Often becomes easy when the easy is often..

Le Cheile Leixlip 5k Race Report

I mentioned above about feeling a bit of pressure about this one. Well that seemed to really intensify over the last week or so, culminating in a feeling of absolute dread and fear on the start line waiting for the guy to finish his instructions and set us off.

Sh1tting myself. Absolutely. I don't remember feeling that way at the start of a race before. Pressure is healthy, for sure, but this seemed on another level.

I think the main reason for it was I didn't feel it was just me out there, like it normally is. @scotindublin was pacing me.

C had given up his evening, his time, his Saturday session to come and help me get over the line. That weighed heavily on me. He refused me paying him into the event, shipping back revolut $$ to me. I knew that had I failed at it he wouldn't have been in any way put out, but that didn't matter in my mind.

I was still mostly confident about it last week. Had some negativity creep on Thursday, phantom calf and tendon pain, feelings of doubt. I started visualizing the splits, running the perfect race in my head and put it to bed. The course recce from the previous week helping a lot with that, something I'm going to do in future where possible. An early night on Thursday and a day off work race day had me feeling a lot more positive on Friday morning.

The pressure really started to build though during the day. God I much prefer rolling out of bed and heading to a race. Ruminating all day is torture. I do laundry. That's what keeps my mind occupied. Folding jocks and socks.

MIL arrived up at 5:30 to take over and my wife and I got ready to head down. She was targeting a sub 25. She ran 25:10 for a PB and is disappointed in herself. A year ago she didn't think 27:30 was beatable so I'm extremely proud of her, and content that her disappointment is pretty healthy, if unwarranted.

Arrived there around 6:45pm and registered. Met up then with C, @Laineyfrecks , @skyblue46 and @Wottle for a chat and a warm up. There's a challenging climb at the end of the first Km and I was keen to show it to C. We also checked out the 4th km drag.

C had mentioned weeks back that he wasn't going to pace me to a tight sub 19, he was going to pace me to an 18:50. He figured that gave him, and me, a lot of room for error. We had settled on a rounded off target of 3:45 per km. Even splits after my course recce.

A couple of strides then before lining up a row or two back. Ran back through the crowd to give Judy a kiss and wish her good luck, then came back to line up beside C.

Absolutely bricking it. The announcer read out a few course guidelines then counted down. We're off.

Slight downhill start. No real congestion, we started in the correct position. I'm still feeling that dread and pressure. 150m or so in I tell C that I'm not going to talk. He asks me whether I want him to talk or not, I tell him to talk away. He says he'll just call out the splits. Cool. We communicated with thumbs. There's a tall gangly lad a stride in front of us with his legs splaying all over the place. A real trip hazard. I had this glancing thought hoping he would trip me up so I'd have an exit excuse.

The first km was bang on target at 3:45. This included that sharp incline over the dual carriageway mentioned above, a feature that I thought would be a problem but wasn't.

The second km started with the opposite side of that ramp so was a quick one beeping in at 3:41. I still felt pretty good at this point, shoulder to shoulder with C. It was tough going but I wasn't in physical pain yet. Mentally I was flip flopping though. Fighting to banish negativity. Just hold on to C.

Halfway there and I remember feeling half positive half negative. 'I've half of this done' to 'I've to do all that sh1t all over again?' Brain beginning to boil.

Km 3 beeps 3:48 and I'm suffering. Just hold onto this. I start to drift back from C. He had asked me a few days ago about what I wanted to do in this scenario. I told him to crack on at pace and give me that target. I drifted back by about 10m by the middle of km 4. We turn left for home at the bottom of a drag.

I had ran the course last week and figured this drag was nothing to be worried about. I hadn't allowed for the fact it would arrive at a point of hurt and pain. Lesson. It was torture, grimacing torture. C had mentioned pre race that if we got to the 4k mark at 15 mins or less we would do it. I had a 15 min alert on my watch from during the week and left it on there for this reason. It beeped about 30m before the 4km mark. Deflating. That km beeped 3:51.

I know the last km is a fast one. Crest the railway bridge and downhill towards the finish. A sharp left turn into a grassy section before another sharp left onto the track for a clockwise circuit to the gantry.

A km to go and C is still 10m or so ahead. I turned onto the grassy bit and found enough of a bite to overtake a lad. Onto the track then. I glanced at the clock and remember seeing it, but don't remember now what it read, don't think it registered then either. Dig deep, one foot in front of the other. Have no idea of the time, haven't looked at my watch. Was pretty sure based on the gap between C and I that I was on for about 19:05ish. I was happy.

About 200m to go and C stalls for me. We bend around the track and I pick it up with a kick, running it in together. Can't believe what I'm seeing on the clock as I turn to see it.

Over the line in 18:47 for a 50 second PB. 3:43 for the km.

Can't begin to explain how happy I am, how relieved I am. How flabbergasted I am that I achieved it. 30 hours later and I'm still on a high.

I absolutely, without doubt would not have done it without C. Not only his expert on the money pacing, but his support throughout this block. He says 'you did all the work' but that's nonsense, I'm without doubt not getting over that line in sub 19 without him.

Muchas gracias amigo.

Nothing dodgy at all about that second km. It was a fast downhill one and we needed that in the bank for the 4th.

Thanks D 😊

Ah cheers A, thanks so much.

Yep, running the route a week out helped immensely. Something I'm definitely going to do in future where possible.

Cheers D 👊

I'll be enjoying this one for a while.

Ah thanks a mill E. Was great fun celebrating with you guys. Thanks a mill also re Judy, you're the soundest.

So in case you didn't know, the bould @coogy is a gifted caricature artist.

I really love that pic posted above, love the fact it's only the two of us in it and the nailed on time on the clock, exact time C said he would pace me to.

The only thing I felt letting it down was me not returning the high 5.

I half jokingly said it to K, asked him would he make it happen.

The legend that he is, he actually did.

Behold..

Thanks a mill K 👍

I'm gonna frame my one too.

Judy said to me, not joking, 'you should frame that as it might be the fastest you ever run a 5k'

Haha, goway oura dat with that defeatist attitude.

Thanks so much E.

Yep, K has a gift. 😊

Dunshaughlin 10k - sub 40 shot

I got a welcome message from @Lambay island the night before offering his pacing services. D is on the road to injury recovery and was planning on running it at 40 min pace and was sound enough to get in touch. Arrived in Dunshaughlin about an hour before the start and parked up. Fantastic pre race organisation with ample parking and direction. Great buzz around the place. Bumped into @AuldManKing in the hall and had a good chat about our race plans. @Wottle too. Met up then with D for a warm up, hoped to meet with @Laineyfrecks too but she had a couple of difficulties with her Google maps.

The weather seemed perfect when we got there but by the time we got up to the start line after warming up you could really feel the mugginess in the air.

Was anxious to see E before the start and wish her good luck, D and I were scanning everyone looking for her and eventually she appeared. She had some pre race doubts and uncertainty so I was raging a little that I didn't get a chance to jog about the place and help her with that. Didn't matter, she ran a cracking race, 5 secs outside her PB, which is PB shape imo.

A bit of strategy talk with D, similar to C at Leixlip I told him to crack on if I faded, and that I wouldn't do much talking.

Gun and we're off.

First km is downhill, so a few seconds faster than goal pace wasn't anything to be concerned about. D knows the course well so was keeping the race line excellently, well, moreso further into things when it thinned out, now with the congestion he was just making sure we were getting into good position for the turns.

Km 1 beeps 3:56 and it's feeling pretty comfortable effort wise.

Kms 2, 3 and 4 beep in at 3:59, 3:55 and 4:01 and it's beginning to feel hot. Plenty of fears and doubts now about whether I can hold on. Am keeping shoulder to shoulder with D though.

Km 5 is 3:59, through 5k in 19:50 for my 4th fastest 5k. Have to throw a cup of water over my head at the first water station. I heard D say something to me as I veered to grab a cup and thought (when it was too late) that he said 'grab one for me' and I spent the next while feeling bad about it, but too flat out to ask him. Offered him one at the next station and he said no. Turned out he was asking me did I want him to veer and grab it for me. Soundness.

Km 6 is 3:56, it's tough going but we're motoring along really well, still shoulder to shoulder.

Km 7 beeps in 4:02. I don't mind these + splits too much as I know we've plenty banked at this stage, and it's not wildly out.

D had been briefing me on what was to come in Km 8, the toughest section of the course, a hilly one. He had shown me his splits from previous the night before and that one being the slowest, we run it in 4:09. No biggie, we're still on target and the next one is a fast one.

I go through the 5 mile marker in 32:23, 30 seconds faster than my Raheny PB. More on that below.

D asks me how I'm doing, I'm breathing heavy but I feel strong enough to get it done, I tell him 'let's bring this home'.

We come upon a bit of congestion, D moves right and I inject a small bit of pace to go around left. I suddenly get a sharp warning of cramp in the left calf.

Fooook. I immediately pull back a touch on the pace and D pulls ahead. Running 4:05ish pace now on what should be the fastest km. Can't believe it. Absolutely sh1tting myself now of going any faster. Another few sporadic warning shots in the calfs. Poxy thing is I know I have it in the lungs at this point, I just can't risk DNF. You can keep going with the warning shots, but when it comes on full bang it's game over, or at best hopping in for a 45 min +.

Km 9 is 4:02 which sucks.

D is yelling back encouragement telling me to kick but I'm too afraid to just yet. All I can think of now is getting over the line before it comes on full. I hit 400m to go and feel now I can risk it so I kick.

Km 10 is 3:54 but it's not enough. Go over the line is 40:03 chip. Agonisingly close.

It's still a pretty nice PB at almost 3 minutes, but there's something ever so slightly disappointing about it. 4 bleedin seconds. Lots of what ifs.

The cramping is a little worrying, have never experienced it before <marathon distance. Maybe I was simply racing 10k at my 5 mile pace. Felt well hydrated. Who knows. Calfs completely locked up as soon as I tried to jog a cool down. Frightened the life out of poor E with my yelp 😃

One thing I took away from it though was the fact I felt pretty strong aerobically during that last mile. I'm confident that had the calf issue not occurred I would have dipped well under it. Unfinished business.

D went over the line bang on time and was absolutely magnificent as a pacer, such a sound bloke too. I owe him a lot of thanks for the stellar job.

Thanks so much guys, lovely words as always.

@ariana` Thanks E, no real tightness since. I don't do any rolling at all, will add a bit in, fair play. Hadn't really considered a physio for it. It's something I'll definitely need to get a handle on before Amsterdam.

Cheers for that A, great chatting to you that night.

Watched the full 2019 Amsterdam marathon on Youtube on Friday night. Looks like such a great course, cannot wait for it.

How did you get on?

What's the target this year?

We're in the same boat so. If you're Dublin based and you fancy meeting up for the odd one let me know.

I was similar, faster than goal pace for the first, 7 & 8 secs out on the next two and a couple of seconds out on the last two.

Effort felt spot on.