Before the Adidas Race - The Crowd was Big - And I look a lot better here, than at the finish!

Another week, and still improving

Yep, making a welcome change in that I am not writing about taking two steps backwards after a week of improvements. After last weeks healthy race over 5K, I started the week with another race, the 5 Mile, Adidas Irish Runner Challenge in the Phoenix Park. They were unable to get the car parking at Castleknock College as in previous years, so I decided to go via Public Transport, which ended up with me walking around 3 miles as a warm up - maybe not ideal, but I'll live - Had to walk the same back, which wasn't quite as much fun :).

With the time I had managed over 5K earlier in the week, I was hopeful of breaking 40 minutes for this 5 Miler. However, I hadn't accounted for only 60 hours between the races, and I knew very quickly that the heaviness in my legs was not going to see that sort of time getting near. This race is part of the build up to the Marathon in October, and there were around 4,500 participants, and so with the legs heavy and the size of the field, I was reconsidering my strategy right from the off. The course also has its surprises in that there are a number of hills which slow you down, and with each mile clicking over 8 minutes and 20, I was struggling from the start. But once I had reached 4 miles, I needed to kick hard, and see what inner strength I might have, well, OK, the course had flattened out here, and I hoped I could run faster - Well, I did, not wonderfully, but fast enough to record a 41:10 finishing time, which in hindsight I was happy enough with.

Since then I have had a good week. Sunday saw me hashing over 5 miles, with a gym session beforehand, rested on Monday, 5K on Tuesday, 6K on Wednesday, and on Thursday I decided on a speed session to see where I am at that score, and ran a hard 3K on the treadmill in 13:48, again a time I was more than happy with, given my present levels of fitness.

All in all, a good week, and with my next race two weeks away, the Streets of Galway 8K, time to build from this and certainly look at that sub 40 there.

Irishtown 5K - Improvement is clear

Running is a funny sport, and running at a more mature age sometimes throws up surprises, that even an experienced veteran of 30 years of tieing up the laces,
finds fascinating, and one of the many reasons those 30 years have encompassed this hobby/sport for me.

For the first time this year I went to a BHAA race, the Business House Races, I have enjoyed over the years. With injury and lack of fitness, I have missed the first half of the BHAA season, but there are still a few races I can fit in. Tonight was the Dublin City Council organised, Irishtown 5K, a race I have enjoyed in previous years, both as a particpant, and also I have marshalled in the days I worked for the council.

The race starts on the track at Irishtown Stadium, running the first Km on the track, before exiting and heading into the adjoining park, for three laps there, before returning to the track and a lap to finish. The run is flat and in 2005 I managed to run 23:46, followed up by a 23:50 in 2007. Missed the rcae last year due to injury, and with my last outing just ten days ago being a 24:34, I had no high hopes of bettering those times, maybe I could be closer to 24 minutes than 25, but no expectations or plans to push early.

I started gently amongst the 200 or so runners, and hogged the inside line on the track, giving up time to ensure I kept the shortest route, there would be plenty of chances to overtake once I got into the park, so the first Km on the track was only just under 5:00. Once out of the stadium, I started to go past runners, and into the park, we seemed to quickly reach 2Km in 9:35, obviously a little pacier, and still I was overtaking. I used to do speed work on this loop, and know thats is's around 950m a lap, so I dug in, and gradually reeled in guys and gals, two ro three each lap, and nobody was catching me. 3K was 14:12, so I was running around 4:37 pace, and on this lap I caught a young guy in a blue T-shirt, he didn't seemed too pleased, so he spent the next 8 minutes trying to surge away, and each time I caught him back.

The second lap was over quickly, and coming up to the 4Km mark, i checked my watch, 19:02. Here is where I started to feel surprised. I was feeling good, and as I was easily going to be capeable of a final Km of under 5 mins, the maths was starting to look good, and my mind was wondering what my body thought of this pace, and was it expecting a sub 24 time. Blue T was still trying to surge, but with 800 to go I decided to run for home, I surged myself, I heard him behind me as we left the park and headed around to the stadium, my old strength at the end seemed to be there in a small way, and gradually the breathing behind became more distant. I caught another runner as we entered the track, but he was slowing, and with the 350m to run on the track, a quick glance at my watch had me startled as to the likely time. I can't say I Kicked, but I pushed on, and whilst I had no chance of cathcing anyone in front of me, I was conscious that Blue T might have a sprint finish, seeing as he must have been 20 years younger. But I never look back, head down, last bend, push off the bend, last 80m, see the clock, try and "sprint", cross the line, wow!!!! 23:39 - Where did that come from? (PS - Added the pic which shows that Blue T was trailing in)

Seriously, I had no thoughts of realistically beating previous times here, and hence I was pleasantly surprised - onwards and upwards. Saturday sees the first race in the Adidas series, the 5M Irish Runner Challenge, a race I have done a few times before, the last three times failing to break 40 minutes, so hopefully, if I recover OK, that will be my target there.

Family Fitness 5K

Yep, I maanged my race this morning. Now, given I did enter a few weeks back, and have telegraphed this race here, I was still a doubt last night, thanks to the British & Irish Lions fabulous victory over South Africa yesterday, and a few celebratory pints as we sat in the pub disseminating the entire tour!

Anyway, I managed to get up, out, and down to Farmleigh in the Phoenix Park here in Dublin. The event was billed as a Family Fitness Day with the 5K kicking events off for all the family. There was a good turnout for the event, and good to see Paul McNamara fron my club, although he was there in his working for Athletics Ireland mode today, and not running, but we had a brief chat and he's gearing up for a crack at the Dublin Marathon in October.

Sonia O'Sullivan was the Official Starter, and off we went at 10.30 on the roads around the Park. As ever there were slower runners near the start, but in general terms the start was orderly and I quickly settled into an easy rhythm. Amazingly, given this was organised by Athletics Ireland, there were no Km or Mile markers, so it was hard to gauge the pace, but having a good idea of the lay out of the Park, I could tell I was running inside my 25 minute target, perhaps a little too fast, but it was only 5K!

Nothing really dramatic to report about the race really, I plodded on, felt the Guinness from yesterday around 20 minutes into the run, so had to ease off the gas, and when we re-entered the Farmeligh estate we only had 400m to run, and a quick check on the watch showed I had a comfortable margin of ewrror, so I didn't bust a gut in sprinting too hard, and finished comfortably with the watch at 24:34.

A decent time, but not a great run, thanks to the Guinness and the lack of distance markers, but a reasonable standard for the summer and the plethora of races I have lined up. Next up is the DCC 5K at Irishtown on the 15th, and I'll be targetting a better run and time there.

Speed work

Well, OK, it many ways, its slow plodding work, but given that my legs haven't turned over at much more than 8 minute mile pace for quite a while, and I do want to duck under 25 mins on Sunday, I thought I would foresake the sunny evening, head to the gym and have a go at running with some "speed".

So, the gym it was, and a treadmill session. A warm up eased me into it, and then I hit the speed dial, and ran a 2K time trial in 9:23 - Not fast by so many standards, except my last 12 months of running :) - So I enjoyed it, warmed down, went and had a sauna and hope that this will translate to a decent run on Sunday - Stay tuned!

July arrives - Where's the year gone? <17 weeks to Dublin

Realised tonight as I was running in the sun (for a change), that the Dublin Marathon is less than 17 weeks away, and my training is on par for a decent 10K in 17 weeks, rather than a 42K run.

Notwithstanding the above, I ran a nice 5 miler along Sandymount Strand, nice and easy, just under 41 minutes for the run, and a lot of sweat. Stands me in good stead for Sundays 5Km race in Farmleigh. It really was a lovely evening for running, the sun was out, the temp was gorgeous, and it was great to see so many others out on the strand, kind of makes those winter wet runs all worthwhile.