Twenty Miles at Last
Its been too long, since I last ran a twenty miler. Nearly 18 months so I could be forgiven for forgetting what these runs are like. From memory I really missed the joy of been out on country roads breathing in the air and generally enjoy these runs. How time can change our perception of reality.Preparation
Not the best. Christopher Confirmation on Friday meant a rejig of the training schedule which pushed a planned 16 miler out till Saturday Morning. Well too much of that yellow liquid with a white top in celebration of said young fellas journey into adulthood brought about the sure I will do it Sunday. Sunday came and a trip to Ballynacally for the inaugural Ballynacally/Lissycasey 4 mile Run, being ran by a Hometown friend of Mine Mrs Rosie Casey-McMahon. Anyway did 3 laps of the course for a warm-up trying to time it to perfection to hit the start of the fourth lap five minutes after the expected kickoff . Well the race did look like starting then so I did another mile just to keep loose. Still had to hang around for another 5 minutes . Back to the start and soon we where off, felt quite stiff at first but after half a mile I was able to push out the pace and averaged 7:40 miles for the 4 miles in 30:43 so very happy with that. However I had only left myself a Two Day turnaround to a 20 miler which I was really looking forward to.Execution
Preparation is key, picked my route and a spot to drop whatever requirements where needed. Fuel/Water where going to occur on miles Two, Eight, Twelve,and Seventeen. This is a weak part of my running, I tend to fall off very quickly after 90 Minutes of running at pace, so the Endurance side of things needs some work. Too fix this I am trying to do these long runs with the minimum of nutrition and water. My stash was 500 ml Water, 500 ml Electrolyte, A Can of Real Coke and a Banana, aiming to get to Mile Seventeen before taking on any fuel/food.Off I set and I was really looking forward to this. I would split the watch at each hour mark for later analysis. For the first hour I was cruising along, great to finally hear spring had arrived with the birds chirping happily away. It was a drizzly old evening with a fresh breeze to keep me cool coming from the south East. Split the watch after a hour and 8:40 pace felt really good. Second hour began okay but seemed to start to get tough as it wore on. Still I was running away at an easy pace and under no pressure to maintain 8:40 pace. Once I passed the 2 hour mark things really started to go pear shape. After 15 miles I knew that unless I dropped the pace I was going to run smack into a wall in a very short space of time. Those hills I was cruising up earlier now felt like climbing Carrauntoohil, that breeze had turned into a Hurricane and gone where the birds singing replaced by the constant pleading in my head to stop and walk for a bit. I continued like this until Mile Seventeen when I took on some fuel (can of coke). This took another 5-10 minutes to take effect before I felt like I could up the pace again. For the last mile or two I got back to running 8:30-40 pace. The final struggle was that hill on the entrance to Lees road. Loads of runners hate it in the Clare 10K, they should try it Nineteen miles under the belt, its twice as steep and goes on forever. Got back to the car happy out another Twenty miler done and I didn't die even though It felt that way sometimes. No doubt my short term memory will forget this run and I will be just as eager to run another in a couple of weeks time.
February 27th
10.45 Miles 6.45 Miles 48:48.3 @ 7:41 pace, No HR readings 2 Mile WU/WD
March 3rd
17 Miles Long Run 2:23:54, @ 8:28, HR 147. Last 4 Miles @ 7:40
March 6th
20 Miles Long run 3:00:40.0, @ 9:02, HR 147
March 9th
8.2 Miles,10K Tempo 46:42.0 @ 7:31 pace, HR 163
