"Once we accept our limits, we go beyond them"

Calvin Johnson wrote: »

43.50

Excellent!

Thanks. Delighted with that. Report later after the Dubs and Rory do the double!

Sunday 20th July - Fingal 10k

Chip Time 43:50 (PB by 2mins 52 secs)

Fingal 10k Report

Pre Race Preparation:

Hadn't run since thursday night in a bid to be as fresh as possible for this one. Had been ensuring hydration was good, getting the beetroot juice in and stretching to keep the troublesome hamstrings at bay. Maybe the hydration went a bit overboard as I was up several times during the night to empty the bladder!

Woke up a bit later than planned by 7.20am. The alarm didnt go off but plenty of time to get the porridge in and had a banana too to go with that. Got to pavilions in swords in plenty of time and set off for a short warm up run. I wnet down the main street to suss out the layout , start line etc and get my bearings before heading back to the car and getting ready with last minute prep, sup of water, and some stretching. Headed over then to the shopping centre to get the last minute pit stop done.

Off down to the the start area where I met Yaboya1 and then Belcarra and a girl called Roisin. As we chatted we were nabbed for a photo by one of those official photographer guys. This happened to me at the Irish Runner too! We split up then and I went to make my way up to the first starting pen. I knew it would be congested enough at the start on the main street so wanted to get a good position for the start. Was about 10-15 rows back from start and there were a good few club mates around so was good to have a chat while we waited for the race to start

The Race:

So like I said before the plan was for a sub 45 today. Partly because I thought that would be a decent sign of progression and partly because of a friendly rivalry with a guy at work who has one over me at the moment on 10k time. He's one of those guys who is just naturally fit and and throw out 45min 10ks without too much training. Don't you just hate those kind of people! So I had 44:30 in my head as target. I would need to keep as close to 7 min pace like in the 5miler last month to get close to that so that would be a bit of a challenge. Conditions were good but very warm.

Race started and we were off up the road and the standard was pretty decent up top so not too much side stepping to zig zagging to do and it wasnt long before you could find a space and settle into a rhythm. Rubbed elbows with DaveMcMahon briefly as he passed me and said hello on his way to a fine result.Before we got to the first turn I could see my pace was hot but I was feeling fine and just went with it. We turned onto the dual carriageway and I knew this was pretty much downhill or dead flat so went with it as much as I felt comfortable. As the first mile completed the watch showed 6:34. I don't think I've done that in a 5k yet never mind a 10k so tried to relax a bit more and not get too carried away. I knew I wouldnt be able to sustain that for the entire race. Kept the rhythm going and when we came to last roundabout and headed up the incline this was my first feeling of tiredness and slowed the pace down a bit. Second mile done in 6:42. Still a bit too fast for my liking, wanted to be a bit closer to 7in/mi as I thought that was more sustainable so as I passed first water station I slowed it up a notch but to be honest I was beginning to feel the pace a bit anyway and as we hit the 5k marker I was thinking already that I am just going to try and hang on and not let the pace get too much over the 7min/mile mark. Was hoping the fast start wouldnt ruin my chance of sub 45 at this stage but knew if I could keep it in the low 7s I still had a very good chance. Third mile 7:09.

A few small inclines and some downhill bits on the back section out the country roads helped maintain the pace but I was feeling it now and had to focus ," relax through the discomfort", and try to think good thoughts like ,"Yes you are on target now.Just keep going". Wasnt looking much at the watch from 6k till the finish as it was just about maintaing the stride pattern ,controlling the breathing and not worrying too much about what was going on around me.Just focus on the target Red, it's there for you, go take it, and try not to puke!

The fire hoses were welcome enough though I think I got a bit more than I bargained for and got pretty soaked rather than a gentle spray. Also the second firehose holder was female and I just had this image of Pamela Anderson standing there with the hose and firehelmet on ...well you get the idea. The humidity was clearly affecting me here so it was a case of hanging on for dear life from here in. Mile 4 & 5 7:16 & 7:12. Wasnt aware of this until I checked this on Garmin as I was ignoring watch at this stage but happy in retrospect looking back at those figures as it felt like I was keeping it even paced at that stage in the race.

As we got back into the village and hit the 9k mark it was just a case of keeping it going until I had the finishing line in my sights as I knew I could find a kick from somewhere then. I always seem to find something at the end of a race. This last Km was quite tough actually and I was glad to round that corner with Swords castle in view and the start line at the top of the street. I used the downhill section here to build up a bit of momentum and then pushed on up the hill to the finish line passing a fair few people on the way. I could hear the announcer mention 44 mins as I passed under the gantry and I stopped my watch on 43:50 which was my official chip time as it turned out. Absolutely thrilled and had a big grin on my face as i dry wretched on the way through the finishing funnel.

Mile 6 completed in 7:29 and the last bit 6:04avg pace.

6.24miles in 43:50 - Shiny new PB!

1.87miles warmup brought daily total to 8.11miles

PS. Meant to add. Great to meet overpronator,statss,TomJoad afterwards and put some more faces to names!

WTD|34.54
MTD|115.56
YTD|1065.65

Monday 21st July

In no mood for a run this evening. Was just knackered tired. In bed late last night , and probably tired from race yesterday. On a training course this week too so my head was melted. Legs felt grand today though which was good as I didn't do much of a cool down yesterday. I don't think jogging from my car to the parking ticket machine and back counts:)

All I wanted to do this evening was lay down and sleep but I HTFU'd and got up off my ar5e and went out for a recovery run. Felt good after a while and was happy to take this nice and gentle.

4.22miles@9:38

WTD|4.22
MTD|119.78
YTD|1069.87

Tuesday 22nd July

Easy run when I got home from course today. Took it handy. No issues during run. Nice balmy evening. Body feeling tired so I'm going to listen to it and take a rest day tomorrow and push my MP session out til Thursday.

8.43miles@8:58

WTD|12.65
MTD|128.21
YTD|1078.3

Wednesday 23rd July

Complete rest and bed early. Very tired body

Thursday 24th July

Planned Session : 10 miles w/6@MP

Did this on the way home from work. Out from city centre to point and out along the coast to Sutton and back a bit to get me home in 10 miles ish. It was a very warm evening but not stifling. A bit of breeze helped with the heat but it was into my face most of the way along the coast. It wasn't very strong but might have impacted the pace a little bit...at least that's my excuse:)

Felt comfortable enough for most of the MP miles but wondered at times if I could keep it up for 26 of them but that is normal enough I suppose this early in the plan. Was aiming for 8min miles and looking back I'm a little disappointed the splits are not more even but overall given the conditions I've got to be reasonably happy with it.

Splits : 9:37,8:36,7:48,7:56,8:03,8:05,7:58,8:06,8:44,8:37,(8:26)

10.23 miles @8:21avg


WTD|22.88
MTD|138.44
YTD|1088.53

Friday 25th July

30 mins on static bike and 30 mins stretching and core work

Saturday 26th July

Easy run with my 10 yr old son in tow on his bike. Feeling very lethargic these days. Don't know if it is the heat, not enough sleep/hydration. Overtraining? Could be a combination of a few things. Will start with improved hydration and earlier nights to see if it improves.

Not much energy during this one so was easy enough to keep it easy. Very warm out.

5.58 miles @9:04avg


WTD|28.46
MTD|144.02
YTD|1094.11

Sunday 27th July

Up at 7 for some porridge before heading out for the weekly club long run. Plan had 16 easy. Now I have this loose kind of plan in my head that I am going to try get some MP miles into each long run to see if that will help me improve my marathon time so decide to start the experiment today. Decided I would leave them till late in the run and if I could do 2 I'd be happy with that for today.

Very warm out this morning which made it a toughish run but overall the legs felt good. Brought a gel but didn't use it and wasn't carrying water.

Did the first 11 pretty much at easy pace, around 9min miles or a little under. Tried to up the pace a bit then so it went like 2 x steady, 2 x MP, 1x steady or 8:35,8:30,8:05,8:03,8:34

Tired a bit towards end but fairly happy with that workout.

16.23miles @8:47 avg in 2hrs 22mins

WTD|44.69
MTD|160.25
YTD|1110.34

tang1 wrote: »

Nice running, great going in that heat today. When is the next race?

Thanks Tang.Rock N' Roll HM Bank Holiday Monday. Just looking for a strong run, probably not PB course . A bit like yourself today , this is more of a speed/endurance kind of test to see where I'm at now rather than a goal race. Frank Duffy 10 miler after that where I intend to blitz my PB for that as it is an extremely soft 88mins. I haven't run a 10mile race since same race in 2012.

tang1 wrote: »

Yeah, talking to lads this afternoon they said the R'n'R course was fairly rubbish in a PB sense. No sandbagging like me today for the Frank Duffy, whats the goal time for that?

Ooh..do you know what, I haven't really thought about it too hard except that I suppose I should be able to run it at something between 10k and HM pace??

So maybe try maintain 7:20ish pace and try duck under 73 mins? What do you think?
MacMillan has me at 73:16 based on Fingal 10k time. So 73 feels like a challenging enough target.

Tuesday 29th July

Easy runmute from work to home this evening taking the scenic route from city centre out to O2 and over to East Point and down the coast home. A little bit of tightness in left quad. In fact over the last few days I've had some tightness in the left calf , some tenderness in left Achilles and a dull pain at times in my left ankle. Me thinks something is up with me left side!

So I've decided to take a rest day tomorrow. I've a leaving do tomorrow night as one of the girls at work is leaving us so will go to that and treat myself to a few pints. Wont be an all-nighter so will spend some time foam rolling when I get home. Maybe the few pints might dull the pain.:)

7.84miles @8:56 avg

WTD|12.59
MTD|172.84
YTD|1122.93