Monday 10km: Road and pitch run

During my lunch time this Monday I completed my normal loop of Mungret plus 2km of barefoot pitch running. This was another great day for running. The sun high in the sky, with some cloud cover and next to no breeze.
My legs were feeling fine, even after spending 12 hours on them on Saturday at Slane 2011. The Kings of Leon played for 80 thousand concert goers, great day...!

I've Google mapped the route it below. Just zoom out to see the full loop as Google linking doesn't like how I start and stop next to each other.

This route is all road and footpath, no trail. There is basically no traffic on any section where you have to run on road.The route takes you to Mungret village then through back roads to the old Patrickswell road then on to the main Raheen Roundabout then back to Mungret.

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Bennettsbridge 8.5km road run: Sunday 29th of May

At Sunday noon I managed to get in a nice 8.5km road run in Bennettsbridge , Co. Killkenny. The road was very quiet with on car and just a couple of walker. the weather was great, with a lovely sun and little to no breeze. I completed the run in 41 minutes at a easy pace.

For all you Google mad people here's the Google maps info.

View Bennettsbridge 8.5km Run in a larger map

Totalling up Week 2

This has not been a high km week but I run for fun this is not a job!
 Toting up the km's for this week.

• Saturday  : 10km
• Sunday    : 14km
• Monday    : 14km
  
• Tuesday   :
• Wednesday :  9km
• Thursday  : 
• Friday    : 
• Total     : ~47km

Murroe IMRA hill run: Wednesday night 25th of May

The second IMRA Wednesday night hill run of the season was held this evening. You can find the usual details about location and directions at the end of this post.

The run started in the miserable light rain and gray sky that has engulfed Limerick for the day. This in no way dampened the spirits or turnout. Easily 40 + people turned out for this evening run. Numbers are really up on last year. The run initiates on road for the first 1 to 2 km gently rising and falling. On review I know I ran too fast over this first section of the race but I'll just have to learn to control my pace better. Then at the end of the tarmac the run moves on to trail and the climb starts. Not sure why I ran too fast but I could really feel it at the ~3km mark, half way through the climb. The climb continues from about 1 km to 4.5 km at the summit, rising a total of 270m. For the climb I used the 5 to 1 run walk ratio due to my fast running on the first section. This 5 to 1 ratio really helps when the lungs are shouting stop. This run has one surprise just after the start of the decent. For approximately 400m you run along a small stream and just as you see the extra there is a 3m section that can't be avoided and is total march. I ended up with my right leg over my knee in march and I knew the worst thing was to even think of stopping. The next step was critical. My only real concern was had I tightened my laces enough before starting? The next step only went in half way up my shin and then off I went down hill. I could really feel the extra weight of water soaked into my socks and shoes, but this was soon squeezed out.

I finished this evenings run in approximately 48 minutes. Not too bad for 9km over rough ground.

If you are interested in more information on the run follow the link > Murroe Hill Information
For hill walkers more general information can be found at > Mountian Views

For all you Google mad people here's the Google maps info.
View Murroe Hill 9 km road and trail run in a larger map

Tuesday Lunch time log - 5km pitch

This afternoon, my lunch time run went very well. The sun was shining, a light breeze and fresh air. I completed 1 lap first in runners, then 2 laps in bare feet, then a final 2 in runners again. Finally stretching out for 5-7 mins. This was a short session as I want to have an easy day before I compete tomorrow evening in the IMRA run in Murroe woods.

Still easing into the barefoot running as you can see. Definitely see a change in my running while barefoot. I seem to move with less effort over the ground. The barefoot style feels as if it uses less energy but it's very hard to say conclusively.

Monday log - Lunch time and evening runs

For today my lunch time run turned into a short pitch jog, ~4km and then 15 minutes on an exercise bike. The weather was just all over the place. Looking like rain, gale force winds and flying branches. The trees around the pitch were cracking and looked like they were going to give way and fall on me. No joke, so I retired to the gym and knocked out an interval training session on the exercise bike.

This evening I completed the 10km Murroe road run. The wind had died down allot and the sun was shining. One hardly fit in the car, extra fat crazy driver, done his best to run me down. It was a clear wide road, he had all the space in the world but I had to jump into the hedge, unbelievable.

As per usual I've attached the run details below.

This run was all road, no trail and just around 10km in clean fresh country side.



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First turn leaving Murroe;

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Turn at Five cross roads;

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Right turn up country road, up hill;

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Right turn back towards Murroe;

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Turn left into Glenstal abbey grounds;

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Exit right from Glenstal abbey grounds;

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Right turn going back to Murroe

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Turn right into center of Murroe;

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Keeper Hill Run - Sunday 22nd of May 2011

Just finished my Sunday run. Today I drove to Keeper Hill in Co.Tipperary, just outside of Newport. This was another great day for running. Not too warn but sunny and a clean fresh breeze. The run starts and continues uphill for the first 6.5 to 7 km, from 200m to over 600m rise. For the first 4km the run is through forestry but once you clear the forestry on a good day great views of Limerick, Tipperary and Clare can be seen, just like today. The assent took 45 mins flat today and the decent took 30 mins. This is definitely one of the more difficult runs on the IMRA Munster Wednesday league.

The 2 pics below were taken today on top of Keeper Hill, enjoy.





I've included below the IMRA page on Keeper hill if anyone is interested in trying it out them selves. 
IMRA - Keeper Hill information

Below is a Google street view of the entrance to the small car park at the foot of the trail.


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10km Road run - Saturday 21st May 2011

Thankfully the rain stopped for an hour this evening and I got in a run around Murroe. Today was a very slow starter... I didn't move from bed till 12 this noon and then took it easy till 4pm when we went for lunch and a bit of food shopping. With that all done and clear dry skies a run was in order.

This run was all road, no trail and just around 10km in clean fresh country side.



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How to start barefoot training

Over the past few weeks I've read/watched a number of web postings, print articles and sections from books on the topic. They really all say the same thing. Don't decide to run barefoot and bin your good old runners. That approach will just destroy your feet and you will not be running at all. This is not something you can switch to overnight. It takes some time to build up your foot to handle the lack of padding under the sole. In fact the sole of your foot slowly builds up some padding of its own. You also use the your foot differently while running barefoot thus your feet need sometime to adjust to their new application. During this adjustment period care must be taken not to run too much barefoot or you'll only hurt your feet.

Due to these reasons a targeted training program should be followed. I found the DCU developed 3 step program available on the BAREFOOT Ireland web-site the most straight forward and understandable. Everyone's different so don't take my word on it, please read around and see what works well for you. I've started following a personalized version of this 3 step approach, with 5 steps (I know very Life of Brian) which integrates a few other concepts and transition more slowly. Working my way through week 2 now. I will take the transition slowly just to reduce the effect on my distance running plans. Now I'm running barefoot for 5 to 8 minutes max on a grass pitch before or after a normal 5-8km run in running shoes. If you plan to run on grass make sure your path is glass and other sharp object free. I'll post my full approach to moving to barefoot in the coming weeks.

What can greatly help the transition to barefoot style running is using specific shoes with ultra light soles. One of the big names in this field is Vibram. Vibram has developed a glove type shoe for your foot called FiveFingers. It basically protects our foot from cuts but doesn't stop free range of motion. I'm in the process of deciding which version of their product to purchase. I'll post a review after a few weeks of use.

Totalling up the first week

OK to keep checks on progress I'm trying to use the blog as a note book of completed runs. This should be my one stop shop for info on my progress.

Toting up the km's for this week, not great, as its under the 60km mark but its a start

• Saturday  : 10km
• Sunday    : 16km
• Monday    :  8km
  
• Tuesday   :
• Wednesday :  7km
• Thursday  : 10.5km
• Friday    :  8km
• Total     : ~59km

The Friday run - 8km

During my lunch time this afternoon I completed my normal loop of Mungret. A great day for running. The sun was shining with a light breeze. No pains or issues and feeling good. I've Google mapped the route it below. Just zoom out to see the full loop as Google linking doesn't like how I start and stop next to each other.

This route is all road and footpath, no trail. There is basically no traffic on any section where you have to run on road.The route takes you to Mungret village then through back roads to the old Patrickswell road then on to the main Raheen Roundabout then back to Mungret.



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The Clare Gens 10.5km trail run

This evening I decided to rerun the local Clare Glens trail for some training. Funny the difference from training times to race times. This evening I took 57 minutes roughly to complete the 10.5km but last week around 55 minutes. Also last week I make a decision not to go too fast and tonight I felt that the 57minutes was well difficult. This really does show, that running is a metal challenge as much as a physical challenge. So the question is; What stops you from stopping? I'm going to think about this too.

Anyways I have been doing some reading around training schedules for half marathons, marathons and 100km plus distances.There is quite a bit of information out there on the topic. In the back ground I'm working to compile all the information I found to be useful into a few training schedules that I believe will be practical and achievable for myself over the coming couple of years. Hopefully the first of these training schedules will be ready in a week or so.

If you are interested in more information on the run follow the link > Clare Glens Information

For all you Google mad people here's the Google maps of the Clare Glens

Tountinna trail run - Wednesday 18th of May 2011

This was my second IMRA trail run of 2011. Not too hard, focused on a steady pace this evening. Attempted to reduce my heal striking also. Most of all found it very enjoyable but my god it was over in a heart beat, 7km is short.
These IMRA trail runs are getting very popular with nearly 40 people on the trail this evening. It's great to see so many people taking up running as their exercise of choice. Mental note, remember on busy nights to get in the front runners as trails are narrow and midfield can be too slow.

Tonight's run wasn't a timed scheduled race, just a leg stretcher between races.
If you are interested in more information on the run follow the link > Tountinna Information
For hill walkers more general information can be found at > Mountian Views

For all you Google mad people here's the Google Maps of Tountinna

2011 Competition

For the 2011 summer season my plan is to compete in IMRA runs each Wednesday evening here in Munster. These are relativly short trail runs taking up an hour or so. The formal events are 2 weeks apart but the free weeks are filled with practice runs.

The table below shows the even list and links back to the IMRA web-site.

Date	Venue/Event		Climb	Distance	Difficulty
11 May	Clare Glens		190m	10km	4
25 May	Murroe		270m	9km	5
8 Jun	Cratloe Woods		200m	10km	5
22 Jun	Ballyhoura's		330m	8km	6
6 Jul	Tountinna		230m	7km	5
20 Jul	Killaloe		330m	9km	6
3 Aug	Keeper Hill		500m	13km	7

If you want more information on the IRMA event schedule see the link below.
http://www.imra.ie/events/

I'll be keeping this table updated as the official results come in.
Un-officially the 11 May Clare Glens race was ~55minutes.

Late night reading "Born To Run"

I'm currently working my way through my first running book, Born to run. It's a great read. Below I've linked a google author presentation given by the author Christopher McDougall. Check it out. Very interesting.

The First Post..

Hi World,

This blog will track my progress to a fitter and faster me. Over the coming few years my plan is to up my running to where ever I can take it. Hopefully that will include a marathon or two and maybe even an ultra run. I just love the sound of 100km.

Before I start talking of the future I probably need to draw a line sand and call it as it is now.

Today I'm not injured.
Can run 10km of rough trail in 55mins.
Can run 8km on road in 43mins.
Currently training 5/6/7 days a week depending on the week.
Training currently a mix of trail, road, pitch running and also some short cycles of 15, 20 and 30km.
Typical day, run 30-45 mins at lunch. Run 1 hour in the evening plus a 45min cycle.

With the line now laid down, what next???

I've decide to use tried and tested engineering to approach this problem.

• Educate myself and learn what it takes to run distance. 
• Apply what I've learned through training.
• Run and test the training in competition.
• Study the results from competition.

This is my "EARS" approach.

So first thing, Educate.
Over the coming weeks and months I'll post what I'm reading and watching, everything and anything. This might end up helping someone and be a useful for myself also.

Anyway it's now started.