From Charleville town to Charleville road and back again- Tullamore 13.1

Week ending 31^st August

The month of September is nearly upon us, the time of year where marathon training intensifies before the taper kicks in for a few weeks in October. The date for the Amsterdam marathon is the 19^th October so it means I have 4 weeks of training left. In terms of races there is two more on the calendar – the Charleville half marathon and the Cork to Cobh 15 miler. The former is a race I hope to do well in – even if it does occur a day after a family wedding, the latter race will be a tempo run run at marathon pace with maybe a 6-7 mile warm up.

This week saw me complete around 46 miles, 10 less than last week and a shorter long run but that long run was a half marathon in Tullamore. More about that and the ballycotton 5 mile race in a while.

Monday was the usual 4 mile recovery jog with a faster 9 mile run on the Tuesday. I ran the first 8 miles at around 7.27 pace covering 8.2 miles in the hour tacking on another cooldown mile at the finish. Being able to run over 8 miles in a hour is always a hopeful sign as was the low HR 157. It meant Wednesday was a more relaxed affair running 12 miles in 1hr40mins. The legs were a bit heavy but once again the Hr was low – 145. I had plans at running  up to 15 miles on these midweek runs but now I’m not sure, maybe I will cap it at 13 miles and possibly at a faster pace in a more hilly route. 15 miles seems to be pushing it slightly.

Thursday was a drive down to Ballycotton to finish off the final race of the famed race series. It was my first time completing the 4 race series and while the races were tough and the driving tedious it was still nice to have played my part. Coming into the 4^th race I was in a 100^th place with my times solid rather than spectacular . My cousin Don Ryan however had come on leaps and bounds in the last 9 months and had gone from a sub 35 minute runner (over 5 miles) to now being comfortable running under 32 minutes. He was in 50^th place and was very sure of getting one of the coveted top 50 t shirts. The standard was higher this year, my times this year would have placed me 83^rd last year. Of the 4 races the Ballycotton 5 is probably the fastest taking in a portion of the famed Ballycotton 10 route. As usual Mallow Ac was well represented – Aidan Buckley, Denis Cronin, Niall, Lisa, John Holland, Peter, Paudie, Catherine, John Flynn, Maria Keating, Donough, Cliona, Trish, Catherine and Cathriona amongst others.

I was happy with my run coming in at 33.46- my fastest run of the 4 races and over 30 seconds faster than the same race 2 years ago. My splits were 6.32 (steep downhill), 6.42, 7.00 (uphill), 6.40 and 6.48. Not a bad effort though I would hope to improve next year, training for 5 miles is a different game to training for a marathon- shorter longer runs and more intervals.  In the overall standings I finished 83^rd out of 268 runners over the course of the series.Don finished  the race in around 31.30 and finished 46^th overall. A excellent effort with Aidan B putting in a cracking effort to finish 49^th – not his first time coming in the top 50 either. My time wasn’t a PB but it was surprisingly only my second going sub 34 minutes in a 5 mile race.  Maybe it’s worth a shot again next year even perhaps to the exclusion of the marathon.

Friday was a day off running as I was heading up to Tullamore on Saturday to run their club half marathon. Aidan McGee my good friend lives in Offaly so it was a handy spin for him. Mind you it’s a journey which took only 110 minutes. The start line was in Tullamore AC clubhouse, funnily enough the address was Charleville road. The race was to start at 12 but having got up there before 11 am I had plenty of time to check out their running track and their facilities which to be fair would be the envy of any club in Munster – running track, clubhouse, gym, grass pitches, plenty of parking and from a history buff’s point of view a lovely photograph display of the club’s history throughout the years. The whole set up is something which be ideal for running – track, field and cross country- in mid and north Cork.

Anyway I met up with Aidan and the race kicked off a little after 12. I was feeling hopeful after Thursday’s race and I was determined to put the Clonmel half marathon firmly out of my head. By mile 3 I was averaging around 7.23 a mile and it was clear the course was on the whole pretty flat with only a few pulls and some downhill sections. Within 30 minutes I had covered 4.1 miles and I decided to start pushing the pace a bit. I think from mile 4 to mile 10 I wasn’t overtook by a single other runner and i had covered 8.35 miles in a hour. There was no doubt about it but i was close to a PB. What was even more satisfying was that mentally I was in strong shape- the distance was flying by in the mind’s eye – always a good sign. By mile 10 and mile 11 the course started to rise  gradually and this was reflected in my splits – 7.18 and 7.25. Nevertheless I was still on for a sub 1hr35min finish but at mile 12 I was overtaken by 4/5 runners a sure sign I was slowing down. The last mile was a fast downhill mile, almost too fast as I was finding my breath was getting caught up. It was a hectic finish for many of us to the 13^th mile turning back into the clubhouse (7 minute mile). At this stage I was running on my own with perhaps  5 runners in a pack ahead of me and 4 runners around a few seconds behind me. The last part of the race consisted of a lap around the running track – a good way to finish a cracking race. My finishing time was 1hr34mins47 seconds – I was only 30 seconds away from claiming a PB. Maybe next time....
The average pace was 7.13 per mile. Those tempo sessions are paying off.

I probably lost a bit of time in mile 10 to 12 and possibly in my opening few miles which were very cautious. However in the context of my marathon training this was a very positive result- 2 good races in a week – all run at a good pace. Tullamore AC put on a excellent event, the spread afterwards was probably the best i have ever had – plenty of food , tea, cakes , minerals, buns and sweets all located in the cavernous clubhouse making access to the tables easy. Myself a and Aidan (he PB'ed with 1.32.25) hung around for a hour after the race before I headed back to Charleville town.

Hopefully it all points to a promising month ahead.

Weekly mileage 46 – Monday 4 mls, Tuesday 9 miles, Wednesday 12 miles, Thursday 5 mile race with 1 mile warm up, Saturday 13.1 mile race with 1 mile warm up