Jan 22nd – 28th
Sun: 95 min. Complete. Very easy with Storm Isha. 19.28km total.
Mon: 50 min easy + 5 x 15 sec strides + 5 min easy. Complete. 11.72km.
https://www.strava.com/activities/10608243331
Tue: 15 min WU, 10 x 800 @ 2:50 (60) , 15 min CD. Complete. Treadmill. 14km approx total.
https://www.strava.com/activities/10615232909
Wed: 60 min easy. Complete. 12.61km.
https://www.strava.com/activities/10622110795
Thur: 15 min WU, 2 x 16 min @ 3:55 km pace (60), 15 min CD. Complete. Treadmill. Short WU and CD.
https://www.strava.com/activities/10627012796
Fri: Off
Sat: 15 min WU, 16 x 400 @ 78 (30) , 15 min CD. Complete (mainly). 13 reps all between 76 and 78 secs. 5.33km double in evening. Total for day 18.25km.
https://www.strava.com/activities/10638207937
Sun: 95 min. Complete. 21.70km.
https://www.strava.com/activities/10645264507
Jan 29th – Feb 4th
Mon: 50 min easy + 5 x 15 sec strides + 5 min easy. Complete. 11.41km.
https://www.strava.com/activities/10656126130
Tue: 15 min WU, 6 x 1k @ 3:35 (60) run 5th rep at 3:20 , 15 min CD. Complete. 3:33, 3:34, 3:33, 3:33, 3:17 and 3:29. Short WU and CD. 10.95 total.
https://www.strava.com/activities/10661954236
Wed: 60 min easy. Complete. 13.01km.
https://www.strava.com/activities/10669366838
Thur: 15 min WU, 3 x 6 min @ 3:55 km pace (60), 15 min CD. Complete. 11.76km.
https://www.strava.com/activities/10675843987
Fri: Off
Sat: 20 min easy + 4 x 15 sec strides + 5 min easy. Complete. 5.36km
https://www.strava.com/activities/10685862295
Sun: Trim 10 mile. Complete. 57:28. Windy. Fun.
https://www.strava.com/activities/10694611693
It was a week of disturbed routine leading into a race; spending a lot of time in Beaumont Hospital, little sleep, an unusual amount of life stress and the usual pre race jitters. Thankfully, the time spent in hospital was not a foreshadowing of things to come and I made it through Trim 10 Mile in one piece, however, there were more than a few moments in the second half of the race when I thought it was the end. What a time to be alive.
I spent Saturday afternoon with Barry and we spoke a lot about the weather. He told me it was to be very windy and I called him a liar. I’ve yet to know Barry to tell a lie and once again he was proven right. When I woke up on Sunday morning, I looked outside and was genuinely taken aback with the extent at which the bushes were blowing in the garden. I told myself it would be better in Trim. I had my breakfast, drank my coffee, listened to Khruangbin and got myself in the headspace to race. On the N2, driving towards Trim, the crosswind on the motorway was such that I once again thought of Barry and his lies. I told myself it wouldn’t be as bad on the course. I parked my car at the race HQ to collect my race number. Walking towards the building, I suddenly felt a strong breeze infiltrate the skin around my neck. I had been wearing a scarf but it was now gone, a victim to this delinquent wind. I turned on my heels and chased after the scarf, collecting it as it rested against a curb and wondered what the fuck was I doing here?
I got my number, went back to the car and got warmed up. I met a few friends along the way and got chatting about the race. Such was the wind that everybody was in a kind of delirium and mainly curious about how bad it would actually be when we started running. The wind is the great equaliser and there is something comforting in knowing that everyone is facing it too and nobody is at all happy. I did some strides and took my place on the start line.
1st 5K – 17:22.
The race marshal counted down to zero and we got underway. There is a quick turn after about 30 metres and then you can really get moving. I didn’t look at the watch for the first kilometre until it beeped at 3:27 and I was now in a group of about 20 lads. I tucked in right at the back and made the decision to stay with them early. Bernard Duggan was running in the group and I know him through mutual friends and was also chatting to him before the race. We are at a similar pace over 5K and 10K so I was happy with being in this group. The third kilometre was a 3:34 and was a bit draggy and up hill, but so early that you don’t really feel it in the legs at the time, you just notice it when the watch beeps. The fourth kilometre was 3:21 so we got all the time back with a nice decline. The wind was blowing a little across us but it was mainly behind us at this stage. Prior to the race starting, I spoke to the man riding the motorbike with the leaders and he told me the route was counter clockwise so I knew, at some point, we were going to run into the wind, but I just didn’t know when.
2nd 5K – 17:52 (10K 35:14)
The group had started to splinter and we were down to about 10 people. The pace felt good and the group was moving pretty well. Just after six kilometres, all changed; changed utterly. We took the left. The dreaded left I had been waiting for. At the cross roads coming into the village of Dunderry, I remembered I had been here before at a house party in college. I was suddenly having flashbacks of my friend Octavian’s old house with me and my friends listening to the Klaxons and spraying each other with glow sticks. I was brought straight back to the moment when we took the left and the wind hit me. We were all expecting it but still we were all traumatised and in collective shock. This stretch of running straight into the headwind lasted for just under 4 kilometres. Again the group broke up and we were down to about 5. I was hanging on to the back but knew I was in trouble. I had a couple of looks around to see if anybody was close to me but unfortunately there was about 50 metres between myself and the closest person. I knew that if I dropped off the group I would be in trouble. The pace had dropped slightly but I was really beginning to feel the force of the wind and was finding it difficult to keep any semblance of form or focus. Mercifully, we turned left again and I had hoped this would mean the end of the headwind, but sadly I was mistaken. The 10th kilometre was slightly downhill and I split 3:31 and was still with the group. Barely.
3rd 5K – 18:10 (53:24)
The wheels were coming off but I was holding onto the group. At this point I knew that I was going to get dropped and it was just a matter of when the solo death march was going to begin. And begin it did on the 12th kilometre when I split a 3:40 and was in no mans land with the group moving away from me with every stride. I had a look behind me and the chasing pack was even further away than before so I knew this was going to be solo until the end. And it truly was solo. Trim has some beautiful country lanes but there was not a sinner out on the roads. It is quite a rural course so it is to be expected, and it was not bothering me when I was in a group, but now that I was alone I was looking for any sort of inspiration to keep me going. My body was really feeling it and I had dread even thinking about looking at the watch. I was trying my best to not look at it but the more you try, the more you look. I could see my average pace for the 10 miles dropping with every split and I started doing maths in my head. I knew that if I just kept up any semblance of a pace that I would get a PB. I also knew if I dropped out that I would be in instant relief from this wretched situation that I had found myself in. The bargaining had begun and I convinced myself to just stop running more times than I care to mention. What was really bugging me was that I felt I had let go of a good time and also placing high in the race. If the time wasn’t going to be good, and the placing in the race was going to be shite, why not just step off? This mental gymnastics must have passed about 4 kilometres and I realised I had only a little over a kilometre to go. Everybody can run a kilometre, right?
The finish – 57:28
The mental gymnastics that I had spent the last 15 minutes doing had whiled away a good portion of the backend of a horrible race. It also had the added benefit of helping me not focus on the rolling hills on this course. There weren’t too many bad climbs but there was a lot of ups and it didn’t feel like very many downs. I knew now, though, that I was almost home and will be home with a PB. The wind was omnipresent the whole way through (did I mention it was windy?) and it was getting even worse on the last kilometre. I managed to catch up to one person with about 700 metres to go and we were running side by side as we took the final right turn towards the finish line. When we turned, the wind smacked us in both in the face and nearly stopped me running. Because the race was almost over, I put in a bit of a surge and felt like I was all out sprinting. I caught up to a couple more people who were equally stuck in this headwind and tentatively went past them. We still had 300 metres or thereabouts to go and I was now gassed. I was very close to walking. The guy who I overtook with 700 metres to go sauntered passed me and crossed the line with about a second on me. I’ve never been more happy to see a finishing gantry and was stoked that this hell was over. I got a bottle of water and sat on a little wall with some of the other finishers. We were all collectively shook – it was kind of hilarious. All anybody spoke about was the wind. It was the only thing I heard anybody mention afterwards. When I went back to my car, the spectators I walked past all made comment about the wind. We are truly obsessed with the weather.
After chatting to Seán and reflecting on the race as a whole, I am pleased with how it went. I felt much worse in this race than I did in Larne and I dropped out of Larne – so that is definitely mental progress. I ran faster over 10 miles than I ever had previously and that is physical progress. I did that in shite conditions after a pretty shite week so you can’t really ask for much more. Seán told me the only goal for this race was to enjoy it and to get back into the groove of racing. Today was just that.
Buckets of Rain 