17:59 Amazing.........

.....that I got home from work before six last night. That was because I was picking up Niamh Roe a fellow runner with Eagle AC just before 7 to give her a lift to Ringaskiddy for the Novartis 5k Road Race. Adrian, my old running partner also came along - his first race since the Cork Marathon 2007, my first since Cork 2008.

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After we registered Niamh and I went for a 2 mile warmup - an out an back over the first mile of the course. My first 5k was on this course last year where I was very happy with my 19:19 PB with splits of 05:50 (downhill mile), 12:26 (06:36 - uphill drag), 18:40 (06:14 - up and down) & 19:19 (06:04 pace).

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I can't say I was looking forward to the race but figured I'd adopt a race strategy of going out hard and hanging in for as long as possible (seek out the pain philosophy that is all the rage at the moment). As Niamh is a regular at the track I knew her paces are faster than mine. While I entertained the thought of going out with her I decided to run at my (hard) pace as I find it difficult to adjust my pace to someone else's. As we lined up at the start I noticed that I had forgot to put on my HR monitor (blessing in disguise) and had no time to return to the car to get it.

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I lined up three rows behind the line and when the starter pressed the hooter a puff of smoke came out, but no sound. Everyone hesitated for a fraction of a second before storming down the road at a rate of knots. I settled into a comfortably hard pace over the first half mile passing a few of the eager beavers who had lined up with the elites at the front until everyone settled into more sustainable paces. I noticed a guy in front of me with an orange top who had pipped me at the post at the Cork Marathon in June. In fact he was a much faster runner than me who had actually been targeting a sub 3 hour time but got injured during the race. I decided that I would tag him for as long as I could - perhaps the first mile to mile and a half. A quick look at my watch showed a 5:40 pace - not spectacular for the first downhill mile (in fact some of it was a slight uphill).

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We ran down a steep section of road and left onto the main Ringaskiddy Road towards the 1 mile mark - "05:45" the timekeeper called out as my garmin beeped with the same time.

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"ok not an awful lot better than last years 05:50 - but my pace shouldn't slacken off as much on the 2nd mile as it did last year".

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I remember last year the 2nd mile along an uphill drag on the main road was very tiring and while it was an effort this time round it didn't appear to be as long - still comfortably hard. Initially along this section I was in danger of falling off the back of the group in front but managed to keep up and run on the shoulder of a guy all in black about 3 yards behind my guy in the orange top. In fact we both passed the guy in the orange top at about the 1.5 mile mark (when I imagined tagging him for 1.5 miles I thought it was I that would get dropped not him - new territory for me).

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I quickly set my sights on another guy about 10 yards in front, Denis Carroll, who came in 5 seconds ahead of me in the UCC 10k in April. We approached the roundabout at Shanbally and turned left for a gradual incline towards the 2 mile mark. I left Denis and one or two more behind me before the 2 mile mark. This was far from a tactical maneuver and more just keeping to the same pace/effort. My philosophy was to run as hard as I could sustain, tactics required too much thought, it was the clock I was running against. I felt that if I eased up, even a little, to hang on someones shoulder I would not be able to increase the pace again. I remembered that I had passed Denis in the 10k in April and he came back strong to pass me back a mile from the finish.

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"11:50" the 2 mile timekeeper called as I passed her (my garmin had beeped in the second mile at 11:46).

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"still under 6 minute pace overall, much better than last year's 12:26 split, just another 6 minute mile to go, fuck this is getting hard"

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I still managed to keep the pace up an incline turn left and then right.

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"seek out the pain and embrace it" I had remembered from either Thomas or the Alien Lizard and I briefly concentrated on this which nearly brought a smile to my face. I spotted Niamh just 10 yards in front as we headed downhill between 2.25 and 2.75 miles. My pace which was now "uncomfortably hard" carried me past Naimh and one or two other runners (never before had I continued to pass other runners up to this stage in a race). Bottom of the hill and a turn left towards the finish.

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I was hoping autopilot would carry me to the finish. I passed John Quigley (Eagle AC) who was taking photos (see below - face like death warmed over) at about the 2.85 mile mark. "Your doing very well" he said as I passed. Very well was the last thing I felt

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..........and then suddenly my legs turned to jelly and took on a life of their own as I hit the incline to the 3 mile mark. The tank was completely empty, reserve tank also appeared to be empty it was pure momentum keeping me going forward. My legs felt tremendously heavy and shaky and while my heart appeared to be pumping away at top revs it was only sufficient to keeping the air conditioning going as my pace slowed noticeably. There was nothing I could do about it except keep going as best I could towards the finish line, which now appeared miles away from where I thought it was (occupational hazard of being short-sighted). I was passed by 1 then 2 runners, then at least 4 more (including Niamh) before I stumbled over the finish line at my official time of 18:39.

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I was utterly shattered, I never felt as bad after a short race. It took a big effort to continue down the finishing chute (150 yards) , my legs were barely able to support me as I stumbled along until I eventually lay down on the grass and remained there for about 7 minutes until I felt strong enough to get up and walk around. I still managed a 2 mile recovery run, although I felt a stitch on both sides, which subsided after a while.

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My primary target had been to get under 19 minutes which I did "comfortably?". While I am happy with my time and the way I ran the race I was disappointed with my finish, where I conceded 6 places so close to the finish line. How could I maintain the effort for 4.7k and blow up over the final 300m. Why couldn't I have blown up at 5k. It all about having nothing left in the tank at the finish line, not before - a fine line. On the plus side I did manage to empty the tank and after all my strategy had been to go out hard and hang in for as long as possible. If I had maintained pace to the finish I would have taken maybe 10 seconds off my time - Niamh clocked 18:30 to take second female spot.

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Based on my 10k PB of 38:15 McMillan says I have an 18:25 5k in me which not that far off what I achieved last night. I came 38th overall out of a record field of 416 which put me in the top 10% for the first time.

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Despite the utter exhaustion I felt after the race my recovery appears to be going well as I got out this morning (less than 12 hours later) for 7.7 miles with both legs feeling fine.

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Wed 6th Aug

About 7 miles with 5k in 18:39 (06:00 pace with no HR Monitor, thank God)

Sleep: 7 hrs 7/10

Legs: Hard to say - 7/10 at start

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Thur 7th Aug

7.7 Miles in 01:03:39 (08:16 pace @ 128 HR)

Sleep 6.5 hrs 6/10

Legs: 7/10

p.s. I hope the title of the post wasn't misleading ;)