Tullamore Half Marathon

More racing in my quest to improve fitness:

Mon – Claregalway 11.1km recovery run 43:00 (3:52's)

Tue – 2km up, 10km treadmill threshold run 31:49 (3:11’s), 2.0km down. All up 14.0kms

Wed – Claregalway 11.1km recovery run 41:53 (3:46's)

Thu am – 2km up, 10 x 1km treadmill threshold run, 1.1km down. All up 13.1kms

Thu pm – Mayo AC easy 2.3km run

Fri – Treadmill 7.0km easy run 30:13 (4:19's)

Sat – Tullamore Half Marathon – 1:12:34 (3:26’s) – All up 25.6km

Sun – Claregalway easy run 11.1km 46:47 (4:13’s)

Total for week 95.3km

I wasn’t sure what to expect at Tullamore – I certainly wasn’t fit for the distance but it would be a good training run to bring me on. The weather was very warm and there was a bit of a breeze. The race started and I settled into the lead group of 4 and there didn’t look to be any stand-out runners so all was good.

Nobody was forcing the pace and I settled into sub 3:30/km pace It felt quite tough in the heat and you had to take water at every stop to try and keep cool. The group soon whittled down to 3 and then 2 and by the half way point I found myself sharing the lead with a guy from Cellbridge.

I knew I’d be good for 10 miles and just before this point there was a nasty drag over a bridge and that really knocked me. At the 10 mile mark I was struggling and the other guy started to open up a gap. I just didn’t have the strength to go with him and it was all about hanging on for the finish.

Breaking it down in kms by this point and although I has slowed slightly I was still running okay. The last mile seemed to have some nice downhill but boy did it drag on. We finished running back into the Tullamore Harriers with a lap of the track and I enjoyed the last 400m crossing the line in second place in a time of 1:12:34 around 30 seconds behind the winner.

Overall I was delighted with that. I thought I’d be lucky to make top 5 so to finish second was a bonus. The time wasn’t bad either given the warm conditions but it was a real struggle the last 3 miles.

My only concern is that I have a sore lower abdomen/upper groin that seems to be getting worse. Physio booked for next week. I can’t feel it when I’m running but it is certainly getting worse so time to take action.

Claregalway 10km

I couldn’t turn down the opportunity to race my local 10km:

Mon – Claregalway 9.5km recovery run 35:26 (3:45's)

Tue – 2km up, 7km then 3 x 1km treadmill threshold run, 1.5km down. All up 13.5kms

Wed – Treadmill 10.0km progressive recovery run 38:20 (3:50's)

Thu – 2km up, 10 x 1km treadmill threshold run, 1.2km down. All up 13.2kms

Fri – Treadmill 6.8km easy run 30:09 (4:26's)

Sat – Claregalway 10km – 32:59 – All up 13.2km

Sun – Treadmill progressive recovery run 15.0km 59:03 (3:56’s)

Total for week 81.2km

Breezy conditions for the 10km race. I took it out fairly quickly and had company. The first 4km were wind friendly and I settled into around 3:15/km pace running hard but not flat-out. The guy sat on my shoulder and I decided to pull back a little as we started to run into the breeze. The HR was nice and low so I knew I had plenty in the tank for a quick finish and as we ran back into the village at 8km I started to wind up the pace. Coming round the church I went full throttle and put in a very hard last 900m to drop the other guy and take the win. A very pleasing finish and a good final km of 3:00 using the heart rate to gauge the effort. Nice to take the win and hopefully the start of better things to come.

The plan now is to race more to get the fitness back. A few half marathons lined up as training runs and then pick another half later in the year to really go for a sub 70 time.

A couple of sessions

Getting back into things slowly:

Mon – Claregalway 9.5km recovery run 36:38 (3:51's)

Tue – Norwich 13.2km easy run 56:32 (4:17's)

Wed – Norwich 14.5km easy run 58:57 (4:04's)

Thu – 2km up, 10km treadmill threshold run 32:14 (3:13’s), 1.2km down. All up 13.2kms

Fri – Treadmill 10.0km recovery run 36:33 (3:39's)

Sat – 1.8km up, 10km Claregalway threshold run 33:34 (3:32’s), 2.0km down. All up 13.8km

Sun – Claregalway recovery run 14.8km 55:03 (3:43’s)

Total for week 89.0km

Easy running at the start of the week as I went back to Norwich to catch up with family. Energy levels were still not right and the stomach still hadn’t settled and I didn’t feel great towards the end of the run on Tuesday – running with Dom Blake – and had to cut short so that I could get to the bathroom!

Tried a threshold run on Thursday and it was a real struggle. The heart rate was much higher than normal and the pace was down and I had to constantly slow the treadmill to keep in the zone. Some of that is loss of fitness but clearly the body is still not right after the virus.

A decent enough outside run on Saturday running the Claregalway 10km race route as a threshold run in pretty good conditions. I was top of zone for the end of this run which rarely happens for me in training so again I don’t think I’m quite right. But a decent session all the same.

A long-ish run to finish the week at a decent enough clip and a total of 89kms for the week. It’s a start but a lot of hard work to do now. You lose 2 weeks and it’s another 4 weeks of training to get that back. Well that’s how it seems to work for me anyway…

Runs of the wrong kind...

This week didn't go to plan:

Mon - Claregalway 14.8km recovery run 53:40 (3:38's)

Tue am - Treadmill 10 x 1km threshold reps. All up 13.0kms

Tue pm - Tuam AC 6.5km easy run

Wed - Treadmill 8.0km 30:07 (3:46's)

Thu - Claregalway 9.5km easy run 43:22 (4:34's)

Fri - Claregalway 9.5km easy run 41:30 (4:22's)

Sat - Treadmill 10km building up to recovery 39:20 (3:56's)

Sun - Treadmill 10km building up to recovery 38:54 (3:53's)

Total 81.3km

Despite not feeling right I started the week well enough with half decent sessions on Monday and Tuesday. But by Wednesday the energy levels weren't right and I had stomach issues. By Thursday I was really suffering and I was working hard running 4:30/km pace. A little better on Friday but I was in no shape to run the Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon on the weekend so I took the decision to pull the pin. A few shuffles on the treadmill on the weekend just to build up a bit of a sweat but the body was far from right so definitely a correct decision.

Disappointing but I can't really complain as I seldom get sick. It was probably my own doing after caning it a bit through race week. Just run down and a bad dose. Hopefully I'll bounce back quickly...