Return to Raheny Winter League

Monday, 6th January 2014 – 11.9km Distance run (5:11/km)

I was a little tired after work and would probably have taken the day as a complete Rest day had I not already arranged to meet Anto for a run directly after work. As it was we took the first fewkms relatively easy and things started to come together. It was a pretty windy evening so we decided to throw in 3km of faster running which Anto was seeking along Collins Avenue and up the Swords Road. These came in at 4:48/4:47/4:37 and I think both of us were pretty happy when the time came that we could slow down again!

A good run which I may otherwise have missed out on.

Tuesday, 7th January 2014 – 13.4km MPT run with 3x15mins @ 4:36/km

I changed the sessions around this week as, with the Raheny 3 miler tomorrow evening, I hope to be able to recover a little better from this MT pace run than the alternative Interval session which was originally planned.

The run itself called for a 16-20km total with 3 reps of 15mins at marathon tempo pace (4:36/km). The pace itself didn’t worry me too much, rather it is the current, seemingly endless windy conditions that I dreaded. I knew conditions would make the run tougher and that by running this pace my actual effort would be several bpm higher. However, this training plan is all about paces so I was going to have to match what was required.

I did the usual 1km warm-up but as I was about to start into my first rep I noticed the signal still hadn’t been located so I decided to stop and wait for it to register, which it did after about 60 seconds. With that I started into the first 15mins of MP. This went pretty well and I ended up clocking in at an average of 4:31/km, so a bit ahead of plan but it was a favourable segment. For the second rep I was faced with the uphill section along the Ballymun road so for the first km which was all uphill to register in 4:39 I was pretty happy. I maintained the effort before managing to close out the rep in an average of 4:35/km. The final rep was into the wind for a decent section but again I mnaged to get around in an average of 4:34/km. Thankfully most of the last 1.5km was downwind so the tiring legs didn’t have to work quite so hard!

So, I beat the goal pace for all three segments which I was delighted with as conditions weren’t really helping in the main. Almost 10km @ MPT overall even if I did come short of the recommended distance for the evening. Not really bothered about that though as I already have last night’s run in the bank!

Wednesday, 8th January 2014 – 9.7km Raheny 3 mile race (4:07/km)

Tonight was round 4 of the Raheny Winter League Series and my first race in it this season. I was eager to see where I lay in terms of faster races but knew with the elevated ammount of miles recently and last nights tempo session that I wouldn’t be quite up to my potential this evening. These races are very low key, so much so that you simply rock up to the clubhouse about 7:30pm to pay the entry fee of €7, get your number and then head off for a mini warm-up. This usually means an easy lap of the 1 mile course and then a few stretched before gathering for the 8pm start with the 50 or so other runners.

Tonight was a particularly wet night but at least the recent windy weather had ended. The course is 3 laps of a very flat one mile loop beside St. Anne’s Park. It’s run through an estate which means the street lighting illuminates the course if somewhat dimly. I lined up with about 20 people in front of me. Finally, at about 8:05 we were set away.

I got caught up a little in the early melee for positions and by the time I realised where I was I decided to ease back from the 3:45/km pace after 300m towards a more sustainable 4:00/km pace. Things had settled quickly enough but after about 900m the eventual lady winner went past looking very composed. I kept it steady all the way to the finish of the first lap where I went through 1 mile in 6:30. This was a little slower than I’d hoped for but only by a few seconds and I was hoping this was a reasonably sustainable pace.

Around this time a local runner was on my shoulder. We ran the next km next to each other but once we turned the following corner he started to slowly put daylight between us. I felt myself slowing but couldn’t respond. I reasoned this was to be expected given the reasons outlined earlier so just went with it. I trailed ‘Colm’ through the 2 mile marker in 13:25! I couldn’t believe I was that slow as I’d been expecting only a slightly slower mile than the first one but yet it was a 6:55!

With the final mile I decided I’d try emptying the tank altogether. Unfortunately though the body was not in agreement! The legs were heavy and the lungs were tired so it ended up being more of the same with the gap to Colm widening a little more but I was never in serious threat of dropping a further place as I could hear the next guys footsteps on the sprint to the line and I ensured to keep him behind me. Ended up crossing the finish in 20:14 – 18th position (out of 49) and 16 seconds behind Colm with a 3 second gap to the next finisher. Final mile was 6:49. Finished off with a 2km cool-down to bring the distance for the evening up to almost 10km.

Pretty steady HR all the way through shows the effort was there but perhaps the output was lacking.

Not sure exactly what to make of this. Hoped to be closer to an averag pace of 4:00/km but it is a PB (20:27 & 21:10 on the same course last Winter) which is encouraging amongst the current workload. I’ll keep plugging away anyways with the Tuam 8km next weekend before the Raheny 5 miler the following weekend. I’ll try giving myself an easyish lead-in to those races to see if I can do serious damage to my 5 mile PB (34:46 in Terenure 2012). I’d be hoping for sub 33mins if conditions are favourable.

Week 1 Summary (so far):

RTW: 3 from 3 days

DTW: 35.0km

DTY: 117.8km