Running along the road to nowhere

xebec

BHAA K Club 10k

6.21 miles 48:36

Another new 10k PB Not bad, two in one week!! Much flatter course today. Didn't pace it correctly at all, first mile was 7:12 which is WAY too fast and never really felt comfortable after that. But still obviously very happy to improve the PB by over 80 seconds.

Next weekend is the Wexford Half Marathon on Sunday morning, might do the RTE 5 mile on Saturday for good measure too...

rainbow kirby

Nice one, you're flying!

OI

Best of luck in the half next week xebe, raging I'm not doing it but I'm too fat so whatcha gonna do

xebec

17.01 miles 2:40:51

Figured it was about time I got back to some marathon training if I'm going to have any hope of doing Cork in 6 weeks time... Lovely day, if a little bit warm at times. Stopped for a drink after a little over 9 miles and found the next three miles crazy hard, but once I ditched the bottle I was back up to pace for the next bit and all was going well... Until it started lashing rain and the wind picked up while I was running for over a mile straight into it, obviously knocked the pace down a bit but no big deal. Was cold, wet and sore when I got home but glad to have gotten a decent LSR in this weekend before racing the half next weekend.

YTD: 272.08 miles

menoscemo

Christ, Running a 17 mile LSR the day after a 10k PB. You are really going at it!!

Tell me how much was your improvemnt yesterday over the GIR down to it being flat? I suppose the crowds held you up last week and this may account for most of the 80 seconds you knocked off? (just trying to get a guage on how much I could knock off my GIR time on a flay course )

xebec

menoscemo wrote: »

Christ, Running a 17 mile LSR the day after a 10k PB. You are really going at it!!

Yep, time to get my arse in gear TBH and get some long runs in. Was tough but glad I made it through.

menoscemo wrote: »

Tell me how much was your improvemnt yesterday over the GIR down to it being flat? I suppose the crowds held you up last week and this may account for most of the 80 seconds you knocked off? (just trying to get a guage on how much I could knock off my GIR time on a flay course )

Meant to drop you a PM on this after our conversation last week, but seeing as you ask here I'll answer. In terms of pacing, yesterday did not go anywhere near as well for me as last week. I think I expended pretty much the same amount of effort over the two races. The major differences between the two - flat course and less weaving around people (none after about 2k) - accounted for all the difference, and in fact if I had got the pacing correct I believe I could have gone below 48 minutes with the same effort but had nothing left at the end and spent the last few miles just hanging on.

So, based on the above, a pancake flat course and less (no) congestion could make a 2 minute difference over the GIR, so now find a flat course and you'll have no excuse :P

menoscemo

xebec wrote: »

So, based on the above, a pancake flat course and less (no) congestion could make a 2 minute difference over the GIR, so now find a flat course and you'll have no excuse :P

Cheers. I'll probably do the one in Parkwest in July. It is supposed to be dead flat and I can't imagine it being too congested.

OI

menoscemo wrote: »

Cheers. I'll probably do the one in Parkwest in July. It is supposed to be dead flat and I can't imagine it being too congested.

Hey man, what date is that, might be something to aim for

menoscemo

OI wrote: »

Hey man, what date is that, might be something to aim for

Here ya go
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055863200
You gotta get registered this week though if you wanna pay €20 instead of €29.
It's the week after the race series 5 miler (I think I might give that a miss though and just do the 10miler and the half).

RacoonQueen

menoscemo wrote: »

Here ya go
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055863200
You gotta get registered this week though if you wanna pay €20 instead of €29.
It's the week after the race series 5 miler (I think I might give that a miss though and just do the 10miler and the half).

Didn't realise it was so close to the 5 miler actually, I'm registered for both and still considering registering for the St. James 6.5k on the Thursday aswell(mostly so they can't make me work at it if I'm running it)

OI

menoscemo wrote: »

Here ya go
http://m.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055863200
You gotta get registered this week though if you wanna pay €20 instead of €29.
It's the week after the race series 5 miler (I think I might give that a miss though and just do the 10miler and the half).

I'll get onto it tomorrow, I'm on holidays the week of the 5 miler so this suits me way better. Also gives me a couple of months under my belt. Might squeeze a few bevvies in afterwards aswell

menoscemo

OI wrote: »

I'll get onto it tomorrow, I'm on holidays the week of the 5 miler so this suits me way better. Also gives me a couple of months under my belt. Might squeeze a few bevvies in afterwards aswell

Sounds good and RQ might even join us as well we can make up for shunning her in the Conrad after DCM .

OI

menoscemo wrote: »

Sounds good and RQ might even join us as well we can make up for shunning her in the Conrad after DCM .

I told her at the time, it was my natural shyness coming through, OI never shuns, sure it took me ages to talk to rk aswell, couldn't even introduce myself to amadeus in the first few miles before he showed me a clean pair of heels, so yes definitely owe RQ a pint

xebec

5.01 miles 48:24

Very easy run tonight with a friend from work. He's signed himself up for the Chicago Triathlon later in the year and has a lot of work ahead of him so it'll be good to get him started on the running...

xebec

9.04 miles 1:19:28

Meant to be a medium pace run tonight, ended up faster than PMP but happy enough with the effort level. Pretty windy out which didn't help but hopefully well set up for the half at the weekend.

xebec

BHAA RTE 5 mile

5 miles 38:08

Plan for today was to take it at a pace that I felt reasonably comfortable with, possibly around 40:00 pace. Again, first mile a little faster than planned but nothing as crazy as last week, eased back for the next 3 miles before pushing on again at the end. Old PB was 39:00 so a new PB by 52 seconds. Three out of three PBs in the last three weeks, another one tomorrow?

Preparation for my last half marathon (Dublin 09) wasn't ideal, out at a work party till 5am before kicking myself out of bed at 8.30am... Worked though, PB by 10 mins. Not expecting anything as crazy tomorrow, Wexford is a tougher course (IMO) and running a 5 mile race the day before isn't great preparation either! Still, gonna try to pace to match my PB pace until the hills are over then push on for the last very flat 5 miles.

OI

Great time today xebec, beat of luck tomorrow you mad man (2 races in a row). Hopefully see you on Whiterock Hill.

xebec

OI wrote: »

Hopefully see you on Whiterock Hill.

Cheers! Will keep an eye out for you as I zoom past... (Or as I'm struggling down the hill after racing too much and climbing up the other side!)

OI

xebec wrote: »

Cheers! Will keep an eye out for you as I zoom past... (Or as I'm struggling down the hill after racing too much and climbing up the other side!)

Hey xebec, you were flying when i saw you. Recognised you from the trademark sunglasses

xebec

OI wrote: »

Hey xebec, you were flying when i saw you. Recognised you from the trademark sunglasses

Wasn't totally sure it was you until you shouted, shoulda been braver and let a roar at you! The sunglasses are the only thing I have to make me look cool :cool: :pac:

xebec

Wexford Half Marathon

13.1 miles 1:46:41 (watch time)

*cough* PB *cough* Gotta stop running all these fast times, think those keys are getting worn out on my keyboard!!

Tough race today, but really enjoyed it despite pushing myself on towards the end. Plan (decided this morning) was to try to average 8:30 pace the whole way round, giving me a new PB but also taking into account that it is a fairly tough course. As Sosa mentioned in his log, there was a fair bit of wind out there today, from mile 4 to mile 8 there was no respite from either the hills or the wind, or both!

First 3 miles went fine, little fast but was feeling very comfortable. Changed plan at this stage to give it a go after the hills and see if I could keep my average pace closer to 8:15. Miles 4 and 5 (8:47 slowest of the day) were slower with the steep climb up Sinnotstown Lane and then a strong wind on top of Whiterock Hill with no shelter from it anywhere.

Mile 6 was reasonably fast (7:59), there was the long drop down Whiterock hill where I was going at sub-7:30 pace but feeling very comfortable letting it all go followed by a short sharp uphill which brought the mile pace back in line with the rest of the race. Not much to say about miles 7 and 8, rolling ups and downs past my parents house, the hospital and the race course.

Mile 9 was when we hit the ring-road, I still felt good and decided to try and pick it up for the last 5 miles. This plan was scuppered a little by mile 10, where there was a bit of an incline (not a hill!) and we were running straight into the wind, pace dropped to 8:11 for that mile. Picked it up again as we eased off the wind, was fun running up the Main Street even if I did have to dodge a few pedestrians... Came home in 7:53, 7:42 and 8:00 (back into the wind).

As mentioned above it was a PB, blitzing my previous time of 1:54:48 from Dublin last year (and the 2:05 on this course last year). It's definitely not a PB course and the wind today really slowed me down at times. Lots of confidence built from it though, 1:45 is there for the taking and possibly even 1:40 on a flat course after a few more months of good training...

Reasonably good organisation today. Only problem I had was the amount of traffic on some of the roads, but not much that can be done about that without completely closing the roads. Numbers were down and it was lower key than last year, but I enjoyed it.

Now I think it's time to take a bit of a break from racing. That's 4 PBs in 21 days which is pretty amazing but I'm tired!! So no racing now for at least a 10 days until beach race on 11th :pac:

YTD: 304.23 miles

OI

Fantastic run today xebec especially the last 3 miles - ie you really paced it well. The first thing i said when i walked out the front door this morning was how windy it was. Congrats on a great time, we'll have to catch up for a long run soon.

Slogger Jogger

Congrats on a nice PB, well done.

xebec

2.00 miles 17:38

On the dreadmill. Didn't want to do any more, legs were a bit tired but loosened up reasonably well over the 2nd mile. Good excuse to hit the jacuzzi for 20 mins after though

Did I mention that yesterday was negative splits?! I didn't? Ok, the course was much tougher in the first half, but the negative split was over 2 minutes which means sub-1:45 is well on the cards... That's enough of half-marathon talk, just needed to record that fact on here for posterity

xebec

5.08 miles 46:07

Recovery run after the weekend. Legs tired and this was very tough...

xebec

10.62 miles 1:35:15

Nice session tonight. First 8.5 miles were all under 9:00/mile pace which is faster than PMP - I may even go for a slower marathon in Cork, decisions decisions... Stopped at that stage to watch the duathlon for 20 minutes. Really interesting and looked like lots of fun, definitely something to try in the future. Only offputting thing was a small confrontation by two of the top 3 after they finished, there was nothing in it really but there's no need for that in front of the kids and other fans who were there.

After that took it very easy coming home at about 9:30 pace, calves were both tight and I was bloody freezing after standing around for that time but I guess it's similar to the cramping situation you get when you go 20+ miles so all good.

TFBubendorfer

Better way late than never, so congratulations on a PB and nice meeting you in Wexford! It's always great to put a face to a name.

4 PBs in 21 days, you're on a roll!

xebec

5.01 miles 43:01

After a couple of (much needed) days of rest finally got back out for a run this evening - plan was to get up early and do it, but didn't sleep well so stayed in bed this morning. This was a fair bit faster than planned, although it felt pretty comfortable for most of it. Decided to take the 'easy' way round this loop tonight, up the Kyber Road into the wind, must rethink what exactly I call easy!!

Garmin was acting a bit strange, some crazy spikes in HR during the first half mile going as high as 240, obviously not right. I've heard of spikes in HR in the first mile with Garmins before but this is first time I've come across them. Then at the start of the 5th mile the pace started to go crazy, jumping between 6:00/mile and 24:00/mile...

Plan for tomorrow is an early start, LSR of about 18 miles before the Grand Prix at lunchtime. Entry is in for Cork so no backing out now...

xebec

18.17 miles 2:50:06

Not too bad, managed to get up on 30 minutes later than planned. Tired by the end of it, but really good session. Pace overall was 9:21/mile, but best thing about it was that slowest mile was 9:31 so really consistent. Enjoyed most of it, but glad it's over. One more LSR before taper time for Cork...

YTD: 345.11 miles

rainbow kirby

Nice running! Planning on doing a 20-miler before Cork?