Streets of Galway 8k - VDot = 45 (+3)

Monday, 28th July 2014 – 7.4km Distance (5:29/km)

This was just an easy run to loosen the legs out after yesterday’s 10km race effort.

Tuesday, 29th July 2014 – Football Training (90mins)

Another 90 minute training session for football. Didn’t particularly enjoy this session as amongst other things my feet were cut up again.

Wednesday, 30th July 2014 – 5.0km Fartlek (5:02/km)

Went out with nothing particular in mind but began speeding up so turned this into a fartlek session. A couple of decent-paced kms turned this into a reasonable session.

Thursday, 31st July 2014 – 8.5km Recovery Run (5:41/km)

Handy run where I slowed things right down.

Friday, 1st August 2014 – 6.0km Distance (5:31/km)

Took this easy. Just logging in another short run to add to the weekly mileage. Slowly, slowly…

Saturday, 2nd August 2014 – Rest Day

I was down home in Mayo this afternoon so no time to do anything.

Sunday, 3rd August 2014 – Rest Day (Croke Park)

Back up again this morning but a day split between Croker to watch May beat Cork and then in the boozer to regale well into the night meant no running again.

Week 29 Summary:

RTW: 5 from 7 days

DTW: 26.9km

DTY: 1,748.3km

Monday, 4th August 2014 – Rest Day

I had intended to pace the 2hr group in the RnR HM today but due to the organiser’s complete incompetence this fell through. Left a really bitter taste with me but I still went in to watch Roisin and others take part. Roisin was very unlucky to see a toilet break at half way deprive her of her sub 2hr goal but nevertheless it was a 19 minute PB, so well done her!

I did a bit of cycling around after her in the race but no running today.

Tuesday, 5th August 2014 – Rest Day

Yet another Rest Day! That’s 4 in a row!! Need to get back into some sort of structured plan soon to keep me focused! Can’t blame a dodgy hamstring any more seeing as it seems fully recovered at this stage.

Wednesday, 6th August 2014 – 5.8km Tempo Run (4:42/km)

This run just appeared out of nowhere as I just started off swiftly but just kept upping the pace. A nice session.

Thursday, 7th August 2014 – 45 Minutes Football Match

I started tonight’s game in Defensive Midfield. It was only a friendly but I gave it full effort. Mainly consisted of me moving more laterally across the park rather than up and down the pitch. I feel I played well but with 10 mins to go before HT I started developing blisters on my soles again. The hard ground combined with so much twisting and turning really cuts up my feet. I decided to come off at HT and even though there were options of going back on later in the game I simply couldn’t as I was in too much distress. It was 1-1 at HT but we ended up losing 5-1 (Al has it down as 4-1 in the report but I think it was 5). This was mainly due to us making changes which disrupted our play and the opposition introducing 4 of their best players at HT.

Friday, 8th August 2014 – Rest Day

I could barely walk this morning due to my soles so I was never going out running. If this doesn’t improve soon I will have to knock the footie on the head once more!

Saturday, 9th August 2014 – 11.0km Streets of Galway 8k Race (4:24/km)

The annual pilgrimage for the SoG and I wasn’t exactly sure of what should be my target today. Going by VDot of 42 from a couple of weeks ago I should have been looking at sub 38 but knew that was quite soft. Instead, after a few seconds thought I went with a nice round pace of 4:30/km and see how I’d fare. This would leave me with a sub 36 target which I’d be ok with.

I left Stephen and Philip at the start to go back the crowd and slot in where I thought I should be. The race started in a different position this year to what I’m used to but it was an improvement as it took out the hard right angled turn 400m into the race. Mind you, there was still a few cars on the bridge which could have been handled better.

First Half:

Km1: 4:19, Km2: 4:20, Km3: 4:22, Km4: 4:24.

I ran what I felt was a suitable speed from pretty early, once I managed to get a bit of space. I was conscious not to go out too fast in the first couple of kms but still ended up around 4:20 for the first 2km. The route got a little more up and down after that and this resulted in me dropping closer to goal pace. By halfway I wasn’t feeling too bad and the race was moving along nicely.

Second Half:

Km5: 4:30, Km6: 4:33, Km7: 4:25, Km8: 4:23, (Final 110m: 3:30 pace).

The 4k marker came right at the corner to the main hill on the course – lengthened this year as a further course change. This saw my pace slow a little which was expected. The following km past Pearse Stadium and containing the most downhill was actually my slowest! Think I must have tuned out here but I was definitely recovering from the tougher previous km. With 2.5km to go we were back out on Salthill promenade and downwind. This helped bring me home with my pace returning to the mid 4:20’s. I had not been keeping a very close watch on my overall time and had kinda been expecting to have missed sub 36, but when I spotted the finishing line clock with 200m to go I was in with a shout of 35:xx on the clock, let along my chip time. I summoned all that was left in me (which wasn’t very much by now!) and bolted for the line. I ended up with a chip time of 35:37 which made for a very happy surprise.

My time actually gives a VDot of 45 – a jump of 3 points since the Mullingar 10 miler, so even happier with that improvement over a couple of weeks!

2014 Streets of Galway: Pos: 342/2,324 (14.7%), Gun time: 36:02, Chip Time: 35:37, VDot = 45.

Sunday, 10th August 2014 – 6.9km Recovery Run (5:28/km)

I went out with Philip and Stephen for a run this morning – Philip had an LSR planned. I was just going to go for 10 – 15kms but after about 4km the heavens opened and an almighty rain fell. I decided to bail after sheltering for 5 mins but the lads continued onwards. To be honest, the eventual 6.9km was enough for me today. I was pretty tired and the body was still feeling the effects of last night’s race.

Week 30 Summary:

RTW: 4 from 7 days

DTW: 23.7km

DTY: 1,772.0km

VDot: 45 (+3)