Just a handy recovery run tonight. Took it so easy the av HR was 129bpm but the pace was still quite decent at an av 5:14/km so I’m taking this as a sign of training going well!
Tuesday, 23rd April 2013 – 11.8km Easy Run (4:52/km)
A lovely evening for a run with warm temperatures and a gentle cooling breeze. Having said that I just felt totally awkward on most of this run for some reason. Rarely got into the flow of things and felt like as if I was running in treacle for much of it.
Since I have upped the paces ‘Easy’ effort is now coming in around 144bpm or 4:50/km (which is quicker than my MP last November!). Tonight’s run was at an Av HR of 138bpm, so well within the easy range. The body overall is feeling a little tired after a fast week of running so I’m going to have to be careful not to push it too far or risk inviting injury.
Wednesday, 24th April 2013 – 9.1km IMRA Leinster League: Race #1 – Bray Head
I arrived around 6:30pm and registered before changing in my car. Once ready I sat listening to the radio until 7:20 arrived and I jogged the 1km down to the start to use as my warm-up. Due to the League starting with this race there is always a large amount of new registrations for IMRA at this event so it was no surprise really that we were 10mins late by the time we all set off at 7:40pm.
Once through, we were back running for a short section up some concrete steps and another choke point. The experienced runners on this route know exactly when to drop the hammer and when their rests occur so course knowledge is probably as important on this route as almost any other on the LL calendar.
For the next 10 minutes it is mainly climbing the rest of the way up the severe hill in front of us. The worst choke point occurs when we are literally rock climbing and this slows us down to a very slow progress. After waiting about 30 secs to get a chance to start my climb I’m over the top of this section in another 30seconds and then just the final short section to the cross. At this point we have reached a high point so there follows about 1,500m of flat/slightly downhill running which sounds like a nice relief but really means you start hammering the quads on what feel slightly like jelly-legs!
My progress so far was pretty satisfying in that I passed quite a few on the climb where there was a little space available. Some had gone out too hard and were already beginning to pay for it. On the faster section I was passed myself by a couple of guys who simply seemed to have better leg turnover speed. Other than that though things were going well. At the end of the faster section there was one more climb before we turned for home but thankfully this only lasted about 30 more seconds. With this completed we all knew the return leg was going to be fast and hectic. This is one of the most compelling reasons to run in IMRA races – they’re just such goddamn fun on the descents! For the most part, the next kilometre is ran at a similar pace as the outward journey due to the fact that most of the terrain is pretty flat. That is before we get to the descent from the Cross...!
Just before launching off the top I got a shout-out from Felim who was marshalling at this point (due to a niggling injury that’s kept him out of action). I could almost see the envy in his face as I briefly acknowledged him and then it was time to focus, focus, focus on the terrain beneath my feet.
I’m reasonably experienced with mountain running at this stage having taken part in about 25 races so I know what to expect from the severe downhill drops. That being said though my technique remains terrible! A combination of poor grip (My mountain runners might need a soft, wet mud alternative), ‘not the quickest leg turnover’ and aforementioned poor technique mean that I’m travelling close to the brink of my own abilities but there are still a handful of people going past me. I wonder how the hell can they go so fast and remain upright?? There is little grip around here and the slope is steep yet a couple of guys simply fly by and are out of sight in no time. I estimate that I lost at least 90 seconds much too easily on the descent to many of those around me. Really not good enough when the race only lasts 35 minutes!
Eventually we exit the side of the mountain and we’re back out on the concrete steps and then the road down to the finish. Even here I can feel the footwear being a little slippy on the wet road but with another guy closing ground quickly behind me I unleash everything I have remaining to see me across the line in 34:54 (a minute faster than last year) with a little gap to spare for 66th position out of 215 finishers.
A really fun way to spend a damp Wednesday evening and thanks to such a good job by the organisers the results were available online before the end of the
Next up is Scalp next Wednesday.
Summary: 5.8km Race with 1.0km warm-up and 2.3km cool-down (9.1km total).
Week 16 Summary (so far):
RTW: 3 from 3 days
DTW: 32.7km
DTY: 1354.1km
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