Not Quite Four Laps

KielyUnusual

Friday

Rest

Saturday

BHAA Teacher's XC - DNF:eek:

Cross Country Rule No. 1: Your legs will tire very quickly and you've just got to push through it. Learned

Cross Country Rule No. 2: Familiarise yourself with the finish area before the race begins. Now Learned

It was out to the salubrious surroundings of Castleknock College for the XC this morning with the pristine course matching the perfectly kept buildings. Not a mud patch in sight.

There was a big crew from the Crusaders racing and we went for a warm up lap around the course. Like last week, it was reasonably flat but there were two sharp climbs at the start of each lap that you knew were going to be testing come lap 4.

I somehow managed to get a place on the start line that was the most direct route to the first corner. The start was fast and I was in 4th or 5th after a few hundred metres. There was a bit of position shifting over the first lap, with me mainly going backwards. I was 9th after about half a lap but made one spot back at the end of the first lap.

Up ahead, was one runner from the club and a lad from the Garda runners. I was being encouraged from the sidelines to tag on to these but I felt the pace was hot enough as it was. Reflecting after the race, this 1st mile was 5.11 on the Garmin so definitely on the over zealous side. The two sharp hills were proving tough and it took a long while to recover after them each time. I maintained the 4-5 yard gap to the 2 lads up ahead but my legs were feeling it after the 2nd mile(5.22). I persevered although my pace slowed a little on the third mile (5.33).

On the last lap, the two hills at the start proved tough again but once I recovered from these, I set about trying to reel in the two lads up ahead. The gap had widened to about 20 yards at this stage. I finally caught them as we were coming back to the college buildings and I picked up the pace so that I would fly by them looking strong. This went well and I started to pull away.

Here's where things went wrong. In my concentration to go past the two lads and with all the runners up ahead going on their final lap, I missed the turn for the chute and came at it from the opposite end. I hadn't realised my error and I think the stewards didn't know which lap I was on so they didn't shout. I went up the wrong end of the chute, cast a bemused eye at a runner walking towards me in the opposite direction and crossed the line. I immediately realised my error then and had a rye smile to myself, before collapsing on the ground.

I wasn't too disappointed at all. I had run a really good race up to that point and I'm reasonably confident I could have held on to 6th place for the extra 200m or so. I was the source of much merriment for the rest of the morning 'Are you ever going to finish another race?' etc etc. The unbelieveable spread afterwards made everything better though. Look forward to a running a few more of these BHAA races over the summer (and finishing them this time:D)

Krusty_Clown

Hmm... Sounds like we need to get the band back together, just to point you in the right direction for the finish line!

KielyUnusual

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Hmm... Sounds like we need to get the band back together, just to point you in the right direction for the finish line!

......as long as I don't take a wrong turn by Trinity in two weeks!

KielyUnusual

Sunday

10 miles @ 8.24/mi

Met up with the club for a longish run down in the park where we ran a good portion of the DCM route. Had intended on doing another hour afterwards but the lure of tea and cake was too much for me.

Monday

6 miles @ 6.45/mi

Easy evening run on the usual Clontarf seafront route, all decked out in my new ALDI gear. I'm very impressed with it. Some little details in the tops where you can really see that they were designed by people who run. Bit of a Garmin malfunction over the first mile where it clocked me at 6.17/mi and called the mile about 100-200m short. First time I've ever seen any issue with it.

Krusty_Clown

Hey KU, meeting another lad at Shanganagh Park at 6:30pm tomorrow (Thursday), for an easy 10 miles, if that's of any interest?

KielyUnusual

Tuesday

w/u, 14 X 400m (30s rec), w/d

A bit of a different session tonight. We eased back on the intensity but went for shorter recoveries and more repetitions. I wasn't counting the reps and it was over before I even realised. Good session without being too strenuous.

Wednesday

14.5 miles @ 6.43/mi

Ended up doing this a bit too fast. Wanted to give myself a bit of workout on the hills in Killiney and then gathered a bit of momentum coming off them and never really slowed down. Some fairly horrendous downpours on the way too.

KielyUnusual

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Hey KU, meeting another lad at Shanganagh Park at 6:30pm tomorrow (Thursday), for an easy 10 miles, if that's of any interest?

Alright KC, I'll be heading to Irishtown for the club session tomorrow evening so won't make it. Enjoy anyway. You're on the home stretch now.

KielyUnusual

Thursday

w/u, 2 X 2 mile (w/ 2 min rec), 3 X 800

There was no one down from the XC group so I did a marathon paced session round some GAA pitches with two lads, one of whom is aiming for sub 2.40 in Dublin. First two miles were bang on at 6.03/mi and the second two were a bit faster at 5.50/mi. That was it for them so I just went for 3 X 800 on my own. These all worked out at about 5.20/mi pace. A short warm down with mithril and that was it for the evening.

Friday

Rest

Saturday

w/u, 5 miles @ 5.40/mi, w/d

This was tough, tough, tough. There was only one other guy from the XC group so we decided to join smmoore and another lad on their marathon paced run. We stuck to the grass and decided to up the pace for the last mile or two if we felt up to it. I decided to run in the longer grass too to make it that bit tougher.

The route was 3 laps around the Acres in Phoenix Par at 1.6 miles each. The first lap was okay but I could feel the terrain was tiring my legs quicker than usual. The second was tougher still and the third one was just about hanging in there. The last half mile was a big mental effort to keep the pace up. Great feeling to finish it up and we both agreed that sessions like this would be the ones that would really stand to us in the XC races.

Sunday

6 miles @ 7.09/mi

A really lovely evening for this with a pretty spectacular looking full moon hanging over Howth Summit on journey outwards. I was feeling the after affects from the night before a little bit too much to properly enjoy it though. Not the most enjoyable run.

KielyUnusual

Monday

8 miles @ 7.19/mi

Stomach was very dodgy for this one. I contemplated cutting this short numerous times but once I got beyond a few miles I just stuck with it. Felt reasonable for the last mile or two and these were enjoyable. Massive tailback on the Malahide Road so it was nice to smugly run past the frustrated motorists.

Tuesday

w/u, 8 X 600 w/ active recovery, w/d

Times: 1.56, 1.56, 1.54, 1.54, 1.55, 1.54, 1.52, 1.55 w/ 70-80s active recovery

Another really good session with the group in Irishtown. We took turns leading out and kept really even splits. If we keep this going over the winter, we'll make serious strides.

Huayra

Hi Kiely, just wondering what the pace of your speed work feels like these days. You've been doing it for quite a short amount of time but have already made enormous gains. How does high4/low 5mm pace feel compared to when you started on the track in June/July? Am curious as I plan on getting onto track next year, and I started like you(just being interested in the long distances). Right now its hard to imagine 400m-mile distances but I've been advised to do it by some great runners. At start of your log you said there is no margin for improvement for shorter stuff, but now look at you :eek:
When you finish these kind of sessions, do you feel like you have just done a race? I'd imagine its rare to see a successful marathon runner move down to shorter track distances and get this far so soon. Btw enjoy your LSR around dublin on monday

KielyUnusual

Wednesday

Off

Thursday

w/u, 2 X 10mins w/ 2min rec, w/d (5.53/mi, 5.55/mi)

Normally this would be a tough session but it was just one of those evenings where things felt easy. We were out in Sean Moore Park and two of us did this session, just chatting away all the time.

Friday

Off

Saturday

6 miles @ 6.46/mi

After getting an absolute drenching on the way home from manning the pacer's stand at the expo, it was smashing evening when I got out for this a few hours later. You can't beat the Clontarf seafront for a run at dusk. I highly recommend.

Gavlor

KielyUnusual wrote: »

Wednesday

Off

Thursday

w/u, 2 X 10mins w/ 2min rec, w/d (5.53/mi, 5.55/mi)

Normally this would be a tough session but it was just one of those evenings where things felt easy. We were out in Sean Moore Park and two of us did this session, just chatting away all the time.

Friday

Off

Saturday

6 miles @ 6.46/mi

After getting an absolute drenching on the way home from manning the pacer's stand at the expo, it was smashing evening when I got out for this a few hours later. You can't beat the Clontarf seafront for a run at dusk. I highly recommend.

Are you pacing the 3hr group on Monday? I'll be one of the patrons anchoring on for a few miles..... I'll try not moan about the weather too much!!

KielyUnusual

Huayra wrote: »

Hi Kiely, just wondering what the pace of your speed work feels like these days. You've been doing it for quite a short amount of time but have already made enormous gains. How does high4/low 5mm pace feel compared to when you started on the track in June/July? Am curious as I plan on getting onto track next year, and I started like you(just being interested in the long distances). Right now its hard to imagine 400m-mile distances but I've been advised to do it by some great runners. At start of your log you said there is no margin for improvement for shorter stuff, but now look at you :eek:
When you finish these kind of sessions, do you feel like you have just done a race? I'd imagine its rare to see a successful marathon runner move down to shorter track distances and get this far so soon. Btw enjoy your LSR around dublin on monday

Definitely give the shorter distances a go. My training at the moment wouldn't exactly be catered towards running 400m to a mile. It's probably more suite to 5-10k training. If you really want to focus on those distances fully then you might want to try something a little different.

I think with track sessions, you're doing a lot less volume so naturally you want to make them that bit tougher. The important thing is that you're able to do the last repeat at the same pace as your first repeat. If you stick to that rule then you can't go too far wrong. You don't want to be finishing up feeling like you've just run a race. They're just part of the overall training plan so you want to leave enough to be able to get the rest of the sessions in.

I see you're giving the XC a go these days. Best of luck with it and I might see you at a few of the races over the winter.

KielyUnusual

Gavlor wrote: »

Are you pacing the 3hr group on Monday? I'll be one of the patrons anchoring on for a few miles..... I'll try not moan about the weather too much!!

Hey Gavlor. Yea, I'm pacing 3 hours on Monday. I'll see you at the start line. I wouldn't worry about the moaning. You'll hear enough of it from me having to carry a flag in those conditions:P. Ah sure, Met Eireann probably don't know what they are talking about anyway.

Gavlor

KielyUnusual wrote: »

Hey Gavlor. Yea, I'm pacing 3 hours on Monday. I'll see you at the start line. I wouldn't worry about the moaning. You'll hear enough of it from me having to carry a flag in those conditions:P. Ah sure, Met Eireann probably don't know what they are talking about anyway.

I'll "accidentally" break the flag for a pint

KielyUnusual

Gavlor wrote: »

I'll "accidentally" break the flag for a pint

You know what, something like that could so easily happen by accident. It would be a terrible shame.

theboyblunder

Good luck with the pacing ku

smmoore79

Best of luck with the pacing. Should be no bother to ya after running a 2 38!

thewolf_ie

Best of luck bud!

ronnie085

Enjoy the pacing gig, good luck with it, no better man

cianc

Best of luck KU, looking like much better flag flying weather

runsir

Well done kiely...awesome pacing. Think you might have heard my shout at Merion shopping centre! I'm getting back on the horse for Boston 2014..hope to give sub 2.50 a rattle!

ecoli

Great job yesterday. Heard alot of positive feedback from people behind you.

ThePiedPiper

Great pacing KU. I'd say it was a great buzz helping so many people to the landmark time. Nice catching up with you Sunday.

drquirky

Good stuff man- heard good feedback as well. Also good talking to you yesterday- I'm sure i'll bump into at race sometime in the next while

KielyUnusual

Sunday

Rest

Went out to watch the Leinster Novices XC in Dunboyne. Great performance from the team in claiming the win. Managed to give a shout out to our two fabled Dunleer athletes (PConn and RFR) as well. Very cross country sort of day with masses of people trying to squeeze under a tiny tent to hide from the driving wind and rain for the most of it.

Monday

DCM Pacing 2.59.36

After the predicted weather, it was a delight to cycle down to the Mespil in relatively benign conditions. We all sorted out our gear and there was a great atmosphere in town as we made our way towards the start line. We were getting pretty cold at the start line being down there in plenty of time but once the masses arrived, we warmed up a bit and were good to go.

Things went very well up to 11 miles and everyone in the group seemed comfortable enough. The stretch from 11 to 13 was tough with a strongish headwind and a slight uphill. I relaxed the pace a little here and once we got out of this and to the halfway mark, we were just slightly behind pace (1.30.12). The next stretch (13-20) was a lot easier but the group was dwindling all the time. There were a couple of segments in to the wind and I think people were struggling on these. From 20 on, it was all about trying to motivate people to stick with the pace and letting them know that we were still on track to finish under 3 if they just stuck with the group.

For the last few miles, the group was very small but most of them were hanging in there and a few more pushed on and finished strong. One of the funnier sights was two Waterford AC runners at Trinity with one, hand on back of the other, literally pushing him all the way over the line. I'm sure a lot of people would have appreciated that sort of helping hand at that stage in the race. Don't worry, I reported them straight to the marshals for what was obviously blatant cheating:P.

Really enjoyed the day and there were plenty of sweaty manly hugs had at the end. Great to meet all the boardsies in McGrattans afterwards and the pints were flowing well in to the evening.

KielyUnusual

runsir wrote: »

Well done kiely...awesome pacing. Think you might have heard my shout at Merion shopping centre! I'm getting back on the horse for Boston 2014..hope to give sub 2.50 a rattle!

Thanks for the shout out John. Best of luck in Boston. Have you been doing much running since Dublin last year? I tell you what, that long run we did before Dublin seems like an age ago now. It was without doubt one of the toughest training runs I've ever done. It really kick started that training block though.

RunForestRun wrote: »

Great pacing KU. I'd say it was a great buzz helping so many people to the landmark time. Nice catching up with you Sunday.

There was a great buzz at the finish line alright and the pure outpouring of emotion was something to behold. Good to meet up with you Sunday. Pity you were dragged away by your adoring public before we could have a proper discussion. No doubt, I'll see you at a few races over the next few months.

ecoli wrote: »

Great job yesterday. Heard alot of positive feedback from people behind you.

I can't believe you went to work straight after and that you were considering beforehand that you might jog over as a warm down. Your marathon naivety definitely shone though there:D.

runsir

KielyUnusual wrote: »

Thanks for the shout out John. Best of luck in Boston. Have you been doing much running since Dublin last year? I tell you what, that long run we did before Dublin seems like an age ago now. It was without doubt one of the toughest training runs I've ever done. It really kick started that training block though.

You had a nice size of a group with you at that stage, I knew they were in good hands when I saw your head guiding them!

Ran very little since the few 5Ks before Christmas. Maybe 3 days a week, mostly short high intensity stuff. Gym other days, managed to put on 7KG in weight but drop down from 15% to 8% bodyfat with the gym training.

Ready to hit the running training hard now though, great to watch on Monday. Really good motivator!
Ha, ya, jesus...I nearly fell in the door that day,seems like an age ago, with Mayo heartbreak x 2 in the meantime!!!

KielyUnusual

Tuesady to Sunday

Off

No running for a variety of different reasons. Felt a little stiff on the day after the marathon and probably no harm to have a bit of a break.

Monday

6 miles @ 7.00/mi

Some day I'll get sick of this run out by Clontarf but not yet. You won't find many more picturesque night time runs than this. I thought the running crowds would die down significantly after DCM but it was busier than ever out there. Good to see.

Tuesday

w/u, 6 X 800m (90s rec), w/d
2.32, 2.31, 2.30, 2.30, 2.30, 2.27

Only one other guy from the usual crew down this evening. Looking back, the splits were really consistent and I had to work hard for the last two. Recoveries were just about perfect to get the most out of the session. You were just about back to breath but not recovered enough so that each rep got progressively harder.

Wednesday

14.5 miles @ 7.06/mi

Run home from work. First time I've ran it in the dark in a long time. It's not as good. Some of the paths round Killiney are quite badly lit too so I might look for an alternative winter route, just not back to the N11 again!

Thursday

Club session 3/4/5/4/3/2/1mins @ pace

Was running a bit late so missed the first 1 and 2 minute runs. Pace was about 5.40/mi on average. Took it easy enough as I'm considering running the BHAA at the weekend.

Krusty_Clown

KielyUnusual wrote: »

Run home from work. First time I've ran it in the dark in a long time. It's not as good. Some of the paths round Killiney are quite badly lit too so I might look for an alternative winter route, just not back to the N11 again!

Did you try the route through the parks? A little like this? Just watch out for the wookies if you head through the parks in the dark.