BQ or Bust!

ThebitterLemon

Good man Murph,

Never to late for an auld dog to learn new tricks

TbL

FBOT01

Murph_D wrote: »

Sun 14 Dec

30 mins easy.

Have been encouraged to run on one of the club teams at the Dublin Masters cross country next month, so I have procured some spikes which I took for a short run around the Phoenix Park trails. Looking forward to the event, although I know nothing at all about XC.

WTD: 9 (15 km)
MTD: 47 (76 km)
YTD: 1,264 (2,034 km)

FairPlay, Murph. Looking forward to seeing how you get on.

Murph_D

FBOT01 wrote: »

FairPlay, Murph. Looking forward to seeing how you get on.

Me too. Hoping all those miles on the seafront grass will stand to me. Lot of mud about at the moment though

Murph_D

Weds 17 Dec

30 mins easy along the seafront with the missus.

Fri 19 Dec

Another 30 mins easy in the Casino vicinity. No one can accuse me of over-preparing for tomorrow's parkrun where I'll have a go at nailing a 5k PB, with belcarra as my personal pacer.

WTD: 6 (10 km)
MTD: 53 (86 km)
YTD: 1,270 (2,044 km)

ThebitterLemon

Murph_D wrote: »

Weds 17 Dec

30 mins easy along the seafront with the missus.

Fri 19 Dec

Another 30 mins easy in the Casino vicinity. No one can accuse me of over-preparing for tomorrow's parkrun where I'll have a go at nailing a 5k PB, with belcarra as my personal pacer.

WTD: 6 (10 km)
MTD: 53 (86 km)
YTD: 1,270 (2,044 km)

And did you get out for a run after

Good luck with PB attempt.


TbL

yaboya1

Good luck tomorrow Murph.
Although, you won't need it. You have this

Murph_D

ThebitterLemon wrote: »

And did you get out for a run after

Careful now.

FBOT01

See you there bright and bubbly in the morn Murph!

belcarra

After a lazy week of training I'm just hoping I'll be able to keep up with you til at least 3k!!

Shall we start out at 4:20/km (21:40) and hang on in the last km? Or have you a different strategy in mind?
St Anne's always registers within a few metres of 5k for me so watch pace should be pretty spot on!

Murph_D

belcarra wrote: »

After a lazy week of training I'm just hoping I'll be able to keep up with you til at least 3k!!

Shall we start out at 4:20/km (21:40) and hang on in the last km? Or have you a different strategy in mind?
St Anne's always registers within a few metres of 5k for me so watch pace should be pretty spot on!

Sorry J, only seeing this after the event. As you know by now my only strategy was to let you do all the work and hang on till the bitter end (see below).

annapr

Well done to both of you! Great running and great pacing.

FBOT01

The Full Murph all sorted. Well done D....nice way to finish off a great year's running. Now put your feet up and have a well deserved break enjoying the Christmas excesses:) Have a good one!

Murph_D

Sat 20 Dec

St Anne's parkrun.

While I love the parkrun concept, I usually do them as easy or pace workouts, mainly because I don't enjoy racing the 5k distance at all. That's probably why my PB hadn't improved since April of last year, when I ran 22:05 at Malahide parkrun.

But having expressed a desire to lower that before the end of 2014 and complete the clean sweep of PBs, I was delighted when belcarra offered to pace me, as I often fade badly during the second half of 5k efforts. He joined me as I was warming up around the perimeter of the park and he suggested a 4:22 pace which sounded fine as I wasn't expecting to have the legs to beat the 22 min mark by more than a few seconds.

We lined up five or six rows from the front and when the siren went I told him I wouldn't be up for much chat, and just let him get on with it. Didn't look at the watch at all, as belcarra looked like he knew what he was doing. "Bang on", says he as the first km beeped. It's a two-lap circuit and there was a bit of headwind in the first half of the lap, so I made a mental note about that as it would toughen up the part of the race where I often fade, i.e. kilometre 4. At the end of lap one I was still feeling OK, the timekeeper calling out the halfway split as 10:57. So into the painful part. Didn't look at the watch at all - I trusted the pace and knew from how I was feeling that it was where it should be. With about 2k to go belcarra mentioned something about breathing and I took this as a sign that I was puffing a bit too hard and concentrated harder on getting the air in and getting the rhythm right. The field had thinned out and we passed one or two in km 4 which I took as an encouraging sign. We hit the 900m finishing straight and belcarra encouraged me to go for it if I was feeling strong. Told him I was just hanging on so he knew the job wasn't done. The finish was thankfully downwind and belcarra suggested we catch the guy ahead in the purple shirt. I don't think we did catch him but it was just what I needed to distract from the discomfort. Could see belcarra was checking the watch often enough to suggest it wasn't in the bag yet. But with about 200m to go I was able to put on a bit of a spurt to try to impress annapr and the boys who were positioned near the finish. Strong finish through the line, managing to collect my token before taking a thankfully puke-free recovery position.

Forgot to stop the watch which is usually a good sign. Belcarra assured me we'd finished around the 21:50 mark. Thrilled with that. The official time came in later as 21:49 (32nd position).

Fair play to J - perfectly paced and I don't think I'd have done it on my own. Thanks, mate. I won’t begrudge Mayo an all-Ireland after that, even at the Dubs’ expense. Great job.


Previous PB: 22:05
Target: sub-22 mins
Actual time: 21:49
Verdict: viva parkrun

Plenty of other boardsies around this morning too - expert run directing as always by Killerz, FBOT01 pacing his OH to yet another PB, Ferris B looking good, lauraac making her parkrun debut too. Happy Christmas to all.

WTD: 11 (17 km)
MTD: 58 (93 km)
YTD: 1,275 (2,052 km)

Murph_D

FBOT01 wrote: »

The Full Murph all sorted. Well done D....nice way to finish off a great year's running. Now put your feet up and have a well deserved break enjoying the Christmas excesses:) Have a good one!

Thanks M. Had to change the post event coffee plans due to screaming kids. Happy Christmas and congrats to the Mrs.

yaboya1

Never in doubt

Murph_D

yaboya1 wrote: »

Never in doubt

Ha - I took some encouragement in advance from your lack of doubt, that was a big help and that's the truth.

belcarra

Just looking at the results and it's clear there weren't many PB's out there today, so makes your run even more impressive! Well done again D!
PS great to see all the other boardsies out there this morning too!

ThebitterLemon

Nicely done Murph,

The missus obviously had you in great shape

Enjoy the turkey!

TbL

dintbo

Great job Murph, well done.

FBOT01

Murph_D wrote: »

Thanks M. Had to change the post event coffee plans due to screaming kids. Happy Christmas and congrats to the Mrs.

Many Happy Returns to all the Murphs!

SamforMayo

Great stuff Murph! Well done!

Murph_D

belcarra wrote: »

Just looking at the results and it's clear there weren't many PB's out there today, so makes your run even more impressive! Well done again D!
PS great to see all the other boardsies out there this morning too!

Ah sure I was just drafting in your slipstream. You said 4:22/km and delivered 4:22 - impressive, especially with the dodgy satellite signal out there. So much easier for me not having to look at the watch at all!

SamforMayo

Murph_D wrote: »

Ah sure I was just drafting in your slipstream. You said 4:22/km and delivered 4:22 - impressive, especially with the dodgy satellite signal out there. So much easier for me not having to look at the watch at all!

Send him to Ballina will you?

career move

Well done Murph. You're definitely the PB King of boards this year

ThebitterLemon

career move wrote: »

Well done Murph. You're definitely the PB King of boards this year

Hhemm,

Marathon, half marathon, kilo marathon, 10k, 8k, & 5k

Top that Murph me auld apprentice

TbL

Murph_D

5k/5m/10k/10m/HM/M

You trump me on total distance but we're equal on events.

Pretty sure yaboya1 PB'd all his distances too, and plenty of others too. It's good to be on the upward side of the curve!

Ososlo

Super result D! Delighted for ya! Well deserved.

career move

ThebitterLemon wrote: »

Hhemm,

Marathon, half marathon, kilo marathon, 10k, 8k, & 5k

Top that Murph me auld apprentice

TbL

Murph_D wrote: »

5k/5m/10k/10m/HM/M

You trump me on total distance but we're equal on events.

Pretty sure yaboya1 PB'd all his distances too, and plenty of others too. It's good to be on the upward side of the curve!

Sheesh competitive much!!!

Here ye's can all have a virtual crown



Wear it with pride

FBOT01

Murph_D wrote: »

5k/5m/10k/10m/HM/M

You trump me on total distance but we're equal on events.

Pretty sure yaboya1 PB'd all his distances too, and plenty of others too. It's good to be on the upward side of the curve!

Murph, you can't seriously give him credit for a kilo marathon. That's a makey up event:p

Murph_D

career move wrote: »

Sheesh competitive much!!!

Wait till we're racing the zimmer frames. Then you'll see the sparks fly. :pac: