A yes January here we come.
Working of the excess pounds put on over the Christmas, get the running
back to somewhere near normal. All sounds
easy. Boy I wish.
Week 1:
I may as well be pulling a stone block for every run. As soon as a run was done I would just
feel like collapsing with the words “It was never as hard as this before” Well that’s the pay back for an easy
December. Week 1 of December. Not too bad.
I have started including my favorite run from a few years back. 6 mile Saturday morning hilly loop in
Doneraile park. Great session. First time back and completed the 6 mile in
47:52. Few years back I was sub 44 on
this route so target set.
Week total 42
Week 2.
One thing I like about being back in Ireland is the Sunday
morning runs. There is nothing like a
group of runners just chatting away on a long run. Times flies and you end up forgetting about
the miles you are clocking up. Week
No2 long run had us on a different route to our normal one. I’ll call it the longueville route. Beautiful countryside and plenty of up and
down hills. 15 miles total in that run.
Bit of an odd week really. Seem
to run out of steam altogether mid week.
Ended up stopping in one of the mid week speed sessions. Seldom I would stop regardless how I feel. Anyway ended the week with Doneraile park 6
mile route. 46:03. Happy with that. Improving.
Week total 41.
Week 3.
Looking at the week ahead I wanted to start getting in some
short races. I think its last August
since I ran a short race. Not good as
the short races should be standard for people doing regular training. It gives you an idea if your training is
hitting the spot. Also the coach in the
club would always advise us to do short races when possible. Keeps the body pushing I suppose.
So week starting with a long run. 18.5 mile on a route I haven’t done before
with the club. Lets call this one the Caherduggan
route and yes it had a hill you could die for.
Or should that be die from. A
monster is all I could call this but enjoyable coming down the far side. A good few miles of relaxed running.
With the BHAA Little Island race coming up at the end of the
week I was going to make sure I was rested.
Monday Wednesday and Friday off.
To be honest I had other things on so it was more of a case of not being
able to get out those nights. Tuesday
and Thursday are session nights with the club.
These will either kill you or cure you.
The coach is a good man to test you.
Got to love the way he will tell you relax the shoulders just at the
point you are near death. It works but
never have the energy to say “cheers for the advice” The Tuesday night session was a 25 minute
tempo run session. Truth be told I
wanted to push myself a bit to see what kind of run I should do on Sunday. I did the 25 minutes at an average pace of
6:45 per mile. I kinda put a target in
my head of 26 minutes for Sunday’s 4 mile but would have been happy with
anything under 27.
Week total 37 miles.
FMC 4 mile race.
8lb lighter then the 1st of January and 120 miles
later. What the hell was this going to
be like? So long since I did a short
race but my mind is already thinking “fool should of stayed at home and done a
nice easy Sunday long run” Anyway here now so lets get on with it. Usual get together at the start. Usual talk, “What’s your plan” Same thing that happens at every race.
Gun off. Plan is to
stay as close to 6:30 per mile as possible.
If I suffer in the last 2 miles at least I’ll have a bit of a buffer
built and will still make it under the 27.
Something I had forgot about this
race is that there are plenty of drags in the first few miles. Nothing major but you would feel them. By 2 miles I really thought I had gone out
too fast but was still holding my own.
Splits still holding strong.
Last 2 miles were a bit of a battle but in fairness mile 3 came down to
6:20. I think this is really because a
faster runner was beside me so it pushed me on to keep up. Last mile feels like it was never going to
end. You run past the hall where you
register and think I am nearly there.
“Half a mile to go” nearly there.
Grand in a jog but when all you want to do is puke it’s a long nearly
there. The sight of the clock is a
welcome one but it’s a bit like a mirage.
Its there in the distance and the more you push the farther it
gets. Clock counting down and looking up
to see what kind of time I can expect.
I see 25:4X. by the time I make
it to the clock it has just passed the 26min mark. 26:02 is my time and well pleased with
it. Pacing was good and steady throughout. My watch had me running 6:25 and covering
4.05 but always get this with the Garmin’s.
They seldom match the course. In
fact if they did match the Garmin I would say the course was wrong. I don’t take the shortest route so always
expect a bit extra at the end. So
well pleased.
Where does this leave me.?
Well I am hoping to do Dungarvan in under 70. Based on this time and comparing it to last
year I should be ok. I ran a 4 mile
last March around 26 something and came under 70 in the Mallow 10 miler. Dungarvan is a nice course so I will give it
a go anyway. So head down this week
and see what happens.
Splits for BHAA 4
miler
Mile 1: 6:28
Mile 2: 6:29
Mile 3: 6:20
Mile 4: 6:28
276 ft: 0:16
Total time 26:02.
;-)
Till next time
Paudie
