Did a good session on Tue 18th (7x4 mins) and was looking forward to 3 days off work and getting training done mostly before the weekend as there was some real life stuff planned and taking over most of the weekend.
Got up Wednesday morning and changed ready to go for a run and Boom got hit by a spasm in the back. Went ahead and met Susan and did the run but was pretty tight after it. Had hoped to do my Tempo run the next day but as I attempted the warm up I knew it wasn't going to happen and I limped around 5.5 miles at around 9:50 pace.
I had hoped it would clear up and gave it a couple of days but eventually got stretched out on Monday which seemed to help. Went along and got a good 30 min Tempo in on Tuesday night and had the quandary with the race the weekend that I couldn't start really ramping up the miles again before the race so just did a couple of days easy running.
With all the goings on I hadn't really thought too much about the 1/2 marathon or a target time and even had to check what my PB was the day before. Maybe that's the best way to be. Travelled over with Susan and as we got closer to Navan we could see the sky turning grey followed by the inevitable rain. Saw the 10K runners pass us as we headed towards the car park and even though it was early in their race there didn't seem to be much enjoyment on their faces :-(
Met Rosemary & Eamonn as we left the car park and also one of our elites Neil Callaghan for the first time. He was hoping to run around 75 mins but obviously had a great race to finish 3rd in 72:40. Got changed and after meeting Niall Campbell decided to ditch the base layer and just go with the singlet (was glad I did). After a 1.5 mile warm up with Gareth we were at the start line and I moved forward trying to find Rosemary & Susan but alas I couldn't locate them anywhere. I presumed I would see them somewhere on route but for now I was on my own. Race started fairly promptly which was just as well as the rain was pretty heavy waiting around.
Miles 1-4 (7:24, 7:30, 7:15, 7:16)
My plan for the first few miles was around 7:30 pace and see how that felt. Took it steady from the start and had settled well after the first mile was out of the way. The first couple of miles was different to last year so was content to use it to get into the race. After we came back onto the course we were used to the I spotted the others in the distance and hoped to make up ground to them in the next few miles without doing anything mad. Was a bit surprised when the 3rd mile registered as 7:15 as it didn't feel like I had picked up pace too much despite having overtaken a few. Keeping the same effort I was gradually making up ground on the others and joined then after around 4 miles.
Miles 5-8 (7:19, 7:25, 7:27, 7:22)
I tucked in with the others and everyone was in good spirits as we registered another quickish mile but I knew the mail hill on the course and gradual rise towards the end of the first lap lay in wait. We coaxed each other up the hill saying it would be over in a minute and it was. I let the legs come back to themselves a bit and set about keeping the effort consistent then. Passed the clubhouse at around 7 miles and was great to see so many familiar faces from the club that had hung around after the 10K. This definitely put a pep in the step setting out on another loop. Legs were hurting at this stage and tried to take a bit of water on but the stomach was rejecting it so just did without. We were now running into the wind mainly which seemed to have picked up and although the effort had increased a bit the pace was only holding steady at best.
Miles 9-13.1 (7:28, 7:10, 7:13, 7:18, 7:20, 6:31*)
Another mile into the wind brought us to the main road and a change of direction. Shortly after the 9 mile mark Susan told me I was looking strong and told me to head on so I decided to try and pick it up over the next couple of miles if I could. I set about just trying to pass as many as I could and working from group to group. This seemed to help as the next mile registered at 7:10, but there was still 3 miles to go. Knowing the last 1.5 miles was tough enough I was hoping the wheels wouldn't come tumbling off. A 7:13 mile brought me to the flyover and legs were pretty shot at this stage. A slight downhill and up the hill and over the flyover to be greeted with a pretty strong wind wasn't what I was hoping for. It didn't help that I felt out on my feet but knew if I just kept putting one foot in front of the other it would be over soon enough. Pulled up alongside Karen Clarke here and exchanged pleasantries as best we could. I think we helped each other a bit and with around 400 metres to go I spotted another group of maybe 4/5 runners that could be picked off so set about trying to. Got them with about 150 metres to go and amazingly some of the earlier club gang were still there. Swung onto the track and I don't think I was ever as happy to see the finish line. After hanging over the railings and getting sick a little I checked my watch so see 1:36:24 showing. Checking later this was an 88 second PB which I was thrilled with.
13.14 miles in 1:36:24
Avg Pace: 7:20
Caught up with the others as we got changed inside and there seemed to be lots of great PB's and times run by everyone on what wasn't an easy day.
Summary: A really well organised race by Bohermeen in my opinion. A bit of a confidence booster at the end of a difficult month where I didn't hit any of my goals. They were always going to be toughies and probably needed a perfect months training in reality. Sometimes we and definitely me forget that we do this for a bit of fun mainly. At least with the bits of layoffs I have had I got a chance to remind myself of that and how lucky we are to be able to run in the first place.
The next month will hopefully all about building endurance and getting 4 decent long runs in before taper for London. It's all getting a bit too real now and I know from previous experiences there is no comparison between a 1/2 Marathon & Marathon.
I'll be doing what I can to help this transition over the next few weeks, hopefully with no more enforced breaks. For now these legs need a few days easy running to recover from yesterday...
No comments:
Post a Comment