March Madness

Where has this month gone literally flew. Meant to post after Tralee which only felt like yesterday. Safely completed Marathon 4 & 5 for the year in UL and Tralee. Both felt hard and I really struggled towards the end of Tralee. I was on pacing duties that day and had no wiggle room to stop and walk, I could have as both myself and the inllustrious John Brady had no one with us from Fenit to Tralee where we picked up a few on the last few miles. I am now up to 44 so only 6 more between now and August. The plan is to do my 50th in Portumna and make my offical long awaiterd Ultra debut by running the 50K. I will race it so May and April will be busy as I hope to have 49 done a few weeks beforehand so I can give myself a chance to freshen up. Sub 4 would be a dream time but I dont think I am in that shape or close to it.

Rest Recovery and Fast Stuff

Taking a break after Tralee I dropped the mileage down to 4-5 miles easy running for about ten days. Felt very good and have decided to Race the Kilnaboy 10 Miler. Sub 70 or a PB would be great but then its Kilnaboy and windy conditions on the day will reek havoc on a good time. Cobbled together a 20 day plan with some 10/HMP and 5K paced work in it. Body felt strange at first getting back to faster work, mainly because I have done no such thing since last Summer and failed to keep strides in the routine on my easy runs over the winter. First workout so I wore the HRM just to evaluate where I was at. 4 * 2 Mile at 10K pace/Effort, however the day was windy so mile out with the wind and back into was the torture. While not happy with the pace (7:15) was very happy that the last two I pushed the pace to 14:10. HR suggest I am close enough to the shape I was in when I ran a PB in Craughwell 10 (69:33) last year. I went out too quick that day and probably cost myself 60-90 seconds that day. Ran 6*1K off 2 minute recovery last night, first time I have ever got these all under 4 Minutes. First 4 went to plan rep 5 was proably the best timed rep I have every done, on the last one I was 3 seconds down @ 800M (3:15) and pushed the last 200 to sneak under the 4. Thought I was going to die, didnt. HR showed my highest reading every so very happy that I was stupid enough to want it and go for it. Kinda mentality I will need for the the last 2 miles Up to Kilnaboy in two weeks time

not a pluviophile

That much is certain. On a wet Saturday morning I and club mate Paul Conway headed for Killeigh Co Offaly for another 26.2 mile trot. Good to have company again on these drives, as it makes the Four hour round trip a lot easier. As for the race itself I started off at a relatively slow pace keeping in mind I would be doing four of these over the next month. Biggest issue however was that I wasn’t running fast enough to keep warm so I had to pick up the pace in sections. From memory this was the first time I have run a marathon where it had rained from start to finish. I can honestly say I hope it is also my last. Job done in 4:14:05 and went to the local school for a much appreciated cup of warm soup some sambos and of course some chocolate biscuits as well. Also on offer was so more torture in the form of rub downs provided free of charge by Michelle Flynn. On reflection it looked more like a scene from M.A.S.H

Marathon Day 26.2.2016

Once Cezary and posted his intention to run a 28 loop course I had to do it. A marathon with more loops then the Eddie Murphy so I had to checkl out the competition. Left reasonably early but a lot of Roadwork’s on the way up meant hitting outskirts of Ballina at 9:30. Facing a huge traffic jam I pulled up Mrs Google on the phone and found a way around the town and traffic to get me to the star with 20 minutes to spare. Strange to be running on a work day so after dealing with some work calls I went to the start. Briefing was 28 laps of 1524 meters. I asked what was it in yards but Cezary didn’t take the bait. Loop was a nice mix of tarmac and small wooed path section. It did however have three very small but sharp rises one after another. You know the ones that take the stuffing out of your legs. I pretty much ran each loop in Nine minutes as was glad to finish in 4:08:43. More Tea and biscuits again afterwards and I wished those taking part in another 3 marathons over the weekend the best of luck.

A new PB

I set a new PB on Sunday well a pretty soft one at that. I have never an a 5 Mile (8K) race before so even if I crawled it would always be a PB. This is part of the Run Clare Series and I had promised Paula I would pace her for a shot at sub 40. On raceday she wasn’t confident and said anything under 43 minutes would be a PB. It was a lovely day for it, PB running weather. We got caught a little behind slower traffic at the start but no panic hit Mile one in 8:30 and Mile 2 in 16:50. I slowly picked up the pace until Paula was no longer talking. This got us to Mile 3 in 25:00 flat. I tried to pick it up again slightly but her breathing was becoming very laboured and she was starting to drop back on the hills. For the next mile the pace was about 8:10 or so, we hit the final mile which has a climb before getting a downhill to the finish. Paula had mentioned this several times in the race and once we hit it again the pace dropped. I tried to get her to attack the hill crest and push on for sub 41. It wasn’t there, she plugged away to finish in 4 or 5 seconds behind me and was extremely happy with her shiny new PB

My new trustee Stead

The start of the month was a sad affair. Drove my every reliable 99 Ford Focus to Corofin Dismantlers where it had a short retirement before finally been placed in a crusher. IT just needed too much minor work to get it through the NCT so after Nine years in which it never let me down it was time to say goodbye. In selecting the dismantlers I choose one that would allow me to run home and get a long run of 14 miles in. Two dismantlers fitted that bill, but storm Imogen was brewing so I chose the one where she would assist me on the way home. Well after two weeks of searching I finally got my new Trustee stead. While it is not an ever reliable ford it does have the same engine as the new Ford Focus and C-Maxa 06 Peugeot 307 1.6 HDI. If my new stead gives me half of what I got from its predecessor then I will be more than happy.

4 in a Row

That is what lies ahead. Four weekends, and four more marathons to get me closer to my 50th Marathon. So on tomorrow morning it begins as I travel to Killeigh Co Offaly for four loops of a tough enough course. Judging by the promised whether, swimming goggles will be required. Going to take this very easy as I never have done Four on the bounce. I have previously done Three so I have no doubt if I mind the body I should manage to complete the task in hand. The plan is Marathon Day in Ballina on the 26th, followed by either Saturday or Sunday in UL culminating in a pacing gig in Tralee on the 12th of March.