Leader Of The (Mid) Pack

Neady83 wrote: »

Catching up on your Clontarf experience WW, wow, so sorry to hear you suffered like that. That is a lesson to us all. Delighted that you've come out the other side in one piece, you've a wise head on you must be all that studying.

Thanks S, DNF is hard to take, but sometimes there's no other way. I remember I used to have a 100% finishing record....
Don't know about wise when it comes to racing still a fair bit to learn there. I've decided to hold off on doing a Masters. For now

The Muppet wrote: »

Sorry to read of the hm exploits J. Some of us are just not designed to race in current conditions . Hope you,re feeling a lot better now. .

Belated congrats on the results too.

Thanks T, great to hear from you. The sooner we're back to "normal" Irish summer weather the better feeling much more recovered now, thankfully. Graduation in December. Hopefully our club XC race won't be on the morning after :eek:

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There were no "very easy miles" on Tuesday. Nothing at all, in fact, until we decided on some parkrun tourism yesterday.

Poolbeg was the venue this time, on another hot and sunny morning. They had great numbers there, among them a large group from St Annes, which included FBOT and Mrs Mc. After an easy paced 3/4 mile warmup, I got back to the start for a few stretches before we headed away. It's an unusual course. You first run out towards Irishtown, then come back past the start/finish and head for the nature reserve. There's a short, but steep enough, two stage climb up to the turnaround point, which is just after half way. Back to the start/finish, and then repeat the original out and back. I deliberately started a long way from the front, and kept it fairly steady with no intention of chasing a time. The only time I raised the effort levels to any great extent was along the finishing straight with 200 to go - I looked good passing my wife, who was watching not far from the finish. Pleasantly surprised with a time of 21:58. ReeReeG from here was running as well, but I didn't spot her at all. Of course, I often forget that most of the newer people reading this have no idea what I look like - there's no photo of me on my Strava. Sure it's nice to have a bit of mystery :pac:

Had a quick chat with M (training for NYC) before we headed home. That's parkrun #99 in the bag. The century will be completed in Porterstown, in two or three weeks time. For that one, I'd like to have a shot at beating my two year old parkrun PB (20:36), which was set in my 50th parkrun, also at Porterstown.

Sun 15/7 - 5.01 miles @7:59/mi

An 8 AM start for me, with the MSBers at Castleknock Gate. With a few of the faster lads having raced the Irish Runner 10 Mile yesterday, this was thankfully a more sedate affair than normal. I felt comfortable with the pace throughout, even heading up the Khyber Road. I could have stayed on for a few more miles with the 8:45 trail runners, but after the week just gone, I might just have made the right decision to go home instead. I'm volunteering at the BHAA race in Irishtown on Wednesday, so maybe I'll see one or two of you there. Thanks for reading. J.

Sun 22/7 - South Dublin 10k, Clondalkin - DNS

TL;DR - Probably the right decision.

Another week of next to no running. I'd planned to do a few miles on Tuesday, but was feeling a niggle when I got home from work, so didn't bother. I volunteered at the BHAA race in Irishtown on Wednesday - not as many around due to the Liberties 4 mile among other things, but those that did turn up enjoyed it, and very few participants went home empty handed

I had an entry for the Sd10k, but my GAA match got moved from Saturday evening to Sunday morning, as a result of the Dubs' trip to Omagh being fixed for Saturday. This meant that there was a direct clash. I hate having to choose between these things - the gift of bilocation would be truly wonderful.

A family birthday party on Friday night, with plenty of food and drink, meant I didn't get a run in before we travelled North on Saturday. Just one beer in Omagh, but more bad food, and the fact that we didn't get home till just after midnight, meant it was far from ideal preparation for any race. So instead of heading to Clondalkin to chase an unlikely PB in hot and humid conditions, I headed out for a few easy miles on my own, before travelling to my GAA match. In so doing, I just about avoided a zero mile week!

Since Clontarf, over two weeks ago now, I've covered 15 miles. This has exacerbated a major problem of mine - eating way too much rubbish. Reasonable mileage was covering up a few sins, but being inactive has brought home just how much cargo I need to shed. In general, the first half of last week went well from a diet point of view, but the second half was disastrous.

Good news! I've decided to run my 100th parkrun on August 4, the venue being my home event, Porterstown. I'm still intending to try for a parkrun PB, so that should give me some more incentive to get rid of a pound or two. In the meantime, I'm planning to go to Marino for the BHAA Dublin Fire Brigade 5k this Sunday. Thanks for reading. J.

Mon 23/7 - Rest

Tue 24/7 - 5.34 miles@8:22/mi

Three clockwise Carpenterstown loops. Faster than I intended or expected.

Wed 25/7 - Rest

Thu 26/7 - 6.35 miles@8:19/mi

I'm definitely going too fast on these runs. I didn't feel any niggles, but still I was glad of the cloud and tree cover when it was available. Slowing down further will be the hardest thing in the coming weeks.

Fri 27/7 - Rest

Sat 28/7 - 3.96 miles@8:58/mi

I ran up to Porterstown for an easy few laps in the drizzle and cooling breeze, before having breakfast and coming back for my volunteering stint. By then, the conditions had deteriorated significantly - wet, windy and cold! In my opinion, it is much easier to run than volunteer on such days. Nice to see racheljev from these parts, who was running with her cousin. I needed another shower to get some heat back into my body when I got home!

Sun 29/7 - BHAA Dublin Fire Brigade 5k, Marino

When I woke up this morning, I was still deliberating about whether I should even travel to this or not. I hadn't registered in advance (I rarely bother for BHAA races) so I wouldn't be like I'd paid a tenner for a DNS. Diet was ok for the first half of this week, but cakes in work on Friday, followed by drinking, meant that even two days later, I was feeling fat and totally unprepared for a 5k race.

Anyway, I eventually decided I'd give it a shot. If nothing else, I'd have a better idea of just how off the pace and out of shape I was. Smaller crowds than previous years for this one, but a good few of my rivals were around, so that would be a help. Warm up (with Paddy P and John Todd) consisted of easy laps around the field at the back of the OBI, with some strides a few minutes before the start. Few words from one of the organisers, and we were ready to go.

The first 200-250m were downhill on the potholed driveway, before we turned left and onto the uphill Malahide Road. I got stuck way behind at the beginning, but once I got out the gate, it was time to start working the arms. Push hard and see how long you last. It may not sound very scientific (and it wasn't!) but I thought it was the best way to approach this one. I made up plenty of places through here, including passing my two teammates, as well as Vanessa S and John, before we turned left at Donnycarney church, onto Collins Avenue. 1k down.

The Collins Avenue section is mostly an uphill drag; not as steep as Malahide Road, but it's much longer, and the wind was against us. I got a bit isolated through here; although I'd cleared a couple of groups in the first k, I was now 50-100m behind a group of three. Not tempted at all to ease off, which is a rarity for me. Pushed hard through 2k (Celtic Park Road junction) and on towards Whitehall Colmcille GAA club grounds (roughly half way). I was gaining on the three ahead, as we finally turned left onto the downhill Gracepark Road.

Here, I lengthened my stride, which was quickly paying dividends as I closed the gap quicker than I expected. Through the 3k mark, and I was right behind them. Look behind to make sure no traffic coming. Look again. Surge. I got rid of two of the three straight away, but Darren D (JDES) stuck with me. One of my aforementioned rivals An Ardee runner was a little bit ahead on the downhill, but I caught and passed him before we turned left onto Griffith Avenue.

Breeze behind us now, and Ardee is hanging in there, even though I imagined he'd fall back fairly quickly. There's only a kilometre to go! At this stage, I'm thinking I could catch a Portmarnock lady up ahead (lead female, as I later found out), who had fallen off the group she was running with, and kept looking behind her. However, coming to the left turn back onto the Malahide Road, and hence uphill again, I was starting to tire, and Ardee caught me just after the bus stop before we turned back into the OBI grounds. I was trying to muster up more energy for a last push, but there wasn't a lot there. Darren passed me back on the uphill part of the driveway, and the 2nd F caught me as well. I did manage to get under 21 minutes (20:52), which was a better than expected outcome, my *best* 5k time this year.

More surprises to follow later! A team prize (second C class) was not unexpected, although I wouldn't normally be our leading scorer. The biggest shock of all came when my name got called out as first M45 :eek:

I honestly had no idea! I wouldn't even think of myself as an age cat contender, and certainly I've never been near it before. Glad I went over so! Thanks for reading. J.

quickbeam wrote: »

Congrats, WW! Top age grade is a great achievement!

Thanks F, first time for everything, so they say! Hopefully not the last

healy1835 wrote: »

So you're the Golden Fleece!!

How could one ever imagine such a thing to be true? :pac:

scotindublin wrote: »

Well done J a good solid outing!

Thanks C, solid compared to most recent outings all right!

Annie get your Run wrote: »

Congrats!!

Thanks AM, I'm still enjoying my little moment :pac:

Murph_D wrote: »

Nice one, J, congrats!

Would love to do this race as it's very local but always seem to be away. Next year hopefully!

Thanks D, not an easy course with most of the first half uphill and then an uphill finish. Fingers crossed!

Sheep1978 wrote: »

Good stuff J. Well done

Thanks D, you're getting back into it well yourself the last while.

ariana` wrote: »

Super racing. It sounds like despite doubts about what shape you're in physically, mentally you on fire which is very impressive! Fantastic to walk away with a couple of prizes too - congratulations, well deserved!

Thanks E. That does not normally happen! Unusually I had no thoughts of slowing down or stepping off. The prizes were great to bring home too!

eyrie wrote: »

Fantastic going, well done! Lovely result to get the category win. I like your scientific strategy too - I'm definitely going to try this out in a 5k soon, if I ever do another one

Thanks C, I'd definitely recommend trying it out. Especially for those of us fairly new to this, most of us here don't really have a clue how far or how fast we can go. Sometimes it's good to just RLF and not worry too much about the outcome

aquinn wrote: »

Good man J. I run that route frequently and I wouldn't fancy racing it.

You did extremely well. Congratulations on the prize.

Thanks A, you'd be well able for it! Next year

Baby75 wrote: »

Well done again J, and congratulations on the age category seen the updated time on Strava and nice one even better than you thought that is brilliant

Thanks N, not bad for an aul man yeah what happened there was (I think) they mixed my time up with the next fella's when they were printing the result sheets. Either that I mistook the 2 for a 7 (no glasses!)

OOnegative wrote: »

Well done WW, great stuff.

Thanks B, a nice steady run from yourself back on home ground. Keep up the good work for Koln.

Neady83 wrote: »

Great racing WW and a well deserved podium

Do you think that being on the fence about doing the race took the pressure off you a little bit and maybe helped get you your best 5km time this year? I often wonder if sometimes we put too much pressure on ourselves to hit targets in races by over preparing and maybe sabotaging ourselves in the process.

Yes! Thanks S. It's certainly true where I'm concerned, particularly if I'm coming up to any kind of "goal" race. Too much setting targets in advance has without a doubt affected a lot of my race performances over the years. In contrast, Sunday was real back to basics stuff. Plus I never for one second thought I'd be competing for a category prize, let alone picking up first!

skyblue46 wrote: »

Great racing J. Congrats on picking up the prizes too. I would have liked to do it but had to work...

Thanks S, really enjoyed it! I think you'd have done very well yourself. Maybe next time.

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To fill in the gaps which have emerged since Sunday....

Mon 30/7 - Rest

Tue 31/7 - 7.46 miles@8:29/mi

Great run this. Much cooler. Bit of a breeze, but very manageable. Through Laurel Lodge down to the Phoenix Park, around the Chesterfield Avenue/Furze Road/Ordnance Survey Road triangle, then back out through White's Gate. The drag up to Carpenterstown was a bit tiring, but my overall pace didn't drop, so I'm very happy with how this one went.

July Review

This one basically consists of two races. Both in Dublin 3, but what a contrast in outcomes! Interestingly enough, I'm fairly sure that Clontarf HM participants were advised to park in the OBI on at least one occasion in previous years.

Clontarf was a real eye opener, in more ways than one. Never before have I tried to race in such heat (22 deg C at the start, and rising throughout the first 8 miles or so) and I've no wish to repeat such an experience. As Tom alluded to a few pages back, some of us just aren't built to handle such conditions. It appears as if I fall into this category. So if we've a day like that again, I'll definitely drop to a shorter distance, if the option is available. Otherwise, I can live with not taking the start line.

With so little running activity in the three week gap between races (apart from parkrun 99 in Poolbeg) I hadn't a notion how the Marino race would go. Just get out and do it. And I did. Not quite waltzing my way to a season's best, but this tune was in my head all week

As Neady mentions above, we do overthink these things a lot of the time. If I focus less on time targets, and concentrate on other things, such as better diet and more consistent mileage and pacing, the improvements in time will hopefully follow.

Next up I'll be going for the parkrun century, in Porterstown on Saturday morning, followed by the Kilcock 10 Mile on the 19th. Till August, thanks for reading! J.

Wed 1/8 - Club session, Porterstown Park

This was my first time in a month to attend one of these sessions, as GAA and race marshalling took precedence. With this in mind, in hindsight I pushed too hard on the uphill runs alongside the hedges. The rest of the session was 4/3/4/3 (2 min recs) at 5k pace on the grass track. I was in a group with four others for the opening 4 min stint. Hard work, but not too bad until I started trying to go clear near the end. Bad move. I was pretty much out of gas after that, and ended up falling back and completing the session alone. 5.5 miles or so in total, including running up and back.

Thu 2/8 - 7.41 miles@8:37/mi

Basically this was Tuesday's run route in reverse. I was happier with this one though, as my split times were more consistent (fastest 8:23, slowest 8:49). Tuesday had a full minute deviation between fastest and slowest :rolleyes: It only rained for about two minutes, but when I got home, due to the humidity I looked as if I'd run through a rainstorm for the hour plus!

Fri 3/8 - Rest

Sat 4/8 - Porterstown parkrun - Salut El Centurión!

I'd been looking forward to this for quite some time, particularly as I got into the 90s in terms of parkruns completed. Amazingly, I managed to avoid missing out due to injury either picked up while running or due to some bizarre domestic accident. Yes, I AM that clumsy.

I'd given the gang the heads up the previous week, while getting drenched in the course of my volunteering stint. Arrived bright and early, to see a nice surprise, as one of the regulars made a little chocolate and Guinness cake to mark the occasion. Easy warmup lap, then it was time to welcome Annie Get Your Run back to Porterstown

Unlike (for example) St Anne's and Malahide, we don't have a huge percentage of milestone runners yet. So when someone does reach 50 or 100, chances are they'll have the spotlight to themselves plus we're not expected to dance around while wearing a feather boa :pac::pac: Great to get the shout out before the off.

Lap 1

I started right at the front, to be joined by a fresh from his holidays Bernard. Three other lads took off; we didn't try to follow them. Luckily enough, I was in a group for this - due to the smaller numbers you can often end up isolated. I was overtaken at the car park by a Spanish guy, while Tom and another fella were close behind. Hard going, but holding onto 6th at the end of this one.

Lap 2

Tough work trying to keep Bernard within range, even on the downhill section. Uphill was more challenging again, as Tom moved ahead to leave me in 7th. Quick look behind. The other fella had fallen off the back at some stage, so this was it really. If I was to beat my parkrun PB (20:36), most likely I would have to finish ahead of Bernard and/or Tom. Times were called out at the end of this lap. I went through in 13:50 - it was still on!

Lap 3

A big effort was needed in order to mark the century. The Spaniard was fading, and I gained back a place as I overtook him at the first corner. By now, Tom had cleared Bernard, who seemed to be flagging as well. I was making up some ground, but seemingly not fast enough! There's about a kilometre from the start of the first shorter uphill to the finish. 4 minutes or so left. Push up the steepest part of the course - only lasts a few seconds, but you do feel it. The last climb to the car park was draining me, but I still had some energy for a final push. All flat or downhill to the finish. Round the last two corners, I gave it plenty of welly down the straight, and although I was catching Bernard, he had enough of a gap to hold me off. My wife recorded my finish. The noises out of me! "HOW LONG? HOW LONG? TOYIM?" :pac:

I really enjoyed cake and hot chocolate at the finish. It's a regular thing at Porterstown, but a lot of us only really appreciate it when visiting other parkruns that don't have such luxuries so close at hand. It being my 100th, it was probably the most enjoyable ever. I'm also the first in the club to reach the century, so a tiny bit of history there

My first parkrun was in Malahide, way back in the mists of May 2013, so it's been quite some time in the making. Worth the wait though. Interestingly enough, today I got a time of 20:36, equalling my parkrun PB, set in my 50th, at Porterstown in May 2016. One more second :pac:

Sun 5/8 - Rest

Mon 6/8 - 11.36 miles@9:54/mi

Having taken yesterday off from running, I had it in mind to redress the balance today. Feeling very tired and hungover though, so I wasn't sure I'd even be able to complete this. Into the Phoenix Park at White's Gate, I took off to the left to follow the trails around. I don't normally run on these. The miles ticked by much easier, as I get bored sometimes just sticking to the paths. Pace varied between slow and very slow, but I managed the climbs as comfortably as could be expected. Finished on the MSB trails between Knockmaroon Gate and Farmleigh, before heading back out for home. Delighted to have so many miles in the bank!

I'm not entered in the Rock 'N' Roll half this year. Best of luck to all of you who are lining up. Hopefully I'll be out supporting somewhere along the route. Next for me is the Kilcock 10 mile, where a very old and slow PB (74:13, March 2016) needs some improvement. Thanks for reading. J.

skyblue46 wrote: »

Well done on hitting the century mark J. I'll see you in Kilcock. I have an older and slower PB to improve on. :-)

Absolutely! No doubt you'll significantly improve on yours.

Sheep1978 wrote: »

Well done on the the 100 J

Thanks D, hopefully many more to follow!

diego_b wrote: »

Congrats on the 100 up and equaling your pb, them damn seconds!

Thanks D, you always wonder in that situation whether you pushed hard enough. I remember equalling my PB in a parkrun, two weeks before I beat it to set my new PB in my 50th.

Murph_D wrote: »

Congrats J. Eerie that you equaled the 50 milestone time!

Yes there's no way I was aiming to achieve such a thing. Now if I do it again in my 150th....:eek:

Annie get your Run wrote: »

Well done!!! Two guys passed me on the car park stretch and I turned when I got to the top to see if I could see you, the aim being not to be lapped by WW :pac: you must have flown up that section because you passed me at the exercise machines and then tore down to the finish. The cake was delicious .



I must admit to being slight bemused by the RD not starting the run until next weeks roster was filled with volunteers, it worked!

Thanks again AM, delighted that you were able to make it yes I decided I might as well give it a go for the last part, at that stage there was only about two minutes left. Nobody was going to catch me, so I might as well try catch the one or two ahead. Give the fans what they want and all that

I'll pass on your compliments to Lisa next time I see her - she makes cakes like that all the time and they always go down a treat.

We decided to try the advance roster filling some time ago, as we believed it would be easier than trying to chase people via emails and FB during the week. Still not easy at this time of year!

ariana` wrote: »

Congratulations on the big milestone. It's quite bizarre how you matched your PB set at your 50th - a PB would've been nice but you can't plan that kind of symmetry, i think it's kinda cool

Huzzah! wrote: »

Congrats on the 100!

Sunny Dayz wrote: »

Congrats on 100 parkruns!

eyrie wrote: »

A super milestone, well done! And done in style too - great to match the PB. It sounds like a really lovely morning I must say

Thanks so much everyone, like I say we don't have many centurions at Porterstown yet, so it was a fairly big deal. Can I add that I ran by feel? Sure if I was using the watch I wouldn't have equalled my 50th time :pac: One of my best mornings of running, without a doubt. Certainly my favourite this year, with a best 5k time of 2018

Tue 7/8 - 6.01 miles@9:01/mi

Tired miles around Carpenterstown and Porterstown.

Wed 8/8 - Club session, Porterstown Park

Even though I learned the lessons from last week, for example not going hell for leather on the opening hedge loops, I didn't have a great deal of energy for the 4/3/4/3 around the grass track (last week it was actually 5/4/3/2). I never got much of a rhythm going, being stuck running on my own between people for the entire 20 minutes. Feeling a bit of a niggle when I got home as well.

Thu 9/8 - Rest

Badly needed.

Fri 10/8 - Rest

Sat 11/8 - Porterstown parkrun

After last week's centenary celebrations, this was a more run of the mill effort. I let Bernard off, and decided to run with Tom for the first lap and a half. At the bottom of the drag to the car park, I decided I'd no more interest in holding the pace, even though last week was considerably quicker. Having let Tom go off, the only thing I was concerned about was whether anyone would catch me on the last lap. Thankfully, I didn't slow down that much. 7th place in a time of 21:12. Still and all, a nice way to start a day where the Dubs qualified for another All Ireland final

Sun 12/8 - No running

I had intended to be out supporting along the Rock 'N' Roll route anyway, so when the club were looking for stewards around Castleknock College, I put my hand up.

Lots of familiar faces taking part, both Boardsie and non. I spotted a few from here, such as Adrian and Marthastew, but no doubt I missed a lot more. KC and I had a nightmare trying to get people safely through the turn into the back entrance of the college. On a wet morning, runners had to negotiate a sharp enough left hander, onto an uneven surface with a metal spike (receiver for the gate) sticking up out of the ground. I'm not sure exactly how many fell here, but I'd say it was between 10 and 15. No serious damage done there as far as I could make out, but we heard some poor girl had a seizure just down the road from us.

I was just relieved when we finally got the nod to go home. I had planned to get a few easy miles in before watching the Reds take West Ham apart, but I decided to just relax on the couch instead, and push those easy miles out to tomorrow.

Next week brings up the Kilcock 10 mile; a new race, on what looks like a fast and flat course with PB potential, particularly if the weather plays ball. Hope to see some of you there. Thanks for reading. J.