The Big Day arrives - Dublin Marathon 2010

Jittery. An overwhelming feeling of underprepared and too many little niggly injuries dominates my thoughts Sunday night. I am a night owl so manage to get to sleep around 3am and wake up for 7.30 for the Marathon.

Breakfast of special K, a banana, slice of toast, vitamin drink/water and glucosimine and have my nipples been taped? Check. Vaseline in crack of butt and between toes? Check. Gloves and hat cos its minus 2 outside, check.

Get to start, some token stretching and look for my friend Emmet but no joy- so we are off at 9am. Beautiful cold autumn morning, sunny and crispy and dry.

Course goes through city centre and into the Phoenix park which really is stunning on a serene and quiet morning. There is 12,000 doing the race but it never seems crowded. People all shapes and sizes with or without muscle tone and charities/causes to support trundling along in various colours.
I'm feeling a bit achey and erring on the side of caution with my pace- around 10k per hour pace. After leaving the park and on to the half way point I am comfortable but not really pushing myself, preferring to wait and see how I feel toward the last 3rd. I am obviously well hydrated as I take a pee once per hour (4 pees in total!) which is a lot. I am worried about cramps as my only 2 long runs (13 and 17 miles) were dominated by them (probably due to dehydration).
However, my fears are joyfully unfounded. I take a gel once every 10k. The worst time for me, was around mile 16/17, I don't know why but my hip and knee was getting sore and certainly my groin/ lower ab muscles. Gillian was on the phone saying she would meet me near mile 21.

The most amazing thing happened just before seeing Gill, I felt strong, I felt fast, my gait was good. I was running at a pace like a trot before and then I really opened up and left most others for dust. Really pleasing and Gillian saw me at my best, cycling alongside for 3 or 4 miles as it felt like I ate up the ground. The support from people was wonderful throughout the course, strangers encouraging and handing out sweets and fruit.

Emmet was just ahead said Gill and was going for 4.30, but starting to struggle. My slow pace at the start was now being rewarded by a strong finish, hills on mile 23 and 24 not an issue. Coming into the city at mile 24/25 was actually difficult and I started to tire and went back to the trot but the last mile I opened up and even sprinted the last 200 metres (felt like that!) The commentator at the finish line called my name on the tannoy as I jubiliantly stumbled through the line, my watch telling me roughly 4 hrs 38 mins.

Amazing, that even with the awful training plan, my body was still able to do a time nearly identical to last years. Extraoooordinary!
I was hobbling and muscles screaming but what a feeling.

Went for a fantastic lunch with Gilllian and talked to Emmet who came in about a minute before me, with his first marathon and a great performance. He was sinking pints of Guiness and I was drinking coffee and diving into my pack of cigarettes.. well we can't always be high achieving angels ;--)

The long run

Despite my pathetically poor preparation for Marathon 2010, I located a friend, Emmet who is also giving it a crack, and its his first time. He has been training a bit better than I, and done a regular training pattern, but we decided to do a 16 mile figure of 8 loop in Phoenix park, where we could pass the cars parked every 8 kms for water and gels. This would be the longest run for us both.

We chatted right the way through and were running for 2.40 hours and decided to tack on another 2 miles. Probably a mistake for me as I developed a huge cramp in both calves and managed to hobble back a bit behind Emmet to the finish.

We were running about 3 hours and thats very surprising, as my longest run is 2 hours this year.

Much more fun running with a partner too

However 2 days later my calves are screaming and I hope there is no lasting damage bringing me in to 2 weeks before the Marathon. Ideally the long run should be done 4 weeks before...

Fitness isn't a problem for me I don't think- its just the cramping I am very scared of now. I will make sure there is plenty of salt in my body and use plenty of gels. Plenty of gym work and hot and cold on the legs and maybe a massage later and we shall see how the body is.

I am running for Motor Neuron Disease Research and have the sponsorship cards and T Shirt. Maybe I'll even stop smoking?!

Greek week over and the build up for the Marathon 2010

After blissful sunshine in Rhodes watching my great friend Paul Mc getting married to Joe, swimming every day and drinking shots every night, its back to Ireland and the grim realisation that with a month to go my longest run has been the half marathon and I was sore for days after!

The foot is grand but still not entirely comfortable- I have started using the hypoxia centre in the gym for half hour runs- its meant to boost your blood cell ratio, like training at altitude.
I really need a miracle now to complete this marathon.

I will do a run to Kill from Dublin city - 16 miles this week and see how that shapes up. If I can do that, I may be able to squeeze another 10 miles on the day, or maybe I'm just crazy.

My general level of fitness is good and doing some weights in the gym etc. Started the H Dip in Music education too so busy on a lot of fronts. This blog this year is on how NOT to train for a marathon, so i will be amazed if I can complete it!

Half Marathon Phoenix Park 2010 Sept 18th

I am writing this exhausted and weary but successful in my first run in over a month

A chilly and wet day, a frantic rush to the start as I dragged myself out of bed after 4 hours sleep. Banana and powerade down the hatch. Here we go again, this time with no training and a dodgy ankle that has kept me down for a month.

First 6 miles, felt good and accelerating, then came the hills, (and I quite like hills generally,) there are two sustained climbs, one about 7 miles, that was fine but then my energy and mood dipped palpably for a mile or so but luckily I came back stronger until mile 10. My ankle was sore but didn't really affect me. After mile 10 I really felt the lack of training and then came the biggest climb - 2 miles and the cramp in my right calf was talking to me, I stumbled a few times but managed to carry on but by mile 12 I was running on empty and managed to haul myself over the line, actually in a very similar time to last year- just over 2 hours, so delighted with that. Went straight to the jacuzzi - the feeling is similar to completing the marathon, my muscles are very hard and stiff but I'm delighted I managed to run the thing given the circumstances.

On this showing, the marathon may be a terrible torture indeed. But feck it,there were some people with physical handicaps and weight issues who managed to complete this and I ain't gonnna wimp out of some pain in October!

The Gym era

Gill had been bringing me along as a guest to the gym, 1escape, in Smithfield and it really is a great club, lovely pool/sauna/jacuzzi, classes, and all the machines and free weights and matches on big screens, so I signed up, for the winter anyway!

The foot is a month injured and still a little sore but not enough to stop me doing any exercise other than running so I'm keeping the fitness up on all the freemotion machines and swimming.

Half marathon on Saturday, my head says I shouldn't do it, but my heart is there already...so I'll line up and start it and see how it goes, if I get too much pain, I'll bow out or walk it.

A week on the greek Island Rhodes next week at Paul McI's wedding (ahhhh sunshine) and then only a month to the marathon. I really am not in good shape this year as far as distance in my legs is concerned, but overall fitness is decent. I need to get another 2 long runs in after the half marathon and see how they go... this is a real cut and paste job this year!
Been accepted on the HDip in Music starting next week too so all is going great. Track Broke-away Brother also finished and waiting for final production from Scott Halliday.

Rehab

2 weeks on and the foot is on the way out of the s**t

I have been doing a bit on the bike and the pool and it is gradually starting to strengthen, although quite a bit off a full recovery. It will at least let me bear my weight and I can do some light jogging now I think but I don't want to feck it up entirely. half marathon in two and half weeks which I will aim just to complete the distance.

kept up the pull ups/ press ups- can now do 18 and 36!

Hate being not able to run though, because the body is so used to it, your mood gets dark when you stop!

Foot in mouth disease

Not a social faux pas, although it was in drunken company- on my walk home from a night in town I turned over on my ankle and it swelled up and went black and blue. That was me out of action for the 10 miler last weekend, and 7 days on, the swelling and bruising have gone down but it is still very sore and swimming is even a bit much for it. I could be looking at a 3 to 4 week healing here, unless of course I have broken something, which I am not ruling out. Hope not, last week sucked- could barely put on my left shoe. Got more mobility now and will look to strengthen it this week.

On the 300 challenge I managed 16 Pull ups and 35 Press-ups continuously. Left the run well alone!

Also came down with a cold and cough and it is really difficult to gig with enthusiasm then but scraped through it. Got some wedding gigs approaching and I see this as a good long term strategy, both the afters and the ceremony.

So, I'll use the gym and keep motivated and hopefully be right as rain for the half marathon in mid Sept...

As an aside, I was in the All Irelands in tag TWICE this year! Great stuff- we won the league with the Taguars and got to the semis of the SuperBowl in the All Ireland. And I was drafted into TAGGAGE in the IRFU All Irelands and helped them win the Superbowl- emotionally I put down the winning try in extra time!

Cometh the hour, cometh the man

Just a quick update- I am back training and have completed a 5 mile race in 39 minutes some weeks back in the phoenix park. The 10 mile race is up weekend after this. Hoping to get some good fast times and really run the marathon instead of just completing it like last year. No target time yet but looking at 4 hours, instead of 4.5 last year. That's a minute faster per mile or so which is a big ask.

My training is starting to ramp up now, thankfully I am injury free and during the summer my tag rugby team, The Taguars won our summer league and competed in the All Ireland tag blitz which was great.

The longest run so far is about 10 miles in training, I am still playing 7 a side soccer and Gillian accompanies me now most evenings on her bike. I am feeling a lot stronger and every week doing the 300 challenge. Its quite simple - Pull ups on a bar, Push ups and a 3 mile run. Total points possible 300. Pull ups, no stopping = 5 points, push ups, good form no stopping = 2 points and 3 miles in 18 mins 100 points. Every 10 sec outside, deduct 1 point.

Week 1 Pull ups = 9 Push ups = 25 Run = 58 points TOTAL = 157

Week 2 Pull ups = 12 Push ups = 30 Run = 77 points TOTAL = 197

Update... is it swift or sloth?

Been about 3 weeks, so usually that means I've been at the pies or the booze and have slipped into indolent ways.. but not this time honey!

Attacking the fitness and speed on a number of fronts - here's my report:

Smoking: Exactly one month since my last cigarette. Amazing. And I am also two days off the patches with no real side effects or cravings. Delighted with progress A+

Running: I have put the 8 week 5 k training plan on the fridge and am following it, marking off the days.
I am running 3 miles, doing interval training and longer runs too, its excellent. Speed will slowly improve I hope.
Times of note are:
3 mile (5k) - 29.55 in the park and a week later 29.25 on the beach

4 mile (6.4 k) : 38.03 on different terrain in park/road.

Also did an excellent hike/run in Glendalough, The Spinc route, should take 3 1/2 hrs but I did it in under 1 hour an half.

Sports: Playing tennis twice against Dad and soccer every Tuesday where I am busting a gut. Tag rugby every Sunday, I can see the interval training really paying off, as breaking through much more.

Circuits: Concurrently to the running, I am also following the military circuit programme and have just finished the 3rd week. All muscles feeling firmer and stronger. Have to take rest though as I do not want to over train.

Note: I may take some chest/bicep measurements etc for comparisons throughout the campaign.

GOALS:

A) To Be in best shape of last 5 years.. healthy strong and fast

B) Run a fast 5 mile, 10 mile

C) Beat Half marathon and Full marathon times of last year substantially. Goal times not calculated yet!

Life outside of fitness is grand- this is the month where I have developed culinary skills I did not know I had, cooking a new dish most nights! Gill and I are also growing lots of herbs and veg and plants on the balcony. My childhood best friend is getting married in September in Rhodes and we are going.. mmm sunshine..

Music and career: Piano practice every day striving for Grade 7 standard- residency Fri and Sat in BW the piano and the odd gig with Cian and Dave. 3 piece thing starting up with me on Bass?! and vox and also wedding music to get into! Entered Salty water and Fade street into the Glinsk Song contest after a recording session in my studio. Guess I have been busy!
But since giving up fags my sleep is all over the place and dreams are vivid and crazy!

The Fit Non- Smoker

Yo yo yo- a week off the smokes, some spring sunshine and a new programme to make me the fittest bastard that I can be. Have signed up for the 5 mile, 10 mile, half marathon and full marathon to keep me going this year!

3 different assaults on my body - Running, circuits and recreational sports.

An 8 week training plan for running a very fast 5 miler... I want to get toward a 7 minute mile if I can.

Circuits- 3 or 4 times a week (twenty mins or so a session to improve muscle and strength)

Sports - Tag Rugby back on and 3 games in, tennis with dad and other challengers, may even do a course in Bushy on Monday eves, Badminton and Footie on Tues with the boys.

How to Train for Maximum Performance

Week	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
1	3 m run	5 x 400	Rest or easy run	30 min tempo	Rest	4 m fast	60 min run
2	3 m run	8 x 200	Rest or easy run	30 min tempo	Rest	4 m fast	65 min run
3	3 m run	6 x 400	Rest or easy run	35 min tempo	Rest	5 mi fast	70 min run
4	3 m run	9 x 200	Rest or easy run	35 min tempo	Rest or easy run	Rest	5-K test
5	3 m run	7 x 400	Rest or easy run	40 min tempo	Rest	5 m fast	75 min run
6	3 m run	10 x 200	Rest or easy run	40 min tempo	Rest	6 m fast	85 min run
7	3 m run	8 x 400	Rest or easy run	45 min tempo	Rest	6 m fast	90 min run
8	2 m run	6 x 200	30 min tempo	Rest or easy run	Rest	Rest	5-K Race

Click Here for a printer-friendly version of the Advanced schedule.

IF YOU'RE A SEASONED VETERAN OF THE RUNNING WARS, an individual who has been running for several years and who has run numerous 5-K races and races at other distances, there comes a time when you want to seek maximum performance. Regardless of your age or ability, you would like to run as fast as you possibly can. You want a training program that will challenge you. Here it is!

Let me state what you probably know already. To achieve maximum performance, you need to improve your endurance and your speed. You can do this by (1) running more miles, (2) running faster, or (3) some combination of both. The following training schedule is a much more sophisticated training schedule than that offered to Novice Runners or to Intermediate Runners. In order to achieve full benefit from this program, before starting you probably need to be running 4-5 days a week, 20-30 miles a week or more, and at least have an understanding of the concepts of speedwork. If not, drop back to one of the other programs.

Here is the type of training you need to do, if you want to improve your 5-K time:

Run: When the schedule says "run," that suggests that you run at an easy pace. How fast is easy? You need to define your own comfort level. Don't worry about how fast you run; just cover the distance suggested--or approximately the distance. Ideally, you should be able to run at a pace that allows you to converse with a training partner without getting too much out of breath.

Fast: For the Saturday runs, I suggest that you run "fast." How fast is "fast?" Again, that depends on your comfort level. Go somewhat faster than you would on a "run" day. If you are doing this workout right, you probably do not want to converse with your training partner, assuming you have one. It's okay now to get out of breath.

Long Runs: Once a week, go for a long run at an easy pace. (Notice use of the word "easy!") Run 60 to 90 minutes at a comfortable pace, not worrying about speed or distance. Think minutes rather than miles, which allows you to explore different courses that you have not measured, or run in the woods where distance is unimportant. You should be able to carry on a conversation while you run; if not, you're going to fast. Don't be afraid to stop to walk, or stop to drink. This should be an enjoyable weekend run, not one during which you punish yourself.

Interval Training: To improve your speed, train at a pace somewhat faster than your race pace for the 5-K, about the pace you would run in a 1500 meter or mile race. Run 400 meters hard, then recover by jogging and/or walking 400 meters. A second variation is to run 200 meter repeats at 800 race pace with 200 jogging between. Before starting this workout, warm-up by jogging a mile or two, stretching, and doing a few sprints of 100 meters. Cool down afterwards with a short jog.

Tempo Runs: This is a continuous run with an easy beginning, a build-up in the middle to near 10-K race pace (or slightly slower than your pace in a 5-K), then ease back and slow down toward the end. A typical Tempo Run would begin with 5-10 minutes easy running, build to 10-15 minutes at 10-K pace, then 5-10 minutes cooling down. You can't figure out your pace on a watch doing this workout; you need to listen to your body. Tempo Runs are very useful for developing anaerobic threshold, essential for fast 5-K racing.

Stretch & Strengthen: An important addendum to any training program is stretching. Don't overlook it--particularly on days when you plan to run fast. Strength training is important too: push-ups, pull-ups, use of free weights or working out with various machines at a Health Club. Runners generally benefit if they combine light weights with a high number of repetitions, rather than pumping very heavy iron. Mondays and Wednesdays would be good days to combine stretching and strengthening with your easy run, however, you can schedule these workouts on any day that is convenient for your business and personal schedule. For some good routines, see: Stretch & Strengthen.

Rest: You can't train hard unless you are well-rested. The schedule includes one designated day of rest (Friday) when you do nothing and a second day (Wednesday) when you have an option to also take a day off. The easy 3-mile runs scheduled for Mondays are also to help you rest for the next day's hard workout, so don't run them hard! The final week before the 5-K also is a rest week. Taper your training so you can be ready for a peak performance on the weekend.

The first week of training plan

Monday - 1 1/2 hours of tennis

Tuesday - 1 hour badminton (collie Brady was there, deadly) and 1 1/2 hours of football.

Weds 1/2 hour of Phoenix park walking with Helen.

Thurs: 2 km run (good pace) and few circuits- late for a gig!

Fri: 6k Run, about 38 mins. Two crackin gigs- one with Smokin Mojo in the Purty Kitchen and Buck Whaleys first birthday bash, with Sophie Ellis Bextor doing a DJ set. The place upstairs went wild for the piano!

Excercise Plan

Spring is coming, and here we go!

Playing tennis, badminton and fottball weekly, but I have to get back to daily runs and/ or circuits/ yoga for mental wellbeing

Ok, each run goes up by 4 mins from now on.

Today 30 mins - just under 5k.

New Year ramblings and resolutions

Dear Diary,

It is 4.35 am and after a fruitless attempt at sleep, what better than to vent my pent up energy on a blog that by all rights should be long gone.

10 days after new year and I just wanted to state my intentions and give a brief synopsis of the year 2010 so far.

Since new years eve, where it snowed heavily, the freeze has remained and there have been several flurries of snow since and no big thaw. Very unusual in Ireland, although it is showing signs of rain as opposed to snow these past few hours.
On new years eve I undertook singing Swing numbers to backing tracks at a restaurant called Bijou in Rathgar and despite a lot of trepidation and furious rehearsing on my part, it went very well.
New years day and Kybosh played the Dew Drop, and although we were well paid, it was a loose gig and Cian reckons mainly my fault. I attribute the amount of relief following the new years eve gig and the copious amounts of booze taken aboard before the gig..

Since then..no work. Brasserie and La Banca have not been in contact and the pubs don't do music in Jan.
Ellen, Stella and Mark and another girl called Laura have made a pact to all do gigs in a co-op format so lets see how that pans out. It should mean higher rates and more venues for me.

So I have a lot of time last week and came up with the following:

A recording of Salty Water, a song I wrote and Gill did the lyrics. Not happy with it yet, have to do it again in a slower tempo.
Practice of Moonlight Sonata. Causing me problems!
The urge to form a Rage against the Machine tribute act by the end of the year
Practice with Dave Brennan for Temple bar gigs. he also wants me to stand in for his singer in Smokin Mojo when they have gigs
Got a call about doing a wedding reception on piano in April
Wanting to do a music Qual so I can get daytime teaching work. A H Dip could be funded..


RESOLUTIONS

1) I sleep too much. I need to be up in the mornings. Then I can do more practice. I wouldnt mind doing a music post grad, and that means getting some LSM Grades (7 or 8) in piano and 6 in theory to do the one year teaching Hdip.
Gill came up with this schedule:

BASIC SKILL BUILDING DAY – 3 days per week
8	Breakfast & Exercise
9
10	PIANO grade work
11	VOCAL Training
12	GUITAR grade work
1	LUNCH & listening
2	DJ Prep Work
3	Admin – Sales calls, Website, Database etc.
4	PIANO gig work
5	VOCAL & GUITAR gig work
6	Free time

RECORDING DAY – 1 day per week
8	Breakfast & Exercise
9
10	PIANO grade work
11	VOCAL Training
12	GUITAR grade work
1	LUNCH & listening
2	Planning & Arranging 1 song
3	Finishing
4	Recording
5	Post Production
6	Free time

REHEARSAL DAY – as required
8	Breakfast & Exercise
9
10	PIANO grade work
11	VOCAL Training
12	GUITAR grade work
1	LUNCH & listening
2	Planning & Arranging 1 song
3	Finishing
4	Recording
5	Post Production
6	Free time

2) Work on the Vocals- I have ordered a full singing programme. Will stick at it and be super in 6 months.

3) Ordered a DJ didgital decks where I can do weddings and parties etc. More revenue..

4) Gill got me a website for Christmas - thats critical. www.musicinmind.net

5) Exercise in the mornings will get me ready for the day ahead.

EDIT - Feb, did my first Smokin Mojo gig as lead singer.. fantastic.

Reguarly do Swing set in Anglers rest gigs, did charity function with Michelle Heaton

One wedding booking in April and one enquiry to close

March- Booked two weeks out in Andorra!!!!