Send in the Clowns - BAC 10K Challenge

Today: 7 miles with strides
A growing stiffness from Tuesday's race, but two easy days should help that along nicely. Easy recovery run with 6 x strides thrown in. Thinking I may head down to the 5 mile race in Meath on Saturday, as the 1 mile race on Tuesday didn't really fit into the program's 8k - 15k tune-up race, but will see how the legs are repairing.

Summary: 7 miles in 56 mins, @7:40/mile, HR=126

cwgatling wrote: »

I'd say it's typical for the distance. Did the exact same thing last year (mile race on a whim in the middle of marathon training) and afterwards it felt like I'd ripped my trachea open, no exaggeration. The feeling lasted for ages too.
Great time, well done.

That's great to know cwgatling. Not just me then. Thanks!

Program called for an 8k-15k race today. I toyed with doing the 5k race tomorrow, or even just claiming that Tuesday's track race ticked the box, but inside I would've felt like I was cheating. Along came the Fr. Murphy AC 5 mile road race in Meath, and I even managed to coax the OH to come along and run too and it fit the bill perfectly. I'm not really a 5 mile man (10k races just seem a lot more meaningful) but any port in a storm and a storm it was. The weather on the way down was hellish. A down-pour that created large floods on the motorway, and we were tempted to hit the next off-ramp and turn back for home. But we convinced ourselves it would be better in Kildalkey, and would be perfect come race-time.

Registration was done in a flash and I headed out for a couple of warm-up miles with Mithril, Pronator and Abhainn. We spent most of the time admiring Abhainn's shiny shoes, that clearly allowed him to float over the large puddles during the race, as they were just as clean afterwards, while everything and everyone else was covered in a couple of layers of road dirt.

The plan was to break 28 minutes (and claim those pints that theRoadRunner promised to me back in December (it wasn't a time-bounded bet, was it?!)). I realized that I hadn't figured out what the appropriate target pace was, but reckoned somewhere around 5:35/mile should cover it.

The race kicked off, and as usual, the pace was far too sharp, but instead of dropping back to the nearest group, I picked up the pace and caught up with a couple of lads in front. The watch was showing 5:29/mile, but it felt comfortable so I figured it was fine. As we rounded the first corner and headed down the straight, the average pace was showing 5:39. From that point onwards, I decided to largely ignore the watch and stick with the current pace.

First two miles were comfortable, but after that the hard work started. I just haven't done enough work at this kind of pace to avoid having to grind out a result, but grind I did. Looking up, I could still see the large part of the leading pack after 2 miles, which was a bit of a shock. I made up one or two spots (not that I cared that much) but by 2.5 miles, I was working hard and begging for the finish line. One runner (Rory Mooney) constantly 2 feet away, provided a much needed target, so I bedded in behind him and he dragged me around, before pushing on at around 3.5 miles. The 4 mile marker gave me some small amount of hope, but by 4.5 I was dying a death (and blaming Tuesday's race on my tiredness, which was just an excuse). I didn't know if I could keep going, but finally, I saw a housing estate up ahead, which signaled a return to civilization, and hopefully, the finishing gantry. Entered the estate, and made out the time on the clock, which read 27:26, with around 120m and a couple of bends to go. For some reason I am magnetically attracted to finish-line clocks, so I picked up the pace to get better acquainted, and crossed the finish line in 27:44 (unofficial).

Watch measured the course short by 100m, but analyzing the route afterwards, I reckon the weather created problems with accuracy (or else the US is gearing up for war again, and has re-deployed some of their satellites!).

The usual arrival of phlegm from the very depths of Mordor left me doubled-over and dry heaving for a couple of mins, but I soon recovered enough to enjoy the new PB. Four minutes off my last 5 mile race, but it was in 2009, so it doesn't really count. Happy that I'm hitting the right notes in training and racing, and have definitely jumped a level from my Chicago build-up. Is it enough? Who knows, but I'm certainly giving myself a decent chance and picking up lots of PBs along the way.

Race: 5 miles in 27:44, @5:36/mile, HR=170 (Max=178), TE=4.3

Total: 10.6 Miles for the day.

BeepBeep67 wrote: »

Any readjusted targets?

Nah. Still foolish enough to stick with my original target. :rolleyes:

meathcountysec wrote: »

Well done yesterday. We have had a few complaints from residents along the course complaining about a mad runner vaulting over their ditches/fences in an attempt to go as the crow flies. Wasn't you by any chance?

Nah, I was the one in the Sli Cualann bib, driving the Massey across the ditches. I was sorry we didn't manage to get another pillager for our flat-lands raiding party. We would have had a decent shot. Of course we'd have to spell the name of the club right (three different spellings on the results sheet. ).

Haha. This abuse from the boxer-short bandit, and the hardy-hill runner turned Armani smock wearer?