Run run run run run run run....

...as I was saying, I'll pick this log up again sometime soon and now probably feels like a good time. Jesus it's been almost 5 years! I'm suddenly a little terrified of time's wrath and I feel like crawling under the sheets. I was having a read back over this log recently and it dawned on me how enjoyable it was to sit down and write up a review of the weekly training or a race report. It's even nicer as a historical journal to look back on and even brings a smile as I remember a certain session or a particular muffin I ate.

I felt it might be good to bring it back to life as there's a few more chapters left in me yet and the process of writing stuff down is always cathartic for me. I should probably also fill you in on my whereabouts since Berlin 2016 so I'll use bullet points which I always enjoy making.

I've been keeping track of my results on my website here which is more of a personal reference but it's kind of relevant to the log. I'm such a dinosaur, website are so 2016.

• 2017 - I focussed on 5-10k racing for the Spring and Summer and got some good results but was also learning how to race better and won a couple, my favourite being the Millstreet 5 mile where I ran 25:58 and this felt like a bit of a breakthrough just seeing 25:xx on the clock. I got the half down to 71:37 near the end of the year and had a pretty good XC season for someone who didn't really feel like an XC runner. I was 2nd in the county novice, 10th in county seniors, 24th in national novice and 75th in national seniors . I golfed a lot this year and also joined Snapchat.
• 2018 - I have only attempted two more marathons since 2016, both in 2018 and both in the space of 5 weeks and I'm still stuck on 2:31. They weren't exactly terrible runs but I made a few mistakes and probably learned something valuable. I'm certainly not done with 26.2 yet. I didn't race nearly as much as I should have but I did win Millstreet again and another 4 mile in Killeagh. XC was poor as I was still suffering from the marathon(s) hangover and a lot of long haul travel - national novice 65th, national senior 80th. Became a master and not the good type, the old, good type.
• 2019 - I was still quite fatigued and flat in early 2019, I could barely muster 57 mins in the John Tracey 10 miler following a trip back from the US and was feeling far from optimal. Things started improving when I moved to California for 5 months on a long term work assignment. I was training alone running hapes of 400's mainly but I had no complaints, it was sunny every day. I was running consistent mileage at 70 a week and I started racing well and finished with a 70:53 half marathon just before I left for home. When I came back, I ran a 15:22 for a road 5k and was 3rd in the national masters 5k. Then along came the Vaporfly's and things got even faster. I lowered my 10k pb down to 31:00 winning a race in Lisbon and ran 15:03 for the 5k. I even got relatively decent at XC this year - 4th in the county seniors, 8th in the Autumn open, 3rd in county masters, 56th in nationals, gold team in national novice and made the British and Irish M35 team winning silver team and placing 2nd.
• 2020 - Spring started with good intentions with motivation and confidence high. I ran 24:37 in Raheny 5 mile followed by 2nd in the Munster 4 mile road champs in 19:43. Then probably my favourite race to date, a 68:03 half in Den Haag where things just felt right. Then the Covid thing hit, the world panics and and everyone went a little mental training like absolute animals. I trained pretty well all summer but had little to show for it bar a sub 15 5k time trial and an enjoyable 4 mile "elite" race in Fermoy. I was overcooked by the time Nationals came around in August and I had a bit of a rough day for the 10k on the track. I knew I wasn't right, I was lethargic and easy runs were feeling hard so I took 2 weeks off to reset myself. I slowly rebuilt and by the end of 2020 I was back in a good groove, running some decent time trials close to my PBs and banging out a nippy 20 every Sunday (a habit which has stuck and served me well since) but more importantly I was enjoying it more than ever.
• 2021 - With a bleak outlook and pessimism infecting the country, all we had was the hope and promise of races come summer and the distant possibility of a marathon in Wrexham in Spring. You just had to try stay optimistic. I started the year feeling in good shape so got busy training and tweaked a few things focussed more towards building strength and resilience. I got into a good routine with a club mate and just put in solid weeks of consistent 80-85 miles with two quality long sessions and a 20 miler. I ran some very encouraging time trials off this, most recently a half marathon around 67 flat and a 10k in 30:37. These were satisfying but a little hollow at the same time. While they were on a (relatively well) measured and pancake flat course, they're not PB's and and won't go into any history books. I see them as mere (good) indicators of form and potential when it comes to racing again. I had a minor scare for a few weeks around February when I was screened for HCM (i.e an enlarged heart) due to a family occurrence. The scan showed I did have a fat heart and I was advised to ease up on big efforts for a few weeks until I could get an MRI. Eventually I got the MRI and the diagnosis was thankfully athlete's heart, not HCM so I could go back to hurting myself. For a while though I thought that I'd have to make peace with hanging up the shoes early and possibly getting really good at golf instead.

On reflection, that's a pretty good 4 years running and a good reminder of why I do it. Plenty of ups and downs but at the core, pure and utter enjoyment of running. I've been lucky to avoid major injury, I've progressed slowly but surely, had plenty of thrilling races, a few stinkers, some brushes with overtraining but on the whole a good period and at 38 now I'm hopeful that the best is yet to come.

I don't post publicly on Strava anymore, I've been clean since late 2019. I only use it for my own tracking and of course some stalking but really only for races - which is why I also make my races public, that's the juicy stuff. It's not to hide my training, people know what I do and it's nothing out of the ordinary. I just don't want the distraction. I won't lie though, I'm human and I want to be told I'm good so I do kind of miss the kudos, the serotonin rushing through your blood as that randomer signals you with a big digital thumbs up to say 'I approve of your excellent run today'. But honestly I don't think it's very helpful, at least not to me, to be aimlessly scrolling through other peoples training without any context. Were they tired? Were they feeling unbelievable? What was their heart rate for that run? Was that a race effort? What did they have for lunch? What was the purpose of that session? So and so's doing this mad session and is running really well, should I do it? At least on a log people can speak about the sessions and explain why they're doing certain things and you get a better picture. Strava is a great tool but sometimes gets in the way of keeping things simple so I try simplify my use of it - which is actually quite hard.

I do have ambitions to run the Berlin marathon this year but I'm very conscious that things can change very quickly. One thing we can be sure of is that the races are starting to surface locally so at least there'll be something mildly interesting to write about soon. Well, we'll see...I might give it another 5 years.

OOnegative wrote: »

You could come over and run the Den Haag half again, pints in bars here is a real thing again!!!!

Ah I'd be all over it if it wasn't the same weekend as Berlin! My OH lives and works in Leiden so that's why I ended up running that race. I've been back and forth a bit and could get used to living over there, the Dutch do life pretty well. And they drink pints inside.

AuldManKing wrote: »

Welcome back - fantastic to see people of your caliber posting here - even if it is fleeting!

Some serious running in the previous 4 yrs - DC's '10 things' blog used to keep us somewhat updated as to your shenanigans in far oft places.

Thanks AMK, good to see a few familiar posters still around. I'll try be less fleeting this time and way more boring.

healy1835 wrote: »

Having been more or less logging since your Boards sabbatical, you wouldn't know me from Adam, but I've read your log from beginning to end and got a lot of insights from it. Great to get the update.

I've been peeking my head into the forum the odd time and I do take a read the logs which is always interesting. I've read your log and the great progress you've made and good to see you're still flying it. Nice to hear my log was somewhat useful to you.

Monday 28/01 - Rest
Watched loads of football. Looked out the window for a while.

Tuesday 29/06 - 17 miles
AM: 5 miles @ 6:54 m/m feeling nice and fresh this morning, enjoyable morning run around Ballincollig.
PM: Track - 16 x 400m This was a workout focussed on volume (8 mile session in total) but at the same time getting the legs turned over and tuned for racing and I was really happy with this one. Upon hearing the session I thought I'd be doing well to hit 70-71's but once we hit that first 68 I was was moving really well and then as we kept banging out 68's I was feeling really up for it. The recovery was generous at 400m but we kept this quite nippy at around 1:35-1:40 so the intensity level felt high for the whole session. In with a nice solid group for this where we took every 4th rep each until 12 reps and then it was just myself and another club-mate alternating for the last 4 which did get inevitably tough but they were all consistent and it was just about the right number of reps as I was close to being done. The group makes such a big difference, it was a case of trusting the pace, sitting in and focussing on the person in front of you while every few reps taking one on yourself. Great session.
68, 69, 68, 68, 68, 68, 70, 69, 67, 68, 68, 67, 68, 67, 67, 66

Wednesday 30/06 - 13 miles
AM: 7 miles @ 7:14 m/m My go-to route these days for easy runs is usually somewhere around Ballincollig and there's a nice variety of routes including the excellent regional park - the closest thing to the Phoenix park you'll find in Cork city. A mini Phoenix Park, with no deer. The legs were good considering the bashing they took the evening beforehand.
PM: 6 miles @ 7:04 m/m Scorcher of an evening. I just love evening runs in the summer despite the noticeable increase in body temperature and forehead fluid. Met with a club-mate at a cemetery after work which is a very cheery meeting spot, well it is on a sunny evening anyway. This one just flew by with the legs a little more awake than this morning. It was odd not watching football this evening so I made a game up in my head, it was terrible nil all draw.

Thursday 01/07 - 15.5 miles
AM: 10 miles @ 7:08 m/m Early start with a club-mate and enjoyed this one around the backroads of Ballincollig.
AM: 5.5 miles @ 7:21 m/m Eating a delicious bowl of granola 15 minutes before this run was a poor choice. I knew I would regret it but I was also very hungry so I'd just deal with the consequences. I felt, and heard it sloshing around my belly in a stormy sea of creamy milk. As if that wasn't enough, it was another sweltering evening and I could feel a layer of salt welding itself to my face. Other than that, I really liked this run. One of the best things I rediscovered recently was my iPod shuffle from circa 2007 and is still in perfect working order. It's got 2GB of random songs on it so I just clip it on and throw on music whenever I feel like it, like this evening.

Friday 02/07 - 8.5 miles @ 7:09 m/m Friday morning is an enjoyable routine set in stone with a club-mate now for the past few months. We set off from the Lee Fields car park at 6:30am, head through the city to the Marina and then back. It's always a nice run where the weather seems to always play ball and it's interesting to observe the world waking up to its Friday. There's a noticeable difference in traffic, noise and pedestrians by the time we get back to the car park. There's also a noticeable increase in our own smugness. Let's see if and how this survives into the winter months.

Saturday 03/07 - 13.5 miles
AM: (3/2/1 mins) x 3 With a 10k race planned for next Wednesday, this would be the last effort before winding down a bit. I'm well due a down week at this stage anyway and aim to take one every 4-6 weeks or so, timing it with a time trial or in this case a real race. The Saturday sessions are on the grass pitches at CIT now, not far from the old stomping ground of the Farm and a very similar set up. This was tougher than it looked on paper. The morning was grey and misty but really warm and muggy and we were feeling it in the last set. The session went well though in general, hitting around 5 min pace for the 3 min reps and slightly increasing for the 2 and 1 min reps. The recovery was only 1 minute so it started to feel tough near the end but just about the right effort over all with 18 minutes of quality in there.
PM: 4 miles @ 7:22 m/m 30 min recovery around Blarney. Nice enjoyable and relaxed run as I listened to Wexford v Kilkenny on the radio and once again had my heart mauled by the cats.

Sunday 04/07 - 12.5 miles @ 6:53 m/m
No big one on the menu today with the 10k coming up and it's always good to take a break from these when you're doing them so regularly. Today was just a nice relaxed 85 minute run with a club-mate from Carrigrohane to the Marina and back and that's a good 80 mile week in the bag.

Weekly milage: 80

See, I can still log!

Thursday 07/07 - 10 miles

AM - 5 miles @ 7:31 m/m

The legs were not bad at all but the side was still hurting and my diaphragm in general was achy. It calmed down after a few miles and I suspect it’s a muscular thing which should settle in a day or two. I got my first vaccine jab after this - what an unbelievably efficient service to be fair. No side effects so far except for my entire arm turning massive and bright green but I think that’s normal.

PM - 5 miles @ 7:19 m/m.

A nice relaxing jaunt after work around Ballincollig, dancing in and around the evening traffic. I hate traffic. The side was still bothering me for the first 2 miles but settled down. I’m in two minds about racing again this coming Sunday. There’s a 10k in Wexford I have entered and hadn’t really planned on doing both as the one on Sunday isn’t likely to have the same depth and is quite hilly. On the other hand I want to go down and see my family so why not injure two birds with one stone. I’ll just have to pretend that the main reason I’m going is to see my family. It’s quite clearly rebound territory which is always dangerous but I am quite excited about getting out there again giving it another shot. Even if I run the same time again, I’d be happy running a solid race without any mini blow-ups or excessively sweaty singlets. This monologue doesn’t belong here, this is supposed to be about the evening run. Saw a red car. The end. 

Friday 08/07 - 8.5 miles @ 7:10 m/m

Set off at half past silly am with my club mate who also ran in Dundrum. Both of us were feeling nicely recovered and excited now that races are actually back. Many things were discussed, most of which I can’t remember. Probably giving out mostly. The side pain in my rib cage is still bothering me but again settled after a couple of miles. If it’s not fully right by Sunday I may knock the race on the head because if it bothers me when easy running then it’s probably going to hurt like a mother at 5 minute miling. I went for a rub later in the morning and got the glutes absolutely mauled which was painful but very much needed as the right side was really tight since the race. That is all. 

Saturday 09/07 - 6.5 miles @ 7:12 m/m

With a busy day ahead of me, I was up early and headed out around Ballincollig just before 7am. The side felt ok today so the 10k in Wexford on Sunday looked like it was a runner. My coach had told me he got a stitch once in a race and the after effects lasted for 3 days. This seemed to be a similar case so I was glad it was finally feeling sorted. This was a nice run, very relaxed and the legs felt well recovered from Wednesday. I then headed for the little town of Dromcollagher in Limerick for a plant ID exam. To explain myself, In recent years I’ve developed a keen(er) interest in horticulture so obviously I enrolled in a distance learning course in organic horticulture. This involves practical days in the college throughout the year which usually means running very early or not running at all on those days, you have to be flexible with these things. Today would be an exam where we had to identify 30 random plants which were laid out on tables and then write down the common and Latin name. Fun, for me anyway. The day finished up around 4pm so back into the car and it was destination Wexford, a route I’d never travelled before but made it home in just under 3 hours. It was really nice to be home with the folks again where mammy proceeded to feed me as if it were my last day on earth. Irish mothers are a breed unto themselves. 

Sunday 10/07 - 15 miles

AM - RACE! Inch 10k

One race in 16 months and now we’re looking at two in the space of four days. You know what they say, make hay when the eggs hatch…to save a stitch in…nine. I was very aware that this could backfire on me and that all sense pointed towards regrouping for a period and getting in a couple of sessions before racing again. But sometimes sense is wrong. I was keen to just get out there again and put together a solid race reflective of my current shape. In short, I was being a stubborn pup but when you have been starved of races for so long it just makes sense to lap them up and get used to the sensations again. I also knew this course wasn’t going to be fast but it wasn’t going to be about the time or running a PB, rather putting together a good race and maybe even getting a win depending on the field The standard for this was never going to be as good as Dundrum. Competitive runners gravitate towards well established races and fast courses, naturally. 

I was going to do a few things differently though this time. For one thing, getting there on time. Secondly, no pressure or time targets, just race it and be smart. We sometimes focus on the wrong metrics as runners and I’m guilty as sin. In races, it’s times instead of racing and placing. In training, it’s weekly milage instead of the quality, recovery and intensity. It’s also very hard to step back change a moulded mindset. That’s not to say times aren’t important or relevant, it’s almost the first thing you’re asked when you run a race and of course as runners, the PB list is our personal roll of honour. But time in the context of the course, conditions and competition is so variable that putting pressure on yourself to run this time or that time just more often leads to disappointment. If you just put trust in your training and focus on consistently racing instead of always clock-watching, times will come. They always do. Finally, I made sure not to eat anything else after my breakfast of toast and jam at 7am. About 45 mins before the race during the week I ate a banana. I don’t know if this made a difference but why take the chance. 

With only a 25 minute drive up the road to Inch and an 11am throw-in, I set off around 9am making sure to get there with time to drive the course, get a good warmup in and then relax before the race. I was so early I could have also gotten a few batches of ironing done. I drove the single looped course and boy was I glad I did. I saw the route online and could tell it was hilly but driving it really opened my eyes. The majority of the route was on small country roads and the challenging hills were dotted the whole way with very few flat sections. They looks like they were hungry to eat up some unsuspecting runners today. Of course what goes up must come down but they don’t equalise in effort. The hills generally take more than they give back. For that reason, I was already planning a conservative start and keeping something for the tough middle section and a nasty climb on the final mile. Back in the car park and I didn’t see many regular faces but being so close to Dublin I expected a few competitive runners to make the trip down. Sean Hehir was rumoured to be running but I hadn’t spotted him yet. It wasn’t long until I spotted a different top dog, a familiar sight on the circuit. It was those flowing locks of Mick Clohisey in the distance. Damn. It wasn’t a great immediate reaction but would you blame me? Despite being a very nice guy, he has an aura of intimidation when you see him before a race. I was already resigning myself to second though on form I shouldn’t have been so defeatist. In Dundrum a few days ago, Mick placed 4th in 30:47, a time I was shooting to exceed - the cheek of me. Then again my confidence took a knock that evening so still the plan was to just get out there today and shake that one off. I then overheard a couple of runners nearby joking “I just spotted the winner, Clohisey is here”. I didn’t like it, but I kind of agreed. I took a sip of water and squinted my eyes at him. Then I waved. 

The day itself was not looking good and a barrage of rain was forecast. There was a strong wind from the south west and the rain which was pretty light all morning was now picking up. Typical July weather I suppose. I headed off for a warmup and bumped into our own poster dublinrunner who was doing the race timing. It was great to catch up and one of the wonderful things about races returning is reconnecting with a lot of running folks around the country. On the warmup I didn’t feel terribly great. I ran a section of the 1st and 2nd mile, into the wind and effort was a bit too high. I don’t know if it was psychosis kicking in but the side was bothering me also whenever I ran up a hill. Honestly, the head was not positive at this point and I was even giving myself reasons to not run, even figuring out logistics for when the side would hurt so bad that I’d need to stop. If I was past 3 miles would I just jog the rest or turn and jog back to the start so I didn’t have to cross the line. Madness. In hindsight, a warmup on a hilly route in wind is never going to feel good but that’s easy to point out now. Anyway I had my 20 minutes done and got back to the car to stretch a bit and try get focussed. I met my sister who was doing her first 10k and relaxed and hung out with her for a while before we all walked up towards the line which was about 1km away. 

So here I was, standing at the start line which was at the bottom of a 400m climb and then followed by a generous downhill, an apt introduction to what would be a race of literal ups and downs. I saw a few handy looking runners around but really felt I shouldn’t do any worse than 2nd place today. The rain was staring to bucket down a little hard now but it was cool, I’d take that any day over the warm evening heat. A rough plan was to take it out reasonably conservative, making sure I don’t end up breathing like maniac too early and getting another stitch. I knew whatever happened there should be too much daylight between myself and Mick based on midweek, if I run like I know I can. 

Mile 1 - 5:08

A generous countdown of 10 and it’s game time. It’s always a bit easier to power up a hill at the start of a race knowing there’s relief forthcoming. Mick surged to the front with a guy in red alongside him and myself behind. When we hit the downhill which went on for a good half a mile and I got into a good stride, moved into 2nd with Mick pulling away a little. We passed the finish line which I would have liked if it was the actual finish but I’d hopefully be seeing again very soon. With about 400m left in the first mile and as expected, pace plummeted as I hit the first tough climb, into the wind. I felt I had a nice bit of course knowledge having driven it so I knew what was coming and nothing was going to surprise me. 5:08 popped up on the watch, irrelevant in a way but that’s grand I said. Feeling ok, keep this up. 

Mile 2 - 5:09

Effort was tough. Climbing for half of a mile into a strong headwind was not easy this early on but it was in the territory of just get your head down and grind through. I tried to just focus on Mick who was maybe 30m ahead of me now and clearly also battling the wind and drag as the gap just stayed the same. I got to 1.5 miles and knew there was a nice downhill stretch coming so I was ready to let the legs take a little breather. I turned left, opened the legs up and tried to relax and enjoy this stretch. The gap on Mick was the same and possibly even closing at this stage. I was feeling good, no side issues and quite settled into the race. 

Mile 3 - 4:56

Hitting the start of mile 3, I was still in downhill wonderland all the time thinking “I’m going to pay for this aren’t I”. I hit the lowest elevation of the course at 2.5 miles and then there were a few sneaky lumps still to deal with before we’d hit the next big climb. The gap on Mick had been closing and all the time I was starting to gain confidence even if I wasn’t sure where it was leading. Even if I just got back up to him I thought, let’s see what happens then. By the end of mile it was only a couple of yards. At one point it just hit me that I’m within touching distance of an Olympian, one I’ve admired from a far distance for most of my running life. How on earth did I get here? I can touch his hair. We hit the start of the climb at the end of this mile and now it felt like a race was starting.

Mile 4 - 5:10

This for me was the most important mile. Post-race, I stalked a few other uploaded runs on Strava and this is where people seriously haemorrhaged time. It’s also the climb we were warned about. That makes it an opportunity. Suddenly though I was right there. I was back with him and made a conscious effort to run to the side knowing how irritating it is to run on the shoulder of someone. I didn’t need or want a windbreak though as I wasn’t really planning on sitting. I figured that this window right now, this is the time to pull ahead. He probably knew he had a good gap over the opening miles so now I needed him to know that not only did I close the gap but that I’m still feeling good after closing the gap. There was no point just getting back to him and relaxing. I was feeling strong on the hills all day (well, as good as you can feel on a hill) and the strength of the miles I’ve put in this year really felt like it was shining through. I noticed I was actually putting in a gap now, not huge but enough to call it gap. Was I actually daring to pass Mick? I had no doubt he wouldn’t be sitting down. He’s used to winning races. I worked the arms up the hill. Breathing was hard but controlled and I was making sure to really open up the lungs and take intentional large breaths. Anything I could do to avoid a recurrence of the stitch. I knew relief was forthcoming on the top with a flat section and if I could maintain this small gap then why not back myself to hold on. It was exhilarating and I was so glad we had made a race of it. Running is just terrific. Here I am, the back arse of Wexford with the rain bucketing down, running my guts out up a hill with an Olympian chasing me. Wow. We levelled out halfway through the mile, I had a few meters on him maybe. We turned left with a wind on our back, still feeling good and it was feeling like the start of the finish. This was marginally my slowest mile at 5:10 but on the whole, that was the best mile. 

Mile 5 - 4:50

I was now just two miles from home and I knew I still had that gap which felt like it was growing marginally every minute. I had to make it count now and just focus, focus, focus. In my head I told myself it’s just 10 minutes of running. Hold the line. There was a flat section which allowed a little recovery from the gruelling climb and then it merged onto a beautiful downhill section where I started to fall into a nice state of race flow. The arms were relaxed, the breathing controlled and my little legs were whirring. It was around now I really genuinely thought I could win it but there was no denying the shroud of doubt looming over me. I can’t describe though how terrifying it is to know Mick Clohisey is chasing you down. What have I done. I knew he wasn’t far away as those thudding footsteps I could hear were certainly not mine. 4:50 for the mile popped up. I’m on it. This is good. I’m also starting to hurt and I know there’s another vicious hill up ahead so I really needed that concentration. We had already turned left again and on the home stretch back towards Inch. This was the old Dublin road which I know pretty well, back when we didn’t have an M11. My eyes were now firmly focussed on the back of a black leather jacket perched on the lead motorcycle, urging me to pursue him up the hard shoulder. I’ll follow you, Mr. Motorcycle. I wonder could I possibly take a peek at your rear-view mirrors to see if I have company? 

Mile 6 - 5:05

This was mostly a climbing mile which meant if I didn’t put in the same shift with the same intensity like I did on mile 4, I’d be caught and ejected from my pedestal. I was so close now. I was almost screaming to myself internally. It’s just one mile. ONE mile! But what about the bit? the 0.2 of a mile? Don’t worry about the bit, just get the mile done and the bit will look after itself. A pesky drag, while still moving fairly well, took me to 5.5 miles and then the course presented me with its final and toughest challenge of the day. Overcome this fearsome anti-gravity obstacle and you may well descend as the victor. I hit the hill as hard as I could. Up the travelator. I was starting to hurt bad now and the dreaded side even felt like it was hinting at trouble but lucky that’s all it ended up being, a hint. Breathing was laboured, grunts were emanating and the legs were burning. I was possibly in deranged rag-doll territory, I don’t know. I pumped the arms again, gritted the teeth and listened intently for movement behind me. I swore I could hear something but there wasn’t a hope in hell I was looking back. That’s akin to holding up a little white flag with “I’m scared” written on it. The hill was sharp but short, maybe 600m but it felt like an eternity. Finally I could feel the crest coming to me. I could see where we came out at the start which meant the steep downhill to the finish was at hand. He wouldn’t pass me here would he? I was not letting anything to chance so once elevation was back on my side, I exploited every ounce of gravity I could and I bolted. I knew my parents were heading up to be at the finish so I really wanted to do this for them. They’ve been such a great support over the years and I wanted to do them proud. “You did us proud son”, they’d say. No better place to do it than on home soil (well, fairly close to home soil). I hit the 6th mile rolling down the hill and according to my calculations that means the finish line is less than 400 meters close. I still had no idea how close Mick was so nothing was guaranteed and I have to leave it all out there. I could now see a congregating crowd, mostly covered by umbrellas. I forgot it was raining. It was lashing. The motorcycle I’d tailgated for the last 3 miles pulled to the side of the road and beeped, as if it were releasing a rescued monkey back into the wild. Go free monkey boy. I could see my parents, my brother in-law and my nephews and nieces. No time to chat everyone. I threw the thumbs up their way and then crossed that sweet finish line 1st in 31:26. Unreal. Mick came in just 10 seconds behind me. I was right to be wary and glad I squeezed every drop I could out of the last section. Losing concentration anywhere in those last 2 miles could have easily meant 10 seconds lost and a hard luck pat on the back. We executed the now standard elbow touch, acknowledging the culmination of a good honest race. Hanging in there for 3 miles with Mick breathing down my neck suddenly felt like a big deal. What a moment for me personally. A blip on the radar for Mick but a big one for the little guy. It’s right up there. 

I couldn’t quite believe the time I managed to run on that course, especially given the first couple of miles when I felt anything between 32 and 33 minutes was going to be a decent run. And yes, I shouldn’t have been even thinking about that but there’s a lot of time for thinking in a race. It was even marginally quicker than the other night and that just highlights what can happen when you’re primarily focussed on the race and not the time. I also couldn’t have predicted how it all turned out considering my wavering shenanigans in the warm-up where I was trying to conjure reasons not to run. If I step back, I can see that I’ve put together one of the best training blocks of my life over the past 6 months and this felt like it was the fruits starting to bear. I need to trust in that more, deal in facts and the confidence will persist. Beating someone of Mick’s calibre is not something I’ve achieved in all of my years running. I know he’s not in the top shape of his life right now and struggling with the glute but still, he’s out there racing and quite competitive as we saw in Dundrum so that really felt like a knockout above my weight. Maybe I won’t fear the top dogs so much anymore. And I shouldn’t, they’re just other runners. Intimidating runners that are human and can be beaten. I put in the work, I’ve years of consistency and experience behind me at this stage so why shouldn’t I back myself to contend with some of the best in the country. 

Summary: 1st in 31:26

Full results

PM - 5 miles @ 7:03 m/m

After a really nice afternoon relaxing and playing with the nieces and nephews, I headed back on the 3 hour hour journey to Cork. I didn’t get a proper cool-down done afterwards as I was standing around with the family and chatting so when I got back and was heading out to get a pizza for the game, I said I’d stretch the legs and get a little recovery jog in. It was a bit quick for a recovery but the legs dictated the pace as I looped around Blarney, where clearly the rain had not attacked Cork today. It was a really nice 35 minutes of headspace to just reflect on the week and the two races. On paper the results both look very similar but in reality they were two very contrasting experiences. The gulf of emotion and energy between the two was massive. From chaos, self-doubt and disappointment on Wednesday to calm, self-doubt and jubilation on Sunday. That’s why we love it I suppose. The pizza was enjoyed, strangely with with a gin and tonic because I had no beer and then I sat back to enjoy the spectacle that was England coming Rome. A low-week milage as planned so a day off tomorrow and it’s back to the grind on Tuesday.

Weekly milage: 58

Monday 12/07 - Rest

Enjoyed this rest day doing absolutely nothing but mainly looked at photos of me beating Mick to make sure it really happened.

Tuesday 13/07 - 15.5 miles

AM - 10 miles @ 7:19 m/m

The legs were in decent shape with the day off. Nice enjoyable run, my usual morning route with some nice countryside stretches. Listened to an audiobook on holistic management. Riveting.

PM - 5.5 miles @ 7:28 m/m

I can't remember much about this. It definitely happened though. I remember it being hot. And I had a sloshy stomach.

Wednesday 14/07 - 15.5 miles

AM - 5.5 miles @ 7:32 m/m

I ran from my house which can only mean one thing. Hills, in every direction.

PM - 3 x 10 min (1 minute recovery) on grass (10 miles total)

I headed out to the UCC farm for this one. The grass surface felt like the right thing to do with two races in my legs and another 5k planned for Friday evening. I met up with a club mate on a really humid and balmy evening. I wasn't feeling much love on the warmup and felt a little sluggish but once we got into the session it turned out to be ok. The 10 mins just flew by and having company kept us both honest with the effort. Decent moving all things considered. There were so many little black midges stuck to me afterwards I felt responsible for a mini fly genocide.

1. 10 mins @ 5:19 m/m
2. 10 mins @ 5:18 m/m
3. 10 mins @ 5:16 m/m

Thursday 15/07 - 10 miles @ 7:09 m/m

With the race scheduled, I swapped the Friday routine for a Thursday morning. It would be legs up after this run until the 5k the following evening. Nice early morning run to the marina and back and the legs felt alright. They felt way better after a massage in work later that morning.

Friday 16/07 - Doneraile Park 5k trail race (9 miles total)

This is starting to feel like a race log. Anything that opens up for registration these days, I register for. It's worked out quite well so far. 3rd race in 10 days but I don't think it's been too mad and I've managed the schedule well so far. This wasn't one I really wound down for and saw it was a good alternative for a Saturday morning session. Plenty of club mates were heading out to the beautiful Doneraile Park in North Cork so this would be a good bit of craic also with all of us threatening to tear lumps out of each other. We all knew the course was far from fast, it's mostly on trail with loads of hilly sections and sharp turns, essentially an XC race in the summer. This was good though because all I wanted to do here was get more racing into the legs where time didn't matter. That said, I'd heard beforehand that the (pre shoes) course record was 15:45 so I thought that was worth having a stab at.

Of course it had to be one of the hottest days of the year to date and by 8pm on Friday evening it was still around 26 degrees (according to Strava weather). It felt close to it anyway but personally I didn't feel the effects too much as most of the course was sheltered by tree canopy. With the dodgy surface and sharp turns there was a lot of a debate on what footwear we should don, some concerned about the Vaporflys leading to injury but in the end we all wore them, bar one. The atmosphere was fantastic around the start line and it was just a pleasure once again to be feeling the race buzz. North Cork AC did a fantastic job from start to finish and really showed how to put on a good race with no nonsense. On the start line someone made the comment that this looked like a Leevale training session and looking across the line, it really did (even though some of them aren't actually in the club, they still train with us). The GPS was very wonky with the trees and I clocked it pretty short but I'll put up the splits anyway.

Mile 1 - 4:57

Off we go and hell was unleashed as we barrelled along the fast downhill section which was on a nicely paved road surface. If only this section had have lasted longer than those glorious 50 seconds it would have been an ideal race. After the sharp turn left which we all took quite cautiously in our high heels, we charged into the gravel trail section which was littered with mini pot holes and large stones. You really had to watch where you were going if you were getting out of here in one piece. A hungry pack had formed and I sat in just behind a club mate who was setting a good aggressive pace out front. I had turned off mile splits on the watch today knowing firstly that GPS would be useless and secondly, not to be worrying about time. All I could see was the time of day which wasn't going to tell me anything really, except the time of day. Coming towards the end of the first mile I decided to take some of the slack and moved into the lead but just coming up to a sharp humpback bridge, a St.Finbarrs athlete who despite being an enemy is actually a good friend, stormed ahead in a sneaky move as if the bridge didn't even exist. I had heard rumours he's in very good nick so felt no option but to cover it.

Mile 2 - 5:07

Another sharp right turn after the bridge followed by the sharpiest left and we were on the forest trail section. Here's where you had to be careful of trees and tree roots if you wanted to exit alive. I had quelled the challenge of Mr.Finbarrs for now and was starting to pull away. Nobody was coming so I said why not pile it on, get a gap and hopefully they'll eventually stop trying. It was worth a go. I was actually enjoying this. I realised after this race that I love trail running. It's exhilarating and exciting as you are bombarded by mini challenges around every corner. I felt I was really moving well here and maybe this is where the GPS went haywire as I didn't think it was my slowest mile. Coming to the end of the mile I didn't hear anything behind me but that didn't mean there wasn't anyone behind me so I kept the foot down (on the accelerator).

Mile 3 - 5:01

At the start of this mile I was blessed with another 40 seconds of a deliciously smooth and bouncy road surface. That was enjoyed before a left turn into a super gravity chamber. This was by far the toughest climb and being fairly close to home I just pumped the arms up here knowing every step brought me closer to relief. We had run the course in the warm up but I had a moment around here after reaching the top of the hill when I was faced with a T-junction. I was 93% sure it was a right turn. There was a young lady sitting down on the grass nearby, right at the intersection. I wasn't sure if she was part of the race crew or just someone sitting on the grass playing with her phone. I couldn't really afford a wrong turn so I said I'd check, even though I'd already turned right. I looked back and shouted "which way?" and she just looked up and pointed me in the direction I was already facing. Phew. On we go. At around 2.5 miles there was a nice downhill section which was the less evil twin of the other hill, mainly because I got to go down it. This was quite a dodgy surface so I had to spend a lot of time scanning for the best terrain to guarantee survival to the next section. I did survive and was rewarded once more with that lovely paved surface. It's amazing how it feels like a gift from the gods when you've just come off a trail section. I was starting to feel pain now, 3rd mile in a 5k sort of pain. I was now on the far side, parallel to the downhill section I'd just come off and I could see Leevale vests, two of them in 2nd and 3rd. I could smell home but really needed to keep up the effort to get home safe. This section felt endless, but as expected and as with most things in life, it actually did end. I know I said that the time of day on my watch wasn't very useful but at this stage I was looking at the time of day and trying to figure out how long more I have to run based on the knowledge that we started the race at 7:45pm. It was close to 8pm so this felt like it was probably good. I came off a slight downhill and then the imposing Doneraile house came into view. This was a good sight for two reason. Number one is that it's a very nice late-17th century house and number two is that the finish line is right outside it. One final push up a very sneaky hill to finish and I was home 1st in 15:20. Job done. Bend to knees. Repay oxygen debt. I was closely followed by two Leevale bees, buzzing over the line 16 and 18 seconds later respectively.

I was pleasantly surprised seeing the timer on the way up the hill, that was quite a good time on that course (4:56 m/m avg) and I'd be interested to see how that would translate to a fast 5k course on the road. I was really happy with the overall effort, how strong I felt and how I paced it. Running a good time was nice but getting the win and racing it well felt more important. Each race I do seems to sharpen the blade a little more and increases the confidence levels. For my effort I brought home a lovely hamper of craft beer and a few quid in the pocket. What a lovely way to spend a Friday evening. Racing really has returned.

Summary: 1st in 15:20

Full results

Saturday 17/07 - 20 miles @ 6:01 m/m

This was originally planned for Sunday but the coach suggested doing it the morning after the 5k on tired legs and also giving us an extra day recovery for a 4 mile race next Sunday. That made sense so decided with a club mate (who had come 2nd in the 5k race) that we'd get it done on the Saturday and with a scorcher of a day on the menu, we'd get it done early! This was a run with an eye on Berlin which is now just 10 weeks away. I had a pair of AlphaFly shoes sitting under the bed for 6 months so I wanted to try these out and see if they were the shoes for the marathon. We also picked a flat route and with both of those advantages, hoped that around 6 minute mile pace wouldn't be a massive effort deviation from the usual Sunday run on a hilly route at 6:20-30 pace.

Because of dropping water around the course we didn't set off until 8:15am which was ok but we knew we'd suffer a bit with the heat. It all went very much to plan in the end and thankfully I was lathered in sun cream. I felt really good from the start and we just ticked off the miles, starting at around 6:08 pace and finishing at 5:49. It was really enjoyable and I think I get great satisfaction out of longer marathon sessions. The route was out and back and we had water bottles with Maurten at 5 and and 15 miles and then just cold water at 3 miles to go which was the most refreshing and appreciated water I've ever had. The heat really started to intensify in the last few miles and wasn't very useful for running. The shoes, despite being clunky clown boots, felt really nice and I feel like they'll do the job for me in a marathon. The one thing I did take away is to wear bigger socks as the anklet ones I had meant the rear of the shoe was chafing off the back of my achilles and caused a few blisters. The heart rate averaged 140 today which was good. Around 130 is my usual heart rate for a typical 20 mile run and with the faster pace and heat, that was about right.

Sunday 18/07 - 10 miles

AM - 5 miles @ 7:41 m/m - Lazy hot recovery run #1 at the farm

PM - 5 miles @ 7:23 m/m - Lazy hot recovery run #2 around Blarney

Weekly milage: 80

Monday 26/07 - 8 miles @ 7:04 m/m

Easing back into the grind with an easy hour after work and again no need to take the day off with low volume over the weekend. Pretty much feeling fine after the battering yesterday, well apart from the hangover I had to nurse. At least they're rare. The shorter races tend to be a little kinder on the legs but still said I'd leave off track tomorrow and do a session Wednesday morning. The plan this week is to put in a good 85+ mile week and then next week wind down late next week for the 10 mile in Kilbeggan.

Tuesday 27/07 - 15.5 miles

AM: 10.5 miles @ 7:13 m/m

Nice morning run on my usual route with a club mate. I had a sore rib this morning. At first I wasn't sure what it was as it felt like a stitch but then I remember I absolutely whacked my rib off the side of a table the night before when turning on a lamp. It was fine after a few miles. Got my 2nd vaccine later this morning in Pairc Ui Chaoimh. Finally I am invincible.

PM: 5 miles @ 7:20 m/m

I retreated to the sanctuary of the UCC farm for a handy few grass miles this evening. It's the kind of place where you can head on your own and almost guaranteed to meet somebody to run with. I bumped into our own @EauRouge79 who doesn't post anymore but had a good catch up and as always the miles just look after themselves when you're in good company.

Wednesday 28/07 - 17 miles

AM: 7 miles tempo @ 5:22 (12 miles total)

No negative side effects from the vaccine so I headed to the marina with a couple of club mates for a very early start to get this done before work. The rib was still bothering me but not enough to worry or stop running but that was about to change. The session itself was fine. Once we let our other, faster club mate go, it was just me and the other one alternating each mile keeping them all around 5:20-25 and the body was not letting me go any quicker which suited me fine with the race still in the legs. Once I stopped though and on the cool-down, my side was really aggravated and was really hurting. I figured it was bruised from the impact on Monday night but again I could run without any real distress so didn't worry too much. I got some Volterol (anti-inflammatory) gel on the way home to rub on in the hope it would help it calm down.

PM: 5 miles @ 7:24 m/m

Off to the social hub of the Farm again which seems to be finally getting back to the way it used to be pre-Covid. It was off limits for most of the pandemic, death by shame being the punishment if you were caught trespassing. The rib was ok and still managed to run with out issue but I didn't even get to think about it as I was running with some club mates and chatting about things not rib-related.

Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday: 0 miles

And here's where the log stops for the unforeseeable future. The next morning I woke up in terrible pain. Not good. The ribs had really deteriorated overnight and it turns out that the tempo was one of the worst things I could have done. All sorts of movement from putting on socks, to showering, to innocently opening a press overhead were really painful. To a point breathing was even sore and laughing or hiccuping were particularly sore. Not that I had anything to laugh about. I was supposed to meet a club mate for a run that morning but clearly that wasn't happening. I knew this needed sorting so I arranged to see a doctor that day and luckily got an appointment before lunch. Thankfully it wasn't anything very serious in that my lungs were functioning fine but the doctor suspected a bruised or cracked rib. It didn't matter and it didn't need an X-Ray to verify because the treatment is the same. Rest and drugs. I got a prescription of inflammatories and strong painkillers and told to rest up until the pain subsided. It still hasn't subsided. What a ridiculous and avoidable injury but there's no point getting upset about it. It could be worse. What's interesting is that every morning I wake up sleeping on my back and I never, ever sleep on my back. It's fascinating that my body is putting me in that position, likely to protect the rib area. I think that's interesting anyway.

On the plus side, I'm not injured due to running and I could view it as a forced rest since I don't factor planned rest periods into my year. I've had a great run up until now to be fair with no interruptions in 11 months. It's now Sunday and while there's little movement there's also little improvement. I'm still somewhat hopeful of running the 10 mile next week but it would really need to start clearing up soon. I'm not worried about the fitness, that'll still be there. I'll have no problem knocking the race on the head next week and just getting back into training for Berlin which is now only 8 weeks away. That's the main goal for now. Here's hoping the next post contains some sort of run...

...and we're back. Ribs are slow to heal and I was no exception. Every day I woke up on my back and had trouble putting on socks, I knew I wasn't ready to run. The good news is after 7 days of little or no movement I went out for 5 miles and I didn't make it worse. I was a little shocked at how achy the legs were after the mini hiatus, it felt like I had stopped for a few months let alone a week. I can deal with the aches as long as the ribs are better and I'm sure the legs will come around very soon. Fitness is hopefully not impacted too much but I'm trying to see it as a forced break that will set me up for a good strong block now. I was disappointed to miss the Kilbeggan 10 miler today, especially seeing the quality field there but was also delighted to see my club mates putting in some good strong performances. Anyway quick summary of the week and we're hopefully back on track for Berlin. 8 weeks to go...

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday: 0 miles

Thursday 05/08: 5 miles

Friday 06/08: 5 miles AM + 5 miles PM

Saturday 07/08: 7 miles AM + 5 miles PM

Sunday 08/08: 10 miles AM + 4 miles PM

weekly milage: 41

6 weeks to go to Berlin. I completely lied in my last post and said it was 8. The little break seemed to only have a minor effect on my fitness bar the rusty legs and if anything has probably freshened me up for the suffering I'm about to put my body through. I'm a little concerned how quickly the marathon is upon us but if I look back on the year to date, I've put in some great training including a 20 miler most weekends so I think it's just a case now of some specificity, focus and staying healthy over the next few weeks. It's just another race so I'm trying to prepare like I normally do and not build it up so much like I might have for previous marathons.

Monday 09/08 - 5.5 miles @ 7:09 m/m

I pulled back a little today to allow the body adjust to the previous few double days and getting used to the miles again. Aches are subsiding and feeling almost back to normal. The ribs are still in some discomfort but every day is getting better.

Tuesday 10/08 - 15 miles

AM: 10 miles @ 7:12 m/m Usual morning route with a club mate, nice to be back on this route and feeling good

PM: 5 miles @ 7:13 m/m To the Cork savannah (the Farm) where I met a couple of lads and galloped a few laps. This day will become very routine and some day I may look back in horror that I was doing this

Wednesday 11/08 - 15 miles

AM: 10 miles @ 7:11 m/m Usual morning route with a club mate, nice to be back on this route and feeling good

PM: 5 miles @ 7:03 m/m To the Cork savannah (the Farm) where I met a couple of lads and galloped a few laps. This day will become very routine and some day I may look back in horror that I was doing this. Yes I copied and pasted this day, because that's exactly what it was.

Thursday 12/08 - 17 miles

AM: 7 mile tempo @ 5:24 m/m (12 miles) I guess this was the big tester of the week as it was this exact session 2 weeks ago that signalled the start of the layoff. Thankfully all went well. Though it's still not fully healed, I didn't even notice the ribs on the warmup or the session so that's a good sign. I kicked this off at 7am down the Marina with a club mate who ran the Kilbeggan 10 mile at the weekend. For that reason and because it was my first effort in 2 weeks, we eased into this with a 5:30 mile and said we'd see how it goes. There was a testing wind at times but effort was always controlled if feeling a little hard at times but we finished with a 5:18 so this was a good session on all accounts.

PM: 5 miles @ 7:15 m/m Farm. grass. Enough said.

Friday 13/08 - 12.5 miles

AM: 8.5 miles @ 7:16 m/m Met a couple of club mates for an early run through the city and back. Lovely run to start Friday, topped off with a latte and almond croissant.

PM: 4 miles @ 7:09 m/m After an essential haircut I went for a non-essential 30 mins at the farm with a club mate. Grand evening.

Saturday 14/08 - 5 miles @ 7:29 m/m

With the first of the marathon focussed sessions planned for tomorrow and 65 miles done for the week, this was pretty close to a day off. Off to the farm where even at 7:30am, I bumped into some club mates doing a warmup for their session so I had company for a couple of miles. The rest of the day was spent mainly playing Geoguessr.

Sunday 15/08 - 20 miles @ 6:12 m/m (final 5 miles @ ~5:30 m/m)

So my marathon hat is firmly on and this was the first of the long runs with some intentional pace built in. It went pretty well in that I feel satisfied but I really want to go for a lie down. On our usual 20 mile loop, we started with a nice group of 4 and ran a steady ~6:25 pace per mile until 15 miles and then 2 of us picked it up to 5:30 pace for the final 5 miles. The increased effort was definitely tough but in the context of a 90 mile week and the rolling terrain, it felt manageable. I had dropped out Maurten drinks the evening before and we picked these up at 8 and 13 miles with some Ribena at 17 miles. This is not only to fuel the run but to practice drinking fuel while running at pace. I still find it hard but I can only get better. This topped off a solid 90 mile week after the rib incident so here's hoping for a very uneventful next few weeks.

Weekly milage: 90

Yeah great to get that week down. The only other long run session planned (3 weeks out) is 20 miles with 14 at pace but nothing is set in stone really. I've never done many of these LR sessions in the past as running a hard Saturday session (e.g 4 x 2 mile) followed by an easy 20 mile on tired legs the next day is just as effective in my eyes and I've had decent success off it. I think some people can focus on the LR sessions too much and neglect the faster stuff and the recovery. The midweek tempo (MP+10-20 seconds) or say mile reps have as much a role to play along with the easy doubles days.

In terms of a HM, time or logistics are not going to allow that so it'll just be the big session. Between tapering down and recovering it's just not feasible in the time remaining and while it has its place, I don't subscribe to the notion that a HM is critical in a marathon block.

Hope all is going well with your Manchester plan.

Monday 23/08 - Rest

Tuesday 24/08 - 17.5 miles

AM: 12.5 miles @ 7:17 m/m

4 miles to the farm, 4 miles on the farm, 4 miles back. The legs were reasonable given the abuse on Sunday but the rest day probably played a little part there.

PM: 5 miles @ 7:07 m/m

Post rub run on the farm. That's a tongue twister. Cracking evening!

Wednesday - 17.5 miles

AM: 4 x 10 mins (2 min recovery - 12.5 miles total)

With a 10 mile race planned for this Sunday, the goal here was to try run a bit of 10 mile race effort and get a feel for it. Three of us met up at early O'clock down the Marina and we were ready to start the actual session by 7:30am when traffic was still quiet. Ideal. This was a session where things felt like they were clicking and I felt really in control all the way. The paces for each rep were 5:10, 5:09, 5:08, 5:06, all just coming in under 2 miles. Really happy with that considering we're in the thick of it and a good sign that the fitness is coming along. The three of us worked together for the whole session and everyone took their turn with a bit of front running. I've probably said it so many times but it makes it so much more manageable working in group where you do your bit up front and get dragged along for the rest.

PM: 5 miles @ 7:24 m/m

Farm with a few lads and lapping up the Indian summer. I got so weak in the middle of this and just went very quiet. I was counting down the miles and almost promised myself I was only doing 4. Somehow when I did get to 4 I just felt ok again and just did the last mile. I think I was just seriously energy depleted and didn't eat enough after the workout this morning. I'm thinking as unenjoyable that feeling was, it might be a good stressor for the body. Maybe not.

Thursday - 17 miles

AM: 12 miles @ 7:18

Another glorious morning with a light fog floating below the morning sun. Ran to the farm, a few laps and back again with a club mate. Met some more ladies from the club out there and it just a really enjoyable morning. I was thinking during the run that no matter what happens in this marathon I have loved the training so much and I'd be doing it all regardless of the race.

PM: 5 miles @ 7:23 m/m

Wrapping up the last of the 17 mile days before winding down a little for the 10 miler and aiming to be somewhat fresh, if that's even possible. Some day I'll look back in horror at this sort of carry on.

Friday - 8.5 miles @ 7:14 m/m

Nice run around the marina one of the nicest mornings I've ever seen. The just-out-of-the-oven warm scone and latte afterwards while sitting outside in the sun just topped it all off.

Saturday - 5 miles @ 7:20 m/m

Nice relaxing loosener around the farm and since yesterday's scone episode went so well, we felt it appropriate to rinse and repeat. All ready for tomorrow.

Sunday - 19 miles

AM: RACE! Mooreabbey 10 Mile (total 14 miles)

I spotted this one on the calendar shortly after the recent 4 mile race and initially though I'd be better getting a long run in but then I really thought about it and I just know there's more to gain both mentally and physically out of a good hard 10 mile race than any long run or session. I'd have loved to be doing Antrim but couldn't justify the almost 10 hour round trip. That's the sort of half marathon that you target solely, not run it flat out as part of a build up 4 weeks before Berlin. This one suited better, only an hour away and 3 miles less, with no real expectations. Even though the miles were pretty heavy this week I was going into it feeling pretty good especially given the encouraging session on Wednesday.

Given my newfound appreciation of punctuality for races, I aimed to arrive in Galbally for 9:30am with an 11am kick off. The weather was sunny, very sunny with a light breeze and I knew that would be making things interesting. I had looked up the left-turning looped course on a map and it seemed reasonable but from experience, it's best to set expectations of all Irish country road courses to 'difficult'. A few of us piled into a car and drove the course with the coach and only then did I start to realise it was going to be a tough route. There was essentially a 3 mile drag to start, a steady fairly flat mid section, a difficult climb from 7-9 and then a quick final mile.

The start was a mile away at the actual abbey that the whole town is built around and named after. It just made sense to jog there for the warmup. I wonder did the person(s) who designed and built the abbey envisage a 10 mile road race starting right outside it hundreds of years later. Probably not. It's really such a beautifully scenic area and just looking around on the clear sunny day with the Galtee mountains looming in the background, you couldn't but smile and appreciate it. But not for long, it was almost 11am and time to get racing. I have to say there was a great buzz around with people in great form and it's just great to see these events happening and being organised so well. With a PB of 54:00 from 2018, I reckoned this was due a renewal and barring disaster this was an inevitability knowing in my last half marathon I'd gone through in 51 high.

So we all lined up at a bridge in the midday sun and having a look around on the start line, there were a few runners on my radar along with training partner John but it all didn't really matter, this was a day and a course to just go out and race like hell.

Mile 1: 5:09

A countdown of 5 and we're off. Myself and John seemed to quickly start to breakaway and got into a good stride, side by side. It was the first mile, I was feeling pretty good as was everyone else I'm sure. Around halfway into the mile we climbed into the village where we were welcomed with the discernible melody of 'Chariots of Fire' on a crackling tannoy. I chucked and almost felt like running in slow motion past the villagers but that of course would have been foolish and may have massively hindered my chances just for the sake of hilarity. I soon saw 5:09 pop up on the watch and though that was a decent start but the drags were only just starting.

Mile 2: 5:22

The start of the 2nd mile felt like 3 bags of sand had been immediately attached to me but we were just getting going with the drags. I felt completely deceived and tricked by the drive through of the course earlier, it didn't look that bad at all but then again humans are appalling at estimation and I am a human. I just tried to focus on relaxing here and keeping a good honest pace knowing that it's still early days. Pretty uneventful and when I clocked 5:22, I was now thinking that running a good time should take low priority today, just run for the win. I assumed it would be a flip of a coin between myself and John with no one else deciding to come with us early on.

Mile 3: 5:19

We're still climbing, it's actually getting quite stingy and I'm already feeling the pinch of the midday heat but my focus was to get to 3 miles where I know it starts to level. There shall be relief, just grind through it. Oddly enough here John was starting to fall behind. It was way too early for that so I suspected something was up with him. I'd notice a gap here and there before he'd quickly close it but before halfway through the mile he just completely fell off. I know the shape he's in so I just put it down to a bad day or the heat and what else could I do but kick on and run my own race. Nearing the end of the mile, I hit a nice downhill and for the first time I started to relax a little after a pretty intense start.

Mile 4: 5:07

I was getting into a decent stride now and almost halfway through the mile, I take the first of the left turns, a very sharp almost-hairpin turn taken very carefully as I sneaked a peek back to the chasing group. I counted a group of 4 who were maybe 10 seconds behind me, including John now tucked in behind them. It would now be a straight road for 3.5 miles and looking down that lonely road, I was starting to wish I had people around me. Focus is so hard when you're alone. The feeling I just had of settling into the race had now withered and despite the relatively flat terrain, I wasn't at all feeling settled and starting feeling like I had a long way to go. Maybe I just had too much time to think. I hit 4 miles in just under 21 minutes which was fine but in my head I was thinking there's at least 30 minutes to go - not the ideal thought process at that point.

Mile 5: 5:17

I felt a little in no-man's lands around this point, almost going through the motions and thinking what is the minimum I need to do here to maintain this lead and just get to the finish without anyone reeling me in. It was a bit of a draggy mile but I just focussed on the permanently blinking hazards on lead car ahead. I tried to stay in the shade where possible though the camber and disrepair-ness of the road edge at times meant I drifted into the middle. Utterly useless information there but I need to fill each mile with something half interesting. First half in 26:18. Would I take another one of those right now? Abso-bloody-lutely.

Mile 6: 5:12

There was a little bit of a downhill in this mile and while I'd have loved to (and wanted to) be running closer to 5:05's today, I simply couldn't push much harder as I just knew in my bones I was running the right effort to get to the end in one piece. Anything faster and I'd be getting peeled off the road at 8 miles.

Mile 7: 5:12

Mile 7 is still downhill and I'm getting a little second wind and feeling ok, just ok. Tolerable and starting to relax a little. I hit 10k in around 32:30 and was pretty pleased with that, if I could keep it going. At around 6.6 miles, I come to a cross and take the 2nd and final of the left turns. Coach Donie is there and calmly lets me know I've 100m. I find it hard to visualise a 100m gap and translate it to a number of seconds. This conundrum occupies my mind nicely for the rest of the mile but I'm suddenly not as relaxed as I was a few minutes ago and I know there are people in that chasing group capable of gobbling me up. I must keep focus.

Mile 8: 5:24

I've now entered the most difficult section of the course though from the drive earlier, I'd have never though it. It's really getting hard now and a quick glance of the pace tells me I'm slowing considerably but I honestly couldn't tell if it was because of the drag or I was tiring badly. Breathing is really becoming laboured now and my sole purpose right now is to get to mile 9. Once I'm at mile 9 I was confident I'd have enough to take it home. I swore I could hear footsteps here but couldn't break the cardinal rule of not looking back. At one point I stopped my breathing for 2-3 seconds just to have a clear listen. It was the most eerily quiet 2 seconds but I felt safer after it. I didn't heard anything, I think. Soon after, what I did hear in the distance behind me was that familiar crackling tannoy music and it was getting closer. As it approached me I recognised the song "You'll never walk alone". I couldn't but smile and wince a little at the irony as the car overtook my lonely rag-doll chassis, chugging up the hill. I wished I was in a car. I had no idea what was going on as there was already a lead car ahead of me. A very strange few minutes really but the good news is the finish line was getting closer. I saw a clever sign on the side of the road here that amused me - "It's a hill, get over it". Nice touch by the organisers.

Mile 9: 5:30

Onto what was the hardest and slowest mile of the lot. Again, still not sure if I was blowing badly or this hill was worse than I thought when we drove it. It turns out it was thankfully the latter. I was doing just fine. I still had no idea the gap I had but I couldn't hear anything behind me. All I needed to do was summit the hill and trust I'd have a fast downhill mile in me. I could really feel the heat, breathing was really laboured and I was really puffing up that slope. What could I do but keep the head down and grind it out, it's too close to stop pushing now. Eventually the hill started levelling just before the 9 mile mark, and it was all downhill from here. In a good way.

Mile 10: 4:46

This was a bit fun. Once the breathing settled and the rag-doll costume discarded, I really got into a good rhythm. A 5 minute mile would have been fine by me but once again my eyes had deceived me in the drive and this was way, way quicker than I though with a net loss of 137 ft. Once I saw pace was in the 4:50's I knew I had it in the bag now so I just let the legs go wild and really kicked for home, trying to squeeze every second in getting a new PB. Eventually the fun was over and the line started making its way to me. I crossed 1st in 52:26, the 2nd half in 26:08 and really happy with that time considering the solo run, difficult course and heat out there. I was about 30 seconds ahead of 2nd place and John impressibly persevered from falling off at 2 miles to hang on for 4th. A PB day is never, ever a bad day. I feel my quads might be paying dearly for that mile tomorrow. There was a lovely atmosphere around afterwards and that ice cold can of coke hit the sweet spot. A really good athletics event run by proper athletics people.

All in all, a great day out and I'm really glad I did it. That will probably do more for me than any session would have done this weekend. I really had to battle away some negative thoughts at times where it was feeling a little too difficult but the fitness came through in the end and I'm feeling well on track to being able to put together a good marathon. There was no doubt fatigue in the legs today with the midweek session, the front-loaded miles and the hard 20 miler last week. Considering all of that, I'm actually really pleased with it and I will certainly relax with a PB beer tonight and a day off tomorrow. One more big week to put in and I feel the bulk of the work is done.

Summary: 1st in 52:26

Full results

PM: 5 miles @ 7:33 m/m

This was pencilled in tentatively with full permission to erase if one were to be exceedingly goosed after the race. There's no point pushing myself needlessly just to hit milage targets but in this case I felt fine, I had eaten well throughout the day and it was doable once I peeled myself off the sofa following the United game. It was exactly as you'd expect, a trudge at the farm but quite enjoyable in the evening sun. It was a lot cooler, ideal for a race really.

Weekly milage: 85

1 week to go 😮how did that happen? I'm not feeling the freshest just yet as the 10 mile effort on Wednesday took a bit out of me but next week will really be a case of just reeling it in, sleeping well and not getting a cold.

Monday 13/09 - Rest

This was first Monday in a while that I felt a rest wasn't absolutely necessary but I took it anyway, I guess that's a good sign.

Tuesday 14/09 - 10 miles @ 7:05 m/m

It was a bit odd just doing the one run today but a very welcome change also. Usual route early in the morning with John, to the farm for a lap and back again. The legs are starting to come round slowly and what a strange but nice feeling in the evening to have so that extra time. I spent it wisely, getting a rub in the evening and then sitting.

Wednesday 15/09 - 10 miles @ 5:31 m/m (12 miles total)

This was a bit of a first for me, I would usually do a 20-25 minute tempo 10 days out from the race but John had been recommended this session a few years back in the lead up to one of his marathons and said it worked well. I liked the sound of it and felt like it would be a good confidence booster. The purpose of this run was more psychological than anything since there's little or no fitness to be gained at this stage. After a mile warmup, we started at Blackrock Castle, headed out for 5 miles to Passage and back again. Perfect morning, cool and calm. I dipped into my new swanky gel belt at 4 miles and downed a Maurten gel which went down fine. We hit 5 miles in 27:39 and came home in 27:37 hitting 10 in 55:16. Grand job. When we stopped, I wasn't in any great stress nor breathing hard but it was by no means a walk in the park. Going straight into 5:30 pace at 7:15am is not easy but after a few miles in I did settle down and got into a decent flow. Heart rate was ~154 average for the effort so I think that's around sustainable for a marathon (for me anyway, my max HR is not very high). Holding this pace for 26 miles will certainly not be easy but I think there's a good chance I can sustain it for at least most of the race which would yield a solid PB regardless.

Thursday 16/09 - 10 miles @ 7:11 m/m

An exact replica of Tuesday but the day was Thursday and the legs were a little tireder. 10 days to go. 9 days of tricking the legs into thinking they're on holidays and then bang, welcome to painville.

Friday 17/09 - 8.5 miles @ 7:36 m/m

Very tired and cranky legs this morning, I guess that's probably a consequence of the effort on Wednesday. Somehow after a torrential night of rain, it was 16C and dry. I actually went back to bed for an hour after this and then a visit to the physio for a rub at 11am, while supposedly working. Not too worried about the tiredness right now, plenty of time to get the legs fresh. Right? RIGHT?

Saturday 18/09 - 4 x 5 mins (9 miles total)

To the farm on a gloriously sunny morning, bonus territory for sure. This was a nice session on the grass, lighter than usual but just enough to keep the legs ticking over without building fatigue. Paces were 5:19, 5:21, 5:21 and 5:16. It was so enjoyable to once again sit in the sun at a coffee shop afterwards with club mates and feel that heat on the face. Unfortunately it didn't last for too long and the rain came down in the afternoon, but we had our fun.

Sunday 19/09 - 10 miles @ 7:07 m/m

Another cracking morning on Leeside and just 10 easy miles on the menu today. Headed off with a few clubmates at 9am and then obviously breakfast and coffee in the sunshine afterwards. Nice enjoyable run and the body was feeling well rested today. Now it's getting real...

Total mileage: 60

👆Thanks Lainey! 0 weeks to go. Wait, does that mean...yes, Conor. It is time.

Monday 20/09 - 8 miles @ 7:34 m/m

To the safety of the farm on a nice calm Monday morning. Laps and laps and laps, until I met a club mate and then the concept of laps just faded and the run flew by. Nice run, though I'd take a few points off for the overly dewy grass resulting in wet socks. A few strides at the end and job done. All good.

Tuesday 21/09 - 6 miles (with 2 miles in 9:47)

Down to the Mardyke track for what is the now traditional 2 miles on the track before a marathon. I've always done these at marathon pace and never particularly walked away feeling great so I really wasn't going to care how I felt tonight, there are too many moving parts to this final week. The focus is primarily on sleep, hydration and nutrition, that's it. I fell in with John for this and as we discussed beforehand, we weren't going to be running MP but rather aiming to complete the 2 miles in a nipper 10 minutes, a proper short and sharp effort. John took the first 400m and we hit 73, that set the pace and we pretty much kept that effort until the end swapping at the front every 800m and hitting 3k in ~9:10. Very enjoyable effort and walked away pretty pleased. 2 mile cool down and then off for my final rub.

Wednesday 22/09 - 7 miles @ 7:06

And off to the farm again on another nice morning for some solo miles but it was quite nice. I noticed a good few solo soldiers out galloping this morning, of course the old runner's nod mandatory as you first pass them, then it just becomes awkward every single time you pass them after that. Hello again.

Thursday 23/09 - 6 miles @ 7:02

Rinse and repeat at the farm but this morning I had company with John and the legs are kind of starting to feel good now. Few strides at the end and that Tiergarten start line edges even closer.

Friday 24/09 - 5 miles

The last run on home soil, it had to be the farm of course. What a pleasure that training block that was, I enjoyed almost every step and I'll just take whatever's going on Sunday. I cleaned up, inhaled some brekkie and picked up John before heading for Dublin. All went smooth in the airport bar a few queues longer than usual but it was just so exciting to be heading abroad for a race again. I did manage to absolutely whack my side (again!!) while leading out of the window at the Fermoy toll booth when my coins were rejected. It’s the same side I injured a few weeks back but slightly higher, I just prayed and hoped it wouldn’t be a repeat of the last time.

Saturday 25/09 - 20 mins @ 8:18 m/m

The morning before. At 9am I met up with John and another Cork athlete staying nearby and enjoyed a leisurely 20 minute tourist trail around the streets. The jog to the start line is only a mile away which is ideal. The side of my ribs that I abused yesterday isn’t terribly painful, there was definitely some damage was done but I think I’ll get through the race grand. If it pains me for a week afterwards then I’ll deal with it. It’s time to go get it.

That's all from me for now, see you in the form of a race report very soon.

Thanks a lot Treviso. I’m not sure if I know you or not but company is always welcome at the farm, even at the ungodly early hours