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Confessions of a never has been.....
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Wednesday
Session day today and with the only real training window being on my lunch hour, I brought the gear to work and headed off towards Ringsend park to get this done.
Today's session was:
4x1 mile@ 6 min pace, 2 minute recoveries.
After a warmup that took in a potential route around the park, I got started on the session
While the route wasn't ideal at all with its multiple sharp turns and what seemed like every dog in Irishtown coming out for his\her lunchtimw walk, I was keen to stay relaxed on each of these reps, at least as relaxed as you can during mile reps!
1st mile, good - felt strong throughout, always in control, route was a little annoying but sure that's how it is
5.52
2nd mile - as above really, worked hard but always felt in control
5.54
3rd mile - a litttle tougher if I'm honest but again, hard work without going into the red
5.53
4th mile - first half as above but started to drift\tire a little over the last 800m and had to refocus the mind to stay on track and get it done
5.56
Bit of a warmdown and back to the office for showering and feeding
Good session, happy with the level of control etc
Thursday
7 easy miles around St Anne's , enjoyed this
Friday
Felt tired from a manic day at work, 7.2 easy miles in the driving wind, horrible to run in really
Saturday
BHAA XC –Tymon ( 4 mile)
Another weekend, another race it seems. More cross country on the cards, it hurts, it strengthens and it hurts....it’s all part of a the plan at the moment, you can’t replicate this kind of effort and drive in sessions and I am starting to feel like I’m returning to good shape.
Up earlier than planned this morning ( which usually happens to me when there’s a race happening), a glance out the window confirmed that the wind and rain I had thought I was dreaming about during the night, was in fact just the wind and rain outside the window.
Breakfast, coffee, a little water...waited a half hour, slice of toast with some almond butter and off we headed for Tymon.
Registration done, fellow DNS lads met up with ( plus a pal from work and Gosh who used to frequent these parts) and off we went for a jog around the inside of the course while the women were racing.
The surface was heavy enough as expected, the going was going to be soft as they say but in fairness, there were only a couple of really sloppy muddy places, it seemed the rain had eased up just in time.
Made our way to the starting line, I lined up a couple of rows from the front and before any delay, we were off.
The course was basically 4 laps of a twisting, winding route, a couple of really sneaky drags where the ground felt particularly soft and heavy and got heavier with each passing lap...BUT, what goes up, must come down so we were rewarded with two brief stretches of downhill, one of which presented a temptation to ease off the gas a little.
Lap 1 – A little congestion but found a good stride early on and stuck with it, moving around people when there was room to do so but I knew that the softer ground meant this would be a tougher race than last week so didn’t force anything just yet. I could see Gosh a good few places ahead and my workmate had settled in maybe 6\7 places ahead of me. As always, the field thinned out by the end of this, the quicker stretch at the back of the course felt great and the drags back up didn’t feel too bad. Moving well, didn’t check the watch when it beeped
Mile 1 – 5.58
Into the second lap and moving across the footpaths between fields was a bit easier as I could actually see the mats that had been put down so used them and got in good and tight on each corner to avoid going too wide. I could feel that I was working a little harder than last week but also guessed that the first mile had been a little quicker given that there were less runners and a wider space to run in.
The first drag presented a chance to keep pumping and just move by some people as they slowed, nothing forced, just working to keep my own momentum, along the top of the course I really focused on staying strong and controlled, keeping the breathing steady, making sure the form was good etc.
Just before the faster stretch at back of the course there is a nasty little chicane that had turned very muddy since I ran over it the first time so I was careful going through but again, quickly regained momentum and took another few places here. Down the faster stretch at a good pelt, alongside a path for 200m or so then up the drag before turning into the end of the 2nd lap, I could see Gosh coming back towards me a little here which surprised me. It was hard work keeping everything moving, I was conscious that I was breathing heavy but to be honest, I was enjoying the challenge.
Mile 2 – 6.02
Into the 3rd lap and Gosh was having an off day, himself and another lad came back to me and I kicked on by to start chasing down the group ahead. I could see my workmate had slipped back a little now too.
I had to remind myself to focus on the ground ahead and keep getting the basics right, up the drag, along the top of the course, muddy chicane and we were racing down the faster stretch.
The group was well spread out now, I was running side by side a runner I know from the roads and I know him to be a good few seconds ahead of me over shorter distances too. Up the ba$tard of a drag ( it got steadily more ba$tardly as the laps went by) before the turn for the end of the lap and we were slip sliding our way around these corners.
The effort to stay close was telling, one lap to go and I was really starting to hurt, everyone was – the body language from everyone around was telling, the ground was draining my legs, I had a hint of a stitch coming but I also knew that I was running well and would just have to get close to the group ahead, keep pushing and keep pumping.
Mile 3 – 6.07
Into the last lap and it was hard work keeping that control that was seemed so important earlier, a couple of BP lads had come back to me and I was also starting to close in on workmate.
The first drag allowed me to move by BP lad and once I went by, I really tried to lengthen the stride to take advantage of the relatively flat surface.
Muddy chicane came and went and I made a surge to catch workmate, we both turned into the fast stretch and I don’t think either of us had any enthusiasm to race down this time. By the end of that stretch, I had moved slightly ahead, hoping that he’d come with me and we’d race to the end....also relieved that he didn’t !
Coming towards the last drag before home, a couple of backmarkers moved out of my way which meant that I had 500m or so to go and was closing in on another runner who had seemed way out of reach a lap earlier ( thats cross country for you), I surged and kept going, moving up the drag and ducking into the corner before him, I kept kicking too.
At the top of the hill before the turn for home, I knew he would respond but I also knew that I wasn’t going to ease up, into the home straight and I was pumping the legs through the heavy grass, crossed the line - 23.49 for 18th place.
Mile 4 - 5.55 (not quite a mile according to my watch)
Got my banana\water, did a warmdown with the lads who all had very solid runs, went for a bit of tea\cake and headed off for home.
Another solid if unspectacular run today, I don’t think I ever look forward to Cross Country racing, especially when the weather has been bad but I do get why coach is so keen on it, it’s a different type of hurt and really does make you dig in and hang on when you don’t think you can, it resets the hurtometer but also can be a great source of mental strength - that can only be a positive thing.
Less than 24 minutes of running hard today but its amazing what it can do for the mind and the body, 3rd race in 3 weeks and I’ve felt stronger and faster in each one.0 -
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Duanington wrote:Another solid if unspectacular run today, I don’t think I ever look forward to Cross Country racing, especially when the weather has been bad but I do get why coach is so keen on it, it’s a different type of hurt and really does make you dig in and hang on when you don’t think you can, it resets the hurtometer but also can be a great source of mental strength - that can only be a positive thing. Less than 24 minutes of running hard today but its amazing what it can do for the mind and the body, 3rd race in 3 weeks and I’ve felt stronger and faster in each one.
Sounds fantastic. Would love to give it a go but not sure I have the ankles for it. Great report. You took it easy on that last mile this time
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Annie get your Run wrote: »Brilliant report
could visualise you taking that scalp on the last corner! XC is a different animal altogether,, as exciting to watch as it is to race. Nice work!
It sure is AM - even the lower key events seem to do the trick in that regard !0 -
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Swashbuckler wrote: »Sounds fantastic. Would love to give it a go but not sure I have the ankles for it. Great report. You took it easy on that last mile this time
You haven't seen my ankles P! You should give it a go, I know your coach is a fan ;-)
ha ha ha - re last mile, there was no such thing as taking it easy - thankfully there aren't any photos from that lap knocking around yet !0
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