2014 - the year that never was!

So 2014 is nearly over and, as John Walshe reminded me today, it's about time that I updated this blog.  As the chart below indicates this year was a bit of a nonstarter from a running perspective with monthly mileage that would look average on a weekly mileage log. In summary I suffer from being 'ill' in 2014 - Injury, Life & Laziness.

• Injury was in the form of my own persistent calf weakness and old age, my children's broken bones and my wife's broken bones.....
• Life was life - work, family, children, work, friends, socialising, work, children .....
• Laziness from general life fatigue and low motivation - a flaw of my human condition

Suffice it to say that all my running goals were put on hold.  But now was 2014 is drawing to a close a sense of Zen is returning to my world and running is coming back on the agenda.  I even ran my first race in over 18months (first solo race in over 2 years) earlier today and there don't appear to be any ill effects.

 

It's great to see that other bloggers/friends have not suffered from the same ills and many bloggers, both here and on Dailymile, have achieved/exceeded their targets and excelled at their preferred distances.  Well done.

 

Roll on 2015 and keep the dreaded ills away from me too!!



 

 

 

Belgooly AC 4 mile - St Stephen's Day 2014

 

Although I have been aware of this traditional race since I first began running in the early 1980's, today was my first time running this event.  The race is organised by my children's athletic club (Belgooly AC) and being the season of goodwill 50% of the €10 entry fee is donated to a local bowel cancer charity.  This charity has particular relevance to me as sadly this was the disease that my father died from 9 years ago. 

 

There was also another first today in that I ran this race as a registered member of Belgooly AC. All my running life I have been associated with either Midleton AC or East Cork AC but since my regular contact these days (through my children and where I help out as a part-time coach) is with Belgooly AC I thought that it was only right that changed allegiances and registered with Belgooly.  Belgooly doesn't have a strong adult membership but maybe we can change this over the coming years.

 

As well as running today my wife and I also helped the club with the organisation of the race by digitising the entries - so it was a busy afternoon in front of a computer!!

 

The race itself went reasonably well despite my best efforts and overindulgences yesterday (Christmas Day). I wasn't ideally prepared for a quick run with all my runs over the past year or so being 7:30min/mile or slower.  So I was not hopeful of getting too close to my most recent (5 years ago!) 4 mile PB of 23minutes. However I was hopeful, but not certain, of being able to sustain a sub 7:30 pace and break 30mins for the 4 miles.  At best I thought that I could run sub-28 minutes.

 

Luckily the rain cleared and running conditions were ideal.  Over 650 runners took part, slightly down on last year, but still large enough to ensure that the club can make a donation of over €3000 to charity.

 

I positioned myself mid field and ran at a reasonably steady/even pace.  I was a bit surprised by the hilly nature of the course and from the end of the first mile I could feel the lactic burn, heavy breathing and an overwhelming urge to stop or at least slow down!  I also ran in racing flats (Asics DS racers) for the first time since 2012 and the lack of cushioning combined with my added weight/fat had a noticeable 'impact' in my legs.  I kept going...

 

The 2 mile marker came a bit early though - either that or I ran that mile split in 5:34 !! :) but the downhill finish was more than welcome!

 

My official time was 27:00 (slightly quicker than my watch time!) and I finished within the top 100 (15%).  Well down on past performances but well ahead of my target/goal for today.  Onwards and upwards I say....

 

Also, I must say well done to the other Belgooly AC (junior and senior) runners who took part including, Robert, Gavin, Frank, Sarah, Marc, Alex to name but a few who achieved their own goals today. 

 

Happy New Year, roll on 2015 and may all your dreams come through.

 

Near the top of the first hill...   





 

400m to go....



4 mile in Carrignavar

Despite my comment on the last post I decided not to 'test' my knee yesterday in favour of leaving the 'test' to the pre-race warmup. So I did run in the 4 mile race today.

The last time I was in Carrignavar was when I ran schools cross country races i.e. not yesterday!! Carrignavar is a small village just north of Cork City and not too well signposted so I ended up taking the scenic route which ended in me inadvertently driving the race route. In hindsight this may not have been an advantage. The course seemed to be essentially 2.5miles uphill followed by 1.5 mile downhill -ouch!

I went for a 2 mile warmup and my knee felt fine for the first 1.5 miles, but... it started to ache when I ran the 0.5 miles to the start line. Nothing too serious and afterall I made it to the start line so I had to run - didn't I!!

The start was downhill which is never the best from a pacing point of view particularly if you know that a long uphill follows. I tried to take it steady but my instantaneous pace dipped into the low 5:xx over this section. As the route entered the village we took a right hand turn and the uphill began. The pace dropped to more than 6 mins/min on this section. Overall I passed the Mile 1 mark in 5:53mins (169bpm).

A slight downhill allowed the pace to quicken into to 5:4x range but I was struggling to keep pace with those around me and I dropped a couple of places. The next uphill section quickly came around shortly before the 2 mile mark. Mile 2 lasted 6:03mins (177bpm) - a sign of the uphill struggle!!

I ended up in a bit of no-mans-land and at this stage of the race I felt like I was running hard but not racing. Mile 3 was even slower @ 6:16min (182bpm).

Over the latter part of mile 3 I began to slowly close the gap on the runner ahead so as I crossed the mile marker I felt like was beginning to 'race'. With about 1200m to go I caught him and I pushed hard to pass. The finish was steeply downhill so I just left gravity to the work ('cause I couldn't and there was a headwind!!). Mile 4 ended up being the quickest of the race at 5:44min (183bpm).

I stopped my watch at 23:58min (avg 178bpm). My race.....

The results show that I came 24 out of 68 competitors (i.e. top 35%!!) in an official time of 23:59 mins. East Cork AC won the O35 team prize but I was 5th club runner home so I didn't count!! Well done to the guys Frank Hayes (5th), Eric Meade (7th), Denis McCarthy (16th) and David O'Dwyer (18th).

Shortly after the race my knee began to stiffen up. I tried to go for a warm down but within 30sec later I had to call a halt.

Although I was knackered afterwards I now feel that I didn't put myself as hard as I could have today. I don't think my head was right. Interestingly comparing my last 4 mile race where I ran 23:15 I averaged 179bpm and 167, 178, 183 and 188 bpm for each of the miles (generally higher than today). Although I appreciate that there are other variables I wonder is this a sign that I didn't push it today? Maybe my knee issue was in the back of my mind, maybe the cough which is still lingering from the cold last week was a factor, maybe something else... Whatever the reason REST / RECOVERY is now certainly on the cards!! I reckon I'll not run for at least a week or 10 days and hopefully regroup for the summer season targeting a quick autumn half marathon.

Week Total (23-03-09 to 29-03-09) - 3 sessions
12.51 miles - 1:25:45 - 6:51min/mile - 162bpm

Rising Sun 4mile

First of all HAPPY ST PATRICKS DAY to all. As you can imagine Ireland was green today, recession was nowhere in sight (maybe St Patrick has banished it as he did the snakes!!) and the sun was shining.

Since my last post it's been a busy weekend for my family on the athletics front. My niece Patricia was running in the NCAA Championship in Houston, TX with her college UMass Lowell. The event was the Distance Medley Relay (1200m, 400m, 800m, Mile). An unusual event to us Irish as it's not one in which we compete but it seems to be very popular with college teams in the US. Patrica did very well completing her 400m leg in 58secs and the team came 6th overall. Apparently they were in 3rd with 600m to go but couldn't hold that position. Still though 6th in the US Nationals is a great result and Patrica got All American status for the second year in a row - way to go Tricia!!

For me I didn't run on Saturday or Sunday - feeling tired and thought I deserved the weekend off. I did make an attempt to run on Monday at lunchtime but I turned around when I got to my car and worked through lunch instead (a bad habit I know!!). I went to bed early(ish) last night with a sore throat and generally not feeling too well.

So suffice it to say that I was well 'rested' for today's 4mile race in Ballinhassig (just outside of Cork). This race is organised by a local club Rising Sun AC and I really enjoyed the event last year so I was looking forward to today. The sun was shining and the weather warm (11-13degC) - almost Mediterranean!!

After registering I completed a 2 mile warmup with Grellan and Pat - out to the 1 mile marker and back - just to check out the killer hill start!! As an indication of how bad this hill is, last year I found myself close to the leaders (doesn't happen too often) running at close to 7min pace for the first half mile!!


The race started a few minutes late when the started shouted (not too loudly) 'GO' and we were off. Again the start was slow so I settled into the pack about 20-30 runners back. Once we crested the summit at about the 0.5mile mark the race proper started. At this stage I think I was about 20th with a clear view of the lone leader way way in the distance. I passed through Mile 1 in 5:45min. Wow, I thought, I must certainly have picked up the pace in the second half!!
At this stage I group I was running which had thinned to about 6 or 7 others. Mile 2 is largely downhill and my split was 5:34min. Holy S***. I only meant to run at just under 6min pace (my target was sub-24 today)!! I was now in a group of 4 which included a guy named Austin from EAgle AC. Grellan had pointed him out to me before the race as a sub-1:20 half marathon runner and suggested that he may be a good target to gauge my current form.

After mile 2 the downhill was over and the route was now into a head/crosswind. I think that I was still in shock from the 5:34 mile so unsurprisingly the pace slowed to 6:03min for Mile 3 but the whole group slowed so I maintained my position.

Only one mile to go was the overriding thought that crossed my mind at the 3 mile marker!! This running into the wind is tough - especially when your a tall, heavy, broad and awkward guy like me!! But I've recently read Daniel's book and the advice to run faster when your feeling tired crossed my mind so I gave it a try. It worked because I managed to pass one or two in the last mile and by the time I reached the crest of the climb I was comfortably clear of the guys behind. Unfortunately Austin was too far ahead to catch - so maybe I'm not quite in sub-1:20 form yet!! I finished the last mile in 5:52min. Giving a finishing time according to my watch of 23:15min for the 4 miles at 12th place out of 194 competitors (top 6%). Today's time was a PB so the rest obviously worked and the 10 days has been sufficient to recover from Ballycotton. Time to start training again!!


This photo shows me in the background with 100m to go chasing Austin in the foreground...

A 2 mile warmdown with Grellan and Paul afterwards ended the day nicely. Just enough time for a quick change and trip into town to catch some of the parade - it is St Patrick's Day after all!!

So here's how my race today progressed....
Note the steady deceleration in the middle of the race. Probably due to the wind but may be something to work on over the coming months??

Interestingly, with the benefit of Mr Garmin I have a benchmark from last years race (2 weeks after Ballycotton) for comparison...
Last year my mile splits last year were 6:06, 5:57, 6:12, 6:11 giving a total of 24:29mins and that was good enough for 15th position. Note how the pace varied in a similar manner in the 2 races - slow start, quick to 1.5mile or so, slow deceleration except for downhill at the end!!

Also well done to Grellan who posted yet another PB today and smashing the 25min barrier. I'm sure that over the coming months he will view today's time as a 'soft' PB to be taken out of the record books!!

My achilles are sore now and I've strange cramping pain in my left hip so maybe next week will be another recovery week. We'll see.....

Changing plans & Racing

The danger with posting on a blog is that you tend to put down in writing your plans but sometimes plans change!!

Earlier this week I planned that I'd go for an easy run on Wednesday and do my first hills session since 1994 on Thursday. Well that plan changed!! No run on Wednesday and no hills on Thursday (sure after 14 years another few days won't matter!!).

So what happened? Well, on Wednesday work was the excuse and on Thursday I decided to do the hills on Friday and on Friday the plan changed again. I decided to run the local 4-mile BHAA road race today so Friday's session was changed to an easy 5.63miles (48:02) [@ 8:32min/mile, avg 142bpm] at lunchtime with Grellan and Tony. My right calf and left knee were a bit sore during the run on Friday so in hindsight abandoning the hill session was probably a good idea.

No run either on Saturday (unplanned rest as I had meant to do 5 miles easy). But at least this meant that I was fully rested for today's race!!

Waking up this morning I wasn't in the mood to run fast and when I mentioned this to Pamela at breakfast she said 'just jog it so'. There were two problems with this suggestion, firstly I can run slowly anytime without paying an entry fee (even though if it's only €5) and secondly jog in a race - NEVER!!

The race was due to start at 11am so I got there at around 10am, plenty of time to register and warmup. My 3-mile warmup went well and despite noticing a tightness in my right achilles tendon (which was sorted with lots of deep heat) I felt like I might actually run well today. I felt fresh!!

One of the main reasons for me running this race, as well as making up the third member of a team (Grellan, Tony & me), was to benchmark myself against last year. I had run this race last year and finished in 24:31 so that was my goal.

Conditions today were perfect - light breeze, cool and a flat fast course.

Finally, the race started a few minutes late and following a minutes silence for a local supporter of the Cork Business Houses Athletic Association (BHAA) who had recently passed away. Last year there were approximately 280 runners in this race and it was probably the same today. I positioned myself about 10 rows back from the start just to make sure that I wouldn't get caught up in a suicidal opening mile in the full knowledge that the temptation to follow the leaders would have been too much for me!!

So I spotted a local regular racer, Denis Carroll Eagle AC, and I decided to pace myself off him - he's usually a very consistent racer at a similar pace to me and I've only beaten him once (not that he'll know that!!).

24:31 last year so, on the basis that I'm in a bit better shape this year, 6min pace was my target.

Having spent the first mile working my way through the field I passed through Mile 1 in 6:01. Feeling very comfortable and right on target. BTW my Garmin recorded my mile pace as 5:50 and avg heart rate 166bpm. The Garmin seemed to be measuring short.

During the following mile I kept passing runners. Although I was beginning to feel the pace I made a point each time that I reached a runner I actually passed him/her and not just run alongside. This may sound like a race tactic but in actuality it was more to do with the way I was feeling i.e. I wasn't sure how long I could keep the pace going so I needed to put a buffer between me and each runner I passed!!

I reached Mile 2 in 11:59 i.e. a 5:58 split. Not bad, I was on target but I was still only half way!! My Garmin pace was 6:00 and 177bpm. Much closer this time.

Mile 3 was much the same but getting tougher (a good sign I suppose). The field was now a bit more spread out but each time I passed someone there seemed to be another target not too far ahead. The Mile 3 marker was passed at 17:54, a mile split of 5:55. Going well.... My Garmin was a bit optimistic showing 5:44 pace and 182bpm.

So that left only one mile to go. My only thought at this point was very simple...I've passed 3 miles in sub-18 (on target) so I would have to slow by more that 30 seconds over the last mile to match last years time. Yes, the thought of easing up crossed my mind (understandable at 180bpm) but I quickly dispelled such urges - there were still one or two places which could be caught. Mile 4 was tough I resisted the urge to look behind but I couldn't hear any footsteps so I thought what the hell go for it....

Rounding the final 90deg corner into the 200m long finishing straight disaster nearly happened!! A van driver decided to pull in - straight in front of me!! However, slowing slightly, I managed to squeeze through on the inside - probably not the safest move as I'm sure the driver had no idea that I was there but I was only 200m from the end of a race - desperate times need desperate measures!!

My legs were going as fast as they could but there was nothing more left in the tank. Then I saw my fan club (Pamela and the girls) so I had to make one last push. Then I saw the clock. Well at least I saw the first two digits (23:XX). Keep it going and you'll get a PB.. I passed under the clock, Mile 4 - 23:29. WOW, a 5:35 last mile and a PB by over a minute in a 4 mile race!! I must have even surprised Mr. Garmin as he couldn't keep up (!!!) - he said 5:48 pace and 187bpm.

Speaking with John Walshe before the race he mentioned that the use of the Garmin in races is keeping him on his toes (he's responsible for the measurement of most of the courses in the Cork -if not the Munster - area). No worries I said, the error will always be in the Garmin and that's why, in a race, I always use the mile markers for pace and not the auto splits.

Still regardless of what Mr. Garmin said about the splits the finishing time is indisputable - 4mile PB - 23:29min (5:52min/mile, avg 178bpm). I don't know what position I came (probably top 40) nor do I know how our team did. The BHAA usually take a few days to publish the results. Once I hear anything I'll update this post.

Today turned out to be my best race since my return to running ('age graded' it's equivalent to 22:51 i.e. only 11 seconds slower than my 1994 time of 22:40). Using this time, McMillan predicts a sub 1:23 half marathon (edging closer to Mike's prediction of sub 1:20!!) and sub 18 for the 5k. So, I'm managing to run fast for 4 miles all I have to do now is figure out how to keep a fast pace going for more than 13 miles!!

A 2-mile warm down with Grellan gave a total of 9 miles for the day and ended a great morning of running.

Week Total (27/10/08 - 02/11/08) - 4 sessions

25.41miles - 3:13:23 - 7:37min/mile - 151bpm

Update 6-11-08
The BHAA race results were finally published today. The RPS team of Tony, Grellan and me came 1st in the Grade C category!! Well done to Grellan for matching his PB within a fortnight of a marathon - I don't think I would be able to walk within 2 weeks of completing a marathon and certainly I would not be able to run a PB race.
My official time was rounded down to 23:33 allowing for the few seconds it took me to cross the start line (but I'm sticking to my recorded time of 23:29 - my Garmin is never wrong!!). There were 284 finishers and my placing was 33rd. Not quite good enough for the top 10% but not bad either. Thanks to all who left congrats comments.