What I log about when I log about running

Huzzah! wrote: »

I just read over all of your lovely words of encouragement and now I'm embarrassed

So, maybe I should change my username to the girl who called wolf. I'm prone to chest infections and had to dropout of the GT5k last year when I was struck down with a bad one. When I had the warning symptoms, I thought the worst.

I started to feel much better on Friday and the tightness was mostly gone from my chest, so I went out for a short recovery run. I felt okay on this but was still undecided on the half when the alarm went off this morning. I got up and ate breakfast with my OH, who was racing. I told him I wasn't racing but proceeded to get dressed and decided I'd make the trip to Newbridge House and see how I was feeling when I got there. And what a trip it was! Given the difficulties, I kind of thought it would be rude not to run and lined myself up between the 2:10 and 2:20 pacers. 2:15 was always the goal for this race (and has been since the first time I raced a half). I had briefly flirted with the idea of heading out with the 2:20 group and trying to pick it up, but didn't truly fancy the idea of leaving myself with that much work to do.

Kilometers 1-5

I headed off slightly too quickly and, to be perfectly honest, I felt cr*p from the start. The first small bump of a hill left me dreading the rest of the run. I was aiming for 6:23 splits and was hitting 6:15s approximately, but I didn't want to break my rhythm I'm not sure what happened at Lusk. I felt truly awful but my pace had picked up considerably. I struggled to slow down, despite the pace not agreeing with me. I just couldn't find a rhythm. I was worried that the 2:10 pacers were still well within sight. I stopped at the first water station and settled myself before heading on again at a more suitable pace.

Kilometers 6-11

A stitch was starting. I was hot. I was miserable. I spent most of this stretch wondering how I'd get back to Newbridge House if I quit. I was worried my other half would be worried if I stopped and it took me an age to get back to him. The pace was pretty okay through here until the stitch really took hold on a hill. I'm not sure where this hill was but I think it was around the 8th kilometer. A kind man stopped as he thought I was in distress. I'm really going to have to get something printed for the top I wear racing: “I'm okay; it's just a stitch”. Another man checked on me and someone offered me water. I was fairly frustrated at this point and I was embarrassed when people were stopping for me. I got rid of the stitch really quickly using the usual technique and started running again. I had to stop and walk again on the last big climb just before the Man O'War. I just didn't have the legs and when I realised that the last walk only set me back by about 30 seconds, I wasn't too concerned. The stitch was starting to bite again, anyway. Both of these walking segments slowed my time, but not as much as you'd think.

Kilometers 12-19

It was only the downill and huge support that got me going. I was happy once I started running again to push a bit. It was a delicate balance here for the next few clickers to try and up the pace a wee bit, while also recovering from the previous 7 miles. I definitely wasn't pushing too strongly at this point and the quicker kilometers are owed largely to gravity.

I was using Cliff Shot Bloks as my gels and it was only once the downhill started that I realised that the promised water at mile 6 hadn't materialised. I was so thirsty. A woman ahead asked a volunteer for water and he gave her what he had. I could see her offering it to people and was trying to catch up but couldn't. I noticed her leave it gently down, so that someone could pick it up if needed. There was only one person between me and that bottle and when I saw her pick it up, I actually whimpered. I watched as she finished the last drop and chucked the bottle away. I'm not going to lie, it was a tough moment!

I decided after three quicker kilometers, just as the course began to level out, to pull back the pace a bit and try and get it closer to the planned 6:23 pace. I've never run a half marathon without blowing up and was really nervous. I focused on getting to 16 kilometers, which is always a big milestone for me in a half – only a parkrun to go, after all! Any time I saw the road rise in front of me, I'd get really nervous, but none of these hills bothered me. I was suffering, though. I tried to occupy myself to figure out what I needed to do to run a PB, any sort of mind trick at all. If anyone around me stopped, I tried to urge them on to run with me. On the road down towards the last roundabout, I spotted a top that I'd seen on the way out and it made me realise how long I'd been running for. Seeing that top the first time around seemed like a lifetime ago.

Kilometers 19-21

We turned into the country roads for the last few kilometers. I was feeling a bit ill - probably from the gels - and kept telling myself that it was okay to drop off the pace a bit. When we started to meet the runners who had finished long ago, I was so tempted to ask them for water. I had gotten so thirsty again. I should have kept the bottle from the last stop, which is what I did at Wexford, and it's what I'll do the next time bottles are available during a race. I felt like a zombie. Meeting runners who are on their way home after finishing never bothered me before, but I found it so, so tough this time. The narrowness of the lanes didn't help and I'd to weave quite a bit. I'd stopped looking at my watch a long time ago, maybe around the 16-kilometer mark. It was just a case of putting one foot in front of the other at a pace that was quick enough to make this torture end without being so quick as to tip my delicate tummy over the edge. The stitch was omnipresent but not as bad as when it forced me to walk. The longest kilometer was the 19th. It was just never ending. When we passed the 800 meters sign, it felt like a long way since the 20k marker. I was so glad to see the 13-mile sign and we turned the corner, even though the finish seemed a long way away, I started to pick it up a wee bit. The girl beside me had plenty left and she pushed on and I tried to stay with her. I fell over the line and stopped the watch at 2:13:01. I was fairly surprised by this. Chip time: 2:12:58. Previous PB was 2:15:42. Nearly a 3-minute PB but I couldn't help but feel somewhat deflated. I'm not sure if it's because of the two walking breaks or if it's the realisation that a sub-2 half will probably never be within my reach. It might even just be the exhaustion after running a pretty hard race while not 100%.

Splits: 6:13; 6:19; 6:17; 6:14; 6:13: 6:07; 6:16; 6:22; 7:11; 6:17: 6:57; 5:54; 6:07; 6:08; 6:15; 6:20; 6:16; 6:15; 6:21; 6:18; 6:20; and 4:13

Once I stopped, both calfs were threatening to cramp. It may have been for the best then that I walked in completely the opposite direction to where we were parked, so I ended up doing a decent cool down walk before sitting in the car for two hours.

As rubbish as the day was, I've never experienced this level of carmaraderie from runners at a race. Overall, I think I actually liked the course. It's certainly not easy, but I think it's easier than the R'N'R. It's great to get the hills out of the way and the significant downhill in the immediate aftermath allows a nice bit of recovery. It's also a really nice location and I've never experienced anything like the support of the locals. I just don't know if there's a viable way to make it work.

So, what next? I swore yesterday that I'd never race another half, unless it was in the build up to a marathon or something. I'm not sure how true this is, but I don't think it's a distance for me. I love 10ks and would really like to properly race a 10 mile. It's just, for me, personally, HMP is still pretty spicy. It feels tough from the outset and it's pretty daunting to have to maintain that for over 2 hours. Given that I pronounced earlier in the week that I wasn't even racing, I should probably refrain from making dramatic pronouncements on my log – but, I guess, that part of the function of a log is to record your feelings in real time.

In the shorter term, I'll do a short recovery run later. My legs are feeling okay. Certainly in much better shape than after my two previous halfs, when I had to gently lower myself onto the loo for a few days. The quad is a wee bit tender. I might well take the week off running once that's done and try and get back into the yoga groove.

And, then, I've Donadea in three weeks and RTL in November. The plan was always to focus on 5k for Jingle Bells. I'll have a wee think on what plan to follow and any suggestions would be welcome. I'm currently looking at either the P&L 5k plan or mixed distance plan. I'd started reading Jack Daniels and I'm sure he's great and all but he doesn't half go on!

The other option is to just focus on lots on easy miles over the winter before starting a plan with Raheny in mind.

Lots to look forward to!

Bluesquare wrote: »

I'm looking at bohermeen in march for a nice pb - I would highly recommend it - a very nice looped flat course.

My principal goal for the rest of the year is to try and run a PB at the race
series half. My current PB is from the Wexford half earlier this year and is
2:15:4x

Huzzah! wrote: »

Chip time: I don't know where that dismal performance came out of, but I never gave up trying. We can't win them all, so I'm just going to chalk it down and move on.