From Metallica to the Beast of Ballyandreen

21^st May

Last time I did some interval sessions was two weeks ago. Approached this one with a mixture of squeamishness and expectation. Threw on Metallica’s “Master of Puppets” in the car on the way home to keep me motivated!!! Mile 1 warm up -7.39 pace. Possibly too fast. Mile 2- interval pace6.39 with 2 minute recoveries, Mile 3 –interval pace 6.31- the effort felt easier despite the faster pace followed by a 1.40 recovery. Mile 4 was very tough, legs were wobbling a bit. Completed the session in  6.40. I had nothing left in the tank at this stage and jogged the last 3.5 miles home very slowly. Knee felt sore but this has passed since. Mile 5 -9.20 pace. Mile 6 -9.49 pace, Mile 7 -8.54 pace, ½ mile in 4.09. Way more tired than I expected.

22 May

Up and out the door by 6.30 am. Resting heart rate was way too high –around 54 BPM. That said I felt strong and eager enough to head out for a run. After mile 1 – 9.00 minute pace i knew it would be a slog so rather than force the issue settled into a relaxed pace. Mile 2 was 8.38, Mile 3 -8.37 pace, Mile 4 -8.36 pace. Managed to pick up the pace and when i finished at mile 8.3 I was hitting around 8.15 average. My average heart rate was 147 BPM which was encouraging as two weeks ago it was 154 BPM. Total workout was 8.30 average pace around 1.08 minutes with 0.3 mile cooldown. Set me up for the day and then into work.

23^rd May

Went to Doneraile Park at 2.15pm. The expected heat wave has yet to arrive which is good news for running but probably unwelcome news for everyone else. Certainly work lacks that happy  sunny end of school feel preoccupied as I am with weather I will have a job to return to in September. Anyway did 2 laps of the park including 2 loops of that awful half mile hill climb but has a nice descent to make up for it.  Each lap came to around 3 miles with another 2 fast miles on a flatter part of the park. The last two miles were completed in 7.30 and 7.33 pace respectivately which got me  just under the sub 8 minute pace. Heart rate was 157 average and the 8 miles were completed in 1.03.45. I passed on the s6 X100 strides as the legs were tight enough afterwards. No point in pushing it if I am to race tomorrow. The music I played on the way home was "The Tempatations - Papa was a Rolling Stone" - the full 17 minute version.

24^TH May

Drove to Ballyandreen with Dermot Brennan from Cork City for this 5 mile race. This was the first race in the much lauded Ballycotton series. At a fiver a pop in the one of the most renowned road running areas in the country, this was one to check out. Mind you running on the hottest day of the year had me wondering would this be Rome in microcosm. When I was getting my number the guy behind the desk asked me if he knew me from somewhere. I said “Yeah you interviewed me in XXXXX  for a job but I didn’t get it...”. Poor guy creased up with embarrassment !!! Anyway lining up for the start on a narrow road it was obvious there was going to be a huge crowd for this one. A groupof us  got shoved 10-15 feet back from where we where standing and I was gloomily entertaining those Roman thoughts again. I hit the first half mile at a crawling pace of 4.00 minutes but then thankfully the gaps begin to appear. Mind you the first mile still took me 7.26. I was hoping for 6.40. I also stood on the toes of John Quigley – the Eagle Ac and Cork Cancer team  guy. Sorry!!!! Overtook another few familiar faces (the innocent shall remain nameless!!!) and by the time we hit the downhill slope into Ballycotton I was motoring. Mile 2 passed in 6.41 and I was becoming more hopeful of hitting a sub 35 minute time.  Mile 3 passed in 6.38 and I was feeling strong but mindful of the hills that were coming up. Much has been written about the “Beast of Ballyandreen” and in reflection I paid it too much respect. A more aggressive attack might havebeen  better though I did see one guy pull up with a stitch. Mile 4 passed in 7.17. At mile 4 it was all downhill, well more of a sheer vertical drop and it was time for a all out attack. This was the fastest mile of the race and my fastest ever mile (6.18). I couldn’t quite catch up with a tall blonde girl wearing a east Cork singlet or a guy with a yellow cap but i was very happy crossing the line in a official time of 34.34. I timed it as 34.30 over 5.03 miles. As a race i really enjoyed it and will probably will do the second race in the series next month. Now I know now I can run under sub 35 in a variety of topography and as a tempo workout it served me well. Perhaps sub 34 next time over the 5 mile distance? Dermot had another solid run in around 41 minutes. Listened to the Black Keys "El Camino" -cracking album.

Ran 7 miles (1 mile warmup, 5 mile race, 1 mile cooldown)