8 days and 2x 10km Races

Waterford City & Greenway

Its been awhile since I've updated the blog but I'm still running miles with some small rest periods due to some muscle issues in my left leg again (its getting somewhat annoying now).

The last 8 days or so have however been pretty productive with 2x local 10km races under my belt and also 2x 20mile runs.

I even managed to include the second 10km into the 20mile run. So to start my 8 days I took part in a Callan AC outing by attending the Church Hill 10k / 5k in Cuffesgrange, co Kilkenny, this race has been going for a few years now and its pretty well supported both by locals and people that travel to the race.

My plan for the race was somewhat ambitious esp given the lack of training for a 10km I've done, despite not having run a decent 10km since July 2015 I decided I'd head out with the sub40 pacer and hope for the best.  It however was not to be as I dropped off the pacer by the 2mile mark.  

I did however manage to keep a steady pace and nobody passed me after this and I even managed to catch a guy 100metres from the finish.

While perhaps not my fastest 10km with a time of 42min 10sec (PB is 40:58) it was still nice to run the course again after previously running it in 2012 just before I took part in the Portumna 50km and I still easily beat the 2012 time I set of 46min 15sec.

As for the rest of the week, I didn't do a whole lot of running outside of club training runs on Tuesday and Thursdays but I did manage 20mile LSR in Waterford as I had time to kill so I decided to check out the new Waterford Greenway. It has some lovely views of the river so far.

While still under construction I ran a section of it out and back from the city and then worked in some miles in the city to total 20miles.  Can't wait to run the entire route to Dungarvan and then Clonea once its completed.

Out/Back & Mullinahone 10km Route

My plan Sunday the 1st May was straight forward enough, I wanted to take part in the 10km race in Mullinahone as there were a number of Callan AC members taking part but I also wanted to get in a LSR.

My solution, run from my house to Mullinahone, run the race to support the club and then run home...so that's exactly what I did.

My plan went fine with the exception of foolishly choosing to wear a long sleeve top on what felt like the most humid day of 2016 so far, by the time I got to the start line of the 10km I was sweating buckets as I had two tops on as I expected it to be much much cooler out.

The race however went fine (I finished in 52:08) and it was good to support the club once again, all in all I had a good week and in the 8 days I managed a somewhat respectable 58miles.

Morris Oil Piltown 10K 2015 Race Report

So after last weeks 36mile Ultra I opted for a much shorter race this week by taking part in the Piltown 10km race in Co Kilkenny on Friday night.   I've not done a large number of 10km races but I've always seen an improvement when I run them and I'm still chasing the elusive goal of a sub 40min 10k.   To get a sub 40min time it meant I had to run an average pace of 6:26min/mile for the entire distance. This is a big ask after last weeks 36mile Ultra but I was hoping I could pull it off none the less.

This was a race starting at 7.30pm so I headed off for the start of the race and met up with the lads from town, between all of us we were aiming for times ranging between sub 40 - sub 45. The conditions were good and the course was advertised as fast so there was a lot of hope of reaching our goals.

The race started on time and we were off; the first mile was a slight decline and as always it was fast as during the first mile I averaged a pace of 6:03min/mile, I spotted this and I eventually slowed onto the second mile. By the time I was heading into mile three I have to say I felt like my legs were heavy and I knew that to try push for a sub40 time was going to be extremely difficult! However I pushed on and headed for what appeared to be an endless section of straight road which began just before mile 4 and eventually ended around mile 6.

By the time I was coming up on mile 5 I pushed the pace and passed two runners; I kept ahead of them for approx half a mile but eventually they gained back the space I had put between them and eventually got maybe 100metres ahead of me.

As we approached mile 6 there was a slight incline on the course and we headed into the GAA grounds where the surface changed coming up to the finish line to gravel and to eventually grass as we raced towards the finish. I tried my best to even catch one of the two runners ahead of me but I just had no more energy in the legs to push any harder.

I finished 37th across the line (out of 128 finishes) in a time of 40min 50sec and was happy to lay down on the ground for a well deserved rest!

Its not really the sub 40 I had hoped for but still a new personal best I can be proud of as it shaves 7 seconds off my previous 10km distance set during the Danesfort 10km in September 2014. 

I think without a doubt if I had not done the ultra last week, I would have broken sub 40 but overall I'm very happy with how things went. Also, after the start and with the exception of the two runners at mile 5 only one other runner past me after mile 1, that's always a confidence boost.

Garmin of the course and my laps can be viewed below:

Miles This Year: 1157 miles

Mid-Week mountain & JJ Reddy Danesfort 10K

So already I've learned that even occasionally running a mountain has its benefits, the first being that my legs no longer feel trashed the next day. Although I took Monday last week as a rest day my legs felt perfectly fine after the previous days mountain running.

I had planned on doing a nice 8mile run on country roads on Tuesday morning but 500metres into the run the roads were looking like a scene from Silent Hill.

From my experience in the mornings I find the fog tends to get worse between 6am - 8am so I abandoned my 5mile run and took a detour onto much quieter country roads.

Wednesday was a change of plan as I had decided on doing a 8mile run but instead I opted for a easy 5mile with the aim of fitting in a mid week Slievenamon trail run on Thursday evening before sunset.

So as planned I took on Slievenamon again starting at Kilcash, I managed to finish the route approx 40sec faster then on Sunday.  

However, somehow I managed to hurt my back, I've no idea how as I didn't fall or anything odd like but but I came back from the run and part of my back was really hurting anytime I moved.

Due to my back hurting me I took Friday & Saturday as rest days and decided it was well enough on Sunday to take part in the JJ Reddy Danesfort 10K.

The last time I took part in the JJ Reddy Danesfort 10K was back in 2012 when I set myself a PB of 44:22, I've seen improved this to 42:20 in May 2014 when I was aiming for a sub40. So I decided yesterday to once again aim for a sub40.

The course is tough going as its hilly in parts, but the conditions were good as it was cool starting and little or no wind. The turn out was pretty good as over 200 were running the 10km course.

I was on target for sub40 until the 5km mark but I lost some momentum during the last 3km to finish in 40:58. Not the sub40 I wanted but still very happy with the result as I'm edging ever closer to that sub40 target! :)

Last weeks runs broke-down as:

- Monday: Rest
- Tuesday: 5.22miles @ 7:49min pace
- Wednesday:5miles @ 8:17min pace
- Thursday: 5.19miles @ 11.30min pace
- Friday:Rest
- Saturday: Rest
- Sunday: 6.20miles @ 6:36min pace (warmup & warm down not included)

Weekly Total:  22 miles

Miles This Year: 1471 miles