The week since Portumna has went well. If it had been sunny on Sunday I would have went for a recovery jog, but the day was miserable so I stayed indoors and pigged out instead - given that it was Fathers Day my family indulged me in this pursuit, so we were all happy. Since then I have run 28 miles over four runs with the legs feeling a bit heavy earlier in the week but coming round pretty quickly. I am a bit wary of my good form and half expect it all to end in a stupid injury, so i'll keep it relatively slow for a while although I will continue with a reasonably high mileage until I decide which direction to go from here - either down into the realm of 5k to 10k races or into the abyss that is 26.2+++, one things for sure is that my next PB won't be in the Marathon.
My 5k splits in Portumna were pretty consistent up to lap 6 and then began to fall away as fatigue set in, leading to an overall positive split of about 2 minutes 1:26:22 & 1:28:13. In the end though I had a 6 minute margin on Brian in third place (3:02:32), who obviously faded more than me, as he himself predicted. Funnily enough my first half split would have been enough to win the half marathon by about 20 seconds, which was won by a woman (1:26:45) who had a clear 90 second margin on second place.
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| Off to a Wet Start (Photo Courtesy of Peter Mooney) |
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| Early Days with Andrew (Photo Courtesy of Peter Mooney)
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You're a lucky man - I had used up all my Father's Day bonus credits on Saturday already by going to Portumna!
ReplyDeleteI think you should go after your shorter distance PBs because that's what my old coach would tell me, but I freely admit that personally I would go the opposite way.
Thomas, you have alway been a bad influence ;-) and I thank you for it.
DeleteGrellan, Amazing stuff, used to run at times with you but have being plagued with injury for last couple years and abroad keeping the wolf from door:-) Your blog keeps a link for me with Cork and eagle and inspiring a comeback of sorts Thanks Tony
ReplyDeleteGood to hear from you Tony. Tough times indeed (the wolf is not far from anyone's door these days) - delighted that I can provide any connection back to Cork. Hope your injuries become a distant memory as the first key to continuous improvement and enjoyable running is remaining injury free.
DeleteThat's not too bad a positive split. Gave yourself a chance of a 2:52 if it had gone spectacularly well.
ReplyDeleteHave to agree with Thomas - go for the shorter distance PBs. You could probably run them all the way down to 3k off your marathon fitness - wouldn't have to do much in the way of speedwork.
2:52 would have been possible Ewen, if I could hold onto the pace for the last 10k. Maybe I need a bit more endurance ;-)
DeleteI certainly feel that, subject to available race distances, I could have "2013" against all my PB's (Marathon and under) on the sidebar by year end.
Shorter pbs Grellan with a sub 60 10 mile a big target (and a sub 1.20 Half), just my thoughts , no doubt you will not conform , your rebel tendencies will come out methinks.
ReplyDeleteBest wishes Keith.
Those are very lofty goals Keith, either of which I would be delighted to achieve.
DeleteI know what I should do, but..................
as I said to someone only last wekend "do I want a PB or an adventure ;-)"