Well well well that is week 1 gladly done and though it didn’t all go exactly to plan, it was a pretty good week of training clocking up 60 miles and I’m glad to report I’m still standing. I’ll hold my hands up and admit It was a bad idea jumping right into a 16 mile long run after 10 months of running no more than 6 miles. I paid the price for that and had to readjust the week accordingly so I didn’t jeopardise the rest of the weeks training and it all seemed to work out ok in the end. To make things even more interesting, I’m out in Connemara with Jenny, staying in a little thatched cottage for the week so training on any sort of flat ground was completely out of the question. All in all, great to be back into marathon training, feeling good and ready for week 2.
Sunday – 16m Long Run
Yeah, woke up with terrible aches in my quads, somehow in my head, squats yesterday evening felt like a good idea, idiot. I toyed with the idea of running just 14 miles which would have been a smarter progression from the 12 I did last week but no I had to go and push it. I headed out on a terribly boring route from Enniscorthy to Ferns and back, boring but safe, safer than the country roads on a wet windy Sunday. I made the halfway turn at Ferns feeling ok but upset from the angry dogs and with 4 miles remaining I became sluggish, hungry and cold and how longed for the warm warmth of my home so far away. Averaged 8:10 min/miles while is not ideal and it quickly dawned on me that I’m a long way off my target fitness and possibly jumped into this marathon plan too soon, oh well too late, gotta work harder!
Monday – 5m recovery
Another nasty day in terms of both weather and pain, got out of bed and almost keeled over with the pain, how I regret those squats, but now it’s a combination of that and 16 miles yesterday. Coach has prescribed me a delightful 10m steady run @ 7 min/mile which is just not happening if I have any sort of sense. I head out for a 5 wet and dreadfully windy recovery down the prom and back, the way back was less wet if that is any sort of consolation. It’s clear to me today that I’m not ready to jump right into this plan so for the first 2/3 weeks I’ll be reducing intensity where I feel necessary, I don’t feel it will upset the final outcome too much, I hope.
Tuesday – 4 x 1m (total 8m)
I’m up in Dublin staying with a friend just outside my beloved phoenix park, kiss my face! I headed out early morning with Jenny, the legs still feeling stiff but almost back to normal. We warm up for 2 miles to the Furze road and I start doing laps while she headed off to do her own thing. The plan has me down for 6 x 1 miles, I’m toning it down to 4 reps with 1 min recovery. As the first speed session, the goal was just to keep each mile under 6:20 and I accomplished that keeping them all below 6:15 though I certainly felt the effort, it felt good and had a nice warm down, off to Connemara now!
Wednesday – 10m Steady
I’m out in the wild west of Ireland, I’m surrounded by sheep, hills and spectacular coastline but there’s training to be done. I felt back to normal today and feeling no after effects from the session yesterday so I decided to run the 10m with 5-6 of them at 7 min/miles. I set off with Jenny for a slow 2 miles warm up taking in the fresh sea air and beautiful countryside, we even chatted a bit about things and stuff. When I got to the top of a hill, I felt it was a good time to go up a gear, no maybe 2 gears and I settled into a 7 min/mile pace. I was feeling comfortable even with the undulating earth beneath me, the spectacular coastline of Renvyle accompanying me on my way and I kept the tempo going until mile 9. Overall pretty happy with that effort averaging 6:50 for 8.5 miles, that’s more like it Conor.
Thursday – 12m Tempo
Down for a 14m tempo today but cut it down to 12m after my heart warned me to. We did a bit of research on google maps last night as I wanted a flat route for a tempo and picked out a route around the town of Cliften. There was a 4m lap I had my eyes on and planned on doing 3 times but after doing it once, flooding my shoes and almost piecing my foot with rocks, I wasn’t doing it again. The first 4 miles built me up to a 8 min/mile pace and suddenly I found myself on the wonderful Sky road, a loop around Clifden which offers mesmerising panoramic views of Clifden bay and really was a joy to behold. Though I desired a flat route today, It was all uphill for me, a total of 170m gain. 
After realising I was in for a hilly day, I figured I didn’t need the tempo element today as effort wise, it felt as hard as a tempo though maybe not the same training effort. (increasing the pace gradually and finishing fast) though I was feeling good on the uphills so I increased the tempo regardless and my heart was working overtime, the views of the bay distracted me but it was a hard effort, pulling out around 5 miles uphill averaging 6:50. I got to a viewing point at 7.5m and headed back for town, “great, downhill all the way” I though but little did I realise I’d been helped along by a nice tail wind, now I’ve to head into it, and the rain started. It wasn’t an enjoyable return leg and at one stage my heart jolted, not painful but just a warning so I eased down the tempo and jogged it back to Clifden planning to cut it off at 12 miles today. Good workout and the deli sausage and chips out of Supervalu afterwards never tasted better.
Friday – Rest Day
A well earned rest day and we enjoyed it by heading off to Omey island and driving around Connemara for a spot of geocaching, what is geocaching you say? It’s a sort of worldwide treasure hunt using GPS and the best way to explore any place I say, there are probably geocaches hidden near you right now wherever you are! Jenny has me hooked, check it out here
Saturday – 5k Race (8m total)
Down for a hill session today but Jenny (ya blame Jenny) wanted to get another 5k race in before she heads home and I discovered there is a Park Run set up in Westport about an hour from where we are so this would be as good as a session for me. Up we rose at the awful time of 7:15am, still dark and very tired. We got there for 8:45am, found the place with relative ease and headed off for a 2m warmup. The route is fantastic it’s along a former railway line that’s now paved as a cycle/run track, a nice downhill, turns halfway and heads back up. About 80 turned up, the temperature hovering around 0 and off we went. The plan was just to improve on my 18:41 on new years day but I had a feeling my legs would be tired from the miles this week. I ran well, almost dying on the final uphill mile but pulled out an 18:38 coming 1st. Slightly disappointed with the time but I know I can’t expect to get back into the mid 17’s overnight. Jenny smashed her PB with a pretty impressive 22:30, chopping 1:30 off her new years day effort. We headed for tea with the other runners in a nearby hotel, really nice atmosphere and so great to see the Parkruns doing so well here. A nice end to the week but plenty of work to be done.
Weekly Total: 60m
Bonus material since it’s the first week, how about me throwing a large boulder into a pond…
