Beautiful Day For a Run

The women's fit for life group went for a 12 mile run on Good Friday.  I wasn't free to go with them and as they had planned a 10km for Saturday morning I decided to go go my own way as I wanted to do at least 16km, but the aim was 18km.

The group normally meets at 9.30am but as I was going by myself today I gave myself the luxury of a lie in and began my run at 11am.  I decided to take it easy and bring my phone with me to take some photos.  After the first 1km I stopped at the local tennis club to stretch.  From there it was out to Oak Park.

Entrance to Oak Park

This arch in olden times was the entrance to the Oak Park house and estate of 700 acres of woodland and lakes.  The arch was also someone's house and as you pass under it you can see the door which was the entrance.

I kept running out the road and aimed to link to the route that I had been running the past few weeks with the hope that this add-on would give me enough to hit 18km.

Colours

I love the colours of the fields this time of year and it is great to be able to run with these views.  I reached the long mile and was feeling good.  There is a lovely downhill at the beginning of the long mile, but what goes down must go up...

The Long Mile

The rest of the run was nice and I did stop on the way back to the car to refill my water bottle as I had misjudged how much I would need and how far I was running.  When I got back to where the car was I was just over 2km short of a half marathon distance.  The block where my car was parked was a 2.4km loop so I kept going.  The speed workouts I've been doing are really starting to pay off and I finished the 21.1km strong, in 1.54.09, a new best and a really enjoyable run.  I did stop the watch twice for the initial stretch and when I refilled my bottle, but not for any photo taking so I'm really happy with the time.

My Garmin

Quick Workout

I didn't have much time to run today but I did have time for a quick 5km.  We are having beautiful weather in Carlow and I really want to get out and run in it as much as possible before the rain returns.   I'm going to get out tomorrow morning for, hopefully, a longer run.  Loving the weather.

5x800m Speed Workout???

Another speed workout at the track was the plan for today.  I went out with the hope of running 5x800m fast with 200m slow in between.  I got to the track straight after work with my legs still sluggish and sore after Saturday's long run.

A nice 2km warm up went well followed by a nice stretch and then into the 200m slow, 800m fast by five.  I find these tough but I know they are helping and I'm getting faster, Saturday's run was proof enough of that.  However today I wasn't feeling good.  At the third repeat I decided to wimp out and only do four repeats as in previous weeks.  I guess I should have been paying attention to the repeats because what I thought was the third repeat was actually the fourth and I ended up actually doing the five.  A nice 2km cool down followed with a nice stretch and then home.

When I got home and I looked over the times I was delighted with the run.

1st 800m: 3.19
2nd 800m: 3.31
3rd 800m: 3.35
4th 800m: 3.32

5th 800m: 3.12

The fifth 800m was at an average of a 4 minute kilometre, happy days.  I remember when I started running last year at paces of 6.20 a kilometre, trying to get under 6.  When I got under a 6 minute kilometre I often wondered how could anyone run under a 5km kilometre and today I ran 800m at a 4 minute kilometre pace.  How cool is that?...

Good Hilly Run

This morning was another early long run.  I met up again with the Women's Fit for Life Group and joined them on their long run.  The group is really nice and it is great that I feel a part of the group.  It is much easier to run in company.  Last time out with them I started at the back of the group because I wasn't sure of the pace of the group and ran my own pace.  This time I decided that I would try to begin by running with the front runners and see if I could keep up.

We went out the same route as before, a nice route with 7 hills along the course.  The satellites hadn't kicked in on my Garmin when we started so I lost about 150 metres or so or recording before I hit start, which would have been enough to hit 15km.  The pace started nice and easy and I was enjoying the pace until about 6km.  At this point the group trainer moved up to the front of the group and began pushing out the pace.

From here on in the pace was fast and I was glad that I was keeping up.  With 2km to go I was still managing to keep up with the front two runners and we upped the pace again and kept on pushing.  With 1km to go we got faster still and with 200 metres to go we broke out into a sprint  back to the club.  It was a tough run (felt like a race), my calf's are quite sore as I write this, but I really enjoyed it. I was delighted that I was able to keep going the full distance at that speed, my fastest ever 15km, and still have a good kick at the end.

How was your long run? Enjoyable I hope.

4x800m Speed Workout

Another speed workout done.  I'm finding that I don't really like starting them, as I know they are tough, but I really like the feeling after finishing them.

My times for the four 800m fast were as follows:

1st 800m: 3.28
2nd 800m: 3.34
3rd 800m: 3.32
4th 800m: 3.3

A slight improvement on last week.  Gotta love improvement.

Race Report - Great Ireland Run 2011

I got up early this morning to get myself ready for the Great Ireland Run, a nice 10km route in the Phoenix Park in Dublin.  This was the first race I've done solo.  I've run 4 races previously and have always had a travelling partner(s) for each of them.  Today I was on my own.  With a beautiful blue sky and warm temperatures, not common this time of year, I drove the 80km to the start of the race listening to Jason Mraz and in good spirits.

I had no real plan for todays race.  My previous best for a 10km was 58.22 and I'd been running between 53.30 and 55.00 regularly in training so a PR was on the cards and I was relaxed.

This race is very well organised.  Once you arrive at the entrance to the park it is a good 3km walk to the start of the race but you don't have to worry about that as the organisers have buses to bring you that distance.  At the start there is a bag drop set up according to race numbers to leave your gear while you run and the start of the race was also divided into corals by the colour on your racing bib.  Up the front were the elite athletics, then the top club runners, followed by the orange running bibs, then white, green and then pink.  I was in the white group, last year I would have been in pink.

With over 10,000 people at the race there is a high chance you'll meet someone you know.  While waiting for the start of the race I bumped in to some of the members of the Carlow Fit for Life group.  After this I bumped into a girl I used to work with years ago when I worked it a local supermarket, it was nice to see and chat with her again.  While standing in the coral waiting for the start of the race I looked behind me and saw the sister and father of one of my school friends, you can't go anywhere ;-)

When the race started and we got going the pace was good and due to the staggered start there was good space to move about.  The first 3km were comfortable and enjoyable and  felt I could up the pace, so I did.  The only water station came at 5km just before the first hill.  It is a lovely course with three main hills, the first of which comes at 5km, the second at 6.5km and the last one, the big one, at 8km.  Last year the one at 8km was a killer and was not expected but the benefit of running the course before meant that I was prepared for it this time.

At 8km I attacked the hill and then at 9km I decided to push some more.  One thing I thought was a good addition to the race this year was that all running bibs had the runners first name on them.  It is really nice when you are running to hear "Come on Thomas, you're doing great" from spectators and there are a lot of them there.  At 9.5km there were a group of boys who had finished the 2.5km junior run, staged before this race, out to cheer on the runners.  They stood side by side arms out hi-fiving all who past.  After giving them all a hi-five I broke into a sprint for the final 500m.

I passed the finish line in 52.30 (chip time) a new PR, tired but delighted.  From there I met some of the girls and the trainer of the Carlow Women's Fit for Life group again, went to collect my gear bag and begin the car journey home.  I was feeling great walking to the car.  I had a new PR, the weather was great, 23.5ºc according to the car and just all-round it had been a fantastic race, definitely the race I've enjoyed most so far.  When I got to the car and turned on Today FM on the radio it was Jim O'Neill with Classic Gold Sunday.  The first song I heard was Bruce Springsteen "Born to Run" and when Jim signed off he said "Whatever you are doing today, do it with a smile and enjoy it."  I achieved that today.  A great day running.  How was your day?

First Speed Workout

I've heard for a long time that speed workouts were tough but really worth it.  I've been staying away from them since I started running.  There are times when I would go out and run 5km fast and be delighted with my time but I never set myself the target of running a set distance fast then a set distance slow and then repeating a few times, pushing myself.  I guess I've always been a bit afraid of not being able to keep going and dare I say it the fear that I would actually end up slower than my fast 5km runs or not able to run much faster than my average run pace.  I just didn't want to be too slow.  After reading a lot of blogs I decided to finally give a speed workout a go.  Here is how it went.

I go to the track and had my Garmin Forerunner 305 already pre-programmed with the workout I wanted.  I had the distances and repeats in but no target pace as I didn't know what to expect.  The idea was to run 2km slow as a warm up and then stretch.  After the stretch it was to be 200m slow and 800m fast and to repeat this four times.  I was then to finish with another 2km slow and stretch again.  All together an 8km workout.  As I've never done this before I didn't know what to expect or if I was setting the bar to high for an initial speed workout.

My times for the four 800m fast were as follows:
1st 800m: 3.39
2nd 800m: 3.37
3rd 800m: 3.31
4th 800m: 3.19

Overall I was very happy with the times and the fact that each 800m was quicker than the last.  It also felt like it was a good workout.  I enjoyed it.  I think I may do more of these in the future.

Do you incorporate speed workouts into your training schedule.  If so what way do you structure yours and what benefits has it brought to you running?

First Book of the Year

I've just finished my first book of the year.  Not great going, one book in three months but one book down this year.  The book was "Born to Run" by Christopher McDougall.

This was a great book.  I only started reading it three weeks ago and it was easy reading.  It is dubbed "A bible for the barefoot running community" and for some reason when I saw that I thought the book might read a little scientific and technical.  I couldn't have been more wrong.  The book is a brilliant story of an amazing race and how it took place while also reflecting on running style, barefoot running and running injury free.  The story flows really well and keeps you engaged all the way through. 

There were a few quotes from the book that I really liked.

"If you are going to try, go all the way," I like this one as I read it before signing up for the marathon and thought, yes if I'm going to run I might as well go all the way and run a marathon.

"You don't stop running because you get old," said the Demon.  "You get old because you stop running."  Probably very true especially as there is now studies to show that running is actually good for your joints and won't kill your knees.

"Just beat the course," I told myself.  "No one else.  Just the course."  I think this one will be running around my head during the marathon.

This really is a great running book and a very entertaining read.  I'd highly recommend it.

Hilly Long Run

This morning I joined the Carlow Women's Fit For Life group for a long run.  The Carlow Men's Fit for Life group has only just been established and as of yet doesn't do long runs as part of the group.  For the past two months I've been doing my long run alone, as the person I normally run with is injured so it was great to have company again for the run.

At 9.30am we met and began our run.  The run was at a nice pace and was on a route I never ran before.  The majority of my runs over the past year or so have been mostly flat as there are not many routes around the town that have hills.  Today's route went out of the town.  The weather was great and before long we had hit our first hill.  As I wasn't familiar with the route I wasn't really expecting any hills.  Today's run was really enjoyable and felt great.

It was the first time this year that I've run more than 12km without having my right knee strapped up.  With seven hills on the run I happy with how the knee held together and think as long as I look after it I should be able to run without the ITB strap from here on in.