Last Run of 2010

Having run the last three runs in Portugal where we spent Christmas with my wife's family it was back home to Ireland yesterday for the final run of 2010.

I got up this morning, had a second Christmas with the little man as he opened his Irish presents and then it was out for a run.  8.5km today and although the knees are still a bit in shock over exercising again the heart rate has dropped and its getting easier. A month of this and the level will have improved.

Happy New year.

Run - 31/12/2010
Distance: 8.5km or 5.28 miles
Time: 53:39
Pace: 6:19 m/km or 10.09 m/m
Heart Rate: 159 bpm
Soundtrack: Snow Patrol - A Hundred Million Suns

7km and a bit better

Today was my third run in a row, tomorrow is a nice rest day.  The legs were still a bit sore from yesterday however today's run was more enjoyable and felt a bit easier that yesterdays also.  I feel that I'm getting back into it, slowly does it.

I don't think the wine and whiskey last night helped but it is Christmas and celebrations are all around.  New Years eve is just around the corner and after that I'll be saying goodbye to the alcohol, cakes, chocolate and ice-cream for a little while as I try to get back into form.

Run - 29/12/2010
Distance: 7.01km or 4.35 miles
Time: 45:33
Pace: 6:30 m/km or 10:27 m/m
Heart Rate: 175 bpm
Terrain: Mostly dirt track.
Soundtrack: Green Day - American Idiot

Out Of Shape

Yesterday I got back on the horse, today the horse kicked me off and I held on to the reins as it dragged me around the course.  I remember when I could run 5km in just under 25 minutes, when an easy run meant my heart rate never went above 160 bpm.  I guess it will be a while before I get back to that fitness again.  The result of too much time off.

As I was running around it hurt. As I kept going a quote I remembered kept running around in my head, "Pain is weakness leaving the body." I hope it is true :-) A few more weeks of this and I should be back to some form of shape. I need to be in much better shape than this if I want to complete the half marathon in March.

Run - 28/12/2010
Distance: 6.52km or 4.05 miles
Time: 40:44
Pace: 6:15 m/km or 9:90 m/m
Heart Rate: 174 bpm
Terrain: Mostly dirt track.
Soundtrack: The Goo Goo Dolls - Dizzy Up The Girl

Back On The Horse

So I checked. One and a half months of no running and only two small runs in the last two and a half months. It's too easy to be lazy.  So with just one week to 2011 and the beginning of my 1,500km in one year goal it was time to get out on the road again.

Today was to be a nice easy 5km run. About 200m into the run I felt a smile hit my face, I missed this, this was nice. I ran around a 1km dirt track a few times and then back to the house. At the end of the run my legs hurt a little, my heart raced a lot and my body was saying don't take so long a break next time. If I want to complete my 2011 goal there won't be any months off next year.


Run - 27/12/2010:
Distance: 5.51km or 3.42 miles
Time: 35:22
Pace: 6:25 m/km or 10:20 m/m
Heart Rate: 166 bpm
Terrain: Mostly dirt track.
Soundtrack: Stereophonics - Word Gets Around

My ASICS

So the training will begin on Moday the 27th of December 2010, I hope :-) Been looking around the web and found a blog called Sound Mind, Sound Body which showed a link to a site where you can set up a training schedule and from trying to find a good free site for training plans for a while I'm impressed with this one form what I've seen so far.

My ASICS is really easy to navigate, sets up your training according to your goal time for the race type you are looking to run, which is a really nice way of doing it as it is almost personalise that way.  One feature that I love is the recovery runs that are also part of the plan for when the race is over.  You are give a few rest days and then the recovery runs you need to get back into it.  It seems really well thought out.  Really good site...  Check it out.  It is a new and there may be a few bugs as I think it is still in it's BETA form but try it and give feedback to the programmers, I'm sure they would be happy with the feedback.

I'm going to use it for my training plan for my goal of running a sub 2 hour half in March 2011.  I'll let you know how that goes.

1,500 Kilometres in 2011

So my last bit of constructive running was in September, since then I've been pretty lazy.  I've decided that needs to change and I'm setting a target for 2011.

So this is my target, to run 1,500 kilometres in 2011. This is a big goal for me as I usually lose motivation and take weeks, if not months, off at a time.  I can't do that and complete this goal.  Over the year I hope to enter a few races and complete the Dublin City Marathon at the end of October 2011, which will be my first ever marathon.

I'm going to post all runs, training and races, on the blog and with a bit of luck and hard work I'll meet my target and complete my first ever marathon running 1,500 kilometres in one year in the process.

My first race will be the Lisbon Half Marathon in March but before that I need to get rid of this flu and start running again.  Chirstmas is only days away so after the party season is over the training will start.  I think I'm looking forward to 2011 already.  Happy running.

Recovery Runs

First things first I don't know much about running, only that I like it.  Recovery runs are not something that I have ever done.  Probably because I have never been too dedicated to running.  I haven't really ran a long run that has required a short recovery run the day after, or if I did (the one half marathon I ran) I took a nice two week break, which was followed by three small runs in the following three months.

I've been running on but mostly off for the past three years now and completely off for most of the last three months.  I have decided that for 2011 I'm going to try to change my focus to run mostly on, try new routes, types of running, to just get outside more and this blog is my first step.  Hopefully over the next year I'll be utilising more recovery runs as I try to up the number of kilometres run in the year and keep running consistanly for the year.  I can always dream.