere near my maximum pace so that I was able to do this, I suppose).

Could've broken 27 tonight if I really believed it, probably 26:40's if I'd someone with me & certainly can go sub 26 with a little more training, low 25's well within my reach too, could probably do low 24's but that'll take a while, maybe a couple of years...

Since tuesday the weather has changed (been dry the last week, but has gottem proper cold now, you'd need a jacket now), just this week, the winter has really arrived, that temperature change of 4-5 degrees did it, amazing to notice such a start change in the seasons just like that...

But yeah, great to push it a bit, it's certainly a different run when you go for it, I find my running form suffers a bit (poor posture, lack of use of shoulders, overextension of the hips, bpm too low & heel striking for me), but that's all practice. The couple of days off & cycling in & out of town as well as brisk walking whilst in town helped too from earlier in the day to open out the chest before the run. The 10km runs are helping too, as I've a few of them banked up.

Looking forward to friday's run, most likely a 10km...

old school

a couple of 10km runs in the last week, both good 45:10 (thursday - with so much more to give - wasn't even out of breath really) & 44:25 (tonight - wednesday - 6 days later, again, could knocked 40 secs of that easy if I gritte my teeth & 80 secs off If I ran with company (along with more weekly milage etc)

In both runs I had alot more to give, I took my time on the thurs run & was able for a faster finish, but felt great tonight so again I went out conservatively but just felt so good & felt like I was itching to go faster so decided to inject some pace, so was 16:10 at the 3rd checkpoint (was 17 flat last thurs).

At the turn to dr mannix I was 38:03, a full minute faster than last thursday so was hoping for a sub 44, so injected the pace but I wasn't clinical/hungary enough to go under 44.

Felt tough going through ballymoneen road but injected pace then again up kingston road, where as last thurs I found these sections a breeze but had too much ground to make up (as I started off slowly) to get under 45.

2 great runs & am delighted with my running considering I havn't raced in months & have been only managing 10-15 miles a week, but again the cycling (to work sat, sun & tues, 5 miles each way) is helping me immensely, then again I was always a light trainer.

Busy job hunting at the moment so I'm primarily focused on that, I've many decades ahead of me to be looking for decent times, yet at the same time it's great to be at it all the time (I'm aiming to run twice a week anyway & other days I'm cycling) & knowing that I'm getting stronger as the years go on.

Hope to run again on friday & maybe a speed session on monday (cycle sat & sun to work obviously...) or something