After the race yesterday I had always planned to do another medium distance run today to compensate for lack of a true LSR this weekend. The idea of running on tired legs certainly worked! I ran down to Kilbarrack as an out and back route in order to prevent myself from cutting it short on a series of laps. Stopped briefly about 3km in to stretch out the quads – they were the only things really giving any issues, and even at that it is because of the effort on Sunday and should clear up in a day or two. Kept the pace in around 5:30/km after a couple of very slow 6:00+ warm up kms.
By the time I returned home I was happy to be done but if needed could have tacked on a few extra easily enough so that’s a good result!
Tuesday, July 21st: 10.5km Tempo Session (6.5km @ 4:22/km)
After probably doing a bit too much over the past few days this evening’s Tempo was just a bridge too far for Roisin so she postponed her run. That left myself and John to trot the 2km to the beginning of our tempo laps.
After realising that 4:23/km is now my 10 mile pace I decided my Tempo pace should now be around 4:20/km instead. That, allied with tired legs meant my target distance was going to be the same 6km as last time out. All went well for the first 800m lap but from there on my quads were very tight. I was afraid I might tweak one of them early on and managed to wait until 4km before pausing for approx 60 secs of stretching the problem area. Jumped back in and reset the watch for another three laps to bring the total tempo distance up to 6.5km – an extra 500m on last time.
When I got home to upload the data to Garmin Connect the bloody watch lost the data, so just as well I had a good picture of the paces/distances in my head! I think the effort was probably a bit much for pure Tempo/LT effort but happy to have done it anyway. I didn’t want to leave it any later in the week as I’ll be racing on Saturday. Easy paced running now until then. Did a few minutes on the foam roller on the quads… seemed to do something positive for them.
Wednesday, July 22nd: 6.3km Recovery (5:52/km)
Met with John again and just did a few laps of the park and home. Neither of us were feeling too energetic after last night’s LT session.
Thursday, July 23rd: 11.9km Easy (5:40/km)
Legs were a bit freer tonight so upped the distance but kept the pace nice and easy.
Friday, July 24th: Rest Day
Was going to head out for an easy short run but as the evening passed I wondered why bother, considering the past couple of runs were so easy paced anyway and with the race tomorrow surely a total day of rest would be more beneficial in every sense. And so it was!
Saturday, July 25th: 12.0km Balla 10k (42:32)
I got the train down to Castlebar this afternoon leaving me plenty of time before the race start at 7:00pm. I always enjoy going home for this race and the field is usually pretty strong and large. However, this year the field seemed to be much smaller than others (130 or so runners) and even the sharp end of the race wasn’t as well populated.
Myself and Damien did a 2km warm up over the start of the route and by the time we returned to race start we only had a few mins to wait. This race used to start a few metres up the road allowing for a safe straight run up the school avenue but recently it has been pushed back around a corner in the road for some reason. This means the first 20m involves lots of people cutting across to take the corner tight and jump up on the footpath in the process. Can’t help but think that’s a disaster waiting to happen!
After the obligatory photo opportunity for local politicians we were soon away. My goal was to give sub 42mins a bash which would mean sticking to under 4:12/km. Most of the course is either up or down with very few flat sections. The opening km included the drag up to the secondary school and then out past the local golf course. I was tracking a neighbour of mine who often finishes ahead of me. I figured if I track off her I should be home under target. However, just after the first km I drifted past her on a downhill and just about managed a brief cheer to her. I expected she’d stay with me but afterwards my Brother confirmed she’d pulled out after less than a mile with an injury of some sort.
We were now back in the village and most runners were in their groove. Changing of places was few and far between from here on home (I passed about 5 people and thankfully was not passed by anyone). The drop down to the train station before the climb back up the far side is always a toughie but once past that it’s not too bad. First water station arrived at 3km(!) but as with the remaining two ono the course I declined. There is a section around here where you get a bit of a chance to push on and make some time but it was too short-lived for my needs!
Just after halfway we tuned left into a network of boreens before hitting Hooper’s Hills at km6. This is the beginning of what I suspect is the race winning section for the faster guys, but is simply a pain in the ass for the rest of us! I managed to get past a couple of people along here though and then it’s a matter of keeping on for the next two km before returning to the main road with 800m to go.
A slight drag before the main street remains just enough to take away the fast finish you hoped for all race and just leg it for the line. 42:33 ended up on the watch, so well outside target but given the course profile I reckon that was close to sub 42min effort. I’ll definitely look to nail a faster course later in the year to see what I can do and to break the old PB. So, until next year…!
Balla 10km – 42:33.
Sunday, July 26th: 32.0km LSR (5:45/km)
Returned on the afternoon train to Dublin so straight to the park for my LSR of 32km. Felt pretty good when I pushed through the first couple of kms but after about 15km I could feel myself getting progressively more tired. Kept pace at 5:3x for the most part with a speedier couple of kms to close it out. Very happy with the run considering the race yesterday.
Although, had I known that brought me up to 89.7km for the week I’m sure I’d have pushed on the extra 300m!
Week Summary:
RTW: 6 from 7 days
DTW: 89.7km
DTY: 1,729.6km
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