Training while on holiday’s

Friday 19th July…Put the runners in the bag for the first time ever while I was packing and hoping that I’d have the discipline to get out and follow what John had told me to do while away…arrived over on the Friday night and decided I’d do my first run on Sat evening…I have 6 runs to do while away so I said I’d get off to a good start…I started my run at 19:40 in the evening and did a full 80 minutes with only one stop for a bottle of water in a shop…was running on my own as my running partner hadn’t arrived yet and don’t know what pace etc I did as I have no watch (need to get one of these) but was happy to get the run in….a few tips John had given me over the last few weeks came back to me such as running in the shade if possible, running on even surfaces (footpaths were uneven), relaxing the arms, be aware of my breathing etc and I really enjoyed the run and felt relaxed throughout…this might have been because I wasn’t running at my normal pace but it was probably the most enjoyable run I’d had since I started as everything felt right…the change of scenery might have had a lot to do with this as well…. Ciaran has mentioned in his blog http://fatdadrun.blogspot.ie/ about running being as much a mental activity as it is a physical battle I’d agree totally with….tonight mentally I was enjoying a new route and my holiday so I wasn’t even thinking about the next corner or hill in front of me and time seemed to fly by.

On Monday, David Spain (Brother in law) and myself headed off at 18:45 and we did a similar run to what I had done on the Saturday…the pace was up a bit…Dave would have done a good bit of running when he was younger and he still has it in the legs even though he doesn’t do a lot of running now…says he’s going to get back into it more and is going to do the Tullamore half marathon on 31st August…we did 80 minutes tonight with a few stops for water and this is how we looked when we got back..

Wednesday night the plan was to go out so we said we’d go out in the morning…anyway this didn’t happen and the only time we could get out was at 15:30….the temperature was very warm and even with all the water I had taken on board during the day etc…..10 minutes into the run I was struggling…we went out in one direction about 2 miles and I had to stop for water in a local shop…started again and went about another mile and was really struggling at this stage…Dave said we’d go to the next roundabout and see how we are get on…by then I was out on my feet….Dave was feeling ok so I said to him to work away and I’d turn back and he could catch up on me before I got back….on the way back I would say I stopped about 5 times with a few walks in between…stopped twice to buy water in local shops and wasn’t feeling good at all…eventually got back having done about 70 minutes but this included stops/walks etc but again was happy that I at least got out…said I’d take a break then for a few days and decided that we’d do a long run on Sat.

Saturday we decided to run at 7:00 in the morning but couldn’t get out of bed and eventually hit the road at 8:20….Dave had route planned and it was about an 8-10 mile run down to the marine and back….a lot of big hills etc and really tough. I always find the first 15 minutes of the runs hard and this morning was no different as it takes a while for the body to loosen up but was going ok….after about 35 minutes I was feeling ok and this was because I was doing down a hill…before we went down the hill we had to go up a hill that is about a mile in  distance…before you start up the hill there is a lidi shop and as I was half way up the hill I could hear a guy behind me for a while..i was waiting for him to pass me out and as he did I couldn’t believe he was running with a bag of shopping in each hand…didn’t feel as good as I did about conquering the hill then…we got down to the marina in about 45 minutes and we had a quick stop for some water…we then started to make our way back through the old town and back along the coast…did a full 90 minutes with 1 stop on 45min for water and 1 stop at 55min for a photo…next Monday the plan is to do the full 90 minutes with no stops so hopefully I’ll be able to do this….Running at different times of the day has taught me that the time you run at each day is very important if you want to have the energy to complete them….running when it’s cooler in the morning or evening is a good idea and also run in the shade if possible.

Monday we went out for a run at 18:45 and I wanted to run the full distance without stopping…Dave said he’d go ahead of me and pick up water when it was needed...Got down to half way point at marina in 45 minutes and Dave called into a shop for water…there was a queue in the shop when Dave called in so I was parched by the time Dave caught up on me….Dave had the iphone with him and was using runkeeper tonight so we got exact distance/time/pace etc for the run…we ran for 1:26:36 at a pace of 11:02 and a distance of 7.85 miles…happy enough as temp was 27oC and a lot of hills etc…

Had planned to go for a run today Wed 31st but similar to Ciaran on his blog…I was doing cross training as well last night…had a great night out and ended up on the dance floor showing a few moves….anyway the DJ played “One Step Beyond – Madness” and the legs were in overdrive…didn’t get to finish off my dance moves as I pulled up with a pain in my right calf….don’t know did I pull something or strain it in some way…..as I write it’s still not right so hopefully nothing to serious as I see Ciaran is nursing an injury as well at the minute…we’ll need to get these sorted as we only have 4 weeks to go before the half marathon….will be back training with Ciaran this weekend and we plan to do the Ballycumber 10K run on Sunday…here is the details…Ballycumber GAA are holding a 10k run & Family 5K walk on Sunday August 4th at. Entry is €10 per person & kids go free.

Finally just after finishing a book called “Kings of September – The day Offaly denied Kerry five in a row”…what a brilliant book about Offaly GAA and it’s a great read from start to finish…I never got a chance to read it before and if you haven't read it you should get your hands on a copy..it shows the preparation, time and effort this Offaly team put in to achieving something that was unthinkable and they spent years as a group working towards the goal of winning a All-Ireland.…as was said in the book…it’s a story of ordinary men who did extraordinary things...we live in hope that we’ll see days like this again in Offaly…

Here is a few photos Dave took of me on our Runs....Until later...only 4 weeks to go..