Clontarf Half Marathon - Winter edition!

Saturday, 23rd November, 2013 - Clontarf Half Marathon.

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.

Warm-up:

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.

Race:

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.

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).

After another close call today I think I'll give the pacing gigs a miss for the next while until they are not forming part of a training cycle and I really am doing them at an easy pace and for the craic.

Recovery run:

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)

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

Well that weekend didn't go according to plan!

Saturday, 21st September, 2013 – 3.0km Warm Up (5:15/km) and 13.1km DCM Series HM - Aborted run (4:40/km)

Pacing crew before the run

Bit of a disaster today with the Half Marathon. Ended up having to drop out after 8 miles for reasons I’m still struggling to comprehend. 

The day started off well with an easy jog across to the gathering point where I met my fellow pacers. After a few photos and general chat myself and Johnny went off for a couple more kilometres with the main aim to expand the HM out into an overall Long Run. Before long we were back in the starting positions for the race.

Myself and Joe and Dominic were positioned at the start of Wave two where I was briefly joined by my Brother. Damien played it smart however and retreated back a few rows as we were about to start as he felt 1:40 would be too fast for him. A couple of minutes after the first wave was set off we were moved up to the starting line and a few seconds later we were off.

Almost immediately Dominic lost his flag off his pole even though Eugene had gone round to most/all pacers and duct taped them together. The first few miles went well with the run down Khyber being nice and handy way to start and the pull up to wellington being the first little challenge of the day. Before long we were out the back of the Zoo and running on the North Rd. By mile 3 we were on target but we all felt mile 2 had been a little long and mile 3 a little short so we were going to have to keep a close eye on things. Around this time a pacee almost went flying to the ground alongside me – another victim of unintentional tripping in such a close knit group.

We continued on to the Castleknock gate before doubling back and then going through Farmleigh. I had been keeping a close eye on 4:40/km on my watch and was happy that we were well on target. Around here I noticed my HR was higher than I’d have expected it to be but thought little of it. After a brief spell outside the Park we returned in through Knockmarroon Gate and almost all of a sudden I started to feel like things were getting tough. Hoping it was just a temporary blip I continued on silently in the hope things would get easier. They didn’t. It was getting progressively tougher throughout mile 7 and by the time we were on the Ordnance Survey Road I was a few metres behind the other guys. The breeze was on our backs around here but I was finding the temperatures pretty warm and the lack of cooling air to be an issue. I stuck at it though as I hoped things would get easier again when we hit Chesterfield Avenue where it opens up and hopefully the side breeze would act as a cooler. Unfortunately though about 500m along that road I was now struggling to keep within 10m of the other two guys and felt things were just getting worse. I knew that on a normal day I could just ease off and jog it home to the finish but that wasn’t an option today with the pacing responsibility. There was nothing left to do but notify the guys I was cooked and had to pull out. First though ihad to make up the 10m to tell them that which was a fair old struggle on its own! I felt like a right dick having to pull out of the pacing job, that’s just not supposed to happen! The guys were very understanding in fairness to them and they looked like they had it covered anyways so just after the 8 mile marker I pulled in to the side of the road, so annoyed with myself.

HR data for Dublin HM - I would have expected it to be around 152bpm average

In the immediate aftermath I tried to work out why this had happened. Probably a few contributing factors – Poor nutrition the day before, warm temperatures, I had two t-shirts on (to avoid chafing mostly), the backpack was giving me serious issues for the opening miles and even after that it was still a little uncomfortable, and finally the MLR on Thursday combined with the Yasso’s on Wednesday and the Athlone HM last weekend were probably just too much too soon before the race.

Sunday, 22nd September, 2013 – Rest Day.
To make a miserable weekend even worse Mayo fell to the Dubs! In fairness Dublin deserved it but can't help thinking that if COC was quicker taking the two straightforward frees or the Ref played the 30 secs he promised (the Dublin cynicism demanded another play be allowed!) then perhaps we might have been able to tag on another point and come back another day. Oh well, c'est la vie! 63 years now...!

Week 38 Summary:
RTW: 6 from 7 days
DTW: 72.0 km
DTY: 3,033.8 km
Chicago - 21 days (3 weeks, 0 days)

Monday, 23rd September, 2013 – Rest Day.
My post match funk had not yet cleared so tacked on another rest day.

Tuesday, 24th September, 2013 – 32.0km LSR with 2 x progressions (5:14/km)
I had yesterday and today off work so this afternoon I went for an LSR as my last long run before Chicago. The first 8km were done at a leisurely pace, approximately 5:25/km. As I turned on to the royal Canal however I found myself getting a little bored so decided to throw in a progression type segment whereby I ramped up the effort a little extra at the start of every new km. By the time I turned around at 12th Lock I had ran 15km so I threw in another similar progression segment on my return to Phibsboro. The remainder of the run was back down to 5:20/km pace and i managed to append an extra 2km to bring the overall distance up to 32km by the end. Pretty knackered by then and not really enjoying the abdominal wall issues...think I may have tweaked something in that region but probably actually all connected to the same niggle I've had the past few weeks with the hamstring/glute/adductor/abdomen now. Feels like the injury is just floating around the place! If it was just in a localised area I'd have gone to the physio by now but can't think how such a vague injury could be diagnosed that easily.
The progression data shows the following Max HR vs Pace graph:

I hope to build this up over a few more runs and races to see if the correlation bears resemblance to the theoretical HR ranges for speed zones. We shall see.
Week 39 Summary (so far):
RTW: 1 from 2 days
DTW: 32.0 km
DTY: 3,065.8 km
Chicago - 18 days (3 weeks, 4 days)

Athlone Half Marathon - the wheels come off!

Thursday, 12th September, 2013 – 7.4km Recovery Run (MP ave: 5:33//km)

As promised nice and easy recovery run in advance of Saturday. Legs were a little stiff/tired after last night's faster stuff but nothing serious.

Friday, 13th September, 2013 – Rest Day

Had intended to do about 10km today but after chatting to Philip about the race I decided to take today as a rest day instead in order to give myself every chance in Athlone.

Saturday, 14th September, 2013 – 21.3km Recovery Run (MP ave: 4:25//km)

The plan for today was to stay with the 1:30 pacers and try and nip just below the 90 min mark. This would mean running at 4:16/km pace according to the caluclators but when you factor in the inevitable couple of hundred extra metres then the pace would need to be approx 4:13/km. I was thinking about this briefly before I set off from Dublin and a quick moment of realisation pointed out that this was faster than my training LT pace. Suddenly things became a bit too real so I decided to push that thought out of my head and just hang with the pacers as long as I could and hope for the best really. At the very least I expected to get a new PB (1:32:49), so anything better than that but not sub 90mins wasn't hugely appealing. It was an all or bust mentality and i guess that's what I got!

I arrived in plenty of time to register, meet lots of familiar faces and go for a 3.5km warm-up. This was the longest warm up I've ever done but at the same time it was nice and handy and I felt great after it. After a little more socialising i made my way to the start line and fell in with a few more familiar faces (Joe, Kate and a couple of others) in the 1:30 pace group. Before long we were off. A few twists in the first 400m and then we were out on the straight. Even by this stage Joe had moved just in front of the pacers which was a clever idea as there was a large group on a narrow road and so it was no surprise really when I heard somebody appear to take a tumble about 2km into the race. By this stage I was in the thick of the bunch and it felt a bit claustrophobic. Around here I ran into Sean who commented '1:30 will be no bother'. I muttered back something about the first km always feeling easy and they were the last words I spoke all race. I managed to keep with the pace group for the first 8km but I had been keeping track of my HR and was a bit spooked that it was in the 160's the whole time when it should be in the mid 150's. I didn't think about it too much though as I was now struggling to keep with the group and I knew if I fell off the back of it that my race was done.

The run-in to the finish

I usually like it when I'm proved correct but in this instance it was not very enjoyable! A gap of 100m opened up over the next few kms and I found myself running solo just when I needed shielding from the breeze. As the gap drifted wider I began to unintentionally ease back to an effort that I should have started off with and the pace and HR slowed a little. By the time we appeared out onto the Ballinasloe Road I was over cooked and it was now just a matter of making my way home. The HR was still in the mid 150's but the pace had slowed back to marathon pace. There was nothing to be done really as I was now paying for redlining over the opening section. I'm sure the body was struggling big time with lactic acid and I just wasn't able to get the desired output from the high effort input. I tried consoling myself with the fact that I was getting a MP session out of it anyways so it wasn't a total waste of time. As I was slowing people were passing me and that compounded my misery. On the main road though I managed to get going again at a faster pace through a combination of sharing the pacing with another guy and the better road surface. Unfortunately, as soon as we turned off the main road again my pacing partner fell away and I slowed back down again due in some part to the poorer surface. Eventually I set my focus on the last mile and as I turned the corner for the 200m run-in to the line I gave it my all but still only just managed to get a pace of 4:06/km. I had nothing left but was glad to be finished.

HR & pace data

In fairness to the organisers the event really is excellent value and a great run. I think I may have fallen into a trap though (like quite a few others I spoke to) in thinking that because the course had no hills that it was ok to go off that bit faster. A handful of people that I spoke to afterwards seemed to have a similar tale of falling away after 8km or thereabouts. It has certainly re-instilled in me the value of starting steady and settling into a race as opposed to going out gung-ho. Hopefully I just remember that lesson in Chicago! 

Speaking of Chicago, I had been debating whether to aim for either 3:10 or 3:15 over there and was going to let Athlone's result decide the matter. Unfortunately that target is now going to be sub 3:20 instead! I will keep training at approx 3:12 pace but in reality I just need to bite off less than I'd been targeting.  It's annoying really that I've been running an average of 50 miles per week this year (a decent increase on last year) and yet the marathon form has failed to improve much at all since.

Athlone Half Marathon - 1:34:16

Sunday, 15th September, 2013 – Rest Day

I continued on to Mayo after the race and it was late enough getting back to Dublin so treated myself to a Rest Day.

Week 37 Summary:

RTW: 5 from 7 days

DTW: 57.1 km

DTY: 2,961.8 km

Chicago - 28 days (4 weeks, 0 days)

The calm before the...long & slow running!

Monday, 8th July, 2013 – 41km Cycle to Ratoath (27kph) + (1.5km Recovery Run)
My small toes on both feet were quite bruised after all the long distances so I decided to go for a cycle instead. Very enjoyable 41km followed and when I got home I threw the runners on thinking I’d get a few running kms added. However, after 500m of running it was obvious the toes were too sore and were causing over compensating tightness on the outside of my right leg so I looped around for a truncated 1.5km.

Tuesday, 9th July, 2013 –7.2km Recovery Run (5:15/km)
Thankfully the toes were much better today so I pushed myself out the door for an easy run but the first few kms were tough so it resulted in recovery pace instead. By 3km the legs were coming round and the final few kms were ran a bit faster. Overall though feeling a bit jaded for a few days now. Not sure if it’s the heat or the accumulated mileage or simply them both.

Wednesday, 10th July, 2013 –11.2km IMRA Race #8 – Ballinastoe
I’d already ran my 7th League race so I was guaranteed a LL prize regardless but the lovely weather this week was drawing me back to the hills. I gave Felim a lift from Loughlinstown and we were parked well in advance of the start. The course was a 2.5km outward section followed by a large 6km loop and then a run back along the initial 2.5km section again.

Just after cresting the first 2.5km hill

Right from the off we were climbing - up fireroads first, then followed by a rocky path through the woods. As has happened most of the time this year I started too far back in the field which meant I was well over 100th position by the first 200m. I wasn’t too bothered though as I didn’t fancy racing this one flat out due to a general apathy which included a total lack of a warm-up (I figured I was already warm and the first 2km were uphill so I’d be much warmer & without stressing the muscles too much so that should work perfectly). I passed lots of people on this long climb with most taking walking breaks waaay too early! Of course this led to me falling into step with some of their rhythms and therefore me walking when most of the time I didn’t really need to! Eventually we were cresting the hill and soon afterwards turning left and away from the glare of a low-setting sun. Much of the next 5km was downhill through pine trees, flat through pine trees and uphill through pi… you get the drift! The branches were very low lying so it felt like I was constantly bent over trying to avoid them. At one stage I had just passed a Junior runner and no more than 60secs later I heard him go flying to the ground behind me. I slowed and turned and asked him if he was ok but there was already 4 or 5 following runners asking the same so I continued on. There would be no pressure on me for a while now I thought as everyone would have slowed down due to the incident but lo and behold within 30 seconds the kid was trying to pass me again! Fair play to him. A minute later I was catching another junior runner in front of me so I rewarded the kid behind me by stepping aside and letting him past to chase his challenger. Unfortunately though, it seemed they were mates and once he caught up to the other lad they slowed to have a chat! Luckily for me the Junior course veered off from our course about 200m later and they were no longer holding me back.

More uphill!

A couple of more uphill kms followed before we looped back around to the outward trail and turned for home along the opening 2.5km. At this point I passed 2 or 3 guys on the top of the hill, so once we were descending the rocky path there were two ladies about 100m and 200m ahead of me. I made it my goal to overtake the two of them by the finish. The first girl held out for about 3-4 mins before I passed her and shortly afterwards we arrived out onto the fireroad for home and there I passed the other girl. Next up was a guy a further 100m ahead who was just passing an early starter. We were now only about 600m from the finish so I was quite literally running out of road! I had caught the early starter pretty quickly and with about 300m to go I was reeling in the guy. 100m later and I was on his shoulder but I was reckoning he’d find a boost of energy once he knew I was about to pass him. Seizing the inititative I upped my speed to maximum effort for the run in to the finish and to my surprise there was no fightback whatsoever from the other guy leaving me to beat him by 20-30m. The last 130m was clocked at 3:09/km pace which shows I wouldn’t have lasted much longer or I’d have blown up!

A quick headcount at the finish and I reckoned I might have sneaked into the top 60 as I waited to see how Felim and Jeff had done. They came home shortly after me and with the arrival of the flies we dalled no more and departed. As it turned out I was credited with 72nd position which was a little disappointing. There were several people who went the wrong way on the course and had been marked down as DNF but I was left wondering was there not a lot more who may have ran a short course also because there was one or two people who finished ahead of me whom I was sure I had passed early in the race.

Anyways, not to worry too much considering my attitude at the start. Another enjoyable Wednesday evening league race but that’s my lot for this Summer as the last race is next week and I won’t be able to make it. Hopefully I’ll be back out for a few casual runs after work over the next few weeks.

Thursday, 11th July, 2013 – Rest Day
Felt a bit tired from last nights mountain run and had a couple of things lined up in the evening so logged this one as a rest day.

Friday, 12th July, 2013 – 11.9km Recovery Run (5:35/km)

Just another slow recovery paced run to keep ticking over in advance of the HM pacing job tomorrow.

Saturday, 13th July, 2013 – 21.3km Clontarf Half Marathon (5:36/km)
Already a scorching day in Clontarf when i got there i was happy that I was pacing this and not racing! Met up with my 2hr pacing buddy Conor a while before the start as well as the others including Michael, Dominic and Matt who had to run solo with the 1:45 gang.

Everything went pretty well with a nice gang with us as far as the turnaround point near Kilbarrack. As we ran back however people started to drop off mostly due to the fact the cooling breeze was now on our back and thereby not functioning so well. When we were back on the beach the group was whittling away further and the soft sand exiting onto the wooden bridge decimated the group altogether. A few people remained and we picked up a few stragglers on the run-in to help get them in under 2hrs. It was Conor's first time pacing and he should be happy with a job well done as we finished in 1:59:37.

Sunday, 14th July, 2013 – Rest Day
Even though it was only a pacing job yesterday was still in the legs. Wasn't helped by going out for a few too many drinks in the evening time either!! Rest and recovery today!

So, not a huge amount of kms this week but with it being yet another taper(!) I am reasonably happy. Main thing now is to avoid injury before Friday!

Week 28 Summary: 

RTW: 5 from 7 days

DTW: 53.1km

DTY: 2277.8km

Cork Half Marathon

Sunday 2nd June 2013 – 4.6km Easy run (4:55/km) 
I got the train down to Cork the evening before so after manning the pacer stand from 4-5pm and then watching the Ireland v Georgia game in the hotel, it was time to go out for a short leg loosener. I managed to run the last couple of kms of the race course in ideal weather conditions so all was nicely set up for running tomorrow.

Week 21 Summary:

RTW: 7 from 7 days

DTW: 89.9km

DTY: 1,795.1km

Monday 3rd June 2013 – 21.4km Cork Half Marathon (4:39/km)

I ran the one mile from the hotel to City Hall for the pacers meet-up but was there pretty early so went across to the marathon start at 9am. A quick chat with Tom and Eamonn (the 4:30 pacers) and the race was soon started. Great weather for it and I made my way back to city hall to get a bus to the HM start in Mahon. Unfortunately there were a few issues with bus availability meaning that when we eventually got to the race start it was delayed by almost 30 minutes. This allowed for a good chat with several of the pacees. My pacing partner Ben arrived at this time also and before too much of an inconvenience we were walked to the start line itself.

It was just then that I noticed there was no start mat for our chips. This was a big let down for many of the runners who had paid over €50 for this race and now they would only have official gun times and no proper chip times.

The race itself started well. There was some congestion in the early minutes but it was never too bad. Almost immediately the marathon field veered right and we continued along the road and into Blackrock. Not long later the marathon course rejoined our route again. For most of the time along the Marina there was lots of people around us and we were probably carrying about 40-50 pacees with us at this stage.

Throughout the first few kms we were keeping a close eye on the pace as we wanted to ensure the volume of runners didn’t distract us from the main job of keeping a steady pace. The pace bands at the expo stated a 4:44/km pace would complete the 21.1km in 1:40:00. However, these races usually end up being long for GPS devices so I was aiming to keep things closer to 4:42/km and thereby allowing a 50 second cushion for a long course.

I had described the course to pacees as split into one third flat, middle third undulating with the final third flat all the way to the finish. By the time we hit the South Link road we were beginning into the hilly middle third and it didn’t take long for some of our group to drift away around here. We eased off the pace when going uphill to give people a chance to stick with us and regained the time on the downhill and flats. The steepest part of the day came soon after with the corkscrew turn up onto Turners Cross. After this I noticed the beginning of heavy breathing in our group as one by one another bunch of people started to whittle away.

We did our best to coax the gang through the inclines and we were soon at the top of Model Farm Road but the group was now down to about 6 or 7. I was happy to confirm all the hills were done away with now and the run in to Cork should be very manageable. My mind soon changed though as we turned right at the end of Inchigaggin Lane and onto the Straight road only to be met with a strong breeze. This made the 2km stretch tougher than it should have been and around now we noticed our av pace of 4:42/km was going to be very tight for the finish. So, combined with the breeze we now had to push the pace into the late 4:30’s to ensure we finished inside our time. In fairness to the remaining group they kept it going most of the way and by the time we were in the park crossing the Lee we advised a few of the stronger runners to push on, which they did. A couple of other runners started to fade and we did our best to keep them going but it was just a tiny bit too fast for them and they fell away over the closing mile.

With about 1,000m to go myself and Ben were running alone for the first time today. We tried to grab a few people as we went past them on the run-in to the finish but we soon realised we’d need almost a sprint finish from Patrick’s Bridge just to get in on time ourselves! The last few hundred metres was ran closer to 4:00/km pace and as I crossed the line I stopped the watch on exactly 1:40:00! The distance read the course to be 270m long but the reality may well be somewhere in the middle. Thankfully anyone who was fit for sub 1:40 appeared to nail it and the first runners to miss out on the time did so by about 40-50 seconds so they would always have been just a little short of pace regardless.

Afterwards I jogged back to the hotel for a shower before returning to ‘Pana’ for a few pints with some familiar faces as well as some new. Everybody agreed it was a tough day with humidity high from the start but also the sun breaking out later on and making it especially difficult for the marathoners. 

Hopefully nothing clashes next year and I’ll be back in Cork once more.Total distance including jog to/from hotel = 24.0km

Tuesday 4th June 2013 – 8.9km Easy run (5:04/km)

Went out very late in the evening for this in order to avoid the sweltering heat. When I actually went outside I discovered the weather was perfect – it was just my apartment that was sweltering! An easy 8.9km followed. I shortened the route to allow for taper and by the time I returned home I barely knew I had been out at all!

Week 22 Summary (so far):

RTW: 2 from 2 days

DTW: 32.9km

DTY: 1,828.0km

Enniscorthy Half Marathon

Friday 24th May 2013 – 17.2km Easy Run (5:13/km)
An easy run along the seafront in Clontarf. A little bit tired towards the end from the faster stuff earlier this week.

Saturday 25th May 2013 – Rest Day
Took a rest day this evening to allow me be a bit fresher for the Half Marathon tomorrow.

Sunday 26th May 2013 (morning) – 21.1km Enniscorthy Half Marathon (4:22/km)
I’d managed to get a free entry for this race from Alan & Orna (thanks again!) who were doing pacing duties. I had originally planned to go West and do the Moy HM but I figured this would be just as good, closer and cheaper. It was a lovely sunny morning which meant the chances were it was going to get hotter later which would mean a tough day on a hilly course. 

I ran into my two sponsors beforehand and with them were Johnny, Matt (both pacers also) and Barry (who was also aiming for 1:30).

We made our way to the start line and the race started just after 10:05am. Immediately there was almost a pile-up as a guy to my right tripped up on the starting mat and half fell to the ground. Luckily he was up and moving again before anyone else had fallen over him, but not a great beginning!

Race Start with Barry in blue (& me in grey!).

The first half of the race contained the majority of the hills and while most of them were a manageable gradient I was maxing out my effort trying to keep with the 4:17/km pace. This was confirmed with my av HR consistently being around 163bpm for the first half of the race. Given my LT HR lies around 158bpm I knew there’d be payback later on. By the 6km mark I was beginning to drift off the back of the pacing group and over the course of the next few miles I tried to limit the gap as much as I could. Unfortunately though, every time we went uphill they gained extra time on me and by the halfway point they were approximately 200m ahead of me.

Around this time I was going through a tough patch mentally, debating if I shouldn’t just ease off the pace altogether given it was plainly obvious this wasn’t a PB course. I stuck with the effort though and happily the next couple of kms were reasonably flat so I managed to exorcise the demons in time for the next hill.

I managed to close the gap and 
pass this guy over the next 100m!

There were only a couple of short hills in the final 6km but the one just before we emerged onto the N11 really slowed me down. I probably wouldn’t even notice it on an easy run but where it came and the fact that I was maxed out meant pure misery. Once on the N11 it was pretty flat for a mile and a half before we passed over the last drag and then it was downhill/flat to the finish. I had been passed by a couple of runners at the start of the N11 and they had created a gap of about 30m on me while I was struggling along. However, once we were over the last incline I was slowly catching the second guy again and made it my goal to reel him in over the final km. Eventually, with about 400m to go I managed to get by him as I was on the opposite bank of the river from the finish line. It was only then that I realised the lead guy was only another 40m ahead at this stage and fading. I kept up the pressure and by the time I rounded the final bridge and beginning the 200m run-in to the line he was still about 20m ahead. Yet I was getting faster and he was slowing so I went into overdrive once more to keep the legs turning over and managed to nab in front of him with about 15m remaining. I was hoping that he’d not have enough time to react and didn’t dare turn to see his reaction as I passed by. Simply kept the legs pumping and I was over the line in 1:33:31 – 42 seconds slower than my PB from Bohermeen but a much tougher course and conditions.

I think judging by my HR data it was definitely a PB effort if not quite a PB result. Disappointed not to grab the PB but I’ll put it down as a really good training session for the bigger picture of Portumna. Hopefully the sub 90 will come in the Athlone Flatline half marathon in September, if not before.

Sunday 26th May 2013 (afternoon) – 4.1km Recovery Run (5:19/km)
I called into the Phoenix Park on my way back home to go for a leg loosener after the race and the drive back up. I was pretty stiff starting off but after the 4km things were much better and the legs had loosened out nicely.

Week 20 Summary:

RTW: 6 from 7 days

DTW: 72.5km

DTY: 1,705.2km