Cool runnings

RayCun

davedanon

Friday 21st

Day off


Saturday 22nd

Frank Duffy 10 mile. Got to PP nice and early, parked at Knockmaroon gate as usual, and took a meandering route towards the start area via the trail along the perimeter wall. Two of the club lads were arranging their 20 miler to finish in the park, and I met them trotting up Chesterfield, along with a third clubmate who was racing. We said goodbye to them after a couple of miles, and then I got dragged into another group (containing TRR) for some more slow miles. So when it was time to line up at the start, I had nearly 7 miles done, which turned out to be a blessing, because I wasn't in any mood for running afterwards. It seemed to be perfect weather for running, calm, cloudy, almost no wind. A little on the warm side perhaps. Away we go, and my first mile was an on-the-money 6:40. Mile 2 brought me past the turn off Chesterfield in 6:49, and then we had a energy-sapping bit of a drag up the North road, which no doubt accounted for the 7:03 on mile 3. It was around here that my race started to get away from me. I had lined up with meno, but he had steadily pulled away from the start, and by the time we re-joined Chesterfield another clubmate had also gone by. The last stretch up to the hairpin bend at the top of Chesterfield really tested me, and I noticed more and more runners passing me. It was getting very warm, and though I hate getting water in plastic cups, I took them at each station just to douse myself, and the firefighters' shower on Chesterfield 2nd time around was very welcome as well. I was maintaining an even pace, and from miles 4-7 I recorded three 6:56's and a 6:57, but I was struggling to hold it. Mile 8 contains some downhill sections and then a fairly flat section along Conyngham Rd, but it was my slowest mile, at 7:07, and I was wilting. A long, long straight section was the last thing I needed at this point. I had to focus on something that would get me through the next mile, and looking ahead I saw two Bros Pearse singlets. There isn't really a massive rivalry between the clubs, despite the banter on here, but somehow the notion that I could chase them down seemed to do the trick, and I lifted my pace a little and the first guy started to come back to me. Then I passed him, but his buddy seemed to have pushed on as I couldn't see him. Eventually we approached the Chapelizod gate, and the first serious climb of the day beckoned. As I ran through the gate I was hailed by some spectating clubmates, and then immediately after I heard another name being called, and realised that I had clubmate company. Despite our coach (who was one of the aforementioned spectators) urging us to work together, I knew G was a savage climber, and that he would drop me unless I pulled out all the stops, so I gave it everything. Sometimes hills are paradoxically easier when you're struggling a bit on the flat anyway. It's all strength, rather than lung-bursting effort. So in effect I towed G up the hill, rather than the other way around. I told him afterwards it had to be a first. Along the way we got the 2nd Bros Pearse guy, but when we got to the top after mile 9 (7.12) I couldn't sustain my effort, and G pulled away slightly. As we ran the last few bends through the trees, I gathered my strength for the last section along Furze Rd, hoping to race G to the finish, but I couldn't raise enough of a gallop to challenge him, and finished about 4 secs behind him in 1:09:08. Slower than last year, and much slower than 2013's pb (1:06:21), but I felt I had struggled against my limitations on the day quite well, so all in all I wasn't too downcast. Sometime after there was a very slow shuffle back to the car. 18 miles in total, despite what the Garmin said. Happy with that too.

6.7 @9.17

10 @6.55 (Garmin say 9.96)

1.3 @10.42


Sunday 23rd

50th on Saturday night/Sunday morning. No runnings, cool or otherwise.



Weekly total 52

davedanon

Monday 24th

Easy run. The usual Monday job. Basically the regular club route on the grass in Tymon, with a few extra bits thrown in to bring it up to 8 miles.

8.01 @9.02


Tuesday 25th

The Fitzy plan boys were doing a fartlek in the park tonight. We were all going to stay together, no-one left behind, and it all sounded like great fun. TRR himself joined us, and the format was, after a couple of miles warm-up, that Dave nominated someone who would pick up the pace as much as they liked, for an interval of anywhere between 1 and 3 minutes, with a minute rest in between, to be spent jogging if possible, in whatever direction needed for everyone to regroup. And then repeat. It all worked very well, with only one person dropping off. Basically it was 20 minutes of a warm-up, 38 minutes fartlek, and 12 minutes cool-down. I still haven't got the watch properly set up to get the lap button working correctly, so my best guesstimates
for the 11 reps that we did are that they ranged between 1.30min and 2.30min, and from 6.15 to 6.30 pace

Total session time 1hr

Miles 7.65

Av pace 7.53p/m

davedanon

Wednesday 26th

It's only a small thing, but the legs have adjusted uncomplainingly to an 8 mile minimum easy/recovery run in between hard sessions. Where previously I might settle for a 4-6 miler when tired, now I just adjust the pace if necessary - but the length is non-negotiable. The result is that my weeks are nearly always topping out at 50m+, whereas in the run up to London I noticed that things were a bit patchy and up-and-down on the mileage front. Anyway, an uneventful easy run.

8.06 @9.02


Thursday 27th

8x1k with warm-up and cool-down. 2 minute recovery (slow 200m walk/jog back to start line). Despite the group of about 7 assembled, it boiled down to me and only one other guy doing these at the same pace. 10k pace was stipulated, so that meant somewhere between 4/4.10 k/min was fine and dandy. Despite being shorter by a lap and a half, these didn't really feel much easier than our mile reps. Every distance imposes its particular demands. Got through them ok, though.

2.23 @9.09

8x1k (4.09, 4.00, 4.05, 4.04, 4.04, 4.02, 4.03, 3.58)

1.71 @8.46

9.71 in total

davedanon

Friday 28th

Day off


Saturday 29th

6 mile steady run. The requirement was 30/40 secs above MP, which would be 7.45-7.55 per mile, but for some reason I found this very hard to hit. I started off slowly enough at about 8.30 pace, and felt quite tired from the off, those 1ks on Thursday still in the legs no doubt. Gradually the pace picked up, though, and after 2 miles I was comfortably under 16 minutes. I had autolap turned off, so no mile markers. I was still feeling tired, yet I was nevertheless moving too quickly. When I realised the autolap thing, I stopped at 3 miles to reset it, then decided to go on and run the whole thing by feel. My pace for the 3 miles was 7:33. The next mile felt a little easier, but somehow I hadn't slowed down at all, still averaging 7:33pm. I stopped after mile 4, still feeling tired, and I had been running too hard, with two hard sessions already done this week. Mile 5 was deliberately slower, and it was on the money at 7:55pm, after which I called it a day and slow-jogged the rest of the way home.

4 @7.34

1.73 @8.24

davedanon

Sunday 30th

20 mile long run. The diktat from El Supremo regarding this was to do 18-20 (which meant we all did 20) any old way, just get through it kind of thing. It had been a hard week, admittedly. After the usual slow initial mile, the usual suspects made their way to the front of the pack, and by the time we hit Tymon there were two distinct groups separated by at least 200m; with me in the middle, not knowing whether to stick or twist. I decided to push on to the first group, for now, but by mile 3 we were at 8.00min pace - as usual - and I decided not to play that game, and dropped back. I was feeling a bit peculiar, in fact. My legs felt like jelly, basically. Luckily I had some company in Shay, although he had a calf problem I think and dropped back at Tallaght village, only 8/9 miles in. The rest was done on my own, and felt fine until the last three miles when I started to tie up and felt very weary indeed. Long week.

20 @8.31


Weekly mileage 59

davedanon

Monday 31st

Recovery run. Took this very easy indeed. The very minimum of effort.

6 @9.32


Tuesday 1st

The plan called for a 6-8 mile MP run, with the usual warm up/cool down. My practice has been to incorporate these into my long run, but this actually suited me, as I will be working at Electric Picnic all weekend and wouldn't at all fancy having to do a really hard run on Sunday morning. A big group set off from the club, but halfway around the warm-up I started getting pains in my stomach and knew I needed a toilet, so I dove into the Dragon in Tallaght village and was on my own as a result. My target was 8 @7.15 which shouldn't have been too hard, considering I had been doing 8 mile tempos at 7.00min pace earlier in the year. Or so I thought. The first couple of miles, mostly downhill, came in at 7.09 and 7.22, so more or less on target. After that a hilly section brought me out to 7.30min, and subsequently it was a bit of a slog, although I did bring it in on target with a couple of faster closing miles. I wrapped it up at 7 miles, though, figuring I was working a bit too hard and there was no point in toughing out one final mile. The concerns I had here were the variations in pace, and the perceived effort. I kept telling myself that this was marathon pace, and that on the day it would need to feel an awful lot easier. With a couple of months extra training, and a decent taper, hopefully this will be the case. I focussed mainly on breathing during the run, with marathon day in mind. I wanted it to feel relatively easy, as my good marathons happen when I have really good running economy built up through proper training and a good taper. The taper is especially important, in my view. More and more I find that if I train properly for a marathon it's very specific. I can't set pb's at shorter distances along the way. At no stage during training for London, or Derry, was I operating at 100%. I had to wait for the day itself, and hope I had timed everything well.

1.5 @9.28

7 @7.14 (7.09/7.22/7.31/7.12/7.18/7.04/7.03)

1.73 @8.57


10.24 in total


Wednesday 2nd

Day off.

Parked outside the Dail all day today from 8am until 6pm, stiff as a board when I finished, and in no mood for running, although it would have helped greatly I'm sure.

TRR_the_turd

davedanon wrote: »

The taper is especially important, in my view. More and more I find that if I train properly for a marathon it's very specific. I can't set pb's at shorter distances along the way. At no stage during training for London, or Derry, was I operating at 100%. I had to wait for the day itself, and hope I had timed everything well.

100% agree with you. In fact some of my best marathons have come off the back up of a training cycle with little or no "tune up" races. Marathon is so specific that a race can actually mess up the training. All your eggs in one basket, I suppose but isn't it great when it goes to plan and you hit a marathon PB?

davedanon

TRR_the_turd wrote: »

100% agree with you. In fact some of my best marathons have come off the back up of a training cycle with little or no "tune up" races. Marathon is so specific that a race can actually mess up the training. All your eggs in one basket, I suppose but isn't it great when it goes to plan and you hit a marathon PB?

Yep. Even better when you do pick up a pb along the way, like in your Frank Duffy...I think it's a lot to do with age. I was fretting at my 10 mile/half times this and last year, compared to before: but then I realised that I'd had crap marathons subsequently after running well at those distances.

davedanon

Thursday 3rd

Big session tonight. 3x2mile @HMP with 3min recovery. In the dressing-room beforehand 'we' decided to do this on the track. I was slightly dismayed at the prospect of 24 laps, but the logic of doing it on a flat, bouncy surface, with access to drinks, was undeniable. In the event I was pleasantly surprised. The other lads proposed a 7.10 pace, but I knew I should really be going a bit quicker. So I ended up leading out the first one, and it all worked out nicely, as I pulled away gradually and finished about 10 secs ahead. Of course I ended up doing the whole lot on my own, but that didn't really bother me. In fact I was very happy with the session. I felt more comfortable at 6.55/7.00 on the tartan than I had at 7.15 in the park on Tuesday. Going to the Picnic in the morning, so I won't get a run in tomorrow, but if I can manage the steady run on Saturday and a 20 miler along the Barrow Way on Sunday I'll be more than happy. Rock on!

2.23 @8.36
3x2 @6.56 (7.00, 6.54, 7.01, 6.58, 6.53, 6.49)
2.24 @9.13

10.96 in total

davedanon

Friday 4th

Day off


Saturday 5th

Steady run. My neck felt like a board after a day running around with cameras hanging out of me, but I got out of the hotel early and ran the half mile or so down to the Barrow. Having had a run here once before, I decided to go in the opposite direction, towards Carlow for 3 miles before turning back. The path along the river varied in quality, but the pace was good overall.


6.01 @7.50


Sunday 6th

20 mile long run. Again, took a while to extricate myself from the scratcher after a long, long Saturday, but I consoled myself with the thought that I could go as slow as I liked. I took the same route as yesterday, and found that the underfoot conditions were even more varied the further I ran. Ten miles brought me just the other side of the picturesque village of Leighlinbridge (although the big banner saying SKY SPORTS LIVE HERE on the front of the pub spoiled things a little), where I turned around and headed back. The run was basically dead flat, but the underfoot conditions were quite challenging at times. At one point I was thrashing through calf-deep scrub grass, just waiting for something to trip me and send me headlong. There were lots of nettles on one side, too, which had me leaning away from them. Despite all this my pace increased pleasingly through the middle section, although I felt quite tired with a few miles still to cover, and was very relieved to finally get back to the hotel, where a shower and a full Irish beckoned.

20.12 @8.31

Weekly total 53 miles


Monday 7th

Recovery run. Headed out with no intention of running more than 5 or 6 easy miles, and had dallied while my iPod charged up a bit (peeled some spuds while I waited for some post been-away-all-weekend brownie points), but realised that I could still hook up with the club gang, so I waited at the bridge over the M50 in Tymon for them, and was pleased to see a much bigger group than usual, including my marathon training buddies. My Kinvara Londons were soaked from the day before, so gave my new Kinvara 5's their debut. Ended up doing 7 miles, which was nice.

7 @8.48

davedanon

Tuesday 8th

2 mile w/u, 5x1m @10k pace, w/3 min recovery, 1 mile c/d. The other lads on Dave's plan were doing the 12 mile aerobic run option, so I reckoned I'd be on my own with this one, albeit with three other much quicker lads making me feel and look slow, and so it proved. The first one was awful, I felt as though I was doing the second of two back-to-back hard sessions. Struggled around, and it was a bit quicker than it needed to be, at around 6.30 min/mile. Recovery was a slow lap. Gradually settled into it though, but I was struck by how much more comfortable I was doing 2 milers at only 15/20 secs/mile slower the previous week. It's obviously a tipping-point for me, that 6.40/6.50 range. No surprise that I've been struggling to break 1.30 for the half for so long.

2.22 @8.38
5x1m (6.29, 6.30, 6.46, 6.44, 6.26 - Av. 6.35)
1.01 @9.25

TRR_the_turd

davedanon wrote: »

Tuesday 8th

Gradually settled into it though, but I was struck by how much more comfortable I was doing 2 milers at only 15/20 secs/mile slower the previous week. It's obviously a tipping-point for me, that 6.40/6.50 range. No surprise that I've been struggling to break 1.30 for the half for so long.

lactic threshold my friend, if you want to change this, skip a marathon next spring and work on 5/10k before stepping back up to the marathon.

davedanon

TRR_the_turd wrote: »

lactic threshold my friend, if you want to change this, skip a marathon next spring and work on 5/10k before stepping back up to the marathon.

Funny you should say that. That's the plan in a nutshell. It probably won't be Dublin either.

davedanon

Wednesday 9th

Easy recovery run. I set out feeling tired and didn't really have a distance in mind, but figured it would be on the shorter side. However I waited for the club crew at the M50 bridge, and then just stayed with them until we reached the parting of the ways at the end of the basketball arena driveway. When I got home I had clocked 9 miles. Quelle surprise.

9 @9.23


Thursday 10th

8 mile @MP, 1 mile warm up and cool down. The boys had had their easy 12 miler on Tuesday, so there was no getting out of this one for them. A bunch of them were aiming for 7:35min pace, but mine was 7:15, which had me a little concerned. I have to explain a little here. There's a group of guys who are my peers, equals, and quite frequently betters. We battle each other in club races, and vie to out-sprint each other on the last interval of the session. Yet none of them has broken 3:20 yet for the marathon, despite all of them being well capable. Injury has been a major factor, and the kind of slump in form that hits after you've made a breakthrough and just assume that you can keep improving indefinitely. As for me, I've been lucky with injuries. For quite a while now I've been bulletproof on that front. Oh, niggles here and there, but nothing has prevented me running for any significant length of time in at least 18 months, if not longer. So, my concern was due to the fact that I'm used to running with these lads as a cohort (oh, and one of them's run 2:58, but then blew up completely), and now I'm going to have to get out in front of them by about 20 secs per mile. Plus I felt absolutely knackered on the warm up. Poor me. Anyway, it turned out ok in the end. I was able to open up a gap with a 7.03 first mile, and although (as with last week) the mile times fluctuated a fair bit, I just about hit my target by the end, with a 6.55 closing mile which had me doubled over, hands on knees at the end.

1 @9.00
8 @7.16 (7.03, 7.19, 7.23, 7.33, 7.14, 7.20, 7.19, 6.55)
1.65 @9.02

davedanon

Friday 11th

Very easy short run. The very minimum of effort.

4.29 @9.24


Saturday 12th

Club members were doing a 65 mile relay-race (of sorts) from Tallaght AC to Tullamore Harriers to mark the 65th birthday of an esteemed teammate. My designated leg (along with two others) was the final section from a place called Rhode to Tullamore. It was only about 14 or so miles, which left me with a problem in how I was going to find some extra distance. As it turned out, the nearest safe place to park the car (where it was going to stay for several hours) was more than a mile away. So, we ditched the car, jogged down to the bridge and got down onto the canal towpath. At first the underfoot conditions weren't too bad. A grassy track with worn sections on each side, but gradually it deteriorated and thereafter became the dominant factor in the run. The wind was also in our faces the entire way, which is always the risk with point-to-point runs. There's a certain boredom that sets in as well with the knowledge that you're not ever 'on the way back', as with and out-and-back or loop. After 6 or 7 miles the three admitted that we felt completely cream-crackered. We'd just ploughed through a long section with calf-deep grass, after a stretch where the tracks had puddles every few feet, which meant you either ploughed through them or skipped around. The other two lads had sore calves which was a direct consequence of the terrain. On we went, and then, just before the picturesque village of Daingean, there was a long section where we were running on deep, springy grass. Again, very tiring to travel on: but the worst was yet to come. At 10/11 miles the ground changed. We'd had a peaty, boggy bit which was occasionally rutted and demanded attention. Now we came to what could only be described as a path under construction. It was basically hard core; loose gravel and rocks, some fist-sized. It was dreadful to run on. Where before it was merely tiring, now there was a real chance of turning an ankle if you failed to pay attention. We ploughed on through it, and when it ended there was a figure up in the distance. It was one of the women from the club, and she chatted to us and told us we were only 5 miles from Tullamore. Finally we were running on a proper surface, too, which was very welcome. We ran onto the main street in Tullamore and up through the town, which was quite an interesting experience. A bit like a marathon finish. I was calculating that I would probably end with 16-odd miles, and figured that I could knock out a few laps on the track to bring it up to 18. In those conditions it was worth 20 easy.

18.31 @8.46

Sunday 13th

Rest


Weekly total 58

davedanon

Monday 14th

Easy recovery run. Nothing specific to report.

7.24 @8.42


Tuesday 15th

12 mile run. This didn't happen. Enforced day off because of work (I'm not great at forcing myself out the door of an evening after a day working)


Wednesday

With an eye on Sunday's race, decided that the following morning would be fine for the 12 miler. Decided to take one of my favourite, but seldom run, routes: along the canal to Clonskeagh and back again. Lovely morning, felt good after no run let alone session on Tuesday.

12.67 @8.14

kit3

Best of luck at the weekend D. You sound like you are well ready & up for it. If, however, you find yourself a bit doubtful ask your room-mate to show you some motivational videos - he has quite a store of them

davedanon

kit3 wrote: »

Best of luck at the weekend D. You sound like you are well ready & up for it. If, however, you find yourself a bit doubtful ask your room-mate to show you some motivational videos - he has quite a store of them

Will they inspire a thrusting desire to push on through when things get hard?

kit3

davedanon wrote: »

Will they inspire a thrusting desire to push on through when things get hard?

Well, you can let us know ! They cover everything from starting out, what you should wear, nutrition & even the benefits of joining a club for this type of thing Not sure about his staying power though, they're all very short !

davedanon

kit3 wrote: »

Well, you can let us know ! They cover everything from starting out, what you should wear, nutrition & even the benefits of joining a club for this type of thing Not sure about his staying power though, they're all very short !

The penny has dropped. Who knew TRR was such a media star!

kit3

davedanon wrote: »

The penny has dropped. Who knew TRR was such a media star!

Yeah, and you're his choice for a romantic night :cool:

Murph_D

davedanon wrote: »

Decided to take one of my favourite, but seldom run, routes: along the canal to Clonskeagh and back again.

As a northsider I sometimes get confused when running over there but I assume you mean the Dodder? I've run it from the Liffey out as far as Templeogue a few times but there are so many types of surface en route that I find it a bit trying. Love the stretch near Bushy Park though.

davedanon

Murph_D wrote: »

As a northsider I sometimes get confused when running over there but I assume you mean the Dodder? I've run it from the Liffey out as far as Templeogue a few times but there are so many types of surface en route that I find it a bit trying. Love the stretch near Bushy Park though.

Yeah, Jesus, what sort of brainfart is that. I meant the Dodder river, of course. I don't mind the surfaces. After my experiences on the Barrow and Grand Canal Ways I reckon they're quite good.

davedanon

Thursday 17th

Easy run.

6.65 @8.28


Friday 18th

Another easy run.

6.06 @8.47

Notwork Error

All the best Dave! Hope all goes well for you!

annapr

Best of luck in Charleville, Dave, hope it goes well for you.

kit3

Well done today

davedanon

Saturday 19th

Post-long drive shake-out jog around the mean streets of Kilmallock.

2.2 @9.01


Sunday 20th

Charleville International Half-Marathon. Race morning dawned dry, calm and cloudy. All three states were to change. Down to breakfast at 7.30am, and other runners were already in evidence. A vaguely familiar-looking chap said hello and asked if he could join us. TRR had noticed him checking in the day before, and related a tale to me, in which a race of his went awry. So he sat down, and the reason for his familiarity became clear. He had been training on the Tallaght track over the summer a year or two ago, and his punishing 2 mile intervals had been much-discussed. Some of you will know him: Liam Brady. He finished in third place overall.

Breakfast, while sadly not involving a full Irish, was nevertheless a little more substantial than if I had been at home. OJ, porridge (just the sugary top layer, mind), black coffee and toast. Then we went upstairs and packed, as we weren't coming back after the race. Check-out, and we drove the 5/6 miles from Kilmallock to Charleville: along the race route, we now realised, and note was duly taken of the undulations such as they were along the way. We parked in Dunne's stores' car park (yet another feather in race organiser Michael's cap) and strolled up to the start area. We had plenty of time, so we had a look around, checked out the route again, then went and sat in the car until about 9.30am. I was ready to race, TRR wore a to-be-discarded top. We went outside, and it had started to rain. Also, the wind had picked up noticeably. I thought of Michael's words the night before in the Park hotel where we had collected our race numbers. He had told us, only half-jokingly, that he had thought of everything: the route had been worked out very carefully, making full use of his local knowledge, built up over 20-odd years of running in the area. He said that the prevailing winds tended to be behind all the way out to Kilmallock (about 6m), and then there were lots of high hedges providing shelter on the way back. The route was basically an out-and-back involving a loop, with the initial straight section being run back over the last few miles. Think of a lower-case letter 'b', laid on its 'back', and the race route goes out the long end, around the loop, then back to the start. In all seriousness, the guy has done a great job with this event. But back to the race.

Warm-up done, and the rain came down with increasing force as we lined up for the start. My mantra for mile 1 was: "don't go too fast. don't go too fast". It's downhill, and with a field of this quality, even if many top runners were absent due to a looming Berlin, it would be very easy to get carried away. Thankfully I heeded myself, and clocked a perfectly fine 6:43. I didn't have a specific target in mind, beyond keeping the pace strictly limited to between 6.52 and 7.00 min/mile. I have tried and failed so many times to get near, and beyond, my 1:30:30 of 2011, but it's only recently that I have come to realise that the reason I ran that time, and other pb's at different distances, is that I was inadvertently training for shorter distances than the marathon, without realising. Now that I am doing my marathon training correctly, my shorter distance times naturally suffer. I know others can bang out pb's along the way to a 26.2 effort (TRR being one), but not me. That's just the way it is, I think. If I want new pb's, and I do, I will need to train specifically for them. So my thinking was, that an average pace of about, say, 6.55, would have me on 1:30:30 pace after 8 miles. If I felt good at that stage I could then have a right good go at it. After the first mile, and we had turned right onto the Kilmallock road, the course's salient feature became apparent - lovely, long stretches of flat, flat tarmac, with only very occasional little rises before a resumption of yet more flatness.

And now, of course, my bete noire needed to be confronted. The bloody pacers. I realise that most people love them, and here again Michael must be commended. I think there were 2 pacers from 1.20 out to 2 hrs, at 5 minute intervals. Excellent organisation. I hate the bastards, though. There is simply nothing more intimidating, in my book, than a seething horde of runners thronging around a couple of really fast individuals who are usually talking loudly the whole time, and who, let's not forget, are aiming to be comfortably under the designated target (some of us need to operate on slimmer margins), and are well capable (obviously) of going much faster. This can lead to them accidentally burning off people who are on that narrower margin, but that isn't my point. Most of them do a good job, and if they do get it wrong it's hardly ever wilful let alone on purpose. No, I just don't like them because they don't suit me personally. But, here they were, and after mile 2 (6.55) when I briefly headed them, they began to outpace me. After a short internal debate, I told myself to let them go, forget them and not to worry about it. I would stick to the plan: and anyway, it was beginning to look, by mile 3 (6.59) that I was going to have to work hard to keep the pace under that 7min/mile target. Another couple of flat miles lay ahead before we neared Kilmallock, and I think it was raining fairly steadily the whole time. That wind I spoke of was there too, but as promised by Michael it was at our backs more or less the whole way out. Runners had spaced out a good bit by this time, the 1.30 pacing group was visible but well ahead, and I spent these miles passing, and being passed, by odd runners here and there. There was one slightly older guy who I saw a fair bit of. At one point we were sort of pacing off each other, and then I slowly pulled ahead. Kilmallock arrived just before the halfway point, and if it meant we were turning into the wind, it also signified a turn back towards 'home': always psychologically important. Somewhere around here a fella pulled up alongside, said something along the lines of: "Go on Tallaght. How are ye getting on?" I said hello and I'm grand and so forth, and then he asked if I was Dave, and of course I was. It was one Bulmers74, of this very parish. Cheers Joe, you towed me in, even if you wouldn't bloody well let me stay ahead of you. Just the other side of Kilmallock and we hit halfway. (oh, did I mention? There were 5, 10, 15 and 20k markers as well as mile ones. Another gold star for Michael) I think I was at 45:40 or so: confirmation if it were needed that the 1:30 was probably going to be out of reach. I don't know for sure if it was this, but a sort of fatigue/resignation began to set in. I had a long way to go, and I was starting to feel distinctly tired. But right then, and almost as soon as I had felt it, something galvanised me. I began to run a little harder, and started to reel in a runner just ahead. Was I thinking this was going to be easy? Did I expect no hard work at all? I had been trying very hard to keep the effort as easy as possible, if that makes any sense. I didn't want to be breathing heavily - can't do that for 13 miles. But maybe I was guilty of trying to cruise around in my armchair. Whatever was going on mentally, I found something, and although we were now running into the wind, and there seemed now to be more little rises which were more and more unwelcome, I started reeling people in, and indeed I was targeting them, which isn't like me. Oh, it was softly, softly, but I was catchee monkey all the same. Mile 8 at 6.51 was my quickest since the start, but despite overhauling a few people along the way, the next mile came in at 7:07, which was a little disappointing. Somewhere along here I became aware of Bulmers74 again. Whether he had caught me or vice versa I wasn't sure, but I latched onto him like a drowning man clutches at a lifebelt. He looked strong, and grizzled, if he doesn't mind me saying so. Like a man who wasn't going to stop until the finish. This section I am quite proud of, in retrospect. I reeled off three 7.07 miles in a row, on very, very tired legs. Some people like to run in a pack, or behind someone, peleton-style. I like to be out in front. Not to go faster, or throw down a gauntlet. I just like being at the head of a group; it suits me. I tried to do this with Bulmers, but he wasn't having it. Every time I put a few yards on him, he came right back at me. I realised he needed to be in front more than I did (or could manage). These miles up to 12 were hard, hard, hard. I had to use every trick, every psychological ploy and mental game I could think of to bully and cajole my body to keep running. Once we got to 12, it became possible to think about the end of the race. I was looking out for signs of civilisation, a sign saying 'Charleville', and then the Kerry plant that was just outside of town. Mile 12 arrived, eventually. A 7:03. Joe was edging ahead, but I could care less. Mile 13 brought us right into town, mile 1 in reverse, so it was a hill. I managed a 7 minute mile, and then I tried to put the hammer down for the last uphill section. I probably looked like a zombie shuffling towards some fresh brains, but evidently I summoned up sub-6 min pace, for the last 700 feet. Hey, you take what you can. Never was I more glad to finish a race, and once I knew I wasn't going to be sick or collapse I went over to shake Joe's hand. Maybe I'm confused but I could swear he said he ran 1:29:xx. He must have started well back in the pack. So. Not a pb, not a sub-90, but my best Half in three years, and an improvement of about 5 minutes on the Rock and Roll. I'll take that.

1.26 @9.13
13.13 @6.59 (1:31:44)

Splits: 6:43, 6:55, 6:59, 6:56, 7:05, 7:03, 6:57, 6:52, 7:07, 7:07, 7:07, 7:03, 7:01, 5:58 (0.13)

Weekly total: 50

Bulmers74

Nice to meet you Dave & well done for toughing it out.
I don't know who you came across at mile 8 and had what sounds like a right ding dong battle with but it wasn't me!
I was wondering why you looked at me a bit funny when I asked you how you got on when I met you and TRR afterwards.