Festina lente

BHAA Zurich mile

Last track race of the year, thank ****.
Lovely sunny day over in Santry, if a bit windy, but as I was warming up around the track I just didn't feel fast. All in the mind of course, but I felt the same during the race itself - I was running, but I didn't feel like I was racing :rolleyes:
Time was 5.32 on my watch, a couple of seconds slower than I expected but about right, right in the middle of the (5) runners in my standard and I think about the middle of the whole race. Maybe some day (when I move up an age group ) I'll train properly for these things and feel like I'm getting them right, but not yet...

September: 1/7.19
this year: 235/2586.61

10.51 in 50.48 (4.50 pace)

Bit of a stupid run home. It often happens when I get stuck waiting at traffic lights in the early stages of the run - I speed up too much in compensation, and the pace on the Garmin is fine but only because it doesn't reflect how fast I'm really going. It's not the end of the world if I run at 4.40 pace for a while, just bad discipline...

September: 3/35.45
this year: 237/2614.87

8.6k in 48.40 (5.39 pace)

Recovery run into work this morning.

September: 4/44.05
this year: 238/2623.47

jcsmum wrote: »

You missed a tough session up in stocking lane!

Yeah, it was just too awkward with the kids still in Cherryfield. Ah well, plenty of sessions up there to look forward to over the winter...

8.65k in 49.06 (5.40 pace)

Very easy recovery run into work

September: 5/63.34
this year: 238/2642.76

8.82k in 44.56 (5.06 pace)

Another very easy run, home from work. Was thinking of finishing with some strides but didn't bother in the end. Mini-taper for Saturday :pac:

Then 3k with the kids at training. Millions of them there tonight :eek:

September: 6/74.16
this year: 239/2653.58

Looked out the window this morning and saw Irish summer - grey and overcast.
But by the time I left for the race, it had turned into Irish September - blue skies and heat :rolleyes:.

Got up to Firhouse early enough, registered, and went out for a bit of a walk on the route. Bumped into AJCOT and Aimman, so went out for a bit of a warmup jog with them. Didn't feel I needed it really, it was a warm day and I felt loose, so only went for 2k. Bumped into ecoli too, looking ready to get some revenge on the roads.

10.03k in 38.08 (3.48 pace) (38.07 chip time)

Numbers were a bit small for this race, less than 200 people, though it might be for the best since the roads weren't closed. For once I started near the start (there wasn't a start line marked, but as I stood near the van waiting to find out where we were starting from people started lining up behind and beside me, so I ended up at the front almost by accident:))
First 500m were spent getting off the back road and onto a main road, and the race was spread out before we were halfway there. Onto the main route and straight into a downhill, first k was the bottom of the hill. 3.32 was way too fast, but okay on a downhill, right? Turned the corner and onto the Firhouse Road. This is where you pay for the downhill, it's a long straight uphill drag, and always into the wind. About halfway along the road I realised I was faced with one of those choices the better runners talk about in their logs. I could stick with the guy just in front of me and probably come in under 39, a decent PB. Or I could follow the guys just in front of him, who'd just passed us by and were inching away, and go for my 38.30 target time. ****ing better runners and their ****ing logs - I must stop reading them:rolleyes:.
So the next few km were spent hanging on to the back of this group of 2/3 guys - 2k in 3.44, 3k 3.54, 4k (finally off the Firhouse road) in 3.47, and back to the 5k marker in 3.48. First 5k in 18.44, a new PB, but this was where the pain really started. Hit the downhill section again, but the guys in front were starting to move away and I couldn't keep up. The gap was only a few metres as we turned onto the Firhouse Road - 6k in 3.41 because of the downhill - but I couldn't stop it growing. Halfway down the road I look at my watch, lap pace is 4.06, look at the guys about 10m in front, and I think I've blown it, gone out too hard in the first half and now I've nothing left. Start doing calculations in my head - how much can I slow down in the next few k and still get 38.30? The answers seem crazy so I ignore them and just try to keep running.
Around 7k (3.59) the guys up ahead catch another runner, a guy in a Rathfarnham top who is also slowing down. Right, he's having a worse time than me, he'll be my target. Slowly start to make up the distance on him (and stop losing ground on the other guys by the time we turn off Firhouse Road). 8k 4.01 Around 8.5k I catch up with the Rathfarnham guy, but he puts in a burst to hold on to his place. 9k in 3.51. Catch the Rathfarnham guy again, and this time he has nothing left, I can put some distance between us at a corner. Last k flys by - I feel knackered but also know I can make it in for a massive PB - stop my watch on 38.08, more than a minute off my PB

September: 8/94.92
this year: 241/2674.34

Dotcomdolly wrote: »

It's all down to the paleo dinners his missus makes him I tell ya

I still get my bread and spuds :pac:
but I was down to (just) under 10 stone when I weighed myself yesterday. I'm starting to think about what food to add to my diet rather than taking stuff away. hmm, craft beers and iron tablets...?

6.37k in 37.10 (5.50 pace)

Sore and slow recovery run this morning.

September: 9/101.29
this year: 242/2680.71