Easy run with John around the local park. A little tired after yesterday but not too bad overall. Did feel the quads being a little painful for a few minutes before settling back down again.
Tuesday, June 30th: 11.3km Steady (7km @ 4:50/km)
Went for a local run with Roisin. Very warm this evening. Decided to do about 4 miles at the pace required for next Saturday’s pacing gig in the Clontarf HM. Not too bad and sped up a little towards the end before rejoining Roisin for a slow last couple of kms.
Wednesday, July 1st: 16.3km MLR (5:31/km)
Called to the Phoenix Park on my way home from work for a Medium Long Run. I'm going to do these every Wednesday from now on as the mileage ramps up further in the final 12 weeks.
The run itself went pretty well with an average of 5:31/km, neatly fitting into my desired range. Contemplated stretching it out to 18km but thought I'd better keep something in reserve for Saturday for the pacing job. Good to have been able to consider the extra kms anyways!
The run itself went pretty well with an average of 5:31/km, neatly fitting into my desired range. Contemplated stretching it out to 18km but thought I'd better keep something in reserve for Saturday for the pacing job. Good to have been able to consider the extra kms anyways!
Thursday, July 2nd: Rest Day
I was a little tired after yesterday and just felt like a rest day regardless. Even though I'm back to 6 days per week I don't feel like I'm chasing miles like I have done previously. If I want a rest day I generally have less time convincing myself to do so than I would have in previous years.
Friday, July 3rd: 7.5km Easy (5:30/km)
An easy run down in the local park again, just keeping the legs fresh for tomorrow…
Saturday, July 4th: 25.5km Clontarf Half Marathon (1:45:00)
In the few days leading up to it I was a little apprehensive about this pacing gig. The last time I paced here was a 1:40 group with Jamie back in November 2013 and I struggled over the closing miles. Today was 5 mins slower but I wasn’t certain of how I would cope with the distance at that pace.
The day turned out to be very warm with a strong breeze as myself and Roisin did a warm-up. I ran into a few of the usual suspects with Niall, Jamie, Matt, Peter and Brian all pacing as well. Met Shane for the first time after knowing the name through Boards for quite a while. I grabbed my balloon and made way for the start area about 5 mins before race was due to start. Peter took a bit longer to get there after being stuck in a queue at the toilets and just about made the race start!
We were in the second wave and as such there was a little bit of free path for us to run on when we crossed the start line. Almost immediately though our balloons got tangled and after a few attempts at detangling I gave up and we accepted our fate and simply ran tangled together! We had just enough length in the balloon strings though to be able to go either side of slower runners and arch over them with the balloons!
The day turned out to be very warm with a strong breeze as myself and Roisin did a warm-up. I ran into a few of the usual suspects with Niall, Jamie, Matt, Peter and Brian all pacing as well. Met Shane for the first time after knowing the name through Boards for quite a while. I grabbed my balloon and made way for the start area about 5 mins before race was due to start. Peter took a bit longer to get there after being stuck in a queue at the toilets and just about made the race start!
We were in the second wave and as such there was a little bit of free path for us to run on when we crossed the start line. Almost immediately though our balloons got tangled and after a few attempts at detangling I gave up and we accepted our fate and simply ran tangled together! We had just enough length in the balloon strings though to be able to go either side of slower runners and arch over them with the balloons!
We had advised our pacees to take it easy on the sand on the way out as it was going to be much tougher on the way back. It was still tough enough on the way out mind you, but we held a pretty sizeable gang all the way to the turnaround near Kilbarrack. The wind was in our face and much tougher now so we eased off the pace a little to give people a chance to stay with us. Unfortunately though many slipped away at this stage.
The return on the sand was very tough for most of the gang and we ended up simply churning through runners as we caught, ran with and then dropped lots that were struggling into the wind on the beach. Thankfully I was still able to manage the pace reasonably well and there was no issue of me not completing my task today!
As we left the beach we encouraged people to stick with it as we were over the worst now. I mentioned to Peter that I'd drop back and try to get a few other bodies to stick with us to the finish as we only had 4-5 pacees at this stage. Over the course of the next kilometre I managed to get 3 others to make the step up across to Peter and on the run in to the finish a couple of stragglers were coaxed across the line to 1:45:00 on the dot on my watch. In reality they would probably have been slightly over as I'm sure they fell off their original pace, but hey, at least they saved themselves a few extra seconds regardless!
After the couple of km before the race and the decent session just completed I managed to get another mile of cool-down under my belt before heading to Bay for Lunch. Roisin completed her run with lots of energy remaining and covered 27km for the day to make it a successful day all round!
The return on the sand was very tough for most of the gang and we ended up simply churning through runners as we caught, ran with and then dropped lots that were struggling into the wind on the beach. Thankfully I was still able to manage the pace reasonably well and there was no issue of me not completing my task today!
As we left the beach we encouraged people to stick with it as we were over the worst now. I mentioned to Peter that I'd drop back and try to get a few other bodies to stick with us to the finish as we only had 4-5 pacees at this stage. Over the course of the next kilometre I managed to get 3 others to make the step up across to Peter and on the run in to the finish a couple of stragglers were coaxed across the line to 1:45:00 on the dot on my watch. In reality they would probably have been slightly over as I'm sure they fell off their original pace, but hey, at least they saved themselves a few extra seconds regardless!
After the couple of km before the race and the decent session just completed I managed to get another mile of cool-down under my belt before heading to Bay for Lunch. Roisin completed her run with lots of energy remaining and covered 27km for the day to make it a successful day all round!
Sunday, July 5th: Rest Day
I was meant to do a short easy run but ended up having a few too many beers last night so figured there’d be nothing to be gained from the intended run. Will have to cut down these excuses for the remainder of the plan til Berlin!
Week Summary:
RTW: 5 from 7 days
DTW: 67.8km
DTY: 1,479.1km
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