Week 1 - Friday 01 Aug – Running

Tough, tough session today, but something truly magical happened.

10k run today, I was looking forward to it, had a great route planned and the head was in the right place. I was a bit sore from yesterday but not too worried.

When meself and Al started I realised there could be a problem. Me legs were incredibly tired and tender, by the end of the warmup 2k at the start of Santry park I felt I could do it though so we went ahead with the dynamic stretches and form drills.

By the time we got running proper I was feeling a bit better, but this run was two laps of the park (about 6k) and then back to work (2K). On the first lap the pace was high but we could still talk to each other albeit slightly breathlessly. Al was recording us with the mapmyrun app and by the second lap he determined we needed to step it up if we wanted to be under an hour. By this time I was wondering if I could do it and was really struggling.

Once again Al came to the rescue and kept me spirits up. I kept going in peaks and troughs and he hit on the idea of swapping paces. I’d follow no more than 5 paces behind him at a hard pace and then we’d switch to my comfortable jogging pace for a while. This worked quite well.

A thing I’d promised meself on this run was never to pass up a hill. There is an artificial mound in Santry park about 7 metres high but really steep. First time round we attacked it. I had noticed a different hill on the first lap, more of a mound of earth left over from building really. It didn’t look very steep or high but I didn’t want to miss out on it on the second lap.

We sped up it but by the time I got to the top me legs just stopped. I literally had to shout at them to get them moving again. I really wanted to get this done but I had the awful fear I’d have to contemplate giving up.

And then the magic happened.

As we were motoring along Al knew how much I was struggling (he’d had a rest day the day before which helped him a lot, his words not mine) and he really kept me going. There’s one stretch about 120 metres long which is a gentle but constantly rising slope. He said we need to step it up if we want to make the hour (we also had to get back to work, this was our lunch break after all). So with his encouragement the legs started pumping and I loped up the hill at a great pace, with the promise that we could jog a while at the top.

I was so pleased with meself and on such a high that I felt invincible. We had a bout a quarter of the park to go so I knew I could do it now. The big 7 metre artificial mound was coming up and I was ready for it. I suggested we jumped that and then strided as quick as possible to the park entrance about 200 metres away. We both secretly knew it was bravado and I couldn’t keep that up.

And then even better magic happened.

We jumped up the hill which I knew I could, it’s steeper than a staircase but the trick is you rest/jog at the top then down again. What happened next I’m still trying to make sense of. We bounded down the hill and I was off. For the first time ever Al couldn’t catch me no matter how hard he tried (and this is a fella with a limitless gas tank for this type of thing) . I know it sounds like shameless bragging but this is what he told me himself after.

I needed to be told this after the fact because to be honest I’m not quite sure where I went. All I know is me breathing became like a metronome, me legs went whirling along one in front of the other with no input from me brain and me brain just ….sorta...switched off…or went somewhere else.

I was literally lost in the moment. The next thing I knew we were at the gate. It was literally the best moment I’ve ever had running and I’ve been going over it in me mind and trying to figure out how I can recapture the feeling next time I run.

After a fairly relaxing, but still high pace back to work I foolishly suggested a sprint for the last 100 metres. Al left me for dust, order is now restored!