Training Log Archive: Dooby

Started off from the car and turned the corner to follow the road out of the school, good god what a wind. Jogged nearly as far as the start and back, going to be a very tough finish. The finish line is also higher than the start, so more climb!

Legs felt alright warming up, happy with them.

Kerry County Road Champs 2013
5k
Cahersiveen

Not an ideal day for racing but same conditions for everyone else. All the lads were out today, so it was a who's who of Kerry racing, plus me!

My plan was to follow my cross country foe, George, but changed that tactic soon after the start to follow Rob.

A young lad in a tri top burst off at the start followed by the big boys. Myself and Rob were a few steps behind them. The first 2k were downhill, 3.10 and 3.07 for these km's. The lads in front got a small gap at this stage, and the young fella had long ago dropped back. George was behind us, maybe 20 metres. Just after the 2k, before turning back up the hill, Rob asked if I wanted to work together as we'd be running into the wind. I said ok.

Decided to be sneaky and once taking the turn I went in front, wanted to take my turn in front first as 2-3 was an easier gradient than 3-4. Felt ok at the pace we were going and saw that Arthur had dropped off the leading group which was now down to 4 (John, Donal, Ed & Cian). Kept the pace going but a few slower moments when the gusts got stronger.

Rob wasn't offering any help, in fact he sounded like he was struggling a small bit. Checked over my shoulder a few times to see where George was. As we got to around 3.5km Arthur was getting closer and closer, when he was around 15-20m in front I decided I could pass him out so upped the pace slightly and coasted past. Kept on going as I didn't want him near me for the the run from the top of the hill to the finish. The last bit before the top of the hill was steep but kept on pushing. Then onto the slightly downhill 800m to the finish.

3.10
3.07
3.30
3.45
3.17

Checked behind me a few times but the lads weren't close, Arthur was maybe 40-50m back. Kept a nice pace going but didn't feel under pressure and came home in 5th.

Results

Very pleased to have set a PB for 5k today, 2 seconds improvement, when it was a race you wouldn't expect to do well in due to the weather and climb. Today has demonstrated that my body is in alright shape, something to give me confidence about with some very important races coming up soon. I was never on the limit and felt strong. Course with a nice hill definitely suited me. After the race I was wondering what would have happened if i'd stuck with the main group out the front, but wanted to race sensibly.

1st Novice so i'm definitely done with Novice in Kerry and we were 2nd team overall, Gneeveguilla had a strong team and we were around 9 points off them.

*Garmin said 22m climb, felt more than that so will check it out tomorrow in more detail on a map and possibly correct it.
**Bumped it up to 30 looking at the elevation profile.

Legs felt ok warming down.

Thought weather was calm enough when I was changing until my shoes were blown away from the car by a huge gust of wind!

Lovely day outside but being lazy, for a change.

Avg Cadence = 88rpm

On the way home from Killarney this evening I decided being lazy all day was enjoyable but had to do something! 20mins on the trainer wouldn't be too stressful so hopped on when I got home. Read a book to make it easier. Started to sweat which I hadn't really planned on doing but hard not to. Didn't reduce resistance so same as Thursday but just shorter and maybe slighly less cadence.

Roll on 16-17mins of pain tomorrow...

Muckross - Friday Loop

Nice evening, but some clouds, was hoping for clear blue skies, will settle for dry, no wind, and no mud.

Put max HR at 168, decided to ignore the 195 that happened after a couple of minutes running, not sure what was going on but must have been a technology issue.

Knees was sore as soon as I started running, so had to suck it up and ignore it, things did improve as the run went on so they just need to be warmed up. Iced them afterwards as instructed, but they don't feel too bad.

Probable rest day tomorrow before Sunday but might squeeze something in if I get a chance.

Met a few horses out this evening, trekking, and some tourists with a map, not sure if they were lost or not but met them again on my way back. Think they were alright. No sign of any mountain rescue, some mention of some lad rescued from Torc Waterfall today after feeeling unwell.

Avg Cadence = 92rpm

After a few inactive days I finally got back in the saddle this week. Lovely looking evening outside, really want to get out on the road with the bike, but too cold still.

Another episode of Game of Thrones, S02E05.

Legs felt alright, could feel them getting tired towards the end but I did try this evening. HR graph shoes a steady increase from the start until I stopped. Looking forward to getting out running tomorrow, weather forecast is nice so should be a nice evening in the forest.

Going to take another day off. Not feeling great today, chest has improved but just generally off, think energy levels are down. Cold sore arrived to say hello which i've found that to be an indication that my body is not right. So will ease back into things from tomorrow before racing in the rain on Sunday.

Back to reality this week after the JK. Feeling a bit better today, so happy about that, but will give the track tomorrow a skip, maybe bike instead.

Did a bit of perusing over the last few years (2010-2012) JK results. My Day 1 Sprint result this year is certainly an improvement on 2012 where I was 60th and the previous two years I was 30/33. That shows that my speed has certainly increased.

Then in the other two disciplines my Middle this year was better than the last few years, as was my long distance. Consequently my overall also improved. I went from 50th overall in 2010 to 18th this year, with improvements in 2011 and 2012. So there is definitely a trend of my results getting better, but I know my shape is better.

A tentative plan for the week, depends on how I feel.

Monday - Rest (ill)
Tuesday - Rest (physio)
Wednesday - Turbo Trainer
Thursday - Running
Friday - Running
Saturday - Bike (weather dependent) or Rest
Sunday - Running (5k, County Road Champs)

Plan for the week is hoping to be in some sort of shape to race on Sunday.

Had this organised before the JK, well not long before it, but legs were feeling sore in places so time to get them sorted.

It was a tough hour, not feeling 100% going onto the table didn't help and the physio spent around 45mins on both quads, ouch. She's confident that my knee pain is as a result of tight quads, and there may some issue with the bursa as a result. Advised to ice after training. Supposedly the quads are 25 degrees away from what they should be able to stretch to, so lots of work needed to help that.

Just before going to bed I felt a slight cold coming on so took my usual precautions. A few more paracetemol overnight aswell. Had a very poor nights sleep too so that didn't help. Still there this morning. Did put on my orienteering gear in the intention of finding a run for the relay but it was cold outside as I went to the fridge (Magic's car) to get breakfast/lunch stuff. Decided it wasn't worth running if I wasn't feeling 100% as since I had no relay team I wasn't going to be letting anyone down.

Spent the morning spectating. Chest started to feel a bit funny, so not pleased about that. Will dose up again before bed and see what happens. Fingers crossed for an improvement.

Collected some gluten free baking in Killarney too on my return, nice, so got a few scones and flapjacks to work through in the coming days.