I can feel things starting to get better week and week and its pretty hopeful!
This week I managed some 10mile runs with only some slight discomfort, I even felt like some of the speed was coming back into my legs as the pace improved for some of the miles. They legs are still holding up well the next day but I must ensure I do alot of stretching afterwards or I'm in trouble!
To be honest the stretching side of things is really no harm at all, I've always be awful for doing stretching after a run and I guess at this stage its coming back to bite me on the arse.
All was going well until Friday night when I was doing a 11mile looped run and I managed to twist my ankle in a pothole around 5miles from home.
While I didn't hurt at all during the rest of the run or even after after stretching on Saturday it really flared up after stretching and is painful enough today (Sunday) so no runs on Saturday or Sunday which is no harm I guess.
There's no bruising and swelling from what I can see though so I'm going to ice it this evening and see how things are tomorrow.
This weeks runs broke-down as:
- Sunday: Rest
- Monday: 4.41miles @ 9:13min/pace
- Tuesday: Rest
- Wednesday: 11.01miles @ 9:23min/pace
- Thursday: 3miles @ 7:49min/pace
- Friday: 10miles @ 7:51min/pace and 1mile @ 9:19min/pace
- Saturday: Rest
Weekly Total: 29.45 miles
Miles This Year: 1,610 miles
Sunday, December 13, 2015
Sunday, December 6, 2015
The road to recovery II
So after last weeks post I decided I was going to run every week day but at a very slow pace and see how things panned out. The results were surprising, although the effort is higher than before I got injured the legs are feeling surprisingly fine for the most part.The good news is there is next to no pain from the muscle in my left leg that I previously had problems with and more importantly I'm also not experiencing knee pain in my left leg.
However I am feeling every so slight shin splints now and then in my left and right legs, I'm really not surprised by this considering my running form would have been affected by the injury which was causing me to put more load on my right leg.
For Wednesday I took a break from the 5mile runs and instead opted for 2miles, the first of which I ran around 700metres of at a faster pace. it felt great to run an avg pace of 7:20min for this first mile. For the second mile I took it nice and easy.
Thursday was a different affair, it was pouring out so I decided to do a slow 3mile run which took in a shortcut of a very very muddy country lane near my house.
Friday I was back 3miles but this time on road again, things were slower than Thursdays
After Fridays run I did feel some small amount of discomfort in my left leg near my knee, but once I stretched out my legs as normal everything felt fine.
When I started back running this week my aim was 5miles slow each day, but as the week went on I felt tired so I cut back the miles...likely hoping for too much too soon and also because I upped the pace which I shouldn't have done.
So now I'm taking a break for the weekend and next week I'm going to aim for more slow miles for another 5 days to see how things pan out.
Last weeks runs broke-down as:
- Sunday: Rest
- Monday: 5miles @ 9:01min/pace
- Tuesday: 5miles @ 9:00min/pace
- Wednesday: 2miles @ 7:49min/pace
- Thursday: 3.74miles @ 8:02min/pace
- Friday: 3miles @ 8:10min/pace
- Saturday: Rest
Weekly Total: 18.78 miles
Miles This Year: 1,580 miles
Sunday, November 29, 2015
The road to recovery
So I'm still far from 100% but things are little by little improving thankfully.
For one I've managed a run 4miles this week in the morning with little or no discomfort and at an avg pace of around 8:40min/mile so thats a sight better then the 2miles I could manage the week before and experienced pain walking down the stairs the next morning.
I also did a longer run at the weekend by taking part in the Stook 10mile race on Sunday...I didn't race it!
I had paid for the race weeks earlier so I figured I might as well run it anyway, I took it very easy and only experienced some discomfort around the mile 6 mark. The funny thing is that the flying mile at mile 8-9 actually helped stretch out the leg muscles and by the time I finished the race the legs felt pretty good.
After the race again things were also better as I experienced no pain while walking down the stairs that evening or the next morning.
Two days later I was back for a second session at the sports physio for some dry needing, not the most pleasant experience ever having needles stuck into my leg but its certainly bringing results. But lots of bruises as well!
My aim now is to take it very easy until Christmas or whenever things feel better, this week I'm going to start back with a few more morning runs at a slow pace because up until now I've been only doing one or maybe two morning runs in the race if even that.
For one I've managed a run 4miles this week in the morning with little or no discomfort and at an avg pace of around 8:40min/mile so thats a sight better then the 2miles I could manage the week before and experienced pain walking down the stairs the next morning.
I also did a longer run at the weekend by taking part in the Stook 10mile race on Sunday...I didn't race it!
I had paid for the race weeks earlier so I figured I might as well run it anyway, I took it very easy and only experienced some discomfort around the mile 6 mark. The funny thing is that the flying mile at mile 8-9 actually helped stretch out the leg muscles and by the time I finished the race the legs felt pretty good.
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| Another cow bell for the collection |
After the race again things were also better as I experienced no pain while walking down the stairs that evening or the next morning.
Two days later I was back for a second session at the sports physio for some dry needing, not the most pleasant experience ever having needles stuck into my leg but its certainly bringing results. But lots of bruises as well!
My aim now is to take it very easy until Christmas or whenever things feel better, this week I'm going to start back with a few more morning runs at a slow pace because up until now I've been only doing one or maybe two morning runs in the race if even that.
Friday, November 20, 2015
Houston we have a problem!
There's not been many blog updates lately mainly because I've been doing very little running lately.I know my legs took a beating during the Dublin Marathon and with hindsight now it likely would have been the best plan to call it quits and mile 21 and call it a day, but nope! Stubborn me decided it wasn't going to be a DNF and now I'm paying for it now.
The muscles in my left leg are causing me awful issues the last while, worse then back in February of this year and its really impacting my running. At present I'm managing just 2-3miles at a slow pace of between 8.30-9min miles...this is seriously frustrating.
The longest run I've done since Dublin was a trail run of around 12mile..about half of which I had to actually walk due to the poor trail conditions (and it was dark but thats another story!) but even with that I really felt it in my left leg the next day as I was experiencing pain when walking down stairs.
I've been into the local sports injury clinic and had some work done on it during the week and while it hurt like hell at the time its really helped, so hopefully that will get me back on track with a few more sessions and stretching.
Wednesday, November 4, 2015
Dublin Marathon Recovery and looking back
Its been over a week since Dublin and initially it wasn't particularly enjoyable, well ok my legs were stiff but I've experienced far far worse before so its not the end of the world or anything.
The day after the Marathon I took on a 1.5mile recovery run as well as using the foam roller afterwards, recovery runs are never particularly enjoyable the first day or second day after a longer race but in my experience they are somewhat of a necessary evil as they really help loosen up the legs for me and they did help alot towards feeling back to normal.
Wednesday was no running and so was Thursday, by this point my legs were still feeling heavy especially when in bed but I opted to take in a nice slow 4mile ran on Friday morning and took on 8miles on Sunday morning
Looking back, was running Dublin a clever idea when I wasn't 100%?...well no, it was neither big nor clever but I'd have been seriously pissed with myself if I didn't and I would have always wondered so I certainly don't regret it.
Should I have perhaps aimed for a sub 3:30 time instead........in hindsight without a doubt yes, but then hindsight is 20:20 and I didn't know I'd only get to around mile 21 before the rug would be pulled from underneath me and I'd run into such problems.
All in all it was a learning experience, sure I could get away with running a short fast race when not 100%, hell I'd even get away with a longer slower race while not 100% but aiming for a marathon and trying to get a PB at the same time just isn't that do-able. I guess you live and learn in that situation.
Tuesday, October 27, 2015
Dublin Marathon 2015 Race Report (or how NOT to run a goal marathon)
I almost didn't run the Dublin Marathon this year as I could feel the unset of what kind of started to feel like a chest infection during the week but it never seemed to fully develop, but to be on the safe side I went into recovery mode and took anything I could that I thought might help and rested as much as I could.
Luckily prior to Monday I had three whole days off so outside of going to the RDS on Saturday to collect my number I didn't have anything else planned and was able to rest to allow myself to recover!
As of Sunday night my breathing and lung function "seemed" to be fine and I have no unusual aches or pains so it appears I might have stop the unset of something worse, but without a doubt I've been run down the past 7-10 days.
But I decided I'd still give the marathon a shot (this may not have been the best plan) and so I drove up on Monday morning, before the start I met up with one or two of the pacers including Don the race director of the Vartry races in Wicklow and also Paul who was pacing 3:20. Unlike previous years my plan was to stick with the 3:20 pacers (there were 3 in total) and not to get over confident and go off in front of them.
From the start the 3:20 pacer group broke into two parts with one pacer running about 50metres - 100metres ahead of the two others, this certainly helped to spread out the crowd a bit more and although initially the head pacer was running slightly faster miles to create this gap spreading out the group was certainly a good idea.
Despite the weather still being breezy surprisingly the Phoenix park was very calm as we ran up Chesterfield Avenue with only the odd bit breeze pushing across, the conditions otherwise were perfect as it was relatively cool, little or no wind and no rain....certainly a change from last years warmer conditions.
Conditions after that varied with a strong'ish breeze now and then, I learned from previous races and I wasn't out in front anymore, instead i stuck myself behind somebody to try and conserve my energy by letting them do the work.
By the time we hit the half way point I was however starting to feel tired so I took on another gel and that gave me a small boost, but by the time I hit mile 18 I think it might have been the first time Paul mentioned to me to keep the arms moving.
Things didn't vastly improve after that during the ascent of a small hill at mile 20/21 I again started to run into difficulties and although once again Paul did his best to encourage me to get up the hills I just felt like I had a total lack of energy and then the problems really started to start! My left IT band started to cramp really badly!
Due to the cramping I ended up stopping and walking, I tried to stretch it out and it helped a little and I started running again as I the 3:20 pacers were maybe 200metres ahead still so I kept up for a further 500metres but then my right leg started to cramp along with my left calf muscle! At this stage I knew I was in trouble as I never normally experience cramping this bad.
I walked for abit and tried to stretch things out and while I was able to run a short distance again things would start to cramp up and then I also started to also experience a very painful stitch on my right side.
At this stage I figured my issues where down to either A. I still was sick or B. I still hadn't fully recovered from being sick and either options were likely affecting my breathing which was likely causing a decrease in oxygen intake causing the cramping and stitch, not a great situation overall.
The rest of the miles were made up of walking very slowly and running short distances, although I did manage to run the last mile nonstop to finish in 3hours 51min 6sec. (Garmin of the run)
Overall a frustrating experience given I was bang on target until mile 20, in reality I likely shouldn't have run the Dublin Marathon or instead perhaps chosen a slower time like aiming for 3:30, but then who knows I might have experience the same issues running for that time also.
But then as anyone that reads this blog knows I'm awful stubborn when it comes to stuff, while I can push myself through hours of running or walking with painful blisters. Unfortunately in this case I couldn't push past the muscle cramping to keep any sort of reasonable pace....what I wouldn't have given for some blisters instead!
The outcome could have been worse of course so I'll take what good i can from the race including that I am very confident I can get that sub 3:20 time...provided I'm not trying to get it when sick or still recovering from being sick.
At this stage I still want to get the sub 3:20 time so I might pick a marathon in the next few months that I'll race in order to try hit that time, I don't want to wait until Dublin near year which is historically the only marathon I actually try and race.
Miles This Year: 1,492 miles
Luckily prior to Monday I had three whole days off so outside of going to the RDS on Saturday to collect my number I didn't have anything else planned and was able to rest to allow myself to recover!
As of Sunday night my breathing and lung function "seemed" to be fine and I have no unusual aches or pains so it appears I might have stop the unset of something worse, but without a doubt I've been run down the past 7-10 days.
But I decided I'd still give the marathon a shot (this may not have been the best plan) and so I drove up on Monday morning, before the start I met up with one or two of the pacers including Don the race director of the Vartry races in Wicklow and also Paul who was pacing 3:20. Unlike previous years my plan was to stick with the 3:20 pacers (there were 3 in total) and not to get over confident and go off in front of them.
From the start the 3:20 pacer group broke into two parts with one pacer running about 50metres - 100metres ahead of the two others, this certainly helped to spread out the crowd a bit more and although initially the head pacer was running slightly faster miles to create this gap spreading out the group was certainly a good idea.
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| Marathon Splits (click for larger version) |
Despite the weather still being breezy surprisingly the Phoenix park was very calm as we ran up Chesterfield Avenue with only the odd bit breeze pushing across, the conditions otherwise were perfect as it was relatively cool, little or no wind and no rain....certainly a change from last years warmer conditions.
Conditions after that varied with a strong'ish breeze now and then, I learned from previous races and I wasn't out in front anymore, instead i stuck myself behind somebody to try and conserve my energy by letting them do the work.
By the time we hit the half way point I was however starting to feel tired so I took on another gel and that gave me a small boost, but by the time I hit mile 18 I think it might have been the first time Paul mentioned to me to keep the arms moving.
Things didn't vastly improve after that during the ascent of a small hill at mile 20/21 I again started to run into difficulties and although once again Paul did his best to encourage me to get up the hills I just felt like I had a total lack of energy and then the problems really started to start! My left IT band started to cramp really badly!
Due to the cramping I ended up stopping and walking, I tried to stretch it out and it helped a little and I started running again as I the 3:20 pacers were maybe 200metres ahead still so I kept up for a further 500metres but then my right leg started to cramp along with my left calf muscle! At this stage I knew I was in trouble as I never normally experience cramping this bad.
I walked for abit and tried to stretch things out and while I was able to run a short distance again things would start to cramp up and then I also started to also experience a very painful stitch on my right side.
At this stage I figured my issues where down to either A. I still was sick or B. I still hadn't fully recovered from being sick and either options were likely affecting my breathing which was likely causing a decrease in oxygen intake causing the cramping and stitch, not a great situation overall.
The rest of the miles were made up of walking very slowly and running short distances, although I did manage to run the last mile nonstop to finish in 3hours 51min 6sec. (Garmin of the run)
Overall a frustrating experience given I was bang on target until mile 20, in reality I likely shouldn't have run the Dublin Marathon or instead perhaps chosen a slower time like aiming for 3:30, but then who knows I might have experience the same issues running for that time also.
But then as anyone that reads this blog knows I'm awful stubborn when it comes to stuff, while I can push myself through hours of running or walking with painful blisters. Unfortunately in this case I couldn't push past the muscle cramping to keep any sort of reasonable pace....what I wouldn't have given for some blisters instead!
The outcome could have been worse of course so I'll take what good i can from the race including that I am very confident I can get that sub 3:20 time...provided I'm not trying to get it when sick or still recovering from being sick.
At this stage I still want to get the sub 3:20 time so I might pick a marathon in the next few months that I'll race in order to try hit that time, I don't want to wait until Dublin near year which is historically the only marathon I actually try and race.
Miles This Year: 1,492 miles
Saturday, October 17, 2015
STOP! Taper time!
So I'm officially tapering for the Dublin Marathon on the 26th October!
Training hasn't been very consistent since after
the JJ Reddy Half-Marathon but I'm not overly worried as I don't think
I've lost much fitness overall, so with that I'm putting my money on the
counter and finally committing to a sub 3:20
marathon time.
For the last while I've been debating between
aiming for 3.15 or 3.20 but after noticing Dublin doesn't actually have
any 3.15 pacers I'm going to play it safe and aim for 3.20 and the
7:26min/avg pace required. I'm reasonably confident
I can pull this off and hold the pace together on the day.
The runs so far have taken part in the Co Kilkenny area so far but here's coping it goes from strength to strength as its seriously good fun.
For anyone interested in coming along and you're curious about the types of routes, you can see Garmin profiles for the three trail runs so far below:
- Jenkinstown Wood
- Castlemorris Wood
- Knockdrinna Wood
Tuesday, October 13, 2015
Noticing pace improvements,
I said previously I was planning on intervals and that's exactly what I've been doing!...well on and off when I remember.
I have a frustrating relationship doing intervals, they are so much harder to do when your on your own as it can be hard to push yourself but 95% of my training is on my own but about 7-10 days after doing a couple of hard sessions I have always found some improvement in my pace.
So I really don't want to do them, but I know they are good for my overall performance and they certainly pay off as seen from the recent 1:29:33 half marathon time.
In addition, I've found that shorter runs like my usual 5mile morning or evening run where it would have been a massive push to do just under 7min miles is now down into 6:50min/mile - 6:40min/mile avg pace for the overall run. Its a push to do this but its alot faster then the same effort even before the summer.
Its times like this I wish there was a local running club so I wouldn't have to drive 10miles to do speed sessions etc with other runners (even that can be awkward to get to). On that note, if there's anyone local reading this that wants to head out for few runs feel free to drop me a message.
Miles This Year: 1,444 miles
I have a frustrating relationship doing intervals, they are so much harder to do when your on your own as it can be hard to push yourself but 95% of my training is on my own but about 7-10 days after doing a couple of hard sessions I have always found some improvement in my pace.
So I really don't want to do them, but I know they are good for my overall performance and they certainly pay off as seen from the recent 1:29:33 half marathon time.
In addition, I've found that shorter runs like my usual 5mile morning or evening run where it would have been a massive push to do just under 7min miles is now down into 6:50min/mile - 6:40min/mile avg pace for the overall run. Its a push to do this but its alot faster then the same effort even before the summer.
Its times like this I wish there was a local running club so I wouldn't have to drive 10miles to do speed sessions etc with other runners (even that can be awkward to get to). On that note, if there's anyone local reading this that wants to head out for few runs feel free to drop me a message.
Miles This Year: 1,444 miles
Wednesday, September 30, 2015
Some pacing at the 24hr Edenderry Challenge
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| Paul & JP during the 24hr Challenge |
long slow run in Kilkenny City at the weekend I instead opted to pace JP in a 24hour event he was running in Co Offaly.
Unlike many 24hr events which tend to be track based this one was on a 5mile loop which mentally at least has to make it easier for people taking part. The aim of these events is simple, run as many miles as you can in the 24hr period.
So on Saturday evening I drove up to Co Offaly to meet JP & Paul who at the time I met them had already been running for around 4hours as the event started at 3pm.I arrived shortly after 7pm and eventually caught JP and Paul on the next loop nearer to 8pm. My plan was to give them a bit of company and distraction while they put in the miles.
The conditions were very good, cool, but not too cool. No rain and although mist was starting to settle in around the time I left it wasn't too heavy.
As well as JP and Paul running, they also had a crew supporting them. Nicola and Ray had taken on the very important role of crewing for the two lads for the entire 24hr period. Between making sure they were eating/drinking and keeping warm enough the two of them also cycled and ran the odd loop with the two lads throughout the 24hr period.
I took in 4 loops with JP and Paul during which we chatted about this and that and also played 80's music on speaker which was a good distraction and a little odd to hear Billy Joel We Didn't Start the Fire while running a dark country road at around 11pm at night.
The conditions were very good, cool, but not too cool. No rain and although mist was starting to settle in around the time I left it wasn't too heavy.
As well as JP and Paul running, they also had a crew supporting them. Nicola and Ray had taken on the very important role of crewing for the two lads for the entire 24hr period. Between making sure they were eating/drinking and keeping warm enough the two of them also cycled and ran the odd loop with the two lads throughout the 24hr period.
I took in 4 loops with JP and Paul during which we chatted about this and that and also played 80's music on speaker which was a good distraction and a little odd to hear Billy Joel We Didn't Start the Fire while running a dark country road at around 11pm at night.
I left the guys off to continue running when they were at around 45miles at about 2am and I finally got home at around 3.30am, keeping an eye on Facebook the next day I saw that Paul had dropped out at 75miles to be on the safe side after an injury from doing the UTMB a few weeks back. To be honest I was surprised Paul was even running the 24hr event as he had run the UTMB so near to it.
At 3pm on Sunday evening I was delighted to hear that JP had finally hit 100miles with 30minutes to spare and was also 2nd male to finish. After his performance on the TP 100 course back in May I had no doubt JP would hit 100miles during this event and I'm thrilled for him.
At 3pm on Sunday evening I was delighted to hear that JP had finally hit 100miles with 30minutes to spare and was also 2nd male to finish. After his performance on the TP 100 course back in May I had no doubt JP would hit 100miles during this event and I'm thrilled for him.
This was the second year the 24hr event was being operated in Edenderry by the Edenderry Tri Club, although I was only around for 5-6hours in total it seemed like a very well organized event with plenty of space for crew and use of facilities at the school where the start/finish 5mile loop was situated.
I must say that when JP mentioned he was taking part in the event I was seriously tempted to take part myself as I even had a few days off work at the time and I'm really curious can I get a sub24hour 100mile on 100% road when compared to the 75% trail/25% road situation for Thames Path 100.
Unfortunately as I've already signed up for the Dublin Marathon on the 26th October and I've been training towards it and aiming to set a new personal best I didn't want to derail this goal by running a 24hr event as I wouldn't be properly recovered in time for Dublin in a few weeks.
Although I already have plans to run the Vartry 100mile in April 2016 and the Connemara 100 in August 2016 I must say I'd be tempted to do this event next year as the 5mile loop makes the logistics very manageable, I guess I'll have to see how the year pans out.
The Edenderry 24hr Challenge wasn't the only event I knew people at and there was a number of people traveling over from Ireland to take part in the Spartathlon in Greece which started on Friday morning and covered 153miles.
After seeing the race profile and weather conditions its seriously impressive to see people even take on this event, never mind finish it. Congrats to all that took part.
Miles This Year: 1,394 miles
After seeing the race profile and weather conditions its seriously impressive to see people even take on this event, never mind finish it. Congrats to all that took part.
Miles This Year: 1,394 miles
Monday, September 21, 2015
JJ Reddy Danesfort Half-Marathon Race Report
Massive lack of updates lately due to my iMac breaking so I have no way of uploading any of my
runs to Garmin to keep track of things....but I'm still training away and yesterday I ran a half marathon.
This was the first half-marathon being run as part of the annual JJ Reddy 10km/5km race and because it was likely not as hilly as Tullaroan's Half-Marathon course which was on the Saturday I opted for it instead.
The course took in parts of the previous 10km course which I've run in 2012 & 2014 so I had a very good idea about what was involved but it also had an extended loop on the Kells Road to make up the miles (I'll upload a Garmin profile when I get my iMac back).
From previously running the 10km course I knew that it was not going to be easy and it was likely going to be harder then even the Waterford Half-Marathon course which I've had a habit of getting personal bests at anytime I've run it.
Still, with all the above in mind I decided I was going to race this properly and I was finally going to the the sub 1:30 time I've been wanting for sometime now. I needed this as a good test before Dublin at the end of October.
As always during these races you start to notice some familiar faces and I was in good company within the 1:30 pace group starting at the start line, initially the group kept together on the first larger loop but by mile 4 it was starting to split and I think perhaps for a little while I got carried away and kept up with one of the lads from the group and then even raced ahead of him for a few miles.
In hindsight this perhaps wasn't the best plan but I felt good so I went with it and wasn't until the second loop at around mile 8-9 that I started to pay for it because I was heading into some long drags which I knew where going to take abit out of me....and they didn't fail on this.
By the time I hit mile 10 I could hear what was left of the 1:30 pace group behind me and then by mile 11.5 John the 1:30 pacer was beside me. At this stage I was really struggling on the hills and I'd likely have slowed only for John shouted words of encouragement to keep going especially before the turn back onto the last bit of the course towards Dunesfort.
Still I wasn't prepared to finish slow and in the last mile I kept the pace as best I could and even in the last 20metres I gave it one last push and just passed another runner just before the timing matt.
Official Finish time: 1hour 29min 33sec
(Results can be found here)
Really happy with the result as its well below the 1:29:57 time I was aiming for, also given the course was hilly it makes me think that on a flatter course I might even drop below 1:29. 134 in all ran the half marathon course and I finished 17th so I certainly can't complain to be in the top 20, that's a nice improvement over my first half marathon time set in 2010 of 1:56:48.
The race was very well organized with plenty of food at the finish even though most of the 10km race had finished there was enough for the half-marathoners which is always a good sign. Plenty of water during the race (bottles not cups for anyone curious). I'll certainly try and make it back next year...especially as its just down the road from me.
Its really been a boost for Dublin and its making me seriously consider aiming for 3:15 time. Finally the speed work I've been doing since May has paid off and I appear to have both a good endurance base and speed base built.
I have the endurance for the distance (thats not the problem!)...but can I keep the 7:26min/mile avg pace needed for all of the 26.2mile course? That is the question....
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| Courtesy: JJ Reddy Run Facebook Page |
This was the first half-marathon being run as part of the annual JJ Reddy 10km/5km race and because it was likely not as hilly as Tullaroan's Half-Marathon course which was on the Saturday I opted for it instead.
The course took in parts of the previous 10km course which I've run in 2012 & 2014 so I had a very good idea about what was involved but it also had an extended loop on the Kells Road to make up the miles (I'll upload a Garmin profile when I get my iMac back).
From previously running the 10km course I knew that it was not going to be easy and it was likely going to be harder then even the Waterford Half-Marathon course which I've had a habit of getting personal bests at anytime I've run it.
Still, with all the above in mind I decided I was going to race this properly and I was finally going to the the sub 1:30 time I've been wanting for sometime now. I needed this as a good test before Dublin at the end of October.
As always during these races you start to notice some familiar faces and I was in good company within the 1:30 pace group starting at the start line, initially the group kept together on the first larger loop but by mile 4 it was starting to split and I think perhaps for a little while I got carried away and kept up with one of the lads from the group and then even raced ahead of him for a few miles.
In hindsight this perhaps wasn't the best plan but I felt good so I went with it and wasn't until the second loop at around mile 8-9 that I started to pay for it because I was heading into some long drags which I knew where going to take abit out of me....and they didn't fail on this.
By the time I hit mile 10 I could hear what was left of the 1:30 pace group behind me and then by mile 11.5 John the 1:30 pacer was beside me. At this stage I was really struggling on the hills and I'd likely have slowed only for John shouted words of encouragement to keep going especially before the turn back onto the last bit of the course towards Dunesfort.
Still I wasn't prepared to finish slow and in the last mile I kept the pace as best I could and even in the last 20metres I gave it one last push and just passed another runner just before the timing matt.
Official Finish time: 1hour 29min 33sec
(Results can be found here)
Really happy with the result as its well below the 1:29:57 time I was aiming for, also given the course was hilly it makes me think that on a flatter course I might even drop below 1:29. 134 in all ran the half marathon course and I finished 17th so I certainly can't complain to be in the top 20, that's a nice improvement over my first half marathon time set in 2010 of 1:56:48.
The race was very well organized with plenty of food at the finish even though most of the 10km race had finished there was enough for the half-marathoners which is always a good sign. Plenty of water during the race (bottles not cups for anyone curious). I'll certainly try and make it back next year...especially as its just down the road from me.
Its really been a boost for Dublin and its making me seriously consider aiming for 3:15 time. Finally the speed work I've been doing since May has paid off and I appear to have both a good endurance base and speed base built.
I have the endurance for the distance (thats not the problem!)...but can I keep the 7:26min/mile avg pace needed for all of the 26.2mile course? That is the question....
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