Sunday – 17m with 6 @ MP
Woke up early and extremely tired, I wasn’t feeling this one so I turned on the electric blanked and went back to sleep. Fast forward to just after 10am and I finally got my skates on and out the door, I also put on my running gear. I headed out the Carrigrohane road again, the first 10 miles were nippy and feeling ok at 7:10 min/mile avg. I turned around for home and moved up a gear into my marathon pace which I realized today is not just a physiological gear change but mentally I needed to tune into this faster pace. I found while knocking out the 7:10 pace miles early on that my mind couldn’t really comprehend running at 6:30 pace, it knew it didn’t have to or wouldn’t have to because a plan had been set out and that’s the importance in going out with a clear set of goals, not running aimless miles, you’re mind is focused on what it needs to do. When I got to mile 10, it immediately all clicked, almost automatically and I was able to adapt to that pace quite seamlessly, both mind and body were in unison and I found those 6 miles quite comfortable, if that makes sense. Good session and the MP miles felt good today, last mile was up the dreaded hill so really felt like a good workout.
Monday – 8m Steady
A nice relaxed gallop out this evening as darkness began to swallow the delicious blue sky I had monitored from my desk all day. The evening chill was feeling…eh chilly and even though it was a relatively un-scenic through the concrete jungle of Hollyhill, I weaved the estates along undulating pavements and I felt refreshed, it felt good to run. Pace was good considering the hills, holding it at around 7:05 min/mile after the first mile warmup and only one brat shouted at me today.
Tuesday – 20 x 400m w/30 sec recovery (10m)
Doesn’t sound like a pretty session does it but it got done in the end and I’m pretty happy with my efforts. Didn’t head for a track, decided to keep it local around the streets of Hollyhill, big mistake. 3 mile warmup and then I found a nice stretch of quiet road where I’d do the 20 repeats. I started the session and I did notice a few grubby ponies and what looked like a functional halting site right on the route but didn’t think much of it. That was until I was on my 3rd rep and 2 little inbred shits starting firing rocks at me, ridiculous. The situation was futile, telling them it is morally wrong would encourage them to fire more rocks, ignoring them would just encourage them to fire more rocks, whatever I did they would just fire more rocks. I just wanted to do the session and I wasn’t going to get it done in peace here so I frustratingly headed on and had to pull out the next 2 reps uphill which wasn’t so bad, it was probably good for me. I was still knocking out the reps on the road, feeling good and eventually found a pretty deserted industrial estate and banged out the last 10 there. The recovery was short, 30 seconds and I ran them all by effort not looking at the watch, splits were pretty consistent in the end, typical pace was 5:20-5:30 min/mile bar the few uphills (splits here) and that’s not shabby considering I had 20 to do, thanks for that Jim. 2 mile cool-down and cooked a sweet potato pie which is about to be sampled.
Wednesday – 8m Easy
A successful run today, I didn’t get stones fired at me which is always a bonus. I headed out on a new route today, couldn’t tell you where but it involved heading through the city centre where I had to stop about 300* times at traffic lights and then out into the suburbs. A nice enjoyable run keeping the pace relaxed enough averaging 7:25 min/mile overall. Felt tired for the first mile which is likely from the session last night, I took the 1.5 mile drag route back up to home via Blarney street which isn’t near as steep as the killer hill, a potential return route candiate for the future.
Thursday – 13.5m Tempo
Another quality tempo this week, took a while to find a comfy zone but once I stopped obsessing about pace, I loosened the shackles and found my happy zone, really need to stop being a slave to my garmin. Headed down Blarney st. towards the city, the 3 mile warmup was nippy enough 7:37, 7:13 and 7:04. I started working up the gear over the next few miles as I headed out the Carrigrohane road working down towards 6:30 min/mile pace. Had a bit of garmin trouble, pace started heading all over the place for one of the miles and it was wrecking my head. After about 3/4 tempo miles at CIT I got tired of constantly checking the watch making sure I was on pace, going up a hill would skew it and I’d end up trying to make up time, I wasn’t even sure if the watch was accurate, yeah Conor it’s the watch. I said this is ridiculous, I wasn’t enjoying it so I just turned off the pace display and all I could see was distance and time, much better. I knew I had to run 4/5 more hard miles so I just belted off and ran on feel, no self imposed restrictions or limits and it was a world of different running 6:32, 6:31, 6:18, 6:08 and 5:57 for the last 5 feeling very comfortable and strong. I got into that special zone for a while where everything just felt right and I could run forever, probably looked like a freak as I ran with my arms stretched wide embracing the moment, maybe some of you understand. Finally made it back to the city and a very relaxed 2 mile cool-down back up Blarney street, home just in time as a creepy fog shrouded the neighbourhood making it hard to even see the pavements. 6:59 min/mile pace overall, job nicely done and the sweet potato pie was delicious, bring on recovery day tomorrow.
Friday – 4m Recovery
I had to go to the post office at lunch to pick up a parcel so why not make a little run out of it? Probably a sign that my life does indeed revolve around running. Anyway It was a nice relaxed 30 min loop there and back and there’s not really much to say about it, the shower facilities here are excellent and there’s even a sauna! I was sitting in the sauna at work, during lunch, how about that. Well big session tomorrow the big 20 miles with 10 @ MP eeeeeep!
Saturday – 21.5m w/10 @ MP
Well it was time for the key session of my plan, 20 miles with the last 10 at 6:30 min/mile pace. I was nervous about this last night, not sure why I think I built it up too much in my head. I guess if I didn’t hit the targets then I would have felt like I wasn’t in sub 2:50 marathon shape and my life would be ruined. Note how I used “if” there, because I did in fact hit the targets and it was a bloody hard session but how relieved to have it done and done well. Anyway so off I headed at 8am down the Blarney road and through the city, smashing morning and immediately regretted wearing gloves, jacket and hat, it’s just automatic these days. I had a route mapped from the day before out which included roads I’d never ran on before and in hindsight that was a bad idea because I still really have no clue about where I’m going in this city so I missed a few turns. I managed to remedy that situation with some quick thinking and the route eventually worked out. I was already heating up by 3 miles and the hat went into my pocket, I headed out Model Farm road towards Ballincollig, the legs feeling quite tired from the heavy week but holding the pace at a steady 7:30 min/mile. By mile 10 the time had come to tune into marathon pace and I was really starting to feel the heat now, gloves off.
The first tempo mile had to be uphill of course, very tough but I held the pace at 6:30, made a turn and headed back towards the city. The miles seemed to fly by, after 3 uncomfortable tempo miles I settled in and ran the next 5 closer to 6:20 min/mile which felt better but the heat, yes the heat out of that March sunshine really starting to affect me. It’s not supposed to feel easy I kept telling myself but by mile 17, the blister that had been brewing in my foot was starting to make me feel very uncomfortable and I was just counting down the next 3 miles. I visualised the moment where I would have the session done, the satisfaction and the inevitable quenching of my thirst that would follow. I duly slogged out those last 3 miles all under 6:30 and I finally hit that magic 20 outside the Mardyke arena. I stretched my arms in the air as if I had just crossed the line in first, in my head I did, sublime feeling but was fit to drop (splits here). Having not had any fluids all morning, I was aching for relief and during those last few miles I got the idea of innocent smoothies in my head, the banana and strawberry kind. I brought money with me so headed straight for Supervalu on Merchant quay, getting a nice cool-down jog in. I finally got my large carton of innocent smoothie and I think I drank the whole carton in less than 2 minutes, so satisfying and I felt alive again. I jumped on a bus back up home, no hill for me today and I then headed for Wicklow as I now sit in my sister house watching match of the day. Great old session and no time to rest as off for another long one in the morning with a 15 miler scheduled. Quality weeks training running my first 80+ mile week and key session completed, get in there.
Weekly total: 82.5m