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Child Item

Can I give more? The answer is usually yes

tang1

I'm a married 35 yr old father of one, started running in late 2010 to accompany my Dad on a race and done nothing again till March 2011. Ran the Clontarf Half that year in under 1.45 and again done nothing for 3-4 months. Started taking it more seriously in 2012 and hoped to run DCM that year but a bout of plantar faciitis put an end to that.

Started back again in October 2012 and from then till May 2013 i was in my best form since i took running up. Ran all my PBs in that period. Cue June last year i went in for a supposed simple operation that would see me off running for max 6 weeks, two knee ops later i'm back running since mid February and back chasing my old self. List of my PBs below:

5k - 18.47 (May 13)
5mile - 31.43 ( April 13)
10k - 41.10 (February 13)
10 mile - 67.39 (March 13)
Half Marathon - 1.31.39 (May 13)

Any input/advice/abuse greatly appreciated.

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Ososlo

Fair play to you! Brilliant time! Well deserved. How far off the pb is that?

RedRunner

Super stuff, well done B.

tang1

Ososlo wrote: »

Fair play to you! Brilliant time! Well deserved. How far off the pb is that?

Cheers A, PB 1.31.39 on a tougher course i feel in Enniscorthy last May.

tang1

wowzer wrote: »

You owe me a pint Chief, great running..

I do indeed, ye were spot on in fairness to youself & Barry.

FBOT01

Good running. Well done.

Pacing Mule

Congrats Tang - Gold medal it is.

career move

Well done

Tom Joad

Well done Tang - Gold was never in doubt.. looking forward to the report

AuldManKing

tang1 wrote: »

1.34.54, chip may bring me over the 1.35, dont care bet my goal time either way. Report tomorrow, beer time!!

Great running. Delighted for you.

Duanington

Congrats Tang - onwards and upwards!

yaboya1

Great running tang.
Can't say I'm surprised as your Mullingar 10 mile time suggested as much. Didn't want to jinx it though :P

Well done

outforarun

Platinum.
Well done.
Curious to read report.

tang1

Saturday

4.03miles 37min 22sec(9.20min/mile)

Easy run in the hotel gym we were staying in for the weekend, usual pre race nonsense going through the head.

Sunday

Boston Scientific Half Marathon 1hr 34min 48sec(7.16min/mile)

Pre-race:
If i'm 100% honest this was most nervous i have ever been going into a race, last time i ran a half resulted in an 8 month lay up. What if i do it again, what if my knee is not up to running 13.1 miles at a decent pace, what if the knee folds during the race was all going through my head in the weeks leading into the race. On the other hand i knew if i got through in one piece i could finally leave the apprehension and nerves relating to my knee finally behind me. Registered Saturday afternoon on our way back from Waterford, seamless registration, in and out in 2 minutes.

Race:
Up at half 8 Sunday morning, myself and the little man sat down to a bowl of cereal together while i let Mrs tang1 snooze. Out the door at 9.30am and drove to Clonmel arriving at 10.15am, loads going on at the race headquarters, parked up and chilled for 15mins before heading for warm-up. Easy 1.65miles to loosen the legs out and some stretching before we were called to line up at the race start along the Clonmel by-pass, the first thing that struck me was the breeze was fairly strong along the by-pass and the sun was going to bake my shaven head again today.

Few minutes past 11 and we were off, settled into my running quick enough and the nice flat start made for a 7.17 first mile. Heard few runners say we were about to head out the Cahir Rd and into a bit of a climb, sure enough we went through the Cahir Rd round-about and into the teeth of a strong breeze and a climb. Runners were coming back at this stage after going off to quick, just kept the running smooth and got over the climb and into the first down-hill of the day, mile 2 went in 7.29 and we turned off the Cahir Rd onto quiet traffic less country roads. The road went downhill here again for a good two miles, i kept the pace steady as i didn't want to get to excited yet, mile 3 was 7.14 and mile 4 7.03 and we turned right onto a more twisting road. The heat was frying my head but made sure to keep a bottle of water from first water station to keep the head cool.

We turned left into another gradual climb, again kept the pace smooth and constant and crested the climb where mile 5 beeped in 7.28. Another runner remarked that it was all downhill or flat from here to mile 10, he wasn't wrong, from mile 6 to 8 it was all downhill and i had to reign the pace in once or twice, mile 6 was the quickest of the day so far in 6.54 and could have been 20 secs quicker had i not coped on a bit. Into a village called Ballylough where the locals offered great support to the runners grabbed another bottle of water at water station here, half down my throat and other half kept for the head. Mile 7 beeped at 7.10 as we made our way onto the Wood Rd back into Clonmel.

Had bit of a wobble here, felt very hot all of a sudden and thought i had overcooked things to early, the half bottle of water went promptly over my head to try help and moved into the shade along the road here which was in between the Suir river and hill to the right. This helped no end and got me through mile 8 in 7.08, the road levelled here and i started to catch a few runners which gave me renewed confidence. Just kept the pace steady and picked off runners in 1s and 2s. Mile 9 passed in 7.13 and i was feeling strong having necked a gel at about 7.5 miles, just kept tageting runners over the next few miles as we made our way back to Clonmel, mile 10 pasted in 7.10.

I knew a climb was coming in the next few miles, but kept the gas going as hard as i could till the climb started, an elderly marshal told me to take it handy that it was harder than it looked and man was he right, it knocked the ****e out of me and resulted in my two slowest miles of the race, mile 11 7.44 and mile 12 7.42. Was annoyed with myself as we got onto the by-pass and run in for home, i should have been quicker in those last two miles, stupid hill:mad::mad:. Put the hammer down as much as i could and past few more runners, one which happened to be Bulmers74, i dug in and kept the legs turning as fast as i was able, mile 13 beeped in 6.55. Entered the last few hundred metres and sprinted as best i could, seen 1.34.5x on the clock at the finish and kicked again to get in under 1.35 which meant i owed wowzer a pint if i made it, chip time 1hr 34min 48sec. Grabbed a bottle of water and collapsed on the grass, i was totally spent and took a while to gather my breath. Job Done:D:D:D:D:D:D.

Post-race:
The knee is good 24hrs or more later and i now know i can move on from my nerves and apprehension and give my all in races from now on. Clonmel AC are to be applauded on an superbly run race, the course was a challeging one, but one i enjoyed. It ticked all the boxes race wise, plenty of marshals, water stops well manned, support where it was possible was great, fine spread afterwards and the big plus for me, hot showers when you finished. All told a weeks running i'm very happy with.

Song of the week - Punchanella "San Trancisco"

WTD-39.78miles
MTD-97.52miles
YTD-603.89miles

Tom Joad

Great report Tang - delighted for you - so deserved!!

overpronator

Brilliant stuff, well done Tang.

RedRunner

Enjoyed the report. Well done again.

blockic

Well done tang..great running and nice to get monkey off the back!

SamforMayo

Super work Tang, you worked hard to get back after injury, well done.

Murph_D

Well run B. Excellent PB and glad everything's in order.

Bulmers74

Well done on a controlled & tactically astute performance. Glad the knee has held up. See ya in Athlone;)

tang1

Bulmers74 wrote: »

Well done on a controlled & tactically astute performance. Glad the knee has held up. See ya in Athlone;)

I'll keep an eye out for the love-handles!!

tang1

Monday

3.5miles 32min 12sec(9.13min/mile)

Recovery run, the quads were in ribbons doing this from the downhill parts of Sundays half and i was just glad it was only a recovery run. Hot bath followed post haste after some stretches and duly done the trick at loosening the legs out.

Today

7.5miles 58min 32sec(7.48min/mile)

The run went as follows:

2miles@ 8.23 easy
2miles@6.56 tempo
2miles@7.49 steady
1.5miles@ 8.08 easy

The tempo miles felt good, could have knocked out another 2-3 at that pace but with Sundays race still in the legs i decided to be sensible. My next race will be the Athlone Half on 13th of next month, question i want to ask is would i be foolish to try run a PB I.E go with sub 1.30 pacers? From those that have run Clonmel and Athlone(career move i think?), would it be possible for ME to run nearly 5 mins quicker in Athlone? Suggestions most welcome.

WTD-11miles
MTD-108.52miles
YTD-614.89miles

Tom Joad

Maybe make the call closer to the date Tang.

My tuppence worth for what its worth - I went from a near identical time as what you done in Clonmel in Athlone last year to 1:30:13 in Clontarf in November so the timeframe is not too dissimilar so it's definitely do-able in my opinion.

Athlone is a nice flat course too so not sure how that compares with Clonmel.

tang1

Tom Joad wrote: »

Maybe make the call closer to the date Tang.

My tuppence worth for what its worth - I went from a near identical time as what you done in Clonmel in Athlone last year to 1:30:13 in Clontarf in November so the timeframe is not too dissimilar so it's definitely do-able in my opinion.

Athlone is a nice flat course too so not sure how that compares with Clonmel.

Your right trying to call it this far out is pointless, i'll know better myself closer to the time. I'd say I lost maybe 2 mins on the hills in Clonmel which still leaves me good two and half mins off 1.30.

career move

I haven't run clonmel Tang and I've had two bad races in athlone. Before DCM I ran the midlands HM in August (as you know it was a mile long!) and then athlone and I had a similar average pace for both but I was sick after athlone.

My gut feeling is that you are flying at the minute and since your pb is 1:31 it's not that much of a jump for you to aim for 1:30. You could always train with 1:30 in mind and if you feel nearer the day it's a bit quick then it's no big deal to lower your expectations

tang1

career move wrote: »

I haven't run clonmel Tang and I've had two bad races in athlone. Before DCM I ran the midlands HM in August (as you know it was a mile long!) and then athlone and I had a similar average pace for both but I was sick after athlone.

My gut feeling is that you are flying at the minute and since your pb is 1:31 it's not that much of a jump for you to aim for 1:30. You could always train with 1:30 in mind and if you feel nearer the day it's a bit quick then it's no big deal to lower your expectations

Cheers c m, apologies i thought you had ran Clonmel. I'll see closer the time & make a call on the day about following the 1.30 pacers, i'll keep the training as it is and maybe throw in few faster paced runs over next month.

tang1

Today

5miles 41min 18sec(8.15min/mile)

Had planned on doing a few miles more than the 5 but my left hip knocked that on the head. I'm after hurting it in some way, maybe from downhill sections on Sunday, i dont know. Its paining me as i write this, cannot do much with it till later as i'm working. Definitely wont risk running on it for rest of the week to see if that helps, it would feel very strange going a calendar year without an injury!!!

WTD-16miles
MTD-108.52miles
YTD-619.89miles

career move

Hope your injury turns out to be nothing sinister.

tang1

career move wrote: »

Hope your injury turns out to be nothing sinister.

Thanks c m, every finger & toe is crossed hoping the same.

Tom Joad

Hopefully resting it will sort things out Tang