Dunboyne 5 miler

Monday, May 25^th: 7.4km Steady (5:08/km)

A good steady run around Collins Avenue. Can’t really remember anything about it though!

Tuesday, May 26^th: 11.0km Dunboyne 5 Miler (33:52)

Arrived quite close to the wire for this race so just about managed to get registered before jogging down to the race start and using that as my warmup. A beautiful evening and a great turnout. I was hoping to go better than Terenure here but doubted I’d be bothering the 34min barrier. As it turns out everything went brilliantly with a very fast course and perfect weather bringing me home in 33:52. Extremely pleased with that and only about 15 seconds off the PB! Speaking to a few people afterwards and almost everyone seemed to run a great race. Definitely do this one again next year!

Wednesday, May 27^th: 6.5km Easy Run (5:16/km)

I went for this run right after yoga in the gym. Hated pretty much every minute of it though as the legs had been overworked and as a result it felt like I was just falling forward. Strangely it ended up as a fastish pace. Definitely did not enjoy this and calling it an easy run is a bit of a misnomer!

Thursday, May 28^th: 5.0km CH: 2.5Mile race (16:29)

This evening’s race took place in the grounds of Malahide Castle and was ran in a handicap system. There was a good turnout of nearly 60 racers and I was positioned about halfway through the crowd. The intention was for the slower runners to start first with everyone else delayed by a certain time period so that in theory the fastest will have caught the slowest (and everyone else) by the finish line to give one massive photo finish! Of course things never work out like that but I was thinking the trail towards the end come become very busy!

Myself and two others started approximately 7 minutes and 15 seconds after the first racer. Through the first 300m we three were pretty level but I started to open a little gap as we turned into the forest away from the golf course. The female runner then joined me and we paced off each other pretty well for the next while before she dropped back a little around the halfway mark.

We were now passing lots of runners that we’d caught up to and the pathway was just beginning to get a little crowded. Not long after this point I passed Roisin who was having her own battle with those around her. Then, thankfully, we arrived out of the trees with just a few hundred metres remaining. At this stage one or two of the really fast guys came charging past in the last ditch sprint for home. At this point I got nabbed by the girl that started with me too – She was putting in a serious sprint down the last 100m and after Tuesday I just had no kick left. I kept on however and passed a handful more people before crossing the finish in 16:29 and 13^th place.

Pretty happy with my finishing position but was hoping for a faster time. I guess several issues were at play here including some tiredness from Dunboyne as well as possibly a slightly long course through the trails and paths. Thankfully though, the congestion on the paths never really became too much of an issue for me. A very enjoyable evening once we got started!

Friday, May 29^th: Rest Day

Feeling a bit jaded today so opted for a rest day.

Saturday, May 30^th: 28.9km Fartlek (5:25/km)

For my long run I headed down to Donadea Forest to join in with Anto and his 100km race for a few loops. I missed the turnoff coming from Maynooth so my detour through Clane meant that I was a few mins late arriving. No worry though as I met the peloton shortly after they started and joined in to a nice easy 5:45/km pace with them. The loop was 7km which included an out and back section of 1km each way. In what was lovely weather I had a great time doing a few early quicker kms (‘running’ an errand for Anto) followed by a couple of slower loops before finishing with a fast loop. By the time I returned to the car I was just shy of 29km, so well pleased with that. One of those runs where I reckon I could have managed the full 42.2km if I so desired. Mind you, even with the benefit of 45 mins in the local gym’s jacuzzi I was still pretty tired that night.

Sunday, May 31^st: Rest Day

Yesterday definitely took a good bit out of me. So, given the fact we were in Tyrone, we took a trip to watch the latter parts of the Derry marathon, meaning another rest day was definitely the smart option!

Week Summary:
RTW: 5 from 7 days
DTW: 58.8km
DTY: 1,118.6km