Becoming a Real Runner

Snow day at work today. Only made it to the office briefly this morning. Spent most of the day watching the snow get deeper outside and eating junkfood. I convinced myself (translation, RK convinced me over facebook chat) to test the waters an hour ago and head out for a bit with the yak trax. I Planned only 2 or 3 miles but was loving it so much that I headed on an extended route. the first 3 miles were very heavy and slow in the near knee deep snow. I came off the canal path at mile 3 and hit the footpaths on the nangor road where the snow was a bit more compact so I was able to speed up a bit here thanks to the yaktrax (they aren't really necessary inthe deep stuff). Got loads of stange looks and was shouted at by a few commuters from their traffic queues ("are you taking the pi ss?" roared one man :rolleyes:).

Anyway 5 miles @ 9:56 average pace. (10:11, 10:22, 10:07, 9:33, 9:29)

This is my annual race up home that is not taken too seriously. I am just out to beat a few mates. Obviously with yesterdays festivities I was never gonna be in the best of shape but the course doesn't lend itself for fast times either with over 150m's of climb over the 5 miles (to put it in perspective that's more than the whole Dublin Marathon course).

There is a particularly nasty hill from mile 3.3-4.3 with about 100m climb that really takes the stuffing out of you. Last year I did the race in 40:2x off a 5 mile PB of 37:3x and went on to run 35:2x a month later in Raheny.

This year I was hoping to finish under 36 minutes.

Today the course was covered in sheet ice for the back lanes of the first 1.5 miles, there was driving wind and sleety rain to add to the mix. Still this is a gem of a race if you accept you are not gonna get a PB. Chip timing, t-shirt, goody bag and lots of tea/coffee and buns after the race all for £10. Most of the money goes to charity too. You won't find that down south much.

Anyway today I lined up closer to the front Than I did last year to try to get a decent start. Appreciated that as can be seen in the splits. Set off too fast but reigned it in. You have to keep some juice for the big hill. Mile 1: 6:28 (28m gain, 34m loss- last year was 7:56- lost time due to crowds) Mile 2 6:33 (10m gain, 50m loss- last year6:59) this should be the fastest mile but I really had to watch my step as little tarmac is visible and the rest was sheet ice. Quite a dangerous part of the course- down south this race would no doubt have been cancelled) Picked it up on the second half of this mile as we turned onto the main road. Mile 3 7:21 (34 m gain 1m loss- last year 8:09). This is where I blew it last year. It is a very undulating part of the course (undulating between sharp hills and flat bits). I took the hills too agressively then and burned out. This year i tried to maintain even effort and take the uphill part nice and slow. The next mile is the killer. the first third is flat if a little downhill then you turn onto the big hill. Mile 4: 8:18 (65m gain, 9 m drop- last year 9:46 ) Last year I walked the most of the hill as my HR was maxed out hitting it. This year I kept up little steps most of the way, just taking about a 20 second walk break on the steepest bit. Mile 5: 6:54, Last year 7:17) (20m gain, 45m loss) the first third of the mile is a continuation of the big hill then you turn for home and it's all down hill. I actually held back this year. I was feeling very sick coming off the hill and didn't fancy a parkwest repeat, so I just sauntered home. I realised I was definately on for the time I wanted and didn't want to kill myself as no PB is on. I have to leave a time I can beat next year :pac:

Over all. 5 miles in 35:36. Nearly 5 minutes faster than last year. Quite happy with that given the difficulty of the course.

1 mile warm up and cooldown makes 7 miles for the day.

Weekly total: 5 runs, 29.3 miles a crap week which is likely to continue into the start of next week. I have a good few nights out lined up over the next few days. Hope to get back to doing long runs by the weekend.

The festivities continued yesterday as I had a friend from london down in Dublin. Ended up having 3 pints and then a bottle of red wine to accompany a meal in an indian restaurant. Harldy Ideal prep for an LSR!!

Met with the group in the Phoenix Park this morning. there was a good crowd, Myself, RK, Brian, Mr Slow, Digger, Chinguetti, Ral 3 and Clara off a different forum. Most did 10 mile, but myself RK and Brian did a second loop and manager to clock up 20 despite severely tired legs all round for the last few miles.

20 miles 9:40 Pace, 135 Av HR (surprised at how low this is- only 73% of max).

Roll on more pints tonight!!:pac:

Legs felt fine today despite yesterdays run and ensuing session with Brianderunner. Last night he proved that not only has he got endurance when it comes to necking pints of guinness but also remarkable pace as well :pac:. Anywayjust did a little 5 mile recovery run at 9 min/ mile pace to keep the streak going and bring the year to a close. Hoping to get another long (15m +) run in tomorrow, so just a few beers tonight

Month|Miles
January|112
February|73.6
March|117
April|141.8
May|155.7
June|152
July|201.1
August|166
September|215.7
October |162.8
November |128.2
December |173.4
Total|1799.5 miles

Didn't realise I was half a mile short of 1800 for the year. If I had known I would have definately tagged on another half mile tonight.

Let Down by RQ again this morning (she has some nerve calling certain other people 'no shows' :pac:) so I drove up to the park alone for the second long run of the week. Ideally, for Ultra training I should be doing back to back long runs but I was too hungover yesterday and I wanted to get off to a good start in the 1000 mile challenge. Plan was 15+ but I wasn't sure how much. I planned the run to coincide with the finish line of the 5k race in the park. I thought I'd be at that line at 10 miles but actually got there at 11 miles just in time to see the leaders come home. Stopped for 10 minutes here and had a chat with Chinguetti, Misty Floyd, Aero 2k, Mr Slow and a few others who'd been doing the race, then headed off for a lap of the 5 mile course.

Got really tired and hungry coming up the Glenn Rd for the 2nd time but once I was up the hill, picked the pace up again back to the car.

Summary: 16.2 miles At 8:33 av pace. 162m climbing.

Must start getting more hills into my long runs methinks.

6.8 miles @ 8:53 Av Hr 138

Nice easy run round the parkwest 10k course. No hangover today

Weekly total: 5 Runs 56 Miles. Delighted with this. My longest ever week mileage wise despite not getting started until wednesday and being quite hungover for 3 of the runs. Hope to clear 60 for the first time next week.

MTD: 2 Runs, 23 Miles

liamo123 wrote: »

Thats good running M... Go easy on the booze and keep off them fuc!ing cigs until Barca is over:D:D

Haha, the way I see it it's like Oisin's theory on not taking on any water or gels in training. If I can do 20 mile runs with a mega hangover, it will seem a whole lot easier on race day when i don't have one :cool:

10.1 miles at 9:07 average (83m climbing)
Mr Slow had a big group out this morning for 10. I ran the first 6.5 miles with the main bunch at about 9:30/mile. At this stage the leaders had broken away so I sprinted ahead to catch up and we did the last 3 miles at about 8:30 pace.

MTD 3 Runs, 33.1 miles