Week Two Day 6 - A 5 Mile Race

Sorry I haven't been able to keep things up to date, but I was away from my PC last weekend and this week I have been hectic at work. Whilst I have found time to run, I haven't been able to post. Suffice to say I have been running reasonably within my plan, if not absolutely according to rule, but it's going OK.

Today, Saturday, I had a race to run. It was the Adidas 5 Miler in the Phoenix Park, here in Dublin, a regular in my summer season. This is the first in a series of races, sponsored by Adidas, in build up to October's Dublin Marathon. We have this race over 5 Miles, then next month there is the Frank Duffy 10 Miler, and in September we have the BHAA Dublin Half Marathon, all aimed at the end of October Dublin Marathon.

So at 10 am this morning I lined up with around 2000 others, on a surprisingly pleasant July morning - not too warm, sun peeking out, and no rain! I had no time expectations for this race, treating it as a timed training run rather than as a specific race. I set off with the crowd, dodging and weaving and despite the bodies, I relaxed into an 8:32 first mile, probably a little quick for now, and I eased along as we took the second mile, along Chesterfield Avenue (the main road through the Park) and then down the slopes passed the grazing fields. There was a slight wind about, not enough to cause problems, but you could feel it. Mile two was a slower 8:50.

Mile 3 was uphill coming up the Furry Glen, after the zig-zags, and I dug in here, head down, and climbed in 8:45 for the mile, although this took the toll out of me and I had to ease right back when we reached the levels as I was feeling it in my legs. I had a little concern during Mile 4 as my right foot and leg "went to sleep". This is something I have encountered many times when running, and it usually passes within 5 minutes, although today it lingered a while. Mile 4 was a slow 9:19, but I was still on to be well inside 44.

As we turned back onto Chesterfield Avenue it was a good run in to home, so I accelerated a little from my pedestrian pace, passed a few nice ponies on the way, and with each 100m marked out from 500 to go, it was easy to keep the push on and finish relatively strongly. The last mile was 7:50, for a total time of 43:16, and a welcome drink, followed up by tea, biscuits and fruit cake in the college down the road.

Not a bad work out. A lot slower than previous races on this course, having run 38:22 in 2003, 40:20 in 2005, and 40:38 last year. But each of those runs were actually run as races in themselves, today was part of the training regime, so I am happy enough. A lot of work still to be done, and next stop will be a 5K race this coming Wednesday - all programmed into the training, so fingers crossed.