Last of the Summer Wine

Managed to run every day this week - no proper sessions, but a couple of parkruns at steady pace. Otherwise, just trying to keep on track for the annual target with a couple of 40-mile weeks to end the year.

Mon 19 Dec

45 mins easy on a loop around Griffith Avenue and down to Drumcondra. When I was a kid my mother used sometimes take us up here on walks around Christmas time as there were always some impressive Christmas tree displays that she liked to inspect. That's still the case, although most of the lighting is in the front gardens these days. LED technology!

Tue 20 Dec

53 mins easy, a loop through Artane, getting disorientated when I took the wrong turn off the roundabout and ended up running in the opposite direction to what I thought. Couldn't fathom how I ended up at back at Malahide Road when I was expecting Howth Road.

Wed 21 Dec

52 mins easy on the seafront, after hitting probably the biggest work-related deadline of the year. A decade of work coming to a conclusion, or at least towards the final phase: the beginning of the end. This cheered up an otherwise routine plod no end.

Thu 22 Dec

Easy hour back through Artane to get the route right this time, in reverse. Helps to bed in what might become a regular new route, although maybe not great at rush hour, too many road crossings in heavy commuter traffic.

Fri 23 Dec

55 mins easy on the seafront.

Sat 24 Dec

50 mins inc. St Anne's parkrun @ steady. C tried blind pacing 24 mins but we came in a bit hot. Enjoyed the run, good company with DD joining us also.

Sun 25 Dec

I like to do a Christmas parkrun when the opportunity is there and one again Waterstown provided the venue. Bumped into a few clubmates and warmed up with H before enjoying another good tempo-ish effort by the Liffey on a beautiful morning. Another lap to cool down before heading home for a long shift in the kitchen.

Happy Christmas all!

• This week: 64k (40 mi)
• This month: 224 (139)
• This year: 3,479 (2,161)

Tough going this week, especially the first half of it, recovering from the festivities. Feeling much better towards the end of it.

Mon 26 Dec

45 mins easy around St. Anne’s with C. Turkey and ham stories.

Tue 27 Dec

70 mins easy on a loop through Artane and Raheny. Feeling the excesses of the season on this one, slightly queasy.

Wed 28 Dec 

60 mins easy in Dublin Port. A while since I’d been down here, so it was good to see the progress on the planned greenway. Looking forward to its completion (god knows when) as it will make for a much more pleasant run in these parts, on the other side of the Tolka estuary from Clontarf.  

Thu 29 Dec

Decamped to Donegal. 50 mins easy around the local loop.

Fri 30 Dec

Final run of the year - 6 x 3 mins at around 5 mile pace (3 mins jog recovery). This session courtesy of skyblue. Drove into Killybegs to run along the shore road - a bit of a gale in one direction so some of the reps were wind assisted, some resisted, some a bit of both. Tough enough going but nice to end the year with a session. 

Sat 31 Dec 

A day off, having hit the year’s mileage target during yesterday’s session. No point in flogging it any further! December total: 275 kms (171 miles). 2022 total: 3,529 kms (2,193 miles). Highest annual mileage to date, and about 160 kms more than 2021. Ran 292 days - a bit low but took plenty of days off post-marathon, and also missed two full weeks in April with covid.

Sun 1 Jan

75 mins MLR. Headed down to Mountcharles with A and did a couple of loops of the Station Road / Mountcharles Pier circuit we used to walk for years before running became a thing. A beautiful calm day, not a breath of wind for a change, very relaxing compared to the conditions I’ve had to brave doing sessions here over the years. First couple of miles with A then pushed on to stretch the legs a bit more. A lovely run and a good start to 2023. 

Spent part of this run thinking about running goals for the year - really don’t want to do too much different from 2022. The main target will be the marathon again, Berlin this time. I felt there was a bit to spare this year so it’s reasonable to expect to knock a bit more off the PB, although it’s unlikely the race and all the stuff around it will go as perfectly to plan as this year. But if I can get a bit better at running well under conditions that are not perfectly ideal, I can still hope to shave off a few more seconds.

Mileage wise, I’ll be happy enough to make in the region of 2,200 again.

• This week: 64k (40 mi)
• This month/year: 13 (8)

The main goal this week was to run every day and not to get too worked up over Sunday's Dublin Masters Cross Country race. 

Mon 2 Jan

70 mins easy on the local roads in Donegal. Very icy - nearly went on my ear at the top of a little slope, just spotting the black ice at the last minute and avoiding a near-certain spill.

Tue 3 Jan

10 mins easy + 10 mins gym + short swim.

In Galway for a funeral, just about managed a very short post-breakfast workout in the hotel leisure centre. 

Wed 4 Jan 

67 mins easy out to St. Anne’s after the long drive home from Shannon (the nearest crematorium to Galway, apparently). Have been in all four provinces in the past 60 hours. 

Thu 5 Jan

43 mins very easy around Drumcondra/Glasnevin. Annoyed by another footpath driver on Griffith Ave. Must not get too obsessed with bad motorists. 

Fri 6 Jan

72 mins easy out the coast to the Dollymount causeway, joined by M at the Wooden Bridge. Enjoyable catchup. 

Sat 7 Jan 

43 mins very easy including St. Anne’s parkrun, which I ran with G, shooting the breeze. @Ultraman100 was visiting - pinched my arse running past during his warmup.

Sun 8 Jan

Dublin Masters Cross Country

This is one of two races on the calendar that I’ve never missed since becoming a club runner in 2014. I probably mention this every year, but since I transferred to Raheny in 2018 I’ve always had a feeling of dread in the buildup to this race. It’s ridiculous really, because even though the club takes this event (held on home turf in St. Annes) very seriously, there are zero expectations on runners like myself beyond wearing the singlet and packing the field. But such is the level of home support that you are cheered the whole way around and you can’t take a sneaky little break at any point, you at least have to look like you’re giving of your best. And it’s a tough race anyway, coming where it does in the calendar when most of us are still half full of turkey and chocolate and beer.

I hadn’t been feeling great in the days leading up to the race - a bit lethargic, and a touch of gastric trouble in the middle of the Friday night. No lingering issues though. I was a bit edgy until I’d gotten into the race gear, finally feeling more relaxed on the drive over, parking outside St. Anne’s and saying hello to the legendary former Boardsie raycun on the way in. With both men’s and women’s events split into separate 35+ and 50+ races, it would be a bit different to the usual setup, and I wondered would there be enough people to chase in the older men’s race, which had 103 starters. I needn’t have worried though, it’s a decent field and quite a tight course in places and I wasn’t isolated at any point. 

As the starter was saying a few motivational words, I glanced down and noticed one of my laces undone, barely managing to get it tied before we were sent on our way. I had a decent starting position and was well settled by halfway around the first of the four laps. It felt like I was managing to progress modestly through the field, a few places per circuit (haven’t seen the usual lap by lap breakdowns myrunresults usually publish yet). The atmosphere was really electric, and I put in an honest if unspectacular effort. Picked my way slowly through the mid pack, having a bit of a ding dong with a few lads from Brothers Pearse, MSB and Clonliffe. A good fourth lap and a nice pickup at the end, passing an age category rival and two or three other runners in the home straight. A race always feels good when you do that, even if I hadn't been particularly strong throughout. Finished in 57th place out of the 103. Considering it’s quite a decent field of local club runners, that’s respectable enough. Placing and time suggests that if the races had been combined as they have previously been, I’d have finished about where I usually do, about two thirds of the way down the pecking order (rounding in my favour). 😉 

Although not anywhere near the various placings today it was nice to finally pick up my 3rd place team medal for last August’s Frank Duffy race (Dublin 10 mile championships). It’s not every day you get handed a medal by an Olympian!

A decent start to the racing year. Nice to say a quick hello to @Lambay island afterwards.

• This week: 63k (39 mi)
• This month/year: 76 (47)

Thanks J - sorry you didn't make it today yourself, or at least I didn't see you on the course or in the results for your race.

Edit - never mind, just read your log. I think you're making the right decision re this week and next, no point in flogging it. Time to rebuild.

Thanks D - you'll notice my report left out the part where you passed me at the end of lap one, never to be reeled back in. 😉 Nice running yourself, looking strong. Yes, I did feel good enough about the race to throw my hat in the ring at then last moment for the Leinsters - see you there if you're doing it.

Thu 12 Jan

40 mins recovery around by Collins Ave. Good to get out after the drive from Donegal.

Fri 13 Jan

No running. Knee deep in work stuff. Nothing to do with triskaidekaphobia. 😉

Sat 14 Jan

67 mins easy, incorporating Fairview parkrun followed by 5k out the coast with some strides.

Sun 15 Jan

Leinster Masters Cross Country - 126th place (of 136). 9th M60 (of 10)

Not a great result or performance but I am really happy to have done this race and lined out for the club on probably the toughest course I've ever run, short of an actual mountain run. It really is a great setup in Avondale Forest Park - big car park, toilets, good spectator facilities, and most of all an undulating course that certainly tests your mettle and conviction to finish the race without walking! There's a kind of uphill drag on nice springy turf to start, followed by a sharp descent through leaves and mud where you're just glad to stay on your feet. Then there's a sharp turn, a short out and back on good ground and back down the hill before another drag and a turn at the bottom before coming back up the other side of the course which is pretty much the same as you've just done, in reverse, including a b*tch of a hill over rutty ground before you're back on the springy turf. Then you do it all again. Lap one was all about staying on my feet, finding a rhythm, not getting too worried about being way back in near last position. On the second lap, it was really just between me and a MSB runner I'd been duking it out with last week in St. Anne's. I was getting close to him on the downhills and losing some ground on the drags. I passed him at last in the flattish section after the right turn, then found myself gaining on a clubmate who'd finished a few places in front of me last week. When I say gaining though, there wasn't much progress and I think he was aware of my presence and doing his best to not give me much hope. Finally though he blew up on the big hill and started run/walking and I blasted past, delighted with myself for putting a couple more lads between me and last position. And that was that, closing it out over the final little drop and turn before the uphill finish. Probably should have done a bit better, as one of the other lads I got the better of last week finished five places in front of me. Feckin' tough going! Loved it in the end though, when it was all over. 😀

Good to meet @babacool before the off, nice result from him too.

Great atmosphere and it felt good to be in the club colours on an away day for a change, some great results among the group including a storming performance from the M35 women and men. An excellent day out for the club. Nice to finish it off with a pint in Gaffney's with a few of the lads.

• This week: 46k (29 mi)
• This month/year: 122 (76)

Your idea of fun, maybe, but you’re right, it’s certainly different from anything I’ve run (except Run The Line) and there’s nothing like a new experience. See Wubble’s post above - 3 laps used to be the the standard alright.

This week I was in Gran Canaria on a short solo holiday. Yes, I know, I'm a lucky man. I'd have preferred if the missus had joined me but she had other priorities and waved me off, probably delighted to be rid of me for most of the week. Kept the runs off Strava til I got home, wanted to get away from social media as much as possible.

Mon 16 Jan

60 mins very easy

The airbnb was in pretty bland mass tourism surroundings, but near enough to some decent running routes, including the famous Maspalomas Dunes. Have travelled very light, only one pair of shoes, the old trail runners. They are very firm and not comfortable on the hard tiled footpaths. Crossed the dunes on this run, which was pretty difficult. Very windy on the exposed beach.

Tue 17 Jan

67 mins easy along local beaches and promenades. Late enough in the day, most of the beachgoers had gone home. Lots of outdoor dining on the promenades mean it sometimes feels like you are running through the actual restaurant.

Wed 18 Jan

87 mins very easy before breakfast. Enjoyed this one, in the opposite direction from yesterday. Definitely bored with the trail shoes by now though, as very little running has been on actual trails.

Thu 19 Jan

45 mins easy, the best part of it along the spectacular El Confital beach (a major surf destination, apparently, and it was obvious why from the roaring waves). It's not really a beach, as the water comes right up to that red post-volcanic earth that is common in the Canaries. The roar of the surf was deafening. A fairly wild and windy day up here in the Northern end of the island, after a spectacular drive over one of Gran Canaria's highest peaks. A wet and cool day in the mountains, very poor visibility but the cloud forests were very atmospheric. A beautiful island.

Fri 20 Jan

No running today. Instead I put the trail runners to better use on a pretty strenuous hike over a 510m mountain (that's three Howths) to Gui Gui beach, which is popular with the local teenagers who like to hike in and camp for a night or two. Was impressed with the size of some of the backpacks these young wans were lugging over the very steep trail. Only 5 kms but took over an hour and a half each way, with a refreshing dip in the middle. Unfortunately the tide was in which meant I couldn't get to the reportedly nicer part of the beach as it was cut off. Fantastic day.

Sat 21 Jan

50 mins easy before heading back to the airport. Enjoyed this little break, which got better as the week progressed. I like beaches, but get bored quickly. Here it is all about getting into the mountains, I reckon. Some very memorable vistas. A UNESCO biosphere reserve, where they have actually torn down a good bit of the beach tat in some areas. Hopefully will get a chance to discover it more at some point.

Sun 22 Jan

20 kms easy out to St. Anne's and Dollymount via the Howth Road and back through Clontarf. Legs were tired enough after the week's adventures. All easy running but the volume a bit better than the previous couple of weeks. Time to start adding a bit more structure though.

• This week: 69 kms (43 mi)
• This month/year: 191 (119)

How did I fail to mention that? Around 23-24 daytime, good bit cooler at night. Tricky enough to pack for and stay within the Ryanair carry-on limit, hence the trail shoes compromise!

Another week, another race. When I signed up for the John Treacy Dungarvan 10 that I don't think I realised it was the week after Raheny. That makes four races in five weeks, which is probably pushing things a bit in my book. But I have the bib and I'll drive down and hope for the best! So this week is just about ticking over with a tiny mini session and a few strides.

Mon 30 Jan

Rest.

Tue 31 Jan

75 mins easy. An all fella told me it's illegal to be running in the bus lane (it was a cycle lane). Good intentions I suppose.

January total: 263 kms (164 mi). A bit less than last year, when I probably had my best start to the year.

Wed 1 Feb

20 mins easy. Not quite with it today. Headed out from work with an hour in mind, but then suddenly remembered the Winter League was on tonight. So cut the run short, but then later realised I couldn't make the scheduled 3-mile race anyway. Would have been treating it as a steady run at best so probably just as well to remove the temptation.

Thu 2 Feb

40 mins inc. 2.5kms @ T

With Sunday's race in mind, I wanted to get a little taste of the pace at least. Headed to St. Anne's and did one lap of the old parkrun course. A bit of a breeze out so I had to be patient and trust the effort until the tailwind in the last four or five mins made it possible to hit the right number. All good really but felt harder than I'd like. Added a few strides at the end of the cooldown.

Fri 3 Feb

65 mins easy, meeting up with M and D on the coast for a few kms en route. M is doing Dungarvan too, seems just as unexpectant as I am. A few strides through Marino towards the end.

• WTD: 36 kms (22 mi)
• MTD: 22 (14)
• YTD: 285 (177)

Where are we now, where are we now?

The moment you know you know, you know.

(David Bowie)

John Treacy Dungarvan 10 Mile (PB)

I caught the second half of a film a few weeks ago on the telly. A crime thriller in the Se7en tradition, with Denzel Washington in the Morgan Freeman role. It was all about how the basic mistakes find you out. The irony being (spoiler alert) the bad guy didn't seem to have made any. The Little Things, it was called. Highly recommended. I caught up with the rest of the film on Amazon Prime just the other day, filled in some of the gaps.

The little things...

At this stage of my running and racing life, any win feels like a big win. You learn that not all days can be good days. Disappointment trades places with hope, satisfaction with renewed expectation, elation with the near certainty of a soon-to-be-experienced reality check, a return to earth, disappointment. Which of course brings hope back into the equation. A circle of emotions. A cycle that nevertheless can be intermittently extended, expanded, suspended. If you pay attention to the little things. They can keep you in the game. The basics. The controllables. The daily miles, the structure, the discipline. Mostly the miles. The instinct, and also the instinct to know when the instinct is wrong.

Today's race was the fourth in five weeks. Dublin Masters, Leinster Masters, Raheny 5, Dungarvan 10. Obviously this was a January after the best training year ever, 2022. Reasons to be cheerful, hopeful. But those previous races had been mediocre. All I deserved really, after an old man Christmas of drinking beer and eating shite. How long can you get away with this kind of thing? Maybe not long. Certainly not much longer. I had had a great 2022 but felt the strength fall away after the intensity of the long marathon season dwindled. Cross country racing can shore you up a little bit, maybe, but not enough to get away with Raheny, not me anyway. But can you race your way to fitness, that old conundrum? I never thought so, until today. Today I felt the ordinariness of those three outings converted into enough intensity that, combined with the residual strength from last year, came together to deliver an unusual and exhilarating feeling of strength when it mattered most.

A day trip to Dungarvan for an 11am race means leaving Dublin at about 7am. I picked up Mark in Clontarf. He'd done the driving last year, so it was my turn. A cold morning with a beautiful moon rising over the frosty midlands fields. The freezing conditions were hard on the car battery. But Dungarvan's conditions promised to be perfect. We got lucky and were able to plug in at the car park. 40 mins warmup then released the fast charger to the next guy in the queue. Jogged to the start line. Every time I go to a Munster race I seem to bump into @MiketheMechanic, and sure enough he said hello at the start line (and again a couple of miles in). Mark lined up a few rows in front of me and after a while waiting in the crowded start area the siren finally sounded.

Raheny is a good prep for the start of this race, which is similarly crowded during an early loop around some narrow Dungarvan streets lined with parked cars. In mile 2 the congestion eases as the field fans out on the main Youghal road and you can breathe a bit more easily and get down to business, thankful to have survived the throng. I'd put last week's Raheny time into the calculator the previous day and was surprised to see a 10-mile estimate that would actually be a small PB. So despite last week's minor disappointment, I could now take a bit more from it - the confidence that my performance at this race last year (a highlight) could be justifiably challenged. In theory anyway - like all races you have to get the first bit right and put yourself in a position to achieve. So I found myself glancing at the watch in these early miles, pulling it back to 4:23/km pace (about 7:03/mi). No need to be an early hero. I tried to channel a bit of the @skyblue46 here, as S is the master of the sustainable start. Early systems check - feeling good. Discarded the throwaway VHI hat (parkrun sponsor bling in fetching bright orange, never worn before), thrown expertly to the feet of a steward on a roundabout. And soon we were out in the country, heading up the road that last year had a headwind howling down it. Much more benign today in the perfect, cool, calm conditions. I looked around and found myself with plenty of coalescing groups to tow along with, moving when necessary to the next, sometimes dropping back a tad. Starting to becoming aware of a few runners who were sticking around and might become rivals as the race developed. A Clonfliffe Harriers gent who looked like he might be in my age group. A small but powerful looking woman in a Ballintotis Fit for Life tee shirt, reeling off steady seven-minute miles (Ballintotis Fit for Lifers seem to be a hardy bunch). And one or two more.

About four miles in I decided that the stars were aligning for sure as I knuckled down and concentrated on keeping it steady. I felt tall and strong while a few people around were starting to feel the pinch, especially the lad on my shoulder who sounded like he was dying. A little push to get his distracting grunts and splutters out of range. I was moving smoothly, alert enough to run good tangents, trading places with Clonliffe and Ballintotis here and there, enjoying the to and fro of it all, and taking some confidence from the sparse but encouraging support out in the Dungarvan hinterland. Incredibly there seemed to be a Raheny supporter at a lonely intersection and I got a nice encouraging shout. At half way there was a large roadside clock that read about 35:37. A glance at my watch confirmed I had about 24 seconds leeway in terms of chip time. So a feisty enough opening five but feeling good about it, not dying at all (yet).

Into mile six with some bumpy roads and a couple of sharp turns, and I was holding my own with still plenty of runners around to work with. Ballintotis was there, a little in front; Clonliffe just a stride ahead. The odd person ploughing strongly past, but the field pretty established at this point. The course seems to be slightly net uphill but there are some delicious downhills, one of them quite a long drop in mile seven, which I really enjoyed, using it to pass a slew of runners who had the brakes on. I'd been conscious of staying strong through the middle third of the race and suddenly found myself at mile seven still feeling good, even daring to push the pace here and there when the topography suggested it might be OK. I was waiting for the smoother road I remember from last year, mile eight along by the Brickey river. I think a little bit of course knowledge can be so valuable. The expectation of the nicer surface sustained me for a couple of miles before hitting it, and once on it I found myself able to push the pace, at least until the sharp but short little climb up onto the main road and the turn back towards town when inevitably the hurt starts to kick in for sure. To be fair to my fellow competitors, everyone around me in this mile nine seemed to be solidly pushing to the finish, dragging me with them, maybe me dragging the odd one too. I'd passed Ballintotis by the Brickey, but she pulled ahead again on the main road. She reminded me a bit of @Laineyfrecks, similar size, similar strengths, similar conviction in the way she'd passed each time, but I was feeling a lot stronger this week than last and maybe not as easily beaten.

I'd put Clonliffe to bed a good way back and was still trading places with a few lads, but I felt Ballintotis was the target most likely to tow me home. As the 9 mile sign is passed she's maybe eight places in front. There's a noticeable resolve among the whole field as we hit the final mile - really impressive, hardly anyone seemed to be dropping off with people coming through strongly from behind also. I'd been concentrating a lot on my breathing throughout the race, consciously expanding the ribs, getting the air in, refocusing on the drill of it every mile or so. The vaporflys were doing a job (I'd changed to a thinner sock since last week, seems to help me feel the road more and feel the response from the shoe more). Hanging on now but still feeling I have something for the challenging final half mile, now wondering where the hell is that left turn that takes us up the blasted hill that nearly destroyed my race last year. Again, a bit of course knowledge helping. Ballintotis was still in front, so I picked out another strongly running blue singlet to help take me around the corner and up the hill, passing a 600m-to-go mark sprayed on the road. Blue responds and I find myself matching stride for stride and pulling ahead, now half way up the hill, flagging but not as much as I'd feared. Ballintotis seemed to be flagging more - I passed her for maybe the fourth time. Or so I thought, it turned out to be a different but similarly built Ballintotis runner. 😂 Then at the top of the hill, it's a question of pushing through a couple of little turns in the final 250m.

By now it's been obvious for a while that a PB is almost in the bag. But how much of a PB? I'd refused all week to entertain the idea of a sub-70, but then you turn the final corner and can see the clock at last. Jaysis, it's actually on, although the gun time has ticked over the 70 and I'm already eating into the 24-second buffer. A final gathering of steam and an old man unleashing of some sort of faster shuffle towards the gantry. Looking at the numbers all the way, pushing it, begging the clock to slow down. I fairly powered it (in my own mind) over the line, the momentum taking me a good way through the finisher throng before I dropped to the side for a bit of a breather and a gathering of the senses. I'd stopped the watch at 70:01, but how far after the line? Delighted anyway with the big PB as I queued for the goody bag and tee shirt - really excellent swag on all counts. Found Mark who'd had a decent run too. A creaky jog back to the car. M did the honours and looked up the prelim results which confirmed a time of 69:58. Cue PB pints later in Gaffney's. 🍻

How about that? Every second counting, almost nothing to spare. Every mile run, every session run, every race experience contributing a little bit individually and a huge amount collectively to that result. Little things combining to become a big thing, pushing you over the line to a time you'd wondered would you ever achieve. A better performance, relatively, than the marathon I was so delighted with last year. Suggesting of course there's more to push for. I've always said I'm a slow learner, and this was a real moment of discovery.

Isn't that the best thing to take away from a good race?

Splits (approx): 7:06 7:03 6:57 7:04 7:03 7:05 6:57 6:51 7:06 6:46

• Previous PB: 70:44 (Dungarvan 2022)
• Target: 70:35 (from the calculators)
• Actual: 69:58
• 621st place (of 2,743)
• 9th M60 (of 48) - good bit more old man depth this year.
• VDOT: 48.8
• AG: 77.7%
• Verdict: Out of the blue

And there you have it. I'd put this down as one of my best ever races for sure. I don't think I've ever run with such belief in the second half of a race. A rare negative split and a time that shifts the graph a little bit more towards where it should be in terms of converting shorter distances to better endurance. A glimmer of hope that the marathon season can be a success again with the right approach. One that pays attention to the basics. To the little things.

Hats off to the Dungarvan race organisers. They put on some show down there.

• WTD: 67 kms (42 mi)
• MTD: 53 (33)
• YTD: 317 (197)