This was my first race since the Paris marathon 3 weeks previous. I did an easy 7km run 5 days
previous and that had been the extent of my running since Paris. So I came to this race with no great expectations and it was a run I was viewing as the beginning of training for the Dublin marathon this coming October.
I had never raced at night before and with this race starting at 9pm (dusk) I was sure it would be dark when I finished. Although I had never raced at night before, the Abu Dhabi marathon I did a few years back started at 5am and it was dark at the start line but it got light fairly quick and with the light came the heat!
I really liked that roughly 95% of the participants wore the high viz t-shirts that came in the race bag.
The Samsung city run was organised well and it's a race I'll do again. I'm not sure wether its a good race for running a PB (personal best) as it is very technical course with lots of sharp turns and tram lines underfoot. However the route was nice and the atmosphere was great. The weather was slightly temperamental with rain showers and blustery wind. While running east along the river Liffey their was a nice tail wind but on the return back up, it was a nasty head wind. I tucked myself in behind 4 guys running at my pace and this eased the burden. Looking for shelter or drafting is a great way to Run Sensible and reserve energy.
I began with the a goal of running a sub 42min and finished with a respectable 41min46sec so I was fairly pleased considering the absence of training. Perhaps what was more pleasing was the guys I ran with, one of my best friends and my brother-in-law both doing their first 10k race. They finished in 55mins and 56mins respectively. "We'll done guys, you should be proud!"
I took a 3 week break of virtually no running after the Paris marathon. This was not something I had really planned or thought about but it felt right and I enjoyed the time off. I felt fresh running the 10k and the time off seems to have helped. Recovery is such an important aspect of training and if you don't get enough rest you will get injured.
I see people on Facebook and twitter posting every single run they do for everybody to see, these people seem to advocate and pontificate the importance of running every day and have all the bling posters that tell you to run, never rest and never make excuses, blah, blah, blah.
I just ran 60miles in 4mins, check it out in run keeper...Blah! These post often make me feel guilty when I shouldn't really be feeling guilty.
I ignore all that stuff now and you should too. First of all its not healthy to run every single day and no matter who you are you, you need rest and you will benefit from rest. Try not to feel guilty if you are "friends" with these tweeters and FBers when you see these post and posters, I'm fairly confident that half these people are lying about some of the training they do anyway!
If you need rest, take a rest. You'll know the difference between genuine rest and laziness and you don't need to be reminded of how good somebody else is and how bad you are by these posts!!! "Rant over"
I might just add that I do see the benefit in posting updates about training and racing. This is a great way to make yourself accountable and keep you focused. I do this myself using Strava, but tweeting every run? Really every single run?
To wrap up Run Sensible, rest, eat and race but most of all make sure you enjoy the experience, this after all is the purpose of fitness and health.
Neil
@RunSensible
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