My first MLR of this training cycle. Kept it at a nice even steady rate. Added in a section of DCU park to raise the distance. Enkoyable run all round. Felt grand at the end.
Tuesday, June 16th: Rest Day
First rest day for over two weeks. Well deserved!
Wednesday, June 17th: 6.5km Easy (5:21/km)
Met up with John for this one. Just an easy run to tick over til tomorrow…
Thursday, June 18th: 7.5km Docklands 5km Race (20:06)
I arrived after work to collect our numbers and t-shirts only to be told they had ran out of everything but XS. Thankfully there was a sheet to scribble our names down and they promised to email us with an offer of a proper sized t-shirt in a few weeks.*
I went for a bit of a warm-up although the evening was beautifully sunny. There were a few concerns arising when I started to think it might get too hot for this evening’s race. Even more pressing than that was the hip injury that still has not gone away. Getting out of the car I could really feel it but mercifully the bit of a warm-up managed to alleviate most of the pain.
After meeting Roisin briefly we then went to our respective parts of the crowd. I jumped a barrier (Hip was so sore that even raising the leg over this was pretty touch and go!) and settled in a few rows from the front, about 2 rows behind the sub 20 pacer. There was about a 10 minute wait for the Gardai to rid the course of the few remaining cars but nobody really cared that much.
We were away before most people even knew it! Almost immediately there was a natural narrowing in the road which managed to funnel people through and create space once out the far side of the junction. I looked up and noticed the pacers were about 30m in front of me already!! Still though I was happy with how I was moving so I just stuck to my own pace until over the bridge.
As we turned down the North Quays the wind was now on our backs, and after 200m I noticed I was beginning to ever so slightly close the gap on the Sub 20 bus. This gave me plenty of confidence to keep on at the right pace all along the quays to the turnaround at the 3 Arena. Not long after this I got a shout out from R as she was coming the opposite way. The breeze was now once more in our faces but this made it easier than when it was on our backs.
As we crossed the bridge for the second (and final) time we lost the cooling breeze again. Instantly I could sense my body’s core temperature increase! Things were literally heating up now with just under a mile remaining. A quick glance at my watch told me my average for the first 4km was under 20min pace, yet the pacers never got that much closer to me! The final 500m was a real sufferfest and when I heard the watch beep for 5km with still a fair distance to go I realised that it might prove a few metres too long for me tonight. And so it proved as I crossed the line in 20:06 by my watch. The 20min split was 19:52 but seeing as the course distance always overrules the Garmin distance I’ll just have to grin and bear it! Still though, I was very happy with the performance considering I was contemplating not running it at all beforehand given the hip situation.
A few minutes cooling down and Roisin arrived home in a time of 24:40 – smashing her PB and the 25min barrier in the process! A happy pair all round!
Docklands 5k – 20:06.
* I was emailed about a week later with an update with which I was very happy.
Friday, June 19th: 5.6km Easy (5:28/km)
Just a few easy miles to recover from last night.
Saturday, June 20th: 7.0km Easy (5:15/km)
Still feeling a little jaded from Thursday’s race so took it easy once again.
Sunday, June 21st: 24.7km LSR with 5km @ MP (5:27/km, 4:45/km)
Myself and Roisin hit the Phoenix Park for this one. However, seeing as our paces are about a minute in the difference we instantly went our separate ways for our runs. The LSR last week went very well and I was reasonably fresh afterwards, however this was a different kettle of fish! Conditions were muggier and with the race still in my legs the run was far less enjoyable. I ended up 1.3km short of goal distance, beaten mentally even more than physically! There was quite a stiff breeze on display and I really felt it with my MP kms at the end. The effort was more 10km than MP! When I returned to the car I discovered Roisin also struggled a little bit today so I guess just one to write-off and go again next week. Still, far from a disaster, I guess!
Week Summary:
RTW: 6 from 7 days
DTW: 66.4km
DTY: 1,335.8km
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