Run run run run run run run....

Thanks for the kind words Lainey, better days are certainly coming! I think that was to be my 8th marathon.

I hope you’re all set and you get the result you deserve in Manchester.

Streets of Galway 8k Race Report

It was 4 weeks since 'blistergate' in Berlin and it was time to get back on a horse, any horse will do. Right after the Berlin 1/4 marathon, I retreated to the hedonistic sanctuary of Cyprus with the other half Elena who coincidentally is from Cyprus. Walking on the blisters was real struggle for the first few days but was cushioned by the 31 degree heat and cocktails. Once that affliction subsided, the upper chest pain became the new big issue. The wallop I had taken in the toll booth on the way to the airport was now taking its own toll. It was basically a repeat of the rib incident and I was utterly useless for the week. Getting up, opening a door, tying my shoelaces and all of the basic movements we take for granted were extremely painful. In the end it was really no harm being in Cyprus where lying vertical in the sun was just about all I could accomplish. Running was out of the question so I simply submitted to it all, I ate and I drank and I worshipped the sun and I had my fun.

I landed back in Dublin on a Monday morning and reality started to hit home. It's cold. I should probably go for run. I didn't want to put all of that good marathon training to waste and figured I'd be still able to put together a good cross country season and some shorter road races. My first order of business was to stop off in the Phoenix park and to just go for a run, any distance will do, just run. So I laced up, with some difficulty, and then I trotted down the North Road toward Chesterfield avenue. Within minutes I had encountered internal resistance. No, said my chest, we're not doing this today. The pain was bad, every step felt like it was doing some sort of damage. My chest just felt like one giant bruise. I was hoping it was purely muscular but I couldn't be sure, the chest is such a sensitive area and I just didn't want to risk it. I had taken the bang almost 2 weeks previously so it was starting to get a little worrying. I cut it short after a mile and meekly retreated to the car for the long drive back to Cork, but it wasn't all bad. I enjoyed a nice bag of Keogh's crisps and after being abroad for so long, they really hit the spot. The next day I went to the doctor in work, who at this stage must be thinking 'what is up with this fella'. A few weeks ago you bruised your ribs on a table while turning on a lamp and now you've managed to injure your upper chest leaning out of a car window at a toll booth. I'm putting you on my disaster list. The diagnosis was thankfully the same as the ribs, nothing dangerous in there and just pure muscular damage. He offered me some delicious pain relieving drugs but I declined. The pain is there for a reason so I'll let it tell me when it's properly healed. In the meantime he said that light running would be ok, despite the pain so that was a little bit of music to my ears.

I promise I'll get to Galway. The day after the doctor, I was a little more confident running through the pain but I went for a couch-2-5k sort of approach, a run-walk effort alternating every 5 minutes or so. It was quite nice actually though it was possibly my slowest 5 miles ever in 55 minutes. I was back on the horse for the rest of the week and managed to get through a grass session at the Farm that Saturday. On the Sunday I got 15 miles in, still in discomfort but managing. The next week was a good 70 mile week with a tempo/hills session, another grass session at the Farm and a solid 2 hour run on Sunday at 6:37 mile pace. I wasn't feeling fit like I had before the marathon but clearly I hadn't gotten very unfit either. It had been 2 months since I last raced at the Mooreabbey 10 mile in August. I decided I needed to race so I entered the Streets of Galway 8k which was on the following week. As a club, we were all targeting the Munster senior cross country team title the week after Galway so this was a good opportunity for me to enter the cauldron of pain again and get a little hardened before that. Cross country was undoubtedly going to be harder than a road race in Galway. The Streets of Galway is a race I was well aware of, it has a great history, always draws a strong field and I wasn't really up to much that weekend so I booked a little hotel in Oranmore and I was set. On the week of the race I did a decent session on the Tuesday, 5 x 1km in 3:05-08 followed by a strong tempo at around 5:15 pace. This was decent and gave me good confidence for Sunday.

Race day arrived and it had been an abysmal weekend of weather. The wipers were on overdrive on the journey up on Saturday. I stopped off in Limerick for some lunch and I've never experienced Limerick so depressing and it's not fair on Limerick, it was gushing rain and the wind was noticeably sideways. Not pleasant. I did have the nicest pizza in Ireland though on Saturday night, in Dough Bros. in Galway city. Unreal. All I knew about Sunday morning is that the wind was still going to be sticking around, and it did. It was extra windy. Despite that, the sky was blue and the sun was out and that was a pretty pleasant surprise after a pretty disgusting night. I parked about 2 miles away from the start line and that was no coincidence. There was no way I was driving the car into the city centre on race morning so I parked it exactly one warmup away. This worked out very well. I got there nice and early and there was a lovely buzz around the place. Just under 1000 people showed up for this which was certainly the biggest race I've attended post Covid, if you can consider Covid something of the past, which I don't think you can. You know what I mean. There was a lot of people. There were also a lot of what look like very good runners around, based on their strides and swagger. I knew one of the guys, Niall Shanahan of Limerick, who is on my list of people to catch but other than that I didn't recognise anyone. Clubmate Lizzie Lee was hovering around the start line also and I already knew she had the win in the bag, lucky Lizzie.

This was an 8k, which is an odd distance but not really that odd, it's quite even. It's odd in the sense that there are very few of them and most people don't talk about an 8k PB, rather a 5 mile PB. 8k is 4.97 miles but who really cares. I suppose it's a consequence of caring about PBs and times, an affliction of epidemic proportions for the current running generation obsessed with metrics. And I'm not innocent either. It's not that times weren't important in the past, they were, but they were lower in the priority queue. Racing and beating people was the priority and good times just happened. I should really remind myself of that more often. Anyway, despite all the talk of not worrying about times, my 5 mile PB was 24:37 so in my wisdom I figured I'd be able to get pretty close to that.

Mile 1 - 5:04

My plan was to run around 5 minute mile pace early on and see what happens. I kind of know what 5 minute effort feels like by now so I didn't need need to be watch watching. I didn't need to, that doesn't mean I didn't. The optimistic side of me was talking about picking it up then for the last few miles. The course looked reasonable and I knew with the wind direction that we'd be facing into it for the first few miles and once we hit Salthill, it would be pushing us home, aggressively. Once the gun went, a group of 5 boyos quickly developed a close friendship and bolted as a unit, a fast unit. I honestly just didn't have the drive or motivation to go with them, I was already feeling effort with the pace I was running and this was only minutes into the race. I was a rusty krusty. I just sat a few meters behind, pretty much solo already and feeling that this was going to be a pure slog of a day. By the time I hit the first mile, one of the 5 had come right back to me and the other 4 were looking strong yet a gap was growing.

Mile 2 - 5:01

It was quite windy at the start and not just weather windy but street windy, as in wine-dy. There were quite a few sharp turns through the city centre but eventually in the 2nd mile it started to straighten out. This straightening out did little to help my race, I was still working way harder than I thought I should be but I was after moving into 5th and I was just watching the fantastic four stretch away into the distance. I kind of knew then that I wouldn't be seeing them again. By the end of the mile I was now running head first into the wind, my entire mouth ballooned with the west coast gusts but that's possibly an exaggeration. Effort was rising and ambitions lowering. 5th is ok isn't it?

Mile 3 - 5:14

The wind deviously combined with a sneaky drag to make my life that little bit more miserable. That's silly really, I wasn't that miserable. In hindsight it's a privilege to be out there and coming 5th on a middling day. I should be thankful for the misery. Given the long straight in front of me, I was able to observe a lone soldier after getting detached from the fantastic four which now became the terrible three as they geared up to battle it out for the podium spots. I wanted to be with the terrible three, one of which was Niall, but I wasn't. Not today. I felt maxed out and stuck in one gear, possibly even going down gears. Detached 4th guy was maybe 30 seconds ahead of me and no doubt coming back but then again I was also going back. Still, I had reasonable aspirations of reeling him in over the last 2 miles.

Mile 4 - 5:11

I took a sharp turn and was now heading on a slight downhill towards the Salthill promenade, the promised land of tailwind where thing would get better, wouldn't they? I was after hitting 5k in about 15:55 but I was also now dealing with a fairly annoying side stitch and my injured chest was causing me additional pain. It was all just about tolerable but not very pretty. Pain was quite popular with all of my body parts in this stretch but I feel it was a necessary pain to get used to racing and hurting again. The stitch didn't last for too long but even when I hit the promenade at 3.5 mile and had an aggressive yet beneficial wind on my back, I just couldn't kick on. All of the higher gears were broken. The gap from myself to 4th was just the same and almost resigned myself that I wasn't catching him at this stage. All I was fighting for was preserving 5th and getting home without throwing in any towels.

(almost) Mile 5 - 4:55

I did get going a little bit in this mile in that it was quicker than my previous two miles but this was probably down to the tailwind. It looks good on Strava though. I reckon effort was quite uniformly distributed over the whole race. One big long exhausting unspectacular effort. I really don't have much to say about this mile, I was completely isolated and just going through the motions. It was getting warm too as the midday sun beamed down on us meaning my brow was very sweaty. There was some warm support out on the final stretch and I even got a "Go on Liffey Valley" shout from a middle aged man which was appreciated if a little inaccurate. I even managed to hear his wife tell him "It said Leevale" and then I still had time to hear him say "Oh sorry, go on Leevale". How I managed to hear that whole conversation is beyond me. The finish line, that delicious finish line was visible for a lot of this mile, mocking me from afar. Eventually I had the last laugh, I think, when I crossed it in 25:27. When I crossed, the clock read 24:27 and I was half thinking had I really underestimated my run but unfortunately not, the clock was lying by exactly one minute. I was pleased enough with the run. Not shambolic, not terrific, just grand. I was just very happy to be done.

All in all, an enjoyable trip up to Galway. I'm at the point where I've realised that the majority of races I do are just ok. That's maybe down to high expectations but more than likely, it's just life. You win some and you lose most. The good days, the wins and the PB's are the 1 in 10 races and I'm fine with that. You just need to keep showing up, striving for consistency and simplicity and trusting in the process. This was just another step in a long journey and when I look at it like that, it was completely worth it. Once again the journey back to Cork was comforted with a salty bag of Keogh's crisps and a bottle of banana Yazoo, firmly establishing themselves as a staples in my diet. You see not only do you get a race reports here but the nutrition advice is indisputable.

Summary: 5th in 25:27

Full results

Alright, new year, same me, time to log again. Good to see the forum and the logs buzzing, it feels like it's gained some momentum in the last few weeks and I hope that's not just a new year thing. Personally I find there's good benefit in logging, not only that it might help or entertain others but the act of writing out your training, thinking aloud, describing how you feel and what's going on in your life allows you to step outside your head and possibly spot patterns or thinking errors. Maybe that should have gone into that thread about logging. I think the act of writing alone, no matter what the content is something worthwhile to keep the noggin healthy and it's something that's dying a death especially with younger people (unless it's less than 280 characters). For that reason, fair play to everyone who has kept up the logs on the forum.

Little catchup...

Since Berlin, I struggled to get back to form but ended up with a really enjoyable last few weeks of the year, finally ducking under 15 mins for the 5k which was my ultimate goal before Christmas. It was on a generous course on a perfect day but I think I'm capable of doing it on other courses this year. I did well in the XC but was just always a step behind my training group. I scored on the team to win us our first senior Munster title in 20 years but it was a little bittersweet a few weeks later in the nationals when for the first time in a long time we won a senior team medal grabbing the bronze. I was 5th scorer and seconds off earning that medal. I was delighted for the lads but I won't lie, it hurt. I can only use that as fuel for next year as we now have a belief in the group that we're capable of winning national team medals. Following the XC I found some good form on the road and it was in part thanks to a change in the training stimulus. The last 2 months have involved lowering the weekly miles to about 60 but turning up the intensity on the track sessions and I've been really enjoying the turn of pace and working on base speed.

Results since Berlin...

• Oct 24 - Streets of Galway 8k - 25:27 - 5th
• Oct 31 - Munster senior XC - 14th (team gold, 4th scorer)
• Nov 14 - Thomas Kent 10k - 32:00 - 1st
• Nov 21 - National senior XC - 74th (team bronze, 5th scorer)
• Dec 4 - Jingle Bells 5k - 15:01 - 13th
• Dec 19 - Newmarket 5k - 14:52 - 7th
• Dec 27 - Togher 5k - 15:04 - 3rd
• Dec 31 - Fermoy 10k - 31:25 - 4th

Race plan for the next few weeks

• Jan 30 - Raheny 5mile
• Feb 6 - John Treacy 10 mile
• Feb 13 - National masters XC
• Mar 13 - Den Haag half marathon

Because of the 10 mile and half coming up, I've upped the weekly miles to 80 and we're back doing our 20 milers on Sunday. It's going to be a case of 3 weeks of racing in a row with Raheny, John Treacy and the XC so I'm focussing on getting a solid block in for January.

Monday 03/01 - Rest

Monday rests are back in vogue and very much welcomed. I had done a 20 miler the day before and on tired legs from the Fermoy 10k so this was a day for doing zilch. Great start to the log Conor, a rest day.

Tuesday 04/01 - 16.5 miles

• AM: 4.5 miles @ 7:39 m/m
• PM: Track session: 20 minute tempo (~5:15m/m) and 4 x 1 km (off 2 mins, 2:58, 2:55, 2:56, 2:54)

This was a solid session to kick off the year and set a good tone for the season ahead. It was a baltic night with ice hugging the inside track and spreading rapidly as temperatures were plummeting. We were told to stick to the outer lanes but once we started the tempo it was obvious it didn't make a difference so after a few laps, the whole group just slip-slided back into to lane one. We had a decent group for this despite a few casualties to Covid. Even though the tempo was just 20 minutes, you still have to make sure to relax as the real work starts with the km reps. I think we started at around 5:30 pace and finished at 5:10. I like these sessions, it's a real test fo strength and you really feel the change of pace when you hit the first km. I hadn't done a session like this in a while so didn't quite know what to expect with the km reps. After an F1 style switch of footwear into the spikes, I hit the first km in 2:58 and pleasantly surprised. I felt strong over the next 3 and hit them all around 2:55. Chasing down a particularly fast clubmate helped me to no end. Felt like a great workout and went home feeling pretty content.

Wednesday 05/01 - 13 miles

• AM: 5 miles @ 7:34 m/m
• PM: 8 miles @ 7:28 m/m

Thursday 06/01 - 13 miles @ 6:55 m/m

With a little more emphasis on mileage for these few weeks I wanted to include a midweek long run in there so Thursday fitted best. For me, anything over 90 mins is a long run. Pointless semantics really but it's good log filler.

Friday 07/01 - 7.5 miles @ 7:29 m/m

Happy to say that the stupid early Friday morning runs are still popular. It was still dark when we finished but I'm looking forward to seeing that change over the next few weeks. Spring shall overcome.

Saturday 08/01 - 4 x 10 mins (off 2 mins) - 13.5 miles

Down to the marina this morning where the recently installed bicycle barriers have become much appreciated runner barriers. I feel a lot safer down there now for doing sessions where previously we'd have to run a lot of it on a busy road. Possibly irritating to cyclists but we always get out of the way if we do encounter bikes and always run towards traffic. There was a nice group of 5 down today but the weather wasn't very nice. It was very mean in fact. Really gusty and showery morning so it was an utter grind but I got it done pretty consistently. I remember the 2nd rep being particularly ghastly running into a headwind and a shower - head down, gritted teeth, manic smile. Still using the Nike tempos for these sessions and just bought a new cheap pair over Christmas.

Paces (m/m) for each rep: 5:11, 5:10, 5:10, 5:10

Sunday 09/01 - 20 miles @ 6:30 m/m

I had to start this one solo at 7am today as I had a horticulture course day starting at 10am on Zoom. My long run compadres kindly adjusted our usual 9am start and met me at 8:15am so I had company for the 2nd half which was very much appreciated. Felt good for this one, much better than last week anyway. I got back in plenty of time for the course day which ran on until 4pm. By 3pm I was actually holding my eyes open.

Weekly miles: 84

Thanks all

Thanks Swashbuckler, it was a great race and a deep field always brings out the best in people because it turns into a proper race. Not only do you want to run a quick time but you want to take scalps and they usually end up complementing each other. My coach has said it over and over again - race and the times will come. I should clarify that that's not race as in just showing up to a race, it's racing the actual race.

I do think racing should be a regular fixture in training, within reason. What are we training for? I don't think people race nearly enough and are always looking too far ahead at target races when they're fit enough to race right now. Who knows what could happen in the next few weeks. If you're running sessions, you can race. Someone said to me recently 'I'm not racing until March'. That someone is actual in great shape right now so I just couldn't comprehend it, I think it's bonkers. It doesn't even matter if you're not in PB shape, races are better than any session. You learn how to hurt, how to be tactical, you're trying to break barriers and for a lot of people it's a personal battle. You just don't get the same physical and psychological stimulus from the safety of a workout. It's not that workouts don't have their place, they obviously do and are a critical element of progress but people seem to just want to train, train and train some more. You also occasionally get your arse kicked which usually serves to drive up the motivation. People care too much what other people think but honestly, nobody really cares what you run and life is too short.

At the end of December I just raced whatever was going because the group is broken up, your routine is out of whack and solo sessions are no craic. It just felt like bonus territory at that stage of the year. All that said, it's still important to put in a blocks of training as typically races are scheduled on a Sunday and that means long runs are missed and usually a session also as you'd be recovering. That's what January is for me right now.

Monday 17/01 - Rest

Tuesday 18/01 - 16 miles

• AM: 4.5 miles @ 7:24 m/m
• PM: 6 x 1 mile (200m recovery) - 4:51, 4:50, 4:50, 4:53, 4:54, 4:51

A little change of stimulus today as we draw closer to Raheny and boy it was a real wheezer of a session. The short recovery of 200m (~70-75 sec) was pretty brutal on the legs but it felt like a great stressor and I was pleased to have gotten the pacing fairly right. A mild and slightly blustery evening at the Mardyke track and a great gaggle of lads down this evening to work with. I was feeling good for the first 3 reps knocking out 72-73 sec laps but the real session started in the last 3 reps and it started demanding a lot more out of me, as it should. I developed a fairly painful side stitch during the latter stages of the 5th rep and was really starting to struggle. One thing keeping me going was some club mates doing a session of 400's in 72-73 seconds and they were dropping in behind me every few laps so I almost felt a responsibility to keep the laps steady for them, it actually ended up helping me a lot. When I finished the 5th rep I considered just calling it a good session there, especially when I noted the pace was starting to trend downwards. 5 miles is a good session yeah? During the recovery however I took some long deep breaths and relaxed before psyching myself up for the last one. It's 4 laps I thought, just go on and do it, you're well able. I was glad I did as the stitch subsided and I finished strong with a solid 4:51 and possibly one of the best sessions I've done in a while, or ever. I feel I'm almost ready for Raheny now and just need to get there in one piece.

Wednesday 19/01 - 13 miles

• AM: 9 miles @ 7:26 m/m
• PM: 4 miles @ 7:32 m/m

Thursday 20/01 - 13.5 miles (+strides) @ 6:44 m/m

Friday 21/01 - 8 miles (+strides) @ 7:26 m/m

Saturday 22/01 - 2 x 10 mins (2 min rec) & 4 x 5 mins (1 min rec) on grass (13 miles)

Well I remembered to bring proper XC spikes this week so that meant I didn't have to spend Saturday afternoon scrubbing the white back into my Dragonflys. Another perfect morning for a session, this is getting strange. A smaller group this week with some racing going on this weekend but as always a solid group to fall in with. The farm is in ridiculously good condition which is still astonishing for January. I wasn't feeling quite as fresh as I was last week and really couldn't go up the gears on the 5 min reps but when I look at the week, I ran one of the best sessions of my life on Tuesday so there's bound to be a bit of a hangover from that. The 1 minute recovery didn't help much either. I was really struggling on the last 5 min rep and was after letting a gap form up to a clubmate but I had the strength (or stubbornness) over the last few minutes to kick on to get back up to the him. Job done. That's not me done yet for the day either, I'm moving house in 2 weeks so I've an afternoon of boxing and lifting ahead of me. You could look at it as a core session...ah who am I kidding, it's going to be sh*t.

10 mins @ 5:14 m/m (2 min rec)

10 mins @ 5:13 m/m (2 min rec)

5 mins @ 5:08 m/m (1 min rec)

5 mins @ 5:11 m/m (1 min rec)

5 mins @ 5:12 m/m (1 min rec)

5 mins @ 5:08 m/m

Sunday 23/01 - 20 miles @ 6:31 m/m

Nice 20 today which seemed to fly by but a nice starting group of 6 made for good company. I was a bit achy all over from all of the lifting yesterday (and the session I suppose) but I felt fine once I got into it. That's the last one of these for 3 weeks as we enter into a racing period but looking back on the last 4 weeks, I'm pretty happy with that block and glad to have gotten in 4 big long runs which should stand to me for the John Treacy 10 mile. An extra-hot hot chocolate capped off this week nicely.

Weekly miles: 83.5

I think my eyes might have been actually watering during it also AMK! There's a good sense of optimism around Cork around the moment in terms of running and I think the standard has really increased in the last year. Our senior women have been very successful nationally in recent years but the men now seem to be getting some momentum and belief that national medals are possible. Fellow club mate Ryan Creech has really put Cork on the map this year with some of his big performances and to be honest just being around that standard week in and week out has pushed a lot of us to higher standards ourselves. I don't think I've ever trained with a better group until now, it's just no b*llshit hard training and there are no egos. I realised last Tuesday that I was actually looking forward to training that evening, it's just enjoyable. Jesus you'd swear I was from Cork. Oh no, it's happening...

I can't compare sessions I'm doing now to those I did in Dublin, it's just not a fair comparison. They were very much the apprentice (or blissfully naive) years for me where I had just started running and was mostly training from a Pfitzinger & Douglas book, which to be fair worked well for me at the time. I was only with Donore for a few months before I headed off travelling and I can barely remember the sessions we did.

Thanks BC. Well I enjoy writing so it always feels like time well spent and typically it doesn't actually take too long once the race is still fresh in my memory. I find if I don't write the race report within 2-3 days then I should probably forget about it. Strava is a blessing for writing reports as I can relive the race through the splits. I don't actually remember splits off hand and probably shouldn't either if I'm properly racing!

Expectations for Raheny? improve on my last 24:37, that's all I can ask for. I think I'm there, it's just a case of getting it out of me on the day and hoping for decent conditions. It's going to be a cracker of a race. My bib still hasn't arrived so that kind of worries me...

Monday 24/01 - Rest

Tuesday 25/01 - 14.5 miles

• AM: 4.5 miles @ 8:03 m/m
• PM: 10 x 400m (200m rec) - 68,70,71,70,70,69,70,69,69,70

Less homework this evening with the race coming up at the weekend. Most of the group are racing Raheny this weekend so we were told to just relax and knock out 70 second laps. The session was 14 x 400m with a recovery of 200m. I had a feeling some of the group might misbehave a little and I was right, the first one was 68. I just wandered right to the back of the group then and kept out of trouble because there's really nothing to be gained this week and I was perfectly happy to run 70's. I felt a slight niggle in my achilles on the warmup and then again a few reps into the session. Not good but not alarming either. I was moving fine and feeling good but pretty much decided about 5 reps in to cut it short and I'd finish up at 10. Maybe I should have dropped out earlier because I did just say that there was nothing to be gained this week. It's easier said than done I suppose. It was only Tuesday, last little blowout before the race and I was pretty confident it would clear up for Sunday. I still felt it niggling on the cooldown but not too worried as I knew I'd be winding down now and just easy running until the race. I don't know what caused this, one possibility is the stupid clunky Hoka Arahi shoes that I wore on my warmup as I didn't feel any niggle on the morning run in my usual shoes. I rarely wear these Hokas (I won them) but was forced to as I forgot to put my Pegasus in the car in the morning. They feel so uncomfortable so I might bin or donate them...or burn them. It's always easier to blame the shoes. In other news, my race bib has still not arrived so I sent an email to the people who send bibs out asking why they did not send my bib out. I hope they send my bib out.

Wednesday 26/01 - 8 miles

• AM: 4 miles @ 8:03 m/m Intentionally slowed down this morning to mind this achilles. It's definitely a flare and I'm familiar with these as I used to get them regularly but I reckon it's been over a year since I got one. It's just a dull ache that's not very threatening but threatening enough for me to react to it. I think it's best to keep moving very lightly on it with lower volume and intensity. I'll just have to manage it up until Sunday but the timing is not bad as I'm in wind down mode anyway.
• PM: 4 miles @ 7:57 m/m already a bit better

Thursday 27/01 - 8 miles

• AM: 4 miles @ 8:07 m/m still niggly but much better
• PM: 4 miles @ 8:12 m/m almost there

Friday 28/01 - 7.5 miles @ 7:36 m/m

Unbelievable Jeff, it's back! The wicked pilonidal abscess that struck me down in April of 2015 is back, in all it's arsey glory. You all remember, don't you? Of course you don't but it's there in my log and I don't really want to relive it again. The story is since last Sunday I've experienced a very uncomfortable pain while sitting, just above my tailbone. It's been particularly touchy when I drive and the rugged country roads of Cork really don't help. Getting out of bed is very sore. So I went to the doctor today thinking it was a muscular pain from lifting boxes, a reasonable assumption if a little naive. To my horror he told me it's the early stages of a pilonidal abscess. I fell off the chair. I didn't fall off the chair but I could have. My heart sank a little. I shudder just thinking back to that excruciating ordeal which ended up with me having surgery and a 2 week lay off. The daily visits to a nurse to get the wound packed were my particular favourite. Anyway the good news is we caught it early this time, it's not a golf ball, not even a grain of rice but it's definitely there. The bad news is I have to go onto antibiotics for a week. I'm humming and hawing about racing Raheny now. This is ridiculous timing, as always. I'm sure I'd get through it ok but I have no idea how I'll react to antibiotics and I don't want to spend 6 hours driving just to have a stinker of a race but on the other hand I do have an excellent excuse. I can't even remember the last time I was on antibiotics and I've certainly no recollection of ever running on them. Also, I really don't want to make it worse and end up with a golf ball on my bum. But on the other hand, I was ready for Raheny and I reaaaaaallllly want to go. I don't know. The coach has suggested going for it anyway. I might do a few miles in the morning and see how I'm feeling. What does the internet reckon?

Oh, the achilles is fine also. But nobody care about that anymore

...and great to see a legend of the boards back! hope all is well

Thanks @Murph_D, both for the kind words and your (assumed) top notch marshalling. I didn't think I needed to share Donal's 10 things, he's such a mega celeb now, it's the first thing the whole running community looks forward after a race and they're always very entertaining reads. He went easy on the mistake also which I expected, Donal's a big fan of 'approximado' races, and maybe rightly so because they're just pure races for position.

I think I might start charging for this calculator 😁 Donal had an idea of doing a supershoe calculator which adjusts your race time for 'old' shoes. I'm not sure it would be as popular...

Thanks Alan. After Dungarvan it’ll be head down for a half marathon 3 weeks later in The Hague in and after that maybe back to some shorter races again.

Sunday 06/02 - RACE! Dungarvan 10 mile

This would be only my 2nd race longer than 10k in almost 2 years. That's a bit mad. I was looking forward to this after a good run last week in Raheny and hoping to take a scalp off the PB of 52:27 last summer. My plan (pre weather forecast) was to run around 5:05's and get under 51 minutes. I'd ran 50:56 in in a time trial about a year ago but on a perfectly flat loop on a perfectly calm day which doesn't really count but it at least showed me I'm capable of a similar time. Today was neither flat nor calm, it was anti-calm. The winds were expected in the region of 35 kmph and miles 3-5 were straight into that headwind. This should be fun. All of this didn't really change my plan, I just said I'd go out at the 5:05's and deal with the wind when it hit and try gauge the effort. I am staying in a hotel in Midleton for a few days until the new house is habitable and I ended up having a nice long 9 hour sleep so I was feeling well rested but not sure how the whole week of moving and being on antibiotics might still affect me. I made it down to Dungarvan just before 10am and parked up. I laced up and headed off for a 2 mile jog and really felt the brute force of those westerlies. As a small framed person prone to wind damage, I really hoped I would be able to sit in and work with a group today and willing to do some of the work too, not that I offer much physically. To the start line and I have to say there was a great buzz around the town. I chatted with some runners I hadn't seen in a while, performed some mandatory leg kicks, dumped my jacket behind a rock and finally lined up for the countdown.

Mile 1: 5:05

Off we go. It felt like a pedestrian start and I was bunched in the lead group who seemed to be working very slowly into the race. I looked around and felt a bit out of my depth but then I glanced down to see us running 5:10's and so I just went with it. The mile picked up pace as we headed back past the start and enjoyed a downhill to the roundabout where we clocked 5:05. Feeling good but looking around, I knew current company wouldn't be sticking around for long.

Mile 2: 5:05

I was right. The group dropped the hammer and the super 6 gradually pulled away. I could have gone with them but in hindsight now, it was a good decision not to, I would have been out of my depth and it was only mile 2 of 10. I continued the plan of running 5:05's and had company with West Waterford trainer partner Pat as we worked up the hill, hearing the shout of 5:10 for 2 miles. On track and feeling quite alright.

Mile 3: 5:04

Still moving well and into a good rhythm now but I had now pulled away from Pat during this mile and the inevitable of being isolated for the windy patch was not even inevitable any more, it was going to happen.

Mile 4: 5:25

Welcome to Windyville, Co.Waterford, population: you and only you. This was not very nice. As I said, I'm a small framed boy and I just really struggle with the wind. The super 6 were now a good distance ahead. I gritted my teeth and battled as best I could but it was absolutely sapping me of energy. It was like a million little tiny ghosts kicking and pushing me backwards as I mustered every ounce to hold them back. 5:25 popped up for the mile. Yep, sounds about right.

Mile 5: 5:28

One more mile of this. Can you do that? I probably can but I'm really not happy about it, I feel like I'm not even moving. Just get to the left turn and after the turn, things will get better, I promise you. But the turn is nowhere near me, it's miles away up the road. No it's around 5 miles, I promise you. It better be because this is sheer hell. Do you think you made the right decision not going with the super 6? I think so because I can't see them anymore and I'm already at death's door. I think it was a good decision too, you are very smart. Just focus on the hedges and keep going. What species of hedges do you think they are? There's a good mix of natives hedges there I'd say like whitethorn, spindle, blackthorn, you know. Yep I hear you. Ugh.

Mile 6: 5:13

It's after 5 miles, I'm still eating wind and I've still not turned yet. Eventually a turn does appear thank flip. There were crowds of people cheering but I was so downtrodden I didn't really acknowledge them. When I did turn, the relief was almost immediate with the biggest noticable difference being the sound. It was eerily calm and quiet. There was nobody behind me and nobody in front of me. Just the sounds of my clown boots slapping off the country roads. It was very, very odd and felt like I was in the middle of a big workout, which is quite typical for the longer races. I think you've too much time to think in races of 10 miles or longer. I struggled to get the engine going again but some running was starting to return to the legs. There was lady on a bike ahead which gave me something to look at and chase. She was going the same pace as me but then at some point she was just gone and I don't remember when or where she disappeared. Maybe was not real.

Mile 7: 5:03

The course was bumpy enough around here and I was still working harder than I wanted to be with 4 miles left. The course was very rural at this stage with some rural people out in their rural gardens shouting rural stuff at me, good encouraging stuff which usually prompted a weak thumbs up from me. A 10k mat and a clock appeared out of nowhere with a man nearby shouting at me to add 1 minute to the time. I think the clock read around 31:30 and I liked the look of that until I added a minute to it. I spend about 30 seconds wondering how the clock was exactly 1 minute behind. My conclusion was that they forgot to start it in sync with the starting gun and so they decided to start it exactly 1 minute later to make sums easier for the runners. "Add 26 seconds" for example would be very difficult for runners already 6.2 miles though a 10 mile race. Following the fake 10k time was a nice, nice 2 minute downhill where I let the legs completely go started to feel good, mainly because of the downhill. It was then onto a very nicely paved tarmac road and hitting 5:03 definitely lifted spirits.

Mile 8: 5:05

Despite all of the struggles, I was now moving well and felt a PB was still on. With little else to think about, I calculated I could probably run under 52 minutes if I kept the pace in the 5:0X region for the remainder. The surface was perfect here with a massive tailwind. There were pockets of support right around the course which was great and really helped push me on at some of the more difficult stages. You've got to love the Irish road racing scene and you can tell that Dungarvanites are very proud of their race. I wanted to go faster than 5:05's but I couldn't, the legs were overly zapped from the windy stretch earlier and I was running at what I felt was the fastest pace that could be sustained for 3 more miles. I finally caught a glimpse of the super 6 ahead now which was no longer a super 6 but had fragmented into smaller bits but still whole humans, each no doubt hurting just as much as I was. It still felt like a long way to go with energy running getting low. I was now approaching the final left turn where the long straight towards the finish would greet me. In the far far away distance, already on the home straight, I saw the leader Hugh Armstrong. He's so far ahead of me. I wished I was where he was but then again, someone will see me there in a few minutes and wish they were where I was. As I said, running almost 10 miles solo gives you a way too much time to think.

Mile 9: 5:14

Just after the start of mile 9 I hit a small little hill which utterly murdered my good rhythm. I then took the left turn onto the N25 and what I thought would be a flat fast mile was not really a fast mile at all. It turns out this is a sneaky drag but I didn't know it at the time and my groove was most definitely over. I was really working hard up here but glanced down at the watch and thought to myself I've less than 10 minutes of running here, just come on and do it. Get the PB. Get under 52. What was all of that hurt for earlier? I struggled on, hurting like hell at this stage, evident by the barbaric grunts and dribbly mouth. When I heard the shout of 46:55 hitting mile 9 I felt it was touch and go for the sub 52. Let's crack on and see.

Mile 10: 5:04

I did get going here but I also didn't realise that the drag was over and assumed it was all final mile energy. It was probably a combination of both. I really did get moving though and felt like I was hammering it for the last mile. I passed a sign with 800m to go, got some great shouts and was really breathing hard. Then I took a left turn, the wind slapped in the face and I was challenged to a final showdown with a dastardly climb. Rag-doll outfit on and up we charge. It felt like a lonnnnng hill but I suddenly remembered we had passed the finish at mile 3 and it was on a nice downhill. That means just get to the top of the hill, discard the outfit and GO. I did just that, the support and cheering was immense and even better because it was all for me. See, there actually are benefits to running in no-man's land! I was hurtling my little legs down that hill, finish line in sight now with the clock ticking onto 51:40. I think I can do it....I must do it....I did it. 51:58 for 7th spot. Job done and I had completely emptied myself on that last mile. For the first time after a race I felt like I was going to puke. A man came to offer me a foil blanket, first time that's happened. I was happy in that sense because I think I got the pacing and overall effort just about right.

In hindsight now it was a good result, not quite what I had hoped timewise but given the week in it and the weather conditions, running a PB in that was a very good day. Another nice unexpected bonus in leading the club to a team win also. That's race 2/3 done and it's back to the muck for next week for the national Masters in Cork.

Summary 7th in 51:58

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