Barcelona: 15 weeks to go!

Another excellent week of running, almost! I managed the first 3 runs without any deviation fro the plan, however the weekend followed a big night out which managed to sloooow everything down... Bottom line is I didn't do my weekend runs BUT I'll be up extra early tomorrow morning to get the long 11 miler done and then I'll be back on track with my short run on Tuesday. Missing Saturday's 6 miler isn't a disaster (I know, rubbish excuse but it could be so much worse!

Here's a summary:

• Thu 3.11 miles in 26:00
• Wed 9.56 miles in 1:37:21

Oops, looks like I missed the first run of the week too... how crap is that??

Bike license restriction expires...

As of today I'm no longer restricted to the size of bike that I can ride!! Might think about one of those 8L American monsters...

Barcelona: 16 weeks to go!

This week has been an excellent week of running. All 5 runs have been done on time even though I had a ton of excellent excuses lined up, this could be a turning point!!

Here's a summary:

• Sun 22, 8am: 6.531 miles
• Sat 21, 11am: 5.49 miles
• Thu 19, 8pm: 3.25 miles
• Wed 18, 7pm: 5.11 miles
• Tue 17, 7pm: 3.02 miles

Roll on next week!!

Perfect end to a rubbish week of running...

After last weekend's 10K race I felt sure I would honour my commitment of sticking to the weekday program of 3-5-3 runs but as we've seen so many times before I wormed out of every one convincing myself that I'd make it up tomorrow. Well Saturday arrived with 3 miler on the calendar, quickly followed by Sunday with a 9 miler in it's box but today I managed to get my act together and get out! I planned on doing the 9 miler but it was such a beautiful day on the Curragh and I was feeling so good that I added the yesterday's missing 3 miles and ran 12 miles. It was a slow run of 2:09:55, that's an average pace of 10:50 minutes per mile, but it was more about time on my feet than speed.

Now... starting this week I am totally committed to sticking to the plan: weekday short-medium-short and weekend medium-long runs, that's 5 runs a week... seriously I'm going to stick to it!!

Mondello!

Had a fantastic day learning how to race around a track in race prepared Mazda3 and a Formula Sheane, it's amazing how much you can push those cars and how well they stick to the track! My best lap time was 1 minute 10, apparently not bad for a beginner and at the risk of blowing my own trumpet it was the best time in my group...

Crookstown Motorway 10K

This morning was cold and wet... and I mean REALLY cold and very wet! Oh... and windy, lots of wind.... the unhelpful blowing in the wrong direction kind of wind and as this run was along a closed motorway I didn't expect much shelter along the way. I arrived an hour early to collect my number and travelled by motorcycle, my only mode of transport these days. Having an hour to wait and not having a warm car to shelter from the many elements I made full use of tented facilities around the start area, my favourite was the refreshments tent with it's endless mugs of hot tea... but a price was to be paid for that 5 minutes before the start!

The run started on time and everyone quickly warmed up during the first kilometer. I concentrated on keeping a steady pace, I knew I wasn't going to break any records but it was going to be close. The drinks station was close to the half way mark where I walked for a moment to drink some water but for some reason that totally knocked me off my stride; whether it was walking, drinking and a combination of the two I don't know but I struggled for the next few kilometers.

I crossed the line in a respectable 56.30. Amazing to think that a year ago getting under an hour for a 10K was massive, now it's to be expected...

Here's the map and details of my run: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/18228908.

Barcelona training week 1 of 18: 3rd weekday run...

... didn't happen BUT that's OK. the oul legs feel tired this morning and I reckoned that it would be better to do the weekend race (Saturday) and long run (Sunday) than get the 3 miler in this morning... makes perfect sense to me!

Barcelona training week 1 of 18: 2nd weekday run...

... lovely early morning run, up with the birds and out at 6am. I wanted to make up for yesterday's poor effort and stretched the 5 miler by and additional 1/2 mile. Nice easy pace or about 10 min/ml, just concentrating on getting the legs used to running after such a long break.

Tonight or tomorrow I have a 3 miler, the last weekday run this week. I have the Crookstown Motorway Run to look forward to this weekend, followed by an afternoon of fast cars on Mondello race track!!

Barcelona training week 1 of 18: 1st weekday run...

... should have been a 3 miler but I only managed 2 miles before giving up, pathetic I know but I should doing a 5 miler tonight to keep up with my schedule so perhaps an easy morning wasn't a bad thing!

Barcelona training starts...

... not this morning at 6am as hoped but sometime today. I've got to stick to the plan; there's a 3 miler on today's card and it's got to be done! I'm challenging myself to stick rigidly to the plan; every day has to be ticked off, every run has to be done and if I let it slip for even one day I know it'll keep slipping...