From minutes to miles

Saturday 9th: 6 miles @ 9:57 with 6*100 metre strides, average HR 159bpm

Blustery conditions which felt a bit energy sapping at the start when I was going into the headwind on the coast.

Sunday 10th:: 8 miles @ 9:48, average HR 153bpm

My "long" run of the week. I didn't want to do anything too long given it was my first uninterrupted week in a couple of weeks. I felt pretty good on this and it seems to be reflected in the HR and the average pace. The house related task this weekend was kitchen appliance research - who would have thought there was so much choice. Until yesterday I didn't know what a "warming drawer" was - €400+ to keep things warm?????? :eek: Won't be getting one of those anyway......

Happy enough with the week, an unspectacular 24 miles but a good few days to ease back in. Not sure what to do from here, there's 6 weeks to Dunshaughlin 10k. I might tweak the plan I had been starting and fit it to the time I have left but without jumping in at a point where I'm upping my mileage or intensity too quickly.

Dubgal72 wrote: »

Ladies, break it up now, that sounds suspiciously like Dark Side talk and we'll have none of that filth on this forum

No....simply commute chit chat. Practical matters. Nothing to see here.

Sunday 17th: Terenure 5 mile
Previous PB - 44:06 (Raheny, January 2015)
Chip time - 41:18

After my rest day yesterday (if one can call babysitting restful. On the plus side en route to babysitting we picked our floors - woo hoo, another decision done) I headed to Terenure this morning ready to go. I arrived and was directed into a parking area by our very own Adrian. Quick walk down to Terenure College and by the time I got there the eyes were streaming, I'd forgotten to take my hayfever tablet so I jogged back to the car to get one as my warm up. As usual the legs felt sluggish and I was wondering how they'd go any faster than easy warm up pace. Met Anna (who had collected my number over the weekend) and aquinn, bit more of a warm up and we headed to the start. Anna & I have had similar times throughout over the last while so we had said we would head together as we were aiming for a similar target (sub 42). We lined up a few rows back from the 40 pacers and off we went at 11.

The start was busy enough but not too bad and the faster first mile was showing in my enthusiasm, Anna brought me back to reality with a word about the pace unless I planned to catch up with the pacers - which I didn't The left turn halfway through the first mile is very sharp and this bit was into the wind. We had settled into a good rhythm anyway and the first mile was 8:16. We were definitely doing more of the overtaking, which was a theme for the whole race, and the pace felt comfortably uncomfortable. Tough but not a killer. There are some deceptive drags around the second mile and maybe even into the third. I was breathing hard so every so often I would try and focus on taking good, deep breaths. There wasn't much chatting between us, just a few words every so often on how we were doing - Anna was pacing us in kilometres and I was looking at miles :rolleyes: so we had lots of indications of how we were going!! The second mile came in at 8:20. I was certainly starting to feel it after the second mile, thinking oh I'm fecked already, how will I make it to the end but I think I always get like this at a certain stage of races. I think once I get to halfway and have that psychological hump over with I perk myself up. As usual I was thinking - just get to halfway, then you're on the home stretch.

We headed back towards Terenure College and along here I got a surprise shout out from Firedance which helped keep my head up. The third mile clocked in at 8:17. We were in our stride heading on the faster stretch but I was definitely having to work harder to keep the pace steady where it had been. That sharp turn back into the drag and the wind (which was nice from a cooling perspective) slowed the pace of the lap a bit from where it had been at the start. There was no chatting aside from calling the splits, with a "you push on if you want" - "no, thanks, but you go if you want" - "no, thanks" going on!! :P The fourth mile was an 8:14. As we hit the last kilometre Anna pointed out that we were in a strong position as technically we could still do a 6 minute km and still have the sub 42. It went without saying at the time I think that neither of us wanted to do that and after getting to that stage of the race and working hard we were hoping to come a good bit under the initial target. The pace was consistent as we made the final turn for the road home. I was flagging big time, the legs were feeling wobbly and I got a bit light headed here but the thoughts of being nearly there, and the motivation of running with someone, kept me pushing on. I only gave up on headphones in races a few months ago :eek: and the main reason was I hated hearing my laboured breathing. And boy could I hear myself here - all I could think was I sound like I'm dying. But then I heard some man behind me who sounded even worse so the thought of not sounding as bad strangely helped me. The last bend brought the finish in sight, with another shout from Firedance here (and aquinn too apparently!), and we kicked on. Anna had a better kick and pulled away, but I reigned her in a bit but not enough and she crossed the line just ahead and the last mile was an 8:13.

Off to the hall to meet loads of faces from around here, a good laugh and lots of chats. Some very impressive times to boot which is always good to see. I left to visit some friends and had a fantastic shower there and the best beans on toast I've had in my life. Hit the spot. Wrecked now. Really happy with today, the splits were very consistent (8:16, 8:20, 8:17, 8:14 & 8:13) and I feel like I did pretty much the best time on the day that I had in me. Compared to Raheny which I was happy with, I had been wondering if the fact I had such a fast last mile (up the hill) with a long finishing kick meant I was capable of a better time on the day. It's a fine line between being just conservative enough to not blow up but then not giving it everything overall, a constant learning experience. Anna may have helped on the first part at the start today It was my first time running with someone in a race and I think it definitely helped today during my tough parts, the motivation not to not slack off and to help push eachother on - even though we talked very little!

A well organised race, everything went super smooth - well done to all at Sportsworld.