Marathon Des Sables

Check out this legendry race taking place this week. It's a marathon a day for a week with a double marathon overnight. Defiitely a race for the future:

http://www.darbaroud.com/index_uk.php

Blog to follow

I've been mad busy lately with my new place, work and training so haven't had a chance to update my blog but will do so later in the week so stay tuned to see how I'm getting on!

Rob

From 16 stone to elite runner?

Check out the story of Alex Vero:

Meet film-maker Alex Vero. Two years ago, Alex embarked on a life-changing project, set on transforming himself from a 16-stone, heavy-drinking, smoking couch potato to a 2008 Beijing Olympics marathon contender.

http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/n83/news-vero

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zwTz1JoYC0

Through the Wind and the Rain

A week of bad weather but plenty of running.

I kicked off my week with an unintentional 5 miler on Monday. I locked myself out of my house but happened to have my running gear in my bag so changed and ran back to work for my keys then a scenic route back to the house. Later on Monday I started my first swimming lesson. I've wanted to learn how to swim for some time now but only started lessons last week. The idea is to get stuck into lessons so I can take part in a few triathlons, but by the looks of things I might be a while. If only I could get the breathing right! Six more lessons in the Markievicz pool and hopefully I'll at least be able to float!


Tuesday involved an interval session with Rathfarnham WASF followed by football training. I was supposed to do 8 x 1km intervals but got down late so only got 5 in. Pushed hard though so got a good bit out of it. I'm finding it less and less gruelling to keep below the sub 4min km which is encouraging.


I missed out on the lunch run Wednesday and had a lazy evening after a busy day of work.


I went down to Rathfarnham WASF again on Thursday for my first circuits session. This involved all sorts of tough exercises such as squats, rows, push ups, sit ups, core work, steps and jumps. After 50 minutes of this we went for a 4 mile warm down run along a fantastic route by the Dodder river. Along the way, I got chatting to Mark Scanlon. He's the guy who has run the 777 challenge, 7 marathons in 7 continents in 7 months. He's an interesting character and told me a few funny stories about his travels and experiences along the way. Check out his website: http://www.777challenge.com/


Work had an association dinner in the Four Seasons on Friday night so I went out for a light 4 mile run before hand. At the dinner I met John Bolger, former Irish athlete and winner of the 1990 Dublin marathon. I got chatting to John about marathons and his views on athletes today. Was a bit embarrassed telling him my PB though in comparison to his 2:17 for Dublin. I took it easy on the beer and wine at dinner as a hectic Saturday was ahead.


I woke up Saturday morning at 9am but stayed in bed for an extra 30mins due to only getting in at 2.30am. The extra lie on meant that there was little wriggle room in my 20mile run if I was to make the rugby in Croker at 1.15. I took off through Rathmines and along the canal towards Crumlin bridge, where I would follow the Dublin marathon route all the way out to UCD and into town. Conditions were tough to say the least.


With a storm brewing I managed to get constant wind, some rain sleet and even a bit of sun on the way around. Despite this, I felt good throughout the run and finished in 2:39 giving me a sub 8min per mile run, although it may not be an entirely accurate 20 miles. While gmaps measured out 20 miles, my polar pedometer gave me 19.6 miles. Either way, it's a decent time for my long run and I can only improve with the next one in two weeks.


After the disappointment of the rugby, the joy of a Liverpool victory and the hilarity of a United defeat myself and Elaine went out to the Bull and Castle for a well deserved few steins of beer. The occasion was to celebrate Rebecca and Johnnys going home to New Zealand to get married. Have a great time guys and keep up the running Bex. Those asics will look great as wedding shoes!


I took it easy on Sunday, heading out for a slow 5 mile run along my new route, the Dodder River then through Bushy Park. My legs felt quite soar during the first mile but they weren't long in loosening out and they actually felt better at the end than before I set off despite a high mileage weekend. Met my target of 43 miles for the week and no injuries yet so very happy with how things are going.


Next week is St. Particks weekend which brings two races: the BHAA 4 mile cross country in Maynooth on Saturday and the KBC 5km in the city centre on Sunday.

Chi Running

I've heard a lot of good things about the Chi Running course that's being organised by Catherina McKiernan (Irish marathon record holder in 2:22:23) so I've decided to sign up. Hopefully it will help improve my running technique preventing injuries and maybe shaving a few seconds off my marathon pace. The course is very popular so we could only get in on the 10 May, too late for London but good prep for San Fran. All for only €150.

Here's a description of the workshop from Catherina herself:

At the start of the workshop I video-tape everyone to look at their style of running. Then we go inside and we cover the following aspects.

Introduction to the ChiRunning method,

I show people the correct Posture to prevent injuries.

I show people how to lean that posture forward to allow gravity pull them forward rather than using their legs to push themselves forward, which takes a lot of pressure of the body and makes running easier and more efficient.

I show people how to pick up their feet rather than pushing off from their toes to prevent lower leg injuries.

We also do the correct arm swing and then we go outside and practice. We just go for an easy run where I talk everyone through the focuses, just thinking of one thing at a time. We stop and start during the run because there are people of different standards and I don’t want anyone to feel under pressure.

Then we have lunch and after lunch we have a look at the video-tape and at that stage everyone has a good understanding of the technique and I point out what people may need to change with their running form that may prevent a particular injury and/or make their running easier.

After that we do some body loosening exercises and cover a couple of more aspects, and finish the day with a nice easy relaxed run.

http://www.runcatherina.com/index.html

Running and Soccer

My target for this week was 36 miles with a half marathon at the end of the week. I only managed 27 miles, mainly because of a work night out in Belfast on Friday that wiped out my Saturday but also because I got back into the football training.

I play in the Leinster Senior League with Terenure College AFC. Since I got stuck into marathon training my football has taken a back seat but this week I felt the need to kick a ball again. So along with my mileage, I had 2 training sessions on Tuesday and Thursday to contend with.

The week started well with a 5 mile run on Monday followed by a training session with Rathfarnham WASF in Terenure on Tuesday at 6.30. The training involved 8 x 1km intervals run at sub 4min/km pace, tough going especially before football training. I've learned over the last year that joining a running club is by far the best way to improve as a runner. Since I've started training with a group, be it in the Park or with Rathfarnham, my pace has improved significantly. A lot of it is down to intensity of training but also the company of running with others and pushing yourself that bit harder than when on your own.

I ran a 4 mile easy run at lunch on Wednesday. From then on the week went a little downhill. Although I had football training on Thursday, there was very little running involved. Friday was work night out and Saturday was hangover day so a write off. I had all the intentions in the world of running a half marathon race in Carlingford on Saturday morning but that went out the window after we started on shots of sambuca and tequila!

I redeemed myself slightly on Sunday with a half marathon training run. I took on a few hills in this run which, although tough, adds variety to my routes as well as hopefully helping my strength and stamina.

Next week is the big 20 miler...