Last of the Summer Wine

Week of 17 Jan

Couple of things on this week - might run the Winter League on Weds as the play I was going to see in the Abbey has been cancelled (covid related). Bummer, was really looking forward to it. There’s BHAA action available at the weekend too. Would two races be pushing it?

Mon 17 Jan

WU / 45 mins sub-T / CD

Headed out to Booterstown again from the office - 15 mins warmup through RIngsend and Irishtown then upped the pace along the coast road. Had the HR monitor with me this time and vowed to stay in the bottom half of the range, so looking at 161-165 (or 75-78% HR reserve). IT took a good 2k for my HR to get out of the low 150s, to the extent that I thought it wasn’t working. Result was a too-fast first mile, as I suspected from the feel, and this is all a learning curve figuring out what this session should feel like, so no harm done. It was a fine morning and I settled down once the HRM started doing its job and quite enjoyed the session, turning at the end of the Blackrock Park cycle/walking path and back towards town. Averaged 161 in the end (helped by those first 2k) at a few seconds slower than marathon pace.  

Tue 18 Jan

60 mins recovery

A very gentle hour around the south city and Grand Canal bank. Beautiful day, quite busy on the walkways, but the traffic in town continues to be far quieter than normal.

• This week: 25k (16m)
• This month/year: 185 (115)

Yep, two miles for the WL this week. The BHAA is 5 miles, unfortunately, a pretty cruel cross-country distance for aul plodders like me!

Wed 19 Jan

Winter League Rd. 4 (2M)

Another chilly night in Raheny. These races are probably the road running equivalent of cold, blowy League of Ireland night games. Definitely for the real fans only! I felt a bit jaded during the warmup, couldn’t get much enthusiasm going for the strides and dynamics. Lined up with 46 others and hoped the body would click in once underway (it sometimes does). Was chatting to a couple of clubmates and didn’t try to get a good spot, so it felt like a slow start with a bit of weaving over the first 400m, which is on a typical suburban residential road with cars parked on one side, so not a lot of room to pass. 

Two laps of the Wade Ave circuit to do, and I spent the first 800m finding my way through the field, getting into position. I’ve been placed in Division 3 of the League (a bit of a blow to the ego) and so I was looking around for a few Div 2 people to spark off. Passed one or two candidates who didn’t respond, so by the end of the lap I was, as is so often the case, running solo, with maybe 25m between me and the runner in front. Timer shouts 6:40 - hmm, it felt better than that, damn that sloppy start! I’d toyed during the day with thoughts of a PB (12:52 from this race, three years ago, when I had @skyblue46 pushing from behind, then pulling from ahead). That was out the window now, might as well consolidate and try to pick off one or two on the second lap. Made a conscious effort to increase the pace, which isn’t very easy when there’s no one around, but I was gradually reeling in the guy in front. Passed him with around 800m to go. Could see O and D up ahead, a long way off. Too far to catch, I decided, but as it turned out if I’d made up my mind I’d probably have caught one of them at least, as they were both coming back to me. Lad behind was gassed and had fallen way off, and it was tempting to jog it in, but I upped the pace a bit more after the final turn and managed to close the gap to a couple of seconds. 19th in 13:19. No great shakes by any means, but I know now who to chase next time out.

Cooldown lap with chats - it’s a great club really - bringing the evening’s total to 9.6k.

• This week: 35k (22m)
• This month/year: 195 (121)

Thurs 20 Jan

60 mins easy/recovery around the parks of Dublin 2. Last week’s route in reverse. Got dive bombed by a seagull in Stephen’s Green, then a close pass from a pigeon a few minutes later. They seemed to think I was carrying food.  

Fri 21 Jan

41 mins easy

Out the seafront for a short easy one. Bumped into DD towards the end. Gave me some cross country tips. Later - Ozark and pizza.

Sat 22 Jan

BHAA Eir Cross Country (5 miles) - 79th in 36:51

Apart from the Dublin Masters, I’ve done very few other cross country races, all of them BHAA events, all four miles or thereabouts, and none since 2018. This was the first time facing a five-mile race in the fields, and the distance seemed a bit daunting. But a nice fresh morning for it - a breeze, but not too cold. Plenty of familiar faces at Tymon Park. Bumped into clubmate D in the car park, said hello to a few old Cru clubmates, and had a chat with Wubble Wubble at the start line. Jim Aughney started the race, which was over a three-and-a-half lap course around a network of fields adjacent to the National Basketball Arena. A few tricky bits, including a fun steep downhill which had to be carefully negotiated. Not a lot of mud, but as always the grass was fairly sapping.

I took the first lap handy enough (or so it felt), then once I had the lay of the land I was able to pick steadily through some runners on the second lap. Started really feeling the pinch with still two laps to go, and was having a bit of a tussle with ‘K’, who had plenty of admirers among the gallery to keep him motivated. We passed each other a couple of times but he pulled slightly ahead with a lap and a half to go. I didn't let him get away, but probably should have closed up, in retrospect, and asked more questions. With about a half mile to go I was passed by another runner (blue shirt) putting in a good finish, but he didn’t really have the power to close it out either. As we came towards the final half-turn he was still catchable, and I increased the effort. Despite having run past it three times already the finish chute took me a bit by surprise, so I should really have started this final push a bit earlier. K was still ahead and as the three of us barrelled down the chute, I managed to catch blue on the line. 79th of 132 in 36:51. Apparently that was enough to give my workplace team second place in the Grade A category. Didn’t look at the watch once.   

A few chats and then a cooldown lap with J and A. 11k for the morning. This was a really well organised event, in a fairly busy park with some really expert marshalling separating runners and park strollers where the course crossed the tarmac. Also, lots of mulched Christmas trees put to use to cover the tarmac in this and a couple of other spots. Top notch work all round. Glad I rejoined the BHAA, hope to get another couple of these races in over February and March.

Sun 23 Jan

60 mins easy

Was heading up the Howth Road towards St. Anne’s but the gate to Mount Temple was open so I went in there instead and did seven laps of the perimeter. Nice new gravel track around the pitches, and loads of kids doing hockey and rugby training. Legs a bit tired but moving fairly well after yesterday's efforts.

Reflection, based on two races this week: I am a timid racer and give beatable opponents far too much respect. Why is that? Have to try to be more ruthless. Next stop Dungarvan.

• This week: 76k (47m) - 427 mins
• This month/year: 236 (147)

I'm definitely talking man v man. For instance, anytime you went by me in a race you probably didn't face much of a response. Then again on all of those occasions you were always going to finish in front of me, and I know your form and your preference for an easy start. This goes for a few other runners I know, and often I am happy to let them go on because realistically I am not going to be competing. Similarly, if I know a runner I can realistically compete with tends to go out too hard, I'm not going to try to stick with him in the beginning, happy to wait for the blowup. My comment is more aimed at my reaction to runners I don't know, in the middle of a race. If a strong looking runner, or group of runners goes by, I often let them go, only to regret this later when I finish strongly, catching or almost catching them, and missing out narrowly on a target time, for instance. This happened in the cross country race with this K gent, and during the week during the Winter League race I could have gone out slightly harder, but also could have finished slightly harder and caught the two runners in front of me. I can think of plenty of other examples during recent races, including the half marathons.

Man v watch is a different story. I know you feel I start a little aggressively pace-wise and perhaps you're right, although I generally try to run even splits in any race of 5k or above. Definitely still learning the race craft after all these years!

Thurs 27 Jan

50 mins at Sub-T

Repeat of the Monday session, as the idea is to be doing two of this type of run per week, building up to 80 mins or so per outing. Effectively six miles at marathon effort. Felt good, tiring towards the end, but could have done a little more. Did the warmup with A, and 14.9k in total.

Fri 28 Jan

41 mins very easy.

Sat 29 Jan

11.5k inc Parkrun #167

Pacer day at St. Anne's, and I assumed my usual 24 mins slot. Went around in 23:57. Couple of runners around me got PBs so that’s always a good sign, although I don’t think I was dishing out as much ‘encouragement’ as usual. One clubmate gave me credit anyway, so job done. Few miles before and after, and of course some coffee and chats.

Sun 30 Jan

LR 2hrs 18 mins (23.9k)

Enjoyed this run. Wasn’t sure where I’d head to. Howth? No. Town? OK. Grand Canal? Just the Basin. Dodder? To Donnybrook anyway. UCD? Sure. Went clockwise around the campus for a change, so I found the perimeter trails in the Nutley/Roebuck area that I always miss when I take the other direction. Passed Ray Darcy at one point near RTE, appropriately enough. Think he had a ‘Run with Ray’ shirt on. Ended up a bit longer than I'd planned but an enjoyable run.

Did some marshalling duty at the Raheny 5 later that day. A great turnout. Pity about the course error - probably best to classify it as a communications breakdown. Good to see plenty of current and former boardsies pass by my station just before the Park exit. Thanks to all who supported the race.   

• This week: 79k (49m) - 435 mins
• This month/year: 316 (196)

Tue 1 Feb

55 mins recovery

Very slow recovery. My 10 min+ miles raised some eyebrows. I’m grand!

Wed 2 Feb

Winter League Round 5 (3 miles)

The idea was to go out and do this at tempo pace, not get drawn into a race. Set off and settled in to a comfortable tempo, around 10-mile pace. There was a fairly small field out tonight (39 runners) and my pace put me somewhere in the middle, with no one pushing from behind and one or two familiar bodies in sight ahead, slowly pulling away. 7:05 called at the end of the lap - reasonably close to goal, maybe a tad fast. I cooled it a little on the second circuit but still found one or two of the runners ahead coming back to me, and at the end of the lap (7:15) found myself not too far behind K, with whom I’ve had the odd friendly skirmish in these events. I know he’s not fully fit at the moment, and if he hadn’t glanced over his shoulder at me towards the end of lap two I’d probably have let him away. But you know how it is… While I generally haven’t been racing these runs, I always step it up a little in the final lap and that was enough to close the gap with about 900m to go. I sat on K’s shoulder for a bit to see how he was feeling and when he didn’t respond I decided to push on, with another flagging runner coming back to me ahead. Passed him with about 400m to go and finished out briskly on Wade Ave (lap 6:48). Good workout. 15th place, and I won a spot prize, yet another leftover tee shirt (still in the bag) advertising a 2018 or 2019 race I didn’t do - from the late Pat Hooper's impressive collection. 😁 If I finish Sunday's race with three miles like that I'll be happy.

Cooldown around the local roads, 9.8k total for the evening. 

• This week: 31k (19m)
• This month: 19 (12)
• This year: 346 (215)

Thurs 3 Feb

Rest day.

Fri 4 Feb

40 mins easy around the south city centre. Gentle rain, cold. Nice to run a bit of the Dublin marathon route.

Sat 5 Feb

6.2k inc parkrun #168

Down to Fairview Park with A for this one. Not one we do often but so handy, only a three or four minute jog away. Kept A company for the first couple of laps, and did a few fartleky speed changes on the third. We were lapped by the first few finishers and had a close-up view of the runner in third position blow the podium by not finishing strong. Tut tut. But of course it's not a race. 😉

Sun 6 Feb

20.94 k inc John Treacy Dungarvan 10 @ RP. Report to follow. Eventually. 😁

• This week: 65k (40m)
• This month: 53 (33)
• This year: 380 (236)

John Treacy Dungarvan 10 Mile

I can’t remember exactly why I entered this race - partly due to Trim (much closer) being sold out, and also because M had signed up and was encouraging a few of the locals. Part of his quest to find a Ballycotton substitute, although this one takes place a month earlier. Anyway it’s a well regarded race, and why not?

My 10 mile PB, run at Ballycotton 2016, is also the longest standing. While it was never particularly strong, it’s survived five previous attacks on various courses, the most recent last year at Kilbeggan where I failed by 12 seconds, running much of the race in no man’s land. Although I like the 10-mile distance - probably my favourite actually - I haven’t raced it as often as I could have in recent years. But with a recent HM PB you had to feel the time was right to have a go at it, even without any specific training in recent months. I’ve been feeling strong of late. The aerobic base building has been interesting, and I’ve been quite clean-living since taking a break from beer/wine/booze a few weeks ago. Plus I’d named a 10-mile PB as one of my 2022 running goals, and this was probably going to be the best opportunity for a while.

Dungarvan is quite a way away from the big smoke. M picked me up at 7am and we were off on our merry way, arriving in West Waterford early enough to get a prime parking spot just around the corner from the start line. Was good to have plenty of time to relax. A walk down the road to the garage. Toilet queue was too long for my liking and the need wasn’t critical, but things again went my way as a row of portaloos was dropped yards from the car and opened for business just as I passed by. Eventually did a few kms warmup around the vicinity. The wind seemed a bit more blustery than advertised. And we spotted quite a drag up to the finish line - more on that later. Short reccie done, extra layers ditched, binbag donned, and into the pen, wearing a mask as requested by the organisers. Only about four minutes to wait and we were off.

M would normally be a 60-min runner but his plan was to start with me and see how he felt. I expected he’d push on around the halfway mark, if not sooner. It would be good to have a bit of pacing company early on, but the bottom line was, you're on your own - there will be no motivational speeches at the business end.

The first mile through town was very congested. Came close to taking myself out on a projecting wing mirror, and my heels were clipped a couple of times. It was a slowish start with all the bodies and stress, but the pace was soon on track once out on the wider main road. I discarded a hat and almost fell over M while throwing it to the side. Didn’t see the first mile marker but the pace was OK, maybe a tiny bit brisk but the going was good, with a bit more room now in mile two heading south down the main road. Mile three involved a sharp right on to a bumpier secondary road, congested again with the narrower going. Tipping along nicely with some downhill. There wasn’t really a discernible group forming at this stage, and the wind was getting noticeable. M was tucking in out of the breeze where he could; for me it was a bit more difficult, and I was more likely to be the windbreaker for someone else. This became more of a factor in miles four and five, directly into the wind. We’d looked at the course map and were expecting this for a couple of miles here. I was getting the beginnings of a stitch and worried about that for a bit, but I paid some attention to my breathing and it passed. The mile markers were prominently displayed and we were passing them within a few seconds of the 71-min target. Halfway point in 35:27. Very solid. Feeling confident.

Early in the sixth mile there’s a sharp left onto a nice country road with high hedges. Suddenly the wind is behind, and it starts to feel quite warm. I remove my gloves and stick them in my pocket. Off comes the neck buff a few minutes later, wrapping it around my wrist. I’m happy to be well into the middle third of the race in good shape and concentrating well on the job. M has drawn alongside. I’m feeling really good and I notice his breathing has stepped up a bit. Is he struggling? Nah, he edges ahead and I’ll be looking at his back for the next couple of miles until he disappears. Over a timing mat at the 10k point. A steward shouts that the time on the clock is wrong - “Add a minute!” It’s a good split, 44 minutes pretty much on the nose.

A left turn onto some freshly laid tarmac alongside the Brickey river. It’s a beautiful surface, but out of nowhere I start to feel a bit rough. I’m still moving well but the effort levels have increased noticeably. Breathe. Am I starting to fall apart? There are plenty of bodies around and I grit my teeth and try to maintain position. Passing people, being passed. The road is long and straight and you can see ahead for miles. The line of runners is stretching away into the distance and it feels there’s a long way to go.

Because there is.

I pull alongside an aul lad and he gives me a good look up and down. Maybe about to ask me why the course was long in Raheny last week. Maybe sussing whether I'm an age category rival. I’m probably doing OK in the M60 stakes, actually, as I haven’t seen too many candidates yet. I run with this chap for a bit. I think I get ahead of him but the hazy bit of the race has begun. I’m not obsessing on the km splits but taking the odd glance at the watch and the average pace stat is still OK. Past 8 miles and another sharp left onto the main road, with a bit of downhill. The sea is on the right, but it's a grey day and not too scenic. I coast along here, trying to recover with the grade, trying to ignore the deadening legs and the rasping breath. And now there’s a long drag, and again you can still see it all stretching away into the distance. My varifocal glasses tend to give everything a bit of an uphill appearance though so I didn’t really register the drag here until M mentioned it afterwards - a good thing, as it might have gotten to me if I’d dwelt on it at this stage, starting to feel very rough indeed. 

Shake the arms, loosen the shoulders. You’re OK, you’ll not die yet. 

Heading North now, back towards town. I’m going a bit backwards, but still picking off the odd straggler. When will this mile end? There’s been another threatened stitch, again held off. Finally the 9 mile marker. I glance at the watch and struggle with the arithmetic. I think I’m OK, but there’s not a lot of leeway. Mile 10 starts with a bit of downhill (as I’m just noticing now writing this, with an eye on the strava trace). No doubt this is what’s keeping the wheels on. I’m being passed quite regularly now. But they’ve sprayed an 800m mark onto the road, only a half mile to go! 

Sharp left and suddenly I’m on that uphill finish we’d noticed during the warmup. Holy shyte. It feels like Everest. Well, Howth Head at least. I’d just passed a couple of stragglers on the approach, and one of them goes past again as I wade up the hill like it’s made of mud. It feels endless and I’m worried now about the result. After what feels like an age I finally crest the bloody thing and there’s still 400m left, but now the going is downhill and I pass the passed passer again. There’s a shimmy through a roundabout and a right turn. A big tall young GAA fella is just there, he must have struggled on the hill too and I try to go by him, but he doesn't want to be taken by some grey haired aul fella and responds. Around the turn and the finish is in sight, maybe 150m away. I don’t think I get Tall Guy but we're in the finish chute now. Nothing matters anymore except crossing the line, and I’m as happy to be over it as I’ve ever been.

I sink down for a breather for a moment, then walk through a sea of mostly happy finishers. It had started to rain quite heavily but I’m only noticing it now. Someone is handing out foil blankets but I don’t manage to snag one. I finally look at the watch. 70:44, a 49-second PB.

Caught up with M near the goody bag. He’s managed a sub-70 himself, and happy with how it held up. Well done to the WW crew for putting on an excellent race. Very generous race swag: Nike shirt and JT buff in the reusable bag, along with various snacks and drinks. A good day all round so.

Splits (approx): 7:04 7:05 7:00 7:12 7:06 7:03 7:03 7:02 7:12 6:57

Delighted with this. Looking at the splits afterwards, it seems I didn't lose much time, if any, during the rough patches, which is not usually the case with me. And pleased to have a rare negative split of 10 seconds. I can't fathom how the uncomfortable second half was faster than the cruising first half. Might be getting a little bit tougher! Today anyway.

Bye bye oldest PB, hello newest. 

• Previous PB: 71:33 (Ballycotton 2016)
• Target: 70:xx
• Actual: 70:44
• 526th place (of 2,431)
• 5th M60 (of 41)
• VDOT: 48.2
• Age grade: 76.15%
• Verdict: The summer wine