Training programme for the 2022 Dublin Marathon

The 2022 Dublin Marathon is coming up on Sunday the 30th of October 2022. It is 18-weeks from the 26th of June.

If anyone would like to optimise their training then I will be starting individualised training programmes. 

The programme is sent out every week by email and weekly feedback is required. That will determine what the programme is like for the following week.

The cost is €124 and it starts whenever you're ready. Obviously the sooner the better and it should be really start at the latest by the 10th of July which is 16-weeks.

If interested, send an email to johndesmondrunning AT gmail DOT com

Guest Post: Balance in Training ...by Pat Walsh

 ** Balance in training ** 

Hard at times to get the head straight with all going on in the world at the moment. War is cruel on ordinary people and sometimes I feel helpless.

Just something to read and think about. To be honest if you are moving at the moment that is great but maybe it might help.

What training do you do on an average week?

Is it balanced properly for you to achieve your best and get you to your GOAL whatever that may be.

Have you a balance between easy miles / hard miles?
Have you some variety of easy, interval/ hill / tempo, long on a given week?
Have you some kind of plan to recover and balance hard weeks with slightly easier weeks on occasions so you are not burnt out?
Have you a balance of continuing to train easily after a Goal race to allow yourself to maintain your fitness and still recover?
Have you a balance of time spent stretching appropriate to the amount of mileage per week?
Important. Have you a balance of Stress / Calm?
If running is your calmness and headspace then don’t wreck it with pressure.
Have you the right balance of running partners that push you but still make it fun to go running with? 
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Lots of questions and some not easy to answer
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* Balance
 You cannot train hard every time you go out. An easy run after very hard session or a long run can be beneficial.

*You cannot train easy every time you go out or you will get nowhere.
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A few ideas of mine to get some balance in your training. (Elites need more and beginners maybe less but just a rough idea.) 

* Training 3 times a week
1. Easy run Mon / Tues
2. Tempo or Interval speed session or a hill session Wed / Thursday 
3. Long Run weekend where start is done easy pace and finish nearer race pace. Roughly half easy/hard
If you have at least day recovery from the long run then the midweek sessions can be juggled around.

* Training 4 times a week
1. Easy run Mon / Tues
2. Tempo or Interval speed or hill session, Tues / Wed / Thurs 
3. Easy run Thurs / Fri
4. Long Run weekend 
This can be done at a harder pace but still start easy for mile or 2 to give yourself a chance.

- OR -

Alternative Training 4 times a week
1. Tempo or Interval speed or hill session, Mon / Tues
2. Easy run Tues / Wed
3. Tempo or Interval speed or hill session Thurs / Fri (different session to earlier in the week)
4. Long Run weekend 
Start at easy pace and only finish last few miles nearer race pace.

..
Please note if you are starting to up your mileage for a Goal race in the future.
Increasing you mileage per week should be kept to 10-15% to avoid injury.
Maybe 1 week in 4 cut back on mileage to give the body a chance to adapt.
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Get the Balance right of getting there and doing your best, but in a way that can be maintained and improved upon. Killing yourself is not enjoyable, counter-productive and has no long term future for you and running. 😍💞💘

Feck life is precious and we are going through some turmoil so in the absence of clear guidance  just keep running,

#PWR #Keeponrunning

12-Week Training Programme - 2021

For anyone interested, I will be running individually coached 12-week training programmes in the new year..

The programme is suitable for beginners, people that just want to improve their fitness and endurance or those who want to train for a specific event like say a 10-miler.

Please note that the programme is tailored for each individual person, it's not some sort of generic one-size fits all plan. The plan is dynamic in that it adapts according to the progress being made.

For it to be of value...

a) You'll have to answer questions initially so that a suitable programme can drawn up. This will be based on your current training and experience and how much time you have available. It's a plan designed to suit your life and work schedule as opposed to the other way around.

b) You'll also have to provide feedback every week and the plan will be based on this.

c) You really do have to follow the plan. There is no point dipping in and out of it or be off doing other things every weekend when you're supposed to be doing a long run. The plan can be adapted if training days are missed but they should be occasional.

The cost for the 12-weeks is €69.

If interested, email: johndesmondrunning AT gmail DOT com

18-Week Programme for the 2020 Cork City Marathon starts 27th January

The 2020 Cork City Marathon is coming up on Sunday the 31st of May. I'll be running an 18-week training programme for it which will start on the 27th of January. Details below...

Please note that this is tailored for each individual person, it's not some sort of generic one-size fits all plan. The plan adapts according to the progress being made.

For it to be of value...

a) You'll have to answer questions initially so that a suitable programme can drawn up. This will be based on your current training and experience and how much time you have available. It's a plan designed to suit your life and work schedule as opposed to the other way around.

b) You'll also have to provide feedback every two weeks and the plan will be based on this.

c) You really do have to follow the plan. There is no point dipping in and out of it or be off running 5k races every weekend when you're supposed to be doing a long run. The plan can be adapted to accommodate the occasional race but they must be occasional.

The cost for the 18-weeks is €99.... from the cold dark evenings of January to the long Summer evenings at the end of May.

If interested, email: johndesmondrunning AT gmail DOT com

Cork City Half-Marathon... This 14-week programme will be starting on the 24th of February. Cost €69.

Cork City Marathon Relay... This 12-week programme will start on the 9th of March. Cost €59.

Sneak Preview of the Leevale AC Athletics Training Facility in Cork City

Back in January of 2016, I had a post up about the plans for Leevale AC to develop a new high performance centre in Cork City for their members. The facility is now nearly finished and it's looking great.

You can see a series of photos in this album.

Leevale AC to develop €1.7 million athletics training facility

It was announced recently that Leevale AC plan to develop a new high performance athletics centre for the club in Cork City. This is a major investment for the club as the venture is expected to cost €1.7 million and will be paid from a a building fund which was set up back in the 1990's and some capital grants.

The new athletics centre will be located in what was the old Top Car building on Farranlea Road.

Old Top Car building with the new Leevale facility above

The map below shows the location of the new Leevale athletics centre. It's is near Victoria Cross, Dennehy's Cross and the County Hall.

The main sports hall inside has dimensions of 31.6m x 26.7m and the floor plan is shown below....

As you can see, most of the major disciplines of track and field are catered for. There is also a separate gym area as shown below.

As you can see from the artist's impressions, it should be a fantastic facility and should enable Leevale AC to compete at the highest levels.

Further reading...
Article on the Evening Echo website.
Article on the Irish Examiner website.

Togher AC announce 2016 Couch to 5k programme

Togher Athletic Club have just announced the details of their Couch to 5k training programme for 2016...

As you can see, this is aimed at beginners and ties in nicely with the upcoming Operation Transformation TV programme on RTE television. Contact Claire for more info.

How to prevent injury while training...

Cork Runners on Twitter

Tweet, tweet...twitter, twitter...tweet, tweet...

No doubt a lot of people have heard of the Internet service 'Twitter' but may not be aware of what it is.

A quick explanation...Twitter is a 'micro-blogging' service. People post very short posts which can be 140 characters maximum in lenght and you can follow what other people are up to. A more detailed explanation can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter

I first heard of Twitter over a year ago and at the time, it sounded like it was just a fad. Since then, it has grown to be hugely popular yet I have seen nothing to suggest that it's still not a fad!

However to be fair to it, maybe it's better to try something first and then criticize it rather than not try it at all.

The Twitter Experiment....

As an experiment, there are at least 2 runners in Cork who now use Twitter to post information about their training runs and races. I guess the best thing to do is to have a look below and see what it's about. If enough Irish runners use it, it might be interesting to follow the training schedules of people who are training for the same events here in Ireland rather than say following people on the other side of the world.

Invitation...

If you are living in Cork / Ireland and want to join in, then open a Twitter account and leave a comment here with your User Name and maybe your real name (optional). I'm not sure if this experiment will go anywhere (or will be of any use!) but unless you try, you'll never know.

Update Oct 2010....I have created a list of Cork runners on Twitter HERE. Please note that those included mainly tweet about running.

Training Run next Sunday in Rochestown, Sun 22nd March...

With just over 10 weeks to go, it's time to start getting in those long runs if you are thinking about doing the Cork City Marathon. With that in mind, a local runner named Kieran Daly is going to do a series of long training runs every Sunday morning. The runs start at 8am sharp from the car park near Harty's Quay (accross the road from the Rochestown Inn) on the Rochestown Road. The pace is pretty relaxed (9 to 10 minute per mile) and might suit someone aiming to do their first Marathon.

Here is an overview of the planned runs...

Sunday.......Distance

22-Mar-09........10

29-Mar-09........12

05-Apr-09........14 or the UCC 10k race

12-Apr-09........14

19-Apr-09........15

26-Apr-09........15

03-May-09.......18

10-May-09.......12

17-May-09.......8

24-May-09.....Taper

Kieran has set up a blog for these training runs and you can find his e-mail address there if you are interested.

Long training runs for the Cork City Marathon...14.2 to 21.2 miles...
With roughly 8 weeks to go to the Cork City Marathon, some of you will now be thinking about getting in some long runs. I'm sure most of you have your own routes sorted out already but just in case you are looking for idea's, I have put a route up on the MapMyRun website.
First of all, you park and start at Pairc Ui Chaoimh, the GAA stadium on the Marina. You run down the Marina, past Blackrock Castle, down along the walkway next to the river, accross the old railway bridge to Rochestown, down to Passage and then on to Monkstown. All said and done, about 9 miles along the waterfront, most of it scenic and safe.
Around the 9.5 mile mark, things get a bit tricky as you run out of footpath and you need to run on a narrow section of a busy road for about 600 metres. Then take the right for the recycling centre. Now the hard part, a 2 mile climb. Nothing steep but it's a long drag.
After that, a steep decent, left at the college crossroads and back into Rochestown. Back along the walkway and take the direct route along the old railway line all the way back to Pairc Ui Chaoimh. Total milage = 15.7 miles.

Options...
You have 2 options, you can return by the waterfront route after Rochestown. That will add 1.5 miles on to your run giving a total of 17.2 miles. Or, you can go out and return by the more direct old railway track route, that will take 1.5 miles off your run giving a total of 14.2 miles.
So, with some simple route choices, you have the option of doing 14.2, 15.7 or 17.2 miles.
You can see the route in more detail by clicking on the link below...



Adding 4 miles to your run...
To get in a really long run, you can do an extra 4 miles BEFORE you start the long run. Basically, the route is based on the Cork BHAA John Buckley Sports 4 mile course. Click below to see it in detail...



By doing this beforehand, you now have the option of doing 18.2, 19.7 or 21.2 miles.

Some extra notes...
1) Before you try these kind of distances, you should have done some 10 and 12 mile runs beforehand.
2) When you are going up into these kind of distances, dehydration becomes an issue. A good idea is to leave a bottle of water for yourself somewhere in a hedge around the halfway point.