Northern Ireland Running

 Great time at GNR Alwyn - Iooking good for sub 3.30 in Dublin then? No pressure!

Cavehill - I got teed off with slow/low HR running after Cookstown and upped the ante with speed sessions & hill sessions as well as weekly LSR... paid the price with a suspected overtraining injury a few weeks later. Training was then very on/off and felt I underperformed at Waterside albeit running 3 mins faster than Cookstown and a seasons best of 1.53 ... was hoping for 1:49 but wilted dramatically on the way back in!

No more races planned for the rest of the year and now that the niggle seems just about gone am in the early stages of a 3 month period of low HR base training. Dark nights are now a pain - alarm set for first early run tomorrow instead!

Ray - Belfast was my one & only marathon in 2006 (route unchanged since then I think)... I really enjoyed it, lots of support most of the way round. The only negative was the loughshore path/duncrue industrial estate around 16 - 20 miles.... lonely & relatively unsupported at the point when you need it most! Finish in the park was also a shambles with dog walkers/old dears etc getting in the way on the narrow paths. I would do it again and am considering starting a 18 week programme at Xmas this year if the forthcoming base training goes to plan! As Heather said - hard to beat a home marathon - go for it!

Thanks Paul, it's definitely opened my eyes to how I should have been training when I started 2 years ago. 

C75, I definitely think I'll keep one speed session/fartlek run in every week. I'm only running about 30pw at the moment with 4 runs. 

Paul (B) your training is pretty much the same as mine without the spin class.... 5 runs per week with a long one, 2 easy ones, a tempo and a sessions of some description getting up to 40+ miles...

Great running at GNR Alwyn.

Good to see some of you doing the HR training. It's very good for the fitness and brought me on no end.

Paul that's cardiac drift which everyone gets - there's no harm in a long run drifting a bit especially with hills / more time on the feet.

Just coming to the end of my 9th week of HR training. Avoided club runs for the first few weeks until I got to a level where I could do them within my HR limits. This week I have done 8.7miles on Monday night with 2 x 10min intervals at 85%, an easy 8miles on Tuesday morning under 70%, 10miles on Wedneday night including intervals with the club, 10 easy miles last night and will do 7 easy miles today and 12miles up to 75% tomorrow. Will ease back next week for Bangor 10k and hope it goes well.

My weekly mileage has gradually built up from 40 miles in the 1st week to 60 miles for the  8th and 9th weeks.

Notice a difference in recovery runs and also that I am doing more miles but not feeling as tired. I did a parkrun last week but ran 5miles before and after it so not sure how the run went. Ran 19.17 which was an improvement on Portglenone 5k but then it was more hilly.

TG, how is the hamstring after Portglenone?

Rodney - sounds like good training. The lower intensity of most of your sessions will probably leave you less susceptible to inury too. Good luck in Bangor - be interesting to see how you get on.

Hamstring not too bad now. First tempo back, though took it easy, last night so hasn't kept me out particularly long. Got a bit ambitious racing more or less week in week out and sometimes more than once in a week given I'm reasonably injury prone!

Right here goes for my HR report.

I started 2 months ago after a 4 month illness resulting in several hospitals stays.

I started at 10 min / miles at best with walks in - between due to no fitness or stamina.

Each week I increase my distance and milage but kept every run at 60%-80% effort/BPM

Heart rate is 37 BPM resting and 186BMP max effort.

I am now running 16 miles at 60-70% effort which is 9-9:30min/ miles and steady state to fartlek runs at 70-85% effort at 9 - 8.30m/m which was slower than before but the effort needed was greater. To sumarise the intensity is less, run slow to run quicker is working but I may need another 2 months yet to reach my old pace but the effort to maintain the pace will be less i.e. 80% effort. I can now manage 40 miles per week with good quality training and the aim now is to start adding 1 session of speed to my routine to increase the sharpness and intensity. If I can manage this then everyone is capable of this as I really started back at nothing but the results have come very quickly, be patient and see what happens is my advice. Good luck and stay injury free kind regards John

Good running guys.

I did 12 miles this morning with the Dublin marathon group it was the last 12 of a 22 miler so I'm sure my HR was low. Lovely morning for a run but it looks like the weather is about to change.

I'll have to get a new battery for my heart rate monitor anf give this HR training a go.

Hi folks! Just completed my 2nd 20 miler for Dublin - what a lovely morning for running!  Hope it's as nice next week for the Causeway as I've entered the 1/2.  Then one last 20 miler left, though might try and do 21-22 miles - what do you all  think re going greater than 20 in a training run? This will be my 8th mara with my best time being just (only just!) under 4 hrs in Belfast in May. Hope those running Decathlon had a good run.

well done Irene...re the causeway...it looks a bit too off the road for me!...a breeding ground for a twisted ankle....will stick with Bangor 10k.

Thanks Irene. The weather at the Decathlon was perfect this morning. I'm glad I did it, even though the £24 registration was a bit steep. We did get 3 pairs of running socks in the goody bag for that though, as well as the usual cereal bar and a gel. There were just 143 doing the 10k and 134 doing the half, but at least plenty of familiar faces among them. The course is perfectly flat so I got a wee pb with a time of 1.35.56.

Irene, I think the 21 - 22 miles will do no harm, and should give you a wee bit of added confidence. And yes, it'll be the Causeway for me too next Saturday. It's early still, but the weather forecast seems ok so far.

Great running yesterday lads.  I was one of those marshals HMM .  Well done on the pb Paul, you looked like you were going well.

Well Done HMM and Paul yesterday good runs from you both yesterday.Have to agree did not mind the laps or the course but think that might be diffrent if it had been wet and windy like today

Happy with my 1.31.XX yesterday and its almost taper time for Amesterdam 

Also well done to all you HR runners for sticking at it hope it pays of for you which i am sure it will

Tried my first pacey run (hilly run) on Saturday at 80% work rate and manged 7 miles in 55mins so very happy that I am nearly back to fitness. I managed 15 miles yesterday at 60-70 % effort enjoyed the run. Keeping the faith results defo starting to show but PB's are still away in the distance.

I did the Decathlon half yesterday as well. Great day for it! At least that made up for the fairly uninspiring route Got myself a PB but for my first HM that wasn't a shock The massages afterwards were great as well.

Lovely running weather at the moment. Did 10miles last night and another 6 miles this morning.

Dig the winter gear out the summers over. Three miles last night soaked to the skin.

Well done everyone who took part in the Decathlon 10k/half marathon on Sunday.  Thankfully the weather was much more runner-friendly than it is at the moment.

Good to see you and Jim, HMM.  26 down - 14 to go!  It's soon going to be time for me to get my cheque book out.  Also very well done to the girls from Ballymena Runners.

I mentioned to the organiser that a few people had commented that they thought that £24 was a bit steep and he has said that he will think about reducing the entry price next year.

It's going to be a busy weekend what with the Causeway and Bangor 10k.  I am committed to being at the Waterworks this week which means I won't be able to get up to the Causeway to lend my support, but hopefully should make it to the finish of Bangor.

Good luck to everyone running. I really wish that I could take part but sadly my knee seems to have given up for good.  If I could only ever do one more half marathon it would be the Causeway.

Paul B - have you decided which distance you are doing on Saturday?

Oh, and glad you found the marshals friendly on Sunday HMM - they were all hand-picked especially.  Well, one was actually conscripted, but never mind!