This week was to have been a recovery week but there wasn't too much time for recovering or resting as you will see below:
Monday 1st July - Week 6 Day 1
Plan: Rest
Actual: Rest
Had a golf match this evening with Padraig and despite playing ok we got our ass kicked by a couple of guys from Edmondstown one of whom was off scratch and had 7 birdies to beat us on the 16th hole. Not much you can do about that and sadly brought our involvement in the McGinley trophy to an end. This is an inter club competition for winners of the fourball matchplay in a club from the previous year.
Tuesday 2nd July - Week 6 Day 2
Plan: 13K w/10x100m strides
Actual: Club session
Not having run since Friday I was still tired when we turned up for this. Although Golf is not as taxing you are using different muscles so legs were definitely tired as a result. After the warm up I wasn't really looking forward to exerting myself but just got on with it. Session was 2 sets of (800,800,400) w/75 second recovery between each and a 5 minute break between both sets.
Splits were (3:09, 3:08, 1:24, 3:06, 3:07, 1:25)
These were to be run at 3K pace and despite legs feeling tired before, during and after these I seemed to be able to hold a pretty decent effort for me anyway so was happy with that. Gary told me though that I was dropping a few seconds on the 2nd lap of the 800's and should be trying to run them even paced for both laps so will bear that in mind for the future.
Followed up with a slow cool down to bring it up to 11K in total.
Wednesday 3rd July - Week 6 Day 3
Plan: 8K Recovery
Actual: 7.45K
Avg Pace: 5:58
Avg HR: 125
Not much to report from this. Did a couple of slow loops of the ring road in Balbriggan out of reach of the seagulls. Was around 9:45pm starting out but still very warm and humid.
Thursday 4th July - Week 6 Day 4
Plan: 13K General Aerobic
Actual: Rest
Despite not really playing golf anymore as we won the fourball matchplay last year we got automatic entry this year. Padraig has hurt his back the day before so wasn't expecting too much. He played ok though with the sore back and I played pretty well for me and this time we managed to win on the 16th hole to get into the semi-finals. One of out opponents thought I was playing well for my handicap and would do well in the Captain's prize. I questioned his sanity.
Friday 5th July - Week 6 Day 5
Plan: Rest
Actual: 12.03K
Avg Pace: 5:15
Avg HR: 143
Had a bit of free time this evening so headed over to see the new Amphibian King store in Ashtown owned by Kevin English that had only opened up in the past week. I was overdue a new pair of training shoes anyway was killing a couple of birds with one stone. As it was such a lovely evening as well I got changed into my gear to head into the Phoenix park for a run afterwards. Got the usual excellent service from Kevin who checked my gait again in about 5/6 different brands/type of runner. Ended up going with the Saucony Guide as a general training shoe and also picked up a pair of last years Saucony Fastwitch for sessions/races.
Everything was going grand then until Kevin suggested joining me for the run which filled me with fear :-( We headed over to the park from the shop which is less than a K away and ran a lovely route around the trails/grass areas at around my Marathon pace for most of it. Felt fine for most of it but it did get hot towards the end. Thanks again to Kevin for the company and hopefully I didn't hold him back too much.
Saturday 6th July - Week 6 Day 6
Plan: 19K
Actual: 25.32K
Avg Pace: 5:35
Avg HR: 133
Met up with Karen Clarke who I have known since training for my first marathon and is also doing Berlin this year. First time in a long time I had done a long run in the Phoenix Park. Earlier on in the week I had planned on doing 16K of this at Marathon pace but the previous nights efforts had put paid to that idea. Headed out of the park towards the war memorial gardens and up to Chapelizod before getting back to our cars for a drink after around 11K. Even though we were out early it was still very warm and I was glad at not having to increase the effort. We then headed around the trails and out the Castleknock gate eventually coming back in and doing a loop around Farmleigh before making our way back to the cars via the S bends side of the park.
Struggled a bit for the last 3K or so not so much with pace or anything but what I thought was a pain in my back. Looking back I think it was that I had let myself get too dehydrated with the heat and taking on very little fluids. Great to get the run out of the way though before playing the Captain's prize in the afternoon (I have written about that at the end in case anyone has any interest in it).
Sunday 7th July - Week 6 Day 7
Plan: 6K Recovery
Actual: 6K
Avg Pace: 6:18
Avg HR: 123
Slow recovery run around the playing fields of Gormanston. Legs very tired after the previous day and motivation was low but was a good chance to break in the Saucony Guide which felt fine.
So in summary despite everything going on this week I clocked up around 62K, slightly more than was planned but the long run was from the previous week to make up for missing that and not the shorter one as part of this week. This week is a big step up to 80K so need to be careful and also try to fit everything in around Triona & Eugene's wedding on Friday. It will be a challenge but at least there is no Golf this week ;-)
Captain's Prize 2013
So despite playing very little golf this year apart from a few matches I had been scoring ok but didn't really have any consistency to my game to even consider shooting a good score in a strokes competition off the medal tee's so with tired legs I set off with the intention just to enjoy the day and the weather.
For the first 3 holes I was in a bit of trouble on each hole but managed to make 2 pars and a bogey. Played the 4th hole well with a difficult pin which I didn't try to get close to. The 5th hole is the index 1 and is difficult at the best of times. My drive finished on the edge of more tree's but I was luck to have a swing and made a birdie to get me back to level par. This was a very good start as these holes ruin many a scorecard. At this stage I knew I had a chance of doing something but at the same time I was going to have to start playing better probably as well. I played a bad putt from the fringe on the 6th and had to chip out of more trees on the 8th which left me on 2 over par. We had been told when playing the 7th that there was a 67 in apparently which I didn't really want to know but at least I knew where I stood.
The 9th is a par 5 over water which had the wind behind today. After a good drive I took it on in 2 but ran over the back of the green nearly out of bounds. I got up and down for a birdie and missed a good birdie chance on the 10th. The 11th is a tricky driving hole and I got away with a far from pure strike. A good iron shot led to another birdie after tricky putt. Another good putt followed on 12 to save par after being through the green in 2.
So level par with 6 holes to play you could not ask to be in a better position. I knew of the challenges ahead though and was still taking it one shot at a time and that if I avoided any disasters I would be well placed. The par 3 13th hole had a real sucker pin but I only had eyes for the centre of the green. I made horrible contact here and ended up in the water short right of the green. The angle from here to the flag was tough and after dropping out my pitch finished around 15ft away with the putt shaving the hole. Despite this I still remained calm but ran into more tree trouble on the 14th hole not once but twice and again shaved the hole for a bogey. So there is was 4 shots gone just like that.
Walking back to the 15th tee I suppose at that point it helped knowing what the score to match or beat was. It meant I needed to be -1 under to match the score or -2 under to beat it for the last 4 holes and I guess the chances were quite slim with what had gone on before. Again I hit a patchy enough drive on 15 and was left with 180 yards to the flag from the rough. I hit a 4 iron and in the context it was probably my best shot of the day as it came to rest pin high around 25/30 feet away. It was probably the shot that stopped the rot. I had been putting well all day and again hit a good putt that seemed to be tracking and bang it disappeared into the hole. The 16th was another sucker pin off the back tee and I hit 4 iron again very solid past the flag and safely 2 putted for par. I hit a good tee shot up 17 but was probably a club short with my second and finished inside the bunker on the right on the fringe. This left a difficult chip which I managed to get up to around 4 feet and thankfully hole the putt.
On the long walk to the 18th I had a decision to make. This is a tight driving hole and I had not been hitting the ball well off the tee apart from a couple of holes. I knew though to post 66 I probably needed to be able to reach the green in 2. In the end I suppose I knew I had a chance to possibly win the Captain's prize and I had to try and take it myself and not rely on a count back. I composed myself on the tee and probably hit my best drive of the day to the perfect position near the top of the hill. I was just trying to as the Pro's say stay in the moment and not get ahead of myself. I think I had around 235 yards to the flag. I elected to take my rescue club which meant I should be able to reach the green but more importantly I know I couldn't get into trouble over the back of the green. Unfortunately the shot leaked a bit to the right and seemed to bounce right when it landed. When I got up to where it finished al was not well. It was just maybe 6 inches past the last tree but I had a restricted backswing with branches in the way. I was just about pin high but there was a certain amount of hit and hope involved. I was just hoping to scuttle it onto the green which thankfully I did. It actually couldn't have worked out much better finishing around 12ft from the flag. So here we were with a birdie putt on the 18th to finish with a 66. No doubting I was now quite nervous and the putt slid past on the left finishing around 2ft away. I got that out of the way quite quickly without any problems and checked and double checked the card before returning a 75 gross/67 nett.
I had no idea if it would beat the earlier 67 on countback or even if a better score had come in. With the conditions I would have been surprised if a better score had come it to be honest and I knew I had got a few breaks early in the round that helped me. I had an inkling that I had the best score but wasn't sure heading up for the presentation with Emma shortly afterwards. Others seemed sure but I wasn't counting any chickens. Eventually the formalities started and when Liam Kidd was called out as runner up with nett 67 I knew I had won. I was called up to collect my prize of the Captain Paul Cox who also is a friend of mine.
The celebrations started then with some good friends which was great. I tried to take it all in as much as I could and savour the moment. It's not every day you have days like this. When they are completly unexpected it makes them all the sweeter.
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