A Slow Journey to Faster Times

Saturday 26th July - 45 minutes Recovery (including 6 x 100m Strides)
5.13m @ 8:47p/m average (120bpm avg)

An awful experience, just like last Saturday. Let's hope I can put up a similar race performance too. Strides done in Mile 5. Is it just me or is it incredibly heavy out there this morning?


Splits:

Mile 1 - 9:36 (115bpm)
Mile 2 - 8:38 (118bpm)
Mile 3 - 8:56 (119bpm)
Mile 4 - 9:00 (117bpm)
Mile 5 - 7:39 (135bpm)
0.15 - 1:13 (117bpm)

FBOT01 wrote: »

Decided to sign up for this last night so hopefully see you down there. If not good luck and enjoy!

Will do hopefully. I'd offer you a lift, but I'm going golfing on the way back (unless you want to caddy :pac:)

61:39
I'll write up a report tomorrow.
Off golfing & drinking now.

This race represented another stepping stone on my long journey to Berlin. Anything sub 62 would be in line with all my other recent race times at the shorter distances and point me towards a marathon in the mid 2:50's.


Pre-race

Coming into this off the back of a hard effort in last week's Fingal 10k, I had kept the midweek miles easy but knew I wouldn't find out if the legs were fully recovered until I actually raced. I had packed most of my workouts into the early part of the week, meaning I had a mini-taper of two days but still hadn't slacked on the mileage (getting in close to 60) which I was happy with. I had a fair sleep Saturday night and got the usual pre-race breakfast in (porridge, banana, bagel, coffee) before I left for Mullingar. I convinced a friend of mine who'd taken part in the Colour Dash on Saturday to join me in the race rather than doing her long run on her own, so I had some company in the car on the way down. Registration & number collection was probably the most efficient I've ever seen and I was in and out of the National School in less than a minute with yet another running shirt (seems nice, haven't worn it yet). Did a few stretches and a little warm up jog before preparing to head down towards the start line. Bumped into FBOT01, belcarra & tang1 before the race and we had a quick chat about our targets. We lined up relatively close to the front and were off at about 11:03am.


The Race

Miles 1-4

Even though I started quite far up the field, I was still dodging slower runners for the first 400-500m, and was almost half a mile in before I hit anything close to my predicted race pace. We took a left turn onto a wider road where a cooling breeze was blowing straight into our face. It made it more difficult to go faster, but was definitely providing some relief from the warmth of yet another beautiful morning. By now I had got myself into the position I wanted to be in, drafting a group of five Tullamore singlets moving at the same pace. I decided I'd be less likely to get complacent if I overtook them though, as then if they tried to come back at me I'd be more aware of my pace and step on the gas again. So that's exactly what I did and hit the first mile in 6:06. They didn't respond and I never saw them again. Knew I already had a few seconds in hand now which allowed me to ease off slightly. Nothing eventful in Mile 2, apart from the fact that I could see the lead car about 1km ahead in the distance and wondered how anybody could be moving that fast. I felt like I was going at a reasonable clip and the leaders were almost out of sight already! Through that section in 6:10. We took a right turn early in Mile 3 and I expected the breeze to die off slightly, but we still seemed to be tackling it head on. Told myself to just dig in and hold the pace, as the same wind would be aiding me on the way home. Mile 3 in 6:16. Mile 4 was the deciding mile in the race for me. I don't know why, but I was really struggling here. Early in the mile I noticed I was only moving at 6:37 pace. The effort felt the same as it had been in the previous miles, but I had slowed significantly. I knew I only had about four seconds in hand and urged myself to get it back down to 6:20 at least, so I'd still be within reasonable range to claw it back. I think the first water station was along here. Grabbed a bottle, took a sip and sprayed the rest over my head and on my face. Felt slightly better after that and really put everything into getting back on target for the rest of the mile. Was delighted to see the watch click at 6:18 meaning I was only two seconds down, which I could easily recover. I think everyone has bad patches at some point in a race. This was mine and I'd gotten through it relatively unscathed. Going towards halfway I was right where I wanted to be.

Miles 5-8

Since I had sped up so much in the second half of Mile 4, I was now moving bang on the correct pace and felt really comfortable at that. I think coming through the make or break episode in the previous mile gave me a huge amount of confidence and I felt I was gaining strength and energy the further we went. A solid looking runner ahead of me was holding a similar pace so I was tagging onto him, realising that once I continued to do that the pre-race target would be in the bag. It was at this point I heard a patter of footsteps behind me. We were coming towards the halfway point and I was moving very strongly. Who could posssibly be going faster than me that wasn't already way ahead? Next thing Pauline Curley appeared beside me. By the time I looked to my left to see who was there, she was gone five yards ahead of me. Then she passed the guy I'd been tailing and took off into the distance like she had a rocket up her arse. I've ever experienced anything like that in a race at that stage. More victims would follow. I was very, very impressed. When I spoke to FBOT01 aftewards, he said she had run with his group at 6:40 pace for 3 miles before speeding up. That means she made up the guts of two minutes on me in less than two miles. Then sped by me as if I was stopped, even though I was going at close to 6:00min/mile pace. It was seriously impressive. Some athlete! We took a left turn just before the end of the mile. Yet again the wind was in our face (Wtf?). Split read 6:13. Halfway there . Although I was now starting to feel it, I never let the pace drop and was making sure to keep the splits around 6:12. Towards the end of Mile 6 I could see a fair hill ahead, so I sped up a bit to make sure the split was on target. This would also mean I'd get a good start to Mile 7 and wouldn't be chasing time to keep on pace like I was in Mile 4 (2 birds, 1 stone :pac:). Sprinted (well it felt like a sprint) up the two rolling hills and eased off at the top, allowing myself to be carried down the other side. Hit Mile 6 in 6:10. Having kept the pace steady going up the hill I was now down to 6:05 on the descent. At this stage I was thinking the more seconds I get in hand, the easier I can be on myself in the final 2-3 miles. I tell myself this, but I know that's never going to happen . I was starting to tire though, so I needed something to focus the mind on to stop me losing concentration. So I decided that now would be a good time to overtake the guy in the white shirt. I put on a bit of a spurt and went by him so quickly that he'd no time to respond. Another guy who'd been keeping him company after he drew alongside him was also caught unawares and neither of them attempted to go with me. Through Mile 7 in 6:06. Being the stubborn so and so that I am, I knew that I was now much less likely to slack coming in as I wouldn't be letting those guys or anyone else by me without a fight. Gradually started to pull away from the aforementioned two and picked out another target about 100m ahead in a white singlet. I vowed to pass him by the end of the mile. Took on another bottle of water early in the mile, sipping, spraying and pouring over my head, before turning the afterburners on again. Caught the white singlet and moved by him as fast as I could. I was able to sense him looking at my face and figured if I could portray a comfortable exterior, he was way less likely to respond. I could see in the expression on his face from the corner of my eye that he wasn't up for a battle. Took a left turn after this and passed the marker in 6:06.

Miles 9-10

I was really feeling the pinch now and being positioned on my own like I was would have made it easy to lose concentration and drop the pace. I needed another target. My final victim was a Mullingar Harrier. I saw the maroon singlet in the distance and knew if I kept pace with that, the pre-race target was a formality. At this stage I knew I could finish with something like two 6:20 miles and still be safe, but I find it hard not to give 100% in a race no matter what. I knew I was gaining on the guy in front and although it was really hurting at this point (probably due to the slight incline we were now encountering), I could see from the Garmin that I was holding the pace well. I reeled him in quicker than I expected and passed him before we hit the 9 mile marker. Slightly slower at 6:11 here, but still below target pace. I was now into the last mile and starting to accelerate again, despite the fact that my body was protesting. There was another Mullingar runner way ahead in the distance, but try as I might, there was no way I could make up that amount of ground in less than a mile. Put every last bit of energy I had left into this stretch as I passed over the start line and down past the National School for a second time. I could now see the finish and hear the MC. Only seconds now until it's over. I rounded the final tun and got a call out from the MC as I crossed the line. Gave a little fist pump as I saw I'd run a 5:51 mile to finish. Over the moon with that!


Garmin data: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/551474522


Post race

I doused myself in water, before getting some more down my throat along with a banana and a Mars bar which were all in plentiful supply at the finish line. FBOT01 came in soon after with a very impressive time (especially considering he had started the race at MP) and we moved over to the tent where a monster spread of sandwiches, baps, cakes, biscuits, chocolate was laid out for us. Tea & coffee were also available. While we were sitting enjoying our food/drink in the sunshine we saw tang1 come in comfortably under his target, while belcarra followed not too far behind. I checked the actual race result with the MC, and he told me Martin Fagan had run 48 minutes. I felt like I'd run the race of my life and he'd been finished before I hit Mile 8. Unreal!


Review

This was an excellent race. €20 got you an extremely well organised race that was well marshaled, supplied plenty of water stations, had mobile water stations (people on bikes offered me water on numerous ocsasions), a nice technical t-shirt, a massive spread of food afterwards and a very high standard of athlete. To be honest, I wasn't expecting any less even though it was the race's inaugural year as I only hear good things about the club and assumed it would all be first class. I was right . I can see this becoming one of the most prestigious 10 mile races in the country. It can only get better and yesterday was anything to go by that's a little frightening (in a good way). If I was to be hyper, ultra, majorly critical and you forced me to pick out negatives there are two things I would address:

1 - They need to organise a timing mat at the start line. It wasn't too bad yesterday with only 291 running, but if the race grows significantly (which I'd expect it to) it would be unfair on anyone not near the front as their time will obviously be quicker than the official results show. Myself, FBOT01, tang1 & belcarra all took at least 5-10 seconds to cross the start line yesterday, so we are all due a few seconds (significantly for FBOT01 who would have run sub 63 with a chip time). Anyone behind us would have been even worse affected.

2 - The mile markers were wrong. The race measured bang on 10 miles. No arguments there. The paint markings on the road for each mile, 5k, 10k etc were all on the button also, but the little signs on the side of the road were off. Most of them were a bit short, especially the 9 mile marker which was stuck in the ground after 8.75m! This didn't affect me as I was working off my Garmin and could also see the paint markings, so assumed they stuck the signs at the nearest point possible. However, if you were a runner just using a stopwatch or no watch at all, you may have been slightly deceived, especially in the last mile which must have felt like an eternity for anyone using the signs as a guide. Not a big issue tbh, and like I said only because I'm being super critical and trying to find fault with what I considered to be a brilliant event.


Thoughts

I am really buzzing after that. I've now set times at 5k, 5m, 10k & 10m that all point to a mid 2:50's marathon according to McMillan & Vdot tables. The fact that I've run the last two in the space of 8 days is particularly pleasing as I'd like to think I may do a little better if slightly fresher. I'm also very pleased with my pacing in those races, running negative splits of 8 seconds (Fingal 10k) & 27 seconds (Mullingar 10) respectively. I think no matter what I eventually decide to do in Berlin, I'll be pacing myself. Next up is likely to be the Longford Half-Marathon on the 24th August, although I've yet to sign up for it. Target there will be sub 1:23. After originally toying with the idea of fitting the Lakes 10k into my schedule on 6th September, I've now decided against that and will not race after Longford until Berlin. I'll give myself a few easy days now before getting stuck back in to the HADD training.

Tigerandahalf wrote: »

Well done. Another great result.
You mentioned the wind but for me it was more the inclines on the course. Maybe it was just me but I felt I was always running up a bit of an incline.
The race was well organised but on such a hot day maybe there should have been 3 water stops. I was sweating a lot.
Also by the time I got there there were no small tshirts left. Had to take a medium but will never use it on a run.
The quality of the field was pretty impressive, a lot of people under the hr mark. There are not many 10 mile races out there so it has the potential to become attractive.
Well done again on your run. Great progress over the last year. At the start of the year you were looking to go sub 19 at 5km and sub 40 at 10km I think, so great progress.

You could be right, but believe me that was a flat course compared to some of the races I've run this year!
I thought there was three water stops? If not I'm sure it's something the club would address if you gave them that feedback. They certainly weren't short of water.
Didn't have any issues with the t-shirt myself, so not sure what happened there.
It definitely has potential. As I mentioned before in this log, there seems to a dearth of 10 mile races in Leinster. This could become the main one.
Thanks for your kind words. I've surprised myself a little bit tbh. How did you do yourself yesterday?

Tigerandahalf wrote: »

I wrote a small report on the DCM novice log. Maybe there were 3 stops so I will hold my hand up if I'm wrong but I thought the lady at the start said water stops at miles 3 and 7.
It was well run and the marshals did a good job. The car parking in the field was handy being so close to the start and finish. There are photos on facebook if you 'like' Mullingar 10 mile.

You're probably right about the water stops. It was just never an issue for me as I constantly had people cycling beside me offering me a bottle if I wanted one so it's not something I would have noticed. I'll have to have a look and see are there any more 'flattering' race photos of me on that page .
That's a solid time you ran. What are you aiming for in Dublin? Something between 3:00-3:30 I'd guess?