Berlin or bust...

RacoonQueen wrote: »

Have you gone sub 4 already? Can't remember if you nabbed it last year or not?

Yip.
Got 3:58:59 last year in Dublin, ably supported by, and on the coat-tails of, super-pacer MarthaStew.

His lordship registered me for Frankfurt for the sub 3:45 slot but that's so far away from where I'm at! If I can get a sub 4 again (without MS to cajole me on) I'll be very happy.

4 weeks to go

Monday
Plan: 17 mile LSR
Actual: 17 miles
Warm and close. Ran the first 4 with one of the girls who I met by sheer chance, which was great. Toilet break after 5 and out again. I didn't take any gels or food and had one 500ml bottle of water stashed in the park, that I consumed over the run.
No problem with the knee, but the legs (knees and ankles and hips) were all a bit achy after.

Tuesday
Plan: rest
Actual: rest
After the delayed LSR, I took a rest day today - reckoned the body needed it.

Wednesday
Plan: v02max - 10mi w/ 4 x 1000 mt @ 5K pace; jog 2min between
Actual: 8.25 miles w/ 4x1000mt
Had planned to meet one of the girls for this, but she was under time pressure so we jigged about the session. Did 3.25 warmup and then started the 1000mt's after a brief stretch. The sim was to do these in about 4:40 - 4:45. First 2 went grand 4:39 & 4:34. She had to split off after that so I had the last 2 reps to do solo. Next one went okay - 4:35, but the last one I just didn't / couldn't push hard enough - 4:46. Still in or around the goal pace, but I could have/ should have worked harder. Finished up with 8.25 miles done.

Thursday
Plan: Rest
Actual: Rest
Was thinking about doing the club session, but had picked up the head cold that the kids had so was happy to give it a miss and just put the feet up.

Friday
Plan: General aerobic 10mi
Actual: Rest
Still feeling under the weather - nothing major, but enough to keep me indoors.

Saturday
Plan: Recovery 4mi
Actual: Rest
Had considered going out for a few miles, but decided to cut myself some slack and take another day off. No point in doing any that would set me back further at this stage. The LSR was a pretty big milestone - the last 20 of the plan and the start of the taper miles, so that was the key run for me this week.

Sunday
Plan: 20 mile LSR
Actual: 20 mile (very slow) LSR
Headed out with very little conviction that this was going to get done. Had left a gel and a bottle of water at the front door and told mini-me I'd be back in a hour or so. The initial plan was to do 5/6 mile sets and reassess the lungs / head after each.
The first few miles were bad. I didn't feel on form at all and was starting to plan when I could do the 20 miles later in the week if I had to cut this short. But I kept going - slowly - and really once I got over the 5 mile mark I was starting to feel more comfortable. Dragged it out to 9 before I headed back to the house for the gel and a swig of water. I wasn't finished yet!
Back on the road and I headed in the Bray direction and out along the cliff walk. It was lovely and it didn't feel like an effort at all. Turned around when I got to the steps and headed back. Didn't know if I was going to call it at 18 (which I would have been very happy at on leaving the house) or keep it going to the full 20, but once I was on the way back I knew there was no way I'd be doing anything less than the full thing.
Very very happy to get this one in the bag, especially with the cold lingering.


TAPER TIME :P
Let the madness begin

45.26 miles for the week
28.25 miles for the month
1,041.54 miles for the year

pistol_75 wrote: »

Great training going on here Emer. Looking at your weeks training I'm not surprised you felt a bit off for your long run yesterday. 2 races and a session in the previous 4 days probably had you wrecked without maybe knowing it.

I'm pretty sure you won't be doing that the week of the marathon

Yea, was thinking that when I was writing up the weeks log... probably not the structured training I should be doing at this stage in the proceedings

I'll be good this week - promise

RubyK wrote: »

Great work Emer, you are all set for a pb in Frankfurt!

How have you found the P&D plan in comparison to previous marathon plans? I was tempted to go for it, but ended up going back to my last years one. I might have to HTFU and try it in 2015!

I must confess I did struggle with the middle part of the plan, with high mileage and MP sessions, but overall it's been fine. This will be my 5th marathon though, so I do have an accumulation of miles in the legs now. Maybe that makes it easier to make that jump?

I have not been the most rigorous though. Where the midweeks runs said 8 or 10, I sometimes did just 7 or 8, but I think I've hit all the key sessions and the the long runs, so we'll see if there's a positive outcome from that. Don't think the legs are as speedy (for me:o) as they were last year. Sure we'll see how it goes on the day.

RubyK wrote: »

Sounds like you have managed very well on the plan, it's certainly not for the faint hearted!!

You deserve a great run in Frankfurt, you've put in the work.

A shucks - thanks for the vote of confidence. It's much needed
This taper is kicking the confidence out of me here :rolleyes:

And now we're in the Last week of Marathon Training for 2014!

And now for the fun....

:rolleyes::eek:

Fingers crossed for me?

Frankfurt Marathon 2014
The preamble
Sitting here some days after the marathon and I don't really know what I want to write. A race report is for me to sum up the training, the lead in, the conditions, the mindset and, of course, the event itself. Something to refer back to when I want to reminisce or wallow or whatever. But strangely, the emotion was more subdued this time around. Given that it's my fifth (Wha? When did that happen?!) and the first time I didn't get a PB, I guess that's not all that surprising?

I had some problems with my sinus from shortly after last year's marathon, which meant I was out of action for a bit. It resulted in an op eventually, so more time out. The mileage in the first half of the year was pretty abysmal but once I was back in action I ramped it up again so I was ready to start the marathon training come mid June. I had definitely lost some pace though.
The training went really well, and other than a flutter with an iffey knee (caused by tight IT band and tight calfs) there weren't any issues or problems. I did my 4 previous marathons off a modified Hal Higdon plan and this time I decided to step out of my comfort zone and try something new. On sterling advice (thanks to KC) I started on the P&D 55mi 18 week plan. It was a very different focus to the Higdon ones - more pace miles, more 'quality' sessions, etc. I did struggle a bit with the middle section where the miles ramped up and the pace runs got more frequent, especially given my poor pace to start with, but it generally went according to plan.

I didn't set myself any goal time for this one. I had finally cracked the sub 4 last year which kinda took the pressure off. But the training was all done on the basis of 8:50-ish marathon pace (a bit soft maybe?) so that was the plan for marathon day.

The lead up
After some fretting about Luftansa striking pilots on Monday and Tuesday, the flight was delayed when we got to the airport. More fretting (though mostly of the Krusty variety). While we waited at the gate a very boisterous stag party crew serenaded us from the bar nearby - lovely! Next thing I got an elbow in the ribs and "I think that's Snoop Dog". Tall, skinny dude with hoodie up, baseball cap and shades on, pulling a Louis Vuitton case, walked through the gate and down the stairs (no waiting) with entourage in tow. One of the stag party had also spotted him and went running after him but was blanked and went back to his mates shouting "Feic lads, never meet your heros!"
Finally we boarded and there he was, huddled in the window seat of row 2 with his bouncer squished into the aisle seat. Poor guy bearly fit in the seat and it couldn't have been a comfortable couple of hours for him - quite the rock star life, eh?
Turns out we were sitting beside another boardsie on the flight too, but only discovered it when we were landing!

Landed, checked in, and off to the expo to get the numbers all sorted before we headed back to the hotel for a nice relaxing evening.
Did the 5k pretzle run on Saturday morning with some of the boardsie crew. It was quite amusing watching the 6 and
7 minute milers trotting along at 10+minutes per miles. Good fun and a nice bit of banter though.

Race day
The morning of the marathon arrived and the conditions were just about perfect - 12c, overcast and little or no wind. After the usual pre race brecky of porridge, coffee and toast we headed to the start. Bag drop was completed with usual German efficiency, and I left KC with a good luck kiss and headed down the back to the 2nd wave corrals. Met Hibernian Runner and we chatted as we waited for the proceedings to kick off. Before long the 1st wave was gone and we were walked up to the line. We wished each other well and then Bang! we were off.

1-10km (I'll do this in km's for a change)
The first 9k of the route is in around the centre of the city and the course turns back on itself a few times. As a consequence, there are a few tightish turns and lots of crowds and we got to see the leaders a few times as they steamed ahead.

I really enjoyed the city centre start of the route, even though it was a bit of a slow start. Before we'd even started we saw the leaders pass back on the other side of the road and as we ran towards the first corner I spotted Krusty, looking comfortable and focussed. The sun had come out for a bit and it was definitely getting a bit sweaty, but thankfully the cloud reappeared before long.

Aid stations were every 5k but with cups of water/ sports drink/tea(!) I really struggle with cups so decided to hold onto my 250ml water bottle (that I was sipping at the start) and refill it as needed. Even though it sounds like a batty plan it actually worked out really well. I opened the lid as I got near the station, grabbed a cup and emptied it into the bottle. Yea, about half it went everywhere but the bottle, but it still meant I was getting more than if I'd tried to drink directly from the cup!
Took my first gel at mile 5.
Splits: 5 km 28:06 (05:38/km); 10 km 27:57 (05:36/km)

10-20 km
Was feeling good and the pace was nice and steady. As I got to about the 9 miles/ 15km point I felt the need for a pit stop. I rationalised that it would be better to stop now and get it over with, rather than try to wait it out and possibly make things worse, so just after the next aid station I veered off course to the dreaded port-a-loo. Pleasantly surprised - there was even loo roll!
Job done and I resumed the race pace but I'd been overtaken by the 4 hour pace group. I thought about just sticking with them for a bit, but running in such a congested group at a slower pace than I was going, was just too frustrating. I slowly eased my was through the masses and after a bit I was out in space again and my pace was back on track. Second gel taken after about 10 miles - the plan was to take them every 5 or so miles.
Splits: 15 km 29:37 (05:56/km); 20 km 27:57(05:36/km)

Half way
We had left the city and headed out along the river. Passing the half way point I was still feeling good and was surprised when I went through in under the 2 hours. The loo break hadn't scuppered me too badly so.
Half way split in 01:59:41 (05:33/km)

20-30 km
The route ran out to a suburb of the city and from about mi 15 we were back in crowds with cheering and cow bells. Took my third gel at about mile 16 or so and was enjoying the crowds and the atmosphere. There was a part here where we ran alongside a switchback. I was astounded to see one runner pull up to the middle of the road and looked as though they were going to just cross over and cut out about a mile or so from their race. Why would you do that? It's not like he was going to win or anything?! And right in front of the other runners and the spectators too?

And then my troubles started...
My pace was good, my legs felt fine but my gut started complaining. Won't really go into to much detail, but the chant in my head went "find the loo, find the loo, find the loo" and even thought I knew there would be one at the 30km aid station, I was going to have a Paula Radcliff moment if that didn't come soon! Oooh! Dived for the port-a-loo in SUCH relief when I saw it! This loo was not quite as fresh as the first one, and I was glad I had my own supply of paper too!
Splits: 25 km 21:42 (05:34/km); 30 km 28:23 (05:41/km)

30-40km
When I emerged from my shame, I reckoned the sub 4 was probably gone, but the head being what it is at that point in a marathon, I wasn't quite sure and spent the next 12km convincing myself that it was/ it wasn't/ it was...
Legs felt good, head was okay and gut seemed to be behaving again. I still had another gel in the back pocket but was loath to take it. I had taken them in races before and in training with no ill effects, but didn't want to chance another one - just in case.
So I just kept going. Lots of people were obviously in a bad place at this point and I was passing loads that had slowed to a walk. From the 36km we were back in the city area and the crowds were thick and loud (though nothing like Dublin, obviously). I noticed a landmark that we had passed by on Saturday which was really close to the finish area, so that was a bit of a head wrecker with another 6km to go!
And still I kept plugging. Getting tired now, but not giving up just yet.
Splits: 35 km 31:23 (06:17/km); 40 km 28:28 (05:42/km)

Finish
With just over 2k to go I still didn't know if I was doing sub 4 or not. I reckoned it was gone but couldn't be certain and knew I just had to give whatever was left. So I did. My 26th mile was my second fastest of the day at 8:35 and the last 0.48mi I did in 03:49, which is sub 8min/mi pace. I came over the line in 4:01:26 and almost threw up on the lovely red carpet!
Splits: Last 2.195 km (official) 11:49 (05:23/km)

This marathon finishes indoors with music and lights and cheerleaders and yes, a red carpet. After my near miss at the finish I was given a baggie and a sit down and when I gathered myself sufficiently, I joined the masses trudging through the finish area to get some water, food and the all important medal. The hot sweet black lemon tea was very welcome, but I couldn't stomach the soup. I did enjoy the banana, fruit bread, sports drink and non-al beer though.
Reunited with my gear bag, I got my recovery drink into me, found the showers and got changed before rejoining the well finished boardsies for a drink and a chat. Most of them had a very successful day and everyone was in good spirits.

Summary
I would certainly recommend Frankfurt for any marathon travelers. It's flat and fast, well organised, easy to get to, and there a good buzz. The city isn't exactly a holiday destination but it's grand for the few days.
I'm actually happy with my run too. Need to try to figure out what happened and make sure I don't have a repeat, but other than that I ran well and recovered amazingly well!

What's next? Hmmm... I'll have to go have a long think about that one.

Garmin stats: 26.48 miles in 04:01:29 (9:07min/mi)

Chip time:
Half 1 01:59:41
Half 2 02:01:45
Chip time 04:01:26

place (M/W)813
place (ag)173
place (total)6436

Sunday 16th Nov

Another week down and just a little bit of running done.

Went back to pilates this week after my 3 week break - ouch! I was sore for 2 days after, but it was a good 'sore' (I'm such a masochist! )

Bit of rock climbing on Wednesday with the gang. I think that's the first time I actually completed all the bouldering routes I attempted in a session. I was pretty proud of myself. Not getting carried away though - they were all pretty easy ones

Did the club session on Thursday - it was a kind of a fartlek session. Great fun and really enjoyed giving the legs a bit of a speedshot. The weather was kind too, which was a nice surprise.

Nothing Friday or Saturday (other than a bit of socialising) and then joined one of the girls for an 8 mile trot on sunday afternoon. Lovely one.

So another 'heavy' week :rolleyes: with 13 miles in the run bank.
I think I need to get a few more miles in next week :cool:

Sunday 30th November


As the Christmas eating and drinking season approaches, the running is starting to take a hit. The miserable weather at the start of the week made me equally miserable and any excuse was used to get me off the running hook - oh dear!
I did manage to get to the club session on Thursday for some decent running, including hill repeats (lovely!), but the late lunch into later night on Friday had me hanging on Saturday, so just a few more miles on Sunday meant a measly 12 miles for the week. Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear! :rolleyes:

I did do my pilates and a spot of climbing with the clan, so I wasn't a complete potato all week

More eating and drinking Christmas commitments this weekend, so I'll try to front load the week with a few runs... if I can get myself out the door at all.

Dec 22 - 28

Nothing on Monday or Tuesday - just lots of running around like headless chicken :rolleyes: (but I can't really count that!)

Wednesday 24th
Up for a few miles with the girls in the cold, windy park. Fit in just over 4 before I had to rush off for event 2 of the day - the annual dip in the 40Foot. Birrr! :eek:

It was lovely and sunny in Dún Laoghaire but the wind chill was bitterly cold, so I literally jumped in, turned around, back up the steps and sprinted back to get changed! One of the lads reckoned it looked like I bounced on the water I was back out that quick

Thursday 25th
Was over to the park for the goal mile at 9:30. Jogged it slowly with mini-me who is on the way back from an injury. Lots of folks out for this and it was a lovely way to start Christmas day.

Saturday 27th
Easy 40 minutes on the frosty roads around the ol' homestead.

Sunday 28th
1 hour 20 minutes in the plan for this one, but as I stepped out my Mammys door I nearly went on my face! I'm sure I looked like something from a slapstick sketch (think 'woa woa woooaaah!':o) Somehow I caught myself but decided to drive to a local park and run on the trails rather than risk it on the footpaths.
The park trail is lovely and soft with a good nit of tree cover and then it rises up to give a great view of the countryside. It was a fabulous run in the sunshine on a gorgeous bright frosty morning. The perfect Christmas run!

Tuesday 30th
Back home and did a short run with the girls in the park. Very frosty underfoot again so stuck to the grass.

Catch up time...

8 days done in January and I guess I should log my training :rolleyes:


Thu, 1 Jan
Time to get some speed back in the legs so I decided to do some 800's at a (slightly) quicker pace than my normal plodding. 3*800 and 5miles in total. reps were pretty slow but at least the pace was going in the right direction!
4:11 / 4:07/ 4:01

Sat, 3 Jan 2015
Wicklow Masters Cross Country
It rained ALL NIGHT and though it had stopped by the time we headed out to the park, the ground underfoot was just pure mucky slushy sh1te. Cross country is not exactly my favourite event, but its a real club thing so I really feel I need to participate - even though I'm never in scoring range :rolleyes:
The ladies race was 4k, one small loop and 3 big ones. I don't have spikes and in those conditions I may as well have been running in wellies! How I managed to stay upright I'll never know, but I performed allright, about half way down the field and the team got the gold! Great stuff.
With warmup and cooldown that was about 4.5 miles

Followed up with some bouldering at a new place on the southside of the city. Good fun, but my shoulder is still not quite right so I was wussing out of anything that might put too much pressure on it Ah well...

Sun, 4 Jan 2015
Long run - 1hr30min with the girls, covering about 9.5miles.

Mon, 5 Jan 2015
Easy recovery run
Legs were a bit tired from the heavy running at the weekend so this easy 5 miles felt a little bit harder than it should have.

Wed, 7 Jan 2015
Had a rest day Tuesday so needed to get out for a few miles. It was p1ssy and murkey and I needed to go to the chemist to collect a prescription for one of the kids, So I stuck on my gear and ran there - 3 easy commuting miles. Great way to force yourself to just get out!

Went climbing with hisself after dinner and got in some top and lead rope routes. I find it much less stress on the shoulder climbing with the ropes, but it's been a while since we did any Lead ropes that the first climb was atrocious! I think we probably looked like we were total beginners! But we redeemed ourselves (I hope) with the next couple, and finished off by doing some speed top-rope routes.

Thu, 8 Jan 2015
Lunchtime Pilates and then Club session in the evening. Big turnout for the first one back after the Christmas break and the boss sent us off to do 3x800, 3x500, 3x400's to get some pace back in the legs. The order was to do the 800's at about 10 mile pace, the 400's at about 10k pace and the 500's somewhere in between. There was a fierce wind out there but we were mostly sheltered on the route, except where we passed a gap and got nearly blown backwards / sideways / whichever. The pace for my reps were:
3x800: 07:37 / 08:21 / 07:23
3x500: 07:29 / 07:19 / 07:29
3x400: 07:19 / 07:21 / 08:01

Can you tell which way the wind was blowing?

The last 400 as into the wind, and uphill, and I was foooked :P, so I'm just ignoring that!

Good session and happy enough with the pace. Just over 5.5miles for the session.

Monday Rest Day
After a decent weekends running (and cause I was being a bit precious after feeling so awful on Saturday!) I decided a rest day would be the smartest thing.

Tuesday
Had planned to do a run with some of the club mates but once the snow came down I wussed out . So did the rest of them

Wednesday
Windy and stormy and I couldn't face going out in that, so headed to the gym for at least some sort of training! Only had an hour so it was tight. Did some treadmill running and some bike stuff before jumping in the car (still sweaty:rolleyes:) to collect mini-me. Think it was about 6k on the treaddie at 1% incline in XXX time?!

Thursday
Lunchtime pilates - the usual torture
Was supposed to get to the club session but was late at work and didn't get out in time to get there. Just ate and sat on the couch instead

Friday
Went to the Wicklow Star Awards evening in place of training. Sometimes you just have to make sacrifices for the sake of the club

Saturday
There was a 5k tempo training run organised for the park at 9am so decided I needed to do that (especially given the crap weeks training I've had!)
It was icy cold and slippy underfoot in places so it was definitely a bit stilted and not at all the relaxed pace run it was supposed to be. Ah well. About 4-5 miles with warmup and cool down.

Went up to TheWall for their first bouldering comp in the afternoon and had a blast. I only got the easy baby climbs done, but the others did really well and mini-me even got a prize. The free pizza at the end was a nice touch too

Sunday Long Run
Did the Killiney hill run with the gang again but ran a bit before and a bit after to take it to 11 miles for the day. Still very slow going up THAT hill but the overall pace for the run was marginally faster than last week and the last mile we upped the pace again, so that was good. Felt good after too.

Summay
Crappy weather does not really help with the training, and I let it best me this week - must try harder! But the weekends training was good and I think my strength is getting better.
Raheny 5 mile next weekend. I really haven't done anywhere near enough pace stuff to give this a good go, but it'll be a good training race,and a baseline for my fitness, if nothing else.

Weekly Mileage | 19.12 miles
Month to date | 64.99 miles

I'd only agreed to do this cause one of my running buddies suggested it as a good warmup for Ballycotton. Well I haven't done this as a race distance since 2012 (!) so I signed up. The morning of the race dawned bright and calm but with the start time of 3pm I was a bit unsure of what to eat and when. After consulting with my personal running guru, a bagel and nutella was consumed around 12:30 and that was it until after the race.

We collected our travelling companions and got to Raheny with the car reporting a balmy 12c and no wind. Perfect running conditions, so no excuses. It was my first time running this course and everyone had been regaling me with details of the course - the crowd congestion, the parked cars, the elbows, the coast road (the wind!!), THAT HILL, the finish line pass by... It was so talked up that I was dreading it a bit actually. We parked up, collected the numbers (easy peasy) and headed to the changing rooms where we met up with some more clubmates. Was just setting out on a warmup and ran into MarthaStew who was looking chipper and cheery as ever. 5 minutes later I passed Claralara and Digger who were out to do a spot of spectating so had a brief 'hello'. Dubgal was doing her warmup thang too.

Headed back to the changing room to drop the warm up gear and make a pit stop before dashing out to the start line. Squeezed into the corral but we were way back so set about weaving our way up a bit. When the gun went we were still a fair bit back (too far back!) but them's the breaks.

Started with a bit of a squash and I stuck to the road as loads of folks split off onto the path. If I'm doing a 5 mile race, I'd prefer to run the full course...:rolleyes: There was a bit of weaving, but I think I managed to keep it fairly on course. The first half mile or so had a few corners, and lots of speed ramps, and with the congestion it was a tad slow, but I wasn't running to the watch so didn't notice. I didn't have a a goal time for this but reckoned around the 40 minutes would be fair, but I wanted to just run by feel - no pressure.
First mile 8:05.

Don't know the area at all so I hadn't a clue where I was running - just following along with the crowd. Loads of spectators along the route and the marshals were fantastic. Started passing walkers around the 2 mile mark (they started before the main race) which was a bit strange, but they mostly kept to the left and out of the way of the runners. That was nice.
Mile 2 8:00.

Bit of a downhill on mile 3 and there were a few haring off but I kept my pace steady (couldn't do much else really!) and kept the rhythm as best I could. As my watch beeped the mile (remember I wasn't looking!) someone asked me if I had a split for the last mile - a bit random, as my split was hardly going to be the same as his as I came up behind him! But I looked...
Mile 3 7:58.

The 4th mile runs along the infamous coastal section - beware the headwind! But no, there was no wind, so no problems. Rounded the bend and hit THE HILL as we climbed back up towards the village and the final stretch. Got a great shout out from Super Joe, Digger and Claralara as I pushed up the hill. It was NOT as bad as all that!
Mile 4 8:01

As the Final mile closed in the pace was edging upwards, but the crowd was also getting a bit tighter. The last few bends towards the finish got a bit mad. One girl actually cut right in front of me as she headed to the path (to cut the corner?) and I actually stood on her heal - not my fault! She at least had the grace to apologise. Round the next bend and the road narrowed and I had to hold onto the runner in ahead of me as they slowed and I didn't - and there was nowhere to go. A bit messy, to be honest. The final bend is just meters before the finish line and I ran under the clock and stopped the watch. Final mile 7:47

My watch time clicked over at 39:51 and I was delighted to see the sub 40. Met RachelJev in the finish shoot and she was cursing blue heaven about 5 seconds over the 40 minutes... pretty close though Rachel - not too shabby!
Caught up with the clubmates and tucked into the tea and biscuits in the hall and the goodie bags, of course!

Unfortunately the official chip time came in at 40:00, so it's no sub 40 for me. :mad::( But it is a PB - the old PB from 2012 (41:27) was very soft and definitely ready for a crack.

Don't know if it's really that fast a course, especially given the crowds and that chicane circuit at the end. But I am glad I did it. The race was really well organised, well marshalled, lots of refreshments after and some weird and wonderful prizes for top end of the field (Krusty brought home a George Foreman Grill). An interesting way to spend a Sunday afternoon in January.

Sure what else would ya be doing? :cool::D

Miles for the week| 28 miles
Miles for the month|113.39 miles


I clocked 89.45 miles for January in 2014, so that's a nice bit of an increase for this year. Bearing in mind there was a lot of illness last year, I don't think its really fair to compare, but it's nice to know I'm being a bit more consistent this year - so far.

I ran this race last year after a lay off of 6 weeks due to illness and probably had the worst 10k of my life. Yea, I was still not back to fitness at the time, and still had the affects of the antibiotics in my system, but it very nearly broke me that day. I signed up for this as a precursor to Ballycotton but wasn't really all that enthusiastic about it.
But Sunday dawned bright and sunny, and I was feeling a little more positive about the race as we headed in convoy for Enniscorthy with some club mates.

The clouds descended as we travelled south and by the time we reached Enniscorthy the fog was heavy and the temperature had dropped to about 2C - birrrr! My chosen race gear of shorts and t shirt was not looking so hot (forgive the pun!) but the gloves and hat that I'd thrown in as an afterthought was seemingly inspired?!

Picked up my number at the registration desk and did a bit of a warm-up before hitting the loos (of course!) and heading to the start line. It was a TOTAL mess! They really need to sort that out! The crowds assembled but there was no attempt to have the slower runners move to the back and when the race started it was carnage... There were people wearing backpacks lining up 3 rows from the line, for feic sake?!?

So the gun went and off we ambled... hmmmm. There's a pretty sharp turn very shortly after the start and it wasn't until after it that I could even attempt to get into my stride. The first mile is a drag so I didn't try to hare it off or anything. My aim was to keep it steady and conquer the route (rather than having it conquer me again!)
Two of my club-mates started with me. A. is a bit faster, but she was taking it easy, and S. is in or around my pace, coming in just 20 seconds behind me at Raheny. So as the faster one trotted ahead of us at her easy pace, myself and S. kept more or less together, but still running our own race. I was a few steps behind, then she was, and so it went.
Mile 1 8:30

We passed the first mile marker and the crowd started to spread out and settle a bit - and then a girl pushing a buggy passed me!? What the... she flaked off ahead as if that thing was battery powered, some woman! The route levelled and I got into my stride, concentrating on keeping the effort level manageable, and the breathing even.
Mile 2 8:09

Into the 3rd mile as we turned off for for the lollipop section. The terrain went up a bit again here but I kept plugging and tried to maintain the effort level. My faster club-mate was ahead but still in view and I kept her in sight, trying not to let her go too early in the race. Myself and S. were still keeping pace with each other and as we turned a fairly tight corner I knew that the drags were behind us and it was the more serious stuff ahead now.
Mile 3 8:07

This was the "Up and Down" bit. Serious downhill here, followed by it's equivalent uphill. I'm pretty bad at up-hills, and almost as bad on a steep down! S. powered on ahead and I was passed by a few people on this point. Another bit of an up, up, up and then we rounded a corner which meant we were on the way back to town. This was where I completely crumbled last year, so I was concentrating very hard to keep an even effort and not loose any momentum. It was on the last bit of up that the second buggy overtook me - oh the mortification!
Mile 4 8:15

Just 2 miles to go and the route starts to flatten out again. Right. Full concentration needed now. S. was still there but I'd passed her once we topped the hills and were back on the flat. A, was still ahead of us, but even though she was still in sight, I could see she was winding it up a bit. I had reeled in a few of the people that had passed me on the hills, which was nice, but yer'man with the buggy was gone. Feic it, I think I'll have to borrow a toddler to push next year? :rolleyes:
Mile 5 8:04

One mile left and I knew it was now or never. Always a bit of a question about when to push it in a 10k like this. The last mile is a downhill, so I upped the pace (as much as I could) and just tried to keep that going. It was tough! That last mile just seemed to go on forever!! At last I could see some people ahead and knew the end was close. Push, push, push!
Mile 6 7:54

With about 50 or so meters to go I was really all out and passed another club-mate. Had enough breath to just grunt her name and thought she'd race me home, but she told me after that she was totally spend at that point and just couldn't stay with me (but I was only 4 seconds ahead). Through the finish line for a time of 50:26 (last 0.23 @ 6:26/mi)


That time was about 40 seconds off my PB, my 4th fastest 10k, but about 4 minutes faster than last year - so I think I'm happy enough with that for a days work (except, of course, for being beaten by not one but two buggy runners?!:eek: ). And my club-mates? A. was home about 30 seconds ahead of me, and S. was about 30 seconds behind me. We were all pretty happy with it - giver or take a few seconds... :P


A cool down jog, a hot shower and our fill of good grub, before hitting the road for the trip home. Our club took home the M40, F40 and F Team prize too, so we were all pretty happy travelling back. :cool:

Monday 16th
8 mile run with 2x2mile tempo. The plan was to hit about 8:30 pace per mile in preparation for the Ballycotton 10 in a couple of weeks. A group of us jogged down to the seafront in Bray and then did our relative tempo paces along the prom. As usual it was pretty windy so the out and back times were a bit off, but I kept the pace pretty even and it felt okay. The first 2 were 8:24 and 8:20 and the last 2 were 8:22 and 8:30.


Tuesday - Friday
Working on the other side of town with a commute that I just wasn't up for, so no running done...
Friday was travelling to the folks straight after work, so no running then either - I'm SO BOLD!

Saturday 21st
Cold but sunny in the wild west so I put on an extra (heavy) layer and my gloves and hat, and hit the road. 2 miles in the sun was shining down and I was almost blinded by the glare off the wet roads - should have worn shades :cool: - and i was overheating?! I briefly toyed with the idea of pealing off a layer, but knew the sun probably wasn't going to last, and I was hitting a wide open main road soon. Sure enough, the wind picked up and the sun went in and the temperature dropped again. I even had some hailstones along the way - lovely :rolleyes:
But happy out to finish just over 10 miles for the day.

Sunday
Travel and a wonderful afternoon tea catchup with the girls so no running... ah well


Summary
Bit of a disappointing week but it should all be back to normal tomorrow. The rest was probably good for me (that's how I'm calling it anyway )
Miles this week |18.65
Miles for Feb (to date) |69.23
Miles for Jan |182.63

KielyUnusual wrote: »

I'll see you down in Ballycotton Emer. Got my number in the post today. Like their programme too with all the history of the race. Really helps build the atmosphere for it. Are you making a weekend of it or are you up and down on the day?

Yeah, heading down Saturday and back Monday. Looking forward to it - well, looking forward to the weekend, and the afters Not too sure about the actual race