Eye of the Tiger Beer.

Race report!

As threatened I did the ALSAA Winter Track League 1 mile race this evening. I did a couple of laps to warm up - first impressions of the track was that it was a little wonky to run on, my grip wasn't great at all. Got registered, pinned my number to my top and went out to start. There were around 25 people there, I started in the second row on the outside. Once the whistle went I overtook a few people and got at the back of a group. About half-way around the first lap my lungs started to hurt - a mix of the cold air, the shock of running fast and being a bit phlegmy from a cold last week made it quite uncomfortable... and maybe 'cos I went too fast - I think I did the first lap in 84 seconds. I definitely slowed down on the second lap and lost a place, I had a small coughing fit and settled into a slower pace, though I was keeping my position. Nothing interesting about the third lap, sped up throughout the fourth and finished reasonably strong in 6'07. Lungs were definitely what held me back. Had a brief chat with one of the other racers, and then jogged 4 miles back to Swords.

Happy enough with how it went - first experience of a short race, first time on the track and didn't embarrass myself Slight disappointment that I didn't break 6'00, but not far off it. Pretty much exactly what VDOT predicted based on Saturday's 5k.

I got another 7 runs in but no "quality" running of note

I fell kind of badly on Wednesday on a run commute home - there's a death-trap step inexplicably in the middle of a path in Drumcondra, and I was on auto-pilot/being distracted by a podcast and didn't see the bloody thing, tripped over it (doing around 8'00) and went flying. Everything went into slow motion and I remember thinking that I might break my face or hurt myself badly on the way down. All that actually happened was some bad cuts on my left hand, some grazing on my left shoulder and knees (I guess I came down on my left hand side). One of the cuts was a little deep and full of muck from the path, but nothing was actively bleeding, so I spat on my hand to clean it and started to jog. I was quite shaken and considered getting a bus home, but I kept at it and eventually felt normal enough. Once home I properly cleaned my wounds and put anti-septic on them etc. There was a little swelling and it was pretty sore for a day or two, but everything's on the mend now. The last time I fell was on January 1st this year, I slipped on thing on the path, again not fully paying attention at the time.

Date|Distance|Pace|Notes
14th December|5.5 miles|8'38|6AM run around Swords. Surprisingly met another runner 20 seconds into my run! Saw another 3 or 4 others, most didn't bother saying hi. Effort was really tough at the start, but got easier.
15th December|5 miles|8'41|Kind of an extended walk to the bus home after work - out from city centre to Ballsbridge, out to Sandymount and then over the East Link to the quays where I caught my bus. I hope I didn't smell too bad.
16th December|9 miles|8'21|Run commute home with the previously mentioned fall. Was quite shaken for a few miles, but got myself together and sped up nicely towards the end.
17th December|5 miles|8'46|6:30AM run around Swords, up to Airside and back down Main Street.
18th December|3.9 miles|8'47|7AM run around Swords. Zzzz...
19th December|5 miles|8'04|Post-Xmas party hungover all day, but felt grand when I got out in the evening. Even put in a few strides.
20th December|13.2 miles|8'12|Nice run over a new route - out towards Malahide, then over to Clare Hall and Coolock, up the Tonglee Road to Santry and then back to Swords. Wind was in my face a bit, and it got a little cold near the end but otherwise a really enjoyable run.


Weekly total: 46.6 miles

Next week: All over the place with Christmas and all that, but I've to get at least 7 runs in I'm doing the Clonliffe Harriers 5k on the 27th, hopefully I can do some damage to my 2 week old 5k PB I won't do a long run until after that race, so might try and get a couple of run-commutes in over the next 3 days. Also I'm getting a Garmin Forerunner 225 off Santa, so I'm guaranteed to be a better runner by this time next week

Here's the bloody thing - pretty easy to miss the step down:

https://www.google.ie/maps/@53.3669757,-6.2554885,3a,75y,62.25h,66.13t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1slsmFJ0w46JgtFJH9VCQsaA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

I ran home yesterday evening and bounded like a gazelle over those steps

Race report!: Clonliffe Harriers' Christmas Cracker 5k.

I hadn't exactly tapered for this, what with running every day in December and all that, but I was determined to do better than at the Jingle Bells 5k which didn't go as well as hoped due to weather and being a bit post-cold at the time. Despite all the running I also was quite happy to get into the true spirit of Christmas, i.e. drinking and eating lots over the last two weeks. I didn't drink on the 26th, did 4 miles in the evening but still felt quite bloated, like I was carrying a bowling ball in my stomach. Undeterred this I was moderately confident of yet another PB, mostly because I haven't yet raced a non-PB, and the weather was great so I'd have no excuses this time

Arrived pointlessly early to Santry Stadium around 10:15 and parked around the back. Registration was a bit slow but at least it was inside the Clonliffe Harriers' club bar. There was still a little bit of frost on the ground, making the track a little slippy, so between that and the registration delays the start was put back until 11:15. I had no problem hanging around, as my wife decided to enter the race, and so any few minutes we get to chat without the kids around are a good thing I dropped some gear off in the club dressing room (not sure that this was explicitly allowed but anyway) and did a couple of slow laps around the track to warm up.

Mile 1: 6:21 (3:57/k)

Start of the race was a lap and a bit of the track, then out on to the Swords Road downhill and uphill into Northwood. There were close to 200 runners there on the day, I started about 50 back and overtook a bunch of folks (including a walker - I think it was the same one I noticed swinging his arms wildly from Jingle Bells) before settling in at the back of a group. I was keeping an eye on the watch and noticed I started a little fast on the track, so pulled back a little when we hit the road. I was keeping it around 4:00/k uphill into Northwood.

Mile 2: 6:37 (4:07/k)

Hands got a little cold here, maybe I should have worn gloves. Once again, my lungs were what was holding me back, breathing was very laboured and intense by now. My watch suddenly flipped to 4:25/k at one stage but I was pretty sure I wasn't going that slow. Soon enough it was back around 4:05/k. The uphill drag ended around the end of the second mile though things didn't really feel much easier.

Mile 3: 6:30 (4:02/k)

The last third was mostly downhill and on a narrow enough footpath on Santry Avenue back towards the Swords Road. Pretty uncomfortable by now, pretty much with breathing, however holding steady no real changing in positions.

Last 0.17: 0:41.6 (3:59/k)

Up and into the stadium, the announcer called out that it had just gone 19 minutes. I tried to quickly calculate could I make it but I was struggling with simply staying alive so I couldn't figure it out - just stuck the head down and carried on. I didn't have any real sprint finish left in me and was overtaken once on the track. I was pretty annoyed but not surprised when I saw the clock greater than 20:00 in the last few metres. No round number spreadsheet entry for me this year so

Finish time: 20:07 (37th out of 191)
VDOT: 49.5 (PB! Previous record was 48.4 at the Frank Duffy 10 mile)

First race with a Garmin (no more stupid Nike+ App!), so:
Avg HR: 140
Max HR: 154

After I recovered, I went around to the stadium entrance and gave my wife a good shout when she entered, then jogged over to the finish line and congratulated her on her first race finish There was nice free hot chocolate at the end, and a goodie bag with mundane household products in it (sweets, teabags, fabric softener, shampoo). Nice atmosphere overall and it was good fun running in the stadium and around the environs of North Dublin. Overall content but a little frustrated, pretty standard post-race emotion for me

2015 5k progression
Date|Time|VDOT
March 15th|MSB St Patrick's Day|23:27|41.3
June 18th|Docklands 5k|21:13||46.5
December 6th|Jingle Bells|20:40|47.9
December 27th|Christmas Cracker|20:07|49.5

denis b wrote: »

Congrats on a great year B. Targets are just that.... but your progress is sooooooo evident. Just curious... your average and max HR for the 5Km seem on the low side for a full on run. Hope the observation is coming across the right way!!! It may just be that the hrm was not accurate for some reason.

Thanks! Yeah, no idea what happened with the HRM, damn technology. 2 days with it and I'm already incredibly suspicious of it