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mister paul wrote: »Ah, it's barely noticeable. Strava suggests that the last "lap" (0.25m) had an elevation gain of 11ft.
I'm very sceptical about Garmin/strava elevation gain claims - the watch doesn't measure elevation as such, but rather matches the GPS to an external elevation database, that is not very reliable around flat areas that are prone to development - ever noticed the hill on the Irishtown track, for instance?
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I'm very sceptical about Garmin/strava elevation gain claims - the watch doesn't measure elevation as such, but rather matches the GPS to an external elevation database, that is not very reliable around flat areas that are prone to development - ever noticed the hill on the Irishtown track, for instance?
That one's a killer, not as bad as the seafront in Clontarf though.0 -
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Race report: BHAA BMS 5k
In the day or two leading up to this, there was a fair bit of apprehension. Even though Bob Heffernan 5k has been the target of this training block, I'd decided that it'd be a good idea to have a few tune-up races and sure if I managed sub-20 in any of them, it was job done. Even though my last 5k in Tramore Parkrun a couple of weeks ago had been a PB at 20:29, I'd struggled from 2k in. It'd been a warm morning, I'd had a couple of glasses of wine the night before and my mouth was very dry and I'd no water. Basically all of the excuses. The Raheny Open Mile had definitely gone better, but again, I'd struggled a bit with my mouth drying out, but a time of 5:58 suggested that sub-20 might be possible a week later at the BHAA event. Had I over-achieved in the open mile or under-achieved in Tramore?
I left work a few minutes earlier than usual to make sure that I got home in plenty of time to get changed and head off to catch the bus out. Cycled home via the most direct route for a change. Got home, said hi to A and got changed into my race gear and put an extra layer on. Packed a couple of things into my bag, filled a water bottle and jogged to Harts corner to catch the bus. Once on the bus I could already feel tiredness in my legs. Part of me felt that I was getting the excuses in early. Tried to convince myself that I just needed to get them going with a decent warmup.
No delays on the bus at all, so got there in plenty of time. Number pickup was quick and well organised and within a couple of minutes I was ready to go. Took off the base layer, dropped of the bag and went to warm up. Bumped into Wubble within a couple of hundred metres and turned around to run and chat with him for a couple of minutes then turned again and completed my warmup.
After a few minutes waiting at the assembly point near the start, we were allowed to line up at the start line. It was split into two waves, sub-25 and over-25 minute. Took my place in the middle of the sub-25 wave, about 8-10 rows back and right behind Wubble as it turned out. I couldn't hear the starter, so just watched for movement in front to use as a cue to start my watch.
The start was fast and things opened up quickly. By the first corner I was settling in and finding similarly paced runners. One was from ESB and I stuck with him for the first 2k. There was some passing but not much. The first k passed without much of note happening, the legs feeling okay and the breathing in check. Just after the start of the second k we passed the finish line and the funnel for the first time and then turned back towards the roundaboud that would bring us back across the start line. This was a nice stretch, really nice surface (as most of the course was), very slightly downhill and with the wind. We were slowly working our way through the field at this stage [4:01, 4:01].
At the 2k marker, I needed water for the first time, as my mouth was already starting to dry out. After the second k, the ESB runner seemed to slow a bit, so I pushed on myself. I passed Wubble along here and he shouted words of encouragement as I went by. I was starting to feel the effort by now, but was still overtaking and working my way through the field. Even though we were only in the third k, I was started to have to convince myself that I could keep up the pace. It probably didn't help that a lot of the third k was into the wind and possibly slightly uphill (less so than the end of the Raheny Open Mile, but still uphill
). Through the 3k mark and I changed tack in my attempts to convince myself, saying that if I could get to 4k at this pace, I'd have broken it's back. At about the 3.5k I heard the heavy breathing of another runner nearby, which reminded me that switching my own breathing pattern from the usual 3-2 to a 2-2 pattern would likely be of benefit at this point, as I knew that my own breathing was starting to get laboured. I just tried to focus on my breathing for the next while and stay on pace until I got to the 4k mark [4:00, 3:55].
With only 1k to go, I knew that I just needed to hold on to make that much sought after sub-20 PB. The only problem was that the last k was net uphill into the wind. I tried to keep running strongly into the wind. I knew by this stage that barring a catastrophe, I'd probably make my sub-20. Turned the final corner and picked up the pace, overtaking a couple more runners. As we entered the final 50-60 metres, I knew that I'd done it and could relax and hold my place. But I'd a choice, there were a couple of runners just ahead on either side of the road with just enough space between them for a small person such as myself. Decision, settle for sub-20 or finish strongly? That space was made for me! I opened up and made it between them but didn't stop there and overtook a few more for good measure, the last less than 5 metres from the finishing line [3:46].
Stood in line in the funnel to get my position recorded and tried to catch my breath. Sub-20! Got some water after that and just sat on the grass basking in the achievement. Looked at the finishing time on the watch, looked at the splits, looked at the finishing time again, smiled. Looked at the road and considered a cooldown, but the legs didn't like the idea. Instead, headed back to the bag-drop, collected my stuff and went and got changed. Looked at the phone and spent the next few minutes annoying A by not letting her know how I'd done. She knew well enough that if I was trying to annoy her that the run had gone well.
Checked the bus times and went off for a cooldown along the bus route, rechecking the live bus times every couple of minutes and eventually stopped when the bus was only a few minutes away. Off the bus again at Harts corner and tried a slow jog home but HRM spiked so discarded the run and walked. Tried again a few minutes later with much more positive results on the downhill from Smurfits with thoughts of my PB beer, that A had waiting in the fridge for me.
At this point, I'm still awaiting the official results, but time should be between 19:45 and 19:48, depending on whether I started and stopped the watch on time...
Edit: Came home in 68th place - Official time 19:46
Splits|Time|Cumulative Time|Distance|Avg Pace|Avg HR|Max HR|Avg Run Cadence
1|04:01.0|04:01.0|0.62|06:28|145|161|190
2|04:01.3|08:02.3|0.62|06:28|163|168|187
3|04:00.7|12:03|0.62|06:27|168|174|190
4|03:55.5|15:59|0.62|06:19|173|175|189
5|03:46.5|19:45|0.62|06:04|175|178|193
6|00:00.3|19:45|0|01:13|174|174|208
Summary|19:45|19:45|3.11|06:21|165|178|1900 -
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Great stuff, Paul. I'll be awaiting those official results with interest myself as you may have out-PB'd me.
Many congrats!
Sorry about that D. I guess you'll just have to put me back in my place at the Bob Heffernan 5kOOnegative wrote: »Nice going P, great racing and nice new PB.
Thanks BDelighted for you Paul. That's exactly how I like to run a 5k. Really great running. I'm sure there will be a new PB at the Bob Heffernan too.
Cheers S. I'm not sure if being able to increase the pace in the final k shows that I was strong or that I was going too slow for the first 4k.Very well done P and really well done, nice splits. Enjoy the feeling and then onwards again I'm sure!
Cheers Lhillsiderunner wrote: »That's a really good result, congratulations!
Thanks MAmazing result, well done!!
Cheers V. Your IMRA report has me itching to give it another try. Ran Run the Line last year and it was great.Congrats, great time!
Thanks E0 -
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