A typical Galway weather day. I started by jogging 3.6km to get the body ticking over. I decided to use the Claregalway 5km/10km course for my tempo run. Pros - an accurate course, cons - a bloody tough course. I started at the 8km marker and decided to run the opposite direction to the races this year. So after getting underway, I was quickly faced with the tough climb up the Rock Road which I used for my hill reps on the weekend.
The first km was therefore slow (3:33) and I was left chasing hard to bring the session in on target. The second km is also quite tough as you have another climb as you work your way up onto the Oranmore Road and I was a disappointed with my 2nd km split of 3:25. After continuing to climb for a short section on the main road you have the benefit of the long 600m downhill. Sure enough my pace improved and the 3rd km of 3:10 and I was back on track. The last couple of kms are predominantly flat except for a long drag followed by a downhill section to the finish. My last 2 km splits were 3:18 and 3:14 to give me a time of 16:40 (finishing at the 3km marker).
Whilst the time was okay, the effort level involved was way up there and I basically couldn't have gone much quicker. The theme of my recent sessions seems to be a big loss in speed so I guess I'm just going through a bad patch. I raced 5km on this course back in May in 15:48 and then 10km in August in 32:58 (2 laps) so I'm currently way off that. I'll take a rest today tomorrow (probably) and come out swinging again on the weekend.
I finished up with a 4.8km warm-down so all up 13.4kms for the day. Snooker on the TV and a few beers tonight and I'll be right.
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