Lets Get Sensible

T-Mill,

4 miles, 29:00 (7:30, 7:08, 7:08, 6:58)

Went to an intro meeting for Trinity Takes To The Streets (the group I've decided to run the marathon for) this evening, which was lovely, and since I was at the gym, decided to hop on the T-mill just to get a run in for the day. Wish I hadn't. I iced my shin last night for the first time, and it was tight all day, and got pretty sore as soon as I started running. Because I'm wicked smart, I decided to 'only' run for the 4 miles, instead of stopping much earlier like a sane person. While there isn't any soreness on the bone, the shin area is very tender, leading me to think that I have my first case of shin splints without a stress fracture in about 12 years. Could probably have avoided this if I'd been smarter, but the fact that it was in the right leg kind of made me brush it off. Taking Thursday completely off, and will hit the gym Friday for some cross training action. Not going to run again until the shin feels right.

It's ok that mine's not actual movie quality

5.5 miles, 40:00

no HR data

Had a good run today as the sinuses continue to improve. The legs felt good and am happy to be getting back into a normal routine of amateur ass running. Also had a DeCoste moment last night. Was thinking about how to deal with my shin and the things I used to do in college. So I get through whirlpool, the trigger wheel, icing etc. but can't think of anything else. Then boom, the ice cup. Don't know how I haven't thought of these in like 3 years cause they were a god send in college, but am getting back on that bandwagon. One of the simplest, yet most effective shin treatments going. Now no more college talk as all the reunion chat on the email is making the tip of my penis feel all tingly.

Lung buster

4.8 miles, 33:25
Avg HR = 162, peak = 169
Rec after 1 min = 34

While I felt better in my chest than at any stage since last week, my sinuses were more stuffed than a leggy blonde after a Man Utd Christmas party. Went out in the hope that a run would help to clear me and had some small success, although it didnt take long to lose any and all of the gained benefit. The HR was good during the run, but took ages to drop post run, indicating that this cold still has a decent hold over me yet. The legs however, did feel good, and the shin was much improved on last week. Hoping for better things to come during the week.

no longer the drunken idiot?

Saturday: Day off

Sunday: Day off

Frustrating end to the week both from a running and social point of view. This cold got the better of me and I took it very easy to try and get myself right for Monday morning as I'm finally beginning the exercise testing phase of my research and don't want to fuck it up. The reason why I may not be the drunken idiot is that Ireland did the grand slam in the most epic of circumstances on Saturday evening not long after Spurs had done the Chelsea scum. These type of sporting occurrences are beyond rare, and the one place I'd want to witness them is the high stool in fitzers. Alas, I gave in to reason and stayed in, passing up one of the best party night Fitzers has seen in a while. While it was nice to soak in the memory of that last ridiculously crazy 5 minutes of rugby at home, I hate not celebrating sporting events that live in the memory. Have I grown up??? Not according to RealAge.com, who put me at an immature 23.2 years of age. The college dream lives on.....

60 years of history....

Wednesday I went to the gym for a planned 1hr bike ride, which turned into 30 mins plus 20 on the cross trainer. The legs were absolutely knackered so took yesterday off, in the hope that the shin would be fine as a result.

Problem was woke up this morning with what seems to be a developing chest cold/cough. Decided to try to run to help raise the body temp and sweat it out. Was somewhat successful in that I felt better post run than pre. However, the shin was still tight, and the run felt bloody awful. Ran for 41mins, in which I probably ran no more than 5.5 miles. Not the right weekend to be sick, as Ireland have the chance to win the Six nations tomorrow for the first time since its inception; having not won the prior 5 nations since 1984, and a win will see them do the first grand slam in 61 years. The country will go bananas if it happens/drown their sorrows if they dont. I just want to be fit enough to be part of it!

Some good news for the day was getting 4 tickets to U2 for July 24th. Cannot wait.

Right is Wrong

4.8 miles, 32:37
no HR data

Just got a brief run in as I was short on time before meeting Jonny in town. Fantastic run, felt very easy, the weather was spectacular for running, and just all round enjoyable. Felt better than expected as last night was a late one, although not too much to drink. Having a slight issue with my right shin which makes zero sense as it's always my left leg that has the problems. Had one stress fracture in the lower right tibia at the very start of sophomore year, but that was due to running in kayano's with a busted gel unit. This time, I think its just stemming from tightness in the calf, so need to manage it properly, and will do a couple of gym days to take the stress off of it.

Dublin on St. Patricks day was a bit of a nightmare. Too many people, dressed absolutely ridiculously, and absurdly drunk at 4pm in the afternoon. I know that sounds hypocritical coming from me, but I was honestly embarrassed walking around town with Jonny at what I was seeing. The day took an upturn as we hit the Guinness brewery for that indescribably good pint atop the Gravity bar with picture perfect views of Dublin. St. Patricks day spent at the home of Guinness on its 250th anniversary. Not too shabby.

Very cool run

9.2 miles, 65:35 (33:00 out)

Map

Went exploring along the paths I saw last week out by the east wall and  came across 2 gems. First was the Irishtown Nature park, which although small, seems to offer some decent off road trails for a 6 mile run etc. However, I continued on exploring beyond the end of the park to see what was on offer and came to the great south wall. While there's nothing necessarily great about it, its just a bloody long pier out into the ocean. Got to the base of it and needed about a minute and a half for an 8 miler which was my plan. Figuring hitting the lighthouse would do it, the curve, and length, of the pier were kind of hidden from view, and nearly 10 mins later, I hit the lighthouse. However, it was definitely worth it for the views. Will bring a camera next time, cos it was very cool running over a mile out to sea with nothing but water around you, plus some great scenery all around. Legs felt good, and totally enjoyed the run. Meeting Jonny Az in Dublin tonight for a few drinks as he tells me the US's plans for world domination. Should be good!

Never learn

Day off

Had planned on getting a decent length run in today, but went and made an absolute shit show of myself at the brothers engagement party last night and didnt get up till 3pm today. And once up, there wasn't a chance of me running. Picture classic drunk wee man, and the classic drunken mistakes he made previously, and this was last night (thankfully no email writing). Only good thing about today was the 2-1 win for Spurs up at the villa. While it means we did the arsenal scum a favour, it means Spurs should go on for a top half finish this season. While I wouldnt have been happy with that at the start of the season, given where we were 8 games in, I'd have ripped your hand off for it then.

Tempo

6+ miles total,

2 w/u, 3 tempo, 1+ c/d

tempo splits: 6:03, 5:58, 5:53

First off, I'm going to say that I am embarrassed that I'm calling this run a tempo, but based on effort and HR it definitely was. I'm also very happy with it, which shows I can now no longer call myself a runner, but a fat bastard jogger. How and ever, it felt like a tempo should, I was working hard, but felt comfortable enough at nearly all stages (running into the strong headwind wasn't easy). I also recovered quickly. I don't have HR data as I think the battery in the transmitter is gone, and was getting readings of anywhere between 99 and 240bpm during the run. However at the end it read 186bpm, which would be about right for a tempo. Overall very happy about this run.

Ow

Started off today volunteering for a study in physiology, which required me to perform isometric squats, and holding the position for as long as possible under a variety of conditions. Needless to say my quads were fucked by the end of it. Hit the gym to try and clear the lactate from the legs with 45mins on the cross trainer plus some upperbody weights and core.

Fri evening I went to see the 'bone man'. This guy keeps it short and sweet, I was out of there in literally 5 mins, but he seems to be effective. Its a little hard to describe what he did. Basically he started to rub the same spot on both hips but the left hip hurt like a bitch and the right one didnt, even though I havent had any problems. After a minute or so of pretty good pain there was a pop and all of a sudden the left hip didnt hurt when he rubbed it anymore. Its been a bit tender since, but whether its just a placebo effect or not I've felt freer in my movements since. Probably all rubbish though.

And Clench!

5.6 miles, 41 mins

Avg HR = 156, peak = 167

Rec after 1 min = 46

This evening was bright, warm and set for a scenic run on the grass/sand along the south Dublin coast. And that was how it panned out for the first 15 minutes until I realised I was in need of the little boys room. Cue plenty of clenching for the remainder of the run. Not fun. A definite downside of living in the city is there are zero places to nip in behind a bush etc like down by the cemetary on St. Rays or the like. Had hoped to explore some paths/trails that extend out by the east wall that I hadn't noticed previously but those will have to wait for another day.

Ran slow deliberately as I am volunteering for a study tomorrow measuring EMG activity in the legs while doing some exercises, and having done the first shift last week, know that my legs are in for a world of hurt tomorrow. 

Plan for the weekend is an uptempo run on Saturday (a few miles at ~6:15 pace) and a slightly longer jaunt on Sunday. This will all depend on how a) I get on with the horse whisperer tomorrow evening; b) how Ireland get on in the rugby on Saturday and c) what the pre-match festivities for Spurs vs. Villa hold on Sunday.

Gone Coursing

5.9 miles, 40:30
Avg HR = 162, peak = 172
Rec after 1 min = 49

What happens to the hare?
He gets fucked.
What, proper fucked?

Got a little bit silly today as I ducked out of skool early to run in the sunshine. There were a few runners out and about so between that and Muse I got a little over excited (no stains at least) and gave chase to a few. Still didn't feel I had run that quick given the HR, so ultra zoomed in on the park loop on gmap to make sure the distance was accurate, which it is. 3 runs in a row at (just about) sub 7 pace. Didn't know I had it in me. Legs feel pretty good aside from a knot in my right calf that I'm working out. Also going to see a 'good bone man' this weekend. Can't really call him a chiropractor as his clientele are primarily horses and greyhounds, but the local runners swear by him, so I don't really have anything to lose.
Also props to Jilane for increasing my followership by 50%. Thats what I call productivity.

London 'innit

Sat & Sun, 1 loop of Hyde Park; 5.5 miles

Sat: 38:47

Sun: 37:58

2 good runs with Enda, felt much better on the Sunday run although was suckin wind the last 5 or 10 mins of both runs. No problems with the legs to mention, pretty chill weekend all round. No motivation to write anymore. Bye now.

Bleh

4.8 miles, 33:11

Avg HR = 161, 157 - 172

Rec after 1 min = 49

Felt like shite from the word go. Am fighting a head cold and legs felt like buttcrap despite having yesterday off. Ignored the clock but felt that the HR was a bit on the high side, which I initially attributed to the head cold. However, the run was much quicker than I anticipated/thought so it could be a case of the chicken and the egg. Have a fun day of subjecting myself to exercise testing tomorrow and a quick trip to the gym before hitting the skies to visit Ed. Looking forward to a run around Hyde park on Saturday morning.

Shuffle with the Shuffle

5.6 miles, 41:56

Map

Avg HR = 162, max = 170

Rec after 1 min = 45

I've always been against running to music, sticking to the idea that 'runners run', and that running was a time for me to think and muse on worldly events etc etc. However, after I got injured back in January I bought a shuffle to get me through the hours at the gym which is fair enough. Running home from Santry on Sunday I was listening to the radio on my phone in order to get Spurs updates. What I found was with my mind on the game, I wasn't paying attention to niggles or how much my fitness sucks right now, and the run was a little more enjoyable. With that in mind, I hit the roads tonight with the shuffle, and found that I enjoyed the run as much as ever running to the sounds of Bono and the gang. The achilles is improving nicely but not quite 100%, and while the pace was slower than I would have thought based on feel and HR, it was a good outing.

No Line on the Horizon

Thurs: Day Off. Achilles was very sore to walk around on all day so shelved plans for an evening run and put the feet up. Not thrilled about it but want to try to nip this in the bud.

Fri: Gym. 40 mins on the bike, 10 on the cross trainer, 15 mins on the treadmill. This was absurd in a few ways. One I shouldnt have run as a) I was wearing runners that are totally shot and b) my achilles was sore. But I couldnt hack the cross trainer so jumped on the treadmill in frustration. Amazingly everything felt good. Realised that I've been running too hard since I started training again using the logic that if I want to run sub 3hrs in the marathon I need to run sub 7s now. Amazing how everything I am

studying I choose to ignore about my own running. 

Sat: Day off. Achilles wasnt terrible, but didnt want to push my luck either. Was eagerly anticipating the rugby, and while the result was what I wanted (as long as we beat the English) the game was shite as a spectacle and the referee needs his head examined to not have seen the blatant fouls by the cheating scumbag limey gits. Had a few pints with Enda post match, which was delightful. Naturally. 

Sun: 6 miles, 43:20,

Map

Went out to Santry to watch the Irish XC champs (more on that in a minute). Ran home, and didnt feel spectacular as I'd been standing in the rain for the previous hour, was cold, thirsty, and hungry. Surprised when I measured the run that I'd run that fast (relative use of the word fast) as I felt like I was crawling in an effort to spare my achilles from unnecessary abuse. Deeply satisfied that neither the quad or the achilles felt any real pain. 

As for the race itself, it was a corker. Kel went straight to the front on a relatively flat, dry course that had a lot of give in it that tends to drain the legs.

  Had Keneally sitting on him through 5k 

 before swapping the lead till around the 7k mark, at which point Keith hit the front and started to gradually stretch out a lead of 40 yards. Coming into the last lap with about a mile to go however, there were a few murmurs around the course that the legs had come off Kel, and Keneally had visibly reduced the gap to about 25 yards. However, Kel worked the only real downhill portion of the course to regain the lost advantage. Around the last km Keneally was visibly closing the gap but Kel's lead was never really in doubt and held on for the win by about 15 yards or so. 

Vinny had a similar battle with Gary O'Connor for 3rd which he won in convincing fashion over the last 3k and looked very strong throughout. Delighted for Kel to get the win that was against as good a field as you could have at the Irish champs (only Fagan & possibly Ledwith missing who would have changed the result). Also saw a few lads I used to run with/against in the field which made me realise how out of my league elite running is these days as the lads (and all credit to them) were blown out of it totally. 

U2's new album (No Line On The Horizon) was released here in Ireland on Friday. Have been listening to it non-stop since. While it's not the 'new sound' that was promised, its a cracking good album with some great opening riffs to songs that flows very well. A slightly more melodic tone than previous albums (Moment of Surrender is a good example of this) but follows the trends set by All That You Can't Leave Behind and How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb. All in all, good shit.

Lastly, Spurs got beaten by Man Utd on penalties in the final of the Carling Cup today. Given that I chose to go to the XC over watching it shows that I didn't hold out much hope of victory but its a huge disappointment none the less. Cannot understand how men paid millions of pounds a year to play football are unable to hit the target from 12 yards out. Its friggin ridiculous. Season after season of disappointment and failure. Such is the life of a Spurs fan.