Focus

During the 13.1 mile run at the end of the Lost Sheep Tri I more or less made up my mind not to sign up for the Dublin Marathon at the end of October. I Know, not the best time to make a decision, but 2 weeks later I'm still of the same mind. My body needed a rest of a week or two and I didn't have enough miles in the running legs to up the ante with only 3 effective weeks of training left. If I was to give Dublin a good shot I'd want plenty of long (and fast) runs in the bag by now.

So where am I headed. I signed up for the Connemara Ultra in April, but that's too far away to keep me focused. Cork to Cobh (15 miles) is only next weekend - kinda crept up on me and while i'll run it (never missed a year since I ran it as my first race in 2006) I can't say I'm in 15 mile race shape. Anyway a 7-day training programme won't keep me focused for long. I have my sights set on the Inaugural Clonakilty Waterfront Marathon on 11th December, after all the route passes within 50 yards of my childhood home. However, the route is quite hilly in places particularly around the 19 mile mark - just when you need hills like a hole in the head - so the attraction isn't the flat fast PB course but the homwtown crowd and the coastal scenery and something to focus my training on. It could also be my first long training run for Connemara. This time round I certainly plan on getting a few more ultra marathon training runs (>26.2 miles) than the single 1 in last years training.

With today's club run clashing with my domestic duties I headed out on my own into town for a long(ish) run. With Cork to Cobh next week I used the run as a sort of tempo test run, with the aim of running about 15.5 miles with 10 at 3 hr marathon pace, hopefully or at least sub-7 minute miles. I wore light weight racers and needless to say I kept away from anything too hilly. So after a cup of coffee and a 2 mile warmup I eased into a faster pace and while the first mile @ 6:58 was just below the 7 target it got more manageable after that.

The first 5 miles passed "relatively" stress free in 33:53 (6:58/45/43/44/43). The next 5 got tougher towards the end and I was glad to call it a day, although I still had 3 plus miles to run home. Second 5 miles in 33:48 (6:41/42/45/47/53) - 10 miles in 1:07:41. If I could manage a 3rd sub 34 minute 5 miler next week (although I couldn't have managed it today) that would get me under 1:42. Still well off the 6:36 PB pace to get under 1:39.

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My weekly mileage is still relatively low at less that 40. I'll slowly ramp this up over the coming month, no rush.

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Tue 21st Sept

6.28 miles in 47:17 (7:32 pace @ 141HR) with 3.5 miles @ 6:30 pace (14 laps of the track)

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Wed 22nd Sept

5.52 miles in 39:58 (7:14 pace @ 140HR)

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Thur 23rd Sept

4.38 miles in 40:33 (9:16 pace @ no HRM) with 5 x 416m (lane 3) in 81/81/81/81/78.

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Sat 25th Sept

15.5 Miles in 1:49:07 (7:02 pace @ 148 HR) with 10 miles in 1:07:41 (6:46 pace)

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Looking back on the week (31:58 miles) I had no easy run, better ease back a little, don't want to burn out.

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Finally best of luck to Joe Roche, Gary Condon and Paudie Birmingham, running in the Berlin Marathon tomorrow.

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