Can Do Better

That's the conclusion I have come to after this evenings 17 mile slow run. Why? Well yesterday I ran a new personal best for Ten Miles in Craughwell. While it was a PB it should/could have been quicker. This session is one of the cornerstones of my marathon race prep stage. Flat out race followed by a long 2½ hour run the day after. In this evenings run I was able to run 2 miles downhill at marathon pace for miles 14 & 15. If I had ran Craughwell yesterday to my ability and not taken the easy options there is no way I would have had Marathon Pace in my legs this evening let alone in the second half of that run.

Another PB

I have discussed the mental aspect of races and normally I am pretty solid in this department, but yesterday was a different story. When my alarm went at 10 o’ Clock on Sunday Morning I was having to work to get out of the bed. I even contemplated no bothering to go but eventually I convinced myself it was better to go. Arrived in Craughwell and very nearly had an incident in the Car Park with a certain boardsie TBL. Luckily I spotted 3 digits in his plate and decided that hitting it would be expensive. We both had a quick chat and went to registration where he was up to his usual antics looking for a small tee shirt. I just wish the girl had the neck to hand him the xs tee shirt he requested. We went our separate ways for warm up my been 2 miles his been two thumbs on the iPhone. Meet again at the start I was going for sub 69:52 (Tom’s PB) and TBL had been told to do nothing faster then 6:30. I didnt have a GPS watch so I slotted in near TBL and on the off I tried to judge my pace of his 6:30. Should have known better, he never does as he is told. Hit the first Mile marker with him sailing away in the distance and me with my mouth open and a 6:25 opening mile. As there was a stiff breeze and I had tuck into a group I tried to stick with them but the pace was too hot. I fell off the back before mile 2 (13:10) and was left to struggle into the wind on my own until the turn around at 4. Hit halfway with 34 dead on the watch. Comfortable but hard. As the undulating hills started to bite into the legs I began to struggle and pretty quickly started to settle for a 35 min second half to get me under 69 minutes. Then it got real tough at 8 and I took the easy option and readjusted my goal to 69:15 you know the rest I never really got into the cave and just finished out the race. Hamstring gave a twinge over the last mile which gave me another excuse to easy off. Finished in 69:33 nett a PB can do better, but that's for another day

Tired

On Tuesday morning doing a recovery run I pretty much realised that my 5 hour excursion in Tralee had taken more out of me then I bargained. As I was racing in Craughwell on Sunday. I reduced my weekly sessions by a third but kept the intensity the same. By Saturday Evening legs felt really fresh and I was looking forward to a good race in the morning.

A Busy Week

From a running point of view I got a lot in last week. From my training side I did my biggest week ever in 75 Miles and not all where easy miles. Tuesday was interval session of 6*1K @ 5K pace off 75% recovery. Aimed for 4:02 for each but the last one my legs where gone ended up been 4:05 even with me pushing it. The next day was a 12 mile run which I sometimes do in lees road. Anyone who runs or has ran in there will know the undulating nature of the trails. Again another very tough session on the legs. This followed with a 2-3 miles with the C25K group that evening. Recovery day on Friday and Saturday started with the inaugural lees road parkrun which I was acting as one of the timekeepers and was followed later that evening by a 8 mile General Aerobic Run. I have started to make this a fartlek in Ballybeg Woods with and one minute get up as fast as I can climb on a slope of over 45°. Overall the session is not hard but the hills add the reminder of what it is like to be flat out without battering the legs to death. Sunday saw me finish the week with the small job of pacing the Tralee Marathon for the 5 hour bus.

parkrun comes to Ennis

I had been asked to have a look at a suitable course for the parkrun in Lee’s road Ennis. The run was to take place as much as possible in the wooded section and we could not use the cross country track as it crossed the entrance road. This would mean the course would be very undulating and no mater what way it went would have some tough short climbs. The finalised course had some reservations regarding the finish area so on Friday Night we changed it to allow it finish and start in a wide area but this meant 2 loops up a very steep hill. On the day we had 130 runners which was very good considering the 2 largest Primary schools had Confirmation that morning. No major issues on the day and I was well impressed by the concept, and hopefully this will go from strength to strength in the future. The course lived up to its billing only one runner under 20 minutes.

In Kerry again

My second year to pace this at 5 hours. Between 50 miles in the legs and only 3 hours sleep on Saturday as I was gigging to say the least I was not fresh. Recently with the C25K group if I don't wear 2 pairs of gloves my hands get numb. Several times when getting ready one of our pacing team tried to relive me of a pair but I was having none of it. The wind factor today would mean I was in for a long cold day. Got to the start and noted numbers where down on last year. My starting group consisted of 5-6 Kerry Crusaders ladies and a few lads willing to take a risk running with them. Soon we where off and moving along nicely. Mile One no marker not to worry, Mile two none again by the time I heard Garmin's beeping around me for the third time there still was no sign of a marker. Final saw the three mile marker but it was way out, now starting to worry as 11:25 pace is not anywhere near a natural pace for me. The fourth Mile marker appeared to be correct but we where now close to a minute up. Group was going along nicely plenty of chat. Got to the turn in Banna a nice section but on the day the wind was now in our face so I gave back the minute hear and in the climb back up to Ardfert. At this point I had noticed my group of Crusaders had got noticeable quieter and over the next 2-3 miles they fell away. Coming out of Ardfert there now was only two left in the group. Paul and Donie, Donie was chatting away but Paul had got noticeably quieter. The pull up to Chruch Hill would see him fall off the back. At this point we had caught a cork native with plenty of support. Even managed to snag me a Cork flag as they passed cheering in the car. The two guys where going well and picked up a bit as we entered Fenit. This left me on my own. From here to Tralee it was a lonesome run with a cold headwind and I was now glad my fellow pacer didn't snag my gloves as at least my hands where warm. Passed Donie at 23 his race was done. He had mentioned several time that he always fades at this point. Again proves if you believe its going to happen you will always be correct. I was at this point the most hated runner on the course. There was maybe 7-8 runners ahead of me dreading my approach, stealing the odd glance behind to see if I was catching them. For some reason all but one stayed ahead. I caught 4 of them but three passed me again on the way into Tralee determined not to let me catch them again. Pretty soon the finish was there and I crossed 4:59:20. The lack of a 26 Mile marker had me in a bit of a panic but Once I saw the finish I knew my pace was okay. Thought I was good snagging myself 2 chocolate Santa’s only to discover later some intrepid young lad got his hands on Ten of them.

Hard Times come again

Getting close to Boston which means the old P&D session of a  prep Race followed by a long slow run. There was plenty to choose from so I decided to have a crack at a very soft 10K PB time of 43:20. My gut on this was I am between 41:30 and 42:30. I chose to go with the Hurley Hoey 10K, having ran this previously and sections of the course on training runs I had a fair idea of what to expect on the day. Race Day was dry but a stiff breeze would be against us on he uphill section between the 2K mark and a little shy of halfway. Did a 2 mile warm up as an out and back of the last mile and lined up very close to the front, as mostly casual runners doing this so I didn’t want to get caught behind them. We got off pretty much on time which was good as I had decided that a base layer would be too much for racing today and went with the hardy runner uniform of just shorts and club singlet. This race is hosted in the grounds of Doora Barefield GAA club so there where plenty of eager young lads who took off ahead of me in the first Km in various GAA club and county shirts. I thought I had paced this right until I read the watch passing the 1 K mark 3:40 shite Sherlock out too fast. Second Km came and 7:30 on the watch (going to pay for this), but once we turned at the Shibeen Pub it was uphill and into a stiff wind. The wind seemed to die down a bit from earlier which was a welcome relief but my pace dropped to 4:30 ish. I knew at 5K we would turn out of the wind so I plugged away until then. Halfway came 20:48 on the watch and from here to the finish was wind assisted. Started to pick off the GAA jerseys one by one all the way towards last Km. Really enjoyed this section of the race, was starting to hurt but the added incentive of passing young bucks was keeping me going strong. One persistent guy just would not let me pass. We passed several runners at this point but every time I went to go by he found more. I was really beginning to hurt so Once the turn to the finish (200m) came I made one more burst but he took off and left me as if I was standing. A look at the finish gantry showed 41:48 (41:46 net) as I passed under. Forgot to stop the watch and congratulated my opponent over the last Km. A new PB or rather a time I should really have set at some point last year.

The Day After

Having done this before I was putting it off ( the torture) for most of Sunday but it was such a lovely afternoon I just could not pass up the opportunity to run in such abnormally pleasant day considering what we have experienced recently. Previously I have done this type of long run session after race in a loop in case I have a need to pull up if something is not right. Halfway through the first loop the legs where feeling very good I decided to do an out and back instead. Best decision every. Run was really invigorating and it only really started to get tough for the last 2 miles where I just eased down the pace and got it done. 16 miles in 2:20 ish on a day like Sunday really more then makes up for all the hard/cold/wet runs over the winter. For a finish I could not figure out why I was putting this off for so long on Sunday.

Step up

Mileage has really come up since I started to concentrate on P&D 55-70 Plan. Even with only 28 Days in February I still managed to equal my largest monthly mileage of 220 Miles. While some runs have been very hard due to fatigue this week saw a pencilled in recovery week. By Friday morning I was really feeling fresh. So much so I decided that the 4 miles Easy/Recovery where not going to serve any purpose other then add miles to a total so I decided not to run but do 40 or so lengths of the local pool instead.

Parkruns

In Two weeks a new Parkrun will start in Lees Road Ennis. A place I know only too well and I was asked to map out some possible routes for the run, and while the final route is not finished I can say its one of those seanic routes with rolling hills. On Saturday I travelled to the nearest Parkrun in Clarisford, Killaloe just to get a flavour of what the event is about. After a quick race brief course description we went to the start and 123 we are off. Trotted along at an easy pace finishing in 25:06, but still managing 1st in my age category. Luckily Curley Cunningham is older then me yet he manage to pass me twice. Overall it does what it says on the tin. A timed run over 5K Distance in a park. While around 75 ran I would expect initially the numbers to be bigger in Ennis. We just need to get enough volunteers for the first few runs. Anyone interested drop an email to john[at]claresportspartnership[dot]ie.

Spring is in the Air

Definitely not. Sundays return to the Marathon distance was a tough one. An encounter that will some day serve me well At the start of lap 3 in UL at about Mile 14 I got hit with what I can only describe as the hail storm from hell. Nasty ice bullets hopping off me. The easy thing to do was turn left into the start finish area and DNF. Did it enter my head no, I luckily had my head in the right place for these sort of conditions. I soldiered on and after struggling for much of the first half. It seemed to galvanise me to a strong finish. Talking with a certain RD from Clonakilty afterwards I would concur with his assessment that racing is 99% in your head. He is right, if your head is in the right place your body will cope with most anything you ask it to do. Sunday’s run ended up been on paper a stroll at 4:05:00 but in fact it was much more then that, it was the manner in which I finished out the run that gave me as much real satisfaction as if I had done a PB. A special word about a guy who never says much but on Sunday delivered some of the best facilities we could ask for. Together with his family we where really well looked after in the form of a stream of never ending tea/coffee and all sorts of confectionary with the added bonus of a nice hot shower afterwards. Derek and Maryse take a bow.