Leader Of The (Mid) Pack

Thu 17/11 - 5 miles in 10:10 p/m

For the first time since DCM, I tried running on consecutive days. Not too much hassle up to now, but with my time window to do this rapidly shrinking, I headed out into the freezing D15 night without much of a stretch beforehand.

I deliberately kept it slow all the way. This was one of my old loops from my early days living in the area, with only two hills crossing over the railway line to contend with. Still, I wasn't feeling brilliant even after 3 miles, and then my old niggles started coming back, worse than at any stage since the marathon. Not so bad that I was going to stop or anything, but enough to slow me down even more for the last mile and a half or thereabouts. As I worked through some belated stretching and foam rolling after I got home, I couldn't help thinking that last night was a setback. Maybe I need more time before trying this tortuous two days running in a row lark again.

Fri 18/11 - Rest, apart from stretching and foam rolling.

Sat 19/11 - Clontarf Half Marathon - DNS

Clontarf 5 Mile Porterstown parkrun - 3.1 miles in 23:42

Felt a bit strange this morning getting up having decided not to risk Clontarf. This was my first half marathon, back in the summer of 2013, and it's still one of my favourites to this day. I could have run it, but at what price long term? Plus a late night drinking and playing poker made it an even easier decision; I could have gone out there and switched to the 5 mile of course, but anyway I'm happy with my choice.

And so it was that I stayed home for another parkrun. On a bitterly cold morning, I kept the layers on until just before the start. There were a lot of icy stretches on the path, so I ended up running a fair bit of it on the grass. How much this had to do with it being a pain free parkrun, I don't know. Anyway, it felt easy, and, amazingly after Thursday's disaster, there were no niggles to report. It felt even better with the coffee, cake and biscuits that followed

Thanks Denis, I'm feeling the benefits this evening i.e. not sitting at home with my legs in a bundle. Plenty of other races to come over the next few months.

Your times are quite close to my own actually. It won't take you long to reach my current PBs. Very generous with regard to GAA I only ever got two winners medals in all my years playing; I stopped after getting my second one last year, a mere 20 years after my first!

The club have two groups out early in PP tomorrow. I'll see how I feel in the morning before I decide whether to join them.

Mon 21/11-Wed 23/11

Positives

Two pain free stretching and foam rolling sessions. I also entered Jingle Bells, having received a favourable timetable for my college tutorial weekend.

Negatives

Not getting out for a run at all so far this week. Work and college make it hard to get out Mondays or Tuesdays, unless I go running at lunchtime, which I hate, or I have a day off.

The plan was for an easy few miles tonight, but real life intervened. However, that might not turn out to be a complete disaster given my recent "fitness" history. I'll get out tomorrow, and then probably leave it till I add to my parkrun tally on Saturday morning. Recovery is taking longer than I hoped!

Sun 27/11 - Rest (unplanned)

Best intentions etc etc. My intention was to do the club run this morning, or failing that get a few miles in on my own. However, I was feeling ropey after drinking "enough" pints of Guinness on Saturday night (family birthday) so that was knocked on the head. This afternoon saw a trip to my brother's house for my eldest niece's birthday party. Thankfully no more alcohol, but there was chicken curry and lots of cake. So I'm out there thinking, I can get out this evening and recover some of the damage. By the time we got home, however, I was feeling too drained to even bother with a stretch. So a bit of a disaster for me I'm afraid, but a fine day for the club, with our ladies picking up a team prize in the Nationals, and AMK nailing the sub-3 in San Sebastian.

Less than ten miles covered in total this week, and it will be Wednesday before I hit the road again. I'm still thinking I'm in with a decent shout of sub 20 in Jingle Bells though. Either way, I'm looking forward to racing again.

Time to catch up on the last few days...

Thu 1/12 - 5 miles @8:26 p/m

Very happy with this one. It was basically the same run as two weeks previous, but whereas that time I limped through the last two miles, this was a pain free run out - and the best part of two minutes per mile quicker overall.

Fri 2/12 - Rest

Sat 3/12 - Jingle Bells 5k, Phoenix Park

Past

This was my first ever 5k, way back in 2012. Back then I was thrilled with a time of 21:16. I thought I would have a better record in this race subsequently, however this turned out not to be the case.

2013 - 22:23. Stinkbomb.
2014 - Didn't enter.
2015 - DNS, due to uncertainty about the race taking place in the midst of Storm Desmond.

My PB for 5k was set on the grand occasion of my 50th parkrun, which took place in Porterstown at the end of May (20:36). In spite of my steady diet of nothing (relatively) with regard to mileage since DCM, I'd set the beating of this time as a minimum requirement here. One of my goals as stated at the start of 2016 was to go sub 20, and it was the only one I still had a chance of beating this year. So that was the plan anyway.

Pre

I got to the Papal Cross car park super early, and had a mile warmup done before some of our massive club contingent arrived. By chance, I bumped into nop98 and the artist formerly known as Firedance, and hence I was there to witness the presentation of her well deserved t-shirt

Once the rest of our group had got themselves dressed for action, we got a nice warmup done around the Acres, finishing with some strides alongside the start area.

I lined up not too far back, with some club colleagues a wee bit in front, and HelenAnne almost directly behind me. I saw Murph_D earlier, and was looking for him again as we waited for the gun, but no luck there.

One

My lack of speed work was certainly felt on the opening stint uphill. At this early stage, I was trying to follow our lady captain, a 19:xx 5k runner on the road, who's been improving rapidly on the XC scene. However, she gradually pulled away as we approached the roundabout, and quite a few others passed me too. To be honest, I was gasping a bit, and thinking maybe I'd set the bar a bit too high, considering my lack of action lately. But this would be the hardest kilometre, wouldn't it?

Two

Much of the same really, as we turned onto Chesterfield Avenue. More and more groups came by, and spat me out the back as soon as I thought I had a chance of staying with them. Surely some of them were thinking, who's the joker in the cap starting this far up? Our coach was near the 2k marker, and gave me a shout. Even at this stage though, I was struggling to come up for air. Not good. Not good at all.

Three

The slight downhill as we approached the turn onto Ordnance Survey Road gave me a small bit of respite, but not enough to halt the seemingly endless tide of runners leaving me behind. Shortly before we passed the Ordnance Survey itself, it was HelenAnne's turn. I made a half hearted attempt to tag on, but very soon it was clear that wasn't going to work. By now I was just hanging on and waiting for the last 2k, hoping the run to the finish would boost my confidence and speed. Eight minutes, eight minutes!!!

Four

The slope began to change in my favour. And finally, I started to pass people. I think I passed two runners in the first 3k, whereas we're talking three figures for people passing me in the same area. I was pushing harder now, and thinking that if I kept HA at a reasonable distance, I might have a chance of beating the 20. Surprisingly, there was nobody else around that I recognised. As we worked our way out of the treelined chicane, I was passed by a guy in a Samsung Night Run top, and a wee bit ahead was a guy in some Kerry marathon top or other.

Five

Downhill we went. I was still wary of maybe going too hard too soon, given the lack of speedwork. I had in my head "just one 800 left, this is the last one, give it everything". Trouble was, it's been 3/4 months since I ran an 800 with the club. Anyway, I was gaining again on the two lads above, and caught a few others coming down the hill. Just before we turned left for the final 150m push to the line, the road kicked up a tiny bit. I negotiated the turn, and then started turning up the gas as I could see 19 on the clock ahead. I'm thinking, Yes, it's on! Go! Go! Go!

Just as I was going through the gap between Kerry guy and Samsung man, Samsung decided to dive right across me, and completely blocked my run. With Kerry guy on my left, I had nowhere to go, and ended up almost at a standstill. A clubmate was supporting here and gave me a shout to push again. I tried to repair the damage, but those two were gone, and another lad pipped me on the line, as I tried to regain momentum in a last gasp push, for what for me would hopefully be sub-20 glory. I crossed the line in 20:09 on the gun.

Post

At the finish I was absolutely fuming, as I tried to catch my breath on the rails, as Murph_D joined me, and scotindublin (who, unknown to me, had been following closely behind) gave me a shout. I reckoned I'd been cheated out of sub-20 by someone with absolutely no idea of etiquette. It wasn't like there was a prize at stake or anything. In the meantime, I met my mentors nop98 and Bungy Girl, who had a fine battle coming down the hill I also met denis_b again, and it was great to read of so many fine performances from the 2016 Novices Graduates later on.

Many hours later, my fears were realised, as the chip time came in at 20:03. It's a PB of over half a minute, but I can't help feeling I might have missed my best chance of beating 20 minutes this year.

Next

I haven't given up yet on that goal. There's a couple of parkruns where I can go for it, and maybe Clonliffe's Christmas Cracker race on the 27th, if I still haven't nailed it by then. We also have a club 10k XC race on the 18th. Thankfully that's a handicap race

Sun 4/12 - 3 miles @9:05 p/m

Poker and PB beers on Saturday night, along with lots of junk food, meant it was too early for me to join the club lads for any of the Sunday morning runs. It was closer to 11 by the time I got out. Due to college this afternoon, a rapidly shrinking time window meant I only completed two laps of Porterstown instead of the planned three. Still, a nice way to finish the week, and I felt a lot more refreshed afterwards. Looking forward to the next few weeks!

Thanks a million for all the good wishes! Feels great being back in the game, although the DOMS hit big time Sunday and Monday :eek:

tang1 wrote: »

Bit of HTFU over the first half of the race and you had it, taking over 30 secs off your PB coming off marathon training is great going, be proud of yourself, well done.

Cheers! Getting used to racing at that speed again took some adjusting. Now I know I have the time in me, I can go after the next one with more confidence. More speedwork with the club should help.

Annie get your Run wrote: »

There's a very flat 5K in the PP on New Years day, can't remember the name of it, Tommy Byrne something? Tang?? Anyway, massive well done on your PB, the sub 20 is there for the taking especially with some speed work in the legs. Great to catch up with you yesterday too

Thanks, congrats on the PB yourself! I have that race on my radar all right. I'm still hoping to get sub 20 this year rather than next, but if that's what happens I'll still celebrate it just the same

Murph_D wrote: »

Nice going J - some similarities in my race. Sounds like I started a bit behind you, had HA in sight for a good while, and like you was trying to keep in range. I was passed by a Samsung shirt on upper Glen, possibly same guy. Tough luck on the straight, maybe he's a xc guy though, a legitimate block! You'll get it soon enough, matter of time!

Good to know, D! I've plenty of XC on the cards in the New Year. I reckon I'll run at least five or six of those races between now and March; club as well as BHAA. Think I need to get the old GAA shoulder charges working again!

denis b wrote: »

Absolutely no doubt that the sub 20 can be done this year on the right course. Might be worth checking out a favourable Parkrun course. Do report.

Thanks Denis, I might have mentioned before (maybe not on this log though) that for a period in 2015 I'd run all the Dublin parkruns. As far as chasing a time goes, I haven't run Father Collins yet, so that might be one to try in this regard.

Kennyg71 wrote: »

Great run today pity about them few sec, but great improvement. Well done on pb.

Yeah I'm feeling more relaxed and less diva-esque about the whole episode now; these things happen, it's great that we're able to do them. Nice couple of runs yourself lately.

Ososlo wrote: »

Excellent pb! You're almost there! I'd highly recommend Clonliffe's Xmas Cracker for your next stab at it. It's a lovely course and if the weather plays ball, you'd have a great chance of getting your sub 20 and there'd be loads of good runners around your time. Well done yesterday!

Yes indeed, great shout on that one! I haven't run it before, but it's become a definite possibility. Minding myself for the couple of days beforehand might not be so easy though still, it's on the list for now.

HelenAnne wrote: »

Well done, Murph d and WW; I had no idea I was so many people's marker / pacer! 😀ðŸ႒🻠14 sec PB for me - delighted. My first uncontroversial sub-20 (19.48) (and I know it's practically all downhill so I hope it still counts!)

I loved it. I didn't know how I'd feel as I've had a cough for a few weeks, but I just thought I'd give it a lash and take each kilometre as it came, rather than worrying about the ones ahead. It was perfect weather and a perfect course, so I felt if I didn't break 20 there I just wasn't ready to. My previous pb's were 20.03 in Rathfarnham in 2015 and 20.02 in Malahide parkrun earlier this year; I'd say if you pick the right race you'll get from 20.03 to sub 20 much quicker than I did.

I did the Reindeer Run 10k in Marlay today and felt wrecked! The drags at the top of the park felt like Everest!

Thanks H, I was certain when we were lining up that you'd run sub-20 already; I'd forgotten that it was in the GT5k. Well done on cracking it for sure this time, and fair play on completing the back to back!

Singer wrote: »

I did Clonliffe's Xmas Cracker a good bit faster than Jingle Bells last year (though the weather conditions were atrocious at Jingle Bells), it's a reasonably fast 5k alright. I'm sure you'll nudge over pretty soon anyway!

Getting there B, so close! I still haven't made it onto the 10 round numbers table, still got a chance though!

jake1970 wrote: »

Well done WW, congrats on the PB.

No worries, the PB I set in May bettered one that had stood for nearly two years (20:46, Malahide pr, June 2014) so when you view it like that, it's a lot more positive!

Sun 11/12 - 4 miles @7:42 p/m

For a long time, it looked like this would be another non-running day. Two more Christmas parties left me feeling very delicate, to say the least. However, I finally got it together shortly after 6:30. I don't normally run after dinner, but tonight it was a necessary evil. I kept up a nice pace here, all things considered. Typing this now I feel much better, partially cleansed after putting away so much alcohol and junk food the last few days. Next week will be better, I promise

Tue 13/12 - Rest.

Wed 14/12 - Rest. I had considered going Wednesday & Thursday, but with a back to back planned for the weekend, maybe the right decision was made?

Thu 15/12 - 5 miles @8:04 p/m

Similar 5 miler to the previous late night ones in recent weeks. Much quicker than previous attempts, without feeling under too much pressure. I even threw 5 100m strides in for good measure.

Fri 16/12 - No running

I've been fighting a head cold most of the day and night. So frustrating. I had planned a parkrun sub 20 attempt to start off the weekend, but now I could be struggling to be fit enough for the 6 mile XC on Sunday :mad:

Bungy Girl wrote: »

Hope you're feeling a bit better today ? You know yourself you're better off letting a cold run its course and getting rid of it and wait until you're fully fit to race.

Where's the XC on Sunday ? 6 miles sounds tough!

Thanks G, yes the fog is clearing, slowly but surely! Briefly this morning I had the mad idea of getting up and heading over "Sure I can just shuffle around. No pressure to put in a time or anything!" Then I turned over, and when I woke up again it was 9:30

I remember a few years ago insisting (against my wife's wishes) that I was able to do the Fat Turkey Run. This was in spite of me coughing and spluttering constantly for 2-3 days previous, and all the way across in the car. It's a tough enough course as it is, even in the whole of your health. Not an experience I ever want to repeat.

XC tomorrow is in Porterstown Park. It's an annual event which my club (MSB) stages usually the Sunday before Christmas. I've never run a XC race as long as this before, but thankfully it's a handicap race. Should be a bit of craic anyway

Kennyg71 wrote: »

Well done, never ran XC always sounds tough and have idea I would struggle
around.

Cheers, no hassle! I highly recommend that you at least give XC a try. You never know, you might even find it more enjoyable than road races, parkruns and what not. The Dublin Masters is on January 8 in St Anne's Park. If you're of that vintage, no better time to get involved. BHAA also have a few decent XC races in the New Year.

Do it now,
Discover how,
Do it now

Annie get your Run wrote: »

Good of him to come out and race given it's his busiest time of year n all (I'll get my coat...)

Well done! glad to see you've a few more XC lined up for the new year, they are tough physically and mentally but IMO you can not beat a XC race, the team work, the camaraderie and ultimately the physical benefits far outweigh how hard they can be

As an aside I still haven't made it to porterstown PR and won't now until next year but it's high on the 2017 to do list..

Thanks AM, I've kind of missed the old XC scene. I've four on the list (two Masters, two BHAA) in the first few weekends of 2017. You're welcome to Porterstown any time!

Mon 19/12 - 3 miles+ in 8:59 p/m

I can't help thinking I undersold myself yesterday, as the legs certainly don't feel like they went through a 6 mile XC race. I suppose it's difficult to judge how hard to push when (a) you haven't run that far in XC before, and (b) just over an illness.

Anyway, I went back to Porterstown this morning, for a couple of laps of the tarmac path this time. Half mile plus jog from the house to the start of my first lap in 5:08. Lap 1 in a gentle 8:44. I decided to pick up the pace a bit for the second one, and 8:21 was the result. A little bit quicker going home too (4:46).

I'm not quite ready to put away the runners for 2016. I'm still chasing a sub 20 5k in 2016 (fingers crossed!) this time in the Porterstown parkrun on Christmas Eve. If I get this, I'll probably take on the Fat Turkey Run on the 28th (unfinished business there!) If not, it'll be a shot at the Clonliffe Christmas Cracker 5k on the 27th.

Quick update.....

Tue 20/12 - Rest.

Work today and college tonight. It was the last night of the semester, although the next batch of assignments will occupy a fair chunk of my time over the holidays. Didn't get home till about 8:45, so no running.

Wed 21/12 - 4 miles @7:36 p/m

Partly a guilt run, but I'm delighted with how it turned out. With the week that's in it, there's been an unreal amount of sweets, chocolates, cake etc etc going around in work. Do you think I managed to steer clear of the carnage? All self inflicted, I admit!

Anyway, to the run itself. This was two laps of a loop around the estates beside home. I got up to a pretty decent tempo on the second lap, and in fact I reckon it's the fastest I've ever run that loop. Not always easy with walkers, road crossings and so forth, but encouraging if I decide to go full tilt in the parkrun on Christmas Eve. Forecast is poor, and in all probability I'll have a few after work socials on Friday. So we'll see