A Slow Journey to Faster Times

Provisional results are in. MKDTH blew the field away (pending barryoneill50's result) making a mockery of the handicap.

yaboya1 - 37:xx
Calvin Johnson: 39:xx
barryoneill50- ?
Dubgal72 - 42:xx
adrian522 - 44:xx
Pacing Mule - 49:xx
MKDTH - 54:xx

Enniscorthy 10k

Final standings (after the handicap has been applied):

Runner|Time
MKDTH|34:27
Calvin Johnson|36:13
barryoneill50|36:19
adrian522|36:54
Dubgal72|37:13
yaboya1|37:17
Pacing Mule|39:18



If you take out the winner, there's just over a minute covering the next five. Not a bad performance by the handicapper (even if I do say myself :pac:).

My own report will follow either later on or tomorrow.

This is now my most competed in race having completed it for the third year in a row this morning. I can't really find fault with it. Considering it was only €10 to enter, it puts a lot of more expensive/less well run races to shame.


Pre-Race

I was really looking forward to this. After a small pb in Raheny and a good blow out in Trim last Sunday, I felt I was starting to come back to the boil and fancied a big run. I knew I'd make an improvement on my 39:07 here from last year, but by how much was the question. The course is not the easiest, but does allow for a pretty fast finish with a nice downhill for the last km. The build up to this race was made even more exciting than usual with a big boards handicap title on the line. My training wasn't perfect this week, but a few pints on Wednesday and an unplanned rest day actually left me feeling really fresh and I knew I'd have no excuses no matter what happened. After a light breakfast I picked up Pacing Mule, Calvin Johnson & MKDTH en route and we discussed tactics & targets on the way down. Arrived with just under an hour to spare and got registration sorted pretty quickly. I even won a spot prize (tin of Cadburys Celebrations) because my race number ended in a 4. Collect! We also received a special 10th anniversary beanie hat in the race pack. After a quick change & toilet stop, we jogged down to the start raring to go. The waiting was over, the bets were on. Time for the main event .


The Race

We got to the start early enough, meaning we were pushed back a little bit by the runners arriving later. When the MC called out on the megaphone for people to move back a little bit, I helped them along while moving the other way, inching my way closer to the front. By the time we were ready to go I was happy with my position. Gun went pretty close to the advertised start time.


Kms 1-5 (3:49, 3:43, 3:44, 3:49, 3:42)

I set off quite near the front, yet still had the token joggers with tracksuit tops tied around their waist in front of me. Zig zagged in & out until I was almost on pace just before the hairpin turn that comes very early on. Once we took that, there's a climb almost immediately. As mentioned, I've run this race twice before so I knew what to expect. My average split needed to be 3:42 if I wanted to go below 37, so I was adamant not to let any of them go above 3:50, hoping I could make up any lost seconds coming downhill on the way back home. I was struggling early on to hold this pace as we moved uphill but I was screaming at myself inside to endure the necessary pain, as if I could be on target at halfway I'd almost certainly be capable of hanging on. Flat to the boards from the start, I passed the 5k marker in 18:4x. More than ten seconds behind target. It was going to be tough, but I always knew that anyway.

Kms 6-10 (3:50, 3:48, 3:43, 3:45, 3:26)

A nice little downhill greets you as you begin the second half of the race. People with no experience of the course are likely to get complacent here, but I knew we had a steep climb coming up in the next few hundred metres. I let the hill take me down it a fast as possible, knowing my pace was about to be severely affected on the way back up. It slowed me down so badly that this was my slowest kilometre of the race. I knew I was a little outside of target now, but wasn't sure how much. The seventh kilometre of a 10k race is not really the place to try and do any sort of maths. I was hurting badly, but consoled myself that I only had 4k of suffering left. That's not even 2.5 miles. Come on. Dig in. It's still within reach. I remember looking straight ahead at this point and seeing a lot of people in front. Normally in these races I'm pretty lonely at this stage. No one else was going to pass me. Not this week. There was a group of three just ahead of me, including what I found out later was the leading woman. We'd been overtaking each other throughout the race so far. I made it my goal to pass those three. That would keep my mind occupied instead of thinking about the pain. So I slowly moved closer. I was noticing everything now. The little breeze in our faces felt like a gale force wind preventing me moving any faster, but I managed to reel them in soon enough. I tried to pass. A guy in a black & red singlet kept sensing my overtaking attempt and moving into my path to block it. I hadn't got the energy to move any further out to go around. I sat on his shoulder for a minute pondering my options. The girl had now moved two yards ahead of him with another guy in front of her. The 9k marker was taking forever to appear. Then it emerged from behind a bush and was gone in a flash. Eyeballs out now. 1k to go and downhill to the finish. The prospect of running faster so I could stop sooner was an inviting one. I moved out to the right and put the foot down as if I was doing a set of strides. Got by my nemesis before he could react. He hadn't got the strength to accelerate. Now I had to get by the girl. She proved difficult, but I could smell, hear and almost see the finish line. It was going to take a lot to stop me going past. She battled admirably, but I finally got by her with about 200m to go. Then came the last guy. Unfortunately for me his appetite for the finish line seemed as great as mine and although I was really picking up speed, I never got close enough to threaten him. Crossed the line happy with my run knowing I gave it absolutely everything I had. I could not have run a second faster today.

Official Time: 37:17

Garmin data: http://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/692768346


Post-Race

I met Krusty immediately after the line and chatted for a minute. Another really solid run from him. Calvin Johnson came in just over two minutes behind me for a pb and his first sub 40, meaning my chances of winning the boards handicap title were already gone. We then met adrian522, Dubgal72 & Pacing Mule who also ran big pb's, but still trailed CJ in the handicap. None of us knew what barryoneill50 looked like, so weren't sure how he'd done. As it stood at that point, it was all down to the run of MKDTH. Anything in the very low 56's would probably do. Myself & CJ decided to walk over towards the finish to see could we spot him. Then out of the mist, he appeared. This thundering running colossus who looked like he'd just joined in. I could hear the commentator from the 1973 Belmont Stakes in my ears "Tremendous machine". Overtaking people at a rate of five per second, we knew we'd done our money. Horse racing fans who were present in the straight likened him to Xenephon in the 2003 Coral Cup. I was half expecting him to take out a cigar and walk over the line whilst blowing the smoke in my face to take the p*ss. Talk about egg on your face :pac:.


Thoughts

I love this race. I got a well run, accurately measured 10k race, a beanie hat, a spread fit for a king afterwards and the added bonus of a spot prize. It was €10. How could you not go back? It's a challenging enough course, but I don't think I spoke to anyone who didn't like it. Regarding the boards handicap team, I thought everyone ran well. Apart from myself it was pb's all round and some by quite significant margins. Loads more improvement to come from everyone too.

Regarding my own performance, I'm very happy with it. I ran my heart out from start to finish and can honestly say I didn't leave a second out there. I almost came last in a handicap where I framed the margins, but I think that was more down to the great performances of other runners rather than a bad run myself. I was only 10 seconds off my pb and feel like I'm a long way off peak fitness. I also think KU was spot on with what he posted a few weeks ago regarding holding a good pace comfortably, but being out on your feet going a little bit quicker. I think when I master 155/160/165bpm following the HADD plan, some great times could be possible at all distances. Looks like Bohermeen is next for me. In the meantime I'm off to find an ATM with my tail firmly between my legs .

Monday 9th February - 60 minutes Easy
7.46m @ 8:07p/m average (125bpm avg)

Just a very easy run to shake out the legs after yesterday. Delighted with the pace considering the effort. Splits are in kilometres as I forgot to change to Garmin back to miles. Hoping to get four solid weeks of HADD training in before Bohermeen.


Splits:

Km 1 - 5:06
Km 2 - 4:58
Km 3 - 5:07
Km 4 - 5:04
Km 5 - 5:08
Km 6 - 5:08
Km 7 - 5:03
Km 8 - 5:01
Km 9 - 4:58
Km 10 - 4:56
Km 11 - 4:59
Km 12 - 5:01

AuldManKing wrote: »

thats an amazing session - on your ownsome??

Thanks. Yeah on my own straight after work. Glad to get it done. Haven't done a Steady session in a few weeks because of all the racing.