Saturday 25th August 2012 Base Training

Saturday 25th August Warriors Run

Weight - 72kg
H.R - 44bpm

Run - Warriors Run - Race effort - 3pm - 12 miles approx including 3 miles warm up and cool down.

Time - 1.09.04
Av. Pace - 7.49/mi
Av. H.R - 161 bpm

Stats :
6.21 / 167
6.14 / 167
11.15 / 165
12.22 / 161
7.24 / 176
6.38 / 165
6.52 / 165
6.34 / 142
6.26 / 141(pace)

Comment : I suppose I can't complain knocking four minutes off my PB but overall I was a bit disappointed with race. An intitial glance at my H.R for the race reveals a drop off on the climb which for me in hindsight could have been maintained. The last two miles have my H.R at 142 and 141 which tells me I could have pushed alot harder at the end which, for me, shows a little "mental weakness", ie - not being able to push through pain and discomfort.
Stupidly, the night before was a late one, 12 midnight and work from 7am till 1.30 on race day did not help either. I'm not using this as an excuse for not getting my target time of sub - 1.08 but it definatly didn't help. Just a few things to change for next year where I intend to go sub 1.05 at least.

Report : As I said above race rest and preparation is something I have to work on so, arriving out home from work at 1.45 was not ideal. I collected my gear and headed down to the vilage at about 2pm. Iwetta and the kids were to follow. Sitting in the dressing rooms and chatting to some other lads I then realised I'd forgotten my race chip. A frantic call to Iwetta sorted this as I could see myself sprinting up to the house and back to the start line just in time for the race.
Did a warm up on the pitch, about a mile with strides to fire up the muscles and met Peter and Mick on the way down to the start line.
The weather had begun to warm up and there was a breeze, none of which bother me too much but I made another bad decision to carry a fun size water bottle which I thought might help during the race because of my inability to drink out of those cups at water stations.
I positioned myself in the second row of the field and waited for the start at which point Tony Fox stood in front of me, why do these cunts go to the front when they are only getting in the way (:-D).
I had a plan to start off easy enough and get to the mountain in 17 minutes, about a 25 minute climb and 26 minutes back. This of course is easier to say than do.
From the start I settled into a nice steady rythmn and got to kellys feeling ok. I passed a few guys that I knew from various races around Sligo and settled in behind a guy dressed as "Superman" for the downhill stretch to culleenamore. Along this part I passed a few more lads who maybe had gone out too fast and "Superman, myself and a few others ran togeather in a small bunch of about four.
I felt strong on the rolling little hills just before the glen road and had to force myself to stay calm so as not to burn myself out before the serious climbing started.
Hitting the Glen road, our little group climbed in unison and we passed one or two others. I got to the mountain in 25th and in 17.15 so things were going well. At this point "Superman"  pulled ahead and I didn't see him again till the end of the race. I ran most of the runable stretches and power hiked the steeper pitches and it was at this point that I realised that carrying a bottle was not the wisest choice. The bottle in my hand was obstructing my powerhiking but I decided to hold on to it. I reached the wall a the top feeling strong and ran the whole way to the cairn. Rounding the cairn, I was going to blast it to the finish and got ready to go.
I was only beginning the decsent when I thought something wasn't right and in what is normally my strongest part of the course, I was actually getting caught by runners, I'd say at least 6 caught me. I didn't feel comfortable and found myself slowing and braking when I should have been all out. It was then that I realised that the bottle was off-balancing my decent and I was nervous about falling.
As we got to the bottom past the small gate or style I threw it over my shoulder only for it to fall in front of another runner who barked "HEY", I replyed "Sorry I was trying to throw it into the field" to which he retorted, " I know you" . It was  "Mick Mooney the bastard", he was lying in wait and with that he made a surge past me for about 20 metres.
I was confident I'd catch him on the road and brought him back to about 5 metres at Rathcarrick wood. It was here I had a bit of a low point where I began to feel tired. Up the road I had spotted Brendan Brett and had been pulling him in but as Mick caught him they seemed to form a group and helped each other along. If only I could have caught them but I was on my own and struggling on. Alan kearins gave good advice to catch them and to strart working my arms and this worked as I again got to within 10 metres at the church but they again found that little something to stay away.
I struggled home and was caught on the home straight by two more runners to finish in 31st position in a time of 1.09.04.
Overall, It was a fantastic day and a very well organised event and here's to next year where I hope to go under 1.05