No Smoking Campus

Head Banging

Advised by Lorraine Consultant to apply for a Medical Card for her after he episode last year. Filled out the forms and sent away with Doctors Letter. Some head banger in Finglas decides that I do not meet the financial criteria so refuses it but also cancels Christines Medical Card two weeks before her Breast Reconstruction Surgery. Trying to get the the plonker who signed off on it to reverse it immediately was next to near impossible. Could not even get to talk to him/her on the phone and spent nearly a week ringing up and each day been asked to produce letters from surgeons, doctor etc regarding her condition. So a trip to Pat Breen T.D. was required and in fairness to him he got it resolved within 24 hours but should our elected TD's really have to deal with issues like this. The public service need's a major revamp, if I took this long to acknowledge and rectify a mistake I made with a customer I would quickly go out of business. As for the complaints procedure its a joke, its like another tribunal with the amount of information they want to furnish.

Annoying Announcement

Herself indoors finally got the call up for her reconstruction Surgery in Galway in the middle of March. This would mean 7-10 days in Hospital. After about 3 days I was sick of hearing that rather annoying speaker announcement at the entrance to every hospital which is repeated every 30 seconds. You know, the one about this is a non smoking campus. Well I think it would drive you to taking up smoking again. When Christine was released early I was delighted to hopefully not be seeing any Hospital Campus for another while. Unfortunately this was short lived as a bad reaction to Pain Relieving Medication that Christine was sent home with landed her back in A&E unable to hold down food or water in Limerick two days later, (missed Pakie Ryan 10 miler as a result) where she had the pleasure of been in the company Twenty other patients on trolleys. I dread to think how A&E staff would have coped with a major emergency that weekend because you could not swing a cat in there. Another week in Limerick which didn't really resolve the situation. She was discharged on Friday but is looking likely to be readmitted again as her GP is still not happy that she is unable to hold down solids. If she does go in I will be forced to bring a pair of snips and rectify that Announcement.
As a result of all this my training schedule is all over the place. I am getting the major sessions in but my Recovery sessions are hit and miss. I need to address this as my left hip/adductor is acting up a bit again.

Long Runs without Sucrá

After the last two long runs where I came very close to bonking I reviewed my HR stats for both runs. After Two hours of running I had noticed that HR was going up to over 155 bpm. With this in mind I decided to run the next 18 Miler at 9:15 pace and see what happened  Well it went swimmingly well and I really enjoyed it. All done on 500 ml of Electrolyte (Zym tab in Water). Upped the pace to 9:00 mile for next 20 miler and carried a gel just in case. This went just as well and was ironically faster than my first 20 Miler which goes to show going out too fast just burns up Glycogen too quickly.

Eamon Maloney Memorial Run

I remember Eamon not for running but dancing, would regularly meet him and his better half around the pubs in Ennis and he was a bit of a character to say the least, slightly mad but aren't we all especially those of us who tackle the Marathon Distance. Eamon ran several Marathons in his day and given this race was to raise funds for Clare Cancer Center in Kilnamona it was a no brainer to run this. Better still Jason was looking for some pacing balloon carriers so I volunteered for the 60 Minute Slot.
A nice bright day but a crisp easterly breeze kept it on the chilly side. Got my number and balloon and headed for the start. A group had assembled around me which include some ladies who were with me on the Five Hour bus in Dublin 2 years ago. They didn't stay on the bus that day but today would prove more fruitful. Not much of a delay at the start and we were on our way. Course is uphill until about 7-8K and then down hill with the wind at the back from there. I didn't mind tipping along at 6:05 pace for the first half and this kept the group together  There is a climb from 3 to 5 where some of the group fell away but to their credit they kept me in sight and managed to catch back up on the run for home. Once we hit the 7K mark those around me kicked on. One lady stayed with me while the group behind started to reel us in. Got over the line in 59:49 but the chip mat at the start did not work so competitors only got their gun time. Shame really as four ladies who bust a gut to catch me before the line were definitely under 60 nett time as they started with me but all got accredited like myself with 1:00:09.
 The tea ladies laid on a super spread for us all afterwards which means a nett gain in calories even after an hour's running.  Congrats to Jason for putting it together and will no doubt be on the calendar again next year.


March 13th
          10 Miles  8 Miles 1:04:12 @ 8:02 pace,  HR 152 with 1 Mile WU/WD

March 16th  
          18 Miles Long Run 2:46:30, @ 9:15, HR 135. 

March 20th 
          9 Miles 7 Miles 52:45 @ 7:33, HR 156 with 1 Mile WU/WD

March 24th
          12 Miles,10 miles 1:17:09 @ 7:43 pace, HR 154 with 1 Mile WU/WD


March 27th
          20 Miles Long run 2:59:43 @  8:59 pace, HR 141

Glad to be back

There is nothing like running

After some easy runs over the early days of the month I decided to add some stress. Started with a 2 Mile Tempo Run @ 7:14 pace. I initially thought this should not be too taxing as I had ran one of these in early November where I just about got up to threshold. After a couple of weeks off running its surprising how quick you lose the ability to cruise. I struggled for the first mile and I was 7:25 at the turnabout. It was slightly uphill so I upped the pace to try and peg back some time for the second mile. It really felt like 5K pace and the average HR reading of 177 had me well above the 163 averaged last November. The one positive I got was that I got into a rhythm for the last half mile and it felt easier even though I was touching 6:50 pace at times.

Perfect Day

My first long run in ages and I turned out to the best run ever. I decided to do 13 mile with a bit of extra speed rather then plod along for 16-18 miles. Went for 8:30 pace as I reckon my MP is around 3:30 mark at the moment. Saturday afternoon was an ideal day for it, dry no breeze and a little nip in the air. I really enjoyed every step of it and upped the pace to 8 min miles for the last 2 miles.

What a plonker

Intervals penciled in for last night. Plan was 3*1600 @ 6:40-6:50 pace. Miserable evening to be doing these, cold wet and windy a completely different day to Saturday, and a complete balls up of a session. Basically I went out way too fast on the first one that by the time I passed 400M mark I was inside the pace for 400M intervals. I decided there and then to hit the lap button and switch to 12*400 with 75 second recovery. The next 2 followed the same pattern going out too quick for the early part and dying for the last 100M. After this Ennis track where also doing their interval session and I found it much easier to slot in behind the guys doing 90 sec laps and just let them slowly drift away. They where doing 1600 reps so if I had stuck to my original plan I would have made life a lot easier for myself. Running intervals in a group is a hell of a lot easier then doing it solo but as I will be doing a 9 day cycle the times that they will coincide will be few and far apart.
Even though I made a complete hash of the session, I was well stiff and sore this morning. I have not done any track work in over a year and it showed with my waddle like a duck walk as I went about my daily chores today. Anyway 2 days of recovery and Cross train should allow my body to recover for the next session a Tempo run of some description.



January 8th
          8.25 Miles Easy Run 1:12:53 @ 8:51 pace, HR 142 

January 10th  
          6 Miles 2 Miles Fast Tempo 14:25 @ 7:13 pace, HR 177 with 2 Mile WU/WD

January 13th
         13 Miles Long Run 1:49:41 @ 8:25 pace, HR 151 

January 16th
         4.4 Miles 12*400M of 75 sec Recovery @ 1:34 (1:30 to 1:36) with  WU/WD

3 in 3

I have not gone mad

No I did not go mad and run three back to back marathons over the weekend. I did however run three events whose accumulated mileage did not even make up to the marathon distance. Friday night was Ennis Tracks Family Twilight Run over 5K in the grounds of Lees Road, followed by the Clare 10K Bra Run for Cancer on Saturday Morning in Ennis and finishing up with pacing duties in Charleville for the Half Marathon.

Running in the dark

My young fella runs twice a year, both times in lees road and both in darkness. Whether its Pieta house Darkness to Light or Ennis tracks Twilight run he is geared up for it. So we are off to lees road for his bi annual race. He wanted to improve on his time but of course he has no training done. He took off  too quick and by the 3K mark he was suffering and I know his time is going to be his worst. He suffered through the last 2K for a 28:05, a sore and not happy camper at all. So hopefully he will do some training or even join a club over the winter.

My moobs are not that big

In my search for a pink bra to wear in the Clare 10K Bra Fun Run on Saturday My daughter had hidden every single one of hers on Friday. There was no way in this world was I going to be wearing one of hers around Ennis on Saturday so I had to resort to wearing one of hers indoors instead. Start was at the west county where it looked like some mad hen party had descended on the hotel. Everyone had attired themselves appropriately soon it was down to St Flannan's to the start and we where sent on our merry way. Used this as a tempo run 2K warn up 8K @ 160-165 HR. Most where walking this or where going to be around the hour mark so for a change I could position myself at the front and not impede any other runners. About 10-12 runners hit off in front of me but I kept to the plan of 2K easy. I picked it up after 2K and started to real in each runner until I got to 7K. At this point I passed Brian Haran who was suffering a bit but was the only person who tried to stay with me after I passed him. He stuck with me until 9K but the hill got the better of him. I spoke with his mam afterwards and he had done a 100 mile charity cycle the week before. He is one tough cookie and one to watch for in the future.

As I was in the top three runners I had a Garda escort at the end of the race or maybe he was contemplating picking me up for indecent exposure.A very enjopyable way to spend a Saturday morning and over €5,500 raised for Breast Cancer Research on the day so well done all.

I'm a celebrity get me out of here

Pacing gig in Charleville on Sunday Morning and as I was gigging the night before I struggled with the early start to get to Sixmilebridge for a rondevu with some of the other pacers. Arrived in plenty of time in Charleville got ready, picked up our black balloons, not very smart a color choice especially when one has to write the time on with a black/blue marker. The boss had made up sheets with our names and time bands to attach to the back of our shirts. I may have needed one but my pacing partner Johnny from North Cork A.C. had no need. You see it seems he is a bit of a celebrity in this neck of the woods. During the start and all throughout the race All I could hear was "how's it going johnny ?".

At the start I realised that I had forgotten to calibrate my foot-pod for the slower pace. So I knew that the pace would show faster on the watch then what we where actually doing. So instead of 9:54 per mile I guessed that this would equate to 9:45 on my watch. My guess was wrong as a result we where down about 15 secs after 2 miles so I recalculated it would need to be 9:37 on the watch. We hit that average pace at Mile 5 and we where bang on every mile marker after this. Charleville is an AIMS accredited race so as expected the Mile markers where dead on and for future reference there was 5K splits as well.
We had a 20-30 in our group up until Mile 8 and from there to Mile 11 this had reduced down to 9. We lost 2 more on the run in, a guy cramped and his mate stayed with him. All the remaining lassies got home under the 2:10. Chip time for the day was 2:09:43 so pretty much done what was asked of us.Anyone considering  this race should do it as its flat and if there is no wind a very good PB course.
The only downside of this race is that the standard of baking and size of the spread afterwards  laid on by the North Cork Ladies will mean you will most likely consume more calories post race then where burnt during the race.