Today was to be my last long run before Lanzarote in two weeks time so I combined the Clontarf HM with some miles before and afterwards to meet this goal.
I arrived to Clontarf around 9am and jogged to the reg tent where I picked up my number before returning to the car to pin on the number and properly prepare for my warm-up. From there I ran at an easy pace along the start of the course before turning back near the wooden bridge. By the time I had returned to the start I had completed 6km and there was 20mins to race start.
I met Jamie (pacing partner) and several other familiar faces as we sorted out the balloons. In no time we were in position awaiting the first wave to set sail. A gap of 90 seconds was allowed for the start of the second wave of which we were at the front. A large gang ran with us for the first 5km including Peter who was in Chicago with us. There was plenty of chat for the first few km but that slowly died off after the first beach segment when we had to put the head down and work as we ran into the wind rolling down from Raheny. Thankfully as we turned for Sutton it eased off again and the next few km were more comfortable running.
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| Jamie on the far left and myself in the black top. |
By this stage the group had thinned out somewhat but there was still about 20 runners or so with us. The race director had laid on a 10km pacing mat which was a novel idea (designed so that if there was a particularly strong wind you could at least get a good 10km time - if it was a South Westerly!). I had been running at steady 4:40/km pace but the sand sapped a little time from that so I was keen to check if I was on for my 46:40 split. However, we went through in 47:08 instead and this showed us to be running at 4:43/km which was quite close to the bone. I therefore decided to push it a little bit more to gain a factor of safety as we would likely lose more time through the sand on the return.
We turned for home 600m later and were up by 15 seconds so it was now where we wanted to be. After the turn though a gap of about 50m appeared between myself and Jamie with most of the crew sticking with Jamie. I was a bit apprehensive about the time so I maintained my pace til the beach where as expected things slowed down a bit again. This time on the beach the wind was blowing straight into our faces and it was a bit off putting being so cold if not particularly strong. By half way along the beach Jamie and the gang had caught up again and around here I started flagging a little.
As we turned right at the end of the beach we had about 200m of rough sand to cross and combined with the wind this was a tough section. Much of my reserve strength was sapped along here and when we got back onto the road again, with just 3.5km to go, I was having to tuck in behind Jamie for a bit of drafting. Unfortunately around this spot Jamie mentioned that he was getting a little worried about the pace dropping slightly and began to kick on. I was now in the awkward position of waning and yet most of the pacees stayed with me! I was seriously considering giving Jamie a shout to drop back the 5-10m again and bring the group with him. Bad memories of pacing the same time in the Phoenix Park in September came flooding back! I couldn't fail at this a second time!
As we got back onto the main seafront promenade the pacees filtered into the space between myself and Jamie and we were now directing matters as an aggressive 1:40 (Jamie) and a conservative 1:40 (me). This actually worked well and with everyone in between on target for the goal time. As we covered the final couple of kms we struck upon a few that were struggling mentally and when they saw us they managed to up their game by joining us all the way to the finish. The last km was pretty tough for me and by the time I crossed the line there was a decent gap to the next runner so I feel we brought everyone in under their time, so job done!
After the line I had to take a few moments to get myself together again. This had been a tough run but I factored in a few things afterwards, specifically:
- 1:40 pacing off a 1:32:41 PB is too tight!
- The Stook 10 miler was still in my legs.
- The wind (and baloon resistance) sapped a little into my factor of safety.
- The 6km warm-up was denying the pacing job the respect it deserved.
- I didn't eat enough of a breakfast for the job in hand (one buttered scone and a cup of tea).
Afterwards I enjoyed a bit of chat with Olwyn, Joe (x2), Jamie, Niall and Peter. Before too long I was getting cold(er) and we decided to head down to Howth to support the Filipino fundraising EOI marathon. The guys had a great spread laid on outside the OCI offices and with a great turnout they managed to raise approximately €1,700 which will all go towards the Red Cross relief effort. Nice when people come together like this.
Unfortunately though my business was not finished for the day. I still had to tack on a few miles to get the distance up. So I hopped in my car, returned home, changed my clothes and did some stretchng before heading out for a local 5km run. I still hadn't eaten more than a morsel of food so halfway through the 5km I was a broken man! I had run out of energy and was working on fumes. Eventually I made it home after 6km bringing the distance for the day to over 33km so not bad at all when 21km was at marathon pace. When I look at the HM data though it is clear that it was continuously rising over the final few kms and going by my new Daniels training regime it would suggest I was running at 10km effort for the last 20mins or more. I think this was where a lack of fuel was to blame and therefore not surprising I struggled so much on the 6km loop later.
Anyways, that's a good days work in the bank now so just try and keep ticking over for the next couple of weeks before my deserved xmas break!
Sunday, 24th November, 2013 - 7.4km Recovery Run (5:48/km)
Sunday, 24th November, 2013 - 7.4km Recovery Run (5:48/km)
Got out this evening for a gentle recovery run. Slow pace but probably about right considering yesterday. Felt pretty decent all things considered. Nice evening out there again.
Week 46 Summary:
RTW: 4 from 6 days
DTW: 60.0 km
DTY: 3,581.0 km
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