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A Slow Journey to Faster Times
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ah go on, this is getting funnier with every addition... btw, I will be nowhere near enniscorthy, so don't bother !
Dubgal72 has been added thanks to anna
Enniscorthy 10k
Yaboya1 (Scratch) – is hoping to run a pb and break 37 minutes for the first time. Last Sunday's 5 mile time suggests this should be possible, but burnout is possible with a 10 miler to come in Trim this weekend. Vulnerable.
Calvin Johnson (-3mins) – encountered some unexpected heart problems in Raheny causing a DNF, but had gone into that race in good form expecting to run a big pb. He’ll come here fresher than originally anticipated because of that, and with training going so well lately the arbitrary 40 minute time barrier may be under real threat.
Dubgal72 (-5mins) – normally smashes her goal time by at least two minutes, so expect a pre-race target of sub 44 here. Went out and shamelessly destroyed the field in a recent X-Country, despite claiming she'd be happy just to get around beforehand. Has called me a bousy in the past, but everyone knows it takes one to know one........
adrian522 (-8mins) - may be a late supplementary entry to the race. Fortunately for him that's still only €10 :pac:. Ran a pb of 35:43 in Raheny which he celebrated by acting thoroughly disgusted. Is now claiming he'll be happy with a sub 50 here when in reality he should be aiming for sub 45, especially given (like Dubgal72) he's been using performance enhancing footwear lately.
Pacing Mule (-10mins) – Improved training has seen pb’s at all distances in the past 12 months, bar a hiccup in the DCM. This can probably be put down to illness quite close to the race, with an impressive run in Raheny last Sunday backing up that theory. Has publicly stated he’d be hoping to run 48:30-49:00 here, but something closer to 47:30 is definitely a big possibility in my opinion.
MKDTH (-20mins) – is like the human marmite of the A/R forum. Constantly creates debate and opinion with his crackpot theories and revolutionary training style. Ran a very nice pb in Fingal of 57:25 last July, but recent form suggests that won’t be threatened here. Maybe he’s been sandbagging in recent training/races in pursuit of a favourable handicap mark and some easy money from his rivals. We’ll find out soon enough.
It's a six way contest now. All bets are off!0 -
Hamburg is the main goal race for me at the moment, but I do like racing in general and find it difficult to stay focused on just one race a long way in the future. My thinking since December has been to follow the HADD plan, but make exceptions where necessary that allows me to race and set new pb's in Raheny (5m), Trim (10m), Enniscorthy (10k), Bohermeen (HM) and a 5k (possibly a parkrun) pre-Hamburg. Then I plan to pb in Hamburg and start off on a new mission of pb's from May onwards :cool:
As much as I like having a marathon to target, I find it much easier to get myself out doing the training when I have some intermediate targets too. Aside from that (touching wood), I think sometimes high mileage weeks and hard efforts see me produce my best race performances. Arguably my most impressive run of 2014 came in the Longford HM, where I finished really strongly having only run a big 5k pb the previous Saturday & a 6x1k VO2 Max session on the Tuesday as part of 69 miles in the preceding 8 days.
Sounds like you have thought it all through. Plenty to keep you focused in that list and with Sub 3 already in the bag you have nothing to lose.....GO HARD OR GO HOME is obviously your motto for 2015;)
Also sounds like I will have to set some serious time aside for race report reading
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barryoneill50 wrote: »If you don't mind I'll join the fun for Enniscorthy. Hoping for 39:50.
Most recent race ferricarrig 5 mile, 31:38........
Another late entry. Give me some time to study the form and I'll be back with a synopsis
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Continued.......
Enniscorthy 10k
Yaboya1 (Scratch) – is hoping to run a pb and break 37 minutes for the first time. Last Sunday's 5 mile time suggests this should be possible, but burnout is possible with a 10 miler to come in Trim this weekend. Vulnerable.
Calvin Johnson (-3mins) – encountered some unexpected heart problems in Raheny causing a DNF, but had gone into that race in good form expecting to run a big pb. He’ll come here fresher than originally anticipated because of that, and with training going so well lately the arbitrary 40 minute time barrier may be under real threat.
barryoneill50 (-3mins) – could probably be likened to an old school Martin Pipe style plot for a big handicap. Very little info is leaked from the stable and posts of: am - 5, pm - 6, total - 11 don't give much away in terms of form. Has been dropping down the weights (& belt sizes) since early in the season and may be ready for a huge pb attempt here. Can only be judged on his recent Ferrycarrig run formwise, but he ran that coming off an illness and could be capable of better. Let's forget about the field and make this a straight match between him & Calvin Johnson. Evens each of two. Who do you want??
Dubgal72 (-5mins) – normally smashes her goal time by at least two minutes, so expect a pre-race target of sub 44 here. Went out and shamelessly destroyed the field in a recent X-Country, despite claiming she'd be happy just to get around beforehand. Has called me a bousy in the past, but everyone knows it takes one to know one........
adrian522 (-8mins) - may be a late supplementary entry to the race. Fortunately for him that's still only €10 :pac:. Ran a pb of 35:43 in Raheny which he celebrated by acting thoroughly disgusted. Is now claiming he'll be happy with a sub 50 here when in reality he should be aiming for sub 45, especially given (like Dubgal72) he's been using performance enhancing footwear lately.
Pacing Mule (-10mins) – Improved training has seen pb’s at all distances in the past 12 months, bar a hiccup in the DCM. This can probably be put down to illness quite close to the race, with an impressive run in Raheny last Sunday backing up that theory. Has publicly stated he’d be hoping to run 48:30-49:00 here, but something closer to 47:30 is definitely a big possibility in my opinion.
MKDTH (-20mins) – is like the human marmite of the A/R forum. Constantly creates debate and opinion with his crackpot theories and revolutionary training style. Ran a very nice pb in Fingal of 57:25 last July, but recent form suggests that won’t be threatened here. Maybe he’s been sandbagging in recent training/races in pursuit of a favourable handicap mark and some easy money from his rivals. We’ll find out soon enough.
Let the trash talk begin........0 -
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Pacing Mule wrote: »So what are the actual terms of your wager(s) with the lads
I've only one wager. €20 with MKDTH on the above terms. He's also on against Calvin Johnson though, and is willing to take anyone else on too (including you) 0 -
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ah in messing with yis all, i ran it last yearFor what it's worth, this is my opinion on the course (have ran it the last 2 years):
First 5k almost all uphill, 6th km back down for the most part, 7th km we're climbing again before a gradual downhill all the way home for a fast finish. 0 -
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Pacing Mule wrote: »So what are the actual terms of your wager(s) with the lads
He's paying out everyone who beats his predictions 0 -
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MaggotBrain wrote: »Good luck tomorrow.
Thank S.MaggotBrain wrote: »Most anticipated race report of 2015 so far!
I'm not sure about that. Anticipation is building for the Enniscorthy 10k result though.......:)0 -
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Thanks.
If I run well I might reward myself with a trip to Luigi Malones afterwards. The real one (in the Capital)
Capital idea, might just steal that idea and do it in Cork...if Dungarvan goes well obviously. I don't even need to tell you what to order for desert, in fact just skip main course and go straight for it 0 -
Good luck tomorrow but don't forget to leave a bit in the tank for next week...you've got a full pack yapping at your heels now
Thanks.
Yes, in horse racing terms tomorrow is my prep run ahead of the Cheltenham Festival next week. Can't wait for the roar when the gun goes in Enniscorthy 0 -
Capital idea, might just steal that idea and do it in Cork...if Dungarvan goes well obviously. I don't even need to tell you what to order for desert, in fact just skip main course and go straight for it
What about going for a TC treble? Starter, mains & dessert. I think I've just put on a pound or two thinking about it. I feel like Homer Simpson. Toblerone Cheesecake....aaaawwwww....(drool).0 -
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63:12 in the Trim 10 Mile this morning. Eased off after 4 miles when I knew the chance of a pb was gone. A good blowout if nothing else which will hopefully bring me on for the big handicap race next week.
Full thoughts to follow in my race report later/tomorrow.0 -
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That's a great result off recent training. You wont be long knocking chunks off that once you get a few consistent weeks behind you.63:12 in the Trim 10 Mile this morning. Eased off after 4 miles when I knew the chance of a pb was gone. A good blowout if nothing else which will hopefully bring me on for the big handicap race next week.
Full thoughts to follow in my race report later/tomorrow.0 -
I decided despite the fact that I'd done little or nothing all week that I'd make the trip down to Trim and give this race a go. Although a pb seemed unlikely, I saw this a best case scenario with a good blowout to bring me on ahead of next week's 10k the worst case.
Pre-Race
As mentioned, due to external circumstances I'd done next to nothing all week bar a few recovery paced miles. You would think that would leave me fresher, but I haven't slept much either. In saying that, I ate and slept well yesterday/last night and was as optimistic as I could be ahead of the race. Got down to Trim in 40 minutes and registered without any problems. Bumped into aero2k before the race. I was hoping at that stage that I might pop into his finish line photo again, but he was looking fit and that seemed improbable. Hung around hogging the radiator in the registration hall for as long as I could because although it looked beautiful out the window, it was very, very cold. I knew that wouldn't be an issue once we started, but I could do without catching frost bite before the start. Headed down to the start line with ten minutes to spare where I met Terry049 who wasn't racing himself, but had come out to support his brother. I also noticed last week's Raheny winner Martin Fagan warming up (he went on to win in 48:23). He's a pretty divisive figure it seems, but I haven't really got an opinion either way and am just looking forward to him running a marathon as I'd be very interested to see what time he could clock based on his shorter stuff.
The Race
Lined up relatively close to the front just beside the 70 minute pacer (there were 4: 60, 70, 80 & 90 minutes). He was chatting to a couple of lads behind him explaining the topography of the course and how he was going to pace it. I listened in as he told them that the stretch between miles 5-7 would be straight into a wind along with a few ups & downs. Other than that the course was pretty flat so there should be no excuses. MC counted us down and we were on our way.
Miles 1-4 (6:04, 6:14, 6:14, 6:20)
Spent the fifty yards coming out of the starting area passing some joggers who had started alongside Martin Fagan & Gary O'Hanlon, but once we were out on the main road I swung right out to the far side and settled into my pace. The wind was behind for the first half mile and I noticed I was going at 5:49 pace. It felt ok so I went with it, knowing it would slow a bit as we turned out of the tailwind. The course took a left just after the Lidl and Martin Fagan was already out on his own about 300m ahead of me. I had been five yards behind him two minutes earlier! As we saw out the mile with the wind now blowing across the pace had slowed to just above six minutes. I was happy with this as I was intending to run pb pace (6:10min/mile) for as long as possible. Six seconds in hand going into Mile 2. Pace stayed pretty steady here. Ten seconds slower than the first mile, but that was due to not having a tailwind to help for some of it. Still two seconds in hand as we moved into Mile 3. I remember thinking at this stage that the field seemed pretty deep. I was moving close to 6:00min/mile pace and I was still in a large group. Normally in these rural races the field has thinned out by this stage. Anyway I continued on clocking an identical mile to the second one which now put me slightly behind target. I thought if I could stay within a reasonable distance of that, I'd have every chance of picking up any lost seconds in the final miles. However, we took a left at Dunderry village towards the end of Mile 4 and hit the headwind the pacer had been talking about. My pace dropped by five seconds almost immediately. It was decision time.
Miles 5-9 (6:29, 6:27, 6:30, 6:30, 6:26)
As I began Mile 5, I could feel my effort levels rising and looked down to see 6:25 showing on the watch. I made the decision there and then to ease off and run the rest of the race relatively comfortably. I knew how much effort it would take to get back to 6:10 and it was too early to start turning on the afterburners. The fact that I had some ground to make up already wouldn't help either. So I ignored the watch for the next half mile until I felt I had got into a nice comfortable rhythm. When I eventually glanced back down I saw I was hovering around 6:30 pace. This was the way it stayed for the next few miles. One thing that bothered me here was some people passing me. I rarely get passed in the second half of races as I normally pace myself pretty well, but here I was allowing a few to go by me without responding. What made it more infuriating was that they were blowing out of their ar*es to pass me, while I was barely breaking sweat. I reminded myself that this conservative approach would pay dividends next week and that paying MKDTH €20 in Enniscorthy would be far more frustrating :pac:. So I let them go, about ten in all over the course of five miles. I vowed to blow back by them in the tenth mile if they were still within range. Another thing I remember when passing the 8 mile sign was thinking "That f*cker Martin Fagan is already finished now. Lucky bast*rd!
Mile 10 (6:01)
I continued for the first 3/4 of this mile at the same pace. There was one guy in a green St Coca's singlet about 30 yards ahead of me. Other than that the rest had gone too far ahead to be caught. I got a shout out from Terry049 here just before we took the final turn. As we passed the '400m to go' sign I decided it was time to use up whatever I had left in the tank. A surge at this stage wasn't going to do me any harm. I moved slightly left to give myself a clear run past the guy in green. Then I put the foot down. Maybe he was slowing down, but I went by him like he was stopped. I suspected I hadn't done enough for sub 63 and the clock confirmed it. However, it wasn't a bad blowout in the end considering the week that was in it and I had also managed to make up around 30 seconds in the final 400 metres, so was happy with that.
Official Time: 63:12
Garmin data: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/687616167
Post-Race
I'm normally awful for post race stretching/cool down, but since I hadn't taken a huge amount out of myself I had the presence of mind to go through my normal post training run routine. Just as I was finishing I saw Tom Joad come through the finish about a minute under his pre-race target. He went off to dump his sand bag and then came over for a chat :P. Overpronator was there too having paced TJ around most of the course. We went for a quick cool down jog before heading back into the registration hall where we took advantage of the Bewleys sponsorship. Tea, coffee, soup, rolls, chocolate biscuit cake, rice krispie cakes, bars......the list goes on and on. Enniscorthy has a lot to match up to next week. I'm not sure I've left any room for Toblerone Cheesecake tonight! Anyway, I met aero2k again who got in well under the hour. Makes me wonder how I managed to finish ahead of him in those two races last summer? I spent about an hour ingesting sugary products before eventually going on my way. Maybe it was just bravado in front of his gf, but Overpronator was telling me he plans to target a 63 minute HM in Bohermeen. Martin Fagan was eavesdropping near by and seemed a little worried. He may not turn up for that one
Thoughts
A really good race. Great route, perfect weather and great spread afterwards. As discussed with aero2k post-race, this could be a really fast course if you got a windless day. No complaints. I'd recommend this to anyone.
Now for my own post race musings:
*RAMBLE ALERT*
Ok, this is going to be far longer than normal. Put the kettle on.
Last week I went into the Raheny 5 Mile knowing that I was nowhere near my fitness level of mid 2014 when I ran my pb of 29:58. Yet I managed to beat that time. This week, although my training had again been poor I was quietly confident of doing the same. But I didn't. Why? Well I think when I analyse everything it's pretty simple to work out.
Last year I felt like I only had to turn up at races to run pbs. And in most cases this turned out to be true. However, although I was running times faster than I had ever run before, I'm not sure I was doing myself justice at every distance. I ran three pbs in 13 days last May, but the fact is when I was fresher for races of the same distance later in the year, I absolutely destroyed those times. The only one outstanding was the 5 Mile, because I hadn't raced that distance since Terenure. If I had, I'd probably have gone sub 29. The Vdot values below show how strong/weak my pbs are.
5k - 17:15 (59)
5m - 29:58 (55)
10k - 37:07 (56)
10m - 61:39 (56)
HM - 1:20:17 (58)
Marathon - 2:59:11 (53)
As I already thought before I checked, my 5k & HM times are extremely strong and probably representative of my current ability when fully fit and properly trained. I won't be improving on them without some serious work. Given that those Vdot values are similar, it makes sense that I should be able to match them at the race distances in between in the same circumstances. So that would give me targets of something like: 5m (28:30), 10k (35:50) & 10m (59:00). I definitely feel these are possible. The marathon is my weakest by far and although that race has it's own set of rules, I'm confident I can get that value pretty close too in the right conditions. The long & short of it is that I can't just turn up at races and expect a pb anymore. I will have to work hard and they still won't be guaranteed. Those easy paced maintenance runs which I failed to get in this week are also a lot more important than I gave them credit for. I definitely noticed a difference in how I felt today having missed so many of them last week.
However it's not all doom and gloom. I was given some good advice pre-race today to hold back and save a bit for next week if I felt the pb wasn't on. The reasoning being that I couldn't be expected to produce my best next week with a flat out effort today. So that's what I did and I must say the five miles or so I ran at 6:30 pace were extremely comfortable. Being able to pick it up so much in the last 400m proves this I think. That has to be a positive to take from today, especially considering I ran a 10 mile in Clonakilty eyeballs out last April and came home in 65:02.
Another thing to take into account if you are to believe the above logic is that I was never going to produce my best today after an all out pb effort last Sunday. So to run a comfortable 63:12 (only 93 seconds off my pb) is also pretty encouraging. Roll on next Sunday. I really can't wait for this. Dubgal72 is the outright favourite for the handicap in my opinion, but I'll be doing my very best to beat her (and the field). I can guarantee I won't be holding anything back in Enniscorthy. 0 -
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You have loads of potential to take chunks off those PBs. You ran that 5k PB in the middle of Marathon training. In fact all those PBs where off the back off Marathon training.I decided despite the fact that I'd done little or nothing all week that I'd make the trip down to Trim and give this race a go. Although a pb seemed unlikely, I saw this a best case scenario with a good blowout to bring me on ahead of next week's 10k the worst case.
Pre-Race
As mentioned, due to external circumstances I'd done next to nothing all week bar a few recovery paced miles. You would think that would leave me fresher, but I haven't slept much either. In saying that, I ate and slept well yesterday/last night and was as optimistic as I could be ahead of the race. Got down to Trim in 40 minutes and registered without any problems. Bumped into aero2k before the race. I was hoping at that stage that I might pop into his finish line photo again, but he was looking fit and that seemed improbable. Hung around hogging the radiator in the registration hall for as long as I could because although it looked beautiful out the window, it was very, very cold. I knew that wouldn't be an issue once we started, but I could do without catching frost bite before the start. Headed down to the start line with ten minutes to spare where I met Terry049 who wasn't racing himself, but had come out to support his brother. I also noticed last week's Raheny winner Martin Fagan warming up (he went on to win in 48:23). He's a pretty divisive figure it seems, but I haven't really got an opinion either way and am just looking forward to him running a marathon as I'd be very interested to see what time he could clock based on his shorter stuff.
The Race
Lined up relatively close to the front just beside the 70 minute pacer (there were 4: 60, 70, 80 & 90 minutes). He was chatting to a couple of lads behind him explaining the topography of the course and how he was going to pace it. I listened in as he told them that the stretch between miles 5-7 would be straight into a wind along with a few ups & downs. Other than that the course was pretty flat so there should be no excuses. MC counted us down and we were on our way.
Miles 1-4 (6:04, 6:14, 6:14, 6:20)
Spent the fifty yards coming out of the starting area passing some joggers who had started alongside Martin Fagan & Gary O'Hanlon, but once we were out on the main road I swung right out to the far side and settled into my pace. The wind was behind for the first half mile and I noticed I was going at 5:49 pace. It felt ok so I went with it, knowing it would slow a bit as we turned out of the tailwind. The course took a left just after the Lidl and Martin Fagan was already out on his own about 300m ahead of me. I had been five yards behind him two minutes earlier! As we saw out the mile with the wind now blowing across the pace had slowed to just above six minutes. I was happy with this as I was intending to run pb pace (6:10min/mile) for as long as possible. Six seconds in hand going into Mile 2. Pace stayed pretty steady here. Ten seconds slower than the first mile, but that was due to not having a tailwind to help for some of it. Still two seconds in hand as we moved into Mile 3. I remember thinking at this stage that the field seemed pretty deep. I was moving close to 6:00min/mile pace and I was still in a large group. Normally in these rural races the field has thinned out by this stage. Anyway I continued on clocking an identical mile to the second one which now put me slightly behind target. I thought if I could stay within a reasonable distance of that, I'd have every chance of picking up any lost seconds in the final miles. However, we took a left at Dunderry village towards the end of Mile 4 and hit the headwind the pacer had been talking about. My pace dropped by five seconds almost immediately. It was decision time.
Miles 5-9 (6:29, 6:27, 6:30, 6:30, 6:26)
As I began Mile 5, I could feel my effort levels rising and looked down to see 6:25 showing on the watch. I made the decision there and then to ease off and run the rest of the race relatively comfortably. I knew how much effort it would take to get back to 6:10 and it was too early to start turning on the afterburners. The fact that I had some ground to make up already wouldn't help either. So I ignored the watch for the next half mile until I felt I had got into a nice comfortable rhythm. When I eventually glanced back down I saw I was hovering around 6:30 pace. This was the way it stayed for the next few miles. One thing that bothered me here was some people passing me. I rarely get passed in the second half of races as I normally pace myself pretty well, but here I was allowing a few to go by me without responding. What made it more infuriating was that they were blowing out of their ar*es to pass me, while I was barely breaking sweat. I reminded myself that this conservative approach would pay dividends next week and that paying MKDTH €20 in Enniscorthy would be far more frustrating :pac:. So I let them go, about ten in all over the course of five miles. I vowed to blow back by them in the tenth mile if they were still within range. Another thing I remember when passing the 8 mile sign was thinking "That f*cker Martin Fagan is already finished now. Lucky bast*rd!
Mile 10 (6:01)
I continued for the first 3/4 of this mile at the same pace. There was one guy in a green St Coca's singlet about 30 yards ahead of me. Other than that the rest had gone too far ahead to be caught. I got a shout out from Terry049 here just before we took the final turn. As we passed the '400m to go' sign I decided it was time to use up whatever I had left in the tank. A surge at this stage wasn't going to do me any harm. I moved slightly left to give myself a clear run past the guy in green. Then I put the foot down. Maybe he was slowing down, but I went by him like he was stopped. I suspected I hadn't done enough for sub 63 and the clock confirmed it. However, it wasn't a bad blowout in the end considering the week that was in it and I had also managed to make up around 30 seconds in the final 400 metres, so was happy with that.
Official Time: 63:12
Garmin data: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/687616167
Post-Race
I'm normally awful for post race stretching/cool down, but since I hadn't taken a huge amount out of myself I had the presence of mind to go through my normal post training run routine. Just as I was finishing I saw Tom Joad come through the finish about a minute under his pre-race target. He went off to dump his sand bag and then came over for a chat :P. Overpronator was there too having paced TJ around most of the course. We went for a quick cool down jog before heading back into the registration hall where we took advantage of the Bewleys sponsorship. Tea, coffee, soup, rolls, chocolate biscuit cake, rice krispie cakes, bars......the list goes on and on. Enniscorthy has a lot to match up to next week. I'm not sure I've left any room for Toblerone Cheesecake tonight! Anyway, I met aero2k again who got in well under the hour. Makes me wonder how I managed to finish ahead of him in those two races last summer? I spent about an hour ingesting sugary products before eventually going on my way. Maybe it was just bravado in front of his gf, but Overpronator was telling me he plans to target a 63 minute HM in Bohermeen. Martin Fagan was eavesdropping near by and seemed a little worried. He may not turn up for that one
Thoughts
A really good race. Great route, perfect weather and great spread afterwards. As discussed with aero2k post-race, this could be a really fast course if you got a windless day. No complaints. I'd recommend this to anyone.
Now for my own post race musings:
*RAMBLE ALERT*
Ok, this is going to be far longer than normal. Put the kettle on.
Last week I went into the Raheny 5 Mile knowing that I was nowhere near my fitness level of mid 2014 when I ran my pb of 29:58. Yet I managed to beat that time. This week, although my training had again been poor I was quietly confident of doing the same. But I didn't. Why? Well I think when I analyse everything it's pretty simple to work out.
Last year I felt like I only had to turn up at races to run pbs. And in most cases this turned out to be true. However, although I was running times faster than I had ever run before, I'm not sure I was doing myself justice at every distance. I ran three pbs in 13 days last May, but the fact is when I was fresher for races of the same distance later in the year, I absolutely destroyed those times. The only one outstanding was the 5 Mile, because I hadn't raced that distance since Terenure. If I had, I'd probably have gone sub 29. The Vdot values below show how strong/weak my pbs are.
5k - 17:15 (59)
5m - 29:58 (55)
10k - 37:07 (56)
10m - 61:39 (56)
HM - 1:20:17 (58)
Marathon - 2:59:11 (53)
As I already thought before I checked, my 5k & HM times are extremely strong and probably representative of my current ability when fully fit and properly trained. I won't be improving on them without some serious work. Given that those Vdot values are similar, it makes sense that I should be able to match them at the race distances in between in the same circumstances. So that would give me targets of something like: 5m (28:30), 10k (35:50) & 10m (59:00). I definitely feel these are possible. The marathon is my weakest by far and although that race has it's own set of rules, I'm confident I can get that value pretty close too in the right conditions. The long & short of it is that I can't just turn up at races and expect a pb anymore. I will have to work hard and they still won't be guaranteed. Those easy paced maintenance runs which I failed to get in this week are also a lot more important than I gave them credit for. I definitely noticed a difference in how I felt today having missed so many of them last week.
However it's not all doom and gloom. I was given some good advice pre-race today to hold back and save a bit for next week if I felt the pb wasn't on. The reasoning being that I couldn't be expected to produce my best next week with a flat out effort today. So that's what I did and I must say the five miles or so I ran at 6:30 pace were extremely comfortable. Being able to pick it up so much in the last 400m proves this I think. That has to be a positive to take from today, especially considering I ran a 10 mile in Clonakilty eyeballs out last April and came home in 65:02.
Another thing to take into account if you are to believe the above logic is that I was never going to produce my best today after an all out pb effort last Sunday. So to run a comfortable 63:12 (only 93 seconds off my pb) is also pretty encouraging. Roll on next Sunday. I really can't wait for this. Dubgal72 is the outright favourite for the handicap in my opinion, but I'll be doing my very best to beat her (and the field). I can guarantee I won't be holding anything back in Enniscorthy.
If you focused on getting your 5k time down by training specifically for that distance, it would pay huge dividends when you go to tackle longer distances. Krusty and Jebus logs are a good case in point.0 -
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