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"The one with the Duathlon, Half Marathon and the Adventure Race"
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poconnor16 wrote: »Best of luck Backspacer! I am training for my first half in december, so really enjoying your thread. By the looks of it you will cruise the half sub 2 hours which is brilliant!! I'm looking for sub 2.5 hours for mine.
Cheers for that, am getting a bit excited now that its nearly here. Hopefully things go my way and keep the sub 2 in my sights.
Which half are you running in December?
Always good to know someone is getting something out of this thread, great for the ego if nothing else
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backspacer wrote: »Cheers for that, am getting a bit excited now that its nearly here. Hopefully things go my way and keep the sub 2 in my sights.
Which half are you running in December?
Always good to know someone is getting something out of this thread, great for the ego if nothing else
The Waterfront in Clonakilty, Cork..its on Dec 10th. Last year was the inaugral, I did my first 10k. (and nearly died lol). I spent 3 months injured during the summer, so missed everything! So hell bent on this.
I'm not focussed on time, just finishing really. I might look into going to the running club once a week once I reach the ten mile mark. It sounds so scary, 10 miles!! Not to mind 13.1...
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poconnor16 wrote: »The Waterfront in Clonakilty, Cork..its on Dec 10th. Last year was the inaugral, I did my first 10k. (and nearly died lol). I spent 3 months injured during the summer, so missed everything! So hell bent on this.
I'm not focussed on time, just finishing really. I might look into going to the running club once a week once I reach the ten mile mark. It sounds so scary, 10 miles!! Not to mind 13.1...
Good stuff, when you get to 10 miles in it, pure momentum and adrenalin will get you the rest of the way, you'll have done the hard bit to get that far in training.
If you need a boost, check for a Fit4Life group in your area. This is how I got started and accomodate all types of runners, so might give you a hand getting the mileage in.0 -
So its less than 48 hours now until the half marathon, and took a short run last night to make sure the legs were still loose and not starting to seize up on me. I kept it local as I've been doing for the last few weeks, but think I need some variety in my runs from now on or I'll go mad
I took a short run up to the pitch and up to the Caladh Thaidhg turn last night and jogged home. It was a nice night for a jog, cool and a slightly stiff breeze on the return home. These short runs sort of throw me as I feel I'm only getting started and then I'm finished for the day. But I suppose its better to keep the long miles in the tank for 11am on Saturday when I really need them.
Location: Carraroe
Distance: 2.28 miles ( 3.66 km)
Pace: 8:36 p/mile
Time: 19:38
The funny thing is I reckon my mind is starting to play tricks on me now, every little twinge that comes and goes convincing me that something is wrong. But am feeling good today, hopefully that's a sign of the nerves disappearing0 -
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Sub 2 was the original target, sub 1:50 would have to be about 8:23 a mile on average to do...which might be a stretch for me to do consistently. But that said if the weather was reasonable (wind been light) and got off to a good start, then who knows.
But am going to be realistic and say sub 2 for the moment 0 -
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Less than 24 hours to go now, am feeling a bit excited now. Pains are all gone thank god.
Picking up my race pack this evening, am race number 556 so hopefully will finish a few places ahead of that, anywhere in the middle with a sub-2 time and I'll consider it a good day 0 -
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I'm going mad to hear that you are disappointed - but it sounds like you have a real competitive streak in you. I can only imagine what you will do to beat that PB in your next race!
Congrats Backspacer, brilliant time for your first go at it. Jeez, to even finish a half first time around is great going, try to remember that.
Your post is a very interesting read; I'm very interested as to the thoughts of the experienced guys on this.
Well done again - I have great respect for all participants, but even greater respect for those that are struggling and still dont give up. 0 -
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MarySamsonite wrote: »Congratulations on the HM backspacer! You did it in a fantastic time. I really enjoyed your race report and I'm now looking forward to hearing about your next goal!!
Am not quite sure where to go from here, a marathon may be a bridge too far yet. Am intent though on putting the half marathon right with a proper effort next time. Although am not quite sure when I will do that yet.
Still Conamara 10k next Saturday, hoping to put in a decent time there now.0 -
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Máirtín, congratulations on the race, well done! 18 minutes faster than my first ever half marathon
I think you're being very harsh on yourself following this run. You're coming from a base of zero, and yet, despite bouts of walking, you came within two minutes of cracking a sub-two hour half marathon on your first time out. You ran a healthy pace for the whole race. The time seems to be bothering you , which is understandable considering you had sub-2 in your head. On the other hand, it's not all that long ago where running 13.1 miles seemed a genuine challenge in its own right?
As for the problems on the day, the first thing I would say is discount the notion of not having enough breakfast. You had plenty to eat, there wasn't a big gap between the meal and race, but enough to digest it. If you really feel that that might be an issue, carry a gel or two with you. I doubt it was that, however.
Dehydration could have been an issue. It wasn't that hot a day, however, and as long as you were taking on some water during the race, you should have been fine.
My suspicion, and there's no way of confirming this unless you were wearing a Garmin or if you have mile splits, is that you went out a bit too fast, and suffered later. It's really easy to get sucked into other people's race and pace, and if you are used to running a certain pace, then a faster pace will catch up on you pretty quickly in a race. Of course, there is also the real possibility that it was just one of those days when the legs just feel heavy.
Either way, it was a great debut. As for what to do next, do more races! Get used to race day, and as Micilín Muc suggested, do another half marathon. Once you nail that sub-2 target, you'll be able to think more clearly about what you want to do next.
Comhghairdeachas!0 -
Cheers for the words of encouragement there Rónán, was not a happy camper at all on Saturday after it. The Garmin is my Christmas list this year anyways, can only give some educated guess work with a stopwatch for splits
The time did bother me to be fair, but the more I think about it I shouldn't be so annoyed as this time last year this would be have been something I'd have considered well beyond me to do.
I never actually considered the pace at all in the grand scheme of things, I figured that it was comfortable enough, but like you said Rónán it's very easy to get sucked into another person's race. But its a learning curve and will have to get used to it really.
Still the next thing on my mind is the Conamara 10K on Saturday, am looking forward to this in a big way, good way to get back into the running after a few days off 0 -
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I figured sitting around and abandoning all my good eating habits the last few days were going to catch up with me, so I got out last night and just knocked out a few kilometres around Carraroe. It was a serious effort to get off the couch but I'm glad I did now as it really did me the world of good.
Despite the fact it was a cold windy evening, when I got started the cold eventually disappeared as I took off around Carraroe, feeling a bit rough to be quite honest. The legs felt heavy but soon enough I was forgetting about that and just knocked the run out, feeling great after it. Ah it's good to get back into it again.
Location: Carraroe
Distance: 5.02 km (3.1 miles)
Pace: 9:30 p/mile
Time: 29:290 -
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After the exertions of the Half Marathon, I was glad to get a race like this to follow it up to get the body back into racing. To be honest it couldn't have been a better race, close to home, a bit challenging and just a great day out.
I arrived in Carna village at about 2:30pm and you could see the build up of people already there getting ready for the race. I landed in and registration was done nice and quick, was well organized and was out again in no time. The gift pack was nice, but the bizarre thing on offer was free wellies if they were needed
As 4pm came you could see people building up on the road, mostly runners, some spectators, others just there out of idle curiosity as to why their village had been over run with singlet wearing numbered people.
4pm came and Catherina McKiernan started the race and even took part then as well. The pace was nice and steady and was conscious to keep it steady this week so that I wouldn't have a repeat of the Galway Bay HM of maybe going too fast. I kept it at a nice steady 5:30 p/km for the first few km as I got comfortable with my breathing. As i made the turn for 5km at about 25 minutes, i knew that my 10k PB was going to be beaten and even contemplated a sub-50 but thought "am not going down this road again" and started to give it everything for the remaining distance. I hit 8 at around 40:30 and though "OK, just keep the pace and run a decent time, sub-50 is not important".
Between 8 and 9 km you hit a hill on the way back to the finish and just attempted to push through as much as I could, knowing that between 9-10 km was a nice flat run to the finish. I pushed on as I could hear the finishing line whistle and the crowd and even managed a little sprint near the end going over the finish line in 50:42, a whole 4:43 off my best 10k time to date. Needless to say delighted
Location: Conamara 10k, Carna
Distance: 10k (6.1 miles)
Pace: 8:19 p/mile
Time: 50:420 -
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Micilin Muc wrote: »Very realistic targets there. You should be able to tick off each one as you race them next!
I suppose i settled on these targets as they can be knocked down incrementally, no point going for a ridiculous target just yet 0 -
Took a run in with the Fit4Life group last night to get the legs going after the 10k on Saturday. Since the Winter evenings have kicked in, all trip to Dangan for running have been put off now and its back to the streets for training this Winter. I have moved up into the Intermediate group and the pace is noticeably different but none the less, nothing too uncomfortable to maintain over a distance which I consider good progress in my books.
We left from the library in Westside, and decided that we would head up towards the Western Distributor Rd, which was ideal with very short subtle inclines which suited me down to the ground. The plan was that we would go as far as Blake Roundabout on the Clybaun Rd and turn there, but as we got there some of us settled on heading up and finishing at the next Roundabout just to get the extra mile in. Was glad to do this, as was thinking the run was a bit short to begin with. As we reached the Roundabout on the Cappagh Rd and turned you could feel more comfortable coming back, as the incline was slightly downhill and the stiff breeze was behind me.
All in all a good night's running to start the week, a solid 5 and a bit miles.
Location: Westside Library to Clybaun Rd
Distance: 5.34 miles (8.59km)
Pace: 10:14 p/mile
Time: 54:410 -
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