South Manchester Parkrun.

Working hard on my speed work each week, means every 4 or 5 weeks, I need to test myself with a 5K run. For this, there is nothing better than ‘parkrun’!

Saturday was a little different for me though, I was taking part in the South Manchester parkrun, it was cool that it was their 5^th birthday too. So, because of this, they would have the ‘Chorlton running club’ pacers there to help out, they even had cake and buns to celebrate at the finish line, it was great. Andrea was also taking part for the 1^st time, so there was a lot of excitement, and even some nervous energy which we would try turning into positive energy and use it as motivation for us both.

There was a huge crowd gathering as I completed my usual warm up of jogging, sprint bursts and stretches galore, Andreas was a little less intense, but I’m sure it had the same effect 😉 We then wished each other good luck, and made our way to the pacers we had hoped to follow.

Off we went, people everywhere, and keeping an eye on your footing was more of a priority than I’ve ever had in any other race before. Not knowing the course has its pros and cons, and this was evident right from the start. The 1^st 0.75 mile was very narrow, and the serious amount of rain over the few days prior to the race mad it muddy and very very wet. It was more cross country to be honest, not that that was a big deal, but I knew the chance of a PB was slipping right from the beginning, as mile 1 was slower than required at 6:30 min/mile pace.

Mile 2 was then on some wider, decent tarmac. The sub 20min pacer knew he had to up the pace, and once clear of the mud, instantly dropped to 6 min/mile pace as he was playing catch up on time. I tried keeping with him, but it broke me a little, I’m sure my heart rate was through the roof. Lol. At the half way point I caught a glimpse of Andrea, who seemed to be going well too, a big smile on her face as always.

Mile 3 was my stumble block once again. My legs felt strong and eager to keep pushing on, but my lungs seem to struggle to take on enough oxygen to keep everything ticking over. Choking up and having to back off on pace, in order to get a breath again isn’t good, that’s a few times this has happened now, and it’s starting to aggravate me, A LOT!!!

We had a lot of mud and puddles towards the end of mile 3, which made concentration a priority once again, the final 0.10 was good tarmac though, and I could push hard for the line. Feeling like passing out was all I could think of at this point, but after a minute or 2 I felt fine again. I could then see Andrea coming in the distance, still running well, and still smiling from ear to ear.

I didn’t manage a PB unfortunately, I did however, finish 42^nd out of 426 people, so I managed to nip into that top 10% which is always pleasing, and I had a decent time of 20:28. Andrea had a great finish time of 29:07, considering this was her 1^st ever 5K, and added to the fact she stopped a few times to tie her shoes laces haha, I’m certain that her time will drop significantly, as her confidence and ability grows week to week.

We had our celebratory cake at the end, and dissected the run mile for mile. Each of us had our story to tell, we were both happy and thoroughly enjoyed it for sure, and I’ve no doubt we will be back to take on the race again at some point, and chase that elusive 5K PB.

Aaron

Cycling, Running & Booking Flights For Ironman :)

Sunday mornings cycle, didn’t seem to be appealing enough to get me out of my bed early, and get the job done. I chose to have a lie in instead. Obviously, this was great at the time, but in the afternoon I knew I still had to go, even just for an hour or 2!

Luckily, Archie sent out a message to the MAMILs, saying he was looking to go for a 30 mile spin, in about an hour’s time. Perfect, I would have company, and even better that it’s Archie, because the pace will be good, and the craic is always mighty, haha.

Time and place arranged, and off we went, Ballykelly, Limavady, Ballyspallen, Myroe, The Bridges, Limavady, The Country Park and back to Ballykelly. A good speedy route too which was good, my distance was 25 miles at the end, with an average pace of 17.5mph. Cheers Archie, it was a pleasure as always.

Yesterday evening I went for a jog, nothing crazy, just a nice comfortable pace for 3mile. It was very wet, and windy, but for the sake of 20 odd minutes it was no big deal. I’ve got to be sensible with my running this week, as I have a 5K parkrun to do on Saturday. This time I’m going to be taking part in the parkrun in ‘South Manchester’ where there are usually 300/350 runners participating. With a lot of fast 5K runners at this event, I hope they can pull me along for a PB, I intend to ‘empty the tank’ for sure! 😉

Also, yesterday got a few things tied up for next year’s Ironman Barcelona trip. I got our hotel, and flights booked for mum, dad and I. As its 11 months away, the prices are so ridiculously cheap it would be mad not to get on the ball early. Plus, as there are loads of us going from here, I want to make sure there isn’t an issue getting my bike over there. Each flight can only take 6 bikes at a time apparently?! So, it’s all happy days, all I have to do now, is make sure I’m as fit, and as ready as possible, with 11 good months training 🙂 The joys eh?!

Aaron

Swim Time Trial & Run Repeats!

With 1 thing or another, I’ve only had 2 training sessions this week. Though, I must say, both were tests, and the results were pleasing to say the least.

The 1^st test I had, was a 750m time trial in the pool, with the Tri club. A few good sprint triathletes as usual, were keen to take the lead. I certainly wasn’t complaining, as I’ve done very little swimming worth talking about, so to hang on at the back, was about all I could manage anyways. Pace seemed comfortable enough thankfully, and I hung in there the very best. My time was 12mins 30 secs (give or take) so I was happy with this for sure, not a million miles away from my PB to be honest.

We also had a set to do afterwards, which was a struggle to say the least, shoulders were burning from the time trial. The sprinters had had enough mid way, which left Mark and I to carry on, and work hard to finish off the 2K. A tough session for sure, but it definitely gave me a little confidence about my swimming again thankfully.

Next up, was the dreaded 6x800m intervals, with 90seconds rest in between. I hadn’t done this session for a few months, as I worked hard on tempo runs and 400m sprints recently. From what I remember, my times a few months ago were between 3mins and 3mins 6secs. So realistically, if I’ve progressed at all, I’d need to better those times.

From work, the running track I use, is literally about a mile away, so it’s a pretty perfect situation to be honest. The usual run there at about 7:30 min/mile pace, a few stretches, and that has me ready to go as soon as I’m there.

1. 2:55 felt great, but sure, I always do on the 1^st Haha
2. 2:54 not bad, still strong.
3. 2:56 having to work hard.
4. 2:56 again, this was tight going, but happy enough.
5. 2:59 really hard work, pushed hard to keep it under 3 mins, felt sick.
6. 2:59 this almost made me pass out never mind sick, had to bust myself to stay under 3 mins.

Keeping all of them under 3 minutes was really tough, but, beating all my times from my previous 800s pleased me big time. I literally plodded my way back to work, just about managing my 1mile cool down at 9min mile pace lol. I was delighted with the session though, and I have a feeling a 5k PB won’t be far away 😉

Aaron

Weekend Walks, Cycles & Runs!

I was lucky enough to have a few days off at the end of last week. Thursday was filled with a lot of touristy walks with Andrea, along the Antrim coast, taking in Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge, the giants causeway, and a wee visit to the old Bushmills distillery. As much as it was a chilled out day, and I mean, walking is so simple, but when you go for long enough, it tires you out as much as anything else haha I think running would be easier 🙂

Friday was then my only chance for a cycle, I sent the message out on ‘whatsapp’ to the MAMILs, and luckily Shane was also off, and fancied going for a spin. Meeting point was as usual, Tesco express, this is literally bang in the middle for us, each having 5 miles to cycle from either end which works out well.

We kept it handy, and went around the bridges to start with, adding in a loop of Myroe, towards Ballykelly, bridges again (in reverse), Aghanloo and back to Limavady. The wind was tough enough at times, but it’s expected at this time of year I guess. No doubt we have 6 months of wind with rain ahead of us! We made our way up the Ballyquin road where we split, Shane headed home in the Drumsurn direction, and I made my way through the Roe Valley Country Park, to the Largy.

I then went across to the Baranailt road, and a speedy 3 mile(ish) run down to Limavady with the wind on my back, this was enjoyable for sure. From Limavady I had a tough cross wind to deal with on my way home, thankfully 4 mile was all I had left to do at this point. A total of 40 miles cycled, with a 15.5 mph average, tough enough day to be honest, but with good company in Big Shane, it went in quick, cheers lad.

Sunday morning was gorgeous, the sun shone, and it was screaming out for a run. As usual, I sent a message to the lads to see if anyone fancied it, and yip, I would again have the company of Shane. It was such a good day it would be rude not to go to the Roe Valley Country Park for our run, it’s beautiful up there. We met up and jogged our way around, a lap is 2.2 miles long, a few laps is just perfect for Shane to maintain his fitness at the minute, I on the other hand, wanted a little more. I kept going until I had a total distance of 8 miles, at an average of 8:26 min/mile pace, all Zone 2 which I was happy with.

Andrea had also come for a run, doing her own thing though, which was good, as I didn’t want her showing Shane up 😉 haha! I tagged along with her at the end, and her pace is much better than she gives herself credit for, good work you, keep it going.

Andrea and I, are hoping to do a few Parkruns in South Manchester, close to where she lives, in the next few weeks, I’d better watch my back eh? Also, having recently signed up for her 1^st ever half marathon in March next year, this is just the start, a new journey lies ahead, and I can’t wait to help her along the way. 🙂  All very exciting stuff…….

Aaron

Jog, Swim, Sprints.

Last weeks’ training definitely seemed to go pretty good. It feels like things are starting to come together, and my speed is more or less back thankfully.

The 1^st session of my week was just a nice easy 5K, after a few beers, I didn’t fancy anything too tough :). Asics on, and off I went, from 1 end of Ballykelly and back gives me 5K. Handy enough, and good to get the legs going again.

Next up was swimming. I went along to our Triangle Tri Club session which is always tough, but great banter at the same time. The ‘craic’ is always good when you have the likes of Mervyn and big Stevie in the lanes.

The usual warm up and drills to begin with were grand, then the main set. Each of us had our chance at the front as we went through it, which was good. Mervyn is the swim coach, and he sure does make it tough, but as he says, if we want to swim well next season, the hard work needs to happen all winter! Cheers for that Merv, I was busted at the end, but very pleased when I realised we had 2 miles completed, happy days!

My 3^rd midweek session was my favourite, 8x400m sprints with 1 minute rest in between. Being invited out for dinner in the evening, meant I had to get my session squeezed in at lunch time, which worked out quite well really as there is a 400m running track at St. Columbs park, fairly close to my work.

    I am a happy chappy when Im ready to go running lol

My warm up was just over a mile long at around 7:30 min/mile pace. Few stretches as usual, marked out my start/finish spot on the track, and I was ready to go.

1. 1:23 cautious at the beginning.
2. 1:26 too cautious and annoyed I went slower.
3. 1:24 reduced it a little.
4. 1:22 feeling good and happy with time.
5. 1:21 really strong and still feeling fresh(ish)
6. 1:20 going for it now, tough but good.
7. 1:19 digging deep for sub 1:20.
8. 1:19 legs seriously heavy and worked hard to get a 1:19 again.

 

Really pleased at how strongly I finished them, a little too cautious at the start but still, I’m happy. My cool down was a nice gentle jog back over the peace bridge and back to work. 😦 I could have went home quite handily at this point lol.

This week I need to give 6x800m sprints a go, see how they differ from when Archie almost killed me at them a few months ago 😉

Aaron

Training Catch Up.

Time for a catch up on what training I’ve been up to, last week I got 2 runs, 1 swim and 1 cycle squeezed in, to what turned out a busy week.

Run1:

The 1^st of my runs was an interval session, 8x400m sprints with 1 minute rest in between. I really enjoy this session as the 400m sprints just aren’t as much of a killer as the 800m.

As always, I done just over a mile warm up, around 7:30 minute mile pace, plenty of strides, stretches etc before the sprints actually start. What I was faced with was the tail of end of hurricane Bertha/Martha/Sheeba/Mildred or whatever the hell it was called, lol so out and back 400m were very different as far as pace/effort was concerned.

1. 1:40 Felt good of course but the wind was insane.
2. 1:26 Great to have the wind on my back.
3. 1.38 Again, the gusts of wind made it very tough.
4. 1.29 The rain had now started also, not pleasant at all.
5. 1.39 Another really really tough head wind, gust were stronger now I thought.
6. 1.27 Felt good again, but purely as the wind was helping.
7. 1.35 Hardest yet, pushed the best I could. Head wind was just a killer.
8. 1.26 Final push on the last, felt great, wind assisted of course.

Once the sprints were finished, I got my breath back, and jogged home a nice easy 1 mile for my cool down. It was tough with the conditions, but it is my favourite session so I was happy, I felt relatively strong too, so I’m looking forward to my 8x400m again this week, hopefully without the wind so I can get some decent times!

Swim:

Later in the week I went swimming, I had missed the session with my usual training buddies so I was on my Jack tod, or so I thought! Kevin, 1 of the MAMILs, who had swum 100 lengths the day before and ran 10 mile that morning said he wouldn’t mind coming in for a relaxed swim and would keep me company. Happy days for me as this took away the boredom of swimming.

Usual warm up, nice and steady, leg buoy in and keeping it relaxed. Then of course as we swim in Roe Valley Leisure Centre where I work part time, there is always someone there giving their opinion on sets. Do this, do that, or in this case, it was, oh I done sets of 75m sprints today, got some decent times, can you match it bla bla bla…..

Of course, what was I meant to do, back away from the challenge? No, of course not! Johns best time was 60 seconds, not to brag on too much, my best was 54 seconds. So John, keep at the training mate 😉

Kevin and I kept things going fairly well, and we had build up the lengths till almost 2K. Happy with that, and cheers Kev for the company.

Run2:

Friday afternoon saw me meet up with another MAMIL for a good 10K tempo run. Andy has some amazing times from races in the past and his knowledge about running and training is 1^st class. We went along the River Foyle and along the bottom path at St. Columbs Park, the paths along here are great for running.

We chatted away, had a good catch up, which made time tick away well. Before we knew it we had the 10K done and dusted, a good pacey final 1.2 mile felt really good too, I felt really strong at the end which I’m very happy about. Our average was 7:30 minute mile pace, it seems my training is coming along well and the speed is coming back. I’m really looking forward to my next 5K ‘Parkrun’ to see my improvement. Cheers for the run Andy, and I’m sure there will be many more to come.

Cycle:

Saturday morning was cycle time, the wind was howling outside, but it was dry, so I was keen to get going. Keeping things as flat as possible around the Roe Valley area is great, the only problem being, it also means it’s very exposed. The wind was really tough, and it always seemed like I had a head wind no matter what direction I was going!

The 1^st time I realised just how bad the gusts of wind were, was when I peeled my banana, and the wind blew the top half of it off. Haha I was annoyed at losing my banana for sure, I was looking forward to it! This was at mile 12, and 5 miles later things got worse.

Turning down Farlow Road I felt the bike go a little heavy, then a bit wobbly, and I knew it was obviously a puncture. Believe it or not, this is my very 1^st puncture, and typically it had to happen when I hadn’t any help with me. Not to worry though, I had the tube out, changed and fixed in no time at all. This was also my 1^st time to use the little CO2 cartridges, thankfully it didn’t cause me any trouble, and it worked out perfect.

My time did run away with me a little, and I hadn’t much time left as I wanted home to watch the football at lunch time. I managed 25 miles with an average speed of 16.5 mph. It was an eventful cycle, but glad I got the miles in.

The off season is fun when a weeks training is only about 5 hours. Haha I could get used to this! 🙂

Aaron

Parkrun Race Report.

Saturday morning was Parkrun time. It was 6 weeks since I last tested myself with a 5K race, so I felt the time was right to see if I had found anymore speed within that time. It was perfect as far as weather was concerned, dry, crisp, bright, sunny autumn morning. No sign of any rain clouds and not a breeze to be had. I felt decent if I’m honest, and the thought of a PB had crossed my mind.

As usual, around the start area, everyone was doing their own little warm up routines, and I was no different. With my hamstrings and groins typically tight, I know how important it is for a decent warm up, especially for these very fast, eyeballs out 5K races. Once warmed up, I had a quick catch up with 1 of the organisers, Ciaran. He puts great effort and pride into ‘parkrun derry’, brings a great friendly atmosphere to the race, which is class, top man!

Garmin at the ready, and we were off. I sat in the front pack for the 1^st 200m and realised they were going out way to quickly, I backed off to a more comfortable 6:15/6:20 min mile pace, and by the time mile 1 was completed, I had reeled them in, and was running unchallenged in 2^nd place.

I felt really good, and was starting to get excited about times, which I shouldn’t have I guess. Mile 2 is tough enough with a few small climbs, which certainly knocks the pace back a little, still though, my time was looking good.

Then the dreaded mile 3, I seem to get caught out here all the time. I tried to hold my pace, but started to struggle a little for breathe. Annoyingly, I choked up and ended up being sick, 3^rd and 4^th place passed me, which really pissed me off. I then had to start running at an even faster pace to catch up on time that I’d lost.

Just when my watch beeped 3 miles, I had gone into 2^nd again, totally busted, but thought I had done enough, but no, 1 of the lads hit the red button and got me with 0.05 to go! Fair play to him, I was more than happy coming 3^rd place out of 91. My finish time was 20mins 21seconds. I had reduced my time by 31seconds in 6 weeks, although I’m still 23seconds off my PB. Hopefully when I test myself again in another 4/5 weeks, I’ll have it down even more. Here’s hoping!

Here’s the link for the results….

http://www.parkrun.org.uk/derrycity/results/latestresults/

Aaron

A Round Up Of My Weeks Training.

I’ve had a decent week as far as training is concerned. On Monday I went for a 4 mile run in Limavady, with some core in the gym straight afterwards. I felt really good and my pace was an average of 7 min 5 seconds a mile. I need to thank my mate Lee for the loan of his Garmin, I left mine at my backside at home, but not to worry! Lee usually runs 6 min mile pace, so the watch must have thought it was a recovery run he was on haha

Tuesday was a bit mad, as you know I signed up for Ironman Barcelona with my training buddies ‘the MAMILs’. Of course this made Tuesdays swim session interesting, we could barely swim for the chat of Barca this, and Barca that. We were like school kids on the day of signing up for a school holiday! LOL

The swim was decent in the end, getting back into it wasn’t as bad as I thought. We managed the usual warm up, few drills, fins and paddle work, and a good main set, around 2K in total.

On Thursday, on my way home from work, the sun was shining and I thought it was too good not to take the Kuota out for a spin. Quickly on with my cycling gear before I changed my mind then. haha. I went for a flat easy spin around the bridges with an extra loop added of Myroe. From mine, this route is 22 miles exactly, I felt really good, and managed an average speed of 18.3 mph. Very pleased with that considering I’ve done little cycling since July.

This afternoon, I’ve just completed my 2^nd week at Yoga. Something I always considered doing but never bit the bullet to actually go and do it. But that’s changed and I’m really enjoying it, the stretches and poses are helping for sure. Hopefully if I keep at it, it will help me a lot for next season.

My final training for the week will be tomorrow morning, I haven’t run a 5K race in 6 weeks, so I’m going to race at ‘Parkrun’ Derry and see if there has been any progression as far as finding my speeds concerned. Time will tell I guess, here’s hoping.

Aaron

Next Year’s Plans Have Just Got Real!!!

The off season is well and truly underway. Eating, drinking, partying, and socialising as much as possible without the fear of missing an important session is great. I’ve recently been to Riga and Manchester, for 2 very filled weekends with all of the above. Haha.

Of course training doesn’t come to a complete stand still, a little bit of everything to keep me ticking along is ongoing. I’ve been working on my runs of late, making sure I keep the speed in my legs, and the odd tester with 5Ks every now and again will be my plan.

But more importantly, what’s my plans for next year? I guess I’m going to go big again. IRONMAN has been talked about by a good few of my training buddies in our MAMIL group. Obviously, if this is going to be the case, it’s good to get booked early, in case the races fill up and registration closes, now that would be a disaster wouldn’t it.

The 2 races which stood out to me were Nice and Barcelona. A few of my TTC club mates had bit the bullet and went with Nice, the thought of that MASSIVE climb is scary though, and as Barcelona seems flat, it was much more appealing to us MAMILS 😉

Registration opened on Monday evening, and 1 of the lads signed up, and if ever there was a case of the domino effect it was this. By Tuesday 9am 2 more had signed up, lunch time 2 more, 4pm 1 more had jumped, which left me. I think at this point I knew what was going to happen, could you imagine listening to them plan this for a whole year and me not going too! So by 6pm, I had also made the decision and signed up, Barcelona here I come.

The same crew of MAMILs that done Outlaw this year, have once again been united on another IRONMAN journey. So, now it’s just the small matter of a mountain of training, which is both scary and exciting. Going through those crazy winter months cycling against the wind, running in the rain and early morning swims will be tough but rewarding. Luckily this time though, the peak weeks of training will be in July and August, September will be the taper time, and October the 4^th will be the big day.

Just 361 days to go…. IRONMAN BARCELONA lets be having you!!!!!!

Aaron

Sprints – 800m Repeats.

Talking about speed work, and planning it, always seems such a good idea. Sending a whatsapp message to our training group ‘The MAMILs’ asking for company is also a very good idea. BUT, when my mate ‘Archie’ replies, and says I can join him for 800 meter repeats, something told me this was going to be a very very bad idea hahaha

Of course, never 1 to turn away some company, I took him up on the offer, which created some banter with the rest of the lads. I think they hoped Archie would kill me with the sprints, so if ever I needed motivation, that was it right there. haha To give you an idea as to how fast Archie is, and how hard and dedicated he is to his sprint training, he is the man who holds the course record for our local Parkrun here in Derry/Londonderry which he completed in sub 17 minutes, so he’s no slouch!

We set off for a 2 mile warm up, nice and steady at 7:30 min/mile pace, chatting and catching up on the ‘craic’ and going over what he had in mind for our sprints. Once at the starting point for out 6 x 800m sprints with 1min 30secs rest between, we done a few stretches and prepared for what was ahead, out 400m and back was the plan, and on the way out it was a small gradual incline which I wasn’t a fan of lol

1. 3mins 1sec – felt decent and happy enough with distance and pace
2. 3mins 0secs- again I felt ok, hating the incline though haha
3. 3mins 3secs – heart rate at about 90% now
4. 3mins 0secs- legs heavy, and the odd feeling of being sick haha
5. 3min 0secs – legs beat and really felt sick lol
6. 2mins 59secs –Archie pushed me really well, I needed it, very tough, but a good strong finish.

A little 1 mile cool down at the end, got my breathe back eventually, and a few stretches for my poor legs. It was finally over, and thankfully too, such a tough session which I couldn’t have completed in those times if it wasn’t for the encouragement from Archie. Like every tough session, once it’s over, the feel good factor about yourself is class. As much as it was hard, it was worth it 100%, keep this up, and the sub 20minute 5k won’t be far away again. Thanks Archie, roll on next week.

Aaron