Lesson one I learned this week is that when a coach says its going to be a fun week, it maybe best not to take that too literally. I started the week with a total workout fail – the workout was a series of 8 continuous cycles of short 3k pace / marathon pace intervals – i ended up having to take recovery after 4 of them before finishing the session. I came away from a little gutted that I didn’t have the strength to just work through it – no excuses (and no fun) at all. 

 The rest of the week was pretty much easy running with a few strides thrown in ahead of the National Half Marathon on Sunday.  As my first national half marathon I didn’t really know what to expect from it. I had been through the results from the last two years and it had been won in 2009 in 65’ and in 2008 in 67’ - with runners at my pace coming in and around the 70th  – 80th place, so it was going to be a step up from previous half’s that I’d done with more club runners and fewer fun runners.  The race was hosted by St. Abbans in Carlow  - about 20 or so minutes drive away – so all very convenient and hassle free to get to. A quickly assembled start with a minutes silence for somebody recently deceased, and bang we were off.

I set off with no "must get" time goal - the plan of action was to run the first 15k steady at around marathon pace and then pick it up from there to the finish and see where that got me. The course was a tough two lapper, the elevation was all rises and falls without any significant flat sections and sections of it were buffeted by some nasty winds.  I ran with a club mate, Jimmy who was doing his first half marathon. Keeping our pace in check to the plan it basically felt like we were freewheeling for the entire first lap and our halfway time was called at 40:50;   Jimmy picked up the pace during this 3rd fast downhill 5k split and I lost about 30 yards on him. After we passed the 5k mark as we approached the bottom of the downhills and turned up the hill and into the wind -  i was able to pick it up a bit and finish ok.  In the second lap we passed loads of runners who were fading - it felt great to finish strongly and not have that holding on feeling – my split for  a slightly tougher second half was 39:35. Over all my 5k splits were  19:05   / 19:36 / 18:48 / 18:32 + 4:25 for the last bit

So the second lesson wot i learned this week was that patience plays a major part in pacing longer races  and it’s important to relax and have the focus and strength not to get caught up in racing too early.

Monday 30th: rest

6:34pm Tuesday 31st:  78' Steady /  16.54k / 4:40 pace

6:44am Wednesday 1st: 75' Steady / 16k / - no garmin 

6:41pm Thursday 2nd  62' Steady inc. 8 X Strides  / 13.70km / no garmin

7:05am Friday 3rd;  62' Steady / 12.46k / 4:46

7:31am Saturday 4th: 52:55 ' steady (not including 10 X Strides as per plan)  / 12.19km / 4:44 pace

9:14am Sunday 5th: 80’25” / 21.1K / 3:48
 
Week totals : 6hr17m / 84.63k  / 4'28" Average Pace