Send in the Clowns - BAC 10K Challenge

Izoard

Great report KC - a time most here would kill for, in cartoon conditions - nice one.

nerraw1111

Epic race and review. Sounds like an amazing experience. You can dine off that race for the rest of your running career.

“Hot? Wasn’t as hot as that day in Boston it 2000 and dickety. 45 degrees the clocks read.”

Younganne

Wow that is some report and that was some marathon.
I hope by now the recovery is starting and the Pride has come to you becasue you should be proud. Feel as proud as when you were running the last mile with the Irish flag.....Congrats.:D

pgmcpq

Great run Krusty. You were desperately unlucky with that weather and have every reason to chalk this up as a great run. With perspective you will be proud of this run and the discipline that allowed you complete it (as ever in a time I'd kill for).

But really ... the Red Sox ...say it ain't so ???

Nando.

Enormous kudos is deserved to you KC for such a brave run in Boston. As a silent follower of your log, I have benefited over the last couple of years from your advice (particularly the beer stuff ) and would like to echo "Cutex" earlier post. I could sence your anxiety before the race and tracked your progress throughout the race (abandomed work Monday afternoon and must have searched for "Condom" on at least ten occasions, no Gary "Condom" running Boston this year :eek:) realizing that your pain was building. What I like about you KC is that you wear your heart on your sleeve and when things get tough you persevere, you stick at it, learn from the experience and plan for the next challenge.

After good days and difficult days (like Monday) you generously come back here and honestly lay it out, allowing people like me to benefit from your experience. You did leave the side down with regard to the Weseley girls but I'm sure our Limerick girls would oblige and gladly welcome you back on the 6th of May at the Great Limerick Run , probably bit to soon for the run.

Well done Krusty, cheers:).

Marthastew

+1 on all of the wonderful comments that have been posted Gary.

With regard to passing up on the kisses from those Wellesley girls can I remind you that even with such a challenging run in infernal conditions you have BQed for next year:)

Krusty_Clown

Kurt Godel wrote: »

Fair play to you, great read, and a tough run bourn well. You're some clown all right with your showboating. Hope they gave you a shiny medal after all that;)

You'll be delighted to hear that I got a lovely shiny medal for my troubles. And a goody bag. It was the goody bag that made all of the suffering worthwhile.

TheRoadRunner wrote:

I'm going to organise a whip round and send you to this marathon.

How's the whip-around going? Can I use it to buy BriandeRunner's London entry off him?

0407 wrote:

For interest's sake where did you finish overall?

I finished 689th out of the 21k finishers. my original goal was to finish around the top 300, but some runners just fared better than others in the heat. All men are not created equal!

dev123 wrote:

Have you made any decision on whats up next race wise or will you let the dust settle on this one for while?

It's just too early to say. I wont really know how the recovery has gone for a few more weeks. Would love to smash my 10k PB and try to take nearly a minute off it (on a flat course, no wind, no sunshine, no heat, all downhill. ).

theboyblunder wrote:

Would it be worth recovering and trying kildare - not aim for 2:42 but get a PB out of this cycle maybe?

Just too early to decide, but not a hope of running Kildare. Short stuff for a while!

newbie runner

epic report and worth the wait ,congrats on a great run in that heat.

Was logging on since monday (about ten times a day) hoping that even due to your obvious disappointment on your race time/pb quest , you'd still give an honest and inspiring report.

which you did with excellence.

thanks

Krusty_Clown

Today: 21 Mile cycle + 5 Mile run
The focus for the last few days has been on replendishing missing nutrients (burgers and beer), but waking up this morning with a mild hangover, I noticed my quads were still shot, so a run was out of the question. So I grabbed my buddy's bike and headed for a spin around Andover and surrounding towns in the sunshine. It was exactly what I needed, and i could feel all of my leg muscles loosening up. After 19 easy miles I found a lovely trail and took the heavy mountain bike up it, back to the house. Afterwards, the legs felt massively improved, so I ditched the bike and headed back down to the trail for an easy 5 mile run.

Summary: cycle and run

drquirky

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Today: 21 Mile cycle + 5 Mile run
The focus for the last few days has been on replendishing missing nutrients (burgers and beer), but waking up this morning with a mild hangover, I noticed my quads were still shot, so a run was out of the question. So I grabbed my buddy's bike and headed for a spin around Andover and surrounding towns in the sunshine. It was exactly what I needed, and i could feel all of my leg muscles loosening up. After 19 easy miles I found a lovely trail and took the heavy mountain bike up it, back to the house. Afterwards, the legs felt massively improved, so I ditched the bike and headed back down to the trail for an easy 5 mile run.

Summary: cycle and run

Hey KC-
Great running in tough conditions....Sounds like you enjoyed Boston as well- you liked Fenway? Also did you guys end up going to the Public House? If so any beers stand out for you?

Krusty_Clown

drquirky wrote: »

Hey KC-
Great running in tough conditions....Sounds like you enjoyed Boston as well- you liked Fenway? Also did you guys end up going to the Public House? If so any beers stand out for you?

I'm still enjoying Boston. Fenway was an amazing experience. We got to enjoy an amazing game, which had everything from home runs, to walk-downs, everything. Loved it! It was the perfect way to chill and spend a few hours the day before the race. Only regret was that I didn't get to enjoy a few beers during the game, which seems to be an essential ingredient! We also got our photo taken with Clay Buchholz and got to meet a couple of the regular Baseball TV presenters, who I must confess I had never heard of before.

We didn't make it to the publick house unfortunately. Instead we opted for the more central Pour House, which served up some tasty burgers and pretty good beer. Last night we were out in Summerville and we ate in The Foundry with friends, which had an incredible selection of draft craft beers. Stopped off in a few more bars in the area (Sligo dive bar and The Burren) before retreating back to Andover. Summerville is a really happening suburb. Great fun altogether. Staying out in Andover this evening to sample some of the local brews and steaks then back home tomorrow.

Krusty_Clown

The agony and the ecstasy: before, during, after.
it's a little like Doctor Jekkyl and Mr Hyde.

belcarra

You are aware the flag is back to front in those photos?
Looks like it's back to Boston with you again next year to get it right!!:D

Great run & report Krusty, unlucky with the weather but they say third times a charm!

Krusty_Clown

belcarra wrote: »

You are aware the flag is back to front in those photos?

Depends whether you're looking at it from the front or from the rear.
I had the same perspective problems in the pub later that evening, but was rapidly corrected by the former school-teacher KentuckyPete who set me straight.

another world

Great running, Krusty. It's been great following the log up to this race. Bad luck with the weather but well done getting an excellent time nonetheless. Looking forward to seeing you get the 2.42 your training deserves.

antomagoo

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

The agony and the ecstasy: before, during, after.
it's a little like Doctor Jekkyl and Mr Hyde.

Did you forget to pack your Bray singlet, or should that have been Sli Cualainn seeing as you were running outside of Wicklow :pac:

Well done all the same, sounded like sheer hardship.

Krusty_Clown

Today: Easy recovery 10k
Back home with some horrific lag, but there's only one cure for grogginess. Nice to be back to Irish sun (50% rain, 40% cold, 10% warm) for an easy trot in the park in my shiny new Boston running T-shirt. Legs are well on the mend (quads a little sore after 6 miles), but still quite run-down.

Summary: 6 miles

Bally8

Just got round to reading your report there krusty. I have a lump in my throat, your bravery and honesty are inspiring.

Mr Slow

Looks like you didn't want to stray too far from home on that one

Krusty_Clown

Mr Slow wrote: »

Looks like you didn't want to stray too far from home on that one

No fear of that! I've found myself three miles from home before with a nasty limp. It's no fun!

Today: 10.5 mile easy run
A little too soon to hit my regular hills, I opted instead for a run up to Bray head and back by Wind Gates and enjoyed spectacular views over Dublin Bay and Greystones. Good recovery for the soul and for the legs. A little too easy to vent frustrations and start hammering the miles, so I'm going to lock myself into a recovery program, so I ease my way back into the mileage, while I figure out what my next goals are going to be.

Summary: 10.5 miles in 1:18, @7:20/mile, HR=141

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

It dawned on me today whilst doing a 26km Long Run in 30degree heat in Turkey how tough it must have been in Boston. Especially as i struggled with MP +30secs per km pace.
We Irish lads are not built for running in the heat!!

Krusty_Clown

Vaughn Easy Stepchildren wrote: »

It dawned on me today whilst doing a 26km Long Run in 30degree heat in Turkey how tough it must have been in Boston. Especially as i struggled with MP +30secs per km pace.
We Irish lads are not built for running in the heat!!

In the end, I ended up at MP+ 50 seconds, but the degradation over times was exponential! Fair play to you. That's a very long run in those conditions. Hope you were topping up your liquids constantly!

Krusty_Clown

Today: 5 mile recovery run
Just continuing the recovery trend, and adding in more easy running days (hope to be back to running 7 days a week and reasonable mileage from next week). Still jet-laggy, but legs still getting better with every passing day and when I ran my last mile back to work, I barely noticed the hop in my step, with a 6:45 mile.

Summary: 5 miles in 38:32, @7:42/mile, HR=128

pgibbo

Just got around to reading your report KC. Epic, as ever. Sounded like an ANIMAL of a day. Fair play for sticking with it. Have you decided when or where strike 3 is?

Krusty_Clown

pgibbo wrote: »

Just got around to reading your report KC. Epic, as ever. Sounded like an ANIMAL of a day. Fair play for sticking with it. Have you decided when or where strike 3 is?

Thanks pgibbo. No firm plans of yet, other than making sure I recover fully. I wouldn't mind hitting a few shorter distances in the short term future (5k and 10k) and then will start to make firm plans. London 2013 is a big goal, but I have never raced Dublin, so that might be a good choice of marathon to try and take a notch off the PB (very few extreme temperatures recorded in Dublin in October!). Legs still feel like they have a lot of energy, so might give some of the longer distances a pop (e.g. a mountain half marathon/plod).

Last night: 15 x core strength and weights
Getting back into the swing of things again. Starting back at 15 reps and working my way up again.

Today: Rest day
Packed my running bag last night before bed, all ready for an easy 5 or 6 miles today, then realized that I'd run three days on the trot. Even though the legs are feeling good, there's a bit of wisdom sneaking in (or perhaps a fear of Dory Dory reprisals of practicing what you preach), so I left the gear bag at home. I'm suffering junky-shivers. Might go for a cycle later, but the weather forecasts are looking a bit crazy.

BeepBeep67

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Today: Rest day
Packed my running bag last night before bed, all ready for an easy 5 or 6 miles today, then realized that I'd run three days on the trot. Even though the legs are feeling good, there's a bit of wisdom sneaking in (or perhaps a fear of Dory Dory reprisals of practicing what you preach), so I left the gear bag at home. I'm suffering junky-shivers. Might go for a cycle later, but the weather forecasts are looking a bit crazy.

Sounds like you're priming the body for a sub 10min 3k

TheRoadRunner

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Thanks pgibbo. No firm plans of yet, other than making sure I recover fully. I wouldn't mind hitting a few shorter distances in the short term future (5k and 10k) and then will start to make firm plans. London 2013 is a big goal, but I have never raced Dublin, so that might be a good choice of marathon to try and take a notch off the PB (very few extreme temperatures recorded in Dublin in October!).

Let me know if you register for Dublin. I've yet to book family holidays and if you decide to run I may take that week off and stay local as we would be guaranteed high temps and lots of sun. Who needs the medetarian when kc is around to play havoc with the weather

Dory Dory

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Today: Rest day
Packed my running bag last night before bed, all ready for an easy 5 or 6 miles today, then realized that I'd run three days on the trot. Even though the legs are feeling good, there's a bit of wisdom sneaking in (or perhaps a fear of Dory Dory reprisals of practicing what you preach), so I left the gear bag at home. I'm suffering junky-shivers. Might go for a cycle later, but the weather forecasts are looking a bit crazy.

Oh, you have no idea how many times since Boston that I've actually hit the reply button under one of your "I've just ran 10 miles around the promenade and did a few hill repeats all at 7:13 pace and my legs feel great" posts and typed up a very perky dissertation on this very subject of proper post-marathon recovery - complete with charts and graphs and a very nice 4 to 6 week post-recovery plan that starts at week zero, and always opened with "Hi, KC!" - only to hit the delete button.

Krusty_Clown

Dory Dory wrote: »

"I've just ran 10 miles around the promenade;)

Promenade? That some kind of sports drink?

You should know better than to listen to my cataclysmic advice by now. Sure these days, people are waiting to see what races I sign up to, so they can take a week off, and watch the ensuing hilarity. Bastids.

Krusty_Clown

Today: 8 Mile Aerobic run
Had a day off work for my daughter's confirmation, so would have loved to make the IMRA Bray Head race, but had dinner commitments. Instead headed off mid-afternoon along the Bray Promenade Esplanade, and amid ferocious winds headed up towards Bray Head. I was slip-sliding in my running shoes, but amid the gale, it was fun. Took the wrong approach to the top of the Head, so had to do some scrambling and back-tracking, before reaching the top, and heading back down for a few flat miles to home.

Considering giving the fit4life 3k tomorrow a pop, not at full speed, but more of a mini-workout, to get a bit of a boost before starting more strenuous sessions once again next week.

Summary: 8 miles in 1:04, @8:06/mile, HR=~142