Since the Terenure 5 in mid-May, the last three weeks have seen a steady progress. The three weeks clocking 29, 32 & 30 Kms, much in line with my revised programme, and with May being a heavy month for races, five more timed events have seen me on the roads (or in one case, the Beach!).
The races have been a mixed bag, with the Docklands Night Run kicking off this phase, and a decent 50:58 recorded on a twisty, congested course, especially given I wasn't looking for any decent time, just a consistent run, which I achieved. This was quickly followed 48 hours later by the latest BHAA Race, a 5Km run on Sandymount Beach. My official time for this was 23:49, which translates as a M55 PR. Personally, I don't feel that this was accurate, as I genuinely didn't feel like I was pushing it, and I have never been a lover of sand, but maybe the training is starting to pay off.
After those two races, I headed over to Waterstown for their 100th parkrun on the 28th of May. If you haven't tried Waterstown on the parkrun circuit here in Ireland, I thoroughly recommend it. It's a challenging course, with its fair share of inclines, notably the last 400m which are more or less all up hill! I ran this with the 25 minute pacer for most of the way, and managed to add protein to my diet with around 300m to go, catching a fly in my mouth and choking on the darn thing... Had to stop, cough it up, and then kick on again, passing a fair number of those who had flown past me while I was choking, finally clocking 25:28, with a sprint finish up the hill. A great party atmosphere afterwards to celebrate their centenary, and a huge thanks to the volunteers who make these parkruns so successful.
In between these races, I have increased my weekly "long" run to 10Km, and I'm hitting this at between 5:35 and 5:45 pace, as per my plan, although I do feel slow at this pace, but the legs need the build up, so onwards it will be. As previously mentioned, I have revised the plan to allow for a couple of rest days each week, as my ageing body can't cope too well with 7 days training en bloc, and the last thing I want to do is injure myself over-training.
Next up was the BHAA Govt Services Race , out in the countryside of Dunboyne, and again, a good steady run saw me home in 40:10. I nearly made a mess of this as Mile 2 was run in under 7:40 (sorry to confuse you switching between Kms and Miles, but this race was marked in Miles, so Mile Splits it was), but I eased back over the next two miles, and after a breather at Mile 4, it was a hard run to the finish, catching a good few runners in the end, with teh race finishing on the track at Dunboyne AC.
Last, but not least, of my timed events since my last post was Saturday just gone, and the Hartstown parkrun. I've mentioned before that this is a fast, PR course, and this week, I didn't intend to run a quick one, but the best laid plans etc.... With the slight change to the course, I wasn't sure of my marks, but I just kept a steady pace after a gentle start, and hit the second lap corner at 22 minutes, and knew that with a push I could crack 24 minutes, and digging in, with a last 50m sprint, I came in at 23:56, which is actually a new "Real" PR for parkrun, and getting close to wiping out the Official Time which I know to be slightly wrong.
So, onto Week 6,which will be somewhat handicapped by the fact that we are moving apartments this week, which will cause a little disruption to routine, and the need to work out new routes from the new place. Not heading too far, from Ballsbridge to Rathmines, and the new place is bigger, so more room for my runners! Another steady week is planned for Week 6, culminating in the Irish Runner 5 Mil Race on Sunday 12th in the Phoenix Park. In the meantime, I am on Cheerleading Duty today, as Paula heads out to the Womens Mini Marathon, a great 10K here in Dublin. with around 40,000 taking part, the largest Women Only Event in the World, so good luck to her and everyone else taking part. Official Rest Day for me, then speed work tomorrow, and back in the swing...
See you soon..... I'll leave you with a few pics - Finishing Hartstown parkrun in 23:56 last Saturday; Post Race Nightrun with Patrick Downey; and at the launch of the Rock N Roll Half here in Dublin, with Mick Clohisey, who is heading to Rio to represent Ireland in the Marathon in August.
