Ballycotton 10

Ok, so I took yet another sabbatical from blogging, but to be honest I didn't have a whole pile to blog about. In my last post I mentioned that I would decide my plan of action after the 3K race in Midleton. Well my time of 10.03 which was 30sec's slower than my last effort left my with one option: Skip the warm-down get a burger and chips and wash it down with a few beers and take that well needed break!
A day or two later I thought better of it and decided that with the indoors & intermediate xc around the corner I should struggle on, I got two sessions of physio on the achilles and tried to resume training. But my final decision was made at the track, I warmed up and planned on doing a few 400's when I bumped into a wise and more experienced friend who told me I was crazy. These were the words I needed to here so I hopped into the car and took the best part of a month off.
I resumed training about 3 weeks ago very slowly with 35 miles for the week. I managed a session of 6x75sec 400's, which were horrible! A 4mile tempo run later in the week at 6.10 pace also let me know that I was definitely not going to bounce right back which was to be expected!
Things improved slightly the following week as I managed around 45miles (more that I had planned) and 8x74sec and more encouragingly a 5mile Tempo @ 5.58. I also raced in a colleges XC race and although I was well down the field (68th) my time of 28.18 for a 4.94mile course (5.44pace) was a great confidence boost 8days before Ballycotton. So onto last week which went ok, managed 10x74sec 400's on tues and planned a tempo for thursday on the Ballycotton course. I struggled from the off though and when I got a stomach cramp after 3 miles I decided to call it a day. I guess the cramp was a blessing in disguise however as I needed more rest after a tough race and session. Took it easy for the rest of the week and only clocked up 40 miles for the week. Went for a dip in the sea on Saturday after doing some drills on the beach. Was really psyched up for Sunday especially after missing last year and now considering myself a 'local' (albeit a blowin:-)) Plus I knew breaking the hour and more importantly earning a top 100 t-shirt would be touch and go which added to the excitement!
The big day arrived with glorious Sunshine and the strong breeze that had been there for the last few days had even died down a bit. After getting down to the village and warming up I made my way to the start line with about 40minutes to go. Decided to hang back a bit further than usual as my plan was to go out handy enough so as not to burn up with 4 miles to go. The first mile is fast so it's easy get through it quickly with expending too much energy. When the gun went and the race settled down I spotted two of my club mates together so I manuevered close to them as I knew they'd both be aiming for the hour. After clocking 5.41 for the first mile I thought perfect as I felt really comfortable. Going down the only sharp hill on the course around a bend I let gravity take over and I pulled away from the group I was in. The momentum I built up carried me to the next group and ahead of me I could see a group forming with guys that if fully fit I would have liked to have been with. I passed another clubmate and said to him that we should try and get accross but he appeared to be struggling. Through mile 2 in another 5.41 and although my effort had increased slightly I didn't feel under any pressure. The group ahead started to pull away which was better off as I was going at my own pace rather than racing the people around me. I was passing people all the time though especially in places where I knew an extra burst would yield rewards from doing countless tempos on these roads. Miles 3,4 & 5 were done in 5.50/5.45/5.56 which was perfect and banked a little time for the difficult last section. I passed the clock at 5miles in just over 29 minutes which made the hour defintitely achievable. After turning the corner at Ballymaloe the wind picked up and as luck would have it I was alone. I knew it was too early to dig deep so I purposefully only maintained my effort which resulted in my pace dropping. Soon however I was around another corner onto the fastest part of the course. During my tempos this is usually where I increase the pace, but I knew today maintaining it would be plenty. The leading ladies passed me at this point in a group of 4 or 5 so I stayed with them for a while before fading back a bit. Was definitely tiring now and miles 6,7 & 8 were passed in 5.56/6.01/5.55. Again nothing wrong with that. With two miles to go the lack of training finally caught up with me and despite getting up the hill on the bend ok - started going into oxygen debt shortly afterwards. My HR was over 190 which is pretty much my max! Was passed by one or two but just focused on keeping the legs turning over and not slowing right down. I thought I heard someone shout 55th and thought to myself no way but subconciously started to ease off ever so slightly knowing that the hour and t-shirt were safe. The finish really is torturous especially with the tour de france style 1Km,800m,400m's to go signs. Managed to put in a little sprint to take a guy in the last 100m's who looked to be dead on his feet. Over the line in 59.22 (last 2 miles in 6.12 and 6.03)with a tshirt around my neck which was very satisfying to say the least. Ended up with 54th place was a nice bonus but was very surprising. Was really expecting the standard to be higher this year as the times in general have been getting better. I knew a few guys that were n't running and would normally be well up there but I thought the law of averages would mean that they would have been replaced by guys who missed other years...
Had a few beers that night which was nice, just did 5 miles yesterday to stop the body stiffening up. Will do another easy run this evening and hopefully a session tomorrow night. My main target now is to be back in shape for intervarsities 10k on the 23rd of April so time to start knuckling down!