Monday, July 27th: 6.4km Recovery (5:44/km)
Very tired after the past two days’ runs so it was just a short easy run this evening with John.
All three of us reckoned postponing the Tempo run til tomorrow made most sense so myself and Roisin went out for a very easy run. Correct decision!
Suitably refreshed from the weekend by now, myself, Roisin and John jogged the 2km down to the start point. My aim was to add a lap to last time out. However it was also going to be aimed at 4:20/km – 3 secs per km faster than last time.
First lap went well but after lap 2 the average was down to 4:21/km pace, so I had to keep a close watch on pace after that. By the end of lap 5 I managed to pass Roisin on her recovery lap (she was doing 2 sets of 3 laps). I was expecting to see John in the distance over the last couple of laps but he had his run completed before I got the chance. Final couple of laps were a bit tougher and that can be seen in a slight rise in HR. Overall though, my HR was well below where I expected it to be which is a good thing.
Went for a run at lunchtime. Presumed I’d run nice and easy after last night but after the first km the pace was fastish (~5:00/km) and the HR still quite low (~132bpm) and effort was grand. Stayed with it for the remainder of the run and although it got a little tougher on the return into the breeze it never got anyways hard. Happy when finished with a good steady run. Tomorrow will be a very relaxed run for sure!
Friday, July 31st: Rest Day
Was going to go out in the evening but after a couple of big days I decided a rest day in advance of tomorrow’s LSR was the optimal session!
This run was a key training run in my plan for Berlin. I had targeted 14km @ MP so this was going to tell a lot about where my training is at.
We were travelling to Mayo in the early afternoon so I was up before 8am for this one. Quick breakfast of a bowl of granola and a cup of coffee and I was all set. Just a toilet visit (coffee was doing its work!) before I was out the door. My route was towards the Coast for the first bit, run the At. Anne’s Parkrun for the start of the faster stuff before adding a heap more and then jogging the remainder home.
The first 10.5km to St. Anne’s were unremarkable apart for the need of a return toilet trip growing over the last couple of kms. I managed a quick visit to the Red Stables before arriving at race HQ with Mark halfway through his RD briefing. A very efficient schedule meant that in total my break here was less than 5 mins before the run was started by Mark.
I settled in to a nice pace for the first km with my GPS struggling a little to pace me correctly. I figured I was going according to plan and so kept around this pace for the remainder of the first lap. Passing through halfway I was listening out for an 11:50 split but the guy announced 11:23 instead! Well ahead of target so I decided I should slow down a little. Again, I couldn’t trust the watch fully so I mainly went by effort although it was very easily to be dragged around with the crowd!
On the final straight to the line I found it difficult to hold myself back and not make a run for home as most of those around me were! Discipline won out however and I trotted over the line for a time of 22:52 – 28 seconds ahead of target. This meant that my 4:40/km intended pace was actually more like 4:35/km. I hoped this would not cause issues later in my run!
After getting my token scanned I was immediately off running again. This time MP seemed more difficult to maintain, I guess because there was no other runners helping to pace me! lso, there was a gusty breeze to contend with which seemed to always be in my face! I was now running southwards along the Coast Road but after several kms along the Clontarf promenade the wind was just getting ridiculously strong so I decided to retrace my steps back via St. Anne’s. Although this felt easier the pace never really got any faster and maintained around the 4:45/km level. Because I was a little off my target pace I decided to push the faster stuff out to 16km instead of the prescribed 14km. Things only really got anyways difficult in the last few hundred metres however.
By the time I was I Raheny village I was done with the faster stuff so it was now just a matter of jogging it home. I was still pretty knackered at this stage though so even though the pace was quite decent I just got home and rested up until our car journey a couple of hours later.
Job done and a great boost for my training. I may have missed out on the goal pace by a couple of seconds but I’d be confident of holding that effort for a lot longer.
Sunday, August 2nd: Rest Day
Seeing as I was at home I decided I’d just enjoy the day so ended up doing nothing but resting.
Week Summary:
RTW: 6 from 7 days
DTW: 67.7km
DTY: 1,797.3km
