Week 2 - At least I ticked all the boxes of getting out 4 times this week. My sister joined me on Monday morning for a "light" jog. Her idea of "light" and mine are two different things. She runs 18 miles a week and does yoga as well ao I struggled to keep up at times. My pace definitely went under 10 minutes per mile for that one.

I have been lucky with the weather, Tuesday and Thursday were dry, cold mornings but anything is better than the wind and rain. Saturday was nice too and I did my long run then.

I found it tough going but got through it after taking a one minute walking break after 4 miles. Also I stopped eating carbs on Thursday! Not sure if this is sustainable but the paleo diet looks interesting, I started on the Dukan but the lack of fruit and nuts is too much for me. Potatoes are allowed on the paleo if you are training and I had to eat some today.

Still though I lost 4lbs this weekend, so there has to something in it. I will probably mould the diet to suit my own needs so it won't be paleo per se but once I can avoid the sugars and the "Bad" carbs it should work.

What's in a name anyway.

Weekly total:

3 x 3.5 miles
1 x 5.5 miles

Week 1 of 10

Managed to get out 3 times this week, missed one session, not sure why maybe the weather or tired legs Sunday but I was wrecked after the 5.5 mile run on Saturday. I'm not going to be too harsh on myself as really my programme called for a 4 mile "long" run but I did a bit more as there is another loop near my house 5.5miles long.

My pace is aprox. 10.20 minute miles so quite slow but a quick email to Tom from the "Diary of a rubbish marathon runner" blog convinced me to avoid any speedwork and just concentrate on getting the miles in. He also recommends running 5 times a week but 4 is the aim for now, until Ballycotton at least.

My previous best for Ballycotton is 91.06 mins in 2009 so I would be happy to keep it under 93 min this year.

I'm also reading the Ultramarathon book by Rich Roll at the moment and when he was starting to run marathons and ultras his coach made him keep his heart rate at 140 beats per min until he built up his endurance so as my blog says "Slow and steady wins the race!".

As my moniker says I am an earlybird and get up to run at 6am before my wife and children stir. Yes getting out of bed can be a chore these dark, cold mornings but boy do I feel good after a run now! I took me a few months to build up to running 3.5 miles without stopping but now running doesn't hurt as much and as the Spring comes in and the weather improves I'm dreaming of flying past the cows and sheep in Quin at 9.30 minute pace ha ha.

This week

2 x 3.5 miles
1 x 5.5 miles
total 12.5 miles at 10.20 pace

Getting serious...ish

There is a lovely loop outside the village of Quin that passes my house and connects to the Mid Clare Way. You know the roads, narrow with grass growing in the middle and well sheltered. The loop is 3.5 miles (5.6km) with a gradual hill for almost half a mile at the start.

This is a perfect distance for me right now and I have ran it a dozen times or so in the past 2 months but after successfully entering Ballycotton 10 mile road race it is time to get serious about my training.

Without a goal I would train aimlessly and probably skip the wet morning workouts so I have 10 weeks to get my ass in gear and get fit enough to race 10 miles.

Due to work and getting my son to school for 8.30am I have to get up at 6am for my weekday morning runs so I bought a headlamp and some reflective gear for the dark winter mornings. Running in the dark is a bit surreal and you do have to concentrate or else you could be ankle deep in a pothole - especially with the rough weather in ireland these weeks.

My plan for the next few weeks is to run this 3.5m loop 3 times a week with a longer run at the weekend. So my mileage will be aprox. 16 miles rising to 20 ish. Not alot for most serious runners but for someone who isn't fit it is enough.

All going well after Ballycotton I will run a half marathon in early summer (Great Limerick Run?) with the aim of breaking 2 hours. I have ran 2 hilly halfs in 2.03 and 2.04 so it is achievable.

I was a bit horrified to see my weight at 13st11lbs after the Christmas holidays so I need to work on this too. 13 stone would be great but I'm not going to obsess too much, I will lessen the carbs significantly over the next few weeks using the Dukan template, we'll see how that goes!

Back in the saddle

I finally made the decision last October to get running somewhat seriously again after 3 years of idleness. We moved house this summer to the quaint village of Quin, aprox 6 miles from Ennis, Co.Clare and the surrounding countryside and fresh air re-ignited a passion in me that was barely flickering.

I ran a good bit in my 20's back in the 90's when running was still a minority sport. I remember running a 4 mile race in Tullamore in 28 minutes flat and finishing 2nd last! The "fun runner" was absent from races for the most part and every race was for racers.

I hooked up with the Ennis Track Club for training and we would regularly run 10 miles on a Sunday morning in St. Flannan's College. The training I could keep up with but the racing left me defeated and I eventually quit running and bought a bike and eventually took up Martial Arts to stay fit.

The funny thing about running is it is a virus that once contracted is very hard to shake. One day sitting in a doctors waiting room in 2008 I picked up that bible of running "Runner's World" and flicked through it. An article by the editor Amby Burfoot on the Boston marathon caught my eye. So engrossed by it I was that I nicked the magazine rather shamefully!

This was the catalyst to get me going and I took to running again with a relish that surprised me. I was getting fitter, leaner and faster. I gave up Martial Arts to concentrate on running the Dublin Marathon in 2009. Before this I also ran the majestic Ballycotton 10 mile race (still my favourite) and a couple of half-marathons including the tough Achill one.

For the next 3 or so years I ran and ran, slowly but consistently until January 2011 when running a 10 mile race in Dungarvan I injured my hip. This was the same injury I had the previous summer when I had to pull out of the Dublin marathon whilst out training.

Again I gave up running and had a few physio sessions from my sister, but really I was sick of being injured so that was that until last autumn. Now I'm back, I have decided that injuries are not going to keep me down and after turning 40 I want to be fit enough to play with my kids as they grow up.