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Chapter 2 - Finding Nemo
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I was going to say how fresh i'm feeling but it only takes one crap night of sleep to reset that! So I'll start by saying I was feeling fresh.
Monday - Easy 6M @ 8:06min/mile to settle back into it after my Ennis exploits. Felt surprisingly ok. Nothing major to report on this one.
Tuesday - Straight back into the sessions!!
2x1200 + 2x1k + 2x800 Off 2min. All targeting 6min/mile pace.
Funny when I look at a session like this now, it looks ok to me. A few months back i'd have feared it a bit.
I expected the legs to be a bit tired for this one but everything felt ok. For once I'm able to say the splits were pretty much bang on the money.
1200's - 5:58/5:58
1000's - 6:00/5:58
800's - 6:00/5:57
Constantly tuning into the body. Repeatedly asking how do I feel compared to how should I feel. Getting the effort levels spot on. About as good a session as it could have been. Bang on the money. Didn't feel overly tired. Small bit fatigued after the 800's.
Total mileage for the session - 8 miles
Wednesday - Easy 7M at 8:11min/mile. Early start here as I knew I wouldn't get out on my lunchbreak. Legs took two or three miles to wake up. I did wonder to myself how hotbutteredscones does so many morning runs - and morning sessions. Can't be easy when the body is still half asleep. Nice run but it was a cold cold one.
Thursday - Easy 7M at 8:04min/mile. Nothing spectacular to report here either apart from the weather was crap. Wind picking up and would pick up more Friday as I was to find out..
Friday - 4x(1M/90s jog/1k) Off 2.30. 6.20 pace for the 1M/6.00 Pace for the 1k
One of those sessions that tells you "You are now preparing for longer distances" haha. With the Tuamgraney 10M and Limerick Half coming up I figured I might be seeing some more "bulky" sessions. Was looking forward to this one as much as you can look forward to the pain of these. I knew looking at the target paces what to expect though. Not spectacularly tough but expecting to have to work a bit and for the legs to feel it more than the lungs. And so that was the case, although I hadn't accounted for the fact the wind would be desperate. This made managing the effort levels particularly difficult. I would usually head out onto the drags and undulations of the roads for my Friday sessions but given the levels of wind I figured i'd keep it within the confines of the Industrial Estate.
Set 1 paces - 6:20/5:57
Set 2 paces - 6:19/5:58
Set 3 paces - 6:17/6:04
Set 4 paces - 6:17/6:04
Pretty happy with that. Seems to hit the headwind at the start of each of the 1M which was a pain. The first and fourth set were the toughest. Maybe the wind dies down a bit in the middle, i'm not sure but the middle two felt ok. Was happy to get this one under my belt.
Total mileage for the session - 10.3 miles. A big session and one that will stand to me.
Saturday - Easy 14M. Nice way to round off the week. My last 14 miler had been a bit of a disaster so I made sure to stay tuned into how I was feeling here. Took the usual lovely route along Shannon bank out to UL, up past the parkrun and back towards home. Felt good. Nothing unusual in the legs really. Tired a bit from mile 11 onwards but given the week behind me that was expected. Saw so many runners out and about it was great.
Got back home and me and the missus and baba headed to Galway for the night. Had a great time. A lovely city. I must look for some races up there in future
. So a good week behind me there.
Total mileage for the week - 52.4 miles.
Heading into a little block for the "longer stuff" now. The last of the Run Clare series is this Sunday. Tuamgraney 10M with some ridiculous hills. I don't really have much expectations or even excitement for this one to be honest. It feels like its been a long series. I've really enjoyed it but in a way I've felt a bit tied to it and seen some races come and go that I would like to have done. But i'll give it a good crack anyway and at worst it will stand to me for the Limerick Half hopefully.0 -
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Well where do I start on the one... There won't be any heroic tales of sprint finishes and epic battles with this one. This was a race of two halves. The first half was all about survival and the second half was all about.......... survival.... Haha..
I had looked at the race profile for this one a week ago and laughed. Pretty horrific looking by any stretch of the imagination. But how bad. Too many runners these days are avoiding some of these tougher courses. The trick they're missing is its these courses that will truly make a runner out of you. Anyone who was able to run today just had an absolute belter of a workout. The profile didn't even do it justice! It was awful in a weird sadistic brilliant I loved it way. Lol
Anyway the usual pre race routine. No sleep, weetabix, bagel, banana, Disney, quality time with baby, rest for mama etc. . This time I made the journey on my own. We decided the weather was looking too bad for the two of them to be standing around for as long as it would take me so missus and baba stayed at home. I definitely missed them at the end but on the plus side I spent a nice bit of time mingling with the other runners. Runners are a lovely bunch. Very happy people.
I headed off to Tuamgraney around 11. Got there much too early but met and had a chat with the organisers. They've been taking a lot of flack lately with the whole run clare vs run the Banner battle. I'm sure there's more to it than either side is saying but I've no interest in the politics of it all. Like I said all I want to do is put one foot in front of the other as fast as i can. Collected my t-shirt and headed back to the car. Was there with a few buddies. I don't think any of us had any major expectations in terms of target time. I certainly didn't. This was never going to be a gauge of where I'm at for ten miles. By the end it proved to be something much more valuable than that.
Big crowd at this. The series definitely draws a crowd. Did my usual warmup with some drills and strides. Nice atmosphere at the start line.
I won't go through a mile by mile account so what I'll do is give my splits upfront and give a synopsis of the race.
Mile splits were; 6.18 / 6.56 / 5.59 / 6.15 / 6.24 / 6.27 / 7.05 / 6.23 / 6.11 / 6.14
Total time was 63.09
Distance looked a little short on Garmin at 9.83 miles. I was assured it's spot on at ten but I don't really care. It is what it is. Another 30s on to my time is fairly irrelevant considering.
Some weird looking splits there I know but I shall explain!
We started off pretty conservatively apart from a couple of lads who shot up ahead. I knew that's the last we'd see of them. A group of 5 of us settled together for the first 1km which was the flattest part of the course. Then the unmerciful first hill kicked in. I'm not sure words can do it justice. All I'll say is even with me managing the effort level as best I could (at one stage my pace was 8.16min/mile) I was still pretty wrecked at the top of the hill. Given what happened in Lahinch I was absolutely adamant I'd give myself some sort of recovery on the downhill. The four lads didn't and they bombed on. What followed for the next few miles was endless rolling hills. So bad that I was cursing downhills at one stage. Just give me some flat fu*king road please! Uphill downhill uphill downhill constant.
By halfway I was really feeling it in the legs and knowing worse was yet to come. By mile 5 the group of four started going backwards and were back with me. I couldn't understand it. Was I going better than I thought or were they just wrecked. Turns out they were just wrecked. A few of them complimented me on my race management after. I laughed. I didn't think I was managing anything. Just surviving.
Anyway I pushed on and made them suffer for going too hard on the downhill haha. And then we hit the monster hill at mile 6. It killed me. Just when I thought I was at the top of it I turned a corner and there was more of it. I stopped briefly. A walker started encouraging me to at least walk and the lads behind me were suffering too. This was honestly the kick up the arse I needed. I got into a slow jog and eventually got to the top. Then I knew the worse of it was over. Downhill again. Legs like jelly. Push on and don't give up third place whatever you do! The last two miles felt like forever. More hills but I was mentally in a better place than I was on the hill. Came back into scarriff and more drags. Eventually I heard music and got some encouragement from supporters. Looked over my shoulder and the lad behind me was well behind. Crossed the line at last. Thank God that's over.
I did a bit of mingling. Everyone said the same about the course. Met up with my buddies. Dead bodies everywhere at the line haha. Hung around for a while and proudly collected my third place plaque.
So that's it. An awful but rewarding and mentally and physically challenging route. That will stand to me in Limerick. The mental strength I showed today surprised me a bit. I did stop so I only score myself a B- maybe B+.
Glad the series is done although it was nicely progressive and coach worked my training really well building me all the time.
Summarizing the series Barefield was short of my expectations. Lahinch was a disaster. Ennis was above expectations even adding the 30m it was short by. Today was punishing but in a weird way the most beneficial.
Roll on Limerick.0 -
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