3rd October
Didn’t think I’d even get to run this
one. Very tired all morning. As usual my head was doing – Will I run? Won’t I
run? Will I do ten miles? Will I do 7 miles? Anyway got up to my mums in
Mayfield for this one. Seeing my little niece Charlotte put me in good form and
on went the trainers, shorts, garmin and strap. The route in Cork is a mixture
of ups and down with a fair old pull from Leitrem st to Montenotte and from
Iona Green to Boherboy road. Anyway I licked this one good and proper. Decided
to run at a marathon pace and had plenty left when I finished. Miles 7, 8 and 9
were very satisfying. Mile 1-7.54, Mile 2- 7.57, Mile 3 -8.01, Mile 4-7.59,
Mile 5 -7.37, Mile 6-7.35, Mile 7-7.51, Mile 8 -7.52, Mile 9 -7.48, Mile
10-7.16. Mile10.2 -1.40.50.
10.2 miles -1.19.35, 7.48 pace, 147
HR
4th October
Surprised at how fresh I felt for
this one when I got up at 6.30 am. Did 2 miles warm in 16.53 and then settled
down for a 8 mile tempo run at a planned 7.15 pace. As it still going to be
dark till 7.20 am, I wore the reflective top and decided what route to take.
Did 3 laps of the town park, always good for pace, up and down the railway
road, a couple of miles out the Cork rd and back home via Newline. In all I
covered 8.25 miles in 60 minutes which was great. Felt very fresh and was happy
to see the heart rate drop from 155 bpm to 120 in less than a minute. A excellent workout with the temp
portion matching my efforts in the Charleville half marathon over the first
hour. I could have covered another couple of miles but felt it was wiser not
to. Anyway getting into work on time would have been tricky.
The splits for the 8.25 mile temp were as
follows. 7.22,7.19,7.10,7.15,7.22,7.26,7.02,7.13, (58.12) and 0.25 in 1.50.
The average pace works out as 7.17 so
I am not quite at the pace I had hoped. Nevertheless I am delighted. Up to a
few months ago I could have never ran 8 miles in less than 59 minutes now i
feel confident I can do it when needed. I attempted the same workout last month
and was 8 seconds quicker this time. Hr is down by 2 beats as well. Pfitzinger
calls for 11 miles with 7 tempo. I am happy to say I have improved on it.
5th October –rest day
Friday
6th October – Had a days
painting ahead of me so managed to a easy 5 mile recovery run. Have the
Cork/Cobh 15 mile race to-morrow. Don’t intend to race this one but hope to do
5 mile warm up neforehand and run the 15 miles at MP pace. After that it’s
taper city...
7th October
Was up at the ungodly hour at 6.20 am
to get ready for the Cork/Cobh race. Collected Tony Murphy at the roundabout in
mallow and got the car parked at 7.45 am. I reckon Tony reckoned I must have
lost the plot getting there so early for a race that started at 9.30 am and the
start line only a 8 minute jog away. Headed up to the Montenotte hotel bumped
into a number of fellow mallow runners (Coleman,Pa and Denis). Met my mate Don
Golden at 8.30 and off we went for a 5 mile warm up at 10 minute pace. Race
started at 9.30 and off we went. I didn’t want to race this one. Rather I
wanted to treat this a mini-marathon run in terms of running at marathon pace,
taking gels, wearing my marathon gear etc etc. As for the run itself very
little to say really. Felt really comfortable all the way with the last two
miles very strong. (Ok I raced those!!!) and finished in 1.55.35 which I think
is 2 or 3 minutes faster than last year yet with a lot less effort. I ran most
of the course with Tony and Neil Holland before pushing ahead a bit at mile 9
or ten. Tony will be running his first marathon in Dublin and I am sure will do
very well. One guy at mile 6 called my name. I think his name was James. I
didn’t know him but he said he was a follower of the blog which is nice to
hear. Was briefly chatting to a lad running on behalf of the Mayfield suicide
awareness project. Well done there to all concerned. At mile 12 some girl
wearing earphones gave out to me for “running on top of her and giving her a
fright”. I explained that she shouldn’t be wearing earphones which lead to her
saying something else which I didn’t quite catch. Anyway from mile 7.5 mile
onwards only one runner overtook me. When I crossed the line I was very happy
with what was essentially a marathon pace training run. Had I raced it I don’t
think a 1.50 wasn’t beyond me but recovery might have proved problematic. I
have to say I really enjoyed this one. Tony was a minute or so behind me and
Neil a minute after that. Don ran a comfortable 2.09, again at marathon pace. A
lot of the lads from mallow ran cracking times – Barry, Paudie, Denis, Aidan,
Dermot, Noel. They are all going to do great times in their respective races.
As for my race I am hopeful.
Splits were as follows.
8.29,7.50,7.46,7.50,7.38,7.47,7.40,7.45,7.38,7.41,7.35,7.42,7.22,7.28,7.19.
Total garmin time 1.55.55. Hr 153.
Mileage for the week – 60 miles
Monday 4.16, Tuesday 10.5 miles,Wednesday
10.2 miles, Thursday 10.25 miles, Saturday 5 miles, Sunday 5 mile warm up with
15 mile race. 60 miles
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