Festina lente

10.94k in 51.22 (4.42 average)

Tough club session tonight.

Started off by arriving late. Ran down trying to catch up with the group, and ran into the coach on his bike. "The others have gone down there, to start a tempo session" "The others have started a tempo session, and are running down there? Oh, better speed up and catch up with them" So about 2k warmup, the second half of which was at 5k pace. Met up with the others, and they'd just had a gentle jog, following a different route to the start point :rolleyes:
A minute or two to catch our breaths and work out the plan - 2 miles tempo pace up the road, a couple of minutes break, then back again. Up the road is slightly uphill, and into what wind there was - took about 13.30, about 10k pace. Then back down again - there was some talk about using the time for the second run to handicap a club race, so no slacking allowed. 12.22 for the run back, more like 5k pace. (It is faster that direction though)
Then a jog back to base - except I had to pick up the pace halfway back when I realised I was going to be late to pick up the kid from his training.
Very tired now...

this year: 61/621.31

BHAA Maynooth XC - 4 miles in 26.47

Probably my last XC of the season, so although my legs were still a bit tired from Thursday I decided to give it my best shot.
Got out to Maynooth early, which was just as well, because after parking my car in the shopping centre I wandered over to the north campus to try to find the race. Met a couple of other runners over there, similarly lost, and one of them had the bright idea of checking the directions. We should have been in the south campus. :rolleyes: I didn't know there was one Got a lift over from one of them, so we all made it to registration with a few minutes to spare.
Got up to the course just as the women's race was starting. The sunny morning was starting to turn bad - clouds appearing, wind picking up... it looked like it was going to start lashing rain, but in the end it held off.
Did a few minutes warmup eventually, and then lined up for the start. Wanted to make sure I didn't get stuck at the back again, so this time I was probably to close to the front, only a few feet back, so the first, small lap of the field saw a good few people pass me out as the field sorted itself out.
The first big lap was still a bit crowded, but by the second there was enogh room for everybody. I was already feeling Thursday's session in my legs, and my splits show a steadily declining pace - 4.01 for the first k, 4.18 for the last full k. But I was in the nice position of still being faster than everyone around me, so I could work my way through the field, closing on one runner after another. Much easier to push the tiredness to t back of your mind whenyou're passing people out.
My legs were pretty much gone by the end. One guy passed me with about a k to go, and he became my target but I just could not reel him in. I closed the gap on him and the other runner in front over the last 500m but, especially with the wind on the last straight, just couldn't put in enough speed to catch them. I was wrecked when I finished, too tired to care about stopping the watch and sat down to catch my breath for a minute or two before I even left the chute.

Met beeduybe just afterwards and had a quick cup of tea (no brack!:eek:) before rushing off...

this month: 3/26.07
this year: 63/634.42

edited to add: results out now. 89th of 198, up to standard 11. Won't be doing any standards-sharking in the summer league, that's for sure...

8.75k in 48.06 (5.30 pace)

Jog into work with bag.

this month: 6/50.01
this year: 66/658.36

8.74k in 46.15 (5.17 pace)

Easy run into work

this month: 8/74.12
this year: 68/682.47

8.75k in 48.29 (5.32 pace)

Easy run into work. Not watching the pace at all, because the next few days are going to be slow.

this month: 9/90.03
this year: 69/698.38

7.08k in 38.19 (5.25 pace)

Recovery run around the local park. Started listening to the 10 O'Clock live podcasts on these runs, they're just the right length and funny enough to distract on what is otherwise a boring run...

this month: 11/115.42
this year: 71/723.77

9.7k in 50.47 (5.14 pace)

Easy run into work. These runs have to be fairly direct, but I'm trying to gradually extend them over the year...

this month: 13/137.22
this year: 73/745.57

15.21k in 79.42 (5.14 average)

Easy run home. Legs were feeling pretty tired today, so I wanted to go as easy as possible, without getting into recovery run territory. Surprised to see how fast that turned out to be.

this month: 14/161.44
this year: 74/769.79

8.72k in 50.55 (5.50 average)

very slow and easy run into work today. legs a little sore, so will be taking it very easy tomorrow too.

this month: 16/177.82
this year: 76/785.17