Turning a mule into a race horse.

career_move

Congrats PM

vitani

Fantastic. Now that the 60 minute monkey is off your back, I'm sure your times will come tumbling down.

Tom Joad

Congrats PM - great stuff!

AuldManKing

Congrats - super work. well deserved.

Pacing Mule

Fit series 10k ? + a bit ???

So as mentioned earlier today I turned up today to find a strange anomaly. A 5k race being held at the same time as a 10k race doing 2 x laps of the 5k route yet the start and finish lines being a couple of hundred metres apart. I asked a bloke who seemed important (had himself a megaphone!) how this could be. His incredulous response was nobody was meant to notice ! and then tried to explain that the 5k route was slightly short. As it turns out I suspect the 10k route was slightly long. But I do find it absolutely incredulous that a race can set up a 5k and 10k route where the 10k is 2 x the 5k laps and then place the start line a couple of hundred metres past the finish.
All I could do was run my race and hope that it measured an accurate 10k. I wanted – needed to break 1 hour for this. It was a target I had set and failed to achieve first time round with this running lark (once I had settled down and saw my realistic fitness level) This required a pace of 9:30 per mile to allow 1 min padding for a sub 60.

After a bit of waiting around off we went. About 300 metres in I looked at my watch and saw a current pace of 8.00 min miles. I was comfortable – very comfortable and thought for a minute that perhaps the watch was wrong. At half a mile I look down and see 8:30 current pace and I started to think that the watch was right and I was indeed running this fast. That said I was comfortable and I started to think that it would be a good idea to maintain this pace until the hill out of the furry glen - where I would need the time. BIG MISTAKE.

Mile 1: 8:25,
Mile 2 8:52,

All week I had the game plan to run to my target pace, promised Blocky I would do the same. Even before I got to the hill I started to feel I was running out of steam. The hill out of the furry glen knocked the stuffing out of me. The continued hill towards the furze road continued to sap energy and I began to lose confidence that I could make it around a second time holding pace. I was quite demoralised at the “finish line” and genuinely contemplated finishing at 5k. The thoughts of reporting here that I DNF’d after going out too fast for 5k kept me going.

Mile 3 9:23

Mrs Mule who had completed the 5k was waiting just past the finish line and I elected to stop briefly, take off my running jacket to give to her and continue on in just my shirt. The slight pause helped a bit and off I went up chesterfield avenue for the second time – hurting quite a bit and thoroughly regretting the fast start.

At the top of chesterfield avenue we turned left into a headwind that wasn’t there first time round. FFS I said to myself as I was passed by a rather large gentleman. I tucked in behind him and used him as a wind shield. Felt a bit dirty doing this but hey needs must ! Although I was hanging on for dear life at this stage it turned out that I wasn’t losing as much time as I thought I was.

Mile 4 9:18

Onto the 5th mile and I was hurting worse than ever. I was in mental turmoil at this point trying to work out how much time I could afford to lose to come home under an hour. Even though this section was predominantly downhill each step was a struggle. I was trying to decide if I could push on a bit to again bank time for the uphill section to come or to ease off a bit and rest to gain energy for the uphill section. As it turned out I had no choice – I had very little left in the tank and pretty much fell down the hill. I didn’t realise it at the time but I had held pace remarkably well versus intial target.

Mile 5 9:20

Onto mile 6 and at this point I was faced with the hill out of the furry glen again. Strava tells me that this mile has a 100ft climb all in. I was looking at the watch trying to work out exactly how many miles 10k was and once I hit 1 mile off the 10k how long would I have to finish the race to go sub 60. Even at this point I had no idea if I could hit sub 60 or not. Confidence was shattered I felt so bad but I was digging in deep and wasn’t stopping. Again in perfect hindsight I had plenty of time to spare but at the time was bollixed and thought I was screwed. A brief pause at the water station at the top of the hill and I set off to bring it home. This was a tough section – even though the worst of the hill is over it is still uphill for the entire mile. No surprise that this turned out to be the slowest mile.

Mile 6 9:51

At this point I was in sight of the finish line and there was a chap about 30 metres in front of me who I had seen throughout the race. I decided that I would reel him in and pass him out before the end. Simple ! – Not !! In what can only be seen as a lesson in psychology I was doing great until I heard footsteps on my shoulder and got passed by a bloke running so much faster than me I could have cried. Suddenly I was not the catcher but the caught and I had no motivation to track down my original prey . Irony here is that the bastard who passed me then veered off to the left – turns out he wasn’t in the race at all !!!! By the time I realised that though I had so little energy that I frankly wasn’t arsed catching the original target. I knew I had sub 60 in the bag and my work was done.

Except it wasn’t. Mrs Mule had made her way to a point about 250/300 metres from the finish line and she was roaring at me to go faster. She could see I had wound down and was having none of it. She told me I was about to miss my 60 min target (which we both knew I wasn’t) After letting her know this I had a volley of abuse aimed at me to not let myself down, my kids were at the other side etc and basically to run my arse off. I took off like a lunatic and caught the orginal dude and a girl in front of him too. Crossed the finish line in agony and exhausted but I had smashed my original goal of sub 60.

Mile 0.3 8:05 pace

I lay on the ground just past the finishing line for a few minutes. Was absolutely shattered yet elated at the same time. A look at the run on strava afterwards has my run at 6.3 miles – approx 200 metres long for a 10k. I would have expected a bit extra distance anyway so I’m not 100% sure if the course was long or not. Mrs Mule who ran the 5k tracked exactly 5k herself which again allowing for GPS variances could have been a fraction short of 5k. What I do know is that the course measurement was a disgrace no matter what way you look at it. It simply could not have been accurate for both events. I also know I ran a full 10k and the maybe some !


Strava time for 10k was 57:05
Official chip time only available after publication on Mondays independent.
EDIT: Actual official time 57:44

I’m delighted with either time to be honest !
Lessons learned though on pacing from the start. I probably could have ran an evenly paced 59:00 and felt quite good afterwards – instead I’ve ran a 57:xx and am in bits but that said I’d have bitten your hand off if you offered me a 57:xx at the start of the day so I’m going to bed happy.

Thanks again for all the support here. It's very much appreciated.

menoscemo

Pacing Mule wrote: »

I’m delighted with either time to be honest !
Lessons learned though on pacing from the start. I probably could have ran an evenly paced 59:00 and felt quite good afterwards – instead I’ve ran a 57:xx and am in bits but that said I’d have bitten your hand off if you offered me a 57:xx at the start of the day so I’m going to bed happy.

Thanks again for all the support here. It's very much appreciated.

But 57:xx is so much better than 59:00

Congrats, sounds like you pushed yourself hard, good racing.

Murph_D

And fair play to Mrs. Mule. Great report, and well done!

Pacing Mule

menoscemo wrote: »

But 57:xx is so much better than 59:00

Congrats, sounds like you pushed yourself hard, good racing.

I can genuinely hold my hand on my heart and say I did the best time I was capable of today. No regrets ! You're right 57 is so much better :pac:

Pacing Mule

Murph_D wrote: »

And fair play to Mrs. Mule. Great report, and well done!

She got me at least 20-30 seconds at the end of the race. Could have slapped her at the time but am delighted she was there to give me a kick up the arse.

SamforMayo

Pacing Mule wrote: »

Fit series 10k ? + a bit ???

So as mentioned earlier today I turned up today to find a strange anomaly. A 5k race being held at the same time as a 10k race doing 2 x laps of the 5k route yet the start and finish lines being a couple of hundred metres apart. I asked a bloke who seemed important (had himself a megaphone!) how this could be. His incredulous response was nobody was meant to notice ! and then tried to explain that the 5k route was slightly short. As it turns out I suspect the 10k route was slightly long. But I do find it absolutely incredulous that a race can set up a 5k and 10k route where the 10k is 2 x the 5k laps and then place the start line a couple of hundred metres past the finish.
All I could do was run my race and hope that it measured an accurate 10k. I wanted – needed to break 1 hour for this. It was a target I had set and failed to achieve first time round with this running lark (once I had settled down and saw my realistic fitness level) This required a pace of 9:30 per mile to allow 1 min padding for a sub 60.

After a bit of waiting around off we went. About 300 metres in I looked at my watch and saw a current pace of 8.00 min miles. I was comfortable – very comfortable and thought for a minute that perhaps the watch was wrong. At half a mile I look down and see 8:30 current pace and I started to think that the watch was right and I was indeed running this fast. That said I was comfortable and I started to think that it would be a good idea to maintain this pace until the hill out of the furry glen - where I would need the time. BIG MISTAKE.

Mile 1: 8:25,
Mile 2 8:52,

All week I had the game plan to run to my target pace, promised Blocky I would do the same. Even before I got to the hill I started to feel I was running out of steam. The hill out of the furry glen knocked the stuffing out of me. The continued hill towards the furze road continued to sap energy and I began to lose confidence that I could make it around a second time holding pace. I was quite demoralised at the “finish line” and genuinely contemplated finishing at 5k. The thoughts of reporting here that I DNF’d after going out too fast for 5k kept me going.

Mile 3 9:23

Mrs Mule who had completed the 5k was waiting just past the finish line and I elected to stop briefly, take off my running jacket to give to her and continue on in just my shirt. The slight pause helped a bit and off I went up chesterfield avenue for the second time – hurting quite a bit and thoroughly regretting the fast start.

At the top of chesterfield avenue we turned left into a headwind that wasn’t there first time round. FFS I said to myself as I was passed by a rather large gentleman. I tucked in behind him and used him as a wind shield. Felt a bit dirty doing this but hey needs must ! Although I was hanging on for dear life at this stage it turned out that I wasn’t losing as much time as I thought I was.

Mile 4 9:18

Onto the 5th mile and I was hurting worse than ever. I was in mental turmoil at this point trying to work out how much time I could afford to lose to come home under an hour. Even though this section was predominantly downhill each step was a struggle. I was trying to decide if I could push on a bit to again bank time for the uphill section to come or to ease off a bit and rest to gain energy for the uphill section. As it turned out I had no choice – I had very little left in the tank and pretty much fell down the hill. I didn’t realise it at the time but I had held pace remarkably well versus intial target.

Mile 5 9:20

Onto mile 6 and at this point I was faced with the hill out of the furry glen again. Strava tells me that this mile has a 100ft climb all in. I was looking at the watch trying to work out exactly how many miles 10k was and once I hit 1 mile off the 10k how long would I have to finish the race to go sub 60. Even at this point I had no idea if I could hit sub 60 or not. Confidence was shattered I felt so bad but I was digging in deep and wasn’t stopping. Again in perfect hindsight I had plenty of time to spare but at the time was bollixed and thought I was screwed. A brief pause at the water station at the top of the hill and I set off to bring it home. This was a tough section – even though the worst of the hill is over it is still uphill for the entire mile. No surprise that this turned out to be the slowest mile.

Mile 6 9:51

At this point I was in sight of the finish line and there was a chap about 30 metres in front of me who I had seen throughout the race. I decided that I would reel him in and pass him out before the end. Simple ! – Not !! In what can only be seen as a lesson in psychology I was doing great until I heard footsteps on my shoulder and got passed by a bloke running so much faster than me I could have cried. Suddenly I was not the catcher but the caught and I had no motivation to track down my original prey . Irony here is that the bastard who passed me then veered off to the left – turns out he wasn’t in the race at all !!!! By the time I realised that though I had so little energy that I frankly wasn’t arsed catching the original target. I knew I had sub 60 in the bag and my work was done.

Except it wasn’t. Mrs Mule had made her way to a point about 250/300 metres from the finish line and she was roaring at me to go faster. She could see I had wound down and was having none of it. She told me I was about to miss my 60 min target (which we both knew I wasn’t) After letting her know this I had a volley of abuse aimed at me to not let myself down, my kids were at the other side etc and basically to run my arse off. I took off like a lunatic and caught the orginal dude and a girl in front of him too. Crossed the finish line in agony and exhausted but I had smashed my original goal of sub 60.

Mile 0.3 8:05 pace

I lay on the ground just past the finishing line for a few minutes. Was absolutely shattered yet elated at the same time. A look at the run on strava afterwards has my run at 6.3 miles – approx 200 metres long for a 10k. I would have expected a bit extra distance anyway so I’m not 100% sure if the course was long or not. Mrs Mule who ran the 5k tracked exactly 5k herself which again allowing for GPS variances could have been a fraction short of 5k. What I do know is that the course measurement was a disgrace no matter what way you look at it. It simply could not have been accurate for both events. I also know I ran a full 10k and the maybe some !

My strava time at the finish was 57:24
Strava time for 10k was 57:05
Official chip time only available after publication on Mondays independent.

I’m delighted with either time to be honest !
Lessons learned though on pacing from the start. I probably could have ran an evenly paced 59:00 and felt quite good afterwards – instead I’ve ran a 57:xx and am in bits but that said I’d have bitten your hand off if you offered me a 57:xx at the start of the day so I’m going to bed happy.

Thanks again for all the support here. It's very much appreciated.

Thanks for your honesty, it made me smile on a Monday morning, you could make a film out of that race. Fair play to you, it took a lot of guts to keep going, and a great Pb at the end of it.

drquirky

Great running! 2 points

1) The distance cock ups etc are why a lot of us on here tend to avoid the mass participation events - for your next race hit a club race and you'll see the difference right away. The club races are organised by runners for runners and these Fit Magazine/ Samsung events are organised by marketing departments etc.

2) I'm the last person who can talk but get your head off the watch!!!

Very impressive progress all the same- those club sessions seem to be really bringing you on!

AuldManKing

Loved that report PM. Epic.

The last mile regarding the lesson in psychology is all too true, but you'll be ready next time!
Well done to mrs Mule for kicking your A$$ and very well done to do for shattering your PB on a tough course. That Fury Glen is a head wrecker sometimes.

scriba

Well done PM, and great running.

blockic

Well done PM. The pacing part will take time, the more races you do, the more you can perfect it an stay more controlled.

This is the starting point now...kick on from here!

Deirdree loves Rashid

Good stuff PM, you're coming on!

Pacing Mule

Chip results in ...

Official time 57:44 New PB

Still don't know if this course was long or not. The reason I mention this now is because my official 5k split time was 27:21 which would also be a new official PB if it was an accurate 5k. (Previous PB for 5k was 28:38)

Strava times are

5k 27:34
10k 57:05

So I believe I did break my 5k PB en route too - just don't know the exact time so will leave it at 28:38 unless someone shows me that the 5k route yesterday was actually 5k.

blockic

Don't be over worrying about the route. What's done is done and you have a big PB regardless.

Don't let it eat at you. What's next up now for next 3 months?

Pacing Mule

Right so - bearing in mind the performance yesterday which no matter where you look at it was a surprise improvement what next ?

I'm tempted to have a go at the Great Ireland Run 10k which is on in 4 weeks.

Considering that this course may have been a fraction long and that the Great Ireland run is a slightly easier course (still a tough one looking at it) is it realistic to have a pop at sub 55 min given it is only 4 weeks away ?

Can't believe 24 hours ago I was mid race promising never to do it again.

blockic

Pacing Mule wrote: »

Right so - bearing in mind the performance yesterday which no matter where you look at it was a surprise improvement what next ?

I'm tempted to have a go at the Great Ireland Run 10k which is on in 4 weeks.

Considering that this course may have been a fraction long and that the Great Ireland run is a slightly easier course (still a tough one looking at it) is it realistic to have a pop at sub 55 min given it is only 4 weeks away ?

Can't believe 24 hours ago I was mid race promising never to do it again.

I'd suggest giving yourself a bit more time to get another block of solid training in for more gains. Say 6-8 weeks...maybe a mid-point see where you are race in 4 weeks time (Parkrun perhaps) and then the 10km 4 weeks after that.

But from the starting point the training is focused on the 10km. Just my thoughts on it.

menoscemo

Pacing Mule wrote: »

Right so - bearing in mind the performance yesterday which no matter where you look at it was a surprise improvement what next ?

I'm tempted to have a go at the Great Ireland Run 10k which is on in 4 weeks.

Considering that this course may have been a fraction long and that the Great Ireland run is a slightly easier course (still a tough one looking at it) is it realistic to have a pop at sub 55 min given it is only 4 weeks away ?

Can't believe 24 hours ago I was mid race promising never to do it again.

If you want to avoid big commerical races like yesterday I wouldn't go near the GIR.
Frankly it is a load of crap
If you could make the Kclub 10k the following week I'd do that instead.

Pacing Mule

Unfortunately I'm tied to Sunday or evening racing. I work every Saturday which is a pain when it comes to potential races. I'd definitely be doing the park runs if I could on a regular basis.

menoscemo

Pacing Mule wrote: »

Unfortunately I'm tied to Sunday or evening racing. I work every Saturday which is a pain when it comes to potential races. I'd definitely be doing the park runs if I could on a regular basis.

The Best 10k around IMO is Dunshaughlin in Mid June. Usually on a saturday evening (7:30pm I think)??
Failing that the race series 10k is in July, but I guess that might be too far away?

AuldManKing

Pacing Mule wrote: »

Unfortunately I'm tied to Sunday or evening racing. I work every Saturday which is a pain when it comes to potential races. I'd definitely be doing the park runs if I could on a regular basis.

Check out the Meath races as well - plenty of them on Tuesday evenings and great races with nice spreads afterwards.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057138278

Runchick

Brilliant report PM big congrats on the PB!

Pacing Mule

Tuesday

Very short 20 min recovery run without the watch. Slow slow slow 10 min up the road and back. Plenty of little niggles from Sundays race. Sat out Wednesdays club run as a result.

Tonight

3 miles easy.

Held a lot back for these. Was constantly keeping myself in check not to run hard. A very consistent 10:40, 10:44, 10:43 would tend to point towards a controlled easy pace. That said I had a lot more sweat on me than expected afterwards so perhaps I was still running too hard. Suspect it was the heat though more than anything.

tang1

Pacing Mule wrote: »

That said I had a lot more sweat on me than expected afterwards so perhaps I was still running too hard. Suspect it was the heat though more than anything.

Say you could mark it down to heat alright PM, noticed same myself over past few days and i've been doing easy running like you only.

Pacing Mule

Mrs Mule has decided she may like to run the GIR 10k - not time based, just a goal to run 10k as she hasn't yet. I think she'd be well capable of it if pace wasn't a concern which it isn't If she does decide to run it I think I will too - more so I can return the favour from Sunday. I won't be running it with a goal time of 55 min or anything similar. I think that would be setting myself up for frustration and disappointment. It's too soon to expect that kind of improvement. If it happens it happens but realistically it will be a practice race.

The 10k races mentioned earlier by Meno in June / July will be my new goal races and I will be aiming for the lofty heights of sub 50

I also have booked the last week of October off work Too far away to be setting time goals for this but it will be very conservative.

menoscemo

Pacing Mule wrote: »

The 10k races mentioned earlier by Meno in June / July will be my new goal races and I will be aiming for the lofty heights of sub 50

Great.
You'll absolutely love Dunsghaughlin. Just one of the all around best races in the country in my opinion. The whole village comes out to support it and it's a real runners race, must be something like Ballycotton. Really fast course too I took 90 seconds off my PB there last year.

Pacing Mule

5.5 miles "easy" run tonight.

Strange one. It's been a tough few days in the mule household and I left for this run not overly in the mood yet wanting to run too. First mile went ok - was concious that the "niggle" in my achilles has been around a bit too long now to be dismissed as a niggle which wasn't a good start. By mile 2 I wasn't in the mood for it, legs felt tired and heavy and more importantly emotionally I just wasn't there. By the 3rd mile I was running like someone having an epileptic fit. Kept sub conciously beginning to stop then conciously kicking my own ass and keeping going. Good form out the window. I looked ridiculous ! Even though it was easy pace this was tough going. Dug in and kept going.

Then the strange thing - 4 and a bit miles in the light bulb went on, the switch flicked - whatever you call it and suddenly everything was good in the running world. I was on a high and now I was struggling to keep the pace down as I had suddenly gone from 10:45 ish pace to 9:30 with the same effort level and this was across an up and down mile. Didn't make any sense at all. Made a decision to hold pace slow for the last half mile home which was downhill so 10:14 was a held back pace. Was severely tempted to run another couple of miles too but was concious of the heel and didn't want to take the run into a session level of overall effort.

10:57, 10:53, 10:32, 10:30, 09:52, 10:14 (pace)

SamforMayo

Pacing Mule wrote: »

5.5 miles "easy" run tonight.

Strange one. It's been a tough few days in the mule household and I left for this run not overly in the mood yet wanting to run too. First mile went ok - was concious that the "niggle" in my achilles has been around a bit too long now to be dismissed as a niggle which wasn't a good start. By mile 2 I wasn't in the mood for it, legs felt tired and heavy and more importantly emotionally I just wasn't there. By the 3rd mile I was running like someone having an epileptic fit. Kept sub conciously beginning to stop then conciously kicking my own ass and keeping going. Good form out the window. I looked ridiculous ! Even though it was easy pace this was tough going. Dug in and kept going.

Then the strange thing - 4 and a bit miles in the light bulb went on, the switch flicked - whatever you call it and suddenly everything was good in the running world. I was on a high and now I was struggling to keep the pace down as I had suddenly gone from 10:45 ish pace to 9:30 with the same effort level and this was across an up and down mile. Didn't make any sense at all. Made a decision to hold pace slow for the last half mile home which was downhill so 10:14 was a held back pace. Was severely tempted to run another couple of miles too but was concious of the heel and didn't want to take the run into a session level of overall effort.

10:57, 10:53, 10:32, 10:30, 09:52, 10:14 (pace)

And that is why I run, no matter how bad the day is a run will improve it!