This week I was caught for time but I still got a few runs in with my trusty companion, Sam. Everything going well I had pencilled in a Park Run for Saturday morning. I haven't completed a Park Run in a while and I usually participate in the Park Run in Lee's Road, Ennis. As I was down around the Killaloe area anyway today, I said I would head down early and get my run in.
Clarisford Park in Killaloe is an excellent facility for the town. Clarisford Park is a community and recreational facility on the banks of the River Shannon with playing pitches, running/walking track, parkland and indoor pavilion. It has state of the art 3G all-weather synthetic multi sport facility with 2 enclosed floodlit pitches. It also has a sand based multi-purpose all-weather playing pitch which is fully floodlit and enclosed. Also available is an indoor sports hall, dressing rooms and a training room for classroom based courses and classes.
I am a big fan of the Park Run community. It is an excellent idea and it is going from strength to strength. It is very important that people volunteer to keep it going. In saying that I will have to put my name down more often. There was a small crowd this morning of around 25. The course is about four and a half laps with a deceiving hill that gradually increases as you attempt it. You have to tackle this hill five times overall so it is a testing course.
I took off at a nice comfortable pace as I was not sure how I would feel today. There was a good fast pace set by two runners in front. I was back in 3rd but not far behind. After two laps I was surprised by how good I was feeling so I pushed it on a bit. I caught the person in 2nd but there was no catching 1st place. I found the last lap and a half tough as I was beginning to struggle. I put the head down and crossed the line in 20:59. I was very happy with that. I was 1st place by default as the runner ahead of me, who I had no hope of catching, didn't register his time as I was told after, that he only registers his time when he breaks 20 minutes. I feel I won't have that problem too much!! I will take it.
I was happy overall today as I didn't know where I really stood when I had to push myself. I did well enough today to encourage me going forward. I don't want to head off running aimlessly and not have a specific training plan to follow. I have read Matt Fitzgerald's book about 80/20 training and I would like to incorporate his ideas into my training. I tried previously getting my training zones by using my Polar M400 watch but I felt I was not doing it right. So I have required the help of the professionals.
Tomorrow, I have an appointment with Matthew Bidwell of Fitness Analytics where I will complete a lactate threshold test to find my training zones. Matt is based in Claregalway, Co. Galway. After the teat, Matt will go through a report with me about my training zones so I will have something very well structured to follow. I feel this will help me progress in the right direction and I will look forward to seeing some improvements. I will put up a post about my lactate threshold test and give you my experience of it. I am looking forward to seeing how it works.
To top off a lovely morning in Killaloe, I went for a delicious breakfast in a quaint café called The Wooden Spoon. I had a tasty breakfast frittata with a lovely cup of coffee to help me recover after the Park Run. This place is well worth a visit if you are in Killaloe.
That's it for today's post. I will have another post up shortly about my lactate threshold test and I will also have a few more posts about some more amazing places to run in my locality and further afield. So please keep an eye out.
Thanks for reading.
No comments:
Post a Comment