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| OK, I think that's enough of the New Year's references!! |
I awoke to a raw throat and sniffly head this morning and when I looked out the window it was a pretty rotten morning so I debated the merits of running the 5k race. There was no way I would PB today (most likely would be about 40 seconds off PB if I was feeling 100%) and the fact that I had not pre-entered the race (meaning I would have to fork out €25 for the misery!) all resulted in me going for a recovery style Distance run in the park instead.
I was still unsure if I’d enter the race or not even while doing the first couple of kms (I had the entry fee in my pocket just in case!) but running South along Chesterfield Avenue cleared my mind and the strong wind present once and for all made my decision for me. As it was I ran by the start area and had a look out for familiar faces but could see none just yet. So I continued on for a lap of the US Ambassador’s residence/Papal Cross fields. I took this pretty handy as I had been made aware that the 5:00/km Distance pace I’d been targetting on my first few runs was unnecessarily quick. Something got lost in translation and I’d zoned in on hitting a target pace. Instead the plan actually calls for a flexible pace, one that the body is capable of on the day with the main focus being on recovery from tough sessions. So then, pretty much a recovery run as per P&D? Well yes, but with the flexibility to go as fast or as slow as you feel like whereas P&D was a bit more prescriptive about staying pretty slow.
I had returned to the race start area with about 5 mins remaining to the start. Again I failed to spot many people apat from Kate with whom I briefly chatted. I waited fro the field to start their race before continuing on my way for a few more kms. Before long I was back towards the Finish area and managed to catch the lead guys finishing in a great 2 man battle. This is something I rarely get to see as I’m usually further back in the race field istelf so it was entertaining. Afterwards I met Philip and a few of his Celbridge AC teammates who I met in Rotterdam. Also chatted with Medbh briefly before I took off for the closing 2km of my run. When I arrived back at my car I had managed to rack up 13km but it felt like nothing due to all the distractions of the race. Great to get it out of the way so early. As for the race itself, I think I definitely made the correct decision even if the weather got significantly more placid for the runners while they were on course.
Thursday, 2nd January 2014 - 21.4km MLR run (4:58/km)
The plan called for a MLR between 16km - 21km. The worrying part though was the pace required (4:50/km) as it would mean a tough run in what were tough conditions out there this evening. My thinking at the beginning was to warm-up with a few km at 5:00/km and then ramp it up til I hit 4:50 average pace. The reality though was that after 2km I turned Eastwards into the seabreeze and rain and this would continue in my face for the next 8km or so. By then I was happy to allow the conditions to claim 10secs/km so I maintained the pace in around 5:00/km for the duration of the run. Things felt good until the final 5km where I began to feel somewhat tired and it felt like a little extra work was required. But then I guess this is the part that improves us as runners! I upped the pace over the final 2.5km enough to result in an overall average moving pace of 4:58/km which I was very happy with as I went 400m over the upper end of the distance range. So, a very useful MLR which leads me into my LSR this Sunday. With a tempo to come on Saturday I feel like Monday’s Rest Day will not be messed with!
Friday, 3rd January 2014 - 11.9km Distance (5:28/km)
Just an easy 11.9km loop this evening to keep things ticking over. Kept the pace nice and relaxed with a mind to the tough two days to follow.
Saturday, 4th January 2014 - 11.9km MTP with 9km @ 4:34/km
This week asks for a MP run the day before the LSR. I presume this is as an introduction of what is to come next week when we combine the MTP kms into the LSR - Not looking forward to that!! Anyways, I went for the usual 'figure of 8' loop so the Southerly wind and the hills were always set against each other. The first few kms went well but by halfway I was beginning to feel it. Thankfully though I managed to maintain it all the way to the end of 9km, which was actually a little more than the upper limit of 40mins, so that's a good sign!
After the run I lay on the couch smugly watching the Gunners knock the stuffing out of a very poor Spurs team...what a day!
Sunday, 5th January 2014 - 24.6km LSR run (5:07/km)
Met up with Colm from Boards for this run in the Phoenix Park. We started off towards the canal but as we were about to turn left towards Blanch we saw that section was closed off, presumably from the recent wild weather. Instead we turned right, towards Phibsborough before turning around at the Des Kelly shop. We retraced our route for the most part back to the cars where we paused for a drink of water and to ditch our jackets. The day had started off poor enough but we were now pretty warm even if there was still quite a breeze in places.
We went back out tothrow in a large lap of the park and before long we were back at the cars again. I was done with my 24.5km but Colm went out for another loop. With the MTP run yeterday I was quite tired throughout today's run so was glad of the company. If left to my own devices I would surely have gone a bit slower out of mental laziness! As it was it rounded off a big week of training with almost 109km for the week with quite a lot of quality thrown in there too.
Week 52 Summary (so far):
RTW: 7 from 7 days
DTW: 108.7km
DTY: 82.8km
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