Often becomes easy when the easy is often..

scotindublin

Hope you had a great Christmas C and are enjoying the time will the little ones.

I see absolutely no reason why you shouldn't be targeting a sub 90 half marathon and there is plenty of time to prep for Bohermeen aswell.

You will reap the benefits of the mara block in this next cycle, throw is some good solid tempo efforts and some 1mile repeats/ 2 x miles at goal pace with mile recoveries about 45 secs to a minute slower than goal pace and you will be in flying shape.

C

coogy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120036759#Comment_120036759

Hi C, my official half marathon PB is roughly the same as yours and I honestly think that sub 90 mins is certainly within reach for you. I agree with C, your marathon training will undoubtedly stand to you as you take on another training block.

Good luck with the training, if you ever want to meet up for any runs over the next 11 weeks, just holler!

Lazare

Thanks very much for the shot of confidence lads.

@scotindublin Love the sound of those sessions C. Have never targeted a half before so am excited. Am going to follow the grads plan given I'm mentoring the grads and encouraging them to do the same. I will add those sessions into the mix though.

@coogy Cheers K, I would love that. Enjoyed that recent run a lot.

scotindublin

Could even incorporate maybe 4 x 2 miles as part of your long run maybe?

Lazare

Have had a pretty frustrating setback.

Went for an 80 min run last Friday afternoon. Felt a bit floored that evening

Have been sick with the strangest virus ever since. Well had a bit of a lull for a couple of days then yesterday it came back with a bang. Followed a similar pattern with my 8 year old.

Not sure when I'll be fit to run, hopefully over the weekend.

I'll bounce back once I can get going, and the fitness will return. Will have a think about target times then.

coogy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120073516#Comment_120073516

Hey C, I'm in the same boat unfortunately.

Last run was on new years day. That evening, I started feeling off colour and got worse as the week progressed. Mostly aches and pains with uncontrollable fits of coughing. Thought I was feeling better this morning but still not right.

Fingers crossed I'll be well enough by Monday so I can pick things up again, last thing I want is to be adjusting target times for Bohermeen based on missed training.

Get better! 🤞

Lazare

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120075873#Comment_120075873

Sorry to hear K. It's pretty poxy isn't it.

I think we'll bounce back quickly though, it's obv not optimal but it's just a bump in the road.

One thing giving me hope is I had a very similar, if not worse situation in 2019/20 and I ran a great Raheny that Jan setting my pb. Let's not give up hope brother.

Murph_D

Recover well lads, take it easy and let things settle down.

Kellygirl

Get well soon guys. That’s frustrating for both of you.

Lazare

Thank you both.

I got out for a tester run tonight, 2 miles. Felt good.

I'll spend the week running easy with a view to adding in some sessions next week.

Lazare

Bohermeen half - half a plan

So I had a relatively solid couple of weeks. Last week as planned was all easy running, barring the Sunday boards group run which was at a decent clip, about the same sort of pace as my marathon block long runs.

This week I got back into some sessions. Jumped into week 7 of Luke's grads plan (10k - half). Exactly half way through. Not ideal, not optimal, not practicing what I should be preaching. If one of the grads came in asking for advice I'd be telling them to forget Bohermeen as a target race.

I kinda have scaled back on my ambitions somewhat though. I don't think right now that a sub 90 min is doable with the time I have left, but I guess I'll know more in a few weeks. A pb should be achievable though.

Tue Jan 17 - 40 min easy run, 119 bpm, 6:04km

Wed Jan 18 - 10x 300s, 1 min off + up and down. These were tough. Difficult to find a suitable spot for them too with how icy it was. Was hella cold, I had three warm layers on, a hat, a snood and gloves and I didn't feel like taking any of it off during them. Luke is a sadist with those short recoveries. Probably the toughest session I've ever done. Honeslty felt at one point I was about to die, no joking. It's the short recovery. I get it though, get what he's at with it. You're spending every second of that session in the hurt zone you need to be in. The 1 min gives you just enough time to gather yourself, but not enough to make the first 10% of the next one useless. Felt absolutely on fire after it.

Thurs Jan 19 - 40 min easy, 119 bpm, 5:59km

Sat Jan 21 - 4x 8min at HM, 90 sec off, 3k up, 3k down. Again feeling the hurt and benefit of the short recoveries. Performed really well at these I felt. Targeted 4:20 - 4:25km pace and nailed that. Buzzing afterwards. Just so good to be doing 'stuff' again.

Sun Jan 22 - 105 mins easy. Nice out and back easy run, keeping the HR below 130. Average HR 128bpm, 5:54km

Total - 33.3 miles

Raheny next week so will tweak Saturday's run. Looking to PB at it. Told Sean what my PB was (33:44) and he said if I don't beat it he'll beat me. He probably doesn't realise how much of a confidence boost that gave me. Thanks S. 😊

skyblue46

That's both you and Lainey that I'd be beating if you don't PB...very soft in relation to where you are both at now.

Laineyfrecks

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120144214#Comment_120144214

👀🫣

Murph_D

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120144214#Comment_120144214

Where do you reckon both of them are at right now? Asking for a friend.

Laineyfrecks

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120155866#Comment_120155866

Does this friend happen to be registered in the M65 category 🤭😜🤣

Murph_D

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120156400#Comment_120156400

😂 🤣

skyblue46

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120155866#Comment_120155866

Ah I'd hate to put pressure on them 😅

skyblue46

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120156400#Comment_120156400

Only if he has aged a lot recently 🤣

Edit to say I see this now 😂

Lazare

Haha, this is good craic. Pity there aren't a few takers on the thread.

D I'm thinking around 32:3x ish will be about where I'm at. Hopefully anyway.

If I fall shy of that grand, if I burst through it apologies. Likely the former if this morning's session is anything to go by.

Murph_D

Well I did say you have more room for improvement than I have. 😉

Lazare

Raheny 5 race report, plus lead in.

Tue Jan 24 - 1 hour v easy. 6:03 km, 118bpm. By the book.

Wed Jan 25 - 8x 3min @ CV, 400m rec, WU/CD. This was a tough and dispiriting session. Well when I say dispiriting, it was mainly so during it and for a little while after it. I had some reflection afterwards that changed my mind. During the Summer/late Spring I do these sort of sessions on the canal, lovely warm up run to it, session, cool down run back. Can't really do that until about late March with the daylight though, the road is too dangerous early morning. So I had to figure out a spot do it, kinda on the fly. Suppose it shows how little Winter session experience I have. Am usually basing right now.

Anyway, I decided to run up to Rathcoole Park to warm, about 2 miles away. Started my first rep in there, a pretty unfamiliar place, in the pitch dark. Ran my first rep mostly uphill and struggled towards the end of it. Did the second one in reverse and obv it was easier, but didn't like the vibe of it. Too dark, not knowing where the path turned etc. Headed out to the N7 to finish them off but that's always a windy hell. Really struggled to hit the paces. Managed it on some of them but mostly struggled. Raheny in the forefront of my mind here. If I can't hit 4:09km pace comfortably for three mins, how am I gonna hold 4:04 for 32 and a half (more on that miscalc to come 😀). Anyway, a day or two later I started to cop on and realise that A, pace is always harder in training, and B this was particularly tough, uphill, hard wind. Hitting the pace or not hitting the pace, the effort was good, so the adaptation was good. Overall a good session in hindsight.

Fri Jan 27 - 40 mins v easy - 5:53km, 121bpm.

Sat Jan 28 - 4 miles easy - 5:46km, 132bpm

Raheny 5 Mile

What a bleedin race. I'm so so happy right now. I mentioned above a miscalc, and I really hope y'all don't think I'm making excuses, but I came up with that 32:3x target out of a bit of stupidity. I had a think about what sort of pace would be my 5 mile limit and I thought 4:04km would be about it. So I figured 8km at 4:04 would give me 32:32. Only I wasn't running an 8km race, I was running a 5 mile race. This really only dawned on my last night. Really should cross the Ts and dot the Is.

My wife was running today also, we picked our eldest up from a play centre party at 1pm, dropped her and her two sisters over to their Nana's in Tallaght and headed over. Was panicking all week about this, whether we would get there in time. It all worked out fine. Bagged the last parking spot in the church and we headed over to warm up at about 2:15.

Wife and I parted company at this point and I headed off for a warm up in St Annes. Came back then and jogged up and down the start corral. Met with Sean, Elaine and Denis then and hit stop on the watch. A good 20 mins to go but we just hung out there until the gun.

Bang and we're off. My plan is 4:04km pace. My limit. Major doubts all week about whether I can do it, hold it. Fear of blowing up. I said feck it, I blow up I blow up. Had big confidence of it today though. Belief really. Just felt I could do it, and wasn't letting any thoughts otherwise into my head.

Congestion wasn't overly bad, the usual bit of clip avoidance and a little bit of side skipping but nothing to complain about. A good bit of pace moderation here, had to reign it in a little.

First km beeped 4:04. Hard to describe how much of a boost this gave me mentally. Like you've been spending days obsessing over this 4:04 pace and here it is beeping on your arm like a kiss.

4:06 for the next, still motoring along nicely.

A little bit of draggy stuff now, I'm feeling fresh but pull back a bit with thoughts of how early it is, 4:16 for km3.

Turn onto Sybil Hill now and we start to descend a little. @scotindublin comes up alongside me here and says that he's pacing some of his Donore clubmates to a 32:55, do I want to jump in. I'm delighted to see him, he's an absolute legend but I'm thinking here that I'm also racing D, and that it might look bad if I'm getting help. I pushed on a little bit beyond C and just dug in.

Km 4 beeped in at 3:53 and I pretty much sh1t myself lol. 'Relax Conor, it's downhill'. Had to calm myself. But I felt amazing. It was tough, don't get me wrong, but it was the right type of tough, halfway through a 5 mile tough. I knew at this point that I was gonna be happy at the end.

Went through 5k a few seconds off my parkrun pb, feeling really strong.

Into the park. I love this bit, even though you've almost two miles to go it psychologically feels like a turning point, the end game. The St Annes section is a decent distance, but taking the overall course into account it always feels like the home straight to me. I also love the hairpin. I'm in the minority on that but I adore it. I love looking at the faster runners on the out, I find it incredibly inspirational. On the In I love looking at runners behind me, I love seeing people that look really fast and strong, the confidence boost it gives you on that last mile knowing you're ahead of them can't be measured.

C came up along side me here, on the hairpin turnaround and started the business end of pacing, picking it up, encouraging shouts. S apparently was on my shoulder here too but I was oblivious (him taking it relatively relaxed). I dug deep to hold on but it hurt. Fading. If it wasn't for C I would have given in to that fade but I dug again and caught him. Another fade. Looked down at 3:55 pace and told C it was too hot with 1200 to go. He slowed a little as did I. We picked it up again out of the park, back up to about 4:05km pace.

I think I'll run this race for 100 years and still be fooled every time by the turn to the gantry. Got myself ready for a kick coming up to a bend, only to cop there was another 60m to the actual bend. We hit that and I found a kick to sprint to the line.

Got under in 32:54, for 4:04km avg.

I couldn't be more delighted with how that race went. I had serious doubts all week about whether I was capable of holding that pace, and to nail it feels so so good. So good.

Endorphins are absolutely swimming around my noggin right now.

Thank you so much C for giving me at least 25 secs out there.

Kellygirl

Congrats Conor. Great PB. You have real grit in those races.

Murph_D

Brilliant stuff, C. Very well done to nail that pace from gun to tape. All over it. Nice to have those couple of pints with you and your mrs afterwards and to shoot the breeze.

scotindublin

Great effort C delighted for you and like I said you did all the hard work.

Lazare

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120175663#Comment_120175663

Thank you K 😊

Lazare

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120175678#Comment_120175678

Likewise D, so cool to hang out with you today. Thank you v much.

Lazare

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120175707#Comment_120175707

You're a warrior. A true warrior. 👊

Lazare

I've mentioned this before but the Raheny 5 mile has a special meaning for me.

Not very long after I started running in 2016, late January, we lost our second daughter to stillbirth. Sybil was her name (we call her Sybie). She died four or five days before she was due.

I was four weeks into couch to 5k when it happened. It was a really really tough time, as I'm sure you can imagine.

I kept running, mostly because it helped. I ran early mornings with a neighbour. He was a psychologist working for the Gardai, trained specifically in trauma. We would run pre dawn three days a week and between him, his words and the running it made things bearable.

I knew then that running was vital to me.

Late that year I started thinking about races. I had lurked in here and had gotten a buzz for more than what I was at. In November I spotted the Raheny 5 mile and signed up for 2017.

My first ever race.

I can't explain how excited I was for it.

A while after booking it I realised the date was her anniversary.

A few days before the race I looked up the route and saw that it ran down a road I'd never heard of before, Sybil Hill Road.

My wife dropped me off that day and I soaked it all in. It was raining but it was magical.

I turned the corner onto Sybil Hill Road and felt bursts of emotion. Halfway down that road I spotted a convent called 'Little Sisters' and I lost it.

Adding to all that, Raheny holds a special nostalgic place in my heart. My Mam is from there and I spent so much of my childhood out there, in and around All Saints, in playgrounds.

The race has this magical nostalgic feel for me while also being a beautiful reminder of Sybie in such a multitude of ways.

In 2019 after the race my friend sent me a pic on whattsapp. He was spectating that day, taking pics. He didn't know anything about the above. He took my pic just as I turned the corner onto Sybil Hill Road, with the street sign clearly in view.

It's my Strava pic forever.

coogy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120175834#Comment_120175834

Wow, that's a heartbreaking, yet ultimately inspiring story C. It's hard to take in just how difficult life can be at times but there always seems to be that unexplained magical moment lurking around the corner when you least expect it, that somehow makes things alright again, even if only temporarily.

Brilliantly run race by you yesterday, there can be few greater feelings in the world than having to dig deep and coming out the other end smiling, I'm sure it's been just the tonic you needed!

Kellygirl

I remembered that story reading your report yesterday when you mentioned Sybil road. Was that your wife’s first time doing it yesterday? Did she find it emotional?