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.

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

More Races

Its a mugs Game

Believe it or not this was my first time to run the famous Ballycotton 10. After foolishly sticking my name on the list of those wishing to travel last Christmas I suddenly realised that this was two weeks after Seville, well there was no way I was ever going to be racing this. Meet with Tom and Mike in Sixmilebridge to travel down, there was also Seven others traveling from the club as well so a good contingent went down. Considering  the location and the possible numbers travelling we didn't get delayed getting to the Car park Number 2 which was virtually empty. A quick mile warm up followed by a club photo shoot and then off to the start. Plan was to stay with Mike and Tom at Eight minute mile pace. The start is a bit crazy, 3,500 runners barrelling down a narrow street, a fall or trip could result in carnage, luckily we all got away without any major incidents. Ran the first two miles with the lads but could not believe how good the legs felt and how easy I was going. I upped the pace to 7:30 and finished the last 2 miles pretty much close to race pace. Ended up with a time of 75:41 and a Ballycotton Mug for my troubles. We didn't hang around afterwards as I was working later so a quick departure was required. Meet Thomas would had the agony of 101st and no t-shirt yet again. I have no doubt he will get one soon. Finished off the day with a trip to Dinos in Cork for a great traditional feed off Cod and Home made Chips.

The Peoples Race

As Ballycotton had gone so well the next day out was going to be pacing 5 Hours in the Tralee International Marathon. For those interested that's 11:25 minute miles. I had run a trial on the Wednesday and found it slow but I knew once I got into the rhythm on the day it would not be an issue. As I was working on Saturday Night it meant an early rise at 6 to drive to Tralee and get into town about 8:15. Picked up my number when Tom informed me that I was going to have a good group for the day. He wasn't far wrong as I had an absolute ball of a day with all those from the “Born to Run” club in Tralee. The term fun runners has been used to describe runners who take more then 4 hours to complete a marathon. That may be true but god did we have some fun during the day. It probably was the best bit of crack I have had in a race ever and the day and miles just flew by. I had a very big group from the start until we hit the dreaded Barrow Hill. It is steep and had my calves bursting so much so that I announced that we would walk up it. Much to everyone's delight. It and the drag up to Chruchtown scattered the group I had and was left with 7-8 who continued with me until we got to Tralee. The climb back into the wind was much harder then it was at mile 1 while Three of my group kicked on the remaining 4 dropped off leaving me solo, which was disappointing given how close they where to the end. One caught me up again and kicked on for the last half mile and the others to their credit kept running and came in within 2-3 minutes of me.
Meet up with a good gang of MCI afterwards in the Brandon where Dipak celebrated his 200th Marathon (kept that one quiet) and great to see Paul Brunnock back running. Nice bit of grub before I made my way for the ferry for a gig in West Clare later that Afternoon.