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Sub 5 minute mile
Comments
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25 April - 01 May 19 miles
Low mileage week on account of racing Saturday and then giving myself today off. Legs were actually tired after the 1 k session on the Sunday so I'd no long runs at all this week. Easy 6.5 km Monday and Tuesday before the Wednesday session.
Wednesday Session - 4x300R, 4x150FR. Done on grass around the GAA pitch while one of the kids trained for soccer there. Shorter reps than normal and not fussed about the pace particularly just wanting to turn the legs over.
Easy 5 km on Thursday before planning to run my first ever 1,500 race at the Meath Track and Field Championships on the Saturday.
I'd marked this as a potential race about a month ago. I don't have season plans as such so it's as good of notice I'd normally give myself for any kind of race (the Trim 10 miles was 1 days notice). With that in mind, I did consciously make sure to get the mile paced sessions in managing 4 out of the last 5 weeks. This week gone I was a little tired after the Sunday session but was going to be cutting the weekly mileage anyway so expected plenty of recovery time. Friday though I was once again not feeling 100% after a couple of bad nights with the baby and getting a chill while coaching GAA another night.
On Saturday though I convinced myself I'd be able to muster a performance and that any wooliness I was feeling was in my head. My lungs and legs were good to go, so I was racing.
Meath Track and Field Championships 1,500 m
A tradition from my footballing days that I reserve for when I'm not feeling quite myself is I drink a can of red bull an hour and a half before any event I may be doing that day. The shop was only selling sugar free stuff though so I reached for a fake red bull alternative. The weather during the day went from wet to wetter but the wind was nicely absent.
Made it to Dunboyne around a half hour before the race was due to start and noted that it was running around 10 minutes behind before heading off for my warm up jog. I got back to the track to be told that the race would be starting soon. I noted that the women were still running so knew that the Junior/Senior men would be off before us so I'd another 10 minutes. Into the changing rooms I went to get into my kit. The changing room was fairly bustling with young and old fellas chatting away. I have a little chat with a couple of lads before disappearing into the only toilet. Hmm, someone had defecated on the toilet behind the seat. They must have been standing up I think to myself surprisingly not completely disgusted by the sight. My main concern though was that I would now get the blame! With young kids I'm well used to this sort of exercise at this stage but eventually decide not to touch it as I don't see enough paper to do the job so get out the door as quick as I can. Outside and my spikes are not even tied I get told the race is starting now. "What?". They're running them 1,500s all in one race. "Feic". So no time to do any strides, stretches or quicker stuff, I do a few hops and a couple of 20 yard take offs before lining up at the line. There's probably around 15 other runners and I'm the second to the outside. I'd worked out my ideal times in the morning. Laps of 54, 72, 72 and under 72 would have me around 4:30 which is a mile equivalent of around 4:51 and so close to my sub 4:50 target for 2022. If I could even nip a bit under that... I wasn't going to race so hard that I'd be too feiced to check my watch I was going to be sensible. There's Dunboyne runner that came second in the Masters CC earlier this year. I was intending to use him as a guide for pacing myself as I knew he's loads of experience and ran 4:22 I think at one point last year.
Lap 1 - 0:53
We set off and I make my way cautiously across the track to the rail. I'm probably around the middle of the field but sitting outside someone around the first bend. I wait for some space before making my way to the rail just before crossing the line to a perfect first split.
Lap 2 - 1:13
I note there's one runner gapping the entire field and my Dunboyne pacer is leading the chase pack. I'm around a second or 2 further back as I'm passed by clubmate Ronan. I let them go a little bit. I have a momentary thought about my energy levels and whether I should be racing but decided quickly I was fine. The lap was a little slower than planned but still around target and I don't feel goosed.
Lap 3 - 1:13
As I enter this lap I suddenly think of a mantra Murph wrote about on his log but all I could remember was Jimmy McGuinness and focus. "What was it? Focus something? Dammit, just focus". I wasn't sure how I was feeling on this lap but know it wasn't tongue out effort level so I did just focus. I'm around 4 or 5 seconds from the main chase pack but not necessarily detached as there's another runner between me and them.
Lap 4- 1:05
I feel I'm in good nick as I come up beside the back chaser with 400 to go. Again not wanting to be stuck on the outside for long I decide to kick a bit and actually ease past him. This gave me a bit of confidence as I realised I could probably wind it up properly here so that's what I did as I started to close on the chasing pack. Around the last bend I pass one. With about 80 to go I think I can catch Dunboyne. Surely not but I do and then keep going actually pass a young fella just before the line and almost catching the lead chaser too who was my clubmate. I hit the split button on my watch so forgot to stop it properly for a few seconds. Having to calculate what I might have got before the official results came through. The guy I passed just after 400 to go said he ran 4:31 so I must be under 4:30 I was thinking to myself.
Result - 4:26.8 - 3rd Overall (1st M35) - PB
Okay so it's a first 1,500 m so it was always going to be a PB but going to my mile conversion I've gained around 9 seconds on my previous best. So was absolutely buzzing after it. Found it hard to believe I could pass 4 people on a final lap like that and ended up thinking I might have caught my clubmate who was 3 tenths of a second ahead of me if I'd only kicked a little sooner. Not being greedy though, and more importantly it puts me in sub 4:50 shape for the mile which at least validates my training a little.
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02 - 08 May - 31 miles
Got the mileage back up again last week. Having had an easy-ish week for the 1,500 race I ended up doing 3 sort of sessions. The first one being because I was kind of pressed for time so ran a bit quicker.
Monday - 8 km steady. Pressed for time but wanted to get at least 12 km in after taking a day off after the race. 2 k warm-up. Then 7 kms at a very satisfyingly consistent pace of 3:56-3:58. Then the watch went a little haywire on the 8km so I lost my nice consistency right on the last with a 4:00. 2 km warm down.
Wednesday - 12 km easy
Thursday - 3x(600R, 30s rest, 200Fast, 7 minute jog). Target revised from 1:48 to 1:47 for the 600s after the recent race and then the 200s were to be as fast as I could muster but 32s at a minimum. The week of dodgy GPS continued so I'd no reliable pace reading for any of the reps. I was working but not reaching on the latter part of the 600s so I don't place too much belief in the actual splits for them 1:41, 1:43, 1:40. The first two 200s were great, 30 and 30, before I stopped my watch too soon on the last. So gave myself another 30s rest before doing an extra 100m to make up for it. So after the last 600R I did 130m in 21 seconds and 100m in 15 seconds. I was pretty tired that night and feeling it in legs the following morning, so maybe I was running close to the times the watch was suggesting for the 600s but don't assume so.
Friday - 6.5 km easy
Sunday - Intervals 12x(60onm 45off) - Classic Sunday night run. Out the door at 10 pm so a few opportunities to choose the road over the path which is always preferred. Looking to cover at least 300m during the 60 seconds (averaged around 310m) made it easier to work out I covered between 3650 and 3750 at interval pace which was definitely enough for the week for me.
A lot of the club runners are running the Bob Heffernan next week. I should have registered but missed the window as its a communion week here so not knowing what I might be at that day. I can register on the day though I think. So if I get the chance to run it I will. It's only a short hop away and I really want to. If I do I can safely say, barring injury, it will be a big improvement on my official PB over 5k. I won't post what it currently is for the craic but it is mentioned in the log somewhere.
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Planned to front load mileage last week a little so I could ease off at the weekend due to communion related jobs and hoping to run the 5 k the following week. The week went mostly to plan apart from a trip to A&E with our 2 year old on Saturday. All fine but it meant Sunday was a monster day for work.
09-15 May - 30 miles
Monday - 6.3 km easy
Tuesday - 3x(2 km Tempo, w/ 2 min jog). The club trains on Tuesdays and Thursdays but it never suits me with kids activities. But I went out in the short window I had during one and actually came across the club runners. Was in to middle of a Tempo section unfortunately so I had to rudely keep motoring past them on the other side of the road.
Thursday - 14.4 km easy in 67 mins. This weeks long run. Wind in my face for most of the last 6 km but still it was pretty relaxed.
Friday - Intervals - 4x(800, w/ 2 min jog). Didn't want to take on too much of a session today so went with 800s but it was a decent effort in end after the long run the day before. Reps were on 3:20/km pace.
Sunday - 5 km steady w/ 5 strides. Just over 9 km in total. I'd had Saturday off (A&E trip) and with my usual excuse of being tight for time (out at 9:30pm and craving the bed) I ran the first 5km steady-ish at just under 4:00/km pace. My back was a little stiff from the days activities so wanted to make sure it could take a bit of running too, so regardless of the day I was determined to get out. And I was glad I did. It felt really easy and I got home happy that I've given myself a sort of taper for Tuesday's race. But today I am a little baked. Not due to the run. More so down to spending a few hours on Sunday drilling concrete before relaying some flag stones. So I spent a lot of time hunkered down or bent over during the day. But both the legs and back are just a little fatigued today. But I still think/hope I'll be in good enough shape to run tomorrow.
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Bob Heffernan and Mary Hanley 5 km
This was pointed out to me a couple of weeks back that a lot of the club runners do this race and that it is a fast course. I missed the online registration but decided a couple of weeks back that I'd run it. My last 5k race was the Braveheart 2019 where my PB of 18:45 was from. So a PB was all but guaranteed 😀. I'd run a debatable 16:59 in a TT in the second half of last year though so this fed into my 2022 target of hoping to run a time of 16:3x this year. There hasn't been any training towards that target specifically but taking paces from 800 and mile training, my interval paces tend to be around 3:20/km. Five of them back to back is 16:40. Could I really manage that though? I'd taken great confidence from a 5x1k workout a few weeks back albeit with 3 minutes recovery and it certainly boded well for my 1,500 race the following week. But 5 k is a different beast though as I'm now well aware after what is only my second ever 5 k race, that I can recall anyway.
Pre-race
Felt good all day but as it dragged on I could feel my energy levels waning a little. I'd started getting paranoid that I might be coming down with something (one or two in the house currently have colds). I arrived at 7 pm and registered and then went into the hotel function room briefly to see where the bag drop was. Coming back out to find the registration queue had swelled quite a bit so I'd timed my arrival perfectly. Went for a jog out to the start line. I travelled about 1.5 km before giving up on seeing it so turned and ran back to the village to grab my bag from the car and get ready properly. After changing I become conscious of the time so rush across to drop the bag off.
I notice WW on the other side of the road and go to step out to introduce myself but thought I didn't have enough time to spare and this stage. Maybe I'll drop the bag off and catch up to him on the jog out to the start line. I'd taken an energy drink again in the car on the way over to try and waken myself up a bit but it wasn't looking to have an effect today. Jogging back out to the start line I'm trudging and not feeling energetic at all. My pace is staying at 5:00/km as I don't feel any urge to get myself warmed up properly. I was passed by all and sundry on the run out to the start. Really wasn't feeling it. By the time I got to the start I could hear the announcer say 8 minutes to start. I find a side road and do a few active stretches before 2 strides. That was it. I then found myself at portaloos as one of he occupants vacated one. There was no one around at this stage as they'd all made their way to the start. I then considered not racing at all and just jogging back to the car. But convinced myself, even if I'm not 100% I should be aiming for low 17 minutes anyway. I'll get a good training benefit. Eventually I snap out of it and head for the start as they're letting cars pass. This was lucky as it meant I could wander up the right hand side of the road as far as I wanted. Really wasn't sure where I should be starting I end up about 5 rows from the front. Right just don't go out too hard here.
Race
1 km - We're off and I go with the pace for the first 200 or so just to avoid tripping or getting tripped. I then let myself slow down to 3:20 pace as floods of people started to pass me. Teammate Tom says hello as he goes by. Teammate Ronan passes quietly on my shoulder soon after. I wasn't really sure how I was feeling at this stage. I certainly wasn't bothered to have gone backwards in the field so much. I'd guess 50 people went past me in the first km but wasn't panicking. Watch beeped at 3:19. Maybe a little faster to start than I would have liked but not crazy.
2 km - I notice another of my teammates is ahead of me. The first two guys that had gone past, I wouldn't be expecting to be ahead of. I'd ran with him for part of the 10 mile though and ended up finishing ahead of him that day. This is a shorter race so I decide to match his pace from around 10 metres back. I feel controlled enough at this stage and people soon stop going past me. We turn off the main road and the breeze is now in our faces so I try to row in behind people when I can. Split 3:18
3 km - Into the 3rd km. I tell myself it's less than 2 miles to go so this is the time to dig in. I edge up beside my teammate here and acknowledge him before starting to move on. On a couple of occasions I found myself to the front of packs of runners and make the decision to surge to the next one for cover from the breeze. I did this maybe 3 times I think. In my head I then think maybe I shouldn't be doing this but I notice that I picked up a passenger who had gone with me on 2 of the surges. They never came up beside me or went past though. I felt I had to keep going. Split 3:21
4 km - Okay maybe the surging wasn't a good idea as my breathing starts to turn into gasping but I was still catching people before settling at the back of a group. I feel like easing off the pace big time here so lose a couple of metres on them but somehow will myself to re-attach to them again. I'm on the shoulder of a lady in this group. She gives me a glance and but I sit there. Maybe 30 seconds later I get another glance. Ah, it must be my gasping that's bothering her. I'll have to gasp somewhere else then so make another surge to pull away from this group and close quickly on the next set of runners. Three ladies this time. There's space along the side of the road to go right past them but just as I'm going by one of them checks me and I've to step on the ditch a little before slowing slightly. I've gotten boxed in now. I wait for her to move out again which seems to take an age before moving on. The old metallic taste in my mouth is back at this stage as my legs are writing checks my lungs can't cash. I keep telling myself this is a middle distance run now so my legs can take the pace even if my lungs can't. Split 3:23
5 km - We've rounded a 90 degree bend and the 1 km sign appears. I've been gasping for almost a km already but try and let myself freewheel as much as possible as the course becomes a little easier. Teammate Ronan (whom I could clearly see from a bit back) was getting closer to me so I just focus on trying to catch him. I wouldn't say the last km was a complete blur as I heard someone shouting encouragement at me at one stage and hear the click of a camera. I've seen 3 different pictures taken of me along here and I look fooked in all of them. There was no easing off at all now as I went past a few more runners, never catching Ronan but I think by the end there's maybe only 2-3 people between us and I end up 4 seconds behind him. I fall through the line and am ushered quickly off to the side. Split 3:08
Chip time - 16:31 PB
Post-race
I found a grass verge right beside the finish line that I kneel down on with my elbows on the ground wheezing and gasping. Eventually gravity had me lying face in the grass as I wait to recover. I don't think much time has passed but it must have because by the time I lift my head up I can see some of my teammates chatting in the distance. Some would have been 4 minutes behind me so I was a long time catching my breath again. The benefit of teammates is appreciated as one of them tell me I look a bit green 🤢 . I certainly felt it a bit but still drank a bottle of water and wolfed a banana before attempting a warm down with them. I couldn't keep up with any of them though and both my legs started to cramp anyway so I headed back to the car. I was delighted to remember the shop across the road from the car so got myself an ice cream and a 7-up first.
Thoughts after the race. Very happy I got my target even if I wasn't dead set on achieving it on the day. I wasn't really following the splits to achieve it but did figure I might be under 17 minutes anyway as the race went on. My main driver throughout was always the pace and on occasion not letting someone repass me. I'm forever equating what pace I'm running back to my mile pace and somehow convince myself that my legs can always move faster than what they are currently doing (I did this during the 10 mile race too in the last 2 miles). I think this brings with it a certain level of suffering as my lungs can't handle the load (see funny looks from other runner above and metallic taste). Does it work?? I actually wasn't passed by anyone after the start of the second km while going on to catch maybe 20-30 people myself. But I mentioned to one of my teammates who was complimenting my time that I feel a bit of a bluffer and that my time isn't really reflective of how fit I am. Maybe 20-30 seconds of it is down to me just willing to suffer more. Also, because I don't race that often there's a part of me that says "this is the last chance, now or never". Then again, maybe I was just feeling a bit off on the day and it was a combination of a few things together.
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Ah here...are you for real...Your time is 100% reflective of how fit you are. Mentality/willingness to suffer/stubbornness are all part of "fitness" too. That was a hell of a run. 16.31 is no joke. Great stuff lad. Give yourself some credit will ya!
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Yea being for real alright. Mainly because my main lasting thoughts post race was that I'd absolutely nothing else to give and "jaysus I'll never run like that again". But also the feeling that I was redlining earlier than anyone else around me seemed to be just after halfway through, even though I was passing them. That was the impression I got.
But I like your way of looking at it though. Cheers. Definitely going to take that on board.
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You certainly deserved the ice cream, well done sir! Of course you deserve the time - look at how far you've come in a few short years. It doesn't happen by accident. Terrific stuff.
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Balls the size of watermelons is all I'll say. Not many people can push themselves that far to the edge. Amazing stuff.
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Well done on the PB, absolutely brilliant time & well done for pushing yourself so much! I ran it too many, many minutes behind you🤣🤣 but I thought it was a great race & will be back to do it again!
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Well done, That is some time and a ridiculous last 1km - no wonder the photos had ya looking fooked. Doesn't sound like you left anything out there- Congrats
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Doesn't bode well for my brain size though 😂
It's a lot more popular nationally than I realised. Looking forward to reading some other folks race experience. I saw Jebus popped up from Cork too.
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It's gas we are all on here chatting etc but I honestly wouldn't have a clue who's who in real life🤣
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What a last km! Savage stuff. I agree with the others, you are not giving yourself enough credit. Feeling like you're about to pass out sounds like racing a 5k the right way - plus some people are better at hiding the pain than others so you don't know who is redlining sometimes! You've a serious capacity for pain.. Congrats! Look forward to hearing about your sub 16 by JB later in the year 😋🤣
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Sub 16? 🤔
Nope
🤢
The last km looked to be net -7m. I'd say that helped.
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What a fantastic performance - that last KM is something to behold - top marks!!
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You are flying, great to see
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16 - 22 May - 23 miles
With running the 5k race on the Tuesday I'd grand plans to hold steady at 30 MPW. Didn't happen though.
Tuesday - Bob & Mary 5 km with warm-up and very short cool down - 9.7 km total
Wednesday - Really expected to not be fit to put one leg in front of the other but wasn't feeling too bad. An easy 6.3 km in 32 minutes
Thursday - Easy 8 km in 36 minutes. Weekend was going to be taken up with communion stuff so couldn't miss a weekday. Out for a lunchtime run while in the office
Friday - 4x(2km T w/ 2 min rest) - [3:38,3:39; 3:38,3:44; 3:44,3:40; 3:41,3:38]. Little leggy on the last rep but finished up only to wake up with a head cold on Saturday which is still lingering.
Saturday/Sunday - off
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23-29 May- 31 Miles
Definitely a little run down last week so I took it handy for the most part and just focussed on getting some easy mileage in.
- Monday - 6.1 km Easy in 30 minutes
- Tuesday - 8 km easy in 38 minutes
- Thursday - 10 km easy in 41 minutes
- Friday - 8 km easy in 36 minutes
- Saturday - Chanced a 5 k Tempo here. Went out in 3:41/km pace and held it comfortably enough before picking it up a little on the last. 18:15. 3:43/km would be my 10 mile pace I think so that's usually what I aim for as a minimum for Tempo stuff and this came in at 3:38/km. So it was maybe a little quick but didn't think it was silly fast especially after an easy week up to that point.
- Sunday - 12.5 km in 54 minutes.
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30 May - 05 June - 33.5 Miles
- Monday - Intervals 12x400 w/ 60s jog. I was planning some mile paced reps in reality but didn't feel I had it back in the legs just yet so settled for Interval paced reps with a shorter recovery jog. Average pace for these was 3:15/km so it was a decent pace all the same.
- Tuesday - 6.6 km in 33 mins
- Wednesday - 10 miles 75 minutes
- Thursday -40 minutes with 4 x 200m Fast with 1 min recovery. Got my first pair of full carbon plated shoes (Asics Metaracers) in the post and was mad to try them out so ran around 7 kms easy before throwing in a few fast 200s to see how they felt. Running starts I hit 30, 29, 30, 28. I'd love to think that 28 is accurate and actually achievable more consistently. We'll see. Going to be starting to focus a bit more on speed again over the next few weeks.
- Friday - 5.5 km in 25 minutes. This was my 9th straight day running. Probably my longest streak ever after I had a few 7s before. I knew I'd be missing a couple of days over the bank holiday so was cramming a little.
- Saturday - 4x500R, 4x300FR - Right a chance to properly break in my new shoes... Nope. I'd befriended a local dog the day before who seemed to be very nervous of people but I had persevered and won his trust. Much to the delight of my daughter. Unfortunately this worked against me the following day as I never made it out of the lane I started on. The infatuated chap happily followed me the mile all the way to the main road. I waited for quiet to see if he would leave it at that but no he skips out and looks like he's a dead cert for a clip so p***ed off I head back down the lane again where I do the session on a slightly more undulating surface than I wanted. The first 500 was cautious in 1:36 before I open up a bit more for the next 3. 1:26 for the rest. The 300s were okay too 46, 47, 46, 46. On the last I tried to concentrate on not going out too fast and speeding up for the last 150. At least I thought I could speed up. Despite not clocking it any faster than the previous 3 reps, what I did manage to achieve was a flat pace curve for the full 300, which was in contrast to the previous 3 decelerations. 8 kms in total with the dog covering every one of them plus change as he went to quench his thirst during my recoveries.
Post edited by Dubh Geannain on7 -
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That dog is in serious shape
Carbon shoes are glorious, I wear them almost all the time now!
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06 -12 June - 30 Miles
Bit of unstructured running last week. Planned to run the Braveheart 5k trail race on the Friday and kind of prioritised hitting my mileage over getting a couple of sessions into the week.
- Tuesday - 11.5 km in 53 minutes. Enjoyed the run and supplemented my start to the week with a short blast of weights (a rare Tuesday in the office). As mentioned, trying to strengthen myself up a little more over the next few weeks to improve my speed a little if I can. No plan as such but I'll include some weighted squats which I did for the first time in a few years.
- Wednesday - Rest. Unsurprisingly my legs were dead the day after so with an eye no the race Friday I just took the day off.
- Thursday -9 km in 45 minutes. A bit longer than a normal shakeout but again the week's focus was the one race and trying to hit my mileage target.
- Friday - Braveheart 5km Trail Race. 4th place in 17:31. A solid run enough run on a tricky evening. I'll throw up a quick report shortly.
- Saturday - 5 km easy on grass.
- Sunday - 1 hour run w/ 6x 200m to finish. Legs were fairly tired but I willed myself to do the 200s at the end. Eased myself in starting at around mile pace and worked my way up to a little quicker than 800 pace before running faster again on the last one. 13.4 km total.
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Braveheart 5 km Trail Race
It's called a trail race but in reality it's mixture of grass and maybe 70% path. It's a challenging course though with lots of hills, humps and hollows and not for PB chasing. My plan was to improve on my placing from 2019 when I ran my first ever 5 km race here. I came 29th in 18:45. The big difference this year was that it wasn't part of the Kia race series so when I realised this I assumed I'd naturally place higher this time round and should certainly run a bit faster. Just over 400 lined up this year versus maybe 7-800 the last time out.
Pre-race
Well it certainly was a windy day with intermittent showers but Trim missed the worst of the showers I think on the day. I made my way to the Porchfields and chatted to a few clubmates who were volunteering. The clubs best senior runner was wearing a high-vis too which got me thinking, maybe I might be leading the club home today. Off for the warm-up and I'm not gone 200 m before I spot Peter Somba in full tracksuit and barely not a bead of sweat on him trotting up the hill in the opposite direction. Okay, I was never dreaming of winning the race anyway but that doesn't bode well for who else might be lining up I thought. Another club stalwart was running too who I wasn't sure I'd finish ahead of but deployed my usual tactic of deciding to follow him for the first couple of km and see where that left me.
So the race plan was simple. I wasn't chasing a PB so wouldn't be looking at the watch and I was going to race the race as it unfolded. I made my way down the hill to the start line in the field where people seemed to be more interested in getting a place towards the back. Because I was last to arrive and from the front I'd loads of room right on the the front row which wasn't my intention but that's where I started.
Race
1st km - 3:24
The start is a 100 m uphill on grass before a 90 degree bend to the right. I'd the inside line but allowed plenty of people to pass me around the outside. We carried across the brow of hill before turning downhill and back onto a path where I spot Sean my pacer. So I begin to work up towards him slowly. As we're exiting the first field, maybe around 700m in I do a quick headcount and try to assess who's around me. 10th place with Somba already heading out of the field. Pursued by a Cork runner and a blue vested chap. These 3 are starting to gap the rest of us. In my head I think the two non-Somba runners might be going out a little too fast and the field might reel them in. Turned out to be an in-correct assumption.
2nd km - 3:30
Through the second field which is all downhill but into the wind. I tuck into the back of the chase group as we shortly exit under a bridge before turning back uphill immediately with the wind now on our back. This is the first place I work a little as I follow Sean. A couple of runners fall away heading up. By the time we're at the top of this field I'm in around 7th place.
3rd km - 3:23
Sean seems to be slowing slightly so I run up beside him for a while and then in front as I focus on the next two runners in front. He doesn't commit to following me as I move on a bit. We turn back downhill again eventually and into the wind for what everyone said was the toughest section of the course. Effectively 800 m straight of riverside running directly into the teeth of the wind. I disagreed on finding this the hardest part of the run. I was still feeling okay at this point as one of the two runners (Mullingar) makes a move. So we end up dropping a young fella here who obviously found the wind a shock to the system. I follow Mullingar along the river before finding his pace slowing too. Do I sit behind and let him shield me from the wind? 3rd place is miles ahead so I won't be closing any gap to him so shelter. Eventually though I bit the bullet and after running alongside try to move on and am now in 4th place.
4th km - 3:28
Still into the wind along the river. After I made my move I don't want to be of assistance to Mullingar so make sure to put a bit of a gap on him. Spinning the legs a little just before going back under the bridge and back uphill again. By the time the river run ended though I was starting to feel it and I wondered if I'd anything left in reserve.
5th km - 3:31
Turns out I didn't. I was struggling big time all the way through this km, naturally where the biggest crowd of onlookers were and there was plenty of support for Trim. To be honest this is what got my through it as the gap to Mullingar never grew from when we entered the last field. I stepped off the path onto the grass again with around 600 m to go and my legs nearly buckled with the shock. It was here of course where the photographer was stationed 😅. For the next half km it started downhill on grass before a 180 back uphill again to the finish line. I looked over my shoulder a few times here and cussed Mullingar for not leaving me alone to finish the race in peace. For a guy who didn't know the course he finished quite strongly. I was hoping he'd get a similar if not worse shock than me over the last km. I managed to hold on anyway and finish 7 seconds ahead of him and around 30 second behind 3rd place. You can only see the clock for the last 20 m but I wasn't concerned about the time, only wanting to do enough to hold my spot so let it tick past 17:30 without mustering any sort of a kick.
Time: 17:31. That was a different kind of tough to my 16:31 from a month ago.
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13 -19 June - 30 Miles
- Monday - 6 km easy. Legs felt okay after the previous days long run and fast 200s.
- Tuesday - Off. Too busy a day to get a run in.
- Wednesday - 2 Miles Tempo, 10x400 Intervals, 2 Miles Tempo. I'd been lacking in Tempo work the last while but at the same time wanted to keep cracking at faster paced stuff. Maybe I'd see if I could do a hybrid type run. Onto google to see if such workouts existed. Of course they did and I chose one that looked "fun" but doable. The instructions were to run the first mile tempo the slowest, the intervals at 5k pace (I chose 10 intervals instead of the 12 listed) and then have enough left that the final 2 mile Tempo can be run a little quicker than the first Tempo. I enjoyed the challenge of this as something new and did the first 2 miles in 12:01. 2 minutes jog before starting the Intervals. The 400s, over an undulating route clocked in from 75-79s with one 80s in there too. The key to the workout I'd read was to be able to finish it so I made sure I did with the last 2 miles in 11:40. I felt good for the 1st of the last 2 mile Tempo but really started to feel the fatigue from the earlier efforts as the second mile dragged on. 200m felt like 400m as I willed the distance to disappear quicker to no avail. My watch went do-lally on the home stretch where it looks like I did it in 40s. I doubt it but I was definitely reaching big time to close it out. Delighted I managed to complete it and successfully run the second 2 miles faster than the first (11:40 V 12:01) but it was hard earned. I'll have to be more disciplined with the earlier paces when I try similar in the future.
- Thursday - 5 km easy on grass
- Friday - Planned Reps (2x600), Fast Reps (3x400). Actual Reps (2x600), Fast Reps (2x400). Very tight for time here but I wanted to get this in before the weekend as I didn't want to be running any session with a hangover. Wore my fancy Metaracers for these. 600s were in 1:50 and 1:46. The first one was a little sluggish but got me warmed up well. While the 400s we both 62s. I'd run out of time to do a 3rd 400 but truth be told I was all shapes and no form on the second 400. I was not fit to run another at that clip. Two days after a big big effort on Wednesday too I was more than happy with what I got out of this.
- Sunday - 10 km easy early in the morning before heading to Croker for Cavan V Sligo.
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20 -26 June - 42 Miles
Never thought I'd write 40+ miles for a week. I'm slightly behind the mileage I'd accumulated at this stage last year to trying to catch up a little but part of that 40+ was accidental as I'll explain.
I also hit 10 days consecutive running last week too, which was a first. I'm a fan of taking days off so don't plan on building massive run streaks for now anyway.
- Monday - 8 km w/ 4x150 Fast to finish up. They say you can't expect to be able to run fast, if you don't try and run fast. So depending on how I feel on easy runs during a week I intend to finish one of them with 100, 150 or 200 m sprints (the length will depend on how I'm feeling), as opposed to strides..
- Tuesday - Intervals - 4x(1,200m) w/ 3 min jog. Ran these in 4:01, 4:00, 3:59 and 3:58. Felt okay-ish. Dinner too close beforehand didn't help. Supposed to be between 2-5k pace but settled on a couple of seconds slower than 5k pace.
- Wednesday - 15 km easy in 1hr 15
- Thursday - 5 km easy in my hastily bought Saucony shoes. I've never worn anything close to them in terms of height. Trust me to read the reviews after buying them noting the only place they fall short apparently was in lateral stability. I definitely found that when walking around the house in them and worried about my ankles. But I needn't have worried once up and running. They were great and felt really really soft underfoot and light.
- Friday - 2x(2x400FR), 3min between Reps, 6 minutes between sets. Another pulled from the Internet. Usually I do a mixture of mile paced reps (R) and 800 paced reps (FR). This one, aimed at 800metre runners, was one I liked the look of. Run the 400s at target 800 pace in your early to mid season with the 5-6 minute recovery between sets. Then repeat the workout later in the mid to late season with only 3 minutes between sets. Tried to consider myself mid season and picked 6 minute recovery hoping that it'd allow me to push the pace a little more while still being able to complete the workout. The first two were in 61.9 and 62.4 with the routes being the reverse of the each other. The first rep benefitted with a wind assisted final 150m while the second had the headwind for the first 150. I revered the order for the last two running 63.6 initially, which annoyed me a little. As I recovered I thought to myself wouldn't it be great to run sub 60 on the last to make up for it. But snapping out of it I figured not a chance with the legs starting to tire. Last rep I planned to started evenly paced and not fully attack it until I got the wind on my back for the last 150. In reality, attacking meant my pace didn't wilt. Stopped the watch to see 57.6. I couldn't believe it and still don't. Whatever the error was on the last rep (surely not more than 4 seconds??) I still took it as a good indication of potential there for a decent 800. Mitigating factors - It was not a track, the wind and I was wearing my Metaracers.
- Sunday - 21 km easy - 1 hr 35. Early morning start again. With the way the weather was I picked a route that looked to be just over 15 km that would be relatively sheltered from the wind on the way out and then have the wind behind me mostly on the return. Listening to a Blindboy podcast (Keith Duffy interview) as I'd used up all my Sports ones for the week. It obviously left blind as the boy himself as I missed my planned turn. It never dawned on me but I was conscious of my distance increasing past 9km with no sign of the road I was supposed to be running back on. My pace also increased notably here as I didn't know when I might hit the road and start heading for home. Mercifully I got there at 11 km, at which point I was almost in Summerhill. No harm done really as I rounded the week off with record mileage 😁
The rough plan for the next couple of months. An 800 TT . And an 800 race at the Dublin Graded meet hopefully. Not sure what I could run at the moment but hopefully the TT will give me a good indicator. My 2022 target was to have a bite at running a 2:05. I've consciously been adding speed work back in the last few weeks with no structured plan, but also being conscious not to overload myself. The National Masters is August and I would love to run it. I'm hoping my training doesn't fall apart during the summer months with the kids home.
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27 June - 03 July - 31 Miles
On top of the weekly mileage record the previous week, last week I set a monthly record too. 143 miles for June. I wasn't sure how the extra longer mileage would effect me in the following week so was interested to find out.
- Monday - 8 km w/ 4x100 Fast to finish up. Wasn't too bad today but kept the sprints at the end to a minimum. Only averaged 15s for them so probably more tired than I realised.
- Tuesday - Intervals - 10x(60on, 40off). Decided to play it sensible and reigned in the volume here a little and the rep duration. I unintentionally ended up progressing the reps as a I started with 3:15 pace but a couple at the end were under 3:00. At the end I felt I maybe should have run them a bit more disciplined but 60s around 3:10 is a breeze compared to a target 3:20 pace for a full 1,200 which I did last week.
- Wednesday - Rest. Planned 800 TT for Friday come rain or shine...
- Thursday - 11 km in 48 minutes. Averaged 4:23 pace. Ran this before work Wednesday morning but probably 20 minutes later starting than planned. The route was set so bit quicker towards the end as I needed to get into the office on time.
- Friday - 800 m TT - 2:10.6. Rain it was with a slight breeze after what had started out as a mostly dry day. The caretaker let me move the barriers out so I walked the track before starting kicking all the loose stones off that had found their way into lane 1. Warmup done with 4x100s at slightly quicker than target 800 pace. What was target? Not being sure but I figured a 62s first lap. Just about to start and the rain and wind got that bit heavier so I stood in a dugout for another couple of minutes. "I'm definitely doing this regardless". Off I set, fiddling with my watch a bit too much at the start I snap out of it and work my arms to try and get up to pace. Feeling relaxed but not spritely as I come up on 200 m. Around the last bend and into the cross wind. Not nice but I hold it steady. Coming towards the first lap I start to get the old metallic taste (too early for that I think). I glance at the watch and see 57s so figure I'm around 61 maybe crossing. Hit the lap split button as I cross. By 500m I'm into the pit of pain and consider pulling the plug at 600m, which would still be a good workout. Apart from looking at the time as I neared the first lap I haven't been watching my pace at all and felt no urge to do so but could really find the deceleration kicking in on the back straight but decide I'd see out the last 200m. Into the crosswind again on the final bend. "Survive and then kick". I try and kick with 100 m to go. There's not much of a kick but I do speed up a little. Crossing and stopping the watch at 2:10. Not happy. Splits were 62.1 and 68.5. I ran a quicker final lap at the end of my 1,500 race a couple of months back. I actually hit my first lap target but I felt for the effort that went it it might have been closer to 60-61. Particularly displeased with the last lap but that's all I had today. Simple as that. I'll cut myself a little slack. Record mileage the week before. No significant easing off during the week (11 km run the day before) and the weather. Edit to add: I forgot, I also did a small session of weights around 3 hours before the TT. It was only upper body stuff but perhaps that would have had a fatiguing factor too. Might as well knobble my effort that bit more 😂
- Saturday - 4.3 km easy recovery
- Sunday - 8x(1km T w/ 1min jog). The legs felt surprisingly fresh here. Only real time the effort was particularly high was on the 6th rep into the wind and up a slope. Splits averaged in the 3:30s.
Hoping to run the Dublin Graded 800m on Wednesday evening and hopefully someone can drag me around to a quicker time than last Friday 🤞
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Dublin Graded B - 800 m
I had noted @Sacksian had run a B graded race a few weeks back. The pace of that race would have likely had me in dead last but still I took the gamble on the B grade too instead of C hoping I'd get dragged around and hang on for a bit at least. That was the plan. Also wondered if I might get the chance to meet the man himself.
So five days after my TT I was out for an 800 m race running every day in the interim, including a perceived easy tempo session on the Sunday. I misjudged the tempo effort a little as my legs were tired right up until race day but I was happy I'd given myself enough recovery to do myself justice on the day.
Another windy day unfortunately and I spent the preceding hours watching the forecast hoping it would abate but it stayed fairly consistent. I had an early dinner (4pm) which I thought gave me enough digestive time before the race but was still feeling a little full as I arrived in Tallaght. Parked up 45 minutes before the scheduled race time and got my number before noting that things were running 10 minutes ahead of schedule. Drat less time to change and warm up. Then I lost my keys, which I'd left in my tracksuit bottoms in the boot of my car, which wasted another 10 minutes of looking and relooking around the car. None of this really bothered me too much though. I was going to race. Managed a mile warm up and some pickups before jumping onto the track just as we were called to the start line. They had to wait for me to change into my spikes 😐️ Made my way to the start to find I was in lane 8. Not ideal I thought as I don't know where we're supposed to break. I figure its around the first bend though.
Lap 1 - I take my marks and wait for the gun to go. I hear a faint sound and think "wait is that the gun". The guy in lane 7 is moving towards me. "Yep. Need to go". I wanted to take my place to the back of the field anyway so happily took off at a saunter but am side by side with lane 7 guy. I start my break across from lane 8 and step in on him a little before realising I was breaking too soon. "Oh ****. Sorry" I say and step back out a bit before noticing the little hemispheres on the track. I break across again taking my place at the back of the pack. There's one guy behind me somehow. I'm happy to sit behind everyone as we come around into the home straight and into the headwind. Crossing the line I feel I'm holding my own. I heard a shout for the front runner that he's 61 seconds. Great I think I certainly haven't overcooked my start. Lap 1 split - 63.2 seconds
Lap 2 - The pack starts to stretch a little and I move up a place with 300 to go. Starting to breathe heavily now but not falling apart. At 200 to go I go past another and we're into the wind up for the finish line. Into the home straight and I kick with the rest of them but don't manage to catch anyone else. Still fairly spent though crossing the line as I double over to recover. Glance at my watch and see 2:08.9 and am happy enough. Lap 2 split - 65.8.
I think I must have been around 2:08 or possibly even quicker as I chat to a guy from Rathfarnham who was racing the 3k. I tell him I'm happy with with my outing. A couple of minutes later I see the official result -
2:10.5, 5th place out of 8.
Suddenly I wasn't as happy. I was stood thinking I should have wound up my kick a little earlier... or gone out harder... or done something different. But also, it dawned on me eventually that I hadn't accounted for missing the gun going off, which explains the big discrepancy between my watches time and official one.
Mistake 1 - I overestimated the pace that the main pack would be running and had assumed if I'd just gone with them I'd get a decent time.
Mistake 2 - Breaking across from my lane too early. I'm sure that'd be a DQ in a championship type race.
Mistake 3 - Not racing it as a race and trying to beat more people. Kind of a result of mistake 1.
I'll not use my watch next time I race. I didn't look at it at all throughout but consciously started it, stopped it and hit the split button. I wore it as I wanted to see my splits. Particularly the second lap. After flailing to a 68.5 second lap on my TT I'm happier that I can kick a bit more on the second lap. So a good experience all the same.
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Well done DG, it's all a learning experience - not sure how many 800s you've done on the track but it took me a good few to get the hang of everything. Tip - start your watch a good bit early and you can concentrate on the start procedure. Trim the file afterwards to get approx splits. Good race despite your couple of mishaps!
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Thanks Murph. It was my second 800 race and first outdoor. Despite the effort needed to race it I've found them both very exciting to be part of.
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Holidays interrupted training a little but I was expecting that. Got a little less running in. When I got home I counted back 4.5 weeks to the national masters. Made the decision I'd jump start my preparation at the tail end of week 21 of JDs 800m plan and it's prescribed speed session for that week. I feel I've been consistent enough up to this point, both with the weekly mileage and the type of sessions I've been putting in. I'm fairly sure I can handle it. Not planning on injuring myself though so will ease off if I feel the need.
04 - 10 July - 28 miles
- Monday - 8.3 kms, easy (42 mins) around a couple of GAA pitches in my bare feet
- Tuesday - 5 km easy around the big cross in the Phoenix Park. In runners this time
- Wednesday - 800 m Race. Report above
- Thursday - 14.16 km in 1 hour Working the slight frustration from the night before I started off easy here on a lovely day but very slowly sped up. My start point was Dunsany where I picked up a mad load of flies from the off that bothered me for well over half of the run. No sign of any cows in the surrounding fields to relieve me of my burden until I passed an unwitting walker going the opposite direction after which they seemed to disappear. A nice downhill km had me clock a sub 4 minute km and I kind of ended up maintaining that pace for a couple of kms before running the 13th in 3:30 just to see what I could manage at the end of the run.
- Friday - Off
- Saturday - 8 km Hard - 28:54. I knew a few days rest were incoming so went hard for my last run before heading off.
- Sunday - Off
11 - 16 July - 25 miles
- Monday - Off
- Tuesday - 11 km Steady with an average pace of 3:56/km. Beautiful scenery and weather, this was over quite a hilly route. Covered 13 km in total.
- Wednesday - Off
- Thursday - 6 km easy
- Friday - Off
- Saturday - 1x600FR, 2x400FR, 4x200R. The start of my 4.5 week plan. I'd had an easy enough week up to this point. This was certainly tough and probably that bit tougher from the pace I ran. The recoveries after each were supposed to be jogged but I ended up walking for 1 minute after the 600 before jogging the rest of the 1 km recovery. And then I was properly gassed at the end of the last 400 where I'd to walk again for a minute and a half. 600 in 93 secs is probably my fastest 600 ever though. While the fast 400s were 62 each so I did somehow maintain some consistency. Finished with the 200s in 33-35 secs. They too required effort, unsurprisingly. I was good and baked afterwards. While my training has been solid enough up to now and I have done 600 reps it appears I developed a blindspot for the fast 600 reps. They are a notable absence from anything I've been doing when I look back on my year to date.
- Sunday - 9.5 km easy
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