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Target Practice
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A more complete race report: Charleville HM 2015**
**Any copying and pasting from similarities to Jebuz' race report is with full permission granted are imaginary...
Chip time: 73:29 oops that was Jebuz' RR 93:34
18th female o/a
7th female o/40
On my log a few days ago, I had an A goal of sub-93 mins, B goal of 94-96 mins and C goal of PB = sub 1:40. So my actual time slots in very nicely in between A and B. I'm inclined to call it an A goal achieved?
A chat with my mentor and club captain solidified this choice of target range. He's one of the old school runners and has times, equivalencies and predictions buzzing around his head ready to produce mid-conversation with barely a pause. On the way down, we discussed my clubmate's time in the DCHM the day before and what that meant for my target time. From our Lakes 10k two weeks ago (2 min differential), he predicted an equivalent five min differential for Charleville....and guess what the actual difference was? Five minutes and.one.second.....
I had also mentioned that I felt very relaxed going into this re my race strategy as he was aiming for the same range as me. He's a very experienced runner as well as rock solid at pacing so there was not much danger of me misjudging the early pace too badly and burning out too early....hmmmmmm
Anyway, Saturday saw me pack up a tray or two of flapjacks and fly to the park with whoopsa to cheer on the Novices and boardsies running in great conditions. It seemed nearly everyone (good call Anna) had a good day but of course this was overshadowed by the tragic death of John McHugh, RIP.
Charleville
Flew back home to grab my suitcase. (Ok and running holdall. And rucksack
Travelling light is so over-rated....)
We arrived in time to check in at the Charleville Park Hotel, grab number and snazzy tech T and settle in. The hotel is pretty central to the town and about a mile away from the start, ideal for the 10am start. Was a bit worried at this stage as my only fuel so far had been a light breakfast and flapjacks so by 5pm was absolutely starving and also quite thirsty. Luckily I had packed some bagels and peanut butter in my suitcase so was able to scoff one down and neck some water while unpacking.
Shortly after, myself and R met up for dinner with coachy and three other clubmates, Krusty, N and H. The sensible pre-half dinner option of vegetarian pasta seemed a little boring so I decided to break out and have the very tempting bangers and mash in red wine gravy with a glass of tempranillo. Delicious.
One of life's cruel little tricks had been arranged at the hotel this weekend - or perhaps a gentle reminder to appreciate what you have - so among the fit and healthy athletes preparing to run the next day were people getting around with walking frames and electric wheelchairs supported by their friends, families and carers. The CPH was the venue for the IMNDA (Irish Motor Neurone Disease Association) AGM & Annual Patient & Carer Conference. I watched a man expertly steer his electric chair through a doorway and reminded myself that he never imagined that was going to be one of his 'life skills'.....
I was in bed by 10:17pm, read maybe two paragraphs of my book but probably didn't fall into a deep sleep til after midnight and woke again at 6. Not impressed when the alarm went off at 6:45am...
The morning
Breakfast was a bit mean: all that luscious scrambled eggs and stuff you'd normally take an hour over in the breakfast room the morning after the night before.... Half a bowl of microwave porridge and a slice of toast and jam did the trick anyway. The coffee was good and did its job.
A glance out the hotel window suggested a chance of a dry race but the air outside told a different story. Sure enough, a light rainfall started as we lined up which increased throughout the race to a steady downpour, making a mockery of my early attempts to avoid puddles on the rough tarmac :rolleyes: We sussed out the wind direction prior to the race and I consoled myself with the hope that it would be in our backs on the way out and at least we'd have a net downhill on the way back.... I had a good idea of the course from reports here and R talking us through it.
Mile 1 And we were off. The first quarter mile felt unbearably slow due to congestion but thinned out considerably after 800m or so. I noticed here - when the pace picked up - that my new racers were very absent in the 'grip on damp surface' properties and kicked myself for completely forgetting to factor this in when purchasing on Thursday. Luckily (?) the tarmac was quite bumpy so provided its own sort of traction.
My clubmate/pacer called out 7:08 and I thought 'perfect'.
Mile 2 hmmm not quite as comfortable as I would have hoped for but still ok. With R by my side, I felt relaxed and confident that this particular aspect (pace) anyway was in hand. Tipping said hello along here too but don't think R approves of talking in races....
Miles 3, 4&5 these miles weren't exactly flying in, probably a sign that comfort levels weren't what they should have been, however I do remember feeling that my legs had loosened up properly by mile 3. Nevertheless, was feeling a certain pinch by mile 5.
Mile 6 These last few miles taught me a lot about racing: my clubmate is a master at the reel 'em in game. Overall throughout the race, we passed way more than passed me/us. Earlier on, (about mile 2-2.5) he had cautioned me back when a female athlete passed us but stayed in sight. At this point, there were about six women ahead in the next 50 metres. We got em all by mile 6.5....his way, slow and steady
'Patience', he told me afterwards, 'patience....'.
Mile 7 ouch. Effort levels were really rising now, and when we banked some seconds by striding out down the long descent here, it really started to pinch Probably around here, small gaps started to open up but I dug in and caught up, reminding myself of a similar situation on the 16 mile long run following the Lakes 10k.
Nevertheless, around mile 8, I had to let R go, 20m at first, then 30....
Probably my darkest hour mentally here, especially with the realisation that there were still five miles to go and I was really not feeling the love. Along here, I employed the wand, banished all sorts of demons, remembered diego's advice-to-listen-to-my-advice-to-the-novices and gave myself a double dose of HTFU, whilst reminding myself that I had nearly got to the crucial mile 9. I remembered coachy's words: 'if you get to nine miles in one piece, you'll finish. If you feel strong, go...if you don't, you'll still finish, doesn't matter how you feel...' And voilà, mile 9 appeared. Yep, I worked my brain nearly as hard as my body in this race
Mile 10 ouch again but somewhere before here, I dredged up a clubmate's advice after the Lakes re counting your cadence when you want to distract yourself. He recommended the standard 180 beats per minute rhythm but I wasn't in any state to fiddle with my watch and decided to chop my stride, quicken it and count to 100 over and over. It worked even to the extent that I narrowed the gap between me and the group ahead slightly. R was still in this group and I even had visions of reeling them in and arriving on his shoulder with a 'thought you got rid of me eh?!'....y'gotta dream...
Mile 11 treacle legs. Wading through treacle. Nothing else to say about this bit...
Mile 12 More treacle wading but this mile had the addition of leaden treacle legs, and being passed by tipping. Nice shout out tho T
I thought to myself, 'he's not getting away with that' and managed to keep him in sight with the intention of 'getting him' in the last 100m :rolleyes: Ah well, it helped get me to the finish...thoughts of vengeance :pac:
Mile 13 thank the bloody ****
Me elegantly ahem chasing tipping....
Mile 13.1 dry heave, didn't get Tipping ah well
Finishing pic and yep, so wrecked I warranted a solicitous offer of a chair to sit down on at the end of the chute...
So more work to do but a very satisfying benchmark mid/end base building.
Other clubmates did fantastically well too, time and position. My training mate ran 1:25:xx and beat Sonia O'Sullivan. She finished high up in the first 10 and was awarded 1st female o/40 after Maria McCambridge and co were knocked off the vets cat due to finishing first overall. o/40 and o/45 are rocking the roads from 10 miles and up. Senior athletes, pull your socks up!
Krusty PB'd and also got an aul fellas prize and our other clubmate finished high up in the top 10 overall too. My stalwart club captain got first prize in his category, very well-deserved. Very successful day out for our club.
So well done if you got this far, and thank you
Finally....
HM record:
1) Sept 2014 DCHM 1:41:08, a sufferfest from mile 6 onwards caused largely by catch-up 'panic pacing' :rolleyes: Mile splits were completely erratic with well over a minute per mile difference in places
2) Sept 2015 Charleville half 1:33:34, another slog from mile 8 onwards but this time I had more endurance - both mental and physical - which, would you believe, resulted in no overall pace fall-off and an overall perfect average of 7:08:54 from a base first mile of 7:08.
I only realised this last night when I plugged my time into splitcalc.com. R had told me the first mile split and after that, I told him I was happy not to know. I was confident in his pacing and was happy to listen to my body. After mile 8 or thereabouts, when I fell off his pace, I decided not to look at my watch either. After mile 10, knowing or not knowing wouldn't have made a whit of difference, I was giving it everything I had. It also helped that the loose group with R was not getting any further than 100m away at any stage. Tipping, if you're reading, have you any idea of pace for your last two miles?
Myself and R finished 20 secs apart, not bad considering I started to fall off with five miles still to go. Yes, I asked myself 'would it not have been easier to stay with him in the first place?' But believe me, if I had been able to, I would have. I know my ideal race pan-out was to feel strong enough to push on with tired legs at 10 miles. That had been the point of some of the harder runs these last few weeks, but perhaps those long runs really stood to me in this instance by allowing me to keep pace when absolutely wrecked and miserable?
3) Sept 2016.....?
My times across the board are starting to converge now. 1500m-5k times line up perfectly according to JD's vdot. My 10k and HM times line up perfectly now too, but a couple of values below the faster stuff which again confirms my suggestion that both speed-endurance and endurance aspects need more work....which they will get in spades this winter, starting soon with a return to the hills at Ballinastoe...
So onwards now to XC and I am so looking forward to piddly little 4k mudfests after this 13.1 miles of slog Bring. It. On :cool: 0 -
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Thanks BG! Nope, definitely me needs to be more gifted...will try to edit the post in a while
Not sure yet, seem to have disqualified myself from the Wicklow novice and intermediate ...unless I guest. No race - unless I cross the border as a guest - until the Leinster masters, not ideal. I think there's one the weekend of the 10th/11th but not sure where. What about you?0 -
Not sure yet, seem to have disqualified myself from the Wicklow novice and intermediate ...unless I guest. No race - unless I cross the border as a guest - until the Leinster masters, not ideal. I think there's one the weekend of the 10th/11th but not sure where. What about you?
Ah, that's what you get for being so fast. Would you consider BHAA for some practice races ? AAI have the open event on 18/10 in the PP too.
I'm going for the Dublin Novices on 4/10 with the club and then 1 x BHAA and 1 x Meet&Train. And that's it for 2015. Get me, totally reformed. 0 -
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Hehe. Yeah, I would, definitely but coachy will have the final say-so. Forgot aboutnthe open event, must memtion that, thanks! And yes, get you - totally reformed! Are Da Cru not pinning you down to some serious XC commitment? And what about when work start pestering you....eh?!Bungy Girl wrote: »Ah, that's what you get for being so fast. Would you consider BHAA for some practice races ? AAI have the open event on 18/10 in the PP too.
I'm going for the Dublin Novices on 4/10 with the club and then 1 x BHAA and 1 x Meet&Train. And that's it for 2015. Get me, totally reformed.
Super report, lots of HTFU deployed brilliant running in tough conditions
Thanks FD, yeah all HTFUed out for the next while now 0 -
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Hi Tipping, thanks for that! So my last two miles won't have been too far off yours. Felt like 8m/mi pace at that stage! Yes, I wonder what my race would have been like had I started with the 1:35 group. If R hadn't been there, I think that would have been Plan B. Might not have been much in it, but the spread of effort might have been different. I had envisaged - and thought I was capable of - dredging a couple of sub-7 min miles out towards the end, but that was dependant on the earlier part going well.
I know the wind and rain were factors but all things considered, I only noticed the rain when my runners were totally wet through about mile 6/7 and then again at around mile 8 when I told myself 'at least it is falling vertically, it could be whipping the face off you' Didn't notice the wind too much either, apart from a bit between miles 8-9 I think...wind was last on the list on my 'misery radar' at that stage!
You're gas about the chat there So you were practically monotone when we met or were you only warming up when I was whisked away?!
And sssssh, don't tell the novices I didn't warm down or stretch....or foam roll....either yesterday. Too wet and cold. The walk back to the car did for a warm up. I contemplated going out for a warm down shuffle last night but back to school stuff got in the way :rolleyes: Yeah, plenty of DOMS today so dragged myself out in the cold and dark tonight for a recovery four miles. Hopefully that will help! 0 -
Great running, DG... 18th female when 2 of those in front of you were Sonia O'Sullivan and Maria McCambridge!!! :eek: that is really something.
*we should introduce tipping to aquinn, sounds like she would be his match in chatting while racing 0 -
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hmmmm, when you put it like that....:cool:Great running, DG... 18th female when 2 of those in front of you were Sonia O'Sullivan and Maria McCambridge!!! :eek: that is really something.
Haha love it, they'd certainly break a group up, runners would be speeding up or slowing down to get rid*we should introduce tipping to aquinn, sounds like she would be his match in chatting while racing 0 -
Hi Tipping, thanks for that! So my last two miles won't have been too far off yours. Felt like 8m/mi pace at that stage! Yes, I wonder what my race would have been like had I started with the 1:35 group. If R hadn't been there, I think that would have been Plan B. Might not have been much in it, but the spread of effort might have been different. I had envisaged - and thought I was capable of - dredging a couple of sub-7 min miles out towards the end, but that was dependant on the earlier part going well.
I know the wind and rain were factors but all things considered, I only noticed the rain when my runners were totally wet through about mile 6/7 and then again at around mile 8 when I told myself 'at least it is falling vertically, it could be whipping the face off you' Didn't notice the wind too much either, apart from a bit between miles 8-9 I think...wind was last on the list on my 'misery radar' at that stage!
You're gas about the chat there So you were practically monotone when we met or were you only warming up when I was whisked away?!
And sssssh, don't tell the novices I didn't warm down or stretch....or foam roll....either yesterday. Too wet and cold. The walk back to the car did for a warm up. I contemplated going out for a warm down shuffle last night but back to school stuff got in the way :rolleyes: Yeah, plenty of DOMS today so dragged myself out in the cold and dark tonight for a recovery four miles. Hopefully that will help!
I was only warming up really. Also picked up on the disapproval from your running buddy so popped back to annoy some other people instead..0 -
Sat 19
Rest, running but plenty of walking in PP to and from start/finish area. Great day of racing tinged with sadness due to death of young runner, John Mc Hugh.
Great to see BG racing to a very comfortable and strong sub 1:40 PB, also HelenAnne and Murph sub 1:40. Great to be abused by aquinn en route to a fab PB also... Plenty of clubmates on the PB train...said hello and chatted to FD, Annapr and Laura. Saw FBOT and Mrs mc (another PB), met Killerz, said hello to meno and saw/met hundreds of novices riding the PB train too What a sociable lot we runners are!
Sun 20
1.5mi w/u plus strides
13.1 Charleville: new PB 93:34 see race report
No warm down...too cold and wet. Walk back to car did for that.
Total 38 miles incl:
5 days running -
1 double easy/recovery day
1 tempo
1 HM race
2 easy days
Full rehab, DS core and proprioception work boxes ticked. Some mobility, not enough. Have been looking at race pics from The Lakes and Charleville and my stride is not a pretty sight. My knees seem to bend in a lot, too frequently to be coincidence/bad angle. Any thoughts? Myles? Have been toying with the idea of a chi running workshop for over a year now...worth it or...?
All in all, a satisfying week's work
Week beg 21 Sept 2015
Mon
Recovery four miles. Feeling the DOMS probably exacerbated by lack of cool down and stretching on Sunday. Not too bad but kept it at easy easy pace.
Tue
50 mins easy on road and on grass in park. DOMS still present and legs tireder if anything today. May rest completely tomorrow. No idea what's on the schedule this week and not going to ask til the weekend. Easy miles til then, ordered by me 0 -
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