The nolongerdrunksobacktoreality post

Mon: 8 miles, 55:04
Tue: 10 miles, 65:38
Wed: 5 miles, 36:30 + Gym
Thu: 11.3 miles total (72:53); 6.15 mile tempo in 35.28

Spent the first couple of days of this week getting over the weekends festivities. Came back to Dublin on Tuesday after dropping the newlyweds at the airport. Was only out on the run about 5 mins when I ran into Mary Cullen who's working her way back after injury, although you wouldn't know it given the pace she was running. Ran with Mary for about 3 miles before continuing on at a similar pace, although faster than normal. The Monday & Tuesday runs were slightly longer than was scheduled, and just did a few junk miles on Wed to make up for the weekend off instead of the usual day off.
Had the physio work me over Wed night and apparently my IT bands are like bricks and need some serious work over the next couple of weeks to prevent anything developing. Fun.
Last night hit the Phoenix Park for my tempo. The previous time out I'd run 35:45 but had run harder than I should have for a tempo. Brought the HR monitor along this time to keep the effort more under control. Passed through the mile in 5:45 before hitting the uphill 2 miles, which were run in 11:48, before the last 3 and change in 17:56. Was happy with the run as I was in much more control of myself than last time out although the equivalent tempo last year was run slightly faster (35:15) which I was hoping to match.
The HR is causing me some concern due to the effect the meds for the CML are having. One of the side effects of the meds is a slowing of the QT interval of the heartbeat. The result is that my resting BP has dropped from 120/75 to 120/65. I'm not sure what's happening to the BP during the run, but the drop in the diastolic BP means less tension in the arteries which is resulting in the heart beating more frequently to ensure blood flow through the body. My average HR during the tempo was 189bpm, varying between 184-193, compared to 177-189 last year. What surprised me wasn't how high the HR was as I was expecting that, but how little it varied especially on the downhills/uphills section. Usually the HR profile during the run would match the terrain, but not with this one. It wasn't really coming down on the downhills, and I wasn't seeing the usual spike on the uphill. The pretty shitty graph below shows the HR from start to finish.

One of the cooler aspects of the run was the w/u and c/d. It's fawning season for the deer in the park, and the herds (?) were packed together. Grabbed the iphone for the cooldown and took a few pics which aren't all that clear since I can't zoom on the iphone.

Great week's drinking

Tues: 4 pints & 2 cans following wedding rehearsal
Wed: Stumbled out of Fitzpatricks at 4:30am
Thu: Pre-wedding night cans at home
Fri: Wedding day drinking concluded at 7:30am
Sat: Back on the hooch around noon, wrapped up the festivities around 2am
Sun: Felt like I was dying a slow horrible death.

Following on from my best weeks training I probably had my worst week this past week. Hardly surprising given the activities listed above. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday were the only days I actually got any running in during the week. Not what I had planned but wasn't much different than I expected unfortunately. It's not everyday your brother gets married.

The happy couple!

Looking a little worse for wear  back in the residence bar ~3am

Week in review/training update/other such trivialities

Fri: 6 miles easy, no time + Gym
Sat: 8.25 miles, 56:33 + strides
Sun: 14 miles, 94:57
Weeks total: 6 runs, 56.25 miles

Mon: 5 miles, 36:45
Tue: 7.1 miles, 51:45 + Gym

Last week was the best weeks training thus far. Coming off the tempo on Thursday the legs felt good. Sunday's long run was ok but would have been better only for the fact I was drinking till 4am in pre-wedding celebrations. Was glad to get it done though and definitely felt better for it.

This week is the 4th week of the month which means a recovery week. Mileage will drop to mid-40s and no workout. Probably for the best as the brother's wedding on Friday means lots of drinking in the days before and after. Thankfully as of last night I'm off work for the week, so looking forward to doing 2 of my 3 favourite things, drinking and running. Happy days.

1st Workout

Mon: 8 miles, 55:00
Tue: 9.2 miles, 66:30
Wed: Day off
Thu: 2.6 mile w/u, 6.15 mile tempo, 2.25 mile c/d; 70:26 total

Nothing much to note from the early week runs. Today was the first tempo of the marathon program, with which I'm reasonably satisfied. Was a little bit faster than the same tempo last year (35:45 today vs. 36:03 last year). The problem today was I was almost 30 seconds quicker today through two miles. As a result I started to rig pretty bad through the 3rd mile, and had to back off the rest of the run. It took a lot of "You're a f*cking pussy, man up"'s to not stop after 4, but once I had backed off a little I recovered sufficiently by the 5th and 6th mile to feel a little better by the end. Was still pretty spent though. Meant to take the HR monitor from the lab yesterday but forgot, but definitely have the feeling I was pushing too hard early on to call this a legitimate tempo effort. Better pace control and I'm confident I would have been another ~20secs faster than I was today, but such is life. Looking forward to the next one.

Overdue update

Last week: 5 runs, 42 miles

Mon = 6 miles, 43 mins or so
Tue = 8 miles, 53:39
Thu = 10.6 miles, 73:36; Avg HR = 163
Fri = 6 miles, 43:33
Sat = 11.5 miles, 81:17; Avg HR = 155
Sun = hungover misery

Was all set for a 6 day week of 50 miles until Saturday afternoon hit. Shaun is getting married a week from Friday so Saturday was decided on as the 'home leg' of his stag after the trip to Liverpool back in April. After getting the long run in for the week a day early having decided the risk of not running on Sunday was quite high, we went paintballing. First time doing it, and had great craic, although the numerous contusions and bruises incurred would put me off doing it again for quite a while. The weather has been unbelievably good this past week, so from 5pm Saturday we were in Fitzers beer garden getting after it. Silliness led to Jameson + 7up by around 10pm, and Jaegerbombs by about 11. I was savagely hungover, and unable to get out the door for a run despite the continuing great weather. Not exactly the highest level of dedication to training ever, but its not like my brother is getting married every day either.

The lack of posts is also partially due to the fact the laptop is totally on its last legs. It has developed the annoying habit of just shutting off whenever it feels like it which makes work a huge pain. Thought it was a goner yesterday, but a new power adaptor has restored it to life a little. Although the fact that its generating as much heat now as a miniature sun kinda has me a little worried for its long term health. Never buying HP again.

World Cup = No Work

Wed: 6 miles, 41:08
Thu: 8 miles, 53:37
Fri: 6 miles 42:12
Sat: 8 miles + strides, 55:03
Sun: 12.3 miles, 84:46

Weeks total, 6 runs, 48.3 miles

After a poor start to the week missing Monday to go drinking, the rest of the week panned out pretty well. Bar some residual tightness in the left quad/IT band the legs feel good and fresh. Pretty much all the runs this week started out nice and easy and by the end was running between 6:10-6:30 pace and feeling comfortable.

The World Cup has started and since it has I've done jack shit work wise. I think I'm in for a very unproductive month. Enjoyed pretty much all the games so far, having only missed the Slovenia Algeria game thus far (not missing much from reports). Been pretty much spot on with predictions so far, and while I called a draw with the US and England even I was surprised by the dross football served up by England. Can't see them progressing too far with football like that. Was impressed with the US, and think a QF placing is not beyond their reach with similar performances later in the tournament.

So far for June

Tues 1st: 7 miles, 49 mins
Wed: Day off
Thurs: 6.15 miles, 42:23 (22:12 out, 20:09 back)
Fri: 8 miles, 55:26
Sat: 5.5 miles, 39:22
Sun: 9.6 miles, 63:57
Mon: Off
Tues: 8 miles, 53:57.

Where to start? Runs that stick in the mind are the 6 on the Thursday as I felt like total crap and decided I needed to end this asap, so started to push, after running a bit quicker things improved so 'hammered' (I use that term very loosely) the last 1.5 or so back.
Sunday's was a great run. Weather was a little humid, warm, with reasonably heavy rain fall with zero wind. My favourite type of weather for running. Was running nice and easy until some fat dude on a bike passed me. Retook him on a hill, and then tried to hold him off as long as possible. Ended up clocking some miles towards the end at 6:10 pace and was feeling good, until about a half a mile from home when the lack of fitness caught up to me.
Monday was not a planned day off. Indeed, it was supposed to mark the start of 'official' marathon training (20 weeks out). So instead of running, I went on the lash. Sunday night the Pats had a charity boxing night, which was one of the best nights ever. Monday then we were celebrating the victories of Annaloughan's finest. Training could wait a day or two. The entrance to the fight of the night can be seen here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNNlTt6nO9M  (I'm the little undertaker on the left, hence the coffin tilting towards me).
Tuesday as a day was a total wash until getting out for a run around 6pm and renegotiating my rent (an extra 40 yoyos a month in my pocket, happy days).