Dogs

Recently I have had a spate of dogs chasing me on runs. This again continued on Thursday Morning, about 3 miles into a 11 mile Run a young German Shepard rocked up beside and frightened the living daylights out of me. For a brief second I was worried but he turned out to be very friendly, we had a little chat. He had no collar or means of identification on him, and came about 100m with be on the run before deciding it was not a good idea to follow me. I rang local dog pound on my return who informed me he had been picked up. I really hope he finds a good home would love to take him but we just don't have the space a dog of this size needs and he clearly doesn't like long distance running.

A Step Up

Dusted off my copy of P&D and started the race prep section for Boston. Since I have been averaging 45-50 miles a week for the last year I have decided to give the 55-70 mile plan a crack. I wont stick exactly to the plan and have to juggle some key runs around to suit my commitment to pace Tralee Marathon. One thing I noticed is that some mileage will be adjusted. There are some Medium Long Runs of 15 miles, that would take me over the 2 hour mark which in my view turns the session into a long run. For these I will run based on time of 1:50 and 1:40 for the shorter runs. Same is true of recovery runs in excess of 6 miles. I will keep recovery runs to 50 minutes for the longer ones and 40 minutes for the shorted runs. This week was hard and this was after a marathon in my legs on the previous Saturday. On Saturday morning I did Long run with 12 miles at Marathon Pace/effort. Location was the nearly five loop of Finn Lake in Ballycar. I have forgotten how beautiful this stretch of road is early of a sunny Saturday morning, I also forgot how bad the road surface is in spots.I cover the watch for these but the combination of a poor road surface and tired legs, this turned out to be a very tough run. Never got into my stride and the last 3 miles really tested me to finish them. The watch and HR showed that I was near enough Marathon effort but the pace was slower then I would hope for. This is the main reason I never try to hit paces in these runs. I would like to think my current Pace would be 7:35 to 7:30 minute miles, but last Saturday that was not in the legs and I think there is no need to force the issue especially as the previous 7 days I had clocked 75 miles my biggest ever 7 day total.

Miles	Time	Average HR	Pace
1-3	0:23:04.9	152	07:41.6
3-6	0:22:52.1	153	07:39.5
6-9	0:23:22.0	154	07:42.1
9-12	0:23:19.0	155	07:43.2

It just got Better

After the disappointment of not improve my 5K PB. I hit the fairgreen in Ennis for one of my favourite sessions on Wednesday. 1200m repeats of 400m @ 10K pace followed by 800m @ Marathon Pace. No rest/recovery between any legs/sets just one straight up run. As I hadn't done this in a while I decided that 8 repeats would be enough. Set the paces based on the 5K time from Saturday (1:43 and 3:46), and cruised through it. Felt really good and strong throughout and the MP sections normally get very tough towards the end where very manageable so much so I threw in and extra 2 repeats to bring it to ten. I was very delighted with the run and the HR data which I looked at afterwards indicated that I could go much faster/harder. Either I had a bad race on Saturday for whatever reason or it really sharpened me up. Either way things are going in the right direction.

Old Friends

Jack Healy and Larry Rigney are two guys I have great respect for and when I saw that Jack was race director for a  Marathon in their native parish it was first on my list for the year. Never been to the centre of the Universe (Ireland) before and had heard that the course was of a slightly undulating nature neither where every going to put me off going. Plan for the day was decided after I overlaid Seville's Training Program and found that I had ran Craughwell in 2013 with the last loop at Marathon Effort. Was going to give this a whirl today. Friday night family DVD night saw me break out and consume some Chocolate and Coke, I was regretting it on the drive to Killeigh with my co pilot Tom. We got there with plenty of time to spare and time to do some running repairs on an ingrown toenail. This had the effect of taking the heat out of my feet so for the first lap they felt quite numb and took that long to warm up. Myself, Paul Hogan and John set out on the first loop. John had tweaked something in his hamstring during the week and it was still giving him jib after 3 miles. He decided to pull up and call it a day as had bigger fish to fry next week in Donadea. Hopefully he makes it to there. Towards the end of the second lap I saw the error of my ways the night before unfold rather quickly. I had surveyed the first lap and unfortunately there was no adequate concealed area for me to take a dump. This meant making it back to the start area to use modern facilities. Past several people here including Tom and George at somewhere south of 6:30 pace. Hooked up with Paul again shortly afterwards and we where joined by Alan and Cezary. Company was good and miles ticked on nicely until I had another visit to you know where at the end of the 4th Loop. This left me on my own as, and I had no intention of catching the guys back up, saving myself for the last lap. Crossed lap 5 and noted the clock was 3:16 and set about going as hard as I could. It was tough but manageable. Stiff breeze and hills where a lot more noticeable when going that bit harder. Finished out the lap strong to get in under 3:50. Did the last loop 4.4 miles in 33:17 just a little outside 7:30 pace. This combined with my good session on Wednesday Night has convinced me to have another crack at a Marathon PB in Boston.

Windy Wednesday

I have switched my training block from 3 Sessions every Ten days to 2 sessions every week. This suits better as I intend to do more races at weekends this makes more sense to me. This means that the other session is mid week on a Wednesday. I am alternating between long tempos and 5K/10K paced interval sessions every second week. Track in Ennis at the Fairgreen is very open and the last 3 nights I have visited it there has been a gale blowing. This makes it very hard to judge what my actual pace is. I would like to believe it is sub 20 Minute for 5K but I have not hit that pace in any of the recent sessions. Last Wednesday was no exception only adding to the fun was hail showers that where hitting you like a machine gun. Those things are seriously sore. I did a shorter session as in 6 * 300 @ 5K 3 times. So of the earlier paces did hit the magic figure but I doubt I could hold this for a full race. I would not need to wait that long to answer the question.

Resolution 5K

Opened the door at 7 AM on Saturday morning to l et the cat out, she promptly changed her mind as quick as I noted not ideal racing conditions. One of those hail showers with a nasty northerly breeze would make life difficult today. Run in Clare the brain child of Jason Moloney is a new race series combining of a new 5K with three other races in Clare. A new Five mile in Quilty, Kilnaboy 10 and Eamon Maloney 10K, this hopefully will increase the numbers in Quilty and Kilnaboy races. Judging by the numbers that ran on Saturday it has got off to a good start. Over 700 people turned up to run this including yours truly. I had C25K group in the morning so was under time pressure to make the start. Had packed a backpack, ready to go when I got home. After a very cold C25K session I got back to Ennis earlier then expected and had time for a quick cup of coffee and banana. Jogged to the start at the gates of Lees road and dropped my bag over the wall.

Race

The start was bedlam. 700 runners on the road and cars still coming both ways. Learnt later the Gardaí refused the request to close the road for any period prior to the start. A lot of first time runners ended up liming up totally in the wrong spot. Soon we where off and suddenly I had to jump over a young lad (9 or 10) who had fallen at the start, luckily he escaped injury but I dare say it wasn't a pleasant experience for him. After that the race was perfect, I soon settled into a group who seemed to be ticking nicely along at my pace and provided some shelter from the cold North Breeze in our faces. Just as we approached 2K mark and the turn off to the main road I couldn't pass up the opportunity to pass Jason under the watchful eye of Gerry Hayes. Probably took a bit out of me as the group dropped me shortly afterwards. Wasn't really bothered as we now had a tailwind and there job was done so things where getting serious now. Held off a bit for the 3K mark, course Downhill/Flat from here, hit the afterburners but only lasted till the turn back to the finish. Was totally gone at this point and with 800M to go, plenty of runners where starting to pass me. Finally saw the finish and decided that no more people where to pass me. Slogged it out with Rita Kierce (2nd Lady) over the last 200M and just held her off. Over the finish side of the road and now regretted my snack of an hour ago as up it came.

Reflection

I ran this again without the worry of a watch and finished with a time of 20:25. Two seconds outside a PB, I was hoping to get closer to 20 and I have to accept that's where I am at the moment. Legs really felt strong throughout, but I just wasn't comfortable once I tried to push on for the last 2K. Maybe some hill sprints/sessions might get me over that hump, or just do more races this year between 5K and 10 Miles.