10 Things I Think About Running

10 Things I Think About The Youghal 5k

1. Clustering/Blocking

I think that the Norweigan’s might be onto something with their double threshold sessions. This is my version of it, double racing. I’m not quite ready to do two races in the same day but with the third generation of the Vaporfly there is almost no soreness the day after a race. Marius Bakken talks about the gap between the sessions allowing the muscle tone to reduce so I will say the same about the day between the races. People who started running in 2019 have no idea about what running races used to be like.

2. Round the House

I think that Kilkenny and Youghal are probably the two best 5ks in the country. It’s no coincidence that they both use the roads in the centre of the town and have really old buildings. The Youghal route is probably a bit faster as it is totally flat, the only problem is the proximity to the sea and the slight breeze that the sea brings.

3. Disgrace

I think that turning up to a race when you’ve run a race the night before takes away all the pressure. When you have run a race the night before people like Nick O’Donoghue feel under pressure to beat you and think that it will be a disgrace if they don’t which it would be. Also Mark Walsh doesn’t feel like he can sit behind you for the entire race.

4. 400

I think that the first 400m of the race was the only normal part of the race. We took off from outside the Walter Raleigh Hotel in a normal fashion and ran down towards the town. When we reached the Y junction where we went left the pace suddenly slowed up. Wind had been detected which meant that no one wanted to run into it. Nicky seemed to be unaware of the terrible wind and took off in front of the group. I followed the attack, but it petered out within a few metres when he realised the futility of running into the howling vicious East wind.

5. 1k Rep

I think that the race was a lot like doing a session, the lull in proceedings after Nicky’s initial pointless attack lasted until we turned right and felt the wind at our backs. We ran full tilt down the back straight for 1km until we turned right again at the top of the town and turned back into the terrible vicious wind which resulted in another lull in proceedings. There were eight of us in the group all spread across the road with no one wanting to push the pace.

6. Floating Under The Clock Gate Tower

I think that the second time under the Clock Gate Tower was the slowest we ran during the race. The eight of us were bunched up across the road with no one really making a significant effort. It was kind of odd given the obsession with times that no one seemed to care how “slow” we were going. It felt like about 5:40 pace. It was tormenting me to stay behind but I felt like trying the Donie Walsh tactics at least once especially as he had told me to before the race.

7. The East Cork Assault

I think that the problem with running “slow” in a 5k is that accidents can happen. Mark Walsh was lucky that Nick didn’t take him out just before we started the last fast kilometre. It was probably my fault as I asked Mark to let me out as I was finding it uncomfortable to be at the back of the pack. It was quite a stumble but he stayed upright and it was quickly forgotten when we turned onto the back straight with the howling wind at our backs again.

8. Back Straight

I think that Donie might be very right about the sit and kick method of racing. It is a very pleasant way to run a race. The last time down the back straight felt amazing, unlike any last mile of a race I have run before. We had the wind at our backs, and I felt wonderful I made my way to the front of the group of eight but unfortunately Tony Forristal was feeling more wonderful and quickly went past followed by Mark Walsh.

9. Eight Becomes Four

I think that I had the best seat in the house for the race to the line. I got to the final corner just on the back of Mark, Pat and Tony which I knew was essential with the vicious headwind that we were going to have to finish into. I was hoping they might play some more games in the wind as there was still about 800m to go but there was no messing, and the lads took off spread across the road in a group of three. I was quickly dropped and left to battle the wind on my own.

10. Watching the Clock

I think that it’s interesting that when you don’t worry about time in a race the time still comes. I spent the last 400m desperately trying to hold off a closing Nick, Aidan and Youghal AC duo which I did. Pat prevailed over Mark and Tony which was very surprising as Mark is a hard man to outsprint. Despite all our “slow” running and messing we still managed to clock under 16 minutes which goes to show that racing and clock watching result in nearly the same thing. The only difference is that racing is far more fun.