Jingle all the way

Thursday 5th December

S&C session and 4.61 miles easy run.

Did my strength and conditioning session a day earlier with the race on Saturday and then headed down to Gormanston later on for a few easy miles to keep the legs ticking over. Having been down there 3 of the last 4 weeks there seems to have been a big drop off in numbers for these runs compared to what I can remember. 

Saturday 7th December

Jingle Bells 5K

The club had their Xmas night on Fri night which I debated whether to go to or not with the race the next morning but I did and as usual had a great night. I sipped a few pints along with pints of water and made my exit just before midnight when the dancing was starting to kick-off.

Got to the park in plenty of time and parked near the Castleknock end to give me a nice warm up run to the start and cool down after the race. Met Karen Clarke on the way to the start who was fresh from her Xmas party as well. Did another bit of a warm up with her and Ray and a few strides and took our places at the start.

Wasn't sure how I was feeling to be honest but the plan was to get the pace right for the first mile and not go off too fast. We headed up acres road and turned past the papal cross park towards Chesterfield avenue. We were now running into the wind and slightly uphill as I started to work my way past people and bridge the gaps from group to group. Mile 1 past in 6:53.

Kept working well steadily passing people to the top of Chesterfield avenue and turned the corner onto Ordnance survey which offered a bit more shelter but was more or less into the wind. Noticed the 3K marker and I think the average pace here was around 6:50. Time to start upping it if I could with 2K to go. Mile 2 completed in 6:44.

As we turned onto Upper Glen Road I knew there was a good downhill section towards the end of this so despite hurting I upped the effort as much as I could and worked my way round the corners again picking of people trying to pass as many as I could without really worrying about pace. Hit the downhill section and there was a bit of nip and tuck with a guy from Dunleer who I overtook but then he came past me again before  overtook him again. Mile 3 completed in 6:10.

Took the slight turn towards the finish and almost went over into a pothole losing a bit of momentum as a result. Could see the finish now about 100 metres away but it was like the scene where you felt like you were never going to reach it. Managed to hold off those around me with not quite a sprint finish but delighted to cross the line in 20:31. Took a couple of minutes to feel normal again but was thrilled with taking 41 seconds off my PB.

A really well run race by Donore Harriers on the fastest route you could get in the Park. Felt like I ran a good race for me and got the pacing/effort right with the average overall pace being 6:35 per mile.

Finished off with a cool down back to the car carrying my Jingle Bells mug.

Around 7 miles in total for the day.

Sunday 8th December

8.15 miles Easy

Had been out for Emma's birthday on Saturday night so was not feeling too energetic for anything on Sunday. Also had the kid's Xmas party for work on this morning which Charlie really enjoyed but like most 2 year olds he wasn't so sure about Santa.

With the race yesterday I wasn't worried about pace here so just kept the effort easy as I worked my way around Balbriggan. Lovely evening for a run and it helped clear the head ;-)

Summary: Got the mileage back up to an almost respectable level this week along with 3 S&C sessions. Back to healthier eating this week and in the run up to Xmas in general. Can't let this training go to waste although looking forward to a stag night this coming Saturday in town.